““““WE’LL DO ANYTHING FOR LI’L KAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”””” At that point, Sir Kay’s biggest fans joined in as well, and the courtyard turned into pandemonium all at once—bursting gales, crashing waves, bloodcurdling screams, pained cries. It was like a scene straight from hell. “What is with this school…?” Rintarou muttered, sobering up in the face of this over-the-top spectacle. “Ah-ha-ha. I guess this is the…natural state of school?” offered someone from behind. When Rintarou turned around, he caught sight of a female student standing there. “Nice to meet you… Uhhh, you’re…Rintarou Magami, right?” When she tilted her head as she greeted him, he felt his soul was captivated for a split second. She had a gentle face like a doll’s, but her meek smile made it exceedingly clear that she was living and breathing. Softly held back by a hairband, her glossy long hair was the color of a glistening crow’s wing, and her dark eyes were like large drops of black diamonds. All around her delicate and willowy body, her skin was smooth as porcelain, and the nape of her neck peeked out of her shirt—a dangerous, coy allure. Judging from her facial features, it seemed she had some European blood flowing through her veins… It wouldn’t be wrong to say she embodied the ideal of a perfect Japanese woman: refined, collected, and unspeakably beautiful. “Uhhh…and who are you?” “Nayuki… Nayuki Fuyuse—yuki as in ‘snow’ and fuyu as in ‘winter.’ I’m the secretary of the student council.” She smiled at Rintarou and bowed. Though her name was icy, her movements almost seemed to invite a spring breeze to blow around her. “Rintarou, you’re a transfer student from mainland Japan, right? …Were you surprised?” “Yeah, I was… I was hoping to do the surprising, though,” he muttered, half watching the endless brawl continuing in front of his eyes. “You were trying to surprise someone?” “Yeah, well, sorry. Don’t mind me.” He shook his head. “Anyway, what’s up with this school? I can’t believe they’d let people get away with all this violence.” “Ah-ha-ha. That’s because… Well, long story short, all the students support her.” “Support her? Like that? …You’re kidding, right?” “Nope. Sure, there’s a faction resisting Luna, but if you ask around the whole school, there are a lot of people who support her.” “…Is everyone okay? There’s something off about this school.” “Luna does outstandingly well in school and sports. When all is said and done, she has all the skills to be the student council president… Like, she improved the unpopular menu at the cafeteria, stood up to a teacher who’d harassed female students before throwing him out of the school, and planned all kinds of fun events,” Nayuki relayed nostalgically, enjoying and reminiscing about something in the past. “Of course, it’s not like she did those things for everyone else’s benefit. She just wanted better food, she personally didn’t like the teacher in question, and she wanted to have fun. But if we let Luna do whatever she wants, however she wants, for her own interests and desires, everyone ends up happier as a result… That’s just the kind of enigmatic person she is.” “…” For some reason, he suddenly went silent. “Huh, Rintarou? Did I…say something that upset you?” “Not really. It’s nothing.” He shook his head back and forth and changed the subject: “But anyway, looks like you’re pretty taken by Luna, huh? …Though not as much as that bunch.” ““““AHHHHHHHH! WE’RE LUNA’S SHIEEEEEEEELD!”””” He took a cursory glance at the students who’d offered up their bodies for Luna’s sake. “Well, that… Ha-ha, that’s because Luna is our savior.” “…?” When he turned his attention to Nayuki, he saw she was gazing with gentle eyes at Luna, rampaging around. What happened? Trying to remain natural, Rintarou wanted to ask her a question. “Rintarou, I leave Luna in your hands from now on, okay?” mused Nayuki cryptically. “Huh? Why? Excuse me, but I just met her.” “Well, it’s just… It seems like Luna has taken a liking to you, Rintarou.” “Huh? To me?” “Yeah. That’s actually really rare. She never says she wants someone to become her vassal. She’s generally not the kind of person who’d force someone to serve her.” “Hmm?” Well, she must’ve thought I had some value, too… That was his conclusion. It must have been thanks to his demonstration the night before. Well, that’s fine. It kinda got off to a rough start, but what I’m going to do won’t change. But at this rate, I’ll need to put off that conversation with her until after school… A sly smile secretly wormed its way onto his face. Later, Rintarou absentmindedly finished his transfer paperwork at the school’s administrative office. And just as he planned, they had him go to class 2-C immediately. “Okay, we have a new student joining the class starting today, Rintarou Magami here… All of you better get along with him, got it? Okay, Rintarou. Go ahead and introduce yourself.” Rintarou was urged on by the homeroom teacher from 2-C, Mr. Kujou, a slim, tall, bespectacled man. He stood up on the teacher’s podium. “Uh, I’m Rintarou Magami. Nice to meet you. My hometown is . My hobbies are .” As he went through the standard procedures, his eyes scanned around the