CHAPTER 2

ASTERISK, THE CITY OF ACADEMIC WARFARE

“While Seidoukan Academy does recognize our students’ right to hold their own duels, I’m afraid that I must nullify this one.” A girl with blinding platinum-blond hair emerged from the crowd.

She was beautiful in a calm, mellow way—quite different from Julis. If Julis had the lush, radiant beauty of a rose in full bloom, this girl’s beauty was deep and tranquil like a quiet lake. This, perhaps, was why she seemed much more mature than Julis even though they were likely about the same age.

“Claudia. Exactly what gives you the authority to interfere?” Julis demanded.

“Why, Julis—that would be my authority as the president of the Seidoukan Academy Student Council, of course.” The girl called Claudia smiled sweetly and placed her hand on her school crest. “By the power vested in me as the representative of the Red Lotus, I hereby declare this duel between Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld and Ayato Amagiri null and void.” The school crests of Julis and Ayato, glowing red until that moment, faded back to normal.

“Now you’re safe, Mr. Amagiri,” Claudia added with a friendly laugh.

“Whew…” So I’m really, finally out of harm’s way. Ayato brushed the sweat from his forehead and breathed a deep sigh. “Thank you…uh, Miss President…?”

“That’s right. Claudia Enfield, president of the Seidoukan Academy Student Council. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She gently proffered her hand, and Ayato hurried to shake it.

Up close, he could see that Claudia was stunning in the way that made one want to stare. But her most eye-catching feature was the ample chest that strained the cut of her school uniform. Those curves were generous enough to inspire awe. It would not have been very tactful to point out, but Julis could not hold a candle to Claudia in that department.

Julis, meanwhile, appeared to be less than satisfied with the recent judgment call and had fixed Claudia with a withering glare. “I don’t believe even the student council president can intervene in a duel without a valid reason.”

“Oh, but there is a reason. You are aware that he’s a new transfer student, aren’t you? His data has already been entered into the system, so his crest judged him eligible to duel. However, there are a few more technicalities to take care of before his transferal is complete. Which means, strictly speaking, Ayato Amagiri is not yet a student at Seidoukan Academy,” Claudia explained smoothly without breaking her smile. “Duels are only permitted when both parties are enrolled students. And therefore this duel is invalid. That all makes perfect sense, I think?”

Julis made a small sound of frustration and bit her lip. Going by the fact that she made no retort, she appeared to understand who was in the right.

“Well, now that we have that cleared up… Everyone, please be on your way. You wouldn’t want to be late for class.” At Claudia’s urging, the crowd dispersed. Some were disappointed with the duel’s inconclusive conclusion, but apparently not enough to complain to the student council president.

“Oh!” Ayato cried, remembering the arrow. The assassin who targeted Julis could have been among the onlookers. He might not have a full grasp of the school rules yet, but a foul attack like that had to be breaking them.

What if we’re letting the culprit get away? he thought. “Um—wait, just a—”

As Ayato began to raise his voice, Julis grabbed his shoulder. “Let it go. Whoever it was is long gone.” She shook her head with a cynical smile. “Besides, it’s not that unusual for a Page One student to be targeted.”

“She’s right,” Claudia agreed. “Unfortunately, incidents like that are not uncommon. Still, that was going too far. It’s beyond the pale for a third party to ambush a student engaged in a duel. I’ll have the disciplinary committee launch an investigation. As soon as the responsible party is identified, they will be severely punished.”

Ayato was a bit taken aback by Claudia’s implication that she had seen the arrow as well. There had been more than a few students in the crowd, but he doubted that anyone else among them had noticed the shot. If Claudia could see that attack in the midst of a fiery explosion, then she, too, was no ordinary student.

“Anyway, um, th-thank you…for that,” Julis blurted suddenly, turning to Ayato with an embarrassed look. By “that,” she had to mean Ayato saving her from the arrow.

“Oh no—it was nothing…but…”

It had all happened so quickly that in the moment, he’d had no other choice. Still, it was true—he’d tackled her to the ground, and even if it was unintentional, there was no denying that he’d touched her in an inexcusable way.

That unexpected softness under his hand was on his mind as he asked her timidly, “…You’re not angry at me anymore?”

Julis, for her part, averted her eyes as a slight blush lit her cheeks. “Well, I—I can’t say I’m not angry, but…you did save me.”

She really is the fair and just type, Ayato thought.

Although she didn’t quite look ready to forgive him, she nodded firmly. “Even I can understand that it was a force majeure situation.”

