Shion was acutely aware of his own skill in reading people一his ability to discern truths through conversation and insight surpassed most.
That was precisely why he avoided using it on family, friends, and mentors.
Unless unintentional, digging into someone’s hidden feelings against their will was, to him, a vulgar breach of trust and respect.
(…Damn it. Idiot…)
But this time, he’d done it almost unconsciously一prodding Restia, testing her reaction to confirm his suspicions.
Gripping his teacup tightly, he lowered his gaze.
“…Ah, um…”
As Shion silently stared at the table, Restia awkwardly tried to speak. Then…
“…Are you quitting, sensei?”
“…!! W-well, that’s…”
Shion knew he shouldn’t press further if she wanted to keep it hidden. ……Yet, he continued.
“……I might be overstepping… but even so… 一I don’t want you to leave.”
“…!!”
“And… all the teaching materials scattered around this room… You always work so hard preparing them… I can’t believe… you want to quit.”
Shion’s earnest gaze held hers.
Then… Plink. A tear rolled down Restia’s cheek.
“…Shion-kun… I… I…”
She could no longer suppress what welled up inside.
……The headmaster’s words the night before were still just an unofficial notice一something the students weren’t meant to know yet.
But faced with Shion’s genuine concern, Restia couldn’t keep lying.
Between quiet sobs, she confessed everything一the conversation with the headmaster, her fears, her heartache.
“…When I was still a student here… my plant magic teacher… she was so kind, such a brilliant researcher… I… I adored her… I truly… respected her…”
Tears fell freely as she remembered the elderly woman who had once taught her.
“She… passed away the year before last… and I’ll never see her again… But…! …I-I… made a promise… with her…! That I’d take her place… become a teacher like her… Sniff… That I’d work hard… to make everyone love plants, love our classes…! I… I promised…! I’ve always… wanted to be… just like her…!”
Like a dam breaking, Restia poured out her feelings.
Emotions she’d forced down一ones she thought she’d keep burying一overflowed.
“So… so… I don’t want to quit…! The truth is… I want to stay… to keep teaching here… forever…!”
“……”
“Ugh…! Hic… Waaah…!”
She scrubbed at her tears with both hands……
……After a long silence, Shion finally spoke.
“…Sensei, why are you crying so much?”
“Wah… …Eh? Hic… What… do you…?”
The question seemed almost heartless. But Restia knew Shion wasn’t cruel一which only confused her more.
Blinking through blurry vision, she stared at him.
“I mean… I don’t get why you’re so upset.”
His tone was genuinely puzzled.
“Wh… why…?”
“I thought maybe there was some reason you had to quit… But from what you just said, that’s not the case. You can keep teaching, sensei. For as long as you want. So… why cry?”
“…!? K-keep teaching…? How…?”
“Well, if our academy wins the upcoming tournament, everything stays the same, right? So you can keep going. Because we are going to win.”
“…!!”
Shion’s words carried absolute certainty一as if the outcome were already decided.
“We’ll definitely win this year. After all, our representatives include Alphonse Fried and Eliza Lowred. Those two are absurdly strong—no doubt we’ll win. That just leaves one more victory needed. Even if just one of the remaining three Senpais wins, we’ll clear the condition. Honestly, losing would be harder at this point. Especially Senpai Bruno, ranked third—last year’s inter-academy match, he was the only one who secured a win.”
Shion stamped his unwavering confidence on this year’s representatives.
“Eh… Ah…”
“Don’t worry, Sensei. Not a single thing is worth fretting over. This year, the Magic Academy will win.”
As if to reassure Restia, Shion repeated his words with absolute clarity.
“…R-right… Maybe you’re… Maybe you’re right…! No—no, I’m sure…! You must be right…!”
Before she realized it, the tears that had been streaming down Restia’s face had stopped.
“…More importantly, Sensei, you were acting so resigned, as if it was already decided you’d step down… Did you really assume we’d lose without a doubt? Even though our representatives are fighting their hardest… As their teacher, that’s a bit—”
“W-wait! D-don’t say it! Please don’t say that!! Th-that’s not what I meant at all!!”
Restia flailed her hands wildly at Shion in protest.
“I know. I was joking.”
“Ugh…! Ichinose-kun, you…!”
With a pout, Restia furrowed her brows.
…Truthfully, it was hard to say there was any true certainty of the Magic Academy’s victory. Even if Alphonse and Eliza won their matches as Shion claimed, there was no guarantee any of the remaining three would secure the final needed win. Restia understood that.
Yet even so. Hearing his words, Restia found herself inexplicably unable to imagine defeat.
She truly believed it now—they could win.
