Zaregoto-Volume 3 Chapter 2

1

Yukariki Ichihime -- Hime-chan, that is -- had been hiding behind the teacher's lectern.

"That seems like an easy place to be found... if I went to my left after opening the door, you'd be right there."

"That's why I hid there. No one would think a person would be hide in such a place. Master immediately eyeballed the most obvious place, the locker, right? That's how it is."

"....."

"What's wrong, Master?"

"........ Nothing."

Having completed our preliminary encounter, we had introduced ourselves, and Hime-chan said, "I want you to call Hime-chan Hime-chan!" with quite a shrill voice. Of course, I approved, as names are just monikers, but the problem was the alias Hime-chan had decided to give me.

Master.

This was no misunderstanding of the era. Supposedly, "a friend of Jun-san is like a master for Hime-chan!" How remarkably inexplicable. Furthermore, she said like a, so there wasn't even a smidgen of respect. If anything, it felt more like she was making a fool of me.

"So, I have come to get you out of here and I was told to ask you for specifics on how to do that."

"Hm, I don't know what to say--" Hime-chan crossed her arms, and seemed to think. "There's like, not really any time-, and like, Hime-chan sucks at explaining-. How about just like, leaving this place?"

"... I see..." Lacking tongue, or rather, maybe more like lacking a brain, would be the way I would describe how she spoke, so it was difficult to consent to her suggestion, but maybe it was best to follow Hime-chan. It would be no use leaving Aikawa-san waiting outside forever, after all. "We need a school ID to get out through the front gate; do you have one?"

"Uh huh, I do."

Then wouldn't you be able to leave by yourself? I asked myself that question once more. However, it seemed like it would be futile to ask Hime-chan. Given the results of our five minutes' worth of conversing, I could see that there wasn't any hope in getting a useful answer. After all, my first impression of Hime-chan was a girl that I could not talk to in Japanese.

"Then... let us go."

"Yeah-," said Hime-chan as she slid behind me like a puppy. I had some level of wariness due to what had just happened with the alto recorder, but this time she did not point anything at me. "Choo choo go-!"

I tilted my head to fit the mood in response to her unsuitably cheery and carefree attitude, and we left the Grade 2 Class A classroom. "Quietly, so we draw little attention," I warned Hime-chan, and we began walking down the hallway. All that remained was the simple task of returning from whence we came. I did not imagine any difficulties obstructing our way and felt that we were heading toward the end of a way too straightforward mission complete. Of course, I welcomed this simplicity, but I also felt apologetic toward Aikawa-san, as I was not sure this sufficed as a return of favor.

"By the way, Hime-chan, what is your relationship with Aikawa-san?"

"Ah!" Hime-chan shouted as she pointed at me, paying no heed to our circumstances. "Master, you shouldn't! If you call Jun-san by her last name, she'll get mad at you!"

"That is the point... Er, she's not here anyways. So, what is your relationship with Jun-san?"

"Um, like-. Around the time of that photo Master carries around, she saved me-. Like, five years ago? Kinda nostalgic-," said Hime-chan, who again seemed to care little about our situation, as she closed her eyes in remembrance. "Like a savior, I guess. Aaaaaaand, that's why Hime-chan's prepared to die if Jun-san orders it. But it's also proof that I trust that Jun-san would never say such an order, because it's not like I want to die. How about you, Master, what is your relationship with Jun-san?"

"A friend, a friend. Just a close friend."

It seemed that saying it a whole three times lessened the level of truth behind the words, since Hime-chan tilted her head to the side a bit, mumbling "hm". However, even I had no answer to that question beyond the suspicious reply I mustered. The relationship between me and Aikawa-san -- I had never thought about it. We became acquainted by coincidence, and I would be summoned to help with a job, or she would use me as a toy, or make fun of me, and so on.

However, Hime-chan, while you think of Aikawa-san as someone you are indebted to, you are relying upon her again. Jeez, maybe you should learn from me.

As we were about to descend the stairs, two students came into my view. A pair of girls. Whoops, maybe I should tighten up. We should cut off our conversation, then walk nonchalantly by without making eye contact--

"Found you!"

One of the students shouted, blowing my thoughts out of my head. Her finger was pointed past me, at Hime-chan behind me. As I began turning to ask what was going on, Hime-chan grabbed my left arm, climbing back up the stairs dragging me along with her. Although the situation of being dragged along by a high school girl was rather embarrassing, I had no time to think about such things. While I was being dragged by Hime-chan, we went back up to the top floor, as if we were escaping from those two students.

