Editing Leviathan:Volume 1 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 2===

Time flew.

On the verge of returning to his homeland, Hal had no choice but to finish handling a mountain of paperwork.

First of all, he contacted the Japanese headquarters of SAURU, the organization he belonged to.

"So that's how it happened. Although it's not my original intention, I have finally decided to visit my hometown."

'Oh dear, your long phase of living away from home is finally drawing to an end, eh?'

Making an international call from Australia, Hal explained the situation and reported his plans to return.

On the other end of the line was a woman called Hiiragi-san. Her voice sounded gentle and elegant over the phone. Hal could not help but describe her voice as noble.

She was the leader in charge of SAURU's Japanese branch in the Kantou region.

'Considering it's you, Haruomi, who refused to return no matter how much I tried to persuade you... This somehow makes me deeply moved.'

"I didn't run away from home. I'm simply making a living overseas."

'At your age, there are definitely plenty of alternatives to your pelagic fisherman-kind of lifestyle, aren't there? There's plenty of work in Tokyo too. You must have heard about the shortage of talent around here.'

"Yes, primarily from you, Hiiragi-san."

The speaker on the other side was Hiiragi-san, a member of the organization's core leadership.

Part of her duties involved referring jobs to SAURU members such as Haru and Asya. After receiving "requests" from civilian or state agencies in her area of jurisdiction, she would assign them to suitable members according to what the jobs entailed.

"'The lack of manpower is such a pain, so I hope you can help out in handling all the odd jobs and menial tasks. I'll order you around and make full use of you, so hurry back, will you?' &mdash;That's what you actually mean, right?"

'...Hold on, I should've expressed it far more tactfully than that, right?'

"You even resorted to tears once."

'My acting skills were clearly perfect that time... But you still remained unmoved, Haruomi.'

"Because the timing in the transition from your original subject of conversation to the outpour of tears was a teeny bit unnatural."

'Getting duped willingly is a show of manliness in times like those, you know♪ Oh right, before I forget it,' the crafty organization leader suddenly changed the subject.

'I've already introduced you to a high school that's on good terms with our organization, so you must attend school normally.'

"High school!?"

'Of course. After all, you're an age where you normally go to high school to begin with.'

"I've totally forgotten about that."

'Forgotten on purpose, you mean? Don't just focus exclusively on being a treasure hunter. At least earn the high school credits you're supposed to have.'

"I'm not good at that kind of stuff. After all, I won't be making friends."

Hal's talent was in searching for the antiques known as Grave Goods.

Technically speaking, they should be called "magical apparatus for enshrined object emulation."

Due to being too long and unwieldy, the official term naturally fell into disuse. Instead, the colloquial name, slightly lacking in dignity, found widespread use. These were the objects that Hal would obtain by excavating, stealing and extracting from ancient ruins and historical sanctuaries, or by acquiring them from black markets where artwork and antiques circulated.

This was why Hiiragi-san called him a "treasure hunter."

Hal was not the only one talented in this line of work. It had been his father's specialty as well.

For the sake of securing whatever caught their eyes, the father and son would go as far as to run all over the world. Hal had been transferring between schools constantly on a global range.

Hence, his sense of belonging in the institution called school was rather weak.

'Don't give up before you start... But it's true that you're definitely a child who completely fails at reading cues, Haruomi. Even when there are hungry bears prowling nearby, I get the feeling that you'd still lightheartedly start a barbecue.'

"Rather than failing to read cues, I notice but deliberately ignore them."

'In other words, the problem lies not in sensitivity but sociability? Perfect. Then take this opportunity in the closed environment of a school to learn properly how to live in society.'

With this troublesome mission imposed on him, Hal finally returned to his home country.

The Tokyo New Town Special Economic Zone was formed by redeveloping the former administrative regions including the Tokyo wards of Kōtō and Edogawa, stretching all the way to the wards of Adachi and Katsushika as well as the southeastern part of Saitama Prefecture.

The Haruga home was situated in the Sumida Ward inside this zone.

It had originally been a grand residence designed in the image of a European mansion.

But perhaps due to being uninhabited for long periods of time, the house was no different from a derelict building. The garden was completely neglected as well. As much as the house remained intact, it had become something like a ghost mansion.

Hal cleaned up the house to a level livable for a single male, at least.

First, he made a rough sweep of the dust accumulated over the long years, doing some vacuum cleaning, cutting corners to a degree that would cause any neat freak to frown. Then he ventilated the interior and took out a simple bed to set up in the study&mdash;That was all.

Honestly speaking, it really was a sloppy clean up job...

"I've never returned to this home since Pops passed away," muttered Hal softly while looking at the study that had become his castle.

The sort-of magnificent bookshelves were fully occupied by the book collection of the Haruga family, a lineage said to have produced many a collector over the generations, although only few of them were from his father. Despite having read tens of thousands of volumes, he tended to digitize the majority of books after reading.

This naturally arose from a lifestyle of frequent relocations.

"Oh, so that's where Pops kept it."

