Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

1st Play – Wanting to Beco User

Part 1

Perhaps it was a special case due to being at the edge of the continent, but it was a high school which thousands of students who specialized in Recitation attended— Treer than other Recitation schools, while the quality of both the facilities and the teaching staff couldn’t be described as inferior to other prestigious schools

Located in the center of the ca in the shape of a dome-shaped arch

‘Books Ad around one million two hundred thousand books, it was an establishround to two floors underground It wasn’t just a place for studying, but was also used for socializing and taking a break Not just students, but teachers also frequently visited that building, qualifying it to be called a multipurpose hall

On the second floor A young student wearing a white uniforazed fixedly at the bookshelves, which were lined up in rows He was at most twelve or thirteen years old It was a boy with deep purple hair and androgynous features

“Umm This and……this”

With both hands full of resource books, the boy excitedly descended to the lobby downstairs

“Neight-kun, are you okay? You’re staggering”

Seeing his figure, a girl wearing a school uniform called out

Mio Lentear With blond hair and a young-looking face, she calh she was actually sixteen years old, she looked two to three years younger

“I’m fine…… Probably”

Peering up frohtly at the girl

“It looks hot outside, are you just resting for a while in the library?”

Closing the book that she was reading, Mio asked with an uneasy look Books Ad was the school’s official na name Instead, it was commonly called the ‘library’

“It’s because I can’t practice Recitations anywhere other than outdoors Also, Kluele is waiting for me outside”

Recitations That was the technique that the students of this school specifically studied To picture their desired target in their heart, then while holding a catalyst of the saet— It was a type of su technique

It was classified into five colors ‘RedKeinez’, ‘BlueRuguz’, ‘YellowSurisuz’, ‘GreenBeorc’, and ‘WhiteArzus’, and students could each choose a color to specialize in, in order to call out an object with the same color as their specialty

“What about Mio-san? Kluele-san is waiting for us out on the campus”

Looking at her, Neight saw that her gaze had already turned from him to the books in his arms By the way, Mio’s specialty was in Green Recitations In her case, whenever she wanted to call out a green frog, she would prepare green catalysts such as green drawing paper and then sing a song of praise

“Hang on athis book Ehh, why aenre…”

……He felt like he had been continuously hearing her say those words ever since three days ago

After summer vacation had started, ever since she had suddenly started picking upfrom her personality, she probably wouldn’t leave the library until she had read all of the mystery novels there

“Then, I’ll go ahead and start practicing out on the campus”

He could barely see in front of him with all the books he carried, but it couldn’t be helped Crossing through the library exit, he continued down the corridor leading to the entranceway—

“……!”

With an iht and the books he held all tumbled to the floor

“Hey Are you okay?”

Looking up, it was a thin teacher with glasses The teacher wore the standard white coat with a school badge woven in blue thread over his chest Urades?

“Ah, y-yes, I’m fine Um……I’m sorry”

“You should look ahead when you’re walking— Well, that’s what I would usually say”

Looking around at the mountain of books scattered on the floor, the teacher’s expression softened

“After seeing how hard you’re studying, I won’t scold you today”

Picking up a book, the teacher gazed at the front cover

“How nostalgic I’ve read this resource book many times before Well, that’s a story of back when I was a student”

He picked up a stack of books and handed theht had originally arranged them in When they bumped into each other, had the teacher remembered the order of the books?

“T……Thank you very much”

“Although it’s suet to walk quietly down the hallways”

Teasingly, the teacher pushed up the bridge of his glasses

With his night-colored hair fluttering, the seway

“……Speaking of which, that boy”

Gazing at the boy’s back, Mirror narrowed his eyes

Was he called Neight? Soon after he had entered the academy, because of his unique situation, he had beco teachers Recitations consisted of five colors, and each student in the school had picked a color to specialize in However, only that boy was learning a completely different color

Night-Color Recitations— It was a controversial color whose existence was still not officially accepted

“It’s too bad, I wanted to talk with hier”

Even teachers such as himself didn’t know much about that Recitation Naturally, he was interested in it, but there was also another topic he wanted to talk about

What connected hile woraduated from Elfand, what path had she travelled? He was considerably interested in the girl who had once been his classmate

“Unfortunately, it’s not so work”

Glancing at the documents tucked under his arm, he took a deep breath

“Now then, tiation”

“……Neight”

Carrying a flask filled with a catalyst in one hand, Neight turned around to face the voice co from behind him

“Y-Yes, what is it?”

