episode_0028

After overcoming the crisis of coming out in life, I considered ending the visit as it was.

“Dakota. How about seeing Lager’s face anyway?”

At my words, Dakota lowered her head.

“It’s embarrassing. Even if it’s not today, I don’t know how to face Godin.”

Of course, I wasn’t in my right mind, but in front of him, I almost tore my blouse open, and the memory was too vivid.

Dakota seemed to have no confidence in raising his face in front of him.

In my heart, I wanted to say, “Hey, he’s actually a girl!” But the moment I said that, I would be treated as a lunatic.

“So are you going to live without seeing him for the rest of your life?”

I had to resort to drastic measures.

Dakota pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded lightly.

Seeing that, I continued speaking.

“You have to keep bumping into each other, and say nonsensical things to make up for it. If you keep avoiding it, you’ll just be the girl who tore her blouse in front of the guy she likes for the rest of your life.”

That was actually my story too.

Anyway, since I couldn’t live without seeing Jisoo for the rest of my life, I did all sorts of stupid things to erase that embarrassing past.

I deliberately went to Jisoo’s writing and left malicious comments, or drew illustrations of the heroine being harmed by the villain in the story and sent them to Jisoo only via DM.

In fact, confessing was so embarrassing that I thought about how to do even worse things.

As a result, the awkwardness blurred to the point where it was almost impossible to express it as a memory of the past.

We became friends again.

Whether Dakota would get along well with Lager after going through that process, or whether she would remain a close friend like me, I didn’t know.

Honestly, it was not very pleasant for me if Dakota got too close to Lager.

But.

But when I saw Dakota unable to muster the courage to see Lager because of her embarrassing mistake, I couldn’t just ignore it.

Whether they get along or not is their problem.

I decided to help Dakota for now.

“Just say that. You won’t see him forever, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll call him.”

“Wait a minute!”

Seeing me get up from the chair, Dakota hurriedly reached out while sitting on the bed.

I turned around to look at her and added one more word.

“This time, it’s not about improving the relationship. It’s just about starting.”

“But… shouldn’t we think of something to say before we meet?”

“Once you start bumping into each other, everything will work out. The longer you delay, the more excuses you’ll have to make, right?”

Dakota nodded silently in agreement with my words.

And then, with a determined expression, she regained some confidence, even though she might not be as arrogant as usual.

“Okay. I’ll try somehow.”

“That’s the attitude.”

I chuckled and raised my thumb.

Then I pushed Lager into the room and said, “What’s wrong, why?” I decided to explain the reason later.

If I smoke a cigarette and come back, the timing will be perfect. I rummaged through my pocket and headed for the elevator.

*

As expected.

After smoking a cigarette and coming down, Lager was just coming out of the room.

I waved lightly to her through the crack in the door, and then I and Lager got into the elevator together.

Lager didn’t say anything while the elevator was going down.

“What did you talk about?”

She remained silent even at that question.

“What did you talk about?”

“We didn’t talk about anything. We just sat in silence for a while, and then suddenly he apologized.”

“Really?”

“It was all a mistake. Forget about it. I said I understood.”

Hmm. I nodded my head.

The elevator door opened. Lager and I walked side by side out of the elevator and headed towards the hospital.

“Oh, right.”

As we were heading back to the dormitory from the hospital, Lager seemed to have a thought and took out his phone to show me a screen.

[Defeat the demons in Pahilo!]

[Additional reward conditions]

[1. Be with Ael Cloie]

[2. Protect Ael Cloie at least once]

[3. Return without dying]

“Do you want to do this? Call?”

Night shift.

Literally, it’s a mission to patrol the iron fence all night. If any demons come over the fence, we defeat them and prevent the situation from escalating by reporting to the Academy if necessary.

I didn’t know what rewards were given when saving the world, but as there was a saying that if you didn’t earn a certain amount of points, you couldn’t do something, I had to seize every opportunity that came my way.

Even if it felt like taking out insurance, it would be good for my heart to accumulate as many points as possible.

“Okay. Call.”

So, I accepted.

“Okay. Let’s secure number 1 first.”

“But how are we going to do it?”

The only problem is that we don’t go on duty at this time.

There is a separate duty group assigned for tomorrow’s mission to Pahilo, so what are we going to do about that?

Lager answered nonchalantly with a look that seemed to say, “Isn’t it obvious?”

“We’ll just switch with the duty group that goes in this way.”

“How?”

“There are ways.”

With a confident look, it seemed like he had faith in it.

And the next day at lunch.

“Hey. I switched the duty group.”

Lager had successfully switched the duty group.

“Wow, really? How did you do it?”

I asked Lager while poking at my curry rice. Lager took a sip of water with a smug look, leaning back in his chair.

“It’s nothing, really.”

But I was really curious. What kind of magic did he use?

He looked like he was dying to brag about it, asking for such a high price.

“Come on, tell me quickly.”

“Actually, I switched our remaining weekend all-day duty with someone else’s.”

“Oh.”

Come to think of it, the weekend all-day duty was just a facade, and it was practically like going out. Switching night shifts with going out, the other party must have been puzzled.

“But why didn’t you ask why they didn’t switch?”

If it’s obvious that the shoe doesn’t fit, the other party would be curious about the reason.

“Well, just because.”

Lager vaguely evaded the question about that.

Suspicious. I narrowed my eyes and stared at him.

“You said you were going with Ael, right?”

As Lena, who was eating curry rice next to me, asked, Lager’s eyes flickered with a hint of embarrassment. He coughed awkwardly a couple of times.

“What? What’s with you?”

The suspicion grew. When I asked, Lena explained with a slightly annoyed face.

“Within the Academy, romantic relationships are technically prohibited. If a couple breaks up, or worse, if they get too close and a child is born, it can affect combat effectiveness.”

“But why is that?”

Lena clicked her tongue slightly, shook her head with a tsk tsk, and continued speaking.

“Think about it. Where would couples who are already dating show their affection? Where would they satisfy their boiling desires?”

“Hey, Lena Frilwood.”

Lager warned her to stop with a low growl, but Lena instead stuck out her tongue and pushed for the final blow as if to say, “Bring it on.”

“So, in other words, he basically said, ‘I need to go hook up with her, so move out of the way!’ Am I wrong, you pervert!”

I shot a glare at Lager.

Lager avoided my gaze.

It was obviously a tacit agreement.

I then forcefully kicked Lager’s shin under the desk.