Chapter: 70. The Double King Plan (6k) (31/46)
As night fell slowly, silence enveloped the entire campus.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, its cold light streaming through the windows into the corridor, illuminating the smooth floor tiles and walls, sketching a hazy silver-white.
Nagi and Shiraishi walked side by side in the dormitory building of Hoshi no Gakuen, the sound of their footsteps echoing clearly in the empty hallway.
Along the way, Nagi slightly turned her head and cast her gaze out the window.
Under the night sky, Hoshi no Gakuen appeared particularly tranquil.
The invasion incident from three weeks ago seemed as if it had never occurred, and the campus repairs appeared to be nearing completion.
Although the main teaching building was still an unfinished ruin, other areas had restored their previous order and peace.
Whether at Hoshi no Gakuen or in the entire world, everything had been calm for the past three weeks.
This made Nagi breathe a little easier.
Since the “Only Kind” had not invaded this world line again in three weeks, it indicated that her “retrace” had worked quite well, buying her more time than she had anticipated.
Was it because “Light Forging Truth” was the only ability the “Only Kind” had not encountered in the original game “Hoshi Biki 2”?
The outcome was unexpectedly good.
It seemed that it would not descend again in the near future.
Nagi and Shiraishi had just walked around Hoshi no Gakuen, finished dinner, and replenished some daily necessities.
When the two reached the entrance of Nagi’s dormitory, Shiraishi handed the plastic bag in her hand to Nagi in front of her.
“If you need anything, feel free to come find me, okay? My dorm is right below Akane-chan’s.”
“Mm, thank you, Shiraishi-senpai.”
Nagi nodded with a faint smile and responded softly.
Just as she was about to turn around to open the door, she heard Shiraishi’s voice from behind her.
This time, her tone was different from before.
It was very serious, as if she were trying to soothe the unease in her own heart.
“Erika… will definitely be alright. She’s always been a very strong girl.”
Shiraishi said in a low voice, as if comforting someone else, or perhaps herself.
“She will come back safely.”
Having spent these past few days with Nagi, Shiraishi noticed that her junior had been feeling very guilty about Erika’s disappearance.
Considering that she would return to a place filled with memories of her and Erika after being discharged today, Shiraishi had specially prepared some outfits to satisfy her lovely junior’s preferences, trying to distract her a bit.
Unfortunately, the effect was not very good.
From the dinner just now, to the subsequent shopping, and now this moment of parting—
Nagi’s expression always carried a hint of faint loneliness.
—Was it because she wasn’t exposed enough?
Shiraishi silently noted this experience, deciding to give her another “great satisfaction” in the future.
Hearing this, Nagi paused slightly and turned her head.
As she saw Shiraishi’s serious expression, which was rare, a gentle smile also appeared on her side profile bathed in moonlight.
Nagi’s bright, clear eyes emitted a faint silver light.
“Mm… Thank you.”
The “gentleness” felt from Shiraishi stirred a warm feeling in Nagi’s heart.
She unexpectedly found that she liked the feeling of being cared about.
However, that warmth also made her feel a bit guilty.
Because the expression she had shown today was, in fact, a portrayal of “Kamishiro Akane.”
If she were “Kamishiro Akane,” she would definitely worry about her only friend and roommate, “Erika,” especially since it was her actions that put Erika in such danger.
Guilt, embarrassment, anxiety, anger.
Nagi had to express these emotions on her face.
But this was not because she didn’t care about Erika’s safety.
It was just that she knew that Erika was certainly with Shuhen Nagi at this moment.
Since that disaster was ultimately handled by Shuhen Nagi, he would definitely protect Erika well.
In comparison, the person who should be worried was actually—
“Good night.”
Nagi gently waved her hand to Shiraishi, turned around, used her fingerprint to unlock the door, and walked in.
The furnishings in the room were still familiar, but every item had been well organized and cleaned.
Clearly, during the three weeks she was in a coma, Hoshi no Gakuen had conducted a thorough investigation here.
Clothes, books, even the small items at the bottom of drawers had all been tampered with.
As for whether they secretly placed any listening devices in this room—
Nagi couldn’t say with 100% certainty that there weren’t any.
Without Garuda’s ability, her sensory capabilities had decreased significantly, and she couldn’t perceive the existence of these objects without using her powers.
Compared to Erika, who had been taken away by Shuhen Nagi, Nagi’s current situation was far more perilous.
As one of the survivors of the “Starstone Island” incident, she would definitely be under full surveillance by Shinki and the β System, with no way to communicate with the outside world—at least not under the identity of “Nagi” or contact Shuhen or anyone else.
Perhaps her every move was being monitored by cameras—
“…”
—No, no, no, calm down, why do you think of such things in this situation?
