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Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (Light Novel) - Volume 5, Chapter 3: Misunderstanding and Being Misunderstood
Volume 5, Chapter 3: Misunderstanding and Being Misunderstood
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Part 1
Tuesday, November 17
“...Maki-chan, huh....”
After parting ways with Harumi who wanted to talk about the date, Yurika's expression turned dark once again as she walked home. Her steps were heavy and she had a gloomy atmosphere around her. Finally alone, the situation she was in finally began sinking in. She had forgotten as she stubbornly tried to resolve the misunderstanding, but now that Maki had appeared, she had to fight.
“Fighting... can I even do it...?”
Ever since she came to room 106, no, ever since she had become a magical girl, Yurika had never experienced a real battle. When she had just become a magical girl, she used her cane and magic she was still unaccustomed to, to run away from anyone chasing after her.
An enemy that used magic hadn't appeared ever since she arrived at room 106, nor had she had an encounter worth calling a battle. At most she had just used her magic when accidents had occurred. Frankly put, while Yurika may have had strong magic, she was still a beginner when it came to fighting.
“But I have to do it! I owe Nana-san for saving my life!”
Yurika raised her head as she made up her mind. She strongly wished to repay her savior. That strong wish suppressed her urge to run away.
“Yurika Fight! Yurika Fight!”
Yurika closed her hand to make a fist, and pumped herself while putting her fist up in the air.
“Alright!”
When Yurika slapped her cheeks with both hands, her expression completely changed and she began taking strong, willful steps.
“I'll do it! It's a magical girl's duty to protect room 106!”
Yurika's enemy had finally appeared, fighting with her was not only her duty, but her way of repaying her savior. She also held a faint hope that Koutarou and the others would finally believe that she could use magic. She was overflowing with willpower.
“...Huh?”
As Yurika got close to Corona House, she heard something.
“Third up! Matsudaira Kenji! I'll be singing! The song is 'Brightness Edge'!”
“As expected from Matsudaira-kun. You know the songs on the top of the charts.”
“Mackenzie! As expected from the man who's faced a knife!”
“Shut it, Kou! Damn, I chose the wrong song.”
What Yurika heard were familiar and loud voices.
“What's going on?”
Kenji, Shizuka and Koutarou were speaking into microphones. On top of that, she could hear the voices of several other people. The closer Yurika got to Corona House, the louder it got.
I wonder if everyone from the class came to room 106?
Based on the number of voices, a considerable amount of people seemed to be there. It was almost as if they were holding a party.
“Wha!? Could they be holding a party without me!? T-That's just unfair!!”
Holding a parting meant there was free food to be had. Thinking of that, Yurika dashed towards room 106.
Part 2
Lured in by the hopes of food, Yurika slammed open the door to room 106. As she entered, the voices from inside reached her ears.
“Sixth up! Satomi Koutarou, I'll be knitting!”
“Beat it, Satomi! What kind of boring skill is that!?”
“Wah, that's unexpected! Satomi-kun, you're actually knitting. Amazing!”
“Hmph, that's because I have a good teacher.”
“There's no reason for you to act so cool about it...”
Just as Yurika had imagined, a party was being held in room 106. The room was small enough as it was, but with this many classmates, there was almost no space left to move in. There was also a lot of food, snacks and drinks prepared. It was exactly what Yurika had predicted.
“Oooh, that looks delicious...”
“Hm, you're finally here, Yurika.”
Koutarou noticed that Yurika had entered the room and called out to her. However, Yurika was already reaching out towards the nearby fried chicken.
“Chomp, Munch, I'm vhack.”
“Don't speak and eat at the same time.”
Yurika greeted Koutarou as she stuffed her mouth full of chicken.
“This chicken ish delishous.”
“That's not for you, don't go eating all of it.”
“Huh?”
Hearing Sanae's voice, Yurika looked away from the chicken she was stuffing herself with. As she did, she could see Sanae floating from Koutarou towards herself. There were a lot of people in the way, but that didn't matter to Sanae.
“This many people aren't going to gather for no reason. Look over there.”
Sanae stopped in front of Yurika and pointed towards the wall furthest into room 106. On the wall hung a large banner with the words: 'Welcome Aika Maki-san! Class 1-A's welcoming party in Satomi's room'.
“Oh, Yurika-san came as well?”
“Wha!?”
Maki stood right below the banner. She was surrounded by several classmates as she called out to Yurika while smiling.
“M-Maki-chan!?”
“You're quite late, did you have some business to attend to?”
Maki saw Harumi as she parted ways with Yurika, so she knew exactly what Yurika was doing. Despite knowing that, she laughed as she said so.
