Chapter 18
There are levels to laziness.
Putting work off until the very last second and then scrambling to do everything at once is amateur stuff.
The mark of a true master is not making troublesome work in the first place.
It's not about doing work ahead of time.
Going out of your way to do something you don't even have to do?
That's just diligence. Laziness cosplay.
The point is, 'while I'm at it, might as well.'
You really did put it off and avoid it, but then something you absolutely have to do comes up?
Then you take care of other things while you're at it.
Since I had no choice but to come to the academy anyway, I might as well research magitech tools that will make my life easier later on.
Since I had no choice but to attend class anyway, I might as well show the professor an overwhelming difference in power(?) and get a legitimate class cancellation.
Since I had no choice but to tag along for club activities anyway, I might as well check the events from the original story in advance.
In other words, it's a question of efficiency.
If I spend just one hour in full-throttle high-intensity mode, I can make the next day easy—or even the next month.
Huh? What's so complicated about that?
Why not just ditch the work? Wouldn't that be easier?
...For some reason, my instincts refuse to let me simply skip something I absolutely have to do.
This is just my hunch, though.
Maybe the habits I picked up from my past life grinding away at a black company are still lingering in my subconscious.
I've already lived in Lunaris for years.
And I still haven't fully shaken off the corporate-slave habits.
*
“I stayed behind for a pre-check on the attraction.”
Beyond the lantern, the ghost drifting through the air seemed to flinch.
-...An attraction? A pre-check?
The muttering that followed sounded awkward.
Well, I guess it was only natural she'd be dumbfounded hearing me talk about ride inspections in the middle of a creepy mansion.
“It's nothing much. I just thought I'd take care of it ahead of time, since it looks like a junior of mine will be owing me a favor next year.”
So I'm just checking it in advance.
I let out a sigh full of irritation and quietly drew up my mana.
I don't exactly want to do some amusement-park safety-guard NPC routine either.
A translucent aura gathered at my fingertips.
The air around me began to tremble.
The ghost senior still didn't seem to understand what was going on.
I gave a light shrug and added one more thing.
“So, if it's not too much trouble, could you show me as much of your ability as you can, senior?”
Before I could even finish, the temperature in the room dropped in an instant.
-So you're saying you're testing me right now?
The ghost, chewing over my words, soon let out a chilling sound.
-...Hmph. That's a funny thing to say.
A cold gust brushed past the back of my neck.
-Don't come crying about it later.
Looks like she's about to show her true colors.
-Bang!!
A fierce wind began to rage through the room.
Dust swirled into a pale cloud, and the bookshelves rattled so hard they nearly toppled over.
But around me, everything remained still. Even the violent gusts scattered helplessly as soon as they reached me, as if blocked by an invisible wall.
I stood there with my arms folded, quietly watching the bizarre scene before me.
Just as expected, the ghost senior's specialty was wind-attribute magic.
Of course, the original story never described the senior using magic in any detail.
But I didn't even need to rely on that, because she'd already been showing it plainly before I ever stepped into this building.
She made loud wind noises as warnings, slammed doors open and shut on purpose, and so on.
She was so blatant that I half expected there to be some other twist.
Still, wind magic doesn't work on me.
After all, wind is nothing more than the movement of air from a place of high pressure to a place of low pressure.
I don't even need defensive magic. If I distort the surrounding space with telekinesis, I can remove the very space through which the wind would flow.
So... is that it?
No matter how much early-story Kyle might be a lousy mage with nothing to show for himself but grit, he's still a student in Elterion Academy's Department of Magic.
I didn't think he'd be reduced to a half-dead state by only this much.
“Is that all?”
I had no intention of provoking her.
I just asked because I was honestly curious.
But my innocent question seemed to really get under the ghost's skin.
-Y-you...!
The ghost's form shook violently.
Before long, the bed and the bookshelves began to float.
A genuine poltergeist.
If someone other than me had been standing here, it would probably have been pretty threatening.
Unfortunately for her, telekinesis happened to be one of my specialties.
With a casual wave of my hand, the furniture floating in the air froze in place.
As if time itself had stopped.
I quietly watched a dust-covered book drop weakly to the floor with a soft thud.
Then I slowly raised my head and looked at the ghost senior.
Still blinking wordlessly, I watched the red glow hidden behind the ghost's bangs begin to shake violently.
Those eerie eyes held confusion, anger, and anxiety.
-What... are you...? Why are you getting in my way?
Her low, trembling voice was laced with frustration.
-Don't tell me... you came to make fun of me?! To laugh at me!!
“No, that's not what I meant.”
My flat voice echoed through the room.
“If anything, I might have come to hear your story, senior.”
*
-You came to hear my story?
Veronica asked in a trembling voice.
A dark aura began to rise, along with her disbelief.
