episode_0023

“Unbelievable! Share a room with this guy?”

“This guy, and besides, the rooms are spacious, so we have no choice.”

“I’m fine with it! Friends getting closer by sharing rooms before bed! It was my dream!”

“Come on, don’t be too enthusiastic. If there’s only that room left?”

“Yeah. If it bothers you too much, just place your room one space away from mine. My room, Saint’s room, your room in order.”

“Oh my! Having friends on both sides! I love it!!”

“Scandalous. This lewd woman. You might cause trouble for the Saint. She even says the soundproofing is good. I should definitely take the middle room.”

“Sigh, do as you please.”

“No… Why won’t you listen to my opinion?”

After a brief commotion, they each went into their rooms. As Prefect Crea said, the rooms seemed to be magical spaces, much larger than they appeared from the outside. Spacious enough for four people to live comfortably.

“Sigh, I’m tired. I should wash up first…?”

“Eek…?”

Feeling a presence, she turned around to see the Saint staring at her without covering her face with both hands. The Saint gestured as if to say not to mind her and continue.

“Um, this is my room…?”

“I know! To foster friendship among friends, you’re supposed to have pajama parties in your room!”

Proudly holding up a book, the Saint’s hand contained ’30 Ways to Make Friends.’

“Well, that seems more like something for same-sex friends… Anyway, I’m a bit tired now, let’s gather and play later.”

“Okay! It’s a promise!”

After finally sending off the Saint, sounds were heard from somewhere. Though it seemed to come from the next room, remembering the good soundproofing, she cautiously approached the source of the noise.

“Ahem~ Toward the stars!”

“You really can’t sing.”

“What, what! You, you came into my room!?”

“No, I mean what I want to say… Isn’t this my room?”

“No way! You pervert! Finally revealing your true colors!”

Amidst the chaos of claiming each other’s rooms, it ended with a girl wearing my spare clothes coming out and confirming that it was indeed my room.

“I distinctly remember unpacking in my room and going to the bathroom…”

“Yeah, I was about to do the same. If it weren’t for the Saint, it would have been a bigger problem.”

“Why me?”

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

***

“Hahaha! Right, I forgot to mention that!”

“You should’ve told me quickly… How can you mess up the rooms like this?”

As Prefect Crea mentioned, Hamelren, the third headmaster who built Lutin Dormitory and was a grand mage, had a special talent for spatial magic. Unfortunately, when he built this dormitory, he was still inexperienced, and the spatial expansion spells occasionally got entangled, causing such transitions.

“Why us of all people…”

“The other rooms have decent distances, so they transition to the common room. It’s just that your three rooms are unusually close to each other.”

“Is there any solution? Can’t we move the rooms or something?”

“There are no spare rooms, and even if there were a solution… Grand Mage Hamelren has to undo the magic. How? Oh well, maybe if you become grand mages or swordmasters.”

“Oh my…”

Feeling despair at the lack of solutions, the girl sat down as the Saint, still unconcerned, urged to explore the dormitory quickly. For some reason, it felt like taking care of children, and a sense of longing crept in.

“Come on, let’s go! Let’s do our best! Yay!”

“Yay…”

The interior of Luton dormitory was spacious and pleasant than expected. Each room was magically expanded, and there were facilities like a swimming pool, training ground, and practice area underground, making it possible to train here without going to school. Of course, if you don’t actually go to school, the homeroom teacher will come to correct you…

Evening meals could be eaten whenever with fresh ingredients prepared by a professional every day. No matter how much I thought about it, the treatment was too good to be called a dormitory.

“Sigh. I’m sleepy now… I’ll go in first…”

“It’s already 8 o’clock…?”

“Oh. Haven’t you heard that beauty sleep saying? To follow that, you need to sleep at least 10 hours a day!”

“Ah… Yes…”

Each went into their rooms and sat down at their desks to record the hectic day. Perhaps it had become a habit not to forget memories of past lives over the past few years, so not writing every day made me feel uneasy.

Rustle rustle.

