The compatibility between the midnight academy and the girl in Gothic Lolita attire is something that doesn’t even need to be mentioned anymore.

An unlikely combination that, when seen in person, immediately transports you to what feels like a different world.

And right now, I was the one making others feel that way.

So, we arrive at Mikage Academy.

Because dungeons appear regardless of time, there are still quite a few students around at night.

Some even aim for the lower competition of the night, choosing to sleep during the day.

With minimal attendance, conquering dungeons at night is practically the epitome of a true explorer.

“…This place hasn’t changed, huh?”

I look at the scattered lights from the academy’s rooftop and smile faintly.

Despite being an academy, it has so many buildings that it feels like a whole city up here.

‘Ah, are you done already? Weren’t you going to negotiate?’

Just a bit more, please.

I want to play the mysterious beautiful girl making profound statements from high places.

‘You really like high places, don’t you? I think you could make friends with smoke.’

I ignore the comments from the Starwatching Staff.

Just a little longer, let me enjoy this.

Sometimes, I want to play the quiet mysterious beautiful girl too.

“—I thought so, Sorciera.”

I hear a voice from behind…

Starwatching Staff, you deliberately stayed silent, didn’t you?

‘~♪’

Don’t whistle in my head. How do you even do that?

“Aren’t you going to respond? Hey, hey!”

“…You sure are noisy—Agiri Rinka.”

I turn around and call out her name.

The girl, who seems like she could be anywhere, smiles widely.

“I like it noisy. …Oh, but I want to ask you something, are you Zero or the Narou Kei I know?”

Ah, now that I think about it, I did play that annoying mysterious beautiful girl in front of her.

Alright, let’s tease her a bit.

“…If you want to talk to me, you could just say so. Honestly, humans are so roundabout.”

“I see, you’re Zero then.”

“Hey hey, not very welcoming, huh? I went through the trouble of borrowing my master’s body, and this is the reception I get?”

“Borrowed…?”

I nod and lift a strand of my hair.

Definitely something a mysterious beautiful girl would never do.

“I can borrow my master’s body like this. The day I appeared in front of you with a physical form, it was just to protect my master. How about that? I’m the kind of Demonsgear who’s thoughtful about my friends, like you’d say, right?”

I spread my arms dramatically and shake my head.

Rinka-chan doesn’t even try to hide her disgust and makes a gesture as if slicing her neck with her thumb.

“You’re not welcome here.”

“Sigh, how cold. Fine, I’ll return the body to the master.”

I briefly sway my body and let my head droop.

Then, I put on my usual mysterious beautiful girl face and tilt my head.

“Is it alright now?”

“It’s fine, I don’t like her. But, are you really okay with that? With something like her inside your body?”

“It’s necessary, that’s all.”

“…I see.”

Rinka-chan mutters, biting her lip in frustration.

Even that’s cute.

“Well, let’s go. You know why we’re here, right?”

She starts walking, but do you really know why?

Are you just saying something that sounds fitting?

‘That’s only you.’

Seriously?

“—You came to see the Student Council President, right? To negotiate about the future of Fectom General Academy.”

“…That’s right.”

Seriously!? How do you know!?

■

The Student Council President at Mikage Academy is a character who appears in the original story.

Her name is Sajo Yukihira.

The most notable feature is that he’s a blonde man with slanted eyes.

I thought for sure he would betray us, but he didn’t, which in a way, was a twist for the readers.

And currently, he’s the only S-rank at Mikage Academy.

Tōraku-kun is still not an S-rank, after all.

Anyway, it seems the Student Council President has been waiting for me.

He’s sitting alone in an unnecessarily spacious student council room, smiling at me from his high-end chair.

Rinka is leaning against the door, observing the situation. This is bad.

I’m sandwiched between two people who seem like they could easily outwit me!

‘Actually, I think you’re less likely to win.’

Huh?

My beautiful girl IQ is a billion, you know?

“Thanks for coming, Sorciera. Oh, I guess Narou Kei would be more appropriate here at this academy, right?”

“…Either is fine. Call me whatever you like.”

“Then, Sorciera it is. I’ve been wanting to talk to the infamous you.”

Even though he’s smiling, I can’t read his emotions. Can’t even read his expression.