In reality, Maki was provoking Yurika. What she wasn't saying out loud was 'While you were out playing, I got this far'.
“W-Why!? Why is Maki-chan here!?”
Yurika was horribly upset.
The chicken in her mouth dropped to the tea table. Even though she might be carefree, Yurika knew just what it meant for Maki to be here. In this situation, it might be hard to do any serious investigating, but if it was just a pre-examination there were no problems.
“It's only normal to hold a welcoming party for a transfer student.”
“A proper welcoming, good, good. Koutarou, you've picked up on a noble's attitude.”
“Being a noble or a commoner has nothing to do with this.”
“Hohoho, there's no need to be embarrassed.”
There was no need to finish the investigation today. If she got closer to Koutarou, she would have countless chances.
I let my guard down! This is what she meant when she said it was easy to get in!
Of course, that wasn't Maki's only goal. She was also trying to gather info on Koutarou and the residents of room 106. From this one welcoming party, Maki could get plenty of information she needed to properly invade this room. Maki moved more accurately and swiftly than Yurika had expected.
“Yurika-chan, I left your favorite for you, just ask Ruth-san for it later.”
“Not good, at this rate something terrible will happen!”
“Yurika-sama?”
Neither Shizuka's nor Ruth's words reached Yurika's ears as she began to panic. The longer she let Maki stay in room 106, the worse the situation would get. She needed to get Maki out of the room as quickly as possible.
“S-Satomi-san, that's right, to Satomi-san!”
Yurika looked around for Koutarou who was the one who had organized this party and prepared the location. The fastest way to chase Maki out of the room was to get Koutarou's help. Although he still refused to believe in magic, he was the only one Yurika could rely on.
“Hey, Furuta! Don't strip!”
“But Satomi. If I don't strip I can't dance naked.”
“That's not what I meant! Are you planning on dancing in this small room with this many people and push your dirty thing onto others!?”
Koutarou was in the middle of arguing with a classmate who had begun stripping.
“Satomi-san, Satomi-san!”
Because of that, he didn't notice that Yurika was calling for him. Without any other choice, Yurika moved through the crowd of classmates and headed towards Koutarou.
“That's rude, it's not dirty! I took a bath just a while ago! It's only common sense to fix yourself up before getting up on the stage!”
“I said that's not what I meant!!”
“Satomi-san, please, listen to what I have to say!”
Having gotten closer, Yurika shook Koutarou's arm, and he finally turned his attention to Yurika.
“Hm? What's wrong, Yurika?”
“Satomi-san, at this rate room 106 will be stolen away from you!”
“Stolen?”
At this point, Koutarou's relationship with the invaders wasn't all that bad. Koutarou had begun understanding that they all had proper reasons for trying to take the room and that they weren't completely evil either. To rephrase it, they had built up a sense of trust between one another. Because of that, Koutarou didn't really feel any immediate sense of danger, being told that room 106 would be stolen away.
“Who would be stealing it?...Well, it is true that you've lost points and you're now down to roughly 70 points.”
Koutarou whispered the second half of what he said to Yurika. Yurika who was bad at games had lost a lot of points, and her tatami points had now dropped down below 80. From a different point of view, Yurika was about to have the room stolen from her.
“Y-You're wrong! I'm not talking about us! A new invader has appeared!”
“A new invader!?”
Hearing that, Koutarou stopped moving.
“That's right! Maki-chan is after the magic power gathered in this room!”
“You're saying that Maki-san is after this room?”
“That's right, so you need to chase her out of this room as soon as possible or something terrible will happen!”
“What are you saying―”
Koutarou was about to tell her to stop saying stupid things. But before he could, he noticed the serious expression Yurika had. Seeing her desperate expression, he swallowed his words, and decided to at least listen to what she had to say.
“Hey, Yurika, explain it properly. Don't suddenly call Maki-san a―”
“Chance!”
Seeing Koutarou not paying attention to his surroundings, his classmate began stripping. He was planning on dancing naked. Naturally, the girls in the room began screaming.
“Eight! Furuta! I will be dancing!”
“Kyaaaa!”
“Idiot! Pervert!!”
“Woah, stop it, Furuta! Don't strip!”
“Satomi-san, I'm still not done talking!”
“S-Sorry Yurika, w-wait a minute. Stop it, Furuta, don't go any further! There are lots of girls in here too!”
Koutarou was busy trying to keep his classmate from getting naked and didn't have the time to listen to Yurika.
“Did something happen?”
“What's wrong, Yurika, why are you shouting like that?”
