I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

The golden cat leisurely wagging its tail.

[Golden Witch] spoke to us still in a calm tone.

『Did I interrupt?』

“…”

“…”

‘Is that what you call it?’

Those words almost burst out of my throat, but…

Gulp—

The warmth remaining in my mouth.

As I unconsciously swallowed saliva to speak… Along with a vague sense of something foreign, my head felt dizzy, so I couldn’t say anything.

This isn’t my saliva.

“…”

We kissed.

Hilde and I clearly kissed.

Properly realizing that, my heart only now starts pounding.

The lingering sensation of warmth felt on the mucous membranes.

Something warm and moist clearly touched the inside of my lips. What I thought shouldn’t touch clearly made contact. Clumsily, while confirming each other’s pulses, we overlapped lips and yearned.

Yearning for each other’s affection, we shared areas we hadn’t allowed others. I vaguely understood what the “melting feeling” often appearing in third-rate erotic novels meant.

Thump—

Thump—

A feeling of my heart pounding as if about to burst, my body becoming damp, my head heating up. Because I knew well what this tightening emotion in my chest was… it was rather more embarrassing.

‘Damn…’

And what was even more embarrassing was that as Clara, this was the first time I showed such a disheveled appearance in front of others.

‘If it were just Hilde it might be okay…’

…Even in my past life as a man, I hadn’t particularly shown an excited appearance to others. Showing it in this form made it somehow even more embarrassing.

I glanced at [Golden Witch].

“…”

Meow—!

Perhaps to give us time to compose ourselves, she meowed once and just watched quietly.

“…”

Even though I didn’t care about my skirt flipping during the fight with Ofnir. I find myself unnecessarily crossing my legs and fixing my clothes, becoming conscious of it.

There’s no smell, right?

Ha… this is driving me crazy.

Moreover, Hilde who had shared the same act didn’t seem to have as hot(?) emotions as me, just glancing while touching her lips. She was even licking her lips, making a fuss.

‘Or is she just not the type to get embarrassed by something like this…?’

Well, Hilde is from a rich family… and she’s said to receive all sorts of service at school, so she probably doesn’t react sensitively to privacy.

“…”

I’m actually older in real age, but I feel somehow defeated. If we did it, I wish she would at least share this embarrassment.

‘Is it because the scenery is needlessly romantic that Clara’s sensitivity points were activated too? You were an easy woman, Clara… I could deal with it myself, but with the pretty filter added, it just became an even more embarrassing sight.’

Cao Cao is amazing. Even when he was attacked in the middle of spending hot time with a married woman, even as Zhang Liao and Dian Wei were dying, he calmly didn’t run away.

I want to learn that composure.

‘Please…! Please pretend you didn’t see…!’

I tried to act natural while constantly crossing my legs, but gave up. In the end, while buttoning my coat, I spoke to [Golden Witch] in a seemingly calm tone.

“Ahaha—☆ The timing was really… really… bad…!”

[Golden Witch] nodded and looked at the sunset. Through her gradually transparent cat body, the sunset was faintly shining through.

She was slowly disappearing.

『…Yes, it seems so. But there’s not much time left now. I used up all my ether to stop [Snake of Wisdom and Cycles] and create new magic.』

“…I see☆”

『I’ve told the children in the Sage’s Room everything I can tell them too… It’s time for me to withdraw now.』

“…”

[Golden Witch] twitched her ears while looking at the lonely setting sun in the distance. Somehow she looked like she might set out on another adventure to explore this world even now.

But…

『My story is already over. This is merely… a memo written on the very few remaining pages, the remaining story must be continued by the children left behind.』

“…”

“…”

『Originally, it was power left behind for the moment to face [Dragon Crouched in the Abyss] that we couldn’t defeat and only sealed… But in the end, due to ‘his’ choice, even [Snake of Wisdom and Cycles] has risen. Perhaps even [Wolf Seeking Revenge], another beast god, might rise.』

Hilde reacted to the word ‘he’ and asked [Golden Witch]:

“Do you mean the prophet Lara asked about?”

『Yes, you probably already know the important things from what I told you earlier…』

Twitch—

[Golden Witch]’s ears swayed lightly, moving as if recalling winds from memories.

『A very… kind adult we four all relied on… and a man hurt by our ‘sacrifice’. Except for the fact that he came from ‘another universe’, we don’t know much either. He always just listened to our stories.』

“…I see.”

『…But it’s no coincidence that children with the [Fates] we had are all gathered at this moment now.』

“…”

『Above all, the child who inherited the [Fate] of the girl whose name has been forgotten— the [Fate] of [Saintess of Sacrifice] is here.』

[Golden Witch] looked at me and spoke:

『A fate of having to erase even your name and devote yourself to the world… [Saintess of Sacrifice] of this era, are you ready to accept that fate?』

“…”

『Can you endure the unreasonableness that your [Fate] may drive you to the path of ‘sacrifice’ even if you don’t intend it?』

“…”

What was contained in that voice was concern. And the final name someone had faintly engraved beneath [Golden Witch]’s statue.

[Saintess of Sacrifice].

An epithet I didn’t know even though I knew the original work.

…

It’s not that I fully realized its meaning.

But—

Hero, Rider, Witch… and Saintess.

A figure whose epithet was written along with the [Fate of the Three Heroes]. If there was someone who inherited that [Fate], I couldn’t help but think it could only be me.

