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Volume 1, 07: Philosophers Atop the Stairs
Volume 1, 07: Philosophers Atop the Stairs
Volume 1, Chapter 07: Philosophers Atop the Stairs
If there is a person who should be able to speak
Speak of the person who should speak
Speak together of the person who should speak
Point Allocation (Dissertation)
“Alright, we will now be having the special student council and chancellor’s officers meeting.”
In a high position, a boy’s voice was brought to life atop a wooden bridge under a slightly past noon sky.
On the frontal bridge of Musashi Ariadust Academy in the center trailing ship - Okutama - and atop the stairs which ascended towards the front door, many uniformed figures could be seen.
Toori was at the center, surrounded by Kimi and Tenzou along with Shirojiro and Heidi. The boy who had just spoken was Neshinbara, who was tapping a torii-design keyboard that was being displayed in the air.
“The topic of today’s meeting is: ‘Let’s make Aoi-kun’s confession succeed!’ This is brought to you with my sponsorship, the Secretary Neshinbara. Everyone, you can just slam him with whatever you have, got it? Then, Aoi-kun, it’s all in your hands.”
“Mmm, if we suddenly decide just to think about the ratings, it’d be more interesting if I end up getting rejected, right?”
“The interested party himself says that from the beginning!?”
Toori glanced around at everybody.
“The hell is this, all of you!? Can’t I be rejected!? I get it. That’s a repression of results-oriented behavior isn’t it!? Faced with that kind of society which doesn’t acknowledge a guy who’s down on his luck, I[1] want to firmly object! Is that alright? …You don’t think that just anybody can get married, right!? Nor do you! Or you!!”
Everybody held down Toori, who had started pointing at people who were returning home as a result of his rampage, and stopped him. Sanyou, who had been pointed at approximately the fifth time, had run away while crying; but everyone was unable to follow-up until that point.
Anyways, Toori, who had been made to sit, took a breath and looked at Tenzou, sitting next to him wearing a ninja cap.
“Hey Tenzou, going in a basic level, how does someone confess? If we get to numbers, you’re pretty used to it right?”
“Ri-right now, I have been rejected a lot, you know!? That’s the truth, you know!?”
“It’s fine, just answer the question.”
Tenzou folded his arms and nodded. Afterward, he raised his right index finger.
“The admirable method is to be completely honest with a sudden confession. No matter who, all people have something called a readiness of the heart. Because Toori-dono, if during the morning a girl you do not know is standing in front of your house and just says to you ‘I love you,’ …wouldn’t that be amazing? …So you do not need it! Preparation of the heart, that’s something you do not need!”
“True. However, if that girl was Tenzou I’d be pretty disgusted. After you stand in front of my house nervously hoping just for the sake of confessing to me, I’d without a doubt would run away before your sanity level drops.”
“You’re horrible!!”
“…Hey, your secretary thinks that the two of you have to take this seriously!”
At the voice of Neshinbara, who continued to tap his keyboard to write the meeting log, both folded their arms.
After a while, Tenzou raised his right index finger once again.
“…For starters, how about the ‘letter method’?”
Tenzou took out a pen and notepad from his chest.
“What?” Being the destination of everyone’s gazes, Tenzou passed the pen and notepad to Toori’s hands.
“Don’t you think that this would work? During a confession, people always get flustered. For example, you might think you were saying ‘I love you,’ but you enter a panic and what you really let out is ‘I love you, man!’ or you seriously stutter and what bursts out is ‘I w-wuvvv you!’ or if you force yourself to do it cheerfully like ‘Iiiiiiii loooveess Kimiiiii yoou knowwww–!?’ So in the end, you end up failing at your honest confession by spouting some nonsense like that.”
“You really have a lot of experience. This is reassuring; but be a little more tolerant, you’re a ninja after all.”
“Lectured! I am really being lectured right now!”
“Don’t worry about it, Tenzou. What does this notepad and pen have to do with your happy stories of failure?”
