Chapter 65: A Secret Plan

And so, the engagement has been called off.

Well, not that I’ve actually sat down and talked things out with Nurikae-san yet, but I did get Father’s permission, so at this point it’s as good as settled.

Maybe it was because he couldn’t really say, “Uh, wait a minute…” right after everything that happened earlier, but when Reicia-chan begged him, Father practically jumped at the chance to say, “Sure, sure, no problem!”

Still… when I see Reicia-chan’s methods up close, they’re terrifying. I mean, back when I was on the verge of disappearing, she just threw away the entire cover story I’d prepared and gathered everyone—both the faction members and the magic side people, the Kamijou family, Misaka-san, and even Heaven Canceller, the doctor who sends people back from the brink.

Thinking about it calmly now… that’s an insane lineup. The fact that she could pull all that off for someone like me means she’s ridiculously skilled at this sort of thing. I already knew she was good, but still…

《Fufun. Well? What do you think of this seamlessly elegant sequence of events? Have you perhaps come to think a little better of me?》

《Mm. Rather than “think better of you”… I think I’ve fallen for you all over again.》

Not that I didn’t already know Reicia-chan was amazing.

《O… oh, is that so? …Fufun.》

She’s probably happy to be praised. Leaving the slightly smug Reicia-chan aside for the moment—

“So… it’s finally time, huh?”

It was just past two in the afternoon.

After finishing the last event, we’d wrapped up lunch break and were now gearing up for the next competition: Tamaire—the ball toss.

Incidentally, the obstacle race earlier had—predictably—been a total landslide for Tokiwadai Middle School.

Apparently, all the schools had thrown their strongest members at us, but none of them could match up to the other GMDW members or Kongou-san.

…Well, personally, I’d be in trouble if people at the level of Yumiya-san, Maria-san, or Saten-san started popping up one after another. Actually, Academy City has a surprising number of people you can’t underestimate… like Kuriba-san, for example.

It’s possible that some of the people I saw for the first time today might, sooner or later, show up in the “true” history. With personalities this strong, I wouldn’t be surprised.

《We’ve neatly pushed dealing with Nurikae Onrei onto your father, and the Daihaseisai is going smoothly, isn’t it~》

《Though we can’t use the “Kamijou-kun boyfriend strategy” anymore.》

The whole reason for making Kamijou-kun into a fake boyfriend in the first place was to break off my engagement with Nurikae-san.

If Father’s going to handle that for us without any scheming, then we have no reason to fake a relationship with Kamijou-kun anymore.

Honestly, I’m kind of relieved about that.

Like Kamijou-kun says, pretending to be lovers feels… insincere. If I’m going to fall in love, I’d rather do it honestly, head-on, than with some dishonest façade.

《Says the virgin.》

《I-I-I am not a virgin!!》

Wait, wait, wait—why am I suddenly getting called that!?

《You’re probably thinking something like, “It’s not right to be insincere, so I’m relieved, actually,” right?》

How does she know that…?

《First off!! The rivals are insanely strong! We’re talking about a tsundere girl blessed by the world itself, the “official heroine” he’s currently living with, and—well, we can ignore the mysterious girl who pops in out of nowhere and is never noticed—but then there’s the “kindred spirit” who’s spent tens of thousands of years alone with him in their own private world! None of these people fight fair!!》

《…When you put it like that…》

Yeah… with a lineup like that, starting from the distance of just “a normal female friend” feels like you’d need some extra something to bridge the gap. Also, I really should apologize to Shokuhou-san later.

《So what’s your advantage, Shiren? Engagement! Kamijou will still be Kamijou, so in practice it’s whatever, but formally holding the “fiancée” position puts you on even footing with them!》

《…Only even footing? As a fiancée?》

Normally, that’d mean you’re just about ready to cross the finish line. But with Kamijou-kun, that’s a different story…

《And! Just because we can’t use Nurikae Onrei as an excuse doesn’t mean we can’t make Kamijou our nominal fiancé. The trick is to make him the reason for breaking off the engagement! If we do it right, he’ll notice our feelings and we’ll head straight to the finish l—》

《Yeahhh, I think in that case we’d just get dumped…》

Kamijou-kun… deep down, he still likes Index, doesn’t he? Unless we deal with that first, I don’t think we’ll ever get him to look our way.

