Vol. 1 Chapter 5 – Calculation

“Haa. I mean, I guess it’s obvious when you think about it but the general subjects aren’t any different from a normal school. What a drag.”

The student cafeteria at Toyoashihara Academy, being a fully boarding school, basically had enough capacity for all the students to use it.

That said, the Special-Class Department students mainly used a café terrace located elsewhere, so the cafeteria never became completely full.

The buildings within the facility, including the school building, had a retro atmosphere, but much of the interior had been renovated in a modern style.

In the case of the student cafeteria, the side walls had been boldly removed, expanding it into something like an open terrace.

So that students could enjoy lunch beneath the blue sky on clear days, several benches and tables were lined up on a deck that jutted out toward the garden leading to the courtyard.

“I wanna skip class…but outside the school, there’s only that suspicious-looking street, right?”

“Mai-san, skipping class is going a little too far.”

As Mai went flopped face-first onto the table, Shizuka made a troubled expression and protected her cup.

“I thought I wouldn’t have to sit at a desk and study anymore.”

“I wonder about that. Things have only just started, after all.”

Shizuka brought one of the two cups she was holding to her mouth and looked around at their surroundings, which, unlike what she had imagined, created the atmosphere of a normal school. Yes, just like a normal school.

Even though, when she considered what was really going on behind the scenes, there was no way that could be true.

As Shizuka thought that, she felt a chill run down her spine.

Whether they wanted it or not, had it been staged so that they could pretend things were normal?

“Mm, Shizuka, you seem like you’ve gotten a bit more composed. Like, you’re not so nervous anymore. More calm, I guess.”

“Eh, really?”

“Haa, was he really that good? Touma-kun?”

Even though it was such an open topic that everyone in class knew about it, Shizuka turned red all the way to her ears.

This level of teasing should have been nothing compared to the blatant, malicious rumors she had experienced at her previous school.

“Touma-kun, making Shizuka totally lovestruck with that scowling face of his, huh? Not bad.”

“Um, Mai-san, you were also with Seiichi-kun, right?”

“Ahh, no, no. That guy’s super self-centered. Well, he was fairly good but he seems like he’s got a bit of a sadistic streak. He slapped my butt and stuff. If you asked whether I’m okay with it or not, I’d say I am, though.”

“Really?”

Shizuka hated the way Seiichi looked at that『thing』, as if appraising it.

But because of that, Shizuka could say he was the kind of boy she found very easy to understand.

“Today’s position swap day, right? Shizuka, that guy’s definitely gonna smack your butt like bang, bang.”

“I’d rather not, I think.”

As Shizuka gave a wry smile, Mai lifted her face from the table and shaped her mouth like a cat’s.

“I see. I might be getting a little interested in Touma-kun too. If he’s better than Seiichi, then I feel bad for you, Shizuka but it’s okay if I aim for him, right?”

“Hmm, personally, that might be a little troubling…”

Putting the subject of sex aside, there was no way to replace what dwelled in Touma’s right hand.

Yes, even putting sex aside, she did not want to give up that warmth.

“So the sex really is amazing.”

“Amazing, or rather…”

Thinking she should probably mention this, Shizuka brought her face close to Mai’s ear.

“His… it’s big.”

“Eh?”

“…I think you’d be a little surprised.”

Mai’s mouth twitched.

For women, when it came to the size of a man’s penis, bigger did not necessarily mean better.

Although there were racial differences in size, the body was still made so that the average size of the same species would fit best.

If it was just for lightly handling a partner two or three times, there would be no problem, but if one was custom-made for something outside the standard and then switched to another partner afterward, she would end up feeling a little sad.

“Ah, ahaha. I guess I’ll leave Touma-kun to Shizuka after all.”

Mai thought it probably was not the case but after seeing his bold『she’s my woman』appeal that morning, she started to feel like maybe he was fixated on Shizuka because she had happened to accept a size that might not even be able to go in otherwise.

