After Amber had gone back and forth between school and prison, continuing her grueling special training, several times...
“Which nation stopped the Eastern Jenir Empire’s march in 921 and unified all the tribes on the Coral Continent?”
“The Adamant Empire!”
“Good. Correct.”
She tackled every subject, making up all at once for the studying she had neglected until now.
It was something she never could have begun on her own, but with a reliable senior and a kind friend by her side, her progress was nothing short of a triumphant advance.
Even after returning home, she reviewed on her own initiative, raising her understanding as much as possible.
“...It’s good that you’re studying hard, but if you suddenly use your brain too much, you’ll get sick, you know?”
“I feel like I’m being horribly insulted?”
Sometimes, she received concern that was not quite concern from her older sister.
“These are oranges picked directly from a southern country this morning. I hear they’re good for recovering from fatigue.”
“Directly from overseas?!”
Sometimes, another executive treated her to fresh fruit shipped straight from its place of origin.
“This region has a high concentration of rainfall in the summer, so they use a strategy of building dams to store water.”
“Ah, I see.”
And sometimes, Ruri, the maid who attended to Diamond, helped her study as well.
One might wonder whether it was all right for a magical girl to help an executive of the Silver Order, but Amber was the cherished friend of Ruri’s mistress, so she did not particularly mind.
How many days had passed as she continued studying like that?
“Whoa! I solved it!”
By the time she had become able to conquer function problems she once found terribly difficult...
The long-awaited day finally dawned.
“How should I put it... I’m deeply moved.”
Jade gazed at the rising sun with a rare expression, like a parent seeing off a child about to take an entrance exam.
It did not look at all like the scene of someone sending off a student retaking a test because of a failing grade.
Diamond, too, stroked her back and checked on Amber’s condition as if she were her parent.
“You slept well, right? If you start feeling unwell, tell the teacher you’re going straight to the infirmary. I’m sure there’ll be another chance—”
“You’re not my mom, so you’re worrying way too much! I’ll be fine, so just trust me and wait!”
Trust me and wait for me. She had bluffed with a similar tone right before her previous retake as well, but this time, the situation was a little different.
Those words were not mere bravado, but something born of experience. It was a declaration filled with the confident attitude that she would do it properly.
“Then I’ll be back!”
“...Yeah.”
Leaving only those words behind, Amber headed for the classroom without looking back. Being worried over by her beloved senior alone was somehow embarrassing.
Rattle—
When she entered the special classroom prepared for failing students, just as usual, the others in circumstances similar to hers greeted her one after another.
“Ah, Amber’s here.”
“Hi~”
They were not from Class A like her, but thanks to her natural sociability, she had maintained fairly good relationships with this group of classmates.
If one had to describe them, it would be something like, “They may not be smart, but they’re good kids.”
“Yeah. Hi, everyone~”
Returning their greetings in the same manner, Amber immediately sat down and took out the notebook where she had personally organized the key points of the lessons, then began reading it.
At her words and actions, which were somehow different from usual, several nearby students gathered around her, and they soon discovered the existence of the notebook.
“Huh? Did you write this, Amber?”
“It’s really easy to understand... Can we take a quick look, too?”
“Hm? Sure, I don’t mind.”
Amber, who had already understood and memorized most of the material, felt no impatience.
If anything, she only felt an excitement that made her want to take the test right away and see her own ability.
“But Amber, aren’t you only retaking math? It’s got language arts and history in it, too.”
“Ah... I asked the teacher to let me take every subject.”
Of course, the only subject Amber had failed was math. She had managed to get passing marks in the others, if only barely.
But since there had been a few questions she had guessed correctly, she decided to receive all the test papers while she was at it, having studied every subject.
At their student’s admirable determination, the teachers gladly accepted her request. Thanks to that, Amber could check her own skills without hesitation.
“...This is making me feel kind of miserable. We were just talking about makeup until a moment ago.”
“Maybe I should go to cram school during summer vacation, too. I do need to graduate, at least.”
Rattle— Thud!
“Everyone, take your seats. Put away whatever you were looking at.”
After about twenty minutes, a teacher entered and began handing out the papers for the retake.
“Then begin. You have fifty minutes per subject, and if you finish, place it on the lectern and leave on your own.”
As the homeroom teacher announced the start in an indifferent tone, the students in the classroom picked up their pens all at once, and Amber, too, calmly turned over her test paper and began solving the problems one by one.
***
“I wonder if that Amber is doing all right.”
“She worked that hard! I’m sure she’ll pass!”
Café Eclipse, which I had visited for the first time in a while.
