Enrollment Arc, Part I

by Tsutomu Sato

  He turned around to see the slender girl with short hair that wasn’t too short. The term sharp might have been better than slender to describe her.

  “Erika… That’s unusual. Are you by yourself?”

  “Is it? In my opinion, I’m not really the type to make many plans with people.”

  Now that she mentions it, she has a point, thought Tatsuya.

  “Anyway, Tatsuya, what are you doing for a club? Mizuki already decided to join the art club. She invited me to do it with her, but I’m not really the artsy type. I’m just gonna wander around and see if there’s anything interesting.”

  “Leo said he already decided, too, right?”

  “Yeah, the mountaineering club. It suits him so well that it hurts.”

  “Well… It certainly does suit him.”

  “Our mountaineering club is apparently more keen on survival skills than mountain climbing. There’s, like, nowhere else he could even be,” Erika said under her breath in cursing, then gave a vaguely uninterested look. “Tatsuya, if you haven’t decided on a club yet, want to come with me?”

  If she’d said that to him, he would have gotten angry and denied her, but she had a slightly lonesome look on her face, and he couldn’t refuse her.

  “Actually, the disciplinary committee is putting me straight to work. We’d both be wandering around the place, but I’d have to be on patrol at the same time. If that’s okay with you, then I’ll come.”

  “Hmm. Well, all right, then. I guess we’ll meet in front of the classroom.”

  Erika feigned self-importance as she thought about Tatsuya’s invitation, then gestured reluctantly and answered.

  Her smile, though, betrayed her act.

  “Why are you here?!”

  That was the first thing Tatsuya heard at the beginning of his second encounter.

  “Well, say whatever you like, but it’s absurd.”

  Tatsuya’s attitude, with his astounded voice and sigh, only invited yet more excitement.

  “What was that?!”

  This time, he looked like he might come over and grab him, rather than just sounding like it.

  But…

  “Quiet down, newbie!”

  Roared at by Mari, Shun Morisaki hurriedly shut his mouth and straightened up even further.

  “This is a business meeting of the disciplinary committee. Nobody present here is not of the disciplinary committee. Please, have at least a tiny bit of common sense to know that.”

  “I am sorry!”

  Morisaki’s face was pathetically drawn back with nervousness and fear.

  Mari had only dragged him into this the day before yesterday. And even if that hadn’t been the case, being reprimanded by someone with the same authority as the student council president or club association chairman was a lot of responsibility for a new student. Especially for those who were too serious about it.

  “Fine, just sit down.”

  Before the Course 1 student who was standing there, all the blood drained from his face, Mari ordered him to take his seat with an awkward expression.

  When Tatsuya matched this with what he’d seen of her behavior from yesterday, she seemed to have the exact opposite personality of someone who took pleasure in abusing those with a lower rank than she had.

  Morisaki took his seat across from Tatsuya. Neither of them wanted to be in this position, but they were the freshmen here. They were on the lowest rung. Having to stare at each other at the lowest seats on the table was unavoidable.

  “Everyone’s here, right?”

  After that, the two seniors came in one after another, and when there were nine people in the room, Mari stood up.

  “Just sit there and listen. This year’s noisy week is right around the corner. This will be the disciplinary committee’s first climax of the new year. There are those who got carried away and caused a huge problem last year—as well as those who so kindly made it worse for us by trying to calm it down—but this year, I want us all to put in our best efforts so that we don’t have to deal with any problem children. I don’t want any officers taking the initiative and causing issues, got it?”

  After seeing more than one person wince, Tatsuya, who knew all too well he had a problem with getting into trouble, cautioned himself not to go down the same path.

  “Thankfully, this year, our graduate replacements made it on time. I’ll introduce them. Please stand.”

  They hadn’t been warned in the briefing about this part, but they both promptly stood up, without difficulty or confusion.

  Though there was a distinct difference in enthusiasm in their expressions.

  Morisaki was standing at attention, without hiding, or even trying to hide, his nervousness, and instead that made him look enthusiastic. Tatsuya had the air of someone who wasn’t quite taking this seriously enough, despite his calm countenance.

  People who considered superiority important probably would prefer Morisaki’s attitude, and for those who thought real strength was the most important, Tatsuya probably looked more reliable.

  “This is Shun Morisaki from 1-A and Tatsuya Shiba from 1-E. They’ll be joining us on patrol starting today.”

  A stir arose, and it was probably because of them hearing the class Tatsuya was from. He didn’t hear the word Weed whispered, however—as expected from the headquarters of those who prevented the use of such slurs.

  “Are we partnering up?”

  It may not have been to deflect the issue, but a sophomore named Okada raised his hand and said that. He was one of the ones elected by the teachers.

  “As I explained last time, for the week of the recruitment wars, you’ll each be patrolling by yourself. The newbies are no exception to that.”

  “Will they help?”

  Okada’s question had been directed toward both Tatsuya and Morisaki for form’s sake, but his gazing at Tatsuya’s left breast spoke to what he really meant.

  He had predicted this response, so he gave Mari a look that delegated it to her.