classroom. Wouldn’t expect anything else from an international school… Looks like half the class’s Japanese and the other half foreigners… He inattentively breezed through his scrappy introduction. “Ah?!” Just as he expected, Luna was at the back of the classroom. For some reason, as soon as their gazes met, her eyes sparkled like a kid who’d spied her favorite toy. “…?!” Upon closer inspection, he noticed Sir Kay was among the class in a school uniform. It was likely Luna used magic to trick others into thinking Sir Kay was a student, too. That way, she could remain close to Luna and guard her. With everything that happened the day before, Sir Kay was obviously cautious of Rintarou. But he ignored her glare as he examined the other faces. Then he saw something. …Oh? An unexpected face. Nayuki Fuyuse was also in the class. When their eyes met, she smiled serenely and gave him a small nod. Well, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t care about anyone except Luna anyway. Just as he thought that, he had reached the end of his introduction. “—Yup, I hope to get to know you from here on out.” To tie everything together, he bobbed into a bow to keep up appearances. With that, a smattering of applause started up in the classroom. “I feel for you, Rintarou… You’ve transferred into a pretty terrible place…,” Mr. Kujou sympathized as he patted Rintarou’s shoulder. “You might already know, but…this is a problem class that’s home to the biggest problem child of them all. We always end up the epicenter of trouble.” “What?! Mr. Kujou, who in the world could that be?!” “It’s you! You! How many ulcers do you think you’ve given me?!” Mr. Kujou yelled with an exasperated look at Luna, who’d shamelessly raised her hand and burst out with the interjection. “Well, it’s not just Luna. For some reason, this school has a ton of people with a whole lot of problems…” “Ah… Does it really?” Rintarou didn’t really care at all, but he gave a praiseworthy attempt to respond to his teacher’s warning. “Yeah. As a newcomer, you’ll find a lot of things will be pretty confusing from here on out. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to come to me for advice. I’ll try to help you out the best I can.” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa! Oh, Mr. Kujou, you’re such a pushover!” taunted Luna. Her laughter was contagious, and after a while, all the students were chuckling, too. “I can’t believe all of you… Well, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, make sure to get along with Rintarou.” It was probably an ideal class. Including Luna, it seemed that the entire class trusted the homeroom teacher—within reason. And though Kujou referred to them as problem children, he seemed to be a softy who looked after his students. If I were a normal transfer student, I might do well here… This would be the part where I’d feel relieved, but none of that matters to me. Though he was looking at the class before his very eyes, it was as though this scene was transpiring in a world far removed from him. That’s when Rintarou suddenly recalled the path his life had taken until that moment. —Don’t screw with me… What the hell are you? —N-no way… Soccer was all I had…! —But I studied so hard… How could I lose to a guy who’s no work and all play…? —If we’re both human, how can there be such a difference between us?! —You monster. You’re not the same as us. You’re not human. —Ugh… What have we been doing with our lives up until now…? —I… I should have never given birth to you…! As he trudged through life alone, he’d always just watched these happy, lively cliques from the outside, unable to join in. Hmph… I don’t expect anything anymore from the world on this side. “The right place…” “The right people…” I’ve been betrayed too many times by them. He shook his head to push the revolting memories to the back of his mind. I don’t care about this side. The moment I get a little serious, they always treat me like a monster and an outcast… I don’t care anymore… As he absentmindedly contemplated those chafing thoughts, Rintarou headed to the seat that’d been assigned to him. … It seemed Luna Artur was quite popular. She was the center of attention by every definition: People were always around her everywhere she went. Rintarou had wanted to find somewhere he could speak alone with Luna about the succession battle. Instead, he was stuck exchanging pleasantries with other students curious about the new transfer student. He had to play it safe and indifferently attended his boring classes, pretending to work hard. During these moments, Rintarou was being good. He did his best not to attract attention. He stifled his true self, enduring this figurative suffocation somewhat desperately. He acted the part of the uninteresting, unremarkable, unskilled, unthreatening, and unextraordinary student. He wouldn’t try his hardest at anything. He would do his best to go easy on everything. Eventually, the students lost their interest in Rintarou, because he was so good at pretending to be someone with no characteristics or traits that stood out… After a while, he melted into the background of the class. That was fine. If no one had any interest in him, that’d