Vol. 1 Chapter 6 – A Maiden’s Heart

In late August, Junpei and the other two had come to a park a short distance away from the student dormitory. In one corner of the park stood a small outdoor stage. At that very place where they had recently heard many stories from Meryl in her miko attire, Junpei was now facing off against Sonia, while Kaede watched the two from a distance.

Today wasn’t training in erotic magic. As part of the basic training required for a mage, they had stopped by here during their roadwork and taking advantage of the stage being empty, Junpei was receiving hand-to-hand combat instruction alternately from Sonia and Kaede.

“If you do nothing but train in obscene magic, your spirit will rot,”

“Indeed. Once in a while, you should forget about erotic magic and work up a refreshing sweat.”

That had been Sonia and Kaede’s suggestion. Junpei accepted it, and now he was being completely beaten down by Sonia. Since he felt nothing but gratitude toward her, Junpei wasn’t particularly upset. However, Kaede frowned at the way Sonia was going about it.

“Sonia, shouldn’t you hold back a little more?”

“I am incapable of holding back. If anything, Kaede-san, aren’t you being too lenient with Junpei-san?”

“If he gets injured, it defeats the purpose. That’s enough, switch with me.”

And so the sparring partner changed to Kaede, but if you asked Junpei, Kaede was far more of a demon.

By the time he was finally released from Kaede’s demonic training, it was already nearing five in the evening.

“Already this late, huh.”

Glancing at her wristwatch, Kaede leapt down from the stage alone and looked up at Junpei and the others.

“Let’s break here for now. I’m heading back to the dorm to take a shower. What about you two?”

“Junpei-san and I will stay here a little longer. The wind has picked up, and it’s nice and cool.”

Before Junpei could say anything, Sonia answered first. Kaede gave a small nod and said,

“Alright. Then let’s meet at the dorm entrance at six-thirty. We’re having yakiniku tonight!”

Over the past few days, Kaede had been treating Junpei and Sonia to dinner every day.

The fact that the places she took them were always things like yakiniku, ramen, gyuudon, tempura and tonkatsu restaurants was just part of her charm.

“Well then, see you later!”

As they watched Kaede’s figure briskly stride away, Sonia gently held down her hair with one hand as it was tousled by the evening breeze, and let out a soft, amused chuckle.

“Kaede-san is happy that Junpei-san has finally started accepting her treating him to meals. I hear that before, you used to refuse even when Kaede-san invited you out to eat.”

“…Somehow, I felt bad being taken care of.”

But now, he was already free from that feeling. Junpei thought that it was probably because he had found a path where he could repay what had been given to him.

Before long, Kaede’s figure disappeared from sight, and Sonia narrowed her eyes as she looked at the western sky from atop the stage.

“The sun is setting much faster and before you know it, summer vacation is already coming to an end.”

“Yeah.”

Looking back, it had been a summer spent with Sonia. With Kaede joining them, the days the three of them spent climbing the steps of becoming mages were incredibly fun, and in a way, full of adventure and thrilling.

“…Even after summer vacation ends, will you still keep training with me like this?”

“Of course. Guiding you is my duty as the current Hero.”

“Haha, a duty, huh—”

Sonia still liked to use the word『duty』as always, as if she had forgotten her exchange with Kaede the other day. That made Junpei feel a faint bitterness and he wanted to hear her honest feelings.

“Kaede-san said she likes me.”

“…Now that you mention it, she did say something like that.”

“Do you? Do you like me?”

He had meant to ask in a more roundabout way, but it came out blunt and direct, like a stab straight through the heart, and Junpei was startled at himself. Sonia, too, gasped in surprise, and her face rapidly turned red. Junpei took it as a flush of anger. He braced himself, expecting to be sharply rebuked with something like, 『Don’t get the wrong idea, don’t get carried away, I told you, you’re a dog!』

However, contrary to Junpei’s expectations, Sonia lightly leapt down from the stage.

“Come, we’re going home.”

“Huh? Um, Sonia?”

“We’re going home, you know?”

