WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 25: Party (2)

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Celia broke the silence by objecting to the homeroom teacher's decision. She looked supremely confident, as though she were being perfectly reasonable.

"Hmm. I'm surprised you're the one objecting, Celia. I thought one of the others would complain if anyone did."

The homeroom teacher stroked his chin.

"Still, I put some thought into this decision. Celia, why do Sirius and Arin need to switch places?"

Everyone looked at Celia.

Honestly, I didn't think much would change just because I took Arin's place.

With the ring on, I might even lose to her in a pure magic battle.

Did she have a good reason of her own?

"Because... well... Sirius is last in our class!"

Think about how I feel hearing that...

It was true that I had the lowest recorded score, but it still didn't feel great to hear.

I really should've used slightly stronger magic then.

"Being last doesn't seem particularly relevant to how the groups are assigned, does it?"

The homeroom teacher asked, looking puzzled.

"Teacher, I've learned that balance is the most important thing in any party."

"And?"

"I think it's only right for Sirius, who's in last place, to be in the group with me, the top-ranked student."

"Hmm."

Numerically speaking, it wasn't exactly wrong.

Even from my perspective, our party looked weaker than Luna's or Celia's.

Still, it was only temporary. Was there really any need to be this fixated on it?

I looked around at everyone's reactions.

Arin, standing across from me, looked like she was about to cry.

She had seemed so happy at the thought of being in the same party as Celia just moments ago. I felt bad for her.

Then there was the person beside me, the one I was most worried about and deliberately avoiding looking at.

I couldn't bring myself to check Luna's expression.

With her arms crossed, Luna rapidly tapped her arm with her index finger, clearly displeased.

At last, the tapping stopped and Luna spoke.

"Teacher."

The homeroom teacher, who seemed to be considering the matter, turned toward Luna.

"I'm also top-ranked."

Hm?

Luna said nothing else.

The homeroom teacher looked a little flustered when she merely pointed out that she was top-ranked and didn't continue.

Still, he seemed to understand what she meant.

By the same logic, she was saying I should be on her team.

The homeroom teacher slapped his forehead as if he had a headache.

"Well... it'd be easiest to leave things as I arranged them, but if that's how you two feel..."

He began speaking as though he were going to rearrange the parties.

My plan to make new friends somewhere no one knew me seemed to have fallen apart.

Sigh... I didn't know who I'd end up with, but neither choice felt comfortable.

Things had probably become pretty awkward with Celia after what I said yesterday.

As for Luna, I could already picture her making my life miserable all day if I even exchanged a few private words with another girl.

I decided to think of wherever the homeroom teacher assigned me as the will of the gods and accept it.

My life had always been full of things that didn't go my way, so I figured this much wouldn't bother me.

The homeroom teacher looked at me with a slightly apologetic expression.

Hey, Teacher. Don't tell me...

"Ahem. Since there are two top-ranked students and only one last-ranked student, Sirius should go to the party he wants, right? Do you all agree?"

Everyone, including Celia and Luna, nodded.

Celia looked at me as though asking what I was waiting for.

Luna smiled as though she had already won.

Whichever path I took was covered in thorns, so I chose to forge my own.

"I'd like to stay with my original team!"

The killing intent from Luna and Celia made the back of my head tingle, but I found comfort in Arin's bright smile.

Yeah... as long as at least one person was happy...

The homeroom teacher nodded.

"All right. We'll go with the arrangement I made. Celia and Luna both have a point, but everyone will get a turn eventually, so don't take it too hard."

That settled our first party, at least for now.

The homeroom teacher had us line up by party.

"Good, good. Looks nice. Now then, I'll tell you what you'll be doing as parties."

Was it going to be sparring? Or an outside mission? Don't tell me we'd be hunting demons on our first meeting?

Honestly, I didn't feel like hunting demons.

It would be fratricide now.

All kinds of guesses ran through my head.

