an: kurimu is not a name damn it, it's an alias! Whoever is that is for me to know and you to find out.
but damn I think it's obvious.
Protégé
"I think I'm gonna die."
Kazuma rasped out between exhausted breaths, laying down on his newly acquired futon in fatigue. His post-bath auburn hair wets the futon pillow and it increased the weight of his eyelids even more. It's cool, comfortable and nice, it smells nice too, with the shampoo he used. It's time for him to end his day-
"Kazuma-onii-chan!"
"Oh god..."
Kazuma lets out a groan mixed with multiple reactions. Annoyance, affection, anger, relief...
A small figure, similar yet different to his acquaintance who managed to change the course of his life rather drastically, standing on her tiptoes in front of the threshold of his new boarding house. She possessed crimson eyes, similar to the people of the upper echelon of his new school, and black silk hair, reaching her mid-neck. A cute child, excitedly peeking through the gap of his door for the mailman to give out mails for him.
If he was told that this would be his new chapter in this life a couple of months ago, he would chortle out in ridicule before slamming the door to the teller's face.
Yeah.
Kazuma forced himself to rise from the warm, soft, comfortable futon and opened up the door, looking down on the supposedly derelict in exhaustion. This kid, who shamelessly customized herself as a poor boy just for the passers-by to pity her and gives her food.
It works, annoyingly.
"Komekko, what do you want?"
"Company!"
No Kuromi, nope. Her name is Komekko.
And she is a nuisance, an annoyingly cute nuisance.
Looking at the cute little girl who held up her little hands and looked up to him in enormous expectation, Kazuma inwardly cried out
'How did things turn out to be like this?!'
This morning, he arrived at the complex of his new boarding house. The landlord, an old man in his retirement days, welcomed him rather warmly and instructs the workers to bring his stuff to a room designated for him, at the corner of the building. They did it professionally and in not even half an hour later, they were done. He thanked them all as they left.
With boxes and cardboards cramming his room, which was surprisingly quite big for a teenager like himself to live in, he began to organise. It took 2 hours, with the cables organizing required for his computer taking up most of the time.
Kazuma took a look at his set-up from afar and nodded in satisfaction.
Now, the introduction part. It was a part of the instruction given by his parents to start a new life of his own!
Second Step: Introduce yourself to your neighbours.
He nervously took a step out of his room.
And guess what?
His neighbours were all crimson-eyed!
All in their teenage years.
Girls.
Beautiful too, on a degree where Kazuma thought it wasn't possible. Black-haired.
And with the excessive eight-grade syndrome seeped deep within their bones...
Oh god.
In his defence, he tried to look at them favourably. After all, these 9 girls would be his neighbours. Surely, it wouldn't be too hard to be acquainted and be favourable so he could maintain peace with his neighbours-
The first attempt, failed.
The syndrome seeped too deep within their bones. He cannot face them without cringing. It's truly hard. Arduous, indeed. So when one of them introduced themselves, he excused himself with an explanation of being in the middle of cooking.
And it wasn't even 3 hours since he was here, at that time.
The second attempt, failed.
Now, he tried to meet them not in groups, but individually. A girl named Nerimaki, who has some questionable taste in romance. It was hard enough, but then she had to introduce them arduously.
"Shalt I, the Crimson Demon, overture thou to I's magnificent collection of MeguYun pictures-!"
No. Nope. None.
He's normal, no offence.
Bad enough, whom she included in her questionable taste in romance are not fictional characters. No, it was her friends.
For some reason, this girl, Nerimaki, shipped two of her friends. Two girls. Yunyun, a shy, surprisingly logical dominant, voluptuous 13-years-old girl and Megumin, the older sibling of Komekko-
"Carry, Kazuma-Onii-chan!"
-A 4-years-old child who was always trying to play with him ever since he had arrived here.
The older sibling in question?
"Hahaha! New arrival of a mortal in this Archwizard's dwelling! I shall show my dominant nature through my ultimate overture!"
