After finally changing out of her uniform. Aika tidied her room for a bit, put her sweat covered sheets in the laundry and realizing she couldn't find Bink's presence in her house. She started searching for him on the attic and the uppers floors but to no avail
(Just where did that idiot went…) Aika decided to give up on him for now and went downstairs.
She found her brother humming to himself in the kitchen, flipping pancakes. The TV behind him had a news broadcast on:
"…Today will be marking five years since the unfortunate tragedy that happened upon the once highly popular Radiant Bridge and the scandal at St. Marise Middle School that followed it!" The reporter states as she steps aside and shows to its viewers a large, worn down and rusty bridge completely packed with people.
"As you can already see! Despite the many, many claims that the place has become haunted and hereby abandoned after the accident. Many families and former students came to visit her memorial. Paying their respects for the victim and giving condolences to her family."
The camera shifts its focus over the people mourning in front of a large portrait of a girl that seems around a little younger than Aika's age. The portrait was fully adorned of roses and a had incense placed below it. The cameraman stays still for a few moments before following the reporter going around the crowd and pointing at a family of five standing in the center of it all.
"Like every month since the incident! The victim's family are once again offering large amounts of money for any information regarding her whereabouts and asking for volunteers for their monthly extensive search of the area surrounding the bridge and the multiple small islands that surrounds our city!"
The reporter points her finger towards the man in his fifties having no qualms of prostrating himself in front of the crowd. But it's too noisy and far away to be able to properly hear what the man was saying from where they were.
"All despite their grievances, claiming she is still alive somewhere and the police's recent decision to close this case and halt their support towards her search. Claiming that while being true that the victim's body was never found. Anything towards the investigation being scarce at best. The likelihoods of her survival being less than likely with each and every passing day. We will keep everyone updated about today and hopefully bring you more news by eleven! In other news, here is today forecast for…"
Hearing the light sound of footsteps behind him, Akira lowers the TV's volume with the remote and turns his head around.
"Ah! Nee-Chan! Good morning! Please take a seat. I made your favorite!"
Akira waves his free hand at his sister, beaming with joy, as if pretending that yesterday discussion never happened.
Aika had initially planned to ignore her brother and leave the house right away in order to meet with her uncle and co in school. However, the alluring and sweet smell of maple syrup caused Aika willpower to waver and her body turned back before even herself had noticed.
(Curse me and my sweet tooth!)
Aika reluctantly accepts her brother invitation, sits down and takes a quick glance at her surroundings. Akira, noticing his sister still had her guard up, answers her while handing her a plate.
"Don't worry about our parents. They already left. Said they had a meeting somewhere at the next town. Dad said they will probably be back by tomorrow night. So I'm holding down the fort and taking care of the the housework for today. Probably tomorrow as well."
"I see..." Aika says nonchalantly as she wolfs down her food. She thought of sarcastically asking which her dad jobs he had 'business' to attend with but decided not to touch the subject.
Perhaps in an attempt to change to the subject and dispel the rather heavy atmosphere in the house. Akira asks his little sister a question:
"By the way, have you seen Nyamo anywhere? I went and filled her bowl earlier but it was untouched. In all this time since you brought her in, this had never happened before. So I am a little worried…"
"I saw her playing with some other…wild animals down at the park while on the way home yesterday."
While trying to find a convincing excuse, the emphasis of the two animals on Aika's sentence makes the image of the crooked teacher and the unsettling demon lizard fooling around pops into the back of her mind.
"If that's the case, I'm relieved! With this out of the way, I'll be able to solely focus on my club practice today!"
Aika stops her fork as her brother also sits across from her and eat some of his pancakes.
"You have a tournament coming up soon right?"
"Yea! This Friday! As captain of the Archery Cub, I have a lot riding on my hands! Ah! I almost forgot to mention! Yozo-San said he is coming today and help me with the practice for the newcomers! Wanna come and visit us for a surprise 'inspection'?" Akira asks with a teasing grim on his face.
"!"
"Here Nee-Chan."
Aika chokes on her food, upon hearing her crush name as her brother hands over a glass of orange juice.
"*Coughs* Yozo-Senpai is helping with the club again?! He's not even a member!"
