Sereen Rugvida.
A rising star of her generation, linked alongside Elline and Tirion Altaran.
She drew eyes as a flower-like presence—radiant looks, a bright and cheerful voice.
But at the same time…
"Hm? Go on, say it. What do you think would happen?"
"…"
In her first year, she beat a third-year senior who'd picked a fight with her until he lost consciousness.
In her second year, she spent a full hour arguing with a professor mid-lecture, for no apparent reason.
She was famous for an endless string of bizarre behavior.
The common thread: she did exactly what her curiosity demanded.
In plain terms—
She was out of her mind.
"Hey, why aren't you answering?"
"…Because hearing someone casually talk about snapping my arm off left me speechless."
I kept my voice steady.
"Why? Aren't you curious?"
Sereen tilted her head, her hair swaying.
"You know, Elline. She always looked so lonely. Every day by herself, no friends… But then I heard the news. Elline got a boyfriend!"
Sereen started bouncing on her heels and pointed straight at me.
"That's right—you, Rutess! I got curious. Why is Elline dating you?"
I was curious about that myself, honestly.
But this was the last person I wanted to hear it from.
"If I snapped your arm—no, no, if I just touched you—would Elline actually react to me? Hm?"
She was definitely unhinged.
"Who knows."
"Come on, don't dodge it. Tell me."
Sereen stepped closer.
She'd cornered a complete stranger and was rattling off her own thoughts without a care in the world, that bright smile never wavering—and something started rising in me.
Right. This feeling was…
*I want to hit her.*
It had been a long time since I'd felt a genuinely pure desire to beat someone senseless.
My instincts still registered her as a threat—goosebumps prickling along my skin—but watching this spectacle, I really did want to knock her flat.
Unprovoked violence was a disciplinary offense, though.
I reined myself in and continued slowly.
"Why do you keep blocking my way?"
"I already told you. I want to see how Elline reacts."
Sereen scratched her head, tilting it as though she genuinely couldn't understand why she had to repeat herself.
"…That's your whole goal?"
"Yeah! You know what? When I first enrolled, I tried so hard to get close to Elline—talked to her all the time—and she ignored me every single time!"
Talked to her all the time.
Picturing her doing that to Elline with this voice and this energy, I could vividly imagine just how exhausted Elline must have been.
"So when I heard about you, I really wanted to come find you. If I talked to you, if I touched you, if I shattered your arm—would Elline finally pay attention to me?"
Her expression was guileless. The words coming out of her mouth were anything but.
"Aren't you curious? Whether Elline even has feelings? How can a person be that emotionless?"
As she stepped closer, every part of me wanted to back away.
My body wouldn't move.
More precisely—it was moving, but with agonizing slowness, as though invisible threads were winding around me.
It wasn't my imagination.
*Binding…*
The moment I'd first laid eyes on her, the tightness in my chest, the constriction around my throat—all of it had been magic she'd cast the instant she spotted me.
She came here with a plan.
"Sereen."
She stopped talking when I said her name.
It might be a petty little act of defiance, but—
I just remembered what it was like to poke at someone with a similar personality.
"Yeah?"
"Sounds to me like you're the one without feelings."
I'd said something similar to my younger sister once.
Her face was always one thing while her heart was another, and I'd found it so repulsive I'd just said it outright.
*Do you even have real emotions?*
The moment the words left my mouth, the memory was vivid—that little girl who always smiled, color draining from her face as she came flying at me.
I was the one who got in trouble in the end, of course.
But what about you, Sereen?
"…Hm."
Sereen went quiet.
No—if anything, she seemed to grow calmer. The smile began draining from her face.
Little by little, like water receding, the smile faded.
Until her face settled into a perfectly blank expression.
A different kind of blankness than Elline's.
"Right, I have been dragging this out. You need to get to your lecture soon… or maybe not? If I break your arm, you can't go to lecture—you'd have to go to the medical ward… wouldn't you?"
Step. Step.
"It's fine, just a moment. You'd get a nice rest out of it, actually. I'll explain things to Elline."
Thud—
She grabbed my left arm and lifted it.
Her hand looked delicate, but my joints immediately began to ache.
I couldn't read her at all.
*…Definitely.*
The Binding magic was one thing, but what was this?
The seamless flow of it—trapping me, immobilizing me, and now moving to break my arm—it was too fluid to counter.