This was really nothing like the handkerchief incident. Ayato had just enough time to act—not to think about it. Prana could heighten the body’s physical defenses, but it wasn’t enough to protect against a sniper attack.

“So, let’s just say that I owe you a debt,” Julis told him.

“A debt?”

“Yes. Simple enough, isn’t it?”

A debt certainly was simple enough to understand, but it felt a little impersonal to Ayato.

“You really never change, do you?” said Claudia with mild exasperation. “I think your life might be easier if you were a little more honest with your feelings.”

“Mind your own business,” Julis retorted. “I’m honest enough as I am, and my life is perfectly fine.”

“Oh, then your search for a tag team partner must be going smoothly?”

“Um… Well…” Julis awkwardly lowered her gaze. She didn’t want to say any more, but she was too easy to read.

“The Festa entry deadline is in two weeks. You don’t have all that much time.”

“I—I know that! I’ll find someone!” Julis whirled, her shoulders tight with anger, and headed back to the dormitory.

“Oh, dear.” Claudia followed Julis with her eyes like a mother watching a petulant child stalk away.

“Ahem, so in that sense, we could say that the previous century was an era of unmitigated disaster. But the meteor shower known as the Invertia in particular caused great harm to the entire world on an unprecedented scale. Meteorites rained down for three days and three nights, forcing the world into upheaval. Considering the deterioration of existing nation-states and the rise of integrated enterprise foundations; the subsequent changes in ethical values; the emergence of a new race of human beings, born from the mana carried to Earth by the meteorites—that is, those like you, the Genestella; the field of meteoric engineering, which developed out of mana research, and the resulting explosion in technological advancement; and so on… We must conclude that for better or worse, the Invertia was a single event that completely altered the course of human history.”

Walking down the hallway, Ayato could hear an elderly teacher lecturing his class.

“The mainstream view, according to the most recent academic theories, is that the Invertia did not consist of ordinary meteors. No astronomical observatories detected the shower in advance, nor were the aerosols that should have been generated on impact observed. Now, what this means is that…”

Even a minute of listening to the teacher’s slow, monotonous voice was a powerful soporific. Peeking into the classroom, Ayato was not surprised to see that more than half of the students were slumped over their desks.

“You have classes this early, ma’am? Even before homeroom?”

“Yes. Although that one is a remedial class.”

“A remedial class first thing in the morning…” This was going to be rough.

“Well, after all, our school philosophy values the might of both pen and sword. I do hope you take it to heart.” As she led the way to the student council room, Claudia turned back to give Ayato a soft smile.

Unlike the girls’ dormitory with its classical facade, the main buildings of Seidoukan Academy were modern high-rises with an open-air feeling. Three buildings—college, high school, and middle school—surrounded a spacious central quad. The high school, having the largest student body, occupied the largest building.

“Oh, by the way… You and I are in the same year, Ayato, so you should feel free to speak to me more casually.”

“Huh? Miss Enfield, you’re a first-year student, too?” It was hard to believe, given her calm demeanor. “Wait. If you’re the student council president, then…”

It was June now. The school year began in April, so if she was a first-year student like Ayato, it had only been two months since she began high school. Ayato was not entirely clear on the process of selecting a student council president, but he would imagine it was difficult for someone to attain that office in such a short time.

“Oh, I’ve been president since I was in middle school. This is my third year in office,” Claudia said as if it were nothing, while they walked down a glass-walled corridor brilliant with sunlight.

According to her, the student government was not divided up into middle school, high school, and college councils, but rather consisted of one student council that oversaw the entire academy, consisting of students from all levels.

“I see…”

“So please, just call me by my name.”

“Okay. Got it, Miss Claudia.”

“Just Claudia will do.”

“But we only just met…” With Julis, they seemed to have skipped right past formalities, but normally Ayato had a hard time being so casual with a girl who had introduced herself just minutes ago.

“It’s Claudia.”

“But, um…”

“Clau-di-a.”

“All right… Claudia.”

She was much more forceful than she looked. Once Ayato gave in and called her as she’d asked, she smiled with her eyes.

“Then you’ll have to just call me Ayato, too. Or it’ll feel weird.”

“Very well, Ayato.”

“You don’t have to keep speaking so formally…”

“Oh, no… This is simply a habit of mine. Please pay it no mind.”

“A habit?”

“Yes. I’m actually quite blackhearted, so I always endeavor to at least present myself as polite and affable. And now I can’t speak any other way.”

