VOLUME 5

Chapter 1: Part 2

Now then, what should we do? No, I’m not talking about the mixer.

After I had finished eating the beef stew, I returned to my room and lay on my bed.

Haruna was still probably down there, doing a mixer practice with Yuu and Sera. You could say that I had slipped out of there because I couldn’t really join the conversations they ewre having.

As I played a CD from a rock band I was really into lately, I stared up at the ceiling and started thinking about a bunch of things.

That vampire ninja meeting was weighting on my mind.

I had been allowed to go to this meeting, but let’s for a moment say that things went swimmingly and I figured out where Chris was right now.

What should I do then?

Chris was the strongest masou shoujo.

Meanwhile, I was just a disgusting masou shoujo.

She would probably kill me the minute she saw me. Well, I was already dead, so that might not have been the best way to put it… but suffice to say that I would probably not come out unscathed from that encounter.

In other words, before I started thinking about where Chris was, I had to find a way to beat her first.

People who could beat Chris… well, there was only one person who came to mind. I took out my cell phone and dialed the person I knew who knew the most about masou shoujo. It was the number for the place Haruna had attended school when she was back in Virie: Matelis Magical Academy.

“Thank you for your call. This is Matelis Magical Academy, Els speaking.”

I heard a woman’s energetic, pretty voice from the other side of the line. However, she was just an employee at the academy, and not the person I was looking for.

“Ah, it’s been a while. My name is Aikawa Ayumu, and umm… is Ariel-sensei there?”

“Ariel? Umm, yes. Please wait for a moment.”

I was put on hold, and Für Elise began to play over the phone. I waited nervously for around five minutes, and then…

“My myyy~~. Ayumu-san, how are you~~?”

A carefree, calm voice came to me from the other side of the line. This was Dai-sensei. She was Haruna’s homeroom teacher, and was the most monstrously strong person I knew.

If I had to pick anybody who stood a chance against Chris, it would be Dai-sensei.

“Nice to talk to you again too. I had a bit of a question for you, so do you have some time?”

I heard a bit of cute laughter.

“Yes, I’m do have time~~. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have answered the phone call~~.”

“Well, it’s actually about Chris…”

“… Ahh, there’s really nothing to worry about theeere~~. My dear dear friend is getting together a bunch of people and they’ll deal with it~~. I told you that already, nooo~~?”

“Haha, that’s good, but well… hypothetically, if you had to beat her one-on-one, what would you do?”

I tried to make it sound like I was asking purely out of curiosity and even chuckled a bit, but…

“… Ayumu-san, I should warn you.”

It seemed she had figured me out through and through.

Her words range heavily through my head.

“You must not, must not, go after Chris. Okaaay~~?”

“You know she stole Haruna’s magical energy, right?”

“Yes, I’ve heard~~.”

“So I have to make her pay for that.”

“But I don’t even know if I could beat her, so does Ayumu-san really think he has a chance~~?”

Dai-sensei chuckled. She made it sound like I was some little kid asking for something silly and impossible.

“I already completely understand that, but I’m still asking. Maybe she has some weak point or something…”

“Weak point, hmm~~? It’d be nice if there was one…”

“How did the Queen of Virie beat her?”

“Well, just normall-… ah.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dai-sensei get caught on her words like that.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just remembered somethinggg… Chris has only ever lost to two people~~. One was the Queen. And the otherrr…”

Chris had challenged the Queen of Virie together with Dai-sensei and the demon baron but their plan had backfired.

After that, she was cursed to spend her days as an old man, and ended up being employed as my homeroom teacher.

To beat someone like that… well, I thought that you’d have to be a masou shoujo, but…

“was someone called the ‘King of the Night.’”

I gulped at Dai-sensei’s words.

“King of the Night…”

I knew that name. That was a man who had already left this plane of existence by Yuu’s hand.

“I had calculated it again and again, and I didn’t see any way he could beat Chris-senpai with his power… but he wonnn~~. Chris was grumbling about it while she was drinking, so there’s no mistaking it.”

I see. I really didn’t see how the King of the Night could have enough strength to be Chris. That’s how frighteningly strong Chris was.

“In other words, he knew something that made up for the difference in power. He knew a weak spot.”

There was also a huge difference in power between me and the King of the Night, but I managed to come out of that encounter the victor by hitting his weak spot. So the King of the Night might’ve done the same thing with Chris.

“That is certainly… very possible~~.”

I could feel a glimmer of hope. However, the King of the Night was no longer here… but wait.

“I wonder if Kyouko knows what Chris’s weak point is…”

“… Kyouko? Ah, thaaat girl~~. I wonder~~…”

Kyouko was once working together with the King of the Night.

I didn’t know how longer their partners.h.i.+p had been going on for, but I’m sure they’d have had a few opportunities at least to trade grandiose stories of heroism.

“It’d be nice if I could ask her about it once. Where is Kyouko right now anyways?”

