Chapter 3 — Freshman Divine General
There were probably very few people related to Onmyoudou in modern Japan who didn’t know of her.
The one who had passed the excruciatingly difficult ‘First-Class Onmyou’ exam at only thirteen years old, the youngest ‘Divine General’ in history who had been named the ‘Child Prodigy’. Her ability and her cute appearance even made the Onmyou Agency semi-officially treat her like a spokesperson.
National First-Class Onmyouji, Dairenji Suzuka.
For some reason, this idol of the magic community entered the mere Onmyouji training institution that was the Onmyou Academy on the day of the forty-eighth academy entrance ceremony. On the same day, Tsuchimikado Harutora and Tsuchimikado Natsume rose to the second year.
Two days afterwards.
Harutora, Natsume, and Suzuka ran into each other on the landing of the emergency stairwell constructed along the outer wall of the academy building.
The second-years Harutora and Natsume were sitting next to each other on the landing of the stairwell.
On the other hand, the new student Suzuka sat several steps above. She dangled her legs and crossed her arms, gazing down at the two with an ice-cold smile.
“.…..So.”
She confirmed once again, licking her lips.
“You mean that Natsume-‘senpai’ is a ‘girl’ but entered the Onmyou Academy with the identity of a ‘boy’, due to the Tsuchimikado main family ‘traditions’.”
Harutora and Natsume silently nodded as they heard their kouhai’s words.
The faces of the two were gloomy, and a thick look of abandonment showed from their dim eyes. The provocative Suzuka formed a clear, arrogant contrast to their listlessness.
“So that’s how it was~ It would certainly be very troublesome if it got exposed.…..”
Suzuka deliberately stretched out her words as she spoke, her expression like a wild beast who had spotted its prey.
Yesterday after school, Suzuka had spotted Natsume’s secret — that she was a girl posing as a boy living in the Onmyou Academy with a ‘male identity’. Then, now that the secret — or that ‘weak point’ — was firmly in her grasp, the two of them could only submit to Suzuka’s despotism.
Though she hadn’t made it public, Harutora and Natsume had a bad history with Suzuka in the first place. They were opponents in battle who had fought half a year ago.
Now, for whatever reason, they had become students of the same school, and she had them grabbed by the nose. They had almost become her ‘slaves’. Truly a day that they never would have dreamed of.
She had dyed-golden ponytails, and her thin, petite body was now wearing a brand-new Onmyou Academy uniform — the white female uniform.
“Yeah, I already understand what you’re up to. Don’t worry, you can probably ‘understand’ what I mean. …Right, ‘Senpai’?”
Harutora and Natsume met each other’s gazes, their heads lowered. In the end, only fatigue and despair could be seen in their eyes.
An ominous smile bloomed on Suzuka’s face alone as she looked at the two stiff, corpse-like expressions before her.
The moon floated loftily in the night sky.
.…..Why did you save me?
I even killed that person.
That ice-cold question was as thin and transparent as a piece of glass.
The boy showed his wavering, and then forcefully endured and controlled it, rebuking her in a composed voice. No childish hatred like her own could be seen from him. Even if he had been hurt, he didn’t want to hurt the other party.
Listen up, remember to give your brother a proper burial. That busybody, unpleasant sentence spread through her chest. It was hard to endure, and she naturally started whimpering.
My onii-chan is my only friend. I’ve been fighting alone to this day.
But,
.…..Yeah.
She herself was taken aback by how childish and undefended the voice coming from her mouth was.
But it seemed that she didn’t hate showing her weakness that much either.
The alarm sounded its wake-up call.
After Suzuka tossed and turned for a good while under the covers, she unhappily reached out an arm to stop the alarm. Only after resentfully burrowing back into the covers for a short while did she sluggishly climb out of bed.
She washed her face, struggling bravely for several minutes against her hair that had been messed up by sleeping. She went to the kitchen after managing to reach a compromise with her hair. She took out milk from the fridge, pouring it into an opened breakfast cereal. She walked back to the dining room with a spoon dangling from her mouth and turned on the television.
These were living quarters provided to Onmyou Agency employees. Suzuka was currently living here.
