Prev Next

Chapter 4 is much shorter, so it should be released much faster.

…Probably.

This image  and this string ŒÞƟʘϾÞЮѲØЮᗆᗉЮѲʘᗧϾЮʘ of characters? I probably spent way too much time making them.

Chapter 3: The Not Normal Emergency Meeting

As ordered by Dekomori-san (well, not really, since I was already planning on consulting with everyone), I sent a text saying "I would like a consultation about something. Next break, could you please come to the clubroom?" to every club member.

The replies came one after the other.

"Roger~☆." "Hm? But Dekomori was already aware of this-death?" "" "I was sleeping." The responses were all rather different.

Only Shichimiya! It was only Shichimiya who replied properly! And straight away as well!  Thank you! If it's for Shichimiya, I'll do anything!

Every time I contact everyone by text, I end up feeling this way.

Especially since Hideri-senpai only replies in special characters (as if to say "this is special, and not normal, right?). That's why, whenever possible, I try to avoid contacting everyone by text. As for Kumin-senpai, it was good that I was able to get a response: usually, she doesn't send a reply. Her reply this time was as late as it could be. It came just as class was about to end.

Speaking of which - it was now the next break.

Seating in our respective places (before we knew it, each of us had decided on our own favourite place to sit in the clubroom), we had all assembled at the clubroom in a timely manner. It was an all-member meeting.

And when everyone had gathered at the clubroom, Hideri-senpai smiled,

and said that.

Rather than "she said that", it was more of an "what on earth was this person saying" kind of feeling. Regardless, Hideri-senpai said something in a non-human language.

"What on earth are you saying? Are you trying to be a "funny in the head" sort of character?"

I scolded her.

She may be my upperclassman, but I still had to tell her off sternly.

"No no, see, since this is the first time you've seen us today, we needed to start off with something strange. Otherwise, our identity will crumble. If the choices were to live, to die, or to do something strange, the clear choice is to do something strange, right?"

"You've added a new option to the choice between life and death! Furthermore, please don't choose that new option! Alright alright, since we don't have much time, let's just wrap that exchange up at here."

"Ehh!? Already!? Alhideri[1]!?"

"What the heck does alhideri even mean!?"

"It means, 'You're not going to keep playing along with us!? But it's fun!' You had your fill of messing about with Dekomori just now, didn't you?"

"How did you…!?"

As I said that, my underclassman cleared her throat with an aggressive "ahem". "Hurry it up-death", her glare seemed to say.

Hmm… If I didn't retort to each and every little thing, things would proceed a lot smoother, won't they?

Yep yep. If I retort to everything this person says, it'd never end.

"Hmm!? Yuu-chan, you're trying to ignore us, aren't you! That's not normal! However! We are still going to continue along with it! People like us are still not accepted by society, right? As the prototype, we'll need to continue doing our best! Otherwise, there will be nobody after us!"

Prototype, huh? I didn't want for there to be more of people with a personality like yours.

Still, I will not retort back. Humans are creatures that learn.

"To tell you all the truth, Rikka's been rather strange -"

"What!? DevTru Rikkchan!? That DevTru Rikkchan has been rather strange!? Tell us that sooner! Tell us hiderier[2]! We'll be out for a bit!"

As the rainbow upperclassman dashed out of the clubroom at full force, her rainbow-coloured hair fluttered in the air. What speed! She was faster than the average member of the track and field club for sure. She definitely wasn't normal!

Well, if I think of this as "someone who is likely to interrupt my consultation leaving", then I guess her leaving could be considered me being lucky.

"As expected, Rainbow-senpai is still the same as ever-death. It feels like you can't win against her-death," said Dekomori as she repeatedly nodded her head in astonishment.

It truly is a mysterious allegiance. Even though it was that person's fault that we were now pressed for time. In fact, when we gathered at the club room, she didn't arrive normally either. I'll omit the details though.

Still, now that I think back on it, isn't it weird that I'm the one who's being blamed for what happened just now?

Well, whatever. It's fine.

"Deko-chan. Don't try to complete with that person, okay? You'll likely lose to her instantly~☆."

Shichimiya cut it smoothly, giving Dekomori advice on how to deal with Hideri-senpai.