Claudia smiled as sweetly as a doting mother, which didn’t match up at all with her words, so it took Ayato a few moments to grasp them.

“…Blackhearted?”

“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe. My heart is at least as black as a piece of dark matter…stewed, charred, jammed into a black hole, and topped with blackstrap molasses.”

That does sound awfully black, thought Ayato.

“Would you like to see?”

“Huh?”

No sooner had she posed her question than she began to pull up her blouse.

“Hey! Wait, what’re you—?”

Claudia exposed her gleaming pale midriff, and Ayato averted his eyes. Obviously, what she’d been describing about herself wouldn’t be visible.

“Just kidding. What an adorable reaction I got out of you.” Claudia playfully covered her mouth as she laughed. Ayato had totally fallen for it.

“…Here we are. Please, go on in.”

They had arrived at the student council room on the top floor of the high school building. In fact, all the rooms on this floor had something to do with the student council.

The security system read Claudia’s school crest, and the door opened. The room inside, however, did not appear to contain anything very relevant to student government.

A set of leather lounge furniture sat on a sepia carpet. The walls were adorned with painted views of the campus from a distance. The window was so enormous it seemed like a piece of sky, and in front of it was a heavy wooden desk. This place could have been the office of a giant corporation’s CEO.

Claudia took her seat behind the desk as if she were quite accustomed to it, then clasped her fingers and let out a deep breath.

“Now, let’s do this properly… Welcome to Seidoukan Academy, Ayato. I hope you enjoy your time here.” She gazed intently at Ayato for a few moments, then spun her chair around and turned her eyes to the scene outside the window. “And…welcome to Asterisk.”

Following her gaze, Ayato looked down at the metropolis spread out below with its orderly, perfectly shaped streets. The artificial city, floating atop an enormous crater lake, consisted of a central urban area in the shape of a regular hexagon and the six schools that protruded from each vertex like the bastions of an old fortress. Overall, the city’s shape resembled that of a snowflake, which must have given the place its official name: Rikka, an old poetic word in Japanese that described snowflakes as six-petaled flowers.

A broad avenue ran from each school, meeting in the center, to the school on the opposite corner of the hexagon—the lines forming an asterisk. This became the more popularized name, perhaps because the meaning of the Japanese word was not immediately apparent to the highly international student body.

“You transferred here on a special scholarship, and we at Seidoukan Academy have only one hope for you: victory.” Claudia kept her gaze on the city while she spoke. “Beat Gallardworth, best Allekant, drive out Jie Long, overpower Le Wolfe, and defeat Queenvale. That is—win the Festa. If you do, then our institution will grant whatever wish you might have. Any wish at all within the realm of earthly possibility.”

“Umm…” At a loss, Ayato scratched his head and knit his brows. “I’m sorry, but that’s not really what I’m interested in.”

The school—or rather, the integrated enterprise foundations that stood behind each school—truly did have that power. The might of the IEFs far surpassed that of nations, which were now little more than lines on a map, and the rule of law bent easily before them. Money, power, fame, as much as one could wish for, would be ripe for the taking.

It would be fair to say that roughly half of the students gathered in Asterisk were here to pursue such dreams. As for the other half—they were Genestella who had nothing else to do with their strength. They wanted to test themselves, to fight with everything they had for once in their lives. And this was the only place in the world where they could unleash their powers with no reservations.

Ayato belonged to neither category.

“Yes, I’m fully aware that you have no interest whatsoever in those matters. I also know that you previously declined a scholarship offer.” Claudia paused and swiveled her chair again to face Ayato. “However, our school’s performance at the Festa in recent years has hardly been commendable. Last season, we finished in fifth place. Queenvale took last place, but considering that part of their strategy is to completely ignore their own rank, we might as well have finished last. We will do whatever it takes to break out of this sorry state of affairs, and to that end, we must acquire every promising student we can get our hands on.”

The Festa was a broad term referring to a set of events—three categories, in fact, one taking place each year. The tag team doubles competition, Phoenix, took place in the summer of the first year; the team competition, Gryps, in the fall of the second year; and the individual competition, Lindvolus, in the winter of the third year. Points were awarded in each competition to the best performers and their schools, with the total results calculated at the end of the Lindvolus. A full “season” of the Festa was a three-year cycle.

And as Claudia had just mentioned, Seidoukan Academy’s performance had been faltering for several seasons running.

“Students have the right to participate in the Festa three times. This is actually fairly limiting—even the most outstanding candidates can participate only three times. To be honest, I can’t say that our school’s roster is very deep.”