With that repeated in such a decisive tone, Junpei realized that Sonia had no intention of answering, and he felt a pang of loneliness.

“…No, I think I’ll stay here a bit longer and let the wind blow over me.”

“I see. Then I’ll be heading on ahead.”

After saying that, Sonia faced forward and began walking with her back straight. Even her retreating figure was beautiful.

“…In the end, I wonder what Sonia really thinks of me.”

“If you’re curious, why not chase after her even now?”

“Yeah. But right now, there’s something that’s bothering me even more.”

“You mean Meryl?”

“Yeah. Even though the erotic magic training has been going well, that girl Meryl hasn’t shown herself even once since then. I’ve been wondering all this time where she is and what she’s been doing!”

As Junpei shouted that and turned around, there stood Meryl in a princess dress.

“Meryl!”

“Yahho~, long time no see. Junpei, have you been well?”

Saying that, she gave a wink and blew him a kiss, and Junpei let out a wry smile.

“So then, how’s it been since? I’ve started to get the hang of controlling my magic.”

“Mm-hmm, that’s great. You deserve a gold star. But it’s not like Meryl has just been playing around until today, you know? For now, I’ve got a pretty good idea who the owner of the ring is.”

Hearing that, Junpei’s expression immediately turned serious.

That day, the ones present in that park had been police officers, the magic riot squad, Red Heart Brave, the media, and a crowd of onlookers. However, since the ring’s reaction had come from the school, Meryl suspected someone connected to Red Heart Brave. If that were the case, if the one who had sent Kondo-sensei to the hospital was someone from the magic school… Junpei gathered his resolve and asked, his palms sweating,

“Who is it?”

“Still a secret. Because, Junpei, you seem like you’d be bad at acting.”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean! And more importantly, what do you mean acting?”

Though caught off guard, Junpei fired back like that, and Meryl replied in her usual carefree tone.

“Well, you see, Meryl has already identified the ring’s owner, so I thought about launching a direct assault, but I’m not sure if taking down just that one person will solve everything. There might be others involved. Like the real culprit who sent your school’s teacher to the hospital. So I want to make them spill everything—what’s behind it all, what they’re hiding. And for that, Junpei, I want you to get arrested by the police for a bit.”

“What the hell are you suddenly talking about?”

—Me, getting arrested by the police?

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah. And once you’re arrested, I think the police will question you about various things, but—”

“No, wait. Why are you talking like it’s a given that I’m getting arrested?”

“I think it’d be best if you answer their questions as honestly as possible. You can keep your past life and erotic magic a secret, but go ahead and tell them about Meryl and the domination magic. If you do that, the ring’s owner hiding within the police should take action against you.”

Understanding Meryl’s intention, Junpei felt the shout that had risen to his throat melt away and disappear.

“So in other words, the ring’s owner isn’t someone from the magic school but someone in the police, and by using me as bait, you’re trying to flush out that person and their accomplices?”

“That’s right, Meryl. By using Junpei as bait, Meryl wants to determine whether the person I suspect as the ring’s owner has accomplices or not, and whether they’re acting alone or as part of an organization.”

Hearing that, Junpei let out a deep groan and lowered his gaze.

“I get the logic. But isn’t that basically an undercover sting operation…?”

“Yep. But if things get dangerous, Meryl will save you, so it’s all good! You can relax!”

“No, I can’t relax at all. Your plans are fundamentally sloppy. I’ve already been completely framed at this point.”

“Well, that can’t be helped. Nothing can be perfect. But I’ll do my best.”

Even after hearing that, Junpei’s uneasiness didn’t go away. But if you don’t enter the tiger’s den, you can’t catch the tiger’s cub. If he shrank back in fear here, could a man like that really become a proper mage who wields Red Heart?

“…Alright. We can’t just let a villain run free. I’ll trust you and do it!”

At that, Meryl broke into a blooming smile and approached Junpei with light, cheerful steps. She came so close it was almost skin-to-skin, making Junpei instinctively flinch back.

“H-hey. What is it?”

