’I’m sorry, irin.’
’Is the gap between us really this vast?’
’The young lady is no longer the heir.’
It was far from a pleasant dream. Fragnts of mories she would rather forget flickered through her mind before she finally surfaced, blinking her eyes open to the rough, uneven ceiling of a cave. The crackle of a campfire echoed in her ears. A slight chill ran through her, though her senses remained hazy and distant as she groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Huh...?"
She found herself dressed in clothes that weren’t hers—an oversized robe with sleeves so long that even with her arms fully extended, only her fingertips peeked out. Her gaze swept her surroundings again. She was in a cave, and a steady rain fell just beyond its mouth. Near the entrance, a man with a lean yet solid fra sat shirtless before a campfire. Just then, he turned and offered a small smile. "Are you up?"
"S-Simon?!"
’Why is he half-naked?!’ A horrified irin snapped her head down, only to see her own state. "Wh-wh-wh-what the hell!"
Beneath the heavy fabric, she discovered she was clad in nothing but her damp underwear. A deep crimson flush flooded her face as she instinctively crossed her arms over her chest and pulled her knees to her chin, huddling into a defensive ball. Her voice trembled as she stamred. "Wh-where are my clothes?!"
Simon smiled awkwardly and pointed. Near the cave’s entrance, their Kizen uniforms hung drying side-by-side on a vine he had strung up like a clothesline.
"...Sorry." He cleared his throat. "If you stayed in those wet clothes, you’d catch a cold, so..."
Her embarrassnt reached its absolute limit, a crimson blush flooding her face and creeping up to her earlobes. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "Y-y-you—you goddamn pervert!"
"M-irin! Please, keep it down...!"
She glanced around for sothing, anything, to throw, but there was nothing within reach. Simon, now sweating profusely, rose to his feet. "I swear! Nothing happened! I even kept my eyes closed when I was taking off your uniform!"
She shuddered and buried her face in her hands. Simon waited in silence, giving her ti to calm down. Nearly ten minutes passed without a word. Finally ready to face reality, she lowered her hands. Her face, of course, was still beet red.
"...What happened?"
As if he had been waiting for the question, Simon explained everything. A high-level monster had interrupted their fight, and she had been knocked unconscious in the chaos. Then the rain started, so he found a cave beneath the cliff and carried her to safety. ’His story adds up. There’s no room for doubt.’ She knew Simon wasn’t the type to pull sothing strange. Still, to be undressed by a boy...! She was so mortified that she wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Curled into a tight ball, she sniffled and glared at him. Simon quickly averted his gaze, pretending to scratch the side of his head.
"...Simon."
"Yeah."
"T-Turn around," irin said, her voice barely a whisper. "Turn around? Why all of a sudden?"
"Ugh! I need to change, you idiot! Just turn around!"
Startled, Simon spun on his heel and stared at the campfire as if trying to burn a hole through it. She desperately wanted to send him outside, but with the rain still coming down, there was no other choice. "S-Stay right there, you hear ? If you turn around, I’ll really, really, ’really’ kill you!"
She was trying to sound intimidating, but the trembling in her voice completely undermined the threat. She sounded less like a predator and more like a tiny, rain-soaked puppy trying to muster a nacing growl. Simon did his best to keep his expression neutral. "Alright, take your ti."
Her shoulders hunched, she awkwardly got to her feet. With furtive glances at Simon, she retrieved a dry towel and a fresh set of underwear from her Subspace. Simon remained perfectly still. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and clutched the robe she was wearing. anwhile, the most nervous person in the cave wasn’t irin—it was Simon. ’Wh-Why am I suddenly so tense...?’