It was a very ordinary 1LDK apartment. She had only moved in the day before entering the Onmyou Academy. There were still unopened cardboard boxes piled in the living room, their numbers unexpectedly few. She didn’t have any real personal items in the first place.
She watched the television with bleary eyes while carelessly tossing out a shikigami charm. This was a completely autonomous simple shikigami that she had made herself for the express purpose of doing her hair. Allowing the simple shikigami that appeared to rapidly fix up her hair, she started eating her breakfast cereal.
Probably because she was gradually waking up, she lightly knit her brows when her senses had recovered to a normal level.
There was a kind of prickling sensation on her skin.
Because most of the people who lived here were Onmyouji, there was a barrier set up over the entire living quarters. It could automatically neutralize any magical energy above a certain level — it was a security barrier.
The room Suzuka lived in had its peculiarities. The barrier set up was stronger and there were also spells added to surveil her. She wasn’t permitted to go outside, and she was almost prohibited from using magic inside. In any case, she was currently in a state of house arrest.
“.…..So annoying.…..”
Suzuka grumbled with half-opened eyes, bringing cereal to her mouth with the spoon.
Though it was claimed that her privacy was protected indoors, it was hard to actually believe that. The magic of Suzuka’s body was also greatly restricted right now, so she didn’t have the confidence that she could see through the magics cast on this room. Using the simple shikigami had also been childish rebelliousness — a way to vent her resentment.
Even so, it was much more comfortable than before.
Before the Onmyou Agency had decided to have her enter the Onmyou Agency, Suzuka had been monitored by the Onmyou Agency’s 24/7 due to a certain incident. Furthermore, she had lived a life of nothing but magic practice since as far back as she could remember. Now that she recalled it, this level of house arrest might actually be very relaxing.….. But it still made her mad.
“Hmph, there’s nothing else I can do.”
Come to think of it, the reason for Suzuka’s poor mood wasn’t just the change in environment. Needless to say, Suzuka had entered the Onmyou Academy harboring secret hopes. She was a bit scared but at the same time was filled with expectation.
She looked forward to the reunion with a certain person.
But that wish had become fragments beneath her complex thoughts. She had never thought beforehand that she would have made that person ‘suffer’ like this.
… ‘She should still be living somewhere.’
The business from the day before awoke in her mind, and Suzuka’s eyebrows furrowed further.
She thought again about how he had looked when he had cheerfully said that.
“.…..That’s so irritating.…..”
Expecting things of others was what immature fools did. She had clearly abandoned such illusions in the distant past already.
She got more and more restless. Just thinking of it made her mad.
He didn’t understand other people’s feelings.
“.…..I finally managed.…..”
She wanted to become a bit more honest.
The moment that thought flashed through her mind, Suzuka suddenly came to her senses, shaking her head vigorously and dispersing those inexplicable thoughts. The hairdressing simple shikigami fixed her again hair in a panic.
“W-What a joke. Why do I have to.…..! Come to think of it, I just got ahold of some interesting information. This is actually a good opportunity.”
Though there wasn’t anyone around to listen, Suzuka still forced herself to talk big. Her reddened face was definitely due to anger, absolutely not because of any other reasons.
After harrumphing, Suzuka went back to eating her breakfast, forcefully crunching her cereal.
Suzuka hadn’t noticed. Her feelings were this unstable not because certain feelings had already been crushed to bits, but rather because they still hadn’t been completely eradicated.
Just then, the television started showing the morning horoscope. When she saw the animated character in the television proudly announce “Unfortunately, you Pisces have the worst luck”, the corner of Suzuka’s eye twitched neurotically.
The next horoscope piece roused a reaction from her.
“The lucky item that can improve your fortune is.….. a tiger!”
“.…..What’s wrong with this show.”
She had never heard of that kind of lucky item. Come to think of it, that wasn’t an item, it was an animal. Well, the show probably didn’t mean an actual tiger, but rather a picture similar to a tiger or something.
“Tiger.….. A tiger, huh.…..”
Of course, as a professional Onmyouji, she was rational enough not to believe such second-class trickeries.
But the appearance of someone chatting happily rapidly emerged in her mind. Suzuka shook her head vigorously again. Her simple shikigami had already completed its work.
“Stupid.”
She munched her cereal, puffing out her cheeks.
