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As I glanced around in alarm, I was relieved to see that none of the other children were paying attention to us. They were all too excited about the upcoming entrance ceremony to notice our conversation.

…Thank goodness.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I turned to stand beside Nina-chan and asked her, "Why do you want to defeat me?"

Nina-chan remained silent.

I see. She doesn\'t want to talk about it.

Alright, let\'s change the subject.

"Even if you want to defeat me, wouldn\'t it be fine to be in the same class? You can still win, can\'t you?"

"No! It\'s because being in the same class is destiny!"

"…?"

At my natural question, Nina-chan shook her head vigorously from side to side.

Wait, what…? I tilted my head, utterly confused by her words.

Is this something that\'s just beyond me as an adult who can\'t keep up with the trends of modern elementary school kids?

"…Why does being in the same class mean it\'s destiny?"

"Don\'t you know? If you sit next to someone in the first grade, you\'re destined to marry them!"

"Uh, why?"

"Because that\'s what the manga I read before coming to Japan said!"

Nina-chan puffed out her chest with pride as she explained.

So, she really is from overseas, huh? Her Japanese is pretty good. Maybe she studied using shoujo manga?

While Nina-chan seemed all hyped up, the reality is that most of the friends you make in elementary school end up becoming distant acquaintances. Elementary school reunions aren\'t even a thing. At least, I never attended one, so that\'s just my assumption.

However, I\'m not the type to crush a child\'s dreams by telling her the harsh truths of reality. Despite everything, I\'m still an adult on the inside. Not that I\'ve accumulated much life experience to truly consider myself one.

So, I gave her a smile and said, "I see. Thanks for letting me know, Nina-chan."

"That\'s why you can\'t be in the same class as me, Itsuki!"

"I get it. But if you\'re destined to marry the person next to you, doesn\'t that mean you could marry someone else who sits next to you?"

"…?"

"Like the person on the other side of you."

I pointed to the desk beyond Nina-chan\'s, where another student was sitting.

Naturally, since Nina-chan\'s desk wasn\'t by the window or the wall, she was seated between two other students. If she doesn\'t want to marry me, she could marry the other person instead, right?

…Oh, right. That\'s a girl.

Yep. The other person sitting next to Nina-chan was a girl. Does that mean I\'m going to be kicked out again because she can\'t marry a girl? As I was contemplating this, Nina-chan seemed to accept my suggestion and stepped away from me.

That was surprisingly easy to convince her.

I guess elementary schoolers really are like this, huh?

"So, nice to meet you, Nina-chan."

"…Hmph!"

It seems the road to making ten friends is going to be a long one.

By 9:45, a young female teacher entered the classroom. The noisy atmosphere quieted down as everyone took their seats. The power of a teacher is truly impressive.

The teacher introduced herself briefly, mentioning only her name, and then lined us up in order of our attendance numbers in the hallway. There, sixth graders were already waiting to guide us to the gymnasium. I guess this tradition is the same nationwide!

As I was being led by a sixth-grader toward the gym, I suddenly felt a strange presence.

—I sense something... unusual.

Descending the stairs, I spotted something at the shoe cubbies we had passed earlier.

Standing there was a figure with disheveled hair, wearing a tattered dress, bare feet caked with mud and wounds, and cradling something in her arms like an infant.

Yet, despite this suspicious figure standing there, no one else seemed to notice or say anything.

That\'s because it was a kaiju—a monster.

"When you grow up, y-you\'ll become… a first-grader too…"

The voice, filled with a sinister obsession, echoed like a gust of wind.

From what I could tell, it was a First or Second Rank spirit. However, the specter simply stood there, staring intently at the students as they lined up and headed to the gym, without making a move.

…Strange. Monsters typically target children.

Monsters attack humans, and they particularly prey on children. That\'s because children possess more magical energy, essentially, life force—and are easier targets.

So, I found it odd that this monster was just staring at the children without attacking. But as soon as our eyes met, the ghost took a step forward.

"I have to eat to grow up…!"

Yeah, I figured it would come to this.

However, my "Silveit," which I had already deployed, wrapped around the ghost, binding it tightly and then shredding it to pieces, turning it into black mist.

That\'s that. I don\'t have time to deal with this nonsense.

Sighing, I adjusted my mindset. I wondered if Nina-chan had noticed the monster, but when I looked back, she was just coming down the stairs. So, she didn\'t see it.

Come to think of it, if I hadn\'t dealt with that monster, wouldn\'t Nina-chan have exorcised it? If that\'s the case, did I just miss my chance to see foreign magic in action?

From what Irena-san, the British Exorcist, had said, it seemed like British magic was different from Japanese magic. After all, the "Translation Magic" that Irena-san likely used didn\'t involve "Silveit."

It suggested there was an entirely different magical system.

…I want to know more.

That desire burned strongly within me. There might be aspects of magic out there that I still don\'t know.

Some might think I should\'ve gone to England with Irena-san if I was that curious, but this is this, and that is that. It\'s a bit selfish of me, but I can\'t help my curiosity.

Although, I don\'t even know if Nina-chan is from England. She could be from another country, so it might be a different type of magic altogether.

As these thoughts swirled in my mind, we entered the gymnasium, where the parents were seated in neat rows on folding chairs, dressed in formal attire.

Among them were my parents and Hina.

"Look, dear. There\'s Itsuki."

"Y-Yes…! I won\'t miss this…!!"

I could hear them murmuring excitedly from afar. My father, in particular, was holding a massive, professional-grade DSLR camera that looked more like something a YouTuber would use, one of those that cost close to a million yen and had incredibly high video quality.

When did he buy that…?