"I know right? He even took a day off his job for this! Saying he is merely doing it as a favor for his childhood friend and putting in his own words. 'It's not like me as the vice-president, Set-Chan, your sister or anyone in there has much to do in it when we have Kaori-San at the helm'. I owe Yozo-San a lot! Since I probably wouldn't be able to properly welcome the newcomers, much less help them with practice! I recently heard from some of our veterans that my face becomes intimidating as Father's when I am focused. Now I kind of get why everyone tends to avoid getting too close to me during club hours…"
"I see…" Aika thought the possibility of later meeting up with her beloved crush at school during the weekend as the silver lining of her already ruined plans, giving the events that had transpired yesterday.
The moment Aika finished her meal. She went and washed all the dishes for her brother in exchange for the breakfast.
Nyamo jumps on top of the chair next to her brother and purrs as she rubs her head against his elbow.
"Good meowning everynya!
Unlike his sister, Akira can only hear mews out of their cat as Aika cringes over her silly pun.
"Ah! There you are! Who's a sweet kit- Urk. Just where did you run off to?! You are reeking of booze!"
Akira turns his nose away after a quick sniff at their pet. Aika tried to held back an insult directed at her uncle but her mouth and complete disdain for the man acted much faster than her brain could process her thoughts.
"…She kind off smells like the Pig. So, maybe she went see him during the night?"
Akira began to sniff Nyamo again from the other end of the table.
"Huh… You're right! She actually does! I didn't know that she was this close with him already! Argh! I really should go and give her a shower right now but I'm going to be late for the club if do. Nee-Chan, could you do instead?"
"Of course! After all, we all agreed on the day I brought her in that she was also my responsibility to take care!"
"As long you promise give me some treats afterwards; You won't be hearing any complaints out of me either Nya!"
"Sweet! See ya later Nee-Chan! You too, Nyamo!"
Akira pinches his nose tighter as he kisses the cat on her forehead. Then he picks up his backpack hanging on a chair, alongside his right-hand glove, quiver and bow.
However, he suddenly halts by the door. In the span of a second, Akira's mood had reversed completely. Even though she could only see her brother's back from where she was, Aika immediately noticed that yesterday's Akira moping in his classroom looked bright as the sun in comparison to how he looked right now.
It took a lot of time until Akira managed say the words that seemed to be stuck in his throat.
"I forgot to mention... I am visiting the Maeda's after practice today. I might be getting home late tonight or even sleep at their place if asked... So just to be safe, I left you some fried chicken and mashed potatoes in the fridge for dinner…"
Aika glances at calendar pinned on the wall, a certain day circled with a red pen. Her mood also becomes dark once she realizes what day of the month it is.
"That's right. Tomorrow is the seventeenth…"
"Yea…"
The two siblings become silent for good while before Akira manages to recover from his depression by himself and start smiling again.
However, Aika knows how much her brother was forcing himself and always acting like a busybody because he wants avoid being still in one place for too long. All to in order to not let his inner demons or any dark thoughts to catch up with him.
Akira smacks his own cheeks to psych himself and dispel the darkness surrounding him as he attempts to return his cheerful self from moments ago.
"Anyway, I can't afford to lose my focus now! Everyone is counting on me for that tournament! Heat them up at the microwave. But don't forget to take it out of the Tupperware and clean the grease off the microwave once you are done eating or it ill stains. Also change Nyamo's litter box! See ya later, Nee-Chan!"
This time Akira leaves the house for real. Aika releases a sigh as Nyamo hops onto her shoulder.
"You okay Ai?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. By the way, have you seen the Cockroach? I thought he had slept here but I can't feel his disturbing presence anywhere..."
"You mean Bink-San? He already went to Arcadia ahead of us and speak with Boss! We should also be getting ready to see Sensei and wait for Crow-San's visit!"
"But first, we should do something about that putrid stench of yours!"
Nyamo fur was bristle on some parts and her smell was so tinged with sake, beer and others alcoholic drinks that Aika felt like she could end up getting drunk just from being next to her.
"Okay! But I want those limited edition salmon cookies you hide on the top shelf in exchange!"