“Fufu, thank you, Junpei. Now then, we were just about to figure out how to get you into prison but since we’ve been spotted at just the right moment, we’ll go with this plan, Meryl.”

“Spotted? Spotted by who…?”

“Alright then, chuu~”

Saying that, Meryl grabbed Junpei by the collar with unexpected strength and pulled him in. Since Junpei was taller, being pulled straight toward her forced him to hunch forward. Their faces drew close, and Meryl’s violet eyes gleamed as if moist.

—Chuu?

The moment he thought that, Meryl’s lips sealed Junpei’s. In other words, it was a kiss. The second kiss of his life, and the second girl he had kissed.

When their lips parted, Junpei was so stunned that he couldn’t even speak. Looking up at him, Meryl released her right hand and made a V-sign with it.

“Nfu, we just kissed. By the way, that was Meryl’s first kiss.”

Hearing that, Junpei’s mind finally started working properly again.

“W-wait. What exactly… was that supposed to be…?”

His heart was pounding rapidly, his face flushed red all the way to his ears as he asked that, and it was at that exact moment—

“Junpei-san.”

The instant he heard that voice, Junpei froze as if a blade had been pressed against his throat. Turning his head stiffly, he saw—when had she gotten there?—Sonia standing below the stage, looking up at him with eyes like a dead fish.

“Sonia… why are you here? Didn’t you head back earlier?”

“I had something I wished to speak with you about, so I returned. And then I see this—what in the world is going on? The girl who was just kissing you… isn’t that Meryl, the very one who trespassed into our school the other day and injured Kondo-sensei?!”

◇

At this point, time rewinds a little. After parting with Junpei and leaving the small stage, Sonia exited the park and walked briskly toward the dorm under the evening sky.

Her emotions were in turmoil and she couldn’t calm herself enough to walk slowly. Echoing over and over in her mind were Junpei’s words from earlier.

—Kaede-san said she likes me. What about you? Do you like me?

“What kind of thing is that to ask…?!”

As she walked, those words slipped out before she knew it. After all, Sonia had formed a master-disciple relationship with Junpei out of a sense of duty as a descendant of the Hero, in order to guide him. She had never once considered how she felt about him as a woman. To be precise, she had deliberately avoided thinking about it.

And yet, the moment Junpei asked about what lay in her heart, for some reason her emotions had instantly fallen into disarray, and now she found herself walking forward as if fleeing from him.

“Why? Why is this happening? Why am I this unsettled? Could it be that I… have feelings for Junpei-san…? N-no, no no no! That’s impossible, something like that! There’s no reason for me to fall in love with him…”

However, love isn’t always something that comes with clear logic or explanations like,『This is the reason I fell for you』.

“N-no way… could it be that I really…”

—like Junpei-san?

“Ah, honestly! There’s no way that could be true!”

Sonia shouted that and continued walking, desperately searching for proof that she hadn’t fallen in love.

—Let’s think about this rationally.

At present, Junpei was an extremely outstanding student. The reason he had been treated as a failure until now was simply because he hadn’t known his own magical aptitude. Now that it had become clear he was an erotic mage, he was learning new magic at a terrifying speed. For example, when it came to Over Feeling, Junpei seemed to think he had struggled quite a bit but that wasn’t actually the case.

—Junpei-san doesn’t seem to realize it, but mastering Over Feeling should have taken a year. And yet, it didn’t even take him a week! Rather than learning magic from scratch, it’s more reasonable to think that he had already learned it before and is now remembering magic he forgot due to reincarnation. It seems he failed to fully inherit his memories and abilities but they weren’t lost. They’re simply lying dormant within him.

And now, Junpei was regaining them at an astonishing pace.

—At this pace, it will be much sooner than I anticipated that we’ll be working on this kind of magic and that kind of magic!

Thinking about the advanced erotic magic that would require her to offer her own body in the not-so-distant future, Sonia’s steps came to a halt. It wasn’t that she had stopped walking back to the dorm. She had stopped moving forward into the future.

