I Became an Academy Counselor

“What on earth have you done?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about Orca. Surely you’re not going to say you don’t know.”

A few days later.
The class president who came to the counseling room started to interrogate me.

“Right now, everyone can’t focus on their classes.”
“Why’s that?”
“They’re all distracted by the sight of Orca attending classes normally.”

I see.
I understand what she’s trying to say.
Orca, who had been intolerable until now, is suddenly focusing and listening in class, so everyone’s attention is drawn to her.

“Moreover, even the teachers who are supposed to be teaching are dumbfounded by this sight… I don’t understand…”
“Even the teachers?”
“Yes. They’re trying to continue the class, but it’s obvious they can’t concentrate.”

I didn’t expect that.
Was her notoriety higher than I thought?
Our Orca is so cute…
It’s clear that everyone was so afraid of her that they didn’t notice the cuteness hidden in her.
Poor things. They’ve wasted their lives.

“What on earth have you done?”
“Umm… I just counseled her, that’s all.”
“Counseling…?”
“Yes, counseling.”

But it wasn’t a bad thing.
The lower Orca’s reputation was, the worse my evaluation would be.
It’s a bit sad that she had been much lonelier than I thought, though.

As I wanted to help more people than just her, the counseling room needed some reputation.
The evaluation that I rehabilitated her would be a great help when I try to help other children someday.

“If Orca uses any harsh words from now on, please let me know. I’ll scold her.”
“Ah, yes…”
“And class president. If you see any students who seem to have troubles, it would be nice if you could bring them to the counseling room occasionally.”
“…I understand.”

The class president’s face was full of trust towards me.
It seemed she had come to fully trust me after seeing Orca suddenly become a model student.
…Well, it’s not unreasonable to do so.

To think that Orca would properly attend classes.
It’s something that didn’t even happen in the game.

“Then, could you leave for today? I have something to do.”
“Ah, yes.”

The class president left the counseling room, while still giving me looks of admiration to the point of being burdensome.
Does she think I have something important to do?
…Well, something is important if you consider it so.

I need to play games.
I bought a new laptop a few days ago because Haze destroyed my old one.

“Ugh, it’s really annoying to replay what I’ve already cleared…”

There was no way to recover since even the saved data was gone, so I had no choice.
I thought as I skipped through the boring story.
Haze, I should have tormented you a bit more.
Was I too kind?

***

“…Tch.”

This is so annoying.
I glared at the people who kept looking at me.
Don’t these guys have anything better to do?
It might be better if they just kept staring.
It was disgusting to see them averting their eyes as if they hadn’t been looking when I glared at them a little.

“Ah, s…”

Just as I was about to burst out with profanity out of irritation.
Suddenly, I remembered what that woman had said.
Didn’t she say not to use harsh words?
That woman isn’t around anyway, and there’s no way she could hear. If I say it, I can just deny it later. She’s just someone who helps me with words only.
But why did I stop? …I don’t know.
I was feeling refreshed from sleeping well recently. Now my mood has soured.

“If you’re just going to stare, get lost right now. I’ll kill you.”

When I threatened them, the pale-faced guys backed away.
Now it’s a bit more comfortable.

“Stop it.”
“…What, who are you?”
“Leo. You’re… Orca, right?”

Just when I was feeling good for the first time in a while and came out for a walk, these weird guys kept bothering me. I was thinking of going back to the counseling room because those humans ruined my mood. A small boy with hair sticking up like a lion’s mane, came to talk to me. He still had a youthful appearance.
…It’s irritating. Especially when I see short guys.
It reminds me of that day and I can’t stand it.

“People are scared. I’d like you to stop.”
“…Ha, why should I?”
“What do you mean why? Because those guys are scared. It’s not good to go around intimidating people like that. You know your own reputation, right? To calm down such rumors, you should avoid unnecessary conflicts…”

The guy started lecturing me, but it didn’t register in my ears.
All I felt was the urge to punch this annoying guy.
…Ah.
I can’t take it anymore.

“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Grit your teeth.”
“…?!”

Bang.
Unable to suppress my irritation any longer, I swung my fist at the small guy in front of me.
Once wasn’t enough to vent my anger, so twice. Three times.
How many more times did I hit?

Feeling the sensation in my hand, I clicked my tongue and took a step back.
Right after, a sword slash swooped through where I had been standing.
Seeing that made me feel even worse.
Did he just try to hit me with the flat of the blade instead of the edge?
This bastard, is he looking down on me?

