Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Vol 1 Chapter 4

“Is there no public morals officer here?” Akuto asked Hiroshi.

“Not currently,” he replied.

They were walking to school. Korone was also walking behind them since Akuto had deactivated her the night before. Just as Fujiko had said, she had lost her memories from a few seconds before being deactivated and a few seconds after being reactivated. In other words, she did not even realize she had been deactivated.

“Is there a reason why?”

He was not doubting Fujiko, but with the many customs this academy had from the past, he asked Korone just to be sure.

“According to the records, the previous holder of the position resigned. The reason is not given, but I predict it was due to fights with those who did not like the public morals officer.”

“Fights?”

“Yeah, I heard he was targeted by delinquents,” added Hiroshi.

In other words, it was a difficult job.

—Even Hattori-san should be pleased when she hears this.

Junko did not show up to cla.s.s that day either.

During the lunch break, Akuto left Hiroshi behind and headed to the student council room.

It seemed the student council officers would gather there during the lunch break. They showed Akuto in while looking a bit frightened. The student council president however did not hesitate. She asked him what he wanted without fear.

The president wore a stylish hat and had a surprising amount of dignity and presence for her small size. That and her arrogant att.i.tude gave off the impression of someone who was used to standing above others.

“Oh, what do you want? Such a famous visitor.”

“Please stop treating me like I’m famous. Um…I came here in order to volunteer as the public morals officer.”

“The public morals officer?”

The members of the student council began muttering amongst themselves. The three lower officers looked worriedly between the president and Akuto.

“Being the public morals officer,” said the president while pointing at Akuto. “Well, it is not easy. Are you a good fighter?”

“I don’t know. I have never done it before,” replied Akuto honestly and the president gave a bitter smile.

“I see. Fine then. Being the public morals officer in this school is not easy. You can quit whenever you want, so just try it out for now. The public morals committee is an independent organization subordinate to the student council, so you can do the job however you like.”

“Is that so? I don’t entirely understand, but I will do my best.”

“You will do your best despite not entirely understanding the situation? At any rate, welcome. I suppose this should at least be interesting, so that’s something.”

That last comment was spoken more to the surrounding student council officers than to Akuto.

Akuto was then given the key to the public morals committee room. As soon as he left the student council room, Akuto was surprised to hear an immediate school-wide announcement on the issue.

It seemed the student council was good on ensuring that all arrangements had been made, but Akuto was unaware that someone else was even better at that. He realized this when a telepathic conversation arrived toward the end of the lunch break.

“Sorry about suddenly contacting you. Do you have a moment?”

Fujiko spoke to him through his student handbook just as he had finished eating.

“Yes,” replied Akuto telepathically.

“Hattori-san may not have shown up for cla.s.s, but I had her promise to meet you. The meeting is at 4 PM in the old barracks on the third floor of the underground labyrinth in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Will that work for you?”

“It will. Thank you very much.”

After thanking her, Akuto ended the telepathic conversation.

Meanwhile, Fujiko grinned within the girls’ bathroom after the conversation came to an end.

“Heh heh heh heh… Oh, this is so much fun. Conspiracies are so wonderful.”

Fujiko used her student handbook once more to contact Junko. Once the telepathic conversation connected, her expression completely changed to that of a high-cla.s.s girl.

“Is this Hattori-san?”

“Ah…Dorm leader!” replied Junko as if she was straightening up her back.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Oh…yes. I am fine now!”

“In that case, is it due to that new student that you are not at school today? I apologize if this is a difficult question to answer.”

“Oh…um…yes. That…actually is the reason,” said Junko with difficulty.

Her behavior showed just how much she trusted Fujiko as the dormitory leader.

“I only ask because that new student has asked me to help reconcile your differences.”

“Reconcile our differences? After everything he-…”

“Yes. But I think this may be because he has become the new public morals officer.”

“The public morals officer? But that…”

“Yes, it has been a horrible position to hold ever since that rumor spread that defeating the head public morals officer will increase your position in the rankings. It is truly sad that so many people are so obsessed with who is the strongest in the school.”

“And that is why no one wants to take the position. But what does that have to do with reconciling his differences with me?”

“I do not know, but he may have some ulterior motive. I do not know what that boy is thinking, but he may want to create a single united faction within the school.”

