The Magic Academy's Physicist
Chapter 257: Déjà Vu (8)

Chapter 257: Déjà Vu (8)

0% Two months flew by after infiltrating Iliad as a professor.

During that time, Aether behaved according to one rule.

‘Get along with the students but do not get closer than necessary.’

It was in order not to be detected as a Beast..

It was relatively effective, as besides Lotte, Freyr, and Vermel, no one else had realized who she was.

This was also the same for President Cecil.

“The field trip is coming up. I hope that you will guide them well, Professor Heisenberg.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Aether said this and left the president’s office. After walking a bit, Akasha came up to her.

“Are you going to be okay, sis?”

“What.”

“She suspects you. Are you sure it’ll be okay to go see the World Tree?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

She can be suspicious all she wants.

She wasn’t going to do anything there.

The only purpose for being here was to be a spy. If she did anything overt and got caught, she wasn’t even going to achieve the minimum.

Besides.

“That hasn’t been completed yet.”

The atomic bomb.

The development of the nuclear weapon to drop onto the World Tree wasn’t finished yet.

“It’ll take at least three months. I just need to focus on my studies in the meantime.”

For example, completing Dark Day could also be called a study.

“Because I just happened to find a good graduate... no, undergraduate intern. Two of them at that.”

“...You.”

Akasha held her forehead, her face one of exasperation.

“Look who’s gotten soft lately.”

“How?”

“I’m just saying, don’t mind it.”

Akasha lowered her voice.

“More importantly, I have to drop by the base soon.”

It was normal to report back to their base, the Demon Castle, if they’ve extracted information after infiltrating. As it had been two months since the semester started, it was about time for a progress report.

She didn’t like the fact that the recipients of the report were Spring and Summer Heaven, but nonetheless, they knew how to distinguish between business and personal. Aether sighed and took out the report from her inner pocket.

“I’ll mark you as sick so go back to the Demon Castle briefly. Go tell the rest of the Heavens, and also check how many bombs have been made.”

“Got it.”

“Ah, also....”

I whispered something to Akasha..

“.......”

“...Then have a safe trip.”

Aether patted her twin’s shoulder, as a way of saying ‘good luck’.

**While Akasha was gone, Aether was busy with teaching the students.

As time passed, she was able to give a lecture without ‘my’ help. The responses weren’t as bad as expected so it was worth teaching them.

Not that she was going to interact closely with the students. Aether was especially wary of the students from Tilette, to the point that she could hardly remember speaking to any one of them for the past month.

Instead, she built new relationships with two students.

Yufiel Vierbein, and Leninya.

Aether took the two students in as undergrad interns. She wasn’t the one who proposed it. The two of them happened to ask, and Aether only accepted it.

After observing the two students in the lab for a while–

She discovered that there was only one difference between the two of them.

And that was status.

While Yufiel was a High Elf with the blood of Vierbein in her veins, Leninya wasn’t even given a surname.

One grew up in a bubble, and the other she heard lost both parents when she was young. The circumstances in which they were born and raised were different.

“Where should we draw the line?”

“I think we can do it over here like this.”

Yet there they were working together.

Both Leninya and Yufiel were studious and calm people. They weren’t self-indulgent, and sought a free and horizontal relationship.

Should she say that like attracts like?

They had only one difference but more than twice as many things in common so the two were able to quickly grow close.

“But if we do it that way, there’s going to be a problem when the mana passes through this circuit here.”

“Yeah? How about like this, then?”

“That’s not bad.”

The two elves sat around the table and scribbled away. Seeing them, Aether smiled unconsciously.

Aether spoke to the two who were studying.

“You’ve gotten pretty close in two months.”

“Yes, Leninya is a smart one. She taught me a lot of things while you weren’t around.”

Yufiel said, and put her on Leninya’s shoulder. Leninya’s ears began flicking up and down.

“N-no. Yufiel’s much better....”

“Leninya’s a genius.”

“Hey, you....”

“I wish we had been friends from the beginning of the semester, it’s a shame.”

At Yufiel’s continued praise, the SS Leninya sank.

Leninya was shyer than she looked, getting flustered and blushing every time Yufiel opened her mouth.

“.......”

Aether felt strange as she watched the two go back and forth.

It was a kind of déjà vu, a feeling of having experienced it yet not.

“Ah, it’s already this late.”

While she ruminated where that feeling was coming from, her two pupils who had been studying hard got up from their seats.

The first to speak was Yufiel.

