“You an idiot?”
I couldn’t answer.
My stomach was still churning. Trying consecutive accelerations after only a few days of exercise had been reckless.
I had known that. Ailee had even warned me, and yet in the end, I’d gone and done it anyway.
“You knew that was obviously going to happen, and that’s why you’re stuck over there in the corner?”
I knew.
Aaron had been looking down at me with contempt for a while now. Leaning against the wall made it a little better. The metal wall was cool, so I felt somewhat better.
The other simulation duels still hadn’t ended. Battles between Titans took fifteen minutes on average. The standard was to continue long-range probing, then gradually seize the advantage as the distance closed.
There was no such thing as a tactic that ended a fight in three minutes.
“Your strategic and tactical ideas are a mess, what in the world was that trashy Titan you could only use in a simulation, and on top of that, you kicked with a Titan?”
“Th-that was.”
You did it too.
Before I could even say it, Aaron answered first.
“I did do it too. True.”
Tap!
The hand covering my mouth stretched forward. At the same time, a water bottle landed in my hand. When I lifted my head and looked up, Aaron was wearing the same dumbfounded expression as last time.
But this time, he smiled.
“Commoner, I take back what I said about you being unimpressive. You’re worth standing out. I don’t like the way you do it, though.”
No, I didn’t want to stand out at all. I understood he was saying he wouldn’t look down on me anymore, but please, I really didn’t want to stand out.
“But don’t catch the Imperial Princess’s eye. It’ll only tire you out, and I’m more than enough as her fiancé to receive that person’s attention.”
That was strange.
The Imperial Princess had said loveless engagements were commonplace in the Empire. Aaron’s expression was certainly similar. Rather than being because he loved her, maybe it was for some practical benefit.
“D-do you, Lord Aaron.”
“Hm?”
“Do you l-love the Imperial Princess?”
Aaron closed his eyes for a moment, then fell silent, slowly resting his chin on his hand.
The answer came only after quite some time had passed.
“I’m trying to.”
“Wh-why is that?”
“What do you mean, why?”
Aaron spoke as if the thought disgusted him.
“Because a bride who isn’t loved shouldn’t exist in this world.”
Oh.
Before I could even be impressed, Aaron held out his hand.
“Hey, commoner! More importantly, it’s the next duel! The desert was advantageous to me. You bring out something proper too, not that weird Titan!”
Just as Aaron had taken back saying I was unimpressive, I felt like I had to take one thing back too.
I didn’t dislike Aaron Dyke that much.
I liked pure love.
“H-honestly, I don’t think that’s something someone who almost lost should say.”
“…What did you say, commoner?”
***
For the first-year cadets of Bethesda Academy, the first weekend was extremely important.
Or so Lan informed me. I was quite grateful that he looked after me just because we were both commoners.
Starting from the second week, club activities began in earnest. In order to build connections among the cadets, it was important to find and join a club that suited my needs.
Of course, the first priority among them was finding a club that would accept a commoner.
“There’s no information.”
“There isn’t. Yeah, none. Not here, not here either.”
It was obvious, but that kind of information wasn’t written anywhere.
Of course not. Bethesda Academy, at least on the surface, spoke of equality among all classes.
These were official central clubs operating inside that very Bethesda Academy. They couldn’t openly write discrimination against certain classes in their introductions. They probably couldn’t block people from joining outright either.
Instead, they’d quietly spread class discrimination among themselves by word of mouth and force people to leave the club through subtle, continuous pressure.
I was sick and tired of digging that kind of thing up, or being subjected to it.
Ailee, who had been searching through the academy website for quite a while, spoke in a fed-up voice.
“Ugh, I hate it. Is class really that important? Everyone’s the same human being.”
It was difficult to answer.
Because I only remembered my original life, the one without classes.
“Still, we have to look into it.”
Bethesda Academy made club activities mandatory.
I wasn’t sure whether mandatory or forced was the more suitable expression, but in any case, you had to participate in a club.
They gave all sorts of reasons, like friendship among students, character development, and camaraderie among cadets, but no matter how I thought about it, it was obvious the main reason was that it made people easier to control.
To put it bluntly, it was a way to make us devote even our free time and weekends to school life.
If I had no choice but to do it anyway, I had to choose something that would benefit me.
“But, Deep, do you want to do club activities?”
“No.”
I didn’t.
I’d gotten good at saying that now. As I said, I hated club activities.
I hated meeting people I didn’t know and getting close to them. I hated making conversation too. Even if I did end up doing club activities, I absolutely did not want anything related to exercise.
“Because your leg is uncomfortable?”
My thoughts stopped.
When I flinched and looked at the smartwatch, Ailee quickly answered.
“Sensitive subject?”
“Yes.”
“Okay! Then I won’t talk about it! But that is one of the reasons, right?”
“Yes.”
