"Whooooooooa! Incredible!"
"That was so awesome!"
Even after the music had stopped and I had gotten off the stage, the students continued to clap and cheer loudly. I was done with my performance, so i didn't need to head back to the stage. When I headed down, I could feel everyone's eyes follow me. I tried my best to ignore the gaze of others and headed to my seat in the front of the stage that Cory had saved for me.
Cory sat there, blank, until I had come closer. Then he wordlessly stood up from his seat and rushed towards me.
"When did you have the time to prepare all of that?"
"Here and there?"
"You're not cold?"
"I'm cold."
At that, Cory put his blanket around my body.
"I was completely awake from the moment you came out. You were super cool."
Cory seemed to have been asleep before I had gotten on stage. He was definitely drowsy when I saw him before I started my performance, but he was wide awake now. He looked incredibly, completely awake.
Hylli soon followed Cory and walked towards me, shock still on his face.
Then, he smiled mischievously and put his necktie on my head as an accessory.
"Well, that was something."
Hylli put his hand on my head and smiled as if he was proud. Even though he had been staring a hole into me mere moments ago, he seemed to be refusing to look me in the eye now that I was right next in front of him.
As soon as I said that I was cold, both Hylli and Yves participated in warming me up and bundled me up in anything and everything. Because of that, I soon grew hot and ended up taking everything off. Yves and I made a deal and I bundled up in a few outer layers.
Yves stared at my layered up form with satisfaction. Then, he wound his arm around my shoulder and began fiddling with my cheek with his hand.
"....."
Yves continued to fondle my cheek before he tried to place his lip near my cheek.
"Can I bite it?"
Yves said jokingly as he gazed down at me. He was a bit too close already for it to be a joke.
I immediately balked at Yves' words, but Cory and Hylli moved even faster than I could react.
The two of them rushed from behind to drag me into their arms to get me away from him. I lost my balance for a second and almost tripped, but Hylli caught me.
"Shushu, you have to be careful of those kinds of people, not just Eric. He probably only has dark, impure things in that head of his."
"What are you doing to Shushu?"
Cory wiped my cheek with his sleeve. Yves' mouth didn't even touch it, but he even used a cleaning spell.
Hylli explained how gross the swordsmanship male students were in the dorms to make me wary of Yves.
"But you guys are being sneaky, hugging Shushu like that, huh?"
At Yves' words, Cory and Hylli stared down at their arms.
"…..you're right."
Cory didn't seem to realize as he tilted his head. Hylli realized that he was too close to me and took a few steps back.
However, Cory just pouted slightly and didn't move.
"Well, that's okay."
With that, he hugged my shoulders slightly. Cory rested his head on mine and stared at Yves in rebellion.
Then, Cory turned his head towards me and stared.
"Cory, what are you doing?"
I was curious about Cory's sudden actions and asked. Cory sighed, then lightly bonked his head on mine.
"I don't know."
Cory let me go and tousled his hair roughly before shoving one hand into his pocket.
Hylli, who had been watching this from a few steps away, looked between Cory and Yves. He had a surprised expression on his face.
"I feel like I'm gaining a lot of sensibility."
Hylli pat my back slightly with an, "You're incredible."
"This would've been a sight to see if even Swan was here. I don't even want to imagine it."
Hylli laughed hollowly with a complicated expression on his face. At that, I suddenly remembered something I was curious about.
There were a few faces that I saw at the beginning of my performance who weren't here any more.
"Where did Swanhaden go? I don't see Hestia either."
When I tilted my head in question, Hylli glanced at me before replying, avoiding my gaze.
"Hestia spilled her drink while she was screaming so she left to go change, and Swanhaden is…."
"Swanhaden is probably running laps."
When Hylli's response grew quieter, Yves continued.
"Isn't he a bit too much though? He was clutching his chest and looked like he was going to die."
"When Shushu's veil fell, he tried to blind everyone sitting in the crowd."
"...Everyone's a bit incredible, but he's the most incredible one of them all."
Hylli responded to Cory's words with a serious expression on his face. Hylli, who genuinely feared Swanhaden, scowled whenever he was mentioned. I couldn't help but laugh at how their relationship hadn't changed at all since our junior years.
I couldn't just keep wearing this thin, flowy outfit. I stood up to change into at least my training uniform. I also wanted to take off this heavy makeup. My face felt heavy.
I told the others that I would just be out for a bit to change into some more comfortable clothes before taking my change of clothes to walk to the restroom.
On my way to the restroom, I could see a familiar person standing near the wall.
The person seemed to have been waiting for me. As soon as they saw me, they hurriedly approached me.
"Shu, Shushu! Shuraina!'