“…You said your name was Leo? I’ll praise your confidence in underestimating me.”
“You, are you in your right mind? To cause such a commotion in the academy…! It will only spread worse rumors about you!”
“Who cares.”

What’s with that sword, why is it so sturdy?
I roughly shook off my hand which was trembling from the recent impact.
It’s been a while since something didn’t get scratched when I hit it with the intent to break it.

“I was going to just beat you up a bit and go back… But I’ve changed my mind. I’ll hit you properly.”
“…”
“You won’t get off lightly”

It was easy to see that he was stronger than I thought.
Most guys would be knocked out after a few hits, but he’s still standing fine.
He’s probably quite strong for a student.
But who cares?

Right now, I just wanted to vent this irritation and go back to the counseling room to sleep.
To hit him properly, I brought out the demon’s arm.
It was impressive to see him startled at the sight of the arm that appeared with an ominous mist.

“…!”
“What, never seen it before?”
“That’s…”
“It’s a good opportunity, so take a good look. This is what they call a demon’s arm. Cool, isn’t it? Boys go crazy for this kind of thing.”

Demon-possessed people are shunned by everyone.
This is because no one knows when their bodies might be taken over by the demon’s flesh.
The possessed who fight for control with the demon dwelling in their body gradually become exhausted and eventually lose their body to the demon.
But everything has its pros and cons.

In exchange for fighting for control of the body with the demon, the possessed can use some of the demon’s power.
In my case, it’s the arm.
Some use magic, and some wield swords, but while an arm might seem weak, I liked this.
It feels good to hit with it.
Is it because I share my body with the demon?

“Hey, what are you doing getting distracted?”

I struck the side of the guy who was blankly staring at the materialized demon arm.
He hurriedly tried to block with his sword as the attack approached, but his reaction was a bit late.
Unable to defend properly, he crouched down after getting hit in the side.

“Kuhuk…?!”
“Sorry. You had so many openings, I couldn’t help myself.”

This guy, he’s strong but has too little real combat experience.
To openly get distracted in front of an enemy. Is he crazy?
I clicked my tongue at the sight of him easily collapsing when I had materialized my arm thinking I could vent my anger.

“…Tch. I thought you were strong.”
“Not… yet. I’m not down yet.”
“Oh?”

My eyes lit up at the sight of the guy struggling to get up.
He’s standing up.
It must hurt a lot.

“Come at me… Orca. I’ll play with you.”
“Hey, you… I like you more than I thought.”

I grinned ferociously.

***

“T-Teacher! Something terrible has happened!”
“Eek?! At, least knock before you come in!”
“I-I’m sorry. But it’s urgent…!”

Goodness, that scared me…!
I thought I was caught…
Maybe I should put up a sign telling people to knock before entering the counseling room.
Why does everyone come in without knocking?
Taking advantage of the time the class president was catching her breath, I quietly closed my laptop, took a breath, and then spoke to her.

“So? What’s the matter?”
“O-Orca got into a fight!”
“…Who’s the opponent?”
“The opponent is a student named Leo from the same year. Right now, because of their fight, it’s chaos…!”
“…”

A fight between Leo and Orca, huh?
I forcibly suppressed the smile that was about to come out.
It’s obvious they’d think it’s strange if I smiled in this situation.
No matter how happy I am that the prologue has started, if I show it openly in front of others, I’ll have no choice but to rely on the power of hypnosis.
I must endure… I must endure…

“…? Teacher Ophelia?”
“Ah, ahem. Well, alright. What’s the situation?”
“Orca is one-sidedly beating up Leo! We need to stop them right away!”
“…Pardon?”
“R-Right now it might be really dangerous! There’s no one else who can stop them except you, teacher!”

Huh?
What? Leo lost?
Not Orca losing?

“O-Orca is one-sidedly…?”
“He’s in a very disadvantageous situation. He’s still hanging on, but… There’s no time to explain! We need to go quickly!”

‘Wh-What is going on.’

Leo lost? Really?
…Why?
Surely in the prologue, Leo was supposed to knock Orca unconscious, causing the demon Orca was controlling to go berserk?
There’s no way such an accident would happen since I’ve stopped the demon…

…Ah.
Come to think of it, I did let Orca sleep well.
I’m sure there was a description in the prologue about her stumbling for a moment due to insomnia. Cold sweat poured down.