Chapter VII: A Not-So-Normal School Life
On a cold winter morning in the middle of December, a passerby let out a surprised shout as he rode past Hajime and Yue on a bicycle.
“Hajime...are you listening?” Yue asked as she walked beside him, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance.
“Y-Yeah, I am.”
Since Yue was so much shorter than Hajime, she always had to look up at him, and while Hajime had seen her look pleadingly up at him many times now, her expression never failed to make his heart skip a beat. As a result, Hajime stopped thinking about the poor biker who’d been enraptured by her appearance and ran into a telephone pole, and focused his attention back on Yue.
She jogged a few steps in front of him and twirled around to face him. Her golden-blonde hair sparkled in the cold winter sun and her skirt twirled up a little, revealing a tiny thigh gap.
Another passerby let out a surprised squawk as he tripped over the gutter. However, Hajime was so entranced by Yue that he didn’t even notice.
“It’s dangerous to walk backward on the street,” he said.
“Mmm... But this way, we can look at each other while we walk.”
Yue’s expression softened slightly, and she gave him a small smile. That dazzling smile also captivated a nearby delivery driver, and he got so distracted he had to slam the brakes to avoid running into a car parked on the side of the street. The delivery van actually drifted for a bit before grinding to a halt inches from the rear bumper of the car ahead.
“Hajime?” Yue asked, cocking her head at Hajime. He looked like he’d been spacing out, but in truth, he’d been feeling a sense of déjà vu.
After a few seconds, he finally realized why and he muttered, “Oh, that dream finally turned into a reality.”
Upon hearing that, Yue shot him a questioning look. Her expression was so cute that Hajime wanted to hug her right then and there, but he held the desire in. Meanwhile, a schoolgirl walking past the two of them suddenly crouched down and tried to stem a nosebleed.
“I-I got to see her again today. She truly is an angel!” the girl muttered to herself. She’d started taking this route to school the past few days solely so that she could walk past Yue each day.
“I saw you wearing these clothes and walking to school with me once before,” Hajime explained to Yue.
“Hm? I don’t remember wearing this uniform before...”
“It wasn’t in real life. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but remember the perfect dreams we all saw in Haltina’s labyrinth?”
“Oh... He he. So that’s what you saw, huh?”
“Don’t laugh,” Hajime said, blushing and looking away in embarrassment. He knew it was a bit late to be getting embarrassed over Yue knowing his innermost desires, but he couldn’t help it.
Indeed, Hajime had seen Yue do the exact same thing in his ideal world dream back when they’d been making their way through the labyrinth built into the beastmen’s sacred tree. Hajime’s ideal world had been one where he’d never suffered in that hellish abyss of despair and got to spend his days peacefully with those he loved. That had, of course, included going to school with Yue without having to worry about fighting enemies or finding a way back home. In that dream, she’d been wearing his school’s uniform as well: a sky-blue blazer with a red ribbon, a knee-length skirt, and brown loafers.
After having overcome numerous trials in Tortus, that dream of Hajime’s had finally become a reality.
“Have you gotten used to school, by the way?” Hajime asked, changing the subject.
Still smiling, Yue nodded.
“Mhm... Everything’s new, but it’s also really fun...especially when I get to walk to school alone with you.”
“I feel like you didn’t have to put that much effort into making a schedule for which days each of you gets to walk to school with me, though. Everyone else is taking the train even though you could probably bike there faster if you used some of the shortcuts I know.”
“You just don’t understand how important it is for us to walk to school with you, Hajime. Everyone agreed to this, so no complaints.”
“I-I know, but...”
For the first week or so, Yue and Shea had timidly walked to school with Hajime, but once they’d gotten used to school life, they’d colluded with Kaori and Shizuku to work out a schedule where everyone got to walk to school with Hajime alone on different days of the week.
They’d gone through two rotations now, and it seemed this schedule was here to stay. Hajime could see why they all placed so much value in walking to school with just him, since it was rare to get one-on-one time with him because he was always surrounded by so many people. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but think Yue and the others were taking this far more seriously than they needed to.
“Do you not want to be alone with me?” Yue asked.
“That’s not it and you know it,” Hajime replied immediately.
Upon seeing Yue’s pleading expression, everyone on the street tripped, got a nosebleed, or crashed into a telephone pole. This always happened when Hajime was walking to school with Yue. Incidentally, he’d gotten very good at shooting the smartphones of all the people who tried to secretly sneak pictures of her.
Hajime pulled a pair of red-rimmed glasses out of his pocket and put them on Yue. She blinked twice as he did so.
Hajime had already given Yue a perception-altering Artifact that made her less conspicuous, but for whatever reason when it was just the two of them going to school together, it didn’t seem to work well enough. Hence why he’d just given her another Artifact to strengthen the effect.
Unfortunately, Yue looked a hundred times cuter in glasses, which negated any effect the Artifact might have had, so everyone’s reactions grew even more pronounced.
“Hey, Yue, are you secretly using some kind of concept magic that charms everyone around you or something?” Hajime asked, sighing and taking the glasses off of Yue.
“Hm?”
This was the second time he’d tried to make Yue less conspicuous and failed. Despite having unlocked the greatest Synergist skill, Transcendence, he was still incapable of suppressing Yue’s charm. When he’d complained about that to his mother the other day, Sumire had said, “That’s because she’s with you,” as if that would somehow explain everything.
It can’t really be that simple though, can it? Hajime thought, looking over at Yue. Was she really just looking that much cuter because she was happy to be alone with him?
“What is it?” she asked with a small smile.
You know what, mom’s clearly more perceptive than I am.
After a few more minutes of walking, they reached the train station. Yue dropped back to walking by Hajime’s side and wrapped her arm around his. A pleasant smell reached his nostrils, and he smiled contentedly.
The station attendants glared at him, annoyed that he was flirting with Yue this early in the morning. The students going to their own respective schools looked even angrier, and for a second, it looked like a few might spit at his feet.
“Yue, don’t leave my side,” Hajime said softly.
“Hm? I wasn’t planning on doing that ever for the rest of my life,” Yue said, confused about why Hajime was asking for the obvious.
That’s not exactly what I meant.
Hajime couldn’t tell if Yue hadn’t noticed how everyone around them was reacting or if she just didn’t care. Either way, Hajime at least was keenly aware that they were surrounded by enemies. Their animosity was strong enough that he was having difficulty remaining the mild-mannered Japanese boy he was trying to return to being. It took a considerable amount of effort to keep himself from pulling Donner out of his Treasure Trove.
“I just meant you should stick close because there’s a lot of people around.”
“Mmm... Got it. I’ll stick as close to you as possible.”
“Wait, no, that was a bad choice of words—Well, whatever, I guess it’s fine.”
Yue hugged him tightly enough that it was difficult to walk, but Hajime didn’t mind. In fact, he was enjoying the sensation of feeling Yue so close to him, so he didn’t bother to say anything else. This had already happened every time he’d walked to school with Yue, and every time they got on the train, their car was the most packed so they’d need to stick to each other anyway.
