Chapter 61

Nade encouraged Shirone.

“Try it, try it. From what I heard, it’s like projecting a body image while in a state of having no self. After that…”

“I know what it is. Give me a minute. Let me concentrate.”

Shirone closed his eyes and felt the sensation of his body while his friends kept their mouths shut.

‘No self right before entering the Spirit Zone… Then awaken the entire body’s senses with insight while projecting the body image!’

“Eeuk… Eeeeuukk! Oh no… It’s getting harder!”

Yiruki tried to hold back his laughter and said.

“You simpleton, you think it’ll actually work? The Spirit Zone and Schema are polar opposites.”

“PUHAHAHAHAHA!”

Nade couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Shirone looked back with lasers coming out from his eyes.

“You-! Fine, I’m not doing this! Switch!”

Eventually, the three decided to take turns carrying Siena on their back.

However, Nade didn’t last half the distance of Shirone’s while Yiruki couldn’t even take over ten steps.

Very soon, it was back to Shirone’s turn. He carried Siena on his back with trembling arms and gave them a ridiculous look.

“Hey, don’t we look so pathetic right now?”

“Shirone. It’s rude to say something that you should just store inside your brain. No need to lower our self-esteem more than you need to.”

At the end of Nade’s words, the three all shut up.

By the time they neared the academy, Shirone suddenly spoke.

“Hey, why don’t we… Just stop doing that.”

“What do you mean by ‘that?’ What are you talking about?”

“You know, the deal with Ms. Siena about what happened today.”

“Hmm…”

To be honest, Nade also had a guilty conscience. However, it wasn’t like they could just give up. Their research group was at stake.

“But there’s no other particular way. Did you come up with a plan to protect the research group?”

“No, but this is a whole different thing. Today… must have been a very sad day for Ms. Siena. I don’t know the details, but I feel that it is.”

After seeing things from their teacher’s point-of-view, their expressions became solemn.

Saying your farewells to a precious loved one who sacrificed their eyes for you wouldn’t just end with a bottle of alcohol.

“Yeah, I know. I really do. But for me, the research group is important. I don’t know about you guys, but I inherited this position directly from the former president. The fact that the research group is getting disbanded because of me…”

Yiruki also agreed.

“I understand your position. The decision is yours. We are only members.”

Nade sighed.

“I wouldn’t be like this if it were anything else. Quite frankly, Ms. Siena is a hard type to deal with. She doesn’t have any weaknesses. She has a tough personality, she’s meticulous with student management. She’s even telling Shirone to leave since she’s worried about Overflow. We have to play a little dirty to win against someone so guarded on all sides.”

‘These little rascals…’

Siena, who was listening while hanging on Shirone’s back, choked up.

When she was drunk and spinning in circles, she had been out of it, but now she was almost fully herself.

Shirone spoke.

“Why our teacher chose the path she did, why she’s so obsessed with Overflow… She’s like that because she doesn’t want us to walk the same path she did.”

“Tsk! I know at least that much. She’s actually one of the people I really respect.”

Nade stopped talking there, but he couldn’t turn blind eye to Shirone and Yiruki’s stares.

“Okay! Fine! Whatever! We’ll say today is invalid! Let’s cover up everything that happened to Teacher. I guess we’ll just have to think more about our research group tomorrow, yeah?”

Yiruki nodded.

“I have no complaints. We’re the villains, anyway. In fact, I owe Ms. Siena in many ways, and even though she often speaks coldly, she always sides with the students at crucial moments.”

Shirone then spoke.

“Then it’s decided. No matter what difficulties we face in the future, never reveal what happened today. It has nothing to do with our research group.”

“Alright!”

They were rather at ease when the final decision was made. Shirone and his friends continued their way with light steps.

No one knew that Siena was awake.

They saw the front gate of the magic academy.

A half-dead Shirone found a guard standing with a torch and stopped walking. It has not past midnight yet so the night shift still hasn't gone home.

“What should we do? If we go in like this, a strange rumor might spread by tomorrow. Not to mention, we left without permission.”

“Then we have no choice. From here on, let’s use magic. I’ll float Ms. Siena, so hold her up for a second.”

“Okay, let me first put her down, Yiruki, help.”

The moment Shirone touched the ground with his knees, the weight on his back disappeared.

When he looked back in surprise, Shirone saw Siena standing straight. Even her eyes were clear.

“T-Teacher?”

Shirone collapsed onto the ground.

If she could walk, why trouble him and make him suffer up till this point?

Nade asked.

“Are you really okay?”

“Of course. Did you think I’d get drunk with that tiny amount?”

“But why…?”

“I treated you all to an expensive meal. You didn’t actually think the day would end with me buying you boys course meals and we all happily return, right?”

To be honest, it was only a while ago that she became sober.

No matter how amazing a mage was, they couldn’t evaporate the alcohol that had already made its way into the blood.

“Anyway, follow me. If you want to enter quietly, that is.”

As Siena walked toward the front gate, Shirone’s party followed as if possessed by ghost.