  But he hadn’t needed to delegate it. Mari gave Okada a bored, peeved look.

  “Yeah, don’t worry. They’re both reliable. I’ve seen Shiba’s skills with my own eyes, and Morisaki’s device handling is nothing to make light of. He just went up against the wrong opponent the other day. If you’re still concerned, then you can go with Morisaki.”

  Okada looked a little embarrassed at the casual reply, but he managed to keep his calm and reply with an “I’ll pass” in a sarcastic tone.

  “Anybody else have anything to say?”

  Tatsuya was considerably surprised—Mari’s voice certainly hadn’t sounded gentle. In fact, it sounded like she was asking for a fight. Other than Morisaki and him, though, nobody seemed to be paying it any mind.

  It must have been a frequent occurrence. It seemed there was some deep-rooted antagonism in the committee.

  Tatsuya wondered, though, about the leader taking it upon herself to fan those flames.

  “Let’s move to the final briefing. Your patrol routes will be the same as the ones you’ve been briefed on before now. I don’t expect there will be anyone opposed to it at this point.”

  The atmosphere didn’t quite feel like there were no objections, but there was no one who assertively tried to argue.

  “All right. Get to your routes immediately. Don’t forget your recorders. I’ll explain things to Shiba and Morisaki. Everyone else, move out!”

  All present stood at once, put their feet together, and hit their left breasts with their right fists.

  Tatsuya wondered what they were doing, but according to what he heard later, this was the salute adopted by all the disciplinary committee members of the past. In addition, there was apparently a rule for saying Good morning to her no matter what time of day it was.

  The six people, excluding Mari, Tatsuya, and Morisaki, each went to leave the room, one after another. The fifth and sixth, Koutarou and Sawaki, told Tatsuya “not to get too far ahead of himself” an
d to “ask me if there’s anything you’re not sure about” (who said which is obvious), then left the room themselves.

  He politely (at least, outwardly speaking) saw the two of them off. Morisaki glared at him bitterly.

  Mari, watching them, somehow staved off a headache and a sigh, then addressed them.

  “First, I’ll give you these.”

  Mari gave them each, as they lined up side to side, an armband and a thin video recorder.

  “Put the recorder in your jacket pocket. It’s made to be just big enough so the lens sticks out. The switch is on the right side.”

  As she said, when he placed it in the chest pocket on his blazer, it was big enough to record something just like that.

  “From here on, make sure to take your recorder with you whenever you go on patrol. If you spot any disorderly conduct, turn it on immediately. But you don’t need to worry about the recording. As a general rule, the words of disciplinary committee officers are taken as proof. Just think of it more as a precaution.”

  She awaited their response, then directed them to take out their portable terminals.

  “I’ll send you the transmission code for the disciplinary committee… All right, check to make sure you have it.”

  The two of them reported that they had received it just fine.

  “Make sure to use this code when you want to report something. And whenever we need to give you instructions, we’ll use this code, so make sure it checks out.

  “Lastly, about CADs. Disciplinary committee officers are permitted to carry CADs on school grounds. There’s no need for you to get someone’s permission to use them. But if it’s discovered you used it improperly, you’ll be given a much stricter punishment than normal students because you’re a member of the disciplinary committee. There was someone who got expelled because of it the year before last, too. Don’t make light of it.”

  “I have a question.”

  “I’ll allow it.”

  “May we use the disciplinary committee’s CADs?”

  Tatsuya’s question must have been pretty unexpected, because there was a short pause before she gave a reply.

  “…I don’t mind, but what’s your reason? I may be preaching to the choir here, but those are older models, you know.”

  Mari had guessed by his handling of them before and after the match yesterday, as well as him maintaining the room, that he was fairly skilled when it came to CADs.

  And she also knew because of Azusa’s spiel that his own CAD was a high-spec variety.

  And yet he was telling her that he wanted to use old ones instead.

  She couldn’t suppress her curiosity.

  “They may be old models, but they’re still high-end items made for experts,” he answered with a wry grin. Sure enough, she hadn’t even thought about that.

  “…Are they?”

  “Yes. That series is infamous for being a pain to adjust, but they have a high freedom of setting, and the sensitivity of their noncontact switches is superior. There are people who are wildly enthusiastic about maintaining them. Whoever purchased them must have been a big fan. If you ignore the fact that it makes the battery life shorter, you can overclock them so that their processing speed is on par with the newest models. If you brought it to the right place, they would fetch a fairly high price.”

  “…And we were treating them like garbage, is that it? Now I see why you were being so insistent on cleaning them up.”

  “I feel like Nakajou would know about that model series as well…”

  “Nakajou is too scared to come down here.”

  “Ha-ha…”

  The two of them exchanged wry grins.

  Then Mari finally realized that Morisaki was being left out.

  “Ahem. You can use them freely if you wish. They’ve been doing nothing but collecting dust, after all.”

  “Then…I’ll borrow these two.”

  “Two…? You really are interesting.”

