episode_0016

When Johanna spoke in a low voice, all the Prefect students sheathed their swords. Indeed, “Prefects” could be written, but “Johanna’s Fanclub” would be read.

All the Prefect students sheathed their swords and glared at me. I tried my best to ignore their gazes and ran towards Johanna.

“Waaah, Johanna Sunbae! I was so scared!” I pretended to cry, rubbing the eyeholes of my mask with both hands as I spoke. Of course, the tone and pitch of my voice were not those of someone actually crying.

“A lie.”

“Boom! How could you say such a thing! Look here. Can’t you see the cold sweat dripping from my shock?”

Johanna looked at my face with her characteristic blank eyes. *Am I really that handsome?*

“I can’t see it because of your mask. Take off your mask.”

*Ah, it’s not because I’m handsome, but because the mask hides the cold sweat.*

“Ahem. Unfortunately, the wind has already dried my sweat, so I won’t be able to show you.”

The more I talked with Johanna, the more intense the Prefect students’ gazes became. Indeed, since the Prefect Committee was composed only of girls, it made sense that they would stare so intensely at someone as handsome as me.

I leaned closer to Johanna and whispered into her ear. “The Prefect seniors are looking at me with such intense gazes. Why do you think that is?”

Hearing my words, Johanna turned her head towards the Prefect students. The Prefect students, who had been glaring at me with incredibly sharp eyes, instantly began talking amongst themselves with docile expressions, as if they had never done any such thing.

“What’s for lunch today?” “The weather is really nice today.”

It was an awkward conversation by anyone’s standards, but Johanna seemed not to notice, staring blankly at me again.

“It doesn’t seem like that at all?”

As Johanna turned her head, the Prefect students’ gazes grew even more intense than before. Anyone could tell they were silently warning me not to speak to Johanna.

“Gasp! You’re right! I must have been mistaken!” I pretended to be startled by their gazes, moved behind Johanna, grabbed her shoulders, and trembled.

At that, a Prefect student who had been trying to kill me with her gaze genuinely seemed intent on doing so, reaching for her sword.

“Is something wrong?” Johanna asked me as if she knew nothing. Considering Johanna didn’t seem to notice them drawing their swords, it appeared they weren’t truly serious about cutting me down.

*Or maybe they were?*

Now that I looked, other students were teaming up to restrain the one trying to draw her sword.

Deciding to stop teasing them, I removed my hands from Johanna’s shoulders and spoke to her. “By the way, Johanna Sunbae, do you normally conduct dress code inspections at the Academy entrance too?”

As far as I knew, Johanna had never once conducted a dress code inspection. I understood that dress code inspections were usually handled by the Prefect Committee’s newest member. This wasn’t some bad custom of the Prefects; rather, while the junior handled the relatively easy dress code inspection, the rest of the Prefects patrolled inside or outside the Academy.

However, among the Prefect students standing at the Academy entrance right now, there were even students strong enough to be mentioned in Croaca. Of course, I knew why they were here. It was probably because Johanna came out. Then, why did Johanna come out?

“I don’t normally.” Though I had asked the question, the Prefect students seemed even more eager for her answer.

“I waited to see you this time too.” When Johanna said “this time too,” the Prefect students whispered amongst themselves.

“Surely he didn’t make Johanna-nim wait last time too?” “From their conversation, it sounds like it.” “How dare he make Johanna-nim wait!”

The reason Johanna said “this time too” was because she had waited for me on the day of the entrance exam as well. The Prefect students seemed to have misunderstood that I had made an appointment and then arrived late. However, I found it amusing not to clear up the misunderstanding, so I didn’t offer any explanation.

“Now that you mention it, wasn’t Johanna-nim looking downcast when she briefly left and returned on orientation day?” “You’re right. Surely it wasn’t because of that guy back then too?” The reason Johanna had been downcast was probably because I had immediately rejected her offer to join the Prefect Committee.

*Oh? Then this really is my fault.*

Before the Prefect students could genuinely start thinking about killing me, I asked Johanna a question.

“You waited to see me? Do you have something to tell me?” *Perhaps?* “Gasp! Surely this time it’s to see my handsome face?”

“That’s not it.” Johanna replied with a straight face again, just like last time. *Tsk.*

“I have something important to tell you.” The Prefect students became noisy at Johanna’s words.

