Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Me First

"Would you go out with me?"

The words cut through the noise of the classroom, clear as a bell.

Every student who had been chattering fell silent at once.

Like they'd taken a hit.

Not that I was paying attention. I was holding both of Javert's hands, fingers laced tight.

"......"

A dazed silence settled over the room.

Nobody dared open their mouth.

Not that any of it mattered. I stood there quietly, taking in the warmth of the red-haired woman's hands.

"Heh."

"......"

I smiled and held her gaze.

Javert hadn't shifted at all. The same mineral-cold light behind those green eyes as always. She stood there looking up at me without a word, silent in the way of someone simply waiting to hear more.

'Still... she is surprised.'

I could see it. Faint, but there, a tremor in her pupils.

'She's not without feelings. They just run shallow.'

Javert, caught off guard. A rare sight. I smiled wider at it.

Of course, to anyone who didn't know her, it probably just looked like a glare.

Sharp tension filled the classroom. The students were quietly sweating through their uniforms.

"Ahem."

"......"

I enjoyed the gap for a moment.

A strangely prolonged silence.

The first to break it, unexpectedly, was Alice, who had gone rigid as stone.

"U-um... Viktor-nim...?"

"Miss Alice? What is it."

"Just now, what exactly... out of nowhere, asking Professor Javert for... a-a romantic relationship...?"

"Ah. I may have brought up something personal a little too publicly. I'm sorry if it bothered you."

"No, it's not that, it's......"

The girl's eyes wavered, visibly uneasy.

"When you say a relationship......"

"I left out too much, I think. There's something Professor Javert promised me some time ago, that she'd grant any one request I asked of her."

"Any one request...?"

"You know the informant case from before, don't you? I was of some help to her during that, and she made the promise as a gesture of gratitude."

"Oh, I see... so that's what it was."

Alice nodded, the pieces clicking into place.

She fidgeted with her fingers, then asked with a slightly relieved look.

"Then... the relationship thing, that's a play on words, right?"

"A play on words?"

"W-well, not a romantic relationship, but more like... an exchange between a student and a teacher... I thought it might be something like that. Viktor-nim always does like that sort of thing. You play jokes quite often too......"

Her voice faded out, confidence draining by the second.

Whether embarrassed or not, her face had gone pink. The sleeve bunched in her fist gave her an endearingly innocent look.

That pure little reaction pulled a smile out of me before I could stop it.

"I wonder."

I let the words fall without hurry.

Then I tilted my head and looked at Javert, still expressionless beside me.

"Might be faster to ask the person herself."

"Wh... Professor Javert...?"

A request for courtship.

Not between teacher and student, but between a man and a woman.

"Is that a problem? If that's what I mean."

"......"

Alice went white where she stood.

And Javert still said nothing.

I tilted my head, waiting.

"Hmm?"

"......"

The reply came soon enough.

Quite satisfying.

"No."

A voice stripped of feeling.

The cold-faced woman said it without a trace of hesitation.

Crisp, clean pronunciation echoed through the classroom.

"I will. If that is your request."

Every student had been holding their breath.

The next moment, the air in the classroom turned upside down again.

***

Several hours later.

After the final lecture ended, I paid a visit to Professor Javert's office.

"Please take a seat for a moment."

She greeted me with her glasses on, apparently still in the middle of paperwork.

Javert's office was immaculate to the point of being suffocating.

Not a speck of dust on the desk. Books lined up in perfect formation. Tiles without a single pattern. Purely monochrome, none of the flourishes or ornaments you'd expect of a woman's private space.

Exactly like her, I thought.

"Your tea."

"Ah, thank you."

Two cups were set on the table in front of the reception sofa.

Javert had already taken off her glasses by then.

Uniform without a single crease. Even in a personal space, not a gap to be found.

She settled into the sofa across from me.

"A lovely fragrance."

"It's Snowchill Grass, lightly steeped. I'm glad it suits your taste."

Snowchill Grass.

One of the most commonly consumed tea leaves around. And yet nothing cheap about the taste, the blend she was using had to be expensive.

The tea's surface rippled gently at the touch of my fingers. I tipped the cup a few times and let the time pass.

"So."

About five minutes in, the red-haired woman finally spoke.

"I'd like to hear clearly what that earlier request was about."

"Hmm?"

"The request for a relationship. You're not going to tell me you were serious, I hope. If you plan to waste my time with that kind of joke, you're welcome to leave. I'm not the type who enjoys wordplay."

