Saturday was a day off from the Academy.
Still, I was up early in the morning, looking in the mirror and getting ready with determination.
I was now familiar with the routine—washing my hair, drying it, and then busy brushing it down.
"...Hmm."
After looking in the mirror and turning my head from side to side, I nodded and made final adjustments to my clothes. A neat shirt with a blue ribbon underneath. A blazer with a pure white background and blue accent lines.
The uniform was truly beautiful. The texture of the white shirt was so nice that it was a bit sad knowing that when it eventually wore out and needed replacing, I'd have to survive on convenience store bread instead of cafeteria meals for several days.
After one final check, I swept my hair back and left the bathroom.
"You're early?"
"Hehe... I guess I am... Did I come too early?"
"Not at all. I didn't have anything to do while waiting anyway."
At Orca's words, I smiled wryly and scratched my cheek.
It seemed Yoon Ha-min hadn't arrived yet.
Since I'd been here once before, finding my way wasn't difficult, but entering alone without Yoon Ha-min made me feel uneasy.
It wasn't that the Ramiris family members were bad people, but I just disliked that unique suffocating pressure they exuded.
They probably wouldn't put that kind of pressure on me as a guest, but just thinking about Orca having to endure it made me feel like I couldn't breathe.
Still, I understood that as one of the central families managing the Wall, they had to be strict, so I wasn't opposed to it.
Following Orca's lead, I stepped inside and looked back once more.
A clean, modern building—a pristine white mansion that seemed to suit Orca perfectly came into view.
Originally, we should have passed by and gone to the training hall at the corner of the estate, but since Yoon Ha-min wasn't here yet, Orca was guiding me to the mansion instead.
"This is..."
As I hesitated and asked, Orca waved away someone who looked like a butler, indicating not to worry.
"It's fine. We have plenty of time, so let's have some tea."
At her words, I pushed aside my bewilderment and followed her.
"I've asked to be notified when Yoon Ha-min arrives, so don't worry."
As we climbed the stairs, my body suddenly tensed.
I hesitated, wondering if it was okay to enter a girl's room alone.
I had already nodded and started walking, but suddenly shaking my head would seem strange, so I felt anxious.
I took a small breath.
We reached the second floor and walked down the hallway, heading toward Orca's room.
Swallowing nervously, I watched the door open with tension.
Inside was a girl's room.
Orca's room, which I hadn't seen in the novel.
I was curious about what it looked like, my gaze drawn to it.
But the moment the door opened, my expectations immediately deflated.
A truly businesslike space greeted me—a stark landscape of black and white alternating like a checkerboard.
Come to think of it, my own room wasn't exactly what you'd call a typical girl's room either.
"I'll bring the tea right away."
Orca said that and left the room briefly.
Shortly after, she returned with a glass teapot containing tea leaves.
The teacups filled with fragrant tea.
It was impressive that the room had a sofa for receiving guests.
The room was incredibly spacious, incomparable to where I lived.
I couldn't help but wonder if there were several more rooms like this, and my admiration spilled out.
"How is it? Is it alright?"
"Ah, yes."
I nodded and picked up my teacup, following Orca's lead.
The hot liquid flowed down my throat.
As I sipped with a soft sound, I found it didn't have much of a taste.
The aroma was nice, but the flavor? Well...
Apparently, I preferred foods with sweet and salty stimulating flavors.
But I wasn't foolish enough to show my true feelings, so I tried my best to mimic her.
Drinking the tea, savoring it, and swallowing it.
Orca was smiling as she watched me.
Wondering if my tea-drinking form looked awkward, I hastily put down the teacup as if nothing had happened.
Contrary to my expectations, she brought up a different topic.
"Is your right hand okay?"
"My right hand?"
Reflexively looking at my right hand, I could barely recall that it had been heavily bandaged before, though it was fine now.
With a sigh of realization, I waved my hand with an awkward smile.
"It's completely healed now, so it's fine."
A smooth hand.
But this wasn't a hand that had been injured and healed—it was a hand obtained after being damaged and lost to a Mysterious Person.
