Tokyo Ravens - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.4

Part 4
The next morning.
Harutora had stuck on more healing charms for the bruises left from yesterday's injuries. Once he walked into the classroom, he instantly felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange. Though he couldn't say why, it was different from the previous two days.

He didn't really know where that abnormal feeling came from, even thinking that he was to blame as he walked past the podium in wonder.
Natsume was already sitting in her old seat. She immediately turned her head towards the window after glancing at Harutora as he entered the classroom. In the end, this kind of reaction wasn't unexpected after their big argument recently, but Harutora had still felt a heavy heart since the morning.
Touji planned on keeping a set distance to observe the situation today as well, so Harutora sat by himself in the same seat as yesterday.
He prayed from his heart, hoping that he could pass a smooth, uneventful day today.
"......G, Good morning, Tsuchimikado-kun."
"Huh? Ah, good morning......"
After Harutora sat down, three female students walked over together.
Harutora had seen them before since they were classmates, but he had never greeted them before since he didn't know their names. He surveyed the faces of the three in surprise.
"Hey, are you free now?"
"......Uh, I guess so...... W, What is it? Do you need something?"
"No, we actually don't......"
One of them spoke shyly. The other two egged her forward from behind, urging her to hurry up and thereby making Harutora confused.
Could they be here to bully a new student? Maybe the classmates had finally started moving on the third day after he had entered. What if they felt he was an eyesore? But just as Harutora was worrying by himself--
"Y, Yesterday's fight was wonderful, but your injuries aren't bad, right?"
"What? Oh, thanks. These small wounds are nothing."
"That's great. But I was really surprised, I never thought there would be someone fighting a shikigami with a wooden sword."
"I, Indeed...... No one would do that."
Harutora replied in a stammer, and the two who had been standing in the back suddenly moved forward upon hearing that.
"And the opponent was Kurahashi-san's defensive shikigami, right? That's so incredible!"
"I, I don't know much about that. But I think...... It's not that incredible?"
"Then why else did you yourself fight?"
"Why...... In the end I don't know how to cast magic, and I don't get how to control shikigami for battle...... So I wanted to at least help out directly a bit - that's it."
"No way! You fought because of that?"
"Unbelievable!"
The three girls cried out softly side-by-side. Harutora, who still wasn't sure what was going on, was surprised into showing a perplexed expression.
Then, two male students who were watching from the distance called out to the three girls and took the opportunity to approach Harutora's seat.
They smiled a bit stiffly at Harutora.
"......Hi, yesterday was truly unfortunate, Tsuchimikado. You're pretty courageous to not run away like a chicken."
"Right, I'd quickly run away at the start if I were fighting with Kurahashi."
The two male students seemed to feel a bit ashamed about not having spoken with him over the past two days, unlike the carefree girls. Even if they couldn't hide their embarrassment, they still showed sincere goodwill and spoke interestedly with Harutora. This action made Harutora unable to help but feel surprised from the bottom of his heart.
"I haven't seen Kurahashi's defensive shikigami in a long while, aren't they basically professional level? And there are even two!"
"But didn't the Kurahashi family specially create those to conform with her? That's not too unlikely, right?"
"Most defensive shikigami are tailored to conform to the practitioner, doesn't that cost a lot of money? It's incredible of you to go and fight just relying on a wooden sword."
"Ohtomo-sensei is way too random, I even thought he was joking at the start."
The students circled around Harutora, freely chatting about their feelings regarding yesterday, even treating Harutora like he wasn't there.
Just then--
"Huh, Harutora-kun?" One of the few familiar faces came to find him to talk.
It was Tenma. Even if he was surprised at the circumstances Harutora was in, he still instantly noticed the situation and intervened.
"Ahh, T-Tenma......"
Save me - Harutora pleaded wordlessly. Tenma couldn't help but laugh since his appearance was so pitiful.
"Yesterday was really tough on you. But you really surprised me, is your body alright?" He spoke with a casual tone.
"I'm fine, sorry for making you worry."
"Don't say that. But, Harutora-kun, so you had a defensive familiar, huh. And moreover that isn't a familiar sold on the market, right?"
"Uh, yeah......"
"Right! Hey, Tsuchimikado-kun, can you let us see that little shikigami again?"
"Ah, me too! I want to see!"
