Sigelika

"Before class today... let's take attendance."

Professor Mornye was taking attendance today, a rare occurrence.

"Majia..."

"Here!"

"Yuexiya..."

"Present!"

"Lynae..."

"Lynae?" Mornye repeated, shaking her head and circling Lynae's name on the roll. "Skipping class again?"

"Lu Guan..."

"Lu Guan isn't here either?" This time, Mornye was a little surprised. As far as she remembered, Lu Guan had never skipped class.

If Lu Guan wasn't here, then that meant Dania...

Mornye stood on tiptoe and scanned the room. She didn't see the pink-haired girl who usually slept sprawled across her desk. Thinking that it was just as she had expected, she circled both their names.

"Now, let's begin class."

Meanwhile, Lacerta received a FliChat message from Mornye.

"Lu Guan... actually skipped class?"

"And Dania too... Granted, she usually sleeps through class, but at least she never arrives late or leaves early..."

Whenever Lacerta thought about the moments she had witnessed between Lu Guan and Dania while secretly monitoring him over the past two months, she was filled with complicated feelings.

Lacerta felt both relieved and irritated.

She never should have volunteered to monitor him in the first place! Granted, the kid was usually well-behaved, and he really was at that age, so it was understandable for him to fall in love or something...

But... she was an older single dog! It was bad enough being fed dog food by Lu Guan and Dania every day, but after a full day of watching them, she still had to write an observation report for her superiors...

Before Chisa left, Lacerta had even asked her to watch them with her, hoping they could commiserate. But the Blazing Sakura Miko, who was clearly much older than she was, had responded with a rare doting smile.

Even now, Lacerta couldn't forget Chisa's expression, as though she were asking, "Why aren't you smiling? Can't you bring yourself to smile?"

"Sigh... Now that it's come to this, I should ask what's going on first, shouldn't I?"

Dania's dorm.

"Teacher Lacerta~ I still remember you~"

As the distinctive ringtone sounded from Lu Guan's terminal, the battle between the two came to a pause.

"Hello? Teacher Lacerta?"

"Ah... Sorry, I forgot..."

"You're asking where I am right now..."

"Ngh... Stop it... I'm talking to Teacher Lacerta..."

"Um... Teacher Lacerta, now isn't a good time..."

"I'll explain it to Professor Mornye myself later..."

After hanging up, Lu Guan glared fiercely at Dania, who had taken the opportunity to mess with him. He slipped his arms under her knees and lifted her up.

"Take this! It's time for some family discipline!"

Lacerta, on the other end of the call: 0.o?

If I heard that right, Dania was there too?

Why was she making those... strange sounds?

Lacerta wasn't a young girl anymore. Although she had never been in a relationship, she knew a thing or two.

Besides, deep in the memory palace created by her resonance ability, she actually had quite a few adult films stored away... The sounds Dania had just made weren't merely similar to those in the films; they were practically identical...

"It's just youthful urges... Understandable, understandable..."

"Professor Mornye probably hasn't been in a relationship either, and neither has Chisa... I'm not alone... I'm not alone..."

Once again, Lacerta lost her moment in the spotlight.

The Etching Plain.

"Woohoo~"

Lynae rode her newly modified research motorcycle at breakneck speed across the endless plain.

What, you ask why she wasn't using the road?

If she took the road, she wouldn't fall because of the uneven patches on the plain...

But... that was how the weak thought!

After she illegally installed an off-road module of her own design, the research motorcycle could handle rough terrain as though it were flat ground. It hadn't been tested, but Lynae didn't care.

After struggling under the New Federation's oppressive conditions, Lynae, a mercenary, had finally escaped those constraints and come to Stardust Academy. How could she not enjoy this hard-won freedom?

As for Professor Mornye's class?

Forget it. It didn't matter.

"Ah, I didn't expect Professor Mornye to be so easygoing, even though she looks so cold," Lynae remarked after ending her call with Mornye. "She only took off a few participation points..."

It's not like those few points could leave me with a final grade of 59.9 and make me fail, right? Lynae thought. Professor Mornye is so nice, she'd definitely give me a hand, wouldn't she?

Preoccupied with her final grade, Lynae wasn't watching the road for a moment and completely failed to notice a little orange-haired girl dressed in Rinascita Royan Tribe attire crouching in her path, playing with a Sun Sprite.

