My Younger Senpais
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That evening, while playing the investment market - a tricky thing, as the money involved will start to have real-world impact and make my smartphone's results increasingly less accurate if I go too far - I hopped back onto Eversummer Days to work on a surprise for Kolya.

Alexia was running a raid with one of her infamous allies and lovers, the red-headed Warlord and 'Fool of the East' Cao Cao; would've liked to pull Kolya away, but what was I supposed to do, not play with Rana more before we got home? Hopefully her and Mona's parents won't be too upset~

I'd managed to calm the server owners down when they confronted me today (admittedly, I may have brainwashed one or two of them a bit), and lied about my plans to break the entire economy and structure through mass produced glistening oil, so now I was busy abusing rule interactions! Once Alexia was available, I invited her to my workshop (more of a castle, really, now) for a quick look at the massive construct being worked on by a vast number of Dedicated Wrights.

Selenia: It's a Warforged Colossus. I, ah, "found" it in a random dungeon, and managed to do a pilot kill. The model's been downsized because of the server limitations. I've been modifying it with upscaled Warforged components, and Etherium drops from Alaran and Kaladeshi creatures. Once it's complete, I'll start using Oil, but once that's done I can't modify it anymore so I'd prefer to get it as perfect as possible beforehand.
Selenia: This thing should be able to go toe to toe with *gods*. I'm shocked nothing like this has been made before - I can understand people not wanting to abuse the glistening oil, but why Etherium isn't abused more, I have no idea. Must be more purists again.
Selenia: Honestly, do people just never *think?*
Alexia: I feel like I've heard that somewhere before. :thinking:
Alexia: Anyway, yeah, I get that part. But why does it look like, you know...
Selenia: A Gundam? You wouldn't *believe* what alternate models they have in the mods for the server! It was a pretty painless model swap, though the animations are still pretty broken.

The Narrative might fit in better with the world than most, but it's still very strange. Still, I have high hopes that I can "convince" a girl to make a more fitting model...🖤

Selenia: Anyway, what I figured was, if they have all these terrible, poorly thought-out rules someone borrowed from some awful third-party supplements written twenty years ago, why don't I abuse them? And so I did!
Selenia: This isn't an arbitrary choice, by the way. Equipped with both etherium and the glistening oil...
Selenia: It's not just a weapon. It's a channel for the pilot's will. Specifically, it's loaded down with Enchantment spells and effects - and alternate effects for taking control of creatures *those* don't work on.
Selenia: No Psionic effects, unfortunately. A shame, but I don't really feel like making an alt.
Selenia: Raw power is one thing, but brainwashing is much cooler! :3

Oh, it might brainwash quite a few people in real life, too. Depends how altered their common sense is or not, really. Or how horny they are.

All those minmaxing obsessives...I can understand them a lot better now, but I'm not interested in being the most powerful. It's what I can do with power.

More importantly, besides all of that...

Alexia: ...I think I might be in love with you.
Alexia: *blush* oh, fuck, I said that, didn't I.

Yep. Just as planned. 🖤

Alexia: Uh. That said, how are you not banned yet?
Selenia: It's a secret ;D
Alexia: You're gonna need to give me your contact info sometime, you know.
Selenia: Soon, I hope! I'm actually seeing my older sister later this week, I hope.
Alexia: Oh, yeah. You mentioned your brother earlier. Big family?
Selenia: Nah. Actually, I just heard...my brother is actually a sister! :D
Selenia: I'm really looking forward to seeing her. We're going shopping~
Alexia: No shit? That's really cool! It's great that she has someone like you to support her.
Selenia: I'm gonna surprise her with my Akane Shinjo cosplay, it's gonna be great.
Alexia: Damn. She's the luckiest girl in Southern Sun. D:
Alexia: And here I am stuck dealing with this one chick who -
Alexia: Ah, shit. I've gotta go do chores for mom. Talk soon, yeah~?
Selenia: Real soon. 🖤
Selenia: *blows kiss and winks~*
Alexia: *blushes...*
Alexia: S-see you later...

She's so predictable. Honestly, she has great potential, but Kolya's always going to be wrapped around my finger. Just like Vesta will. 🖤

In fact, I'd better get ready to bed. I want a good night's sleep before I meet my other younger senpai...