“Yes, it probably is that.”

Despite speaking with an uppercla.s.sman, Junko let displeasure enter her voice.

Fujiko smiled and said, “I was asked to play the role of intermediary as your dormitory leader, but let me tell you to stay on your guard. He suggested you meet him at 4:30 PM on the third floor of the school’s bas.e.m.e.nt.”

“A large area where he can freely act violently. I will be careful.”

“Please do. Remember, 4:30,” reiterated Fujiko before ending the connection.

She hurriedly connected to a third person.

“Ahn?” said a rude male voice.

“Oh? Since when do I allow you to act like that to me?” asked Fujiko in amus.e.m.e.nt.

The voice grew panicked and said, “S-sorry!”

“Have you forgotten how this works? Is it simply because it has been so long since we last met? Please do not make me remind you.”

“I-I wouldn’t dream of it! So what do you need, milady?”

“You should be thankful because I will be giving you some useful information. Have you heard of the new head public morals officer?”

“Oh, you mean that stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d? He probably doesn’t know what he’s getting into, but I can only view this as a challenge against those of us on the underside of the school. That said, he’s a bit of a special case. He has a government L'Isle-Adam, so we can’t touch him. It would be best to just leave him alone.”

“Silence,” cut in Fujiko. “Takeshi, do you really think you can become a black magician like that? Listen. He will head down to the third floor of the bas.e.m.e.nt at 4 PM. And he will not bring the L'Isle-Adam with him. Take a hostage or use whatever underhanded tricks you can think of to teach him where he stands at this school! No matter how much magic power or physical strength he has, he can be defeated with psychological violence. Make sure to give this your all.”

Fujiko forcibly cut off the telepathic connection.

“Now then…”

Fujiko brought back the high-cla.s.s girl look that the normal students looked up to. However, her mind was still filled with dark thoughts.

“The preparations are complete. No matter what happens, he will end up using that drug.”

Fujiko chuckled. She pa.s.sed a student in the hallway, but the student only saw Fujiko’s usual kind smile.

Once the afternoon cla.s.ses came to an end, Akuto sat in his seat wondering how he would deactivate Korone and head to the bas.e.m.e.nt with no one seeing it. However, he realized an odd atmosphere had filled the cla.s.sroom. The other students always kept their distance from him, but they seemed legitimately afraid today.

“Does anything seem odd to you?” he asked Korone.

“I do not know what a.n.a.lysis of the situation led to that comment, but the primary difference from normal is the absence of those two,” replied Korone.

“Those two…”

Akuto looked around. He realized that Keena and Hiroshi were not in the cla.s.sroom. Keena had floated off somewhere, but that was the norm. Hiroshi, on the other hand, had gone to the bathroom earlier but he never come back.

—This makes getting to the bas.e.m.e.nt much easier.

Akuto stood up.

“There is somewhere I want to go check out.”

“Where?”

“The bas.e.m.e.nt.”

“Why?”

“I want to see those historical sites from the time of the war.”

With that arbitrary excuse, he left the cla.s.sroom. Korone of course followed. No one else followed, so he simply needed to deactivate Korone once he made it to the bas.e.m.e.nt.

Just as they were walking down the staircase to the school portion of the bas.e.m.e.nt, Korone suddenly spoke up.

“By the way.”

“Yes?”

“As your observer, I will not interfere, but I do not want you to fail.”

Akuto was confused by this sudden comment.

“What are you talking about?”

“Do not forget that I must overlook it if someone is manipulating you. However, that can be seen as a form of interference on my part. The result of overlooking that manipulation can be seen as my responsibility.”

Akuto still did not understand what she was getting at.

“Meaning?”

“I cannot say that you properly understand how you are seen by those around you. If you were to learn to understand that, it would help you grow as a person.”

“Please do not say things that will just annoy me.”

Akuto faced Korone for a few seconds and grew a tad irritated. He heard a suspicious metallic noise from nearby, but due to that irritation, he decided he was just hearing things when he did not immediately see anything.

“A-anyway, let’s go.”

He opened the heavy metal door leading to the underground labyrinth.

As soon as he pa.s.sed through, he turned around and closed the door. He then realized Korone had her back to him.

