The Arrangement Pt.1

"As if you were a... a different person," said the mysterious girl.

The stunning girl had blue hair and golden-yellow eyes.

Unlike our world, magic here seemed to affect hair color. Throughout the school, hair came in all sorts of shades — but then again, this is an isekai world... why wouldn’t it be like that, right?

We stood there quietly, watching her for a few seconds. Her eyes didn’t blink, and her smile never wavered. She seemed eager to see what my answer would be.

Before taking any drastic steps, we agreed to at least understand the situation first:

"Huh… I’m Zero, Zack Zero, by the way. And you are?"

Tadashi, I saw that reference to 007, you sneaky bastard!

"Oh, right, introductions. I’ve heard your name so much lately that I almost feel like we’re already close. Call me Rush."

Rush? A strange name…

That word described our conversation pretty well, too.

“Nice to meet you, Rush. So, what were we talking about?”

"Oh, sorry, that happens sometimes. I start talking and then lose my train of thought…"The girl, visibly restless, kept running her hand through her hair — pushing it back behind her ear, only to drag it forward across her forehead again.

"It’s fine, that happens to me sometimes too."

"Really? Until this morning, I had never even heard your voice."

"Well…"

Okay… she has a point.

We changed worlds, and I’m still tripping over my words when talking to a girl.

"I’m more of a shy guy out of convenience, you could say. It’s not that I’m embarrassed to talk, I just prefer to keep to myself."

This made absolutely no sense.

I KNOW… IT’S JUST… I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY.

Give me the control for a second:

"But tell me, did you see the explosion in the sky the other day? I was out for a little night run when it happened. With that level of magical power in one phenomenon, it must’ve been made by someone very powerful."

Seriously? Bragging already?

"I was awake — I saw everything from my bedroom window. I…" she stepped closer, her chest pressing against mine. "I don’t want to start things off on the wrong foot by lying… I already know who put on that phenomenon."

As she whispered that, Tadashi blush.

Meanwhile, I was more interested in what she’d said:

"Who did it? Are they in this room by any chance?"

She pulled back, letting out a cute little laugh:

"Of course not, silly. No one here is capable of doing something like that. It was done by my master. Sorry, I can't talk about him. I don’t want to lie, so I’ll just omit the facts. But if you’re interested, he can tell you in private. It’s inevitable you two will meet."

"Huh… if you say so.”

We’re dealing with a fraud. I really want to BEAT THAT GUY UP! NO ONE GETS TO STEAL OUR GLORY!

"Can I break protocol for a second here?"

"Sure, go ahead…"

"I know we shouldn’t talk about this, but the whole agreement was arranged through mediators. Are you happy with it?"

Agreement? What the hell — we definitely missed some important info…

Maybe it’s some school thing, right? We can’t know everything, so let’s just play it cool.

"Oh yes, the agreement… I’m really excited about it."

"R-really? I… I’m happy. Despite everything, I’m really excited too. I know it’s kind of drastic, but sometimes you need to take a step bigger than your leg… or rather, a leap into the dark… You get what I mean!"

She was switching from excited to downright ecstatic.

I don’t think we’re that big a catalyst for all this hype.

"I understand… I’m pleased with the agreement. And I hope to have the opportunity to explore as much of it as possible."

Rush glanced away, compulsively scratching her face. She looked as red as a strawberry. I wonder if it’s an allergic reaction?

"O-okay…if you say so…."

"Huh… so then…"

I’M ALREADY AT 100 PERCENT OF MY CONTEXT-LESS CONVERSATION CAPACITY, SHI-NII! HELP ME!

We’ve stalled long enough. Time for exit protocol.

"It was nice talking, but I have to go to the bathroom and—"

Before I could finish, she hugged us. And it wasn’t the “I’m sorry for your loss” kind of hug or even a casual “nice to meet you” hug — it was the heart-squeezing breathless kind. Her face rested against our chest, her hands dug into our back, for several long, endless seconds.

Tadashi gave two pats on her back, like he was petting a dog.

She then stepped back a few paces, her face flushed.

"T-thanks… I was super nervous about tomorrow. You lifted a huge weight off my shoulders… S-sorry for rushing things out… I…" she couldn’t finish the sentence, tears welling in her eyes.

It was a really severe allergy.

She rushed out of the classroom.

That’s when I felt the social atmosphere drop onto our shoulders. Every pair of eyes in the room was staring at us, and it felt like they’d been fixed on us for a long time

How embarrassing…

"That noble bastard is using his power to corrupt Miss More’s pure mind."

“We’re definitely going to kill that guy…”

“I’m telling you, he’s irresistible. Not even Rush could resist him.”

It was so mortifying that I figured… let’s just end this chapter and move on.