“Oh! Look who showed up today. It was so long since I last saw you, I almost forgot that you existed.” Uuughh… It’s too early in the day to have my heart broken. Miyuki had a point. My adventure to save Ririna took much longer than expected.

  “A- are you serious? Were you actually about to forget me?” I approached Miyuki before class started to thank her for her help. I wasn’t exactly the best friend to her, but I don’t want her to forget about me. She’s a seriously pretty girl, and like… didn’t she predict I was important to save both worlds from this mysterious phenomenon?! You can’t just forget me!

  “Ahahahaha! It was a joke, Iroha! I was joking. You really think I’d forget about you?” Miyuki tapped my shoulder energetically while laughing. “I’m glad you’re back though.” She said with an ironic, mushy tone. “I missed so much I thought I was gonna die of loneliness… Like a rabbit.”

  *Sigh…* She really likes messing with me. “I had some things to do in the other world, and it took longer than I expected.” I leaned on her desk and whispered so no one else would hear. “Thanks, Miyuki.”

  She looked up from her seat, tilting her head in confusion. “Why are you thanking me? You went to save some girl, right? Wasn’t that the thing I said I didn’t have any information about? Am I mixing something up?”

  “You’re not mixing up anything. You may not have said anything about Ririna, but you said everything would work out. I wanted to thank you for that.”

  “Oh, that’s nothing, Iroha. We’re friends, right? A little encouragement is nothing.” Miyuki smiled gracefully, and I was once again reminded why she set my heart into motion. She’s like a silver-haired angel. An out-of-this-world beauty. Completely out of reach. I used to think she was the prettiest girl in the world, but now my Carol and Ririna are definitely the cutest! She’s on their level, though… I hate to admit it, but she is… What were we talking about?

  “Right! Miyuki, do you have any new information for me? I’m apparently going on another mission soon. I don’t know much other than that it’s taking place on some kind of cruise ship. Any advice?”

  “You’re going on a cruise? How lucky…” Miyuki completely ignored my question. “That sounds fun. I wanna go on a cruise too!”

  “Didn’t you hear me? I’m going there on a mission, not to play around. I could bring you along, but we’re likely going to run into a monster. You in?” Miyuki absolutely rejected the idea of going into the other world because she was scared of monsters. She was immediately frightened after I mentioned them.

  “No no no! You can have them, Iroha!” She switched topics in a hurry and closed her eyes in thought. “Let me see if I can remember any dreams about cruises… That’s a bit random, isn’t it? Why would there be monsters on a cruise ship?” How would I know? I don’t make the rules. “Oh! I remembered something. If you gather a lot of people in a pool, something good will happen.”

  “Huh… Now that’s random. How many people do I need? And what is it that happens? Don’t you have any more details?” Something good in a pool? On a mission with Carol and the others? Could it be…!? Stop, Iroha! Don’t start salivating. Not in class!

  “That’s all I remember. The rest is up to you. Good luck, Iroha.” She’s pretty nonchalant about this. That’s just like her.

  The teacher then entered the room, and I had to hurry to my seat. “It’s alright. It’s better than nothing. Thanks.”

  I sat back on my desk feeling good. I thanked Miyuki like I wanted and got a new hint for the future. Things were going pretty well, then I heard something weird from the teacher. “We’re receiving two transfer students today.” Totally weird. Didn’t Miyuki just transfer? Isn’t it too soon? Summer vacation is only a few weeks away. Why would anyone transfer in right now? Oh well… It’s not like it has anything to do with me. “Come on in!”

  “…” I was lazily following along when the two new faces snapped me out of it. “Huh!?” I covered my mouth in a hurry before I said anything dumb. The transfer students are… Carol and Katja! What!?

  …

  As soon as the first class ended, both Carol and Katja were surrounded by my classmates. They were the new shiny thing in class, and everyone was curious about them. No surprises there.

  But dammit! I have no clue why they’re here! It’s obvious it’s because of me, but why? I wanted to go and ask, but I was particularly bad with that type of crowd. Katja spent the whole class paying attention like a proper student, so I couldn’t get any info out of her. On the other hand, Carol started giggling and grinning whenever I looked at her. Is this just some kind of prank? Is she having that much fun seeing me panic? *Sigh…* What can I do?

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Hey, Iroha…” Miyuki was one of the few who wasn’t interested in smothering the new girls to death. She whispered to me from behind. “Those are your friends from your organization, right?” Even with the fragmented dreams she saw, Miyuki was able to piece together some details like this. “Keep my ability a secret from them, okay?” Miyuki said with a nervous tone. “I don’t wanna get dissected alive.” That’s exactly what I said! See? I’m not weird for worrying about that. Either that or she saw a dream of a future where she was dissected. Now that’s a terrifying thought.

  As I turned to answer Miyuki, I saw Carol staring our way. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything about it.”

  “Okay! That’s enough questions for now!” With that, Carol grabbed Katja’s wrist and broke off from the crowd. Everyone was left staring, and now she’s coming towards us. Ughh… Dammit, Carol! I could do without the attention! “We’re here, Iroha. Surprised?” Carol was somehow proud of herself, but this was pure torture for me.

  “Ahahaha… Y- yeah… Didn’t see it coming at all…” I feel really self-conscious in this classroom. I thought I was doing better, but I never wanted anyone to see me in this environment. Especially Carol. I didn’t want her to see me at my worst.

