My Classmate Became My Familiar - Chapter 1.3

Chapter 1.3

The road that led to the school building from the dormitory was adorned with cherry blossom trees in full bloom. It was as if they were celebrating the beginning of a new school year.

This year was going to be great.

But for Fujiwara and me, the glamour was just sarcasm.

Prosperity?

Hope?

How can I have hope?

Sure enough, the school I hadn’t been to in a long time after spring break was more uncomfortable than ever.

Why is that? Because curious glances were radiating from everywhere.

If human gazes could pierce, I’d be full of holes by now.

The problem, as you have probably guessed, was that the East branch students treated me as if I was the root of all evil. They blamed me for the incident, saying that I had interfered with Fujiwara’s exam.

It was a tremendous shift of responsibility. Even Fujiwara defended me, but that just made them unhappier. I was stuck in a negative loop. It wasn’t funny.

On the other hand, the other faction, the West Branch, treated me very well. From the West’s perspective, I seem to be a hero who dealt a huge blow to the East scum. I didn’t intend to do that at all. I wanted to tell them not to involve me, a factionless person, in their faction war.

What a pain!

“G-good work, Souta-kun. You’ve been through a lot.”

It was now after school.

I was exhaustedly lying on my desk when I was approached by someone.

When I looked up, I saw a quiet-looking female student with long bangs covering her eyes.

She was my classmate, Asahi Hirano.

We got along quite well because we were both in the same faculty and shared the same faction affiliation.

“I’m all beat up… Please heal me!”

“Ehh… Ah, eh… Umm… You did a great job!”

Asahi uncomfortably stroked my head. Her hand movements were awkward, and her cheeks were red from embarrassment.

I was touched by her innocence.

“I can’t get enough of this. I think I’m about to wake up to something.”

“You idiot!”

When I turned around at the sudden abuse, my eyes met Fujiwara’s, who was giving off an aura of unhappiness.

Fujiwara clicked her tongue and continued, “It’s a shame that you have to stretch your nose to get a girl to be nice to you. Why didn’t you refuse, Hirano-san?”

Asahi, who was interrupted by Fujiwara, replied modestly, “W-well, I don’t mind.”

It seems that she couldn’t strongly oppose the queen of the class.

Since Fujiwara has been messing with me regularly, Asahi was also involved with Fujiwara to a certain extent, but it seems that they haven’t been able to get along comfortably. She has had some contact with Fujiwara, but they didn’t seem to be on friendly terms.

“Really? If you don’t like it, you’d better say so. Ashiya-kun gets carried away easily. If he does something you don’t like, don’t hesitate to ask for help.”

Fujiwara glared at me.

“Tell me, how can you be so shameless?”

I hoped she could share some of Asahi’s kindness.

“What’s wrong with being shameless? In fact, you should work harder because I’m all beat up. Do you have any idea how nervous I was because of your cronies? I thought they were going to kill me.”

“That’s… true. I’m sorry those kids bothered you.”

The apology was unexpectedly straightforward, and it was disheartening.

Maybe she was having a hard time keeping things in control.

“Well, okay. But what are you going to do now?”

I wasn’t asking about big stuff like how she was going to handle them, but about what she was planning to do after school.

Basically, there were no clubs at this school. Students are allowed to act freely after school.

However, first-year students usually studied in the library to improve themselves, practiced magic under the supervision of their teachers, or engaged in mock battles between students.

However, we were now second-year students.

Starting from the second year, in addition to independent studies, we were able to receive quests.

Quests are like part-time jobs offered by the International Mage Association, which runs the school.

They send requests that are not worthy of professionals to students as practical training (with some exceptions).

The exam to advance to the second year is the same as the provisional exam. If you pass the exam, you will be considered to have the minimum required skills to become a mage, and the association will issue you a temporary license, allowing you to accept quests.

Accepting quests is optional, but if you complete them, you will be remunerated. You’ll get some amount of money and points.

These points are an electronic currency used within the school, but they are also an internal score. A certain number of points are required to graduate. In other words, if you don’t complete your quests by the third semester of your junior year, you will have to stay in school. Apparently, this is a measure to make graduates immediately effective.

