Chapter 1: Huh!? Am I in My Popular Phase?!
The ominous second semester had begun, and Kazuma was inwardly breaking out in a cold sweat. A new teacher and a transfer student. No matter how he thought about it, it could only be that the National Defense Force had sent them to monitor Kazuma.
Naturally, Tanaka, oblivious to Kazuma’s inner turmoil, urged the transfer student, Momoko, to sit in the seat prepared for her.
Momoko sat in the indicated seat. As if it had been orchestrated, Momoko, who sat down next to Kazuma, smiled at him.
“I look forward to getting along with you.”
“L-Likewise.”
Kazuma, regretting that he couldn’t act more naturally, still had a strained look on his face.
(Uoooooooooh! This is bad! She’s cute, but damn, she’s suspicious!!)
She was probably the cutest girl in the classroom. Momoko was that outstanding in appearance, but Kazuma thought that if he fell for her, it would be over.
Since he was suspected of being the Crimson Knight, if he fell for her, she would undoubtedly press him about his connection to the Crimson Knight.
Of course, this was still just speculation, but the possibility was high. After all, she had transferred at the start of a new semester. There was no way she wasn’t suspicious.
That said, he couldn’t overtly distance himself either. Doing so would only make him seem more suspicious.
(What should I do…? Should I maintain a moderate distance? Or perhaps… assassinate her under the cover of darkness!?)
Panicking, Kazuma’s thought process short-circuited, and he came up with something outrageous.
It would be possible to commit a perfect crime by shorting out nearby electronic devices with lightning magic and making full use of Illusion Magic, but that was definitely overkill.
It was true that the National Defense Force was infringing on his personal privacy, but assassination was still a bad idea. If he did that, his future would be bleak, a one-way trip to the underground. Kazuma’s peaceful life would be goodbye.
(For now, I’ll just wait and see…)
Since it wasn’t yet confirmed that Momoko was “black,” Kazuma decided to observe her for the time being.
However, if she turned out to be “black,” he didn’t know what would happen. In the worst-case scenario, Kazuma might actually carry out an assassination to silence her.
The transfer student’s introduction ended, and next was the Ability Test. After changing into clothes suitable for movement, the students moved to the venue where the Ability Test would be held.
On the way, Momoko was, as expected, surrounded by girls and bombarded with questions.
And, in an unrelated development, Kazuma was being subjected to Kosuke’s jealous remarks.
“You’re so lucky, Kazuma! To have such a cute girl sit next to you~”
“It’s due to my daily conduct. God must have been watching over me properly.”
“Don’t mess with me! If that’s the case, I should get some kind of reward too!”
“For example?”
“Like a beautiful girl falling from the sky.”
“It seems plausible in this day and age, but if it were you, Kosuke, you’d probably fail to catch her and die, wouldn’t you?”
“Don’t say such realistic things!”
Kazuma clutched his stomach, finding Kosuke’s shouting hilarious. Afterwards, they continued their silly conversation with enthusiasm and headed to the testing venue.
The students who arrived at the Ability Test venue separated to their respective testing locations.
Kazuma headed to the booth where he had taken the Ability Test before and waited for his turn. Then, as if she had timed it perfectly, Momoko arrived. Seeing her, Kazuma’s lips turned down slightly.
(Ugh… Why is she coming over here? It’s not confirmed yet, but… when it’s this blatant, I can’t help but be suspicious, you know~)
Momoko, lining up next to the waiting Kazuma, offered a kind-looking smile and spoke to him.
“What a coincidence. We’re neighbors, desk-neighbor.”
“Haha, indeed, Shinonome-san.”
“It’s Momoko. Please, call me Touko.”
“Nah~, if I did that, I feel like the other guys would stab me, so I’ll pass.”
“Don’t say that. Aren’t we desk-neighbors and all?”
“I don’t think any ‘close relationship’ exists on the first day of transfer, you know? Besides, you don’t even know my name, so it’s troubling to be told something like that.”
“Ah, how careless of me. May I ask your name?”
