Professor Toei took charge after that. The group was whisked out of the airport and onto a JSDF helicopter before Harue could say, “I want to stop for a specialty Kit Kat.”

  Almost before.

  “It’s Kazuichigo flavour! You can only get it in Kansai Airport!” she protested as she was dragged onto the shuttle bus.

  “Can’t you just buy it online?” James asked.

  “Of course not!” Harue objected. “You buy it as a souvenir, to show you were at Kansai. To know you were at Kansai!”

  “Also, you can’t shoplift online,” Mitsue put in dryly.

  “Well, I could,” Harue admitted. “But credit card fraud is beneath me. There’s no skill, no danger.”

  “That’s of great comfort to me,” Professor Toei said from the front of the bus. “But right now we need to get as far away as possible before anything else happens. Do any of you know who that man was?”

  There was a universal chorus of “No” throughout the bus.

  “That would have been too easy. Well, the army will interrogate him; we’ll see what comes of it. James, do you have any idea why your sword was reacting to him?”

  “No,” James answered. “But the way his sword reacted reminded me of how the… Vaikaranan? Vaikaranian?”

  “Alien,” Midoriko stated flatly.

  James shrugged. “Alien, then. His energy staff would do the same sort of thing when I struck it, but not when Mitsue did. Eventually, it flickered out.”

  “Something to ask our friends about, then,” Professor Toei said, looking at Midoriko.

  “I will pass it on,” she said easily.

  Harue only stopped complaining about her specialty Kit Kats after everyone had turned off their radio headsets. They’d been told not to do that, in case there was an emergency, but after having Harue’s vociferous complaints in his ear for ten minutes, James had started to hope for the sweet embrace of death.

  She seemed to get the message, though, and the headsets came back on again. After Professor Toei lectured them. At least, James assumed that was what his teacher was doing, but without the headset, he couldn’t hear a thing. Harue seemed to take the hint, though, so once they were all back within safety guidelines, the flight proceeded uneventfully.

  After the day they’d had, James half-expected that the school would be a smoking ruin, but it was calm and pristine as it always was. At least until they got to the dorms.

  “I told you not to go through my stuff!”

  Shion’s voice rang out from further down the hall. Fuyumi’s voice was softer, but still audible.

  “It’s hardly rummaging through your possessions when you leave them lying on the floor. And none of the items I returned were yours.”

  “They were, too! I—”

  “Thanks for walking me to my room,” Suki said, and James tuned out the nonsense. “I had fun.”

  “Even the part where we fought interdimensional aliens?” James asked.

  “It was a different kind of fun, but yes. Do—”

  “Gods, are you two going to make out in front of my door?” Matsuri asked, wrenching the door open behind Suki. “Didn’t you get enough of that at the beach?”

  “Sorry to be a bother,” Suki said, her eyes twinkling. “I’ll make sure to obtain a list of approved makeout spots from you.”

  “Ugh, gag. It’s not fair! I never get to go anywhere!”

  “That might have something to do with how you were grounded for one million years, according to your father.”

  She turned to James and smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “Once I’ve got that list.”

  James went back to his room with a goofy smile on his face.

  It was a bit surreal, going back to school like nothing had happened. James kept expecting an explosion or a ninja to pop out of nowhere. However, the only ninja he saw sat next to him during lunch and didn’t do anything movie-worthy.

  After school, the two of them were called to Midoriko’s office.

  “Congratulations the both of you,” she said. “You’ve graduated.”

  “From the school?” James asked in alarm.

  “No, silly, to full-fledged members of the Public Morals Committee,” Midoriko snorted.

  “I thought our training course still had a week to go?” Mitsue asked.

  “It’s early,” Midoriko agreed, “But Mitsue-san doesn’t need any more weapons instruction, and James-san has… other advantages. You showed that at the airport. I think you’re ready.”

  She pointed at the two white blazers hanging from a rack. “Those are yours. Time to cast off those plebian rags and don the garb of a protector of this school.”

  James raised his eyebrows at her formal speech, but replaced his blue tartan blazer with a white one. Looking closer, he saw that the pockets were edged with blue tartan, and the lining was the same material.

  “This will be a nightmare to keep clean,” Mitsue predicted.

  “It symbolises the pure hearts that all PMC members must carry,” Midoriko told them. “Needless to say, you don’t want to show up for duty with a stain on them.”

  “Of course,” James said, wondering how he was going to wash it. Did it need to be dry cleaned? Would Mitsue know?

  “And now,” Midoriko stated. “Your weapons.”

  She turned and retrieved two real katanas from the desk behind her. The laquered scabbards were a deep royal blue, and they had bright red cords that kept the blades secured.

