Tasogareiro no Uta Tsukai Vol 2 Chapter 2

With a high-pitched call of its steam whistle, the black train arrived at the platform.

It continuously spat out high-temperature, high-pressure water vapor into the air. He hadn’t heard about the theory in detail, but it seemed that the steam was used to move pistons, which sent power to the wheels.

“……Wow.”

Looking up, Neight involuntarily let out a shout of joy and amazement.

“It’s amazing!”

The metal vehicle consisted of nearly ten compartments, which together made up one train. He couldn’t imagine how heavy they were, and couldn’t believe that such large ma.s.ses of metal could move like this.

“Neight, is this your first time riding a steam train?”

Someone tapped Neight’s shoulder. Looking up, beside him stood a male student with a well-built physique.

“It’s my first time seeing a train. When I moved here, I came by boat. What about you, Ouma-san?”

Instead of replying, with an attendance book in hand, the cla.s.s representative in charge of overseeing the male students shrugged nonchalantly.

“I rode a train often when returning to my home in the countryside. I could take it easy during those times but…… as expected, not right now.”

All approximately four hundred of Tremia Academy’s first-year students had gathered at one platform. Because of that, the platform had become crowded. There was no way of knowing who was where. Although each cla.s.s should have made plans to a.s.semble together, at this point there were only ten male students gathered around Ouma.

“How should I put it, because it’s so hard to gather together, everyone’s actually feeling cheerful.”

While flipping through the cla.s.s attendance list, the boy looked around with a surprised expression. Although the teachers seemed to also be guiding students around, even the figures of the teachers were hidden in the wave of people.

“It must be difficult being a cla.s.s representative.”

“I have it fairly easy. Because if I see one of the boys in our cla.s.s and call out to him, he’ll come over quickly.”

Is that so? Neight tilted his head at Ouma’s manner of speaking.

“……So then, are there times when that isn’t the case?”

“Look, that person’s having it rather difficult.”

He was gazing at— Carrying a handbag, a tall girl with scarlet hair was pushing through the crowd and running around the platform with an exhausted expression.

A girl wearing a Tremia uniform had left the platform and was running unsteadily toward the shops in the station. She was grabbed by the neck.

“Hey Mio, where do you think you’re going!”

“Hm? Um, I was wondering if we should go buy some souvenirs. They’re products that are only available in this part of the world.”

Her cla.s.smate answered with an easygoing voice, not showing how agitated she was. The mystery novel that she was in the middle of reading was tucked under her arm.

“We’re not even about to leave yet. You’re too rushed!”

As soon as the girl had taken Mio back to the platform, the next person she set her eye on was—

“……Hey, wait, Serges! Why do you have such a large backpack on? That’s too big to bring onto the train!”

“This is— Kluele, listen! I need to have my own blankets and pillow with me. Also, as someone from the mountain climbing club, I can’t bring just a sleeping bag while travelling. I also need a tent, emergency rations, rain gear, a portable cooking stove, and— Ah, if it isn’t Neighty. Want to sleep with me in my sleeping bag tonight? It’s really warm!”

“I’m confiscating all of it! No suspicious invitations either! —Hm? Hey, Kyrie! No eating allowed in the train station! Didn’t I say before that you can’t eat candy on the platform?!”

“But Kluele. It’s a deluxe, limited edition cookie that I went to so much trouble to buy. And as a member of the cuisine research society……”

The mature-looking girl lightly shook her wavy hair. Although Neight hadn’t spoken to her very much before, Kyrie was also one of his cla.s.smates.

“You’re trusting the advertis.e.m.e.nts too much! That kind of thing is sold anywhere! ……Aah really, everyone please stay still! No, I mean, stop your futile resistance and get caught obediently!”

The girls of the cla.s.s ran away wherever they pleased. Catching them and dragging them to the gathering place one after the other was the other cla.s.s representative.

Neight stared idly at the situation.

“……Poor Kluele-san.”

“No matter how you put it, the girls in our cla.s.s are troublesome to deal with.”

Before Neight realized it, all of the male students had lined up behind Ouma, who was smiling bitterly.

……What should he do?

The enemy’s defense was as solid as a rock.

He had no chance to surround the enemy, and a thick, protective wall was also spread out to prevent a concentrated attack on one spot. The tunnel that he should have left was filled with enemy pieces, and the soldiers protecting the had already been scattered.

—Should he make a final, suicidal attack? No, he shouldn’t get desperate.

“Neight-kun, have you decided?”

