Sai Akuto was having trouble with the hands-on training for beginner magic. Students formed pairs in the schoolyard and played catch with b.a.l.l.s formed from mana, the foundation of all types of magical power. However, it was not what he had to do that was causing Akuto trouble. He was standing alone in the schoolyard and no one would approach him.

—I guess my bad reputation isn’t going to disappear overnight.

Akuto was unsure what expression to take at a time like this and ended up with one of bitter disgust. He was very attractive, but he had a natural mean look in his eyes that gave him a villainous look. His expression was making it harder for anyone to approach him than just his reputation, but he did not realize it.

—It’s been like this ever since it was predicted I would become the demon king. Honestly, is there no upside to this at all?

His bad luck had started when a prediction said to have 100% accuracy had said he would become the demon king in the future. From that moment on, every student in the school had hated and feared him at first sight and made all sorts of misunderstandings about him. He was even under observation by the government. Naturally, he was not living a normal school life.

Even so, Akuto did have a friend: Miwa Hiroshi. He was a boy with a mischievous look about him and he praised Akuto as his “aniki” despite them being the same age. However, today Hiroshi had said “Aniki, I am nowhere near worthy of being your partner…” before running off.

—What do you mean “nowhere near worthy”? Still, I can’t rely on Hiroshi for everything. Maybe I can find a replacement partner.

With that optimistic thought, Akuto began looking around. All of his cla.s.smates lined up in the schoolyard looked away when he turned in their direction. However, he spotted two people discussing something out of the corner of his eye. It was the cla.s.s rep, Hattori Junko, and their homeroom teacher, Torii Mitsuko. They were both quite energetic – or rather, were not holding back – so Akuto could hear their conversation from a good distance away.

“Sai Akuto-kun needs to learn how to control his magic, so will you help him?” asked Mitsuko-sensei.

She was tall, had unruly hair, and wore round gla.s.ses. She was obviously a sociable woman.

“No, I will not,” flatly refused Junko.

She had a cool and n.o.ble beauty, but she often had a sharp look in her eyes and could be quite stubborn.

“But I can’t ask anyone else. You’re the cla.s.s rep, remember? You"re also powerful in your own right.”

Mitsuko-sensei did not back down, but Junko was not about to give up either.

“Even my strength has its limits. Who would choose to be his magic training partner?”

“But it’s his first time and this is something he has to experience eventually. Don’t you think it would be nice if you were his first?” said Mitsuko-sensei teasingly.

Junko’s face grew red.

“Have you no shame, sensei!? Why are you saying something so indecent!?”

“C’mon, I was talking about today’s lesson. What did you believe I meant?”

“I know what you were talking about. Just please stop joking around…”

Junko quickly lowered her voice to a whisper and glanced over toward Akuto. He waved back at her and she suddenly grew angry.

“Do not eavesdrop on us, Sai Akuto!”

—But you were talking loud enough for everyone to hear…

Akuto kept that thought to himself and slowly lowered his hand.

Junko walked over to him with long strides.

Akuto prepared himself for an angry complaint, but Junko pointed straight at his face and shouted, “If you heard us, then what are you standing around for!? Hurry up and get ready!”

“Eh?”

“I said get ready!”

As Junko spoke while looking around at the other students, Akuto finally caught on.

“Th-thank you.”

Akuto was so thankful he grabbed Junko’s hands. This was the pathetic sight of the friendless boy being overly excited about a girl showing him a bit of kindness, but Akuto was so tall that the other students could only think he was seducing her.

The students watching on whispered among themselves.

“The demon king’s at it again…”

“I guess the cla.s.s rep really has fallen completely under his control.”

Junko must have heard them because she blushed and jerked her hands out of Akuto’s grasp.

“I said go get ready!”

“Okay. And sorry. That isn’t what I meant to happen.”

Akuto had also heard the voices of the other students, so he backed away in preparation for their magic training.

“Hey, wait,” called out Junko.

“What is it?”

“I need to warn you, so listen up. This lesson is meant to teach gentle control over mana by throwing a mana ball back and forth. This is truly the most basic of lessons and the rest of us mastered it in middle school. However, it can still be dangerous if you do not take it seriously or you stop focusing. And the danger falls on your partner rather than yourself. I hope you understand that.”

Akuto nodded in response to Junko’s warning.

“Understood. I would never hurt you,” he replied with a serious expression.

Junko’s blushed once more.

“I thought I told you to stop saying such conceited things!”

—I was only saying what I honestly felt…

Akuto silently complained and moved away from Junko. He turned to face her at a distance of about a dozen meters.

“Here I go,” said Junko as she raised her right hand.

A ball-sized orb of light appeared in her hand.

Magic worked by controlling the mana that filled the air. A generator facility in the center of the imperial capital sent energy into the earth itself. That energy was made to resonate with the mana, so mana and energy were often thought of as the same thing. The mana would then acc.u.mulate in the bodies of living things and energy could be drawn out from there. Different people held different amounts of mana and it was easier to affect the mana in the atmosphere with more mana inside one’s body. The human will was transformed into electricity in the brain, that electricity controlled the mana in the body, and that resonated with the external mana. That meant one’s natural level of internal mana and one’s ability to focus were what mattered most when using magic. This lesson was meant to train the students’ ability to focus.

“Catch it.”

