"Haah—"
In the morning classroom, Takamiya Shinji rested his chin in his hand and could not help letting out a long, faint sigh.
Looking out the window, the wasteland created by the spacequake had beco like a part of the scenery, blending into daily life. Even if one did not want to admit it, they had to accept reality.
Although Shinji had never been particularly fond of going to school, he had not felt this heavy before. The mont he entered school, he could look over the buildings from a higher elevation and gaze at the city as a whole.
It felt as though he had been pulled out of a light and fluffy dream and dragged back into reality.
"Please, Shinji. Don't start sighing first thing in the morning, okay? You're making feel gloomy too."
At that mont, Tatsuo entered the classroom and smiled wryly at him.
"Morning, Tatsuo."
"Morning."
After nodding in reply, Tatsuo put down his bag, sat in his seat, and looked around the classroom.
"Yeah… There are a lot fewer people. Quite a few moved away."
After giving a simple agreent, Shinji could not help sighing again.
Of course, among them were also so students who had vanished along with the streets in the spacequake. Ordinarily, flowers for morial purposes would have been placed on the desks of those students, but if that number of flowers were actually placed there, even the most studious honor student would probably lose all desire to study.
The rest were students who had not yet adjusted emotionally and were bedridden, as well as so who had moved away out of fear that another spacequake might happen.
Even so, ti could not flow backward. They were only students who had not yet grown up. Even if they lanted it, there was nothing they could do. The only thing they could do was pick up the remnants of daily life and continue living.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Speaking of which, did you see the news last night?"
"No. Was there anything special?"
Shinji shook his head and asked in confusion.
"I heard that an overseas company called DEM has already developed a spacequake warning system, and they've designed underground shelters against spacequakes. The governnt seems to be negotiating with them to introduce that system into the country."
"Oh, really?"
Hearing this news, Shinji raised his brows in surprise.
"Well, the exact timing still isn't clear, but if it's introduced, then even if a spacequake happens, people will be able to evacuate in advance."
Tatsuo shrugged.
"I see. If that works, that would be great."
It could be considered a blessing amid misfortune. Shinji let out a relieved breath.
(Co to think of it, are spacequakes still happening anywhere else in the world right now?)
Shinji could not help thinking.
He had already lived with Mio for more than a month. Aside from occasionally using her special powers, Mio lived like an ordinary person at all other tis. She had not caused a spacequake, nor had anything terrible happened. In fact, during this period, there had been no news about spacequakes happening anywhere else either.
Could it be that the spacequake problem had actually already been solved by him?
As soon as the thought appeared, Shinji wordlessly denied it. Although he sotis indulged in unrealistic fantasies, he was not so arrogant as to consider himself the savior of the world. If simply taking Mio in, going on a date with her, and then starting to date her was enough to save the world, then the world would be far too cheap.
(Although Mio hasn't said so, maybe there are other Spirits in this world who can cause spacequakes…)
Recalling the spacequake from that ti made chills run down Shinji's back. Back then, it had been sheer luck that he had not stepped into the spacequake's area of effect. If he had taken even one wrong step, he might have already beco a morial tablet enshrined at ho. From that perspective, DEM developing counterasures really was a great help.
(Hm? Could DEM know that spacequakes are related to Spirits?)
Suddenly, such a question surfaced in Shinji's mind.
"By the way, is the na DEM an abbreviation for sothing?"
"No idea. I didn't pay attention."
Tatsuo shook his head.
"DEM… Deus Ex Machina… Latin for 'God from the machine'… A divine force that appears in a story to instantly overturn the situation and reverse heaven and earth…"
Shinji could not help lowering his head in thought, muttering to himself. In response, a drop of cold sweat appeared on Tatsuo's forehead.
"Hey, hey~ Takamiya-kun—your chuunibyou aura is leaking out."
"I-It is not! I already graduated from that! I was just joking."
Shinji coughed awkwardly. Tatsuo considerately chose to pretend he had not seen anything and continued.
"But I think I saw a conspiracy theory online. It said DEM staged everything themselves… that after creating so kind of weapon capable of producing spacequakes, they then released warning systems and other technology to profit from disaster."
"That—"
"Is what you said true?"
