The Miracle of a Simple Handshake
"Everyone, since class has started, please put away your summons."
Professor Ellie began today's lesson as usual. At her words, the students recalled the summons they'd been playing with.
"The relationship between a summoner and their summon is fundamentally one of lord and servant. To become an excellent summoner, you must learn how to handle your own summon."
As Professor Ellie spoke, she summoned her own summon. The blackboard behind her began to vibrate wildly. Then, a glove holding a pair of scales passed through the board like a ghost, revealing itself.
The leather glove was empty inside, yet it flexed and extended its fingers as freely as if a real human hand were wearing it.
"This is my summon, Judgment."
Judgment flew around near Professor Ellie, scales in hand, acting all cute and coquettish.
So adorable... If only my Thanatos acted like a spoiled baby too...
That was Lur's thought.
"This one randomly asks questions to people nearby. It usually picks me, its owner, though. Judgment, begin the judgment."
Judgment bent and straightened its index and thumb fingers repeatedly, then began to speak.
"Professor Ellie, every time you see a female student, you think, 'I was way prettier in my prime.'"
"..."
The atmosphere in the room froze instantly. The professor coughed awkwardly, flustered.
"That's true..."
"True! True!"
Judgment's scales tipped to the left.
"P-Please forget what just happened, everyone."
With that impossibly awkward plea, Professor Ellie continued the lesson.
"If I answer the question truthfully, I get a beneficial effect for ten minutes. For example..."
She gripped the desk in front of her with one hand and lifted it effortlessly, as if it were a pencil.
"Whoa...!"
"Amazing!"
Not stopping there, the professor balanced the desk on her pinky finger and spun it around like a basketball on her fingertip. Her incredible performance masterfully achieved the impossible: making everyone forget Judgment's question.
"Conversely, if you lie to the question, you get a debuff. I've already answered, so now it'll randomly pick another student. Alright, Judgment. Begin the judgment."
Judgment pointed at Melle, who was dozing off.
"Student Melle..."
Since Melle was asleep, Judgment cut off midway. Professor Ellie approached and pinched her ear.
"Kyaaah!"
"Sleeping in class? What do you think you're doing?"
"S-Sorry... I've been having nightmares lately..."
"Wake up. Now, answer the question."
As Melle sat up, Judgment resumed.
"Student Melle, you've touched something—or someone—you shouldn't have."
The classroom buzzed. Lur knew the answer, so she scratched her cheek and hid her face behind her book.
Melle glared at Lur like she was her parents' murderer, but the curse swirled in her mind. With a deep sigh, she lied.
"...I've never done that."
"Lies! Lies!"
The scales tipped right. Suddenly, Melle slumped over her desk as if asleep again. But she struggled to lift her upper body. Her form twitched upward, proving it—yet she couldn't move, pinned like under sleep paralysis.
"This is the debuff. Judgment, release Student Melle's debuff."
"As you command."
Melle's body returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
"Ordering your summon to use its abilities, applying them, releasing them—these all depend on the summoner's competence."
The professor assigned Class 1 a performance evaluation.
"Tomorrow, one by one, show me giving a command to your summon and it carrying it out. Even something trivial is fine. But if you fail... you'll get mandatory nighttime self-study."
The unholy hybrid of "mandatory" and "self-study" left every student in Class 1 speechless.
Will Thanatos obey my command?
Back in her dormitory room, Lur stared endlessly at her shadow.
He helps when Melle bullies me, so he doesn't hate me. He even heals me. And he told me his name.
Gathering her courage, Lur spoke to her shadow.
"Th- Thanatos...! Come out...!"
But Thanatos didn't appear. If someone saw her, they'd think she was a crazy person talking to herself. She felt utterly embarrassed.
Her classmates could summon and dismiss their summons at will, but she couldn't even do that. She'd heard it happened sometimes when the gap between summoner and summon was too wide.
"Hiiing..."
How could she make Thanatos obey? As she pondered, a memory flashed in her mind: Thanatos hunting for meat.
Conveniently, she'd just bought food from the vending machine—sausages today, luckily.
"Thanatos, I've got meat here. Don't you want some?"
Lur shook the sausage over her shadow with the world's most innocent smile.
Even with the bait waggling like a puppy's tail, the big fish refused to bite.
"Hmm... Is there some condition...?"
Lur recalled when Thanatos had emerged. First time: black mist darkening everything. Second: nighttime. Third: smoke making it dark again.
Spotting the pattern, she nailed the common thread: darkness.
Lur flicked the switch, turning off the light. She dangled the sausage toward the floor.
Thanatos's hand slipped out, snatching just the sausage.
"Success! Thanatos, can you talk to me?"
Thanatos peeked out only his head. Black smoke began filling the room.
He still emits smoke even in the dark. I know so little about him.
"Um, hey. Tomorrow... no, not a command—a request. Can you do it? Just a handshake. A handshake is when we grab hands and shake. Got it?"
Thanatos extended his ragged, leathery hand. Lur grabbed it without hesitation and shook.
"Thank you!"
Lur beamed with genuine joy.
"I realized I was wrong. The professor always stresses it: summoner and summon are lord and servant."
"..."
"But when you saved me last time, I felt it. You're no subordinate, no slave. You shouldn't be."
Lur meant every word. Treating her summon as an equal—or more—was so naive, so kind-hearted.
"I won't command you. I'm not worthy anyway. So... I'm asking. For tomorrow's evaluation, will you shake my hand?"
Thanatos nodded. Pure Lur lit up like she'd won the world.
"Thank you, really thank you!"
Thanatos couldn't bring himself to say it: that he, the epitome of a boys'-only path through middle school, high school, engineering college, and the military—a walking sausage fest—was terrified of women and had terminal stage fright. He'd planned to skip the evaluation entirely.
But she was so thrilled. Fine, he'd stick out an arm for a handshake.
Performance evaluation day arrived.
Students succeeded spectacularly. Others wept as their summons disobeyed. Even pervy straight-A types who deliberately gave impossible orders to force nighttime self-study.
After various demos, Lur's turn came.
Professor Ellie had already checked the "fail" box preemptively. An Immeasurable-rank summon wouldn't show, and no summoner had ever commanded one successfully—not even S-rank heroes.
"Student Lur, you can go."
Before Lur could even try, Professor Ellie spoke. But Lur suddenly flicked the switch, plunging the classroom into darkness. She knelt on the floor and extended her hand toward it.
"Thanatos, will you shake my hand?"
Not a command like the others—a request.
Suddenly, the nightmare hand she'd never wanted to see again emerged from the classroom floor, shook Lur's hand, and vanished.
Lur turned the lights back on.
"Hahaha, as expected of trash-tier—cheating with an easy handshake command!"
Despite the jeers, Lur felt closer to Thanatos and beamed happily. The students mocked her. Melle writhed in curse-induced stomach pain. The professor gaped in shock. The class president watched Lur intently.
"N-No way. An Immeasurable-rank... Things that ignore even S-rank heroes' commands... obeyed an F-rank?!"
Professor Ellie felt her worldview crumbling. The shock made her drop her evaluation sheet without realizing.
"...This just got interesting."
The class president glanced back and forth between Lur and the professor.