145 – First Semester’s Final Exams…

The shooting lesson from Rohan was regrettably cut short.

Ichinose, who was melting in happiness, collected herself and answered the call.

She could guess what it was about. Still, she couldn’t ignore it, just in case.

“Noah? What’s wrong?”

─ Nosesh──!!! How! Could! You! Do! This!!!

The suin girl’s voice, loud enough to rattle the rafters, boomed without the need for a speaker.

Noah’s shouts reached Rohan clearly, even several paces away.

“…”

Ichinose, as if expecting this, already held the phone away from his face.

The smartphone vibrated fiercely in his palm, thrashing like a landed fish, struggling to contain the girl’s agitated pronouncements.

Only after confirming Noah had run out of steam did Ichinose bring the phone back to his ear.

“Me wandering off alone happens sometimes, you know? Why are you getting so worked up?”

─ Where are you! You didn’t get lost again, did you? What if you run into a Monolith!

“I’m not directionally challenged! And Monoliths… Anyway, there’s no need to worry about that, so calm down.”

Ichinose turned to Sion, wordlessly mouthing his intentions, seeking permission.

His lips formed the question without a sound, his attention fixed on Sion’s reaction.

Even if Sion permitted it, if there was even a hint of discomfort, he would simply tell Noah he was heading back.

The answer came swiftly.

Sion smiled without a moment’s hesitation. There was truly no discomfort to be found.

He owed Noah Frozenheart a debt of gratitude and desired to become closer to her.

“Noah-nim is also indebted to me. It would be my pleasure if she visited.”

“…Thank you.”

─ What? Nosse? Who are you with?

“Noah, I’ll send you my location. Just check your messages.”

Ichinose relayed his coordinates without deception.

Even if they were building a secret alliance of three, he had no intention of excluding Noah.

They’d barely cleaned up the shooting range and made their way to the living room for a brief chat.

*Ding-dong!* The mansion’s bell rang, and Noah’s face filled the security camera.

Sion chuckled at the sight of Noah practically pressing her face against the lens, and opened the main gate, disengaging the door’s lock.

Moments later, the front door burst open, and Noah appeared in the mansion.

“Super – Cute Tiger, reporting for duty!”

“You arrived quickly.”

Ichinose was the first to greet her.

Noah’s unique vivacity and life force brightened the atmosphere, bringing smiles to their faces. She was, one way or another, an undeniably charming girl.

“Of course, I’m fast. But whose house is this?”

Noah twitched his round ears, a pleased smile blooming on his face.

His tail swished as he took stock of the figures populating the mansion.

“Rohan’s here? And those two as well?”

“Noah-nim. Welcome.”

“O-oh, welcome…!”

“I’m a guest too. This is Zion’s place.”

Rohan finished his greeting.

Noah apologized to Zion for the sudden visit, then moved towards Ichinose.

He spread his arms, ready for an embrace, but Ichinose sidestepped him.

“Nose goes out alone! How could you!”

“I wrote it in a note, didn’t I? I didn’t want to wake you with noise, so I left a written message.”

“Still! How could you do that! We were supposed to have lunch together!”

“We were? When did we make that promise?”

“We always eat together, so it’s an unspoken agreement!”

“What… You leave without a word sometimes, Noah. At least I left a note.”

“Then I’ll leave notes from now on too!”

Ichinose smiled faintly at the sight of Noah squeezing out an answer.

He understood the reason he was trying so hard to stick so close, using such unreasonable arguments.

“Noah.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t worry about the Monolith. It’s not something you can avoid by avoiding it, you know?”

“…But if we’re together, we’ll fall into the dungeon together.”

Ichinose had heard the story of how Noah had struggled mentally and suffered while he and Rohan had been trapped in the dungeon.

He’d always lived with an indomitable spirit, seemingly fearless, so seeing him like that was almost refreshing to Ichinose.

In a way, it was even endearing.

“That’s a bit of an extreme solution, don’t you think? You want to be glued to me, 24 hours a day, for the rest of our lives?”

“Yep!”

“What are you saying so brightly…?”

Scratch that, not so endearing.

I felt the need to suppress it before the symptoms worsened.

“After finals, even during break, I’m going to be with Nose!”

“It’s fine if you come home, but Noah needs to see her parents too.”

“Nose can just come with me, right? Mom and Dad would want to see Nose too.”

