Episode 1: Transfer Student, Entrance!

* * *

What killed me—Kotoyorozu Kotoha—was a single woodpecker.

The location was a forest near a sherpa grazing ground in the Solukhumbu District of northeastern Nepal.

The time was night. In the cruelly quiet darkness, barely lit by a haze-covered moon.

* * *

[No. 2326: "Mr. Carpenter Woodpecker"] — Stage 3: Crescita

Properties: Parallel Law

Details: An anti-reality organism resembling an Asian pygmy woodpecker (order Piciformes, family Picidae). Anatomically, it displays no abnormalities whatsoever, but manifests its anomalous properties when it pecks a tree over 3 meters tall. Each time its beak strikes the tree, it delivers a powerful impact to any subject within a 50-meter radius. It abnormally twists and warps the subject's bones and muscles, shaping them into a cabin-like structure. Subjects who should have died from the full-body crushing are kept alive until their flesh rots away. "Mr. Carpenter Woodpecker" takes up residence inside its subjects.

* * *

So yeah. A single woodpecker had remodeled me into a cabin, and I was waiting to rot and die while experiencing pain and suffering beyond imagination.

The woodpecker seemed quite comfortable, nestled against the wall made from my ribs, warming its eggs. My nervous system had been spread across the surrounding ground, and whenever an animal walked over it, searing pain shot through me, and unearthly screams echoed from the chimney made out of my mouth. A cleverly designed alarm system.

(Was this really the end for the guy who wanted to be a light novel protagonist?)

And so my life ended—and from the eggs, chicks hatched.

* * *

"Pbwah—"

Da-da-dun! The words "MISSION FAILED" appeared before my eyes, and I gasped back to life.

"GYAAH! My body! It's a house! I'm a house!"

"Easy, easy. Calm down, Kotoyorozu-kun."

The one who pulled the neural extension cable from my spinal cord was Mef.

"Mef! Oh, thank god! M-me! My body! It's here! I'm human!"

"What you were experiencing was a new simulator developed by Azure Academy. The augmented reality resolution is 99.999%, so it seems you mistook it for real life."

Beside her, Mef's older brother—Teru-senpai—was filming while letting out a sigh.

"99.999% really is overkill. The development team was ecstatic, going on about 'the technology of a new era!' But this could break someone's psyche. It's not fit for training exercises."

I was trembling all over from the fear and pain still gripping my body.

"N-no no no no no I'm not a house I'm not a house I'm not a house. Agagagagagaga."

"Brother. 'Could break' is putting it mildly. It already has."

At Mef's words, Teru-senpai muttered with a bored expression:

"Can't be helped. Administer the memory processing agent."

Mef pressed a trigger-operated syringe against my neck.

"Huh. What was I just doing?"

When I came to, I was in a pure white room. This had to be Teru-senpai's lab.

"Please listen calmly. You tested a new simulator and it damaged your mental state, so the past three hours of your memory have been erased."

"...Did you get my permission first?"

"No. More importantly, here's medication to prevent aftereffects. Take it every night before bed."

She handed me a bag with seven days' worth of pills.

"Aren't you being way too casual about something this inhumane?!"

"For the record, I tested the simulator first."

"That's because you have high resistance to identity dissociation, Brother."

Mef said it like it was nothing. No, hold on—don't just erase someone's memories without consent.

"Needs adjustment. Anyway, this completes your assignment, Kotoyorozu."

"What even happened in those three hours... Wait—assignment complete?"

To my confusion, Teru-senpai tossed me a security card.

"You're 'One Wing' now. —Congratulations on your enrollment. Welcome to Azure Academy."

On the metal card was a photo of me with an awkward smile, and a pure white wing engraved into its surface.

* * *

The Arboreal Knights served as Azure Academy's internal police.

Precisely because Azure Academy dealt with so many dangerous anti-reality phenomena, strict discipline in handling and research was essential. The Arboreal Knights bore the noble mission of protecting peace through order.

(And yet—honestly!)