“She’s locked away here at the school right nooow~~.”

I see… she was in prison…

“No no! Wait! What do you mean she’s locked away at school?! Isn’t that really dangerous?!”

“Wellll, if you need to keep an eye on a masou shoujooo… then shouldn’t you put them somewhere where there are a lot of other masou shoujo~~? There aren’t many beings that can beat a masou shoujo without a masou renki… just me and the Megalo probably~~.”

“Wouldn’t Chris also be able to?”

“Yes. That’s whyyy, she had her power stripped away and was chased out of this world~~.”

“So you really imprisoned her…”

“Why do you sound sooo surprised~~? She murdered a lot of people in Ayumu-san’s world, did she nooot~~? What else did you expect us to dooo~~?”

“I mean, it was a big deal in my world… but I would’ve thought it would be pretty small for people in Virie.”

Virie, the world where Haruna and Dai-sensei had come from, didn’t really think much of the humans from our world. That’s why this was surprising.

“Oh? Hmm… Ayumu-san, do you know whyyyy the masou shoujo always wipe out everyone’s memories after a battle~~?”

“Okay, why do you?”

“Hmph, so Haruna didn’t explain it to you~~…? Masou shoujo… their existence has to be kept a secret to other worlds. I mean, if masou shoujo try to invade another world, and they meet resistance like the Megalo, wouldn’t it be a big bother for us~~?”

“Yeah, I guess it would be.”

“Right now, the Underworld is producing all these Megalo, right~~? We think that they stole magic technology from Virie to be able to make those. In order to not repeat the same mistakes, we always wipe people’s memories after a battle, and it’s striiiictly forbidden to not draw attention to yourself too much~~.”

“So in the end, the crime wasn’t the murders themselves…”

“Yes, I don’t think soo~~. She drew too much attention to herself. And that hurts our entire world, so we punish her. I think that’s the reasoning behind ittt~~.”

“Can I… talk with Kyouko?”

“Hmm, let me talk with her. I’ll call you riiight back. Is that okayy~~?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Thanks.”

I heard the click of Dai-sensei hanging up, and I began to surrender my body to drowsiness.

If we could just figure out Chris’s weak point… just the thought made my heart jump with excitement. I could see it now. The little spark of light within the darkness.

Ah? My phone was vibrating. Who was calling me now?

And it was… a very special phone number. It was the Virie number I had just called a minute ago.

“h.e.l.lo?”

“Ahh, is this Ayumu-sann~~?”

Hm? It was Dai-sensei. But we had just ended our call a few moments ago. What did she want?

“I talked with the girll~~”

“d.a.m.n, that was fast! So, did you figure out what Chris’s weak point is?”

“Welll, the girl has one condition~~.”

Kyouko was the person behind my murder, so I had no idea what troublesome condition she might come out with. My eyebrows twitched in antic.i.p.ation.

–

“I’ll talk if it’s at a party with you.”

–

Dai-sensei sure did a really believable Kyouko impression.

“Huh? Eh? Pardon me?” I responded with a bit of disappointment on my face. How anticlimactic.

“Hmm, seems like she’s willing to talk with you if it’s in your world in a place with lots of people~~.”

“Well, recently we’ve been planning a party of sorts…”

Across the line, I heard Dai-sensei’s voice get one level higher.

“A party! You’re having a party?!”

It wasn’t her usual lazy way of speaking. Rather, this clear, energetic tone reminded me more of Haruna.

“Yeah. One of my cla.s.smates wants to have a mixer…”

I suddenly remembered how Haruna had said that masou shoujo really like parties.

“I’m going! Ugh! Why didn’t you invite me before~~?”

She asked me that almost furiously, as if she didn’t believe me.

“Well, that’s fine and all… but wouldn’t it be dangerous for Kyouko to come?”

“That’ll be fine~~. I’ll be there too, and we’ll seal her magical powers~~.”

Dai-sensei will be there? Well, then if Kyouko tries anything I’m sure she’ll get stopped right away.

But…

“I’m still… kinda reluctant to have a murderer here let loose in our world… also, is it really that easy to release her from prison? I really don’t want to impose on Dai-sensei, so maybe this time it’s a better idea if we don’t-“

“You… can’t do this…? For mee~~…?”

Ugh! She was so cute! How the h.e.l.l did she get her voice to sound like that?!

“Okay, I understand.”

Wah?! Why the h.e.l.l did I Just agree?!

This was… the power of the masou shoujo, wasn’t it?

“That’s good~~. To tell you the truth, I’ve already posted her bail for next Sat.u.r.day~~.”

… Well now, Dai-sensei. If I didn’t tell you about this party, you were planning on just throwing your own, weren’t you? Geez, exactly how much power did Dai-sensei have over there in Virie?

Man… masou shoujo just did whatever the h.e.l.l they wanted, didn’t they…? it was really hard to deal with.

But… they were cute so I guess it’s fine.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES