#Regressor's Notebook Episode 7
Dream (1)
Endex Magic High School. Abbreviated as [Endex], it is one of the continent's most prestigious magic high schools. Naturally, its admission requirements are stringent.
Of course, the children of Edsilla's powerful families can enroll relatively easily, but commoners must fiercely hone themselves and compete on merit.
But how could I, a former patient of demonic leukemia, have enrolled here?
For one, the admissions process was a bit different.
I was an orphan, so I applied through the social consideration quota.
On top of that, I used my [Notebook] to make cheat sheets.
Perfect score on theory, top tier on essay writing, mid-to-low tier on practical skills.
Pass.
When I passed the entrance exam, I felt like I had the whole world, but reality was not a world that remained lukewarm forever.
In this society of elites, those from orphanages were scorned. The rich kids took it for granted, and even the poor kids desperately offered up scapegoats.
Looking back, I don't think there was a better meat shield than me among them.
Baldness from chemotherapy. Scars from brain tumor surgery. An orphan from an orphanage. A stunted body. A timid personality.
Since these five factors aligned perfectly.
"...Long time no see."
[Endex ENDEX]
Seeing the entrance of Endex brought all sorts of thoughts to mind.
I stepped onto the grounds. Since it was still vacation, the interior was completely empty.
I walked slowly across the campus, looking around.
In every corner of the scenery, my former self flickered, head down, walking hunched over like a shrimp.
Back then, I had nothing.
No money, no ability, no family, no confidence.
My entire body was bound in shackles.
"It really is the past."
I'm a third-year now. The time to choose whether to graduate with just a high school diploma or challenge university.
The me from before regression naturally chose to graduate. I had half given up on life.
Because of that damned dantian cancer.
Even after overcoming diseases with less than 10% five-year survival rates, like leukemia and brain tumors, I couldn't even muster the courage to challenge an incurable disease with a 0% twelve-year survival rate.
"...It's damn huge."
Anyway, Endex's grounds are vast. Centered around the central clock tower, a total of twenty buildings stand in a row, and students collectively refer to all of them as the 'school building.'
I walked blankly sightseeing between those buildings.
I simply walked wherever my feet took me, and before I knew it, I had arrived at a familiar place.
[Old Building]
The Old Building.
"Ah, here..."
This place, which suddenly made me sentimental, was the shabbiest building in the corner of the magic high school grounds.
An abandoned house devoid of students.
Backed against the rear mountain, this place didn't even look like an Endex facility. In its basement, there was a small room called the 'Maintenance Duty Room.'
There was the only adult in this magic high school I could trust.
The Elder.
Elder Beltos.
"...He should still be here."
The thought of meeting him somehow made me excited.
Meeting that Elder who no longer exists in the future would make my heart feel as young as this body, if only for a moment.
I entered the Old Building. I stepped on the worn wooden floor, so frayed that splinters stuck out, and went straight down to the basement.
"Ugh, the air's so stale."
Drip. Drip.
Water leaked from the ceiling, and the stone stairs were caked with clumps of dirt. With every step, the sound of my feet echoed coldly.
At the end, a basement room of barely ten pyeong, where a ghost might as well appear.
"Who are you?"
The old man with sharp features looked at me as I came down.
Elder Beltos.
He spoke nonchalantly.
"Weren't you graduating?"
I almost welled up, but I replied as if it were nothing.
"...I'm going to college."
I sat on the sofa. My hips sank deep. At this rate, it was practically a swimming pool.
"What are you doing, Elder?"
The elder was glaring at something on the table.
"Puzzle."
"..."
A puzzle, all of a sudden?
I buried myself in the sofa. I stared intently at the elder.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Say what you need to say."
The elder seemed to have eyes on the back of his head.
"Well... Elder, um... you know. Can I ask you about just one thing?"
"No. Don't bother me."
"But you told me to say what I need to say."
"I take it back."
Elder Beltos shook his head, but I felt even more stubborn.
Right now, Elder Beltos is the only person I can confide in, even if just for a moment.
I pursed my lips and continued.
"Elder. What would you do if you had an enemy?"
An enemy.
The expression felt a bit childish, but this was the only way I could explain it.
Libra killed me. Killed my father. Destroyed everything I had. And yet—
"You should get along with them."
The Elder said without hesitation.
The corners of my lips trembled slightly.
"I said enemy?"
"Is that so? Then to what extent is this enemy?"
"Well..."
I scratched the back of my neck.
Just how much do I hate Libra?
To what extent can I burn with the flames held in my heart?
"The kind you'd want to tear down even if you had to stake your life on it? Like an enemy of my family and my life."
At that, the elder shrugged his shoulders.
"Then all the more so."
Leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, he looked at the puzzle on the table.
"The more desperately you want to tear someone down, the method is not found outside."
Turning only his head, he offered me blunt words.
"Become the most trustworthy person to your enemy. Become the most important person, and crush their heart. This is the best strategy for taking revenge on an enemy."
"..."
I remained silent for a moment.
The best strategy to destroy an enemy.
If I can endure, if I can wait, it is the most correct method.
A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even if it takes thirty years.
"...Really?"
A smile flowed across my face for no clear reason.
"What a coincidence. I was thinking something similar."
I already know, having clashed with them head-on. I know because I couldn't leave a single scratch even with everything I had.
That a tree with deep roots cannot be uprooted unless you rot it from the roots.
"Can I stay here for a bit? I don't have a home."
The Elder said nothing. It was probably permission.
I approached him and glanced.