Pham Thi Lan, knight apprentice of the Arboreal Knights, was seething. Her meticulously combed straight black hair and sharp, upturned eyes. Wide, long lashes.

In the noisy classroom of Year 1, Class F, she sat with her textbooks and stationery precisely arranged on her desk, back ramrod straight—a picture that was equal parts noble and absurd.

(How many warnings from the Humanitarian Council does this academy plan on racking up?!)

Azure Academy had no shortage of problems. Disregard for human life and bioethics. Development and research of technologies deemed illegal at other academies. Frequent falsification and concealment of reports. A results-first mentality that let countless misdeeds slide.

(Apocalypse management should be far more tightly controlled!)

Every time a problem arose, the Arboreal Knights were called in. As a result, Lan hadn't gotten proper sleep in forty-eight hours. Then again, compared to how the Blank Makers had it, her situation was still considerably better, so she couldn't exactly complain openly...

"Let's start morning homeroom. Take your seats—"

The Year 1, Class F teacher—Tanaka Hideo—entered the classroom with his usual listless gaze.

"Fuaah... So full of energy this early in the morning, you young'uns. Way too blinding for this old man."

The teacher's coat, with his messy graying long hair, reeked of cigarettes as usual today.

"Right, today's announcement. Everyone, please get moderately excited. Uh, we have a transfer student joining this class today. Get hyped, yeah?"

The sudden announcement sent a buzz of excitement through the classroom.

(A transfer? At this time of year?)

It was June. Most of these first-years had just enrolled from the middle school division in April. This wasn't transfer season. The stark white door rattled open.

What walked in was a boy covered in scars.

"—I'm Kotoyorozu Kotoha. I'll be in your care starting today."

He was a minor celebrity who'd made the District 12 newspapers not long ago.

(Th-that's the Apocalypse—)

A humanoid Apocalypse enrolling at Azure Academy. It had been controversial.

"—And I'm this kid's servant. Luna. Nice to meetcha, along with Master-chan here."

An older girl in a tracksuit-maid outfit absolutely loaded with piercings flashed a lazy grin.

(Well, that's certainly some colorful characters right there.)

The classroom's students found themselves united in that single thought.

* * *

Azure Academy's curriculum was quite different from schools on the ground.

(The classes I was used to—Japanese, math, history, physics, chemistry—didn't exist here.)

The Research Division apparently had those kinds of classes. But the Surface Division I'd enrolled in was different.

(Instead, there was "Anti-Reality Fundamentals," "Combat Basics," "Gunscar," "General Education," "Apocalypse Case Studies," and so on. Classes teaching the knowledge needed for ground-level field operatives. Apparently they even taught you how to write reports.)

Less like a school and more like a vocational academy, maybe?

(School for the first time in forever! My dream! I have to give it my all so I can fit in!)

My hands were trembling. I hid them as I pulled out my stationery.

"Alright, first period. Let's start the 'Gunscar' lecture—"

Tanaka-sensei opened the textbook.

(Either way, to be sitting at a classroom desk again! I'm so moved!)

A blackboard smudged with chalk! Pencils! The smell of brand-new textbooks! I was like a regular student! For someone who'd been locked in a dim basement in Mexico not long ago, the emotion was overwhelming.

"Uh... the transfer student's straight-up bawling..."

"Scaryyyy..."

I'd already freaked out my new classmates, but I couldn't help it.

So that's... the Apocalypse "Whisperer." The one who can see the future, right?

I heard he worked under Koito-senpai, but... is he dangerous?

What dominated my classmates' minds was mostly suspicion and fear. Were humanoid Apocalypses that unusual? According to Mef, most cooperative humanoid Apocalypses were sent to the lab, so they rarely appeared in public.

...Kotoyorozu Kotoha. —I need to keep watch over him.

Fierce hostility. That came from the girl with the rigid posture sitting in the front row.

Hah? The hell's that chick glarin' at my Master-chan for?

Get 'em before they get you. I hear even in prison, you're done if people think you're soft.

Luna-san was equating school with prison. Terrifying. I needed to put a stop to that later.

