SRS 24

“By the way, Mikael still isn’t here.”

They hadn’t seen Mikael since the night before. Since Suhyeok said the roll call went without issue, he must’ve returned to the dorm and gone to sleep, but when Yohan woke up early at dawn after trying not to sleep more than four hours, Mikael was already gone.

When did he come back, and when did he leave? With how often he disappeared, Yohan sometimes felt like Mikael was an illusion of Fantasiademia.

Maybe all the new students were having a collective hallucination, and Mikael didn’t exist at all.

That thought crossed his mind for a moment, but he quickly dismissed the theory when he recalled the professors’ reactions. Most of them ignored Mikael’s eccentric behavior, but none denied his existence.

As Yohan looked around, Suhyeok gave him a tired look.

“You’re always looking for Mikael. Don’t you get tired of worrying about him all the time?”

“Not really.”

“Huh? If it were me, I’d be exhausted. Kylus and I have pretty much stopped caring by now.”

Suhyeok suddenly slung an arm around Kylus’s shoulders. Kylus squirmed like a drenched cat, obviously uncomfortable, but Suhyeok didn’t seem to care at all.

“So why do you keep worrying about him?”

“Hmm…”

Caught off guard, Yohan climbed onto his griffin, which he’d been separated from during the fight, and murmured, his voice slightly hoarse.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I just… keep thinking about him.”

Yohan sometimes tilted his head at himself too, wondering why he kept looking for Mikael or trying to take care of him. It was strange to be so concerned about a classmate he’d only known for a month.

But he couldn’t help it, his eyes and his thoughts just kept drifting toward him.

“…I guess I’m the type who starts to worry when someone’s not around.”

“Yes… honestly, when he’s gone, I do start wondering if he’s off causing trouble somewhere.”

“It feels a little different from that…”

The conversation somehow kept missing the mark. Yohan rubbed his eyebrow, racking his brain, while Suhyeok scrutinized his expression and sighed.

“You sound like you pity him or something.”

“…Does it sound that way?”

“Yes. I can’t really relate, but I kind of understand it. Yohan, you’ve always been weak toward things that look pitiful.”

Have I?

It made him reflect on his past, Yohan scratched his cheek and pictured Mikael.

Did he look pitiful?

He wasn’t sure. Maybe… he looked a little holy instead?

“…Maybe, or maybe not.”

Perhaps it was that strange holy aura that drew Yohan to him. Like a thirsty creature drawn to a spring, it was almost instinctive for a priest like Yohan to feel closeness toward something divine.

…Though, the fact that Mikael couldn’t use divine power still bothered him, even if that mysterious energy around him was real.

After sorting his thoughts, Yohan looked a little more relaxed.

“I am sure of one thing, I’m just curious about him.”

“I agree with that. I can’t figure out what he is.”

“…Or what race he is,” Kylus added, proving that the thoughts of the students in Dorm 304 were more or less the same.

Yohan looked at his friends’ faces and laughed. Mikael was such an odd presence that everyone seemed fascinated by him.

“See? No matter what you say, you’re all thinking about him too.”

If Suhyeok and Kylus really didn’t care, they wouldn’t have responded like that. When Yohan pointed that out, both men flinched and exchanged uncomfortable looks.

“Ugh, this feels weird now that you mention it. I can’t even deny it.”

“Yohan, if you’re going to keep talking nonsense, go to the headmaster’s office.”

“Oh, right. The headmaster’s office.”

Yohan finally remembered they were supposed to visit the headmaster before first period ended. Gathering with Suhyeok and Seiga, who would be receiving rewards alongside him, Yohan mounted his griffin and was about to take off when he paused and turned to them.

“By the way… do you know where the headmaster’s office actually is?”

Both friends who had been preparing to depart blinked in confusion.

“I don’t know.”

“Me neither. Yohan, didn’t you know?”

“…Huh? I don’t know either.”

“……”

Silence fell among them. The three looked at each other for a moment, then let out a collective sigh.

“…Well, that’s our first problem.”

“No wonder he was so quick to offer a reward.”

“Of course! That bastard headmaster. If he didn’t want to give it, he could’ve just said so instead of pulling this stunt!”