It was mostly guys who crowded whatever train Hajime and Yue chose to get on, but there were a fair number of girls as well. They all pretended they were looking at their phones, or a book, or something, but Hajime could tell they were sneaking glances at Yue the whole time.
Don’t they ever get tired of this? Also, since when were Japanese people this bloodthirsty? I’ve never sensed so much hostility before. I guess I can’t blame them for being mad at me, since I come to school with a different girl each day.
Indeed, many of these onlookers were fans of Shea rather than Yue. He even heard one of them mutter, “I can’t believe you’re cheating on Shea-chan, you bastard.”
Incidentally, the same thing happened whenever Hajime came to school with Kaori or Shizuku.
A normal person would have buckled under the hostility being directed at them from all sides, but Hajime was built differently. While it was mildly annoying, this was nothing compared to the horrors he’d faced in Tortus.
Hajime noticed an older man suddenly making his way over to them, so he wrapped his arms around Yue’s waist, pulling her closer and covering her body with his.
In that instant, everyone glared at Hajime.
“He he he... Thanks for protecting me, Hajime,” Yue said.
“Hey, Yue, how about we stop taking the train and just walk?” Hajime asked. That way they wouldn’t run into any train molesters. Not that he’d ever let any of them even get close to Yue, of course. Still, not taking the train would save him the hassle of fending them off.
“Hmmm...” Yue mumbled, thinking about it for a few seconds. But then, an idea came to her and she raised her finger into the air.
“Everyone, stop paying attention to us,” she said in a singsong voice, and invisible ripples of power spread throughout the train car. The eyes of the people glaring at Hajime and Yue suddenly went blank, and a second later, they snapped back to their senses and started shuffling off to empty train cars. They seemed confused about why they’d bothered to enter such a packed car.
“I can’t believe you’re using your Divine Edict for this. Do you really want to take the train to school that badly?”
“Mmm... There’s something romantic about riding the train together, so we have to do it,” Yue said firmly.
“F-Fair enough. I guess I’ll strengthen the perception-altering power of those glasses.”
“Does it have to be glasses?”
“Yes, it does.”
Yue looked ten times better in glasses, so Hajime wanted to make her wear them at all costs.
Seeing his determined expression, Yue burst out laughing. Her laughter momentarily attracted everyone’s attention, but she made them forget about her again with another Divine Edict.
It seemed she really was willing to use it for even the most trivial things. As far as Yue was concerned, anything was fair game to use in order to fulfill her desires. And her priorities were quite simple:
Hajime >>>>>> Unsurmountable Wall >>>>>> everything else.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
As Hajime and Yue reached school and started heading toward the shoe lockers, they continued attracting the attention of everyone around them. But now that it was mostly fellow classmates, the attention was a lot less bloodthirsty. When they’d first started going back to school, everyone had hung around Hajime and the others in clumps, curious about the kids that the media was going crazy over. Within the school grounds, Hajime had been reluctant to use perception-altering Artifacts or to use his intimidation to cow his fellow classmates. The last thing he’d wanted was to mess up his school life. Besides, he’d wanted everyone to think that the students who’d finally come back weren’t special in any way and had just been caught up in an unfortunate kidnapping.
As expected, young teenagers had short attention spans and their curiosity quickly waned. At this point, none of them got prying questions about what had happened. That being said, it wasn’t as if Hajime and the others had stopped attracting attention. It was just a different kind of attention. As Yue opened her shoebox, a deluge of letters spilled out.
“Mrr...”
She frowned as she looked at the pile. Sending love letters was a pretty retro way of conveying one’s feelings in this day and age, but none of Hajime’s classmates had any other way of contacting her. They certainly didn’t know her phone number or email address. Both of those pieces of information were SSS-tier rarity. No one who knew them was going to tell anyone else, and naturally, Yue wasn’t going to tell anyone who just wanted to confess to her either.
It was also impossible for anyone to directly confess to Yue, since she didn’t agree to meet up with anyone who asked, and anyone who tried to just walk up to her and confess was met by a glare so cold that they clammed up. And so, no one had successfully managed to convey their feelings to Yue in person.
“Some things never change,” Hajime said with a wry smile.
“Mmm... I even put up a note telling people not to bother.”
Annoyed, Yue picked up the pile of letters and put them to one side. As she took her indoor shoes out and closed her shoebox, everyone could see the note conspicuously taped to it that said “No love letters!” The note clearly wasn’t working, since it seemed everyone was willing to ignore it as long as they all put their letters in together.
As Yue quickly skimmed over the letters, she muttered, “I knew there’d be a few,” and took a few of them aside. The rest she shoved into Kaori Shirasaki’s shoebox.
“Did you get love letters from girls again?” Hajime asked.
“Mhm...” Yue said with a nod. The letters she’d set aside had all come from girls. Indeed, about thirty percent of the letters she got each day were from girls.
“They’re not exactly love letters... Most of them just want to be my friend, or are saying they’re fans of mine. I don’t care about the people trying to confess their feelings for me when I already have you, Hajime, but I don’t want to ignore letters from people who just want to be friends.”
“That’s probably why you’re so popular.”
Despite how she looked, Yue was an adult woman. She had an air of maturity that her classmates lacked, and while she was cold to guys who weren’t Hajime, she was generally kind to girls. Plus, she was an unparalleled beauty, so it was hardly surprising even girls were falling for her.
While Yue was a bit overwhelmed by her popularity, she didn’t dislike the attention. Hajime smiled at her and opened his own shoebox. There were a few cute pink letters in his box, and Yue’s expression darkened.
Indeed, even Hajime was getting love letters. Because Yue, Shea, Kaori, and Shizuku all adored him, the girls were more interested in him than they used to be. Furthermore, he possessed an air of confidence that he hadn’t had before, which really excited a certain subset of girls.
“I wonder why any of them think they have a chance when I have you guys...” Hajime muttered.
“Maybe that’s exactly why. You already have multiple girlfriends, so they think maybe you’ll be okay with one more,” Yue explained.
“I see...”
Sighing, Hajime took the letters out and placed them into Kouki Amanogawa’s shoebox.
Meanwhile, Yue silently used restoration magic to look into the past and see who’d given Hajime these letters. After a few seconds, she grinned and said, “Hajime...are you sure you don’t want to read the top letter?”
“Like the one on the top of the pile? Why?”
Yue took it out and said, “Mmm... You see, it’s a love letter from a guy.”
“Oh god!”
Hajime snatched the letter out of Yue’s hands, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it far into the distance. His pitch put world-class pitchers to shame, and as the letter sailed away, a rather effeminate boy yelled, “Oh, my letter!” and started chasing after it.
“That’s so cruel, Hajime... How could you throw away his feelings like that?”
“Sorry, I just did it reflexively. All of those cross-dressers we met in Tortus traumatized me...”
“I’m surprised you haven’t realized it, Hajime... You’re really popular with some of the guys.”
“I mean...if they just want to be friends, I wouldn’t mind, but those looks they give me are terrifying. It just brings back memories of Crystabell staring at my ass.”
“Crystabell’s a good person, though...”
“He traumatized your boyfriend!” Hajime exclaimed. However, Yue just chuckled. Some students stopped to stare at her smiling face.