Though he was not actually that inhuman.

“Oh, there you are. Class is about to start, you know?”

Perhaps having finished their meal inside, the pair of Seiichi and Touma came out onto the deck.

As expected, while the class was still not used to things, many students tended to move around together with the acquaintances they had made in the dormitory.

“What, were you talking about something dirty?”

“Geez, Seiichi, not that again.”

Seiichi’s teasing, grinning smile was frivolous, but Mai felt there was also something about him that was hard to hate.

She did not dislike openly perverted men.

“Shizuka. Can I have a little of your time after school today?”

“Eh. Y-Yeah.”

“Ohh, that’s a direct invitation. Touma-kun.”

Shizuka, who had imagined the same thing as Mai, ended up blushing but she knew he meant to consult her about that crystal.

Mai, meanwhile, was thinking even further, like, So this guy’s going to do Shizuka once, then compare how it feels with me?

“What, so she really is your favorite. Fine, I’ll let you have her again today. Take your time and enjoy yourself, just like yesterday.”

“Hey, Seiichi?”

With his mouth twisted, Seiichi grabbed Mai’s hand and turned on his heel.

Thinking that it could not be helped, Mai matched his pace and peeked at Seiichi’s face as he wore a frivolous, faint smile.

It was not a way of smiling that she liked very much.

＊　＊　＊

Toyoashihara Academy’s ratio of male to female students was almost equal.

That meant the number of girls’ dormitories on the school grounds was also the same as the boys’ dormitories.

Toyoashihara Academy Fourth Girls’ Dormitory, commonly known as White Crane Dorm, had been built in exactly the same architectural style as Black Cormorant Dorm.

Without getting particularly lost, they returned to Shizuka and Mai’s room on the third floor.

“Yo, sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Ah, yeah. Are you staying over here again today? I mean, Seiichi, don’t you spend more time here than in your own room?”

Mai, who had been sitting at her desk and launching a game on her laptop, turned around.

If she had possessed the diligence to prepare for lessons and review them afterward, she would not have come to this academy in the first place.

“You even go out of your way to walk Shizuka back every night.”

“If Shizuka got abducted while walking alone, that’d kill the mood, wouldn’t it?”

Seiichi, who had been sitting on the bed for a moment, moved behind Mai and casually wrapped both hands around her breasts.

“Hey, not so suddenly.”

“Don’t act shy at this point. We’ve been doing what we’ve been doing every day lately.”

The striped cat’s face printed on the chest of her pink sweat hoodie distorted.

In an environment with restricted internet access and little entertainment, students who did not spend their time studying had far too much free time.

For most General Studies students, it was only natural that they would gradually immerse themselves in the entertainment of sex, which even the academy administration tacitly overlooked.

There was the compulsory male-female partner system, lodging facilities with no supervisors stationed there, and various other convenient pretexts prepared in favor of the students.

“Besides… mmh, the reason Seiichi goes out of his way to walk Shizuka back is because you turn into an escort wolf, have one round with her, ah… and then take her over to Touma-kun’s place, isn’t it?” escort wolf¹

“Idiot. There’s no point if I do it. What, are you getting jealous like you’re someone important now? Cute.”

“Wha, no, that’s not…”

He pulled down the front zipper of her hoodie all at once and grabbed her soft breasts over her T-shirt.

“No bra, huh? Mai, you’re totally ready for it too, aren’t you?”

“Mmh…because you always end up having sex, Seiichi.”

“Looks like you’re starting to understand.”

While touching her chest from behind, he placed a hand near Mai’s throat, tilted her face upward, and teased her lips with his tongue.

Then he took Mai’s hand and guided it to her own chest, while his other fingers slipped below her navel and moved teasingly.

“Pwah… by now, this side should’ve learned my taste too, right?”

“Pfuah… ah, there, right there…”

The bulge at the crotch of Mai’s sweatpants trembled in small pulses.

