Web of light. Part 1-7

I've been worried for a while about the "simple" yokai from the group, but... here, when they were settling in, I "talked" with the local quite human contingent, and made sure that my yokays were almost a model of sanity and trustworthiness о_О! Now it's clear why students find these "different" jobs so easily — among all these drunks, buffoons, and just not very quick-thinking people, even people like the spirits from the two artels, there were at most twenty percent. As I said, I stopped worrying about work right away. And I started worrying about school. There were literally two days left. And we never managed to get to the bay, where the seasonal current will soon change, and in November and December, the spirit road dam will become functional again. Something will need to be done about this, too... Later.

chapter 115

And again, "hello school." I don't remember that at least once in my life, "there" and here, I went here with the realization "well, I'm finally going to rest," but — it happened! Actually, it's a great morning, great company, what more could you want for happiness? Put plans and analysis, experiments (which are worthwhile) and fears out of your mind for at least an hour, and just turn your face to sunlight. You can even take off your glasses for a minute. And maybe Rinko, after refining and two weeks of training, she learned to draw mana from the accumulator in the solar plexus area only when necessary. I got a good ferry, I must admit.

Another thing that makes me feel better is that I'm not going to school alone: Rinko is walking on one side with a bokken wrapped in a case in his hand, and Shizuka is on the other, also in a school uniform, with a "scythe to the waist." The braid is braided with blue ribbons, but Rinko doesn't have any ribbons — we didn't get to the summer festival, and there's no reason to offer — Kuzaki doesn't behave like a "kid in a skirt" now, he hasn't behaved for a long time. And I would be the last person to say that she was wrong: when you know for sure that a person is just ready to entrust his life to you, you really stop paying attention to the little things.

And the sun is shining right in your face, and the trees are green-green! Cicadas are squeaking, butterflies are flying, and individual students or, more often, companies are walking along the road just like we do. However, judging by the faces, they are "trudging" rather than walking — the first day after the holidays. Damn, I wish I could take a camera and film us walking from the side — it's like a ready-made animecha opening video! Or better yet, adjust the quadcopter — the camera angles will be more interesting.

And here is the school gate, and Hiroe is waiting for us at the gate. School uniform, briefcase, glasses on his face. And a predatory smile — the students who met Hiroe lay long loops to get around her.

"You look beautiful, I've already looked at how you walk."

"Yeah, I liked it myself. I even thought about taking a keepsake... Hiroe?"

"..."

"ER-er-er, Hiroe?" Rinko cautiously took a step back. "What are you talking about?"

Kaname has regained her normal, or rather "normal" expression, otherwise with a dreamy half-smile and eyes looking "into the horizon" she really scares. Those who know her, of course.

"THE I-D-E-A!" Kaname practically sang and squinted at us. "I'm in my senior year, I got Midori started in high school, it's time to make the project more interesting for myself."

"Is it really that scary?" Mizuchi grunted, behind which Rinko and I involuntarily retreated.

"You're participating too!"

"It's really scary, you know!"

"Yeah, there you are... Damn it, Yuto! Why are you surrounded by a bunch of girls again and all wearing glasses?" And this Taizo "crept up unnoticed." "And you... uh... Will you study with us too?"

"Chidori," Mizuchi introduced herself with her "passport" name. "But you can call me Shizuka, I prefer it that way."

"Okay! Yes, that's why I came up to you. There's another "girl with glasses" over there by the gate, isn't she from your group by any chance?"

The girl with glasses, who seemed to be our age, had apparently also decided that all bespectacled people were brothers in mind, and was already striding briskly towards us. More precisely, to Shizuka.

"Hi, I saw you in the staff room the day before yesterday, aren't you new too?" She turned to Mizuchi, and I saw in her hairstyle a silver hairpin in the form of an oblique cross — well, or the letter "X", whichever you like. A very familiar hairpin! "I'm in Class A on our course, aren't you too? By the way, hi everyone, I'm Yu! Shall we get acquainted?"

"Will be." We gave our names, including Taizo, and moved to the entrance of the building. Yu settled in next to Shizuka, she seemed a little uncomfortable walking alone to strangers like that.

