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From after school until dinner in the cafeteria—about an hour or so—Estea and Melua usually spent their time enjoying tea together at the café. They hadn’t set a specific time, but they would somehow always meet up and indulge in sweets and tea. However…

“I thought maybe she got mad and went home ‘cause I was super late, but then they said she never even came to the café~. Whyyy~?”

Melua, unusually flustered, seemed unable to spot Estea anywhere. She was voicing her worries as they popped into her head, but her words weren’t exactly coherent.

It wasn’t clear what had happened, but one thing was certain: we had to calm Melua down first.

“Let’s take a breath, Melua.”

Reaching out gently, I touched Melua’s hand, looking up at her Pure Eyes that seemed on the verge of tears.

“If it’s about Estea, maybe she’s caught up with student council stuff.”
“I’m in the student council too, you know~!”

Oh, that’s right. Come to think of it, as her roommate and a fellow member of the student council, Melua probably knew more about Estea than anyone else. If even Melua was this shaken, then maybe this really was something serious.

That said, blindly searching the vast school grounds wasn’t realistic, and using amplification magic to call out to her could cause Estea unnecessary trouble.

“Ah…”

While I was racking my brain, Alfe suddenly let out a short exclamation as if something had occurred to her.

“What? What is it!? Alfe!?”

Thinking she might have a clue, Melua pounced on Alfe.

“Well, um… Miss Estea’s aether is pretty unique, right? So I was thinking maybe if you and I looked for it together, we could track her down.”
“Oh! You’re right!”

Ah, now that she mentioned it—Melua had once found me in the middle of a huge crowd at the Colosseum by sensing my aether. If that was the case, then Alfe’s suggestion sounded very promising.

“With three Pure Eyes, we should be able to find her in no time! All right!”

Now that they had a plan to locate Estea, Melua’s voice instantly brightened.

“…Estea’s aether, Estea’s aether… Oh! It’s that way~!”

Before long, Melua picked up the trace of Estea’s aether and pointed in the direction of the commercial district.

“This way, this way! I’m totally sure~! I can even hear her voice!”
“Oh, you’re right. Looks like Farah and the others are there too.”

Following Melua and Alfe’s lead, we arrived at a park in the commercial district.

All around were strange playground structures—steel rails, and others shaped like massive, sliced-open oval pipes joined together to form curved surfaces.

Up on one of the enormous play structures, about twice my height, Vannabelle zipped around freely on a flat board-like vehicle, spinning as she flew through the air.

Following her with a giant leap was Hom.

“Woooow, that’s amazing!”
“They’re totally just playing around! Estea~!”

Alfe clapped her hands, and Melua, having spotted Estea, waved energetically. We also saw Farah and Numelin nearby.

Judging by the lively atmosphere, it seemed they were playing with those board-like vehicles.

“Master!” Hom jumped down from her board and ran over, carrying it under her arm.

“That’s an unusual vehicle you’re riding. What is it?” Examining the unfamiliar object up close, I asked.

Hom gave a quick glance toward Vannabelle and the others before explaining. “According to Vannabelle, it is called an ‘airboard.’ It is quite a fascinating piece of equipment…”

“I just saw it while passing by, and it caught my attention…” Riding her airboard with graceful control, Estea approached, looking apologetically at Melua.

“I was worried! You were nowhere to be found. And wait, Estea—you can ride an airboard!?”
“No, today’s my first time.”
“Geez! You say that so casually~!”

Estea responded with a slightly embarrassed smile, while Melua let out a half-laugh and swung her bent arm back and forth.

“Huh… So it floats by combining multiple wind runes. That seems like a perfect match for Estea.”

If Estea specialized in wind magic, she’d have no trouble mastering it. Still, gliding at high speed while maintaining balance on that board probably required considerable physical skill.

“Sorry for dragging her off without asking. She just seemed a little stuck, you know?”
“Hom did this amazing jump using wind flow~! And it was her first time too—so impressive~!”

It was just like Hom to think of combining the wind flow stored in her boots with an airboard.

“Did you have fun?”
“Yes, very much.”

When I asked, Hom gave a shy little smile. Ever since she lost to Estea in their duel, she had been looking gloomy, so seeing that smile really made me happy. And the fact that she could smile even with Estea around meant she probably didn’t hold any hard feelings toward her.

“See? Coming out here to clear your head was the right call, wasn’t it!?”
“Nyaha! Vannabelle actually has a good idea once in a while!”
“Hey! You didn’t have to add the ‘once in a while’ part!”

Vannabelle grinned smugly, clearly in a good mood. Even as Farah teased her, puffing out her cheeks in mock offense, Vannabelle still looked like she was having a blast.

“Hom looked pretty reluctant at first though~”
“Yes… At first, I was displeased, thinking it frivolous to take a break instead of continuing my training…”

But it seemed that once she came along with Vannabelle and the others, she had genuinely enjoyed herself. She was visibly more animated than usual—a rare sight for Hom.

“Riding the wind through the sky and focusing intensely on my core… I feel as though I managed to break through some sort of barrier within myself.”
“Right? She even mastered my mid-air somersault move in no time flat!”
“I was most impressed when Lady Estea performed a triple spin.”

Standing proudly beside Hom, Vannabelle spoke with pride, while Hom looked at Estea with genuine admiration. Estea responded with a modest smile.

“It was only because Vannabelle set such a good example.”
“Exactly! I was the one who taught her, you know!”

Pleased by Estea’s words, Vannabelle puffed out her chest.

“Nyahahahaha!”
“Ehehehe.”

Farah burst into laughter at Vannabelle’s obvious reaction, and Estea chuckled along with her.

It seemed that while I wasn’t looking, they had managed to forge a bit of camaraderie through their time on the airboards.

“Anyway, I’m just glad you’re all safe~ I was seriously freaking out, thinking Estea, who’s always so calm, had finally lost her temper.”
“Why would I ever get angry at you, Melua?”

Estea tilted her head, genuinely puzzled as Melua let out a relieved sigh.

“Well, it’s not totally impossible~ I mean, there was that time I showed up suuuper late for our meeting—”

Just as Melua said that and looked up at the park’s clock—

“““AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”””

Everyone shouted in unison, realizing that the dining hall was about to close.

“Crap, let’s move!”
“I shall handle the cleanup!”
“Let’s runnn~!”
“Nyahahaha! I’m gonna be fiiirst!”
“Hey, get back here!”

Vannabelle, Farah, and Numelin dashed off noisily, while Hom began putting away the leftover airboards into the storage shed. Estea followed Hom’s lead and stowed hers away as well, then gave us a polite nod.

“We’ll take our leave, then.”
“See you later, Master!”

Waving as they left, Melua and Estea disappeared down the path. I waved back until they were out of sight, then turned to Hom, who was looking wistfully at the stashed airboards.

“You really had fun, didn’t you?”
“…Yes. And also, I came up with a new technique.”

It seemed I hadn’t been mistaken about Hom being excited.

“What kind of technique?”
“If I combine Vannabelle’s mid-air somersault with activating Blitzraid in the air, I believe I could create a vertical drop attack—using both the fall’s momentum and electromagnetic acceleration.”
“That’s a great idea.”

Whether or not we ended up using the airboards for the mecha soldiers, we would definitely want to implement a thruster system that could make a technique like that possible.

“I suppose we could call it… Blitzschlag.”
“…As expected of you, Master. I swear, I will make this technique my own.”

It was clear that Hom was continuing to train diligently, all to win at the Zersteller. I was the only one who could give her the tools to succeed—and that realization tightened my resolve.

“I’ll get to work on a mecha that can handle it. One that can pull it off… as soon as possible.”

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