Monster Fishing
The outskirts of Roke Island. Kizen's outdoor swimming pool.
A remarkable spectacle was unfolding at the school pool.
Kizen students in swimwear thrust their fishing rods forward with terrified expressions on their faces. Every single one of them had an enchantment laid over their fishing line.
And inside the pool—
Swoooosh—!
Hundreds of shrimp, or crustacean monsters closely resembling lobsters, thrashed about as they carved through the water. Their speed was so ferocious that the wake churned up by the monsters writhing in the narrow pool soaked the students from head to toe.
Taut—
Concentrating hard as she stared ahead, Eshu's lips curled into a grin.
"Here it coooomes!"
With a boisterous yell, she yanked her arm back. Pool water geysered upward as a crustacean monster came reeling out of it, and the students around her let out a chorus of awe.
"Don't let your guard down!"
Came the shout of Grelion, Professor of Summoning Materials.
Eshu stuck out her tongue and spread a Jet-Black Shield. The monster hauled onto land immediately sprayed something like ink, but the shield held it back completely.
"Fire the curse I taught you!"
"Yes, sir!"
She thrust out her hand.
<Remake: Paralyze>
The curse shot outward. The shell of the shrimp monster that had been writhing on the pool floor, cracking the tiles with its mad thrashing, stiffened—and then it went utterly docile.
"Got it!"
Eshu hopped up and down in place. Grelion bellowed.
"Got nothing! If you caught it, take it to Stage Two!"
"Yessir~!"
Eshu heaved the shrimp monster into her arms.
But it apparently still had some fight left in it, thrashing wildly inside her embrace. Its tail whipped back and forth across Eshu's cheek, again and again.
"Quit iiit! Ow! Ahh!"
With her cheek swelling up, Eshu ran off cradling the monster toward Stage Two:
the dissection hall.
Thwack!
Wham!
Kizen students grimaced and groaned as they shoved their knives into the shells of the crustacean monsters they'd just caught, laid out on cutting boards.
"Most crustacean monsters are prepared for undeath in nearly the same way!"
Professor Grelion, who had been supervising the pool, followed Eshu into the Stage Two dissection hall.
"Master the Kammapos, and you've mastered half of all crustacean monsters! Steel your resolve even further!"
"Sir!"
The students groaned as they tried to force their blades into the shells, but it was no easy task. All across the hall, hands were getting cut and bleeding—casualties kept mounting.
The teaching assistants, long accustomed to it, went around with medical kits in hand, patching students up.
"Mmhm."
Simon was here too, of course.
Slit open the Kammapos's belly, remove the organs unnecessary for undead conversion, lay the preliminary groundwork for the magic circle. Then bore a hole through the shell and thread the Jet-Black threads through it.
"I just don't get it."
Thud.
Eshu plopped her Kammapos down next to Simon and grumbled.
"Oh, you're here, Eshu."
"Hey, Mr. President, did you know? Kammapos is a super-premium delicacy that only shows up at high noble banquets! Like, absolutely mouthwateringly delicious! Releasing something this expensive into a swimming pool instead of eating it? Beyond comprehension. If it were up to me, Pass or Fail be damned, I'd set up a campfire and roast these things, one after anothe—"
"Hey, orange hair! Quiet down over there!"
"Yes sir! Sorry, sir!"
That girl.
She was a lifesaver as a mood-maker during nerve-wracking exams, but doing it in class too made her an absolute distraction.
Still, she'd just been scolded by Grelion and gone quiet—and right now was the chance. Simon ratcheted up his focus.
'Here.'
Simon worked at the shell on the crown of its head.
'If I pierce it right here—!'
But the moment his tool went in, the entire upper shell shattered with a sharp crack! Simon let out a disappointed groan.
A teaching assistant who'd been making the rounds saw it and spoke up.
"Student Simon Polentia. That's a failure. Return to the pool."
"Yes, sir!"
So close. One more attempt and he was sure he'd have it.
Simon sprinted back toward the pool to catch a fresh Kammapos.
"You there! Wasting precious materials again!"
