The Gloomy and Timid Princess Heads to the Academy

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Suddenly, when she slammed the door and glared at me, I genuinely thought I was about to be eaten.

That gaze was undeniably the look of a predator eyeing its prey. I knew it was unlikely, yet my body instinctively froze.

I was feeling a twinge of anxiety that I might be harmed, until she suddenly buried her nose in my hand and rubbed her head against it.

Realizing she was actually after the catnip and not me, I breathed a sigh of relief at the sensation of her fur against my skin.

At least it was like that until I figured out that she didn’t react at all when I called her name.

The effect was outstanding.

No, let me correct that. It was excessively outstanding, to the point where I wondered if she might have gotten it wrong.

“Hoyun! Hoyun! What’s wrong?! Are you okay?”

I was trying to seek forgiveness after calming her down; this wasn’t how I meant it to go.

She kept rubbing her head on my hand, showing no sign of hearing me call her name.

But I couldn’t recklessly pull away, so it was best to keep calling her name and hope she regained her senses.

Perhaps my thoughts reached her, as she finally showed some reaction, but her condition was worse than I expected.

Her eyes were glazed over, her face was flushed, and she was panting heavily, stumbling around as if she couldn’t regain her balance.

I couldn’t say it was okay just to reassure her.

“…Yeah. I’m fine. Just feeling a bit good…”

Now I noticed her speech was slurred. I did intend for this, but I never anticipated it would get to this point.

I thought it would simply have an effect akin to alcohol, and in the original story, it had just that effect, so I gave it to her lightly.

But this felt like I had given her some kind of drug. I had never experienced it firsthand, but I assumed it was something like this.

How am I supposed to clean this up?

Time will probably restore everything naturally, but it was uncertain whether this was addictive.

Besides, I didn’t even know how catnip affected feline hybrids, so there didn’t seem to be anything I could do.

…It was a done deal now, and if I couldn’t help it, I should at least finish what I had started properly.

“…You’re feeling good?”

“…Yeah.”

Her response was much slower than usual. At this point, she might just let anything happen without resistance.

However, I had no desire to act foolishly. No, I should push her away even if she lunged at me.

Right now, she was under the influence of the substance, not acting on her own will. If it were her own will, it would be fine, but she was like this because of me, so I shouldn’t touch her.

“…So, can I think that you like it?”

“Yeah… more…”

So, I intended to refrain from touching her and just lead her to respond. Knowing her personality, she would stick to what she said.

Even if it was something said while not in full possession of her faculties.

“Well then… Hoyun.”

“Uh…?”

I couldn’t believe that this girl swaying under the influence of catnip right in front of me held the key to humanity’s future.

But no matter the appearance, she was indeed the core. The problem was that this very core seemed to be obstructing the conditions for clearing the mission.

“Can you tell me why you got mad during gym class?”

I could roughly guess the reason, but I wanted to confirm it. I hated being off the mark from assumptions.

Hoyun met my gaze and slowly blinked before speaking dully.

“…You were talking to another girl… If you date another girl… I’ll be abandoned…”

So it was because of that. Just as I feared, she was extremely possessive. She seemed afraid of losing her only friend.

“Don’t worry about it. Even if I date someone else, I’ll never neglect you. I promise.”

If that was her fear, then I just needed to instill the assurance that I wouldn’t leave.

“Don’t lie.”

…Huh? That’s not what I expected?

I was taken aback as a statement contrary to my anticipation came out, looking down at Hoyun.

Before I knew it, she had stopped rubbing her head against me and was looking straight at me.

Her eyes were still unfocused, completely devoid of light, leaving me unsure of what she was looking at, yet somehow I felt she was staring directly at me.

“If you say that… If you look away again, you’ll just be looking at other girls…”

“I don’t want that. Just look at me….”

In the middle of her speech, she collapsed onto the floor, and I couldn’t catch the end of what she was trying to say, but I understood what she meant.