Yohan ignored how the words behind him were getting increasingly rude and thought of the nameless headmaster.

It was wise of him to hide his name to protect his dignity.

“For now, let’s ask around.”

Clinging to a thin sliver of hope, Yohan and his friends went to question the other students. But even after asking every new student, no one knew where the headmaster’s office was. It made sense, first-years rarely ever left their designated area.

“Ah…”

“Hmm…”

“Damn…”

Helpless, Yohan, Seiga, and Suhyeok circled aimlessly in the air on their griffins. Watching the three spin in midair like they’d lost their minds, their friends felt sorry for them and decided to look for Mikael instead. They were sure a veteran like him would know.

But Mikael was still nowhere to be found. The new students comforted the three who were about to lose their chance at the reward and cursed the headmaster together.

They complained that if this was how it was going to be, there was no point in making them pick three people at all. One by one, they gave up and started heading back to the dorms, deciding to at least enjoy the unexpected free period.

Then something happened. A student flying ahead suddenly shouted, “Oh! The phoenix! It’s a phoenix feather!”

A beastman with keen eyesight pointed at the ground.

“Huh…?”

Yohan and Suhyeok both gasped at the same time. The moment they heard about the feather, they sudden had an idea.

Suhyeok’s expression brightened as he lowered his flight altitude.

“The feather must’ve fallen from the phoenix’s body. If we follow the trail, we might find the headmaster’s office.”

As he swooped lower and picked up a feather, the students cheered.

“Nice, Yohan!”

“Make sure you get that reward!”

“And tell us what it is after!”

Amid all the cheers, Yohan, Seiga, and Suhyeok began following the trail of feathers. At first, finding each one was tricky and slow, but as they got used to it, their pace quickened. It started to seem like they could reach the headmaster’s office before time ran out.

They would have…

If not for the black harpoon that suddenly came flying.

“Yohan, move!”

Suhyeok noticed the ambush first and shouted, ramming his griffin into Yohan’s to knock him aside. The impact sent Yohan spinning in the air.

Whoosh!

A black harpoon grazed his head. The vicious gust it left behind whipped against his ears, and only then did Yohan realize how close it had been. He turned in horror toward the direction it had come from.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

More harpoons flew toward them one after another. Forced to dodge in midair, Yohan and his friends clung to their griffins’ saddles and shouted.

“Left!”

The griffin spun left, twisting in a full 360-degree roll to avoid the shot.

“Right!”

Now excited, the griffin spun right and smacked away another incoming harpoon with the hardened strength of its wings.

“Huff, huff…”

Barely avoiding each strike, Yohan and his friends finally understood why they’d had those strange aerial gymnastics lessons with their griffins.

If you lived in Fantasiademia long enough, there would come a time when you’d have to dodge attacks midair.

Squinting his eyes, Yohan stared down below. The barrage of attacks stopped for a while, but he didn’t relax. Together with Suhyeok, he remained on alert, waiting and watching.

Then…

“My, I’m sorry. It seems my team members made a mistake while doing an assignment.”

A man with jet-black hair appeared before them, flying through the air without a griffin. He stopped at their level and bowed slightly, looking apologetic.

“…Whoa.”

Seiga unconsciously exclaimed in awe before quickly covering her mouth.

It was understandable.

Even Yohan, who was used to seeing Mikael and Kylus’s beautiful faces every day, found himself taken aback.

The man’s voice was as beautiful as his face, but there was something eerie about him, something that made Yohan feel like he might be bewitched if he stared too long. The man’s curved eyes glinted as he smiled softly at Yohan.

That smile, so perfect it could’ve enchanted everyone present, made the hair on Yohan’s arms rise. He instinctively stepped back, rubbing at the goosebumps that spread across his skin.

The feeling was familiar. His heartbeat took a rhythm he had felt once before. Frowning unconsciously, Yohan’s lips parted.

“Demon?”

He regretted it immediately. Making assumptions about someone’s race was considered extremely rude in Fantasiademia.

Hearing his mutter, the black-haired man’s smile grew wider.

It was a flawless smile, one that could have captivated every soul present without effort.