Oh, god.
Oh god!
This is not mere eighth-grade syndrome! It's a severe one! The worst case he's ever witnessed!
But.
She... wasn't that bad.
Kazuma admitted. He was judging too quickly when they first met. He could see that Megumin is probably a long-time victim of this stereotype. A stereotype of judging a book by its cover.
Megumin is an odd specimen even amongst her already odd peers. Exceptionally loud, confident, chuuni, intelligent, quirky...
Combine these girls' traits and maxed them all up, stuffed them up in one girl and Kazuma would get Megumin.
Yes, they are intelligent, surprisingly. Confident too, and don't even start with self-esteem.
Megumin got them all one level above her peers. But, how does he puts it?
Ah yes.
Sensitive.
Megumin is sensitive. Attentive. Aware. And, oddly, she became sensitive only when she wanted to.
How does that work, exactly?
Kazuma has no idea.
How did he know?
"-Gurgh! Kazuma-senpai! I need materials for the upcoming test!"
A 7th grader, barged into his room as if it was her place. Big crimson eyes, with two bangs, trickled from her head reaching her collarbones, framing her pretty face. In a typical sailor uniform.
The older sibling of Komekko looked up to her Senpai, who was groaning in exhaustion.
"Are you an idiot?! Don't barge into someone's room!"
"Please! I need materials for the upcoming test!"
This vigorous girl is Megumin, she knew her stuff and do her research well. And she knew exactly who he was.
"Waitaminute! You're the guy the school has been begging for!"
Kazuma knows. He is, by no means, a genius. Smart? Nope. Grade A student? Okay, that was true. Special? Bah! Ridiculous!
...Hm.
Well, he never particularly care about this sort of stuff. After all, he had his sights on the future when he started his education journey. So he's quite oblivious to mere stuff like rumours and such, he admits. Blame his father for that.
So, when Megumin started to talk about things-
"Satou Kazuma! An eleven years old genius who managed to find the answer to the crisis the educational system suffered for the last century! Green-eyed and auburn-haired! Tell me, are you Satou Kazuma?!"
"Argh..."
'Father, Mother, why didn't you tell me this?!'
Attentive, indeed.
"Kazuma-Senpai! Bestow me your seeds-"
Wha-
"-of wisdom to me!"
"Kazuma-onii-chan! Play with me!"
Yep.
This.
This is quite the bullsh*t-
"Gurgh!"
"Hide?!"
An auburn-haired, black-eyed man choked on his own saliva, setting aside his paper news as he snatched a glass of water on the small table beside his couch. His wife strides over with worries in her green eyes, rubbing his shoulders with her hand in a loving manner.
"I-I'm fine, just, choking."
"Oh, you had me worried for a second!"
Her husband merely looked over spontaneously, thinking of something... incomprehensible by common sense.
'Someone suffers a Satou's curse-'
-of a circumstance.
"Look, I have to get ready for my first day of school tomorrow, so could you please be over with your nonsense and let me sleep. Yes, you too, Komekko."
Putting each of his hands on their mop of black hair, he restrains a sigh full of irritation and pushed them down. A sign of a complaint outburst and he narrowed his eyes, pushing them down even further. A whimper and a whine, which he had to ignore.
Thankfully, they relented.
"...Fine."
"Promise me tomorrow we'd be playing, Kazuma-onii-chan!"
"Alright, go back to your room."
They did. Leaving him in their trail of dust. Kazuma collapsed onto his futon, grasping the comfort and the warmth it exuded, burying his face into the soft bliss of white.
Isn't this supposed to be a boarding house? Though the boarding house was rather variant in its function, but from what he saw, he mostly saw 7th graders here. Which weirdly live on their own. But, well, considering the distance of the school from here, which was less than 300 meters, he guessed it makes sense.
It does not. But let's pretend it does.
Anyway. So why does Megumin has a little sister who pretends to be a poor boy on the side of the street seducing people to succumb to their desire to give her something? Wait, it sounds quite worrying actually now that he puts things into words.
