The road back to the academy had grown strangely quiet. When Dylan had been in the middle, they could at least talk right beside each other, so the conversation had not really cut off, but now that Chester was planted firmly at his side, it was awkward to talk to Dylan too.
Apparently, Chester really was conscious of the eyes of people from their houses, whom they might run into anywhere. House Callaway’s atmosphere was a little strict, after all.
“Ah, come to think of it, Ruite. Can you spare me a little time once we get back?”
Dylan, who by nature could not endure this kind of silence, seemed to have decided he could not take it anymore and suddenly poked his head out.
“Why?”
“You watched my personal practice for me last time.”
Among students of the Department of Magic and students of the Department of Swordsmanship, it was extremely common to watch each other practice. Both departments used their bodies, and if there was any difference, it was only whether or not they could use magic, so they had quite a lot in common.
For that reason, rather than always asking classmates from the same department to point out their weaknesses, asking students from a similar but different department who could view them from another perspective had long since become something like a culture.
Thanks to that, during self-directed practice time, it was common to see Department of Magic students and Department of Swordsmanship students training in pairs.
“You want me to watch again?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I think I kind of ruined this practical exam. So if I want to make up for it on the final, I don’t think I can slack off on training.”
“That’s too bad. I got a perfect score.”
Ruite smiled proudly.
“Don’t get conceited over a score you earned because you got caught up in an incident.”
But Chester’s nagging that was not quite nagging immediately flew in.
“What’s wrong with getting conceited?”
Ruite briefly checked Dylan’s reaction, then moved closer toward Chester.
“I won’t tell anyone except Professor Harold that I stepped on the top of your head, so don’t worry.”
His gaze went to the silver hair that just barely brushed against the dark-colored uniform. The sight of Ruite’s face entered his vision, chuckling as though he had recalled what happened back then and found it amusing all by himself again. Chester seemed to have had his attention stolen by it, and he could only frown without managing any reply.
Because Ruite had come closer to whisper, their shoulders nearly touched. That was truly irritating, and yet it bothered him.
So even when Chester heard Ruite say he would specially watch Dylan’s training, and even until the academy buildings came into view in the distance, all he did was fix his attention entirely on that distinctive hair caught in his vision and the distance that had narrowed between them.
When they arrived at the academy, Dylan said he would see him at the training ground in a little while and went into the dormitory first. Chester, as expected, turned toward the main building without saying anything.
Ruite was about to go up to the dormitory too, then hesitated. Now that he thought about it, he had left his training clothes in the classroom, not in his dormitory room.
One of the most important rules at the training ground was that only the designated training clothes could be worn. Of course, uniforms were not allowed either. There were no exceptions, even during personal training rather than regular lectures.
In other words, he had to go all the way up to the classroom. He was starting to regret agreeing to watch Dylan’s training.
But watching another department’s training was helpful to him as well. Students of the Department of Swordsmanship specialized in combat that handled swords, so if he observed and absorbed their movements one by one, it would surely have a good influence on improving his own skills. Dylan’s personality was like that, but in the department, he was still fairly high-ranked.
Pushing his regret far away, he entered the main building to go up to the classroom. As he climbed the central staircase, he saw a familiar, broad back.
Chester was also going up, perhaps because he had business in the classroom, when he abruptly turned around.
“Why are you following me?”
“I left my training clothes in the classroom. I’m not following you.”
“I feel like I’ve told you several times that you’d be better off improving your own skills than watching someone else train.”
“But watching Dylan’s training helps me too.”
The two ended up arriving at the classroom together again, unintentionally. When Chester opened the door, still air greeted them.
The inside of the classroom, which would normally have been noisy with their classmates’ chatter, was quiet. Since exams were over and only morning lectures were being held that day, it would have been stranger for students to be in the classroom.
“By the way, what business do you have in the classroom?”
“To get my textbooks.”
“Exams haven’t been over for long, and you’re already studying again?”
“I’m not like someone who goes around without a care in the world.”
Chester gathered his textbooks first, as if telling Ruite to go to his seat. Ruite had thought that since Chester was the protagonist, his innate ability was extraordinary and taking first place must be easy for him, but apparently Chester was putting in quite a bit of effort in his own way. To go back into study mode less than a week after exams ended. If it were him, he would absolutely never be able to do that.
