Second Semester

The fun summer vacation was finally over, and the second semester of high school began.

I had finished all my summer vacation homework from school. And when I wasn't interacting with my slaves, I devoted myself to deciphering magic books and mastering magic.

Thanks to that, I was able to use magic that could be used to acquire lewd crest slaves in the future, as well as many other magics.

***

On the first day of the second semester, I exchanged greetings with Matthew and Daniel and sat down in my seat. Unfortunately, Emily was not in the seat next to me.

While many boys were disappointed about this, I started using strong favorability increasing magic and weak affection increasing magic on Jessica. I hope to somehow cross the line with her during this second semester.

After the opening ceremony, today ended without anything in particular. As usual, I saw off Jessica, who quickly left the classroom, and stood up from my seat.

***

The second day of the second semester was a Friday, and from today onwards, classes were already back to normal. During the homeroom teacher's English class, a boy noticed that she had brought the box she used to change seats, and he shouted out.

"Teacher, are we changing seats!?"

"Yes, that's right."

"But Emily isn't here today."

"Emily said not to worry about her because she doesn't know when she'll be able to come to school."

"Is that so..."

"Alright! This time, I'll be near Emily..."

"I'd like to be near Alexander."

It was the start of the second semester, and we were already changing seats. In the end, Emily sat next to me a single-digit number of times.

"Damn. I could barely talk to Emily."

In the noisy classroom, Daniel, sitting one seat in front of me, complained. I connected with Emily rather than spoke to her, and I returned his words, concealing my sense of superiority.

"Well, it can't be helped because she seems busy."

"I want to be closer next time..."

"Pray to the gods. Come on, let's go."

As before, we went to draw our seat number. Note that Emily was to be the last seat remaining.

***

In the end, my seat was decided to be the third from the front of the second row from the corridor side. Unfortunately, Emily got a window seat, so she was far away.

Instead, Matthew is right behind me, and Jessica is diagonally in front of me on the right, a position that makes it easy to perform mental magic. Daniel, perhaps disliked by the gods, has a special seat in the third row from the window, at the very front.

I secretly gloated that it's better to be closer to Jessica, whom I'm planning to make mine, than to Emily, who is already mine. As I watched her from diagonally behind her to the left, I received a message on my phone from senior Margaret calling for a meeting.

***

Regular classes, which are hard on the body accustomed to summer vacation, were finally over, and it was finally after school. As usual, I was getting ready to leave early. and when Jessica left the classroom, she glanced in my direction, and our eyes met.

She turned her gaze away as if nothing had happened and walked out into the hallway. I called out to my friends, then left the classroom and followed behind Jessica.

We slowly made our way to the same spot, about ten meters away from each other. Then, halfway there, she stopped and looked back.

"Ethan, you're going to club activities, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Jessica was also told to come by the president, didn't she?"

"Yes. We're going to the same destination, so let's go together."

"...Is that okay?"

"You can keep quiet and follow me... right?"

"l understand..."

I moved to the left side of Jessica at a quick pace and resumed my steps. She was about ten centimeters shorter than me, but she walked firmly facing forward.

"...Umm, Jessica?"

"What is it?"

"Today's meeting, will we continue what we talked about before the summer vacation?"

"Perhaps so."

"...In other words, we'll be talking about the shrine maiden outfit..."

When I brought up the subject of the shrine maiden outfit, Jessica reacted with a startle. We proceeded in silence for a while, but eventually she sighed lightly and began to speak.

"Hah... In the end, I ended up having to dress up as a shrine maiden."

"Seriously!?"

When I turned to her in surprise, she gave me a blank, jittery stare in return. But with her white cheeks and shapely ears flushed red, I can only think she is cute.

"I'm surprised you agreed..."

"...When senior goes out of control, she can't be stopped..."

As we walked shoulder to shoulder, exchanging conversation, I started to notice the stares from the other students. Who in the world is the boy walking with a super beautiful girl who is on par with Emily, not only in the first year, but in the entire school? That's what I felt

It seems that just walking in the hallway is enough to cause an incident with Jessica, who is solitary and doesn't bother with men. She was calmly complaining without particular concern.

"She was very persuasive and persistent."

"Still..."

"It's tough when you're dealing with someone who has known you since you were a little..."

I climbed the stairs of the old building while receiving gazes mixed with various emotions, and we arrived in front of the fortune-telling club room. Before I could wonder which one of us should knock, Jessica quickly knocked and opened the door.

