Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance

Jessie panicked and swallowed some toothpaste. The junior who had gone to get her timetable came back into the room with tears in her eyes.

 “What happened?” 

Rinsing her mouth, she glared at herself in the mirror. There she was, the freckled girl, riddled with questions.

 

‘I guess she’s not as bad as I thought, huh?’

 

Jessie’s frown eased a little as she remembered Eileen entering the room with a cheerful greeting. Jessie was a rare commoner student at the Academy.

 

Rumored to be a prodigy in her small village, she was given the opportunity to study by her lord. Although she was a dragon from a stream, she felt so small and insignificant in an academy full of real dragons.

 

‘I thought she’d be a more arrogant junior, since being knighted as an elemental or marrying Lucian Gaudium would make her a noble. Were there still kids who were mean to her even with her powers?’

 

She felt bad that she’d been so defensive and sensitive during their first

meeting.

 

‘Okay, let’s be nice tomorrow.’

 

Jessie vowed, wiping the water from her mouth. It was a good resolution for Eileen, even if it was a misdirection from the reason she’d been crying.

  

***

  “Candy…?” 

Eileen opened her eyes in the morning and saw the candy on her bedside table, a question mark plastered across her face.

 “She gave it to me, didn’t she?” 

Eileen, who had slept so soundly that she hadn’t heard anyone leave the room, scratched her cheek absentmindedly.

 “Chew.” 

Tickling Star as he rolled around on the bed in the morning sun, Eileen picked up a lemon-flavored candy.

 “I guess she’s not a bad guy. Right, Star?” 

Eileen’s expression sank as she remembered Jessie dying in the rain. Apparently, in the original, Cordelia’s roommate had been Jessie.

 

The one who had stayed by Cordelia’s side until she was dying, isolated by Lucian’s oppression and the insane obsession of a madman.

 “Yummy.” 

She popped the candy in her mouth and rolled it around, tasting its refreshing sweetness. She didn’t know what she’d gotten herself into that had scarred her so badly, but Eileen had no intention of letting Jessie die this time.

 “I’ll pay you back for the candy and for being Cordelia’s friend.” 

It was something she’d decided the moment she’d heard Cordelia’s horrific scream.

 “But first, I need to find out what happened to Jessie and who Lucian said he killed.” 

Eileen grabbed her hair, feeling a strange sense of urgency as her happy academy life morphed into a detective thriller.

 “I hate this world!” 

She shuddered in agony as she prepared for school. Laquerta was enough to give her a headache, but this was the last thing on her mind.

 “Eileen, haven’t you been sleeping?” 

Cordelia asked in the cafeteria, groggily, and Eileen shook her head with the same meekness she’d gotten used to.

 “No, I’m just adjusting.” “Really?” 

Smearing jam on the bread and offering it to Eileen, Cordelia patted her on the shoulder.

 “Don’t stress too much.” “Mmm.” 

Eileen replied curtly, taking the bread and scanning the dining room. Once again, there was no sign of Laquerta.

 “Where is he eating?” 

The next time Eileen saw Laquerta was that afternoon in Fundamentals of Mana.

 

Laquerta was sitting alone in the far corner of the room.

 

Most of the undergraduates had witnessed Gray’s demerits, so no one was directly confronting him, but no one was being mean to him either.

 “So, since we’re wasting time, why don’t we just get on with it?” “I thought you didn’t lecture the first week!” 

Eileen and the rest of the first-year class paled at the sight of the professor flipping open his book.

 “You all came to the Academy to learn, and it would be a shame to waste this precious time!” 

It wasn’t a pity at all.

 

The grim-faced students opened their books. The class barely got started, and the classroom echoed with the sound of scribbling.

 

‘He’s really trying to take notes.’

 

Eileen turned her head casually and caught sight of Laquerta, raising an eyebrow at the unexpected sight. She’d always seen him emotional in the present and the future, so it was strange to see him hunched over, scribbling furiously.

 

‘He’s bigger than a bear, and he’s writing in a tiny notebook. He’s cute.’

 

Eileen stared at him, dumbfounded, but soon recovered. She hadn’t really intended to get involved with him this time, even though it had been odd to be stepped on.

 

To not get involved at all before it happened.

 

That was the goal she’d set for herself when she entered the Academy, so it made sense to stay out of Laquerta itself, even if the investigation into Jessie and the

“children”

was a separate matter.

 

‘Let’s not get carried away. Let’s not get carried away.’

 

Eileen buried her face in her textbook, trying to suppress her returning gaze.