Tenzou cracked a finger.
“It is simple. Itemize everything you want to tell her in advance. Then, give her a letter rather than telling her outright.”
Tenzou nodded.
“If you do it this way, there won’t be a problem even if you get flustered; because if you are embarrassed, you can return home just like that. Furthermore, even if this ends with the other party not responding immediately, this is really reassuring as even a response by letter would be good.”
“Hey, hey, is this when the failure stories of getting rejected by that method are going to start? We have a good atmosphere right now!”
“I-I am sorry! The atmosphere has become awkward!”
However, Toori looked at the notepad and said “But, y’know…” to Tenzou and repeated it again.
“In short, I just gotta write down why I fell for her in this?”
“Well, officially on a piece of paper, but it should be fine to summarize what you think up here.”
“Mmmmm… Don’t really want to do it. Y’know why? These kinds of workings of love and hate, they can’t really be put into words well, can they?”
The one who responded to those words was not Tenzou, but Kimi, who was leaning her body up against the railing of the bridge. While her hair fluttered in the wind, she looked at Toori.
“Fufufu, foolish brother, there’s no good way to put emotions or things like love or hate into words, you say? What a cute line. If that’s so, try to write down what you dislike about that eroge-ninja as a test.”
“No, Sis, there’s no way I could put stuff like what I dislike about my friend into words well, could I?”
How I think about whether he is really human, hiding his face all the time, is something that I can’t put it into words very well.
How I wonder whether using “de gozaru[2]” as a sentence ending is meant to be a gag or not, is something that I can’t put it into words very well.
How I really wish he’d do something about the fact that sometimes a dog smell comes from his clothes, is something that I can’t put it into words very well.
“Like I thought, the bad areas of my friend are something that I can’t really put into words.”
“Yo-you just wrote them down without any trouble! You did! And in bullet points!”
“Hmm? That’s weird. I can’t write anything about your good areas though. Sigh…”
“The hell is that ‘Sigh…’!? This guy is the worst!!”
Tenzou grabbed Toori’s collar and shook him, but Toori continued smirking. Kimi drew her body from the railing and stood behind Toori.
“Fufufu, foolish brother, putting that aside, haven’t we been able to practice with a good stepping stone? If that’s so, now try writing down the good areas of the lady inside your heart.”
“Eeh? Again, Sis is making me do something really difficult. Tenzou’s unpleasant features are so obvious, so apparent that I can do it easily; but she is… That’s right, she is in my heart, you know!? My heart! Do you think that the workings of my pure soul can be properly put into words so easily!?”
How her face is totally my type, is something that I can’t put into words very well.
How I can see what looks like her panties beneath her apron when she squats, is something I can’t put into words very well.
How I can’t describe the amazing curve going from her waist to her butt, is something that I can’t put into words very well.
“Mmm, like I thought, my pure soul is something that I can’t put into words all that well.”
“…You are spouting it as if it is nothing, though!”
“Don’t be so noisy, Tenzou. If I were to seriously do it, it wouldn’t end with just with this…!”
“Wait, wait…! That bulleted list is missing something of dire importance to Toori.”
The person who said those words was a massive figure seated two steps down, the half-dragon Urquiaga.
Bending his arms, which were also frontal wings, he rubbed his chin with the small hand within it.
“As far as I can see…there is some mystery here given Toori’s usual tastes.”
“Eh? There’s something missing from what Toori-kun usually prefers?”
Urquiaga nodded at Heidi, as she was the one who asked that.
“…You are a citizen of the boobs camp, yet you’ve failed to mention the boobs of said person.”
At Urquiaga’s words, everyone drew a breath of surprise and looked at Toori.
In the surroundings, even the students going home from school slightly stopped the movements of their bodies in response to the words said just now.
“Have I by any chance become the authority in that?”
While speaking, Toori nodded with a serious face. And when he slowly sucked in a breath, his expression stilled and he began to run his pen down the paper.
