“I don’t need you to look at mine.”

Khalid grumbled shortly, but Grandpa just grinned and slung an arm around his shoulders.

“And where exactly do you think you’re running off to? I’m about to humiliate you thoroughly. I’ll judge it with a cold, exacting eye— ...Hm?”

Grandpa stopped talking, and at the same time my head tilted to the side.

Because the professors were swarming around the Class A platform.

More precisely...

In front of young Khalid’s work...

“Ohh. What is this artistic quality?”

“Would it be possible to start the auction right now?”

A beautifully carved squirrel statue.

Totally different from my mysterious pile of scrap... No, wait. Did I just call it scrap?

“This landscape painting also has a wonderfully unrestrained style to it...”

What the heck!

I was offended.

What exactly was he bad at?

Was this the male lead buff? Was that it?

“What are you staring at like that for?”

Khalid asked, noticing the jealousy pouring out of my gaze.

“...Weren’t you skipping class and hiding behind the infirmary excuse?”

“Later on I couldn’t even use that excuse anymore. I only went to class a few times.”

“So you’re good at literally everything physical?”

It’s so unfair!

I didn’t even know what exactly was unfair about it, but somehow he annoyed me, so I rammed the top of my head into his shoulder.

After that, we looked at the other children’s projects, and the noble adults who knew each other exchanged greetings, so the atmosphere started to feel like a little salon.

I sat at a refreshment table off to one side, sipping apple juice and glancing out the window.

Still, I’m a little nervous.

Had the second infiltrated the Academy?

Without thinking, I looked over at Khalid.

Our eyes met immediately.

It’s okay.

I could see him shape the words with his mouth.

I gave a small nod and grinned. Then I picked up a piece of apple pie and took a bite, and a sweet sense of relief washed over me.

Maybe that was why.

“......”

I never noticed Dad watching me and Khalid from the seat beside me.

I wish Mom had come too.

Nibbling away at the apple pie, I thought it over.

The whole family had gathered for once, and only Mom wasn’t here, which made me a little sul—

Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll brag all about it to Mom when we get back to Zelox!

Mom would definitely understand my profound artistic world at a single glance!

And then I was going to stick to her all day long!

*****

“Please show me your access pass.”

The knight of the guard spoke sternly.

The second swallowed as she held out the stolen access pass.

It was only a temporary access pass, so there was no portrait attached, but her mouth still felt strangely dry.

“Yes, the pass is genuine.”

“Then I’ll be on my—”

“No. My apologies, but I’ll need to measure your magic.”

The second frowned.

“...What? Why all of a sudden...?”

“There’s been a special request from one of the parents. There’s an event at the Academy today, so we’re strengthening security even further.”

A special request from a parent?

This was a place full of noble children, so did that mean someone from a noble house had asked for it?

...Why?

It was almost as if...

they were on guard against mages.

“...All right.”

But refusing here would only be stranger, so the second slowly nodded.

She tugged up the collar of her turtleneck and swallowed hard, and then a familiar magic tool came into view.

It looks similar to the one the fourth used to carry around.

A magic-detection tool with a magic stone set in the center.

The knight clumsily held the device up to her. Since he wasn’t a mage, he seemed awkward using it.

A moment later, the magic stone reacted.

“Is this... right?”

If there was magic, the transparent stone was supposed to turn blue. If there wasn’t, it was supposed to turn red.

It did seem to be red...

but somehow it looked faintly purple too...

The knight tilted his head.

“Excuse me, but I’m in a hurry. Could you please make it quick? I have to get to the Rare Books Archive on time. It’s my first day.”

As the second urged him on, the knight seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally putting the tool away. There was a long line of people waiting behind her to enter as well.

“Yes. Thank you for your cooperation.”

That was how she crossed the Academy main gate.

Good thing I came wearing the magic-restraining device. It looks like my magic reacted a little anyway...

She touched the rigid thing around her neck.

Once she found a place with few people around and removed it, magic surged back into her. Only then did it feel like she could breathe a little again.

I really hate this place.

How in the world had the seventh endured living in a land with almost no magic at all?

Still, the infiltration had succeeded.

Eyes gleaming, the second looked all around the vast Academy grounds.

I have to find that child.

And then... no matter what...

As she moved forward with that vow in mind, dizziness struck her for a moment. Along with the short ringing in her ears that came like an old habit,

Boooom!

the phantom sound filled her head.

“......”

The second clenched her fist tightly.

She had never actually seen the explosion itself. But perhaps because of that, her imagination had only swelled, repeating the scene inside her in the cruelest form possible.

Fourth...

Cold sweat ran down her skin.

Right then—

Waaahhh!

Children’s cheers rang out from somewhere.

Instinctively, she turned her steps toward the sound.

And then...

A short distance away—

“...Phew.”

A lemon-haired boy who had been watching all of this raked a hand through his hair with a complicated look on his face.

“Why do things like this always seem to happen right in front of me...?”

Licht, the prince who had only just returned to the Academy from the Imperial Palace, touched the corner of his mouth as though troubled.

Didn’t the color of that magic tool at the entrance look a little... off?

He had been the one waiting to enter directly behind the second.

Or am I imagining it?

He had already gotten hold of the kind of magic tool used in Ipsen and examined it before. If the target was really an ordinary person, he was pretty sure it turned a more vivid red than that...

“Hmmm.”

Should he look into it more?

I hurried over because I wanted to see Rubian.

“...Phew. Well, I guess I have no choice.”

He carefully tucked the paper he had been holding back into his clothes.

They were the letters he and Rubian had exchanged over the summer.

*****

I was in shock.

The big highlight in the middle of the presentation—

the children’s dance with their parents had ended in a truly shocking result.

“I’ve never felt the existence of my feet this vividly before.”

“I sincerely apologize.”

What had I done to Dad’s feet?

The movements had been practically just spinning around while holding hands with your parent...

I guess I have to admit it...

I...

was terrible at dancing.

“Turn.”

“Whoosh.”

“Not with your mouth.”

“...But I turned with my body too?”

“......”

No, I definitely learned this in dance class. So why couldn’t I do it?

“Ruby, you stepped on my foot.”

“Gasp, sorry.”

“Again.”

“Gasp, sorry.”

“Ah.”

“Gasp.”

It felt like several hundred tiny footprints had been stamped all over Dad’s gleaming shoes...

When my brothers saw that, they muttered, “...It’s a good thing Father came. Otherwise...” and Khalid seemed to be making some kind of resolution as he said, “I should buy shoes in advance,” but...

I had no idea what any of that was supposed to mean.

“I’ll clean them for you!”

I moved like lightning and snatched up a wet cloth from a nearby table.

“No, Ruby. Don’t—”

Scrub scrub.

Filled with remorse, I diligently wiped Dad’s shoes with the cloth—! Hm?

I looked up miserably.

“What do I do... It was the towel they used to wipe up apple juice.”

It must have been the cloth someone had used to clean up spilled juice.

“They smell fresher now.”

Dad looked at his shoes, which were beginning to turn sticky, as if it were nothing much.

“Still, I should change into another pair.”

“I’m going too!”

I sprang to my feet to follow Dad as he turned away.

“Wouldn’t you rather stay and play with your friends?”

“No.”

Cling.

As I dangled from Dad’s arm, I felt his gaze settle on me.

...There it is again.

That look again.

Dad was acting a little strange today. He’d behave the same as usual, and then every so often he’d look at me with those deep eyes...

And for some reason, that really bothered me.

“Can’t I?”

“As if that would ever happen.”

Dad smiled warmly at once, as if he had never done any such thing, then took my hand and started walking.