“Come on, today we’re starting on the bed.”

“Ah, yeah…… ah, ah.”

With his hand still slipped into the front of her panties, Mai, held by the waist, was made to stagger unsteadily over to her own bed.

Mai falls forward onto the bed and Seiichi moves behind her. The scene becomes sexual, with him undressing both of them and making crude remarks about her body and how it feels. Mai reacts with broken, breathy sounds while he comments on the sensation.

He stopped after sliding them down to around the middle of her thighs, then quickly tugged down his own jersey pants as well.

He had already left things like his uniform and leather bag in this room, and normally wore jersey loungewear.

Ever since he had died and returned in the dungeon, his penis had started getting hard even more indiscriminately, and now it glared at Mai’s ass, which had grown used to taking him.

“……Ah…… ah, ahh, ahh.”

“It’s still a little rough and bumpy. That’s a good thing, though. These little bumps are what feel good, you know.”

He pressed his penis against the center of her crotch, then drove it in deeper little by little with each piston-like thrust until he pierced through.

“Haa…… Seiichi violated me again.”

“Idiot. I’m only about to violate you now.”

“Ah, nn…… so rough.”

As his penis thrust steadily from the depths of her ass and pushed through inside her, Mai grabbed the sheets and opened her mouth.

Her body began responding to Seiichi’s penis, which she was slowly starting to get used to.

There was already no need for her to put on an act of feeling it like she had at first.

She had heard from an upperclassman that if she kept being trained exclusively for the individual named 『Seiichi』like this, she would end up『adapting』to him so completely that merely being filled by him would make her hips give out.

Once that happened, all that would be left was to devote herself to him desperately so she would not be thrown away.

But, according to them, ending up that way made it easier to get through academy life.

That was why they had told her to choose her partner carefully.

“Yeah…… Mai, you’re really not bad at all.”

“Ah, ah…… r-really?”

“Yeah. In our class, you and Shizuka are the top two. You’re dumb but as long as you’re just going ahegao, there’s no problem.”

Mai was a little irritated at being called dumb but since it was true, she puffed out her cheeks.

While her ass was being thrust into without hesitation, pan-pan, she dug her nails into the sheets like a sulking cat.

“I tried out a few girls in our class who came on to me, but none of them were as good as you.”

“Ugh, yeah.”

She thought she had been making a fairly blatant claim of ownership over him but it seemed there had still been girls trying to sneak ahead after all.

In the first place, she had not expected anyone to make a move before the full-fledged special practical training had even begun, while their abilities were still uncertain.

As for appearances, well, Seiichi and Touma certainly were not bad-looking.

She could understand her classmates wanting to stake an early claim on them.

Until all the new students were registered at Rajoumon, the dungeon special practical training was effectively closed.

The upperclassmen were also mainly focused on general subjects for now, creating an extremely ordinary school atmosphere.

Until the dungeon opened at the beginning of next week, subtle negotiations had begun among the new students.

“Mm, did Touma-kun try…… some too?”

“You curious?”

Mai wondered whether that girl had been all right, size-wise but her voice broke off as his thrusting intensified in a final spurt.

Dopi-dopi, as she felt his one-sided finish deep inside her womb in a raw, vivid way, she desperately endured the sensation that seemed to pull her into a melted, dazed state.

Every night lately, she had been cummed inside until Seiichi’s stamina ran out, so she was starting to understand what the upperclassmen meant by 『adapting.』

Seiichi, who watched her with a smug grin as if seeing right through her, was rather annoying.

Apparently, in the case of boys, if they felt like it, they could create any number of girls like that.

Elites whose levels had risen, with their physical abilities and stamina amplified, apparently considered having many girls like that to be a status symbol.

And since he was already doing this even before his level had risen, Seiichi definitely had the aptitude for that kind of thing.

“Alright then, guess it’s time to really do it. Wonder how long you can hold out?”