The National First-Class Onmyouji quickly changed into her Onmyou Academy uniform.
A Mystical Investigator would drive the car to send her from the living quarters to the Onmyou Academy in Shibuya. Rather than being a simple shuttle, its true intent was to reduce her time outside and to keep her from leading to any rule-breaking incidents. So Suzuka wasn’t able to get everything she wanted, but since one thing she didn’t want was for the car to stop in front of the entrance, the Mystical Investigator sent her to a place where she could see the academy building and she got off.
Suzuka wouldn’t immediately enter the Onmyou Academy after getting off, since she would have to immediately enter her classroom after entering the academy building, and she would have to greet her classmates after entering the classroom.
Suzuka was a first-rate Onmyouji within the Twelve Divine Generals, something like an idol to the eyes of the students. Suzuka had to stay guarded at any time, and at least show an appearance befitting her identity.
But to be honest, dealing with that was too annoying.
Hence, Suzuka hid with stealth magic until right before classes started. She had done this ever since her second day after entering the Onmyou Academy. Suzuka herself didn’t think anything in particular of this, but if Harutora and the others knew, they would definitely inadvertently forget the dispute between them and start crying out of sympathy.
“.…..Well.”
Since just waiting was boring, she tossed out several shikigami to find a way to pass the time.
Fortunately, she found it immediately. She unconsciously smiled and walked straight there.
Three students in a low mood were walking to the academy building. They were Harutora, Natsume, and Ato Touji.
After Suzuka saw Natsume, she unconsciously put away her smile. But a different kind of smile with a different feel from the one earlier immediately emerged on her face.
She released her stealth.
“Darling! Good morning.”
Harutora and Natsume jumped in surprise.
The students walking to the academy building turned their heads to look when they heard, stopping after they noticed Suzuka. When they saw Suzuka approaching Harutora, their eyes flashed with light.
“D-Dairenji.…..?”
“This is terrific. I’m so lucky to be able to meet Senpai in the morning.”
“Y-You.…..”
The people around them became clamorous, but Suzuka looked joyfully at Harutora’s embarrassed appearance. Natsume next to him seemed frightened like a mouse being eyed by a wild cat, while Touji indifferently looked up into the sky.
The corner of Harutora’s eye constantly twitched as he spoke in a panic.
“.…..Hey, what the hell are you doing!”
“Hah? It’s nothing, I was just a bit bored.”
“Don’t bother other people when you’re killing time!”
“To think you would call yourself ‘other people’. That’s too much, darling. .…..Who are you speaking to with such an amazing tone? Have you forgotten your position?”
Suzuka warned Harutora in a volume that only he could hear. Harutora bit his lip.
The surrounding students were all paying attention to the two of them as they conversed. After all, Suzuka had straightforwardly proclaimed that Harutora was her ‘first kiss’ right after entering in front of the entire student body. Though it wasn’t a lie, her true intents were undoubtedly to annoy Harutora.
That action seemed to have been far more effective than anticipated. The academy was constantly discussing that topic. None of the students who stopped walking to watch could conceal their curiosity.
“.…..Please give me a break, don’t be like that from the start of the morning.….. You just entered so you should be very busy, right?”
“I~diot. Why would I be busy. The material that the Onmyou Academy teaches is a joke to me.”
“Certainly, the coursework’s like that.….. But there are a lot of things to consider after you enter, right? Like getting along with the people around you.”
Harutora held no ulterior motive, but the tone he spoke with made it seem like he was acting like a senpai. Anger showed itself in Suzuka’s eyes.
“You really don’t have any idea. Those things are unrelated to the ‘Child Prodigy’ me. It doesn’t matter whether others revere or are afraid of me.”
“That’s why you’re isolated from the people around you. You ran over to my classroom during the break yesterday too.….. Anyway, there’s nowhere you can stay because of the idol mask you wear.”
“What did you say!? Didn’t I say that I didn’t care about that class of newbies in the first place!?”
“You should get along more with other people.…..”
“Shut up! I’ll lose my ‘style’ if I interact with those people!”
“Uwah, what pitiful words.…..”
“You wanna die!?”
