I Became the Must-Have Character of the Academy City - Chapter 99



98 – The Wee-Wee Old Man Wants to Sleep -2-

Orion Academy Dormitory.

The first-year cadets were away for exams, surely only a few second-years remained.

In Rohan’s room, girls who made not even a whisper of a footstep were present.

‘Oppa…I miss you.’

‘Rohan’s absence is proving to be much larger than I thought…’

Clara and Sion both conjured the same person in their minds.

Continuing on with thoughts that were no different.

The two girls were steadily sending Rohan messages as if reporting on their day.

Sion glared at the smartphone that gave no reply, no matter how many messages she sent, and rose from the bed.

She placed her hand on Clara’s waist as she lay face-down, engrossed in something called a game.

“Clara.”

“Yes?”

“Before we go shopping with Rohan, I’d at least like to buy the clothes we’ll wear that day.”

“Ah…! Shall we go now, then?”

Sion nodded. A quiet preparation followed, free from needless chatter.

The topic of conversation also shifted with the flow.

“I watched a few videos earlier, and cooking seems simpler than I thought.”

“Really…?”

“Apparently, beginners are guaranteed a decent result as long as they don’t stray from the recipe. If we put on a video and do it together, we’ll somehow manage.”

Finding and learning household skills.

It was one of their struggles to somehow fast-forward the time spent waiting for Rohan to return, along with physical training together.

It was also a necessary skill for when the two of them eventually lived together.

“Oh, Oppa will be tired when he gets back too…! Should we give it a try after training today…?”

“Well, we can’t keep being in the position of just emptying the fridge every time.”

Clara agreed with Sion’s words, recalling a phrase she had once seen in a book.

*If you capture someone’s stomach with cooking, they will never be able to escape*.

If she became a master chef and captured Rohan’s stomach? A bubbling妄想 [mousou] began to fill her mind.

“Hehe…”

Unaware that her stomach was already being ensnared in the opposite direction.

Clara let out a chuckle.

*

“Why aren’t you asleep? Are you hungry?”

From noble mtl dot com

“No… it’s not that.”

After repeated hesitations, Ichinose clamped his mouth shut for the moment.

Reason, embarrassed, had won out over the instinct that yearned for comfort. He fiddled with the clothes he was using as a pillow, trying to reshape them.

He lay down.

Tossed and turned, then sat back up.

Changed the shape.

Lay down. Tossed and turned, then sat back up. Changed the shape.

Actions repeated like a machine.

“…”

Ichinose felt like he was going out of his mind. No matter how he arranged things, the discomfort wouldn’t leave him.

Rohan, tending to the fire, gave him a questioning look, as if asking what he was doing.

“Can’t sleep?”

Rohan asked quietly.

To answer honestly would be such a ridiculous situation, Ichinose felt like jumping up and down in frustration.

“…Rohan.”

“Yeah.”

Ichinose stubbornly pushed himself up from lying down and sat up.

Hiding the rising emotions, he asked in a small voice.

“If there were a way to maintain my condition in the current situation, how much risk would you say is worth taking?”

A sentence that, to Rohan, was half-nonsensical.

Even so, he stroked his chin and pondered, trying to understand. He pushed a branch into the flames and gave a safe answer.

“It’s a bit difficult to understand what you’re saying… but, well, if you can protect your condition, you should try as hard as possible within reasonable limits, right?”

Was that an answer?

An extraordinarily serious and resolute aura emanated from Ichinose.

“I’ll be honest with you.”

A stiff voice, unfamiliar as stone.

Was it tension, a warning, a confession? Its purpose unclear, Rohan’s expression hardened.

“You feeling ill? Caught a cold, maybe?”

“N-no, it’s nothing like that…!”

“Good if you’re not sick. If there’s a problem, tell me.”

Ichinose took a deep breath, then gestured to the rolled-up coat in her hands.

“It’s uncomfortable to rest my head on, I can’t sleep.”

“Huh?”

“…The pillow is too uncomfortable, I think I’m getting a crick in my neck.”

*Wouldn’t he think this a spoiled complaint from a pampered heiress?*

Ichinose hurried to elaborate.

“I was as prepared as I could be to sleep in an unfamiliar place. But it’s, well… different than I thought.”

“Yeah, it’s always different when you actually experience it.”

“…”

Rohan nodded slightly, as if understanding, then asked with a serious face.

“So, you didn’t sleep at all last night either? I thought you were asleep.”

“I did sleep… very deeply…”

Rohan blinked at Ichinose’s words.

His mind spun, taking in the girl who lowered her head as if to tell him not to look at her that way.

It was a simple problem, requiring little time to solve.

*’She slept deeply yesterday, but today the pillow is too uncomfortable to sleep?’*

Where had Ichinose rested her head the day before?

The answer was obvious.

As he reached that conclusion, a crucial point embedded itself like an arrow into Rohan’s consciousness.

