Mahou Sensou:Volume 3 Prologue

Prologue

It was mid-November, when the sky was high, and the cold autumn wind was beginning to blow. At the main entrance of a certain academy, a boy was standing in complete solitude.

"Hey... so this is the Kousei Academy?"

Raising his eyes, he observed the building's facilities that comprised both the basic and the more advanced courses. But despite that, the area was surrounded by a dense forest.

It was a fifteen-minute walk from the bus stop along a slightly steep mountain road to get there. There was no doubt that this place was very difficult to find for someone who did not know the area. Nanase Gekkou smiled as he thought about it.

Consigo had two huge suitcases: one of them was a sports briefcase and the other was a thin leather bag which he carried slung one on each shoulder.

"So this is where Kurumi and that guy are?"

Arriving at the place, he glanced around until he noticed that there was a window located beyond the entrance. Gekkou approached and knocked:

"Hello, excuse me... I am a relative of the student Nanase Takeshi. He is my elder brother. May and I have brought him some things. Could you let me see him?"

The window belonged to the visitor's office, and through it, a female employee with a grumpy expression peeked out and looked at Gekkou out of the corner of her eye. After glancing at the two suitcases she was carrying, she simply pointed to a door to the side, indicating that he should go in there. (that was the meeting room). Once there, the woman arrived to ask him again the full name of his relative, and left again.

Gekkou waited sitting on a sofa for about twelve minutes and after that time, he finally saw his brother's face appear in the meeting room, so he stood up with a smile.

"Takeshi! Long time no see."

"Gekkou..."

Takeshi's expression when he saw him was a pretty bad.

"Here, mom sent it to you."

Gekkou had taken it upon himself to bring him the winter clothes that were supposed to arrive in the mail. Takeshi then, received that sporty briefcase without taking his eyes off Gekkou.

Ah... T-Thank you..."

Despite having said thanks, Takeshi's expression clearly expressed confusion. Gekkou on the other hand, looked at his brother differently, as he had a smile plastered on his face. And before Takeshi could say anything else, Gekkou stated what he had really come to do:

"Where is Kurumi?"

"Huh?"

"I want you to call Kurumi. I want her to come..."

It seems that Gekkou had not only asked to see his brother, but also his childhood friend: Isoshima Kurumi. However, Takeshi upon seeing Gekkou's demand, asked with perplexity:

"Why do you want to see Isoshima?"

Gekkou didn't feel the slightest desire to explain, but still picked up the leather bag he still had with him, showed it to Takeshi and then answered:

"On my way here, I passed by our neighbors' house, and they asked me to bring this to Kurumi."

When he heard that, Takeshi finally calmed down and nodded in understanding.

"A-aah... I see! So that's what it was... wait a minute, I'll go call her."

Takeshi hurried out of the room with a certain air of worry, while Gekkou twisted his face into a strange smile behind his back.

"Why does this guy have to be my big brother? He's irritating," Gekkou thought angrily.

He was completely convinced that his older brother had betrayed him. That he had deliberately provoked that accident that left him with a crippled leg, to later take Kurumi away from him, making them transfer to that far away academy. According to him, Takeshi was merely cajoling Kurumi to take advantage of her.

"He's not the kind and caring guy he appears to be. He's jealous and corrupt. He even tried to murder me to keep Kurumi for himself, and to have a free hand in Kendo."

Gekkou waited on the sofa thinking about it. However, he hadn't noticed that Kurumi had already been watching him for a while through the crack of the door between the openings.

"Gekkou..." Kurumi exclaimed, entering the room. Is it really you?

As soon as she saw Kurumi approaching, she quickly got up from the sofa.

"Kurumi!"

"Did something happen?" Kurumi asked.

With a big smile all over his face, Gekkou ran to hug the surprised Kurumi who came walking towards him.

"No, I just wanted to see you," Gekkou replied.

"Wait, don't exaggerate! We saw each other during the summer, remember?"

Kurumi had always been a little taller than him, and she didn't resist Gekkou's hug at all, nor did she feel bad about it, because for her, it was as if her little brother was hugging her.

"Summer was a long time ago." Gekkou answered, raising his head and looking her in the eyes.

"Really? Well, I'm actually planning to go home during the winter vacations.

"I was so worried about you, and I couldn't wait that long. Besides, I was able to come because I was already feeling relieved and more energetic."

