Chapter - 1 (Part 1)
Chaos and the Desire to Control
...Damn.
I couldn't sleep peacefully again.
With a quiet sigh, I climbed out of bed and stepped outside my room.
As soon as I entered the living area, I noticed an unfamiliar figure standing near the entrance.
A guard.
He respectfully handed Father a pouch of money along with several documents.
"My deepest apologies."
"The admission payment and documents have been returned."
He bowed deeply before taking his leave.
...
Ah...
This...
This is what I wanted to see.
Over the past two days, far too many things had happened.
Yet now...
The ordinary life I'd wanted was finally returning.
"...Ara."
"You've woken up."
Mother greeted me with her usual peaceful smile.
"Good morning."
...
Ah.
This is exactly what I wanted.
"Good morning, Mom."
"Good morning, Dad."
My father, Tadayoshi Kurogane, smiled warmly.
"Good morning, my son."
His voice sounded lighter than before.
The burden he'd been carrying these past few days had finally disappeared.
Mother, Shizuka Kurogane, quietly began serving breakfast.
We all took our seats around the table.
"Today's your results announcement."
"Eat well."
Mother spoke gently while placing another dish before me.
Father chuckled.
"What does eating well have to do with his results?"
Mother slowly turned toward him.
"...Ara."
"I suppose you don't want dinner tonight."
She smiled.
Yet somehow...
Her expression conveyed something entirely different.
Father immediately straightened his posture.
"I-I was only joking."
"Eating well is important."
"Hm."
I quietly continued eating while watching the two of them.
...
This...
really is peaceful.
After finishing breakfast, I stood up.
"I'm heading out."
Just as I reached the entrance—
"Katsuhito..."
Mother called my name softly.
Then both of them smiled.
"Itterasshai.(see you / Take care) "
...
Ah...
This feeling is good.
I smiled naturally.
"Ittekimasu.( I'm off / see you later)"
By the time I arrived at the academy...
Students had already gathered around the large results board.
Before I could even reach it—
"...Ara."
"Katsuhito."
"You came."
A familiar voice greeted me.
Shirohana Yukimori stood there as though nothing unusual had happened.
A kind smile rested upon her face.
...
She's acting as if nothing happened.
This woman...
For some reason...
It feels like I'm moving exactly the way she wants me to.
She leaned slightly closer.
"So..."
"Would you like me to reveal your results?"
"Or would you rather surprise yourself?"
A teasing smile spread across her face.
"I'll look for myself."
"By the way..."
"What about yours?"
She giggled.
"See it yourself."
Without waiting for permission...
She grabbed my hand.
Then casually dragged me toward the crowd.
...
There were students everywhere.
Some celebrated.
Others stared blankly at the board.
Some had passed.
Some had failed.
Some looked utterly devastated by their scores.
Nearby...
Another notice listed students rejected from the academy for disciplinary reasons.
Among the names...
Alaric von Draeven.
Alongside several other noble families.
...
I finally looked toward the rankings.
Rank 1
Katsuhito Kurogane & Shirohana Yukimori
Score: 99
Below it...
Another notice.
Katsuhito Kurogane and Shirohana Yukimori.
Please report to the Principal's Office immediately.
...
How...
did she score exactly the same as me?
I deliberately left one question unanswered.
...
Coincidence?
Knowing everything that's happened so far...
That seems unlikely.
...
If only...
I knew more about her.
Without realizing it...
I continued staring at her.
She suddenly leaned directly into my field of vision.
"I don't mind if it's you staring at me..."
"But..."
"It's embarrassing, you know."
A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
"...Ah."
"Sorry."
She smiled.
"By the way..."
"You go ahead first."
"I have something to take care of."
"I'll join you later."
She waved before turning away.
Still smiling.
Though...
For some reason...
That smile looked slightly irritated.
--------------------------------
How many times...
Do I have to tell them...
Not to interrupt my time with Katsuhito?
Her smile disappeared.
The surrounding air instantly turned cold.
...
I suppose...
I need to teach them their place.
--------------------------------
As I watched her leave...
Raised voices caught my attention.
"You copied my work!"
A noble boy wearing glasses spoke with obvious frustration.
Across from him stood another noble student.
He wore a confident smile.
"You don't have any proof."
