One month later, during breakfast in the cafeteria.
With a crack, Julis accidentally crushed the cup in her hand.
Glass shards scattered across the table, milk spilling everywhere, some even splashing onto her form-fitting skirt that accentuated her curvaceous hips.
"Ah!"
Julis gasped softly, quickly pulling out a handkerchief to wipe her skirt.
Kirin carefully stepped forward to help clean up the broken glass.
"Your Highness, haven't you been having more of these clumsy moments where you can't control your strength lately?"
Yabuki couldn't help but show a suggestive smile as he watched Julis flustered movements.
"What's wrong? Finally trying to change yourself by adding new traits to become cuter and gain an advantage in the competition—ow!"
Before he could finish, Roy kicked him hard under the table.
If you can't speak properly, just shut up.
Roy glared at him, wondering if he realized such words could increase the chances of triggering a "battle royale" scenario.
Or was he doing it on purpose, wanting to see him sweat and struggle in such a situation?
"It was just an accident."
Julis shot Yabuki a frosty glare, her eyes filled with the usual disdain.
The spilled milk was troublesome to clean up, so Julis got up and left the corner to ask the cafeteria staff for a cloth.
Beside her, Kirin and Claudia exchanged glances before simultaneously breaking into knowing smiles.
'Julis-senpai isn't used to the sudden increase in strength... Roy-senpai really can do anything, huh!'
Kirin thought to herself as she nibbled on her bread.
A month ago, when Roy first helped them enhance their physical abilities, all three of them were shocked.
Over the past month, to avoid drawing suspicion, Roy had intermittently boosted their strength in small increments. Their current physical abilities had improved significantly compared to a month ago—something Roy noticed especially during his nightly sparring sessions with Claudia.
"She's the one among us who struggles the most with controlling her strength."
Claudia also mused silently. Both she and Kirin were close-combat specialists, naturally skilled at controlling their strength, and had mostly adapted to the doubled power within a month.
Only Julis, who had always relied too heavily on her witch abilities, wasn't handling the sudden increase in strength well, often accidentally crushing cups or similar mishaps lately.
"By the way, the school festival is coming up. Do any of you have plans?"
Yabuki asked through a mouthful of steamed buns, his cheeks puffed out as he drank plain porridge. It was impressive how clearly he could speak like that.
"Nope."
Roy replied without looking up, shoving large chunks of meat into his mouth.
Claudia and Kirin gave the same answer as Roy.
Shortly after the New Year, around late January, would be Asterisk's school festival, where all schools would participate.
Unlike the Festa, which was a battle spectacle, the school festival was similar to open house events in ordinary schools—and was the only time of the year when students from Asterisk could openly visit other academies.
Normally, students from Asterisk were prohibited from entering other academies under the Festa Charter, so their curiosity about the completely different styles of other schools was particularly intense.
Queenvail Girls' Academy, in particular, always drew the largest crowds during this period. Students from the other five academies would flood Queenvail until it was packed to the brim.
A secret garden composed entirely of idol-level beauties was, unsurprisingly, irresistibly attractive to outsiders.
"Since you're all free, I actually have a request. Our school's newspaper club, in collaboration with Arlequint and Saint Galahadworth, plans to hold an event on the third day of the festival called the 'Apex Arena.' The club president asked me to invite last year's Festa champion—"
Yabuki wore a sycophantic, bootlicking grin as he looked at Roy with exaggerated eagerness.
"Yabuki, you've been acting pretty shamelessly lately."
"Huh?"
"I heard someone's been selling my phone number on the dark web?"
"Ah... that!"
Yabuki stiffened, his forced smile instantly turning strained.
Claudia, Kirin, and Julis—who had just returned to her seat—all shot Yabuki razor-sharp glares.
Yabuki broke out in a cold sweat.
"Transfer the money back to me, plus ten times the compensation, and I might just forgive you."
"T-Ten times?!"
Yabuki shrieked in disbelief.
But under Roy's icy stare and remembering the club president's request, he reluctantly nodded and transferred the money, his face twisted in pain.
"Fine... So, about the Apex Arena?"
"No. I don't have time."
"..."
He should've just kept that tenfold compensation to himself!
"President?"
"I'm quite busy too."
"...Uh, Kirin-chan?"
Yabuki glanced at Julis, only to be instantly crushed by her even colder glare than Roy's. Defeated, he turned to Kirin instead. Kirin had the gentlest personality, so if he asked her, she might actually agree. While a Festa semifinalist's popularity wasn't on par with the champion's, she could still hype up the event.
"Go ahead and ask if you want to be roasted to a crisp!"
Julis conjured blazing flames in her palm, shielding Kirin behind her as she coldly prepared to strike.
Kirin gave Yabuki an awkward yet polite smile, politely declining his request. Selling Roy-senpai's phone number behind his back was a bit too much—Yabuki-senpai needed to learn his lesson.
Yabuki was left speechless, fleeing in utter defeat.
After breakfast, Roy headed to an on-campus arena with Claudia, Julis, and Kirin. Recently, the three girls had been training together frequently. As the only ones aware of Roy's abilities, they had an unspoken understanding that this couldn't be revealed to others, so they could only spar among themselves.
After helping them improve their physical conditioning, Roy left the arena alone.
Beep!
On his way to the redevelopment zone, Roy's phone buzzed with a notification.
Opening it, he saw a message from Sylvia:
[Can you show me around Seidoukan Academy during the school festival the day after tomorrow?]
The school festival will begin the day after tomorrow and last for three days in total.
Roy's brows furrowed slightly.
"I'm quite busy lately. Find someone else."
After sending this message, Roy put away his phone and continued heading toward the redevelopment zone.
Completely unaware of how Sylvia at Queenvail Girls' Academy felt upon reading his message.
Soon, another notification chime sounded.
"What now?"
Roy took out his phone again, assuming it was another message from Sylvia.
But when he looked at the screen, the sender field was completely blank.
Who?
Roy was puzzled for a moment.
But then his gaze was drawn to the text below.
There was only one sentence.
"Returning in one week."