* * *
After returning from the camp, the weather began to grow warmer bit by bit.
Today, Ruite stood before his dormitory wardrobe, locked in a serious dilemma.
He hadn’t yet decided whether to wear the summer uniform.
Although the weather was getting hot, the mornings and evenings were still chilly.
However, it was bound to be sweltering during the day, making this a difficult choice.
Ruite stared out the window.
Seeing the bright sunlight beating down on the ground, he finally pulled out the summer uniform.
“Oh, summer uniform already?”
Ruite had already taken a seat in the dining hall when Dylan set his tray down across from him a few minutes later.
“Yeah. It’s starting to get warm.”
“Isn’t it still a bit cold though? Maybe I should pull mine out soon, too. But Ruite.”
“Yeah?”
Dylan stared intently at Ruite while busily chewing his food.
“I think this every time I see you, but your skin is incredibly pale. Is it because of the silver hair?”
Ruite glanced down at his own forearm.
Compared to most men, he was certainly on the fairer side.
He had heard somewhere that Omegas generally have smaller builds and clearer complexions than Alphas.
Ruite almost remarked that it was probably because he was an Omega, but he caught himself.
It wouldn’t really matter if his friend knew his trait, but Whitmore worked hard to foster an atmosphere where students weren’t restricted by their secondary genders.
After giving Dylan a light swat on the back of the head for trying to steal his juice again, Ruite headed to the main building.
Even if the weather was warming up, the morning was definitely a bit cold.
Perhaps that was why he didn’t see many other students wearing short sleeves yet.
He diligently climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway to get to class.
That’s when he ran into Chester, who was just stepping out of the classroom.
“Good morning.”
Since their eyes met, it felt awkward to just brush past, so Ruite offered a blunt, standard greeting.
Chester scanned Ruite from head to toe before suddenly grabbing his shoulder.
“Hey, isn’t this showing way too much skin?”
“…”
As Chester blurted that out, the students walking in the hallway widened their eyes.
The noisy atmosphere turned silent, as if cold water had been poured over it.
“Of course it is. It’s the summer uniform. If it didn’t show skin, would it be for summer?”
“Ah.”
Ruite gave a calm, piercingly logical answer.
It was strange for Chester to act as if he were seeing the summer uniform for the very first time.
Chester let out a low rumble in his throat, looking flustered.
He stood there with a dazed expression for a moment, like a man whose soul had just returned to his body.
“Chester? You’re not sleeping on your feet, are you?”
Ruite waved his palm in front of Chester’s face.
After repeating the motion a few times, focus slowly returned to Chester’s eyes.
“I mean… what I meant was… why are you wearing the summer uniform already, or something like that…”
“Ah, I felt like it was getting warm. Can I go in now?”
Ruite stared at Chester’s hand, which was still resting on his shoulder.
“Let’s go in together.”
“Weren’t you going somewhere?”
“No.”
Ruite walked into the classroom side-by-side with Chester.
He took his seat while matching the energy of his classmates who greeted him warmly.
It seemed it really was a bit early for the summer uniform, as several kids asked if he had already switched.
“Huh? Lou, you’re in the summer uniform too?”
Just as Ruite was wondering if he was the only one in short sleeves, he found an ally.
Colin was also wearing the summer uniform.
“Right, looks like we’re on the same wavelength.”
“There must be dozens of students who wore summer uniforms this morning.”
Chester suddenly cut in while Ruite was talking to Colin.
His voice was laced with dissatisfaction.
“Does that mean you’re on the same wavelength as all those students? Just how many people’s hearts are you connecting with today?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just an expression.”
When Ruite shot back without backing down, Colin burst into laughter, finding it amusing.
Chester had been strange lately.
The question of “What’s up with him?” that Ruite had felt since the camp was growing stronger.
Of course, he was still rude, prickly, and drew lines between himself and others, but something was subtly different.
It was hard to explain exactly how he had become strange.
It was just the vibe.
“Everyone, take your seats.”
Professor Harold entered the classroom ten minutes earlier than the usual announcement time.
While everyone was wondering why, they spotted a square box in his hands.
The moment they saw it, the students of Magic Class 3 knew by instinct why the professor was early and what he was about to do.
“Shall we change mates?”
