Chapter 017: The Unnamed Team of Unfortunates

‘Ah… He’s here~ He’s here, he’s here, he’s here~’

Still having yet to notice her, Natasha allowed herself to indulge in a moment of bliss. Like a predator, she scanned the boy her age with zero areas left upturned. Except, of course, the inside of his clothes.

As for that particular aspect, Natasha had some unsavory thoughts. And intentions. Intentions that were would-be actions she would like to partake in, in the future. Hopefully, the future that was near and not far, as waiting would be a travesty.

‘Hehehe… In time, in time. In time all of this will happen,’ She licked her lips, as her face, ears and the tips of her fingers blushed.

Her smile was particularly wide, but faded in time.

‘Control yourself.’

Mindful of her appearance and suddenly a bit conscious, Natasha slowly approached the boy of her dreams, delusions and fantasies—all the same thing, but particularly distinct in their brand of enjoyment.

Seeing how he was animatedly chatting with the three first years, the ones she practically ignored earlier and ignoring her approach, Natasha couldn’t help feeling a bit envious.

“Ahem,” She coughed as she arrived by their side and made her presence known.

The four stopped, especially that girl Sasha who was touching Leon all over in a caring manner as if she was close to him, which was really annoying.

Leon’s clear eyes turned to look at her and he smiled, “You’re here. Mirai and Yuki are waiting for us both back in the car, but I don’t know how long it’ll be before Yuki gets impatient and comes out.”

“Uh?” Sasha made a sound, and contemplated for a few moments before she asked—much to Natasha’s displeasure, “Senior, you’re going outside? Isn’t it supposed to be dangerous, all the teachers told us to stay inside you know!”

‘Informing him, as if he didn’t already know about this… Hmph! Really naive—’

“Really?” Contrary to Natasha’s expectation, Leon blinked and then said, “That’s reasonable, no wonder no one was outside on the way here.”

“So no ones outside…” Taro repeated his information.

Iino frowned at him in disdain for a while before turning to Leon and Natasha with confusion.

He blinked, “Excuse me for asking, but what are the two—no, four of you going to do outside?”

‘That’s a question a teacher should be asking, not some brat. Seriously...’ Natasha sighed at the ease at which he asked the question and contemplated on whether she should wait for Leon to answer the question or if she should do it herself.

The former showed subservience, and the latter initiative.

Opposites on the attraction scale, appealing to varied types of people.

It sounded complicated, but in reality Natasha hadn’t the need to even think about it, as Leon, not privy to her thoughts, provided an answer:

“An important mission, one to save the school,” Leon patted his shoulder.

‘I’m here to keep you alive, as for the others? If they don’t die in front my eyes then I don’t really care...’

He wasn’t particularly tall, and his gentle demeanor made him appear even more friendly, allowing the first years to relax. As a result of this, their words became slightly less filtered and contained less tension.

“Ah, so she was here waiting for you three,” Taro brought back focus to Natasha.

She snorted, “Yes, and,” She looked toward Leon from her superior height of 5’11, at least for her age, before continuing, “It is not something we can delay for much longer. That is, of course, if you all would like to accelerate the date of your appointment with the King of the Underworld.”

Her words were like ice, even if she hadn’t meant to say it in such a way. It was a blessing that Leon had arrived earlier than expected, even if by a few minutes, such time couldn’t be wasted.

Natasha turned her gaze to the frozen first years, short in stature and frame and obviously overwhelmingly weak and fragile in the current situation. Both in the mental and physical departments.

While Natasha cared little for most others, these first years were tolerable to an extent and it would be a shame for them to be turned into firewood if that “thing” were to come here due to her presence.

‘Burning alive isn’t fun.’

“What does that mean?” Taro whispered, looking at them both in suspicion.

Natasha didn’t answer and then looked at Sasha with her closed, smiling eyes. The girl trembled and hid behind her gadget, but Natasha didn’t stop looking at her, she nudged her head in Taro’s direction as if asking her to explain.

After a few seconds, the girl finally caught on and then said in a shaken manner, “U-Um. There are monsters on campus…”

‘Good, so she watched the video. Impulsive and meek, but not stupid to the point of not noticing keep details. Unfortunately...’

“What you say?” Taro and Iino said in confusion, as Sasha’s voice was too quiet and couldn’t be heard.

Natasha frowned, ‘As quiet as a mouse, if only she was a loud as that Notepad was big.’

But whether she was loud or not didn’t matter.

“There are monsters on campus.” Natasha said with a creepy smile, “You see those earthquakes and those large flashes of light? Monsters are causing it. Well, they’re called Meta-Beats, to be specific. They’re really horrifying, straight from some children's bedtime story, the ones that make you wet your bed.”

“...”

A period of silence ensued and an explosive reaction was sure to follow, but Natasha wasn’t in the mood nor did she have the time to witness it. She checked the time on her phone, calculated the minutes and then looked toward Leon.

He caught her meaning and then relayed the news, “We must leave.” He patted them all in a friendly manner and as if to show they still had consciousness, they all reacted in different ways.

