Chapter 5: The Wandering Dead End

────.

Toward the Magic Festival, a representative selection event is held at the Alzano Imperial Magic Academy.

A total of sixty representative candidates were chosen from the three major magical academies of the empire: Alzano Imperial Magic Academy, St. Lily Magic Girls’ Academy, and Kleitos Magic Academy.

The welcoming exchange party held on the first day, despite causing some minor disturbances, concluded without major issues.

And finally, the selection event begins.

The second day consists of mana measurement.

The third day is a written exam.

After assessing the basic aptitudes of a mage, starting from the fourth day, the third test, the “All-Out Magic Duel Battle,” is conducted to officially select the representatives.

As the name suggests, this is a selection exam where each candidate faces off in one-on-one mock magical battles against all fifty-nine other participants.

In battles between mages, compatibility exists based on the magical fields or mastered spells each excels in, but in an all-out battle, that’s a different story. Whether one cries or laughs, the number of victories clearly reveals the current “gap in skill” as a mage.

With a total of sixty participants, the number of matches in an all-out battle is considerable.

With ten arenas set up in the magical stadium and the event spread over four days, it’s quite a grueling schedule. Even with a ten-minute time limit per match, students must handle fourteen to sixteen matches a day, moving between arenas.

Naturally, mana pacing and endurance are tested, and sometimes, strategic decisions are required—such as forfeiting matches with slim chances of victory to conserve mana or aiming for a draw against formidable opponents to play it safe.

“Don’t fight battles you’ll lose; fight when you can win”—that’s the fundamental principle of a mage’s combat.

In the unpredictable Magic Festival, the ability of students to calmly judge the flow of events and make calculated decisions, rather than being swayed by short-term victories, is also being tested.

And so, the schedule and matches of the mock magical battles progress smoothly.

Overall, the students of the Alzano Imperial Magic Academy are achieving consistently high results, slightly outpacing St. Lily and Kleitos Magic Academy.

While this demonstrates the pride of a longstanding powerhouse, the guidance of Eve, an exceptional military training instructor, has undoubtedly played a significant role.

Moreover, the students closely connected to Glenn are all performing remarkably well.

Kash maintains a win rate of about 40%.

At first glance, this may seem low, but considering that draws occur when matches don’t conclude within the time limit, it’s by no means a poor performance. He tenaciously holds his own with draws against stronger opponents, and given his background and year, he’s performing admirably.

Wendy maintains a win rate of about 50%.

Her skill level is high, so she could achieve an even higher win rate, but careless mistakes stand out, causing her to lose matches she could have won.

From the St. Lily group, as expected, Colette, Francine, and Ginny are posting outstanding results.

Ginny maintains a win rate of 60%.

Colette and Francine, meanwhile, boast an impressive 70% win rate. Colette’s prowess in Black Magic and Francine’s mastery of Summoning leave everyone in the venue in awe.

And then, surprisingly—

“That’s enough! The winner, Gibul Wisdan!”

“Daaahhh!? Damn it!? I lost!?”

“Hmph.”

Gibul. Astonishingly, he maintains an 80% win rate.

Initially overlooked, he consecutively defeated Colette and Francine, two of St. Lily’s top performers, causing the venue to erupt in excitement.

“To think he’d handle Colette and Francine so brilliantly…”

“That guy… he’s Gibul Wisdan from Class 2, Year 2, right?”

“Besides Sistine, there’s another incredible student in that class…”

Other candidates scouting the competition and students watching from the stands begin praising and lauding Gibul.

“Damn it… what’s with that Gibul guy… his fighting style is just too nasty…”

Having lost to Gibul in the recent match, Colette returns to the waiting room teary-eyed, grumbling.

“Exactly! Setting up golems with alchemy, laying traps, sniping with magic from the gaps… he precisely does everything that gets under our skin! He’s got a rotten personality!”

Francine, who lost to Gibul in the previous match, tearfully agrees with Colette.

“Well… Gibul-san? At first glance, he’s clearly the type who’s been diligently working hard for a long time. For young ladies relying on talent with less experience, he’s a tough opponent.”

And so, Ginny comforts Colette and Francine.

Additionally, as expected, Levin from Kleitos Magic Academy dominates with overwhelming results, drawing the attention of the entire venue.

Rize follows closely behind, even managing to secure a draw in a direct confrontation with Levin.

