Once Upon the Snow Clown

It's hard to pardon myself in any possible method.

Please extract it from that one deduction from Chapter 5, Section 5: Memento Memory, Ayase was given her escape and despite the complete silence─I was able to see through her clairvoyant companion.

Aya exerted dominance into driving Mikoto away from the high school. In an attempt to throw the mysterious transfer student out, she pulled out her card. Brilliance in bloom, attacking our class the exact moment I wasn't there.

I'd say that was also anticipated.

They kept tabs when I was out, and when I returned fast after Tsukuyomi's dash.

All throughout the event.

Crunching into the precise outcomes, they were able to pull her out of the scene.

As soon as I asked for time to be decelerated, the Space Mage began his spell.

If that's not suspicious, then it's an uncanny fluke.

I fail to believe it's the latter.

Yes, I believe we have the adversary in control of the situation.

Take a stern look at the evidence.

They took into consideration how I would act and tried to contain my power with their contingencies. Nothing is better than to have the students unleash their hatred─in addition to the almighty restrictive field. It belongs to the school. More or less, the student council played their part in the excursion─and it's a fairly understandable conquest why they lent their helping hands. Maybe that's not the key information, but I can at least assure one fastidious fragment of what they want.

"I was the thorn in their throats, and they didn't like my participation."

First and foremost, relaxed as I am as a person, I am without a doubt─the Strongest Mage. No one at school trembles at the mention of my name. I'm not that infamous of a character, but I'd be one to be reckoned with.

They failed in their motive once, and they'll surely want themselves succeeding the forthcoming times.

In an uncanny extraction, Tsukuyomi pulled the words out of my mind, "If Snow White is out of the picture, then they get their turn to play their cards."

The railcar wasn't cramped. We were the only passengers so it was safe to talk about issues without worries of onlookers. Especially when it had to veer for a criminal escaping his arguable cell, the afternoon emptiness brought a preferred amount of peace of mind.

"So you mean to say you're escaping out on the responsibility again?!"

It sounded as if he was my superior at work, catching my words differently from what they were intended.

In the next instance, he'd lash out a restrictive sentence and heed for calmness knowing he can persecute his employee.

Instead.

He fumed his agitation out, and looked straight into my eyes.

"You better cook a better excuse or I won't be able to forgive you."

He turned the intensity for more throttle, knowing I'd take it across and won't back down.

He closed his eyes and pressed his temple, sporting the orthodox irritation.

"In the event where I thought you'd plan it out and I helped, but if you were only doing it for yourself, I won't forgive you."

When the order given was to locate the enemies, it's agreed upon without providing excuses.

Narumi Narukami and her spiders don't play around raising shallow orders without conviction. Defiance is not tolerated, and she means it. Even when Kafka didn't like the job─he chose to do it in the end. His sensibilities created him a reservoir of regret: he thought I was about to purge it─and leave him the frustration.

"No, it's the general purpose of the move."

Thus, I made the decision to break it in front of him.

Kafka huffed his irritation out, knowing what he wanted to know.

It was fine, we weren't enemies despite mentally hostile as classmates.

Sharp look cast out again, most likely, by now─I'm his unforgiven.

Of course, I didn't give a damn.

"Stay away, and they'd present themselves," I continued to prattle my consensus about the inherent problem they were seeking for. "It's the plan scoured from the bottom of the barrel."

Initial plans from asking Aldebaran regarding our "stronger than the class" opponent─courtesy of Kafka Ikari─and analyzing the data given have failed. Albeit an information broker, an old man under house arrest can only do so little with electronic data. So said venture was a miss, I didn't consider a lot of factors and generated too many variables to consider.

Nothing about it was a straight investigation, so failing was the only outcome.

What only awaited was formulating a series of possible choices.

Maybe?

Frankly, I was only troubled by the thought of jumping from place to place searching for an impossible location. Moving forward was the objective, and it's inefficient being pathfinders when there are easier solutions to follow. I didn't want to be stuck in the mud and thus, I thought I should bring sense into all of it with one fairy dust.

"When the cat's away, the mice will play, you know that?"

I triggered Kafka.

Of course, it was the first impression one can get from moving out from North to Shinomiya Station. Back then, it wasn't apparent, becoming an absolute misplay on our part. I didn't realize it later on: I'm whimsical as opposed to being a critical thinker.

Innovative, maybe, as I'd like to pose as, and I addressed the fiasco to the ending resolution. Which apparently let an unrelated 'Motoharu Akahoshi' out of the Higanbana House. Such a chaotic strategy which should draw an unsavory rumor which they won't tolerate from an opponent they thought was formidable.

It's where the current stage picks up from the last event.

For clarification purposes, it first started when I posed him an upbeat theory on the case of his Orion. Agitating him to worry about his invention kept the action plan alive, and he bit the bait. Manipulation isn't my schtick, of course, it's his personal regards but I managed to control him.

I'd not credit myself for it, but from my mother─his daughter.

He was only easy to tick, given it's his life's work─and he had to check on it, for himself, regarding its health or whatever.

It's where he probably took off.

Whatever craziness happens in his end, I'd take the consequences.

I needed his name and status to surface, knowing that the second Strongest Mage is an infamous persona since his house arrest.

It's an extra layer of fear.

Snow White may have let Aldebaran out of the Higanbana House─and the enemies would mistake him for their foe as well.

Much like Kafka's notion.

Only it's a fool's facade.

Also, I first thought I could deplete electricity to the point a blackout occurred.

My grandfather would worry about where I'd strike next, and he'd end up throwing himself outside.

Where there was light.

I didn't suspect the part where he'd wholesomely try to calm my mind down─and progress into a surprising stratospheric breakthrough.

One heck of a multitasker, but I like how we came into understanding each other despite being completely irrelevant.

Subplot within a subplot that's more meaningful than the main premise.

I wish the story was about our relationship instead.

"However, when chaos ensues and they know it, they'll play a different card."

I triggered Kafka, intensifying by a knot.

Stagnation was simply unforgivable, and I thought we could use it to our advantage.

For me, it was how I tried to reason it out.

Surely, the enemies would tilt their heads figuring out what I was trying to do. In the aftermath of Mikoto's subjugation, I'm frolicking out for another business… which is impossible because he's not the type to run away, or shift into another, despite his personality.

Aya must have those thoughts.

"He's taking us on a thrill ride. He's unleashing too many variables for us to not pinpoint a certainty and slow our operations down."

For which they slow down, because it's inevitable no matter how shaky the pan is.

"Sooner or later, they'll exclusively look for me."

Certainty, if not a foolish move brimming in justification.

"You know, yapping about all the jazz about how smart you are, but can't you see what you're missing?"

"What am I missing?"

Kafka clicked his tongue while Tsukuyomi's lips curved upwards.

He proceeded to point out, "It would only work if they wanted you."

I stared at him, not meaning to show smugness, but pride sunk too fast before I could reprimand myself. Well, whatever. It's all flushed to the same outcome.

"Of course, I didn't tell you," I said and announced, "Mikoto is Aya's objective, but for the collaborators, it's not that simple."

Moment for a coup de grace descended.

"It's obvious they'd want Shirayuki Otogibanashi dead."

"I'm hoping I won't punch you in the face." Kafka clenched his right fist, and readied his right hand on a Time spell. "Overclock."