I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

Eir continued speaking with a regretful expression.

She was still shoulder to shoulder with Bell, fidgeting with the peculiarly shaped sword held in one hand.

“A bitch so obsessed with fighting suddenly disappeared, I thought about going to look for you… Tsk. But I suddenly became something like a student council president or whatever from 2nd year. I thought you were living well, but…”

“…”

“The fighting spirit has completely disappeared from [Spiral]’s eyes. This is no good… Your sparkling eyes in 1st year were really like a ‘flame’. Tsk.”

“…”

Eir looking at my eyes with a constantly regretful gaze.

The battle idiot of the academy city who only knew how to fight and commit arson.

For her, what mattered was the fighting spirit burning in one’s eyes.

-Hey… Did the boss just…?

-Praise her eyes as being like a ‘flame’…?

In , saying someone was like a ‘flame’ was both praise acknowledging the other person and a sign of madness. It was the highest praise that could be used towards an opponent in . The impact of praise coming from the mouth of [Crimson Trajectory] Eir, the strongest student among them, was great.

Murmur murmur

Hearing those words, I could feel all the students gathered at the scene moving their heads and chattering. Their shadows moved busily beyond the light of the flames.

Soon, some 3rd year students recalled my alias and let out exclamations.

“[Spiral]…!”

“Could it be that [Spiral]…?!”

“The one who kept beating opponents with endless ether until they exhausted…!”

“The martial god who fought only with pure physical strength!”

Amidst that fervent murmuring.

Alvit just had her eyes wide open.

She looked at me and muttered in a questioning voice:

“Senior…? What’s this [Spiral] thing about…?”

“…”

The suddenly revealed alias. But it wasn’t as bewildering as I thought. After confirming the dungeon gate erosion crisis, I inwardly felt that what was coming had simply come.

The ‘Five Priests’ of the late-game raid boss .

The circumstances that caused the [Priest of Erosion], the boss in charge of the latest incident among them, to rampage first were incomprehensible no matter how I thought about it.

‘To think the worst executive who pollutes the academy city’s environment would appear from the start…’

The full-scale incidents related to the hostile group hadn’t even begun yet… Even relying on original work knowledge, I couldn’t possibly guess the reason.

I had changed many things, but I was reassured thinking it was the starting point of events. The current events and the things I had changed were elements that far apart in the chronological order of events.

But at least what I could know now was that fate had already changed greatly. No matter how much I tried to clown around like the original Clara and tried to return to the original path, it had become irreversible.

The connections already formed don’t disappear.

The past already committed doesn’t disappear.

During the time I had acted as I pleased, events twisted in places I hadn’t perceived gradually distorted fate. And they twist the tracks running towards the happy main story ending.

Even though I knew… I couldn’t discard that contradictory wish in my heart for everything to return to the original work.

Because all I had were my meager two fists and original plot knowledge from my past life, I had been relying on a fate surely heading towards a happy future.

“…”

I had recklessly rushed after what I liked. In that process, I came to know the truly precious heart and love received from the three seniors.

And true strength…

I realized too late that I needed to look around me.

…

No.

What would change even if I regretted it now?

‘To think such thoughts in this situation.’

I clenched my fists and pulled myself together again. That was why I had remained still even though I had sensed Eir’s presence for a while.

This wasn’t the mindset that the gloomy and sickly man had learned from the seniors… from those kind girls. And the way to repay ‘Clara’ who had allowed me to spend happy times of struggle wasn’t to whine and regret here.

‘If it changed because of me, I just need to fix it.’

I decided to use my strength for that now.

With that resolve.

I met Alvit’s eyes.

Some light flickered in her brown eyes. The emotions contained in those eyes were anxiety and bewilderment.

Looking at those eyes, I knew what I had to do.

‘You’re anxious, being dragged into an incomprehensible situation… The unknown past of a person you knew suddenly popping up.’

I smiled looking at Alvit. Smiling as foolishly as possible… and with the most ‘Clara-like’ smile, I smiled with all my might.

-It’s okay. Everything will be alright, so don’t worry.

-I am the Clara you know.

-I will always be your senior.

Not a character in the game, but… my lovely junior who said she was looking forward to school life on the way back from .

