The day before the tournament.
Temporary walls and facilities were set up in the huge arena where the tournament would take place.
“Ugh, finally done.”
Dustin, who cleared away the leftover wood, wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve. The autumn breeze cooled his flushed skin.
An upperclassman from the magical engineering department approached, hammering down on the seats to check their sturdiness.
The upperclassman pointed to the transparent walls surrounding the arena, which softly glimmered with light from powdered gems forming a faint magic circle.
It was meant to ensure that fights wouldn’t reach the spectator area. It made entering and exiting the arena tedious, but it was sturdy and safe.
“I’ll need to double-check in the morning, but there shouldn’t be any issues. We’ll be going now, so let us know immediately if there are any problems.”
“Yes.”
After the upperclassmen left, Dustin continued to inspect the facilities as part of the student council, confirming everything was fine before exiting the arena. He jotted down his observations on the back of his report and tucked it away.
“I wonder if Pastel is in the student council room.”
Dustin felt quite uneasy these days, mainly due to the ridiculous rumors surrounding Pastel.
Even today was full of them.
“Hey, Dustin!”
As he walked down the hallway, self-styled friend of Pastel spoke up. Just because they claimed to be Pastel’s friend didn’t mean they were Dustin’s friend.
“Did you hear? I helped Pastel yesterday, and I saw a different side of her!”
The opening line was already off. Helping Pastel? More like just following Leonard around.
To truly help Pastel, one would need to be in the student council, just like Dustin himself.
“I heard Pastel solo attacked a demon’s airship, so I asked a relative in the knight order about it, and guess what?!”
The friend of a friend gasped in astonishment.
“Maybe they made a blunder in their statement: ‘A tool that has finished its role is discarded.’ Wow! She’s so chic, unlike her usual self! I can’t help but like Marquis Craft with this thrilling twist of character!”
“So what?”
“So what do you mean, so what?! Are you still going to do manual labor with the upperclassmen today? The stinky sweat labor work!”
The friend of a friend threw an arm over Dustin’s shoulders.
“Did you know? Pastel doesn’t smell like sweat. Not even a bit! I haven’t smelled it personally, but Leonard says so! Hahaha! Do your best out there working hard with the upperclassmen!”
After a good laugh, the friend of a friend patted Dustin’s back and left.
“Just thinking about it gets me heated.”
Dustin kicked a pebble on the roadside and wiped the sweat off his face for no reason.
Exaggerated rumors were flying around the academy.
Saying Pastel subdued demons in the sewers using poison gas.
Claiming that an academy coup was planned.
Even stating that the demon terrorism was part of Pastel’s grand scheme.
To Dustin, who was closest to Pastel among the boys, these rumors seemed completely off.
That innocent Pastel couldn’t possibly be carrying something like poison gas. The demons must’ve been captured using the paralysis poison they accidentally got their hands on.
And planning an academy coup? Right after the coup, Dustin heard Pastel’s tearful explanation clearly.
“I was just trying to protect my friends! But I just sat still, and it turned into this! You all will believe me, right?!”
Faced with those pink eyes shimmering with injustice, Dustin nodded automatically.
“Of course! Just trust me!”
Though Elly, who was also listening, gave him a look that seemed to say he was pitiful, he chalked it up to misunderstanding. Elly always seemed to look at him that way.
And the rumor that Pastel incited the demon terrorism wasn’t even worth discussing. No matter how far-fetched the rumors were from the knight order, they seemed lightyears away from truth.
That pretty, cute Pastel couldn’t possibly incite a terrorist act.
In fact, Dustin knew exactly why such rumors even reached someone without friends like him. It was purely out of envy and jealousy.
The only classmate who had joined the student council.
A male student closest to Pastel.
Jealous saboteurs were concocting absurd rumors and passing them along to him, aiming at his weakness for not having friends.
What a terrible bunch.
Dustin stopped as he spotted a pink flower in a roadside flowerbed and cautiously approached it to recite a poem.
“O you with no calm days, yet today’s fragrance is gentle.”
He bowed gracefully and stretched out a hand carefully. When he lightly sniffed, it had no scent at all.
What kind of flower is this?
Feeling awkward, Dustin quickly withdrew his hand.
Looking away, he spotted a silhouette of a girl.
A demon girl with black hair, Elly.
Holding a tournament flyer, Elly looked as if she had witnessed something horrendous.
A silent moment passed.
The demon girl’s gaze shifted, now perceiving him with pity.
Dustin felt the steam rise to his face.
“No, this isn’t, no.”
He pointed at the flower, fumbled, and then looked back at Elly.
“Haah.”
Elly scratched her ear, her hair fluttering.
“Boys are something else.”
She stepped closer and handed over half of the tournament flyer.
“We need to fix this, so follow me.”
“Uh? Huh? Fix what?”
Dustin accepted it in a daze.
Elly pointed with her slender finger to one side of the flyer she had handed over.
“The printed information is wrong, so we need to fix each one by hand. We can’t schedule it again for reprints.”
After explaining, Elly coldly turned and started walking ahead.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
Dustin hurriedly followed. Once their strides matched, he walked beside her.
