Here I am at my hermitage by the lake, loafing around on the sofa.
BAM!
The door bursts open, tearing through my hour of bliss.
“Brother Haruto! This is an emergency!”
It’s my dear beloved little sister, Charlotte.
“What’s up?”
Seems like a dire situation, but as an older brother, I play it cool.
“The headmistress is calling for you!”
“For realz?”
Uh-oh, what’d I do?
I manage to hide the panic underneath my straight face. As a big brother, I’ve gotta show some dignity.
“Oh, and also, Brother Haruto─”
“Hm? Something else?”
Charlotte opens her mouth to say something, but her eyes shift for a second.
“Oh, nothing. It can wait. For now, we must hurry to the headmistress’s office.”
I follow Char as she tugs my hand.
“…”
On the other side of the Anywhere Door, Liza is waiting. She seems uncomfortable─no, more like upset at something.
I don’t know what’s going on, but could it be related to what Char wanted to say earlier?
Oh well. It’s not like she’s not gonna tell me at all, and it’s not urgent. If Char and the gang were in danger, an alarm would ring to let me know. It’s probably nothing serious.
More importantly.
I wonder to myself as Char pulls me along.
Why am I being called into the headmistress’s office? Absolutely nothing comes to mind…
That would be a lie.
While I did jump through hoops to be exempt from taking classes, I’m still expected to be working on magic research or studying independently.
But I’ve been out and about taking care of the Devil Lord-related stuff lately. “What the heck have you been doing all this time?!” the headmistress is probably going to yell.
She is Ms. Zero Tolerance for Any Kind of Dishonesty, after all.
If I keep lollygagging, she might just revoke my class-exemption privilege.
I’ve no choice.
It’s time to do the thing.
I give the headmistress’s heavy door a light knock. “Come in,” I wait for the voice on the other side to say, and slowly open the door. In the next second─
“Please forgive me!”
─I leap into the room, slide on my knees, and bow my head.
I daresay that was a perfectly executed acrobatic dogeza (Japanese-style apology).
“…”
“…”
“…”