|| TL: miyakriko ||
“Phew… it’s about time to go to bed.”
At night, after finishing preparations for the next day in my room, a comfortable drowsiness crept up on me.
As I stood up from my chair and headed towards my bed, the entrance door was knocked on a few times.
Before I could even ask who it was, the door slowly opened from the other side.
“Isuna, what’s up at this hour?”
Appearing from the other side of the door was Isuna, wrapped in a black, thin dress-like nightwear.
She had been staying over after dinner recently, but I thought she wouldn’t come today as she seemed engrossed in her book.
“I came to claim my reward.”
“Reward?”
I asked her back as I didn’t quite understand what she meant.
She had just finished taking a bath, and her white skin had a hint of blush, making it slightly reddish.
“…me”
“Me?”
“Hug me!”
Isuna raised her voice even more, blushing even deeper.
I had completely forgotten, but we did make that promise.
“It’s already this late, you know?”
It was already a time where the date had changed.
“Yes, I know.”
As she said that, Isuna walked over to the side of the bed and sat down on the edge.
I can clearly tell that she had no intention of backing down.
“Jeez…there’s no helping it. Come on…hurry up and let’s get this over here.”
I prepared myself to reluctantly accept her request.
In reality, it was better to get it over with quickly here than to be embarrassed in front of the other sisters and Rose.
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who should come over here.”
“Huh? Why do I have to…hey! Why are you lying down on my bed?”
Isuna had laid down on my bed and then started squirming around under the covers.
“Why? We made a promise, didn’t we”
“Well, yeah, but I said I’d do it for you…”
“Oh, really? I don’t remember saying who would do it.”
She poked her head out from under the covers, looking at me with a mischievous smile.
She was right, I didn’t specify who would hold who.
“Are you planning to just sleep like this…?”
“Of course, it’s my reward. Come on, hurry up,”
she says with a happy smile and beckoned me.
“Listen, I’m supposed to be your teacher, I can’t sleep in the same bed as my student…”
When she asked me to carry her, I had imagined something like a princess carry, which I could tolerate, but sleeping together was beyond what I could allow.
“Well, you let said student read indecent novels don’t you?”
“But that’s different…”
“I trusted that you would keep your promise and I did my best…”
I did promise her that.
Isuna had been really helpful while I was busy with Femu.
Without her, San might still be stuck in the early stages of learning magic.
Now, I guess I had no choice.
“…Alright fine”
“Really!?”
Isuna’s eyes shone with excitement and she jumped up.
“We’re just sleeping together, that’s all. There won’t be anything more than that, you got it? And if you try anything funny, I’ll kick you out immediately,”
“Understood, Understood. Let’s hurry up, I don’t want to catch a cold,”
Saying that, she happily lifts up the edge of the futon and invites me in.
I don’t even have the energy to argue that it’s probably because she’s dressed too lightly for the cold.
But since I made a promise, there’s I got no choice.
I drag my heavy feet to the bed and slowly slide into the futon where Isuna is already lying.
“Come on, move a little further.”
“I can’t, I’ll fall off if I move any further.”
The bed is clearly meant for one person.
It’s too cramped for two people, so we inevitably end up pressed against each other.
Isuna doesn’t seem to care about that and she clings to my arm.
My right arm is enveloped in an indescribable softness.
“Aah…the scent of a man…”
I can hear her ecstatic voice from next to me.
“I don’t mean it stinks or anything, it’s a good smell, actually…”
“Okay, okay, let’s go to sleep already.”
“…Okay.”
We have training in the morning, starting early as usual.
There’s no time to waste staying up late.
In the dimly lit room, I close my eyes and the world is enveloped in darkness.
“Hey…”
After a few minutes with my eyes closed, Isuna pokes me around the shoulder.
“What?”
Reluctantly I respond.
“Do you remember what happened when I first came here…?”
“Yeah…”
It was the day when our relationship changed 180 degrees overnight.
It was an unforgettable event that I couldn’t forget no matter how hard I tried.
“Actually, at that time… I came here thinking I would kick you out of this place.”
“I see.”
I was hated back then, so it wasn’t surprising.
That’s why I’m amazed by the change in her attitude at that time.
Now Im used to it, but at first, I thought I was dreaming.
“I thought I would find some weakness to hold over you, so I read your memories…”
Isuna continues to speak solemnly about her feelings at the time.
I had no idea that my memories were being read.
Maybe my instinctive defensive reaction against memory attacks was why I attacked Isuna on the spot back then.
“And then, I saw it…”
“What…?”
“The pure black emotions at the bottom of your heart… Hey, what is that?”
My heart pounds loudly at her words.
I takes a deep breath and suppresses my emotions.
“Who knows, it might be nothing”
“Liar. There’s no way you don’t know.”
The pressure wrapping around my arm intensifies.
Mixed in with the soft sensation is a feeling of reverence.
“Is it hatred towards the people who drove you out?”
No, it’s not that.
If asked whether I hate them or not, I would admit that I do.
But the root of my feelings is not directed towards them.
“Was it the reason you left the human world and became our teacher?”
That’s right.
I decided that I would use everything at my disposal that night to achieve my goal, even if it meant straying from the right path.
“Hey, I want to know everything about you…”
The voice sounds like a plea.
I can sense that she genuinely wants to know everything about me, not out of mere curiosity.
“…I have something I need to do.”
Those are words I should not have said.
But perhaps I wanted someone to hear it, or maybe I felt that these kids had the right to know.
I don’t know which it is, but the words have already slipped out of my mouth.
“…Something you need to do?”
“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I’m here.”
It’s not just here, though.
Being at that academy was also all for that purpose.
“What is it?”
“…I can’t say.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s no need to.”
“…You’re being mean.”
Isuna pouted and complained, but I couldn’t reveal everything.
This is fundamentally my problem alone, and it doesn’t have a direct relationship with these kids.
What I need to do now is simply to train these kids who will carry the future of the demon race.
If I do that, cracks will appear somewhere in the control they have built, and information related to the events of that day may be obtained from said cracks.
“Come on, go to bed. We have an early start tomorrow.”
As I contemplated my plan in my mind, I told Isuna.
“…Yes.”
Isuna must have thought that she couldn’t pursue the matter any further, as she readily gave up.
She then tightened her grip on my arm and brought her body closer to mine.
As I felt the gentle warmth on my right side, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of weakness for not being able to reveal everything.
After a few more minutes passed, I could hear Isuna’s peaceful breathing from beside me.
I thought about trying to rescue my right arm, but it was firmly trapped.
I couldn’t remove it without waking her up.
I moved my head to look at her sleeping face, which seemed so comfortable.
Everything depends on these kids’s growth.
The first hurdle, the exam, is just around the corner.
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