Turn Around and Face Me! 06

People, the World, and the Reasons for my Headache

※Told from Rei Taylor’s perspective.

The door to the headmistress’ office was both sturdy and grand, befitting of the individual it belonged to. The feedback my hand felt as I knocked was pleasant.

“It’s open… Oh, Rei-sensei, is something the matter?”
“No, I just wanted to come by and say good work and congratulate you for making the first day of this new semester a success.”
“Yes, thank you for your work as well. It looks like the students we’ve gathered this year will be quite the handful as well.”

As she spoke, Claire shrugged as she sat at her desk with a troubled smile.

“In comparison to the Institute, it does seem the students that choose our academy are much more ambitious. On top of that, Alea and Mei will be here too.”
“Yes, my head hurts just thinking about that…”

Claire sprawled her upper body across her desk. I understood how she felt.

“I’m sure things will sort themselves out. Let’s believe in our daughters.”
“Quite the optimist, aren’t you, Rei-sensei.”
“Headmistress Claire, you’re the one that’s far too pessimistic.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Why yes, I do.”
“Perhaps you’re right.”

As we exchanged words, Claire’s expression softened. I’d been by her side for more than ten years now, but even now… Whenever I gaze upon her, I can’t help but be struck by her beauty. And I don’t just mean physical beauty, but the dignified way she carried herself, her inner beauty. All of it.

“But wow, that was quite the bold dorm assignment. I never thought you’d group Alea and Mei with Simone… Though I do understand why you’d want Lily with them.”
“When you think about it, this really was our only choice.”

After a big sigh, Claire continued.

“Alea and Mei will always find themselves in some sort of trouble sooner or later, Simone unfortunately carries a lot of baggage with her due to her ancestry. Rather than splitting them up, I believe it’s best we keep them together and have LIly look after them too.”
“For all intents and purposes, Lily is there to act as their babysitter then.”
“Well, that’s not all though.”

Wondering what she meant, I urged her to continue with my gaze. Claire stood and turned to look out through the window.

“Lily herself is carrying her own share of burdens, right?”
“Is that how you see her, Headmistress? I thought maybe enough time had passed already.”
“Considering her personality, that may be what she claims, or even tries to believe. However, in reality… I’m sure her sins continue to torment her, even now. That’s how it appears to me.”
“… She does have quite the troublesome personality.”
“I mean, it’s not like we’re all that much better.”
“But well, to the very least, we have each other.”
“… Rei-sensei, we’re still at the academy”
“Ah, but the school day’s long over.”

With that, I approached Claire and hugged her from behind as she continued to look out the window. Claire struggled against my embrace at first, but when she realized I didn’t have any naughty intentions, she openly accepted it.

“How do you perceive Alea and them?”
“They’ve formed a love triangle of their own.”
“So we’re seeing the same thing then.”
“It may not be right for me to say as the very object of Lily’s affections, but I believe that she needs to discover new love.”

It had all happened more than ten years ago now, but there was a time where Lily was caught between her faith and her sexuality. While the Spirit Church approved of gay marriage now, at the time, it only recognized heterosexual marriage. There were many nuns who gossiped about Lily behind her back, and I had the opportunity to explain that there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with homosexuality. Lily happened to be there to witness that, and her love for me blossomed.

Even back then, I was only interested in Claire, but Lily was too stubborn and refused to give up. No matter how much time had passed―even now that Claire and I were married―Lily’s feelings remained fixed on me. The fact that she loved me so much was an honor, but when she suggested that she’d be okay even just as my mistress, I had no choice but to retort and call her out as an ex-cardinal.

“I’d really like it if Alea’s love came to fruition. But at this point, that seems rather difficult.”
“From Lily’s perspective, she must see Alea as more of a daughter or a little sister.”
“If anything, as far as I can see, it seems she’s more interested in Mei.”
“Mei?”
“Yes, though I can’t say I understand why.”

Claire had a rather sharp intuition when it came to matters like this. Instinct―no, that wasn’t quite it. In her case, she had made a logical deduction of sorts, but the rabbit hole had gone so deep that she couldn’t explain her thought process with words. Even so, I knew most of the time her deductions were right on the mark.

