Magic Building 707. One young mage resides there.
The owner of the laboratory is Presia Gatina.
Despite being only 16 years old, which is quite young, she is a recognized master of magic, having been appointed by the emperor as the youngest professor at the Academy due to her extraordinary talent.
Presia’s daily routine is rather ordinary.
She would lie on the sofa in her lab-cum-living quarters and fall into a deep sleep until one of her assistants, Tokki, wakes her up, at which point she gets up.
Certainly, she doesn’t rise gracefully.
She always wriggles around for quite a while, and sometimes even gives Tokki, the one waking her up, a small kick in defiance before slowly waking up.
Originally, it was the bear who took the kicks, but since Tokki became the assistant, all the kicks now belong to Tokki.
After barely waking up, Presia is helped by the bear to prepare everything for going out.
She washes her face, washes and dries her hair, changes clothes, and more.
Only after all the preparations are done does Presia finally shake off the sleepiness.
The place she heads to varies each day; it could be a classroom where she has a lesson.
It might be a specialized course in the Magic Department or a foundational course in another department.
Although it wasn’t part of her schedule in the first semester, she accepted and took on these bothersome lessons solely out of a desire to see “her.”
“Alright, this is how we do it here.”
Given the characteristics of the Swordsmanship Department, the basic magic course only lasts a few hours a week. The time available to see “her” even after putting up with all the hassle is quite limited.
Therefore, during every class, Presia sticks closely by “her” side and teaches magic almost to the point of giving her private lessons.
All the students in “her” class know that Presia favors “her,” but they don’t say anything.
This is partly because “her” popularity among her classmates, but more importantly, it’s due to Presia’s popularity among the students.
No matter how young Presia is, standing on the podium teaching them, the students only find her adorable.
With her small frame turned away from the students, she stretches her arm up to the blackboard, squirms a little while writing notes, and the students can’t help but look at her fondly.
There is no distinction among male or female students, department, or year.
Of course, there were a few students who didn’t look kindly on her, but they could only obediently cower in fear after a few gestures from her.
However, even the resilient Presia has trouble handling one student.
“El. This is how you do it.”
“Uh, yes.”
“Selian… Shouldn’t you master what you’re learning before moving on? Maybe you should practice a bit more…”
Pfft!
Before Presia could finish her sentence, a flame burst forth from Selian’s fingertips.
The very magic Presia had just taught the students during class and asked them to practice.
“If that worked, let’s move on to the next spell…”
“Is this enough?”
“Then the one after that…”
“Like this?”
“The next one…”
…
…
Presia kept demanding more advanced spells from Selian, but Selian cast them effortlessly without any hesitation.
Even though Alicia became a hero, her past as a top contender for the role evidently left its mark, with Selian also having considerable proficiency in magic.
Despite taking up much of the class time with their squabbles, Presia, Selian, and Alicia remained the center of attention for the students, who watched them happily.
Excluding Alicia in the middle.
“Uh… Is this okay?”
Thinking that if she could quickly complete the assigned magic, the squabbling between the two would cease, Alicia summoned a flame at the tip of her fingers with great effort, but…
“Bravo. Alicia truly is exceptional.”
“Wow! That’s incredible, El. You’re certainly new to magic, yet you manage it so effortlessly…”
The excessive compliments from the two overwhelmed Alicia.
And for the third time, importantly, all the students only watched fondly.
After all the lessons have ended and all the students have gone home.
Is this the end of Presia’s day?
No. In fact, this is the most important time for Presia.
“Come on in.”
“Then I shall intrude, Boss.”
At least three times a week, Presia summons Alicia under the pretense of an experiment.
“Hello, Bear and Tokki too?”
As soon as Alicia enters, Bear and Tokki circle around her, welcoming her.
Of course, Presia wants to join the two familiars as they circle Alicia but manages to control her urge with great patience.
“There’s no separate experiment today, but since you’re here, let’s have a cup of tea.”
Upon Presia’s words, Bear skillfully pours the tea.
Now, even lifting the teacup to hand it to Alicia.
Ho-rok
As Alicia drinks her tea, Presia moves her teacup to her lips, but her attention is more on Alicia than the tea.
“Ah? Did you change the tea leaves?”
“Yup. They’re new. Do you like it?”
“It’s very refreshing and would be great with some dessert.”
Upon hearing Alicia’s words, Presia secretly sends a quick signal to Tokki under the table, unseen by Alicia.
Receiving Presia’s signal, Tokki quickly retrieves high-class cookies stored in the cupboard and sets them on the table.
“…Now that I think about it, there were some cookies I received as a gift last time. Let’s have them together.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Though she told Alicia it was a gift, Tokki had to wait in line for hours at a famous pastry shop to acquire those cookies.
“Wow! Boss, you should try this too. It’s really delicious.”
“Mhmm. It’s good.”
Encouraged by her, Presia also picks up a cookie and bites into it.
Indeed, the cookies, already sweet and delightful, harmonized beautifully with the refreshing tea.
But Presia only ate one cookie, not reaching for more.
She simply observed Alicia enjoying the cookies.