“Just as I thought…Seiichi, you understood everything…”

Zururi, Mai’s sweatpants were pulled down off her lower body, and the penis was pressed once more against her backside, which was already in a completely defenseless state.

“What’re you talking about? You already belong to me. You’re staying over until you fall completely for me.”

“Ah…y-you have to…properly, properly take responsibility… nngh…”

“While you’re still properly cute, that is.”

As if teasing her, he dragged out his penis, then dug his fingertips into Mai’s vagina, where even the pubic hair was still innocent-looking and faint.

He buried the pad of his thumb inside her opening and handled her as though pinching the clitoris and the sensitive spot inside at the same time.

“You’ve got a pretty pink pussy, Mai.”

“Noo, I’m becoming Seiichi’s toy… I’m going to become his toy.”

“I’m gonna pour plenty inside you again today.”

Seiichi covered Mai as she writhed on the bed, pressed his lips against hers, and entwined his tongue with hers.

＊　＊　＊

“No… no, I’ll be swept away… ah…”

Still lying on my back, forced to hold my own legs, what he had released deep inside my vagina seemed to seep warmly through me.

Seiichi, now wearing only a black T-shirt, kept his hips pressed against the front of my lower body, looking down at me with lewd eyes as if observing the aftermath.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe that simply having him finish inside me could make me climax.

And it wasn’t like an orgasm was being forced onto me directly. It felt more like the depths of my stomach became so good that I climbed to the peak on my own.

“Nn… nn… don’t touch me yet…”

I pleaded in an unbelievably fawning, feminine voice.

Each time Seiichi finished, he pulled out his penis, inserted his fingers into the opening he had withdrawn from and stirred around inside with a wet kuchu-kuchu sound.

That was probably Seiichi’s fetish.

After stroking, pinching and adjusting places like the soft folds of the labia, he would slide his still deeply flushed penis back in.

Even though he had already released everything inside for the fifth time, she was gouged from the flesh at the entrance all the way deep within.

“Nnngh… ah…”

He slipped his hips in between her backside and the bed to increase their closeness, and continued with soft, rocking movements.

If this followed the usual pattern, he would probably savor the inside of my body until he was satisfied, then finish and end it.

Rather than simply releasing too much, he was impressively tireless.

My previous partners had managed twice at most and most of them had gone soft and small after finishing once.

But now, every part of me had been thoroughly reshaped by Seiichi’s penis.

Even aside from the semen or the adaptation, Seiichi’s penis felt good.

Still in the position I had been ordered into, hugging my legs open, I looked up at Seiichi as he innocently moved his hips, seeming to feel good.

At last, his face had gone back to the Seiichi I didn’t hate.

“Ah…”

Even though he hadn’t finished, his penis was pulled out and my pussy was stirred around by his fingertips.

“Nn…”

The smooth tip pressing firmly inside felt good.

Seiichi desperately tried to release inside me.

Even when I did it for him with my mouth, even when I did it for him with my chest, the place he finished was always inside my pussy.

Even when I licked the twitching penis with my mouth, having him only shove it into my pussy right when he was about to release was a turnoff.

It wasn’t like he had to be in such a hurry. I wasn’t going to run away.

But if he kept holding me like this every night, I felt that it wouldn’t even take half a year. By the time Golden Week came around, I’d become the kind of girl whose legs would give out the moment Seiichi put his penis inside me.

And then…

Would Seiichi start looking at me a little more with his usual smile again?

＊　＊　＊

“…Hey. Seiichi.”

“Mmh. What is it? I’m sleepy…”

Mai rested her face on top of the half-asleep Seiichi, gave a soft kusu smile, and lifted the futon a little.

“…Hey. Is Shizuka okay?”

“Ah… Dunno. In class, she’s all clingy with Touma. Well, I guess she’s getting by just fine. In all kinds of ways.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

What kind of treatment Shizuka was going through after being sent into the boys’ dorm as Seiichi’s replacement.

It should have been easy enough to imagine.

