“Then, I will conclude today’s roll call here. Thank you all for your hard work today.”
As soon as the dorm supervisor’s words were spoken, the students sprang into action. Some immediately headed off to dreamland, while others lingered to chat with friends. And in my room, Yuli had dropped by.
Dressed in a long-sleeved top and pants made from thin, comfortable fabric—her pajamas—Yuli had come over with just a pillow in hand. Once inside, she sported a sheepish grin, clearly pleased about something.
“This brings back memories, huh. Hehe…”
Upon entering the room, Yuli made straight for my bed, where she flopped down and began rolling around.
“Hmm… so this is El’s bed, huh~”
“Anyway, we’re both in the same single room, so there’s really no difference, right?”
Unless someone goes out of their way to change the sheets, all single-room beds are essentially the same. There’s no need to distinguish between them by having different types of beds in each room. Still, despite my observation, Yuli continued to roll around in apparent delight.
“But still~ It feels comfier than my bed~”
Although it felt a little awkward watching a girl my age lounging on my bed like that, seeing how much she enjoyed it made me realize there was no real reason to stop her. As I tidied up my desk and prepared to study, a sense of bashfulness lingered.
After a few more minutes of rolling around, Yuli finally seemed satisfied, taking a deep breath while sprawled face-down on the bed before slowly getting up.
“Alright! Recharged! Let’s get started.”
Recharged… Now that I think about it, she did look tired earlier, almost dozing off before getting startled awake. Was teaching me really that exhausting?
Yuli sat down in the chair next to me at the desk. She scooted her chair closer, and I could now catch the scent of fresh cleanliness, suggesting she had washed up beforehand.
“Where were we again?”
“We’ve finished the basic part, and now we’re just onto the application section.”
Indeed, the textbook was packed with all sorts of application examples, befitting its name.
“Still, watching you solve problems earlier, El already seems to have a good grasp of the basics, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”
“It’s all thanks to Yuli teaching me in such an understandable way.”
“Hehe…”
Yuli smiled sheepishly again in response to my gratitude and compliment. She seemed more animated than usual, frequently flashing her pleasant grin.
“Please continue teaching me well, Miss Teacher!”
In an exaggerated gesture to match her mood, I bowed slightly to her with a mix of jest and sincerity.
“Of course, you can always ask for help. Shall we begin?”
Our one-on-one tutoring session with Teacher Yuli resumed. She kindly taught me things I had never encountered before—how to handle them, which areas required more focus, and the need for caution, all interwoven with her own experiences, explained in detail.
…In saying that, I feel like I’ve somehow become garbage.
Let’s stop the jokes here. Anyway, thanks to Yuli’s thorough teaching, I was confident that I could, at the very least, keep up with math.
Of course, I wouldn’t say I’ve completely mastered it. The remaining portions can simply be polished by solving more problems.
I rose from my seat and headed toward the mini-fridge installed in the room. Such magical items may be pricey, but considering the cost of the academy’s dorm fees, it’s not odd that one would be standard in each room.
I retrieved a bottle of milk from the fridge and offered it to Yuli.
“Did talking a lot make you thirsty? Would you like something to drink? There’s not much, though…”
The fridge only contained water, milk, and coffee. Considering it was the middle of the night and we weren’t planning on staying awake all night, coffee wasn’t an option. Therefore, I started with the milk.
“Would you like it warmed up a bit?”
I had heard somewhere that warm milk helps with sleep.
“Sure, I’ll take you up on that.”
I retrieved another bottle for myself, warmed them slightly so they would just barely steam, poured them into cups, and handed one to Yuli.
“Today, I’ve really received a lot of help from Yuli.”
“Not at all. If it were El, you would have understood it without me teaching you. After all, your writing scores are similar to mine…”
“On the surface, maybe, but in reality, keeping up with the lessons has been tough. If something unexpected happens like this time, it would have been hard to catch up.”
It wasn’t a joke. If not for Yuli’s help, I would have spent several more days wracking my brain in frustration. My social plans with friends would have undoubtedly been canceled during that time.
Therefore, the words of gratitude I conveyed to Yuli were filled with my genuine sincerity.
“If this has been of any help, I’m glad… because all I’ve been doing is receiving help from El without being able to return the favor.”
Yuli looked down at the mug of warm milk in her hands, clasped in both of hers, and spoke softly.