While people didn’t go out of their way to stare at Yue anymore, if she happened to be doing something exceptionally cute as they were passing by, they still stopped to look.
Hajime swiftly grabbed Yue’s hand and rushed over to their classroom. Their classroom was on the top floor, in the very corner of the building. It was a section of the building that had very few other classrooms. Most of the nearby rooms were prep rooms or lab rooms that saw infrequent use. It was the only classroom they could put all the kids who’d come back from Tortus in.
The school didn’t want to be branded as a cruel administration that kicked out kids who’d been missing for a year, while the parents and guardians of the children wanted to ensure they could study somewhere free from prying eyes, and naturally, no one wanted everyone to have to transfer to different schools and get split up. As a result, the compromise had been to keep them enrolled in the same school, but to give them a special classroom away from most of the other students.
Naturally, the teacher assigned to watch over their class was Aiko. She hadn’t been the homeroom teacher for any class before this, so in a sense, this was a promotion.
“It would have felt weird to be with the other second-years even though we’re still second-years too,” Hajime muttered, thinking about his situation.
“Hm?” Yue asked, looking up at him.
Hajime had been a second-year a year ago when he’d been summoned to Tortus, and since he hadn’t done any studying in that time, he was still a second-year.
It would have been weirder for him to go up a grade without having actually finished the second-year curriculum. But at the same time, it wasn’t like he’d gotten held back. He and his classmates were being treated like students who were coming back to school after an extended absence due to illness.
Considering the situation, it was a reasonable course of action, and this way neither the education administration nor the parents would have any reason to complain. Since they weren’t being treated as remedial students, Hajime and the others didn’t mind this compromise either. Most of them wanted to get back the year of school life that they’d lost, anyway.
But still, there was a bit of consternation over the fact that their friends in other classes were now a year above them, and their old underclassmen were in the same grade as them. Had Hajime really wanted to go up a grade, he could have used Limit Break and focused solely on studying for a few weeks to catch up on the year he’d missed. However, that would mean he’d graduate in less than half a year. The last thing he wanted was to spend less time with the friends he’d made in Tortus before everyone graduated and went their separate ways.
As all that ran through his mind, he finally reached the top floor. Once he started walking down the corridor to his classroom, the number of students in the hall went down dramatically. It felt somewhat lonely to be away from the hustle and bustle of the school. This morning, however, there was someone other than his classmates in the hallway...and they were yelling quite loudly.
“That’s...the head teacher, isn’t it? And it looks like he’s yelling at Aiko.”
“Mmm... I wonder what’s going on.”
The head teacher had such a luscious full head of hair that was so perfect that everyone knew it was a wig. People often called him baldy four-eyes behind his back, and he was far from a popular teacher. It seemed right now he was in the middle of scolding Aiko over something or the other.
Hajime and Yue exchanged glances, then hid their presence and circled around behind the head teacher.
“Are you listening, Hatayama-sensei? It’s thanks to our generosity that you still have your position as teacher. Despite that, you’ve shown no gratitude toward any of us!”
“I-I really am grateful for being given the opportunity to continue teaching here...”
“Then why do you keep blabbing to reporters and telling them things that make our school look bad? It doesn’t seem like you’re very grateful!”
“I-I’m terribly sorry, but I promise I’m not trying to insult the school; I just...”
“Then why did you tell those journalists that this special classroom is the school being discriminatory?!”
“I never called it discrimination! I just think we should be treating them like all the other students rather than...”
It seemed the head teacher was mad about whatever Aiko had told some reporters.
While Hajime’s schemes had made the mass media calm down overall, it didn’t mean there weren’t any reporters still chasing this story. Freelance reporters in particular were willing to cover this story because they didn’t have large news companies behind them putting pressure on them to stop.
Unsurprisingly, most of these reporters showed up without appointments and were unbelievably rude. The reporter who’d approached Aiko had asked leading questions like “Haven’t the students been put into a special classroom because they’re dangerous?”
Naturally, Aiko hadn’t been able to keep quiet after that, and she’d let slip that they would have been going to school normally if not for the administration’s decision. The journalist had then leaped on the word “normally” and written an article about how they were being given special treatment and that the school was being discriminatory.
Unsurprisingly, the school had gotten a lot of angry calls from parents. It was the head teacher who always had to deal with these calls, so it was understandable that he was getting angry. But at the same time, Hajime and Yue didn’t like seeing Aiko get all this abuse hurled at her when she didn’t deserve it.
“That damn baldie. He’s just venting his frustrations out on her...” Hajime whispered to Yue.
“Mmm... It’s true that we’re getting special treatment too...”
Hajime and Yue glared angrily at the head teacher. They snuck even closer to him, at which point Aiko realized they were there.
Hajime mouthed “morning” to her. Aiko glanced over at the head teacher to make sure he was still focused on his lecture, then mouthed “good morning” back to him.
Smiling, Hajime nodded and mouthed, Should I shoot him for you? and pulled Donner out of his Treasure Trove.
“No!” Aiko shouted as Hajime took aim at the back of his head.
“Yes, that’s exactly right, Hatayama-sensei. Students have a great amount of love and respect for their alma mater, so we should not and cannot do anything that would harm it. Besides—”
Realizing that talking would be a mistake, Aiko instead crossed her arms in an X. It was right after the head teacher had asked, “Do you think it’s okay for this school’s reputation to be tarnished?” so thankfully, he didn’t find it weird.
Yue pointed her finger at the teacher and whispered, “Don’t worry, Aiko. I won’t hurt him, I’ll just get rid of the last of his hair.”
As she said that, a tiny flame appeared at the tip of her finger. Aiko once again forgot that she was being lectured and shouted, “No, what little’s left will be gone then!”
“That’s exactly right, Hatayama-sensei! We must ensure that what remains of our reputation remains safe! If the people lose faith in our school, then the students will lose their precious alma mater!”
However, it seemed the risk of losing his hair finally warned the head teacher of the impending danger and he turned around.
Hajime and Yue slipped into his blind spot immediately.
Thinking he was just imagining things, the head teacher then turned back to Aiko, and Hajime and Yue returned to their previous positions.
The head teacher glanced at his wristwatch, and decided it was time to start wrapping up this lecture. Aiko had no doubt what he was saying was important and based on the head teacher’s own beliefs, but she was so focused on Hajime and Yue that she wasn’t paying any attention to him.
What are you two doing?! Don’t worry about me, just go into the classroom! Also, wait, why am I even mouthing this to you?! I can just use telepathy!
As Hajime and Yue reached out toward the head teacher’s wig, Aiko’s eyes suddenly turned serious and she glared at them with all the weight of a teacher. It seemed her intent got through, and Hajime and Yue slunk back, chastised.
“We just wanted to help you, Aiko...” Hajime said, switching to telepathy.
“We’re sorry... We thought it’d be funny,” Yue added, also switching to telepathy. It was obvious the two of them were acting, but Aiko was so overwhelmed by the situation that she didn’t realize it and started feeling guilty.
Sensing that they could get her to fold with one more push, Hajime and Yue gave her puppy dog eyes and said, “Do you hate me now, Aiko?”
