Chapter 12

The next day, Tatsuya and Mayumi left home earlier than usual.

Not to get to school early, but to get to the station early.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long.

"Good morning, President."

Mayumi, though small even by female standards, stood out in the crowd. Tatsuya found her distinctive figure quickly.

"Tatsuya-kun? And Mayumi-chan too, what’s going on?"

Although it was to be expected, Mayumi seemed surprised to see them waiting at the station, so she didn’t have the energy to put on her usual half-joking attitude and instead responded in a natural, unassuming manner.

However, they hadn’t come to the station that morning to surprise Mayumi. Tatsuya didn’t tease her further and immediately got to the point.

"I’m concerned about what happened yesterday. Can you tell me the results of your discussion with Nishina-senpai and the others?"

Hearing Tatsuya’s request, Mayumi looked somewhat surprised, her eyes widening slightly.

"Really unexpected."

Not just her expression, but her words conveyed the same sentiment.

"Tatsuya-kun doesn’t seem like the type to pry into others' affairs..."

"If I could stay out of it, I would, but I don’t think that’s possible."

"I see."

However, after hearing Tatsuya’s response, Mayumi nodded in agreement. Tatsuya had already become deeply involved in the activities of this "Alliance of the Willing." Even if he wanted to stay out of it, the other side probably wouldn’t let him. Mayumi believed that Tatsuya had the right to know the progress—though even if that weren’t the case, she had planned to announce it early that morning.

"Their demand is for equal treatment between Class 1 and Class 2 students, but they haven’t thought about specific methods. Instead, they’re asking the Student Council to come up with a concrete plan.

In short, the discussion has reached an impasse. Yesterday’s meeting was just to discuss the approach for future negotiations, and the final decision was to hold a public forum in the auditorium after school tomorrow."

"The progress is quite fast..."

Tatsuya’s surprise wasn’t particularly strong. To him, it felt like "they finally made their move," so he wasn’t overly shocked. Tatsuya had always believed that forcing the other side to confront the issue head-on, even if it left some lingering resentment, was the fastest way to resolve the matter. However, his reaction was likely in the minority; for example, Mayumi was taken aback by the rapid progress of the events.

"To deal with this kind of guerrilla resistance, you can’t give them too much time. I understand the strategic thinking behind this, but on the other hand, we don’t have time to formulate a counter-strategy. Who will the Student Council send to the forum?"

Hearing Tatsuya’s question, Mayumi smiled as if to say, "You asked a good question," and pointed to her own face.

"...Are you saying, President, you’ll go alone?"

Tatsuya’s tone was half-disbelieving, while Mayumi was already speechless.

"While I will have Fumizuki-kun on stage with me, I will be the one doing the talking. As Tatsuya-kun said, we don’t have enough time to formulate a strategy. If I handle it alone, I won’t have to worry about inconsistencies in our arguments being exploited. I’m more concerned about them trying to manipulate public opinion with emotional appeals."

"Does that mean you’ve never lost a rational, logical debate?"

Hearing Tatsuya’s words, Mayumi nodded confidently.

"Also..."

Mayumi continued in a light-hearted tone, but there was a hint of anticipation in her voice.

"If their arguments are solid enough to convince me, we can adopt them as part of the school’s policies."

To Tatsuya, it sounded like Mayumi was almost hoping to be convinced.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tomorrow, an unprecedented forum would be held. After the announcement, the activities of the Alliance (short for "Alliance of the Willing to Abolish Discriminatory Treatment in School") became more active.

While their activities weren’t sophisticated enough to be called "multi-faceted," before and after classes, and during breaks, Alliance members could be seen rallying students in various parts of the school.

They all wore white wristbands with red and blue stripes, possibly because they no longer wanted to hide, or perhaps they didn’t know the significance of the symbol—Tatsuya thought the latter. However, Tatsuya couldn’t agree with the idea that "ignorance is bliss." He believed that responsibility came with actions, not intentions.

