"Now, could you tell me about yourself?" She asked,
"I don't know... Yeah..." Ryo answered nonchalantly.
"You don't know?"
"Yeah...." Tsubasa looked at him for a few seconds, before deciding to leave him be.
"I see. Well, it was nice talking to you. I hope we get to know each other during the test activity." She smiled, before turning to the front.
Ryo lets out a sigh of relief, relieved that the conversation finally died. Getting to know people and talking to them is his weakness, and as such, as he talks, his social battery easily runs out.
However, this doesn't hinder his observations.
He carefully looked at each of the students here.
He first noticed someone he recognized, Atsumasa Ayumi, the victim of the recent exousia stone incident.
She looks like she recovered. Her face was straight and serious.
Another person is Hanemura Keina, the person who gave him cookies as a thanks.
Then, there's the partners, Aoki Reina, and Tokita Souta, sitting beside each other.
And there's a bunch of new faces, all with their distinct looks and features.
Suddenly, the door opened, and entering was Asahi.
"Alright, did you all get to know each other? Or not. I noticed that none of you talked to each other, so let's do something fun."
Asahi brought out the spherical ball he used earlier. Then, by pressing a certain button, a hologram appeared, presenting a gem of some sort.
"This is a gem, and before the class started, I gave given this to a person here. Of course, they didn't even know what the purpose of this gem was. The mechanics are easy, all of you must find out who has the gem. If you find out who that person is, you'll get to have 50 points. However, if the person manages to hide themselves, they win 100 points. Of course, losers have no points. The time allotted for this will be an hour. The moment I leave will be the signal that your hour started. Place the gem on my table once you all find it, and register the name of the holder in the keyboard hologram on the table too."
He flashed a smirk, before eventually opening the door and leaving.
"Now then, let's see how things unfold." Ryo thought.
Q
Not more than a few minutes, a person stepped up in front.
"Since no one is stepping up, I'll initiate. I'm Candi Aeneias."
A girl, with single-braided blue hair, wearing a cropped-top version of their white uniform, and a red jacket. Her eyes were brown, and she had a red sticker on her cheeks.
"How does everyone like to go down with this?" Interrogation? Searching?"
One of the students raised their hand in agreement.
"Searching, I think, yeah, let's do that."
It was Atsumasa Ayumi, laying her chin down on her hand, with a serious look on her face.
With no one disagreeing, the suggestion proceeded. To avoid any gimmicks, another person must be the one to rummage through the bag. The process continued for a whole 15 minutes, before eventually, the results turned empty.
Of course, hiding a gem plainly in just bags is stupid. But even so, that's also logical. In a classroom missing cabinets, and other pieces of furniture to store things, there aren't many places to hide things around.
"Now that bags are out of the way, let's try conducting a body search," Candi suggested once again,
The idea itself isn't bad, however, most of the students disagreed.
"Okay, what then?"
Reina raised her hand.
"Let's try to detect them using magic."
"Magic, you say?" Candi replied with interest.
"Yes. My good friend here beside me-" she pertained at Souta, "has the right magic fitting for this."
Candi nodded, and no one had violent reactions.
Reina promptly signaled Souta. He stood up in front, and raised his hand, his palms facing downwards.
Soon, a bluish, 2d pentagon-shaped magic appeared under his palms. Then, it spun around rapidly, and in the next second, it dispersed into small dusts, floating in the air motionless.
Then, it slowly moved altogether towards a single destination. That destination was the front uniform pocket of the student in front of Ryo.
Tsubasa Rin.
"W-What? Why me?" She blurted out, looking surprised and disbelieved.
"Could you please take out the item detected by my dusts?" Souta coldly asked.
Tsubasa felt like she had no choice. She slowly reached into her front uniform pocket and brought out a crimson gem shard.
"Ooohhhh" Candi slowly walked up to Tsubasa,
"T-This is not the gem given by Asahi-Sensei." Tsubasa protested, keeping a tight hold of the shard in her hand.
"Let's test it out!" Candi insisted. Tsubasa felt like this was a must. She can't prove her innocence unless she has a piece of evidence.
Candi took the shard from. Tsubasa walked over to the teacher's desk. Just like what Asahi-Sensei instructed.
Then, she typed Tsubasa's name, despite not even having to talk to her yet.
"M-My name is-" Tsubasa yelled out, however, she was cut off by Candi.
"Yeah, Tsubasa Rin, I know."
"O-Oh,"
She wondered in confusion as to how Candi knew her name. They weren't classmates, nor affiliated, nor they've talked.
Candi typed Tsubasa's name, and a beep sound echoed throughout. Then, Asahi's pre-recorded voice spoke, uttering the word "wrong".
"Oh, it's not." Candi disappointedly uttered, as she went back and returned the gem shard to Tsubasa.
