When Cory moved away from me, I walked to the nearest window in the room. It was getting dark outside while the room was still bright, so I could use it as a mirror. I looked at what was on my ear.
It was a dark orange piercing. It was shaped like an orange.
My ear hadn't been pierced but it stayed well, so I assumed it stayed on with some kind of suction effect. There was some kind of magic that I couldn't discern spelled into the piercing.
Cory looked at the floor and muttered.
"Because you gave one to me last time."
When I just stared at him dumbly, he stopped fiddling with the ends of his hair shyly and responded.
"It's currently a suction-type piercing, but when you pierce your ear I'll add a needle to you can wear it properly."
Cory came closer and took off the piercing, then showed me where the needle would be placed. He told me that the magic that was spelled onto the earring was a secret.
I looked at the needle on the orange-shaped piercing. I could feel a warm kind of emotion overflowing from it.
Stab.
Touched by Cory's gift, I just pierced my ear right then and there.
"....!"
Cory's eyes grew impossibly wide at my aggressive action. I could feel the heat rushing into my ear.
"Thanks, I'll use it well."
"Hey, you idiot!"
Surprised, Cory fumbled around. I watched as Cory looked for a healing magic book and then looked at my reflection on the window. There was a bit of blood flowing down my ear.
Man, that hurt. I probably did too much.
The end of first semester was slowly coming.
Our final exam scores were revealed, and there were some classes that had already ended. My grades, personally, were really good: I made sure to study before and after classes. There was one reason why I tried my best to retain good grades: a scholarship.
Because of how high my final grades were, I was soon to be receiving a hefty sum for my scholarship.
My homeroom teacher had called me out separately and told me this. That I would be receiving the scholarship this time. I honestly thought that would be the case, but I still really enjoyed being told that I would receive it.
I slowly packed up my things from my drawers. Once the semester was over, I had to go back to my beloved home. So it was a good idea to pack up the things I wanted to take home. I packed a separate bag full of things that I could use at home.
"Shushu~! Are you already packing up?"
I was just sitting blankly, surprised at how soon the semester had passed, when I suddenly had someone hug me from behind.
This was Hestia's voice. I held her hand and turned my head.
"Yeah. It's important to pack up the stuff I'll need."
I gently brushed Hestia's pink hair as I talked. Hestia smiled brightly at my words.
"Now that you're talking about packing, it really feels like the semester is over. I can play with Shushu every day during vacation so I'm really happy!"
Hestia rubbed her face on my back. Ugh, cute. She was like a puppy.
But anyway, vacation. I was going to be really busy this vacation. I had more work than usual, so spending time with Hestia every day like before was going to be hard. But I didn't tell Hestia, who looked like she was excited about the future.
"But anyway, Shushu. Are you going to pack for me like before?"
"No, I think you should slowly do that yourself. You can't just rely on me, Hestia. You need to gain some independence."
"Che, stupid independence. If I get married, I won't even need that anyway. It's useless."
"No, Hestia. Why are you lessening your own worth like that?"
When Hestia said something that would get her in trouble, I gave her a flick on the forehead and explained it to her as best as I could.
It would be good to rely on someone you love. If you relied on them just enough, then trust would form. But just complete reliance wasn't good. If something collapsed, everything else would follow. Both people had to stand upright to help support the other person when they fell apart. On the other hand, if you thought of yourself as an ornament, then you would become just that.
The concept of marriage had taken a turn because of selfish, self-centered people who used it for profit. That part kind of hurt. Was there a reason to seek profit in something as beautiful as marriage? Hestia's simple concept of marriage wasn't too far of a reach. I smiled, bitter.
"But it's true, right? Doesn't everyone think that?"
Hestia's green eyes, reminiscent of a flower in grass, stared at me. It felt like she was trying to figure me out. Hestia occasionally said things that would make me react, even when she knew how I would respond.
As if she wanted to make sure that I would respond as she assumed.
Everyone does that, it's true.
Most people here do that. Honestly, it seems to be something that everyone does no matter where. It was the same in my past life. People generally had a sense of egotism that stemmed from their self-love. That made them want to possess and trap others, or look down on them and give them a hard time….
It just sucked that that kind of selfishness was prominent in the form of marriage here.
I was quietly immersed in thought. I stroked Hestia's hair and opened my mouth to speak.
"I wish that you would live freely without anybody tying you down. I want you to not change your preferences for other people, to say that you like something when you like it, and for you do everything that you want to do. I want you to meet someone who can see and completely understand your confident self."
Hestia's eyes don't leave me. I unstuck Hestia from myself.
"And if you want to do everything you want, you need to at least be able to support yourself. So start packing up your stuff on your own."
Just go into public speaking, why don't you?
