Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull!

For a moment, I felt like a kid getting scolded for doing the most stupid thing in the world.

Actually, it turns out that the legendary mirror was just a regular mirror, so I guess he wasn’t wrong….

The fact that I felt like looking for a rat hole out of embarrassment was a very minor problem.

I averted my gaze in embarrassment and said bluntly, “I’m not going to tell you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not really going to tell me? You know, I’m your best friend?” Kyle said, sounding upset. 

My mouth dropped open at Kyle’s audacious behavior.

“You’ve been ignoring me, too, Kyle.”

“When have I?”

“Earlier on stage, when we made eye contact and you refused to accept my cheers.”

And is that all? Even when I went to him to make amends, he avoided me.

Kyle was silent for a moment. I’m sure there are things that sting, too. I’ve never lied to you.

So, I’m not going to let it go until you apologize to me first–

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I’m sorry.”

Kyle apologized again at once.

I guess people can get dazed when they’re too surprised. I just looked at him, lost for words.

“I didn’t mean to make you think that, but I certainly acted like it. I… I heard the cheering, and I’m sorry I didn’t respond.”

What? Had he suddenly grown up?

“I’m sorry if I made Vivi feel bad.”

Did he suddenly become a real grown-up?

I’d spent a lot of time with Kyle, and not once in all that time had he ever made the effort to bow first to me.

I’d always been the one to approach him again, or we’d have an argument and move on.

“Will you accept my apology?”

And an honest apology at that.

“Sure.”

I coughed in disbelief at how easily I accepted his apology.

Funnily enough, though, all my anger melted away when Kyle walked in with his head down.

Hmmm.

Oh my.

I covered the corner of my mouth that was about to rise with my fingertips.

Yeah. Kyle was remorseful.

Let’s be nice.

“Don’t do that again, okay?”

“Okay.”

We shook hands in reconciliation.

I wish it had ended that way, but Kyle was more persistent than I thought.

“So now can you tell me why you’re here?”

“Huh?”

“What was that thing you guys decided to do that made you leave me out of it?”

Despite the subtle question in his voice, his gaze was fixed on the mirror behind me.

He was asking me, but didn’t he already know? It was a legend that only I was unaware of in the first place.

I was embarrassed to answer because I had mistakenly assumed that Kyle was coming out of the mirror.

Conflicted, I finally spoke in a voice as small as an ant’s crawl.

“I came to look in that mirror.”

“The mirror?”

“Yeah….”

Whether I was right about him knowing the legend or not, Kyle didn’t ask me why I wanted to see a mirror.

It felt bad, knowing, and asking.

“Who showed up?”

I remained silent. This was something I could never talk about.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Kyle would make fun of me for the next ten years if I told him I mistook him for Kyle.

When I didn’t answer, Kyle’s expression sank.

“Was it him?”

I was still processing his question when Kyle asked it again. 

“Was that him?”

“Eh?” I finally stuttered. 

“Was it Daniel?”

“What? No!”

“Then why aren’t you answering? If it’s not him, then who is it?”

“Well, it’s….”

Kyle stood in the doorway, as if he wasn’t going to back down until he got an answer.

If I were to push, I might be able to get through, but then he’d throw another tantrum. And then we’d have to repeat the pointless fight all over again.

Ugh….

I don’t want to do that.

Eventually, I threw up both my metaphorical hands and my feet in surrender.

“No one appeared, and that mirror is fake. I could only see my face, and then Kyle came along and… and then I saw your face.”

Stripped bare, I felt completely tattered. I waited patiently for Kyle’s sneer, but it never came.

I cautiously lifted my head, nervous. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d mind if he laughed at me. After all, I’d just gotten myself into this whole mess by falling for some schoolyard myth.

Maybe that’s why.

“Me?”

I wasn’t expecting Kyle to have a strangely satisfied look on his face.

What? He was practically as happy as when I gave him his first sword, right?

Cautiously, I called Kyle’s name.

“Kyle?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Kyle casually wiped the look off his face. He returned to his expressionless face, but I had already seen the gap.

