Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 2 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 2===

As soon as we reached the campus, Mitsuki told me she had something to do at the faculty office and went in the clock tower's direction alone. The clock tower was Midgard's core location. In addition to the faculty office, the command center and other important facilities were also concentrated there.

She probably had to discuss matters with the teachers regarding the impromptu health examination.

Hence, I walked over to the school building where my classroom was.

Ds in Midgard were assigned to one of nine homerooms according to age and level of knowledge. Since I was assigned to Mitsuki's Brynhildr Class, even during classes, I was constantly under Mitsuki's watchful supervision.

Brynhildr Class was located on the same floor as storerooms and unused classrooms, so there were very few people. Still, this school had pitifully few students to begin with, relative to the school's size. Despite having fewer than seventy students, the school contained as many as four classroom buildings, each three stories tall.

Although it was probably an intentional decision during construction to accommodate a continued increase in Ds... Given the current situation, even if only one classroom was occupied per floor, it still left one entire building unused.

Hence, although there were school girls all over the place on the way to school, a lively sight, as soon as one entered the school building, the surroundings became very silent.

Walking in a silent atmosphere almost like a hospital's, I discovered a girl pacing back and forth in front of Brynhildr Class. For some reason, she was holding her skirt hem tightly, fidgeting awkwardly, hesitating, and not daring to enter the classroom.

Bathed in the rays of dawn streaming in from the window, the girl had dazzling silver hair and clear, flawless snow-white skin. When standing still, she was as beautiful as a work of art. She was someone I knew quite well.

—Iris Freyja.

She was the classmate who sat on my left inside the classroom.

She was originally treated as a poorly performing student due to her inability to make good use of her powers. I, on the other hand, was like a novice in Midgard in terms of using my powers. Previously, we had trained together in preparation for a test and also joined forces to fight the invading Leviathan.

Apart from my sister Mitsuki, she was the one closest to me in school, but—

I nervously gulped.

—No good, don't be nervous, I have to stay calm.

I first took a deep breath then say greeted Iris who looked like she had not noticed me yet.

"Good morning, Iris."

"Hawah!?"

"Woah!?"

Because Iris jumped in fright, it also made me jump in fright.

Her dazzling thighs were exposed under the lightly fluttering skirt. Realizing this in alarm, Iris immediately held down her skirt hem with her face bright red.

"M-Mononobe... Did you see it?"

Iris asked in a trembling voice.

"I-I didn't see it, no, I should say that I saw nothing in the first place."

Under the pressure of Iris' gaze, I answered truthfully.

"Really? Did you really, really see nothing at all?"

But Iris persisted in her questioning relentlessly. There were tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Her snow-white complexion was also getting flush red.

Urgh...

Iris, with her full range of emotions on display like this, was extremely attractive. It made me unable to look her in the eye directly, so I could not help but shift my gaze away. This made Iris move closer to me.

"Ah, that reaction looks like you're lying! You really did see it!"

"N-No, that's not what I mean! I really didn't see it!"

I explained myself while backing away and soon hit the corridor's wall behind me. With tears in her eyes, Iris glared at me from extremely up close, cornering me completely.

I could feel Iris's breathing and her soft bosom touching me slightly.

At this moment, something recent flashed through my mind.

—Thank you, Mononobe.

Accompanied by words of thanks, what touched me were Iris' cherry lips.

Under the starry sky, a first kiss on the beach.

Probably literally what she meant, Iris only meant to thank me. Because the moment before the kiss, she also said she wanted to be friends with me, so I suppose that was an act of affection. It must be due to the kind of culture she grew up in.

However, no matter how much I used this kind of reason to persuade myself, I found myself being conscious of her at all times.

Because Iris herself treated me the same way as before, I mobilized all the self-control I had developed back in NIFL, trying to behave in a natural manner.

But with her so close right now, it was hard not to slip up.

"Mononobe, you should speak honestly, otherwise I'll feel very troubled..."

With her whispering almost clinging onto me, I felt my face starting to get hot.

"Like I said, I'm not lying! I didn't see anything! I didn't see any panties!"

I answered frantically like this but for some reason, Iris panicked even more.

"What... You did see it after all!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

I inquired of Iris because I could not understand her reaction, but tearfully, she shook her head.

"Boo-hoo... O-Of all people, I can't believe Mononobe saw it... I-I am not a pervert, okay? I am absolutely not a pervert, okay?"

"Pervert?"

Completely lost by this non sequitur, I felt baffled.

But after seeing how Iris clamped the hem of her shirt between her thighs, the way she absolutely refused to let her skirt lift up, a shocking possibility surfaced in my mind.

"—Iris, by any chance, are you ''not wearing any''?"

Iris' shoulders trembled.

"Eh, ah, n-no! I'm normally not like this, okay? It's just today that I happened to forget to wear them, okay?"

"...So you really aren't wearing any."

Seeing her still so careless, I could not help but sigh.

"Eh...? Based on how you worded that, you really didn't see just now?"

"Yeah, like I repeated so many times, I didn't see anything at all."

If I had seen it, I probably would have failed to remain calm.

