Editing Rental Magica Volume 1: Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 4===

The next day.

Itsuki examined the badge as he sat at his desk in the classroom. He was, of course, unable to sleep at all last night and ended up going to school early.

''I wonder if there really isn't any way to get out of this.''

Itsuki began to worry again.

He felt almost disembodied. In regard to the demon dog incident and the park the night before, he felt as though he had died and come back to life. He had been involved in supernatural incidents before, but nothing like what was happening now.

''No, there's only one way.''

Holding onto the badge, he ran his hand across his eye patch.

He thought of when he had to start wearing it.

He didn't remember very well, but it was probably around kindergarten. He had been chased by a monster and he took a huge wound that could have cost him his right eye. His right eye was completely useless for a week and eventually became unable to tolerate light, requiring the use of an eye patch.

''... Though I can still see monsters with it, even though the patch is over it.''

Itsuki sighed. No matter what he thought, it was bad luck that he couldn't sell back. Rather, they were having a bargain on hemorrhages.

He tapped the badge on his desk, making it ring like a wind chime.

''I wonder if that girl's going to be at the office today,'' he suddenly thought, becoming glum again.

Nekoyashiki had told him to come to the office after school. However, wasn't that just stepping deeper into the swamp? At this point, the best he could come up with was calling Yuuka and flying off to America.

"What's that badge?" Yamada asked from behind him.

"Ack! Uh, it's nothing."

Flustered, Itsuki waved his right hand. He had apparently been lost in thought for a while. When he looked around, he saw the usual boisterousness that preceded homeroom.

Cutting through two or three meaningless conversations, the bell signaling the start of class rang.

The door rattled.

"&mdash;"

... Itsuki was frozen solid, right down to his individual brain cells.

In contrast to Itsuki's reaction, cheers began to echo across the classroom. Eighty percent of the male students and all of the female students were speechless, their eyes popping out.

It was because the homeroom teacher was leading in an unfamiliar girl.

No... correction...

There were ''two'' girls.

"Uh... I don't know if you've all heard or not, but these two transfer students will be joining our class from now on. First, introduce yourselves."

Itsuki didn't hear the teacher's sleepy voice at all. Probably because his ears wanted to refuse what he was hearing.

"I am called Adilisia • lenn • Mathers. I will only be here for a few months. But for now, it is a pleasure to meet you all."

"I'm Honami Takase Ambler. Nice to meet you guys."

Amidst the applause echoing through the room, Itsuki could clearly hear the sound of something shattering.

It was the sound of his peaceful life being smashed and scattered across the floor.

<span style="font-size: 300%;"><center>*</center></span>

Scene change.

Later that evening, a single man stepped into a certain park.

It was the park where Itsuki had first seen Honami and Adilisia the night before. There were no children left in the park and against the backdrop of the deep crimson sky, the rusty swing swayed forlornly in the wind.

"Looks like this is the place after all."

The man slackened his blank face.

He was a hard man to judge in a single glance. His delicate looks suggested he was in his twenties. And he wore a business suit with no peculiarities. He was about medium height. The length of his nose, the thickness of his lips, the size of his eyebrows, the deepness of his eyes&mdash;they all seemed to be about average.

It was as if his characteristics defied any attempt to characterize him.

There was one thing that didn't follow the rule: the L-shaped wires he held in each hand.

The two parallel wires occasionally twitched left or right and the man followed their direction precisely, as if he were remote-controlled.

This was the magical art of dowsing.

It used a person's subconscious to find hidden treasure or a source of water. It was one of the old magical arts well known in England.

"Yes, yes."

Nodding, the man stopped as the wires crossed each other between the jungle gym and the monkey bars.

As he did, the man touched a red pen to his tongue and made a notation on his small map.

It was a municipal map. It was a 1/300,000 scale reduced map with several X marks and small annotations scrawled across it.

"&mdash; Spell wave pollution class six to seven. It looks like someone tried to clean it up, but it seems to have revived afterward. The Ley Line<ref>Referring to the spiritual and metaphysical meaning of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_Lines Ley Lines].</ref> waves are all according to the calculations. The <Night> is near. Now, the participants..."

Folding up his map, the man took out a notepad.

He let out a sigh.

"<Goetia> and... <Astral>. Those are a couple of nostalgic names, eh?"

He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Even so, his eyes did not smile in the slightest. Only his lips stretched to either side of his face. It looked almost as if his mouth was a gaping slash.

The man's red, unpleasant shadow seemed to contaminate the ground of the park.

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