episode_0007

“Please keep your relationship with Lager special.”

“Why?”

Although she seemed skeptical, her lips were subtly trembling.

To be precise, it seemed like she was desperately trying to suppress the corners of her mouth and eyebrows that were trying to rise.

She really likes him.

It’s surprising how she can like someone so purely and openly. I even felt a bit softened towards her, thinking she was cute.

“As I said before, Lager and I are just neighborhood friends. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I thought Chloe Yang naturally liked Lager.”

Still holding a bit of caution, she honestly expressed her feelings, no different from other girls her age.

I felt a bit more relaxed.

“I grew up seeing all sorts of things while sticking together for nearly 20 years. If I still look good as a man, that’s weird.”

“Is that so?”

She hesitated, fidgeting with the mug in her hand.

“But that’s just Chloe Yang’s personal impression of Gudin.”

“Is there a special reason you have to connect me with him?”

I unknowingly swallowed once. It was a sharp question.

The reason I proposed to Dakota was simple.

According to the information the tail provided, the goal of the character ‘Ail Chloe’ is to become a female.

Whether I can avoid that goal or not, at least I should delay it as much as possible.

There should be no men around me who are targeting me.

But I can’t just push Lager away. Anyway, there will be a lot of information I can get through Lager in this world.

The easiest way to maintain my identity without making a fuss is to connect the two of us as in the original work.

But since I can’t explain these complicated circumstances directly,

“I don’t want any unnecessary misunderstandings. Like today.”

I decided to replace it with a simple and easy-to-understand reason.

Dakota took a sip of coffee after hesitating for a moment. The warm coffee had cooled down a bit, and the steam that was rising had decreased slightly.

“Okay.”

Dakota nodded.

“I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you.”

“But regardless, the disciplinary committee will still convene.”

“Why, why?”

“Entering the male dormitory without permission and causing damage to property are strict facts that need to be held accountable.”

She almost stuck out her tongue at the cold tone of explaining the charges like a judge. Do I really like him?

But Lager said there wouldn’t be any big deal even if the disciplinary committee convened. Considering Lager’s reaction and Dakota’s words, it could be seen as a minor disciplinary action that could be overlooked.

Before making a hasty judgment, I decided to confirm one more thing.

“If I only receive disciplinary action at the level we just discussed, what kind of punishment would be imposed?”

At my question, Dakota took out her phone and scrolled through the screen, stopping at a certain point.

“Since you violated two rules, in the normal course of events, you would receive a risky disciplinary action like ‘priority summoning in a crisis situation.’”

“Um…”

“But since it’s your first violation of the school rules and you’re a freshman who may not have known the rules well, if you appeal to that point, it could end with a moderate fine.”

From the term ‘moderate fine,’ it seemed that the academy was a system where students were nurtured at the expense of the academy, rather than students paying for their education.

The term ‘priority summoning in a crisis situation’ as a disciplinary action, in other words, means that the academy needs to train manpower to fight against them in case of a crisis like the last one happening again.

This is totally like being in the military. Darn it, the story of a military-trained beauty re-enlisting was right. I had a feeling something was off ever since the school uniform looked more like a military uniform.

Even though I hadn’t been to the military, I cursed inwardly at Lager, who needlessly recreated military life in the novel.

“Don’t worry too much. Nothing that serious will happen.”

“Then why did you call me in for questioning, knowing that?”

In response to my suspicion, she turned her head and took a sip of the now cold coffee.

Her answer seemed sufficient.

*

And a few days later.

The disciplinary committee meeting was held on Friday.

After finishing the morning classes and while other students were going to lunch, we headed to the meeting room on the 5th floor of the main building. Since the morning theory class was held in a 3rd-floor classroom, we decided to just take the stairs up to the 5th floor.

“Are you nervous?”

Lager asked as we reached the 5th floor.

“How about you?”

“Me? I’m fine, no big deal.”

Lager showed a relaxed expression, smiling confidently.

Honestly, even after hearing that from Dakota, the word ‘disciplinary committee’ still made me nervous.

Where does this confidence come from?

“Oh, by the way, Ale.”

As Lager was about to knock on the door of the meeting room where the disciplinary committee was going to be held, she stopped, looking like she remembered something, and turned to me.

“What did you talk about with Dakota?”

“Oh, that.”

“She said she’ll tell me later.”

It wasn’t a big deal, but I had to filter it out, so I hesitated on when to bring it up.

Lager seemed to be bothered by it for some reason.

“She said exactly what I told you. Just a routine inquiry. She called you because she didn’t know anyone else. Surprisingly, she believed it, didn’t she?”

“It’s not about believing, it’s the truth.”

“Anyway, that’s what happened. …Oh, and she casually asked about the disciplinary action level. Since it’s your first time, it’s likely to end with just a warning.”

“See, what did I say.”

Lager once again laughed confidently and patted her chest.

That’s too much confidence, it’s almost annoying to see.

After a fake cough, Lager knocked on the door of the meeting room.

“Come in.”

Upon hearing those words, she slowly opened the door and walked in.

The meeting room was surprisingly small. The instructors were seated at a long oval table, and at the table closest to us, Dakota and another student were seated. Probably representing the student council for the disciplinary hearing.

“Let’s begin.”

One of the instructors said, and Dakota, looking more formal than usual, stood up from her chair.

Her neatly tied purple hair seemed quite sturdy.

She calmly and concisely briefed on the necessary information at a moderate pace.

After the briefing, she added some brief comments on how to approach the incident.

“The preliminary investigation by the student council found that Lager Godin entered the female dormitory because he was directly called by Ale Cloey, and she had no one else to call in an urgent situation.”

“What possible reason could there be for a male student to enter the dormitory, let alone his room?”

One instructor raised his hand and questioned. Since it was not discussed with Dakota, she looked at me.

All eyes were suddenly on me.

It was a bit embarrassing, but I had a prepared answer in case something like this happened.

“Uh…”

It was a bit embarrassing to say, but…

“…the door lock was broken.”

There was a moment of awkward silence in the meeting room.

“Did you say you broke the door to call your colleague because it was locked?”

With a look of incredulity, the instructor asked me, as I sheepishly looked down at my toes and confessed in a muffled voice.

“…Yes. I was a new student and didn’t know what to do.”

Laughter erupted from all around.

In the end, I had fallen from grace in front of the instructors as a ‘foolish newbie who couldn’t even handle a broken door lock.’

But still, it was much better than being accused of wasting time due to the tail attached to my body.

Dakota, who was momentarily at a loss for words, suddenly regained his composure and spoke again.

“To summarize, um… the fact that she made an unavoidable choice to resolve an unforeseen accident at the time. And considering that Lager Gudin was a new student with insufficient knowledge of the rules, we would appreciate your understanding.”

Whether Dakota had been racking his brain tirelessly to replace the phrase ‘unable to come out because the door was locked’ with ‘unforeseen accident,’ beads of sweat had formed on the back of his snowy white neck.

I had always thought that being a leader meant playing the role of a strict disciplinarian at the academy, but it seemed that in situations like this, they also represented the students’ perspectives.

She looked slightly cool.

The instructors requested that we wait outside for a moment to confer.

About five minutes passed.

We returned to the conference room and faced the instructors once again.

In the center of the oval table, the male instructor seated farthest away from us began the announcement in a calm voice.

“Well then, we will now announce the disciplinary results.”