Inside the study was a heavy desk. Opening a drawer, Hal discovered ''it''.

A silver pocket watch. Hal had some recollections of it. During the last years of his life, his father often kept it by his side, staring at it with deep emotion. As a side note, this was no ordinary watch.

It was one of his father's tools of the trade, a "clockwork mage."

Having inherited the family business, Hal also treasured the same type of tool.

"This thing is really good, just as I thought. And you clearly said you'd give it to me once you're done with it..."

The silver watch was circular with a diameter of 10cm.

It was slightly too large as a pocket watch, but Hal still stuffed it into a pocket in his pants.

Even higher in quality than the one Hal was currently using, this thing was definitely going to come in handy in the future. However, Hal could not deny the fact that he was partially motivated by a desire to carry a memento...

Then Hal spread out some documents on the desk.

These documents were required by the school introduced by Hiiragi-san and had to be filled in properly. After doing that, he would also need to visit SAURU's one and only branch office in New Town to greet his contact there...

With a whole ton of necessary tasks to complete, Hal was quite occupied for days on end.

During this time, Asya finally arrived in Japan as well.

By the time that Hal had finished most of preparations for his new life, it was already April.

April meant the start of the Japanese school year--Having forgotten this kind of basic fact, Hal hastily changed into his uniform, grabbed his schoolbag and rushed out of the house on the morning of the opening ceremony.



Opening ceremony. New student orientation. Introduction to clubs. Official start to lessons. Etc.

After experiencing a first week packed with events, Hal's high school life entered its second week.

Kogetsu Private Academy. Year 1 Class F in the high school division.

Hal's seat was in the last row, next to the window. Sitting there motionlessly like a Japanese house spirit<!--Zashiki Warashi(座敷童子)-->, he silently surveyed the classroom without conversing with anyone.

Lessons were over and it was currently after school.

Friendships within the class seemed to be establishing themselves smoothly.

Several cliques had already formed among the boys and girls. Staying in the classroom, they would either chat together or horse around, looking like they were developing amicable relations.

However, Hal was alone by himself.

This resulted from how passive he had been in approaching classmates ever since the start of the school term.

"Isn't this within expectations too?" Hal whispered to himself.

Ordinary people might feel uncomfortable in his situation, but Hal was completely unfazed. After all, his personality was not endearing at all, to the point that he would not be deterred by concerns regarding public image.

Today, he had agreed to help Asya out after school was over.

But just now, he received a text message from her saying that something had come up and she would be late.

Thus Hal was leisurely hanging around in the classroom.

While Asya was handling whatever she needed to do, he needed to kill time&mdash;

"Hi, you're... Haruga-kun, right?"

Someone suddenly spoke to Hal. The girl sat in front to his right.

Sporting short hair amenable to an active lifestyle, she looked rather cute.

"Are you free today? If it's okay with you, could you accompany me for a bit?"

"Sorry, I'm not free so I must decline."

The chance to get to know a cute girl&mdash;Failing to manifest such ulterior motives his heart, Hal refused her firmly.

As a result, the girl grinned with a look that seemed to say "Oh."

"Come on, don't be like that. All you need to do is visit our club room for a bit and leisurely fill out your name and class on our club membership form! After that you can be a ghost member if that's what you want, but if you're interested, you can come over after school for some fun or join in our regular weekend gatherings. Wouldn't it be nice to spend the days of your youth in a fulfilling way?"

An invitation to club activities? Hal nodded.

Were it not for this reason, this girl probably would not have tried to make conversation with Hal specifically, right?

It was only the second week, but this girl was already going around, trying to recruit members for the club which she belonged to. She seemed to be lively as her appearance suggested. Hal recalled that her name should be Mutou.

"And your club is?"

"The UFO Research Club. If we don't find two more members, we'll lose the room our club is using."

"Well, I'm not interested in chasing after flying saucers," replied Hal after hearing the girl bring up a club whose name sounded so suspicious.

"Everyone keeps saying the same thing. Looks like bringing boys over to the club room is already taxing the limits of my charm stat. But you won't even make a visit, Haruga-kun."

"I think it's not a bad approach towards recruiting members."

Mutou's sighing tone of voice instilled Hal with a sense of camaraderie.

Given appropriate suggestions, solving the problem should not be difficult with her level of energy. Hal tried the following:

"How about you don't take people to the club room and instead invite them straight to a three-day camp. After pushing them to their limits using hunger, sleep deprivation and psychological pressure, you can gently console your targets and make them dependent on you. To finish up, you can have them sign their names on the club entry form."

"No way, you're actually an unscrupulous person, Haruga-kun!?"

Hal had recommended a typical brainwashing technique, causing Mutou to jump in fright.

"Well, the method I recommended is actually the mildest one I could think of... I guess it's a bit too intense for Japanese schools?"

"I'm pretty sure that goes for schools in any country!"

"Anyway, a club that studies UFOs, eh? I thought such hobbies had already gone extinct by the end of the twentieth century."