“We will listen to you, don’t mind Koutarou.”
Shizuka, Sanae and Theia approached Yurika as to replace the busy Koutarou.
The others were focusing on the naked dance, but the three girls who were often with Koutarou weren't really affected by a boy in his underwear.
“A-Actually, Maki-chan is an evil magical girl that's after the magic power in this room!”
“Now that I think about it, you said the same thing when you first came to this room.”
Sanae floated in the air and crossed her arms, and recalled the first time they had met. Yurika had appeared in the room by smashing through the window. She said the same thing that day as she was doing now.
“Yes! So you can’t hold a welcoming party for her! Getting into the room like this is just what she wants!”
Yurika tried her best to explain to the three. There was no time to spare. If they didn't do something about Maki right away, who knew what could happen.
But that won't work, Nijino Yurika.
Maki looked at Yurika with a freezing cold glare, but she still had a fake smile on her face.
That's because I'm using the same method you are to protect myself!
She was convinced that all of Yurika's efforts would be in vain.
“I see, so that's the setting[1] you have going on.”
Sanae, who had been in deep thought, clapped her hands and smiled. Sanae was impressed by Yurika's ability to create and stick to a story.
“Eh!?”
“Cosplay is the only thing you're thorough with, isn't it?”
Sanae nodded repeatedly to Yurika who was confused. She was surprisingly praising Yurika.
“Wait a minute, you're wrong, Sanae-chan!”
“I understand, Yurika-chan. How impressive it must be to have prepared for over half a year...”
Next to Sanae was Shizuka, who was also nodding. She was very impressed that Yurika had seen through Maki's transfer over half a year ago, and had been hyping up for the winter Comiha.
“You're wrong, both of you! Theia-chan, please say something to Sanae-chan and Shizuka-san!”
Yurika began panicking as both Sanae and Shizuka completely misunderstood her. She decided that she alone couldn't solve this misunderstanding, and turned towards Theia.
“I got it, I got it. You want to keep it at that, right?”
However, fate was harsh. Her remaining life line snapped in an instant.
“T-Theia-chan!?”
“But, Yurika. We can't just chase her out of her own welcome party because of your setting.”
“Yeah. Just overlook it for today. People will take offense, you know?”
“That's true. I understand that you're panicking because Comiha is close, but can't you at least be honest and celebrate your reunion for today?”
“Cruel, the three of you are too cruel...”
Yurika's eyes began tearing up.
“It's not a lie, if we really don't chase out Maki-chan, something terrible will happen!!”
“Even if you say that, she did just transfer in...”
“Yurika, just hold it in for a while. Okay?”
“It won't hurt to forget about cosplaying for a while.”
It didn't matter how hard she struggled. Even though the evil magical girl had finally appeared, nobody recognized her as an enemy. It was a shocking event that just might ruin her standing as a magical girl.
“Fufufu...”
Seeing tears stream down Yurika's cheeks, Maki gloated.
Serves you right, Yurika. That's your punishment for making a fool of me...
She wasn't Yurika's enemy, but a fellow cosplayer. That slight difference in recognition gave Maki an overwhelming advantage.
Her classmates, unaware of the truth, treated her as a cosplayer and held a welcoming party for her. And since Koutarou lived on his own, room 106 had been chosen as the party location so that family members wouldn't get in the way.
Since they recognized both Yurika and Maki as cosplayers, they interpreted Yurika's urge to drive Maki out as being plain mean.
Though Yurika wasn't aware of it, the reason she hadn't been identified as the immature magical girl that she was was because everyone was convinced that she was a cosplayer. If that wasn't the case, she probably would have been found out long ago. And right now, Maki could say the same. She was protected from the world by the word 'cosplay'.
“Why won't you believe me!? I've never told a lie, not even once!!”
With tears overflowing from her eyes, Yurika turned her back towards Theia and the others.
“Ah!?”
“Yurika-chan, where are you going!?”
“Yurika, the welcoming party isn't over yet!”
This is just too cruel!
Someday they would believe her. Once the enemy appeared, they would surely understand. Up until this point, Yurika had believed that would be the case. However, heartlessly enough, the reality was different. The tears Yurika was shedding this time were different, she was crying for real.
“I don't care anymore! Even if you're in trouble later, I won't come to save you!”
“―Yurika?”
Hearing Yurika's sorrowful voice, Koutarou stopped what he was doing and looked behind him. However at that point Yurika had already left the room.
“Ruth-san, what happened with Yurika?”
Not understanding what was going on, Koutarou asked Ruth about the situation. Ruth shook her lightly head and began explaining.
