"That.... I just did that yesterday because I was jealous! You guys are on a roll, you know? The most popular ones in our grade!"
"If you're jealous, then roll yourself out the door. You know how to get a day pass."
"That's now what I'm talking about! Ugh."
"Stop saying that we're on a roll, that's so childish. Eugh."
Isabel and I both looked like we were on the verge of dying of embarrassment as we covered our face with our hands.
"Shuraina, I'm sorry I talked bad about you, even if you don't seem to care about others talking about you anyway. I was jealous of you and how good you are at everything, and how pretty Hestia was next to you. And how his royal highness and others like him cared about you."
All of the other girls frowned as they apologized to me.
But I didn't know why they were saying sorry to me. Honestly, they barely talked about me anyway, and the biggest victim of this situation was Hestia. Maybe it was because they had solved everything before I arrived.
Honestly, I didn't really understand what was happening right now. What the heck?
Isabel apologized to me, then turned her head towards Hestia.
"Ugh, but Hestia, it's true that there's nothing inside your head! You're so irritating!"
Hestia peeked towards me, then smiled as she slapped Isabel's pack.
A resounding Smack! sounded from her back.
Isabel touched her stinging back as she glared at Hestia, then sighed before she looked towards me and began to speak again.
"Honestly, Shuraina, I didn't really feel too good after fighting with you yesterday. Most of the girls here joined the swordsmanship classes because they respected you. But because you were too good, our admiration kind of turned into jealousy."
"Isabel, you joined because of his royal highness."
"Ugh, no. It's half half."
I had definitely fought with her because of Hestia, but Isabel was explaining why she had talked behind my back. What the heck was happening? I didn't really get why she was focusing on a topic that I didn't even really want to know.
Hestia quietly listened to Isabel's story before grabbing at Isabel's collar.
"Even if you respect Shushu, Shushu's mine. And I'm Shushu's."
Hestia's expression twisted as she retorted angrily at Isabel. I'd never seen Hestia like this before. I daintily hid my mouth behind my hands. Oh, my.
Isabel's body seemed wracked by chills at Hestia's sudden 180.
"I got it, I get it! Ugh, you complete two-face. Your friendship makes me shudder!"
I didn't what just happened, but whatever, it looked like Hestia had solved everything well.
The other swordsmanship class girls went around and gave me a hug, each supplied with an apology for talking about me and hitting me. I ended up apologizing too, just because it looked like the situation called for it.
I was still kind of confused. Hestia, the one that I thought was the biggest victim of us all, had a handle on all of the girls, and the girls seemed to have forgotten why the fight happened in the first place as they apologized to me.
I didn't really get it, but I just had to take the positivity for myself, right?
Hestia seemed like she was aware that the girls had talked about her behind her back, and had solved it on her own.
"I know some hair growth spells, anyone want to take care of that bald spot~?"
To commemorate the positive conclusion to our argument, I decided to be nice.
At my words, all of the girls' hands shot up in the air and began to praise me. They even threw me in the air a few times.
I decided to be nice to everybody at everyone's reactions. I sat higher up to look at their scalps.
They just looked too smackable, though, so I pat their bald spots a few times before someone cussed at me. I decided to just draw the circle at that point.
I placed a growth spell, then placed a circle above it specifically for living beings that focused on hair. Then, I put my magic into it and focused it onto the girls' scalps.
But because I had been thinking of something else, I might have made a mistake. Oops.
"Hey, what's this? Broccoliiiiii?"
"Kyaaaaaaagh!"
A single broccoli grew from the bald spot.
I was immediately thrown onto the floor. I ran away as fast as I could to survive. There was an angry army of broccolis chasing after me.
After growing broccoli on the girls' heads, I had to beg for forgiveness. I had plucked the broccoli that had grown on my head and said, "Hey, it's free broccoli. Be grateful," right before receiving worried and annoyed glances when blood spurted from where I had plucked it off.
Thankfully, I used the proper spell right after to avoid a tragic fate.
Anyway, after that particular incident, Hestia slowly began to change.
It wasn't a full 180, but she began to show me new sides to herself. Her personality, uh, went wild….no. She became brighter every day.
Did my statement about standing tall alone get through to Hestia last time? Or had she already begun to change and the incident with the girls become some kind of accelerator?
I didn't really know the actual reason, but Hestia was changing.
But even if she changed, it was what the other students were perceiving of Hestia. She was the same as before for me.
She was still cute and still acted cute towards me. Although I had thought that was just her personality before, now it felt a bit different. I had a feeling that she was acting like that because she knew I was weak against cute things.
