Episode 18 – Paper Birds (4)

Paper Birds (4)

“Throughout my life, I’ve suffered a fair share of injustices that I couldn’t change, whether I wanted to or not. My mother, whose face I can’t even remember, was neglected in a hospital and died. My father was betrayed by the family he had served his whole life and died. And I, in turn, was diagnosed with brain tumor, leukemia, and terminal cancer.

It felt like the world was telling me something.

That I shouldn’t be alive. That I was a mistake.

Damn this world.

“Let’s see.”

Despite everything, I managed to survive and now I’m here in the library of Endex.

[Magic for Mages, Middle School-Level Magic Comprehension]

[Magic Theory to Magic Formulas]

Magic Theory.

I’m thinking of studying again the academic foundation of magic formulas and magic spell formulas.

I’ve always been an almost Mage – a dropout from Magic Theory.

I got full marks in theory by cheating through my 「Notepad」, and almost failed in practicals. That’s how I maintained a balance of a D grade.

“Sigh.”

After borrowing a few books from the first floor, I went up to the third floor and sat down.

I won’t use the 「Notepad」.

Not only because it’s running out of space, but also to see the difference between studying on my own and remembering things through the ‘Memo Pad’.

I opened the first Magic Theory textbook.

——[Magic Theory for Middle School Students: Introduction]——

Magic is the study of mana. It is the field that computes, analyzes, and compares mana. No need to think of it as complicated. It’s just ‘math that quantifies mana and derives answers through various formulas’….

————————

Just when I was concentrating and reading,

A pleasant scent wafted in.

It felt like a flower had bloomed at the tip of my nose, and instead of a flower, someone sat down across from me.

A woman who silently appeared and started laying out her books.

She rested her chin on one hand and mumbled as she flipped through the pages of her book.

“Magic Theory for Middle School Students… how low-level. Are you a monkey?”

I looked at her. She had an air of arrogance, as if she was flaunting her nobility.

“Congratulations on failing. Time to drop out.”

Her name was Elise Petra, who calmly suggested dropping out.

She’s from the Petra family, who owns Petra University and University Hospital, as well as several other large hospitals of ‘hospital level’, and is the golden child of Baresi Petra, a two-term congressman.

“I don’t want to.”

I quite despise and loathe this person. She’s largely responsible for my ostracization.

She said with a blank expression.

“Is that so. Can you handle it?”

Her gaze remained fixed on her book as she delivered a short, clipped warning.

A quick glance revealed that it was ‘Magic Algorithm’, a university-level textbook.

I asked briefly.

“What do I have to handle? All the bullshit you’ve been spouting?”

At that, Elize’s hand stopped abruptly. She raised her head with a small smile.

One hand was resting on her chin, and the other was on the page of her book as she glared at me.

“Do you even know why you’re being ostracized?”

What could this question mean? Does she want to know if I know why she hates me, or why she torments me?

There may be various implications. It’s not common to have a screwed-up life like me.

I responded.

“Ha, you of all people…?”

“I know.”

The reason why Elise hated me from the start.

I know it.

“…What?”

I was treated for leukemia at Petra University Hospital when I was thirteen.

However, I ‘accidentally’ learned about the hospital’s corruption by ‘someone’ and passed it on to a journalist.

At first, I didn’t even know it was corruption.

Because I was thirteen.

I was merely curious about why they were trying to test a new drug on me instead of using the optimal medicine to treat leukemia, so I asked a journalist who was admitted to the same ward.

Then the news of the kickback scandal broke out.

The whole continent was boiling with news.

Elise’s father fell from the parliamentary election.

So, was it my fault?

…No way.

“I know.”

I looked around the library for a moment. Fortunately, there were hardly any people because it was the beginning of the semester.

I leaned my upper body towards Elise. She frowned, perhaps uncomfortable with my approach.

“Listen carefully.”

Elise Petra.

A person whose personality is as twisted as mine, both before and after regression, a person I quite dislike.

For her, I whispered each word, each letter, with sincerity.

“Shut up. Before I rip your mouth open.”

Elise’s expression froze terrifyingly cold for a moment. Her lips and chin trembled slightly.

“…Ha.”

Soon, she laughed as if she was choked. She brushed her hair with her fingers and asked.

“Do you… have a few lives to spare?”

“Well, I think I have two. Maybe three. I haven’t checked.”

“…You’re a lunatic.”

I stood up from my seat. Elise also immediately stood up and blocked my way.

Our eye levels were still about the same.

When we met again after she graduated from college, I was much taller.

I said.

“Move.”

“If I don’t, will we fight? Do you think I can’t beat a piece of trash like you?”

“No, I won’t hit you. Not yet.”

“…’Not yet’?”

Unfortunately, if we fight, I’ll be beaten up, and the Petra family is still a big burden.

Even though they are only being pushed by Libra, they are ‘at least’ the 14th in the continent.

“Instead, take this.”

I shoved my finger in her face. I raised my middle finger.

“…You!”

Elise’s expressionless face broke for a moment. The angle of her eyes shot up to 11:10. She reached out to grab my finger, but I quickly pulled it away.

As I turned around and walked towards the library exit, I said.

“Oh right. You should manage your hospital better. The service was a mess.”

“…”

Elise didn’t say anything. Frozen, she just stood there, glaring at me.

The vein popping on her neck was quite scary.

“I’m leaving.”

I quickly ran out of the library.

I walked down the stairs and stepped onto the asphalt of the schoolyard.

Whooosh.

The night wind was cold. I buttoned up my coat as I walked.

“It’s cold, so cold.”

As I said it, I felt refreshed inside, but a corner of my heart felt lonely.