Is he really smiling? He is, right?

“How about I start? Though, I suppose the topics we discuss will be the same.”

“Do as you like.”

“Heh, I’ll take you up on that. —Your academy took the Demonsgear, didn’t you?”

As expected, it’s been noticed.

Knowing him, he must have ordered Tōraku-kun and the others to grab it when they came to help, if there was an opening.

“That was something that originally belonged to Fectom General Academy. What’s wrong with taking it back from there?”

“Oh, scary. Don’t glare like that. I’m not trying to steal it or use the dangerous Demonsgear as an excuse to invade… At least, not our academy.”

Yukihira smiles as he rests his cheek on his hand, clearly enjoying watching my reaction.

Damn it, is it fun tormenting the mysterious beautiful girl?

‘Some people just have those tastes. I learned about it on the internet.’

Don’t learn that!

“You guys owe quite a bit to Kiso Academy, don’t you? But now you can’t even receive support anymore because you betrayed them. Financially tough, huh? I get it, Sorciera.”

He keeps digging in.

But I know.

He’s actually just worried about it. Despite the tone and the voice that sounds like a betrayal, he’s a fundamentally good person.

Though, he’s still very sharp.

“…So what will you offer in return?”

Here it comes…

“Records of the Demonsgear experiments from Kiso Academy. You want this, right?”

I place a memory stick with the data on the desk.

Yukihira picks it up, without even glancing at it, and slips it into his chest pocket, nodding contentedly. Aren’t you going to check the data…?

“Yep, good choice.”

“…If you have any other requests, just say it.”

“It’s fine. That’s all.”

Wait, you’re satisfied?

I know it’s a pretty big deal, but is that really enough?

“What are you thinking?”

“Was it not to your liking? I thought I was fulfilling your request. Isn’t making your academy Fectom General Academy’s sister school enough?”

“It’s not that. You’re just being a little too agreeable.”

Don’t play me like this, mysterious beautiful girl!

I have to be the one on top!

“Having a strong connection with Fectom General Academy here will give us an advantage in the War Festival. Sorciera, and those two girls, Hinotsuchi Mizuhi and Tsukimiya Toa… They’re amazing, really. It’s incredible that they were previously unknown.”

Only then did I realize.

Fectom General Academy is now a truly small but powerful group.

Led by me, the mysterious beautiful girl, an uncontracted Demonsgear, an estimated S-rank, and a master of converging artillery—there are only people who could be ace players at any other school.

“If we can build a good relationship with Fectom General Academy, covering a few hundred million in debt would be nothing. Having future S-ranks alone would be worth paying a fortune for.”

In other words, from the start, this was a negotiation that heavily favored us at Fectom General Academy.

Damn it, I should’ve pushed harder!

‘You’re a bit of a small-time villain in these moments. Doesn’t really suit the mysterious beautiful girl vibe.’

“Shut up!”

“Well then, the negotiation is settled.”

“That’s right. From now on, let’s work together, Sorciera.”

Yukihira-san said this with his usual suspicious grin.

To be honest, if I said anything, it seemed like I’d slip up, so I had no choice but to stay silent.

“Ah, right. I’ve heard that you’re living as Narou Kei at Fectom Comprehensive Academy. To avoid suspicion, I’ll casually suggest something about the sister school.”

“…Thank you, I appreciate it.”

Is he really going that far to be considerate?

Even after-service is perfect, huh?

“No, it’s fine. We were also getting tired of Kiso Academy. We were having trouble preparing the seeds of war. It seems like Touraku-kun and Mihaya-kun have been helpful, so that’s a relief.”

“…Are Touraku and the others fighting at Kiso Academy right now?”

“Oh, are you worried?”

He probably knew what I was thinking. Yukihira-san opened a window in front of me and said, “They’re already back.”

The window showed a picture of Touraku-kun and Mihaya-chan receiving light treatment at Mikage Academy’s infirmary, both giving peace signs.

Mihaya-chan was being adorable, and Touraku-kun had an awkward peace sign.

Can you send me this data too? A picture of the main protagonist and heroine? It’s too perfect.

I’d want to frame it.

“Today was just a greeting. A declaration of war on her academy. If you’ve had a good fight with the discipline committee, then it’s more than enough fireworks to signal the start of war, don’t you think?”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, I see. You seem relieved? According to my memory, you used to dislike Touraku-kun.”

