The ringing of a clock tower resounded across campus.
It was morning. Refreshing sunlight streamed into Stella’s dorm room through a gap in the curtains. Outside the door, the sound came of girls chattering excitedly.
“Look, it’s the brooch I lost during class! It was by my pillow when I woke up this morning. The Goddess granted my wish!”
“My staff looks all-new. The scratches are gone!”
“Guess what? One of the older students asked for a room’s worth of candy. She’ll be handing out all the stuff she can’t eat.”
“Really?! Let’s hurry over!”
Their footsteps vanished in the distance.
Mm. Sounds like the Goddess actually did grant the wishes of everyone else.
It was like Christmas morning. The students who had their wishes granted were all over the moon.
Now, when will Stella be waking up...?
I looked at Stella from the staff holder. She was sound asleep. Her long eyelashes and hair lay against her pillow. Since she was asleep, her normal prickliness was gone—leaving only an innocent expression which suited her age. The look of a tsundere girl completely unguarded...not bad. Tsunderes rarely showed any openings. That was why moments like these were so precious.
I ended up enraptured by the sight of my idol’s sleeping face, but the other girls were already awake and active. It kind of seemed like she was oversleeping.
“Stella. Stella...!” I called.
She groaned a bit in her sleep, but showed no signs of awakening. Her sleepiness was winning out. As a staff, I couldn’t physically shake her, so I went for psychological shaking instead.
“STELLA, I LOVE YOOOOOOOOOU!”
“BWAAAAAAAAAAH?!” Stella leaped up with a start, blinking rapidly due to the sudden awakening.
“Morning, Stella. The sun’s up.”
“I-Is it just me, or did you just say something insane...?!”
“I’ve said nothing but the truth. And that truth is, Stella, I lov—”
“AAAAH!” Stella cried, covering her head with her comforter. “Stupid dumb idiot! Don’t wake people up like thaaat!”
“Would you have preferred something else?”
“Obviously.”
“All right. Next time, I’ll ask for your hand in holy matrimony and—”
“No no no no! NGGGGH!”
Stella rolled violently in bed, still covered up by her comforter. Her bright red ears poked out.
“Stella, I hate to interrupt your celebration, but...”
“I’m not celebrating! I’m not happy at all!”
“Shouldn’t you be awake by now? The other students seem to be up.”
Stella looked at her clock with a start and instantly paled. “Eek! Eek! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?!”
“Yeah, I should’ve asked when you usually wake up last night.”
“I need to hurry and clean my room. Roll call will be s—”
It happened just as Stella was getting out of bed. Her door flung open.
“Stella Millesia, it is time for the morning muster,” a professor announced.
Stella flinched. “Oh no... Of all people, it had to be Professor Speranza...”
“Floor, below standards! Trash can, below standards! Bedding, below standards!” the professor barked, crashing into the room like a flood. She had a stern expression that seemed carved into her stony face. Her pitch-black robes and eye patch made her look like the opposite of what one might imagine when they pictured a saint. At the end of it all, she thrust her staff in the direction of Stella’s pajamaed form. “State of dress, below standards!”
Stella swallowed hard, immobile.
Professor Speranza continued in her thorny voice. “How is it that you have become so degenerate after just months of dormitory life? That this is the day following the Descension Ceremony is no excuse. Do you have no intention whatsoever of becoming a saint, and...” The professor’s sole eye fell on the wall behind Stella. Instantly, her expression changed. “What in the world?! The relief of the Goddess...!”
That was Goddess relief next to the window...in the other words, the one I had blasted last night using my divine power. The professor approached anxiously and leaned toward its blackened eyes.
“Its eyes are gouged out...? This is clear blasphemy toward the Goddess. Stella, did you do this?!”
“No, I didn’t!”
“Then who did such a sacrilegious act?!”
Stella looked up at the relief in a daze. “I don’t know...it was like this when I woke up.”
“Playing dumb, then? You are the only student in this room. Who else would have defaced the relief?”
“It was me, ac—”
“AAAAAH! I really don’t know! I didn’t do anything!”
I tried to announce my guilt, only for Stella to grab me and shout over my attempt. Her palm was plastered over my face. I felt her strong wish for me to not say anything.
Still, I don’t want Stella getting suspected over something I did.
Professor Speranza didn’t seem to notice that I had tried talking. She simply looked at Stella with tight-knit brows.
“It is unthinkable to defile the Goddess. Know that you are hated for reasons of your own making—you are the problem. I will be reporting this to the principal.”
The professor’s boots clinked against the floor as she left Stella’s room. She was really going to blame Stella without even doing a cursory investigation, huh? That was messed up.
Other students were peering in from the door, which had been left open. They had apparently been watching the entire thing from start to finish, and they only pulled their heads back once the professor was gone.
Once she was alone, Stella let out a grumble. “Perverted Otaku.”
“Oh, what? Are you trying to cheer me up or something?”
“No! Why did you talk in front of the professor? Normal staves don’t talk. They almost learned about you.”
“I wanted to tell her that you weren’t the one who—”
“The professors finding out about you is a way bigger problem than that.”
“Is it?”
Stella sighed. “Do you have any idea what a rare case you are? Not even the holy scriptures have any record of a human soul entering a staff in place of a spirit.”
“The holy scriptures...”
“That means you’re something totally unprecedented in history. The professors might confiscate you for research. I doubt you’ll ever end up in my hands again, at least,” she said. She averted her eyes and fiddled with her fingers before continuing, “Y-You, you said you’d be my spirit last night, didn’t you? Was that a lie? I-It’s not like I care if the professors confiscate you, but...”
“Aaah, tsunderes are the best! Of course I’m your spirit, Stella! I’ll never leave your side!”
“Idiot...! Don’t talk in front of others, then. Only talk when we’re alone.”
“It’s kinda like we’re secret lovers, huh?”
“Lovers?!” Steam almost blew out of Stella’s ears. “Th-Th-Th-That’s not what I meant... But wait—we went on a date, so maybe that is what we are...?”
Stella turned her back to me and started muttering to herself. Suddenly, her eyes fell on the Goddess’s relief. Her expression visibly clouded. “I can’t believe the Goddess ended up like this on the morning after the ceremony. Maybe I really am hated b—”
“Don’t sweat it. You can just ignore what that professor said.”
And she also didn’t need to feel bad about the relief getting destroyed. The Goddess was less omnibenevolent and more omnimalicious when it came to her.
“After all, I lovelovelovelove you, Stella!”
“IDIOOOOT!”
Stella swung me around with tears in her eyes.
Urp... I’m still not used to being swung around.