As if we were escaping -- or rather, truth be told, we were escaping from them. The pair of girls pursued. The two of them together ran after us with great speed. For what reason Hime-chan began running, and for what reason the girls were chasing, I did not know, but at this rate it seemed they would catch up.

-- Found you!

Did that mean Hime-chan was being looked for? Aikawa-san said this job involved finding someone, but -- was this related? No, it wasn't time to ponder such things. At that moment we were in the middle of escaping. What you need to focus on during an escape is figuring out how to not get caught, and that means being fast. That was it. And Hime-chan, who running in front of me, could not be called fast. If anything, she was slow. Extremely slow. Predictable, given that each of her steps was maybe half the average step.

"Excuse me."

I quickened my pace and caught up, then wrapped an arm around Hime-chan's waist and lifted her body.

"Ukyau!"

Hime-chan screamed oddly, but I paid no heed to it. As expected by her looks, or perhaps even more than expected, she was very light. Against other girls, holding this sack of weight wouldn't even count as a handicap, rather, having it run in front of me would be a greater handicap. And so I continued, quickening my pace, succeeding in losing the girls chasing us. Or rather, perhaps they weren't that focused on catching up, since after I ran around the building blindly, I noticed no one was behind us anymore.

"I think we'll be all right here."

Hime-chan said. I was carrying under my armpit, so I stopped and let her down. I glanced around, and did not recognize our surroundings. That would be expected after running around blindly so much. I wanted to look at the blueprint of the school, but I couldn't.

"... Phew," I had run at full strength without warming up, so my heart was beating hard enough to make me tremble. I was not tired, but I did want to rest. "... However, it isn't a good idea to rest in the hallway. How about that classroom?"

"Yes," nodded Hime-chan. "Master's pretty strong, despite how he looks-."

"Nothing to be praised for; you were just light," I said, sitting on the teaching lectern. "So, what... was that? Hime-chan, are you being chased?"

"Yes," Hime-chan said, nodding again. "Didn't you know? Hime-chan's, like, wanted by the school right now. That's why Hime-chan needed Master and Jun-san's help."

Hime-chan explained, with reasoning befitting a child. I hadn't heard anything about this. I see, that would explain the reaction of those two students. They had found a wanted person, so that reaction was expected.

She was not restrained, but that simply meant that she was not yet captured. Hime-chan hiding under the lectern was not mischief designed to surprise me. The students I had walked past en route to Grade 2 Class A did not look like they were, but were probably looking for Hime-chan as well. I see... **that was why** she needed the help of someone like me. At present, it was impossible for her to escape from this school by herself.

"Come on... tell me these things beforehand. If you did, I would have been able to come up with something... but we just got found right away."

"But Master was so confident leading Hime-chan out. I thought you had, like, some secret plan."

"....." It was my fault? Well, maybe if one looked at the situation with one eye it would seem that way. "Anyways. Hime-chan, did you do something bad? Being wanted, being chased, it seems rather violent business you're in."

"... Hmm. It's not like that, but," Hime-chan groaned. "Maybe it's the case from their perspective. Hime-chan doesn't dunno."

"Something like bullying, maybe?"

Not that Hime-chan looked like she was being bullied, no matter how you looked at her, but you cannot judge anyone based on their appearance. You might even think it would be rude to imagine that taking place in an elite ojou school, but even that would be simple bias.

"Bullying... would've been better, I think."

Hime-chan did not respond with any clarity. Or rather, it seemed like she was deliberately being vague. Her attitude was as if she were saying... if you do not know, then you are better off not knowing, like she was making an effort to look out for me.

"This school is somewhat strange. Of course, I knew from prior knowledge that it was special... but I feel like that isn't it all. Hime-chan. Will you explain everything to me?"

"Like, to put it simply, this is a high school."

"That's too simple."

"Then, I'll ask. Master... how much prior knowledge do you have about this school?"

"Aikawa-san asked me that as well."

I repeated my answer to Hime-chan. Hime-chan listened, nodded, saying and reacting the same way as Aikawa-san. "That's it?" she said. Well it would be exactly the same if you were to ignore the shadow that crept over her face.

