Editor : Amethyst00



Late night.

Creak—

Leo carefully opened the window of his lodging room.

Whoooosh—!

A cold blizzard raged outside.

["Cold! Close the window!"]

Kiran, who had been trembling in front of a candle with a handkerchief wrapped around himself like a campfire, shrieked in fright at the sight.

“Don’t sleep, stay on standby.”

Leaving those words behind, Leo slipped out of the room through the window.

The place Leo headed for was none other than another luxury hotel where the second-years were staying.

“As expected, you made a move.”

Meanwhile, Lunia, who was also secretly observing the Lumene lodging house from her own window, wore a meaningful expression.

“My hunch was right after all.”

Without hesitation, Lunia opened her own window and went outside.

So Leo and Lunia left their rooms, and not long after—

Click—!

“Leo-nim and Lunia-yang are, are they… together…?”

Another window opened, and Eiran poked her head out.

Having finally gathered the courage to join Seiren today, Eiran had accepted Herdium’s suggestion to stay here rather than at home.

And, unable to sleep properly from nervousness, she just so happened to witness Leo and Lunia sneaking out of their lodgings.

“What’s going on? Why would Leo-nim and Lunia-yang…?”

For some reason, she couldn’t help but keep her eyes on the sight: the Lumene grade representative who drew her gaze, and the frightening yet admirable Seiren grade representative, slipping out into the night.

“C-could it be! A secret tryst?”

The rich imagination of a teenage girl who adored heroic tales ran out of control.

Her face flushed red, she held her cheeks with both hands in panic.

‘To think they’d engage in such improper romance while still students…!’

Having smoothly reached her own misunderstanding, Eiran hastily dressed and rushed outside.

Leo, having arrived at the hotel where Seiren’s second-years stayed, stood on the roof.

He hid his presence, pressed his hand against the wall, and drove his fingers in.

Crack—!

The wall of the hotel dented inward.

Using that method, Leo descended to a lower floor and sensed the presences inside.

‘So Seiren rented out this whole place as well.’

There were no signs of activity from inside.

‘The students must be on the third floor?’

Since it was already deep night, the Seiren students were asleep.

Climbing down the wall to the third floor, Leo peered in through the window.

‘Nine in total. One missing.’

Confirming the number of sleeping second-years, Leo narrowed his eyes.

He then opened the window of a room that contained luggage but was empty.

Click—

The window wasn’t locked, and opened easily.

Perching on the sill, Leo removed his snow-covered shoes before stepping inside, careful not to leave footprints.

On the wall he found a name tag on a uniform: “Rauta.”

‘As expected, he snuck out.’

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing here?”

At that moment, Lunia, looking flustered, appeared at the window.

“And what about you, what are you doing?”

Knowing full well she had been tailing him, Leo replied with a composed look.

“Is that important right now? What if you get caught sneaking into the second-years’ dorm? Get out before—!”

Trying to drag him away, Lunia took off her shoes and approached.

Unauthorized absence from one dorm and intrusion into another—on top of being from different schools. If caught, it would never end with a simple punishment.

Thud! Clatter!

“Ugh!”

Startled as she neared Leo, Lunia accidentally kicked the table leg.

The table toppled onto the floor with a loud crash.

Pain shooting through her toe, Lunia felt tears well up and instinctively grabbed her foot.

A moment later, knock knock—an irritated rapping on the door.

Still clutching her foot, Lunia froze and turned toward the door.

‘What? It’s not locked?!’

If someone just opened it and came in, they’d be caught red-handed.

Leo’s brows furrowed as well.

“Hey! Rauta! What’s with all this racket at night? You think you’re the only one here? Let us sleep already!”

A male student’s annoyed voice came through.

In haste, Leo left his shoes outside, shut the window, then grabbed frozen Lunia’s wrist.

He pushed her onto the bed, pulled the blanket over both of them, and drew her close.

“H-hey! What are you—!”

“Shh!”

When Lunia, face flushed, tried to speak, Leo put a finger to her lips.

“You ignoring me?!”

Bang—!

The door burst open irritably.

Lunia felt her heart stop.

Since the distance from the doorway to the bed was fairly far, as long as they lay with their backs turned, it was hard to tell that two people were under the blanket unless one came very close.

“You don’t even respond when I come in? Fine! Advanced-class student too proud to even talk to us lowly mid-class trash, is that it?”

Seeing the blanket pulled up with no face showing, the boy made his own assumption, then slammed the door shut irritably.

Moments later, Lunia flung off the blanket, her face red to her neck, and scrambled away from Leo.

“You didn’t have to hold me that tightly!”

Watching her whisper angrily, Leo climbed off the bed and replied:

“If we hadn’t been that close, it would’ve been obvious there were two people.”

“Still…!”

‘Ugh! How can he be so calm about this!’

“Forget it! Anyway—if you ever talk about this, I’ll kill you!”

Balling her fists threateningly, Lunia glared as Leo chuckled and turned back toward the window.

“Seriously! Why did you even come here?”

“To find Rauta.”

Lunia faltered at Leo’s answer.

“This is Rauta-sunbae’s room?”

“Yeah. He snuck out. No doubt he’s headed for the Fairy Forest.”

“Why?”

Lunia frowned, unable to understand.

“We’ll find out once we go.”

