Nikami POV
Right after Raijin finished crying, she ran off with a huff, embarrassed about crying and such.
"Now… That's over-" I took a deep inhale, feeling physically and mentally exhausted, sitting down at one of the beds as I stared at the four people in front of me.
"We wouldn't be telling this to anyone, yes?" I glared at them, looking down at the ground to hide my eyes with my bangs. I can't let them see that my eyes had tears as well.
Wait what, no, I didn't have tears in my eyes. Nope. Not at all.
"Ehhh… Shi-shiromoru-sama-"
"The two guards treated Prince Raijin rudely, a staff in this school placed handcuffs on said prince, and the commoner didn't do anything but watch." I spoke out the truth, doing a deep inhale and looking back up.
The four people in front of me gulped, staring at me with speechlessness.
"I wonder what would happen if that circulated around the school? It may be the headmaster's orders, but I doubt the masses would take this lightly. You know what to do, correct?" I asked them, narrowing my eyes and continued to stare at them, the shadows of my bangs made my expression angrier than usual.
""W-we wouldn't say anything about it!"" The four replied.
I let out a sigh of relief, nodding as I used my fingers to place some hair behind my ear.
"Speaking of handcuffs… Sensei, what kind of handcuffs were those? Raijin would burn them off judging by the way Rai was yelling. I also saw a mana stone on it, care to explain?" I asked Keshi, my gaze locking with her's and cleared her throat.
"These handcuffs are anti-casting! I made it myself!" Keshi exclaimed, adjusting her monocle as she smiled widely.
"A-anti-casting?! How does that even work?!" Yasachu exclaimed, gasping as she stared.Thats amazing! There hasn't been a way to fully stop magic and only nullify it! This school is amazing!
"I'm glad you asked!" Keshi's face brightened up even more, picking up her handcuffs and raising it up to the sky, her eyes gleaming with joy as she started to speak.
"This baby could absorb mana inside animals and relocate it outside whatever animal it was attached to! In an easier sense… Eeeeer, the limb it was attached to is a bucket and the mana inside it is water… This is basically like a hose that sucks up the mana in it." Keshi spun the handcuff on her hands and grinned happily, talking about what she made.
"Thus not being able to make the target cast… I see, that's… Quite amazing, to think you could forcefully take someone's mana… Dangerous…" I mumbled, nodding towards her, this teacher is amazing to make something like this. She really is a capture target…
"Nuh uh! It's not really dangerous since it only takes the mana on a small part of the body. It's still a prototype after all. Like Prince Raijin for example! It only took the mana on his hands, it also has a limit when it breaks… Which I haven't tested yet!" Keshi replied to me as she shook her head.
"Oh my! Forgive me, I get really excited when talking about my wonderful and blessed babies!" Keshi Then quickly realized her extremely casual behavior and bowed her head down, apologizing with a nervous grin.
"So… Sensei made Gakerumi-sama as a lab rat…? Since, it's still a prototype and… Yo-you didn't really know what the limit is…?" Yasachu tilted her head, asking a question.
Keshi realized her mistake and blinked with a confused smile.
"W-well! Gotta go kids! I still have a lot of work to do! And oh, go meet the principal, he needs to ask you two a few questions!!" Keshi ran away from the room and shut the door with a bang.
.
.
.
"Sh-she seems like a nice teacher!" Yasachu exclaimed.
"I didn't know you could use sarcasm." I sighed, now standing up and started to walk towards the door.
"Wa-wait! Shiromoru-sama! Should you rest first…? You just woke up from fainting and…" Yasachu tried to stop me.
"Thank you for being worried, however, I doubt I would want the principal to wait. Don't worry about my body, I have gotten enough rest when I was unconscious." I said, pushing myself as I continued to get out of the room.
"O-oh okay…" Yasachu followed me, and the two knights as well.
As we walked through the halls, students were staring and whispering at us. Yasachu was beside me, and the knights were on opposite sides of us.
"Shiromoru-sama looks seriously hurt... "
"And that commoner doesn't even look that injured! How dare she?! Couldn't she have used her body as a shield for Shiromoru-sama?!"
"No no, you two are looking at it all wrong, I bet Shiromoru-sama was so kind as to shield that filthy commoner with her body… Ahh~ I'm sure that cold side of hers would have a warm side too~"
"Grrrr… If that was the case, then I'm more angry at that commoner for gaining Shiromoru-sama's kindness… That peasant doesn't deserve such a thing... "
"It seems that Yasachu has a bigger target on her back… Nobles are troublesome… I would stop them, but, for the plot to progress, I shan't." I continued on, thinking that as I arrived at the headmaster's door and the guards knocked on it.
