The midterms at the Gift Academy always come with a mind-boggling set of life challenges.
Of course, Darknodi felt fear.
Unlike the past when Oknodie managed lectures with ease, how much harsher would the actual exams be!
“What’s wrong, Oknodie? Why are you suddenly trembling?”
“You’re just too excited, that’s all.”
“Don’t shake too much. Today, we have to hide from the giants roaming around the Mansion of Fear dungeon, remember? You dragged me into the closet blanket like that.”
On the other side of the blanket, there was the Howling Mandragora quietly practicing root martial arts with the sounds of goo… goo… under the shadow of Alice’s hat-senior.
If it moved too much, the roots would get tangled up, causing the Mandragora to scream Goo! and possibly attract a giant, so Ishtar clung close to Oknodie.
Trembling from the fear of the very first exam in their life, Darknodi felt calmed by Ishtar’s warmth.
Could this feeling be…
An event from Oknodie’s memories, the Field Trip event, where they raised favorability under the same blanket?!
“It’s a spell called Time of Peace that makes you feel better.”
“…I’m feeling a bit betrayed.”
Seeing Oknodie sulking brought out a different feeling in Ishtar.
Is this child throwing a tantrum right now?
‘Well, Oknodie is still a kid. It’s hard to remember given how strong they seem most of the time.’
Ishtar embraced Oknodie normally, without using magic.
As Ishtar gently combed through the hair, Oknodie spoke in a more sulky voice.
“You’re quite skilled at this.”
“Does being skilled bother you?”
“The original… it feels too much like me, so I don’t like it.”
“Pfft. You always say such weird things.”
“Is that so?”
“Certainly, Oknodie is good at everything. But since you rarely tidy your own hair, it’s tough to get good at it. I mean, you have that Hairstyle Memory of the 2nd-level life magic.”
Oknodie had definitely completed those magical hairstyling records ever since Jonnas and Reap stopped helping with their hair.
Sometimes when Arcadia or Isabel created a new hairstyle, they’d save it and switch one out on the days they felt bored.
While Darknodi was nodding along, Ishtar suddenly began telling an old story.
“In the days when I wasn’t used to magic and had low mana, I could never have dreamed of this. So, when I used to go on adventures with my childhood friend, Yufi, I used to tidy my hair like this every night.”
“It always ended up a mess when you woke up, right?”
“Every time I woke up at dawn, another hard day began. I did that on sleepless nights. Once I heard Yufi snoring softly, I’d fall asleep too.”
The warrior showered their first companion with little kindnesses in bed.
It felt like a strange camaraderie, but Darknodi also felt jealousy.
Like watching a woman with an ex-boyfriend reminisce about how she used to do the same for him!
“When tomorrow worries you, close your eyes and imagine your tomorrow self being better than today.”
“…”
“You can’t always be better than yesterday, but sometimes, you might be. A better version of yourself than yesterday.”
How strange.
The Ishtar Oknodie remembered was downright foolish.
Stubborn, strong-willed.
Why did Ishtar seem more adult-like now?
And yet… the warmth in this embrace didn’t feel bad.
Maybe Oknodie didn’t actually dislike Ishtar’s ample bosom?
When in front of someone well-endowed, vulnerability or increased guard arose, leading to reasonable suspicion.
‘Should I raise them a bit?’
A naughty thought crossed their mind.
Oknodie planned to gradually expand their mana pouch until the original returned, and eventually swap bodies… Would people feel a reverse sense of imbalance?
Would Oknodie weaken in front of me, or would they act fierce like Deadcat Senior?
At least, that thought sounded pleasant enough.
Surely, Ishtar’s words were right.
A me better than today.
Not a bad sentiment.
Imagining the spicy taste of reverse imbalance while enduring difficult academy life and the looming fear of midterms filled them with confidence and joy.
‘Breasts size AA, breasts size A, breasts size B…’
As Darknodi began to doze off imagining various sizes of breasts, a pleasant smile crept onto their face as they fell asleep.
“If you just stay this quiet, you look like an angel.”
Ishtar too closed their eyes while looking down at Oknodie’s relaxed face.
While they didn’t dislike the usual cheerful Oknodie, today’s vulnerable side wasn’t bad either.
It felt as if they were opening their heart and showing their weaker side.
*
“In today’s Demonology midterm, we’ll be ensuring the personality of the test subject against the various personalities inflicted by demons. The subjects are all death row inmates, so you won’t get into trouble if their persona gets stripped away, so feel free to go wild if you’re worried about grades.”
Better than any tomorrow, nonsense.
Darknodi silently screamed as they entered in the midterm exam room of Professor Demon.
One small mistake could lead someone ordinary to lose their body to a demon!
“A-Auntie, please keep me safe. I’ve done many bad things in my life, but I haven’t done anything bad enough to be bodily seized by a demon! Please…!”
“It’s alright. I have sufficient knowledge about mental protection spells.”