"Listen," she couldn't stand it fifteen seconds later, "why are you all wearing glasses?"

We all pretended to be "surprised", "really?", then looked at each other... and they laughed together!

Taizo, looking at this, pointedly bumped his forehead against his shoe drawer a couple of times.

chapter 116.

Which was exactly what had to be proved. I am the president of the Physics club, unanimously. As if I don't have enough "administrative" work with those who have begun to master the hard work of the yokai builder and paver from the Amakawa Group. Now there's this. We must urgently look for a deputy. At least the guys had prepared the RepRap calculations, and even a double set of gearboxes for the heads had been turned out. Actually, you can just "print" them if you have at least one 3D printer available, but it's not there yet. Having spread out the printouts of drawings and parts on the table, I began to explain the assembly process (it is quite simple), and at the same time touched upon the programming of the controller...

"Is Yuto Amakawa here?"

"I'm here," — wow, the deputy president of the school committee himself came.

"The director wants you to come to his office."

"I'm coming." I waved my hand so that they could sort it out without me. What does the director want from me?

"Good afternoon?"

"Amakawa-kun, have a seat. I have a conversation for you."

"I'm paying attention, Mr. Director."

"Mmm. What I want to tell you... You're very... an enthusiastic young man. It's good to do something like this, from a young age... useful, necessary people. This is a very correct character trait, your passion and your thirst for knowledge. I recently received a call from the deputy head of the Department of Precision Machines and Mechanisms, who was very interested in our students from the Physics club. They really liked your flying camera at the University Youth Exhibition, and the aircraft modeling club managed to register... Anyway, that's what I'm getting at. They would like our school to establish cooperation with the city Polytechnic University. It is prestigious and very honorable for a junior school to receive such an offer... you probably don't know, but participating in such projects greatly raises the school's rating in the municipality. Therefore, I would like you and Rino-sensei to visit the university next Saturday, and you will be excused from classes. And your Taizo classmate will go, they were personally interested in him after participating in the glider competition.

"I'll do my best, Director-san!"

"Great. I never doubted you. Try to make an impression there... Harder, well, you can."

"I'll do my best, Mr. Director!"

"That's good. For my part, I'll try to settle your differences with the chemistry teacher. Otherwise, it's not a good idea to be one of the best students and get a negative review in your personal file. You can go now."

Bowing and walking out the door, I stopped in the middle of the school hallway. And who can tell me what it was?

Chapter 117.

However, the unexpected events did not even think to end. On my way out of school, Hiroe caught me by the elbow and pulled me aside.

"I just found out that her next "best friend" told her mother not to see them for a century. All city schools are being shaken up by the student work commission, which says the number of accidents involving pyrotechnics and self-made explosives has increased. They give review lectures to everyone, and a psychologist works with the "unreliable" ones.

"Damn, it's not a good time. Why such strictness?"

"Yes, it seems that several cases of citizens' appeals for low-power explosions of unknown causes have accumulated, so they decided on schoolchildren and students: who has access to reagents or laboratories."

"Well, it doesn't seem to concern us."

"Yes, it does. The commission has a full-time psychologist. During the lecture, he will monitor who reacts, then conduct private conversations with those who have shown unusual reactions."

"So what?"

"And the fact that psychologists are provided by the staff of the Social Committee! This is their full-time responsibility, along with monitoring the implementation of social norms for children and adolescents."

"Damn it! Are you thinking about what I'm thinking?"

"Exactly. Our Mizuchi will probably get burned on something. We need to prepare her for the conversation somehow."

"Maybe I just didn't come to school that day?"

"Then an invitation will be sent to the committee itself... What are you?"

"I've got a hunch here... Do you know when the check will be with us?"

"Who do you think I am? Of course I know, Dad has all the events already listed in the database. We're in line this Saturday."

"Fuck! I knew it!"

"What did you know?"

"The principal just sent Taizo and Rino-sensei and me to a meeting at the polytechnic to demonstrate the "face of the school. Saturday, as you guessed. And I was wondering what a reservation about a personal matter meant..."

