* * *
Since realizing I had been reincarnated into a novel, the same thought had crossed my mind a few times.
The thought that even though I already know exactly what kind of end I’ll face, no matter how hard I try, I might never escape the flow of the original story and will inevitably meet a miserable conclusion.
Of course, I didn’t dwell on those ominous thoughts often.
After all, my condition for success wasn’t particularly difficult—all I had to do was move quietly so as not to get on Chester’s nerves and then break off the engagement.
I could usually shake it off quickly, so why was that thought surfacing again now?
“Has everyone finished switching seats?”
“Yes—!”
“Try to get along well with your new mates and work hard in today’s lectures.”
Perhaps it was because I had ended up as Chester’s mate yet again.
Professor Harold didn’t really pay attention to the students’ history of partners.
He wouldn’t flexibly change someone’s partner just because they were paired consecutively, and statistically speaking, being seated next to the same classmate twice was certainly a possibility.
“Did you really pick number 6?”
“Do you realize that’s the tenth time you’ve asked that?”
Even so, the question ‘But why?’ wouldn’t disappear so easily.
I wanted to reduce the number of situations where I was entangled with Chester as much as possible until the graduation ceremony, where I would hear his request for a breakup.
At first, it seemed to be going well, but why did it feel like it was getting harder as time went on?
“Man, this is really strange…”
“What’s wrong with being my mate again?”
“Huh?”
“Do you hate it?”
Ruite’s lips parted slightly. It wasn’t that he particularly hated it.
He was just concerned about Chester’s situation and mood.
Ruite had only just realized that he didn’t actually feel any discomfort regarding Chester as a partner anymore.
“I don’t know,” Ruite shrugged.
“Well, you don’t hate it.”
“I said I don’t know.”
“So, you do hate it?”
Chester was being strangely persistent, as if the answer were incredibly important.
He even leaned his face in closer while asking that one simple question.
Ruite reflexively leaned back and glanced at Chester.
His thick eyebrows were angled as if demanding an answer, and his eyes—which already had a fierce look—seemed even sharper.
If his face weren’t so handsome, it would have been an expression that was simply terrifying.
“…No.”
It felt like a defeat, but it wasn’t as if he truly hated it.
Ruite reluctantly gave a clear answer.
Only then did Chester pull his face back to its original position.
Ruite didn’t notice that the corners of Chester’s mouth had tilted up slightly in satisfaction at the answer.
“Oh? You two are mates again?”
Magnus, sitting in front of them, whirled around and asked.
“As you can see,” Chester replied. It might have been just a trick of the imagination, but he sounded somewhat triumphant.
“Oh, it’s not easy to be mates consecutively. You guys are that, you know, that.”
“What is it?” Ruite asked with a bored face, resting his chin on his hand.
“Destiny!”
Ruite let out a deep sigh.
How did Magnus always manage to pick the exact words Chester would hate?
Well, since he didn’t know the real relationship between him and Chester, he could say things like that as a joke, but it was so likely to sour Chester’s mood that Ruite actually let out a dry laugh.
“Magnus, I saw a kid who looked exactly like you passing by earlier. Did that ghost follow you all the way to the Academy?”
“Ah, Ruite! D-don’t joke about that!”
Magnus, who had been teasing them about destiny, recoiled and rubbed his arms in horror.
It felt like Ruite had gained a weapon capable of shutting Magnus up.
Well, its effectiveness would probably wear off before long.
For now, however, it worked perfectly; Magnus shut his mouth tight and looked around nervously.
Ruite grinned and looked at Chester.
“Magnus says things without thinking, so just ignore him.”
“…Is there a need to ignore it?”
“Huh?”
It was an unexpected response.
Ruite sent him a look demanding an explanation, thinking he might have misheard, but Chester blocked his gaze entirely by pretending to look at his book.
At that moment, something caught Ruite’s eye—Chester’s earlobes were slightly red.
‘The classroom isn’t even that hot.’
In any case, Chester had been very strange lately.
Ruite’s body felt heavy and relaxed.
The sunlight leaking through the window tickled his skin pleasantly.
Add to that the voice of the philosophy professor lecturing after lunch, and it was a perfect natural sedative.
“Mmm…”
Ruite barely managed to lift his heavy eyelids.
His blurry vision flickered for a moment before becoming clear.
The professor was still at the front, diligently moving through the lecture.
Suddenly, a thick arm reached across.
