As the sun fully set, the mage-stone lanterns flickered to life across the academy grounds.
A cool breeze rolled down from the mountains, carrying a pleasant chill through the air, and we walked with our hands clasped together.
"…"
"…"
No words passed between us.
Was it just my imagination that the path to the dining hall felt unusually long tonight?
"Rutess."
It was Elline who broke the silence.
"Yeah?"
"… Did you wait long?"
"No, not really."
"I see."
End of conversation.
Silence wrapped around us again, and this time I was nearly going out of my mind with anxiety.
My heart kept pounding, and every time I glanced sideways at her—just walking straight ahead, eyes forward—I couldn't quite get used to it.
Naturally.
Naturally.
That's what I kept telling myself as I tried to inch things forward.
"Elline."
"Mm."
"What do you usually… do? In your free time?"
What do you do?
Asking someone you're dating what they do in their free time—
Great question.
That was sarcasm, obviously.
"Study."
A perfectly predictable answer.
"… And then?"
"Eat."
"After that?"
"Review what I studied."
…
No wonder the Mage Tower was already calling for her.
So her routine was: wake up, preview—lecture—review.
I was quietly impressed by the sheer discipline of that schedule.
"Even on weekends?"
"Yes."
Hm. I see.
"Sometimes I take walks."
Walks, huh.
So that's why she'd been calling me out on weekends for those walks.
…
The more I listened, the more I found myself thinking.
I'd always had a vague image of what a model student's schedule looked like, but hearing it laid out in reality left me genuinely stunned.
And knowing she'd been living like this for two years straight—and fully intended to keep doing so—
It sounded exhausting.
Then again, we probably just see things differently.
She had some greater ambition driving her, or maybe she was looking at a world I simply couldn't see.
*Well, she is heading to the Mage Tower.*
The Mage Tower was, without question, the most distinguished academic institution in the empire.
Even prodigies who made the rest of us look ordinary apparently struggled there—and yet they were already reaching out to her.
I'd known it before, but hearing it again made it feel all the more remarkable.
What was she working so hard for?
… Was it for her family?
*'Come back as soon as you're done.'*
I suppose I wasn't so different.
From what I knew, House Pailless was small in scale but had always produced exceptional talent—so that was probably a big part of it.
"What about you?"
And now Elline turned the question back on me.
Alright, this one should be easy.
"I just mess around."
Easy question, I said. Didn't say anything about an easy answer.
I needed to keep the conversation going. To break this silence.
"Sleep, play games, drink… play chess at lunch sometimes…"
Listing it out like that made me sound like I did absolutely nothing with my life.
"Sounds fun."
It was clearly meant as a neutral comment, but it came out so flat that it almost sounded like pity.
Not that she meant it that way, of course.
Still, I thought I'd gotten better at reading her by now.
Apparently not.
"You'll be busy tomorrow, right?"
Third year meant it was time to seriously start preparing for graduation—things would be hectic all around.
She gave a small nod.
"Then it'll be hard to see each other."
For just a moment—maybe it was my imagination—I felt a faint pressure from her hand tightening around mine.
"… I have time on the weekend."
"Hm?"
Oh.
"If you're busy, it's fine. You don't have to push yourself—"
"I'm not busy."
"Okay."
She said it firmly.
It was a little scary, honestly.
And then we kept walking.
When we arrived at the dining hall, heads turned our way again—but I was starting to get used to it.
Come to think of it, back home in the domain when I was young, the villagers used to stare at me all the time and I never really cared.
Maybe I'd adapt to this kind of attention just as quickly. I let myself run with that optimistic thought.
I glanced over and spotted Ross and Kain across the room, staring at me with expressions of pure disbelief.
"What do you want to eat?"
Elline tugged me forward as she spoke.
"What about you?"
"You pick."
Me?
"… I picked last time too."
That first meal on Saturday—I'd just gone ahead and ordered two steaks, and she'd eaten hers without ever getting a say.
I'd felt bad about that, and now she was telling me to pick again.
"Pick one more time."
Elline slowly turned her head away from the menu board.
It was subtle, but the corners of her lips curved upward as she looked at me.
"What you chose was good."
…
I took a deep breath.
The kind of deep breath I'd been practicing so often that I was practically mastering the composure technique Professor Isilyen had once mentioned.
"… Oh. Okay."
I barely managed to steady myself and turned slowly to face the menu.
Pick something good.
*Something not too heavy, universally loved, no strong preferences either way, clean finish, appropriate for dinner, and a reasonable portion for a woman.*
"Uh…"
I had no idea.
After a brief moment of hesitation, I glanced sideways—and she wasn't even looking at the menu. She'd already turned away and was scanning the room for a table.
She trusted me to decide, apparently.
In the end, after a split second of deliberation, I decided to go back to basics.
"Two gratins, please."
Gratin—the most reliable, most unpretentious item on the menu.
Maybe the reason everyone liked it was precisely because it was the safest choice.
In stories, this was usually the moment where someone says, *'Oh, this? It's actually an underrated dish nobody orders, but it's secretly amazing'*—and scores points that way.
But I didn't have anything like that…
I was just someone who ate whatever was put in front of me…
Why was I like that, past me? You could've at least explored some good food.
"Here you go."