"Now then, about Gunscars. How much do you know? Transfer student—Kotoyorozu."

"Huh? Wha? Y-you're asking me? You're calling on me?"

"Yep."

Being called on by a teacher moved me to tears. A teacher was asking me a question!

Scary!

Tanaka-sensei kept his smile steady despite being unnerved. What a professional.

"Gunscars are Gifts from the Apocalypse 'Angel of Gunscar' that Azure Academy possesses, right? I heard it gives special guns to enrolled students."

"That's right. Got yours yet?"

"Not yet."

"Should get it within a week or two of enrolling. It just shows up at your bedside, like Santa."

That's how it worked? Genuinely looking forward to it.

"There are several theories about why the Angel of Gunscar gives Gunscars to Azure Academy students."

Tanaka-sensei began writing on the blackboard. The sound of chalk scraping made me a little emotional.

"First, the survival strategy theory. By giving us power, it ensures its own safety. In fact, Azure Academy protects the Angel of Gunscar with high-level security. We're being used, basically."

That was a pretty plausible theory. If true, it was quite cunning.

"The other theory—is that giving guns is itself the Apocalypse's yearning."

Yearning?

"Apocalypses possess powerful yearnings. They exist for their yearnings, and through those wishes, they destroy the world. That's precisely why they're called Apocalypses. There isn't a single Apocalypse without a wish."

Tanaka-sensei looked me straight in the eye as he said that. Because while this was an explanation about the Angel of Gunscar, it was also an explanation about me. He must have heard about my situation through various reports.

(Apocalypses have yearnings. ...Then what about me?)

Did my Apocalypse, "Whisperer," have some kind of yearning too?

"Well, there's hardly any living thing that doesn't have a yearning, really. From the old guy down the street to the girl doing risqué work by the train station. Everyone harbors a terrifyingly intense wish deep in their heart that only they can understand. —Gunscars exploit that mechanism."

"Really?"

"Really. A Gunscar's energy source is its owner's Ectoplasmic Fluid. Ectoplasmic Fluid has the property of activating when its owner pursues their yearning. Gunscars take advantage of that."

I felt like I'd heard a similar principle during the incident with the goddess "Soul Accumulator

" who'd tricked me. The goddess had shown her captives dreams of adventuring in other worlds to prevent their Ectoplasmic Fluid from degrading.

"Now then—so what kind of weapon does a Gunscar become? Class president."

The girl addressed as class president—Pham Thi Lan—stood up with her rigid posture.

That was the girl who'd been glaring at me. Luna-san was still staring her down.

"An inconvenient weapon that can only do what its owner wants to do, correct?"

"Exactly. What I'm always harping on about."

Was that so? Nyao's "Shamshir" and Mef's "Chalquiruq" both seemed pretty convenient to me.

"A Gunscar is the embodiment of a yearning. So by confronting yourself and deepening your self-understanding, you develop 'useful' abilities for actual combat. That's the main purpose of the 'Gunscar' class."

Confronting your yearning, huh... That sounded tough.

Ugh, that sounds like such a draaag!

My servant (Luna-san) was putting her full effort into being annoyed and was already nodding off. If she read shonen manga, this would be the part where she'd get hyped, but she was a hardcore shoujo manga fan.

By the time the fourth-period "Anti-Reality" class ended, I was wiped out.

(What even are the five major classifications of Parallel Law?! And I don't understand how to calculate R-values!)

It was like being made to listen to cheat codes for a game I'd never played.

(... Gotta study hard!)

To become a light novel protagonist! But studying wasn't the only thing I needed to work on...

(—Making friends!)

That was an essential part of youth. I looked around the room, but every classmate who met my eyes immediately looked away. Apparently I was scaring them. Awkward. I was bad at this kind of thing.

"Hmm, so you're the rumored surface-dweller."

"Huh?"

The one who spoke to me was a male student with neatly slicked-back hair and narrow eyes.

"Is it true that surface people are so poor they can't eat three meals a day?"

"Hmm, not sure. For me, it was one meal a day these past few years."

