He moved away from me and continued to massage my muscles.
"Try to step away from the principal's plans as much as you can. There's no need for you to become involved."
He said, then lowered his voice into a whisper.
"Strangely enough, it feels like it's wrapping itself up on its own."
I frowned at Yves' words. What did it mean, 'wrapping itself up on its own'? When I asked him what that meant and for him to explain, Yves clammed up and didn't say a word.
When he stayed silent, I turned my head around to look at his face.
"Turn around."
I pulled Yves' hand off of my shoulder and told him to turn around. He tilted his head in curiosity. He narrowed his eyes, but followed what I asked.
Yves turned around. I was faced with his back.
Like he did for me, I put my hand on his shoulder and pressed onto a pressure point. It didn't seem like it, but Yves' body was surprisingly muscular. It was a bit hard to press. I thought he was just skinny because he didn't like eating, but it seemed like that wasn't the case.
When I lightly massaged his shoulder, Yves seemed visibly surprised, which was unlike him.
"....Shushu?"
His face stiffened, but soon relaxed.
When I just quietly continued massaging his shoulder, he relaxed completely.
"…..This is the first time this has happened."
Yves muttered to himself. He stayed still and entrusted his back to me.
"Grandpa, where does it hurt?"
"…..Don't learn from Swanhaden."
Yves let out a sigh mixed with laughter.
He seemed unfamiliar with my sudden friendliness–he didn't hide how surprised he looked. After his situation ended decently well, I had kept pushing Yves away. I hadn't done anything nice in return.
I was being nice because I suddenly remembered dream Yves.
Hey, old man, don't get twisted and live a long and happy life.
Whenever I thought about that Yves, I got so scared that chills ran down my spine.
In the dream, Yves said that he had joined in the principal's plans purely out of boredom. Moreover, when he was bullying Cory, he looked like he was doing so because of boredom and not because he had any ill will towards him.
I couldn't help but ask Yves a question out of anxiousness.
"Are you bored these days?"
"I'm too busy to be bored."
Yves briefly paused to think about his response to my sudden question.
"What about your hobbies?"
"…..?"
At my sudden burst of interest towards him, Yves shot me a suspicious glance. But he still responded.
"Looking at puppy clothes and accessories?"
With that, he took out a few photos to show me. I was a bit surprised to see that he was carrying around actual photos instead of just a camera. He had taken out pictures of puppy Shushu.
Puppy Shushu had gotten a lot more high and mighty than the last time I saw them. They looked absolutely arrogant. She was a lot fatter than before and all of the accessories on her small body were all expensive. Her long, curly orange fur was styled so that it was pulled back. She kind of looked like she would be a hip-hopper.
I stared at puppy Shushu, who had evolved into a pig, and couldn't help but think that dogs really did have it good in life.
"….if you suddenly find yourself bored, don't get weird about it and just find a nice, calm hobby like what you have."
I returned the photos to Yves and Yves just stared at me. He put the photos back into the inside jacket of his blazer. He rested his arm on the back of the bench, and put his chin on that arm.
His silver eyes stared directly at me before he pulled me close to him. I was suddenly in Yves' arms as I looked up to look at his face.
Under his orange bangs, I could see his bright silver eyes that looked like the moon. His expression was sultry as the air felt thick.
Yves' eyes as he looked at me were so full of affection that I was slightly taken aback.
I knew that Yves thought of me as precious, but I was still surprised. The affection that I thought he felt towards me didn't seem like the affection that I saw in his eyes right now.
Yves, who had pulled me so close to him that we could feel each others' breaths, spoke quietly so that only I could hear.
"I won't ever get bored if you stay by my side. Don't worry about it."
With that, Yves gaze landed and stayed on my lips.
With the back of my head supported by his hand, he opened his lips slightly. I just stared, eyes wide in surprise, at the sudden situation that seemed to come out of nowhere. Yves' face was directly in front of mine.
I was in a bit of shock. I'd never been in this kind of situation before.
His silver eyes chased my lips a bit longer before he gazed into my eyes.
"Oh, I almost went too far."