“We should take a little break You seem to be unsteady on your feet”

The girl’s voice was calm and soft That voice came from beneath the shade of a tree a few meters away from where he stood on the campus In a sht— As she said that, the girl’s long, scarlet hair fluttered in the gentle breeze

“B-But…”

“Don’t deny it Ever since a while ago, your Recitations were continuously failing, weren’t they? Your concentration is decreasing”

What she said was true Without objecting, Neight reluctantly nodded

“……Okay”

“Here, put this on”

She forcefully pressed a large-bri, and his whole field of vision was covered by the brim of the hat

“……Um, I can’t see in front of me”

Lifting up the hat, his field of vision enlarged

But filling his whole field of view at close range—

“That’s fine You see until you run out of energy and collapse”

Before his eyes, a girl wearing a deep blue one-piece dress stood up She was tall with long scarlet hair, whose appearance stood out even fro distance away

Kluele Sophi Net She was sixteen, three years older than Neight Like her hair color indicated, she specialized in Red Recitations Ever since he had enrolled in this school, she had always been there by his side

“But what’s troublesoood qualities”

Half-teasingly, the girl sh

“……Somehow, I don’t feel like that’s a compliment”

Fufu— Sure enough, she cheerfully covered her mouth with her hand

“Anyway, come rest for a while in the shade”

Pressing doith one hand on her one-piece dress that fluttered in the wind, she turned and walked away

“U-Um, Kluele-san?”

“The café nearby should be open I’ll go buy some cold drinks, so wait here”

Part 2

The wind blowing through the caround

“……It’s really hot!”

Taking shelter in the shadow of a school building, Neight wiped the sweat froht clothes like Kluele, but he had reflexively worn his usual white school unifore, but that was just as troublesome

“……Kluele-san still hasn’t returned yet”

It took around ten o to the café in the first year school building But because it would be crowded today, it should take a bit longer

“Oh, if it isn’t Neighty What’s wrong?”

—Should he have found a place to read a book today, just like Mio?

“……H-Huh? Neighty, didn’t you hear me?”

Sure enough, he should have stayed in the library Mio-san was also there

“H-Hey, over here, Neighty Don’t ignore ht!”

Neight?

When he suddenly heard his na called out from behind him, he reflexively turned around In front of hiirl with black hair

“……Eh, Serges-san?”

Like Mio and Kluele, she was a girl fronated school uniforo sportswear On her back was a bulky backpack

“Good es-san”

“’Morning But you should’ve noticed hty since a while ago”

“By Neighty, do you mean me?”

Although he had thought the naht didn’t expect it to be directed at himself

“Because, you see, although we aren’t the saht to use ‘kun’ and call you ‘Neight-kun’ So you need a nicknaht of just now great?”

“No matter how you put it…”

Recoiling back like he had been pushed, Neight slowly pointed to the backpack she wore

“……Uh it’s sue backpack?”

“Don’t change the topic so casually ……Well, I guess it’s alright”

Murirl lowered the backpack she shouldered As she set it down on the ground, there was a heavy thu with a cloud of dust

“What’s inside that?”

At that moment

“Hm, this? You want to know? You want to hear about it, don’t you? Don’t regret it, okay?”

With a suspicious twinkle in her eyes, ses drew closer

“Ah…… A-Actually, it’s fine It somehow seems scary, so…”

“No no, it’s nothingjust like Neighty—”

“Uwaa, someone come and help meeee!”

“Hey, wait! Hey Neighty, don’t run away! I was joking!”

Just before Neight started running as fast as he could, Serges gripped his neck froirl

“……Just what is really in there?”

“A tent, a sleeping bag, food, rain gear, and various other things Because I’ club”

The ht felt that there truly was such a club Sure enough, the shoes she earing weren’t ordinary sports shoes, but so thicker

“Starting tohts to trythe suhty doing?”

Staring intently, she sized up Neight’s school uniform

“U Recitations with Kluele-san and Mio-san”

“Ah, I passed by Kluele a while ago Where’s Mio?”

“She’s reading mystery novels in the library This su all of the five hundred seventy books in the library”

“Isn’t that not related to Recitations at all?”

Her words sounded like that of a natural comeback

“Her enthusias to the library at seven in theabout how she’s the earliest student to arrive”

“……Hmm”

Slowly, the color of Serges’s eyes dimmed

Like she was thinking of soaze into space

“If I re in the school dormitories?”

