My Classmate Became My Familiar - Chapter 2.7

Chapter 2.7

The competition between Fujiwara and Ryoka was fierce.

When Fujiwara hunted five monsters, Ryouka hunted five more, and Fujiwara, inspired by that, hunted fifteen monsters, causing Ryouka to hunt another fifteen…

Both of them slaughtered monsters without batting an eye.

Even though our side was making full use of the demon’s power and the clairvoyant glasses, we were still unable to pull off Ryouka, who was by herself!

She kept on catching up no matter how much we got. In terms of hunting, Ryouka’s talent may be far superior to Fujiwara’s.

Fujiwara would never admit it, but,

“Crap. I can’t believe it’s a draw,” Fujiwara admitted, slightly out of breath.

We arrived at our destination, an abandoned building.

“Hah… Hah… I thought I was gonna win,” Ryouka said, who had beads of sweat all over her body.

She was in a state of exhaustion, her hands on her hips as she looked up at the sky and caught her breath. Just by looking at them, I could tell Fujiwara was the one with the most stamina left. However, it wouldn’t matter if the number of monsters hunted remained the same.

“Damn it. It was my chance to bring in Ashiya-kun…”

In spite of saying so, Ryouka easily accepted the draw. It seems like there’s more to her character.

No, it was fine. There was nothing wrong with Ryouka’s understanding of things.

We quickly entered the abandoned building. According to the information displayed on the terminal, the inter-dimensional contact point was located in this abandoned building.

“This way. I can feel the magic disturbance.”

Fujiwara pointed to the stairs, and we headed upstairs.

As we approached the fourth floor, even the insensitive me could feel the contact point nearby.

“Is it on this floor?”

“Maybe. Oh, look. Over there.”

Fujiwara led the way, and we stepped into a large, cramped room.

The distortion connecting to a different world was in the middle of a room, surrounded by walls in ruins.

The magic in the air was swirling, and images from the other side were being projected.

A grassy field with the horizon visible in the distance. A frigid sea with its mountainous ice masses. A sky where dragons fly in packs. A cityscape of sub-humans coming and going… These scenes mixed and floated in the center of the room.

It seemed like there was a fracture in space, through which we were able to peer into another world.

Inter-dimensional contact point. A peculiar place in space where the three worlds connect and soon become a ‘Foreign World.’

“What happens if we leave it like this and all three worlds completely connect?”

“I don’t know. Well, at the very least, the whole area around it will be destroyed. Want to give it a try?”

I shook my head at Ryoka, who seemed somewhat mischievous.

I wasn’t joking.

“I’m not going to try it. I don’t know why this kind of thing even exists.”

“True. But you see, magic appeared in this world through crosspoint. And the inter-dimensional contact points are also created because of the crosspoint. I think the otherworldly contact points are probably a necessity. I don’t even want to think of a world where no sorcerers were born.”

Ryouka smiled and held out her hand to me.

“I’ll leave the inter-dimensional contact point to you. I’ll take care of the device since it may get in the way of your work.”

I took her word for it and left the device with Ryoka.

I took out my grimoire from the backpack, placed my palm on the cover and sent magic power into it. Six magic circles appeared, up, down, left, right, front and back, surrounding the twisting space, or the point of contact with the other world.

It was the magic formation I had learned in class at the school to destroy the inter-dimensional contact points.

“It’s going to take a while, so you can just kill some time,” I called out to the two girls behind me.

It was the first time I was doing this, so it was going to take some time.

With two short replies, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the formation.

Little by little, my senses disappeared, and my consciousness focused completely on the formation.

All I had to do was to feed the magic power into the grimoire, but it was difficult to get it just right…

Eventually, I felt a tingling sensation in my brain, as if an electric current was flowing through me.

I saw six magic circles emitting a strong light engulfing the inter-dimensional contact point when I opened my eyes.

“Phew. Yes, it worked.”

When the light from the magic circles subsided, there was no more distortion of space. Perfect.

“That’s Ashiya-kun for you. You’ve done a splendid job. I would have never been able to do this.”

I turned around to see Ryouka smirking at me.

Before I knew it, Fujiwara was standing next to her with her arms crossed, looking at me with a bored look on her face.

“You did well. Now, let’s go home.”

When I reached out to take the device from Ryouka, she avoided me with a flick of her hand.

What is it? Were you going to hold it for me?

As if to ridicule the thought of me being so carefree…

“Well, wait for it.”

Ryouka threw the terminal into the air and smashed it.

The terminal cracked in half and fell to the floor.

“… You, what are you doing?”

As I was stunned by the sudden outburst, geometric patterns and bright red magic circuits appeared on Ryouka’s whole body. It was the activation of magic. But why?

It was as if she’s about to start a fight…

“You see, I can’t afford to have you send out a rescue signal.”

I felt an unsettling atmosphere and prepared myself.

Fujiwara stepped forward to protect me.

“What are you doing?”

Ryouka didn’t answer but said, “Come,” with a smile on her face.

