“Am I wrong?”
“It’s true that I’ll do anything to achieve my goals, but my goal isn’t what you’re thinking,” she said. “We’re not trying to conquer the world, exterminate humanity, or force our views on anybody. Generally speaking, we’re just killing time. There’s no particular meaning behind anything we do, we’re just trying to have fun. That’s why we obsess so much over procedure. It would be easy to kill you right now, but I’m not omnipotent. Your corpse would be left behind as evidence, and I’d have to deal with getting rid of it. It would throw my planning off track, and defeat all the hard work I’ve put in to make sure I came to this school.”
“So what?” he asked. “I doubt you have anything good planned for the school.”
“I won’t deny that that’s the case,” she said carelessly. “But it has nothing to do with you. There are many things you watch passively, without interference, despite being able to perceive them with Soul Reader. Think of me as the same way.”
Soul Reader. The term gave Yuichi pause. Only a few people knew about that; Makina, who had only just met him, shouldn’t be one of them.
“I know, more or less, what you’ve been doing,” she said. “It’s there in all the books. When I decided to come to this school, I made it my business to read them.”
He wondered what she meant by “it’s there in all the books.”
“There’s an Outer who has that ability,” she added.
“What the heck are you—”
“If you were willing to befriend ‘Serial Killer,’ you can look the other way for me, can’t you?” she asked.
“Huh?” The words hit him like a physical blow. He never would have thought she’d know about Natsuki, too.
“...She’s... not killing people right now.” It was hard to argue with her, but Yuichi managed to strain those words out.
“You really think that quibbling constitutes an argument?” she asked. “Ah, but enough about ‘Serial Killer.’ Let’s not talk about the past. What about ‘Adult Datesim Protagonist,’ then? He’s a nasty piece of work. He likes to steal other people’s girlfriends, even raping them if it’s necessary. You’re going to let that slide? And that ‘Witch’ is really something, too. She’ll do anything to get what she wants. She’s got her venomous fangs in quite a few people, as well.”
Makina seemed to know more about these people than the mere labels Soul Reader provided him.
“I couldn’t possibly know about all of that!” Yuichi shouted.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” she said calmly. “If I don’t tell you what I plan to do, there’s no need for you to do anything about it. Think of it as something happening worlds away.”
Yuichi had always played the nihilist, telling himself that one person couldn’t save the entire world. At the same time, he couldn’t just accept what she was saying, going along with the idea that it was none of his business. He was starting to think that maybe his philosophy was wrong.
“Now, Yuichi Sakaki,” she said. “Have you forgotten that we’re playing a game? I’ve already told you one lie. Which is it? If you’re not sure, I’ll give you a hint—”
“‘I’ve already told you one lie.’ That’s the lie,” Yuichi answered immediately.
“...Wait a minute. I said ‘already.’ You don’t think the lie happened during our conversation?”
“The thirty minutes since you explained the rules aren’t up yet,” he said. “You’re still on the clock.”
“Most people would logically assume the answer was part of the conversation.”
“Yeah, so?” he asked. “My instincts tell me you hadn’t told a single lie before then.”
Part of that came from his continuous observation of her, but it was more a gut feeling on his part.
“It’s a boring way to end it... but ah, well. You win.” Makina waved him away, seeming genuinely annoyed.
“You’re saying I can go?” he asked.
“That’s right. I doubt that our conversation has resolved all your questions, but I’d appreciate it if you would not stick your nose in where it isn’t wanted. I intend to be a proper teacher, so I’d appreciate it if you’d treat me that way.”
“...Understood, Miss Shikitani.” Further conversation was pointless. Yuichi stood up and headed for the door.
“Oh, one more thing.”
He had just opened the door when Makina called him back.
“Do you know why Ms. Nodayama’s dye job is so poorly done?” she asked.
Yuichi turned back around. Makina gave him a thin smile..
“Because... she can’t be bothered, right?” he asked. Hanako’s hair was brown overall, but black at the roots. Quite a bit of time must have passed since she’d first dyed it.
