Next Thursday and Friday. The thought of a festival in the near future filled me with excitement.
It's not like I was tired from focusing on my studies. I was just enjoying being by the professor's side as a Supply, but who cares?
Good things are good, after all.
During the festival, besides the booths set up by clubs and departments, the Academy also held its own events, so they distributed pamphlets like this a week in advance.
A festival lasting from morning until evening.
They said celebrities would be coming too, which caught my attention despite my initial lack of interest. The Academy's internal map showed where each department and club would set up their booths, and it also indicated that a stage would be installed for performances by celebrities and students alike.
Looking at this, I was curious about what kind of performances the students would put on, celebrities aside.
"Professor, is this organized by the Academy?"
Lying on the sofa at home, I stretched my arms toward the ceiling. The pamphlet in my hands caught the light, making its edges glow brightly while the part I was trying to read remained dark, forcing me to squint.
I wiggled my legs a bit before folding them.
There wasn't anything that would interest our study-focused Study Group. Nothing that would likely be seen at the booths.
The professor, who was typing on his laptop—probably writing a Thesis as usual—looked up at me.
"That's probably... organized by the student council with the Academy's permission?"
"Hmm, I see."
I hummed through my nose while flipping through the pamphlet.
A festival, huh? I guess they're conducted similarly no matter where they're held. Just as I was about to move on from that thought, something suddenly occurred to me. Not wanting to let the fleeting idea go, I moved my feet.
I slightly raised my lower body and then used the momentum to lift my upper body, making the sofa let out a soft thud.
As I got up from the sofa, I could see the back of the professor sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa. I gently placed my hand on his hair, and he chuckled, saying to me:
"Urr, my hair isn't as fluffy as yours."
"...It just feels differently soft than mine."
After impulsively touching the professor's hair, I almost forgot what I was going to ask.
Oh! Snapping back to attention with wide eyes, I changed the subject.
"That's not it, Professor."
"Hmm?"
"Do Institute Students participate in the festival?"
"...No? What are you talking about? The Institute Students are busy preparing for their Theses. They have a seminar coming up."
"Seminar...?"
"It's where they choose their own topics and present them. How should I explain this simply to Urr..."
The professor went "hmm" while stroking his chin.
Then, as if finding inspiration from his laptop screen, he let out a small "ah" of realization.
"Right, to graduate with a master's degree later, you need a Thesis. But it's not just a graduation Thesis that you can simply pass off as 'good enough' like Sera or Aria did. It has to be submitted to an Academic Society, and you need to have your own Thesis, so they're preparing for that."
"???"
I couldn't understand a word he said, so I just stared at him with wide eyes.
Opening and closing my mouth while staring blankly at the professor's face, he scratched his cheek with an expression that seemed to say, "Was that too difficult?"
After a moment, he provided additional explanation.
"Basically, they're preparing to write a proper graduation Thesis. They need to choose a good title, decide how they'll conduct their research and write their Thesis, and then present it. Then the professors give advice based on that."
"Professors have a lot to do, huh?"
"...Well, yes. Somehow it ended up that way."
The professor smiled bitterly and resumed typing on his keyboard.
"So what kind of research are you doing, Professor? Are you just supervising the Institute Students' research?"
"No, I'm... well, researching a new Original, you could say."
The professor rummaged through the documents piled in front of him before answering.
Even though that unique ring seemed sufficient, human greed knows no bounds—he was working on discovering a new Original.
I put my hand on my chin.
"Do you think I have something like an Original too?"
"...It might be an Original to me, but to Urr, a Demon God, it's probably just something common."
"Hmm."
I see. Being a Demon God means I probably don't have anything that could be called an Original. After all, an Original refers to something people create as their own by extracting information from Demon Gods that others don't know about.
"Then what about me?"
"What about you?"
"What if I could be like you, Professor, going all WAAAAH!"
I raised both hands, pretending to emit some kind of aura.
The professor smiled wryly and shook his head.
"Urr is cute enough without such things. For both humans and others, the more powerful you become, the more responsibilities you have to bear, and you might end up like your professor."
The professor shrugged as if telling me to look at his current situation, which made my eyes widen.
