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Royal Academy, Headmistress' Office (Mari POV)
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"Mhmm…" (Mari)
A soft groan left my mouth as I slowly regained my senses. It was warm, cozy, and the heaviness that was present throughout my body faded as I gradually opened my eyes. Initially, everything was a bit fuzzy while my sense of vision slowly adapted to the light, but after rubbing my eyes a bit, the familiar sight of my office told me that I was behind my desk like usual. For some reason though, I was nestled comfortably into a blanket as I sat at my chair.
I stared blankly into space for a moment as the feeling floated around in the back of my still hazy mind that there was something off about the situation. Suddenly, the sound of the door opening caught my attention. I quickly looked towards the door just in time to see a certain person walk into the room.
… Ky?...
It was Ky. He had a stack of papers under his arm as he entered, and the moment I saw him it was like the fog clouding my mind started to clear up a bit.
… This is a dream, isn't it? The office should be a complete mess right now from the tournament preparations, and Ky shouldn't be here either…
Once he noticed me, Dream Ky froze for a moment before calling out to me.
"... You're finally awake?... Well, took you long enough." (Dream Kyle)
He let out a disappointed sigh before starting to mutter to himself while he held his head with his other arm.
"I can't believe that I went out of my way to avoid this torture and still ended up suffering in the end anyway…" (Dream Kyle)
Dream Ky just stood there for a moment monologuing to himself as I stared blankly at him. A sense of amazement bubbled up inside me over how weirdly realistic this dream felt.
... This dream Ky is pretty convincing. I almost thought I was looking at the real one for a second...
"Oi. Mari, are you there?" (Dream Kyle)
Dream Ky quipped at me with a slightly tired tone to his voice, but unfortunately, my mind was more preoccupied with thinking about what I should do.
This is a dream, right? So doesn't that mean I can do anything I want?
"Hey, since you're part of my dream you'll do whatever I want you to, right?" (Mari)
Despite the listlessness that still filled my body, I managed to free myself from underneath the blanket before smugly extending my hand out towards Dream Ky like a spoiled princess.
"Hehe~ Carry me over to the sofa, Dream Ky." (Mari)
However, a few seconds passed by awkwardly as Dream Ky just silently stared at me with a blank smile on his face.
"Come on. What are you waiting for?... Ah! Do I need to tell you how you should carry me? Hmm... Then I guess a princess carry is fine." (Mari)
When the real Ky princess carried me, it was surprisingly cozy. Even if this is only a dream, it should still be pretty similar, right?
I waved my hand a bit to gesture Dream Ky to come over, and for a moment, it seemed like it had worked. I was full of anticipation as he walked up to my desk before placing the stack of papers in front of me, but what happened next was not the future I had imagined. Instead of the pleasantly cozy princess carry that I was expecting, what I got instead was the sound of a cold, angry voice.
"I see. You're still asleep, huh?" (Dream Kyle)
Eh?
I quickly raised my head in confusion, but the only thing I saw was the angry smile on Ky's face as he reached over and started to pull on both of my cheeks.
"Ow! Dat hurts!" (Mari)
Instantly, all of the remaining haziness in my mind was blasted away as the sudden sensation of Ky pulling on my cheeks made me cry out cutely in pain before he responded to my exclamation with a sarcastic tone in his voice.
"Of course it hurts. After all, pain is the best way to tell if you're in a dream or not, isn't it? And I can assure you that this is reality." (Kyle)
"Awwight, I'm awake! I'm awake! Stop pwulling on my cheeks!" (Mari)
A few seconds later, Ky finally stopped his ruthless assault on my face and took a step back while letting out a satisfied breath.
"Haaa~ For some reason, that felt strangely refreshing. Hey, Mari, did anyone ever tell you how soft and squishy your cheeks are? Maybe the next time I feel stressed, I'll just do this again." (Kyle)
"What kind of sadist are you!?" (Mari)
I cried out in indignation while rubbing my cheeks to ease the residual pain a bit, but Ky just shrugged before replying nonchalantly.