  

***

  

Finally, the last class of the day. Eileen, still in the midst of her adjustment period, was staggering back to her dorm when a paper crane landed on her head.

 “What is that?” 

She opened the paper crane and found a short note inside.

 [Did you have fun in class?] 

Eileen looked up as she recognized the words. A familiar pink-haired boy waved languidly from the building’s third-floor window.

 “Fel…!” 

Eileen almost called out to him out of habit but covered her mouth. She didn’t want to unnecessarily attract the attention of other students in a room full of adolescent boys and girls.

 

Instead, Eileen grimaced mischievously and made an X with her hand in Felix’s direction.

 

Not fun in class.

 

Felix laughed out loud at her scowl.

 

The way the Academy was organized, there was surprisingly little interaction with the other grades. It would be the weekend before she could have a proper conversation with Felix and Lucian.

 “Go!” 

Felix mouthed the words and disappeared back into the building. Eileen smiled pleasantly at his cute behavior and tucked the note carefully into her textbook. She would fold it back into the crane shape when she got back to her dorm.

 “…because of things like you!” “What are you talking about? 

Eileen stopped in her tracks at the unexpected shout from the trees. It was getting pretty dark near dinnertime, so it was hard to make out the shapes, but there seemed to be three or four boys huddled together.

 “Going through there, Mal?” 

Eileen sighed heavily as she realized the group didn’t seem to have the best of intentions. She’d long since lost her dreams and hopes for academy life, but she didn’t like the clichés of the bad guys coming true with such certainty.

 

Desperate to end this once and for all, Eileen used Star to obscure the situation as best she could.

 “Chief was Neumann’s job! Do you really think it’s worthy of a second son from a poor family like yours?” “You’re not even the heir apparently. Do you think that’s going to elevate your status?” “You’re an asshole, you’re an asshole.” 

Eileen slapped her forehead at the obvious repertoire. Gray and a few other boys stood around Andrew, the cornered senior.

 

‘That’s after getting detention as soon as he got in.’

 

Eileen looked at Gray wistfully, then turned her attention to the boy standing behind him. 

 

The tall boy, with beige hair and navy-blue eyes, was standing back, watching the situation with an expressionless face, unlike the other boys. 

 

Neumann turned to the boy and asked,

“Are you the one who got punished for being an idiot?” “Neumann, you think this idiot did something wrong, don’t you?” 

‘That’s Neumann Kamar.’

 

Eileen’s eyes narrowed.

 

Neumann’s family, the Marquises of Kamar. It was a prestigious family, a paragon of nobility, with generations of imperial officers.

 

‘Though your friends are far from prestigious.’

 

Eileen clicked her tongue, the fact that he didn’t even bother to correct them seemed to tell her what kind of man Neumann was.

 “Neumann?” 

Gray called after Neumann again, and when he didn’t answer, he pouted his lips in annoyance and turned his attention back to Andrew.

 

Andrew kept his mouth shut, not bothering to respond, which made Gray’s brow furrow even more.

 “You’re supposed to live in your place and your faction. Live where you were born. I wonder why there are so many jockeys this time. Reptilian beings, commoners of Gaudium riding on the backs of peacocks because they have some strange ability!” 

Eileen, who had been holding her hair still, tucked it by the nape of her neck.

 

‘He’s out of line.’

 

Eileen, no longer feeling the need to listen, ordered Star stealthily. Humiliation was the only prescription for an idiot.

 “Chew!” “Ack!” 

Gray’s paws turned to mud as he approached Andrew menacingly. Gray screamed, one foot buried up to his thigh in the thick mud.

 “Gray!” 

As Extra number 1 reached over to pull Gray out, he tripped over a suddenly growing vine and splashed mud. A clump of mud hit Neumann in the face.

 “Damn it, what kind of ground is this?” 

Gray grunted as he crawled out of the muddy mess. His face and school uniform were a mess, and he sat down in the mud, mud soaking into his pants in the shape of his butt.

 “Let’s go back!” 

‘You don’t say lines like “we’ll see”.’

 

Eileen watched them trudge away with a chuckle, and then quietly followed. It was annoying, but she had too much on her plate to give one idiot any more attention than he deserved.

 “This is…” 

Everyone left. Andrew only began to move slowly after all was quiet. The muddy ground seemed artificially created and out of sync with the surrounding soil.

 

Slender eyes opened, pale brown eyes glinting like glass.

 

Like a hunter who has found his target, the boy smiled, the corners of his mouth twitching upward in the darkness.

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