I put my heart into reassuring her.

“…!”

Perhaps that feeling was conveyed.

Alvit’s eyes no longer wavered.

Seeing that, I nodded with satisfaction. And I walked forward to talk with Eir.

“Yes―♪ For a compliment given to a cute lady…”

But before my words ended.

Incomprehensible words flowed from the mouth of Bell, who was being held by the foolish Eir.

“Spi… [Spiral]…! To think the pink hair was that [Faded Spiral]…! No wonder I couldn’t feel any ether when I gauged the distance…!”

“…?”

‘What nonsense is she suddenly spouting?’

Hearing those words, Eir also sighed deeply and said:

“…So the rumors were true after all. No wonder [Spiral]’s ether sometimes shook unstably and became unreadable when fighting me before.”

“My goodness, could [Faded Spiral] have been gradually losing her realm since then…!”

“To have won the final fight against [Azure Lightning Lance] in that state must have been just through guts… I’ll give you that.”

“…?”

The conversation exchanged amicably between Bell and Eir.

Hearing that, my mind went blank for a moment.

[Faded Spiral]…?

What on earth is that…?

‘Eir’s curving attack patterns were especially annoyingly tricky to deal with, so I was just trying to interfere with gauging the distance.’

The reason my ether shook was. To dodge the ‘distance’, a radar that grasps opponents with ether waves, I had divided Clara’s area-of-effect skill hearts into small pieces and used them like chaff.

Hearts so small they were indistinguishable from the minute ether existing in the academy city air. They dodge the ‘distance’ of 3rd stage ether ability users who have risen above the realm of [Wave].

It was just a trick using Clara’s skill with its area-of-effect attack and heterogeneous conditions, not at all the price of dabbling in some forbidden secret technique.

‘It was like my hidden move so I didn’t openly reveal it, but did it feel that ominous.’

But as if not caring about the facts at all.

Eir and Bell exchanged words amicably while still arm-in-arm.

“A bizarre skill not even using weapons… and endless ether… There’s no way there wasn’t a price. Tsk…”

“The legend that burned out all ether realms and faded away…! To think the rumors about [Faded Spiral] were true!”

I was confused again.

‘To begin with, ‘Clara’s’ skills were dirty weak gag skills so they had no usage conditions…? And because her weapon aptitude was terribly low, she just brutishly increased her total ether amount with bare hands…?’

I gradually began to feel the difference in perception between them and me.

The tricks I had used to become stronger… They were methods that didn’t exist in the original form of this world, in the system of the game . That seems to have been the part that those who faced me inwardly felt was heterogeneous.

Bell suddenly covered her face as if getting goosebumps and said. The expression on that face was like the fear of seeing a plague patient.

“No wonder…! The seniors emphasized that ether abilities must be used with weapons unconditionally! To think there was a forbidden path of consuming one’s own realm with bare hands…!”

“Losing all realms as the price for becoming stronger for a short moment… Isn’t that really dirty talk.”

“I also heard ominous rumors passed down from seniors… I thought they were just joking to scare us.”

“Hm? Seniors…? Weren’t you from , brat?”

“…Seniors from a school I know.”

I racked my brain while watching the unfunny situational play of these two fools.

[Faded Spiral]

It was truly a term I was hearing for the first time.

What I felt from that term was an intense sense of discomfort.

‘The nuance sounds familiar from somewhere…’

My head starting to spin in this absurd situation. Along with a flash like Liu Xun’s strategy, a recent memory replays.

.

Maya’s tired face.

An office smelling of grime.

An industrial hammer swung with an expressionless face.

-[Spiral], let’s check something.

-So ‘that rumor’ was a lie intentionally spread by someone after all.

-There’s been some ridiculous rumors going around among some 3rd years.

Ah.

I finally felt like something connected in my head.

Maya, who rarely believes rumors due to her cynical nature.

But if even the highly suspicious Maya had to ‘specifically’ confirm. She must have inwardly harbored thoughts of ‘maybe…?’

From a poor remote school.

Heterogeneous ether usage method.

A student veiled in mystery, hardly interacting with anyone except the strong ones.

And disappearing like death after the final fight.

I seemed to understand on what basis the absurd rumor of [Faded Spiral] had flowed out.