The Magic Academy's Physicist

Chapter 234: You Have The Wrong Person (5)

A connection wasn’t something easily forgotten.

Lotte had spent nearly half a year together with Aether.

And it wasn’t simply that they were at the same school for that period, but had pretty much stuck together like conjoined twins for over 4000 hours.

In the classroom, the school cafeteria, the cafe, even when they went to the market and went to bed–the two had always been together as roommates.

And so she knew what her best friend looked like, what kind of voice and accent she had, and how she behaved when she panicked. Everything.

“Aether, is that you...?”

Lotte called her friend’s name without thinking.

The woman suddenly turned away and avoided her eyes, but Lotte saw: the woman’s red eyes had flashed bright for an instant.

“It’s you, right?”

She had already heard the news that Lady Rosemary was actually a Golden-Eyed and could change her eyes however she wanted.

She didn’t know if the whole thing was true or not. But if it was true, then the woman in front of her had to be Aether with only her irises changed.

“...Sorry, young lady, but my name isn’t Aether.”

What came back was a calm response.

“Asteya, Asteya Heisenberg.”

That was the name of the woman.

Asteya introduced herself as a newbie professor, then soon started grumbling about this and that like a familiar thing. She was leading the conversation naturally, but to Lotte, it only looked like she was rambling because she got caught.

Understandably, as Aether had a tendency to hide her emotions by becoming more articulate whenever she felt awkward. When she had come home late from the lab, for example. Lotte had once scolded her as to why she was late, she had tried to hide her fluster by rambling details about the research she hadn’t even asked about.

And the same was true now.

The woman smiled gently and dragged a chair forward.

“That’s how it is. Anyway, could you take this outside?”

“Ah, yes....”

She couldn’t shake off her doubt even as she went outside.

No, this wasn’t doubt but certainty. 99.9%. It was the Aether she knew. The remaining 0.1%? A number like that was pretty much dismissed in thaumaturgy.

So unless it was someone who was miraculously similar, it should be Aether.

“This should go here, right?”

“Huh? Mm, that’s right.”

Lotte followed Asteya around and moved things over. And while doing so, she watched her closely. To get 99.9% to 99.99% or even higher, there were a few more things she needed to check.

For example, her sitting posture. How she held her fingers when she smoked. Her handwriting when she wrote formulas. Common interjections or vocabulary used, etc....

To be honest, it was harder to not know, because it was none other than Lotte who had talked with Aether the most in the last few months.

“Huu, this is tough work.”

Even little comments like these didn’t slip past Lotte’s radar.

“Um, Professor?”

“What is it?”

Still, she decided to play along with Aether–no, Asteya, as she figured there had to be some things she couldn’t say.

“Are you also one of the invigilators for the entrance exams this year?”

“Well, for now.”

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“It’s fine. Just focus on your studies.”

Asteya sat down on one of the chairs they brought over and lit a cigarette. Lotte’s eyes naturally turned towards her.

“......Ah. Now’s not the time.”

Asteya said, then got up again.

Lotte didn’t miss that instant.

The way she held the cigarette between her middle and ring finger. As far as she knew, there was only one person with that gripping form.

It was the moment her certainty was affirmed.

Beasts were weak to heat. For each organ to function properly, the body needed to be cool. This was a common trait of machines.

This was why there were hardly any land-Beasts in Kaurelia. Most of them lived in the ocean that had high specific heat. Even Leviathan, which had made a mess of Iliad, was a marine Beast.

Aether was working in only a short-sleeve dress shirt. At least the storage cleanup was easy to do. Because she was inside a building, she was able to avoid direct sunlight.

Still, it was hot all the same. The air was stuffy. She didn’t very much like the distinctive smell of chalk coming from the gym storage.

“Head hurts.”

How long had she’d been at it?

“Aether?”

–was what came from behind her.

For a moment, Aether froze like a statue on the spot. Although she soon calmed herself and turned around, she was immediately forced to feel her breath catching.

“Aether, is that you?”

Because Lotte Saliere, the human girl that her other self had made friends with had appeared out of the blue.

Crimson, shoulder-length hair. An attractive girl with luscious eyes like ripe redcurrants and an innocent face. A girl who was always bright, sociable, and made one feel good to be around.

Aether felt her insides flip.

She was shaken up for a moment due to having completely forgotten about that girl’s existence.

No, she hadn’t even needed to remember. Because compared to a thousand years, a mere six months was an instant that couldn’t even be counted as a relationship.

Yet inside, someone was yelling.

What are you doing? Say hi already.

“...Sorry, young lady, but my name isn’t Aether.”

‘Aether’ barely managed to suppress her other self.

And then it clicked.

They got her.

Her other self had been planning this since the beginning; they had to have been counting on the fact that this girl Lotte Saliere would recognize her in disguise instantly.

I see, so this was the ‘groundwork’ you were talking about.

