However, enjoyable times always come to an end, and once the fun is over, the headache inducing cleanup begins.
Just like how after playing all day in the playground, covered in dirt, you have to shower and do laundry.
Just like how after cooking and eating a delicious meal, you have to wash the dishes.
After resolving an anomaly, you have to deal with the aftermath.
Honestly, it was unfair.
This bizarre phenomenon wasn’t even my fault.
But what could I do?
Once my excitement had somewhat faded and I was lying on the floor, Elaine helped me up.
Perhaps because of the grotesque creature’s hide covering my body, Elaine hadn’t noticed the state of my arms— until she saw them, completely twisted.
She let out a scream so loud I worried my eardrums might rupture, her voice trembling with shock.
“Kyaaah!! Teacher! Your arms…! Your arms!!”
“Ah! Don’t touch them! Don’t touch them!”
With her support, I barely managed to sit up.
Despite having resolved the crisis, I found myself burdened with even more thoughts than before.
“…More importantly, the problem’s solved, but how do we handle this disaster? All the grotesque creatures that had been hiding by replacing humans have melted away, so from everyone else’s perspective, it’ll look like hundreds of students and faculty vanished in an instant.”
“Ah…”
At this rate, not only would we fail to prevent the academy’s downfall, but I wasn’t even sure if it could continue operating.
I had been too late.
And my arms— they had definitely been twisted 720 degrees.
Forget healing the injuries— would I even be able to use them again?
On top of that, there was one more pressing issue that had just been added to my plate.
“Observation, huh…”
As I muttered to myself, a semi-transparent window appeared before my eyes once more, as if responding to me.
[Observation]
Interpret the essence of a target with keen insight.
The depth of observation deepens with logical reasoning and a higher understanding of the subject.
It was a form I knew all too well.
“…A status window?”
It was unmistakably a status window.
“What’s that? Are you okay, Teacher? Are you really okay?”
Elaine looked at me with concern as I stared into empty space— unable to see what I was seeing.
She must have been worried that my mind had been affected by wearing the corpse of that grotesque creature.
But I was too preoccupied with the status window floating before me to respond to her.
…Why had a status window appeared?
As far as I knew, this world’s common sense didn’t include status windows or stat sheets— those were fantasy elements.
If such convenient tools had existed, I wouldn’t have had to recklessly charge in like this.
The only explanation I could think of was…
“A reward for defeating the monster?”
Logically speaking, this status window must have appeared because Elaine and I had resolved the bizarre phenomenon.
If an unrealistic situation had unfolded, there must be an unrealistic reason behind it.
[By resolving urban legends, you can purify the grotesque and obtain wishes.]
[By absorbing wishes, you can awaken or enhance gifts.]
As if confirming my deduction, another window appeared.
So this is a gift?
To my knowledge, gifts weren’t abilities that could be awakened after birth.
They were powers only a rare few were born with.
And I was one of the majority of humans who were not born with a Gift.
Was this an ability that could be acquired later?
No, more than that— a status window-like, utterly fantastical ability was completely different from the common understanding of Gifts I knew…
“Professor! Professor!!”
My thoughts were shattered by Elaine’s urgent voice calling out to me.
She wore an expression that looked like she was on the verge of tears as she watched me muttering to myself.
For now, I had to stop my thoughts and reassure her.
“I’m fine. Well, not entirely fine, but at least my mind is intact.”
“That’s not it— the room, the room is strange!!”
“Wait. So you weren’t worried about me…?”
“Just look over there!!”
That’s… a little disappointing.
As I was about to express my hurt feelings, I followed her pointing finger and stared at the inside of the storage room, at a loss for words.
The room was glowing faintly.
The light disappeared as Elaine and I stared blankly, but after it faded, the storage room somehow felt more… alive.
“You can see this too, right? Please tell me this isn’t still happening…”
At the undeniable anomaly, despair and fear bloomed on her face.
The fear that this loop might not have ended even after defeating the monster suspected to be the cause.
“No. That’s not it.”
But my thoughts were different.
This bizarre time loop had ended the moment we defeated that grotesque entity.
The fact that my Gift had manifested was proof of that.
Which meant this glowing storage room was undoubtedly…
“This is probably the reward— or the spoils— for defeating this urban legend.”
I was right.
[Memory]
This clubroom holds the wish of someone who longed for the happy, joyful times to never fade.
This place was once distorted and corrupted by the grotesque.
Twisted by the grotesque, this clubroom and its owner endlessly repeated the same day, blocking the arrival of tomorrow and warping the academy’s people into grotesque beings like themselves.
Now, purified by defeating the urban legend, it has returned to a form imbued with a pure wish.
By expending this wish, you may return to those joyful, happy memories of the past.
Once again, the status window appeared before my eyes.
Perhaps because my reasoning had been correct?
My Observation activated, providing me with information about this room.
