Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 78

Sylvia was lying on her bed with her eyes closed.

Despite being exhausted from training, she couldn’t easily fall asleep and kept tossing and turning.

Whenever she closed her eyes, the words she heard at school today kept popping into her head.

“Because I like Sylvia...”

“Ugh...”

Sylvia blushed deeply and hugged her pillow.

Then, with a slight pout, she murmured softly.

“I’m so happy...”

These were the happiest words she had ever heard.

She never realized that hearing such unpretentious words filled with affection from someone could make her this happy.

It was even more meaningful because it was Scarlett who said them.

For Scarlett, Astra was like an enemy.

So, when her request to become friends was rejected, she honestly felt worried.

What if she, as Astra’s successor, became someone Scarlett resented?

What if they could never be friends again?

But those worries turned out to be unnecessary.

She thought it would take a long time for Scarlett to open her heart to her again, but her pleasantly optimistic expectations were completely off.

Sylvia, softly stroking the friendship ring she always wore, glanced at the remaining ring placed next to her pillow.

She wasn’t worried about it anymore.

It seemed like the day when the ring would find its place was not far off.

“Hehe...”

While rolling on her bed, hugging her pillow and chuckling to herself, Sylvia buried her face into the pillow and murmured in a small voice as if afraid someone might hear her.

“I also... like Scarlett...”

Right after that, with her face still buried in the pillow, she let out a squeak and flailed about, but the exhaustion from training soon caught up with her, and she collapsed.

Today’s classes had been tough, so she and Scarlett decided to rest early, but perhaps she could suggest having a pillow talk tomorrow.

A pajama party would also sound great.

It would be nice to talk all night and drift off to sleep in the same bed.

That’s why she specifically had a big bed placed in her room.

Sighing happily as she imagined it, Sylvia’s face slowly hardened.

As she thought about sleeping in the same bed, she suddenly remembered Scarlett handing a macaroon to Yoon Si-woo.

From that, it seemed clear she had feelings for him.

But Yoon Si-woo was a bad guy.

She thought he liked Scarlett, but who would have imagined he was the kind of irresponsible man who could do such things with her while acting like nothing happened?

She had even supported their relationship for Scarlett’s happiness...

At this rate, Scarlett might end up becoming a tragic heroine who gives her body and heart to him and ultimately gets abandoned, just like those unfortunate female leads from the books that a classmate had secretly brought back during middle school.

But if she outright told Scarlett to stay away from Yoon Si-woo, it was obvious she would refuse.

And if she revealed the truth, saying, “That guy only wants your body!” it might hurt Scarlett, who liked him.

What should she do...

After pondering for a while, Sylvia finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep.

—

“Scarlett, good morning.”

“Good morning, Scarlett! I feel like I’m dying from muscle pain!”

As usual, Mei and Jessie greeted her as they arrived at school with Sylvia.

Jessie had a bizarre expression, half-smiling and half-grimacing, probably due to the muscle aches from yesterday’s training.

Sorry, that’s probably my fault.

During one-on-one training, as I was being pushed to my limit, Eve thought it would be a good idea to raise the intensity of classes a bit to gauge everyone else’s limits.

I heard that when I returned the enchanted gem with illusion magic to Miss Eve before going home yesterday, as it was no longer needed after she attached a prosthetic limb for me.

Silently apologizing to Jessie, I took my seat and politely greeted Yoon Si-woo, who had waved at me first.

At that moment, just as Sylvia was about to sit down, she paused and suddenly called out to me.

“...Excuse me, Scarlett. Is it okay if I talk to you for a moment before the teacher comes in?”

I nodded and quietly followed her out.

Standing face-to-face in a quiet hallway just before the morning assembly began, I felt strangely nervous. Swallowing hard, Sylvia leaned in closer and whispered.

“Um, Scarlett. What do you think of Yoon Si-woo?”

Hearing that question, I had a strange sense of déjà vu.

A moment later, I realized and was shocked.

—

Thanks to the bus driver, we ended up eating first.

I hadn’t been lazy about it, even knowing we’d win.

“Scarlett! You were amazing!”

“Was it the flamethrower from your prosthetic? The power was incredible!”

On the way to the cafeteria, Sylvia and Mei shared their impressions of my new technique, the flamethrower, that I had demonstrated.

Jessie had insisted strongly, “Let’s call it the Scarlet Buster!” but I thought it would be embarrassing to shout out a technique name, so I just referred to it as flamethrower for now.

Anyway, I felt pretty good about having burned more than ten monsters at once with the flamethrower.

I’ll owe all of this to Jessie, who had crafted the prosthesis.

Jessie, who was tearfully longing to eat last, would surely be pleased.

Trying a move similar to a finishing move in a real battle somehow made my heart pound with excitement.

If I could stage it a bit more like a finishing move, it wouldn’t look awesome.

For instance, throwing away a glove before firing it.

Ideally, a leather glove.

I felt a spark of nostalgia from the time when a black flame dragon resided in my left arm.

Hehe, at this rate, I might shoot a Black Flame Death Dragon instead of just a flamethrower...

As I entertained such frivolous thoughts, we arrived at the cafeteria.

In truth, if the food weren’t good, I wouldn’t feel rushed to eat.

In that sense, the academy’s meals were amazing.

With food this good, there would absolutely be no shortage of diners, unlike in the military.

I heard that the chef currently in charge had been tending to meals for over 20 years.

Thanking the chef who always prepared delicious dishes, I thought about how much calmer time was passing compared to the original.

If only it could stay this peaceful...

As I continued eating with those thoughts, Mei, who sat by the window, murmured while looking outside.

“Oh, by the way, they said it would rain today.”

Looking outside confirmed that it was actually raining.

My previously cheerful mood plummeted instantly.

Perhaps due to that, her murmuring voice grew louder.

[Burn them.]

Shut up.

I didn’t like that thing residing in me.

If possible, I wanted it to be replaced by the black flame dragon.

While grumbling and trying to collect myself, a loud bang echoed.

One student sitting at another table had collapsed onto their table.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. They just collapsed all of a sudden!”

Simmering whispers filled the room.

Among the commotion, I heard a cough nearby.

Mei, covering her mouth with her hand, coughed.

As she slowly removed her hand, drops of a red liquid fell.

I saw panic in Mei’s eyes.

And with another thud, she collapsed onto the table.

“...What... is this...”

Thud.

Another noise resounded.

Looking over in that direction, I saw another student had collapsed as well.

With a pained expression, Sylvia emanated light from her hands and placed it on her body before shouting.

“It’s magical poisoning!!! Everyone, stop eating!!!”

Things in this world don’t always go as we wish.

In fact, it was more often the opposite.

Thud.

Another student collapsed with the sound.

I heard the rain tapping against the window.

And the voice in my head continuously whispered to burn.

And then bang, bang, the sounds echoed again, one after another.

In this way, the sound of peace shattering resounded throughout the cafeteria.