‘Oh? It’s Luke.’
Shirud suddenly spotted Luke over there.
Just as he was about to approach to greet him, he realized that something about Luke looked different than usual.
For some reason, his cheeks were red, he had a smile on his lips, and he was shyly clasping his hands in front of him.
Just then, Shirud thought he should ask what was going on, when someone approached Luke.
Third.
It was the very person Luke had mentioned was his second disciple.
Realizing that Third was drawing near, Luke raised his hand in a wave, as if to say, ‘It’s this way.’
After that, Luke began to approach him.
Just when Shirud thought it might be too close.
And then, he could clearly see Luke crossing his arms and smiling brightly.
It seemed like Luke was talking to him endearingly, almost like a lover.
Shirud was on the verge of being dumbfounded by such a surprising sight.
Then suddenly, Luke spotted him and, still with his arms crossed, came over to him.
With a slight smile, he greeted him good morning.
“Shirud, good morning.”
“G-Good morning. But, who’s next to you…?”
Since earlier, Shirud’s gaze had been fixed on that ambiguous arm-crossing.
He couldn’t understand at all.
Luke smiled slightly, looked up at him for a moment, then turned his head toward him and said.
“As you can see. I’m dating Third now. I don’t like boys like you.”
“What?”
Shirud felt a shock that left his head spinning, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.
What on earth does that even mean?
And then, Shirud’s vision went dark.
——–
-Suddenly!
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling.
“What, what is this…? It was just a dream…”
The dream had been so shocking that he was out of breath and even sweating cold.
He felt a bit of tightness in his chest too.
What a strange dream it was.
Why on earth did I have such a dream?
Luke had definitely liked him the most among the boys…
‘Ah.’
Right, he had said “among the boys.”
So Third, who is not a “boy,” is treated as an exception in Luke’s words.
In the end, it might mean that he only likes him among “boys,” but that doesn’t actually mean he really “likes” him.
“…”
Surely…something was off.
For a confession, nothing had really changed.
There hadn’t been any phone calls or texts over the weekend, nor had they met up to hang out at all.
Just as usual.
As if what Luke said to him was truly just Luke’s empty words without any real meaning.
Is that why I had this dream?
Was I anxious about that?
“Surely, it’s just a silly dream.”
Yet, why does that scene keep coming back to me?
——
When Luke arrived at the Academy, it was rather quiet.
It was quite a grand late arrival.
He had spent quite some time calculating magical equations at the power plant.
He had worried about what would happen if Gerard was late, but it didn’t matter much.
Since he had been granted permission for voluntary attendance, he said he wouldn’t be punished for being late, and they let it go without a word.
However, he absolutely had to come to the Academy.
The reason was the magic practice that was scheduled for the fourth period.
The mana dust there was precisely what he aimed for.
A large amount of mana condensed in a small space.
While it may not reach the high-pressure mana levels stored at the Sephiro-02 power plant, still, it was a facility equipped to provide enough mana for numerous students to use magic in the entire vast magic practice area.
Such facilities can hardly be easily found or acquired anywhere else.
Moreover, using mana during class isn’t technically considered theft.
Just siphoning off a bit of mana here and there during that time wouldn’t be difficult.
‘Still, it seems I made it just in time for the magic practice session.’
Checking the time, it seemed he was still midway through the third period.
If he walks into the classroom now, he would be preparing for the class that was to take place during the fourth period.
It had been helpful to take a bit of extra time to leave the power plant.
“And…”
‘I also have something to share with Shirud.’
Luke sighed while clutching the moonstone he had placed in his pocket.
Reflecting on his conversation with Marco.
———
What happened after Marco explained to Luke about what could be done with computers.
“But, what were you thinking that you couldn’t avoid me? I was running, but if you saw me, you could have easily dodged. From what I saw earlier, your expression was the same as when I saw you at the bus stop last time. Are you worried about something?”
“Ah, well, that’s…”
Suddenly, Luke felt he could say this to Marco.
He was a perfect stranger who had no connection with either Yerna or Serena, so wouldn’t he just give him the solution without any particular opinion?
Luke explained his situation a bit.
“In fact, there is a boy who says he likes me.”
Upon hearing Luke’s words, Marco nodded as he looked at Luke’s face.
Since Luke was quite a cute girl, it wouldn’t be particularly strange for him to receive a confession from peers.
‘Sigh, even these little kids are dating; what about me?’
He had never had a girlfriend, and he couldn’t help but feel envious.
