Akuto had no good memories when it came to health examinations.

This was of course due to being labeled a future demon king during the examination upon entering the school.

“Having a surprise health examination is odd,” said Hiroshi as they stood lined up in the infirmary while wearing only their underwear.

“It does make you wonder,” replied Akuto.

For some reason, a health examination had been suddenly announced that morning. The students had been confused but still underwent the examination. The boys were going first and about half of the line had finished already.

“They’re taking blood?”

The student in front of Akuto held his right arm out toward the doctor. A syringe took about half a test tube of blood.

“Aniki, do you not like needles?” asked Hiroshi with a grin.

“Well, they hurt,” replied Akuto seriously.

Hiroshi had not expected that answer, so he could only stare blankly back.

“Aniki, I thought you were the type to charge directly into high-temperature plasma and to rip off your own arm.”

“If it hurts, it hurts.”

“Ehh?”

As they spoke, Akuto’s turn came. The needle pierced his outstretched arm and he grimaced in pain.

“D-did it hurt?” asked Hiroshi.

“It hurt,” answered Akuto plainly.

Their conversation was on the level of elementary school students, but the boys’ examination ended without issue.

“I’m glad nothing happened. There has been so much going on lately that I thought someone had to be plotting something when I heard about a sudden health examination.”

Akuto spoke with Hiroshi as he put on his clothes and went outside to wait for the girls to finish their examination.

“It’s true that something more could be going on when you’re involved, aniki. In fact, it feels somehow lacking when nothing happens.”

“I hate that I can’t deny that.”

Akuto’s shoulders drooped.

And then Akuto spotted some suspicious figures behind the school building. He glanced toward Hiroshi and the other boy nodded in understanding.

“Looks like something really is happening.”

“Don’t joke. But we can’t just ignore it.”

The figures were moving along while trying to remain hidden. They moved from the thicket behind the building and hid behind a pillar of the building. It seemed to be a group of two.

Akuto and Hiroshi began moving while making sure the pair could not see them.

The pair seemed to be using a camouflage cloak to hide themselves. The cloak could not completely hide them, but it would detect the surrounding colors and transform to similar colors.

“I’ll circle around. Aniki, you blow them up after I scare them your way,” whispered Hiroshi.

“I’m not so sure about ‘blowing them up’, but I do think we need to keep them from running away and ask them what they’re doing here. We can use your plan for that,” agreed Akuto.

Hiroshi made a wide circle around the thicket to reach the opposite side. He nodded so Akuto could see, waited for the perfect timing, and used magic to create the sound of a siren.

“Waaah!”

The pair wearing a camouflage cloak shouted in surprise and began to run away from Hiroshi. The colors of the school building being displayed on the cloak shifted and their position grew vaguely visible.

They tried to flee but found Akuto standing before them.

“Wait. Don’t run. Who are you?”

The pair panicked when Akuto appeared before them and spoke. They completely lost control of themselves.

“W-waaah! It’s him!” they shouted and fired magical light bullets at Akuto without warning.

“Dammit!”

Akuto reflexively raised a hand. It was nothing more than a bad habit of his, but he was bad at controlling his power. Also, he was the type to negate an attack with a more powerful one rather than to defend against it.

And as a result…

A brilliant light and an explosive noise filled the surrounding area. Akuto’s magic light bullet blew away the one fired by the pair and continued on toward the pair without slowing.

—Oh, no!

So as not to hurt the pair, Akuto immediately caused the power forming the light bullet to scatter.

The pair covered their face. A ring of energy surrounding them shot to the side.

That ring of energy struck the wall of the school building.

The pair stood frozen while covering their faces. Once they realized they felt no pain, they checked and were relieved to find they were not hurt.

Akuto was relieved as well. He had managed to avoid injuring them.

“I did not intend to surprise you like that. But I saw you using that camouflage cloak and wondered-…”

Akuto trailed off as he heard an odd rumbling noise.

—Eh? What?

His question was quickly answered.

