Book 2: Chapter 5: Practice of Showing Gratitude (1/2)
”Yo, Monica. Good work. Have you managed to get in touch with the prince?”
The sun was already dark when Monica returned to her attic in the dormitory, and Nero, the black cat, came jumping in through the attic window.
Monica, who had been lying her face down on the bed as soon as she returned to the attic, got up lazily and shook her head helplessly.
At the moment, Monica was unable to interact with her classmates on a human level, let alone make contact with the prince. Given this situation, she wondered how she could get close to the prince.
While Monica whimpered in tears, Nero wagged his tail from side to side and said with pride.
”I've gathered some information! Now, praise me!”
”…Yeah. Thanks, Nero.”
”Listen up and be surprised, the second prince is the student council president. This means, if you become a student council member, you can naturally get in touch with him.”
Indeed, Nero's point was spot on.
The second prince and Monica were in different grades, so it was very difficult to approach him normally. However, if they become members of the same student council, she can approach him naturally. But…
”That's impossibleeee.”
In order to become a student council member, one must have excellent grades. On top of that, one must also have connections with the students' council members.
”But, you know, Monica. You are that of Seven Sages. And a genius at that. So if you score really well on the next test, you could become a member of the student council, I think.”
Monica silently shook her head and laid her textbook on the desk.
The textbooks were overwhelmingly about the history and foreign languages. When it comes to the knowledge required by a child of a noble family, this was only natural.
Monica's background was in all things related to magic. She knew a lot about the history of magic, fundamental magic, magic formulas, and the laws related to magic, but other than that her overall grade was below average except for arithmetic.
”Hey, you went to a school called Minerva, right? Didn't you study any languages there?”
”At Minerva, I chose Ancient Magic Script and Spirit Languages as my study.”
If nobles in this country wrote letters in Ancient Magic Script and exchanged words with spirits, Monica's knowledge would have been very useful. But of course, neither of these was knowledge required by the children of nobles.
”What should I do, What should I do, What should I do.”
Monica sat on the bed, hugging Nero to her chest whimpering.
Now Monica was no longer in a position to protect the second prince. All she could do was try not to drop out of this school.
No, even before that…
”Today, I received kindness from two people.”
Monica glanced at the ribbon on her desk and the wrapped nuts.
Despite Lana's high-handed attitude, she was the first person in her class who talked to her.
And the young man she met in the old garden, he had prioritized picking up Monica's nuts over his documents.
”Actually, I wanted to say ”Thank you” to them, but…”
She could point out the mistakes in the documents, but because she was unable to say thank you properly, she felt what she did was so ungrateful.
Monica turned her gaze down, and Nero looked up at Monica.
”You were able to say ”thank you” to me just fine. You just said that. I heard it myself.”
”It was because… you're… not a human…”
Nero frowned like a human being, but then he suddenly had an idea, wagged his tail, and climbed down from Monica's lap.
”All right, then, I'll help you practice overcoming your shyness.”
”Nero? Are you talking about that…”
”Yes. That's right.”
Nero jumped onto the chair and gave a flick of his tail. Instantly, his figure contorted and the black cat became a mass of black shadows. Eventually, the shadow expanded and became a human silhouette.
Within two blinks of an eye, the shadow now took on color. As if the ink had been washed away, a smooth skin tone could be seen beneath the shadow.
”Look, how's that.”
The person sitting in the chair was not a black cat, but a young man in his twenties with black hair and golden eyes. He was wearing a somewhat old-fashioned robe.
Of course, he wasn't human. He was Nero who had transformed into a human form.
She already knew that Nero could turn into a human being, and she'd seen him do it, but… her body cowered of its own accord at the realization that there was an adult male in front of her.
”N-No…”
Her eyes, which always looking down blankly, were opened to the limit, and her body was trembling.
She shrank back on the bed and held her head in her hands as if to protect herself.
”No… I don't want it… I beg you, Nero… Please turn back into a cat…”