"Why do you know where I hide them?"
Realizing that she said too much, Nyamo presses her paws against her mouth, whistles as she looks the other way.
"Wh-Who knows nya?
After Aika blindfolded her cat and hid her treats in another place. She prepared a shower for Nyamo.
After almost an hour of scrubbing and drying have passed and making sure that Nyamo now smelled peach scented shampoo. Aika locked the house's door and with Nyamo now taking a nap on top of her head. They make way to see Ero-Sensei in school over a weekend. Something Aika never thought she would do since she grew up…
****
Aika and Nyamo are now in front of a door with the sign 'Teacher's Office" hanging above them.
"Pardon for the intrusion..."
Just in case, there was someone else inside other than her uncle inside. Aika decided to act polite as possible as she gently opens the door.
Inside, there only one person to be found there. He was napping, lying face down on top of his desk and two water compresses placed on his body. One on his back and the other one on his right arm. The pulled sleeve reveals a large scar that seems to go all the way over his shoulder.
*Snores*
Knowing that was only one person in the school unprofessional enough to pull something like this. Aika kicks the table's leg as she yells at him.
"Wake up Fatso!!"
"Geh!" Surprised, the man fell off the table, hitting the floor face first. However, even after falling, he barely showed any reaction as he sits up while rubbing his eyes and stretches his joints.
"Good evening to you two. Geez! Give me a break at least for today Ai-Chan! I'm no longer that young and yesterday's party had all my bones screaming in agony."
"Good! Maybe then you will avoid doing shit like this and start looking like a decent teacher!"
"Ruthless as always huh?" Shinji ignores his niece outburst, stands up and starts to stretch his back.
"Anyways, Kittypaws told me yesterday that we are supposed to meet one of your superiors here. But nobody told me who, where and when."
"Crow-San sent me a message earlier via mind-mail. He is on his way here Nya!"
"Mind-Mail?" Shinjirou tilts his head at the unknown term. Aika answers in Nyamo's place.
"It's simple spell that lets you communicate with someone else by casting it with only your mind."
"That's sounds incredibly convenient! Then again, it's magic, guess I shouldn't be that surprised! By the way, how cute that Crow-San chick is?"
"What do you mean Nya?" It was now Nyamo's turn to tilt her head in confusion.
"I mean; she is a Magical Girl right? Can't blame a man like me for getting excited about the prospect. So? Is she hot? Young? Perhaps single?"
Aika face-palms herself as she answers him.
"Listen here pig! Sorry to burst your bubble because Crow is-"
"Right Here."
"Who's there?!"
Shinji immediately had his guard up after hearing a disembodied voice out of nowhere as the room suddenly darkens and tries to pinpoints the voice's location.
He then looks behind him and finds a man sitting on top of the window frame that Shinji knows for sure that he had locked it during this morning. He was surprised for not noticing his man presence there until now.
The man was wearing a grey overalls and cap while holding a window cleaner on his left hand. He gazes at Shinji's profile from top to bottom a couple of times with his fingers against his chin and hops off the window.
"I see. Nyamo was correct in warning us not to make any assumptions over our first impressions. Your stance didn't have any openings, even though you were shielding someone else. However…"
A black blob suddenly grabs Shinji from behind and a sharp edge forms from it as it lightly presses against the teacher's neck.
(When did he-)
It was so fast and sudden that he couldn't even process his own thoughts.
"You still only a greenhorn by the end of the day. Karasu, That's enough!"
The man snaps his fingers and the mass lets go of Shinji.
"Alrighty Brat!"
The black mass then crawls back to the man's feet and forms his shadow that Shinji didn't even had time to notice that the man did not had one before entering. After that, a bird submerges out of his now returned shadow, as if appearing of thin air and perches on his shoulder.
"Who the hell are you?!"
Shinji began to prepare himself for a fight but Nyamo stops him from dashing forward.
"Sensei, wait! He is Crow-San! Our Senpai!"
"Heh?" Shinji immediately let's go of his anger and drops his fists as he makes a silly face similar to the one Aika had when she first saw her uncle wearing her Magical Girl uniform.
"That is correct. My name is-"
"NO WAY!!!! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!"
