Chapter 84: Chapter 84

Jin’s POV
   Jin has always find going to school pointless. Now that he’s working as Silver Wolf the armored mercenary, he found it even more pointless, if that’s even possible.

   Ever since his grade school days, he was told by his teachers that “excel in school is the only way to get a good future”, or something similar to that. What kind of “good future” were they talking about? Slaving in a black company for the rest of his lousy life? He found a way to secure a good future alright, but no thanks to school. No, it was his experience as the Hero which allowed him to be paid a lucrative salary. School definitely had no part in it.

   On more than one occasion, he has begged Sergeant Wakaba to excuse him from school for the rest of his life. He was refused.

   “Going to school is the duty of a student, you know?” she told him.

   “Well I won’t be a student anymore if I quit school, now would I?”

   “Why are you so against it?”

   “Hmm, where do I start? I don’t even need the knowledge that were given to me. I’m far richer than some of my classmates. That means I don’t have to spend countless hours to study and go to a “good” university just so that I could get a job where everyone hates me. Most of all, I don’t want to be in an environment where I’m next to invisible. I could go on, but it might take hours.”

   He paused.

   “You know what? Please let me do it anyway. That might change your mind-”

   “There’s no need for that.” she interrupted. “You’re staying at school, and that’s final.”

   “...Correct me if I’m wrong here, sergeant. Is it me, or are you treating me like I’m your subordinate more and more these days?”

   “I most certainly am not. What gave you that idea?”

   “For one thing, you’re not scared of me anymore.”

   There was a few seconds of silence. He could imagine her averting her eyes in guilt.

   “I used to be.” she confessed. “Not anymore, though. Not really.”

   “What changed your mind? I mean, I can still do all kinds of scary things.”

   “I’ve known you well enough to know that you won’t just do those scary things for the heck of it. Besides-”

   Jin could suddenly imagining her grinning.

   “You looked like a normal high school student whenever you were flirting with Esty.” she said.

   “Just so you know, I am a normal high school student. At least on the surface.”

   “Yes, which is why you shall remain as one until you graduate.”

   He definitely dug his own grave there. Not that things might have been better if he kept his mouth shut. And so, he’s stuck at school. After the weekends are over, he, like the other students, has to go back to it. It’s such a pain. He wanted to stay at his cosy home and play video games, but nope. He has his duty as a student.

   “I envy you sometimes.” he tells Nyri as they’re eating the breakfast he cooked.

   She raises her eyebrow.

   “About how I’m able to do the things I like pretty much all the time?”

   “Yup.”

   “You could live the same live as me if you weren’t such a stickler for rules.” she points out.

   He sighs. He couldn’t agree more.

   “At least you get to meet the demon you have a crush on.” she consoles.

   Jin doesn’t even know how on earth did she found out about his crush on Estyshana.

   “Well, at least there’s that.” he agrees.

   Once they’re done eating, Jin does the usual clean up before leaving. When he got to the entrance, he was surprised to see some familiar faces.

   “Good morning, Minase-kun!” Watanabe greets him.

   Wakaba, Ayumi and Estyshana also greeted him. Naturally, all of them are wearing their uniforms.

   “Morning, all of you. More importantly, what are all of you doing here?” he couldn’t help but ask right after greeting back.

   “I figured that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to go to school together every once in a while.” Watanabe explains.

   “Aren’t your houses at the opposite side of our school?”

   “Oh, don’t sweat the small things and let’s just go.”

   “...Fine.”

   Jin didn’t bother to refuse. He knows Watanabe won’t take no for an answer, anyway. And then he notices that Estyshana is wearing a pair of black pantyhose instead of the usual black thigh-high socks. She notices his stare, and her face becomes bright red in an instant.

   “What are you looking at?” she demands.

   “Nothing.”

   “Just so you know, me wearing these have nothing to do with you! You hear me? Don’t you start misunderstanding!”

   Wakaba giggles at that.

   “I wonder who was it that mumbled, “I wonder if he will like seeing me wear this?” after she bought them.”

