The Witch and Her Companion: I'm Just a Normal High School Student, but I Became the Familiar of the Highest-Ranked Witch. Also, It Seems I'm the Only Guy in the Witch Organization I Joined

Chapter 87: Sabotage and Quattro-Toro-Toro Cheese

【Rachel Poker】

“──No way, it’s closed?”

“…It’s not just closed, it looks like they’re on a break or something.”

I, who skillfully skipped school, and Hikari were heading to the office, but before that, we decided to grab lunch in the Old City.

The place we had in mind was a Chinese restaurant, Sanryūken, which, despite its slightly dubious appearance, had been endorsed by me, Sakurako, for its delicious cooking.

──However, when we finally arrived, the shop’s shutters were down. Not only that, there was a sign on the shutter that read, “On break, risking our lives.”

“On break… What a timing. This sucks.”

“Hikari-chan, you really have bad luck, huh?”

“Is this my fault?”

──Come to think of it, if they’re on break, maybe he’s off too. Tatsumori Haruto, my friend… He used to work here almost every day at Sanryūken.

“…I’d like to talk to him too.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Eh? Oh, I was just thinking I’d like to eat that… you know, the thing we had when we went on that date… a hamburger?”

I dodged the conversation about Haruto, since Hikari would find it annoying.

But I really did want to try a hamburger. I wonder if I had one before I lost my memory?

“Oh, a hamburger… Wait, did you just say ‘date’!?”

“Yeah, I said it. Just kidding~”

“…S-So, Sakurako has become a femme fatale, huh?”

“Didn’t you know? Femme fatale is just short for witch.”

I dramatically reacted as if shocked, and poked Hikari’s nose with my index finger. Her surprised expression with her eyes crossed was just too adorable.

“…Ugh, you’re a great witch, huh…!”

She turned her head away in embarrassment, but her red ears gave it away.

“Alright, teasing Hikari is fun, but I’m getting hungry. Let’s go get that hamburger.”

After lunch, the real plan of the day: to go talk to Vivian Hearts. The appointment’s already set.

＊＊＊

“…Seems like it’s finally happening, Baba Sakurako.”

“Is that so, Yakuma-san? Still calling me by my full name, I see.”

When I made my grand entrance through the office window, Yakuma-san didn’t seem all that surprised. He dropped the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray.

As usual, his shinigami face… Looking at it in broad daylight somehow makes me feel depressed.

“Sakurako! You finally arrived! Did you bring Quattro-Toro-Toro Cheese Burger-chan with you for takeout?”

“Of course I did. Extra tomatoes, just like you like it.”

“Heh, looks like the results of your training are showing!”

“What training are you talking about?”

The sharp contrast of her black-and-white, two-tone hair stood out—Vivian, as usual, was in her usual playful mood.

Unlike Rose, she had been with Raven since its founding, so our relationship was a bit longer, but for some reason, I didn’t feel that nostalgic connection when interacting with her.

Maybe it’s because of her appearance… Bubblegum mentioned it at the hot springs, but apparently, Vivian doesn’t normally look like a little girl. Well, obviously, that makes sense.

“Hm-hm, extra tomatoes, huh? Alright, then put it over there.”

After confirming the contents of the bag, Vivian led us to the sofa.

“I mentioned it on the phone, but today I’d like to ask the CEO about various witch-related stories.”

“Hm, I’m usually known as the mysterious busty beauty who doesn’t talk much… but well, since you got extra tomatoes, I’ll indulge you.”

“Where does that reputation even come from?”

Hikari, who had crossed her arms on the sofa with a look of disbelief, had her chest resting heavily on her arms. Vivian, that’s what a busty figure looks like.

“Well then, could you tell us about the Four Great Witches?”

I’ve heard the gist of it from Rose, but it’ll be different hearing it directly from her. Vivian does love talking about herself.

“The Four Great Witches… So, you’re talking about me?”

