chapter05 · 121-ep121

Book Volume 2 Newly Written Content Preview: Mafuyu and Karin's First Contact (Part One)

Public Security police.

They are a special presence even within the police, tasked with handling cases that could threaten the state itself in order to maintain "public safety and order."

Due to the importance of the cases they handle, even the details of their activities and the identities of their members are not publicly known. Highly secretive, and willing at times to use illegal methods to 'eliminate' dangerous elements, they are considered the black box of Japan's security forces.

Ever since Public Security was established after the war as a replacement for the Special Higher Police, its chief activities had reportedly been intelligence gathering, such as inspections and covert investigations of antigovernment movements. It had not often resorted to illegal means.

But—with the appearance of dungeons making it easy for superhumans to arise in the modern world, they could no longer afford to be so 'well behaved.' Even Japan, sometimes mocked for being peace-addled, increasingly needed to take the good with the bad to preserve its people's peace.

Monitoring explorers who had gained abnormal power. Infiltrating antigovernment organizations that possessed high-level explorers. Conducting various clandestine operations. At times, even launching near-assassination attacks and interrogations against vicious explorers. Public Security had many duties that could never be brought into the light. And one of the activities concealed with particular care was giving talented orphans elite educations and raising them into exceptional Public Security officers—or soldiers.

In Japan, one could enter a dungeon and gain levels beginning at age fourteen.

It was a naturally humane rule established with children's safety in mind. At the same time, it was one reason Japan tended to fall behind hypothetical enemy nations that threw children into dungeons without regard for their lives, both in the number and quality of its high-level explorers.

Therefore, Public Security and certain other security forces secretly educated and selected children with no families. Those who showed promise were raised from early childhood inside dungeons kept under complete government control, securing a certain number of personnel.

And—the person who achieved the best results in history within that environment, one that could be called the dark underside of the nation, then served as the youngest-ever covert Public Security officer, was Mafuyu Sasaki.

Her talent left even veteran Public Security officers speechless. In a word, it was exceptional.

Her adaptability to any mission assigned. Her merciless willingness to use any means required to achieve her objective. And above all, her fighting style specialized in combat against humans, giving her enough combat power at only fourteen to contend with explorers who ranked among the nation's best—officially, at least.

Mafuyu used all of those qualities to help resolve numerous cases.

At some point, she gained the unflattering nickname <Poison Spider>. Within Public Security, and even among the uppermost ranks of police allowed to know about Public Security's activities, she was highly regarded as a "prodigy."

However—

"They say every prodigy becomes ordinary after twenty... but I never imagined I'd become ordinary at fifteen, never mind twenty..."

Even though she had been called a prodigy, Mafuyu's active career did not last long.

A single moment of carelessness.

An irregularity.

While diving into a dungeon's depths for training, she suffered a catastrophic injury.

Once an explorer reached a high enough level, most injuries healed quickly.

But Mafuyu's injury was highly unusual. Her life was saved, but she became unable to fight for extended periods. No, forget an extended period—she could only fight for an extremely short time, and her stamina was merely "considerably greater than an ordinary person's." Even though much of Public Security's work involved intelligence gathering, the job naturally carried mortal danger and required the endurance to withstand grueling duties. Those lingering effects were fatal to her career.

Even so, she could still display tremendous combat power for very short periods, so calling her an "ordinary person" was a stretch... but regardless, continuing her work as before was impossible.

She was effectively retired from Public Security, though treated somewhat like a reservist. At Mafuyu's own request, it was decided she would transfer to an entirely ordinary public middle school. While maintaining the contacts and underworld connections she had built during her active career, she would outwardly restart her life as an ordinary civilian.

The fact such a request was granted despite her being a covert Public Security officer whose very existence was practically a mass of classified information was probably thanks to her achievements while active. The organization had never disposed of people merely because they were no longer useful, but the arrangement was undoubtedly close to special treatment.

Upon retiring, she could have transferred to a support division or returned to an educational facility with ties to Public Security... but there was no profound reason why she rejected those choices and chose an ordinary school.

She wanted as much distance as possible from the 'dark underside' that would force her to feel what she had lost, and she thought a proper education would offer her more options in the future.

Surely that was a very positive shift in perspective.

A proactive choice made so she could walk forward into the next phase of her life.

And yet—

"Sigh. I really can't find the motivation to do anything at all."

The first day at her new school.

Facing her new life, Mafuyu let out a small sigh, feeling neither nervousness nor excitement—only emptiness, with nothing she wanted to do.

It was not as though Mafuyu had sworn loyalty to the nation, nor had she found especially profound purpose or pride in the work Public Security did to preserve the people's peace. She had simply and dispassionately performed the work she was capable of.

But abruptly losing everything she had developed since she was old enough to think—and the place where she could display her talents to the fullest and earn recognition—brought an emptiness difficult to describe. It felt as if the heat at her core had suddenly vanished, leaving behind a hollow space.

Some part of her had still hoped that entering a world different from the one she'd always known might fill that emptiness, or help her discover something new she wanted to do... but naturally, nothing could be that convenient.

"This is an unusual time to transfer, so close to summer break, but family circumstances led to it happening on short notice. My name is Mafuyu Sasaki. It's nice to meet you."

The third-year middle-school classroom she had chosen to transfer into was utterly ordinary. Naturally, it offered no dramatic excitement whatsoever. It possessed a plainness that seemed to embody the lack of passion that had followed her ever since her Public Security retirement was decided.

"..."

