My Classmate Became My Familiar - Chapter 2.4
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Chapter 2.4
“Hey, Ashiya-kun. About tomorrow…”
As I was cleaning up after dinner at the sink, Fujiwara interrupted out of the blue.
When I turned around after turning off the faucet, my eyes met hers. Fujiwara had a bath towel wrapped around her head like a turban.
Her cheeks were flushed, probably because she had just finished taking a bath.
“What’s up?”
“I just wanted to check in with you briefly about the quest. Is it okay?”
I had just finished washing the dishes, so I nodded, and Fujiwara, who had been applying some sort of serum to her face, stopped.
I shoved the wet dishes into the dryer, turned the dryer on, and headed toward Fujiwara.
I sat down on the sofa across the mini-table.
Fujiwara, by the way, was sitting flat on the floor.
“Ashiya-kun, this is the first time you’ve been to the Forbidden Area outside of class, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. To be honest, I’m dreading it. Why don’t we cancel it now after all?”
“You idiot. It’s only the first level of the Forbidden Zone, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
The Forbidden Zone is the general term for the special area surrounding the inter-dimensional tunnels called the Crosspoint that connects to the other world. They are divided into five layers, and the higher the number, the closer to the Crosspoint it is. Its structure is similar to that of rings or contour lines. [EN: Think of a bullseye target where the center is Crosspoint, and each ring is a layer.]
The first layer was at the outer edge, and the fifth layer was at the deepest.
“I’m not sure what the layers are like, but it’s still crawling with thought entities and monsters. If I were as sturdy as you, I’d be able to afford it, but I’m just a weak, ordinary human being.”
“The first layer only has small fries, so even your poor magic is enough to compete with them.”
Basically, there are a lot of monsters roaming around in the Forbidden Zone. The monsters tend to get stronger the deeper you go, and as Fujiwara said, the first layer was only supposed to have low-grade monsters.
“And it’s clearly stated that if you have a temporary license, you’re good enough to go up to the second layer, so don’t complain or goof off. As long as you live as a Sorcerer for a living, you can’t escape the Forbidden Zone anyway.”
“That’s true, but it’s too soon. We only got our provisional licenses a month or so ago. Normally, an F- or E-rank quest, or even a D-rank, are enough to stretch your legs.”
“Can you please not lump me in with those meagre students? I’m already good enough for a B- or even an A-rank quest.”
You failed the summoning exam, yet you’re so pompous.
If I point it out, she will definitely get angry. So, I won’t say it.
“And I heard that Ryouka has already completed a C-rank quest. That means I can afford to do it too. There is nothing that she can do that I can’t.”
“Stop lying. There are so many things that Ryouka can do that you can’t.”
“Haa? Like what?”
“Such as visually pleasing males with her ample breasts, or her character…”
“Hm?!”
I held up my hands and said, “I’m kidding!”
“That’s a joke, but Fujiwara, you have a big handicap that is me, so you shouldn’t be too hasty with everything. Just so you know, I’ll only drag you down with me.”
“Oh, that’s right, I’m carrying a carbon dioxide emitter called Ashiya-kun right now.”
“Ha-ha. You’ve got a big mouth.”
“Shut up.”
Despite those words, Fujiwara put her hand on her forehead as if she was aware of her faux pas. [EN: embarrassing remark in a social situation.]
“It seems that living with Ashiya-kun is having an unpleasant effect on me. I have to be careful.”
“Don’t blame others. Your bad mouth is a manifestation of your innate bad character.”
“… Anyway, complaining about it now won’t change anything, so give it up.”
I couldn’t say no because it was impossible to persuade Fujiwara now that she was like this. I’ve been living with her for about a month now, and she has made me understand this painfully. There was no point in arguing.
I’m always the one who’s at the losing end. It’s frustrating.
“Yes, yes. Well, that’s all I have to say. Protect me with your steel body, will you?”
“It’s natural for a familiar to protect her summoner, but when you say it like that, the scumminess stands out.”
The scornful look on her face did not do any damage. I have already gotten used to it.
Fujiwara heaved a small sigh.
“You can at least destroy the inter-dimensional contact point, right?”
“It depends on the scale, but this time it seems to be small. I can probably do it.”
An inter-dimensional contact point is a place where two worlds connect. It is said that it’d be bad for three worlds to overlap at one point. As the name suggests, a peculiar region around them, called the Forbidden Area, will be created, and in the worst case, the world will collapse.
Moreover, contact points tend to attract more worlds, so it gets even more out of control.
Incidentally, one of the main duties of a sorcerer is to destroy these inter-dimensional contact points.
“So, I’ll leave the destruction of the contact point to you this time, Ashiya-kun.”
“Oh. So, you’ll escort us on the way in, as I thought it’s because of her.”
“Hmm. I’m sure that woman will be messing with me during the quest, and I may have to deal with that anyway, so it’d be a great help if you could at least do that.”
“Ah…”
“It doesn’t matter what she’ll do, though.”
Fujiwara huffed as she said that.
