“That should have taught that demon girl Ruchika a lesson…”
I got dinner ready as I listened to my mom complain. Both she and I usually ate our meals at the dining hall, but when she was in a bad mood, she’d come to my room and beg me to feed her. When that happened, she usually had something she wanted to complain about, so I wasn’t really a fan of her visits. Even my roommates, who typically wanted to hang out with me, tried to stay away when my mom showed up. They’d come up with some kind of excuse to leave the room to us.
“Forget about her already,” I said.
“That won’t do. A demon trying to become a hero puts the reputation of the Institute at risk.”
“She’s just gonna fail some big test somewhere down the line and get kicked out anyway.”
“That would be letting her off too easily, especially after what she did to you.”
“I don’t really care.”
I was already fed up as I ladled out the chicken stew I had made. Mom talked about the reputation of the Institute and all that, but I knew the thing she actually cared about was that I had lost to Ruchika. She was overprotective and always pinning her hopes up on me, so she couldn’t stand to see someone take me down a notch. And man, it was suffocating.
“You’re such a nice girl. But you shouldn’t be. You have to win back the dignity she’s stolen from you. The next chance you get, you must win against her. Understood?”
“…Yeah, whatever.”
Easy for her to say. I didn’t like Ruchika, but I had to admit her skills were the real deal. It wasn’t gonna be easy to beat her in a fight. Still, I wasn’t planning on letting her off completely. That mock battle had been the first time I had seen her Gluttony ability, so my response had lagged. But now that I knew what I was up against, I could come up with a plan for next time and make sure I didn’t make the same stupid mistakes. I’d find a way to get back at her.
Still, I didn’t wanna have to hear it from someone else, like it was gonna be easy.
“Hey, Mom. You gotta stop pokin’ your nose into Ruchika and Leonie’s business. It’s embarrassin’.”
The Institute, including my mom, was clearly trying to find a way to get rid of the two of them. While Ruchika was gonna have to pay for her bad attitude in class one way or another, it was just plain mean to make Leonie look after her.
“What are you saying, Danita? They’re a couple of underachieving problem students. We’re just trying to do what’s best for the Institute, even if that means getting rid of them.”
“Underachieving problem students,” huh? Yeah, I would call Ruchika a problem student. And sure, maybe Leonie’s grades in practical training weren’t so great. But Ruchika’s work in practical training had been pretty amazing, and Leonie’s grades in lectures were top class. Put another way, they each had their strengths that couldn’t be ignored. But the Institute wasn’t even trying to acknowledge that.
“I just want to get rid of them as quickly as we can and make sure we provide you with the best schooling environment possible.”
“Sure, whatever. Let’s just eat.”
I didn’t really want to hear any more of it, so I changed the subject. Thankfully, my mom always loved the food I made. I only hoped it would fix her bad mood.
I thought about Ruchika and Leonie again. Right now, it seemed like Ruchika was continuing to one-sidedly pursue Leonie, but Leonie didn’t seem completely against it, either. There still seemed to be some distance between them, but they were generally open with each other. It was totally different from the relationship I had with Mom, my own blood relative. She felt like barely more than a random passerby.
I guess it’s been like this ever since Dad died.
Dad had been the Battle-Ax Hero. People said he would never step down from a fight, no matter what kind of terrible monster or fierce attack he was up against. They said he’d been a vanguard for the ages, and without him, even the Almighty Hero wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Demon Lord. After that, he had been part of the effort to set up the Hero Institute, and that was how he met and married Mom.
Mom hadn’t always been this intense. While she still tended to nag at me even when Dad was alive, she used to act more mature than she did now. Everything changed after Dad died. After that, Mom started referring to him like he had been some kind of god with absolute authority. She kept saying over and over how I needed to be more like him. That’s the reason why she doesn’t criticize the rough way I talk—’cause Dad was like that, too. And he was everything to her.
What the hell am I doin’ anyway?
They may call me the strongest of my generation, but in the end, I’m just sittin’ here trying to fix my mom’s bad mood. When that hit me, everything started to feel so pointless. I shook my head, trying to put everything out of my mind, and brought a spoonful of my chicken stew to my mouth. But it didn’t taste like anything at all.