The area was a corridor that overlooked the athletics stadium. Vending machines lined the corridor, and benches were installed all over the place.
There, sporadically, sportsmen could be seen wiping off their sweat and taking a break. As it was a holiday, the school students were putting their all into field sports on the ground.
They were busily practicing various sports such as high jump, long jump, and shot put. The sound of the brass band from the huge club building behind them echoed throughout the area.
It was truly a typical scene of academy life. In such a spacious place, Kakko, Hisui, and I were behaving like academy school students.
"That's all," Kakko and Hisui read their investigation report to me.
"I see... Thank you. I'm sorry about yesterday. I broke my promise," I said.
"No problem at all," they replied.
"It's impressive that you defeated the beasts last night," I said.
"Oh, yeah," they both didn't seem to mind.
I'm glad I didn't become a hopeless liar.
"Well then, let's disband today. It's our day off," I said, trying to conceal my discomfort.
"Understood," they said.
"Roger," they smiled at each other, seemingly thinking "is our work today over?"
"Well then, if anything happens, please let me know. Please continue to look for Yamamoto," I said.
"Yes, sir!" they replied.
"Here you go. This is your investigation fee and salary," I said, taking out two envelopes from my pocket and handing them over to the two.
"That...that's not necessary," they said.
"As Kakko said, we don't need it," Hisui added.
"No, it's okay. I'm not a black business owner. This kind of thing goes against my principles. This is just a gesture of goodwill."
I know full well that giving them this won't make any difference since they're my comrades. But money is important. From now on, I'll be entrusting these two with various tasks and it will cost money.
This is just my ego speaking. Besides, this money isn't even really earned by me...
"No, but..."
"Go ahead and enjoy something delicious. Think of it as my treat," I forced the envelope into their hands.
"Uh, okay..."
"Kakko-san, let's accept Master's kindness."
"Yes, you're right."
Reluctantly, they seemed to agree.
After bidding farewell to the two, I bought some coffee from a vending machine.
"Hisui-san, how about some tea later?"
I heard Kakko-san awkwardly make the suggestion.
"Kakko-san, that's a good idea."
"Excellent!" Kakko-san clenched his fist.
"Really, what an interesting person," Hisui-san smiled at Kakko-san's back.
"Those two have strangely become good friends. I'm glad the workplace environment is good," I thought to myself as I watched the two chatting and laughing with each other.
"But anyway... the user of the Magic Eyes."
Poor Man has been missing for a few months now. Locksmith is on a long-term vacation, apparently.
The grave of the other Mystic Eye holder has been found, and their death has been confirmed. The body is no longer in this world.
In other words, they are already deceased.
So the Thousand-Mile Eye was the work of Poor Man... That's how it seems. The whereabouts of Poor Man are essentially unknown. Further investigation would likely yield the same results.
My secret unit is small, and funding is limited. The mystery deepens, but the investigation is on hold for now.
"I need to contact the suspicious Move Man again," I thought to myself, taking a sip of my coffee.
As I watched the youthful days of my fellow schoolmates, I began to plan my upcoming schedule in my head.
After sending the staged video, I received a flurry of phone calls and emails.
To put it simply, I was scolded.
Oh well, that's me.
I was disappointed in myself.
There's not much time left until the class competition.
It's happening this week, and we have to win.
"I'll reinstate Moridori's position and avoid being expelled," I thought to myself.
After the class competition, there's a mid-term exam involving all students at Mahoro Academy.
Once that's over, it'll be summer break.
I need to get that thing during summer break.
Once I have it, I'll immediately take care of my work and become one of the strongest in this world.
I was thinking about my plans or rather, my meta.
"In Game Megashuva, the first term is focused on training and meeting heroines. During summer break, only fanservice events or casual events occur. It's more of a chopstick-resting period."
It's a common trope. Most anime, movies, and novels have a tough season, usually winter, where strong enemies tend to appear.In fact, the final boss fight only happens in winter. Although some works have summer battles, Megashuva is different. There's also the issue of clothing. That's the crucial point, I think. Wearing long sleeves or layered clothing looks cooler.That's why there aren't many battle events during the summer.
There are a few, but they're mostly just obligatory events. Fighting in short sleeves during the summer doesn't look that impressive. This is all because of the creator's preference.
You know, there's a work that's mainly focused on the summer.
I think that stories about loops, youth, and romance shine in the summer. Scenes expressing the nuances of emotions through summer rain and cumulonimbus clouds are also easy to create. Festivals, the beach, and events with yukata and swimsuits are all treasure troves. Summer's bright atmosphere makes it easy to depict the contrast between the tranquility and suspense of the story. It can also be used to create eerie effects as a metaphor.
After all, events like romantic and youth ones are the protagonist's privileges.
Combat scenes tend to have a more despairing feel when set against backgrounds like snow and withered trees, or when a bombing occurs on Christmas - it's just a cliche.
There are invisible conventions, such as expressing ominous premonitions or a heroine's feelings through seasons and weather.
What I really want to say is "give me a break."
Then, after enduring the harsh winter, spring arrives in the epilogue, and it becomes a happy ending. It's the same with Megashuva - it's a cliche game where winter is the final battle, and the bosses all appear at that time.
Anyway, what I mean is that summer is practically my last free time.
I'll evolve in the summer, go on a training journey to meet stronger people than me.
The enemies in the Megashuva universe don't appear in the summer to be considerate. I'm a mob, so I don't experience any erotic or easygoing events.
This is the perfect time to train myself properly.
I'll collect all the summer events in Megashuva and take advantage of every opportunity. The summer event offers rare items and special abilities.
And then...
There are collaborative events that only the top players know about in this world. As grandfather ever said to me, "if you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss."
I'll definitely collect the power outside the world view of Megashuva - the supernatural powers, arts, skills, and weapons that don't fall under any of these categories.
I have planned to obtain the "Angolmois Comet Mechanism," "Olbers' Paradox," and "Cherenkov Light."
There are still many things to do, such as building a party, but it's only the halfway point of the first semester. The story of Megashuva hasn't progressed at all.
In general, the story progresses slowly until summer in Megashuva.
"I'm still okay. There's no need to rush. Let's start by trying to keep Maria happy today."
I had been dealing with various things lately, and I had to tell myself this to calm down.
Today, I'm supposed to start training Maria in the afternoon. After sending her a fake video yesterday, she bombarded me with phone calls and begged me to train her. We'll be going into the dungeon together.
"There's a chance that Komachi and Chiaki may not get along. It would be more efficient to train them together, but the methods for training close-range and long-range fighters are slightly different. Oh well, we'll have to think about our party combination from now on."
In the game's story, Maria was a character who was brave, arrogant, prideful, and cast a dark shadow. She had a harsh personality, and a bad ending was promised for her at the end of the story. As a result, she wasn't popular with Megashuva players.
"I feel like her personality has become somewhat strange after the future was changed."
Or maybe her behavior has become quite strange...
"Let's pull ourselves together."
Although I didn't feel like it after what happened yesterday, if I broke my promise with Maria, I'd have nowhere to go.
"Come on, let's do our best."
I try to encourage myself. Lately, I've been encouraging myself a lot. To be honest, maybe I'm reaching the end of my rope emotionally.
Let's pull ourselves together.
The second hand was about to hit the top soon.
"Let's do the hellish circuit as long as time permits..."
I'll raise Maria's level as much as possible today.
"I feel like I'm forgetting something... Oh well, never mind."