“Louis.”

Not having been able to attend class together, she felt even more delighted. Aer hurriedly went down the stairs and stood in front of him.

Louis had only today accurately recognized the identity of what had been bothering him for several days.

“Oh, isn’t it Louis?”

Louis stared with indifferent eyes at Kai, who was approaching with a friendly greeting. He felt so unpleasant that Kai’s inner thoughts and outward appearance were still the same.

If only he were like other nobles with different fronts and backs…

“Aer, let’s go.”

At Louis’s words, Aer nodded with a bright smile. Although simultaneous cursing sounds echoed in her head, it wasn’t as painful as before.

“Who taught you chess, Louis? Why are you so good at it? But you should be a bit nervous today, right?”

He looked at Aer, who was chattering beside him. The emotion that had been bothering him all this time was jealousy towards Kai.

A clear social status, a bright personality, and a tall stature.

Unlike him, every time Kai, who was so different, acted friendly towards Aer, he felt strangely anxious.

This was the first time he had felt this way, so he couldn’t properly understand exactly what kind of jealousy this was.

Whether he didn’t want to lose Aer as a friend, or if it was…

“Aer, would you like to go out together this weekend?”

“…Wow, there are times when Louis invites first? I’d love to!”

He briefly looked at her as she exclaimed with a bright smile, then gently tucked her hair behind her ear and raised the corners of his mouth.

“And… shall we speak more casually now?”

“….”

Aer couldn’t speak for a moment at Louis’s suggestion. She was just happy that he, who always seemed to be taking a step back, appeared to be getting closer.

Hugging the thick book on the Floss Kingdom tightly, Aer shyly opened her mouth.

“Sure.”

The way to the next class’s lecture hall felt strangely short.

***

As they moved into midsummer, even the first-year students began to shed their freshman appearance.

Most students were walking around with dark circles under their eyes due to the final evaluations at the end of the first semester.

Aer, with a complexion no different from theirs, trudged out of the lecture hall. Before returning to the dormitory, she stopped by the student affairs office.

It was to prepare for the upcoming summer vacation.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“I heard that I could apply for the seasonal semester.”

Aer, who had discovered the seasonal semester in the guidance document she received when enrolling, was determined to apply.

She had no intention of returning to her family in the future, so she had even considered looking for separate accommodation in Latina.

That’s why she was so glad about the seasonal semester.

“Here’s the information. There are five classes in total for the seasonal semester, and we stop accepting applications once they’re full. It’s better to hurry.”

“Ah, yes. Then please let me apply.”

“Don’t you need to check the classes?”

“No.”

What classes were offered wasn’t that important. The most important thing was being able to use the dormitory.

“Then, please fill this out.”

She filled in her name, year, and class and submitted it. Aer moved on to her next class. The last of the final evaluations was a practical class.

First-year students have fewer practical classes compared to other years.

They have more theoretical classes in the first year, and as they advance in years, they have more practical classes in preparation for war and monster subjugation.

When she arrived at the meeting place, she saw Louis, who had just finished another class. Aer approached him quickly, feeling glad.

“Louis, did your exam go well?”

“Aer.”

His red lips curved pleasantly beneath his thick glasses. She noticed the small mole just below the right side of his lips.

“…Hmm, you seem to have grown a bit taller?”

Louis, who used to be about the same height as Aer, now seemed taller as she had to look up slightly, making the mole just below his lips more noticeable.

He bit his lower lip to hide his joy, having been eating foods necessary for growth as requested from Astin.

“…Do I look a bit taller?”

At his shy question, Aer let out a small laugh. She was in trouble because he had started to look increasingly cute since they became closer.

“It seems so, but also not…”

The people around them looked disapprovingly at the two chatting amicably. Their inner thoughts were still murky and malicious.

This made Louis want to protect Aer even more. Although he couldn’t be of much help to her yet, maybe someday he could.

Even knowing that she couldn’t hear others’ inner thoughts, he wanted to cover her ears with both hands.

He also wanted to tell her not to mind, that humans are inherently treacherous beings.

Aer noticed that the corners of Louis’s mouth had turned down. He smiled well enough when they were alone, but his lips invariably hardened when others were around.

