Chapter 34 – The Highlight of the Silver Moon Festival, the Festival and Competitions are about Gambling!
As Professor Aegis had instructed, Lyn, Freyja, and I spent our time in Ran’s hospital room.
When I was not there, Ignis and Undine took turns watching over the room. We agreed that Lyn, Freyja, and Professor Aegis would take shifts. In case of any emergency, we made sure to let Ignis or Undine know.
Another day passed within the boundaries of the ordinary and the extraordinary, and once again, we welcomed the evening.
After finishing work in the lab, I returned to the hospital room. Freyja, already asleep, was snuggled up to Lyn, softly breathing. They looked like such affectionate sisters when left alone like this.
I turned off the lamp, lay down on the sofa, and gazed at the moon outside, just about to fall asleep.
Rustle, rustle.
A soft sensation near my neck jolted me awake. Normally, I might have ignored it and gone back to sleep, but given the circumstances, I was more alert and could react immediately.
“…?”
A gentle, warm something brushed against my lips.
A warm color like spring flower petals.
Instead of being surprised by the familiar sensation of fox ears, I desperately tried to grasp the situation.
I was sleeping.
Who? Cecilia.
Where? In my embrace.
As she buried her little face in my chest, occasionally murmuring incomprehensible sounds as if in the midst of a dream, her warmth was palpable.
In the darkness, I could see her nibbling on my shirt. It was already soaked with her saliva.
“Student Cecilia.”
Afraid that Lyn and Freyja might wake up, I whispered softly.
A fox’s hearing is nothing to be taken lightly, even when they are asleep.
As her fox ears perked up, she began to yawn with a half-awake expression.
“Hello……”
“How did you get here?”
Reflexively, I asked. It was a question loaded with meaning, but Cecilia just tilted her head, raising an imaginary question mark.
“…… Through the door?”
No, that wouldn’t work.
“Why did you come here?”
“There’s no smell of the professor in the professor’s lab….”
It took me a little time to understand.
Was the question wrong? I seriously pondered, but it didn’t seem so.
“I, I can’t sleep if there’s no smell of the professor….”
“Hmm… Smell…?”
“Yes…”
“Until now, haven’t you been able to sleep well even without any smell?”
“…………..”
Cecilia, if you don’t answer, it’s a liiittle scary….
Maybe the feeling I get every night…..
No. No.
No matter how deep a sleeper I am, and even if I think Cecilia might come into my room in the middle of the night without me noticing, I must not doubt my assigned student.
Perhaps she misunderstood my reaction, as she asked with a cold, sharp gaze and a dramatically worsened complexion.
Sleep seems to have slipped away already.
“Is this something you dislike…?”
“Not dislike… more than that…”
“I feel uneasy.”
Cecilia asked, thinking the words were coming from a wicked child turning the conversation, but it seemed that the words didn’t carry that meaning after all.
A warm breeze passed through the shirt, sending shivers down the spine.
However, the words she spoke were somewhat serious.
“What about the Eunwol Festival… What if others only burden you?”
Burden…?
“Before… like when I had a mock battle with someone named Allen, if I can’t handle any of my signatures properly…”
Only now did I understand the subtle atmosphere that had surrounded her lately.
I chuckled softly.
“I did mention about the family’s magic power, didn’t I.”
“…Yes.”
“I was planning to tell you soon. If I knew you were worrying like this, I would have told you even if I had to break Professor Aegis’s advice to stay calm… I didn’t think I’d tell you like this, though.”
It might look a bit odd from an outsider’s perspective, but it wasn’t a mismatched place. Rather, it was an ideal place to relax both body and mind.
“Your body might momentarily struggle to adapt to unfamiliar magic. It’s just a matter of getting used to it.”
I whispered to Cecilia.
“Stay crouched just like that. Even if you don’t crouch, do it in the most comfortable position for you. So that your whole body can relax.”
“The most comfortable position…? Anything is fine as long as I can be most comfortable?”
“Yeah.”
As soon as I answered, Cecilia’s face came closer abruptly, making it hard for me to breathe.
She wrapped her upper body around me. Smooth skin enveloped my neck, moist lips brushed against my ear, and warm breath sank over the sticky saliva.
In the darkness, along the distinct line of her collarbone faintly visible, thin pajamas flowed down, and between the shoulder blades, there was a sensation both ticklish and weighty…
This isn’t right. Calm down. First, lift your gaze.
Startled, I couldn’t focus on any specific part… No, I couldn’t decide which part to focus on.
I, who had been singing our school anthem arbitrarily, not even remembering the first verse, suddenly locked eyes with Cecilia, smiling softly as if she could vanish instantly.
Regaining my senses, I found myself patting her back with my hand.
A tail swayed gently within the blanket.
“The teacher’s scent…”
I couldn’t bring myself to push away the child snuggled against me, sniffing my scent.