"Then, Master, someone you know... or even someone that someone you know knows, or no, it doesn't even have to be someone you know, just anyone, have you heard of anyone passing the entrance exam for this school?"

"Huh? Uh... no -- never."

"But that is just coincidence-- is what you look like you wanna say -- but like, how about anyone that can be called an alumnus -- in other words, someone who's graduated from this school?"

"That-... ah... ah?"

Huh. I could think of anyone. No -- that cannot be true. Sumiyuri Academy is nationally renowned, and is a super elite school that feeds into famous universities worldwide, so there **should** be famous people who have obviously graduated -- but I for some reason, not a single person popped into my mind. This -- **this is, coincidence**?

"And that's that," Hime-chan said. "**No one enters and no one graduates** -- such a school couldn't be called a normal high school, right?"

"But, Sumiyuri--"

"What?" Hime-chan looked like she was genuinely surprised and then she quickly composed herself. "Ah, Sumiyuri -- the name of this school. Hime-chan forgot that. Come to think of it, the teachers called this place by that name -- Hime-chan and other such students don't call **this place** by such a name."

"Then... what do they call it?"

"Hanging High School..."

That name with such a negative connotation left me speechless.

Hanging High School.

A closed organization that keeps everything private in the name of exclusivity and secretiveness while claiming cleanliness. The outside has no way of finding out what goes on inside. Just by placing the labels elite and ojou, you could add to the untouchable level of such a place. In other words, that means, it does not matter what you do inside, as that information will not easily leak out.

What -- What did Aikawa-san ask of me?

Somehow -- I felt like I had been dragged into an unreasonable, aimless incident. Once again I had, without realizing it myself, taken two or three steps into a preposterous location.

"Uwah," Hime-chan moaned, quickly flicking her fingertips up towards the ceiling, and returing them to their original position. It seemed to be a habit of hers. "Hime-chan is quite beaten. She was careless. Hime-chan thought Jun-san would've explained at least that much--."

It seemed there was a misunderstanding in the level of information being passed. However, I could not blame Hime-chan. No one would expect that the person coming to save them -- yes, "save them" was the right phrase now -- that the person coming to save them was as clueless and unskilled as me. It was impossible to expect such a thing.

"But why did Aikawa-san not tell me that... I cannot carry out the mission without knowing at least that much."

Yes, the blame lay squarely on Aikawa Jun.

That slovenly contractor was fully responsible.

"Hmm. But Jun-san probably also didn't expect things to have come to this. Hime-chan messed up a bit coming to the meeting spot, so the pursuit is a bit more extravagant than we expected. I'd been able to hide pretty well, but we were just seen. We can't stay in this classroom forever."

"Can you not contact Aikawa-san? If there was a meeting spot, that must mean you were able to contact her, right?"

"When I contacted her, I wasn't being chased, so I just used the dorm phone."

"Hmm..."

She was not wanting to leave the school because she was being chased, but rather was being chased because she wanted to leave -- the better way to think about this. However, that made this place more like a prison. Or rather, it may not just be likein this case.

"I see--."

I said 'I see', but I still did not understand the situation. All I learned, was that this was not just a school -- and it was an abnormal location that was not an elite school nor an ojou school.

"Abnormal... now this seems more like it."

However, if this is how it is -- then this is my hunting ground. This was quite distant from what I had expected, but even if this was a mess that belonged to someone else, I had come along, and so I would see it to its end.

"Oh well. Let's hide here for now and think of a plan. There's nothing to worry about. If Master and Hime-chan don't show up for a while, Jun-san'll come help. Jun-san, despite how she looks, is a softy for people close to her, so she'll never just abandon us."

"Hide?" I hopped off of the lectern, then walked toward window, with my back to Hime-chan. "That is the opposite of what we should do -- **since we were found**, hiding is bad. They already know we are inside the school. We need to plan accordingly, immediately."

I opened the window, grabbed a nearby desk, and tossed it out the window. We had run into the room with no reason behind it, so I did not know what floor we were on, but it seemed like we were on quite a high floor, as the sound of destruction resounded after a few seconds. Without a care, the chair that was paired with the desk, as well as the desk behind that, I tossed everything out the window.

"W- what're you doing?!" Hime-chan grabbed me at the waist. "That drew so much attention! That's like asking to be found!"