  “A symbol of the school, and your authority,” she said. She held one sword in each hand, holding them out horizontally. James took his in both hands, as he’d been taught.

  “Wear them with pride and use them to cut down evil,” she said sternly.

  “That… won’t actually be necessary, will it?” James asked. “The cutting down evil part, I mean.”

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Midoriko shrugged. “We don’t often see evil on school grounds,” she acknowledged. “And you two have your own weapons for when it does. I don’t expect that you’ll ever have to draw those swords in anger.”

  James nodded. “I understand.”

  “Good. Then get out of here. There will be a proper ceremony for the rest of the intake next week, which you can attend. Yoshiki-ni will give you your patrol schedules tomorrow.”

  James and Mitsue bowed and took their leave.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to be wearing a sword in school,” James said.

  “It’s more normal for me,” Mitsue replied. “Let’s get back to our room, and I’ll show you how to avoid knocking things over with it.”

  “Whoa!” Masahiro exclaimed. “You were serious about the PMC? And they let you in?”

  “That’s what all the afterschool training was about, after all,” James said. “It wasn’t a secret that I’d joined.”

  “Well, yeah, but we thought you were gonna drop out,” Taro explained. “Instead, you got in early!”

  “I can’t believe that they’re handing out katana that easily to gaijin,” Masahiro commented. “Sorry,” he added when James glared at him.

  “If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try joining?” James asked angrily.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Taro said placatingly. “Hey, did you hear the news?”

  “What news?”

  Taro pulled out his phone. “Check it out,” he said, “Konoe-sama has started a VTuber channel!”

  The clip started to play.

  “Kanzenshou-sama has deigned to once more to grace your screens—be grateful, mortals.”

  The video showed an animated girl with horns. With a sinking feeling, James realised that it looked very much like Kana’s hybrid form.

  “How do you know it’s Kana-san?” he asked. “She says she’s Kanzenshou-sama.”

  “It sounds like her, doesn’t it?” Taro said.

  James had to agree that while the voice had been changed a little, the way she was berating her viewers for showing insufficient gratitude did sound like Kana.

  “Besides, she got help from the Computer Club to do this, and I’m practically a member.”

  James stared as the stream continued. The dragon avatar flicked her hair back and started to play Imperial Ascension: Fire of the Fifth Age.

  “Ah… a world of mortals scrabbling for power. How quaint. Let’s see how long it takes me to conquer it all.”

  She selected a ‘Create Character’ option.

  “This is always the hardest part—creating a protagonist that even remotely approaches my magnificence. But I’ll try to imagine being… average. For immersion.”

  Is this a good idea? James wondered. He glanced at the chat.

  [WyrmWorship88]: All hail Kanzenshou-sama! May your pixels never stutter and your enemies always kneel!

  [Softscale_Mika]: Please notice me, Kanzenshou-sama! I crafted a shrine in your image (in Minecraft… but still).

  [GachaBankrupt]: I tried to be as perfect as you once. Burned my toast and got banned from my own Discord. Never again.

  [Dojikko_Danny]: My queen, I humbly ask—what shampoo do you use to achieve such celestial volume?

  [LiteralPeasant92]: M’lady, if I may be so bold—are you winning, or merely toying with their hope?

  Well, he thought uneasily. At least she’s making an impression.

  “Is it a good idea, though?” he asked Harue at breakfast the next day.

  “Yes. It’s a fantastic idea. What were we talking about, again?”

  “You weren’t listening? I’m talking about Kana starting a streaming channel.”

  “Oh, that. Well, in fairness, you weren’t talking about me.” Harue flashed him a smile. “But you were talking about Idol Club, so I forgive you.”

  “Idol Club? What does this have to do with Idol Club?”

  “There’s been a discussion,” Harue said, her voice dripping with disdain, “That all of the club members should get virtual personas. That we become virtual idols as well as real ones.”

  She jerked her head at Junko, further down the table.

  “I take it you don’t approve?” James asked.

  “I like the idea,” Suki said, nudging James from his other side. “I was listening even if you weren’t talking about me.”

  “I’ll never do that again,” James promised instantly. Suki giggled. “But Harue’s the one who knows about…” his voice dropped to a whisper, “the secret stuff.”

  “The yokai stuff, you mean?” Harue asked. “I’m not sure how that’s relevant.”

  “Isn’t it supposed to be a secret?” James asked meaningfully. “She’s streaming with her hybrid form, showing it off to the whole world.”

  “It’s just a drawing,” Harue said, shrugging. “People aren’t going to think she’s actually a dragon because of that.”

  “Having virtual personas will give us an excuse to wear costumes and masks during our live shows,” Suki explained. “Junko thinks that it will keep her father from finding out about her activities. Apparently, performing as an idol is unbecoming of her status as an heiress of the Ogasawara Group.”