Students were eligible to register for the Festa from ages thirteen to twenty-two—a span of a decade. With few exceptions, they were free to choose which Festa events they would participate in. For instance, some would fight in each competition of a single season and leave their schools in three years, whereas others would take nine years to compete only in the Lindvolus.

The more talented students a school had, the better. Which was why each school employed a number of keen-eyed scouts to gather fighters from across the globe. Tuition exemptions, living subsidies, equipment, and material support—while the specific amenities provided by each school varied, scholarship students were the ones specially singled out and invited.

“Why invite me on a special scholarship in the first place?” said Ayato. “This is going to sound like I’m just being humble, but I really don’t think I deserve that level of treatment.”

“That’s understandable. You were a complete unknown, and to tell the truth, our scouts raised some fierce objections when I put in your name.”

“You mean—you nominated me?”

Students scouted out to be awarded scholarships were typically those who excelled in lower-level tournaments affiliated with the Festa or other competitions. Stregas and Dantes were exceptions, but compulsory national registration left them no escape from the scrutiny of scouts.

Ayato, meanwhile, was no more than the son of a swordsmanship dojo long in decline, and he had achieved nothing of significance in tournaments or anywhere else.

“Yes, and I pushed through your candidacy,” she crowed. “I was never happier to be student council president. Three cheers for authority!”

“…That’s pretty assertive.”

“If you had turned us down, I would have completely lost face. I’m so glad you had a change of heart.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly have a change of heart…” As Ayato hunched his shoulders, Claudia narrowed her eyes.

“Then why come to this school?”

Ayato said nothing. And then suddenly, with a deadly serious look, he leaned in with both hands on the desk and stared straight into her eyes.

“Claudia, is it true that my sister was here? Haruka Amagiri—was she here?”

“Hmm, well. Regarding that…” Meeting his gaze unflinchingly, Claudia raised her index finger. “There’s only one thing I know that might be relevant. Someone deleted the data on a certain female student who had once been enrolled in this school.”

“Deleted it…? Is that even possible?”

“Under normal circumstances, no.”

“Not even for a student council president?”

“The power of my office isn’t absolute. But as for those above me… Well.” Claudia gave him a knowing smile.

Ayato’s expression didn’t break. By that, she could only mean the integrated enterprise foundation.

“There’s no record of that student ever participating in the Festa, and she was never listed in the Named Chart. It’s not clear whether she ever attended this school at all. It was only five years ago—her classmates and teachers would still be here. And yet not a single person remembers her. I’m not sure what can be done.”

“What if the Festa records were altered, too?”

“Impossible. That would mean deceiving all of Asterisk itself, along with the billions of Festa fans around the world. The Festa is broadcast live worldwide; the Named Chart is publicly available online and constantly updated. In this city, even spontaneous duels get picked up by the media in the blink of an eye. Videos of your duel with Julis are probably all over the Net already.”

“But then—”

Cutting him off, Claudia entered something in the mobile device by her hand. An air-window interface opened up in the space between them, displaying an image of a single woman. Ayato’s eyes went wide.

“This is the only piece of data I was able to recover. She matriculated here five years ago, then left after half a year for personal reasons. Her name, her date of birth—there’s basically nothing left of any information that could identify her.”

But this was more than enough for Ayato. It was her. There was no mistake.

“How did you get this, Claudia?”

To recover data, one has to know that something was deleted to begin with. But she had just told him that there was no record, nor human memory, of this student’s existence. So how did she know?

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that. Do you not believe me?”

“Oh— No, that’s not what I mean,” Ayato replied hurriedly. As student council president, she probably had her sources of information. He was grateful to her for at least letting him know that she couldn’t tell him.

“Now, this is my personal opinion, but…regardless of the particulars, I doubt she’s still at this school. If she is the reason why you came here…” Claudia apologetically trailed off.

But Ayato regained his usual laid-back demeanor and shook his head. “No, it’s okay. Thank you. But I didn’t come here to look for my sister.”

She looked at him inquisitively and repeated her earlier question. “Then why did you come to this school?”

“Umm…” He crossed his arms and gave it a few moments’ thought, then answered with a short laugh, “If I have to have a reason… To find out what it is that I have to do, I guess?”

“Such a vague, formulaic answer.”

“Huh, it is? I thought I’d managed to sound like a student.”

Claudia laughed softly. “You’re not so innocent yourself, are you?”

