Classmate wa Isekai de Yuusha ni Natta kedo, Ore dake Gendai Nihon ni Okizari ni Narimashita - Chapter 71

 Chapter 71: Invited to the Mansion – Part 4

"Isn’t it crazy how our precious after-school hours as high schoolers in the prime of youth are being stolen away by cleaning duty?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Our school should just hire a cleaning service or something."

"Yeah, maybe..."

I absentmindedly swept the floor with my broom, half-listening to Rentarou's complaints.

It had been a full week since the second semester started, and nothing had changed.
There was still no reply from Kuon, and Alicia, maybe due to other responsibilities, always left immediately after homeroom on cleaning duty days—so I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her about the letter.

I really needed to decide soon whether I’d accept the invitation or not.

"Shuu, are you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You're talking about how the school should bring in some robot vacuums or something, right?"

"That’s not exactly it... Anyway, what’s up with you today? You’ve been totally out of it. Did a girl dump you or something?"

"Nope. I was just thinking how I want to get this over with and take a nap as soon as I get home."

"Ah. Gotcha."

Apparently realizing he wouldn't get anything interesting out of me, Rentarou finally started cleaning properly.

Should I just go ahead and send another message, even if it’s a long shot?

As I debated with myself while sweeping—

"Whoa."

My phone, which I had stuffed in my pocket, started buzzing.

Thinking it was probably Kana messaging about dinner requests, I leaned my broom against the wall and pulled out my phone.

Alicia: I need to ask you something about the letter. Would it be alright if I called you tonight?

The message was so unexpected—from such an unexpected person—that I gripped the phone a little too tightly.

"Who’s that? Someone messaging you?"

"...Just my sister. Reminding me it's my turn for chores."

"Oh, your little sister, huh. Hey, Shuu, if she’s cute—"

"Not happening. You're never meeting her."

I brushed off Rentarou and refocused on the message.

“Something I need to confirm about the letter...”

Alicia—meaning her organization—was monitoring me constantly. So they obviously knew I had received a letter from that shikigami.

The question was: why was she reaching out now?

"Boys! Quit slacking off and get to cleaning!"

"Yeah yeah, I got it."

Rentarou teased while I stared at my phone.

Well, if she wanted to call, I could ask all my questions then.

I replied, "I'm free around 9 PM," and got an instant reply: "That works. I'll call then."

After confirming that, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and resumed sweeping.

"Hey, Shuu. At least let me get her ID—"

"Still not happening."

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◇◇◇

"Phew..."

At exactly 9 PM, I closed my notebook after finishing the assignment due tomorrow, stretched out, and reached for my phone as it started ringing.

Alicia’s name lit up the screen.

I activated a Perception Obstruction Spell just in case, to keep the conversation private, then tapped the call button.

"Hello?"

"Sorry to call so late. Is now a good time?"

"Yeah, it's fine. So, what did you want to ask about?"

"On the day of the school opening ceremony... did you happen to receive a letter from someone?"

Wow. She really didn’t beat around the bush.

"Ah... yeah, I did. But weren’t you guys watching me the whole time? Didn’t you already know that?"

"…Sorry, hold the questions for now. Did you read the letter?"

"Hm? Yeah, I read it..."

"Did you feel anything strange afterward? Like fatigue, insomnia, or this irrational urge to do something without knowing why?"

"Not really. Nothing like that..."

I answered calmly, even as Alicia’s voice carried a strange urgency—like she was panicked.

She let out a breath of relief.

"...Good. Sounds like nothing has happened so far."

"What’s going on? You're weirdly on edge."

"Wouldn't you be? You made contact with a shikigami from the Kuon family and even read the letter it delivered. Those noble houses have curses that can drive people insane just from eye contact. Interacting with them carelessly is incredibly dangerous."

…What the hell?! That kind of stuff actually exists?

In the end, nothing happened, but in the worst-case scenario, either Kana or I could’ve ended up dead.

Actually—hold on.

"Then why didn’t you contact me that day? If you had, I wouldn’t have read the letter."

Since they were watching me, Alicia could’ve warned me before I even opened the thing.

That would’ve saved her a ton of worry—and potentially spared me and Kana from danger.

"…You’re right. If I’d been able to warn you earlier, maybe I could’ve spared you all this stress. I’m really sorry."

Her wording caught my attention.

“If you’d been able to warn me”?

"Wait—don’t tell me you couldn’t contact me, rather than just not doing it?"

"…Yeah. It’s embarrassing, but we didn’t even realize that thing was a shikigami until one of our exorcists pointed it out. Until then, it tricked us into thinking it was just a normal human. That’s why it took so long to get in touch."

So that’s why it took until today to hear from her.

…But hang on.

"Wait, it was wearing this heavy black kimono in the middle of summer. No one thought that was weird? My sister was so freaked out she couldn't even go near the house!"

"Kimono? On our footage, it looked like some casually dressed guy about your age."

"Huh?"

"…That confirms it. The shikigami had an enchantment that changes its appearance depending on who’s looking at it."

Ah… Now that I think about it, the appraisal did say it had "information obfuscation abilities."

So that's why Alicia and her team didn’t notice anything off.

Still… it’s not like amateurs like me can do much about shikigami and curses and whatever.

For now—

"Since we’re talking, I’ve got something I want to ask too. That okay?"

"If it’s something I can answer."

"The letter I got said I was invited to the Kuon family’s main estate over the long weekend next week. What do you think about that?"

"…Who’s listed as the sender?"

I opened my desk drawer, pulled out the letter, and checked.

"It says Kuon Sōgen."

"Thank you. …Personally, I think you should forget about that letter. Almost certainly, it’s going to drag you into something messy."

"Messy?"

She hesitated for a second, but instead of dodging the question, she answered plainly—deciding honesty was best.

"The Kuon family is currently holding a ‘Succession Ceremony’ to determine their next head."

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