CK 62

Chapter 62…

To Run or Not to Run
The Sharpness of Words

Climbing the stairs, I reached my apartment on the fifth floor of the building.
I unlocked the door and stepped inside.

“Excuse me for intruding~”

First, I set my bag down in its usual spot and sat in the chair at my workspace.
Then I opened my laptop and pulled up my previous records.

Now then—what to do about that Scorpio?

The most realistic approach would be to “fight it until it runs out of starlight energy, then collect the plate it turns into.”
That’s how I recovered Aquila’s plate, after all.

But this time, the opponent is Scorpio—one of the Twelve Constellations. There’s no doubt it’s a powerful enemy.
I’m not sure I can take it down completely… but I have no choice but to try.

Still… judging from what I saw, Scorpio doesn’t seem to have chosen anyone yet.
If I recover it, maybe I could use its power too.

But there’s no precedent for one person wielding multiple constellations’ powers.

…Well, considering I’m the first person ever to generate a Star Armor, that’s not surprising.

Still, there’s no way to know without trying.
Fortunately, I’ve just received another replica gear for experiments.

With multiple gears, I can test whether it’s possible to use multiple constellations at once.
It didn’t work with Aquila or Musca… but if it’s one of the Twelve, maybe it’ll be different.

After all, so far, only the Twelve Constellations have successfully generated Star Armor.

For data collection purposes too, I absolutely have to recover Scorpio.

If only Homura-san were here right now—she’d be a big help… but where could she be?

Just then,
a voice reached my ears.

“Wow… Yinsei-kun, your home life is pretty intense too.”
“…Wait. Why the hell are you here?”

Turning toward the voice, I saw Chiharu Hanayama sitting on the sofa.

“When I caught up, I called out to you, and I said ‘excuse me for intruding’ when I came in, remember?”

…Completely missed it. Or rather, I hadn’t been paying attention.

Now that she mentions it, I vaguely recall someone speaking to me earlier.
I must’ve let her in here without realizing it.

…Guess I was too focused on my thoughts—and on recovering my right arm.
Though thanks to that, my arm doesn’t feel off anymore.

Maybe I’ve just gotten too used to being around people lately. It doesn’t even feel strange anymore.

I really should be more careful when walking and thinking at the same time… I need to stay sharper.

Annoyed at myself for missing so much, I turned to Hanayama with a question.

“Why’d you follow me?”
“No reason, really.”

…As usual, I have no idea what she’s thinking.
And besides—

“Hanayama, you’ve gotten pretty comfortable acting with us lately, huh.”
“That a problem?”

…Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.
I quickly replied, “Didn’t say it was.”

But Hanayama didn’t respond.

Finding that odd, I lifted my gaze from the laptop to her.
She was staring at me with a sharp look.

Not quite glaring—but there was something intense in her eyes.
…What emotion is that, exactly?

Our eyes stayed locked for several seconds.

Then Hanayama spoke first.

“Remember when you asked me about the way I talk?”
“Yeah… I did. What about it?”
“I’m answering now: you definitely need to fix it.”

Ah. So that’s why she came.

…A pain, but since she’s already in my room, I can’t exactly escape.
I sighed inwardly and said, “You mean that thing from earlier, huh.”

“I just said the truth.”
“Listen, even if something’s true, sometimes you shouldn’t say it. The truth can hurt people. You should dull your words a bit.”

…She’s not wrong.

But people can’t live on kind words alone.

Still, there’s no point telling her that.

I managed to respond, “…If I’m not sharp, I’ll just lose.”

Hanayama sighed.

“I get what you’re saying. But the ones you’re fighting now are monsters, not people, right?”

…That’s true.
Seimou High isn’t like that other school—where our classmates were the enemy.

…Just remembering those guys pisses me off.
As I cursed under my breath, Hanayama pressed on.

“Besides, you’ll have to talk to people a lot when gathering intel on the monsters, won’t you?
Then you really should fix your tone. Try wrapping your words in a bit more sugar, at least.”

She had a point.
Who knows how long these battles will last—or how many new people I’ll have to deal with.

Unfortunately, Hanayama was right.
Even Shirō and Nagasawa have told me before that I should change how I speak.

…Guess I should finally do something about it.

“…I’ll do my best,” I muttered.
“And also, next time you see Sayama-san, you should apologize.”
“That depends on her.”

Hanayama sighed again.
That one I recognized—it was the sigh of exasperation.

After that, she fell silent and started scrolling on her phone.

I turned my focus back to the laptop and resumed organizing my data.