"And what will you do? I can try to influence the transfer of the commission through my dad..."

"Don't make such sacrifices. I'll just try to be careful. Damn it, I got it!"

"Really!"

Part 24 The opening of the magic club and the visit of a psychologist from the social committee.

Interlude 15. Shimomura Yu

Everything turned out quite well. Admittedly, Yu has always been shy of new people, and a whole class of new people — br-r! Another thing was on the Internet, where Yu felt at home and was not shy at all. Just try it on the moderator moepotter.jp someone raises the cap or says a bad word, and is banned with a whoosh. Shimomura also knew quite well what "blocking by IP" and "cutting off anonymizers" were. She even participated in the layout of the latest versions of the site herself, and her colleagues said that she was doing well... But still, it wasn't that. Not A Lifelong Passion!

Magic! That's what I remember from her grandmother's fairy tales, growing up reading all sorts of mystical fiction for children (and sometimes for adults), and it struck a powerful chord in Yu's soul after reading the first book about HIM. Yes, yes, about the boy with the scar and the glasses. Like thousands of other children, she associated herself with a child from a non-magical world who suddenly found himself surrounded by the charm of magic... She even expected an owl to come to her too... or better yet, a dragon. Get more of it so Dad can see it! The passion for flying has also been absorbed since childhood... And Dad is her favorite, even though he's boring! But he didn't arrive.

And then Yu went to look for like-minded people on the "network" — they had an Internet computer since 2000, and the young Shimomuro perfectly learned how to use it. And when they bought her a laptop out of generosity...

In general, she found like-minded people. Even together with a group of enthusiasts, she translated new books before the release of the "official" translation — as best she could. Unfortunately for others, Yu inherited not only her mother's sweet habit of admiring the unusual, but also her father's rationalism regarding applied solutions. Do you want to get a dream? Make it with your own hands!

And so Shimomuro Jr. entered the classroom of her new school and was introduced to the class after Chidori-Shizuka. They were even put in a row. Shizuka... a girl with glasses and a gorgeous braid that you would never grow... She was unusual. That confident look, the impenetrable calmness when she was asked in class, the subtle, almost mocking humor — after a day of communication, all the boys did not dare to approach her closer than a meter, let alone ask what. Sometimes it seemed that she was just having fun looking at others. Sometimes it's deadly serious, and the radius of the planet or the distance from Earth to the Sun in kilometers is the most precious knowledge she's ever learned. And on the history of Japan... After giving a brief description of the situation between 1901 and 1920, the teacher did not dare to ask her anymore.

Shizuka was simple and mysterious at the same time. She loved rice and seafood, and could tell a lot of interesting things about the city... and at the same time, I didn't listen to music, I hardly watched movies, I didn't give a damn about actresses and actors, and, oh gods! She was completely uninterested in hearing about GP! No, at first she was interested, but after the phrase "flying on brooms and conjuring with magic wands" she abruptly lost interest. And who will figure out why?

However, the girl with the scythe, by her very presence and kindness to a newcomer like her, helped Shimomuro get used to the classroom faster, become friends with the rest of her classmates and girls from parallel classes of the stream. And, gathering four like-minded people, Yu went to register a magic club. I was a little confused by the reaction of the principal, who, putting a sweeping visa on the form and applying a personal stamp (to highlight the room and the props that the school could provide), whispered to himself something like "finally, a normal hobby, and not a club of fans of differential equations or builders of giant humanoid robots." Shimomuro immediately wanted to look into the last one, but she courageously restrained herself and did not ask anything.

Shizuka didn't want to go to the Magic Club.

"I'm definitely not a magician, you know!"

However, she did not refuse to help her new girlfriend, and the six girls brought the club room into a "cozy nest" literally on the second day. They even put pots of flowers. A "goblet" containing the powder that defines magicians was solemnly placed on the central table (the composition was wisely kept secret). It was assumed that the neophytes would put their hand there and try to transmit the Force... If you are lucky, rays of light will shoot out of the bowl. It's very stylish, isn't it?