Chirrrrrrrp, tweet!
My eyes, which had been shut, opened naturally at the sound of a birdcall I had never heard in my life.
“Haam.”
Perhaps it was because I had left the Prah estate and marched so hard, but despite this being the first time I had ever slept here, I had slept so deeply that I hadn’t even dreamed.
Thanks to that, it felt as though most of the fatigue built up in my body had been washed away.
“...I should get changed first.”
I looked around the silent room, where only the dawn sunlight streamed in through the glass window, and, feeling a little lonely, muttered to myself for no reason as I got out of bed.
Rustle.
If I had my way, I would have liked to wash up, but I still didn’t know where the showers were. And to avoid the unfortunate possibility of being late to the entrance ceremony because I tried to wash, I endured the discomfort and picked up the Academia uniform neatly folded in one corner of the room.
The trousers and outer jacket were black, close to a dark bluish hue, giving off a tidy impression to anyone who saw them, and the shirt worn underneath was pure white—a clean garment unlike anything I had seen even in the Prah estate.
If there was anything similar, I suppose it resembled a butler’s neat suit.
“As expected, the Holy Capital is different. It’s a lot like the school uniforms from my past life, too.”
I took off the clothes I had been wearing and changed into the uniform, marveling at the sensation of the fabric against my skin.
Ever since I was born into this world, I had lived wearing clothes woven from coarse crops or made of beast hide, so I had forgotten what well-made clothes felt like.
I had thought that, being born into a noble family, I had lived wearing fairly good clothes, but this uniform felt so luxurious that it made everything I had worn before seem foolish.
It was light, well-ventilated, and even soft.
I had no idea what this garment was made from, but one thing was certain: it wasn’t made from beast hide or ordinary fabric.
If it had been made from such raw materials, it would have had the usual smell, but instead, the clothes carried a strange scent I had never smelled before.
“...Huh? What, there’s a full-length mirror here too?”
After putting on the uniform and preparing to leave the room, I noticed a long oval mirror, about as tall as a person, in one corner of the wardrobe—something I hadn’t seen last night because it had been too dark.
A mirror this enormous? Did Academia have money rotting away in piles?
A mirror of that size couldn’t possibly cost just a coin or two.
Thinking that, I looked at myself in front of the mirror.
A boy with long arms and legs, fairly tall for a fifteen-year-old, a small head, and black hair uncommon in this world met my gaze.
“It’s nice being born handsome, at least.”
If this had been my past life, I would have seriously considered becoming a model; this body had been born with excellent proportions.
My face was quite decent too, and perhaps because the clothes I was wearing were a uniform, the school uniform models in my memories seemed to overlap with my current appearance.
If I went to the world of my past life in this body, I might have been able to make a living with my face alone.
Well, it was a meaningless assumption.
“If it had been my past life, I would’ve been the textbook handsome type. Maybe it’s because I was born in this world, but I heard until my ears bled that I looked too delicate for a man.”
I turned my face this way and that, grumbling as I examined various parts of my body.
The aesthetic sense of the people in this world was, how should I put it, similar to the modern era of my past life?
It was the kind of place where a man had to have a masculine face to be considered handsome.
A man with a delicate face like mine was, how should I say it, only appealing to people with certain tastes?
That was why, even in the territory where I had lived, very few people had told me I was handsome.
Of course, I was five hundred percent satisfied with my current appearance.
“Tch, let’s go.”
After spending a few more minutes looking at my reflection in the full-length mirror I was seeing for the first time, I clicked my tongue, feeling like I would only end up complaining more for no reason, and went outside.
Just before opening the door, I briefly wondered whether I should take the grimoire I had left on the desk, but the book was too big. And remembering Bell’s boast that the Devil’s Gift would definitely return to me even if someone stole it, I simply left it there and stepped out of the room.
“...Huh?”
“...”
When I opened the door, by perfect timing, my eyes met with someone coming out of the room next door, and a sound escaped me without my realizing it.
The person who had come out of the room next door looked at me, then simply lowered her eyes and stood there without saying a word, so I closed my open door and greeted her first.
“Hello? Are you also a student entering Academia this year?”
“...”
With an easygoing smile, I extended my hand toward the girl standing still.