Even though they had switched places, they still normally saw each other in class and they even ate lunch together and talked.

But they never touched on anything too deep.

“It pisses me off…”

“Huh?”

Seiichi rolled over and muttered softly.

The closed door and windows, Shizuka’s bed still cold, and a monologue no one else was listening to.

Sleep-talk spoken while half-asleep.

After setting the stage like that, it was Seiichi’s ego, wanting someone to hear what was really inside him.

“That face Touma makes, like he sees right through everything, like he’s accepted it all, pisses me off.”

As if everything in the world was nothing at all.

The treasures we held dear, the bitterness we had to grit our teeth and give up on, even bowing our heads to someone so disgusting it made us want to puke.

He could not stand that attitude, as if Touma were saying they were clinging to things that were all meaningless and worthless.

He wanted to make him look even more frustrated, to make him cry.

“There’s no meaning to it. I’m just getting pissed off on my own.”

He had prioritized his emotions over the orders he had been given.

“That guy doesn’t have a single thing that belongs to him. His bag and everything are empty. Makes me laugh.”

Nothing. No matter what they investigated, it was blank, a clean sheet.

And yet he wore an unfazed expression, never changing, as if he were complete all by himself.

“So, you know… if you force something precious onto him, and then that thing gets stolen from him, defiled, or betrayed…”

Shizuka, whom he went out of his way to escort, was being carefully delivered there without him laying a hand on her.

Always choosing the dormitory corridors so that, without making it too obvious, people would be sure to see them.

“I thought maybe he’d look a little more like me.”

Seiichi himself did not know why he felt this much hostility.

Toward someone he had only just met.

Was it jealousy?

Jealousy of what?

Thinking that Touma should also fail to protect what mattered, be forced to taste his own powerlessness and become a complete mess.

“Stupid as hell. Don’t tell anyone, Mai… Mai?”

“…”

Lying on his back, Seiichi noticed that Mai had closed her eyes while resting her face on his chest and was breathing softly in sleep.

Seiichi let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling, then gently stroked Mai’s head and moved it onto the pillow.

Quietly, so as not to wake her, pretending not to notice that she was only pretending to sleep.

“Damn it…”

Without even knowing who he was cursing, Seiichi closed his eyes and gave up on thinking.

＊　＊　＊

Chucchu, came the sounds from their mouths, along with the creaking of the chair.

Shizuka’s body, straddling the chair backward, twitched with convulsion.

She tightly drew in the thighs resting on Touma’s lap, and her fingernails dug with a kyu into the hands she had placed on his shoulders.

With her eyes melting in a daze, Shizuka rubbed her breasts against Touma’s chest, as if marking him with her scent.

“Touma-kun… let’s calm down. Calm down, and today, for sure, mmph.”

Shizuka leaned over Touma’s face and pressed her lips to his.

She pinned down Touma’s arms as he stirred, not letting up on the wet, lingering assault of her tongue.

Touma, who did not mind choosing love communication as the priority, decided to take into consideration how terribly depressed Shizuka would become after the act.

As Shizuka became absorbed in the kiss and lifted her hips, Touma grabbed her waist, and with most of it having slipped out, one deep thrust slid into her now vacuum-like vagina entrance.

“Fuwaa.”

Shizuka, whose voice sounded as if it should have had a heart mark at the end, lost strength in her hips and went limp.

Using that opening, Touma held the waist she had straddled over him and pulled his penis out all at once.

“Ah, aaah!”

Shizuka let out a pained voice that sounded as if she were about to cry. Touma stroked her back to soothe her, while also calming his own sexual urges.

In truth, Touma wanted to apologize with a『sorry』 drag her into bed and immerse himself in sex until his mind went blank, just like he had done every night lately.

But that would mean there had been no progress at all.

While holding Shizuka, who was sniffling, in a safety-style fold, he stopped moving until his reason returned.

“…Uu. I’m sorry, Touma-kun.”