He even shouts in agony like she did. However, instead of fainting, Shinji gets on his knees, hammering his fists against the floor and cries.
"I barely slept today because I was so excited, expecting to find a hot office lady or at least some cute college chick to come and greet us! Not another dude! Give me back my dreams! Godammit!"
Nobody had words to say to the forty-year-old man throwing a tantrum.
"…I see she also didn't exaggerate about you incredibly being rather unique either."
"Speak for yourself, brat! You still have that bad case of teenager edginess! Even though you are already twenty-three!"
The Raven starts to talk in a smug tone towards the man in overalls.
"Your veiled attempt mockery is rich, coming from someone who stills makes dirty jokes about having a 'third leg" like a middle schooler!"
"Huh?! Excuse me, but that is isn't a joke! I am THE fabled Yatagarasu after all! Mankind just conveniently forgot that detail when telling tales about me! I have to make sure to drill that notion into everyone skulls to make sure that doesn't happen again while I'm still kicking around! Do you have any idea of how many times I could get laid if my disposition was known beforehand?!"
Aika quietly raises her hand while her massive headache keeps growing bigger and bigger by the minute as she begs for order amidst this chaos.
"Um, can we please return back to the topic at hand now?"
The man called Crow starts coughing and returns to his composed self.
"Oh! My apologies. I let my partner distract me from our objective for a moment. Nice to meet you. I am Hiden Midori. My name is exclusive to a few people that I trust so please call me by my codename Crow like everyone else does. Also, if it makes you feel any better, I also am a college student too Sensei."
Crow reaches out his hand for the teacher but he slaps it away and gets up on his own.
"The hell it does! Why does is man or better yet, a handsome, college boy full of teenager angst a Magical Girl?! That's preposterous!"
"Err, Sensei? You do realize that you are also one as well right?" Nyamo answers dryly as she could. Crow lets out a sigh.
"I guess now is a better time as any to answer your questions about Magical Girls as I doubt Nyamo would ever do a good job at explaining that. Let's start with what we do and why you and me have potential despite being males."
Crow then proceeded to explain their duties amongst many other things.
For starters, Magical Girls are essentially individuals who help with keep order in the world and keep other humans safe of demons who aims to destroy, rule or perhaps unbalance the world's order by doing simple mischief or silly pranks. All while keeping the secrecy of their existence to the rest of the world.
Then he proceeds to explains that it exists a male counterpart to Magical Girls, who are called Seraphs.
They are much rarer kind than Magical Girls. Usually insanely powerful and absurd amounts of Mana coursing through their veins. The odds of a Seraph to awaken is between one in a billion. The overall amount is definitely a little higher than this but, the number of documented Seraphs archived inside Arcadia logs can counted on only two hands.
Unlike most Magical Girls, who usually start to show their potential in their adolescence, Seraphs has no discernible age range between them.
Although, Crow himself is known to be the youngest to ever awaken as a Seraph at the age of thirteen. He acts in Arcadia as a scout and spy for demonic activity for the most part. Currently, he is also the second strongest member in Arcadia after the Valkyrie, who is the leading figure behind all Magical Girls.
The very flow of earth's mana and nature seems to pick who gets chosen as the next Valkyrie. Once one decides to steps down from the role for any reason, have any memories related to it wiped, lose their means of accessing mana naturally and another Magical Girl is immediately chosen to take their place.
There were some Valkyries in the past, who are women with such determination and strong wills that they managed to retain their memories, powers or even keep their Sacred Beast, who is otherwise supposed to become dormant once more and wait for another Magical Girl to awaken them. But such individuals are as rare as Seraphs themselves if not more.
Then comes the Sacred Beasts. As Magical Girls aptly regarded as their familiars or 'Partners'. Dormant mythical beings who awakens at the birth of a new Magical Girl and works beside each other against demons or any manners related to it. Such as dispelling curses or disruption of the dead.
Most of them are fabled creatures from human mythology, such as Karasu being the fabled three legged crow and Nyamo herself being a Nekomata.