"I see... I appreciate the visit. Well, Takeshi and I are fine."

Everything was going well until Takeshi's name reached Gekkou's ears. Then his happy expression dropped and he stiffened. However Kurumi didn't notice that. Gekkou grabbed Kurumi by the hands, indignant at how disinterested she was in his visit.

"Hey... Aren't you upset that you had to transfer to a school so far away?"

"I had my reasons for doing so." Kurumi replied.

Gekkou was annoyed by Kurumi's closed and insecure attitude. But then he resigned himself and said:

"Listen... Next year I will attend this place. So we'll be together like before..."

"Huh? I'll keep that in mind..."

"You've already forgotten? I'm already studying for the final exams. But I haven't determined which school I'm going to next year. So I'll come to this one... I've already decided..."

Kurumi blinked several times as she was surprised by Gekkou's words, and looked back to where Takeshi was standing in the doorway silently watching the scene. Gekkou also gave him a look of disgust without letting go of Kurumi's hands for a second.

"Gekkou... You say you plan to come to this school?" Takeshi asked.

"That's what I said... Any problem?" Gekkou replied without even turning to look at him.

"You'd better give up that idea."

Feeling uneasy about what Takeshi said, this time Gekkou did turn to look at him quickly.

"Why would I do that? Neither you nor the exam will stop me."

"That's not the point, Gekkou!"

However, Gekkou ignored him and just smiled at Kurumi saying:

"You'd really be happy to have me here wouldn't you?"

"Huh?! Well... I guess so..."

"Ah! By the way... here you go. Your housekeeper gave it to me when I passed your house. It seems to be a lot of things."

Seeing that Kurumi didn't object to the idea of him coming to the academy, Gekkou happily handed her the leather bag he brought for her.

"Thank you, Gekkou...!"

Kurumi received the bag, and squeezed it in her arms. Then, she walked towards the door looking for the exit and said:

"Well... then I'm going..."

"What? You're leaving already?"

"Of course, I have things to do and I'm sure you two will have a lot to talk about." Kurumi answered.

Seeing that she was already leaving, Gekkou sighed with disappointment.

"I'll see you around..." Kurumi said, and then left.

Gekkou looked sideways at his brother who was crestfallen and said:

"Then... I guess I'll be leaving too."

After everything was over and Gekkou was on his way out, Takeshi called out to him.

"Gekkou..."

Gekkou, however, wasn't at all interested in whatever his older brother was about to tell him, and didn't even look back as he walked towards the exit.

"Hey, Will you continue dating me?"

"What? A-aah..."

For a moment, Takeshi didn't know who was addressing him.

But soon he realized that it was Kurumi who was talking to him. For a long time Takeshi and Kurumi had been pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend in front of others, but they only did it because from elementary school until high school, Kurumi had been the victim of constant harassment by men who tried to approach her.

"What a pity, but it won't be necessary anymore, because from April I will be here." Gekkou said quickly.

"..."

Gekkou had not yet left, so he waited for a moment looking for Takeshi to object to what he said. However, his older brother had no reaction. Seeing that, Gekkou quickly left the room in great anger. When he passed in front of the visitor's office window again, he walked over and called out to the clerk again.

"Excuse me .... I want to enroll in this academy."

"You want to enroll?"

"Yes, that's what I said."

The clerk made a face of complete confusion and bewilderment and said:

"I'm very sorry... But this academy is not enrolling new students for next year."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm really sorry."

Having said that, the employee quickly returned to her duties inside the office.

"You're kidding, right? What kind of school doesn't enroll new students for next year?"

Not understanding the reason why she was told that, Gekkou left the place for a moment. On his way out, he stared at the school building for a while.

"Eeh?!!!"

The place where the academy's facilities surrounded by trees were supposed to be, suddenly turned into a mountain. The whole school had completely disappeared, as if it had never been there. Gekkou rubbed his eyes and looked up again to see the school facilities again. All the buildings of the academy were there again as they were at the beginning.

"What's going on, is it an optical illusion?"

Gekkou doubting his 'own eyesight. However, his eyesight was in perfect condition. He stopped to think for a while, realizing that the place had been very quiet even though it was a school.

"There's something strange about this place..."

With that in mind, Gekkou stood for a moment in front of the main entrance with a suspicious expression and then left.

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Translator's Notes and References

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