Just as Mayumi Saegusa was about to say something, the dismissal bell suddenly rang. Only then did Yunyi realize that, before he knew it, dusk had nearly fallen outside.
Hearing the bell, Yunyi stood up and stretched, ready to take his leave. But Mayumi Saegusa stood behind him and said quietly, "Yunyi, I think we need to have a proper talk."
Yunyi froze, and a grave look flashed in his eyes. He knew Mayumi Saegusa had held herself back all day and could no longer sit still.
It was only natural. She was a daughter of the Saegusa Family, one of the Ten Master Clans. How could she really let a dangerous person like him remain in her circle?
If that's the case, has she already stationed people near First High School? Yunyi wondered. Outwardly, however, he replied casually, "Sure~"
Before long, Tatsuya Shiba arrived at the student council room. He picked up Miyuki Shiba, who had been waiting for him there, and left after saying goodbye to everyone else.
Before leaving, however, he glanced at Yunyi, who was still sitting there with no intention of leaving. He seemed to want to invite him along as a classmate, but for some reason, he ultimately said nothing.
Suzune Ichihara and Azusa Nakajo also left, one after the other. Even Gyoubu Hattori, who had been absent all afternoon, returned to give Mayumi Saegusa a work report before leaving.
By the time only Yunyi and Mayumi Saegusa remained in the student council room, it had grown much darker outside.
The two sat in the dim room, silently looking at each other for a long time. At last, Yunyi sighed and asked, "What, you didn't keep me here just to sit with you, did you? If you have something to say, just say it."
Mayumi Saegusa looked straight at Yunyi, complex emotions reflected in her wine-red eyes.
Mayumi Saegusa's first impression of Yunyi had not been very good. After all, a student who had gotten into First High School through the back door and then taken so long to report to school was hard to like. When they met on the day of the entrance ceremony, she had paid more attention to Tatsuya Shiba, who had ranked first in the theory exams. Yunyi was merely a new student who happened to be there and happened to need help.
It was not until the conflict between the Course 1 Students and Course 2 Students in front of First High School that Mayumi Saegusa truly took notice of Yunyi. He seemed to care a great deal about the conflict between the two courses. But his objections also seemed to be directed only at the Course 1 Students who thought too highly of themselves. He had shown no aversion to her, the other members of the student council, or Miyuki Shiba, and had even joked with them.
But now that she thought about it, everything he did and said seemed calculated and rehearsed. He never gave anyone anything to use against him, and he rarely showed an opening in their interactions that would give outsiders a chance to insert themselves.
Others might not have noticed, but for someone like Mayumi Saegusa, who often liked to tease and play with others, it was a little abnormal that she had found almost no such opportunities while interacting with him.
Now, Mayumi Saegusa did not believe a thing about Yunyi, whether it was recorded in his file or had come from his own mouth earlier. She had a feeling that, aside from what she had witnessed with her own eyes yesterday, everything about Yunyi was an act! He was putting on an act in front of her, everyone at First High School, and Japan's Ten Master Clans!
And what exactly was he doing it for? That was what Mayumi Saegusa desperately wanted to know!
"Yunyi, what exactly are you trying to do? What did you come to Japan for? What did you enter First High School for? And what are you trying to do by getting close to us?" Mayumi Saegusa's voice was somewhat agitated. She no longer cared whether this might provoke Yunyi.
Yunyi looked at Mayumi Saegusa and pondered for a moment before slowly speaking. But the answer he gave was clearly beyond what Mayumi Saegusa could comprehend.
"I came to Japan, entered First High School, and sought a chance to get close to you all for one purpose."
Yunyi held up one finger and said in a serious tone, "I want to control the lifelines of the world. Or rather, I came here to conquer the world."
"Huh!?"
Mayumi Saegusa had considered that Yunyi might have entered First High School to steal Japan's magical documents and records, or perhaps to lie low and carry out some secret mission at a future date. But she had never imagined that this was his goal.
"Conquer the world!? That joke really isn't funny at all!" Mayumi Saegusa angrily slapped the table in front of her.
"Is it that unbelievable?" Yunyi asked.
"But unfortunately, that is my goal! Does it sound naive?"
"Or do you think I'm a madman? Someone beyond reason?"
"But Mayumi, you can't deny that I'm definitely not the only one who thinks this way. It's just that most people don't dare say it out loud."
"I'm different from them. I don't care whether others think I'm a madman. This is what I've always wanted, and whether others support me or not won't change the effort I put into achieving it."
Mayumi Saegusa listened quietly as Yunyi spoke. Her initial agitation and disbelief gradually subsided as he continued. Only when he had finished did she speak up to deny it. "No, that isn't what you really think. You're lying again!"
"Hm?" Yunyi looked at Mayumi Saegusa in confusion.
"Why do you say that?"
Mayumi Saegusa closed her eyes slightly, then slowly opened them after a moment. The complex emotions in her eyes had faded, leaving only resolve. She firmly believed her judgment was correct, and that what Yunyi had said earlier was a lie, because when he said those things, he had lacked the one thing he should have had most.
"Because of your conviction! If you really wanted to do that, your eyes shouldn't have been so indifferent when you said it! I can see no conviction in your eyes, nor any resolve. Just now, you were like someone reciting an answer that had already been written down!"
Mayumi Saegusa's eyes seemed to sparkle with light. With each sentence she spoke, Yunyi's expression grew more solemn. But as she uttered her final word, Yunyi suddenly laughed.
"Mayumi, you really are a perceptive woman."
Yunyi laughed freely. There was no embarrassment at having been exposed in his laughter, nor any displeasure at being questioned. Everything that had just happened seemed never to have occurred.