The professor was indeed very strong, which was why he was called to various places besides his teaching duties. Thinking about it, I realized that being strong wasn't necessarily always a good thing.
I pouted briefly before retracting my lips.
I wanted to find something cool rather than just being cute. This was a world with magic, after all. The era was very similar to where I came from, so I couldn't use the vague modern memories that came to mind.
Rather, there were far more experts than what I knew, leaving me with no place to step in.
It felt like both the situation and the environment around me were telling me to stay put. As if putting a finger to their lips and saying "Shh" to me.
"Don't do anything."
I shuddered.
It felt like I had realized something.
Just as suddenly as I had come to this world, it hit me again like a flash, striking my head and passing by.
Before I could even mutter "Wait" with a small groan, my eyes widened. It felt like I couldn't breathe, so I focused on my breathing, which is probably why I missed hearing the professor's voice for a moment.
"...Urr?"
"Ah. Yes...?"
I looked at the professor with trembling eyes. Concerned, he adjusted his position to face me completely. We stared at each other in silence.
Just blankly, with silence between us.
"Is something wrong? Your complexion suddenly doesn't look good..."
"It's, nothing."
I wanted to say it was nothing, but contrary to that, my throat felt choked. Speaking itself felt difficult, causing my brow to furrow involuntarily.
As I groaned with a frown, the professor immediately stood up.
He lifted me up from the sofa.
"Whoa...?"
"Are you sick somewhere? Let's lie down on the bed first."
"...I'm fine, really."
"No, you might be sick, and it's better to be comfortable at times like this."
The professor stopped what he was doing and laid me down on the bed.
I was placed on the bed. The soft sensation enveloped my body. I folded my hands on my chest and looked up at the professor.
Could something be wrong with my body? I wondered why, since I had been fine until now. The professor looked at me with a serious expression and placed his hand on my forehead.
"Could it be because of the alcohol you drank?"
"...I think it's been quite a while since I drank alcohol?"
I shook my head, thinking that wasn't it, but the professor shook his head as if he couldn't overlook it.
It was my body, but one I didn't know well. Since it wasn't my area of expertise, I kept quiet, finding it awkward to say anything.
I remained still until the professor's expression showed relief.
**
I felt like Urr's demeanor had changed momentarily.
It wasn't just my imagination; Urr's expression had changed unnervingly.
Urr, a Demon God who shouldn't know the feeling of fatigue or drowsiness, was looking at me with a darkened complexion. My heart sank.
Fear arose. I stared for a long time, wondering if there was some new trigger I wasn't aware of.
I placed my hand on Urr's forehead to check for fever. The temperature was normal. Her complexion, which had briefly worsened, had now returned to normal.
Should I check her blood alcohol level? She drank last Friday, so several days have passed, and the effects should be gone by now.
As numerous thoughts crossed my mind, Urr simply closed her eyes and fell asleep. I was anxious but felt bad about waking her, so I quietly left the room.
"...What's going on?"
Even after coming out to the living room, my anxiety didn't wash away.
Urr doesn't die. If she goes below the age of fifteen or so, she says "This is the end" and returns to about twenty-five. And at that moment, her personality changes.
She emits an ominous aura. I still feel like I might stop breathing when I recall those golden eyes glowing in the sudden darkness that filled the surroundings, glaring at me.
It's true that I wanted to teach Urr about society because her personality seemed too kind and gentle.
It's also true that I wanted to suppress that terrifying personality hiding behind Urr because it was too frightening.
Let's put aside my complacent thinking for a moment and reconsider. Which of Urr's personalities is the main one, and which one is forcibly suppressed?
No matter how much I thought about it sitting on the sofa, I couldn't find an answer. It was a problem I had considered before, but thinking about it now didn't change anything.
After all, neither the current Urr nor the Urr with that personality I fear—
Neither of them showed any resistance.
If one were suppressed, if one personality wanted liberation, it would have definitely tried to kill me, but seeing how calm they both remained, it seemed like neither was the case.
Then is Urr's existence actually living a life of coexistence?
I didn't know much about Urr. I only knew that she doesn't die, and that she gets younger when she dies—nothing more, which was frustrating.