[61] Shiina Under the Moonlight (4)
Nade egged him on.
"Do it, do it. First, project an image of your body while you're in that empty state right before entering the Spirit Zone. Then—"
"I know what it is. Wait. Let me concentrate."
When his friends fell silent, Shirone closed his eyes. The selfless state just before entering the Spirit Zone. From there he was supposed to project a body image and awaken every sensation in his limbs through insight!
"Uuuuh… aaaah! Ah, no. It's getting worse."
Iruki stifled a laugh.
"You're an idiot. Do you really think it'll work? Being specialized for the Spirit Zone means you've got zero talent for schema techniques."
"Puhahaha!"
Nade couldn't hold it and burst out laughing. Shirone narrowed his eyes and glared at them both.
"Damn it, I'm not doing it! Switch!"
In the end, the three of them took turns carrying Shiina on their backs.
But Nade gave out halfway, and Iruki couldn't even manage ten steps.
Shirone, legs shaking as he hoisted Shiina up again, felt utterly ridiculous.
"Hey, don't we look pathetic?"
"It's rude to say out loud what should've stayed inside your head, Shirone."
At Nade's remark, the three fell silent—not out of shame so much as exhaustion. They were simply too tired to talk.
As they neared the school, Shirone suddenly spoke up.
"Listen… let's drop it."
"Drop what?"
"Negotiating with Teacher Shiina about what happened today."
"Hmm."
Nade felt a twinge of conscience, too. But this was about the survival of their research club.
"But there's no good option either. Have you thought of a way to save the club?"
"No. But that should be separate. Honestly… today must've been a terribly sad day for Teacher Shiina. I don't know the details, but that's the feeling I got."
It was something they all felt. She'd said goodbye to someone she'd kept in her heart since childhood. That she ended it over a drink showed how strong she was.
"Still, isn't it weird to get too sentimental? What are we even living for—if we're not using our heads, we're just corpses. Now's when we need to be cold-headed. There's no immediate way to save the club, so why force it?"
Iruki's words were persuasive. Mages always chased efficiency, but leaning too far that way made you lose sight of what truly mattered.
Nade's mind quietly shifted toward the same conclusion.
"Honestly, Teacher Shiina's a tough one to handle. No obvious weakness. Why else would we even be considering this? It really is a rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Iruki agreed.
"Prickly personality, airtight plans, meticulous with students. Remember—she didn't hesitate to suggest dating Shirone to prevent Overflow. What can we do against someone so by-the-book?"
'You idiots…!'
Shiina, who had been riding silently with her eyes closed, choked up. She felt heavy and weary; she would've been content to be carried in silence, but she couldn't let this stand.
"But now we know."
Shirone said.
"Why you became a teacher, why you cling so hard to preventing Overflow. Teacher Shiina doesn't want us to end up walking the same path she did."
"Even if that's true—"
"No matter why you became a teacher, the important thing is you genuinely care for us. And what are we doing? Trying to use your painful past as a weakness to attack you. The seniors in the club wouldn't want to see their juniors ruined like this."
This time even Iruki had no comeback. Mages pursued efficiency, but too much focus on that could make you throw away what mattered most.
"…You always hit the nail on the head at times like this."
Nade said, relieved.
"All right. Let's keep what happened today between us. Agreed, Iruki?"
"If it's not tied to the club's affairs, I don't mind. Honestly, Teacher Shiina is top-tier when it comes to education."
"Right. We're the bad guys here. Teachers who take care of students like Shiina do are rare. Besides, compared to what we did, she's already been far more forgiving than she had to be."
Iruki said.
"Let's give in this once. As for the research club, the three of us put our heads together and we'll come up with something."
Shirone said.
"Done then. Even if we get disciplined tomorrow, what happened today dies with us. No leaks—ever!"
"All right! Deal!"
Freed from that burden, they felt lighter. The group hurried on with more spring in their step. No one knew Shiina had opened her eyes sometime earlier.
They could see the main gate of Alpheas School of Magic. Half-dead, Shirone stopped when he noticed a guard holding a torch. It wasn't past midnight, so the night-shift team was still on duty.
"What do we do? If we go back like this, who knows what rumors will spread. And we're on an unauthorized outing."
"No choice. From here on, let's use magic. I'll levitate Teacher Shiina—catch her when I float her."
"Wait. Put her down first. Iruki, help me."
As Shirone bent his knees, the weight on his back suddenly vanished. Startled, he turned and saw Shiina standing straight as a board. The tipsy look was gone; her eyes were clear as starlight.
"Te-Teacher?"
Deflated, Shirone dropped to the ground. If she could walk, what had all his earlier carrying been for?
"Teacher, are you really all right?"
"I am. Did you think I'd really gotten drunk?"
