Nikami POV
I glanced at Shukona who was lecturing Raijin.
"As much as I would like to see Rai being lectured, May I ask a question?" I stared up at the tall Shukona.
"Pft…" Yasachu snickered.
"As much as you would like?! What the hell?!" Raijin yelled at me, glaring at me.
"Ignore that." I folded my arms.
"Oh like hell I can." Raijin placed her hand on top of her head and ran her hand through her hair.
"How inelegant," Shukona muttered, sighing at Raijin's words.
"So? What are your questions, Nika?" Shukona stared at me, waiting for my questions.
"Well, I wanted to know if you two talked about anything while we were gone…" I glanced at Yasachu then back at Shukona.
"Oh yea, right. There's no way you two would just stay there and not talk at all." Raijin nodded.
"We-well uhm…" Yasachu turned her gaze at Shukona, her cheeks slightly flushing red.
"No-nothing significant!" Shukona immediately declared, glaring at Yasachu.
"Ee-eek…" Yasachu's eyes met Shukona's glare and she turned away from Shukona.
"Oh. Is that so." I nodded.
[Totally, that reaction is toootaally normal. Yes yes.] I thought, mentally facepalming to their reactions.
"Hah? That sounds honestly suspicious… Of course, we won't believe you!" Raijin sighed.
"Well, Rai. We were talking about something private, you wouldn't want to push yourself in our matters, yes?" Shukona stared at Raijin, disappointed.
"Gu-guh… W-well! You should have just said so! Then I wouldn't be curious!" Raijin countered, staring back at Shukona.
"I did tell you that it wasn't any significant, you just really want to get involved… How inelegant. Perhaps be understanding like Nika." Shukona sighed, folding her hands.
"Grr! Why you!" Raijin growled, slightly pouting.
She was mad… But not that mad to punch her own best friend, but if this was a stranger. She would have punched that person to the sun a long time ago.
What's going on?? Yasachu didn't want them to fight. They are best friends! Would they really fight…? But well, by the looks of it, they most likely will… Raijin looks mad, and she doesn't want Shukona to get hurt…
She started to panic, glancing at me if I would do anything… No. Not even a slight change of expression from me. But what can a commoner like her do…?
Yasachu stared at both of them, quickly running in front of them as she glanced at them back and forth. Before she could even think up a plan her own body moved.
"P-please don't fight!" Yasachu begged, her eyes on me indicating she wanted assistance from me as well.
I sighed, glancing at the brunette and the grennette… Well, not really glancing. More like glaring.
"Psh… Us? Fighting? No, we are just simply Disagreeing that's all." Raijin huffed, putting up her chest proudly.
She goes towards Shukona and places one of her hands on the shoulder of the tall girl.
"Don't worry, we're just fine." I nodded at Yasachu, trying to reassure her.
"Hmph. Even though we do bicker quite a lot, we would never truly fight." Shukona unfolded her hands, starting to pat the shorter brunette.
"Do not underestimate our friendship commoner, if we did fight over such an insignificant thing… We would have split up years ago." Shukona puffed her chest out, huffing.
"Yep yep!" Raijin nodded, grinning as she was being patted by the taller girl.
"A-ah…" Yasachu was stunned, did she misunderstood this?
It's honestly beautiful… On how people could bicker but would still be great friends, Yasachu couldn't lie that she was slightly jealous of this.
Yasachu didn't have many friends due to her hair, after all, the only person that she had was her sister and parents.
"I-I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, bowing her head down as she apologized.
"..." I kept silent, staring at the girl bowing her head.
"She went in front of them without hesitation… What a reckless one you are…" I thought, staring silently at the girl.
"Hmph! You should, commoner! Thinking that we would fight that easily… I should have known…" Shukona sighed, pouting at Yasachu.
"Stop apologizing. I forgive you, I'm sure the two will as well. Correct?" Shukona glanced at me and Raijin, needing our approval of her word.
"Yea sure. But don't ever think about that again, got it?!" Raijin huffed once more, pointing at Yasachu as the cape behind her waved along with her arm.
"I don't really care." I spoke to her, blunt with my words.
"A-ah! Alright. Thank you so much…" Yasachu nervously laughed, she thought she was going to get into trouble again. And she doesn't want to get into trouble, especially against nobles like them…
"A-aaaahhhhhhHHHHHHHH!!!" We heard an intense yell from the doorway, papers flying everywhere, one even flew right onto my face.
"Eh?" Yasachu turned over to the yelling person, confused and startled as to why someone just yelled.
"..." I blinked silently as I saw a CG flash across my eyes, the paper still stuck on my face.