Junko lightly moved her right wrist. The mana ball flew in a gentle parabola toward Akuto.

He raised his right hand. Junko must have mastered this level of control because he did not even need to adjust his hand. The mana ball landed softly in his palm.

“Imagine lightly tossing a ball. Now throw it back. Remember, nice and slow.”

Junko held out her right hand in order to catch the ball.

“So I just have to do what you did?” asked Akuto and Junko nodded. “Okay then.”

Akuto lightly swung his right hand.

—Just a slight flick of the wrist…

As previously stated, the more mana someone was born with, the more of an effect they had on the mana in the atmosphere.

And that meant…

With a tremendous bang, the mana ball sliced through the air. It almost looked like he had fired a rifle at Junko.

“Ee!”

Junko let out a shriek, but she was known as the strongest in their year. She held her hands out in an attempt to stop the speeding mana ball. However, it was moving so quickly it would likely break her arms and then send her flying backwards.

—Not good!

Akuto knew he had to do something before the mana ball smashed into Junko.

And his thoughts were immediately transferred to the mana ball.

The mana ball exploded in every direction just as Junko tried to catch it.

A great flash of light enveloped Junko before growing into a perfect mushroom cloud in the middle of the schoolyard.

Their cla.s.smates began muttering among themselves once more.

Once the smoke cleared, a small crater could be seen.

Junko was sitting on the ground in the center of it.

“Wha-…? Wha-…?”

Junko’s eyes were opened wide with anger and shock. She seemed unharmed. That had to be a side effect of Akuto’s strong desire to not harm her.

“This is why I didn’t want to do this! You have no idea how to hold back!”

Junko stood up and pointed accusingly at Akuto.

And then she froze in place.

Every inch of Junko’s skin grew red when she saw herself.

Her uniform had fallen off of her in pieces.

“Hy-hyaaah!”

Junko was completely nude, so she wrapped her arms around herself and crouched down.

The boys in the cla.s.s gave their comments:

“Ohh!!”

“Look at that!”

And then the girls gave entirely different comments:

“The poor thing!”

“Boys are so horrible.”

Akuto ran over to Junko saying, “I-I’m sorry.”

“Idiot! You idiot! Stay back!”

Junko violently shook her head.

“But I can’t just leave you like this…”

Akuto removed his uniform’s vest and placed it on her back. It was large enough to cover her entire body.

Junko looked up at him in surprise.

“Th-thanks…” she said doubtfully. But once she held the vest closed in front and stood up, her expression stiffened and she glared at Akuto. “No, wait. Why am I thanking you after what happened!?”

“You have a point. This was my fault.”

Akuto honestly bowed his head. Whether she was frustrated or embarra.s.sed, Junko clenched her teeth and blushed even more.

“Why are you apologizing so readily!?”

Junko could not take her hands off of the vest or it would open up, so she started kicking Akuto instead of punching him.

“Because I really am sorry. This only happened because of my lack of control.”

Akuto hung his head down and let Junko kick him.

After about six kicks, Junko grew even angrier that he was not resisting.

“Why are you letting me kick you!?”

“How many times do I have to say it? This was my fault. Also…”

Akuto pointed at Junko. Whenever she kicked up at Akuto, the bottom of the vest she was wearing would flip up and expose her attractive legs.

“If I moved out of the way, everyone would be able to see your legs,” said Akuto while keeping his voice as kind as possible.

For a few seconds, Junko had the look of someone caught off guard. She then continued to kick Akuto with her cheeks dyed in the color of embarra.s.sment.

“Stop that! How much humiliation must you put me through!?”

“Wait. You really should stop moving around so much…”

Their cla.s.smates were watching the two of them from a distance. The cla.s.smates could not hear their conversation, so they could only speculate what was going.

“Wow… That’s the demon king for you. This is just cruel. He tricked her into letting her guard down since it’s such a basic magic lesson and then he blasted her clothes off.”

“And after stripping her, he gives her his vest… He has to be toying with her.”

“And he only gives a slight smile as the cla.s.s rep tries to resist! He must be trying to help set them straight?”

Only once Akuto mentioned the others did Junko realize their cla.s.smates were spreading some sort of rumor about them.

“D-don’t tell me this is all part of some evil plan to humiliate me further.”

Junko looked frightened and backed away while folding her hands in front of her body.

Akuto immediately denied it.

“No, of course not. As I’ve said before, I care a lot about you. I want to protect you as much as I can from these rumors that-…”

Before he could finish speaking, Junko’s expression grew distorted and tears welled up in her eyes.

“You idiot! Why do you have to act like this!? Are you good or evil!? Choose one side and stick to it! And if you really did care about me, you would-…”

Junko trailed off, looked away from Akuto, and quickly ran off. Akuto did not even have time to try to stop her.

“Wh-what am I supposed to do now?”

As Akuto remained standing in confusion, he was approached by Hiroshi who had refused to train with him. The boy was nodding as he always did when admiring something.

“Oh. Nice one, aniki. I am truly impressed.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Teasing your woman like that is just so bada.s.s. And even in this beginner lesson, you managed to show off your power to the entire cla.s.s. I only refused to be your partner because I thought you might try something like this.”

Hiroshi was not trying to flatter him. He was honestly impressed. His eyes were glittering with pure light.