It still made him nervous, but this was his second time and he knew this might be his only chance. He quickly reached for Korone’s a.s.s and stuck his hand up her skirt.

“Hyah!” shouted Korone in surprise.

Akuto’s heart leapt into his throat, but he managed to pull her tail.

She stopped moving while still standing.

“Hoo… I don’t think I’ll ever get used to deactivating her like this…”

He sat Korone down on the ground next to the door.

He opened his student handbook and called up a map of the underground labyrinth. The school had an exploration club that sold the maps. The accuracy of the map was a bit suspicious, but they claimed it was perfect as far down as the fourth level. Also, the higher levels were used by a lot of the different school clubs. The old strategy room was apparently used for secret meetings by the administrators of the girls’ dorm, so it would not be surprising if others used the area too.

And for this reason, it had many different entrances. Akuto had a.s.sumed the one he used was used a lot due to being the most obvious, but apparently it was so far away from most of the useful areas of the underground labyrinth that it was rarely used. There were apparently even paths leading to the bas.e.m.e.nt from the dorms and some supply closets for cla.s.sroom cleaning supplies. Akuto had not actually confirmed any of this was true, though.

Unsurprisingly, a portion of the underground labyrinth had become a gathering place for delinquent students. Once Akuto entered the third floor of the bas.e.m.e.nt, the students squatting on the side of that pathway and the students peering out from behind open doors glared at him.

—If they show this much blatant hostility, they lose any right to complain if I were to suddenly attack them.

Akuto of course had no intention of doing that. Part of it was due to being a good person, but it had more to do with him not being powerful enough to take on so many people at once. However, he had gained some ability with magic since entering the academy.

—And Korone isn’t with me right now. As long as I don’t kill them, I won’t be blamed for it.

Akuto suddenly realized that his logical mind and his heart had begun to diverge. He felt discomfort and pleasure at the same time. His mind told him it was wrong to hurt others, but his heart told him it would feel good to hurt those belligerent types who enjoyed breaking the rules.

Akuto continued toward the old barracks while hoping those students did nothing to anger him.

—I hope nothing happens. But why would Hattori-san choose such a dangerous place to meet? Oh, I suppose she is #2 in the school.

He arrived at the door to the old barracks while lost in thought. It was a large door that slid to the side, so it resembled the door to a giant metal storage container. It was closed now, but it did not appear to be locked.

Akuto placed a hand on the door. It must have been opened relatively frequently because it slid loosely and smoothly open.

Cool air flowed out from within. It was dark inside, but it seemed to be a large area. Akuto could only see the area the light from the pa.s.sageway reached. The room seemed to be filled with nothing but rows of three-level bunk beds that looked like steel shelves.

—Oh, yeah. This was the barracks. Now where’s the light switch?

Akuto stepped inside.

An impact immediately struck his head as if something heavy had fallen on him.

He was instantly knocked to the ground.

—Gh!

The lights came on. Akuto could see several sets of legs. He was surrounded.

He looked up and saw several grinning faces. Everyone was holding weapons. The shock batons, socks filled with blunt objects, and other weapons that were meant to cause pain rather than to kill.

“Were you not even a little afraid?” said a mocking voice as one of the batons was swung down toward him.

—…!

Akuto was not able to bring up his arm to block it. Instead, he focused his mana on the back of his neck where the baton was headed. A flow of light gathered there and repelled the baton.

“Wah!”

The boy holding the baton hurt his hand when the weapon struck an unexpected wall.

—Am I getting used to this? No…I was just really focused this time.

Akuto was surprised at what he had managed. He had blocked the attack without losing control of his powers. He had not actually done any training, so he was a bit confused that it had worked so well. However, he almost instantaneously came up with the answer. Instead of vaguely trying to “protect himself” he had been focused on a specific goal.

—Now, how am I going to defeat them?

At that point, Akuto realized he was oddly calm.

He felt some pain, but he forced himself to stand up and view his surroundings. He stood at one end of the old barracks which was about the size of a gym. Six boys surrounded him. However, those were not the only attackers. A boy was sitting on a bed on the opposite side of the barracks and around a dozen more boys were surrounding him.

Akuto could not find any words to say to them. If they were going to use violence, he would simply have to respond in kind.