“Ugh..”

With each footstep echoing on the pavement, an old memory resonates in my ears.

“Sigh.”

It’s not my memory.

It’s a memory passed down to me.

However, it’s a very important memory.

According to that memory, my mother died in a hospital due to neglect.

They said it was a stormy day.

My mother had a car accident, and she was rushed to a nearby small hospital with the perpetrator.

The victim was my mother, and the perpetrator was a car carrying a heavily pregnant woman.

Both were seriously injured, and the harsh rainstorm made patient transfer impossible.

So, could the hospital and the doctors only save one of them? Was the situation so cruel that they had no other choice?

I don’t know about that.

However, the pregnant woman’s secretary threatened the hospital, flaunting her family’s influence. The hospital willingly focused on the ‘more important’ person.

My mother was neglected.

—I heard it was so.

Only one nurse cared for her as she lay dying alone in her bed.

—It was the nurse’s testimony.

No, it was her testimony to me alone, as she refused to testify in court.

“Ah, right.”

A thought came to me belatedly.

I took out a Secret Friend card from my pocket and looked at the name written on it.

[Elise Petra]

Suddenly, I stopped and looked back.

The library’s glass window. There was a woman looking down at me from that place, too bright compared to the night sky.

That woman.

The life that survived instead of my mother, whom I can’t even remember.

* * *

“Ah~ when will this end.”

Late at night. Asillen was grading the papers in the university association’s office.

It’s the most annoying task for a person in charge. Moreover, there are as many answer sheets in the index as there are people. Other magic schools only have about 50~60 people.

“Sigh.”

Asillen quickly skimmed through the answer sheets and marked the scores.

The grading criteria are as follows.

1. Observe the paper bird and present even the ‘big picture’ of the magic formula for 0.5 points.
2. Describe even a part of the ‘magic circuit’ correctly for 1 point.
3. Up to 1 point depending on the overall completeness.
4. Detect even the existence of the ‘rune’ cleverly hidden for 0.5 points.

A total of 3 points.

The assignment itself is quite difficult, so there would be about 1% full marks across the continent.

“Elise, Soliette, Gerkhen… They’re 6-star prospects. They’re really something.”

There are three people in the index. The elite trio who received perfect scores.

Asillen continued grading.

[Kielli Baran │1st Period : 2 CP │ 2nd Period : 2.2 CP]

[Jerome Bain │1st Period : 0 CP │ 2nd Period : 0 CP]

[Kain Traxil │1st Period : 2.5 CP │ 2nd Period : 2 CP]

She mechanically flipped through the 127 answer sheets,

“Huh?”

And then she paused. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her body instinctively leaned forward.

“What’s this?”

She stared wide-eyed.

It was a magic formula the size of a fist.

It was small in size, but it was densely packed with magic circuits.

Eighteen shapes, one hundred and ninety-nine line segments, seven rune characters.

The answer to ‘Paper Sparrow’ was depicted with such precision that the structure of the geometric formula and the complex and subtle dynamics of the circuit were clearly described.

She picked it up and turned it over.

There were no errors. No mistakes.

Even the smallest details, down to the shape of the runes, were as accurate as if viewed under a microscope.

“Who is this?”

She hurriedly checked the name.

Shion Ascal.

“…Who is this?”

She didn’t recognize the name.

She searched the university association’s database.

[Shion Ascal │ Grade D-]

More striking than the dismal grade of D- was the bright yellow buzz cut.

“Was it him?”

She remembered the face, if not the name.

He was already infamous at the university association. The fool who claimed to aspire to be a Knight of Libra, yet had bashed a prism with a golf club.

Libra hated nothing more than ignorance and vulgarity.

“…”

Asillen looked at the grading paper again.

[Shion Ascal │ 1st period: 0 CP]

Shion Ascal, 1st period score 0CP.

He hadn’t caught the paper sparrow.

In other words, he had written the answer by peeking at someone else’s paper sparrow. Yet he had submitted such a perfect answer.

And that too, within 15 minutes of the start of the 2nd period.

“Does this make sense? Is he physically strong?”

If he was naturally robust, it would be entirely possible. After all, they say the more robust a person is, the better the efficiency of their body.

If he could observe and remember such a small formula with just a moment’s ‘glance’, that would be super-efficient, beating most ‘Spectrums’.

Why was such a guy graded D- in grades 1-3?

No, if he had such eyes, he wouldn’t have failed to catch the paper sparrow, would he?

Anyway.

Asillen wrote a score on Shion Ascal’s answer sheet.

[Shion Ascal │ 1st period: 0 CP │ 2nd period: 3.5 CP]

The maximum CP that can be obtained in the 2nd period is 3, but the college board has something called ‘discretion of the person in charge’.

Since, in the view of the person in charge, it was the most outstanding among all the answers in the index, discretionary score 0.5 points.

Of course, to give a discretionary score, you have to submit documents to a university professor affiliated with the university association and get approval, but this answer sheet will convince that young senior.

Asillen sent a message via the association messenger.

[Teacher Theia, I gave one person a discretionary score. Please check.]

The person being reported to was Theia Esil, a chair professor at Edsilla National University.

However, the two were the same age. A peer, but a far senior, and far above.

[Theia Esil: I’ve checked, but please be careful with typos in the future. It’s not ‘Teacher’, it’s ‘Professor’.]

“…Yeah, yeah~”

Asillen was about to turn off the messenger.

[Theia Esil: Also, discretionary scores are extremely important and sensitive in college admissions. Before reporting to me, go through at least three reviews, and have sufficient discussions with the other proctors……]

A long text befitting a young senior.

Asillen replied while skimming through it.

[Yes]