"Excuse us, sir, but Nikami Shiromoru and Yasachu Kowamekuna has arrived." One of the guards spoke in a loud voice.
"Ah? Please then, enter." An old yet classy voice was heard inside the room, and I put my hand on the door knob and twisted it. Entering the room.
"Greetings! Please, enter and take a seat. I would like to talk to you. You may drink some tea if you want to." And we were greeted by the headmaster, his arms were on the table and his head was leaned into his hand.
"Greetings to the Afosíosi Magic Academy Principal." As per basic courtesy, I bowed down slightly to greet him. Yasachu eyed me and tried to do the same thing. Emphasis on tried.
"G-gr-greetings to you ash well!" Yasachu bit her tongue in nervousness. She looks like she noticed that, and felt the blood rush to her face. In the same moment, the ahoge on top of her head shriveled up and went down.
"Oho, no need to be so formal… Rather, it's me who needs to be." The principal stood up, and did a deep bow in front of us.
"On behalf of the Afosíosi Magic Academy, I truly apologize for this. Not only did a dangerous foreign object enter our premises, it also hurt two of our precious students. Even a future queen. As the principal, I will do everything in my power to make you both be comfortable with your security in this academy. I will do anything to be forgiven." He deeply apologized to both of us.
"A principal is personally doing a deep bow to his students… Hah. This is how serious this is. Truly, it is expected. He doesn't want the reputation of this academy to fall, so he has no other choice but to apologize and try to reconcile with any of our ill will." I thought to myself, feeling a bit amused by this act.
"N-no need for th-that really! I'm, I'm completely fine with it… I forgive you, I really do… I'm pretty sure no one expected something like this to happen so…" Yasachu frantically spoke, trying to stop him from bowing.
"You'll keep your words, correct?"
"Of course. I'll do anything to be forgiven. Because of my carelessness I got you both hurt." He spoke, still not moving from his deel bow.
"Shi-shiromoru-sama?"
"Very well, I forgive you seeing your dedication towards this. However, you will do me a favor. Soon, that is. You can raise your head. " I spoke towards the principal.
"This was his fault and he will reap the consequences, I'm not so kind like Yasachu is. If I forgive something as major as this without anything but an exchange, that would be absurd." I thought to my head and narrowed down my eyes at him.
"Ohoho~ I never thought you out of all people would be a Troublemaker!" The headmaster chuckled a bit after raising his head, going back to his seat and gesturing us to sit down.
"I didn't make trouble, rather, the trouble came to me." I spoke in my usual monotone way, sitting down as Yasachu sat down as well.
"Hooh… You truly do act like Marishuri… Almost identical from what I can remember…" The headmaster chuckled softly.
"Marishuri…? Shiromoru-sama that's-"
"My father."
"O-oh! I see… Marishuri seems like a girly name so… Ahaha… I thought…" Yasachu chuckled nervously.
"No, She's a girl. My Father is a girl. I just called her father since Mother insisted." I spoke to Yasachu in a whisper.
"Hahaha! That brings me back to when I was still a mere teacher of this place! I remember when Eri always bothered Marishuri about her strong ice magic… All Shiromoru's sure do have powerful ice magic do they?" The headmaster chuckled once more, a bit louder this time.
"Indeed. Father is a great ice magic user. I didn't know they both graduated here."
"I remember those two like it was yesterday… Eri always bothered Marishuri who didn't talk to anyone, and Marishuri always pushed her away… But when the next year came, Marishuri became a helper of the student council just so she could talk to Eri who was the secretary at that time! Ohoho~ I always thought the two were best friends, never thought they'd get married." The headmaster rambled on.
"U-uhm… It's great hearing this cute story… But… H-how do you know so much about this...?"
"Oh, well, I was a meddlesome man, you see. And you couldn't really avoid the rumors, especially about the Ice Cold Wolf… Fun times."
"Despite them being just NPCs in the game… They still do have history huh… I fully know they're NPCs… And this whole world is but a game… Everything just feels so real doesn't it?" I thought in my head, now starting to stand up and stare over at the headmaster.
"If you are only going to ramble on and on about my parents, I'll just leave then. You have nothing more to say since you apologized, right?" I asked him, and started to go towards the door as the now silent Yasachu followed.
"Ohoho~ Touché!~ Though, I do have something important to tell you."
I paused, my hand was already at the door knob but I looked back, raising an eye about this so called important news.
"Your mother is pregnant! We just got the letter earlier, you have your letter as well. Congratulations!~" He took out a letter from his table and it flew towards my hand.
"What."
"What…?"
