Bonus chapter thanks to @NianJKL from Ko-fi!
Frondier had just shattered the wall when the noise attracted all the nearby students.
Everyone followed Frondier’s gaze to Quinie, whose face and ears had turned completely red.
“It will only take a moment.”
“You, you, you, are you really crazy?!”
Quinie felt a cold breeze blowing through the hole in the wall, confirming the reality of what she was witnessing.
In the meantime, more students had gathered around, watching the standoff between Quinie and Frondier. Whispers of “What’s happening? What’s going on?” flew around them.
Quinie really wanted to die. Oh, so was this why Frondier had broken the wall? To suggest she jump through it?
At that moment, someone called out to Frondier with a chilly voice.
It was Teacher Jane.
When Frondier turned around, Jane was looking at him as if she could see right through him with her piercing eyes.
“Before you talk to Student Quinie, how about you talk with me?”
“…Ah, I have some really urgent matters,”
Despite trying to avoid Jane’s gaze, Frondier found himself unable to escape as she grabbed his shoulder and wouldn’t let go.
“I’ll only need a moment, too.”
Jane smiled. Frondier smiled back.
Eventually, Frondier followed Jane. Quinie watched him walk away and finally managed to sigh in relief.
To Quinie, Frondier then tilted his head back and said once more,
“See you after school then. I’ll come to your classroom, senior.”
“Just go away!!”
Frondier caused a commotion in the hallway until the very end.
* * *
Damn, I was delayed more than I thought because of Jane. Or maybe it was my fault.
I received a tremendous scolding from Jane. But it was somewhat mitigated by the fact that my intentions were good. The broken wall? The family will probably take care of the repair costs.
Fortunately, Quinie was waiting in her classroom after school.
Her expression soured immediately upon seeing me, but in the current situation, that didn’t matter.
“You’ve been waiting, I see. That’s fortunate.”
“Speak quickly. I’m busy.”
“Not here. We have to move.”
At my words, Quinie looked at me sharply. His eyes were filled with suspicion.
“Is it really that important? Enough to ruin my peaceful school life?”
“I came here precisely to protect your peaceful school life, sunbae.”
What I said wasn’t wrong.
If what Gregory said was true, the Indus student hiding inside Constel right now must be targeting Quinie.
“……Fine, I understand.”
Quinie stood up with a resigned look.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Hmm, let’s go to the training room.”
“The training room? All the way over there? There are empty classrooms nearby.”
“I recently discovered that ‘Whispers of the Wind’ isn’t foolproof when it comes to security.”
Soundproofing magic, Whispers of the Wind.
It completely blocks sound instead of simply reducing it, but it wasn’t as perfect as I thought it would be. Just look at Malia’s ‘Sensory Sharing’ ability.
In comparison, the training room is a space specifically designed to aid in training concentration, so the security measures there are already perfect.
“Hmm, I see. Let’s see if it’s really that important.”
Quinie reluctantly followed me.
……Of course.
I didn’t bother mentioning how I would be able to train at the training room after I dropped Quinie off, thus saving me the trip.
…….
Quinie and I sat down facing each other at an appropriate distance in a private training room.
I explained the situation to Quinie.
Something about Quinie’s rumors among all the others just seemed different.
Gregory connected all the rumors to Frondier in order to focus as many students as possible on Frondier.
However, Quinie’s rumors were different. They were malicious rumors directed solely at Quinie.
……And they were bad because they were ‘true’.
“So, it’s someone else?”
“Yes. Someone saw an opportunity amidst all the rumors.”
Hmm.
Quinie slightly lowered her gaze and touched the tip of her fan to her lips. Her eyes slowly swept from left to right, as if reading something in front of her.
I observed Quinie and asked,
“Do you have any suspects? Maybe an enemy of yours, Quinie?”
“…Gathering all my enemies alone could fill up the size of a Constel’s sports field.”
What kind of life has she led.
Ah, come to think of it, I’m not much different.
“But it’s likely among the students, isn’t it? The culprit is likely to be a student from Constel.”
“A student…”
This time, Quinie’s head tilted.
“Speaking of students, I’m not sure. I’ve always dealt with people from other families.”
It doesn’t seem likely that Quinie would have made enemies among the other students. Probably didn’t have the chance to.
Then the enemy is ‘Indus’ after all. Targeting Quinie’s family. For money?
“…But you know, Frondier.”
“Yes.”
“I actually find you a bit suspicious too.”
Quinie glanced at me with her eyes. True to her nature, that gaze quickly became a scale judging me.
“You once said to me, ‘You hate it when people die.'”
“…That’s because,”
“If you’re going to say ‘everyone hates it,’ I’ll really get mad? You used that to persuade me. You knew from the start.”
It seems she won’t let it slide easily.
Of course, I know about Quinie’s ‘fear of corpses.’ When it started, why it happened.
But as always, ‘trying it out in a game’ can’t be the reason.
And if I lied to Quinie, who is both an information broker and a merchant, it would eventually come out.
Therefore.
“It’s a secret.”
As long as I’m not lying, that was all I could say.
“…What?”
Quinie frowned.
“I cannot tell you.”
Thud-
Quinie placed her fan on my chest.
In a swift movement, he unsheathed a dagger hidden within the folds of her cloak.
“Didn’t I tell you just now that I suspect you? I’m serious.”