She seemed to think that he had dodged her question. But Ayato had meant to answer sincerely, in a sense. Maybe he really could find out here what he had to do. If my sister was really here…

“Oh, that’s right!” she exclaimed with a clap of her hands. “I nearly forgot to tell you something important… The scholarship students at our school have several special privileges beyond exemptions in tuition and various fees. One of those is priority in the use of an Orga Lux.”

“An Orga Lux? You mean the ones that use special manadite?”

“Yes, urm-manadite.”

The meteorites that had fallen to Earth in the Invertia contained a previously unknown element known as mana and a particular ore known as manadite. Manadite was found to be composed of crystallized mana, and in recent years, methods had been developed to artificially manufacture it (although synthesized manadite was lower quality).

Research into mana and manadite had spearheaded a new field of science called “meteoric engineering,” whose crowning achievement were the Luxes—mana-transforming weapons that used manadite in their cores. Once activated, they assembled the elemental blueprint embedded in the manadite’s memory and generated blades (or projectiles) of concentrated mana.

Lux technology was superior in many respects to conventional weapons—power output could be adjusted at will, the activator fit in the palm of the hand, projectile-type Luxes required no stock of ammunition. With all the advantages in usability, most small-scale weapons produced today were Luxes. And Luxes had become so commonplace that low-power versions were sold for personal protection and as children’s toys.

Rare manadite crystals of extraordinary purity were also found—urm-manadite. Orga Luxes used these crystals as their cores, producing output beyond comparison to normal Luxes. While they could bestow special abilities similar to those of Dantes and Stregas, they were also known for being difficult to wield.

The vast majority of Orga Luxes were controlled by the integrated enterprise foundations, but a few were entrusted to Asterisk schools for the purposes of data collection.

“There are people who don’t care for Orga Luxes. Of course, you’re not required to use one. And some of them can cause, well, side effects of a sort—we say they come with a ‘cost.’ What do you think?”

“Isn’t there a compatibility rating or something?”

Whether or not an Orga Lux could be wielded to its full potential depended greatly on the user. Rumor held that an Orga Lux had a will of its own and would select its user accordingly.

“Yes—in fact, that is the most important factor. The standard here at Seidoukan Academy is eighty percent compatibility. Even if you find a weapon that you like, you will not be allowed to use it if your rating is any lower than that.”

“I see…” Not that Ayato was completely uninterested, but going through all of that sounded like too much of a hassle. Anyway, he might not even meet the required compatibility rating.

As Ayato stood there thinking, he noticed the uncertain look on Claudia’s face.

“Is something the matter?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure I ought to tell you this, because I’m still trying to confirm it… But there’s something suspicious about the Orga Lux lending records.”

“What about them?”

“Naturally, the usage of any Orga Lux equipment is strictly supervised. The records of who took out which one and when are collected along with the battle data. But we identified one instance of an Orga Lux having battle data when there was no record of it being taken out for use.”

“You mean…someone used it without permission?”

“Or they altered the lending records. That would be the more likely explanation. Those records are kept in the Matériel Department’s computer bank, while the battle data is accumulated in each weapon’s urm-manadite core. And there is still much we don’t understand about the latter, so it might be that they tried to alter it and were unable to do so.”

“Let me guess—the data is from five years ago.”

“Precisely.”

Ayato sighed heavily. “Then I’d really like to take a look.”

At this point, he could infer the likelihood that his sister had once used the Orga Lux in question. Whether or not he would be permitted to use it, he at least wanted to see it with his own eyes.

“Very well. I’ll contact you later with the details. In the meantime, please use this.” Claudia held out a Lux activator. “It’s an ordinary blade-type Lux. I’ve taken the liberty of calibrating it to your personal data, but please take it to the Matériel Department if you need any more adjustments made.”

“Great, thank you. Wait, that reminds me…” Seeing the activator, Ayato remembered that he had been borrowing a Lux this whole time—the one that spectator had tossed to him before the duel with Julis. “This isn’t good. How do I return it…?” He took it out and inspected it, but there was no name written on it.

She laughed gently. “Oh, it’s quite all right. The school will supply any weapons and equipment a student might need.”

“Really? That’s…pretty generous.” Luxes of a caliber to be used in actual combat were not cheap. Still, the cost was probably just a drop compared to the ocean of profits brought in by the Festa.

“Oh—I just remembered one more thing.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“You were saying something earlier about the last technicalities to take care of for my transfer?”

“Oh yes. About that—” Claudia started, but her mouth closed mid-sentence. She seemed to be lost in thought and then looked all around her.