“Then what about Mei?”
“Well, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you.”
“… Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.”
“I absolutely agree. If it becomes necessary, I’ll see if I can’t consult Lene for advice.”

Lene was a girl who once served as Claire’s maid from a young age. She had, unfortunately, fallen in love with her brother. Now, they were Simone’s adoptive parents.

“Simone too has her own troubles to deal with…”
“Considering what she’s gone through, she’s fortunately grown into a very honest… but perhaps uptight, little girl. I hope that a little of Alea’s carefree optimism will rub off on her…”
“And, even if only here in our academy, we could provide a safe space where Simone could feel comfortable, that would be for the best… However―”
“Yeah, it’s not going to be easy.”

Even though our final battle with the Demon Queen had come to an end more than ten years ago, casualties as a result of monster attacks continued to plague humanity. Not only that, but both Claire and I knew that fact would never change. After all, that was a core part of how the system this world operated on was designed.

“We still haven’t come to a decision on what to do about the Loop System’s Administrator privileges either.”
“… I thought I more than understood just how troublesome politics could be, but… As this is a matter that concerns all of humanity, it’s not something we can afford to be careless with.”

The endless repetition of a magical world and a scientific world, with each counterbalancing and healing the effects of the other―that was the system that underlay our world, and Claire was the one who now held the administrative privileges. We both understood we couldn’t leave such important privileges in the hands of a single individual, but we were having difficulty deciding what course of action would be best for humanity’s future.

“When you mentioned the United Nations that existed in your world to me, I thought it would be okay if we could form such an organization but…”
“Now that the influence of the Naa Empire has waned, other countries are pushing more strongly for their own self interests. As a result, it’s been difficult uniting people under a common cause.”

In the past, the empress of the Naa Empire, Dorothea, enacted very aggressive foreign policies. The Empire invaded other countries and conquered them one after another, resulting in an alliance to stand against her. However, now that Dorothea had passed and the current empress, Philine, chose to implement peaceful foreign policies, international order had actually become harder to maintain.

“How ironic that it would actually be more difficult to negotiate during times of peace than during times of war.”
“If it comes to it, what if we asked Philine to become the next big bad?”
“Don’t be silly.”
“I know, I know…”

I got a swift whack on the head. She knew I was playing around, so it didn’t actually hurt, but I played along and made it look like it did.

“Philine’s started the operation tests on her teleportation gates too…”
“I believe those will have a positive effect, don’t you agree? They’ve been in development for a while, but the technology should make the world feel smaller, closer.”

That should be true, but I couldn’t help but feel worried. The gates were made using technology from a science loop unearthed in an excavation within the Naa Empire, but the details weren’t entirely clear. I couldn’t help but feel worried about using this technology that we didn’t truly understand. But the more I thought about it, magic itself could also be considered a black box.

“There’s a mountain of problems to address, both large and small.”
“Well, we don’t have a choice but to tackle what we can, one by one.”
“You’re right.”

With that, I let Claire free from my embrace. It seemed Claire was done for the day and began to pack up. I was about to leave for the faculty office to do the same―and then I remembered.

“Come to think of it, isn’t there something we’re forgetting? Claire?”
“What is it?”

Claire’s expression made her confusion clear. She’s just so darn cute.

“Shouldn’t you thank me? You know, show your appreciation for your beloved wife who’s worked so hard today?”
“… Tonight, I’ll be sure to give you that appreciation, so be a good girl for now.”
“I will~”

Well, I had no intention to just sit back and content myself being on the receiving end, but just the act of forming a “promise” in and of itself improved my mood. At this point, even I had to be aware of how simple-minded I was.

“Alright, see you at the academy’s doors?”
“Mmhm.”
“Claire?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“Yes, I love yo… Cut it out! Not while we’re at work!”

Leaving Claire and her blushing cheeks behind, I hurried to the faculty office.

---

Translator Note: I really appreciate getting this chapter so that we have a bit more context about how the world has changed since the end of ILTV, and I suppose how some things haven’t changed, haha. Rei dropping the “-sama” honorific is really cute to see as well.

I’m just gonna say it but those teleportation gates are sus.

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