Chapter 21
Friday, November 25, 2022
Arriving at school in the morning, Furan-senpai catches us before we enter the classroom.
"Ah, Inaho, Senji! I finally find you! Tonight one of the members of one of the student councils is leaving and there's a farewell party for him, so you'll be accompanying us."
"Um... Why? We don't know him..." We look at each other with Inaho, not understanding why we're involved.
"He's one of those people who makes life easier for us with the reports and distribution of grants for the clubs. He's been managing both your jobs since the beginning of the year. Even if you've never met, you must at least do it tonight, understand? I'll be waiting for you in the clubroom, see you later." She said as she left, without waiting for our reply.
In this famous farewell party, I finally meet this so-called person. Lio Shirazumi, a young man of 20, although handsome, Lio wasn't very remarkable because of his quiet personality. He has brown hair and eyes and wears simple, casual clothes. We pass each other and he moves his hand forward, wanting to shake mine.
"Oh, you're the famous Senji, nice to meet you, I'm Lio." He said with a false smile.
"Pleased to meet you and thank you for your work." I say mechanically, clearly not liking his intonation.
"The pleasure is all mine. To tell you the truth, I really enjoy reading your reports, you're really impressive as a guy, I can see why Shiki likes you so much." Then he leaves, shaking hands with others.
(Jealousy huh...)
But unfortunately, the party isn't really conducive to the current mood. I can feel a certain uneasiness throughout the school. And the fact that it's raining cats and dogs doesn't help, with the clattering sound of the drops hitting the ground. Last night, the incident of the murder we found and three others were publicly announced. As a result, all clubs are suspended until further notice. The suspect has still not been brought to justice, and we still don't know the personality, character or motive that led him to commit this crime. In fact, it might be too hasty to designate the suspect as male at this time. There is nothing in common between the victims, except that they were out walking late at night.
Students stop hanging around after school and go home immediately, and everyone goes home as a group. The murderer's grip on the city is so tangible I can almost touch it.
"Four murders already..." I mumble, sitting in a corner of the room.
The party doesn't last long, and when the room is tidy and clean, this Lio leaves, shaking our hands one last time. Then we go to the club room to get our bags. On our way out with the rain greeting us, I see Shiki alone at the entrance.
"Go home without me, I'm going to the beach anyway."
"Even in the rain? You'll catch a cold, won't you?" Inaho asks.
"Don't worry, it takes a lot for me to get sick. Oh can you give me 15 minutes notice for dinner? please." I ask.
"Yes of course, good luck and don't overdo it okay?"
"No worries." I give Inaho one last wave, then head for Shiki.
The rain faintly resembles a veil and gives the impression that the campus grounds are shrouded in fog. The winter chill makes the pale whiteness of my breath visible.
A few feet away, she notices me and turns her head towards me.
"I've got an umbrella if you want." I say, standing next to her.
"It's all right. Someone's coming to get me. You should hurry up and go home." she tells me, looking away.
"In a moment. I thought I'd stay here until your driver arrives. If it's not too much trouble?"
Without waiting for an answer, I lean against the concrete wall and remain silent, enjoying the song of the falling water.
Having closed my eyes, I can feel Shiki's gaze. We don't speak, less than a meter apart. The fact that we're so close and yet don't speak seems to confuse her. It's true that the situation is a little awkward, but the silence isn't at all uncomfortable. A soothing silence. I can feel a slight fear creeping over Shiki.
"SENJI!" She suddenly shouts.
"Yes?!" With a leap, I open my eyes and stand up straight. "What happened? Is something wrong?" I ask.
Our eyes meet, I see myself reflected in her eyes. Looking at each other like this is probably the first time I've really seen Ryōgi Shiki, who is still just a girl, with a girlish face and a calm personality.
"Where..." She looks down. "Where were you before you came here?"
"In the room of one of the student councils. One of the senior students is leaving the school and they've organized a sort of farewell party for him. His name is Lio Shirazumi. If I remember correctly, he said he was leaving school because he found something he wanted to do, good for him. The guy's so normal I'd never have met him otherwise."
"From your tone, I can see he's not making a good impression on you." She said.
"Can you hear that much? Indeed, I don't know why, but this guy disgusts me. When he spoke to me, with his false smile and his false manners, I thought this guy was dangerous."
Shiki stepped back slightly, as if frightened. She looks at me strangely, as if I'm dangerous too. I calm down and settle back on the concrete wall.
Shortly afterwards, the car drove through the gate and awkwardly said goodbye.
Arriving at the beach, I found All Might under an umbrella, sitting in a deckchair.
"Are you all right, young man? You seem tense, which is not a good condition to work out."
"With the murders made public, the whole school was tense, including me." I say vaguely, setting my bag down next to All Might.
