Some Spells Don't Use MP

A few days passed, and the school festival arrived.

The scene at Sekitomo High School was transformed.

Inside the regular gate was another gate, which read

WELCOME TO THE SEKITOMO FESTIVAL! and had been decorated

with colorful paper flowers and garlands. After stepping

through it, I walked down the hallway, smiling wryly at the

signs reading OKONOMIYAKI, GAME CENTER, HORROR! HORROR

CLASSROOM! COUPLE-LAND , and MAID CAFÉ WATANABE, and

headed for my usual classroom—that is, Sewing Room #2.

Even though I arrived pretty early, I spotted a smattering

of students in the hallways and classrooms finishing up

some last-minute preparations. Maybe because of all the

distractions, no one spared me a glance as I headed to the

abandoned wing of the school.

This would be my last meeting with Hinami before the

festival.

Over the past two weeks, I'd considered everything that

had happened and come up with the best answers I could.

I'd only completed two of the three assignments she'd

given me, but the key point seemed to be what I would do

from this point on.

I arrived at Sewing Room #2. As I walked through the

door, I saw that Hinami was already there.

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"…Hey."

"Morning. You're in a good mood today." With that simple

greeting out of the way, Hinami went on. "Well, have you

made up your mind?"

The punch came out of the blue, striking right into the

heart of the matter. The school festival hadn't dulled her

edge at all.

But she couldn't keep me twisted around her finger

forever.

"Yeah…I have."

She nodded, apparently impressed by my succinct answer.

"That's a relief. I didn't know what I'd do if you were still

floundering around."

"Finally managed it." I was getting nervous as I thought

about what I was planning to do.

Hinami smiled. "Well, the rest is up to you. I'm looking

forward to hearing how it goes."

"…Yeah."

We'd checked in on my progress and confirmed what I

still needed to do. Now that we'd each said what we had to

say, I figured the meeting was over—but no.

Hinami wanted to chat for once. "…Have you seen the

script?"

"What?"

I was caught off guard by the change of topic.

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I wouldn't say that we never had casual conversations, but

it was definitely rare for her to suddenly bring up a subject

this unrelated to my assignments.

"Of course I've seen it. Some parts she just told me about,

but I've been helping her out the whole time," I answered

confidently.

"Ah," Hinami said, then fell silent for a moment. "That's

fine then. I was just wondering how much influence you

had."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know you did those interviews," she said vaguely, then

stopped. This was out of character, bringing it up again after

she'd acted so uninterested.

"All I did was lend an ear when she was unsure about

something… The play is almost entirely her own work."

"…Ah," she replied curtly, then rearranged her expression.

"That's all I was wondering about. Well, today's the big day.

You ready?" A silent challenge was in her eyes; she was

trying to motivate me.

Something about it unsettled me, but to be honest, I was

already feeling really anxious. For now, I'd better focus on

the challenge right in front of me.

"Of course. Gamers want to win—we know better than

anyone how to bring everything to the table when it

matters."

I tried to psych myself up.

Today, I was going to say how I felt, so I could do what I

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wanted to do.

I absolutely couldn't mess this up.

* * *

After the meeting ended, I walked down the hallway to

"Manga Café Banchoo," aka the second-year Class Two

classroom. I'm not sure why we decided to do a parody of

Manga Café Manboo, and no one knows why we chose the

name Banchoo, either—I think Izumi, Takei, or Mimimi

thought it would be funny, and people just rolled with it.

Whatever, it's the school festival; anything goes.

As soon as I walked into the classroom, I heard an overly

cheerful voice call my name.

"Braaaaaaaain!!"

She ran up to me with a smile so wide, even the extra

excitement of the school festival couldn't fully account for it.

Her recent tension seemed to be gone, and the usual

Mimimi was back in full force.

"Morning. You're really loud."

"Ooh, ouch!"

The awkwardness between us was almost completely gone

—probably had skit practice to thank for that. We'd been

obsessively recording ourselves chatting with a "comedy-skit

tempo" and then listening to the recordings and critiquing

them—basically, a two-person version of what I'd done to get

better at talking. So this progress was really a matter of

course.

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We'd kept this up for less than two weeks, but with

feedback from Mimimi the expert, I'd gradually gotten a feel

for what a "comedy-skit tempo" actually was. I was ready to

take on the challenge of the real thing.

But…

"Uhhh…"

I let out an inarticulate noise. What was she wearing?

She didn't miss my reaction. "Can't take your eyes off me

in this, huh?!"

"Uh, that's not true…"

Yeah. Instead of her usual uniform, she was wearing the

class T-shirt.

"So?! How's it look?!"

She stretched it out for me to see. Her figure was already

attention-grabbing, but it stood out even more in that shirt.

Come on, did you do that on purpose? Are you trying to

throw me off-balance?

Since we're second-year Class Two, the shirt was orange

with an illustration of a crab making two peace signs. The

famous haniwa clay figurine took a place of honor on the

back, which I was sure was Mimimi's idea. She'd rolled the

sleeves all the way up to show off her shoulders, and that

plus the unique combo of a T-shirt with her uniform skirt

made for a particularly eye-catching outfit.

"…Awww, cute."

"What?!"

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"The crab, I mean."

"The crab?!"

We were enjoying our silly banter. Compared with a few

weeks ago, it was amazing how relaxed our interactions

were, and I also felt like our practice sessions had improved

my basic ability to joke around.

I glanced at the people nearby. About 80 percent of our

classmates were wearing the T-shirts, and I'd slipped mine

on under my button-down, too. To tell the truth, it was the

first time in my life I'd bought something like this.

"Out of my way, out of my way!"

Suddenly, our festival-committee chair, Izumi, came

barging by. When I turned my head in surprise, I saw she

was hugging a few dozen manga to her chest. She's a gagmanga fan, huh? She was already so off-balance, I was sure

she was going to drop them all over the floor whether we

moved out of the way or not.

