Editing Fuyuu Gakuen no Alice and Shirley:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

"Sorry about that Masaki, things started getting a little strange."

Shirley said this while we were going up the stairs.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. While it was a little unusual, he's only our classmate you know?"

"Of course!"

But it didn't look like she thought so.

Shirley looked troubled.

"In my first year, I didn't have a partner, so Ishounuma asked me to be his."

"Really!? Did you two hang around with each other a lot, was it like that?"

Shirley swung her arms around angrily.

"That's not it! It's wasn't like that, I'd just become a member of the school committee and it was the rule for everyone to have a partner!"

"Ah...the committee."

"But in the end I didn't become his partner since I paired up with someone else. I wonder if he misunderstood it because I didn't turn him down clearly? Well, it did look like we were pretty close."

"But I think no matter who it is, it's best to be on good terms with them."

"Ye~s, but I didn't mean to cause trouble between us...but isn't it weird that I'm thought to be on particularly good terms with that guy by everyone else? It's strange! Strange!"

Maybe it's because Ishounuma acts like they're close in order to cause other people to misunderstand there relationship. 

"I don't think it can be helped as long as he talks like that."

"Well...you could have said that he was being annoying, right. Did you say that?"

"So many times. I said it plainly as well!"

Masaki had never been approached by someone of the opposite gender, so he couldn't imagine what it would be like, but he was able to understand that this was troubling for Shirley.

On the stairs landing, Shirley suddenly turned around to face Masaki.

"I'm just making sure, but you're not having a strange misunderstanding right?"

"It's alright since you explained everything. Of course, I understand and believe you."

"Then, that's fine... I would never have a special relationship with someone who discriminates by level!"

When they reached the 15th floor, Masaki started to lightly pant.

Masaki lifted his glasses and wiped the sweat from his nose.

"Phew...Now that you mention it, you said something about peoples attitudes towards levels...what was that about?"

"Don't worry about it. It's just a number."

"In fact, I don't know anything about this...are levels important?"

A surprised look appeared on her face.

"Masaki, you don't know anything about levels?"

"Since I suddenly transferred schools, I didn't take a single look at any of the transfer documents."

"Then, what about Dialecte and Globaliser?"

Masaki was astonished. He stared intensely at Shirley.

"Amazing! You've really have changed from when you were a child."

"Wh, what? So suddenly."

"I didn't expect such difficult-sounding words to come out so smoothly from your mouth."

"Huh? Nihaha, is that so? Amazing? Amazing?"

Shirley stuck out her chest happily. 

"I think it's really amazing. And? What kind of things are Dialecte and Globaliser?"

Shirley stiffened. Her face formed a frown, and she groaned.

"Uuu...What did you say? I feel like going "Yaa! Whump!". Nya-"

"Thank you, I understand now."

"Really?"

"Ah, of course you're Shirley!"

"Nihaha."

Masaki understood––

Shirley disappeared seven years ago because of her ability.

And thanks to that ability, he was now able to reunite with Shirley.

"...Since my ability is really meager, I doubt it'd be useful for anything even if I study and go as far as changing schools."

"It's normal for a persons power to be weak and their level to be low, when they've only just awoken. I think that it'll start changing from now on, right?"

"Oh, so is the strength of the ability equals the level?"

"It kinda does. The teacher said something about test results to."

"Is it important in this school?"

"Even though the classes are divided by levels, I say that everyone is important...to me it doesn't matter"

"Really?"

"Well, we all use the same cafeteria!"

"I see, that's really persuasive."

Shirley told me that she was in class A.

If we go in the order of levels, then could it be called the best class?

So the guy called Ishounuma seems to be in the same class as Shirley, and by judging from his attitude, he probably has a high level too.

"You don't need to worry about that. The level is just a number, a number~"

"How are the levels decided?

"Yeah...when I say that you don't need to worry about levels, don't you think it's strange? So when the time comes for you to need to know about it, you can ask someone then."

