Chapter 218: Seven Stars Cultural Festival (4)
After spending a few blissful hours sandwiched between the two “maids,” I eventually checked the time and saw that it was already four in the afternoon. I said goodbye to Iris and Yurina, then made my way toward Professor Baldwin.
She was standing in the middle of the bustling central plaza, scanning the area with sharp eyes. Compared to the quiet morning, the place was now far livelier and far more crowded.
“There you are,” I said to her.
She turned her head toward me. “Ah, Dale. You came. Hehe. Are you enjoying the festival?”
“In my own way, I suppose.”
Honestly, I had enjoyed something other than the festival a lot more. But that was beside the main point.
“Professor Baldwin, have you been standing here watching things since morning?” I asked.
With a shrug, she said, “Well, yes. Making sure the cadets can enjoy the festival safely is also part of a professor’s duties, isn’t it?”
“Have you eaten?”
“I haven’t.”
Tsk. I knew it.
“I brought you something,” I said.
“Omelet rice?”
“Yes. Even if keeping watch is important, you need to eat.”
“Hmph. To think I’d be getting this kind of nagging from you, Dale, when you skip meals all the time because you’re too busy training.”
“Ugh. That’s....”
“Heh. I’m joking.”
Smiling faintly, Professor Baldwin began eating the omelet rice I had packed for her.
“Do you see any suspicious individuals?” I asked.
“Thankfully, not yet.”
Judging by the way she ate, I could tell she had been hungrier than she let on. Smiling, I handed her the green tea I had brought as well.
She took a long sip, then narrowed her eyes at me, staring intently. “Hm.”
“What is it?”
“I was just thinking. You’re surprisingly skilled at handling women, Dale.”
“Does bringing you a meal and some tea really warrant that kind of comment?”
“Hehe. Women are more complicated and simpler creatures than one might think.”
Swallowing a laugh, I sat beside her. “That sounds like ‘deafening silence,’ nonsense that contradicts itself.”
She replied, “Anyway, meeting me today couldn’t have been easy. I can’t exactly enjoy a date while on duty like this. Wouldn’t it have been better to spend this time with one of your other lovers?”
“You’re my lover too, Professor.”
She flinched. Her shoulders twitched, and she quickly turned her head away. “W-when did I become your lover?”
“Eh? Weren’t we already?”
I wanted to say that we had even gone to the hot springs together, but I held myself back since we were in public.
“I-I recall saying you didn’t need to officially become lovers with me right away. Considering your, uh, complicated situation.”
“Ah.”
I recalled that conversation. She had said she understood how messy things were for me and that I didn’t have to make anything official right away.
I looked at her with a sincere expression. “Well, then let’s make it official starting today.”
Some time ago, this kind of unconventional relationship would have given me a headache. But now, as I had decided that I would make everyone happy, without leaving anyone behind, I had stopped agonizing over it.
It looked like Professor Baldwin had not expected such a bold declaration. She stared at me with wide eyes. “Dale, you...”
She abruptly turned her head again.
“Why are you turning away?” I asked.
“I-I’m checking for suspicious persons.”
“Your ears are red.”
Her face flushed bright red as she reached out and pulled my cheek. “Shut up!”
As expected, she got embarrassed easily. Watching her reddened face, I snickered inwardly.
She stood, fanning her face with her hand. “Haa! Get up. Let’s walk for a bit.”
“Hm? Is it fine to leave your post?”
“It’s called patrolling. P-a-t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g.”
With another shrug, she casually walked ahead. Walking through the academy grounds, I wanted to hold her hand, as though we were a normal couple. However, we were technically on duty, so that wouldn’t work. So, I instead closed the distance between us until our shoulders brushed.
Out of the blue, she said, “This is a strange feeling.”
“What is?”
She shot me a slight glance, a soft smile playing at her lips. “Walking around a festival like this with my student— No, my lover. In the past, I didn’t care whether festivals like this were held.”
“Same for me.”
No matter how far back I dug into my memories of my previous life, I couldn’t recall anything special about the Seven Stars Cultural Festival.
“In the old days, I never understood why people made such a fuss over a simple festival, but I think I understand a little now.”
She glanced toward the lively crowd, where cadets were laughing and enjoying themselves, and let out a small chuckle.
She continued, “Still, I suppose it is a festival. There really are a lot of couples around.”
“We’re a couple too, aren’t we?”
“Hmm. W-well, yes, but...”
As we strolled, chatting quietly while on patrol, which also acted as a date, I heard familiar voices from a distance away.
“Senior Sophia! Where are you dragging me?”
“Keep quiet and follow me.”