“I bet you do...”
After hearing that from Hajime and Yue, she wasn’t able to maintain her composure.
“That’s not true! I love you!”
“Huh? What are you talking about, Hatayama-sensei?”
The head teacher suddenly staggered back, confused. After a second, he cleared his throat and said, “H-Hatayama-sensei, what exactly do you mean by that?”
Incidentally, what he’d said right before Aiko’s outburst was, “It seems I need to remind you what it means to be a teacher. I know you’re probably sick and tired of hearing my lectures, and you don’t like me very much, but...”
Even Hajime and Yue were amazed at how well Aiko’s outbursts matched up with what the head teacher was saying.
O-Oh no, I wasn’t following the conversation at all... Aiko thought, realizing she was in quite a dilemma. She could hardly tell the head teacher she hadn’t been listening. Not just because it would make him mad, but because it might affect her job.
“I mean exactly what I said...” Aiko said, hoping to buy time with that response. Her pleading expression was also quite impactful, and the head teacher started trembling, unsure of how to respond.
“E-Exactly what you said? Hatayama-sensei—er, Hatayama-kun, this is hardly the time or place for jokes.”
The head teacher looked away awkwardly. As he did, Hajime and Yue once again slid into his blind spot. Meanwhile, Aiko was still in hot water. Not sure what to make of the head teacher’s blushing, Aiko tried to think of a way out of this conversation that didn’t lead to her getting fired.
I don’t know what he’s blushing about, but I need to figure out what he was saying earlier. I know his personality well. He cares more about this school’s honor than anything else. That’s because he believes schools exist to protect their students, and that they need to remain a sacred place where people can look fondly back on in their later years. That has to be why he was mad about what I told the journalist—oh, I’ve figured it out! He said I was joking because he thought I don’t truly love this school! I just have to prove to him that’s not the case!
It took Aiko about two seconds to come to this conclusion.
Completely unaware that their conversation wasn’t matching up at all, Aiko sucked in a deep breath and looked resolutely at the head teacher.
“I’m not joking. I’m burning with love (for this school and my students)! In fact, my love (for this school and my students) is worth more than my life itself!”
“Wh-What?!”
Aiko’s sincerity shone through in her expression, and the head teacher took an involuntary step backward.
“I-I have a wife and kiiiiiiiiiiiids!” he finally shouted, running away as fast as he could. He was in such a panic he didn’t notice Hajime or Yue, nor did he realize that his wig had flown off.
Aiko watched him leave, dumbfounded.
“Aiko, you really are something special. I’ve never seen such a perfect misunderstanding in my life,” Yue said.
“Huh? What?” Aiko asked, confused.
“Umm, Aiko, he probably thinks you just confessed to him. Since you said ‘I love you’ right after he said you probably hate him.”
“Come again?” Aiko asked, blinking at Hajime. A second later, understanding dawned on her and her face paled.
She didn’t have a moment to lose. She picked up the head teacher’s abandoned wig and started running after him.
“W-Waaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiit! It’s a misunderstanding! Also, you forgot your wig! Don’t go back to the staff room or else everyone will find out your secret!”
As Yue watched her cute homeroom teacher run off, she muttered, “Mmm... School really is fun. I see now why you wanted this life back, Hajime.”
“Er, well...”
This wasn’t exactly the peaceful school life Hajime had wished for, but he didn’t want to spoil Yue’s fun, so he didn’t say anything.
The two of them headed down the hall toward their classroom. As they reached the door, they could hear their classmates chatting happily inside. From the sound of it, everyone else was already here.
Hajime slid the door open, and the room fell silent. Finally, after a few seconds, someone laughed.
“Heh!”
“Ha ha ha ha!”
With the exception of a few students, all of Hajime’s classmates averted their gazes. It looked like they were all trying their best to hold in their laughter.
In the two weeks or so since school had started back up, this had happened basically every day.
“If you’ve got something you wanna say, then say it,” Hajime declared, frowning.
Ryutarou finally turned to him and said, “It’s just so weird seeing you in a uniform, Nagumo!”
At that, Atsushi Tamai, Noboru Aikawa, and Akito Nimura were unable to hold it in any longer and they burst out laughing. Ayako Tsuji, Mao Yoshino, and the other girls started laughing as well.
Most of his classmates were so used to Hajime’s appearance in Tortus that they’d long since forgotten how he’d originally looked. His white hair, eye patch, metal prosthetic arm, and edgy black coat had simply made for too striking a look. That was the Hajime Nagumo they knew, the Demon Lord they feared and respected. Had he just changed his appearance back to what it had been before getting summoned, they wouldn’t be laughing this much. But seeing him in a normal school uniform was just too much. It was surreal seeing the man who’d killed a god going to school like a normal kid. Half a month had passed and everyone still burst into fits of laughter when he entered the room every morning.
Kouki took pity on Hajime and tried to calm his classmates down.
“C-Come on, guys, there’s no need to laugh that much. It’s true that his old cosplay-tier outfit was—”
Hajime interrupted him with a gunshot, and Kouki fell out of his chair with a yelp. Thankfully, Hajime had only fired a rubber bullet. Now that he’d returned to civilized society, he knew it was important to use nonlethal force and to not cause any trouble. He’d developed plenty of “kind bullets” as he called them, which was why Kouki only fell out of his chair instead of having his brains splattered all over the floor. But even with his extremely sturdy Hero’s body, that bullet still hurt.
“Why’d you shoot me?! I was trying to help!” Kouki protested, getting back to his feet.
Hajime ignored him and glared at the rest of his classmates. The look in his eyes very clearly conveyed the words “You want a bullet to the forehead too?”
Everyone fell silent immediately.
“Hajime...control yourself,” Yue said.
“Hajime-san, weren’t you trying to become a model Japanese citizen? Or what, is this part of the manzai comedy routine I’ve heard so much about?”
“Hajime-kun, you’re going to start giving Shea the wrong idea, so put your gun away.”
“That’s not even the worst problem here. Also, Kaori, hurry up and heal Kouki. It looks like he’s still in a lot of pain.”
The three students who hadn’t been laughing at Hajime were Shea, Kaori, and Shizuku. They all tried to calm Hajime down, and he shrugged and put his mini-Donner away. As he did so, he surreptitiously checked on Shea’s uniform. If he took his eyes off her, she started shortening the length of her skirt or undoing buttons on her shirt. She was so used to wearing revealing clothing that she now did it unconsciously. Thankfully, it looked like she was wearing her uniform properly today. Her ears were properly hidden by an Artifact as well.
Hajime had made various types of accessories with the same effect for her, and it seemed today she’d picked a hairband. The hairband still had tiny rabbit ears on it, which Shea had demanded Hajime add. Honestly, they were very cute.
Hajime’s expression softened and he greeted everyone with a smile. His classmates warmly returned his greeting. They’d never trusted him this much before they’d all been summoned to Tortus.
As Hajime reached his desk, Shea, Yue, Kaori, and Shizuku all gathered around him. In truth, Kaori and Shizuku had spent a lot of time hanging around Hajime even before they’d been summoned, but now a vampire and a bunny girl had replaced Kouki and Ryutarou as the other two members of the “hangs around Hajime’s desk” group.
