RATH 59

TL: Eevee

7. Is your backside safe? (11)

#13 Their story: Risen de Roa’s story.

As we woke up early in the morning, Pres said cheerfully to us.

“Right, let’s go hunting for today’s meals!”

And the others who had also gotten accustomed to this lifestyle replied energetically in kind, and so we began searching for our morning food supplies.

Perhaps thankfully, stealing the teachers’ lunchboxes was limited only to dinner, compared to that, breakfast was very easy to acquire.

Although of course the lunchboxes themselves were enchanted and stacked with all sorts of magics and spells to the point where we wondered if it was really necessary to create an advanced artifact like this just for the sake of pulling this shit, but compared to lunch when the silver devil roamed, or dinner where we had to fight the teachers, it was much more peaceful.

“Right, then..”

I searched for lunchboxes where I expected them to be.

The rule for the other students was that they were to find them before school began, and if they found one they were to immediately take it to Professor Nicerwin.

And the discoverer would receive a weird ticket called an After School HighPass, and if you had one you could just leave school without having to fight the teachers.

Because of this, the day after it was announced, the other students would arrive to school a whole hour early just to find our supplies.

At this overheated frenzy of excitement, Professor Nicerwin limited the time you could come to school to after 7:30, but the fact remained that we now had a time limit to find our food.

“And that’s another today.”

As I looked around, I discovered a lunchbox nestled in the bookshelves of the library.

I immediately opened the lid and checked the contents.

“A sandwich.”

A good menu.

A combination of bread, meat and vegetables, it is a very beautiful meal that could combine all sorts of nutrients as well as taste.

“Thanks for the meal.”

And I ate it immediately.

It tastes good. It tastes so good.

After the texture of the soft bread, the crunchy vegetables dance around in my mouth.

After that, the crispy fried chicken and spicy sauce come rushing at my tastebuds, and a small happiness creeps into my heart.

It’s good. It tastes so damn good.

And so after I tasted the small happiness of my abnormal life I immediately hid away the lunchbox.

Time to carry out the perfect crime.

And so when I came back onto the roof I asked my fellow vice-pres with a dark expression.

“How many did you find today?”

“Three so far. Today doesn’t seem like a good day for us. Risen?”

“Nothing.”

I shook my head with a sigh.

I’d already long since removed the traces and scent of any food.

Just in case I’d even gone to the bathroom to check whether I had anything stuck in my teeth.

“Really?”

As I watched the vice-pres sigh as well I knew that my acting was perfect.

If my fellow vice-president, and the one who I fought with the most didn’t notice then there was no way that any of the others would either.

Perhaps maybe if the situation was normal, but in this critical situation, where everyone is accustomed to the bizarre, to this girl, I am one of her very precious comrades.

Not only her, but the others aren’t suspecting each other either.

Using this situation, I was searching for my route to survive.

I can’t say that I’m in the right here, but you guys are in the wrong as well, you know?

Just what did we learn in night study before the holidays began?

To think you forgot what you learned, your revision skills are lacking!

As a friend and comrade, giving them an unforgettable experience is my role as a friend.

And so that was how I reassured my prickling conscience, and waited for the others to return.

“Found one, pres?”

“One in the one of the second years’ classrooms. It would have been really bad if we’d been just slightly later.”

“Menu? What’s the menu?”

“What, Risen? Is the kid who didn’t even find anything the first one to check the menu?”

“Again? How come Risen can’t even find anything, not even once?”

“I know right, the fastest out of all of us have the least results?”

“Ah I’m hungry damn it! I’ll put some grunt into it so increase my share or something!”

Actually I was nearly full right now but I shouted in mock anger for the perfect act.

As if it was funny, smiles crept on a couple of faces.

Right, laugh while you can.

At least my conscience will be a bit clearer.

But someone has to do this.

Look at us. We’re still in pyjamas.

How many days have we been wearing these clothes now?

Fine, since there are cases of uniforms being worn for multiple days that’s that.

But what about underwear? Especially Karen and the other female members?

On the first day at least they pretended to care, being girls and all, but now they’ve just given up.

I heard that female soldiers or mercenaries that were out in the field for extended periods of time tended to do that, but these girls are still students?

And still in school to boot?

Although we can’t leave said school right now, but that’s just not normal, is it?

And so, I will escape.

I will escape and teach them the importance of daily life.

-No seriously, just how long are you going to go with your self-justification?

-Until I escape?

-Really.. I think I made one hell of a great choice with my summoner?

I ignored Loki who was giggling hard enough to annoy me.

I needed to decide a date.

The date I would escape!

I had already learned the layout of the academy inside and out.

And I was now more or less aware of the patterns of the night-watch teachers.

Knowing that their guards were the slackest at 3-5AM, I pretended to go to the bathroom late and night and checked.

All for this I suggested that only the girls use the bathroom on the rooftop (although why a bathroom was installed on the rooftop I would never understand).

Although expressions on the others that said ‘you’ve finally grown up’ were a bit iffy to me, it couldn’t be helped.

Because this is all for the sake of my plan!

And so our life-and-death mission for lunch ended, and as always we were beaten up by the devil and when we came to it was evening.

The teachers, having more or less figured out the rules, no longer gave us our food nicely and so in order to eat, we had to engage in another bitter struggle, and we fell asleep while talking about our hopes to escape tomorrow.

Of course, I didn’t sleep.

Because today is D-day!

The target time is 4AM.

When the teachers are most exhausted and when everyone’s half in dreamland.

I sneakily woke up and moved to the tenth floor bathroom.

My escape method is simple. As a student of the summoner’s school, I escape using a summon!

True masters always hide their true strength!

And so I have never used all of Loki’s powers in any fight I have been in.

-At least speak properly. You’ve never used my full power for anything aside from peeking, have you?