"I just turned nineteen this March--," I paused having thrown a sixth desk out the window, and then released the rather meaningless, weak hold of Hime-chan. "But in those nineteen years, all I did was think about how to mess with people, how to escape from people. I have only thought of how to escape. I do not know what sort of place, this place is, but I do not allow myself to be obstructed from flight by merely location."

No one had gathered by the table and desk that had begun to stack over each other yet. However, it would be impossible for people to not notice that much sound -- those looking for Hime-chan would of course notice. Then of course, they would have to search the classrooms above the objects. This classroom would be included, but so would the other classrooms. **By deliberately leaving a trace, I increased the amount of searching they would have to do** -- too much evidence, too obvious of a clue -- that sort of deceit.

"Anyway, this place is dangerous, so we need to move."

"... All right. But, Hime-chan doesn't come around here much either, so -- Hime-chan doesn't really know the way."

"No problem, I've got a blueprint..." I looked in my pocket, "... that's not here."

Strangely, the photo of Hime-chan had also disappeared. Only the fake student ID remained inside my uniform pocket. It seemed I had dropped it when running about earlier. How ridiculous. After boasting, I immediately tripped.

"... Well, we climbed up, so we should be able to leave by going down. We can just go by instinct once we get out."

"... Pretty careless," Hime-chan said, exasperated. "But Master's more forward-thinking than Hime-chan expected. Surprisingly."

"Ah, well..."

I vaguely responded. Of course, I could not be called a forward-thinking person. Someone forward-thinking would not spend their nineteen years of life thinking of how to mess with people. If it was possible, I, too, would love to wait for Aikawa-san to come help.

However -- I began to think. I wanted to prevent that darkened expression she made when she called Sumiyuri Academy the Hanging High School ever again. Not as a repaying of favors to Aikawa-san, but rather, I felt a sense of obligation.

Yes, I had probably overlapped myself. Yukarigi Ichihime and -- a blue color that had once been called a savant.

That was why this was not just overly caring for Hime-chan. This was just self-satisfaction -- no, even to me, it was just a case of autotoxemia.

Jeez. This was nonsense on an intolerable level.

I had not understood the scope of the situation at this point, and I had not understood the strength of the currents that swirled around me, and I was not able to tell right from left, so this tomfoolery could absolutely be called just rampaging, but even then, in a rare display for a single-minded, pessimistic user of nonsense like me, I felt like I would never regret this.

Even though that could not be the case.

1. As in, hanging yourself

2

"Even Hime-chan actually doesn't get some things."

In order to go to the floor below, it would be easiest to go back the way we came, but that would be easily anticipated. So the reason we arrived at our current situation was that we needed to find a different staircase -- however, we could not find one. For a building boasting such a huge size, it was unthinkable that there was only a single staircase.

When I was alone, I used a route as according to a blueprint and did not notice, but this building was like a maze -- it was designed like a labyrinth. Was this the reason I had a strange feeling about this place? It did not seem like it was constructed with that much care, but the whole building feel oddly crooked. Twisted. I became discomforted just by walking. The building seemed to have been built recently, but -- this construction -- just what meaning was behind it?

"From inside, you can't determine what sort of place -- this place -- is. Good or bad, high-quality or low-quality, blessed or unfortunate, you can only know that when you have something to relate with. So Hime-chan doesn't know how to judge this school, so it's hard to explain."

"... I think it is not something you need to think too hard about," I replied to Hime-chan, after having finally found a set of stairs and looking around. "The way that that is, is actually trivial. The real issue is whether it suits you, whether it fits you. If you want to escape from this school, then I think that is fine. Those who wish to stop that are in the wrong."

Every human has at the very least the right to escape -- well, I did not say that much.

"However -- I know now that this is not a school that teaches ordinary things, but Hime-chan, what was taught to you over the past year?"

"Like I said. Like, if you see someone you don't know, hide yourself and then sneak up from behind."

So that was not a joke in the place of a greeting.

Hmm. I had refrained from thinking about it, but in summary, Hime-chan certainly had control over my life at that time. Of course, you cannot kill people with a recorder.

In other words -- this Sumiyuri Academy trains people with some sort of special techniques -- a nursing school -- a training facility, perhaps? Leaving aside whether it was legal or illegal.