Taro attempted to shake him off, Sasha blushed and lowered her head shyly and Iino just didn’t react, most likely still attempting to process the information.

While they still had that going on, Natasha calmed down her furious heartbeat, acted normal and then said, “Shall we go, Leon.”

‘He called Mirai and Yuki by their first names, I must close the gap quickly.’

He looked surprised when she talked to him, nodded and then they swiftly left to go to the outside. Thankfully, they didn’t waste that much time.

Hands behind her back and a slightly cheerful smile on her face the girl walked by her crush peacefully while trying to not die from blood loss or stick closer to him than any other person would.

⟪***⟫

When they made it outside, there was a robust looking vehicle, a black Suzuki Jimny, that was parked just near the entrance of the auditorium. Natasha recognized the vehicle, it was owned by their gym instructor and coach of the basketball team, Yamada Ryoichi.

‘Leon likely kept the keys with him when he was with Mirai, when she confessed to him…’ Natasha theorized.

Outside of the waiting vehicle were two girls who seemed to be particularly curious in appearance and demeanor.

Natasha recognized Mirai, the Japanese girl with shiny black hair and gray eyes, features that made her look quite the part of a young beauty. The other, which she guessed was Yuki, also had black hair but with distinct cyan highlights in some areas and piercing but charming green eyes.

Due to her mixed genetics and overall knowledge, even if she didn’t have much information on her, Natasha could tell that Yuki was just like her and had strong genetic ties to another ethnicity.

Even if she didn’t, those green eyes were a dead give away.

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They were both of a short stature, possibly even below 5’6 and naturally couldn’t compare to the behemoth of height and figure that was Natasha.

‘And I’m still growing!’ Natasha couldn’t help but be proud.

She didn’t intend to show off, but by her posture, she slightly looked down on the two.

The difference was made even more apparent when Yuki, who had a delinquent-like demeanor, reinforced the stereotype induced by her appearance by crouching in vulgar manner with a displeased expression on her face.

Her sharp, but innocent and undoubtedly clear eyes scanned the area.

She perked up when she spotted them exiting, but made no further movements other than putting on a smile and placing a hand under her cheek.

“Finally made it out? You sure spent your sweet time in there,” She said in a voice filled with impatience. “As you can probably tell, I’m not exactly happy waiting for you all.”

‘Exactly how I imagined her to be based on how she spoke in chat.’

Natasha wasn’t disappointed, and while Leon came up with some answer she looked at Mirai who sat on the front of the jeep with her feet dangling back and forth. She cupped her chubby cheeks and looked quite cute, but like Leon and Yuki was dusty and bloodied.

Natasha tilted her head on confusion and wanted to ask a question but didn’t get the opportunity…

“Hey, seniors!” That same feminine voice was heard and Sasha rushed out before stopping a little ways away from them all. “W-Wait a minute!”

“Is this your new… what do they call it?” Yuki attempted to say something but seemed to be hit with confusion and couldn’t finish her sentence.

However instead of pausing and trying to regain the initial thought, she continued, “Whatever, who is this? She looks clean and tidy, so it seems like they’re safe for now, at least in this direction.”

‘I look clean and tidy too you know… What happened to these three, was it the Earth Hippo?’

“Well Leon did rush over here very fast, it was really scary! We nearly fell over a few times,” Mirai leaned over and said with various expressions that could be deemed overreactions, “But! We all made it in time! Hehe, a pun.”

“Now what did I tell you about repeating the same joke over and over…”

“Well… You only said that to me three times and it’s now the fourth, you know, haha.”

“That’s a crazy reference to make at a time like this you know.”

Ignoring their talking, with her back turned toward the girl, Natasha spoke to Sasha in a nonchalant manner, “What is it? You’re really interrupting our plans right now.”

“We had a plan…?”

“Yeah, she made it up but it seems like we’re abandoning it now…”

“Ohhh, how pitiful…”

Natasha ignored the comments made by Mirai and Yuki with prejudice.

The answer she was waiting for arrived a moment later, but it was not bothersome like she had expected, rather it was one filled with concern:

“Will you guys be okay, I mean, don’t those monsters have powers…? How will you fight against them?”

She hugged her device with a meek expression that seemed to be filled with curiosity but Natasha wasn’t moved. Wary that this little photograph demon would take a picture of them at any moment.

“I don’t have any powers,” Leon said with a smile and then side-eyed the three girls he was with and smiled even more mysteriously, “As for those three, don’t worry about them.”

Sasha blinked and her eyes widened, the two boys who appeared behind her also seemed to realize something. Leon placed his hands in pockets, and turned his face toward the girls.

“Are you guys ready?”

“Mirai look at what he says after revealing all our cards, pretending to be cool!”

“I guess that’s just the way he is…” Mirai giggled. “Honestly, the only reason you’re mad is that you didn’t get to do it right?”

Natasha snorted, and kept her gaze on the first years, a bit of her accent leaking out as she said, “As you can see, we have it under control and—”

The ground rumbled, and although the quake was quite tame the expressions of several people fell. Natasha however smiled.

“That is our sign to leave.”

Yuki laughed, “See you kiddos.”