“There is a lot I want to say to that, but I’m not sure where to even start,” complained Akuto.

He then noticed Mitsuko-sensei approaching. She placed her hands on her hips and gave a smile that looked more amused than bitter.

“You need to control your mana properly. Especially with how much power you have.” Mitsuko-sensei adjusted her gla.s.ses and looked off in the direction Junko had disappeared. “She probably won’t be attending her cla.s.ses for a while. She can be quite pure-hearted.”

“I"m sorry.”

Akuto honestly lowered his head.

“Apologizing to me isn’t going to help. You need to train your mind to make sure this does not happen again.”

“Yeah, but wasn’t this the beginner lesson for doing just that?” asked Akuto.

Mitsuko-sensei glanced upwards and said, “Yes, it was… Oh! I do know a fairly drastic measure you could take! Yes. It’s a bit dangerous, but it’s worth trying.”

Mitsuko-sensei must have thought this was an excellent idea because she patted Akuto’s shoulder looking quite happy.

“Why do you look so overjoyed?” asked Akuto suspiciously.

Mitsuko-sensei’s eyes sparkled as she replied, “This school has a mental training technique that no student has gone through in years! It was stopped after it went badly for a few of the students!”

“I have one quick question.”

“Don’t worry. It isn’t physically dangerous or anything. When I say it went badly I just meant it went badly.”

“That wasn’t my question. I want to know why you look so excited.”

When Akuto pointed that out, Mitsuko-sensei wiped drool from her mouth with a look of realization.

“I-it’s nothing. It isn’t like anyone has died from this in the past or anything.”

“I hope that’s true…”

Akuto gave Mitsuko-sensei a cold look. He suspected she wanted to kill him in a legal fashion. He appreciated that she understood him to a certain extent rather than blindly fearing him like most of the students did, but she was interested in his powers as the demon king and seemed to want to cast necromancy on him after he died to perform experiments.

“So what kind of training is it?” asked Akuto.

Mitsuko-sensei nodded and replied, “It is known as the Mental Training Room. It is similar to the Zen meditation performed by Suhara followers.”

Mitsuko-sensei’s words seemed to shock Hiroshi.

“Eh!? Constant Magic Academy’s famous Mental Training Room!?”

“Is it dangerous?” asked Akuto curiously.

Hiroshi looked like he was telling a ghost story as he continued.

“Yeah. Years ago, a student died while they were-…mgh.”

Hiroshi was cut off when Mitsuko-sensei covered his mouth.

“Eh heh heh heh heh heh. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. It’s no problem at all.”

She laughed, but not even Akuto was that dull.

“I think I’ll pa.s.s…”

But Mitsuko-sensei quickly added, “Oh, um, I said it was like the Zen meditation performed by Suhara followers, right? If Hattori-san knew you had completed this training, she might forgive you.”

This was nothing more than a desperate attempt to convince Akuto, but it was enough.

—I see. She might be right…

“In that case…”

Akuto returned to his dorm room after school. A look of displeasure appeared on his face when he saw the girl lying on his bed.

She had soft green hair, a beautiful face with doll-like perfection, and a body so ideal one would think an artist had sculpted it. However, she was lying on the bed and reading a manga magazine while munching on ningyou-yaki from a bag lying next to her. Despite her beauty, she was acting like a middle-aged housewife or an unemployed youth.

She was an artificial human known as a L"Isle-Adam and her name was Korone. She was an observer sent by the government. After it had been determined Akuto would become the demon king, she had been sent to live in his dorm room to observe him at all times.

“So you are back. It seems nothing out of the ordinary happened,” said Korone without even looking toward Akuto.

Akuto could not help but be annoyed. Korone had originally followed him around 24/7, but she would occasionally disappear lately. And despite being an artificial human who never grew tired, he would always find her skipping out on her duties during those times.

“Are you even observing me? I think what happened in cla.s.s qualifies as out of the ordinary.”

“Do not worry. No one was injured,” declared Korone.

“You saw it?” he asked doubtfully, but Korone did not hesitate.

“Yes. I can now monitor you remotely and I can arrive instantly no matter where I am.”

As she spoke, Korone brought another ningyou-yaki to her mouth. This bothered Akuto an odd amount.

“Those are ningyou-yaki, right? Specifically, the seaweed ones from the capital?”

“Yes. Would you like one?”

“No, thanks. More importantly, can an artificial human eat?”

“I can. A chemical change inside my body converts it into energy. Only an insignificant amount, though.”

“You don’t have to do that, right? So why are you eating those?”

“Because they are delicious.”

“That’s the only reason?”

“Yes. And I will not gain weight no matter how much I eat.”

“Well, you are an artificial human, so would gaining weight bother you?”

“No, and that is why I will not gain weight.”

“Eh? Eh?”

Speaking with Korone often left Akuto confused. She liked to tease people with an apathetic demeanor. Akuto decided to ignore Korone and began searching for what he needed for his training.

“What are you doing?” asked Korone.

Akuto had no choice but to tell her about the Mental Training Room that Mitsuko-sensei had told him about. Korone unexpectedly stopped grabbing another ningyou-yaki and spoke.

“I will go with you.”

“Eh?”

“I will go with you as your observer.”

“Why?”

“Because it sounds fun.”

“…Even though you’re always skipping out on your duty?”