  Tatsuya picked up the two CADs he’d quietly copied his adjustment data onto yesterday. Mari saw him and grinned, and Morisaki’s lips curled into an expression of distaste.

  “Hey.”

  Right after Mari left them to go to the club association room, Morisaki called out to Tatsuya from behind. Tatsuya could tell by his tone he didn’t want to say anything friendly. He thought more than half seriously about outright ignoring him, but he figured that would make his problems worse, so he reluctantly turned around.

  “What?” he responded insolently, his hostility on full display—there was no reason to come off as friendly right now.

  “Looks like bluffing is your specialty. Did you bluff your way past the president and chairwoman like that?”

  “Are you jealous?”

  “Wha…?”

  If that’s all it takes to get you distracted, then don’t start stuff like this in the first place, thought Tatsuya. On the other hand, Morisaki’s honesty was enviable.

  “…But you went too far this time. There’s no way a Course 2 kid like you could ever use more than one CAD.”

  He listened to Morisaki speak. Morisaki hadn’t called him a Weed, but Tatsuya cynically thought that was probably only because he knew Tatsuya was on the disciplinary committee. Morisaki didn’t notice Tatsuya’s apathetic expression, however, and continued to lecture proudly, as if intoxicated by his own words.

  “If you equip a CAD in both hands, you won’t be able to use either because of the psionic interference. You were trying to look cool, but you didn’t even know that simple thing, did you? You can’t even use real magic anyway. You just sneak around so that you don’t embarrass yourself.”

  “Was that supposed to be advice? You’ve got a lot of free time, Morisaki.”

  “Hah! I’m different from all of you. You may have taken me by surprise the other day, but I won’t screw up again. I’ll show you the difference between you and us.”

  As Tatsuya watched him leave after saying that, he thought about how nice it must be to believe that there would be a next time…

  Despite having made plans with Tatsuya, Erika wasn’t outside the classroom.

  I don’t particularly mind, but…

  Tatsuya heaved another sigh—which had already become a habit since school started—and booted up the LPS on his portable terminal.

  It displayed a map of the school grounds and a red blip moving slowly through it.

  It meant that she had the consideration not to shut the power down on her terminal.

  She hadn’t gone very far yet.

  I had this set up just in case something happened, but…

  She was counting on him to come looking for her.

  He zoomed in on the display, specified her position, then began to walk toward the signal being emitted by Erika’s terminal.

  The cluster of tents, which looked from the window like they were burying the entire schoolyard, and even the roads in between school buildings, looked just like stalls at a fair.

  “Just like a festival…” murmured Erika to herself. Upon realizing she had, she was almost overcome with the urge to grin at herself.

  She’d always been alone more frequently than not.

  But ever since school here started, that tendency had vanished.

  Being by myself is unusual, huh… You don’t actually have a very good eye for girls, do you, Tatsuya? she said in her mind’s eye to the boy that she—not he—had stood up.

  In junior high school, and even during elementary school, being alone was the status quo for her.

  It wasn’t because she didn’t like people or anything. She was a relatively sociable person—she could get along with anyone pretty quickly.

  But in exchange, they would soon find themselves neglected.

  She wasn’t able to be with someone around the clock and go with them everywhere.

  She had analyzed herself, saying that she had a weak attachment to personal relationships.

  Friends she had been relatively close to s
aid they were disillusioned.

  They said she was like a fickle cat.

  One friend she broke up with even called her arrogant and haughty.

  The stream of boys following her about never ended, but none stayed for very long, either.

  Free, unrestrained, unfettered by promises—that was her motto.

  …Well, it was, anyway… Maybe I’ve been acting kind of strange lately.

  Looking at it objectively, she felt that lately, she’d been hanging around him quite a bit.

  Just a little while ago, it would have been inconceivable for her to ask him to come with her.

  But it was only the first week, she thought, so maybe she’d get tired of him like she always did.

  At the same time, it felt different from the way it always did…

  “Erika?”

  Ten minutes from the agreed-upon time.

  As Erika was just exiting the school building to go into the yard, she heard Tatsuya’s voice calling her.

  He caught up pretty fast, she thought.

  “Tatsuya, you’re late.”

  “…Sorry.”

  She saw a momentary scowl flash across his face, but he seemed to be immediately convinced by something, and he meekly bowed his head.

  “…You’re apologizing?” It was contrary to her expectations, and instead, Erika was the one confused by it.

  “It was only ten minutes, but it is past the time I agreed on, after all. Me being late and you not being where we agreed are separate issues, right?”

  “Ack… Sorry.”

  It was a somewhat strange expression, but he smiled at her, deathly serious, and Erika wasn’t even able to get a retort in.

  “…Hey, Tatsuya, do you get told that you have a bad personality?”

  “That was unexpected. I’ve never had anyone complain about my personality. I’ve been told I’m bad with people, though.”

  “That’s the same thing! It might even be worse!”

  “Oh, my mistake. It wasn’t that I’m bad with people; it was that I’m a bad person.”

  “And that’s definitely worse!”

  “I’ve been called a demon before, too.”