"B-be carefu—!"

I'd better prop her up instead of getting out of the way.

"I gotcha!" I called, successfully catching her.

Supporting her with one hand on her shoulder and the

other on her side, I managed to prevent Izumi and her books

from flying onto the floor, but…

"Ah, thanks."

"Uh, um…"

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Her shoulder and her side. As the sensation of her soft,

warm body spread through my hands, her usual vanilla-y

perfume tickled my nose. Her shoulder and side. Her pretty

face was just centimeters away from my own. Shoulder and

side. I didn't know exactly what was different, but maybe

she'd put in some extra work on her makeup, because she

was even more dolled up than ever—shoulder and side—and

her hair had some extra bounce in the curls for a kind of

party-ish look. All of it suited Izumi's cheerful personality

perfectly and at least doubled or tripled her attractiveness,

but she was Nakamura's girl.

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There was a vivid, electric sense in the air. Our eyes met,

and my brain went blank.

Just then…

"…Huh?!"

Feeling a pair of sharp eyes on my back, I turned around,

and a chill ran down my spine. There was Nakamura, glaring

at me in full force; I think his anger had even turned his hair

bright red.

Wait, what?

"R-red…?!"

I stared at him in surprise. This was no metaphor or

mistake. His usual bleach-blond hair had been dyed bright

red. Wait, what is going on?

"Hey, Tomozaki." He walked toward me, his usual

intimidation factor increased significantly by his scary face

and bright hair. He grabbed the back of my neck. "Let's tear

it up!"

"Yeah, ow, ow, ow!"

"Okay."

He was obviously pissed that I'd touched Izumi, but he

didn't say anything. Guess it was his pride as the top of the

class. Stuff like this was what made him a power-normie.

"Ooh! That looks pretty good on you, Shuji," Izumi

remarked, with no sign of surprise.

"Thanks."

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They were talking like everything was normal. Um, wait a

second, guys.

"Wait, wait, wait, is that allowed?" I asked timidly.

I mean, he might be able to get away with it now because

of the school festival, but didn't hair dye last for a while? No

way the teachers would put up with it after today. Although,

they did put up with his bleached hair; did that meant they'd

let this go, too? I had zero experience with the rules of dyed

hair, so I didn't have a clue.

"This? Ya know…"

"Farm Boy's here!!"

A loud voice interrupted Nakamura's answer. Of course,

the idiot behind the voice was Takei, and Mizusawa was

walking behind him. But.

"'Sup."

The two of them didn't seem surprised by Nakamura's red

hair, either.

"H-hey, i-is that…?" I said, pointing an unsteady finger at

Nakamura's face.

Mizusawa laughed. "Heh-heh. Count on Fumiya for a

good reaction."

When I looked over at him, I noticed that his bangs were

pushed up off his forehead, which somehow made me think

of a bar or club. Takei was just Takei.

"Y-you look really different, too, Mizusawa…"

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"Ha-ha-ha. Meet Takahiro Mizusawa the bartender."

He bowed, seeming extremely used to the gesture. I'm

sure if he actually was a bartender, he'd be hugely successful

at it. I didn't get why the hairstyle was necessary to begin

with, but I guess this was just part of the school festival.

Anyway, when the red-haired Nakamura and the slickedback Mizusawa stood next to each other, they really stood

out. And Takei was so buff, it was like he was their private

security guard or something. Quite the trio.

"Hey, would you help me carry these?"

"Huh?"

"Please!"

I listened to the conversation between the couple next to

me. Izumi wasn't the tiniest bit scared of Nakamura's

intimidating voice. Well, she was his girlfriend. Maybe she

knew a side of him no one else did, so she wasn't not afraid

of him anymore or something.

"Come on, just help me out!" she said, giving him a big

smile.

Izumi basically has no dark side, and as far as I can tell,

she's a really good person—but sometimes, I suspect she

purposely uses her girliness as a weapon. Not many guys

would say no to that smile.

"…God. Fine, I'll help you."

Apparently, Nakamura was no exception.

Nakamura glanced at me as he took some of the books

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from her, then handed them over to me like that was the

obvious thing to do. The hell, dude?

"You take some, Takahiro and Takei!"

"Sure," Mizusawa said, casually taking a stack.

Somehow, everyone had been pulled in. Whatever, this is

just part of the school festival. And we're all on the

organizing committee.

Izumi was now empty-handed, and of course, she was

wearing the class T-shirt, too. Unlike Mimimi, she'd

bunched up the bottom of the shirt with a hair tie, and upon

closer inspection, I noticed it had little red crab-claw

decorations on it. She's very attentive to detail. The hair tie

shortened the shirt, so every time she took a step, a glimpse

of her stomach showed. Apparently, in normie language, this

is considered "cute," not "sexy" or "hot." Native speakers use

the same word in many different contexts, you know.

"Yuzu…you're not ready yet? Everyone's gonna be here in

two hours!"

"I know that! Instead of telling me about it, how about

helping me out, Aoi?!"

"Okay, okay."

Hinami walked over, livening up the atmosphere even

more.

Once the six of us finished chatting and setting out the

manga in an aesthetically pleasing display, Hinami and

Izumi went flying down the hallway, apparently to finish

some other work. Well, they are the student council

president and the festival chair. As I watched them absently,

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Tama-chan passed them, coming into the classroom.

"Morning."

When our eyes met, she greeted me in a completely

natural, straightforward tone, which told me it had no

hidden meaning whatsoever other than This is a greeting.

Typical Tama-chan. Not only was she wearing the class shirt,

but she also had a pair of bear ears on her head. She

bounced over and stopped in front of me.

"…What are you looking at?"