There was a similar aspect to the Grand Integrated Single-class Research Facility that I had left, the ER3 System. There, of the organizations that wandered between the lines of legality and illegality, the one called MS-2 tried to strengthen the physical and mental aspects of people at the same time -- they specialized in the construction of the Seed of Orange. Even if it were not as extreme, most organizations experimented with the functional limits of the beings called people. Even myself, a foreign student, received a set of specialized training. Even myself, who is a dropout.

However, if this place was to be that sort of place, then to maintain a facility of this size, to maintain secrecy of this size, it would need to be something along the level of the Kunagisa Institution. If that were the case, then becoming opposition would be a misstep. Yes, however, I had no means of just turning tail and running, either.

Jeez, this was like crying wine and selling vinegar. It was completely different from what I expected. It was not like I was dreaming of sneaking into an all-girls high school and enjoying a romantic outing with a naive ojou, but for this to be a place that taught wartime military somethings, that was too much. Though perhaps vinegar is more delicious than wine.

"-- Strange," I realized, after we had gone down a flight of stairs. "we had caused such a ruckus, but the school is oddly silent -- I do not sense anyone in the building."

"You can sense people?"

"I can since I am easily frightened. I am fairly sensitive to looks and senses... but all traces of both have disappeared. I do not intend to be found, but I was expecting the need to force our way through... the other two had completely seen you, after all."

Even if they could not tell our exact location, should they not be having some sort of reaction?

"It's easier having no pursuit, isn't it? It's like sweet adzuki bean mochi."

"...? Ah, adzuki bean mochi from a shelf... No, leaving that aside. But to keep going down, it feels dangerous... Shall we go to the side?"

"Intuition? That sounds geometrical."

"I did not intend to say something unscientific," I looked at Hime-chan. "Hime-chan, did you grow up in America?"

"Woah! How'd you know!"

"... Intuition."

That aside.

This sort of pattern screamed ambush. Come to think of it, if they knew that Hime-chan's intent was to escape from the school, then they had no need to blindly chase her around. I could imagine that the other two had stopped chasing us because of that.

Then I would need to mess with them a bit more.

"... This is no good."

I began to enjoy this, just a bit. Even though I had been dragged into this pain in the ass. Even though I hated having to deal with pains in the ass and despised causing any disturbances.

Perhaps it was because of Hime-chan, I thought as we walked through a bend in the corridor. It was amusing, because it was so very me to blame someone else, but when I looked at Hime-chan, who remained cheery despite our having been forced to our wit's end, it felt foolish to become anxious or pessimistic or negative. There was no need to use nonsense to that end.

As I thought -- similar. I thought.

The extremely infantile appearance relative to their age, their simpleness and their spontaneity. There were too many parts that were similar to her Was it just coincidence? I had thought that there did not exist another one of her sort...

I had an odd sense about things, as if the answer to X×Y had become Y×X.

"Master, what's wrong? You're staring at Hime-chan so... ah! C- could this be...?!"

"No," I immediately rejected the notion. I had no intention of lowering peoples' perception of me any further. "However, what floor is this? Based on the view from the window, we weren't just a third or fourth floor. This is quite a tall building for something inside Kyoto... Though, I guess that does not matter too much this far out."

"They do say idiots and scissors like tall places-."

"I was about to accidentally let that slide, but you mixed stuff up."

Hmm? said Hime-chan as she tilted her head to the side... and it was at that moment.

Suddenly, a classroom door nearby opened, and four people -- with the same outfit as Hime-chan and I, the black sailor uniforms -- jumped out, consumed Hime-chan. Consumed. It was such a rough treatment that I could only describe it as such. Hime-chan had no time to resist, as she was slammed to the ground, and her limbs were pinned down.

"...!"

Ambush -- it was a possibility I had expected, but why here? I could understand entrances to the school, but there seemed no meaning to having it in such a random place like this. That was why I had determined that this route was safe, and had stopped going down the stairs--

"-- because of that, I see."

Shit. Leaving usage aside, that phrase was quite irritating when it is used against you.

And then what was most important here was that of the four who were waiting in ambush here, all four jumped Hime-chan. I was not particularly powerful, and I was not well-built, but I must look stronger than the childish Hime-chan. So for them to all ignore me and take Hime-chan meant--

There was still an ambush inside the classroom.

An ambush that surpassed the power of four.

"M- Master--"

Hime-chan began speaking, but her mouth was covered. The four did not so much glance at me. That also served to prove their trust in those remaining inside the classroom. That they had no need to worry about me.

