The exams were finally over. It was already May, a hot month when festivals were held just as the warm spring reached its peak.
I heard some schools hold their festivals around October, but the Academy apparently scheduled theirs earlier so graduates could enjoy them too, which explained the timing.
The students were busy with festival preparations.
I could see it clearly even during lectures.
Second-year students wearing name tags like mine were bustling about with activity. Sitting next to Iris, I glanced at her from the corner of my eye.
"What is it?"
Iris rested her chin on her hand and gazed at me intently. Her subtle eye-smile gave me an odd feeling.
"Everyone seems so busy and excited."
"They're all noisy about what their clubs are doing for the festival."
I see.
Sitting in my chair, I casually placed my hand on the edge of the desk. I stretched my legs out and shivered as I stretched. Opening my eyes after squeezing them shut, I took a deep breath, making Iris chuckle.
"The way you stretch is so adorable."
"...Huh?"
I blinked and glanced at Iris, who removed her hand from her chin and pointed to the students sitting in the row below.
I realized that despite their busy chatter, some were secretly glancing at me. Blinking in surprise, I quickly turned away from their stares.
Wondering why they were watching me, I mumbled awkwardly.
"Do you belong to any clubs, Iris?"
"Me?"
I asked casually.
The department was too crowded, and since they mentioned doing things by clubs, I was curious.
Come to think of it, was our Study Group considered a club? If so, would we do something for the festival too? No, we were just a study group, so probably not.
"I don't have a club. I just go home."
"...Hmm, isn't there any club you'd like to join?"
I asked while swinging my legs.
Iris thought about it for a while before shrugging.
"I don't really have any hobbies, so I haven't thought about it. I only enrolled in the Academy because going straight into a job seemed a bit much."
"I see..."
With such a vague goal, it was hard to recommend the Study Group.
Unless someone had a clear objective like Karen who wanted to focus on studying, or Sera who wanted to attend the Institute, they probably wouldn't join such a serious group.
I turned my head again.
Some people were still glancing at me, but most were chatting with their friends about something.
"...Clubs."
I took in the scene.
When I arrived at the laboratory, I stared at the Professor.
"Professor, is a Study Group considered a club?"
The Study Group wasn't an official club registered with the school. I wondered if it was recognized as a club or if we needed to apply for official club status, so I asked.
The Professor tapped his pen and stared at me.
"I think it's a club? I remember getting that separate room because it was recognized as a club."
"So we've been a club since we got the room?"
"I suppose so?"
I walked over to the calendar on the wall and stared at the date. It was the fourth week of April, and with the festival coming next week, everyone was in high spirits.
There was also a culinary department that used Mana-powered cooking equipment to prepare food.
I heard the Engine Research Department would operate bumper cars on a large site during the festival.
Besides clubs, some departments allocated large budgets to participate in the festival. The bumper cars especially sounded fun.
Being an Academy, they seemed to use magical formulas to create things that could be made with ordinary scientific technology.
No wonder the magic department lectures were so crowded.
"Hmm~"
As I held the calendar and poked at the festival dates for next month, the Professor quietly observed me.
"What is it? Is there something you want to do with the club during the festival?"
"Bumper cars..."
I had overheard second-year students talking about it during a lecture. I wanted to ride bumper cars.
Normally, I would have said I was too tired to think about amusement parks, but I was different now. I wanted to ride something with intense collisions.
That was bumper cars right now.
Bored with my mundane routine, I was looking for something interesting and stimulating. Like alcohol, for instance. Not that I wanted to drink again. That was too stimulating, so I shook my head to dismiss the thought.
The devil whispers...!
I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears. As I shook my head vigorously, the Professor watching me chuckled. Then he approached me.
"What's wrong suddenly? Are you embarrassed about wanting to ride bumper cars?"
"No, no. That's not it..."
"Come to think of it, clubs and departments had to register what they're doing for the festival in advance. Shall we take a look at what they're doing?"
"Can we see that?"
"As a professor?"
The Professor said this as he seated me at the table. He sat close to me and showed me his phone screen.
"Since Urr seems to like rides, let's take a look."
He scrolled through the screen quickly.
I could read somewhat, but not fluently enough to read as fast as he was scrolling, so I waited for him to stop and read it to me.
After just a few seconds, the Professor's hand stopped abruptly.
"Engine Research Department has bumper cars..."
"Bumper cars."
"And the Bike Club has bumper cars...?"
"Bumper cars...?"
Why are there two bumper car attractions? And isn't it strange for a bike club to have bumper cars?
As I leaned in closer to the screen in disbelief, the Professor looked perplexed.
"I'm surprised they approved this... I've never heard of bike bumper cars, but it's creative."
"Would it be fun?"
"No, Urr, don't ride those."
"Okay..."
I nodded.
I didn't know how to ride a bike anyway. Even if they let me ride, I'd probably just fall over, not knowing what to do.
The Professor and I looked through the list of booths run by clubs and departments. There were many interesting things, but unfortunately, the Dept. of Demon God Research had nothing notable.
Well, it's hard to imagine what they could do with Demon Gods at a festival.
"The Dept. of Spellcraft doesn't have anything specific either."
"That can't be helped."
The Professor shrugged.
"It's not that the Dept. of Spellcraft doesn't have anything, but rather that they're distributed everywhere. Even the bumper cars are made using spellcraft, right? Same with the cooking equipment."
"But why use magic to make cars specifically?"
I asked, tilting my head, and the Professor put down his phone and leaned back in his chair.
He seemed to think for a moment, closing his eyes and stroking his chin.
"There are plenty of fuel sources in the world, but they're ultimately limited resources, aren't they?"
I nodded.
This was a common issue in my original world too. Disputes between countries over resources like oil and coal often occurred, causing price fluctuations that affected people's daily lives.
"If you can make cars move forward without using oil, you'd be less affected by international conflicts, right?"
"Is cooking equipment similar?"
"That's right. It's also a department that aims to help reduce gas accidents. Though nowadays they've also created something called induction."
The Professor wiggled his finger.
"Then shouldn't everyone learn spellcraft basics instead of having a separate department?"
"Well... specialists learn more advanced content, so I guess it's fine? The Engine Department learns spellcraft for creating engines, and the Culinary Department learns spellcraft for cooking equipment, so there's some specialization."
Even with that explanation, it was hard to understand, and my head tilted to the right. Rather than just looking confused, I rested my head directly on my shoulder, and the Professor smiled wryly as he straightened my head back up.
"Professor."
"Yes?"
"Could I learn to use magic well if I studied it?"
I wanted to try using magic too. Despite being called a Demon God, I had no idea what abilities I had or how to use them, so I wanted to experience this fantasy world somehow.
But the answer wasn't entirely positive.
"I'm not sure about that. I thought Demon Gods figured out how to use magic on their own, and you were just learning it as a hobby."
"Hmm... I remember you said circles represent perfection."
"What about triangles?"
Although I brought it up first, I wasn't expecting the Professor to suddenly quiz me like this, so I was flustered.
"Uh, um, t-triangles... I'll study it again..."
I had studied hard, but to forget this...
"No, take your time. It's difficult to receive Academy education without even having elementary education."
"...Still, it feels bad to forget something I studied."
"Really? It seems Urr has quite the academic drive."
Seeing the Professor smile, I gasped and shook my head.
"I'm not going to the Institute!"