Ototsukai wa Shi to Odoru

The next day, I got out of bed.

It was my own bed.

Yesterday, after the Boss released me from that white room, I returned straight home and fell asleep the next instant. I got home at about 3.

Like the Boss said, they pulled some strings and solved the problem of my parents and the school.

They contacted my school and told them that I wasn’t feeling well.

Concerning my parents, they somehow made it look like I never left the house.

I wondered how though……I couldn’t help but feel a little scared, but when they told me how they did it, it wasn’t really as difficult as I imagined.

Both my parents leave the house early in the morning, and we don’t usually get much into contact by that time anyway.

Because of the incident from two days ago one would expect something from my parents’ part, but everything was pretty normal after they came back from work.

My bicycle’s flat tyre was also repaired, and when my parents saw it in the usual spot they didn’t think of anything suspicious.

Anyway, Anonymous cleaned up pretty well after that incident, that I had nothing to complain about.

Rather, I felt grat.i.tude towards them.

Also, I got a message yesterday from my best friend Tsurugi, who was worried because of the so-called illness, but I replied to him that I was in fact skipping school out of laziness, and acted like my true self.

With this, it was flawless.

……..However, now that I’m part of an evil organization, I must think more about my everyday life and how I spend it.

I chewed some toasted bread while thinking about that.

I always ate breakfast alone.

I finished eating then took my bag.

I have to leave any moment now, otherwise I’d be late.

I put back on the suppression ring.

Thanks to this ring, I can live my life almost the same way as before.

Still, if I manage to restrain my powers on my own and invoke them whenever I want, I wouldn’t need this suppression ring anymore.

Right now, with my own restraint and the ring it feels just right.

I left the house and locked the door.

Wait a second…If I start wearing a ring all of a sudden, everyone at school will think that I got carried away or something. The teachers will more likely get angry too.

Could I wear this ring on my toe? Will it work then?

……..For today, I’ll try as much as possible to keep my hand in the pocket.

I thought about a useless counter-plan as I walked towards the school.

I saw an abandoned building on the right. There’s an entrance to our secret base underneath it as well.

However, unless it’s an emergency, I was told to always enter the secret base from the outskirts café.

“Ooi, Kazato!”

Right then, someone called my name from behind and started running towards me. Of course, it was Tsurugi.

I stopped in place and turned around.

“Hey.”

“So you came today.”

“Well, yeah. I just couldn’t wake up in time yesterday.”

I actually couldn’t return in time.

“Wake up next time!

Oh yeah, by the way, there’s a transfer student coming today. That’s what the teacher said yesterday.”
“Eh? Really? In our cla.s.s?”

“Yeah.”
A transfer student?

That’s quite unusual. I wonder if it’s a girl. Or maybe it’s a guy.

I actually hope it’s a guy.

If it’s a girl, she can’t escape the Tsurugi harem.

“Tsu~rugi!”

As always, Oohashi showed up suddenly and hugged Tsurugi from behind.

And only after that, she realized I was around too and greeted me, at which I, as always, answered her, then we started walking again.

We entered the cla.s.sroom and everyone was already talking about the new transfer student. It was a hot topic.

The words flying about in the cla.s.sroom were something along this line.

Blond hair. Foreigner. Slender figure. Cute. Slant-eyes.

It appears that someone saw the transfer student inside the staff room.

Honestly, at this point I tilted my head to the side.

For a very short moment I had a déjà vu.

“Everyone, be quiet!”

The cla.s.sroom door burst open and the homeroom teacher entered.

The cla.s.s grew quiet instantly.

“Good. Then, I introduce you today your new colleague.

Please come in.”

Again, the door burst open.

The one who entered was a lovely girl with blond hair that stretched to her chest area and smart looking, emerald eyes.

But never mind that! As I thought, the transfer student was Roll.

A slight cheer could be heard.

‘This might be dangerous even for Oohashi Hitomi, the school’s madonna’ and similar voices could be heard too.

Roll turned her back on us for a moment to write her name on the blackboard then she introduced herself.

“I’m Shinjou 1 Roll. I’m a half, born and raised in j.a.pan.

Please treat me well.”

She made a quick bow and her golden hair hanged down. When she raised her head back up, she elegantly combed it upwards with her hand.

Her extremely polite greeting astonished me.

It seems she’s really good when it comes to this.