Contrary to his usual composure, the heart of a healthy seventeen-year-old boy was hamring against his ribs. His eyes remained locked on the fire, but every other sense was strained, his hearing desperately trying to paint a picture of what he couldn’t see. He heard the soft rustle of fabric as the robe she was wearing fell to the floor with a muted thud. The sound of her peeling off her damp underwear followed. For so reason, his throat went dry, and he couldn’t stop swallowing. Finally, he heard the sound of her wet undergarnts hitting the stone floor. They sounded heavy, soaked with rain. She had taken everything off. If he just turned around now, he would see irin, stark naked. The mont the thought crossed his mind, Simon’s heart pounded as if it would burst. ’I-I’d rather be outside.’ An involuntary image of her flashed through his mind, and Simon trembled, wracked with a profound sense of guilt. ’irin is my friend. Even thinking such a shaless thing is a sin.’ He had to regain his composure. He desperately rearranged the firewood, forcing himself to focus on the task. After drying herself with the towel, irin finally slipped into clean underwear. Only after wrapping herself tightly in Simon’s robe and fastening every last button did she allow herself a long sigh of relief. She slowly approached the rigid, unmoving Simon. "Hmph."
Then she plopped down right beside him as he ward himself by the fire. Simon risked a glance, but the sight of her pale legs peeking out from under the robe sent him whipping his head away in a panic. "What’s with you?" irin giggled, poking his arm. "Why are you more nervous than I am? You prude."
"...I’m not nervous."
A small smile touched her lips as she pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. A comfortable silence settled between them. "Are you hungry?" Simon asked, getting up. He stirred the pot bubbling over the fire with a ladle before serving the steaming stew into a small bowl and handing it to her. "It’s at stew."
It was made from Hongfeng’s recipe. irin’s eyes widened. She never would have imagined seeing actual, proper food on this island.
"...Thanks," she said quietly, taking the bowl. She was, in fact, starving. She picked up a spoon and cautiously took a bite. ’Wow!’
It tasted exactly like the stew she’d had at Hongfeng’s cabin. A second and third bite quickly followed. Simon watched her eat, a proud smile on his face. "Simon."
"Yeah?"
Having already emptied her bowl, she set it down. A faint blush colored her cheeks as she spoke, her tone coy. "...Thank you. For saving ."
"Don’t ntion it."
She rested her chin on her knees and studied him. "But why did you? Honestly, you would’ve been justified in leaving behind. I attacked you first."
Simon arched an eyebrow, his expression asking, ’Why do you even have to ask?’ "You weren’t seriously trying to eliminate , either."
She said nothing. "It’s simple. I can’t just abandon a teammate I’ll be with all sester over so stupid squabble." Simon grinned and held out his fist. "Right?"
She smiled, a little embarrassed, and bumped her fist against his. "Ugh—I still can’t stand it!"
"Is sothing wrong?"
Instead of answering, she raised her right arm, the one fitted with a Tonguepad. She summoned a Jet-Black magic circle and overlaid it on the device with a command. ’Wait, that command is...’
Simon recognized it instantly; he had morized all the Tonguepad commands. irin’s device gaped open like a mouth, and a tongue shot out several ters. From its grasp, she retrieved a green orb—a massive cluster of points. "irin! What are you—!"
"What do you an? My conscience is killing . Take this as paynt for saving my life!"
"Take it!"
"I can’t!"
They bickered, stumbling over each other as irin forcibly pressed the orb against Simon’s Tonguepad. His device happily slurped it up. "Oh...!"
The number on his Tonguepad skyrocketed. It had jumped from around 127 points to 260.
Simon leaped to his feet. "How much did you give ?"
"Everything but one point," she said nonchalantly, taking another spoonful of stew. "It’s only fair. I should have been eliminated back there."
"But you..." Simon’s expression hardened. "Aren’t you aiming for first place in this evaluation, too?"
She was silent, staring into the fire, before she finally cracked a smile. "Hmph, of course! There are still two days left. If I just hunt the nad targets, I can definitely still take first place."
"Haha."
The tension in the air dissipated. The two of them amicably scraped the stew pot clean. Outside, the rain continued its gentle patter. Just beyond the campfire, the cliff dropped away into nothingness, but the vantage point offered a breathtaking view of the entire island. ’It’s warm.’ The more she thought about it, the more irin realized what a perfect spot Simon had found. She felt safe, her stomach was full, and a pleasant drowsiness washed over her. "irin."