"Hmm, your sense of justice kicking in isn't it? I know this announcement is revolting, but don't worry, the police are on it, and I'm sure it won't be long before they catch him." All Might tries to reassure me. But I can see he doesn't really believe it either.
"Surely yes, well I'll get on with it." I say, taking off my coat and rolling up my sleeves.
I'm surprised myself at the progress I've made, I thought it would take me months, but as I'm methodical about it, the beach is emptying at a pretty good speed. This even surprises All Might, who makes more trips to the dump than he had planned.
I push off and put the last of the evening's garbage into the van, a truck wheel, and clap my hands to remove the sand and dust, signaling the end for tonight.
"Good work Senji, frankly you impress me, at this rate we'll be done by the first month of 2023."
"It's good news indeed. Well then, I'd better get back or I'm going to eat cold."
"Of course, see you tomorrow young man, fit as a fiddle of course!"
"Tomorrow we'll get an early start, won't we?"
"Eight o'clock in the morning here!"
"Yeah... Okay fine, I'll be there, at least I'll try... Well, see you tomorrow All Might."
Monday, November 28, 2022
"As a result of the phenomenon, the Building Standards Act was brought in and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport..." While Fuji-nee lectures, I can't help moving around, aching to sit still.
"Damn, he didn't go easy on All Might, cleaning the beach all weekend without stopping... He wasn't kidding about the difficulty level. Even if I'm not in a hurry, I still get the impression that he wants to get it over with quickly. You'll tell me that suits me too, but the pace is hard to keep up. If it had only been part of the beach, it would have been easier, but there it's the hole thing. But all this is to forge a body capable of enduring the One for All, it's a crash course in heroism. I won't be constantly supervised by All Might, that's obvious. So do I need to add even more training on my own? I've already doubled my morning workouts... Maybe ask Minori-sensei for advice? No, if I start dragging other people into this, it'll be hard to keep the secret..." I mumble slightly, but when I look up, I can see that everyone is looking at me strangely.
"Senji, stay focused will you?" Fuji-nee orders me, throwing a pencil at me.
At midday, surrounded by Inaho and the three perverts, Usui, Matsuda and Motohama, we ate quietly, talking about things. I'm on my phone, approaching 16, I'm already thinking about getting my motorcycle licence, looking at the price and glancing at some bikes I might be interested in.
"Hi, can I join you?" Said a student, approaching us.
"Hi Youta, of course install you." Matsuda approaches a chair for him to sit in.
Shinozuka Youta, a little on the chubby side, had light colored hair that was slicked up.
"Are you going to buy one Senji?" He asks, looking over my shoulder.
"If I have 300,000 yen on me."
"Yet you do a lot of work on the side, don't you?" Usui asks.
"It's mostly because of Hiroyuki isn't it? He sent us all a message to come and see his new bike. That bastard, we're not all 19 years old for Christ's sake!" Motohama fumes.
"Plus he wants us to go on a road trip with him this summer." Says Matsuda.
"And how? By bike?" Youta retorted.
"I'd thought of taking a scooter, but I can't see myself next to him on his motorcycle..." Usui said sadly.
"But he's got a girlfriend of his own, so he'll just have to go with her!" suggests Youta.
"Oh yeah, Yumi! She's hot!" Motohama said, thinking obscene thoughts.
"If I bought myself a motorcycle, do you think I could get myself a chick, too?" Matsuda asks, thinking the same thing.
"You'll have to get a driver's license first, and that costs a fortune." I say, sighing. "Still, he must have found a job that pays well to afford this kind of machine." I say as a message appears on my phone.
"There, is that him sending you a message?" Usui asks. "Tell him he's showing off too much!"
I open the message, to see that it's an invitation to a game:
Help!
player Kyoda needs your help! Join Darwin's game and fly to his rescue!
Darwin's game is completely free.
Click on the link... = /?c=41212f65ab&q=fa1224876c5a5b
"Darwin's game? What's that?" I ask, doubtful.
"A sort of social game, I suppose..." Youta explains. "Haven't you ever seen the ads on the internet? It works with cards!"
"Ah yes, I see what it is. Is he playing that Hiroyuki?" I ask surprised.
"Will you get on with it, Senji-sama?" Inaho asks, resting her head on my shoulder.
"I don't know. They may say it's free, but they always push you to buy lots of stuff. But if there's money to be made, why not?"
Suddenly, the door to our classroom opens, letting in a teacher I've rarely seen, since he deals with students with a normal curriculum.
"I'm looking for Shinozuka Youta! Is he here?!"
"It's me, why?" He asks.
"One of my students, Hiroyuki Kyoda, is absent today, apparently he hasn't been home since yesterday. His parents are worried!"
"Really? Isn't he here?" Matsuda asks.