Nagi’s eyes sparkled with starlight as she tried to suppress the urge to crumple her legs.
As “Kamishiro Akane,” an ordinary student just stepping into the world, she wouldn’t suspect that Hoshi no Gakuen would monitor her the moment she stepped into her room.
Since Shiraishi already knew about her inclinations, perhaps others in Hoshi no Gakuen also… no, that’s not right, they must have “misunderstood” her preferences, so she couldn’t display any strange actions that would give herself away—
—Yet here she was, being watched while trying to act nonchalant…
—What kind of peculiar play is this? Oh no, I’m about to open a strange door…
Although Nagi’s mind had started wandering in various directions, fortunately, with the blessing of the starlight state, her appearance revealed no flaws.
She casually set the shopping bag she was holding on the floor.
The plastic bag filled with daily necessities made a faint rustling sound in the quiet room.
Nagi slowly walked to her bed and sat down.
As she did, her soft curves sank into the mattress.
The super short skirt specially tailored by the arsenal hugged her lower body, and at that moment, it hiked up slightly, exposing large areas of her pale thigh skin to the air.
The chilly sensation from her lower body made Nagi unable to resist reaching for her skirt again.
But to her surprise—
Was it really true that the garments from the “arsenal” were so remarkable?
Nagi shifted her gaze to the full-length mirror in the room.
Even with such a short hemline, once she sat down, the edge of her skirt had receded close to her thigh root.
However, the scene reflected in the mirror still completely concealed the edges of her panties that should have been vaguely visible.
No matter how much Nagi tried to move, the skirt still did an excellent job of keeping things covered.
—Could it be that this is the legendary extraordinary power that prevents skirts from revealing anything no matter what…
—What a waste of effort!!!
Nagi felt somewhat moved at first, but then couldn’t help but internally complain.
As she thought this, her gaze landed back on the mirror.
At the same time, a conversation in the hospital room between Shinki and herself floated into her mind.
…
…
“…Monitoring… Tsukimi-sensei…?”
Nagi slightly widened her eyes, seeming to confirm she hadn’t heard wrong, and parroted back what Shinki had just said.
“That’s right.” Shinki nodded gently, a hint of thoughtful regret appearing on his face.
“To be honest, I really didn’t want to suspect a fellow comrade from the three major schools… but in this incident, Tsukimi-sensei is indeed quite suspicious.”
He paused, looking out the window, and continued in a subdued tone:
“Whether it’s him releasing anti-ability users from the Starstone Club inside Hoshi no Gakuen or completely lacking magical traces on the Starstone Island, through our investigation, he seems to have considerable ties with the leader of the Starstone Club, who is the former ace half-dragon princess of the Sun Academy…”
Upon reaching this point, Shinki gently shook his head.
“Although there’s no concrete evidence yet… and suspecting Tsukimi-sensei is indeed quite disrespectful, I suspect he is a traitor within the Special Environment Organization and the three major schools, colluding with members of the Starstone Club to organize the kidnapping of Professor Amakage.”
Shinki’s eyes were incredibly sincere.
His tone, while lacking any incitement, possessed a strong persuasiveness—making it seem as if once heard, one would unconsciously nod in acceptance.
It was hard not to believe what he was saying and to regard it as “truth.”
He had clearly activated “Light Forging Truth.”
However, for Nagi, who also possessed “Light Forging Truth,” she could clearly discern the discordant feeling within this form of “unquestioned faith.”
Nagi seemed to be unilaterally “immune” to Shinki’s “Light Forging Truth.”
Yet on the surface, she still acted as if she fully believed him, her tone mixed with a hint of hesitation:
“…But why me…?”
“Because according to our observations, Tsukimi-sensei seems to trust you immensely, Miss Kamishiro.”
Shinki shifted his tone, smiling encouragingly as he said:
“So if it’s you, perhaps you can win Tsukimi-sensei’s trust and find out the truth from him—of course, we are not trying to find evidence of his crimes; if he is innocent, that would be even better.”
Hearing this, Nagi finally understood why Shinki had specifically sought her out and invited her to join the ranks of X-class ability users.
Shinki wanted her to become the sleeper agent he planted beside Kanade.
He seemed to have investigated her being Kanade’s partner at the freshman gala.
He also knew that Kanade displayed reactions when facing her that were starkly different from those with other girls.
“However, don’t rush. Take your time to consider it, and get back to me after you are discharged.”
…
…
Time returned to now.
Sitting on her bed, Nagi vaguely understood why Shuhen Nagi hadn’t taken her along at that time.
Instead, he left her behind to be brought back to Hoshi no Gakuen by the ability users there.
According to Shinki’s words, Amakage Mikikage was not dead yet, remaining missing.
