While he has been enrolled since his birth in Darkeas, the school of supervillains, Uchiri Nanaya ends up by mistake in Aitori ... the school of the Magical Girls.
When Nakamara arrived with Thoki in front of the compound, he did not arouse more interest than usual, indicating that the events of the night had not yet been relayed to the news.
In any case, not to everyone. Because as soon as he was in sight, Teiji, Shadow, Starlight, Bunny, the American directors and some teachers rushed towards him. As Noni was part of Ravenwood, they had of course been warned first.
Nakamara contented himself with reassuring them and quickly summarized the events. Ravenwood headmaster, Julian Deleon, profusely apologized for his employee's behavior.
Seeing his father thus surrounded, Nanaya became worried and broke away from the group of participants to go see him too. Hyokko had wedged himself in his arms waiting for the moment when he should take the bracelet.
"Dad ?" Called Nanaya as soon as he was close enough, "is everything okay?"
The teachers moved aside and Nakamara was about to answer, but fell silent when he saw his son. The rubber bands of an eye patch were sticking out from under his hair.
"Nanaya, is there a problem with your eye?" he wondered.
"There's been one for a long time," replied the young man, smiling.
"Oh, he learned sarcasm," Teiji joked.
"I mean with your prosthesis," Nakamara corrected, "why are you wearing that?"
"It's directly connected to my nerves and my brain," Nanaya explained simply, "so when I'm looking for something, my detectors go off on their own. I thought it was unfair for others to have such an advantage so I preferred to remove my prosthesis. But it's not pretty and I still have to protect the wires so Phen-X gave me this."
Nakamara sighed in relief. That was just that. He in turn reassured Nanaya by pretending that there was no problem. He would find out later anyway. Given Noni Woods' fame, his arrest was not going to remain a secret. For now, they had to focus on the trial.
Curious spectators were already beginning to gather around the school and the forest. Nakamara made the same preparations, sent his drones and displayed the screens, before recalling the rules. Once the suppressors were placed and the scepters confiscated, the ordeal could begin.
Nanaya hadn't waited for anyone. It was not a team exercise. The absence of his prosthesis did not bother him, he always had an advantage thanks to his agility. He slipped between the trees, pushing aside the thickets and searching in the dead leaves. He occasionally looked up to potentially find a hidden figure high up. But nothing helped. He could see that the other students were having just as much trouble as him.
He came to a slightly larger tree and hesitated for a moment. Getting higher would not be a bad idea, he could see the surroundings more easily and maybe spot what he was looking for.
The magical stepped back, mentally calculating his trajectory, the height of the lowest branch, the inclination of the trunk... before rushing forward. He wasn't going as fast as Kōtarō, but it was enough for what he had in mind. He finished his race by pressing his foot on the trunk and managed to catch the branch he was aiming for. It was big enough not to break.
He didn't waste a second and hoisted himself up, before taking refuge on the junction, which was more solid and wider. He could really see a lot of his surroundings from this vantage point. But what interested him most was ultimately in the tree.
Wedged between two slightly higher branches was the number five. Nanaya wondered how he could have missed it from below. Camouflage paint was useless since the tree had almost no leaves.
Then he realized that at this height and angle, he must have thought it was just a leaf.
Nanaya went back to doing some mental calculations. The only branches he could use to reach the number were way too thin. However, he spotted the one just above, a little thicker and more solid. It was much higher, however, but he had no other choice.
He crept to that part of the tree and carefully climbed the branch. It cracked slightly. Nanaya preferred to straddle it and move forward like this. He moved slowly, not taking his eyes off his goal. Arrived just above, he straightened up. A crack froze him. He resumed his movement very slowly to sit on the branch. Taking a deep breath, he slid back, finding himself upside down, holding on only by his legs.
He didn't know that at the same time, Nakamara was almost yelling into his walkie-talkie to ask who could have had the idea to put this number there.
Nanaya was focused. He stretched out his arms. He had to be careful. The slightest movement made the branch on which he stood creak. His hand was just a few millimeters from the number. He stretched out a bit more, grimacing as he heard the wood creak. A little more. Just a little bit more. His fingers finally closed on the wooden figure.
But at the same time, the branch gave way. It didn't break completely, but bent, while Nanaya fell straight to the ground, unable to catch himself on the other branches.
However, there was no impact. He was caught just in time.
"Well, well, well, looks like I caught an angel."
Nanaya looked up at Ichirō, who was smiling mischievously at him.
"I-chan," the magical muttered, "were you there...?"
"I never got very far from you," admitted the American student, "I was wondering what you could be doing up there. A sudden urge to become a nightingale?"
"Put me down."
Ichirō laughed putting Nanaya down, pulling a leaf out of his hair. Then in a quick move, grabbed the number and raised his arm high enough to keep it out of reach.
"Hey!" Nanaya exclaimed trying to get it back, "I had a hard time getting it, give it back to me!"
"It's allowed by the rules," Ichirō scoffed, "and you're too small to catch it anyway. I saved your life, you can leave it to me right?"
Nanaya stretched as much as possible, but he barely touched his childhood friend's elbow. Being small had never bothered him before.
"Give it up, love," Ichirō scoffed again, "or, well... I'll give it back to you for a kiss."
He smiled at him almost innocently, pointing to his own mouth. Nanaya froze, puzzled and a little annoyed. What had Kōtarō told him already?
"You don't kiss someone if you don't want it. If one of us insists and you don't want to, then throw a punch."
Nanaya looked up at Ichirō and without a word, punched him as hard as possible in the stomach.
The young man groaned and doubled over, dropping the number which Nanaya immediately picked up.
"It's allowed by the rules," he repeated proudly.
He turned on his heels and walked back towards the entrance to the forest.
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