…Come to think of it, I haven’t paid attention at all. It seemed like I’ve constantly been showing discomfort at the increased closeness since that day. Was it really necessary?
Even the young Cecilia used to bury her face, claiming she liked my scent.
Although she has grown to be almost my height now, Cecilia in my embrace was still the little fox girl who giggled in my memories.
This time, I decided to indulge her whim.
“Just slowly release your magic. Slowly… I’ll help tidy it up. Fall asleep following that rhythm. Slowly… Like that… Initially, it might be difficult, but as you get used to it bit by bit, you’ll be able to use your magic like before. That’s it… Relax… Yes, just like that…”
“……Teacher…”
“……Exhale slowly… Let’s match your magic with your breath… It won’t be perfect from the beginning. There’s no need to rush… Like that… Languidly…”
“…………”
“………… Gradually.”
“…………”
“…………”
***
After that, peaceful days continued without any particular incidents. Even though they were peaceful, it was all relative.
There were a few minor happenings, like Cecilia sneaking out of the dorm in the middle of the night to burrow into her blankets, or finding Undine in one corner of the sickroom, shedding tears after finding the two of us sound asleep the next day… but they weren’t worth mentioning, not even in the special events section.
Anyway, the first day of the Moon Festival arrived safely.
That morning passed unusually busy.
When I heard it was a school event, I thought I could just go in shorts and sandals and call it a day, being just a time instructor. But from the morning, the nagging of Freya started, telling me to dress up and tidy my hair, and then even Ignis came in with various instructions.
“It’s a friendly competition….”
As scheduled, the first day of the Moon Festival features a friendly competition among students.
It’s stated in the pamphlet handed out by a female student in a full moon costume, that it’s to show the results of a year’s worth of math to the goddess of the moon, but in reality, you could easily come up with any excuse to stick on to it.
“The goddess of the moon…? I don’t understand why people are so eager to please that lunatic. Don’t they have anything better to do?”
“Even if it means eating sacrilegious stuff, you’d eat it all up, wouldn’t you?”
When I retorted fearlessly, Ignis spoke as if I was pathetic, so I took a big bite of the food I bought from the festival stall.
“Hmm, this Otherworldly Pikachu Cutlet is to die for. Lin, do you want some too?”
I suddenly offered a skewer to Lin.
The savory fried scent must have been quite enticing, but Lin didn’t show any interest.
As the time for the friendly competition approached, Lin was just trembling with nerves.
“… Do you think I can do well?”
“Of course, Lin. Even if you just cast a healing spell from behind, it’s worth two people. Among the geniuses I acknowledge, you’re in the top five. Let’s eat the Pikachu Cutlet.”
When I jovially patted Pikachu, Lyne smiled with a reddened face as if embarrassed, and she playfully bit Pikachu’s ear.
Feeding it felt like giving food to an adorable animal.
It’s scary to think anyone would follow if you offer something tasty.
At that moment, our second prodigy, Vundine, who always felt inadequate, proudly boasted with elegance, puffing out her chest.
“I can definitely do well.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“hehehehe, of course… huh?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“…What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Teacher?! Your reaction is different! Again! Please compliment me too!”
‘Again,’ she says. What’s there to do ‘again’? Are you a child?
I lightly tapped Vundine’s forehead. Even though it wouldn’t hurt at all, she pretended, “Ow, ooh.” But since she kept saying, “It feels better if you do it, feels better,” I just gently rubbed her forehead with my palm. Yet she finds it so delightful, hehehe, and laughs.
Ignis, being unimpressed, sighed and said, “Vundine. What’s with the ‘again’? We should start getting ready soon. I heard the participants need to go to the waiting room.”
“Ignis, you’re the eldest, so handle it if something comes up.”
“Got it. Professor, cheer enthusiastically from the spectator seats.”
“Teacher, I’ll see you later…”
After Cecilia, Ignis, Vundine, and Lyne vanished into the waiting room, I confidently turned my back.
“Well! Now that the kids are all taken care of!”
Don’t call them ‘kids.’ I like being with many, but I also enjoy being alone.
hehehehe, it seems like adult time has arrived.
I first lit up my eyes and looked around. And it wasn’t difficult to find.
That student was wearing a strap around their neck, connecting two large panels, shouting loudly about something.
The panels listed the teams scheduled for today’s matches.
“Hey, everyone! How about a thrilling match today?? The only way to make the festival more fun! Hurry, start betting! This game! It’s really interesting! A chance to win up to 60 times your bet! The one and only way for a life-changing opportunity!”
Finally found it. My oasis.
Without a hint of shame, I confidently strode towards the budding gambling enthusiast. Or at least, that’s what I tried to do.
…If it weren’t for the voice that suddenly came from behind.
“Oh my, Professor Neperna, are you having any naughty thoughts~♩? Are you thinking of dabbling in gambling, by any chance~?”