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My first encounter with her is… very hard to describe. It was the first day of Magic Circle studies; around me were all unfamiliar people, and the seats were mostly occupied—at that time, Bell even considered going back to her room rather than having to sit next to someone. This particular course is also available for upperclassmen to enroll in, so there were a lot of large people around, and Bell really wanted to go home. Still, thinking of the future, becoming an artificer seemed like a good option, so it would be best for Bell to attend this class.
As an artificer, Bell could seclude herself and simply make sorceric tools. Bell might have to become a hunter if left with no other options, so I also took hunter courses, but the ideal would be work I could do while being reclusive. Bell doesn’t want work that needs interacting with people.

Just as Bell was about to be overwhelmed by the feeling of wanting to go home and the anxieties of the future, I found her.
It was a girl who didn’t look scary and was smaller than Bell. With only that information, Bell sat down next to her without even seeing her face. Bell then got curious about what kind of person she was and reflexively stared at her.
While not on full power, I constantly have my magic eyes turned on. This is so I can quickly run when I see a scary person—just like how I run the moment I notice father back at home—and I’ve worked hard to be able to use it at all times other than when asleep. However, if I actually focus on using it, I get exhausted from seeing too much magic power, so I generally have it on low power.

This backfired on me—though in hindsight, this was for the best—because I was only able to notice it after getting so close: the girl next to me has a lot more magic power than father. So much magic power; Bell has never seen that much before. And yet Bell didn’t notice until sitting next to her. Bell has no idea why this was; all Bell knows is that this girl is so much better at controlling magic power than anyone she knows.
While it seems like the girl isn’t using sorcery, she actually had a barrier up the whole time. Moreover, it’s not the commonly seen round barrier; it matches the shape of her body, as if she’s wearing an extra layer of clothes. Seeing this, Bell realized—

This girl is very talented, Bell is sure of it.
However, Bell noticed one more thing. While the girl’s sorcery is obviously amazing, despite this, Bell didn’t feel scared of her at all. Being smaller than Bell, she isn’t really intimidating. And, how do I describe this? …Her gaze when she noticed Bell was like those of the adults that don’t think badly of Bell. People who are mean or eventually end up bullying Bell have a different kind of expression when looking at her.

Eventually, the class began, and Bell finally noticed just how long she was staring at the girl, but since the girl didn’t say anything, she really isn’t a scary person after all.

◇◇◇

When the Magic Circle Studies class ended, Bell decided to take a certain action.
I was thinking of going to the academy cafeteria, a place I’ve never been to before.
Up until now, I would either return to my room to eat or bring a simple lunch to eat somewhere with no people, but I didn’t bring lunch this time. Bell could just return to the dorm instead, but in case of future emergencies, I want to know how the cafeteria works.¹　
As for why this came to mind, it’s because there’s a person nearby who probably won’t get angry even if I secretly followed. If the girl is also heading to the cafeteria, Bell will secretly follow her and see how the cafeteria system works.

And so, Bell is about to eat her first cafeteria food since arriving here. Being able to get food without needing to speak much to the cafeteria person, Bell was touched by how amazing this cafeteria is.
The limited number of open seats because there are so many people around is an issue, though. Next time, I’ll try coming when there are fewer people. Fortunately for Bell, my Magic Eyes allow me to see where there are less people, but there are barely any seats with no people around at this time. It’s impossible for Bell to eat next to unfamiliar people, so I desperately searched and saw an open seat nearby a person I do know, so I decided on that one.

While she might not be scary, it’s still impossible for Bell to talk to her, so I sat near her while making sure she didn’t notice before focusing my attention on the meal. The cafeteria’s food is probably delicious, but since there are so many people around, I couldn’t remember much of the taste. Incidentally, I just noticed now since there are other people eating, but Bell seems to be a slow eater.
Because of that, instead of savoring the taste, Bell was desperately trying her best to eat faster. Thinking about it now, Bell didn’t really need to hurry since she wasn’t really pressed for time.

As I was focused on the food, the girl in front of me suddenly stood up, told me a troublesome person was on the way, and left. I was startled since I didn’t expect her to talk to me, but the ‘troublesome person’ part sounded concerning, so I focused on my Magic Eyes and stared at the cafeteria entrance. Among the different clumps of magic power, I saw one from a person I could never forget.
Someone Bell would rather not see, only second to father… Honestly, Bell might rather see father instead of him. Before I noticed, my body was already preparing to escape. I don’t want to meet him to the point that I didn’t hesitate to leave my food unfinished.

Thanking the girl for telling me, I headed to the exit, but Bell couldn’t move fast enough because there were so many people.
And so, Bell ended up crossing paths with him, with Alcrei. Fortunately, he left after a few words, but had we met while I was sitting down, there’s no telling what he would’ve done to Bell.
After this, I found the girl who helped me, and seeing how skillfully she weaved through the waves of people, Bell decided to follow behind her. Besides, Bell also wanted to thank her.

As I was following behind, still unsure about how to talk to her, we eventually got into the dorm’s floor traversal apparatus without me noticing it.
Being all alone with her in an enclosed room, Bell completely blanked out, but as she was about to leave for her room, I finally gathered the courage to call for her. Rather, after coming this far, not talking to her is no longer an option. After all, there’s no one else around. She surely noticed that Bell has been following her.

「What’s wrong?」 Seeing that she doesn’t seem to think badly of Bell, I mustered my strength and introduced myself.

◇◇◇

The girl’s name was Ailneige, she said. Ailneige lives on the same floor as Bell—meaning she could afford it—and she apparently noticed Bell following her the whole time. Actually, once we were alone, Bell noticed that Ailneige had another spell that was constantly up other than her barrier. This is probably detection sorcery. If my eyes aren’t mistaken, then she seems to be using it throughout this whole floor. Bell knew she had a lot of magic power, but it seems like she had even more magic power than I thought.

Right there, I then explained why I was following her, incidentally also explaining how Bell was given up on, and I honestly don’t remember what else Bell said, but even after everything, she didn’t seem to think badly of Bell.