*Fast.*
I needed to move my fingers, but I couldn't get any force into them.
Creak—
My arm began to hurt, a dull throbbing building as it started to give the faintest groan under the pressure.
*She's serious.*
Then—
Something crystalline began forming across Sereen's hand, glittering.
*…Crystals?*
Ice crystals, sparkling like gemstones.
This wasn't—
This wasn't Sereen's magic.
I looked up, and the smile that had vanished from Sereen's face was blooming back into place.
Not the smile she'd been showing me—this one was genuinely radiant, clear and bright, as though the other had been a mask all along.
"You're here."
Sereen turned her head, and I followed her gaze.
…
And then
she was standing there.
"Elline!"
Elline.
*When did she…*
I had no idea when she'd arrived, but there she was.
"…"
Her expression was the most alien thing I had ever seen on her face.
Her eyes were empty.
Those eyes that always held a living shimmer of blue—there was nothing in them now. Not a trace of emotion.
"Hey, Elli—!"
"Let go."
Before Sereen could finish waving hello, the cold swept in again.
Crack—
Sereen's right arm began to freeze solid.
"Right now."
"…Heh."
Sereen released my arm and took one step back.
"Elline, are you finally looking at me?"
Sereen flexed her hand, and with a sharp shattering sound, the ice crystals fell away from her frozen fingers.
"Don't make that face. I was joking. Just joking."
Sereen smiled at Elline.
Elline didn't move. She simply stood there.
"Disappear. Ten seconds."
"Oh come on, you're being so cold—"
"I won't say it twice."
Silence.
Sereen was still smiling, but she glanced at me, and the corners of her eyes curved.
"Alright, alright. Don't be angry, Elline."
Then she dusted off her hands and walked away down the opposite corridor with quick, light steps.
"See you next time!"
She turned back one last time to wave, then rounded the corner and was gone.
After Sereen disappeared completely, a hush settled over the corridor.
With the situation resolved, Elline walked toward me.
"Elli…"
Her steps, measured at first, quickened into a run before she stopped in front of me.
She took my hand.
"…Are you all right?"
The warmth of her grip held none of the cold from moments ago.
Those empty eyes—as though nothing had ever happened—shimmered back to blue as she looked at me.
The magic binding my body seemed to release; my contracted muscles slowly unwound, and as my body reclaimed its freedom, I felt a wave of relief wash through me.
I drew a slow breath and worked to keep my face as calm as possible.
"I'm fine, Elline."
"…"
She tightened her grip on my hand.
A faint trembling.
"…Really?"
"Really."
My head was slightly dizzy from the aftereffects of the magic, and my neck was stiff, but I hadn't taken any real damage.
Elline studied my face and squeezed my hand harder.
"I'm sorry."
…
It was the first time.
The first time she had ever apologized.
But something rose in me at the same moment.
"What are you sorry for, Elline?"
Why are you the one apologizing.
"Because of me, you got…"
She thought I'd been dragged into this because of her.
"How is that your fault?"
I cut her off.
This was absolutely not her fault.
"That lunatic is the one who did something wrong. Why are you apologizing?"
Elline's eyes widened slightly.
Perhaps the bluntness of it caught her off guard.
"Lunatic?"
"What else would you call her?"
Someone who shows up out of nowhere, traps you with magic, and casually announces she's going to snap your arm—what else was she?
"Don't apologize, Elline. This isn't on you. It really isn't."
I said it gently, and Elline held my gaze for a moment before giving a small nod, seeming to settle.
"…Okay."
The bell signaling the start of class rang out.
"Let's go—we'll be late."
Elline looked up at me.
"…"
"Elline?"
"Rutess."
"Yeah?"
"That place you mentioned yesterday."
She squeezed my hand tight.
"I want to go there. Now."
"What about the lecture?"
It's just a general studies class, but still…
"It's one day."
It was a strange situation.
The top student at the academy was suggesting they skip class, and the Beta Class student was the one arguing they should go.
I let out a short, helpless laugh at myself.
"Really?"
"Yes."
She tugged carefully at my sleeve.
Then she lifted her head and murmured in a small voice.
"…Is that not okay?"
…
I give up.
How am I supposed to say no when you look at me like that and say it like that, Elline.
"…Fine. Let's go."
