After the entrance ceremony, in the dining hall.

All the students were talking excitedly about Professor Nubilus, their eyes sparkling.

However, at the fourth table in the second row from the right.

The table where the top first-year students and Allen Evans sat was silent as if someone had died.

Butter-grilled lobster and tenderloin steak, a flavorful soup made with rare mushrooms, and lemon sherbet to dispel the lingering heat of early autumn.

Only this table was picking at the food that the dining staff had prepared with their utmost skill, having received a bonus from the dean.

Even Nigel’s fork moved noticeably slower.

“New student!”

At that moment, Oliver approached Nigel cheerfully.

“…What’s this, why is everyone so down? Did you kill someone while hiding yesterday?”

Nigel showed an atmosphere so alien that even Oliver, who was rarely flustered, hesitated for a moment.

“…It’s all because of you, senior.”

Nigel blamed Oliver unnecessarily.

“Hmm… I have so many faults that I’m not sure which one you’re referring to?”

Oliver replied shamelessly.

“What on earth happened.”

Oliver added, concerned, as he hadn’t seen Nigel this depressed since she fought with her friends.

Thwack!

Then a crisp slapping sound was heard.

“What happened? Don’t pretend you don’t know now. It’s obviously because you displayed the junior’s name in the sky, Oliver.”

“Jade! What are you doing, making me lose face in front of the new students?!”

Jayden slapped Oliver’s back hard several times, his mouth corners twitching.

It would have normally cheered them up immediately, but not today.

Oliver and Jayden looked around cautiously before speaking.

“Was it because I unnecessarily agreed with the student council members to put it up? Don’t worry. Your seniors aren’t that disloyal. They care more about fun than the content of rumors. They had fun looking for you all yesterday. Also, we actually bet on department scores to focus on finding you instead of spreading rumors.”

“Yes, don’t worry too much, everyone.”

“It’s okay, it’s not the senior’s fault. …Come to think of it, it’s my fault for thinking of hiding in the basement of the annex.”

Nigel said, stabbing the lobster meat hard with her fork.

“Oh, what happened?”

Oliver, who had become interested meanwhile, showed a spark in his eyes and suddenly plopped down at Nigel’s table.

Then Nigel and her companions stared blankly at Oliver’s green hair.

“…You’re not blood-related to Professor Nubilus, are you?”

Nigel spoke up, representing the group.

“No way. You know it’s very rude to assume blood relations based on hair color, right?”

“Then that’s fine.”

Nigel, relieved, shared what had happened the previous night.

“Wow… Amazing. Amazing.”

Oliver clapped continuously, genuinely impressed.

The more he clapped, the more the faces of the blue-uniformed children hardened.

“Ah, but since the juniors’ love and care for the academy was conveyed, wouldn’t that be considered as a mitigating factor?”

Jayden’s cautious consolation only reopened the wounds from the previous night.

“Well, from what I’ve heard from our new students, he doesn’t seem to be that narrow-minded. How about I tell you a story from my freshman days to cheer you up a bit?”

Oliver grinned.

“No thanks. Oliver senior, you were like that from the start. Between someone who was weird from the beginning and someone who was nice but then did something strange, who do you think gets hit harder?”

“Oh~ Sharp. But I bet you couldn’t have predicted this?”

Oliver looked around as if revealing a secret of the century, then lowered his head, covered his mouth with his hand, and slowly began to speak.

“I hated the academy assignments so much that I recklessly went to the dean’s office and protested, demanding to be allowed to drop out without parental consent.

Well… I got caught by our professor and was dragged by the ear to the professor’s office, where I got lectured for 3 hours straight.”

“…”

A moment of silence fell over the table.

“Well-leader, you… were that much of a mess?”

Even Jayden seemed to be hearing this story for the first time.

“Ah, it’s all just fun memories, yep! Memories indeed. So everyone, think of it as a fun memory and enjoy it.”

Oliver was the only one at the table who smiled comfortably and widely.

“How about it, does hearing your senior’s dark history comfort you a bit?”

Ironically, Oliver’s story did help.

Although no one said it out loud, they all secretly thought, ‘If someone like that could graduate safely, I should be able to do it too.’

“Well then, enjoy your meal, new students!”

Having finished speaking, Oliver left, dragging along Jayden, who was still dumbfounded.

