I Need the True Ending to Graduate - Chapter 103

The past of Jeran that had unfolded before my eyes vanished in an instant like melting snow, and I was back at the academy at sunset after finishing the conference.

Everything around us was quiet, and Jeran’s green eyes, fixed on me, were unchanged. Despite the long years I’d felt through Jeran, time hadn’t passed at all.

With everything returned to its place, only I had changed.

Jeran asked me again. It was as if time had been rewound slightly for the user’s convenience.

“Miss Even. How are you now?”

“….”

“Are you happy?”

It was hard for me to answer his question.

The first time he asked, I couldn’t answer because it was so out of the blue, and I didn’t know what context he was asking from.

But now, his question wasn’t out of the blue at all, nor was it hard to tell what context it came from.

Now I knew the intent behind this question well.

Jeran had decided to report Karl Evenhart in order to save me, Lucia. So asking if I was happy was no longer asking whether I still questioned being alive and longed to die.

Whether I was happy enough that it was okay to be alive.

But I still couldn’t answer this question.

I was wearing Lucia Even’s shell, but I wasn’t Lucia herself.

My conscience stung at the thought of saying I was happy in her place. But I also couldn’t guess what Lucia’s heart would be like when faced with this kind of situation.

‘It’d be nice if Lucia suddenly popped out and answered for me, like I did at the conference just now….’

But I didn’t feel anything like a switch flipping off inside my body, or the sensation of something taking over my body regardless of my will.

‘When I tell you not to come out, you come out, and when I tell you to come out, you don’t.’

After thinking for a moment, I just smiled instead of answering. That was the best I could do.

“….”

But it seemed to be enough of an answer for Jeran, because his green eyes, watching me, softened with relief.

“…Shall we go now? We’ll have to go back and eat dinner, too.”

“Ah… yes!”

I hurried after Jeran as he resumed walking. On the paved path, my shadow and Jeran’s stretched out longer and longer.

And then the time to choose came.

【 Time to Choose 】

[Quest: Submit your graduation thesis within the deadline. (1/1)]

When I submitted the graduation thesis I’d written with so much effort, a status window lit up brightly as if it had been waiting.

It was a welcome message announcing that graduation was right around the corner, but strangely, I wasn’t that happy.

With this, all the conditions to see the true ending were fulfilled.

During the vacation, I’d burned this one body out and formed relationships with three men as if my life depended on it, so their affection levels had long since reached 100%.

And just now, I safely submitted the graduation thesis I completed under Jeran’s guidance.

To graduate, I’d have to undergo an evaluation, then go through the process of actually demonstrating the magic circle devised in the thesis, but unless I suddenly smashed an academy building, I’d pass without trouble.

There wasn’t much time left until the day I’d leave the world inside the game and return to my original world.

Even so, my heart wasn’t all that excited. If anything, it even felt heavy.

There were two reasons.

One was because I could vaguely guess how the ending of 〈Thump Thump Magic Academy〉 would wrap up, and the other was because, while I could guess the ending, I’d recently received confessions from the capture targets.

***

“I’m graduating soon, Evan.”

The afternoon after we’d had rough sex, I said that to Evan, who handed me warmly heated cocoa the moment I opened my eyes.

The white mug, with hot steam curling up from it, stopped in midair just as it was about to reach me.

Evan looked like he’d just washed up, his hair damp with water, and water droplets dripped down his bare upper body along the curves of his frame.

In the bright blue eyes looking at me, a bit of fluster showed.

Evan hesitated for a moment with the mug in hand, then held the cocoa out to me again and said, “I know that. Winter’s coming, so you’ll be graduating soon, too.”

“….”

“Drink some cocoa first, then tell me in detail what you want to say.”

I nodded weakly, then took the mug from him. Warmth spread into my palm, following the round shape of the cup.

After breathing in the sweet scent rising up, I slowly tilted the mug and took a sip of the dark brown liquid.

As the warm sugar went in, I gradually felt strength return to my body.

Evan, who had been watching me drink cocoa as he sat next to me in silence, asked the moment I took my lips off the mug. The mug had long since been put away on the bedside table by Evan.

