That Day

February 17
Amari High School, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo

It's unbelievable that after surviving two wars and hundreds of nightmares, I still have to endure the boredom of school for the second time in my life. Unfortunately, I don't have a choice if I'm to protect Haru as her grandfather wants. The problem is that almost no one talks to me, even in class, although I understand them to a certain extent. Having a 'cosplayer' as a classmate who always shows up in the same costume makes them feel uncomfortable. At least they just ignore me, which is better than how it went for me the first time.

The good news is that these are the last days of classes and teacher Xian is handing out the results and final exam grades to the students. Everyone is happy because it seems that the whole group has managed to pass the school year. The only exceptions are Maria, Tamamo and me. We were supposed to observe the school environment and help Maria integrate, so unfortunately for her, next time she will have to study and take the exams for real. It's better for her to maintain good study habits despite the thousands of crazy things, magic and bullshit that happen in our home every day.

Speaking of our home, the latest rumor is that Momo says she has seen shadows lurking around the house both day and night. According to her, she has seen the silhouette of a strange woman between the trees in the park across the street or on the roofs of the neighboring houses. She even mentioned that she thought she saw her pass near the window of my room, which is on the second floor. This morning she even shouted that she had seen them again, so I rushed out to check. But when I left the house, I only found Mrs. Nakamura, our neighbor, who apparently was planning a party for her son in two days and wanted to discuss it with my mother. Despite our efforts to investigate, even the twins couldn't find anything with the security cameras. 

But back in the classroom, the teacher had one more announcement to make.

"All right, I know you're all excited to hear that all your hard work has paid off."
"But before we finish, the school has one last event planned."
"In this case, we have been invited to see the Ueno Dam, which holds the water, and the Kannagawa Hydropower Plant, a complex of tunnels where the generators are located."
"This is a great opportunity to see how electricity is generated using water and how it is distributed to our homes."
"So we also want to take the opportunity to visit local places like Mount Myōgi and an onsen."
"We will be taking a 2-day trip to the area on February 18th and 19th, this weekend."
"Although attendance is not mandatory for obvious reasons, please come as this is a unique and very informative opportunity."
"Also keep in mind that it's still winter, so even though there's green around, it may still be snowing. Please bring appropriate clothing for the weather."

"February 18th? That's tomorrow!"
"Why are you telling us on such short notice?" said Kirijo Yuko.

"I'm sorry, but there was a delay with the paperwork, and it wasn't until today that we got the approval for everything."
"I deeply apologize for the late notice, but it's still a great opportunity to learn something unique in life."

The teacher said as she bowed her head in apology. It was strange to see how Xian sometimes seemed to take her role as a teacher quite seriously. I wonder what everyone would think if they found out that that person over there is a professional assassin and that I fought her to the death in the final battle of the Continental War. It's incredible to see how life can turn on a dime.

Meanwhile, the rest of the class takes the news very lightly, enjoying it as a way to have a final party after all the work on exams and homework - a well-deserved break. Haru, the inspector's granddaughter, is quite excited and talks to Yukiko, her friend. Others, like Kojiro, the strong giant of the class, are counting with his fingers, with a very concentrated expression on his face. He seems to be calculating how much money he needs, or if he even has it. Yamada, the class clown, takes the situation with a humor that only he has, telling a joke so reverentially bad that I think it's the first joke that's certified as worthy of being told at a funeral. Yasunobu and Takehide are too engrossed in their consoles to notice that they've just announced that we're going on a school trip tomorrow, as they've decided to show what's really important to them now that grades aren't a factor.

Without a doubt, the most excited ones seem to be the dynamic duo Keisuke and his girlfriend Utagawa, who can already be seen making plans to enjoy the trip much more than the others. And despite the formality and social expectations in Japan of not disturbing others, which even means avoiding public displays of affection, these two were so hopelessly in love that they didn't care. They reminded me much more of what I used to see in my classroom in Central America. Damned lovebirds were enjoying the romantic life of their youth in front of poor souls starving for companionship. Damn, I would have killed for that in my youth. Instead, I had to endure my mother nagging me to go out with Sharon, and the bitch just mocked my efforts. I'm sure she knew how hard it was for me to save up money to buy that stupid cell phone just so she could laugh and say it was pretty ugly, but she wouldn't deign to return it, the damn thing. I'm sure if something different had happened, I wouldn't be in this situation now and I could sleep better at night.

But I can't complain either; it's thanks to exactly these events that I'm here now, that my sister Maria has finally recovered from her illness, that Tamamo and Momo are living with me in the dream of having my own little harem with them my side, or that basically everyone here is alive because I managed to kill the Emperor, met Nanami and finally saw for a moment that I wasn't a complete waste. It's hard to know what time will bring or take away; I'm sure everyone would have made different decisions if they could have known the future, but unfortunately, no one is a fortune teller. All I can do is try to move forward and avoid being consumed by darkness and the desire to just give up.