"I do."
"I even have a witness."
A third student stepped forward.
Apparently...
The other boy's servant.
"I saw him making it myself."
...
I see.
One of those disputes.
Neither witness possesses any proof themselves.
Yet simply having a witness immediately places one side at an advantage.
It's less about truth...
and more about winning.
I quietly observed the student wearing glasses.
His posture.
His hands.
The dark circles beneath his eyes.
...
Wait.
I have a more reliable way to confirm.
I activated my disguise skill.
My appearance immediately changed into Instructor Valerian Ashrune's.
Fortunately...
The real instructor didn't seem to be anywhere nearby.
At the same time...
I created a clone of myself and instructed it to wait nearby.
Then I approached the students.
"May I see the magic formula?"
"Instructor?!"
Both boys exclaimed in surprise.
I accepted the papers.
...
Layered barrier magic.
Interesting.
The structure...
was surprisingly sophisticated.
Extremely detailed.
The spell appeared designed to separate magical flows while simultaneously firing two opposing elements.
...
I'm honestly impressed.
I looked toward the confident noble.
"So."
"Who created this?"
"It's mine."
He answered before the boy with glasses could even open his mouth.
"I see."
I nodded slowly.
"I'm proud to have such a brilliant student."
The boy wearing glasses quietly lowered his head.
His shoulders visibly dropped.
Then I continued.
"Could you explain exactly how this structure functions?"
The confident boy froze.
"Ah..."
"Um..."
Sweat appeared across his forehead.
"My servant will explain!"
He hurriedly shoved the servant forward.
The servant simply stood there.
Frozen.
Silent.
Sigh...If he couldn't answer this question, how did he intend to claim the work as his own to the authorities?
...
Another detail.
The moment I touched the papers...
I noticed something.
The submitted formula was written neatly.
Every line.
Every symbol.
Perfectly consistent.
Meanwhile...
The notes carried by the boy with glasses resembled working drafts.
Corrections.
Erased sections.
Repeated calculations.
Messy.
Natural.
If he had copied the work...
There would've been no reason to create so many revisions.
Even so...
I'm only about ninety-five percent certain.
There remains a possibility...
that all of this was deliberate.
While I considered the remaining possibilities—
The boy wearing glasses quietly raised one hand.
"Um..."
"May I explain it instead, sir?"
His voice remained timid.
"...Please."
He immediately began explaining.
Every layer.
Every calculation.
Every magical interaction.
Some of his explanations...
Even I hadn't fully understood when I first examined the spell.
...
I think...
I'll bet on him.
At that moment...
My clone finally approached.
Pretending to know nothing.
"Oh?"
"You've already shown your work to the instructor?"
The boy with glasses immediately understood what the clone was trying to do.
He played along.
"Yes."
"But Falkenrath is accusing me of stealing his work."
He pointed toward the other noble.
Falkenrath visibly panicked.
"N-No!"
"It's mine!"
"Please believe me!"
"I even have a witness!"
My clone calmly looked at him.
"...He has one too now."
"And unlike you..."
"He successfully explained every detail."
Silence.
I stepped forward.
Looking directly into Falkenrath's eyes.
"I can let you go..."
"If you admit it."
"...Answer?"
His confidence finally collapsed.
He tore the paper in half.
"...I'm sorry, sir."
"I won't do it again."
With his head lowered...
He quietly walked away.
The surrounding students slowly dispersed.
...
Just then—
The boy with glasses lightly tapped my shoulder.
"Um..."
"I don't know who you really are..."
"But..."
"I think you should take off that disguise now."
...
How...
did he know?
Before I could even think of an answer—
Someone rested their chin lightly on my shoulder.
A familiar voice whispered beside my ear.
"What..."
"...are you doing?"
---------------------------------
I immediately turned around.
Standing right behind me...
...was
Valerian Ashrune
.
...When did he get here?
For a brief moment, I was caught off guard.
While I was still processing the situation, Instructor Ashrune let out a tired sigh.
"...Well."
"I'll pretend I didn't see anything."
His expression remained as lazy as ever.
"But you should remember one thing."
"If I know you can use my face..."
"Then the next time something happens while I'm nowhere near the scene..."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"...Who do you think people will suspect first?"
...
Fair point.