“…Something wrong?”

“Oh no! Not exactly…” She waved it off, but something clearly had her acting differently. Her cheeks were flushed as if with a fever, and she cast her gaze downward. “Um… Er, let’s see— Would you mind closing your eyes for a moment?”

“Huh?” What kind of paperwork required him to close his eyes? That went through Ayato’s mind, but he closed his eyes without thinking on it too much. He heard the chair squeak, then after a pause—

“Gotcha!”

A faint impact struck him in the back. He was a little surprised, but it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt soft… .Too soft.

“Wha—?” He had a guess as to what had happened. Opening his eyes tentatively, he saw two graceful arms wrapped around his midsection. He was being embraced from behind.

“Wh— Hey! C-Claudia!?”

Her only reply was a mischievous laugh.

Something with overwhelming mass and unparalleled softness was pressing against his back. If one were to describe it with onomatopoeia, jiggle or squish would certainly be appropriate choices.

Flustered, Ayato decided that he was being teased again. If that was the case, he should try to act undaunted and respond calmly. The operative word being try.

But there was a faint whisper from behind him…

“At last… We meet at last.”

Her voice seemed so fragile, so helpless—the vulnerability of an irrepressible emotion. Against that candor, his cynicism dissipated like mist.

“Claudia…?” he said, but no answer came.

He wondered for a moment if they had met somewhere before, but he couldn’t recall it. And there was no way he would forget such an exceptional girl. After they stood like that for a while—though it wasn’t really that long—she smoothly released him.

“Ha-ha. Just kidding. Did I surprise you?”

Ayato turned to see her smiling as if nothing had happened at all. Caught off guard, he lost the chance to ask her what she’d meant. “Well…anyone would be surprised if someone hugged them from behind out of nowhere.”

“Oh—please don’t get me wrong. It’s not as if I do things like this to everyone I meet. Actually, I’m very reserved.” She put her hand to her mouth, and Ayato couldn’t discern from her tone how serious she was.

“So, now what?”

“Yes?”

“That…couldn’t have been the last technicality, right?” He changed the subject, trying to get back to the reason why she’d brought him here in the first place.

“Oh, that. That was a lie.”

“…You lied?” Ayato’s mouth hung open.

“A crime of expedience, you might say,” Claudia said without a hint of shame. “You’ve officially been part of this institution for a while now. Not a single technicality left. That was simply the most effective way to bring that scene to a close. Julis is earnest if nothing else, so I knew that she wouldn’t continue a duel in breach of the rules.”

“Wait, but…”

“Would you rather I hadn’t stopped her?”

“Um…” He had no response.

“How do you suppose things would have turned out if you two had continued? Neither the school nor I would want that.”

Ayato could see what she meant by “blackhearted.” He wasn’t sure just how black her heart was, but the student council president who stood before him was much more than she seemed. The vulnerability she’d shown only seconds ago had already vanished without a trace.

“It’s almost time for class now, so let’s wrap this up, shall we? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if anything comes up. I’ll do my best to be of help.”

Even after all that, the smile on Claudia’s face as she saw Ayato off was unquestionably beautiful.

“Yeah, so, this is the new scholarship student, Ayato Amagiri. Be nice, ’kay?”

Rather perfunctory as introductions went. A bit of consideration or empathy would have been nice, Ayato thought, for a transfer student worried about fitting in to his new class. He cast a sidelong glance at the woman standing next to him. But Kyouko Yatsuzaki, the homeroom teacher of Grade 10, Class 3, only jutted her chin at him slightly, as if to say, “You’re next.”

She was slender and tall, with sharp eyes…mean eyes, actually, would be a more accurate description. Her manner of speech and demeanor were not teacherly at all, and to phrase it bluntly, she was somewhat vulgar.

What stuck out the most about her was an object she held: a baseball bat with nails driven into it. Ayato could see that it was well seasoned. It was an item that invited conflicting feelings—on one hand, he was very curious about the dark red stains on it, and on the other, he really didn’t want to know at all.

“C’mon, I don’t have all day,” she pointed out.

“Oh yes, ma’am. Uh, I’m Ayato Amagiri. Hi.”

Ayato managed no more than that brusque introduction himself, so maybe he wasn’t one to judge.

His classmates regarded him with various expressions. Some intrigued, some completely disinterested, others inspecting, and still others cautious…

One girl turned her gaze on Ayato with a very complicated look indeed, but he could understand that.

