"The holy maiden with divine protection."This was s.h.i.+ka Kagura"s nickname in her club as well as cla.s.s.
After witches was a holy maiden… What was all this!?
"Your older sisters are called the "twin witches," and now you have a fellow club member that"s a "holy maiden?" Hos.h.i.+, are you actually the male lead of a dating sim!?" Seiji could make numerous comments on this situation.
Hos.h.i.+ could hear Seiji chuckling on the other end of the phone.
"Now you mention it, that"s an apt description. I"m just as useless and ordinary as the male lead of a dating sim, so even if there are witches or holy maidens by my side, I won"t be able to do anything," Hos.h.i.+ spoke as he gazed outside the window.
"But you"re different, Senpai. You"re so gentle and strong, and you possess the power to save others… that"s what a true main character is."
Seiji was rendered speechless.
Should he activate his clown mode again?
No. His energy level for that was depleted and currently recharging.
He could only face this embarra.s.sment head-on.
"I"m no superhero, and I can"t promise that I can do anything… Those were the words that I told her."
"Senpai, humble as always."
"I wasn"t being humble at all, okay! I merely told her the truth. Since I knew nothing about what was going on, of course I couldn"t promise that I could be of any help," Seiji stated the truth of the situation."And even if I knew what was going on… I"m only an ordinary person. There are always going to be situations where I"m powerless."
"No, Senpai, you"re a hero," Hos.h.i.+ thought in his heart.
"Although you"re humble, gentle, and strong, you aren"t arrogant… You only show your true power when other people need your help."
Compared to the superheroes in the movies, Senpai was much more like a true hero!
"At any rate, if it"s something I can help with, I"ll do everything in my power. But right now she isn"t telling me anything, so there"s nothing I can do. Although I informed her that I"d wait for her in the park at the same time tomorrow, I doubt she"ll come. So just tell me everything you know about her."
It seemed Senpai was basically telling him that he wanted information on s.h.i.+ka Kagura.
Hos.h.i.+ smiled at thought of a.s.sisting his hero.
"s.h.i.+ka Kagura… Kagursan transferred to Genhana Middle School earlier this semester…"
…
s.h.i.+ka Kagura was a middle school second-year student in Year 2, Cla.s.s 4.
On her first day after transferring in, her self-introduction shocked everyone in cla.s.s, including the teacher.
"I don"t need friends. Please don"t approach me, please don"t touch me, and please don"t talk to me."
Anyone would be shocked at how calm her words sounded. She even retained that tranquil expression of hers while she was speaking.
Her att.i.tude didn"t seem cold, haughty, or condescending. It was merely calm.
She acted as if she were saying the perfectly ordinary "please take care of me," but her words clearly showed her unwillingness to bond with her cla.s.smates. Even the teacher was stunned by this scene.
Of course, she was later called to the teacher"s office for a discussion.
But no matter what the teacher said, she remained implacable.
As for her cla.s.smates, some worked up the courage to talk to her, and others were instructed by the teacher to attempt to talk to her. Naturally, there were also those who tried to hara.s.s her for being different…
s.h.i.+ka"s only response to all this was calm rejection, or acceptance with zero reaction.
And just as the people hara.s.sing her were about to escalate the level to bullying, they were struck by misfortune.
Instead of s.h.i.+ka Kagura, harm came to those who wanted to bully her.
One person tripped and got injured on the stairs, one was burned by scalding hot water, one was viciously beaten up by some thugs, and one was even in a car accident and hospitalized!
These accidents happened in such quick succession, and the victims were all obviously connected. This made it easy for people to come up with their own theories.
A curse, or… heaven-sent calamities!
There were also some students that believed the worst of s.h.i.+ka Kagura, hypothesizing that she was under the protection of some unknown powerful ent.i.ty or organization.
Well, that could explain the thugs" beating as well as the car accident, but that wouldn"t be able to explain the person who tripped on the stairs by himself or the one who was accidentally scalded by boiling water in her own house.
Not only were the ordinary middle school students unable to understand it, even the teacher didn"t know what was going on.
