Chapter 71: The Fox’s Friendship

“Then, now that your business is done, I shall take my leave.”

“Yesss~. You must have been under a lot of stress, so you should go rest quickly~. Ah! Wait, didn’t you say you were planning to hang out with a friend from now on?”

“Reysir is… not a friend. The reason he came here wasn’t to play with me either.”

“He seemed like a good friend since he genuinely worries about you. Don’t fight, get along well~.”

“……”

For some reason, Skadi seemed to have mistaken the fact that I just argued with Reysir as if I was saying things I didn’t mean.

Maybe it was because during the exam, when Skadi went out alone into the hallway, Reysir introduced himself to her as ‘Karvald’s friend.’

No, I’m sure he did say that.

“Well then, see you next week~!”

“Ah…, yes… next week…”

Instead of trying to explain myself to Skadi, I chose to end the conversation quickly.

It was obvious she wouldn’t believe me anyway. No need to waste time.

Thinking that, I opened the classroom door and stepped outside, where Reysir was standing.

“I was waiting.”

“Why?”

“I told you earlier. I’m going to hang out with you until dinner.”

“Are my wishes not reflected at all?”

“Fine, then let’s do whatever you want.”

“That’s not what I meant…!”

I was utterly speechless.

When I looked at Reysir with a baffled expression, he burst into a laugh like he found my reaction amusing.

‘Had he forgotten that we had just argued?’

‘Or maybe he was deliberately laughing despite it not being a laugh-worthy moment—he does have a sly fox-like side.’

“Hmm… Were you upset because I interfered too much in your affairs?”

Look at that. The moment I frowned, he awkwardly made a probing expression.

And now, he was slyly twisting the situation as if I was sulking and refusing to hang out because of what happened earlier.

And his tone was almost coaxing.

“Karvald. What you said about Professor Skadi reflects things that only someone who tries to understand her deeply would notice. So I naturally realized how much you care about her.”

The Original Protagonist put on a serious face and was about to launch into an emotional influence event.

Honestly, I wonder why he keeps doing this at all times.

Skadi, who would become my future colleague and mentor, was just beyond the door, yet here Reysir was holding me back like this.

“But since you don’t take care of your own feelings at all, you praise others as good people yet treat yourself as a bad person. That’s what’s so heartbreaking.”

Every time he said this, my chest felt tight and uneasy.

I joked about him being a fox and a trigger for emotional events, but I knew Reysir spoke from his heart.

If there wasn’t sincerity, he wouldn’t have brought this up over and over again.

He also knows this isn’t exactly a conversation I enjoy.

He could’ve just made small talk or played friend games, or even focused on someone else.

“I want you to be respected. By others and by yourself.”

Reysir was genuinely worried about me and couldn’t just leave me be.

If this keeps going, both of us will end up emotionally worn out, but it’s not easy to ignore someone who cares so much for me.

He was the first person who sincerely approached me, wanting to be my friend.

I wish he would just give up soon.

If not, I wish he would at least get angry—questioning why I don’t return his feelings despite all his effort.

If that happened, at least I could respond by asking when he ever expected me to try for myself.

“Sigh…”

I let out a deep sigh.

I was so thankful and sorry, yet no words or actions could express my feelings.

The burden of guilt and indebtedness weighed heavily on me.

“So, what do you want to do now?”

“What do you mean what I want to do?”

“……”

“…Hmm?”

“…You said, let’s play.”

“……!!”

The moment I carelessly tossed out that word, his eyes lit up, even sparkled.

I was worried if I had said too casually, but seeing how happy he was made me feel a little more at ease.

Yes, even if I can’t wipe away his unhappiness, I can at least do this much.

Just spending a few hours together—it’s no big deal.

If he was really that attached, he would’ve told me by now, so it’s probably fine.

Maybe he was excited to hang out because it seemed fun, but after playing, the desire for friendship might just fade away.

“Karvald, what do you want to do? I’ll try to match you as much as possible, so just say whatever you want.”

“I want to go to the private training hall and focus on self-improvement.”

“That’s not playing!”

His negative reaction came immediately.

That was a good sign to me.

“What did you do when you played with your friends?”

“That’s a silly question. I don’t have friends, so didn’t you try to become my friend thinking you could form a new group?”

“Wasn’t that misunderstanding cleared up?!”

“You don’t clear up your misunderstanding about me, so why should I clear up mine about you?”

“Oh, come on! Fine, fine. Let’s say we’re misunderstanding each other. Anyway, I heard you never made any friends.”

If it weren’t for Hailga, I’d probably have never made friends either.

I thought that briefly but couldn’t say it aloud.

Reysir’s failure to make friends was because of the original owner of this body whom I had possessed.

“Even if they’re not friends, last semester you sometimes hung out with classmates, right? Tridric and Liolikin were always by your side. What did you do then?”

“Nothing? I just stayed in my spot and didn’t really do anything.”

“……”

A look of pity pierced my face.

I wanted to show myself as boring and dull, but all I did was evoke feelings of sympathy and pity.

