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After finishing up their height or weight measurements, the students moved on to the next one.
While in line for the weight measurement, I looked at the file in my hands to check the height measurements and secretly heaved a sigh.

“…I haven’t grown much.”
“Nicole is pretty tiny.”
“Don’t call me tiny!”

Peeking at the file in Letina’s hand, I noticed she’s 10cm taller than me.
She’s pretty tall in our class, so when lined up alongside me, she seems very mature, older than her age at least.
Conversely, I just give off the sense of being a doll.

Well, I’d be grateful if the thorough examination revealed that my poor growth up to this point was a result of some underlying problem.
It wouldn’t have been Maria’s fault, but naturally, this still makes me uneasy about the future.
Standing next to Letina, who is tall for our age, I have to crane my neck up. This is fine…. not, it seriously grates on my nerves.

Everything should be ready for the full checkup after school today.
It can’t be helped that I have to come here twice.

“I hope I can at least grow as tall as Cortina, it’s probably asking too much to reach Maria.”
“I don’t see that happening…”
“What was that!?”

As a cat person, Cortina was slightly shorter than the average person. Maria had a dainty physique, but her stature was pretty average. She’s filled out fine while at the same time being eye-catchingly slender.
It goes without saying Lyell’s physique is good. He’s tall and toned, but not to the point that he seems sinewy.
Despite still being a child, I’ll have to drop my expectations of reaching their heights.

“Wait, Letina!”
“No way!”

I left the line to chase down the smart-ⓐⓢⓢ Letina.
However, I was stopped by being picked up from my armpits. Suffice to say, it was my homeroom teacher, Cortina.

“Hey now! Line up properly.”
“But Letina…”
“No excuses, get going.”

And with that, I was lifted onto a weight scale like a doll.
As expected, the numbers were below average for a child my age.

“Haaaa…”
“How odd. I’m feeding you quite a bit at home though.”
“You put out plenty, but my appetite can’t handle it.

This body’s stomach is so small. Just half a piece of toast is enough to fill me up.
It’s like I’m only able to eat the bare minimum required to maintain basic activity.

“Yeah, I’ve heard you’ve only been eating a little, but you still seemed to have put on weight.”
“Don’t call me fat!”

I struck my fist at Cortina’s belly, but it seemed to have as much effect as a gentle breeze.
It felt like a solid smack, but it just sounded like a silly thunk.

And so, after school, I once again went to the infirmary.
In addition to myself, I was being escorted by Cortina, Michelle, who had just come over from the adventurer’s school next door, and behind her was the add-on Letina.

Upon entering, there were various measuring devices strewn about.
Most likely everything was set up in a hurry after the physical measurements today.

“Welcome. How about we get started immediately.”

As soon as she saw my face, the doctor picked up a syringe with a ⓢⓗⓘⓣ-eating grin.
It seems she was showing an unnecessary large syringe off on purpose, which made Michelle take a step back.

“Is that on purpose?”
“Yup.”

I looked at the doctor who was showing a satisfied smile from seeing Michelle’s reaction.

“Normally, kids get a little scared when I show them that… but you’re fine with it?”
“I’m pretty used to the pain.”
“While impressive, isn’t that pretty bad?”
“I’m aware.”

Pain is an important signal alerting you to life-threatening danger. Getting used to ignoring pain is like becoming indifferent to death.
Previously, I’d grown numb to pain. The result was that brash decision… the decision to face off with the Devil.
With a sigh, the doctor grabbed my arm, smeared it with alcohol and thrust the syringe into me.
She took advantage of a slight bit of carelessness to draw blood with a practiced hand.

“Oww!”
“They say carelessness is one’s greatest enemy. Sit still for a bit.”

At that point, I had several tests done.
A blood exam, a magic power exam, and finally an eye exam.
At the end of it, she seemed to mull over the results for a bit.

“So, how about it?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve pretty much got it.”
“Then! What is it?”
“Probably Magic Buildup Disease.”
“Magic Buildup Disease?”

Apparently even Cortina, with her extensive knowledge, hasn’t heard of it.
Judging by the sound of it, an excess build-up of magic power was the cause?

“It’s a result of storing too much magic power inside the body. In other words, you’re building up more magic power than you can handle.”
“So, how do we fix it?”

I urged her to keep explaining.
Now that I knew the cause of my poor health, I felt impatient.

“Ordinarily, people have a balance between their build-up of magic power and their release rate of it. However, that’s not the case with you.”
“Uh-huh.”

“It rarely happens in children, and normally as they grow up, their ability to release magic increases, so the symptoms naturally abate and eventually disappear as the child matures.”
“Mhm, mhm!”

“In your case, the difference is too great to wait until you reach adulthood. You’re storing up so much up until you pass out and then balancing it out by releasing it slowly during your fainting spells.”
“Hm, hmm?”

“This kid is too cute. Let me have her a bit.”
“No way.”

The doctor suddenly turned toward me while I clenched my fist listening to her talk.
While I was completely lost in thought, Cortina quickly blocked the doctor.

“At any rate, if this goes on it’ll be dangerous.”
“Dangerous? She just has to expel excess mana in her sleep no?”
“There’s no immediate threat to her life. The rate of release is greater during her fainting spells than during normal times.”
“Then…”
“But that’s the limitation. She’s more likely to increase her absorption rate than her release rate. If it keeps up she may spend all day passed out.”
“That’s…”

I’m still young so it’s manageable right now. But if this keeps going it’ll only get worse over time.

“Can you fix it?”
“Nothing can’t be cured. In short, everything will be fine if we just increase her rate of release by a greater degree.”
“If we could just do that, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Cortina said with a look that seemed to scream “What the hell are you even saying right now”. She too was frustrated by her magical release rate. You could say her small rate of release was a major problem for her, so she knew full well the difficulties involved.

“Normally speaking, you only improve it by constant training and natural growth. However, there is just a wonder drug for this.”
“What?”

Saying that, the doctor gave us a sickly sweet smile.