#011 Is Dia the Model Student?
Last night, strange sounds echoed through the room where Ruby and I slept.
It was somewhat like the cry of a baby, yet it sent chills down our spines, resembling the sound of some creature.
Eventually, Ruby and I were awakened in the middle of the night.
With a serious expression, I, whose head felt muddled, spoke.
“…Did you hear it too, Miss?”
“…Yes. There’s definitely something.”
The origin of the sound seemed to be a large bag containing Ruby’s clothes.
“…Should we open it?”
As I grabbed the bag with a serious expression and asked, she nodded beside me.
Lifting the bag, something inside jumped towards me.
“Ah…! Save me, Miss!”
As it wriggled on the floor, seeking help, a familiar sound reached my ears.
“Meow.”
In response to that clear meow, Ruby quickly lit a candle.
And then, looking at what had stuck to my face, he said.
“…Milk?”
As I sensed a touch that I had felt somewhere before, it turned out to be Ruby’s chubby white cat, Milk.
We sat across from Milk, exhausted expressions on our faces.
“…When did the young lady bring her into the bag, anyway?”
“True.”
We were so tired that we had fallen asleep without unpacking, and only now did we notice.
“Meow.”
“Something’s wrong. Merilda must be in a panic, thinking Milk disappeared without a trace.”
By now, chaos must have erupted in the mansion as she searched for her cat.
“…I’ll send a letter over there. First, get some water for Milk, Amber.”
“Yes. I’ll do that.”
As water was poured into an empty bowl, Milk eagerly licked it as if she were thirsty.
“By the way, is keeping animals allowed in the dormitory…?”
At least in the original game, there was no mention of students raising pets.
“…I don’t know.”
“…For now, we should keep it a secret.”
Whether Milk knew about our concerns or not, she casually yawned and licked her own body.
***
A newfound fact, but the protagonist of this game is Dia Osteon.
She had beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes.
Unlike me, who had below average grades, Dia always maintained an upper-middle ranking.
Rather than feeling exceptionally good at something, she gave off the impression of “being able to do anything.”
Should I call her a hexagonal character?
I remember that her abilities changed depending on the player’s choices as the game progressed.
In contrast, the abilities of an ordinary commoner extra like me…
“Hey, student! Pay attention in class.”
The professor’s instructions flew towards me as I dozed off next to Dia.
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
This was already the second reprimand.
There’s a saying that when you come to this world, people suddenly become diligent or something, but I was proving that to be nonsense with my whole body.
Well, that’s because sleep pours out of me as soon as I sit in a chair, just like before.
The professor in charge of magic studies was a pretty strict person.
It reminded me of my high school math teacher in my previous life.
She confidently wrote down problems on the blackboard, then looked at the students and asked.
“Any student who wants to try solving this problem? If you get it right, I’ll give you extra points.”
The words written on the blackboard were filled with complex formulas and lots of elements.
“Is there really a student who can solve something like that?”
I felt nauseous just by looking at it.
Looking around, it seemed like other students had similar thoughts to mine.
Studying, even Ruby, who occupied the top tier, couldn’t rashly step forward. It was evident that it was a genuinely challenging problem.
“The professor is really tough, huh? Diamond?”
Whispering softly, seeking empathy from Diamond seated beside her, she looked at the one who sat down next to her.
However, Diamond seemed not to have heard me, diligently writing something in the empty space of the book.
‘…?’
After filling the book to the brim and writing the number ’72’, she put down her pen and looked at me.
“Uh, did you say something? Amber?”
“…No. It was nothing.”
At that moment, the professor’s finger pointed in my direction.
“There, the student who’s making noise, would you like to try answering?”
“What!?”
“It’s okay even if you get it wrong. The question wasn’t designed with the expectation of a correct guess.”
The gaze of everyone in the classroom focused on me.
‘Well, I have to say something at least…’
The question she asked me was about the calculation formula for magic resistance, and naturally, I had no idea of the answer.
Thinking of an appropriate number, I casually mentioned the figure I had just seen in Diamond’s book.
“72…?”
“…”
Even though there was no way that figure could be the correct answer, I planned to quickly sit down once the professor corrected the answer.
“…Surprising. That’s the correct answer.”
“Yes?”
At first, I thought she was joking with me, but her expression seemed serious.
“…I don’t know how you managed to guess, but as promised, I will give the student extra points.”
I was so surprised that I couldn’t even sit down and stood there in disbelief.
