"You stupid mutt, shut up!"
Natsuki Minamiya felt as if a string in her head had snapped. With a wave of her hand, she commanded the chains to grab an unused towel and shove it into Misaki Sasasaki's mouth.
"Mmm! Mmm mmm…!"
With the towel stuffed in her mouth, Misaki Sasasaki couldn't speak anymore. All she could do was twist around in midair, making muffled sounds.
Watching her like this, Natsuki Minamiya finally let out a breath. She sat back down in her chair, took a sip of black tea, and had the chains bring Misaki Sasasaki in front of her.
After placing the now-empty teacup on the table, Natsuki Minamiya leaned forward and stood on her tiptoes, bringing her face close to Misaki Sasasaki's.
Hmm...
Even on tiptoes, she still wasn't tall enough.
Realizing this, Natsuki Minamiya immediately sat back down and snapped the fingers of her right hand.
The chair beneath her rose into the air until she was half a body taller than Misaki Sasasaki before stopping.
Now looking down at her from above, Natsuki Minamiya opened the fan in her left hand and held it in front of her face.
"Listen carefully, stupid mutt. I don't want anyone besides the two of us to know about this..."
Her voice paused for a moment as she glanced toward Rossweisse, who had been quietly watching their quarrel from the side the whole time.
Realizing she had been noticed, Rossweisse could only give an awkward smile. She made a slicing motion across her lips with her hand, signaling that she wouldn't say anything.
Only after seeing Rossweisse's promise did Natsuki Minamiya turn her gaze back to Misaki Sasasaki.
"I don't want a fourth person to know about this. Understood?"
"Mmm! Mmm mmm...!"
Misaki Sasasaki shook her head wildly. Noticing that she seemed to be trying to say something, Natsuki Minamiya controlled the chains and pulled the towel out of her mouth.
"Ha... ha... Natsuki-chan, you don't want Cid to know it was you who gave him the—mmph!"
The anger Natsuki Minamiya had just suppressed instantly surged back up. She shoved the towel straight back into Misaki Sasasaki's mouth.
With a flick of magic, a stack of documents appeared in the air. She pulled one sheet out.
"Very well, you stupid mutt. You seem to think you've gotten hold of some leverage on me. I'll admit, I may have underestimated your brain. After all these years knowing me, you managed to piece together the rough truth."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"But don't get the idea that you can threaten me. Have you forgotten who's been covering up the trouble you cause all the time?"
Natsuki Minamiya truly hadn't expected Misaki Sasasaki to understand her that well.
Anyone who knew her well knew she was never the tsundere type. She never believed that helping a student would damage her authority. On the contrary, she was very straightforward. When she taught her students, she said exactly what needed to be said. If a student had a problem, she dealt with it directly instead of helping in some roundabout way like she had with Cid.
This time was clearly an exception.
So why make an exception for Cid?
Anyone who knew her well would immediately ask that question.
Love? Embarrassment?
Nonsense.
People who truly knew her would know those possibilities were the least likely of all.
There was only one answer.
Guilt.
Only if something had happened that made Natsuki Minamiya feel guilty toward Cid would she help him in such an indirect way. It might even be something Cid himself didn't know about.
That sense of guilt was what made her go out of her way to help him.
After all, Cid's grades weren't particularly bad, nor were they outstanding. The only subject where he was truly at the bottom was magic. In other classes he was merely in the lower-middle ranks. There were dozens of students like that. Normally, it wouldn't be worth Natsuki Minamiya putting in this much effort.
And in Natsuki Minamiya's mind, Misaki Sasasaki was one of the few people who understood her well enough to figure it out.
"Mmm?!"
Suspended in midair, Misaki Sasasaki froze when she heard Natsuki Minamiya's words.
The truth was, she had simply seen Natsuki Minamiya looking unusually flustered earlier and thought it would be a good chance to tease her. She hadn't thought about it that deeply at all.
But judging from what Natsuki Minamiya had just said, there seemed to be something more behind it.
Seeing her reaction, Natsuki Minamiya also froze.
She swallowed.
"Y-you stupid mutt... don't tell me you didn't think about anything at all?"
Still dazed, Misaki Sasasaki subconsciously nodded.
The next second, a magic circle formed from a spatial spell appeared beneath her.
Boom!