“I still can’t get used to this...” Shinji Nakano muttered.
“Tell me about it,” Yoshiki Saitou added.
They shot Kouki and Ryutarou sidelong glances, and the two of them smiled weakly back. It seemed they were also thinking the same thing.
Nana turned to Shinji and Yoshiki and said without any reservation, “Why not go back to bullying him like you used to?”
“You want us to die?”
“Please just forget all about that...” Shinji and Yoshiki shivered in fear.
“Daisuke was the only one who really hated him anyway, so—”
“Shinji, don’t,” Yoshiki said in a cautionary tone.
“Whoops!”
Shinji realized the whole classroom had gone silent and he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hands. There was one thing that could never return to normal. The four students who’d died in Tortus were never coming back. Their four empty seats were a stark reminder of that.
Of course, no one had forgotten their deaths, but also, no one wanted to bring them up if they could help it. The atmosphere grew dark as everyone tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t quite find the words.
“There’s no need to be like that,” Hajime said, confidently breaking the silence.
“It’s not like their deaths are a taboo subject. And if people wanna reminisce about them, I think that’s fine.”
“Er, I mean, yeah, but...”
“Kondou’s one thing, but...I mean, remember what happened when you went to tell the Hiyamas?” Yoshiki asked hesitantly, glancing over at Hajime. There was a surprising amount of concern in his expression. Shinji had the same look on his face.
However, Hajime just scoffed at their consideration.
“Don’t worry. I’m not upset about what happened there,” he said plainly.
“I guess not!” Shinji and Yoshiki said in unison. It was quite something hearing Hajime say that so resolutely while his harem of women was fawning over him. The two of them were, of course, referring to how Aiko and Hajime had gone to tell the families of Daisuke Hiyama, Reichi Kondou, Yukitoshi Shimizu, and Eri Nakamura that their children had died. And since Hajime had played a big part in Hiyama’s and Yukitoshi’s deaths, he’d felt it was irresponsible to leave everything to Aiko.
When Hajime had gone to the Hiyama and Kondou families, Shinji and Yoshiki had come with him. They’d asked to be there as a way of honoring their friends who’d stepped off the proper path.
Hajime had told every family the unvarnished truth, and hidden nothing. He’d even brought along Artifacts to recreate visions of the past to show them what had happened.
The Kondou and Nakamura families hadn’t been a huge issue. Eri’s mother hadn’t even joined the group of families looking for their children, and if anything, had seemed happy her daughter had disappeared. She’d moved away, in fact, and Hajime had been forced to use the compass to find her location.
When he’d gone to visit Eri’s mother, it had actually been tragic. Just the mention of Eri’s name had caused her to fly into a rage, so he’d left without telling her the details of her daughter’s death.
The Kondou family, on the other hand, had refused to believe Hajime at first. They’d chased Aiko and Hajime out of their house and told them to never come back. But Shinji and Yoshiki had stubbornly kept going back to their dead friend’s house, so while Reichi’s parents still hadn’t sorted out their feelings, it seemed like they were finally starting to accept that their son was dead.
Since Eri, who’d killed Reichi, was already dead and her mother was an insane wreck, they had no one to direct their anger toward. Shinji and Yoshiki were keeping an eye on Reichi’s parents just in case, but it seemed they’d be fine eventually.
However, the visits to the Hiyama and Shimizu families hadn’t gone as smoothly. Hiyama’s parents had declared the visions of the past to be a fabrication, probably because they didn’t want to believe their son had truly died, especially in such a gruesome manner. But because they refused to accept that he’d been killed by Hajime, it meant they also refused to accept that Daisuke had betrayed everyone for his own gain. As a result, they raged at Hajime, blaming him for impugning their son’s honor and not bringing him back even though he’d taken everyone else with him.
Not even Shinji and Yoshiki had been able to get through to them. In fact, Daisuke’s parents had called the two of them traitors as well, claiming they were betraying their friend. After hurling insults at Hajime and Aiko, they’d even tried to physically assault them. Since Aiko believed it was her fault for not being able to properly reform Daisuke, she’d been willing to take their blows, but Hajime refused to see her get hurt for this. And so, he’d used his intimidation at full power against them. Even veteran soldiers ended up shaking in their boots when he did that, so unsurprisingly, Daisuke’s parents had collapsed to the ground, trembling in terror.
“Let me just say this,” he’d said, glaring icily at them. “You’re free to believe whatever you want. I don’t regret my actions, though, and I have no intention of apologizing. Also, if you dare to lay a hand on anyone I care about, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
It didn’t matter to Hajime how much Daisuke’s parents had been hoping for his return. He’d come here to explain the truth and nothing more. That was all he felt he owed them. Ultimately, Daisuke Hiyama had been one of Hajime’s enemies, a twisted man who’d killed someone important to him. The look he gave Daisuke’s parents made that clear to them as well.
Honestly, Hajime didn’t know what the Hiyama family planned to do next. He had no intention of taking back his declaration, though, or having mercy on Daisuke’s parents if they tried to hurt his family. Aiko, Shinji, and Yoshiki were free to keep trying to get through to Daisuke’s parents if they wanted, but Hajime was only keeping an eye on them now to make sure they didn’t try to hurt anyone he cared about.
Incidentally, the visit to the Shimizu family had left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth for a different reason. His parents had only cared about how their son’s death would affect their social standing. They hadn’t seemed the least bit sad that he was dead, but they had been immensely worried about how Yukitoshi’s death would be spoken of among Aiko and the students. The reactions of Yukitoshi’s older and younger brother had been truly striking.
Even if Hajime’s words were a lie and Yukitoshi was secretly alive somewhere, the fact that everyone who’d been summoned with him hated him meant that it would actually be worse for their image if he’d returned. As a result, they’d all begged Hajime and Aiko to promise they’d tell the public that Yukitoshi had died a hero.
Yukitoshi’s parents had even mentioned that it would impact their other sons’ career paths if Yukitoshi was known to be a traitor and agreed with Yukitoshi’s brothers. They’d even tried to get Hajime and Aiko to sign NDAs.
Seeing their reactions, Aiko had completely lost it. It had taken a lot of effort to calm her back down. Hajime had ended up cowing everyone in the Shimizu family with his intimidation as well, but like the Hiyamas, he was still keeping tabs on them.
Suzu Taniguchi, who’d come with Hajime to visit Eri’s mother, smiled weakly at Hajime’s words and said, “Nagumo-kun’s right. It should be okay to talk about them at least.”
Everyone knew who it was Suzu would want to talk about.
“I’m sorry for what she did to your friend, Nakano-kun, but...”
“It’s fine, we don’t mind you talking about her. Isn’t that right, Yoshiki?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Taniguchi. It’s not like we’ve forgiven Nakamura, but...considering what we did to Shirasaki, it’s not like we have any right to talk.”
They’d failed to notice what Daisuke was up to, so they hadn’t been able to stop him from stabbing Kaori. That had left deep scars on Kaori’s body, and Shizuku’s heart.
