Rental Magica Volume 1: Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - The Magician's Offer

1

"Aaah, president onii-chan is deaaad~"

"Hey there, that's not the proper way to leave the physical realm now, is it?"

""""Meowowow, meeeooow!""""

One after another, Mikan, Nekoyashiki, and Nekoyashiki's cats tapped him on the head.

"... P-please.... forgive me."

Lying prostrate on the ground, Itsuki was at the verge of death, and finally managed to move just his finger.

He was at the mansion.

On Itsuki's overturned wooden desk had been a massive pile of documents, beakers, pyramidal flasks, some machine that looked like a microscope, and a parched monkey's arm. All of this was now on top of him. From underneath the veritable trash heap, only Itsuki's head remained, albeit barely, untouched.

"Even though you're not done with studies and examinations?" Honami chided roughly, knocking on the stack of documents.

"Ah... yes, I know...!"

"Then finish reading from 'Hand of Glory' to 'The Book of Albertus.'"

Recovering from his near-death experience, Itsuki shook his neck and took the old book into his hand. It was close to a conditioned reflex now. With emptier eyes than he had when he was under Adelicia's control, he continued to read the Grimoire.

--Since then, a week had already passed.

In that time, Honami, who had transferred to the same class as him, gave him a rough education. It consisted of teaching regarding both his presidential duties and magical studies.

Itsuki was now forced to devote himself to his studies, as he was followed in and out of school with nowhere to run.

"What kind of stuff are you reading?" Nekoyashiki asked from behind him in a relaxed manner.

"He's got no talent," Honami declared. "He tried basic spells and affinities, but he sucks at everything. He probably wouldn't even be able to do anything with ten years of studying. Give him twenty years and he might be able to call on a low class spirit, though it still might not be satisfactory."

Having this said right behind his back was a little irksome. What was he studying for, then?

"Heheheh, I thought that since he could see ghosts and monsters, he would have the makings of a genius, but it doesn't seem to be so, does it?"

"Rather than genius, it seems like just genes. Something close to a kenki or a jougan, I'd think."

"There is the legend of the kenki becoming a powerful mountain wizard, you know."

"Isn't that itself an exception to an exception? There's no logic to it, so you can't include it into the calculations."

"What if we gave him some kind of elixir or spirit drug? Honami-san, aside from Celtic magic, you know Witchcraft as well, correct?"

"Of course I've already tried that stuff. I've tried from Mandragora root to bat wings boiled in mercury to mashed toad intestines to just plain old Magnesia solution. Not one thing brought about any positive response, so I'd suffice to say he's just got no brains."

Yes, he had truly come close to death when he was forced to eat live aconite by Honami. He had never thought any of those kinds of things would ever enter his mouth.

"Well, rather than magic, we'll just have to make sure he focuses exclusively on presidential work."

"I see. If that's the case, from where should we start? We have one set for studying, but..."

Standing up, Nekoyashiki opened up the closet.

Looking at it horizontally, Itsuki saw several books lined up inside of it.

"First get something to push the main points into him. We can consult with Director Hazel too, but I'd start with all twelve volumes of 'Detailed Exposition of Economic Values - General Remarks' and all six of 'Mosaic Organization Structure: Basic Theory.'"

It was the first time he had even heard of textbooks being divided into volumes. They all had bindings so thick that it was not unthinkable that he could club someone to death with them. To make matters worse, just looking at a page out of them made his brain burn up.

"... Um, you said it would be okay if I just signed and stamped..."

Itsuki tried raising a pitiful voice of resistance, but,

"Did you even consider what you were signing up to do when you stamped?"

Honami's Ice Blue Eyes became even icier. They were probably even colder than the Cocytus of Greek legend.

"Other than holding the major vote, you'll have to know the company's economic status and relative value compared with other companies. As for magic, if you don't memorize how to apply your employees' individual abilities, we'll never get work, and even at the best of times be stuck with no jobs."

Her supple finger pointed at Itsuki, stabbing through his heart.

