The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

It had been a week since the second semester started.

Thankfully, nothing particularly troublesome had happened. The Masked Woman had disappeared again, my abilities had returned to normal, and I didn’t face any major issues while attending classes. As usual, I rewound time to study and understand, and since the lessons contained a lot of common knowledge useful for living in this world, it wasn’t bad to simply understand and move on.

"So, turning back time is impossible, even for the Goddess. This world is strictly physical. There are magic and other things, but in the end, the results they produce cannot escape the laws of physics," explained Ada, the physics and mechanical engineering teacher.

I listened to her explanation with a nonchalant attitude. I would have thought the same if I were in her position. Even if the physics of this world isn’t as advanced as the 21st century in the world I came from, or even if there’s no logical basis or common sense to the idea that changing time would cause a parallel world to form or something like that, it made sense that most people would think that way.

In this world or the other world, no one had been able to reverse time. Not a single person. Just as the heliocentric theory replaced the geocentric theory as science advanced, if my ability couldn’t be scientifically proven, there would be no way to explain it to others.

So, I had no intention of debating her point.

But there was one person who disagreed.

"Um, Teacher?"

Johannes.

He wasn’t an important character in the original story, and he seemed the same here. He didn’t even interact with me, and since we were in the same class, I only remembered him because I’d memorized the names of the original named NPCs.

But I still remembered the basics about him. He was a devout follower of the Goddess Church.

"It doesn’t make sense that a divine being can’t do something," he said.

"Really?"

Ada didn’t seem to find his question particularly interesting.

Had she been working here for ten years, or had it been longer? She started working in her early twenties, and even after getting married and becoming "Lady Strange," she continued to teach, so she must have received such questions countless times.

"Yes, that’s right. For example, the scriptures of the Goddess Church—"

"Does it say something about reversing time? Like winding a clock?"

Ada interrupted him, stopping him from speaking and shrugging her shoulders.

"Let me ask you something. Do you think winding a clock is the same as turning back time?"

"U-Um... No, not exactly, but..."

"I think the same. Even if the world is like a clockwork mechanism, and the Goddess rewinds it, time itself still moves forward. The clock hands may move backward, but in the Goddess’s view, time continues to flow in one direction. It’s a reversal of the situation, but not a return along the timeline itself."

"Uh..."

Johannes looked around, uncertain, before speaking again.

"But doesn’t that make it no different from reversing time?"

"From our perspective, yes. But from the Goddess’s perspective, it’s different. The positions of the stars, the places where sand has fallen, the locations of flowing water—they would all return to their original state. But absolute time would still keep moving forward. The Goddess who rewound the clock would feel time flowing outside the clock."

Johannes tilted his head.

Honestly, I somewhat agreed with Johannes’s point.

---

**Mia Crowfield and I were slowly starting to speak more.**

We had never been the best at talking to each other, but it felt a bit strange to leave things as they were.

Also, I liked nearly all the heroines from the original story. Of course, Mia Crowfield was included. While I could never like her parents, Mia herself was a character who tried to overcome the deeds of her family without ever forgetting them.

I liked Claire, Alice, Charlotte, and even Lottie. I liked even the commoner heroine I hadn’t met properly yet.

The only heroine I really didn’t like was one.

"Sophia Bianchi. I’ll be studying with all of you starting this month. Please take care of me."

The girl with lavender-colored hair, lavender eyes, and a kind expression bowed to the class.

She exuded an air of nobility. Not the same type as Alice or Charlotte—this was more of a humble, dignified nobility, closer to that of clergy than royalty or aristocracy.

Yes, the girl greeting us in front was none other than the heroine from the Law Country.

In the original story, she was supposed to appear next year.

I had to struggle to hide my shock. If Alice had seen my expression right now, she would have reacted one of two ways—either with an incredibly serious face or about to burst into laughter. Or maybe both at the same time.

"Sophia is from the Belbur Kingdom. She recently received approval from the Empire to study here with all of you."

The homeroom teacher, Carolyn, introduced her.

It was a lie.

Sophia Bianchi was from the Law Country, but the only "citizens" of the Law Country were clergy.

Of course, most of them were orphans brought in from other countries.

Among those orphans, the ones with strong abilities or deep faith became clergy, while others nominally lived as monks. In reality, they were just citizens who prayed, but...

Sophia Bianchi was one of the children who stood out for her abilities and became a priestess. And—she enjoyed the role.

She had settled there because she found joy in cutting people down.

So...

Sophia’s lavender eyes turned toward me. Our gazes met, and her eyes curved into crescent shapes. The innocent gaze that put others off guard.

...So, that’s the type of character she was.

A character designed to embody the "chuunibyou" trope. Laughing crazily while covered in blood after battle.

It reminded me of my own cringey middle school days when my friends and I used to play with that kind of concept.

...I really hated her.

---

**Chuunibyou is not truly chuunibyou if the character actually has those abilities, but honestly, I couldn’t relate to this type of story much, especially considering the game-like nature of it.**

Moreover, this character was one who had been strongly pushed as a powerful character in the early part of the story.

In the first installment, the characters from the previous chapters all lost in battles against this character, even though the victories weren’t due to hard-fought efforts. The phrase "Oh, did I not control my power properly?" seemed to describe it.

Even though the series didn’t continue with power scaling, didn’t it seem a bit off?

Later, she did somewhat repent and joined the party, but the bad first impression stuck with me. I didn’t like her. To be honest, I hated her.

But...

"Sylvia."

She kept trying to act friendly, and it made me extremely uncomfortable.

If she had started as an enemy like in the game, I could have just openly shown my dislike for her—but...

"Let’s have a meal together."

"Do you have plans after class?"

"Oh, are you going to the café? Can I join you?"

She boldly approached, and I was left with no way to act. At least, Mia Crowfield had initially shown discomfort toward me, so I could be rude in return, but this wasn’t the case with her.

"Sophia."

The one good thing was that I wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable.

Alice, seeing Sophia sitting with us in the café, spoke.

"Isn’t she from Belbur?"

"Yes, she’s from Lutetia," I replied.

"Really?"

Hearing that, Charlotte stared at Sophia Bianchi.

"But I’ve never seen you before."

An exchange student from another country who had received the Empire's approval to transfer, especially to the noble class. Charlotte, being well-connected, should have seen this character before, but...

"I’m somewhat clumsy in social circles. And my family only holds a knight’s title, so I never had the chance to meet the princess directly."

After that explanation, Charlotte seemed convinced.

"...Really?"

Charlotte tilted her head but eventually stepped back.

"Bianchi-sama."

"Please call me Sophia."

She responded with that answer.

"Bianchi-sama, have we met before?"

Ignoring my earlier words, I directly asked her.

When Sophia Bianchi heard my question, her eyes curved again into crescent shapes.

"No, not at all."

...What a bold response.