However, Kaori and Shizuku simply turned to Yoshiki and Shinji and shook their heads.
“It’s fine. We don’t mind. It’s all over and done with now.”
“If anything, it’s worse if we act like no one should talk about them. It’ll just make the classroom depressing.”
With that, the atmosphere inside the classroom finally relaxed.
“By the way, Nagumo-kun, thank you for telling me where the Nakamura family grave is,” Suzu said.
“Considering how earnestly you kept asking her mom, I figured you deserved to know. I just used the compass, so it wasn’t a big deal. Have you gone there already?”
“Yep.”
Eri had met her end in the Sanctuary, in a strange liminal space which had contained only Suzu and Eri. And so, Suzu had come with Hajime in order to tell Eri’s mother her last moments, as no one else had seen them. In the end, though, Eri’s mother hadn’t even bothered to listen. Due to that, Suzu had at least tried to ask her where the location of the Nakamura family grave was to pay her respects, but Eri’s mom had stonewalled her there as well.
“It’s not Eri’s grave, and it’s not like I have any of her stuff I could leave as an offering, so it wasn’t really a meaningful visit.”
“Stupid, if you think it has meaning, then it’s meaningful,” Ryutarou said, flicking Suzu on the forehead.
“What was that for?!” Suzu shouted, rounding on Ryutarou. But then, she saw he was smiling gently at her and her anger faded.
“If it grants you peace of mind to visit the Nakamura family grave, if you feel like you’re closer to Eri when you go there, then who cares if her body isn’t actually buried there? Also, stop running off to places alone. Take me with you next time.”
“...It pisses me off how considerate you’re trying to be when you’re so stupid, Ryutarou.”
“Hey!”
Though Suzu looked like she was pouting, most of the girls could tell she was starting to develop feelings for Ryutarou and they all stared avidly at her. Meanwhile, the boys looked like they wanted to spit at Ryutarou’s feet.
Just then, the bell rang and Aiko strode into the classroom.
“All right, everyone, take your seats! It’s time to start the morning homeroom—hm, what’s going on?”
Aiko looked over the classroom, wondering why all the girls were staring at Suzu and all the guys were glaring at Ryutarou.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
Once homeroom was over, first period began and the math teacher, Asada-sensei, walked into the room. He had fox-like eyes and slicked-back hair. He was famous for lecturing students about anything and everything, and often called people into the counseling room. It was to the point where students made jokes about how the counseling room was just his private classroom.
He cast his gaze across the classroom, then narrowed his eyes at Hajime. It was a pretty common occurrence for him to pick on Hajime. It seemed he had it out for him.
“Nagumo, please answer this question.”
“Of course, Sensei.”
Hajime rose to his feet and started walking to the blackboard. Ryutarou and a few other students signed in relief.
“I believe this is the answer, Sensei.”
Shinji suddenly let out a laugh as Hajime finished writing down the answer. Yoshiki, too, started trembling with the effort of holding in his laughter.
“Not again! What’s wrong with all of you?!” Asada shouted in exasperation. This had happened every time he called on Hajime, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t help but think that everyone was laughing at him.
“I’m sorry, Sensei. I’ll quiet them down,” Hajime said apologetically. That caused Nana and Taeko to burst out laughing, and Yuka bit her hand hard enough to bring tears to her eyes to keep herself from following suit.
In a voice shaking with laughter, Atsushi explained, “I-It’s just so weird to hear Nagumo acting all formal and using honorifics...”
It was weird enough seeing him in a uniform, but this really was too much.
“You’re supposed to be respectful to your teachers, you know?!” Asada shouted.
“You’re absolutely right, Sensei. These guys are just idiots. I’m sorry.”
“Oh man, this is just too much!” one of the girls exclaimed, laughing so hard she fell off her chair and started rolling around.
Another girl sadly muttered, “I can’t believe my Demon Lord’s bowing his head to someone.”
Regardless of the reasoning, it seemed none of Hajime’s classmates could bear to see him talking respectfully to someone. The strange part was that they hadn’t seemed to mind when Hajime had acted respectful to the parents of other kids, or when he’d met Tio’s grandfather Adul.
Hopefully, they get used to it eventually...
“Nagumo, do you understand the position you’re in?” Asada asked.
“What do you mean, Sensei?”
“The fact that you and your classmates returned from a mysterious kidnapping incident whose details are still shrouded in mystery. It’s clear a lot happened while you were gone and that you’ve become a sort of leader to all the other students. Can’t you see that if you egg everyone on to make fun of your teachers, it’ll put you in a precarious position?”
Considering they’d already been shunted off to this isolated classroom, Asada was right in saying that things would get worse if they didn’t act like model students.
The students all straightened up and stopped laughing.
“You’re mistaken, Sensei. They’re laughing at me, not you. If I can be perfectly honest, I’m honestly quite grateful to you, Sensei! Please believe me!”
Everyone stared in shock as they witnessed this surreal scene. Of course, Hajime was being one hundred percent honest, but Asada-sensei took in his classmate’s reactions and muttered, “Nagumo, trust is something you have to build.”
“It’s as you say.”
“A person’s actions and the way they present themselves says a lot about how trustworthy they are. And from what I’ve heard, you’re in immoral relationships with multiple women at once.”
Asada stared at Yue, Shea, Kaori, and Shizuku in turn after saying that.
“I cannot bring myself to trust a frivolous person such as you. Not only that, but you’re a bad influence on the well-behaved students around you. Aren’t you ashamed of your actions?”
Come on, I’m trying to be a well-behaved student here too... Hajime thought, frowning.
“Hajime, should I mess him up for you?” Yue asked using telepathy. Hajime turned back and saw from the look in her eyes that she was being serious.
“Don’t do it. He’s one of the ones who’s stuck with the school despite everything,” he replied.
In truth, after the disappearance a year ago and the students’ sudden return a month ago, many teachers at the school had resigned. They’d grown sick of constantly being accosted by journalists, having to deal with angry parents, police interviews, and so on. Teachers weren’t saints, and they had their own lives as well. Quite a few had been unable to deal with the pressure and transferred to other schools. And while the head teacher had gone to great lengths to find replacements, neither the replacement teachers nor the few who’d stuck with the school had been willing to teach the special class of returning students. As a result, Hajime truly was grateful to Asada-sensei for willingly taking up the job of teaching math for their class, even if it did seem like he had it out for Hajime for whatever reason.
“Are you listening to me, Nagumo?”
“Yes, Sensei. You’re saying illicit sexual relationships are wrong. I agree.”
Asada’s eyebrows twitched. He then turned to Yue, Shea, Kaori, and Shizuku. It seemed he already knew who Hajime was dating within the school.
Hm? Is it just me or...
Hajime narrowed his eyes as he observed Asada’s expression.
Asada had always been a rather strict teacher, but for a second, it had seemed like the look he’d given Yue and the others was straight-up hateful. At any rate, it seemed he was in full lecture mode now and started going on about how Hajime needed to live a more upright life. His classmates realized this was their fault, but even so, they couldn’t help but wonder if it was okay for Asada to ignore the actual math lesson and just keep lecturing about morals. Hajime dutifully listened to Asada’s lecture, but halfway through, Shea contacted him through telepathy.