The boy with the baton walked toward Akuto. Instead of running, he tried to swing the baton down once more, but Akuto stopped it with his arm. He then grabbed the baton and pulled. Once the boy lost his balance, Akuto punched him in the face.

However, the punched student looked somehow disappointed. The punch had not been as strong as he had expected.

—I see. It isn’t like I actually know how to fight.

He may have succeeded in defending himself with mana, but Akuto had not grown physically stronger.

“H-he’s really weak!”

The baton boy grew arrogant and came in for another strike. Instead of simply punching, Akuto released focused mana this time. His right fist struck the baton and the baton bent. The bent baton slammed into the boy’s face.

He wordlessly collapsed to the floor.

The remaining students’ expressions stiffened in fear. They moved away from Akuto bit by bit as if to avoid being his next target.

—How unpleasant can you be?

Akuto stretched his hand out toward one of them. He focused his mana there and fired a mana burst that resembled a bullet.

The mana struck the boy in the gut and he collapsed to the floor in pain. He held his stomach and rolled around while groaning.

“s.h.i.t.”

The remaining four fired mana at Akuto just as he had done. Instead of dodging it, Akuto gathered mana on the surface of his body to deflect the blasts. The amount of light his shield created caused the four to panic.

—Without ever getting into a proper fight before, I had no way of knowing, but I guess this is what it means to naturally have more mana. This makes sense. They started with physical attacks because that is what they are best at.

Akuto ignored the four and walked further into the room. The one surrounded by the others was obviously their boss. He would be the one to speak to.

The boy had a large build and had enough meat on his bones for his chin to hang down slightly. He had an una.s.suming yet thuggish face, so he was clearly a brutal person at first glance.

“I would like to know why you suddenly attacked me,” said Akuto and the boy sneered at him.

“Why does it matter?”

“I would feel better if I understood why. Right now, this leaves me uneasy.”

“Then I’ll tell you. Now that you’re the new public morals officer, everyone who wants to prove their skill will attack you. We just thought we’d give you a warning.”

“…Attacking me is a poor method of warning me. By the way, I never got your name.”

“It’s Kimura Takeshi,” said the #3 ranked student. And then he gestured mockingly at Akuto with his chin. “Now then. If you understand, why don’t you just let us beat the s.h.i.t out of you?”

“What?”

“You don’t get it? We want you to step down from your new position. Plus, it would be fun to make sure you never try to look down on us again.”

“You just want a fight.”

Akuto started to feel quite irritated.

“This won’t be a fight.”

On Takeshi’s instructions, three of his followers dragged someone out from a bed farther inside.

Akuto felt his heart jump into his throat when he saw the person who was being dragged by the arms and legs like an old rag.

It was Hiroshi. The area around his eyes was swollen up like b.a.l.l.s and he had dark bruises on his arms. The areas hidden by his clothes were likely covered in injuries as well.

“A-aniki…” Hiroshi was not unconscious. He looked up at Akuto and spoke in a pained voice. “Don’t worry about me. Take care of these guys…”

Takeshi and his followers laughed at that.

“Does this guy think he’s in some kind of manga!?”

On Takeshi’s instructions, the other boys lowered Hiroshi to the floor.

“To sum it up, if you don’t resist, we won’t hurt him anymore. I was hoping to get that girl who hangs around with you, but we couldn’t find her. But if you fight back or run away from here, I think you can imagine what will happen to her afterwards. You’re gonna be living in this school for a long time. You don’t want to spend that time in fear, do you?”

Takeshi gave his explanation in a tone that made it clear he saw himself as a sensible adult.

“I have a question,” said Akuto calmly.

“What?”

“You mentioned that this was like a manga. Well, there’s one thing I never understood about that.” Akuto looked over at Takeshi and the other boys. “Some people have self-inserted themselves into the hero or the villain of the manga or light novels they read, but they give up on that once reality kicks in. Those people that give up find their own way to live their life, and that’s fine. But then there are the people who mimic the characters that are utter trash. What are they thinking?”

“What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”

Takeshi must have gotten fed up with the conversation because he gestured at his followers with his chin.

Those boys approached Akuto with thin smiles on their faces.

“How strange. I have never felt more calm. I had always thought I would lose control of myself at times like this, but I guess not.”

