Chapter 13:

Eres sat demurely in her seat, now dressed in her school uniform, her cheeks as pink as the bag she wanted to burn. Leo had somehow phased into existence next to her when she was blanking out at her feet. Eres avoided his eye contact as he stared at nothing but her.

Funny. With where they’d sat, he’d ended up in the typical protagonist seat. Did he choose that on purpose? As expected of a hardcore weeb. 

“Nice seat,” Eres said.

“Nice face.”

“…”

Damn! Did he always have to have the last word? She was going to make sure he choked the next time she fed him. Not that there would be a next time. Unless the bonus was right.

Sadly, Celise and Arille had turned out to be in different classes, so she had no hope of talking to another person. It wasn’t like she could make friends. She wasn’t that sociable.

Everyone knows that an introvert takes at least three semesters to become more than casual acquaintances with someone in their class. For an introverted male, the time period gestation for friendship is one year to friends, three days to buds, one hour and a spicy video to sworn brothers. Such is the nature of male friendship. 

Eres couldn’t practice this cultivation method. It was unsuitable for her current full-body estrogen foundation. It was only by the grace of her extroverted roommates that she hadn’t spent the last three days forgetting how to talk.

She clasped her hands together and sent them a prayer of thanks. Her concentration was broken when the door slid open, and the professor walked in.

Most of the children, who had been staring at her or Leo, turned their attention to him. He was younger than she thought he’d be. Maybe mid-twenties, with short blonde hair, and an appearance that could put a gal-game protagonist to shame. He set his carry-case by his desk, shifted his shirt that had the top button undone, and smiled brightly at the class.

“Hello, Everyone. You can call me Professor Felix.”

Ah. Normie. Eres hated him instantly. That bright and sunny type? No thanks! These were the type of guys to bring you into a conversation when you weren’t paying attention and embarrass you in front of the group! She’d met too many guys like this in college. 

That unintentionally harmful optimism was a poison to Eres’s type of personality. Stream-of-consciousness monologue bastards that dominated the conversation. 

If Leo were that type, she couldn’t begin to imagine her misery. Thankfully, he was a loser too. Suddenly grateful, she smiled at him.

Leo, who’d been staring at Eres to mess with her, was suddenly counterattacked by the pure smile shot by his maid. He’d never seen her smile like that before! 

…Was it because of this professor…?

Leo didn’t notice the malice that began to stew deep in his heart. 

Felix sat on the edge of his desk. “Alright, everyone, let’s go ahead and start with introductions. We’ll start over here,” He pointed to the first seat of the other side of the room, “And I’d like everyone to tell me their names and their favorite hobby.”

Eres’s face clouded over. Ah. This again? So professors hated their students even in another world.

This was! THE WORST! First day activity! And worse still, Eres was in the latter half of the seats, so she’d be stressed while waiting for at least fifteen minutes. 

Ah…she wanted to go home. Mom, save me…!

Eres rehearsed what she was going to say in her head at least a hundred times before it was finally her turn. Thankfully, she didn’t flub it. She sat down, face red, and buried her head in her desk.

Ugh. 

Finally, it was Leo’s turn, and he ended the class off with a smooth introduction. He sat down with the casual ease of a socialite.

…

Had he trained in the mountains secretly? Or was he the type to pretend to be an otaku? No, she’d had enough conversations with him to know he was deranged. Though it had been a minute since they’d discussed something like that.

No. Could it be? In his willful teenagerdom, had he come to think the introvert alliance was cringe…?

“So,” Felix said, “Let’s dive in. Can anyone tell me the requirements for a successful magic spell?”

He looked over the audience. The class was dead silent. Felix smiled ruefully and shook his head. That type of class, huh?

“Eres!” He said, pointing at her.

Eres flinched.

“Top student, go ahead and tell them.”

Felix flashed a bright smile. Eres suppressed a click of her tongue. Hey, teacher-man, there’s another top student one to the left...!

She stood with a self-conscious rub to her arm. “Um. First, you need mana to cast. Bigger spells take more.”

Eres shuffled her feet. She could feel her face flushing red as her voice came out quiet as a mosquito. 

“T-then you need something to shape that mana. Like a magic circle, or a g-glyph.”

Felix beamed. “Exactly, perfect. And how do you determine the type, or manifestation, of that magic?”

“Spell components.”

He nodded, giving a light applause. The class followed suit, and Eres collapsed back into her chair. 

Felix. You will rue the day you made me answer the first damn class question.

Felix, unsuspecting of her villainous thoughts, continued the lecture. It was put together well, invited discussion, and was interesting to listen to. His voice changed cadence enough to discourage dosing off.

In short, the perfect professor. Her worst nightmare.

She stumbled from the room with the face of someone returning to war. She bumped into Leo, who supported her by the waist. 

“Was it really that bad?”

“…You’re not the one he asked three questions to.”

Leo shrugged. “They say bees are attracted to pollen.”

“What does that even mean…?”

“From how pink your face was, maybe he thought you were a flower.”

She pinched his side and walked away. He rubbed the sore spot and smirked at her retreating form. How could he ever get tired of  teasing her like this…?