Gotta question that-
At last, his eyelids feel heavy. Like weights, tons of weights. They dropped him as his consciousness did, letting him succumb to his instinctual desire to sleep.
Time went fast from there.
"...Alright, what do you want?"
"Senpai, I just wanted to walk to school. Just like you. Nothing suspicious at all."
In his green suit his mother gave him, a grey, formal shirt, a green tie, and a pair of black trousers complemented with a brown belt, Kazuma went out of his room to go on to his first day. Only, when he took a step with his black, simple shoes onto the streets, a certain 7th grader appeared. Followed by a bunch of her specimens. And her little sister.
"I, Megumin, just wanted to walk to my school."
"Kazuma-oniichan! This is my very first day of school!"
"Me too!"
"Yes, Kazuma-senpai. I, Dodonko, is not a suspicious fellow!"
"Seconded! But replaced the name with Arue-!"
"Alright, alright, just..."
Wait, isn't the walk merely worth approximately half a minute? It was just a couple of hundred meters! Kazuma checked on his phone. 6:32 AM.
"...Walk."
He has many minutes before 7:00 AM. Surely, a couple of hundreds of meters walk wouldn't take so damn long-
And so, he walked. His kouhais followed the suit. And perfectly with what he prefered, silence descends.
And not even a second later, a colossal building appeared in his view, followed by a chirpy voice-
"Kazuma-Senpai, aren't you curious about the new school you will attend?"
"Aren't we all new? You just entered middle school today."
Megumin snorted, looking up at him with her crimson eyes in ridicule. A kouhai dared-?!
"Unlike you, a newcomer, we, Crimson Demons, have attended this school basically our whole life. From kindergarten to Elementary School, and now, we will enrol on Middle School."
"Megumin is right! Senpai is just a newbie."
"A newcomer!"
"A noob!"
"Yes, I got it. You can stop now."
Nine. They are nine of them. Nine crimson-eyed black-haired teenage girls. Including Komekko, they would be ten of them.
Ten Chuuni, intelligent, quirky, loud, excessive girls.
Being pestered and followed by them...
'What could possibly go wrong?'
Yeah.
F*ck.
"Senpai, do you want a tour hosted by us?!"
Nerimaki, the girl with questionable taste in romance jumped out of the crowd of Crimson Demons and appeared before him, looking up to him rather brightly.
"Kuh! Nerimaki went first!"
"Indeed, it is a competition."
A competition for what?
"A competition you said?! Hmph! I, Funifura, wouldn't be so easily eclipsed!"
"U-Um... I'm just gonna stand back and observe."
Huh, the shy and the one with common sense, Yunyun, finally talked. Kazuma took notice, of course, so he just nodded at her, receiving him a slow, shy nod in return.
"So, Kazuma-Senpai, do you accept our amazing offer or do you decide to be ungrateful and reject it?!"
Megumin nudges him with her little hand, still looking at him with fascination and curiosity. Seriously, Kazuma cannot believe he was actually blind to the fact that his research result to fight off his stupid teacher was hailed as the answer to a century's worth of crisis!
"Fine."
"Hm, as expected. There's no way a male won't accept the offer from us, beautiful Crimson Maidens!"
"Exactly, exactly, my beloved companion!"
...If the circumstance wasn't forcing him, he would rather not. Really, he just... doesn't want to waste his time aimlessly wandering in this colossal building, searching for his class and whatnot. He could ask the staff or the security but it won't be as precise as what a tour host could offer.
And so, they guided him to the entrance of the colossal school. A twenty-foot length, seventy-five width, black gate made up of thick black bars is what greeted him. And not opposed to his expectation, it was solidified by over five securities. With countless vehicles went in and out through the massive gate to drop off the students.
Kazuma blankly looked at the spectacle.
'Hey, isn't this too much?'
