I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

Ether is the ‘power to exist’.

A universal energy descending from the sky.

A force that binds things to be able to exist in this world.

It has always existed naturally anywhere and anytime, and dwells in everything. Living and non-living, alive and dead.

Ether necessarily exists in anything.

Ether is one of the fundamental energies constituting everything since this world was born from the primordial flame.

In terms of yin and yang, it bears the yang energy. So ether is basically red in color. Because it contains extreme yang energy, only women who can accommodate extreme yang energy manifest high ether aptitude.

‘Among them, was where girls with higher ether aptitude than others gathered… that was the setting.’

There are individual differences in whether one can handle it well or not, but at least only girls with ether aptitude can withstand the high ether atmospheric concentration of .

“…”

To be honest, it can be said to be an in-game setting created to justify beautiful girls using swords and magic. But because that became reality here, ether became a law of nature and truth.

‘Ether is the flow of fate, life force, energy, object of faith, omnipotent energy… Isn’t it too convenient a setting? You can solve anything by just attaching the word ‘ether’ to whatever you make.’

I smiled bitterly recalling the blind attitude of accepting ether in the academy city.

Perhaps because I came from a world in my past life where such an omnipotent substance called ether didn’t exist, I didn’t feel like life would be particularly endangered without it right away. But for them, ether is truth connected to life, and further to fate and existence.

That’s why my juniors clung to me, who was determined to be completely empty of that ether, and whimpered for a long time. It was like the eyes of baby birds looking at their sick mother bird.

“Senior…?”

“Senior…”

“Senior comrade…”

I felt gloomy seeing that. It was because of my juniors’ plaintive voices rather than the ether depletion crisis for which I had already come up with countermeasures.

‘Ah… Why did it have to be a machine that measures by ratio… This looks like it’s headed for another tearful show… This is bad.’

Of all things, the machine Maya brought measures the depletion ‘ratio’. To make an analogy, that machine treats 1% remaining electricity in an industrial power plant and 1% remaining electricity in a portable battery the same.

‘She should have brought a machine that measures absolute values… The kids are going to cry again…’

The tearful scene I had already seen countless times over a week.

Such ominous predictions of mine never miss the mark.

Alvit broke out in cold sweat, moving her brown eyes restlessly as if she couldn’t believe it. Those eyes were already overflowing with moistness.

“Senior is… in a worse state… than a corpse…?”

“Ahaha―☆ How mean♪”

“Th-That can’t be…”

Then Rota shouted, raising the fur on her cat ears straight up. She too had tears welling up in her eyes.

“Alvit!! Don’t say ominous things!! There’s no way senior could die!!”

“So-Sorry. I was short-sighted…”

“H-Hey kids? Don’t fight―☆”

Without giving me a chance to mediate, Kara picked me up in a princess carry. Since it seemed like Kara would get hurt if I shook her off and left like this, I could only resist by timidly tapping her arms.

Tap, tap―☆

“Hey―♪ Kara~ What are you doing suddenly princess carrying senior―☆ No matter how much I’m like a princess…”

“You must lie down in your room right away!! Don’t worry, I’ll take you there―!!”

“Um… My physical condition is gradually improving―☆ It’s troublesome to treat me like I’m on the verge of death now♪”

“Yap.”

Maya held the ether depletion ratio meter to my face once again. And that damned machine spat out five loud warning beeps.

Beep beep beep beep beep

“Aack?! No!!”

“Senior!! You can’t be sick!!”

“We must move you to your room right away!!”

“A hospital ward… We need a hospital ward, damn it!! This damn school is just like that!! Senior is so sick, but there’s not even a ward for her to lie down in!!”

“I’m not dying☆ I’m telling you I’m not dying―☆”

I tried to calm my juniors in the chaotic situation but was ignored.

My juniors hurriedly tried to carry me to the dormitory building, as if the warning beeps of the ether depletion meter sounded like the footsteps of the grim reaper. Maya had already become like leftover rice. My juniors had completely forgotten her existence.

I desperately tried to turn my juniors’ attention to Maya.

“Kids~☆ Let’s listen to what Maya has to say first! Aren’t you curious why she came? Oh right! Shall I tell you one surprising fact―☆ Maya actually since my first year…”

“Senior, I understand so please just lie down!!”

“You don’t need to say anything more!!”

“…”

But Maya seemed interested in that hysterical reaction, silently following us to the dormitory building while persistently holding the machine to my head. It had been a long time since I saw her acting together with others like this.