"Eh, why's that?"

"Because we're currently in an era when dragons come flying from the moon, suddenly appearing in the sky..."

Hal pointed to the sky's vast expanse outside the window.

"I don't think the sky has any remaining space for unknown lifeforms from the universe to hover in flying saucers, whether Adamski-style or cigar-shaped."

"Ahhh, so that's what you're thinking of? Wrong, wrong."

Smiling, Mutou-san waved her hands to refute.

"The UFOs we chase are not flying saucers but the dragons you just mentioned."

Hal only needed to think slightly before understanding immediately.

The acronym UFO officially stood  for "Unidentified Flying Object." It did not originally mean flying saucer but was a codename for unknown flying entities. In that sense, just as Mutou-san pointed out, the dragons were currently the biggest and most numerous UFOs.

"Then your club activities involve--"

"Yes, the study of dragons as lifeforms. See, although the government and the JSDF deny hiding and censoring information about the dragons, in actual fact, they are doing it. So in order to collect as much correct information as possible, we have to take action as civilian volunteers."

"..."

"Also, we basically have no concrete understanding of the 'serpents' humans use to repel dragons. Since it's not like they're shiny silver aliens from Nebula M78, there must be something kept under wraps, but they won't disclose anything to ordinary people."

To think the conversation would even bring up "serpents."

Hal was quite surprised. This happened to fall under his field of work, namely the Metaphysical Body of Knowledge that the research organization SAURU devoted its efforts to disseminate.

"Anyway, we only know that they're lifeforms similar to dragons... Also, they're guardian deities or biological weapons of war that are protecting humans for some kind of reason. Oh, by the way..."

Never expecting this type of topic to come up in conversation at a Japanese high school, Hal found it perplexing. While he was thinking that, Mutou-san continued.

"When dragons fly nearby, we also head out to high places to take images."

"You go that far!?"

"Yeah, then we release them on the internet. So, seeing as you've misunderstood our club activities, I'll ask you once more: Haruga-kun, would you like to join our research club? It's quite interesting."

Just as Hal was pondering how to respond, someone suddenly joined the conversation from the side.

"I know it's very impolite for me to interrupt your conversation, but please allow me to interject a few words."

The girl sitting in the seat to Hal's right had turned towards them.

Hal was quite surprised because ever since Year 1 Class F came into being, the noisily chatting boys and girls had rarely approached this female student.

Nevertheless, she was not one of those "unsociable nobodies" like Hal. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Precisely because her presence stood out too much, she became a "solitary person."

"Regarding your club, Mutou-san, I've been having the same misunderstanding as Haruga-kun. I never expected you to be a community that tries to contribute to society so seriously... I suppose this serves as an example of why we shouldn't make judgments based on preconceived notions," murmured Juujouji Orihime emphatically, the girl with excessive presence.

Due to the rarity of both her family and given names, Hal had retained a strong impression of her as well.

"Oh, it's nowhere as amazing as what you make it out to be... We club members only do it because we like it."

"Even so, your noble deeds are still admirable."

Although Mutou-san acted very modest, Orihime offered her praise generously.

Elegant, refined, graceful, magnanimous&mdash;

Various virtues typically lacking in high school girls could be found in Orihime's comportment.

Like Hal, she was seated in the last row at the back of the classroom. But unlike Hal who sat all lonesome by himself like a Japanese house spirit, Orihime's sitting posture was very upright as though she were a noble princess presiding over this classroom.
[[image:Leviathan 01 035.jpg|thumb]]

Paying serious attention to all lessons, performing gallantly during PE class to showcase her excellent athleticism and outstanding figure to the surrounding people, she was extremely capable and talented.

(So she resembles a princess not only in appearance but internally as well?)

Speaking of people whose personalities failed to live up to their appearances, Hal had his childhood friend Asya as an example.

Possibly, Juujouji Orihime was also&mdash;Hal secretly speculated. But imagining such things seemed too impolite. Hal silently apologized in his heart.

Unaware of Hal's thoughts, Orihime took out a B5-sized sheet of paper from her desk.

It was a club entry form. With beautiful handwriting, she wrote down "Juujouji Orihime, Year 1 Class F" then handed the form to Mutou-san.

"You need club members, don't you? I am willing to help."

"Eh, are you sure!?"

"Yes. I might have needed more time to think over the matter if you hadn't mentioned the option of being ghost members. But since ghost members are accepted, I see no reason to hesitate any further," said Orihime as she took her schoolbag and stood up.

"Oh, if it's okay with you, please feel free to visit our club classroom for some fun next time."

"Of course, if I feel so inclined and happen to be free. But I am quite busy, so I'm sorry I cannot readily promise anything. Please don't be too expectant," replied Orihime cheerfully after hearing Mutou-san's invitation from behind.

With these honest words without any nuance of sarcasm, Orihime quickly walked over to the classroom entrance. Her every movement was truly dashing and gallant.

"...Almost like a person from a painting," muttered Hal subconsciously to himself as he watched Orihime depart.