Doggone Academy

On a dark night lit by a full moon,

three individuals—a mix of men and women—gathered in front of a campfire and silently began their meal.

Trisha, who had been monotonously chewing on jerky, lamented,

“It’s tasteless.”

It had been only two days since they plunged into the joint class, and she was already weary of the food. Trisha had virtually no tolerance for repetition and dreariness.

Bertang, pretending to be mature, said to Trisha,

“To achieve great goals, you sometimes need to endure.”

That’s when Trisha reacted sharply,

“I hate enduring the most.”

“…”

As they were conversing, a Stitch flew towards Marta who was observing them,

carrying a letter attached to it, drawing everyone’s attention to Marta.

She unfolded the letter and read it out,

“It’s from Cecil.”

Trisha, now interested, asked,

“What’s big sis doing?”

“She’s found some folks to help us. Says they’re incredibly strong, and she’s having a comfortable time with their group, even enjoying delicious roasted meat.”

“Who is it?”

“The Candy guy’s group. Remember him from the entrance exam? Recall?”

Suddenly, Trisha raised her voice,

“Why is big sis with that group??”

Marta, with a bewildered look, responded to Trisha,

“What’s the matter? Do you have something against him?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Rumors say he’s as strong as Sion. There’s talk about him being punished for some perversion that lowered his grades. But it seems Cecil’s quite close to him. They’ve had a few meetings alone.”

Then, Trisha raised her voice even more sharply,

“They met a few times??”

“…?”

Sensing Trisha’s negative reaction, Bertang discreetly expressed his aversion to Candy,

“Judging by the fact that they’ve been roasting meat, it seems like they’re not focused on getting good scores. I think most rumors about him are overexaggerated and I’m not fond of them.”

Bertang nodded towards Trisha as if signaling her, but she ignored it completely.

“We need to decide quickly. I’ve received intelligence that Sion will plunder six groups and is coming our way.”

“What about this Candy guy? Who’s in his group? If it’s mediocre, maybe it’s better to ask Elias’s group instead? They’re also passing through the danger zone, and they have Victor and the second-ranked from the Magic Department.”

“It says here that the Candy guy’s in a duo.”

“That’s a no-go. Having a small group means they don’t care about their scores, right?”

“Hey, but one of that group’s members is Luna.”

Marta flicked Cecil’s letter as if to make them look at the back,

“…Wait, what? Choke!”

Bertang nearly choked on his food.

Luna was the figure most coveted and competed for in this joint class; she could practically form a group with anyone she chose. And she had opted for someone called Candy—just the two of them as a duo.

“Yeah, Candy must have quite the charm to win Luna over. Seems like they’ve decided to partner up and…”

Cutting off Marta’s words, Trisha exclaimed,

“We’re joining up with big sis!”

“…?”

“…?”

“If not, I’m going alone.”

With a look of fury, Trisha continued stuffing jerky into her mouth until her cheeks puffed out.

Marta blinked in disbelief at the sight of Trisha.

***

When I woke up, Cecil and Luna were already preparing to leave.

The cave wasn’t very large, so I had slept at a distance from the girls, but a new campfire was lit beside me, likely because I seemed cold sleeping alone.

Luna, basking in the thin morning sunlight that streamed into the cave, was combing her hair.

And as if by magic, her attire had changed into a yellow dress with floral patterns. How she managed that was truly a wonder.

As I got up, feeling groggy, Luna turned to look at me.

“Did you… sleep well?”

“Yes. Let’s start with breakfast and get moving.”

“Okay.”

I turned my gaze to the meat we had wrapped in large leaves last night.

On top of it was something I hadn’t seen before. It looked like one of Cecil’s magic bombs, but the lid was spinning like a top and sprinkling snowy frost underneath.

Thanks to that, the meat was frozen fresh. Cecil must have worked on it overnight.

By the makeshift barbeque rack we had used the previous night, there were skewers that had been charred black.

Steam was still rising off them, which meant they had been on the fire until just recently.

“But… did you have breakfast already?”

Luna abruptly turned away and answered.

“…No.”

“…?”

After stretching outside, I retrieved the sapling and the withered Blue Spirit Grass that I had planted by the entrance. They seemed more vibrant after the rainfall.

On my way back, I encountered Cecil.