"Well, if we're talking about sadists, I think you would fit the role better than me. Anyway, I'm sure I could rant for hours about how much I've suffered under you, but unfortunately, we don't have the time. What's important is that you're finally awake, which means you can start working again too." (Kyle)
Ky patted the pile of papers he dropped down on my desk earlier before pushing them over to me.
"Here, I've looked through about half of the remaining applications for the third-year tournament and picked out the more reasonable ones. All you have to do to approve them is stamp the forms. So after you finish stamping them, help me go through the rest of the applications for the third-year tournament. It's only the middle of the afternoon right now so as long as you don't slack off, we should be able to finish most of them by tonight." (Kyle)
"What?" (Mari)
I sat there in shock for a moment before flipping through the first few forms in the pile of applications that Ky had looked through.
"Wait. Ky, why are you here? Weren't you holding a training camp?" (Mari)
"Zane told me about the situation and wouldn't let go of my leg until I promised to come help you out so I guess I'll be your assistant again for now." (Kyle)
Nice job, Zane! You finally did something good for once!
After mentally praising Zane for the first time, I pulled out the academy seal and started to cheerfully stamp the approval forms while Ky continued to speak.
"But only on one condition." (Kyle)
"A condition?" (Mari)
Ky's request piqued my curiosity as I looked away from the pile of applications. But just as I raised my head to face him again, he reached over and poked me in the forehead.
"Ack!" (Mari)
"Don't overwork yourself to the point of collapsing again, you idiot." (Kyle)
"Eh?" (Mari)
Wait. Was he… worried about me?...
My heartbeat started to speed up as I thought about the meaning behind Ky's condition. And I could feel my face getting a little warmer as a faint blush spread across it. Luckily though, my cheeks were still a little red from before so I was pretty sure they hid the pink of my blush from Ky.
I thought he would ask for a raise or maybe some more time off... D-Did he really choose me over anything else?
Countless thoughts ran through my head, but just as my fantasies were starting to run wild, Ky's next statement brought me back to reality.
"You're the only one who can teach Zane wind magic." (Kyle)
Ack!
It was like someone took a hammer and suddenly shattered my daydreams into a million pieces as I finally realized what Ky actually meant with his condition.
I should've known it would be something like that… I guess it was silly of me to expect something more, but still... I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed...
"Yeah, I got it. I'll be sure to drill wind magic into his head properly." (Mari)
I let out a quiet sigh as I finally got my head out of the clouds before returning to stamping duty. However, it seemed that my heart was destined to be racing today because as soon as my head came crashing back down to the ground, Ky immediately made it shoot it back up into the clouds again.
"And more importantly, if you collapse again… Well, I would care too much about you to not be worried. So promise me you'll get enough rest, or else I won't help you at all." (Kyle)
Ky crossed his arms and turned away with a pout while I sat there in a daze for a moment before mindlessly answering him.
"A-Ah… Yeah. I will…" (Mari)
My heartbeat was already starting to skyrocket again, but it was almost like Ky was determined to make it leap right out my chest as he smiled gently at my answer before patting me softly on the head.
"Good. Anyway, it looks like your cheeks are still a little red. I guess I pulled on them a little too hard, huh? Wait here, I'll go grab some ice for you." (Kyle)
After that, Ky promptly left the room to go get ice for me while I just sat there and blankly stared at the door while still in my flustered daze.
… H-Hey... That's not fair, Ky... You can't make my heart race like that and then just leave!
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Solria, Middle District, Irisveil Mansion (Aria POV)
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A cool breeze blew by, making my hair flutter a bit in the wind as I walked along the paved path towards home while the last of twilight was starting to fade. And it wasn't long before I finally rounded the last corner and saw the familiar front gate of the Irisveil Mansion.
After making my way past the gate and up to the door, the jingle of my keys interrupted the gentle evening melody of the noble district as I opened the door to see the same old living room as always. However, the person in the middle of that same old living room was undoubtedly the key piece to this familiar scene.
