This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.
Ah… What an absolutely fabulous stairwell… All in all, this has got to be one of the best stairwells that I have ever seen in my life, perhaps it's even the number one specimen in book. Oh how I truly wish that I could see a stairwell as great as this one day in the future.
A few minutes after departing from the lobby, Kamijou struggled to take another painful step up the stairs as her mind was overflowing with overly sarcastic thoughts about her current situation.
As the magician had semi explained to the student after the scene with the man in knight's armor, the entire area inside of the building had been separated into an 'inside' and an 'outside' of a barrier. Normal, uninvolved people were on the 'outside' of the barrier, living perfectly normal lives, while Kamijou, the magician, and god knows what else were on the 'inside', unable to interact with the 'outside' in any way.
That was what the idiot magician told me was the case… but still…
Kamijou unenthusiastically looked in front of her at the form of the red haired magician, who seemed to be having a similar feeling about climbing the stairs, the magic girl's face twisted in to an expression of utter irritation at the situation.
Kamijou sighed to herself, and, again unenthusiastically, she attempted to break the silence that had fallen in between the two girls.
"Oiii… Miss Rune Magic… I know what you said before sounds good to you, but… I'm still confused as to how an entire building ended up on the 'outside' of the barrier. I don't know about you, but I would think that, at the very least, the building shouldn't be affected by this damn thing. I shouldn't feel like I've ran a marathon after climbing two flights of stairs."
The magician sighed with her back to the student before she turned around, the red haired girls face already set in an expression of annoyance towards Kamijou.
"What is your problem now? Is it that your tiny brain can't possibly wrap itself around the very basic concepts that I explained to you earlier?"
Well that really shouldn't be that surprising you crazy magician, considering all the strange shit that comes out of your mouth. I know next to nothing about all this magic bullshit, yet you go on and on about it like I'm supposed to know how this shit works.
Kamijou glared at the magician before her, the students angered thoughts continuing on in the privacy of her mind, though outwardly she appeared to be somewhat patiently waiting for the magician to begin explaining what was going on, as she knew that was what the red haired girl was going to.
The magician exhaled a breath of relief as she reached the flat at the top of the stairs, deliberately not looking over at the next set of stairs to her side. She quickly walked over to the wall at the top of the stairs and leaned up against it, her shoulders relaxing as she looked intently over at the student.
"Now… What was your question again? Why is the building on the 'outside' of the barrier, or something simple like that?"
The student nodded at the magician's rhetorical question, carefully making sure her rage didn't show through, as the magician began to stretch out her arms in a gesture of her exhaustion. She also began stretching her neck as a precursor to launching into her explanation.
"Well… The answer to that question should be a rather simple concept to imagine, but considering your current track record, I guess I'll have to go even simpler than that…. Tell me, could you, for a moment, imagine a balloon being filled with air inside of a box?"
Kamijou raised an eyebrow in complete and utter surprise at the magician's completely ridiculous question. After a brief moment of silence, Kamijou nodded her head.
"Well… Yes I guess I can imagine it… but… the question that is raised in my mind is what that image has to do with my previous question."
The magician exhaled in disappointment and shook her head in dismay, beginning to gesture towards the air, as if the image she had described was directly in front of her as she did so.
"You know… I really shouldn't be surprised about that now really, but come on! If you could just imagine it for a second, then it should be incredibly simple for…"
The magician stopped talking for a moment, shaking her head at the student, again in dismay.
"On second thought… No it would be difficult for someone like you to understand, considering the fact that you're much to empty headed to grasp such a simple concept."
Kamijou briefly felt one of the veins in her neck bulge out in a burning anger, but the student managed to hold her tongue still long enough to keep herself from spitting pure venom at the magician. Internally sighing to herself, the student continued to intently watch as the magician gestured toward the air again.
"Now then… In regards to that image that I asked you to think up, think of the container as a representation of the building and the balloon as a representation of the barrier. And, am I right to assume that you know what happens to a balloon when you fill it up with too much air?"
How stupid do you think I am you crazy magician?