“That would be a joyous thing, but…”

Ichinose drew out the end of her sentence, glancing at Rohan.

He seemed to be smiling as if Noah and her getting along was a pleasant sight.

Ichinose avoided Noah, who was once again trying to embrace her.

And then, she revealed a sudden curiosity.

“Rohan, have you decided on your plans for the break?”

“Me? I was thinking of visiting the South, but that’s on hold. Don’t really have any plans. Just training, I guess?”

With Rohan’s casually spoken words, the girls felt various emotions in a fleeting moment.

An ease washed over them, for they thought he might visit the Sepia Archipelago to meet a girl named Lethe, but he seemed to have no such plans.

Ichinose felt a small pang of disappointment that Rohan wasn’t planning to go to Samhwa or Tigrova.

And from everyone, a shared worry that he was running too hard without refreshing his mind.

“Rohan… you do know that rest is an important factor in growth, right?”

“That’s why I’m getting plenty of rest. I’m resting right now.”

From Rohan’s perspective, that was the honest truth.

Just looking at these girls made him feel like his mind was clearing.

Noah, who had been tapping the floor with her tail as she listened to the conversation, suddenly offered a suggestion.

Naturally drawing everyone together.

“Let’s all go to the beach when break starts! It’ll basically be summer after finals!”

“It’ll roughly be summer, yes. But… if we go to the beach, we’ll have to wear swimsuits…”

Ichinose didn’t have the confidence to openly expose her skin.

Even more so now that she was conscious of Rohan. And Sion and Noah’s powerfully built figures were crushing Ichinose’s self-esteem into the ground.

“Or how about the Tigrova Snowy Mountains? We can make snowmen and gather snow to build a house!”

“…Noah has so many options popping up.”

While Ichinose was being grabbed and swung around by Noah.

Rohan asked the girls occupying his sides.

“Well, maybe it’s not so good to just hole up and train during break. Sion and Clara, is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Oppa… i-if we go together, anywhere is fine…”

“Same here.”

Rohan thought this was a matter worth serious contemplation during his break.

Right now, even Rohan himself had only a narrow view of this world. If possible, he wanted to show everyone many things and make memories.

‘Going south during vacation…I’m still too weak for that, aren’t I.’

Having no memory, he’d looked up information on the geography and circumstances of the South.

It stated that beyond the narrow patch of land where survivors gathered to live, lay land swarming with powerful monsters, and the caliber of the monsters that appeared was extraordinary.

On top of that, groups of criminals formed settlements here and there, making problems erupt daily.

If he poked around trying to confirm the riddles and information he currently held in his head in detail, something was bound to happen.

So, it was right to go on a normal trip for now.

“A trip, huh…”

Be it the sea or a snow-capped mountain, anything was good.

Like Sion and Clara said, Rohan also thought that with a trip, who you went with was more important than the place itself.

In any case, it was something to seriously consider after finishing the final exams cleanly.

*

The days passed, and the weather warmed.

Looking at the clothing of passersby, there were more short sleeves mixed in with long sleeves, a pleasant sort of weather.

It was becoming apparent that spring was passing and summer was slowly but surely arriving.

At the same time, the students of Orion Academy grew busy.

Because the final exams to wrap up the first semester were right around the corner.

The students’ attention was focused more on practical exams than written ones.

They’d heard the written exams would proceed in the usual format. But with such a big change in the curriculum now,

predicting the practical exams was completely impossible.

During homeroom in Class 1.

Juyeon quietly checked on the students waiting for his words, then

opened his lips.

“The Orion Academy final exam practical exam is──”

“…”

As Juyeon deliberately paused,

the students held their breath and quietly waited for the rest.

Rohann felt much the same.

‘At Abyss City, the final exam was a bell-stealing game between students in the mountains.’

But he wasn’t sure. Not right now.

With an Omega’s death on a deserted island, events had taken a twisted turn.

And not just slightly twisted. Students being tortured by Omegas, let alone changes in the curriculum, were unheard of in Abyss City.

So, the exam content could be altered to some degree as well. That’s what Rohann anticipated.

Satisfied with the students’ focus, Jooyeon slightly raised the corner of his lips.

He held up a bell that chimed a clear ‘Ting!’

“Stealing bells from the instructors.”

“···!”

Not from fellow students, but from the instructors.

Rohann’s jaw dropped at the absurd difficulty.