"Hmph, how pitiful. You poor thing. And what's with that tattered shirt?"

It had been shoved in the very back of the dorm's storage closet, so yes, it was definitely ragged.

(Wait—is this the event where the class's snooty elite rich kid makes fun of me?!)

The young man pulled a package from his bag with what looked like an arrogant smile.

"—Here, use this if you'd like."

"...Huh?"

"You just arrived in Fructus, so you probably don't have any clothes, right? Don't worry about it. I was going to donate this at the end-of-month bazaar anyway."

"Th-thanks."

He was just a straight-up good guy. I felt bad for thinking he seemed arrogant.

"Hey, you! Transfer student!"

Next to appear was a massive, well-built student.

"You ain't thinkin' you're better than us just 'cause you're an Apocalypse, are ya?!"

(Wait—is this the event where the class's top dog picks a fight with the transfer student on day one?!)

I tensed up a little. Growing up, I'd been called a monster plenty of times.

"Us bein' Apocalypse or whatever race don't mean we ain't equal! If anyone ever gives you crap about that, you come tell the top dog—me—any time!"

"Huh?"

"Looking forward to working with ya!"

They were... good people?

"Properly then—I'm Arav. What I hate most is poor people."

The rich-boy-looking student—Arav—ran a hand through his hair as he spoke.

"That's why I'm working to ensure wealth is distributed equally. Extreme income inequality breeds tragedy, after all. Every poor person should disappear from this world."

This guy was way too good a person.

"I'm Piakudi Men. Call me PM. My motto is 'bring it on!'"

The large student—PM—did some shadow boxing and pointed his fist at me.

"I've sworn to only use these fists when protecting what truly matters. I hate fighting and don't want to hurt anyone, but for my family... —bring it on!"

"Th-thank you. I'm... Kotoyorozu Kotoha."

The two burst out laughing when they heard my introduction.

"Ahahahaha!"

I thought they were making fun of me, and my face went hot.

"—We're already friends, right? Drop the formal speech."

"—Haha. That standoffish politeness was so cold it cracked me up."

The two of them gave me beautiful smiles and a light slap on the back.

* * *

"Sky Tournament?"

After school. The three of us—Arav, PM, and me—were walking through the bazaar. The market was as lively as ever, with crowds of people shouting at the top of their lungs as the vibrant bustle of commerce carried on.

"It's being held in two weeks in District 6, where Corporations is. A joint exchange event for the Three Great Academies."

The flying city of Fructus was home to three famous academies.

Azure Academy, located in District 12 where we lived.

Chaos Institute, located in District 9 where Léa was based.

And this year's Sky Tournament host—Corporations.

"Research Division students do conferences and research presentations. Us Surface Division guys do combat exercises."

"Exercises? So that means..."

"Mock battles against students from the other academies!"

PM flexed his bicep while helping a kid who'd fallen get back on their feet.

"Some people do joint tactical exercises and stuff too. The teachers should decide which events you get assigned to. Also, there are tons of food stalls and spectators. It's a fun event."

Huh, so it wasn't all serious business—it had a sports festival and culture festival side to it too.

"...Why are you crying, Kotoyorozu?"

"Just, uh, personal emotion."

"Use my chest, bro!"

I cried into PM's thick chest.

"And the most popular event at the Sky Tournament! —That's the representative battle!"

As I tilted my head, Arav showed me footage from last year.

"Five students are selected from each academy to duel. It gets insanely hyped!"

Come to think of it, when we went to the Viscera Apartments, Magina-senpai had mentioned it. Last year, Koito-senpai broke another academy's Slashes and made the news.

"B-by the way, Kotoyorozu. What's Koito-senpai actually like?"

PM asked, and Arav nodded with interest.

"Rumor has it she makes smoothies from virgin blood every morning, has three heads and nine eyes. The ground shakes and the sea parts with every step she takes, and she can shatter stars just by pointing at them."

"What kind of insane rumor is that?"

The first three were lies. The last one was scary because she could probably almost do it.

"...So Koito-senpai really is famous?"