Suzuka glared angrily at Harutora, but Harutora stared back at Suzuka without looking afraid. His look seemed like a brother worried about his little sister, making Suzuka very displeased.
“Let me interrupt.”
Touji’s tone was very serious — but he was clearly looking for entertainment. He coughed to clear his throat.
“We’re undoubtedly also a ‘class of newbies’. Wouldn’t the ‘Child Prodigy’ lose her style if she ran over to talk with us?”
“Hey — I don’t need you butting in from the side!”
“T-Touji, please stop making her angry–”
“Natsume? You heard?”
How was this guy so full of himself. Did he really understand that she was a National First-Class Onmyouji? Even the powerful people in the Onmyou Agency were humble in front of her.
“Ah! Come to think of it, you three are always together! You’re going to school together as three just like elementary schoolers!”
Suzuka criticized them as if thinking of another interesting thing. Harutora smiled bitterly at this.
“We’re going together because we live together.”
“Eh? You live together–”
Suzuka momentarily went speechless, her gaze moving from Harutora to Natsume.
“Are you.….. cohabiting.…..?”
“N-No!”
As Suzuka stared at her, Natsume denied it with a red face.
On the other hand, Harutora seemed very calm.
“That’s impossible. We’re living in a dorm, the Onmyou Academy male dorm.”
“.…..A-Ah, I see. You’re living in the dorm.….. Eh? The male dorm? But in the end, Natsume’s.…..?”
Suzuka stared at Natsume, her eyes wide. Natsume guiltily averted her gaze.
Harutora scratched his head.
“Well, normally it would seem impossible. We’ve managed to muddle through for the last half-year.”
“.…..T-Then you’re always together outside of classes.…..”
“Yeah, it’s more convenient for helping Natsume. Our rooms are adjacent too.…..”
“Adjacent?”
“Yeah. Was it coincidence? .…..No, it seems like someone did that deliberately.…..”
Harutora bitterly added that sentence, but it no longer reached Suzuka’s ears.
Just then,
“H-Harutora. We have to go to class.”
Natsume reminded him uneasily. “Ah, crap”. Harutora also looked at his watch and the three of them walked to the academy building together.
Suzuka stared at the backs of the three senpai, her lips pressed strongly together.
The first-year classroom. Suzuka had no plans on listening seriously in the first place, and now she was constantly muttering about things unrelated to the coursework, looking absent-minded.
“.…..They’ve been living at the dorm, and they’re even next to each other.…..”
They were living under the same roof. What was up with that? What were they doing?
“.…..So annoying.…..”
A restless feeling that she didn’t understand either had suddenly swelled up in her chest. An anxiety whose origins were unclear.
But,
“.…..Ah, right. Since Dairenji’s here, could you explain to everyone?”
Suzuka raised her head as her name was suddenly called. The lecturer standing on the podium was looking at Suzuka, and the gazes of the students around her were also focused on her.
Unconsciously, Suzuka said:
“Eh?”
“Yeah, it’s a rare opportunity, right? If you’re willing, could you explain your take on it?”
The lecturer requested with an amicable look. Could the flattering and deviousness she felt from his tone be her own mistake?
Yeah. This kind of person was easy to understand. This was the attitude that an ‘adult’ ought to have towards the ‘Child Prodigy’. The reaction of a normal person.
“Ah, okay~”
She smiled and stood up, rapidly reading the words on the blackboard.
“Well, this is just what I think, but–”
She made sure to act cute and appropriate, stating a non-concrete and therefore somewhat vague opinion in a profound tone. It was a simple introduction. Afterwards, the listeners would accept her explanation more in their admiration.
“.…..Yeah. Um.….. Did everyone understand?”
Suzuka behaved very humble, and the classmates were all awed into speechlessness. There were even some idiots who looked moved. The sensei also showed a satisfied expression, as if to signify that she had played into her hands. The disappointment in Suzuka’s heart was at the level where she could no longer laugh silently to herself. She just felt empty.
See.
Things would become like this if she interacted with these people. Suzuka smiled and sat back down, but she was racking her brains inside. That idiot Harutora, what are you trying to tell me? And you even used that kind of haughty tone.
“Well, that doesn’t matter anymore.”
She was still concerned about the matter regarding the male dorm.
She couldn’t ignore that.