actually put him at ease. However— The next incident happened during fourth period. On that day, the fourth period was math. Standing at the podium was Takashi Sudou, the math teacher, a middle-aged man who’d started to bald slightly. “Uh, okay, well, everyone, let’s get this class started right away!” Though his word choice and appearance were friendly enough, Sudou started the class in a tone that hid an underlying fussiness or punctiliousness. And sure enough, the further the class progressed, the more the classroom filled with dread. “Wow, you guys are insanely low-level. Come on. Can no one solve this problem?” Dripping with contempt, his words reverberated throughout the quiet classroom. The lesson plan was undoubtedly malicious, and Sudou continued forward with zeal. That’s because he didn’t actually intend for the students to understand anything. On top of that, his questions were nasty, constantly full of tricks and false answers. The students wouldn’t learn anything, even if they were able to solve them. It was obvious his goal was to simply bully the students with his trick questions. “Did any of you actually study? You didn’t, did you? You know, back in my day, I took my schooling quite seriously. Kids these days just aren’t like that anymore.” His words were overfamiliar—almost friendly—but there was a bottomless unpleasantness mixed into them, seeping out. “Dammit… What is it with that question…?” “I just don’t get it… It looked so easy at first glance…” But an unsolvable problem was naturally unsolvable, so the students could only curse him under their breath. All the while, Sudou tastelessly gloated as he looked over his students. I see. This school has a ton of people with a whole lot of problems, right… Rintarou snorted at his curious conclusion as he inattentively listened in on the class, letting Sudou’s lecture go in one ear and out the other. “Mr. Sudou is, well… He recently started at the school and moved here… He was originally trying to become a mathematician, but his dreams were crushed, and he ended up becoming a teacher,” whispered Nayuki, who sat to Rintarou’s left. “It’s like he’s mean to students out of spite, so Luna beat him to a pulp in a math competition the other day… But ever since, Mr. Sudou has been holding a grudge against the class—because she’s here.” “…Geez, what a petty guy.” He could only sigh. Mr. Sudou wrote one math problem after another in rapid succession on the blackboard with the sole goal of shaming Luna in any way possible. He’d probably scrambled to put together these problems for that very purpose. Well, in a way…those are foul play. In one cursory glance, Rintarou saw through the malicious intent behind the teacher’s math problems. But he didn’t really care what happened: He didn’t have any interest in that class or the lesson plan. As Rintarou closed his eyes to drift into a nap… “Now, Miss Luna Artur… How about you answer this next question?” He went right for the main dish: Mr. Sudou thrust at the problem on the blackboard with a piece of chalk, then pointed at Luna, who sat one seat in front of Rintarou. “…” She’d gone silent, stood up, and stared at the math problem. She just stared at it and didn’t try to offer up an answer. …Well, yeah… No matter how smart she is, it’s not like she’d be able to solve that. “Hwah—” Rintarou cut off a yawn in his tedium. “Please wait, Master Sudou!” Unable to stand by idly any longer, Sir Kay stood up and started to cover for Luna. “I—I…have trouble understanding math in this day and age, but is that really a valid problem?! It seems unreasonable and spiteful to me…!” “Wha—? How could you say that? How rude. Don’t blame me for being too dumb to figure it out. This is why your generation… What kind of education did your parents give you?” “What?! How dare you insult…my father Ector?!” If she had a sword, she probably would have unsheathed it and gone on a rampage. That was how angry Sir Kay was. “Kay… Stand down. Stand down.” “Ugh…” Sir Kay bitterly withdrew at Luna’s words. “Now then, Mr. Sudou.” Luna turned right around to face him. With a bold, arrogant grin, she launched off into a tirade. “I’m so disappointed… This couldn’t have been the best problem you could come up with, could it? I’d have thought you would have been smarter if you’re a teacher at the world’s most famous international school? We’re cutting-edge, you know.” “What?!” With Mr. Sudou at the forefront, everyone in the classroom was in an uproar and turned their eyes toward Luna. “G-gotta hand it to Luna! I guess she can solve a problem this difficult…?” “No, wait! Even Luna can’t solve that!” “B-but if anyone could, maybe Luna…” The classroom fluttered with unease and expectation. Hmm…it must be a bluff, Rintarou thought as he rubbed at his sleepy eyes. It was impossible for a high school student to solve that problem. Based on his research on Luna, it seemed she really did excel in her studies—but of course, only at the level of a high school student. This was something Mr. Sudou probably knew, too. “W-well, you can talk the talk, but…,” he coolly replied to her taunts as he rubbed at his temples. To be clear, Mr. Sudou seemed like the type to have a short temper to