For some reason, she sounded sullen. Um, what do you

mean? If you wear something like that, of course people are

gonna look. It's your own fault for wearing them. Mizusawa

and Nakamura were staring, too.

I decided to give an honest opinion.

"They're perfect for you."

"Shut up! That's not a compliment!"

Nakamura and Mizusawa laughed. Which is to say,

Nakamura and Tama-chan were still on good terms, and I

was happy to see that their relationship had stabilized with

no sign of their former friction.

"Why are you getting mad at me…?" I protested.

It seemed that Mimimi had made her put them on despite

Tama-chan's misgivings. So take them off already!

"But she said she thought they'd look cute on me, and she

bought them with her own money. So I'm wearing them for

her. Just for today."

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"…Hmmm."

The only comments I could think of were They're

adorable, They're silly, and I wish you'd wear them for the

rest of your life. But they did suit her, and there was no

harm, right? Mizusawa teased her ("How sweet…") and was

promptly told to shut up. All was going well.

Finally, Tama-chan turned to me and stared at my

uniform. "…Tomozaki, where's your T-shirt?"

She sounded worried. I didn't fit in with the class much

before, and she and I both had really individualistic

personalities, so I'm sure she was imagining all kinds of

explanations. I'd let out a sigh of relief when I saw her

wearing the shirt, so she'd probably hoped for the same from

me.

"No worries. I'm wearing it underneath."

She gave me a relieved smile, then turned her head away

in apparent disinterest. "Good."

"What's that mean?"

"What do you think?"

The odd rapport between us, like old friends, was pleasant

and comfortable. I bet Nakamura and those guys wouldn't

get it. Tama-chan giggled.

"I'm glad. I think we'll both be able to enjoy this festival."

Her eyes were straightforward and honest as always; there

was more between the lines of that comment, but only

members of our unique species would catch it.

We didn't always fight alongside each other, but I think

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we did fight in the same way.

I smiled as strongly with as much normie energy as I

could and said, "Me too."

My reply meant more than I'd said as well. She nodded,

waved, and disappeared down the hallway.

Takei, who hadn't been part of the conversation at all,

waved at her the most energetically of anyone. "Man, Tama's

really my type!"

That was a real shock to hear. I glanced over at Mizusawa

and Nakamura. They were surprised, too.

"So that's the kind of girl you like?"

For once, Mizusawa sounded confused, but without losing

his trademark sense of fun. Nakamura jumped on the

chance to tease him.

"That tracks, since you act about as young as she looks."

"Good point!" Takei said, ignoring the fact that Nakamura

was making fun of him. He just seemed happy to hear they

were a good match. The three of us smirked. Better run fast,

Tama-chan.

"Anyway…" Mizusawa thumped my shoulder, changing

the subject. "Ready to go, Fumiya, like we talked about?"

"Uh…yeah."

Following the three of them, I headed off to the detached

guy's bathroom, which not many people used.

The night before, I'd gotten a LINE message from

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Mizusawa saying, [Come to school without wax or anything

in your hair tomorrow]. So you can probably imagine what

was about to happen.

* * *

"What is this…?"

Fifteen minutes or so had passed.

My hair was as perfectly coiffed as a model on the front of

one of those magazines you read at the hair salon. After you

got a cut, they usually styled it at the salon so it looked all

cool, but this was on a different level. I could've stepped out

of a CG illustration.

"Well, if you really must know…it's a classic inner-outer

bubble mash."

"A classic inner-outer bubble mash…?"

"Wow, you remembered it the first time."

Hinami has trained me well in the arcane language of

fashion. I have no idea what any of it means, but if all I

have to do is parrot words, I'm your man.

But seriously, what was going on with my hair? He'd

curled it with some superhot tong things, worked in some

wax, exploded my whole head, mashed it all down, and

coaxed everything into place with his fingertips to complete

his masterpiece.

"…It's amazing," I muttered as Mizusawa applied a final

mist of hair spray.

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Curls were scattered around my head in bunches, like I'd

gotten a perm. This wasn't your average everyday stylish

hairdo. And yet, it felt like a logical next step in the path I'd

been growing along, so it wouldn't give a tryhard

impression, either. I had zero confidence in my appearance,

but this was so amazing, it made even me think I actually

looked cool. Seriously, I doubt anyone would see me and

think, There's an Atafami nerd.

"Takahiro, you're incredible!!"

"You could charge for this. Tomozaki the playa!"

Takei was excited about my hair, and Nakamura was

grinning and giving his approval, too. I didn't like being

called a player, but at least the reaction seemed to be

positive… I mean, my hair was amazing.

Mizusawa nodded with satisfaction as he surveyed his

work.

"It's a little behind the times, but it's still a classic, and I

think it suits you better than something more casual like the

spiral perms, even if they are in right now."

"Uh, I have no idea what you just said, but I guess so?"

I'm good at remembering new words, but I'm bad at long

passages, so I gave up on that one. Guess I better work on

my listening skills.

"Right. That color wax looks better on Shuji than I

expected, so we're all good for today."

"Color wax…?"

I didn't know that exact term, but that one I could guess.

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A styling product with color, right? Which meant…

"Oh…you didn't dye it, then."

"Ha-ha-ha. 'Course not." Nakamura smiled goodnaturedly and poked me in the shoulder.

"Why didn't you say so before?"

I slumped my shoulders, and Nakamura wrapped his

arms around me and Mizusawa. "No big deal, right? So…let's

go out there and get ourselves some LINE info!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Mizusawa and Takei answered Nakamura in unison—I

was the only one to protest.

"Ha-ha-ha, what's wrong, Fumiya?" Mizusawa laughed.

Glad you're enjoying yourself, dude.

"What's wrong? …Oh, never mind. That's just what this

thing is like. I get it." As I resigned myself to my fate,

Nakamura flashed a toothy smile.