Fujiwara sighed in disgust.

“What do you want me to do? I want to go home and sleep. I’m tired for today…”

It was a rare whine coming from the diligent Fujiwara. It seems that even this conscious woman had her limits.

Asahi’s eyes fluttered in surprise.

“Even, you’re like that, Fujiwara-san!”

“Who do you think I am? It’s tiring to be disturbed by trivial gossip. I’m sick of the girls from the East worrying about my chastity, and the guys from the West treating me like Ashiya-Kun’s sex slave… People are even dumber than I imagined.”

“S-sex slave!?”

“I know! That’s why I can’t help but worry because I can’t go against him anymore. I know he’s going to look at me curiously no matter what I do. But for now, there’s no truth to it. However, since he’s constantly eating and sleeping with me, I’m sure Ashiya-kun will soon get tempted and attack me. It really sucks. I feel depressed now…”

“Aren’t you too self-conscious? I’ve told you a million times that I’m not going to touch you.”

I couldn’t help but interrupt.

Fujiwara frowned at me as if she didn’t like what I said.

“I don’t know how you can say such a thing. Have you forgotten that you’re on probation?”

“Yesterday was an accident. There’s no way I would have voluntarily attacked you.”

“Ehhh?!” Asahi shouted while looking at us in surprise, “What happened yesterday?”

“Ah— It’s nothing. Right, Fujiwara?”

“Yeah. Nothing happened.”

It was a blatant misrepresentation.

However, when she was so harshly rebuffed, the meek Asahi seemed unable to pursue the matter anymore. Although she appeared unconvinced, she backed off, saying, “I see.” 

I felt sorry for her.

Anyway, it was no surprise that Fujiwara didn’t trust me at all.

If that’s the case, I guess I should prove to her that I’ll never attack her.

For both our sakes.

“I mean, think about it. You merged with a demon now, right? In other words, you’re a creature from another world. Wouldn’t it be disgusting to mate with such a thing? What if you got infected with some unknown virus? What are you going to do if I get infected with a deadly STD that kills people? What if it causes a pandemic? The human race would be wiped out. I’m not stupid enough to mess with you. You understand?” [TN: you’re ded lad.] [EN: Doesn’t need the STD to kill him because something else will.]

“… Ne, do you think being honest at all times is a virtue?”

I didn’t.

“Well, I’m glad. If it had been Asahi instead of Fujiwara, I’m sure I would’ve lost my mind. Thank goodness it was you, Fujiwara!”

“S-Souta-kun! What are you saying all of a sudden…?”

Asahi’s face turned red, and she let out a small yelp.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of her waving hands in the air.

“Oh, gosh! You’re making fun of me again! You’re always like that, Souta-kun.”

“My bad! Asahi loves seeing your response. That’s why my tongue slipped.”

“You’re not sorry at all. From now on, I won’t forgive you anymore!”

“That’s right, Hirano-san, it’s time to cut ties with this man.”

Fujiwara’s harsh words caused Asahi to let out a sob. 

“Eh.”

Oi-Oi.

“Don’t say unnecessary things. She’s one of my best friends. What if she casts me aside?”

“A man who repeatedly makes sexually harassing remarks to a timid girl deserves to be cast aside.”

“That makes me sound like I’m an irredeemable piece of sh*t, so please don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth. Come on, Hirano-san, don’t give him a chance.”

“I-it’s okay, we both know he’s not serious… right, Souta-kun?”

“Nn? … Ah! Yes, we both know I’m not serious.”

“Why are you repeating the same thing? You ruined my follow-up.”

“No-no! I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Asahi-sama!”

Fujiwara gave me a scornful look at our exchange, but it’s what we call an agreement. If Asahi really didn’t like it, of course, I would have stopped this kind of involvement and apologized profusely. Maybe.

“Mou! Ashiya-kun, you’re really…” Asahi turned her head away and peeked at me from the corner of her eyes and said, “But if you help me with the… quest, I’ll forgive you.”

“Oh! You’ll let me off with that this time. Well, let’s go look at the board.”

“I’d… rather go home and sleep.”

“Ma, ma!” I soothed the grumpy Fujiwara, and then together, the three of us left the classroom.