Recently, I’ve been feeling that Rin has been getting weirdly close to me. She approaches with a big smile, getting overly close.
And sometimes, she tries to confirm that I don’t dislike her. At first, I thought she might be feeling anxious.
But looking at her expression, that isn’t it.
‘Does she just want to keep hearing that?’
Like how a lover wants to hear “I love you” repeatedly, Rin seems to be fixated on hearing that I don’t dislike her and wants to keep hearing it.
Honestly, it’s getting a bit annoying and tiring, but since she smiles so brightly after I say it just once, I’ve kind of given up on resisting.
“Wow, you must be really tired.”
Tana, who had just seen Rin visit our class and chat, clicked her tongue.
“Why not just date her?”
I responded with a sigh to Tana’s teasing. If it were normal, Eve would have jumped in, trying to be polite while poking fun at me, but today she’s quiet.
“Hmm?”
“I wonder what book our Eve is so absorbed in.”
Tana and I turned our attention to Eve, who was sitting next to us, still engrossed in her book, hardly listening to us.
“What book are you reading?”
“It looks like it’s about plants? There are pictures.”
As I kept watching, Eve turned a page and met our eyes, startled, and asked:
“Uh… Why? What’s up?”
“What are you reading so seriously?”
“Because our Eve is cute.”
Tana teased, glancing at my book cover. It definitely was a book about plants, but it didn’t seem interesting enough to be that absorbed.
That level of concentration felt more appropriate for reading a romance novel. After all, Eve loves romances.
As I pondered, Eve whispered softly.
“Actually, I’ve been growing a Belliment since second year, but its color seems strange.”
Belliment is a flower known for blooming at this time and surviving until winter. It features beautiful flowers and is easy for beginners to grow. Since I lived in the Forest of the Demon Realm and have tried growing various plants, I was intrigued.
“You say its color is strange?”
“It should normally have a light purple hue, but it’s black.”
“Black?”
I was about to explain how some colors can change depending on the environment, but black?
“Where are you growing it?”
“You know that flowerbed behind our cafeteria? I’ve been secretly growing it there.”
“Oh, really? It’s almost lunchtime, so let’s go see it.”
So, after attending our lecture and grabbing a quick bite at the cafeteria, we headed to the flowerbed, and sure enough, the Belliment was blooming and showing off its black color.
“Hmmm?”
Even though it was behind the cafeteria, the Belliment is a tough flower, so there shouldn’t be a big issue. Thanks to Eve’s diligent care, it actually looked healthier than the surrounding plants.
“Why aren’t you using a pot and are growing it in this flowerbed instead?”
“Actually, I didn’t plan to grow it like this…”
Tana and Eve were chatting, but I was frowning as I examined the Belliment closely.
‘The color is a problem, sure, but the leaf shape and texture are different too. The stem is way too sturdy.’
As I casually dug into the soil, I found quite a number of bug corpses piled up.
“…”
I realized something bizarre was happening, but I didn’t know how it ended up this way.
However, one thing was certain: while Eve had been diligently trying to grow the Belliment, someone with malicious intent was ruining this flowerbed.
‘It’s not just the Belliment. The flowerbed itself is ruined.’
The Belliment was especially affected, but the flowerbed also contained things like cherry tomatoes and basil the cafeteria was growing, but why should I care? They’d handle it properly.
Still, it made me curious.
Even in the harsh environment of the Forest of the Demon Realm, where I grew food crops and flowers for atmosphere, a mutation like this was happening without my knowledge?
‘Interesting.’
After saying we should go, I split from the two and headed to May.
Looking like troublemakers, May and her gang were hanging out on the school rooftop, fooling around since it was lunchtime.
“What’s that?”
“Isn’t that Daniel from Class E? Seems like he’s close with May?”
“Close? More like May’s just playing with him.”
I could hear their chatter, but I ignored it and headed straight for May. Leaning against the railing and sucking on a candy, she didn’t even look at me as she asked.
“What’s up?”
“Can you keep an eye on the kids behind the cafeteria for a while?”
May looked at me perplexed as if I were speaking nonsense, crunching her candy.
“Why? Is something weird going on?”
Though my curiosity was personal, I felt a slight twinge of conscience; however, if I hung on a little longer, I could learn the secret.
