Art begins and ends with imitation.
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Unnatural─in this situation, which of these was most unnatural?
Me, a nonsense user who was instead used nonsensically? A contractor who baselessly claims to be the world’s strongest? Hime-chan, attempting to escape from this unorthodox academy? Shiogi and company trying to stop her? The thing is, within the confines of this school, inside the walls of “Hang ’Em High,” none of these was conspicuously abnormal.
“’Kay. Back to business. Whadda we do now?” grumbled Aikawa, as she unfastened the scarf from her uniform and fashioned it into a triangular sling for my right arm. I say “grumbled,” but she didn’t seem worried or put out; her grumble seemed to be a grumble of enjoyment.
“Good question,” I responded, though I was more focused on the thought that her high school girl look wasn’t half bad. I’d 100 percent assumed there would be something off about it, but turns out that everything looks good on someone as gorgeous as Aikawa. How can I put this, yeah, life’s a bitch.
“Since I let that tactician chick get away, I guess they must know I’m here by now. I was hoping you’d make a better decoy, Iitan…”
“Oh…sorry about that, I blew it.”
I apologized immediately, but did she just say something about a decoy?
“We’re in troubles, huh. What’re we to do?”
Hime-chan’s half-baked addition to the conversation didn’t register any sense of urgency either. It was like they both lacked any sense of danger whatsoever. Aikawa was one thing, but with Hime-chan that was a problem. Given how easily she’d just gotten captured, she didn’t seem to possess any of Shiogi’s combat ability.
“Or are you actually amazingly strong, Hime-chan?”
“Not at all. Hime-chan doesn’t need strength.”
“Because this is an age of knowledge?”
“That’s right. A wise man once said…” Here Hime-chan did that gesture again where she whipped her finger up and snapped it down, before pointing it straight at me. “It’s all in the mind!”
“…”
Don’t you mean, “Knowledge is power?”
That was definitely not a wise pronouncement.
“Uh huh. Hime-chan’s a washout, which is why I kind of started to hate school. So I wanted to drop out, but they wouldn’t let me. It would’ve been nice if they’d just let me left on good terms, but there was something about a non-disclosure agreement or whatever. That’s why Hime-chan asked Ms. Jun for help.”
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
“Ah ah ah, I don’t want to hear that coming from youuu, Master!” She waggled her finger at me condescendingly. This girl had quite the abundant store of hand gestures. “Oh, and by the way. Hagihara, from before, she’s the number-one ‘pupil’ at this academy. She’s a third-year, my senpai.”
“Hmm…”
“So a little thing like a dislocated shoulder is nothing to beats yourself up about, Master. She may be a girl, but she’s of a different caliber. Or no, not caliber, more like payload. No, no, more than that, we’re talking megatons, she’s nuclear…”
“…”
I was getting kind of irritated by this girl. Had her true nature been revealed by Aikawa’s appearance? Was this the pain in the ass behind the curtain? What had those tears been all about?
“Hanh. Anyway, we’d better forget about breaking through their lines with a frontal assault,” said Aikawa, tiredly pushing her bangs out of her face. “Shiogi Hagihara─nothing to fear just because she’s top of her class, but either way, I have a hard time with that kind of person. I’d prefer to avoid dealing with her if possible.”
“Oh, so that’s why you let her get away? I didn’t know there was any kind of person you had a hard time with, Jun.”
“Well, there is. So self-confident even though she’s got nothing─bursting with pride even though she’s completely hollow─I’m no good with that kind of walking contradiction. I just don’t get them.” Aikawa turned to scrutinize me. “Should I be including you in that, Iitan?”
“Uh…no, you’d be saying me and Shiogi are birds of a feather.”
Seemed to me Shiogi was more like Aikawa.
“Nah, that’s just the recklessness of youth. My arrogance and her insolence are different things. You and her are birds of a feather, in that regard as well. Mirror images, insofar as you’ll both end up caught in your own webs. Feh, tactician─what a laugh. All right. Would’ve been nice if you’d gotten Ichihime out of here for me, Iitan…but what can you do. Let’s try the opposite of a textbook move.”
“The opposite?” The polite prompt came from Hime-chan.
“What do you mean by that?” The dubious question came from me.
“Well, this might actually be the more legitimate tack─but we’ll take the fight to them. Instead of trying to force our way out, we’ll force our way in─to the faculty building, where we’ll have a tête-à-tête with the ‘Director.’ I’m talking about negotiating for Ichihime’s right to withdraw from the school.”
Nice and simple, right? said Aikawa, with a curl of her lip.
I couldn’t even manage to squeak out my surprise. And once again (I have no earthly idea how many times this made, but anyway, once again), I was filled with admiration for her. While I had spent my life thus far considering only how to outwit people and run away, she had lived hers thinking only of the exact opposite. Facing her opponents head on and declaring war, boldly and proudly marching forth to battle. Thinking only of that.
“But Ms. Jun─”
“It’s fine, Ichihime. I’ve never liked that woman. You don’t think too highly of her either, am I right? I’m actually glad to have a chance to put her down for the count. Right, now that that’s decided─let’s go.”
Having unilaterally decided to adopt her own plan, Aikawa started walking away; taken aback by this abrupt turn of events, Hime-chan and I scrambled to follow. It already seemed to have been tacitly settled who had the leading part here, and who were in the supporting roles.
In carriage, in conviction, and in deed.
Overwhelmingly mighty and stalwart as stone.
Her confidence and pride neither false nor unearned.
Jun Aikawa harbors no inconsistencies.