"Caelus, good morning."
"Good morning, Lake."
"All right, Caelus."
Caelus looked at Lake, who wore her school uniform beneath the same red cloak from yesterday.
The girl also turned her gaze toward him.
They stared at each other for a moment before looking away.
Caelus continued teaching, while Lake calmly took notes and watched the blackboard.
"Alice! Your savior, your teacher, and the person you like seems to have some connection with another mysterious student!"
"And the two of them even seem strangely in sync!"
"Could Alice's first love already be over? Is it going to end in failure?"
Alice's face instantly turned red as she listened to Lief whispering beside her ear.
She did not know whether it was from embarrassment or anger.
However, since class was still in progress, she could not say anything and could only sit there with a flushed face.
After teasing Alice, Lief turned her attention toward Lake, who was sitting nearby, and frowned slightly.
"What's going on? Why does she look familiar too?"
"What is wrong with me? Why does everyone I meet seem familiar?"
"Yesterday, when I was walking home with Alice, we met a missionary nun named Jeanne, and she seemed familiar too."
"What is happening to me?"
Today's mathematics lesson was the same as yesterday's.
Every student's scattered thoughts disappeared completely during class.
Everyone listened attentively.
Even the delinquents who struggled academically and normally refused to study absorbed knowledge like sponges soaking up water.
The students' chaotic desires and thoughts were devoured by Caelus as payment for the lesson.
Naturally, this included Alice, Norden, Pricket, Mabel, and the newly returned Lake.
Just like yesterday, Caelus finished the lesson at precisely the right moment.
One second after the bell rang, he announced the end of class.
Before the ringing had even completely stopped, he had already left the classroom.
When he returned to the faculty office, a woman with long orange hair was leaning lazily against his desk.
She was holding and casually flipping through a book that resembled a grimoire.
"Hello. You must be the new teacher."
"My name is Dorothy. I teach history."
The woman's voice possessed a particularly alluring quality, along with the charm and elegance unique to a mature woman.
Combined with her relaxed posture, she was more than capable of captivating countless younger men.
After hearing her name, Caelus looked at the woman before him.
Several blurred images flashed through his mind.
In one scene, a woman with a similar appearance and the same name wore a gentle smile as she taught him all kinds of magical knowledge.
In another, the woman had changed into casual clothes worn at home.
A happy smile covered her face, and she seemed able to look through the hazy image and see Caelus standing beyond it.
In the final scene, the woman's clothes were stained with blood.
She stared at him with pain, helplessness, and overwhelming sorrow.
All the blurred images shattered and disappeared.
The world before Caelus returned to normal.
However, those vanished scenes had left behind impressions that felt undeniably real, engraving themselves into his mind.
"Hello, Ms. Dorothy."
"...Ms. Dorothy? Ah, yes."
Dorothy seemed to freeze upon hearing the title.
Only after a moment did she respond.
It was as though those words had touched upon some distant memory.
As a teacher, Dorothy had naturally been addressed that way countless times.
Rather than the title itself awakening something within her, it seemed to be the person who had spoken it.
Caelus said nothing more.
He appeared completely unconcerned by the visions he had just witnessed.
After gathering his belongings, he left.
His classes for the day were already over, so the rest of his time was his own.
Before leaving the school, he passed by the athletics field.
There, he saw an agile figure sprinting at astonishing speed.
The girl's physique seemed completely unsuited for running, yet the speed she displayed left every student chasing behind her far in the distance.
"Wow! Senior Dodo is incredible!"
"She has such an amazing figure, but she can still run faster than everyone else!"
"At this rate, she might even become a professional athlete!"
"Yeah! She might compete internationally and win a gold medal someday!"
"Then we'll be able to say we went to school with a champion!"
"Should we ask for an autograph or a photo now? It might become valuable in the future!"
"You're right!"
"Senior Dodo is really friendly too. I'm sure she wouldn't mind taking a picture with us!"
After finishing their conversation, several students immediately ran toward the athletics field.
Caelus remained where he was and watched the running figure.
As expected, several vague images flashed before his eyes again.
He calmly observed them until they disappeared, then continued walking home.
From beginning to end, the visions did not appear to cause any significant emotional fluctuation within him.
While walking home, Caelus passed a bus stop just as a bus pulled in.
A girl wearing a maid uniform stepped off while carrying a suitcase.
She had pink hair and eyes as crimson as blood.
When she saw Caelus, obvious joy appeared on her face.
A moment later, that joy turned into confusion.
She seemed unable to understand why seeing him had filled her heart with happiness.
After hesitating for a while, the maid gathered her courage and walked toward him, seemingly intending to speak.
Her shy yet determined expression would have been enough to make most men stop and listen carefully to whatever she wanted to say.
Caelus, however, merely stood still and waited for the illusion before his eyes to disappear.
Then he walked past the maid just as she took a step toward him.
An unmistakably heartbroken expression appeared on her face.
She remained standing there for a long time, with tears nearly gathering in her eyes.
Even then, the heartless man never turned around.
He simply kept walking.
Only when vague, flickering scenes appeared before his eyes would he stop for a moment.
Otherwise, he continued forward without pause.
It was as though every unusual thing appearing along the road was merely scenery worth stopping briefly to admire.
Once he had finished looking, he would continue toward his destination.
Caelus took out his key and prepared to open the door to his apartment.
At that moment, he heard movement from next door.
The neighboring door opened, and another strangely familiar person appeared before him.
"Hello. I'm your new neighbor."
"My name is Grand Guignol. I look forward to getting along with you."
A blonde girl wearing a blue dress raised her head and looked at Caelus.
Her expression was stiff and lifeless, almost like that of a doll.
Caelus stared into her sharply contrasting black-and-white eyes for a moment before speaking.
"Hello. My name is Caelus."
"Mm. It has been a long time, Grimm."
The sound of turning gears echoed.
The moment those final words were spoken, Caelus felt an incredibly powerful impact strike his emotions.
He wanted to kill.
He wanted to destroy.
It was an intense hatred toward something, accompanied by rage rising from the deepest part of his heart.
Under that violent emotional impact, Caelus's golden eyes merely brightened slightly.
"My name is Caelus."
All the intense emotions that had been awakened were transformed into pure Destruction.
The Path of Destruction strengthened at that moment, further reinforcing the personal path Caelus had formed from several different Paths.
After saying this, Caelus opened his door, entered the apartment, and closed it behind him.
Afterward, everything returned to silence.
(To be continued.)