Drawing (2)

I briefly panicked at the drawing of the steam locomotive Marie had shown me, then immediately checked the notebook. I normally kept two notebooks: one for organizing the plot of The Chronicle of Xenon and one for general notes.

Wondering if that could be the case, I kept flipping through the pages, and then I saw it: my notes on the plot of The Chronicle of Xenon were written there in plain sight. Only then did I realize my mistake.

I had brought the wrong notebook.

The notebook covers happened to look similar, which must have led to this mistake, but it was entirely my fault. Even though I always told myself to be careful, I had made another blunder.

'I should have kept paying attention...'

All I could do was lament inwardly. They say people don't change, and this was the disaster born from the carelessness I'd carried from my previous life into this one.

My family hovered around me partly because I was their late-born youngest, but also because of this clumsy personality. When I was young, I once nearly caused a serious accident by slipping while trying to pull out a book without knowing what I was doing. I seem to remember Father catching me just in time.

This wasn't the only time, either. Something similar had happened just recently: I'd said to Cecily the dialogue I'd written in my manuscript. That alone should give you an idea of how absentminded I was.

"Looking at the wheels, it looks like a carriage. Except for the horn-like thing."

Marie tilted her head as she examined the steam locomotive I'd drawn from every angle. The one saving grace was that I'd only drawn the front of the steam locomotive, and even that had been crude. To people here, it would probably look like a carriage.

Since I hadn't drawn it in 3D but as a flat, two-dimensional picture, it would look very similar to a carriage at a glance, apart from the mechanism that expelled steam.

I decided I still had a chance to salvage the situation, so I spoke to Marie in as calm a voice as possible.

"I drew it because I was bored. I'll give you another page instead."

"Hmm... All right."

Marie returned the page with the steam locomotive on it without the slightest suspicion. I crumpled the page I'd gotten back and handed her another sheet.

Checking both sides of the paper was an essential procedure if I wanted to prevent something like this from happening again.

"How are you going to present? I don't really have anything else to do, so I'm going to write about The Chronicle of Xenon."

"I've read so many books that I'm going to choose one of them."

"I'm jealous. That bonus point is practically guaranteed."

"We'll have to wait until I present to find out. Even if the subject is simple, it will depend on how well you present it, right?"

Last week, Professor Birus had singled me out, and I hadn't been able to give a proper answer. But this time, I had been given time to prepare, so everything would be fine. That was thanks to the presentation skills I'd honed in my previous life.

To be honest, I'd naturally improved because I ended up being in charge of presentations every time we had group assignments in college. One or two members would keep dropping out halfway through, so I would fill in for them and handle the presentation. Naturally, I made those group members who escaped their assignments with all sorts of ridiculous excuses pay for it.

'But how exactly are presentations done here?'

The question suddenly occurred to me, so I slowly raised my hand. The moment Professor Birus saw it, his face lit up and he asked me a question.

"Did you have something to say, Student Isaac?"

As expected, Professor Birus remembered my name. Still, I didn't let it bother me.

"I wanted to ask whether we would be presenting at the front of the classroom, in front of the blackboard."

"We'll do that later. There is an assignment called a group project, in which I'll arbitrarily group you together with teammates."

"...A group project?"

Good heavens. They had those horrible group projects here too.

Professor Birus either didn't notice how pale my face had become or simply didn't care, and he smiled warmly. What on earth did he think a group project was?

"Yes. Of course, there will be students who are difficult to deal with, just as you suspect. But it will be fine. Nothing problematic has happened during any of the group projects I've overseen so far."

"...Then that's a relief."

"Even if a problem does arise, tell me and I'll handle everything, so don't worry."

Perhaps he'd simply prevented problems from coming to light or covered them up. In a society where social status existed, that sounded plausible. Some student with a high-ranking background had probably worked their teammates to the bone.

I might have been jumping to conclusions, but that was the kind of world this was. That made it impossible to relax completely. I could only hope I ended up in the same group as someone sensible.

Meanwhile, Marie had been listening to our conversation and asked the professor a question.

"Are there group projects in any majors besides the humanities?"

"I believe there are in some subjects."

I would just have to accept my fate and be disappointed. As I'd said before, all I could do was pray that everyone would be normal.

"You said you'll assign the team members randomly, right? What happens if there are students who want to work together?"

"That isn't allowed. It would violate fairness, so it's absolutely forbidden."