"Sorry for the delay. Senior."

"Jessica, don't open until you get a reply."

Senior was already in the clubroom. I think we also came right after the class ended, but senior's speed is strange.

"Oh! You came with Ethan today? Did you get along?"

"N-No!"

"When we left the classroom, we were almost together, so that's how it happened."

"Hoho~ Is that so? I see..."

"...Senior??"

Kojina-san made a slightly lower voice than usual to senior who was making fun of her. Perhaps sensing her limitations, senior hastily changed the subject.

"...Well, today, we're here for the cultural festival."

"I thought so."

"What!? Ethan also passionately requested it! It's decided that Jessica will wear the shrine maiden outfit!"

"...Really?"

"No, no! I didn't say anything! I'd love to see you in a shrine maiden outfit, though, Jessica..."

I desperately protested the false accusation as Jessica reacted to the stray bullets from senior Margaret.

"But senior said..."

"No, that's clearly the president joking!"

"Aww, that's terrible... Sobs."

"...Margaret??"

Seeing senior Margaret performing a fake cry, Jessica seemed to realize that she had been ridiculed again. Perhaps sensing that the situation was getting bad, senior started to make excuses.

"Look! Ethan also said he wanted to see Jessica as a shrine maiden!?"

"And what does it have to do with ridiculing me!?"

It wasn't even an excuse. Finally, senior had to admit defeat and apologize.

"I'm sorry. I'll refrain from teasing you in the future... I'll try to at least."

"Try to at least?"

"Ugh! I won't do it as much anymore. Is that good enough?"

"Hah... Yes, that's fine. At least try to."

"Ugh... I'm sorry, Jessica."

Finally, the conversation caught on and the subject came to an end. I don't think senior Margaret would stop making fun of Jessica, but I was too lazy to interrupt them, so I stayed quiet.

"So, that's what Jessica will do, what about the president?"

"Me? Right... I'm going to do tarot reading, so maybe I'll wear a mysterious outfit?"

"Mysterious outfit?"

"Fufu~! I'm looking forward to the festival. And Ethan, I want you to be in charge of guiding and such."

"Guiding and such? Like behind-the-scenes as a general assistant?"

"Yes. Anything other than fortune telling."

"Understood. I'll try studying fortune-telling too just in case."

"Really!? Well, it seems like Ethan has become aware of the fortune-telling club."

With the use of several magic arts that I had mastered during the summer vacation, it is possible to imitate fortune-telling. After that, we talked about fortune-telling for a while and then disbanded.

***

My weekend was the same as before the summer vacation, and Monday arrived. When I arrived at school and went to class, I was grabbed by Matthew, who had arrived earlier.

"Oi! Ethan!"

"What's up?"

"It seems that you were with Jessica after school on Friday."

I heard her name and looked for her in the classroom. She seemed to have not yet arrived at school, probably coming just in time as usual.

"Oh! We just went to the old building for club activities."

"Club activities in the old building?"

"That's right."

"But why did you go with her?"

"Because we're in the same club."

"...Seriously!? I'm hearing this for the first time!"

"...Because we're both ghost club members. Both me and Jessica."

When the two of us were talking, we attracted the attention of our classmates in the classroom, perhaps because of the content of our conversation. Eventually, the other boys joined in the conversation.

"So which club are you in?"

"The fortune-telling club. I was just observing at random and they captured me."

"A club is a minimum of three people, right...?"

"That's right. With the second-year female senior as the club president, there are three people in total."

"Then, if I join, will I be able to do the same club activities as Jessica!?"

"...If someone joins, Jessica will probably quit."

"Is that so?"

"She said from the beginning she only wanted to lend her name, and she doesn't seem particularly interested in fortune-telling."

"What if Ethan leaves?"

"If two people join, I'll quit, but if it's just one, I'm afraid Jessica will leave the club first."

"Seriously..."

"I have to put her wishes ahead of mine, too, or else I'll be afraid of what comes after."

"Well, I kind of understand."

After continuing the conversation for a short time, Jessica came to school. With that, we broke up and ended this topic.

As an aftereffect, whenever I walked in the hallway, I was stared at by other students for a bit.

***

In mid-September, I received a long-awaited call from Erika. She told me that she would be off on the 24th and we could meet secretly.

When I asked her what she wanted as a reward for presenting Emily to me, she responded with a request that implied...

On that day, she wanted to do a threesome with me and Isla.