In other words, to win Kamijou over, we’d have to start with Index…

《…Hmph. You may have a point… impressive, for a virgin like you.》

《Hey, hey, hey—this is my inner voice, remember? I can read the special furigana just fine!》

《If you ask me, though, I’d like you to take this a bit more seriously. It’s not just about me, after all.》

《Ah—yeah, well… I’m not great at this kind of thing, you know?》

Knocking someone else down to get ahead… that’s just… not me.

If it’s sports, I can endure it. But in love, someone always ends up hurt…

《Virgin.》

《Reicia-chan! There’s a limit to my patience, you know!!》

《Ah, sorry. Don’t pout… ahem. Let’s get back on track. The next event is about to start, and if we start arguing now and it messes up our performance, we won’t be setting a good example for the others.》

Just like Reicia-chan said, the GMDW members waiting around us were all wearing tense expressions.

Every single one of them was here. Tamaire is one of the marquee events of Day One, where every student can toss balls into baskets placed at various points around the venue.

Direct attacks on the baskets are forbidden, but some level of attacking opponents or interfering with their shots is allowed.

Misaka-san’s ability is banned from being used for direct electric attacks or for iron-sand interference, and our Jagged Edge is banned from being used for direct attacks or to defend the baskets. If they allowed that, Tokiwadai would be literally unstoppable.

…If I remember right, in the true history, Kamijou-kun barged into this event and had some kind of run-in with Misaka-san. But right now, he’s standing off to the side in a cheerleader outfit with Index, waving us on.

As I gave a little wave back, my eyes happened to meet Misaka-san’s—she’d somehow slipped into the crowd of faction members without me noticing.

“That idiot… why is he even here? C-could it be…?”

“I’m the one who invited him. Told him to come cheer for us.”

“Ch-cheer!? But he’s the enemy!”

At Reicia-chan’s explanation, Misaka-san blinked rapidly, clearly flustered.

“That’s your problem, isn’t it? I’m not competing with him.”

“Guh…”

Ah—she just indirectly told her, “He’s here to cheer for me, not you.”

“More importantly—”

Switching topics as if to gently untangle the tsundere knot Misaka-san had tied herself into—or maybe just because she didn’t care about Misaka-san’s tsundere woes in the first place—Reicia-chan changed the subject.

I, on the other hand, can’t help but want to meddle in these kinds of situations…

“You, who claim to be a lone wolf, have gone out of your way to come to me. Surely you have something to discuss? I’ll make an exception and listen, so go on.”

“…Thanks for the high-handed invitation to talk, I guess.”

Misaka-san just gave an exasperated look at Reicia-chan’s condescending choice of words before getting to the point.

“The point is…”

She lowered her voice slightly as she spoke.

Well, given this distance, the faction members could still hear her just fine, so it wasn’t exactly a real secret conversation.

“This match… I think it’s going to be a tough one.”

“…Oh?”

“We’re being countered by the other schools. I’m sure you’ve noticed it too, right?”

True enough… in the three-legged race and the obstacle course earlier, it wasn’t blatant, but it felt like every school was running strategies with Tokiwadai in mind.

If we’d been just your average Level 4 high-level espers, we probably would’ve been steamrolled.

And the fact Misaka-san was bringing this up meant…

“So, I was thinking maybe we should put together some kind of ‘counter-strategy’ for the whole school—”

“I refuse.”

Before Misaka-san could finish, Reicia-chan cut her off with a crisp rejection.

《Whoa, whoa, Reicia-chan. Isn’t that a bit harsh…?》

《…What are you talking about? It’s perfectly reasonable.》

To my mental protest, she replied as if I were the one being unreasonable.

“Unfortunately, we’ve prepared our own coordination already. If we tried to add an outsider into it at the last minute, it’d just get in the way.”

“C-come on! Please!”

“Honestly, with you and me both on the field, there’s nothing to worry about… Oh, that reminds me.”

And right then, both Reicia-chan and I thought of the same thing.

It was about the last event of the morning—right before Tamaire—that Misaka-san had competed in.

The event was called “Balloon Hunter,” a team match where you wear a paper balloon on your head and try to pop your opponents’ with beanbags.

Misaka-san had been beaten by a dirty trick: her opponents all carried the beanbags in their hands, nullifying her electric attacks, and then surrounded her with sheer numbers.