“……P-Please let me think for a bit longer, just thirty more seconds.”

Without looking away from the game board by his hand, he shook his head in Mio’s direction.

Of course, his first priority was the ’s survival. Which meant the must first escape to 15-F. However, his opponent’s archer was already on 12-F, cornering him. In that case, another plan was to move the to 14-D. However, sure enough, an enemy piece was blocking him there as well. Standing there by itself was an ordinary . Since it was his turn right now, he could capture it with his .

—His only fear was that……it was a in the disguise of a .

This position seemed like it wanted him to eat that piece. It was very suspicious.

“……No way.”

“Huh? Neight-kun, what’s wrong?”

A question mark seemed to float over Mio’s head. However, on her face was a broad grin.

……But it’s no use, I have no more time. I have no choice but to take a chance.

“Well then, my will escape to 14-D.”

“But my is there. Does that mean you want to capture my ?”

Nodding silently, he placed his own piece on top of his opponent’s.

“Well then, go ahead and take a look.”

As Mio spoke, he picked up her and looked at its back side.

On the back of the piece was the sticker of a clown with a strange smile.

“Aaah, it really was the clown!”

“Yep, Neight-kun lost!”

While she wrote down the result of the game on something like a record book, Mio cackled.

“Well, in the beginning you were doing pretty good, pretty good. Have diligence, boy. If you continue to practice for a long time, someday you may even become able to see the light of day.”

……Mio-san’s personality is changing.

“It’s because I’m not good at games that require you to use your head.”

It would take up to three hours for the train to reach its destination. During that time, the cla.s.s had decided to have a board game tournament among themselves. Although it was Neight’s first time playing this game, because everyone must partic.i.p.ate he had been half forced to join the tournament. Furthermore, he had been unlucky and his opponent in the first game had been one of the potential winners, Mio.

“Besides, Mio-san is too strong.”

“It’s because I’ve heard that Xins-san also plays this game. I occasionally practice because I want to be his opponent one day. By the way, your playing style just now was the same as his.”

The same as Xinsthe Rainbow Color Reciter-san’s?

“He appeared in the interview of some magazine a while back. ‘At first Senpai forced me to, but then I started playing myself.’ is what he said.”

“Senpai?”

The outstanding Reciter and also the most famous, Xinsthe Rainbow Color Reciter. ‘Senpai’ was a word that didn’t seem to match at all with Neight’s image of him.

‘Senpai’, could it be Mother? No, but it probably should be someone who was in the same cla.s.s as Xins and Mother. In any case, he couldn’t think of another person who seemed to act like that.

“It’s interesting, isn’t it? All the more so because he didn’t talk about it in detail. Whether or not it’s a senpai who went to the same school as him, that person who Xins-sama calls ‘Senpai’ must be an amazing Reciter.”

“No way. It’s just my stubborn dad.”

Slowly, the tanned girl casually raised her head and looked back from the seat one row in front.

“Ada-san?”

“Huh, Ada, do you know something about it?”

The girl waved her hand at them, giving off a feeling like she was smiling bitterly.

“Aah, don’t worry about it. I was just talking to myself.”

“……Ah, really…?”

Neight and Mio absent-mindedly spoke at the same time.

“Anyways, Mio, your opponent for the second round is me. Good luck.”

“Ah Ada, did you win your first round?”

Mio spoke up in surprise.

“Fufufu, try not to let your guard down. Actually, I play this pretty often.”

“Oh? I guess I’ll enjoy this then.”

For some reason, their eyes lit up suspiciously. Giving them a backwards glance, Neight stood up from his seat.

“Ouma-san, I’m going to go take a look around inside the train.”

“Aah, the first section of the train is taken up by another school, so don’t get lost.”

Without looking up from the game board, the cla.s.s representative casually waved his hand.

In the lead carriage which was set up as a private room—

“……You guys acting as scouts to the research inst.i.tute, please be careful, alright?”

With a sigh, the female teacher wearing a suit the color of new leaves lifted her head as if she had suddenly thought of it. Sitting in a chair, Zessel watched her from the corner of his eye.

Teacher Kate, no, more like a teacher’s advisor. She was an instructor of Blue Recitations. Although she hadn’t been teaching for long, he had heard frequently in the staffroom that she was an excellent homeroom teacher of first-year students.

“Alright. But I don’t think it’s a very difficult task. All we need to do is get the research inst.i.tution to keep in contact with us, and then it will be over.”

Enne spoke while stroking a decorative plant placed in a corner of the room.

