✱
"A~ah. So tired...Morning, everyone."
Stretching lazily, Eishirou pulled open the door to their classroom.
He proceeded to summarily pass out on his desk; it seemed he really hadn't had enough sleep.
Ayato could only stare in amazement at Eishirou, his face flat against his desk. The classroom was filled with the air of lively chatter, a scene you'd find in any school.
Attendance was surprisingly good; it seemed the students at this school were of a rather sober nature.
"Morning, Julis."
"...Morning."
Ayato greeted his neighbor, who, cheek resting on her hand, greeted him in turn.
In an instant, the previously noisy classroom was filled with silence.
"Hey, did you just hear that...?"
"...Th, the Princess greeted someone...?"
"Are we hearing things...?"
"Just what kind of black magic did that guy use...?"
"Rather, that can't be the real Princess, can it?"
Seeing the uproar which had taken ahold of their class, Julis slammed her hands on her desk and rose.
"Y-you all sure are rude! I was just returning his greeting!"
In spite of Julis' sullen expression, the clamor didn't lessen one bit.
This was way beyond expectation.
Their classmates' reaction made plain just what kind of classmate Julis typically was.
(Maybe this is a rare opportunity to try and get along with everyone?)
Thinking on Julis' behalf, Ayato reminded himself that this was only his second day.
It was all well and good to worry over Julis, but honestly, he needed to worry about himself first.
At that moment, Ayato realized that the seat on his left, which had been empty the day before, was now filled.
There a young girl with beautiful blue hair lay on her desk, fast asleep.
It seemed unlikely that she was like himself, who'd transferred over just recently. She'd probably just taken the day off.
Though he thought that he'd best greet her as well, she gave no hint of waking anytime soon.
As he considered his options, the girl suddenly lifted her head.
Nice, here came opportunity, knocking at the door.
"Good morning to you, neighbor. I transferred here just yesterday; I'm Amagiri-"
Ayato's introduction came to a screeching halt.
"...?"
Catching a glimpse of the girl's face, he froze.
"S-Saya...?"
"..."
The girl looked on expressionlessly, before at last tilting her head slightly.
"...Ayato?"
There was no doubt about it. She was Sasamiya Saya.
Ayato stood up in a fluster. From behind, two eyes fairly gleamed with the delight of a small child given a new toy.
Eishirou.
The girl looked on expressionlessly, before at last tilting her head slightly.
"What's this, what's this? You two know each other?"
"Ah, yeah. We used to be friends, or rather, we're childhood friends."
"Childhood friends...?" Eishirou asked, eyeing them suspiciously.
"Then why didn't you know she was a student here?"
"Well, even if I say we're childhood friends, ever since Saya moved abroad six years ago, we haven't kept in touch."
"Ho~, so that's why there's been no response from that side."
To be sure, even after recognizing Ayato, Saya's expression has barely changed.
"Hmm, how do I put this, the feeling's pretty much the same, so I was rather surprised really."
"Really?"
"...Yeah, really."
"...I sure didn't see anything that looked like surprise."
Saya's "reaction" hadn't even extended to the raising of her eyebrows, prompting Eishirou's question.
"But still, it sure has been a long time. Everything good?" Saya suddenly asked.
"You know, you sure haven't changed one bit, Saya."
Saya vigorously shook her head from left to right.
"...No way. I've grown a bit taller."
"I-I see..."
Still surprised at their sudden reunion, Ayato sized up his childhood friend.
Her eyes were rather large, to the point that the rest of her face didn't leave much of an impression. Her height didn't appear to differ in the least from when they'd parted, and would have been more appropriate for a student in elementary, rather than high school. Her expression didn't seem to change much either. She looked, for lack of a better word, like a rather cute doll.
"You really do look the same..."
"Wrong. It's that you've grown too much."
Saya puffed up her cheeks sulkily.
"...Don't worry about it, though. I've already decided that I'm going to grow as tall as you by next year, so if you just grow a little, we'll make quite the pair," Saya mumbled to herself.