Kamijou briefly narrowed her eyes into a glare at the magician, and she sharply clicked her tongue in an irritated manner as she responded.
"It pops, right?"
The magician smiled at the student in what could only be a mocking gesture, and began to slowly clap her hands in mocking congratulations.
"Well… I have to say that I'm surprised! You do, in fact, actually know something after all."
You… stupid bitch of a magician.
Kamijou grit her teeth hard so to keep her feeling from spilling out, while she felt her sanity descend down another rung of the ladder towards madness. The magician, in the meantime, was nodding in response to Kamijou response.
"Yes… Indeed that is how a balloon works if you were to fill it up with too much air. It pops open. And that it is exactly how this barrier works as well, though instead of air, what fills up the barrier in this case is area. If the barrier covers too much of an area in the world, then the barrier will simply break apart and cease to function, regardless of the power of the magician."
Kamijou nodded her head at the magician, understanding the magician's explanation so far.
"Okay… I get that much, but… Where in the world does the building come into the equation?"
The magician sighed yet again at the student and again gestured toward the air.
"Well… If you could force your empty head to reimagine that easy diagram again, what exactly would happen if that balloon from before was being filled within a container?"
The student began to slowly work her way to the conclusion that the magician was leading her towards.
"Well… It would widely depend on the size of the container, but if it were the right size, then the balloon would simply fill up with air until it takes on the size of the container, and then it wouldn't grow anymore."
The magician smiled at Kamijou again, though this time the expression was a genuine one instead of on that mocked the student.
"Exactly. And it works exactly the same for the barrier as well. A container, a.k.a. this building, is needed to maintain a rather distinct area for the barrier to exist in. Without it, the barrier would simply break apart."
Kamijou slowly began to nod in agreement with the magician's explanation, though she did not smile now that she began to understand what was going on.
"Now… Since we are in the 'inside' of the barrier, or inside of the balloon so to speak, that means that… we aren't even touching the building right now?"
The magician smiled at the student again, though this time it was a rather sad look to the expression.
"Yes, that's the truth of the situation. We are unfortunately encased within the barrier, or the balloon if we were to refer to my explanation, thus we are not able to touch or interact with the container in any way. The reason we feel so tired is due to the fact that the force we put in to our steps is being redirected at our feet."
Kamijou kept her mouth shut for a few seconds, before she grit her teeth as her rage became apparent to her, and she angrily gestured at the walls of the building, as if they were the ones responsible for her current predicament.
"Well how the hell did we get stuck in this bullshit in the first place?! I know next to nothing about magic, but still, shouldn't there be some sort of procedure or password to keep normal people out of stuff like this?"
The magician sighed and put a serious expression, nodding her head in an affirmative to Kamijou's question.
"For once, you are thinking of a correct question. I too am wondering how we both managed to become encased within the barrier. It isn't the type of spell that just drags anyone to one side or the other, nor can you make it into one like that."
Kamijou sighed openly and looked over at the magician with a dubious look.
"Well then how in the world did we get stuck on this side of it? You might look extremely obvious, walking around in that outfit, but why did I get dragged in as well?"
The magician looked at Kamijou for a few moments, a pitying look on her face, before sighing and shaking her head in dismay.
"Well… There are numerous ways that it could have happened, each as unlikely as the last, so I'll just say the most obvious one."
The magician looked back at the student with a piteous look, and sighed at Kamijou.
"The fact of the matter is… that we could have been tracked from before we even set foot in this building."
Kamijou froze for a fraction of a second, her brain slowly trying to process the words that the magician had said to her. Once her brain had accomplished that simple task, Kamijou felt her eyes widen in surprise and a shiver of fear run up her spine.
"Wait! So… What you're telling me is… that…"
The magician sighed and finished the sentence that Kamijou was stumbling over herself to say.
"Yes. At this very moment, our enemy could be tracking us and watching us, meaning that there is no need to be stealthy."
Kamijou spun around and looked down the stairwell that she and the magician had just walked up, then she looked up the stairwell that they were going to go up in due time. Once she had made sure that both were clear of dangers, the student turned back to look at the magician with fear in her eyes.
