Chapter 10: Magnus (1)

After getting through that somewhat tense day, Haruki began to feel that something was strange about himself. He still hadn’t returned to the real world.

"Wait... I usually don’t stay in this world for more than a day..."

"Why am I still in this world?"

Haruki, who was sitting on his bed, opened the system to look for anything unusual. Eventually, he opened the system’s notification history.

\[SYSTEM NOTICE: YOU WILL REMAIN IN THE WORLD OF TWBTAT FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME DUE TO CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.\]

"Huh? What does this mean?"

"Certain circumstances?"

"What do you mean by that, System?"

\[YOU WILL FIND OUT AS TIME GOES ON.\]

"Damn it, now I have to solve another damn mystery."

Haruki then smiled, thinking that perhaps this was exactly what he had been hoping for. He smiled with satisfaction at what the system had given him, even though he had no idea what was going on.

The sound of someone yawning came from the other bed, which was some distance away from Haruki’s.

"Ugh... Good morning, Haruki..."

"Morning, Philip."

Philip immediately went back to sleep. After all, he had spent the previous night spying on the girls’ dormitory.

Haruki reminded Philip to attend class before leaving their dorm room to freshen up. He walked as usual and eventually arrived at his destination—the bathroom.

Many students were lining up for the same reason as Haruki. Seeing that all the bathrooms were occupied, Haruki decided to take a short walk outside the dormitory.

"Living in a dorm isn’t all that great, huh..."

Haruki walked around the dormitory building, hoping to discover what else the place had to offer.

"Ah... There’s nothing interesting here. I thought it would be cool, just like I imagined when I read this novel back then."

Haruki suddenly remembered that he had a class to attend. He hurried back to the dormitory and noticed that the bathrooms, which had been crowded earlier, were now starting to empty out.

"Damn it, I need to hurry if I want to make it to class!"

Haruki quickly washed up before heading straight to his room to put on his academy uniform. He didn’t see Philip anywhere and assumed that his roommate had already gone to class.

In a panic, Haruki sprinted toward the classroom. When he arrived, he saw Lukas already teaching.

"Where the hell have you been, you idiot?"

"Damn it... I’m screwed..."

The lesson continued, with Haruki being punished by having to stand outside the classroom. Inside, Vila occasionally laughed at the sight of Haruki being punished. Meanwhile, Haruki, who was standing outside, would sometimes mock Lukas while he was teaching.

"Oh, right... I haven’t seen Philip in class either."

"Did that idiot skip class again?"

"Who are you calling an idiot?"

Philip suddenly appeared beside Haruki, holding a loaf of bread he had somehow managed to get his hands on.

"Where the hell did you come from, Philip?"

"I just stole some bread from the cafeteria. Want some?"

"Just keep it."

Philip didn’t say much after that. He opened the classroom door and walked inside before closing it behind him. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and Lukas threw Philip out.

"Keep your best friend company, Philip."

And just like that, the two of them were now serving their punishment together outside the classroom.

Inside, a blond-haired male student was watching them.

"That Haruki kid’s aura... It’s different from everyone else’s~"

Vila noticed him staring and immediately asked,

"What are you looking at, Magnus?"

"Ah! It’s nothing, Vila!"

"That’s suspicious."

"Hehe, don’t stare at me like that, Vila. You’re scaring me."

After their brief conversation, the students were finally allowed to go eat or take a short break somewhere else.

Haruki and Philip immediately rushed to the cafeteria to buy the bread that was popular among the students.

"I want that bread first!!"

"There’s no way I’m letting you have it, Haruki!"

The two raced toward the bread, fighting over the last remaining loaf. However, before either of them could grab it, a male student appeared out of nowhere, took the bread, and paid for it.

"Damn it!!! This is all your fault, Philip!"

"Huh?! Mine?! You’re the one who kept getting in my way, you know?!"

"Come on, you two. Stop arguing..."

The student split the bread into three pieces and handed one piece each to Haruki and Philip, keeping the remaining piece for himself.

The three of them sat at a table in the cafeteria. Haruki and Philip ate their bread with expressions of pure delight.

"The cafeteria’s bread really is the best!" Philip and Haruki exclaimed in unison.

"You two really are alike."

"We are NOT alike!" they both protested.

Shortly afterward, Vila arrived with food for the three of them.

"Eating just a small piece of bread isn’t enough. Here, have some of this."

"You didn’t have to go through all that trouble, Vila," Magnus said.

"You’re being a real pain!"

Not long after that, Vila’s friends called out to her, so she left the three of them behind.

"Oh, right... Who are you?" Philip asked.

Magnus and Haruki were both slightly taken aback by Philip’s question.

"H-Hey... He’s our classmate, you idiot! His name is Magnus."

"Really? I’ve never seen him before."

"That’s because you spend most of your time skipping classes," Magnus replied.

"Ugh... That hurts... But I guess you’re right."

The bell rang, signaling that it was time for the students to return to class and continue their lessons.

Throughout the remaining classes, Haruki, who was seated behind Magnus, kept glancing at him.

Magnus Stein... A cheerful and friendly guy... But when he gets serious... his bloodlust takes over...

"Is something wrong, Haruki?"

"Ugh! It’s nothing, Magnus!"

Once the school day was over, everyone returned to their dormitories, leaving only Haruki behind, who had fallen asleep in class.

"So... School’s over already? Why the hell didn’t anyone wake me up?"

Haruki got up and left the classroom. Having just woken up, he decided to stop by the training grounds for a while.

However, when he arrived, he noticed a student standing in the middle of the field, holding a wooden sword.

Numerous training dummies surrounded the student.

The student suddenly moved at incredible speed, striking the training dummies with several swift attacks. Within moments, every single one of them fell simultaneously.

Just as the student approached Haruki, the system displayed a notification warning him that the student intended to attack him.

"Oi, you’ve got to be kidding me!" Haruki exclaimed.

Haruki quickly drew his broken dagger and successfully blocked the student’s attack.

"Haruki? What are you doing here? I thought you were one of the training dummies, so I attacked you. Hehe."

"Magnus? I swear, that wasn’t funny at all..."