“I’m not doubting that knowledge, but could you please stop shaking just a little? It’s terrifying for me, the guy you’re supposed to protect!”
While they could mechanically handle assassins, protecting a person was still scary.
What if one of the thousands of ways to kill a person suddenly popped up? They were so tense they even had to use calming magic to steady their trembling hands.
“Excuse me, Demon Examiner, can I ask what crime this death row inmate committed?”
“They increased construction materials with replication magic, and when the mana maintenance period ran out, the materials collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 300 residents when their houses crashed down.”
“…”
Right, probably shouldn’t have used calming magic.
Before Darknodi’s icy gaze, the death row inmate squeezed their eyes shut.
If they fail to deploy the mental defense magic, there might be a dropout who claims to have added to the world’s peace by dunking a human trash bag!
Every year, students would show up in Professor Diemon’s class with smug looks claiming that, despite failing courses, they helped separate trash.
Professor Demon had a devilishly clever device that prompted a sense of morality effectively!
“Ha ha! Oknodie! You may be in your second year, but considering that you’re taking this lecture as a third-year student, that’s quite commendable. So no one will scold you for a mistake. How about this as a chance to let one of the inmates experience some tough discipline under the guise of a mistake?”
“…Exam scores aren’t something to be bargained with. If I make a mistake, I’ll get extremely angry.”
“Ha ha ha, you’ve got a lot of spirit! Then let’s see how well you’ve learned Professor Demon’s dark defense spells step by step.”
Surprised by the original demon’s dark magic in real-time, Darknodi was taken aback.
‘Can’t even see the magic formation? No, they’re intentionally hiding the spell’s inflection point!’
The visible pattern of the three magical techniques diverged.
You could only defend against one of the three spells.
You needed to know the additional effects tied to each magic pattern and quickly recognize subtle premonitory signs to effectively defend at the right moment!
Even if you were a little slow, defense was possible, but the inmate’s psyche would wear down.
If the leak of persona continued like rain on clothes, by the end of the exam, the inmate would become a drooling mannequin worse than the Howling Mandragora or lose their entire being to the demon and perish.
‘Possession, extraction, swap. Which one is it?’
While diligently reflecting on the data in their memories, Darknodi was taken aback by the correct answer surfacing from the memories of Oknodie.
‘231153524? This is… a multiple-choice question!’
Unlike the mini-game format of selecting answers from suggestions appearing one after another, this was the real deal.
No multiple-choice questions and had to actively cast defensive spells!
“Hmm? You really disliked this inmate, huh? With skills like that, not deploying mental defense magic is quite the surprise. I’d appreciate it if you let me snack on one personality for free!”
Oknodie had repeatedly faced the disconnect between memory and reality, but unlike the accumulative memory of Oknodie, everything was foreign and novel for Darknodi.
Cornered, Darknodi’s chosen method was the most familiar one.
“Ha!”
“Gyaaaahh!!”
The attack magic Darknodi subtly cast, keeping an eye on the professor, fried the demon’s brain.
‘It’s hard to protect, but killing is easy.’
Killing is the best defense!
By cleverly utilizing Oknodie’s veteran wisdom, the fried demon screamed in agony and flopped down.
One third-year student raised their hand and reported to the professor.
“Professor! Oknodie just fried the tester demon! Isn’t that disqualification?”
“Is that real?”
“Ugh…”
“Oknodie, you’re passed.”
“Wait? Not disqualified?”
“…Me?”
The third-year student, bewildered, and Darknodi looked at Professor Demon with a blank expression.
“The exam task is to protect the inmate from the demon’s mental magic. Killing the caster of the mental magic is indeed one legitimate method.”
“That ridiculous answer gets accepted?! If that’s the case, why did I study?”
“Well, I shared that for idiots who couldn’t kill the demon.”
“Is that even possible…?”
“Demons inherently have high magical resistance. If it’s dark magic, they have even greater resistance. Have you thought about the level of skill required to fry such a demon with dark electric generation magic? If Oknodie put their mind into it, they could reverse separate and collect the demon’s personality without a sweat.”
“I realized you were the youngest third-year, but I never thought there’d be that much of a gap between Oknodie and us…! I’m sorry, Oknodie, it was wrong for me to have misunderstood you as someone using shortcuts due to lack of skill.”
As the third-year showed awe and apologized, Darknodi felt more uncomfortable in the spotlight as if seated on hot coals.
To think that what they thought was a sneaky achievement without the professor’s notice would be sanctioned was unnerving!
Professor Demon approached the flustered Darknodi with a kind expression, whispering reassurances.
“I’ll overlook your ruckus since the exam difficulty was easy compared to Sadako’s class.”
“…!”
“But since you made a ruckus about not liking my exam, I’m going to unleash pure devastating killer problems for the final exam.”
Darknodi silently vowed.
Before the finals, I should leave this academy.
