"What, what, what, what, what, what? Engagement? Ehhh!!?? Sho!? No way!? E-Seriously!? For real!? Wha-wha-wha-wha-what's going on?!"
"Oh my, oh my..."
"Fate-chan..."
"...Sigh"
"This is easy to understand, and I guess that's a good thing."
Fate-san was more flustered than ever.
Yagami-san was smiling smugly, and Nanoha-san had an indescribable expression on her face.
From behind, I heard two sighs and Yo's cheerful voice.
"...I'll explain in detail."
I explained the same thing to Fate-san.
"I-I see, so that's what it was. What a relief~"
...A relief?
"Sho-kun, I think you really need to get a handle on yourself. Do you have no sense of discretion?"
Sakura's cold voice came from behind me.
N-no, I can't really help what people say to me...
"Alright, alright! Before Fate-chan digs her own grave any deeper, Sho-kun, you have a meeting about the upcoming transport, so head to the meeting room. Everyone else, go to the training ground first. And Lala-san... Fate-chan, if you have time, could you look after her?"
"Nanoha? That's fine, but what do you mean by 'digging her own grave'?"
"Now, now," Nanoha said, pushing Fate-san's shoulder and moving forward. Everyone else, with disgruntled looks on their faces, also calmed their anger for the moment and headed toward the training ground. I went with Nanoha-san to the meeting room.
We all went our separate ways.
---------
After parting ways with everyone, I arrived at the Sixth Division's meeting room.
"Alright, I'll explain the schedule for the day."
Standing in front was Sakuraba-san. The unit commander had gone to another job.
The people sitting at the table were me, Nanoha-san, Subaru-san, Teana-san, and Sakuraba-san.
"This time, it's about the transport of something called 'Index,' a high-ranking official of the Anglican Church—or I don't know if you'd call them that, but they're referred to as the 'Prohibited Book List' by the Church of the Necessary Evil."
Sakuraba-san began to speak.
"Something, what do you mean, you don't know what it is?"
Subaru-san immediately raised her hand and asked.
"It's the Anglican Church's secret weapon, a grimoire library. It's famous and called many things, but we don't know many details. We don't know if it's literally a list of prohibited books, a weapon, or a person with that ability."
"However, the one thing all the rumors have in common is that it has a near-ultimate defense against magic."
Teana-san supplemented Sakuraba-san's explanation.
"In other words, it's the Anglican Church's trump card. It's leaving the country and being transported here. It wouldn't be surprising if someone targeted it, right?"
"Y-you're right!"
Subaru-san nodded obediently.
It's not that it wouldn't be surprising if it were targeted; it's that it will be targeted. I have to accept that. Something always happens when I and a named character are involved in the same event.
Wherever I am, a new incident arises. Does that make me a grim reaper?
"However, since it's a top-secret transport, the security detail will be minimal. That goes for us, too. They're only sending two skilled magicians."
"Two... That really is minimal..."
"Yeah. Go to the next page."
As instructed, I turned the page, and two profiles were displayed. They had photos and a summary of their careers. I quickly glanced over them... Yep, they're the two I expected. That's a relief.
"These are the magicians."
"Wow..."
"Ehhh..."
Subaru-san and Nanoha-san reacted with a slight cringe. Looking at the photos, I couldn't blame them.
One was a man. He wore a jet-black cassock, and his hair was dyed red. All ten of his fingers were covered in gaudy silver rings, and both of his ears were adorned with many flashy, garish piercings. To top it all off, he had a barcode-like tattoo under his right eyelid.
The other was a woman. Her clothes were relatively normal. Her hair was black and in a ponytail. The only oddities were that she had tied the hem of her T-shirt to show her belly button and had cut off one of her jean legs completely.
While I don't want to judge people based on their appearance, if I saw them on the street without knowing who they were, I would definitely not want to get close to them.
These are the familiar duo, Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori. It would be more unsettling if these two weren't involved in a situation with Index.
"T-they're amazing, these magicians..."
"Yeah..."
"Oh, I see. Rescue and training units don't have many opportunities to meet magicians, do they?"
