# The Regressor's Notebook Episode 12
Memory (1)
The Endex garden. Seniors who had already finished their assignments sat gathered in clusters with their close friends.
"This was pretty tough, don't you think? Somehow I feel like there'll be quite a few failing grades."
At Esher's words, Cain twisted his lips.
"If you can't even do this, you're a fucking moron."
"Kyokyokyo—for all that talk, you guys were slower than me~"
Raye teased Cain and Esher with a laugh.
"……."
Elise, on the other hand, was silent.
This was always how it was after any exam. Everyone gathered together and chattered about a test that had already passed.
An irritating, meaningless act.
"But honestly, this was way too advantageous for you, Raye. You make prisms at your house—"
"You know. Could you please be quiet?"
Elise glared at Esher with a faint smile.
"……."
Esher rolled her lips inward.
Cain set his golf bag down on the floor and asked,
"Hey. But how are you going to get your golf bag back? Jwion won't be able to come up."
"Huh? Ah~ right. Because of him, I have to wait two hours for nothing."
Sion Askal, or was it kitchen knife—that rat bastard had no chance of passing. At his average GPA of D-, two hours wouldn't be enough; he would need two hundred.
"Ah~ I shouldn't have left it with him for no rea—"
"Sixty-three minutes, forty-three seconds. Sion Askal."
"……Huh?"
Everyone reacted to the voice coming from somewhere. It wasn't just Elise's group. Gerken and Solliet, who were first and second place, as well as everyone else who had passed, turned to look in that direction.
"Whoa…… it's real."
Esher let out a hollow laugh. Elise furrowed her brow.
A buzz cut that looked to be about 12 mm. Having shaved his previously unkempt hair completely, his distinct features were revealed, and he actually looked better.
She hated to admit it, but honestly, he was quite handsome.
—……Ah, my hand's numb.
He approached with the golf bag slung over his shoulder and a golf club gripped in one hand.
"Sion Askal. Please sit anywhere."
Sion trudged over and sat in a corner seat. The hall had been quiet until then, but suddenly he turned toward Esher.
"Ah, right. I used it well."
Then he flung the golf bag and driver—swish, swish—simultaneously.
"……What the fuck—ah, fuck, why is this bent!"
Esher caught them reflexively and flipped out. The shaft of the driver was bent. Sion asked back with an air of innocence.
"Didn't you give it to me to use?"
"Bullshit, you fuck! You son of a—"
"Shh. Please sit quietly and wait."
At the instructor's words, Esher sat down trembling. Cain, right next to her, was also trembling. It was slightly different from Esher's trembling. Cain was even flaring his nostrils.
Esher bit her lip hard.
"……Hey. Don't break it. Don't you know empathy? If you were in my position, could you break it?"
"It's not mine, so how could I think of it as mine? Moron, who told you to leave it with me?"
"You fucking bastard."
* * *
"1:00 p.m."
1:00 p.m., when the mid-heaven sun shone directly down upon the garden. There, where the flowers and grass of the garden glittered, the instructor spoke while looking at his wristwatch.
"Evaluation concluded. Congratulations. Of the total 153 participants, 127 have passed."
The passing number was a whopping 127 out of 153.
As expected of the prestigious Endex, one might say.
"Congratulations to all of you."
The instructor said while looking around the garden.
"All those who passed will be awarded 2 CP. Everyone receives the same 2 points regardless of rank, but depending on today's ranking, there will be a College Board advantage later on."
But suddenly, I'm getting sleepy.
Is it a side effect of exercising too intensely? Golf club-swinging exercise.
"Additionally, there is something I must tell you. Everyone. The College Board assignments are, of course, important. Because if you fail, you cannot apply to universities at all. However, the universities you call 'prestigious' also place great importance on extracurricular activities. Merit points, school competitions, and likewise your student record. This means you must not neglect your school life by obsessing over the College Board too much."
I stifled a yawn and let it go in one ear and out the other.
Right until the instructor mentioned a certain name.