"Aww..."

When Professor Birus sternly reprimanded her, Marie pushed out her lips and openly expressed her disappointment. If people could choose their own groups, it wouldn't be a true group project.

"The time is up. We'll begin the presentations in order, starting from the front."

The presentations proceeded without much incident. Some students were so nervous that they stammered badly, while others gave presentations impressive enough to draw admiring gasps.

Me? I was just average. I wasn't outstanding, but I wasn't bad either. Still, thanks to the breadth of my knowledge from doing nothing but reading books at home, I managed to satisfy Professor Birus.

"Um... So, the way I felt about this part was... well..."

Something quite unexpected happened as well: Marie, who was scheduled to present after me, ruined her presentation by stammering. Having only seen her bright and energetic side, I hadn't expected it at all.

"Good work, Student Marie. From now on, try to present with a little more confidence, all right?"

"...Yes."

She somehow managed to finish her presentation, but the moment Marie sat down, she collapsed onto her desk. Her slightly exposed ears had turned bright red, so apparently embarrassment had overwhelmed her.

'Well, her family might have educated her, but they probably never taught her presentation skills.'

She might have learned more basic knowledge and culture than other people, but presentation skills were another matter. If the education nobles received at home was rote learning, the Academy provided higher education. In other words, there were many more areas where they had to develop their abilities on their own.

Moreover, there would be many more presentations like this in the future, so it must have looked bleak to her. Hadn't the humiliation, shame, and embarrassment of her first attempt filled her heart?

"A particularly noteworthy point is that, while watching my father's training...

While the other students continued presenting, I stared at Marie, who was still lying facedown. She apparently didn't have the courage to raise her head, because she remained that way.

Wanting both to cheer Marie up and to play a little prank, I pressed my cheek flat against the desk. Then I patiently waited until she looked at me.

"... ..."

"... ..."

Ah. Our eyes met.

Perhaps she sensed my gaze while I watched her, because Marie peeked at me while still lying facedown. Of course, she buried her face again afterward, but we'd definitely made eye contact.

"Marie."

"... ..."

"Marie?"

"...Why?"

"Don't tell me you're crying?"

Flinch—

When I asked jokingly, Marie's body jerked violently. She slowly lifted her face from the desk and looked at me.

Her prickly expression contrasted strikingly with her face, which had turned as red as it possibly could. It was almost competing with my hair for the title of reddest thing in the room.

Even when she glared at me with that prickly expression, I didn't lift my cheek from the desk. Marie stared down at me for a while, then moved her lips before letting out a deep sigh.

"...In my defense, they never taught me this at home."

"Didn't your brother teach you?"

"My brother's uneducated. Not Literary Studies—uneducated. And you're lucky. You're good at presenting, and you've read lots of books."

Apparently my prank had helped her feel better, because Marie was now grumbling. I chuckled and lifted my cheek from the desk.

Her face was still red, but judging by the way she was grumbling, she seemed to have recovered her spirits. Honestly, it would have been absurd to be so dejected over ruining a single presentation. She probably had just needed a moment to think.

"...And that thing you did earlier."

"Huh?"

"What you did when you looked at me earlier."

"What did I do?"

When I tilted my head and asked, Marie slightly furrowed her brow. She looked as though she thought I was making fun of her.

Her reaction left me more flustered than anything. Marie let out a long breath through her nose, as if my response were frustrating her.

"...No. Never mind. Just think whatever you want."

"Th—"

"You two over there? Could you lower your voices a little during the presentations?"

Oops. We must have been talking too loudly. The moment the professor called us out, I clamped my mouth shut.

Marie did the same. The heat had faded from her face, but her ears were still red. Her white hair made them stand out even more.

"...It's childish, you know."

"Hmm? What did you say?"

"Nothing."

There had been a brief incident, but Marie returned to her usual self. In the meantime, the turn had passed to Cecily.

"As you can see, I am a demonkin. I may not live as long as an elf, but my people do have longer lifespans than humans. And over the course of more than a hundred years, I have learned many things."

I'd noticed it during her speech as well, but her voice was beautiful enough to beguile anyone. It possessed a power and charm that drew people in.

Even now, students who hadn't been interested in the presentations until moments ago were focusing on Cecily's. It might have been because she was a demonkin, but it was still remarkable.

