Nade
egged him on.
“Try
it, just try it. First, project the image of your physical body from a state of
total selflessness. Then...”
“I
know the theory. Just wait. Let me concentrate.”
As
his friends fell silent, Shirone closed his eyes. He entered the state of
selflessness just before stepping into the Spirit Zone. From there, he
attempted to project his physical image and awaken every sense in his body
through pure insight!
“Ugh...
Argh! No, it’s no use. It’s actually getting heavier.”
Iruki
spoke, suppressing a laugh.
“You
idiot, did you really think it would work? Being specialized in the Spirit Zone
means you have absolutely no talent for Schema.”
“Puhahaha!”
As
Nade burst into uncontrollable laughter, Shirone glared at them both.
“Fine!
I’m done! Switch!”
In
the end, the three of them decided to take turns carrying Siena.
However,
Nade gave out after covering barely half the distance Shirone had managed, and
Iruki couldn’t even move ten steps.
Shirone,
hoisting Siena onto his back again with trembling arms, felt utterly absurd.
“Hey,
don’t we look like total losers right now?”
“Thinking
it is one thing, Shirone, but saying it out loud is a breach of etiquette.”
With
Nade’s final word, the three fell silent. It wasn’t that they were wallowing in
self-pity; they were simply too exhausted to bother speaking.
As
they reached the academy, Shirone finally broke the silence.
“You
know... let’s not do it.”
“Do
what?”
“Negotiating
with Professor Siena using what happened today.”
“Hmm.”
Nade
felt a twinge in his conscience as well. However, this wasn’t just anything; it
was a matter of the research group’s very survival.
“But
it’s not like we have any other good options. Did you think of a way to save
the group?”
“No.
But I think this should be kept separate from that. Honestly, today... I think
today was a very sad day for Professor Siena. I don’t know the details, but
that’s just how I feel.”
It
was a truth they all sensed. She had said goodbye to someone she had kept in
her heart since childhood. To have finished it with just a single drink meant Siena
was a strong person.
“But
isn’t getting too sentimental also strange? What’s the reason we live? We’re
nothing but corpses if we aren’t using our heads. We should be cold-blooded at
times like this. It’s not like there’s a way to save the group right now, so is
there really a need to force ourselves to be noble?”
Iruki’s
words were also persuasive. If they made a wrong judgment based on emotion, the
future ahead of them would be a series of hardships.
Nade
also found himself leaning toward that logic.
“Hmm.
Honestly, Professor Siena is a difficult type to deal with. She has no
weaknesses. Why do you think we even considered this? It really is a once-in-a-lifetime
stroke of luck.”
Iruki
chimed in.
“She
has a prickly personality, her plans are flawless, and she manages her students
meticulously. Especially since we heard it before, she didn’t hesitate to say
she’d even go as far as dating Shirone to stop an Overflow. What can we
possibly do against an opponent who is so completely unyielding?”
These brats...!
Siena,
who had been listening with her eyes closed, felt a surge of indignation. She
had been feeling gloomy and exhausted, so she intended to be carried back
quietly, but she simply couldn’t let this pass.
“But
we know now,” Shirone said.
“Know
what?”
“Why
the Professor chose the path of a teacher, and why she was so obsessed with
Overflows. Professor Siena is trying to stop us from walking the same path she
did.”
“Well,
that may be true, but...”
“Regardless
of what event led her to become a teacher, the important thing is that she
truly cares for us. But what about us? We’re trying to attack her by using her
painful past as a weakness. I don’t think the seniors of the research group
would want to see their juniors degraded like this either.”
This
time, even Iruki couldn’t find a rebuttal. Mages always pursued efficiency, but
if one leaned too heavily on efficiency, they ended up losing what was truly
important.
“...You
really have a knack for hitting the mark at times like this.”
Having
made up his mind, Nade spoke with a sense of relief.
“Fine.
Let’s keep the Professor’s business today as our own secret. What do you say,
Iruki?”
“If
it can’t be used for the research group, I have no complaints. Honestly, I do
think Professor Siena is the best when it comes to education.”
“True,
we’re the villains here. It’s rare to find a teacher who takes such meticulous
care of her students like Professor Siena. Besides, compared to what we’ve
done, she’s actually gone quite easy on us.”
Iruki
added, “I’ll yield this once. As for the research group, if the three of us put
our heads together, won’t we come up with some kind of solution anyway?”
Shirone
said, “Then it’s settled? Even if we get disciplined tomorrow, we take what
happened today to the grave. Not a word to anyone!”
“Fine!
It’s a deal!”
Having
escaped the torture of hope, they felt much better. The three of them moved
with lighter hearts and quickened steps. No one noticed that Siena, who was on
Shirone’s back, had opened her eyes at some point.
The
main gate of the magic academy came into view. Shirone, half-exhausted, stopped
when he spotted a guard standing with a torch. Since it wasn’t past midnight
yet, the night shift had not yet clocked out.
“What
should we do? If we go back looking like this, who knows what kind of rumors
will spread. Plus, we went out without permission.”
“We
have no choice. We’ll use magic from here. I’ll lift Professor Siena, so you
support her.”
“Wait.
Let me put her down first. Iruki, help me.”
As
he bent his knees, the weight on his back suddenly vanished. A startled Shirone
looked back to see Siena standing perfectly upright. Her drunken state had
vanished, and her eyes were as clear as starlight.
“P-Professor?”
Stunned,
Shirone slumped onto the ground. If she could walk, what did that make him,
after he had struggled so much to carry her all this way?
“Professor,
are you really okay?”
“Of
course. Did you actually think I would truly get that drunk?”
Shirone
gasped for breath, almost on the verge of tears.
“Then
why were you... all this time...?”