“So, your seat… Oh, there we go. There’s an empty desk next to your friend who plays with fire. Take that one.”

“Wh-who are you saying plays with fire!?” At Kyouko’s words, the girl—that would be Julis—stood up with her face flushed bright red.

“Heh-heh. Who else would I be talking about, Riessfeld? Can’t believe you put on a show like that first thing in the damn morning. If you were challenged, that’d be one thing—but it’s kinda not the time for a Page One student to be starting fights willy-nilly. This isn’t Le Wolfe, y’know.”

With a small angry sound, Julis reluctantly took her seat in the second to last row. Beside her were two adjacent empty seats.

“Who knew we’d be in the same class?” Ayato remarked as he sat down next to her.

“If this is a joke, it’s not funny.” Julis ducked facedown on the desk and sighed heavily. Not the warmest of welcomes.

Undaunted, Ayato tried again. “We had an eventful morning, but…I hope we get along better.”

Julis looked at him from the corner of her eye. “I owe you a debt. At your request, I’ll do something to help you once. Other than that, you won’t get the time of day from me.” Then she turned decisively away from him.

…Okay, then.

“Oooh, rejected.” From a seat behind him came a voice that was half-sympathetic and half-teasing.

Ayato turned to see a boy with a friendly smile on a strong-lined face, holding out his hand. “Well, it’s the Princess, after all. What can you do?”

As Ayato offered his own hand, the other boy shook it gladly and vigorously.

“I’m Eishirou Yabuki. I’m your roommate, or so I’m told.”

“Roommate? Oh, you mean in the dorm?”

“That’s right. Most of our housing is double occupancy.”

“So you had the room to yourself until now? Sorry to cut your space in half.”

“Don’t worry about it. The more the merrier, I say.” Eishirou was one cheerful young man.

Ayato couldn’t be sure when they were sitting down, but Eishirou seemed to be a full head taller than him. He carried himself like a boy, but his build and expressions seemed very much grown-up. The rather conspicuous scar on his left cheek only added to his contradictory charm.

“Anyway, if I’m going to be sharing my room, I was hoping it’d be with somebody interesting.”

“…Um, I’m not that interesting, though.”

“Oh, come on. You dueled a Page One the morning of your first day, and then you jumped the Princess in front of a whole crowd. No need to be so modest.”

For his part, Ayato didn’t have an iota of intent to be modest. He could have spent an hour explaining himself with regards to those events, but it would appear that rumor had beaten him to it, and a certain impression of him had already infiltrated the student body.

And indeed, no sooner was homeroom over than a small crowd formed around Ayato.

“Hey, Amagiri, isn’t it a weird time of year to transfer? What’d you do at the school you were at before?”

“So why were you dueling the Princess in the first place? I can’t find any intel about that at all!”

“No, no, no—we want to hear about the romance! That intense overture! C’mon, tell us! Did you fall for her in the middle of a duel? The pangs of forbidden love?”

“Hold on! Forget that garbage—tell us how to beat the Princess! How were you dodging those attacks?”

“He’s right. To be honest, I never thought you’d last that long.”

On the other hand, some were much more callous.

“Hah. Isn’t it obvious? The Glühen Rose was holding back!”

“True, true. His movements, his reaction time—totally mediocre by this city’s standards. At that rate, he’ll never make the Named Chart.”

“How is he a scholarship student? Do our scouts need their eyes checked?”

On and on.

This repeated at the end of every class period, so that by the time school was out for the day, Ayato was completely drained.

“Whew…”

The late afternoon sun poured into the classroom where he was flopped listlessly in his seat.

Eishirou tapped him on the shoulder. “Long day, huh? Must be hard being that popular.”

“Well, I was able to pick up some things, though.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“For starters, I’m not the popular one—it’s Julis.” Ayato glanced at the desk next to his and shrugged his shoulders theatrically. The inhabitant of that desk was long gone, having left the moment class ended. “None of them are interested in me. They just want to hear about the guy who dueled Julis. Right?”

“Ooh, very perceptive!” Eishirou applauded, giving him a most approving look.

“But then, wouldn’t it be easier if they just asked Julis herself?”

“Yeah, easier said than done. She’s not exactly easy to talk to, you know?”

“Now that you mention it, she doesn’t seem very approachable.”

Still, remembering her smile as she clutched that handkerchief to her, Ayato couldn’t imagine that she was the type to spurn any and all human contact.

