I wonder if Gonsuke’s behaving himself?
Come to think of it, this class also takes part in the festival.
“So you’ll be participating this year, won’t you?”
“General magic is more than enough for me.”
“Well! I’ll remind you that mystic-jockeying is an honored class.”
I got that. I just didn’t see how we could make Gonsuke part of the event. This class put on a race every year, but I didn’t think the other mounts would run very well in Gonsuke’s terrifying presence.
“So I think you should give up on that idea,” I explained.
“After all that work to obtain a black greatbear...”
“Instructor, it wasn’t you. It was the academy that obtained the bear.”
“Still! I wanted to show it off!”
So that’s your goal? As an instructor, shouldn’t you have other priorities?
The academy’s staff wasn’t at all lacking for talent, but sometimes “unique” wasn’t quite enough to describe their personalities. With their indiscriminate love for mysticstock, the mystic-jockeying instructor was one such person. I had heard that they came from a viscount’s house, and had a rival in mysticstock fanaticism from an earl’s house. Our instructor here wanted to flaunt Gonsuke in front of said rival. I couldn’t see anything good coming from them using the festival as an opportunity to get ahead in some personal rivalry of theirs.
“Honestly, what an irresponsible person. Right, Gonsuke?”
“Gon. Gon gon.”
“Huh? You’re fine with taking part? No, no, they’re gonna have a race. You can’t go out in that. The other mysticstock will be too scared to run.”
“Gon! Gon gon gooon.”
“You want to run by yourself? So like a solo event?”
Gonsuke running the track by himself? Hmm. What would be the point of that? And I guess I’d be riding him. General magic is enough drudgery for me.
I started by relaying Gonsuke’s idea to the instructor.
“I see. A solo run by the black greatbear. That sounds like a terrific idea!”
“Huh? Are you sure?”
“While it might not qualify as a race, we could show the audience how fast the bear can run.”
In a sense, competing for speed could be considered a race. It’s just that Gonsuke was pretty fast. Black greatbears were famous for their speed, and it’s why you went for the legs first when hunting them. I needed to make sure the instructor understood that. The speed thing, not the hunting bit.
“Instructor, Gonsuke’s pretty light on his feet, you know?”
“How fast can he go if he really tries?”
“He can probably do two laps around this course in the same time it takes most mounts to do one.”
And that was with a rider. On his own, I could see him doing three or four laps in that time. This wasn’t to say the other mounts were slow; black greatbears were just that fast. I thought telling the instructor all this would make them give up, but it did just the opposite.
“That’s wonderful! I wouldn’t expect anything less from a black greatbear! Please, we must have this bear partake in the festival. Oh, but we’ll make sure he runs on his own.”
“Really?”
Their switch had flipped, just in the wrong direction.
Oh c’mon...
Come lunchtime, my face was slumped against the table.
“What happened this time, Lera?” said a voice from above.
“Colny.”
Looking up, I saw the face of my beautiful childhood friend.
“Gloominess doesn’t suit you, Lera.”
“Loks.”
Next to Colny was her equally beautiful— Well, maybe that’s a weird word for a man. However you wanted to describe him, he was Colny’s very popular older brother. Lanmia and Luchirs had meetings relating to the academy festival, so they were eating with other people. That was all anyone was talking about. The academy festival.
I was starting to think I’d spend a lonely lunch by myself when Colny and Loks found me. Since I was at a table made for four people, there was plenty of room for two more.
“So? What’s keeping you from eating?” Colny asked.
I gave an honest response. “It’s my mystic-jockeying class.”
“Did your black greatbear turn violent or something?”
Let me finish. You’re not even close.
“Gonsuke wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Gonsuke?” both siblings said.
Hm? Didn’t I tell them his name?
“It’s the name of my black greatbear. He makes a gon gon sound.”
“So you dubbed him Gonsuke...”
Ah, she’s groaning. What’s wrong with Gonsuke? It’s straightforward!
“Well, it’s quite like you.”
I wanted to take a short hour to ask Loks just what he meant by that, but I didn’t have the energy.
“If he didn’t turn violent, then what’s the matter?”
That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Ah, whatever.
“You know the race put on by mystic-jockeying, right? Gonsuke and I are going to be a part of that.”
That caught Loks by surprise. “Huh? Aren’t those bears awfully fast? That can’t be a fair competition.”
“Gonsuke will be running by himself.”
“Huh?” they said at the same time. Those two had so much in common.
“What do you mean by himself?” Colny asked.
“That’s not really a race, is it?” Loks added.
They were both quite right. Races were normally done against someone else.
“Uh, it’s less of a race, and more of a showcase of his speed.”
Whether on horseback or mysticstock, it seemed in Ozeria people didn’t compete individually for best times, making it hard to explain to these two. Talking to them, I realized “exhibition” was the better word here. After a bit more explaining, the two siblings were finally able to wrap their heads around the idea of me running solo.
With general magic’s song lineup finalized, the third prince used his connections to find people willing to help with arrangement and pictures. While waiting for results, we sat down and worked out our teams. This was just deciding who would be with whom and which parts they would be performing.
“Now, would anyone be opposed if we kept the grades separate?”
Nobody had any particular objections to the suggestion posed by our chairman, the second son of Lord Humerson. I didn’t think anyone was against working with other grades, but it would be easier to be grouped with people we already knew. It was decided that we would sort out our teams once we returned to our respective classes.
That was when someone had a question.
“What should we do if someone is uncooperative or holding back the rest of the group?”
This came from a fifth-year, though I was sure there were students from every grade thinking the same thing.
“If they don’t want to participate, they should be removed from the group. Same thing for any dead weight,” answered one of the sixth-years. It was the fifth son from House Whichever-it-was.
“Wait. The academy festival is an opportunity for students to display what they’ve learned,” the chairman objected. “To force someone out simply because they’re holding back the—”
“Are you saying it’s fine for the performance to be ruined by people with no motivation or talent?!”
“Even if it does, that’ll simply be our class’s unvarnished state. Are such displays not also a part of the festival?”
“You hide behind pretty words! For some students, output at the academy festival can affect the course of their life! Does that not include you?!”
Neither of these two would be inheriting their houses. Since they were in general magic, both of them were no doubt good with spells. Maybe they were looking to join the Knights of the White Summit? But with the captain they had, that didn’t sound like an enticing path.
After some more going back and forth, they agreed that older students should have the right to remove students who were clearly disrupting the performance. There were a few in my grade who I expected to see pulled out. Namely Ribbons and her gang.
It won’t be my fault. Don’t get mad at me when you screw up.
The next time we had general magic, the teams were announced. Taking our various talents into consideration, Bear had sorted us out. He was pretty good at that sort of thing. It wasn’t for nothing that they put him in charge of all those eccentrics at the institute.
“All right,” he said, “I’m going to write the teams up on the blackboard here. Make sure to check for your name.”
As his large hand traced across the board, voices of excitement and disappointment rose throughout the room. One voice was louder than the rest.
“What is this?!”
Once again, it was Ribbons, probably angry that she wasn’t in the same group as the third prince. I, however, was put with him.
Bear, was this intentional?
The blood going to her head, Ribbons stomped on up to my desk even though we were in the middle of class.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
“The meaning of what?”
“Why are you in the same group as His Highness?!”