———Wiina———

  <12: 07 am>

  “You have been pying it slow, it seems.” Walsuna said, clearly teasing me over my retionship with Karra.

  “...Is that what you should be focusing on?” I asked, exasperated at her trying to distract me with something she has no stakes in.

  “Who’s to say?” She’s being coy about it. Why? “The world is moving slowly, crawling towards the new age. Right now is the moment of respite for many, so I can understand you taking things slowly.”

  “...Is this even about my lovelife anymore?” I asked, wondering if the topic already shifted.

  “It stopped being just about that two sentences back.” She said mockingly. “You went from earning ire from the government of multiple superpowers to stop appearing in public entirely. When will you pull those amusing stunts again?”

  “...Those were done in the heat of the moment. So whenever something ridiculous happens again, I guess.” I never really pnned out any ‘stunts’ I pulled, as she called them. It’s more like a crime of opportunity. There’s no reason why I should do anything so daring without blood in the water. Not exactly an instigator.

  “Huh. I guess there hasn’t been anything that big in scale in a while, or anything that really disturbs the area we’re in.” She casually mentioned. It has been eerily quiet, even. The crime rate in basically every other state or city has increased, rge scale terrorism or accidents.

  “Weird that this pce is pretty peaceful, isn’t it?” I remarked. Wonder why that is. “Have you been proactive in that regard?”

  “Not really. There hasn’t been anything bothering me, so I didn’t step in.” She answered. “Maybe someone ticked that Demon Lord off and got ripped to pieces for it, but if that’s the case I doubt we have any evidence aside from the missing person reports.”

  “...Why is Rico called that anyway?” She has been using that term for a while, but I have no idea what it actually meant.

  “It’s a long story, but to sum it up, she is a…” She was about to eborate before she suddenly went quiet, pondering for a while. “A soul from a different world from ours, where she is accursed with such a title. Things happen, her soul gets merged with another, then expelled, then travels all the way to the present day, reincarnated in a normal family. Of course, she doesn’t remain that way.”

  …It feels like if I were to ask for the context we might actually be standing here for hours. If she even has the full knowledge of the whole tale.

  “So the important takeaway is…” Feels like that should give me some ideas.

  “None of that is actually important. What is important is her lingering hatred for humanity as a whole. She might blend in just fine, but her resentments linger around in her soul like a curse, and that really skewered her perceptions of humans, so for her, a human’s life is nothing valuable or worth sparing by default.”

  That’s definitely a chilling thing to say.

  “And what about you? It’s not like you shy away from such an act.” I said, to see if she has anything to excuse herself with.

  “When you have lived as long as I have, things are so fleeting you find it hard to care for every single one. I do consider myself a bit more considerate than Rico, however. I don’t kill everyone that crosses me indiscriminately.” She expined, unbothered.

  I think I've heard enough, let’s talk about something else… How about this?

  “...Now here’s something I want to know.” This one question has been nagging me a bit. “With all the power you and the others had, clearly not wanting for anything… What’s stopping you from just ending all the world’s problems?”

  “That song and dance? It’s pretty simple.” She said with a rather frosty smile. “It’s a waste of time.”

  “...How?” I asked, wondering what she meant.

  “Trying to force humanity into any one direction wouldn’t really amount to anything. They subconsciously move in the direction of many, not a select few. A forceful method would’ve just amounted to a temporary fix before any of us get tired or bored.” …Is that how she views humans? “Humans are heavily fwed, and can easily be swayed by empty promises, or even harmful ones. Over the course of history they have shown to make mistakes even as they try to course correct. Making the same mistake over and over. It is simply not worth my, or anyone’s time, to be altruistic for the blind masses.”

  “So none of you think they’re worth it?” I asked, just to be certain.

  “Not by default, no.” She said with certainty. “Look at the state of the world before all of this. It has gone downhill because people as a collective can’t make an obvious choice. You think those are worth a damn?”

  “...It’s not something I really think about, to be honest.” I am pretty lucky to live in a pce where those kinds of evils aren’t exactly common, and I have good friends and parents, so I don’t have such a cynical look toward humanity, or rather, I find it hard to care that much.

  “In this era, I’m hoping at least something that will break that mold will come up. It’d be a fun watch, if nothing else.” She said with a sinister smile. That’s definitely a way to look at it, but all of this just raises a question…

  “By the way, if you’re not adamant on helping people with your strength… Why take over a school?” I asked, and her smile quickly vanished.

  “I guess that is something that seems quite contradictory, isn’t it.” She said, quickly acknowledging the contradiction. Of all the things people can do for kicks, opening up a school seems like one of the st things anyone would choose. It’s not something you can chalk it up as a hobby.

  “So what’s the story there?” Considering the school actually has a pretty great reputation, it’s not like she was half-assing it for ughs.