“Do you think those kids are my lackeys? They’re all friends.”
“Hmmm?”
That was an unexpected response.
I had assumed she thought of them as just her little minions.
Pouting her lips, she asked shortly after:
“How long?”
“Um, as long as possible?”
“Can you tell me why?”
I thought I might get punched quickly, so I shook my head, putting on a serious face.
“No, it could be dangerous if you know too much.”
I meant “dangerous” for myself.
May then ruffled her hair in annoyance.
“The academy is never quiet. Just when things settled after Rayros’s fiasco, another incident occurs.”
“…”
Feeling guilty, I kept quiet.
With a heavy sigh, May turned to her gang and said:
“Hey guys, do you know if something’s going on in the flowerbed behind the cafeteria?”
She probably was just throwing it out there, but suddenly, the entire gang flinched. It wasn’t just them; even the students who’d been glaring at me for bringing it up were now staring.
“Oh?”
Even May looked taken aback, clearly not expecting this reaction.
“What do you know?”
With a frown, when May asked, one of the girls who’d been quiet slowly spoke up.
“That’s where we smoke…”
“What?”
“No, I mean, May doesn’t smoke anymore. We’re just sneaking off to smoke there.”
Then May raised an eyebrow and looked at me. With an expression that seemed to say “Is this true?” I couldn’t help but chuckle.
But seriously, how can these students be so nonchalant about admitting they smoke?
“Where do you get it?”
But it was odd that the plants had changed so bizarrely just from secondhand smoke, so I asked again. The girl shot me a dirty look.
“Tell me.”
But as soon as May said a word, the girl immediately folded.
“We don’t know. Demalico has a spot he uses, so if we give him money, he gets us some.”
“Hey, honestly, he probably keeps some for himself, right?”
“Yeah, he said he was broke lately.”
“I should follow him one day to see where he goes.”
As I gathered their attention again with a cough, I asked,
“Where’s Demalico?”
From how they were gossiping, it didn’t sound like he was anywhere close by.
Then one of the boys casually replied.
“He’s at the dorm today, claiming he’s not feeling well.”
“Just faking it.”
“Oh, I was supposed to get my cigarettes today.”
I whacked the head of one kid who was sulking and headed toward the door.
“From now on, quit it. If I smell cigarette smoke in the academy from today, whoever is caught will be in trouble.”
They were about to rush at me, but May quickly stopped them and followed me.
“What’s up? Why are you following me?”
“Demalico is my friend since the first year. And if something’s off, it’s probably why you’re hanging around.”
“…”
The truth was, I was only curious if the flower color had changed because of something they used, but I sensed the situation shifting in an odd way.
Was I just putting on a show for May, or was this going to turn into something serious?
As we headed toward the dorm, we stumbled upon Tana and Eve snacking at a café.
“Hey, didn’t you say you were going to lose weight?”
“I worked hard exercising this morning!”
“Eve ate deliciously during lunch, so she’ll work hard to lose it tonight…”
But after all, they’re all the same Eve…
“Daniel, have you found out why the flower color changed?”
“Hmm, I’m still looking.”
I brushed it off, hoping May wouldn’t overhear, and as we entered the dorm,
“Flower color?”
I heard May’s voice low behind me.
I quickly dashed up the stairs, but May was right on my tail, pressing.
“Don’t tell me you’re causing such a fuss over a flower color change?”
Her tone was sharp.
“…”
“Hey.”
She tapped my back with her fist, starting to get annoyed, just in time as we reached Demalico’s room on the third floor.
“Hey, Demalico!”
“Look at this commotion, trying to change the subject.”
While I didn’t even know what he looked like, I opened the door without knocking, wanting to avoid May’s grilling.
Inside, there was a girl and a boy who looked like Demalico.
At first, I thought they were lovers, but seeing the dagger pointed at Demalico’s neck, it didn’t seem like it.
The girl was someone I recognized.
“Sen?”
The Chokugen Faction member had her usual overflowing emotions replaced with a complete poker face as she aimed the dagger at Demalico.
Meanwhile, a crying Demalico was saying,
“De, Demalico?”
His skin had turned rough as tree bark, shedding off in chunks.