Thus, the following conclusion could be drawn:
—Shuhen hadn’t found Professor Amakage near the Starstone Club’s island.
Otherwise, she should have encountered him the moment she woke up.
After experiencing the “Starstone Club Island” incident, Nagi remembered another method of reclaiming “End Fragment”—that was to kill the person whose soul harbored the fragment.
Then the “fragment” would choose the nearest soul to inhabit.
The feasibility of this method had been verified.
Nagi had reclaimed the end fragments from the souls of those seven X-class ability users on the island through this method.
Moreover, these end fragments had indeed caused some changes in her.
Whether it was the reactivatable “Light Forging Truth” or the “Starlight” state, it all indicated that this method was effective.
Of course, perhaps Nagi would disagree with the method of killing to acquire.
But if it were Shuhen Nagi, maybe he would have killed Amakage Mikikage while she was asleep.
If it were him, such things were not beyond the realm of possibility.
So the truth was very likely that—Shuhen couldn’t find Amakage Mikikage.
He had returned her to Hoshi no Gakuen.
The goal was—
—To leverage the power of the β System?
This was one explanation Nagi could think of.
Shinki’s invitation might also have been anticipated by Shuhen Nagi.
And Nagi felt this was a good opportunity.
To gain Shinki’s trust, connect with the β System, and thereby locate Professor Amakage.
She might even find a chance to destroy the boss from this “Hoshi Biki 2” DLC.
But before winning Shinki’s current favor, she needed to—
Get closer to Kanade… and then win his favor and trust…
…Right…?
—Is this… cheating on myself…?
As Nagi thought, she couldn’t help but tilt her head.
—————–
Tsuki no Gakuen.
In the training ground in the underground area.
A pitch-black flame curled around the silver blade in Kanade’s hand.
As he swung the sword forward, the black flame erupted instantly, rushing forth along the blade, as if alive, lunging toward the training robots lined up ahead.
The fire rapidly spread, completely engulfing the targets.
The high temperature violently diffused in the air, with a scorching column of fire shooting straight up, crashing against the metal ceiling of the training ground.
Seconds later, the flames quickly diminished, and the ground returned to calm.
Once the fire had completely dissipated, the training ground fell silent once again.
The row of training robots before him remained standing quietly, their surfaces smooth and new, showing not even a hint of scorching.
Even the central area enveloped by the pitch-black flames showed no signs of damage.
Kanade’s attack had failed to penetrate the defenses of these highest-level robots.
These training robots were set to possess a threat level above 7 in defense.
This strike meant that—Kanade had not yet regained his original strength.
Witnessing this, Kanade frowned, and the fantasy weapon engulfed in black flames in his hand shattered and disappeared in the next moment.
A dizziness brought on by magic exhaustion surged into his mind, and Kanade staggered, nearly losing his footing.
He braced his hands on his knees, lowered his head, and panted heavily; sweat slid down his temples, dropping on the floor and splattering tiny water spots.
“Clap, clap, clap—”
Clear applause rang behind him, echoing in the empty training ground.
A man wearing a dark gray suit and gold-rimmed glasses appeared from the shadows, clapping slowly while stepping forward with a steady and calm pace.
“It seems you finally escaped the state of magic nullification—though the threat of your magic is nowhere near what it once was, this at least counts as a good start.”
Hearing this, Kanade did not immediately turn around to reply.
He still silently stared ahead, his gaze fixed on the row of undamaged robots.
As the man in the gold-rimmed glasses noted, Kanade’s magic had indeed been gradually recovering over the past few days.
But he was still far from a “full recovery.”
He couldn’t even summon the “Blade of Life,” let alone use “Self-Rewriting.” The only good news was that the effects of the rewriting still lingered in his body.
As for the Box of Kaora.
Kanade had tried multiple times to enter it, but every time he did, all he saw was emptiness and darkness.
No matter how he called, there was no response.
Clearly, the Box of Kaora had lost its function, and he could no longer use it to “retrace.”
Kanade still couldn’t figure out the cause of it all.
—What exactly happened while he was confronting Alice at Hoshi no Gakuen?
“Although bringing this up now might dampen the mood, I must share some bad news with you.”
The voice of the man in the gold-rimmed glasses interrupted Kanade’s thoughts.
Kanade did not turn around, as if he had already anticipated what he would say.
“Is it about my consecutive failures?” he asked淡淡, taking a step toward the instrument rack on one side of the training ground and casually picking up a training knife, swinging it in place.
The heavy strikes sliced through the air, the sound of wind breaking clear in the closed space.
The aftermath of the “Starstone Club Incident” had a significant impact on Kanade.