Suzuka wouldn’t be able to reply if she were asked for the reason — in any case, she couldn’t forgive him.
“…Alright.”
Suzuka nodded lightly.
“.…..How’s that, any thoughts?”
“Yeah, it’s very ordinary.”
“I know.”
Harutora said disappointedly. Suzuka snorted “shut up” next to him.
It was Harutora’s room, on the second floor of the male dorm. This room wasn’t large, only six tatami, but Harutora, Natsume, Touji, and Suzuka had all come here.
Suzuka had said ‘let me see’ after school ended and forcefully came here to observe. Harutora and the others were obviously unwilling, but they were helpless against her in this situation where she had the leverage of Natsume’s true identity.
Then, Suzuka had the slow Harutora get her a cushion and she looked around at Harutora’s room again.
There weren’t many personal objects, and in some sense it was an extremely bland room. A low table and cheap bookshelves. That was all the furniture that was installed, along with a tiger-striped lucky cat placed on the bookshelf. She felt it unexpected to see only that much decorating the interior of the room.
But this strangely unique atmosphere and its blandness probably perfectly gave off the impression of a ‘boy’s room’. Harutora lived here — when she thought of that, she suddenly and inexplicably lost her calm.
“.…..C-Come to think of it, it’s too small! It’s unbelievable that you don’t even have a computer in your room in the modern day. Are you actually from the Showa era? A lucky cat, so laughable.”
“None of your business, it has nothing to do with you.”
“Tiger stripes to symbolize that your name’s ‘tora[1]’, how gross~”
“You! What does it matter! I’m just doing what I like!”
Suzuka let out a malicious laugh when she saw Harutora’s annoyed appearance. At the same time, the show from the morning that she had long since forgotten about emerged in her mind.
… ‘The lucky item is…’
“Well, I guess it’s tiger-striped.…..”
“Hah? What are you going to complain about this time?”
“N-Nothing.”
Suzuka hastily waved it by. “But.” She looked over the entire room again.
“I see~ So this is what dorms were like, it has a strong plebian air~”
“I’m truly sorry that we’re plebeians.”
It couldn’t be resolved peacefully.
Natsume threw out a simple shikigami charm. “Ah!” Suzuka hastily reacted, but the simple shikigami had already flown out of Harutora’s room, rushing towards Natsume’s room from the hallway.
“Don’t look down on me!”
Suzuka formed a blade seal, cutting apart the magical energy that Natsume infused into the simple shikigami. Natsume clicked her tongue while simultaneously casting stealth magic on herself — but the moment Suzuka formed a new seal, she was caught by the door.
Natsume threw out a protective charm to deflect Suzuka’s magic, trying to escape the room again, but Suzuka dove from her seat and grabbed her foot. Harutora was speechless, and Touji’s eyes were also widened.
“Let go of me! Let me go!”
“No way! What’s up with that intense reaction!? What kind of terrible things do you have in your room? I’m actually a bit scared.”
Suzuka shouted restlessly. The male faction watched the two tangled up into a clump, undoubtedly feeling greatly terrified.
In the end, Suzuka even took out a wood-element charm, binding Natsume with all her might. Even Natsume had trouble facing against Suzuka.
She carefully sealed Natsume’s mouth with a charm, making her unable to speak.
“Alright.….. Let’s go.”
Suzuka left Harutora’s room.
Harutora and Touji looked at each other helplessly.
“You come too!”
A shout came from the hallway and Harutora gingerly stood up.
Natsume, her mouth sealed, was thrashing her body on the tatami. Harutora and Touji averted their gazes, leaving Natsume unattended and walking out of the room.
They arrived in front of the room Natsume lived in.
Thinking carefully, Harutora and Touji hadn’t entered Natsume’s room either. After that entanglement before, their feelings were as if they were standing in front of the final door to an underground city.
On the other hand, Suzuka didn’t pay any heed to the two inadvertently gulping, reaching out her hand with a tense expression — she definitely wouldn’t make the low-level mistake of grabbing the door handle with her hand.
