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Exam day came in the blink of an eye.
Final exams were split over two days. The first day had the written exam, while the second day had the practical one.
And so, on the morning of the written exam...
“Feena, hurry, hurry!” Stella turned on the path to the school building and gave a big wave.
Feena ran after her, groaning. “Slow down, Stellaaa! I didn’t get enough sleep!”
“Why are you two in such a rush?” I asked, interjecting from Stella’s back.
She ignored me, though, and when we arrived, the building was packed with a massive crowd. Stella’s shoulders slumped sadly. “We were too late...”
“For what?”
Stella, once again, just glared at the crowd and didn’t answer.
Feena answered in her stead. “It is an old wives’ tale. They say if you tap your staff against the Goddess statue on the morning of an exam, you won’t fail.”
“A nonsense rumor, eh...?”
“Well, looks like we have to line up. Let’s go, Feena.”
“Right.”
Stella and Feena joined the crowd, which shook me. “Wouldn’t it be more constructive to use this time to go over your notes? Stella, you haven’t finished memorizing the lines yet, right?”
No reply.
“Fear not, Master Otaku. We can look over our notes even in line.”
True, but still.
Feena promptly took out a notebook and rolled it into a tube, then pressed one open end against me. “Master Otaku, have you still not made up with Stella? Will everything be well for tomorrow’s practical exam?” she whispered.
Stella had stopped speaking to me after learning she couldn’t change her staff. There was a high likelihood of her totally ignoring me no matter what I said.
I could understand Feena’s concern, given that they lived together, but she was misunderstanding things. “Feena, this isn’t a fight. I don’t recall fighting with her whatsoever.”
“What is it, then?”
“I’m guessing it’s a new, cutting-edge form of prickliness.”
Stella’s shoulders jerked a bit.
“Cutting-edge...prickliness?” Feena asked.
“Indeed. A tsundere is defined as such precisely due to their epitome of prickliness. It’s only natural there are as many ways to be prickly as there are stars in the sky. Honestly, there’s no form of prickliness as clear and obvious as the cold shoulder.”
“Um... And what exactly do you mean by ‘prickliness,’ pray tell?”
“What is a tsundere but a prickly girl? If you say ‘someone who has a mean attitude,’ then you should restart your tsundere studies from the beginning. After all, such an answer reflects an understanding of tsundere so shallow and surface level it reveals utter ignorance. The true answer should come if you consider what will naturally follow when a tsundere wishes to act prickly. This is my answer: Prickliness, the ‘tsun’ of tsundere, is a reflection of a sense of embarrassment too great to contain,” I concluded.
Stella’s entire body was trembling.
Feena fell into thought, deadly serious. “Embarrassment... Ah! That would mean Stella is ignoring you out of some kind of shyness. She is just so lovey-dovey head-over-heels for you that she is too embarrassed to speak a single word. At last I understand!”
“Heh, sounds like you finally get why tsunderes are the best. I’m glad my righteous proselytization is finally bearing fru—”
“Don’t use my silence to just say whatever you want, you GIGA-PERVEEEERT!” Stella, having run out of patience, threw me with all her might. I flew over the heads of the students and soared until I slammed into a statue.
Instantly, everything went dark.
Ngh... What the?!
The chatter of the students poofed away.
For a single moment, I experienced what it was to be in total sensory deprivation, and then I opened my eyes.
“Here again, huh?”
Walls towered on every side, covered with monitors streaming video of the world. It was an oddly futuristic space that was ill-fitting of a fantasy world.
The divine throne.
I stretched, now a human again. It felt freeing despite the black chains around my wrists. Being a staff encouraged a sedentary lifestyle, so I needed to get in exercise where I could.
I lifted an arm and twisted to the side, and...
“You understand why you have been summoned here, I imagine?”
The Goddess, enveloped in divine light, was standing in the far end of the throne room. She was smiling, but her eyes were certainly not.
I paused my stretching.
Looks like she’s finally losing patience...
Her intentions were not unclear. I remained silent, prompting her to step closer, each clack of her shoes resounding through the space.
“I instructed you to slay the witch, yet you have done anything but. Each time my eyes fall on you I see you providing her aid, not judgment. Do you think you can claim to merely have poor aim after having pierced my forehead through?”
Uh-oh, she’s pissed.
Shooting the wyvern through her had been a bad move. My excuses wouldn’t fly any longer.
The Goddess arrived in front of me and lifted a staff. “You have no need of my divine power if you do not intend to slay the witch. I shall have you return my gift.”
“Ngh!” I grunted, recoiling on instinct.
The Goddess narrowed her eyes. “O human of another world...”