  “It was… Perhaps a way to atone for my previous mistakes.” She said, suddenly turning a bit solemn. “But the main reason is that Mana also has some passion in that regard.”

  “...The principal?” From how she off-handedly talked about it before, I thought she was just a poor schmucks who got roped in.

  “I did most of the dirty work to get her in that position, and besides demanding some… drastic changes, she’s the one in control of most decisions.” …Hard to believe considering how the renovation went.

  “How are you two reted anyway?” It’s not something I have thought much about until now.

  “Hmm… It’s nothing important.” She said, clearly not bothering to at least make a convincing argument.

  “Right…” I sarcastically replied.

  “Perhaps a master and student, or parent and child. Who’s to say?” Non-committal answers, is it? Guess this line of question will go nowhere.

  “Back to the original question. Guess that means both of you do want some good out of it, right?” I asked, being more btant about my point this time around.

  “...I guess I do have a lingering feeling of needing to do good, as embarrassing as it is to admit after that rather callous remark.” She replied, not looking like she really cared that it makes her seem rather… inconsistent. “But in my defense. It is much easier to manage a school where the numbers are only in the hundreds. It’s easier to persuade and herd the smaller numbers of people in the right direction. What you asked is if I am willing to do so for a much rger scale, which as I said, is simply too big to manage gracefully.”

  “...So what is your view on the general public, ultimately?” I asked one more time, to see if the answer would be any different.

  “Not inherently good, but perhaps a few years of good childhood will do them a favor. Does that answer it?” She answered half-heartedly. Can I get a more eloquent answer than that?

  “...Care to eborate further?” I asked just to see if-

  “No.” Well then, guess that’s that.

  This is probably the farthest I can get with knowing what is going on inside that head of hers right now.

  “But speaking of the turmoil going on in the world. It seems that the police are recruiting those with great talent in magic. I wouldn’t be surprised if they want to recruit you.” She suddenly shifted the topic with a rather ridiculous scenario she came up with in her head.

  “...What do you take me for?” I asked while squinting my eyes. Give me a bit more faith here.

  “I said it in jest.” She said with an amused grin. “But one thing I have already observed from the sudden gain in power is the chaos that ensues. Many become enamored in it and act irrationally, trying to destroy the system they resented. It’s a valiant effort, but magic doesn’t make you immune to bullets.”

  “It is one hell of a reality check isn’t it?” Sometimes people really need to remember how dangerous firearms and other man-made weapons are. Of course, some are immune to it anyway, like that hulking beast of a man who has managed to stay in control and y low for now.

  “I do think these guys realize that sooner or ter the power of magic will completely outstrip what can be made with science alone, which is why they’re recruiting already, despite not knowing much about magic themselves.” She makes a note on the topic.

  “Speaking of that. How are you going to lecture magic in the css? It’s not like there is a specific way to learn how to utilize it.” Of course everyone in my css already mastered the basics already, so they can skip those and go on practicing. “Not to mention it isn’t exactly something you should be able to grade, right? It’s too broad of a topic.”

  “I’ll just put it in the P.E. category, those will be a lot more interesting this time around.” She answered… Wouldn’t this give her a lot of excuse to flex and mess around?

  “Just don’t destroy their ego too badly…” I said, already seeing her yeeting the kids around in my mind.

  “I won’t. Unless they piss me off.” That’s not very promising…

  “Oh, also, what about the old teachers? You and the principal probably curated those pretty thoroughly, right?” I asked, now knowing that they take this school business seriously.

  “They’ll all get their jobs, of course. It would be a waste of a good workforce.” Well that’s good to know. It would suck to get a bunch of unfamiliar faces who will probably be apprehensive around us. “There will be new staff, of course. This is a much bigger scale institution than before, just so you know.”

  “...Yet the entry cost is only about half higher than the previous one, despite being tens of times rger.” I can’t help but remark. Just how much do magic tools save her in terms of cost?

  “I don’t think you should compin about that. Freeloader.” She said despite also having the same idea as me.

  …And now the conversation has come to a halt. I guess we were talking for a long while, we’re gonna run out of things to say eventually.

  “So now what?” I asked as I looked around us, in this no-entry area we’ve been using for a long while to conduct these secret meetings.

  “Have you run out of questions yet?” She asked in return.

  “Guess I have.” I said, leaving a bit more room for silence.

  Suddenly she pulled out a sword.

  “Huh!?” What is she doing all of a sudden!?

  “I want to make sure you’re not scking. Let’s see how long it’ll take to slice you to ribbons!” What the hell is this tone shift!?

  *Parry*

  I managed to intercept the attack before it connects, but that was way closer than I would’ve liked. Give me some time to prepare can’t you!?

  “Hmph. Rather clumsy.” She said with a small grin.

  “And you are a real opportunist.” I replied as I changed my stance and stared her dead in the eyes.

  …

  *Dash* *CLASH*