“…It’s not like I’m relieved.”

Yukihira-san was looking at me with a different smile than before. He seemed to be grinning…

“The negotiation is settled, so I’ll leave now. I can’t leave Fectom Comprehensive Academy for too long.”

“Ah, I see. It’s a shame… By the way, I just remembered something.”

Yukihira-san conjured a few knives in his hand and waved them in front of me.

Then, he threw one at my feet.

Whoa, that was close!

“—The board of directors issued a capture order for Sorciera to an S-rank explorer.”

“…Should I take that as a provocation?”

I summoned my scythe and struck a cool pose.

I won’t actually fight him, of course.

He looks like he’d betray anyone, but he’s really a good person.

Well, if we really went at it, I’d fight back properly, but this guy would be annoying in a completely different way than Rokuhara-san.

“It’s a joke. I just wanted to tease you since you always have that cold expression.”

Yukihira-san threw the knife into the air and made it disappear into the void, smiling as he spoke.

I brushed my hair angrily and left the room.

Ah, see you later, Rinka-chan!

…Don’t do anything unnecessary, okay?

See you!

■

In the student council room, after Sorciera left, Rinka let out a deep sigh.

The strange tension and suffocating atmosphere were undoubtedly caused by the confrontation between the two S-rank individuals.

But, it was all resolved smoothly.

“It’s good that it ended without any problems,” Rinka said.

Yukihira didn’t nod in agreement. He still wore a heavy expression, staring at the door as if Sorciera was still there.

“What’s wrong?” Rinka asked.

“…273,4536 possibilities,” Yukihira said, his voice tired.

“Huh?”

Rinka quickly understood the meaning of that number.

Yukihira, who carried the name of an S-rank, possessed the ability to choose the future he desired.

The ability to predict an almost infinite number of possible futures five seconds ahead, making the one he chose the preset path of the world—an extraordinary power that could be said to be worthy of ruling one of the Four Great Academies.

And it seemed like Yukihira had used that ability during the brief negotiation with Sorciera.

“Actually, I was planning to capture her,” Yukihira said.

“Huh?”

Rinka stared at him, shocked.

He didn’t change his expression, continuing to smile and mess with his hair.

Rinka was irritated by his actions and spoke without hiding her frustration.

“I told you I wouldn’t let you harm her, didn’t I?”

“Oh, I wasn’t planning to harm her. I was just thinking of capturing her and pretending to protect her. That way, Sorciera wouldn’t be pursued.”

“…It’s just for the reward, isn’t it?”

“Oh, you figured it out? Well, I can’t hide anything from you, Rinka-kun.”

That was a lie.

With Yukihira’s ability, it would have been easy for him to choose a future where he deceived Rinka.

Yet, he continued to grin at her, which meant that he wasn’t truly serious about capturing Sorciera.

“I was curious about what the board of directors would want to do with Sorciera. So, I thought I’d offer her up as the real thing. Well, it didn’t work out.”

Without any sign of guilt, Yukihira spoke plainly.

“When it got past 2 million possibilities, I realized… she’s stronger than me.”

“How badly did you want Sorciera? You’re willing to go that far to capture her, even seeing all those futures?”

“Of course, I wanted her. Even if I didn’t capture her and present her, just having her would be a valuable trump card for the board. If I can hold onto her, that’s the best option.”

Saying that, Yukihira deleted the name “Narou Kei” from the Mikage Academy student records.

His face looked slightly disappointed.

“The negotiation went as smoothly as possible. If I had been even a little bit more aggressive, it would have gone south. The future where I invited her to Mikage Academy? She was a little angry. I don’t even know what set her off.”

Yukihira dismissed a potential future as a “failure.”

Seeing that, Rinka unconsciously straightened her back and spoke up.

“Of course. Sorciera is someone you can’t figure out. She never talks about what she knows, but she’s strong, and despite that, she’s actually a kind person… She’s a pain, but she’s also someone who really needs saving.”

“You really like her, don’t you? I think I’d be too scared of someone like her.”

Rinka didn’t deny or agree with his words.

Instead, she smiled sweetly, almost as if to get back at Yukihira.