* * *
His hand moved before he could even think.
He knew he should pull it away, but the ticklish sensation made his hand feel as if it were glued there, making it difficult to move.
“…”
Chester held his breath and looked down at Ruite, who was sleeping soundly using someone else’s hand as a pillow.
The neck revealed between his messy hair was also pure white.
At some point, the thought of pulling his hand away had long been pushed aside.
He was simply watching the quietly sleeping Ruite when the professor suddenly slammed the textbook down on the lectern.
At the sharp, bursting sound that echoed through the classroom, the sleeping students jumped awake, and Ruite was no exception.
The students who had been dozing off weren’t the only ones startled by that noise.
Chester was the same.
When Ruite sat up abruptly with a dazed face, Chester quickly pulled his hand away in surprise.
“Aren’t you going to wake up? Are you going to slack off like this just because the midterm tests are over?”
At the professor’s chilly reprimand, the classmates who had dozed throughout the lecture avoided his gaze awkwardly.
Though the words were clearly aimed at the kids who were sleeping, that single sentence pierced Chester’s chest.
It was because he had just realized the fact that he hadn’t been able to focus on the lecture all day.
Ruite, the very culprit of this situation, was still struggling to come to his senses, yawning widely.
Then, with a refreshed face, he suddenly stuck his head out toward the side.
“Chester, what part are we on right now?”
“…”
Looking at the bangs that were stuck up and messy from sleeping face-down, Chester couldn’t answer easily.
He didn’t know either.
He didn’t know how far the progress had gone or what part of the textbook was being explained.
His own book had been stuck for a long time at the spot the professor first explained.
“…I don’t know either. Figure it out yourself.”
Chester spoke bluntly, deliberately covering his textbook with his arm.
He heard a mutter of “How stingy” from beside him, but it was a fact that he couldn’t tell him because he simply didn’t know.
After the morning lecture—which had been quite shocking for Chester—ended, it was lunchtime.
He happened to run into Harold in the hallway, who asked if they could talk in the counseling room for a moment.
“Chester, about what you told me last time.”
Chester couldn’t answer easily to the words Harold offered as soon as they sat down.
He didn’t quite grasp what was being referred to.
“You know, you asked me to let you change your mate.”
“Ah.”
It only came to mind after Harold explained again.
He had gone to find Harold and said those things before he discovered Ruite had collapsed.
“Since you said those things, it’s been weighing on my mind. You wouldn’t have said that for no reason.”
At that time, Harold had wrapped up the conversation by saying they would discuss the matter later.
“Do you perhaps still want to change your mate?”
Chester’s lips parted slightly.
To be honest, his desire to change was like a mountain.
Even today, he couldn’t focus on several morning lectures because of Ruite.
How many times had his entire attention been stolen by the things Ruite was doing beside him?
“Originally, by my principles, it’s absolutely not allowed, but it bothers me that you’re making a request you’ve never made before. If there really is an unavoidable circumstance that leaves you no choice, I could consider changing the mate.”
Changing a mate meant that another classmate would sit next to him, but put differently, it also meant Ruite would sit next to a different classmate.
“If you change it…”
And that was exactly what he had wanted.
However, when his thoughts reached the point that Ruite would defenselessly show those kinds of behaviors from today’s lecture next to someone else, he unknowingly became speechless.
“Chester?”
“…No.”
“Hm?”
“Please just act like you didn’t hear me say I wanted to change mates.”
“Is that so? All right.”
Chester had reversed his words like flipping a palm, but there was nothing Harold could do other than nod his head.
“Chester is being a bit strange lately,” Harold murmured softly while watching the student’s retreating back as he left the counseling room.
Ruite gathered his athletic clothes.
He went into the locker room attached to the classroom to prepare for the next practical session.
Inside, there were cabinets with the students’ individual names on them, where it was common to store school uniforms and athletic clothes while changing.
Ruite’s spot was at the very end.
He opened the door with his name on it and started taking off his clothes.
“Today’s practical feels suspicious.”
Magnus, the owner of the cabinet right next to his, muttered with a serious face.
“I have a feeling he’s going to make us do that.”
“Magnus, I found out something recently.”
“What is it?”
“I think when you get old, you’ll become just like Professor Harold.”
Ruite unbuttoned his shirt one by one.
Magnus stopped changing and began to ponder with a low hum.
“Did you mean that as a compliment?”
“Isn’t it up to how you take it?”
Ruite laughed softly at his friend’s confused face.
He hung his discarded shirt carefully so it wouldn’t wrinkle and was about to put on his top when he felt a blatant gaze from somewhere.
“What is it?”