“Oh my, important words? Surely not?” “Johanna-nim with a man like that! But if it makes Johanna-nim happy…”

I also wanted to hear these “important words” Johanna spoke of, but…

“Sunbae, I don’t have time right now. Could I hear it later?” If I was any later, I’d be tardy for class. That devilish professor was the instructor for the special class, and there’s no telling what would happen if I were late.

At my words, Johanna looked downcast and bowed her head.

As Johanna became downcast, the Prefect students’ gazes turned incredibly fierce.

“It’s too much to talk now, so how about we have lunch together a little later?”

“Okay.”

Being able to eat with Johanna at lunchtime meant I could hear her “important words,” and my 23rd wish, to eat with Johanna, would also come true.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Just a moment.” I was about to head to class when I stopped at Johanna’s voice calling out to me.

“Huh? Is there a problem?”

“You’re tardy. Get your demerit points before you go.” *Tsk. I thought I was natural this time.*

A Prefect student approached me with paper and a pen. *Is that where they write down students who receive demerit points?*

“What’s your name?” As I was about to say my name, I saw the Prefect students perk up their ears. *Surely they’re not going to remember my name and try to target me as a group, are they?* *Nah, no way.*

“My name is Loki! Tardiness is 1 demerit point, right?”

“That’s right. Surprisingly, I thought you’d try to use your connection to Johanna-nim to avoid demerits, especially if you were bold enough to try slipping past the Prefect Committee.”

“I may have the guts to sneak past the Prefect seniors, but I don’t have the audacity to escape by using my connections.” The Prefect student writing down my name casually ignored my words. Just as I was really about to leave…

“Sunbae, but he’s wearing a mask. Aren’t there separate demerit points for that?” Everyone paused at the words of one Prefect student. Of course, I stopped too.

“You’re right? But is a mask a dress code violation?” “Uh… it’s not normal, is it?” “If masks are forbidden, then wouldn’t necklaces and bracelets also be forbidden?” “Can a mask be considered an accessory?”

One of the Prefect students, who had been huddling together in thought, approached me and spoke. “Did you wear your uniform properly?”

“Of course! I wore my uniform perfectly.” I spun around in place to show that I had properly worn my uniform.

The student who had spoken to me walked back towards the other Prefect students. “What should we do? He’s wearing his uniform properly.” It seemed they intended to give me demerit points for not wearing my uniform properly, if that had been the case, and then just end it there.

But since I was wearing my uniform properly, they now genuinely had to decide if a mask counted as a dress code violation.

“Just let him go.” Just as everyone was pondering, Johanna spoke. “If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility.”

When Johanna said she would take responsibility, the Prefect students looked bewildered. Indeed, they wouldn’t want Johanna to suffer any harm.

And in this situation, I tactlessly spoke. “Johanna Sunbae is taking responsibility for me?”

At my joke, the Prefect students glared at me as if they wanted to kill me. Frightened by their gazes, I fled the scene as if escaping.

Of course, Johanna wouldn’t have to take responsibility because of my mask. “Johanna Sunbae, then I’ll see you at lunchtime a little later!”

“Okay.”

. . .

Johanna watched Loki’s swaggering back as he walked away.

She then recalled the moment Loki spoke to the Prefect students and naturally passed by them. If he hadn’t greeted the Prefect students, saying “You always work hard,” as he passed them, none of the Prefect students would have known Loki had gone by.

If Loki had even used his unique magic to erase his presence, perhaps even she wouldn’t have noticed him.

The surprising points didn’t stop there.

When a Prefect student’s hand was about to touch his shoulder, the movement he displayed was shocking.

*He’s faster than last time.*

He had become incredibly faster, incomparable to how he was on the entrance exam day.

How could he have trained to become so strong so quickly in such a short time? Thinking that she should ask him this at lunch, Johanna began to walk.

Since Johanna’s direction was opposite to the Prefect Committee office, one of the Prefect students spoke up. “Oh? Johanna-nim, where are you going? That’s not the Prefect Committee office.”

To the Prefect student’s question, Johanna walked on, replying briefly. “To the Student Council Office.”

To create a rule that recognized masks as accessories, Johanna moved towards the Student Council Office.

.

Meanwhile, Loki, whom Johanna was so worried about…

“So, the reason you got demerit points on the very first day is just because you overslept?”

“Uh, to summarize it simply, yes?”

He was being reprimanded in front of Professor Alicia, kneeling with his hands raised.