"So… If we are being tracked right now… How in the world are we going to proceed?! Are we just going to be attacked at any time from that crazy alchemist?!"
The magician nodded at the student, her expression tired and bored in the face of Kamijou's panic.
"Well… That's the big question isn't it? Right now we are in the worst possible situation for us, and yet the alchemist hasn't shown any indication that they are going to attack us. Why do you think that is?"
Kamijou ran her fingers through her hair, looking like she was a lunatic as she looked at the magician.
"How in the world am I supposed to know that?! Shouldn't we be more worried about the possibility of an attack rather than why we haven't been attacked so far?"
The magician looked at the student with an expression of surprise, eyebrow raised and tongue clicking in disappointment.
"So… Let me get this straight… You willingly went into a place where you knew you were most likely going to be fighting… and you didn't expect to be attacked at any moment?"
Kamijou grimaced at the magician in a rage, though the anger she felt was one tinged by understanding that the magician was right. She didn't respond to the magician in any way, which the red haired girl took as a sign to continue.
"Now then… Since you seem to be oblivious in regards as to why I am worried about the reason why the alchemist is not attacking us, suffice it to say that I am curious about what that reason is."
The magician looked up the stairwell, an annoyed look on her face as she did so.
"The alchemist could have attacked us any number of times in the last few minutes, but has refused to. Are they looking down on us, thinking we aren't even worth their time to take care of, or are they occupied with something they view as more important than us? Either way, I'm sure it will be something that'll come up later on when we finally get to the alchemist. That is why I'm more worried about that then getting attacked."
… But the possibility of getting attacked should still be more important than anything else. Even if it might be more important later on, worrying about the present should take precedent.
Kamijou did not say any of her thoughts aloud and instead sighed to herself as she also looked up the stairs leading upward. She absentmindedly put her hands in her pockets, and gently brushed the back of her hand against her phone. Suddenly a thought came to the student.
"Oi… Miss Rune Magic… quick question…"
The magician hesitantly looked over at Kamijou, a bored look already plastered across her face.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like the question you are planning to ask me? I just have this suspicion that it's going something pointlessly stupid."
Kamijou gritted her teeth against the insult of the magician, and managed to push her brain to speak her question.
"Well… The thing is… My question is…"
Kamijou lazily took her phone out of her pocket and closed her eyes, as if to shield herself from the inevitable insults.
"Will cell phones work in here, despite the barrier?"
Here it comes. Maybe I should try and guess what sort of insult she's going to use this time.
"…"
Kamijou listened to the silence that followed her question with a confused tilt to her head. After a few more moments of silence, Kamijou opened one of her eyes fearfully to look over at the magician.
"Are you done hiding yet?"
Kamijou almost jumped back in surprise as she saw the magician directly in front of her, staring into her eyes with an expression of pure annoyance.
"Well if you are quite done messing around, then I would like to ask why you are able to ask such a stupid question at a time like this. Weren't you the one who was berating me earlier for not worrying about getting attacked, yet now you seem to be worried about making a call?"
Kamijou felt herself sweat a bit in both embarrassment and fear as the red haired girl bore down on her with their anger.
"Yeah… I know that it seems to be extremely hypocritical for me to be worried about this… but-"
Kamijou was cut off in an instant as the magician glared at her with her annoyed gaze.
"And what in the world were you thinking to even use the phone for even if the phone did work in here? Did you think to call some sort of help?"
Kamijou closed her eyes again and sighed at the magician.
"Well… I just wanted to relax for a bit, considering what we are going to be up against… I wanted to contact Index for just a second just to vent for a bit…"
Kamijou opened her eyes to look at the angry magician, and was utterly surprised at what she saw.
The magician's face had softened towards the student in such a way, that for a moment, Kamijou thought that it was an entirely different person in front of her.
"O-Oh… S-so you were planning… on checking on Index…"
Kamijou slowly nodded her head at the quiet magician and slowly gestured towards her phone.