"This was advice from Chair Professor 'Theia Isil,' whom you all know well."
Theia Isil.
That name pierced my ears. It dug in like an arrow and penetrated my frontal lobe. My eyes opened wide, and for an instant, my heart blazed.
"Then—"
"Was that person here?!"
Without realizing it, my body shot up like a spring. A loud voice burst from the bottom of my chest.
"Theia Isil?!"
Everyone looked at me, and the instructor blinked.
"……Yes. Chair Professor Theia Isil was watching over all of you."
"……."
My thoughts stopped for a moment. The whispering of the students was dizzying in my ears, but soon it became muffled as if I had drowned. It felt like the whole world was moving away from me.
……Even if I can't say that you can do it.
Within that distant haze, someone's voice bloomed.
……Don't conclude that you can't.
So warm, and so benevolent a tone.
A memory I didn't want to forget even if I died, one I couldn't forget, so I treasured it.
……If you give up like this. Only you will be left with regret.
Even in a life like mine, there had been a benefactor.
Even in a life twisted to hell, there had been someone precious.
There had been someone worthy of being called a teacher who approached me first.
……Because you are my disciple.
A person who was always cold and indifferent to everyone.
Of course, she had been harsh and prickly to me too, but there had been times she showed a gentle side only to me.
That was the kind of person you were from the start.
……You can endure. You definitely can.
I remember the lips that smiled faintly while watching me enter the operating room.
I remember the clear eyes, like those of a child, that faced me while lying in the hospital room.
I can never forget them, ever.
……Overcome it for sure. And come to meet me.
Theia.
Theia Isil.
My old teacher was here.
"——Sit down."
"……Yes?"
"I said sit down."
The instructor pointed at me and waved his palm downward.
"Ah, yes."
I came to my senses belatedly.
As soon as I sat down, the instructor continued.
"The next College Board is Wednesday. Manage your condition, and do your best. You are now dismissed."
* * *
On the way back from Endex to the National University. Inside the luxury limousine 'Aurus Phantom SWB,' Chair Professor Theia Isil was attending to work. She was reviewing the footage of today's Endex College Board assignment.
"……Could it be Spectrum."
[BANG——!]
That guy who smashed the prism with a golf club. The scratches etched on the prism's surface by that simple, brute physical force.
It was fascinating. Looking at it broadly, one might call it a change in perspective.
Prisms are weaker to physical force than mana, but no one thinks to hit a prism.
However, this couldn't be an achievement of mere 'strength' alone. No matter that the golf club was made of magic fiber, its durability resistance would be insufficient to withstand that level of impact.
In other words, it meant "Spectrum."
At minimum, one that interferes with 'objects.'
"Fascinating."
Again, fascinating.
That was all.
No special individuality was visible.
To begin with, Endex had many talents like Gerken, Solliet, Elise, and Raye, and not just Endex—there were countless noteworthy talents in other magic high schools as well.
Theia did not have enough time to dig into a mere D- student.
"……."
Nevertheless, Theia silently picked up a certain document.
It was a document with Sion Askal's personal information written on it.
A mere single page, a meager record with nothing that could be called specs. Yet inside it, there was a reason she was watching him.
[Origin: Libra Orphanage]
[Future Aspiration: Guardian Knight of Libra]
Libra.
Theia slowly closed her eyes. She exhaled deeply and clenched both hands tightly. She leaned her head against the backrest and looked out the window.
"Libra……."
A senior born of a Libra knight, raised in Libra's orphanage, wishing to become Libra's guardian knight.
She twisted her lips. She made an expression that looked like a sneer.
"You lot. You appear even in places like this."
Emotions pressed deep into her chest, forced out bit by bit.
Theia Isil hates Libra. To her, the most repulsive and detestable existence was precisely that wretched house.
Furthermore, she dares to pride herself on this. That the magnitude of this grudge is greater than anyone else's on the continent.
"Pathetic."
She set fire to the document. She quietly watched Sion Askal's face shrivel from the edges.
Until her palm was full of ash, for quite a long while.