This was no joking matter...

For me to lose in a battle of mind games.

"-- Hagihara Shiogi"

Introducing herself, she -- came out of the classroom, and gazed upon me. Her icy stare gave me chills, as if she were evaluating me, looking at me simply. She was wearing the same black uniform as the four -- in other words, she was a student of this school. Her straight, long hair that reached her ankles was abnormally beautiful, and despite the situation, I was charmed for a moment. Charmed I say, and she -- Shiogi-chan emitted a mesmerizing aura, like the tip of a Japanese katana.

If you were to call Hime-chan blue, then this one, was like that red--

"Just in case, I am imitating something like a strategist."

"Hmm... a strategist you say," I nodded, and took a step back. I was probably feeling pressured by her. "Then, this would mean I was caught square in your strategy, I suppose?"

"... My. You are a boy?" said Shiogi-chan, as if realizing for the first time, based on my voice. "... It has been a while since I met a boy from the same generation. You four should take a good look, too."

Shiogi-chan commanded the four whom were pinning down Hime-chan, a rather inexplicable command -- no. At the least, she called herself a strategist. There would not exist any inexplicable order. There might be some purpose to that action.

"Well -- then. Keiki, Roka, Ami, Shuki -- take that girl to that place. Keep her limbs pinned, and don't give her any space. I shall take on this boy."

The four nodded at Shiogi-chan's words, lifted Hime-chan, and sort of dragged her to the stairs. I could not stop them. Not with an enormous obstacle in front of me.

I belatedly noticed that the two we had run into on the stairs were among the four, and I looked at Shiogi-chan and asked.

"... the four names -- were they real? It seemed extremely fake."

"Huh -- phew," without answering my question, she looked away from me, and sighed, as if she had completed a job. "Somehow, we were able to clean this up before Zig Zag showed up -- it's good things ended safely."

"... are you not forgetting something?"

"Hm? Ahh. You? Yes yes..." Shiogi-chan made a smile that seemed out of place for someone of her age, turning to me with courtesy. "Yes, I shall accompany you to the front gate, so please turn around."

"..."

"I will give you a pass for this incident, so hurry up and get out -- that is what I am saying, do you understand? Mister Cross-dressing Hobbyist."

"It is unfortunate this makes people misunderstand," I deliberately lowered the pitch of my voice. "I am not that kind and I really hate losing matches I think I can win."

"Quite the sore loser. We could get along."

But by the time she finished speaking, Shiogi-chan had already begun moving. With flowing leg motion -- definitely that thing from martial arts -- she grabbed my arm and gotten behind me, and then locked up my shoulder joint. We had just begun, yet my movement had already been sealed. Even though she was such a slender girl. It would not be a good excuse to say that she had caught me off-guard. After all, she had specifically aimed at me being off-guard.

"I am a strategist so physical combat is not my area of expertise -- however, I have been trained to an extent in self-defense."

"Do they teach even that stuff in this school?"

"My answer to that question would be that they only teach that stuff... but that is not good," said Shiogi-chan as she added even more pressure. The pain running through my shoulder increased. "Even though you are cornered, you've that insolent attitude... that is not good. Have you not learned the art of pleading for your life?"

A cold voice. An overpoweringly cold voice. I re-assessed this school. To call this a nursing school or a training facility would be too soft a description. This was exactly -- exactly as the word means --

a battlefield.

"Now then, I am compassionate, so I shall pay my respect to you as a senior and give you two options -- one is to submit to me. One is to dislocate your shoulder."

"-- what country are you the president of?"

"No no, I am just a general of a mountain -- although I am a strategist that could not even become like a general."

"That's great. A good match for a user of nonsense that could not become a user of nonsense--"

The pain in my shoulder grew. I like talking trash but she seems to hate being trash talked. Shiogi-chan was quite selfish.

"... However, there is just one thing I don't understand," Shiogi-chan said, as she loosened her hold. "Don't understand -- in other words, a situation in which an uncertainty exists, is not good for a strategist. Uncertainty breeds anxiety, after all."

"..."

"Why were you able to infiltrate this school?"

Shiogi-chan asked. Not how but why. As if that was a question that would shake the foundations of this world, as if she was asking not for the method but rather the principle.

"... Nothing special. I used a fake school ID... and because I wore a uniform, so no one suspected me."