They were both on the same page, but she was overestimating Ryouka.
“Well, well. That’s all I have to say about tomorrow. I’m going to dry my hair.”
Fujiwara got up and went near the washbasin. I soon heard the shrill sound of a hairdryer and a small humming in the background. I didn’t know what she was humming. Maybe it was a war song? I took a breath and leaned back against the couch.
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of anxiety.
It was my first C-rank quest, and now, we added Ryouka, who has the worst chemistry with Fujiwara, to the group.
Don’t mix two opposite elements, or there will be consequences. It was a predictable future.
Oh my god… I hoped one of them would take a sick leave…
“It’s about time, okay?”
As I was writhing alone, Fujiwara came back after drying her hair.
Without waiting for my reply, she crawled on all fours and inserted the DVD.
At the sight of her hips pointed at me through her pyjamas, I almost pulled out Zeus No. 1 as a reflex.
However, I bit my lower lip and desperately summoned up my reason to try and hold on.
(Calm down, Souta Ashiya. This is Chikage Fujiwara’s hips we are talking about. It’s against your pride to lust after something like that. Calm your mind… Alright, let’s get rid of the thoughts!)
I was thinking something stupid when Fujiwara crowded in right next to me.
To my annoyance, she smelled good after bathing. This wasn’t fair.
Fujiwara flicked on the remote control, and a Western movie played on the big TV screen. It was a romance movie that had become a hot topic a while ago that she had rented at a rental store.
“Hmm.”
Fujiwara held out one of her hands to me with her eyes fixed on the TV, and I grasped it.
I felt the warmth of her hand. We intertwined our fingers together to increase the contact as much as possible. Fujiwara’s slender fingers tightened around the back of my hand.
We watched the movie in silence, neither of us said a word.
On the screen, foreign actors were happily enjoying their lives.
When the movie was about halfway through, Fujiwara muttered, “How beautiful. I adore this kind of love.”
Fujiwara’s voice was enchanting, something I would normally not have thought to be possible.
I learned after we started living together that Fujiwara was a fan of romantic movies and girls’ comics. She seems to be more interested in romance than most people. I’m not saying it didn’t suit her, but it was surprising.
“I see. If you can get rid of the summoner contract, you can enjoy romantic movies like this as much as you want.”
“Stop it, don’t pull me back to reality. Ashiya-kun, that kind of thinking is bad. You can’t even say anything sensible at a time like this. This is why you’ll never get a girlfriend.”
“Shut up.”
Right now, the two of us, a man and a woman, were holding hands while watching a romantic movie in the room where we live alone.
There was nothing more to say.
No, I regret to say that I am aware that this situation is typical of a couple.
But let me get this straight. I swear to God, we are not flirting. [EN: Sure, buddy.]
It was just supplying the magic power.
What was wrong was my magic circuit. It’s too weak. With such a faulty circuit that seemed like a hose full of holes, a huge amount of magic power was used just to maintain Fujiwara’s normal appearance.
That’s why I was doing this to reduce the burden. By holding hands, Fujiwara could make sure that the magic power, though small, flows in without loss, without relying on the circuit.
But it was hard to hold her hand for a long time without doing anything.
It was why we eventually decided to watch a movie during the magic power transfer.
See? We’re not flirting at all. It’s the truth.
Self-brainwashing is important.
Two hours later.
Amid mild fatigue, the movie ended, and the end credits started to play.
“Haa, it was really good. It made me want to fall in love, too.”
“I agree.”
I nodded in agreement with Fujiwara, who looked pleased with the movie and began to tell me her opinions about it.
I nodded and listened to her. If I didn’t give a proper opinion once in a while, she’d get in a bad mood, which was the most troublesome thing. I got used to it, though.
“Hey, Fujiwara. It’s about time you saw something other than a romantic movie.”
When the conversation had settled down, I made a suggestion.
Fujiwara panicked and gave me a subtle look.
“I don’t mind, but I don’t like action or horror at all. It’s not even funny.”
At this point, if I replied, “Actually, I don’t like romantic movies as much as I used to!” it would normally lead to a fight, but I held my ground. You can’t take back everything you say.
“Oh well. Sometimes it’s good to watch a movie that you’re not interested in, like eating junk food. Also, some action movies involve romantic scenes. You should try it out.”
“Hmm… Well, okay. Then let’s pick one of those next week.”
We get used to it.
Initially, it was hard for us to get along, and if anything went wrong, we cursed at each other, but now if there was a request that we really wanted to get through, we thought about it first.
When I thought about the fact that I couldn’t even live a satisfactory life without Fujiwara’s approval, I felt like dying at night. Yet, there was nothing I could do about it.
Besides, even Fujiwara would sometimes take a backseat when necessary.
And by the way, Fujiwara is very creepy when she is like that.
In the end, this is what living together is all about… I don’t know why I was so enlightened when I wasn’t even living with my girlfriend. Isn’t it possible that I’ve skipped some stage in my life?
I felt like crying.