"Perhaps, you don't know very much about it?"

"Ththththat isn't it."

Shirley's eyes swam in the sky. It was dangerous as they were walking up the stairs.

"Well, everything will be explained in the staff room."

Masaki sighed.

She suddenly pointed her finger–to the tip of his nose.

She had a serious expression on her face.

"You only need to do one thing, and that's to be positive! I don't discriminate people by their levels or stuff like that!"

"...Understood."

Shirley gave a smile as she turned around.

It seemed to be normal that Masaki who had just awoken still have a low level. She must have been worried about him. Since their relationship wasn't equal anymore, Masaki swallowed his words of thanks that he was going to give her. 

There were still more stairs.

He decided to change the topic.

"That reminds me...what kind of committee did you join?"

"My committee? It does lots of different stuff...we do rounds to make sure that there aren't any rule-breakers and we warn people who break the rules of the academy, those kind of things."

"Is it the public morals committee?"

"It's a bit like that. However, we have a much more exciting name than that!"

"What is it?"

"It's Breaker."

She said this in an embarrassed manner.

It’s definitely an exaggerated name for a school committee. Maybe it had some hidden meaning?

"Well, apart from the name...I think it's Shirley-ish."

"Shirley-ish?"

"When we were kids, you disliked crooked things, and when it came to dealing with bad guys you seemed weaker than me, but you had the kind of character that let you face them without faltering. Should I call it being an ally of justice or just being reckless? At any rate, you acted rashly. Do you remember?"

"Nihaha, I guess it was like that...well yeah, it didn't go very well a lot of the time."

"Yeah, since you were clumsy, and maybe it's also because you misunderstood a lot of things most of the time?"

"Only a little."

Her bitter smile, also had a shadow to it unexpectedly. It was an expression that she didn't show when they were young.

Maybe she got into some kind of trouble.

She couldn't say anything to Masaki who had just arrived at school but––

"Shirley, I think it's best if you act the way that you think is right."

"Hm? Aha, I think so too...thanks Masaki!"

She shook off the dark atmosphere and gave a bright smile that she had worn since she was an elementary school student.

A high-pitched electronic sound rang.

The sharp sound that repeatedly assaulted the ears, echoed throughout the wide stair case. 

Shirley lifted up her left hand.

She wore a silver bracelet on her wrist. A relief of a rose was engraved on it and a violet crystal adorned it.

The sound stopped when she touched it with her right hand while a translucent board appeared in the previously empty space. It wasn't some kind of illusion, it was purely the product of science.

The word <<EMERGENCY>> was displayed in red in a window in the 3D image.

"An emergency...!?"

Her expression froze.

"What's wrong?"

"There's trouble in the school building...what am I gonna do...a dispatch request came from the committee."

Her eyes kept going back and forth between the window and Masaki.

He was able to roughly guess what the situation was.

"What are you worried about? If it's me, then you don't need to worry. I'm not a child, so I won't get lost in the school building."

"Ye, yeah."

"You're being called aren't you? And it's an emergency."

"Yeah."

"Then go quickly!"

Masaki said it daringly in a strong voice.

The doubt disappeared from her expression and born from within it was seriousness.

"Thanks, Masaki. I'll be going now!"

"Go. I'll go to the staff room on the 30th floor."

It wouldn't take too much time to get there since he was now on the 25th floor.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to show you everything!"

"It's alright. After you're done, I'll be happy for you to show me around the other places. Especially the shop where they sell delicious cakes."

"Of course, you really do like cakes Masaki! See you later!"

Shirley gave a nod then ran off.

She was fast!

The moment he started going up the stairs, she rushed to the corridor on the 26th floor.

While she raised her bracelet close to her ear.

"It's Shirley, tell me what the situation is!"

He didn't hear the voice of her colleague that she was getting in touch with as her running footsteps instantly faded into the corridor.