"Duh! Azure Academy's... no, all of Fructus's top! —She's RANK 1!"

"Rank?"

"A student ranking established by the Apocalypse Stagnation Committee. It's determined by contributions and individual strength. Koito-senpai has been the undisputed RANK 1 of this entire flying city! Since sixth grade, no less."

Seriously? Since sixth grade? That woman was the most abnormal person in an already abnormal academy.

"Speak of the devil—there's that pink. Koito-senpaiii!"

With her cherry-blossom hair flowing behind her, Koito-senpai was standing in front of a gachapon machine surrounded by a mountain of empty capsules. She gave me a quick smile when she spotted me, then immediately furrowed her brows and started talking.

"Ugh, listen to this, Kotoha! I want the gold sparkly fluff-nyan keychain, but it just won't come out! I've already spent 3,500 yen!"

RANK 1 was throwing a tantrum over 3,500 yen.

"I-it's real...! The real Koito-senpai...! Awawawa..."

My two friends went pale and started trembling, clinging to each other as they stared at Koito-senpai. They looked like mainlanders seeing a brown bear on the road for the first time.

"Oh, I just had a light-bulb moment! Kotoha~ Use your precognition to tell me how many more tries until gold sparkly fluff-nyan comes out."

"N-no way! I refuse to interfere with healthy economic activity!"

Besides, I couldn't actually see the future—I could only read minds. But very few people at this academy knew that truth. Elif had kept it secret.

Tch. Kotoha's always so uptight about this stuff.

My plan to use this kid to make a killing on lottery tickets...!

Please stop making plans driven by pure greed. You're RANK 1. Everyone in the academy looks up to you.

"K-K-K-Koito-senpai!"

PM shouted, his face beet red. Koito-senpai jumped at the sudden outburst.

"I-I enrolled at Azure Academy because I admire you! It's an honor to meet you!"

At the dead-serious expression on her junior's face, Koito-senpai broke into a sloppy grin.

"Oh my~ Did you hear that, Kotoha? This one's got real promise. You know, you should really be showing me this level of respect too, you know?"

It was true that the people at the dorm had no respect for Koito-senpai, which had made me too casual with her, but she really was an incredible person. Her usual behavior just didn't inspire much reverence.

"That's right! Y-you're our hero, Koito-senpai!"

"Ahah! (smug tongue-click) Ahhh, this feels great. That's right, that's right. I am, after all, an amazing genius supreme hero. Wahaha."

I couldn't put my finger on it. I genuinely knew she was amazing and cool and strong. I really did.

"Promising young people. It's an elder's duty to guide the youth. You free after this?"

"Huh, what for?"

"Call it fate! How about I give you a combat training session in the simulator?"

"R-really?!"

PM and Arav's eyes were sparkling.

""Please, we'd love to!""

"2,000 yen each."

""Huh?""

Koito-senpai was trying to recoup her 3,500-yen loss.

Inside Azure Academy's Training Room 4 was a transparent box about three meters across and a massive computational engine.

"Oh, I know this. I used one at Teru-senpai's place. It's a simulator, right?"

In a section where cables tangled together like mangrove roots, a sign read "DO NOT TOUCH!" with the kind of aggression that spoke of long-simmering frustration. In the classroom-sized room, Koito-senpai approached the simulator.

"That's right. Live ammo's too dangerous, after all. The Sky Tournament uses these for most combat exercises too. For the real event, they use much bigger ones so spectators can watch."

Koito-senpai sterilized a neural extension cable and made a face.

"Ugh, I hate the prick! Kotoha, you do it!"

"Uh, um... I don't like it either."

"You're the junior. I'm the senior. Understand?"

Her orders were absolute, apparently. Reluctantly, I picked up the neural extension cable.

(What a strange material for a needle.)

It was incredibly thin. Thinner than a hair. And yet it was rigid—when I touched it with my fingers, it showed no sign of bending. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of Koito-senpai's slender nape as I brought the needle to her skin.

"Eek! Hey, Kotoha! Your hands are cold! Ahaha."