The girls instantly showed a strong interest upon hearing about the defensive shikigami, and Harutora confusedly sent a questioning gaze at Tenma. Tenma nodded his head with a smile.
"......Kon."
Though she had been ordered to hide herself, Kon was always accompanying Harutora by his side, and she also heard their conversation. The defensive familiar materialized once Harutora summoned her.
"Wah, so cool!"
"Iyah! How cute!"
The classmates' eyes sparkled, especially the girls who were even more abnormally excited, continuously praising Kon as cute and even reaching their hands to touch her. Kon froze stiff facing this sudden atrocity, panic showing in her blue eyes.
"H-H-H-Harutora-sama!?"
"......Forgive me, Kon. Just tolerate it for a bit."
Harutora felt like he was treating Kon like a living sacrifice, and he hid the guilt in his heart. Kon's tail and her pair of small ears stood up in panic, and Harutora could only pretend he hadn't seen it.
"This defensive familiar is really young, now that I'm seeing it from up close. Tsuchimikado, could this be the type that you like?"
"Of course not."
"......I recall she's a high-level shikigami? I see, so you're making this kind of shikigami serve you."
"I said it's not like that!"
"He's panicked, how suspicious."
"Could it be you bath together!"
"Iyah, pervert--"
"......Why don't you understand the words I say."
Perhaps the panicked reactions of the master and servant were very funny, as the students encircling Harutora laughed one by one. The confusion in Harutora's heart still hadn't disappeared, but the faces in front of him were no longer unreadable and cold like the past two days, and instead there were smiles all around. They were indeed laughing at him, but there was naturally evolved goodwill towards Harutora hidden deep within their words.
"Stupid."

Just then, a voice came from the back of the classroom.
That person spat out a word with a strong provocative air. Harutora turned around to look, and it was another male student whose face he recognized but whose name he didn't know. The male student was overlooking the noisy group around Harutora with his feet up on the desk.
"......Even this guy who doesn't even know what a defensive familiar is has a high-level shikigami serving him? How worthy of a famous family."
The man's tone carried disgust and the clamorous classmates went silent at those words, with the happy and laughter-filled atmosphere from before suddenly freezing.
Harutora hastily called out: "Kon!"
Kon, who had shaken off the female student's hand and leaped up, instantly stopped in midair. Harutora's call obviously wasn't meant for Kon to attack, but was to restrain Kon, to keep her from teaching the rude boy a lesson. Kon had grabbed the hilt of her wakizashi in a backhand grip as if to hunt the prey in front of her, but was stopped. Her dissatisfied "Uuu~" sound was the best proof.
"...Really, do you understand self-reflection or not?"
"B-B, But~"
Harutora narrowed his eyes, staring at the imploring Kon, and Kon's tail dropped in depression.
On the other hand, the male student who had almost been attacked hastily pulled his legs off the desk, almost falling off his chair.
He probably hadn't expected his casual sarcasm to invite a shikigami attack, and his face was rigid from fright.
One of the female students couldn't help but laugh at that boy's panic-stricken appearance. The laughter spread, and not just Harutora's surroundings but the entire classroom filled with the sound of snickering. The student who was being laughed at got angry and embarrassed, his face darkening and reddening.
However... "Sorry." Harutora stood up, bowing deeply to apologize.
The students by his side stared and gaped, stunned at the image of him apologizing. The fur on Kon's tail shot up like needles as if she had taken a strong blow.
"Sorry to bother you, I know I'm an eyesore, but......"
He raised his head, looking straight at the male student who had fallen over in surprise from that action.
"I still want to be good friends with all of you. I also wanted to say this to Kurahashi-san yesterday, but could you please bear with me? I'll do my best to return everyone's consideration."
The classroom was silent.
This was fine. He didn't want to get mad because of a sarcastic remark and shame himself instead. In particular, he could understand the angry feelings with which the other person had spoken.
Kon floated in midair, gazing at her master in astonishment, and the expressions of the classmates circling around Harutora were similar. "Uh, that......" The boy whom Harutora had preemptively apologized to stammered, not knowing how to respond for a while.
The strange silent atmosphere gradually spread.
The girl who had first chatted with Harutora broke the silence. She bucked up her energy, saying cheerfully:
"......You're always talking about others, but weren't you unable to control even the simple shikigami that sensei created in the practical drill the other day? You can't possibly use a defensive shikigami, right?"
