Isn't that overdoing it, onee-san?

The world was engulfed in light—

No, it's not like the world ended or anything. Our vision just happened to be swallowed by light, that's all.

It was a flash so searing I half-expected us to go blind on the spot.

And the crystal had shattered with a crisp crack. I'd thrown up a Spatial Magic barrier to catch the fragments, but the explosion was more of a whimper than a bang. The light, though? That was definitely something.

"My! My eyes! MY EYEEEEES!?"

"I'm sorry, Lakto-sensei. I should have given you sunglasses too."

While Lakto-sensei thrashed about clutching his face, Dea-kun had sneakily slipped on a pair of sunglasses. When did he… Oh, Rena must have passed them to him.

"Sorry about that, Lakto-sensei. Just gimme a sec—retina restoration… All good!"

"Hah! I can see again!"

Lakto-sensei whipped off his glasses and rubbed his eyes furiously, then blinked at the world around him.

"Huh? My eyes feel… really good? Like, strangely good?"

"Oh, I fixed your nearsightedness while I was at it."

"Eh?"

He stared at me, dumbfounded. In his hands sat a pair of glasses that no longer served any purpose. On. Off. On. Off. On… Off.

"These glasses were pretty expensive, you know… but I guess I don't need them anymore?"

"Think of it as an apology."

"Um, thank you…?"

My condolences to anyone who had a thing for bespectacled Lakto-sensei. May he rest in peace—the glasses-wearing version, that is.

"Huh!? Wait, the crystal actually exploded!!"

"Told you so, didn't I? That it'd go boom with Onee-san's mana."

"Deasalt-kun! Yes, you said that, but—but what was that!? That was unmistakably pure mana! Are you telling me this human has the mana capacity of roughly 100 dragons!?"

"Sounds about right. I mean, it did glow that much."

"Haah… Well, that's unmeasurable then. Maximum score it is."

He bounced back surprisingly fast, scribbling notes as he talked.

"Oh, here's a spare crystal ball. Here you go."

"Ah, much appreciated. These things cost a fortune, you know… especially the crystal itself. Finding one this size with decent clarity is no small feat."

"Hm? So fewer bubbles is better?"

"Uh, well, yes. The more transparent, the better."

"Then I'll get rid of them."

Looking more closely, the crystal did have some bubbles and cloudy inclusions floating inside. If purity's what he wants, that's easy enough to fix.

I draped a cloth over the crystal ball in his hands and did a little stage magician flourish—"One, two, three!"—banishing the bubbles and polishing it to pristine clarity. Since it was just a duplicate I'd conjured earlier, child's play.

"…!? Wh-what!? Huh!? They really disappeared!?"

"Isn't that overdoing it, Onee-san?"

"Hm? Should I put the bubbles back? If Dea-kun insists, I suppose I could. Lakto-sensei, hold still—"

"No no no no! Absolutely not, thank you very much!!"

Lakto-sensei hastily stuffed the measuring crystal into a bag before I could lay another finger on it.

Oh, can I have the broken one? Sure, right? Don't mind if I do～

"… Deasalt-kun. Who exactly is this person?"

"Um. It's a secret."

"A secret, huh…"

Lakto-sensei stared off into the middle distance, as if glimpsing the weight of cosmic mysteries beyond mortal comprehension.

Whoa, whoa, nothing shady going on here! My true identity is just the Goddess's errand girl. No different from any sister at some run-of-the-mill church out there. Perfectly normal. Absolutely, utterly normal.

"Ahem. So next, please demonstrate your skill with ranged magic."

"Yes, Sensei! For ranged magic, anything with range works?"

"Please keep it to something that won't obliterate this firing range. The protective wards here are strong, but there are limits to everything."

Oops. I was all set to bust out an Area Cutter since there's a protective barrier, but after the crystal ball incident, of course he'd add that caveat.

"I'll put out a target now. —Clay Target!"

At his words, a target sprouted from the ground by the far wall. A proper target—circular board mounted on a pole.

Oho. Interesting spell. Didn't know magic like that existed.

"Phew. Now then, please hit that target. And please don't destroy the wall."

"Roger that! Well, since I've got the chance—Clay Target!!"

I called out the incantation while using Spatial Magic to multiply the soil, sprouting an identical target right beneath his. Pop! The original toppled over.

"How's that!? Knocking it down from directly below still counts as hitting it, right?"

"… Deasalt-kun. That was my original spell, you know. I'm not exactly confident I can teach this person anything if she joins my class."

"It's fine, Sensei. Karina-oneesan says she just wants to enjoy school life."

"Ah, is that so? I see, I see. Alright then… Technically it's a perfect score, but should I lower it a bit? If you'd rather avoid attention, I can accommodate."

"Oh, a perfect score is fine."

Attention is actually ideal from the Goddess's perspective—if I stand out, Dea-kun stands out right alongside me…!

Gotta say, Lakto-sensei's pretty flexible. I don't dislike that about him. Now if only he were a beautiful female teacher, I might've actually fallen.

"Well then, you pass. You can join Deasalt-kun's classroom, so feel free to come starting tomorrow."

"Yay!"

And just like that, it was settled. Here's hoping my textbooks arrive by morning.

Oh! But even if they don't, I can just lean over and ask "Can I share your textbook, Dea-kun?" so maybe that'd actually be better…!