Chapter 48

Tailoring was already Isane's specialty. She even had a sewing machine in her dorm room for that very purpose, so it was hardly any trouble for her.

However...

The clothes fit Haruto well enough, but the chest always felt a little drafty—Isane spent all day

worrying about her height and had very little awareness of how large her chest was.

"No, no!"

Isane hastily waved her hands.

"I'm just glad I could help. You don't need to give me a gift or anything... Besides, it didn't take much work."

"..."

Haruto turned and stared intently at Isane.

"Wh-what is it?"

Isane felt around her face for quite a while.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No."

Even someone as thick-skinned as Haruto couldn't bring himself to say the following to a girl's face:

"It's just..."

"I feel like you'd make a really good wife and mother, Isane."

"!?"

"Toot!"

Isane's cheeks instantly turned bright red, and a torrent of steam erupted from the top of her head like a locomotive.

There was even a whistle...

"A whistle?"

Just as the question occurred to Haruto,

a petite blonde woman nimbly popped out from behind Isane.

First, she gave Haruto a hearty pat on the lower part of his back—the difference in their heights meant that was all she could manage. Then, wearing a cheerful smile entirely unlike her sister's and speaking in her usual booming voice, she teased:

"A good wife and mother?"

The woman's name was Kiyone Kotetsu, Isane Kotetsu's younger sister.

"A-Qing, I think I just heard something pretty remarkable... You weren't trying to hint at something to my sister, were you?"

"Kiyone!"

For once, Isane's voice rose several degrees higher than usual.

"You've got it wrong..."

Haruto hurried to explain as well.

Then, before Isane could misunderstand—

"If the girl was as wonderful as Isane, wouldn't you need a more formal confession, no matter how you looked at it?"

"..."

"Toot!!"

This time, it wasn't Kiyone behind her making locomotive noises. It really was—

"Sis!?"

Seeing Isane fall asleep with her head tilted back, Haruto and Kiyone immediately scrambled into action.

Shin'ō Grand Auditorium.

"How come I never noticed Teacher Mitarai could talk so much?"

The sixth-year students were all standing in the first few rows, and Class One was right at the front, less than ten meters from the new academy head giving his speech.

Even so, that didn't stop Kiyone from tilting her head to whisper to Haruto.

But given how loud Kiyone was, her so-called whisper was hardly any quieter than normal conversation.

"Tell me about it~"

Ayaka Kurumadani, standing to his left, chimed in.

"Whenever the academy head gave a speech before, that little old man would either mutter to himself down below or look all groggy, like he hadn't woken up yet."

Ayaka Kurumadani had a lollipop in her mouth that clearly wasn't from Soul Society, and her skin, which had been tanned a wheat color, was several shades darker than it had been before the break—

She truly had dark skin now.

"Crack."

Ayaka Kurumadani bit through the lollipop in her mouth, then ran her slightly longer-than-average tongue firmly around the corners of her mouth.

"..."

Haruto chose to remain silent.

After all, Mitarai had treated him quite well. It was a hassle, true, but there had never been a precedent for letting a student speak at Shin'ō Grand Auditorium.

As for the two girls' gossip, Haruto could only pretend he hadn't heard it.

"Ayaka."

Seeing that Haruto had no intention of joining in, the two girls even leaned forward to chat across him.

Ayaka, Haruto, Kiyone, Isane.

That was how the four were standing at the moment. Isane, on the far end, still hadn't recovered her ability to chat after the earlier incident.

"Hm?"

"How did you get like that? You couldn't have gotten so dark just by going to the beach, right?"

Kiyone had relatively traditional tastes, but after seeing such a noticeable change in Ayaka's skin tone, she couldn't resist asking.

"Hehe~"

"The World of the Living, the World of the Living."

Ayaka spoke smugly.

"There's a service called tanning that's popular over there lately, so I used going to 'intern' with my idiot big brother as an excuse and had my family send me to the World of the Living."

"Can you get permission to go to the World of the Living if you aren't a full-fledged Soul Reaper?"

Kiyone asked curiously, lowering her voice considerably at the same time. Ayaka's actions were clearly against the rules, and the nobles possessed special "Kaijō," much like secret passageways: they were used to open Senkaimon.

"Oh, come on, every family has a little secret or two~"

Generally speaking, though, nobles who controlled Senkaimon were upper nobles at the very least. For a middle-ranking noble family like the Kurumadanis to possess a Kaijō...

It really was as she said: every family had a few little secrets.

Although Ayaka hadn't gone into detail, telling them that much was already quite enough for a friend.

"Oh, right."

Ayaka quickly changed the subject:

"Speaking of which, A-Qing, I don't think I've seen your little follower today."

The girls on both sides turned their attention to Haruto.

"That's right, where did Nanao go? I don't think I've seen her."

Kiyone chimed in as well.

Although Ayaka called Nanao a little follower, she didn't mean it maliciously. At heart, it wouldn't be wrong to call it envy: as the youngest student in the class, Nanao was the only one who could rightfully enjoy Haruto's head pats.

As for Kiyone...

She might have been short and introduced as Isane's younger sister, but there was actually less than a two-year age gap between them.

"I haven't seen her either."

Haruto shook his head.

"Nanao probably didn't get the notice. The news only came out yesterday, after all, so he might have just missed it."

"But things were sooo lively this morning."

Ayaka made an exaggerated gesture.

"Nanao gets to school very early, and once she gets focused, she's hardly ever disturbed by what's happening around her."

"She's probably still in the library right now."

Haruto's Kakushitsuijaku couldn't sense Reiatsu from that far away, of course, but he could at least be sure Nanao hadn't come to Shin'ō Grand Auditorium. And after learning how capable the old man of the Ise family was, Haruto naturally wasn't worried about Nanao running into trouble.

After ruling out all the wrong options and considering Nanao's personality, that was the most plausible answer Haruto could come up with.

Nanao was even more timid than Isane. It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to call her withdrawn.

Most of the classmates she could call friends had come through Haruto's "introduction." If Haruto couldn't tell Nanao about something as soon as it happened, she would have practically no other source of information.

"All right~"

Ayaka spread her hands helplessly.

"Looks like your little follower is going to miss your speech, A-Qing."

Just as the two beside Haruto were about to keep chattering—

"Ahem!"

A cough from the teachers' ranks finally interrupted the two girls' impolite behavior:

Teacher Mutsuki was staring this way.

"..."

For some inexplicable reason, Teacher Mutsuki, who was highly regarded among the male students, had quite a frightening image among the girls.

In any case, that one cough made Kiyone and Ayaka shut their mouths at the same time... Haruto was dragged down with them and received a solid glare from Teacher Mutsuki.

"Finally, to conclude this assembly!"

A full two hours had passed.

Academy Head Mitarai, still full of energy, finally said the first words since the start that lifted the students' spirits.

"Please welcome our student representative—"

"Haruto from sixth-year Class One, who will share his experiences with his juniors!"

"Let's give him a round of applause!"

"Clap, clap clap."

Scattered applause rose from below. The loudest part came mostly from the sixth-years, all of whom had "ulterior motives."

"..."

Listening to Academy Head Mitarai speak, Haruto couldn't help getting the impression that he had gone to the real world for further training.

Haruto knew this was Mitarai's way of showing goodwill.

But exposure in this form would absolutely squander the little reputation he had gained in the Live-Blade Match as quickly as possible.

So.

"I'm Haruto."

Standing at the podium, Haruto first gave an extremely brief introduction.

Then...