  “Who are these girls, Iroha? Are they your friends?” So this how Miyuki wants to play it. Makes sense. Even takes the heat off me a little.

  “That’s right. I know from outside school. These are my friends Carol and Katja.” I gestured to the two of them. Miyuki pressed her hands together cheerfully.

  “Oh! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Miyuki Eis. Iroha’s friends are my friends too. Let’s get along! I’m a transfer student too, so we gotta stick together.” Miyuki extended a hand, but Carol was getting mad. She hid it with a smile, but I could tell.

  “So- sounds like you get along with Iroha… What’s the relationship between you two?” Carol asked with a stiff smile, not reaching for Miyuki’s hand yet.

  “Let’s see…” With her other hand, Miyuki brought a finger to her chin and looked away thoughtfully. “I’d say it was destiny. We became friends on the first day we met and hit it off immediately. Iroha’s my best friend!” Am I? That’s kinda flattering.

  “Ehh… Is that so?” Though, Carol’s glaring at me now! “She never mentioned you before… It’s nice to meet you, Miyuki.” Carol stiffly shook Miyuki’s hand. Why did you have to go and say it like that, Miyuki?! That’s my girlfriend you’re making jealous, you know?

  “Looks like this is going to be more interesting than I thought.” Giggling at a small distance from them, Katja spoke next to me.

  “Katja!” I screamed in a desperate whisper. “What are you two doing here?! Why didn’t you tell me anything?”

  “Sorry… Carol wanted it to be a surprise. I thought we could learn more about you by spending more time together. With a job as important as ours, constantly improving our teamwork is very important. That’s why we’re here.” Katja leaned against my desk with her arms crossed.

  What a shitty explanation. I have so many questions. “What about Hecate and Narumi? Don’t tell me they’re in another class.”

  “Of course not. What would be the point?” Is she aware school has a point besides being her teambuilding exercise? “Hecate said she was too busy taking care of the dorm, and school’s too boring for Narumi.”

  “I see… Even then, why would you transfer now that summer vacation’s just about to start?”

  “Is it? Well, it doesn’t really matter to us. Carol was curious about what school’s like here, so we came to check it out. None of us have spent a lot of time in normal schools, so this is all new to us. Though in my case, even this kind of improvement is wasted on me.” Huh… I remember Katja saying something like this before… Saying that training is useless for her… They’ve never been to school before, so how do they learn? I’m guessing they learned everything they needed as part of their training.

  “You mean that school’s wasted on you? Why do you say that?”

  “Because it’s true. I’m not like other people. I’m a tool—a sword whose purpose is to slay monsters and protect the people.” Katja said with an unchanging expression. “Swords and tools don’t improve with training. If anything, they get dull. That’s why I focus on training others.”

  That doesn’t really make any sense. She’s obviously not a tool… “But you’re a person too, Katja. Are you telling me you don’t improve at all when you train?” Sometimes improvements are hard to see, but still…

  “Don’t worry about it.” Katja smiled and softly patted my head. “That matter has been settled a long time ago. No matter the strength I possess, I’ll always do my best to keep you and the others safe.”

  Is it really settled? Sounds like there’s still something wrong with her. How can I not worry when someone I care about is in pain? I’m not reading too much into it, am I?

  “Grrrr… If you crunch the numbers that way, I guess you met Iroha before I did…” Somehow, Carol and Miyuki had gotten into a contest over who was closer with me. “Doesn’t matter! My relationship with her is way stronger. She actually relies on me for important matters.” Carol puffed up her chest.

  “Geez… That’s nothing… Iroha relies on me too, you know?” Carol I get, but why is Miyuki not stopping?

  “Fufufu…” Katja was giggling again. “I knew it’d be amusing… Oh, Iroha, let’s go back to the House together after school. The job has arrived.”

  “Oh, alright.”

  …

  The rest of the day went somewhat smoothly. Carol didn’t say much about Miyuki, but she was particularly clingy, drawing a lot of attention to me. Miyuki knew something was up from the fact that the girls from the House had shown up at school. She wanted to hang out, but she understood when I told her something came up.

  “The goal for our mission is to find and eliminate any monsters on the ship.” We were on our way back to the House while Katja shared the newest details. The streets were quiet enough that we could talk about this out in the open without worry. “The cruise ship is currently docked in the harbor. The passengers and crew were evacuated as soon as the ship reached Three Records City. Two people were killed by some kind of monster, and the PSF already tried to eliminate the threat, but they failed. They were unable to find the monster, and one of their members got injured.”

  Injured, huh? Even the PSF struggles sometimes… I thought they were the best of the best. Are we actually the best? “We will board the ship on the weekend and sleep there for three days or until the monster’s eliminated.”

  “The mission starts this weekend then… Got it.” Should be enough time to meet Ririna before then.

  “What’s that look? Are you planning on going to the other world?” Carol slowed me by grabbing my shoulder, and Katja got ahead of us. She spoke with a low voice so Katja wouldn’t hear.

  “Yeah, I guess… I promised I’d meet with Ririna soon, right? I’ll probably go after we get to the house.”

  “Hmm… You think I’d let you meet with her by yourself? If you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

  “Huh? Are you serious?” I wasn’t expecting this, but it’s actually good. If she and Ririna spend more time together, they might actually start getting along. I have to make this work somehow! Get ready, Carol. I’ll make you accept this relationship! Onwards to the other world!