begin with. But seeing that he hadn’t already flown off the handle, he was probably confident she wouldn’t be able to solve this question. However— “Oh, I’ll solve it for you, all right! With elegance and grace. You’re nothing but a pathetic lowlife whose hopes and dreams were crushed. You can’t acknowledge when you’ve lost, and you don’t know when to give up. You’re a coward with pitiful, feeble thoughts and ideas. You get enjoyment out of bullying those you think are beneath you, because you’re despicable and desperate to make a fool out of others. You crave approval and want only to fulfill your own selfish desires, but you end up only inflating your own meaningless ego. You think you’re superior to everyone else. But that brain of yours is totally devoid of anything important. Sure, I’ll solve this problem. I’m sure you racked your brain to come up with it. I’ll prove right now that the problem isn’t hard at all, just another low-level task—a waste for you to have devoted your precious time and life to—” Her smug grin would make anyone want to sink their fist into it. She kept blabbing on and on. It went without saying that Mr. Sudou’s veins seemed like they were on the very verge of bursting. “—is what Rintarou Magami said from behind me, Mr. Sudou,” she alleged matter-of-factly, pointing at him as she returned to her seat. “Ugh, he’s been whispering under his breath this whole time! It’s honestly so annoying… Mr. Sudou, please do something about him!” “…Huh?” Rintarou was taken aback, garnering stares from the entire class. They started to whisper among themselves. “A-are you serious…?” “No way… Could he actually just solve it…? Really…?” “Wh-what’s with that transfer student…?” “Wh-whoa, wait a second… I…,” Rintarou sputtered, flustered by this unexpected turn of events. He suddenly found himself at the center of attention. But when he noticed Luna had turned around very slightly to glance at Rintarou with a grin, it suddenly dawned on him. U-unbelievable… This girl’s using me as a scapegoat…?! Luna was worse than scum, outstripping his imagination so badly that it made him dizzy. “Huh, wow. It seems the transfer student is quite the overachiever…” Mr. Sudou’s words dripped sarcasm—blue veins straining against his temple and a glare locked onto Rintarou. Wait, really? He’s just going to let her off the hook and take out his anger on me?! How stupid is he?! Now… How would he proceed? Rintarou felt this would end up being nothing but trouble, so he scratched at his head and sighed, just when he heard a whisper coming from behind him. “You can solve it, right?” asked Luna in a hushed tone with her hands behind her head, totally relaxed. “Hunh?” “I can’t do it, but I know…you can, right?” Rintarou was cornered into silence. “As a King, I command you to…solve it in my place.” She was either provoking him or confident in his abilities. Either way, he didn’t know why she’d passed the problem along to him—or say that to him. He didn’t know why, but— Ah, well. In order to enter into the King Arthur Succession Battle, I need to get on her good side. To do that, I guess I can’t make myself look bad in front of her. With his top priority in mind, he decided to go along with her challenge. “Yeah, that small fry of a problem is a piece of cake,” he announced, sluggishly standing up, as though he couldn’t be bothered. “Really? Well then, I’ll have you solve it right away. Hurry up—come to the blackboard! Come on!” Rintarou ignored Mr. Sudou’s smile, a mixture of contempt and irritation seeping through, as he thought. Ah, well, I really don’t like revealing my true strength and standing out, but… That’s because— —Don’t screw with me… What the hell are you? —N-no way… Soccer was all I had…! —But I studied so hard… How could I lose to a guy who’s no work and all play…? —If we’re both human, how can there be such a difference between us?! —You monster. You’re not the same as us. You’re not human. —Ugh… What have we been doing with our lives up until now…? —I… I should have never given birth to you…! He forcefully pushed aside those unpleasant memories, gnawing at his life up until now. That’s because—I’m just too good. Nothing good has ever come from me going all out. Rintarou answered right where he stood. “There are two extrema. At (1, -1), point α is one minima, and its minimum value is negative two, while point β at (3, 2) is the other minima—with a minimum value of one. Then, if you use the Mahler expansion theorem, you can find one more extrema, but…I think the answer you wanted was probably just those two… Am I wrong?” “Oh, should I give you a hint? First, you take this formula… Wait, what?” As Mr. Sudou gleefully started writing something on the blackboard, he froze, gradually comprehending the words Rintarou had spat out. His face paled. Though the class didn’t understand a lick of Rintarou’s rapid-fire answer, they could gather it was correct from the look on Mr. Sudou’s face. “Mr. Sudou. That problem contains functional determinants from multivariable calculus. At first glance, you might be able to pass it off as a high school math problem, but it’s obviously advanced college-level math. Besides, you’d need to know how to use a Rassem