“It’s a bit awkward to go out now and play, what should we do…?”

“Just to be sure, were you planning to dump the decision on me because you hadn’t thought of what to play?”

“Well… as you noticed, I didn’t originally come to play.”

“If you also have no plans, then fine. Let’s forget about playing.”

“No, no! Don’t say that! There are so many ways to play without going outside!”

When I tried to retract my invitation and start walking, Reysir grabbed my sleeve desperately.

When he launched into the emotional event earlier, he was quite dignified and protagonist-like, but now he just looked like a kid.

Considering his age, this might be normal, but since this side of him wasn’t properly shown in the original work, it felt a little awkward.

“How about chess or Othello?”

“Do you like those games?”

“To be honest, not really. I just guessed you might like those brainy kinds of games, so I suggested them. Ah! But I do play with Hailga often, so I’m not that bad.”

Since Reysir was honest, I’ll be honest too.

I know the rules of chess and Othello, but that’s about it.

I’ve never played against an actual person.

But the original owner of this body would have learned them as basic knowledge.

And I think his skills would’ve been pretty good.

There’s no scene of Karvald playing chess in the original story, but somehow that’s the image I get.

That’s why Reysir guessed I might like those games.

‘If I go back to the original family during this vacation, maybe I should properly learn them…’

Anyway, the conclusion is that if I play chess or Othello with Reysir now, my loss is guaranteed.

And that would destroy Karvald’s character, so it’s an unacceptable offer.

“Then I reject that. I’m not really into those games either.”

“Oh? Really?! Looks like our game tastes are similar as well as our reading tastes?”

“To say tastes are similar, there must be things we both like. If it’s about disliking things we don’t like, then who in the world wouldn’t be similar?”

“Since we’re on the topic, shall we play by discussing the Star Author’s novels that satisfy both our tastes?”

“I’ll pass.”

If a good word came from the protagonist of someone else’s novel, I’d be so embarrassed I couldn’t keep a straight face.

If a bad word came, I’d be so down I couldn’t manage my expression.

So I flatly refused, and Reysir visibly lost energy, slumping his shoulders.

“…Besides that author, do you have any other favorite authors?”

“Actually, there are many other novels I enjoyed besides the Star Author’s works. But as you know, authors of those novels use weird symbols as pen names. So since I don’t pay attention to pen names, the only author I clearly remember liking is the Star Author.”

That’s a misunderstanding. Even for web novels, there are no authors who use pen names made up entirely of special characters.

Well, maybe one or two odd cases exist, but not all authors.

Otherwise, readers would have a hard time distinguishing authors and building name value.

Of course, I couldn’t explain this to Reysir.

“Karvald, what about you?”

“Same reason, I don’t pay much attention to author names. If we’re going to talk more, wouldn’t it be better to move to a quieter place?”

“So you wanted to talk about novels too?!”

“……”

Just to clarify in case readers misunderstand like Reysir, I’m not interested in chatting about favorite novels or recommending fun books.

I’m hoping Reysir might know some information about paper versions of web novels that I haven’t found out yet.

So that’s why I agreed to discuss that topic.

“Then, want to come to my room? Or should I go to yours?”

“I refuse both. We’re not at the level to visit each other’s private spaces, are we?”

“But there’s nowhere suitable. It’s exam period, so everywhere in the cafeteria, dormitory lobby, and wherever you go, it’s full of students studying.”

That’s not wrong.

I haven’t been to the cafeteria since I make coffee in my room, but the dormitory lobby is always crowded with students forming study groups.

“Hearing that, I realized that maybe it wasn’t right to suggest playing during exam period in the first place.”

“Over 90% of those students must be cramming last minute. Since we’ve been preparing steadily, we can afford to play a bit.”

“…We? You’ve been preparing for exams regularly?”

“Alright. Let me correct that to ‘You have been steadily training and preparing for practical exams, and I plan to cram for the written exams after dinner.’”

In the original, there was no mention that Reysir spent time on regular study.

So I asked, and that was his reply.

He must be a very conscientious protagonist with a righteous personality.

Anyway, judging by the word count, it’s about time to wrap up this chapter.

But since there’s still content to squeeze in, I’ll switch to narration to convey it quickly.

First, Reysir and I stopped by the cafeteria to get drinks to-go, then took a seat on one of the benches scattered around the academy grounds.

There, Reysir rambled on about novels he found interesting…

But talking at length about unrelated novels would only bore readers.

And could even risk copyright issues.

So I’ll skip all the detailed conversation and get straight to the conclusion.

Despite listening to Reysir’s otaku talk disguised as a book discussion, I couldn’t get the information I wanted.

He didn’t even know that the books in question were only in the Academy Library.

He simply assumed they were rare books that were hard to get.

‘Well, if he didn’t know those books were web novels published in the world I came from, I’d probably think the same. After all, I haven’t searched every bookstore in this world.’

In the end, the only thing I learned today was the useless fact that Reysir mainly reads hunter-themed novels.