Breaking into the women's dormitory is a no-brainer for Ars. Of course, it's only if there's a good reason for the construction.
　Having visited before, he knows where Tesfia and Alice's room is.

　Naturally, there is no way to enter directly from the front, so Ars landed on the balcony and surreptitiously put his hand on the door to the darkened room.
　If the door had been locked, he might have given up if it was locked, but fortunately, he only had to pull it lightly to slide it open.

　From the side, it would be quite careless, but this was the third floor and it might be inevitable. Most importantly, it's not a righteousness that Ars could say right now.
　There are two regular sleeping sighs. Tesfia is the one who sleeps as if she were wrapped around the futon, and Alice is scary and quiet, not moving slightly. She seems to be sleeping perpetually, but I can confirm that her chest is properly moving up and down.

　She places a small box on each of her pillows.
　When I tried to place it above Tesfia's head--.

''........!

　Ars's arm was firmly held by Tesfia.

　--noticed...?

　If you look at him, his eyelids show no sign of opening as if they were stuck together.

　--I don't know if he's sharp or not.

　One by one, he gently peels his fingers off his wrist, and when he manages to escape, Ars scoops up Tesfia's bangs with his little finger.
　The innocent look on his face makes me suddenly come to my senses. Something was at stake, that much is for sure.
　After finishing his task, Ars, standing on the balcony, stops in his tracks.

　--You can't find out where Feri's room is.

　As for this one, there is no way to find it, so I think I should give up and hand it over to the guard.
　But--.

"Ars-san~

　Barely hearing the whisper riding the wind chill in the silence, Ars turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw Felinella waving her hand awkwardly from the balcony as if signaling from the balcony.

　With a single step and a light leap, Ars jumped onto the edge of the balcony.

'You didn't think I was awake, or did I wake you up?'

　Yes, she's also trained under Visayst in her own right, to a point. She will have developed keen senses.

　When I said that, Felinella shook her head lightly, still in a whisper.

''No, I had so much fun today that I couldn't sleep well.

　'I'm troubled,' she says happily, putting a glossy cheeky hand on her cheek, and she's wearing a gown over her camisole and rubbing her hands together, looking a little cold.

'More importantly, Miss Ars, are you crawling at night?'

　Told with a face that could be judged as an obvious joke, Ars can't even gag when told about trespassing.
　While denying it at one point, to quickly finish your business.

It's a good thing I'm not going to have the courage to get involved in a crime after being enrolled in the academy. When I heard that all three of you would be leaving early in the morning, so it's now or never.

　Saying that, Ars handed Felinella a small box in return with a natural motion.

''In case you're wondering, I'd like to thank you as well.
"....!　I didn't mean to...
I told you, I only did it because I wanted to. Can you take it?
'Yes!　Of course. Thank you.

　Felinella, who hugs her present in front of her chest, pulls Ars's arm, "I've finished my business, so I'll leave you with this.

You can have a cup of tea, if you'd like. I know it's this late.

　Her cheeks were red under the cold weather, and Ars couldn't shoo her away and say "I'm going home". To tell the truth, she wanted to sleep terribly, but there was no way she would be able to cripple Felinella's favor for her concern.

　Inviting her indoors, she muttered, "It seems like you're doing something wrong for some reason.

'You're the matron, though.

　The two soften their expressions at the brusque mannerisms.


　Somewhat later, after talking to Felinella, and only after the sun has risen does Ars finally realize belatedly that he has stayed too long.
　As expected, it's not good to let them return home without sleeping, so Ars quickly said goodbye and went home.
　He doesn't feel any sleepiness at all, on the contrary, he is sent off with a smile as if a flower had bloomed freshly, as if after a sound sleep.



　◇ ◇ ◇


Hmm........hmm?

　Loki thought he'd slept for a long time, but he woke up and let his awakening head bite down on the second lack of effortlessly.
　You can't remember when you fell asleep.
　Still, you notice a different rebound from the hand you poked when you raised your upper body.

'Huh, that!

　I hurriedly turn my head and look around the room. There's no mistaking it for that; this is Ars's bed. And if I can pull back my memory, last night, we were fooling around.

''..........!

　I didn't need to jog my memory, but I could easily understand it when I saw the neatly packed little box on the bedside table.
　Then I quickly looked around and saw that Ars was lying on the side of the bed as if he had run out of steam.

　He moved to the edge of the bed and poked his head out to peer in.
　I've never seen him sleep so flaccidly. He must be really tired. Ars has rarely gotten even the average amount of sleep in general.
　It's probably just now that he can't wake up no matter what he does. That's what he looked like when he slept for his age.

　Loki placed the small box in his hands with both hands and grinned from the morning. It wasn't a gift with high expectations, but it was still a cash thing, and when he got it like this, it made him so happy that his sleepiness would be blown away in an instant, even though he was awake in his sleep.

　But.....
　So, Loki slowly looks at Ars just one more time with a little bit of greed in his eyes, and then puts the small box back in his half-open hands.

''I'd like to receive it directly from Ars-sama if possible.......was that a little mean?

　After smiling without a reply, of course, Loki slowly gets off the bed and gently drapes the blanket over Ars.