Ch.7975 – Fruit Fragrance

[“What if a teacher catches us!”]

[“Why? It’s not even real cigarettes.”]

[“Still! But…”]

NoName’s confident behavior made Yu-na unable to hide her anxiety.

Although it worked by inhaling potion and expelling the bitter part as smoke, it looked exactly like someone smoking a cigarette.

Yu-na had been skeptical at first, but when NoName firmly stated that the principle was exactly the same, she felt guilty about enabling her friend’s rebellious behavior.

Her understanding that NoName must be struggling to consume potions clashed with her conscience that students should maintain certain standards, causing Yu-na’s insides to burn with worry.

‘We’re not even supposed to use magic freely on campus in the first place…!’

NoName seemed to have developed a taste for it, as going to the backyard during lunch became her daily routine.

Yu-na imagined that if she were caught by a teacher from another class or an academy official, she might face expulsion in the worst case.

Lunchtime had always been Yu-na’s self-study period.

She would quickly finish her meal and return to the classroom to review or memorize rune characters while fighting off post-meal drowsiness.

However, she couldn’t just leave NoName alone.

It was always Yu-na’s job to keep watch so her friend wouldn’t get caught.

“Is it really okay to use magic like this?”

“Seems like it’s fine up to 2nd circle spells. I haven’t been caught so far. Oh right, 6th period today is the last performance evaluation, isn’t it?”

NoName calmly exhaled smoke as she spoke.

Usually, Yu-na thought of her as just a pretty doll-like girl with few expressions, but seeing her like this, she looked almost like a scary gang leader from a back alley.

“Yeah, thanks to you, I think I’ll do well on this evaluation.”

Yu-na hadn’t been wasting her time either.

Whenever they were alone, NoName would explain the model magic circle to her, giving Yu-na enough confidence that she could draw magic circles with her eyes closed now.

“What’s your favorite fruit, Yu-na?”

“Fruit? Why suddenly? Umm… apples?”

“Apples. Right, what was the code for apples again?”

NoName took out her phone from her pocket, searched for something, and modified the engraving magic circle.

With a satisfied smile, she bit down on the pen again.

“I wonder if this will smell somewhat like apples?”

There was a whirring sound as heating and vaporization occurred inside the pen.

Acrid smoke emerged from NoName’s mouth just like before.

“Apple scent…?”

But when the mist tickled Yu-na’s nose, she could only look puzzled at the sweet fragrance.

The bitter scent that had burned her throat was completely gone, replaced by a sweet apple aroma.

“Ah… the taste is still the same. Only the smell changes.”

“What? How did you do that?”

“Does it smell good?”

“Yes! It’s super sweet.”

“That’s good. I noticed you really hated when I smoked this, so I tried something different.”

“Was it… that obvious?”

Yu-na asked in a shrinking voice.

She suddenly remembered that NoName was skilled at reading people’s emotions.

Even when Yu-na had been hostile toward her out of jealousy, or when she kept quiet out of guilt for causing trouble, NoName had acted as if she could see right through her thoughts.

NoName came over and sat next to Yu-na on the bench. Yu-na awkwardly avoided her gaze.

“Professor Cheon said he’ll soon be able to make pill-form potions. I’ll only smoke like this until then. It’s annoying for you to follow me around every time, isn’t it?”

Professor Cheon had been pestering the food science professors, and a prototype pill-form potion would soon be available.

NoName patted Yu-na’s head as she asked for understanding, causing Yu-na to quickly turn her head back toward her.

“No, it’s not annoying at all…! That’s not what I… sniff… why am I crying…”

Yu-na rubbed her eyes, trying hard to hide her tears.

Having tasted the potion herself, she knew how terrible the liquid was.

The moment it touched your tongue, a burning sensation and nausea would overwhelm you. Yu-na couldn’t imagine drinking it as casually as NoName did.

She had thought NoName had gotten used to it since she never showed signs of pain.

Now she realized that when NoName had previously told her it was tolerable enough to drink on the bus, it was just to reassure her.

Saying she was fine as long as she had the potion meant that without it, she was essentially living on borrowed time.

‘NoName doesn’t want to drink this either… why am I only thinking about myself…!’

The more she thought about it, a mix of self-loathing and sympathy welled up, causing tears to stream down her face.

“I’m not crying! Really, I’m not…”

At the same time, she felt embarrassed about showing tears to a peer.

She couldn’t even count how many times she had cried in front of NoName.

Before she knew it, Yu-na was in NoName’s embrace.

Of all days, today NoName smelled like apples—Yu-na’s favorite scent.

Before she could sink deeper into the sweet abyss, Yu-na barely managed to pull herself together and stop crying.

“I want to try too. No, I will try it.”

“What, this?”

