Chapter 6: Two powerful figures. Though both are eccentrics.

"F-Fiiiuu… you really saved my skin there, little girl. I was this close to being killed by that musclebound gorilla woman. Listen, don’t go near her, okay? Anyone with less than a certain amount of muscle mass will get crushed like trash around her."

"H-Hey!? Why would you say something like that!? She’s just a child! What if she believes you!?"

"Uh, um…"

…What do I do…!!

I managed to stop them for now, but—being spotted by these two is really bad! Who knows where this information could leak. Worst case, they might assign surveillance to my room for a while…!?

"So, little girl, what are you doing here?"

"Y-Yeah, that’s right! Kids here aren’t supposed to be out at this hour… right? So why are you here?"

…Yeah. For now, I’ll just pretend to be a child.

"U-Um, well… there was this really loud sound, and it scared me… so I just wanted to see what it was… I-I’m sorry…"

"…Wow, what a brave kid. Look, what are you gonna do, Shian-chan? Thanks to you, this poor little girl is all shaken up."

"This is my fault…?"

Come to think of it, what happened to that dignified tone the student council president had during the entrance ceremony speech? Seen like this, she gives off a totally different impression.

"Um."

"Hm? What is it?"

"That person over there… she’s the student council president, isn’t she? I mean, she looks really different from how I imagined."

"…Ugh."

"Ah."

…Huh? What’s with that reaction, like I just caught them doing something really bad?

"H-Hey, little girl? Could you wait just a second?"

"Uh, sure…"

The two quickly turned their backs and started whispering.

Heh, an ordinary child might not catch this, but I’m a top-tier Kivotos loli—yeah, loli—so don’t underestimate me. With a little eavesdropping, picking up this much is child’s play.

"Wh-What do we do? She totally found out I’ve got no dignity!"

"Calm down… Listen, to stop the civil war, that strange charisma you give off when you’re tense is essential. If we can unify the moderates, we’ll be able to hold our own against the radicals. That little girl can’t find out…!"

"O-Of course I know that! But, but, the way she was looking at me—it was super weird! Like those half-lidded eyes in manga, you know? All judgmental-like!"

"I said calm down!! I’m desperately telling myself the same thing here…!!"

"S-So that’s how it is…!"

…Yeah, I get the picture now. Or rather, they just explained it to me. Still, these two… something about them is just plain weird. I mean, no offense, but—stuff like Slime A and Cobra Twist… are Arius people even supposed to know about that kind of thing?

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do…!? Should we just get rid of her here and now…!?"

"Wha—of course not! She’s a kid!!"

"Then you got some brilliant plan?"

"W-Well…"

…Wait, what did she just say!? Get rid of me!? They’re gonna kill me!? Yeah, these two are definitely not trustworthy!!

What do I do!? Should I use the smokescreen grenade I snuck out to make a run for it!?

"W-Well, whatever. She’s just a kid. If we explain it properly, there shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, between a little girl’s word and the student council president’s word, they’re obviously going to believe the latter."

"Y-Yeah, that’s right! I’m sure it’ll be fine!"

"You saying that makes me nervous, Shian-chan… but fine, I’ve got questions anyway. Let’s just talk to her."

…So, they’re not going to get rid of me.

Thank goodness…!!!

The two turned back around to face me.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, little girl. Let’s start with introductions. Arius Branch School, second year, Student Council Clerk—Anna Mototsuki."

"U-Um… also Arius Branch School, second year, Student Council President—Mitsueda Shian."

"Ah, uh…"

…Am I supposed to introduce myself too?

I really don’t want to give my name to people who were just debating whether or not to kill me…! But more than that—having anyone remember that I was here would be a huge problem.

"N-Naito… Sei."

In desperation, I blurted out the name from my past life. I thought I’d never use it again… No, stop. Thinking about that just makes me sad. Not now.

"Sei…? Hey, Anna-chan, do we have anyone by that name?"

"Nope. This kid is Suou Kirihana, a new recruit from the Arius Children’s Training School."

"Wha—huh…!?"

Sh-She tricked me!? Wait—does that mean she knows every single student in the whole school!? It’s like an integrated middle-and-elementary program, so there should be a lot of students… what kind of memory is that!?

"Um, so… Suou-chan, right? We’re not here to tattle on you or anything like that. So it’d really help if you told us the truth…"

"A kid using a fake name, huh… would you really come up with one on the spot like that…?"

This is bad. Really bad! They’re suspicious of me…!?

