I Became an Academy Counselor

“Well then…”

I quietly walked towards the bed where Orca was sleeping soundly, or rather, lying down. She still had her eyes closed as if she was in a deep sleep, but I could tell.
That she was pretending to sleep.

“I know you’re awake, Orca. It’s okay to get up.”
“…How did you know?”
“Huh? Well, there’s no way you could have fallen asleep in such a short time…”

She did a pretty convincing job of pretending to sleep, but isn’t it strange to think that someone could fall asleep in such a short time?
…Well, that’s not the only reason I knew she wasn’t asleep.
Unknown to everyone except me, Orca actually suffers from severe insomnia.

It’s one of the reasons why she’s always irritated with everyone.
Naturally, when people don’t get enough sleep, they tend to get more irritated.
Moreover, Orca’s lack of sleep caused more problems than just that.

She can’t focus, so she can’t attend classes. That’s why she’s skipping class and wandering around the academy like this.
There’s no point in going to class anyway. She’s extremely tired, but can’t fall asleep. Can’t concentrate either.
So she’s looking for a place where she can sleep even a little comfortably.
When she said she liked the facilities, it was probably because of the soft bed, wasn’t it?

“Are you sleeping well? …Wow, what a scary expression.”

Eek.

‘How scary…’
I knew Orca wasn’t really looking at me like she wanted to kill me.
She was just frowning at me as if wondering how I knew. She’s probably just curious about why I asked if she was sleeping well. From the outside, you can’t see any dark circles or anything, she just looks grumpy
…But is it because her expression is so scary?
Even though I know there’s no malice, it’s still a bit intimidating… so suddenly. 
She won’t come at me saying she wants my neck, right…?

“You, knew about me?”
“Of course I do. You’re famous, after all.”

She was famous. Both in-game and out.
There’s no need to explain the in-game reasons. Orca is a demon-possessed person after all.
For some reason, she’s harboring a demon inside her body, like the embodiment of ominousness. There are various settings, but putting all that aside…
How do you think people would view a demon-possessed person?
If you think about it, it’s easy to see why Orca is famous.

Even when she blatantly skips classes, no one cares. Even the teacher in charge of guiding her gave up. Only the class president looks for her thanks to her stubborn, rigid personality.
Her classmates probably wish she wouldn’t look for her. The people staying at the academy avoid getting involved with her altogether. There were certainly people who tried to treat her without prejudice at first.
It was certain because it was occasionally described in the story.

But as you can see from her wandering alone like this, everyone eventually gave up on her.
Why, you ask?
Because of Orca’s behavior, what else?

“…Why are you still here?”
“What do you mean by that, student?”
“If you know who I am, get out now. If you don’t want to die.”

See?
Orca pushes away people who approach her.
No matter how kindly you want to treat her, if you only get this kind of response to your kindness, you’re bound to get tired. Especially if the person pushing you away has a serious flaw of being demon-possessed?
Everyone drifted away thinking, 

‘Well, that’s how a demon-possessed person is.’

This was also the reason why she was famous outside the game.
A character that can’t interact with most NPCs.
That was Orca.
Of course, if you get to the latter half of the game, interaction becomes possible…But by then, interaction becomes meaningless and the system becomes pointless. Naturally, due to the restriction of not being able to use systems that other characters can use, Orca was a character mainly enjoyed by veteran players.

Other than that… Occasionally, newbies who hadn’t heard of Orca’s notoriety started the game with her because her appearance and personality matched their taste. It was like an annual event in the community for these newbies to complain about how difficult this game is.
Mocking them was also the same.

“You shouldn’t use such rough language, Orca. You won’t make any friends.”
“Friends? I don’t need such things.”
“Hmm…”

I gave her a light rebuke while observing her complexion. She still looked tired, but showed no reaction to me.
…It seems she hasn’t noticed anything about the hypnosis.
She must not have seen our interaction because she was lying down pretending to sleep and was hidden by the bed curtain.
Still, she should’ve been able to hear, so if she had overheard the conversation with the class president, I would have had to take some measures. It seems that hypnotizing the class president in the quietest voice possible to prevent Orca from hearing was effective.

