Chapter 16: Weakness

「…!」
「Ah—Sig!」

Sig clenched his molars at the sight of the flame he had produced, then suddenly turned on his heel and bolted.

「Wait, Sig!」

He shook off my attempt to stop him and in no time sprinted out of the schoolyard.
Was the result that much of a shock? Dumbfounded, I stared at his back as he ran.

Come to think of it, I’d never seen Sig produce fire with just a single verse. He always chanted long spells, and I’d assumed that was to keep from producing a fire that was too big.

「Sensei, here…」

Timidly, Luka handed me the wooden board with the measurement results.

Wind: one hundred. Earth: twenty. Water: zero. A dismal set of numbers was written there. Nina aside, he was by far the lowest even among the five students.

There was no doubt: Sig had been shocked by the result and run off.

My thinking had been lacking. I thought that by turning things into numbers and laying bare strengths and weaknesses, we’d see what Sig should cultivate and what gaps to fill. But it had the exact opposite effect.

「Sig…!」
「Wait.」

As I hurried to chase after him, Nina called me back.

「And what exactly are you planning to say when you catch him?」

Her question made me reflexively clamp my mouth shut.
To be honest, I hadn’t thought at all.

What could I possibly say? I, who had gained this power without any struggle.

「…I don’t know.」

I shook my head weakly.

「But I’m his teacher.」

I couldn’t just leave him.
When I said as much, Nina gave my back a firm smack.
Was I in for a scolding for acting without thinking?

「Mm. Go on, then.」

Contrary to my expectation, she was wearing a satisfied smile.
I nodded, shifted back into a dragon, and spread my wings.

「Wait, Onii-chan! I’m coming too!」

Just as my feet were about to leave the ground, Yuuki grabbed onto my tail.

「That’s dangerous!」
「I’ll be fine.」

When I take to the sky, that’s when the greatest strain hits my body. Even so, Yuuki nimbly climbed up my tail, along my back, and took her usual spot—sitting on my head and gripping my horns.

「Make sure you’re holding on.」

I couldn’t exactly shake her off, so I beat my wings and dipped my head downward.
A dragon’s five senses are sharp—eyes, ears, and nose, all far beyond a human’s.
My keen sense of smell picked up Sig’s scent at once, and I traced his trail with clarity nearly equal to sight.

「That way.」

He was headed for the forest that spreads outside the village—the place we often use for hide-and-seek practice. Sig’s scent pushed through the trees, following what was practically a game trail. Sniffing it out from above, I trailed after him.
Then, all at once, it cut off.

「That’s odd. He definitely came through here.」

Circling as I checked the scent, I found that in a certain spot within the forest, Sig’s smell stopped dead.

「I’ll go take a look.」

No sooner said than done—Yuuki leapt off me, grabbed a branch, and slid down to the ground.

「Onii-chan, this is magic!」

After investigating for a bit, she shouted that.
I, too, landed in a clearing and shifted to human form to head over to her. Being too big is a nuisance at times like this. But in human form my senses and physical abilities dull at once, so it’s a trade-off.

「See? He’s not avoiding anything—just plowing straight through.」

Yuuki pointed out snapped shrub branches and footprints. Sure enough, the trail showed no sign of trying to avoid obstacles and ended where it ran into a thick tree trunk.

「So he faked it so we couldn’t track him.」

It was Shadow Double—the spell Luka often uses.
And it had left not only traces but even a scent.

「Should I go get Violet or Nina Onee-chan?」
「…No.」

I shook my head and touched the traces left there. If a magically created scent remains, that means the magic itself remains too.

「Thou art he and he is thee—Shadow Double made flesh. Awake, O shadow, O shadow of the shadow. Guide me to thy master.」

In that case, it would serve as an arcane connection to Sig as-is. A shadow rose up from the footprint left on the ground, took on the shape of a lizardman boy, and dashed off backward.

Following it, we reached a point where the shadow veered, slipped between citrus trees, and sprang into the river beyond. The flowing water blurred it like ink and washed it away. He’d erased the scent here, and with it the magic vanished too.

「Maybe he crossed to the far bank?」
「Hard to say. If I were Sig, I wouldn’t do that.」

Water is my bane. I’d run the Four Elements measurements myself beforehand, and I couldn’t even produce a single drop. Chasing someone underwater would be tough for me.
Sig can be stubborn and inflexible, but he isn’t slow-witted. If he wanted to shake me, he’d take to the water.
But to pursue someone who fled into the water, you don’t necessarily have to cast magic on the water itself.

「O ye who root in hard earth, who spread rich leaves, who bear lovely flowers and tasty fruit—tell me, please: which way did the lizard boy go?」

When I asked the citrus trees, their leaves rustled and pointed downstream. Nina or Violet could do this sort of magic just by walking, spell or no spell, but even I can manage this much.

「Thank you.」

I thanked the trees and followed the riverbank.

「Up ahead—that’s…」
「Yeah.」

I nodded back at Yuuki, who had realized where Sig was headed. Up ahead lay the spring where Yuuki and Rin had fought Violet during our first game of hide-and-seek.

Sure enough, Sig was sitting at its edge.

「Sig!」

When I called out, he started, turned toward me, and his expression twisted.
He looked angry, on the verge of tears—and yet somehow happy, all at once.

「I looked for you.」

Not knowing what to say, that’s what came out. He pressed his lips tight.

「…Liar.」

The word he hurled pierced straight through my heart.

「Liar. Liar. Liar.」

As if he’d forgotten all other words, Sig repeated it over and over.