“Wait—you mean to head there now, in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah. You go back to the dorm first.”

“……”

Lunia crossed her arms, thinking.

“You suspect Rauta-sunbae is connected to this incident, don’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re wrong. That’s absurd.”

Even if he was an unpleasant senior, Rauta was still a Seiren student. From Lunia’s perspective, it was infuriating for an outsider to link her schoolmate with Tartaros.

Still, sneaking out in the middle of the night for the Fairy Forest was undeniably strange.

“So I’ll come along and confirm it myself—as the first-year grade representative of Seiren, I have to clear my senior of suspicion.”

“Do as you like.”

Putting his shoes back on, Leo climbed onto the roof. Lunia followed right after.

“Fine, then let’s go.”

The two left the city and reached the entrance of the Fairy Forest.

There, Leo stopped and let out a small sigh.

“You’re going to keep following too?”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by his words, Lunia blinked.

Rustle—

From the brush emerged Eiran.

“Eiran? Since when have you been trailing us?”

“I was following along with you the whole time.”

“What?”

From the moment he realized Lunia was tailing him, Leo had also sensed Eiran’s presence.

‘Eiran’s not the type to go tattling…’

She was more the sort to keep things bottled up if she saw someone sneaking out.

He let it go at first, but since she’d followed all this way, he couldn’t ignore it.

Lunia stepped toward Eiran.

“Eiran. Why did you come all the way out here? Go back to the lodging right—”

“Ah…!”

“Hm? What?”

“N-no! Students shouldn’t be engaging in improper relationships!”

“……”

Lunia stared at her blankly as Eiran shouted with a bright red face.

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw it! Leo-nim and Lunia-yang sneaking out of the dorm, secretly entering another hotel room together!”

“Eiran! Wait! Listen to me—that was…!”

“O-of course, Lunia-yang is beautiful! A-and Leo-nm is very handsome! I think you suit each other! But still, you’re only first-years! To shamelessly have a… a physical relationship…!”

“Ahh, geez! That’s not what it was at all! Hey, Leo! You explain it too!”

Unable to stand her runaway delusion anymore, Lunia shouted and glared at Leo—only to see him holding his stomach, laughing. A vein popped on her forehead.

“You’re laughing? You think this is funny?!”

Grabbing him by the collar, Lunia yelled while Leo, still smiling, gently pried her hands off and addressed Eiran.

“Eiran. You misunderstood. Lunia and I aren’t in that kind of relationship.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. That was Seiren’s second-year dorm. I just went in to check something. And we left right after, didn’t we?”

“Oh…”

Eiran let out a small sound, then soon crouched on the ground, covering her face.

“S-so embarrassing.”

“Ugh. Seriously. Now you’ve made me embarrassed too.”

Fanning her flushed face, Lunia glanced at Eiran and chuckled.

“So you came to stop us because you thought we were having an improper relationship?”

“S-sorry. Did I offend you?”

“No. Just surprised. It’s not like I’d ever neglect my studies for love affairs, but even if I did, wouldn’t that work in your favor?”

In Seiren, student rivalry was far harsher than in Lumene. A distracted opponent was an advantage.

“No, not at all. Lunia-yang is the best student. I want you to always be the best.”

Lunia’s eyes widened slightly.

‘So that’s what she thought?’

Lunia had always brimmed with confidence as a descendant of a prestigious family. At the same time, she was often bored—because none of the other first-years were her match.

When Eiran, from the intermediate class, had suddenly risen to challenge her, she had been thrilled to have a rival.

Even when other students whispered behind Eiran’s back, Lunia just scoffed. There was no way her rival would be swayed by such losers’ words.

‘Come to think of it, Eiran’s always been alone.’

Lunia felt ashamed, realizing that while she called Eiran her friend, she had never really paid attention to her.

“Eiran.”

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you come to school? That ‘I’m sick’ excuse was a lie, wasn’t it?”

At the question, Eiran lowered her head.

“I never aimed to be a hero like others did. I only enrolled with a light heart, just wanting to watch heroes up close.”

She admired heroes, but never once imagined herself as one. Watching was enough.

“I thought someone like me attending would be disrespectful to those who genuinely dream of becoming heroes…”

“Disrespect? Don’t be ridiculous. Thinking that way is what insults your own effort.”

Becoming second in the entire school while in the intermediate class was no small feat.

In truth, Eiran had become the talk of the academy.

But shy and timid, Eiran had found that attention frightening.

On top of that, the jealousy and envy of her peers became suffocating.

Feeling she’d been left all alone, she had run back home.

Hearing this, Lunia sighed deeply.

“I want you to keep coming to school.”

“W-why?”

“Because you’re my friend.”

Eiran looked stunned.

“M-me? Friends with you, Lunia-yang?”

“Hah?”

“You… didn’t dislike me?”

“Pfft.”

Hearing a laugh behind her, Lunia shot a glare at Leo.

So Eiran really hadn’t thought of herself as Lunia’s friend.

“Of course we’re friends! So don’t listen to other people’s nonsense—come to school! I need you!”

“Me?”

“Yeah. As both my friend and rival, I want you to keep competing with me.”

At those words, Eiran’s dazed face lit up with a radiant smile.

Seeing that, Leo smirked faintly.

“Kids sure grow fast.”