The classroom stirred at Mafuyu's icy air and beautiful features, but she herself remained dispassionate as she took the new seat prepared for her.

She would probably be living with this empty feeling for a long time.

She would find nothing she wanted to do and simply drift through life in the ordinary world.

That premonition came with something resembling resignation.

...However, there was exactly one exception.

Something far from ordinary was present in that classroom.

And it appeared without warning on Mafuyu's very first day, right around when she had finished introducing herself and taken her seat with the same cool detachment.

"OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M LATE, DESU WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE-CRAAAAAAAAASH!

A single girl rushed into the classroom with a hideous scream.

Her speed and strangely battered appearance made Mafuyu widen her eyes and think, (Uh, what?) but neither the homeroom teacher nor her classmates paid it any mind.

(What? Am I the strange one here?) Mafuyu remained confused when—

"Oah!?"

Zap. Her gaze met that strange creature's.

The girl made another strange noise and opened her eyes just as wide as Mafuyu's.

"...? Th-there is a person I have never seen before, not merely in this classroom but anywhere in the school, desu wa. Huh? Could I have entered not only the wrong classroom, but the wrong school entirely, desu no...!?"

"She's a transfer student, Yamada."

"She finished introducing herself while you were late. Her name's Mafuyu Sasaki."

"You burst into class at a full sprint again, so now Sasaki-san's freaked out."

"Hwoah."

The girl—Karin Yamada—opened her mouth with a dumbfounded look as the surrounding classmates explained.

"So that was it. U-um, then it is a pleasure to meet you, Mafuyu-sama!"

"Just get to your seat already, Yamada. Or I'll mark you late."

"! P-please do not! If any more tardies pile up, my grades will become most un-Elegant, desu wa!"

Scolded by the homeroom teacher, Karin stormed off to her seat without waiting for Mafuyu's response.

"...What the hell was that?"

Her voice as cool as ever, Mafuyu muttered her reaction to her first contact with the noisy creature.

And so Mafuyu's new life began. Several days passed.

Her impression of that strange classmate named Karin Yamada did not change from her first day. From beginning to end, it remained: (What the hell is with this girl?) If anything, spending more time in the same room only strengthened that impression.

Apparently, she admired some ojou-sama character from an anime, so she constantly spoke in ojou-sama language—but her mask slipped at every opportunity. She came to school in a strangely battered state almost every morning, not only on Mafuyu's first day. During breaks, she often wrote something in a notebook and grinned to herself.

One might assume such an eccentric had become isolated from her class, but—

"Hey, Yamada! They had milk left over in class two too!"

"For real, desu no!? I shall secure it, desu wa!"

"Hah!? You came all the way from the next class AGAIN, Yamada, you bastard!?"

"You're way too good at rock-paper-scissors! Go home!"

"You cannot blame me for everyone else's poor luck, desu wa!? Come, let us begin! Rock, paper—ORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?"

"Yamada won AGAAAAAAAAAIN!"

"Thirty wins in a row since last year is bullshit, you jerk!"

"Cheater! Cheater! Give back last month's baked-pudding tart!"

"But Yamada isn't smart enough to cheat... And if she IS pulling something, that means we're all dumber than Yamada...!"

Somehow or another, she seemed accepted not merely inside her classroom but across class boundaries.

And despite constantly going on about ojou-samas, she was certainly no model student.

"Hey, Yamada! That ridiculous hairstyle again!? How many times do I have to tell you to fix it!?"

"This is my natural hair, desu wa! The influence of my Elegant soul makes the tips curl naturally, desu no!"

"The only thing naturally screwy is your brain! Today's the day I'm straightening it!"

Every day was an uproar.

However, despite having comparatively many friends, she did not seem to belong to any particular group, nor did she appear to hang around or go out with anyone. Mafuyu lightly sounded out the people around her and learned she'd apparently become an explorer the previous year. For about a year, she had been absorbed in dungeon conquest every day after school and rarely went out to play with anyone. That was probably also why she arrived strangely battered every morning.

(She doesn't seem that strong for all that, though. She has some sort of minor injury almost every day, and from what I can see, her mana is only decent. Above average for a student explorer one year into her career, I guess.)

Regardless, if Mafuyu had to sum up her impression in a few words, it would be "noisy problem child" and "rare animal."

She was the strange kid every class had one of... No, someone that strange was probably quite rare, but in any case, that was her type.

"Honestly, that's exactly the kind of person I'm bad with."

Like an occupational habit, Mafuyu had gathered a basic rundown of Karin's information alongside that of the other students. Those words summarized her feelings. Karin seemed like the sort of person who acted entirely on instinct, the exact opposite of Mafuyu... and not someone she wished to interact with proactively.

However, Karin Yamada probably sensed the same thing. Their eyes sometimes met, but Karin hurriedly looked away each time and never spoke to her after Mafuyu's first day.

Her instincts must have told her that she and Mafuyu would be incompatible.

"Well, she's not my type, but unless I go talk to her, we won't have anything to do with each other directly."

Sharing a classroom with her would be noisy, but that was all.

So long as Mafuyu did nothing strange, no trouble would come of it. That was the conclusion she reached.

But... that prediction would soon fall apart.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

And there you have the opening portion of the newly written episode in Ojou-sama Buzz volume two, releasing March 18, desu wa! The doubts about Mafuyu-sama's age can finally be laid to rest, desu wa ne...!

The next part of the newly written preview will be posted tomorrow as well.

The main story resumes Sunday, so I hope you'll look forward to both, desu no.