Jaill, with an 85% win rate, quietly matches Rize’s performance.

On the unconventional side, a female student from Alzano Imperial Magic Academy, the only first-year selected as a representative candidate, achieves an unexpectedly high win rate, performing exceptionally well.

With the dizzying pace of the matches, the watching students are buzzing with excitement, speculating about who will be chosen as one of the ten representatives and who will become the Main Wizard.

Of course, Glenn’s students are no exception—

“Amazing, amazing! Everyone’s doing so well!”

“Yeah, Kash-kun, Wendy, Gibul-kun… everyone’s trying so hard…”

Watching the matches from the stands, Cecil and Lynn clap their hands in delight.

“Hey, hey, we might get a representative from our class!”

“Yeah, Gibul especially seems promising, right!?”

“The upcoming matches are going to be exciting, Sensei.”

While Rodd and Kai get fired up, Teresa says this to Glenn, but…

(…Boring. I’m over it.)

Glenn gazes down at the match venue with dull, clouded eyes.

Yes, he’s already fed up.

To be blunt, he already knows the outcome.

Since being killed again by the mysterious means of that grotesque mechanical girl bound in restraints, Glenn has already gone through several loops.

True, the match details shift slightly with each iteration, but the overarching flow remains unchanged. It’s the same monotonous pattern over and over.

(Here it comes. It’s about to start…)

As Glenn thinks this halfheartedly, it happens.

Oooooooohhh!

The venue erupts, cheers rising all at once.

The most anticipated matchup among the students is about to take place at the seventh arena.

Magic Festival, seventh arena. There, two female students face each other.

“Sistine! Prepare yourself! This time… this time, I’ll defeat you!”

“Huh? This time? …Um, Ellen? Are you really okay? You’ve looked pale since the first day… like you’re about to collapse or something…?”

“Shut up! Be quiet!”

Sistine and Ellen.

As the two appear in the arena, the students in the stands cheer loudly.

“It’s here, it’s here, it’s here! A clash of undefeated fighters!”

“This one’s a toss-up! It’s gonna be a spectacle, right, Sensei!?”

(Yeah, I already know.)

As Rodd and Kai hype it up, Glenn, exasperated, watches the match begin.

“《O great wind》—! 《O great wind》—!”

“《Wall of air》!”

Ellen fiercely unleashes [Gale Blow] at Sistine, who calmly deploys [Air Screen] to deflect it.

“I read you! 《Let power return to nothingness》—!”

Without missing a beat, Ellen cancels Sistine’s [Air Screen]—

“《O violet lightning of the thunder spirit》—!”

—and sends a bolt of lightning flashing toward Sistine.

“—!?”

With Ellen seemingly predicting her every move in a relentless onslaught, Sistine has no time to cast a counterspell and can only twist her body to dodge in a split second—

“Aaaah—! 《Cry out in the void・what echoes is・the roar of the wind spirit》—!”

Seizing the gap in Sistine’s mana biorhythm, Ellen presses her attack.

The released compressed air vibration projectile arcs through the air, targeting Sistine, who’s off-balance—

(Yeah, Ellen’s really putting in the effort.)

Glenn watches the match unfold with cold, detached eyes.

(White Cat’s abilities, tactics, habits, weaknesses… she’s studied them thoroughly through thousands of loops. Her tenacity deserves a gold star. But—)

Glenn sighs and mutters.

“You and White Cat are fundamentally different, Ellen.”

At that moment.

Boom! A raging tempest envelops Sistine’s body, despite her being off-balance, forcibly correcting her stance and explosively accelerating her movements.

Black Magic [Rapid Stream]’s high-speed continuous activation—Storm.

Sistine traces a wide semicircle, instantly circling behind Ellen, leaping high into the air—

—and simultaneously.

“《O magic bullet》! 《One》! 《Two》! 《Three》! 《Four》! 《Five》—!”

Black Magic [Magic Bullet], activated in rapid succession.

Five mana bullets rain down on Ellen from her fingertips.

Ellen, as if she’s seen this countless times and anticipated it, deploys [Force Shield], blocking them with a mana barrier—

“《O winds, gather and converge》!”

Black Magic [Air Block]. Sistine compresses and solidifies the air, creating an invisible platform in midair—kicking off it with Storm.