—What is this! I thought I had already prepared myself, and yet how immature I am! Ah, but even now, just for the sake of the contract, I’ve already kissed him, had my skirt flipped up, been stripped naked and even let him touch my chest, blindfolded though he was!

As his mastery of erotic magic progressed, the day would surely come when she would have to go even further. But could she really do that? And even if she could, what would she say to her family, to society and to her future husband?

—What would my future husband think of me, having done such things and such things with Junpei-san? Wouldn’t he hate it…? Hmm? My future husband?

At that moment, a great hope flashed through Sonia’s mind.

“That’s it! I should just marry Junpei-san!”

It was such a brilliant idea that Sonia ended up saying it out loud.

“If I marry Junpei-san, then kissing him and letting him touch my chest won’t be a problem anymore and even if I end up going further into more intense erotic magic in the future, he can take responsibility, and everything will be resolved. And if we become husband and wife, it also fulfills the Hero’s duty of supervising him so he doesn’t stray from the right path. My, how perfect!”

And now that she had found this perfect path, she could clearly understand. She could say it from the bottom of her heart. How she truly felt about Junpei.

—I… no, I’ll tell Junpei-san directly. These are important feelings.

Once she had decided, there was no time to waste. With her eyes sparkling, Sonia spun on her heel and hurried back toward the park. She couldn’t wait for Junpei to return to the dorm. She would meet him right now and have him promise her their future.

With that thought, with dreams in her heart, Sonia took flight.

And then, ahead of her, she saw it. On the stage, Junpei was kissing an unfamiliar silver-haired girl. And when she looked closer, that silver-haired girl was none other than Meryl.

◇

As if venting her anger, Sonia let out a long breath, then glared sharply at Junpei, her eyes narrowed.

“Let me ask you once more. Just what is the meaning of this?”

“N-no, it’s just…”

Junpei’s throat tightened and no words came out. As he stood there in confusion, unsure whether he should even try to come up with an excuse, Meryl suddenly snuggled up beside him and declared brightly,

“Wah, you caught us. Well, if it’s out, it can’t be helped. Actually, Junpei is Meryl’s accomplice. And also Meryl’s boyfriend! He’s Meryl’s very first, you know, since I’ve never had a boyfriend my whole life!”

“Ueh?”

At the same moment Junpei let out that bewildered sound, Sonia’s entire being was dyed in killing intent.

“Guilty.”

With that verdict passed, Junpei froze solid, and in front of him, Sonia spoke with the brilliance and intensity of a lightning strike.

“I told you, did I not? That in exchange for not killing you, you would live a pure, proper and upright life. And yet, of all things, you have been led astray by the seductive charms of an evil witch…utterly unforgivable!”

Carried away by her surging emotions, Sonia raised her right arm high and cried out boldly,

“My sword, my armor, my shield! In the name of the Hero, come forth from the Throne of Light!”

The next instant, a thunderous roar like a bolt of lightning rang out, and in the evening sky appeared the sword, armor, and shield Junpei had once seen before.

“That’s…!”

As Junpei looked up at the set of weapons floating in the sky, the armor suddenly burst apart. The scattered pieces of the armor flew on their own toward Sonia, assembling themselves around her in an instant, equipping her completely.

And as Junpei saw Sonia clad in blue armor and shield, gripping the radiant holy sword Aurora Spark in her right hand, he widened his eyes and took a step back.

“Don’t go full battle mode on me!”

“Silence! You deceived me, betrayed me—”

“Just listen! It’s not like that, Meryl didn’t do it! There’s a reason she snuck into the school and hijacked the broadcast and the thing with Kondo-sensei was a setup! The real culprit is someone else!”

“So you would defend her.”

Hearing Sonia’s now expressionless face and her chilling, cold voice, Junpei immediately realized his mistake. He shouldn’t have said anything that sounded like he was taking Meryl’s side.

—What was I supposed to do?!

Just as he felt like shouting that, Meryl whispered into his ear.

“Junpei, just let yourself get restrained like this. If you’re arrested as Meryl’s accomplice, you can naturally get inside the police, right? And once the interrogation starts, just talk about the domination magic like we discussed earlier. If you do that, there should be some kind of action taken against you.”