Still, Tatsuya didn’t want to interfere with the Alliance’s activities. It was natural to try to gain as many supporters as possible before sitting down at the negotiating table. Even if the Alliance used emotional appeals to mislead psychologically immature high school students into a bottomless swamp, Tatsuya had no intention of intervening unless it involved someone he knew (though this attitude was problematic in many ways).

On the other hand, if it involved someone he knew—since Tatsuya attended First High, all students should be considered his concern—he wouldn’t allow the Alliance to spread lies.

"Mitsuki."

The day before the forum, after school, Tatsuya approached a third-year student wearing a wristband, who was harassing a classmate. Mitsuki was holding a book that looked like a sketchbook, probably borrowed as a reference for club activities. In this era, it was unusual to use non-digitized data, but the art club at this school seemed to have many traditionalists, though that wasn’t important right now.

"Ah, Tatsuya-kun."

Recognizing Tatsuya, Mitsuki looked relieved. From her expression, it seemed she had been harassed for some time.

Tatsuya first observed the parts of the older student’s body below the neck. He was tall, and while he appeared slender at first glance, his body was well-trained in martial arts.

Tatsuya recognized this build.

It was definitely the male student who had used magic to attack Tatsuya and then fled during the club recruitment chaos.

"I’m Tatsuya from the Disciplinary Committee. Harassing someone for too long could be considered harassment, so please stop."

Tatsuya didn’t ask Mitsuki about the situation but directly addressed the older student. Even so, he didn’t bring up the incident during club recruitment. After all, even if he did, the other party wouldn’t admit it, and if they confessed to causing trouble, it would backfire. Tatsuya unintentionally positioned himself between Mitsuki and the older student, facing the latter.

The older student had no badge on his left chest.

He wore small, square-framed glasses that didn’t seem to be purely decorative.

"Understood, I’ll back off.

Mitsuki, whenever you change your mind, just let me know."

The older student withdrew with a gentlemanly attitude (though not polite, more like a suave gentleman). After his figure disappeared down the corridor and stairs, Tatsuya asked Mitsuki about the situation.

"That senior is the kendo club captain, named Shika.

...Senior and I both suffer from ‘Spirit Particle Radiation Allergy.’ There’s a group of students who suffer from the same allergy, and he asked if I wanted to join."

Mitsuki’s willingness to reveal her "eyes" secret surprised Tatsuya. However, he had already confirmed that she had the allergy, so he wasn’t particularly shocked.

"So, he wants to share the same burdens with you?"

"No, after joining the group, Shika-senpai’s symptoms improved significantly. He said it would be good for me too..."

"That’s... quite suspicious..."

Tatsuya didn’t finish his sentence.

He knew Mitsuki felt the same way, even without saying it.

The only way to avoid the drawbacks of overly sensitive magical perception was to control this ability. The fastest way to do this was through proper training.

Even without a teacher’s direct guidance, the school’s curriculum was the closest thing to "proper training," and it was hard to imagine a student-formed group providing more effective training. If the group had a teacher, that would be a different story, but the school had divided students into Class 1 and Class 2 due to a lack of teachers.

"I’ve refused many times, citing that I don’t have the time with just classes alone."

"That’s right. Don’t be greedy; take it one step at a time."

Mitsuki nodded in agreement with Tatsuya’s common advice and headed to the club room.

As Tatsuya walked in a different direction, he began to think. Seeing Mitsuki being approached by the other party was likely a coincidence. However, everything else was hard to explain as a coincidence. The student group was just an excuse or a "bait." The true purpose was to recruit Mitsuki. The third-year student had already taken aggressive action against Tatsuya before the Alliance’s official activities began, so he was a genuine member. At the very least, he wasn’t the one being lured but the one doing the luring.

(Shika, the kendo club captain... )

Tatsuya decided it was necessary to investigate the third-year student in detail.