-Loki, there are things that must be done as a man.

-You mean when you peeked in the girls’ changing rooms or took hidden cams after getting paid to do so, and when you run away from the academy after doing that?

-Of course!

-In all my divine life so far, I have honestly never seen someone like you..

-What, so you don’t like that?

-Hell no! You’re the best, summoner!

As Loki and I snickered in sync, I used Loki’s power.

Loki is a very rare god whose appearances can be counted on one hand.

And that power has never been used fully in this world.

Because of that, everyone thinks that Loki’s power is summoning rare items, but in reality, that’s not all there is to Loki’s powers!

“Let’s go, Loki!”

-Alright then, this should be a fun experience!

After a light flashed in the bathroom, I was no longer standing there.

“Meow~”

Only a little kitten!

This is one of the Trickster, Loki’s many great powers!

The power that allowed me to take a great many pictures in secret that my customers wanted (although I never crossed the line!) without ever getting caught.

The ability to transform!

A whole different level compared to illusion and transformation magics, you could even fool gods with this ability.

Moreover, all of Loki’s previous summoners wanted a power suitable for warfare or seizing power, so he never showed or gave this ability to anyone else.

Only, simply and purely!

The almighty magic that Loki bestowed to me after being moved by my never-ending dedication and effort to slip through the airtight guard of the (then) third year student council vice-president Karen and peek inside the third-year girls’ changing rooms!

With this, my escape is assured!

And so I became a lost kitten, and meandered down floor by floor.

As expected of the magic of a god, the god who fools gods, the Trickster Loki’s ultimate magic!

Just like that I wandered down to the first floor, and nudged the tightly-shut door open a crack with magic.

The teachers would probably know by now that the door was opened, but all that they would see on their surveillance magic tools would be a small kitten.

But naturally, the teachers would never notice Loki’s power, that not even gods would catch on to!

Such things are definitely natural!

“Uwah, itza cute widdle kitty?”

What the hell is this lifeform that’s not asleep and roaming around even at the crack of dawn.

Is she actually a devil? Does she not sleep because she’s actually the devil?!

-Even devils sleep.

With a guarantee from Loki, who was said to hang out with devils a lot, I found out that even devils sleep.

Alright then, then that leaves only one viable theory.

The theory that she was the evil god’s apostle was the most likely, and it was right all along!

What was the hotline for reporting evil god worshippers to the imperial soldiers again!

“You’re tho cute I just wanna pat ya all over.”

Every time she raised her hand my body flinched instinctively.

And she was looking my actions as if she found it all very, very amusing..

-This little shit, she saw through my transformation magic?!

-You said there was no way this’d get caught!

-Hell no! Let alone humans, not even animals, demons or even gods have ever seen through my transformation magic!

-Then what the hell is that!

-..The evil god’s apostle you kids keep bringing up?

The evil god’s apostle recognized by a god, albeit one from another world, started poking around the ground with her fingers as if thinking over how to play around with me.

-Will she spare us if we beg?

-Oi contractor, do you still not understand even after getting beaten up that much? Right now she’s just waiting for you to undo the transformation!

-Why?

-Well I didn’t realise that the kitten was actually a student running away? Is what she’d say and then beat the crap out of us!

-Damn that’s convincing!

Indeed, is the reason she is looking at me with such a pure expression simply to say that she didn’t know I’d transformed?

But what do I do? If I run away here then she’ll beat me up on the pretext of being cute, and if I undo my transformation then she’ll beat me up because I tried to run away.

“Kitty, d’ya wanna play a fun game with unni? It’s called..”

She whispered gently right into my ear, and it was impossible for me to not flinch with every single word she said.

-Fool her, contractor! If I were to tell you of some of my old stories, that stupidly swole lad called Thor once managed to fool the giants that he was a girl despite cross-dressing with nothing but his words! And folk like yourself and I can tread the line between life and death with nothing but our glib tongues!

And to Loki who shouted so confidently, I asked him.

-Hey, Loki? Just how would a kitten go about using said glib tongue?

-Kahh, I’d forgotten about that!

Damn it, this god’s screwed.

I’d known for a long time that he was a screwed up god, but to think he was this crooked in the head!

“What I learned from owner’za called a fingerflick game, it’za game where I bend my fingers and go smack! like this.”

The silver devil kept flicking her middle finger right in front of my eyes.

Is, isn’t this animal abuse? Is there truly no one there to save this poor kitten from the devil’s hands!

-There isn’t. Even heroes sleep at 4AM.

-N, nooooo!

Smack! Smack! As the sound of the flicking finger came ever nearer, as despair reared its head right in front of my eyes.

Just then, I heard a voice of salvation.

“What are you doing so early?”

“Ah, owner! There was a cute widdle kitten here so I was playing wif it!”

As to just why Professor Nicerwin was appearing from the depths of the academy at 4AM in the morning I had no idea, but his words were definitely bringing me salvation.

“There’s a lot to do tomorrow, stop playing with it and let’s head back now.”

“Can’t I pway just a wiiiddle more with the kitty?”

Gulp.

I swallowed reflexively.

“No.”

“Hiiiiing~”

Saved. I’m saved.

That devil seemed to have no interest in telling Professor Nicerwin of my identity, and so I could survive and escape from this place.

And so as I left through the door that Professor Nicerwin pushed open for me, just as I reached the main gates and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Meow..”

Ahhh.. I went and saw it.

Along with the silver devil, the other devil that also had a satisfied smile on his face.

That was it. I was simply being used.

Miracle or whatever, Professor Nicerwin already knew of my identity.

No, the one who told the silver devil my identity could have been Professor Nicerwin to begin with.

But I’d already left the academy.

There was no turning back now.

And so as I firmed my resolve in my heart once again, I escaped the academy.