“I don't really understand. Everyone was telling her to go easy on the cosplaying like always, but she suddenly dashed out of the room...”
Answering Koutarou, Ruth looked worriedly towards the door Yurika had left from. Koutarou did the same.
I wonder if it's okay to just leave her be...?
Feeling that something was different with Yurika, Koutarou hesitated whether or not he should follow after her.
“Got it!!”
“Woah!? You stupid Kou! Don't let go of Furuta!!”
“S-Sorry!”
“Kyaaaaaa!!”
“Nooooooo!!”
But because of the commotion in room 106, Koutarou was stuck, unable to chase after Yurika.
Part 3
Harumi and Kiriha met outside the front gate of the hospital.
“Oh? You are Satomi-kun's friend... I think it was... Kurano-san?”
“Yes, my name is Kurano Kiriha. Hello, Sakuraba-senpai.”
“Hello, Kurano-san.”
Having finished her medical examination, Harumi came out from the hospital at the same time Kiriha came out from a different ward. The two of them didn't notice each other until they reached the front gates.
“Were you in for an examination, Sakuraba-senpai?”
Kiriha hid her true colors from anyone but the other invaders and Koutarou. This time was no different and she greeted Harumi as a proper junior.
“Ah, yes, that's right. It's my usual routine checkup.”
Harumi smiled, but only for a moment. It vanished as she looked towards the hospital building.
“Uhm... could it be that you're sick too, Kurano-san?”
The reason her smiled had vanished was because she was worried that something might be wrong with Kiriha.
“No.”
However, Kiriha shook her head. Hearing her answer, Harumi's expression brightened up.
“Actually, an acquaintance of mine is hospitalized here.”
“I see...”
Harumi had been relieved to hear that Kiriha wasn't sick, but now she began worrying about Kiriha's acquaintance instead.
“Fufufu, Sakuraba-senpai, it's just a few bruises from a traffic accident, there's no need to worry that much.”
“Ah, s-sorry...”
Harumi's cheeks turned red with embarrassment, but hearing that there hadn't been any serious injuries, a smile returned to her face.
“You're quite kind, Sakuraba-senpai.”
“T-That's not... I have experience with being hospitalized too, so I was just a bit anxious...”
Kiriha was smiling and Harumi was blushing. Looking at the two, it was hard to tell who the senior was.
Several cars passed by Harumi and Kiriha as they walked together on the sidewalk.
“Do you get along well with Satomi-kun, Kurano-san?”
“Yes, we do get along, but you could say that we also fight a lot.”
The two of them continued chatting as they walked. Because of the heavy traffic, they naturally began to speak in a louder voice. Since they didn't have that much in common, the topic eventually became about Koutarou.
“Hearing that makes me envious.”
“Envious, you say?”
“Yes. I have never had a fight with Satomi-kun.”
She wore a sad expression on her face as she said that. Kiriha was amazed at her answer.
“Really? It's been quite a while since Satomi-kun joined the knitting society, so I figured you would have at least quarreled once or twice.”
“That's just it, we haven't at all. Satomi-kun respects and treasures me, that's it. He's never shown me any strong emotions...”
“I see... to think that Satomi-kun would...”
So Koutarou is treasuring the person he loves too much... Unexpectedly, we might get along better with Koutarou... No, is he just trying to keep Sakuraba Harumi out of our fight?
The other day, Koutarou had said that Harumi was his type. But he hadn't even shown his true colors to her. The way he treated her was clearly different from how he treated the invaders and Kenji. Kiriha figured that it was to keep her out of the fight for room 106.
“Would you like to have a fight with Koutarou-kun, Sakuraba-senpai?”
“I don't mean that I want to fight, but I want him to hold back less.”
“I understand how you feel. I wouldn't want the man I love to hold back either.”
And Sakuraba Harumi isn't satisfied with the current situation. It's becoming quite the complex case, Satomi Koutarou...
“L-Love!? T-That's... I don't really..:!”
“It's okay, Sakuraba Senpai. I won't tell a soul.”
“Ah, auuu... U-Uhm...”
“You do love him, right?”
“Y-Yes...”
Before long, Harumi began nodding slowly as if she had given up. Her face was now beet red.
“I knew it. I thought that might be the case ever since I saw your acting on top of the stage.”
“Ah...”
As Kiriha mentioned the stage, Harumi's face turned even redder, and she was unable to say a thing. When Harumi turned her eyes away in panic, she saw someone she knew.
“...Is that, Nijino-san?”
“Eh?”
Harumi instinctively stopped moving, and Kiriha followed suit. Kiriha looked around, trying to find Yurika, but she couldn't find her right away.