It's always odd that despite the fulfilled expectation and speculation, it was still unbelievable to witness the scene itself. It was comparable to those mega malls in terms of traffic! And keep in mind that this was a school.
"The reason the traffic here is so congested is that this school stationed all of the education systems. From Kindergarten, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and even University! And with all of its classes capable to contain over 20,000 students, it does make sense for such a humongous place to have such traffic."
Megumin explained slowly and precisely, looking over the countless cars that were passing by as the group entered the school through one of the corridors that represent the entrance.
"With the way the school valued you Kazuma-senpai, you might not know this, but most of the students here entered from the back door. Or, to put it roughly, money. Except for us, who possessed the Crimson Eyes, the trait that our race held. As this school was established by our race, who established the Crimson Organization, we can get in with no effort."
She continued, though, at the end of her telling, it was filled with a bit tad of smugness.
"Ah, so you all are...?"
The Crimson Demons merely looked at him with blank looks.
"What did you think of us before this?"
"Sugar-coated or cold, hard truth?"
"Hmph, of course, we, Crimson Demons are fearless, so what could a cold, hard truth possibly do to us?"
"You sure?"
"Tsk, bring it on-!"
"You guys are a bunch of 6 years old in the bodies of 13 years old. Are conceited to the point it makes people cringe by your presence alone, loud and troublesome too. Oh, and don't forget the attitude that clearly says that you are "different" from others. Exaggerating, noisy brats. Though you guys aren't exactly bad, so I guess that's a positive point. Well, except her."
He pointed to Yunyun, who blushed brightly by being an exception. She merely nods before shyly covering her face with her bag.
"N-Not exactly b-bad as the only p-positive point?"
The last sentence was meant to be medicine for the brutal wounds he had inflicted upon them, but it only wound them further. Really, of all things, he could only consider "not exactly bad" as the only positive point?
They, Crimson Demons, who were excessively prideful, couldn't be more hurt!
"Gurggh! K-Kazuma-senpai, we've just met, how could you be this brutal?!"
"H-How about our looks!? W-We are beautiful, you know? And our figures too!"
Dodonko called out in wounded pride, clutching her bag with tears streaming out her face. Well, it couldn't be helped. After all, as Crimson Demons, a race usually held in regard by many people, they usually receive compliments. So they couldn't imagine receiving such brutal constructive critics from someone.
Except for someone.
"Tsk, we are Crimson Demons, you know. The founder of the most prestigious organization in this country. Don't you think about the consequences of what you've said?"
Megumin scoffed at him, glancing at him with a staggering gaze. Her crimson eyes glowed with intense emotions, slightly blinding Kazuma's green eyes who responded to her by raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I mean, they asked for it. I gave out options but they insist. So..."
"Hmm! You-! Oh wait, you're right..."
He could only sigh when the confident girl turned into an embarrassed, red-faced black-mop, who fastened up her pace, changing her position to the utmost front.
"And about that. Yeah, it's not wrong to call you all "beautiful maidens" But my mother taught me that someone's value is determined not by mere looks. It's about how they treat others. How they live and how much they meant to you. Someone's value to one is not determined by their looks. It's determined by how much they've done for you, how much they meant to you. To judge one by its cover is very foolish, is what my father said to me."
Despite being used to be a spiteful, ungrateful brat, his heart always kept these lessons. For five years, it was all locked up. But when he decided to open it up once more, they finally broke free. Constantly reminding him of the lessons by their existence.
And honestly, it was such a good feeling.
"Though unfortunately, the era held the concept of "first impression" too high. What an overrated piece of sh*t, huh? It severs our chance to meet the people who truly deserve to be friended. Our chance to meet the wounded, the broken, the forsaken, the outcasts. The ones who had done nothing to deserve the fate that life has befallen them. While those who truly deserve to be dumped to hell, with their looks, manage to recover their underserved lives."
By now, as the group paused at the side of the corridor to converse, Kazuma noticed that they put most of their attention on him. Their crimson eyes glowed, and being stared by a dozen pairs of eyes oddly do not make him nervous. Instead, he merely continued.
