Alon stopped walking without realizing it and turned his gaze to Rine.

There, Rine was still standing there, looking at him.

For a moment, the thought passed through Alon’s mind.

'Did I hear that wrong......?'

“......What?”

Alon asked Rine again.

No, it was closer to a process of confirmation.

And.

Rine opened her mouth once more.

“I mean exactly what I said, Alon.”

When he had first turned back toward her, there had been the faintest trace of strange hesitation mixed into her face.

But now, as if she had no hesitation whatsoever, with eyes firmly resolved—

“......The Alon from the previous cycle always greeted me that way.”

She said that.

“Uh.......”

Alon unconsciously drew out the sound.

Because at her sudden coming out, his thoughts had tangled for an instant.

'I had guessed to some extent—'

Naturally, Alon had guessed a little too.

He did not know about before, but recently, there had been many strange things about Rine.

Even though Alon had not gone out of his way to explain, she had told him how to make the Sins stronger as if she had been waiting for it.

On top of that, she was also the one who had told Alon to create “Divine Land.”

As if she had foreseen that it would be necessary in the future.

But the reason Alon had left that as nothing more than a “guess” was because Rine’s ability was the library.

Even when he wondered, 'How does she know something like that?' if he considered it as, 'Is she finding information I need in the library and telling me?' then it was not strange.

That was why.

“Rani, you—”

The moment Alon called her that.

Woom—

A shielding spell activated between Alon and Rine.

And right when he realized without difficulty that Rine had made it—

“Would you like to hear a more detailed story?”

Rine continued speaking.

The resolve in her eyes was still there.

What had changed was the corner of her mouth, which now held a very small smile.

“......I would like to hear it.”

After hesitating for a moment, Alon nodded, and Rine brought her index finger to her lips.

“Mmm—” Her voice rang out, and then she came closer to Alon.

“Then, please do it.”

She whispered that.

“......Do it?”

“Yes. I told you, didn’t I? The Alon from the previous cycle always greeted me that way.”

“So that means—”

Alon was about to speak, but Rine did not seem to have any intention of listening to him.

“There’s no need to ask again.”

“.......”

“You understand, don’t you?”

She smiled brightly.

Alon stared at her blankly.

Suddenly, he recalled what she had done last time.

Of course, Alon had not seen her action directly.

It had happened before he had even properly turned his head, after all.

He had only felt it.

Even so, he knew what he had to do to give Rine what she wanted.

No, there was no way he could not know.

But—

“Of course, you don’t have to do it right now.”

A voice slipped into Alon’s anguish.

When he came to his senses, Rine’s two eyes entered his vision.

“......I don’t have to do it right now?”

“Yes. Please do it when you want to, Alon. When you feel like doing it.”

When I feel like doing it......?

As he rolled her words around in his mouth, she was still smiling.

A little satisfied.

“I’ll be waiting.”

But also with a slightly playful smile.

“.......”

Alon stared blankly at Rine.

Clearly, Rine had not changed.

And yet, because she felt a little different, he could not easily pull his gaze away.

For a while, that continued.

“Ah—”

Rine let out an exclamation.

As if she had remembered something.

“Still, I think I can tell you this much first.”

“......What is it?”

“The form of address.”

Then she came a little closer to Alon and whispered.

“You see, Alon. The me from the previous cycle didn’t call you Patron.”

“......Then?”

At that question, Rine—

“‘Ronya,’ I called you.”

—said that.

“......Ro, nya?”

“Yes. And Alon called me Ronya too.”

Ding— ding— ding—

The sound of bells came from far away.

The bells announcing that the time when students could walk around the academy was over, and that they had to return to the dormitories.

“Ah, that’s all for now.”

Rine’s voice, tinged with regret, trembled through the air.

Before Alon could say anything.

“Then, Alon, I’ll go first.”

“Huh?”

“The girls’ dormitory is far from here. I think I need to hurry.”

Leaving behind the words, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Rine moved first.

And Alon, who had been staring blankly at her back—

“......Ronya.......”

Rolled that name around in his mouth.

Soon, he took a step toward the boys’ dormitory.

In the silence where not even an echo remained, only his footsteps rang out calmly.

####

Bizantana Baron moved immediately after finishing what he had to do.

The reason was the surveillance he had not completed last time.

He had not found any evidence last time, but there were definitely suspicious points.

So this time, Baron planned to watch the members of the temporarily established club one by one, not Penia.

He was a little late because of work, but in the end, Baron witnessed Rina and Alon walking around together and entered surveillance mode.

And this time, he was even fairly lucky, because he saw the two of them talking while using a shielding spell.

'So my prediction was right after all!'

Baron grinned.

There was absolutely no reason to use a shielding spell in the old school building late at night when no one was around.