"Thank goodness... No wait, this is still no good! Now you know I'm not wearing them, Mononobe!?"

Covering her face, Iris crouched down. Showing joy one moment and depression the next, she seemed quite busy.

"No, umm, this happens to everyone at least once."

With an embarrassment in my heart, I comforted Iris.

"This is already who knows how many times..."

So it was hopeless.

"......How did you get through this previously?"

"Wearing gym clothes... I can sort of get through the day. But there's neither a practical lesson on powers nor PE class today... I didn't bring my bloomers... So that's why I was hesitating whether I should make a trip back to the dorm or not."

Now I finally understood why Iris was loitering in front of the classroom.

If she went back now, she might end up late, that was why she hesitated: should she risk tardiness? Or should she spend a whole day without wearing panties, worried the whole time that she would be exposed?

But I remember that today—

"Iris, even if you will end up being late, I think it's best that you make a trip back."

I placed my hand on Iris' shoulder and said solemnly.

"W-Why?"

"I heard from Mitsuki that there's an impromptu health examination today, apparently."

Iris' face instantly turned pale.

"Mononobe! I'm going back to put on my panties!"

Iris yelled loudly, so loud that her voice echoed in the corridor. Then she suddenly stood up.

Next, holding her skirt hem down with her hands, she raced along the corridor and left.

"..."

Speechlessly, I watched her depart.

Iris had forgotten one important detail. This place was right in front of the classroom's door.

I opened the door and entered the classroom, only to see the blonde girl in the front row staring coldly at me.

My classmate, Lisa Highwalker.

She was a girl with a fierce personality. Clashing with me multiple times when I first transferred here, in the beginning, she refused to respond even when I greeted her. But right now, she finally agreed to treat me as a "probationary classmate."

"Lisa, that yell just now... Did you hear everything?"

I asked her with a wry smile surfacing on my face. Lisa pointed at me while glaring sharply.

"I can't believe you made Iris-san yell something so disgraceful... This is a failure in supervision, Mononobe Yuu!"

"Eh? That was my fault just now?"

Not expecting the finger to be pointed at me, I grew frantic.

"Naturally, keeping the clumsy Iris-san under control is your responsibility. In order to prevent her from getting ridiculed, you have to put in more thought!"

"...When did I become Iris' nanny?"

I sighed and protested in a small voice, but she ignored my complaint and called out to the other classmates. Apart from Mitsuki and Iris, all others were present.

"That is precisely why. Everyone, please pretend you never heard those disgraceful words just now. In a show of gratitude for our willingness to keep the secret, he has offered to treat us for lunch today."

Hearing her call out, the classmates reacted in their respective ways.

"...Got it."

Someone answered quietly. She was the bibliophile who spent every free moment reading books. Firill Crest.

"Mm."

Only nodding and replying with a single syllable, it was the petite and red-haired girl, Ren Miyazawa.

"Mononobe-kun's treat? I'm looking forward to it."

Smiling innocently, this tomboyish girl was Ariella Lu.

"H-Hey, how could decide on your own—"

I was frantically about to interrupt when Lisa cut me off.

"Oh my? Is there any problem?"

"Eh? Oh..."

Thinking over it calmly, it was actually not a problem, because, including me, all Ds in Midgard received an ample sum of money every month, deposited into their account for living expenses. Treating them for lunch once was not going to make my life hard.

As long as I accepted this condition, Iris would not get embarrassed and I could also have lunch with everyone. For someone like me who still had not shared a meal with Lisa and the others, this was a perfect chance to get acquainted with my classmates.

—So actually, she went through a convoluted process to invite me to join them for lunch?

On further thought, Lisa and the others did not lack cash either, so getting treated by others would offer virtually no benefit to them.

"...Got it, today's lunch will be on me. So please don't bring up Iris' disgraceful yell in front of her."

Deciding to accept Lisa's kind intentions, I nodded and agreed to her condition.

"Understood. You are fast on the uptake."

Lisa smiled with satisfaction. I leaned my face close to her ear and whispered thanks to her.

"—Thank you, Lisa."

"I-I have no idea what you mean by that. Besides, your face is too close!"

Blushing, Lisa pushed me away.

Inside this classroom, the most active in helping others, treasuring her classmates as though they were family, was this girl, Lisa Highwalker.

Despite a personality that was slightly too fierce, she was probably more kindhearted than anyone. She turned her face away unhappily.

I could only walk to my seat with a wry smile.

—How I look forward to the lunch break. I wonder if Iris will get back before class starts?

The second advanced on the clock installed over the blackboard. Mitsuki and Shinomiya-sensei, the homeroom teacher, entered the classroom three minutes before the lesson.

Then the bell rang for the start of class. I sighed. Iris did not make it after all. But just before the ringing ended, the classroom's door was opened violently.

"I-I made it..."

Panting heavily, Iris sat down unsteadily on the seat neighboring me.

As soon as she spotted my gaze, Iris made a thumbs-up and said:

"I did it! Mononobe!"

"...Yeah, good work."

Intentionally pretending not to notice the pitying gazes from Lisa and the others, I praised Iris for her hard work.