"I like how you gave in so easy, Fumin."

"I'm used to it. This is how you guys roll."

"Ha-ha-ha. You know it."

His grin widened. He seemed to be in a better mood than

usual. Must be that school-festival spirit.

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"Ready, men?" Mizusawa said, wrapping his arms around

our shoulders to pull us into a circle. "We've got me in

charge of nightlife, Shuji in charge of cutting loose, Fumiya

in charge of salon-dos, and Takei. I think we're good! Let's

go!"

"Whoo-hoo!" the four of us hooted. Takei didn't seem to

notice Mizusawa's little dig and actually grinned and

shouted louder than anyone else. Yeah, Takei is just Takei.

Also, what's a salon-do?

* * *

After the formal opening ceremony in the gym ended, we

had free time.

Kids from other schools wouldn't be let in for a few more

hours, so this was when Sekitomo High natives were

supposed to visit one another's stands. The four of us

wandered around, checking out the other classes. Nakamura

and Mizusawa were hard to miss when they were by

themselves, so with the two of them together, we became the

center of attention everywhere we went. I figured that as

long as I kept my mouth shut, I should give a pretty good

first impression to people standing a couple meters away,

which made me confident enough to implement the perfect

strategy: standing around with cocky body language and

saying nothing. Surprisingly, several first-year girls got

swept up in the excitement when Nakamura and Mizusawa

asked to exchange LINE info and asked if they could have

"their friend's" info, too. I can't claim much credit since I did

absolutely nothing, but wow, appearance sure is powerful.

We spent the morning doing that until—

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"Oh, Mizusawa-san! Tomozaki-san!"

Lunch was over, and students from other schools had

been filtering in for twenty minutes or so.

The manga café in the second-year Class Two classroom

was already turning into a lazy spot for hanging out when

the laziest girl of all showed up.

It was Gumi-chan, wearing an oversize black hoodie with

a white print on the sleeves. Apparently, she'd brought along

two of her flawlessly cool friends.

"Hey, Gumi…and?" Mizusawa said, pausing for a second.

"Oh, it's Yoko-chan and Hitomi-chan!"

Nakamura and I exchanged glances at his smooth

greeting. If Takei had a tail, it would have been wagging in

excitement at the cute girls who'd just arrived.

Wait. What did Mizusawa just say?

"Uh, Nakamura…," I said. "He just called those two by

their first names, didn't he?"

"Yup," Nakamura replied. "Sounds like you know the

other one already?"

"Well, her name is Gumi-chan, and she works at the same

place as Mizusawa and me…but the other two don't."

"Tomozaki…I have a bad feeling about this."

"I believe you're right, Nakamura."

Nakamura and I were engaging in a historically

unprecedented level of buddy-buddy conversation, letting

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Mizusawa and his friends know we had our eyes on them.

"Hey, Takahiro. Those your friends?" Nakamura asked.

Mizusawa threw us an obnoxiously triumphant smile, but

all he said was, "Yeah." Apparently, the a-hole was keeping

us hanging on purpose…

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said, parroting what

Nakamura had just said in a loud voice to poke at Mizusawa.

"Ha-ha-ha. Not quite… What would you ladies call it?" he

said, turning toward Gumi-chan's friends. The two of them

exchanged uneasy glances.

"Um…"

"I'm not sure…"

They laughed nervously.

Mizusawa laughed, too, and turned back to us.

"Well, if I had to put a name on it…," he said, raising one

eyebrow. "I think I'd call them customers."

""…What?"" Nakamura and I said in unison.

The three girls burst out giggling.

"Let's just call us acquaintances and leave it at that," said

Mizusawa. "Take your time here, you three!"

"Sure," Gumi-chan answered listlessly, and the three of

them sat down at a table.

The "Banchoo" classroom, as it was called, had been

divided into four with soundproofing panels, and it had

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different spaces in each quarter.

In one, little tables and legless chairs had been set out so

people could laze around on the floor.

In another, there was a tall bar counter where people

could laze around side by side.

In the last two, there were regular tables and chairs for

regular lazing around.

Essentially, it was designed for being lazy wherever you

sat, which made it the perfect place for Gumi-chan.

At some point, the concept had morphed into one where

the kids in charge of the café were goofing off and reading

manga with the customers. What a lazy bunch we were.

Gumi-chan and her friends were seated at a table made

from four pushed-together desks. And then…

"So you're friends of Takahiro's?"

With that slick line, Nakamura sat down next to them.

What the hell was this guy doing? Wasn't Izumi his

girlfriend?

"Yes!"

"N-nice to meet you!"

Gumi's friends both sat up straighter as they answered

him.

He gave them a crooked smile. "You guys are too

nervous," he chided.

They both smiled but seemed flustered at the same time,

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and eventually, their eyes landed on Gumi-chan. Nakamura

followed their lead.

"And that one is too relaxed."

"Huh?"

Everyone laughed, including me, and the mood eased.

Damn Nakamura… I guess there's more to him than a scary

face and a cool-guy persona.

"Oh, hi. I'm Tsugumi."

I couldn't help smiling at Gumi-chan's oddly timed, tepid

self-introduction. What the heck was she responding to?

"Wait, now is when you decide to introduce yourself?" I

interjected with the comedic timing I'd developed with

Mimimi.

It went over well, and everyone laughed. Not bad.

"Anyway, you guys sure are acting like players today," said

Gumi-chan.

"Just today? I'm always a player," said Nakamura.

"Uh, that's not exactly a good thing, you know."

I laughed again at the conversation. How do these people

do it naturally when it took me so much practice to finally

manage a few jokes?

"Why don't you get yourself a girlfriend and give it a

break? I bet you could find one if you wanted to," she went

on lethargically. Her friends nodded, although they still

seemed nervous. Wait, did they ever introduce themselves?