Still, it would have been nice if he could hear what they were talking about—

Baron felt regret for only a moment before shaking his head.

To begin with, it was impossible at this distance, and he could not use mana while needlessly risking being discovered.

But that regret also lasted only a moment.

When the bell soon rang, Baron saw Rina moving ahead while leaving Alon behind, and a deep smile appeared on his face.

Because it was not certain, but in the end, he had gained circumstantial evidence.

So, to obtain additional information, Baron followed Rani, who had moved first.

Because she had been the one to use the shielding spell.

And.

“?”

He soon had no choice but to make a puzzled expression.

The woman who had been walking lightly until just now took a strange posture the moment she arrived at a side path where Alon could no longer see her.

“.......”

She crouched down and covered her face with both hands.

For an instant, Baron assumed she was crying.

But he soon realized his thought was wrong.

She was not crying.

If she were crying, her entire face would not be that red.

The moment he discovered the blush, Baron realized he had been mistaken again.

At the same time, curiosity welled up in him.

Just what had Alon said inside the shielding spell to put a woman in that state?

'......Is it really not that......?'

At the same time, Baron’s suspicion weakened another notch.

......It was a strange night.

####

Another two days after that.

The day before the weekend.

After ignoring the usual amount of provocation and leaving school, Alon arrived at the training grounds, the patrol location he would look around today.

“Do you think there’ll be anything in the training grounds?”

“Hmm— I’m not sure. But we should still look.”

The person who would walk around the training grounds with him this time was Evan.

“Then let’s go.”

“Let’s.”

Alon nodded at Evan’s words and began moving.

However, there were not many places in the training grounds to examine closely.

In truth, it was called a training ground, but aside from several buildings and places like magic sparring arenas, most of it was no different from a sports field.

So, as Alon turned his gaze here and there, he suddenly recalled Rine’s words.

The words she had said when they met just two days ago.

“Hmm—”

Two days had passed since then, but he had not had any real conversation with Rine.

To begin with, no situation had arisen where the two of them could be alone, and Rine had already made her intentions clear.

'If I do it like the Alon from the first cycle did...... huh.'

According to Rine, the him from the first cycle had always greeted her like that.

By kissing her on the cheek.

......Then naturally, curiosity arose.

About the first cycle’s—

......About what kind of relationship he had with Rine, one he did not remember.

“Ronya...... huh.”

“Hm? What did you say?”

When Alon muttered, Evan, who had been looking around beside him, asked back.

At first, Evan had mixed in polite speech, but now that he had become fairly used to things, he spoke casually as if it were natural. Alon asked him,

“Revan, do you happen to know anything about the form of address ‘Ronya’?”

“......Ronya?”

“Yes.”

“Ronya? What’s Ronya?”

Evan tilted his head.

But that lasted only a moment.

“Mm......?”

Alon did not miss the way he froze for an instant.

“Do you know something?”

“No, I feel like I’ve heard it before, but I don’t remember exactly.”

“......Is that so?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure I heard it somewhere.”

Where did I hear it? First, from mercen— no, I’m sure I heard it when I was young....... Did I hear it when I was a noble?

After watching Evan mutter to himself and tilt his head for a moment, Alon suddenly thought.

'......Did this not happen in the first cycle?'

If the exact same thing as this had happened in the first cycle, Rine would have already helped him in some way, even without revealing that she had her memories.

Whatever the reason, she would not choose to sacrifice the people here.

Alon had no doubts about that part.

Because he trusted Rine.

“Ah.”

How long had passed while he was lost in that thought?

Evan, who had been thinking hard until just now, let out a low exclamation.

“What is it?”

“Ah, you know what we were talking about earlier?”

“If it just completely didn’t come to mind, that’d be one thing, but since I’d heard it somewhere, I kept thinking about it.”

“So did you remember?”

“Yeah. When I wondered where I’d heard it—”

Evan went “Mmm—” and cleared his throat, then made a slightly subtle expression.

“I think I heard it when I was a noble.”

He was Evan, who always looked uncomfortable whenever he talked about his past.

Alon immediately asked back.

“When you were a noble?”

“Yeah. But Alon, where did you hear the word Ronya?”

At that, Alon considered for a moment whether to explain what had happened with Rine, but soon decided not to.

“I just heard it somewhere and suddenly got a little curious.”

“What, that was it? Then I didn’t have to think this hard.”

“So, what does Ronya mean?”

“Ah, it’s nothing special. It’s just—”

Evan, who had been wondering how to explain it, clapped his hands.

As if the proper expression had come to mind.

And soon, from his mouth—

“—It’s like an affectionate name you use for someone you love.”

“......What?”

Unexpected words flowed out.