Chapter 62 62: The School Trip
"What a shame, Ellen."
Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, the Managing Director and top executive of DEM Industries, was walking through the Tengu City AST base.
Hearing that a Wizard had activated DW-029, Annihilation Armament: White Licorice, and successfully destroyed several clones of Nightmare, and since he already had plans to visit Japan, he decided to meet this Wizard. He tried to recruit her into DEM, but was turned down.
"If we applied a slight adjustment to her, she might have even become an existence that surpasses you, the strongest Wizard, Ellen Mathers."
Thinking about Origami's rejection, Westcott sounded regretful. However, judging by his tone, he didn't seem to genuinely care about the loss.
"..."
Walking beside Ike, Ellen remained silent. Even though she knew he was joking, it still put her in a bad mood.
"By the way, Ike, there is some interesting intel in this base."
Ellen handed him a file.
"Intel?"
"Yes. A Spirit with codename Princess, who manifested several times near the Kanto border, and a Spirit codename Miko, who escaped capture, both dropped off the radar a few months ago. You should have already received the report."
"Ah, I heard about that. But there's nothing special about..."
A Spirit going Lost was a very common occurrence. However, when Westcott opened the file Ellen handed him, his expression stiffened.
Inside were photos of two beautiful girls you could never forget once you saw them. There was no mistaking it, but...
"These are Princess and Miko? Don't tell me they're going to high school?"
The photos showed the two Spirits, but they were wearing high school uniforms.
"Their names seem to be Yatogami Tohka and Yakumo Mikoto. Because their last confirmed sightings were both in Tengu City, we managed to acquire some of the AST's local intel in exchange for granting them permission to use White Licorice."
"What is the AST's response?"
"They're monitoring them from a distance using a few DS-06 units."
"Are they idiots?"
Hearing Ellen's answer, Westcott pinched the bridge of his nose in disbelief.
"They used low accuracy, vehicle mounted observation equipment and concluded they were just lookalikes?"
"If necessary, we can request a re evaluation."
"No, no need. If we leave it to them, the best they'll do is something equivalent to a health checkup."
Westcott shook his head.
"Isn't this a perfect opportunity? We will handle this ourselves."
Flipping through the file, the corners of Westcott's mouth curled up into a smile.
"Princess aside, as for Miko... it might be a bit too much for you to handle alone, Ellen. Since you've fought her before, you'll need a disguise."
Westcott's words made Ellen frown in displeasure, but she didn't argue. In truth, precisely because she had fought Miko once, she knew perfectly well that she couldn't do anything against that Angel alone.
"We'll throw in Arbatel for support. Oh, and you can take the Bandersnatch units too. I'll leave everything to you, Ellen. You are the world's strongest Wizard, Ellen Mira Mathers. I'm sure you can pull it off. After all, your opponents are Spirits that can slaughter the world."
"Of course. No matter the enemy, I will never lose."
Hearing Ellen's confident reply, Westcott laughed happily.
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As final exams came to an end, the school trip arrived even before summer vacation officially began. During homeroom, Tama-chan-sensei announced that their destination had been changed from Okinawa to a place called Arubi Island.
[Well, as long as there's an ocean, it doesn't matter] Shido,and most of the class thought the same.
Compared to the change in destination, Shido was much more panicked about the fact that Tohka had tried to dress up as a boy just so she could share a room with him.
"Oh, right, right. There's one more thing. Umm... please come in."
Hearing Tama-chan-sensei's words, Shido looked up curiously. But when he saw the girl who walked in, he completely froze.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Yakumo Mikoto from Class 3-2. I look forward to spending time with you."
The girl bowed politely and introduced herself.
"No way! Is that Yakumo-senpai from the third year!?"
"Why is she here!?"
"Don't tell me she's coming on the school trip with us!?"
In an instant, the entire classroom—especially the boys—erupted into an uproar.
"Umm... everyone... please quiet down. Due to certain circumstances, Yakumo-san has never been on a school trip before. To make up for that, she asked to join our trip to Arubi Island" Tama-chan-sensei had to shout over the noisy classroom to explain. As a result...
"Awesome!"
"All hail Senpai! All hail Senpai!"
"My prayers at the shrine definitely worked! Shrine Maiden Senpai is the best! Shrine Maiden Senpai is the best!"
Once it was confirmed that Mikoto was joining the trip, the classroom got even louder.
"Umm... Yakumo-san, why don't you take the seat next to Itsuka-kun for now? Next, we'll go over the rules for the school trip."
The moment Tama-chan-sensei said that, the entire class fell dead silent. The boys turned their heads in unison, locking their death glares right onto Shido.
"Tch, it's that riajuu Itsuka again."
"Senpai, please don't be fooled by that guy's harmless looking face!"
"That's right! That's right! That guy already has Tonomachi, he's basically just a closet pervert! Don't let him trick you, Tohka-chan and Senpai!"
In a flash, the flames of jealousy scorched Shido from all sides.
[Ahaha... Shido has it tough too] Mikoto smiled wryly in her mind. Just as she thought, even on a school trip, it was better to pretend they didn't know each other.
With that thought, she walked over and sat down next to Shido. Giving him a polite, stranger like nod, she turned her attention to Tama-chan-sensei and listened to the trip guidelines.
"By the way, you're free to choose your own seats on the plane" Tama-chan-sensei announced at the end.
[Seats, huh...]
Even though she really wanted to sit with Shido, since they were pretending to be strangers, she figured it would be better to wait until everyone picked their seats and just take whatever was left over.
However...
"Mikoto! Come here, come here! If you sit here, it'll be exactly three people—Shido, you, and me!"
Tohka, sitting on Shido's other side, yelled out happily.
[Oh no!]
The moment Tohka spoke, alarm bells went off in Shido's head. He and Mikoto were playing the "we're strangers" act at school, but Tohka had no idea. Shido had always used the excuse of "it's not good to wander into the senior classrooms" to stop Tohka from visiting Mikoto at school. But now...
"Wait, Tohka. Isn't it a bit rude to invite Senpai when you've supposedly just met her?" Shido forced a dry laugh, trying to cover it up under the intense, suspicious glares of his classmates.
"Just met her? What are you talking about, Shido? Doesn't Mikoto come to our house to cook every single day? She even made lunch for us today!"
Missing the mood entirely, Tohka tilted her head and completely threw Shido under the bus.
"Cook!?"
"Every day!?"
"Lunch for today!?"
Gluck! Gluck! Gluck! In an instant, glares filled with murderous jealousy pierced him like a barrage of daggers.
If looks could kill, he would have died dozens of times over by now. At least, that was what Shido thought at the time.