I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

Before I knew it, after staying here for a month, I came to know places where people rarely pass by.

For example, this quiet park where I’m sitting.

The bustling streets due to the Summer Harvest Festival. In contrast to the laughter heard from far away, only Senior and I are sitting here.

The spirit of the sword, looking like a pink-haired three-year-old child, muttered deliberately:

“Utteaa—♪”

…

It was a sudden, meaningless babble.

But I could understand that feeling.

No matter if you’re a remnant of the legendary [Saintess] or an office worker commuting to work… there are times when you feel like suddenly babbling.

‘I guess she just felt like going ttuttatta—…’

I had occasionally heard my past life’s department head babbling while smoking alone. I too would suddenly babble when working overtime alone.

21st century modern people couldn’t live without babbling.

‘Those who don’t babble while living life can be called superhumans with transcendent patience… No, they could be called aliens.’

Even if Guan Yu, the hero of the Three Kingdoms, came back to life, he would babble while stroking his beard alone.

I nodded and filled the cup with black tea.

Splash—

Amber liquid drops into the white porcelain teacup.

“…”

Lush grass, colorful summer flowers… It was perfect for sharing deep heart-to-heart talks while sharing teacups.

After pouring two cups of black tea, I carefully brought up my business.

“Senior—☆ Could you please spoil everything♪ about what happened 1500 years ago in the past—☆ I want to quickly grasp that guy’s psychology and get an easy cider pass—☆”

Right now, the relationship between me and ‘that guy’ could be called that of a defense game’s creator and player.

Unless you know everything about each other… the defense side can never strike first.

The identity of the creator.

‘Prophet Kang Jinsu’ who could very likely be the same person as ‘my past self’.

Considering Grafvolud and Ofnir’s statements, that guy’s knowledge level is based on the ‘unchanged original work’. And there’s a possibility he thinks the opponent came over ‘as a man’ like himself.

This difference in perception has been the basis for winning streak so far.

Hehe, I’ll spoil the original work knowledge in advance! > Changed.

If another guy appears, he’ll be a ‘transferee’ like me? > Not the case.

‘I’ve managed to defend well so far with this unintended difference, but…’

Now that I’ve been blindsided twice, he might have updated his information.

Maybe he’s considering the possibility of ‘possession’. If not that, he might be babbling ttuttatta…

“…”

No…

Now was not the time for nonsense.

I recalled Alvit’s gaunt face and regained my composure.

‘If it were ‘me’…’

I assumed I had been blindsided twice by unexpected changes in original work knowledge. When I empathized, it was unexpectedly easy.

‘My thought process would go like this:’

Start gathering information from the moment I recognize the change.

Hesitate to ambush .

“It would hurt if I get blindsided again this time?”

Track in order of differences from the original work.

Investigate in order of Clara, Brunhilde, Freya, Eir.

…

The problem started from here.

‘I need to know what abilities that guy has and what purpose he’s moving for in order to strike first from this side.’

The wimp ‘Kang Jinsu’ prefers to attack from fields he’s confident in. He’s so timid that he pretends to be bold inwardly but actually runs away from fields he’s not confident in.

“…”

I could guess that far.

But…

“…”

But now I couldn’t know more about that guy.

There were no records even mentioning the existence of ‘prophet’. The hints provided by [Golden Witch] and [Saintess of Sacrifice] were the only help.

‘In the worst case… he might go into a completely hidden survival meta.’

The World Tree’s distortion due to [Dragon Crouched in the Abyss] which is getting worse. If he’s entrusting everything to that and passively hoping for world destruction, there really was no way.

‘Then we’d lose initiative in the narrative… and the problem is that the academy city, this world, everything would be wiped out.’

But the wimp ‘Kang Jinsu’ is true to himself. He’s not the type to pray for everything to be ruined for no reason.

“…”

Anyway…

That’s why I decided to ask Senior directly.

“Senior! Please tell me about the past—☆”

“Tta, utteaa—☆”

-Don’t know, don’t know—☆

“…”

Damn it.

This was pink airheads’ passive skill.

Come to think of it, Urd also experienced quite a bit of memory confusion. It’s probably some kind of penalty received after going through a big event.

…Or maybe not.

“…Haah—☆”

I wanted to get an easy win just once too.

“…”

I soothed my burning insides with a cup of black tea. I sensed the presence of guests from walking towards the stream in the distance.

Two tall girls walking leisurely carrying snacks.

Seeing that sight reminded me of our junior.

‘Kara should be finishing up the repair requests from the pseudo-religious long-ears soon…’

In the end, after just emptying the black tea, I parted from Senior and went to Kara.

“…”

-It’s okay if things don’t work out as you want~ Drawings rarely turn out exactly as intended…!

Senior Frida’s words flashed through my mind.

“…”

The fact that ‘now’ I’m… the only one who remembers her words.

* * *

Two tall girls from who came to visit the Summer Harvest Festival were chatting by the stream. Their arms were full of snacks.

Among them, an especially large plate.

The sherbet on the wooden plate was topped with lots of raspberries and fresh fruits. Since there weren’t many opportunities to munch on non-frozen fruits in the academy city, it was disappearing quickly.