*’Considering Ichinose’s personality… she must have agonized over saying even this much.’*

The corners of Rohan’s mouth twitched violently at the girl’s endearingness, but he bit down hard, suppressing it.

He couldn’t laugh here.

Until she was lying down, settled, with no turning back, he had to maintain a serious face, devoid of humor. That would make Ichinose feel more at ease.

“Alright.”

“Huh?”

Rohan, a touch away from the bonfire, slapped! slapped! his thigh.

His expression was maintained with a near Herculean effort, conveying utter nonchalance.

“Use it freely if you need to. This is a cheap way to keep yourself in shape.”

At Rohan’s assent, Ichinose seemed both relieved and flushed, embarrassed at having made the request.

Ichinose rose and moved awkwardly to reposition his coat on the ground.

“E-excuse me…”

After a long hesitation, he rested his head on Rohan’s thigh and lay down.

‘!!!’

And then, the comfort that washed over him.

Ichinose internally detonated a fireworks display of amazement.

‘Just like I imagined…’

The perfect, 100-point pillow he’d been craving.

An optimal elasticity, the exact right height and width, even a pleasant warmth.

He felt on the verge of sleep, forgetting the mountainous shame.

Drowsiness surged, as if having waited for this moment, blurring his consciousness.

As Ichinose sank deeply into the embrace of slumber, he cracked an eyelid open when something was draped over him.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?”

Rohan’s dress shirt was now covering him like a blanket.

Rohan himself was left in just a thin t-shirt. The clear marks of his training were evident.

“…”

Ichinose squeezed his eyes shut as he met Rohan’s gaze and saw him smile.

He lifted an arm to shield his eyes.

He should be expressing gratitude, but fatigue and drowsiness were preventing his thoughts from operating clearly.

Unlike his usual self, he found himself complaining.

“You must find my state quite amusing…”

“Not really?”

“I can’t deny the fact that I grew up in a greenhouse. I’m feeling it now, myself…”

“Never thought that. I just laughed because you looked like a little babe.”

“A b-babe?!”

He instantly woke up.

A shock in its purest form.

Just how far was she willing to drag herself down from the pedestal of classmate?

“Wah-ngae-nose.”

“Don’t give me weird nicknames…if you tease me too much, I might run away…”

“Sorry, sorry. Go to sleep already.”

Wasn’t it terrifying, the way she couldn’t detach herself despite being treated like this?

“Rohan…”

“Yes, yes. I’m right here.”

Her slumber scattering in flustered surprise, but only for a moment.

The pull of sleep robbed the girl’s voice of strength, blurring even her mind.

“Thank you…”

Ichinose breathed the single word from between her lips.

Then, she truly surrendered to her sweet sleep.

*

“Hmm.”

Hex of the Anti-Hymn Society now stood upon the sea.

Beneath him, a colossal ocean monster served as his platform.

‘Is the Grand General really there?’

He focused on the transport ship, a mere speck in the distance.

The uninhabited island where the students were, only its outline could be faintly made out due to the weather.

‘Any closer and I’ll be discovered.’

Hex, ever cautious, maintained his distance from the Protagonist.

He then manipulated his magic, extracting the factors stored within his body.

Zhiiiiirrrrr───.

Magic coiled into a double helix on his palm.

The geometric structure they commonly referred to as DNA.

‘Even the other instructors from the Knight of Paradise… a year’s worth of stacks should be enough.’

There was no need to definitively kill anyone. All he needed was to buy time until the Protagonist and the Omega reached their conclusion.

If the Protagonist wasn’t present, the rest would be nothing more than playthings for himself and the Omega.

The moment the Protagonist fell, that uninhabited island would transform into a living hell.

A chance to acquire precious specimens galore. To think of the research, how could I not be thrilled?

“…”

Hex suppressed his rising excitement,

Adjusting the factors, recalculating the possibilities.

This time, Omega’s combat body was, without exaggeration, for the main event.

He had truly abandoned everything else, focusing entirely on that.

‘Omega. I believe you can win and get revenge. Gift me those precious specimens.’

The more he examined the grounds, the higher Omega’s chances of victory appeared. So many usable hostages, after all.

Moreover, he had finished analyzing the skills and capabilities of the instructors protecting the cadets on the deserted island, as well as the Paradise Knights sent as support.

In the battle between Omega and Juyeon, they couldn’t possibly create any variables.

And yet.

He felt strangely uneasy.

A speck of anxiety was creating a disturbance.

‘Hmm…’

But he ignored it.

Such emotions were meaningless to someone who worshipped theory.

He immersed himself in his work.

‘Shall we begin?’

The factor Hex had created dripped from his hands, seeping into the sea.

The chaos on the deserted island was one of the main tasks, but.

Preparing a back door for Omega to escape, just in case, was also his responsibility.

There was no one to replace Omega, so he had to keep him alive by any means.

‘Even if Omega has a fiery temper, he values his own life dearly.’

Hex covered his anxiety with conviction and anticipation,

And began to delicately manipulate the mana, little by little.