After the proficiency test, my school life underwent some changes. Specifically, I ended up making more friends. The blond, pigtailed girl standing before me was one of them. While there were still plenty of people who were afraid of me, there were also more people who were interested in getting to know me.
“Yeah, you say that now. But you’re just gonna go hang out with Leonie again, aren’t you?”
“You’re right, but I promise it’s not because I’m neglecting the rest of my friends! It’s just that, to me, Leonie takes priority over everything else.”
“You’re hopeless. I mean, I get that you’re totally infatuated with her, but if you follow her around too much, I think it might have the opposite effect from what you’re hoping for.”
“What do you mean?”
“If pushing doesn’t work, try pulling—basically, you should try different approaches when it comes to love games. It’s something we humans say. You might wanna remember that for later.”
“I dunno, demons are usually all about push, push, push! But thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.”
I told her I would see her later and went off on my way.
It seemed like, around the Institute, some people were still treating me a little bit like a scary outcast. But at least people also seemed to realize I wasn’t a bad guy, either. At first, I felt like it was kind of rude after all that had happened, but I decided not to let it bother me too much once I started making more friends like that girl.
I kept walking and reached the research building. When I peered into the room Leonie had told me to meet her in, I saw her deep in conversation with a few other students.
“Don’t you think we should layer this part of the spell circle?”
“If we do, it will dramatically reduce the magic’s efficiency. It would be fine if it was just a toy for us to play with, but magical devices should be made with practicality in mind.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to work on improving efficiency little by little in due course? If there’s no room for flexibility in the design from the start, then there’s no room for later development, right?”
“That is one way to think about it, but—”
Yeah, I had no idea what they were blabbing about. The bell encouraging the students to go home for the day had already rung, but Leonie and the others were still engrossed in their discussion. I bet pretty soon, one of the school caretakers would be coming around to chase them off, but since they seemed like they’d still be a while, I decided to wait outside the building.
Leonie’s reputation as being weak for a hero’s daughter hadn’t changed, but now people also recognized her for her top-class skills in convenience magic. As a result, she had started receiving requests from people wanting to learn convenience magic and invitations to collaborate on research. I was a little sad we weren’t spending as much time with just the two of us anymore. But since I’m a very understanding lady, I would never want to do anything to tie her down…at least, not yet.
—You’re not going to greet her?
“I don’t wanna bother her when she’s concentrating like that.”
—Oh, is that the kind of move a considerate girlfriend would make?
“Proto, you say some pretty weird things sometimes. More important, I wanted to ask, is it possible you’re actually—”
—What?
“…Eh, you know what? Never mind.”
There was something I had been thinking about Proto for a while now, but I had a feeling she wouldn’t tell me the truth even if I asked her, so I decided to keep my theory to myself.
—A confession of love, is it? My, my, I suppose I’m quite the popular Gear myself.
“No way that’s it!!”
Anyway, I could bug Proto about that later.
“Wait up, Ruchika.”
“Oh, Leonie?”
Hearing someone call my name, I turned around to see Leonie walking toward me.
“I saw you leaving. If you came to visit, you could at least say hello.”
“It seemed like you were in the middle of a discussion, and I didn’t want to interrupt your work.”
I never thought she would cut it short just to chase after me. That made me pretty happy.
“Things were getting a little too heated, so we decided to go home for today and pick up where we left off again tomorrow. It’s already late, too.”
“Oh, okay.”
Leonie seemed more cheerful and energetic than she had been before. While she still had her worries about her sword training, she was having fun researching convenience magic, which made her feel more motivated at school. I had started tagging along to help with her sword training sometimes, and I was also having a blast watching her improve. Occasionally, Nor trained with us as well.
Another exception the school had granted us was officially recognizing me and Leonie as partners. Apparently, it was unprecedented to form a partnership that hadn’t been chosen by Gear. While there were still some people who disagreed with the idea, Leonie and I didn’t care. They could say whatever they wanted.
So basically…
“Now we can officially become mates, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Whaaat? Why not?”
While you may have thought that meant I had finally won her over, Leonie was still the same cool and collected beauty as ever, always toying with my heart.
“Aw, man… Don’t tell me you still haven’t warmed up to me after all this time?”
“Do I really have to come out and say it for you to understand?”
“Uh, that’s okay, forget I said anything…”
Faced with her freezing-cold gaze, I started to retreat dejectedly.
“You know I certainly don’t dislike you, Ruchika.”
“Yeah, right… But you don’t like me, either… Unless?”
“Just forget it, you dunce.”
“Aw, come on!”
We had only just begun our journey together.
It was before we knew we really were destined for each other. This was the story of how it all began.
The End