Harold placed the box on the lectern.
The dull, distinct thud of the wooden box echoed through the room.
The students stirred slightly, as if they had expected this.
It was classic behavior for a professor famous for frequently switching partners.
‘Doesn’t he know how annoying it is to pack up all your gear to move seats?’
Ruite sighed and began piling his books in advance.
Then, he suddenly realized that if the mates changed, he and Chester would no longer be sitting together.
“Chester, he says we’re changing seats,” Ruite whispered.
But Chester didn’t respond.
Since he had clearly disliked being Ruite’s mate in the beginning, it was a given that he would welcome this moment.
“It’s good for you since you’ve been uncomfortable all this time.”
“And you?”
“Huh?”
Chester, who had been staring at Harold, finally made eye contact.
Ruite hadn’t expected him to throw the question back.
“How was it for you?”
“Me? For me, of course…”
‘It was awkward,’ Ruite started to say, but the words got stuck in his throat.
Thinking back, had it really been that awkward?
When they first became mates, it was certainly uncomfortable.
He had even prayed to a god he didn’t believe in to make sure they weren’t seated together, for Chester’s sake.
Who would want to sit next to someone who hated them?
However, looking back at the days spent as mates, it hadn’t been stressful enough to be a bother after that initial period.
In fact, being Chester’s mate meant he could ask and solve problems he didn’t know quickly.
Later on, if Ruite dozed off and missed a part of the lecture, Chester would mark the page for him without even being asked.
Maybe it was because he was sitting next to someone who was smart and worked hard, but he felt he focused better and studied more efficiently than when he sat with Magnus.
Then Ruite realized it.
At some point, the initial awkwardness and discomfort of being Chester’s mate had vanished.
“…It was just alright,” Ruite blurted out, neither here nor there. He didn’t even understand why Chester was asking such a thing.
“Did you know? Those two sitting over there.”
Chester suddenly pointed in a diagonal direction.
Sitting there were Ayla and Mason.
“What about them?”
“They’ve been mates twice in a row, following the last time.”
“They have?”
Ruite simply tilted his head, unaware of that fact.
“But why are you telling me that?”
“Just because.”
Just then, Harold finished his preparations.
The conversation ended abruptly as the professor told them to come up one by one.
The classroom always became strangely quiet when it was time to draw numbers for new mates.
Everyone was clearly on edge, even if they pretended not to be.
After all, even in a friendly class, there was always at least one person who would be awkward to sit with.
“I want to sit with you again this time, Sarah,” a whispering voice nearby caught Chester’s ears.
“Me too. Ah, should we pray? That we become mates again?”
“Will praying really make it happen?”
“You don’t know until you try. If we’re earnest enough, maybe the heavens will hear us.”
The two students whispering seemed to be very close friends.
And at some point, without even realizing it, Chester was listening intently to their conversation.
‘Prayer. Earnestness.’
Those words stuck in his ears.
But he didn’t particularly relate to them.
If earnestness could be solved by prayer, wouldn’t the world be a much easier place to live?
“…”
Chester now habitually watched Ruite.
Ruite gave a wide yawn, seemingly bored while waiting for his turn.
Those silly expressions, which he used to find pathetic, were now things he found himself wanting to see more of.
Chester looked at Ruite’s face, then at the classmates drawing wooden sticks at the lectern, and then around the classroom where the desks were arranged at regular intervals.
Then, he quietly clasped his two hands together under the table.
“Next, Ruite.”
“Yes.”
Called by name, Ruite soon returned with a wooden stick in his hand.
Chester glanced sideways as Ruite nonchalantly checked the number.
Number 5.
If so, the number for the seat next to Ruite would be 6.
“Chester, come up.”
He slid his chair back and walked forward.
To be honest, he had been greatly disappointed when he first became Ruite’s mate.
At first he was annoyed, and later, because unknown emotions flooded in, he felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
But what he felt when Harold walked in today and said they were changing mates wasn’t a sense of liberation or relief.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and draw,” Harold remarked as Chester just stared at the wooden box as if he were trying to kill it.
He himself no longer knew what was what, but there were two things he clearly wanted right now.
He wanted the number written on the stick he drew to be 6.
He wanted the 1/19 probability to move exactly as he wished.
That was all.
* * *
