novelraw Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Before anyone realized it, the end of the midterms had drawn near.
The cadets’ mood shifted from tension and pressure to, each in their own way, relief and irritation—or even resignation.
“What are you all going to do during break?”
Of course, that was an emotion one could only express if one still had worries to begin with.
Dokgo Ran, already excited, asked with sparkling eyes, and at her words, Hino Kanae and Famille Demezear, who were sitting on the convenience store chairs enjoying black tea and coffee, exchanged a silent conversation.
‘Was she always this carefree?’
‘It’s easier to ignore her. That’s just how she is.’
In the end, what they chose was silence.
However, it wasn’t as though they had made that choice without any preparation when facing Dokgo Ran, who would flip a table at the slightest provocation.
“Well. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Really? Miel, what about you?”
“Uh, me neither, really…….”
It wasn’t only Kanae and Famille who were sitting there.
Beatus, cleaning his firearm while answering Dokgo Ran appropriately. And Baek Hwi-young, sitting with a blank face as if lost in thought, with Miel Amber beside him sipping cocoa.
“…….”
Of course, at the edge of their vision, a group of cadets who served the Hino family stood with sharp eyes, as if determined to guard Hino Kanae, but to those who had already grown accustomed to that peculiar sight, it stirred no particular feeling.
“Hwaaam. Ah, I don’t want to go back to the main house~.”
Dokgo Ran yawned lazily enough to show her distinctive sharp canines clearly, then wiped away the tears that had formed slightly at the corners of her eyes as she muttered.
That was when it happened.
The watch made a ‘beep’ sound and announced the grading results.
“Hm?”
“Not bad.”
The reactions of the cadets who saw it were all similar.
There were no surprises.
The time that Squad 2 endured against the training dummy was exactly 10 minutes and 23 seconds.
It wasn’t particularly satisfying to Jin Crow, but considering that the rest of the cadets had held out between five and seven minutes—numbers not far off from Professor Lillian’s expectations—it still made one think, ‘So they really are the Knights of the Stars.’
Of course, that didn’t mean everyone in Squad 2 received high scores.
“Ugh! Damn theory!”
Dokgo Ran narrowed her brow as if she had never been in a good mood to begin with and clenched her hands as though she were about to flip the table on the spot.
Perhaps because of that.
Famille deftly pressed her down with gravity so she couldn’t immediately overturn the table, then spoke to her as she fumed.
“Still, at least it’s not an F.”
“That’s true, but…….”
Because it was a linked course, practical skills and theory had been graded together.
Dokgo Ran lamented that her practical score had been halved because of it, but Famille swallowed the unspoken thought that, if it weren’t for this grading standard, she would have failed theory outright.
At times like this, changing the subject was best.
“More importantly, Miel, congratulations.”
“Huh? Ah. Mm.”
It was an evaluation that lined the cadets up by score.
And the overall first place was none other than Miel Amber.
“Thank you. Heh.”
When she—who looked like a squirrel—gave an awkward smile, even the irritation that had lingered briefly melted away.
Famille recalled that the other nearby cadets also didn’t seem to harbor much dissatisfaction with Miel Amber taking first place, and she nodded inwardly.
‘Well, she’s support-type.’
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a major category like martial or ability types, but rather a branch within the ability type.
Her ability was 「Healing」 or 「Regeneration」.
To add to that, she was essentially a walking medical unit.
Because of that, in most combat classes, what support-type cadets did was simple.
-Wait until someone got injured, then heal them.
Just doing that was enough for support-type cadets to receive high scores.
There had never been a single case of a support-type cadet being held back or expelled in history, so what more was there to say.
Of course, there could be plenty of cadets who harbored dissatisfaction deep down. But there were none stupid enough to show it openly.
‘Naturally.’
Even superhumans weren’t invincible.
No, in fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that special service officers lived with injuries.
Especially those who possessed triple or higher Gears suffered from that even more.
‘Limited, yet powerful human resources.’
From the military’s standpoint, not making use of them was a loss.
Naturally, they were deployed to more dangerous missions than ordinary soldiers, and it was said that losing an arm or so was everyday life.
What was even more frightening was that, for special service officers, the scope of what counted as a fatal injury was somewhat different.
Even if their limbs were torn off and their organs ruptured, as long as they could rotate their Gear, they were monsters who clung to life.
Of course, since special service officers were valuable human resources, there was no such thing as refusing treatment just because one wasn’t close to them.
‘The problem is that it hurts.’
The later one received treatment, the greater the burden became, mentally or physically.
Because they were human.
For that reason, unless someone had an exceptionally bad personality or was an enemy who had killed one’s parents, most cadets wanted to maintain amicable relations with support-type cadets.
No matter how much the military was supposed to be an organization that handled matters objectively, paradoxically, the organization farthest from being objective and fair was precisely the military.
And that was no different for Famille either.
“Miel.”
“Yeah?”
“Stay away from that gorilla. Even if she’s injured, if possible, treat her painfully.”
“Hwaaam. Huh?”
Famille flashed her characteristic blue eyes as if she had just given the most necessary advice.
And Miel Amber, who had gradually heard about the things Dokgo Ran had done until now, slowly nodded and responded to her words.
“……Yeah!”
Watching that scene, it wasn’t all that strange for Baek Hwi-young to feel a peculiar emotion.
‘Jin Crow…….’
What was reflected in his ashen pupils was Squad 2—the classmates who would later be called the Knights of the Stars—but over them, he saw Jin Crow overlapping.
That was only natural.
Had he not tried, time and again, to gather these cadets in one place?