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I decided to ask their names. Partly because I wanted the

EXP, and partly because I wanted to properly meet the

friends of a friend. Since they were younger than me, I made

an effort to play it cool.

"By the way, what are your names?"

I managed to say it smoothly. I'd gotten some training in

talking this way to a girl I'd just met when Kikuchi-san and I

interviewed Maehashi-san, and I think I did a fairly good job

of it this time.

"Oh, I'm Hitomi."

"I'm Yoko."

Even though I was older, I was way worse at being cool

about it. They're introducing themselves using only their

first names! Should I copy them and use my first name,

too?

"Nice to meetcha. I'm Shuji."

"Uh, I'm Fumiya. Pleased to meet you," I said, hiding in

Nakamura's shadow. When everyone else was on a firstname basis, I knew better than to introduce myself as

Tomozaki.

"Hi! I'm Takei!!"

Or so I thought, until Takei jumped in with his last name,

waving his hand energetically. Well, in Takei's case, "Takei"

is more Takei-ish, so you keep doing you, Takei.

Just then, when we'd finally managed to get a

conversation with all three of them rolling—

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"Braaaaaaaain!!"

—I heard that overly excited voice for the second time in

the same day.

"…Hey, what's going on here?!" Obviously surprised by

the situation, Mimimi surveyed the three girls. "…Am I

interrupting something?!"

"Oh, definitely not," Mizusawa jumped in, and everyone

laughed again.

"Whatever. Brain! We better do our final practice soon!"

"Oh right."

Our skit would be in the evening. We'd be using a little

performance space where people could come and go as they

liked, and it would only last five minutes, but I was still

nervous. I was hoping as few people as possible would show

up.

"You're doing something, Tomozaki-san?" Gumi-chan

asked.

"Uh, yeah. It's just a comedy skit."

Her eyebrows rose. "Ooh, that sounds really fun! I'm

going to come watch you!"

"Shit."

"Mizusawa-saaaaan," Gumi-chan whined, "did you hear

what he said to me?!"

"What do you want me to do? He's honest that way."

Mizusawa had taken my side, I jumped right on the

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chance. "Yeah! 'Shit' was just the word that came to mind.

And I say what I mean."

"Ugh, what the heck?! You need better words to come to

mind, then."

We were having one of our usual lethargic, contentless

conversations, just like we did at Karaoke Sevens. Since I'm

not a natural normie, I'm good at assessing the battlefield,

and once I realized Mizusawa was on my side—that I had an

advantage—I was able to go on the attack. Although, I

personally thought I sounded like a real jerk.

Mimimi was peering at us with a puzzled expression. "The

B-Brain is acting like a real upperclassman…"

Mizusawa chuckled at her surprised reaction, which I

didn't really understand.

"Fumiya's a good big brother, isn't he?" he asked Gumichan.

She nodded and said, "Yes, he is!" then looked at Mimimi.

"When I'm hanging out on the sofas in the karaoke rooms,

he always comes by and tells me to get to work!" The nerve

of this girl.

"Oh, so you do know you shouldn't be hanging out on the

sofas!" I butted in.

"Yeah, yeah."

Mimimi listened to our conversation, laughing a little, but

she didn't really join in. I guess even Mimimi gets nervous

when she's around three people she doesn't know.

"There's more to Tomozaki-san than meets the eye,"

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Gumi-chan said.

"What's that mean?" I asked. She turned an intense gaze

on Mimimi before answering:

"Can you believe he was picking up girls at my school

when he had such a cute comedy partner in his own grade?"

Mizusawa burst out laughing at her little speech, and her

friends both made shocked noises.

I panicked at the sudden turn of events and avoided

looking at Mimimi.

"W-we weren't really picking up girls…"

I tried to think of an excuse to cover up my crime, but

since everything Gumi-chan said was 100 percent accurate, I

couldn't come up with anything. Everyone knew I'd been to

a festival at a girls' school, but I was hoping to keep the part

with the girls secret. Too late now.

"Explain yourself, Brain! Going to a girls' school to flirt?!"

"W-wait, Mimimi, it wasn't like that…!"

"Brain! S-s-since when did you become so sh-shallow?!"

"N-no, it's just that Mizusawa…"

"You were with Takahiro?! Then I know it's true, Brain!"

"His name is enough to make me guilty?!"

Contrary to my intentions, I apparently dug my own grave

by involving Mizusawa, and now her suspicions were even

deeper. Or maybe I should say she'd gotten a step closer to

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the truth.

"…Okay! Let's go! Time to practice!" I said.

"Answer the question!" she shouted as I ran out of the

classroom to escape her. Of course, then I realized it was

pointless because we'd end up together to practice anyway.

* * *

Twenty or thirty minutes had passed since I explained

myself to Mimimi and we had our final session.

"I-it's finally time…," I mumbled.

We were in the multipurpose hall next to the main school

building.

It was about a fourth of the size of the gym, smaller than it

looked, and it was where we usually had meetings with the

other classes in our grade. Mimimi and I were waiting in the

wings off the stage.

"Why are you so nervous?!"

"W-wouldn't anyone be…?"

I mean, we were about to stand up in front of an audience

and do a comedy skit. Characters at my level just don't do

this stuff.

She was wearing an embroidered satin baseball jacket

with her uniform shirt and skirt, (very school festival–ish),

and I was wearing a sort of gaudy jacket she'd lent me. The

usual haniwa charms were sticking out of both of our

pockets. Of course, all this was Mimimi's idea.

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"We'll be fine! I mean, no one expects much, and it

probably won't go that well anyway!"

"What is 'fine' about any of that?" I shot back.

She grinned. "Perfect! That's all you have to do! Just like

we practiced!" She slapped my shoulder.

"Ouch!"

I made sure my voice wasn't loud enough for the audience

to hear.