She soars over Ellen’s head, slipping behind the mana barrier Ellen had raised.

“《O violet lightning of the thunder spirit》—!?”

Sistine fires [Shock Bolt] at Ellen’s exposed back—

“—!? 《Let calamity dissipate》—!”

Ellen chants [Tri-Banish], neutralizing the incoming lightning—

“Haaaa—!”

But without a moment’s pause, Sistine follows with another [Shock Bolt] from her right hand—Double Cast.

Even Ellen can’t react in time, twisting her body to dodge—an impressive feat worthy of praise in itself.

But as Sistine charges forward with Storm, Ellen, in desperation, tries to activate a magical trap she had set in the arena to stop her—

“Ha!”

“—!?”

With a single stomp, Sistine performs a spell intervention.

It effortlessly nullifies the activation of the magical trap—

“No way… you can even counter this…?”

Ellen is stunned as Sistine easily bypasses her trump card, the magical trap.

“《Let order be》!”

Furthermore, Sistine unleashes the White Magic [Rhythm Cancel] she had been holding in reserve.

In an instant, she resets the mana biorhythm, which had shifted toward chaos during the battle, back to a lawful state, unleashing a ferocious barrage of spell attacks into Ellen’s openings.

“Kuh—!? Uuugh—!?”

At this point, Ellen is forced entirely on the defensive.

Before long, what seemed like an even match transforms into Sistine’s one-sided dominance.

(Ellen… you’re definitely trying hard. In this endless cycle of repetition, you’ve studied White Cat thoroughly. You might even beat her someday… if this one-week loop weren’t sealed.)

Rapid Fire, Storm, Double Cast, Spell Intervention—

These specialized magical techniques cannot be mastered without learning the methods from someone who knows them. No matter how many times this sealed week repeats, they cannot be acquired. They aren’t shallow skills that an ordinary amateur could develop or awaken through self-taught practice.

Originally, these were techniques performed intuitively by a handful of geniuses, which hundreds of mages spent years theorizing, developing training methods for, and refining into “techniques” that anyone could learn.

Moreover, no matter how meticulously Ellen plans her strategies and catches Sistine off-guard, Sistine possesses an exceptionally high level of improvised spell modification.

Combined with her proficiency in highly versatile wind-based magic, Sistine can fully adapt and respond to any situation on the spot. The downside of modified spells is their massive mana consumption, but Sistine’s overwhelming mana capacity allows her to handle it in real combat.

Ellen’s weapons, on the other hand, are her extremely condensed one-line spell chants and the behavioral patterns of her opponents, gained through thousands of retries… and that’s it.

In the end, Ellen is an ordinary person, clinging to persistence through thousands of retries.

(…What a brutal disparity in strength.)

Indeed, through the patterns of opponent behavior gained in the loops and the mana honed through repetition, Ellen could surpass other students.

But Sistine, with her accumulated real-world experience and training, can flexibly devise new tactics on the spot, rendering Ellen’s clever pattern-based strategies utterly ineffective.

No matter how many thousands of loops she endures, Ellen will never defeat Sistine.

That is Ellen’s limit. At least, within this sealed world.

Unless she steps out of this cage and aims for the future, Ellen will never surpass Sistine.

Ooooooooooooh!

As Glenn zones out, the stands erupt in massive cheers.

Looking at the arena…

“Winner—Sistine Fibel!”

Sistine, catching her breath lightly, stands over Ellen, who is crawling on the ground in frustration.

The electric shocks entwining Ellen’s body have rendered her immobile.

“She did it! It’s Sistine! Of course Sistine won!”

“Incredible! As expected!”

Sistine is showered with praise, envy, and respect.

“Well, that Ellen put up a good fight, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, her gritty tactics were something else… it was like she predicted every move. You could feel her determination. Nice fight.”

“She tried hard. It’s just a bad matchup.”

Ellen receives words of encouragement and sympathy for her valiant effort.

“That was amazing, Ellen!”

Wiping sweat from her brow, Sistine says to Ellen with innocent cruelty.

“It was like you knew all my moves and strategies in advance… like you were reading me! You’ve really gotten strong!”

“…!”

“I got lucky this time, but next time, who knows… I really mean that. So…”

Smiling, Sistine extends a hand for a handshake.

Sistine is unaware of the loop.