“Hajime-san, Hajime-san.”
“Hm? What is it, Shea?”
“The truth is, Asada-sensei’s come to talk to me a few times outside of class.”
“What for?”
“He kept asking about what you got up to while you were gone for a year, and he also told me a lot of stories about you...”
Initially, Hajime thought Asada-sensei was just worried about him because he’d changed so much after coming back. However, Shea had a much better eye for judging people, and her take was quite different.
“I get the feeling that he’s trying to give me a bad impression of you.”
There was a hint of confusion in Shea’s telepathic voice. She wasn’t sure about her hunch, and she didn’t want to bad-mouth this teacher too much if Hajime was grateful to him. Plus, she didn’t want to cause a scene at school and put another teacher in trouble.
“Also, I think he’s approached Kaori-san, Shizuku-san, and Yue-san too.”
Incidentally, Hajime had given all of his classmates Artifacts that let them use telepathy, and Shea was broadcasting this particular conversation to everyone. Hajime turned to Kaori and the others and they all nodded in agreement. It seemed they, too, felt something was off about Asada-sensei.
Of course, it was true their relationship wasn’t one that was socially accepted, so in that sense it was understandable that a teacher would want to lecture them about it. Hajime had figured that was the reason Asada-sensei always looked at him with such hostility too, but it seemed the real reason lay elsewhere.
“Wait, then how come he never calls me to the counseling room?” Hajime asked, confused.
“You’re telling me you wanna go there?!” Ryutarou exclaimed, but everyone ignored him.
Even before he’d been summoned to Tortus, Hajime had often slept in Asada-sensei’s class, so he doubted the teacher had a good impression of him.
But if he’s got a problem with me, shouldn’t he be calling me in for a private chat?
It was clear there was more to Asada-sensei’s hostile attitude toward him than a simple desire to correct Hajime’s moral mishaps. It was possible he was just frustrated he wasn’t getting anywhere by talking to Yue and the others.
“Either way, I should probably have a proper chat with him soon.”
His classmates stared at him in surprise, muttering things like “Wait, you’re not going to just torture him?” and “He’s become so docile...”
“Yue, mind coming with me to his office after school? It shouldn’t be a problem, but if it is, I might need your help...‘convincing’ him.”
“Mmm, leave it to me! I’ll fix everything with my Divine Edict!”
“Never mind; that’s even scarier than torture!”
“He hasn’t turned docile at all!” his classmates exclaimed via telepathy, their expressions looking oddly relieved.
Incidentally, Yue seemed quite ready to control this teacher with magic. The fact that she wasn’t interested in trying to talk things through first proved that she didn’t like him at all.
Naturally, Asada-sensei had no idea this telepathic conversation was going on, so he kept on lecturing.
“Besides, if you don’t show that—”
He droned on all the way until the bell rang.
Yue did, in fact, have to use her Divine Edict on him after school. Hajime wasn’t able to figure out what had happened in his past to make him have such a hardline stance, but it appeared he was staunchly against romance in school. His feelings were so strong that he actually derived pleasure from lecturing students who were dating. That, in and of itself, wasn’t particularly harmful, and since he was doing his job, Hajime didn’t need him to be a perfect role model on top of that.
Indeed, it seemed Asada-sensei had tried to keep that twisted side of his personality in check before, but seeing Hajime dating multiple students at once had finally caused him to snap. Seeing as telling the students themselves off had accomplished nothing, he’d even been thinking about leaking their immoral relationship to the press to get it to stop.
Hajime’s classmates didn’t know how exactly the confrontation had gone down, but it was clear it hadn’t gone well, since after that Asada-sensei had started teaching his classes normally without lecturing anyone. When students from other classes had asked what had prompted the sudden personality change, he’d just said that he was trying to become a new person. And honestly, that was enough for the students, since they preferred the new Asada-sensei.
At any rate, rewinding the clock back a bit to fourth period, as soon as the end of class bell rang, the English teacher, Sachiko Yanagi (age 45), ran out of the classroom at top speed. Not because Hajime had bullied her or anything, mind you. In fact, everyone had been quite obedient during her class. No one had even laughed at Hajime’s use of honorifics or respectful speech, probably because Hajime had threatened to fire a pile bunker up their asses if they laughed at him in the middle of class again. No, the reason Sachiko-sensei had been so distraught lay elsewhere.
“You know, Language Comprehension really is an unfair skill,” Noboru said.
“Yeah, I guess that’s the one thing we can thank Ehit for,” Akito replied with a nod. Thanks to that skill, everyone was able to speak English at a native level. They were all better than Sachiko-sensei herself at English—and every other language on Earth too. As a result, she was quite nervous every time she came to teach this class, and she ran out the moment class was over.
“I’m starting to think it might really be our fault that the teachers are so reluctant to teach our classes...” Shizuku said with a sad sigh.
“Yeah, we have no trouble reading ancient Japanese either... I feel bad for our classics teacher...” Kaori replied.
“I can see how our weirdness might put them off...” Yuka muttered.
“They’re probably wondering how we got better at languages despite not going to school for a year,” Nana said, looking over at the door Sachiko-sensei had run through.
“It’s hard to pretend like we don’t know, though,” Taeko said, furrowing her brow. Everyone was still struggling to assimilate back to everyday life in Japan.
Regardless, now that morning classes were over, it was finally time for lunch break. In the past, there had been quite a few students who went to the cafeteria to buy something, but today everyone brought out a lunch box.
There was the sound of someone running down the hall, and a second later, the door slid open and Aiko walked inside.
“I see you’re going to eat lunch with us in the classroom today too, Ai-chan-sensei,” Yuka said.
“Y-Yes, well...I just felt like it, you know...?” Aiko said, not meeting Yuka’s gaze. She’d been coming to the classroom to eat lunch every day since the new semester had started. Yue was used to it by now and she handed her seat over to Aiko and sat down on Hajime’s lap.
Just then Kentarou Nomura said in a slightly panicked voice, “Sh-Shit, I forgot my lunch box...”
He got to his feet, looking like he’d made some fatal blunder that would cost him his life.
“It’s all good, Kentarou, I’ll give you some of my lunch.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Jugo.”
“Oh, you can have some of mine too, Nomura-kun!”
“Thanks, Tsuji... You make your own lunches, don’t you? It looks delicious.”
“He he he, I hope you like it...”
“You can have some of mine too.”
“Wait, you were here, Kousuke?”
“I’ve been here since morning.”
Relieved, Kentarou sat back down in his chair as Jugo, Ayako, and Kousuke all offered to give him some of their lunches.
Meanwhile, Hajime stared at Kousuke in shock.
Even I failed to notice him?!
He turned to Yue and the others, and they all looked similarly shocked. The Abyss Lord’s stealth skills truly were beyond belief. There was a reason not even Ehit’s apostles had been able to spot him, and why even Hajime considered him the class’s ultimate trump card.
Hajime couldn’t believe he’d failed to spot Kousuke until he’d spoken up.