“If she didn’t want to be bothered with it, why would she dye it in the first place?” Makina asked.
Yuichi had wondered the same thing at first, but eventually, he had decided she must have done it on a whim of some kind, and he hadn’t given it any further thought.
“Here’s what I think,” Makina said. “They say it’s not good to dye your hair while you’re pregnant. There’s an old wives tale that the dye soaks in through the skin and harms the growing fetus. It’s not true, of course, but you can’t stop people from believing in it. It’s a natural motherly instinct to want to eliminate anything that might cause even the slightest harm to the baby.”
Yuichi couldn’t figure out what she was getting at.
“Of course, this is mere supposition,” she said. “I have no evidence to suggest that Ms. Nodayama was pregnant. But if I were to follow my supposition to its natural conclusion, the father is likely her childhood friend. Then, with their marriage approaching, he suddenly canceled the engagement and ran off with another woman. Can you imagine the heartbreak that would cause? Such a traumatic amount of stress, enough to make her stop eating... what effect might that have on the pregnancy? My thoughts go first to the restriction of blood flow. Stress causes the capillaries to dilate, which would prevent the flow of nutrition to the fetus. It also increases prolactin, which reduces the functioning of the ovaries and reduces the progestogen hormone required to maintain the pregnancy, too. In such a situation, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the fetus were affected, would it?”
“You—!” Yuichi was enraged. If what Makina was intimating was true, it was unforgivable.
“And then they would take measures to stop it, wouldn’t they?” she asked. “Don’t be so annoyed. I’m just teasing you a bit. I’m frustrated at how easily I lost the game.”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want me to get involved?!” he snapped. If she wanted to reach a truce with him, there was no reason for her to have said all that.
“That’s true,” she said. “I suppose I just wanted to see the look on your face.”
“What?”
“There are things I can endure for the sake of my goal, but I will sometimes act just to satisfy immediate curiosity, despite it being of no rational benefit to me,” she explained. “Now, this time, our conversation really is over. You can be off for now.”
Yuichi glared at Makina, then jerked opened the door and flew out of the student guidance room. But just as he was about to run off, he detected somebody else nearby.
“Yu, what’s wrong? You’re looking like you feel like you did when you were poor!” Mutsuko cried.
“I was never poor!” Yuichi snapped back.
Mutsuko and Aiko were right outside of the door, waiting.
Yuichi closed the door to the guidance room. He had a nagging feeling that he shouldn’t let Mutsuko and Makina meet.
“What are you doing here anyway, Sis?” he asked. She had said they were having a club meeting that day, so Yuichi would have expected her to be in the club room already.
“I-I just heard you’d been taken to a student guidance room, okay?” she cried. “I was just worried you’d done something awful, that’s all!”
“You’
re just saying that to sound tsundere,” he said flatly. “Don’t try new things. It doesn’t suit you.”
“So? Are you really okay?” Mutsuko leaned in, peering into his face with genuine concern. His expression must have really been something.
“Yeah, really, I’m fine. The minute I saw you, everything went stale again.”
“What the heck?!” Her concern shifted immediately into huffing anger.
“Sakaki, what on earth happened?” Aiko looked worried, too. She must not have known what to make of him bolting out of a door like that.
“I’ll explain later,” he said. “Setting that aside, do you know if Ms. Nodayama’s in the hospital?”
“Hmm, I dunno. I could ask my dad, if you want...” Aiko pulled out her cell phone and called.
Hanako had been admitted to Noro General Hospital, so they could find out her condition immediately.
As it turned out, she had been admitted for malnutrition, but she wasn’t pregnant.
Chapter 2: No One Cared About the Absent Club Members
In the survival club room on the second floor of the old school building, Yuichi sulkily rested his chin in his hands. He wasn’t in the mood for club, but he had been literally dragged there by Mutsuko.
“Okay! Time to get started on our second term!” Mutsuko declared proudly while standing in her usual spot in front of the whiteboard.