Akuto waved a hand lightly in front of his waist. It was as if he was using a broom to sweep those boys’ legs out from under them.

The boys approaching him suddenly crouched down as their waists collapsed beneath them. They appeared confused, but then they realized their knees hurt and they could not stand up.

“All I did was break your knees by moving the mana in the atmosphere. You can control mana too, so it all comes down to who has more power. You need to at least put up some resistance.” Akuto sounded almost bored as he spoke. He stretched a hand out toward one boy nearby and twisted his hand. This twisted the boy’s arm. “I’m moving the mana near your body. You should be able to control it more easily than me, so there’s no reason you should be overpowered by me. C’mon, try a little harder. If you don’t, I’ll break your arm.”

After Akuto heard the unpleasant sound of the joint dislocating, he released the boy.

“Wait, don’t you understand your position here?”

Takeshi frantically had his followers drag Hiroshi out.

“I do. By targeting those around me instead of me directly, you have left me with no choice. Now that I understand the situation, there is only one thing I can do.”

Akuto broke another bone in another boy nearby.

“Y-you don’t understand the situation at all!” shouted Takeshi.

“No, I do. I’ve thought this through. I am ensuring your followers cannot move but are still conscious. That way, they can see what happens next. They need to see just how horribly their boss suffers.”

Akuto stretched out his hand. Takeshi quickly stood up and moved back while pulling a chain out of his pocket. It must have been made to be used in fights because it was glowing with mana.

Akuto tried to break Takeshi’s legs with mana, but Takeshi moved further back to help him “overpower” Akuto’s attempt. Takeshi had sweat running from his brow, but he managed to withstand Akuto’s pressure.

“Either way, I’m going to take care of you last.”

As soon as Akuto realized Takeshi would not be as easy as the others, he remotely controlled mana to shut the barracks door and looked at the other boys. All their faces became pale.

“I am not actually mad. I simply thought about how to completely prevent you from resisting and went through with it. I hope you won’t hold a grudge. In fact, I will take this far enough that any grudge will disappear, so that won’t be a problem.”

A few minutes after Akuto made that announcement, he and Takeshi were the only two who were left standing. Most of the other boys had collapsed near the wall. They had tried to flee but failed.

And Takeshi was cornered against the wall. He had continued moving back to escape from the pressure of Akuto’s mana manipulation, but his back had reached the wall. He realized he was likely done for and swung his chain horizontally towards Akuto’s face with all his strength.

Akuto did not even try to avoid the approaching chain. The chain struck his face and wrapped around his head.

“Did I get him?”

Takeshi’s face lit up, but his smile quickly froze over. The chain was floating about a centimeter away from Akuto’s face.

“He blocked it?”

“Is it really that surprising?” Akuto s.n.a.t.c.hed the chain away, unwrapped it from his face, and tossed it behind him. “Now please don’t beg for forgiveness.”

Akuto focused mana on the little toe of Takeshi’s right foot and bent it backwards. With a small snapping noise, the toe broke. Takeshi screamed and crouched down. Akuto lifted him up in front of him. Takeshi floated in the air as if he was being crucified.

Now that he was sure the immobilized followers could see, Akuto rotated Takeshi’s ankle completely around so it faced the opposite direction.

Takeshi’s scream echoed throughout the large barracks.

“Stop!” shouted a voice behind Akuto.

Akuto reflexively replied, “I can’t stop here. I won’t be satisfied until I have scared them a little more than this.”

Only after speaking did Akuto realize the voice had been female.

—Oh, no!

Akuto turned around. The barracks door he had closed had been forced open. Junko stood beyond it.

“d.a.m.n you! So you’ve finally shown who you really are! I wondered why you called me out here!”

—Oh, no, no, no, no. What do I do?

“No, they threatened me, so-…”

Sweat poured from Akuto’s brow when he realized how unconvincing an argument that was. Someone coming in now would see a boy with a cruel look in his eyes crucifying and tormenting a large thug ranked third in the school while surrounded by about 20 people with broken legs and shoulders, some of whom were bleeding.

“Don’t lie! It is obvious who is threatening who here!”

Junko took a defensive stance with the expression of a police officer entering the scene of a ma.s.s murder.