I held my hand against the back of Koito-senpai's neck and inserted the neural extension cable into her spine.

"Senpai, please go easy on us!"

PM and Arav looked completely ready to go.

* * *

"Whoa, this is amazing!"

When the neural extension cable was inserted into my spine, a virtual landscape projected itself behind my eyelids. It wasn't just visual, either. Smell, touch, even pain were reproduced with startling accuracy.

(I can't believe this isn't real.)

The interior of the simulator was brutally simple—a space enclosed by pure white walls on all sides. About the size of a soccer field. I opened and closed my fists, and the sensation was indistinguishable from reality.

"Now then—come at me, both of you at once!"

The moment Koito-senpai gripped her guitar, a tremendous pressure blanketed the area.

"...Arav."

"Yeah, let's go all out."

Arav snapped his fingers. What materialized in his hand like magic was a large handgun. It was a Gunscar—the special weapon carried by Azure Academy students.

"—'Royal Task'!"

* * *

[Royal Task] [Gunscar]

A Gunscar that "doubles." A handgun that multiplies whatever it hits by two.

* * *

Next, PM reached behind his back where nothing should have been. What he swung down in both arms were two massive miniguns. Their barrels looked old and well-used.

"—Let's go! 'Người Rừng (Forest Person)'!"

* * *

[Người Rừng (Forest Person)] [Gunscar]

A Gunscar that "changes size." Twin miniguns that alter the size of whatever they hit.

* * *

There was no starting signal. Arav and PM couldn't afford one.

"PM!"

Arav aimed his gun at—PM. The bullet from Royal Task pierced PM's shoulder. Muscle fibers tore, and PM's shoulder doubled—along with its Gunscar.

"UOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

PM's four Người Rừng miniguns, supported by four arms, unleashed a devastating barrage. The bullets streaked toward Koito-senpai in a straight line.

"Ooh! Not bad. But can you keep up?"

Koito-senpai was too fast. She rode her guitar like a skateboard, tearing through the air at sonic speeds. The heavy miniguns couldn't—no, could anything human-powered even hope to track her? There was no way they could catch her.

"Người Rừng (Forest Person)!"

PM shouted. In that instant, the ceiling where his bullets hit changed size. The walls swelled at tremendous speed, rising like icicles to crush Koito-senpai.

"!"

And it wasn't just one. Wherever Người Rừng's bullets hit the walls and ceiling, a five-meter radius bulged outward instantly, towering like massive needles.

"Nice ability! So, what's the plan?"

Koito-senpai didn't seem to fully grasp it, but their strategy was straightforward.

It's nearly impossible to snipe Koito-senpai when she can fly!

But if we can limit her flight routes!

PM's wall protrusions were then doubled by Arav to increase their density. Together they formed something like a maze, obstructing Koito-senpai's flight path.

"...Grr. These walls are annoying! Eek!"

Koito-senpai crashed into a wall and was sent spinning. In that instant, PM and Arav shouted in unison:

""Now!!""

Arav shot PM's shoulder again. Eight miniguns opened fire simultaneously, targeting Koito-senpai and the surrounding walls and ceiling. The structures ballooned in size, threatening to crush her.

(Whoa! That one had to have killed—)

Koito-senpai was crushed by the massive wall spikes. Simulation or not, it was pretty chilling. A moment of silence. PM and Arav held their breath. What shattered the stillness was the sound of a guitar.

"Strum!"

The moment Koito-senpai strummed her guitar, cherry-blossom light filled the space around her. With her as the epicenter, everything in the vicinity was blasted away. The spikes. The walls. Everything, equally and absolutely.

"Guh—"

Even from a distance, the shockwave knocked me, Arav, and PM off our feet.

"Hmm... I dunno about those Gunscars. They don't feel combat-oriented. A bit too slow, maybe? Half-baked. You could stand to commit more. I think you need to go all in."

Koito-senpai floated in the air, stifling a yawn.

"Common mistake for beginners. Your defense is too thin, isn't it? I mean, nice combo, but—"

Koito-senpai strummed her guitar again. Cherry-blossom energy charged up.