「You said you’d make me strong!」
「Hey, that’s no way to—」
「No, it’s fine, Yuuki.」

I held up a hand to stop Yuuki, who’d reflexively answered back.

「You’re right. I am a liar.」

Because the one hurling sharp words—Sig—looked far more pained than I did.

「But you’re mistaken about one thing. Far more than you think—」
「You’re going to say my magic’s getting better, right? You always say that. But I know the truth. I’m not cut out for magic… not for magic either—I don’t have any talent for anything.」

It was true that, among the students, his magic seemed to be improving the least.

「No, that’s not it. But that isn’t where your misunderstanding lies.」
「Then what are you saying it is?」

It’s that I’m far, far weaker than you think I am.

「…Huh?」
It must have been the last thing he expected to hear. Sig let out a foolish-sounding grunt.

If you don’t believe me, we can settle it with a match.

Saying that, I awkwardly copied a boxer’s stance and raised my fists.

Wait, a match—what—

「If you won’t come at me, I’m coming to you!」
I shouted and threw a punch.

Whoa—hey, what the—!

Sig scrambled to his feet and slipped out of the way.

The next blow he parried lightly; when I kicked, he evaded without even moving his legs, just twisting his body.

What is even going on here!

I staggered a few steps, turned back, and reached to grab him—but he caught my arm, threw me, and slammed me into the ground. The shock seized my chest, and the pain knocked the breath out of me.

Are you messing with him!?

「N-no, I’m… not…」
「This is… really… my full strength.」

This is my true, all-out limit.

I’d hunted many times. I’d fought to protect, too.

But—this was my first time ever getting into a brawl.
Swinging at someone you don’t want to hurt was far more terrifying than I’d imagined.
Still, I knew I couldn’t so much as scratch him, so I was able to attack without holding back.
Full strength, you say?

Sig glowered at me in indignation.

You didn’t even turn into a dragon—didn’t use a single spell! How is that “full strength”!

「I mean it. That was everything I’ve got.」
I gritted through the pain and pushed myself up as I answered.

Everything I had when I was human.

「When you were… human?」
With a dubious look, Sig stared into my face.

You just said you don’t have any talent, didn’t you?

When I asked, Sig twisted his face and nodded.

But someone truly without talent—says things like I do. Someone like me who died without managing a single thing in magic… not a tiny flame, not even the faintest breeze.

What I lacked wasn’t only talent for magic. I couldn’t land a single punch even going all-out against a boy over forty centimeters shorter than me. I can’t manage even a four-person classroom without relying on a little girl. That’s the kind of pathetic man I was.

…What are you even talking about? You’re alive, aren’t you?

「I used to be human. I studied magic all my life and died without ever being able to use it… and when I came to, I was a dragon.」
Beside me, I heard Yuuki suck in a breath.

I’d ended up telling my past-life story only to Ai so far.
It wasn’t that I was hiding it; it’s just too outrageous a tale.
That can’t be…

「Then have you ever heard of any dragon besides me that can take human form?」
Sig fell silent.

Dragons are conspicuous creatures. There aren’t many of us, but if one is seen, word always spreads. Even if you’ve never met one, you’ve probably heard stories more than once or twice.
I myself had met and heard of other dragons, but I had never once heard of a dragon that could take human shape. There simply wouldn’t be another fool of a dragon who’d use magic that only made them weaker—besides me.

So I know. That effort doesn’t always bear fruit. How it hurts when results don’t come no matter how you try.

My being reincarnated as a dragon was nothing but luck.

Power and magic—I didn’t earn them through effort.
Which is why this form is my true self.
…Confessing that in front of those who called me “Sensei” took no small courage.

But even so, there’s one thing I won’t lose to anyone in.

「…What?」
To Sig’s wary question—

Stubbornness about not giving up.

I gave him a sly grin and said it.

Effort doesn’t always pay off, but if you don’t give up, sometimes it does. Sometimes luck comes your way.

「But that means… sometimes it still doesn’t work out, right?」
「Yeah. Which is why I’m not going to tell you “don’t give up.” That’s not it.」
Nodding to the boy’s question, I said—

Give me another chance. I won’t give up. I’ll find a way to make you strong.

Sig’s red eyes reflected my face.

…So in the end, that still means I have to keep trying and not give up, doesn’t it?

「Uh—huh? I guess…?」
After a moment, he said in a slightly exasperated tone. I tilted my head.

It’s true that no matter how many methods I come up with, without his own effort we won’t get anywhere. In the end, it does boil down to “don’t give up,” doesn’t it.
It’s fine. Besides, it’s not like I ran off because I hated my result…

「Huh? You didn’t!?」
Startled, I clapped a hand over my mouth. I don’t breathe fire in human form, but the habit lingers from my dragon days.

Yeah. It’s fine now, anyway.

Sig said it with a somehow unburdened expression. Well, if he’s fine with it, then fine…

If that was wrong from the start, then everything I just said was meaningless…

「N-no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, I was happy to hear it—」
「Yeah! And you looked super cool just now, Onii-chan!」
Flustered at my dejection, the two of them hurried to cheer me up.

Cool…?

Objectively speaking, all I’d done was suddenly swing at Sig and get tossed to the ground without being able to do a thing.

The more calmly I thought about it, the more depressed I got—and my two students did their best to console me.
This was ridiculous. I came all this way to cheer up Sig, who’d run off.
—And of course, doing all this in the middle of the forest wasn’t going to escape Nina’s notice.

—And of course, doing all that in the middle of the forest was never going to escape Nina’s notice.
When we got back to school, I was once again treated to a grand display of exasperation.