When they felt regretful about the disappearing snacks, they brought up new topics to keep the conversation flowing.

The friend sitting next to the girl with horn-rimmed glasses started speaking again.

“Horn-rim, have you heard that rumor?”

“Which… rumor?”

“About our 1st years. You know how after one student transferred to at the start of the semester, the 1st year quota became exactly 500, so they were assigned 10 students per class?”

“Yeah. Even the seniors said it was amazing how the numbers matched perfectly.”

Hearing Horn-rim’s answer, her friend continued.

“Remember how we always joked among ourselves about being the 500 elite engineering girls?”

“Yeah. Even when the long-ears invaded, we laughed saying ‘We’re 500 elite troops worth 100 each— so it’s fine even if 50,000 invade.'”

The girl with horn-rimmed glasses nodded with a spoon in her mouth. She felt the bittersweet taste lingering on her tongue while thinking about the words her friend suddenly brought up.

500 first-year students.

After one particularly mischievous first-year student left for at the start of the semester, the remaining freshmen were praised for their good unity.

‘It’s because the 2nd year seniors kept holding club events like parties and festivals, so we naturally became close…’

Thanks to that unity, they were active even during the chaotic period of the Eastern Alliance’s attack. They moved in an orderly manner following the instructions of Senior Maya from the Facilities Engineering Department who had returned from outside.

So currently, the first-year students of were very close to each other. Close enough to travel this far distance as a group.

‘They said only 50 first-years could come, so there was even a battle for invitation tickets…’

Because they won the 10:1 rock-paper-scissors tournament, they were eating snacks full of fresh fruits here.

‘But why is she suddenly bringing this up?’

While the girl with horn-rimmed glasses was thinking about their situation, her friend who took another spoonful of sherbet continued talking.

“But when the administration department did another survey during summer vacation, they found that strangely, there was exactly one class with only 9 students. So when they counted again, there were 499 first-years in total.”

“…”

“Isn’t that strange? We kept saying 500, 500 all throughout the first semester… but it turns out there were actually 499?”

“…”

“I heard a senior from the administration department went directly to ask the students in the class with only nine people… ‘Is there anyone who left school from your class?’… they asked.”

“And then?”

“All nine of them answered ‘No one left from our class? We all like it here.'”

“…”

The nine girls were close.

Half a year of living together in the same dormitory.

They had become close enough to consider each other sisters.

It wasn’t a situation where one would be left out or bullied.

“As proof, they showed photos and records they had taken so far…”

The happy school life of nine girls. In those records… there was one empty space in each that no one could remember.

Next to it were the rolling papers they had left for each other. There were 10 pages in total.

The senior from the administration department took them out with trembling hands and read.

One page…

One page…

Finally reaching the very last 10th page.

There were messages written in nine handwritings, one line each.

-Congratulations on □□’s research success! Who knew you’d miraculously get an idea while running around during the event…!

-□□, you worked hard staying up all night! Can we play together now?

-Who’s the ace among us? > Of course it’s □□!

-□□ will surely do well outside too… That’s really a technological innovation…

-Likely candidate for next mechanical engineering department head (my pick) □□.

-□□, sleep with a blanket… You’ll get sick otherwise.

-□□! Are you planning to stay in the workshop for the second semester too?

-Hey, □□. I’ll hand over the top spot in our class.

-↑What are you saying… We would have failed the practical exam without □□.

Messages with the other person’s name unnaturally erased.

And at the very bottom of the paper was written:

-Mechanical Engineering Department Year 1 Class 11— Recording our ‘friendship of ten’.

They were confused, gripped by a sense of discomfort.

Why… had they only now realized there was an empty space?

“When everyone there suddenly looked at one corner of the workshop, there was an unfamiliar engine that someone had left behind. As if it had been there from the beginning… Everyone had been unaware it was there.”

“…”

“No matter how much they thought about it… they couldn’t remember who made it, so they decided to just think there were nine people from the start.”

“…I see. So… what happened to that engine?”

To Horn-rim’s question, her friend tilted her head and answered.

“Well, I don’t know the details either. But it was an unfamiliar form that moved with some kind of oil? different from existing ether engines… so the seniors took it away for safety reasons.”

“…I see.”

“…Yeah.”

It certainly started as an interesting story.

But somehow they fell silent, getting goosebumps.

The friend didn’t bother telling Horn-rim about the rumors that spread after the incident. Horn-rim didn’t want to hear more scary stories from her friend either.

So, the two girls were silent.

“…”

“…”

Shhh—

A cold wind from the stream blew between the two silent girls. It felt like goosebumps were rising on their arms.

“…”

“…”

Trying to shake off the awkward atmosphere, the two girls deliberately brought up a new topic in a cheerful tone.

“H-Horn-rim! Come to think of it!”

“Y-Yeah…!”

The content of the rumor the two girls deliberately didn’t mention was this:

‘If you go against [Fate], you might not just be driven out of the academy city, but truly vanish without a trace.’

This happy city…

Might be a fragile illusion.

That was the rumor.