However, she showed no reaction and merely stared at the hand I had offered.
“Ah, was this not how people greet each other here? It’s my first time in the Holy Capital, you see. If I offended you, I apologize.”
“...Do you even know who I am, greeting me like that?”
As I awkwardly tried to withdraw the hand I had offered, the girl responded in a voice so quiet I wouldn’t have heard it if I hadn’t been listening closely.
“Hm? Aren’t you also an Academia student entering this year?”
“...I am.”
“And since you’re staying here, you’re in the Department of Mysticism. As fellow classmates, let’s get along.”
“...”
What was with this awkward atmosphere?
It didn’t seem like the girl had closed her mouth because she was trying to ignore me.
The look in her eyes as she gazed at me did not contain the disgust or contempt often emitted by someone looking down on another person, but rather bewilderment.
As though she were someone receiving a greeting for the first time, unsure of what to do in this situation where I was greeting her.
“If this situation is too awkward for you, should I just go?”
“...No. It’s just that it’s my first time.”
Without saying what exactly was her first time, she spoke quietly and took the hand I had offered, shaking it up and down.
Shake, shake.
As I had expected from her petite frame, the hand holding mine was thin and cold. I wasn’t sure if it was rude to think this, but it felt as if I were shaking hands with a corpse.
Why is her hand so cold?
“...So things like this really do happen. They say a fairy’s visit is always sudden.”
While I was making an effort not to show on my face the surprise I felt at the inhuman sensation of her hand, she muttered something.
“Hm? Did you say something?”
“No, nothing.”
At my question, the girl lightly shook her head in denial.
Then she looked up at me and opened her mouth.
“What’s your name?”
“Me? Jin Prah.”
“...Are you a noble?”
Upon hearing my name, she took a step away from me with a guarded look.
But I knew from experience that in moments like this, I had to keep a thick skin and push through, or else our relationship would remain awkward going forward, so I spoke with an easy smile.
“I was a noble. As you know, once you become an Academia student, your noble status is suspended, so right now I’m just a student.”
If there was already a student with whom I had an awkward relationship from the very first day of the semester, life from now on could become uncomfortable.
“Don’t be so wary. I don’t know what unpleasant thing a noble did to you, but I’m not the kind of noble you’re thinking of.”
“...How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Well, I can roughly guess. Someone must have tried to do something unpleasant to you in a coercive or overbearing way just because they were a noble. In other words, didn’t they act like a complete jerk?”
“...”
At my unceremonious words, I felt the girl’s eyes widen slightly as she looked at me in surprise.
Taking her reaction as confirmation, I slowly opened my mouth.
“I’m an outsider, so I don’t know what happened to you or which noble did it. But I’d like you to see me a little differently. At the very least, I don’t use my noble status as an excuse to act overbearingly toward people.”
“...You’re a strange person.”
Fortunately, had my words gotten through to her?
The girl, who had shown caution upon hearing my name, relaxed at my explanation and moved the foot she had stepped back with forward again, maintaining the same distance as before.
Then, in a voice a little louder than before, she said,
“You’re the first noble I’ve seen who talks like that.”
“Really? I’m glad you think so.”
“But why did you greet someone you were seeing for the first time? Simply because we’re fellow students?”
“Well, that’s part of it, and more than anything, you live right next door. If neighbors are awkward around each other, wouldn’t life be too difficult?”
“Neighbors?”
As if it was a word she had never heard before, she tilted her head at the word neighbors and showed her confusion.
Seeing that, I thought she must be someone who had not received a normal education, and explained it as if it were nothing.
After all, there were no parents who wouldn’t teach such an everyday word.
“Yes, neighbors. It’s a word for people who live together near one another. The room I live in and the room you live in are attached, so we’re neighbors.”
“...Neighbors. I see. You and I are neighbors.”
The girl nodded once, her face showing that she understood my answer.
“Then, will you tell me your name too? We’ll be spending the next few years together, and I can’t exactly call you ‘hey’ or ‘you.’”
“My name... Right. My name is Isil.”
The girl who introduced herself as Isil lifted her head and looked at me.
“Isil?”
“Yes. I don’t have a surname. Just call me Isil.”
The girl with silver hair, reflected by the light hanging in the corridor so that it resembled moonlight, spoke.