VCAM 76

Chapter 76

 “Golem Learns Osaka Dialect”

The next day, in Class Cross.
Even before the morning homeroom began, the classroom was already buzzing with restlessness.

The cause, of course, was—the Golem.

“—Akan!”
A loud voice echoed.
The Golem, with sparkling gray eyes, placed both hands on the desk and stood up.
“‘Akan’ means ‘no good’! But it’s softer than saying ‘no good’! Princess! I’ve learned to scold gently!”

“You’re not being gentle at all when you’re yelling ‘Akan!’ at the top of your lungs!”
Lylisia slammed her hand on the desk, retorting.

“Se-ya-na!”
The Golem nodded instantly.
“It’s lighter than ‘sou da na,’ and agreeing feels softer! I love ‘se-ya-na’!”

“You can love it all you want, but the context is wrong!”
“Context is wrong, se-ya-na!”
“Don’t use it as a reply!”

The classroom erupted into laughter.
Even the other members of the guard squad had completely caught the bug.

“Princess, today’s hair ornament… it suits you super well, massé!”
“Who just said ‘massé’?!”
“That’s me!”
One of the twins, Karl, puffed out his chest.
“You too, brother!”
“Yeah, it suits you, massé!”
“Both of you, stop it!”

Kai stood at the blackboard, arms crossed, smiling wryly.
“You guys… somehow my Osaka dialect is spreading like crazy.”

“Teacher!”
The Golem raised his hand sharply.
“‘Nande ya nen’ is only for tsukkomi, for responding to someone’s joke! I want to make sure I’m not doing it wrong!”

“…Correct.”
Kai couldn’t help but laugh.
“But, you know, if you overuse ‘nande ya nen,’ it loses impact. Use it only when it really counts.”

“Here’s when it counts, nande ya nen!”
“This isn’t the time, though!”

The guard squad had fully entered Osaka dialect lecture mode.
The illusionist Kasa was seriously writing in his notebook: “Akan = no good”, while Meril was drawing diagrams for “Ame-chan = sweet reward.”
Zweil ran around practicing “Akan, Akan!”, and the twins harmonized, repeating “se-ya-na, se-ya-na.”

Lylisia finally collapsed face-first onto her desk.
“How did it come to this…? I was dreaming of a normal school life.”

“The school life you dreamed of—nande ya nen!”
“I told you you’re using it wrong!”

The bell signaling the start of class rang.
Kai wrote equations on the blackboard, but the liveliness behind him made his shoulders shake with amusement.

“Listen up, you guys. Both studying and Osaka dialect require balance. Equations have rhythm, words have rhythm. If you learn both, you can see an even more interesting world.”

The classroom quieted down, all eyes drawn to the blackboard.
The Golem muttered softly,
“Se-ya-na…”

And somehow, the word felt natural, filling the classroom with a warm atmosphere.

Thus, the “Cross Class Osaka Dialect Boom” officially began.
The question remained—could the academy withstand their uproar?