“That’s it. In short… If I do not try / Fondling those breasts which she bears / I will not know them.”
“Don’t just read the first line of a poem so indifferently!!”
At everyone’s tsukkomi, Toori frowned and folded his arms.
“What should I do for the word about the seasons?”
“Fufufu, foolish brother, I just shuddered from the beauty in your simplicity just now. However…”
Kimi sat next to Toori and rested her chin on her folded arms.
“What’s the real reason for you not bringing up the boob topic at this teenagers’ discussion about your target’s charms?”
“Sis, right now I’m just like in that song about yearning for boobs I wrote once. I haven’t fondled them, so I don’t know.”
“Fufufu, in short…when it comes to her boobs, you can’t really judge them? Such honesty!”
The answering little brother raised the hand that his sister was holding.
“Even if I look like this, I’m really serious about it! I won’t just say anything I’d like!”
“…I really don’t care about how weird the workings of these siblings’ heads’ are, but the boob talking in these last minutes has undeniably gone over its yearly limit.”
“Fufufu, please shut up, you loser ninja. Foolish brother, even if it’s just like in your song, are we not dealing with something that can be roughly measured just by looking at it? Someone like Asama’s look more or less the same.”
The same instant Kimi spoke, a window on the third floor of the school building opened behind them. It was the window of a classroom that was being used for the activities of the tea ceremony club.
“Hey! Don’t just do body trivia of other people as you feel! Stuff like ‘it’s around the same,’ or ‘the looks are around the same!’ ”
“She is right! Asama’s ones aren’t as they look! Within the sphere they are a little…”
“Uwa, saying that like a sommelier is the worst…! Wait…don’t move from there!! My bow! MY BOW!!”
“Hey, hey, has the tea ceremony club recently started performing archery?”
Facing Toori, who had taken out a writing implement and had begun to write “100 points” on the top of Tenzou’s ninja cap as he was sitting next to him, his sister tilted her neck.
“Anyways, idiot brother, let’s keep this serious talking to the point and continue with you… As the good and the bad points of her boobs cannot be judged by visual information, what are you going to do if you come to realize that ‘this won’t do’, from a sommelier’s point of view, after you started going out with her? You have to test it once, don’t you?”
“Test? Test what?”
“…You should ask someone with similar boobs to let you grope hers; it’s obvious that she’d let you fondle them, isn’t it?”
Simultaneously with Kimi’s words, atop the bridge and even in the schoolyard below it people evacuated from within a thirty-meter radius. First the girls left, then the boys hid their chests and briskly walked away like penguins as well.
Atop the bridge, which had become silent, Toori looked at his sister.
“Sis, you’re amazing! You’re so smart but aren’t you also an idiot!?”
“Fufu, foolish brother, the thoughts of a genius cannot be understood by anyone but the genius herself. Loneliness is wonderful! Then, how do you think that her boobs feel? You have three selections ranging from HARD/NORMAL/EASY… Or is it HELL!?”
“Mmm, I can’t say it so simply because I think she is rather advanced but…something like HARD, I believe.”
“You are saying it unreasonably simply, you know!”
“Fufu, more or less hard, huh. In other words, flat…”
Kimi looked around the area, focusing on the few people on the stairs.
“I see, Adele, Suzu or Sanyou-sensei maybe?”
“Sis! Sis! Having a teacher also included in your list of names, you do not discriminate right!?”
“Fufufu, idiot brother, your sister is not the one who chooses the measures. I don’t choose the goal either, though. For now, just think about the groping! Only the fondling! Well, other than that, it’s that or…”
“…? What are you doing sitting here?”
As if interrupting Kimi’s words, a voice sounded from the school building.
Turning around, from the entrance of the school building, two figures were coming.
“President Sakai…”
At everyone’s voice, Sakai raised his hand with a “Yo.” The other person walking beside Sakai was a girl shouldering an enormous leather bag across both her shoulders. A girl who had, at the top of her rather tall body, a massive silver-fringed coiffure and sharp golden eyes. The name of this girl, who was shaking the five large bundles of her hair which was rolled into rings as it cascaded down her back, was spoken by Kimi.
