Chapter 6: Sweet Names and Sweeter Bonds

“Elysia?”

“Yes~ What is it, Celian?”

I quickly scan her face in response to Celian’s call.

Her voice was about three degrees colder than usual when she called me just now. It might be nothing, but there’s no harm in being cautious.

Her eyebrows are raised about five degrees higher than usual. Her lips still hold the usual kind smile. But her eyes… they’re not like the clear sky… they’re more like the deep, deep sea?!

The dimples! Are the dimples she shows when she genuinely smiles there!?

They’re not!!!

Emergency! Emergency!!!

This is Celian Pattern 3!

That face definitely shows some dissatisfaction! Celian is truly scary when she looks like this!

I’d rather Anne slap me a few times than face Celian’s icy voice. It attacks my soul directly!

Ah, where are you, Anne! Don’t leave me alone!

But Anne went off with Ian to the cafeteria, so she’s not here right now.

“Elysia?”

Celian called my name again, still with that faint smile on her face. Um, Celian? You’re smiling with your lips, but do you know your eyes aren’t smiling at all? If you looked in the mirror, even you would be surprised!

“Yes, the Elysia you’re looking for is right here, Celian!”

But as a professional assassin, I must never let my thoughts show on my face! I replied in my usual cheerful tone, trying not to upset Celian.

“Elysia?”

But Celian called me again, as if she hadn’t heard my reply.

The chances of Celian suddenly going deaf when we were just having a normal conversation a moment ago? If I were to calculate it, it’s about 0.01 percent. It’s highly unlikely.

Ahaha, Celian. If you suddenly couldn’t hear, of course you’d be anxious, right? That’s why, right? Shall we go to the temple for some healing magic? I can escort you there right now!

…Father, wherever you are! If you can see me, give me the answer!

I have no idea how to handle Celian in this situation.

I swear, trying to conquer Celian right now is a hundred times harder than conquering the Demon King’s castle.

If someone asked me to bring back the Demon King’s head right now, I could do it before my tea gets cold!

“Why aren’t you answering, Elysia?”

“S-sorry!”

Ack! In my rush to answer quickly, I bit my tongue and broke my poker face.

There’s no time to feel pain. I need to figure out why Celian is upset before her mood gets even worse.

What mistake did I make with Celian?

Was it when I replied 0.4 seconds slower than usual when she greeted me this morning? Or was it when I accidentally invaded her desk space by about 0.8cm during class earlier?

Or… could it be… that?

No, it must be that. There’s no way Celian would be this angry over anything else.

I must’ve been crazy. It was obvious I’d get caught, yet I still did that…

I immediately bowed my head to Celian and confessed.

“I’m sorry, Celian. About the candy you told me to help myself to last time… I pretended to take just one, but I actually took two! It was just too delicious…!”

Considering how expensive that candy must’ve been, it’s no wonder Celian is upset. Taking two at once was too much!

But back in my assassin days, I couldn’t even imagine snacking like this. The guild was so poor that I had no immunity to delicious food.

When it came to training my patience, I only experienced torture like bending my fingers or pulling out a nail or two. I never even dreamed of resisting temptation.

I cautiously raised my head to gauge Celian’s mood.

There was a glimmer of sharpness in Celian’s eyes! Reading her expression, she looked utterly flabbergasted!

Pattern 3 ended!

Just as a true hero (candidate) who saves the world would do, I sincerely apologized, and she showed mercy by forgiving me.

“Ha… You can eat as many candies as you want.”

She didn’t just say it; Celian immediately took a candy and placed it directly in my mouth.

Ugh~ So sweet! And delicious!

“I’m not talking about candy, you know?”

I flinched.

“The candy talk… wasn’t it…? ”

Feeling the sugar from the candy quickly wearing off, I rapidly racked my brain.

If it’s not that, then what on earth is the problem?

What did I even do, past me!

“What are you doing even now, future me!”

Celian’s lips slightly pouted.

“Why are you using honorifics with me, Elysia?”

?

“Well, because you’re Celian?”

“What does that mean!? Weren’t you and I friends?”

Father, who ignored my request, can you hear this? Celian acknowledged me as a friend.

“But don’t you also use honorifics…?”

“I normally talk like this! I use honorifics even when talking to others! But Elysia, why do you speak informally with Anne and other classmates while using honorifics only with me?”

Now that I think about it, I was already speaking informally with the entire class. The only exception was, as she said, when talking to Celian.

“Well… because you’re special to me?”