Only Teana-san didn't seem surprised by their appearance.
"You get to see them quite a bit during investigations."
As enforcers, Teana-san and Fate-san often handle violent crimes. It's not strange for them to have extensive experience if they've conducted various investigations across different regions.
"I was surprised at first, too. But it seems these outfits have some kind of magical meaning. They're apparently normal clothes for them."
"Hmm. It's like our BJ, I guess."
Now that she mentioned it, Subaru-san's BJ also has a belly-baring roller skating outfit. That outfit is also quite something. The only reason it doesn't seem out of place is because there are so many people around her wearing BJs.
"You're right! I'll make sure not to say anything even if I think their clothes are weird!"
"You... you better not say anything..."
Teana-san emphasized with a scary look.
"That guy is coming here on a private jet. It's not a civilian aircraft. On board are Index and one of their magicians. The guy named Stiyl is on board. The other one is supposed to be waiting at the airport."
I processed Sakuraba-san's explanation in my head.
So Kanzaki is at the airport. Index and Stiyl are on the plane... Wait?
"Is there no pilot?"
"No, there isn't. It's AI-controlled on autopilot."
Sakuraba-san answered my question while flipping through the documents.
"They're probably trying to keep the number of people involved in the transport to a minimum to keep the information secret."
"I think Takamachi-san is right. But using a machine makes it vulnerable in other ways."
Like being hacked?
"Exactly. A machine with AI control and no specialists on board is vulnerable to electronic attacks. Unless the magician accompanying them happens to be a super hacker, that is."
"That's not a matter of whether you're good or bad with machines anymore, is it?"
For some reason, many magicians are bad with machines. While some might not be, it's unlikely any are strong enough with computers to prevent hacking.
In the worst-case scenario, if the controls are hijacked, there's a risk of the plane crashing.
"And what makes it even more troublesome is this."
The display was operated, and a map of the Academy City was shown. A straight line was drawn across the island.
"Due to the location, the route has to fly over the island. It would be a huge problem if it were to crash on the island."
"What?! Can't we just have them fly around over the sea instead?!"
Subaru-san traced a line with her finger on the display, showing a path over the sea outside the island.
"We can't, due to coordination with other flights. If we secretly transport something and then change the schedule of normal flights, it's like we're announcing that something's up, isn't it?"
"Well, I guess so, but..."
Subaru-san apparently couldn't stand the thought of human lives being put in danger.
"Besides, we're here to do our job so that the citizens can live in peace. Right?"
"...Yes. You're right!! I'll do my best!!"
Subaru-san let out a determined "Hmph!" Sakuraba-san is pretty good at getting Subaru-san motivated.
"Good! So, Subaru and Teana will be on standby at the airport. Your job is to apprehend suspicious individuals, handle any trouble with the plane, and everything else."
"YES!!"
The two answered in unison.
"And for Sho and Nanoha-san, you two will be on standby at the Sixth Division. We're mainly anticipating aerial combat."
"So if something happens to the plane, we'll fly to it?"
"That's right. Both teams should be ready to adapt to the situation."
I don't know what will happen. But I have a gut feeling that something will. Sadly, it seems my hunch is going to be correct.
"Nanoha-san, I'm counting on you."
"Me too. You can count on me to cover you from behind."
"...Just don't aim at me, okay?"
"Hahaha. We'll have to do some proper joint training so that doesn't happen, right?"
And with that, the meeting concluded.
---------
While Sho was at the meeting, Lala and Fate were relaxing in the cafeteria.
At first, Lala waited patiently, but now she was bored.
"Ahhh... I wonder when Sho will be back. There's nothing to do, and I'm bored~"
"Haha, but after the meeting, they're going straight to training. I don't think you'll get to be with him for a while."
"I want to see Sho working hard, so that's okay!"
"O-oh, I see..."
Faced with her sparkling smile, Fate cautiously began to speak.
"Hey, Lala-san? About you wanting to... e-engage? Sho... What's that about?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, well..."
