Magical Boy ~ English version

Chapter 13

"Everything is fine ?"

Aitori's freshman class had been released for the lunch break. Not all of the students had passed yet and would resume as early as the first hour of the afternoon. So Kenji had joined Mineko, Rena and Nanaya in the dining hall, worrying about his friend's sadness as they waited their turn at the self-service.

" It's ok now." She assured, smiling.

"All thanks to Nana-chan." The redhead exclaimed, wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulders. "You were awesome! Once again."

"It's normal." Nanaya muttered as he escaped the sudden embrace. "She couldn't decently stay in this outfit. In her place, I would have liked someone to help me."

He turned his gaze to Hyokko. If the animal weren't covered in hair, it would certainly have been sweating in panic at this point.

"Don't you dare ..." began the young man.

"No !" Cut the creature off. "No, don't worry! I never intended to do such an inappropriate thing! And Udo should be ashamed of his behavior!"

"Since he's been here, he has been prevented from going to spy on the students in the showers." Then confessed Reizo. "All the guardians are watching him. "

Nanaya glared at the sort of cat, and it hid behind Mineko. He picked up his tray, but waited for the other three to sit down.

" By the way !" Mineko said, taking hers. "Kenji, we never asked what your power is?"

"Oh. It's not very complicated." The elder replied, raising a hand. "I have the same one as my brother."

Water gushed out of her hand, shaping itself into a sphere. However, he relaxed his concentration when he heard a tray fall right next to him. Nanaya pulled back, looking terrified. Bumping into a professor who was heading for the self-service, he dropped his tray, spilling its contents on the floor.

"Nana-chan?" Mineko wondered.

"...I'm fine." The young man muttered. 

He turned to the adult he had jostled and excused himself. Kenji recognized him. Fishy, ​​his hero name, was Saurity's Sports teacher. A hero specializing in rescues. He would have been recognizable even without a mask because of the growth on his head, ending in a luminous decoy identical to that of abyssal monkfish. He also had a tail with the same peculiarity. The curry sauce from Nanaya's platter had certainly ruined the cloak he was wearing at the time.

" It's nothing." The adult assured, shaking the cloth. "Hase-san, are you using your power out of class?"

"Nothing very impressive, Fishy-sensei." Kenji defended himself looking at Nanaya, worried. "I was just showing them ... "

The professor had no time to respond or scold him, it was Kenji's turn to drop his tray when a hand suddenly caught him by the neck. Kotaro had come in full speed, visibly angry.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BAKA ?!" Yelled Darkeas's student.

"Wow! What's your problem ?"

"Kot-chan." Nanaya called. "I'm fine... "

Kotaro stopped and turned his head towards him. He knew this posture. Nanaya had placed his hands behind his back so that no one could see them shaking. He let go of Kenji as he pushed him away and approached his childhood friend.

"Young people..." Fishy began, visibly jaded.

"You seem to get used to it," Kotaro growled. "The idea of ​​being on the side of the good. Eh? I don't want nothing to do with you, can you hear me? Stop talking to me! Don't even look at me!"

He pushed Nanaya so hard that the latter ended up on the ground. He seemed to hesitate for a second, before finally returning to sit with his friends from Darkeas. Kenji was the first to rush to help Nanaya up.

" I'm fine." Nanaya repeated.

"You cry. "

Aitori's boy was surprised. He raised his hand to find that tears were indeed streaming down his cheek. When was the last time he'd cry? And why now? He tried to rub his eye but they kept coming. Kenji wanted to follow Kotaro and drown him, but instead moved closer to Nanaya to hug him. A hug that did not fail to make the youngest uncomfortable. He could only hear a glass shattering away, but Kenji, Mineko and Rena could see perfectly well that Kotaro had squeezed his glass so tight it shattered in his hand.

Chef Josuke came out from behind his counter to reassure the younger ones, offering them to come and fill their tray again. Instead, Fishy walked over to the table where his colleagues were sitting, asking that one of Darkeas's professors send Kotaro into custody. But that sort of brawling behavior was pretty much encouraged in supervillain school, as long as it didn't exceed certain limits.

Kenji and Mineko weren't going to leave it like that though and questioned Nanaya throughout the meal about his reaction. He was trying to dodge the question. Hyokko also insisted. Rena gave him a few signs, reminding him that, right now, what he could say to her, she was not likely to repeat. He refused at first. She could still write. They had to create a common chat group to chat through their phones. But she knew how to be convincing. As he declined the other two's requests for an explanation, he told the truth in sign language. Mineko and Kenji weren't paying attention. He had developed a habit of signing while speaking , so that Rena could follow the conversations. So they didn't care about that .. until they saw the mute's shocked face.

"Wait..." Kenji said indignantly. "You tell to her and not to us?"

"It does not matter." Nanaya muttered. "And at least I'm sure she won't say anything."

"That's what we'll see!" Mineko exclaimed, grabbing her cell phone. 

The young man gave his deaf friend a nervous look. But she only smiled at him, before responding to her friend's message.

"It's hard to say, give him time." Read Mineko. "At this point ? "

Rena shrugged, indicating that she wouldn't betray the secret. The other two gave up. They were worried about their friend, but he was clearly not the type to talk.

They ended their meal by changing the subject, and stayed together until class resumed. Aitori's students were still in the courtyard, so they didn't have to go up the three floors. Kenji had explained to them that for the first few years after the complex opened, the students were still very dispirited when the magical girls discovered their power and outfit. Everyone wanted to see this, for different reasons. Support a friend who was studying there, simple curiosity or mockery seeing their failures. That was the reason why all classes were suspended. Students from all three schools and all classes stayed inside and watched from the windows. The condition was that they did not try to intervene either to help or the other way around, and that they did not join the young magical girls because their lack of control this first time could prove dangerous.

Kenji greeted them then and stayed downstairs, behind the glass door to the hall, next to Phen-X. Nanaya noticed that the directors of Saurity and Darkeas were there as well.

As other of his classmates passed, he looked around the windows, hoping to see Kotaro. But it was nowhere. He remembered what his friend had told him, and then thought that he must no longer hope to see him again.

In truth, Kotaro was in the hospital wing for his hand. He was totally healed with the power of Phen-X, but he had been so aggressive and angry that the nurse had given him some pretty strong painkillers and he was by then practically unconscious in one of the beds.