Celian is someone I have to be extra careful with.

I must avoid doing anything that might upset her, so naturally, I couldn’t help but keep using honorifics.

“Eck! Ah? Ack!”

Teacher, Celian is malfunctioning. She suddenly started making some strange noises.

Celian, who had her head down and was making weird sounds, abruptly raised her head.

“While being treated specially is nice, it creates a distance… I understand that Elysia thinks of me specially! So please, speak informally with me.”

Done.

“Okay, got it. Celian. Is this good enough?”

If that’s what my Celian wants, then I should oblige.

However, even with my response, Celian seemed displeased and stretched her delicate fingers to grab my sleeve, pulling it insistently.

“Celie…”

“Huh?”

“Please call me Celie instead of Celian.”

Now that I think about it, I believe she said something like that during our first meeting. Close friends call her by that nickname.

“Okay! Celie!”

Finally, I felt a deep, sincere smile well up inside me at being recognized by Celian.

“Hey! You don’t have a nickname for Celian at home, do you?”

“Elysia~ Celian~”

Ta-da~ Anne returned from the snack shop, holding a bag that looked unfamiliar.

Anne proudly shook it in front of me, then tore open the bag to reveal something small and neat.

With her tiny, delicate hands, Anne picked it up and immediately popped it into my mouth.

Is it jelly today?

“How is it? What does it taste like?”

Since the last outing when she fed me cake, Anne had enjoyed feeding me just like Celian did.

At first, it was small items like candy, chocolate, and jelly, but at some point, it turned into a competition between the two of them, getting a bit out of hand.

They would offer me bites of bread, or share their side dishes during lunch, and so on.

Both of them, thinking that the former assassin I am would be weak against food, were actually spot on in knowing me all too well.

As I mentioned earlier, I am weak when it comes to delicious food.

Given that the financial situation of the assassin guild I belonged to was quite poor, I only had tasteless food to eat daily.

“But what were you two talking about?”

It seemed Anne was curious about the enjoyable conversation between me and Celian.

While asking, Anne continued to pull jelly from the bag, giving one to herself, one to me, one to Celian, one to me again, one to me again, one to me again…

“Ummph!”

“Ahaha! Elysia, what are you doing~? You look so funny!”

Is this some new form of teasing? The way she laughs after setting this up is infuriating.

For such a naughty girl, I’ll have to tickle her.

Tickle, tickle.

Even if she looks like a girl on the outside, having a male essence inside, it’s a bit perverted that she’s tickling a girl’s side, but with Anne, it feels just about safe.

Anne feels more like an adorable little sister than a girl my age. So, it’s okay.

“Hehe! Hihihi! Stop! I’m sorry, so just stop…”

Finding it amusing that she was making weird sounds beyond just laughter, I continued tickling her.

Hahaha!

Don’t you dare look down on me again! If I get serious…

Pow!

“Ugh!”

That perfect right-hand straight I saw from Anne once…

Fortunately, she only threw one punch, but she continued to slap my back with her palm.

Wait a minute. I just got hit in the solar plexus. Really… I feel like I’m going to…

“Ugh!”

***

Fortunately, I didn’t make the mistake of throwing up. It was thanks to Anne stopping her slaps as soon as I started to gag.

Is it really thanks to her?

Anyway, I decided to let the tickling and Anne hitting me cancel each other out.

Although Anne had played a prank by stuffing my mouth with jelly, it was still fine since the jelly was delicious.

Returning to the original conversation, I said,
“Right~ Celian?”

Haha! How about that! I’ve received a nickname from Celian!

Anne, I’m not someone you can look down on!

“That’s right, El.”

?

“If it’s El… does that mean me?”

“Yes. Since it’s Elysia, El. Or would you prefer Ellie…?”

Well, since I decided to call her Celian, it wouldn’t be wrong for her to use a nickname for me too.

However, Ellie feels a bit too similar to Celian, so it’s a little embarrassing.

“No, just El is fine!”

“Hehe. Then from now on, shall I call you El?”

“Wait! What’s this?! Why are you two just doing this while I was away?!”

Waving her arms in the air, Anne tackled me.

“I’m gonna! I’m gonna call you that too! Celian! El! Celian! El! Celian! El!”

Anne shouted our nicknames repeatedly. Then, as if she noticed something, her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth in shock.

“I… I don’t have a nickname…! Anne… if I shorten Anne… if I shorten it…”

It’s a whole other story how Anne and I spent quite a while trying to soothe her after that.