“Is that a problem?”

“…No, not really.”

Akuto gathered his gear. All he needed was a metal canteen and a waterproof bag. Mitsuko-sensei had told him he would need both.

After putting the canteen in the waterproof bag, he headed to the place Mitsuko-sensei had told him go to. Korone followed him.

“This place appears to be relatively uninhabited.”

Korone was right. Akuto had been told to go to the area beyond a pond near the school building. It had been made into a garden for the students to relax in, but the dense thicket surrounding the area and the humidity from the pond kept most people away. It was wrapped in the same atmosphere as the poorly tended garden of a mansion in a declining rural area.

“Yes, I doubt many people would want to come here.”

Akuto parted the thicket with his hands and walked across the disorderly gra.s.s. Eventually, he arrived at a square building with plaster walls. Each side was only as wide as someone’s arm span. The door was so short he would have to crouch down to pa.s.s through and he would likely only be able to sit inside.

“I see. There really isn’t much you could use this for besides mental training,” said Akuto in an odd sort of admiration.

He crouched down and placed his hand on the door. The k.n.o.b lit up and an artificial voice spoke.

“So that"s how it works,” commented Korone.

“Seems that way. I guess I’ll see you in 12 hours. I"ll contact you with my student handbook’s mana communication in an emergency.”

Akuto nodded toward Korone and opened the door. The s.p.a.ce surrounded by plaster walls contained nothing but tatami mats on the floor. He entered the cool and stale air and then shut the door.

“Why would you need to contact me in an emergency?”

“So you can open the door to let me out,” said Akuto before realizing something was wrong. He turned to the side and found Korone. And the door had fully shut. “What are you doing in here with me!?”

“I said I would be going with you as your observer,” she said calmly.

Akuto sighed. It was a small s.p.a.ce for two. He doubted he could train his mind much like this.

—And I was actually looking forward to spending some time alone in here.

No outside light was let inside, so the only illumination was some dimly glowing mana covering the ceiling. Akuto looked around and spotted tiny writing covering every inch of the wall opposite the door. He looked closer and could tell some lengthy text had been carved there. Reading it in the dim light would prove difficult. When he focused mana in his fingertip to produce some light and read through a bit of it, he realized it was a portion of the imperial const.i.tution.

—So this entire wall is covered in the preamble to the const.i.tution. To read it all in this darkness, I need to control my mana to produce light. That must be how I train my mind.

“I was a bit worried, but I don’t see how anyone could die as a result. It should be exhausting though.”

Feeling relieved, Akuto sat on the tatami mats.

“Yes. There seem to be some strange rumors, but they must all be unfounded. Not even modern Suhara followers use this old-fashioned mental focusing technique. This room may have become a legend after people stopped using it.”

With that comment, Korone sat down as well. The area was so small that Akuto and Korone’s knees were forced against each other. Korone adjusted her position, but there was no other choice but to sit right up next to Akuto.

“Um…”

“Yes?”

“This place is cramped.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I meant that as a complaint.”

“Your complaint will not make this room any larger or me any smaller.”

“…”

“Please do not fall silent. Didn’t you come here to train? Go right ahead and read the const.i.tution on the wall there. It should be tedious, but this is training.”

Korone sounded quite disagreeable. And she of course remained without emotion.

Akuto reluctantly looked over to the wall and focused on controlling the mana light, but then he noticed Korone slowly bringing her body closer to his.

“Um…”

“Yes?”

“Could you move away some?”

“I am helping you with your training. You must be able to concentrate even in this sort of situation.”

Korone pressed her body up against his. She was an artificial human, but the soft sensation was identical to that of a real human. Akuto could not help but be distracted. He looked over at Korone, but she only stared back at him. The situation could not have been more awkward. He looked down and noticed that all of Korone’s moving around had left her skirt just disheveled enough for her panties to become slightly visible. He now had no idea what to do.

“I don"t need your help!”

Akuto crawled across the tatami mats on his knees to move away from Korone. The room was small, but there was enough s.p.a.ce to leave a slight gap between the two of them. However, he felt a feminine body in the direction he fled as well.

“You circled around to the other side?”

Akuto looked over to complain further, but no one was there.

“?”

He turned around in confusion, but Korone was still in the same spot as before.

“I did not circle around.”

“Eh?”

Akuto cautiously reached a hand out into empty s.p.a.ce He felt something soft like a leather bag filled with water but a bit more firm.

“Ahhh!”

A scream came from empty air.

—c.r.a.p, I was right.

Having figured out what was going on, Akuto glared into the empty s.p.a.ce.

“Keena, what are you doing in here?”

A long, drawn-out voice answered, “Because I heard you would be staying in here on your own, A-chan. I thought you needed a bento.”

Akuto glanced upwards and saw something floating in midair. It was a bento wrapped in cloth.

“But why would you come in with me?” he grumbled.

The girl speaking to him from a seemingly empty s.p.a.ce was Soga Keena. She was a failing student who wasn"t very good at magic, so she always skipped out on the magic lessons. However, she somehow specialized in invisibility and flight, which required an excessive amount of focus for normal people. That was why she had a habit of turning herself invisible and floating around.

“Because the door closed on me,” complained Keena as she made herself visible.

