“No, no, no! That’s way too extreme! You’re the type who used to yank out your loose baby teeth with your fingers, aren’t you!?”

“No. I had all my permanent teeth from birth.”

“That’s impossible!!!”

And so, they were pushing and shoving.

Three hours later. The sun was already starting to set by the time they finally arrived in front of the dining hall.

“No way, no way,” Eunice muttered, putting all his weight on Ziel’s arm, struggling to escape with a muffled “Nghh—!”

Beside him, Ziel, feeling that letting go of Eunice’s hand now might lead to something disastrous, found himself unable to release his grip. Instead, he simply stood firm, unintentionally displaying his well-trained core strength.

They had been at this for nearly five minutes.

“What was that about ‘you should just rely on others’ earlier?! You’re being way too strict! This is impossible!”

Ziel wondered if he was really being that harsh.

If Eunice found it so difficult, there was no need to force him. But just in case Eunice had misunderstood what was about to happen—

“I’m just going to step in and talk to Dewey, that’s all.”

“I know that!!! I know, and that’s why I’m freaking out like this!!!”

Since Eunice understood, there was nothing more to say.

“I see. Then, sorry. I was being inconsiderate.”

“Huh?”

“I just thought that if I stepped in as a buffer, you’d gradually get used to it.”

He repeated, “Sorry about that.”

The weight on his wrist lifted slightly.

So Ziel reacted with a simple “Oh,” loosening his fingers.

“It’s not like you have to do anything right now. Just remember that I’m always here if you need help.”

At least, Ziel wanted to make sure Eunice understood that.

As he glanced out the window, noting the signs of an impending downpour, his thoughts drifted to dinner approaching.

“Since we’ve made it this far, why don’t we wait in the dining hall—”

Just as he turned his back—

“……?”

He felt a small tug on his back.

When he turned around, Eunice was looking down, gripping the back of his clothes.

“……It’s not like—”

“Not like?”

“It’s not like I said I didn’t want to do it!”

His head shot up with force.

Usually composed, his expression now was unusually serious—his cheeks even slightly flushed.

Ziel paused to think.

Or rather, he ran the previous exchange through his head again.

“Didn’t you say that?”

“I didn’t!”

Ziel was certain he had.

But he decided to let it slide for now.

“I do think about it, you know. When Klaha or Dewey talk to me and all I say is, ‘Ah, um…’ before walking away—it feels rude.”

“…Yeah.”

He listened to Eunice’s words.

He hadn’t realized things had been like that.

“So, well, at some point, I know I need to get better at handling these things.”

“I see.”

“But you know, I’m delicate. Yeah. If you suddenly expect me to change, that’s tough. But at the same time, if you give up too easily, that’s a problem too. So… I need you to be patient and keep pushing me.”

“Got it.”

“Uwaaaah! Idiot!!!! I didn’t mean literally push me!!!”

It was chaos.

Ziel had only placed a hand gently on Eunice’s shoulder from behind.

Yet Eunice spun around like a startled cat doused in water, inching away with open suspicion. Honestly, Ziel found it a little amusing, but this wasn’t the time for that. Just because it was summer didn’t mean every thought needed to be cultivated and nurtured. With a straight face, he said—

“If that’s what you want, I’ll keep patiently convincing you until you’re ready.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on—wait, hold on. Is this really something I should be asking for?”

It did feel a little strange, but more importantly—

“For now, why don’t we talk inside the dining hall? It’s hot in the hallway.”

And besides, standing around talking wasn’t exactly comfortable.

Ziel made a very reasonable suggestion.

A reasonable suggestion that made Eunice nod. “That’s true.”

—Only to immediately snap back.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait!”

And in an instant, he was on high alert.

“If we go inside, that means the match starts, right? Everyone’s in there?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

“…Wait…”

Ziel hadn’t meant for that at all. Only now, after Eunice pointed it out, did it occur to him that yes, that was a possibility.

“…Oh.”

Eunice, a beat late, seemed to have realized it as well.

They had spent three hours getting lost together, so it wasn’t like Ziel had the foresight to plan ahead either.

“It's true, he might already be cooking inside. Roylen seems particular about the simmering time.”

