I Need the True Ending to Graduate - Chapter 70

“As you probably know as well, Miss Even, the rumors surrounding us are slowly changing in the direction we wanted.”

Jeran set his teacup down quietly as he spoke.

“I don’t think you’ll suffer any more harm from the rumors going around. As you know, although it is nothing you could call good, it is common for a professor to exploit a commoner student. It does greatly conflict with the image they have of me, but they will not suspect too much.”

“Ah….”

I gave a small nod.

I briefly thought of the time Karl Evenhart stole my thesis and felt my mood sour, but it quickly settled under Jeran’s warm gaze.

“Of course, if we want to avoid suspicion completely, we’ll have to meet regularly. That’s not such good news for you, is it? You’ll have to endure people’s disapproving looks, and you’ll have to see my face often too, so it must feel burdensome.”

Jeran showed a trace of apology and worry over something that was not something he needed to worry about at all.

Even without this incident, the people at the academy had always seen me in a bad light, and they would continue to do so. It was absolutely nothing for Jeran to worry about or feel sorry for.

Besides, I was the one who benefited from seeing him often. I could admire Jeran’s handsome face, raise his affection, and even indulge in the kind of pleasure that suited my tastes perfectly. It felt more like a reward than anything else.

But because I knew very well what kind of heart he had when he worried over me and paid attention to me, all I could do was let out a bland little laugh.

Jeran continued seriously, “Still, I’ll make sure your graduation is affected as little as possible, so try not to worry too much. If it feels really hard, just think that you only have to endure until you graduate. And if anything happens that crosses the line, you must tell me. All right?”

“I’ll do that, Professor. Thank you, as always, for looking out for me.”

“Think nothing of it. I’m only doing what is natural as your advisor.”

“And if anything ever happens to you, Professor, please tell me too. If there is anything I can help with, I want to help.”

At that, the light green eyes visible behind his thin silver-rimmed glasses widened. The corners of his lips, which had been smiling, stiffened slightly as if he had heard something unexpected.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

I had only spoken with the meaning that, since both of us were caught up in those nasty rumors together, we should help each other, but his reaction was so completely different from what I had expected that I was flustered.

I didn’t know what I had done wrong, but the atmosphere made it feel like I had made a mistake, and I was just about to apologize when Jeran’s expression softened.

Then, like the sun rising through a long darkness, a radiant smile bloomed across his face.

It was the most beautiful, joy-filled smile I had ever seen from him.

‘So this is what his face looks like when he truly smiles….’

I stared blankly at Jeran, deeply impressed on the inside. It felt like all the brilliant light in the world had gathered on him, and I simply could not tear my eyes away.

Jeran replied in a voice as happy as the smile on his face, “Thank you for saying that, Miss Even. And thank you as well for trusting me and worrying about me. As your advisor, I feel incredibly happy and moved.”

As he said this, he laid a hand over his chest, as if to steady a heart racing with many different emotions.

Then he added, “But you don’t need to worry. I did show a rather pathetic side of myself for a moment last time, but I’m not in such a state that I need to ask you for help, Miss Even. Still, if it ever seems like something could become important for you, I will absolutely tell you. I promise.”

Jeran held out his pinky over the table.

It was a childish yet time-honored way of making a promise that I hadn’t seen since I was small, and before I knew it, I burst out laughing and hooked my pinky around his.

“It’s a promise, Professor.”

After confirming the bond of the promise we’d made by shaking our linked pinkies up and down a couple of times, we let go.

With that, the contract that we would rely on each other was complete.

For some reason, Jeran kept staring at me, unable to close his mouth, but I turned away from him and brought up the topic I had prepared.

“More than that, there is something I am curious about, or rather something I would like to ask you, Professor, if that is all right.”

“…It’s all right. What are you curious about?”

Only then did Jeran smooth out his stiff expression and return to the gentle, sensitive face I knew as he asked.

I hesitated for a moment, then gathered my courage and said, “That day… you did say that you liked doing it with me, but I was wondering if you were really all right with it.”

“…?”

“That… you were matching yourself to me.”

“….”

Jeran’s expression changed, as if he had quickly grasped what I was talking about.

I carefully continued, “Afterward, when I calmly thought it over, it occurred to me that perhaps you said that out of consideration for me.”

“….”

