Chapter 13

Yumina giggled. Was she asking if it was okay to flirt with Doyugeon?

“Why do you like him? Ah, is it because he doesn’t discriminate?”

“I do have standards, you know.”

“I didn’t know. Sorry.”

She bit into a peach. Yumina was staring at her intently, seemingly urging for a response.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts. Even though Yumina’s romantic style might suggest otherwise, it seemed best not to interfere with Doyugeon. But considering Yumina’s good personality, there didn’t seem to be a real need to stop her anyway.

“Do as you wish. Although whether he’ll accept remains questionable.”

Yumina laughed.

“Would you still be so confident if you were kissed right in front of him?”

Hearing talk of kissing from a middle school student was strange. Watching two of them kiss would probably be quite a cultural shock—I mean, middle schoolers these days grow up so fast. Then again, she had to remind herself that she was a middle schooler too, so there was no reason to be surprised.

More importantly, ever since earlier, Yumina had been trying to connect her with Doyugeon. Why now? Had she done anything to create such a misunderstanding?

Hmm…

She wasn’t sure.

“Maybe…?”

Yumina frowned.

“Isn’t there a better reaction than that?”

“What kind of reaction?”

“Surprise? Flustered, or no… wait, why should I have to explain this in the first place?”

Yumina swayed slightly before throwing her arms around. Though slightly taller, the embrace made her feel like the one being hugged. She organized the plates and forks into the empty space on the bookshelf using magic.

Yumina mumbled something.

“Did I misread the situation?”

She spoke loudly enough for her to hear clearly. Was she asking her to inquire further?

“Why did you bring up Doyugeon?”

Yumina looked at her.

“When we meet lately, all we talk about is logging in, and you spend a lot of time with Doyugeon, right?”

“We’ve never just talked about logging in.”

“It’s more about the frequency. So, I thought our dear Young Lady was finally starting to date.”

She couldn’t understand how Yumina’s thinking went that way. Yumina spun around, and she accidentally followed suit.

“Thought you were starting to date, but there was no reaction, no excitement. You don’t seem to be hiding anything. I considered the possibility that maybe you’re a beginner at love and just hadn’t realized it yet, so I decided to test you today.”

She spun again. Please stop spinning.

“Who would have thought, it was all for nothing!”

Yumina narrowed her eyes and stared.

“Do you not feel even a little something?”

“Not even a bit.”

“Even a tiny, tiny bit?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s wrong to answer so quickly! Think about it, think about it.”

“I rather want to ask you. Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

Yumina spread her arms wide but bumped into the bookshelf and winced. Ow. Maybe she should move to a different seat.

“Want some coffee?”

“I’d prefer juice.”

“Give me a fork.”

She moved towards the kitchen with the plate and fork using magic. Though this house was designed like a library, the kitchen was stocked with snacks. She didn’t usually eat while reading, so when alone, she wouldn’t indulge, but with guests like now, sharing was an option.

She returned to the table after making a cappuccino, and found Yumina had prepared juice and cupcakes. Cupcakes? These weren’t there before—maybe her mother or bodyguard had bought them.

“Hurry up and sit down.”

She took the opposite chair.

“Why so rushed?”

“The Young Lady, you’ve spent 7 years—”

“6 years.”

“Alright, 6 years! With your childhood friend, feeling absolutely nothing makes me wonder if it’s even realistic.”

“You’ve got a bit of an idealized view of childhood friends.”

“This isn’t an idealization, it’s reality! How can you spend 6 years together and feel nothing? It’s unbelievable.”

Despite her demeanor, Yumina was the youngest daughter of a legal household—how did she end up with this kind of personality? It was a mystery.

She peeled off the wrapper of the cupcake.

“Childhood friends are just friends you’ve known longer—there’s nothing particularly special. So, romantic feelings might not naturally arise. Besides, don’t you have friends of the opposite sex?”

“All my opposite-sex friends are either ex-boyfriends or future ones.”

Hmm, she had given a poor example. Wait a second.

“Does that mean Doyugeon is included as well?”

“Of course. But I don’t mess with taken people.”

“We’re not like that.”

“Maybe not for you, but it could work for Doyugeon. What if Doyugeon confesses?”

“I would reject.”

Yumina suddenly came closer.

“A sudden confession might not be as calm to handle as you think right now.”

“Hmm… Guess I’ll only know after going through it.”

Thinking of it, Doyugeon was at the age where he might start thinking about romance. Discussing it made her realize that. Although it was hard to imagine, in case he did pursue a relationship, would he at least inform her who the person was? It would be nice to know, but if not, it might end up being disappointing.

After a while, Yumina left. Having no intention of reading a book either, she returned home.

Perhaps she should practice healing magic now. After experimenting with the system’s healing magic, she realized that following the entire process wasn’t necessary; mimicking just a portion of the initial mana arrangement could yield some healing effects. Though minimal—more like stopping a slight wound from bleeding—it was still a start.

Considering that this was only achieved by copying a small arrangement, it was a sign of progress. The next steps were critical, as she needed to master this healing magic so that it could be useful in real combat.