matrix, which was only recently publicized in an academic journal. Without that fundamental knowledge, you’d never be able to solve it. I can’t believe you’d give this problem to us. I mean, that’s just juvenile.” “Wh-wh-wha-wha…?” For a while, Sudou was overcome by shock, leaving him trembling. “H-how? Even if you knew advanced math…how did you solve this problem so easily…at first glance…without even using an equation?!” “Beats me.” Rintarou sat back down, done with this conversation. But Mr. Sudou was far from finished. He couldn’t save face anymore: Those hopes were completely squashed. “Ah-ah-ha-ha…Rintarou. It seems you’re quite good at math. In that case, how about I test just how good you are?” Though he was calm, his smile contained no joy at all. “Ugh… We’re still doing this? Give me a break…” From there, Mr. Sudou wrote one math problem after another on the blackboard, quizzing Rintarou. Every last one was unpleasant and dirty. After all, Mr. Sudou had racked his brain, planning to grill Luna and force her into submission. In fact, he was no longer trying to keep up appearances: His problems became remorselessly difficult and diverged further and further from high school math. However— “Using linear algebra, it’s clear the approximated limit for that partial differential equation is 3n.” “What?!?” Rintarou breezed through them all. Doing the calculations in his mind, he didn’t even pretend to write the equations down or take time to think for show. The problems were continuing to increase in difficulty, but that still didn’t stop him. “I… I—I thought of these problems all night long… How could you solve them so easily…?” Left and right, Rintarou effortlessly solved equations, giving better answers and methods to solving them—completely outstripping Mr. Sudou’s expectations. As they continued, this teacher was forced to keenly realize something, whether he wanted to or not: When it came to mathematical expertise, he and Rintarou were miles apart. Back when Mr. Sudou aspired to be a mathematician, there was an impenetrable wall of actual geniuses who stood in his way…but this boy was a different story. He was the highest wall of them all. The students simply stared emptily at Rintarou as they watched what he was doing. In his various attempts, Mr. Sudou had put what little pride he had left on the line. He tried to corner Rintarou, but in the end, his efforts came to nothing. It was close to the end of the period. “—which means, when the three Euclidean dimensions are separated into sets, i, ii, and iii fulfill the requirements, which they are equivalent to… That’s your proof,” spat Rintarou, looking terribly bored. “Th-this is absurd…” Mr. Sudou collapsed to his knees on the spot, soundly beaten. “Hmm? Is that enough? Aren’t these just graduate school problems? If you were trying to become a mathematician, this couldn’t have been all you learned, right?” With this careless remark, the class heard Mr. Sudou’s heart break. “J-just graduate level…? All I’ve learned…?” At that moment, the bell rang, saving him from further suffering. “Ugh…ah…ahhh…,” Mr. Sudou groaned, staggering out of the classroom like a sleepwalker. Even after the bell finished ringing, the classroom remained…hushed, noiseless. ““““……””” It was hard to even breathe under the oppressive silence that had seized the class while everyone stared at Rintarou. Without any context, it might have seemed like a thrilling scene: A student had shown up a hated teacher… It should’ve felt triumphant. They should’ve been relieved. But of course… “…Wh-what’s with that guy…?” “A-amazing…! That was really cool, but…” “Yeah, wasn’t that kind of weird…? Is he really a high schooler…?” “No… Maybe he’s one of those prodigies?” “In other words, he was hiding his gifts until now…?” There was surprise, there was praise…and there was a thick air of confusion, hidden under their words, in the gazes that gathered on Rintarou. This confusion always irritated him. That’s because he was well aware: Lurking behind acclaim and admiration, this confusion would eventually and inevitably transform into jealousy mixed with fear. When that happened, they’d treat him like a monster and begin to shun him. He already knew that all too well. Dammit. I’ve done it again… He internally clicked his tongue in disapproval. That’s right. Upon reflection, that was always the case with Rintarou Magami. It wasn’t merely math. In any subject, sport, and specialty, he could always win—just like that. Due to a certain set of circumstances, he’d been born with talents and gifts that far surpassed the ability of any human. It was almost excessive. He could leave others behind in the dust, even those desperate to succeed, and when it came to anything and everything, he could be the best—without any work or hardship on his part. In fact, Rintarou could easily break through the limits of a normal genius, prodigy, or prophet. Thanks to that, he’d been treated as an outcast and monstrosity by those around him since childhood. Even his birth parents had distanced themselves from Rintarou out of fear and left home. Only characters in light novels admired and lionized those who cheated through life and surpassed the