Perhaps For Your Best Friend, Or Maybe Justice (Pt 2)
2/29, 13:30, Tokyo University Library
You are Sho Honmei, and your day has started surreal, it seems. A girl with an uncanny resemblance to the UNIQLO catalogue from sixty years ago has asked how to use the computers, stating— and you quote— "The keyboard ain't respondin', the power supply don't much care for me, and the monitor ain't workin' neither."
At least… you think? This might be the first time anyone has spoke Kansai-ben in your presence. It's almost melodic, the way it circles around and around.
Still, you suppose if it's technical issues, Tokyo University's computers were pretty old… You might as well see what the problem is. "Have you taken a Computer Use class? It's not quite the same as using a glyphed smartphone…"
"Ayup! Why, back home I gots me a plug-in laptop."
"Not Glyph-powered?" Ah, the plot thinned. "Okay, let me show you how a modern computer works and we can get you on your way."
"Thank you so much~" She says, with a slightly overtuned bow.
"Are you going to be coming to Tokyo for a while?"
"Ah, yeah, I gotta transfer from Handai." She shows you a slightly old-fashioned student ID case from Osaka University. She's really committed to this 'Kansai Girl circa 2020' bit, isn't she? It's a shame, she's really cute. "I was recommended from Suita."
You look around for a hidden camera. Is she a comedian?
Still, she didn't look bad. A bit short, but she wore her tracksuit incredibly well. Those shoulders.
About 150cm. Black hair, with a huge, vividly red ribbon in her hair.
You look over the computer. Nothing wrong, just didn't have any credentials. You nod. "Oh, the ID reader probably doesn't like your case— and if you're transferring, you'll need a Tokyu ID, of course."
For a moment, she looks like a wolf, or a fox stalking her prey as she stares at the computer screen. Then, her eyes turn to you, and even if you didn't know she was a bit hapless, her expression would take all doubt away. "Ahhh, yeah, there's m' problem. Look… I'm tryin'a get my books n' such squared away, can I get a login this once?"
"— I can set a guest login for you, yes." Your ears are burning at the tired smile she directs at you, and though you know better than to say anything about it, your thoughts turn elsewhere. You wish you could have met her somewhere other than your job.
Setting up the guest account takes less than a minute, but she still thanks you profusely, if hesitantly.
The illusion holds right up until the moment she
pulls a Will Seed out of her pocket.
You feel a jolt of panic and shove it back in to her pocket. "— Why don't I show you one of the private study areas?"
She tilts her head, and once again, you're reminded of a fox— Simple, guileless,
dangerous— but she nods.
You close the door on an empty classroom and hiss, "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
"You tell me," she said in perfectly understandable national dialect, setting the Will Seed between you. It's about the size of a hen's egg, and the scarlet of fresh blood. You are entirely unsurprised to see a gamboling wild fox in the perfectly round shape of the gem. "You panicked at the sight of this. Why?"
"I'm not the one pulling out Will Seeds in broad daylight."
"That's what you call it?" The girl asked, strangely stiff as she sits down across the desk from you. "I didn't see anyone else with them. Which means…"
"Which means you're new, and somehow no one's had an eye on you, but somehow, you manifested a
Will Seed!?" It beggars belief. There's no way. How in the world did someone as powerful as this not reach anyone's ears? "Come on."
"There's those words again…" She pockets the Will Seed instead of doing the sensible thing and absorbing it. Not, you suppose, that there would be anything most people could do if they pilfered it. "But that confirms my suspicion. You have one yourself, I take it."
... No. No, this wasn't an act. "— You really are clueless."
"You've given me several, actually," she replied. "I can say them, if you'd prefer a mystery-novel type reveal."
"Spare me."
"Huh. You struck me as the type."
You're still too baffled by this whole thing to even be impatient. Regardless, you need to talk to your buddies in the Study Group. A Magical Girl running around with no education and no idea what is going on right now—
well. Someone like that probably needed the help, if not for long. And if rumors are true, you'll need all the help you can get before too long, and she promises to be a heavy hitter. "Who are you?"
"Mei Torioi," she introduces herself. "Please, treat me kindly."
She opens her Student ID, and you slowly realize that it's either a very good forgery, or somehow, the genuine article. "And I really
am a student at Handai's Suita Campus…
She looked back into your eyes, and once again, you realized how tired she looked. "If not the Handai you know."
