Orion Academy Dormitory.
It was a time when the first-year students were clearly away for their exams, leaving only a few second-years behind.
In Rohan’s room, girls who didn’t even make a sound with their footsteps had taken up residence.
Oppa… I miss you.
Rohan’s absence feels much bigger than I expected…
Clara and Sion were both thinking of the same person.
Their identical thoughts continued without pause.
The two girls kept sending messages to Rohan as if reporting on their daily lives.
Sion who was staring at her phone that hadn’t received a single reply no matter how many times she sent a message eventually rose from the bed.
She placed a hand on Clara’s back as the girl lay on her stomach, completely engrossed in a game.
“Clara.”
“Yes?”
“Before we go shopping with Rohan, I want to at least buy something to wear on that day.”
“Ah…! Then should we head out now?”
Sion nodded her head. Their quiet preparations continued without a single bit of noise.
The subject of their conversation shifted naturally with the flow.
“I watched a few videos earlier, and cooking seemed simpler than I thought.”
“Really…?”
“As long as a beginner doesn’t stray from the recipe, the basics are guaranteed, apparently. If we follow the video together, we should be able to manage somehow.”
Looking for and learning household skills.
Along with physical training they did together, it was just one of the many ways they were desperately trying to fast-forward the time until Rohan returned.
It was something they would need to know if the two of them were to live together in the future.
“O-Oppa will probably be tired when he gets back too…! So, after today’s training, should we give it a try…?”
“Mhmm, I can’t keep being the one who raids the fridge like this all the time.”
Clara agreed with Sion’s words and recalled a line she had once read in a book.
If you capture someone’s stomach with your cooking, they can never escape.
What if she became a master chef and captured Rohan’s stomach? Her mind bubbled over with vivid fantasies.
“Hehe…”
Completely unaware that it was actually her own stomach that had already been captured.
Clara let out a soft giggle.
***
“Why aren’t you sleeping? Are you hungry?”
“No… it’s not that.”
Ichinose, after much internal struggle, shut her mouth for the moment.
Her rational mind felt embarrassed, but her instincts longed for comfort, so she fidgeted with the clothes she had been using as a pillow, trying to reshape them.
She lay down.
Tossed and turned, then sat up again.
Changed the shape.
Lay down. Tossed, turned, and sat up again. Changed the shape.
It was a cycle, repeated like clockwork.
“….…”
Ichinose felt like she was going to lose her mind. No matter how she adjusted it, the discomfort wouldn’t go away.
Rohan who had been tending to the campfire looked over at her with a questioning gaze, as if wondering what she was doing.
“Can’t sleep?”
Rohan quietly asked.
It was such a ridiculous situation that Ichinose felt like tearing her hair out just thinking about answering honestly.
“…Rohan.”
“Yeah.”
Ichinose finally pushed herself up from where she had been lying and sat up.
Trying to hide the surge of emotion, she asked in a quiet voice,
“If there’s a way to maintain one’s condition in the current situation, how much risk do you think is worth taking?”
To Rohan, the sentence sounded half-incomprehensible.
Even so, he stroked his chin, trying to make sense of it. He pushed a twig into the fire and gave a safe, neutral answer.
“It’s a little hard to understand what you mean… but I guess, if you can maintain your condition, you should try your best within reasonable limits, right?”
Did that count as a proper answer?
A sense of utmost seriousness and resolve emanated from Ichinose.
“I’ll be honest with you.”
Her voice was stiff. Something he never heard before.
Whether it was tension, a warning, or a confession, Rohan couldn’t immediately tell, and his expression hardened.
“Are you sick? Did you catch a cold or something?”
“N-No, it’s not that…!”
“If you’re not sick, then that’s a relief. But if there’s a problem, just tell me.”
After taking a deep breath, Ichinose pointed to her rolled-up outerwear.
“I can’t sleep because it’s uncomfortable to rest my head on.”
“Huh?”
“…The pillow is so uncomfortable I feel like I’m going to get a stiff neck.”
Would he think she was just a spoiled rich girl complaining about nothing?
Panicking a little, Ichinose hurried to add more.
“I really tried to prepare myself for sleeping in an unfamiliar place. But this is… harder than I expected.”
“Well, yeah, it’s different when you actually go through it.”
“….…”
Rohan gave a small nod as if he understood, then asked again with a serious expression,
“So you didn’t sleep last night either? I thought you were sleeping.”
“I did sleep… really deeply…”
Rohan blinked at Ichinose’s words.
When he took in the sight of the girl lowering her head, as if to say “Don’t look at me like that,” Rohan’s thoughts began to turn.
It was a simple problem to solve, one that didn’t require much time.
She slept soundly yesterday, but now she can’t sleep because the pillow’s uncomfortable?
Where had Ichinose rested her head the night before?
The answer was obvious.
Once he reached the conclusion, a realization struck Rohan’s mind like an arrow.
Knowing Ichinose’s personality… she must’ve agonized over this before saying anything.
Rohan’s lips twitched uncontrollably at the girl’s awkward cuteness, but he clenched his teeth to hold it back.