“Fufu, look, over there.”
Seeing that, Harumi smiled slightly as she pointed towards Yurika.
“Ah, you're right. But they're holding a welcoming party for the transfer student, so why is she over there...?”
It was a small park. And in the corner of the playing ground, was a familiar twin tail shaking.
Part 4
In the park, lit up by the dusk, the sound of a swing could be heard. Since the sun was about to set, there were no children playing there. As the temperature dropped with the coming winter, the only reason someone would be here was if either they really loved playing, or they had a special reason.
“Hmph. I don't care anymore... I hope you all suffer by Maki-chan's hands later.”
Yurika was the latter. She was the one riding on the swing.
“I definitely won't come to save you! Not Theia-chan, Sanae-chan, Shizuka-san or Satomi-san!...Satomi-san was a bit different this time but... he never believed me so I won't save him either!”
As Yurika moved the swing, she shed tears of frustration. Rather than having been outdone by Maki, she was more shocked that those close to her hadn't believed her. Since they had been together for over half a year, Yurika wanted them to at least believe her when she said that Maki was dangerous.
“They're all so impolite.”
As a result, Yurika abandoned her duty. Fleeing from the room in that situation was the same as giving up your duty as a magical girl. Normally, Yurika should have stayed and kept an eye out on Maki. If she tried to use magic to investigate, Yurika would have gotten in the way of her trying to gather more information. Doing that while keeping her surroundings from realizing that she was a magical girl was her duty.
However, Yurika couldn't do it. A large reason for that was that the people of room 106, the people she had begun to trust, didn’t believe her.
For what reason was she fighting? Before she knew it, her previous enemies had become her reason to fight, and when those people denied her, it caused her to give up. When Yurika had first come to room 106 she probably wouldn't have cared. But right now, Yurika just couldn't stand it. She was so mortified, she couldn't stop her tears.
“Nijino-san, Nijino-san.”
That's why Yurika only noticed Harumi after she called out to her several times.
“Nijino-san, what happened?”
“Eh!? S-Sakuraba-senpai!?”
Since Yurika hadn't been paying any attention to her surroundings, she was very surprised by Harumi's appearance.
“Kyaaa!?”
“Nijino-san!”
She was so surprised she almost fell off the swing, but she desperately held on by grabbing onto the chain.
“Are you okay, Nijino-san!?”
“I-I'm fine, You just scared me a bit.”
Yurika held onto the chain while catching her breath. Because she was so surprised, she forgot about her tears.
“I see, that's good...”
“Sakuraba-senpai, why are you here?”
“Fufufu, that's because this is right next to the hospital.”
After letting out a sigh of relief after hearing that Yurika was okay, Harumi then revealed a big smile because of Yurika's question.
“Ah, t-that's right...”
Hearing that, Yurika finally realized she was in the park right next to the hospital. She couldn't remember much after she ran out from room 106. Being driven by her strong emotions, she ran about at random, and finally reached this park. Having asked about something so obvious, Yurika began blushing.
“So, what happened, Yurika-san?”
“Even Kiriha-san is...”
When Kiriha appeared from behind Harumi, Yurika was surprised once more. On top of never having imagined seeing Harumi and Kiriha together, she also didn't know why Kiriha was here to begin with.
“Actually... that's... my friends and I... couldn't see eye to eye about something... no matter how many times I told them the truth, they wouldn't believe me... so I...”
As she spoke, she remembered her feeling of sadness and frustration, and the tears that had stopped began pouring out once more.
“So that's what happened...”
After listening to Yurika, Harumi revealed a sad expression. She sympathized with Yurika, almost as if she was the one who had been hurt.
“...”
It seems something happened at the welcoming party... It looks like I should leave this to Sakuraba-senpai...
Getting a grip on the circumstances, Kiriha chose not to say anything. Since she didn't believe in magic either, she knew that if she began speaking it would get unnecessarily complicated.
“So that's why you're crying in this place.”
“...Yes...”
Yurika nodded her head and looked down. Her feelings had been greatly hurt.
“I see...”
“...”
Harumi looked gently at Yurika. Since Yurika was helping her with Koutarou, she now wanted to return the favor.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“...Yes...”
Still looking down on the ground, Yurika replied in with a whisper.
“What made you sad, Nijino-san? That the truth didn't reach a lot of friends? Or that your special friends didn't believe you?”
Was she sad because a lot of friends didn't accept the truth as fact? Or did the truth not matter and she was sad by the fact that her close friends didn't believe her? If she didn't make that clear, Harumi wouldn't be able to comfort Yurika.
