Oho, now that was valuable intel. Stella used to live in an orphanage, huh?
“Many think lowly of it...like Quinza?”
“Ngh... Lady Quinza is the daughter of a ducal house next in power only to the royal family. She is disturbed that Stella has more mana than her.”
“And that’s why she views her as an enemy.”
Despite Quinza being from a major noble house, a commoner had more mana than her. On top of that, Stella was now popping off incredible miracles the likes of which had never been seen before. That must’ve really infuriated Quinza.
“Are you unhappy about a commoner attending this school too, Feena?”
“Perish the thought! As I just described, although my house is now noble, we are the very bottom of—”
“In that case, it must’ve been Quinza who ordered you to hide her staff,” I said. It was hard to imagine a mere lackey going out of her way to torment Stella.
Feena hesitated before answering. “It is as you say. However, I am the one who hid her staff,” she said, her hands tightly gripping her skirt. “Although it may have been under Lady Quinza’s orders, I deeply regret troubling Stella as I have. That you have found me today, Master Otaku, must be the Goddess guiding me to commit no further sins. I shall reveal all I have done to the academy staff. I will surely be expelled, but that is only just given the weight of my sins. If you will now excuse me, Master Ot—”
“Wait! Please, wait!” I called, stopping Feena right before she could bolt off. Just think for a second! If you leave me here, I won’t be able to move!
“Feena, take me into your hand.”
“At once.”
“Awesome. Now, I’d like it if you put me inside the jacket of your uniform.”
“Hrm? Like this?”
Feena obediently inserted me into her blazer through the chest.
Thus, I, the staff, was pressed into her chest by her blazer. I was locked so firmly into place, I wouldn’t fall to the ground even if she let go of me.
“Perfect. Now I don’t need to worry about her leaving me behind.”
And it felt amazing. Two birds with one stone.
“Master Otaku? Has something humorous occurred...?”
Feena gave me a concerned expression. Uh-oh—it had felt so good that I’d let some cackles slip out.
“Don’t worry about it. Just feels good in here. Warm and marshmallowy, like the stuff dreams are made of.”
“I am pleased to delight you, Master Otaku,” she said in a voice so innocent that I started to feel guilty.
I coughed. “Anyway, I don’t want you kicked out of the academy, Feena.”
“But...”
“You leaving won’t change anything with Quinza still here. Do you think reporting this to the professors will actually get Quinza punished for ordering this?”
“There are strict penalties in place for those who bully other students.”
“I have confidence that Quinza would dodge any penalties like that. She’ll claim to the ends of the earth that you acted alone. You don’t have any proof of her involvement, right?”
“Indeed...”
“With Quinza being an important noble, it’s unlikely that anything but a major event would get her kicked out of school. The only one who’ll be punished if you go to the professors is you.”
“However...”
“You enrolled into Antohsa with your own goals, no? You don’t want to be expelled, do you?”
Feena’s expression clouded over. She placed her hands on her chest, which naturally meant me getting pushed deeper in. “I... I...”
“Oh, so here I find you flirting, eh?” a voice, colder than absolute zero, called out. I felt goose bumps ripple across my skin, even though staves didn’t have any.
A pitch-black aura of swirling darkness emanated from between trees. There stood a girl with raging fires burning in her eyes, and her mouth bent into an upside-down V shape—Stella. She took one step closer, than another, crushing the ground beneath her.
“S-Stella...” Feena gulped, the pressure overwhelming her. But Stella never cared about Feena to begin with. The only thing in her wide eyes was a certain staff buried in mountainous cleavage—aka me.
“Stella...! You came looking for me.”
“What choice did I have? Pervert or not, you’re my staff!” Stella barked. She pulled me out of Feena’s cleavage, then promptly smashed me against a nearby tree. Over and over. “Do you have any idea how I feel about this?! I ran from one the bath to the other end of the school and back, only to finally find you in another girl’s chest?! What’s the big idea?!”
“Ow! Ngh! You! Sure! Are! More! Violent! Today...!”
“I wouldn’t have even bothered searching if I knew this is what I’d find. A shameless giga-pervert like you means nothing to me! Go ahead and get buried!”
She was slamming me so hard I felt like my head was going to explode. Not gonna lie, it hurt. It did, but it was also proof that Stella was worried about me. How blessed I was to have my idol worrying about me!
But as I rejoiced...
“Please, stop that!” Feena called, grabbing me to stop the beating. She must’ve worked up all her courage to do so; her knees were quaking like nothing else. “It was I who stole your staff without permission. All the fault lies with me. If you are going to beat anyone, beat me.”
“Let go,” Stella growled. “Don’t touch my staff!”
“No! I cannot allow you to harm Master Otaku...!”
The two of them started pulling me on either end. Two beauties having a catfight over me? This was an incredibly precious experience, but I couldn’t just let it happen.