“I’ve been thinking... What’s with this club? What does any of this have to do with survival?” Yuichi asked with a barbed tone. His conversation with Makina was still gnawing at him.
“Sakaki, you’re just asking that now?!” Aiko, sitting beside him, stared at him in shock.
“Personally, I don’t really care what the club does,” another club member said coolly.
“Then why did you join it?!” Yuichi exclaimed.
That statement, even more blunt than Yuichi’s, had come from Natsuki Takeuchi, who was sitting across the table from them.
The serial killer, “Love Interest II.” A beautiful girl with short hair and cold eyes. They’d bonded a bit during summer training camp, but he still didn’t have any idea what she was thinking, most of the time. He had a hard time knowing how to interact with her, too.
“Your sister invited me,” Natsuki said lightly. “And you were here. Those are my reasons, more or less.”
“The survival club is the survival club,” Mutsuko declared. “Natural disasters, post-apocalyptic futures, alien invasions. We’re learning how to defend against all of that stuff!”
“Yeah, I know that,” Yuichi said. “But what do we actually do?”
They had talked about tips for what you would do if you ended up in an isekai, and about the psychology of killing people. But Yuichi couldn’t help but feel that that stuff didn’t have much to do with survival.
“You’ve got a bee in your bonnet today, huh, Yu? Are you reaching that rebellious age, or something?” Mutsuko asked. “Hey, Orihara! We’re a real survival club, aren’t we?”
“Ah?” the other girl responded absent-mindedly to Mutsuko’s question.
She was Kanako Orihara, the club’s vice president. She was sitting beside Natsuki, diagonally across from Yuichi. She was a striking girl with wavy, chestnut hair, and as mild a personality as her appearance implied. She seemed confused by Mutsuko’s question, as if her mind had been somewhere else.
Above her head was the label “Isekai Writer.” Previously it had been “Isekai Fanatic,” but the label was so similar that Yuichi didn’t think about it too deeply.
“I was saying, we’re a real survival club, right?” Mutsuko asked.
“...That’s right. But Hisaka doesn’t come at all anymore. Maybe there really is a problem...” Kanako said, after thinking back carefully.
“Who is Hisaka?” Aiko looked up in surprise at the mention of the name.
“One of the club’s members!” Mutsuko declared. “Stopped coming right after we started up, though. I guess they thought it was a survival game club? Came in the full equipment and seemed really hyped up about it, too!”
“That’s a reasonable mistake to make, isn’t it?” Yuichi had a feeling that more people knew about survival games than about survival itself.
“Maybe they got mad ’cause I said, ‘Shooting airsoft guns isn’t useful in survival!’ But don’t worry! I’ve been thinking about things a little more flexibly of late! Rather than just extreme situations, I’ve been thinking, maybe we should just think about how to deal with guns, or something. If people know they get to handle real guns, I’m sure they’ll come!”
“Where are we going to get guns?” Yuichi asked flatly.
“My house.” Natsuki raised her hand, looking quite triumphant about it.
“Don’t look smug! That’s a crime!” Yuichi exclaimed. He remembered how Natsuki had shot at him the first time they’d fought.
“No problem! Both guns and bullets are easy to make!” Mutsuko announced, also failing to understand that they were discussing a felony.
“That’s right, I heard you could make them with 3D printing.” Yuichi remembered seeing that on the news.
“Those aren’t any good,” Mutsuko said dismissively. “They fall apart after just a few shots, and they’re not dependable at all! It’s easy to make real guns with stuff we’ve got around the house!”
“What exactly do we have around our house?” Yuichi asked, startled. He couldn’t remember seeing or hearing about anything like that. “Oh, yeah, and there are two missing club members, right? One is Hisaka. Who’s the other?”
Yuichi hadn’t thought about it much before, but since they’d brought the subject up, he decided he might as well ask.
“Iyn Ryuoh,” Mutsuko said. “What a piece of work! Wore mismatched contact lenses, eyepatches, arm bandages, and dressed all in black with a cape. Is that what they call ‘middle school syndrome’? Kept repeating all these endless original ‘magic’ chants...” Mutsuko groaned.
“That member probably joined the club because they thought they’d found a kindred spirit!” Yuichi cried. “You should have hung out! The poor thing...”
Admittedly, that wasn’t the sort of “middle school syndrome” that Mutsuko had much interest in. She did like to wear ostentatiously “cool” clothing, but practicality was the most important thing to her.
“No way! If the magic was real, then maybe...” Mutsuko murmured, apparently unwilling to be moved on the subject.
As they chatted back and forth, they heard a knock on the door. Yuichi stood up and went to answer it. They rarely got visitors there, but for some reason, everyone had seemed to be in silent agreement that Yuichi should be the one to get the door.
“Um, is Ms. Orihara here?!” There were two girls at the door, students of their school. They were calling her “Ms.”, and carrying books, so it was immediately obvious to Yuichi what they were there for.
“Orihara, looks like you’ve got some fans,” Yuichi said.
“Oh? What is it?” Kanako walked up to the door as Yuichi went back to his seat.
The girls held out their books, and Kanako politely began signing.
Kanako had very recently had her debut as a student author. She had been publishing chapters of a story on the internet, which had been found by an editor and published.
Her novel, My Demon Lord Is Too Cute to Kill and Now the World is in Danger!, had gone on sale at the end of August. She had gotten permission from the school to do it, and wasn’t especially trying to hide it. As a result, many people at school had learned of Kanako’s literary debut.
I guess she became “Isekai Writer” because she got published... Yuichi mused. She was a proper author now, with her book being published and sold in stores. Maybe that had had an influence on her label.
“It’s a little embarrassing, signing autographs...” Kanako murmured.
“Thank you so much!” the girls cried.
The two girls ran off, and Kanako returned bashfully to her seat.
“Is it getting good reviews?” Yuichi asked offhandedly, then immediately regretted it. It might be a rude question to ask the author herself.
“It seems the people at school are reading it... um, but people aren’t talking about it very much online...” she murmured.
“I was thinking of getting around to reading it,” Yuichi said, trying to change the subject as he kicked himself internally.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” Kanako responded apologetically.
“No, I’ll read it.”
Mutsuko and Aiko had been reading it, and they’d been throwing out a lot of words during club, like “Twelve Hell Kings” and “Colossus.” He’d found it slightly intriguing, and had wanted to read it for a while, but hadn’t yet found the chance.
“Well, time to get down to business! Today’s theme is this!” Mutsuko wrote “Surviving in the Isekai Glowsphere!” on the whiteboard.
“More isekai stuff, huh?” Yuichi sighed. “And what the hell is a Glowsphere?”
“What else? It’s the alternate world from Orihara’s novel, My Demon Lord Is Too Cute to Kill and Now the World is in Danger!”
“Did you come up with that just now, because her fans dropped in?” he asked. It was a bit simplistic, but that was Mutsuko for you.
“What’s wrong with that?” she demanded. “We have a high school light novel author, the great Ms. Orihara, here with us right now! We should take advantage of a chance to talk to the creator directly! Go ahead, Ms. Orihara! Come on down!”
Mutsuko got around behind Kanako and pulled her upright, then dragged her up to the whiteboard. While Kanako stood there like a deer in headlights, Mutsuko took Kanako’s former seat.
“Isn’t her novel fiction? What’s the point of coming up with survival strategies for that?” Natsuki pointed out coldly.
Yuichi sort of knew what she was getting at. It was one thing to talk about isekais in the abstract, but discussing survival in a known fictional world felt like a farce.
“Well, I believe that Glowsphere exists,” Kanako said, timidly but firmly.
“Uh, is it okay to think about it like that?” Yuichi asked, feeling a little concerned about Kanako. Or was that what it was felt like, when you were a writer?
The Melancholy of the High School Girl Light Novel Author?! Page 4