I turned away quickly and led her out.
We walked.
Stepping outside during what should have been lecture hours, the scenery was the same as always—and yet somehow different.
A quiet, empty-feeling path.
We walked in silence, exchanging words here and there.
"How did you know?"
We shared the same general studies lecture, but the bell hadn't even rung yet—and Elline had already left the classroom and found me in an instant.
Given the size of the academy… finding someone that quickly shouldn't have been easy.
"We've crossed paths enough times."
Elline said it plainly.
I supposed that made sense.
Elline and Sereen were in the same field—they must have clashed constantly in sparring sessions and practical classes.
Knowing someone's mana and being able to sense it were different things, of course.
But for Elline… it probably wasn't beyond her.
A breeze swept past as if to scatter my idle thoughts, cool against my cheek.
"Nice weather."
"It's spring now."
Spring.
Perhaps the last spring I'd spend at this academy.
Flowers budding, new growth pushing out along the branches.
The spring scenery with its cool breeze was a pleasure to look at no matter how many times I'd seen it.
*The last one.*
Three years that had felt so long—and now barely a year remained.
These sensations, this feeling—
Someday they'd all be stories from the past.
*Enough.*
I shook my head.
I didn't want to think about the future right now.
I just wanted to look at what was in front of me.
"This way."
I brought her to the forest between the north and west sides of the academy.
The Chirping Forest—that was what this place was called. It wasn't a restricted area, but students almost never came here on their own.
"…There's a path here."
"First time?"
"Yes."
Elline nodded, as though it truly was.
Just a few minutes' walk and the forest was already dense and untouched, pulsing with the full vitality of spring.
The chirping of birds echoed like a chorus.
Not a single human voice.
"How did you find this place?"
"First year. I was wandering around with a friend and stumbled across it."
Ross and I had skipped a lecture once and explored the academy from end to end.
This place was one of the things we'd found that day.
And among everything we'd discovered, I'd brought her to the one that had left the deepest impression.
"Here."
Shhhh—
The water flowed gently downward, and the tall trees parted overhead, letting sunlight filter through.
A small stream, hidden in the forest.
"…"
Elline seemed to catch her breath at the sight. She stepped slowly forward, then tilted her head back to look at the sky.
"Elline."
"Yes."
"The water's clear here."
As Elline walked to the bank, her reflection shimmered in the transparent water below.
Small fish darted through it, sending faint ripples across the surface.
I moved quietly to her side.
"Want to put your feet in?"
She looked at me, then gave a small nod.
"…Yes."
We took off our shoes, sat down at the edge of the stream, and lowered our feet in.
Splash—
A clarity so cold it reached the bone rose from my toes upward, and goosebumps swept across my skin.
Hmm.
*That's pretty cold.*
I'd expected it to be refreshing since it was spring—
The water temperature was lower than I'd anticipated. I glanced at Elline, but—
She had her eyes closed, quietly savoring the moment.
"…"
Was it good?
She sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap, her expression one of quiet absorption. I said nothing.
The soft sound of flowing water. The occasional call of birds.
We sat like that for a while, feet in the stream.
"How is it?"
"Good."
I'd worried she might not like it—the path was unfamiliar and the place was deep enough to feel secluded.
But seeing that reaction, I thought it might have been the right choice after all.
"I'm glad."
The wind stirred.
"Rutess."
"Yes?"
Elline opened her eyes and slowly turned her head.
Faint, but there—a smile had settled at the corners of her mouth.
"―I really love ―."
She said something before that, but—
The birdsong swallowed it.
Still—
I had a rough sense of what it was, so I turned away and looked down at my feet in the water.
The sound of the stream and the birds drifted quietly through the air.
I breathed in.
"Me too."
Whether it meant the feeling of this place, or this moment—I didn't specify a subject.
I just murmured it into the open air, into the water.
Looking at my own reflection looking back at me.
"…Me too. I think I love it."
Even saying it like this, my chest ached.
But it felt like my feelings were finally sorting themselves into something clear.
The subject I'd left out. The subject she'd said that the birdsong had swallowed.
Were they the same word?
Elline.
I too—
*…*
I swallowed it.
Not yet.
One month from now—after the evaluation, after I'd moved up to stand beside her—I would say everything.
And if she still allowed it then,
I wanted to tell her for real.