“—Thank you, Ichinose-kun. I’ll believe in them… in our representatives… and in your words!”
Restia smiled—brightly.
…Shion had predicted this. Knowing Lina Restia’s personality, he’d steered her away from dwelling on the worst-case scenario. By guiding her toward faith in her students, he’d eased her anxieties.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
—Later that night, long after their after-school time together in the botany prep room.
“—Hah…! Hah…! Hah…!”
As usual, Shion had pushed himself to the brink in the empty training grounds, overexerting himself until his magic reserves depleted. Now, he knelt on the ground, gasping violently for breath.
His body, nearly immobile from the recoil of Limit Accel, forced him to gulp down both a stamina potion and a magic-recovery potion. Without even allowing himself proper rest, he stood again.
Agony wracked his entire body, the aftermath of magic depletion threatening to shut down his consciousness. Yet Shion ignored it, activating Limit Accel once more and swinging the training sword in his hand.
…But sustaining the technique in such a reckless state was impossible. His magic gave out again. This time, he lacked even the strength to balance himself—thud!—and collapsed face-first onto the ground.
“Guh…! Gh…ah…!!”
His teeth ground together as he endured pain far beyond reason—as if his muscles and organs were being torn apart.
Overexertion wasn’t unusual for him. If anything, it was his daily routine.
Normally, even a single magic depletion was life-threatening.
Yet he repeated it daily, using the cycle of collapse and super-recovery to forcibly strengthen his magic reserves. From the start, he’d never been “normal.”
But even by his standards, today’s training was excessive.
It wasn’t training anymore—it was self-flagellation.
…What could drive him to this?
The answer was rage—rage at his own helplessness.
“(—Damn it…!!)”
His fists, barely responsive, clenched desperately as he slammed them into the ground, channeling his fury where it had nowhere else to go.
“(‘We’ll definitely win’—? Bullshit…!! What fucking proof do I have…!?”)
Dragging his face off the ground, he pushed himself up with trembling arms.
“(‘I’m just a worthless bastard spouting empty reassurances…!!’)”
His conversation with Restia earlier haunted him.
He knew better than anyone that his words had been baseless. Nothing but hollow comfort.
…If only the condition for the kingdom’s continued support had been something like “producing meaningful research results.”
If Shion could assist Restia by helping with her lesson preparations more than he already did—
so that she could devote even more time to her research—then that would be one way he could support her. And if that were the situation, Shion would spare no effort whatsoever to help her.
However, the condition presented this time was :
the magic academy had to win the inter-academy match against the knight academy.
Shion wasn’t even chosen as a representative, meaning he couldn’t fight at all.
And even if, by some miracle, he were chosen, he still had no chance of winning.
With his ability to use “Limit Accel,” there might be a chance in a match where victory depended on landing the first hit, or racking up multiple light strikes faster than the opponent.
But that’s not the format of the upcoming match.
In the official matches, each fighter wears armor that scales in durability according to their mana reserves. The more mana a participant has, the stronger their armor becomes. Victory goes to the one who reduces the opponent’s armor durability to zero first.
The system was designed to ensure balance between knights and mages— taking into account various factors so that neither side would hold an overwhelming advantage due to the nature of their profession.
…Because of that, Even if Shion were to fight a knight academy student as a representative, it would be impossible for his attacks to wear down the opponent’s armor durability. Even if he had a completely one-sided opening to attack, his mana would run out far before he could deal enough damage to defeat them.
He couldn’t fight. In fact, the odds of the magic academy winning were higher if he didn’t fight at all.
No one understood that truth better than Shion himself. All he could do was entrust everything to the chosen representatives… and pray for their victory.
That was why—he couldn’t forgive himself for being so powerless.
(“Saying all those comforting words… giving her hope… When we lose, how am I supposed to take responsibility for that…? Wouldn’t it be better if she were prepared to lose from the start, so it wouldn’t hurt as much…? I said all those things so carelessly… And in the end, there’s nothing I can do…!! Because I’m… weak…!!”)
Grinding his teeth in frustration, he slammed his forehead against the ground with a loud thud!
(“I’m…”)
Slowly, he lifted his face. A small trickle of blood seeped from the spot where his forehead hit the ground.
“—Powerless…”
In the quiet training grounds, his voice came out low and faint.
(“…Never forget this. Etch this weakness of yours into your heart. The reality that you couldn’t do anything—because you were weak…”)
Shion stood up, wiped away the blood and sweat from his forehead, and once more gripped his blade tightly.
(“—Become stronger. So these hands of mine can reach the people who need help. So that next time… I can do something. Just become stronger. No matter what.”)
…And with that, he resumed his usual training.
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