Vol 1 Chapter 15 (1/2)

I came across a graffiti scene.

While leisurely exploring the sprawling school grounds, I discovered an ojou-sama who was scribbling on a white marble statue with a permanent marker.

There’s no way someone from this school is… I was shocked, but this girl seemed to be in one of the lower grades in elementary school. Well, with that it’s not impossible, I guess?

The pigmentation of both her hair and skin was pale, it looked as if she was transparent.

Silky, short hair. A seemingly calm profile. A beauty like thin ice.

The girl continued with her scribble, not noticing me.

It’s probably better if I give her a warning…

I somewhat gathered my courage and drew closer.

——Eh?

She was writing mathematical formulas.

Code and algebra I had never seen before. They were formulas of a level I couldn’t even understand in the slightest. Yet with the vigor of an animal on the run, she continued the writing furiously.

The horse that was part of the statue looked like Odin from Final Fantasy and it had become the s.p.a.ce for the graffiti.

I was dumbfounded, and before my eyes the s.p.a.ce the horse provided was just about to run out, so the girl got on all fours. Her skirt got turned up. Stretching out from her grey panties I could see her thin and childish thighs.

She had a.s.sumed a posture that made her b.u.t.t stick out, and like this she continued to scribble onto the flagstone with her permanent marker. Before long, the ink couldn’t keep up anymore.

And yet she didn’t stop. She continued writing vigorously, it was clear as day that the driving force of her thoughts hadn’t stopped. It appeared that she could still clearly see the characters before her eyes.

But then she suddenly stopped.

She stood up, stared at the non-existent characters on the flagstone, and took her coat off.

Is she hot maybe? I thought, and after continuing to observe,

*strip*, she took off her blouse and got naked from the waist up.

Next she removed the fastener of her skirt and started to…

“HOLD ON! HOLD! ON!”

Without thinking I ran over to her. Your thighs are going to show, you know?!

“What the heck are you doing?! Come on, put it back on!”

I picked up the blouse and put it on her shoulders.

But the girl continued glaring at the ‘transparent’ formula—and dropped her skirt.

“Why’d you take that off now?!”

At that time he could hear the voices of a couple of chattering young ladies approaching from the other side of the building.

“The poem collection that I have read consists of mainly the likes of Heinrich Heine, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Paul Verlaine.”

“Oh my, you’re quite the avid reader, aren’t you?”

I quickly reviewed the situation I was in.

Together with an unclothed elementary school girl, me vigorously holding the skirt she had taken off.

OH c.r.a.p!

“Haa… Haa…”

I had returned to my room.

I laid the almost naked elementary school girl down on the carpet.

With her crumpled blouse and skirt only lying on her body, it was very unladylike.

Her childish eyes were staring up at the ceiling, seemingly nowhere in particular. With an expression that was void of any emotion, she looked like a doll that had lost its soul.

“Haa… Haa…”

I fixed my disheveled clothing while I wheezed violently after this intense, involuntary exercise.

I looked down at the motionless kid who wasn’t even so much as twitching.

“Hurry. Clothes. Put them on.”

No response.

“Um… you’ll catch a cold, you know?”

Having freaked out with a ‘c.r.a.p!’, I had picked up the girl and did an emergency retreat. As the result, I was right back where I started… I had returned to my room with her; with her like this.

What should I do?

Although she had went into object mode for now, this situation made me look a wee bit like the culprit, right?

And then, the girl suddenly jumped up.

With the permanent marker in her hand she dashed for the wall. She was trying to write something again—but then she stopped in her tracks.

After full three seconds…

“It disappeared.”

She muttered with an unexpectedly mature voice.

Just letting her hand that had been stretched out drop, she was still a bit absent minded.

She turned her head and stared at me intently.

“W-What?”

And then she looked down at her body. Seemingly, she just noticed that she was only wearing her panties right now.

Once again, she looked at me with that expressionless gaze of hers, and…

“Did you?”

“I DID NOT!”

I didn’t understand her reasoning.

“You took off your clothes, right?!”

“Why would I have deemed it necessary to take off my clothes?”

“AS IF I’D KNOW!”

What the heck? Is it possible that she doesn’t remember…?

The girl looked down at her bare chest. Next she looked at the crumpled up blouse besides her, and then…

Her att.i.tude suggested a ‘oh well’ and she moved on to looking out the window.

“THAT AIN’T RIGHT!”

I retorted before I knew it.

