Senior, I've Come to Visit - Chapter 30

She had platinum-blond hair in a similar shade and pale blue eyes; she resembled Eloise, but was a little taller and had a more mature air about her.

So Eloise had an older sister.

“Eloise!”

Eloise’s older sister also beamed as she handed her a bouquet and pulled her into her arms. Nardi watched Eloise nestle into her cutely and laugh out loud.

So she could make a face like that too.

He saw her brightest expression on his most depressing day.

He had thought Eloise was someone who never let anyone get close, but apparently that was not the case. That day, as the top student, she received her diploma as the representative of the graduating class, then walked around the academy laughing with her sister. It was obvious her sister cherished and adored Eloise, and he could feel that Eloise was in a good mood as she walked with someone close to her.

As always, even on Eloise’s last day at the academy, Nardi only hovered around her like a shadow.

After Eloise’s graduation, his final year was as lonely as he had expected.

The academy without her held no excitement or meaning. He passed each day without feeling much of anything, only wishing time would go by quickly. The saying that out of sight meant out of mind did not apply to him. On the contrary, he kept thinking of her like he was addicted, to the point of going crazy. In class, during training, even when taking exams and in combat practice, she came to mind again and again and broke his concentration.

At night in particular, he habitually thought of her while masturbating.

Nardi resumed attending the wizards’ gatherings he’d often skipped. Now, whenever he heard news of Eloise from those working at the Magic Tower, his heart pounded violently.  She seemed to be doing well, working hard in the Magic Tower’s research department, in the Magic Potion Development Division. A genius in many fields, but particularly interested in pharmacology, Eloise was in the place she’d always wanted to be, and her talents were blossoming.

Fortunately, it still seemed that she didn’t have a lover.

Her face kept flickering before his eyes, and he felt like he was going crazy wanting to see her just once. In the end, he went to the Magic Tower under the pretense of visiting his father and tried to look for her.

After having lunch with his father, he said he was going for a walk and wandered alone through the garden near the research building.

How many hours did he spend like that?

He was so excited and nervous that the waiting was not even boring. He was only a little worried that he might have to go back without seeing Eloise.

Then, when he saw someone coming out of the building, his heart seemed to stop.

“…!”

It was Eloise, whom it felt like he was seeing for the first time in years.

Now in a pure white lab coat instead of a school uniform, she looked even prettier. He’d thought she couldn’t get any prettier, yet she had, and her indifferent expression and the way she walked around alone were unchanged. Perhaps she had come out to clear her head for a moment, because under the sunlight she stretched lightly. He watched the sight of Eloise, pretty and languid like a cat, without blinking once.

She loosened her hair, which reflected the light in an iridescent shade, then tied it up again. And then she quickly went back inside.

“Ah….”

It felt like he had dreamed a midday dream.

He unconsciously let out the breath he’d been holding. Even after seeing her again for the first time in so long, his heart still trembled and pounded. A burning desire to date Eloise and hold her in his arms surged up.

This wouldn’t do.

The thought that he couldn’t give her up, that he couldn’t let her slip away, solidified. By nature, he was someone with strong drive and initiative once he decided to do something. Just nursing a one-sided crush without even trying anything didn’t suit him.

Right then, he went straight to his father’s office.

“Nardi?”

“Father. After I graduate, I’d like to go to the Research Department for just one year.”

“What are you suddenly talking about? Of course you have to go to the Safety Department.”

“I’m obviously going to the Safety Department. It’s just that, for a very important and profound reason, I want to work in the Research Department for one year and then transfer to the Safety Department.”

“Did you suddenly come up with some research you want to do?”

“It’s something like that. Please send me to the Magic Potion Development Division, Team 3, in the Research Department.”

When he specified it so precisely, his father looked taken aback and stared at the organization chart. As a duke and the chairman of the Wizards’ Association, his father was in practice the highest administrator of the Magic Tower.

“Magic Potion Development Division, Team 3….”

His father, studying the chart, seemed briefly surprised, then let out a hollow laugh.

“Rather than important and profound, I’m sensing an impure motive.”

Before his father could start voicing objections, he hurriedly opened his mouth.

“In exchange, even while I’m in the Research Department, I’ll join as many subjugation missions as I can, just like if I were in the Safety Department. I haven’t forgotten my responsibilities and duties for even a moment. Please just give me one year, Father.”

From childhood on, he had heard until his ears grew calluses about his responsibilities and duties as the young duke. After graduating, entering the Safety Department and taking on the most dangerous work, leading by example and earning merit, was the path that had been laid out for him since birth. He did intend to fulfill his mission, but he thought that at least for one year, he could afford to take a slight detour.

“My, my….”

His father looked at him in silence, deep in thought.

“Keep assigning me to subjugation missions. I’ll support everything I can. For that one year, I’ll also work hard at the Research Department’s tasks. Gaining experience in the Research Department too will help broaden my perspective in the long term.”

Though he spoke with a determined face, his father gave a wry, exasperated smile.

“If you’re going to the Research Department because of a woman, of course you have to at least do that much.”

“….”

“…Don’t tell me it’s because of a man?”

Startled, his father hastily peered at the organization chart.

“No, there’s no way. It is because of a woman.”

He quickly corrected the ridiculous misunderstanding and admitted it obediently.

“That’s a relief to hear. Your mother and I have long discussed whether you might like men.”

“…Not at all.”

“Just one year, Nardi.”

“Yes, Father.”

“I’m only permitting this because it’s the first time you’ve ever asked me for something like this. There won’t be a second time.”

“I wouldn’t dare hope for one.”

“All right, since you’re doing it, do it well.”

“Thank you, Father.”

That was how he won a precious year.

The Safety Department was in the same Magic Tower, but its building and its work were different from the Research Department’s. There would clearly be limits to how close he could get to Eloise. He had always regretted the fact that at the academy they had been in different years, so this time he wanted to be in the same department and the same team and stick close to her. It was also a way to raise, however slightly, the chances that things would go well.

Of course, the most important thing would be how he acted.

He was determined to erase the shy, timid boy he had been and truly do his best. He couldn’t say how much he had regretted doing nothing at all for three years. He absolutely could not waste this one year in vain.

***

After the long-awaited graduation.

Nardi joined Eloise’s team just as he had wanted.

He had already been casually acquainted with the other team members, Mireille and Lupina. So on his first day at the Magic Tower, ironically, the only person he was newly introduced to, the reason he had joined this team, was Eloise.

“Nardi, this is the person who’ll be your direct senior. You know who she is, right? She’s famous as a genius wizard.”

At Lupina’s introduction, Eloise looked flustered and gave a small shake of her head.

“I’m not a genius. I’m Eloise.”

“Hello, Senior Eloise. I’m Nardi Gracian.”

“I look forward to working with you.”

“Please take good care of me.”

As he bowed, Eloise seemed slightly hesitant, then held out one hand first. Nardi felt his mind go half blank as he quickly clasped her hand and shook it. Her small, soft hand, cool to the touch, fit neatly into his. Just from holding her hand, he felt a dull ache below.