I was starting to get a sense of how to use Observation.
More than that— a wish for the happy times to never end…
To think that the true culprit behind all this was such a simple, pure-hearted desire.
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Professor Allen? Did you figure something out?”
“Most of it. At the very least, it’s not dangerous.”
“Whew… That’s a relief.”
At my words, Elaine let out a sigh of relief without a trace of doubt.
“More importantly, it looks like we might have a way to clean up the mess this academy has become.”
“A way to resolve this situation? Is that even possible? Honestly, even with Professor Ellen’s wealth and authority, it seems impossible…”
“Hah. That’s not what I meant…”
Her naive response made me laugh unintentionally.
“An otherworldly problem… requires an otherworldly solution.”
As I said that, I reached my hand toward the center of the storage room—no, the clubroom.
“Aah! My arm! My arm!!”
“Professor Allen! Why did you suddenly try to raise your hand…?!”
….
I gave up reaching out and just focused my mind.
Happy and joyful memories.
Excluding the time swept up in bizarre phenomena, it had only been my first day at Everlight Academy, so there was no way I could have such memories.
Yet, I earnestly wished in my heart.
To return to everyday life.
To the academy as it was before the bizarre phenomena took hold.
Though invisible, I could feel something being consumed.
“Uh, Professor! Something’s weird! Professor! Professor Alle—”
[Relic: Memories has been activated. Returning to the saved point in time.]
Flash!
A dazzling light burst forth from the clubroom.
The light that erupted soon enveloped the entire world.
And then——.
.
.
.
Beep beep
Beep beep
An alarm clock, a patented product of Allen & Co., several steps ahead of the technological level of the pre-modern era of Hipnia.
Unconsciously, I swatted at the alarm clock to silence its wake-up call.
Being prone to oversleeping, I rubbed my bleary eyes and rose from bed.
Sitting dazedly on the bed, I dozed off for a moment before suddenly snapping awake.
I immediately checked both my hands.
They were clean, untouched—no wounds, let alone any distortions.
Next, I opened the wardrobe to inspect my suit.
The clothes inside were also pristine, without a single tear or blemish from the battles against the bizarre entities.
At that realization, I smiled.
Later, when I arrived at the academy during commute hours, students greeted me warmly.
Among them were a few familiar faces.
The students who had acted strangely and threatened me—the bizarre ones.
Now, they simply greeted me normally.
“Professor Allen. Good morning.”
“Good morning, Professor Lydia.”
Perhaps our arrival times coincided— Lydia spotted me and shyly offered a greeting.
“Um, today is my second day at the academy. If you have any difficulties, please let me know. I’ll do my best to help. Oh, and thank you so much for what you said in the faculty room yesterday— that I’m a good teacher. I forgot to thank you properly yesterday…”
“Huh? Oh, no, I was just saying what I honestly thought.”
Through my conversation with Lydia, I confirmed that the current point in time was the day after my first arrival at the academy.
To be precise, it was the day following the initial loop I remembered.
Though it was just the day before, it felt like an eternity ago, and for a moment, I couldn’t recall what I had said in the faculty room.
As I exchanged pleasantries with Lydia and was about to enter the academy, I spotted Elaine watching me from a distance.
“Ah, excuse me for a moment. There’s somewhere I need to stop by before heading to the faculty room.”
“O-oh! Of course, take your time!”
Leaving the flustered Lydia behind, I approached Elaine, who was glaring at me with a pout.
“That’s so unfair! If you had a method like this, you should’ve told me sooner!”
“Hahaha. Don’t be too hard on me. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure it would work until I tried it. If I’d confidently claimed I could turn back time and then failed, wouldn’t that have been awkward?”
“…Why are you suddenly speaking formally?”
“Other students are watching. Gotta maintain my image.”
“…Ugh.”
At my words, she gave me a look as if she’d seen right through me.
Though her attitude was entirely playful.
“Heheh. More importantly, Miss Elaine. Are you alright?”
“Huh? I’m fine. Nothing hurts, and I’m perfectly normal.”
“Not that— I meant skipping class. Didn’t you climb over the wall to skip yesterday? Cutting class on your very first day at the academy… As the homeroom teacher of Class A, I’m worried about having a delinquent in my class.”
“What? What are you— Huh? Wait. Don’t tell me…”
The point I had rewound time to was midnight of the first day I remembered—the day I first met Elaine as she tried to climb over the wall.
Back then, she had claimed she had no classes, but in truth, she had been skipping to escape the bizarre humans.
Realizing this, Elaine turned pale and clung to me.
“P-professor! Please, just one more time— turn back time one more time!”
“Hahaha. See, you should’ve attended class properly. Come on, Miss Elaine. First period is about to start. Let’s head in.”
I teased her leisurely as we entered the academy.
And so, the first day at the academy truly ended.
The second day at the academy had begun.