Tale of Discovery

Chapter 247: Friendly Lunch ; Good Person

"Much appreciated," Kurumi says with a graceful smile before slowly walking over to an empty desk to Origami's right.

She proceeds to set her school bag down before taking a seat and casting a glance at me.

"Alright. Everyone, please take a seat, it's time to start the lesson," Tamae proclaims.

And so, our relatively normal class begins.

As expected of the horn dogs, they would cast a glance at Kurumi every once in a while with dumb expressions on their faces.

Kurumi doesn't seem to mind it or, more accurately, she doesn't seem to perceive their existence.

Now that I think about it, this situation is a little odd. Kurumi claims to be a spirit, yet she is a Binary Factor and not a Code. There are several possibilities I can think of, but it would be pointless to dabble on this matter for too long.

Leaving that aside, Origami seems to be in a rather dour mood. That's understandable, after all, a student just transferred over and called herself a spirit.

That, coupled with yesterday's occurrence, is more than enough to leave her perplexed.

Should I try to cheer her up sometime? Is that even possible? From what I know, this girl is continuously in an impassive state...

--

The bell signifying the start of lunchtime rings as Kurumi rises from her seat and walks over to my desk.

"Would you please, Shido?" she says politely.

Nodding my head once, I get up from my seat and gaze at her face with a smile covering my lips.

"Shido," Tohka's worried voice reaches my ears as she gets up from her seat as well.

Turning my head to face her, I casually say, "Stay here and your lunch. Everything will be fine."

"But-"

"Tohka. You should know better than anyone that the possibility of my life being in danger is extremely low."

The moment my voice fades, Tohka adopts a solemn expression before nodding her head, while Origami head perks up a little.

"Ara~ Such a wonderful statement," Kurumi remarks while aligning her fingers in front of her lips.

Letting out a small sigh, I wink at Tohka once before turning to face Kurumi and saying, "Let's get going then."

As such, Kurumi and I exit the class. The two of us begin walking through the hallways toward the canteen.

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"So, Kurumi, do you mind telling me why you are here?"

"Sure. My reason for appearing here is to confirm something."

"What, did you notice something while watching my encounter with AST yesterday?"

Kurumi chuckles a little before saying, "How observant. I didn't think you would notice me."

"That's understandable," I respond, "After all, you were standing quite a distance away from me. You must have some outstanding eyesight to notice something from such a distance."

Following this, Kurumi just smiles and remains silent as we continue to walk toward our destination.

Once we reach the canteen, Kurumi scans the place with her eye before asking, "Are we going to be eating here?"

"No," I respond, "We will get our food and head over elsewhere."

"Are you planning to take the food back to class?" she inquires.

"Not at all," I respond, "We're going to be eating at the rooftop."

--

With Kurumi walking in front of me, the two of us begin climbing the staircase leading to the rooftop while each carrying a tray consisting of our lunch.

At this moment, something catches my attention - Kurumi's slender legs.

She's wearing pantyhose at the moment, which highlights them rather well. This, along with the rest of her clothing, makes her seem like a modest teenaged girl.

Suddenly, Kurumi stops climbing the stairs before she turns around and gazes at me with a teasing smile on her lips.

"Is something wrong?" I ask, prepared for a sudden attack.

"You seem to be very interested in my legs, Shido," Kurumi responds.

What? How did she notice? Does she have an ability similar to my Clairvoyance? Or is she just very perceptible of every little detail around her?

Either way, this question is a strange one to ask.

"Yes, I am. You have very fine legs," I respond in a serious tone while staring at her legs.

"How bold of you," she says before chuckling.

After a few seconds, she turns back around and continues climbing the staircase.

Shrugging my shoulders, I follow her from behind before we shortly reach the door leading to the rooftop.

"Ara~ Shido. It seems like you've forgotten that it's raining," Kurumi says as she stands in the door frame after opening it.

Shaking my head, I say in a casual tone, "I prefer to eat and converse under the rain. Do you have any problems with that?"

"Not at all," she responds while smiling, "I'm sure you aren't planning to get us wet, yet I don't see anything you could use to achieve that."

"You don't need to act oblivious," I state while grinning before walking past her and creating a dome-like physical barrier above myself using Vector Manipulation.