“Mitotsudaira. Are you descending to Mikawa with President Sakai?”
At that question, Mitotsudaira shook her head with a small motion and narrowed her sharp eyes.
“There is no way that I, a knight charged with a Matsudaira branch family, would go to Mikawa while they are creating gifts for P.A. Oda, is there? It’s just that given my authority as a branch family member, I need to give President Sakai a certificate allowing him to descend there.”
Toori turned his smile to Sakai, who had responded by saying “Yeah, that’s right.”
“President, you’re even going to Mikawa’s center in Nagoya? You sure got one hell of a permission.”
“It’s because a comrade from long ago called me out… It’s been ten years and he’s probably changed a lot, so I will probably come back soon after I get to drink with him. There are a lot of rumors about Mikawa today given its closure policy, so if I stay there for long the Testament Union will suspect me, you know?”
When Sakai ended that line, Shirojiro raised his hand.
“President Sakai, we’re the ones paying for your trip, so could you take a look at the monetary flow for me? …I’m talking about Mikawa during this last year. For some reason all they are doing is selling without buying any of our exports. An even larger amount of sales came when we entered the port, so currently we are in an arrangement where the importers are squabbling over the warehouses.”
“Earlier, that lord professor was talking about some ‘fireworks’. I wonder if this has something to do with that.”
“I wonder,” said Shirojiro, and everyone tilted their heads and murmured.
In response, without going deeper into that, Sakai said.
“Well, I’ll be careful… Toori, there is some kind of rumor about how you are going to confess to someone… Who is the person that is going to get reached by that kind of dangerous behavior…?”
“It’s Horizon.”
At that line, everyone fell silent and Sakai looked up at the sky. After a while, he said:
“…So you actually think so too?”
“It’s alright for you to say that, President? Last year when you went to see her after being consulted by Asama and Neshinbara, you avoided giving any comments about it, right? It’s your way to not talk about the important stuff.”
“Yeah, that’s true…”
Sakai continued.
“But there is a chance that she’s just somebody else that happens to resemble her. Actually, that’s the most probable outcome, right?”
“I know. That’s why I’ve watched her for a whole year, just like a stalker. That way if it happened that I was just chasing after her looks, I’d be just a stalker in the wrong. So well, when had I watched her for a year…”
“Not just in the wrong; that’s the official definition of stalker, isn’t it? …But well, what happened when you had watched her for a year?”
Facing him, Toori spoke. He was still smiling.
“The facial features and body are different from what they were ten years ago, so it’s another person. I thought that if I was just chasing the past that would have bothered me; but after watching her for a whole year I understood that the past didn’t matter, I was just so captivated by that side of her that tried her best at what she did. At first, the only thought I had was this.”
He breathed.
“If she really is Horizon, I have no right to get close to her. …But, step by step, I considered that if she is really here, then it is just fine. Eventually, I ended up thinking that I wanted to talk to her, I wanted to try to touch her. That’s what I believe now… Even if she is not Horizon…”
“Even if she isn’t?”
“I may be damn incapable, but I hope she’ll stay by my side.”
“I see,” Sakai said. Sighing and breathing out the smoke from his tobacco, he said it again.
“When did you decide that?”
“About a week ago… It got in my head when I was thinking how Horizon died around this time ten years ago; it just seemed natural for me. I’d hate it if she’d be here while I do nothing. So I decided to confess how I feel. It’ll probably end up as a one-sided confession, but…”
“But?”
“Tomorrow it will have been ten years. That is the time limit; I won’t think about Horizon as someone to run from anymore.”
He nodded.
“…She doesn’t know who she is, right? Therefore, the confession will go well; and if she wishes for it I was thinking that we’d find out about it together. A lot of things will probably happen because of that, but because I won’t treat Horizon as someone to run from… It’ll be alright.”