"But I cannot deny that looks were such a potent thing to form a string of connection between people. To receive others' adoration, appreciation and support. The answer to this issue is something I haven't gotten yet. Because other than capability, I can't deny that luck is also a fundamental aspect to have a good life. So in the end, I could only acknowledge it, and accepted it with wholeheartedness."
He grinned, but his eyes merely contained self-deprecation.
"After all, I too, am a person who still judges people by the first impression. And perhaps one day, I hope, I could overcome it."
*RING!
Blinking, Kazuma looked up, hearing the ringing bell that indicates that the first period would start.
'What's the first period again? Chemistry?'
"Well, there goes the bell. How about you all go to your class? I don't want to burden you with the task to find my class."
"Uh, um... okay, Senpai."
"Alright..."
It seems like they still processing his words, so they absentmindedly follow his suggestion and scattered. As they are the Crimson Demons who have been students at this school for years, they knew every part of the school that they attend. So they have no problem getting to their class unconsciously.
Kazuma intended to search for the administration room in need of guidance, but it seems like someone has decided to stay. He turned around and found Megumin, who lowered her head, hiding her face from him by her hair.
"Won't you go to your class?"
"...If you still upheld first impressions, what's the point of preaching about how sh*tty it was? You still conducting it, making you a disgusting existence I called a hypocrite."
The girl he found odd snapped her head up and glared at him once again. But now, they were filled with tears, verging to burst out of their containment. He didn't realize it beforehand but she actually wore a white eyepatch, covering her left eye.
"I... never deny it."
"I was a victim of such a stereotype! Everything that I love to do would be judged and condemned by the people surrounding me! It's so hurtful seeing their gazes treating me as a weirdo and whatnot! Even my own peers! My own people-!"
"Hey, I just met you for not even a day, you know. Why tell me all of this?"
The girl stopped on her track and stammered. She trembles on her foot and more tears build up in her eyes.
He could only look at her and sighed.
Well, didn't that what he did yesterday? Venting everything he had suffered to a stranger who he had met for not even an hour? Comparing two occasions, his was even worse. He was to a child! A damn child!
"Megumin, my perspective towards the word hypocrite is the fact that the definition of the term covered all living beings of this world. A hypocrite is a term that has a definition of a person who told others to not do something while that person themselves does the "something". It's odd that it was an insult while in fact, it was a term that describes us all, don't you think so?"
Both of them haven't realized that the corridor that they were in started to get empty. Since the bell rang, the students had already gone to their classes. So here they are, standing one opposite of another.
Megumin looked at this person she just met for hours, nodding in agreement with what he stated.
"And with that, yes, I admit that I am a hypocrite. I never regarded myself as this person who knew what he said. Most of the time, I can't even understand and comprehend half of what I've said. Like the fact that the concept of First Impression is such a piece of sh*t, yet, I can't understand why I still upheld it. Everything that my mind contains doesn't necessarily mean that my mind understands. Right, Megumin?"
"...Y-Yeah. Yes, you're right Kazuma-senpai."
"In the end, what's the most rightful, in my eyes, is my conscience. It is something that forged my actions by what my heart said. Now that I think about it, its existence was the reason why I was saying things as I said before. To understand others and be the best human I could be."
"Senpai, after saying all of that, I'm curious. What do y-you... y-you..."
"...think, of me?"
Sometimes, one didn't learn a lesson from what they underwent. Though Megumin was but a young girl, so it is understandable. Not as understandable as he was-
"A loud, exaggerating, severe eight-grade syndrome sufferer who was narcissist, delusional and irresponsible, as letting her younger sister roaming around the road-"
"Huff!!! W-We've just met for hours! You-! How could you describe me with so many negative adjectives? Y-You know nothing!"
"-But you're an extremely sensitive person. Attentive, always paying attention to her surrounding. And I could confidently say that you are a person who would do anything for her dream. After all, a person who was condemned for what they love to do is a person worth admiring. A person who dreams, and fully deserved to reach them."