A Magical Girl entangles their very soul with their Partner in order to enhance their magical capabilities a thousand fold and transforms them into a Magical Girl. The merging is described as a 'contract' between the two. There is vast and yet unknown number of dormant Sacred Beasts scattered across the universe, waiting for a Magical Girl to beckon them back into this world.
After being given such a detailed explanation, Shinji crosses his arms and looks at the skies, pondering about something.
"Oh. That's a lot to take in but I have two questions."
Aika looks Crow deep in the eye as he nods.
"Ask away."
"In that case, why is someone strong and unique as a Seraph looks like he is working as a window cleaner?"
"Magical Girl or Seraph. I still a human being and have to pay for tuition, amongst other expenses like anyone else does. Especially since I have to take care of everything by myself. Once upon a time, I had at least seven part-time jobs at once. I used to have much more but my two duties began to interfere with each other and had to make some exceptions."
"I see. Then here's my second question. Since you mentioned there's an age range. Does that mean that most Magical Girls are either female teenagers or young adults?"
"If I'm not mistaken, the current ratio is about 60% of them falls in the ten to twenty category, 30% is twenty to thirty and the rest being the 10%. It don't know how long from the top of my head but I think this ratio has stayed same for the last five centuries or so."
"I see…" Shinji looks downcast and the features on his face becoming discernible...
Everyone else become worried since it looked Shinji was about to say something serious until…
"ALRIGHT!! COLLEGE CHICKS HERE I GO!!"
"Haha! I'm starting to like this dude already! Can't we just let him join us already, Boss?!"
Ero-Sensei pumps his fists in the air as he rallies a victory cry and Karasu instigates him amusingly.
Crow and Aika decides to ignore the two for the moment as she gazes deep into his eyes. As if pleading for him to put an end to this insanity. However, Crow answers by chanting a spell and opens a magical gate out of thin air right in front of them.
"That is not up for us to decide. Although I do admit to find your resolve and motivations to help us questionable at best."
"Well! I can assure you that I'm not going to get overhyped about some young teenage schoolgirls other than 'Moe factor' and maybe taking some pictures! As a teacher myself, I would never be able to look at myself in the mirror if I ever showed any hint of desire towards anyone under twenty! Especially if she used to be a student of mine! Say what you will about me! But I still have some standards as a decent human being and pride as a teacher!"
With a vein pulsating on her forehead, Aika then proceeds to dropkick her uncle square in the face.
"Says the Pig who sell pictures of them changing or in suggestive angles and had literally peeked in the girl's locker room with three of your students just yesterday!"
He slowly gets up, dust off his clothes and merely shrugs as a response while his nose dripped blood.
"Hey! Just because I decided not to reach for treasure myself doesn't mean I can't guide others towards it! Besides, without that extra money coming in. I'm homeless!"
"You disgust me."
(Better not tell Setsuna any of this. She would be heartbroken if she heard about this. Not that I even care…)
"I would prefer if you at least said that I am true to myself if nothing else!"
"Ahem! Excuse me. Can we go back to the topic at hand?"
Crow and co asked as they practically blended with the environment and forgotten that they were even there.
Dragging her uncle by the collar, Aika and co them entered the gate as it slowly closes behind them afterwards. Leaving the mess caused at the Teacher's Office behind.
***
"Hooo!!!"
Shinji was looking around amazed by the sight in front of him, his eyes practically twinkling like a child. Ancient buildings and structures written om unknown characters and glowing with runes, everywhere he looked at the floor were made of clouds but most importantly…
"Hooooo!!" Shinji began to huff through his nose heavily.
There were gorgeous women everywhere he looked. All of them either wearing a frilly dresses or clothes that it would make you think they were doing a cosplay contest of some sort. The girls, noticed the middle aged man out of his element and undressing some them with his eyes. They began to move away from him and the group, clearing a path as they move forward.
True to his word, Ero-Sensei kept his ogling exclusively to woman who looked to be above their twenties.
"Settle down, you freaking pig!"
Aika shouted as she smacked her uncle in the head from behind. He was so entranced by the sights in front of him that he completely ignored Aika's strike, even though she had hit him with full force and the back of his head was bleeding already.
Crow was the next to speak:
"Let's pick up the pace. We are almost at the training grounds."