So, it can’t be helped. It’s unavoidable, but…

Those words, that action, are far too cruel for Ellen in this moment.

“Shut up! What would you know!?”

Still crawling, Ellen bursts into tears of frustration, lashing out. She had no choice but to lash out.

“E-Ellen…?”

“My sky is narrow… so narrow…! No matter how much I train my wings, I can’t fly any higher! You, with your boundless sky—how could you understand my feelings!?”

“Ellen? I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

Faced with Ellen’s intense resentment and jealousy, Sistine falls silent.

“Why… why can’t I win…? I’ve repeated so many times… tried so hard…! Why can’t I beat you even once!?”

Without a bow, Ellen presses her sleeve to her eyes and runs off.

“Ellen…? What’s wrong with you…?”

Sistine can only stare after Ellen’s retreating figure, stunned.

From the stands, Glenn watches the scene from afar, sighing.

(And now, at the closing ceremony of the selection event tonight, Edward’s old man will announce that Sistine’s been chosen as the Main Wizard… and it’ll loop again.)

Exasperated, but unable to stop the cycle. He can’t find a way to break it.

Yes, this loop has several troublesome rules.

Glenn reconsiders the rules of the loop, which have become clear over the past few cycles.

(First, “I can’t interfere with Ellen.” If I try to disrupt her actions or take that clock, that grotesque monster appears instantly and kills me with some mysterious means. No matter how much I prepare defensively, it’s useless—I’m killed instantly. There’s no way to prevent it…)

Without a doubt, Ellen’s clock is the key to the loop. That much is certain.

Glenn has tried every method to seize the clock, but all attempts have failed.

Always, at the critical moment, that grotesque monster appears. And he’s killed without any means to resist.

As Ellen said, that grotesque monster is likely the “Ruler” of this cycle.

Within this repeating week, the Ruler is invincible. That’s the rule. Thus, interfering with Ellen to stop the loop is impossible.

After being killed four times, Glenn realized this painfully. He’s long since given up on taking the clock.

(And that’s not the only problem…)

As Glenn begins to ponder another “fatal issue,” it happens.

“See? I told you Sistine would win.”

Watching beside him, Eve, as usual, crosses her arms haughtily, speaking to Glenn with a hint of pride.

“That Ellen girl seems to have trained for quite a while, but her style is completely self-taught. I respect her effort, but her tactics reek of amateurishness. There’s no way Sistine, personally trained by me, Lord Scarlet, would lose to someone like that. Magic isn’t so lenient that reckless training without proper guidance or a structured plan can lead to victory. Well, it’s pointless to dwell on it.”

Eve is unusually talkative. It’s unlike her.

Glenn stares at her profile.

“What’s wrong? You look pale, Glenn.”

“It’s nothing.”

…But it’s not nothing.

Looking at Eve’s face, the memory of the previous loop inevitably resurfaces—

────.

It was the third day of the loop. The night after the written exam.

In the faculty room of the Magic Academy—

“…Huh? This selection event’s week is looping?”

“That’s right.”

To Eve, who was busy with preparations for the duel battle starting tomorrow, Glenn was recounting everything he was experiencing without holding anything back.

“Anyway, if you find out anything, report it to me.”

“Depending on the details, I might just lend you a hand.”

For some reason, Glenn suddenly recalled words Eve had once said to him.

The situation was no longer something Glenn could handle alone. He had someone who could help.

So, clinging to Eve’s words, Glenn decided to consult her, half-expecting it to be a long shot.

“…”

At first, Eve looked at Glenn with skepticism, as if he were spouting nonsense, but as his story progressed, her eyes gradually narrowed.

Eventually.

“…Fine, I’ll believe you for now. The fact that this week is looping, the clock, and that you were killed by some grotesque monster in the last loop.”

Eve tossed the documents she was holding onto the desk and let out a small sigh.

“Seriously!?”

Despite having confided in her, Glenn was so shocked by Eve’s response that he couldn’t help but flinch.

“What’s with that reaction?”

“No way… I mean, you, of all people, actually believing this wild story…”

“It adds up, more or less. It does explain Ellen’s inexplicable abilities and performance. Unless you’re trying to pull a fast one on me, that is.”

“Like I’d do that! I’m desperate here!”

“Yeah, you’re right. You’re a good-for-nothing, tactless loser, but you’re not the type to tell pointless lies like this.”