“No, it was okay. We’re safe.”

To be specific about what was『safe』he had not ejaculated.

The two of them had been sitting side by side at the desk but the cause was that Shizuka had unconsciously been unable to resist her impulse and had touched Touma’s right palm.

From the experiments over the past several days, they had learned that Shizuka could maintain her reason as long as she did not touch her own crystal.

They did not understand the principle or mechanism, but it had become clear that the Shizuka crystal embedded in Touma’s right hand exerted a mental influence on Shizuka herself.

Even if they kept their distance, Shizuka herself and the Shizuka crystal were constantly linked.

The problem with them being linked was that the Shizuka crystal easily synchronized with Touma’s thoughts.

When Touma thought,『Come here, come here』 Shizuka would somehow feel like going to Touma’s side. If Touma was hungry, then even if she had just eaten, she would somehow feel hungry too.

In this state, they could still go about their daily lives, but once they touched and formed a direct link, there was no helping it.

“Maybe the feelings and impulses that you and I feel, Touma-kun, are getting doubled, I think.”

“Sorry. I don’t really get it.”

“…Maybe the fusion between you and my crystal has progressed, Touma-kun. It wasn’t this bad on the first day. Yes, not sensations, but emotions. It also fits with the concept of the three souls and seven spirits that came up in class.”

While Shizuka kept clinging to him and muttering under her breath, Touma casually dodged away from the hand she unconsciously reached out with, hiding his right palm from her.

“But that’s exactly why there’s nothing we can do. I can endure sensations but I can’t endure emotions… I’m your servant in the truest sense, Touma-kun.”

“Shizuka?”

“It’s all right. It won’t harm you, Touma-kun. You can only control me through sensation, not emotion and I’m controlled through emotion, not sensation. That’s why it becomes sex… The libido you feel toward me doubles, Touma-kun and there’s no way I can withstand that.”

Shizuka let out a breath and embraced Touma with a calm expression.

She felt none of the aversion toward men that had been carved into her as trauma.

He was equal to her own body, no, her body itself was a part of Touma.

From Touma’s perspective, Shizuka was a tool, and to Shizuka, being used itself felt like bliss.

Considering biological instinct, it was unavoidable that the purpose for which Touma unconsciously used Shizuka would be sexual desire.

The seven elements governed by the human body.

Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred and desire.

It was unlikely that anyone would see the symbol called Shizuka as the very symbol of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure itself.

If Touma truly hated Shizuka from the bottom of his heart, she would probably die.

If Touma truly loved Shizuka from the bottom of his heart, she would obtain blissful ecstasy.

But the sensation that a creature called a human prioritizes the most is a far more vague and urgent desire.

“You okay?”

“Yeah… I’m fine. Because I understand now. I’m fine now. You can behave however you like, Touma-kun.”

Shizuka, wearing a lap blanket over her naked body like a shawl, gazed into Touma’s eyes with clear eyes.

“The first thing we talked about was returning this to you, Shizuka.”

“Please allow me anything but that. If that is returned to me, I’ll probably…I’m sure I would kill myself. Because I’ve learned it now. I can never endure being alone again…”

Shizuka, who was shedding tears just from imagining it, was pulled into his arms.

“You can’t leave?”

“…Yes. Until you no longer need me.”

“I’ll tell you without dressing it up. I can’t understand what you want, Shizuka. I still neither like nor dislike you.”

“You’re honest, aren’t you? Even if you had just thrown me some careless, merely kind words, I would have happily believed them…”

Even after hearing that coldhearted confession, Shizuka was somehow able to accept it, as if it had fallen neatly into place inside her.

He had clearly and unmistakably thrust reality before her.

But that was fine. That was exactly why they suited each other.

Shizuka had also approached Touma in order to use him and just as she had planned, she had obtained his protection.

That was the unvarnished reality.

For now, that was enough.

“But… you want to do it, don’t you?”

“I do.”