"It comes natural now! So you'll be fine. Got it?"

"…Got it."

She did have a point. We'd practiced so much that the

patterns must have sunk in. Leaving aside the question of

whether this stage was beyond my level, I was fairly sure it

was impossible in the game of life for a good effort to lead to

no results at all. Fairly sure.

"Okay. Let's do this."

"Let's do it!"

We grinned at each other.

A few minutes later, the moment arrived.

"Next up is a comedy skit by TM Revolution! Break a leg,

guys!"

Uh, when did we get a name…?

"What did he just call us?!"

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"Oh, I got the 'TM' from 'Tomozaki' and 'Mimimi'! Here

we go!"

"Typical…"

Letting her sweep away the last of my nerves, I leaped out

onto the stage.

* * *

"Hello out there!"

We jumped out together and walked over to the stands,

where two regular old mics were set up.

A light several times stronger than what I'd expected

beamed down on us. With this light in my eyes, I couldn't

see the audience very well.

"Okay, let's do this!" Mimimi cheered. Maybe because she

was in front of an audience, she sounded even more

energetic than usual, almost like she was talking to the

people watching us. "Guess what, Tomozaki-san?"

"What is it, Nanami-san?"

"They're letting us perform a skit as a couple! How about

that?"

I took a breath and focused on a natural delivery. "Funny

how we have different last names, then."

That line got a laugh from about a quarter as many people

as I'd hoped for. Uh, that's showbiz?

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But so far, we were just testing the waters. We could get

the audience back with the main skit.

As the little ripple of laughter continued, I thought about

the situation. My line was next, but Mimimi seemed to have

set the right tone, like she was chatting with someone out in

the audience.

Normally, it was just the two of us going back and forth,

but we probably should talk to the people watching

sometimes. That fit with our goal to sound as unscripted as

possible, and the audience would probably have an easier

time following along. The way Mimimi had slipped in that

little improv bit so easily was another sign of how good she

was in front of a crowd.

I swiveled toward the audience, making an effort to adapt.

That's when it happened.

I hadn't been able to see the audience before—but

suddenly, I could see several dozen people looking straight

at us.

That instant.

The worst imaginable scenario happened.

It was simple.

"…Gulp."

My mind went blank.

I broke out in an oily sweat, and the world went dim

around the edges.

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My hands were shaking so much that even I was

surprised, which made me even more nervous.

Flailing for some kind of life preserver, I visualized the

flash cards I'd used to memorize the script, but I couldn't

remember anything—even though I'd rehearsed the gist

until it should have been beyond perfect.

To be absolutely sure I didn't forget, I'd practiced it over

and over during breaks and after I got home from school

until I knew it backward and forward. Even on the train to

and from school, I'd used flash cards with our lines written

on them.

Of course, I didn't memorize specific words or phrases,

just the general sort of thing I was supposed to say. I didn't

want to sound like I was acting. But whenever I reviewed it, I

only gave myself a pass if I was able to turn those abstract

concepts into concrete lines, so I'd even gotten practice in a

certain level of improv.

That's why my blank mind was so unexpected.

I'd assumed that if my nerves made me mess up, it would

be because I couldn't come up with a natural-sounding line

on the spot, or because I ended up reciting exactly the lines

I'd memorized, like I was reading a script out loud. Those

were the mistakes I expected.

But at that moment, every last hint of what I should say

next disappeared from my mind.

"So…"

I smiled, saying anything just to fill the silence. It was my

turn to talk. The audience probably didn't realize yet what

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was happening, but I was fairly sure that Mimimi sensed

something was amiss.

Just then.

"But anyway, Tomozaki-san!" Mimimi abruptly went off

script. "Do you know where the name 'TM Revolution' came

from?"

This wasn't a minor change in the script; it was total adlibbing.

"The name? No, I don't."

Desperately trying not to break the rhythm, I completed

my half of the call-and-response.

"Well, 'T' is for 'Tomozaki.'"

"Uh-huh."

"And 'M' is for me, Minami-chan."

"Yeah, yeah."

"And…"

Mimimi turned her palms toward her face and struck a

pose.

"…Revolution!"

No one laughed.

Of course they didn't—she was just running in place.

But I still knew what she was doing—she was throwing me

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a lifeline.

I had to save us from our plight.

We only had this one chance. I was the one who'd messed

up by forgetting the script, and the whole thing would be

crap if I didn't fix it. All our practice and all the ideas she'd

thought up would be wasted, leaving Mimimi alone to spin

her wheels.

I couldn't let that happen.

I took a breath and tried to think of some words.

What should I say?

I considered following Mimimi's lead and giving some

exaggerated, obvious comeback.

But that didn't seem right.

Mimimi had said we should be as natural as possible, like

one of our normal goofy conversations.

So I thought about what my usual reaction would be if

Mimimi did something like this.

"So anyway, we're doing a comedy skit…"

"Are you ignoring me?!"

The audience laughed.

I'd decided to ignore her. Or I should probably say, the

part of me who always talked to Mimimi was used to not

giving her a reaction. After all, she'd said our normal

conversations were practice, right?

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Well, they sure had come in handy.

More than the laughs, though, it was Mimimi's attempt to

rescue me that did the trick—my nervousness disappeared

completely.

"But anyway, Nanami-san. I got some time off work, so is

there anywhere you want to go?"

Mimimi gave a small nod and turned her lips up in a

confident smile. That was the cool Mimimi I knew.

I can't even tell you how grateful I was for her. Just to

save my butt, she'd taken a bold fall in front of all these

people. She'd embarrassed herself to help me recover.

"Well, I'd love to go to the zoo!"

"The zoo? But…"

Under the overly bright lights and too many eyes, we

managed to make it through the rest of our skit together

without any more mishaps.