"Okay, Edgy."
"Edgy?"
"Yea, as in edgy teenager. It's easier for me to remember people by giving them nicknames."
Karasu snickered after hearing the teacher calling his Partner that.
"Kawhahah! It suits you to a T!"
"Zip it, Karasu!"
A few miles later, the group enters a small and secluded building. However, after they entered the room, there was no door behind them and they were faced with a large space filled with nothing but strange stone and cloud-like structures here and there.
Crow stands in front of Shinji and holding a strange stone tablet. Then, the clouds began split in two forming two paths in front of them.
"This is Arcadia's training grounds for freshly recruited Magical Girls or cadets, where we measure their potential. You can pick between the path of Conflict or the Justice one. Which one do you wish to go through?"
"Justice? Conflict?" Shinji asks confused.
"The Conflict is the path where you judged and defined by your strength while Justice tracks your sense of Justice and character."
"I guess this means I should take this more seriously huh?"
(Yes! There is no way that the Pig is passing neither of them!)
Aika began to become hopeful that this chaos was about to come to an end sooner than she expected. Shinji decided to make a question of his own before choosing.
"Which one did Ai-Chan chose when she first joined?"
"Hm? Aika chose Conflict and fought in two rounds. One against me and then, the previous Valkyrie, who haven't retired yet at the time. If my memory serves well, she lost badly against both of us but still managed to pass the trial with flying colors."
"I see. Then, guess I will choose…"
The air around seemed tense as the four waited for his answer.
"…Justice!"
(YESS!!! He picked the path most unlikely for him to pass! Wait! Why do I even think he has a chance winning against Crow-Senpai in the first place?) Aika was utterly confused at herself as to why her mind subconsciously reached that conclusion.
"Then follow me onto the right path."
The five of them then walk through a large hallway until they reached yet another empty room. But this one had a large stone monument in its center.
"Welcome to the Path of Justice. The monument in front of you is the Monolith of Judgement. A very ancient artifact that scrutinizes the purity your very soul and sense of justice. He has been measuring one's worth for thousands of years at this point. The process is simple. If he deems you unworthy, you fail the test. If doesn't, you pass."
Shinji takes a closer look at the monument and tries to make sense of the strange words written on it.
"*Whistles* That is one big rock. So, what do I exactly have to do here?
"You will put your left hand in the hole over here and feed a small portion of your Mana to it. The questions in front of you will be answered by your offered Mana. Since it is the very essence of your being, they will not lie, answering with what is inside you truthfully so you can't cheat the answers. If the no words are transcribed on the stone by the time your Mana is completely processed or some of the questions are left unanswered, means you are someone twisted and unworthy of acting as a member of Magical Girls."
"So just pick a hole and hope for the best? Sounds easy enough! Sounds similar to what I did on my first time! Bwahahah!"
Both the Teacher and the raven began to laugh loudly as they could.
"Seriously, can't we let him join us already?! We desperately need a someone like him to brighten up the place! You, Boss and the pipsqueak over there are way too serious and stuck-up for your own good!"
"You Shush!" Aika grabbed him by the beak and shoved it through pillar nearby, silencing his mouth. Crow then sat on the cloud-like floor and crossed his arms, waiting for Shinji to act.
"Whenever you are ready."
"Okay!"
The teacher then nods and places his hand at the hole inside the monument. The monument began to shine in a pale blue light and Shinji felt like something had pierced though his fingers and were trying to suck his very being from them, much like a straw.
"Fuck! This shit hurts!" Shinjirou screamed and began to desperately pull his arm away but it was completely stuck there. He even placed both his legs in front of the monument and pull himself out but, to no avail.
"Eh?"
Until suddenly, there was a pop and his arm was released.
"WAA!!!"
Because of the force he was exerting, Shinji rolled off the floor and smashed his head into the same pillar Aika had struck Karasu on, crashing into him before breaking the pillar into pieces.
Both their eyes were swirling and remained on the floor. However, Nyamo, Aika and Crow kept their eyes fixed at the monument. Which has now glowing with eerie red and black lights.
"What in the world-" Crow was very surprised and didn't know what to do. For no archive in the vast knowledge of Arcadia's vaults ever mentioned something like this happening before.