To increase the healing effect, there were two capacities she needed to cultivate. The first was her mana perception. Observing the system’s healing magic was so complex and intricate that even attempting it could become overwhelming, making it necessary to contemplate improving her sensitivity.

However, improving mana perception wasn’t the most urgent issue at the moment. What she really needed to develop was her mana control. Being able to see an arrangement of mana and fail to replicate it was useless.

She had never found mana control difficult before, but this healing magic was proving to be a challenge. When trying to adjust the mana layout by moving a small amount, the surrounding mana would also become disturbed, making the overall layout disrupted. It felt similar to using Excel without shortcuts—a real test of patience.

Still, she was improving methodically, noticing her skill gradually increasing with consistent practice. One day, she would get the hang of it. Someday.

Moving the scindapsus plant from the kitchen to her room, as pricking herself with needles was harmful to her mental health, experimentation had revealed that plants could be healed with magic too. Although she didn’t understand why healing magic designed for humans also worked on plants, she chalked it up to the nature of magic in fantasy and moved on.

She made a hole in the leaf with a needle.

“Want some cookies?”

Looking towards the door, her mom was peering in.

“Yeah. Ah, juice instead of coffee.”

Since she’d already had coffee, drinking more might keep her up at night. Recently, the caffeine’s effect had worn off due to excessive consumption, but caution was necessary.

She moved the mana to initiate the first arrangement of the healing magic. The hole in the plant softened as the magic took effect. This part was now easy.

Carefully switching the layout to the second arrangement, the hole became slightly more filled compared to before.

Attempting the third arrangement, which was more complicated. She first formed a general outline of the layout before fine-tuning the details with minute adjustments.

As she moved some mana, the surrounding mana became disorganized, disrupting the shape. Fixing the disturbed mana caused further disruption elsewhere. After several attempts, the initial outline collapsed into chaos. It happened every time she attempted the third arrangement. Ugh, this was testing her patience.

A laugh came from beside her. Her mom had arrived with juice and cookies at some point.

“Isn’t it going well?”

“Yeah, I feel like my temper’s getting worse.”

“What’s so difficult about it?”

How should she explain?

“It’s like trying to draw a picture with a brush that’s too big to make detailed strokes.”

Looking at the juice, it was tomato juice. She took a sip. What, it tasted awful. Again, no sugar in the juice. Drinking it was meaningless without sugar. She kept it for when thirsty and put the cup down.

“Can’t you make the brush smaller?”

“It’s the best option, but I haven’t found a suitable training method.”

Her control over mana had improved through consistent practice ever since she started using magic for reading—she could even handle delicate tasks like stopping a book from falling without crumpling its pages.

Now, she needed even finer control—precision in moving exactly the right amount of mana without disturbing its surroundings. She couldn’t find an appropriate method yet, so she was trying to replicate healing magic directly for now. A shortcut would help, but if not available, the only way was to keep repeating.

—

Sometimes, one doesn’t feel like doing anything. While usually, she would stick to her schedule despite feeling lazy, there were days when she genuinely didn’t feel like doing anything. Today was one of those days.

In her previous life, she had ignored such days until a colleague quit from burnout. That became a wake-up call, and she began preemptively planning vacations to prevent such misfortunes.

In her current life, as a middle school student, without cram school and having completed courses long ago, there was no need to plan vacations—she could simply relax whenever she wanted. Still, she often stuck to her routine, but today, it was a weekend, and her motivation was unusually low. It seemed inappropriate to be diligent on such a relaxing day.

Today, she would do nothing. Using magic, she pulled the blanket over herself as she rolled in bed. Magic was so convenient.

All she needed was coffee to make the moment perfect, but going to the kitchen felt too tiring, so… could she attempt to make coffee with magic?

The task proved more difficult because walls impeded mana. She used magic to open the door first, then closed her eyes and focused.

First, she needed to take out the espresso capsule. With careful force control, she managed to pull the capsule, which was stuck to the paper, and successfully freed it. Wow, success at first try.

She placed the capsule nearby and flipped the lever on the coffee machine. Now she only needed to insert the capsule and press the button. She floated the capsule towards the machine.

Then her mom entered the kitchen, still rubbing her sleepy eyes, snatched the floating capsule, and made the coffee.

Hmm.

Mom arrived at her room shortly with a cappuccino.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Seeing her lying in bed, her mom asked with concern. It felt awkward explaining she stayed in bed because she didn’t feel like getting up.

“Just feeling a little tired, I’ll get up soon.”

Her mom observed her closely and then smiled.

“Being lazy is fine, but don’t forget to shower.”

She left after placing the coffee on the desk. Oh, she was caught. The signs were noticeable. She got out of bed, feeling obligated to take a shower. Why not fly using magic while washing?

She surrounded her body with mana and lifted it. The pajamas felt squished, so she adjusted to only lift her naked body. This seemed viable. Perhaps she could live this way from now on?

Later, she improved and mastered this hovering or flying magic, becoming so comfortable with it that she avoided walking altogether. Not only did her feet ache less, but she also no longer tripped over roots in the forest—this was revolutionary in her daily life.

However, floating around the house during the vacation created a problem by the end of summer break.

Her physical stamina dropped to its lowest levels.

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