Clink. Clink.

Slowly, but surely, the speed at which the forks circled the trays increased.

After the meal.

“Nigel, just a moment!”

Nigel silently pulled Noah by the shoulder of his shirt and walked and walked, looking for a secluded spot with no people.

“You’re in such a hurry. What’s going on? If there’s anything I can help with, I will.”

“It’s okay, just following me like this is helping.”

“Pardon?”

Nigel only spoke incomprehensibly and kept walking forward.

Then a large hand touched Nigel’s shoulder and magic flowed out.

“Just a moment.”

Nigel turned around with a strangely brightened face.

“This place is in the completely opposite direction from the building where our next class is. If we keep going this way, we might be late for the next class.”

“…Then let’s be satisfied with this spot.”

Nigel, who had been looking longingly at the forest beyond, looked around and found a bush that could barely hide two people, and pulled Noah behind it.

Then she plopped down on the bush and tightly grabbed Noah’s arm.

At the same time, an amount of magic incomparable to usual flowed into Noah.

Noah’s eyes spun in confusion.

“What, what are you doing…?”

“Mental cultivation activity.”

“Pardon?”

Nigel didn’t answer anymore and immersed herself in the act of letting magic flow.

As the magic accumulated in her body flowed out, her complicated mind cleared up.

The rudeness she had committed towards Professor Nubilus slowly faded away, and a sense of satisfaction and liberation that she was healing her uncertain future along with Noah Beselion overtook Nigel.

Noah looked like he was about to cry, but he didn’t dare move for fear of accidentally shaking off Nigel and hurting her, so he obediently offered his arm.

Only after a good 10 minutes had passed did Nigel let go of his arm.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, my mind has cleared up. …Ah, can I ask for this occasionally, Noah?”

Just as Noah was about to firmly refuse, even if it was Nigel, the nickname ‘Noah’ echoed deeply in Noah’s heart for a while.

And that echo easily elicited from Noah…

“Yes.”

…such an answer.

Noah felt sorry that Nigel had used her magic on him, but he was happy with the bright smile Nigel showed.

And he hated himself for being happy.

“…That’s what happened. What do you think?”

That night.

At Noah’s request, the first emergency meeting of the first-year second semester was held in the dormitory.

“So, you’ve been so vague and omitted so much that I’m not sure what exactly happened, but are you saying that Nigel thinks of you as a kind of portable magic stone? A magic stone that she doesn’t even glance at usually but only seeks when needed.”

“Yes! That’s exactly it!”

With the refreshing feeling of having solved a complex magic formula problem, Noah spoke excitedly but instantly deflated and burrowed into the blanket.

“What’s this, didn’t you say before that you were satisfied just being by Nigel’s side?”

Allen said, digging out Noah’s deeply buried face.

“Well, that’s still true, but…”

Noah trailed off, covering his reddened face with his outstretched hand.

“Hmm… In my opinion, the current situation doesn’t seem bad.”

Allen said, pretending to be serious while resting his chin on his hand.

“Really…?”

“Yeah. If Nigel didn’t want anything from you, that would have been more difficult, but Nigel clearly wants something from you. And you know that too.”

Tch, everyone knows except me. Allen muttered in a small voice before speaking again.

“And you were happy even when Nigel dragged you around.”

“That’s right.”

Noah answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Do you know what’s needed at times like this? Making Nigel feel your absence.”

Noah tilted his head, not understanding.

“Why can’t such a smart kid understand? You’ve always been like a portable magic stone, sticking close to Nigel even before she looked for you. This time, do the opposite. Make Nigel look for you.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s perfect timing since common classes have been halved, so the time you spend together has decreased. Plus, you’re good at reading presences, right? Especially Nigel’s presence, you’re 100% accurate. Use that to avoid Nigel as much as possible.”

Noah blinked with a complicated expression at Allen’s words.

“I wonder… is what Allen says possible? I’m not even sure if Nigel has given me a place, what if it backfires and she doesn’t look for me at all…!”

Then Allen spoke with a determined look in his eyes.

“Who correctly guessed that Nubilus was a professor?”

“…!”

It was an immediately trustworthy statement.

“The period is until the ball in early October. I guarantee it. Nigel will ask you to the ball first.”

Noah nodded repeatedly as if he had met the goddess Kirelia.