"You're all together a lot, you wouldn't happen to know where it went?" Asks the teacher.
"No, sorry" "Nothing at all." "No idea." "He didn't tell me." Matsuda, Motohama, Usui and Youta answer at the same time.
"I see, let me know if you have any news!" Asks the professor on his way out.
"Understood!" Usui replies.
"He still sent you messages!" Youta tells me.
"Just a commercial and a selfie with his bike." I say, starting to get worried.
(Was he butchered by this murderer?)
"That must be why he's away! Too busy showing off his new bike!" Matsuda laughs.
"I'll try his game, then. Maybe it'll bring me luck too." I said, pressing the link.
"You're just too jealous, man..."Motohama sighs.
The game opens, with the title "Darwin's game" writ large in the center of the screen. Below, a snake with wings and a start button.
"What's that thing? A snake?" Matsuda asks.
"Ha ha! if they wanted to make him look cute, they failed!" Usui scoffs.
"I think he's pretty cute!" Inaho retorts.
When I press the start button, a bright light comes out of my phone, but normally it's impossible for a phone to do that.
(Magic?)
Then a snake emerges and, at great speed, bites my neck. Only then do I have time to react, drop my phone and stand up in surprise.
"What the hell?!" I exclaim, surprising everyone.
"Senji-sama, are you all right?!" Inaho is just as surprised.
"One, a snake... Came out... of the..." I can hardly speak, my breath is short.
"What snake?!" Usui asks, seeing me in trouble.
"We didn't see any snakes." Inaho explains.
"Er... I... Huh?!" My vision blurs and I lose all my strength.
(What was it? A hallucination? I'm starting to get a fever!)
I can't feel my legs and collapse, losing consciousness.
"Senji-sama!"
"Call Aki-sensei! Hurry!" I hear my comrades one last time, before plunging completely into darkness.
"AH!" I wake up suddenly, in a bed in the school infirmary. I stand up abruptly, feeling a huge headache. "Gh..."
"Are we waking up yet?" Aki-sensei swivels in her rolling chair, facing me.
"What happened to me?" I ask, still holding my head, due to the sharp pain.
"Apparently, you fainted during the lunch break. It's due to overwork and lack of sleep, so I wanted to let you sleep. But Senji, I don't know what you're doing, but try to take a little better care of yourself, okay?" Aki-sensei seems worried about my health.
(It's coming back to me! I thought a snake was biting me... What could it be?")
"How long was I out?"
"*Sigh* Barely five minutes, classes have just resumed! Do you want to go back to class?"
"No, I don't feel well at all... Can I go home?"
"As you wish! Here, fill out the exit form."
"Okay, thanks..."
I fill in the form with difficulty and hand it to Aki-sensei.
"Is that okay?" I ask.
"Perfect!"
"Well, goodbye..."
"Remember to get plenty of rest!"
Outside, the cold hits even harder, due to my new fever. I hurry back home, but I can't seem to calm down.
(What did that damned snake do to me? Ddraig, do you know anything?)
"Hmmm, something did indeed change the moment the snake bit you."
"Ah so there was a snake, I thought I was going mad."
"Yes, but we were the only ones to see it."
"Anyway, I'm getting hungry again, I need to let Chiyo-san know I'm coming home..."
When I open my phone, I see the Darwin's game icon.
"Darwin's game... It's just a game, isn't it?"
When I press the icon and the game starts, it's a simple HUD with game icons at the top, menu, status etc... and below my profile.
"Well, it's a game that seems quite normal. But what was the snake trick for?"
Suddenly, the display changes to a notification: Combat pending. More information?
I click on OK, and a versus appears. Banda-boy VS Senji Emiya! My avatar looks exactly like me in a chibi version, against a guy dressed as a baseball player with a panda mascot head and a knife in his hand.
"Senji Emiya versus Banda-boy? How come my name shows up? Does the app have access to my personal data?"
I can see the timer going down fast.
"I've only got three seconds left? I don't even know the rules..."
*Tadam* Banda-boy appears large on my screen, with text underneath. "Ha ha ha ha! I'm Banda-boy, the noob hunter! Don't come back to haunt me when I've done you in, OK?"
"Is he my opponent? But he's the mascot of the city's baseball team, are they allowed to use him?"
"be careful, it seems to me you're being followed."
I turn to see the mascot a few yards behind me, knife in hand, staring at me with his two big panda eyes.
"You can't be serious..."
Vol. 4 End.
Hello, thank you for reading this chapter. I was surprised by the calendar, but I'm going on vacation on Sunday, away from my computer, and I'll be back on the 16th. So normally, chapter 22 will be out on the 21st, unless I run out of time and therefore have to publish it the following week. Have a good vacation if you have one, and I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
