Editing Rental Magica Volume 1: Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 3===
 
 
"--Well then, I'll place the documents here.  There are also reference documents for the next case, so please read through them."
 
Placing his trunk on the table and making a bow, Kagezaki stood up and left.  He didn't disappear or fly away like a magician, he stood up on his two feet and walked down the hill road outside.
 
Until his shape disappeared, a pair of harsh Ice Blue Eyes glared at him.
 
"President, shall I take that trunk for you?" Honami prompted.
 
"Oh, sure.  ...Mikan-chan, is it safe?" Itsuki, taking the trunk, asked Mikan, who had been hiding.
 
"Yeah, it's safe..."  With a pale face, Mikan nodded stiffly.  Her hands were still shivering.  She tugged on Itsuki's school uniform.  "Not!  Uwaaaah!"  Tears began to tumble out of her eyes, and she buried her face in Itsuki's stomach.  "Uuu...  I'm scared... I'm scared--..."
 
"A-ah, I understand, I understand..."
 
He decided against telling her not to rub her runny nose all over him and nervously stroked her head.
 
"*H-hic*, president onii-chan... waaaah... was bullied by oji-san..."
 
"Uh... yes?"
 
Confused, Itsuki wiped Mikan's cheeks.  She had cried quite a bit, and her tears had streaked down to his pants.
 
As he did,
 
"...  Hmph."
 
For some reason, Honami was looking at him with horribly cold eyes.
 
"Wh-what?"
 
"Nothing.  So you're interested in that type, huh?  I guess it's up to you."
 
"Wh-why are you saying something like that?"
 
"Forget about it.  I'll leave you two alone."
 
Nekoyashiki intervened with his calm-as-usual tone.
 
"Now then, how about we return to the office first?"
 
"Meowo~ww"
 
Nekoyashiki's cats meowed in agreement with one another.
 
 
A few minutes later.
 
Inside of <Astral>'s messy office, the smell of black tea wafted faintly through the air.
 
"Here you go, Mikan-chan."
 
"Thanks Honami."
 
Taking the white teacup, Mikan made a tiny slurp.
 
Incidentally, Itsuki had changed out of his soggy school uniform into regular clothes.  Because Ultros licked him all over every day, he sadly had to keep a spare set of clothes at the office.
 
"H-hey, what about me?"
 
"Oh, are you here?"
 
"...  S-sorry..." Itsuki said, lowering his head.
 
A little while later, a teacup was held out to him.
 
He was at the reception table.  He sat next to Mikan on the creaky antique sofa.  Nekoyashiki was a little further away at his desk, and Honami was sitting in front of Itsuki in a Windsor chair, placing her own teacup before her.
 
After a short pause,
 
"Now then, back to what I was saying before..."
 
"Oh, yeah," Itsuki nodded.
 
He didn't understand any of the earlier discussion, about the offer, or the registry, or the <Night>.  There was something about former positions too.
 
"So, I'll explain everything to you in order," Honami said, putting the rim of her teacup to her mouth.  Apparently she had been studying in England until a little while ago, and her motions were very similar to Adilisia's.
 
Taking a single sip of the amber-colored liquid, Honami began to talk.
 
"I already told you about the <Organization>, right?"
 
"That one structure affiliated with seventy or eighty percent of magician groups, wasn't it?  <Astral>'s part of it too, right?"
 
Seemingly satisfied with Itsuki's answer, Honami nodded.
 
"Right.  Both <Astral> and <Goetia> are registered.  In the beginning, it was a support union made by magicians in Europe in the Middle Ages.  They could never intervene in anything directly, but they had a lot of influence worldwide.  For example, if you weren't formally registered with the <Organization>, no one would treat you like a real magician."
 
Giving a simple review, Honami looked at Itsuki.
 
This was review, right?  If he said that he couldn't remember something, he didn't know what kind of horrible things she'd put him through, so he nodded obediently.
 
"Alright then, I'll continue.  --Offers are 'jobs' accepted from the public by the <Organization>, which are then directed to its registered magical groups."
 