Kurumi's eyes slightly narrow as she says, "What power is that? I can sense that you aren't using spirit powers."

"I'll leave that to your imagination," I say before extending my arm out in her direction while using Telekinesis to lift the trays from my hand and hers.

As a response to this, Kurumi stares at me for a few seconds before glancing at the floating trays and chuckling once again.

After that, she takes my hand and I guide her to one of the benches near the ledge of the building.

I guess students come to the rooftop quite often for the school to have set up a few benches here. Perhaps, the only reason it's not occupied at the moment is because of the rain.

Upon reaching the bench, I extend my other arm before using Pyrokinesis to dry the bench while making sure to not damage it.

After a few seconds, the bench becomes completely dry as the two of us sit down on it.

It might seem like the whole process was simple, but it's quite far from that. Due to my maintenance of Vector Manipulation, most of my focus is on it with very little focus on everything else.

Naturally, I don't let that show on my face as I hold our trays in front of us respectively before beginning to eat.

"So," I say after a while, "Have you confirmed anything yet?"

"Almost," she responds while gracefully stuffing a bit of food into her mouth, "All I require now is for you to use your real powers."

"What do you mean by that," I say, feigning ignorance, "I have been using it the whole time."

"Shido, is that what you want me to believe? That's not going to work," she states while smiling.

"What's that supposed to mean? As you can see, my powers are different from yours, hence your confusion."

"I have no other choice than doubting your words. You can't possibly be so confident of your safety if this is all you're capable of.

"Not to mention, I've seen you fly and pull off an impressive feat before."

Letting out a sigh, I stop eating and turn my head to face Kurumi who is also looking at me.

"So, that's all? You want me to use my 'real' powers?"

"That's correct," she replies.

"Then, I refuse."

"Ara~ Why is that?"

"A beautiful mysterious girl just appeared in my school and demands that I use power for her to confirm something. No matter what, that's suspicious as heck."

"I suppose that's true," she responds while pressing her finger against her lips, "But you don't have a choice."

"Are you sure about that?" I say while grinning, "You can't force me to do anything."

Hearing my words, Kurumi just stares at my face for a short while before closing her eyes and saying, "I understand. I will refrain from attempting to force you into using your real powers."

Silence ensues as I continue eating while Kurumi just observes me as I do so.

"Hey," she says after a few minutes, "I would like to know what you think of me."

Hearing her request, I deliberate on my response for a moment before saying, "A beautiful and somewhat lively polite girl. Basically, a good person."

After all, the prerequisites for becoming a 'bad person' in my book are limited to a few actions that I doubt this girl has committed or will be committing anytime soon.

Unexpectedly, Kurumi doesn't seem to like my response as her expression turns a little unnatural.

"A good person?" she asks.

"That's right," I respond, a little confused about why she would be concerned about that part.

"If you say so," she says as her expression suddenly shifts back to normal with a small smile on her lips.

After a short while, I finish everything on my tray before I ask Kurumi, "Are you not going to finish your lunch?"

"No, thank you. I'm full."

"Shall we get going then?" I say as I get up from the bench.

Kurumi doesn't say anything as she follows suit.

Once we're near the door leading back to the building, I gesture for Kurumi to enter first before dissipating the barrier and hurrying inside.

"This was quite a pleasant experience, Shido," Kurumi says while smiling.

"It was the same for me," I respond while patting her back a few times.

And so, the two of us begin walking back to our class while not uttering a single word.

In truth, I was quite tempted to ask Kurumi if she was sent by Dominion, but I feel like there is more to the matter than that.

In case she is not related to Dominion and I ask her about it, she could possibly get involved in this troublesome matter, so it's better to find some more information before taking such troublesome steps.

"Shido," Kurumi suddenly says, "Do you mind if I hold your arm?"

Despite being a little baffled by her abrupt request, my expression doesn't change as I say, "Not at all. Feel free to do anytime you want."

And that, she does. Kurumi holds onto my arm quite closely, resulting in her soft mound to press against me.

This garners the attention of all students who are in the corridors, be it male or female as they keenly gaze at the two of us from the side while murmuring among themselves.

Kurumi is relatively calm regarding this situation as she continues to walk with a wide smile plastered to her lips.

Letting out a sigh, I look ahead and replicate her all the way back to class.