human domain. In real life, they’d be expelled like a foreign object: That was the reality of the situation. Ah, well… I need to focus on performing my ordinary student act again for a while. Hiding in plain view with bated breath, Rintarou would try his best to hide his natural-born powers and stifle himself, slinking back into his constraining, claustrophobic life—back to genuine suffocation. This world was so dull. He was going to lose his sanity from boredom. But well, it doesn’t matter anymore. Yes. He no longer expected anything from the world on this side. What he wanted was that world. That’s the real reason he’d made his way to this artificial island—to enter the King Arthur Succession Battle. He’d transferred to this school as a cover to get close to Luna… It wasn’t as though he was trying to enjoy life as a happy-go-lucky student or anything. There was no way for a wolf to live hidden among a flock of sheep. “Ah, well,” he muttered, collapsing onto his desk and trying to nap as an escape from their ogling eyes. “Bwa…ha-ha…” In the seat in front of him, Luna’s shoulders started to shake. “Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa!” Suddenly, she stood up and dissolved into laughter as if she couldn’t contain it for a moment longer. As expected, the students in the class, Rintarou included, were overcome by surprise and gawked at Luna. Then, laughing all by herself, she turned on her heel to face him. “That went great! Didn’t it, Rintarou?!” she exclaimed, giving him an energetic thumbs-up and smiling with the warmth of a midsummer sun. “Huh?” Bewildered, Rintarou and the surrounding students gaped. “Listen up, everyone! I’d actually…” She pulled out a stack of paper from her desk drawer and threw it above her head. The bundle of…printer paper hung in the air for a moment before fluttering down throughout the classroom. They were all blank. Without a doubt, none of those papers had anything written on them. Or that should have been the case, but— “What’s this…?” “…Hmm? Th-this is…” As they gathered those pieces of paper and looked at them, their eyes filled with surprise for no apparent reason. “Hey, Luna, is this…?” “Yup! It’s Mr. Sudou’s question-and-answer sheet for his problems in class!” she proclaimed with an arrogant grin. “We got intel from the student council that Mr. Sudou was preparing hard questions in order to get revenge on me! We stole the problems from his computer beforehand and copied them!” Is this girl—? Is she doing what I think she’s doing?! Rintarou scowled and groaned internally. She must’ve used magic, the Sleight spell! By magic, he meant incantations, chants that brought things into existence and altered reality to make dreams or wishes come true. It wasn’t a particularly special power: If you think about something hard enough, it’ll come true… The truth was that before science and civilization, everyone could tap into this power. In fact, a few centuries ago, magic users were a dime a dozen. However, with modern human knowledge in hand, people were held captive by the Curtain of Consciousness, causing the number of magic users to dwindle. Though a child or two would occasionally display a peculiar power or have a strange experience, that was about the extent of it. Everyone accepted there was no such thing as magic anymore and stopped chasing dreams concerning it. Well, one such use of magic was Sleight, which altered people’s knowledge. On the other side, it was an incredibly popular type of magic. Rintarou happened to be using it at that very moment to conceal the swords hanging at his hip… It was the most rudimentary of rudimentary magical feats. In this case, Luna used Sleight to give the students the illusion that Sudou’s problems and answers were printed on the blank papers. I mean, of course, basic stuff like Sleight wouldn’t work on people from the other side like Sir Kay and me… “J-just as we’d expect, Luna! I can’t believe you’d actually taken countermeasures like this! How admirable! What shrewdness!” “Uh-huh, go on, praise me more, Kay!” …I mean, of course, basic stuff like Sleight wouldn’t work on people from the other side like me……… Strangely expressionless, Rintarou looked around at the other students surrounding him. “So in other words… Rintarou was able to solve the problems so easily because…” “Right, he was Luna’s accomplice all along! Of course!” The spell was highly effective on the students of this world. It was all thanks to Luna that Rintarou was able to solve those problems… No one doubted the hoax. In the middle of it all…Luna suddenly stood beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “To tell you the truth, we’re totally childhood friends! It’s like we were destined to meet again at this school, right?” “Huh?! What are you say—? Mgh?!” His eyes swam around in confusion. What’s she saying?! But to keep him quiet, Luna had brought her hand around to cover his mouth and turned to the students to continue blabbing. “Oh yeah, when we were little, we were always up to no good… When I was planning on giving it to Mr. Sudou, he was all, like, ‘Sounds fun, why don’t you let me in on it?!’ Right? Rintarou?!” She grinned as she waited for him to give the affirmative. But he had no idea what she was aiming for, so he chose to remain silent. “Ha-ha-ha, so you guys were friends! A class clown on your first day, huh?” “Huh, childhood friends… So that’s how they’re on the same page.” “Phew, Sudou’s dumb face… Now that was a real masterpiece! Good job, Rintarou!” Without particularly doubting her, they accepted her slapdash explanation. “Wow, Luna, you’re so sly.” “Yeah, just what we’d expect from you! We’ve got a lot of weird teachers at this school, after all… We gotta have a hotshot like Luna as student president, right?!” Of course, as soon as she picked up on their conversation, Luna used the conversation to sell herself even further. “I know, right?! I’m always on the side of the students! I take from the rich and give to the poor, the president of justice! Please vote for Luna Artur for student council president!” “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don’t worry—leave it to us!” “Yeah, you get my vote for the next election!” A scene was unfolding before Rintarou: the bustling class with Luna at its center. Th-this girl… She’s making all this out to be her doing?! She’s turning it into good publicity for herself! What scum! Wasn’t this a little extreme—to take things this far? Even Rintarou couldn’t help but shudder, when suddenly Luna whispered: “Rintarou… I need to talk to you.” “Huh?!” “Meet me on the roof after school… That’s a promise. Got it?” She had her say and left in high spirits. “Ah?! W-wait for me please, Luna! What do you mean you’re childhood friends with Rintarou Magami—?” stuttered Sir Kay, trailing after her like a faithful dog. Then several more students followed after Luna, as if pulled by gravitational force. “Hmph…,” he snorted as he watched her take her leave. It was more than convenient for him if she was making contact first. Regardless…I’m trying to get on the good side of…an armful of a girl. He’d thought she’d be an ingenue from the noble house of Artur in the English countryside…but he was solely mistaken. It seemed she was a headstrong girl—unrelentingly so. Damn. She completely upstaged me… Thinking back to it now, Luna might have been weaving the Suggestion spell to shift the brunt of Mr. Sudou’s anger over to Rintarou. His actions were unnatural enough to raise suspicion. Either way, it was the first time someone had Rintarou wrapped around their finger. When it came to skill and talent, there was no doubt Luna was inferior to Rintarou. But she’d done an amazing job using that to her advantage. With what had just happened, the class probably thought Luna was the puppet master—with no bounds or limitations. On the other hand, they saw Rintarou as an assistant, dancing on the palm of her hand. Hmph, I don’t like this… I don’t like that she’s taking the wheel. But… Rintarou realized people were directing a different type of stare at him now. “Hey, Rintarou. We’re expecting a lot from you as her accomplice, okay?” “Ha-ha-ha, I imagine being her babysitter’s going to suck! But you’re childhood friends, so you’re stuck with her, I guess!” If he purely looked at the outcome, he could kind of see how Luna had covered for him after he’d gone overboard… But that only held true if he ignored everything else. “But if we let Luna do whatever she wants, however she wants, for her own interests and desires, everyone ends up happier as a result… That’s just the kind of enigmatic person she is.” He recalled Nayuki’s words that morning. “Hmm, you don’t say… It’s not like she’s that person…,” he muttered to himself, leaving his seat. After everything that happened…the end of the school day was finally here. On the wide expanse of Camelot International’s roof, Rintarou leaned back on its wrought iron fence and looked up at the sky as he waited for Luna. Just how long did he wait? He was still quietly gazing into the sky when he heard the creak of something rusty echo softly. The door to the roof opened, and on the other side was Luna. “Heh… Sorry I made you wait!” She barged through, making her way to stand in front of Rintarou. As soon as she stood there, she boldly thrust out her chest. “Oh! I’m so pleased you’ve arrived before your King, as is fitting! Now then, time’s a ticking, so let’s cut to the chase… Huh? What’s wrong, Rintarou?” With a start, she noticed he was acting very strangely. Trembling and quivering, his hand holding on to the iron fence was shaking something fierce. “Rintarou, what’s wrong? Are you sick? Y-you should hurry and see a doctor—,” stuttered Luna. “…How…long…?” he muttered. “Hmm? What? I can’t hear yooou.” “Just how long were you going to make me wait, you IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT?! Gah!” He let out a gut-wrenching yell, and on the verge of tears, Rintarou grabbed her lapel. Upon closer inspection, the sun had set long ago, and it was…indeed, the sky was pitch-dark… It was already the middle of the night. “Oh, sorry! Sorry! I had a teeny-tiny delay when I was preparing something! So yeah, maybe I ended up just a tad late! Tee-hee. ” “This isn’t a ‘tad’ late?! I’ve gotten used to getting the cold shoulder from society, but even I can’t stand someone standing me up, YOU ASSHOLE!” “What? I came like