Her blazing red hair was her most noticeable characteristic. She wore her hair up and a few tufts stood straight up like antennae. Her face could be called gentle or vacant depending on one’s opinion of her. Just looking at her had a way of inducing drowsiness.

However, the most noticeable feature at the moment was not her face; it was her lack of clothing. Keena’s small b.r.e.a.s.t.s were floating fully exposed right in front of Akuto’s eyes.

“W-wait a second!”

Akuto panicked and then Keena realized what she had done.

“Kyaaah!”

She folded up her arms and legs to cover herself.

Keena could only make herself invisible. She had to strip naked before disappearing, but she often forgot about her state of undress when she became visible again.

“It’s dark in here, so I can’t see anything clearly,” said Akuto as he looked around.

He could not find anything else for Keena to wear, so he was forced to take off his own shirt and give it to her.

“I have a feeling I’m going to lose all of my clothes before long,” he complained.

“My uniform would be too small,” said Korone. She then glanced between Akuto and Keena before saying, “This room is quite small.”

“How could you be so calm? This is kind of a big deal. We’re all trapped in here for 12 hours.”

Akuto held his head in his hands. All three of them had been inside from the beginning, but it felt a lot more cramped now that he could see Keena.

Nevertheless, Korone remained calm.

“It is no problem for me.”

“Of course it isn’t for you,” said Akuto with a bit of anger mixed in.

“Calm down,” said Keena soothingly. “Don’t get mad, A-chan. Here, you get in a bad mood when you’re hungry.”

Keena held out the wrapped bento while wearing only a shirt.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with hunger this time,” argued Akuto, but Keena was not listening.

“Don’t worry. You’ll forget all about it once your stomach is full.”

Keena smiled. Akuto was not sure how to respond. It was not that Keena had convinced him. It had more to do with how the dim light allowed him to vaguely see Keena wearing nothing but his shirt.

“No…um…I"ll eat later.”

Akuto averted his gaze.

“You need to train. You need to focus your mind,” said Korone with intentionally bad timing.

“Shut up!” he shouted.

But he then calmed his mind and thought.

—Come to think of it, this actually is a good opportunity to focus my mind. I need to work on this training.

If he focused too much on the two bodies pressing up against him from either side, he would never get anything done. Akuto decided to focus on the small words of the const.i.tution. He lit some mana light from his finger and forced his face up against the wall.

—Now, then. Time to start reading. Having no escape might actually help.

In only a few minutes, Akuto managed to fully focus on the text. But after a few minutes, he felt someone poking at his side.

“Ugh…What is it?”

Unsurprisingly, it was Keena poking him.

“Hey. Aren’t you hungry?”

“No.”

“…Aren’t you hungry?”

“I said no.”

“……Aren’t you hungry?” asked Keena with a tilt of the head.

“Fine, I get it. You want to eat the bento, don’t you?”

Akuto sighed and moved his head away from the wall. For some reason, he had a weakness when it came to Keena. While he was not particularly strong when it came to other girls, he could not resist at all when it came to Keena. He always gave in no matter what she did. Akuto guessed it had to do with knowing her from back in his orphanage days. Something about Keena prevented Akuto from opposing her.

Keena opened the bento. It contained several white rice b.a.l.l.s.

“What’s this one?” asked Akuto while pointing at one on the end.

“A rice ball!” replied Keena happily.

“I know that, but what kind.”

“An excellent question! This is that brand with over 1000 years of tradition: Akitakomachi!” forcefully announced Keena.

“Okay, that’s the brand of the rice. But what’s inside?”

“I already told you: Akitakomachi.”

“Eh?”

“It has Akitakomachi rice inside. The rice ball is made of Koshihikari.”

“Oh…I see.”

Akuto lost all will to resist and took a bite of the rice ball. If he just thought of it as a plain rice ball, it was good enough.

“The blend of the rice is the best part! Changing the ratio can turn it into an entirely different food! For example…”

Keena began extolling the wonders of white rice, but Akuto was used to this. He went back to reading the const.i.tution while only half listening to her. Oddly enough, having Keena rambling in the background acted like background music and made it easier to concentrate.

—I see. Magical concentration is nothing special. I can just concentrate the same way I did at my part-time jobs when I was poor. I was going all out because this was magic, but I guess I was overthinking it.

As he was lost in his thoughts, a grain of rice flew from behind him and stuck to the word he was just about to read. He turned around to find that Keena had noticed he was not listening to her enthusiastic speech. She ate a rice ball while complaining loudly.

“After going on about all of that c.r.a.p, you should be more careful with your rice,” he said as he grabbed the grain of rice off of the wall.

The grain of rice had stuck to the wall like glue, but it should not have been difficult to remove. However, Akuto noticed something odd. It felt like a portion of the wall came off with the grain.

“What?”

He looked more closely at the wall there. It seemed a piece of paper had been attached to the wall and then the words of the const.i.tution it covered up had been written on top of it to hide the paper’s existence.

Akuto peeled off the paper. It was parchment. Normal paper could be found anywhere, so parchment was rarely used.

The parchment had a map and some text on it. All of the lines had been burned into the parchment with magic. It would have been faster to write it out by hand, so someone had gone out of their way to ensure it would last. Someone had placed it here in the hopes that someone would eventually find it.

“This would be a lot of effort for a simple prank,” commented Akuto.