"—What were you going to do if I did this?"

I was about to shout wait, but by then, the light had already swallowed everything.

The explosion and shockwave seared through our bodies, and we were engulfed in death at 90% resolution.

After removing the neural extension cable, Koito-senpai laughed, looking thoroughly pleased.

"Ahh, that was fun! NF! NT! GG! EZ!"

Absolutely abysmal sportsmanship for a RANK 1 who'd just seal-clubbed beginners.

"Hey, Koito-senpai! Stop killing me along with them!"

"Ehhh, but you were standing in the way, Kotoha. Besides, it's just a sim."

My head was still spinning. The sensation of having my body vaporized at the speed of light. Honestly, it wasn't a pleasant experience. The physical pain should have been gone, but the memory was seared in.

"...Are PM and the others oka... Are you okay? Seriously."

Arav and PM were groggy, hanging their heads.

"Th-th-there's no way we can beat that..."

"Super-speed movement into a one-frame full-screen instant-kill? That's broken beyond repair..."

Gunscars, strategy—none of that mattered. What weapon in the world could have beaten Koito-senpai just now?

"Guts! You need more guts! And wasn't your plan a little lacking?"

I had a feeling this person was absolutely terrible at mentoring juniors.

"Well, also... you need to confront yourselves more, you know?"

At Koito-senpai's words, the two looked up.

"Your Gunscars are half-baked. They feel like you read some shonen battle manga and just threw something together. Not enough madness! I don't feel any drive to transcend humanity at all!"

"W-we can't transcend humanity. We ARE humans."

Koito-senpai pondered how to explain, then immediately gave up.

"Friendship! Effort! Victory! Do your best!"

After wrapping up with that ridiculously vague pep talk, she flipped her cherry-blossom hair and hopped onto her guitar.

"My favorite anime marathon is about to start, so I'm heading home. This was fun, future sprouts! Bye-bye~ Do your beeest~"

Having done nothing but what she wanted, the RANK 1 strongest girl took off at subsonic speed. Clutching the 4,000 yen she'd swiped from the sprouts.

"...I thought I could at least do something. Give back somehow, y'know..."

"...She didn't even take us seriously. What was the point of everything we've done until now?"

Behind her, the shell-shocked friends were left in the dust.

* * *

"So that's what happened."

The next morning, I'd been called to the student council room. Tea in my right hand, I chatted about yesterday's rampage by Koito-senpai. My conversation partner was—the student council president, Elif Anatolia.

"Ahaha, that's so like Koito... Actually, I probably shouldn't be laughing."

Through the student council room's large window, District 12's sky stretched out, impossibly blue as always. President Elif set her elegant teacup on the table and let out a small laugh.

"You heard about the rankings, right? Koito's been sitting at the top of the Apocalypse Stagnation Committee's ranking, which covers all Three Great Academies, for years. Sure, that's true. But below her..."

President Elif jangled the elegant jeweled bracelets on her wrist and swept back her hair.

"Ranks 2 through 10 are all taken by other academies."

Azure Academy being a one-woman show carried by Koito-senpai and Von Simon-senpai was something I'd heard often enough.

"Developing talent is one of our top priorities, actually. But it's tough, y'know. The Wings are too abrasive, the president is just a figurehead, and so on."

"—'Figurehead' is too modest."

The one who sat down beside me was one of the president's two Wings—Von Simon-senpai.

"That idiot Koito follows no one's orders except the president's. She's not exactly an easy person to manage, to put it mildly. And I'm even worse than she is."

"Haha. You think so? I feel like you'd be valued wherever you went."

"Hardly. I'd be shunned, hated, and looked down on, and that would be the end of it."

Von-senpai really did respect President Elif.

I can be who I am because of the president.

...Or maybe I've just been led to think that.

Even so, he seemed to have made peace with it. I didn't know why, and I didn't feel it was right to pry. I focused on tuning out his inner voice.

"Now that Von's back, let's get to the main topic. Where is she?"

"Oh, she should be back any second now. See?"