“That's....”
Yurika held back an answer. Normally, the answer would be the first option. Those that hadn't believed her were complete strangers. And amongst them were her supposed enemies. But despite that, Yurika was sad because that handful of people hadn't believed her. Even though, since they were enemies, it was only natural for them not to.
“It's... my special friends not believing me that’s more painful...”
Yurika's answer confused herself. She considered her supposed enemies as close friends.
I see, so that's why I'm always so frustrated and mortified...
At first she just wanted to let Koutarou and the others escape from the unsuspected danger. But as she spent more time with them, a desire for them to believe her began growing. That was because she had begun feeling goodwill towards them. Which was why today, when faced with a real crisis, having them not believe her was unbelievably sad.
“So that's how it is. In that case, you already have your answer, Nijino-san.”
Hearing Yurika's response, Harumi nodded.
“...Eh?”
Confused by Harumi's words, Yurika looked up from the ground, and she saw Harumi looking at her with a gentle expression.
“Nijino-san, you still think of them as precious to you. That's why you're so sad. That's why you just need to make them believe you. Right?”
Because she thought of them as friends, she was sad that they hadn't believed her. Her options were to either stop being friends with them, or to convince them that she was telling the truth. Any other method would just leave Yurika with feelings of regret.
“Yes, that's true... but how can I...”
“Take action. I don't know what you want them to believe in, Nijino-san, but you need to keep doing what you want them to believe in.”
“Keep doing what I want them to believe in...”
In Yurika's case that was to continue her duty as a magical girl. If Maki was targeting room 106, her duty was to protect it.
“You can only earn trust through action. If you try to convince them with words, trick them or fool them, you won't earn the trust you desire, Nijino-san.”
“I see, over...”
It was at that point that Yurika finally noticed.
Over this past half year, did I ever properly act like a magical girl? Even though I explained it with words, I never truly behaved like one...
And today, her enemy by the name of Maki finally appeared. Wasn't this finally the chance to earn Koutarou and the other's trust that she had waited for?
“Alright!”
Yurika slapped her cheeks with all her strength. When she did, the tears that had gathered around her eyes scattered all over, and the tears sparkled under the setting sun.
“I understand, Sakuraba-senpai! I'll do my best!!”
By the time the tears had sunk into the ground, an indomitable spirit and a smile could be seen on her face.
“Give it your all, Nijino-san.”
“Yes, sorry for making you worry, Sakuraba-senpai!! This unworthy Nijino Yurika will give it her all!!”
Yurika saluted Harumi in a comical fashion. It was like her sad expression from just a moment ago was a mere dream.
“So this is Sakuraba Harumi...”
Kiriha who had silently been watching over Harumi and Yurika let out words of praise.
So this is why Satomi Koutarou doesn't see her as a romantic interest...
Seeing Harumi's thoughtfulness, gentleness and her normally hidden strong will in person, Kiriha could clearly sense that Sakuraba Harumi would eventually become a powerful rival.
Part 5
Maki's welcoming party ended after the clock had passed eight o'clock. Continuing the party after eight would trouble the neighbors, so the landlord, Shizuka, put an end to it. That said, since the party had begun just before four o'clock, the participants had been able to enjoy themselves to their fullest.
“In the end, Yurika didn't come back...”
Having returned to her own home, Maki muttered to herself. Her words echoed through her empty room. It was a dark, lonely room with barely any furniture.
“That magic barrier that appeared at six was most likely hers. She acted like she got into a fight and started getting in my way from the outside... She really must have someone intelligent on her side. How irritating...”
Maki faced the center of the room and reached out her hand.
“Come, Twilight Wing!”
Along with her words, a cane appeared in her hand. Her cane, just like Yurika's, had plenty of decorations, and didn't look like it was designed for practical use. The biggest difference between their canes was the color. Unlike Yurika's fantasy inspiring pink colored cane, Maki's cane had a more desolate, indigo colored hue.
“Magic Communication Gem, activate. Open channel.”
Maki raised the cane above her head and muttered something. It was the spell required to activate a magical tool she had set up.
Responding to Maki's incantation, the indigo jewel buried into the ceiling began glowing. Almost as if resonating, six jewels buried into the walls surrounding Maki began glowing as well. The colors of the jewels were red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. Adding in Maki's indigo, it was all seven colors of the rainbow. However, the light being emitted was somehow dark. It was almost as if they weren't emitting light, but darkness. As time passed on, the light being emitted by the six jewels gradually began forming the shapes of people.
“Oh, that student uniform suits you, Maki.”