She first formed a seal, chanted an incantation, and inspected the magical defenses of the room. “.…..As expected.” After muttering, she pulled out a charm from her clothes, chanting an incantation again while sticking the charm to the door followed by another one. In that period of time, Natsume’s muffled shouts came in bursts from Harutora’s room. How could it be described — all that could be said was that the current scene was overly abnormal.
Then, after Suzuka dealt with the magical defenses of the room, she turned to confirming the physical traps. She called forth a humanoid simple shikigami while staying a distance from the door, making the simple shikigami’s finger morph and extend into the keyhole and adjusting its shape. She stood in a safe position, constantly gripping a protective charm in her hand just in case while beginning to unlock the door.
“.…..Why don’t you just blast open the door with magic altogether?”
“T-Touji! Don’t say such reckless things!”
Harutora’s face paled, believing that he might truly do so. After he confirmed Touji’s demeanor, he immediately heard a click sound. It was unlocked.
Suzuka’s simple shikigami swiftly swiveled the door handle and opened the door.
Nothing happened at all. Suzuka wiped off the sweat from her forehead.
“There were only magical defenses.….. Hmph. In the end, she was careless at the most important part.”
“Uh.….. Well.…..”
Suzuka didn’t pay any heed to the already-stunned two of them, peering into the interior of Natsume’s room through the opened door.
She turned around and spoke to Harutora and Touji.
“Let’s go.”
Then, she walked ahead into the room. Harutora and Touji helplessly followed behind.
Natsume’s room layout was just like Harutora’s, also a six tatami room. Harutora’s room had tatami, but there was only a floor here. It seemed that the tatami in Harutora’s room had probably been left by the previous resident.
Natsume’s room was more decorated than Harutora’s room, perhaps as expected of a girl.
Bookshelves and furniture were placed along the walls, and there was also a window inside, a small vase placed on the narrow windowsill with camellias inside. The bed was placed on the opposite wall. It looked extremely clean, and the pillow and covers had been made neatly.
Suzuka noticed an old tiger stuffed animal placed next to the pillow. It seemed to be an ordinary girl’s possession.
“.…..A tiger here, too.”
Suzuka narrowed her eyes, murmuring quietly, seemingly clicking her tongue as well.
The stuffed animal was quite large, just large enough to be used as a hugging pillow — for some reason, Suzuka had that thought the first time she laid eyes on it.
In any case, Natsume’s room gave off the atmosphere of an excellent student, just like Natsume herself. But that was very interesting. Harutora was the only one who was in a daze for some reason, his face slightly tinged with red.
“.…..S-So this is Natsume’s room.…..”
He seemed to feel that he shouldn’t peek, but he still looked around curiously. Touji next to him showed a disappointed expression, as if saying ‘is that it?’.
“Judging from her reaction, I thought there would be some more terrible things.….. But there’s nothing at all. She might be a little too self-conscious.”
He had probably prepared himself quite a bit beforehand. Touji’s remark seemed to express that he had had enough of this nonsense. But after all, Natsume was a young girl, and she would definitely feel conflicted about people peeking at her private room.
“.…..But as expected, it’s different from my room. Should I call it the atmosphere, or the scent.…..”
“The scent was probably left by incense. There’s an incense burner on the corner of the table. Well, some magic needs incense, so that kind of scent is very ordinary.”
“Left-behind scent.…..”
Harutora’s face became even redder when he heard Suzuka’s careless explanation.
“I-It’s pretty bad to barge in like this, right, Suzuka? You already finished seeing the room, so why don’t we go back?”
Whether it was due to his reproachful conscience or for other reasons, Harutora embarrassedly proposed that. Actually, he felt that there wasn’t anything here that Suzuka would find worthwhile to look at, so she ought not to have any reason for opposition.….. But Harutora’s attitude angered Suzuka for some reason.
“Hey, how many times do I have to say it for you to understand? You’re not the one who makes decisions, it’s me–”
Suzuka’s expression of rebuke made it seem like she was about to bite him, but she suddenly stopped halfway through.
Suzuka’s gaze moved from Harutora’s body to behind him. Harutora also turned around to follow Suzuka’s gaze.
The closet.
A devilish smile emerged on Suzuka’s face.
“What, ‘something interesting’ is right here. I see, she concealed the barrier itself, what an effort. Now I’m motivated again~”
She seemed to have noticed something on her own. She nodded, her hand on her chin.