And her gestures are, somehow, refined………

“Then, Shinjou, go sit in the back seat over there.

Everyone, make sure to get along well with her.”

I was still staring at her in mute amazement, and didn’t even realize that the homeroom teacher had left the cla.s.sroom.

Even though the cla.s.s was due to start soon, everyone gathered immediately around Roll.

Why did she even come here?

I glanced at her for a short moment, but I couldn’t meet her eyes.

Roll answered all the barrage of questions coming from her neighborhood with a smile on her face.

Really now, why is she here…………?

While I was thinking about that, Tsurugi started talking to me.

“She’s cute, isn’t she? It’s really rare for you to be so captivated.”

“Oh, well……”

I’m not captivated.

And I also don’t think it’s that rare……

“So cute……. She’s my new rival…….”

“Yup…….”

Hitomi and Rin were talking too.

“I’ll support you, Kazato, and your love.”

You……. Don’t you even remember how many relationships you already destroyed…….?

Also, I’m sorry to say, but I’m not in love.

It’s true that I think that Roll is cute, but she doesn’t make my heart flutter.

Maybe it’s because my first impression of her was a bad one.

The homeroom teacher returned and everyone went to their seats.

The lesson started.

_______

Roll came into contact with me during lunch break.

But her way of doing that was fairly wicked.

Actually, it was extremely evil.

As for what exactly happened, the answer is we knocked into each other.

But that was still all right. We would’ve drawn the attention of few others, but with an apology from my part, everything would’ve been resolved.

However, at that time, Roll intentionally left her lunch box fall on the floor.

‘Ah!’ Everyone turned to look towards me.

‘He b.u.mped into her and she dropped her lunch box’….I’m sure you can imagine how I was abused by their cold looks.

Furthermore, she was the new transfer student.

‘What are you going to do about this?’…..The cla.s.sroom was filled with an oppressive atmosphere.

At such times, it’s a burden to be able to accurately hear all the whispered conversations around you.

“Ah! S…sorry……..”

Inside my mind I muttered ‘You framed me’….

However, I know that she intentionally b.u.mped into me.

And why is that? It’s because I saw her smile right before it happened.

The cla.s.sroom fell silent, all the attention gathered on us.

Roll stood dumbfounded for a moment (she was most likely acting), and when she seemed to realize the reactions of everyone around us, she started to pick up the scattered contents of her lunch.

“It’s all right. I wasn’t paying attention……! It is I who should say sorry!”

She said with a smile on her face.

I see. She plans to go with this character while she’s at school.

I hurried to clean the floor too. I couldn’t allow myself to stand upright at this moment.

That’s because I started to hear everyone around us talking about how “Roll-chan seems such a good girl………”

Anyway, because it’s now my fault for b.u.mping into Roll and ruining her lunch, I must apology to her in some way.

Then I gradually started to see what Roll’s aim was.

Her plan was to create a chance for us to come in contact with each other in a natural manner.

Because I was fl.u.s.tered, I didn’t realize this earlier.

In this case, I have to join her play.

She was really evil, to hara.s.s me in such a manner.

“I’m really sorry, Shinjou-san……..”

“Don’t say that! It was my carelessness! I wasn’t look ahead……”

Because I knew the real Roll, the way she talked now was a little uncomfortable.

Well, even though I said I knew the real Roll, in reality I only knew a little about her.

“No, it’s my fault. I’ll treat you to lunch in the cafeteria.

Or maybe you want some bread or pastries.”

“This is too much……! I can buy my own lunch anyway”

We continued the farce for a little while, but in the end it was decided that I would treat Roll to lunch in the cafeteria.

My male colleagues stared at me with envy looks.

They will most likely tell me later that it wasn’t fair to steal a march on them in such a way.

We were now eating our lunch. Roll ordered a fried chicken set menu and I bought a bento box 2 from the convenience store.

Since Roll was staying next to me, not on the opposite side, I could smell a slightly pleasant scent coming from her.

I paid attention to my surroundings and continued the farce as I sat down. The first thing I said then was this.

“So you’re still growing!”

n.o.body could hear what I said, for I gently whispered it.

However, Roll’s face stiffened for a moment.

That’s when two guys from my cla.s.s approached us and sat down on the opposite side, in order to check on my att.i.tude or something.

The farce had to start again.

“I somehow feel bad……. You ended up paying for my lunch……”

“It’s all right.”