"Are you saying you were able to deceive the eyes of the students of this school with just that? That the security system is that low a level?"

Indeed -- given what I now knew about Sumiyuri Academy, no, Hanging High School, my level of disguise should not have passed. Even if I could fake my gender by not speaking, outsiders should be easily identified and dealt with. It was understandable that Shiogi-chan would be curious. However, I had no answer to her question. I wanted to ask that myself, so maybe it was luck or coincidence, was all I could say.

"Don't tell my you're going to say nonsense like it was luck or coincidence--"

Said Shiogi-chan as she twisted my arm once again. From her perspective she was probably controlling the power she exerted, but as someone having their arm twisted, it made no difference. The other arm could not reach Shiogi-chan behind me -- and my heels were raised so I could not counterattack with my legs. It was a fantastic killing move that was impossible for a newbie.

Killing move. That was why, there were return moves.

"That is a terribly simple thing," I quietly said. "You are just unbelievably dumb, so you don't get it."

I felt like I could hear the sound of blood rising to her head. The next moment, Shiogi-chan twisted my arm a quarter more -- and I heard the snap sound of my shoulder being dislocated.

"-- Huh?"

The surprised, dumbfounded voice came from the person who did the dislocating, Shiogi-chan.

I turned the arm that had become free due to dislocation around, then turned to Shiogi-chan, who had not yet snapped out of her confused state, and used my arm that had not been dislocated to push her with all my might, with no holding back, from her chest. No matter how skilled she may sound, she was still in the body of a girl in her teens, so she flew like a rotting tree, and clumsily rolled down the hall.

"-- ow!"

However, as expected of Shiogi-chan, she softened the fall and quickly raised her upper body, then glared at me. I casually ignored her glare, spread out my safe arm, and displayed composure.

"To the question you asked, I still can only answer that it was only a coincidence, so I will answer the question you probably have now -- last month, I was dragged into a certain incident. At the time, I dislocated both of my shoulders. I forgot why I ended up like that, why I was injured like that... but anyways, when you get something dislocated, the joints remain loose for a bit. So right now my shoulders are pretty easy to dislocate."

"-- Kgh," Shiogi-chan groaned. "Then, you deliberately goaded me, to force me to dislocate--"

"You called yourself a strategist, did you not? I am known as something close to that, so I know very well. When even one miscalculation occurs, you become very confused. It should not have dislocated with just that much strength -- I know that feeling painfully well."

Or rather, what really hurt was my shoulder, but without showing that on my expression, as I slowly spoke, I was actually thinking well then, what should I do next? I was able to somehow escape from the submission using a surprise attack evasion, but that did not mean I was now in an advantageous position. If anything, I put oil to the fire. While Shiogi-chan remained confused, with eloquence and flattery, I needed to talk my way out--

I needed to talk my way out, because otherwise I would not be able to catch up to the four that had taken Hime-chan away.

"-- what am I, a hero of justice?"

I mumbled to myself in a self-deprecating way. For me to save someone -- for me to even think that. For me to even be in a situation for that. That's something that I couldn't imagine. Was I simply being tossed along with the flow? Was I just tumbling along with the situation rather than going with it as usual?

Shiogi-chan looked at me suspiciously, but then suddenly, she opened her eyes wide in shock. She seemed to be looking at something above me, and then behind me.

\\ \\ "-- You're working hard, Ii-tan."

\\ \\ Having said that in a nonchalant tone similar to exchanging greetings because of a coincidental meeting in town -- the speaker placed a hand on my shoulder. It was on the dislocated shoulder, so it hurt like hell.

"-- Aikawa-san... is it?"

"Don't call me by my surname -- how many times do I need to tell you? Hmm?"

The hand on my shoulder bore down a bit more.

"Right -- Jun-san."

I did not take my eyes off Shiogi-chan as I conversed with Aikawa-san, who stood behind me. Shiogi-chan did not look at me despite being in front of me. Of course, she, being a strategist, would not do such a useless act. How could she do something foolish like consider mankind's strongest a side character?

"Hahahah -- actually, I was worried about you being alone, so I came to help."

"Seriously... why you couldn't intervene from the very beginning..."

"Let's leave that fun topic for later. So, what do you want to do? Uh, Shiogi-chan, was it? Do you not know about me?"

