I Became the Academy's Pink Airhead - Chapter 24
It was during my 1st year, not long after enrolling.
The day after I had gone to search for randomly appearing dungeon gates in the northern wilderness but came up empty-handed.
I finally returned to school after receiving one ether ore that Hilde had given me after conquering a dungeon.
-This is payment for fighting together. So stop clinging to me.
The wind was cool in the dawn morning. As I faced that wind, pulling my bicycle through the old main gate of <Central Prism Academy>, there were people to welcome me.
Three 3rd year seniors standing in front of the main gate, bathed in the early morning sunlight. The only students attending <Central Prism Academy> approached in a group with worried expressions.
“…!”
“Clara!”
“Good heavens! How many days were you gone?”
“Look at the dust on your face!”
“Nina~ Bring a wet towel from the room~”
“Eeh… Why me again?”
“Hurry!”
“…”
The seniors had such ordinary appearances that it was hard to remember their faces even after not seeing them for a few days. When I returned with a disheveled appearance in the morning sun, they tried to wash my face with handkerchiefs.
And looking at me, who refused to wear <Central Prism Academy>’s female uniform and wandered around only in a tracksuit, the seniors said:
“Clara is cute but so strange… Always just wandering around in a tracksuit.”
“…”
That’s how a day at <Central Prism Academy> began.
The three 3rd year seniors took my hand and walked with me through the old, shabby school grounds, chattering about trivial things.
They weren’t particularly focused on studying.
They weren’t particularly devoted to fighting.
They weren’t particularly interested in the incidents happening in this academy city.
Just…
They were just really ordinary students.
“…”
These were probably the seniors that the ‘Clara’ in the game said she respected.
『Yes―♪ They were really good people☆ The memories of those times are still like jewels to me―☆』
“…”
They were people who would go somewhere in a year anyway.
And since they weren’t people who helped me become stronger, I didn’t really participate in conversations with them.
I was determined to become stronger to prove myself, following the long-cherished desire from my past life. For me, only exchanges with future strong ones and intense training were true daily life.
‘…Since hell knows who sent me to another world as they pleased, I’ll live as I please.’
Regardless of my thoughts, they were chattering away.
“Listen! There was a really touching story among the lunchtime broadcast stories played by the <United Student Council> Press Department yesterday!”
“Aah… What a shame. I was taking a nap so I couldn’t hear it.”
“Ugh… I always apply for that but why don’t they ever pick me?”
“Nina, you always just write a bunch of stories about food.”
“There’s no one who isn’t happy eating pancakes to their heart’s content…”
“Sheesh, you pig.”
“Uuugh… So mean.”
“Really~! I said I’d tell you a touching story―!”
“When Frida speaks, the story goes off on a tangent and becomes boring.”
“…Uhihi. That’s right, that’s right… Yaaawn.”
“Yaaawn…”
They say yawning is contagious.
The seniors kept yawning as they continued talking.
“Yawn… Getting up early is really tiring…”
“Shh―!”
“…”
Frida unconsciously looking at me and cautioning her friends.
It seems getting up early wasn’t their usual lifestyle pattern.
I realized then that the seniors had gotten up early to welcome me.
‘…No wonder it was strange that the leisurely seniors were always up when I came back after being out all night.’
Although I hadn’t particularly developed feelings of affection for them even now, somehow I felt sorry for them waiting for my return every morning.
“…”
For the first time since enrolling, I joined in their conversation. Fortunately or not… I was able to speak in Clara language filtered through the pretty filter, not in the blunt tone inside my heart.
“Um… seniors☆”
“…Yes?”
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
“Ahaha―☆ Um… You don’t have to wait for me, if you’re sleepy in the morning you can sleep in―☆ They say sleep is precious for beauties, right―♪”
“…”
“…”
“…”
A chilly silence.
I instantly regretted it inwardly.
‘…Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.’
And the three seniors opened their eyes wide, looked at each other and said:
“Clara finally spoke―!”
