"Welcome, to the Shikibukai!"
Lord Benito said and open the door.
Inside, Shion-san greets me with a wide smile and welcome me with open arms.
"HaHaHa, Welcome, Welcome!"
"Sorry about this, Takioto-kun. You came all this way and there are only the two of us here."
Lord Benito said so apologetically and close the door after I and Nanami entered the room.
"Well, the Shikibukai is basically just us anyway. There are others who would come if we call but it seems like they can"t make it today."
Certainly, in the game, I was often involved with these two. The other two…..I should be able to meet them soon enough.
"It would be nice if we have president Monika here though."
"Lord, we planned about Shikibukai"s future with him after this right!? We don"t need her here. Well, if she wants to come then she would be here without us inviting her anyway……."
"Yeah, it wouldn"t be weird if she suddenly shows up. But we will have a joint welcoming party at a later date anyway, she might be able to endure it you know."
I sit down on the chair that Shion-san pulled out for me while Nanami politely declined.
Shion-san then went to the other side of the room and start preparing tea for us. Nanami immediately goes to her side and start helping. No, she practically took over. Shion-san heads back toward me and takes her seat.
On the table in front of me is a well-made wooden box. There are confectioneries wrapped in colorful j.a.panese paper. It is definitely a luxury item.
"Actually, I want to close down the cafeteria for this but since we still haven"t announced it so…."
"No, your hospitality so far is already amazing."
"Ohh, stiff stiff too stiff! Speak with us like you would your family! Right, you can just call me Shion! Nanami-dono too."
Nanami served me the tea and nod.
"Understood, Shion-sama. However, you don"t need to add an honorific when addressing me."
"Then I will call you Shion-san. You can call me without an honorific as well.”
Since I"ve been calling her Shion-san for so long, it"s a little hard for me to change now.
Still so stiff……………muttered Shion-san.
"Then should I call you Takioto from now on…….no, wait a minute, I will just call you Kou then."
I"m looking forward to the reaction at the next meeting, Shion-san said so and laugh.
"You can simply call me Benito as well. My little sister is also a student here too after all."
L, little sister…….. No, I like her enough for her to be my waifu but when it comes to her………"
"You don"t want us to confuse you with your little sister right? Understood, Lord Benito."
Un Un, Lord Benito noded and thanks Nanami for the tea.
"Thank you, Nanami-san."
He still added it even though she said that she doesn"t need the honorific. Well, that"s what Lord Benito would do. Even in the game, the only person who he never used an honorific on was his sister. Well, he might do it when he was acting as the Shikibukai but I can"t remember every little thing.
"Now then, let"s get to the main topic."
"It is about the Shikibukai"s job."
"You seem to be aware of the hidden role of the Shikibukai but do you know what we actually do? Don"t get surprised when you hear it……… "
Lord Benito said with a serious expression.
"Actually………we don"t really do anything!"
His serious expression broke into laughter. Shion-san who sits next to him is also the same.
"People are interesting you know, once they hate you so much, most of your actions always seem to be irritating to them."
"Right, I know that feeling too well. Hahaha!"
"If you become hated then as long as you did not do anything drastically then their feelings will never change. You can do whatever you want."
"We have to stir them up some time though."
"Well, if we can raise their motivation by doing that then I will stir them up as much as they want. That"s right, I"m sure it is a needless worry for you Takioto-kun but I have something that I want to ask you."
"What is it?"
Lord Benito nod and continue.
"Can you endure it?"
"Endure it?"
"Yes, that"s right. You are already the center of attention of the entire academy. Your appearance, relationship, and ability. I think they already attracted something close to malice from the start though."
Well, they looked at me like that ever since the matter with Ludi too. I don"t particularly mind though.
"However, you might be receiving the malice that is incomparable to before."
"The Shikibukai has performed its duty long before we became its members. They have been acc.u.mulating the hatred for a long loooong time."
"That"s why we are the [Rivalry]. You can still turn back. However, after you officially joined us, you can never back down. You will become their nemesis until you graduated."
Something like that, I already knew.
"You don"t have to ask me that……..I will be in your care from now on."
"Hou, I see I see! …..What about you Nanami? Have you changed your mind?"
"I am honored by your invitation but I have no plan to increase my station beyond being Goshujin-sama"s maid."
It seems like Nanami won"t join the Shikibukai no matter what. Well, since she will be accompanying me when I work as a member of Shikibukai anyway, she is practically a member already.
"Speaking of which, is it okay for Nanami to be here?"
"Aah, It"s fine. Nanami-san has that card after all. Depending on the situation, she might have more power than a Lord like me."
