By Zephyria 
“Raymond.”
Zeon’s voice murmured my name softly. I turned around, sensing hesitation in his voice, as if he had something to say. And just as Zeon avoided my gaze for a moment, lowered his eyes, moistened his lips, and then met my eyes again with a determined look,
“Look over there! Guys!”
Tom’s loud voice interrupted from the front. It was so thunderous that I couldn’t help but turn around, so I turned to face the direction where Tom was.
‘Ah.’
There, a clear view of the deep blue sea unfolded. It was the very sea I had always seen in pictures or heard in stories. It felt like we hadn’t walked far, but we had already arrived at the coast.
Herman ran ahead with Tom, and I quickly went down to the coast as well.
The area in front of the sea was covered with soft sand, unlike ordinary soil. People who appeared to be nobles visiting for leisure were scattered around, sitting under umbrellas, watching the sea, or walking along the beach, chatting intimately.
I took in the scenery for a while, then remembered the earlier situation and turned to Zeon.
“Ah. What were you trying to say earlier?”
But Zeon just smiled and said nothing.
“It was nothing.”
Then he changed the subject.
“It seems the villa is over there. Let’s go.”
I felt uneasy for some reason, but I thought that if it was an important matter, he would bring it up again later, so I decided to pretend not to know for now, according to his wishes. If the situation allows, I could ask him again first.
“The villa is huge! Huge!”
Tom, who had rushed into the villa first again, shouted as if he was about to fall backward. Tom was so excited that I wondered if he would faint from excitement.
“Make yourselves comfortable.”
“Hoo… Thank you, Ardian.”
Tom even sniffled at Ardian’s consideration. I watched the scene from a distance and then looked around the inside of the villa. Perhaps because it was a villa owned by the Imperial Family, there were many decorations that looked expensive at first glance, it was decorated quite lavishly, and there seemed to be a large number of rooms.
“Can we use any room we want?”
While looking around for a moment, I asked Ardian, and he turned to me, smiled brightly, and answered.
“Yeah.”
It would have been great if it weren’t for the words that followed that answer.
“Ray will be using the same room as me, though.”
I twisted my lips and furrowed my brow. There were so many rooms, there was no way there wouldn’t be one room per person. No matter how I looked at it, his words were close to unreasonable.
“Why would I do that when there are perfectly good empty rooms?”
“Abuse of power by the villa owner?”
He was being so blatantly brazen that I had nothing to say. I glared at him with narrowed eyes, and Tom, who happened to be listening, chimed in.
“Yeah! Wouldn’t it be better to share a room than to use a room alone? It’s boring to use a room alone! I want to share a room too!”
It was a somewhat off-topic story. Whether or not, Tom clapped his hands as if he had a good idea and continued.
“Then why don’t we decide with rock-paper-scissors? We’ll decide to have ‘two people per room,’ and the people who get the same thing will be partners, and the people who don’t get the same thing will use a room alone!”
“What if three or more people get the same thing?”
“Then they can just play rock-paper-scissors again.”
Zeon seemed to be thinking of going along with Tom’s suggestion. As the two were discussing and setting the rules, Herman, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, joined the conversation.
“I’m in. Rock-paper-scissors.”
I wondered if they were such lonely guys.
“Okay. Then let’s decide with rock-paper-scissors.”
Ardian, who had been watching the situation for a while, readily agreed. Perhaps Tom’s suggestion might have seemed like a tactless act to him… The fact that he was acting as if he didn’t care made me feel uneasy.
“…Then you guys pair up. I’ll take a single room….”
“Ray, can’t you tell me what you’re going to throw in advance?”
Ardian, who cut off my words in the middle, asked with a smooth face. He was already assuming that we would play rock-paper-scissors, including me. I glared at him, and Tom chimed in.
“Ray! Don’t back out, come here quickly!”
In the end, I sighed and decided to go along with their tune, joining the group standing in a circle. After confirming that everyone was gathered, Tom first held out his fist, and the other guys also held out their fists one by one. Tom smiled and opened his mouth.
“Then I’ll give the signal! Rock, paper, scissors!”
The fists of the children, which had been shaking in rhythm, suddenly changed into different shapes. Zeon, Ardian, and I threw rock, Tom threw scissors, and Herman threw paper. Since there wasn’t a single team that came out in pairs, Tom said that we should play rock-paper-scissors one more time as it is, and everyone agreed.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
In the second round of rock-paper-scissors, Zeon and Tom threw rock, and I, Herman, and Ardian threw paper. Zeon and Tom were the only ones who threw the same thing and were divided. Zeon looked at the fist he had thrown with a slightly regretful look, but he didn’t seem to care much.
‘Now, on this side… I just need to throw something different.’
Then I can use a room alone. While Tom was making a fuss about being the judge, I checked the people standing facing each other. And I felt a strange question.
‘Is it a coincidence?’
Was it really a coincidence that Ardian had thrown the same thing as me from the first to the second time? It was still only the second time we had thrown the same thing, so I couldn’t rule out the possibility that it was really a coincidence… But there was something suspicious about it.
“Okay, get ready quickly.”
But before I could think any further, Tom urged us. Soon, the three of us, including me, waited with our fists together, and Tom’s mouth opened.
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
As a result, Herman threw scissors, and I and Ardian threw paper. Again, he threw the same thing as me.
‘How the hell?’
If I could do it one more time, I could be sure whether it was a coincidence or not, but the decision had already been made. I felt uneasy that I couldn’t confirm whether it was a coincidence or his trickery. The fact that he, who is stubborn, readily agreed to a game like rock-paper-scissors, where luck plays a role, and the fact that he acted as if he didn’t care… It felt like an ominous situation to me.
At that moment, Ardian and I made eye contact.
When I glared at him with narrowed eyes, he smiled.
“It seems like you and I have something in common.”
He seemed to know what I wanted to say.
The suspicion grew even more, but the answer to that suspicion ended up being a mystery. Tom, who was arbitrarily comforting Herman, who ended up using a single room, turned to us and said.
“Let’s rest well today, and let’s go see the sea tomorrow!”
After that, the group members each chose a room, unpacked their luggage, and had a simple meal. The bed was soft, the spacious room had a well-maintained bathroom, and the sea breeze blew in through the window, making me feel good. It was a great place to enjoy leisure.
I enjoyed the fullness after the meal and lay on the bed for a while with my eyes closed.
Since the second semester starts in November, I had to go back to the dormitory a few days in advance, so after enjoying the trip for about 3 days from today, it’s back to academy life. And when I return to the academy, I have to hurry and find a way to endure the Black Mana Heart in a human body again.
Now is the only time to rest.
I also decided to enjoy the rest of the moment.
I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. I woke up from the feeling of something touching my cheek and tickling me. Realizing that I had been sleeping, I slightly opened my eyes, and what I saw in front of me was Ardian’s face.
“You’re awake?”
“……”
“If you look at me like that, I want to kiss you.”
Instantly, the brow that had been drowsily relaxed tightened. If it was nonsense to wake me up, it was an excellent choice. As I jumped up, I heard a chuckling sound. Soon, Ardian brought up the main point of waking me up.
“The kids are playing poker. Are you going to go?”
“……”
“If you don’t want to, you can stay in the room with me.”
That said, there was only one choice. I roughly swept back my messy hair, which had become messy from just waking up, and rushed out of the room. Ardian, who followed me out, entered Herman’s room where the kids were gathered.
“Oh, you’re here! You’re here!”
“Ray, you should join us too.”
Cards were scattered around, as if they had already been playing poker among themselves. I mixed in with the group for a while, won one game, and got up, leaving behind the noisy kids who were so engrossed in the game that they didn’t even know I was leaving, and left the villa.
The sun had already set, and the sky was getting dark. The people who had been on the coast seemed to have all gone home, and it was deserted. Only the sound of the cool waves crashing against the sandy beach was heard regularly.
‘…Good.’
I walked along the sandy beach, listening to the sound of the waves. It was then. I felt a presence that seemed to be following me, and then I heard a soft voice calling me.
“Raymond.”
It was Zeon who was there, where I turned around. The reddish-brown eyes revealed between the black hair fluttering in the sea breeze were receiving the faint moonlight.