“Errr……Will you tell me your name…….?”

“Kamiya Kazato”

“Kamiya-san. I look forward to working with you.”

“Ah……Me too.”

Roll’s last sentence was referred to our partnership most likely.

___________

After school, Roll managed to skillfully avoid being trapped by the club joining invitations, and returned home very quickly.

After I saw that, I too returned home for a moment.

And now, I am going towards the hideout.

I don’t have the obligation to go to the hideout every day, but since Roll didn’t explain me anything after all, I had to go see her.

I showed the café’s shop manager the ‘signal’ and walked towards the elevator that went underground.

After I arrived at the secret base, I walked straight to Roll’s room.

The Anonymous members who pa.s.sed by me sent me strange looks.

Most of the times I nodded, but in case they started talking to me, I made a short self-introduction.

Some of them ignored me completely.

I finally got to Roll’s room.

I unlocked the door and hurried inside the room.

“Roll!”

“Wha……! Hey!”

What I saw was Roll’s transparent, white skin.

And some pink silk cloth.

She was changing clothes.

I froze then uttered a short “Sorry”. I closed the door after that.

I heard her speaking from inside.

“Next time knock, okay? I’ll forgive you this once.”

“You can come in now.”

After a short time, I heard her voice again. I opened the door slowly.

“Here, catch this.”

Right when I entered the room, Roll threw something at me. I caught it and realized it was a cell phone, and a latest model one.

“This is your work phone. The mail addresses of almost all Anonymous members are already registered in it.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“I have to give you my personal address too. You might need it from now on.”

“By the way, Roll……!”

I recalled my real goal and approached her.

She stopped me with her hand.

“I know already. I’ll explain you now.”

Explain.

As I thought, she came to my school for a reason.

“For now, consider this our first mission as a pair.

We were a.s.signed to a long term mission.”

“A long term mission……What kind?”

“From now on, you will slowly start to manifest your ability, and after 1 year and a half you will enlist in the SDF. I will mainly act as your support.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

To begin with, I already manifested my ability.

“To make it easy to understand, you will make things look like your ability gradually bloomed in the last 1 year and a half.

In short, you will deceive everyone.

Your ability will not be sound, but something derived from it. It’s up to you precisely what it’ll be like. Your ability’s scope is pretty vast so I’m not sure what you can actually do, but we’ll decide upon something little by little.”

Oh, I see.

And then, they want me to enter the SDF as a spy.

My school…….Or perhaps I should say pretty much all schools have a recommendation board for the SDF.

Only the highest ranking ability users in the school ever manage to get a recommendation.

I nodded to her in sign of understanding, and Roll continued.

“You get it now, right?

For this long mission, your enlistment in the SDF is very meaningful.

I know that 1 year and a half is a short period of time for all this, but with me by your side, things won’t get too complicated.

But…….”

“Entering the SDF as a spy is a difficult job, right?”

“Right.

Well, we still have 1 and a half year for you to manage to handle your ability fair and square.

And I think that the job of a spy will not be too difficult for you with your ability.”

Indeed.

However, isn’t this job dangerous for her?

Wait? I don’t even know her ability.

“By the way, Roll, what ability do you have?”

“You’ll see it eventually.

Anyway, we must polish our team work too during this 1 year and a half. I’m planning to take on a lot of normal and long term missions for us to complete, so make sure to not drag me down, all right?”

“Roger.”

She didn’t tell me about her powers.

Well, it’s true that I’ll sooner or later see her use them anyway. Other than that, I really have to work hard not to drag her down.

“Still, when I think about it.

Why didn’t you tell me this beforehand? I was astonished to see you as a transfer student.”

“Ha? That’s because I wanted to surprise you, ain’t it obvious?

But well, your ad lib was quite good. I praise you for that.”

Roll smiled slightly and she looked like a little devil.

“It wasn’t pleasant at all. When you dropped your lunch box my heart really started to jump up and down.

For the time being, I asked what I wanted to ask, so I’ll go back now.”

The third day after my manifestation, my everyday life changed completely.

Will I be able to make a living like this?

No, I will have to.

Thinking about that, I walked towards the room’s entranceway, when Roll called out to me from behind.

“Shion!”

“What?”

“Errr…….Is it really obvious that I am still growing?”

Ah! As I thought, she does care about her height.

I answered with “Pretty much” and left Roll’s room.