‘By the way, why did Aris want to meet separately?’
Actually, I suggested that we come together after our special training, but she declined first.
She said she had something to prepare, but I have no idea what kind of preparation is needed.
Thanks to that, I had to make sure not to let anyone know and to seriously warn that this visit to the Old School Building should be kept a secret.
[Partner. The lady needs preparation time.]
The Black Prince speaks in my mind.
Preparation time, huh?
What on earth is that supposed to mean?
Just as I was about to respond to the Black Prince’s words.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
I hear someone’s voice from behind.
I turn my head.
“I’ve arrived.”
There stood Aris.
Her silver hair cascading down, and her silver eyes sparkling.
Dressed up in casual clothes instead of her uniform.
For some reason, a pleasant scent wafts up to my nose.
Her face is slightly flushed.
As our eyes meet, she looks a bit surprised and lowers her head.
“……”
She scratches her cheek in silence.
Why is she acting differently than usual?
I glance around.
Fortunately, there’s no one around.
“Senior.”
“Yes, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Aris jumps a little at my words, looking up and speaking loudly.
“We definitely came to the Old School Building without anyone noticing, right?”
It would be troublesome if someone saw us.
To successfully execute my plan to disable the magical barrier, Shinji must not hear about our entry into the Old School Building.
“Of course! I double-checked everything!”
Aris nods at my words.
She’s not the type to lie, and her senses are incredibly sharp, as befitting the strongest in the academy.
If it’s Aris, I can trust her.
“Alright. Then let’s go inside.”
At my words, Aris’s shoulders tremble slightly.
Her face turns even redder.
Aris pouts her lips.
“Senior, what’s going on?”
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. I’m not quite mentally prepared yet…”
Aris mumbles in a low voice.
Mental preparation, huh?
What on earth is she talking about?
“Let’s just go in.”
I grab her wrist.
Aris’s body jolts.
“Understood.”
Aris places her hand on her chest, blushing deeply, and follows me with her head down.
Together, we stand in front of the Old School Building’s main gate.
The closed gate of the Old School Building is tightly shut.
“Please open it. Senior.”
A door that only opens with a student council president’s or disciplinary committee chairman’s student notebook.
In response to my words, Aris silently places her student notebook against it.
Beep.
With a mechanical sound, the Old School Building’s door opens.
The dark, abandoned interior comes into view.
The atmosphere inside the building is eerily grim.
Holding her wrist, I step into the Old School Building.
I step inside.
Thud.
The door closes.
I rummage through my memories.
The old school building in Shuo Hero Academy isn’t just important for the cultural festival episode; it also plays a significant role in the final chapter.
The reason why the old school building was just closed and not demolished.
The reason why access is restricted for ordinary students.
It’s not because there are ghosts like in the school urban legends; it’s because there’s a sealed entrance to the Broken World in the basement of the old school building.
Currently, only the president of the Hero Association knows about it—a secret that will be revealed in the original work’s final chapter, the “Destroying the Academy” episode.
Maeda Shinji might have done it unknowingly, but part of a trickster’s duty included understanding the structure of the old school building.
So, the magical barrier being set up there wasn’t for nothing.
Anyway, thanks to that, the old school building had a pretty detailed internal structure shown in the anime, and I recalled that when I remembered the place where the magical barrier appeared in the original work.
Just when I was about to speak to Aris.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
I hear Aris’s voice from behind.
I turn my head.
In the dark hallway of the old school building, a sparkling silver-haired beautiful girl comes into view.
“Why did you call me to the old school building… what is it?”
Her cheeks are flushed pink.
I can see her trembling silver eyes.
The reason for calling her to the old school building, huh.
Of course, it’s because of the magical barrier, but if I say that straightforwardly, she won’t believe me.
So, I need to come up with a reason.
“It’s for a security check for the cultural festival. Of course, Maeda, or rather, the Discipline Committee Chairperson, already did the check, but just to be safe, I thought we should do an additional inspection…”
Aris’s expression stiffens a bit as she listens to me.