Magnus, who had already finished changing, hadn’t left and was staring at Ruite’s upper body.
To be more precise, it was closer to observing him.
“It’s really amazing that you don’t have a single bit of fat. Don’t you eat a huge amount?”
The classmates close to Ruite knew.
They knew that, unlike his appearance, he was a big eater who ate quite a lot.
Even the staff helping with serving in the cafeteria already knew Ruite’s face, so they would prepare by scooping out plenty of food the moment they saw him from afar.
Yet, far from gaining weight, Ruite was on the thin side—to the point where one wouldn’t dare imagine he ate that much just by looking at his body.
“I guess I have the type of constitution that doesn’t gain weight.”
“Oh, try saying that in front of the girls.”
Magnus was about to playfully poke Ruite’s lean waist with his finger when someone suddenly cut in between them.
“Magnus.”
Chester abruptly grabbed Magnus’s wrist.
“Uh… what?”
Magnus’s voice rose slightly in surprise as Chester, who wasn’t even that close to him, suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“The kids were looking for you outside.”
“Ah, really?”
Magnus glanced outside the locker room and left first, saying thanks for letting him know.
Ruite finished changing while the two were talking and closed his cabinet door.
He thought Chester would have left after finishing his business, but he was still standing there.
“Did you take… your medicine?”
“Yeah.”
As expected, Chester turned around without lingering once he heard the answer.
Anyway, why does he keep asking?
Is he worrying because of what Professor Philia said last time?
Well, even if Chester’s personality was like that, he was known to the professors as a fairly diligent student.
The professor had said it would be fine if he checked the medicine intake himself, so it was clear Chester was forcing himself to follow that wish even though he hated it.
Ruite thought it would be good to tell him not to worry about it sometime.
Ruite also started heading toward the place where today’s practical was being held, following his classmates.
An announcement had been made to gather at the playground instead of the usual dueling grounds.
It seemed Magnus’s bad feeling wasn’t just empty words.
“Today, we will run lightly.”
“Ah…”
Neo clapped his hands as he looked over the Class 3 students gathered on the field. He said to ‘run lightly,’ but in reality, it was not light at all.
There were cases where they were made to do physical training during the practicals held after tests.
The professors’ thinking was that their physical strength would have dropped that much because they had been sitting in the library or at desks until late at night studying theory.
Running was fine, but the reason this wasn’t something that could be called light was different.
“You all know the course, let’s just run three laps around the academy lightly. How about it? I’m being quite generous, right?”
Resentful glares flew at him, asking how that was generous.
If it were three laps around the playground, it might be one thing, but running three laps around this academy, which boasted a huge and vast site, was a cruel declaration that he would shred their physical strength as much as possible.
“Everyone, warm up.”
Ruite also warmed up with a devastated face.
At that time, Chester glanced at Ruite, then approached Neo and explained something.
“We’re going to start soon, so stand at the front. And Ruite.”
“Yes?”
Neo beckoned for Ruite to come closer.
“I heard you collapsed a few days ago?”
“Ah… yes.”
“Then you rest today. I’ll process it as if you participated in the practical.”
What a stroke of luck.
This was like a gift given just as he was thinking about how to finish the run quickly while using the least amount of energy.
He wondered how Neo knew he had collapsed, but Professor Harold was definitely the type of person who would have passed that information along.
“Rest comfortably around here. I have to go around to make sure no kids are falling behind in the middle.”
“Yes.”
Ruite answered vigorously, telling him not to worry because he would stay quietly on his own.
Soon, following Neo’s signal, the classmates began to run in one direction simultaneously.
Ruite gave a supportive wave to Magnus, who was sending envious glares, and then stretched.
The sky he looked up at absentmindedly was pretty.
He didn’t know if it looked more that way because he was in a good mood, but he intended to fully enjoy this unexpected luck.
Ruite walked toward a massive tree located at the corner of the playground.
The old tree, said to have been there since the academy was first founded, had already grown huge and generously shared its cool shade with the students.
Ruite sat down with a thud and leaned against the old tree as a backrest.
“This is what happiness is.”
The still and quiet air, the wind blowing with a pleasant tickle, the leaves fluttering in a steady rhythm like a dance, and the warm sunlight peeking through them were perfect for enjoying leisure.
Ruite enjoyed that tranquility with his whole body while spacing out.
And slowly, his eyes closed.
Was it because the old tree he leaned against was so stably solid?
Or was it because the breeze tickling his skin was soft?
In the end, Ruite fell fast asleep while leaning against the tree.
How much time had passed?
Ruite, still deep in sleep, felt the footsteps of someone approaching nearby.
* * *