“Where are we fixing it?”
“In the student council room. I came to find you in case you took a detour.”
“I was going to the student council room anyway.”
“Then I’ll—”
Just then, a group of classmates came from the front and collided with Elly. She stumbled, and the flyers scattered everywhere, staining the pavement.
“Elly?”
Dustin caught Elly before she could fall. She felt light.
The group of students passed by, chuckling.
—“I can’t believe what a demon is doing here. Shouldn’t she just drop out if she has any conscience?”
Dustin was flabbergasted.
“What’s up with them?”
Elly released his hand and stood up. Looking at the flyers scattered on the ground, she began to pick them up.
Dustin followed suit, grimacing at the prints on the flyers left by shoes. He stood up and shouted at the kids who had wandered off.
“Hey, you guys!”
“Forget it.”
Elly grabbed his arm.
“Don’t cause unnecessary trouble. Besides, you don’t have any friends anyway.”
Dustin suddenly snapped back to reality, feeling dumbstruck.
So even when he cares, she dislikes it.
After picking up the flyers, they headed to the student council room without incident. Seated at their respective spots, they began fixing the tournament flyers.
It was a painstaking process of crossing out incorrect sentences and writing the correct ones below, but it wasn’t particularly difficult.
The soft scratching of the quill resonated in the student council room.
Then, smashing through the white noise, the door burst open. A pink girl rushed in, her face pouting.
“Friends!”
Both arms flailed dramatically.
“My friends aren’t playing with me! Why is this happening?! Why?!”
As the idol made her entrance, Dustin put down his quill.
“What’s going on?”
“I was greeting everyone, but!”
Pastel exaggeratedly swayed and leaned against Dustin’s table.
“There are so many friends who pretended not to hear me and ran away! So many!”
As she gestured wildly, she illustrated just how many, using her arms.
“Three people avoided me!”
Dustin was about to empathize but paused.
Is that it?
You greet everyone you meet, anyway.
And only three people avoided you?
Dustin, who had been ostracized for merely challenging Pastel and got beaten up, while also receiving scorn for being close to her after joining the student council, couldn’t fathom this outrageous concern.
“That’s understandable.”
Elly set her quill down.
“Elly!”
Pastel happily swayed over and leaned onto Elly’s table.
“Elly, listen! I greeted everyone!”
Ignoring her, Elly opened a drawer and pulled out a pile of shabby newspapers. The newspapers were handed to Pastel.
“Three people! Oh wow.”
Pastel read the newspaper.
“Wow?!”
Her pink eyes widened in surprise.
“What is it?!”
Dustin shifted spots to take a look at the newspaper. Perhaps because it was cheaply printed by the newspaper club, the paper was made from cheap yellow stock.
The sensational front-page headline struck him at once.
[Newspaper club confession: “We acted as accomplices for that person’s dirty money.”]
It didn’t specify who ‘that person’ was, but the contents were unmistakably clear. They confessed to things they hadn’t been able to share until now, revealing ‘that person’s’ true intentions.
It was a serious accusation of inciting terrorism for a coup. There was even an analysis claiming the poison gas used by that person to subdue demons in the sewers was identical to that used for the water supply terror.
“What kind of slander is this?!”
Dustin pointed angrily at the article.
It was apparent without needing to read further that it was complete fabrication.
After all, there was no way sweet Pastel would carry poison gas. It was just a coincidence that she managed to snag the paralysis poison from the demons.
Yet, Elly’s gaze seemed to linger on Pastel, showing a different kind of intrigue.
Feeling the scrutiny, Pastel panicked.
“I didn’t! I’m not a bad person who would incite a water supply terror!”
A glass vial suddenly appeared in her hand. It was an extremely suspicious yellow liquid that swirled menacingly. The liquid emitted fumes, transforming into an even more suspicious yellow gas.
“This is just paralysis poison…!”
Pastel announced, declaring her innocence!
Innocent friend!
Dustin hesitated.
Why is that coming out of your bag?
In a situation where they weren’t in combat, what are the odds of someone carrying a suspicious vial not manufacturing a poison?
Elly narrowed her eyes even more sharply.
“Waaah! Why are you looking at me like that?! I really didn’t do it!”
Pastel was flustered, cringing from the scrutiny.
Then she fumbled.
Oh no.
The vial slipped from her grasp, plummeting to the ground. It crashed upon impact, causing yellow paralysis gas to erupt.
Dustin and Elly screamed, getting enveloped in the cloud.
Pastel’s eyes turned wide.
“Guys!”
Her friends stumbled and fell.
Thud, thud.
Poor, innocent Pastel gasped at the dreadful sight.
“Aaah!”
This can’t be happening!
This can’t be happening…!
Pastel pressed her cheeks, aghast.
Her friends had collapsed!
Because of that malicious newspaper club’s heinous article!
Aaaah!
“I can’t forgive this! I’ll get my revenge!”
Pastel burst from the student council room in a fit of fury.
She would fix the wrongs of that wicked newspaper club as the righteous vanguard of the Craft family’s honor…!