Glenn had been wracking his brain over how to make someone believe in a phenomenon that only he could perceive, so having Eve accept it so readily and gaining an ally felt like a relief.

Maybe Eve was a better person than he’d thought.

“Now, if what you’re saying isn’t some jab at me or a joke, and it’s actually true… the first thing we should investigate isn’t Ellen or the clock, but—”

And as Eve stood up briskly, about to say something important—

—that was the exact moment.

Boom!

A splatter of red sprayed across Glenn’s cheek with a sharp slap, accompanied by the sound of an explosion.

“…Huh?”

Eve muttered in a dazed voice.

“…What’s this…? N-no way… right…? Cough, cough…”

Blood trickled from the corner of Eve’s mouth as she stood in shock.

In Eve’s chest… was a gaping hole so large you could see straight through to the other side.

“Wha…”

Glenn was dumbfounded.

He regretted his carelessness more deeply than the depths of the ocean.

(Ellen mentioned there were a few rules… ‘a few’!)

So why hadn’t he anticipated that there could be a rule like this?

Why had he assumed that the only rule was not to interfere with Ellen?

(Probably something like, ‘When a third party learns about the loop, eliminate that third party’… Of course! Ellen wants the loops to continue, so it makes sense she’d include a rule to guard against third-party interference!)

In Glenn’s case, he had only “recalled” the loop through Nameless’s power. That was subtly different from “learning” about it.

He had completely forgotten that he was an unexpected exception, even to Ellen.

And—when had it even appeared?

Behind Eve stood the grotesque mechanical girl, appearing out of nowhere…

Before the stunned Glenn, the grotesque figure folded back into a small pocket watch, as it always did, and floated in the void.

Then, the hands of the clock began spinning counterclockwise at a ferocious speed—

“E-Eveeeeee!?”

Snapping back to reality, Glenn rushed to catch Eve as she collapsed, her strength fading.

It was no use—she had a fatal wound. There was no way to save her now.

Eve was—going to die.

“Ha… haa… I… I’m… going to… die…?”

Cradled in Glenn’s arms, Eve looked up at him with hollow eyes, her strength gone.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Eve! I didn’t mean for this to happen! I didn’t know… I didn’t know there was such a damn rule! Damn it, why did it come to this… Damn it! Damn it! Daaaamn it!”

All Glenn could do was apologize to Eve as she slipped away.

Then, Eve, gasping for breath, reached out a trembling hand… and touched Glenn’s cheek.

Her entire body shook as if seized by a fever, and large tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

“…Glenn… n-no… I… I don’t… want to… die…”

“Eve…!”

“…Because… I… haven’t… told you… anything… yet… Sa… ra…”

And then, Eve’s life faded rapidly—

“I’m sorry! It’s okay now! Sleep, Eve! The next loop will start soon… you’ll be back to normal in no time! It happened to me too! So, for now, forget everything and sleep…! Sleep, please… I’m begging you…!”

The next loop would start soon. It had to. It had to be that way—Glenn prayed desperately, gripping Eve’s trembling hand tightly.

As if answering Glenn’s prayers, the clock’s hands spun faster and faster—

“…No… Glenn… I’m… s-scared…”

“…It’s okay… It’s going to be okay, Eve…”

Glenn held Eve’s body tightly as it grew colder and colder.

And then—

“…Ah…”

—a life slipped away in Glenn’s arms.

“…Eve…! ~ ~ ~!?”

She was an insufferable woman.

Cold, hysterical, selfish, using people like pawns—a woman he utterly despised.

He knew that when the loop restarted, she’d be back. She’d be alive again. He knew that.

So why? Why this overwhelming sense of loss?

The dizziness, nausea, and chills were tearing Glenn’s heart apart.

“Uoooooooh—!? Damn it alllllll!”

With Glenn’s anguished scream, the world slowly faded to black, plunging into darkness—

And this world became Ω—

———.

“…What’s with you? You’ve been staring at me for a while now. Is there something on my face?”

Eve’s suspicious voice snapped Glenn’s consciousness, which had been wandering in the past, back to the present.

“Shut up, full of yourself, huh? Who’d want to stare at your sour face? If I’m gonna look at anyone, it’d be a cute girl like Rumia.”

“Y-you…! You’re as infuriating as ever! Why don’t you just drop dead!”

