“As I thought. You’ve been pushing so hard to qualify for a conversation with me, even daring to challenge the ‘Starlight’ assessment, all for that boy. Looks like I guessed right.”
Kurokami Akane slowly turned around, her crimson eyes calmly fixed on Ceres, whose emotions were visibly stirred, yet her face remained expressionless.
“You… what do you mean by that?”
Ceres blinked in surprise, struggling to process the words.
“I’ve long noticed the talent you’ve been hiding. A prodigy like you shouldn’t be buried in mediocrity. So, I needed a catalyst—a chance for you to willingly unleash your full potential.”
Kurokami Akane explained deliberately.
“Eatin is the perfect ‘catalyst.’ Sure enough, you fought tooth and nail for his rights by competing fiercely to become a member of the ‘Starlight,’ proving your worth to me.”
“Are you saying… senpai, you deliberately assigned Eatin so much grueling work just to push me, to torment him on purpose?”
Ceres’s face twisted in disbelief, as if hearing something utterly absurd, her voice trembling slightly.
Kurokami Akane neither confirmed nor denied but simply met her gaze with those piercing crimson eyes that seemed to see through one’s soul.
“Kurokami senpai! How could you… use Eatin like this—turning him into a tool just to provoke me over something so trivial… It’s unforgivable!”
Seeing the tacit acceptance in her senior’s attitude, a surge of anger and pain overwhelmed Ceres.
She clenched her fists tightly, her slender body trembling with intense emotion, her voice barely restraining the flames of fury and disappointment.
“He’s just a man. If this academy can gain a once-in-a-century Magician Prodigy because of him, and that talent’s potential is fully ignited, then this transaction couldn’t be more worthwhile.”
Kurokami Akane bowed her head slightly, her tone so calm it bordered on coldness.
“A transaction?!”
Ceres almost laughed in disbelief, raising her voice in accusation.
“You shouldn’t be joking about Eatin! He’s a living person! He has his own feelings and dignity! He’s not a tool for your goals!”
“Seems like you really do like that Eatin. I wonder what’s so great about men.”
Kurokami Akane watched Ceres’s passionate reaction to Eatin, a faint, inscrutable emotion flickering in her crimson eyes, her voice laced with barely perceptible disdain.
“Crude, arrogant, aggressive, always driven by filthy desires…”
“No, that’s not true!”
Ceres immediately retorted loudly, her tone growing heated.
“In the past… I also found boys disgusting! They always looked at me with those lecherous eyes, making me scared and uncomfortable! But everything changed after I met Eatin!”
Her voice softened as she spoke.
“Eatin is always so gentle, helping me, respecting me, saving me from despair more than once… I don’t know what kind of prejudice you have against boys, senpai. I admit I still harbor deep biases myself, but Eatin isn’t like the others. He’s special.”
Kurokami Akane raised an eyebrow slightly but remained silent on Ceres’s claim of Eatin being “special,” her face an icy mask of indifference.
Her fundamental disdain for men ran deep.
If not for that man’s cowardice and betrayal in a critical moment, her mother might not have died back then.
The pain and hatred etched into her heart were profound and unshakable.
To Kurokami Akane, men were always unreliable, weak, and selfish.
Still, recently there was one boy who appeared in her sight in an unexpected way— the transfer student, Eatin.
She had heard about his actions, especially how he fearlessly stood between her and the dark, out-of-control Ceres, risking himself repeatedly to save her.
That scene was impossible for even her to ignore.
One was a potential witch consumed by darkness and unstable power; the other was an ordinary boy, empty inside but daring to face danger head-on.
Perhaps, in some sense, it was mutual salvation.
Yet, Kurokami Akane could neither understand nor empathize with such complicated emotions.
She couldn’t comprehend those who lost themselves in love, because she obsessively believed that a person was enough as long as they had themselves.
In truly dire moments, the only thing one could trust and rely on was the blade in their hand and their own strength.
Bonds, love, dependence… all were superfluous and unnecessary to her, only weaknesses in disguise.
So when Kurokami Akane saw a “heavenly gifted girl” like Ceres—so talented and destined for greatness—willing to invest so much care and risk everything for a man, even daring to challenge her, she felt baffled.
With such a bright future and immense power, why place one’s focus on the opposite sex?
However, though she couldn’t understand internally, Kurokami Akane respected Ceres’s choices and feelings.
That was her principle.
Her previous heavy workload assigned to Eatin wasn’t entirely to motivate Ceres.
More pragmatically, since Eatin became a discipline committee member, by her standards, he needed to quickly familiarize himself with all duties and become a competent, even outstanding, officer.
That way, when he stayed by Ceres’s side long-term to Monitor her, he could keep unnecessary chit-chat to a minimum.
It also allowed her not to regret her past decisions.
Ultimately, it was just a way for her to give the lenient version of herself a graceful exit.
Kurokami Akane understood Ceres’s current thoughts, knew that she partially misunderstood her and blamed all the arrangements on “using” Eatin.
Yet, she didn’t want to explain.
Being misunderstood was nothing new—her cold, ruthless, unfeeling, and iron-hearted reputation had long been established.
As long as the final outcome made the Saint Dias Academy her mother loved stronger, all methods and accompanying misunderstandings were worthwhile.
After all, this was nearly the only thing she could do for her deceased mother now.
Ceres watched Kurokami Akane fall silent in thought, never giving a clear response.
Thinking that the senior might refuse her request outright, and realizing she had no real means to oppose if that happened, her heart grew anxious.
Unable to hold back, she spoke again, her voice earnest and slightly trembling.
“Kurokami senpai… Eatin means so much to me… Please… please give him back to me, okay?”