I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

A hot summer afternoon with the sun beating down relentlessly.

Unlike Eir or Maya who often visit, this time an elegant girl came to .

“I’m ‘Erda’, working at the .”

Erda, general affairs manager of the .

The elf girl with striking lemon-colored straight hair wore a long-sleeved uniform even in midsummer. Yet not sweating a single drop was terrifying.

Her personality was stiff in the game too, but seeing her in person was overwhelmingly intimidating. She exuded an aura of a flawless young lady.

“…”

‘The agriculture department kids and [Verdant Great Bow] Anna have rough personalities, but the theology department kids are really stereotypical elf ladies.’

An elf lady as if drawn in a picture.

She was drinking the cheap tea we served.

‘I’m sorry. You probably only drink good stuff in the center, but we’re a poor school so this is all we have.’

But Erda didn’t seem to mind particularly.

“…”

Rustle—

She lightly turned the teacup with her white slender fingers, gripping it with her index finger and thumb touching. Then she gently stabilized it with her middle finger before quietly bringing it to her lips to drink.

Complete silence.

Just hearing it, it seemed like she was only pretending to drink…

But looking closely, her cheek and neck muscles moved minutely.

“…”

Even removing the teacup from her mouth was completely silent.

Though she clearly held the black tea in her mouth, her pink lips remained fixed in a straight line without leaving any moisture or getting disheveled. Her slightly lowered lemon-colored eyebrows maintained composure without wavering.

‘She really drinks so well without making any sound… She’s not… displeased, right?’

I’m not sure.

Even Hilde, who others call wooden, can have her mood estimated from her eyebrows and voice pitch. But this one makes absolutely no sound and shows no sign at all.

‘Rather than this, someone straightforward with clear opinions like Eir or Freya would be easier…’

This kind of businesslike attitude was hard to see in the direct academy city. The PTSD from pressuring interviews I experienced in my past life was starting to creep up.

Clatter—

A guest had come and was drinking the tea we served, but somehow we became awkward from the inexplicable pressure felt there.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

It’s chilly.

Though she’s clearly a guest bringing news from the …

‘I want to start talking soon, but would she think I’m being dismissive if I bring up the main point right away?’

We were crushed by the noble aura she emitted, half-heartedly holding our teacups.

“Ah?!”

In the end, Kara, who usually held the teacup like a beer mug and downed it in one shot, dropped hers.

Crash

The cheap teacup shattered and scattered across the quiet student council room floor.

Kara scratched the back of her head sheepishly and hurriedly got up to get a broom.

“Ah…! S-Sorry!”

“…”

Erda watched that and put down her teacup. Then still seated, she put her hands together and quietly opened her mouth.

“…It seems I have disturbed the peace in your hearts, coming like an untimely wind.”

“Huh…? Ah, no! That’s not it! We just…!”

Alvit frantically waved her hands and protested, but Erda nodded as if understanding and said:

“I had hoped you would treat me like a passing leaf, but… it seems I failed to consider that a leaf falling in the summer wind is an ominous sign.”

“Th-That’s…”

Hmm.

I don’t really understand the sentence itself.

But I sense the something feeling beyond it.

‘Girl’s heart, catch that person’s intention…!’

Not with my head. But understanding with a girl’s heart, it means this:

[Interpretation: Sorry for coming suddenly, don’t worry about it. I just came to tell you something, not to harass you.]

“…!”

I peeked into Erda’s teacup.

‘She really drank all the tea we served in the meantime… Even though it probably didn’t suit her taste.’

Except for a tiny droplet remaining where her lips touched, it was completely empty. She only started speaking after finishing all the tea we gave her.

‘Did she try to drink it all before talking to avoid embarrassing us who are clearly in a poor situation?’

Hmm… I suddenly feel sorry.

Seeing the consideration hidden inside her somewhat cold-looking appearance, the inner closeness I felt in the game starts boiling up again.

‘At times like this, I should do an icebreaker, right?’

I spoke cheerfully to Erda from beside the flustered Alvit:

“Ohoho—☆ Well… Sorry, sorry—☆ A far~ more elegant lady than I heard about came, so I was just surprised♪ Well, not as cute as me, the cutest in the academy city though~☆”

“Beautiful flowers raise their heads high to receive sunlight alone, not overlapping with other flowers. So it’s very tricky to manage them so they don’t cast shadows… even caring about leaves passing by in the wind.”

Again my girl’s heart flutters, quickly interpreting the hidden something feeling.

It feels like a rainbow passing before my eyes.

Start deep learning, maiden’s heart.

Thump—☆

Thump—☆

[Interpretation: I acknowledge you’re confident in your looks, but don’t openly compare yourself in front of a guest.]

‘I can hear it…! I can hear the lady’s way of speaking…!’

It feels like an AI led by the pretty filter is whispering beside me.

If it were the original me, this kind of roundabout talk probably wouldn’t have registered. But strangely, Erda’s intentions came through well.

Come to think of it, in the original work Clara sometimes quickly read the true feelings of characters misunderstood as having cold attitudes…

Did she grasp it with this kind of feeling?

‘Or is it because I know her way of speaking from the game…?’

Anyway.

It wasn’t a bad thing.

Now I can move on to hospitable speech that can resolve inner closeness.

“…”

I looked at Erda while preparing my next line.

