Avoid Former Co-Workers

35 – 35. Seniors and Juniors (1)

Before this, there is an object that everyone in the academy envy.

As always, the girl is loved by men and women of all ages and responds with a smile.

But… I’m not laughing right now.

As I grabbed her by the arm and took her somewhere, I just thought that it must have been because she was kind.

“You can tell me why you lied to me now.”

“…”

The corner of Renias’ mouth, which she knew only that she had no intention of going up and coming down, was firmly closed.

Her gaze is also fixed on one, as if she has no intention of opening until she wants some kind of answer.

No matter how innocent you look, no matter how lively and cheerful you look on the outside, there is always something to be noticed.

It was an issue that Rhenias had to address.

There are no more questions, and only the breathing of two people can be heard in this deserted restaurant.

When Junon didn’t answer, Rhenias opened her mouth first.

“Senior.”

Just one word.

There is an honesty to get the answer you want from Junon with just one word.

In short, it was a urge to quickly answer the question.

‘You mean that thing at the banquet hall?’

Unexpected circumstances have happened, but are you going to stay still?

Of course I should be evasive.

“You mean I accidentally fell asleep during the lecture? I’m sorry if I offended you…”

“Senior!”

This doesn’t sound like it. Rhenias raises his voice as if he doesn’t know who he is.

Rhenias cut off Junon’s words as if to warn him that it would be useless if he tried to evade it with an appropriate excuse.

I don’t get angry with others, and I didn’t have any ill feelings toward Junon.

But, if I didn’t say this, it seemed like something disgusting would come up from above. Even right away

“Senior… You didn’t come because you were sleeping. Didn’t you send me there after knowing that I had a longing for the lower class?”

I knew almost everything about the incident, and in fact, I wanted to hear it from his mouth.

There were various circumstances. Rhenias wanted to hear that from Junon.

But her senior is a liar. It was clear that she would try to avoid it, so Rhenias decided to eliminate her excuses herself.

“I asked all of them at the banquet hall. It’s different from what you said…”

“…”

Yes. From then on, something strange happened. Junon now vaguely guessed Renias’ strange behavior.

When Rhenias was forced to climb up a rock wall during her end-of-semester evaluation, she suddenly fell.

In a situation where she couldn’t even look down, what did she like? Far from being terrified, she couldn’t find the reason why she wanted to go up.

The reason has now been revealed.

I made a fuss about her by saying that she fell asleep while listening to her lecture, but I didn’t prepare for her unique affinity to reach them.

‘It would be fair to say that I was too careless.’

Moreover, Junon seemed to have grabbed his own ankle because he hadn’t prepared and made a rough excuse.

Renias’ honesty, as if asking him to answer the truth, now raises a white flag.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

“I know about that.”

“Is that so…”

Junon scratched her head and avoided her gaze.

He knew well that he was dishonest, so she couldn’t look him in the eyes and talk.

Then, Rhenias honestly confesses her feelings.

“But I thought it was fortunate that I found out.”

“Renias…”

“Thanks to my seniors, I found out, albeit late, that the essence of the academy was being blurred. I found out too late, but…”

Inevitably, Dalgrak.

“Ah! Oh, sorry.”

When he said he found out too late, Rhenias’ hands were holding the teacup tighter.

Until he grabbed the teacup with force and the contents spilled out.

Rhenias continued the conversation while slowly wiping up the spilled tea.

“Junon-senpai wanted me to know this, right?”

“That’s right. Those guys might not have been able to stand it if left alone.”

Aren’t you honest when you hear rumors that you used Amon people for your own purposes?

I thought that there would be nothing strange about any kind of resentment from juniors who thought I was innocent.

However, Rhenias said while holding Junon’s hand as he closed his eyes, determined to accept any criticism.

My hands were stained with anger and trembled enough to spill out a teacup.

That hand had returned to the girl’s hand, warm and kind, the jewel of the academy.

“I don’t think the senior’s actions were wrong. So, don’t feel guilty.”

“I’m not necessarily doing the right thing. It’s not good to overestimate.”

“He’s the kind of person who predicts rain just by looking at the clouds. Would you do that without thinking? I think there must be a reason.”

“I… Am just an ordinary, untalented class E student just like them?”

“Did someone like that even try to lie to me during the end-of-semester evaluation because he thought about my feelings?”

“No, that’s…”

It’s normal. No talent Rhenias, who was not satisfied with those words, grabbed Junon’s hand with the other hand as well.

“At least, I don’t think so.”

Why did Rhenias’s words feel so heavy, as much as the added weight of one hand overlapping the other?

You could have said it was a misunderstanding, but Junon couldn’t vomit at Rhenias anymore.

Junon’s silence continued, and Rhenias returned as usual, smiling and holding his hands together.

“Senior. Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Jeop… Listen first. If it’s strange, I won’t listen.”

“Ahahahaha. It’s not like that. Promise me to listen anyway.”

Then, as if to ask for his fingers to hang out, he gently sticks out his little finger.

I don’t want to hear it because it looks like there’s an ulterior motive…

“Hmph. You tricked me into using me like that, and you can’t listen to me?”