   “You didn’t have to say that out loud, Chifuyu!”

   “Girls, we should get going. We don’t have much time until school starts.” Ayumi reminds them.

   “Of course.”

   On the way to school, the girls are chatting happily as they walk. It’s starting to get awkward for Jin as he’s not joining in any of them.

   “I can’t believe that the weekends passed by so quickly.” he hears Estyshana says gloomily.

   “I know, right?” Watanabe agrees. “We need more breaks. Five, no, six days will do. Per week.”

   “Getting that many breaks will just make you lazy.” Wakaba chides.

   “You mean lazier. The two of them are pretty slothful.” Jin joins in the conversation.

   Estyshana gives him a look.

   “As if you love going to school.”

   Jin shrugs.

   “Guilty as charged. Seriously, though. Why can’t someone just ban school altogether?”

   “Yeah, yeah! What’s the point of going to school, anyway?”

   “Ban school! Ban school!”

   “The three of you should really learn from Meiko…” Ayumi mumbles.

   That got Jin’s attention.

   “What does that even mean?” he asks.

   “She spoke to me the other day that she wishes to go to school.” the shrine maiden explains.

   A few seconds of silence follows suit.

   “...She actually wanted to go to that hellhole of her own will?” Jin eventually asks.

   “Well, she always looked very interested whenever she saw me walking around while wearing my uniform. A few days ago, I caught her trying to wear them. I asked her about it, and she said she would love to go to school too.”

   “Are you sure that she’s not trying to use this as an excuse to be with you all the time? Instead of, you know, actually want to go there?”

   “I asked her the same thing too. It was no excuse. She really wants to try being a student.”

   “Heaven knows why…” Jin mumbles. “So, what? You’re getting the proper paperwork to get her transferred to our school?”

   “That’s underway, yes.”

   Jin shakes his head disapprovingly.

   “And you didn’t try to talk her out of it?”

   “Why should I? She wanted to try out a student’s life. It would be rude for me to deny her of it.”

   “Did you at least tell her the horror that comes with attending it?”

   Ayumi looks at him blankly.

   “Is there such a thing?”

   “...That’s it. I’m going to visit her once school’s over. I can’t have her enrolled without her knowing what she’s getting herself into.”

   And so, Jin went to the Kameda Shrine right after school is over. Naturally, Ayumi accompanied him, and so did the rest of the girls.

   “Why are you girls following me?” Jin asks the latter.

   “I want to make sure that you’re not teaching her anything improper.” Wakaba replies.

   “I was just bored.” Watanabe answers.

   “Same.” Estyshana agrees.

   Watanabe and Wakaba smile at her.

   “What?” she demands.

   “Nothing.” the two childhood friends say at the same time.

   According to Ayumi, Meiko is currently sharing a room with her. Once they’re inside the shrine, they follow Ayumi to her room.

   When the gang entered the room, Meiko was looking over some sort of reference books while sitting in front of a study table. As usual, she’s wearing her white kimono.

   “Good day, all of you.” she greets them all. “To what do I owe the honor for your visit?”

   Jin gets straight to the point. Right before they begin, though, they decide to sit down at the floor. And one again, Jin and Estyshana are sitting right next to each other.

   “Is it true that you want to go to school?” he asks her.

   “Yes, it’s true.” the half-oni replies.

   “I’m not trying to discourage you and all, but do you even know the challenges you will face if you ever go there?”

   “Well, I have heard from Ayumi-san that students are required to take lessons and exams. I have been trying my best to study.”

   Hence the reference books.

   “Actually, that’s the least of your problems.”

   “There’s more?”

   “Yup. All of them should have been told by your elder sister figure.” Jin says while turning around and glaring at Ayumi.

   “Hold on. Since when was I an elder sister figure?”

   “For one thing, there are the lessons.” Jin begins while ignoring the question. “You have to spent countless hours learning things you’ll never end up using after you graduate.”

   “But, won’t some be at least a little helpful?”

   Jin scoffs at that.