Click—

Natasha’s expression hardened as she looked at the blushing Sasha, who had taken another picture—and had failed to do so secretly. Yuki on the other hand looked amused and satisfied.

She asked with a smile, “Did it come out well?”

Sasha nodded her head heavily.

“Good,” She got up from the ground and stretched before gazing them all, “I can finally get up from this position.”

‘So you only did this in hopes she would take a picture of you?! Do you take this for a game?’

Despite her emotional state Natasha didn’t dwell on this matter any longer than she had to and swiftly let herself into the vehicles front seat. Her actions were smooth and without fanfare.

Mirai and Yuki looked slightly stunned, but after Leon knocked the top of the jeep they both snapped out of it.

“So that’s how it is…” Yuki said as she looked at Natasha and chuckled before entering the backseat along with Mirai.

“Will you guys be alright,” Iino asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Mirai answered with a wave of her hand, not worried at all.

Natasha couldn’t help becoming impatient, “If you’re all done saying whatever, then can we leave. I don’t want to ruin the fun, but you do know we’re putting them in danger by being here any longer right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yuki leaned her head on the window, uncaring, or at least pretending to do so.

Leon smiled and said to the first years, “Stay inside, we’ll be fine. The school’s networks and stuff are still functioning, though I don’t know if outside media can still be found—everyone should be talking about something or another on the school forum. You won’t be lonely.”

“But, we volunteered to go outside and keep watch!”

“Don’t worry, you won’t need to anymore, the monsters aren’t interested in ordinary humans...”

Natasha tuned out their responses, trying to center her thoughts, she didn’t have to turn back as her Clairvoyance allowed her to see everyone without moving. She tried extending the range but found that it was undecipherable and gave up.

She only left her state when she felt the jeep moving and sighed, opening her eyes—narrowly.

Instantly, she felt two gazes on her and could see their gazes on her as well. Faintly she felt like she could even smell the resulting or momentarily conveyed emotions through the gazes but Natasha thought this was to magical and temporarily dismissed the notion.

However, it would not be lost as although permanent memory seemed to escape her every now and then, her temporary reservoir of it seemed to be quite strong. Rarely forgetting anything.

‘Heh, first let’s establish a certain atmosphere here. Both Yuki and Mirai seem to have discovered their ability and concepts, while I am in the dark. To avoid imbalance, I’ll magnify my own insignificant Clairvoyance and present myself as more than I am.’

“If you have anything to say, then spit it out. Staring won’t get you anywhere you know, and it’s a little creepy.”

“Eh? How can you tell we’re looking at you?”

“Magic.”

Natasha chuckled, “It’s magic, it’s always been magic. Or maybe it hasn’t, and it’s just something else. Who knows. I don’t, and I don’t think we’ll know for a very long time. After all, this Magical Girl thing is very, very new to me—to all of us.”

Natasha chuckled again.

“So, we’re here now. In this car, jeep, whatever you wanna call it, all of us are here. This team, if you can even call it that, is the only shot this school has at not being drowned with blood or the scent and remains of burning flesh.”

Yuki drawled, her tone was remarkably balanced between friendliness and indifference—cordial to an extent, but with the attitude that seemed appropriate to give to someone who had suddenly awoken you from a period of sweet slumber.

From a faint recollection or possibly even inference, Natasha supposed that Yuki was the type of delinquent girl that slept a lot and possessed an arrogant attitude as a result of being in a position that placed her higher above others—at least academically, as Mori International Academy was quite established and one had to be quite gifted to get in.

“So… Miss “eyes behind her back”, our otherworldly school belle, school flower or some other politic nonsense... As the initiator of the former plan, if you can even call it that and the one we came here to meet in the first place, what are we supposed to do?”

“Yuki,” Mirai admonished, but the other girl didn’t even glance at her at all, staring at the back of Natasha’s head intently.

“All nice questions, a pity I can’t answer them now. For now, let’s not talk about how the situation has changed, or whether it has stayed the same. There’s something I need to know first...”

Natasha turned toward the backseat with her narrow eyes locked onto Mirai.

“I want to know something, I want to know what happened in the first loop, you know? The one that was after that little stunt of yours…”

Yuki’s brows furrowed as she looked at Mirai and then Natasha. Her gaze filled with confusion.

Mirai appeared dazed for a moment, before an expression of realization appeared on her cute face—it shed, and then was replaced with a smile, “Ah… You’re that type of person huh?”

“I wonder what person you’re talking about,” Natasha laughed lightly.

‘Did she notice?’ Natasha tilted her head inwardly.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you about the second, erh… first loop! Eh? What’s with that excited expression…?” Stumbling initially, Mirai looked at the faintly excited Natasha in confusion but the girl’s expression quickly became calm.

“It’s nothing, just say what you have to say…”

Naturally, it wasn’t nothing. In truth, her reaction of excitement wasn’t because of Mirai informing her or her desire to speak about the first loop but rather another reason.

A voice she had not heard in a while, had once again began to speak in her ears.

—“Alright guys I’m back from the washroom. Back to yapping!”

Natasha Alter, who had disappeared for a while, had finally returned.