Editing Rental Magica Volume 1: Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

The next day, during lunch, Itsuki walked up to the curry meal... and moved on, taking the udon meal.

Among the students, the curry at this school was known as "Russian Roulette". Since there is no set kind of curry served, you could get terribly sweet curry one day and get blazingly spicy curry the next. Whether it was the spiciness of a chili pepper or the sweetness of syrup and powdered sugar, it all smelled and looked the same. There was no way to think of it as anything other than a trap.

Pushing through the waves of people, Itsuki made his way to the end of the cafeteria and sat at the empty table there.

As he read the reference book Honami had lent him while eating, "May I sit here?" came a voice that rang like a bell.

It was Adilisia. Of course, she wasn't wearing her dress in school; she had on a sailor uniform and was holding a cafeteria tray. Her golden hair and emerald eyes clashed quite considerably with the sailor outfit and Itsuki simply blinked at her for a moment.

"... What are you gaping at like a fool?"

"N-No, I just didn't think you'd be eating the school food."

"It is my choice."

Turning her face away, she sat in front of him.

The smell of delicious curry wafted from her tray.

"Ah..."

With an elegant sweep, Adilisia brought the spoon to her mouth.

"!!!"

She swooned in agony.

"What is this!? Can't they make this curry sweeter!?"

She slammed the table. Itsuki's right eye began to hurt again. She was gathering spell power bit by bit.

"There's nothing you can do about it here..."

"Ugh!! How could I have fallen into such a trap?"

"W-Wouldn't it be best to not overdo it and just not eat the curry?"

"Be quiet. Since I made this decision, I will see it to its finish."

With teary eyes, Adilisia stuffed the suspicious curry into her cheeks.

"... Hey, look at that over there."

"... Ibaitsu made the transfer student cry."

"... I heard that Ibaitsu is her manservant, is that true?"

"... What? I heard that the transfer student was Ibaitsu's fiancée."

"... Well, what about the other transfer student?"

"... No way... are they gonna start fighting?"

At the scene, rumors began pouring out of the surrounding students.

''Aw man! I'm the center of another weird misunderstanding!''

Recently, Itsuki was all the class talked about. Of course, it wasn't because Itsuki himself was interesting. It was because of the people sitting to his right and left during class. That is to say, the two transfer students. Since the beautiful mixed race girl and the English lady glared at the class loon between them, it would be weird for rumors not to spring up.

Slurping his udon, Itsuki sighed.

Feeling that things were going to get worse, he was trying to think of a way to respond to the situation when the young lady who had finally finished half of her curry glanced upward.

[[Image:Rental Magica v01 pg75.jpg|thumb|"Do you really plan on overcoming the <Night> with such a... such a careless attitude?"]]

"Itsuki."

"Yes?"

"It may be impolite of me, but please allow me to inquire. You have only recently become a company president, yes?"

"M-More or less..."

"And even though you aren't a magician?"

Her green eyes stared him down.

"N-No, though I have been doing all I can about that..." Itsuki answered, flustered. He had already stopped trying to study magic. Should he have told her the truth?

However, hearing that, Adilisia's expression changed.

"Well then... even though you aren't a magician, you are still the leader of <Astral>, that... jumbled up collection of magicians... yes?"

With a sudden sweep of silence across the cafeteria, whispers began to arise.

Because they were far away, the other students didn't catch on to words like "magician" or "leader," but what they did see was that Adilisia was quite indignant.

But as any proper young lady, Adilisia didn't pay attention to the whispers. She leaned over the table at Itsuki.

"Uwah!"

"Do you really plan on overcoming the <Night> with such a... such a careless attitude?"

''Uh... <Night>?''

Itsuki didn't think too much about it. He pulled back as Adilisia's white visage came nearer. She peered straight into Itsuki's eye.

"Fine."

She let go of the table. "Since you apparently are not aware of that either, I will give you a warning. If you continue with that attitude, you will die within three days."

"Die..."

Itsuki felt the coldness of those words all the way through to his heart.

"..."

"..."

For a while, the two stayed silent, simply looking at each other.

When Itsuki grabbed his chopsticks, he felt something.

"Huh?"

"What is it?"

"... Adilisia-''san'', are you, by any chance... worried for me?"

In an instant, Adilisia's face became bright red up to her ears.

"Do not say such foolish things! Since you saw things normal people are unaware of in the park last week, I was just clarifying things for you."

She stood up angrily.

"So how about now? If you value your life, you will pull out of the next offer."

Simply declaring that, the girl swiftly turned on her heel.

"Hey, wait a second."

Itsuki tried to follow her, but he suddenly felt a strange itch under his eye patch. He rubbed it, standing up.

However, he felt something wet.

"Huh?"

The finger he had rubbed under his eye patch with was dyed slightly red.

''"... with that attitude, you will die within three days."''

"Ugh..."

And then, seeing his own blood, Itsuki&mdash;who was anemic&mdash;fell on his back in a faint.

After school, Itsuki made his way home after being slapped awake by the school nurse.

"Hey, I want to go home, so hurry and wake up!" she insisted.

For the time being, the blood had stopped. In all truth, there really wasn't that much bleeding in the first place, and it had totally stopped by the time he had reached the infirmary. Because the nurse in the infirmary knew him well, she let him be without taking his eye patch off. Itsuki was thankful for that.

''It's been a long time since I've seen blood...''

Talking to himself, he walked toward downtown.

Lots of shops had already closed. There were few people on the streets and the old townscape was like a silhouette in the sunset.

The city of Furube was a mix of new and old.