…No, calm down. Suspicious or not, right now I look like a little girl. I hate it, and honestly it’s pretty traumatic for me, but facts are facts. And when someone looks like a child, people usually don’t go out of their way to scare them. Unless they’re creepy perverts, anyway.

Which means—the best move here is…!

"Eek…!? P-Please don’t come any closer…!! I’ll be crushed into dust…!!"

There it is!! The strategy of pretending I believed what they said earlier!

"Anna-chan, what do we do!? She actually believed you!!!"

"…Hey, kid. I don’t know what you’re trying to hide, but standing in front of you are the gorilla genius who became student council president as a first year, and the super-genius who supports her. For your own good, you’d better talk straight. That story about being scared by a loud noise and coming here? A lie, right? Same with that fake name, the cloak you’re wearing, and that smokescreen grenade you’re hiding. A six-year-old couldn’t have prepared all that in advance."

…Crap… was it Anna? Yeah, Anna.

She’s completely seen through my act… do I have no choice but to come clean…?

…No, not yet.

"…F-Fine. You’re right. M-My real name is Suou Kirihana. And I did have a reason for being outside."

"Oh yeah? And what reason would that be…?"

"…Before that, let me ask you a question."

"Depends on the question, doesn’t it? Right now, everything about you makes no sense. We’re in a situation where even the slightest irregularity could be dangerous. No way I can just say ‘sure, ask away’ without knowing more."

"Anna-chan, you’re leaving me completely out of the loop here."

If I’m going to be honest, it’s not too late to first get a read on what these two are really like.
Well, to be fair, Shian, the student council president, probably doesn’t have a hidden side—what you see is what you get.

So, the first thing I want to ask is…

"Where did you hear about Slime A…?"

"…Huh?"

"Eh?"

"…That’s your question?"

"Yes."

"…Haaah… feels like I wasted my nerves for nothing."

Anna exaggeratedly slumped her shoulders and let out a long sigh, as if all the tension had drained out of her.

But no—this is an incredibly important question. This could point to a rare connection between Arius and the outside world.

"Hmm… maybe I’ll tell you a little about us."

"Yes, yes!!! I want to tell her! I’ve been left out this whole time!"

"Fine, but don’t say too much."

"I knooow! Suou-chan, listen!! A long, long time ago, when we happened to step just a little bit outside Arius, we found a manga!!!"

"A manga, huh."

…Probably not what I was hoping for, but let’s hear the rest.

"And that manga was sooo good!! I showed it to Anna-chan, and she totally fell in love with it!! It was about a prince saving a downtrodden princess—normally Anna-chan says princes don’t exist, but she turned out to be such a romantic!! After that, the two of us started sneaking out now and then to look for more manga, and even games!! And becoming student council president? That was just to make it easier to keep doing that!!"

"I told you not to say extra stuff, didn’t I!?"

Ahh, I see. That explains why these two are so… different.
It really was just by chance.

By pure coincidence, they found a manga. By pure coincidence, they got hooked.

That’s why they don’t fit in with normal Arius students.

"But for the past year or so, things have gotten scary! Everyone’s been on edge!!"

"Hey—!"

"And then the traditionalist hardliners and the moderates who opposed them started butting heads!! Now it looks like a civil war’s about to break out!"

"Stop—!! That’s enough—"

"So now we can’t even sneak outside anymore! And if the kids get dragged into it, it’ll be awful!! That’s why we decided—we have to stop the civil war ourselves!!"

"You damn gorilla…!! You just had to spill everything, didn’t you…!!"

…Man, Anna really looks like she’s got her hands full.

But I get it now. They might be a little self-centered, sure—but these two really do want to stop the civil war.

"…I see… so that’s what’s going on."

…I still can’t be sure I can fully trust them.

There’s always a possibility these two are lying about something.

"…Then, our goals are the same… me, or rather, us together."

But.

Even so, what I’ve seen right in front of me is no lie.

Even if the radicals tried to fake something like this, it would be impossible.

The idea of stopping a civil war just because they wanted to read manga or play games—there’s no way anyone would come up with that.

"…The same…? Little girl, is that really true? I mean, your way of speaking…"

"I’m not a little girl."

Right. That’s why I should take a chance on these two.

This is surely the turning point.

At some point, I have to choose someone.

The Arius student council president, and her sharp-minded clerk. Both trying to stop the civil war.

A better opportunity like this might never come again.

So, I will reveal everything here.

"My name is Suou Kirihana. Age: six. Mental age: twenty-three. Like both of you, my goal is to prevent the civil war before it starts. Will you cooperate with me?"