Senior Sophia was pulling Berald along by the collar, dragging him straight toward the center of the plaza. I had been wondering where they were. It looked like those two were enjoying the festival in their own way.
Senior Sophia marched forward, tugging him along without mercy.
Professor Baldwin was surprised. “Hooh. When did Berald and Sophia start dating?”
“Umm, they’re not officially dating yet.”
Senior Sophia clearly liked Berald, but Berald had his own issues.
“Hehe. Still, seeing them together like that, I’d say it’ll happen soon.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
People’s preferences didn’t change easily. I swallowed back the words rising to my throat and watched Berald and Senior Sophia’s figures grow distant.
“They seem to be heading toward the center of the plaza. Shall we follow?” Professor Baldwin asked.
“Let’s go.”
We walked after them, moving toward the plaza’s center. As we went further, the number of couples increased at an alarming rate. Instead of wandering around enjoying the festival, most cadet couples were seated on benches or sprawled out on picnic mats, snacking on treats they had bought from nearby stalls, as though waiting for something.
Professor Baldwin muttered, “There are more and more couples the closer we get.”
“Well, they’re probably all gathered for the heart-shaped fireworks.”
“Heart-shaped fireworks? What’s that?” she asked.
“Huh? You didn’t hear about it?”
She had probably been too busy lately, between festival preparations and the search for the Beast Skin Group, to hear the rumor.
“You know the rumor, right? During the festival’s fireworks show, there’s supposed to be a single heart-shaped firework. And if lovers kiss right when it explodes, they’ll stay together for life.”
Arms crossed, Professor Baldwin narrowed her eyes. “Hm. That’s nonsense.”
“Haha! I think so too. Every festival has at least one silly superstition like that—”
She interrupted me. “No. That’s not what I meant.”
“What?”
“There is no heart-shaped firework,” she explained.
“There isn’t?”
The rumor was already everywhere among the cadets. Now she was telling me it didn’t exist?
“In all documents related to the fireworks show, there wasn’t a single mention of a heart-shaped firework,” she added.
“Maybe it’s meant to be a surprise event?”
“Hm. Hold on. If I recall, Professor Bianca is the one in charge of the fireworks.”
Professor Baldwin pulled out her Hero Watch and contacted someone. A familiar woman’s voice came through the holographic window.
Professor Bianca said, “That rumor has been giving me a headache, honestly. Should I make one now? But it’s far too late to add something like that.”
It was a clear denial, straight from the person who prepared the fireworks.
“So, the rumor really is completely fake?”
“That would be the logical conclusion.”
“Huh.”
No wonder I had no memory of such a rumor from my previous life. It never existed.
Professor Baldwin stroked her chin, eyes narrowing further. “Something’s odd. Dale, you said you heard the rumor from Berald, correct?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you think Berald is the type to pay attention to such rumors?”
“Not at all.”
If anything, he cared more about the cafeteria’s daily special than romantic gossip.
Her eyes sharpened. “For even someone like Berald to hear it, that means the rumor spread extremely fast. Suspicious, indeed.”
“You think someone spread it intentionally?” I asked.
“I can’t say for certain, but it’s a strong possibility.”
Berald did say the rumor started spreading only a few days ago. Now, the question was who spread it and why? Was it just to mess with couples waiting for some heart-shaped firework that didn’t exist? That was possible, but even then, there had to be a reason.
At that moment, a voice echoed in my head. “Hey, did you know? The shape of a heart actually comes from the human heart.”
I whipped my head around, scanning the surroundings, but saw no one who could’ve said that.
Surprised by my actions, Professor Baldwin asked, “What is it, Dale?”
“Someone spoke to me.”
She frowned. “Spoke to you?”
I continued searching around.
The mysterious voice rang through my head again. “So then, if a human heart goes BOOM and bursts open, wouldn’t that be the real heart-shaped firework?”
Who? Where are you talking from? I replied to the voice.
“Hahaha! Why are you looking around like that?”
Focus. I need to focus, I told myself.
No matter how well-crafted a telepathic magic device was, sending a voice directly into someone’s mind required mana. No one could erase every trace of that.
The voice continued, “Trying to trace my mana? That won’t work. This magic device is based on the Three Conundrums of the Great Sage, you know.”
Oh? Is that so? I replied.
“Not even the Great Sage himself could easily...”
I turned my head sharply toward the academy’s annex building. On the distant rooftop, hundreds of meters away, sat a boy wearing a monkey mask that covered half his face, his legs dangling over the edge.
The boy’s lips curled into a crooked grin beneath the mask. “Hmm? You really found me?”