—I highly doubt that.

Without speaking aloud, Zessel muttered in his mind. It was a habit of his childhood friend, Enne. Whenever she felt uneasy about something, she would always stroke a nearby plant.

The research inst.i.tute that created the evil catalyst. And now, communications between them had stopped. Was it a simple malfunction in equipment, or did it involve something dangerous? Actually, last night, the headmaster himself had only whispered ‘be careful’ to them.

“Well, Enne and I will take it slowly and carefully.”

……But he still felt anxious.

The report they had received from Mirror, who was in charge of gathering information, had been thirty pages long. It included the personal history up to five years ago of staff members, the research inst.i.tute’s financial investments, and even the business’s achievements. However, the name of the researcher who manufactured the was nowhere to be seen. That should have been the most important piece of information.

“Could Mirror-san have forgotten to include that?”

“Don’t get your hopes up. When he was writing up such a report, do you really think that perfectionist would forget to include something so important?”

—In other words, information about the person responsible for manufacturing the couldn’t be found in either Tremia Academy’s information department or even Kelberk Research Inst.i.tute’s headquarters.

“In the end, using that……”

In the middle of his sentence, Zessel shut his mouth. The sound of footsteps resounded in the aisle. It went on at a fast tempo, as if the person was running. The footsteps gradually approached them.

“Kate-sensei!”

At the sound of knocking on the door, the female teacher whose name was called out stood up from her seat.

“Ouma? What’s wrong?”

“A student from another school riding in a different compartment started a fight with our cla.s.s, and before I could stop it, a girl from our cla.s.s was—”

“What do you mean?!”

Her expression stiffening, Kate quickly opened the door. Standing before her was an out of breath male student.

“A girl…… Was someone injured?”

But, contrary to her expectations, although he was breathing heavily, he appeared calm. Rather than seeming worried, his expression looked tired.

“Um, no…… Brave students such as Ada and Serges have already begun fighting back.”

“Ah, the daughter of the Yung family? That’s too bad for the other school then.”

Without bothering to hide a bitter smile, Zessel stood up.

Ada Yung. Because of her special family circ.u.mstances, there wasn’t a single teacher in Tremia Academy who didn’t know about her. In other words, her situation was even more unique than the boy who was studying Night Color Recitations.

The Yung family was famous throughout the continent as a family of elite warriors, and she was their only daughter. The girl should originally have become the lead Gillsheexorcist, but she drew attention to herself by attending a Recitation school. At that time, her circ.u.mstances had become a popular conversation topic among teachers. Even the headmaster himself had asked her about her intentions.

“Ouma, has the dispute itself ended?”

“Umm, first of all, none of the girls in our cla.s.s have been injured. ……Right now, our cla.s.s is drinking juicehigh-grade sake to celebrate our victory. But it seems like there were some victims from the other school.”

Aah, causing trouble already…… Kate closed her eyes with a worried expression. Patting her on the shoulder, Zessel stepped out into the aisle in her place.

“I was once an acquaintance with Klaus-sanher father, so I’ll go. It’s more fun doing something like this than sitting there and thinking.”

“You’d better not get into the fight as well.”

Did she mean that for real or as a joke? Her ambiguous tone of voice pierced her childhood friend like a nail. ……Yeah yeah, I understand.

“It sounds like the opponent’s att.i.tude could be problematic. You can read over some of the data that I’m supposed to look over. After all, you should know that I get sleepy when I read something longer than a thousand words.”

“I’ve looked over it already.”

As expected of someone who had known him for a long time. Before he had realized it, his section of the doc.u.ments had been stacked in front of Enne, who had just replied.

—Intervening in a fight, huh? It would be fun if the problem at the research inst.i.tute was also that simple.

Holding back the words that he had almost muttered, Zessel began to walk towards the train’s rear compartment.

The rear end of the train was designed to be a vacant s.p.a.ce resembling a terrace. It felt pleasant to stand beneath the summer sunshine with his uniform fluttering in the sudden gusts of wind.

“A trip with everyone, huh?”

Holding onto the railings meant to prevent falls, Neight absentmindedly gazed at the pa.s.sing scenery.

……But Arma isn’t here.

It was a change from the commotion inside the train. He couldn’t hear anything other than the roaring of wind blowing past his ears and the screeching of the train’s wheels on the rails.

In the hot temperature, it was pleasant to feel his uniform being swayed by the wind. However, he seemed to hear even the wind blowing with a somehow lonely sound.

