134) Chapter 20. Because I Hate Villains! (3)
Fortunately, nothing happened after that.
Well, it made sense that nothing would happen. Even on Sunday, we didn’t return to the Academy until fairly late, but that didn’t mean we went out anywhere either.
We just stayed in Soi’s room chatting about random things, then went out to the living room to watch TV, and I showed them my room too.
Even though we didn’t really do much, all of us overslept, so we didn’t actually wake up until around noon, and since Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun had gone out again, there was no one in the house we had to be self-conscious around.
Honestly, I had considered going out somewhere on Sunday too, but after unexpectedly running into someone we knew outside, I ended up feeling a little nervous for no reason.
It didn’t seem like we’d been found out or anything, but there was no harm in being careful.
After finishing dinner, we disguised Jinwoo as a boy again and returned to the Academy.
“Oh, you’re only coming back now?”
And of all people, we ran into the twin-tailed girl again.
“U-uh, y-yeah.”
“Hm?”
The twin-tailed girl tilted her head again, this time while looking directly at Jinwoo.
“W-why?”
“No, it’s just. I thought maybe I saw you together outside before.”
“Th-that’s…….”
“Ah, right. She was your cousin, wasn’t she?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders before speaking.
“See you tomorrow then.”
“U-uh, yeah. S-see you tomorrow.”
She waved toward the other girls with me, then finally waved toward Jinwoo too.
Jinwoo, her face slightly red, waved back in the same way.
Ugh, now even I can’t look at her objectively anymore.
Because up until yesterday, I still hadn’t seen Jinwoo wearing girls’ clothes, so her boyish appearance and girlish appearance had still felt fairly distinct.
But after seeing her in girls’ clothes all day long, now she looked like a girl even in boys’ clothes.
It’s not like someone’s entire impression could drastically change overnight either.
……Maybe I shouldn’t have made her cross-dress at all?
But regretting it now wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“Th-then, I’ll go.”
Standing in front of the boys’ dormitory, Jinwoo waved her hand.
“……Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
When I waved back while answering, Jinwoo’s face reddened again.
Maybe because I now recognized her as a girl, watching her head into the boys’ dormitory somehow looked a little dangerous.
……No, it’ll probably be fine.
Even in the novel I read, the people causing the biggest trouble inside the Academy were Seo Rua and her group anyway. So it probably wasn’t the kind of place where someone would get seriously bullied. Probably.
……And besides, there wasn’t really anything else I could do except think that way.
*
Among the episodes common in Academy web novels, there were strangely many involving activities outside the school.
Honestly, it was unavoidable.
Just like it would be boring to repeatedly show an office worker doing the same job every single day, it would also be boring to endlessly show children’s daily routines repeating over and over.
Of course, it’s not like the slice-of-life genre doesn’t exist, but even the appearances of the kids in those stories are usually extraordinary enough by themselves to count as non-everyday.
……Well, anyway.
So this Academy also had quite a few outside activities.
After all, the classes themselves weren’t all that different from ordinary school curricula. We occasionally learned theories that differed somewhat from the normal world I used to live in, but honestly, even if the theories or history were a little different, it was still basically just sitting at a desk with textbooks open and listening to lectures.
So instead of focusing on each individual class, web novels tend to insert “outside activities” here and there because they’re the perfect place for incidents to happen.
“You all know we have volunteer work tomorrow, right?”
The students all reacted differently to the homeroom teacher’s announcement.
Some welcomed volunteer work because classes were boring anyway, and at least outside they could slack off a little.
Others had no desire to go out of their way to do something like that.
It might’ve been one thing if the weather were still cool, but now it was June. It was “summer” to a degree that couldn’t even be denied with excuses.
The final exams were in the first week of next month, and summer vacation would begin not long after.
“Don’t complain so much.”
Hearing the grumbling from the students who clearly didn’t want to go outside and sweat, the homeroom teacher spoke with a somewhat serious expression.
“If you want to become heroes, you also need to learn how to care for and serve people.”
“Heroes are people who fight villains!”
One of the students complained.
“That’s why we take combat classes!”
“Y-yes, that’s true. You do take combat classes. But heroes don’t only fight villains by standing face-to-face in bloody battles.”
Several students groaned in protest.
