Grimoire Hunter
- Location
- secret base
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You visited the clubroom at the first opportunity. The moment you knocked on the door, you hear the sounds of commotion come from the other side with occasional curses mixed in. Finally, as the door opened, a girl in glasses made her appearance.
"The hell you punks want this time?!" she barked at you randomly. However, if she wanted to intimidate you, her chances of success were incredibly small. For one, you were far too jaded to be intimidated by a high school student, and for two, people that were at least a head shorter than you weren't that frightening in general.
Then, the girl took a good look at you, or to be more precise, at your necktie. First year students, you recalled, were given red ones, and the girl's green necktie indicated that she was a third year. You idly wondered if she was some kind of a genius that skipped a few grades or simply that youthful-looking.
"Hello there, my dear first year," the girl said merrily. "Could it be that you want to join our humble club?"
You simply nodded. Honestly, there was nothing else to say anymore.
"Is that so?" she said as her smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Just to make sure: this isn't some kind of a joke, right? You really are interested in joining the newspaper club?"
You nodded the second time. This time, too, you had nothing else to say.
"Please, give me a few seconds, then," she said and closed the door with a loud clack. As you strained you ears a bit, you heard a muffled sound come from the other side. It sounded suspiciously like a drawn-out "yeah!" followed by a soft thumping as if someone was jumping from place to place.
"Come in, come in," the girl said cheerily, opening the door to let you inside. As she sat you down and left to get the enrollment form, you had the time to inspect the clubroom. The first thing that caught your eye was a tower of discarded packs of instant noodles. Next, there were three separate trashcans filled with crumpled paper. Then, there were piles of books here and there. This place was a mess.
"Here you go," the girl said, giving you the form and a ballpoint pen. "Write down you name and class."
You naturally obeyed, putting your temporary name in writing. According to the falsified background, you were a mixed-race girl that returned from a foreign country together with your father. That, you supposed, would cover both for your and the Professor's distinct appearances for the time being.
"Toujou Karen, right?" the girl read out loudly and flashed you an energetic smile. "Welcome aboard! The name is Yukimura Akeno, but feel free to call me Prez, if you want…"
"Yukimura-san," you interrupted her. "I had a chance to look around, and now I'm curious about something. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure! Whatever questions you might have, this Prez will answer all of them right away. Well, aren't I cool and reliable…"
"Yukimura-san," you interrupted her again. "Have you published a single newspaper in two years?"
"Did you really say that?" the man asked. Sitting on the couch, he was in the middle of tinkering with something, when you gave him the full review of your activities. Since you had no reason to lie, you nodded.
"You can be too blunt for your own good, Wanderer," he said. Without his mask, the Professor – now known as Toujou Karl – looked like an ordinary man of Caucasian descent. Apparently, he was supposed to play the role of a single parent who wanted to raise his only daughter in her mother's homeland. "But what's done is done, I suppose."
"Now we have a way to observe Konoe Akira without arousing any suspicion," you added. "That said, I thought it was strange that there were no signs of any work done even though the school newspaper is supposed to be printed on a weekly basis. In short, the newspaper club didn't appear to print any newspaper."
"And the reason for that?"
"They didn't have enough members. Yukimura Akeno was the only member of the newspaper club. Judging by her words, the club recently fell on hard times. Therefore, me becoming a member was a manna from heaven in her eyes," you explained. "She won't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Good," the man said. "And while you were busy with that, I decided to conduct an investigation of my own regarding Konoe Taizo's sudden demise. It was an eye-opener, I must admit."
"In what regards?"
"He was perfectly healthy for a man his age. I managed to get my hands on the coroner's report, which gave me my first lead. In a way, an absence of evidences was an evidence itself. I needed to find the exact reason Konoe Taizo died," said the Professor.
"What did you find?" you asked, if somewhat impatiently.
"Just before Konoe Taizo died, his son suddenly fell ill. Or rather, it was more like his body suddenly started slowing down. The records from the local hospital match that," he explained. "So, the sequence of events is such: the son suddenly falls ill and just as suddenly gets better, and a week after that, his father dies."
"Suspicious," you admitted.
"That's one way to put it," your colleague remarked. "I think I've seen similar symptoms before, but I don't remember where. I think I'll need to check my own records for that."
"Do as you wish."
"Wanderer!"
One evening, while you were in the middle of finishing your homework – which you obviously despised – the Professor entered you room. He seemed to be incredibly surprised, which was rare for a stoic man like him.
"The wards I've placed near the Konoe household have picked up something. A magician's signature!" he nearly shouted. "Someone has attacked Konoe Akira!"
Well, you admitted, that was far more interesting than your math homework.
"Do you know whose signature it was?" you asked.
"Just some no-name bounty hunter. Barely a threat."
"And what does this no-name bounty hunter want from the boy?" you wondered.
"Not from the boy," the Professor said. "It looks like Konoe Taizo has been stockpiling grimoires in his spare time. His home is full of them, which has a tendency to attract less than savory people."
That was bad. Your entire plan would go to the dogs, if the boy gets killed by a random nobody. However, in the same time, the feeling in your guts told you that Taizo's son would certainly manage to drive away someone this insignificant on his own.
