Riku, who was chatting with his friends in front of the classroom, called out to Kokoro as he saw her walking down the corridor.
“Huh? Older sister Kokoro. Where are you going?”
The next class Riku was supposed to attend, and from here on out, there were only classrooms where combat lectures were held.
Since Kokoro was training as a shrine maiden, she should have had almost no business here.
“Oh, Riku. And everyone else too. Hello.”
With that, Kokoro bowed once, and Riku’s friends quickly bowed in return.
It would be safe to say that there was no one in this academy who would not return Kokoro’s calm and steady demeanor.
When the academy first opened, Kokoro was often shunned due to her special training as a shrine maiden, but as she grew, that prejudice subsided.
Instead, her beauty, inherited from her mother, began to attract attention.
“I need to go to the training grounds for Michael-sensei’s lecture.”
“Ah. Michael-sensei, huh.”
Riku and his friends nearby nodded in understanding at Kokoro’s reply.
Michael was a practical instructor who could somehow heal those injured in combat lectures on the spot.
Students who took his lectures inevitably had to go to the actual site.
Kokoro, no exception, was to receive that baptism.
“So, I don’t have time, so I’m going to the training grounds.”
Michael was known as a strict teacher who did not tolerate tardiness or other bad attitudes towards class.
“That’s probably for the best. Sorry for stopping you.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Shaking her head, Kokoro hurried towards her friends who had gone on ahead while they were talking.
One of the friends who saw Kokoro off said, “Even though she’s hurrying, she still looks so elegant.”
“Right?”
Looking at his friends, who were praising his sister, Riku had a complex expression.
It wasn’t that he disliked his sister being seen as a romantic interest.
While he was happy to see his sister praised, he was bothered that she was being praised more as an object of worship than as a romantic partner.
And it wasn’t just Kokoro; there was one other person.
“No, no. I still think Mia-sama is the best.”
“A fellow traveler!”
Then another one said something like that and they clasped hands.
That’s right. The other person was Mia.
Even from Riku’s perspective as their younger brother, neither Mia nor Kokoro seemed to have any romantic involvement with men, and Riku thought that this kind of reaction from those around them might be one of the reasons.
While Riku was thinking this, the friends’ conversation continued.
“Still, it’s a shame Kokoro-sama didn’t run for student council president, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Many nodded in agreement to one person’s words.
And, as usual, all eyes turned to Riku.
Before the next question could be asked, Riku waved his hand in annoyance and answered first.
“Don’t make me say the same thing every time. Older sister Kokoro is busy with her shrine maiden training and doesn’t have time for presidential duties.”
Riku sighed exasperatedly, and his friends sighed deeply for a different reason.
From his attitude, it was clear that they thought it was a waste.
Riku then discreetly observed his surroundings and saw several people sighing in the same way.
Riku, forcing himself to believe it was his imagination, urged his dejected friends.
“Come on. Let’s head to class too.”
Following Riku’s words, his friends entered the classroom one by one.
***
After finishing all of his classes for the day, Riku arrived at the teleportation gate in the castle.
The room where the teleportation gate was installed was located in a place accessible only to a very limited number of people.
Specifically, only royalty could pass through.
This was naturally the case, as it was located in the royal family’s private quarters.
Sylvia and her children were the only exceptions, being allowed to come and go freely.
Riku noticed a prior occupant in the room with the teleportation gate, but immediately relaxed.
Even if it was a restricted area, one never knew what might be there.
Since the users were limited, they rarely coincided, but this time, the timing just happened to work out.
It was Kokoro who was there.
“Oh. Older sister Kokoro, are you heading to the Management Layer too?”
“Oh. Riku, are you too?”
“Yeah. I’m supposed to go with Older sister Mia to the floor she manages.”
“Is that so?”
Kokoro smiled and replied to Riku, who spoke cheerfully.
It had become commonplace for Kokoro to head to the Management Layer recently.
Of course, it was for her shrine maiden training.
On the other hand, Riku had rarely gone to the Management Layer before.
As Riku, who still aspired to be an adventurer, it was more important to attend combat lectures than to go to the Management Layer.
However, since Mia began managing the 15th Floor, he had often gone with her to the 15th Floor, ostensibly as a guard.
Riding along with Kokoro, who activated the teleportation gate with practiced ease, Riku also teleported to the Management Layer.
A Maid Golem stood in the room with the teleportation gate on the Management Layer side.
This was also a common sight.
Upon seeing Kokoro and Riku, the Maid Golem bowed to them and returned to its surveillance duties of the teleportation gate.
If someone unauthorized had come, it would have taken some action.
It was built with the expectation of combat in some cases.
By the way, its strength was comparable to that of first-class adventurers active in Amamiya Tower, which was a reality Riku couldn’t laugh at.
He had once asked Kouhi for a favor and fought the Maid Golem, but he was completely outmatched.
Riku was confident that he had grown since then, but he knew it would still be difficult to defeat a Maid Golem.
A couple of rooms away from the room with the teleportation gate, where the Maid Golem was, was the lounge space where Kousuke and the others often gathered.
When the members were taking a break, they were usually in this room, but when Kokoro and Riku arrived, only Mia was there.
“Huh? Just Older sister Mia?”
Riku often found someone there when he visited the lounge space, so he said it without thinking.
Mia’s eyebrows twitched at Riku’s words, as if they had touched something. She said to Riku,
“Oh? Do you have some dissatisfaction with me being alone?”
“Ah!? No, no. Not at all!”
Sensing danger in Mia’s words, Riku immediately replied, waving his right hand.
Mia sighed once, seeing Riku, and turned her gaze to Kokoro.
“Good work. You have training ahead of you, right? Do your best.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Kokoro bowed once to Mia, who had cheered her on, and headed to the room for her training.
This was the current daily life of Riku and Kokoro.
Incidentally, it also briefly touched upon the reason why Mia was unable to find a partner.