These incidents appeared to be unfortunate accidents on the surface, but they happened almost simultaneously. All the victims were known by the entire cla.s.s as those who were hara.s.sing s.h.i.+ka, so this didn"t look like any normal series of accidents.
Her cla.s.smates could only believe that the accidents were… heaven-sent calamities.
s.h.i.+ka Kagura was being protected by something divine or mystical.
This became something that s.h.i.+ka"s entire cla.s.s fervently believed in.
Right after, the accident that happened to their cla.s.s"s teacher seemed to verify their belief.
A fire disaster.
Fortunately the house was empty, so n.o.body in the teacher"s family was injured. Even so, their teacher would undoubtedly sustain huge losses, despite the fact that insurance would cover the fire"s damage.
As for the cause of the fire… the fire department later determined that it was due to an old iron that had been left on and forgotten after being used to iron some clothes.
However, Year 2 Cla.s.s 4"s middle school students preferred to believe in a different type of explanation.
It was the G.o.ds showing their power! They punished… the person who was bothering s.h.i.+ka Kagura.
The beautiful girl who always had a calm expression in cla.s.s and quietly rejected everyone who made an attempt to talk to her was now secretly called "the holy maiden with divine protection" by the entire cla.s.s.
Why wasn"t she called the "cursed girl" instead?
It was because n.o.body wished to incur a heaven-sent calamity.
And thus, s.h.i.+ka became completely isolated… just as she wanted from the beginning.
Later, she ended up joining the Literature club.
One of the female club members invited s.h.i.+ka rather forcefully because she always saw s.h.i.+ka reading in the library.
But this female club member was brutally struck in the head during P.E. cla.s.s by a stray basketball and was knocked unconscious! After that, she never dared to speak to s.h.i.+ka again.
After all the members of Literature club learned about s.h.i.+ka"s legend as well as what happened to that female club member, they acted the same way as Year 2 Cla.s.s 4 and isolated her.
s.h.i.+ka had always remained like this by herself.
Always quiet, calm, and lonely; she never showed pain, or indeed any other emotions at all. It was almost as if she had always wanted it this way.
…
"I thought Kagursan"s inner state was similar to her outer state, an infinite ocean of tranquility. As if… She was merely an eternal observer.
"When she suddenly asked me what it was that changed me, I was actually quite shocked. After all, I"d never spoken to her before that, nor had I ever seen or heard of her ever speaking to anyone of her own volition.
"I know all the stories about her, and why she became isolated. But she was so… calm about it, so I never thought of doing anything to change the situation. I think others feel the same way about this.
"No… Even if we knew that she was actually in pain, we wouldn"t do anything… due to fear." Hos.h.i.+"s voice took on a heavy tone as he continued,"The "heaven-sent calamities" indeed occurred, even if they were all accidents… But it was precisely because they were all accidents that they were so scary.
"If we approach her, who knows what could happen? We"d encounter unexpected, unpredictable disasters, and…" Hos.h.i.+ sighed deeply."This is all so frightening. At the very least, I"m scared, even now, although I"m only talking about it."
Hos.h.i.+"s voice sounded even darker than earlier. He was likely disgusted with his own weakness and powerlessness.
On the other side of the phone, a light smile was displayed on Seiji"s face.
"Being scared of unknown disasters is normal. Even for me, something like this… I have no idea how to go about it."
"Senpai…"
"But fortunately, I know someone who might be able to take care of this matter."
"Senpai!"
"But she might not be free right now, and even if she has the spare time, I still don"t know if she can really solve this issue," Seiji stated bluntly.
"But you"ll try, right, Senpai!?" Hos.h.i.+"s eyes were sparkling as he proudly supported his senpai.
"Ah, of course." He heard a resolute voice on the other end of the phone.
The conviction in Seiji"s voice was the same as when he had been dealing with Hos.h.i.+"s problem.
Hos.h.i.+ was incredibly moved.
That was because he felt that he was witnessing the hero"s first-ever expedition.