The guard recognized her face and greeted her with wide yet sleepy eyes.

“Oh! Why hello, Ms. Siena.”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

“Did you… Go out with these students?”

“Yes I did. I brought them out for a field trip.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you for your effort. I hope you have a good night.”

According to the academy’s regulations, students were prohibited from entering the academy late at night unless they were with an instructor. Then there was nothing wrong with that.

Nevertheless, Shirone’s group rushed past the academy gate. They were nervous that the guard would suddenly call them from behind and stop them.

When they got to Central Park with no complications, Siena turned around to glare at the three.

“You guys.”

“Heek!”

Shirone felt it on his skin.

“I will let today’s matter go.”

“...Pardon?”

“I’m saying that I’ll keep it a secret between us. I won’t report it to the academy and I won’t tell anybody about it. I’ll also give you one month to come up with something. That’s the best deal I can give you guys.”

“...”

“Come up with a way to convince the academy within a month. Whether you hold a presentation or somehow bring in a ghost, it is up to you. If you are really proud of your research group, fight. Even if you have to go against the academy in order to prove it. That’s the way I teach and love my students.”

Her students got emotional.

They couldn’t believe Siena was telling them this.

‘What a relief.’

Nade clenched his fist.

“Okay! Look forward to it. Our research group will definitely prove its worth. You’ll be so surprised you’ll fall off your chair!”

Yiruki assisted.

“It’s been a while since I’ve properly stretched my brain.”

Siena smiled bitterly as she watched her students regain their confidence.

While it was true that anxiety made its way into her heart when she saw their enthusiasm skyrocket, she was also looking forward to seeing what kind of great incident they would cause this time.”

‘Hohoho. Do your best, my students.’

* * *

Shirone visited the research group later than usual. He found Yiruki and Nade lying on the sofa.

“Hey.”

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Don’t know. Did I even sleep? What about you guys?”

“The same. What are we going to do now? Even though we had a meeting all night yesterday, we couldn’t come up with any good ideas.”

Shirone sat on an empty sofa and spoke.

“We have to make a decision today. Let’s try to find a solution.”

“And how are we going to do that? Supernatural psychic science is not a phenomenon we can see. Humans don’t believe what they can’t see.”

Tired of even talking, they all stared blankly at the wall.

Their minds felt as white as the wall.

Not long after, Shirone’s eyes returned to focus.

“How about we change our train of thought?”

Nade and Yiruki sat up.

They didn’t know what Shirone would say, but he was taking a different route from before.

“How?”

“Our dilemma is this: There is no way to show what is invisible.”

“Yeah, that’s the gist.”

“What I am saying is, there’s no need for us to try and show something that is invisible. That’s why we’re stuck. We are thinking about the next thing without solving this problem first. In essence, I think we should look for a method in which we don’t have to show anything at all.”

Yiruki stroked his chin.

“So you’re saying that we don’t have to verify something that can’t be verified.”

“Yes. The reason why I joined this research group isn’t because you guys proved something to me. Wouldn’t it be the same for the others?”

The corner of Nade’s lips tugged up.

“Yes, we had Shirone’s case. Verification was not necessary from the beginning. Rather, on the contrary…”

“We have to make them believe what they can’t see, right? Like Shirone.”

Something struck Nade’s mind.

Feeling a plausible idea coming on, Nade hugged Shirone.

“Shirone, come here! You saved our research group! You can take my first kiss!”

“Gross! Go away!”

While the two were wrestling, Yiruki was deep in thought.

The real hard part had just begun.

“Then what should we do? Our direction is set, but we still have to present something. We can’t exactly tell the professors to ‘imagine’.”

Nade went back to his seat. Shirone also patted down his disheveled hair.

“Let’s think about what we’re going to show our audience.”

The three students put their heads together and discussed.

Once the strand was formed, ideas and endless thoughts came to mind.

The main point was to present something that would make people believe in the invisible.

“Should we do something auditory? It’s easy to design.”

“It’s efficient, but not effective. We have to think about the academy’s acknowledgment.”

“Then it’s definitely visual. If possible, auditory as well. We just pour everything we can and present it.”

“Visual and auditory. Then what should we visualize? Should we focus on presenting things as supernatural occurences or psychic occurences?”

“It’s hard to empathize with the supernatural. It doesn’t reach a personal level. I think psychic would be better.”

Nade raised his hand.

“I vote for psychic, too. There are countless psychic phenomena. Which one do we go for?”

Shirone sopoke.

“I think ghosts are good. Since it’s a highly individualized concept, I think it would be easy to propagate.”

“Mmm… But isn’t ghost-related stuff considered childish?”

Nade was worried, but Yiruki voted for Shirone’s opinion.

“That just means if we succeed in presenting it, we’d have accomplished something great.”

Shirone said.

“It’s about introducing supernatural and psychic sciences to aspiring mages. However, if we use this factor well, I think it could be a point for us.”

Nade raised his head.

“Do you have something in mind?”

“Let’s set up a thinking trap. For example…”