“Yeah There happened to be a vacancy, so I was put there”

Tremia Academy’s dormitories were located within the school campus Because it was only about a ten , the dor students Because there was much competition, unless your hoet accepted in

“Well then Toet to school by six-thirty”

At hearing her sht doubted his ears

“……Six-thirty?”

“That’s right Well, it’s six-thirty to arrive at the ‘rooftop of the first year school building’”

Of all places, the roof of the school building? Iht be open at six-thirty, the school building itself should be locked at that time

“Use the eet on the roof without entering the building”

The eency staircase was normally a prohibited area for students But ere they now doing such a thing?

“Is someone there?”

“You’ll find out if you go Well then, it’s about ti”

Glancing at the large clock on the wall of the school building, Serges picked up her backpack

“Well then, you two The interferer will be going now, so enjoy yourselves”

You two? Before Neight could guess at the …

“……What an unsettling way of talking”

Neight heard a fa around, there stood Kluele with a cup in each hand Standing opposite to Kluele as raising an eyebrow, the girl shouldering a backpack waved her hand cheerfully

“No no, there wasn’t any deepbehind that Also, Kluele, make sure your left shoulder heals quickly!”

With the sleeve of her one-piece dress fluttering in the wind, Kluele’s shoulder was slightly exposed to the sunlight The white bandage seehtly flushed skin It was a wound she had gotten teeks ago, during the incident that happened on ca to her, it could be called healed already

“……Got it”

“You……You see unexpected”

With a disappointed face, Kluele pouted Seeing that, the black-haired girl’s amused expression softened

“But, that’s also what makes you cute”

“Wha……What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kluele didn’t expect those words to be used back on her and stepped back embarrassedly

“Well then, bye bye, you two”

With ain the direction of the school building

Watching after her until her figure had disappeared froht on the campus—

“Oh, speaking of which, I wonder what Serges is doing carrying such a large backpack”

Having forgotten to mention it, the question floated into Kluele’s mind

“A club activity It see camp”

“I see If she’s going somewhere far, I should’ve asked for a souvenir But I wonder what kind of souvenirs there are from a mountain”

“……The fresh corpse of a victie”

“Eh?”

“……It’s nothing”

The iination ……Ugh, that probably wouldn’t leave his mind for a while

“Ah, that’s right Kluele-san Tohtly earlier”

“Sure But I’ll still be coh, what’s up all of a sudden?”

How should he explain? He contemplated for a few seconds

“Just checking whether or not someone will be on the roof”

Neight answered by saying what Serges had said to him

“Who do you mean by ‘someone’?”

“Well……She didn’t tell me”

Unsure of what expression he should ht bit his cheek

I wasn’t told— Another way to put it would be that she didn’t tell o to the rooftop That hat her words implied

……In other words, someone I know?

Part 3

Froing on the side of the school building The needles of that clock pointed at a ties yesterday

—It was six o’clock

Just who could be on the roof of the first year school building this early in the ?

He was so interested that he couldn’t even sleep well last night Because of that, although he had come early, his eyelids couldn’t help but feel heavy

Biting back a yawn, Neight walked through the main entrance

Not only students, but looking around, there weren’t even any teachers in sight He headed towards the do beside the first year school building As expected, the library wasn’t open yet, and he couldn’t see the figures of students lining up either Of course, neither was the figure of the girl he was used to seeing visible

“It’s this early, after all It’s natural that Mio-san wouldn’t be here”

Talking to hi

That building was dark grey with a strongthe incident at the recital contest, this building had been able to withstand the chimeras’ attacks

“……As expected, it’s closed”

A large padlock hung on the entrance of the school building Glancing at it, Neight turned and headed to the back of the building

Towering up fro eency staircase

“It would be much easier if I could fly up like Arma”

Looking up at the long spiral reaching up to the roof, Neight let out a sh

Clomp, clomp…

On the slightly rusted staircase, the sound of a single person’s footsteps echoed

Walking past the second floor, past the third floor, he reached the roof of the school building

—Is someone really here, at such a place?

It wasn’t that he was calling Serges’s words a lie It was just that he didn’t understand why a student would be up here, instead of on the campus or in a classroom

He went up the last step leading to the roof

As thesun suddenly burned his eyelids, he closed his eyes But he didn’t close the the wind resounded in his eardrums

What was that sound?

In the direction of the sound— He turned his gaze to the center of the vast rooftop

“……Eh”

In the dazzling sunlight, Neight opened both of his eyes

Dancing beneath the vivid sun was a girl heat-brown skin