As the discharged light stabilized, next to each of the jewels were girls wearing the same colored outfit as their gem.
All six of the girls were holograms. The jewel Maki was using was a magic tool that allowed her to talk to people far away in holographic form.
“Don't make fun of me. You told me to report, so I went through all the trouble to contact you.”
“My bad, don't be so upset.”
The girl in red dropped her shoulders as Maki responded.
“Really now, you really are...”
Despite being surrounded by six girls, Maki showed no signs of flinching. Maki and the other six girls were all on even ground. These girls were her allies. These seven girls, including Maki, made up the officers of Yurika's enemy, Darkness Rainbow.
“So, how was it? The new rainbow and that magic concentration?”
Seeing that Maki and the girl in red had finished talking, the girl in violet opened her mouth. Out of the seven, she was the most mature, and most often held the role of the chairman.
“First of all, regarding Rainbow Yurika, I'm not sure.”
“By that you mean?”
“Her abilities aren't all that bad but, it seems like she has someone highly intelligent working with her.”
Maki began her explanation. She talked about how Yurika could manipulate the information through the use of cosplay, and how she got in the way of Maki's investigation of room 106 from the outside.
“So I can't see the full extent of it all. All I know is that she is inferior to her predecessor, Rainbow Nana.”
“That sure is a handful.”
“If we were to fight, who knows what kind of interruption would get in the way...”
“Maki, it could be that the accomplice is more troublesome. In the end, magic is just power. Depending on the usage, its effect could increase by a large factor.
“I think so too.”
The girl in violet agreed with Maki. The two of them nodded to one another with serious expressions on their faces.
“You should just crush that coward right away.”
The girl in red let out a displeased voice. She was simple and straightforward, so this discussion was irritating her.
“It's not that simple. Right now Yurika's mental state is perfectly stable. She's completely different from eight months ago.”
Eight months ago, after she had just succeeded Rainbow Nana's duty and power, the pressure from her duty and the constantly appearing enemies were almost enough to crush her. Because of that, she ran around and used her magic without thinking of the consequences. But now, Yurika was different. It was true that she was still a coward, but she wasn't as frightened as she was back then.
“That might be the influence of that accomplice.”
“That's very possible. The existence of an ally she can trust in must have stabilized her mental state.”
Maki and the girl in violet nodded to each other once more. But Maki was somewhat irritated.
To think she would trust in others, she really is a fool. People will betray you as soon as they get the chance. The only thing you can believe in is power. Power that completely overwhelms others!
Maki was irritated that Yurika had found allies she could trust and that those allies in turn allowed her mental state to stabilize.
“And there’s also the possibility that they have another plan ready. It's dangerous to rely on force.”
“Geez, what a pain...”
The girl in red frowned and scratched her head.
“That's enough about Rainbow. So, how about that concentration of magic power?”
The next one to speak was the girl in orange. She had short hair and big eyes that gave off an energetic impression.
“I got up close and gave it a rough examination.”
“As expected from Navy-chan, you get things done fast.”
Not liking being called 'Navy-chan' by the girl in orange, Maki furrowed her brows slightly.
“...The magic power in that room is massive. Magic power that could normally only be found in artifact-rank magic items is being concentrated in that place.”
Out of all magical items, artifacts were said to hold the power of legends.
They had unfathomable powers, but the method of producing them had been lost, and it was next to impossible to create them nowadays. The only methods of production that remained were not realistic due to the time required. Because of that, artifacts were the ultimate magic items said to have been created by God.
“Wow, that much!?”
The girl in orange's surprise was somewhat exaggerated, but Maki ignored her and continued talking.
“If we can control it completely, we'll get the upper hand on Rainbow Heart. Even more, we might even be able to upset the power balance in Folsaria.”
“Then we can't just leave it be!”
The girl in orange's hair shook and her eyes sparkled. The girls in Darkness Rainbow were trying to overthrow the magical country, Folsaria, for their own reasons. Because of that, they were always on the lookout for powerful artifacts or something with equal power.
“But Maki, would we be able to control something that powerful?”
“When I was trying to examine that thoroughly, Yurika got in my way.”
At her welcoming party, Maki had tried to use her magic to investigate the magic power. But it was difficult to use any powerful spells while participating. At best, she could pretend like she was showing off her cosplay, though she didn't get that many chances. On top of that, having faked a fight(?) and dashed out of the room, Yurika had intervened with her own magic from outside, and Maki had been unable to investigate properly. Yurika could use more powerful spells as she hid on the outside.
“So even here, that accomplice is a problem...”
“I think it's someone incredibly clever. They're always one step ahead.”