Turning around to sight-seeing the beautiful garden that they coincidentally passed by as they walk through the window, Kazuma was too focused on the spectacle before him that he subconsciously lets out some unprocessed, unfiltered thoughts.
"Childish for their passion, is something worth acknowledging. Too many façades these days, that it was hard to find a sincere person. And I think I'm quite lucky to meet you, who shamelessly shouts your passion about being "The Best Explosion Archwizard". You're enviable to be so free, I envy you.
...Ah, I think I let my thoughts run freely, I apologize for that."
Sudden sunlight blinded his eyes, and by that, he was awakened from his thoughtful mind. He slightly blushed and glanced at his acquaintance to apologize but what he saw was a young girl who looks quite embarrassed. No, she was extremely embarrassed.
"...Do you... mean that?"
"I-"
"A-Ah! Here is your class S-Senpai! I present you good luck with your first attendance at this school! Bye!"
Opening a classroom door roughly and surprising the whole attendants of the classroom isn't something very nice. And then she decides to shove him inside and close the door roughly. So now, Kazuma could only suffer under an old man's interrogative gaze. And other gazes, who looked at him with multiple aspects filled within them.
"Alright, young man. The first day of school and late, eh? What's your reason- Ah no, excuse?"
'Oh great, it's actually Chemistry.'
For such a prestigious school, the Chemistry teacher would be no doubt, an experienced, seasoned Teacher. An old man fits those categories pretty well. No doubt also a narrow-minded, dull, stringent son of a bitch-
Yeah, Kazuma has a bad history with teachers.
"Um, I-"
"Stand. Until my period is over."
'Fu-'
A whole period later...
'Shit! Chemistry has two periods!'
Another period later...
"Alright, that's it for this period."
"Thank you, Mr Reuters!"
'No doubt a boomer name-'
"And you, meet the Principal later. I sent a complaint for such an irresponsible student such as you."
Logically, it makes sense. A prestigious school would no doubt issue the slightest mistake a student conducted. Subjectively?
'GOD FUCKING DAMN IT-'
"O-Okay-"
"Where's the respect? Learn to differentiate someone older and someone your age!"
"I-I apologize, Mr Reuters."
"Hmph, these days, brats are so disrespectful."
The disappearance of such a boome- teacher brought immense relief to him. Finally, he could let go of his belongings, which gradually became heavier the longer he stands, and sat on the chair. The chair is located beside a window, which seemingly overlooks another building.
Though when he puts more focus on the view, he realized someone is standing alone on the concreted field beside the building. More observation brought more realization, and he realized who was that someone.
"...Megumin?"
"Oh! The troublesome sixth grader has become the troublesome seventh grader! Guys, she was punished again, it seems!"
"Hmph, if not for being a Crimson Demon, she probably would have been expelled aeons ago!"
"Hey, despite her being a troublemaker, you do know that she is extremely smart right? After all, she was under a teacher whose qualifications to be under her were so hard to fulfil!"
"And don't forget her best friend's dad! Who is the Head Administrator of the Crimson Organization!"
'Huh? Her best friend's dad? Head Administrator of the organization?'
Setting their useless conversations aside, what he was interested about is this information.
"Look! She did the thing! It's been so long..."
"Ah! The Symbol-filled Circle, huh?"
"Yeah, what an odd girl."
Back to the field, Kazuma saw Megumin, who somehow managed to have her hands on a chunk of white stone that is capable to make white strokes on the concrete field. Then she started to run around the field, drawing what they suspected, was a "Symbol-filled Circle" that she immaculately managed to create with great shape. Then, she ran around in circles to create some sort of repetitive motive in the shape of circles across the massive circle.
Minutes later, a weirdly aesthetic circle similar to "Magic Circle" from what he saw from some mangas was drawn on the field. It was filled with odd symbols and letters. Looking oddly good.