“Ah, of course I am grateful, but since it is something we are doing together, it feels a bit wrong if I’m the only one enjoying it…. So if it is all right, I was wondering if next time we could do something you would like, Professor….”

I had forced myself to muster the courage to say it, but the more I spoke, the more embarrassed I felt, and I couldn’t keep going. My gaze kept dropping downward like someone who had done something wrong, and my cheeks flushed red with shame.

Jeran had already seen my naked body, and I had even laid bare my kinks that would make anyone recoil. There was nothing in the world more embarrassing than that, and talking about that night was hardly something to be embarrassed about in comparison.

Even so, I had no idea why I felt so ashamed I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole and hide.

While I was wallowing in my embarrassment alone, Jeran took an extremely considerate attitude so I wouldn’t be hurt.

“I understand your feelings very well, Miss Even. I also fully understand that you want to take my preferences into consideration. I can completely understand why you would feel that way. However….”

“….”

“I don’t know how this will sound to you, Miss Even, but that night together was quite enjoyable for me as well. I mean that sincerely. It’s not an empty phrase, and even less something I am saying for your sake.”

“…!”

I was briefly startled by Jeran’s shocking confession, and then he drew up the corners of his lips in a meaningful smile.

“But if you wish it, Miss Even, I think we could have a deeper conversation about the preferences I have.”

“….”

“What do you think? Do you have time?”

At his question, I nodded as if in a trance.

And along with Jeran’s gentle smile, the kind of story that made my eyes fly open flowed into my ears.

***

“Then I will see you next week at the conference presentation, Miss Even. If you need to consult about anything before then, feel free to come by anytime.”

“…Thank you, Professor. Then I will see you next time.”

I bowed my head to Jeran in farewell, then quietly closed the lab door.

At the sound of the door closing, I stood for a moment in the silent hallway where there was neither person nor sound.

Then I took a deep breath. In my head, the shocking content of the conversation I had just had with Jeran was drifting about.

When we were together, I had sensed that he was not ordinary, and I had subconsciously suspected as much, but hearing it directly from his own mouth made my mind feel faint.

‘For someone with the most sacred, beautiful, and noble face in the world to have tastes like that….’

What was surprising was how well it suited him. And how much of his preferences overlapped considerably with my own.

Jeran said he would call me to his room once the conference presentation was over. My heart was already pounding with anticipation at what we might do.

‘There really was a reason this game is called Thump Thump Magic Academy.’

Deeply impressed, I moved my feet and walked away.

When I stepped outside the building, the sky was still bright. I checked the time on my pocket watch; it was 5 p.m.

The days really had gotten longer. Until not long ago, it would already be starting to get dark around this time, but the sun was still up.

‘It’s gotten much warmer too, so summer must be just around the corner.’

After admiring the faint orange sunlight spread across the blue sky for a moment, I lowered my gaze and started walking toward Bell Restaurant. It was because Evan Bell had summoned me to his office by six o’clock.

Feeling the soft breeze blowing against me, I walked down the tree-lined street thick with deep green leaves. The sunlight filtering through the leaves rippled like waves along with the wind.

It was perfect weather for a walk. It wasn’t too hot or too cold, and a cool breeze blew at just the right time.

‘Once summer comes, it will be vacation, and once vacation is over, winter will follow in no time.’

And winter, no matter what anyone said, was the season of graduation.

In other words, the day I would graduate from this place was not that far off.

I hadn’t wanted to do it, but the preparations for the conference presentation I had been forced to swallow like a bitter pill were almost finished. All that was left was the presentation a week from now, and once that was over, I would never have to see it again.

It had been a somewhat difficult period, but it hadn’t been a time filled with nothing but pain and offering no help at all.

…Though I couldn’t say there had been no pain at all.

At any rate, through preparing for the presentation, I had managed to figure out a way to use the game system’s intervention when writing my thesis.

Even if I somehow managed to raise the capture targets’ affection, I’d had absolutely no way to deal with a graduation thesis on magic and had been completely at a loss, so this was a good outcome.

Now I no longer had to set out a glass of water every night and pray before going to bed; that, too, was a relief.

Even though every time the circles came out warped or the left and right sides weren’t symmetrical I wanted to cry, and when I had to draw geometric symbols whose meaning I couldn’t understand I cursed my hopeless drawing skills in frustration, the end result itself wasn’t bad.

Yes, everything was going smoothly.