In my mind, as long as you wanted something, you should feel free to pursue it, no matter what it was. Of course, there were some cases when you needed to have a level of aesthetic sense, but you would never be able to truly develop that sense if you had never been fooled by a fake before.
“Y-you sure know what you’re talkin’ about, kid!”
“That doesn’t mean it’s okay to sell fakes while saying they’re genuine, mister.”
“Uh…”
“But I won’t tell on you if you give me a discount on these tricolored bracelets, okay?”
“You’re going to buy them?” asked Leonie.
“They are cute, but…,” said Nor.
Leonie and Nor still weren’t sure about the idea of buying imitation jewelry.
“The colors on this bracelet are our colors, don’t you think?”
“…Oh.”
“Black, silver, and light blue… You’re right.”
“I was thinking I wanted to grab them as a memento of today.”
Leonie was gonna be my bride, and Nor had become a close friend. I thought it would be neat to get matching bracelets to remember this fun day we’d spent together.
“…That might not be such a bad idea.”
“Yeah.”
“Then that’s settled! Hey, mister, three of these, please.”
“…Ugh, these weren’t cheap to get my hands on, either…”
And so, we bought a set of the bracelets that matched the colors of our hair.
“Yeah, this was a good choice!”
“Even though we don’t know what stones they were made with, they still are very pretty.”
“Y-yeah, I agree! Th-they’re really cute.”
Just then, as it was beginning to turn dark out around town, the magically powered streetlights turned on and began to glow with light.
“…”
“It’s pretty, huh?”
“Y-yeah.”
Even though the gems on the bracelets were fake, they reflected the light of the streetlights around us and gave off a beautiful sparkle. Each of those sparkles was filled with the genuine memories we had made today.
“Today was fun.”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, it was.”
To us, as mementos of this day, these bracelets were, without a doubt, the real thing.
“♪”
“Ruchika…are you planning on skipping class again?”
As I was whistling to myself and fixing to leave the lecture hall, Leonie called out, stopping me. That startled me.
“Ah-ha-ha…sorry, Leonie. Make up a good excuse for Professor Aliza for me, will ya?”
“I will not. Just be mature and submit to her anger later.”
At first, Leonie had really pouted and scolded me every time I’d tried to skip a lecture, but now she was starting to just give up. Shooting her an awkward smile, I started to leave the lecture hall anyway, but then…
“Stop right there, C-100.”
“Huh?”
A strict-sounding voice called out to me. I turned around to see Professor Aliza was standing there. Ugh.
“A-afternoon, Professor! Nice weather we’re having today—”
“Enough with the gags. Are you planning on being truant again today?”
“A-ah-ha-ha-ha…”
All I could do was try to brush off her accusation with a laugh. Crap, she caught me. Professor Aliza’s earlier than usual today. I guess I’ve got no choice but to give up and attend class today. Thinking this, I started to sit down in my seat.
—Ruchika, I believe you should be wary of Professor Aliza today.
Huh?
Proto had given me something like a prediction. That was rare.
“Not that I particularly mind,” said Professor Aliza.
“Huh?”
“If you don’t want to attend the class, then do as you like. Especially if you’re going out of your way to come to class, only to fall asleep in the end, then I’d rather you simply weren’t here at all. In fact, perhaps it’s about time I exercise my authority on the matter.”
…By stripping me of any earned credits for the class, she explained, looking at me with a cruel smile. Then that meant—
“Please wait, Professor!”
Leonie’s expression changed as she interrupted the exchange between us.
“I’ll talk to Ruchika and make sure she takes class seriously from now on. So please, don’t take away her credits—”
Professor Aliza’s lecture was a required course. Up until now, I had been skipping class just enough to stay above the passing line, but now she was saying she would make sure I didn’t get credit for the class. That would mean I would lose my right to stay enrolled at the Hero Institute.
“I-I-I’m sorry, Professor Aliza, I’m sorry! I promise I’ll turn over a new leaf, so please, just one more chance!”
I was really gonna have to suck it up if I wanted to resolve this. Making a complete one-eighty, I apologized profusely to Professor Aliza, begging her to somehow change her mind. Of course, if I was that serious about it, I should have just gone to lecture in the first place.
“See, Ruchika is sincere about it, too, so please—”
“You speak as if this is someone else’s problem, C-088, when it’s not.”
“…What?”
Now Professor Aliza had also coldly turned on Leonie, who was just trying to protect me. Leonie looked back at her in shock.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“I mean your marks in practical training. They’re terrible. I’m surprised they even let you enroll. It appears you’re a hero’s daughter in name only.”
“—!”
“Hey, wait a sec, Professor!”
I shouted back in protest. There was no way I could just sit back and listen to that kind of talk.
“Come on, don’t you think you’re going too far? Yeah, Leonie might be having a bit of a hard time in practical training, but just because you’re a teacher doesn’t mean you can single her out and attack her about it!”
“Be silent, you dropout.”
She cut me off curtly. Oh man, that pisses me off.
“C-088, you are the daughter of the Almighty Hero, are you not?”
“…Yes.”
“And as her daughter, aren’t you ashamed that you can only achieve such disappointing results?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“I was rather excited when I heard the daughter of the Almighty Hero had enrolled at the Institute. But I must say, an underachiever like you did not live up to my expectations in the least.”
Who the hell does she think she is?! Now she was just going way too far. I stood up from my seat and went up to Professor Aliza…only to stop when I felt something pulling hard on my sleeve.
“Leonie…”
“Please don’t, Ruchika.”
It was Leonie who had stopped me. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she continued to silently bear the brunt of the professor’s verbal abuse.
“Why are you stopping me?!”
“The professor hasn’t said anything that’s incorrect. It’s true that my grades are disappointing for the daughter of the Almighty Hero.”
Saying this, she again told me to control myself. However, her words did nothing but make me even more upset.