Mr. Glass, are you all right? Mr. Glass!

　I came to my senses when I heard Dr. Hendrick's voice and I was being held up and supported by Leslie and the other one on either side of me.

'Sorry, I'm fine. I was a little disoriented.
'It happens all the time when you make a contract. If you're safe, you have nothing to apologize to me as a teacher.

　Dr. Hendrick, who was always called a stiff and even ridiculed as a stone-headed person, had changed his attitude from earlier to a somewhat softer one.

　No - it's not. The teacher looks at me, the emotion in his eyes.

'...... one cannot choose a spirit. No matter how much study you put into it, you will not always answer it. It's not your fault.

　The only thing I understood immediately was how Dr. Hendrick felt about me.

　I'm being pitied. I don't know why that is - it's because I've pulled the plug.

'I know from my homeroom teacher what your old goals are. If that path is, in fact, closed, that doesn't mean it's the end of the road. We, as educators, will continue to explore your path together. That's all.

　The teacher leaves the room. The other student also leaves, and Leslie, who stayed behind, tries to walk past me.

　But she stops beside me and says in a small, powerless voice.

...... I may pull the 'outlier' in three years. At that time, you can scold me as much as you like .......

　Earlier, she said she wanted to see me pull the outlier, but when she actually does, she shrinks so much.

　Watching her like that, I don't even feel like being depressed.

Leslie can take a chance. And I'm glad I signed up, even if it's not quite right. I'm a mage now.

　Leslie looked at me fearfully with slightly reddened eyes. Really, if she was so kind-hearted, she shouldn't have said anything prank-like - or was it hard to breathe?

　But it was no wonder she was so cautious. I'm trying to act easy, too, but in effect, I've gone off the career track as a mage.

　Most of the nearly 1,000 students in the Academy of Magic are chosen by one of the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, and are certified as 'combat mages' who can have a role in military and other matters, regardless of the difference between higher and lower level spirits.

　Apparently I wasn't any of those things, and I seemed to have drawn the outlier among the outliers that would make Dr. Hendrick lose interest on the spot.

　But Leslie was not responsible for anything. He even had to thank her for being present at the ceremony - usually, he would pay to find someone to do it. In fact, the other person, other than Leslie, would have been paid for the part-time work I paid for through the teacher.

'Anyway, thanks for being there. I'll buy you dinner another time.
...... I like my brother Glass's homemade food. He hasn't fed me much lately.

　It's such a chancy thing to say when you've been depressed. I'm not much of a cook, but I'm reasonably confident that I can make reasonably good food with the ingredients I have available.

I think I'd be better off eating out, though. If Leslie says so, it's been a while.
Really?　I was just trying to say it for good reason. I'm still glad I came to see it.

　Mindful of her eye-length bangs, Leslie left the ceremonial room first, leaving a sly smile on her face.

'I didn't get to show you the ...... coolest part, did I?

　While talking to myself, I suddenly look at my feet.

　The power of the spirits in me spilled over and caused a change in the magic circle. If it's a spirit of fire, flames will arise, and if it's a spirit of water, water will spring up - it's not any of those things.

　Grass is growing along the shape of the magic circle. It's a stone floor, but where did the grass arise from - undoubtedly, it was brought about by the spirit's power.

　In other words, my spirit was not the elemental spirit I was hoping for - apparently, it was a spirit related to 'grass'.

　　　◆ ◆ ◆

　Leslie also underwent a ritual three years later, at the age of fifteen, to draw a spirit that was considered an outlier, though of a different lineage than mine.

　She observed my ritual and was told that she could do the opposite - but I was very unlikely to be able to take on the role of confirming the 'spirit guide mark' drawn on Leslie's body.

　I suppose the main reason is that she was still innocent when she was twelve years old, but by the time she was fifteen, she had grown beyond my imagination.