There were even times when he had forced them together by playing the clown, something utterly unsuited to his personality. But even then, the earliest it had happened was right before they advanced to second year.
“By the way, that Instructor Yang Jinlei, you know. Last time he…….”
“Oh my, is that really true?”
But Instructor Jin Crow was different.
He had merely bound them together as a squad, and yet, so naturally, they became a single group.
‘Dismissing it as coincidence would be stupid.’
Within his resolve to keep watching, suspicion took root.
No, in this case, perhaps it was more accurate to call it a question mixed with circumstantial conviction.
‘What is it, really—what on earth is it?’
In his heart, an expectation of ‘what if?’ and a sense of unease raised their heads.
If it were up to him, he wanted to barge into his quarters right away, grab him by the collar, and demand answers.
-Just what is it that you want? What do you know, and what are you scheming?
Perhaps he would look down at him with those characteristically cold and eerie black eyes, then remain silent.
He had always been a coward.
A man who thoroughly hid—no, who had to hide—his own past.
That was why even Baek Hwi-young, despite discovering one tangled thread of fate intertwined with himself among countless paths, had doubted and denied it so intensely.
‘But I can’t just leave it like this.’
Even setting aside the personal feelings he held toward Jin Crow, he had already become far too great a variable.
How many branching points had he changed already?
The sly imperial-born thug, Chance Marbre, had yet to make any conspicuous moves, Red Hand had lost Liberto, one of its main forces, and even his relationship with Obia Timist, commander of the Military Police Battalion, and Headmistress Ideale had clearly changed.
Of course, his course of action might be beneficial for now. But.
‘There’s a need to probe his psychology.’
If there was anything he had realized in the previous regression, it was that immediate positive changes did not guarantee good results in the future.
In the end, if it was an ungraspable variable, then perhaps it would be better to……
Creeeak-.
He stopped his thoughts there, then took in the sight of familiar yet youthful friends turning their gazes toward him, and spoke.
“I’ll go check in with the instructors for a bit. You go on ahead.”
Having said that, he immediately turned his body and headed in the direction of the instructors’ building.
As he did, Dokgo Ran, who had watched him leave for a moment, scratched her head and muttered.
“……He really makes it sound like a last will every time he says he’s going to see an instructor.”
Perhaps it was because his expression had been strangely resolute.
“Phew.”
Jin Crow opened the window of the instructors’ office, a place he had grown accustomed to—and one that was gradually becoming steeped in the smell of cigarettes—and bit down on a black cigarette.
Szzk, fss-.
As always, he lit the tip and drew in a deep drag.
Before long, the murky white smoke mingled with the breeze drifting past the window and vanished without a trace.
“I’m dying.”
The words he forced out through cracked lips were filled with unmistakable fatigue.
For cadets, once exams ended, that was truly the end—but not for instructors.
It was even worse for Jin Crow.
Setting aside the ongoing task of refining the curriculum for the new course, he also had to exchange opinions with Professor Lillian about the training dummy, among a mountain of other work.
Because of that, he was working overtime, rubbing his aching eyelids and the back of his neck.
That was when it happened.
With a ‘creeeak’ sound, the door to the instructors’ office opened, and without even needing to turn his head, he heard a familiar voice.
“Dinner, Instructor.”
It was a voice half-soaked in the desire for sleep.
Because of that, Jin Crow let out a small chuckle, turned his head, looked down at the sandwich and strong black coffee that Assistant Instructor Ginatio was holding, and said,
“I didn’t order anything.”
“……It felt awkward to buy only my own. If you’re not going to eat it, just leave it.”
Even Ginatio, who usually kept his manners in front of him, replied in a slightly rebellious tone after several consecutive nights of overtime.
Even superhumans were still people.
If it had been the battlefield, it might have been easier, but after spending days buried in paperwork with a superior who made you feel sick just by looking at him, wouldn’t even Gandhi snap once?
“No. I was getting hungry anyway. I’ll eat it.”
“……Yes. Well.”
Jin Crow had no intention of needlessly picking on Ginatio, whom he would have to keep seeing.
He wasn’t a psychopath—why would he?
He nodded to Ginatio, who returned the nod with an awkward expression, then stubbed out the half-burnt cigarette, placed it in a portable ashtray, sat down on the sofa, and picked up the sandwich.
“……I want to be discharged.”
Ginatio, who had already taken a bite of his sandwich, muttered that while his lifeless brown eyes flickered, but Jin Crow paid it no mind and took a bite of the sandwich Ginatio had brought.
No—he was about to.
Creeeak-.
That was, unless a familiar face appeared beyond the opening door at that moment.
“Hm?”
Caught off guard by the suddenly opening door, Ginatio turned his head without even thinking to wipe the sauce on his mouth, while Jin Crow lightly set down the sandwich he had been about to eat and instead took a sip of coffee.
The bitter yet warm liquid slid down his esophagus and cleared his muddled mind.
“Assistant Instructor, go down to the first floor for a bit and smoke a cigarette.”
“……Uh. Yes, well.”
At his words, which were clearly unusual at a glance, Ginatio rolled his eyes, then stood up, passing by the cadet who had entered through the door.
Of course, he didn’t forget to close it.
Once Ginatio left his seat like that, it went without saying that only two men remained in Jin Crow’s instructors’ office.
Swoosh-.
Jin Crow took another sip of black coffee, then looked at the cadet who had been staring intently at him from the moment he entered.
“So, what is it?”
No, he asked while looking at Baek Hwi-young.
“Do you know Rordin Amber?”
At the counter-question, Jin Crow paused briefly, then asked in return.
“Who is that?”
The reason was simple.
……Because he genuinely had no idea who that was.