X Day, X Month, 2:15 PM. Audio recording number 1274.

"...Onii-chan?"

"Yo, it"s been a while. Are you healthy?"

"Mm yes, How about Onii-chan?"

"I"m fine. I can"t help but to look forward to the days I can see you."

"Onii-chan... somehow you seem really cheerful today."

"Is that so? Oh well... that"s because something good happened."

"Something good?"

"Yeah, thanks to that, I can do my best like I did before."

"...don"t overwork yourself, okay?"

"It"s fine. I have you, and... I have good comrades now."

"I have a lot to talk about with you today."

"Something to talk about with me?"

"Yeah. In fact, two years ago——"

"...It"s time. Sorry, brother has to go soon."

"Mm. Thanks Brother, as always. It was fun."

"You don"t have to thank me. I really wanted to see you."

"I see... ehehe."

"Umm, Onii-chan."

"Mm?"

"Will you... come to see me again?"

"Of course? Because I"m your Onii-chan, aren"t I."

"...nn!"


——Complete.


In accordance to Terms and Conditions, personnel is to perform a.n.a.lysis on the record, strict safekeeping advised. If a problem is found by the a.n.a.lysis, perform rapid incineration.

Audio recording number 1274.

Visitor name 【Kusanagi Takeru】.

Inmate name 【Kusanagi Kiseki】.

——One month after the subjugation of the Hero.

"...mmmm."

"Preparations are complete, Ootori."

"Aa, uhh, All right, all right."

She placed a hand on her chest in front of the platoon"s room, Takeru looked at Ouka who was trembling with nervousness, and he scratched his cheek.

Back in January. The fallen Takeru was rescued by the HealerSeelie troops and received intensive care, thus absolute rest was mandatory for a while afterwards.

Ootori Sougetsu who visited the hospital spoke of what would happen to Takeru in the future.

『"——If you cancel your contract with Lapis, you will die."』

『"............"』

『"Oh? How unexpected, that you aren"t surprised."』

『"Well, it"s my own body, so somehow..."』

『"That"s good. Your upper and lower body were rejoined with Lapis"s magic power, if the magic supply from her is cut off your body will return to how it was before. If you don"t want to die, you have to do as Inquisition says."』

『"...to produce this result, you made students fight instead of dispatching the Witch HuntersDullahans, allowed the enemy to break through, and abandoned Ouka... in order for the Hero to kill me."』

『"...hahahahaha."』

『"Please don"t try to deceive me while laughing."』

『"Think of it as of me holding your life in my hands. You are allowed to continue living as a student. As a Relic Eater holder, you might be asked to partic.i.p.ate in missions as a Witch HunterDullahan. You can"t refuse."』

Sougetsu grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Just as he said, Takeru couldn"t refuse. He had no reason to give up on his life.

Even before he heard about that, Takeru already knew. This man called Ootori Sougetsu wasn"t his ally.

He was an enemy... he was confident about that.

And——a week pa.s.sed, right now——

"Kusanagi——what if it turns out bad after all?!"

"What time was it that you said that. Just how timid are you!"

"B-but... to suddenly invite them to dinner...? Isn"t that usually turned down, doesn"t that sound weird?"

"Not at all! Normally 『"How about we eat lunch together?"』 should be fine!"

"Mmmm. This is hard, Kusanagi."

Trembling, Ouka made a face as if she wanted to cry.

...what it meant was,

"Communication between members is important."

Ouka agreed to Takeru"s proposal.

And the situation ended up like this.

Though it"s more like she was forced to do it rather than consented, captain’s orders.

Because they came to save her, Ouka reluctantly did it.

And thus an unfortunate event happened.

It could be said that Ouka, when it came to relating with others was still a virgin.

Despite usually being dignified and bull-headed... she is no good at this kind of thing.

He thought earlier that she was clumsy, but it was beyond that.

It"s been already a week like this.

"The important thing is for you to act."

"Guhh... even if you say that..."

"Come on, go in for the time being."

"...alone?"

"Anyway, practice, practice."

"Uuu..."

Even Takeru, who"s removed from the community, felt like he became an instructor. He was able to feel superior for the first time.

It was something invaluable, that"s what he felt.

"Fuu... fuu... okay."

Ouka breathed in and grabbed the door k.n.o.b of the platoon"s room.

Takeru smiled wryly and tried to move towards the window to check on her afterwards.

That"s when.

*squeeze*... the hem of his uniform was grabbed weakly.

It couldn"t be, his face seemed to say as he turned around.

"...maybe... maybe we should go in together after all... you told me you"ll look after me didn"t you."

With tears in her eyes and slightly blushing. somehow she looked really small as she grabbed the hem of his uniform.

Takeru thought that as such Ouka was really cute.

Oh well, so troublesome.

Only weirdos gathered in the Small Fry Platoon, it seemed like it was true after all.