She had been so focused on the Dark Day research that she had forgotten all about Lotte Saliere. No, even if she knew, she wouldn’t have considered it that important.

Because Lotte was an exchange student and would have gone back to Tilette once this semester was over–that was what she would have assumed and remove her from her memories.

“This is bad.”

Aether muttered under her breath out of Lotte’s earshot.

President Cecil Renay had said that Tilette and Iliad were going to be run as combined schools starting next semester. Without a doubt, the other friends they had made before would also come here.

At this rate, she was going to be trapped on both sides, and there was a good chance that she’d get caught before she could burn the World Tree.

She had to put out the immediate fire somehow, and so she feigned composure as best she could. Because she possibly couldn’t have been discovered completely.

Whatever happened, she was going to feign ignorance. After denying a few times, the girl should think ‘maybe not’ and let it go soon enough. That was human psychology.

“Um, Professor. Are you also one of the invigilators for the entrance exams this year?”

“Well, for now.”

Lotte occasionally engaged her in a typical conversation, and Aether responded normally each time.

Strange. It was definitely a normal conversation, yet her neck kept going stiff.

Cigarette. She craved one all of a sudden.

Aether cleared her throat and sat carelessly on the chair she brought, then unconsciously pulled out a stick of mana grass. It was the Goldenstein brand that Rosemary had given her, a top product that gave a full charge of mana with a single drag.

And just as Aether was about to bring the cigarette to her mouth–

“.......”

Fuck.

She was screwed.

Aether’s current identity was a human professor. And her eyes were red. It was basically the same as saying ‘I can use Fire Magic’, but....

Fire Mages had no need for lighters, because they could create their own fire.

If she pulled out a lighter here, then it was checkmate. No matter how well she played it, it’d only garner more suspicion.

“......No. Now’s not the time.”

In the end, Aether made up some excuse and gave up on smoking.

There was already a sense of ‘too late’, but it was a good thing that she at least stopped herself here. Because Lotte’s eyes were boring holes into her hand.

What was it?

Had she missed something...?

As she lowered the cigarette, Lotte’s gaze moved down then came back up. Something was unsettling. There might be some insignificant habit that she hadn’t even been aware of. And if Lotte had noticed that....

Damn it. Now it was only a matter of time until she was stabbed in the back by this bitch.

She didn’t know how long she had until she was caught, and would have to get things done somehow before then.

“There’s nothing else you have to do. You can go now.”

The sun was already setting. Aether gestured at Lotte for her to get home.

“Alright, I hope you also get home safe, Professor.”

She was a polite child. The problem was that that mask could come off anytime. If she made the wrong move and got caught, the Lodestone retrieval plan would all go down the drain.

If nothing else, she couldn’t be ridiculed by Gilach because the plan failed. Really, just picturing it was shitty. And it was thought of that that actually cleared her mind.

“...Right, it should still be fine.”

Aether reassured herself and set up the awning. This was the last thing to do.

All that was left was checking to see how Akasha was going to get in.......

But this wasn’t that hard.

Because she already knew with what identity she’d be entering.

“What the, why are you an invigilator?”

“It happened. More importantly, don’t act like you know me.”

Akasha, who had applied for the second year transfer exam, muttered dumbfoundedly as she held out her exam ticket.

The back of her neck twinged at seeing a girl who looked just like her making a dumb face. Had she also made this kind of face in front of Lotte?

“Why don’t you pass first. I can’t do anything about the marks.”

Akasha nodded and quickly headed towards the exam hall.

She was someone who was almost the same as her, so she trusted that she’d easily handle Iliad’s transfer exam.

[Acceptance Letter][Name : Rakia Ehrenfest]

[This is to notify that the above student has passed Iliad Magic Academy’s Special Transfer Admission Exam.]

[President Cecil Renay (Seal)]

[Dean of Admissions Michael Therman (Seal)]

“Hey, I passed.”

And indeed not long after, Akasha came back with a certificate of passing.

Now there were no problems. Although Lotte was an obstacle, it was fine. They would forget about each other as long as she didn’t see her in person. If she was careful, they probably wouldn’t meet again.

“We’ll have to start looking for where the World Tree is.”

“I know where.”

Aether had scouted around Iliad until it was almost the start of school. She had been given a map by Akasha beforehand, but it was different to see it in person.

“The World Tree is located on the axis connecting the academy and the Parliament Building over there. You can see it, right? That big tree.”

“Yeah.”

It was excellent firewood.

With that thought, Aether finished getting ready for the start of school.

She finally learned where the gifted class was. Now all that was left was to perfunctorily teach the students as a one-year homeroom.

Good. She was going to act as good-natured as possible because the first goal was to build fake trust with the students in order not to be discovered.

Aether took a deep breath and opened the door.

Sliiide.

“.......”

“.......”

Bang!

“......Ah, fuck.”

Why is she in my class?