I promised, didn’t I? Hmph… You’re such a petty guy.” “You’re! Freaking! Late!!” More than fashionably late, Luna wasn’t even bashful, much less remorseful. To be exact, she was being impudent. Up till that point, Rintarou had all kinds of people in his pocket, making them work at his leisure, but with this girl, he was starting to feel like he was losing his touch. “W-well, it doesn’t matter now! Anyway, you! You said you had something you wanted to talk to me about?!” “Yeah, basically.” “What a coincidence! I do, too!” “…Hmm? …I see.” Luna smiled coldly, looking like a know-it-all. “Yeah, after all we’ve been through yesterday and today, I imagine we’re on the same page, right?” “Right. There’s only one thing we’d want to talk about…at a time like this.” They turned fierce, restrained smiles at each other. Then Rintarou made the first move, getting right into it. “Luna. As a participant in the King Arthur Succession Battle, would you—?” Let me join in? Rintarou started to say, but— “As you wish! I’ll give you the privilege of becoming my vassal!” “Let me… Huh?” He was cut off mid-line by Luna with her out-of-the-blue remark, delivered with absolute conviction. He couldn’t make a retort or a sound. He stared blankly back at her. “I see it. I see where you’re coming from, Rintarou!” she gushed, leaving him in the dust. “You want to become my vassal since I’m the true King, right?! But you’re kinda shy, so you didn’t take me up on it before, but now you’re really regretting it, right?! It’s fine! I totally understand! It’s basically part of a King’s job to figure out a commoner’s true feelings, especially if they’re emotionally stunted—” Luna pulled a folding chair out of nowhere and positioned it eagerly in front of Rintarou. She plopped right into it, crossed her legs, and leaned far back. “That’s that. Here ya go. A ceremony to bind master and servant. Lick it,” she commanded. With an arrogant grin, she stretched out one of her legs and thrust her shoe in front of Rintarou. “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” he screamed, lunging forward to grab a leg of her folding chair and mercilessly flipping it upside down—with Luna in the seat. “AHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!” From the impact, she rolled away. “Hey! Th-that hurt?! Seriously, what do you think you’re doing?! You’re a dummy! A real dummy!” “What do you take me for?! Hey! You! How would you come to this conclusion with all that happened yesterday?! This isn’t even close to what I wanted to talk about!” “Huh?! This isn’t what you wanted?! No waaaay…” Luna’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “Geez. This was so boring. Hmph. Fine, like I care. I’m sure you’ll come crawling back and beg to be my vassal. I’ll see to it.” Then, finished with her business, Luna turned on her heel and headed to the door. “D-don’t leave! Please actually listen to what I have to say! I’m begging you!” He grabbed Luna’s shoulder in a panic. Oh, of course. From beginning to end, he was at her beck and call. “It’s obvious I want to talk about the King Arthur Succession Battle! Give me a piece of the action by letting me join your side!” Luna stopped right in her tracks even as she was about to leave. “The King Arthur Succession Battle is a competition between eleven Kings trying to find King Arthur’s four treasures on this man-made island! The rules are simple: The first to gather the four treasures wins! “But the rules allow Kings to kill each other in combat and steal treasures from other candidates! In other words, the second half of the battle will definitely be a clash between the Kings, especially once the treasures are revealed! “You get it, right? A King like you needs some firepower!” “…” “Luna, let me fight on your side. If you do…I’ll make sure you win,” Rintarou arrogantly proclaimed to Luna, who was silent. Suddenly, a dignified voice echoed around them. “Please wait, my King!” It was at that moment that the jewel pendant hanging at Luna’s neck started to glow. Responding to this light, a Gate opened in midair, letting through Luna’s Jack, Sir Kay. With her long blue hair fluttering, she gallantly came to stand protectively next to Luna… …in an incredibly revealing nurse costume. “What’s that?” “Well, the school regulations allow the students to work part-time, and I gotta say it’s a total lifesaver. We’re really making progress on our war chest,” raved Luna in pride. Rintarou was at a total loss for words and faced her with a blank look. “Hey, what kind of work are you even forcing your Jack to do?” “Luna! Y-you can’t trust him!” Sir Kay desperately implored, trying to hide her embarrassment with enthusiasm. “…So that’s a Round Fragment, huh…?” he muttered as he glanced at the pendant on Luna’s neck. The Kings each had their own jewels, Round Fragments. They were pieces of the very table that seated King Arthur and twelve of his highest-ranking knights. With their Round Fragments, all the Kings from his bloodline could summon their Jacks—the knights of the Round Table, slumbering in Camlann Hill. The Jacks served as their defense and offense, a necessity for the Kings to find victory in the succession battle.
Chapter 5
36 min read