AtE Arc 3: Chapter 2

AtE Arc 3: The Magical Girl’s Iron Hammer – Chapter 2

The time slot in which the culprit appears has generally been narrowed down.

It starts from when the students whose club activities ran late head home. Meaning that it was between 5:30pm to 7pm.

We’ve notified the students and asked them to try and act in groups, since it would be difficult to ask them to suspend their activities when they have tournaments with normal schools in the summer.

That being the case, there definitely will be students who will fail to go around in a group……using such a “pretense”, we will set a trap.

 

「Are you ready? Mutsu-sensei.」

『Yes!』

 

The one whose voice was also disguised as he nodded, was Mutsu-sensei, disguised as a “baby-faced high school girl”.

Using the image that the culprit has been on the prowl for as a base, the ideal image of a high school girl had been produced. With this we were planning on capturing the culprit, but……

 

「No matter how you look at it, it’s Kasamiya-san isn’t it……」

 

Brown hair that was as fluffy as cotton candy.

Charmingly almond-shaped reddish brown eyes that were big and beautiful.

A tender atmosphere elevated the traces of immaturity left in the beautiful girl’s face, and her body was also proportionately slender.

 

Indeed, it was the sole female student who knew of my true identity.

Kasamiya Suzuri. Being a member of the go-home club, she was a student who wouldn’t be attacked by the culprit. The appearance that had been created as bait, however, was the spitting image of her.

Rather, since Kasamiya-san came to me frequently for supplementary lessons, I saw her on a daily basis. However, the illusion of a beautiful girl that was produced, subjected to Mutsu-sensei’s own imagination, was made in a fashion where it could be said that the real thing was cuter than it. What’s going on with that?

 

『Mitsukasa-sensei?』

「No. It’s nothing. Well then, I will be watching from behind, so I’ll leave it to you.」

『Yes, please leave it to me!』

 

Perhaps because he was filled with plenty of fighting spirit, Mutsu-sensei walked with light footsteps.

I followed behind him, utilizing the ability that Mutsu-sensei pasted onto me to conceal my presence.

Hmmm, the more I look at it, the more I see the resemblance to Kasamiya-san. Kasamiya-san really does embody the image of men’s dreams too much. I’m jeal—*cough cough*.

 

In the midst of a light drizzle, a Mutsu-sensei appearing as Kasamiya-san walked in a somewhat hesitant manner. Even that sort of behaviour is just like her, what’s with that? As I stared fixedly at “his” destination, I absentmindedly had such a thought.

 

「Well then. Just in case, I should also——【Open・Form・Search・Ignition】」

 

As it only recognized the presence of living beings that were medium-sized or more, organisms like dogs and cats would get caught in my search net, but it was better than having nothing. Hence, I deployed such a search radar spell.

On the map in my head, a blue circle (me), green circles (those I recognized), and yellow circles  (those I had yet to identify) were displayed. It was quite the superior product.

 

Now then.

Please, I really hope that they’ll be caught here but……

 

I wonder how much we had walked at this point?

Around the time that the passing rain had gotten stronger. The map in my head displayed a yellow circle. It seemed to be moving erratically, having rather unnatural movements. It could possibly be a cat but……let’s observe the situation for a bit.

The yellow circle was wandering around the roadside trees, but from my position I couldn’t see what it was. While I was watching over it, the yellow circle’s movements stopped and eventually began to drift away from Mutsu-sensei.

Hmm, was it a dog or cat after all? It bothered me, so I continued to watch the yellow circle’s movements for a little while longer, but maybe it’d be better to give up for today.

 

And, around the time I was about to give up.

The yellow circle’s movements suddenly sped up as it moved.

 

「Mutsu-sensei!」

 

I called out to him while following the circle.

A long way off ahead of it was another isolated circle, which was gradually approaching it.

The circle’s colour was green. It was either a student that I had met at some point in time, or a teacher. It’d still be alright if it was a teacher, but it was also “possible” for it to be a student.

 

「Kyaaaaa」

——a scream. Confirming the distance.

「【Set・Burst Blade・Shadow Bind】」

——I immediately chose a technique. Determining the range.

「【Ignition】!」

——target locked-on. Sword-shaped shadow bullet!

 

The black sword-shaped spell went flying towards the being that I recognized in the 2 o’clock direction.

However, without being able to capture that thing that didn’t even expose a single silhouette, it ended with the technique only weaving through the shadows of the dancing leaves that came falling down.

It’s unfortunate, but at least I managed to protect them.

 

「Are you okay?!」

『I’m safe, but……h-huh?』

 

Right when Mutsu-sensei, who was still in his bishoujo mode, and I came running up.

Thankfully, we managed to act before something happened. Sitting down with a cut up plastic umbrella was the figure of a high school girl that I was “accustomed to seeing”.

 

「Mitsukasa-sensei and……eh? Huh? Um……a-are you perhaps a sister that I was separated from at birth?」

「Kasamiya-san……it is great that you’re safe…but…you know…」

 

『T-That’s not it! Um, this is uh-』

 

Mutsu-sensei fell into confusion, unable to properly gloss over the matter.

Kasamiya-san tilted her head to the side, unable to comprehend his words.

As I sighed at the new trouble that suddenly emerged, for now, I offered an umbrella to Kasamiya-san.

 

「We’ll need some hot cocoa first. We can talk after that.」

 

Hmm.

Things won’t be handled so easily, huh.

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