“…”

Erda’s face maintained composure. But she seemed inwardly displeased at openly evaluating appearances in front of a guest.

Rustle—

Hair flipped with a discontented gesture.

And beneath the neatly arranged lemon-colored hair, skin shining like glass… Indeed, whether dark or light, the appearance buff of elves is no joke.

‘Direct praise won’t work, so… if I’m going to praise, I should twist it slightly.’

Thinking that, I said my trump card hospitable line to improve Erda’s mood.

“Yes♪ I see☆ Sorry, sorry You asked to be treated like a leaf, so I thought Erda was already a flower tree way~ up there♪ So won’t you kindly look at the flower struggling below—☆”

“…”

“Flowers can’t talk to Mr. Tree unless they hold their heads up stiffly~☆ So Mr. Tree should relax too—♪”

“…”

I’m a flower.

You’re a tree.

Setting aside various inner thoughts or nuances, there was nothing better than this line for instantly striking the hearts of white elves.

Flipping her self-comparison to a ‘leaf’ to respectfully call her a tree, while also including the message that we’d be tense too if she kept such a stiff attitude.

‘Is this… speech that a maiden’s heart can spit out…?’

My chest feels majestic.

The pretty filter had finally evolved into a deep learning AI.

“…”

“…”

As expected, Erda looks this way with slightly surprised eyes.

And a hand quietly rising.

Precisely covering her beautiful lower face and closing her eyes.

A faint laugh escaping in that state.

“…Pfft.”

“…!”

“I honestly thought it was rude. Huhu… This, I didn’t expect.”

Hospitality successful.

Originally such lines need to be twisted once to have impact.

Along with Erda’s shoulders trembling finely with laughter, the uncomfortable atmosphere until now instantly dissolves.

As the conversation opens up.

We laughed while maintaining that pleasant atmosphere.

“Ahaha…♪”

“Huhu…”

I felt the juniors including Alvit looking this way with wide eyes.

‘Hmph… Why are you like this? Suddenly among ourselves…’

Haven’t I always been active using skillful strategies rather than relying on force?

‘This is what they call a lady’s talk.’

Proudly receiving those gazes, I puffed out my chest with all my might. My shoulders were of course shrugging too.

Shrug shrug

‘Juniors, take note of this…! The answer is to catch the something feeling…!’

* * *

“…Thus we have invited you as members of the ‘Union Meeting’ in a few days. I apologize for giving such sudden notice of this somewhat unusual event. Please understand.”

Swish—

The invitation Erda held out had the contents of the ‘Union Meeting’ to be held in a week… calling representatives of schools belonging to .

One representative from each school.

But unusually, two student names were written for .

[ Representatives: Student Council President Alvit, Clara.]

“…?”

Alvit received it and tilted her head, looking back and forth between me and Erda. Then she carefully opened her mouth.

“Um… Of course I understand Senior Clara who was a [Unique Ether] ability user participating together… but won’t there be opposition from other schools to participating in this different way? Rather, shouldn’t other schools also decide on a second representative to bring…”

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. It’s because Clara is [Pink Spiral], but this time she’s been invited for a different purpose… When you hear the reason, everyone will probably understand.”

Alvit and I had to ask back at the same time:

“A different purpose?”

“A different purpose…☆”

Erda opened another envelope she had in her bag and took out a letter.

Flutter—

A very ordinary letter.

But… somehow I felt an inexplicable killing intent emanating from that letter. At the same time, my nape and stomach that Hilde had caressed felt tingly.

I carefully looked at that letter paper, feeling an unknown anxiety.

‘What is this…? This anxiety like when a group chat is opened and an unexpected shocking image is about to be dropped…’

Erda began reading the letter in a refreshing voice like the summer breeze.

“…Before the Union Meeting, there is a fact I wish to convey to everyone in the academy city. Originally the world is composed of two types of energy, and the balance of all things is always stabilized by weights in two directions. The relationships between people should be the same.”

“…No way.”

“I, Brunhilde, representative of the and also serving as student council president of , have deeply explored this principle of the world. Finally, as a single student, I have succeeded in obtaining my own answer to this question. Therefore, to the honored guests attending this meeting…”

I couldn’t listen any further and lay face down on the sofa in the student council room, covering my ears.

“Uwaaaaah—☆ Ababababa—☆ Aerorororororo~!! I can’t hear♪ Can’t hear~ Uwaaaaaaaah—☆”

“…I am announcing the fact of my relationship with Clara, a student of . As a student and also as a woman, together with the aforementioned person…”

“Aaaaaaaaah—☆ Elerererere☆ Ororororo—!! [Red Flower Dazzling] [Blue Sweet Macaron]~ [Pink Lemon Sherbet]~!!”

“…Therefore, I earnestly request words of congratulations from all of you attending the meeting.”

“…”

…

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…That is all.”

…

Hello, Clara. I’ve liked you since the moment I first saw you. I wanted to confess since before summer vacation, but I was foolishly without courage then…

…

“…”

“…”

“…”

I jumped out the student council room window.

“Uwaaaaaaaah—☆”

Crash—☆

“Senior!!”

“Senior comrade!!”

“Senior, come back—!!”

“Oh my…”

Even as I fell to the first floor, I faintly heard whispering from behind.

“…Now who will go together?”

“…”

“…”

Ah.

I want to die.

, you’re dead if I catch you.