The bell announcing the end of class rang out, but Professor Raven’s interest was fixed entirely on Evan.
“Wearing a summoned beast on your body, huh. How did you handle the command system you give to the summon? That isn’t the kind of load an ordinary human body can withstand.”
“It’s fine. I inscribed a direct connection formula into my central nervous system.”
“Hah.”
The corners of Raven’s mouth twisted.
A sound of admiration slipped out.
“You’re insane, you know that? Are you trying to fry your brain?”
The conversation between the two continued tenaciously, as though class had yet to end.
The rest of the students watched for a moment, then one by one quietly packed their bags and slipped out through the back door.
It was the best choice for those who had been pushed outside Raven’s sphere of interest.
But Justia did not move.
She remained seated with her posture perfectly upright.
Whisper, perhaps bored, fluttered its wings, but Justia’s gaze stayed fixed straight ahead without wavering.
It was her pride as a noble, and a silent protest displayed as a member of House Rosenhart.
“What?”
Only after satisfying his own curiosity did Raven seem to notice Justia’s presence and turn his head.
“Rosenhart. You still haven’t left? Class is over, so you can go.”
He left with a satisfied smile.
“……”
Justia’s jaw clenched visibly.
“Thank you, Professor.”
The sound of her gritting her teeth ground out between her clenched molars.
She irritably pushed her chair in and turned away.
Click, click. The sound of her heels struck sharply against the lecture hall floor.
It was just as she grabbed the handle of the front door.
She was about to open it when, on impulse, she turned her head.
Evan was left alone.
He braced his arms on the desk and struggled to raise himself,
trying to transfer into the wheelchair beside him.
“Are you… not going to use that thing where you wear your summon?”
When Justia asked bluntly, Evan flinched and lifted his head.
“Well, I can manage this much on my own. And it isn’t a technique I can use that easily.”
Justia stared at him for a moment.
The hand gripping the doorknob tightened, then loosened.
In the end, she turned back and strode toward Evan.
“I’ll take you.”
She spoke indifferently as she took hold of the wheelchair handles.
“There’s no need for that…”
Evan waved his hands in flustered refusal, but Justia had already begun pushing the wheelchair.
“Don’t argue. It’s on my way anyway.”
“How do you know where I’m going?”
“I don’t. Do you have somewhere to go?”
Justia replied casually as she pushed the wheelchair out into the hallway.
Thump. The vibration of crossing the threshold traveled up through the handles.
“I’m going to the shopping mall.”
His voice had no strength.
As if even going there felt like an immense task.
Justia let out a small laugh and quickened her steps.
“Then it is on my way.”
“Liar.”
Evan quietly objected, but Justia snorted as if she hadn’t heard.
“What are you going to buy?”
“Just some daily necessities and summon maintenance supplies.”
“Maintenance supplies? Do you have to feed that spirit something too?”
“No, it’s not food… things like mana coagulants. My body can’t endure it, so I at least need some support.”
Evan bitterly rubbed his own legs.
Her gaze lingered on Evan’s bony shoulders.
“You’ll have a hard time getting that.”
“Huh?”
“Mana coagulants. They’re pretty expensive. And since it’s the start of the semester, the upperclassmen will have snatched up a lot of them, so there probably won’t be much stock either.”
Justia clicked her tongue and added,
“You’ll be lucky if you don’t go there for nothing.”
***
Before long, the sun was sinking low, and red twilight stretched long beyond the full glass windows of the shopping mall.
Yurika and I were sitting side by side on a bench in front of the mall.
In Yurika’s hand was a bag of nutritional snacks for beasts, and in mine was a half-opened piece of jerky.
“The sun’s going to set soon. When did Justia say she’d come?”
“She’ll come when class is over, I’m sure.”
Yurika answered placidly as she sipped her drink.
“You know what Milady’s like. Once she gets fixated on something, she isn’t satisfied until she sees it through to the end.”
“That’s true.”
I nodded.
That vicious personality. That tenacity with which she charged toward her goal.
In a way, it was almost sickening, but on the other hand, it strangely inspired trust.
If she was late, there was surely a reason.
She wasn’t the sort of person to be late just because she’d been slacking off.
“Oh? There she is!”
Yurika sprang to her feet and waved.
I stood up as well and turned my head.
I saw a familiar silhouette approaching through the crowd.
But she wasn’t alone.
She was pushing a wheelchair.
And sitting in it was some frail-looking male student.
A pale complexion and a skinny frame.
He looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
“Justia! And…”
“Ah, Taesan. This is Evan. He’s in the same special admissions class as me.”
She introduced Evan to me.
“Hello.”
“Hello. So you’re the… human summon.”