I hadn’t seen the match myself since I’d been competing at the time, but Monokawa-san told me about it while we were waiting.

Being hard-countered like that and losing… given Misaka-san’s personality, she must have been furious. She seemed calmer now with time having passed, but I was willing to bet she was still simmering underneath.

《…Reicia-chan》

《I understand. I’m not so cold-hearted that I’d ignore that much, you know?》

I was just about to say, Why don’t you at least hear Misaka-san out?—when it seemed that Reicia-chan had changed her mind as well.

Misaka-san, for her part, was still acting the same as ever, clasping her hands together in pleading while sneaking upward glances to see how we’d react.

“…Very well. I’ll hear you out. But only that.”

“Really!? Thank you, Reicia!!”

With a delighted grip! Misaka-san grabbed her hand.

Reicia-chan turned her face away with a ‘You’re suffocating me’, but being essentially of one mind with her, I could feel the undeniable trace of embarrassment hiding underneath.

Chapter 1 – There’s No Wind for the Cooper’s Shop
Psicopics.
Episode 54 – Secret Plan
Sky_Corridor.

“Honestly… I never imagined I, of all people, would end up joining forces with another faction.”

Reicia-chan sighed deeply at the farthest back point of her faction’s camp.

The ball toss is usually a whole-school event, but this time, we’d only planned to coordinate within our own faction. Partly because that’s all we’d practiced for, and partly because we wanted to show both inside and outside the school the solid unity of GMDW.

But as we listened more closely to Misaka-san’s story, it seemed that after losing to a weaker school in Balloon Hunter, someone among the young ladies had gotten fired up.

Among Tokiwadai students—who normally don’t care that much about faction divides—there was suddenly a strong push to set aside the usual rivalries, unite as a whole school, and, basically, win at all costs.

Apparently, Misaka-san, the lone-wolf type, had taken it upon herself to move between factions, trying to see if they could work together. She’d already gotten Hokaze-san’s approval for the Shokuhou faction, and then came to me next.

Misaka-san really does take on these thankless roles a lot… That’s something I can honestly respect.

“But, but! Once Misaka-san says it like that, there’s no way you can turn her down, right? I mean, it’s you, Shiren-san, and you, Reicia-san!”

“…And what is that supposed to mean?”

Reicia-chan wasn’t thrilled to learn her group was the second stop on Misaka’s tour, so she was reluctant at first. But between being moved by Misaka’s determination, having Yumetsuki-san—who was listening in with us—be incredibly enthusiastic, and liking the plan Misaka proposed, she eventually agreed.

Well—she pretended to be reluctant for appearances’ sake, but in truth she was clearly quite into it.

Because—

“Come on, isn’t this perfect for you? Right now you look like the boss ruling over all of Tokiwadai—pretty cool, actually.”

“Y-Yes, exactly! Deploying an aerial walkway that every single Tokiwadai student can use—only you could do that, Reicia-san!”

“…Really? You really think so? Ohoho.”

Misaka-san’s ‘main idea’ was this: use Reicia-chan’s White-Black Jagged Edge to create an aerial corridor above the basket, letting Tokiwadai’s students seize the high ground and crush the opposing schools from above.

The restriction of only being able to create transparent walkways was solved by Misaka-san coating them in iron sand to make them visible. From there, Tokiwadai students could throw balls into the basket from above, or sabotage the enemy.

With their already high average ability level, plus the advantage of elevation—and having the sun at their backs—it was an incredibly effective strategy. As expected of a Level 5 esper, her ideas were on another level.

And more than anything—this strategy only worked because of Reicia-chan’s powers.

That meant her prestige would rise, which made her happy; the students who wanted victory were happy to secure her cooperation; and in the end, it was a dream plan where everyone came out ahead.

《Reicia-chan. This is your big chance—let’s stay sharp.》

《Of course. If I can make my presence felt here, I’ll also be fulfilling Shokuhou Misaki’s request—and…》

Just then, the starting cannon for the match boomed across the field. From beneath Reicia-chan’s feet, countless ‘cracks’ burst upward, kicking up clouds of dust.

《And more importantly—I can show Kamijou my coolest side and take the lead in the heroine race!》

《…Is showing your cool side even useful in a heroine race?》

If you’re going to show something off, wouldn’t it be better to show your cute side? …Not that I’d know.