Keena’s eyes sparkles as she peered at the parchment in Akuto’s hand.

“Hey, is that a treasure map, A-chan!?” she said excitedly.

“Don’t be silly. This isn’t-…huh?”

Akuto read the writing and, to his surprise, it really was a treasure map. Below the reliably drawn map, the following words were written:

The K at the end was a signature. Whoever that initial belonged to did not seem to be joking around, but none of the more important information was mentioned.

“What is this?” said Akuto in puzzlement.

“Ah!” said Keena. “This is a map of the school!”

“Eh? It is?”

Akuto checked the map. He was new enough at the school that he had not initially noticed, but it did seem the school grounds were drawn on the map.

“It can be hard to tell because of how large the school grounds are, but this is the school building, this is the forest out back, and this is the mountain you can see from the roof.”

Keena pointed at various points on the map, but it still did not quite hit home for Akuto because he had never walked around the entire school grounds. And then Korone finally spoke up.

“The scale of the map is arbitrary, but it shows an area approximately 40 kilometers across. It would take two hours with flight magic or half a day by foot.”

“I see. How old is the parchment?” asked Akuto.

“If you are asking when the parchment itself was made, quite old. It is around 50 years old. If you are asking about the writing, I cannot say as the change was made with magic,” a.n.a.lyzed Korone instantly.

“So it’s no more than 50 years old. And we know nothing more than that.”

“It could have been written yesterday or 50 years ago.”

“Hm. It’s a bit interesting, but it doesn’t really matter to me. It might have been here for years since no one uses this place, but someone might have put it here today as a prank when they heard I would be using it.”

With that coolheaded comment, Akuto tried to put the map back where it had been. However, Keena s.n.a.t.c.hed it from him.

“This is a treasure map, A-chan!”

Keena looked like she was in a dream.

“I know,” he replied bluntly.

“Treasures are filled with dreams. Just imagine. Pirates of ancient times probably spent all their lives gathering this treasure.”

Keena clasped her hands together in front of her chest and looked off in an odd direction.

“This has been a landlocked area for over 4000 years,” pointed out Akuto, but she was not listening.

“Ahh, if only I was a boy! I would go out and face any danger! I would fight the monsters protecting the keys and defeat them all! But I would not kill them. If I killed them, I would lose the right to take the treasure! That is where all the strong adventurers before me failed!”

Akuto had forgotten that Keena could not be stopped once she fell into one of her delusions. If you went along with it, there would be no end of it. He had believed one of her delusions when they first met and had paid for it.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” he said offhandedly and returned to his training.

But he received an unexpected reply.

“A-chan…”

Keena had suddenly grown meek and was fidgeting around. Akuto could not help but find this odd.

“What is it?”

Keena trembled as if trying to endure something.

“I gotta pee.”

“Wait, wait, wait…”

Akuto was not sure what to do. He looked around and spotted the canteen and waterproof bag he had brought with him.

“So, that"s what the bag is for for!”

The canteen contained water. Going 12 hours without water was dangerous. And if he was trapped in here for 12 hours…

“Here, use this.”

Akuto held out the waterproof bag.

“Ehh!? No! That’s too embarra.s.sing!” argued Keena.

“It’s better than wetting yourself! Just face away from me!”

“No!”

“It’s embarra.s.sing for me too! I might not be able to hold it either at some point!”

“I don’t want that either! I don’t want to see you do that!”

As Akuto and Keena argued, Korone suddenly spoke up.

“If you need a means of disposing of your urine, I can drink it.”

Unsurprisingly, both Akuto and Keena’s argument froze over when the two of them heard that.

“Eh?”

“W-wait…”

But Korone only calmly said, “Do not worry. A chemical change inside my body will convert it into energy. Only an insignificant amount, though.”

“That is not the issue here!”

“Waaaahhhhn! No! Let me out!” cried Keena.

When Korone saw that, she only shrugged apathetically.

“That was a joke. For one, it does not taste good.”

“Regardless, that does not resolve this situation! And how do you know how it tastes?”

Afterwards, Akuto could not remember what had happened then. He simply a.s.sumed they somehow solved the problem with magic.

When Akuto awoke the next morning, he retrieved the map from Korone who was lying in the covered shelf near the roof. If he had left it out, Keena would likely have taken it, so he had left it with Korone. He of course had no intention of doing anything with it. To avoid any trouble, he planned to discuss it with the student council president.

After arriving at school, Akuto stopped by the student council room before cla.s.s. The president always held a meeting with the other officers before cla.s.ses began and he was cheerfully invited in. Akuto was the head public morals officer, so his position required close coordination with the student council.

“What is it, Sai-kun?” asked the president sociably.

She wore her usual stylish hat that seemed to be her trademark. She was short and had a youthful appearance. She almost looked like a pre-teen, but she was actually a third year. Despite how she looked, she was oddly intimidating. Akuto had heard nothing about how powerful she was, but since she was the student council president in a school that was so fixated on using magic in combat related situations, she was probably very skilled.

Akuto showed her the map. When he explained how he had found it, the president’s eyes widened slightly. But then she glanced between Akuto and the map in disinterest.

“It’s probably some childish prank.”

“I think so too, but some of the students might try to attempt a treasure hunt if this gets out.”

The president smiled at that.

“You have a point. I will hold onto it, then. Please keep this confidential.”