It's been over half a year since Shichimiya had gotten acquainted with Hideri-senpai: it seemed that in that time, Shichimiya had learnt how to deal with her. I think that in that regard, Shichimiya was good with how she socialised with people.

Even to this day, Rikka still gets caught up in Hideri-senpai's pace. But since the person in question seemed to be having fun, I guess that wasn't really a problem.

"Anyway, for the time being, it would be fine if I just went ahead and started talking?"

As I said that, I looked in Kumin-senpai's direction.

Of course, needless to say, as expected, Kumin-senpai was, as per usual, sleeping.

That she even came made me very happy, as it was probably her way of showing me her kindness. I think!

I also think that she's showing no signs of comradery. Well, let's just chalk that up to her being a former member of the Eccentric Drama Club. When thinking of things like that, Dekomori - who, surprisingly, had listened to me properly - may just be a nice person after all. Though, there was also that important motivating factor - that it was for Rikka's sake - as for why she heard me out.

"Shichimiya, you've already met with Rikka, right?"

Leaving Kumin-senpai aside for now, I brought the conversation to Shichimiya.

The sole point of normality present, and the last bastion for my peace of mind.

"Ah, yeah. Her Devilish Truth Stare's gone, right? Well, perhaps that sort of thing just happens from time to time."

"Eh? That sort of thing just happens from time to time?"

"Doesn't it? I'm not a hundred percent sure of this though, since I don't have the Devilish Truth Stare. I mean, the specifics of something like this varies from individual to individual, right? For instance: nowadays, don't you also have days where you feel like you don't have any powers, Hero? And isn't it true that there are settings like 'my powers will disappear on days with a full moon'? Since each person has their own take on their powers - the possibilities are endless. Well, but I'll always be the Magical Demon Duchess though~☆. And so that's why I'm not particularly worried about Rikkchan right now. That being said, if Rikkchan seeks me for a consultation, I'll be giving it my all, of course."

"Hm… When you put things like that, it does feel it could be something along those lines."

As expected of Shichimiya - what wise words.

Like usual, she had said something really cool. I wouldn't be able to say something like that.

"What do you think, Dekomori?"

"Since Dekomori has a permanent contract with Master, it is definitely not that sort of thing. Dekomori's contract with Master is still in effect even now-death!"

Emphasis was placed on the words, "still in effect". I guess to Dekomori, that was what was most important to her.

Hm.

I thought over it for a while. Certainly, like Shichimiya had said, it could just very well be "something that happens from time to time" - I had no way of refuting that possibility. That in time, Rikka will be back to how she usually is - it's very possible for that to be the case.

Be that as it may, because of that disease of mine - my "prone to worrying" disease - I couldn't just leave things at that.

After all, for "something that happens from time to time" too - there must have been some kind of cause to trigger that line of thought in her.

"Certainly, like what Shichimiya has said, it's not like I too haven't had the 'have-no-powers' experience before. Still, shouldn't there be some sort of cause for her to think like that?"

"Hm. That's true, isn't it? I see, so you want to find out what that cause is, Hero. You can't just leave this alone."

"Well, that more or less sums it up."

"Since Dekomori wants to see Master return to being Master as soon as possible, Dekomori too thinks that we should determine the cause and resolve things quickly-death."

It appeared that Dekomori was also of the same opinion as me.

"Nyahaha, it's not like that I had thought that we should leave this alone. I'm not that cold of a person~."

Shichimiya made a troubled smile - as if she had she had done something bad. I've never thought of Shichimiya as a cold person though. Not even once. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Shichimiya's the kindest person I know.

"No no, I didn't think that of you at all."

"Ah, well, how about we just focus on deduction from this point onwards, okay? Let's search for the cause. That being said, I have absolutely no idea on where to start. That's why, like what I had said before, I had wondered if it was just something that happened from time to time. Hero, do you have any ideas?"

"No, see, it's because I couldn't come up with anything myself that I wanted to consult everyone about this."

"Hah. Do you even pay attention to your own girlfriend-death? Break up-death."

Dekomori-san became scathing of me again all of a sudden.

Certainly, as I was indeed her boyfriend, I couldn't exactly scold her for saying something like that when something like this has happened. However, while it is embarrassing as an upperclassman to be getting riled up by their cute underclassman, I just had to give her my excuse, or rather, my rebuttal.