“Well, I don’t know why,” said Eishirou, “but the Princess keeps people at more than arm’s length, that’s for sure. Besides—”

“Oh, wait. I feel dumb asking this now, but is ‘Princess’ her nickname or something? Everyone seems to call her that.”

“Um, well, sort of, but…she’s also a real, live, literal princess.”

“Huh?” Ayato couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “A princess…like, a fairy-tale princess?”

“Yup. The kind that gets cursed by an evil witch and awakened by a kiss from a prince, gets offered in marriage for political purposes, comes from a magical kingdom, gets attacked by orcs and tentacles. A princess.”

Ayato thought something was a little off about the last part there, but he could understand what Eishirou meant to say.

“You know how after the Invertia, places all across Europe started reverting to monarchies? Well, I guess for an integrated enterprise foundation, it must’ve been convenient to have figurehead royalty around while they took political and economic control. Anyway, she’s the first crown princess of a country called Lieseltania. Her full name is Julis-Alexia Marie Florentia Renate von Riessfeld. That’s in the registry of European royal families.”

“Wow… You sure know a lot about her.”

“Well, it’s my business. I’m in the newspaper club.” Eishirou grinned triumphantly.

“But why is a princess fighting in a place like this? Don’t princesses usually sit around being graceful?” Ayato wondered, recalling how he was nearly burned to a crisp that morning. True, she had elegance, dignity, and style all in spades, but her will to fight seemed just a bit excessive.

“Now that, I don’t know. I’d love to ask her myself, actually.” Eishirou nodded in earnest and added to himself, “That’d be front-page material for sure…”

Then he went on, “Of course, seeing as she’s that pretty, and strong, and a princess to boot—no one would leave her alone. She came to this school last year, and if you think what you got today was bad, that was nothing compared to the Princess Fever. Before you could blink, she had a crowd of people around her, bombarding her with questions.”

“I can picture it.”

“And then, what do you think she told ’em? ‘Pipe down! Shut up! I am not a spectacle to be gawked at!’”

“I can picture that, too.”

“Well, most people backed off after that, but there were some who didn’t like her attitude. So a bunch of them challenged her to one duel after another—and she took them all down. Before anyone knew what was happening, boom, she was a Page One.”

That only seemed natural. Ayato knew, from having faced her in battle, that Julis possessed considerable skill. He couldn’t imagine there were many students stronger than her, not even here in Asterisk.

“And there you have it. A princess holding herself so aloof that everyone backs away from her. There aren’t many around now with the guts to face her head-on and speak to her.”

“Huh… But then, does she have any friends?”

“Not a single one. That I know of, anyway… Sorry. Hold on a sec.” Eishirou held up one hand to pause the conversation and pulled the lightly vibrating mobile device from his pocket. “Hey, what’s up, chief?”

An air-window popped open to show a woman in a short bob who immediately launched into a diatribe. “Don’t you ‘hey-what’s-up’ me! I told you I needed that proof from you first thing this morning! What the hell are you doing?”

“Oh, my bad! Something else came up this morning—”

“I don’t need your excuses! Get your butt over here! In five minutes or else!” The window closed with a blip.

Eishirou smiled sheepishly and scratched his nose. “Well, you heard that. I better get going.”

“Okay. I should head to the dorm, anyway.”

“Right. See you back there.”

“Oh, wait… Yabuki!” Just as Eishirou was leaving the classroom, Ayato tossed him the object he’d been holding.

“Huh?” Surprised, Eishirou caught it, then smirked as he saw what it was. “Oh. So you figured it out, huh?”

“I guess I should thank you. Although I’m not totally sure about that, since Julis might have let me go if not for that thing.” It was a Lux activator—not the one Claudia had given him, but the one Ayato had borrowed earlier that morning.

“How’d you know it was me?”

“Hmm. Your voice, I guess,” Ayato replied breezily.

Eishirou stared at him blankly for a moment.

“You’re telling me that you remembered my voice, one guy out of a crowd, in a situation like that?”

“My big sister always told me to return anything I borrow.”

“Ha-ha! You are pretty interesting, after all.” Eishirou made his shoulders shake with laughter, trying to disguise the fact that his cheeks were burning. “Hey, Amagiri. You really think you couldn’t have won that duel?”

“No. Not at where I am now.” That was the plain truth.

“Hmm. Where you are now, huh?” Perhaps satisfied with that response, Eishirou strode lightly out of the classroom.

Ayato stared at the door after him for a bit, then let out a deep sigh. “This school’s gonna be a lot tougher than I thought…”