Megumin stood aside from the concreted field and held her head high, proudly showing off her conduct to the whole school. She was smiling smugly, putting her hands on her hips, as if mocking her punishers.
"Woah! She did it! The last time was when she was a fourth grader, then many students mocked her for it and she stopped. But what caused her to do it again?"
"Who knows? After all, that student is always a screw loose."
Kazuma listened intentively as the students gathered around, gaze focused on the girl he met yesterday who was currently being chased by a bunch of teachers. He couldn't help but laughed when an old teacher tripped and eat concrete. Then finally, a red-haired woman caught Megumin and smacked her on the head, earning her a whine from the troublemaker.
He merely smiled, putting his chin on his hand.
'Maybe this choice isn't so bad.'
-0-0-0-
The fourth period was over. It was History and perhaps it was the effect of being combined with mystical and myths, but it was more interesting than usual.
Eating canned food like usual, he walks around the hallways of the school to explore this unfamiliar place. Multiple, unfamiliar corridors and hallways greeted him, leading him to places he did not know of. It brought him intense curiosity and with instinct as the primary lead, he walked through whatever he hell his instinct told him.
Shining light at the end of the corridor, he walked out and saw the peaking sun, showing him a garden that was peacefully swayed by the blowing wind. There was a bench, overlooking a pond. Truly, a colossal school.
Sitting on the bench, he enjoyed the scenery, eating the curry-flavoured canned food in peace.
"...Megumin, you idiotic student. Feigning oblivion to the rules set up by the school. What are you doing? Drawing some stupid circles on the Middle-School ground?"
A voice from behind a wall. He realized that it was what separated Middle-school and High-school.
"Tsk, it was just a simple thing to clean up. Why whines so much?"
'Hm? Megumin?'
A sigh resounded, and the voice from earlier speak up.
"Besides, it's been three years since you drew that damned circle. What caused you to draw it again?"
"...I, met someone."
"Someone?"
"Yeah, someone. Someone who said that a book shouldn't be judged by its cover. Someone who admits his shortcomings and regarded himself as a hypocrite. Someone who was confused about what he understands and what he memorizes. An odd fellow, who I met for yesterday only. He's so odd because he said that he actually does not understand half of what he said. About the conception of the First Impression everyone held in regard so much."
"What an odd fellow, indeed. Hm, from your blushing face, perhaps it was your Crimson Destiny?"
"S-Sensei! What sort of nonsense are you spouting now!?"
"Huehue, I never said it was him, I only said it was your Crimson Destiny. Hm, actually, you're right, it is nonsense."
"...T-Then he insulted me. And then he compliments me for who I am. Saying that someone is childish for their dreams is worth acknowledging. No matter what nonsense is that. I don't want to believe someone compliment me for such a stupid thing yet, his gaze was unfocused when he said so. As if subconscious, unconscious.
...Sensei, is this too good to be true?"
"...Well, life is countless times more unpredictable than stories themselves. But if you think it's something good, belief, Megumin. Believe, and trust in what your heart told you. After all, the power of belief is the strongest in this world, more so than the power of love."
"L-Love?!"
"Hey, focus on the context, brat. Anyway, so, what's the correlation of what you told to the fact that you drew a "Magic Circle" in the size of a damned field?"
"It feels... good, to be told that what I am passionate about is admirable. Enviable. And so, I think it was time for me to get back on track. Screw what they said! I do what I want!"
"Enviable? What a strong word."
"They thought what I did before was bad!? Hah! They'll see what I do from this day on!"
"...Oh boy, look what you've done."
A wall blocked them from each other, yet, he could feel a gaze from someone from the other side of the wall. It was... odd, not hostile yet not kind either. Mysterious, is the perfect description to portray it.
*RING!
"Oh, the fifth period is starting."
With more and more thoughts filled his mind, Kazuma stood up from the bench and left peaceful garden. Leaving its originally peaceful state back to normal. Without anyone to disturb its serenity.
His heart was in turmoil currently.