The wall of the school building was collapsing toward the pair. The ring of energy had left a clean crack where it had struck. This had cut out a circular portion of the wall.

“Waaah!”

The pair jumped out of the way.

The wall fell and produced a low, heavy noise. The pair and Akuto were both at a loss for words, but the situation did not end there.

Many naked girls appeared before Akuto’s eyes.

Technically, they had not appeared. He had merely blown a hole in the wall to the girls’ health inspection room, but it took Akuto a fair bit of time to realize that. And it also took the naked girls a while to grasp what had happened. For a full five seconds, they stood still, not covering themselves and leaving every inch of their nude bodies exposed.

“Oh… So it was to peek on the girls.”

Akuto finally realized what the pair had been trying to do. However, that was not what he should have been saying.

“Kyaaaaaaaaah! Noooooo!”

Several screams filled the air around him and many different objects were thrown at him. He tried to apologize while blocking those objects with his hands, but he was cut off by an even louder voice.

“Sai Akuto! You act so shamelessly each and every time!”

A girl quickly threw on the outer layer of her uniform to cover her nudity and pointed a wooden sword toward Akuto. She was Hattori Junko.

“No, there is a good reason for this…”

“What good reason is there to peek so boldly that you destroy the wall!?”

“Listen to me. I was not trying to peek.”

“You just said ‘it was to peek on the girls’! You had clearly just recalled your original goal after growing so excited you destroyed the wall and lost sight of that goal!”

“No, I wasn’t the one trying to peek.”

Akuto glanced around to ask the pair to explain the situation, but they had run off. Hiroshi was also nowhere to be found.

“Huh? They’re gone…”

“Do not try to play dumb!”

“I’m not. They really were here.”

“Stop trying to argue!”

Junko swung her wooden sword. Akuto was unable to avoid it. The magic power filling the sword caused an explosion that blasted Akuto high into the sky.

“I thought taking the blood first would have made some people suspicious,” said Yoshie as she walked through the schoolyard while dressed like a nurse.

A doctor in a white coat walked alongside her. That generic-faced doctor was one of 2V’s dolls. He was grinning while lightly tapping the trunk in his hand.

“We just need to escape now, so it shouldn’t be a problem. We have what we came for.”

“Yes, Soga Keena’s blood,” muttered Yoshie.

“Who would think they would have a health examination at such a convenient time. This went quite well. Now, I will take this back with me and send you the sample later,” said 2V.

Yoshie nodded, but suddenly looked behind her. She had heard an explosion.

“Did something happen?”

Yoshie was worried, but 2V shook his head.

“Stop. You must not worry about anything other than your objective at times like this. Then again, you only came along to see Soga Keena for yourself. You were mostly just a spectator in the first place.” 2V thought for a moment longer and then nodded. “I will leave now, but you do as you wish. Just don’t tell anyone what you were here for if they ask.”

Yoshie nodded and walked toward the explosion she had heard.

Yoshie could be very curious. That had supported her intelligence. What she finally found behind the school building was something that satisfied her curiosity quite well.

A tall boy lay collapsed in a thicket with smoke rising from his body.

“What happened to cause this?” asked Yoshie as she looked down at Akuto.

Akuto looked up at her.

“It would only make this more complicated if I explained it. At any rate, I’m not hurt.”

Akuto stood up. He had several small injuries and a perfect trail of blood flowed down his forehead.

“Looking like that, I can only think you are trying to act tough when you say you aren’t hurt.”

Yoshie’s comment was completely right, but Akuto shook his head.

“I know why you would think that, but my body is tougher than most people’s.”

“Really?”

Yoshie tore off a piece of her white coat and used a hand motion to tell Akuto to crouch down.

“You didn’t have to tear your clothes…”

Akuto was confused, but Yoshie nodded as if it were nothing.

“This coat is nothing more than a tool. Also, it isn’t mine. So don’t worry about it.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

Akuto crouched down and looked at Yoshie’s face more closely.