“Feena, let go. This is how Stella expresses her affection, so I love her beating me!”
“Wh-Who says this is an expression of love?!”
“What?! You love being beaten, Master Otaku?!”
They both let go of me at the same time, which meant I ended up plopping onto the ground. An exceedingly awkward silence fell. Someone... Pick me up, please...
“I’m sorry, Stella. It was I who hid your staff. I regret my deeds, and swear on the Goddess it will not happen again,” Feena said while bowing deeply. From my position on the ground, I could see her tears.
Stella sniffed. “So you were the one who always hid my staff in that weird, half-baked way.”
“Half-baked way?” I interjected, not following.
“Every time I lose my staff, there’s a bunch of tiny, misshapen rocks leading to it. That’s how I find it again. How else could I find a staff hidden in a place as big as Antohsa?”
Ah, that made sense. That explained why Feena was casting Earth miracles over and over when running with me. Feena had left a trail so Stella could find the staff where she hid it.
“You really didn’t want to hide her staff after all, huh?”
“Indeed. But, um, regardless... How could I ever apologize? I did this knowing that staves are precious objects containing one’s spirit...”
“Hmph, half-baked pranks like yours are nothing to me. Do it as many times as you want. I don’t care.”
“I-I will never do it again! I do not wish to trouble you...!”
“Whatever.”
With that came silence. A breeze stirred the trees, with wind blowing between their legs.
Feena, who had been bowing her head, timidly looked up. “Um... Is that all...?”
“Excuse me?” Stella asked.
“You could report this to the academy if you wish, Stella. I would have no excuses available to me. In fact, I encourage you to—”
“What are you even talking about? How many students and professors do you think have been doing this kind of stuff to me? If I reported everyone, the whole academy would shut down!” Stella barked.
“Eep... True...” Feena replied, shrinking.
“If you say you won’t do it again, what else is for me to say? I mean, am I wrong? What benefit is there in me driving you out of the school?”
“I suppose...”
“So, we’re done talking about this. Got anything to say?” Stella demanded, glaring at Feena. Her attitude implied she was mad, but this was her way of saying she forgave her.
Once Feena sensed that, her expression softened.
“I-I thank you ever so much...!”
Feena’s eyes then fell on me. She picked me up.
“I must thank you as well, Master Otaku. Please forgive me for attempting to bury you in the earth...”
“HEEEEEEEEY! What do you think you’re doing?!” Stella shouted, jabbing her finger at Feena, who had slipped me back into her chest. “Th-Th-That’s my staff...!”
“Given all I owe Master Otaku, I thought to please him. Oh! I suppose he might prefer to be beaten?”
“No. In your case, this is better.”
“No it’s not! And why are you even doing that?! With such a big chest too!”
“Stella, size doesn’t matter to me. What I care about is always whether someone is a tsundere or not.”
“O-Oh, interesting... I mean, shut up! How perverted can you be!”
Stella snatched me back.
She was panting with her hair standing up like an angry cat, exuding naked malice. To think that Stella had a complex about her chest size much like the majority of flat-chested characters... What a valuable thing to learn.
Feena tilted her head. “Perverted...? What exactly was perverted about anything here?”
“Figure that out on your own! And don’t go telling anyone that my staff can talk,” Stella said, her eyes narrowing. “At this point, I don’t care about you hiding my staff, but it’d be a big problem if people figured out my secret.”
“I’ll ask the same, Feena. It’ll be a pain if the professors figure out I’m a talking staff.”
“Understood, Master Otaku.”
“Also, I like being called ‘otaku’ with scorn in one’s voice, so stop with the ‘master’ stuff.”
“At once, Master Otaku!”
Does she just have brain damage or what...? Is she gonna be okay?
There were other concerns I had too. Although Feena was reflecting on this, she was still one of Quinza’s lackeys.
“Feena, you say you’ll stop pulling pranks on Stella, but if you keep interacting with Quinza she’ll demand the same of you again. What will you do then?”
“Right! You’re in Quinza’s dorm room, right? Won’t it be bad to resist her?”
“It’s fine. In the worst case, I have this,” Feena said, grabbing her staff and chanting, “Iron wall! Terararia Sein!”
In the blink of an eye, Feena was surrounded by iron walls. This time, she even added a ceiling. She was hidden away as if placed into an iron box.
Stella looked at it in shock, overwhelmed.
“What even is this... Metal?”
“Iron walls,” came a voice from within the box. “Even if in her fury Lady Quinza were to throw balls of fire at my person, I will be safe in here.”
So basically, she has a means of protecting herself.
Feena made the walls disappear. “Well then, I will be off. I must dry Lady Quinza’s hair, prepare cold milk, and wash her clothes,” she said before running off into the forest.
Stella and I watched her go.
“That’s rough. She’s being treated like a slave.”
“It’s Quinza we’re talking about. She probably thinks of her roommates as servants.”