Even though the trip’s liveliness should be enjoyable, the companion he felt closest to wasn’t here.

“—Hey, Arma. I’m riding a train for the first time in my life.”

Although his voice was drowned out by the gusts pa.s.sing over the terrace, he briefly spoke to himself. He didn’t receive an answer. He shouldn’t receive an answer. Even so, following his usual habit, he spoke in the direction of his shoulder.

“It’s really fast and seems really st.u.r.dy…… But hey, it’s also slightly the opposite.”

“Slightly scary?”

……That wasn’t him just now.

The voice had come from somewhere close to him. He didn’t even turn around. Because that voice belonged to someone he was very familiar with.

“—Kluele-san.”

“I also snuck out of there.”

The girl’s scarlet hair fluttered in the wind. Before he could reply, she came over and stood beside him.

“Kluele-san, it seemed pretty tiring for you this morning.”

“It’s always like that.”

She gave a bitter smile like it couldn’t be helped. For a few seconds of silence, they stayed like that—

“I’m kind of relieved.”

Gazing at the changing scenery, the girl beside Neight gently nodded.

“Eh?”

“I often hung out with you during summer vacation, but sometimes you would have a pained expression. I wondered what could be so painful……Although I expected it for the most part, you never confirmed my suspicions.”

He never realized that about himself. He had simply been working hard on Recitations because he wanted to meet Arma and Mother again. He had intended to practice with that in mind. —At least, that was what he believed.

“Did I really have such an expression?”

“That’s what you looked like before I called out to you just now.”

Although she was smiling gently, her eyes seemed glow with a somewhat sad color.

“But I understand your reason for that, so relax. ‘I want to hurry up and meet Arma again’. You seem to be facing your worries straight on.”

Sensing other feelings hidden behind those words, Neight lowered his gaze.

……I see. I made her worry so much.

“—I’m sorry.”

“I understand how lonely you feel, so you don’t need to apologize. But hey.”

She gently looked in his direction.

It was the same as always. It was the same as when they had been together during summer break. It was similar to Mother’s serene expression.

“Mio and Kate-sensei and I, we’re all here for you. It’s fine if you rely on us more.”

Could it be, that’s the reason why Kluele-san had stayed with him throughout summer vacation?

“—The wind feels good, doesn’t it?”

It seemed that she hadn’t noticed his thoughts. No, perhaps she had noticed them long ago.

As if searching for something, the girl before his eyes lifted her head and gazed at the clouds.

“Since we were lucky enough to get the chance to go on this trip, we have to enjoy it, right?”

The wind is……moist?

After he exited the train, Neight immediately felt a sense of discomfort and stopped in his tracks.

Immediately after he had left the station, the humid air touched his skin. The wind carried along a strange smell that seemed somehow nostalgic. That was probably due to being beside the sea.

—Speaking of which, did it feel like this when I rode on a boat?

His mother had taken him onto one just once. That time, he had gotten seasick and could barely look at the ocean, but he definitely remembered the smell.

“Oi, Chibi-kun. If you don’t come quickly, you’re going to get lost!”

Hearing the voice coming from somewhere far away, he reflexively corrected his pace. In the time he had absent-mindedly stopped walking, he had been separated from his group of cla.s.smates.

“Ah, coming!”

Shouldering his armful’s worth of luggage, he chased after his cla.s.smates.

“Eh? Ada-san, that’s…”

She carried her luggage in her left hand and held something long and narrow in her right hand. Wrapped in black cloth, its height exceeded that of her body.

“Hm? Ah, this? It’s an old habit of mine. If I don’t carry this, I won’t feel relaxed.”

So it really was the spear. But no matter how you put it, wasn’t that a bladed weapon? In the first place, it was strange that their teacher Kate had given her permission to bring something so large.

“……It’s because the teachers at school know about it.”

About what? Before he could ask that, the girl suddenly quickened her pace.

“Well, various things.”

Muttering hastily, the girl remained quiet from then on. She stayed silent, so Neight didn’t ask any further.

Please, don’t touch it— her small back seemed to be saying that.

Looking up from the reddish-brown gate, a large grey school building shone under the sun.

Tremia Academy’s branch school. Unlike the gra.s.sy lawn of the main school, the road here was covered in fine sand.

“Alright, let’s disband here for now.”

The homeroom teacher who was in charge of the cla.s.s looked over her shoulder at the lobby of the building.