He had not noticed at first glance, but she had a well-featured face. He had not noticed because each individual part was not too noticeable on its own. It was a plain face, but one noticed its good points as one stared at it.

She wore goggles over her minimally groomed hair. Mana screens could be made anywhere, so not many people went out of their way to use projection devices like that. That seemed to say something about her personality. Her way of doing things was to use that device which had been customized to hold the exact functions she needed. This made her look something like a literary girl.

Yoshie placed the torn portion of her coat on Akuto’s cheek and wiped up the blood and dirt. She then brought her face in close to his.

“Ah…”

Akuto pulled his head back.

“Could you stay still? I can’t see.”

Yoshie seemed to be filled with curiosity as she held Akuto’s head in place with her hands. She was close enough for him to feel her breath on his face, but she did not seem to mind as she continued observing his face up close.

“Wh-what are you doing…?” asked Akuto with a blush.

“Fwohhh!” cried Yoshie. “Ohhh! Your wounds are healing!”

Yoshie ran a finger across Akuto’s cheek. She traced that finger along a wound that was disappearing before her eyes.

“Amazing. Do you have an item equipped that gives you regen? At any rate, this is amazing. So were you born with this?”

“It seems I was. As I said, my body is tougher than most people’s.”

“Amazing. This is fascinating.”

Yoshie’s eyes sparkled as she stared at Akuto’s face.

“Could you stop that? You’re making me blush. Also, what is regen?”

“Ohhh, sorry. I just got a bit excited. Now I’m embarra.s.sed. Regen is a term used in games to refer to health regeneration. Do you play video games?”

Yoshie moved away and smiled at Akuto.

“No, I never have. I’ve always been too busy. Are they fun?” asked Akuto.

Yoshie gave a large nod.

“Of course! They aren’t all that popular these days, though. I think games are a type of culture. There’s even an old saying that says ‘no more than 24 hours of gaming a day’.”

“What does that mean?”

“No matter how much you try, you can unfortunately only play video games for 24 hours in a day. Basically, it means they’re so fun you want to play more.”

“I see. Maybe I should try it sometime.”

“You should. You definitely should,” declared Yoshie strongly.

“Thanks for the advice,” said Akuto with a nod.

When Yoshie saw that, she gave a deeply emotional nod in return.

“You’re the first person who has appreciated what I said. Normally, people are driven away.”

“Driven away?”

“Well, boys will try to talk to me sometimes, you know? And when we start talking, I begin talking about video games, right? When I do, they gradually move away. They literally do start moving away from me. And the worst ones say they didn’t think I was this kind of girl when they saw me.”

Yoshie emphasized her embarra.s.sing experiences with odd enthusiasm. It sounded like she was bragging about how awkward she was, so most people who had made it this far into the conversation would have started to move away as well.

But Akuto gave a forceful nod.

“I know what you mean. It was the same for me at my jobs and in middle school. The girls would try to talk to me, but after a while they would say they didn’t think I was this kind of guy.”

“Fwohh! Wow! You’re the first person to ever understand me! Hey, hey. What’s your name?”

Yoshie leaned forward.

“Sai Akuto,” replied Akuto.

Yoshie grabbed his hand.

“Kita Yoshie! This is great. We should play an online game together sometime.”

“Fine, but when?”

“How about for an entire week starting tomorrow? I can do it while I work, so that’s no problem.”

Yoshie’s request was absolutely ridiculous, but it was normal for her. She always had a game running on one corner of her screen.

But on this point alone, Akuto was a normal person.

“No, that would be difficult for me. I have cla.s.ses and my everyday life. By the way, does that white coat mean you’re a nurse? Surely that job keeps you busy.”

That reminded Yoshie of why she had come. She could not say they had needed a sample of Soga Keena’s blood to cause a change in the virtual alternate dimension. That alone was illegal because they had not gotten her permission. However, Yoshie decided telling the truth was better than lying when it came to her own profession.

“I guess you could say I’m only temporarily helping out as a nurse. I normally work in the temple of Megis.”

Akuto looked back at Yoshie with an impressed look.

