“I am sorry about that. I wasn’t careful enough.”
“Hmm, well, it’s fine since you apologized. Anyway, it might’ve leaked from our side,” she said with a laugh.
Come to think of it, he’d given the map to Korone. She would never be careless with it,which means that Keena must have stolen it from here. But that wasn’t worth pointing out.
“I’ll take responsibility by issuing an order forbidding searching for the treasure,” Akuto said. As he spoke, he happened to look around the room.
“I don’t see the other three...”
“Oh, they’re out taking care of something. They’ll be back in time for morning homeroom,” she said. Then she ushered him out, saying she was going to do an emergency morning broadcast to the whole school.
○
An hour later, all the students in the school lined up in the courtyard. It was quite a sight to see all the students from the middle and high schools together. Akuto was standing in front of them, next to the student council president. Artificial life forms called “speakers” were floating in front of the courtyard podium, ready to broadcast the words of the speaker to the student body.
—They’re not here...
Akuto looked through the students from his own class, 1-A, and saw that Junko and Keena were missing. He knew that neither of them wanted to see him right now, but it really bothered him that they weren’t there.
But before he could think about it more, the student council president had already finished her introduction. He didn’t have the time to space out right now. All she’d said was, “Good morning. The head of the disciplinary committee has something to say to all of you,” and then she’d stepped down.
Akuto quickly ran up onto the podium. A normal person would be nervous speaking in front of the whole school, but not Akuto. He quickly put together the words he wanted to say and began to give his introduction. But he was interrupted by someone shouting out from the crowd.
“Akuto Sai! We just need to prove to you that we’re strong, right? Then I’m going to do it!”
It was a girl’s voice. He saw a girl with a long ponytail leap out of the rows of students. She flew several meters up in the air, her hair flipping in the wind, and then she spun and stretched out her right foot into a kick and headed straight for Akuto.
“Go! Exploding Aerial Three-Horned Kick!” she screamed as the mana gathered at her toes. Her foot was aiming straight at his head.
—Holy sh—
Akuto took a step to the right on the podium. He should have had more than enough time to dodge, but he quickly realized his mistake. Amazingly, she changed direction in mid-air. This meant that despite what it might have looked like, she wasn’t falling. She was flying at him. Her speed was incredible, but she was definitely in control. Sure enough, her foot was aiming for Akuto once more.
—Should I block her with my hands? But no, then my mana will go out of control again.
Akuto didn’t have any good options. He couldn’t let his mana go out of control and explode again, but there was no way he could block it without using mana.
—Then I’ll dodge it once she gets close!
Akuto made his decision instantly. If he moved to the left or right, she’d just change course again. Which meant that his only option was to move just before she hit him.
“Take this! Critical hit!” she yelled, confident in her accuracy.
But Akuto’s reflexes were faster than she anticipated. Just before she hit him, he craned his neck, turning his head away and dodging her shining foot at the last second.
“I missed?!” she screamed.
—I dodged it!
Akuto thought happily. But in the next moment...
Squish
There was a strange noise as something soft landed on Akuto’s head. Everything went black. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what had happened. Both cheeks were being pinched hard between something soft. It was like there was some kind of soft cloth over his head.
“Kyaah! No!”
It was only when he heard the scream above him that Akuto realized what had happened.
The girl’s legs were wrapped around his head. He was still standing, so it was like he was giving her a reverse piggy-back ride.
“Uwaah! Hey!” Akuto couldn’t just shake her off, so all he could do was stand there and stomp his feet
From the outside, it must have looked ridiculous. No, he knew exactly how it looked. It looked like he was standing in front of the entire student body with his head inside a girl’s skirt, rubbing his face against her crotch.
“What are you doing, Akuto Sai?!”
The girl probably couldn’t concentrate enough to use her mana again, because she didn’t just fly off. Akuto did his best to keep from dropping her.
“You’re the one who tried to kick me...!”
“Hyah! Don’t talk! It feels weird!”
“Oh, sorr—”
“I said don’t talk! Don’t move!”
“I’ll stop moving, so get off me!”
“Hyaahh! B-But I’m stuck and I can’t move! It feels like I’m going to fall backwards!”
“Then just stay still. I’ll put you down.”
Akuto groped around until he found her hips. He lifted her up, and then moved her legs off his shoulders and lowered her down. She kept her legs wrapped around him as she was gradually lowered to the ground.
But when she got to the point where her face was level with his, she wrapped her legs around him tightly and stopped moving.
“Get off me,” Akuto said, confused.
She had striking features, and while you might call her beautiful, something seemed off about her. It was because her eyes and her expression showed her feelings too plainly. It was the girl that Fujiko had encountered the other day.
“What’s wrong?” Akuto asked again.
Her face was only a few centimeters away from his. Her breath felt ticklish on his skin.
“Up close, you’re pretty good looking, huh?” she said, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Her legs were still wrapped around his hips, so it looked like she was hanging from his front.