Thud-

“Umm…”

“Hmm?”

“What?”

“It looks like you’ve crossed over to my room again.”

“Yeah… sigh… How can’t we solve this…”

Just finished washing my face, lying on the bed, still a little wet on my head, fingertips and cheeks slightly reddened from washing with cold water. Feeling strange, I turned my head slightly to see the girl looking at me as if something was off.

“You were practicing Professor Rose’s technique earlier, right? If you use Hamelren’s magic the same way, wouldn’t that work?”

“This is not such a simple magic. And I didn’t copy Professor Rose’s technique.”

“Oh, then how did you use the same technique?”

“The star told me.”

The girl who said that turned back inward and continued her story.

“Our tribe consists of people who listen to the stories of the stars for generations. When the chosen one becomes an adult, they each choose a star.”

“After choosing, what do you do?”

“As I said, we listen to the story of the star. According to the chosen star, we record its story. As we achieve various feats, as its constellation grows, we record it.”

“What if, what if. What if you don’t choose a star? What happens then?”

“That can’t happen. As the price of listening to the story of the star, it’s the destiny our tribe has chosen. That’s why we don’t have a name until we choose a star. Until then, there is no reason for us to exist.”

With a mocking or bitter smile on her lips, the girl lying back towards the ceiling seemed burdened beyond her years.

“That’s too harsh. Living a life dependent on a star.”

“Exactly. We are like moons chasing stars. Bound to the star, destined to love only the star for a lifetime.”

“Are you okay with that…? Have you accepted choosing that path?”

“I have no choice, I can’t help it! I wanted to live a normal life too! But, constantly. Constantly, how do I deal with my heart being drawn to the star! How!”

The girl, seeming unable to rebel but shouting as if she couldn’t do anything about herself, appeared to have faced reality too early, becoming sad. A girl who was about to enter high school soon. In a reality where she had no choice but to choose reality. A dream without herself.

During her time in the orphanage, some children became adults too early. Especially those abandoned by their families. The world, the orphanage was an environment that simply frustrated them and passively transformed themselves.

Already too disappointed to expect anything more. Those children. The girl in front of me seemed to belong to that category.

“I mean, do you think I’ve never rebelled? No matter what I do, no matter how much trouble I cause, with that kind of gaze that seems to see me as an inanimate object, how am I supposed to react!”

In the book thrown by the girl as if venting her anger, there was only a drawing of a star missing from the side, with stars falling out.

“I, too. Just have to accept it, living with that mindset. Just, even for a day, thought about finding the star quickly. Why do you keep shaking my constellation!”

“Look! After meeting you, all the constellations I chased after have scattered. I’ve lost my star!”

The girl grabbed me, spewing words without knowing what she was saying.

“Then, then you should become a star.”

“You!.. Am I.. a star?”

“Yes. Don’t chase after the stars. You are becoming a star. Live a life chasing after no one but yourself.”

“But, I have a mission to record the story of the stars..”

“Yes, that’s right. Recording your story. Not recording the story of someone else that you can never reach in your lifetime. Live through your own story that you see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and feel with your body!”

“My story..”

The girl looked at me with a dazed look as if hit hard on the head with a hammer. But behind those eyes, there was a sparkling dawn. By the light of dawn, the girl ignited like firewood.

“No one in the tribe is like that person…”

“A star chasing after stars is definitely unique. In that case, you should be the first.”

“I don’t know. Still, nothing.. My life is being shaken in an instant.. I can’t see the road ahead anymore, I can’t hear the voice of the star I was chasing.”

“You still don’t know? Listen to your voice and follow the path you see.”

Suddenly, the girl’s book floated up, and the scattered drawings began to tidy up. Planets aligned one by one. And the largest star appeared. Except for the name of the empty star, everything was there.

“I’ve never seen a constellation like this before. Can I really become the owner of this constellation..?”

“Still worried? Look.”

While holding the anxious girl’s hand, she began to draw strokes one by one in the empty star’s name slot.

Stella.

The name of the girl who chose to become a star herself.