“I see,” Sakai dropped his gaze with an expression which could be said to be a wry smile. He stroked that chin with the hand that was in his pockets.
“These last ten years were quick, weren’t they. That accident was just after I came here.”
“That’s right.” Kimi nodded and then she sighed.
“But you’re stupid, foolish brother. You should write what you said just now on the letter. It’s a bit long, so I think that it’d be better if you made it simpler though. A-l-s-o…”
“Also?”
“Yes,” Kimi nodded again.
“There’s still one problem which hasn’t been resolved…whether you can take HARD or not.”
“Hard?”
Mitotsudaira was frowning, listening to the conversation from beside Sakai.
Aside from shallowly folding her arms, Mitotsudaira was tilting her head looking at Kimi through narrowed eyes.
“Does the chancellor have some sort of problem? Well, he is certainly someone who always has some issues; but what is it this time?”
“Eh, I’ll say it so it’s easy to understand.”
Kimi said this.
“Mitotsudaira… You are a perfect match for resolving a problem plaguing Toori.”
At Kimi’s words, Mitotsudaira slightly tilted her head.
What is going on? she thought, and inside her heart…
…She felt something strange.
Nodding within her heart, she looked back and forth between the sitting Toori and Kimi.
“Truthfully, I do not really understand; but that talk about a problem and a perfect match is an exaggeration, right?”
“An exaggeration? That’s stupid, Mitotsudaira… For my foolish brother, this is the most important event of his whole lifetime, you know? In any case, it’s a serious matter pertaining to his confession tomorrow.”
At the words she was told, Mitotsudaira moved her eyebrows.
“A matter concerning the chancellor’s confession tomorrow?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Kimi nodded in response to the question, and Mitotsudaira brought her hand to a single cheek.
…Confession.
I understand very well the importance that kind of event holds for them. Even in light novels, manga, theater or TV dramas, this is a subject that always comes up.
“…Well, I suppose that it might be something hard to understand for a knight of the Mitotsudaira branch of the Matsudaira family.”
Being told that, Mitotsudaira felt that a slight crack form within her heart.
…Indeed, I am a knight who was sent here for the sake of receiving the provisional inheritance of the name Mito Matsudaira.
“As a member of my family presented from Hexagone Fran?aise to the Far East, it is true that things like marriage are decided by my home country, my parents and the Testament’s recreation of history; so I have no connection with the practices of commoners such as free confessions of romance.”
“But,” Mitotsudaira said.
“Eventually I will become a normal person and a part of the Far East as a whole… So it’s not like I don’t know the ways of the commoners.”
“If that’s so…”
Mitotsudaira tapped her own chest lightly with the palm of her right hand and stuck it out.
“You will never find a knight unwilling to help a commoner. To be able to resolve this problem, no matter what it may be, I, Nate Mitotsudaira will give my all. Then, Chancellor, what is your wish?”
Having been asked, Toori turned her way. However, while standing there he folded his arms and tilted his head.
“Mmm… I guess it’s a little hard to say though?”
“You are not someone very clear, you know… I will lend you my strength, so be bold.”
“No, if I say it clearly, you’ll get mad. If I say it boldly… I’ll be killed.”
“Huh?” Mitotsudaira tilted her head forwards and looked around the area. Each person who was there at the stairs, with the exception of Kimi, nodded at the words which had just been spoken.
…This is…
Mitotsudaira thought that she had a bad feeling about this.
In any case, these people being up to something no good is very frequent. The day before, I was meeting with some high-classed guests, business partners of the Mitotsudaira family, over lunch at a restaurant in Tama; when Toori, Kimi and the others appeared like a horrible avalanche.
Even though I tried to kick them out, my guests tried to be well-mannered and all my efforts were rendered null. But being forced to sit with people they did not know was nothing. Toori, knowing they had gourmet tastes, ordered some beer and started an argument.