“You’ve got it all wrong! I was only protecting myself.”

“No excuses! I know what you are after now! You only became the head public morals officer so you could bring all of this school’s thugs under your control! You want to conquer this school so you can influence the students who will later take important positions in the government!”

Junko pointed an accusatory finger at Akuto.

“I-I wasn’t thinking anything like that. I swear!”

The thought had truly never even occurred to Akuto, so he the accusation caught him off guard.

“d.a.m.n you! Why am I the only one you act so nicely to!? Oh, I get it. You know I am the only highly ranked student who dislikes illegal activities! You wanted me to ally with you so you could deceive the proper students as well!”

Junko was p.r.o.ne to making a lot of a.s.sumptions.

—This is never going to end at this rate…

Akuto recalled what Fujiko had told him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the device she had given him to administer those pills. Those pills would allow them to come to an understanding.

—I’ll start with myself…

Akuto brought the device to his arm and pulled the trigger.

But nothing happened.

—Eh?

He opened the grip of the device to check inside. The pills were gone.

—What?

The device could not go off on its own, so the pills would not have been volatilized. Also, the device had no hole they could have fallen out through. Akuto panicked, but he had to give up on using the drug if the pills were gone.

“U-um…”

While trying to figure out what to do, Akuto started by lowering Takeshi to the ground. Takeshi let out a short cry of pain and collapsed. Akuto tried to walk toward Junko, but she held her wooden sword up as if he was a ferocious beast.

“S-stay back! If you do not, I will do my best to defeat you even at the risk of my life! Even if I am defeated, I will get at least one strike in! I will show you the spirit of humanity, you demon king!”

“W-wait a second… You don’t have to get so serious.”

Akuto walked forward while spreading his hands to show he had no intention to fight, but Junko moved further back.

“Stay back! I know I cannot match your power! I have no choice but to gather volunteers from around the school to formally punish you!”

“Punish me?”

“Have you not heard of the school’s punishment system!? I suppose you wouldn’t have! But that does not matter! We will use that system against you! Justice will prevail!”

Junko must have been very frightened because her hands were trembling as she pulled a ball out from her pocket. Akuto immediately recognized it as the smoke bombs used by the ninja, the combat group of the Suhara followers.

“No, wait…”

Akuto stepped forward to stop Junko, but that only made her rush things.

“Eee! I-I said to stay back!”

She tried to throw the smoke bomb and step back at the same moment and tripped over one of the collapsed delinquents.

The smoke bomb slipped from her hand.

“Ah… Oh, no…”

Junko seemed fl.u.s.tered as the smoke bomb struck the floor and loudly exploded a few moments later.

“Eeee!” screamed Junko as white smoke spread out.

“Wah!”

Akuto instinctually moved away.

His field of vision was filled with pure white and a strong unpleasant odor filled his nose.

The air was quite still in that bas.e.m.e.nt room, so it took a while for the smoke to clear. By the time it grew thin enough to see, Junko was nowhere to be seen.

“What am I supposed to do?” muttered Akuto as he scratched at his head.

Takeshi, his followers, and Hiroshi were all lying collapsed on the floor. Almost all of that was Akuto’s doing.

—But…

Akuto was bothered by the fact that he had never “lost control of himself” while attacking Takeshi. He had been trying to act rationally and did not see what other option he had had.

—This is a problem… But I do see how this could look like the actions of a demon king. And I’m sure it will all be blamed on me… What a pain…

Akuto silently complained while returning to the entrance of the underground labyrinth. Once there, he reactivated Korone.

She had no memories of being switched off, so she immediately said, “Now, let’s go check out the bas.e.m.e.nt.”

He told her they would visit the old barracks. She would be able to heal the injured, but that meant he would have to tell her the truth. While walking back there, Akuto racked his brain for a way to explain it to her.

“In other words, you did all sorts of things while I was deactivated?” asked Korone.

“Sorry.”

Akuto bowed his head.

They were in his dorm room. Korone was on the bed while Akuto was prostrated on the floor. He had explained most of what had happened up to now.

“I have no records of the incident, so I cannot punish you. However, I still think you should take responsibility for this problem related to Hattori Junko,” said Korone indifferently.

“I intend to. The problem is…”

“Obediently accepting this punishment would be one way of doing so.”