She was crouched by the entrance of the cave, about ten paces away, pulling on a tired face while smoking tobacco.

“Candy’s up, I see?”

She tossed the cigarette stub and lit a fresh one.

Watching her intently, she casually proposed,

“…Want one?”

I shook my head.

“You look content.”

“Yeah, very refreshing. I took a peek at your wooden sword—fascinating piece. Where did you get it?”

“Stole it from the neighbor’s flowerpot.”

“I could examine it later?”

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“Sure. I’ll definitely borrow it then.”

“But, those skewers over the fire, did you?”

Cecil glanced around cautiously and motioned for me to come closer.

As I approached, she whispered low enough that Luna couldn’t hear,

“Luna tried to prepare breakfast and ended up burning everything.”

“…”

It was thoughtful of her and since there was plenty of meat left, I decided to act like I knew nothing.

“Ah, I got a message this morning. Our group members will join up. They’ve already arranged a rendezvous point… We can leave slowly and still get there by noon.”

That meant joining up with Trisha, which could make things a bit awkward.

All I could hope was that my training from the drama club would come in handy.

We finished eating and set off for the rendezvous point immediately.

The air had a cold moisture, but the sunlight was pleasantly warm, making the journey feel like a light-hearted outing.

Cecil and Luna didn’t talk much to each other.

Cecil, apparently craving conversation, drifted over to me a few times with random questions.

“How did you become friends with Luna?”

“Where did you learn manufacturing techniques like that?”

“Are you also close with Sion?”

There was no way to satisfy Cecil’s curiosity. Vague answers were the best strategy for me.

We reached the rendezvous point much earlier than expected. Cecil was regularly exchanging Stitches to check the situation.

After a while, Trisha came running from a distance, waving.

“Sis!”

“Cecil!”

And following her, there were a couple of unfamiliar faces.

One girl looked like the typical student you’d see in a bookstore, while the guy had a generously friendly face like that of a youngest son from a noble family.

Trisha and Cecil appeared truly pleased to see each other, embracing warmly.

Luna and I kept a proper distance, watching the scene unfold. Officially, ‘Candy’ and Trisha had no reason to interact.

However, looking at Trisha’s face gave me an ominous feeling.

Luna whispered to me from the side,

“That person… do you know them?”

There was a reason she had to ask.

Over Cecil’s shoulder, Trisha’s eyes were shooting daggers in our direction.

“A friend who knows my identity. Just keep it a secret from the rest of them.”

“…Okay.”

Luna looked puzzled, not understanding why Trisha was glaring so fiercely.

It was something I couldn’t explain. I had no idea myself.

Cecil brought the group members over and introduced them one by one.

“This is Trisha. And this is the group leader Bertang, and Marta.”

Trisha greeted me much more warmly than before, with a smile that contradicted her earlier fierceness.

“Candy, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“…”

“Aren’t you going to say hello?”

“Nice to meet you.”

I replied curtly and turned away. We did not have time for emotional tug-of-war.

There’s a reason the danger zone is called dangerous. Unpredictable weather, wildly ferocious wild animals, and the apex predator of the Circulatory System—we were all here.

It was best to part ways with the burdensome ones quickly. After sending them off, I intended to explore the danger zone further and hunt the apex predator, known as the “wingless dragon.”

Sion was likely after the same target. Preferably, I’d beat her to it. I had no intention of giving up my quarry.

I signaled it was time to move, but Bertang planted his feet and threw a doubtful question,

“Are you aware that Sion is heading this way? To be honest, I’m still anxious. Do we have a plan to protect ourselves?”

“If Sion comes, I’ll confront her. You all take that chance to run. That’s the plan.”

“Do you mean to say Sion might be more interested in you than in plundering?”

Why was he dragging the conversation? It seemed like Trisha wasn’t the only one wanting to play the emotional game.

Cecil interjected sharply,

“She definitely is interested, so shut up.”

Trisha chimed in too,

“Yeah, he’s right, just shut it!”

“…”

Bertang’s lips trembled, shocked.

Luna, barely audible to the others, pitched in softly,

“…Shut up.”

I whispered in Luna’s ear,

“Don’t… pick up on that.”

Luna’s blue eyes wavered slightly before she nodded, acknowledging my point.