Ch.55Chapter 55

April had arrived before I knew it.

The students at the Academy began moving about busily. This was because midterm exams were coming up soon.

Whether they were freshmen or soon-to-be graduates, everyone without exception began their struggle to secure good grades. Among them, Karen was working the hardest.

Unlike Sera and Aria who sent messages occasionally when they had free time, Karen didn’t contact me at all, so I could only assume she was deeply focused on her studies.

It made me feel somewhat proud thinking about how focused Karen was.

The corners of my mouth turned up slightly as I thought about how Karen might have received information about necessary resources or recommended books from Sera and Aria in her study group, and how I might have contributed to her academic progress.

I had plenty of free time.

Although I was at the Academy, I didn’t feel the urgency or anxiety that other Academy residents experienced.

Perhaps this is what a truly free Academy life means—being liberated from assignments and exam periods. Since I didn’t need to worry about grades, I could pay attention to interesting parts of lectures, skip the boring parts, and just focus on my reading.

“Professor, what are you doing?”

“…Making exam papers. I need them for each year.”

“Oh… so five of them?”

“No, three. The Academy students have slightly different timing.”

The Professor was staring intently at her laptop screen. I quietly watched her for a while, then yawned.

Whether in the research lab or here at home, she was always focused on her screen, leaving me with nothing to do. But I couldn’t just ask her to play with me.

Since everyone, whether professors or students, was busy with upcoming exams, I didn’t want to disturb them and potentially cause problems. So I waited quietly.

I had nothing to do. With no phone conversations and nothing to say, I kept my mouth shut and looked around. Since it seemed like meals and bathing would be delayed, I found myself naturally pondering what to do.

I got up. Feeling bored, I headed toward the closet.

It was time to take out the cat pajamas Sera had bought me before.

I usually just wore a t-shirt and dolphin shorts because they were comfortable, but at times like this when I had nothing to do, having something like this seemed nice.

I squeezed my eyes shut and reached behind my back. The zipper on my back didn’t seem to close properly. After struggling for a while, I decided to be satisfied with it being halfway up and relaxed my shoulders.

“Phew.”

I hung up the clothes I had changed out of and left the closet. I held my phone with both hands and tapped the screen here and there. I was thinking of taking a selfie this time.

Ding!

It was different from the usual camera shutter sound. Calmly, I rolled my eyes. Somehow my finger must have slipped, and it switched to video mode instead of photo.

How many people take selfie videos? Is that how people who record videos do it?

At least I didn’t. I stopped recording and switched back to photo mode in the menu below.

In the midst of my slight fumbling, my shoulder was slightly exposed. The animal pajamas weren’t oversized, but the problem seemed to be that I couldn’t zip up the back all the way.

I adjusted it well on my shoulder to keep it from slipping. After that, I smiled again and pressed the shutter.

Click.

After taking a photo, the natural next step was to touch the recently taken picture to check if it came out well. I’d only stop once I was satisfied with how it looked.

“……”

Something felt awkward.

Pouting, I went back to the camera screen. I stared at the selfie mode like it was a mirror.

I wasn’t sure if my expression was always awkward, or if my face just tensed up whenever I took photos.

Just in case, I made various expressions at the screen.

“Hee—”

I exaggeratedly pulled up the corners of my mouth. The slower I lowered them, the more it became an uncomfortable smile, or looked like a forced smile, or turned into a stiff smile.

“Uuung.”

This time I tried making an upset expression. Since it was just about contorting my face, this one seemed to come out as I intended.

I turned my head this way and that. Looking at my face from various angles became somewhat addictive, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

“Ah, eh, ah-eh-ee-oh-oo.”

I kept making different expressions while holding my phone. As I kept moving my mouth around, I must have caught the attention of the Professor working in the living room, as I heard her voice.

“Ourr, what are you doing…?”

Since I was holding my phone and making strange expressions, such a reaction wasn’t unreasonable.

But still, I didn’t want to appear as someone doing weird things to the Professor, so I immediately offered an explanation.