Ruite also returned to his seat and placed the exercise clothes he had left behind on the desk. Usually, changing clothes was done in the dedicated changing room provided for each department, but it was annoying to go all the way there again.
Besides, this classroom was practically empty right now anyway.
Ruite took off his vest and undid his buttons without hesitation. The pure white shirt slid down his long arms and dropped onto the desk. At the same time, a dull sound came from beside him.
Startled, he looked over and saw Chester’s book had fallen to the floor.
“Chester, you dropped your textbook.”
But the crease between Chester’s brows showed no sign of disappearing.
“Ah, I was too lazy to go all the way to the changing room, so I’m just going to change here.”
As if he had noticed Chester’s questioning gaze, Ruite explained on his own while pulling off his shirt.
“……I didn’t ask.”
Chester turned his gaze away at once, as if he had never looked, and began searching through the various materials stuck on top of the desk with an indifferent face. But he kept feeling as though his body and mind were moving separately. It was because his eyes kept drifting back.
There was not a bit of softness on Ruite’s upper body as he rummaged for the top of his exercise clothes. What drew the eye most was his slender waist. On top of that, it was strange how very white his skin was. Perhaps because of the hair color that suited his skin so well, there was even a peculiar atmosphere about him.
At that moment, his eyes met Ruite’s exactly. Pretending not to be shaken, Chester instead did not avoid that gaze. Ruite stopped halfway through putting on his top and began taking one step closer. As that purely white skin drew nearer, Chester bit hard into the inside of his mouth.
“What are you thinking, coming over like—”
He was about to snap at him, asking why he was approaching in that state, when Ruite’s hand touched Chester’s shoulder and soon fell away.
“There was a thread on you.”
Then Ruite deliberately waved the white thread in front of Chester. As Chester looked at the fluttering thread, he suddenly realized that his whole body was full of tension. That felt extremely unpleasant.
“Don’t touch me without permission.”
“No, I just took off the thread that was on you? Look.”
When Ruite tried to show him the thread he was still holding, as though proving his innocence, Chester smacked his hand away. Ruite rubbed his slightly stinging hand.
“What does it matter to you whether there’s a thread on me or not?”
After coldly snapping at him, Chester left the classroom. Ruite, left alone in the classroom, turned his gaze to the desk. Chester had forgotten the textbooks he had taken out to bring with him and left them there.
Unaware of that, Chester came out into the hallway and strode down the stairs with his long legs. The closer he got to the first floor, the more his hurried steps slowed.
“…….”
Only after he set foot in the first-floor lobby did his steps stop. He stood blankly in the hallway for a moment, and just then, the door to a nearby professors’ office burst open.
“Chester.”
“Hello, Professor.”
It was Neo, the professor for the Department of Magic practical lectures.
“But isn’t today a day with only morning lectures? Why are you in the main building?”
“Ah…….”
Only then did Chester realize that he had come out without even taking his textbooks. Earlier, he had only thought that he needed to get out of the classroom quickly, so he had not even had time to take them.
“Hmm, Chester. Are you perhaps feeling unwell?”
“Pardon?”
As Chester hesitated and trailed off, Neo came closer. With a worried face, he examined Chester’s face here and there.
“Your face looks a little red right now…… I wondered if you might have a fever.”
He had grown up in a house that always controlled everything. Thanks to that, or perhaps because of it, there had never been anything he could not control. His actions, his words, his thoughts, his emotions.
Of course, orders from the house were a separate matter, but since he was not particularly dissatisfied with that point, he had thought that if he had to accept his marriage to Ruite, then he would accept it. Even if he had something like a marriage, nothing in his life would change. …After learning the true nature of the human being called Ruite, he had rebelled against the house for the first time, but anyway, that could be considered an exception.
But now, for the first time, he had the thought that his control might not be functioning properly. Something was simply strange. The feeling that this should not be happening made him feel stifled.
When Chester rubbed his face dry, Neo, judging that the student really was feeling unwell, asked with concern whether it would not be better to go to the infirmary.
But even at Neo’s voice, Chester stood there for a long while, unmoving.