“I see… so that’s it…”

Only now did Junpei finally understand what Meryl had been aiming for by provoking Sonia. And precisely because he understood, he frowned and looked at Meryl with resignation.

“Meryl, your plans are still sloppy after all. Just look at Sonia right now. Does she look like someone who’s about to hand me over to the police?”

“Huh?”

At that moment, as Meryl’s eyes went wide, Sonia pointed her sword at Junpei and declared loudly,

“This is the end! Junpei-san, I will kill you. And then I shall die as well!”

The one who was truly shocked by that was Meryl.

“W-whaaat?! Why? Why are you saying something so extreme? That makes no sense, doesn’t it?!”

“I cannot forgive this… I can no longer forgive any of it!”

Sonia no longer bothered to explain her reasoning or her feelings.

The only thing that was unmistakably conveyed from her entire body was that she truly intended to die together with him.

Even Meryl turned pale at this. She stepped away from Junpei, lightly leapt down from the stage, and called out to Sonia.

“No, wait, I’m sorry, let me explain, Meryl. Meryl has proper reasons too. I’ll start by telling you about the ring I’ve been searching for, so please listen.”

“And you think you can placate me like that? How insulting. I, Sonia Lightfellow, may be forced to become an enemy of the good, but I will never side with evil!”

“Meryl isn’t evil!”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Look into my eyes! Do these look like the eyes of someone telling a lie?”

Meryl opened her eyes wide and pointed to her sparkling violet eyes with her finger, showing them to Sonia.

“Mu, mmmmmm…”

As Sonia stared into Meryl’s clear eyes, Junpei could feel the intense hostility that had been crackling like lightning begin to soften. However—

“But still… even so, I cannot forgive this!”

Sonia said that bitterly and stepped forward toward Meryl, initiating the fight. Previously, Sonia had been completely defeated by Meryl, but this time she was fully armed and completely serious, wielding the holy sword Aurora Spark. If she were to remove the cursed tool that suppressed her magic on top of this, it might end with one of them losing their life.

“This isn’t a joke! I’m begging you, stop!”

Shouting that, Junpei leapt down from the stage and rushed forward, positioning himself in front of Sonia as if to shield Meryl. Sonia, who had been charging forward, widened her eyes, but the force of her sword strike did not waver.

“So you have the nerve to step forward yourself! With these hands, I shall end it in one stroke—”

“Sonia! I love you!”

“W—what?!”

A tremor ran through Sonia’s entire body, and the holy sword Aurora Spark she had been about to bring down slipped from her hand and flew off somewhere. But Sonia paid it no mind, her gaze drawn as if pulled in, staring at Junpei. Junpei, too, stared back at her with his life on the line.

“You seem to have gotten the wrong idea but Meryl and I aren’t lovers or anything! That kiss just now was an accident, and the one I love is you, Sonia!”

At that, Sonia’s face instantly flushed bright red, and in a trembling voice, she said,

“Is that true?”

“It is.”

“Then, say it once more.”

“I love you.”

When Junpei repeated it, Sonia smiled as if a great flower had blossomed.

“In that case, very well.”

“Ah… that settles it…?”

As Junpei tried to gauge what that meant in Sonia’s heart, now that the fight had ended just like that, Sonia returned to a serious expression and said,

“But if at this point you are deceiving me, I will show you no mercy next time. You will prove that Meryl-san is one who stands on the side of justice, won’t you?”

“Yeah. As long as you listen to everything we have to say until the end.”

Thinking that a pointless conflict had somehow been avoided, Junpei exchanged a glance with Meryl and gave a small smile.

……。

Before they knew it, the sun had set. The western sky still held a faint purple hue, but the surroundings had grown completely dark. Even so, the park was equipped with streetlights, so visibility wasn’t an issue.

In that nighttime park, Meryl stood before Junpei and Sonia, who were sitting on the stage, and while looking up at them, she explained her circumstances to Sonia from the very beginning. Sonia had dismissed her armor and returned to the easy-to-move-in casual clothes she had worn during their combat training, listening intently to Meryl’s story.