Simon’s voice cut through the quiet. "Can I ask you sothing?"
"If it’s a perverted question, I’ll kill you."
"No, nothing like that."
Simon paused for a mont. "Why are you so obsessed with being number one?"
Her gaze, fixed on the rain-swept world outside the cave, hardened. "There’s soone I absolutely have to defeat."
"And that person would be," Simon finished for her, "Special Admission Number Two, Serne Aindark, right?"
irin’s reaction to Serne’s na was always extre. He rembered the day they had first been grouped together; the re ntion of her na had plunged the room into an icy silence. And when Hector had called her ‘Serne’s lackey,’ she had lunged at him with the clear intent to burn him to a crisp. "That’s right," she admitted with a nod. She uncurled her legs, placing her hands on the ground behind her and leaning back. "I’ve never told anyone at Kizen this, but... I was supposed to be the official heir of the Ivory Tower."
It was irin, not Serne? This was the first he was hearing of it. "I guess it was decided when I was a child. The Ivory Tower families spoiled , and I rember being pretty arrogant because of it. Back then, I had no idea how heavy the title of heir was. I just thought it was funny when the adults bowed to . I was immature."
But then, she continued, "One day, the Lord of the Ivory Tower suddenly took in a new adopted daughter."
Simon quickly put the pieces together. "And that was Serne."
"Yeah. She was my age, and it was obvious to everyone that she was brought in to be my rival. The people of the Tower weren’t happy about it, of course. They grumbled about so new adoptee and called it a transparent ploy. Since she had no legitimate claim, not even as an illegitimate child, my position as heir seed secure. But..." Tension laced her words. "Serne was a genius. No, ‘genius’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. She was a monster."
Simon listened intently.
"The Jet-Black form transformation that took almost six months? She mastered it in a week. She could grasp the most complex theories effortlessly. You could teach her one thing, and she’d understand a hundred. Bloodline is important in the Ivory Tower, but... Serne’s talent made all of that aningless. Soon, it wasn’t about factions or families anymore. The entire Ivory Tower was buzzing with anticipation. They believed that when Serne ca of age and beca the new Lord, the Tower would reclaim its forr glory. And as for ..." She gave a bitter smile. "I was pushed aside. The adults constantly compared us. I was always the fool who made Serne shine, dragged out at public functions only to be humiliated. By the ti I finally grew up and saw things for what they were..." irin shrugged. "I was out of the picture. The elders even anded the Tower’s laws to make Serne the official heir. From that day on, the way people looked at changed completely. The family elders, the servants, my friends, even my own parents... they all gave up on ."
He remained silent, letting her speak.
"Then we turned seventeen, and because of the pact with Kizen, Serne ca here as a special admission. So I took the entrance exam on my own and got in, too."
Finally, it all made sense. That was why she was so obsessed with being number one, why she pushed herself to the brink without sleep. To surpass Serne. To win back the approval of her family. He had always felt her reason for attacking him was a bit thin, but now he understood. He was Special Admission No. 1. The one who had pushed her ultimate target, Serne, down to number two. Of course, there was an insurmountable gap between him, a novice in black magic, and Serne. The rankings weren’t even based on skill. Even so, irin’s competitive fire must have been stoked. She probably thought that by defeating him, she would, by extension, close the gap with Serne. "I will never give up," she declared, clenching her fist. "Everyone says it’s impossible, but one day, I’ll take back everything that was stolen from . I swear it."
A wide smile spread across Simon’s face. "You can do it. I’ll be cheering you on, irin."
"Hmph."
She snorted, but the slight curve of her lips betrayed her pleasure. "Oh, and you know all nine hundred sixty-one first-years are on this island for the evaluation, right?"
"Yeah."
"Serne is here, too. If you run into her, avoid her at all costs. I’m telling you this as soone who’s watched her for years... The more I see of her..." irin’s expression turned deadly serious. "The more I’m convinced she isn’t human."
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