"Ky, I'm home." (Aria)
It felt like everything was back to normal as I called out to Ky who was sitting on the sofa. He was in the middle of looking through a large pile of papers as he turned to welcome me back home.
"Oh, welcome back, Aria." (Kyle)
"What are you doing?" (Aria)
The pile of papers he was looking at made me curious and I called out to him as I took off my shoes. He leaned back into the sofa before letting out an exhausted sigh.
"Haaa~ I'm fully experiencing the repercussions of what it means to be someone who can't say no." (Kyle)
Someone who can't say no, huh? I don't believe you. I think it's just your bad habit of intruding too much in other people's business. Ah. But well, I guess without that terrible tendency of yours, I wouldn't be here today, so... I'll admit, it isn't always bad. After all, I don't think anyone else would have had the guts to stick himself right in the middle of the Crimson Rose's life like that.
I couldn't help but find the situation a little comical as I thought about our past days adventuring in Delhurst. And after a moment, I walked over to Ky's side with a mischievous giggle.
"Hehe~ So what did you get roped into this time?" (Aria)
"In a moment of poor insight on my part, I decided I would be a good professor for once. I promised one of my students I would help him out, but his situation's a little complicated, so I ended up having to help the headmistress finish the preparations for the academy tournament instead." (Kyle)
"Tournament preparations? That doesn't sound too bad." (Aria)
"That's easy for you to say, you're not the one drowning in paperwork. At this rate, I'm going to change my plans for the training camp next week." (Kyle)
"Eh? Really?" (Aria)
"Well, if we somehow manage to finish all the preparations by the end of this weekend, then maybe I can get back to the original plan, but I doubt it'll happen. I'll probably end up having to sort through all this paperwork in the mornings next week, then just holding the training camp nearby for a few hours in the afternoon instead." (Kyle)
Ky held his head while letting out a tired sigh, but contrary to his exhausted mood, I was secretly excited as I thought about the prospect of keeping Ky around for the next week.
But wait, if he finishes the preparations by the end of this weekend, he'll go back to the original plan. He said it probably wouldn't happen, but… that means there's still a possibility, right? I can't just leave it to chance!
"Well, if you're going out of your way to help, then there's bound to be some unavoidable compromises, right? I think it'll be fine if you just have the rest of your training camp nearby. I'm sure everyone will understand as long as you explain the situation to them." (Aria)
"Yeah, I guess so, but it'll still be a pain in the neck for me..." (Kyle)
Ky had a bitter look on his face as I cleared my throat nervously before proceeding to the next countermeasure in my plan to keep Ky at home.
"Anyway, ahem. I'm a little thirsty so I'm going to grab a drink." (Aria)
Ky returned to sifting through his papers as I quickly made my way over to the kitchen. After opening the fridge and pulling out a random carton of fruit juice, I poured two glasses and made my way back to Ky while mentally preparing to execute my devious plan.
I just have to spill some juice all over his papers, then he definitely won't be able to finish in time. If I make it look like an accident by pretending to spill it while passing it to him, it shouldn't seem too suspicious either.
"Here, Ky. I got a drink for you too." (Aria)
"Oh. Thanks, Aria." (Kyle)
Right after he thanked me, Ky extended his arm out towards me and waited for me to hand his drink over while he continued to read. Suddenly, my eyes glimmered with determination for a split second as I realized this was the opening I needed and I quickly tossed the cup towards him at an angle where it would spill all over his papers. However, unfortunately, it seemed like Ky was paying just enough attention to react in time.
"Oi!" (Kyle)
He immediately reached out with both hands and just barely caught the cup in mid-air before letting out a sigh of relief.
"Whew~ That was close." (Kyle)
Damn, he caught it! What should I do?
I started to panic a bit once I saw that Ky had safely avoided my sabotage. And a quick glance around didn't help me much in thinking of another option either, but after a moment, I remembered something important.
I was also holding a drink.
"Hey, be more careful with-" (Kyle)
After placing the cup down on the table, Ky started to turn towards me while berating me about my carelessness, but before he could even finish his sentence, the sound of juice splashing everywhere interrupted him.
