Chapter 23 - It's getting kind of funny actually

Inside the lobby of a high-society hotel in the city of Hayabusa, three classmates were having an unexpected meeting.

Apparently the name of the high schooler was Yuuki Tachibana. Naturally, Yogiri didn't remember him and looked at Tachibana as if it was their first time seeing each other.

Three girls were accompanying Tachibana; even though it was only the second day since they arrived in this world it appeared he had already gathered companions from among the natives.

"Erm, I'm not really sure what's going on. You aren't confessing to me right now, are you?"

'Lover' really wasn't something one would expect to hear from a high schooler. Even Yogiri, who didn't have any friends to joke around with, knew that much.

Unconcerned, Tachibana continued.

"Can you decide within two minutes? If you don't make up your mind quickly enough you'll lose all the benefits gained from being my lover."

Persuading someone by limiting their time to think, a classic.

But still, unless there was sufficient value in becoming his lover no one would just agree to it, although Tachibana seemed convinced that such value was there.

"No need for any benefits right now, I'd rather hear about what you're doing here actually."

Tomochika turned him down without a second thought, which only made the girls' glares worse.

There was certainly an intent to kill, but nothing concrete as of yet; Yogiri decided to continue watching for the time being.

"Are you sure about that? If you end up changing your mind later you'll become a mid-rank slave at best, you know? You're letting the opportunity of a lifetime slip away right now."

"Should I be worried about how little I can follow what you're saying?!"

Tachibana seemed genuinely surprised by how the discussion was going. He must have seriously thought she would agree to his proposal.

Yogiri on the other hand was thinking about whether Tachibana might have been summoned to this world for the second time already, like Hanakawa and the other two. It was the only explanation he could come up with for Tachibana's absurd mindset.

"Yuuki-sama! I believe getting involved with such people is a waste of time! We have an expedition to carry out!"

"To think someone would just decline Master's proposal! Even the status of mid-rank slave is too generous, I reckon!"

"…Yuuki… …can I kill them?"

The girls behind Tachibana voiced their displeasure one after the other, but Tachibana only needed to raise his hand for the three of them to quiet down.

"We can put off the expedition for now. But Tomochika, you really are being hasty here. Ah, are you worried about Takatou? I accept males as labor slaves only, but I can make him a special low-rank slave if you'd like. He's still a classmate, after all."

"…At first it was just annoying, but now it's getting kind of funny actually."

For a moment it seemed like Tomochika was about to lose her cool, but that was all she mumbled.

"Yeah… a situation this confusing makes it kind of difficult to get upset."

Yogiri quietly agreed with Tomochika. The discussion with Tachibana had somehow gone from irritating to interesting.

"Sorry, but with this whole lack of an explanation of what you're on about we're not particularly eager to group up with you. Can you instead just tell us what you're in Hayabusa for?"

"I guess that's fair enough. Alright, I'll explain. But I'll tell you right now, you'll regret not becoming my followers right away."

Yogiri tried moving the discussion forward and Tachibana actually went along with it. Looked like he was finally done with his obscure talk.

"You girls go on ahead."

With quite some reluctance Tachibana's followers did as they were told and left the hotel first.

Without another word he made his way to a table in a corner of the lobby. Based on his attitude it seemed like he wasn't even considering the possibility of the other two not just following him.

"Ah, Takatou-kun. Are you maybe thinking that Tachibana-kun is acting that way because of something like the system's or some other power's corruption?"

"Isn't he?"

"Nope. Attitude-wise he's always been that way, although I have no clue what he's talking about."

"Huh."

Yogiri was a little surprised.

"Narcissistic and over-confident. Well, thanks to his looks he was always pretty popular with girls so I guess I can see how he turned out that way."

"…High school might've been a more interesting place than I thought."

After all this time, Yogiri started to think that maybe he shouldn't have spent all his time at school asleep.

＊＊＊＊＊

In the back of the hotel's lobby, at a meeting corner.

Yogiri and Tomochika sat on a sofa with Tachibana sitting on the opposite end of the table.

"First of all, please be at ease. You remember how the sages will squeeze magic power out of us like livestock if we fail to produce a new sage within a month? That won't happen, because I'm guaranteed to become a sage."

"Never before have I seen someone with such a smug look on their face!"

But even Tomochika's tsukkomi was brushed aside by Tachibana's confidence.

"So even if you two only stand around watching, your safety is guaranteed. That said, even though you are my classmates I can't just reward you for doing nothing. Makes sense, right?"

A summoned class of students is treated as one group, a "clan," and given the task of producing a sage within one month. If successful, the new sage takes charge of all the remaining candidates as his or her acolytes.

However, just turning one of them into a sage doesn't mean all of them get to live a stable life. In order to secure an influential position among the acolytes, the candidates without hope of turning into sages themselves have to butter up to the candidates that do have such hope, and that before the new sage is born.

"So instead of doing nothing we're supposed to become your slaves and lovers?"

Yogiri didn't mean to be provocative, he simply voiced a question he had.

"Hm? Yeah, nothing to do about that. Anyway, I've decided I'll only have one wife. I'm actually a pretty upstanding person, alright? My plan is to find a spouse in the near future. There's a high probability my future wife will be someone from among my eternal slaves, probably a high-rank slave or lover, so starting out at the rank of lover makes for a great head start. I'm telling you, this would have been a great deal for you, Dannoura-san."

The answer Yogiri received felt a little off-point. Looked like Tachibana wasn't a very good listener.

"Do me a favor and reconsider your concept of 'upstanding' afterwards."

Tomochika replied and then sighed deeply.

She did say that he was like this from the start, but she had to admit that she didn't remember him being quite this bad.

"Also, why the confidence? You're skipping out on the training journey that everyone else is doing, aren't you?"

The three classmates that had told them it was their second time in this world held a similar degree of self-confidence. Like Yogiri, Tomochika was starting to suspect Tachibana of being a returnee as well.

"No need for a leveling trip. My class is Dominator, the most powerful class that rules over all."

It appeared Tachibana intended for it to be some kind of big reveal, but to Yogiri it was the same system-nonsense as always.