Kyle stroked his chin and slowly opened his mouth.

“I want to see it. No, let’s watch it together.”

“What?”

Kyle pulled me closer to the mirror.

I was dragged along with him, hand in hand.

We soon stood side by side in front of the mirror.

Beyond the mirror, I could see our reflection.

I had already seen for myself that the legends surrounding the mirror were fake.

But even so, it was strangely exciting to see Kyle’s face on the other side. Our clasped hands tickled, as if someone had tickled my palm with a feather.

I silently searched Kyle’s eyes.

Kyle was quiet. His gaze was focused.

For a moment, I wondered if the mirror was actually real and showing him a different reflection.

Normally, I’d have waved him off as a joke…. In this moment, somehow, I knew I shouldn’t.

Boom, boom-!

A huge explosion sounded. Through the open window, fireworks, the highlight of the Arene Academy’s spring festival, were exploding.

The colorful fireworks that lit up the night sky were brilliant and beautiful, as they had been painstakingly created by the students of the Magic Department.

Our hands were warm.

‘Maybe I’ll never forget this moment,’ I thought absentmindedly.

***

After the excitement of the festival, it was time to get back to studying.

I stared at the revised version of my paper on my large desk.

“I should pass this time.”

I had all the necessary points and had passed my graduation exams.

Now there was only one gateway left to graduation: a decent thesis.

My major professor told me that if I wrote a good thesis, I would definitely graduate.

The problem is, writing a solid thesis is hard.

Having already failed a few times, I had no choice but to use what I knew.

I’m telling you, it’s a force majeure. I have to graduate; I can’t stay in the academy forever.

“Sorry. I’m a little late.”

The sound of a bag being set down made me look up. I glanced over at the other person, who was making an apologetic face.

“No, it’s okay. Welcome, Daniel.”

I really needed him for this thesis, and I’d been waiting a while for him.

All of the ideas I was going to use in my thesis were originally published by Daniel in the book.

I felt very, very bad about stealing his ideas, but…… isn’t that a perk of being a possessor?

At least I couldn’t covet the hair loss pills with a clean conscience.

That’s yours, Daniel!

Daniel apologized for being late and bought me an iced tea. The cold iced tea slid down my throat through the straw.

Okay, so we’ve had our drinks. Now, shall we have a chat?

I cautiously brought up the purpose of our meeting.

“Daniel, I asked you to meet with me today.”

“Yeah.”

“To suggest that we do some collaborative research.”

Whoa. Calm down, heart, you are about to commit fraud in the presence of an original work of art.

“Collaborate?”

“Yes. A study on the correlations of ancient languages and expiration dates of magical potions, to be exact.”

Daniel raised his right eyebrow, intrigued.

It’s something he invented, something he was interested in, and he was so quick to respond.

If you ask Daniel Raston to name the first thing that comes to mind, it’s likely to be his hair loss treatment, but he’d invented a lot more than that.

He modified existing elixir formulas to create improved elixirs that effectively increased the efficacy of drugs.

He also used an ancient method of packaging potions to dramatically extend the length of their expiration date.

It’s the latter that I’m going to touch on today.

“As I’m sure you already know, Daniel, magical potions are tricky to store.”

“Indeed.”

“To compensate for that, I’m going to use an ancient language formula.”

I unfolded a sheet of paper on my desk. I didn’t remember the exact formula Daniel had developed, but I had my own, gleaned from spending the last seven years in the Ancient Languages department.

“Let’s just write down the ancient words for retention of effect and cooling….”

I rolled my fountain pen over the sheet of paper.

“If I weave this into a looping sentence and make it repeat infinitely….”

Once you put magic into it to start it up, you’ve got yourself an ancient language code that can start it up infinitely.

“Ho-ho.”

I frantically wrote down the ancient words I had memorized to be able to act in the presence of the real creator.

Suddenly, I heard Daniel’s voice very close to me.

I glanced up to see him standing next to me, bent over, concentrating on the formula I was writing.