Marco offered his congratulations half-heartedly.
“That’s good. Congratulations.”
Shaking his head in disbelief at Marco’s emotionless congratulations, Luke firmly continued.
“It’s not good. I can’t accept that boy’s feelings. However, I don’t want to reject him outright and create distance between us. But the problem is how to handle that. Isn’t there some way?”
At Luke’s question, Marco felt a cold feeling.
Since he had never had a girlfriend, it was like a deception, and when he heard those words, a specific term popped into his mind.
“…You’re not just leading him on, are you?”
Luke looked as if he didn’t know what he was trying to do.
To think that he was considering something like this at such a young age!
Although it might be fine now because he was young, he would surely get into big trouble if he continued like this when he grew up.
So isn’t it about time to correct that perception?
But Luke tilted his head and said.
“Leading on? What does that mean? I’m not particularly raising any fish…”
“Ah, the term leading on means that you’re not actually interested in the fish…”
———
“Leading on…”
It meant to approach someone of the opposite sex, then distance oneself repeatedly, not allowing the other person to escape, much like keeping fish in a fishery.
That statement shocked Luke quite a bit.
He had only thought of and acted with him as a cute disciple, but observing it from a distance meant he was doing exactly what Marco referred to as ‘leading on.’
“If you’re going to reject him, you should firmly cut off any possibilities…”
That was a reasonable point.
Rather than ambiguously saying things and getting nowhere, it’s better to speak firmly and clearly.
In other words, it meant he had to certainly explain his situation.
‘Indeed, he gives helpful advice.’
For some reason, it felt like the worries he had when meeting him by chance were being resolved one by one.
‘Alright, I need to clearly explain my situation to Shirud this time and return this moonstone!’
After finishing the magic practice in the fourth period, lunchtime would be right afterward, so he could call him out then and talk.
If he completes the shadow magic during practice, then he wouldn’t have any regrets about returning the moonstone.
Perfect.
As Luke thought this, he opened the classroom door.
The first to greet him was Mary, the energetic girl as always.
“Hi! Luke, you’re late today!”
“Hello, Mary. You’re so bright as usual.”
“You’re so laid-back again today! I’m envious!”
“Haha, no need to be envious.”
Mary really was a cute kid in that regard.
Just being around her made him feel more energetic, it seemed.
With that thought, Luke walked to his seat.
“Luke, you really came in super late today.”
“Um… Shirud? Why do you look so gloomy today? Is something wrong…?”
Although Shirud warmly welcomed Luke, he looked somewhat troubled.
Worried he might have health issues, Luke asked if he was feeling unwell, but Shirud shook his head and replied.
“No, it’s nothing like that. But why were you so late? I was worried.”
“Ah, sorry. I guess you were worried since I was late.”
“Right. So why were you late?”
It seemed he wanted an answer, so Luke unpacked his bag at his seat and replied.
“I just stopped by the mana power plant for a bit.”
“The mana power plant? Why did you go there?”
“I had some magical equations to calculate. That’s why I was late.”
“Oh… calculating.”
Now realizing he was relieved, Shirud let out a sigh.
“I thought you might have met with Third.”
“From the morning? Haha. That can’t be the case, can it? He has to go to the Academy himself.”
“I see… Haha. Ha.”
Shirud finally felt at ease.
After all, it seemed like a dream was just a dream.
After the laugh, Shirud curiously asked,
“By the way, is it really okay to go to that power plant freely?”
“I know a mage there, so I can get in easily. I brought the magic equation for calculation and used the power plant’s computer to compute it.”
“Really? That sounds fascinating…”
Luke’s life always had some strange aspects to it.
Usually, unless you worked there, you wouldn’t have an occasion to visit a mana power plant.
“But what exactly were you calculating at the power plant?”
“Are you really curious? It was a magical equation regarding the fusion of space and dimension…”
In an instant, Shirud could see it.
Much like when he explained past constellations, he was about to receive magical knowledge so profound that he couldn’t possibly understand it.
“That’s enough, I’m actually not that curious.”
“…Really?”
Luke nodded as if it was no big deal and glanced around.
Wasn’t the fourth period supposed to be magic practice?
Why were all the kids so relaxed?
“Then why aren’t the kids getting ready to go to the practice room? Normally, they should be preparing by now, shouldn’t they?”
When Luke curiously asked, Shirud answered.
“Oh, you didn’t hear? This week’s practice is self-study because it’s exam period.”
“What?