“Excuse me, but you are about the same age as me, aren’t you?”

“I went to university overseas. Unfortunately, that means I am not qualified to work as a priest, but going back to school would be too much of a pain.”

“You must be smart.”

Akuto’s eyes opened wide in admiration.

Yoshie smiled awkwardly.

“Stop that. People who find school to be a pain aren’t considered smart in this country. Actually, I suppose they aren’t overseas either. No matter where I go, the desire to only do the things I enjoy isn’t welcomed.”

“The things you enjoy? Like video games?”

“There is that, but I generally dislike troublesome things. I dislike sweaty things and people with a lot of motivation,” said Yoshie while scratching at her head.

“I kind of understand what you mean. People get so obsessed with things that have no real meaning and they waste so much money,” said Akuto.

Yoshie’s eyes began to sparkle even more.

“You’re just getting more and more perfect! That’s right. I can’t stand that kind of meaningless friendship. If there’s a reason for it, fine, but I just can’t understand the types that want to commit crimes or get into fights.”

“Come to think of it, in a world where we have most everything we need, attempts to hurt other people are attempts to see others’ reactions and get to know them better. I understand what you mean.”

Akuto nodded in understanding.

Yoshie’s words grew even more rapid.

“You really do understand! That’s why I can’t just chat with people no matter how curious I am. We meet each other, greet each other, and then…what else is there? I wouldn’t mind if we could talk about politics or something, but most people seeking that kind of friendship are so ignorant.”

“I know what you mean. In other words…”

Yoshie and Akuto’s pa.s.sionate conversation continued. This was the first time Yoshie had experienced this and the same could be said for Akuto. As they held that conversation which was oddly out of sync with the rest of the world, they looked like scientists with no laboratory. However, the slight flush to their faces also made them look like lovers continually talking at the fork in their paths home because they did not want to part.

The two of them seemed to lose track of time. When the bell finally rang, they looked around in sudden realization, exchanged a glance, and smiled at each other.

“Well, that was fun. I’ll contact you again sometime. And that isn’t just a social nicety; I mean it.”

“Thanks. It was fun for me too. Anyway, I have to get to cla.s.s.”

Yoshie and Akuto shook hands.

They began walking in their respective directions and realized a while later that they had not exchanged contact information.

—Well, I guess it isn’t a problem. I get the feeling I’ll meet him again soon. After all, I’ve never met someone so interesting. There has to be something here.

As Yoshie thought to herself, she nodded in self-satisfaction.

An oddly accented voice arrived via telepathy.

This was Constant Magic Academy’s student council room. Naturally, it was the student council president who was receiving the telepathic communication.

A short girl in a stylish hat – Lily Shiraishi – nodded in front of a mana screen.

“Don’t let your guard down. This is a doll you’re following. We have no way of knowing how he’ll try to escape.”

“If you lose him, I’ll kill you,” said Lily concisely but with great seriousness.

Lily had been speaking with Ootake Michie, the vice president. The girl displayed on the mana screen seemed to be in a city park. She was slender and pale, so she was reminiscent of a vampire. She could freely control magical machines modeled after bats.

Michie was tracking 2V on the president’s orders. No one would take notice of the bats in the city as the sun set, so they were perfect for tracking someone.

“I doubt we’ll find 2V’s headquarters, but we need to at least catch the very end of his tail,” said Lily enthusiastically.

She had only recently learned of this plan. Lily’s father was a priest of Megis, so he had been able to obtain information on the plan 2V had Yoshie working on. 2V planned on using the virtual alternate dimension expanded around the temple of Megis, so cooperation from the temple had been necessary. Also, this plan was backed by the radicals who wished to eliminate the demon king. 2V may have specialized in covert operations, but he had been forced to bring information to the surface this time.

Lily had learned the plan involved obtaining Keena’s cells and using the mana waves they produced to seal Akuto in the virtual alternate dimension. She had hurriedly held a health examination and laid the trap. As planned, 2V had arrived to obtain Keena’s blood. Lily had not known what 2V would look like, but she had only needed to pursue the person who carried out Keena’s blood.