Of course, it was just whining. The school schedule wasn’t going to change over complaints like that.
Though maybe things would be different if there were enough awful parents who immediately filed complaints whenever their children broke even the slightest sweat.
But most of the parents at this school were heroes. The kind of people who considered filing complaints over something like that “extremely embarrassing.”
……Though there were probably children of villains like me too, but in that case they were awkward to file complaints for entirely different reasons.
“So all of you should go and properly learn how to use your abilities to serve civilians. That’s all for today.”
Thud.
The homeroom teacher closed the attendance book.
*
“You there, telekinetic girl.”
I heard those words while walking through the hallway after leaving the classroom, so I turned around to see Instructor Justina leaning against the wall.
Her broken leg had healed not long afterward, and naturally she’d immediately returned to her position as an instructor.
Classes continued just as usual.
Once everyone in the class had taken turns sparring, the lessons shifted into much more theoretical material.
The students who had secretly been looking forward to sparring were immediately disappointed, but what could they do? The curriculum was the curriculum.
……Since that day, I hadn’t met Instructor Justina separately. She wasn’t avoiding me, but I was avoiding her.
After all, I was the one who’d ignored her instructions to stay put and deliberately gone to meet the Witch anyway.
Things had luckily turned out well in the end, but it wouldn’t have been strange at all if my actions had instead led to an even worse outcome.
“Ah, y-yes, h-hello…….”
So it was only natural that I immediately shrank back nervously.
“What, do you think I’m about to scold you or something?”
“N-no, not really.”
Instructor Justina asked with a playful giggle, and I hurriedly shook my head.
Of course I’d assumed I would get scolded, but that didn’t mean I could actually say that.
“I just wanted to talk with you alone for a bit.”
As she said that, she looked back and forth between Soi and Chae-yi standing on either side of me, and Hyeonji and Jinwoo following behind us.
“I’d like to borrow Rua for a little while. Would that be alright?”
At that question, my friends glanced at one another before nodding.
Well, I mean.
It wasn’t really something they had to give permission for in the first place.
An instructor summoning a student was normal enough.
“Then let’s go somewhere suitable for talking.”
After saying that, Instructor Justina immediately strode ahead.
*
For a moment I wondered if we were heading to the principal’s office, but the place we arrived at was the church.
That same church where I’d first run into Instructor Justina lying on a bench while wandering around shortly after entering the Academy.
But unlike at the beginning of the semester, there were now quite a few students around the church. It really was a nice place to walk around.
“This way.”
The place Instructor Justina headed toward was the church building itself.
Once we entered, hmm.
From the outside, I’d thought it looked decently old-fashioned, but once inside, it wasn’t all that grand.
Though I guess that was obvious. The building itself probably hadn’t actually been built that long ago.
Still, it would’ve been nice if they’d decorated the inside to feel more like an old building too. Right now it just felt too much like a modern structure.
“This way. Here.”
“Huh?”
Seeing the place Instructor Justina pointed to left me slightly flustered.
The spot tucked into one corner of the building looked exactly like one of those confession booths.
I’d never actually attended church myself, but I’d still heard about them through various forms of media.
Confessions were something priests listened to, and in the first place, non-believers couldn’t even make confessions.
But Instructor Justina simply slipped right inside.
I blankly turned around to look at the friends who had followed me.
They all looked similarly bewildered.
After hesitating briefly, I entered as well.
It was narrow inside. I’d seen confession booths depicted in media before, but actually entering one felt very different from merely hearing about them or seeing them on screen.
Not that it felt especially oppressive, but, hmm.
You know how children sometimes hide under desks for no reason when they’re young?
It had that kind of atmosphere, which made me feel a little more at ease.
Then suddenly a voice came from beside me, startling me enough to flinch.
“There’s no need to be so scared. I didn’t bring you in here for an actual confession. It’s just that this is the most awkward place for people to secretly listen in. Both functionally and symbolically.”
“Ah, y-yes.”
“It’s just that I wanted to finish the conversation we couldn’t complete last time. The situation was a little complicated then, and I wondered if maybe I pressured you too much. If there’s anything you really don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”
“……Okay.”
“Good. Then, hmm. It seems like there are things only you know about, so why don’t we start with that?”