Cecily (1)

Time flew by. Since most of the first classes had only taught us what we would be learning, much like orientations, there were also plenty of breaks between them.

Thus, after the final lecture of the first week, "Economics," ended, I remained seated even as the other students filed outside. I had a lot to think about.

'Damn. They really dumped every downside of high school on us.'

This place didn't operate like the university of my previous life, where you attended lectures for three months, then had a long three-month vacation before moving on to the next semester. Here, classes lasted a full four to five months, while vacations were only two months—or even one.

On top of that, there were eighteen subjects in total, and each subject was worth up to 100 points. You had to score more than 900 points in total to avoid being held back. A total score of 1,200 or more would earn you a scholarship, but that was basically impossible.

It was hard enough to score 100 points in a single subject, let alone 1,200. As an ordinary person, that was practically beyond me.

'I'll take philosophy, humanities, biology, history, and theology for sure... The rest are the problem. I thought this was all liberal arts, so why is there math?'

I grumbled inwardly, but mathematics played a very important role in this world. It was closely related to magic of all things, so mathematics had naturally advanced as well.

You know how old fantasy novels sometimes use mathematical formulas when calculating magic? It's a cliché where the protagonist applies formulas learned in middle or high school to become a magical genius.

It was useful here too. However, it wasn't the kind of school mathematics one learned as a student, like in novels. When inventing new magic, they wrote out the numbers related to it logically so it could be used more easily.

'Magic is mathematics and physics? What kind of horrifying hybrid is this?'

No wonder the books related to magic were so damn difficult. They were filled with words that mathematicians or physicists might use, so there was no way someone in the liberal arts like me could understand them.

To make matters worse, they manifested an energy called "mana" as balls of fire or chunks of ice, so mathematics and physics had no choice but to advance at a breakneck pace. Thus, it was easiest to think of mages as beings with computers installed in their heads.

It was like having geniuses such as Newton and Einstein from my previous life scattered everywhere.

For that reason, I gave up on mathematics completely. It was a subject only true geniuses could study.

I had considered trying to learn math because of my experience as someone who had been hopeless at it in my previous life, but I abandoned the idea the moment I attended the first class.

"...Mr. Isaac?"

"... ..."

"Mr. Isaac?"

"Hm?"

Someone called out to me while I was recording my plans for the future in my notebook. A charming, melodious voice tickled my ears.

I turned my head to check who had called my name, and I couldn't help being slightly surprised.

Cecily, the princess of Helium, was blinking her blood-red eyes at me.

"...Princess Cecily?"

"I'm sorry if I interrupted your concentration. You're the only one left in the classroom, Mr. Isaac."

"Oh."

After hearing her, I looked around. Just as she had said, the classroom was completely empty.

Apparently, my concentration was so intense that I hadn't noticed everyone leaving.

"...Where are Princess Rina and Marie?"

"They saw how focused you were and left first. I stayed behind, but you showed no sign of leaving, so I called out to you."

"Hahaha..."

I scratched my head awkwardly. I had nearly stayed in the classroom until night.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I didn't waste any more time."

"You're welcome. Are you usually like this, Mr. Isaac?"

"Um... yes. I tend to get like this often."

"It's a strength, but seeing you now, it also seems rather dangerous."

Cecily said this with a bright smile. I felt my face redden at her killer smile and hurriedly looked away.

At first, she had felt out of place because she looked like a character from a manga, but as time passed, I gradually grew used to her. You might think that was a good thing, but becoming accustomed to her only made her beauty stand out even more. That's why I looked away.

"Are you busy after this, Mr. Isaac?"

While I was barely cooling my heated face, Cecily asked me a question. I calmed my flushed face as best I could and looked at her.

I didn't know why she was asking, but I should answer her for now. Apart from returning to my lodgings to read or work on my manuscript, I didn't have anything particular to do.

"No. Not particularly."

"Then why don't we take this opportunity to spend some time getting to know each other?"

"... ..."

I stared blankly at Cecily at her suggestion. It wasn't strange for her to show me this kind of kindness. Ever since the incident with Professor Megner, she had been taking a sudden interest in me.

Just before opening my mouth, I decided that this much was fine and added a little joke to my answer.

"Is this perhaps an invitation to a date?"

"Of course."

"... ..."

Instead, I was the one who got counterattacked. I stared blankly at Cecily's smiling face and felt my face grow hotter by the second. With that face and that smile, no man could withstand her.

Cecily let out a faint laugh at my reaction, then spoke in a playful tone.

"Mr. Isaac? Your hair and your face are the exact same color now."

"...Your teasing is rather mean."

"You were the one who started teasing me."

"...I'm sorry."

Since I'd been found out anyway, I decided to continue the conversation with my face red as a ripe tomato. Now that she'd seen right through me, embarrassment was a luxury.

"...Anyway, I don't have anything in particular to do. Even if I return to my lodgings, all I'll do is read."

"Then shall we move somewhere else first?"

"Do you have somewhere in mind?"

"It might be nice to talk over a simple meal."

I checked the time after hearing her suggestion. The lecture had ended at exactly four-thirty, and it was five now.

It was a little early for dinner, but not so early that it was unreasonable. If I got hungry at night, I could just eat the late-night snack I'd put in the refrigerator ahead of time.

"All right. But I don't know the restaurants very well..."

"I think eating at the Academy cafeteria would be fine."

"I understand."

Halo Academy had many restaurants commonly called popular eateries, but that didn't mean the free cafeteria meals provided by the Academy were bad.

It was a place intended for commoners short on money, but since it was buffet-style, there was a wide variety of food.

