Akatsuki Translations

“Alright, ten more laps!”

The blonde tyrant’s shrill whistle drew resentful glares from the students running laps around Gemstone Academy’s courtyard.

“Teacher… why do we… have to run… in math class?” a male student complained between labored breaths as he ran past without waiting for an answer.

The blonde tyrant, Aise, clad in a pristine blue Bright uniform with a sword bearing the royal crest at her hip, furrowed her brow and barked at the complaining student.

“It’s not ‘teacher,’ call me Instructor Mordred! If you have energy to talk, save it for using your head. We’re having a pop quiz after this. We’ll start with those who finish running first, and anyone who doesn’t pass will have to do it all over again from the beginning!”

A cry resembling a scream rose from the desperately running students.

Aise was currently teaching under the guise of training. However, she hadn’t been officially assigned to Gemstone Academy. Typically, those who passed the graduation exam were shuffled between various departments for “training,” expected to gain broad but shallow experience.

Usually, the training period at any given post lasted a month or less, but Gemstone Academy was short on instructors, so Aise found herself lingering at her alma mater longer than planned.

Aise, however, was beginning to think this situation wasn’t so bad.

She had always enjoyed being in charge and prided himself on being good at it. This position, where she could command candidates with a single word, seemed to suit her so well it might be her calling.

Spotting a chubby female student who had stopped running, Aise blew her whistle hard.

“Hey, you there! At this rate—”

She suddenly paused mid-shout, her voice trailing off as she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the corner of her vision.

                    *

The classroom was filled with students sporting a rainbow of hair colors. Despite the number of people gathered, it was wrapped in an eerie silence.

The young candidates stared blankly ahead at a blue-haired instructor in a sloppily worn blue Bright uniform, silently grooming his fingertips.

“Um, Miss Aurel… if there’s nothing to do, could you at least give us some instructions?” a serious-looking female student asked, standing up.

The blue-haired instructor, Shitori, replied languidly without even looking up. “Didn’t I tell you to stop with that stuffy ‘Aurel’ stuff? And how many times do I have to say just do whatever you want?”

The female student sat back down awkwardly.

“We were expecting so much since they said he passed the graduation exam…” a whispered complaint was heard, but Shitori remained unfazed, selecting a tool from the cosmetics spread out on the teacher’s desk to start shaping her nails.

As an instructor, Shitori was mainly responsible for looking after children with aptitude as Crystaliers attending Gemstone Academy. She had been assigned based on the simple idea that she had established herself as a Crystalier, but these fledgling students far from graduation were earnest to a fault, which irritated her.

Even when told to do as they pleased, the students wouldn’t listen and kept staring at her expectantly, which irritated Shitori to no end.

She wanted to abandon everything, but with the watchful eyes of the chief instructor above her and her annoying former classmate and current colleague Aise, that was difficult. As a compromise, Shitori showed up for class but refused to play the role of the ideal teacher the fledglings desired.

In a few years, when they grew to be nearly as tall as adults, they might learn to slack off a bit. But now, dreaming of their future, they eagerly absorbed knowledge like cotton and were brimming with motivation, which Shitori found unbearably stifling.

Suddenly, a young male student stood up and shouted, “Teach us how to handle Crynetic Energy already! Are you even an instructor?”

The student was a young lord from a well-known family. Even Shitori, who wasn’t particularly interested, knew of their considerable status. Still, she maintained her attitude, not even bothering to respond properly.

“Hey, say something! I won’t forgive you for ignoring me. I’ll tell my father everything! With just a word from our family, someone like you—”

The child’s high-pitched voice, not yet changed, grated on Shitori’s ears. She interrupted the boy with a low growl reminiscent of a fierce beast.

“Shut up.”

The boy’s face contorted as if frightened by Shitori’s voice.

Slamming her hand on the desk, Shitori stood up and glared at the student.

“Listen, kid. There are people in this world enduring truly awful lives. Being passed around jobs they don’t want to do, living apart from their beloved, woken up every morning by an annoying former classmate, and dragged back to a school they thought they were done with. Handling Crynetic Energy? That won’t make your skin beautiful or get you embraced by the one you love! If you’re so bored you’re using your parent’s name to threaten people, why don’t you just play pretend Bright with chopsticks?”

After this one-sided tirade, the boy who had been yelling so confidently moments ago slumped into his chair, hiding his face as if about to cry.

For some reason, a smattering of applause arose from some of the students.

Feeling relieved after venting, Shitori was about to sit down when she paused midway. She thought she saw a gray-haired man pass by the open classroom door for just a moment.

“No way…”

Without sitting down, Shitori dashed out of the classroom after a brief pause.

“Ugh, Aise.”

Running into each other in the middle of Gemstone Academy’s long corridor, Shitori and Aise awkwardly averted their gazes.

“Shitori, aren’t you in the middle of class? What are you doing here?” Aise asked.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Well, I…”

Unusually for the typically cheerful Aise, she seemed at a loss for words.

Shitori scanned the area for the person she was seeking, but there was no sign of him.

‘That’s impossible, right?’

Shitori’s beloved was currently far away on the battlefield. Due to the harsh environment, it had been a long time since they could exchange letters or gifts. There was no way he would be wandering around Gemstone Academy, a place he had no connection to.

Shitori’s shoulders slumped as she concluded it must have been an illusion born from her strong desire to see him.

Looking closer, even Aise seemed somewhat dejected, unlike her usual self.

“Hey—” Shitori started to say, then stopped.

“What is it?” Aise asked.

“Nothing. Never mind, I’m going back.”

“I’m heading back too.”

They both turned away, walking in opposite directions with their backs to each other.