“I-I was trying to take a photo, but my expression looked awkward, so I was practicing my expressions…!”

I showed her the screen. Seeing the phone screen in selfie mode, the Professor’s expression changed to one that said, “Ah, so that’s what it was.”

Relieved, I picked up my phone again. After glancing nervously at the Professor, I carefully pressed the shutter.

Click! Click! I took several photos. My expression came out even more awkward than before. It might have been because I was conscious of the Professor watching me, so I quickly slipped into my room.

I threw myself onto the bed. The fabric of the outfit rubbed against me, making my crotch itch.

“Nngh…”

It felt strange. I moved my legs again, feeling uncomfortable.

Maybe because this outfit wasn’t separate top and bottom pieces but all connected, any shifting immediately caused stimulation in the crotch area. I mumbled as I adjusted my position again.

As I felt the cool yet cozy sensation, I moved my hand to take a photo, but by then my interest had faded, so I tossed the phone aside.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, I closed my legs due to the subtle tingling sensation that remained in my crotch.

For some reason, my first conversation with Sera came to mind today. Was it because I was thinking about my crotch?

No, if I became interested in such things with this body, I wouldn’t be able to live a normal life.

I shook my head. Since this wasn’t even my original body, being too concerned would be problematic. I thought it best to just spend time as the situation allowed.

It was comfortable.

A body that could live without sleeping or eating. And yet, I could sleep when I wanted to and eat when I wanted to. What an amazing body this was.

But separate from the comfort, I felt that people disliked it.

As I zoned out, I found myself reflecting on what had happened at the Academy during March. What stood out most were my first meetings with everyone.

Actually, there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t unique. Karen was before the entrance ceremony, Sera talked about lewd things, …and among the second-years, there was someone who frowned upon seeing me.

I still didn’t know their name, but it was possible they hoped I’d never find out, which made me feel a bit sad.

If someone simply disliked me, I could brush it off, but facing hostile emotions made me increasingly conscious of it.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head again.

Since all these encounters were unusual, they kept leading me to strange thoughts. I sighed involuntarily. Sprawled out on the bed, I stared at the ceiling. After sighing deeply as if the ground would cave in, I quietly muttered.

“I hate exam periods…”

I thought I was separate from exams. When everyone was caught up in assignments and exam periods, I felt a slight sense of superiority for having free time.

But that turned into loneliness when I was the only one with free time.

It felt like everyone was running busily while I alone walked, stopped, and sat repeatedly. It didn’t seem entirely pleasant to enjoy this leisure by myself while everyone else had gone far ahead.

Pouting, I suddenly got up. Then I dashed to where the Professor was.

“Professor!”

The Professor, who had been typing on her laptop, was startled by my voice and looked up. After briefly making eye contact, I approached and took a seat beside her.

“What’s wrong? Couldn’t take a photo? Want me to take one for you?”

“Ah, no…”

“Then?”

She must have thought I came back because I got stuck while taking photos. But once I went to my room, I didn’t even think about photos anymore.

Originally, I was just looking for something to do because I was bored, and taking photos was what I found, not because I enjoyed taking them.

“Just… hmm.”

It felt like I was being too childish, so I hesitated to speak.

I leaned slightly against the Professor’s body and peeked at the exam papers she was working on.

“I was wondering when you’d be done…?”

As I looked up at the Professor while continuing my words, she gently embraced me. The touch of her arm around my shoulder made me feel like I could fall asleep at any moment.

“Was Ourr bored?”

“Yes.”

When I nodded honestly, the Professor chuckled.

“Then I’ll play with you after I finish a bit more, okay?”

“Let’s just shower and go to bed together.”

I stretched my left arm slightly and wrapped it around the Professor’s waist. The Professor was embracing my shoulder, and I was leaning against her, embracing her in return.

The Professor stroked my head once and then continued her work in this position.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“It’s warm and nice.”

The Professor told me it was fine to stay like this.

It seemed she wasn’t just saying it to be nice, as she continued working without showing any signs of being bothered, which was surprising.