So far, 2V had fallen for the trap splendidly.

reported Michie.

“Can you follow him inside?”

“Figure out what lab he entered by any means necessary!”

After saying she would try for a bit longer, Michie ended the telepathic connection.

“Now then. How is the girl doing?” muttered Lily.

She made a new telepathic connection. A girl with a wild face appeared on the mana screen.

This girl was named Kamiyama Kanna. She was one of the three student council officers and she could transform into a wolf. She was currently using that sense of smell to tail Yoshie.

“That’s nice, but we are not working for some underground business. As long as we know her ident.i.ty, finding her residence is easy. What I want to know is if she did anything suspicious. What did she discuss with Sai Akuto? Was she trying to gain information on him?”

“So their meeting was a complete coincidence?”

“Well, he does stand out. And I suppose no one would take the risk of contacting their target ahead of time. Let’s a.s.sume it’s another case of his terrible luck with women. I just wish that would stop causing so much trouble. Not that it matters to me if he dies. This is about my own personal revenge,” muttered Lily as the look in her eyes grew harsh.

asked 2V.

“It should be. No two people have the same mana waves. I can set the values for the machine remotely. Being able to handle most things without meeting face to face is only logical, right?” said Yoshie.

She was calling from her home to the laboratory to which 2V had brought Keena’s blood sample. The device meant to transfer things to the virtual alternate dimension had been left in the laboratory, but Yoshie was the one adjusting its settings.

“This is similar to using magic through Keena. You could say Keena’s inherent magic allows her to freely alter the virtual alternate dimension.”

Joy could be heard in Yoshie’s voice. 2V noticed it and asked a question.

“If we can change the world as we see fit, I was thinking people could simply live there. They could live in comfort. Research needs to be done into how to supply nutrients or energy, but the odds of finding a way to do that automatically are pretty good.”

As she spoke, Yoshie’s fingers raced busily across the several mana screens displayed on her desk.

Whenever she had a small break in rewriting the program, she would pick up and take a sip of the drink on the desk. A towel to wipe away sweat and the maintenance kit for her goggles were also within arm’s reach. She continued her work with the practiced movements of someone used to working on their own.

“In other words, if people have a s.p.a.ce in which they can live according to the contents of their mind, they can live with no need for friendship. I think that might be a truly human way to live.”

Yoshie was supposedly speaking to 2V, but she began speaking to herself as she continued.

“I really am grateful for this experiment. Everyone was focused on my research, but almost everyone ignored my ideas behind the research. They would call it creepy or unhealthy. If anything is possible in the virtual alternate dimension, you can live like you’re in a video game. I was thinking of giving the virtual alternate dimension certain rules when it was changed. That way anyone who entered would become data in the game. They would be data that can rewrite its own data. In other words, they could use their own will to achieve more growth than a physical body is capable of. Once everyone becomes a video game character and tries it out, I’m sure they’ll finally understand what I’m trying to say.”

Yoshie increased her programming speed.

Those words were accompanied by a secret smile from 2V.

And that smile was on 2V’s real body. She was watching several mana screens while lying in a room filled with no furnishings other than many dolls. 2V lived secretly in that apartment that not even her fellow Cabinet Intelligence and Magic Office members knew about.

2V thought her and Yoshie’s environment may have been similar. 2V’s true form was that of a preteen girl. And she lived with her great ability not recognized by any authority.

—But it is possible to realize the things in your mind here in the real world. You are called unhealthy because you do not realize that.

Those two girls thought differently in that way. And the biggest difference was in their ultimate goal.

—If we are to gain control of the virtual alternate dimension, creating a paradise would be too boring. The only way to live a full life is to rule over the real world as a formless king in a G.o.dless world.

2V was planning to betray Yoshie. The plan she had told Yoshie about was a lie.

—And the pleasure of betrayal is most stimulating when done in the real world.

2V grinned and traced her sickly thin fingers across her pale face.