"Yeah… I did want to contact Index… So is it even possible to use a phone in here… So I can do that… right?"
The magician held her chin in her hand and seriously began to consider Kamijou's question.
"Well… I guess that it is possible for someone to be able to do that… though… most magicians don't rely on technology, so this really hasn't been tested extensively. You can try if you want, but… there is no guarantee that it will work."
Kamijou nodded at the magician, her hand slowly dialing the number to her house as her thoughts raced.
I… I don't know what happened to make her civil all of a sudden… but I don't think I should question my good luck.
Completing the dialing stage of the call, Kamijou put her phone to her ear and turned her face away from the magician.
Almost instantly after dialing her number, Kamijou heard the ringing tone of the lines connection, and instantly had the hope that phones worked from within the barrier. She stood there listing to the ringtones coming from the other end of the line with expectation pumping through her veins.
However, the ring tone came to an end; proceeding to Kamijou's voice message began to play, reminding her how to leave a message to herself. Kamijou listened to the message for a moment before she hung her head, sighing as she hung up the call with a sigh.
Kamijou turned back around to look at the magician, though she was met with the sight of the magician leaning in, as if to listen in on a conversation.
The magician nearly jumped back in surprise, but managed to quickly compose herself and act as if nothing had happened.
"So… I take it you were unable to get through? Is there actually a problem with electronics on this side of the barrier?"
Kamijou shook her at the magician, her gaze still slightly skeptical as she did so.
"No… the connection worked just fine, but it just wasn't answered in time, so it went to my voicemail. Index probably didn't answer the phone, rather than there being a problem with the connection."
The magician instantly looked concerned about Kamijou's news.
"So… Something might have happened to Index? Are you… Are you absolutely sure it's not caused by the barrier?"
Kamijou stared at the magician for a few moments more, still skeptical of the current situation.
How did her entire personality do a 180 on me like that? Did I say something strange that calmed her down or something?
Kamijou, still not wanting to ruin the good mood that she had somehow stumbled upon, began to dial her home number, this time keeping a wary eye on the magician.
As her phone connected yet again, Kamijou saw the magician attempt to casually looked away from her and pretend to be disinterested in what was going on. The student could clearly see the light of interest in the magician's eyes, a light that the red haired girl did little to hide.
Kamijou might have commented on the interest that the magician was clearly showing, but just as she was about to open her mouth to do so, her voicemail message began to play again in her ear, a sound that filled her with a dread that she had not expected.
It… It has to be that the idiot can't figure out how to answer the phone, despite the fact that I gave him a lengthy lecture on the subject. I bet if I call one more time that chibi priest will answer just fine.
Not even pausing to look at the magician, or discuss anything with her, Kamijou began to dial the number of her house phone yet again, completely expecting for the other end of the line to erupt in a flurry of apologies from the boy priest.
However, her expectation did not meet reality, instead hearing for the third time her voice message, detailing how she should leave a message addressed to her. It was at this moment that the student felt a single bead of sweat role down her neck.
There… There is now possible way… Nothing bad could have happened to Index at all… right?
Kamijou, now completely ignoring the magician's presence, rapidly redialed the number of her home, not fully sure about what to expect from this call.
However, barely one ring tone into the call, Kamijou heard the line connect, and a boyish voice began to speak from the other end of the line, a voice that was most obviously not Index's.
"… Oh… Is this thing on now? …Ah… Uhm… Sorry Index but… It seems that I answered the phone accidently… Sorry about that."
There was a distinct rustling sound on the other end of the line, as if someone was tearing the phone out of another person's hands, and Kamijou could hear Index's voice which was raised in obvious concern.
"Negi-san! Could you please refrain from causing problems for me and Touka? I know that we both owe you a lot… but this is just ridiculous!"
From the other end of the line, Kamijou could hear Negi Springfield's voice chuckle at Index, a sound that caused Kamijou's blood to boil more than she thought it would.
What in the world… Is that pervert doing over there?