It might as well be a hand that had never been injured.
Hearing my words, Orca hesitated before carefully asking.
"...You didn't hurt yourself intentionally, did you?"
She asked as if wondering "what if," feeling she had to ask even though it might be rude. I nodded.
"Yes."
At my brief answer without hesitation, her breath seemed to stop for a moment.
But that didn't last long.
She voiced what she had been holding inside.
"I'm curious about something."
"Yes, if I can answer..."
"May I ask how you knew the Wall would collapse?"
It was a question I'd heard before.
The same question Mrs. Lucia had asked me when I returned to school after a long absence.
There was no need to keep it secret anyway.
Yoon Ha-min, Orca, and Mrs. Lucia—these three already knew what I had said.
Before I could open my mouth, Orca's lips trembled.
"...Was it just a lucky guess?"
"No...!"
No way.
If I had answered "Yes!" trying to hide it, who knows what would have happened.
I might have thrown away all the goodwill and trust I'd built up.
So I had to deny it with a surprised voice.
"Then how did you know?"
"It's like... an intuition that comes occasionally..."
This wasn't a story with a regression anyway.
There was no one who would judge my existence as anomalous.
So I smoothly delivered a lie.
A lie that no one could easily determine was true or false.
If I called it intuition or an ability, people would have no choice but to accept it.
"Intuition?"
"I suddenly felt extremely anxious, and I hated that feeling, so I looked and it was coming from the Wall..."
I continued speaking calmly.
I couldn't say I had seen them in a novel, that this event would happen, and that everyone nearby except Yoon Ha-min would die. I had to phrase it differently.
Orca hesitated for a moment.
She looked like she couldn't believe what I said, but also like she was trembling because she did believe it.
"Could that be Kanna's ability?"
No, I don't have such a useful ability.
Although I knew some information, I had become almost ignorant about upcoming events, so it wasn't particularly useful.
"I don't know."
I already knew the answer, but I wanted to give the other person time to think and create room for speculation.
This wouldn't backfire, and the other person would inflate the idea on their own.
"I see..."
At my ambiguous answer, Orca slightly drooped her shoulders.
Then she took another sip of tea.
The atmosphere felt a bit awkward, but I thought the flow wasn't bad.
After tilting the teacup once or twice more, there was a knock at the door.
Before I could turn my head with wide eyes, Orca stood up.
"Looks like Yoon Ha-min is here."
"Seems so."
I followed her and got up as well.
"Oh, Kanna, you're here super early."
Yoon Ha-min saw me beside Orca and opened his eyes wide in surprise.
I waved with a wry smile, and Orca elegantly guided us to the training hall.
"Shall we go inside like before?"
"Thanks."
And so my training began again today.
I was already trembling at the thought of how brutal it would be after a week off, and I hadn't even changed into my uniform yet.
Arriving at the training hall, I first tightly fastened the black belt around my pristine white uniform and moved my body.
The uniform fluttered with each movement.
Orca sighed and approached me.
"Kanna, I told you to do warm-up exercises before moving like that."
"Ah, right. I forgot...!"
Realizing my mistake, I moved back into the proper stance.
Then I slowly tried to release the tension in my body.
What did I do first again?
I had been to Orca's house before, but only once, so I didn't remember the order of the warm-up exercises we had done.
Frowning as I tried to recall, I started with the first thing that came to mind—leg splits.
"...Hnngh!"
Sitting on the cold floor of the training hall with my legs spread, I desperately swallowed my breath.
Then I worked hard on stretching my legs.
With my eyes tightly shut, stretching until my groin ached, Orca approached from the side.
Orca grabbed my back.
"Kanna, more, more, more, more."
"Ugh, ah, aah, ah...!"
More? That's not possible!
While inwardly panicking, I swallowed my tears and stretched my body forward.
Being stiff and uncoordinated made even this difficult.
I really couldn't use my body well, couldn't use magic—I wondered if there was anything I could do at all.
Remembering that this was why I was at the bottom of the class, I let out one more scream before I could finally escape this situation.