* * *

"Well, that went okay!"

"Ha-ha-ha. Yeah."

The skit was over, and we were standing outside the

multipurpose hall.

Buffeted by the cold wind, we were critiquing our

performance.

"I'm sorry about that! My mind just went blank… You

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really saved my butt."

Mimimi laughed it off like she always did. "It's fine! Pay

me back with a bowl of ramen!"

"Ha-ha…for sure. Thanks, though, seriously."

"Well, let's just say all's well that ends well!" She was

saving me again by laughing off my mistake.

"…Agreed! We did pretty good for beginners…didn't we?"

"Maybe! I'm fairly sure we did okay!"

"Ha-ha-ha. Maybe you're fairly sure?"

But seriously, the laughter didn't sound forced, so I'd say

the skit was a success. Whether it was a hit was another

question, but as one show of many, I think we just barely

made the cut.

To be totally honest, a big part of it was the warm mood of

the audience, thanks to the crowd of friends who showed up

—Gumi-chan had already said she would come, but

Nakamura's group and Mimimi's friends were there, too.

I feel like some of the people who knew about the

situation with Mimimi and me might have been laughing

because we said we were a couple, but I promise not to say

anything about that.

"Well, I better get going soon…"

I checked my phone and saw it was already four. The play

was starting in an hour. The script was in Kikuchi-san's

hands now, but I had to help out with the final check for the

lights and sound system. I turned my thoughts to the

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performance and what would happen afterward.

Suddenly, I felt Mimimi's anxious gaze on me. There was

an odd heat in her eyes as she glanced back and forth

between me and the clock on my phone.

"The play's starting soon?" Her voice seemed to catch on

my sleeve, to flicker like a match in the wind.

"Yeah."

"The play with…Kikuchi-san?"

For some reason, she repeated her question with an

emphasis on Kikuchi-san. It was like she had caught some

glimpse of the future, and the look in her eyes pricked my

heart. Was I reading too much into things, or—?

Well, it didn't matter.

"…Yeah. I'll see you later."

There was nothing I could do for her.

"Right," she mumbled.

The sinking sun shone its orange light on her profile. A

dry wind blew, sending the fallen leaves dancing.

Suddenly, Mimimi smiled, threw her head back toward

the cold, hazy sky—and shouted:

"Aaaaah! It's over!"

Her expression reminded me of a frail, scared little girl.

"Hey, Brain?"

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"…What?"

"That was fun, doing the skit."

"Yeah…it was," I agreed. Why was Mimimi looking off

into the distance?

"…Yeah, that was fun," she said again.

"…Yeah."

She bit her lip for just a second—then nodded slightly,

although I wasn't sure at who. "Well, see you later."

"…Okay."

She definitely meant more than she had said.

I didn't know what she sensed or what she predicted

would happen.

What I did know was that my only option now was to

follow through with integrity on what I'd decided. That was

all.

* * *

An hour later, I'd finished the final light and sound check

and joined the crowd of students in the gym.

Various classes and clubs, like the pop band, were taking

turns presenting performances on a voluntary basis—and

next up was Kikuchi-san's play. It had gotten a lot of buzz

thanks to the starring roles of the student council president

and Mizusawa, who'd been her campaign manager during

the election. I kind of understand why famous actors and TV

stars always get cast in live-action versions of books or

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anime. If you put in all that work, you want a lot of people to

watch!

The gym was filled with rows of folding chairs, and at a

glance, I'd say there were enough to seat three or four

hundred people. About half were filled, which I guess was a

decent turnout.

The crowd of students was chatting noisily as everyone

waited for the show to start, and I got the sense that rather

than watching the play, they were more interested in seeing

a show with famous people in it. I doubt more than a

handful had any expectations for the quality or message of

the play itself.

Well, I'd known that from the start.

If we managed to give the people who came for that

reason something to take home, that would be enough.

"Our next presentation will be an original play by secondyear Class Two, 'On the Wings of the Unknown.'"

The introduction from the school-festival chair, Izumi,

rang across the room. The lights dimmed, and darkness fell

over the gym, soothing the noisy atmosphere into silence.

The only sound was a clattering on the black stage.

The first voice to break the silence was Hinami's.

"Aren't we there yet, Libra?"

There was a hint of exhaustion and anger in her voice. As

she spoke, the lights gradually brightened on the stage.

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"You okay, Alucia? We haven't even walked very far."

Their voices echoed through the speakers. So far, the only

thing on stage was a whiteboard with a big sheet of paper on

it showing a drawing of a castle interior.

"This is exhausting. If I'm going to walk for so long, I'd at

least like to know where I'm going."

"You're the one who said you wanted to explore. You

didn't have to come."

As they delivered their lines, Alucia-slash-Hinami and

Libra-slash-Mizusawa walked onstage from the wings. They

were wearing fantasy-style outfits, which I heard they'd

gotten online for cheap, but you'd never guess. Maybe that's

because they were so good-looking to start with.

As the two popular students appeared, murmurs of "It's

Hinami!" and "Isn't that Mizusawa-kun?" rippled through

the audience, along with some whistles. That wasn't quite

what I'd imagined…but I guess that's what school festivals

are like.

"True, but I didn't know exploring was your only goal."

"In a place like this, exploring is fun all by itself… Hey,

there's a door."

"Well, it is more fun than listening to Granny Mia tell me

stories in my room…"

"Right? Plus, if we get caught, I bet they'll go easy on us

with you here."

"I may be a princess, but I wish you wouldn't use my

status like that."

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Although the conversation was casual, it explained the

situation and the relationship between the characters. I'd

been wondering how Kikuchi-san would incorporate

background information like that from the novel, and it was

impressive to see she'd slipped it in right at the start of the

play. That sort of thoughtfulness toward the audience

reflected her personality.

"You always do that, Libra."