The president then glanced over at the three officers. They gathered around the president’s desk.

“Sorry, but we always have plenty of work in the morning,” she said with a shooing motion.

Akuto bowed and left the room. As he did, he could hear the three officers talking loudly.

“President, isn’t this a map of the school, gya?”

“I think it is, guga.”

“Some of the areas abandoned during the war are marked, arinsu.”

From the odd ways they spoke, Akuto decided they must all be oddly individual people, but he could no longer hear them as soon as he stepped outside. They seemed to be using some sort of magic to prevent their voices from reaching outside, but Akuto did not mind.

Junko wouldn"t attend cla.s.s and Keena was skipping as always.

—Keena is one thing, but what is Hattori-san doing?

By the time the first cla.s.s ended, Akuto was holding his head in worry, but then he noticed a commotion out in the hallway. It wasn"t often he came across a commotion that had nothing to do with him. He walked out of the cla.s.sroom and found a crowd of students gathered around the wall.

—What is this? Wait, it can’t be!

Akuto approached the wall and the students gathered there moved aside to make a path for him with tremendous speed. However, Akuto did not have time to worry about how much they feared him. A copy of the map had been placed on the wall.

—Keena!

He could think of no other possibility. As Akuto stood there dumbfounded, Hiroshi ran over to him.

“Aniki! What’s with this treasure map? Keena-chan has been putting it up everywhere. Is this a prank?” asked Hiroshi.

Akuto now had no doubt that Keena was responsible. She had the ability to make herself invisible, so she would have been able to steal the map at some point, copy it, and then return it.

“This is no prank,” Akuto said with his voiced raised.

He wanted everyone around him to hear him. Hiroshi decided to raise his voice too.

“It’s not a prank!? Then it’s a game you’ve prepared, isn’t it!? I see! You hid the treasure and then placed monsters at each of these points! Then you’ll take in anyone who clears the game as your followers!”

Hiroshi’s a.s.sumption caused a stir among the surrounding students. Akuto panicked. He didn"t want yet another rumor spreading around.

“That is not what this is,” he denied.

However, Hiroshi only raised his voice further.

“Then is it a real map you found, aniki!?”

“No. I have no idea whether it’s real or not.”

He tried to deny it, but he found it hard to find the words when he did not know any of the facts himself.

“What am I supposed to do?” he muttered.

It had already spread, so suppressing it was a lost cause. He got a very bad feeling when his cla.s.smates were oddly excited even as cla.s.s started, but there was nothing he could do.

—I can only hope this really is just a prank.

But the situation took an odd turn after that.

Towards the end of lunch period, a stretcher carrying someone flew by in front of Akuto as he was returning to the cla.s.sroom after having lunch with Hiroshi. The flying device was used to carry the injured to the infirmary. This school produced a lot of injuries and this device was used to transport anyone too badly injured to move on their own. This stretcher carried a male student. He was conscious, but his face was horribly pale and he was muttering, “A monster…”

“Don’t tell me…” said Akuto.

“He probably went treasure hunting,” replied Hiroshi.

Hiroshi ran off, found a friend of the injured boy from within the crowd of onlookers, and asked that friend what happened. Hiroshi acted quickly with this sort of thing.

“Some of the students who are especially good at flight flew off to go treasure hunting and came back with serious injuries! This thing is the real deal!”

Hiroshi sounded excited.

—No, this isn’t normal.

Akuto silently folded his arms as he thought. He must have had a rather serious look because the students around him ran away in fear and Hiroshi rejoiced that Akuto had made some sort of decision. However, Akuto himself did not notice any of this.

Akuto was not the only one who felt something odd about this treasure map.

Etou Fujiko did as well.

On the surface, she was the academy’s greatest beauty, had top grades, was head of the girls’ dorm, and was the target of admiration of boys and girls alike. However, she was secretly a black magician who found great pleasure in controlling others. Just the other day, she had put together a scheme to make Akuto hers, but it had backfired on her in a strange way.

Fujiko was currently hiding away from prying eyes in the bas.e.m.e.nt. She had taken a room in the underground labyrinth used during the war and remodeled it for her research in black magic. She always used it when she wanted to be alone, but she was here for a different reason today. Fujiko always kept a bottled severed head in the room. She had used necromancy, forbidden magic, to reanimate her older brother. He was usually good for nothing more than an inane chat, but he was the reason she was here today.

The gloomy room was covered in velvet and Fujiko was showing a copy of that treasure map to the severed head in the gla.s.s container.

“This is your handwriting, isn"t it?”

“No, I have never seen that map before,” immediately replied her brother.

“You can"t possibly not know anything about this,” denied Fujiko, but she fell silent immediately afterwards.

She understood that necromancy did not truly resurrect the dead. It was nothing more than a system that provided an estimated answer based on the stored records of their past. And that meant a spirit could not lie.

“But I know that this is your handwriting…”

She could not be mistaken about the handwriting of someone so dear to her. However, the rule that spirits could not lie was absolute.

Almost everyone in this country had been baptized into some religion or another. That baptism meant one was under the control of that G.o.d. When people said their G.o.d was watching, it wasn"t a metaphor. The G.o.ds used mana to record every action humans took.

“So you truly have no memory of the locations on this map?”

Fujiko changed the question.

Her brother replied that he did not.