“What? Is there some magic set over there?”
As Touji asked, he lightly touched the door handle of the closet with his hand.
At that moment.
A bang sounded out like a wet towel being snapped. At the same time as that splitting sound rang out, Touji’s body was sent flying and crashed into Harutora who had no time to evade. The two of them fell to the ground together.
Touji was stunned, and Harutora was almost scared to death.
“Hey, what the hell!”
“I~diot. It’s because you touched it ignorantly. The barrier on there is different from the one on the door, it’s much more dangerous. You newbies better move aside.”
“Very dangerous, you say.….. How, it’s just the door handle of a closet.”
“Yeah~ .…..Now that you mention it, it seems very troublesome to undo the magic. Interesting. I’ll take the challenge.”
“.…..”
The faces of the two males paled, and Suzuka formed a hand seal on her own. She refined her aura and chanted an incantation, resolutely facing the closet directly. “Harutora, can I got back to my own room?” Touji asked very seriously, but Harutora couldn’t reply.
But,
“Mmgh!”
A strange voice that suddenly range out made Harutora and the others flinch in fright.
Natsume crawled through the corner on the other side of the opened door, her whole body entwined with the vines of the wood-element charm and her mouth sealed by a charm. At the same time, she stared into the room with a ghastly appearance. It looked like she had slowly inched her way over here bit by bit. Her crazed look made Harutora and Touji cry out.
“Mmg! Mmg!”
“Ah, shut up! Do you want your true identity revealed!?”
“Mmg! Mmg!”
“Enough, shut up and settle down!”
Suzuka didn’t look at the howling Natsume as she released the barrier magic with all her power. Natsume breathed heavily, struggling to crawl into the room. Suzuka clicked her tongue, momentarily interrupting her undoing of the magic, and took out a wood-element charm from her clothes.
“S-Stop! Suzuka, stop there! …Kon, release Natsume’s bindings.”
Harutora couldn’t keep on watching and issued an order to his defensive shikigami. “Hah?” Suzuka glared at him, but this time Harutora didn’t back down.
“Regardless, you’re going too far! That’s enough playing around!”
Harutora loudly reproached Suzuka, still collapsed on the floor with Touji. Moments later, a young girl wearing a suikan appeared next to Natsume, triangular ears and a tail growing out of her body. She was Harutora’s defensive shikigami, Kon.
Harutora looked at Kon.
“Kon! Release Natsume’s bindings!”
“.…..H-Harutora-sama, pardon my insolence, but were the dirty books mentioned before real.…..”
“That’s enough, hurry up and release the magic!”
Kon seemed to be quite concerned as well. But upon seeing her master about to get angry, she judged that she couldn’t continue pursuing the question.
She drew her wakizashi, cutting apart the vines binding Natsume, and finally slit open the charm sealing her mouth. Suzuka frowned, feeling annoyed.
But.
If any one of Suzuka, Harutora, or Touji had been able to be a bit calmer and observed carefully, they would have taken more careful actions. Because the current Natsume had already lost her mind.
Natsume, her freedom recovered, immediately leaped forward with all her might.
“Come, Hokuto! Guard the closet with your life!”
“Hah?”
Suzuka, Harutora, and Touji’s voices sounded at the same time, and then a golden light suddenly exploded in the mere six-tatami room.
The dinner in male dorm was curry that night.
Suzuka, Harutora, and Touji sat around the centermost table in the vast cafeteria. The other residents had already finished their dinner. They had only been able to cat dinner now, since the manager Fujino had only just finished scolding them.
“.…..Does that woman really understand that I’m a Divine General.…..?”
“.…..Who knows.….. That’s my first time seeing Fujino-san that mad.…..”
Suzuka and Harutora chatted with gloomy faces, plates of curry placed before them.
In the end, Natsume had summoned a dragon in her dorm room. The summoned Hokuto had also been quite cramped, and the windows had shattered, the wall had burst outward, and even the floor had seemed about to collapse. Anyways, it had been a huge disaster. But because of that commotion, Suzuka had no choice but to eat dinner in the dorm before going back[2]. That was why she was sitting like this next to a cafeteria table right now.