I listened to Yuli’s gloomy tone and gulped down the warm milk in my mouth in one go.
Though it was slightly too warm, I roughly swallowed it, stood up, and positioned myself behind Yuli, who was seated at the chair, placing a hand on her head. I gently pulled her toward me for a light embrace. It was a little embarrassing, but wasn’t it necessary for a man to show some support at a moment like this?
“I just wish that Yuli would have a little more confidence in herself. You are someone with many strengths.”
Yuli, nestled quietly in my arms, simply listened without responding. Although the act might have been intrusive, it was also a sign of intimacy. While lightly patting her head, I added a few more words.
“If Yuli feels scared in any situation, please remember me. I’ll always be on your side.”
Yuli may not be aware, but the kindness she has shown me is something for which I am deeply grateful. Therefore, it was only fitting that I reciprocate with genuine sincerity.
Although I lack the courage to reveal my true past, this much I can certainly offer.
“Sniff… phew…”
“Huh?!”
Yuli, who had been quietly listening to me, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then looked up at me with her head tilted back.
Her breath against my thin sleepwear tickled my stomach, causing me to unintentionally exclaim, but Yuli didn’t seem to care and just smiled at me with her usual grin.
“Yes! Another recharge complete!”
What exactly did you recharge this time, Yuli?
“Then it’s a promise, right? El will always be on my side. I’ll also summon strength whenever I think of El.”
“Of course, whenever I can be of help.”
With a casual shrug, I returned the same smile to her.
“Well, then, our study session is over, so let’s get some sleep.”
Yuri, who appeared to have finished her milk, placed the empty cup down and stood up. It was already past midnight. Staying awake any longer might interfere with our ability to focus on tomorrow’s lectures.
“Then, let me get ready?”
I pulled out an extra set of bedding from the corner and spread it on the floor. Though the floor was heated, reflecting on my assassin past, I had become accustomed to not being particular about sleeping arrangements. However, there was no need to deliberately sleep on the bare floor when a perfectly good bed was available.
With a spare pillow placed atop the spread-out bedding, I was getting ready to sleep when Yuli approached, stood nearby, and started tilting her head back and forth, seemingly perplexed.
“Uh, El?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you laying out bedding on the floor?”
“Huh?”
Was she implying that I shouldn’t sleep on a bed but rather straight on the floor? Of course, I knew that wasn’t what she meant. She obviously wasn’t making such a suggestion, but I simply didn’t understand her meaning.
“Isn’t it about sleeping together in the bed?”
“Ah…”
Girls might be able to casually say that, but as a guy, even sharing a room with a girl was pushing beyond the limits for me. Sharing a bed would result in me not getting a wink of sleep, not to mention potentially embarrassing situations arising. There’s also a decent chance some sort of mishap might occur.
To avoid such occurrences, I fabricated an excuse for Yuli.
“I have really bad sleep talking. If we sleep together, Yuli won’t get any rest. So, why don’t you take the bed? You are my special guest.”
“Sleep talking like that doesn’t bother me at all. My sleep talking is worse actually.”
“No! My sleep talking is seriously bad. That’s why I’ll sleep on the floor, and you should sleep on the bed. Okay?”
After my almost pleading explanation, Yuli reluctantly agreed after seemingly pondering it for a moment.
“Tsk… I really wanted to sleep in the same bed like before… but I’ll let you off the hook this time.”
After saying that, Yuli grabbed my pillow from where it lay on the floor.
“But! I need to hold onto something to sleep comfortably… so, I’ll cuddle with this!”
If that’s all it takes for her to let it go, then so be it.
However, Yuli probably didn’t know there was an unused pillow!
I retrieved another fresh pillow from where I had pulled out the extra bedding and placed it on the floor.
Fortunately, Yuli didn’t protest about my producing a new pillow. It seemed Yuli had grabbed my pillow not to leave me without one, but because of her habit of cuddling with something while sleeping.
“Alright, then, get into bed. I’ll turn off the lights.”
Watching Yuli contentedly cuddle up with the pillow and lay down, I turned off the lights in the room and lay down myself.
Despite being accustomed to harder surfaces from my assassin days, the softness of the bedding made sleeping on the floor quite comfortable.