"Well, well... when did she figure it out."

"From the start. I didn't think Viktor would throw away a promise of mine on something like that."

"'Something like that,' meaning?"

The woman didn't waver at my deliberately innocent question.

"Having a professor's backing within Grandia carries enormous weight. Each professor holds considerable authority, and every one of them is among the finest on the continent. It's not for nothing that cadets throw themselves at the chance to claim an aide position."

"Quite right. A Direct Aide at Grandia, especially one bound directly to a professor, the competition is brutal, I've heard. Between current students and graduates combined, they say it's harder than threading a needle."

"You know your facts. It's a little embarrassing to say myself, but among those professors, I hold what amounts to the practical second chair. A chance to gain something from someone like that, I didn't think you'd throw it away on a pointless joke. All the more so since it's you, Viktor."

"Quite a picture you paint of me."

"A thorough one. You saw through the fact that I was watching you, then turned it around to catch the informant. Put that entire plan together in only a few hours, at that. Every time you act like you're running on emotion, playing the jester, the moment anything actually matters, you move with uncanny precision."

"My. Quite the flattering assessment. Heavy on the shoulders."

"I'd like my answer."

Clink.

Javert set her teacup quietly on the table.

The motion had the quality of something mechanical.

"You have a proper request in mind. You do."

"Of course."

"Tell me what it is. You already had something planned, that's why you put on that act."

"Naturally."

I nodded at the sharp observation.

Two taps on the edge of my mask, and then I opened my mouth.

"Direct Aide."

"......"

"I want to become Professor Javert's Direct Aide."

Javert's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You may or may not know this, but since I began teaching, I have never once taken on a Direct Aide. Nor did I intend to."

"I know."

"Bold of you. You believe I'll accept?"

"Yes. I'm quite certain you will, Professor."

"I'd like to hear why."

"Well..."

I smiled.

The corner of the mask's mouth twisted just slightly.

"You're still suspicious of me, aren't you, Professor?"

"......"

Upright and stubborn, that was Javert.

Clearing the informant suspicion didn't mean she'd suddenly think cleanly of me. Not her.

What she was really suspicious of wasn't anything to do with informants. It was the unauthorized clearance of Purgatory Floor 70.

'Javert doesn't suspect easily.'

But once she does, she doesn't let go.

Her philosophy. A rule she'd kept since long ago.

From the moment I'd started being suspected, I'd never expected to simply slip free.

'If I can't slip free, then I'll turn the situation around instead.'

So I threw out an offer she couldn't refuse.

The woman's gaze had sunk to a cold, flat depth.

"...... It shows, does it."

"I tend to catch on quickly."

I shrugged, perfectly unbothered.

"What will you do? Take me on as your Direct Aide, and we'll be spending a lot of time together. An opportunity to watch me up close, to scrutinize me more carefully. More ways to confirm whether your suspicions hold. During my time as your aide, I'll accept your surveillance and questioning without complaint. Until you're satisfied."

"......"

"In exchange, I get the privileges that come with being a Direct Aide. I'll be able to accomplish far more within the Academy, and with you behind me, nobody will think to look down on me. I intend to carry out every duty required of a Direct Aide without complaint, without fault, so you needn't worry on that count. A proposal where both sides win."

"......"

"What do you say?"

Quite audacious, the attitude and the proposal both, yet Javert didn't lose her temper.

She only sat in thought, weighing it.

After a short while, the woman gave a single nod.

"I accept."

Brief.

Not a word of excuse or explanation.

Conversation with Javert was easy for that reason.

As long as you stayed within the rules and logic she'd set for herself, she was remarkably straightforward. At times she felt less like a human being with feelings and more like a machine running on a fixed set of input rules.

Javert had feelings, yes. But measured against everything else that made her who she was, they barely registered.

'Well. She is the headmaster's adopted daughter, after all...'

Good enough for me.

"Good."

I smiled, satisfied.

Not that it seemed to matter much. Javert reached for her teacup again.

"I have conditions."

"What are they?"

"Every activity making use of the Direct Aide's privileges must be reported to me. Whether you act first and report after, or report first and act after, is up to you. If this condition is not upheld, for whatever reason, this arrangement will be treated as if it never happened."

"Not an unreasonable condition. You don't appear to be looking to restrict my activities outright, either."

"Correct. Additionally, I will make an effort not to intrude excessively on your personal life. If you want privacy, or there are questions you find too uncomfortable to answer, feel free to decline my summons or refuse to respond. No hard feelings, whatever the reason."

