Rokugou is a seventeen-year-old combatant for the evil secret society Kisaragi—and he's barely scraping by on three thousand evil-deed points a month. So when headquarters hands him a mission worth a hundred thousand points, he jumps at the chance. There's just one catch: he has to infiltrate a peaceful parallel world that's practically modern-day Japan, pose as a high school student at Minamisakae Academy, and win the student council presidential election to seize control of the school.
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Combatants Will Be Dispatched to School! - Partner Alice appears! Crush the occult club's curse with science!
The air in the hallway felt strangely cold.
Rokugou stopped short just before the second-floor covered walkway. The image of the magic stones flickering eerily in the back courtyard last night still clung to the corner of his mind. And so did the sharp, ice-blue eyes of Snow when she'd cornered him afterward—"You know something, don't you?"
(Damn... this is turning into a real pain.)
Rokugou scratched furiously at the back of his neck. His short black hair sprang up between his fingers. His brown eyes held their usual glint of mischief, but today that glint was just a little duller.
"Can't rack up any evil points..."
The moment he muttered it—
"What are you going on about so carelessly?"
His spine jolted.
He turned around.
Standing there was a girl with long blonde hair swaying in the wind. The ends curled just slightly, glittering like honey when they caught the sunlight. Her emerald eyes were expressive—and right now they were clearly colored with anger.
She stood a head shorter than Rokugou.
But her presence was like the eye of a typhoon.
"A—Alice...?!"
Rokugou instinctively took a step back.
"You're late. Late. Do you have any idea how many minutes I waited?"
Alice crossed her arms and glared at Rokugou. The small charging port at the back of her neck seemed to glow just a little red from her anger.
"No, uh, you see... morning homeroom ran long..."
"Don't lie to me."
"H—how do you know I'm lying?!"
"Your pupils dilated by 0.3 millimeters. That's your tell when you lie. Besides, homeroom ended at 9:25. It's 9:47 now. What were you doing for twenty-two minutes?"
Rokugou's mouth flapped open and shut.
(This girl, still pointlessly high-spec...!)
Alice let out a single sigh.
"And your pocket. I can see the bag from the school store—curry bread. Two of them. So you stopped by the store this morning and ate two by yourself. You're going to get fat."
"Sh—shut up! These are emergency rations!"
"What kind of emergency involves eating two emergency rations first thing in the morning? Don't tell me 'I was hungry' counts as an emergency."
Rokugou couldn't muster a single word in his defense.
(Right, this is how she's always been. Cute face, sharp tongue, always picking apart everything I do.)
Alice planted her hands on her hips and peered up at Rokugou's face from below.
"Your idiotic behavior is wasting my processing power, you know. I know exactly what you were doing in the back courtyard yesterday."
"H—how...!"
"The nanomachines in your body are linked to me. Did you forget? Heart rate, perspiration, pupil diameter—I monitor all of it. Last night in the back courtyard, your heart rate spiked, and afterward you had a conversation with a girl with ice-blue hair. Am I wrong?"
Rokugou felt cold sweat bead on his forehead.
"Y—you stalker..."
"I'm not a stalker. I'm your partner. What's wrong with keeping track of my partner's activities? More importantly—are you actually making progress on the mission to seize control of the academy?"
"Y—yeah. Well. I looked into the student council election rules. I found out you can run for president if you collect signatures."
"And? How many signatures have you collected?"
"...Still zero."
"Ahaha. Of course. Three days since the mission started and zero progress. You really have no talent outside of combat, do you?"
"Shut up! I'm going to collect them starting now! If I hand out snacks at the school store, the dumb students'll sign anything!"
"That's called bribery. It's forbidden by school rules. If the discipline committee catches you, you'll be expelled."
"Damn... this peaceful academy doesn't have a single scrap of evil points to be found..."
Rokugou crouched down right there on the spot.
Alice looked down at him coldly.
"The reason you can't earn evil points is because you're incompetent. But now that I'm here, that's not going to fly anymore."
"...You'll help me?"
"I'm not helping you. I'm monitoring you. If I leave you unsupervised, you'll never do anything right."
Still crouched, Rokugou looked up at Alice's face.
Her emerald eyes gazed straight down at him.
(This girl—she talks tough, but when it comes down to it, she's worried about me.)
Rokugou gave a small chuckle.
"...Heh. Well, having my partner around is reassuring."
Alice blinked, caught off guard for just a moment.
Then she turned sharply away.
"Wh—what are you saying? That's gross. Get up already. Today we're going to the school cafeteria."
"The cafeteria? Why?"
"Don't you know any of the rumors going around this school?"
---
The Minamisakae Academy cafeteria was already packed with people well before the lunch rush.
A long line stretched in front of the famous special curry bread (150 yen). The savory smell of fried dough drifted through the entire cafeteria.
Rokugou and Alice stood side by side in the shadow of a pillar near the entrance, scoping out the scene inside.
"So what's this rumor?"
"That students are collapsing because of the occult club's curse."
"A curse? What the hell is that?"
"Since yesterday, several students have suddenly collapsed in their classrooms. Nausea, dizziness, headaches. They were taken to the infirmary, but the cause is unknown. Then the occult club president started saying it's 'the curse of the god Zenaris.'"
"Zenaris? Another sketchy name."
"Apparently the god who governs undeath and calamity. The occult club started some strange ritual recently, and that's what angered the god, supposedly."
Rokugou snorted.
"A curse? In this peaceful academy? What a joke. It's probably just mass food poisoning or something."
"That's surprisingly sensible, coming from you. But the occult club crowd won't believe anything that 'sensible.'"