“Geezer! Geezer! Is true that you are saying that any kind of food is delicious!?”
“Ha, hahahaha, no matter what kind of food it is, finding its good points and enjoying them is common sense.”
“Hah!? Are you serious!? Then, chef! These gourmets said they can eat dog! They really are brave!”
…The specialty cook who was at their side, face pale, raised his empty teacup and chopsticks with his two hands. What did that mean?
Anyways, in the end, a completely naked gourmet ended up running home while crying, and I had lost one client.
…Thinking about it again, it was a huge hindrance to business…!
At that time I had gotten rather angry; but this time I am receiving a warning.
Therefore, it cannot be that bad.
“Judge. …Then, for safety’s sake, let me verify first. What could you possibly wish from me?”
“Well, that’s…”
Toori, standing right in front of me, averted his gaze slightly and scratched his head. Then, he…
“Just a little practice; or rather, I want you to be my rehearsal partner.”
At those words, Sakai who stood next to me crooked his neck.
“A rehearsal? In short, that’s a practice of your confession, isn’t it? Again, that’s…”
“Stupid”; I was glanced at by Sakai, who had said that, out of the corner of his eye. It seemed as if he wanted to say, “I wonder if you can.”
Mitotsudaira thought that if that is the case…
…Th-there is not really anything stupid about it, right?
A confession, she was interested in that. Therefore, she cleared her throat and shrugged her shoulders exaggeratedly.
“So, Chancellor? …In other words, you are using me as a substitute for the person you are confessing to, true?”
Mitotsudaira took a breath and touched her waist with her hand, while staring into his face.
“…Indeed, so it’s like that. If I think about it with regards to my pride as a woman, it’s true that it’s something I could get mad over. This is something like ‘You have no worth compared to the person I will confess to, but you look like her so I will use you’, after all.”
“Mmm, I don’t know if I think you don’t have any worth, it was just something I decided on seeing you.”
“Judge, very well; I do not really understand, but I am indebted to you…”
Mitotsudaira nodded. Forcing power into her eyebrows, she stuck her chest out.
“I am fine with it. I, Nate Mitotsudaira, for the sake of being your rehearsal…”
Mitotusudaira thought about what she should say in this situation.
…For the sake of being your rehearsal…?
Certainly, if we got with what was trendy lately…in a situation like this where you accept a higher-rank or lower-rank’s wish to be a practice partner for them, there should be some sort of expression. Therefore, Mitotsudaira lightly tapped her chest with the fingers of her hand, and said it.
“Eh, I…will lend you this chest.”
The instant she said that, Mitotsudaira was bathed in everyone’s sudden reactions.
“Eeh!?” Pressured by the voices of shock coming from all directions, Mitotsudaira wondered.
…Huh?
Sweeping the area with her gaze, not only Toori, Kimi and everyone on the stairs, but everybody who was for some reason peeking this way from around a thirty meters radius turned their voices and gazes to her.
I do not understand why, but I could feel a hint of admiration in everyone’s murmurs of surprise.
…I-is it really something to make so much noise about?
Slightly unsettled, as if confirming, she spoke towards the murmuring Toori and company.
“U-um, just because I said that I would lend this chest for the sake of the rehearsal of Chancellor’s confession…”
Having said that, once again, everyone started murmuring. Other than them wondering if she was serious…
“She said it twice! She said it twice, you know!”
“Wow, as expected, a knight’s dedication is amazing…”
“Certainly, in terms of position and in terms of durability, a human shield…!”
I did not comprehend the last one, but still, I was able to understand that this was something earthshaking.
…We-well, everyone else also seems to be hoping in me.
If I refuse to cooperate at this stage, I will lose everyone’s support. Being aboard the small Musashi, as a knight who takes charge of numerous villages as her territory I wish to avoid that kind of development.
Beside me, Sakai, who like me does not understand the meaning of what is going on, is processing the reaction of the area.
“Well, do your best… I’ll be going to Mikawa now.”