“Yap.”

“Maya, what are you doing―☆”

“It could have been measured wrong.”

Beep beep beep beep beep

“I said stop it really―☆ It’s correct~♡”

“Yap.”

“Ahaha―♡ Maya seems to be a T type after all―☆”

Beep beep beep beep beep

“Hmm, let’s try one more time.”

“Okay―☆ I’ve decided♡ Maya, you’ll be punished♡ later―☆”

“Yap.”

Beep beep beep beep beep

The more the warning sounds rang out, the stronger my juniors’ wails became.

“Senior!!!”

“Senior!!!”

“Senior comrade―!!”

Plaintive calls.

But I’m really fine.

No matter how much I say it, they don’t believe me. This is driving me crazy.

Is this how Lu Xun felt when he was constantly suspected of having rebellious intentions by Sun Quan? No matter how much he said it wasn’t true, was this the frustration of not being believed?

‘No… I shouldn’t compare our cute juniors worrying about us to Sun Ce’s descendants…’

In the end, I gave up resisting and was confined to my room, tightly wrapped in blankets. My juniors brought chairs and were thoroughly monitoring me around.

“Ahaha… So it ends up like this―☆”

“You absolutely mustn’t move until your body is fully healed, senior.”

“I’ll just bring you food… No, I’ll just feed you. You can eat when I say ‘aahn~’, right? I’ll let you touch my ears too, so you have to stay still, okay?”

Rota’s kind consideration.

Just hearing it made me feel like crying.

But Kara was looking at that with suspicious eyes.

“…Aren’t you both just doing what you want to do?”

“What are you saying!!”

“Rota comrade is… pretending to be considerate while blatantly projecting her maternal desire… it’s too obvious…”

“Shaaaak―!!”

“Alright, don’t fight―☆”

The atmosphere that finally calmed down only after I lay down like that.

Maya who had been watching that said it was an interesting research result and that she would deliver the items brought directly from to the dormitory building.

Kara, who was once a student, asked if she should help Maya with that but was refused. Maya was extremely self-centered, not caring about such things.

Whoom―

A huge equipment case placed in the dormitory hallway.

“…”

I wondered as I watched Maya carrying the luggage back and forth alone.

‘But as the head of the facilities engineering department, it should be a busy time, why did she come here in person?’

Including the time I was collapsed, more than 3 weeks had already passed since ’s new student welcome party. Having passed mid-April now, large schools would be extremely busy with students’ midterms and event preparations.

‘Even if isn’t as rigid as before, they would still operate school events thoroughly…’

But I couldn’t ask because Maya was busily bringing metal equipment cases into my room and opening them.

Click―!

A metal case large enough for me to curl up inside opened. Inside were equipment made from the ether conductive ore I had farmed in my first year.

‘In game terms, these are upper tier crafted items… so we probably won’t need to change weapons for a while. Though we skipped various mid-level farming processes, it’s fortunate to have an excuse.’

At the beginning of the semester, it was awkward to explain how I obtained the ore, and there was nowhere to request the crafting, so I expected the crafted items to be handed over much later. But thanks to the eventful recent incidents, they were able to make them quickly.

An unexpected equipment unboxing scene unfolding in my room.

The first thing taken out was…

Inevitably Alvit’s straight sword which had the highest crafting difficulty.

This time Alvit spoke with a trembling voice from excitement:

“Oh… my. Isn’t this… a weapon made from extremely high purity ore?”

“Yes―♪ I asked Maya to make it using the ether conductive ore I obtained in my first year―☆”

“I didn’t make it myself, just roughly paid the materials engineering kids to do it, but. I’ll accept your thanks if you want to thank me.”

“What? Oh… Yes. Thank you Senior Maya…”

“Oh, yeah.”

Nod

Calmly receiving Alvit’s thanks like that.

Maya with a flask containing energy drink in her mouth.

There was clearly nothing strange about it… but it was an irritatingly strange sight.

“…”

I opened my mouth, finding that situation ridiculous.

“Maya, you…☆”

“What? It’s true.”

“…”

“I even delivered it all the way here.”

“Haah♪”

This was the kind of person Maya was.

‘Well, for this troublesome kid to deliver all the way here… It is surprising. How I became friends with such a kid… I don’t really know either.’

Alvit, not even paying attention to such a Maya, was blankly staring at the elegant longsword with a dark red glow that she was holding.