Grelion roared after him.
"You WILL succeed next time! Understood?!"
"Yes! My apologies, Professor!"
That was Grelion's own way of encouragement. The students knew him as a terrifying professor, but Simon rather liked the man.
In any case, he was back at the pool.
"UWAAAAAH!"
Just then, Toto—fishing rod in hand—lost his tug-of-war with a Kammapos and was being dragged headfirst into the pool instead.
SPLASH! He hit the water, arms flailing.
"S-save me! Glub! I can't swi—glub!"
The moment a human fell in, the Kammapos swarmed as if they'd been waiting for exactly this. They might look like shrimp, but they were monsters that harmed people all the same.
Snick.
A teaching assistant watching the scene casually threw a fishing rod. The hook smacked onto the tail end of Toto's swim trunks and yanked him clean out of the water.
"Kehak! Khk!"
"Are you alright, student?"
"I-I'm f—cough! Cough! Yes! I'm fine!"
Thankfully, Toto seemed okay. Simon breathed a sigh of relief and took up his rod again.
"Monster fishing with your life on the line. There really is no class too bizarre around here, huh?"
A voice drifted from behind him. Simon tensed up at nothing more than the sound of it, sweeping his rod through the air.
"Serne. Skipping work again?"
"I was just resting~. I'm a little tired, that's all."
Her fingertips came to rest lightly on Simon's shoulder.
A low giggle sounded, as if she were savoring the way he flinched. Her slender fingers swayed back and forth across his shoulder like they were riding a wave.
"I'm talking to you, you know? Couldn't you at least look at me?"
Simon gritted his teeth and stared dead ahead.
"I'm focusing on class. I have to work harder if I want a pass."
"Hmm."
He felt her, who had been hovering playfully behind him, suddenly lean in close—as if pressing herself against his back. Her breath tickled his ear.
"Your face is red."
The breath sent a tingle through his ear. Unable to bear it any longer, Simon whirled around, face burning.
"Serne! Stop mess—! Ah."
Simon's face flushed even deeper.
A stark black bikini swimsuit—far too bold for a student who'd just turned eighteen.
She gazed at him with glistening, dewy eyes, then tilted her head slightly like a fox, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
"You finally looked? And here I wore it just for you."
"……!"
Simon wasn't the only one losing his composure—the boys nearby weren't faring any better.
For them, class had long since stopped being the issue. They knew they'd be dead if Serne herself caught them, and still they were sneaking glances with their lives on the line.
"Eyes on your work!"
When the teaching assistants barked and growled, their heads snapped back toward the pool.
"……Hey, you."
Simon turned his head back as well and returned his attention to fishing.
"You heard them say before class to bring a modest swimsuit, right?"
"Hm? This IS the most modest one I own?"
Right. Should have known talking to her was pointless.
Knowing the school, he suspected they'd be defining "acceptable swimwear" a great deal more precisely after today.
"Aren't you curious how much bolder I can get?"
"……Please. Focus on class."
Just as Simon looked ready to lose his temper, Serne pouted her lips, then walked around to his side.
'Ugh!'
Simon's face went scarlet as he jerked his head away. Serne readied herself, infusing her fishing rod with Jet-Black.
"Fine, fine. Focus on class—that's all I have to do, right?"
"……Y-yeah."
But beside him, all she did was fiddle with her gear, endless and unhurried.
Wondering if she was struggling to bait her hook, he glanced over—only to see her threading a feather onto the hook instead of the bait the school had provided.
"Yaap!"
Then she swung the rod in a mighty arc.
Simon was briefly lost for words. Platinum hair glittering in the sunlight as it whipped through the air, her form as she swept the rod through with all her strength—she looked like nothing less than a masterpiece painting.
Soon the hook dropped into the water with a plop! And in that instant—
GRrrrrrrr!
Every Kammapos in the pool kicked up wakes from all directions and began charging straight for her hook.
"Wh-what?! What's happening?!"
"KYAAAAAH!"
The students stumbled backward at the sudden turn of events. Serne gave Simon a playful wink, then heaved her rod skyward.