That morning, of course, was the day we met our tutors for the year. The Verwest Academy has a program where older students from the high school division tutor and mentor younger ones from the middle school division. It's supposed to build friendship, community, and life skills - though I also suspect it's to help transfers from elementary schools that have lower standards than Verwest expects.

Some parents made an uproar because they wanted to use cram schools instead, so it's only mandatory for first-years, and it's easy to get out of it if you want. (They never bothered finding another for me after Vesta disappeared, if that tells you anything.) I'm uncertain why they use first-years like Vesta rather than fourth-years or something, but maybe it's easier to form a bond when the ages are closer together.

I was disappointed at first, when I realized that I was being tutored by a girl I didn't know. I wanted to be tutored by a girl I already knew from the card game store, Reufe, who I knew would be attending Verwest. But that didn't last long, when I saw the girl approach.

The pigtailed girl with the big glasses had a bit of a slouch, and was tall for her age, a bit lanky and awkward. But even then, I thought she was really cute - she had a presence, a magnetism to her. She had passion.

I had plans, for what I'd do when I met her...but right now, I simply felt like a kid again. All my plans fell to the wayside as she approached my desk, when I truly realized just who it was I was talking to, long after she'd disappeared from my world:

"S-so, you're Valeriya, right?"

Vesta Ilustrada Imanis. Light of my life, fire of my loins.

"Mm. I've been told your grades were extremely high in elementary school, Valeriya."

"They are!" I said, just like I did the first time around. I don't know if I was blushing as much back then, but I definitely was dazzled. I'd thought of her as 'cute' at first, but one day she walked in wearing a bunch of fancy piercings, and I thought she could look really 'sexy' if she tried, too. (Not in so many words, of course, but I felt the sentiment in my heart.)

"Then I don't plan on patronizing you. In fact, you might be better in some subjects than I am." Vesta adjusts her glasses. "I want to help you succeed. Middle school can be a big adjustment; I can help you prepare. My help will be here if you need it."

"Yes!" I nodded excitedly. Like I did the first time, I found it alluring just how mature she was, and how invested she was in doing well. It's not like this is the first time I had an older student as a tutor; had some in elementary school for similar programs. Where both those tutors and those of the students around me seemed to just be uninvested or goofing off, Vesta took it just as seriously as I knew Reufe would.

"Genius will only get you so far - there's no such thing as magic, just hard work and guts."

Vesta had a reputation as a firebrand with a temper, shying away from people one moment and openly challenging teachers and other students the next. Her friends, though, were always devoted to her; she was the kind of person it was easy for people to either hate or to love. If she hadn't disappeared, I'm sure she'd have become an even more amazing person in time.

I giggled, again following my past self. "Hard work and guts?"

"Ah, my cousin says that sometimes..." The way she blushed and looked aside told me she had a crush. (I've always been good at seeing that kind of thing.) It told me she was a lesbian.

A cute older girl, intelligent and passionate, who likes girls and wants to help me...

how could I not fall for her, right then and there?

As a tutor, she wasn't too necessary; there were subjects, mostly math science, where I knew more than she did and only needed her to keep my focus and guide my self-study. But she was a wonderful friend to me, and mentor too. Gentle, passionate, supportive. I made any and every excuse to be near her.

"Then...I'm in your care, Vesta!" I said, bowing to my now-younger senpai, and secretly enjoying the way it made her embarrassed. I'd be happy, if she thought anywhere close to as fondly of me as I did of her!

...I remember, some time before Vesta disappeared, she got into a lot of trouble when she was trying to prove that this rich guy, Arcturus, was abusing and hitting his girlfriend. She was fearless, and talked to me often about it, since she was so troubled. People accused her of trying to ruin his reputation, and even when she gained proof of the allegations and exposed him, the school and Photography Club tried to punish her anyway. Only the help of some fourth-years kept her out of trouble.

I admired her, deeply. I had a crush, to be sure, but I also admired her as a person. Someone who had that kind of courage. Someone who wouldn't back down against injustice. If Vesta were there alongside Kolya, she'd never let anyone drive her to suicide, even if the teachers tried to cover it up or say it was her fault.

I don't know what happened to her, when she disappeared. What it was that happened, in the Cassandra Hall. Maybe she had a happy life, somewhere far away from here.

But even if she did, I want the her who exists now, before me, to have a happy life of her own. And I want to help that flame of passion within her burn all the more brightly, brighter than she could ever imagine...

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