Nagisa took a deep breath and tried his best to remain calm.
"Chitose! Glad I could find you! I have a question about this morning's lecture if you do not mind!" Nagisa said audibly in the hallway for them to hear inside the classroom.
Daiki and his group turned their heads.
"Tsk… let's get out of here before they see us!" Daiki announced and they took their leave.
Nagisa carefully hid around the corner and then approached the classroom slowly after making sure that they left. Nagisa went inside and collected his backpack.
"That was quite unnecessary, but clever," Airi turned around in her seat and stared at Nagisa.
"I guess I owe you a thank you?" Airi sounded unpleased with being indebted.
Nagisa shook his head.
"Not at all, I hate those jerks," Nagisa took his leave.
Airi lingered in the classroom and stared at Nagisa's seat.
"Mm… Nagisa… interesting, but I sense he is definitely hiding something," Airi said out loud.
Daiki and his group dared not to try anything else for the rest of the day, and afternoon classes were uneventful. Nagisa yawned on his way back to the dormitory with Chisa trailing closely by like always.
"Dinner plans?" Chisa smiled.
"Yeah, me and Emi," Nagisa smiled back.
"Bleh!" Chisa stuck her tongue out, "Meanie!" She complained.
They shared a quiet dinner together with Emi later and before they knew it, Chisa and Nagisa found themselves in Tuesday's morning class. Nagisa yawned loudly and Chitose glanced at him.
"Stay focused Nagisa… today is an important day, there has been an emergency of sorts," Chitose said firmly.
This alerted the classroom slightly with chatter.
"Could it be a demon?"
"Must be!"
"I hope we get to exterminate it!"
People idly chatted and this made Chitose slam the whiteboard.
"Listen up you little…" Chitose took a deep breath to not vent any further.
"As you guys have already guessed, there has been a minor portal opened and it has let out a Stage-1 demon, your task is to search the town and exterminate it! View this as experience, you have by the end of the day or you all fail the assignment!" Chitose announced the problem firsthand.
She then turned around right before exiting the classroom.
"If you fail, there will be repercussions," Chitose devingly smirked and made the classroom gulped, "You will find your assigned partners and locations on the board," Chitose waved them good luck and left promptly.
Everyone apart from Chisa, Airi and Nagisa rushed up front to check their locations and partners. Miyuki glanced over at Nagisa and smiled.
"Do not hold us back," Miyuki grinned and exited alongside Daiki.
After a while a girl walked up and approached Chisa.
"Excuse me, Chisa, looks like we are to be paired up," she said hushly.
It was one of May's friends. Chisa pointed towards herself.
"Me? There has to be some kind of mistake, I should obviously have been paired with Nagisa," Chisa laughed it off as a joke.
The girl shook her head.
"You can check the board… but in any case… I look forward to working with you!" She politely bowed her head.
Chisa raised her hand apologetically for doubting her and then waved good-bye to Nagisa. For Nagisa who spaced out during all this, it took a good long second to realize that there were no people left in the classroom.
Only Nagisa and Airi remained behind. He began to laugh nervously.
"Cannot be, right?" Nagisa looked around for Chisa.
Airi sighed disappointingly then put on a clearly neutral yet annoyed smile.
"Guess we are to be paired up?" Airi smiled and reached out her hand to greet Nagisa.
Nagisa embarrassingly grabbed her hand.
"Yeah, looking forward to working with you, let's do our best!" Nagisa attempted a smile of his own.
"Likewise…" Airi concluded and they took their leave.
Before they left, Nagisa glanced at the board for their set location. They were to check the lower tunnel of an older sewer system beneath the city that was no longer in use. Chitose even marked the board that additional credits will be given to the two students who manage to either locate or exterminate it.
They ventured in silence outside the academy and headed for the tunnel system. There was a rusty old ladder to climb down which connected from the surface to the lower levels of the previous sewage system.
Each ladder took about a minute to climb down, and after a couple, they reached the lowest floor.
"Let's start from the lowest one and work our way up," Airi suggested and dusted herself off.
Nagisa nodded in agreement.
"Wow… the stench is really foul in here…" Airi added.
The smell pierced through their nostrils, it was truly an undead kind of smell. Nagisa and Air walked around slowly besides the pavement next to old green sewage water. On their way they found a couple of rat corpses and heard a few shrieks.
"This has to be the place," Airi noted and closed her eyes.
< Ar'Nu >
An enchanted bow and quiver filled with arrows appeared on her back. This was the first time Nagisa heard any form of Elvish.
"Do not look so surprised. We prefer to conceal our weapons and then summon them," Airi informed him and moved ahead of him.
She carefully turned the corner and a pack of rats rushed past them. Airi shrieked.
"Cute…" Nagisa hushly remarked.
Airi heard that and angrily glanced at him before turning her head.
"They are running from something, the Stage-1 demon might be lurking up front," Airi lowered her voice while analyzing the rats scurrying away from something.
Nagisa and Airi turned their heads and spotted a giant demon rat, feasting upon a couple of smaller normal ones. Tails, decapitated rats and other kinds of remains were scattered on the ground. Airi readied an arrow.
< Crystallizing Arrow >
However Nagisa's Arcane Insight immediately kicked in upon a single glance at the demon rat. It was at Stage-3, the demon had evolved from feasting on the other rats. Somehow he was also able to analyze Airi's arrow, upon impact it could freeze its target.
Nagisa panicked and matched her power against the demon's current defense and realized it was not enough to fully freeze it.
"Do not!" Nagisa tried to cancel Airi from firing the arrow but was too late.
The arrow landed and froze a small portion of the demon rat's back and frenzied it. The rat immediately turned its head and rushed towards them.
Nagisa pulled Airi back and grabbed her hand to turn and run. He found a small crevice that could about both of them if they squeezed in together.
"Wait… what are you---" Airi complained angrily.
Nagisa cut her sentence short and shoved Airi straight in before squeezing and pressing himself against her front.
The demon rat rushed right past them then halted for a second to listen in for any kind of sounds.
"Why are we runn---" Airi attempted to talk again.
However this time Nagisa could barely move in his hands in the tight area they were being squeezed in at. Therefore Nagisa leaned in and quickly silenced Airi, by immediately kissing her.