It was a woman similar to what that Knight described. The girl had indigo hair in a messy hair bun, Her right eye was golden and her other eye was pink. She had a monocle on her right eye which had a dangling green gem on it, she had a golden stick with an orange jewel that was keeping her hair in its place.
She had an anxious expression as she ran after the papers, her hand reaching after them. Her other hand held the papers that she caught close to her chest. The woman was wearing a white shirt with a purple vest over it, her skirt was a short and tight black one.
I was… Dumbstruck.
Why was there another capture target?
"Wha…? Huh? What? I thought… Raijin was… The last Capture target we have…?" I froze, wondering why I saw a CG of a character I never even knew about.
I took off the paper on my face and stared at it, it was some drawings of a circular thing with a gem in the middle of it. There were some words scribbled on the side as well, but it was so messy that I couldn't even read it.
[An… Inventor, I assume… But why is she a capture target? I thought we only have seven capture targets…? That's… Strange, did I do this? No. It mustn't have been me. If I remember correctly the developer's ports of the game said that there were more mysteries to come… A new capture target wouldn't so far fetch…] I thought, still staring at the paper.
"A-aaahh! The papers! Let me help you!" Yasachu exclaimed, starting to grab some papers. She jumped up to get one, then ran to another.
Then she tripped over a rock.
"Hey!" Raijin yelled, quickly stepping towards her. She caught her before she fell, her red cape behind her flowing behind her once more.
"A-ah-... Thank you..." Yasachu blinked, staring at Raijin's blue eyes.
"Seriously! so gotdamn clumsy." Raijin groaned, letting her go back on her two feet, and sighed.
"So-sorry…" Yasachu puts her head down and apologizes.
Shukona, being a very tall person, caught the papers with ease and handed them over to the teacher.
"Here you go, miss." Shukona smiled at the Heterochromatic teacher as she looked down at her, due to her tall height.
"Aaahhh! Thank you so much! If I lost any of these papers I'll probably go crazy…" The Heterochromatic teacher thanked Shukona, smiling at her.
"No problem ma'am." Shukona smiled even more at the teacher, her face was unusually… Calm. She didn't have her irritated resting face.
"U-uhmm… Here's the one that I got…" Yasachu quickly went over to the older woman and nervously gave her the papers that she caught.
"You should probably give her that one too." Raijin turned over to me, glancing at the paper in my hand.
"I know, you don't have to tell me." I sighed, walking over to the teacher. Staring at her for a while… Looking at her face then going down to her foot. Then back up.
"..." I silently gave her the papers, then walked back to Raijin and stayed beside her.
"Thank you so much! You kids are a lifesaver!" She thanked us once more, slightly bowing down her head.
[Who is she? Why is she a capture target? And why a teacher? Well… There are some people who are into age gap but… That's just disgusting and disturbing to me… Everyone in the cast has a title… So I shall make up one for her as well… «The Clumsy Inventor Teacher.»] I thought, once again staring at the woman in front of me.
"Ah! We lost one!" Yasachu exclaimed, pointing at the paper that was flying away.
It was already out of the courtyard flying away towards the outside garden.
"Ah? Where…? Oh! There it is, Damn. That is already so far… I don't think we can catch up to that." Raijin spoke, glancing over at the paper. Squinting to how far it has gone.
"Hm? Ah? Indeed, I agree with Rai. Forgive us sensei, but we lost one." Shukona apologized to the Heterochromatic teacher, smiling at her.
[The main character was quick to point that out… I didn't even notice. Does she have sharp eyes as well…?] I thought glancing over at the white-haired girl, then back at the Heterochromatic teacher.
"Aaahhh… Well! It's fine…" The Heterochromatic teacher says as she looks down and nervously laughs. She was hugging the papers tightly to her chest, now lifting her head up and grinning.
"It's no problem! Really, thank you so much for getting them. I get ideas more than I can execute them anyway…" The Heterochromatic teacher chuckled, smiling at the three girls.
"Ah? You are… That teacher she described…" Shukona blinked, looking at her from up to bottom.
"Huh? Who?" Raijin glanced over at Shukona, confused at who «She» is.
"Kin-Kinkusei-sama! Or… Eh…? I forgot… Her name… It just doesn't roll off the tongue well, I-I'm sorry." Yasachu immediately apologized, lowering her head down.
"It's Kinmokusei. So does that mean you are the teacher who can make artificial mana stones?" I told Yasachu that knight's name and then turned to The Heterochromatic teacher.
"Oh! Yea! I am, how did you know?" The Heterochromatic teacher tilted her head, surprised at how we know that she makes them.
"Hah?! You can make artificial mana stones?! Seriously?! How?!" Raijin took a step back, yelling as she was stunned at this discovery.
"We were surprised too, Rai. That is why we wanted to meet the teacher." Shukona folded her hands, glancing over at the shorter girl.