This was all possible because they poured money into it, and it was one reason Halo Academy had a better reputation than academies in other countries. The welfare it provided for its students, regardless of class, was extraordinary.

So I tucked my notebook under one arm and slipped my pen into the front pocket of my uniform. Watching me, Cecily asked curiously,

"Do you usually carry a notebook and fountain pen around with you, Mr. Isaac?"

"No. I usually only prepare a notebook for lectures."

I carried a notepad around normally, but I didn't bother mentioning it. She would obviously ask why I always carried one.

Cecily looked back and forth between the magic pen hooked in my front pocket and the notebook in my hand, then nodded. Something I was curious about occurred to me, and I asked her a question.

"Princess Cecily, don't you take notes?"

"I'm a demonkin, so I can generally remember anything after hearing it just once. I even remember what I ate on New Year's Day ten years ago."

"Wow..."

Maybe it was because she was a long-lived race. Her memory was no joke.

Books said that the longer-lived a race was, the better its memory, and it seemed that was true. If so, I couldn't even begin to imagine how good the memory of elves, the very epitome of longevity, must be.

However, having a good memory could never truly be called an "advantage."

"It may seem like a strength, but that must be difficult for you."

"Pardon?"

"It means you remember the bad things too."

There was a saying about the blessing of forgetfulness. It was best to forget bad memories as quickly as possible, but if that was impossible, they became wounds one had to carry for life.

Cecily looked dazed when I spoke sympathetically, but that expression soon changed into a deep smile.

"I've thought this from the beginning, but you really are a thoughtful person, Mr. Isaac. Anyone would consider having a good memory an advantage."

"There's a reason the word 'trauma' exists."

Even I, who possessed memories of my previous life, had trauma. It was when my family from my previous life passed away in an unforeseen accident.

The memory of that time was truly... utterly devastating. When the people I had assumed would always be by my side vanished without warning, I couldn't even think.

Still, thanks to it, I was able to realize the preciousness of family, belatedly though it was. My family in this life consisted of nothing but good people too, so I was living a very satisfying life.

While I was thinking that to myself, Cecily spoke in a voice full of wonder.

"Sometimes, when I talk to you, Mr. Isaac, it feels like I'm speaking with an older gentleman. How old are you?"

My heart gave a start, but I was able to answer calmly.

"I'm seventeen now. What about you, Cecily?"

"I'm 105."

"Oh, I see... What?"

105? I looked at Cecily, wondering if I had heard her correctly.

Cecily tilted her head with an expression that asked what the problem was, then suddenly seemed to realize something and went, "Ah."

"To demonkin, being a hundred is like just entering adulthood for humans. We have a custom of remaining demons until we turn one hundred, and only then truly living as humans. Of course, even in human terms, I'm still older than you, Mr. Isaac."

"Oh... I see."

I murmured and shifted my gaze toward her head. Two horns jutted out, proving that she was a demonkin.

I occasionally forgot that Cecily was a demonkin. Judging by her usual behavior, she was an ordinary person through and through, not a demon. Who would think that such a pretty, mischievous woman was a demon?

Even so, I suppose the occasional sense of incongruity arose because this sort of life was new to her. Thinking it over myself, I found that explanation more or less convincing.

'Had she really spent all this time only in Helium?'

That was probably the case. I'd heard that demonkin who lived in Helium spent their entire lives there.

In the first place, there had been almost no cases in the past hundred years of demonkin venturing outside to establish ties with other countries. That was why the newspapers had made such a huge story of Cecily enrolling at Halo Academy.

"Hmm."

Perhaps she had noticed that my gaze was directed toward her horns.

Cecily let out a suggestive hum and curved her eyes prettily. Then she asked me in a suggestive voice filled with anticipation,

"What do you think? If you only look at me like this, I really do look like an ordinary human, don't I?"

"Yes."

"...Huh? Is that all?"

Cecily reacted as though my curt answer had left her dumbfounded. I, on the other hand, was the one who couldn't understand her reaction.

I blinked and asked her in return,

"What answer were you expecting?"

"Well... That I don't seem very demonkin-like, or that it doesn't feel strange seeing me live like a human..."

The more she spoke, the quieter her voice became. My puzzlement faded for a moment as I thought about the path she had walked as a demonkin.

Until The Chronicle of Xenon was published, she must have been looked down on for being a demonkin and despised as a demon. On top of that, with her excellent memory, bad memories must have tormented her endlessly.

I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I rubbed the back of my neck. Still, the atmosphere made me feel as though I had to say something, so I had no choice but to open my mouth.

"I'm not sure. I've read The Chronicle of Xenon too, so I consider demonkin human as well. Besides, I've never been harmed by a demonkin, so I don't have any prejudice against them in the first place."

"...Really?"

"Yes."

Cecily then seemed to ponder something deeply before looking me straight in the face and firing off a question.

Maybe it was my imagination, but there seemed to be tension and resolve in her expression.

"Then what do you think of demonkin, Mr. Isaac?"

"Hmm..."

"Do you truly... believe we can become human, Mr. Isaac?"

How should I answer a question like that? I wanted to put things in the best possible light, but sometimes a little harshness was necessary too. After all, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Even if The Chronicle of Xenon had led many people to treat demonkin like humans, no one—not even a god—could change their innate nature. For all I knew, even at this very moment, a demonkin who had undergone demonization could be rampaging somewhere.

I turned my head while walking and looked at Cecily. My face was reflected in her ruby-red eyes.

Seeing how she waited endlessly for my answer, I spoke firmly.

"No."

Step-

With the restaurant right in front of us, Cecily's footsteps stopped dead—

"Demonkin cannot become human."

A cold atmosphere settled between the two of us.