After Misaki Sasasaki was teleported away, Natsuki Minamiya immediately buried her face in the desk.
Thinking about what she had just done made her want to disappear.
She really was stupid.
She had literally called her a stupid mutt, yet somehow still believed that stupid mutt actually had a brain.
"Um... Natsuki."
Natsuki Minamiya slowly raised her head and saw Rossweisse sitting beside her. At some point during the commotion, the spectator who had been watching the entire show had quietly moved over.
"What's wrong, Rossweisse?"
Natsuki Minamiya actually trusted Rossweisse, the Valkyrie from Northern Europe, quite a bit. Among the people around her, Rossweisse was considered one of the more reliable ones.
Even though they had only known each other for a few months.
Even though this Valkyrie could be a bit scatterbrained at times.
Even though every time the topic of marriage came up, she would immediately spiral into self-pity.
Even though her drinking habits were terrible and she would go wild after just a few drinks.
Even though she seemed rather obsessed with money...
Thinking about it like that, maybe she wasn't all that reliable after all.
"Natsuki, thank you for helping me."
Completely unaware of the silent criticism running through Natsuki Minamiya's mind, Rossweisse continued to thank her sincerely.
"Helping?"
Natsuki Minamiya looked confused. When had she helped Rossweisse?
"Yes, thank you, Natsuki. If it weren't for you, Cid probably still wouldn't have decided to work harder. He'd most likely fail the next magic test again, and then my bonus would probably be gone."
Just thinking about that made Rossweisse's head hurt. If Cid's grades were equally bad across the board, it wouldn't bother her so much. But his magic class was by far the worst.
That made it look like her teaching ability was the problem.
On top of that, she was responsible for teaching Magic Swordsmen the basics of magic. The results of their practical magic tests were already predictable. Most of them hovered right around the passing line.
"Oh, that. No need to thank me. I was the one who asked you for help in the first place. If it also helped you out, then that's even better."
Natsuki Minamiya replied casually, but what she was really thinking about now was something else entirely.
How to make Misaki Sasasaki forget what had just happened.
"Natsuki, you have no idea. Among all the students I teach, the one who gives me the most headaches is Cid."
"Other students might lack talent, but at least they work hard. He's the only one who has no talent and then claims it's simply his destiny. Isn't that just blaming his inability to learn magic on a lack of talent? I hate that kind of person the most."
Hearing Cid's name pulled Natsuki Minamiya out of her thoughts.
"Um... maybe he really does lack talent. You know there are people in this world who simply can't learn magic no matter how hard they try."
"I've looked into Cid before. He's actually a very diligent and hardworking person. He probably only gave up after realizing he just couldn't learn it."
Rossweisse rolled her eyes.
"Natsuki, do you even believe that yourself? Cid isn't from the Beastman race. And he can keep up with all his other classes. It's only my class he can't keep up with."
"He might manage to scrape through this time with the book you gave him, but what about next time?
"Anyway, I've already prepared myself for a long battle with him. I'm not expecting him to graduate as some kind of magic master. As long as he doesn't end up getting tricked by someone else's magic, I'll be satisfied."
Rossweisse waved her hand.
"Forget that. Natsuki, you seem to know Cid pretty well. So what exactly happened between you two?"
A sly glint flashed through Rossweisse's eyes.
Women loved gossip, and she was no exception. After watching the situation for so long, it would be a lie to say she wasn't curious. All that earlier conversation had really been to steer things naturally toward this question.
Natsuki Minamiya was no fool. She lifted her head and stared at Rossweisse suspiciously.
"You... all that earlier talk wasn't just to lead up to this, was it?"
"Oh come on, Natsuki. Just tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone."
Seeing that she couldn't trick the answer out of her, Rossweisse immediately changed tactics and began acting cute.
Which looked extremely strange, considering a mature woman was trying to act adorable toward someone who looked like a little girl.
"No chance. I'm not telling you. Give up."
Unfortunately for Rossweisse, that trick didn't work on Natsuki Minamiya.
If she had to describe her relationship with Cid, it was actually very simple.
Every day after school, she secretly watched him practice swordsmanship from nearby.
Cid himself had no idea she was there.
As for the magic book, that was simply payment for nearly a year of watching him train.
Heh.
If she actually revealed that truth out loud, then by the end of today either she would be the only one walking out of this office...or she would be the one carried out.