"Ah." (Aria)
There was a moment of awkward silence as Ky caught me red-handed in the middle of pouring juice all over him and his papers. And it was only after the last of the juice dripped down Ky's face that he asked me a question with an angry smile.
"Aria, would you mind explaining to me what you're doing?" (Kyle)
"S-Sorry, Ky. It was an accident." (Aria)
"An accident? How strange. Because, to me, it kind of looks like you just poured juice all over me and ruined my documents." (Kyle)
Ky's stare was starting to make me feel nervous as I scratched the back of my head innocently before reassuring him it was just a clumsy mistake on my part.
"It must have been your imagination. I swear it was just an accident! A-Anyway, I have to go, uh, prepare for tomorrow... So good luck with the rest of your tournament preparations. H-Haha~" (Aria)
Beads of sweat were beginning to form on my forehead as I let out some nervous laughter before averting my eyes from Ky's suspicious gaze. I turned around and started to scurry towards the stairs, but before I could make my escape, Ky grabbed me by the shoulder.
"Oi, you're not getting away that easily!" (Kyle)
Damn it!
"Regardless of whether it actually was an accident or not, you made this mess so at least help me take care of it." (Kyle)
I could feel Ky's grip on my shoulder get a little tighter as he cried out in indignation, and when I turned around again, he was pointing at the juice-soaked pile of papers.
"O-Oh. Let me grab a rag then. I'll have it all clean again in no time." (Aria)
"That's not what I meant." (Kyle)
"Eh?" (Aria)
***
"How much more is there?" (Aria)
"About half the pile." (Kyle)
Ky took a quick glance at the remaining request forms before handing me the next one in the pile. The bottom half of the page was stained a faint green from the fruit juice that I had previously spilled on it, but fortunately, it was still mostly readable. It was a request to purchase some more practice equipment for one of the classes in the weapons department, but after some calculation, I realized that the requested amount of funds was ridiculous in comparison to the budget Ky said we had.
There's no way practice equipment costs this much! I could probably get real equipment for cheaper!
I placed it into the 'needs some adjustments' pile where surprisingly few of the requests had even made it to. However, compared to the 'accepted' pile, the 'needs some adjustments' pile was still pretty big. Most of the requests had met their cruel fate by Ky's hand and were unhesitantly dumped into the 'rejected' pile, which seemed to be getting larger by the minute.
Well, maybe it seemed a little harsh to reject so many of these requests considering that these were the heartfelt wishes of countless students and professors, but to be fair to Ky, from what I've seen so far, a lot of these requests had close to no sense of reality with the scale of their requests. One of them even requested that an entire 100ft tall statue be built to raise the morale of the magic department students before the tournament...
Well, at least this one was a pretty normal request compared to previous ones.
I peeked at the slowly growing 'needs some adjustments' pile one last time before asking Ky to hand me the next request.
"Pass me the next one, Ky." (Aria)
"Here." (Kyle)
But just as I reached out to grab the next request form from Ky, the sound of my stomach growling echoed through the room. Ky just stared at me for a moment as my face started to faintly dye itself red from embarrassment.
"A-Ah." (Aria)
"Oh, you're hungry. Is it that late already?" (Kyle)
"Wait! What's that supposed to mean!? Am I an alarm clock!?" (Aria)
"Nope, just a glutton that I'm all too familiar with." (Kyle)
I pouted cutely in response to Ky's joke as he chuckled a bit before reaching over and patting me on the head.
"Anyway, since it's getting late, I'll go make us dinner so I guess you're off the hook for now. But you're back on duty after dinner, ok?" (Kyle)
After giving me a break, Ky walked over to the kitchen, but I just continued to pout before hugging my knees as I grumbled to myself.
"... I'm not that much of a glutton…" (Aria)
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The Goddess of Love's Divine Domain, Ritual Grounds (Reina POV)
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"Advice for sensing the natural law of fire? It just comes to you naturally." (Sera)
The image of Master Sera shrugging nonchalantly appeared in my mind as another breath of fresh air entered my lungs while I continued to meditate. It was like I was constantly on the verge of sensing something other than the gentle breeze blowing past me, but every time I tried to hone in on that faint feeling, it would quickly start to fade away.