"But, isn't it the same for you, Dekomori? Despite being her servant, it seems that you have no idea why your Master ended up like this either, right?"

"Gepfft."

Dekomori's face was that of someone who had just been hit by an unexpected counterattack.

She continued to look extremely vexed as she bellowed back.

"U-ugh! No, I do know, it's Dark Flame Master's fault-death! Dark Flame Master is the cause-death! For sure-death!"

"Certainly, like Deko-chan says, the probability of Hero being the cause is quite high, isn't it?"

"Eh, seriously!?"

It's quite scary when it's coming from Shichimiya.

Of course, although I had not considered that possibility until now, for now I could safely conclude that the cause definitely wasn't something like me being unfaithful to Rikka. It was something I had swore never to do.

"Nyahaha, you're way too flustered, Hero. Logically speaking, since Hero is the one who is closest to Rikkchan, in terms of probability the chances of Hero being related to the cause is quite high. Then again, by the same logic, the possibility that Deko-chan's the cause is also quite high."

"Deko-!? But there's absolutely no way that Dekomori will ever do something that will bring harm to Master-death!"

"Then, for now, let's rule out the hypotheses that the two of you are the cause. Otherwise, this discussion is going to go nowhere. Hmm, are there any other -"

"Maybe the person she liked had said something like, 'As for me, I prefer girls who don't have things like abilities.'"

Interrupting Shichimiya, Kumin-senpai yawned a loud "Kumiiin" as she woke up and suddenly interjected with that.

That she had entered the conversation so abruptly (and so naturally, too) surprised me.

"Eh? Kumin-senpai, were you awake this entire time?"

As she rubbed her eyes, I asked the drowsy-looking Kumin-senpai that.

"Nope. I was asleep~. But, even when asleep, I could still properly hear the entire conversation. I'm the sleeping version of Prince Shoutoku[3]~."

The sleeping version, you say. I guess Kumin-senpai really is the most amazing ability user. But, more importantly… what Kumin-senpai had said just now had gotten me worried.

"By the way, about what you said just now - who is this 'person she liked'?"

It was quite the disturbing phrase.

The person that Rikka liked - while I'm pretty sure that person's me, I've never heard Kumin-senpai call me something like that before.

"Ah, when I said the person she liked, I was referring to her favourite baseball player. Ahaha, Yuu-chan, did you get jealous?"

"Ah, I see."

I sighed a breath of relief.

Naturally, I had complete faith that Rikka hadn't been cheating on me or anything, but still - I see, so that's what it was. So it was your favourite player. Recently, thanks to Kumin-senpai, you've taken an interest to baseball, haven't you, Rikka?

"At the stadium, Rikka would shout, 'astu-ooo![4]'."

"She shouted something like that…"

This was the first time I've heard of this.

I was a little jealous. Wait no, it would be stupid of me to be jealous of her favourite baseball player.

"I see. Certainly, something like that could be the cause as well."

So interjected Shichimiya, returning the discussion back on topic.

The way she presided over the discussion was perfect. She was much better suited for this than I was.

"That's exactly right. If my favourite player had said 'I wonder if it's better for people not oversleep' then I too would stop sleeping. I will not sleep! I won't sleep… I won't!"

I won't sleep… probably - Kumin-senpai's voice slowly became became weaker and weaker.

I was planning on voicing my relief since there was no way a baseball player would ever demand something like that, but those words of mine were sealed by Dekomori's next remarks.

"No, but, just now, Dekomori had also thrown a tantrum for tantrum's sake, yelling, "Return, abilities-death!" to Master, and yet it didn't do anything-death. If that theory was true, then Master should have listened and complied with Dekomori's request-death!"

"Indeed - while extreme, that certainly should have been the case if the theory was true."

Shichimiya nodded her head in agreement.

She then continued,

"It seems that at least this stage, the cause of Rikkchan becoming like this is unknown. There's not enough information. While there's still the move of asking Rikkchan about it directly, that would be putting the cart before the horse - there's no guarantee that she would return being her usual self."

After having said all that, he looked in my direction.

As she stared at me, she smiled.