“If
you eat an expensive meal, you have to earn your keep. Did you think you could
get away without working for it? Anyway, follow me. That is, if you want to get
back inside quietly.”
The
boys followed Siena as if possessed. The guard, recognizing her, blinked his
sleepy eyes and offered a greeting.
“Ah,
good evening, Professor Siena.”
“Yes.
Thank you for your hard work.”
“By
any chance... were you out with the students?”
“Yes.
I took them out for a field study.”
“Ah,
I see. Welcome back. Have a restful night.”
According
to school rules, student entry late at night was prohibited, but there was no
room for doubt when it came to the words of someone as reputable as Siena.
Terrified,
Shirone and his group hurried past the gate. Their hearts were in their
throats, fearing the guard might call out to them from behind. Once they safely
reached Central Park, Siena turned around and glared at them.
“Eek!”
Only
then did Shirone and the others truly feel it, that they had returned to the
Alpheas Magic Academy.
“I
will let what happened today slide.”
When
words entirely different from what they expected came out, the trio blinked at Siena
in surprise.
“I
will give you another month starting from today. That is the maximum
negotiation card I can offer.”
Shirone
and his friends realized what she meant. Resetting the grace period meant she
wanted them to give it their best shot in a fair fight.
“Find
a way to convince the school within a month. Whether you hold a presentation or
bring in a ghost, it is at your discretion. If you truly take pride in your
research group, fight the school with dignity and win what you want. That is my
educational philosophy and the way I love my students.”
Shirone
and his friends felt a surge of emotion. They could hardly believe that Siena,
of all people, had said this to them.
“Yes!
You can count on us! We will definitely shock the school!”
“That’s
right! Fumbling around is not our style! Let us really put our heads together
and give it a proper shot this time!”
Siena
wore a bitter smile as she looked at her students, who had regained their
confidence. It was true that when their motivation soared, a sense of anxiety
usually hit her first, but on the other hand, she looked forward to seeing what
incredible things they might achieve.
Hehe. Work hard, you troublesome
students.
The Invisible (1)
Shirone arrived at the research group later than
usual, raising a weary hand at the sight of Nade and Iruki sprawled on the sofa.
“Hey
guys.”
“Get any sleep last night?”
“I don’t know. I’m not even sure if I actually slept. What about you
guys?”
“Same here. What do we do now? We stayed up all night
debating, but we didn’t come up with a single good idea.”
Shirone took a seat on the sofa.
“We absolutely have to decide today. Let’s figure out a
countermeasure.”
“But how? Supernatural psychic science deals with invisible phenomena. People just
don’t believe in things they can’t see.”
The same conversation from the previous night was
repeating itself. Tired of even speaking, they stared blankly into space. Their
minds felt like empty white sheets of paper. After a long while, focus finally
returned to Shirone’s eyes.
“What if we change our perspective?”
Nade
and Iruki sat bolt upright.
They didn’t
know what he was going to say, but the pattern was clearly different from
anything they had discussed so far.
“How?”
“The dilemma we’re facing is this: there is no way to
show the invisible.”
“Right. That’s the big problem.”
“So, what I’m saying is that if something is invisible,
we don’t necessarily have to show it. Maybe we’ve been clinging to the impossible
all this time. Wouldn’t it be better to come up with a method that centers
on not showing anything at all?”
The idea that it didn’t matter if they didn’t show anything was essentially the same as saying
they didn’t
need to hold a presentation. However, his friends weren’t disappointed. Instead, they fell into deep thought
as if they had realized something.
“If it can’t be verified, then we don’t need to verify it.”
“Exactly. I didn’t join this research group because you guys showed me
something tangible. Wouldn’t it be the same for everyone else?”
A faint smile touched the corners of Iruki’s mouth.
“Why didn’t I think of that? You’re right,
we never needed to provide
verification from the start. We didn’t need to show them things we don’t even understand ourselves. Instead, we do the
opposite...”
“We make them believe in what they can’t see?”
Nade
was certain this was the
answer he had been searching for. He immediately leaped up, pulled Shirone into
a hug, and rolled around.
“Shirone! Come here! You saved our research group! You
can even have my first kiss!”
“That’s disgusting! Get away from me!”
While Shirone and Nade wrestled on the sofa, Iruki remained lost in thought.
The truly difficult part started now.
“Then how should we go about it? Shirone’s idea is the
solution, but we still have to maintain the format of a presentation.
Ultimately, we need some kind of visible outcome.”
Nade
returned to his seat.
Shirone also smoothed down his messy hair. This was no time for playing around.
“Let’s think. What exactly should we show them?”
The three of them put their heads together in
discussion. Once the general direction was set, the possible methods were
endless. The core was something that would make people believe in the
invisible.
“Wouldn’t something auditory be good? It’s easy to design,
too.”
“It’s efficient, sure. But it might not be effective
enough. We also have to consider whether the school will accept it.”
“Then let’s go with something visual. And auditory as
well, if possible. Let’s pour everything we have into this.”
“Then what should we visualize? The supernatural?
Spirits?”
“Supernatural stuff isn’t very mainstream. I think spirits would be better.”
Nade
raised his hand.
“I vote for spirits, too. There are souls, ghosts,
spiritual phenomena... which one of those should we pick?”
“Wouldn’t ghosts be best? Because they’re intense.”
“But wouldn’t that be a bit childish?”
Nade looked skeptical. However, Iruki agreed with Shirone.
“I think ghosts are better, too. The key is that we
have to penetrate people’s minds with something powerful.”
“Ugh. No matter how much I think about it, it just
seems childish.”
“The priority is the effect. Everything else is secondary. I don’t think we should give up on the idea yet,” Shirone insisted.