—He graduated from the academy, so it is impossible for him to have no memories of it whatsoever.

Was it possible someone had erased the records? The G.o.ds treated everyone equally. That meant the path to the blessings of the G.o.ds (i.e. the ability to use magic) was open to everyone. However, it was impossible to do anything that affected the G.o.ds. The system was made so that the G.o.ds themselves would reject any actions that affected them.

“Hey, onii-sama. I am getting a headache, so excuse me.”

Sensing something dangerous, Fujiko returned aboveground using a hidden underground pa.s.sageway. She really was getting a headache. The contradiction revived from the bottom of her heart was causing her quite a bit of trouble.

Once she appeared in the normal hallways, Fujiko’s demeanor had transformed into that of the perfect high-cla.s.s girl. The students chatting with each other during lunch break turned admiring eyes in her direction. When she lowered her head in greeting, they all greeted her as if they were cheering.

That greeting was normal, but Fujiko froze in place when she spotted a certain female student. Fujiko was the girls’ dorm leader, so she had memorized what all the girls in the school looked like. Even if she could not immediately recall some of their names, she would recognize them. However, she did not recognize this girl.

This girl had long green hair tied into a ponytail. Her uniform was not worn entirely properly, so she gave an untidy impression. The girl had clear facial features and she was certainly beautiful, but something about her seemed off balance. It was only after reflexively greeting her that Fujiko realized it was due to the girl’s eyes and overall expression showing her emotions too clearly.

“Good day,” said Fujiko with a bow.

The girl’s eyes opened wide and she put on a look of deep interest.

“Good day? Now you are interesting!”

“Oh? Am I?” replied Fujiko with a smile and sensing danger.

Rather than just being impolite, this girl possessed something that left people uneasy.

The girl laughed loudly and said, “You are! After all, you’re not that kind of person! I can tell just from looking at you. You’re a cruel witch deep down and there’s no saving someone like you.”

“H-how rude.”

Fujiko just barely managed to maintain her composure, but she was still overpowered by this girl.

“Ah ha ha ha! If you’re gonna lie, you can’t panic when someone finds out! It’s no fun otherwise, Etou Fujiko!”

With that unsophisticated comment, the girl spread her arms and spun around on the spot.

“You"re not a student of this academy, are you!?”

Fujiko was certain of that now, so she quickly prepared to fire a mana ball from her right hand. However, the girl jumped back too quickly for her.

“I’m not a student, but I do have permission to enter the academy! Etou Fujiko, if you hide the truth like this, you’ll only make more enemies. Like me for example!”

After that comment from the girl, even Fujiko had trouble keeping her expression steady. She ended her attack and remained smiling as she watched the girl leave. The girl ran off quite quickly.

“Onee-sama, who was that girl?”

Students who had heard the commotion gathered worriedly around Fujiko. Fujiko played the role of the high-cla.s.s girl by placing a hand on her cheek and choosing the words of a victim.

“I do not know. Some strange girl must have snuck into the school. We need to inform the teachers.”

For a while afterwards, keeping the facade required some effort.

Meanwhile, Junko was alone in her room after Akuto had blasted her clothes off and she had ran away. She was of course embarra.s.sed to be stripped of her clothes in front of the entire cla.s.s, but a night had pa.s.sed since then and she had been consoled by her friends at dinner the previous night. She had mostly calmed down from that. However, some strange feeling came over her when she was alone and she did not know what to do.

“That idiot! That idiot! That idiot!”

She had spent all day in her futon, but she could not help but flail her limbs around meaninglessly whenever she saw Akuto’s vest sitting on top of that futon. She could have placed it somewhere farther away, but Junko had convinced herself she had nowhere else to put it.

—I need to think about returning it to him. I of course have to thank him, but he will only make fun of me if I sound like an idiot when I do. And how am I supposed to return it anyway? Do I wash it first? It’s just a vest and it isn’t dirty, so it should be fine as is.

Junko picked it up to search for a stain on the inside. That was where it had touched her bare skin, so it would be embarra.s.sing if there was some stain there.

—No, wait. Is it the smell that’s the problem?

Suddenly worried, Junko held the inside of the vest to her face.

—This is his-…

With that sudden realization, Junko’s face explosively reddened and she took the vest away from her face. After bringing her breathing under control, she stood up from her futon. She then rushed around to every corner of the room swinging her arms around everywhere.

“Soga! Soga Keena! You aren’t spying on me, are you!?”

She had just remembered that Keena had once turned invisible and watched her in her room. After making completely certain no one else was in the room, Junko was finally able to relax. She made sure the door was locked and then sat seiza-style on the futon.

She picked up Akuto’s vest with trembling hands, closed her eyes, and wrapped it around her like she was embracing it. She then slowly brought the inside of the vest up to her face.

—Ah… This feeling…

And then her student handbook rang.

“Hyaaahhh!”

She screamed and jumped a full meter into the air. She frantically made sure no one was looking, but it seemed no one was. She picked up her student handbook and saw she had a message from her family. Junko took a deep breath to calm down and then read it.

She grew perfectly calm in an instant. At first glance, the message seemed innocuous enough, but it was a coded message of the type used by the Hattori family. Once decoded it said the following:

—Is it her?

A stern look entered Junko’s eyes. That was a family that hers had a long history with.