My view was full of Onesco's wet eyes. Close enough that I could have counted her damp lashes.
A sweet flower scent, and I thought it. Why do girls smell this good...
Then even our breath mixed.
"...L-Leopin-kun... thank... you..."
It was a voice like she was moving her soul from her mouth into mine. Then silence. One beat, and a shriek fell out of the sky, the kind a cat makes when a dog is after it.
I shoved Onesco off on reflex.
She rolled aside with a cry. In the next instant a girl in a black hood sat down hard on my stomach.
She was small and light, but a full hip drop to the gut was still too much. I folded in half and forced out a groan.
"Sh-Shinobuko!?" Onesco said.
Shinobuko was shaking on top of me.
"N-nin nin... a black panther was up in the tree...!"
"Ah. That's probably Tom. He's Leopin-kun's pet, so it's fine."
Onesco said it to soothe her, and came back to me. Shinobuko jumped to her like a flying squirrel going from tree to tree and clung on.
Onesco was not even surprised at the sudden hug. She stroked her head. "You must have been really scared. There, there." Then she said to me, as if this were ordinary.
"When Shinobuko has a scare, she clings to me like this. On nights I tell ghost stories, it lasts until morning."
Shinobuko stayed stuck to her like a dead-eyed koala and shook her head.
"Nin, that is not so. It may have looked as if I clung on, but that was an illusion. In truth it was the reverse. Onesco picked me up. This is the ninja art, Konaki-jijii. Nin nin."
"Yes, yes, I understand."
Onesco stood, the way you humor a child. She looked down at me, still on my back, with her usual sharp eyes.
"I should be getting back to Lady Monaka. I'll say thank you, at least. I thought of you as a packhorse. From now on I'll think of you as an ordinary horse."
"Nin nin. So that is why you were straddling him just now."
"Th-that is not it! That was just an accident! Shinobuko, if you say indecent things like that, the indecent ghost will come at night!"
"Nin!?"
Shinobuko buried her face in Onesco's chest like a child afraid of lightning. Onesco stroked the back of her head and neatly pulled out a slave-ticket booklet.
She tore one out, cheeks flushed and awkward, and held it out to me.
"Take it. Otherwise I won't feel right. But don't get the wrong idea! This is nothing more than a small thank-you! I'm going now!"
Onesco left without waiting for an answer. Shinobuko, still being carried, said it while clinging like a baby koala borrowing its mother's authority.
"Next time we meet, it will be a fight to the death."
I looked down at the ticket I had been handed, saw the face value, and flinched. And I did not know.
That small thank-you was causing an outrageous accident in a far place I knew nothing about.
At that moment, Principal Nekodoran was not at the Royal Pioneer Academy. He was in the royal capital, more than 4,000 kilometers from the school.
He stood on a stage set up in an audience hall of the royal castle, dressed up more than usual. A banner hung over the stage.
Leakweight Kingdom, Royal Pioneer Academy, Educational Results Presentation
In front of the stage, reporters were packed in, not only from this country but from the neighboring ones.
The principal held a magic loudspeaker and took the flash of the magic cameras. He cleared his throat and opened with a smile.
"Ahem! The royal capital after so long smells of civilization, and that is good! But my Royal Pioneer Academy will soon be a civilization of about this level as well!"
A cheer rose at the voice filling the hall. "Oh!?"
"Not even a month since opening, and they're already close to bringing in magic devices!"
"As expected of Principal Nekodoran, the hope of the family!"
"Don't tell me the magic device behind you was developed at the academy!?"
"No, this is a Magic Board borrowed from this country's magic research institute!"
"That board says Asset Ranking! Is that the ranking of the students' assets, being introduced for the first time!?"
The principal nodded. "Indeed!" Another cheer from the reporters. Attention gathered on first place.
1st place: Class 1-S, 46,315,300 Ender
"Amazing! First place is far past forty million Ender!? Earning that much a month after opening...!"
"Class 1-S is the class led by Lady Kotone, the shrine maiden!"
"Yes! Even the best academies barely manage a million...! As expected of a class full of excellent young lords and ladies!"
"Principal! Why are second place and below on that ranking board covered with cloth!?"
"Ah, that is because information on the Royal Pioneer Academy is still limited to supporters. The breakdown of this ranking board would greatly affect this country's market prices, and the standing of the guardians' households. Releasing it carelessly would trouble many people. But not releasing it at all would also be a problem, so I have specially released only first place."
"I see..." The reporters accepted it readily.
Needless to say, that was only the official line. Second place, right under first and covered by cloth, absolutely could not be shown.
The principal smiled to himself.
He had managed to cover it. At this rate, that trash's existence would not leak outside.
Leaving the vice principal behind had been the right call. That man had been strange lately.
The moment something happened he had a fit, shrieked, and started rampaging. If he was not cut loose soon, the principal's own position would be in danger.
He had been running himself ragged preparing this presentation. Once it was over, he would hurry and find a new vice principal.
Then his footing would be solid, and he could become a legendary principal.
This presentation would be a great success, a fitting opening to that legend. However much of a piece of trash that boy was, he could not reach a place 4,000 kilometers away.
Only a god could do that. Trash belonged buried in a dump.
He still looked down on him. The boy he never stopped calling trash was not just a boy.
If that boy felt like it, showing his face here whenever he wanted would be easy.
"Then today's presentation will end here. Next, we move to the press conference."
The moment the principal gave the closing line and started down from the stage, the ranking board behind him suddenly moved.
"Wha...!?"
He rushed back onto the stage.
It could not be, but just in case he meant to cover the whole ranking board with cloth. The instant he leapt for it, that face popped up.
1st place: Special Training Class, 51,200,000 Ender
The ranking updated with a clunk, and the principal cried out like a thieving cat cornered by a fishmonger.