“If you don’t get out right now, you’d better think you won’t see anything good.”
“But this is my counseling room…”
“Who cares about that?”
“…”

I sighed at her growling like a beast wary of humans.
It was nice to see her looking exactly like she did in the game that I had seen so often…
In other words, it means she’s been through exactly the same things as in the game settings.
It was sad to see her so scarred at such a young age. That growling appearance saying she doesn’t need friends is her defense mechanism from being deeply hurt.

“Get out quickly. I’ll give you three seconds.”
“Hmm, you look tired. How about I make you a cup of tea that’s good for fatigue?”
“I don’t need it. Get out.”
“Even though I look like this, I’m good at making drinks.”
“I said I don’t need it!”

Wow, how rough…
I smiled at that rough appearance that was so familiar from seeing it too often.
At first, I was a bit scared to see her rough appearance directly in front of me rather than in game form…
Is it because I’ve gotten used to it? At some point, the fear disappeared and was replaced by sympathy.

“Orca, I respect your desire not to hurt others… But it’s not good to hurt yourself.”
“…What nonsense are you talking about?”
“You shouldn’t use such harsh words, okay? I’ll scold you if you use negative words from now on.”
“…”

She looked at me with an expression that seemed to say she had seen a complete lunatic, but I wasn’t bothered at all. How should I express this…
Ah, yes.
It’s like a stray cat hissing, its fur darkened by past experiences, ready to defend itself.
It’s a threat, but it’s on guard first because of what it has experienced so far.
I knew well that she wasn’t a bad child at heart.

“Okay, okay. I’ll just make the tea, so please just drink that. I’ll make the tea and leave.”
“…”

I brewed the tea while receiving Orca’s wary gaze.
As if to show her that I didn’t put anything in the tea, I showed her the entire process in front of her eyes. After brewing all the tea, I quickly left the counseling room.

***

“What’s with that woman?”

Did she say she was a counseling teacher?
What on earth is that weird woman?
It had been a while since I met someone who knew about me but still reacted like that.
…Well, is it something to care about?
She’ll probably give up anyway.
They all have.

“A counseling room, huh…”

With the soft atmosphere and the faint scent rising, I felt somewhat at ease.
This place is nice. Maybe I’ll drop by often from now on.
A nice atmosphere, a nice scent, a nice bed.
Alright. From now on, this is my space.
I can just chase out that weird woman like today.

What tea?
Who does she think would drink that?
She showed me the brewing process directly, but I still couldn’t trust it.
She might have put something strange in those tea leaves.

“…Why am I so thirsty?”

But it was strange.
As I looked at the steaming teacup, I felt a thirst as if my throat was burning up.
I was fine just a moment ago, wasn’t I?
Irritated by the sudden thirst, I searched the counseling room for something to drink.
But there was no result.

“What’s this, why is there nothing?”

This is strange.
I’m sure there was something to drink in the fridge just a moment ago…?
That weird woman didn’t even stock the fridge with drinks. Looking at the teacup, the only drink on the desk, I started to feel thirsty again.
Is there no other choice?
I really don’t want to drink it, but…There was nothing suspicious except for the tea leaves, so it should be fine.

“…She makes it well.”

I thought it was just flattery.
It seems her claim of being good at making drinks wasn’t a lie.

‘It doesn’t seem to have any strange taste, and it’s actually quite delici–’

Thud.

After hearing a strange sound, my consciousness faded to black.

***

“I didn’t expect this…”

Watching Orca through the window of the counseling room, I was startled and rushed into the room. 
No, who drinks tea standing up?
I thought she would naturally sit down to drink it.
I stroked Orca’s forehead, which had turned red from hitting the desk as she fell forward.

“I-I hope she doesn’t get a bump…”

I felt needlessly sorry.
I just wanted her to sleep soundly.
I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m sorry…