◇ ◇ ◇

After dinner, when he should have been washing off the day’s sweat and grime, Tatsuya was riding his newly purchased electric scooter.

The destination was Yagami’s temple.

He didn’t run there on foot because it wasn’t the middle of the night or the early morning, and there were vehicles and pedestrians on the road. Using magic without a proper reason was a criminal offense, punishable even for minors.

Was riding a scooter legal? It was. According to the 2095 Road Traffic Act, the prerequisite for obtaining a motorcycle license was "graduation from junior high school." It wasn’t based on age but on completing compulsory education.

A pair of slender but not bony arms wrapped around Tatsuya’s waist, and his sister’s soft chest pressed against his back. Although she was still in the developmental stage, her figure was definitely above average for her age (Mitsuki was born in March).

Even so, Tatsuya’s heart didn’t beat wildly. After all, she was his younger sister, so it was natural (or so he thought).

Moreover, the journey was only about ten minutes, and neither of them had any immoral reactions, so they arrived at Yagami’s temple without incident.

They weren’t met with rough treatment from the monks. This visit wasn’t for training, and they had called to set a time. However, they weren’t given a grand welcome either, and they simply walked through the familiar surroundings to the monk’s quarters.

Yagami’s monk’s quarters were built in the style of a single-story house from the first half of the 20th century. It might have been from that era, but Tatsuya and Mitsuki had never confirmed it.

The lack of electric lights around the area was likely intentional, not just due to the building’s age.

There was no light coming from inside the building either. The night sky was overcast, with no stars or moon, and the tall walls blocked the streetlights, making the grounds almost pitch black.

It was probably not yet bedtime, so why were the monks sleeping so early? Tatsuya had never heard of ninjas being early to bed and early to rise, and he couldn’t imagine such a scene. Moreover, they had set a time to visit, so it was unlikely that no one was awake.

Mitsuki lightly reached out to Tatsuya’s arm. She didn’t grip his sleeve tightly, and her hand didn’t tremble. However, her night vision wasn’t as good as Tatsuya’s, and it was easy to imagine that the darkness would trigger her primal fear. Even if one hand was held, Tatsuya could use his innate magic if anything happened, so he let his sister have her way.

The grounds weren’t small, but they weren’t large either, and the two quickly reached the entrance of the monk’s quarters. There was no video intercom, not even a doorbell—this was definitely intentional. Tatsuya was about to open the sliding door to announce their arrival when...

"Hello, Tatsuya, I’m here."

A voice called out from the veranda, where there was no sign of anyone else.

Tatsuya’s arm, which was being held by his sister, trembled. Tatsuya couldn’t even manage a wry smile. He thought Yagami was old enough to know better than to hide in the dark and scare people for fun.

If it weren’t for Mitsuki’s reaction, Tatsuya would have shown no reaction. In that sense, Yagami’s plan had partially succeeded—assuming he had a plan.

Honestly, Tatsuya wanted to turn around and leave, but he had a specific reason for coming tonight, so he swallowed his frustration and walked to the veranda where the voice came from.

Yagami was sitting on the veranda, his legs stretched out on the stepping stones.

If he were in a meditative posture, he might have looked a bit like a monk, but Tatsuya thought this was more Yagami’s style. Despite having known each other for two and a half years, Yagami remained an enigma to Tatsuya.

"Good evening, Master. Were you sleeping?"

"Hi, Tatsuya and Mitsuki, good evening. Of course, I wasn’t sleeping. Even I wouldn’t do that if I had a prior engagement."

Yagami didn’t take Tatsuya’s sarcasm seriously. Even though Tatsuya had expected him to be nonchalant, he was still surprised.

"Master, I’m sorry to disturb you so late.

May I ask... since you’re not resting, why are all the lights off?"

"Hmm? Oh, it’s a habit. I don’t turn on the lights unless necessary, because I’m a ninja."