To Shizuka’s question, asked as she looked up at him and pouted her lips, an immediate answer came back without the slightest hesitation.

“Yes. Please do with me as you wish, Touma-san. All seven of my spirits belong to you… Ah, but please don’t hold back. Um, not as a metaphor, but it makes this place squeeze tight and hurt.”

Shizuka blushed as she placed her hands on her chest and around the area below her navel.

“After that, there’s the matter of what to do with Seiichi and Mai’s crystals.”

“Ah… yes.”

The moment Touma touched the dejected Shizuka, she trembled with shiver, her knees gave way and she was swept up into a princess carry.

“Later is fine.”

The libido Touma was feeling became pleasure inside her, as if it were reaching orgasm.

Shizuka had already accepted herself, now aroused like a female dog in heat.

＊　＊　＊

The academy’s buildings were divided into several school blocks according to their intended use.

The『Classroom Building』where students devoted themselves to classroom learning was the largest building, containing classrooms from the first year to the fifth year.

There was the『Special Classroom Building』attached to the Classroom Building, and the『Student Cafeteria』which many students used not only for lunch but also for dinner.

The large-scale『School Store』located close to the entrance, was probably a feature not seen in other schools.

The『Clock Tower』which could be looked up at from anywhere in the academy, and the『Library』beyond the beautifully gardened『Garden』were also used in the academy’s public pamphlets.

The area around the『Chapel』small in scale but beautifully decorated on the outside, had become a place of relaxation for the students.

The『Gymnasium』was small compared to the scale of the academy, and was mainly used as an auditorium for assemblies and the like.

In its place, the『Martial Arts Hall』which had training grounds for swordsmanship and various martial arts, was built magnificently.

There was also a『Health and Medical Care Building』 a place with more complete facilities than an ordinary school.

It was not on the scale of a single school nurse working in one room, but rather a facility that could be called a hospital, staffed full-time by multiple attending physicians with medical qualifications.

It was fully equipped with hospitalization facilities as well, and as much support as possible was arranged for the students.

At least on the surface.

The many expensive, state-of-the-art devices not even introduced in ordinary university hospitals were being used to investigate and research, from the perspective of modern science, the various items produced inside the dungeon.

At the same time, research was also continuing on the lost ancient Japanese curse arts that had been handed down since antiquity but were lost in the postwar chaos, though there was no prospect of progress.

The research department set up in the depths of the Health and Medical Care Building was surrounded by thick iron shielding in order to protect the facility from wide-area noise jamming of unknown cause and from the miasma thought to be leaking out of Rashoumon.

“…Damn it. Acting so high and mighty when they’re just lousy scholars.”

Seiichi, having been driven out through a hatch that looked like the blast-proof door of a nuclear shelter, spat out a curse.

He crumpled up the printouts that had been thrust back at him along with the warning not to make them waste their time, and threw them away.

“If something had shown up from this, things would’ve been simple.”

Seiichi looked up at the sky with an annoyed expression, then turned not toward the General Course Classroom Building, but toward the『Special Grade Building』near the library beyond the garden.

Unlike the Classroom Building, which was a renovated wooden school building, this was a brick-built schoolhouse for the『stuck-up, insufferable』Special Grade students.

He casually checked his surroundings, then stepped into the school building through the service entrance.

If a General Course student walked into the Special Grade Building through the front entrance, they would be beaten down without question.

Seiichi, who had already learned that unspoken rule with his own body, hurried through the corridor and arrived in front of the student council room located inside the Special Grade Building.

By convention, every member and officer connected to Toyoashihara Academy’s student council was selected from among the Special Grade students.

Reluctantly, Seiichi knocked on the door. When he heard a voice from beyond it, he put on a thin, careless grin and stepped inside.

“Yo, ’sup. Pardon the intrusion.”

“I believe I told you before to stop using that ridiculous greeting.”

A flat, hard voice called out from beyond a large, heavy mahogany desk.