   “Yeah, good luck trying to find one that does. Seriously, going online is much better, to be honest.”

   “There are lots of dangerous information there.” Ayumi counters.

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   “Granted.” Jin agrees. “And that’s where you come in. Not that I’m forcing the responsibility to you or anything.”

   Ayumi rolls her eyes.

   “Of course you aren’t…” she mumbles.

   “Hey, you think I don’t want her at my house? The thing is, she likes you a lot more than she likes me!”

   Jin clears his throat.

   “Anyway, we’re getting off-topic here. There’s also homework. Those things are plain terrible.”

   He shudders. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Watanaba and Estyshana are also doing the same.

   “They’re used for revision.” Wakaba points out.

   “Exactly. Our teachers gave them to us for that intention in mind.” Ayumi agrees.

   Jin looks at them with narrowed eyes.

   “Did you know that homework was meant to be used as punishment?” he asks. “THAT was the original usage, not for revision purposes. Our teachers hate us, and them giving us homework proves it.”

   “Don’t listen to him, Meiko-chan. If you think that everyone out there is dead set on making things worse for you, you’ll just end up as a pessimist just like him.” Wakaba tells Meiko.

   “Hey, don’t make her think low of me!”

   “No need to worry, Minase-san. There’s no way I’ll think like that.” Meiko assures.

   …Wow, she’s so precious. Jin wants to hug her-

   “Don’t you dare.” Estyshana mumbles.

   Or not.

   “Lastly, the classmates. This. This is even worse than exams, if that’s even possible.”

   “How could anything be worse than exams?” Watanabe asks. “ And classmates, of all things, too.”

   Jin looks at her, then back at Meiko again.

   “See, there’s always one person who can’t or refuse to read the atmosphere. There are times when you just want to be left alone, but no, that person just want to drag you along with their shenanigans.”

   “Hey, I don’t go that far!” Watanabe protests.

   “Trust me, you definitely do.” Wakaba agrees with Jin.

   “Not you too, Chifuyu!”

   “Nosy classmates are the least of your problems. You’re pretty and cute, so you’re bound to be popular. Guys will definitely not leave you alone, and some girls will definitely be jealous of you. One wrong step from either side, and you’ll be in trouble.” Jin continues.

   “What sort of trouble will I get into?”

   “You might be isolated from the rest of the class.”

   “Not to mention being bullied. I heard that in some extreme cases, victims would be bullied for years and even after they graduate.” Watanabe supplies.

   “...Do you honestly think that her bullies will survive for that long?” Jin asks quietly.

   “Stop that, Minase-kun. It doesn’t sound like a joke at all when you were the one who said it.”

   “And who said that I was joking?”

   “Seriously, you’re being way too overprotective of her.”

   “Am not. National treasures like her are supposed to be protected.”

   “Actually, I have something that worries me.” Meiko says.

   She sounds rather hesitant and afraid. This must be a pretty important issue.

   “What is it?” Jin asks her.

   “My true identity.”

   Ah, that.

   “Right now, my horns are invisible. Still, sooner or later, people might find out.”

   “Hmm, I have to admit that it’s a genuine concern. Still, it’s better if you don’t think too hard about it.”

   “Is that really okay?”

   “Sure it is. I mean, she’s doing just fine.” Jin says while pointing at Estyshana.

   He pauses.

   “Then again, maybe it’s because she doesn’t have enough brain capacity to worry about things.”

   A fist came flying towards his shoulder. It wasn’t painful at all, so he just brushed it off.

   “Mean words aside, he’s right. You should just do what you want to do.” Estyshana tells her Eastern(?) counterpart.

   “Well, that’s it from me.” Jin ends. “Do you still feel like going to school?”

   Meiko hesitates for a while before speaking.

   “Yes, I do.” she decides. “I’m sorry for saying this even after your warnings, but I want to risk it anyway.”

   Jin raises up both his hands.

   “That’s cool. The decision is yours and yours alone to make. Don’t let others decide it for you.”

   He pauses as he just remembered something very important.

   “That reminds me. Does your father even know that you want to go to school?”