Incidentally, the ‘main perpetrator’ Natsume had been punished with no dinner and was sitting along at the neighboring table. Her mind seemed to have returned to normal already, and she was curled up into a ball of guilt.
“Natsume, you need to learn your lesson this time too.”
“.…..Harutora and the others can’t go in. You have to be more considerate of other people’s privacy.…..”
“And that’s why you summoned Hokuto?”
“Didn’t I already apologize for that.”
Natsume rebutted weakly, but she lowered her head weakly with an “Uuuu.…..” upon hearing Touji exhaustedly murmur “Honestly, you made us suffer too.”
The dinner was way too simple. Suzuka harrumphed and ate a bit of curry.
Then,
“.…..It’s so spicy.…..”
Today’s curry only had medium spiciness, but it still didn’t suit Suzuka’s taste, who basically only ate sweet foods. Harutora laughed, but hastily averted his gaze after Suzuka glared at him.
“Look.”
Touji placed a small saucer in front of Suzuka.
He broke an egg above it.
“Eh? What’s that.”
A raw egg. That’s so nostalgic, Touji, gimme one too.”
“There’s only that one.”
“Hold on! Raw eggs.…..”
“If you add it to the curry, it’ll become sweet.”
“Put the raw egg in the curry?”
Suzuka looked at the offered egg and the curry, her look filled with distrust. “I’ll do it.” Harutora reached out from the side, mixing the egg into Suzuka’s curry.
“Hey!”
“Stir it up and make it sticky like this.”
“Sticky.….. If it’s bad, you’ll be trading with me.”
Suzuka timidly stirred it with her spoon according to Harutora’s instructions. “Don’t be so scared,” Touji interjected from the side, and Suzuka mustered her energy in resignation, making the curry become sticky and gooey. In the end, the external appearance of the curry on the place could no longer be called food according to Suzuka’s standards.
Suzuka stared at the curry with a stiff expression, and Touji and Harutora watched Suzuka’s actions.
Suzuka was still a bit hesitant.
“.…..It’s alright, it’s really good.”
Natsume said from the other table. Suzuka reacted as if she had been shocked by weak electricity.
She glanced at Natsume out of the corner of her eye, slowly scooping up a spoonful. The pattern of the curry and the raw egg mixed together looked a bit like tiger stripes in some sense.…..
After hesitating for another while, she took a fierce bite.
“.…..Ah.”
It wasn’t spicy anymore.
Afterwards, Suzuka called for her shuttle and returned home.
She turned on the apartment light. This 1LDK was much larger than Harutora and Natsume’s rooms, but it seemed more stifling than when she had left in the morning.
She was returning to her own room, but it was like returning to a cage. But to a certain extent, that was the truth.
Her skin felt a prickly sensation. The barrier was suppressing Suzuka’s magical energy.
“.…..Tch.”
She calmed down a bit.
But,
… “Take care, Suzuka. See you tomorrow.”
In the end, he had looked stupid in front of Suzuka as she got into the car.
Yeah, she could see him tomorrow too. It was the same for Harutora. And Touji.….. and Natsume.
Come to think of it, the curry she had eaten for dinner had been the average size for the male dorm. Suzuka, who had felt greatly shocked by this, had secretly given the half that was left to Natsume. Just as Natsume had seriously rejected her rare good-hearted proposal, her stomach had made a rumbling sound and Harutora and Touji had laughed themselves to tears–
A soft smile flitted over Suzuka’s lips.
“.…..I guess I’ll sleep.”
Suzuka took off her clothes and showered after making up her mind. She blew her hair dry, brushed her teeth, and walked from the living room to the bedroom.
But she seemed to suddenly think of something a few minutes later and returned to the living room.
She opened her laptop computer and connected to the internet. She searched for an online site that specialized in selling stuffed animals.
After thinking deeply for a while as seriously as she did when she researched magic, she purchased a somewhat big stuffed animal right before midnight, and then returned to her bed in satisfaction.
The stuffed animal she bought ought to arrive before she returned home tomorrow.
And as for why she bought that stuffed animal — that was the Child Prodigy of the Twelve Divine Generals’ top secret.
Translator’s Notes and References
1 Tiger. As you may have guessed.
2 I believe this means she had no time for other options.
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