Incidentally, the businesses in front of <Astral>'s office consisted of a fortune-telling center and a recruitment agency for an occult magazine.

That is to say, 90% of their income came from these establishments.

"Since we rent out magicians, I call us 'Rental Magica.' Ehehe, it sounds sort of cool, doesn't it?" said Mikan, puffing out her chest.

She seemed to have come straight from elementary school, and she carried a red schoolbag over her miko outfit. --No, she must have changed clothes in the office or something.

"So? What do you do, Mikan-chan?"

"Since I'm a miko, I get hired for groundbreaking ceremonies and festivals and stuff. That's why I'm aaalways busy in the summer."

"I see. Yeah, there are a lot of festivals in the summer, huh? So do you always come here?"

"Yep. Though, if I wasn't here, president onii-chan would have been made into food for Ultros, wouldn't he?"

"Y-yeah, forgive me for that..."

Itsuki weakly waved his left hand. In his right hand, he held open the "Economics Even You Can Understand--How to Save and Use Money" book that Honami had lent to him (Honami had needed to lower the level of difficulty quite a bit for his sake).

"Meow."

"Meowoww."

"Hunh?"

The office cats were pulling at the bottom of his pants.

Being pulled along, he came to a desk with a fashion magazine placed on it. The cats pointed to the open magazine and meowed, waving their tails.

"Nekoyashiki-san, this is--"

"Aah. It's my most popular 'Nekomata Onmyoudou ・ Nekoyashiki Ren's Cat Fortune Telling.'"

Nekoyashiki, who was sitting next to him, raised his head.

"... I see."

He somehow understood quite well. He seemed to be pretty popular. His personality didn't really show through in his photo, though.

Looks like there are hardships no matter what kind of world you live in.

He had a strangely familial feeling.

Nekoyashiki, with his cats on his knees, pressed his brush against his cheek. On the desk in front of him a heavy-looking inkstone was enshrined with some Japanese papers.

He was apparently in the middle of making "spell seals."

Lightly waving his brush across the papers, he made several talismans.

"Are these for work?"

"No, I send them as presents to my readers. I draw five names from the people who send in the questionnaires and give them these."

"Huh, presents..."

Itsuki dropped his chin. He was way off.

Nekoyashiki smiled at his look.

"President--what do you think about magicians?" he asked.

"Huh? Umm... I still don't know anything about them at all..."

Well, from the start, none of them looked very magical. At least not before what he saw in the park. He didn't understand the different kinds of magic very well either.

"I suppose it's best to be honest. So, I'll change the question a bit. What is the need for magicians in the modern world?"

"Eh?"

Itsuki blinked at suddenly being asked such a basic question.

"Er, um... I guess they exist out of necessity?"

"Ahaha. A no-holds-barred response. I like that. If you think about it normally, there's really no need for them at all. If you need to fly, you use an airplane. If you need to talk to someone far away, you use a telephone. And if you need a familiar, there's always Sony's AIBO. Those robots are much cuter and functional than your typical magical beast, aren't they? Oh, but of course, cats are the exception."

Putting emphasis on the last part, Nekoyashiki then made a solemn expression.

"--But magic, just by virtue of being magic, can destroy the world, you know."

Nekoyashiki declared with all the sharpness of a katana.

"..." Itsuki gulped involuntarily. "Is there really magic that powerful?"

"No. Because there is a human limit to spell power, all magic has its limits. For example, in the current world, the greatest flame user in the current world is Ismail Talib, a master of Islamic Djinn Magic. However, even he would only be able to burn down a single city at his limit. Furthermore, there would need to be a lot of costly preparation before anything as such could be accomplished. It would probably be safer and smarter to just drop a napalm bomb on the city."

Nekoyashiki took a small sip of his green tea. It was apparently cold, as he made a disgruntled look.

"B-but, monsters made with magic are pretty amazing aren't they?"

"Ah, I see where you're going with this. Things like Kabbalah Golems and Homunculi do indeed have power greater than that of humans. The best and best known are <Goetia>'s Mathers family's 'Seventy-Two Demons.'"

