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“I guess things got a bit twisted, huh? First-year second semester flowed pretty differently from what I knew.”

In the original story, the first-year second semester was about wandering around, gradually getting tangled up with the Evil Society, and overall growth.

And unlike the noisy first semester, it was a bit more subdued, though there still were events that rivaled it.

There was the underground market infiltration, a related attack from the Evil Society’s subcontractor, and getting caught up in mischief while tracking clues, among other things.

There should’ve been things happening step by step, but with the Evil Society, the source of the second semester’s trouble, already caught by the Heros Company…

Our first-year second semester was slowly and boringly drifting along inside the Academy.

Minho came to find me mid-way, whining about how the plot got all tangled, but I could totally understand both his and the Academy’s position.

Minho, in his own way, was shaken up since all his plans had fallen apart.

However, after living in the world, I advised him that it’s more rare for things to go according to plan, and that really wise people prepare Plan B or C when things go awry. He quickly regained his composure.

Even if I took away some chances for him to grow mentally because of me, seeing him like that certainly made it clear he was the protagonist.

When I advised him to get a head start with the others this time, he thanked me and said: “I can’t express how lucky I am to have someone I can be open with, Blanca.”

Now he’s showing signs of trusting me completely without a doubt. I wonder if that’ll be okay in the future.

It’s definitely not okay. I hope it’s fine. But I wished it wouldn’t be fine. What on earth do I even call this feeling?

I don’t want him to get hurt because of me, but at the same time, I wish he wouldn’t just cast me aside so easily—it’s an horrifically selfish feeling.

…Things got a bit weird there, but back to the main topic.

I completely understood why the Academy wasn’t letting us out.

We already got ambushed by the Evil Society when we went out during the first semester, so there’s no way they’d let the ones who caused the situation out.

Even when there was no connection, they attacked recklessly; now, they had plenty of reasons to do so. Unless Invictus accompanied us, any activities outside the Academy were way too dangerous.

From the Academy’s perspective, they wouldn’t want to send students out where they could be at risk of dying.

No matter how much of a mess the Heros Company was, they wouldn’t push minors, who could become high-quality talents in the future, into a trap.

That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t push minors into a trap, though. Still, nobody raised that as an issue.

The kids like that mostly didn’t even have citizenship, so they were practically invisible on paper.

How did we end up here? Oh, right. The Academy.

If they said it was dangerous outside, why wasn’t there dormitory living? Well, the Academy decided to place heroes near where the students lived instead of in dorms.

Protecting the students while trying to restore their own image was a two-birds-one-stone method that worked pretty well.

Since the Heros Company held most of the funding for the heroes, they had to comply with what Heros Company asked.

Since the Heros Company told them to protect the Academy students, the heroes had no choice but to do so, like it or not.

It didn’t seem like the heroes were particularly opposed. It wasn’t like they had no reason, and they weren’t oppressing anyone; it was just about protecting innocent civilians from evil.

“How clever, I must say…”

“Huh? Wh-what did you just say?”

“Just talking to myself, Lapiz. Focus on the class.”

I replied to Lapiz, who reacted to my mumbling, and scolded her for getting distracted.

“But Blanca, you’re getting distracted too!”

“Well, I know everything already. But you, Lapiz, are learning this for the first time.”

Lapiz wanted to argue but had to shut her mouth when the math teacher called on her for an answer.

“Erm, so the answer to that problem is…”

I discreetly gave her the answer to the problem she was struggling with, but then the class suddenly ended.

No matter how hardworking the teacher was, the kids couldn’t be kept late during lunchtime. They cheerfully encouraged us to enjoy our meal.

“Geez, how long do we have to be stuck on campus? Sometimes, like in the first semester, outdoor activities would be nice.”

As soon as I joined Ageha, she started complaining about life at the Academy.

“But, look at it this way. They’re focusing on us more because of that. The facilities inside the Academy are just as good as outside… No, better than most outside facilities.”

Minho chimed in, saying it wasn’t all that bad, encouraging her to see the bright side, but it seemed Ageha’s point wasn’t about that.

“Ah, I get it. Staying inside the Academy means it’s super boring for you, right?”

“Exactly!”

I was going to say it, but Yeonhwa beat me to it.

“Boredom can’t be helped. Every time I turn on the news, it’s just more about the Evil Society. What if we go out and get attacked again?”

Jinhyeon bluntly stated the obvious without a hint of awareness.

“That can’t be ignored. Besides, I doubt they’d let us go even if they sent others out. If I were the head of the Evil Society, I’d want to rip us to shreds the most.”

Seolhwa casually made a rather chilling remark, appearing to understand that it was inevitable.

The others mumbled something about how that was a bit too blunt, but they didn’t deny that the Evil Society would target us.

“Even if not, they’d try to dominate us. So they definitely won’t let us out. Ha, if I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have gone.”

Minho suddenly piped up, guilt-tripping himself. But it wasn’t the kind of self-reproach that would break him down like three weeks ago when he said that to me.

Instead, it was more like playfully referencing his previous mistakes.

There didn’t seem to be a need to stop him. If he’s doing that, it meant he was somewhat overcoming it by now.

“You’re doing it again. I’m going to get tired of your self-reproach. Just stop and think about something more productive.”

Since she naturally fit into our group, Alice had started getting familiar enough that she could speak freely with Minho.

Coming from Alice’s side, it made sense for her to feel comfortable with the only person she could, but still, it felt a bit annoying.

“You of all people shouldn’t be talking about that.”

“W-wait, this isn’t playing… It’s, um, self-discipline! Right, self-discipline! To maintain inner peace in every situation…!”

“Pff.”

I lightly chuckled at Alice’s nonsense while encouraging Minho.

“Life inside the Academy isn’t bad. While you can’t experience not-so-ordinary things outside, at least you can steadily build up your skills. The Academy even invited external instructors.”

“That’s true, but… Ugh, I still want to go outside.”

“That can’t be helped, right? It’s dangerous out there, so what can you do to keep living?”

Minho didn’t hide his gloomy feelings. But honestly, all I could offer was this level of consolation.

At least, it’s better than nothing that he can develop his skills inside the Academy.

“Then I’ll go with the others. I’ll catch you later, Minho.”

I headed off with Seolhwa, Yeonhwa, Jinhyeon, Lucia, and Lapiz to our next class.

Originally, it was just a free class, but after the schedule got adjusted, it changed to teaching students grouped by similar skills.

The reason we were grouped together was that we were all ‘manipulating’ something.

“Okay, got it. Work hard!”

Minho headed off with Alice. Ageha, who was left alone, seemed a bit lonely, murmuring loudly enough for us to hear.

“I wish I could go with you all…”

It was really unfortunate for Ageha, but what could we do? It was quite literally unavoidable.

“See you later, Ageha!”

All I could do was give her some cheerful encouragement.

At least she wasn’t completely alone. Katyann was grouped in a similar magic category, so she wouldn’t have the tragedy of taking a class alone.

Of course, just because they received instruction from the teachers didn’t mean they’d suddenly become powerful. Still, at least the basics could be solidly built up.

Even if it wasn’t useful for me, it would definitely help the others.

…Not that it’d be enough to stand up to the Liberators.

But if it meant they could at least protect themselves, I thought that’d be just fine.

 

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