That was when—
"Oh my, Rokugou. So you came to the cafeteria too."
Long ice-blue hair swayed softly.
Snow had appeared beside Rokugou before he noticed. A small sword hung at her hip, and the discipline committee president's badge gleamed on her left chest. Her strong-willed ice-blue eyes fixed on Rokugou.
"Snow... you too."
"Yes. Discipline committee patrol. More importantly—who's the cute girl next to you?"
Snow's gaze shifted to Alice.
Alice stared right back at Snow.
"I'm Alice. Rokugou's partner."
"Partner...? Rokugou, you knew such a cute girl?"
"Yeah, well. Stuff happened."
Snow studied Alice from head to toe, slowly and thoroughly.
"...That android—what brand is she?"
Rokugou's heart lurched.
Alice didn't change expression.
"You must be joking. Do I look like an android to you? How rude."
"I'm not joking. Your skin, your hair, your eyes—none of it is human. I can tell. And there's something at the back of your neck, isn't there."
Snow's finger pointed at the back of Alice's neck.
Alice furrowed her brow—just for an instant.
"...You have sharp eyes. But don't pry any further. That's my privacy."
"My, how scary. Fine, I understand. But if you're Rokugou's collaborator, then you're my ally too. Perfect timing. I have a favor to ask you both."
"A favor?"
Snow smiled brightly.
"Investigate the occult club's curse. I'm officially requesting it as discipline committee business. Would you two go to the occult club room and find out what they're doing?"
"Hah?! Why the hell should I do something so annoying!"
"Oh my, aren't you supposed to cooperate to protect this academy's peace? Besides, I'll share the credit for the investigation with you."
"Credit...? You could just investigate it yourself."
"I'm the discipline committee president. Delegating grunt work to subordinates is my job. Besides, you two are interested in the occult club, aren't you? Isn't this convenient?"
Rokugou gritted his teeth.
(This woman—she's completely planning to use me. Take the credit, dump the hassle. That's the kind of woman she is.)
But another thought was forming in Rokugou's head.
(Wait. Investigating the occult club's curse... couldn't this earn me evil points? Find the one spreading the curse rumor, threaten them... no, wait—simpler than that. If I outmaneuver the occult club, I can win the academy's trust. That'll make it easier to collect signatures for the election.)
Rokugou's mouth twisted into a grin.
"...Fine, I'll take it. But I'll be the one reporting the results. You keep your mouth shut."
"My, so assertive. But the report will be made under the discipline committee's authority. You just need to do the investigating."
"What?! Then my credit—"
"The credit belongs to the discipline committee. But I'll remember your cooperation. Isn't that enough?"
Snow smiled elegantly as she said it.
Rokugou clenched his fist.
(This woman...! I knew she was a sly one!)
---
The occult club room was at the far end of the third floor.
"...It's dark."
Alice stopped in front of the club room door.
The end of the hallway. The presence of people had already vanished from the other classrooms. The after-school building was quiet and eerie.
"Hey, Alice. Are we really going in? What if they're doing some curse ritual in there?"
"Are you scared? You're a combatant, aren't you?"
"I'm not scared! I'm just saying it's a pain in the ass!"
"There's no time to be lazy. I'm opening it."
Alice put her hand on the door.
Creeeak...
The old hinges groaned.
Inside was dim.
The curtains were drawn tight, and the room was wrapped in a strange atmosphere. Old documents and dubious tools lay scattered about. A cloth painted with unfamiliar patterns hung on the wall.
And in the center of the room sat a woman in a wheelchair.
"...Who are you."
The woman slowly raised her head.
A beauty who looked unfortunate when silent. But her eyes held a strange, glittering light.
"You the occult club president?"
"That's right. I am Grim. Servant of Zenaris, the god who governs undeath and calamity. What do you want?"
"We're here on the discipline committee's request to investigate the curse."
"Investigate the curse...?"
Grim looked puzzled.
"If you're here to investigate the curse, it's already begun. The ritual is just about ready. Would you like to join us?"
"A ritual?! Hey, Alice, this is bad after all—"
"Quiet. How interesting. Show me this ritual of yours."
Alice strode boldly into the club room.
Rokugou hurried after her.
Several students had gathered at the back of the room. All of them wore dark expressions, staring at the altar in the center. Black candles stood in rows on the altar, and an eerie incense was burning.
"We will now begin the ritual of the god Zenaris's curse. Upon those who would harm this academy, the god's judgment shall fall."
Grim spread both hands from her wheelchair.
"O, Zenaris. Hear our prayers, and visit calamity upon the impure—"
"Hold on."
Alice cut off Grim's words.
"Wh—what do you want, you. Don't interrupt a sacred ritual."
"Sacred ritual? Don't make me laugh. This is the true nature of your curse?"
Alice approached the altar and picked up one of the black candles.
"I analyzed the composition of this candle. Paraffin wax with trace amounts of sulfur and lead. And this incense—it's dried belladonna leaves. When burned, it produces hallucinogenic smoke."
"Wh—what are you—"
"And the symptoms of the students who collapsed. Nausea, dizziness, headaches. Those are classic symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. This room has poor ventilation, doesn't it? Windows shut tight, multiple candles burning, incense smoldering. It's filled with carbon monoxide."
Alice pointed at the window.
"And your 'curse rumor.' The students believed your words and convinced themselves they were cursed. At first, only one student collapsed. But you spread the word that 'the curse is spreading,' and the other students grew anxious, imagined they were cursed too, and developed the same symptoms. Mass hysteria. All of it can be explained scientifically."
The club room fell dead silent.
Grim's face turned bright red.
"Wh—what grounds do you have...! Who are y
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