Star Torch Beneath the Icefield

Whoosh—

A light breeze swept into the academy, brushing the cheeks of Mo Bai and the Rover as they sat on a bench.

"Hah..."

Mo Bai yawned at the sun, bored out of his mind.

Amid these busy days, he had lost count of how many sunrises he had seen.

All he knew was that he had not slept in a long time.

Now he sat on the bench with the Rover, waiting to hear the outcome of the academy's questioning of Lynae.

"Mo Bai."

The Rover suddenly called softly to him.

"Yeah?"

Mo Bai leaned back against the bench and answered without taking his eyes off the sky.

"Why did you come help Lynae and me hunt down the Voidworm?"

"That..."

Mo Bai raised an eyebrow at the question.

She was probably wondering why he had walked away from the investigation into the Remnant Star Society, only to turn up for this.

"No special reason. I wanted to protect my friends," Mo Bai answered casually.

He had known that was why he was going from the moment he set out.

To him, facing the Voidworm and investigating the Remnant Star Society were on entirely different levels. His help was needed more against the former.

"Besides, I don't think I was much help."

Mo Bai thought back to how he had performed against the Voidworm.

"You activated the defensive array, and Lynae dealt the final blow."

As he spoke, Mo Bai looked down at his shadow.

With only two Shikigami unlocked, he really could not do much to fend off an enemy.

In the end, he simply had not had enough time.

He felt like a complete newbie who had stumbled into a raid, skipped all the grinding and leveling, and gone straight to the final boss.

"No, Mo Bai. You played a big part. You held off the Voidworm for Lynae and me." The Rover shook her head, rejecting his self-deprecation.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Mo Bai lowered his head with a smile.

"At least you're willing to wait for Lynae with me." The Rover sat upright, her expression serious.

"..."

Although Lynae had returned to the academy alongside the Rover as a hero, she remained a suspect until the academy reached its decision.

Her old friends either feared her or had yet to adjust to learning who she really was. Whatever the reason, no one but Mo Bai and the Rover was waiting for her now.

"Don't worry. I'll be back!"

That bright, familiar smile had been the last thing Mo Bai and the Rover saw before they parted ways with Lynae.

That did not mean her fate was sealed. Quite the opposite—she still had plenty of room to make her case.

After all, she had helped save the academy.

Rattle, rattle.

The familiar sound of wheels reached Mo Bai and the Rover. When they looked up, they saw the girl in her carefree outfit.

"Heh heh heh."

Judging by the delight on her face, things had gone smoothly enough.

"How did it go?"

The Rover rose from the bench and asked how the academy's questioning had turned out.

Swish!

At the question, Lynae pulled a sheet of paper from behind her back.

It was a test paper with a score of one hundred.

"I can't believe you really are a genius."

Mo Bai came over and stared at the paper in Lynae's hand, his face full of surprise.

The Lynae he knew was usually so boisterous that he had trouble picturing her as a top student.

"Heh heh. That means I'm an academy student again! Though I have to start everything over, and I'm not officially enrolled yet."

Lynae scratched her head awkwardly at the end.

After the academy's teachers finished questioning her, they handed her a test paper.

They said little else, only that it was an exam.

Lynae had brightened at once and set to work, her pen flying across the page.

The result was just what she had expected.

"Hmph. I used to make up all my credits with final exams even when I skipped class."

Lynae winked and gave Mo Bai a smug look.

"Congratulations, Lynae," the Rover said with a smile.

"Congratulations on coming back to the academy you love," Mo Bai said, setting aside his teasing.

"You two... You're making me feel embarrassed." Lynae scratched her head.

When her closest friends suddenly got serious, it really did feel strange.

"Then shall we celebrate your favorite way and go for a ride?" the Rover suggested.

"I'd love to, but technically I'm still on probation, so I don't have as much freedom as I used to."

Lynae spread her hands helplessly.

For her, that was hard to bear.

"That works out. I need to catch up on sleep anyway. I haven't even been inside my dorm room since I arrived." Mo Bai yawned.

"Oh? You've barely arrived, and you're already planning to skip class, Mo Bai?"

Delighted to be back at the academy, Lynae teased him without a care.

