White ceiling. That was all Sato Sho could see at first, and for a while, he didn't even know where he was. His body felt heavy. There was no sensation in his fingertips and toes, as if someone had stuffed cotton into them. But he was definitely breathing. (……I'm alive.) Something so obvious felt strangely fresh. Sho slowly moved his neck. Light streaming through the window was blinding. The infirmary of Academia Lumina—white curtains swayed gently in the breeze, and the smell of disinfectant spread through his nostrils. He could hear birds chirping from outside. It was quiet. And then. Emilia was sitting in a chair beside the bed. Her long silver hair spilled over the back of the chair. With both arms resting on her knees, leaning forward slightly, she was breathing softly in sleep. Her eyelashes trembled finely, and the small birthmark on her left cheek was clearly visible from this angle. Thump—something jumped in his chest. "You're awake!?" A voice flew at him. When Sho turned toward it, Jack was sitting in another chair by the wall, wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Bandages on his head, around his neck, on his right arm. The way he was wrapped made you wonder where exactly he'd gotten injured, yet somehow his expression was perfectly fine. His dimples were in full bloom. [excited] "Man, finally! Three days, dude! Three days! I've been waiting this whole time!" [surprised] "……Three days?" "Yeah, three days. Severe mana depletion syndrome, the doctor said. He was super worried," Jack lowered his voice and grinned. He confirmed that Sho's gaze was directed at Emilia, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then continued. [whispers] "And that person over there hasn't gone home once in three days." "……Huh?" [excited] "Not once. Hasn't gone home. Been right there the whole time. Sleeping in that chair, waking up in that chair, looking at your face, then sleeping in that chair again. We even got close enough that I bought some sweet bread from Corne's little shop and we split it." Sho turned his gaze back to Emilia. Three days, the whole time——. Something spread slowly through his chest. It was different from the jumping sensation from before. Something warmer, slower, quietly filling him up. (She's a good person.) That's what he thought. But the word "good person" didn't even come close to capturing what he felt. There was definitely something in his chest that far exceeded that simple phrase. [whispers] "I mean, it's not like that. Emilia was just worried, and she and I aren't——" "Ah, you're awake," A voice came. Emilia's eyes opened. With a sleepy, half-dreaming expression on her face, she was looking straight at Sho. Her aquamarine eyes blinked repeatedly, trying to focus. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Emilia's face turned bright red in an instant. Her ears, her neck—everything was red. [surprised] "——Ah, y-you should have said something when you woke up!!" She jumped up from the chair, clutched her analysis notebook tightly to her chest, and forcefully opened the infirmary door——and left. The door closed with a bang. Silence. Sho looked at Jack. Jack looked at Sho. They both burst out laughing at the same time. [laughing] "What the hell were you saying! She definitely heard you!" [laughing] "Wait, she heard that? With a whisper like that!?" "She definitely heard it! For sure!" Laughter echoed through the infirmary. But the warmth in Sho's chest from before remained, undiminished. No, that wasn't it—he tried to dismiss it as his imagination, but he couldn't. The fact that Emilia had been here for three days stubbornly refused to leave his mind. (……That girl, she really……) He couldn't find the words to continue. All he knew was that the light outside the window seemed somehow brighter. 　＊ That afternoon, half-sitting up in the infirmary bed, Sho heard the full story from Jack. The day after the Gloomfang battle, the Pedagogical Council that ran the academy—the decision-making body composed of Academia Lumina's faculty and upper management—was convened in an emergency session. It was to discuss the response to the seal collapse, but apparently Sho's treatment was also brought up as an agenda item. [serious] "And the conclusion was: Sho's magic usage ban is revoked. Plus, he's formally accepted as a special research student in ancient magic." "Special research student……" "It was posted on the big bulletin board in the academy's grand hall. Yesterday. In huge letters," Sho gazed vaguely out the window. The traces of Gloomfang's rampage should still be visible around the Practice Field. The purification marks on the stone pavement, the collapsed outer wall. When he remembered that night, his fingertips trembled slightly. The next morning, when Sho was finally able to leave the infirmary and walk the hallway——he understood immediately. The change was obvious. "[excited] Sho! That flame magic yesterday was insane! That's ancient magic, right!?" Not Jack. A different voice. When Sho turned around, two second-year boys came running up with smiles on their faces. Faces that had ignored him when they passed in the hallway a week ago. "It was amazing! When I heard it was Gloomfang, I thought we were done for at first!" Not Jack again. Another voice. Sho responded pleasantly. "Well, we managed somehow," While making a smile, something inside him caught slightly. From the same mouths that a week ago had said "I wish you hadn't come," completely opposite words were coming out today in this same hallway. "It was amazing." They probably weren't bad people. But somehow——he couldn't quite swallow it. His smile stiffened just a little. He felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Jack. His bandages had loosened somewhat, but he still had them wrapped around his head. [gentle] "Your face is looking pretty complicated there." "……Is it?" "It is. Well, I get it though," Jack walked alongside Sho down the hallway, lowering his voice. His dimples were smiling, but his eyes were slightly serious. [serious] "People are like that. They flow toward the stronger side. But hey——if you hadn't been there, the academy wouldn't exist. That's the real truth." Sho looked at Jack's profile. Now that he thought about it, this guy had crawled across the ground on his arms while covered in corrosive poison, saying "If you don't do it, who will?" His only redeeming quality was supposedly his speed in running away, yet he had pushed Sho's back the hardest that night. [gentle] "……Thanks." He said it briefly. Jack grinned. [laughing] "I'm accepting thanks in the form of a curry set from Hinodamari Pavilion. Their mana-infused soup is amazing——" "After I'm discharged," The thing that had been catching in his chest dissolved away. 　