Everyone said farewell or bowed, and Sakai left. When he was descending the stairs, he spoke.
“I’ll be meeting up with Masazumi, is there something you want to say?”
“I’ll be making some noise here at eight o’clock, could you ask whether or not he can come?”
“Judge, judge.” Sakai raised his hand lightly, and forming a smile at the edge of his mouth, he descended.
Mitotsudaira saw that in front of her, Toori was looking her way with a serious face…
“Alright then, Nate, let’s do it… I’ll do it tightly, alright? Afterward, don’t hit me, alright?”
Responding to that question, Mitotsudaira started by calming her breathing. Calming herself by doing that, through pulling aside her fringe, she corrected her posture.
“It’s true that knights are allowed the possession of weapons, but that is just for the sake of protecting the people. On my pride as one of werewolf lineage, I will not do something like that… But is there really some sort of dangerous prerequisite to the rehearsal of a confession?”
“Then, I won’t hold back.”
Along with his words, Mitotsudaira felt a sensation on her chest.
…Eh?
Looking, two sets of Toori’s five fingers were shallowly buried in the chest of her uniform.
Not being able to understand what was happening, Mitotsudaira sucked in a shallow breath.
“…U-um.”
“Wait, Nate, please be quiet. Right now, I’m in the middle of the confirmation.”
Perplexed by how the current situation was advancing in a way she was not being told, Mitotsudaira lost her words.
…Um, this is…
As she was thinking, she realized that heat was steadily building up in her face. Wondering about what that was all about, she remained not giving an answer.
“I wonder how it is.”
Toori lowered his body, bringing his brown haired head to her chest.
“Mm.”
While his ear was pressed against her chest, she could faintly smell the fragrance of his hair. Mitotsudaira noticed he used the same shampoo as his sister. Her unconscious mind was shouting to make her notice something more important right now.
…Bu-but, this situation…
Right now, an ear is being pressed against my chest while it’s being groped. That’s reality. The sentence “rehearsal for a confession” and what is happening right now before my eyes does not compute. What is happening? If I were to speak in French, then I would say “Quoi?”
Could it be that there was a mistake in how I’ve reacted up till now?
I do not know. What should I do? The best idea that my mind is having right now is to slaughter the idiot before me with my own two hands, but a midday killing is just risky. If I were to do it, it should be done at nighttime.
However, disregarding that, what should I do right now?
…U-um…
Like that, seconds passed by. Everyone was speechless and the silence continued.
“…I see.”
Toori took his hands and ear off my chest.
As if matching that movement everyone leaned forward and focused their eyes on Toori.
“…How was it, Toori-dono!?”
“Yeah,” Toori nodded and stuck his thumb up for all to see.
“She wasn’t wearing a bra!”
“Ooh.” Everyone muttered.
Is there no limit to the exposure of personal information?
However, Toori moved. After returning a nod to everyone, he looked my way with a refreshing smile.
“Thanks a lot, Mitotsudaira! Thanks to you, I’ve completed one of my self-researches!”
Sticking up his right thumb.
“I…am all right!”
“You are not all right at all, you idioooottt…!!”
After she cried, the spell seal on her body was released and she hammered Toori against the railing with a single right backhand.
The railing was unable to completely take the force of Toori’s body which was spinning and flying away.
“—!”
With a cracking sound, the railing twisted and broke, and with the excess energy Toori’s body flew towards the school courtyard along with it. Mitotsudaira turned her gaze and sighed towards all the people running around in the schoolyard.
“You really were an idiot from the beginning! Think yourself lucky I was not wearing any personal equipment! Really…”
Lightly wiping away the tears in the corners of her eyes with a finger, she straightened her eyebrows.
“…It would be nice if you were rejected tomorrow!!”
Notes
1. ? Da (De-su) ? De-aru (De-arimasu) ? De-gozaru (De-gozaimasu). The latter is a rather old form of the modern copula, mostly used by samurai and ninja in Japanese light novel literature.