Did something happen yesterday after I left?
Come to think of it, the Doctor seems to have a fiancée.
Adult matters seem quite complicated, so it would be best if she didn't pry into them casually.
"Big sister, will there be a lot of people there?"
Beside her, Hina tugged gently on the sleeve of Kirishima Ai.
Sitting next to Kirishima Ai was a slender, pale girl of middle school age, though she was actually a bit smaller and thinner than her peers. Her black hair was smooth and obedient, giving her an endearing temperament.
"Mm, there will be a lot of people there, including my classmates and teachers. Everyone is very kind."
Kirishima Ai patted Hina's head and smiled.
"Will your friends be there too?"
"..."
For a moment, Kirishima Ai felt a bit awkward.
How was she supposed to explain to her younger sister that she was a loner at school, had absolutely no friends, and didn't even have many people she was familiar with?
But Hina was very sensible and quickly changed the subject:
"Um... then what about your teachers?"
She had never really heard her sister talk about things at school; she only knew that her sister had always been a good student, always excellent, and good at everything—she was a sister she was proud of.
Therefore, she had always been curious about what her sister's life at school was like.
Did she eat with friends, did she join any clubs, or did she have a handsome boyfriend?
Someone like her sister must be very popular...
"Teachers... how should I put it."
Teacher Haihara also knew about her sister's situation.
In fact, today, Hina would be riding the same bus as the first-year students, and the teacher in charge of that bus seemed to be Teacher Haihara.
In the past, her impression of Teacher Haihara was that she was cold and somewhat irresponsible, as if she couldn't muster any enthusiasm for anything; the impression was a bit on the negative side.
But later...
She felt that Teacher Haihara was actually gentle and reliable, and whenever she thought of that night they slept together, an indescribable emotion would well up inside Kirishima Ai.
Basically, only good impressions remained.
The change from before to after was a bit extreme.
Although she knew this was very immature, there was nothing she could do about it.
"You might think she's a bit cold and scary at first, but she's actually a very gentle and kind person."
In the end, that was all she could say.
Hearing this, Hina wore a curious expression.
They chatted like this slowly until the car pulled up in front of the school gate.
"You can get off now," Kougami Kage reminded them.
Kirishima Ai got off the bus first, then walked to the trunk, wanting to take down the wheelchair, but the object was a bit too heavy for her.
The Doctor, however, moved it down with ease.
"I can only take you this far; please be careful from here on out." Kougami Kage smiled.
Kirishima Ai lowered her head: "Thank you, Doctor."
"It's no trouble." The Doctor glanced at the school gate, as if looking for someone's figure, but because her eyesight wasn't very good, she didn't really see anything clearly.
"Come to think of it... my lover also teaches here."
"The Doctor's fiancée?"
Kirishima Ai was a bit surprised.
Wouldn't that make her a teacher at their school?
She wondered what kind of person she would be, though it probably had nothing to do with their class; aside from Teacher Suzuki and Teacher Haihara, everyone else in their class was already married.
At the school gate, several classes were divided into different queues, slowly boarding the buses, and besides these classes, there were some minor episodes.
For this activity, in addition to the first-year and middle school students, there were also several students from the student council, including the president and vice president.
"President Kazama, I really cannot understand why you are so insistent on riding the bus for Class Four."
The students of Class Four saw two young girls confronting each other nearby; although both were smiling, an indescribable scent of gunpowder permeated the air.
One girl had a slender, tall figure, black hair, and black eyes, with an elegant and gentle temperament that had no flaws—she was the perfect goddess of Kaedehara High School, Kazama Kiriori.
Kazama Kiriori smiled gently:
"Teacher Haihara was my homeroom teacher in my first year. Isn't it perfectly normal for me to want to ride the same bus as her?"
The other girl had white hair and blue eyes, her demeanor elegant and her aura noble, giving off the vibe of a young lady from a wealthy family, though her short stature made her presence feel slightly less imposing.
She managed to maintain a smile:
"Is it possible that Teacher Haihara is my homeroom teacher too, and I also want to ride in the same car as her?"
The air froze for a moment.
Although they were classmates and both served on the student council, their relationship seemed far from friendly.
As for the catalyst of the incident, Teacher Haihara, she remained completely oblivious to them.
"How about this, then? Let's go ask Teacher Haihara and see who she wants to sit with."
Kazama Kiriori puffed out her proud chest, looking down at Qingchuan Lan from her superior height.
Qingchuan Lan felt a sudden, shameful sense of being looked down upon.
Just as she was about to retort, two female students arrived.
They appeared to be sisters.