It seemed Tatsuya had misunderstood. This wasn’t a prank. Even with past experiences, one shouldn’t judge things based on preconceived notions. Tatsuya reflected on this.

However, he didn’t show this reflection in front of Yagami.

Yagami didn’t seem to notice Tatsuya’s suspicion of his character. He looked up at them with narrowed eyes, as if deeply moved, and began to talk about something completely off-topic.

"By the way, your spiritual auras are beautiful. They stand out even more in this pitch-black darkness."

"Spiritual auras?"

"Think of them as spirit particle radiation, which might be easier for you to understand."

Yagami, with his usually narrow eyes even more squinted, responded to Mitsuki’s confusion with a rare serious expression. This wasn’t due to amusement but intense focus on something usually hard to see.

"Mitsuki’s spiritual aura is dazzling and endless, while Tatsuya’s is clear and precise. As for what connects the two..."

"Master."

Tatsuya quickly interrupted Yagami. Yagami’s narrowed eyes returned to normal, and he looked somewhat apologetic.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot that’s a secret."

"No, I’m the one who should apologize."

Tatsuya bowed slightly, signaling the end of the topic.

Yagami understood this.

"So, what brings you here tonight?"

"Actually, I’d like to ask for your help in investigating something."

Tatsuya began with this opening statement and then explained about Shika.

"This third-year student is almost certainly a member of Egalite, but I believe he has a direct and close connection to Blanche.

Do you have any leads on what Blanche is planning through Shika?"

"Egalite and Blanche... I can certainly investigate something like that."

Tatsuya’s request was phrased as a question, but Yagami nodded readily. His response, which sounded arrogant or dismissive, seemed natural coming from him.

Moreover, Tatsuya knew that for Yagami, investigating a domestic terrorist organization was indeed "a piece of cake."

"But I’m a monk and try to avoid getting involved in worldly affairs.

Besides, since you already have this much information, wouldn’t it be faster to ask Fumizuki for help? The Fujieda family’s young lady is with him, right?"

"…If I ask the Major for help..."

"Your aunt wouldn’t be pleased, would she?"

Tatsuya hesitated for a moment before answering in a troubled voice, but Yagami interrupted him before he could finish.

"Given the circumstances, it’s understandable that you’d come to me."

Tatsuya bowed silently in gratitude. It wasn’t for accepting the request but for his consideration.

Yagami waved his hand to dismiss the apology and invited Tatsuya and Mitsuki to sit on the veranda.

Tatsuya sat next to Yagami, and Mitsuki, with even more politeness, sat next to Tatsuya.

"Shika’s original name is Kamo Shika."

After they sat down, Yagami skipped the formalities and began his explanation.

"His parents and grandparents didn’t have magical genes, so it’s a so-called ‘ordinary’ family. However, it’s a branch of the Kamo family. While it’s a distant branch, it can be considered an ordinary family in that sense. However, Shika’s ‘eyes’ are likely a result of a recessive gene."

Yagami’s words, as if he had anticipated Tatsuya’s request, made Mitsuki’s eyes widen, but Tatsuya wasn’t as surprised.

If he were to be surprised by such things, he wouldn’t be able to deal with Yagami.

However, there was one thing Tatsuya had to say.

"Master, do you know what ‘privacy’ means?"

"I know the literal meaning."

Tatsuya’s request itself was an invasion of privacy, but he ignored this and raised the issue, while Yagami responded without a hint of guilt.

Mitsuki pressed her hand to her temple, but both Tatsuya and Yagami ignored her.

"By the way, did you already know I would ask you to investigate Shika?"

However, Tatsuya suddenly changed the subject, showing that he hadn’t completely ignored his sister’s reaction.

Yagami, for his part, had no objection to Tatsuya’s attempt to move past the previous moment.

"No, it’s not related to your request. I’ve known about him for a long time."

"…Is there a reason?"

"I’m a monk, but my other, more important identity is a ninja.

Just as fish need water to live, ninjas need to gather information to survive.