"Axel-kun, please wake up. It's morning."
A voice drifted through the haze of my consciousness. Lemon? No, I'm still tired. Just a few more minutes…
"Lemon, let me sleep a bit longer…"
"...Lemon?"
Wait. Where am I? I was in a meeting with Vindel… no, that's not right.
The realization of what I'd just muttered acted like a bucket of cold water. I snapped awake. Standing right in front of me, inches from my face, was Ayaka. She was in her usual position—leaning in for a "morning greeting" kiss—but she had frozen mid-motion, her expression unreadable.
We stared at each other in silence for about ten seconds. In that time, the fog of sleep cleared, and the events of last night came rushing back. After the duel between Eva and Negi, we'd spent thirty minutes talking on the bridge before finally heading home. The blackout had ended at midnight; by the time we finished explaining things to Chizuru, it was nearly 2:00 AM.
Maybe it's this child's body, but I can't fight off sleep like I used to. I was running on fumes.
"Uh… hey. Something wrong?" I finally asked, looking at Ayaka, who was still staring at me in a daze.
Usually, she'd be aggressively pushing for a kiss by now. Instead, she just stood there. Then, the dam broke.
"Axel-kun… Axel-kun has… been snatched away by another woman!"
Her tragic wail echoed not just through our room, but likely through the walls and into the neighboring ones.
"Don't scream such misleading things!"
I grabbed the harisen paper fan I'd received from Asuna and brought it down on the back of Ayaka's head. Whap! The sound was crisp and satisfying.
"My, my. What's all this? You're certainly making a lot of noise this morning," Chizuru said, poking her head into the room. She was already wearing her signature apron, looking every bit the young housewife.
"The Class Rep is really revving her engines early today, huh?" Natsumi added, standing beside Chizuru, already dressed in her school uniform.
"Chizuru."
She caught my drift instantly and gave me a gentle, reassuring nod.
"She's fine. Just as Professor Okochi said—no lingering effects. It's the same old Natsumi-chan."
"Hey! What are you and Chizu-nee talking about?" Natsumi pouted. "You've both been acting so worried about me since I woke up."
"It's nothing. …Anyway, is Ayaka back with us?"
I set the harisen back in its designated spot by my pillow and gave Ayaka a light shake. Fortunately, her soul seemed to have returned to her body.
"...Huh?! Oh, my… what happened? I feel like I heard something very important just now…"
"Well, you can ponder that in 'the other world' all you want later," Chizuru teased. "Breakfast is ready."
"Y-yes, of course! I suppose if I can't remember it, it couldn't have been that important anyway."
With the morning chaos settled, we finished our meal and headed toward the school building.
"...You look like hell."
That was the first thing I said when I saw Evangeline walk into the classroom. Between the exhaustion from last night's fight, the lack of sleep, and the fact that vampires are notoriously bad with mornings, she was a mess. She looked less like a powerful mage and more like a "droopy panda."
"Umu. I am going to sleep. Do not wake me," she grunted. The moment I sat down, she collapsed onto her desk and departed for the land of dreams. She clearly wanted to stay home and recover, but the "Schooling Hell" curse wouldn't allow her that luxury.
"Morning!"
Just as Eva drifted off, two high-energy voices burst into the room: Asuna and Konoka. Asuna, in particular, seemed to have an infinite supply of stamina despite the battle. I'd heard she worked a part-time job delivering newspapers, too… her physical specs are nothing short of monstrous.
"Alright, everyone, take your seats! I'm going to take attendance," Negi announced, walking in right behind them.
He was just as bright and energetic as Asuna. I watched him with a sense of weary disbelief. I was the one who joined the fight halfway through, yet Negi—who fought from start to finish—was acting like it was just another Tuesday. Is this the power of youth? I thought, feeling far older than my current appearance suggested.
"So, the school trip is coming up soon, right?"
The topic came up during lunch. I was eating the bento Chizuru had made for me, surrounded by the usual suspects: Chizuru, Ayaka, and Natsumi. The "semi-regulars," Misa, Madoka, and Sakurako, had also spread out their lunches with us. The cheerleading trio mostly had store-bought bread, though they kept eyeing our homemade food.
"Class Rep, where are we going again?" Madoka asked.
"Kyoto, of course," Ayaka answered. "We have many international students, and since Axel-kun and Negi-sensei are foreigners, the consensus was that learning about Japanese culture in Kyoto would be better than a trip to Hawaii."
I vaguely recalled that being decided during a homeroom session a while back.
"We should probably start picking groups soon. Oh, Axel-kun, let me try one of those! …Wow, this hamburger steak is amazing! Naba-san, did you make this from scratch?!"
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