Eve turned away in a huff, clearly irritated.

But for some reason, seeing Eve act so normal filled Glenn with a sense of relief.

(The last few loops have taught me something. It’s really taken a toll on my mind.)

Gazing absently at the arena, Glenn began to organize his thoughts.

(The mastermind behind this damn loop is Ellen. From her words and actions, her goal seems to be to endlessly repeat the seven-day selection tournament until she’s chosen as the Main Wizard… literally ‘repeating until she wins.’)

The beginning (A) was always the moment on the first day when Glenn was rudely woken up by Sistine.

The end (Ω) was the moment on the final day when Lord Edward announced Sistine’s name as the Main Wizard.

The fact that the loop always triggered at that exact moment meant, without a doubt, that who became the Main Wizard was a critical key.

Next, there were the exceptional loops.

“When a third party interferes with Ellen and disrupts the loop.”

“When a third party learns that these seven days are looping.”

When these conditions were met, that grotesque guardian would appear out of nowhere, eliminate the offending party, and immediately trigger a loop.

The reason was simple: such people could prevent Ellen from properly completing the seven-day selection tournament. It was essentially a reset to fix a bug.

(But, well… when I learned about the loop from Nameless, that guardian didn’t show up… For some reason, there seem to be a lot of exceptions around Nameless.)

But there was no point dwelling on it now. No way to figure it out.

(In short, this loop is designed so that Ellen can win the selection tournament no matter what. And the absurd power behind all these loops comes from that mysterious pocket watch that transforms into a grotesque monster… What the hell is that clock?)

Given the situation, it was fair to say that the mysterious clock itself was the guardian of the loop.

But without knowing its true nature, there was no way to deal with it.

Bound tightly by the rules, Glenn could barely move.

(Still, something feels off. Why is Ellen so stubbornly repeating this so honestly?)

A sudden doubt crossed Glenn’s mind.

(Ellen’s biggest obstacle is White Cat. So why not set a trap and take her out beforehand? After losing to White Cat thousands of times in the selection tournament, why hasn’t she done that? Why does she keep competing so fairly and squarely?)

After all, she was desperate enough to loop time just to win.

Such cunning, underhanded ideas should have been the first to come to mind.

With the advantage of the loop, she could take as many shots at eliminating Sistine as she wanted.

But there was no sign of Ellen doing anything like that. She just diligently repeated the same actions.

(Could there be a rule for that too? Maybe Ellen herself is bound by some restriction that forces her to compete fairly in the selection tournament, with no cheating allowed?)

…He didn’t know. There were still too many unknowns.

(How do I end this loop? Since Ellen is the one controlling it, causing a commotion to cancel the selection tournament would be pointless… It would just restart the loop from the beginning, not solve the root problem.)

So, should he explain the situation to Sistine, have her lose on purpose, and let Ellen win?

Thinking that far, Glenn clutched his head, exasperated by the impracticality of the idea.

(No way… White Cat is dead set on following in her grandfather’s footsteps. Convincing her would require explaining the situation and making her believe it… And that would just get her killed by that grotesque monster. There’s no way I can do that…)

He was at a dead end. A complete, utter dead end.

He couldn’t consult anyone. The fact that no one else retained memories of the loop was excruciating.

(Damn it… If I could just talk to someone…)

If only he could think this through with Sistine. If only he could confide in Eve again. If only he could open up to Rumia. Re=L… probably wouldn’t be much help, but she’d at least be a distraction.

But he’d had enough. He couldn’t bear to watch someone close to him writhe in agony and die before his eyes again.

(No good… I can’t approach Ellen, and I don’t know the guardian’s true nature. I can’t take any countermeasures… I’m completely trapped. All I can do is sit back and watch Ellen keep repeating…)

It was hopeless. While Glenn sat idly by, the pointless loop cycles would surely keep piling up. …Forever.

As Glenn clutched his head,

“Sensei! It’s over! How was it? My match!”

Sistine came running up, her face beaming with a bright smile.

Perhaps because of her earlier clash with Ellen, there was a hint of forced cheer in her expression.

Still, Sistine had achieved the best possible results for herself over the past week.

Her face radiated a proud sense of accomplishment, as if she’d truly done something great.

Normally, seeing Sistine’s face like that would have softened Glenn’s expression…

(…How many times have I seen that face of hers? …I’m sick of it.)