‘To begin with… was the protagonist school in this game.’

It’s only natural that even the last character belonging to the protagonist school had a foreshadowing.

Clara.

The girl completely forgotten at some point in the original game.

It’s surprising that this ridiculous gag character had the role of [Saintess of Sacrifice], but.

‘Well, it’s not surprising anymore that there are foreshadowings in this world I didn’t know about.’

…

Once I saw the existence of ‘Urd’… I had to accept that she too had some major role.

‘Perhaps me being reborn in Clara’s body after dying from overwork… and in this world, defeating [Priest of Erosion] and being able to break out of ‘original Clara’s’ weapon aptitude…’

It must be thanks to the sacrifice of the girl who even changed her own name and completely vacated her place for my soul, a foreign substance in this world.

I am here thanks to [Saintess of Sacrifice] Clara. And… that [Fate] called ‘sacrifice’ still remained with ‘me’.

What should I ‘sacrifice’ myself for?

“…”

No.

It’s already decided.

What I desire is a happy ending where everyone can smile.

‘And a happy ending where I can meet again with seniors I can’t meet now…’

I spoke while looking at [Golden Witch] gradually becoming blurry:

“Of course—♪ The important thing is ‘story’ rather than [Fate], right? It’s troublesome if the one who said that says otherwise☆ Leave the ‘prophet’ or to me—☆”

『…』

[Golden Witch] quietly prayed while looking at me.

『May your ‘sacrifice’ not be as painful as hers… and may you be able to smile together with those left behind… I hope.』

“Leave it to me—☆ If necessary, I can fight together with Hilde here or my friends~ We’ll defeat them all with a bang like this time!”

“…Lara.”

Hilde looked at me with worried eyes. But I laughed cheerfully so that Hilde and [Golden Witch]’s avatar wouldn’t worry until the end.

Though there’s still much I don’t know.

Because I too desire a happy ending beyond [Fate].

I laughed loudly enough to resound beyond that sunset.

“Ahahahaha—☆ Don’t worry too much~”

“…”

『…Yes. Thank you.』

[Golden Witch] listened to my laughter and looked at the sunset again.

『…』

The entire sky was dyed golden, turning this city golden. All memories were also dyed golden, shining faintly.

『…』

Though our story still remained.

The story left by [Golden Witch] was turning to its final page.

『…』

[Golden Witch] wrote down that final golden page.

-May your lover, your friends, everyone be happy… May your story be remembered by all. May the miracle brought about by the fate of ‘sacrifice’… make everyone including you happy…

Sparkling gold.

Scattering ether.

Golden murals disappearing like a dream of one night.

And so…

The golden cat vanished into that dazzling sunset.

The slowly disappearing golden fragments changed into the forms of a small girl, a naive magician, an experienced adventurer, a mature woman. Then they changed back into a small golden cat and ran off.

The story of the small girl who ran out of the cave 1500 years ago… came to an end in the golden sunset.

“…”

“…”

Hilde and I looked at the sunset for a while, then descended from the ‘snake’s’ body that was now completely crumbling and disappearing.

Now it’s time to take care of numerous aftermath matters.

* * *

Rota left the research faction’s library and looked at the sky where the sunset was already falling.

“…”

What she held in her arms was… the first magic book, now empty with all the golden letters disappeared. She resolved to write her own story here from now on.

Murmur murmur

Voices faintly heard from around.

The research faction students were also excited to start new research based on the newly discovered magic.

There were people who cared about Rota trying to take out the first magic book, but after seeing her achievements, most acknowledged her ownership.

Above all, the fact that [Golden Witch] directly named her as successor played a big role.

Rota walked forward, leaving behind the lightly excited library like that.

“…I should return to Senior.”

* * *

Alvit and Kara were looking at the sunset, leaving behind dozens of magic armor weapons that had become scrap metal and Andrea who was being dragged away unconscious.

“…”

“…”

Numerous noises.

Behind them, the and … and many ordinary students were dealing with the aftermath of the incident.

Amidst that, Kara suddenly muttered:

“But where is Senior comrade?”

“Well, seeing that the ‘snake’ is no longer moving, it seems the incident has been resolved.”

Alvit scratched her head with a troubled expression. Kara conveyed congratulations she couldn’t say during the battle to her:

“By the way, congratulations. To think you’d reach the realm of [Wave Ether] in that chaos. This seems like a growth rate hard to find precedent for?”

“Hmm, about that… Suddenly a ‘hawk’ appeared in my mind…”

“Hawk?”

“Umm… well, I’m not sure. I don’t know either.”

“Then who would know?”

“Yeah…”

The two silent for a while.

“We should go look for Senior comrade.”

“Yeah, let’s go talk to Senior.”

“There seems to be a lot to talk about. Huhu… It was an eventful night…”

“I agree…”

* * *

A week spent in Golden Street.

During that time, the group stayed in the building that hadn’t been destroyed even by [Snake of Wisdom and Cycles]’s attack.

Hilde and I often met and talked amidst being busy with the aftermath.

We talked a lot, laughing and sulking. Like that, for the first time in this world, someone who heard all my stories appeared.

Past life and current life.

Secrets and misunderstandings.

The conclusion we reached after sharing all stories was…

“I love you, Lara.”

“U-Um…☆ Me too.”

…It became like that.

And the juniors who saw that sight all made stupid expressions and screamed in shock.