The lack of emotion in that voice made its coldness stand out more strongly than any sense of composure.

“Sorry ’bout that. I was born low-class, y’know.”

Seiichi grinned flippantly and threw himself down onto one of the sofas arranged around the low long table placed in front of the president’s desk.

The president, dressed in an old-style school uniform with a stand-up collar fastened neatly, lifted his face from the documents on the desk.

He was the academy’s student council president despite being a second-year student but at Toyoashihara Academy, where there were no elections by student vote, the position of president was decided by recommendation.

By convention, the student chosen was the one who, among all currently enrolled students, was the『child of an influential person with the greatest political influence in the outside world.』

The organization known as the『student council』had become a place of raw political maneuvering for young people of the same generation who would likely continue their relationships in the same world even after graduation.

It could be called a miniature version of reality, where the power relationships and connections of their families were intricately tangled together.

“Hurry up and give your report.”

“Yeah, yeah. I mean, I told you before but I think you’re misunderstanding something about that guy.”

“That is not for you to judge.”

Seiichi continued giving his empty report while keeping that flippant grin on his face, facing someone who made no attempt to hide the fact that he truly did not want to speak with him and even found breathing the same air as him unpleasant.

As for the background check that could be done through paperwork, he had already confirmed the materials provided by the academy.

There seemed to be some issues with the boy’s home environment but he was an otherwise ordinary person with nothing unusual about him.

There were no signs that he had come into contact with any problematic ideological groups nor had there been any period when his whereabouts were unknown.

Even so, the reason the individual known as Funasaka Touma had been marked as a subject requiring observation was that the person who had recommended him to the academy was considered a problem.

“What was it again, the Frenzied Demon? That nickname stinks like chuuni garbage, but in the end, he’s just an ordinary General Course graduate, right?”

The high-level achiever once called by that epithet had been Touma’s homeroom teacher back in middle school.

The General Course students sent into Toyoashihara Academy were limited to those recommended by graduates scattered across the country.

A bonus was paid to recommenders as a kind of pension benefit but recommendations required certain conditions.

If those complicated conditions were summed up in a single phrase, the person had to be someone whose presence or absence『would not cause any problems.』

Due to the academy’s circumstances, they had to secure a minimum number of enrolled students, so there were limits to screening by documents alone.

The only reason Touma had drawn attention was that the recommender known as the Frenzied Demon had recommended a student for the first time since graduating.

“So, yeah, that’s how it is. He doesn’t seem to be contacting anyone anywhere and there’s no sign he’s secretly connected to anyone involved with the academy either. Isn’t it pointless to investigate him any further?”

“Is that so.”

That was not agreement with Seiichi’s words but simply a response to his report.

As he had already stated, the president had absolutely no intention of taking Seiichi’s opinion into consideration.

Just as it had always been until now.

“In short, I’m saying that what I’m doing is meaningless, aren’t I?”

“And what of it?”

In the end, without looking at Seiichi even once, he returned his gaze to the documents on the desk.

He had known that from the very beginning.

Even the materials submitted by the detective agency, obtained through the authority he could wield outside the academy without much effort, had shown no particular problems.

To him, this was nothing more than a『test case.』

It was simply one rehearsal for the future, for when he would hold a position where he had to make use of far more people.

“What the hell is that? Don’t make me do pointless crap.”

“Pointless, you say… And yet, for someone saying that, it seems you’ve been amusing yourself quite freely.”

“You bastard! You goddamn brother!”

Realizing that he himself had also been under surveillance, Seiichi froze in place with his hips half-raised from the sofa.

Fragments of the shattered teacup, along with droplets of the remaining tea, fell from Seiichi’s head.

“You have no right to call me your brother. Know your place. Remember your station.”

“…Yeah, yeah. I understand my position very well.”

With droplets of tea dripping from his bangs, Seiichi kept his flippant grin aimed at his half-brother.

His eyes were dim and stagnant.