Then, behind Ryouka, a group of people in uniforms like ours appeared from the room’s entrance.

They were students from the school. They were Ryouka’s cronies, who belonged to the west faction.

I saw more than a dozen magic warriors alongside summoners with their monsters… All of them were ready to attack.

“Oi. Did you just set us up?”

The voice that came out of my mouth was surprisingly calm, even compared to my usual.

“No, Ashiya-kun, please don’t say inappropriate things. I’m very sad when you say things like that. It is just a continuation of the game. Fujiwara and I had a draw, didn’t we? But there’s still one monster left. That’s right. If I defeat that one, I’ll win by a narrow margin.”

Ryouka’s smirking gaze fixed on Fujiwara.

So, the remaining monster was Fujiwara, who fused with the demon.

This girl…

“I knew something was wrong from the start,” Fujiwara said in a low voice.

“No matter how good you are at hunting, there’s no way you can keep up with me. I see how it is. You’ve been letting your men help you. That’s why you were able to hunt at such a fast pace.”

“Hmm? Hey, hey! Please don’t make such accusations. Where’s your proof? I fought fair and square, okay? Against the two of you, all by myself.”

Fujiwara retorted with an empty excuse.

“So, because you didn’t win the game as expected, you’re just going to whine about it? Childish.”

Ryouka ignored Fujiwara and looked at me.

“Hey, Ashiya-kun. Be mine. If you accept now, I won’t have to be so rough with you. You know you’re outnumbered. I planned all this way to make sure that you won’t have much left in you. Just give up now.”

“Are you crazy? Do you think I will agree with just this?”

“It’s your fault for not losing the game quietly. If you had, I wouldn’t have had to be so rough with you. I need power, power to beat that woman. I’ll do anything to get that. I don’t care what I have to do.”

This was a conversation we shouldn’t be having.

“I don’t care about your selfish desires. I’m going to report this matter to the academy.”

“I can’t let you do that. If that’s the case, I’m afraid I’ll have to keep your mouth shut.”

Ryouka raised her hand goofily.

As if on cue, the people behind her took a stance. Their hostility was apparent.

It was bad.

No matter how strong Fujiwara was, it was reckless to take on this many people.

My magic tank was already low on magic. What were we supposed to do…?

“Fujiwara. Can you run to the exit carrying me?”

“If we can get through this, I suppose I can…”

“As if I’ll let you go. Throw away your grimoire unless you want us to attack you.”

Things were not looking good. The tension was palpable.

If only we could get through this moment…

“Ashiya-kun, don’t listen to her.”

“Fujiwara, step aside…”

I lightly pushed Fujiwara off to the side as she stood in front of me to protect me.

Then, facing Ryouka in a straight line, I slowly bent my knees and placed the grimoire on the floor.

“That’s right. I love a smart man. Ashiya-kun, you are most welcome,” Ryouka said in a good mood as if she thought I had given up.

You fool. Who’s going to join your faction?

As I looked down to place the grimoire on the floor, I concentrated my magic power on both eyes.

On the surface of the lenses, magic power ran through the magic circuit.

I heard a slight noise.

It was a hint of Fujiwara coming up behind me as if she sensed my intentions.

“Ryouka.”

I called out to her, still looking down and keeping my finger on the grimoire.

“Hmm?”

“Don’t assume that things will go as you planned.”

“Ha? What’s with the attitude? Don’t tell me you’re trying to fight with us,” She commented in a dubious yet mischievous voice.

I looked down and continued.

“You know what? I actually admire the fact that even if you’re no match for the president in terms of strength, you’re still trying. I’m serious. I don’t have that kind of guts. I think you and Fujiwara are similar in that respect.”

“Please stop with your evaluation. I don’t enjoy it. Just get your hands off the grimoire.”

“Oh, it’s just that… The only difference between you and Fujiwara is a crucial one. It’s the integrity of your spirit.”

“Huh?”

“Fujiwara also has huge ambitions, but not just for herself. She tries to push up the people around her as well. I’m sure she’s doing it for others. But you’re different, aren’t you? You don’t care about the rest as long as it’s good for you, do you? You are selfish. I can’t stand being caught up in your selfishness.”

“… What are you trying to say?”

Ryouka’s voice was laced with irritation. But there seemed to be no sense of danger.

I’m sure she never dreamed that I would be the one to rebel against her under such circumstances.

“You’ll never be able to beat Fujiwara or the President, you know. Besides…”

I took a deep breath.

“I’m… selfish, a selfish bastard. You think I’ll be under you You think you can do whatever you want to me. I hate you the most in the world.”

I shouted and looked up into her eyes through the lens of the glowing circuitry.

“Ryouka! If you don’t want to die, defend yourself with all your might!”

With a snap, my glasses electrified.

Was it intuition, or was it instinct? Ryouka crossed her arms with a snap and took a defensive stance.

The next moment, a thick pillar of light shot out from one of the lenses.

She was hit by the “divine lightning” and was blown away, along with her followers.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

The electricity that had been stagnant in the air disappeared.

“Fujiwara!”