“Yes. I want to smoke too. You said it’s not even a real cigarette anyway.”

Telling herself this wasn’t rebellion but merely an act of empathy for her friend’s pain, she pressed NoName for instructions on using the magic circle.

“Since it’s your first time, try 0.5 ohms. You already know how to calculate the appropriate amount, right?”

“Yes. I can do it by myself.”

She was already well-versed in harmonic means.

But Yu-na decided to be a bit more ambitious and chose to increase the coil’s resistance value.

She wanted to show more smoke than NoName did.

“Hey, if you use that much…!”

“Huh…? *cough*! Whoa, this feels… *cough*! Kind of strange.”

“It’s a form of high-concentration mana treatment, so there might be a temporary euphoria. But it’s not addictive like mana grass.”

“Hoo, phooo… Look! Smoke is still coming out of my mouth!”

Yu-na puffed out her cheeks and blew out air as if she hadn’t been crying just moments ago.

Seeing her cheerful expression, NoName smiled and took back the potion flask.

“That’s enough. Not that impressive, right?”

“Yeah. It’s like eating a mint candy. My throat feels tingly.”

“Now your clothes smell like apples. What are you going to do?”

“It’s the same scent as yours, so it should be fine, right?”

“You’ve suddenly become bold? Still, don’t ever smoke real cigarettes. If you do, I’ll definitely tell your mother.”

“I’ll never smoke cigarettes!”

Yu-na jumped up from the bench and shouted.

A model student smoking was unimaginable!

On the other hand, she wondered how NoName could be so skilled at it when it must have been her first time too.

*Inhale*

*Exhale*

NoName held the potion in one hand with the other in her uniform pocket.

Yu-na stared at NoName, who kept puffing with an indifferent expression.

Feeling the persistent gaze, NoName met Yu-na’s eyes again.

“By the way, your eyes are all red from crying. Want me to blow on them?”

“Huh? I’m really fine!”

“Really? You can go back to class looking like this?”

NoName stood on her tiptoes to examine her eyes closely.

Yu-na reflexively looked away due to the suddenly close proximity.

Then her face froze.

“What’s wrong?”

NoName turned her head following Yu-na’s gaze.

At the corner of the building stood a boy with a bewildered expression, covering his own mouth.

“Yoon Si-hoo…?”

Yu-na’s voice came out in shock.

“NoName, what are you doing to Yu-na?”

“Um… how much did you see?”

“Are you two smoking?”

* * *

Yu-na barely managed to stop Si-hoo as he tried to run away.

Despite Yu-na’s insistence that it was all a misunderstanding, Si-hoo still looked at them with suspicious eyes.

When we returned to the classroom, Teacher Jackie welcomed us with a wave.

“Did you kids have a good lunch? Wow, that sweet smell is so nice! Did you put on perfume?”

“Smok—mmph!”

“Yes…! I put on apple-scented perfume!”

“Thanks to you, the classroom smells wonderful. Class is about to start, so everyone get ready and take your seats!”

Nice blocking, Seo Yu-na.

She quickly covered Si-hoo’s mouth as he was about to tattle, and we were able to return to our seats.

While Yu-na went to get her textbook from her locker, Si-hoo spoke to me curtly.

“Is it okay to lie to the teacher?”

“Since I added a fragrance magic formula, couldn’t this be considered a kind of perfume?”

“You were smoking…”

“Cigarettes are made from tobacco leaves. This is a potion.”

He couldn’t argue with that. It was the truth.

“Stop teaching Yu-na bad things.”

“I only taught her about the performance evaluation.”

“How is this related to the evaluation!”

“Believe what you want.”

“What if you get caught by a teacher?”

Cephiron Academy had demerit regulations.

But I didn’t particularly need good grades; I just wanted to be able to use magic to a reasonable extent.

I was experimenting day by day, increasing my single-cast mana usage to see if I would get caught.

And finding a decent way to consume potions this week was a big achievement for me.

I’d like to give Yu-na 100 praise stickers for providing the initial idea.

“Maybe you want to try it too?”

“No.”

“If not that, do you prefer girls who don’t smoke? I used to think that way too, a long time ago. For your information, Yu-na promised me she’ll never smoke, so don’t worry.”

“No! That’s not it at all!”

“What are you two talking about so excitedly? Tell me too!”

Han Seo-ri, who must have caught the scent, approached us with sparkling eyes.

“Han Seo-ri, what are you doing? Stop leaning on my shoulder, it’s heavy!”

“We were having a very serious discussion about Yoon Si-hoo’s preferences in women. Seo-ri, you know what…”

“Oh come on, NoName!”

“Si-hoo’s preferences? Wow, I’m super curious!”

“Aaaah, please stop!”

Ah, teasing these kids is so much fun.

Their reactions are exactly like Hiasen when he was young.