This is bad... I had assumed that the knowledge from my world would be useful here.
But there's no way they'd have kanji characters here, so I wouldn't be taught that. And history would be different because the worlds are different, obviously.
What should I do...? I held my head in my hands.
Even if I could pass the other exams, it would be pointless if I couldn't pass this written one. Should I ask Dion to teach me...?
No, he's already training me in combat. Asking him to help me study too would be too much. Besides, Dion doesn't seem like the studious type, so it might be difficult anyway...
...Wait a minute! I remembered something.
The chances are slim, but I'll ask... I'll ask the other examinee who arrived early, just like me.
She must know more than me if she's taking the exam.
This is my only option. It's a little embarrassing to ask for help, but I have to put that aside for now. I left my room and headed to Reina's room to ask her to help me study.
I arrived at Reina's room and was about to knock.
But I hesitated. I had never been in a girl's room before.
But just standing in front of her door wouldn't solve anything. With that thought, I mustered up my courage and knocked on the door.
After a moment, the door opened.
Of course, it was Reina. She looked a little surprised.
"Yuto... what's wrong?"
She asked with a puzzled expression.
I still felt a little weird about her calling me "Yuto," but I told her why I was there.
"There's something I want to ask you..."
I said, a little shyly.
Reina saw my expression and looked surprised.
"I-I'm sorry... I can't really get involved with people I don't know well. B-but... maybe as friends..."
I don't know what happened, but it felt like I had been rejected, and a silence fell between us.
That's a little disappointing... No, wait! That's not what I'm here to talk about!
"N-no, not that! I just came here to ask you to help me study..."
I explained myself to Reina.
"Oh... uh, I-I knew that..."
Reina said after hearing my words, but her face was bright red, and it looked like steam was about to come out of her head.
"W-well, come in..."
Reina said, telling me to enter her room.
I had been in her room once, but that was a kind of accident. This was the first time I had ever entered a girl's room like this, so I was a little nervous.
The room was the same as yesterday and wasn't much different from mine.
Well, it's not like you'd decorate your room when you're only staying for a few days.
"Sit there."
Reina pointed to the floor and told me to sit.
I took her offer and sat where she pointed.
Then Reina sat down in front of me.
An awkward silence settled between us.
I was thinking about how to start the conversation and didn't open my mouth.
Reina looked a little troubled, as if she was thinking the same thing.
The silence continued for a while.
I was the one who came here to ask for a favor, so I should be the one to start talking.
With that thought, I started to talk about what I wanted to ask her.
"So, about the studying..."
I spoke slowly and nervously.
I knew Reina had to prepare for the exam, too, but I didn't want to fail without even trying, even if my chances were slim.
I wanted to meet Selitia-san's expectations, since she gave me a chance to take the academy exam.
"Sure, if I can help you."
Her answer was surprising.
But I was relieved that she would help me, and I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.
"So, what don't you understand? The ecology of dragons? Or the declaration of human-deity equality?"
Reina asked.
I didn't understand the "declaration of human-deity equality" or "ecology of dragons," so of course, I didn't understand anything else either.
"E-everything..."
I said, feeling embarrassed.
"Huh...?"
A moment of silence passed again.
Well, it was to be expected...
"Everything... you mean everything?"
Reina asked, looking confused.
I had said "everything" because I wanted to learn everything if she was going to teach me, but maybe that was too much.
"Um... can I ask you something? Why?"
Reina's question was natural.
What should I do...?
It's probably too much to tell her I don't know anything.
But I already said it, and there's no turning back. If she's willing to teach me, I want to learn everything.
But what should I do?
What would she think of me if I don't know things that are common knowledge in this world?
If I tell her I'm from another world, will she understand? But I don't want to be looked at as something special.
...No, I'll tell her the truth.
I'll feel like I'm tricking her if I ask her to help me study while hiding the truth.
I don't want her to look at me differently, but I'd rather tell the truth than trick her.
"A-actually..."
Saying that, I told Reina that I was a person from another world.
At first, she looked like she couldn't believe me, but as I told her more about my world, she started to believe me.
In the end, Reina became interested in the stories of my world.
"Wow! Anything else? Do you have any more stories about your world?"
Reina's eyes were sparkling, and she looked so cute.
I wanted to keep looking at her face, but it was time to get back to the topic.
"There are more, but what about the studying?"
I asked Reina.
Reina still had that cute expression on her face from hearing my stories.
"Okay! I'll teach you if you want. But I want you to grant me a wish."
Reina seemed to have a condition.
"While I'm teaching you, I want you to tell me more stories about your world."
Reina presented her condition to me.
I was relieved to hear it.
I was prepared to accept any condition, but I was worried about what kind of strange condition it would be.
"Oh, that's easy."
I replied.
Reina looked very happy to hear that.
"Yay! Thank you! But it's late now, so can we start tomorrow?"
Reina suggested starting tomorrow.
It was true. We had spent so much time talking that it was already late.
I didn't want to bother Reina's sleep by making her teach me right now. So I promised to start tomorrow and went back to my room to sleep.
For the next few days, I spent my days training with Dion during the day and learning about this world from Reina at night.
Reina was worried when she saw my beaten-up body from training with Dion, but I told her I was fine.
And finally, it was the last day of my training with Dion.
In the past few days, I had managed to release a small amount of magical power.
But the magical power I could release was different from the magic other people used.
Dion said that I could only release magical power, and that magic was a matter of molding that magical power to my will, but I couldn't do that yet, so all I could do was coat my fists and my Jinki with it.
We were training again today, but it felt more like he was toying with me.
"Hey, is that all you've got? You can't even land a single hit on me after all these days?"
Dion said to me.
He was right, but his words still made me mad.
"Honestly... can't you use magic yet?"
Dion said to me in a slightly exasperated tone.
"Don't... say it... like it's... that easy..."
I replied to Dion, my voice broken from being out of breath.
"You can actually use magic even without a Maseirin."
Dion told me that I could use magic even without a Maseirin.
"Is that... for real...?"
I was still out of breath and asked the question while panting.
"Yeah, just a little bit, though. They say you can use magic when you're at the brink of death."
The brink of death... That's a place I've never been.
But then, I remembered what happened when I came to this world.
I was in the sky, and I thought...
But I didn't have time to think about it. The next thing I knew, I was thrown back and slammed into the ground.
The impact left me unable to breathe for a few seconds.
"Hey, don't drop your guard. If this was a real fight, you'd be dead."
It seemed I didn't need to think right now.
...Fine, I'll give it my all!
And I ran toward Dion.
I swung my Jinki at him, but he dodged every single one with a confident look on his face, even from point-blank range.
"Ugh..."
I backed away for a moment.
I was about to attack Dion again... but.
From exhaustion, my Jinki slipped from my hand as I swung it and flew toward Dion.
Dion was a little surprised, but he quickly swung his right hand and knocked the Jinki away.
Now's my chance. His right side is open... I thought and punched his right side.
And my right fist finally landed on Dion's face.
But Dion didn't move at all, even though I hit him.
Then he quickly countered with a left straight, and the training was over.
It was a rather anticlimactic end, but I felt like I had gotten stronger in these few days.
"Do your best," Dion said and left.
At night, I learned about this world from Reina and had fun telling her stories about my world.
After the study session, I returned to my room to sleep. It was becoming a normal routine now, but other examinees would be arriving tomorrow... I went to sleep with a mixture of anxiety and excitement about who would come.
The next day, I woke up to a lot of noise outside my room.
Today was the day before the exam.