“The rooms for the boys in our cla.s.s are the first and second ones on the east side of the third floor. The girls have the third and fourth rooms, on the west side. Go put down your luggage, and meet back in the central hall in thirty minutes.”

Unlike the main school, this place had only one building. Therefore, it was twice as large as the first-year school building in the main school. The first floor was the lobby and the second floor had cla.s.srooms. The third floor seemed to have been turned into a living area.

“Well then, we’re on the east side, so it’s this way.”

Gripping the room key, Ouma walked towards the staircase on the right.

“The layout of the hallways is the same as Tremia Academy’s, isn’t it?”

“It is a branch school, after all. Ah, the third room……the second room……Is it here?”

He opened the door to their room. The sunlight that unexpectedly shone into his eyes made Neight involuntarily close his eyes.

“Oh, this is amazing!”

The boys said as they entered the room. Their gazes were focused on the window in front of them.

Peering through the gla.s.s— Looking down from the third floor, the scenery was completely dyed in blue.

In the distance, the horizon could be seen. A large, transparent azure sea seemed to stretch out past the ends of the world. Before that was a beach of white sand that extended out in a straight line.

……They could hear the sound of the waves. So it was that close.

“It’s perfect weather for going down to the ocean. Hey, since it’s the first day, how about we go play?”

Leaving their luggage in a corner of the room, what should have been all the boys in the cla.s.s spread their arms.

“Eeh, don’t we have cla.s.ses from now on?”

“Oh, um. It was a joke, just a joke.”

In a joking manner, he took out study materials from his bag.

“But hey, the girls must be feeling like that too. Only the teachers want to give a lecture.”

“Is that so…?”

Kluele-san and Mio-san, he had simply thought that all of the girls would want to diligently listen to a lecture.

“Uwa, the weather’s amazingly nice today. It really is the best for playing in the sea! There’s barely anyone down at the beach. Could it be, is this Tremia’s private beach?”

Setting down her mountaineering backpack, Serges ran to the window.

“Amaaazing! It feels like it’s calling us to go and take a swim!”

Ada took off the top layer of her school uniform. What she seemed to be wearing below that wasn’t a turtleneck sweater, but a swimsuit.

Holding swimming goggles in their hands, the two started running.

“Hey, hey. Wait, you two.”

Instantly, Kluele grabbed their collars.

“Weren’t you already told that it isn’t allowed? And don’t you guys understand that if I let you go, the teachers will get mad at me as a cla.s.s representative? Or did you plan to go even knowing that?”

“Eh, aah. It was a joke, just a joke. ……Kluele has a really scary look in her eyes.”

“Hey. Amazing and diligent people like us would never do such a thing.”

Standing across from each other, the two spoke at the same time.

……Really now. Saying things like it was a joke and all that while wearing a swimsuit beneath their clothes.

“It didn’t sound like you two were joking, that’s why I seemed scary.”

“Kululu, it must be tough being a cla.s.s representative.”

While taking out studying materials, Mio cackled.

“……Who would recommend me to be cla.s.s representative instead?”

“Ehh, me, me!”

Really, was she serious or just being impudent? It was hard to judge from her smile, which contained not a shred of guilt. Well, she didn’t dare confirm it.

“But won’t the teachers also feel that way? There’s no way they would give a lecture on such a hot day.”

Putting on her uniform over her swimsuit, Ada complained.

……That’s what I think too, but no teacher would openly say that, right?

“Ooh, is there really such a magnificent beach this close to us?”

As he held onto an armful of luggage, Zessel vigorously opened the window.

“There’s barely anyone there! Let’s get the students to do some self-studying and go down to the sea to pla—”

“Zessel. The students are waiting in the cla.s.sroom.”

The door to his room. He turned around and realized that before he knew it, the figure of his colleague had been standing there carrying a textbook in her arms.

“……H-Hey, Enne-san. So you were here?”

“Would you like to tell the headmaster what you just said?”

The female teacher gave him an unusual smile that he had never seen before. Although the weather should have been boiling hot, a chill shot up his spine.

“N-No, I’m fine. It was a joke, just a joke.”

“In that case, hurry up and go to the lecture hall.”

“……Yes, right away.”

Reluctantly, he took out his teaching materials.

“While the students are studying hard, we can’t neglect our duties either.”

—Surely the students want to go out and play!

Grumbling inwardly, Zessel hurried after Enne.

When I think about it now.

At that time, wouldn’t it have been good to relax a little? I think so.

At least to Enne and I, that day— the first day of camp was the first, last, and only time we could have fooled around.