Before Shinji could give his thoughts, the class trio—Ako, Mako, and Miko—had sohow gathered beside their desks.
(Author: These three are obviously the mothers of Shido's class's trio =.=)
(TL: need fact check on this)
"I see. I knew there was sothing suspicious about this. So soone really is working behind the scenes!"
"Making money from other people's lives… How inhuman."
"That's gross"
"W-Well now, calm down, you three. It's just a rumor. There's no evidence at all."
Noticing that the classmates had begun discussing the topic one after another, Tatsuo's head filled with cold sweat. In his desperation, he suddenly locked his eyes onto Shinji.
"Shinji~"
"W-What is it?"
Shinji had a bad feeling.
"I heard that last Sunday, you went on a date with an extrely beautiful silver haired girl, right?"
"Pfft—"
Shinji could not help spraying out, then stared at Tatsuo in astonishnt.
"Who… who did you hear that from?"
"Haruko. She ssaged last night and said you two seem to have beco a couple. Congratulations~"
The corners of Tatsuo's mouth lifted slightly.
"Oho, what's this? Takamiya-kun has a girlfriend, and a foreign beauty at that?"
"What does she look like? What's her personality like? How far have you two gone?"
"That's gross!"
The trio, who just one second ago had been filled with righteous indignation and speaking up against the darkness of society, instantly threw that matter to the back of their minds and interrogated Shinji with faces full of gossip.
Only then did Shinji realize that Tatsuo had intended to secretly divert the fire toward him, using his romantic gossip to bury the previous topic.
"Ta-Tatsuo, you bastard—"
"Incidentally, this is a photo Haruko sent of Shinji's girlfriend~"
In an instant, the classroom exploded.
"Aaah, damn it! Where did this fairy co from?!"
"Takamiya, you bastard! I thought we agreed we'd stay single together until thirty, beco wizards, and reincarnate into another world!"
"Burn him! We absolutely have to burn him!"
"Stand still! Take off your pants!"
"Wait! You guys—"
Just as Tatsuo hoped, until horoom began, Shinji remained under the concentrated bombardnt of his classmates.
________
After School
"Damn it… That Tatsuo bastard. When he starts dating Haruko, I'll make sure the whole world knows."
After finally enduring until school ended, Shinji swore through gritted teeth on his way ho.
However, although he was unhappy that his bad friend had drawn fire onto him, he had still secretly kept Tatsuo's words in mind.
(DEM… If I rember right, it's a company in London. Mio also said… the people she saw before all spoke English.)
"A company that appears to be a good hearted enterprise saving people from danger on the surface, but is actually the final boss bringing darkness to the world to satisfy its own selfish desires… huh… haha…"
Shinji could not help laughing wryly. The matter sounded exactly like sothing that would only appear in a novel.
However, Shinji could not dismiss it as a re rumor with a laugh. After all, he had indeed found Mio in a hell where there should not have been a single soul.
Because he was too focused on thinking and forgot to watch the road, Shinji accidentally bumped into soone and stopped.
"Ah, sorry…"
Shinji's expression imdiately stiffened.
Before him stood a burly bald man over two ters tall, dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses. He looked like soone who had walked straight out of an action movie, completely out of place in this town.
If he had not been thinking and failed to watch where he was going, Shinji would definitely have taken a detour around him.
"Excuse … have you… seen… the girl in this photo?"
Speaking in awkward Japanese, the man in black handed a photograph to Shinji.
"—?!"
Shinji's heart suddenly jumped.
The reason was simple. The silver haired girl in the photo, naked and glowing with divine light, was none other than Mio.
"…I haven't. What is this? An actress from so movie?"
Struggling not to let his agitation show, Shinji shook his head and denied it.
"I see… then… never mind."
The man in black did not seem to suspect him. He rely sighed in disappointnt, then turned around and continued asking other people.
(Soone is looking for Mio… Could it be… DEM?)
—Thump! —Thump!
His heartbeat echoed in his ears like thunder. Shinji began sweating all over as if he had just ridden a roller coaster.
Gradually, an ominous premonition rose in his heart. Fear and impatience injected themselves into his brain like anesthetic, making his hands and feet go cold.
(…Mio.)
With anxiety in his heart, Shinji headed ho.
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