"So the answer is eighty-eight point six," he mumbled, writing it on the blackboard.
The chalk left a white mark on his fingers, the dust drying his palm, and made him want to sneeze. Add to that the pressure of an entire classroom watching his back, and—
"Eighty-eight what? Cats? Dogs?"
Konrad needed a few seconds of dumbfounded staring to figure out what the teacher meant.
"Uh, grade, Celsius," he added, earning a nod.
"Good job, Halstadt-kun, you can take your seat now."
He let out a relieved sigh, scurrying back to his place in the front row. This sure brought him back. And considering how modern this country seemed, the way they taught their youth was—
Old. Archaic, even.
Traditional? Conservative? Well, as long as it worked.
It wasn't that much different from what he had experienced in the States fifty years ago.
And he couldn't believe they would put him on the spot already on his second day. At least the example was easy, which was a welcome distraction from his real problems.
Of which he had a lot; complex ones, ones that gave him headaches and nightmares.
Solving math was way simpler than figuring out how to save the world or prevent Lily from fading away. And that was assuming that one or the other wasn't exclusive.
What would he do if he had to choose?
To save billions, or a single person he cared about?
Not that he was so love-crazed. She was the only woman he loved in both his lives, sure, but the reason was simpler. He cared much less about the world than that freckled ginger.
Nobody ever clarified what would happen if the Demon Lord won.
Slavery? Pain? Total annihilation of humanity?
For some reason, he could have made his peace with all that, but to think he could lose Lily?
If she were even alive at that point—
What if he only hallucinated their entire meeting yesterday? It felt surreal, and she disappeared before telling him the detail. Well, what she did say was enough to panic.
Despite going to bed early, he had a messy night.
The culture shock alone made him tired and confused.
And telling dreams from reality was near impossible with all the twists and turns his life took.
Like, he knew this world was real. He spent fifty years in it during his first life. But after he was reborn in a feudal realm with magic, returning here felt anything but believable.
And to solve a time-traveler's conundrum without knowing anything about the matter?
What would Kaede have to go through to become Lily over the thousands of years?
Could she even become her?! His wife said there was no Kaede in her past.
What if the girl he lost his virginity to—twice—had disappeared for good?
And he couldn't forget about the more immediate danger, either.
If she were the only one keeping Lucifer at bay—away from Earth and Maou Midori—he would be in big trouble. As if to remind him of this possibility, the teacher raised his voice.
"All right, next up is Midori-kun."
Konrad's eyes twitched before he even heard the news.
"Sensei, Midori-kun is absent today," a girl noted.
He had to twist his neck to check, leaving him in complete disbelief.
How did he miss that?!
Did the worst already happen? Had his former guardian brought him back to Kasserlane?!
And Kaede—no, she was still there, looking bored and yawning a lot, with dark bags under her eyes. She must have overworked herself to pay for everything, and he didn't even thank her.
Would she be that calm if the unthinkable happened?
Konrad took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself.
The teacher, for one, didn't seem to stress over the matter.
"Hope someone can bring him today's notes later," he said, his voice monotone. "Then next is—"
And the class continued.
By the time the bell marked its end, Konrad missed the mild stress of the oral exam.
What he got instead was almost crippling.
"You look like shit, Halstadt-kun," Kaede noted during recess.
"You're one to talk," he retorted, looking at the dark circles beneath her eyes. "How much is my rent? I can't have you work yourself ragged to pay for my stuff. No matter how long we're here."
Small, tangible problems first.
When he pretended to be an actual high school student, life was easier.
Midori-kun was absent, and he couldn't deal with him today. But there were things he could.
"Ragged?" the girl asked, bursting out laughing. "It's a lot of jobs, but even if you add it all up, it's only thirty-eight hours a week. Less than what working adults do. Wow, were you worried?!"
The way she asked was almost derogatory.
"What if I was?" Konrad scoffed, crossing his arms. "Have you seen your face today?"
Kaede glanced at herself in the window's reflection, scowling and turning side to side.
"Oh, that," she mumbled, poking at her cheeks. "I was up late reading manga."
"You what?!" That wasn't a word he expected from the mouth of a dragoness.
"You know these picture book things?" she asked as if he didn't. "I first got into them to practice, because writing in Japanese is way harder than speaking. But they're, like, super addictive."
And then she would gush about them for a few minutes.
Like an actual fangirl—and it didn't stop there.
"Oh, did you ever watch anime?!"
"I, uh, don't know," Konrad avoided the question. The sudden change in mood threw him for a loop. "It's been many, many years. I guess if they put them on TV, I might've seen some."
Kaede gave him a knowing look, putting her hands on her hips with a pout.
"Be honest with me," she demanded, as if it were a question of life or death.
It felt dumb. He had bigger problems than worrying about what his classmates might overhear.
So why did it feel so hard to admit it? He let out a sigh, trying to adjust to this new reality.
"I watched one with Lily, actually," he said, voice low, the memories making him croak.
"Oh? Which one? Did I like it? Come on, give me some good recommendations," she chirped, nudging his side. She acted as a teenage girl would, not a dragon that's a century old.
Well, she arrived a year ago, but even then, the speed at which she assimilated was crazy.
Konrad considered lying again, but what was the point?
"It was, uh, Cowboy Bebop," he said, the characters almost appearing before his eyes.
Kaede's only reaction was to grab her phone and do a quick search.
"Gah, that thing is ancient," she said a minute later. What did she even expect?! "Was it any good? It's still available on a few nostalgia sites. Dude, this internet thing? It's awesome."
Despite all his troubles, Konrad couldn't help but laugh.
"You recommended it to me," he clarified. "And we had fun watching it."
Something cold ran down his face as he delved into the memories. He raised his palms to check it, and his fingers came away wet.
A tear. But why? How?
When was the last time he cried? Like, actually shed tears?
Was it nostalgia? Or missing the person right in front of him?
Whatever it was, he had to bring her back, no matter what.