The person coming my way was none other than Eric. He hurriedly blocked me from going somewhere with an expression that had much to say. I didn't know who he was checking for, but he checked to see that nobody was around me before turning his head to look at me.
"The, uh, Shuraina. I have something to say. Possibly….. If I'm not too late."
"...?"
"Seriously, completely seriously...… I feel like you're probably okay with it too….."
Eric bit his lips as he checked my expression. His inability to look me in the eye as he anxiously stuttered on his words seemed suspicious. When I raised one eyebrow, Eric tried to rush to say something, but couldn't seem to say it.
"I'm not okay with it."
I walked by him after speaking and looking as respectfully as I could.
When I just passed by without a bit of hesitation, Eric looked flustered as he grabbed my wrist.
"Won't you please go out with me again?!"
"....?"
This was such absolute bullshit that I briefly stopped walking and just stared at him.
"Please give me another chance! This time, seriously, really! You, I seriously!"
Eric held my wrist with a strong grip as he refused to let go. His hand on my arm felt incredibly displeasing. I wanted to rip his hands away with magic, but I couldn't use magic just yet. It was slowly being remedied, but after my magic had been intertwined with black magic, my magic was still incredibly unstable.
Because of that, I stood and wondered how I should remove him.
"Shushu, I'll be really good this time. Can't you just think about it, just one more time? Please! I even like you now!"
But he seemed to have misunderstood my pause to figure out how to get him off as me having some regrets about our relationship. His expression seemed to brighten before he clung even harder.
This was the first time that someone had clung and begged me to go out with them so it could have felt like a fresh and new experience, but I was strangely disgusted.
He said that he liked me now. He had confessed to me when he didn't even like me. I didn't know why he suddenly liked me, but I just wanted to hurry up and change. Hey, you asshole, my arm's gonna fall off. Let go.
I wanted to land a fist on his face to get him off, but I was exhausted from my performance and didn't want to fight. It was a waste of effort.
I wondered how I could take care of this situation with as little trouble as possible.
"Oh, there's Swanhaden. Swaaaan~."
Every male student in the school feared Swanhaden, right? I called Swan's name as if I had found him. Of course, the only people in the hall to the restroom were Eric and I.
Just as I had thought, just calling Swan's name made Eric react. Swan wasn't there, but Eric immediately took his hand off of my arm. At Swan's name, fear became evident on Eric's face. With that, Eric held his hands in prayer and shook his head.
I tried to walk quickly when my arm went free. But I didn't need to walk.
"Why are you calling me?"
Swanhaden had actually appeared.
Swanhaden seemed like he had been walking towards me, coming from the opposite end of the hallway. I had just called him, but he had coincidentally been there. I was a bit surprised.
Swanhaden, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, tried not to look at me.
In his hand was the mask that I had prepared but hadn't worn. I wondered why he had it, but I soon understood the reason.
Swanhaden put the mask on my face and looked pleased.
"It's a seal."
With a pleased tone, Swanhaden looked down at where Eric had been grabbing my arm which was turning red. He looked down as he shook. His eyes grew cold. When his gaze landed on Eric, Swanhaden let out a smirk. With a slight tilt to his head, Swanhaden twirled his body to stand right in front of Eric.
Eric took a few steps back and tried to escape Swan right there, but Swan caught him by the back of his collar. He gathered an incredible amount of magic, but soon let it go as soon as he saw me. With a deep, deep sigh and release, Swan stared at me and breathed in deeply once again.
He let go of Eric's collar.
As let let go, Swan whispered, "I'll catch you later, alone." in a terrifying voice to Eric. With a face full of fear, Eric dashed out of the hall. He seemed to be begging me to help, but I pretended not to see it.
I coldly stared at Eric's retreating form. But next to me, I could see Swanhaden looking intensely at me.
"….You called for me first, in this kind of situation?"
"About what?"
Swanhaden asked, so quietly that I didn't know if he was asking me or if he was talking to himself. I frowned. Swan didn't make too big of a deal about it, but he looked incredibly happy. I didn't know what he had done and where he was coming back from, but his clothes were covered in dirt. His expression was brighter than usual.
"You can call for me whenever you need."
"Really?"
"I'm good at taking care of squids."
"Squids?"
"Eric types."
Swanhaden said something incredibly funny with such a serious expression on his face. Well, Swanhaden never really saw people as people. But squids? That was new. He had called Hestia a pink blob last time, too. He'd called Yves a gross blob of oil, and Hylli was just something beneath him. Cory was a snack shuttle* or something.
What was I? An orange fur ball? I suddenly remembered the drawing of my face that Swanhaden had drawn before.
T/N: *shuttles are basically buses that have a set destination and only one stop, and it's often used to indicate a designated person who brings [insert what kind of shuttle they are].