Hearing the familiar name, Itsuki's face became stiff.

"Oh, what's the matter?"

"N-no, it's nothing."

Adelicia ・ Lenn ・ Mathers.

That was the name of the girl who now sat to his right during class. Thought it was difficult for him to admit. Perhaps it was because of Honami, but she hadn't given him any trouble. Still, he could, from time to time, feel the terrible sensation that a pair of green eyes was glaring at him.

... The best, huh...

As Itsuki half admired her and half feared her, Nekoyashiki continued his discussion.

"However, there is a limit even to the best rank demons. No matter which road the summoner takes, they can't outdo their natural ability while still being able to completely control the monster. There are ways for summoner-type magicians to make their work more efficient, but it just makes things more likely to work rather than guaranteeing anything."

"... Then, what was that magic that you said could destroy the world?"

"Oh, that--"

As Nekoyashiki nodded, the black, old style phone next to the support pillar rang.

Taking the receiver to his face in a flash, Nekoyashiki answered.

"Thank you for calling. This is the magician dispatch company <Astral>--eh? Oh, I see. Yes. Yes, yes. Understood!"

Slamming the receiver back on the stand, Nekoyashiki whirled around.

"President! Urgent request!"

"Eh? Don't tell me it's another monster extermination!" Itsuki responded in a panic.

"No, it looks like a magazine writer is out with a cold! If we hurry, there seems to be an alternative manuscript. We have to take a quick trip to the publisher and write it directly."

--Well, that seemed pretty peaceful.

"U... understood. Let's go."

Itsuki gave a tired laugh and turned his back to Nekoyashiki, who was placing his cats in a furoshiki and setting it under his shoulder.

Before exiting the door, he turned around.

"That's right. About what I was saying earlier--"

"Hm?"

"The most dangerous magic is--when the magician becomes the magic himself," Nekoyashiki said, narrowing his eyes into crescent moons.

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 that they serve, 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 Adelicia. 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, Adelicia put 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. As I have made this decision, I will see it to its finish."

With teary eyes, Adelicia 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 their scene, rumors began to pour 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. As 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.

"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 magicianship. Should he have told her the truth?

However, hearing that, Adelicia's expression changed.

"Well then... even though you aren't a magician, you are still the leader of that <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 Adelicia was quite indignant.

But as any proper young lady, Adelicia 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 Adelicia'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?"

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

In an instant, Adelicia'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 angrily stood up.

"So how about now? If you value your life, you will pull 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--who was anemic--fainted on his back.

After school, Itsuki made his way home after being slapped awake by the school nurse saying "Hey, I want to go home, so hurry and wake up!"

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 about a population influx, turning the place into a commuter town overnight. To add to that, the city recently became a lure for enterprises, bringing in a lot of hustle and bustle and causing many new buildings to be constructed.

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

As he scaled 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, he made a depressed facial expression.

That demon dog--his caretaker still hadn't taken him back, so as it couldn't be helped, he was now being raised 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, right?"

"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..."

"Aah, of course. You do look like Tsukasa-san," the man said, making a nostalgic look on 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 an upwards of 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."

Making a calm smile, Kagezaki held up the suitcase.

"Contract?"

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

"Is there a problem?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing that important, but... Ahahaha!" A cold sweat ran across him.

"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--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 on, 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 pull out of 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, as Nekoyashiki was usually subtle.

Kagezaki lips blew out into a full grin.

"Ah, then that works out wonderfully. You know <Astral> has not partaken of an offer for six years, right? If you don't do this one as well, then I will have to consider erasing your registry from the <Organization> soon." Acting as if he really regretted it, Kagezaki continued. "--If that happens, then 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 made a grim expression.

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

"Yes, more or less."

Kagezaki gave 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 Adelicia, it wasn't a clear abnormality. However, Kagezaki seemed so average to the point that it made him suspicious.

--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 erasing our registration? What 'work' 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 this 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 vinyl 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.