"'Jobs?'" Itsuki asked.
 
"Yes, 'jobs.'  I just told you that the <Organization> could never intervene in anything directly.  That's because the different magical groups are very sensitive to their spheres of influence.  If someone idiotically sticks their nose in someone else's domain, it could turn into a fight.  That's why the <Organization> recruits magicians who can solve such problems."
 
That is to say, in exchange for not getting your own hands dirty, you dispatched others capable of solving various issues.  That seemed like what a support union would do.
 
After thinking for a moment, Itsuki opened his mouth.
 
"Then, that guy Kagezaki came because--"
 
"A 'job.'  --The <Organization> is seeking to resolve some issue that's popped up."
 
"...!"
 
At Honami's words, Itsuki could feel his blood rush through him.
 
Whatever this 'job' could be, there was one thing that was certain.
 
"W-woah, time out!  Wait a second!  Then, Adilisia came--"
 
"Because <Goetia> took the offer.  If <Astral> takes the offer as well, then the reward is first come, first serve.  That is to say, we'll be fighting one another."
 
Itsuki got goose bumps.
 
He remembered the fear that Adilisia had instilled in him.  If magicians were fighting...
 
"T-then, you mean... with... magic?"
 
"Naturally.  We're magicians."
 
Honami made the finishing blow.  Itsuki dropped his head as though he were a marionette whose neck string had been cut.
 
"President?"
 
"No, that's..."
 
There was no going back now.  It was only a matter of time before a gruesome death.
 
On the other hand, the girl across from him made a small sigh.
 
"You know, you're the one who's supposed to decide whether or not we take on offers, right?"
 
"Huh?"  Suddenly, Itsuki's face sparkled.  "That's it then!  Let's take a pass on this one..."
 
"--Let me return to what we were discussing before."
 
Nekoyashiki, who was dandling his cats, gave a warning from his desk.
 
"What?"
 
"Ah, there is a certain reason... how should I put this?  This could turn into a long story, but unlike other magical societies, <Astral> isn't a simple magical group.  Our last president forcibly pulled in several different kinds of magicians.  That is to say, we're like a hodge podge of different magicians..."
 
Itsuki felt as though Adilisia had told him something similar before.  Something like "jumbled up collection"...
 
"What do you mean?"  Itsuki knitted his brows.
 
"To put it simply, if <Astral> is removed from the registry, Nekoyashiki-san and Mikan-chan will have to go back to their original groups," Honami chimed in.
 
"H-hunh?"
 
"<Astral> hasn't taken any offers since the last president disappeared.  The <Organization> can't keep an association like that in their registry.  That's what Kagezaki was threatening earlier."
 
An awkward silence spread across the room.
 
"U-um..."
 
Finally, Itsuki looked around.
 
"...  President onii-chan...  I don't want to go back."  Mikan looked up at him from beside, holding her teacup with both hands.
 
 
"........."
 
 
"Meow."
 
"Meeow!"
 
"Me~ow."
 
Meowow~ow."
 
The cats began to exert pressure from all sides of the office.
 
 
"......................."
 
 
"Aren't they cute?  They're the treasures of the world, the finest art this earth has borne.  However, I can't take this many cats back home with me.  Aah, you're not telling me that you would rather these cats die, are you?"
 
Putting on a drama, Nekoyashiki lamented exaggeratedly.
 
 
"..........................................."
 
 
"What're you gonna do, president?" Honami ・ Takase ・ Ambler asked him coldly, persisting.
 
 
"................................................................................"
 
 
Itsuki felt as though something similar had happened not half a month ago.
 
"...  O-okay...  I get it..."
 
Almost crying, Itsuki slammed the table.
 
Though he had come this far, he was still a total novice.  --Or rather, even he hadn't thought it would get this bad.
 
He made a deep, deep sigh, expelling everything in his lungs.

Then, he puffed his chest out, partly out of desperation.
 
"Okay then, what kind of 'job' are we doing this time?" he asked, crying.