It was a very sturdily made sword. An ether conductor specially processed to be able to use ether-applied martial arts. It was a quality on a completely different level from the practice weapons of that Alvit had been using until now.

‘Actually, what we were using… was just clubs made by melting conductive ore scraps…’

Dark red blade.

Intricately crafted ether circuits.

Simple but therefore elegant with functional beauty.

Alvit stared at that elegantly shaped longsword for a long time. And then she quietly drew up ether and tested it.

Paah―!

Befitting a high-quality crafted item, the dark red blade stably connected to ether. Now that she had stably entered the 2nd stage [Vibration Ether] and built up proficiency, it instantly resonates with the world. A threatening aura was felt from the blade.

Alvit looked at her sword with an ecstatic voice:

“Wow, really… This is really good… This… Really… Wow… It connects so quickly and smoothly…?”

Muttering incoherently.

Alvit trying to explain how good a weapon this is.

Her flushed cheeks and curved eyes were a pleasant sight.

“Hehe…♪”

I felt like I was watching a gaming enthusiast who had received the latest smartphone or graphics card as a gift. I had only seen her burning with a sense of responsibility for a while, so seeing Alvit excited like a child after a long time made me laugh.

‘She’s been growing stronger quickly lately which was admirable, so I’m glad it became a good gift.’

And equipment cases continuing to open.

Rota and Kara marveled looking at the items they each received.

“These are gifts for you too―☆”

“This is…!”

“Senior comrade…!”

“It’s late since it’s already mid-April but… Congratulations on entering from the bottom of my heart―♪ This is my congratulatory gift☆ Huhu, it’s okay to shed tears of emotion while hugging this senior―☆”

I spoke in an exaggeratedly dramatic tone while squirming under the blanket.

Since Rota already had a wand distributed by the prestigious magic school , she received a specially crafted cape that could connect magic books and equipment. And what Kara held in his hand was a glaive-shaped spear blade that could be attached to the end of a flag.

Cape and spear blade.

Both were items that used less materials than the longsword Alvit received.

‘If there were enough materials, I would have liked to make armor too… But because I neglected farming in my first year…’

I anxiously watched from under the blanket, worried that my juniors might feel relatively deprived.

Watching…

“…”

“…”

“…?”

For some reason, both Rota and Kara were hanging their heads.

Oh no…

I hurriedly tried to make some excuse to the two.

At that moment.

Plop…

Plop…

Rota and Kara’s shoulders were trembling, and droplets were falling one by one onto the floor where their heads were bowed. And irregular breathing sounds were heard.

They were crying.

“Sob…”

“Ugh…”

“Uh, um―☆ Wh-What’s the matter♪”

I crawled awkwardly towards Rota and Kara, rolled up in the blanket like a pillbug. Then those two hugged the large pillbug tightly and started wailing.

“Senior…!”

Seeing that, Alvit also joined the pillbug capture team and started shedding tears.

“Huh? Huh huh―☆ What’s the matter?! Could it be you don’t like them―☆”

A tearful show that suddenly started.

The three people crying as if the sky was falling.

Since it was the first time seeing my juniors cry so bitterly.

I could only freeze with my eyes wide open.

“…You get along well.”

Maya smiled seeing that.

* * *

The tearful show that lasted for quite a while.

When it subsided, my juniors said they would go wash their faces.

A room with only me and Maya left.

“…”

“…”

Maya was quietly sipping the energy drink contained in her flask. She didn’t ask anything about [Faded Spiral] at all, and was just sprawled out like someone on vacation.

I glanced secretly.

Glance…

‘But… It seems like she made more than the ore I originally gave.’

Looking at the opened cases, there were various miscellaneous practice weapons made additionally besides the items my juniors directly received.

‘Given Maya’s personality, it doesn’t seem like she would take on work that wasn’t even requested…’

I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Bu-But what could those be―☆”

“What.”

“Um… I don’t think I gave that much ore―☆”

“Ah… There was leftover ether conductive ore so I roughly made them.”

“Huh?”

“The elves and furries suddenly released all the low-grade ether conductive mines so there’s surplus inventory of low-grade products. Plus, as soon as we made these, stopped weapon production so all miscellaneous requests are flooding to .”

“Oh my…☆”

“Even the materials engineering department can’t handle it, so they’re telling the facilities engineering department to produce weapons too. So I ran away secretly from Skadi on the pretext of delivery. Let me stay for a few days.”

“Oh my my…☆”

Something…

Something was happening.