A strong gusts of wind began to seep through the stone as the three couldn't approach it. The two idiots behind them were still unconscious. Then…
"Woah!"
"Nya!"
"Kya!!"
A small burst of mana pulsed out of the Monolith and all five of them were blown away.
"Ugh…"
Crow, who was the first one to get up, followed by Nyamo and Karasu. As for the two Tsunaboshi…
Aika opened her and the first thing she sees is her uncle's face, carrying her like a princess.
"Ai-Chan! Are you alright? Hurt anywhere?"
*Smack*
She plants the worried teacher head into the floor and go towards the rest of the group.
"Filthy Pig! How dare you touch me with your dirty hands! Crow-Senpai! Karasu! Nyamo! Are you guys ok?1"
While they were looking fine and standing right in front of Aika, none of them looked back or even responded her. Their heads were fixed into one place.
"Hm?' Aika turned her head to where they were looking and…
"WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS?!"
The questions written in the monument were now written with the alphabet instead of unknown letters and all the faded questions the Monolith usually had changed from its norm.
'What do you consider to be the most important thing to protect?' Women.
'What are you the most afraid of?' Bears and debt collectors.
Would fight them for the sake of someone else? Absolutely
'What do you wish to do before dying?' Become an idiot that everyone will remember. For good and bad, never part from the role of playing the fool.
'What is the one thing you would bet your life on the line for? Maid Outfits.
There multiple questions answered in the same vein as the ones above. None of them were answered entirely from the heart, as they were either noncommittal or jokes, showcasing the kind of person Shinji was. Nobody could process what just happened.
"Oh! For a piece stone, it sure can read someone's intentions incredibly well! I'm the kind of person that makes his own justice after all! Bwahaha!"
Shinjirou, who had already managed to recover from Aika's blow, was taking a glance at the monument and laughing at it.
"Soooo.....Does this mean I passed?"
"How in the world did you exactly reached this conclusion?!"
Aika once again, struck her uncle as she yelled at him.
"I mean; the questions were answered as they were asked! Just like you said it would! It wouldn't get written and process that as my own kind of justice if I didn't actually mean it."
"Huh?!"
"…" Crow was still speechless. Until…
"Hey, Sensei?" He calls Shinji without turning his head.
"Yes?"
He then took a deep look at Shinji from top to bottom, then at his answers on the tablet and two particular questions caught his eye.
'What is the most important thing you cannot afford to lose or have sacrificed for it?' and 'What do you despise the most?' with their respective answers.
The nearby rubble covered it from everyone else. else It was only possible to read it from Crow's angle of vision. He then returns his attention to Shinji and asks him a rather strange question.
"I been wondering this for a while now but…Sensei, what subject did you said you teach at Aika's school again?
"Huh? I happen to teach at every single subject back in Merry... But on paper, I am mainly the P.E teacher. Why do you ask?"
"Then that means you really are…I see...Heh! Things are now starting to make a little bit of sense to me!"
Aika felt that something very wrong was about to occur. Because, never in her entire time working with him. She had never saw Crow crack a smile before and yet, here he was, doing exactly that. To her uncle of all people. Grinning almost like the two idiots behind her.
"Alright! You passed!"
"Eh?" Aika's jaw was practically at the floor by this point and her skin white as the clouds surrounding them the moment Crow said those words.
"Alright!" Both Shinji and Karasu were high-fiving each other.
"I don't think you finding us was mere coincidence or a fluke anymore! There is something deeper afoot here and I would like to find out what it is! Besides, like you just said, you answered the questions as they were asked. There is nothing to be done other than accept them as your justice. Sorry, Aika. I know you must be disappointed but he played by our rules and passed. There are no grounds for me or anyone else to reject his admission when even the Monolith didn't."
Crow bowed in apology to her but Aika was completely petrified as looks at her uncle circling around with her cat on his hands. Feeling completely hopeless and out of ideas. Aika…
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!"
She shouted at the top of her lungs. Loud enough to be heard across everywhere in Arcadia. Whether asleep or awake, it looks Aika will continue to have nightmares for a long time…