“That’s enough, put on your clothes!”

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this child naked, but it’s an abnormal amount for sure!

“I am unable to abide.”

“Why?!”

“I don’t know how to put on clothes.”

She plainly said.

Eh? Well, certainly, it’s usually maids that put the clothes on, so it might be, but still…

“If you just try, then you might manage, right?”

“I lack the necessary experience.”

“But you were able to take them off earlier.”

“I’ve never done anything like that.”

“…”

What’s up with her? I scratched my head in desperation. And then——

*achoo*, she sneezed.

I sighed and grabbed her blouse. Can’t be helped, huh?

“Come on, raise your right hand.”

Circling her from behind, I put her arms through the sleeves.

She was obedient… Or rather, she was completely pa.s.sive. It was a strange feeling, kind of like changing a doll.

“The b.u.t.tons are… impossible from here, huh?”

Returning to her front, I fastened the b.u.t.ton. She was opposite me, so it was an incredibly difficult thing to do.

I felt her intent gaze.

“I am s.h.i.+odome Haqua.”

Haqua, huh?

“I’m Kagurazaka Kimito. You saw me at that Commoner Explanatory Meeting the other day, remember?”

“I’ve been in the lab since the day before yesterday.”

“Lab?”

*GRUMBLE*! Haqua’s stomach rumbled loudly.

“That sound is a warning that my blood sugar level has fallen.”

They say an army can’t fight on an empty stomach.

…Can’t be helped, huh? I stood up.

“Come now.”

I placed the plate on top of the desk.

It was bag ramen.

Under the pretense ‘It’s for the sake of preserving the commoner-ness’, I had been allowed daily necessities supplies from the outside. I got my hands on them them by requesting something I want and eventually receive it once Kujou-san gave her approval.

Today things like instant ramen had arrived.

“What is this?”

“It’s commoner food.”

However, it was no ordinary ramen.

It was an original recipe of mine—‘Cool Chili Oil Ramen’.

After the noodles have been cooked, I turn the heat off and mix in the powder soup.

Then I throw boiled bean sprouts and thin slices of seasoned chicken in that I cook on the stove in the meantime. Thereafter, I complete it all by putting chili oil on top. Green onions are up to preference. I recommend salt. If it’s miso then use minced meat.

“It’s some cooking that I thought up. C’mon, try it.”

After alternating looking at me and the food a bunch of times, Haqua picked up the chopsticks.

“Ah, you should try pus.h.i.+ng the bean sprouts that are on top down and mix them with the noodles… Well, whatever.”

…*slurp*, *slurp*. *chomp*, *chomp*.

When someone was eating an original recipe of mine, it made me all excited for some reason.

“…How was it?”

“Can be eaten.”

While saying that in bits and pieces, she continued eating. With her expressionless face, I couldn’t tell whether she liked it or not.

But nonetheless, she finished it all.

Getting the after meal oolong tea, I moved the plate out of the way.

Seemingly not planning to wipe her mouth, I decided to wipe it for her with a ‘Can’t be helped’.

Haqua just sat there motionlessly while I did it. It kind of felt like playing with dolls.

Upon looking out the window, I noticed that the color of the sky was changing.

“It’s about time you returned to your dormitory, isn’t it? I’ll take you there… Hey, don’t fall asleep!”

Haqua had lied down. When I tried to get her up, her arm dangled idly.

“If you fall asleep here, it’d trouble me, you know?! C’mon, get— OW?!”

Her head suddenly rose and hit my chin.

“Don’t just stand up all of a sudden!”

Completely disregarding me, Haqua rushed over to the wall, took a permanent out of her pocket, and started writing an equation——

“Stop that!”

I quickly held her down.

She was thras.h.i.+ng around violently. I continued holding her down, grabbed a piece of paper with my other hand, and brought it towards her.

“Here, write on this.”

Just as I placed it before her eyes—she started writing with an incredible force.

The paper was filled up in the blink of an eye, and the tip of the pen continued on like that on to the carpet—

*swoosh*! I barely managed to get another piece of paper in.

It continued on like that. The poker-faced Haqua wrote formulas and figures and I added on the paper.

With this, I understood. This child was a so-called ‘child prodigy’, wasn’t she?

*swoosh*… Something fell on top of my head.

“…?”

I took the object in my hands and looked at it—it were panties.

While Haqua was writing formulas with furious velocity, she was already taking off her skirt with the other hand.