“So, what were you going to say?”

“…Graduation’s coming up soon. For the next month, I want to focus on my graduation thesis. So I don’t think we can meet as often as we have been.”

“….”

There was no reply from Evan, but the way his eyes narrowed as he looked at me made it clear he felt disappointed.

That was understandable. Since the day I glimpsed Evan’s past, things between us had subtly gotten better, and even after I filled his affection meter, we’d often slept together.

After meeting so frequently in the bedroom, I was declaring that it’d be hard to meet for a month because I had to write my thesis, so it was only natural he’d feel disappointed.

‘But realistically, it’s impossible to write a thesis while having sex.’

Evan didn’t just have sex normally. He’d do it all night, all the way until dawn came. With my stamina, there was no way I could handle him and a thesis at the same time.

Besides, I also had two more people I needed to sleep with, too, even if I couldn’t tell Evan that.

That made sex and a thesis even more impossible to reconcile.

I happened to tell Evan first, but I planned to tell Ruad and Jeran the same thing later.

Evan closed his mouth and seemed to think for a moment, then muttered as if to himself,

“Then until you finish writing your graduation thesis, we can’t meet for a while.”

“That’s right.”

“….”

“Why? Are you really that disappointed?”

To lighten the mood, I deliberately smiled and teased him in a playful voice, but there wasn’t a hint of laughter on Evan’s face.

“No. From the start, when I made a contract with you, you said that. You told me to guarantee your graduation schedule. So I’m not disappointed.”

“Then why do you look so unhappy?”

Instead of answering my question, Evan threw out a random question.

“Lucia. What are you going to do after you graduate? Do you have a plan?”

“….”

This time, I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t have any particular plan.

Once I graduated after seeing the true ending, there was no reason for me to come back here again, so there was no way I’d have plans for after graduation.

As if reading the troubled look on my face, Evan continued in a serious tone, “If you don’t have any particular plan, how about living abroad with me?”

“…What?”

Caught off guard by the completely unexpected suggestion, I asked back in surprise.

But Evan, as if he’d been thinking and worrying about it for quite a long time, laid out his plan.

“I’ve already earned enough in the Calypse Empire. It’s hard to expand my business any further here, so I was thinking of turning my eyes overseas. So I already moved part of my assets abroad.”

“….”

“Lucia, you know, too. That staying at Calypse Academy won’t benefit you.”

I couldn’t say anything in response to how perfectly accurate the point was.

In truth, for Lucia, there hadn’t been a single enjoyable thing since entering Calypse Magic Academy.

And it wasn’t only because of Karl Evenhart’s vile desire.

Even if it hadn’t been Karl Evenhart, even if she’d taken the hand of some other noble, Lucia’s situation probably wouldn’t have been much different. Unless that noble was Jeran Ennessy.

Evan continued, “If you go abroad, there are many academies that give commoners opportunities, too. If your skills are outstanding regardless of status, you can get support, and your abilities will be recognized. It’ll be much easier for you to rise to the position you want. At the very least, it’ll be better than here.”

“….”

“So live abroad with me. I’ll run my business, and you’ll study. It’s perfect.”

As he said that, Evan grinned. It was a smile that seemed to say it really was a golden opportunity, that there was no more perfect future than this.

But there was one thing that bothered me.

“Sure, it all sounds good. It’s good, but Evan. Why are you making that suggestion to me?”

“….”

“You… hate me.”

The moment the words I’d wanted to ask at least once since that day but never managed to came out, Evan’s expression turned cold.

Still, I couldn’t just gloss over it. Because the fact that Lucia, that I, had hurt him deeply didn’t change.

“You hated me and despised me the day I abandoned you and left, so why are you telling me to leave with you? And you’re even talking like you’ll send me to study abroad… I don’t understand why you’re saying that.”

“….”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you if I were rolling around in the mud, suffering even more….”

Better, from the perspective of revenge.

I was going to say that, but I couldn’t finish. Because Evan’s large body pulled me into his arms.