The private training hall of the Class 1A girls' dormitory was usually a place
of quiet meditation and refined spell practice.
Today, it was a war room.
Liora Valcrest, heir to one of the most powerful noble houses on the continent,
was pacing back and forth across the polished stone floor. Her usual immaculate
composure had completely fractured. She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting
out a long, deeply exasperated sigh.
Sitting on a bench nearby, Alice watched her with a highly amused smile,
casually sipping from a flask of water.
"I don't understand it," Liora said, her voice tight with disbelief. "I am the
sole heir to the Valcrest estate. I have immense wealth. I am a top-ranking
student. I am conventionally beautiful. I received three formal marriage
requests from high-ranking nobles just last month!"
Liora stopped pacing and threw her hands up in the air.
"So why," she demanded, "does he look at me like I am a logistical supply
route?!"
Alice choked on her water, bursting into a fit of laughter. She had to set the
flask down before she spilled it. "Liora, you invited him to a high-end romantic
café and told him it was a tactical debriefing. What did you expect?"
"I expected him to take a hint!" Liora shot back, her cheeks flushing a faint,
embarrassed pink. "I held his hand, Alice. I looked him directly in the eyes and
told him he didn't have to be a shield anymore. Do you know what he said to me
when we walked back to the Academy?"
"Please tell me," Alice grinned, leaning forward.
Liora crossed her arms, her noble pride warring with her sheer frustration. "He
said, 'Your grip strength has improved. The manual training is paying off.'"
Alice buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
"It isn't funny!" Liora groaned, sitting down next to her and rubbing her
temples. "He is a tactical genius in combat, but put him in a normal social
situation and he turns into a brick wall. I don't know how to breach his
defenses."
Alice finally caught her breath, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. She bumped
her shoulder gently against Liora's. "He didn't pull his hand away, did he?"
Liora paused. The frustration melted away, replaced by a quiet, genuine warmth.
"...No. He didn't."
"Then the defenses are already down," Alice smiled softly. "You just have to
teach him that he's allowed to step outside the fortress."
Across the Academy grounds, the subject of Liora's frustration was currently
standing in the open courtyard, meticulously sharpening the edge of a
standard-issue iron sword with a whetstone.
Rei stood next to him, staring at Cain as if he had grown a second head.
"Let me get this straight," Rei said slowly, dragging a hand down his face. "You
went to the botanical gardens with Aera. And you went to the Silver Teapot café
with Liora."
"Correct," Cain said, not looking up from the blade.
"Bro." Rei grabbed Cain by the shoulders and physically turned him around. "You
went on two dates in two days. You are currently the most hated man in the
first-year dorms, and you don't even realize it."
Cain frowned slightly. "They were not dates. Aera was conducting a routine
medical diagnostic on my mana channels. Liora and I were establishing a mutual
non-aggression pact and solidifying our vanguard-center trust."
A sharp chime echoed in Cain's mind.
The blue window popped into existence, hovering right next to Rei's head.
[ Notice: I am requesting a self-destruct sequence. ] [ Diagnosis: The Vanguard
(Rei) is correct. You are a dense, unredeemable idiot. ] [ Suggestion: Please
let me take over your vocal cords. I cannot watch you fumble this anymore. ]
Cain ignored the system, keeping his expression perfectly stoic.
"Cain," Rei said, his tone shifting into the grave, serious voice of a soldier
delivering bad news. "They like you. Romantically. If you keep treating them
like squadmates, one of them is going to snap and hit you with a Tier-4 spell."
"That would be a violation of Academy regulations," Cain noted.
Rei stared at him for a long, agonizing second. Then, he threw his hands up in
defeat. "I give up. You're on your own. I have my own problems to deal with."
"Alice?" Cain asked.
Rei froze. A faint, uncharacteristic blush crept up the back of his neck. "Shut
up. We're just sparring."
"Your heart rate elevates by twenty percent whenever she enters the training
grounds," Cain stated factually. "Your spatial awareness drops, and you leave
your left flank exposed because you are monitoring her position instead of your
opponent's."
[ Notice: Host is surprisingly observant when it comes to other people's
romances. ] [ Status: Hypocrisy level is off the charts. ]
"I said shut up," Rei muttered, grabbing his practice sword from the rack.
"She's waiting for me at the eastern field. I'm leaving."
Rei practically jogged away, eager to escape Cain's terrifyingly accurate
tactical breakdown of his love life.
Ten minutes later, Rei arrived at the eastern training field.
Alice was already there. She had tied her hair back into a high ponytail, her
uniform jacket discarded, leaving her in a fitted white training shirt. She was
stretching her arms, the afternoon sun highlighting the graceful, athletic curve
of her shoulders.
Rei swallowed hard. Cain's words echoed in his head. Your heart rate elevates by
twenty percent.
It was definitely elevating now.
"You're late," Alice called out, tossing him a wooden practice sword.
Rei caught it effortlessly, flashing his trademark smirk to hide the sudden
flutter in his chest. "Had to give Cain a lecture on how not to die single. It
took a while."
"I'm sure he appreciated that," Alice laughed, stepping into the center of the
ring. She raised her blade, her eyes locking onto his. The playful banter
vanished, replaced by the sharp, intense focus of a duel. "Show me what you've
got, Vanguard."
Rei stepped in.
They clashed.
Wood cracked against wood. The spar was fast, fluid, and incredibly close. They
had fought side-by-side in the dungeon, and they knew each other's rhythms
perfectly. Rei swung low; Alice jumped, using wind mana to float over the
strike. She countered with a thrust; Rei deflected it, spinning to close the
distance.
The air between them grew hot. Their breathing synchronized.
Rei pushed forward, intending to disarm her. He stepped into her guard, hooking
his wooden blade around hers. But Alice didn't pull back. She stepped in,
closing the gap entirely.
Their swords locked together, the hilts pressing against each other.
Suddenly, there was no distance between them.
Rei's momentum carried him forward, and Alice held her ground. They crashed
together, chest to chest, their locked swords pressed between them.
Rei froze.
Alice was looking up at him. She was so close he could feel the warmth of her
breath against his collarbone. Her chest rose and fell heavily from the exertion
of the spar. A single drop of sweat trailed down her neck.
Rei's tactical mind completely short-circuited.
He didn't look at her sword. He didn't look at her footwork.
His eyes dropped, entirely against his will, to her lips.
Alice noticed the shift in his gaze. Her breath hitched. The competitive fire in
her eyes melted away, replaced by a sudden, intense vulnerability. She didn't
step back. She didn't push him away. She just looked up at him, her grip on her
wooden sword loosening until the weapon slipped from her fingers and clattered
to the stone floor.
Rei's heart was hammering so hard he was sure she could hear it.
He slowly lowered his own sword, his hand instinctively moving toward her waist
to steady her.
"Alice..." Rei whispered, his voice rough, the usual cocky smirk completely
gone.
She tilted her head up, her eyes fluttering half-closed.
"Rei..."
CLANG.
The massive iron bell of the Academy rang out across the courtyard, signaling
the mandatory evening curfew.
The sound shattered the tension like a pane of glass.
Rei and Alice jumped apart as if they had been burned, both of them blushing
furiously. Alice quickly bent down, grabbing her wooden sword from the ground
and refusing to look him in the eye.
"I—I have to go!" Alice stammered, her usual composure entirely ruined. "Curfew!
Liora is waiting!"
She turned and practically sprinted toward the girls' dormitories.
Rei stood alone in the center of the training field, his hand covering his face
as he let out a long, agonizing groan of pure frustration.
"I hate this school," Rei muttered to the empty courtyard.