“Ah, I ate too many. Hehe…”
Having enthusiastically reached for the cookies on the plate, Alicia stopped only when noticing there was just the last piece left.
“I’ve eaten enough, so you should have the last one, Boss.”
Alicia picked up the cookie and handed it to Presia.
Although Presia would usually have gladly given the last piece to Alicia, receiving it directly from her was different.
“Ah-”
Presia opened her small mouth and made a sound instead of reaching out.
A different woman might have embarrassed or hesitated, but Presia was an exception.
Alicia’s fingers holding the cookie moved into Presia’s mouth.
Ddum
Before placing the cookie down, Presia’s lips naturally nibbled on Alicia’s fingers when closing her mouth, but Presia didn’t react unpleasantly; instead, she showed disappointment.
“Sorry… If I had known you’d be this disappointed, I should have restrained myself, but I ate them all…”
Of course, Alicia only misunderstood Presia’s expression.
“It’s okay. We still have plenty left.”
For reference, when Tokki bought the cookies, Bear was standing in line as well.
“I’ll package the tea leaves and cookies for you to take home when I leave later.”
“But…”
Alicia, ostensibly working in the capacity of assistant for conducting magical experiments, had been receiving her pay and bonuses regularly. Lately, however, she hadn’t been doing any experiments, and instead, was enjoying tea and even receiving gifts.
Despite all this, Alicia felt her conscience being pricked by Presia’s continued generosity.
“Don’t worry about it. Part of the assistant’s duties is dealing with leftovers. I couldn’t possibly eat them all by myself anyway.”
“Yes…”
Although she couldn’t finish them herself, Presia was giving everything to Alicia anyway.
As we’ve seen so far, Presia holds a considerable amount of affection for Alicia and spends quite a bit of time with her.
But lately, Presia has been feeling more stressed as the days pass.
It’s not because she wants their relationship to develop further.
Of course, she has those feelings too, but more importantly, she feels a void because something she used to have has been lost.
Until before the start of the second semester, until the end of the vacation, the nights were a particularly cozy time for Presia.
A coziness different from the meaning of a nocturnal circadian rhythm.
But once the second semester began—specifically, after Alicia moved to a four-person dorm room—the coziness disappeared.
“Meow…”
Hence, when it becomes too unbearable, Presia leaves her room in the form of a cat.
The catified Presia is sitting by the window of Alicia’s room, watching her.
However, entering the room is out of the question.
Because Alicia isn’t alone—other girls are there as well.
Certainly, Presia had not initially intended on respecting the presence of the other girls and was ready to sneak into the bed anyway.
“Ah! There’s a cat!”
Druruk!
But even before noticing Alicia, a red-haired little girl immediately noticed her.
The red-haired girl, who is shorter than Presia despite being two years older, is Anne.
Anne tried to grab the transformed cat-like Presia through the opened window.
Since being once caught and smothered by her before, Presia tried to escape quickly this time,
“Hmm. This cat looks familiar. I’m sure it’s the first time I’ve seen you…”
Suddenly, there floating outside the window, behind Anne, was another girl.
This girl, different from the four girls inside the room, is Linne, a ghost who’s been staying in Alicia’s room for a while now.
Because Presia didn’t account for Linne, she was eventually captured and dragged into the room by Anne.
“Meow!”
Alicia is looking at her within Anne’s embrace.
Since being smothered would be more preferable in Alicia’s arms than Anne’s, Presia tries to escape but Anne wouldn’t let go.
“Heheh. So your name is Meow?”
When has she been treated like this?
Even in her cat form, Presia’s displeasure is evident on her face as she hangs limply in Anne’s hands.
It’s only because she’s in the same room as Alicia that she endures this; otherwise, she would have escaped long ago.
Fortunately, no one seemed to notice the identity of the cat-like Presia.
Even though Linne tilted her head with a curious gaze, her powers weren’t strong enough to penetrate Presia’s disguise.
“Anyway…”
Anne’s voice as she holds Presia.
Is it because of her enhanced sensitivity in cat form?
Even before any words were spoken, Presia felt a sense of unease.
“Is it a girl or a boy?”
After saying this, Anne looked under the cat, but Presia’s curled tail obstructed her curiosity.
Of course, this cat-like form is fabricated,
But even though Presia is fully clothed in human form, she couldn’t help but feel shy.
Therefore, the moment Anne’s hand moved towards the tail,
“Kiyaang!”
Presia, who had been still until now, wriggled wildly, escaped from Anne’s arms, and dashed out the open window.
Anne tried to catch her quickly but Presia was already gone.
“Hee…”
“That wasn’t nice to tease just to annoy Anne. I might be hated by Meow because of her.”
Of course, that won’t happen.
*
“Hek, hek…”
After running for quite some time, Presia finally returned to Magic Building 707.
The bear and Tokki, who had been waiting inside, handed her a glass of water as she caught her breath.
Gulping down the whole glass of water, Presia finally calmed down and lay down on the sofa.
Dreaming of the day she can sleep in the same bed with Alicia once again…
By the way, it is said that Anne got a massive load of special homework during the next basic magic class.