Shirone let out a ragged breath, on the verge of tears.
"But why didn't you wake up until now…?"
"If you eat expensive food, you should pay for it. Were you planning on not even putting in this little effort? Anyway, come along. If you want to be carried in properly, that is."
Like puppets, Shirone and the others fell in behind her. The guard who recognized her rubbed his sleepy eyes and greeted them.
"Ah—good evening, Teacher Shiina."
"Yes. Thank you for your work."
"Were you out with students?"
"Yes. I took them out for a field lesson."
"Oh—I see. Welcome back. Have a pleasant night."
School rules forbade students from entering at night, but Shiina's standing on campus left no room for doubt.
Afraid the guard might call after them, Shirone's group hurried through the gate. Once they reached the central park in safety, Shiina turned and glared at them.
"Eek!"
Only then did they really feel it—the weight of being back at Alpheas.
"I'll let what happened today slide."
Her words were nothing like what they'd feared. The three stared at Shiina in stunned amazement.
"From today I'll give you another month. That's the most negotiating leverage I can offer."
They understood. Resetting the grace period was a call to a real contest.
"Find a way to convince the school within a month. Hold a presentation, bring a ghost—how you do it is up to you. If you truly take pride in the research club, fight the school and claim what you want. That's my philosophy of education and how I show love for my students."
The three were moved. It was almost unbelievable that Shiina herself had said those words.
"Yes! We'll make you proud! We'll absolutely shock the school!"
"Right! Wallowing isn't our style! This time we'll actually think things through and go for it!"
Shiina watched her students regain their confidence with a bittersweet smile. When their spirits surged, worry rose first in her chest, but she couldn't help being curious about what they might accomplish.
'Heh. Do your best, my tiresome students.'
Invisible Things (1)
Shirone arrived at the research club later than usual and weakly raised a hand when he saw Nade and Iruki sprawled on the sofa.
"Hey."
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"No idea. I'm not even sure I slept. How about you two?"
"Same. What now? We stayed up all night again and still didn't come up with anything good."
Shirone flopped onto the sofa.
"We have to decide today. Let's come up with a plan."
"So what do we do? Supernatural psychic science deals with invisible phenomena. But people don't believe what they can't see."
It was the same conversation as the night before. Too tired even to argue, they stared blankly ahead, their minds a blank page. After a while, Shirone's focus returned.
"How about we change our thinking?"
Nade and Iruki leapt up. Whatever Shirone was about to suggest was clearly different from their usual patterns.
"How?"
"Our dilemma is that there's no way to show the invisible, right?"
"Right. That's the core problem."
"So my point is—if it's invisible, maybe we don't have to show it. We've been clinging to the impossible. Wouldn't it be fine to build a method that doesn't actually show anything?"
Saying you don't need to show it was basically saying there'd be no traditional presentation. The others weren't disappointed—if anything, they brightened, as if an idea had sparked.
"If something can't be verified, that means you don't have to verify it."
"Exactly. I didn't join the club because someone showed me something tangible. Maybe it's the same for others."
A small smile tugged at Iruki's lips.
"Why didn't we think of that before? Right—verification doesn't have to be the starting point. We don't need to show things we don't even understand. On the contrary…"
"You mean make them believe in the invisible?"
Nade was certain this was the answer he'd been searching for. He jumped up, grabbed Shirone, and flopped onto the sofa with him.
"Shirone! Come here! You saved our club! You can even have my first kiss!"
"Gross! Get off!"
While Shirone and Nade horseplayed, Iruki sank into thought. The real difficulty was only beginning.
"So what should we actually do? Shirone's idea is the solution, but we still need it to look like a presentation. Ultimately, we need some tangible outcome."
Nade returned to his seat. Shirone smoothed his messy hair. This wasn't the time for jokes.
"Let's think. What will we show?"
The three huddled and brainstormed. Once they found a thread, ideas flooded in. The key was something that would make people believe the invisible.
"Maybe auditory would be good? Easy to design."
"It's efficient, but not very convincing. We have to consider whether the school will accept it."
"Then let's make it visual. And audio if possible. Throw everything we've got at it."
"What visual thing, though? The supernatural? Psychic phenomena?"
"Supernatural's too niche. Psychic stuff would be better."
Nade raised his hand.
"I vote psychic—spirits, ghosts, psychic incidents—pick one."
"Ghosts might be best. They're striking," Shirone said.
"But wouldn't that be childish?"
Nade looked skeptical, but Iruki sided with Shirone.
"I think ghosts are better. The important thing is to penetrate people's minds deeply."
"Ugh. No matter how I think about it, it still feels lame."
Shirone said.
"What we must prioritize is impact. Everything else is secondary. I don't think we should give up."