“Thanks, I guess. Can you get off me?”
Akuto somehow managed to stay calm. This might have been because the situation was so outrageous that he was simply in shock. He didn’t understand it himself. Maybe it was just that it was in his nature to try to act cool no matter what the situation was.
“You’re really interesting! Hey, how’d you dodge my kick like that?”
The girl’s smile reminded him of a child who’d found a new toy. Akuto turned away and answered her question, hoping she’d get off him soon.
“If I had blocked you, my mana would go out of control and cause an explosion. I’m too powerful. And I knew that you were controlling your flight path, so I decided to dodge at the last second. I dodged inwards because if I went the other direction, you’d go right past me and blow yourself up, and I didn’t want that. Now get off me,” he said, but that just interested her more.
“Wow, you’re amazing! You figured all that out in a single instant! You’re only the second guy I’ve ever met who’s like that! Should I be his woman, or yours? What do you think? If you want, we can do it right now!”
She pressed her hips against Akuto. Given that she was lined up right against Akuto’s crotch, this could — no, it certainly did — look like an incredibly obscene act.
“Get off me, please.” This was enough to fluster even Akuto, and so he tried to get the girl’s arms off his neck. But she had strong legs, it seemed, so she held onto him anyway. And the instant she got the chance, she moved her arms back around his neck.
—What is up with this girl...?
Akuto looked around in search of help. The student council president was chuckling in a strange way, and spinning her finger in a circle to encourage him to wrap it up. The teachers were too stunned to do anything, and the students were all pointing and murmuring.
> “Hey, what’s going on here...?”
“I can’t believe he’s going to do it in front of the whole student body!”
“No, he may already be doing it!”
“I can’t see from here. Do you think maybe she’s not wearing anything under her skirt?”
“N-No, even if he’s the Demon King, he can’t... And he looks weirdly calm, right?”
“No, villains always do it with girls without changing their expression, right?”
“Th-That’s true... But seeing it done right in front of me actually makes me feel like a loser by comparison...”
“In front of the whole school... that’s crazy...”
—What the hell is going on here?!
But even now, Akuto couldn’t bring himself to get angry at a girl. He cleared his throat calmly, and said in as loud a voice as he could muster, “Everyone, be quiet!”
His voice was amplified by the “speakers,” and echoed throughout the courtyard with a terrible feedback noise. The students covered their ears. He cleared his throat again, and the whole school fell silent and turned their attention towards him.
“Everyone, I told you yesterday that if you wanted to go treasure-hunting, you needed to show your strength! She seems to have believed me, and tried to challenge me, but I want you to understand that this is a futile act!”
Akuto gave up on prying the girl off of him, and continued to speak while she held onto him. The students started to murmur again.
“I see... He’s saying he’ll defeat us, just like he did her...”
“He must’ve used some magic to seduce her...”
“It must’ve been when he shoved his face into her crotch... He must’ve done something then...”
The students’ voices began to rise in terror.
—You’ve got it all wrong, guys! No, I can’t blame you for thinking that. This girl is just crazy! You’ve gotta understand that!
Akuto wanted to scream these thoughts out loud, but he knew it wouldn’t help. The only option he had now was to do his job and get off the podium as soon as possible.
“By my authority as head of the disciplinary committee, I am putting a ban on searching for the treasure! Anyone who defies me will be punished! That is all I—...”
But the students started booing before he could finish. Clearly they weren’t happy about the ban.
—Any other day I’d be able to put things in a way that wouldn’t make them so mad, but they won’t believe anything I say with this girl hanging off me...
And then the girl spoke. She was talking loud enough that the “speakers” could hear her.
“You’re taking back what you said last night? That’s not very manly of you. If you don’t want the weaker students going, then why don’t you go yourself?”
The students started to cheer.
“That’s right! You go out and put yourself at risk!”
“If you think we’re weak, then take responsibility!”
“Don’t hog all the treasure, though!”
Akuto looked towards the student council president, unsure of how to handle this uproar. She was giving him an “I don’t care, just wrap this up,” gesture.
—I guess the important thing is that the students don’t get hurt...
Akuto gave up.
“Alright. I’ll go. But no other students will be allowed within a one kilometer radius of the spots on the map.”
And then he got down from the podium. It was only then that the girl finally got off him. He looked at the student council president with a “who is this girl?” gesture, but she just shrugged.
“Who are you?” Akuto asked, and the girl turned back towards him, her ponytail flailing behind her.
“Eiko Teruya. I was just going to tease you a little, but I think our relationship is going to be a long one, so remember my name, understand?”
○
“The weekend starts tomorrow, so just get it wrapped up before next week. If you can’t find the treasure, then just lie and say you did.”
The student council president wasn’t happy about Akuto going treasure hunting. After that speech, she’d called him to the student council room and started to lecture him
“I’m sorry. Somebody needs to find out what that monster is, though, right? So I’ll just find that out and then come back,” he said.