"WHAT? WHAT????? It... it wasn't even three days??? Did they really get so lonely they immediately started to make a child?! Ugh… Knowing mother and father, that wouldn't be absurd… I was conceived during their honeymoon too… They really can get over excited, Those two…" I sighed, thinking that as I stared towards the letter, practically glaring at it.
"Ugh… I… I'm… They're so old, why would they have a child now…?"
"Oho, if Eri heard that, she surely would have yelled at you. It probably has something to do with having an heir. You will get married off to Prince Raijin and take the Gakerumi name, thus leaving the spot for the Shiromoru family blank. I never thought they would take this long… But better late than never." The headmaster shrugged, laughing at my reaction.
"Wait… How do two girls even make… Huh?" Yasachu was just beside me, staring into the void. So confused that there were practically question marks on her face.
"That's true… Well then, We shall leave to rest. Farewell." I looked back at the door and opened it. We were greeted by the two knights earlier.
"Are you two done?"
"Y-Yes! Uhm, we're going back to the infirmary to rest now…" Yasachu nodded.
Now starting to walk back to the infirmary, Yasachu glanced over at me, as if she wanted to ask questions but was too shy to.
"What is it?" I asked, placing the letter in my pocket as I peered over at Yasachu.
"U-uhm… I just… Thought how it is like to have two girls as parents… Isn't it… Strange…?" Yasachu asked, looking down as her ahoge swung around.
"Nothing too different. Two girls or a heterosexual couple doesn't matter. My parents are my parents. For you, it's strange, for me, homosexual couples are close to normal." I spoke in a serious tone, glancing over at Yasachu which seemed to have a panic driven face.
As if… She felt guilty.
"No-normal?! Really? In… In my country it was extremely taboo... I-I was… We were taught to… Not like them... I-I'm sorry, I'm being too insensitive aren't I? I… I respect your parents! To… To raise someone as great as you, they must be great as well… I'm… Happy that you aren't being discriminated against there..." Yasachu nervously laughed, giving a smile but seemed sad. As if it was filled with envy and pride.
"I am quite happy too. I understand in your place it's regarded as bad, but most people I know don't ever think of it as bad. So if you could, I hope you wouldn't think of it as bad as well… Or… Rather, you're welcome here, Yasachu." I continued to stare over at her, giving an indication of knowing that she was a homosexual as well.
Yasachu's head shot up, her face glowing red as she blinked and sweated at me.
"Wo-wah?! No, I'm, I'm not- Uhm-" Yasachu tried to say something, but couldn't let it out, she was just stuttering… Not knowing what to say. Did Nikami see through her?! Yasachu knew that Nikami's parents were the same sex, but… She feels terrified, scared of being pushed away.
"It was a small thing in the game, but the protagonist had signs of internalized homophobia… With dialogue like «I don't think two girls should be doing this», or, «this isn't normal». It was only a few instances… But now I could tell it is actually way worse now that I could actually see the protagonist's expressions." I thought, lifting my hand up and patting Yasachu.
"Ah…" Feeling red even more, Yasachu just paused and said nothing.
A warm hand that always comforted her despite Nikami's cold figure… Yasachu doesn't deserve such kindness…
When we finally arrived, I sat down on the bed I was in earlier and laid down.
"Shiromoru-sama…?"
"Yes?"
"Are you… A homosexual too…?"
"..."
Staying silent as I glanced over at the white haired girl, her large eyes peering over me with expectations.
I felt my cheek go red just from staring at her puppy eyes.
"I can't say I'm straight from the way my heart beats when I'm looking at you…
What? No, you idiot, stop that. You're not falling in love with anyone, especially not a commoner. Stop this." I shook my head, thinking that as I felt that dumb sweet prickly feeling in my chest again…
"Hmm, am I? I wonder…" I replied vaguely, tilting my head at Yasachu.
"Are you asking because you're interested in me?"
"Wh-wha?! Shi-shiromoru-sama, I-I can't compare to your greatness, I do-don't think I am even allowed to be-" Yasachu stuttered even more.
"...?!"
"Hu-huh?!"
A sudden, overwhelming feeling of dread washed all over me, I could see that Yasachu was having the same feeling.
For a second I felt dizzy, feeling like the ground shook.
"Th-that was-"
"A large amount of mana discharge...?"
"Wh-what was that all about?! I'm…" Yasachu started to breathe heavily, panicking about what was going on.
Anyone would panic, something like this happening is terrifying, a large discharge of mana like that would make the average person lose all sense of security.
Something as big as that… Would only be felt if someone casted a S+ ranked spell, which can total a city in an instant…
Why was something like that inside a magical academy?