“—And that’s the situation, Meryl.”

As Meryl finished her explanation, Sonia suddenly turned on Junpei.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Meryl-san much sooner?!”

“Because I figured if I did, you’d try to kill me without even hearing me out.”

“That would never happen!”

“But you didn’t listen to me just now either!”

“That’s because you were kissing Meryl-san—”

As she spoke, Sonia’s cheeks flushed red, but as if trying to cool herself down, she shook her head vigorously, then glared at Meryl as if taking out half her frustration on her.

“To think the ring you were searching for was the Ring of Domination from slave magic! And that someone had revived it ten years ago! And even now, ten years later, it still hasn’t been resolved!”

Ten years ago, Sonia had only been seven years old. It wasn’t strange that she didn’t know about the incident caused by Master Trixie, yet she seemed to feel a sense of responsibility as a descendant of the Hero.

“Sonia…”

“By the way, Sonia-chan, when you heard Meryl was searching for a ring, you didn’t think it might be the slave magic ring?”

“Of course not. Since ancient times, rings have been accessories deeply connected to magic. Magical rings are quite common. Hearing that someone is searching for a ring and immediately connecting it to the Ring of Domination would be a leap. I assumed it was related to some other kind of magic…”

“Hm, I see. Then there’s no one else who knows that Junpei is an erotic mage?”

At that question, Junpei and Sonia instinctively glanced at each other, and Junpei answered Meryl.

“No, there’s one more person. A third-year senpai named Hijikata Kaede.”

“Eh…?”

Meryl’s eyes widened and for a moment she seemed at a loss for words. Junpei, guessing what had shocked her, said,

“She’s tight-lipped, so I don’t think she’ll tell anyone…”

“Yeah. Um, I saw her before when Meryl used magic to read your memories, Junpei. That pretty girl with black hair tied in a chonmage, right? Did you tell her everything about erotic magic?”skeletal shapes¹

“No, Sonia tried to make me look bad and only emphasized the obscene parts of erotic magic. She doesn’t know anything about the connection between the Hero and the Demon King or about slave magic. But I think that’s for the best. I don’t want to make her worry too much…”

“I see. If that’s the case, then it’s fine.”

Watching Meryl nod over and over, Sonia looked at her suspiciously and asked,

“Is there something bothering you?”

“Nope, it’s just Meryl’s side of things, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, I think it’s about time we have Junpei arrested by the police.”

Even though he understood it was a sting operation, Junpei still couldn’t help but flinch in surprise. On the other hand, Sonia spoke calmly.

“That’s right. The person you suspect as the ring’s owner is within the police. So by having Junpei-san deliberately arrested as your accomplice, we can observe how they respond, correct?”

“Exactly! If the ring’s owner is connected to the plan from ten years ago, there’s no way they’ll just ignore Meryl’s accomplice. By the way, who the ring’s owner is is still a secret, Meryl. It might negatively affect Junpei’s acting.”

Nodding in agreement, Sonia then turned to Junpei and said,

So, Junpei-san. Under the pretense that I saw you together with Meryl-san, I will turn you over to the police. Even if you end up in danger, Meryl-san and I will absolutely rescue you, so please rest assured.”

“I’m not reassured at all… more importantly, what about the dinner we promised with Kaede-san?”

“You’ll just have to apologize later. This matter takes top priority. The ring’s owner, the culprit behind the serial unconsciousness incidents, and the one who inflicted serious injury on Kondo-sensei… we still don’t know if these three shadows belong to the same person, but it’s something that must be resolved as quickly as possible!”

Junpei couldn’t help but look up at the sky, but Sonia was right. Resolving himself to apologize to Kaede later, he looked at Sonia and gave a firm nod.

“…Alright. So what exactly is going to happen to me?”

“I will hand you over to the police, but that will only be temporary. In this country, there is a designated place for underage mages who commit crimes. That is—the Magical Rehabilitation Institute!”