   “He does.”

   “And he’s actually fine with it?”

   “He had an expression that showed that he was caught between a rock and a hard place when I told him about my decision. Even so, he told me that I can go ahead.”

   “Now that’s surprising. Here I thought he was going to be against it. Well, so much the better I guess.”

   And so, it’s been decided. One week later, Meiko is finally going to Yokosuka. They have discussed beforehand that they will walk there together with her on her first day of school, so that’s what they did.

   “Your uniforms look good on you, Meiko-chan.” Watanabe compliments on their way to school.

   “Um, thank you.” Meiko says while looking embarrassed.

   “Did you show it off to your father?”

   “Yes. He started bawling his eyes out and said that I look exactly like my mother when she was still alive. It took him quite a while to calm down again.”

   “I pity your eardrums. He must have been pretty loud.” Jin mumbles.

   Once they’ve reached school, they had to go their separate ways since Meiko was enrolled as a first year student.

   “Try your best to remain calm.” Jin tells her before they part ways.

   “I will.”

   Naturally, Jin is worried. He couldn’t help himself from casting Clairvoyance and check on her. Right now, she has just entered her new classroom and is standing in front of the blackboard. Behind her, her teacher is writing down her name: Oniyama Meiko. Meiko told Jin before that Oniyama was her mother’s family name.

   “M-My name is Oniyama Meiko. Pleased, um, pleased to meet you.” Meiko tells her classmates rather nervously.

   “Wow, she’s so pretty! And her skin is so white!”

   “All right! We get to have a girl as pretty as her for our classmate!”

   And the first impression was good. Obviously. There’s no way people would boo a pretty girl like Meiko.

   During the break between Homeroom and the next lesson, Meiko was surrounded by majority of the students.

   “Where are you from, Oniyama-san?”

   “What’s your favorite television program?”

   “What’s your hobby?”

   “Do you want to have fun with us later?”

   Faced by all these rapid questions, Meiko seems to be getting overwhelmed.

   “I, um, that is…”

   Oh, boy. This is not looking good.

   “That’s enough, all of you!”

   It was a girl who spoke.

   “Can’t you see that you’re troubling Oniyama-san? Now give her some space!” she continues.

   Their classmates gave Meiko more space as per told. The girl smiles in a friendly way.

   “Hello. My name is Samejima Naho. I’m the Class President of this class.” she introduces herself.

   Meiko inclines her head politely.

   “Pleased to meet you. If possible, I would love it if you could show me around the school after this.”

   “It would be my pleasure-”

   The bell chose this moment to ring. Samejima looks at the students surrounding Meiko and claps her hands.

   “Well, all of you heard the bell. Get back to your seats before the teacher arrives. And no Sayuri, I won’t borrow my notes to you. You should have completed your homework last night.”

   …Wow, so they have a mother as their class rep too.

   For the rest of the morning, Jin was spying on Meiko instead of paying attention in his own class. She was called on a few times by her teachers. Fortunately, she knew enough to not make a blunder. After a while, he figured that she could handle her lessons well enough, so he stopped with the creepy spying.

   Soon, it’s lunchtime.

   “You look spaced out for an entire morning, Minase-kun. Did something happened?” Watanabe asks while all of them were having lunch together.

   “I was spying on Meiko with my Spell.” he replies honestly.

   “...Wow. You actually did that? And you had the nerve to admit doing something like that. How honest of you.” she said the last part with extra sarcasm.

   “Hey, I was worried, okay?”

   “So, how was she faring?”

   “She could deal with the lessons well enough. As for her classmates, she was helped out by the class president who was also like a mother.”

   Jin looked at Wakaba before he could stop himself. The others did the same. The class rep ignored it and continued with her lunch.

   “Let’s invite her to hang out with us after school.” Watanabe suggests.

   “I think you should refrain for the first few days. She needs to be more familiar with her classmates, and it’ll be ruined if a few upperclassmen hogged her to themselves.”

   “...Fine. I guess we can wait for three or four days.”

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