He couldn’t laugh here.
Not until she lay down and settled into an environment where she couldn’t easily back out. Only then would it be okay. Until then, he had to take her seriously, or Ichinose wouldn’t feel comfortable.
“Alright.”
“Huh?”
Rohan stepped slightly away from the campfire, then patted his thigh—tap, tap!
His expression remained as neutral as possible, as if it were no big deal, holding steady with all his willpower.
“If you need it, go ahead and use it. Cheap price to pay for keeping you in good condition.”
At Rohan’s offer, Ichinose looked relieved, though her face turned red at the fact she’d even brought it up.
She rose awkwardly and shuffled over to move the outer coat she had laid on the ground.
“E-Excuse me, then…”
After hesitating for a long while, she finally rested her head on Rohan’s thigh and lay down.
!!!
And then came the comfort.
Ichinose burst with silent surprise inside, like fireworks going off.
This is it, after all…
It was the perfect pillow she’d been longing for. One that scored a full 100 points.
It had the perfect bounce, just the right height and width, and even a comforting warmth.
She felt like she could forget the mountain of embarrassment and fall asleep right then and there.
As if it had been waiting for this moment, drowsiness came crashing in, and her consciousness began to blur.
Just as Ichinose was sinking deep into sleep, something draped over her, prompting her to open her eyes to a squint.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?”
Rohan’s shirt had been pulled over her like a blanket.
Now, he was left wearing only a thin T-shirt. The marks of his training were clearly visible.
“…….”
When their eyes met and she saw Rohan smiling, Ichinose squeezed her eyes shut.
She raised her arms to cover her face.
She should’ve been thanking him first, but perhaps from exhaustion and sleepiness, her thoughts wouldn’t work properly.
Unlike usual, she began to whine.
“I must look ridiculous…”
“No?”
“I can’t deny I was raised in a greenhouse… I can feel it now, too…”
“That’s not what I thought. I just laughed because you looked like a baby.”
“A-A baby?!”
She snapped awake in an instant.
It was pure shock.
How far could she fall from the status of a classmate?
“Baby-nose.”
“Don’t give me weird nicknames… If you tease me too much, I might actually run away…”
“Sorry, sorry. Go on, get some sleep.”
Wasn’t it kind of terrifying, how even while being teased like this, she couldn’t pull her head away?
“Rohan…”
“Yes, yes. I’m right here.”
She had been startled wide awake, but only for a moment.
The desire to sleep had drained the strength from the girl’s voice and clouded her mind.
“Thank you…”
Ichinose let the words slip between her lips.
Then, she began to drift into a deep sleep in earnest.
***
“Hm.”
Hex of the Reverse Reverance Society was currently standing on the ocean.
Beneath him, a massive sea monster served as his foothold.
So that’s where the Grand General is.
He kept his eyes fixed on a transport ship that looked no bigger than a dot.
The deserted island where the students were supposed to be was only faintly visible, likely due to the weather.
If I go any closer, I’ll be spotted.
Hex kept his distance from Joo-yeon as carefully as possible.
Then, he stirred his mana and began extracting the genetic factor stored within his body.
Zzzzzzzzzzt—
Mana spiraled above his palm, forming a double helix.
That geometric structure commonly referred to as DNA.
With the Paradise Knights and the other instructors… a year’s worth of stacks should be enough.
There was no need to kill anyone for sure. All he had to do was buy time until the showdown between Joo-yeon and Omega.
If Joo-yeon wasn’t in the picture, the rest would never be more than toys for him and Omega.
The moment Joo-yeon lost, that deserted island would turn into a living hell.
It was also a rare chance to obtain a trove of valuable test subjects. Just thinking about the research possibilities made it impossible for him not to get excited.
“…….”
Hex held back the rising thrill.
As he fine-tuned the genetic factor, he recalculated the possibilities once more.
This time, it was no exaggeration to say that Omega’s combat body had been designed specifically for Joo-yeon.
He had truly cast everything else aside to focus solely on that purpose.
Omega. I believe you’ll win and get your revenge. Give me the gift of precious test subjects.
The more he examined the facts, the higher Omega’s odds of victory seemed. He even had plenty of usable hostages.
On top of that, he had already analyzed the skills and abilities of both the instructors guarding the students on the island and the Paradise Knights who had been dispatched as reinforcements.
In the clash between Omega and Joo-yeon, those factors couldn’t create any new variables.
And yet—
He felt strangely uneasy.
A speck of anxiety kept scratching at him.
Hmm…
But he ignored it.
Emotions like that were meaningless to someone who believed in theory.
He focused on the task at hand.
Let’s get started.
The genetic material Hex had created slid from his hand and seeped into the sea.
While sowing chaos on the island was one of his main objectives,
It was also his responsibility to prepare an escape route for Omega, just in case.
There was no one who could take Omega’s place, so he had to ensure his survival at all costs.
Omega may have a fiery temper, but he values his own life.
With conviction and anticipation, Hex smothered his unease,
And began delicately manipulating the flow of mana, releasing it drop by drop.
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