"...But why a puzzle all of a sudden?"
The Elder said nothing.
"Ah~ The kids gave it to you again. Asked you to solve it."
The nerve of them. Daring to ask an old man at death's door to do this and that for them—
"They said they'd give 700 ren if I complete it. Many kids don't know the value of money."
"So it was respecting one's elders after all."
The elder's salary was probably around 1,500 ren.
"What's the original picture?"
"See for yourself."
The elder pointed to a paper at the corner of the desk. It was a famous portrait masterpiece.
"'The Woman of Deunvis.'"
"Can you even do puzzles? It's 8,000 pieces."
"I've never done one, but I think I can if I try."
I had something I was confident in.
I took in the completed painting of the puzzle with my eyes. Just in case, I swept my palm over it, then sat across from the elder.
And, one piece.
Two pieces.
Three pieces.
Click. Click. Click.
My hands moved on their own, and the puzzle assembled itself.
There was no need to even look for the edge pieces.
Simply wherever my hands went, I matched the puzzle pieces without hesitation...
The elder asked with widened eyes.
"How are you so good at this?"
I answered with a small smile.
"I don't really know exactly."
Before I knew it, part of the picture was complete, and the azure pupils of the woman gazed at me.
Meeting those eyes, I muttered.
"I just... think my body remembers."
* * *
As soon as I finished the puzzle, I stopped by the Endex main building.
[Endex Faculty Office]
I knocked and opened the faculty office door. Several staff members were sitting in front of computers.
I approached one of them.
"I came to apply for the College Board."
College Board. A mandatory process for entering a magic university (College), hosted and conducted by the Continental University Association over the course of a year.
Magic high school students challenging magic universities must participate, and through this, the grades and talents of magic high school students across the continent are ranked.
The qualification for participation is 'those who have completed at least three years of magic high school curriculum.'
Most participants take the College Board at their home school, so they are called fourth-years or 'seniors.'
"...Please show me your student ID."
I held out my student ID.
The staff member tilted his head.
"Your average grade is D-?"
"Yes."
Endex has an annual quota of 400 to 500 students, but only about 100 or so participate in the College Board.
An Endex diploma alone is enough to make a living, so far more students don't feel the need to struggle desperately to enter university.
The staff member asked with a doubtful look.
"...Will you be alright? Most would have a GPA over B."
"Of course."
I don't wish for such a complacent life.
Whether I take a crooked path or a straight one, my lifespan is short. The terminal illness called dantian cancer could kill me at any time.
So, since I'm on my way to the underworld anyway, well.
Taking an enormous big shot with me as a companion on that road is my life's top priority.
"The College Board registration fee is 300 ren, and the tuition is 5,000 ren."
But the tuition is 5,000 ren.
The prices are insane.
I scratched the back of my neck.
"...Is it possible to pay the tuition later? I can pay the registration fee now."
"It's possible. However, there will be no refunds even if you drop out midway."
"Yes."
I took out 300 ren from my pocket.
It was money received from splitting the 700 ren puzzle reward from the elder fifty-fifty.
"Sion Ascal. You're registered."
Bang—!
The staff member stamped my student ID. Black ink engraved with [Senior] was pressed onto it.
"Yes."
"Excuse me, but."
The staff member spoke to me as I was turning to leave.
"Why don't you get a haircut?"
"...My hair?"
"Yes. The College Board classes change every year, so I don't know what will be in them, but there are quite a few old fogeys among the supervisors. They hate long hair."
I twisted my hair around my fingers.
Long hair aside, it definitely looked like a beggar's since I had never trimmed it even once.
"Yes. I suppose I should."
.....
[Salon de Mill]
The beauty salon closest to Endex. As soon as I opened the door and entered, a designer rushed at me with sparkling eyes.
"Oh my, customer~ your hair is so long~ Are you an Endex student?"
"Hmm—"
"Come, come, have a seat~"
I sat awkwardly in the salon chair.
It was the most uncomfortable seat, both then and now. I had a bit of an aversion to sharp objects being held near my neck.
"What kind of cut?"
"Nothing too complicated."
I was about to speak roughly, but suddenly, the clippers on the table caught my eye.
Clippers.
Looking at them, an 'idea' suddenly came to mind.
I asked the hairdresser.
"Could I touch those clippers for a moment?"
"...What?"
"The clippers."
"Ah... what?"
She didn't seem to understand, so I slightly got up and reached out. I grasped the clippers. I even turned the switch on once. Vrrrrr—
"...What are you doing?"
"Ah, well."
Just, I wanted to see how far I could utilize my [Notebook].
Out of curiosity whether my [Notebook] could do the same with such simple machines, just as it remembered and summoned Perion.
Because the original notebook had similar functions too. Like [Save] and [Load].
I closed my eyes. Raising the mana in my dantian, I muttered with my will infused.
"Remember."
—Click.
My dantian contracted faintly. It meant something had worked.
Now, load again.
Vrrrrr—
"Oh."
Then mana coalesced in my palm. It was an intangible clipper vibrating blue.
I ran that hand over my head. My blond hair was cut in clumps.
"...Mmm."
I alternated between looking at my hand and the mirror.
"Amazing."
It was a pure sentiment.
"Um..."
Then someone made a small sound from beside me. The hairdresser was watching with slightly blank eyes.
"Ah, right."
I quickly sat back down in the chair.
"Please shave it. But don't buzz it too close. I have scars on my head. So, first, a two-block with the top around 11mm to fit me as best as possible. A fashion fade, something like that...."