Louise walked out of her Advanced Math class. Advanced Math was another unpopular subject that could barely muster the minimum number of students each year, and the reason was simple: That was because the subject was called Advanced Math. Any student who heard such a name would run the other direction, but Louise had a different idea.
‘Huhuhu. I am a descendant of Pythagoras, Aristotle and Archimedes.’
She applied for the class with the shining spirit of her ancestors behind her, but it turned out it was a very stupid thing to do.
The only other students who applied for the class were those who were predispositioned to admire the name “Advanced Math.” They sought to catalog nature and were explorers of truth. Their eyes even glistened in happiness at the word “truth.” Only problem was, Louise became depressed because she couldn’t understand their world.
“If I knew this, I would’ve taken regular math class.”
Louise recently recalled Dean cutting the vertices of a triangle with scissors to prove that the sum of the angles was 180 degrees. She should have taken that class! Not the class that finds the smallest sum of the distances from three vertices inside a triangle!
Louise escaped from the sea of facts and proofs and went into the student council room, but there was only a single bag and coat inside. Everyone else seemed to have gone out.
‘…Coat?’
At the student council—no, in the whole Academy—there was only one person who wore that kind of coat on a cold day.
“So maybe the coat has a magical feature that makes it warm?”
Should she prove it? Louise went back to the door and looked out the hallway for a moment. There was no one there. She closed the door, then carefully picked up the coat on Ian’s chair.
‘…It’s long.’
Obviously tall people had long coats.
‘It smells good too.’
Louise, who was definitely not a pervert, buried her nose into the material. She inhaled deeply. Was it cologne? If it wasn’t…
Louise was not a pervert, but she imagined where the smell came from.
‘Oh, I’ll check if it’s warmer.’
She quickly put her hand into the coat. It was warm, but no warmer than any other winter coat.
‘I’ll try it on.’
Louise felt the need to try on Ian’s clothes, although she was not a pervert. She pushed her arms into the sleeves. It was baggy on her, and her hands didn’t even reach the cuffs.
“I don’t think there’s any magic.”
“It’s a normal coat.”
“Yeah. It’s not particularly warm—”
Louise suddenly froze. She turned her stiff neck, and saw Ian leaning against the open door of the storage room.
“S-since when have you been watching?”
“Since the beginning.”
“…”
“It’s alright, I understand. It’s a strange pleasure to secretly touch someone else’s clothes.”
“I-I’m not a pervert!”
“It’s okay. You’re a pervert only to me. In fact, I am grateful.”
“No, not really!”
Louise let go of his coat off in a panic. The coat was not magical. All that was proven was Louise’s perverted taste.
“…What were you doing there?”
Louise quickly diverted the topic, and fortunately he went along.
“I’m taking the paper and ink out of the storage room to sell tomorrow.”
Oh, so that’s why he removed his coat. There was a lot of dust in the corner of the warehouse.
“Let me help you.”
Louise followed Ian and pulled off her coat as well. As she entered the storage room, she saw that several boxes were already piled near the entrance.
“I just put this outside, right?”
“Yes, I only need to carry a little at a time. You don’t have to push yourself too hard.”
Louis carefully picked up a box of ink bottles, and the glass clattered inside.
“This makes it feel real.”
“What do you mean?”
“That the exams are just around the corner.”
“You mean that studying hard doesn’t do that for you?”
“Well, yes…but still.”
Louise didn’t really care about the exams themselves. She realized how quickly time passed from the exams to the results. Maybe that’s how it would go this time as well, and when she woke up, it would all be over. And after that…
“Louise.”
“Yes?”
“How is Advanced Math?”
Why was he asking her that all of a sudden?
“I’m barely following.”
“I didn’t think it was the right subject for you.”
“Why didn’t you say that when I enrolled…”
“I don’t want to be prejudiced. By the way, you can ask me anything whenever you don’t know something.”
“I will.”
“If you need the questions from last year’s exam, do you want me to show you my wrong answer report later?”
“Really?”
A smile came over Louise’s face, and Ian patted her pale cheek.
“Yes. I want to help you with the rest of the time I have.”
He probably meant the time until graduation. Louise’s brow furrowed.
“Don’t be so upset.”
“…I’m not upset.”
“Really? I’m upset.”
Ian tugged Louise close to him, strong enough to make her breath catch.
“Starting next year, I won’t have you anymore.”
The one-year period that hadn’t started still seemed so far.
“You won’t be completely without nothing.”
She gave a little consolation within the embrace of his arms.
“We can write letters.”
“Sincere letters. Letters that makes a reader happy by choosing sweet and beautiful words.”
That was what Louise had once said a long time ago. She found it amusing he remembered, and she gave a chuckle.
“That’s right.”
“But can’t do this…”
His hands drifted upwards from her waist before resting on her upper back. When Louis looked up, his lips brushed her cheek. His hot breath tickled her ears, and she gripped him with trembling hands. He bent his head a little deeper, and his hot mouth touched her neckline.
“…by letter.”
Y-you want to?”
She tried to be casual, but he turned his head straight and grinned.
“Yes, I regret that I can’t. So I’ll try to kiss somewhere new every day, from today to my graduation.”
“…Oh?”
“Unless you don’t like it, of course.”
He looked at her expectantly.
“Wait. Why is it different every day?”
“Well…why not?”
He asked back with an innocent smile.