“That’s right, but it’d be great if you could also tell us about the other three.”

“Sure, I can. Do you know all the names of the Four Great Witches?”

“Yes, Emilia told me about it. But first, I’d like to hear about Ibis.”

It’s probably better not to mention going to the Seraph With Assocation, including the previous time. I feel bad for Emilia, but I’ll use her name without permission.

“Hmm, Ibis… I first met that person about five or six centuries ago—back when the Ravens hadn’t been formed yet, during the time they were leading the ‘Black Alliance.'”

The Black Alliance, if I remember correctly, was a volunteer army made up solely of witches from the Black Witch faction that Ibis created… In other words, it was like the precursor to the Ravens.

“At that time, I was still quite young, barely in my 150s, and I made a mistake that led to my entire clan being slaughtered, and I was captured by a witch hunt.”

And just like that, an unbelievable story started!

“That’s when Ibis showed up and saved me. At that time, she invited me to join her, but… I had something I needed to do first, so I told her I’d join after I finished that.”

“By the way, what was it that you needed to do?”

“It was to go pay respects to my homeland. Originally, my clan lived in a small island nation in the Far East, coexisting with humans, but there was betrayal… I ended up traveling all the way to France, only to be caught in a witch hunt.”

“…So, you really did destroy your own country, just like you said before.”

I never imagined she destroyed her homeland, and that the surviving descendants were none other than Yakuma-san.

So, for Vivian, Yakuma-san is the descendant of the betrayers who led her clan to its death, and for Yakuma-san, Vivian is the one who destroyed their ancestor’s country. It’s a more complicated relationship than I expected.

“After completing my revenge, I completely forgot about my promise to Ibis and spent my days with suicidal thoughts. But after about fifty years, I heard about the Black Death, a disease with a crazy high death rate spreading across Europe, and decided to visit France again since I’d been there before.”

Even though she’s been telling this incredibly heavy story, the way she’s so carefree about it makes it hard to feel the tension.

“However, when I finally got there, I realized it wasn’t France, but Spain! Seems my clumsy side showed itself.”

“Ah, no need to go into that, just continue.”

“Ahem, well, back then, Europe was a mess. It was the time when witches were at their peak, so there were plenty of witches getting killed in witch hunts, but on the other side, there were also witches oppressing humans. I heard a rumor that Ibis of the Black Alliance killed members of the ‘Thirteenth Night Society’—a witch organization ruling Spain. It was probably fate that led me to think of Ibis again, and I decided to visit her for both my suicidal thoughts and sightseeing. Along the way, there were many meetings and farewells, and plenty of romantic stories, but… I’ll skip those for now.”

Noticing that Vivian was about to go off on one of her tangents, I gave her a look to remind her. It seems she got the message.

“After many twists and turns, I reunited with Ibis a few years later and, as promised, decided to join her. This led to the formation of the Ravens. Ibis had a lot of enemies because of her beliefs, and she was constantly clashing with both witch hunters and other witches. Every time, she would crush them using sheer force.”

Vivian sank into the sofa, giggling as she took the tomato out of her burger and ate it. That’s bad manners.

“So, what were Ibis’s beliefs?”

“Back then, witches were roughly split into two ideologies. One was the ‘Witch Concealment Ideology,’ where witches wanted to hide and live quietly away from humans, and the other was the ‘Witch Supremacy Ideology,’ where witches sought to reveal their powers to humans and dominate them.”

“…And what about Ibis?”

“—Ibis was neither. She believed in ‘Coexistence,’ where humans and witches could live equally. At the time, she was probably the only witch saying such things… Naturally, both the Concealment and Supremacy factions became her enemies.”

It’s ironic that Ibis, who sought the most ideal peace, ended up making almost all witches her enemies.

Even though I don’t know if it was exactly the form she wanted, after five hundred years, witches and humans are now coexisting.

Now, still living in the shadows as the leader of the Ravens, I wonder what she’s thinking now…