“Ugh…”

Look at those bright eyes.

I didn’t expect to pay attention in this way when I tried not to listen while paying attention.

Reluctantly, Junon had no choice but to stick out his finger, and Rhenias smiled briskly as he put his finger on the senior’s ring finger as if he was satisfied.

“Look. The senior is also a very caring person, so he couldn’t resist even a simple request like this.”

“…Don’t say anything. So, what do you want?”

“From now on, I won’t hide anything from me and I won’t lie. Senior. It’s a promise for that.”

A small promise between seniors and juniors.

That wasn’t something I couldn’t protect, but…

‘Sorry. I can’t do that.’

As Junon, there were still so many things to hide.

***

Today, one prejudice was broken.

The prejudice that nobles only eat precious things, and that they will eat it while maintaining manners and dignity.

Exactly today. This time. It broke right in front of my eyes.

“…”

“What’s wrong, senpai? You don’t like the menu very much? Would you like another one?”

“No, that’s not it. It was unexpected.”

“Huh? That’s distant Hoi?” (Huh? What do you mean by that?)

He stuffs his little mouth full of food and mumbles, but says everything he wants to say.

“Nobles usually go to fancy restaurants. I don’t think Rhenias is like that.”

Rhenias, who happily ate the meat in his mouth, swallowed it in one gulp and answered.

“Ugh, senpai. You don’t know how you act like nobles when you eat, don’t you?”

“Pretending? Why?”

Aren’t those people ordering and eating something cheap at a high-class restaurant?

I wondered what to do. Until I heard the next words from Rhenias.

Aristocrats are dignified and dignified, so they are tired of etiquette, so eating together makes you upset.

“You can’t even make a sound, and you have to cut the steak into the prescribed size and eat it. Then, will the rice go over?”

“Puff… Was it like that? That’s understandable.”

“And I. I secretly like to visit restaurants. How delicious is the salty and spicy food of the common people rather than the food of the aristocrats.”

Looking at his expression, it seems that he is tired of it. Meal manners that must be strictly followed and cultures that must be followed even when invisible.

In the meantime, it seems very unfortunate that you can’t even eat right the way you want.

I wonder what kind of rice goes into that slender body so much… But is it because the nutrition is concentrated in a specific part?

Anyway, it’s rice.

“Yes, that’s it. If you go upstairs, that’s it. You’ll feel better if you eat something that tastes better.”

“Oh! You and I can talk a little bit, too! Rice is good if it’s delicious!”

I was afraid that if I ordered something expensive, I would refuse because it would be burdensome, but I didn’t have to.

Contrary to my expectations, my junior had a normal sense of money.

Finally, we ordered a fruit sherbet for dessert and finished our lunch satisfactorily.

“I ate well. Now I’ve written off all the remaining debt.”

“Um… I guess I’ll have to think about that? Deceiving people is a bad thing. Heh heh.”

“Lenias… Look at me.”

“Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I thought you ordered it wrong because you didn’t eat it at first.”

“How could that be? Rather than that, come here.”

“Huh? Why? Oooh.”

I took out a tissue and lightly wiped the sauce from Renias’ mouth.

I couldn’t leave it alone because the spicy-sweet sauce was especially red, so it contrasted so well with Rhenias’ fair skin.

“It’s buried and eaten carelessly.”

As expected, he is meticulous, but he seems to have a carefree personality.

But… Is it because of my mood? Why does it seem like the area gets redder after I wiped the sauce…?

“Ah… Ahahahaha…! I’m sorry hahahahaha… I didn’t know that… I’ll clean the rest!”

Renias hurriedly turned his head and took out a hand mirror from his bag to check his face.

A lot of sauce was on it, but is it something to be ashamed of? Well, that’s it Things like that happen, too.

I was just about to get up and say that I would go first.

“Where are you going? You have to go to register for classes.”

Course registration. Now that the evaluation for the beginning of the semester is over, it means that half of the class is over.

Now, you just have to decide which lectures to listen to according to your class, but…

“Because I will be able to register for the course in at least three hours.”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s a bonus. Course registration is accepted from the top class.”

Faculty and staff have to go through each student’s course registration, which takes time.

Unfortunately, all the upper classes fill up the lectures they want, so the lower classes have to wait.

“Oh, you haven’t seen the results of the first ban yet? Right?”

“Well, that’s right.”

I wouldn’t even be able to make it to class C in the first place, so why go see it?

If you have done this, you should have understood, so I picked up the school uniform I had taken off and tried to leave, but Rhenias grabbed my arm again.

“Senior is in class A with me. It will be class registration time soon, let’s go together.”

“What…? Didn’t I see something wrong?”

“Ah, did I just come here to have lunch together? I even checked the course registration time and deliberately asked for lunch.”

…?

……What?

I’m class A???

What kind of stunner is this???

“Senpai? You’re listening to me right?”

No matter how much Rhenias pouted and complained, I couldn’t understand it.

I don’t think that’s a lie though. He’s not the kind of person to play around with, is he? Right?

Then can you hear those words right now???