The moment December arrived, the chill of early winter came creeping in.
The temperature had been dropping more and more sharply these past few days; before long, it might reach the point where lighting the fireplace was no longer optional.
Compared with the world outside, damp and raw with cold wind, the kitchen of the Kuonji Residence was filled with warmth.
On the dining table, a steaming sukiyaki hotpot was still burbling away, bubbling merrily.
The instant she saw the apron-clad boy take his seat, Aoko, her appetite already getting the better of her, thrust out her chopsticks, no longer able to wait.
But before she could so much as touch the pot, another pair of chopsticks came down with a sharp “Smack” across the back of her hand.
“Ow!
What was that for, Alice!”
It hadn’t actually hurt all that much, but the girl was plainly put out at having her move blocked, and shot Alice a “ferocious” glare.
“This is a dish Minato cooked.
He should be the first to dig in.”
Alice gave Aoko a cool glance, then lifted the better part of the meat from the pot and set it in the boy’s bowl.
Not knowing why she was being so particular about something like this, Ryōgi Minato nonetheless accepted his teacher’s kindness and thanked her politely.
“Thank you, Sensei.”
Aoko, knowing she was in the wrong, swallowed her earlier grievance, scratched her cheek awkwardly, and spoke to the boy with some embarrassment.
“Sorry, Minato…”
“It’s all right.
If you and Sensei like sukiyaki, I can make a bigger portion next time, Aoko.”
Caring not at all about the order of who ate first, Ryōgi Minato shook his head and said the very words to make Aoko’s mouth water.
“No, let’s save that for another time.
It wouldn’t do to keep troubling you, after all.
When there’s time, Alice and I will make dinner, and you can just rest, Minato.”
Aoko smiled, and Alice raised no objection—she merely kept lifting morsels into the boy’s bowl now and then, until the smile on Aoko’s face slowly stiffened.
“Say, Alice, aren’t you playing favorites a bit much?”
“He’s my student, and this child is at the age where he’s growing.”
Offering no further explanation, Alice left Aoko at a loss for words with that single line.
“Even so, this is just…”
Watching the food in the boy’s bowl pile up into a small “mountain,” Aoko’s brow twitched, and she muttered under her breath:
“Back at the start, weren’t you the one against letting Minato move in…”
“Aoko, I get the feeling you’ve been slacking off on your coursework lately…”
“Sorry, Alice!
I didn’t say a thing just now.”
Spineless as ever, Aoko caved at once, and promptly turned her attention to the steadily dwindling hotpot.
In truth, she wasn’t really opposed to what Alice was doing—she just found the change in her a little drastic.
Gazing at the heap of steaming food in the bowl before him, Ryōgi Minato blinked, and first gave Alice his thanks.
Then, since he had a cat’s tongue and couldn’t handle anything too hot, he carefully blew a few soft puffs of breath over it, and only once it had cooled almost entirely did he begin, slowly, to eat.
Alice gave a small, composed nod.
The reason she acted as she did was that the boy’s performance of late had been outstanding.
Not only had he quickly gotten the hang of some basic magecraft formulas, but his progress with the Imaginary Number Pocket was remarkable too.
The most exaggerated part of all, though, had to be the boy’s grasp of Reinforcement magecraft.
Just as every magus had their own characteristic they excelled in, Reinforcement magecraft was, for the moment, where the boy was most adept.
Alice surmised it might be connected to the fact that he practiced swordsmanship to begin with.
The boy’s swordsmanship had surely reached a certain level—otherwise it wouldn’t have carried over into his gift for that magecraft characteristic.
Once dinner was dealt with, Alice and Aoko didn’t retire to the sunroom for a rest as they usually did.
Instead, they finished cleaning the cookware for the boy and then settled in the living room.
Sensing a subtle shift in the air, Ryōgi Minato sat obediently on the sofa, looking at Alice and Aoko across from him in puzzlement, and asked:
“Is there something to announce, Sensei, Aoko?”
“Mm.” Alice nodded, exchanged a glance with Aoko, and then voiced the decision she’d weighed for some time.
“Minato, tonight you’ll come with Aoko and me to intercept the enemy who’s invading the leylines of Misaki Town.
“This time, though, you won’t need to do anything.
Just stay to one side, mind your safety, and observe carefully.”
The boy would have to face other magi one day, sooner or later.
Rather than keep him cooped up in the mansion studying, it was better to wed theory to practice—that would let him grow faster.
Of course, all of this rested on Alice’s confidence as a witch.
Otherwise, with safety unconfirmed, she’d never have made a decision like “teaching in the field.”
“Is this the matter you and Aoko spoke of before, Sensei?”
Ryōgi Minato thought back over the past few days, to the things his teacher and Aoko had occasionally discussed together.
He understood that the “enemy” Alice spoke of were outside magi—and that they seemed to harbor designs on the leylines the Aozaki family managed.
Having already studied the basics of magecraft, he knew leylines were something of great importance to magi.
So it was hardly strange that they should be coveted by others.
“That’s right.
Originally, just the two of us were going to go, but since you’ve already decided you’ll find that man called Araya Souren no matter what, it’s better to get used to ‘this side of the world’ first.”
She said it that way, but in truth Aoko, too, had only recently made up her mind to formally step into “this side of the world.” That was why a resolve unlike her usual self now showed in her eyes—as if she’d thought something through.
“Is it really all right for me to come along, Sensei, Aoko?”
Curious as he was about all of it, what worried Ryōgi Minato more was whether his coming might be a burden to the two of them.
“Don’t worry.
Aoko’s actually tagging along as a trainee, the same as you—I can deal with the enemy on my own.”
Putting on full display her authority and ability as a teacher, Alice spoke with confidence.
“Somehow I feel like I’m being looked down on…”
Aoko grumbled quietly from off to the side, but earned nothing for it save the witch’s cool gaze.
“Understood.
When the time comes, I’ll follow your arrangements, Sensei.”
For this first magus-against-magus battle he was about to witness, the boy felt he really ought to study it well.
It was, after all, preparation for the day he’d face that monk who had lived more than two hundred years.
“By the way, Alice, have you decided where we’re heading tonight?”
Aoko looked over at the girl beside her and asked.
Since the suspicious figures they’d turned up of late numbered more than one, where to act first had become an important question.
“The forest on the outskirts.”
Alice answered coolly, as if she’d reverted to the witch of old.
From her familiars distributed throughout Misaki Town, she’d learned that two suspicious individuals were lurking in the forest beyond the town.
Two wasn’t a large number—but it would be plenty for this “teaching demonstration” of hers.
“All right.
Change into something warmer, and we’ll set out shortly, Minato, Aoko.”
The girl rose to her feet, her face set in what she took to be befitting teacherly dignity, and walked toward the second floor.
Aoko, for her part, drew a deep breath as if steeling herself, her eyes growing all the more resolute.
As for the boy—naturally, he obeyed his teacher’s word and went to change out of the casual clothes suited only for indoor wear.
And at the same time, Ryōgi Minato didn’t forget to take up the katana Yamato—the one thing he never left home without.
Thank you all so much!