I listened closely to Cecily's presentation. Judging by the fact that she had even mentioned the years she'd lived, I had a feeling she was about to say something worthwhile.

"Yet recently, I met someone who possessed more knowledge than I did and knew more about demonkin than I did, making all those years seem meaningless. I was able to learn a great deal through that person."

As she said this, she looked directly at me and gave me a truly beautiful smile. I could only stare blankly at her sincere smile.

Could she be talking about what happened last week? Judging by the content, that was the only possibility.

"That was when I realized that anyone who has something to teach you is worth keeping by your side for that alone."

"What did you realize through that person?"

Perhaps it was because Cecily was a demonkin. Professor Birus stroked his mustache and asked with an intrigued expression.

Cecily looked at Professor Birus and began to explain.

"I came to understand, at least in fragments, what kind of people demonkin are. It was something even I hadn't known about myself. If you wish, Professor, I can tell you about it."

"Hmm... Unfortunately, since I'm human, I doubt I could empathize even if I heard the definition. Still, that was an excellent presentation. I'll award Student Cecily bonus points."

"Thank you."

Cecily bowed her head at the professor's praise and announcement of the bonus points. Then she turned her gaze toward me once more and smiled warmly.

I felt embarrassed by that smile, but I applauded her all the same. The presentation itself had been clean and perfect.

Next was Rina, who had been sitting beside Cecily, and she gave a presentation every bit as excellent as Cecily's. Her elegant yet gentle manner of speaking was especially impressive.

By the time everyone's presentations were over, it was already time for the lecture to end. Once the last student finished, Professor Birus clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.

"Now, everyone, listen up. There's something I need to tell you before class ends. I mentioned this to Student Isaac earlier, but my course does include a 'group project.' It may be unfamiliar to you, but you can think of it simply as teamwork."

"A group project? Teamwork?"

"What on earth is that?"

When Professor Birus mentioned the group project, the classroom began to buzz. None of them knew what it was, but I knew exactly how hellish and miserable group projects could be.

Those poor lambs had no idea what awaited them. I predicted that the moment the group project ended, distrust of other people would take root in their hearts.

Once the classroom seemed to settle down, Professor Birus explained the group project.

"The purpose of this group project is simple. I will give you an assignment, and you will complete it together with the teammates I randomly assign to you. It's very simple, isn't it? However, if a student is insincere or is caught cheating, that student will receive a zero, so please keep that in mind. In all my years as a professor, I've often seen students use their backgrounds to their advantage, so don't ever assume you won't be caught."

Even with a warning like that, anyone determined to abuse their power would end up doing so anyway. It was bitter, but that was reality.

Moreover, some people would find ways to cheat without relying on their family backgrounds, while others would try to avoid the assignment with ridiculous excuses. The one fortunate thing was that this would be the students' first group project, so they were at least likely to show up. That was much better than not seeing even the tips of their noses.

"I will also give a zero to anyone who works with teammates other than those I assigned."

"Then, Professor, how will the teammates be assigned?"

"To ensure fairness, we will draw lots."

You certainly take fairness seriously. I chuckled. There probably wasn't a method more impartial than drawing lots.

"The group project will take place three weeks from now, but I'll tell you the subject in advance. It will be related to the beloved Chronicle of Xenon."

"... ..."

Was my book going to be a textbook too? This was truly bizarre.

While I was chuckling inwardly, Professor Birus announced the assignment, which left me stunned.

"The assignment I will give you is to predict and analyze how the plot of The Chronicle of Xenon will unfold, then present your analysis coherently. The Chronicle of Xenon contains plenty of clues that allow you to predict what will happen next. I've already found several myself."

"... ..."

"Even if your hypothesis turns out to be wrong when the next volume of The Chronicle of Xenon is published, that doesn't matter. What I want is for you to combine the clues, clearly analyze cause and effect, and predict what impact your hypothesis will have. I'm explaining this now to accommodate students who haven't been able to read the recently published volume of The Chronicle of Xenon."

The professor looked around the lecture hall, which had fallen silent in an instant, then asked the students with a satisfied expression,

"What do you think? Really easy, right?"

Very easy, Professor.

Since I was the author of that book, it would be as easy as eating pie. Of course, if I wrote down everything exactly as it was, I'd receive a mountain of suspicion, so I couldn't do that.

'...Then what am I supposed to do? Should I just present?'

I felt as though I had been backed into a corner.