“…No. If it's just Professor Roylen alone, somehow…”

“You think you can manage?”

Eunice mentioned that if someone was related to magic, his "Stranger Points" would decrease by one. Of course, it's not like he was actually keeping track of people on a point system, but Ziel nearly brushed it off with an “I see” before reconsidering—Eunice might genuinely have a strict internal system for managing his "Stranger Points." That thought piqued Ziel’s curiosity.

“If I can stay calm while talking, that would be better for me too. Let's take a peek inside.”

“Yeah.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on! What's with that careless movement?”

“I was just about to open the door.”

“If you move that recklessly, they'll notice we’re outside!”

“Let’s go in quietly,” Eunice instructed first.

But perhaps because he didn’t trust Ziel’s supposed rough approach, he immediately followed up with, “I’ll do it,” and shoved his way to the front.

“You’re unbelievable… That just brought back bad memories of when we entered that room with the ‘Orchestra.’ For the sake of my mental health, from now on, whenever it’s just the two of us, I will be the one to open all doors.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah. Observe closely and use this as a reference for when you escort someone.”

“Watch carefully,” he said.

Eunice then gripped the doorknob.

“When you open a door, you do it gently, smoothly—”

“Welcome, Uni-chan.”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

A sound no animal could produce and a movement no animal could replicate occurred simultaneously.

Ziel had no idea how to even describe that voice or movement.

What was certain was that Eunice had jumped back, hiding behind Ziel’s back. He clutched Ziel’s clothes so tightly that the fabric constricted around Ziel’s neck. The door, released with excessive force, slammed shut with a loud “BANG,” followed by a muffled voice exclaiming, “Ugh!” accompanied by a dull thud from the other side.

Feeling bad for whoever it was, Ziel immediately broke the promise he had just made. With Eunice still clinging to him, half-choking him, he opened the door.

And their eyes met.

A man stood there, arms crossed, feet planted wide.

Blond-haired, standing boldly, with a slightly reddened nose.

“…Are you okay?”

“Welcome. I am Dewey, the first assassin of the Communication Dojo.”

And with that, an inexplicably dramatic atmosphere unfolded.

“Good for you, Eunice. He doesn’t seem to mind what just happened.”

“Ah… Th-thank you…”

Still hiding behind Ziel’s back, Eunice murmured in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. Dewey nodded firmly.

“Hey, wait—”

Eunice tugged on Ziel’s back harder.

So, Ziel bent his knees slightly, allowing Eunice to whisper in his ear.

“Hm?”

“You lied, didn’t you…?!”

“…What?”

“You said you didn’t know about this…! But this whole ‘Communication’ thing, he was clearly prepared in advance!”

“Heh… Chatting so loudly outside the room like that, you might as well have invited me to ‘please facilitate a smooth conversation,’” Dewey smirked.

“But—”

“……”

“…Sorry,” Eunice muttered, voice as weak as a dying candle flame.

Right now, a thought was sprouting in Ziel’s mind—“Maybe we’ve done enough for today, should we just continue this tomorrow?”—and under the summer warmth, that thought was rapidly growing.

But then he remembered how Eunice had just asked him to keep pushing him forward with persistence.

So, he firmly suppressed that thought.

Looking around the dining hall, Ziel realized that the “first assassin” was not the only one present.

In the back of the kitchen, Roylen was weighing a vegetable in one hand. When their eyes met, Roylen waved, so Ziel waved back.

Beyond Dewey, near the sunny window seats, Klaha was carefully plucking the tendrils off fresh bean sprouts. When their eyes met, she gave a troubled smile. Next to her, Lililia sat cracking open walnuts with three held between her fingers, snapping them apart with surprising force, leaving Klaha stunned. Just as Ziel thought about how difficult it must be to remove the shells, Lililia turned toward him, meeting his gaze, and quickly smiled to cover it up.

Ziel allowed himself to be distracted by that and turned his gaze back to Dewey.

The redness in Dewey’s nose had already faded, and he now wore a confident smirk.

And then, he said—

“Alright. Let’s chat and get to know each other better, Uni-chan!”

Still clinging to Ziel’s back, Eunice murmured, “That might be impossible…”

But Ziel thought to himself—wasn’t Eunice acting exactly like this when they first met?