“Come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing you yesterday—”
“I was here. We even talked, Nagumo.”
“What did you do to my memories?” Hajime asked, stunned.
“I can’t believe you forgot. You’re making me cry.”
Kousuke silently started shedding tears. Hajime’s expression froze halfway between surprise and guilt. He considered Kousuke a friend, and the last thing he wanted was to forget that he was talking to him.
“En Doe, you’re wearing the presence-boosting Artifact Hajime gave you, right?” Yue asked.
“It’s Endou, Yue-san. Please don’t make it rhyme with John Doe instead, that’ll just make me feel worse.”
At that, Yue’s expression stiffened as well. She hadn’t meant to mispronounce Endou’s name. In fact, considering how much he’d helped Hajime out in calming things down after their return to Earth, she considered him to be one of her friends as well.
Wait, I can’t even remember his first name now, what’s going on? Yue thought, stunned.
“By the way, every time I try to put the Artifact on it flies off. Sorry, Nagumo.”
“It takes a lot to overcome Hajime-san’s Artifacts. Just what are you doing to them, Abyss Gate?”
“Please use my actual name, Shea-san. I really don’t like that nickname.”
Kousuke’s tone was gentle, but Shea’s expression stiffened up anyway. It seemed he really didn’t like being called Abyss Gate, or Abyss Lord. But really, trying to remember him really was like staring into the Abyss. Neither the god-slaying Demon Lord, the ultimate vampire princess, or the strongest bunny girl had been able to keep track of him.
No wonder even the apostles were scared of him... Hajime thought with a shiver as he looked at his friend. Everyone else had similar expressions on their faces.
“But you know, if you’re going out with Lana-san, Endou-kun, you may as well get used to being called by your nickname. Everyone in her family’s going to be using it for sure.”
“Ngh, you’ve got a point, Shirasaki-san, but...”
Kousuke couldn’t argue against that. Incidentally, Lana Haulia was still able to spot Kousuke easily and had no trouble remembering all of her conversations with him. As she was part of the edge-loving Haulia clan, it was, in fact, a plus that Kousuke had such an edgy nickname, but he still wasn’t able to fully accept it. At the same time, Kaori was correct, so Kousuke just slumped back to his seat with a sigh and immediately became invisible to everyone unless they focused really hard on him.
Everyone, including Hajime, began to wonder if he really was human.
“Ahem, anyway, Nomura, you should still go to the cafeteria. Even if you get a bit of food from everyone, it won’t be enough,” Hajime said in an attempt to change the topic. Besides, he felt bad for Kentarou, who was sadly nibbling on what little food his friends had been able to spare. Also, he was getting tired of his classmates’ refusal to leave the classroom during lunchtime. At first, he’d thought they just didn’t want to be stared at by all the other students, but seeing how deep their reluctance ran, Hajime was beginning to suspect there was more to it.
Hajime stared at Kentarou, who awkwardly looked away and muttered, “I don’t wanna leave your side, Nagumo.”
“D-Don’t say creepy shit like that!”
“W-Wait, it’s not what you think!” Kentarou added hurriedly, shaking his hands in denial.
“It’s just, if we get summoned somewhere again, it’ll be a problem if we’re not all together! I don’t want to be left behind, and I don’t want to be the only one summoned away either! The only safe place during lunchtime is near you, Nagumo!”
Hajime shot Kentarou an exasperated look, but as he gazed around the classroom he noticed that everyone else had the same idea.
“S-Seriously? Wait, is that why you’re always coming here for lunch, Aiko?”
“Ha ha ha...”
Upon closer inspection, Hajime realized everyone had hidden combat Artifacts in their clothes and bags just in case something happened and they needed to fight.
“I can’t believe lunch break has turned into a traumatic event for you guys,” Hajime said, and his classmates all smiled awkwardly. None of them wanted to be away from the Demon Lord during the dreaded witching hour—aka lunchtime.
Hajime shook his head in exasperation and let out a long sigh.
“Don’t worry, guys,” he said finally, and everyone turned to look at him.
To their surprise, Hajime was smiling. It was a reassuring smile too, not a sardonic grin or anything.
“If any of you vanish, I’ll be sure to bring you back.”
Kousuke’s and Atsushi’s eyes widened in surprise, Ryutarou grinned and said, “I’ll be counting on ya!” and the other guys all smiled back at Hajime.
“It’s because you’re always like that that I...” Yuka muttered softly, blushing.
“Nya ha ha ha, even my heart skipped a beat at that!” Nana said with a smile.
“You okay, Yuka? Your face is all red.”
Yuka wasn’t the only one, a few of the other girls in the class were blushing too. Some of them were even so surprised that they’d dropped their chopsticks. One of them even muttered, “Haaah... Haaah... I really want to become his pet now...” and started hyperventilating.
Yue and the other others smiled gently at Hajime. Kaoru and Shizuku were especially happy, since his smile right now was just like the old Hajime’s.
“Well, if you get summoned, Amanogawa, you’re on your own,” Hajime suddenly said, folding his arms and looking away awkwardly.
“Can you stop constantly taking your embarrassment out on me?” Kouki asked, glaring at him. He had a surprisingly good understanding of Hajime at this point. Everyone else chuckled as they watched their exchange.
“Hey, Nagumocchi, do you have any plans for Christmas?” Nana suddenly asked. Christmas was only a week away, and it was the perfect chance for her to set her good friend Yuka up with Hajime. Yuka glared at Nana, knowing exactly what she was planning.
“If you don’t, how about we throw a Christmas party?”
“Sorry, but I’ve got plans.”
Oh, figures. You’ve got Yue-san and the others, after all. But hey, maybe I can still squeeze Yuka into those plans.
Nana turned to Yuka with a grin, and Yuka hurriedly rushed forward and covered Nana’s mouth with her hands.
“Ish a good shansh,” Nana protested hotly, and Taeko started laughing.
Seeing the three of them fool around, Hajime suddenly remembered something and said,
“Oh, also, I’ve finally managed to store up a good amount of mana, so I was thinking of calling Lily over to Japan before Christmas.”
Oh, Princess Liliana’s finally coming?!
Hajime’s classmates’ eyes started glowing with anticipation.
“I’ll probably ask her to stay until after the New Year’s at least, and after that, I’ll be opening up a portal back to Tortus for a bit, so is there anyone who wants to go back to visit?” Hajime asked, turning to his classmates with a smile. They exchanged knowing glances, and Ryutarou decided to give voice to everyone’s answer.
“Sorry, but no one wants to go.”
It wasn’t that they’d come to hate Tortus, but it had only been two months since everyone had come back home. Even if they hadn’t gone through hell back there, no one would want to visit again so soon.
Hajime nodded and said, “Thought so. We finally made it back, so you may as well all enjoy the New Year with your families.”
At the same time, though, Hajime could tell everyone was feeling a little sad that they wouldn’t be able to see him or Yue and the others over winter break. And so, he decided to ease their worries.
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time until we graduate, and we’ll all be together in the same class until then,” he said in a reassuring voice. “We can take things slow, you know?”
That did, in fact, help assuage everyone’s fears, so they all nodded happily back at him.
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