I Will Make Thy Name Great (3)
"A birthday commemorative stream?"
"Yes. That's right. Maya-senpai's birthday is coming up soon."
Ninomae smiled as she answered Han Seoyeon. A birthday was no small thing even for an ordinary person, but a streamer's birthday was an event of a different order entirely—an annual rite that came back around every year, no different from a second debut anniversary. And the birthday commemorative stream for first-generation talent Kitayama Maya had been set for the following week.
"A commemorative stream on the day itself. A commemorative live on the weekend of that week. It's a tradition, in its own way, if you can call it one."
"And they go out of their way to hold the live on the weekend because…"
"Well, it has to be the weekend if you want lots of people to actually be able to watch. That said, it would feel strange to just let the birthday itself slide, so they do mark the day of, too."
Han Seoyeon gave a thoughtful hum and nodded.
"There was Charlotte-san's birthday stream the month before last, was there not?"
"That's right. Her 3D model still wasn't out then, so… ugh. There wasn't a live, but—!"
Even as she spoke, Ninomae shot her arm straight up. She flailed at a high shelf, her fingers wavering on the very edge of reaching the book—almost, and not quite.
"Here."
"Ah, thank you."
When Shion drew it down in her stead, Ninomae broke into a shy little smile and hugged the book to her chest. Understanding Dragon Worship and Folk Sorcery in Central America—a rather fusty title to be cradled so tenderly against a lovely girl's smile. The faintly yellowed volume gave off a genuinely stale smell, the kind peculiar to old books.
Ninomae and Han Seoyeon had come to the university's affiliated library. Not for any assignment. Ninomae had said there was material she wanted to find.
"But why material of this sort, so suddenly?"
"I thought I ought to understand the demons I've contracted with."
The demons under Philotanuss with whom Ninomae had made her contracts were beings born, originally, of one image or another. Some among them, of course, had been brought into the world by folk belief.
"I'm not sure how much help this will actually be, though."
She laughed—hehe—and gave a little shrug.
"Even so, I want to try as far as I can. I want to be at least a proper magician in my own right!"
It was plain at a glance that this was no mere whim, the impulse of a child who had stumbled into mysterious power. The light in her eyes, as she said it, was far too grave for that.
"Because Shion-san can't always be there to protect me, no matter when or where I am."
To protect Ninomae herself. Or else to spare Han Seoyeon, who might be thrown into peril with her, should she ever be taken hostage.
"I want to become strong enough to properly protect the things I have."
"For the sake of protecting what is precious. A fine motivation."
Han Seoyeon smiled back at her as she answered.
"But you must not grow too greedy for power. As a rule, the methods by which one grows easily, without steady effort, have poison in them."
What she had just given was counsel in her capacity as a Holy Knight who kept the hidden world. Far too many anomalies had hungered after greater power and crossed a river from which there was no return.
"I'll take it to heart. I promise."
Ninomae nodded, her face exceedingly serious. Han Seoyeon looked at her as if to say that was enough.
"—Ninomae-kun. Might I suggest you refrain from acts of affection in a public place?"
"……?!"
At the voice that came from right beside them a heartbeat later, Ninomae startled and shrank in on herself. The newcomer was built considerably smaller than the average Japanese woman. Their supervising professor, Senjoji Chihaya, stood watching them with both hands shoved into the pockets of her white coat.
"A-acts of affection, Professor…?"
"No? From a distance, it rather looked as though the two of you were about to kiss, or something of the sort."
"A ki—?!"
Ninomae's mouth fell open, and she froze solid. Han Seoyeon took her by the shoulder and gave her a light shake, but there was no response. Her brain, it seemed, had reached the limit of what it could process.
Well—it was true they had been standing rather close. Even so…….
"…We were only speaking of anomalies. It is hardly the sort of subject one can allow to leak into the surface world."
They had drawn close for no reason but to keep their voices down. Seoyeon offered the defense in Ninomae's place; the girl had turned to stone.
"Is that so? I hear the two of you are forever attached at the hip, so I had simply assumed it was that sort of thing."
"Our comings and goings have reached even your ears, Professor?"
"The two of you are more famous at this university than you seem to think."
Professor Senjoji grinned as she said it.
"And from what I hear, you have even begun living together."
"From whom did you… No. It is not worth considering. Chiyo-san, I assume."
They had spoken of moving in together on stream. Chiyo would of course have heard the news, and there would have been nothing strange in her letting a word of it slip to her elder sister.
"If I may correct you: not yet."
"And if it is 'not yet,' then it is 'soon'?"
"Yes. Well."
Han Seoyeon nodded after a moment.
"…Then the wedding, too, is 'soon,' is it not?"
But the professor tipped her head, nursing a doubt. Was one meant to call it old-fashioned, this virtual equating of cohabitation with marriage—or to praise it as an open set of values, unbound by the notion that such things existed only between men and women? Han Seoyeon gave the question several seconds of entirely serious thought.
……No. Could it be that I am the strange one?
She even went so far as to think that. The last time, after all, Ninomae had taken her to task over the offer to move in together, pointing out that depending on the person, it could be received as a proposal.
"Professor. As a fundamental matter, same-sex marriage is not recognized under the laws of Japan."
"Ah—of course, that's how it was!"
Whichever way the question fell, Han Seoyeon had decided to begin by correcting the error in the most basic premise. At her words, Professor Senjoji smacked her own forehead as if she had committed a blunder.
"Is that the sort of thing one ordinarily mistakes?"
"News from abroad is forever carrying stories of the sort, so I had gotten it muddled!"
So this, then, was what people meant when they said that genius and fool are separated by a single sheet of paper.
"…One moment. Then my younger sister is dreaming a dream that is impossible under Japanese nationality?"
"So… it would seem."
The professor's younger sister, Senjoji Chiyo, was a homosexual who made not the slightest effort to conceal her tastes. Yet so long as she retained Japanese nationality, that desire would never bear fruit as a marriage.
"These days, however, there are said to be those who carry on a romance while holding to a refusal to marry."
"Hmm. Is that so. Is that the way of it……."
The professor seemed to sink into thought for a moment—and then she clapped her hands and jerked her chin up.
"Then the same logic applies, and Shion-kun's marriage in all but name is hardly far off either, is it?"
"Which is why I would ask you, Professor, to begin letting go of this equating of cohabitation with romance."
"Not that it is any great matter to me," Seoyeon went on,
"but on account of it, Ninomae-san has become a ball of fire."
"Ahem. Is that so. I apologize for saying something strange, Ninomae-kun."
Ninomae looked as though an egg set upon her forehead would fry on the spot, and even Professor Senjoji, finding she had nothing to say to that, promptly fell back a step.
"…And do not, after all this, go sending me a wedding invitation later. Do so, and you become a graduate student, Shion-kun!"
"As I believe I have already told you, no such thing is going to happen."
"By my reckoning, it is a one hundred percent safe asset."
"I shall have the application printed in advance!"
Leaving behind words it was impossible to sort into joke or earnest, the professor scurried off in a bustle.
"Ninomae-san? It is about time you came back to us."
"Hwah?"
Han Seoyeon gave a few light taps to the shoulder of Ninomae, who was still locked stiff. Only then did Ninomae seize hold of her scattered wits, her whole body giving a start.
"Are you all right?"
"Auu, th-that's……."
The red had yet to fully leave her face. She hesitated for a long moment, and then, as though she had resolved upon something, she gathered her fists together before her chest and spoke.
"Shion-san. A matter as grave as marriage really ought to be considered a little more carefully—if at all possible, not until the parents of both families have met one another……."
"No. What I am saying is, would you please come back to reality, Ninomae-san?!"