Whether it was the enemy taking Professor Amakage away right in front of him at Hoshi no Gakuen or failing to stop the Starstone Club from taking him again on the island, it was an event that should not have happened for an S-class ability user like him.
These two failures were devastating.
Kanade could already predict that he would miss the position of the “Only Protagonist.”
No one would want to hand over the position and resources of the “Savior” to an S-class who would fail at such trivial matters.
The mere thought of no longer being able to obtain sufficient resources to resurrect that girl made Kanade’s movements grow suddenly heavier, the knife brought down with a tremor.
“I thought this was actually good news.”
The man in the gold-rimmed glasses paused slightly, then smiled, his tone carrying a hint of teasing: “After all, this means—your ‘loss of power’ hasn’t been picked up on by the higher-ups yet.”
“As for what I mentioned earlier, let me tell you another ‘good news’… although saying this might be slightly disrespectful.”
Clearing his throat, the man in the gold-rimmed glasses continued slowly: “Tsukimi-sensei, although you weren’t able to save Professor Amakage, the X-class ability user team at Hoshi no Gakuen also didn’t complete this task.”
“So for now, you don’t need to worry about the ‘Protagonist Plan’ being completely replaced by the ‘X-Class Plan.’”
Upon saying this, his expression gradually became serious.
“However, the bad news is also related to this matter.”
“Your failures at Hoshi no Gakuen have caused quite a number of higher-ups to waver. They are beginning to question whether it is too risky to put all resources on one person.”
At the end of this statement, the man in the gold-rimmed glasses looked up, gazing at the high ceiling of the training ground, seemingly lost in some memory.
After a while, he softly murmured:
“…Indeed, even among S-classes, not everyone… is an ‘Elemental Overlord.’”
Upon hearing the term “Elemental Overlord,” Kanade felt as though his heart was pierced by a blade.
An indescribable mix of anger and hatred surged, nearly causing him to lose control.
He gripped the training knife tightly, the handle cracking under the pressure, crushed to pieces.
After a moment of silence, he slowly turned, casting a cold gaze at the man in the gold-rimmed glasses.
“…So, are the Special Environment Organization and the three major schools planning to—cancel the ‘Protagonist Plan’?”
“Although they haven’t officially decided, it’s nearly certain.”
The man in the gold-rimmed glasses shrugged, a hint of playful resignation in his tone: “It’s also pretty bad for me since I’ve gambled all my chips on you.”
Upon hearing this, Kanade’s eyes flickered, and he seemed to sense something.
He didn’t hesitate to ask:
“Do you already have a new plan?”
“True to your title of ‘Black Flame King,’ your insight is almost mind-reading, making our cooperation much easier.” The man in the gold-rimmed glasses smiled in response, pulling out a document from his pocket and handing it to Kanade.
“Internal intelligence.”
“After the ‘Only Protagonist’ plan is canceled, an alternative plan may be initiated—named the ‘Double King Plan.’”
“Which means cultivating two saviors at the same time.”
“…Double King?”
Kanade repeated in a low voice as he received the document and quickly browsed through the contents.
Upon reaching a certain page, his actions came to an abrupt halt.
He saw a familiar face.
The man in the gold-rimmed glasses watched his reaction, a slight smile of satisfaction at the corner of his mouth.
“Looks like we truly are the most in sync partners; we’re on the same wavelength.”
He explained promptly: “The document in your hands is the ‘candidate list for the Double Kings’ drafted by the Special Environment Organization and the higher-ups of the three major schools. The individuals on this list are considered ‘heirs’ with potential to become saviors.”
“My plan is straightforward.”
“All we need to do is find a way to pull one of the ‘heirs’ to our side. As long as you can become the other ‘king,’ the resources and power you receive will be nearly equivalent to what the ‘Only Protagonist’ would have received.”
“But the Special Environment Organization and the three major schools will definitely not allow both ‘kings’ to emerge from the same organization. Thus, we need to draw in ‘heirs’ from other schools.”
As he spoke, he pointed a finger at the position where Kanade’s gaze had stopped.
“And this person you are looking at is deemed by our team, after integrating intelligence, as the ‘most promising candidate to pull in’—”
“—What do I need to do?” Kanade interrupted him without hesitation, as if he had cast aside all hesitation.
—As long as it can resurrect that girl.
—No matter the cost, he would accept.
The man in the gold-rimmed glasses chuckled lightly and spoke slowly:
“I hope you can personally approach her. If necessary, I hope you can offer some… charm, as according to our investigation, she seems to be interested in you. If you can conquer her completely in that aspect, a beauty like this will undoubtedly obey your commands, right?”
The spot that the man in the gold-rimmed glasses was pointing to was the name of this heir candidate—Kamishiro Akane.