‘He must be very shy. Just like a stray cat.’

She felt good, thinking that she was the only one chosen by that stray cat.

Meanwhile, the professor and assistants for the practical class arrived.

“Well, as you all know, we’ll have the final evaluation today. We’ll form teams through a draw again today.”

She drew a small folded paper from the familiar container and checked the number. This time, it was number 7.

While she was inwardly praying to be on the same team as Louis, he came close and showed her the number written on his paper, asking,

“I got 7, what about you, Aer?”

“Oh? I’m in team 7 too.”

As the two were happily rejoicing at being luckily placed in the same team, Kai suddenly popped up behind them.

“Oh? You two are in team 7 too? I’m also in team 7!”

Louis felt unpleasant not only because of Kai’s sudden intrusion but also because he could hear Kai’s joyful inner thoughts.

Aer wasn’t particularly pleased either. She had been uncomfortable and unable to understand Kai’s friendliness towards her throughout the semester.

While other nobles were desperate to criticize her, he alone welcomed Aer. When he acted like that, the young ladies and gentlemen around him would look at her unfavorably.

Sure enough, even now the female students around Kai were glaring at Aer.

“Sigh, alright.”

“Why, aren’t you happy? I’m glad to be in the same team as Aer…”

“And how long are you going to keep using informal speech? We’re supposed to use formal speech with each other at the academy.”

Even his unchanged informal speech bothered her. We’re not even that close, why is he really like this?

“But you were just speaking informally with Louis too.”

Sharp ears too. Well, he is a physical awakened one, so it must be better than ordinary people.

“It’s fine with Louis because we’re close.”

Louis was happy at Aer’s words. He pushed up his glasses unnecessarily to hide the joyfully raised corners of his mouth.

“Oh my! Kai, you’re in team 7 too?”

An unpleasant high-pitched voice hit their ears. Anna couldn’t hide her joy after confirming the note Kai was holding.

“Ian is in team 7 too!”

“…Ian too?”

Kai saw Ian appearing behind Anna. Ian, who appeared without showing any particular reaction, briefly glanced at Aer.

Aer thought that the final evaluation team was the worst. She thought she had been avoiding them well until now, but why did they have to be grouped together on the day of the evaluation?

She recalled what happened at the beginning of the semester. As she hoped nothing unexpected would happen like that time, the professor spoke.

“The final evaluation will be a team competition. Until now, the classes only required you to complete your individual tasks, but today’s evaluation is about which team can process monsters faster and in greater numbers.”

This was an exam she had seen in the original story’s side story. It was a scene shown to depict the academic life of Pamela, the female protagonist of the side story.

Pamela, who healed an awakened one from her team in a critical moment, receives high praise. It was a scene that showed the lovely protagonist also had outstanding abilities.

“Make sure to keep the magic tools we’re handing out now. After catching a monster, if you bring it to this magic tool, it will be recorded.”

“Yes, understood!”

“Well then. Good luck to everyone.”

The enthusiasm was incomparable to other classes’ final evaluations. It seemed that for awakened ones and healers, practical classes were more important than theoretical ones.

Ian, who had been quiet until then, looked at Aer, Louis, Kai, and Anna in turn and opened his mouth.

“I’ll be the team leader. So please follow my instructions.”

Aer felt annoyed at his attitude of naturally assuming leadership. Even though it was natural for an awakened one to take the lead, she oddly disliked Ian taking charge.

However, this was just a personal feeling.

Aer nodded without a word. After all, the abilities of an elemental awakened one would be incomparable even to Kai, who was an exceptionally skilled physical awakened one.

“Of course, Ian should do it. Not that Kai lacks ability, of course. You understand what I mean, right?”

Anna said with a bright smile as if holding flowers in both hands. At the same time, she naturally squeezed between Aer and Louis, acting as if only those three were in the same team.

Aer found Anna’s behavior amusing but didn’t show it outwardly.

At the same time, she felt a mix of worry and curiosity. Would she also act like that towards awakened ones if she became a healer?

…That seemed quite unpleasant.

Knowing the obsession of awakened ones better than anyone, she had no intention of showing interest in awakened ones even if she became a healer.

Whether awakened or healer, she was against obsession.