Right now, Glenn could only feel fed up.

“Hmph… Not bad, I guess?”

Glenn replied curtly to Sistine and stood up listlessly.

“Huh? Not bad… That’s it?”

Sistine had probably expected unreserved praise from Glenn… His unexpected reaction caused her face to cloud with a tinge of sadness.

“…What else am I supposed to say?”

But right now, Glenn didn’t have the mental energy to deal with Sistine.

The endlessly repeating week, the frustration of being unable to do anything, and the overwhelming sense of powerlessness were eating away at him.

Glenn turned his back on Sistine and started to walk away silently.

But Sistine seemed to sense something in Glenn’s demeanor.

“Sensei… Is something wrong?”

Stepping in front of Glenn, Sistine looked at him with earnest eyes and spoke.

“Nah… It’s nothing…”

Glenn forced a dry smile and brushed her off curtly.

But Sistine stared even more intently at Glenn and responded.

“You know, we’ve been together for a while now, so… I can kind of tell. There’s definitely something off about you right now.”

“…”

“Even earlier, the usual Sensei would’ve said something sarcastic but still praised me. He would’ve given me advice about what to do next with Ellen. ‘Not bad’? You’d never say something so cold.”

“…”

“Now that I think about it, you’ve been acting strange since the first day of the selection tournament. When I woke you up from your nap that day, it was like… even though your appearance didn’t change, it felt like you aged inside all at once. What’s really going on?”

Why was she so perceptive?

Since he’d started retaining memories of the loops, at some point—maybe a few cycles in—Sistine had begun probing him like this more and more.

(Is it showing on my face? …Damn it! If she figures it out, it could be bad!)

Smack! Glenn slapped both his cheeks with his hands, scolding himself.

“W-what’s wrong, Sensei?”

“Glenn… you’re acting weird.”

“Ha, haha… It’s nothing.”

Brushing off Rumia and Re=L’s concerned glances, Glenn started walking.

“Come on, the closing ceremony for the selection tournament is next. Let’s go, you guys… Man, I can’t wait to see who gets picked as the Main Wizard…”

Rumia and Re=L exchanged puzzled looks at Glenn’s odd behavior, tilting their heads as they followed him.

(Tch, these guys have it so easy… If they only knew what I’m going through…)

As Glenn indulged in such self-pitying thoughts,

“Um… Sensei, can I talk to you for a sec?”

Sistine grabbed Glenn’s arm and tugged.

“H-hey…?”

Ignoring Glenn’s confusion, Sistine forcefully pulled him by the hand into a quiet corridor inside the magic tournament arena.

Then, she stepped close, looked him straight in the eyes, and said,

“Talk to me.”

Caught off guard by her sudden demand, Glenn blinked.

“Talk about what?”

“Ugh… Come on, we’ve known each other long enough. When you make that face, it’s always because you’re secretly carrying some burden for our sake.”

Glenn faltered, falling silent.

“So, talk to me! I want to help you, Sensei! Please—”

Sistine’s offer warmed Glenn’s heart, almost overwhelmingly so.

But—he couldn’t tell her. He absolutely couldn’t tell her.

After seeing his student—Sistine—die so horribly, he wasn’t sure he could stay sane anymore.

“Hah! Don’t act like you know me! What are you, my wife or something? Huh?”

So, Glenn rejected Sistine’s trust in the most hurtful way possible.

“Shut up… You’re so nosy. Just leave me alone, idiot.”

As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Even if he was mentally drained, there was a better way to say it, wasn’t there? Sistine was trying to be considerate, after all.

(Ugh… I’ve totally blown it now. She’s gonna hate me for sure… What the hell am I doing?)

As Glenn sighed, resigning himself to the mess he’d made…

“Even so… I’m still on your side, Sensei.”

Her unexpected words made Glenn blink in surprise.

“No matter what happens, I believe in you. If you ever need me, I’ll always be there to help. That’s all I wanted to say.”

With that, Sistine ran off toward Rumia and the others, who were watching worriedly from the other end of the corridor.

“…”

Glenn couldn’t find any words to respond.

And so, as always, they gathered at the academy arena.

As always, the selection tournament’s closing ceremony was held—

—And, as always, the end (Ω) arrived… and the world returned to the beginning (A)—