SWOOOOSH!
Kammapos, tail biting tail, went soaring into the air. A rain of monsters soon came pattering down, and countless Kammapos flopped and thrashed across the ground.
'……Haha. How many did she catch in one go?'
Serne smiled in satisfaction and beckoned.
"I'll take this one."
She wrapped a single flopping Kammapos from the pool floor in her feathers and lifted it into the air, then used the feathers to shove the rest of them back into the pool.
Cleanup finished just as neatly, she waved as she started toward the dissection hall.
"See you in a bit."
"Yeah."
"Oh, and Simon."
Her mouth opened, her tongue darting briefly against her lips. As if she wanted to say something but couldn't quite bring herself to, she hesitated without a sound—then smiled brightly.
"Something fun is going to happen soon."
"Something fun? Like what?"
"Wouldn't be fun if I told you in advance, would it?"
With a sly, eye-crinkling smile, she walked away.
"Simon!"
Loraine came rushing up from the dissection hall, black hair streaming behind her.
She shot one disapproving glance at Serne's outfit as the girl headed for the dissection hall, then quickly let it go and came up to Simon.
"Anything happen while I was gone?"
……Plenty had happened.
With both Loraine and Professor Grelion away, there had been no one left to hold Serne in check.
"Don't worry. It's all been handled."
"Haah. Trouble, the moment I step away for a little while……"
Simon watched Loraine for a moment as she shook her head.
Loraine in a swimsuit was lovely too, but her boldness carried a different flavor than Serne's entirely.
"?"
When she looked at him with a question mark practically floating over her head, Simon hastily turned back around and faced front.
"What?"
"……Nothing. It's just."
Simon said, a faint flush on his face:
"It's pink……"
It was a question of how on earth she could come to school wearing a pink swimsuit. Loraine gave a small "hm" and cleared her throat once, then gripped her fishing rod.
"It was all I had at home. I thought about going to buy one in Rochest, but it got too late. So I picked the most modest thing I……"
Exactly the same excuse Serne had given.
The two seemed like complete opposites, yet look closely and they were strangely alike in the oddest places.
Was this what they meant by opposites attracting?
"What were you just thinking?"
Loraine said, narrowing her eyes. Simon forced a laugh and pulled back on his rod.
"Sorry, I'll go first!"
SWOOOOSH!
As Simon heaved up his rod, one enormous Kammapos came flying out of the pool.
With Club Season over, life at Kizen moved along at a brisk clip.
After the Ghoul Evaluation came the process of crafting two undead as a stepping stone for their formula studies, followed by the duel evaluations. Simon, needless to say, won his and moved straight up to a higher squad.
Now the time had come to prepare for the approaching midterm exams.
The Summoning Department's current coursework was the construction of the undead Night Terror. Being a magic-type undead, it was considerably difficult.
Simon was assembling a miniature Night Terror from the Kammapos materials he'd brought to Materials class. The Jet-Black moved like a tail, smooth and fluid.
"This is amazing."
It had started out as a shrimp-like crustacean monster, no question—but now only the upper body remained, the tail replaced with Jet-Black and swaying gently.
Swiiish—
It looked like a sea serpent whipping its black tail through the water.
The real Night Terror was in fact a far larger and more vicious undead, but since the class's purpose was mastering a new rune language, they were building theirs from somewhat smaller, safer materials.
"When you use the Bibro Rune to link the flow of Jet-Black externally, this is the result."
Aaron said, making his rounds.
Ever since White had arrived, his face had grown gaunter by the day.
"At minimum, you must master the Bibro Rune before you can assemble higher-tier undead. Any students whose tails won't move properly—check your summoning circles."
"Professor! Mine's not working!"
Hands shot up all over the room. Aaron and the assistants bustled about diligently as always.
"That's all for today. We'll finish up next class."
Aaron walked to the front of the lectern.
Spreading open the documents that had just been delivered, he gave a single thoughtful nod, then looked out at the students.
"Attention, everyone. I have a major announcement."