Two weeks or so ago, When Kamijou was just getting out of the hospital and going back to her 'home', the student with a serious case of amnesia had been reintroduced to her home room teacher. From her very first meeting with the boy, she could instantly tell that he was strange, looking like he was younger than Kamijou yet exuding an aura of professionalism and serenity like he was an aged gentleman.
However…
"Come on now Index. I'm just taking my time to inspect the room of my most beloved pupil. Now a day's, teachers don't really get a chance to do things like this."
Index almost instantly responded to Negi's explanation, but there clear tones of faltering within the boy priest's voice.
"I… I can understand that Negi-san… But should you really be going through those? They are… extremely personal items!"
Kamijou heard Negi's voice again, though this time it seemed to be much farther away from the receiver than it was previously.
"What? Their just bits of cloth, like other pieces of clothing? Why would they be more personal to Kamijou than other articles of clothing?"
Index pretty much shouted at the teacher, something that Kamijou deeply wished she could do.
"But that's her underwear! Don't you think she would have a semi strong opinion about you digging through her unmentionables?!"
Kamijou almost instinctively reached for her skirt, perhaps as some sort of defense against the perverted teacher, but she heard the teacher's voice chuckle from the other end of the line, his voice a source of rage to her.
"Come on now Index, it's not really that big of a deal. How about you actually answer that phone call Kamijou got? I assume she did teach you how to operate a phone while she was out right?"
Kamijou did not hear Index for a few seconds, and she imagined the boy priest looking at the phone receiver with a confused look on his face. After a second of imagining this, Kamijou heard the priest say something.
"… Ahhh… Has… Has this been connected the entire time?"
Kamijou put the palm of her hand up to her face and sighed into the receiver on her end of the connection.
Why in the world did I trust him with this again? I had thought he would be competent enough to handle this… but…
The moment Kamijou finished this thought, she heard the voice of Index talking into the receiver.
"Erm… Hello? This is Kamijou Touka's residence, but currently she is out on business. If you want to leave a message for her, I can take one for you."
Kamijou couldn't help but pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance and sighed into the receiver with what was left of her strength.
"… Index… As glad as I am that you managed to answer the phone like I showed you… but… Could you please explain to me how you forgot that the phone had been answered?"
Kamijou could almost see Index jumping up in surprise at the sound of Kamijou's voice just from the trembling in his voice.
"T-T-Touka?! Is that you..? I'm… H-How are you right now? Is your business going well? Uhm… have you heard everything that has been said so far?"
Kamijou sighed into the receiver again.
"Yes Index… I've heard absolutely everything that's been going on over there. Especially what has been going on with Negi-sensei."
Kamijou could hear the priest swallow in fear from the way she said the last sentence. When he began talking again, Kamijou could hear the fear in Index's voice.
"Uh… Well… Yes Negi-san did come by so that he could deliver a few papers for you… And now…!?"
Kamijou did not have to imagine Index's face to realize that he had been surprised by something, and the girl could only guess that whatever had happened, Negi was involved somehow.
"Index… What in the world is that idiot doing now?"
Index answered back in a series of sputtering fragments of words, though there was an embarrassed tone to his voice.
"Wha… H… Uh… Tha…"
Kamijou gritted her teeth in anger and almost shouted into the phone receiver.
"Index! What is going on over there!?"
Index sighed into the phone line on his end and responded back to Kamijou in a crestfallen tone.
"Would… Would you prefer me to tell you the truth, and get you angry, or would you prefer not to know?"
Kamijou could only pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance and prayed with all her might that her pervert of a homeroom teacher had done something harmless.
"Just… Just tell me what is going on Index… I might not like what will be said, but… just tell me."
Index might have been about to answer her question, but there was the sound of the phone being snatched out of his hands, and suddenly the voice of Negi Springfield began to blare at her from across the phone line.
"Is that actually you Kamijou-chan? I had thought that since you weren't home like you usually were on holiday's you must have been terribly busy."
Kamijou felt as if her entire vision had been dominated by a flashing red rage, and for some reason all she could do was smile in a menacing way.