"I'll ask Doctor Lu for a sick note. Facing the Voidworm has to count as a work-related injury," Mo Bai grumbled.

Afterward, the academy summoned Lynae for more questions about the Remnant Star Society, while Mo Bai headed to his dorm.

That left the Rover alone in the academy square.

Watching her friends leave, with the academy's beautiful scenery before her, the Rover smiled faintly.

"...Protect the sun."

An unfamiliar voice sounded beside the Rover's ear, but when she looked around, no one else was there.

Click.

Once Mo Bai reached his dorm room, he did not even stop to look around. He headed straight for the bed.

"Whew. The moment I relax, I can barely keep my eyes open..."

After muttering that from the bed, Mo Bai fell asleep.

In his dream, he found himself reliving everything that had happened since he arrived in Lahai Luo.

He had been thrust into a strange world and, before he could catch his breath, had gone off to fight metal monsters unlike anything he had ever seen.

It had been hectic.

Yet now, to his surprise, he felt good about it.

Perhaps because...

"Mo Bai."

"Hey! Mo Bai!"

Perhaps because he had made two close friends.

After sleeping for nearly a full day, Mo Bai woke, obtained his own Terminal, and joined the campus forum. Then he found...

[(^▽^)]

Lynae had sent him an emoticon.

[Come to the academy garden! The Rover and I are already here!]

It seemed she had been given some rare time off today.

So Mo Bai wasted no time heading to the academy garden.

"Hey! Over here!" Lynae waved at him, full of energy.

Tap, tap.

Once Mo Bai arrived, the three of them sat together on a nearby bench.

"So what's the big news that made you call us here in such a hurry?" the Rover asked with a smile.

"Glad you asked! I'm here to tell my two friends that my official entrance exam is tomorrow!" Lynae puffed out her chest proudly.

"That's it? If I had to guess, you wouldn't call us all the way here just for that." Mo Bai rolled his eyes.

"Hey, can't I just want to share my happiness with my good friends?!"

Lynae pouted, looking a little indignant.

"I mean, someone wouldn't trouble her friends over a little thing like that. She'd rather carry an extra burden herself than put it on them."

Mo Bai had come to understand Lynae during their time together. After speaking, he watched her through half-lidded eyes, as though waiting to see how she would react.

"I agree with Mo Bai."

The Rover raised her hand like a student answering a teacher.

"All right. I didn't think you'd see right through me." Lynae lowered her head in surrender.

Whoosh.

Then she stood, took a few slow steps forward, and reached toward the sun.

"There are some things I want to get off my chest with my good friends."

She turned back to face the Rover and Mo Bai.

"Of course. You might even say listening is part of a friend's job." The Rover held out a hand to her gently.

"What she said," Mo Bai added with a soft laugh.

"Thank you..."

After that, Lynae talked about a great many things.

She complained about the special "extra attention" assignments Professor Mornye had given her, and about classmates asking the Voidworm Knight for her autograph.

She also complained about having to start school again from the first year.

The Voidworm might have been defeated, but she still had plenty to worry about.

Yet despite all the troubles she had described, when Lynae turned with the sun at her back, Mo Bai and the Rover saw her expression.

She was smiling.

"These are all my problems, but I'm happy to face them now."

Lynae looked past Mo Bai and the Rover toward Star Torch Academy behind them.

"I was happy at the academy before, too, but there was always a weight on my heart."

As she spoke, Lynae lowered her head and placed a hand over her chest.

"But with my friends' help, I've finally lifted it. I feel so much better."

Her gaze returned to Mo Bai and the Rover.

These were the two people who had helped her make peace with herself.

"So what should we call you now?"

Mo Bai put the question to the "new student" before him.

Yes, what should they call this bright, cheerful girl?

She was no longer a mercenary living in the New Federation's shadows, nor was she an undercover agent for the Remnant Star Society.

"My name is Lynae, and I'm a first-year preparatory student at Star Torch Academy! I hope I can keep counting on my friends from now on!"

With a smile, Lynae flashed her friends a peace sign.

She had met Mo Bai and the Rover as Lynae. It was long past time for the mercenary's story to end.

From now on, this was Lynae's life.