“Of course, I intend to slay the witch so that I can return to my home. There’s just one question I have... Is Stella truly a witch?”
“What...?”
I can’t let her take back her divine power. If I lose it, Stella won’t be able to cast miracles.
That would leave her helpless during the upcoming final exams. Given her poor grades during the midterms, her only choice was to bet everything on her finals.
“While living in this world I have learned that witches went extinct a thousand years ago, so none live today. Is Stella truly a witch? I haven’t seen proof of that.”
“The chains binding you are proof. They prove Stella is a witch,” the Goddess said after a pause.
“Do you have proof these belong to Stella? I have been with her constantly, and yet have never seen her form chains like this. It’s said witches use magic, but I have yet to see her use magic a single time.”
“I am the Goddess, and I declare she is a witch. If you do not believe my words—”
“She who kills is a calamity,” I said. My firm voice echoed throughout the throne room. “That’s a line in your holy scripture. Without proof that she’s a witch, by your own laws I cannot kill her. It would be unforgivable to murder an innocent by accident. As the deeply compassionate Goddess, it is surely not your desire to kill an innocent. If you wish for me to kill Stella, please first prove she is a witch.”
I observed the Goddess grinding her teeth together.
Now, your response?
Truth be told, I didn’t care whatsoever about whether Stella was a witch. But it was true I hadn’t seen Stella use magic, which left me an opening to claim she wasn’t one.
“Very well,” the Goddess said. My finger twitched. Was she actually going to bring out proof that Stella was a witch?
As I held my breath, the Goddess turned and left me. With her back to me as she watched the monitors, she said, “The finals tomorrow will prove to you Stella is a witch. The pieces have all fallen into place for me.”
What’s she mean by that? The pieces have fallen into place...?
A sense of unease spread through my chest. The Goddess just looked at me with a smile—one clearly identifiable as a sneer.
“You will kill Stella upon confirming she is a witch, yes?”
“Yes,” I said after some hesitation. I had no other choice.
The Goddess licked her red lips. “She who deceives a deity shall be granted eternal torment... This, too, is a line from the scripture. Remember it well, human from another world.”
She stabbed my chest with her staff, and I fell from the throne room.
✦ ✦ ✦
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Before I knew it, I was in the classroom, placed in Stella’s staff holder. The written exam had begun at some point. Stella was silently facing her desk just like everyone else.
Did Stella notice I was unconscious? Probably not, since she’s so focused on her exam. But that’s something I’m more worried about...
What in the world is going to happen during tomorrow’s exam?
✦ ✦ ✦
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“How strange that the captain of the Opti Baculus wishes to observe final exams for the first-years.”
It was the second day of exams, and Hamiel was visiting the principal’s office of her alma mater.
An aged woman—long silver hair almost completely covering her face—sat upon a gaudy sofa. She looked unusual, but Hamiel was familiar with her.
Hamiel smiled. “How many times have I asked you not to call me by my title, Principal? Call me Miss Elise like you did in my school days.”
“I could never! How disreputable it would be for me to address a member of the kingdom’s mighty Opti Baculus so lightly!” The principal stood so swiftly it put her age to doubt, then she turned to the window behind her. Professors were flying about in the garden below to prepare for the exam. “The daughter of House Frantzbelle is among the first-years; are you here to see her?”
“No... I am not here for anyone in particular. My curiosity was simply struck. May I have the honor of watching the exam?”
“Oho ho, of course, of course,” the principal said. She didn’t dig any further.
Hamiel, appreciating her consideration, left the room. She looked at the staff in her hand on her way to the garden where the exam was going to be held.
She had, in fact, come all this way because she was curious about a student—Stella Millesia, the student that had faced her down at the Descension Ceremony. Hamiel still couldn’t forget the moment she’d grabbed her staff.
Fear.
I want to run from this monster’s eyes. I have to put everything aside to run.
It didn’t take long for her to realize those weren’t her own feelings.
A spirit is linked tightly to their partner through mana. The fear from the Grand Spirit of Wind in her staff had entered her heart all on its own.
Hamiel herself would never fear a first-year. Which meant...
The Grand Spirit had been afraid. Afraid of Stella.
That is abnormal. This Grand Spirit has faced down a grade eight magibeast, which was on the level of a natural disaster; an ancient-era weapon, which we were ordered to destroy under top secret orders; and even a witch, who should have died a thousand years ago. Never once did it feel any fear. Why, then, did it fear that girl? I heard she was hated by the spirits, but does it truly end at hate...?
No matter how much she gripped the staff, the Grand Spirit of Wind did not reply to her.