Unfortunately, whatever her thoughts on the matter, closing a gap of 30 centimeters in a year seemed unlikely, if not impossible.
"It sure is a small world, or maybe we should call this a fated reunion?"
"Fated reunion...Mm. You've said something good, Yabuki."
Saya gave him a thumbs-up.
This way of praising others was, similarly, unchanged from before.
"Speaking of which, how's your dad doing?"
Saya's father was a meteoric engineering researcher, specializing in the development of Lux weapons. The reason the Sasamiya family had left the country six years prior was because of his career.
"...In good health, although I wish he'd be a bit more dignified about things."
"Haha, it sounds like he's the same as always then."
Ayato's impression of Saya's father could be summed up in two words: mad scientist.
He remembered even now the uproarious laughter which had filled the Sasamiya household during his past visits.
From what he'd heard, her father was well-regarded in his field, although due to his difficult personality, he'd had to change jobs with fair frequency.
"I came here because Dad wanted me to."
"He did?"
Saya reached out and unholstered her Lux from her uniform.
Activating it, a large gun appeared. From the smoothness of her actions, Ayato could tell how much time she'd spent with it.
"In order to spread the word of Dad's creations."
"Spreading the word, I see..."
Although hardly to the point of being a danger to one's life, Asterisk could hardly be called a safe place. To send his daughter here solely for the sake of spreading the word of his inventions; Ayato found he couldn't approve of his actions.
"It doesn't seem like that decision was just made on a whim. This place is quite well-known, and the potential results you'd see from making things known here are without limit. That is, after all, at least part of the reason the Integrated Enterprise Foundation created this city in the first place," Eishirou cut in to say.
"Are you fine with that, Saya?"
"I have my own reasons for accepting, don't worry," Saya responded, to alleviate Ayato's concerns.
"Hmm, and what reason would that be?"
Eishirou had shifted into reporter mode, with a notepad in one hand and a serious expression on his face.
"That's a secret," Saya said, glancing at Ayato.
"Although half of that reason is already..."
"Hoho~"
Eishirou seemed to have been clued in on something by those words.
"That reminds me, when you first joined the school Sasamiya, you made a request to leave Asterisk. How'd that go?"
Though Asterisk was physically located on Japanese soil, it was legally sovereign land. As such, one who wished to leave the city first had to make a proper request through their school.
"...I haven't gotten permission yet. What about it?"
"Nothing~ It's just that, if I'm not wrong, that request to leave no longer needs to be granted-"
Eishirou's devilish grin was stopped short, as he suddenly closed his mouth in a hurry.
The reason? It was likely a reaction to the barrel of Saya's gun, now leveled at his throat.
"...Let's not say anything unnecessary, alright?"
"Alright~ I understand. I'm sorry. My bad."
With the gun aimed straight at him, Eishirou could only raise his arms in surrender.
"I really have no idea what's going on, but I should point out that, despite her appearance, Saya has something of a temper. It'd be best not to anger her."
"You should have said that sooner."
"Hurry back to your seats, homeroom's starting."
Kyouko greeted the class as she walked in with a sleepy look on her face.
She dragged her bat with the suspicious history across the floor, evoking an ear-piercing screech which filled the students with an unnamed fear.
"You over there, the classroom's no place to be waving around your weapon- Wait, aren't you Sasamiya?"
"...Good morning."
"Why didn't you come to class yesterday? You better have a good reason."
Kyouko stomped over to stand rudely in Saya's face, folding her arms as she awaited a response.
"...I overslept."
"Hahaha! So you overslept, is that all?"
~thump!~
"...it hurts..."
"You idiot! How many times is this now? You're going to make up those classes on your next break."
Having been struck on the head, Saya's expression was, for the most part unchanged. From the corners of her eyes, however, tears began to form.
"Ha...It seems you're still bad with mornings."
"...My blanket's too cozy; I can't help it."
"..."
As Ayato and Saya chatted, Julis, in the seat next over, idly observed their antics.
✱
After class, that same day.
"...Hmm, something like this, I guess?"
Julis mumbled to herself as she double-checked her appearance in the restroom mirror.