"Ho. I didn't realize you'd go that far to accommodate me..."

"I am not accommodating you. I'm simply following the line that must be observed with a student."

"Suspicious of me as a dangerous individual, and yet still looking after my rights as a student... remarkable."

"That's enough of that."

This was Javert's charm, in its way.

Strict about the lines she drew for herself.

Keeping to them no matter what. Never making excuses for herself.

'Of course... there'll come a day later when those very principles drag her to her death...'

That was something I could deal with when the time came.

From the moment I'd decided to become her Direct Aide, I'd already decided to pull her to my side.

I looked after my people.

"I'll have the necessary paperwork processed and sent to you soon."

"I'll be waiting."

"Would you prefer an early announcement? I can let it be known right away that you've come on as my aide, if you'd like."

"No, that's all right. I'd actually like the announcement held back a little."

"May I ask why?"

"Heh... there's someone I'd like to take down a notch before the news gets out."

"That student, I imagine. Class B Top Seat. Caitlin, was it."

"That's right. You remembered."

"I remember every student's name."

"Now that's more impressive, honestly. Memorizing the names of the entire student body."

The woman received my admiration with the bare minimum.

Javert swept a hand along her empty teacup and asked, "Sounds like you're planning to have a run-in with the Class B Top Seat. Are you confident you'll win?"

"I'd like to ask you the same. Do you think I'll lose, Professor?"

"Hmm."

The answer drifted out of her.

Maybe it genuinely didn't matter to her either way.

"Well... I think we've covered everything. May I be on my way?"

"One last thing. One more question."

"Hmm? What is it?"

An unreadable expression.

Javert had always been difficult to read. Her scar-covered hand tapped lightly against the sofa cushion.

"So... why did you actually do it? Asking me out, in the classroom earlier."

"Sorry?"

"No matter how I think about it, that's the one thing I can't work out."

"Huh."

Come on.

She's asking the obvious.

"Because it was fun?"

"......"

I looked at her like the answer was self-evident.

At my tilted-head response, Javert's brow furrowed slightly.

Even with feelings as shallow as hers, that expression wasn't hard to read. Disbelief.

"I see. Confirmed."

A wave of her hand. Time to leave.

I walked out of the office grinning.

'Yes. Free backing. Absolute jackpot.'

Come at me.

Standing behind me now is none other than the Chief Investigator herself.

'At this rate... if I smacked a junior professor a couple times, I could probably get off with just a light disciplinary notice.'

Not that I was actually planning to do that.

Still. Javert, the best.

Javert, truly the best.

Jav-yahoo.

Sharp-tongued, expressionless, cool-type spinster, the absolute best!

'Good. This is good.'

The smile didn't leave my face for a good while after.

***

The next day.

No lectures, so I was lounging around the dormitory.

"Wha, foiled again!"

"Calling that a struggle might be generous."

I'd picked up something like a board game at the Academy shop not long ago, it had looked like fun to play with the Princess, so I'd set it up.

Whatever Magic Engineering went into it, the mechanics were interesting. Genuinely fun.

"Heh heh, to fall for such a simple trick."

"W-wait! That's completely cheap!"

"That too is skill."

"Invalid! We're playing again!"

"Accept your defeat graciously."

A comfortable bustle.

Days spent with the Princess were good ones.

Right in the middle of one such game.

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on the dormitory door.

'Who could that be...'

A tilt of the head. I stared toward the entryway, genuinely puzzled.

Nobody had any reason to come looking for me here.

'I didn't get any notice of a visitor, and the soundproofing is solid, so it's not a noise complaint...'

I wandered over and pulled the door open.

And there, waiting in the doorway: gold hair and black hair.

"...Oh. Miss Ranne? Miss Alice?"

Ranne. Alice.

Both of them had come all the way to my dorm room.

Something anxious in both their expressions.

"What brings you to such a humble place..."

"Viktor-gyeong, is it true?"

"Vi, Viktor-nim......"

"Hm?"

Ranne pushed her head through the doorway first.

Beside her, Alice was timidly clutching Ranne's sleeve.

I could only scratch the back of my head at the question I didn't understand.

"Sorry, what are you referring to..."

"I heard you've started a relationship with Chief Investigator Javert-nim!"

"What."

"Is it true? Please tell us!"

"Viktor-nim, is it really......"

Two pairs of eyes pressing into me with uncomfortable intensity.

I blinked.

What.

What's going on.

Why are they like this.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!