It was a small town that had existed on a sloping hill since the Heian Period. Then, the bubble economy brought a population influx, turning the place into a commuter town overnight. To add to that, the city recently began luring enterprises, bringing in a lot of hustle and bustle and causing the construction of many new buildings.

It was a laid back town, but the downtown area was in the middle of a rebirth.

As he climbed the sloping road on his way to the alleyway leading to the office, Itsuki suddenly stopped his feet.

"A-Are you here again?"

Remembering Ultros, his facial expression dropped.

That demon dog&mdash;his caretaker still hadn't taken him back so, it couldn't be helped, he was now being kept at <Astral>.

As he walked through the alleyway, it was an established practice for Ultros to playfully assault him. For example, one time Ultros had climbed to the top of the roof and dove headfirst at Itsuki, nearly crushing him to death.

When he held his eye patch and looked across the alleyway...

"You are <Astral>'s Iba Itsuki-''sama'', aren't you?"

"Wha...?"

Being spoken to from his side all of a sudden, Itsuki jumped.

Slipping through the sunset, a human figure stood before him. Itsuki should have been able to see him in his peripheral vision, but it was as if he didn't even register in Itsuki's consciousness.

It was as if the man lacked any sort of characteristic at all.

With a blank expression on his face, he wore a worn out business suit on his body, which was about average height. In his hand, he carried a normal-looking suitcase. If he were to walk into a crowd, you would immediately lose sight of him.

"Aren't you Iba Itsuki-''san''?" the man asked again.

"Eh? Ah, y-yes..."

"A~h, of course. You do look like Tsukasa-''san''," the man said, forcing a nostalgic look onto his face.

"You know my dad?"

"Yes. President Iba Tsukasa helped me a long time ago.

"Excuse me for beating around the bush. I am Kagezaki, of the <Organization>."

"<Organization>..."

He remembered Honami saying the name.

It was definitely the public controller that assembled magicians. Honami still hadn't told him the details, but he had heard that it was an association that presided over more than a hundred magical groups.

"Right now, I would like to congratulate you on your succession. We await your future patronage."

"Y-Y-Yes, nice to meet you and all that... but why is someone from the <Organization> here?"

"It's about the contract."

Smiling calmly, Kagezaki held up the suitcase.

"Contract?"

Remembering what Adilisia had told him, his cheeks became stiff.

"Is there a problem?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing that important, but... Ahahaha!" He broke out in a cold sweat. "Well, uh, let me take you inside the office..."

"There won't be any need for that, President."

All of a sudden, he was interrupted by another presence in the alleyway.

"Nekoyashiki-''san''!"

"Oh, Nekoyashiki-''sama''. It has been a while."

In the alleyway at twilight stood a gray-haired, young man&mdash;Nekoyashiki. In his peculiar Japanese clothes, with his folding fan, his chest and shoulders covered in cats, he was the same as usual.

However, his face looked somewhat perturbed to Itsuki.

"Kagezaki-''san''. You received the communication that we were waiting for the offer, correct?"

"Yes. That is what this is about." Keeping his smile, Kagezaki nodded. "The truth is that earlier, the offer contract was terminated by <Goetia>-''sama''. According to the rules, if <Astral>-''sama'' does not formally reject this claim, they will have to withdraw from the next <Night>."

"I know that."

Nekoyashiki fluttered his folding fan.

He didn't hide the fact that he did not like Kagezaki. Itsuki felt a bit surprised at this, Nekoyashiki was usually subtle.

Kagezaki lips drew out into a full grin.

"Ah, then that works out wonderfully. You know <Astral> has not accepted an offer for six years, right? If you refuse this one as well, I will have to consider terminating your registry with the <Organization>." Acting as if he really regretted it, Kagezaki continued. "If that happens, you know that Itsuki-''san'' will be back to the way he was before and Nekoyashiki-''san'' and Mikan-''san'' will have to return to their former positions, right?"

"Huh?"

Former positions?

As Itsuki blinked confusedly, Nekoyashiki wore a grim expression.

"I know that. I know we have to do this job to keep our place in the registry. That's what you're saying, yes?"

"Yes, more or less."

Kagezaki put on a troubled smile.

His smile gave no impression. Like a movie extra whose presence or lack thereof made no difference, his face was completely spiritless.

''...''

Suddenly, Itsuki became afraid.

His slight confusion changed to uneasiness, and that uneasiness morphed into terror. Like with Adilisia, it wasn't a clear abnormality. However, Kagezaki seemed so average that it made him suspicious.

&mdash; It was as if his face was bleached.

Itsuki gulped. Feeling something cold on the back of his neck, he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Please w-wait for just a minute. I can't figure this conversation out. What do you mean by terminating our registration? What 'job' are you talking about?"

"What?" Kagezaki shifted his gaze toward Itsuki. "You mean all of this hasn't been explained to you?"

"It hasn't been two weeks since he's succeeded the role of president," Nekoyashiki answered.

With a smile of understanding, Kagezaki nodded.

"If that's the case, then why don't I explain? Otherwise..."

Kagezaki smiled again.

However, the one who answered him this time was not Nekoyashiki or Itsuki.

At the bottom of the sloping road, two new characters were walking that way.

While Itsuki was in the infirmary, Honami had left school and appeared to be coming back from shopping.

"Kagezaki ''oji-san''..."

Mikan was next to her holding a plastic supermarket bag, tugging at the hem of her sailor uniform, shivering.

She stepped in front of Mikan.

"I'll tell you about it," Honami Takase Ambler said flatly.