Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha - Volume Ex - Chapter 2.1

EX II

The this and that of Toujou Basara being popular with girls lately

1

A few days before the start of the sports festival.

Naruse Mio and Nonaka Yuki heard something for the first time as they sat in their classroom after school.

“Um… Sorry, wait, give me a bit to process that?”

Saying that, firstly Mio raises her palm to her classmate Aikawa Shiho, shaking her head in disbelief—That’s right, she might still have heard wrong. Thinking that, she looks quietly at Yuki who’s sitting next to her.

With that,

“…”

Yuki returns her gaze silently, then nodded at her.

Therefore, Mio nodded back to her too, signifying she and Yuki had an understanding.

“Thanks for waiting.. But can you please repeat that?”

“No, it’s just… There’s a rumor that Toujou is getting popular with girls lately”

“…”

“…”

The girl next to Aikawa, Sakaki Chika looked at Mio and Yuki who were at a loss for words.

“Um… Are you two okay?”

She asked with worry in her voice,

“Eh? I’m really alright? Seriously, why are you looking at me with such a concerned face”

With her hands waving around, Mio replied with laughter, but Yuki who’s beside her,

“…”

Yuki had fallen into a long, deep silence, but she’s never been very talkative and isn’t very expressive. Surely the fact that this silence is different from usual is just Mio’s imagination.

…That’s right.

With the days currently filled with the preparations for the sports festival, there was an incident a few days ago where Basara was attacked by normal humans at the station. Since Kurumi was there, it worked out okay, but ever since then Mio and the others had been watchful of their surroundings.

That’s right—because of that, they’ve been a little tired.

That’s why, it should all be okay. It should really be.

Therefore,

“Fine, if it’s really okay… Then this conversation should end here?”

“Eh… how about it~? I think since we’re already on the topic it’d be good to talk a little more about it”

“Right?” Mio asked, responding to Aikawa’s words, hoping Yuki next to her would agree.

“…I think so too”

The tone of Yuki’s voice was obviously a little colder than usual.

“—“

Sakaki, noticing that, tried to make light of it.

“Ahaha, class rep, you look way too serious”

She said laughing with Aikawa. And then, as if trying to recover the mood,

“—So, how about the recent plunge of the stock market index”

“What’s with the change of topic? Weren’t we talking about how lately Basara is getting popular with girls!”

“Really~ were we? We weren’t talking about some serious exchange rate problems? About how it has the potential to create the conditions for a worldwide pause?”

“Totally not. Also, there’s no worldwide pause, it’s just cause for observation!”

Mio got up from her seat in order to play it straight to Aikawa, as she continued to bring up world news they might have seen.

“S-Shiho-chan, I think that’s enough, poor Naruse-san”

“Eh~? I thought it was interesting—“

With that said, Aikawa finally noticed the mood.

“…”

“…”

She was unable to laugh with the way Mio and Yuki were looking at her.

“U-um”

“—Can you please tell us more?”

“O-of course”

At that cold smile, she gulped down and nodded.

Then, Mio and Yuki, prompted Aikawa to speak,

“—Is it because Yuki and I live with Basara?”

It seems as if the fear for Aikawa to talk about it was gone, so she responded to Mio’s question.

“That’s right. Naruse-san and the class rep have so many hardcore fanboys in the school, and are even called princess by them? There are rumors both of you pay attention to Toujou-kun who transferred in during the second term. As a result of that, it’s not just boys in our class but boys throughout the school ended up seeing him as an enemy.”

“That’s… well”

It’s without a doubt that it has been this way since Basara’s first day. With the way Yuki hugged him as they reunited—and with the way Mio was inserted into that via their living situation being made evident.

Since joining the sports festival committee, Basara has been able to talk to others in their class, and he’s even made friends outside of class too.

But in the beginning he only had Takigawa.

In addition—he was also hated by Donoue and other Mio fans and Hozumi and other Yuki fans.

Furthermore, after the battle with Takashi Hayase, Basara’s childhood friend from the village who was ordered to observe then eliminate Mio, Yuki ended up moving into the Toujou household. As a result of that ire of the girls’ fans towards Basara continued to grow. It’s something Mio and Yuki were aware of.

Next.

The previous day Donue had created trouble with the sports festival committee which resulted in an unpleasant situation. It’s without a doubt that the situation escalated to that far not only because Donue himself, but because those around Mio who are jealous of Basara.

“… I’m aware of how Basara is hated by some boys”

Yuki said.

“But, I didn’t know about him being popular with girls”

“That’s… Well the rumors about you two and Toujou-Kun spread around the school right?”

Sakaki began answering Yuki’s question.

“Because of that he’s ended up standing out among the boys, and there are boys who hate him, but the girls have also started to take notice of him as well.”

“Even so, it’s not as if the girls would treat him special right? There’s no one quite so strong willed in our school to take on Naruse-san and class rep over a boy”

Aikawa continued,

“Toujou does a lot of work for the sports festival committee, and the student council also relies on him as well right? So among the other girls on the committee, they’ve been talking about how nice he is.”

“I, is that so…”

Mio was surprised by what Aikawa said. It’s without a doubt that Basara helping out with the sports festival is something that made him look cool to Mio and Yuki, but they haven’t thought about how that might reach other girls too.

“Within that, there’s the case with Donoue-senpai right? That fanned up the fire for Toujou-kun, so while he was popular with the girls in the sports festival committee before, that spread to other girls in the school. Not only among us first years, but even second and third years”

“…That’s”

Yuki tried expressing how she really felt.

“Not only that but, the school nurse Hasegawa-sensei seems to really like him too”

“Hasegawa-sensei too? Ahahah, that can’t be…”

Certainly not to that extent, Mio laughed.

“A romance between teacher and student, that’s like a TV drama”

“But there are plenty of stories about male teachers dating their female students, and after they graduate they become open about it. So I don’t think it’s that weird for a female teacher to date their male student?”

“T-that’s… well that might be true”

Mio had nothing more to say about what Aikawa pointed out.