"Chirp-chirp~ Chirrrp!"

The Sun Sprite was the first to spot the research motorcycle speeding toward them and hurriedly chirped an anxious warning to the girl in front of it.

Lynae also came to her senses and slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. She was going far too fast; the momentum alone was enough to send the frail girl flying twenty meters.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

"Quick... Get out of the way!"

But instead of dodging Lynae's speeding motorcycle, the orange-haired Rinascita Royan girl gathered her Resonance Power, spun around, and threw a punch.

"Stop... right there!"

With a sharp cry, the Royan girl sent Lynae's research motorcycle flying with a punch. Lynae was thrown from the driver's seat and landed on a giant Sun Sprite nearby, immediately losing consciousness.

"Wake up... Wake up..."

"Where... am I?" Roused by the girl's calls, Lynae opened her eyes, only to find a plump little Sun Sprite staring back at her.

A pair of fair hands covered in runes moved the Sun Sprite aside, and Lynae finally got a clear look at the Royan girl before her.

The girl's orange hair was woven into braids. She was pretty, with an innocent, pure smile on her face, and she studied Lynae curiously with a pair of large, emerald-green eyes.

"Are you... a student at the academy?"

"Ah!" Lynae finally remembered what had happened. She quickly sat up, pressed her palms together, and apologized to the Royan girl. "S-sorry, I got distracted just now. I didn't mean to run into you!"

"It's all right... I wasn't hurt anyway." The Royan girl smiled and held out her hand to Lynae. "My name's Sigelika. What about you?"

"I... I'm Lynae."

The girl's warm smile shone like a little sun on Lynae's heart, which had once been shrouded by the New Federation's darkness.

As a former mercenary, everyone she had encountered, whether clients or targets, had eyes full of calculation and betrayal. One careless step would send her plunging into the abyss.

Under those oppressive conditions, Lynae had been forced to cool her once-burning heart, and she, who had once loved brilliant colors, had been forced to adopt a dull, colorless look.

It was easy to imagine just how healing Sigelika's smile was for Lynae. Its dazzling radiance almost made Lynae feel unable to open her eyes.

"T-too bright!"

"Huh?" Sigelika tilted her head, a little puzzled by her senior's behavior. Why had she suddenly crossed her hands?

She looked up at the sky. The sun wasn't particularly bright today, was it?

Just as the elders of her tribe had said, these academy students all had somewhat unique personalities and peculiar habits...

"Um... Senior Lynae," Sigelika asked tentatively, "I'm a new student on my way to register. Could you tell me..."

"Huh? Senior? Me?" Lynae pointed at herself. "But this year's enrollment period should already be over..."

"That's right," Sigelika explained. "My name was on the list of new students scheduled to enroll this year, but I only recently completed my coming-of-age ceremony with my tribe... so I was delayed a little..."

"I see... Wait, you're already an adult?" Lynae looked at Sigelika in surprise. Although the girl was fairly well-developed, judging by her bone age, she couldn't be more than thirteen or so, could she?

"Mm-hmm." Sigelika showed Lynae the runes inscribed on her hands. "In our Rinascita Royan Tribe, the coming-of-age ceremony involves receiving the Furnace Light's blessing and having marks inscribed on our bodies."

"I may be young, but I'm already an adult!"

"I see... Sorry, I'm a new student this year too." Lynae scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "As for the Rinascita Royan Tribe, I've only heard a teacher mention it briefly a few times..."

Lynae still felt a little bad about what had happened. When she saw the research motorcycle lying to the side, she came up with an idea.

"Hey, Sigelika, aren't you going to the academy to register?" Lynae raised a finger and made a suggestion. "How about I give you a ride there?"

"Would... that be all right?" Sigelika looked hesitantly at the research motorcycle lying nearby. "It's not that I don't trust your driving skills, Senior Lynae..."

"It's just that you seemed to be in such a hurry earlier. You must have something more important to do, right? I can't let you be delayed because of me."

"Uh..." Looking into the little sun's innocent eyes, Lynae was momentarily at a loss for words.

She couldn't very well tell her that she had actually skipped class to go speeding, could she?

In just 0.01 seconds, Lynae decided to tell a white lie. She swiftly righted the research motorcycle and patted the dust off the back seat.

"Ahem... It's fine. This won't hold me up for long."

"Hop on, Sigelika. I'll give you a ride to the academy!"