“I’m craving sushi, it’s been a while. Do you want to go to that place we went last time?”

“Fish is expensive these days, though.”

“My treat.”

“Are you okay for money?”

Yufiel pulled out her wallet without hesitation.

There were at least checks for ten million ellans inside, which was a jaw-dropping amount for Leninya.

“This much is good enough.”

“I feel bad. I’m always mooching off of you....”

“I said it’s fine. I’m treating you because I want to. So, let’s go!”

While Leninya was stammering, Yufiel grabbed her friend’s hand and dashed out. She didn’t forget to say goodbye to her, either.

Her lab emptied in an instant.

“.......”

This was also a scene that she had seen a lot before.

But she just couldn’t place it, so she slumped onto the chair with her head in her hands.

“...Hnnn.”

A groan escaped her. The back of her throbbed like she had been hit with a blunt weapon.

“Hey, I’m back.”

“Oh, Akasha. Good timing.”

Akasha came back after a week with a full luggage.

“You reported to them properly?”

“Of course. I even got a reply.”

Akasha held out a letter. It was Spring and Summer Heaven.

When she took it out and read it, it was mostly about official matters. How they have a general idea of the situation, that they’re working on a new operation, that the plan will go as expected, etc. Amongst them was also content related to the atomic bomb.

“It looks like the atom bomb isn’t finished yet.”

It was written on the letter that they hadn’t even made half of them yet due to issues in the process. There was no choice but to push back the schedule.

Finishing the letter, she was about to sigh.

“No.”

Akasha shook her head.

“I snuck by the factory before meeting the two Heavens, and they were almost done.”

“What? How much?”

“It seemed like they were at least 90% done.”

Akasha then said that she hadn’t been able to see Winter Heaven. According to the subordinates, she was working hard at processing pitchblende.

“The working speed in the factory was faster than I imagined.”

Hearing the report, Aether’s eyes went hard.

“Damn bastards.”

She reported properly, and they decide to backstab her?

Crack, her teeth clenched. Aether wet her parched lips and grilled Akasha.

“You aren’t giving a false report.”

“Wow, I’m hurt.”

Akasha’s face became upset.

“Sure, the Demon Army might be trash but do you really think that I would turn you against each other and throw away my only family?”

“.......”

“If you don’t trust me, then kill me first.”

“No, no. I’m sorry.”

Aether shook her head.

Was she not her twin sister, after all. How could she abandon the one who she’d been with since childhood.

She clenched her eyes shut then opened them. Akasha was smiling subtly.

“I’ll have to think about it for a moment.”

Right now, she had to figure out Spring and Summer Heaven’s intention first.

Gilach was an impulsive sort which made him easy to predict. As one who wanted to be favored by the Demon King, he’d easily try to steal credit from her.

That kind of military achievement could be fed to the dogs for all she cared, since she was going to set the Demon Castle on fire after everything was finished, anyway.

The problem was Pasmo.

“Summer is one thing, but to think that even Spring didn’t say anything. They must be up to something.”

Pasmo had been the Demon King’s favorite servant.

A master of both combat and politics.

The Demon Army was an organization where backstabbing was the norm. There was no guarantee that Pasmo wouldn’t stay put.

“I heard that he played a big part during the Great War.”

“You didn’t go to war at the time, and the Demon King elevated me to a Heaven but didn’t let me fight.”

Because of that, she didn’t know what abilities Pasmo had.

The keywords that she did know were ‘lantern’, ‘bandage,’ and ‘shadow’.

Besides those, it was hard for her to know how he fought or his level.

“...Sly bastard.”

She at least knew that he was planning a big stab to her back. And Winter wasn’t going to just sit there and let him.

As Aether sat there a while with a serious expression, Akasha took out something from her bag.

“Hey, this.”

Aether rolled her eyes over.

What Akasha had taken out were two mufflers–one black, one white.

“I picked them up from your ruined lab. It was really hard getting them washed on the way.”

“.......”

“Which one do you want?”

It was soon going to be summer, so a muffler? It was already hot as hell so there was no reason to wear one.

But before she knew it, she had snatched one and was holding it in her hand.

“.......”

“White? Not bad. You have black hair so it suits you.”

Then Akasha tried out the black one.

“...Ah.”

As soon as Aether looked at the white muffler in her hand, she let out an aborted noise.

Now she knew.

What the sense of déjà vu had been these past few weeks.

The relationship between Leninya and Yufiel that she had seen for the past month was very similar to the relationship between herself and a girl.