Ryo looked at them.
Ryo POV
If a tracking-magic couldn't detect the gem, then there's a high possibility that the gem is concealed in a magic that makes it undetectable.
However, as far as I know, only a few types of magic do that.
Common, or the primary magic types alone can't do such a thing, even if pushed to its furthest limits.
There are things called "Artificial Magic", which is basically an own-made type of magic, which could be made from a combination of different things, and even surgery.
Then, one solution could be to know each individual's aptitude, and from there, it'll be easier to know who could be the potential suspects.
That could work. If it doesn't, it simply means this was all but a fluke. There's nothing more to do.
That being said,
I could use Tsubasa.
"Hey," I tapped her on the shoulders.
"Yes?"
"What is that crystal for?" I asked, trying to sound interested as much as possible.
"Oh, these? I use this to control my magic abilities."
"Oh, what's your magic then?"
"I have control over gems."
"What kind?"
"Any kind, as far as I experienced. As long as I have connections to them, I could control them."
That could be a way to identify the gem holder further.
"Can you detect the gem?"
"No... since I don't have any contact with it, I can't."
Then, that could work.
"Then, you'll be the key."
"W-What?" She blurted out in confusion.
"Wouldn't it be amazing if you could figure out the answer?" I asked,
"Yeah, it would be."
"Then,"
I raised my hand up, "Excuse me, Tsubasa-san here has an idea."
I could see the look on her bewildered face in the corner of my eye as she tried to stop me. However, ignoring her, I looked over to Candi.
"She says that there could be a chance that the gem is hidden by magic."
"Ooh, magic, she says?" Candi looked intrigued.
"What was that for, Kyosuke-san?" Tsubasa asked, frowning her eyebrows and looking at me in disbelief.
"Sorry, you're the one who gave me an idea," I replied.
She murmured several things, stating her confusion, however, that didn't matter.
Now that the idea is sparked, this will go down on a positive note.
Soon, Reina agreed with an idea proposed by Kyouko. A checking of each of our aptitudes.
But, mere words won't be enough. The human tongue lies, and that'll be an ugly hassle.
We need to use a device to verify the true magic aptitude of a person.
Kyouko volunteered, as she has one.
It was a ball, futuristic and white. Kyouko walked over and handed it over to Candi.
The first ones to be tested were the ones sitting in front.
The testing proceeded for about 10 minutes.
And in that course, 4 people persistently denied being tested.
Firstly, there is a girl named Agatha something. I don't exactly remember her full name.
Then, A boy named Aikawa,
A girl named Harutani,
And lastly, Hanemura Keina.
"Even if everyone gets tested, there's no actual way to know if they have the gem, right?" Aikawa said, uninterested and annoyed.
Agatha, she doesn't speak. She only nodded her head and used basic hand signs.
Aikawa, is against the idea of having the inspection, labeling it as useless.
Harutani declines for the reason that will all due respect, she just doesn't care about points, and hence, is uninterested in the given topic.
And lastly, Hanemura Keina reasons that there are several problems with her aptitude and that she can't use the device.
Out of all these four, the most plausible one is Keina. Aptitude problems could occur with one's health or well-being. And considering the fact that she wasn't able to defend herself from those gangsters, it's very unlikely that she has a unique, powerful magic.
The others who agreed have an aptitude that doesn't relate to concealments at all. It isn't possible that they've used a device or a concealing stone to hide the gem, as the school prohibits it, so it's very likely that it is hidden through a natural, human magic aptitude.
Then, now that the numbers are down to three, it will be easier.
I looked at them closely...
The more I stare, the more I realize. And by a few minutes, I've figured out who it is.
There are a few ways to deal with this, but the best one will be...
Suddenly, as I was pondering, Reina stood up and walked towards the back of the classroom, and towards behind me.
Then, she lowers her head. "Any clues?" She asked with that playful smile of hers.
"I have none," I replied,
"That's a cute lie you have there." She giggled,
"I'm telling the truth."
"The answer lies in the still air around that person. I'm sure you also noticed it, despite it being almost unseen through the naked eye."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Persistent."
I thought she was about to leave when she straightened up, and was about to walk back to her seat. However, in the next second, at the speed I almost couldn't follow, she grabbed the gun from the person sitting beside me, and fired it infront, directly above Agatha.
The bullet should have gone in a straight direction, with a constant speed. However, upon reaching the point above Agatha's head, the bullet very slightly slowed down, implying that there was an invisible zone there that slowed the trajectory down.
Everyone was surprised, and shocked, especially Agatha, who slowly turned around, and looked at Reina with narrowed, annoyed eyes.
"The curtains fell off, and that right there... Is the culprit." Reina declared with her easy-going voice and taunting expression.