The balcony door opened, and Luna-san walked in from her cigarette break outside. We were deeply connected, so I could sense these things somehow.

"So what's up, Prez? I'm kinda a night person, y'know. Or wait, I literally am. Lol."

Luna-san's eyes were droopy with sleepiness from being called in so early. Apparently she'd gotten hooked on a mobile game and had been staying up late.

"I want to hear about when you defeated the 'Guardians.' You mentioned you two fused, right?"

Von-senpai murmured. Deep within the ocean depths, when we'd faced the Guardians, Luna-san and I had formed a master-servant contract and become a single combat form—the "Golden Lion."

"...Ah yeah. So my body's made of 'thread,' right? Special thread. They call it 'thinking thread' because the thread itself has high computational power. Where I'm from, that's pretty normal. Most weapons and stuff are woven from 'thread.' You wrap a human in machinery. That's just how our civilization works."

For her, wrapping a human in a thread-based frame was completely normal. That was how standard mechanical weaponry worked in her dimension, and she'd simply followed that approach.

"Human Ectoplasmic Fluid is a massive clump of energy. I was on death's door, so I figured using it was my only shot at winning. ...No, actually—"

Luna-san looked at me. Quiet eyes.

"—Even doing that, I didn't think we'd win."

She'd been a famous warrior in another dimension, apparently. Over some strong, too-sweet alcohol on a beautiful moonlit night, she'd told me with a self-deprecating smile.

"Yeah, that matches our assessment. The test results were abnormal. The output was off the charts."

Von Simon spoke again. "Abnormal. The numbers shouldn't be possible," he said.

"When Luna-san's threads absorbed Kotoyorozu-kun's Ectoplasmic Fluid and converted it to energy... that part's fine. But Ectoplasmic Fluid is a pain to work with—its conversion efficiency is abysmal."

Von-senpai projected the data onto a display.

"Even with Azure Academy's technology, the conversion rate of Ectoplasmic Fluid is roughly 0.00000000001%. But when Luna-san and you fused, the conversion rate was... 0.000000002%. A full 200 times more efficient."

"...That sounds impressive?"

I had too many zeros to wrap my head around, and President Elif burst out laughing at my response.

"Hah! 'Sounds impressive' is putting it way too mildly. This is a monumental discovery. If we can unravel the mystery behind your conversion efficiency and apply it to other fields, it would be nothing short of a revolution. The world would change as drastically as it did with the invention of the telephone."

"We at the lab are putting together a research team as we speak. But before that, I wanted to ask you two directly—do you have any idea why the conversion rate is so abnormally high?"

I was about to say I had absolutely no idea, but Luna-san spoke first.

"—It's probably related to Master-chan's Apocalypse."

Luna-san placed her hand on top of my head.

"When I merged with Master-chan, I felt myself being expanded. That was... a sensation of connecting to the source. Accessing the wellspring of Ectoplasmic Fluid itself. It was abnormal, without a doubt."

Luna-san glanced my way, then quickly looked away as if hiding something.

"So? If that's the case, what are you gonna do? Lock us up in a glass cage?"

She glared at Von Simon-senpai.

"That's precisely what I'd like to do. But the president—"

"I don't like that approach. I believe in human love and free will."

I read the president's heart. Calm, with no trace of lies or hostility. Her heart was always like a still ocean, and being around her made me feel at ease.

"We'll probably ask you to participate in some experiments. But beyond that, we won't do anything. I just wanted to tell you directly. Sorry for calling you in so early."

"Oh, no, not at all. I had fun chatting with you, President Elif."

"...Hmmm?"

President Elif narrowed her sharp eyes—unusually mature for her baby face—and grinned.

"Oh really? Is that how it is? Okay. Wanna kiss again?"

"Bweh—"

Luna-san's dark eyes fixed on me.

"...What?"

"Going further than kissing might be too soon. Let's go on a date next time."

"Master-chan. Could you please explain what the president is talking about? Sorry for the suspicious look. It's a mentally unstable girl thing. Just explain and that's all I need, yep."

I was drenched in sweat as I looked away.