[] Go to the Konoe residence
[] Wait this one out
P. S. The first chapter of the manga has officially begun.
"The hell you punks want this time?!" she barked at you randomly. However, if she wanted to intimidate you, her chances of success were incredibly small. For one, you were far too jaded to be intimidated by a high school student, and for two, people that were at least a head shorter than you weren't that frightening in general.
Then, the girl took a good look at you, or to be more precise, at your necktie. First year students, you recalled, were given red ones, and the girl's green necktie indicated that she was a third year. You idly wondered if she was some kind of a genius that skipped a few grades or simply that youthful-looking.
"Hello there, my dear first year," the girl said merrily. "Could it be that you want to join our humble club?"
You simply nodded. Honestly, there was nothing else to say anymore.
"Is that so?" she said as her smile turned into a full-blown grin. "Just to make sure: this isn't some kind of a joke, right? You really are interested in joining the newspaper club?"
You nodded the second time. This time, too, you had nothing else to say.
"Please, give me a few seconds, then," she said and closed the door with a loud clack. As you strained you ears a bit, you heard a muffled sound come from the other side. It sounded suspiciously like a drawn-out "yeah!" followed by a soft thumping as if someone was jumping from place to place.
"Come in, come in," the girl said cheerily, opening the door to let you inside. As she sat you down and left to get the enrollment form, you had the time to inspect the clubroom. The first thing that caught your eye was a tower of discarded packs of instant noodles. Next, there were three separate trashcans filled with crumpled paper. Then, there were piles of books here and there. This place was a mess.
"Here you go," the girl said, giving you the form and a ballpoint pen. "Write down you name and class."
You naturally obeyed, putting your temporary name in writing. According to the falsified background, you were a mixed-race girl that returned from a foreign country together with your father. That, you supposed, would cover both for your and the Professor's distinct appearances for the time being.
"Toujou Karen, right?" the girl read out loudly and flashed you an energetic smile. "Welcome aboard! The name is Yukimura Akeno, but feel free to call me Prez, if you want…"
"Yukimura-san," you interrupted her. "I had a chance to look around, and now I'm curious about something. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure! Whatever questions you might have, this Prez will answer all of them right away. Well, aren't I cool and reliable…"
"Yukimura-san," you interrupted her again. "Have you published a single newspaper in two years?"
"Did you really say that?" the man asked. Sitting on the couch, he was in the middle of tinkering with something, when you gave him the full review of your activities. Since you had no reason to lie, you nodded.
"You can be too blunt for your own good, Wanderer," he said. Without his mask, the Professor – now known as Toujou Karl – looked like an ordinary man of Caucasian descent. Apparently, he was supposed to play the role of a single parent who wanted to raise his only daughter in her mother's homeland. "But what's done is done, I suppose."
"Now we have a way to observe Konoe Akira without arousing any suspicion," you added. "That said, I thought it was strange that there were no signs of any work done even though the school newspaper is supposed to be printed on a weekly basis. In short, the newspaper club didn't appear to print any newspaper."
"And the reason for that?"
"They didn't have enough members. Yukimura Akeno was the only member of the newspaper club. Judging by her words, the club recently fell on hard times. Therefore, me becoming a member was a manna from heaven in her eyes," you explained. "She won't look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Good," the man said. "And while you were busy with that, I decided to conduct an investigation of my own regarding Konoe Taizo's sudden demise. It was an eye-opener, I must admit."
"In what regards?"
"He was perfectly healthy for a man his age. I managed to get my hands on the coroner's report, which gave me my first lead. In a way, an absence of evidences was an evidence itself. I needed to find the exact reason Konoe Taizo died," said the Professor.
"What did you find?" you asked, if somewhat impatiently.
"Just before Konoe Taizo died, his son suddenly fell ill. Or rather, it was more like his body suddenly started slowing down. The records from the local hospital match that," he explained. "So, the sequence of events is such: the son suddenly falls ill and just as suddenly gets better, and a week after that, his father dies."
"Suspicious," you admitted.
"That's one way to put it," your colleague remarked. "I think I've seen similar symptoms before, but I don't remember where. I think I'll need to check my own records for that."
"Do as you wish."
"Wanderer!"
One evening, while you were in the middle of finishing your homework – which you obviously despised – the Professor entered you room. He seemed to be incredibly surprised, which was rare for a stoic man like him.
"The wards I've placed near the Konoe household have picked up something. A magician's signature!" he nearly shouted. "Someone has attacked Konoe Akira!"
Well, you admitted, that was far more interesting than your math homework.
"Do you know whose signature it was?" you asked.
"Just some no-name bounty hunter. Barely a threat."
"And what does this no-name bounty hunter want from the boy?" you wondered.
"Not from the boy," the Professor said. "It looks like Konoe Taizo has been stockpiling grimoires in his spare time. His home is full of them, which has a tendency to attract less than savory people."
That was bad. Your entire plan would go to the dogs, if the boy gets killed by a random nobody. However, in the same time, the feeling in your guts told you that Taizo's son would certainly manage to drive away someone this insignificant on his own.
[] Go to the Konoe residence
[] Wait this one out
P. S. The first chapter of the manga has officially begun.
