VOLUME 2
Chapter 1: Part 3
With Tuesday, and then Wednesday pa.s.sing, today was Thursday, July 6th. The tests were going well.
Hmm, how smooth things were going was probably a result of all my studying, wasn’t it? I felt like I could just slightly empathize with those honor students that just studied all day.
It really was a refreshing feeling to have everything going your way.
I had finished the final exam without incident, and I was enjoying the remaining time.
No matter how many times I looked over my answers, I couldn’t see a mistake. I really might have gotten a perfect score here. I tried to snooze until Sera came to pick me up, but I was too excited and couldn’t fall asleep.
At times like this, maybe I should just leave everything up to the sun.
The teacher and the students were all silent, and even the sound of wind was nowhere to be found in this silent cla.s.sroom. If I let in some sunlight, I could just comfortably lose consciousness.
I opened the curtains just a bit, prepared to welcome that poetically beautiful summer sky, but the minute I parted the curtains I forgot all of that.
I quickly closed the curtains.
Because on the other side of the window, Haruna was clinging to the pane.
What the h.e.l.l? And why did she have the chainsaw with her?
Tap tap. It sounded like she was tapping on the window. But I ignored her.
… No, wait… if she starts. .h.i.tting the window harder, people are going to notice. Ignoring her didn’t seem to be a good idea here.
So without any other option, I turned my test sheet over and wrote What do you want? on it, and turned towards Haruna.
“Ayumu! A Megalo appeared! Let’s go!”
I could hear an energetic voice from the other side of the window. Don’t be so loud, dammit. Someone’s going to notice. No, people probably already have noticed.
I knew all too well that she didn’t care about the situation I was in.
To her, there wasn’t a sliver of value in this test I was taking that would affect my future. And really, she couldn’t care less about this cla.s.sroom or the students around me, and really didn’t even really care about this entire world.
You go on ahead.
And the minute I wrote that and showed it to Haruna, the bell rang.
Alright, now I can deal with Haruna.
I turned in my test, and hurriedly turned my head towards the other side of the curtain.
But n.o.body was there anymore. She really went ahead and left first.
And also, I had not a shred of any idea as to where she went off to. Well, whatever, I guess I’ll just leave it alone.
… Am I an idiot? She can’t deal with a Megalo by herself as she is right now.
Even though she had come to this world to fight the Megalo, she didn’t have the power to defeat them. I couldn’t just leave her be.
“Aikawa, did you hear something funny a bit before?”
Orito sent me a questioning glance, but I didn’t have time to explain.
“Ahh, there was a huge cat.”
Orito responded with a bewildered “Huh?” but I ignored him, instead taking out my cell phone and dialing home.
Brr, brr, brr, brr, brr… brrrrrrrrrrr… brrrrrrrrrrr. Click.
“Ah, this is Aikawa.”
From the response I got to that, I would know who I was talking with. I heard the clear, flowing voice of a girl.
“Is this Sera?”
“Ayumu? If you want to be picked up, Haruna already went.”
“Ahh, she did come, but I took my eyes off her and she went off somewhere. Sera, can you feel where the Megalo is?”
“I cannot. Please wait a bit. I’ll ask h.e.l.lscythe-dono.”
“Ahh, please.”
With the phone to my ear, I exited out into the hallway, and quickly started to leave the school building.
“Hm? Aikawa, are you going to the bathroom?”
Orito followed me. He was annoying, but I’ve found that it was counterproductive to treat him coldly, so with an apologetic expression…
“Ah, no, something urgent came up. I’m going back early.”
“Eh? Hey! Aikawa, your book bag-“
Even though Orito was calling out to me from behind, I ignored him and broke out into a run.
Leaping down the stairs, I went out into the first floor hallway, opened a window and exited the school building.
“Ayumu, I’ll guide you to where Haruna is.”
“Ahh, please.”
Leaning my back against the school building, I stuck to the shadows as I proceeded. There wasn’t a single shadow near the field or gate, so I had to go behind the school and exit out onto a narrow alleyway. If I tried to go out towards the main road, I would be incapacitated before I knew it.
“Where are you right now?”
“Exactly opposite the school gate, on the north side.”
“Please proceed straight that way.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t go straight. I need to take a detour and head north.”
“Understood. h.e.l.lscythe-dono wants me to relay a message.”
“What?”
“Hurry… she says.”
“… Understood.”
Making sure that there were no witnesses nearby, I bent my knees. Then, stooping down and springing to the side, I began to run.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES