73 Exposed
Nova had slept well into the morning- which was fine, as today was a holiday for the school.
When he woke up, he found that Reischneid was still unresponsive.
『...Reischneid..』[Nova]
When he sat up, he felt a piercing pain in his forehead.
『Argh… Sir Fluffles?』[Nova]
He closed his eyes and directed some mana to the spot in his forehead.
『...Nova? Are you alright?!』[Sir Fluffles]
The dog's cheerful voice began to echo through Nova's eardrums.
『Ah.. Yeah. Do you know what happened yesterday?』[Nova]
『After you passed out, the old man said that he was ..."materializing"?』[Sir Fluffles]
Nova got a bit nervous.
『So, what happened next?』[Nova]
『He appeared and fought the demon!』[Sir Fluffles]
Sir Fluffles sounded a bit scared when he brought up demon.
『Demon? What do you mean demon?』[Nova]
『It was a big yellow thing that shot out lasers! It was covered in blood and gross things! Scary!』[Sir Fluffles]
Sir Fluffles jumped out of Nova's mental space and climbed into Nova's arms.
『What happened then?!』[Nova]
Nova got excited, as if he was hearing a legendary story.
He stroked Sir Fluffles' fur while Sir Fluffles explained the rest of the story.
『The old man beat the demon before he tried to stop your bleeding the best he could, then he quickly explained to me what he had to tell you!』[Sir Fluffles]
Nova went silent.
『He said "I'll be sleeping for a little bit. I'm not sure if this will happen, but if the sword's gem looks different, then we're probably all undergoing a change of some kind. I'll explain it after I wake up, but don't worry too much about it.".... Or something like that!』[Sir Fluffles]
Nova took a long breath.
『I was worried, you know?』[Nova]
Nova squished Sir Fluffles' face and rubbed him all over until his dragon tail was wagging.
『But.. Nova! You passed out first! We were worried for you, not the other way around!』[Sir Fluffles]
『Uh… I wasn't used to losing blood and I guess the mana leaked out with it?』[Nova]
『...Nova… you kind of suck...』[Sir Fluffles]
『Hahaha! Let's go get some food!』[Nova]
Nova's mood changed drastically the moment Sir Fluffles returned.
Sir Fluffles vanished into Nova's mental space.
『...I'm hungry.』[Nova]
-----------
「...I feel scammed?」[Nova]
When he got to the cafeteria, the doors were shut with a sign on them.
「...The cafeteria is closed...」[Nova]
Nova's stomach howled from hunger.
Without a doubt, Nova was hungry because of the ordeal he experienced yesterday.
And yet… without a doubt, the cafeteria was closed.
『...What do I do now..?』[Nova]
Nova turned around and looked outside the window.
Some students were going into the city, whereas some were just coming back.
Nova took out his student ID and found out that Rai and the others had gone out to spend the holiday doing something fun.
『...Maybe it wasn't a good idea to go out yesterday?』[Nova]
The amount of mana he had left was so little that he felt like his stomach was being digested.
At this point in time, he could have eaten the food challenge as a snack.
『Hooh? Is that you, Nova?』
A voice echoed out from behind him, causing him to turn around.
Standing there was a platinum blonde, blue eyed woman.
『Mrs. Frey?!』[Nova]
Standing in front of him was Freyana's mom.
『What are you doing here?』[Nova]
『I was preparing the food for this week. Would you like to try some?』[Mrs. Frey]
Nova took this moment to go over several things in his head.
「Isn't it a bit awkward to accept Freyana's mom's offer?」[Nova]
「It's strange if I spend time with just her without Freyana, right?」[Nova]
However…
「Freyana's mom's food is… really good….」[Nova]
Before he knew it, he was being lured into the cafeteria by Freyana's mother.
『How have you and Freyana been getting along?』[Mrs. Frey]
He briefly thought of the last few weeks.
「Huh.. Do we get along?」[Nova]
Now that he had thought about it, he hadn't had any luck with any girls before.
「What is getting along in a relationship?」[Nova]
This question made him blank out for a moment.
「How do normal couples get along? I just kind of ate my way into her heart..」[Nova]
After waiting a moment, Mrs. Frey cleared her throat and brought Nova back to the real world.
『Ehm… We get along well!』[Nova]
If he really had to think about it, he got along well with her.
She stared at him with eyes that seemed almost shut.
『...Hmm?』[Mrs. Frey]
Nova felt strangely uncomfortable.
『Okay! Here, have some carbonara!』[Mrs. Frey]
She slid a creamy pasta dish over to Nova.
『Carbonara? I've never ha-』[Nova]
The moment it was before him, a rich smell assaulted his nose.
『It's a specialty of mine. It's made with guanciale- a cured pork- kinda like bacon. Parmigiano and a special miso, with cured egg yolks on top.』[Mrs. Frey]
It looked extremely simple and yet seemed infinitely appealing to Nova.
『It… looks delicious.』[Nova]
『Well, you know, Bana and I created that when we just got married!』[Mrs. Frey]
She had a deep look in her eyes.
Nova wanted to eat but felt like she was about to get into some story.
After a brief moment of silence, she slightly raised her voice at Nova.
『...Aren't you gonna try it?!』[Mrs. Frey]
『Huh?! Sorry… I thought you were- nevermind...』[Nova]
He picked up a fork and swirled some pasta around it.
When he picked it up, he eyed the golden noodles before placing them in his mouth.
It tasted like an unexplainable savory bomb of flavor.
After that first bite, he continued to eat, before he eventually finished the entire dish.
The moment he was done, Mrs. Frey looked at him with an unsatisfied look.
『...Nova.』[Mrs. Frey]
『Uh.. Yes, mam?』[Nova]
『Did you know that the bracelet on your arm tracks more than just your mana?』[Mrs. Frey]
Nova raised his arm and realized that he was still wearing the bracelet that Reagan had forced him to wear.
She had a concerned look on her face.
『When a student's life is in danger, the school staff is notified if they're on duty.』[Mrs. Frey]
A cold chill went down his spine.
『When Freyana was on duty cooking yesterday, she got a notification that a certain person had died.』[Mrs. Frey]
『Huh..? Died..?』[Nova]
『Yes. I won't blame you if you don't want to tell me the details but...』[Mrs. Frey]
She had looked away from him.
『That dish could only be created because Bana had told me his honest opinion of it.』[Mrs. Frey]
She took the plate and gave him a smile.
『Why don't you take Freyana around town today?』[Mrs. Frey]
Nova was a little stunned.
『...Yes, mam...』[Nova]