The reflection staring back at her was beautiful, with hair that she wasn't all that fond of, and an immaculate uniform.
Maybe she was being oversensitive, but the state of her dress was a matter of proper etiquette. If her attire wasn't all in order, then she couldn't calm down. If that person hadn't made such comments before, then she wouldn't be paying such careful attention to this. Yeah, that was the case.
Telling herself this, Julis exited the bathroom and returned to the classroom.
Though there weren't any other students left, Ayato remained in his normal seat, conversing and laughing with Saya.
Since this was their joyful reunion after having been parted for some number of years, this kind of joyful conversation was to be expected.
Despite understanding this in her mind, for some reason, Julis' heart just wouldn't calm down.
"So, um, are you ready to go?"
"Oh, Julis. I sure am. Please lead the way."
"I-It can't be helped. A promise is a promise."
Julis deliberately turned away, although she continued to watch Ayato out of the corner of her eye.
Outwardly, she wore an unhurried expression which radiated calm.
But inside, as she remembered the earnest look in his eyes as he'd saved her, her heart was a raging storm.
Her heart seemed to tie itself into knots as she struggled to understand what she felt. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"...Promise?"
Overhearing their words, Saya asked in surprise.
"I'd asked Julis to show me around campus."
"Riessfeld? Why?"
"Well, it's complicated. Either way, it has nothing to do with you, Sasamiya."
"...grr-"
Saya frowned unhappily.
"Let's go."
"Alright. See you tomorrow Saya."
"...Wait just a moment. If that's all he needs, then I'll be the one to show him around."
"What!?"
"Huh?"
This abrupt declaration left both Ayato and Julis speechless.
"I'm sorry, but we'll have to decline that offer. I refuse to back out on a promise."
"...Given how little you seem to want to show Ayato around, it seems best that I do so instead."
"W-who said anything about not wanting to show him around?! For starters, Sasamiya, you've only been a student here for a year. In comparison, I've been here since junior high. Which one of us is more appropriate should be obvious."
Sparks seemed to fly between the two of them.
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"Um, listen here you two..."
Although Ayato tried to calm things down, neither party paid him the slightest bit of attention.
"Oh, well if that's how we're judging things, then I'm clearly the most suited for the job."
"Wha...!?"
Having appeared at some unknown point in time, Claudia spoke, as she stuck her head out from behind Ayato.
She held Ayato in her arms, her breasts pressed directly against his back.
At the sight of this scene, Julis and Saya's expressions grew more horrifying yet.
"Julis only transferred here in her third year of junior high. I started here."
"...Who're you?"
"What're you doing here?"
"Actually, strike that. Get out of here, Claudia!"
"Oh my. How terribly cold. It's such a rare opportunity, why don't I join in?"
"...No thanks."
"I decline."
"Alas, how unfortunate. Well then, there's the matter of the task for which I came. Everyone else, please stand back."
Claudia looked quite disappointed as she left her position on Ayato's back, instead handing him a file.
"Your appointment for Ogre Lux selection and compatibility testing has been determined. It will take place tomorrow. Please read over this document, and if you agree, sign here."
"Oh, that."
Although the appointment's date of the following day was rather sudden, it was a good opportunity to verify for himself whether or not the Ogre Lux in question had really been used by his sister. An opportunity he couldn't afford to pass up.
"I understand. That said, there's quite a lot here."
The document was over ten pages in length, with each page densely packed with words.
"What you're dealing with is Integrated Enterprise Foundation property, after all. Even if it's all just a formality, the preceding requirements process is looooong."
"The student council president herself is hand-delivering paperwork; it almost makes one think how leisurely the student council must be."
"Yep. This way we can ensure that all of our students are growing up to be good boys and girls."
Claudia cleverly dealt with Julis' sarcasm.
"...Claudia and Julis are good friends?"
"Just so."
"100% wrong."
At the simultaneous, yet completely constrasting answers, Ayato tilted his head in confusion.
"My, how terribly distant."
"We met a few times at the Wiener Opernball[1]. That's it. End of story."