He’d noticed the other three (treasurer, secretary, and vice-president) were looking at him with hatred in their eyes. This was his attempt at calming them down, but it didn’t work.
All of them were oddly imposing. The treasurer was a wild-looking girl with very thick eyebrows. The secretary was tall for a girl, and expressionless. And the vice-president was thin and pretty, but her skin was so pale she looked unhealthy.
Akuto sensed that the three of them would make dangerous enemies, and wanted to avoid making them mad, but that seemed impossible right now.
“Don’t worry. I won’t cause any trouble,” he assured them.
The student council president seemed to want to say something.
“Um, listen. If you... fail... I won’t tell anyone... so you can just come on back, okay? Yeah... Yeah, that’s the best thing to do.” She nodded at Akuto.
“It sounds like you want me to fail.” Akuto tilted his head, confused. She nodded.
“You can feel free to interpret things that way. I just want to pretend this whole thing never happened, you see.”
“Then you should’ve done something back there. You didn’t do anything about that weird girl, remember?” Akuto said, a little angrily.
“No, well... that’s true, but... I didn’t want to bother you when you were enjoying yourself,” she mumbled.
“I was not enjoying myself! What were you thinking? And who is that girl, anyway? She just vanished right after that.” Akuto pressed her for an explanation.
Suddenly the student council president’s cheeks twitched a little. She put her finger on the rim of her hat. Akuto didn’t know what that meant, but he could feel the three girls behind him stepping back in fear.
—Huh?
But then she quickly took her finger off her hat. She tapped her fingers on her desk, her cheeks still twitching.
“That girl isn’t one of our students. She was wearing our uniform, but that’s all. I can’t say anything more than that. Because of my job, there are some things I can’t say. But... I’m not sure if this is a warning I’m giving you, or a favor I’m asking for, but please don’t let her do whatever she wants. Also, take a damn hint for once. There are some truths that are better left buried.”
The way she was acting, and the words she was saying made no sense to Akuto. But after she put it like that, he had no choice but to obey.
“Understood.”
With that, Akuto left the student council room. But he couldn’t help but feel suspicious about what she’d said.
○
—I have to get ready, but...
Akuto had opened up the backpack he’d borrowed from the school to get ready for his journey, and put it on the floor of his dorm room. But before he could figure out what to put in it, he had to decide what to do with the two people standing next to it.
Those two people were Korone and Hiroshi. They both insisted on going, and wouldn’t listen to him when he told them no. Korone was one thing. She was his observer, and when he needed help, she’d be there to provide it. The problem was Hiroshi.
“I’m coming with you, boss! I’m prepared to lay down my life for you...”
Hiroshi went on and on about how dedicated he was, but Akuto wasn’t listening.
—He’s probably going to come no matter what I say, so there’s no point in telling him no. But there’s too many weird things going on, including that Eiko Teruya girl... Hiroshi can be helpful sometimes, but I’m not confident that I could keep him safe in a monster fight. I might be getting Hiroshi in over his head...
Akuto thought for a moment, and made a decision.
“
Can you pack my bags? I have something else to get ready,” he said.
Hiroshi seemed overjoyed to have been given a job to do, and he was almost crying as he headed for the cafeteria to get provisions.
—Now then...
This was going to take some courage, but Akuto took out his student handbook and sent a telepathic call.
And half an hour later, he was waiting for someone in a certain room in the underground labyrinth beneath the school, a room he’d been to before. It had once been used as a planning room, and it was separated by just a single wall from Fujiko’s secret lair.
“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that. What on earth are you thinking, coming to me?” Fujiko appeared in front of Akuto, looking angry.
“I couldn’t blame if you if you didn’t show up, so thank you for coming.” Akuto stood up and bowed.
All the students’ memories had been wiped after what had happened, so only Akuto and Keena knew who Fujiko really was. Of course, this is why Fujiko had come to meet him.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning on blackmailing me.”
“No. It wouldn’t work, would it? And even if I did tell everyone who you really were, nobody would believe me,” Akuto said quickly.
“Then what are you doing? I still haven’t given up on making you mine, you know,” Fujiko said, looking strained.
“I know. But I think we’re better off with a normal relationship, like that of an underclassman and upperclassman.”
“Listen...” Fujiko crossed her arms in an exasperated fashion and looked down at Akuto. “I’ll ask you not to insult my ambitions as a black mage. To black mages, the Demon King is a symbol of liberation, but I want to surpass him.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t even want to be the Demon King.”
Fujiko didn’t seem to know how to handle this.
“Th-Then what do you want? You ruined all my plans, and then set a trap for me instead...”
Akuto didn’t tell her that this was only thanks to Keena’s shenanigans. He just held her gaze steadily.
“Wh-What is it?!”
“I want you to teach me how to fight with magic. I’m still letting my mana go out of control, and I don’t know how to use it properly. I can’t afford to wait until I learn in class.”
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 2 Page 5