True to its reputation as everyone's go-to order, the gratin arrived in just a few minutes, announced by a cheerful voice.
Elline and I each took one and settled naturally into a window seat.
The food looked appetizing—rich cheese and the scent of various meats rising in a warm cloud.
Elline carefully scooped up a spoonful and ate.
"Is it good?"
She nodded.
Though honestly, I wasn't sure.
Her expression hadn't changed at all.
Not much conversation came up during the meal. We'd more or less run out of things to say, and talking with your mouth full wasn't exactly good manners anyway.
When we stepped out of the dining hall, the academy was bathed in complete darkness, lit only by the warm glow of mage-stone lanterns.
She'd come to me last time, so now it was my turn to walk her back.
Her dormitory was right next to the academic building—far closer than mine by any comparison.
And now, as naturally as breathing, she took my hand the moment we stepped outside.
My heart still sped up whenever she did that, but whatever was going on inside me seemed to be adjusting—I could handle it with relative calm now.
Five minutes.
Before long, the Alpha Class dormitory came into view.
*It really is close.*
The nearest dining hall to my dorm was a fifteen-minute walk. This place was barely five.
Was this the privilege that came with being at the top?
When we reached the dormitory entrance—its doors carved with elaborate patterns—she turned to look at me.
"It was fun."
Fun, she said.
We'd just met up and eaten dinner. That was it. And she called it fun again.
Were these small, ordinary things really enough to be fun?
Would the next time we saw each other be the weekend?
The only place we ever ran into each other by chance was the hallway, after all.
Right—maybe tomorrow, if luck was on my side, we'd cross paths in the corridor.
She began to walk away, then stopped abruptly.
"Rutess."
"Yeah?"
"You said you play chess at lunch, right?"
Chess.
The cultivated pastime of mages, and a board game with a decent following in its own right.
Something I played fairly often, too.
"Yeah, I play pretty regularly. Why?"
"Where?"
"… In the library?"
"I see."
She seemed to think it over for a moment, then made up her mind.
"Play with me tomorrow."
…?
"Aren't you busy?"
"Lunch is fine."
Lunch is fine, she says.
"Uh…"
"You don't want to?"
"No, it's not that."
Well, chess had been a required elective in first year, so most students had probably moved a piece or two at some point.
She would have been no different.
But still…
I'd never once seen her play chess before, so I'd naturally assumed she had no interest in it.
This was unexpected.
"Alright, see you tomorrow at lunch."
*Or maybe Alpha Class students only played among themselves, so I just never saw her.*
If anything, I had a feeling she was probably better at it than me.
Elline, apparently satisfied, turned away again and disappeared into the dormitory.
Chess with Elline.
*This is going to be terrifying.*
What if I can't do anything and just lose outright?
* * *
Night.
After her bath, Elline was still wrapped in the soft warmth of lingering steam.
Changed into her pajamas, she slowly pushed her chair back and sat down at her desk.
At this hour, she usually spent her time reading through the dense stack of academic journals, or simply gazing out the window at the night view.
"…"
She set a cup of warm water beside the desk and began slowly scanning her bookshelf.
Among the many volumes, she carefully pulled out a single book thick with dust.
A chess notation guide—one she hadn't touched since the elective course in first year.
She blew on it, and the dust scattered like proof of all the time that had passed.
*…*
It had been an impulse.
A connection she'd grabbed at in a hurry.
The last time she'd played chess was the end of first year, first semester.
She hadn't given it a second thought since.
But even so—it had been the only thing she could reach for in that moment, so she'd just gone ahead and done it.
She opened the book slowly and studied the board diagram.
"Knight… rook…"
She read carefully, quill in hand, scratching notes onto paper.
She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want him to know she was a beginner.
She didn't want him to see her caught off guard.
"Huu…"
She exhaled.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow she would see him again.
"…"
She paused her writing and looked up at the ceiling.
Her heart kept fluttering.
She closed her eyes gently and tried to calm the warmth rising in her cheeks.
*Settle down, Elline.*
She slowly turned her head and looked at the desk.
The cheap little Heating Artifact, long since gone cold.
Worn, too small to be of any real use anymore—she reached out and touched it gently.
She closed her eyes and held it tight.
And somehow, her heart grew quiet again.
When she opened her eyes, the stars outside were still shining brightly, and her gaze drifted to a building glowing faintly in the distance.
The Beta Class dormitory.
He'd probably gone in by now.
Gone in and… was he asleep?
"…"
She gave a small shake of her head and returned to her notes.
Right. She'd see him tomorrow.
She didn't notice, until much later, that the corners of her lips had been curving upward all along.
* * *
"Hmm."
By the time I came back to myself, it was past midnight—but I still hadn't put the chess set away.
Was it because I'd sounded a little too confident when I said I played *regularly*?
Losing without putting up any kind of fight would be embarrassing. I needed to prepare.
I had to sharpen my instincts as much as possible.
My opponent was Elline—she was bound to be formidable at chess too.
"… Huu."
I was nervous.
How good was she?
She might end up being the toughest opponent I'd ever faced.
Of course she would be. It was Elline.
She was probably incredible at it.
…
"Just a little more, then I'll sleep."
I wasn't tired.
I had to be fully ready for tomorrow.