Dark-attribute mana.
This was her true power.
When Lunaris confirmed the pitch-black sphere flying toward her, she hurriedly raised an ice wall.
-Crack!!
Cracks spread across the thick ice wall, and it soon shattered into pieces.
More pitch-black clumps of mana flew at her one after another.
This time, Lunaris twisted space with telekinesis, carefully erasing each sphere shot toward her one by one.
At that, she nodded, thinking it made sense that Kyle had nearly died.
If anything, how had he even managed to endure this?
‘Maybe the ghost senior held back quite a bit.’
She probably saw a bit of her own past self in Kyle, that desperate striver.
A brief lull settled in.
Veronica's form had grown even fainter than before.
Her collapsed shape trembled as if she had run out of strength.
-Ah, ha... no matter what I do... it's no use.
There was frustration in Veronica's weak mutter.
-So effort alone really did have its limits.
At those words, Lunaris lifted her brows.
A tiny crack appeared in her otherwise utterly indifferent, languid expression.
A strange discomfort rose up within her.
Finally unable to endure the sickening feeling, Lunaris spoke.
“...Not quite.”
At that one line.
-...What would a genius like you know?
The dimming fire in Veronica's eyes flared back up.
-I... I worked myself to death every single day!
A sharp cry echoed through the room.
After that came a flood of melodramatic proof of her efforts.
That she had practiced magic even while others slept.
That she had saved time by cutting into meals to study.
With every line she added, her pale form shook wildly.
-You wouldn't understand! How I felt, how desperately I worked!
Lunaris looked at Veronica quietly, then let out a low sigh.
And then she opened her mouth again.
“Have you ever died while struggling?”
The voice was flat, as if it belonged to a completely different person.
At that cold line, the sobbing and trembling came to a halt.
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Veronica was at a loss for words before raising her voice.
-O-of course! I worked myself to death, and even then my grades ended up dropping...
“That's not what I mean.”
Lunaris quietly shook her head and continued.
“Did you really keep struggling right up until the end, no matter what, and die?”
This was something Lunaris couldn't say.
No, something she absolutely shouldn't say.
It would be a betrayal of all diligent people in the world.
But 'he' could.
He—at least the one who had died while struggling to live normally like everyone else—could say it.
He had lived a life where striving was as natural as breathing.
He, who in the end accomplished nothing and died in vain, had the right to add one more thing.
“I'm not saying you didn't work hard enough, or anything like that.”
You must have been pushed to the brink mentally, so what more could you have possibly done there?
“It's just that your problem was giving up so pointlessly at the very end.”
If you just end everything yourself like that.
“All that effort would go to waste, wouldn't it?”
Whether it was effort chosen by yourself.
Or effort forced on you by others.
“It's kind of funny for a freshman to say this, but an academy diploma isn't the whole of life.”
Honestly, these were also words he'd wanted to say to himself, to his former self.
If only there had been someone near him, too.
Someone to tell him not to live as if one day were forty-eight hours long.
Someone to tell him to be a little lazier and live at a more relaxed pace.
Even though it was already too late for himself.
Even though the ghost in front of him seemed to be too late as well.
Still, since he'd already started talking for his own satisfaction.
Since he'd already stuck his nose in.
If he was going to add just one more thing.
“In your next life, why not try living a little more for yourself?”
After blurting all that out, embarrassment hit me belatedly.
From Veronica's point of view, this talented upstart probably sounded like he was spouting nonsense.
But whatever.
I want to say what I want to say, my way.
Since I've decided to live this life true to my desires, I have no intention of taking back what I said.
The awkward silence lasted only a moment.
-...How strange.
A choked sound came from Veronica.
-Why are your words... words from someone who seems to have no worries at all... comforting me?
Before long, sniffles and a plaintive sound began to spill out.
The tearless sobbing left Lunaris flustered instead.
She hadn't expected this reaction at all.
After sniffling and hiccuping for quite a while,
Veronica asked Lunaris in a trembling voice.
-Does a next life... really exist?
Lunaris nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“It does.”
At that confident answer, Veronica let out a long sigh of relief.
Soon, her form began to fade away little by little.
The eyes hidden beneath her bangs were finally revealed.
Her crescent-shaped eyes were especially striking.
-...Thank you.
Veronica's final words brushed past Lunaris's ear like the wind.
*
After the ghost senior vanished in a streak of light.
I stood there for a moment, blankly blinking.
A hollow feeling made an unconscious sigh slip out of me.
My chest felt heavy.
I hadn't expected things to turn out like this.
...No, more than that.
Is it my imagination, or does it feel like something has gone seriously wrong?
“Wait.”
A sudden wave of dizziness hit me.
“Putting Senior Veronica to rest wasn't part of the plan...?”
Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.
I'd completely blown away an entire episode of the original story.