"If that's how things are, then rather than focusing on what the cause of it was, shouldn't we be working to restore Rikkchan back to her former self instead☆?"

"Well… That is the ultimate goal."

Since it seemed like Shichimiya wanted me to reply to her, I gave her a proper response.

"Okay, I got it. Nyahahaha, in that case, I have a plan."

"A plan?"

"That's right, a plan to trick her back to her former self. Well then, I'm off to prepare! If anyone asks for my whereabouts, tell them that 'I've returned to the demon world☆' in a cute way☆."

As she said all that, Shichimiya got up from her seat. She then waved goodbye as she left the clubroom.

Returning to the demon world - I wonder if that meant that she was heading home.

That would mean she was treating something like leaving school early as if it was no big deal though.

"Well, if Sofisenpai has a plan, then the only thing left to do is to have faith in her-death. As even with Dekomori's help, we couldn't reach a solution-death. Dekomori's fine with doing nothing-death, as long as Master is back to her usual self."

Dekomori shrugged her shoulders as she said that.

Well, since I wasn't able to come up with a concrete solution either, like Dekomori, I too had no choice but to set my hopes on Shichimiya. I was curious as to what Kumin-senpai's thoughts were about all this, and so I peaked in her direction - she was sleeping. I mean, I was expecting as much, but still. Not to mention the fact that our break ends in about a minute. Seriously, this was too much.

Sigh.

"Right. Let's leave the rest to Shichimiya."

"Death. In that case, let's disband for now-death. …What should we do about Siestsenpai-death?"

She was sound asleep. Sigh, it looks like I had no choice but to wake her up.

Meaning, I'm going to be late for my next class as well.

This is going to reflect poorly on me.

"Dekomori, you can head back to class first. Kumin-senpai's hard to wake up."

"No, Dekomori's going to stay around to see what kind of prank Dark Flame Master will pull on Siestsenpai-death."

"I'm not going to do something like that!"

"Eh, you're not-death!? But Rainbow-senpai does it every time-death?"

"…I knew it! Even so, I will not do it!"

"But, even Siestsenpai seems to be saying 'prank me'-death. Just now, Dekomori also wanted to scribble on Siestsenpai's sleeping face-death."

"That's… I mean, it's not like I don't get where you're coming from, but…"

In fact, it was probably why Hideri-senpai did it.

The urge to scribble on that small face of hers - I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel that urge at all.

"Hey, Dark Flame Master."

It was unusual for Dekomori to have such a cute-sounding voice.

"Would you do it if Dekomori did it with you-death?"

"Would I do it… You mean scribble on Kumin-senpai?"

"Death. If we do it together - it would be our secret-death. In addition, with this 'Automatically Erases After Five Minutes Permanent Marker' made by the Dekomori Corporation we to scribble to our heart's content-death!"

"Just what kind of company is the Dekomori Corporation!?"

Or rather, what is even the point of making such a product!?

Still, that marker - I wish I could give it to my little sister!

"Ge-heh-heh. A company of darkness - a black-market company-death."

Even if it was said with such a smug expression.

That I didn't think that she was lying made her words quite scary.

"How about it-death?"

I deliberated over her proposal.

It certainly was a one-in-million chance for me to get rid of that - all the built-up "I want to scribble on her!" frustration - for sure. Wait, no - I've never had that kind of peculiar frustration before.

Even so, there was no way I was going to miss this chance!

"Alright, Dekomori. I've steeled myself. Let's do it."

"Oh! Great-death! Now then! It's super scribble time-deeeath!"

[1] An untranslatable pun playing on the similarities of the kanji 早, which generally means fast/early, and 旱, which is Hideri-senpai's given name.

[2] Same pun as above.

[3] A legendary regent who ruled Japan between 594-622 CE. He is most well-known for being the lay founder of Japanese Buddhism and establishing Japan's Seventeen-article Constitution.

[4] The nickname of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawk's infielder, Matsuda Nobuhiro. Translated literally as "Fever Man" (熱男), it caught on as Matsuda would pose and say "astuoo" after a home run.

Categories:

Report error

If you found broken links, wrong episode or any other problems in a anime/cartoon, please tell us. We will try to solve them the first time.

Email:

SubmitCancel

Share