The academy had a punishment system. This was of course the first Akuto had heard of it, but most of the other students had never heard of it either. It was a relic of the war that still remained in the school rules.

If anyone took actions that would harm the school, their crime would be made public and they must accept a duel from any number of people.

The system had likely been created to deal with traitors or spies.

“Allowing the accused a chance to fight does sound like a manly system, but…”

“It is a custom from a more savage time,” agreed Korone.

Now that Akuto had been designated under the system, he would be forced into a duel with (i.e. be attacked by) Junko and the students she managed to gather.

“As for my crimes…well, I suppose I’ve done enough.”

Takeshi and the others’ injuries had been recorded by Korone. Plus, Junko would have already reported it to the teachers regardless.

“But at the same time…what if I win? Wouldn’t that just make all this worse?” asked Akuto with an earnest expression.

“That is why I suggested obediently accepting the punishment,” said Korone with an equally earnest expression.

“Is that really my only option? I tried speaking with a teacher, but that didn’t help.”

He had of course spoken with Mitsuko-sensei as soon as he knew what was happening. Her answer had been simple. Her eyes had lit up as she said the following:

“You’re going to die? Are you really going to die? That’s a huge deal! Oh, I’m so excited! Please give me a special front row seat to watch on! I’ll make sure to bring you back with necromancy the instant you die!”

This was always the case, but it was now even more obvious that the difference between her and a black magician was that she had permission and they did not.

Akuto was more troubled than he had ever been before.

“So would anyone become a demon king if they had enough power? Ahh… Is cursing destiny my only option?”

Someone else was cursing destiny at the same moment.

It was Junko.

She was sitting seiza-style on top of the tatami mats laid out in her room. She was wearing a traditional white j.a.panese outfit. She focused her mind while holding a calligraphy brush in front of some j.a.panese paper.

“Father, Mother, Grandmother. Please forgive my actions. This is for the sake of justice and our country. However, I still must curse destiny for placing me here at this time. No, perhaps I should rejoice that I can defeat the future demon king while he is still weak.”

She muttered some ideas for what she should write in her will. However, her emotions grew as she spoke and she was alone, so her words gradually shifted over to nothing but complaints.

“Ahh…And I thought he was actually a decent guy. I can’t believe he is such a horrible person. I took such a liking to him at first and I had never seen a guy like him before, so I was so surprised to hear he was a demon king. But now I see he has the perfect personality for it. And why does he know just what to say and do to hurt me the most? I may be strong, but I am clumsy, faint-hearted, and only put on a show of being so tough. I hate those people who love getting into fights and try to do the right thing, but I never did anything about Kimura Takeshi and did not have the courage to volunteer as a public morals officer. …How could he do all that so easily? And he’s strong too… No, this makes it sound like I care about him. Don’t be ridiculous. I might die tomorrow, so I need to write my will. Let’s see…”

Junko reached for the inkstone to put ink on the brush, but she could not quite reach it.

“Oh, come on…”

She stretched her arm out as far she could and ended up looking up at the ceiling. Her gaze naturally left the inkstone. Then her fingertips touched it.

“Oh, there it is.”

Junko tried to bring it toward her, but something seemed off. It was closer than it should have been.

“What?”

She tilted her head in confusion.

The inkstone was clearly closer than where she had seen it. It had moved toward her hand.

“Eh?”

Junko looked around, but no one was there.

“Wh-what?”

Still confused, she returned to writing her will.

Fujiko had seen what happened in the old barracks using a Monitor. It was a tiny hidden camera, shaped like a winged insect. Such devices were of course illegal, but Fujiko had made this one herself. She had seen everything, from Akuto’s violence to the missing pills, in the crystal ball located in her hidden room. Up to Akuto’s attempt to use the drug, everything had gone according to her plan. However…

“That is very strange,” she said to her brother in the gla.s.s container.

“Is it?”

“Yes. The disappearance of those pills ruins my plans.” Fujiko thoughtfully brought a hand to her chin. “But…he was so calm in his violence. And he mistakenly views his actions as justified. Don’t you think he is very well suited to being a demon king?” Fujiko almost seemed entranced as she spoke to no one in particular. “If only I could make him mine without using that drug.”