She looks down.
“…An inspection. Is that really all?”
Her voice lowers slightly.
“Yes…”
“I see. I thought perhaps… it might be… a secret meeting… No, it’s nothing. Just forget what I just said.”
As she said “secret meeting,” Aris turned red and shook her head.
She bows her head.
“…You, as the executive committee member, were faithfully considering the academy’s safety with your responsibilities, while I, the student council president, was forgetting my duties and letting myself be deluded by such scoundrel thoughts. It was just me who misunderstood. Like a fool, it was just me…”
Aris’s shoulders droop.
For some reason, her defeated expression looks a little pitiful.
Her lips pout slightly.
[Partner, Saionji. Looks like she’s sulking, doesn’t it?]
I hear the Black Prince’s voice in my head.
Sulking?
[Saionji was probably expecting a secret meeting with her partner, huh. It’s truly something. You somehow manage to be clueless at the most critical moments. Fine. Just this once, I’ll help you out.]
‘Help with what?’
[Apologize, say you’re sorry, and invite her to have a proper meal together next time.]
The Black Prince speaks seriously.
I don’t know much, but this time, it seems good to follow his advice.
Aris’s attitude worries me too.
Deciding to take the Black Prince’s advice this one time, I spoke to Aris.
“Senpai.”
“Did you call for me?”
Aris’s gaze is downcast.
“I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for? I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t have gotten carried away with my own scoundrel thoughts…”
Aris pouts as she speaks.
“How about we have a meal together next time, not today?”
I interrupt her sentence, saying what the Black Prince told me to.
Whoosh.
Aris’s face turns red.
Her eyes waver.
“…Really? A meal appointment. Are you really serious?”
“Really? A meal appointment?”
Aris asks, twice.
“Yes. Really.”
“Alright. Hmm. Well, if Kim Deok-Sung wants it, there’s no helping it. It’s a promise, right, Kim Deok-Sung?”
“I promise.”
Hearing my words, Aris’s shoulders return to their original state.
Good.
That confident look is starting to be nice.
Without hesitation.
She grabs my wrist and leads the way.
“Alright. Then let’s patrol the Old School Building as Kim Deok-Sung says. Where should we go first?”
“Let’s start with the Health Room.”
In the original work, the Magical Barrier was located in the first-floor Health Room of the Old School Building.
“Understood.”
Nodding her head, Aris holds my hand and heads toward the Health Room.
The faded sign of the Health Room.
Creak.
The old sliding door opens.
What Aris and I found beyond that door was.
“What on earth······”
A Magical Barrier drawn on the floor, filled with geometric patterns and letters, emanating magic.
Finally found it.
With such a cute grandma (illustration included).
The Magical Barrier is set up just like in the anime.
Clearly suspicious, Aris’s expression turns serious.
“Who on earth would do something like this······! This is definitely an attempt aimed at the cultural festival. We need to report this to the President and the Association immediately.”
Her face looks so serious it’s hard to believe she was just relaxed a moment ago.
I shook my head at Aris’s words.
From here on out, it’s persuasion time.
“The President doesn’t matter, but informing the outside, including the Association, is not a good choice.”
“Why not?”
Aris replies with an impassive face.
Unlike the cheerful atmosphere where pink cherry blossoms seemed to bloom earlier, now a chill akin to the Antarctic wind surrounds her face.
“Because that way we won’t be able to properly identify the traitor.”
Of course I know who that traitor is.
It’s Maeda Shinji.
But there are no CCTV cameras around the Old School Building, and for someone like Maeda Shinji, erasing traces of infiltration would be a piece of cake. I have a gut feeling but securing evidence is tough.
“The best method is to make this Magical Barrier inoperable, and then catch the traitor in the act when they come to activate it during the festival. Setting a trap like this is the best option.”
I looked straight into Aris’s silver eyes as I spoke.
“This way, we can draw out the backend accomplice colluding with the traitor. If we inform the outside right now, the unidentified mastermind manipulating the traitor will throw them under the bus to cut ties and hide in the shadows.”