Without another word, I released my disguise skill.
My appearance instantly returned to normal.
Ashrune simply waved his hand.
"Well then..."
"I'll be taking my leave."
The next moment...
He disappeared through teleportation.
As casual as if he'd merely walked through a door.
It is surprising to see him demonstrating that rare skill in public.
...
A timid voice called out from behind.
"U-Um..."
"My name is Marcus Halvard."
"You can call me Marcus."
The boy with glasses awkwardly adjusted them while avoiding direct eye contact.
"Thank you for helping me..."
"Ah..."
He suddenly stopped, realizing he still didn't know my name.
"Oh."
"My name is Katsuhito Kurogane."
"You can just call me Katsuhito."
Marcus gave a small nod.
"U-Um..."
"Why did you save me, Katsuhito-san?"
I thought about it for a moment before answering .
"...It was just a whim."
"And..."
"I would've felt bad if I hadn't done anything."
"I see..."
Marcus quietly pushed his glasses back into place.
Then his eyes suddenly brightened.
"By the way..."
"When you questioned me earlier..."
"You can read magical structures too, can't you?"
He stepped slightly closer, curiosity replacing his earlier nervousness.
"...Yeah."
"To some extent."
...Though honestly,
I don't think I'm better than you.
The moment I admitted it...
Marcus completely changed.
The shy, awkward boy from moments ago disappeared.
Instead...
His eyes sparkled with excitement.
He eagerly began pulling out notebooks, sketches, blueprints, and magical formulas.
One after another.
"This one is a modified mana circulation array."
"And this..."
"I've been trying to stabilize dual-element casting."
"Oh, and this design..."
He continued talking nonstop.
For the first time...
He looked completely like himself.
I quietly listened.
Occasionally giving advice.
Correcting small inefficiencies.
Suggesting different approaches.
To my surprise...
I also learned quite a lot from his ideas.
Without realizing it...
The two of us had completely immersed ourselves in discussing magical engineering.
...
"...Oh?"
A hand suddenly rested on my shoulder.
I turned around.
Shirohana.
Again.
Appearing out of absolutely nowhere.
"Oh?"
"Who's this boy?"
I answered naturally.
"He's a fellow student."
"And a talented inventor."
She glanced at Marcus.
Marcus politely bowed.
"Ah..."
"Nice to meet you."
"My name is—"
"Katsuhito."
She interrupted him before he could finish.
"You forgot about our meeting."
...
She completely ignored Marcus.
...
Why this attitude toward him?
"...Ah."
"Sorry."
"I completely forgot."
I turned back toward Marcus.
"Sorry."
"I have to go."
"We'll talk again."
Marcus smiled.
"Yes."
"For sure."
Then, after hesitating slightly...
"C-Can I get your contact skill number?"
Just as I was about to answer...
Shirohana grabbed my wrist.
"We'll be late."
She smiled.
Yet...
A strange shadow covered her face.
...
That expression...
It looks familiar.
Mom makes the same face sometimes.
Unable to resist being dragged away, I hurriedly called back over my shoulder.
"Marcus!"
"My class number is 1-A!"
"Let's meet again!"
Marcus enthusiastically waved.
"Yes!"
"For sure!"
------------------------------------------
As we walked toward the principal's office...
Shirohana suddenly pulled me closer.
Without warning...
She pressed two fingers against my forehead.
Tap.
"...Now."
"The first number in your contact list is mine."
A slightly sadistic smile appeared on her face.
She then proudly held out her own communication device.
"See?"
"I also saved the very first spot for your number."
The contact list...
was completely empty except for mine.
...
Why...
A scene from yesterday suddenly flashed across my mind... 'Roma'...Ahem... I shook the thought away.
And...
Wait.
how has she been communicating up until now?
Signal Contact
?
But that is an old method of communication.
Not only can you not save anyone permanently...
Each pair of communication devices only works once, and each person has to keep one half of the pair.
They're also ridiculously expensive nowadays.
...
Still, it’s strange...
Even assuming she had a fortune at her disposal—
It’s impossible to have kept living this long relying solely on a "Signal Contact Device."
After all, there are hardly any manufacturers left that still produce them.
As I walked alongside Shirohana, I was still thinking about it.
Lost in thought...
We arrived in front of the principal's office.