"Sh, Shut up. I didn't use my full strength at the time! And also, those methods are different from autonomous control!"
"You say that, but I remember you were exhausted at the end."
"Isn't it always like that at the start! And weren't you unable to stand for quite a while!"
The male student rebutted after the female student had finished speaking. The atmosphere relaxed quite a bit from this since it was obviously ill founded. Harutora felt like he was the one who truly needed to be saved rather than the boy who was being teased by the entire class.
"A, Anyway, Tsuchimikado. You better understand clearly that I can't stand the sight of you or that fight yesterday!"
The boy regained his arrogance, fiercely firing off abusive words again, but the sharp tone from before was no longer audible.
Harutora smiled.
"I'll remember that, and also, you can just call me Harutora."
"............"
The boy turned his head, hmphing in place of a reply.
Harutora didn't hate that way of getting along. He didn't want to force himself to be buddies with everyone, nor was he confident that he could do that. Even if people thought him annoying, he would rather have it said clearly and up-front rather than gossiped about in the shadows.
Harutora turned around, thanking the girl who had rescued him with his eyes.
"Right, I still don't remember everyone's names, so could you take this opportunity to tell me? It's fine if everyone just calls me Harutora."
"Okay, so Tsucchi?"
"You weren't listening to me at all."
Harutora's wry smile made the classroom fill with mirth again. Tenma started off by introducing himself again, and the other students stated their names following him. The boy in the back of the classroom deliberately 'tch'ed, but the corners of his mouth rose slightly.
A new scene had emerged in the classroom.
Kon stared blankly at this scene by herself as if everyone had forgotten about her.
No, it wasn't just Kon, there was someone else--
"......I never thought this kind of development would emerge."
The sudden words made Natsume cry out in surprise, and she was too preoccupied with hastily turning towards the origin of that voice to hide her original, higher-pitched voice.
"T, Touji......"
"Hmph, it would be truly incredible to get these kinds of results if he were doing that on purpose...... But he just went with the flow without doing any planning at all, so the people who can't do such things must be quite jealous after seeing that..."
Saying this, Touji glanced at Natsume.
"...Don't you think so?"
"Wh...... What nonsense are you saying......"
Natsume replied in a soft whisper, turning her head to avoid Touji's gaze.
However, her evasive gaze was naturally drawn to Harutora. Harutora was currently the focus of attention of the people in the class, and Natsume clearly showed surprise and irritation in her eyes as she looked at him.
'Logically speaking', those people had been her classmates for half a year, and 'logically speaking', Harutora was the branch family youngster she had known since she was small.
Both sides were people she recognized, but they had become friends in some way that she couldn't reach out her hand to touch. Natsume gazed silently, and this was the only thing she could do. Her face was inexplicably hurt, and worry managed to flit across Touji's face as he glanced at her.
"......Don't force yourself."
"I, I'm not forcing myself! Why have you full been of nonsense since just now?!"
Natsume shouted agitatedly, audibly forcing herself. Touji shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned.
Then--
"I see, my apologies. Actually, I had a good friend who got into a fight with that idiot this summer because she was forcing herself, and that ended up being the last moment between the two of them."
"......!"
Natsume's heart jumped and she turned to Touji. Touji watched from behind Harutora and the others, his gaze a bit nostalgic, and a self-deprecating smile unlike something he would show emerging on his face.
"That was a bitter experience for me, and I don't want to see it repeat itself."
"............"
Natsume lowered her head, not knowing what to do, her body stiff underneath her uniform.
Her look was scared and extremely stubborn. This timid Natsume looked like an ordinary girl in his eyes because Touji knew Natsume's true identity. He sighed secretly, raising one eyebrow.
Then, his gaze turned towards the entrance to the room.
Kurahashi Kyouko walked into the room.
Kyouko was also visibly surprised facing the scene in the room, and after understanding the situation, she showed a stunned look. Touji almost laughed. Maybe Harutora was distressed and didn't know how to deal with this person, but in Touji's eyes, her emotions were clearly written on her face and quite easy to understand.
"......I should probably act soon too."
Touji murmured silently. Harutora would definitely look displeased if he heard those words. Because every time Touji was planning some devious idea, his tone was always this raptured.