Of course, there are ways to catch Maeda Shinji somehow.
The problem is that a more powerful villain will come crashing in.
My goal is to block the enemy with minimal damage.
To do that, this method is the best.
“And for the trap, we shouldn’t inform the outside. The fewer people who know about the Magical Barrier, the better for the trap, and to deceive the enemy, we must first deceive our allies.”
And with a plausible reason, the President should fall for my words.
“Hmmm.”
After listening to me, Aris falls into thought for a moment.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The sound of the old clock on the wall of the Health Room echoed in my ears.
As Aris looks at the ominous Magical Barrier, she turns her gaze.
“Alright. There is some reason to Kim Deok-Sung’s words. Identifying the traitor······”
Aris’s fist clenches.
“I don’t know which student betrayed Shuo Hero Academy, but······ the traitor will pay the price.”
“Will this work?”
Aris’s eyes were trembling.
She took out her smartphone and made a call.
It was a call to the Principal.
*
Shuo Hero Academy.
Principal’s Residence.
The Principal’s Residence, located right next to the Student Council President’s Residence and the instructor’s quarters, was a grand mansion with a beautiful garden.
Inside the Principal’s Residence mansion.
Under a lavish chandelier, at a long wooden dining table sat the owner of the residence and the academy, Principal Yoshizaki Seira.
Dressed in a gothic-lolita dress, Seira elegantly sipped matcha from a fine bone china cup.
Beside her was a girl with a two-tone hairstyle mixing black and red tied back in a side-tail, Kurosawa Haru, who seemed out of place in the luxurious decor.
“Ugh, this is boring.”
Haru pouted.
Currently, Haru’s temporary guardian was Principal Yoshizaki Seira.
Thanks to that, she was living with Seira in the residence, unlike other students.
One could consider it a privilege, but for Haru, it was anything but.
Aside from Seira, there was the fact that after returning to her accommodation, she needed Seira’s permission to go out again.
If it weren’t for Seira’s approval, she wouldn’t have been able to go out to meet her yesterday.
‘I miss Deok-Sung oppa.’
Haru sulked.
“More importantly, Seira-tan Grandma.”
“Psh!”
Seira spat out her matcha at Haru’s words.
Her eyes widened.
“Did you just call me… Grandma?!”
Grandma, seriously?
Calling her a grandma when she was this young!
Seira’s face turned panicky.
Haru tilted her head, looking at Seira.
“Seira-tan Grandma is correct. Are you going to ask me to call you ‘Onee-chan’ like A-chan too? That’s totally childish. It’s hilarious. Nishishishi.”
Haru covered her mouth with her hand while laughing.
Seira’s face turned bright red.
“Haru! How can I be your grandma! Where is there a cute grandma like me! I am not a grandma, I’m a cute beautiful girl!”
Seira clenched her eyes tight, shouting.
Any other title was fine.
But being called grandma was something she absolutely hated.
It unintentionally reminded her of the age difference and made her realize that she was practically old enough to be a grandmother.
“Whatever, does it really matter? That Seira-tan Grandma remark just scored Haru major penalty points!”
“Uh, still, Grandma is a bit…”
Flap flap.
Seira fumbled as she opened a lace fan.
Haru’s eyes narrowed as she observed this.
She laughed.
“Nishishi. In that case, Seira-tan Grandma, since you’re my dad’s friend, I can call you Seira-tan Aunty just like when I was little, right?”
“Wha… What?!”
Seira’s mind went blank.
A memory from ten years ago flashed through her mind.
When she would occasionally visit the Kurosawa household, little Haru had once called her ‘Aunty’.
At that time, it was simply because she was a naive little kid, but she couldn’t just let that slide now.
While better than being called grandma, aunty was still a title that reminded her of the age gap.
Seira shook her head vigorously.
“T-That’s also not allowed!”
“Then what? If grandma and aunty don’t work, what do I call you?”
Haru placed her arms on the table and asked.
Seira cleared her throat and replied.
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