TEASER CHAPTER 8 PART 25
Veri's class had
shifted to a purely practical lesson, and both Tima and Veri were giving
lectures, in which each of them demonstrated magic.
Nozomu, who had become
quite bored, called out to Mars, who was standing next to him.
"Hey, how long
have you been coming to this place, Mars?"
"Not long before
the opening festival. Around the time you started training with that old
man."
"I see..."
It seemed that they
started coming to Ecross after Nozomu was trained by Zonne.
Nozomu, too, had been
so busy training with Zonne recently that he was completely unaware of the many
things that Mars and Tima were doing without his knowing about it.
However, Nozomu felt
as if he was seeing an unexpected side of the two of them when he saw them like
this.
"It's a little
unexpected."
"Hmm? About
what?"
"I had never seen
Mars here before, and I had never seen Tima-san being so proactive at the
academy."
It was surprising that
Mars, who was seeking strength and striving to master the art of combining
magic and Qi, was devoting his time to something other than training like this,
and that Tima was acting like a teacher to the children as well.
In particular, Tima's
usual quiet and reserved behavior has completely disappeared, and she was
actively giving lectures to the children.
She gave detailed
instructions on the techniques to be used and the adjustment of the amount of
magic power, and firmly warned the children who showed a bit of adventurous
spirit and tried to do something risky.
"Well, she has a
younger brother after all. Since they're close in age, it's easier to talk to
them."
"You know her
quite well..."
In response to
Nozomu's words, Mars huffed and fell silent.
He was embarrassed,
his cheeks were slightly reddish, and his eyes were a little flustered.
Mars' gaze had always
been on Tima, who was in the process of teaching the children, and his mouth
was tinged with a somewhat pleasant color.
"You've
changed..."
"Huh? You mean
her?
"Perhaps because
she has been through so much lately, she has stepped up to the challenge with
her own strength. And Tima helping out with this class because she herself
volunteered to be a part of it."
Nozomu thought that
Mars himself had changed, but apparently, Mars thought those words were
directed toward Tima.
However, just as Mars
was changing, Nozomu felt that Tima, too, was changing as a result of being
with Mars.
"Stepped up to
the challenge?"
"According to
her, she used to dislike her own excessively strong magical power. But now
she's glad she has this power..."
"I see..."
In the last less than
six months since she began her involvement with Nozomu, Tima has overcome
numerous difficulties.
The experience seems
to have been enough to change her own mind about her own excessively strong
magical powers.
Nozomu glanced over at
Mars, who was happily watching Tima and the others.
Perhaps the most
significant influence on Tima's change was the presence of Mars.
Their personalities
hardly seem to match.
Nevertheless, the
distance between the two, which had somehow grown closer, caused Nozomu to be a
little surprised, while at the same time making him smile with a joy that
welled up in his heart.