If he even moved a single millimeter, our lips would've touched. Yves shifted backwards and spoke nonchalantly.
"I have a habit of kissing Shushu, so."
I was sure that one of his new hobbies were teasing me using puppy Shushu.
Human Shushu was being tormented because of puppy Shushu.
Yves hugged me tight as he stayed still for a moment.
I was deep in thought and stayed in his arms for a while, but I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to get dinner. I shoved Yves off and headed to the cafeteria.
Today's dinner was steak. I couldn't miss it.
I headed to the library to search for books about black magic.
Augran Academy was an incredibly large and well-funded school, so our library was just as large.
The walls were covered with books, and there were wooden ladders in certain areas of the library. The library was lit by elegant chandeliers that gave the library a soft glow but weren't too overly decorative.
I headed towards the area that had the most books on magic.
I was looking for books that talked about black magic, but I couldn't see a single one.
I knew that books that talked about black magic were rare, but it wasn't like they didn't exist at all.
I had found a few books last time and placed them so I could get back to them easier…..
I found it strange, so I looked harder. I stumbled upon Cory, who was sleeping on a desk in a corner of the library.
He had books all around him as he napped. I hadn't seen him for a long time, but it seemed like he had basically started to live in the library.
I wondered why all the books about black magic were gone, but it turned out that it was because Cory had gotten all of them and were going through them. I walked towards where he was and sat facing him. Cory's blond hair was loose and strewn all over his books.
He had fallen asleep without taking off his glasses. There was a small indent on his nose bridge.
I tried to take off his glasses without him noticing to place them by his side, but he woke up and looked up.
Cory blinked slowly a few times as he stared at me closely. He seemed like he had barely slept a wink–his under eyes were dark from exhaustion.
"….Shushu?"
He had been so busy that we had hardly seen each other recently. It felt like it had been a long time since I had seen him. He called my name in a hoarse voice.
"If you're sleepy, go to your dorm and sleep."
I said as I opened up 'The Origins of Black Magic,' one of the books that he had on the table.
Cory straightened his back and yawned wide before resting his chin on his hand to continue staring at me. As soon as he woke up, he just continued to stare.
I was pretending to casually read the book in front of me, but I felt a bit awkward. I couldn't concentrate too well. I contemplated if I should borrow the books and head to the dorm to read them.
Cory was still staring at me. He seemed to want to say something. He hesitated for a while before mussing his hair roughly and began speaking.
"Shushu."
At his voice, I pulled my gaze from the book to stare in front of me.
Cory paused when I stared back at him before he gave me a gentle smile.
It seemed like he had finally gotten the calm that he needed to give himself a break–he was smiling like he used to. Or maybe he was trying his hardest to get back to how he used to be.
"There's something that I need you to see in the mountain model in our club room. Can you check it with me right now?"
I nodded at his request. I borrowed all of the books about black magic before we left the library and wondered how I should get them back to the dorm. Cory cast a spell so that I didn't need to carry all of them in my arms.
We still had some time before curfew, so we headed to the club room immediately.
We walked over to the Augran mountain model, which took up one of the corners of our room, and peered inside.
All of the monsters lived in separate tribes in the mountain. They fought when they met each other, and occasionally exchanged items with each other.
"This place, here, is the place where we went last time."
Cory pointed at an upper region on the model. We tried to make sure that our model was as close to the mountain as possible, but we couldn't render the heavy magic that felt like black magic from that specific area. Because of that, the mountain was a lot less feral than the one in the mountain.
"Do you remember that blue monster we found last time?"
"Aah. Yeah."
"It's not just that monster reacting to our subjugation clothes, but all of the monsters in general."
Cory took out a miniature subjugation outfit and pinned it on a small wooden stick that looked like a toothpick and swung it in front of the monsters in the model. As soon as he did that, the miniature monsters ran towards the clothes and tried to rip it to shreds.
"Shushu, whatever cast that black magic in the note you read that day could be something non-human."
He stared at me, eyes full of sincerity. Even though he looked tired, it looked like he still regained some life in his eyes. Cory's sharp green eyes seemed pretty as I stared straight back.
T/N: i.............. yves...….