“Ahaha! That’s right! Sleep is precious―!”
“Uhihi…! Then shall we all take a nap together!”
“Agreed~”
The faces of the seniors trying to grab my hand and pull me along were beaming.
I said to them in confusion:
“Um… seniors―☆ I think you misunderstood my words☆”
“Hm?”
“I meant there’s no need to wait…”
“What are you saying!”
Frida grabbed both my hands and said:
“We’re seniors! It’s only natural for us to wait for our junior―!”
“…”
It’s natural to wait…
Somehow I couldn’t forget those words.
The warm hands holding mine, Frida’s eyes shining in the morning sun. And the memory of all of us taking a nap together in the old classroom with the cool spring breeze blowing.
Just a little…
It was the memory of the day I started to understand Clara’s words, just a little.
* * *
“…”
Listening to the operating sound of the ether floating train coming from outside the window, I suddenly remembered an old memory. It was the memory of the day I returned to <Central Prism Academy> in the morning sun after passing through such a dark plain.
The scenery of the northern academy city seen through the train window was indistinguishable because it was the middle of the night. Only the huge branches of the World Tree faintly shining in the distance allowed distinguishing between land and sky in the darkness.
Darkness settling.
The train passing through the silence of midnight was advancing towards the vast northern wilderness.
Rattle rattle―
“…”
“…”
“…”
Since it was a train reserved only to transport Bell of the <United Student Council> and us, the passenger car was quiet. Under the dimly lit indirect lighting. In the compartment, only the small breathing sounds of girls in red tracksuits could be heard.
Rustle―
Snore―
We had hurriedly left school in the middle of the night in our tracksuits, bringing only our equipment. And my juniors who had been listening to Bell’s story eventually succumbed to fatigue and the warmth of the compartment and fell asleep.
Alvit and Rota were sleeping leaning on chairs with swords and wands hanging at their waists respectively. And Kara was taking up an entire group seat due to her size and the size of the flag she had brought.
The only ones awake in the compartment were me and Bell.
Of course, Bell was still in her red tracksuit.
“…”
As I glanced at my sleeping juniors, my eyes met Bell’s sitting in the opposite seat.
“…!”
Bell, who had been constantly fidgeting at the sudden situation, awkwardly averted her eyes when our gazes met. Her black side tail swayed following her suddenly turned head.
‘Is it because of the setting that she doesn’t cross the line even though she’s a concept freak… She seems surprisingly timid apart from wanting to look strong.’
She seemed embarrassed to have asked for help from <Central Prism Academy>, which had nothing to do with this matter, even if it was an emergency.
Bell fixed her gaze on the window, cleared her throat unnecessarily, then said in a small voice:
“…It’s still far until we arrive. Why don’t you sleep?”
“I heard an exciting story after a long time♪ My heart is fluttering so I can’t sleep―☆”
“Ugh…! I’m sorry…! I won’t make you do anything dangerous, and I’ll definitely repay you… Um… Please keep this a secret… from the boss…”
“A girl’s secret is expensive―♪”
“Ugh… Alright! What do you want!”
“Hmm? I wonder if you can handle what I’ll say~☆”
“Don’t look down on me, okay? Do you know how many things the cute secretary of the <United Student Council> can do in the academy city!”
Bell put on a seemingly confident expression, but she couldn’t erase the anxiety about her situation in her wavering red eyes.
Seeing that, I responded with a meaningful smile:
“Huhuhu♪ Is that so~ I’ll have to ask for a very picky and precious thing then―☆”
“…”
“A very very difficult and picky lady’s request♪ Huhuhu―☆ I wonder if you can handle it―♡”
“…”
Bell spoke in a slightly worried voice:
“…Even the cute secretary can’t do crimes, okay?”
“Huhuhu―♪”
“H-Hey. You’re not serious, right?”
“Huhuhuhu―☆”
“Wh-What is it?! What are you going to make me do―?!”