"Sensei… How are you at the moment? Are you having fun ransacking my room while I'm away?"
After a moment of silence, the student could hear her teacher sigh across the phone line.
"Really now Kamijou-chan? Is that the tone that my favorite student chooses to take after I decided to stop by for a surprise visit? You're liable to make me cry!"
Kamijou pursed her lips tight as she whispered into the phone, her rage slowly building up within her, waiting to explode.
"Well the last time I checked, teachers had pretty much stopped making house calls in this day and age. And they most certainly don't go through their student's underwear!"
Negi sighed into the phone again and began to speak as if he were distracted.
"Oh calm down Kamijou-chan. I didn't go through you clothes for any strange personal reason. I was just checking on the morals of my favorite student is all."
Kamijou could not contain her rage at that comment, and instantly began to shout at the teacher on the other end of the line.
"Morals?! Well tell me this then sensei. How in the world can you judge my morals based upon my underwear?"
Suddenly, Kamijou could imagine the smiling face of her teacher on the other end of the line, an image that she found to be overly disturbing.
"Hmmm… Well… Funny you should ask that Kamijou-chan. Can you guess what I found at the very bottom of your drawer?"
The student remained deathly silent as she slowly realized a chilling fact.
… I… I didn't actually go through that drawer, did I? I… I always just took the first set that was at the top and… Oh god what did he find in there!?
As if to answer her unasked question, Negi simply began to describe the articles of clothing that he most likely held in his hands.
"I mean really Kamijou-chan, these things are barely more than pieces of string with cloth to barely protect the most important bits. I barely feel decent holding this, and I wonder at how you feel when you wear them?"
Barely trying to contain her rage and embarrassment, Kamijou shouted into her phone as a vein began to bulge in her neck.
"Listen here you fucking perverted teacher! Put that stuff back in the drawer, and get out of my fucking house at once! I swear, the next time I see you in the flesh I will beat to too death!"
The student heard her teacher sigh into the receiver, and instead of responding to Kamijou, he addressed Index.
"Ahhh… It seems that I somehow managed to piss her off. Index, can you take over for me? I doubt that I can calm her down."
With that, Kamijou heard the sound of the phone being tossed through the air. Index must have caught it, because it was his voice that she heard next.
"Negi-san! The reason Touka is mad at you is because…?! Negi-san! Please stop that! You can't keep..."
Kamijou could only sigh into the receiver as she imagined what it was that had Index so surprised. Her rage was not growing hotter as she stood there, and instead felt it cool.
"Index… Just leave that idiot for now… Besides… You wouldn't be able to stop him even if you tried."
Index was silent for a few seconds, either from shock or contemplation, before he began to speak again.
"But… Touka, He's… He's…"
Kamijou grit her teeth as she again imagined the picture of her perverted red hair teacher digging through her underwear, but she sighed in defeat at the image.
"I know, I know Index. Whatever he might be doing at the moment, just leave him at it. If you could have done something to stop him, you would have done it already. Besides…"
Kamijou could not help but smile as she clenched her left hand into a fist that would be the hammer of justice that would rain down on the pervert.
"If you stop him before his sin is the greatest, then I wouldn't have the fun of punishing him for it. No… Just take note of everything he does, and I'll take care of him later."
From the silence on the other end of the line, Kamijou expected Index to be shivering in fear from the tone of her voice.
"… Okay the Touka… I'll… I'll make sure to keep an eye on him for you… seeing as that is all I can do."
Kamijou nodded at the priests words, and even allowed a small smile to play across her face.
"Please do that Index, it'll help me out a lot… Well I'll be back later, so please try and keep out of more trouble, will you?"
With that last question, Kamijou hung up the line on her and sighed in exhaustion, feeling more tired than when she had first called Index.
… Wait a minute… Wasn't the point of all that to relax me?
As the student pondered this strange occurrence, the magician took that moment to comment for the first time in a few minutes.
"So… I can see you and Index have a… rather civil relationship, to say the least."
Kamijou turned to look at the magician with a curious gaze, only to find that the red haired girl had a crestfallen look on her face.