"... no, I know," Shiogi-chan glared at Aikawa-san with sharpness incomparable to when she glared at me. Even though she felt she had the upper hand against me, it seemed she still kept some suspicion for me... it seemed. "The first thing we learned upon matriculation was about Over-killed Red."

"That's quite the honor," Aikawa-san laughed at Shiogi-chan, with a joking attitude, as if teasing her. "-- so? Shiogi-chan the strategist, what sort of strategy are you going to bring out now?"

"I'll flee."

Shiogi-chan said brazenly, and then she stood up. Her attitude, her expression, had not a shred of fear or panic. Indomitable -- or more like insolence. This was the first time I had seen an enemy that maintained such an attitude in front of Aikawa-san. And this was from a kid.

It was abnormal.

"You think that you could get away?"

"I do -- because the cross-dress hobbyist there is hurt," grinned and laughed Shiogi-chan. "That Over-killed Red is a softy for close friends -- I most definitely know that fact."

"..."

"And, you," Shiogi-chan glared at me, "What you did to me -- do not forget it too easily, please."

"What?"

Did I do something?

If anything I felt like I was the victim.

"Well then, have a pleasant day."

And then Shiogi-chan turned around and ran down the hall with her back to us, her skirt and long hair streaming behind her as she went. I thought Aikawa-san would pursue, but -- with her hand still on my shoulder, she remained immobile.

"Jun-san, is it all right to let her run--"

I hurriedly tried to turn around to Aikawa-san, but then --

"Master-!"

I did not know where she appeared from, but a Hime-chan bodyslam prevented it. No matter how much of a light-weight Hime-chan may be, it was a complete surprise attack, so I was pushed down right in the hallway.

What're you doing you brat; are you some assassin after my life or something, I thought. But Hime-chan had big globs of tears dripping from her eyes as she sat on top of me, so I could not say such a thing.

"Uwaaaa... ah," Hime-chan hiccuped, and she touched my dislocated shoulder. "Your, shoulder... I'm sorry, because of Hime-chan -- Hime-chan, Hime-chan's..."

"......"

Um, when people touch my dislocated shoulder, it hurts--

Why, really, why, do you not, understand, that simple fact...

Hime-chan wrapped her arms around me, as if clinging to me, and I noticed that the sleeve of her uniform was slightly torn. It must have happened when she was pinned down by those four. Of course, Aikawa-san had saved Hime-chan first, which was probably why the strange quartet had been defeated -- but Hime-chan could not have been left unharmed.

"... ah, th-this is nothing!"

She finally seemed to have calmed down a bit, as she noticed what I was looking at, as she tried to hide the torn sleeve.

"This is just an abrasion!"

"Sounds painful."

A scratch. Although they are similar words.

"....."

That was it, right.

An unfathomably bright, sunny, and innocent.

Naive, pure, yet still.

Yet still, decidedly not insensible.

In this way, she cared for others more than herself. She would feel the pain of others as her own. Even though there was no meaning to it. Even though me being hurt was not her fault. Even though it was my own doing in the first place, she would not acknowledge that. Never rejecting, not caring about particulars, as if embracing, as if warmly covering--

-- no, wait.

That, was someone else.

Not Hime-chan.

Hime-chan, and her, are different--

"U, uwaah."

Her emotions seemed to resurface, as Hime-chan once again clung to my shoulder, as if to hide her tears.

"-- I said, that hurts."

Different.

Yet, why.

These emotions that swayed like nonsense.

"Ichihime, get off. Are you gonna destroy Ii-tan's shoulder?" Aikawa-san grabbed Hime-chan's sailor sleeve and forcibly pulled her off of me, and then with the same forcefulness pulled me up. "It's nice to work hard but you shouldn't go overboard. If you dislocate it too much it becomes set wrong, y'know. Here, I'll fit it back in so hold still."

"...."

Hold still -- she did not need to say that, as I could not move. Or to rephrase that, the moment I saw Aikawa-san, it was like an esper somewhere had placed a nasty curse on me, as my body froze.

Curse.

Indeed.

Aikawa Jun in a sailor uniform certainly had that much power.

1. Her name uses extremely similar letters on the ends of her name - Hagihara Shiogi (萩原子荻).
2. These are all nonsensical names. Keika = "Roseroot Era" Roka = "Common Reed Flower" Ami = "More Buddha" and Shuki = "Red Joy"