“Even so, it feels like old times. It makes me happy… even though El doesn’t remember…”
Yuli believes that, after enduring a harsh life following a demon attack, I had forgotten many old memories.
As such, her voice carried a tinge of regret and sadness, resonating in the dark room.
“Then why don’t you tell me a story about the past? Maybe hearing it will bring back some memories?”
Of course, forgotten memories wouldn’t resurface just from hearing her stories. However, I thought that perhaps by sharing these stories, the loneliness in Yuli’s heart might be alleviated somewhat.
“Alright then? Looking at you now, you seem even cooler than back then…”
Thus, Yuli began recounting the old tales between her and ‘Alicia’:
About the time they ventured deep into the forest to play and got in trouble with their parents upon returning, how the two of them jokingly teased Alicia’s younger sibling only to make her upset, and how Yuli would often act cute in front of her older brother…
Listening to Yuli’s tales of memories I had never lived, I gradually drifted off to sleep.
—
“Umm…”
I slowly opened my eyes as my awareness was drawn to the sunlight streaming through the window and the chirping of birds outside. Normally, I would wake up to the sound of my alarm, but today it seemed to have gone off slightly earlier than usual.
As I tried to get up, I realized something was holding me back.
Still groggy, I inspected what it was that was on top of me, only to find what looked like an arm.
?
Maybe I was seeing things, so I blinked my eyes a few times and checked again, but there it was—a human arm.
???
Curious, I poked and prodded the arm with my hand to inspect it further.
????
It was undoubtedly a human arm. What was it doing here?
I wracked my sluggish morning brain and slowly traced my gaze from the hand on my body all the way up.
Delicate fingers, slender wrists, and a pink nightgown—my gaze continued upward until it rested on the presumed face of the arm’s owner.
“Yikes!”
The sudden appearance of Yuli’s face right in front of me startled me awake. Yet, I still couldn’t comprehend the situation.
Why was Yuli sleeping next to me? As far as I recalled, she was supposed to have slept on the bed. At least that was what I remembered before I went to sleep.
Moreover, she had gone to bed earlier than me since I remembered her voice growing quieter and eventually stopping as she fell asleep while sharing stories from the past. I was already having trouble sleeping because I was sharing a room with a girl, so my memory seemed solid.
Could I have gone to the bed without realizing and ended up over her?
I looked around but found myself on the ground with the bedding I had laid out, not on the bed.
Then, did Yuli come down from the bed? If so, when?
Besides, Yuli had previously commented that my bed felt better than hers, so why would she willingly come down to the floor?
Even if I tried to get up, I couldn’t as Yuli was holding onto me tightly. To get up, I would need to wake her up.
I gently tried to ease my way out, moving ever so slightly, but just as I was about to free myself, she somehow sensed it and pulled me back into a tight embrace.
Each time she did this, the pleasant scent of her shampoo tickled my nose.
…And yet, I’m still thinking about this. Does that mean I’m a pervert?
After struggling for a while without achieving much, the alarm clock started ringing.
Ding-Ding! Good morning~
Yuli stirred with a soft moan and began to move around.
I turned slightly to see her eyes partially open, meeting my gaze.
“Hehe… Good morning, El.”
“E, uh, yeah…”
Despite still being half-asleep, Yuli hugged me even tighter than before, breathed deeply a few times like she did yesterday, then finally released me.
“Yup! Morning recharge complete!”
Apparently, her habit of talking about recharging was exactly that: a habit. By now, Yuli was full of energy and got up, allowing me to finally rise as well, albeit stiffly from lying tense all night.
“Uh… Yuli? Why were you on the floor…?”
“Well… I don’t really know?”
Her face truly conveyed confusion, though her beaming smile suggested she was in good spirits.
Even though she likely hadn’t slept on the floor as a noble young lady, Yuli was surprisingly energetic in the morning. It seems she wasn’t the type to be particular about where she slept, despite her previous comment about my bed.
“O, okay then…”
“I’ll go prepare for school then. See you later!”
“Uh, yeah. See you later.”
It seems like I didn’t make any mistakes, and since I slept well, there’s no problem for me, right?
I waved off Yuli as she cheerfully held my pillow and returned to her room, then started tidying up my sleeping area.
Huh? This looks similar… but this isn’t Yuli’s pillow, is it? She must’ve mixed it up and taken mine.