She was quick on the uptake, but apart from that, she couldn’t hold back her curiosity. Even if I didn’t explain in detail, as long as it answered her question, she more or less accepted it and was satisfied.
If other people had kept the line just about this much, maybe Deep wouldn’t have hated club activities this much either.
“Well, anyway! Since Deep says he needs it, I’ll look more. Though I don’t think anything will come up!”
“I know too, but please.”
“A little more?”
Of course, this artificial intelligence had some troublesome tendencies too.
“You’re the only one I have, Ailee. Please.”
“Okay! Got it! Good. Then I’ll put in a little more effort—”
Pirong, pirong.
A bell rang. I was a little flustered. I had never set my ringtone to anything with that cute a feel.
But it had clearly come from my smartwatch.
“Ah, I changed it! But I took Deep’s tastes into account and picked something not too cute! I changed it!”
That was unauthorized.
“A message came in. Want me to tell you?”
Still, it wasn’t too conspicuous or loud, so it was fine.
“Please tell me.”
“Okay. Two messages came in at once, and they’re each from different people. Um, huh?”
Ailee fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“We don’t need to look for clubs anymore!”
“What?”
“Professor Zeke and Professor Sumeragi contacted you at the same time. Both of them are asking if you’ll join the clubs they advise.”
That.
“Deep, it must be great being so popular!”
What in the world are you talking about?
***
The inside of the café was quiet.
Now and then, staff dressed in neat butler uniforms or maid uniforms moved about. They weren’t cute French maids. They were classic Victorian maids.
Was this a butler café or a maid café?
Professor Zeke, who had called me here, looked extremely used to this atmosphere.
He didn’t look like it, but was he a regular at maid cafés or something?
“As you know.”
I don’t.
“You must have seen the academy notice. By next Tuesday, you have to decide on the club you want and submit it through the academy page. That’s why the advisors and presidents of each club are contacting new students.”
I learned that just now.
Professor Zeke stared at my face for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“At least check the academy notices. If you’re not confident you’ll check them yourself, set up a request for your artificial intelligence to confirm them for you.”
“U-understood.”
“Good. But I liked how quickly you replied.”
Professor Sumeragi, who was sitting beside him, set down her teacup as if agreeing.
“That’s right. Deep might be the only cadet who replies this quickly on the first weekend, you know? Most new cadets ignore messages from professors because they’re busy drinking or playing with newly made friends.”
I started to answer, then quickly shut my mouth. Professor Zeke also looked at Professor Sumeragi with a dumbfounded expression.
She had just taken a long, roundabout jab at me looking like I had no friends.
Professor Sumeragi seemed to realize what she had said belatedly as well, because she flinched, then cleared her throat.
“A-anyway. Today, I—”
“We.”
“We called you here to invite you to a club. That’s what this is about.”
The club Professor Zeke advised, and the club Professor Sumeragi advised.
The one fortunate thing was that both of them were professors who were friendly toward me.
When Professor Zeke was about to say something, Professor Sumeragi hurriedly cut him off.
“You must be wondering why we contacted you like this. It’s simple. We saw more potential in you than others did, Cadet Deep.”
“Th-thank you.”
“So will you reconsider the assistant position?”
“I d-don’t want to.”
Professor Sumeragi’s expression stiffened slightly. Professor Zeke glanced at her expression, then gave a light shrug.
“The club I advise is the Employees’ Club.”
The Employees’ Club? What was that?
When I made a strange expression, Professor Zeke continued explaining as if he didn’t particularly care.
“At the academy, commoners build connections with nobles, and lower nobles with higher nobles. Because of that, there are often cases where a high-ranking noble hires someone they like as an employee.”
Clink. Zeke set down his teacup.
“It’s good for building culture in preparation for such cases, and even if you have no intention of becoming an employee, it’s useful for cultivating refinement and mental fortitude.”
For a moment, Professor Zeke in a maid outfit flashed through my mind. It didn’t suit him at all. But a butler outfit didn’t suit him that much either.
Professor Zeke as someone in an employee’s position didn’t suit him at all. No matter how I thought about it, it really didn’t. The fact that he was the advisor of this kind of club itself was unexpected.
As I sat there unsure, Professor Zeke gestured around us.
“This place, too, is run by the club members I advise.”
So that was why there were butlers and maids.
Professor Sumeragi’s eyes went wide.
“Isn’t that cheating?!”
“No.”
“N-no, I suppose it isn’t! Then, Cadet Deep! Please hear me out too!”
Professor Sumeragi frantically rummaged through her bag and pulled out a strangely shaped hologram projector.
“I believe pilots should have insight into engineering as well. This hologram projector is a device made by my club members. Let’s study engineering together!”
“Of all the countless things you could have brought out, choosing something unrelated to Titans is a talent in itself.”
“It’s used to display an interface that supports a Titan’s screen, you know?”
Wow, two professors were fighting over me.
Why, exactly?
I feel like I’m going to lose my mind.