Haruna, Weren’t You Supposed to be a Genius or Something? – Part 02

“And with this supernova explosion…”

My mistake was asking her to teach me from the start.

Haruna flipped a poster over and stuck it to the wall, filling it with words in some arcane language. Since she didn’t have a pointer stick, she waved around one of those toy grabby hands while delivering her lecture.

I never imagined she’d start with the literal formation of the universe. Would we even get to math before the exam?

I nodded along where it felt appropriate and quietly kept solving problems with my textbook on the side.

Hmm. I don’t really get it. Oh, I wasn’t talking about Haruna’s lecture. That one was completely lost on me. Math just wasn’t my thing.

Even after I repeated, “Got it, skip ahead now,” a few times, we still didn’t make it to math, so I gave up and just asked for the answers.

“Haruna, what’s the answer for this one?”

“Negative 192, square root of 3.”

I see. Wait, why was it square root of 3 again? Hmm.

“So then, about a hundred years ago, they triggered a civil war. Well, no surprise guys couldn’t beat Magiclad Girls.”

“Haruna, what about this one?”

“X equals plus-minus square root of 5.”

Ah, right. That made sense. It was coming back to me now.

“I mean, I get why people would want to push back against the matriarchal system in Villiers. But it’s working, so why start a revolution and throw everything into chaos? You agree, right, Ayumu?”

“Yeah, totally. Sorry, Haruna, what about this one?”

“That one’s 4.”

Huh? That seemed too clean. Did I solve it wrong?

“Still, I have to give them some credit. I mean, for a bunch of guys outnumbered and outmatched to hold the advantage for a whole week? Even I couldn’believe it. The one who led them was called the Demon Baron. The only man I respect. If I’d led those troops, there’s no way I could’ve won. Seriously, I’d love to know what kind of strategy he used to pull that off.”

“Haruna, can you help me with this one?”

“Gathering a bunch of non-mages and staging a coup is such a wild idea too.”

And just like that, she stopped giving me answers. I hung my head in despair.

While I sat there stuck, Eu offered a helping hand. She’d been quietly watching TV with Sera, sipping tea.

I turned my workbook toward her, and she placed her pen on the page.

In the next instant, every answer appeared across the sheet. Even the ones I hadn’t gotten to yet. All with full solutions.

I should’ve asked her from the start. Our little Necromancer could do it all.

“Okay, so why does it come out to this answer?”

Just knowing the answer didn’t help if I didn’t understand how to get there. Unlike Haruna, Eu actually explained things in full sentences.

My workbook started evolving fast, and in the end, it looked just like a cram student’s notebook, filled with neat, to-the-point explanations.

“Whoa,” I breathed, clapping my hands. “Thanks, Eu. That made total sense.”

Haruna, who’d been off rambling on her pointless lecture until now, suddenly cut herself off and gave me a pouty look. Her toy grabber hand snapped and clacked as she shuffled over to sit next to me.

“I’ll write the steps,” she muttered.

“Nah, Eu already did that.”

“Shut it! I said I’m writing them, so I am!”

She snatched my pencil and let out something halfway between a roar and a war cry. Then she attacked the workbook like she meant to set it on fire from sheer friction.

And just like that, my once-normal math book, no thanks to Haruna’s genius, now looked more like a zoo brochure than a study guide.

In the margins where Eu had written clear explanations, some kind of vaguely lion-looking beast now glared at me.

Unbelievable. My boring old workbook, now transformed into a scribbled mess I’d be embarrassed to turn in.

Sometimes I really believe geniuses are a whole different species.

I managed to decipher it until the lion tried to attack the rabbit but pulled a muscle, but how that turned into square root of 3 minus square root of 2 was beyond me. I guess someone smarter than me could connect the dots.

“This should make sense now.”

It didn’t. I slumped over with a quiet sigh.

“Wait, is this even going to be on the exam?” Haruna asked.

“No, the exam covers a later section.”

“What? Then why are you working on this stuff? Are you that dumb? You got termites living in your brain or something?”

“Well, I figured if I was gonna do it, I might as well start at the beginning.”

“When is this exam, anyway?”

“Monday.”

“Are you even taking this seriously? Gimme that. I’ll guess the test questions for you.” Haruna snatched the workbook from my hands and started flipping through it. “What is this baby-level worksheet? At this difficulty and given the time of year… I’m guessing the exam will cover stuff from around here?”

Annoying as it was, she nailed it.

“Okay, so… here, here, here, and let’s see… this part too.”

She circled things one after another. I didn’t love following her lead, but I couldn’t deny she was making a lot of sense.