＊ When Sho returned to the infirmary, Emilia was there. With an expression as if the incident from earlier had never happened, she was sitting in a chair with her analysis notebook spread open. But the moment Sho returned, her gaze turned toward him for just an instant before returning to the notebook. Her ears were definitely tinged with red—he was sure of it. Sho sat down on the bed and rummaged through his bag. The ancient textbook——an old book with leather binding——was there. The confiscation procedure had been postponed to the day before the battle, so it was still in his possession. Sho turned the pages. The purification spell page. The page that had become golden flames that night, pushing back Gloomfang. The next page was completely black. Sho stared at it for several seconds. Before the battle, this page had been blank. It had been completely white with nothing on it. But now it was pitch black, as if covered in ink, letting no light through. "Emilia, can you look at this?" Emilia looked up. The moment she saw the textbook he was offering, her eyebrows moved slightly. She stood up with her notebook and came to the side of the bed. [serious] "……This page wasn't here before the battle, was it?" "Right. It was blank," Emilia gently took the textbook. She touched the page with her fingertips, as if confirming something, in a quiet motion. "I'll apply mana sensing," A Paradigm-style incantation was woven, small and precise. A thin light ignited at her fingertips and slid across the page. After a while, Emilia shook her head. "Zero information," "Zero?" [serious] "Next, I'll attempt cross-referencing with ancient texts." Another spell. More light. More silence. And again——a shake of the head. Emilia opened her notebook and began writing something. The sound of her pen filled the infirmary. Sho peeked at the notebook from the side. 'Black page. Mana sensing, character analysis, ancient text cross-reference——all methods unable to obtain information. Seal, or perhaps something lost as the price of purification?' And in small parentheses at the end: 'Confirm Sho's physical condition' Sho saw those four characters and felt something he wanted to say, but didn't know what. [serious] "Are there any abnormalities in your physical condition?" Her tone was that of a researcher. But her eyes never left Sho. "Well……I have a bad feeling about something, but I can't explain it well," [serious] "I'll investigate. You should prioritize recovery." She said it decisively. Not a shred of hesitation. Sho watched her profile. Emilia was already writing something in her notebook. She decided to investigate for him as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and began moving as if it were obvious. It wasn't something obvious like a confession. But——. (This girl, she really……) Again, he couldn't find the words to continue, and Sho looked up at the ceiling. 　＊ A few minutes after Emilia left the room to get materials from the hallway, the door opened. "You're awake," Purple bob-cut hair, silver narrow eyes. Rina, with her 162-centimeter slender frame and expressionless face, entered the infirmary, and Sho straightened his posture slightly on the bed. [serious] "Thanks for that time. If you hadn't been there——" "You're not the only one who owes a debt," She cut him off sharply. Rina stood in front of Sho without sitting in the chair, looking down at him. [cold] "Can I ask you one thing?" "What?" "That flame. Were you controlling it, or weren't you?" Sho thought for a moment. Whether to answer honestly or be vague——but he couldn't bring himself to lie to someone who had stood beside him on that battlefield that night. "To be honest, I wasn't controlling it completely. If Emilia hadn't been feeding mana from behind, I don't think the output would have gone that high," Rina's silver eyes narrowed slightly. What she was thinking was unreadable from her expression. Sho was about to continue when—— The door opened. Emilia returned with materials in her arms. In an instant——her expression changed. More precisely, her expression disappeared. She saw Rina, saw Sho, confirmed that both of them were in the same room, and then quietly entered as if nothing had happened. But she stood by the wall. The farthest position from Sho's bed. Sho noticed Emilia and tried to call out to her. But he was in the middle of a conversation with Rina, and seeing Emilia open her notebook and start writing something, he decided to do it later. [cold] "……I understand. That's all." Rina said that briefly and looked at Sho's face one more time. She seemed about to say something, then stopped. "I'm done here," With just those words, she quietly opened the door and——left. Sho looked at Emilia. Emilia stood by the wall, clutching her notebook tightly to her chest. She wasn't looking at Sho. "Emilia, are you……angry?" Emilia hugged her notebook even tighter. [serious] "I'm not angry." "……Your voice sounds lower," [serious] "I'm not angry at all." "That's the second time you've said that," [serious] "I'm not angry whatsoever." She said