After one last attempt, I finally decided it was time to take a break from this seemingly fruitless endeavor as I opened my eyes to see Lady Eliza chatting with Master Sera while she continued to work on the new costume design.
"Did you have any luck this time, Reina?" (Eliza)
"Not yet..." (Reina)
I couldn't help but let out a disappointed sigh before standing up and walking over to them with a groan.
"Ugh… I've already meditated so much, but it feels like there's just one tiny barrier left that I can't seem to break through no matter what I do. To be honest, I'm starting to think there might be something wrong with me." (Reina)
"Maybe there is something wrong with you. After all, with the level of affinity to fire that you have, the natural law of fire should be beyond easy to sense." (Sera)
"Wouldn't you normally try to cheer me up in this kind of situation?..." (Reina)
Tears began to well up in my eyes as Master Sera stared at me like I was some sort of rare creature.
"Don't be too down, Reina. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time." (Eliza)
"... Augh…" (Reina)
I whimpered in response before Master Sera gave me a suggestion.
"Well, if this isn't working, maybe you should try using another method." (Sera)
"Another method?" (Reina)
"Yeah, but I can't think of anything right now… Hmm… Maybe if I surround you with the natural laws of fire, it'll make it easier to sense them." (Sera)
Won't I die if you surround me with the natural laws of fire!?
"I... think I'll stick with meditation… L-Lady Eliza, you can use the natural law of love, right? How do you do it?" (Reina)
I turned towards my last hope, Lady Eliza, with a desperate glint in my eyes. But after seeing the confused look on her face, I was forced to face the cruel reality that neither she nor Master Sera would give me any useful advice.
"Eh? How do I do it? I don't know. I just kind of... feel it." (Eliza)
"Right?" (Sera)
"... That doesn't help much..." (Reina)
"Sorry, Reina, but honestly, that's just kind of how it works for me." (Eliza)
"At least give me a description of what I'm trying to sense then. Master Sera, what does the natural law of fire feel like?" (Reina)
Lady Sera thought about my question for a moment before answering in a slightly unsure voice.
"Uh… It's kind of an intense, hot-blooded feeling I guess." (Sera)
"That's way too vague!" (Reina)
"Well, how am I supposed to describe it? To me, the natural law of fire just feels like the natural law of fire. It's like if I asked you to describe what being yourself feels like." (Sera)
"Urgh… What about you then, Lady Eliza? What does the natural law of love feel like?" (Reina)
"Hmm… I guess if I had to describe the natural law of love, it would be... warm and fuzzy? It's kind of like how your heart flutters when you interact with the person that you like. Hehe~" (Eliza)
After answering my question, Lady Eliza giggled to herself before Lady Sera moved on with the conversation.
"Well, if you really can't sense the natural law of fire, then there's no point in trying to force it. It'll just be a waste of time." (Sera)
"I guess so…" (Reina)
Maybe I should just give up on the natural law of fire for now… I'm sure just normal fire magic is enough.
After making my decision, it felt like a weight was lifted off my chest, and I let out a sigh of relief just as Lady Eliza called out to me and Master Sera.
"Anyway, I think the new costume design is done. What do you two think?" (Eliza)
Lady Eliza held up the drawing of the new costume design that she was working on with a triumphant smile. The color scheme was the same, but the new design was less frilly compared to the old one. It had a more sleek feeling to it, and a few parts of it even resembled Master Sera's outfit. However, the most noticeable change was the addition of a new pink mask that covered the top half of the face.
Well, there are still a few small problems in my opinion, but I would definitely rather wear this than the previous iteration.
"It looks great, Lady Eliza." (Reina)
"Yep. I like this one a lot more compared to the old one." (Sera)
After Master Sera and I gave our approval, Lady Eliza let out a smug laugh.