“Bring me a box of delicious cookies later―♪ And let’s have a meal together―☆ Of course, Bell’s treat☆”
“Hey, don’t speak meaningfully when it’s nothing much―!!”
Bell’s shout was loud enough to make her side tail hair stand on end. Because of that, my juniors sleeping in the next seats reacted by tossing and turning.
“Mmm…”
“Suu…”
Bell flinched seeing that, then turned back to me and said in a small voice:
“…Don’t tease me over something so trivial.”
“Hey―☆ It’s desperate for us☆”
“This is why beggars… Anyway, I can really do that much, so you absolutely won’t tell the boss? Please…”
Her voice gradually diminished until it finally changed to a whisper. But that small voice contained undeniable desperation.
“…?”
Although I had teased Bell, I was somehow bewildered by her too abundant reaction.
Compared to the shamelessness the concept freak had shown in the game, it was somehow an excessively servile attitude. As long as she was an executive of the <United Student Council>, it shouldn’t be that strange to ask for help from a school belonging to the union.
‘The flaw is that the help was requested from the union’s poorest school.’
Setting aside the moral aspect, it could be seen as doing her best to be able to bring us as reinforcements who she had become acquainted with, in a situation where there was no time to go via <Mimir Technical High School>.
‘Or is there a reason she shouldn’t be caught by Hilde?’
We didn’t have to go far, Bell herself had mentioned the punishment wing while muttering. She seemed to have caused more trouble than what had come out in the game.
‘…Well, it’s something that happened while she was at <Central Prism Academy> for a trivial reason.’
An absent person in charge.
If we were to measure the degree of the mistake Bell had currently made, couldn’t it be compared to Ma Su who went mountain climbing because the scenery was nice?
‘It’s going to be big trouble.’
I nodded as I recalled Hilde’s face, who tended to be strict about principles. She was the type of person who would not only execute Yip Tsam Ma Su, but also behead Guan Yu who let Cao Cao go.
While thinking that, spending time.
I looked out the window with a somehow ominous premonition.
“…!”
“…?”
Bell seemed suspicious of my gaze and tilted her head before looking out the window as well. And seeing the gradually revealed state of the northern wilderness, she clicked her tongue.
“…Oh my.”
“…Oh dear☆”
At that moment, the train’s emergency broadcast was heard.
[…We inform all passengers. Due to an emergency situation that has occurred on this train’s route, we will make an emergency stop.]
[There will be an impact for the emergency stop, so please prepare in your seats.]
Screech――
The train gradually stopping with a chilling metallic sound.
My juniors who had woken up startled by the emergency broadcast sound walked towards the window we were looking at.
“Senior? What’s going on?”
“…Look over there.”
Rota, who had poked Alvit’s side, soon pointed at the window with her slender finger. And in Alvit’s brown eyes looking at the window, the afterimage of sparks twinkling from the horizon was reflected.
“…!”
“…That.”
“Are those… all fireworks filling the horizon?”
A festival of numerous fireworks rising over the darkness of midnight.
Among the flickering flames, though they looked smaller than dots, numerous human figures were moving around. Truly demons walking in a hell made of fireworks. In that baptism of flames heating the horizon, even hallucinations of the noise of fighting and destruction seemed to echo all the way here.
In the middle of that hell, magenta-colored flames were vividly flickering. Under the shadows cast by the vivid magenta flames, numerous debris and corpses of monsters were flickering.
Bell realized what those flames meant and lamented:
“[Crimson Trajectory]…”
“…”
The pyromaniac who uses a strange sword.
She was somewhere in that vast northern wilderness.
I recalled the face of one of the five fighting friends I was meeting after a long time.
-Huhahaha!! Are you that ignorant fistfighter battle-lover from the northeastern academy city?
-Oh my―♪ I’d like you to correct that☆ I’m a lady from the east―☆ Though I do love fighting―☆
The past her smiled, showing her crooked teeth, seemingly extremely satisfied with my words.