  “Like he knows anything about idols,” Harue grumbled.

  “I like it because if I wear a mask during performances, my face won’t get picked up by Master’s facial recognition scans,” Suki said. “The more places I can wear a mask, the more freedom I’ll have.”

  “Only until he figures out you’re wearing a costume,” Harue objected. “Then he just looks for the mask. It’s a temporary stopgap, nothing more.”

  “I’ll take even a temporary measure of freedom,” Suki said softly.

  “Anyway,” Harue said, after a slight pause. “I wouldn’t worry about it. I texted Elidor-san with the link, so if there are… family problems with her showing off like this, he can let her know.”

  “You have Elidor-san’s number?” James asked uneasily. “Did he reply?”

  “Yeah, and…” She checked her phone. “And… he put 50,000 USD in my Swiss bank account.”

  “Since when do you have a Swiss bank account?” James asked.

  “Since now? It looks like they’re sending me some forms to sign,” Harue said, looking closely at her screen. “Looks like all's well that ends well!”

  “You can’t just say that because you got bribed!”

  “Pretty sure I can. Irresponsible of me not to, really.” Harue gave him a cheeky grin. “Look. I don’t know if it’s a good idea. But I do know that once Kana gets an idea in her head, there’s no way to get it out again. And she is the President, and the club is behind her.”

  “She’s President specifically because you wanted a President who didn’t have her own ideas,” Suki reminded her.

  “That is a turn up for the books,” Harue said sarcastically. “This is the first time a fox’s scheme has ever turned around and bit her on the tail. Still, I don’t think it’s a bad result.”

  Harue gathered up her breakfast dishes on her tray and stood up.

  “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get into position to take some candid shots of someone’s little sister.”

  The next day, James and Mitsue were back in Midoriko’s office.

  “Special patrol duties?” James asked. “On the beach?”

  Midoriko scowled. “Did I stutter?” she asked.

  “No, Midoriko-senpai,” Mitsue said respectfully. “It just seems odd that you are assigning rookies to special duties.”

  “There’s a reason,” Midoriko grumbled. “I don’t want knowledge of this group getting out more than it has to.”

  “Um, what group?” James asked carefully.

  “The student council has decided,” Midoriko said with a huff, “That the soldiers we captured should be allowed to interact with the civilians on the island.”

  “Including the guy that tried to kill me?” James exclaimed.

  “No, just the guys that tried to kill me,” Midoriko replied grimly. “The JSDF still has your guy.”

  “I’m still lost,” Mitsue admitted. “What does interact with civilians mean?”

  “It means that they will be operating a food stall on the beach this summer,” Midoriko stated. “Their disguise devices have been restored, and the rest of their technology has been confiscated.”

  Mitsue frowned. “When you said the island could keep them secured, I imagined…”

  “Yes, I imagined some sort of jail as well, but apparently we’re not set up for long-term imprisonment.”

  “That’s probably for the best, for a school,” James pointed out, “But what’s keeping them on the island? Is there a point to keeping them on the island?”

  “Shintaro-kun said the plan is to trade them for some concessions from the invaders. There’s probably more to it than that. Some scheme of Asako-kun’s.”

  “So…” James said slowly.

  “So, check up on them regularly, make sure they’re still there and aren’t doing anything suspicious.”

  “We can’t keep an eye on them at all times,” Mitsue pointed out.

  Midoriko waved her hand vaguely. “Just check in on them from time to time. They won’t be allowed to board the ferry, and it’s too far to swim. The Council thinks that will suffice.”

  “Alright, then,” James said. “I guess we should do our first inspection.”

  They jogged down to the beach. Mitsue said it was good for their physical conditioning, and James agreed because he hadn’t yet worked out how to sit on a bus seat while keeping a sword strapped to his waist. It wasn’t that far.

  When they got to the beach, James spotted the new structure immediately. It was a wooden shack, raised about two feet off the sand on posts. It was attached to a large covered area that would, eventually, seat customers. Right now, though, the tables and chairs the customers would use were still packed in boxes.

  Five seemingly ordinary humans were lazily unpacking boxes—two men and three women. They looked Japanese, or maybe Okinawan; James couldn’t really tell, though their skin did seem a little darker than average. All of them wore loose cotton shorts and brightly colored shirts, the kind that looked like they belonged to the island more than any city. One of the women stood out—taller, broader, and far more muscular than the rest.

  They stopped what they were doing as James and his companion approached, standing still and watching. The mood was tense, but not fearful—more curious than hostile. James thought he caught the precise moment when one of them recognised him.

  “Oh,” the man said. “It’s you guys.”

  masked idols with a virtual presence presented some interesting possibilities... No, Junko, putting them in mechs was still a stupid idea.