Then something completely different came out of his mouth.

"Starting now, I want you all to get to know each other."

...Pardon?

Everyone had been listening closely, but that single instruction left us all dumbfounded.

It wasn't like we'd come to the academy to hang out. Telling us to get to know each other had to be some kind of joke.

Unable to take it anymore, Cairo spoke up.

"Teacher. We didn't come here to play around or make friends. We don't have time for that."

His deep voice made it clear how dissatisfied he was.

With his personality, I could only imagine how much he disliked our unserious-looking homeroom teacher.

The homeroom teacher laughed heartily, as though he had expected that reaction.

"Then do you think you can hunt demons with that group as it is, Cairo?"

He was smiling, but his eyes weren't smiling at all.

"Even a third-rate party needs to be able to trust its comrades to watch its back."

"Can you trust your party member Leon with your life right now? And could Leon fight while trusting you to provide cover from behind?"

"You're temporary party members, so you won't be together for long, and you won't have many chances to get to know one another."

"So I'll give you this one week. Get as close as you can with your current party members."

The mood turned solemn, and no one could argue.

He was right, too.

How could we risk our lives in battle when we knew nothing about each other?

We could take a simple do-as-you're-told approach, but everyone knew a Hero's Party shouldn't be like that.

"All right. Of the five remaining days excluding today, each of you will take one of four days. Choose a theme and plan that day's activities yourselves."

"You can train together, gather for tea, or introduce the magic you like. I don't care how you do it."

"But when we meet here next week, I expect you to show at least a basic understanding of each other and be able to communicate properly."

With that, the homeroom teacher finished his explanation, warned that anyone who didn't take it seriously would be punished, and left.

The homeroom teacher had called me Luna's attendant and said something about me being a paycheck thief, but he was the real robber.

How could he tell students to prepare and run the activities meant for class time? Was he just going somewhere to rest instead?

It sounded ridiculous, but we couldn't go against the homeroom teacher's orders, so we eventually sat together by party.

Cain looked unhappy.

Raven's expression was impossible to read.

Yuri looked like he was trying his best to make this work.

And there was me, Sirius, stuck between them.

When no one said anything and silence settled over us, I looked around.

The other parties already seemed to be getting somewhere.

Arin was cheerfully asking Celia's party all sorts of questions and keeping the conversation going.

In Luna's party, Leon stood before them and seriously explained something.

Don't yawn, Luna. You're making the person talking feel awkward.

At this rate, it didn't seem like we'd finish even if we stayed all day, so I finally opened my mouth.

"Ahem... Ahem! Um... we're a party too, so let's talk about something."

Cain gave me a quick glance, while Raven continued to stare at me with empty eyes.

Yuri clasped both my hands as if he were grateful for what I said and agreed with me.

"That's right. Let's all get along~ Haha..."

I felt like I was going to die from the awkwardness, but thank goodness you were here, Yuri.

"Then who should decide tomorrow's plans?"

I knew none of you would answer a question like that.

So I tore up a sheet of paper I had tucked into my uniform and wrote the numbers one through four on the pieces.

"I think this is fair. We have to do it anyway, so let's get it over with quickly."

Raven, Cain, and Yuri drew their slips in that order, and I took the last one left.

I drew number four. Luckily, I got the final day.

Our party would plan the next four days in the order of Yuri, Cain, Raven, and me.

Yuri looked burdened by being first, but no one else seemed interested in that sort of thing.

They all seemed to have the same mindset. As long as it wasn't them.

"All right, we've decided the order for now, so think about what you want to do on your day and let's wrap things up here!"

That was my leadership for a quick conclusion and an even quicker trip back to the Dormitory. Today, I was absolutely going to succeed at taking a nap.

As I left the training ground and headed toward the Dormitory, a silver-haired young lady with a pouty expression was waiting for me.

"Sirius. You. You didn't choose me?"

Was a nap truly impossible?

Footnotes:

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