Chester turned the page to the section currently being explained and pointed a pen at the content to mark it.
Ruite, now used to this, naturally checked the spot he had indicated.
“Now, the part I just explained will be on the final test, so make sure to review it.”
As soon as the words “will be on the test” left the professor’s mouth, Ruite’s eyes snapped wide open.
‘The part he just explained? Where is that? Which section of what content is going to be on it?’
“This part right here.”
When Ruite started panicking like a student who had clearly been dozing off, Chester stepped in again.
“Ah, it’s this part.”
“Stop dozing off during the lecture.”
“I’d like to. Instead of just nagging, why don’t you give my cheek a hard pinch to wake me up whenever I doze off?”
Ruite threw the comment out as a joke—and immediately regretted it.
They say you should consider the person before joking, but perhaps because he wasn’t fully awake, he had said something absurd to Chester.
He knew better than anyone how much a remark like that would annoy him.
“…That was a joke.”
“You’re the one who said it.”
“Yeah… huh?”
“I can pinch you, right?”
“No…”
‘Is he actually planning to pinch me? Ah, maybe he’s annoyed by me constantly dozing off?’
He spoke as if he intended to pinch him quite hard.
Not just to wake him up, but to cause actual pain.
With Chester’s grip strength, Ruite’s cheek might actually come off.
“You over there, we’re still in the middle of a lecture, so stop chatting.”
Ruite couldn’t ask for mercy for his cheek because the professor cut him off.
In the end, Ruite forced his eyes open as wide as possible to avoid falling asleep during the rest of the philosophy lecture.
It wasn’t easy since it was a subject famous for being a snooze-fest, but he had no choice if he wanted to protect his face.
“We’ll end today’s lecture here. I plan to give out an assignment before the final test.”
“Ah…”
The sound of students groaning spread through the classroom, and the atmosphere plummeted.
The professor used the phrase “before the final test,” but in reality, the exam period had already begun.
An assignment at a time when it was already overwhelming to study for exams?
There was a reason the students’ faces turned ash-gray.
“For your information, this isn’t an individual task. It’s a partner assignment for two. How’s that? It should reduce the burden a bit, right?”
‘Not giving an assignment at all would be the best thing,’ Ruite wanted to shout at the professor.
“Professor, how will the groups be divided?”
“Let’s not waste time and just do it with your current mates.”
Ruite accepted it calmly now.
If he was going to complain about things being nonsensical, he should have started with the part where he became Chester’s mate twice in a row.
“The topic is…”
After that, the professor explained the topic and the guidelines for the report.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a particularly difficult or ambiguous assignment.
They had to choose a theme that matched the topic set by the professor and write a report related to it.
At least that was a relief.
If he had given a difficult assignment during the busy exam prep season, the professor’s life expectancy would have surely shortened from all the curses the students would be hurling at him.
“There are plenty of related books in the library, so use them as reference. Research together with your mates, discuss, and write the content. Understood?”
“Yes.”
As the professor left the classroom, mournful voices broke out.
Since these surprise assignments given by professors were included in the grading criteria, they could never be ignored.
Moreover, assignments given before a test were often directly linked to the questions that would appear on the exam.
In other words, they couldn’t just half-heartedly do it just to fill the requirement.
“I’m so jealous of Ruite.”
Magnus looked at Ruite with his shoulders slumped, his eyes full of envy.
“Why?”
“You’re doing it with Chester.”
Was that really something to be so envious of?
Sure, Chester was smart enough to be at the top of the class, but Ruite had always received fairly good grades on his assignments too.
“Chester, is it really true?”
“Is what true?”
It seemed Magnus had somehow built an internal sense of closeness with Chester after that event at the camp.
“That you’ve received an A+ on every single assignment since your first year.”
Ruite glanced at Chester.
Even if he was the top student, wasn’t that an exaggerated rumor?
Receiving an A+, the highest grade, on an assignment was incredibly difficult.
Unlike exams where the answers were fixed, assignment grades were heavily influenced by the professors’ personal thoughts and discretion.
In other words, you had to satisfy the demanding tastes of professors who were all brilliant in their own right.
Thus, Ruite had once modestly hoped to get an A+ on an assignment just once.
Chester was the top student, so he must have received that grade a few times, but there was no way he had received an A+ on every assignment since his first year.
If it were true, he wouldn’t be human.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“…You monster.”
* * *