She wanted me to only look at her.

…In various ways, it was worse than I thought. Both her possessiveness and her reaction to the catnip.

If something had gone wrong, I had planned to rush her to the infirmary, but she simply seemed to have passed out.

With a slight relief, I carefully picked her up and laid her on the bed.

Originally, I had thought I would take her around the Academy once she had calmed down, but with this situation, we couldn’t do anything.

Even if nothing was wrong right now, she might display some unusual reaction when she woke up, so I couldn’t leave.

That meant I had to stay here quietly until she woke up, but I wasn’t sure if that was acceptable either.

…For now, I needed to figure out what to do about the catnip.

If possible, I felt I shouldn’t give her catnip again. I decided to throw it out the window, wash my hands, and wait until she woke up.

With nothing much to do, I found myself exploring her room, and my gaze fell on a book on her desk.

Unlike the other books lying around carelessly, this one had no title and was made of a distinctly different material.

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was okay to open it. If it was a diary, that would be a huge invasion of privacy.

However, there were no signs of her waking, and more importantly, the secret that only she might know could help in getting to the happy ending, so with a slight twinge of guilt, I turned the page.

On the left was what seemed to be her handwriting, and on the right was something written by someone unknown.

The script was so different that I couldn’t even read it.

As I turned the pages without any concrete findings, I soon came across a blank page.

Just as I was about to close the book, saying it was of no use, suddenly, words started to appear on the right page.

That alone was astonishing, but what truly shocked me was that it was in a language I recognized.

– Nice to meet you, Ahya.

That was definitely Hangul.

—

My head throbbed as if I had just woken from a bad dream.

“…Ugh.”

So, I remember going to the pet store with Dokan and coming back to the dorm, but…

I couldn’t recall anything after that. I wasn’t even particularly sleepy, so why had I fallen asleep?

Looking around, I saw a pale-faced Dokan staring at me.

…What the hell? Why is that guy in my room?

“Why are you here…?”

“Uh? Why am I here…?”

Why is he responding to a question with a question? But he genuinely seemed confused.

“Did you forget what happened?”

No, I really didn’t understand what he was saying. I had just woken up, so what could I have forgotten?

Wait a minute…

“…I didn’t do anything weird, right?!”

While I was sleeping, did I grope him?!

Since I was the protagonist of a harem story, that might have been a possibility. No, wait, that’s still okay. I first needed to figure out how he got in before worrying about what I might have done.

Dokan seemed to have caught on to my train of thought, shaking his head vehemently.

“…I swear, I’ve absolutely never done that. Friends wouldn’t do that kind of thing.”

“Right…?”

Yeah. As friends, that wouldn’t happen. I must have been out of sorts for a moment.

Then, with the biggest issue settled, it was time to find out the next mystery.

“…More importantly, how did you get into my room?”

Dokan fell silent for a while. Just as I was about to ask why he was making me anxious by being quiet, he finally answered.

“The door… was open.”

The door was open?

Are you seriously asking me to believe that? But then I remembered Dokan opening his locker and entering my room without a second thought.

That’s right; there wasn’t any lock here.

This Academy, which doesn’t even put locks on dorms after taking our money, is at fault. I almost misjudged my only friend.

…He’s a bit of a goofy friend who sometimes takes wrong turns.

He flirts with other girls or acts casually with anyone.

But I still liked him because he was my friend.

It was around lunchtime, so it seemed he had come to wake me up to go eat together.

Just like I had done for him before.

Moreover, the soundproofing was terrible; he must have heard me sleeping too. I might not snore, but my sleeping habits are bad in various ways.

“Then, let’s go have lunch.”

“Lunch…?”

“…Wasn’t that why you came?”

Why was he acting so dumb? He seemed like someone whose soul had left his body.

“Oh, right. Let’s go have lunch together.”

Something felt a bit off compared to usual. I wanted to ask him if anything was wrong, but he had already stepped out of the room.