After Orante left, Kasen was about to go to bed when he suddenly jolted awake.
Wait, no!
He had told Orante to go back and think about what he wanted to learn. The deeper meaning behind that was obviously to get him to hurry up and discuss it with whoever was behind him, so that person could decide what he should study.
And now Kasen was just going to sleep like nothing had happened?
Wouldn't that be a complete waste?
Kasen poured himself another life-saving cup of coffee, drank an Invisibility Potion, and immediately followed after Orante.
When cows get tired, they eat grass. When horses get tired, they sleep.
When I get tired, I make myself coffee.
Fuck, my life is miserable... sob, sob...
As Kasen walked, he kept feeling as though something was sneaking up on him from behind.
He suddenly spun around, making sure it was not because he had gone too long without sleep and was hallucinating a Phantom attacking him...
Wait.
If it wasn't a Phantom, then what the fuck was it?
Kasen's heart sank.
The hand tucked inside his pocket had unknowingly closed around the Watch of Flowing Time.
Still invisible, he swept the entire area in every direction with his monocle. Only after confirming there was not a single living thing nearby did he relax slightly.
"Maybe it really was a Phantom. I'll be fine after some sleep."
With that, he quietly continued following Orante.
Sure enough, the boy was not heading toward Ravenclaw Tower at all.
Kasen followed him through several twists and turns until they reached the library. Suppressing the urge to sneeze, he followed Orante inside.
The moment Orante entered the library, he headed straight for the Restricted Section.
Kasen hurried after him.
The Hogwarts library was large, but probably not large enough to run a half marathon inside, so before long, both of them saw the person they had come to meet.
Before coming here, Kasen's imagination had been rather straightforward.
For example, perhaps Orante would transform into Batman's arch-enemy, the Emperor of Gotham, and become completely obedient before Maple.
But after arriving, Kasen finally realised...
.....
His guess had been completely fucking correct.
During the day, and even just now in front of Kasen, Orante had worn that restrained, ascetic expression. Even when mentioning that he was dating someone, he had remained completely serious.
But the moment he saw Maple, he became like Tom seeing that little white cat.
All restraint vanished.
So did the asceticism.
His eyes were practically glowing pink, and he looked like some lovestruck junior who was one step away from bowing and scraping before her.
Did Maple really have that much charm?
Had she used a Love Potion?
How could a normal person possibly act like this?
Kasen stared at Orante's behaviour in astonishment.
"Professor Kasen told me to go back and think about which magical system I truly want to learn."
Orante clearly seemed as though he wanted to say something romantic, but unfortunately, his mental database contained no material of that kind, so he could only speak plainly.
"Then what do you want to learn?" Maple asked.
"I want to study Thaumcraft alchemy. What we learned in fourth year was still too scattered. If I want to study it in greater depth, I would normally have to wait until the advanced class. If I start learning from Professor Kasen now, it might give me a foundation for the advanced course later," Orante said.
Maple shook her head.
"No. You can't study Thaumcraft alchemy. You need to learn something else, something Professor Kasen hasn't taught us yet."
Orante instinctively frowned.
Then he suddenly noticed that Maple had frowned the moment she saw him frown.
He hurriedly smoothed out his expression.
"Then what should I learn?"
"Enchanting," Maple said, lifting her chin slightly.
"I don't like that system."
"But I do," Maple said casually.
"All right."
Hidden in the shadows under his Invisibility Potion, Kasen frowned.
Orante had definitely been given a Love Potion.
What Maple was doing could no longer even be called PUA. It was closer to trampling all over Orante's independent personality.
Any normal person, no matter how much of a masochist they were, would never degrade themselves like this.
Yet Orante had turned himself into the McDonald's mascot.
Other than a Love Potion, there was no other method that could make a normal human act this way.
Before long, Orante and Maple left the library and headed toward their respective dormitories.
After confirming that they had gone far enough away, Kasen used Ender teleportation to return to his bedroom. He washed up briefly, then lay down on the bed.
The current situation was easy enough to understand.
Orante had tentatively been removed from Kasen's internal list of Voldemort suspects.
After all, you could call Voldemort evil, but you absolutely could not call him weak.
Aside from lacking the capacity for normal human love, he possessed every trait of a powerful person in this world.
Someone like that would never allow himself to be controlled by another person without limits or principles.
Even with a Love Potion, making him behave to this extent would be impossible.
Which meant the number-one suspect was now Maple...
Hoo... hah... hoo... hah...
...
The next day...
"Yesterday, while I was thinking, I vaguely remember reaching an extremely important and incredibly badass conclusion through deduction," Kasen said excitedly to Dumbledore at the breakfast table.
"What did you deduce?" Dumbledore asked.
"I forgot halfway through," Kasen said with a trace of embarrassment.
"...Next time, there's no need to tell me about a topic as nutritionally empty as a weight-loss meal," Dumbledore sighed.
"Not so fast. I was writing a mind map in my notebook while I was thinking. All I need to do is take a look now, and I'll be able to reconnect the entire train of thought."
Kasen grinned.
"Then look at it. Are you waiting for me to beg you?" Dumbledore asked, staring at him with half-lidded eyes.
"Ahem."
Kasen cleared his throat, took a notebook from his pocket, opened it, and instinctively read aloud:
"When eating, you must open your mouth..."
Hand Hand
Cry
Jump Jump
...The entire staff table fell silent.
Dumbledore stared at Kasen for a long time, then slowly put down his knife and fork.
He began to clap.
Good...
Good...
Good...
Kasen hurriedly snapped the notebook shut.
Then, as though he could not believe what he had just seen, he opened it again. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and explain, "Sometimes when I sleep, I dream about certain truths, and I write those down too... This is from the day before yesterday. Don't mind it. Don't mind it..."
"This truth of yours... really is the truth," Dumbledore sighed in admiration.
...
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