"Of course it's great! After all, it was designed by yours truly! It took me a while, but I think the profoundness of my creative genius really shines through in this one. Now, all I need to do now is change the alchemy circles on the staff." (Eliza)
"Eh? How are you going to change it without that idiot around?" (Sera)
"Well, since he's not here, I was planning on just asking someone else. If I remember, he mentioned once that one of Alba's heroic spirits knows alchemy pretty well so she could probably do it. I think her name was Sel or something. I just have to have Olivia deliver the staff and the new design over to her and it should be no problem." (Eliza)
Lady Eliza nodded to herself in approval as I stared at her and Master Sera with a confused look on my face.
"Wait, who are you talking about?" (Reina)
"Oh, right. I forgot. I didn't get to tell you last time because Olivia got angry at me. Although I'll never understand how it happened, both Eliza and Olivia ended up falling for the same good-for-nothing idiot." (Sera)
Master Sera sighed after telling me Lady Olivia's secret, however, I was full of curiosity towards this kind of love gossip as I turned to Lady Eliza with an excited twinkle in my eyes.
"Eh? Really? Who did you fall for?" (Reina)
"The God of Death." (Eliza)
"Ack!" (Reina)
Lady Eliza responded with a gentle smile on her face, but contrary to her innocent atmosphere, the name that came out of her mouth was terrifying.
"T-T-The God of Death!? Y-You mean the one that used to live in the basement!?"(Reina)
"Yep. That idiot." (Sera)
Master Sera just responded in a casual tone while I was beginning to tremble in fear after hearing about the God of Death again.
"Don't worry. Despite how scary his alias sounds, on the inside, he's just a big softie. Although, I guess I agree with the fact he's an idiot sometimes, especially when it comes to himself. He's the kind of knucklehead that thinks he can never move on from his past. Even to the point of ignoring his true feelings." (Eliza)
"Ignoring his true feelings? Are you sure? Whenever I saw him, he seemed more than content to annoy me with them." (Sera)
"Yep, I'm sure. Just the fact that our relationship has barely changed is more than enough proof. He's been together with me and Olivia for almost a thousand years and yet he still pretends to be dense even after all this time. He definitely knows that Olivia and I love him, but he's just way too stubborn to accept it. I'm sure if you asked him about it, he would say 'I don't deserve love' or something dumb like that." (Eliza)
Lady Eliza pouted cutely after finishing her short rant about the God of Death, but after a moment, she let out a soft sigh.
"Although, now that I think about it, I guess Olivia was kind of in the same boat too." (Eliza)
"Lady Olivia?" (Reina)
"Yeah. Don't tell her, but the whole reason the Church of Love accepts polygamy is because of her. I don't know why, but she used to have this idea that only one of us could be happy so she always ended up supporting me instead of trying to obtain her own happiness. And it was the same when it came to love. But I won't accept anything less than a happy ending for both of us, so of course, being the genius that I am, I easily came up with a solution, polygamy. I'll admit, it was a bit of a hassle for us to suddenly start accepting polygamy, but nothing can stand up to some effort from the one and only, Goddess of Love." (Eliza)
"You mean some effort from Olivia, right? I'm sure you did nothing, but sit around after telling her to start accepting polygamy." (Sera)
Master Sera chuckled dryly as she seemingly hit the nail on the head before Lady Eliza continued.
"... Well, it was for her benefit. And it did help boost our popularity a little, so think of it more as me making the executive decision, and her taking care of the details." (Eliza)
Lady Eliza had a smug smile on her face as she waved her hand and carried on with our conversation for a while longer.
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The Goddess of Love's Divine Domain, Ritual Grounds (Olivia POV)
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The inside of the house was still as I leaned against the door while hiding from them. And it was the tranquil silence that allowed the gentle breeze to carry their voices over to me. But despite my best efforts to keep up my eavesdropping, even I couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh after hearing Lady Eliza. And the corners of my mouth curved upwards into the shape of a gentle smile as I whispered tenderly to myself.
"Lady Eliza, do you think I'm an idiot? It was obvious from the beginning…" (Olivia)