Mistaken for a Masked Monster - Chapter 55

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 55: An Explanation That Isn’t an Explanation

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A day off without classes.

Two people suddenly showed up at my door.

Golden hair and black hair. I stared at them with nothing but question marks floating between my brows.

“Uh…”

Ranne and Alice.

The two girls looked up at me as though waiting for an answer.

When I tilted my head in confusion, Alice, who had been hiding behind Ranne, cautiously peeked out.

“Sir Viktor, um, well…”

Her voice was as timid as ever.

The hand clutching her sleeve trembled.

“Because of what happened yesterday… I mean, it’s not that I have any particular reason. I just wanted to know what happened afterward…”

“I was curious too! To think Sir Viktor had feelings for Chief Investigator Javert!”

“F-feelings…”

“I heard about it too! You confessed right in the classroom, in front of everyone!”

“Professor Javert said she, she liked you too, so… we didn’t know what happened after that…”

“I’m hurt! You never told me! I never imagined Sir Viktor harbored such passionate feelings.”

“Sniff… I’m sorry. I just wanted to know…”

Ranne sounded hurt, as though she were asking why I hadn’t told a friend something like that beforehand.

Alice kept her head lowered, mumbling things I could barely make out.

Their reactions were utterly chaotic.

“Still, congratulations! Your love came true!”

“Y-yes… congratulations. I hope you’re, you’re happy…”

Only then did I realize what I had missed.

‘Come to think of it, I made a mess yesterday and just left.’

The whole situation had ended without any explanation or clarification.

Afterward, I stopped by Javert’s office, then went straight to the dormitory and shot straight into bed.

For the students who witnessed it all, the situation must have been deeply confusing.

I had suddenly stormed into the classroom and launched a confession attack, then Javert had immediately countered with a confession attack of her own.

‘They must think Javert and I are dating.’

Javert had played along with my joke far too well.

Who could’ve expected her to nod there?

Honestly, even I hadn’t expected things to go that way after launching the confession attack.

I let out a brief, hollow laugh and straightened my disheveled mask.

‘Did I start this without thinking it through?’

It looked like it would take ages to explain this to everyone.

For now, I needed to explain things to the two people in front of me.

I invited them inside.

“Um… why don’t you come in first, and we can talk?”

Ranne and Alice hesitantly entered my room.

Once I had seated them, I prepared some tea and set it down.

“Activate. Suit.”

Shrrrk.

As I softly muttered the words, the threads of my glove came undone.

They wrapped around my entire body, forming clothes draped over my shoulders.

A neat outfit layered itself over my comfortable shirt.

‘Wriggler.’

That was the nickname I had given it.

Personally, I liked it much better than its real name, Black Mist. It sounded softer and cuter.

Having returned to my usual tidy appearance, I sat on the sofa across from them.

Ranne and Alice looked around the room with curious expressions.

“Hmm! Sir Viktor’s room is clean.”

“Really… there isn’t even a, a speck of dust.”

“Hehe, not bad for a male student living alone, right?”

After exchanging a few casual words, I took a few sips of tea before speaking.

“Let’s see. Where should I start explaining…?”

I gave them a rough explanation of the situation.

I told them that the whole thing had been one big hilarious prank, and that I had become Javert’s direct teaching assistant afterward.

Naturally, I adjusted the story where necessary, adding some parts and cutting others.

When I finished, the two wore complicated expressions.

“I-I see… so you aren’t, aren’t dating…”

Alice nodded as though she had only just understood.

For some reason, her face was flushed, and her eyes were red as though she had been crying.

Still, her expression was much brighter than when she had stood at the front door.

It was as if some anxiety had vanished.

“…What a relief.”

She murmured so quietly that I could barely hear it.

Before I could ask what she meant, Ranne suddenly jumped to her feet.

Her violet eyes sparkled.

“As expected of Sir Viktor! To think Chief Investigator Javert would scout you as her direct teaching assistant!”

“It was less scouting and more like Professor Javert accepted my stubborn request.”

“Even so! I heard that since becoming faculty, the Chief Investigator has never taken on a direct teaching assistant. They say she’s an incredibly stubborn person. Even if there was an agreement from when you uncovered the mole, she wouldn’t have accepted you if you didn’t meet her standards.”