Going in order from the start wasn’t realistic. I wasn’t exactly the brightest guy around, and math wasn’t the only subject on the exams.

“But Haruna, I don’t understand any of that stuff.”

“Not my problem! You won’t know until you try, so shut up and do it already.”

She actually made a weird amount of sense. And with Eu and Sera around, maybe I could pull this off. Might as well try.

“Bring all your textbooks for the exam. Every single one!”

That wide, mischievous grin of hers somehow looked really dependable right then.

Meanwhile, Eu wore the loneliest expression I’d seen in a while. Usually she kept a blank, unreadable face, but lately, it always looked quietly sad.

It all started with that incident, where Kyouko, the one who killed me, got away. Ever since then, Eu seemed like she was living in fear of something.

And the part that really stuck with me was what she said afterward. That whoever was behind Kyouko was another zombie, like me.

All this time I’d wondered what had happened between them, but I’d never had the nerve to ask. I kept telling myself it might stir up trouble… and so I didn’t.

But looking at Eu now, I couldn’t keep ignoring it anymore.

“Hey, Eu… are there any other zombies besides me?”

“I believed there weren’t.”

Believed, huh.

“What kind of guy is he? What happened between you two? Tell me.”

“I’m curious as well,” Sera joined in. “If it’s all right with you, please share.”

“I don’t really care, but I’ll listen,” Haruna added.

We all stared at Eu. She closed her eyes for a moment, thought it over for a bit, then tapped the table twice.

“In the Underworld, there were others with abilities as powerful as mine. He was one of them. Strong and reliable. But just like how Megalo can die, death came for him too. I turned him into a zombie, but after gaining a body that couldn’t die, he was consumed by malice. Only I could stop him. So I told him to be gone. We thought he’d been annihilated for good, but it turns out he had only vanished.”

Sera pressed her finger to her lips, nodding thoughtfully. “What do you think he plans to do to you?”

Eu blinked slowly in response. “He hated me deeply. We’d sworn to protect each other, no matter what. But I broke that vow. So it’s only natural.”

“W-Was he your boyfriend or something?” Haruna asked, blushing. She clearly had a thing for romance gossip.

Eu shook her head, and I subconsciously let out a small breath of relief.

“He’s plotting something.”

Eu’s grip on her pen tightened slightly, her face solemn. Sera’s gaze turned a little sympathetic. Haruna puffed out her cheeks, deep in thought for some reason.

Silence settled over us. Everyone fell quiet like Eu, and the world froze in place.

Unable to take the tension in the room, Haruna broke the silence. “D-Don’t worry about it, ‘kay? Just leave it to me. Everything’s absolutely, totally gonna be fine!”

She puffed out her small chest, full of baseless confidence. Sera and I chuckled, then exchanged glances.

“I will protect you,” Sera said.

“And I’ll do anything for you,” I added.

“Thank you.”

Perhaps because of what happened with Kyouko, Sera and Haruna too—not just me—started feeling something like a bond with Eu, enough to want to do something for her.

There were a few more things I wanted to ask, but my phone started vibrating, so I stepped out of the living room and pulled it out. The number stood out. From the Matellis Magic School?

“Hello?”

“Oh, is this Ayumu?” asked a soft, lax voice.

Just from the tone alone, I knew exactly who it was. A resident of the kingdom of magic Villiers, Haruna’s homeroom teacher, also known as Big Teach.

“Do you want to talk to Haruna?”

“Oh, no. I actually have a favor to ask you, Ayumu.”

“Did something happen? You sound kinda off.”

“You can tell? I’ve run into a bit of trouble, and it’s something only you can help with.”

She started speaking faster and faster. It sounded like a pretty desperate situation.

“If there’s anything I can do, just say the word.”

“I knew you’d say that. You’re a lifesaver. So um, I just need you to hold onto something for a while. Just until I can come pick it up.”

Hold onto something? Why would she ask me?

“Huh. Can’t Haruna take care of it?”

“Nope. I need you to keep it a secret from her, okay?”

Keep it a secret from Haruna? What kind of thing couldn’t a Magiclad Girl know about, that she wanted to leave with me? I mean, I was technically a Magiclad Girl too, but I guess that didn’t count?

“What is it, exactly?” I asked.

Big Teach chuckled softly and said, “Even if I told you the name, you wouldn’t get it,” like she was making fun of me a little. Well… fair enough.

“Okay, I’m hanging up now,” she said. “I’m definitely sending it over, so make sure Haruna doesn’t find out, all right?”

And just like that, she quickly hung up.

She didn’t tell me any of the important stuff—when it would arrive, what it even was, or how it would get here.

Are all Magiclad Girls like this?