“I’m Shune Heidel.”
A student with pale violet hair fluttering about her. No matter how many times he saw that utterly vivid hair, he couldn’t get used to it. Ravan nodded.
“Student Shune. What brings you here?”
“…There’s something I’d like to discuss with you, teacher.”
Since she was an unfamiliar student, he began by speaking politely. Ravan was about to look through the documents to check the peer counselors’ office hours, but then he sensed something odd and asked back.
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, student. I’m only here temporarily, just filling the seat. It would be much better for you to talk with the peer counselor students.”
“I have concerns about a friend.”
Ravan closed his eyes. No, why on earth was she coming to a middle-aged man with amnesia—well, as a concept—when there were perfectly good friends around?
“It’s about one of my friends, a student named Na I-hyeon.”
Ah. Ravan nodded.
Just as there were consultations where one sought out a friend because it was a concern adults would have trouble understanding, there were also consultations where one sought out an adult because one didn’t want one’s friends to know.
This consultation was clearly the latter. Ravan briefly weighed the situation.
He wasn’t confident he could counsel anyone well. Even in the other world, he had lived almost entirely on his own; what advice could he possibly give someone else?
But using that as an excuse to let this pass was difficult, because the amount of mana that student named Shune possessed was far too great. If he could extract negative thoughts from her, it would be no small help in recharging his mana.
“I’m not a professional, so anything I can tell you would be no more than generalities. But if that’s all right with you, I can at least listen.”
Ravan put on a business smile.
***
“So, you think Student I-hyeon seems to be troubled by something?”
“Yes.”
“But she won’t tell Student Shune about it?”
“Yes.”
Ravan smiled. Perfect. He looked at Shune once more.
That girl with pale violet hair was undoubtedly thinking, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she was Na I-hyeon’s closest friend. Otherwise, there was no way something like, “My friend won’t come to me for advice,” would be a problem.
‘And this also means Na I-hyeon has properly recognized her inner feelings.’
Naturally, it was hard to confess to a friend, “Now that I think about it, I’ve been lonely in various ways.” Because one would inevitably imagine that friend responding, “Then what am I?”
The conclusion he had to be most wary of here was Shune Heidel listening to Na I-hyeon’s worries.
What would happen if that came to pass?
The friendship between the two would deepen, Na I-hyeon’s loneliness would be resolved, and yesterday’s worries would remain as one glittering scene of youth, becoming a memory they would giggle over far in the future.
Since her worries would be resolved, she would sleep well, and thanks to the effects of sound sleep her grades would improve, and with increased confidence even her interpersonal relationships would become smoother.
At last, the negative thoughts would become what “had once been” negative thoughts, vanishing as though they had never existed in this world at all.
Absolutely not.
‘Trying to drain my battery, are you? What a wicked plan!’
Ravan looked at Shune with eyes full of shock and bewilderment. She’d said she was the class president, hadn’t she?
The rulers of this school were undoubtedly those mascot bastards; if so, this class president might be their agent.
His plan to extract negative thoughts from Shune was completely scrapped. Right now, the urgent priority was dealing with the sinister hand reaching for his mana battery.
Having raised his vigilance toward Shune another level, Ravan slowly forged his words. He had to block their friendship from deepening further with a persuasive piece of sophistry.
***
The man with blue-black hair slowly opened his mouth. Shune paid close attention to that decadent man’s words and actions.
In truth, Shune had wondered if perhaps I-hyeon had become troubled by something because of Ravan.
After all, the time when I-hyeon’s expression had grown noticeably darker coincided with Ravan’s appearance at the school.
Shune Heidel was a magical girl, but at the same time, she was a high school student savoring the fullness of youth.
‘Has my friend finally found her first love?’
She was at an age where a slightly cute misunderstanding was only natural.
‘If I-hyeon really does like this person.’
There was no way she wouldn’t show it. Whatever else Na I-hyeon might be, she was hopeless at lying. She was only barely managing, even now, to hide the fact that she was a magical girl; there was no way she could be in the same room as the middle-aged man she had a crush on and not get caught!
With her heart pounding, Shune waited for Ravan’s answer. If he was a perceptive adult, he would surely give a reply like, “It is quite a troublesome matter at my age, but…”
“Hmm, nothing else comes to mind for me.”
“Pardon?”
Unlike Shune’s outward face, which maintained an expressionless look as thin and cold as ice, the Shune inside her heart grew dejected.
“Instead, how about thinking of it this way?”
Ravan met Shune’s eyes. Beneath his blue-black hair were unmistakable dark circles. Even so, his eyes shone coldly.
“Student Shune, you came here to ask because you’re worried about Student I-hyeon, correct?”