But, well, it made me happy to see how Hestia had gotten brighter and more energetic recently.
"What are you doing so early in the morning?"
"Shushu!"
When I headed over to Hestia's room early in the morning to walk to class with her, Hestia had her textbook open as she studied. Hestia was studying my least favorite subject of all: the history of the empire. Gross.
I didn't know where or how she had suddenly gotten so motivated, but she had become engrossed in studying recently. Of course, she didn't even attempt to try in beginner's magic or math classes, but she tried her best in history or language classes and other arts-related classes.
If she kept going at this rate, her grades might get higher than that.
But honestly, the history teacher was so boring that it killed any interest I had for the subject.
Because of that, it was incredibly easy for me to get the highest grades for that particular class, but it seemed that I may just have to pass the mantle to Hestia. Even our language class was kind of looking rough now.
I liked being the top of the class, so I couldn't help but become slightly nervous.
"Whoa, this is incredible…."
I muttered as I read through Hestia's neat and well-organized notes. Hestia was packing her bag, but smiled when she heard my comment.
"Right? I think I'm going to get a higher grade than you in history and language this time, Shushu."
"..."
And sometimes, Hestia provoked me. Just like this.
She lit a fire in my competitive spirit, and motivated me to do better.
"Hestia, do you want to do a bet with me?"
"A bet between Shushu and me?"
"Mhm."
I proposed a bet with our grades. When I suggested it to Hestia, her face slowly morphed into an expression filled with happiness and, strangely, honor, then frantically nodded her head up and down.
For the subjects, we decided to choose the following: empire history and our language class. The winner got a cliche prize: one wish.
It was a simple prize, but Hestia seemed extremely content.
I knew that Hestia was smart, so I added another rule.
"But the wish can't be for more wishes."
"....che."
It sounded like she had planned to do just that. Hestia tsked and looked disappointed. As I thought, Hestia definitely wasn't someone to think of as easy.
I thought of Hestia's personality in the novel. In the novel, there hadn't been anything about Hestia being so eager for self-improvement.
Hestia was quiet, laughed often, and, in the novel, was a quiet, ladylike person.
But within the novel, Hestia sometimes acted in a passionate, fiery manner that was kind of difficult to understand, but I was slowly beginning to understand the difference between the two personalities.
But after placing that bet, Hestia grew stronger. She had gotten stronger in general, but it was that plus more.
After the bet, Hestia's room changed slightly too; next to Hestia's desk and bed were a bunch of notes pasted on the walls and any other flat surfaces.
On the pages were important terms and famous figures that we had to memorize, and other notes from our classes.
When I headed to class, Hestia had her book open and was studying. As if she hadn't slept well, Hestia's under-eyes had some large, rather impressive dark circles. Her skin also looked a bit drier. Hestia, who had previously been obsessed with looking good, was changing.
For her to try so hard to beat me.
As I watched Hestia, I couldn't help but feel like I should try just as much. Even though the two subjects we wagered on weren't ones that I really cared about.
We did make a bet, after all. I couldn't just let her win so easily.
"Shushu? Is your history teacher picking on you?"
Hazel asked, surprised. She had seen me studying both subjects until my nose bled.
I told her that it wasn't that, but she still looked suspicious.
The history teacher watched the two of us study hard with a fire in our eyes. They had been so touched that they bought us delicious snacks and cheered us on.
It seemed that the teacher, who had always been ignored because their class was boring, had been touched by our efforts to study the subject.
Anyway, I was studying hard at my desk, when Hestia came into my room and handed me a bunch of papers.
Hestia looked an absolute mess when she came in.
Her dark circles had gotten worse, and she was even wearing glasses–she hadn't worn those in a while. She kind of looked like Cory.
But because Hestia was already extremely pretty, she didn't look that bad considering how little she cared for her appearance. Actually, she kind of looked like a tragic beauty because of her dark circles.
Hestia came into my room and handed me her organized notes for history.
I received the notes that Hestia gave me and gave Hestia the notes that I had organized.
We weren't trying to think of each other as rivals just because of a bet–the point was for us to do better, after all.
Honestly, I was originally planning on treating her as a rival, but Hestia was so adamant about asking questions and for help. I couldn't help but try to make it easier for her.
But it turned out to be a good thing. I ended up learning a lot on my end, too. Hestia would pick at my mistakes, and explaining the subject to her allowed me to understand things that I didn't get the first time.
Hestia was so exhausted from studying that her usual bright smile was a drowsy, tired one instead.