Normally, Nanami would show off the card and make a [FuFuun] sound but today we are not with Ludi and Sempai but Shion-san and Lord Benito instead.
However, why does she have that…………? Well, knowing it"s Marino-san, she must gave it to her as a follow up for me……..that person is overprotective so I am really in her debt.
"In the first place, the Shikibukai is different than the student council or the public moral committee. We have a lot of unique members so having a personal maid wouldn"t be that weird."
"Rather, it might be a good idea to use that to anger the other students on purpose. I think it is already in effect though."
"That"s true."
I nod.
Nanami knew about what I"m trying to do even before I joined the Shikibukai so she was doing that on purpose. I think the main reason is that she finds their reactions funny though.
"Now then, When should we announce Takioto-kun"s recruitment?" Shall we announce it tomorrow? Is that okay with you?"
"Yes, there"s no problem."
I already laid some groundwork with my cla.s.smates today. It should be alright even if I become Takioto Kousuke, the member of Shikibukai. Probably.
"Then will we announce it on the bulletin board?"
"Yeah…..I will ask the newspaper to cover it too. Come to think of it, Takioto-kun, are you hiding the fact that you are a part of the Hanamura house?"
"No, I am not it just that…….I never tell it to anyone since no one asked, that"s all."
"I see."
Said Lord Benito. He was closing his eyes and crossed his arms but eventually, he opens his eyes and smile.
"Then should we make that as the big announcement? It seems fewer people know about it than you thought after all."
"Yes, I don"t mind."
"Right. I didn"t know about it until Yukine told me as well."
I didn"t talk much about it but I am not hiding it or anything. It seems like there are a lot of people who don"t know more than I thought.
"I want to advertise you as much as possible, Takioto-kun."
"Then shall we ask the Tsukuyomi Academy Newspaper to cover that too?"
"Nice. we can leave it to those girls. Ah, my apologies. Continuing the talk without asking you like that."
"No, it"s alright. I have already predicted this after all."
I already know about their agenda after all. I also knew that the Academy"s newspaper is also in cahoot with the three committees.
"Okay, then I will go and ask them myself. Even so, it seems like I haven"t done such a Shikibukai job in awhile. Hahaha."
"Right, we haven"t been doing anything major lately. We have been secretly helping the student council and the public moral committee though. Speaking of which, you piled up a lot of work for them when you soloed the 40th floor, you know."
"Yes, I already apologized to Sempai for that……."
"Don"t mind it, there"s no need for you to apologize to her. Since you did such an impossible task. It"s normal that we have to do that much work. Well, the saint was irritated because you increased her workload but that is always the case anyway."
HaHaHa, Shion-san said so and laugh.
And as if she suddenly remembered something she said: "Oh, that"s right."
"Come to think of it, it seems like the public moral committee will have a new member. A big one too."
"Yes, you are talking about Ludi, right? I heard that Sempai asked the person herself."
"Hee……"
Benito-sempai said so and smile.
"What is it, Lord? Smiling like that."
"Well, you know. An idea just came to me. Well, I thought about it ever since vice-captain Mizumori made her announcement but now I am convinced………Fufu."
"……You are acting weird. What are you thinking."
"Let"s keep that as a secret. Right? Takioto-kun."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, I have something to ask you."
"Ask me?"
"Yeah, that"s right. It is fine if you just tell me what you know. Are there any promising students who are worthy to join the three committees within the first year?"
Thinking about that, there are many names that come up.
If it"s about ability alone then it would be Katrina, if I included the personality then it would be the cla.s.srep. If it is both ability and cunningness then it would be Yuika, the same goes for Lord Benito"s little sister.
However.
"There are actually a lot of promising people but there is one of them that is especially amazing."
However, the best one among them is him.
"Please be sure to remember this name, Shion-san, Lord Benito. If you are talking about his potential alone then he has the same level as president Monika."
The person who is not losing to the three strongest like Sempai and the first saint.
"……..is there such a monster beside you?"
"………this is interesting."
So they are treating me like a monster huh.
"Yes, he is definitely an ace. Right now, he is only a little famous but he will eventually stand out more and more from now on."
"That"s definitely interesting….. Just who is it?"
Since his demon subjugation was featured on the Academy"s newspaper before,
"The Shikibukai should hear about him before, even more so for the student council."
He is someone who is talented in close combat, long-range magic, skill learning and growth capability. The person who is excellent in everything, the protagonist of Magical★Explorer.
"Hijiri Iori."
——
Author Note: The Shikibukai seems like fun………….By the way, other than Lord Benito and Shion-san, the Shikibukai also has two other members from the second year and third year. I want to introduce one of them soon but when should I introduce the other one………….