“I’m glad you think so highly of me.”

“Sir Viktor needs to think more highly of himself!”

“As expected! You’re amazing!”

Ranne added words like that to nearly every sentence.

Sometimes, I wondered what exactly she thought I was.

“I need to work harder too! No matter how hard I try to catch up, Sir Viktor only gets farther away…!”

“It’s not that extreme. Really.”

Without bugs, you’d take me out in a second.

I swallowed those words and gave the two of them my remaining request.

“First… please keep what you heard today to yourselves.”

“Y-yes?”

“Why?”

“I’ve decided not to announce it yet. The news that I’ll be appointed as Professor Javert’s direct teaching assistant will be announced later.”

“Is it because of your conflict with the top student of Class B?”

Ranne asked as though she had started to understand.

“It seems you intend to settle your conflict with Caitlin once and for all, Sir Viktor.”

“That’s right. If word gets out that I’ve been appointed as a direct teaching assistant at this point, the top student of Class B will have a harder time acting rashly. No one would want to provoke the direct teaching assistant of Grandia Academy’s de facto second-in-command.”

“So you intend to delay the announcement until you settle things with Caitlin. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s right. It would be cleaner in every way. If the top student of Class E were appointed as a direct teaching assistant, many students wouldn’t accept it. Usually, most direct teaching assistants come from Class A.”

“That’s true. I heard the competition is incredibly fierce!”

“For someone like the top student of Class E to break through that competition and become a direct teaching assistant would be absurd. But if that person had the title of someone capable of defeating the top student of Class B…”

“People would be able to accept it, more or less!”

“Exactly.”

Getting the position wasn’t enough.

What mattered was how much recognition I received in that position.

To wield authority, you needed qualifications worthy of it.

‘When the time comes… if I want my authority to work properly, I need enough recognition that no one can object.’

And the conflict with Class B would be the first step in laying that foundation.

“Um…”

Alice, who had been quietly listening, cautiously spoke up.

“But couldn’t they just let it go…? I mean, the top student of Class B might not, not clash with you…”

“She doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would let this go.”

“That’s right! I heard that Class B’s atmosphere has been strange too.”

Ranne added something interesting.

I asked her about it.

“The atmosphere has been strange?”

“Yes! I heard they seem to be plotting something after Sir Viktor’s speech.”

“What kind of things?”

“Hmm… the top student of Class B has been meeting with several assistant professors, and Class B students have been spreading nasty rumors about you, Sir Viktor. I don’t know the details, but it looks like they’re preparing something.”

“As expected.”

“Is there something you have in mind, Sir Viktor?”

“Who knows? If they’re preparing something, I think it’s pretty obvious what it is.”

Meeting with academy assistant professors while conducting a public opinion campaign among students…

There was only one event that could come next.

If my guess was right, it would make for a perfect stage.

What I needed to do now was stand by and let them make their move.

‘They’re going to prepare the stage themselves… there’s no reason for me to decline.’

I smiled faintly.

“Anyway, I intend to handle this matter myself.”

“Hmm! Is there anything I can do to help?”

“There is one thing. What happened yesterday has probably spread among the students quite a bit. Rumors that Professor Javert and I have started dating, that sort of thing. I would appreciate it if you could dispel those rumors. Please correct them and say they aren’t true at all.”

“Understood! If such rumors are spreading, the top student of Class B would have a hard time targeting you, Sir Viktor.”

“It’ll be enough to explain that it was a minor incident. Ranne, you have a wide network among the upper-ranked classes, so I’d appreciate it if you could lend me that influence.”

“It’s only natural that I do this much for the person who saved my life! Just trust me!”

“I-I’ll help too…! I’ll do everything I can…!”

Alice had only been quietly listening to our conversation, but she suddenly stepped forward, perhaps feeling that she needed to do something too.

In her subtly wavering blue eyes, I was reflected as I tilted my head.

“Hmm.”

Well.

I didn’t think Alice would be much help with something like this.

She was the sort of person who struggled to get along with others.

“Thank you. You’re both dependable.”

Still, the fact that she wanted to help was admirable.

With that in mind, I stroked her head.

“H-hehe…”