“Which means, just how much of a welcoming party was that party supposed to be...?”
“How much? What do you mean?”
Maki showed a confused expression as the girl in violet spoke.
“If there's a welcoming party being held in that room, you would definitely come. And if you were in that room, you would definitely use magic. Maki, it might be that someone took information from you instead.”
Hearing that explanation, Maki was so surprised she even forgot to make an expression.
“It couldn't be... the one that was had was me!?”
Maki couldn't accept that right away. If what the girl in violet had said was true, it would mean that she had lost to Yurika.
“That is most likely the case. In reality, you didn't get any important information regarding the magic power, right? You were lured to that room and had information on your magic taken.”
The girl in violet sadly shook her head. And at that point, Maki herself realized her defeat.
“Kuh, I've been had! And not just by Yurika, but by some normal person too!”
This reality was nothing but a complete disgrace to Maki. If her opponent was a magical girl it was one thing, but she had been defeated by a normal person without any power. And if the girl in violet hadn't pointed it out, Maki wouldn't even have noticed her defeat. Maki had been read like an open book and toyed with.
“To think this indigo magician would have her mind manipulated!”
The indigo magic that Maki used was used to manipulate minds. So to Maki, the mind was hers to manipulate. Having her own mind manipulated, and being toyed with in this fashion, was completely unacceptable.
“I get that you're frustrated since you lost, but calm down a little.”
“Shut up!”
Having been criticized by the girl in red, Maki raised an angry voice and glared at her.
“Oh, scary. But that's what you always tell me, Maki.”
However, after hearing the next words, Maki regained her calm.
“...Sorry for shouting.”
“Doesn't that feel good, letting loose every once in a while?”
“I'll just leave it at that.”
After taking several deep breaths, Maki regained her cool and smiled.
“So what will you do, Navy-chan? Wait for us to group up?”
“About that, I was thinking about sneaking into that room.”
“That's dangerous. With that accomplice, I can't recommend hurrying things up.”
Hearing Maki's words, the girl in violet showed a worried expression.
“That's exactly why.”
However, Maki had a serious expression on her face. She had no intention of forcing herself. This was a calm decision she had made.
“The enemy is capable of such great plans. Their advantage will grow the longer we wait. And before the seven of us attack at once, I'd like to flush out that accomplice. If I don't get rid of that accomplice first, we would be making the same mistake again.”
Maki didn't want to repeat the mistake they had made when fighting against Rainbow Nana. Because of that mistake, Darkness Rainbow had been unable to continue operations for over half a year.
“I see... so your goal is that accomplice and not the magic power...”
“Of course, if I get the chance to seize control of it, I would like to. But since there would be problems after seizing control, I have no intention of forcing it.”
Even if Maki gained control of room 106, until the other six arrived, she would have to protect the room all alone from Yurika. With that in mind, seizing control of the room right now wasn't very realistic.
“There're those other people we know nothing about in that room too.”
“You said that apart from that boy, there are two foreign girls and a black haired girl.”
“Yes, apart from the black haired girl, they were all at the welcoming party.”
“Hey, Navy-chan, you said something about there being a ghost as well, but is it okay to forget about her?”
“I observed her while pretending I couldn't see her, and she seemed to be communicating with the residents. However, it's still not very clear if she's employed by them or not.”
“But Maki, if you try to do something in that room, won't those guys interrupt you?”
“That's what I'm worried about, so if you're going to do it, it would be better to do it during the day while they're at school.”
Maki and the others were aware of Sanae, Theia, Ruth and Kiriha. But those girls didn't believe in Yurika's identity, so they didn't consider all of them to be a threat.
One of them is probably Yurika's accomplice...
Maki was thinking that either Theia, Ruth or Kiriha was Yurika's accomplice. She had gone to the welcoming party find out exactly who it was, if possible. That's why if she attacked the room while they were all out, only Yurika and her accomplice would take action.
“I understand. In that case I have no objections.”
“I agree as well.”
“Me too!”
The girls approved one after another. In the end, all six of them agreed with Maki's plan. First off, they would need to gather information. Since the majority of the members had been incapacitated with the fight with Rainbow Nana, they were being extra cautious.
“Thank you, everybody.”
Satisfied that everyone had approved of her plan, Maki's calm expression loosened up slightly, revealing a small smile.
Just you wait, Rainbow Yurika! And that cursed accomplice too! I'll reveal your identity soon enough!
And like that, through Maki, the massive misunderstanding regarding Yurika spread through Darkness Rainbow.
Translator's Notes and References
1. ↑ The background used in the context of cosplay