The timing was perfect as the class bell rang, and the professor hurriedly concluded the lesson.
“That’s it for today. Please review the areas where you are lacking. Well then…”
I immediately looked at Dia and asked.
“Dia, what you wrote in the book earlier…”
“…!”
When I looked at her book, she quickly closed it and stood up.
“I’m sorry. I’ll leave first.”
“Just a moment. I just wanted to apologize…”
I tried to hold onto Dia, but she avoided me with a strange expression.
“…Please forget about it!”
In the end, without hearing an answer from her, the class came to an end.
***
“Forget about it…?”
I had intended to apologize for intercepting the correct answer, but that was the response I received from Dia.
If I had solved such a difficult problem, I could have been more proud.
I was concerned if Dia was angry because of my actions.
Usually, it would have been a time to be with Ruby, but since she and I had chosen different elective courses, I found myself alone during this empty time.
“Is there anyone who doesn’t attend classes?”
Come to think of it, apart from Ruby, the only people I knew were Diamond and Amethyst.
Diamond had avoided me earlier, and I couldn’t see where Amethyst had gone after the class.
Laughing and walking together with other students, I felt a strange envy and wandered alone in the academy’s backyard.
“It seems like everyone already has friends.”
Now that I looked, most of the students in the backyard were commoners wearing white uniforms.
Even though students of the same social status seemed to stick together, there were hardly any commoners like me mingling with the nobility.
I had a peculiar feeling that other students found me intimidating, maybe because I only hung out with the nobles.
I continued to stroll through the backyard alone.
Sometimes, being alone like this wasn’t so bad, but when I was actually by myself, I felt painfully lonely.
“Oh?”
From Noble mtl dot com
In the distance, I could see students dressed in black uniforms gathering.
They seemed to be doing something together, and there was a tense atmosphere surrounding them.
I felt something was amiss and approached to hide behind a pillar, allowing me to identify who they were.
“Isn’t that the girls from yesterday?”
It was Clara and her group.
The one being tormented by them was none other than Diamond, who was also wearing a black top.
‘Why are they targeting Dia…’
Upon pondering deeply about the reason, I recalled an event happening to the protagonist.
‘Could it be the event where the protagonist is harassed?’
It was an event where the protagonist, who had recently entered the school, was being harassed by girls who envied her.
Originally, the instigator of this incident was Ruby, the leader of the delinquent group. As the protagonist’s grades improved and gained attention from others, Ruby felt threatened and orchestrated the event.
‘It’s strange. The event is still far from happening.’
Even if Dia focused solely on raising her magical skills among her abilities, it would be impossible to trigger the event in just two days.
At least this week would have been an event that required investment to meet the activation conditions…
With Ruby absent from their group at the moment, Clara was acting as the mastermind behind this incident.
Clara firmly gripped the wall behind which Dia stood and threatened her.
“Tell the truth. It’s about what happened during class earlier. Did you really give the commoner the answer to the problem?”
“…I’m sorry. I really don’t know anything about it…”
“Lies! Who else but you, sitting next to him, would give him the answer? Are you trying to say that the seemingly stupid commoner solved the problem on his own?”
It seemed like Clara was referring to me as the seemingly stupid commoner.
‘…Well, is it really that strange for me to solve a problem?’
Of course, it was indeed a strange occurrence, but it still made me feel uneasy.
Clara continued to threaten Dia more aggressively.
“Do you think I believe that you’re just being kind to that commoner without any ulterior motive to catch Ruby’s attention?”
“…What?”
“Otherwise, as a noble, there’s no reason for you to be friendly with commoners. Ah, unless…”
Clara changed her gaze and slyly lifted the corners of her mouth.
“Dia, being a commoner turned noble, did you ever feel sympathy for fellow commoners…?”
A provocation that was undoubtedly rude and unpleasant to anyone.
Dia’s statement, knowing she was adopted into a noble family, was a spit-out remark. In reality, matters like these were highly sensitive issues for nobles who valued honor.
“…”
Dia, who had tightly sealed her lips in response to her words, finally replied.
“The standard for judging people isn’t just their status.”
“…What?”
“If I were treated the same as you just because I’m a noble, I’d rather be a commoner with manners.”
Upon hearing this, Clara trembled for a moment, discarded her pretense, and revealed her true colors.
“This girl… acting all high and mighty…!”
It was a volatile situation.
Clara, fueled by anger, raised her hand, and instinctively, I stepped in front of them.