He stopped speaking for a moment and stared at me.
I let out a disbelieving laugh.
‘Then what exactly did he think I was?’
Had he imagined some horned monster, or perhaps a half-human, half-beast?
“Nice to meet you.”
Evan extended his hand while seated in the wheelchair.
His fingers were pale and bony.
“It feels like I’m meeting a celebrity I’ve only heard rumors about.”
“Am I that famous?”
I took his hand with some reluctance.
The sensation against my palm was cold.
Before the two of us had even finished our greetings, Justia turned her head toward Yurika.
Her expression held her usual firmness.
“Yurika, what I asked for?”
“Ah, yes! Here it is.”
Yurika took out a small box from her arms.
“When I went in the morning, they had plenty in stock. I got the one in the best condition.”
Justia opened the box and checked the contents.
She nodded in satisfaction, then abruptly placed the box on Evan’s lap.
“Here.”
“Huh?”
Evan’s eyes went wide.
“I’m not saying I won’t take payment, so give it to me later. I’ll charge you the exact cost.”
“M-Milady?”
Yurika cut in, startled.
“If you go now, you probably won’t be able to get this, you know? The other students swept them all up, so the stock…”
“That’s right. You don’t need to go this far for me. Even if they’re out of stock now, I can wait and buy it later.”
Evan, flustered as well, tried to push the box back toward Justia.
But Justia firmly shook her head.
“It’s fine. Stop arguing and take it.”
She folded her arms and glanced at me.
“It wasn’t like I had any use for it anyway.”
“Then why did you buy it?”
“Just in case. I wondered if it might be possible to force mana into a summon that has none. I bought it to test on Taesan’s body.”
“What? Test?”
I recoiled in horror and stepped back.
“I’m joking.”
Justia gave a small laugh and turned her gaze back to Evan.
“In any case, it seems like something you need more, so just use it.”
Her tone was indifferent, but no one was dense enough to miss the goodwill contained in it.
Evan stared blankly down at the box on his lap.
“Thank you.”
He murmured softly.
“Thank you, really, Justia.”
Justia turned her head away as if embarrassed.
Then she started walking back toward the shopping mall entrance.
“Now. Let’s go again. To the shopping mall.”
“Eh… we’re going back in?”
Yurika’s eyes widened in confusion, but Justia did not even look back.
“Evan must have other things to buy besides the mana condenser. And I should at least look around too.”
She strode on ahead.
There was a strange stubbornness in her retreating back.
I let out a deep sigh and took hold of Evan’s wheelchair handles.
“Let’s go. You see what she’s like, right? Once she says she’ll do something, she does it.”
“Yes. I think I’m starting to understand.”
Evan gave a bitter smile.
As we walked around the shopping mall, I talked with Evan.
“You fight by wearing your summon on your body?”
I asked casually as I pushed the wheelchair.
Evan fiddled with the box on his lap and nodded.
“Yes. Entering a Battle with a human body is, well, the same for both you and me, Taesan. We’re throwing ourselves into the midst of monsters with nothing but our bare bodies.”
“Still, all my limbs work, and thanks to this place’s environment, I can at least use my strength. But you…”
I trailed off and glanced sideways at his bony legs.
“It must be hard.”
“It is. Every moment is pain, and every moment is my limit.”
Evan muttered self-deprecatingly.
“But what can I do? This is the method I chose, and the only way I can survive. I don’t have a body I was born with like yours, Taesan, but I have my own way of doing things.”
He turned his head and looked up at me.
His gaze was strangely intense.
“So please don’t pity me too much. I’ll do my part too.”
“Pity? Please. I’ve got enough problems of my own.”
“Would you like to try once?”
At Evan’s sudden words, Justia, who had been walking ahead, stopped.
“We’ve more or less bought everything we needed to buy now.”
Justia slowly turned her head and looked at Evan.
With the setting sun at her back, her eyes narrowed as if intrigued.
“Try? Try what?”
“A Battle. Just once, though it’ll only be practice.”
Evan’s voice was calm, but the veins stood out prominently on the back of the hand gripping the wheelchair.
In that instant, Justia’s eyes lit up brightly like a child’s.
“Hooh.”
She curled the corners of her mouth and approached Evan.
“Good. My body was feeling stiff anyway.”
Justia jerked her chin toward me.
“Taesan, get ready. Evan says he wants to exchange a move with us.”
“…Now? Here?”
Flustered, I looked around.
We were in the middle of a bustling shopping mall.
“Don’t worry. There’s an arena on the second basement floor.”
Justia’s eyes were already shining fiercely, as though she had entered battle mode.
“Show me, Evan. Show me what that method of yours is.”