“Kazuma. Satsuki Kazuma. Nice to meet you.”
“So you’re Kazuma-san. What a lovely name.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Aren’t you being a bit cold? Did I perhaps do something to offend you?”
As Momoko looked at him with teary, round eyes, Kazuma desperately tried to stop his cheeks from twitching.
“That’s not it. It’s just… I don’t know how to talk to you.”
“In that case, please be more friendly. We’re classmates from now on, after all.”
“I’ll do my best~”
Kazuma wanted to cut the conversation short and escape, but unfortunately, they were in the middle of the Ability Test. He couldn’t leave this place. He could go to the restroom, but reporting to the examiner each time was a hassle, making it a bit difficult to go.
That said, if things stayed like this, it would be suffocating. He didn’t know what Momoko’s intentions were, but her abnormal closeness was mentally exhausting Kazuma.
(She’s “black,” isn’t she? A spy sent by the National Defense Force after me, right? I can’t say for sure, but for her to approach me this blatantly, there’s no other explanation! There’s a one-in-a-million, no, one-in-a-billion chance she’s a genuine transfer student who actually fell for me… but no way, right~!)
He considered such an unlikely possibility, but it was still too far-fetched. Kazuma, having pretty much concluded she was “black,” continued conversing with Momoko.
“By the way, Shinonome-san, what kind of Gift do you have?”
“Fufu, are you interested?”
(No, not at all. Not even a tiny bit.)
In the first place, Kazuma didn’t expect Momoko to reveal her true Gift. Believing her to be a spy from the National Defense Force, he assumed she would lie without hesitation.
“Hmm… Could it be, like me, Transposition or something?”
Momoko smiled at Kazuma, who tried to bring it up as naturally as possible.
“Bzzzt. Wrong, unfortunately.”
(I wanna punch her~)
Seeing her make an “X” mark with her hands cutely and laugh, Kazuma felt irritated and involuntarily clenched his fists.
“Ehh~, well then, I want you to tell me the correct answer~”
“The correct answer is~… Clairvoyance!”
“Clairvoyance!”
It was a common Gift, but in a way, it was one of the abilities boys desired. After all, Clairvoyance literally allowed one to see through clothes and walls. It was an ability that young men would understandably covet.
“Ah, could it be, are you thinking something perverted~?”
Reacting to Kazuma, Momoko made a mischievous face and peered into his.
“N-No, nothing like that!”
Momoko looked suspiciously at Kazuma, who was desperately trying to cover it up.
“Really~?”
“It’s true!”
Looking at just this, it seemed like a perfectly natural exchange, but inwardly, a high-level psychological battle was unfolding between them.
(Clairvoyance is the best! Being able to see girls’ underwear freely, is this heaven~!)
(Hmm. As expected, he thinks like a normal high school boy…)
((Damn it. Why do I have to go out of my way to counter Mind Reading?))
(Even if I continue surveillance… it’s always, always trivial stuff, this is getting tiresome. Does he really have any connection to the Crimson Knight?)
(Shinonome-san’s been staring at me this whole time… Don’t tell me!)
(He noticed!?)
(Aren’t you using Clairvoyance to look at my body! You pervert!)
(…Haaah. This mission is tough, isn’t it?)
((For now, I guess I’ll keep my protection up~))
Just as Kazuma suspected, Momoko was a spy sent by the National Defense Force. Her Gift was listed as Clairvoyance on paper, and the academy had been told as much, but her true Gift was Mind Reading.
Under orders from her superiors, she had infiltrated the academy, gotten close to Kazuma, and was investigating the Crimson Knight. For that reason, she was reading Kazuma’s mind, but she was growing frustrated with Kazuma, who, like a typical adolescent high school boy, was constantly thinking vulgar thoughts.
Of course, he was doing that on purpose. Kazuma had fought an opponent with mind-reading abilities in another world, and after being defeated, he learned anti-mind-reading techniques from a sage. Thanks to that, Mind Reading didn’t work on him.
If he had been an ordinary student, this would likely have been an easy mission. Poor Momoko.