The older one was pushing the younger one in a wheelchair toward the line for Class Four.
Upon noticing the girl in the wheelchair, Qingchuan Lan's expression shifted, though she quickly reverted to her previous elegant and refined appearance.
Kazama Kiriori also turned to look at the sisters.
If she wasn't mistaken, the child in the wheelchair must be Kirishima Hina, the girl who had been unable to walk after being caught up in a Monster incident.
This time, the school had specifically instructed the two of them to take good care of Kirishima Hina.
Not long after, the bus slowly pulled away, driving out of the city and onto the highway in the suburbs.
Once in motion, the bus became quite noisy. The students seemed very excited, chatting about this and that. Most of them were from Class Four, along with some middle schoolers, some of whom were even striking up conversations with the high school seniors.
The teacher in charge of this bus was the young female teacher, Haihara.
She was looking down at her phone, expressionless as usual, but after a while, she felt a bit dizzy. She lifted her head to rest for a moment and took in the scene inside the bus.
Beside her was the assistant homeroom teacher, Roland, who was clinging tightly to her arm.
This bus could hold fewer than forty people.
Among those forty, there sat the three Magical Girls: Kirishima Ai, Sakaki Chika, and Takanashi Shiori. Although they were sitting together, they had almost nothing to say to one another.
Besides them, there was her "devoted" daughter and her former student, Qingchuan Lan.
There was also a little girl who caught her attention, sitting next to Kirishima Ai. She remained silent, only occasionally glancing around with curiosity and caution, as if she were unaccustomed to such an environment.
It was the younger sister that Kirishima Ai had brought along this time.
For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
This camping trip...
Surely nothing would go wrong, right?
Chapter 53: How Strange
The bus ride from Kaedehara High School to the campsite would take over half an hour. For the students, this was a novel experience, so it didn't feel boring.
But for the Demon King possessing the body of Kirishima Hina, it was a different story.
She wore a gloomy expression. The incessant chattering of the humans around her—who all seemed so happy—made her, an entity composed of negative emotions, feel incredibly irritated.
Why were these humans so happy?
And this weather was hot as hell...
Even though there was something called "air conditioning" inside the vehicle, she detested the feeling of heat, especially the scent of the humans surging through the bus, which made her want to tear apart every mouth that was currently flapping open.
"Are you uncomfortable?"
At that moment, the human named Kirishima Ai leaned over to speak to her again.
The Demon King really didn't want to talk to a Magical Girl, especially one who reeked of that woman's scent.
"No... I'm just not used to this."
She answered, tentatively mimicking the way her host spoke.
Furthermore, there seemed to be more than one Magical Girl on this bus.
In particular, the silver-haired woman wearing a monocle looked somewhat familiar.
In her prime, this certainly wouldn't have been a threat.
But for now, it was best to be cautious.
"You look a bit pale. If you're feeling unwell, just tell your sister."
"I understand..."
To be honest, this scene was still somewhat novel to the Demon King.
Ever since she gained memories as the Demon King, she had always been surrounded by various members of the Black Death Cult, the fear of humans, or the Magical Girls who stood as her enemies.
Either surrounded by crowds, or attacked by a mob.
Even after possessing Kirishima Hina, she had basically remained in a hospital bed, slumbering within this frail shell, and had never seen so many living, breathing humans.
If it were in the past, the expressions on these humans' faces should have been filled with nothing but fear.
Only fear could bring her pleasure.
As a non-human monster, she possessed neither a sense of taste nor smell, and her vision was almost entirely grayscale, never seeing any vivid or bright images.
All she could feel was pain or even deeper forms of stimulation.
Just as she was thinking this, inside the vehicle, the woman named Haihara suddenly spoke up:
"Oh right, I bought a box of popsicles. They should still be frozen if kept on ice, so any students who feel hot can go grab one."
Her voice was not loud, so quite a few students didn't hear her at all.
However, the woman seemed to have no interest in repeating herself, and she simply went back to looking at her phone.
This woman, it seemed, was Kirishima Ai's homeroom teacher.
Gloomy, cold, and lazy.
The Demon King didn't know why, but she felt this woman looked a bit familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before.
Involuntarily, the Demon King felt a bit of interest in this woman.
She couldn't even say why.
Hmm... she looked decent enough, she supposed, fitting her aesthetic, though she wondered what she might smell like.
The air was filled with the chill of the air conditioning, making it difficult for her to distinguish anything.
At this moment, Kirishima Hina suddenly reclaimed control of the body, whispering words that only she could hear:
"Is something wrong with my sister's teacher?"
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