"Y-you must be a genius if you did…" Yasachu stared at The Heterochromatic teacher, looking up at her in awe.
I stared at The Heterochromatic teacher once more and noticed that the gem on her monocle felt like it had mana as well.
"...." I stayed silent, carefully observing her.
"Ahh, yeah… I guess I am kinda a genius, not anyone can fool a whole school, and even advanced mages after all. I am still proud of myself!" She chuckled at herself like she was just joking.
"Quite prideful of you, and what do you mean by «Fool a whole school»?" Shukona stared down at the woman, lifting one of their eyebrows up in displeasure.
"Advance mages too? Huh? Must be a joke." Raijin shrugged it off as a joke.
"E-eh…! Y-you didn't that?! That's amazing, sensei! What did you fool with, and how?" Yasachu asked, surprised at what she said. Though she was curious.
"..." I didn't react, nor even flinched. I kept staring at her, observing her. It didn't seem like a joke by her behavior, it was just like telling a funny story rather than telling a fake one.
"Ah!~ That's a story for another day, and did you want to find me because of this? Must be a wonderful coincidence that you helped me then." The Heterochromatic teacher chuckled, holding the papers close to her chest.
"Indeed we were, the three of us were wondering how you made those..." Shukona replied, nodding at The Heterochromatic teacher.
"Ahhh, I wouldn't say anything!" The Heterochromatic teacher winked, snickering.
"Huh? But why?" Raijin asked.
"Well! It's not really complete yet, and why would I tell students how to make my genius invention! That would be stupid." The Heterochromatic teacher pouted a bit, then let out a smile.
"Ah… Ye-yea. That would be understandable. It's a trade secret after all…" Yasachu nodded in understanding.
[If she is a capture target… Then she must be at least close to the main character, correct? Maybe a club advisor at a certain club… And you can only unlock her when you join that club? Or is she an advisor? Hm… I have been silent for a while now, I think it's needed for me to speak up.] I thought, opening my mouth to speak.
"Excuse me, I have a question. You are a teacher, correct? What role do you have? Simply a staff? Or do you teach a class?" I asked, staring at The Heterochromatic teacher emotionlessly.
"Ah! I'm Keshi Bijozakura, The advisor of class Flavo. But I mainly educate students on magical items." Keshi smiled, introducing herself. Adjusting her monocle.
"Oh? That's the class I am in." Shukona spoke, her voice full of curiosity.
"Eh?! Seriously? Me too!" Raijin exclaimed, her eyes shining at Shukona. They were in the same class!
"A-ah…? We are in the same class too! The three of us!" Yasachu giggled, smiling brightly at the two.
"..." I stayed silent, folding my arms as they celebrated.
[It would be normal that the main character, the villainess, and the main capture target would be in the same classroom… Meanwhile, a secret capture target like me isn't that straight to the point… So…] I thought, sighing to myself.
"How nice that you three are in the same classroom." I looked away, my expression is still blank.
"Really?! You three are my students then! Three… Then you aren't in my class? I'm so sorry to hear that you wouldn't be in the same class as your friends." Keshi smiled at the three and glanced at me.
"No need to say sorry," I looked back at Keshi.
"I don't care anyway." I tapped my foot, still folding my arms.
"Hah?! What do you mean you don't care?!" Raijin yelled out, gritting their teeth at me.
"Ga-gakerumi-sama please calm down…" Yasachu stepped towards Raijin, using a soft voice to ease the angry prince.
"Nika, you stay silent almost at all times and this is what comes out of your mouth? Truly, at least try to hide that you are lying. You are clearly irritated by your position." Shukona groans, shaking her head.
"Hmm, Yes, yes. I can see that. Does she tap her foot when she's irritated? I don't see another change though, Her face just looks blank." Keshi adjusted her monocle once more, observing me.
"..." I stayed silent as I narrowed my eyes, glaring at them.
"No. I am not." I rolled my eyes, still tapping my foot.
[I'm not even irritated, I already knew this. I said… I. Do. Not. Care. I can't believe they don't trust me, and that stupid Rai too. Getting angry so easily. Hmph. Stupid.] I thought, sighing.
"Don't worry about it." Keshi grinned, clasping their hands together.
"You can just be together when there are breaks, it's not like you aren't going to see each other again." Keshi giggled.
"Yea! So cheer up alright? You don't have to be so irritated. And don't be embarrassed about how you can't see us during class." Raijin sighed, scoffing.
"I'm not embarrassed, nor irritated." I glared at Raijin, countering their claim.
"Ahaha…" Yasachu slightly giggled at my words, snickering as she looked up at us.
"Yea suuuuuure. Lying is inelegant Nika." Shukona stared at me, shaking her head once more.