“That’s right. I-hyeon… isn’t the type to get gloomy easily.”
That was why she had thought it had to be first love. But if it wasn’t, was there some other serious reason?
The Shune inside her heart had now passed beyond dejection and was beginning to stiffen.
“Then I should first tell you about the I-hyeon I’ve seen.”
Ravan slowly laid out his impression of I-hyeon.
“She’s kind, good-hearted, confident, and dignified.”
“…You know her well.”
“Yes. She gave me food, you see.”
However, Ravan said, leaving a brief pause before murmuring as if pronouncing sentence.
“She is also someone who is not easy to approach.”
“…”
“She must be a relative of the owner family of Naju Pharmaceutical. Among her friends, she has the air of someone floating apart.”
Could that really be the reason? Shune’s mind grew complicated. But until now, I-hyeon had always been so confident, not even seeming to care at all—so why all of a sudden?
Ravan watched the deeply troubled Shune for a moment, then slowly added,
“That’s why I felt relieved.”
“Relieved?”
It was a word that had no place in the conversation they had been having until just now. If a student who always seemed bright on the outside had worries inside, shouldn’t concern naturally come first?
“It means that in front of Student Shune, Student I-hyeon also shows her true feelings honestly.”
“Ah…”
The corners of Ravan’s mouth lifted slightly. It gave a rather different impression from his usual look, soaked in fatigue.
“To put it nicely, Student I-hyeon was among a peer group where she was not favorably accepted. Precisely because of that atmosphere, she must have always acted even more confident and spirited.”
Ravan added an explanation, saying that it could be called a kind of defense mechanism. Like a hedgehog raising its spines, she deliberately showed an even stronger appearance.
Shune recalled the knuckles I-hyeon used to carry around. When she had asked about them because they seemed so odd, I-hyeon had only said they were her taste. Had there been a reason like this as well?
“But in front of Student Shune, it means she feels comfortable enough that she doesn’t need to show that fabricated defense mechanism.”
“Then should I ask her first what she’s worried about?”
Ravan shook his head, then rubbed his chin for a moment.
“I’m not sure if this is the right situation to use it, but there’s a concept called a ‘cave.’ It’s about the direction people take when solving problems. They say there are two tendencies: the type who enters a cave, a space of their own, and thinks deeply before deciding; and the type who shares problems with others and tries to talk them through.”
Once again, he followed it with the reminder that his words were no more than generalities.
“In my opinion, Student I-hyeon is probably used to worrying alone.”
Shune was about to ask why, but then newly realized I-hyeon’s family circumstances. She had no family who could serve as her guardian. Ever since the Naju Pharmaceutical incident, she had been alone.
As for the uncle who was said to be another survivor, it didn’t seem like he even lived in Hikarius. In the end, I-hyeon must have had no choice but to make important decisions alone.
Shune looked at Ravan with different eyes than before. Admiration.
The way he saw through and diagnosed I-hyeon’s family circumstances and social relationships from only the smallest clues made his own claim that he was “not a professional” feel like a lie.
“So. How about waiting for a while?”
“…Will that be enough? Wouldn’t it be better to ask her after all?”
Shune lowered her head. She was the class president. She believed it was the class president’s duty to care about every friend in the class and sometimes reach out a hand to them, and she had acted accordingly.
That was also why, when doing Magirist activities, she had clashed with I-hyeon a great deal at first. I-hyeon was like a solitary wolf who ignored the hand extended to her and went on her own way.
It was a wonder they had become this close. And because they had become closer, Shune wanted to look after her even more.
Ravan shook his head. Shune wilted even further.
“Don’t worry too much. Just Student Shune being there will be a great source of strength.”
“Pardon?”
“This is from my own experience during adolescence. Even if I didn’t open up to my family about what was inside me, just knowing they were there would reassure me. From what I can see, Student Shune is exactly that kind of person to Student I-hyeon.”
Ravan added a few more words. That Student Shune was probably the first truly close person Student I-hyeon had met in a long time. That since Student I-hyeon was unused to approaching others, she would also be unused to others approaching her, so for now, please wait.
His story ended like this.
Just stay there for her. If you wait, she’ll come out of her cave and smile brightly at you.
***
‘That was rough…’
Seeing her leave with a much lighter expression, saying, “Thank you,” it seemed his excuse had worked. Ravan rubbed the back of his neck and felt relieved.
It was an excuse he had prepared by even pulling in content from self-help books he had read on Earth.
“Now no kids will come looking for me over something like this, right? It’s not like there’d be anything to consult some seat-filling middle-aged man about.”
Now he only had to quietly wait for Na I-hyeon’s visit and steadily harvest her negative thoughts!
Ravan let out a sigh of relief.