But Hinami was equally impressive. Even with her

shortest lines, she expressed so much with her hands, voice,

and face, not to mention her simple presence onstage. Just

by standing there, she emanated Alucia's strength. This was

more than acting skill; you might call it Hinami's inherent

ability.

"Let's go!"

Libra's honesty and awkwardness came through, too, but

given that Mizusawa was the one playing him, I wasn't sure I

could say he'd completely stamped out his own easygoing

smoothness. He'd put his bangs back down again, and his

performance was flawless, but he was just too damn

handsome.

The two of them went on poking around the castle, Alucia

complaining about this and that while Libra was obviously

excited—until they reached the play's first turning point, the

scene in the garden.

The stage went dark.

Libra and Alucia had reached the door to the garden and

were debating whether they should break the rules and open

it.

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"I think I want to see… I'm curious," Libra said.

That was the final push that decided it—they'd look

inside.

A creak played to simulate the door being opened. The

lights went on, revealing Tama-chan in a white dress. The

otherworldly outfit suited her small form perfectly, and her

usual strong aura was skillfully neutralized by her

expression and delicate gestures.

The backdrop had been changed, too, to a picture of a

dragon that filled the whole sheet. The layers of vellum

paper on the whiteboard were like a page-a-day calendar

that could be peeled back one sheet at a time to convey the

information that the actors and minor props couldn't. It was

low-budget but effective. Impressively, this was another one

of Kikuchi-san's ideas.

"When they opened the door, they found a flying dragon

five or six meters long, and a girl standing quietly beside it."

As Izumi narrated the scene, the three characters faced

one another onstage.

It was one of the play's most iconic scenes, with all the

main characters together for the first time.

At that moment, Alucia-slash-Hinami moved.

The gesture was practically nothing—she stared at her left

palm and bit her lip. Then, as if she'd made a decision, she

clenched her hand into a fist and shot a spine-chilling gaze

up at the dragon.

Every motion was exaggerated so that the audience could

see it, and by pausing for a few seconds between each one,

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she helped the audience track her moves.

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She hooked her fingers into a threatening claw, pulled

back her arm to strike, and walked several steps in the

direction of her gaze.

Libra grabbed her.

"Alucia. What are you doing?"

When the audience saw that Mizusawa had grabbed

Hinami's wrist, some of them began shouting shrilly,

apparently unable to contain themselves. Huh. I guess

having a handsome leading man and a beautiful leading lady

is enough to qualify as entertainment. My feelings about that

are kind of complicated, but I won't dwell on that.

"Let me go."

Hinami's hard-edged voice filled the gym. I bet none of

them had heard her this way before. The audience fell

completely silent at the difference between the Hinami they

knew and the one onstage.

"If I don't do it now, they'll kill you." Her delivery left the

auditorium spellbound. "Let me do it."

The powerful words sliced through the silence.

"Ooooh…"

I let out a soft gasp as I watched from my seat.

This was the scene Hinami had acted out on the first day

of rehearsals. Her performance had been almost perfect

already, but I was surprised that she'd added even more

power to her delivery. Casting her as Alucia was the right

choice after all.

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This wasn't even a scene with a lot of action, but she'd

already used her presence and ability to wrap the audience

around her finger. She'd done the same thing during her

speech for student council president, so I knew she could do

it—but back then, she'd only been able to speak as Aoi

Hinami. A situation like this, where she could do anything—

where she could stab people in the heart without concern for

her image—was her strong suit.

But Mizusawa-slash-Libra didn't budge.

"No."

"Just let me go. I have to break that dragon's wing."

"I knew it. I won't let you. You'll die otherwise!"

"Don't worry; I'll be fine. I'll say it was an accident. And

I'd have to do much worse for them to execute a member of

the royal family."

"I still won't let you."

"Why not?"

"Because even if they don't kill you, Alucia will die."

I'd read this part of the script countless times, but it was

still fun to see it onstage, with Hinami and Mizusawa

breathing new life into it through their performance.

After that scene, Libra and Alucia became "siblings," and

the relationship between the three characters began to

develop.

We were a few minutes into the play. At first, it seemed

like the audience just wanted to see something weird, but I

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could gradually feel them getting pulled in by the play itself.

Hinami's powerful performance was the catalyst, but I think

the appeal of Kikuchi-san's script, with its subtle but

intricate layers of meaning, was slowly reaching them, too.

In the next part of the play, Alucia became Kris's tutor,

and Libra became her caretaker. Then together, through

trial and error, they worked toward getting the dragon to fly.

"Go on, eat! Yes, that's it! What a good dragon!"

"Okay! So maybe it'll fly now…?"

"…It won't? Libra?"

"Wh-what? Kris, don't look at me like that."

"Libra, remember what we talked about."

"Hey, don't pinch me, Alucia!"

They tried feeding the dragon special plants from the

Valley of the Flying Dragons.

"Look how pretty you are!"

"O-okay, I'm sure this time it will…?"

"…S-still nothing? Libra?"

"Wh-what? That's odd…"

"…Hmph."

"Ouch, Alucia."

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They groomed each of the dragon's scales with a special

magical cloak.

"If we stroke it, it should lift off the ground… Libra?"

"It's not going to fly, is it, Kris? I was worried this might

happen!"

"Hmph…"

"I said I'm sorry, Alucia!"

They read to it old books about how to fly.

Still, the dragon would not take flight. But all the same,

Kris gradually came to accept the two intruders she'd feared

at first.

Little by little, the three of them came to understand one

another—but…

"Alucia, I heard you won the Magic Arts Tournament!

Congratulations!"

"Ah-ha-ha. Thanks, Kris."

"And you're the youngest person ever to win?! That's so

amazing!"

"You're good at everything, Alucia."

"Well, I worked for it."

Alucia's answer was curt.