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「I fell in love at first sight! I love you! Please go out with me!¹」
「I’m already going out with Ruti so…… Sorry.」

After that, our life was a back and forth between the café and the Order of Mages. Since we’re still new, we have an unexpectedly high frequency of work to do at the order, so Ryzna-san is even contemplating on reducing our pay…… Our main job is the cafe work, though. Dammit.

And because we also have classroom lectures alongside training, we diligently went to the headquarters to attend the lectures today as well; and when I was suddenly called during our break…… Someone confessed to me.
Well, I immediately rejected them. Though, I feel a bit bad after seeing them being dejected, but I guess there’s no reason for me to care that much about people that I’m not even interested in.

「Hey Ruti, how many are yours now?」
「Probably still barely countable with both hands……?²」

Sorry, I really don’t have the energy to care about them anymore. I’m being confessed to during every break time, you know? It’s really tiring with it happening every single time…… So tiring.
The girls around us are even giving us stares of sympathy, jealousy, or whatever, it just feels uncomfortable. Did we do something to deserve this?³

「Alright, everyone take your seats. We’ll be starting our lesson now.」

Saying so, Nera-san entered the room. It seems like the lessons are going to be taught by captain-class officers. Ah, that’s right, Nera-san is actually a captain and both of us are assigned to her team. I’m really glad that our captain is a woman and someone we know. With what happened before, if it was some unknown man, that’s a bit, yeah…… Still, just because it’s a woman, it doesn’t mean it’s any safer.⁴

Nera-san’s lecture was about magic power circulation, the one she was talking about before. Listening closely, it really is a bit different from the one that we know of. The part about having magic power flow throughout the body is the same, but she says that it is similar to blood flow and such. She said that by making the magic power flow through every small nook and cranny of the body, it can lead to the integration of the magic power to the body, the optimization of magic, and the physical reinforcement of the body while acting as a practice for magic power control.

However, the center of the circulation would be the dantian, a point below the navel, instead of the heart. I feel like I’ve read about this in a martial arts manga or something. So that’s true in this world, huh.

「We will be performing this in the next training period, so as a review, please practice when you have the time.」

I really want to practice but, do I even have the time to?…… Also, I’m scared since I feel like I’d develop some weird habits. So yeah, doing it by myself is a bit bad, you know?⁵

Come to think of it, the leader had a lecture too. His lesson was about chants and things…… but he kept stealing glances at us, so it was really annoying. What? Are you in love with me or something? It’s not going to happen, so please give it up.

The topic itself was important, so I had no choice but to listen to him. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve walked out. ……. But just why does the leader have a lecture anyway? All I heard is that the captain-class officers are the ones doing the teaching.

It looks like this lesson includes field training in the future too. If the leader is taking charge that time as well, maybe I should try “accidentally” shooting a breath at him, really.

「……So that happened, you know?」(Natsuki)

While we were preparing to open shop, we got to the topic of the Order of the Mages, so I unintentionally grumbled about what happened.

「That’s te~rrible, reall~y.」(Chris)
「It really is when you’re being stared at by people that you don’t really like.」(Firu)
「The leader has a day off today, didn’t he? He might even come here today.」(Ruti)

Please, don’t, I’m going to die if that happens. But by nature, flags that have been planted are absolutely going to be tripped on.

「Is this utopia……」

See? Instant results. We’ve barely just opened and he’s already here. And, what? A utopia? It’s a dystopia from my point of view, you know?

「Welcome! The exit would be this way.」(Natsuki)
「Aren’t you being too harsh, Natsuki-kun? I do believe that I’m your superior and all……」(Leader)
「Well we’re not on duty today. It’s important to separate public and private matters, right?」(Natsuki)

I reply to him while wearing my best retail smile. You shouldn’t underestimate an ex-freeter.

「Alright alright, at least just let me drink a cup of coffee. I’m not here for any special reason, so that should be fine, no?」(Leader)

But if you did, it’s going to be really troublesome, you know? It also might turn you into something other than a customer at that point.

「Fine, so what’s your order? I recommend something easy to drink, like iced coffee, so you can go home soon.」(Natsuki)
「Don’t recommend such things with how cold it is these days…… What are you so disgruntled about? I don’t remember doing you two wrong and the contract was even highly favourable for you two, wasn’t it?⁶」(Leader)
「So you’re really saying that, huh? After being sexually harassed like that, being unwillingly confessed to everyday, and, worst of all, being stared at by you nonstop during the lectures, you should be glad that we haven’t quit by now, you know?⁷」(Natsuki)
「I- I haven’t been staring. Would you stop with this slander?」(Leader)
「It’s so obvious. I don’t know which one of us you were interested in, but Ruti and I are already dating each other, you see? Too bad for you. 」(Natsuki)

Taking this opportunity, I pile it up on him. It might seem like I’m being too harsh from the sidelines, but even me, who’s relatively dense, vaguely noticed something from the leader. I don’t know what but he definitely has an ulterior motive or something.⁸

Hm? Is it just me or is the store getting noisy?⁹

「Eh? Did she just say sexual harassment?」

1. Lyly: Lol, truly not a school rom-com
   Fire: Just your typical confession, the normal
2. Lyly: Lol, almost ten
   Fire: Reaching the milestone
3. Lyly: The price of beauty
   Fire: Beauty kills
4. Lyly: Awareness is good
   Fire: You’ll suffer less now, but suffering is inevitable
5. Lyly: Yep, bad habits are hard to fix
6. Lyly: Yep, bad habits are hard to fix
   Fire: He’s not the brightest in the neighbourhood
7. Lyly: Angy Natsuki
8. Lyly: …… Lol, he just wanted more flowers in his garden, cute girls for the troops… or does he? *dun dun dun duuuun*
   Fire: *Shocked Pikachu Face*
9. Lyly: Uh-oh