Maidens of Cygnus - Volume 1 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – April 17th

It was after school of the day after Alisa and Marika completed the procedure to join their respective clubs.

It quickly became standard practice for Marika to come to Alisa’s classroom after classes, but today there was another visitor who came at the same time.

“Juumonji-san, Tookami-san, good morning.”

“Good morning, Urabe-senpai.”

“Good morning.”

It was the Chief of the Public Morals Committee who walked into 1-A’s classroom uninvited.

“It’s just great that you two are here together... Now, about what we discussed the other day.”

Alisa instantly understood what Aki was trying to say.

“What we discussed... Ah, do you mean...”

Marika also appeared to realize what it was when she tried to ask about it.

“Correct. It’s about your request to take up a position in the Public Morals Committee. I would like to talk with you calmly so would you come with me to the Headquarters?”

“Yes, of course.”

Marika turned to Alisa, finding her immediate response unexpected.

“...Right. Thank you.”

It wasn’t just a surprise for Marika, Aki herself looked surprised too, her reaction a bit slow despite being the one who started the conversation.

Without a care for Aki’s unnatural pause, Alisa stood up holding her bag filled with small items.

“Umm, I’m ready.”

And when Aki didn’t move for some reason, Alisa spoke to her to bring her attention back.

“Right. Let’s go.”

It should be said it was expected that Aki didn’t show any more unnatural behavior and walked out, leading them.

“Mina, aren’t you also coming?”

Alisa called out to Marika and continued going after Aki.

Truth was the day before, Alisa reconsidered and was now more forward-looking towards joining the Public Morals Committee. Last week, after discussing with Yuuto, her aversion to joining the Public Morals Committee diminished considerably.

And more than that, what happened yesterday.

The advice Katsuto gave her about club activities, ‘it will help you make friends’.

And yesterday, she joined a club and was able to make a friend called Hiyori.

About the Public Morals Committee, Yuuto told her ‘it will help you make connections’.

Katsuto’s advice was right on point, so if she joins the Public Morals Committee, will she be able to connect with her seniors and the alumni?

Until just the day before yesterday, such ‘connections’ felt like nothing but trouble for Alisa, but after having a conversation with Hiyori and Hatsune about several things, her perspective started to change.

Alisa is not planning to stay in Tokyo forever, nor does she plan to take up a job related to magic. She joined the Juumonji Family only to acquire the skills to avoid her own self-destruction, it’s a temporary arrangement. She hasn’t changed her mind about that. As such, she had no plans of actively increasing her interactions with people involved with magic, and she acted like she was scared of being shackled to it all.

But isn’t stubbornly clinging to a narrow world just putting yourself at a disadvantage?... Alisa was starting to feel that way.

◇ ◇ ◇

The chairs they were offered at the Public Morals Committee Headquarters were the same as the other day. They are in fact ’interrogation chairs’ that hold a suspect of violating school regulations in place.

But if they don’t know about it, they don’t have to worry about it. Alisa and Marika sat down side-by-side on the suspicious chairs without thinking.

“You two have finished the club registration procedure, right?”

Who knows where she got this information from, but Aki already knew everything that happened yesterday after school.

“Juumonji-san for the Crowd Ball Club and Tookami-san for the Magic Arts Club.”

“Yes.”

“Well, yeah.”

But both Alisa and Marika were done worrying about their information leaking. It might not be that the information is leaking, and instead there is a system in place to share the data from the start, something that shouldn’t be known.

“I refrained from talking to you yesterday because I thought you might be worrying about your club activities, but now I can finally talk to you. — The Principal has approved the increase in the limit for Public Morals Committee staff.”

Aki’s tone turned polite halfway through. That was a reflection of her level of commitment, the extent of her seriousness.

“It was approved?”

Marika raised her voice to Aki’s words.

Alisa, in contrast, just gave a short acknowledgement with a “I see”.

“To be precise, it was not an increase in the limit that was approved, it was a change in the counting method to count first-year Committee members as 0.5 people.”

Alisa and Marika didn’t react in any way to the extra explanation. They immediately understood that for the two of them, there was no difference between ‘counted as 0.5 people’ and ‘limit raised by one’.

“We’ve already got the Faculty Council’s approval. And with that, we are now at a point where we can welcome you both to the Public Morals Committee.”

The two had differing reactions.

Marika was trying to hide, unsuccessfully, a slight frown on her face.

And Alisa accepted Aki’s words calmly.

“Juumonji-san, Tookami-san.”

Aki raised her voice a slight but clearly noticeable amount.

“You will join the Public Morals Committee, right?”

Not ‘Will you join?’, ‘You will join’.

It was not a good way to invite someone. As an expression, it was useless at raising their spirits.

But Aki’s obvious seriousness gave the shoddy invitation persuasive power.

“Yes.”

And to that, Alisa agreed so quickly it was bordering on disappointing.

“I’m looking forward to working with you.”

And she bowed her head like she felt absolutely no pressure.

“Asha... Are you sure?”

Marika anxiously questioned her instead of opposing it because Alisa’s attitude seemed abnormal.

“We agreed to this. Mina, you’ll be joining with me, right?”

Alisa smiled at her best friend, like she hadn’t noticed she was worried, and replied to Marika.

“—Yeah. Okay.”

There was probably a sign between them, something nobody else could understand. Marika nodded towards Alisa, her worries cleared from her expression.

“Urabe-senpai, it is as you’ve heard. Mina, I mean, Tookami-san and I would like to join the Public Morals Committee.”

“—Thank you.”

Aki deeply bowed to the two in front of her.

Looking at it objectively, the busiest time of the year was already over so it wasn’t urgent to bring new people in, but after the trouble she went through, her emotions must be amplified.

“By the way, senpai, I mean, Committee Chief. We also have a request.”

“What is it. Please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Aki raised her head and urged her to continue the request with her original tone. She looked to be growing somewhat generous. Maybe even the most absurd ‘requests’ would be fulfilled right now.

But Alisa is not the kind of person to take advantage of that opportunity.

“I would like you to take into consideration the balance between the Public Morals Committee and our club activities, especially Tookami-san who I believe will be actively participating in competitions.”

“There is no need to tell me that. I promise you won’t have to sacrifice your studies or club activities for the activities of the Public Morals Committee.”

Aki’s answer was so clear it was like she didn’t consider it at all.

“Chief, is it okay to say that so confidently?”

It seemed there was a member who held such worries.

The one who came to the table and inserted themselves into the conversation was Izayoi Souma.

“It’s fine. That was the reason to increase our staff in the first place.”

However, Aki dismissed her subordinate’s concerns.

“More importantly, Izayoi-kun. You’re not on duty today, correct?”

The ‘Why are you here?’ was implicitly asked.

“I wondered if you were going to invite Juumonji-san and Tookami-san today, Chief.”

“Were you planning to help me?”

There were no signs of annoyance in Aki’s voice. It was unexpected — maybe not to Alisa, but it was for Marika, that Aki seemed to trust Souma.

“Yeah. But it looks like I wasn’t needed.”

The manner in which Souma replied could be described as clear. But there was something about it that made Alisa uncomfortable, and Marika had a clear feeling of shadiness.

But they couldn’t identify that ‘something’. So they couldn’t assume a stance of rejection towards Souma.

“You two, I wish you the best, as fellow Public Morals Committee members.”

So when Souma said that, both Alisa and Marika could only reply with “Please treat us well”.