"…What? How in the world am I supposed to respond to that? We should at the very least have a relationship where the two of us can live together in some semblance of peace…. Though that doesn't keep him from causing me all sorts of problems every day."
The magician looked over at Kamijou with an annoyed glint in her eye, and a cynic's smile across her face.
"Oh… So you see him as an annoyance now? Strange… After all you did to save him a few weeks ago, I find it strange that you would come to feel like that."
… Oh shit did I step into something again?! Why can't I just leave my big mouth shut and just go with the flow?
Kamijou felt her entire body tense up as she thought that, but she slowly reached up to rub the back of her head, and turned a smiling face toward the magician, acting like she hadn't been fazed by the magician's comment at all.
"Oh come on now! I'm just venting a bit! After living with him for a few days, you would probably be ready to vent a bit as well."
The magician stared at Kamijou for a few moments, her annoyed gaze taking in the composed student. After those moments, she simply laughed in a cynical manner, causing the student to be on edge.
"Really now? You see it like that? Well… pity that you are the only one who can experience it, or else I would jump at the chance to even be as annoyed as you are."
At that moment, something slight clicked in Kamijou's brain.
… That talk back on the balcony… All those insults and mistreatment… The way she's acting right now… It couldn't be… but… is she…
"Are you jealous of me?"
At that very moment, Kamijou cursed her mouth getting ahead of her brain.
The magician's gaze fell upon Kamijou within a second of the student's question, her eyes all ablaze with rage.
"What did you say? Am I jealous? Of you?"
The magician stared at the shivering student before outright laughing at her, though the laugh did no dispel the aura on red hot anger.
"Tell me… How in the world do you expect me to be jealous of you? What in the world do you have that would make me jealous?"
The magician took a step away from the wall and straightened her posture to stand slightly above the silent Kamijou.
"Should I be jealous of your power? A power that can only work by placing yourself where the danger is the greatest? Should I be jealous of that?"
The magician took a step toward the now shivering student, who took an involuntary step backwards.
"Should I be jealous of the fact that you would take on an incredible burden on a whim, even though you had absolutely nothing to gain from it, and everything to lose? Should I be jealous of that?"
The magician took yet another step towards Kamijou, who at that moment could not move her feet in complete at total fear.
"Should I be jealous of your stupidity? The force that allowed you to keep fighting against an unstoppable force, despite having all of the facts laid out for you? Are you saying that I should be jealous of that?!"
Suddenly, after the last question left the magician's mouth, the red haired girl froze, and the aura of rage evaporated as if it was never there to begin with. The red haired girl looked down at her feet, purposefully not looking at the student.
"What in the world should I be jealous of? The fact that you just blew away everything that seemed impossible to change with one action? Don't… Don't make me laugh!"
Visible gritting her teeth, the red haired magician looked up at Kamijou, a resolute glare clear in her eyes.
"Don't… Don't you dare act like you are superior to me! Just… Just because you were able to change everything… Don't… think that people will be envious of you!"
The magician turned her back to the student, and began to start up the stairwell toward the next level, but halfway up she stopped to turn back and look at Kamijou.
"By the way… Can you tell me how your teacher managed to get into your room?"
Kamijou, who had been shocked silent at the display of rage from the magician, slowly forced her brain to work, albeit a bit slowly.
"H-How did he get in?... I… I don't know. I assumed he walked in the front door."
The magician glared at the student for a few seconds more before sighing and shaking her head.
"Really now… How oblivious can you be?"
Refusing to even give Kamijou any indication on why she asked that question, the magician continued to climb up the stairs, quickly disappearing from view, and leaving Kamijou standing there with a blank look on her face. The student stood there for a few seconds, contemplating what had just happened, before she sighed and placed a hand on her face.
Really now… I have to stop walking into things that would lead directly to things I have no idea about. I just wish I had even a fragment of a memory, or something that would help me understand what it is I just stepped on.
Sighing to herself again, Kamijou shook her head in dismay and took off after the magician.