Dia and I were passing the time while anxiously waiting for Amber.
Since I had not come to the shop for some time, I began by cleaning, but I could not calm down no matter what.
“Come to think of it, where’s Ruri?”
“Who knows. Maybe she went home for a bit?”
I had always had the impression that she followed Dia around at all times, keeping her antenna up for any suspicious people, but perhaps that was not necessarily the case.
Then again, she had her magical girl work too, so accompanying her twenty-four hours a day did seem difficult.
‘No, this isn’t the time to worry about Ruri.’
I tried to hide my nerves and somehow continued cleaning, but as expected, I could not suppress even the faint trembling.
Tremble tremble tremble tremble—
“Ah, honestly! What am I supposed to do if you get nervous too, Jade!”
Dia clasped my hands as if scolding me for being so hopeless and condemned my fidgety attitude.
That warm sensation blew away my tension in an instant.
“You’re that child’s senior, aren’t you, Jade? Then you have to welcome Amber confidently once her test is over!”
“Dia...”
Indeed, assuming failure first might be rude to Amber, who had studied so earnestly for the past few days.
“I feel like I may have misunderstood you a little until now.”
“Misunderstood?”
At first, my impression of her had been that she was a typical sheltered flower. She had looked down on me, calling me a coffee brewer or whatever else, and had acted with all manner of pride.
But through this incident, I realized that she was a kind person who knew how to think of others.
“And on top of that, since your family is the Brilliants, you must have been busy in all sorts of ways, but you still helped Amber to the very end.”
“Of course! I cannot simply abandon a task once I have taken it on!”
Was that the pride of a noble? Even so, the fact that she had taken care of my precious junior did not change.
“Anyway, thank you. For properly looking after her.”
I bowed my head and conveyed my sincerity to Dia.
“It’s not something you need to thank me for...”
“As thanks, I’ll take the fact that you clung to my pant leg and cried your eyes out with me to the grave.”
“W-why are you bringing up something from so long ago! I thought you had long since forgotten!”
“Wasn’t it relatively recent for you to say that?”
At any rate, now that it had come to this, I decided to believe in her until the end. For all that, she was a good kid at heart.
I somehow shook off my distracting thoughts and devoted myself to cleaning, and after spending time checking the machines and serving Dia dessert as well—
Jingle—!
The moment I heard the sound of the shop door opening, I immediately shifted my gaze to check the entrance.
Before I knew it, evening had arrived, and the setting sun was shining beyond the door. Backlit by that light, a girl stepped into the shop.
“...Amber.”
“Huh? Even Dia-chan was waiting for me?”
She was looking this way with a somewhat subtle expression. For now, it seemed she had taken the test to the end...
An unpleasant silence flowed for a moment. Was Dia also wondering what she should say?
But Amber grinned broadly and proudly took out four test papers.
“Ta-da!”
The results, in order, were 74, 81, 69, and 72.
Of course, looking only at the scores, they might have been ordinary, but compared to the Amber of before, they were nothing short of astonishing.
“You did well! You passed with this!”
“Ah, seriously! Everyone’s making too big a fuss!”
Amber scratched her head with an embarrassed look and voiced her regret.
“Actually, if possible, I wanted to get at least ninety... But I guess it’s not something that happens overnight.”
“You might be able to next semester. If you raised it this much in three weeks, you’ve got talent.”
In my case, because I had no knack for studying, there had even been a time when my scores fell instead of rising.
Compared to that, all I could say to Amber, whose efforts had led to results, was that she was commendable.
“Wait! Why are you trying to put them in a frame!”
“No, I was going to take them home and hang them up.”
“...I don’t think they’re scores worth commemorating, though?”
“They are. They’re scores my precious junior earned through her own strength.”
I shall preserve these as a family heirloom for the rest of my life. Though since I have no one to marry, it may end with my generation.
“Honestly, you’re a pro at charming people...”
Amber muttered something while blushing. It was too quiet for me to hear, but she was probably cursing me.
“What are you going to do now? There’s still plenty of summer vacation left.”
Since she had been imprisoned, it felt quite long, but the actual period she had spent studying intensely was about three weeks.
In other words, there was still no problem with enjoying summer vacation.
“Hmm... The ocean! Summer means the ocean, after all!”
“The ocean sounds good. Maybe I’ll buy a swimsuit while I’m at it.”
“In that case, let us go to an island I own! I’ll invite everyone, so I’m sure it’ll be fun!”
A day when my junior safely finished her retake and noisily talked about plans for the summer.
It was an ordinary day with nothing particularly special about it, but I have a feeling I will never forget today for the rest of my life.