Fate couldn't quite put her thoughts into words either. What came out was a rather ordinary question.
"I was just wondering if you... like Sho?"
Her face flushed with embarrassment just by saying it. To her question, Lala answered cheerfully.
"Oh, that~"
Fate heard from Lala what had happened during yesterday's incident. Fate knew there had been an attempted kidnapping of Lala yesterday, but this was the first time she learned about the words that had been exchanged.
"And you know what? Ever since then, my heart starts pounding whenever I see Sho. I just thought that if I'm going to get married, it has to be Sho."
"I see. That sounds like something Sho would say."
Looking at her bright, smiling face as she spoke, even Fate, with her lack of experience, understood.
Lala had fallen in love with Sho.
"(That's right. If he said something like that, it's no wonder a princess would want to make him her fiancé.)"
"I wonder if Sho says things like that to other people, too?"
"Well... I think he says it to a lot of different people."
Just thinking about it, Fate could name more than a handful of people. If she included all the girls around him, it would be over a dozen.
"Oh, so there might be other people who want to marry Sho, too."
"Y-yeah, maybe..."
She didn't know how many people were considering marriage, but she had a feeling there were many girls who liked Sho.
"Then, does Sho want to marry any of those people?"
"I-I don't know. Sho is still a high school student, so I don't think he's thinking about marriage much, is he?"
"Maybe..."
Lala was still not used to the difference in values between royalty and ordinary citizens.
"But still, this pounding in my heart must mean I like Sho, right?"
"That's..."
Fate couldn't nod. But that was only because she felt she couldn't say anything irresponsible with her lack of experience. In her heart, she understood.
"But I would be so happy if this feeling is love."
"Huh?"
"Because ever since yesterday, ever since my heart started pounding, I've been so happy. I want to do lots of fun things with Sho, and I'd be so happy if he started to feel his heart pound for me too."
"(S-she's so radiant!! Ugh, maybe I should have gotten more experience when I was a student...)"
Fate felt a little blue as she remembered her own youth, which was filled with work and studying for the enforcer exams. Lala then asked her a question.
"Have you ever had an experience like that, Fate? Your heart pounding just thinking about someone?"
"No, I have..."
Just as she was about to deny it,
"(...Huh?)"
She realized something important.
"(Am I... getting nervous around Sho, too?)"
Thump. Her heart leaped.
She had a lot in common with Lala, who hadn't even realized her love was love.
"(S-so? Me... I... like Sho... too?)"
Just before she could reach that conclusion, Fate's thoughts boiled over with an unidentifiable emotion.
"(No, no, no! No way! It's Sho! He's just Vivio's friend's older brother, and now he's a colleague! That's all! Besides, there's a big age difference! H-he's the same age as Elio! I can't feel that way about someone like that...)"
No matter how many excuses she made, her heart beat faster and faster.
Noticing her reaction, Lala tilted her head in concern.
"What's wrong? Your face is all red."
"Huh?! O-oh, is it? Haha~... I-it certainly is hot in here! I'm even sweating!"
She pulled at the collar of her shirt and fanned her face with her hand. But that did nothing to cool down her flushed face. In fact, being pointed out by someone else made her sweat even more.
"Are you really okay?"
"Yeah! I'm fine, don't worry about it!"
"Okay. So, have you had that experience, Fate?"
Lala asked again.
"W-well... I certainly didn't have anything like that when I was a student, did I? Oh!"
"Oh, really."
"Ah, yeah. That's right... Phew."
Fate was flustered that she had instinctively added the words "when I was a student." She was lucky that Lala wasn't the type to nitpick.
Just as Fate was about to feel relieved,
"Ah, it's Sho!"
"!!"
Fate's heart leaped again.
"W-well, Sho's here, so I'll be going!"
"Huh? Okay, see you later~"
She got up so quickly that the chair scraped against the floor, making an unpleasant sound. But she couldn't care less.
"Ah, Fate-san—"
"Sorry, Sho! I have work to do now!"
Without waiting for a response, she rushed past him, holding down her heart, which felt like it was about to explode.
--------------------------------------------
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