Why did we even get to this when we were just packing up our stuff? I scratched my blushing cheeks.
I walked across the hallway in fast steps. Hestia whined behind me. I could hear her footsteps following me.
With small steps, Hestia caught up to me and linked her arm through mine. Then, she began to talk about what she wanted to do during vacation. I responded at all the right places as we walked together.
"Shushu, it looks like slime group number three is currently undergoing a breeding season."
"I'm seeing it too."
I wrote down what Cory was telling me onto our project document.
After creating the monster farm, creating reports about the different monsters' traits and activity patterns and more, our project was almost coming to a close.
Originally, Cory and I were supposed to rotate our report-writing, but Cory's writing looked like a bunch of squiggly worms so I took over for him. When Cory told me what to write, I wrote it down.
I didn't know if he was sorry for not being able to write, or if he thought that writing was hard labor. Anyway, he was working well as my servant.
"Cory, snack."
I was lying on top of the strawberry blanket, stomach down, while observing the monsters. Cory, who was lying down on his stomach right next to me, heard my words and flicked a finger towards the snack box.
At his slight flick, the chocolate cookie bag floated up and landed on his hand. He ripped open the bag. I put down my writing utensils and opened my hand for a cookie. When I did so, Cory hid the bag behind his back.
What are you doing, I just want a snack. When I complained, Cory put my pen back in my hand.
"Writing is hard already, I'll just feed you."
I looked at him with narrowed eyes before focusing on the report.
"Sure."
If I could eat and write at the same time, that would be easier. If a son of a marquis was volunteering to be my servant, I wasn't going to complain about it.
When I focused back on the report, Cory split a cookie in half and put it in my mouth. When crumbs were about to fall, Cory used magic to make it disappear.
When I felt a pleased look from next to me, I turned and looked at Cory. He seemed surprised at how I was looking at him. He tilted his head in confusion.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Just, you were eating well."
Cory put another snack in my mouth as he said that.
"Do you want to eat the other snacks?"
I thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah."
When he tried to feed me a strawberry jelly, I grabbed his hand.
"Want to see something cool?"
At my sudden words, Cory tilted his head.
"What are you going to do?"
I grabbed the strawberry jelly from Cory's hand and sat up.
"Look."
I threw the jelly as high as I could. The jelly almost hit the ceiling, then started to fall to the ground. I concentrated on the jelly and opened my mouth where the jelly was probably going to hit. When I caught the jelly with my mouth and ate it, Cory burst into laughter.
"What did you do just now? Were you trying to show me that?"
"It's a trick. Isn't it cool?"
"Totally."
When I confidently told him, he laughed and nodded.
Cory ate his strawberry jelly and watched as I went back to writing my report, then asked a question.
"Can you catch the jellies if I throw them at you?"
Cory's expression held a bit of excitement. I put the pen in my hand back down.
"I think I should be able to."
I suddenly really wanted to try it. Could I catch the jelly that someone threw? I sat up straight once again.
When I got in position to catch jellies again, Cory held up a grape jelly from the jelly bag. I thought about the concentration exercises from swordsmanship training and poured all of my concentration into the grape jelly.
Fump.
"...…!"
Then, I ate the grape jelly that I had successfully caught in my mouth.
Cory looked surprised, then threw more jellies toward me. I used my trained reflexes to catch all of the jellies. There were three jellies that had been thrown in quick succession, and I caught them all. I didn't miss a single one.
Cory's lips trembled slightly, then he burst into laughter. He held onto my shoulder, head down and shoulders trembling.
"That's amazing. It's hard to be good even at things like these."
His compliment made me feel happy.
'Oh, but if I'm so proud of something like this, doesn't that make me feel kind of…stupid?'
To be so happy about being able to catch jellies. That was a bit too much.
I wiped off the smile on my face. Cory seemed to read my thoughts after seeing my smile-less face, and laughed louder.
I snatched the jelly bag from his hand and went back to my original spot. I was going to finish up my report when a recovered Cory came near me and read the first part of the report before speaking.
"Shushu, remember how I told you how the teacher in charge of clubs seemed really interested in our activity?"
"Yeah."
I paused writing when my finger cramped. I resumed writing after shaking my hand slightly.
"I gave them a short explanation about our project, and they seemed to get really excited about it. They said that it would be important information for future monster subjugations."
"So?"
"I think you can look forward to our club's ranking next semester."
Cory seemed to cautiously look at my reaction. I paused writing the report. Cory looked confused at my silence and lack of reaction.
"Huh? You don't like it? When our ranking goes up, you can ask for more club money, Shushu."
I frowned, and spoke in a small voice.
"…..you, you're staying in the club with me next semester too?"