Chapter 62

On the oval conference table, two opened bento boxes were placed. The one on the left was spotlessly clean, even the small side dishes that many people wouldn't eat were finished; the one on the right, however, had only been eaten to less than a third, with two pieces of delicious fried chicken still remaining.

The one on the left belonged to Levi, who had finished his own and still felt unsatisfied, now staring at the two golden, crispy pieces of fried chicken in the other box. He glanced nervously towards the door, confirming it was securely closed. Then, he picked up his chopsticks and, with lightning speed, threw the two pieces of chicken into his open mouth.

Exchanging bentos with a girl or eating the part she couldn't finish is a small romantic gesture among teenage couples. However, what Levi just did clearly falls into the category of theft, and his victim was his own student.

Just as he was in the middle of nagging, and Rin was still not satisfied while Levi was almost defeated, a student ran in to deliver a message from the principal. Thus, the pardoned Levi had the opportunity to showcase his proficient chopstick skills in the student council office. For a Westerner, his skills were indeed commendable, but others wouldn't think so.

Even the clumsiest thief knows to leave the crime scene as soon as possible, and Levi was well aware of this. He casually wrapped his bento with a cloth from the table, then covered Rin's vegetarian bento, which had only the remaining vegetables and rice. While doing this, he kept a wary eye on the office, which seemed to be empty except for him. The stealthy spying skills of the black-haired spirit made him deeply wary.

With a bang, he closed the office door and confirmed it was locked. Satisfied and full, basking in the warm afternoon sunlight, Levi hummed a tune he couldn't remember where he had heard it, and walked forward, then saw a sign that read "Literary Club."

The successful resolution of the Berserker issue was thanks to one person, the sole member of the Literary Club—Nagato Yuki.

Without her reminder, Rin wouldn't have thought of the highly risky plan to lure the enemy. Levi didn't know how she knew about Rin and Shinji Matou's relationship, and if he had known beforehand, he would never have allowed the plan to proceed. Even so, he still felt he should thank the quiet, alien girl; the fact that she had helped him couldn't be changed.

The process was dangerous, but the result was satisfying, wasn't it? Levi knocked on the door of the Literary Club.

"Please come in."

Even when his hand was still three centimeters away from the door, the voice of the alien girl came from inside. He had only come by on his way, as it was rare for students to stay in the club room during lunch break. If no one was here, he planned to go to the first-year classroom to look for her.

That effort was saved. Going to the lower grades to talk to a girl, even as a teacher, made Levi a bit embarrassed. The students' imaginations were too rich; who knew what they would interpret his actions as. A teacher-student romance? That was too cliché, and he and Rin had just been misunderstood recently.

While lost in thought, Levi pushed open the door to the Literary Club.

The scene inside was like a still image, the same setup, the same actions. Except for the book in her hand, which seemed to have changed, Levi even regretted not bringing a precise micrometer with him. That way, he could have known if the short-haired literary girl had moved at all the next time he came.

"You've come."

The same mechanical voice, it seemed the alien girl's learning ability in this aspect was as slow as biological evolution. If he really had an eternal life like Yew, he might just observe this girl to verify whether Darwin's theory was correct. Levi had a thought that he found amusing.

"Did you know I would come?"

Though there seemed to be no fluctuation, Levi still detected something in the girl's words. It sounded like a statement of a known fact, not a polite greeting.

"Divination."

The girl raised the book in her hand, showing Levi the cover.

"Simple and Easy Modern Divination," a book title that made him want to comment. Was she related to Miyazawa Yuki? Levi could almost see the healing-type girl who often appeared in the library.

"East Nine Zone time, 12:46:32, with an error margin of ±0.012."

Modern divination had evolved to such an advanced level? Levi was deeply skeptical. It was more like a prophecy, and a technical one at that, displayed on a screen and interpreted through a bunch of characters.

He had once heard that the "Information Integration Thought Entity" could achieve many incredible things by manipulating "information." Was it really that astonishing? Especially considering the alien girl had difficulty connecting with the thought entity, he remembered Yuki had expressed a similar idea before.

"Hmm?"

While Levi was thinking about what topic to continue the conversation with, his eyes wandered around the room. On the long table in the center of the club room, he found something that seemed out of place.

The cover featured a girl in an exaggerated outfit, holding a microphone. The kind of photo that could only be taken on stage, and Levi had a vague memory of the person in the photo. She was the most popular idol recently, though he couldn't remember her name, she appeared on TV so often that Levi couldn't help but see her.

The presence of such an idol magazine in the school wasn't particularly noteworthy. The page in the student handbook that prohibited bringing extracurricular books was basically a piece of scrap paper. Not just the increasingly democratic-minded students, but even teachers like Levi never took those rules seriously.

If his class president were browsing this magazine with enthusiasm, it would be very normal. But it appeared in the Literary Club, specifically in the reading club of Nagato Yuki, which gave a sense of extreme disharmony.

The reason was simple. Look at the books on the nearby bookshelf. "The Extreme Darkness," "The Demon's Lineage," these book titles that made Levi's head hurt, what did they have in common with that popular magazine? He couldn't find any connection with his human wisdom.

"Do you like her?"

Levi pointed to the idol on the cover, wearing a blue short skirt performance outfit.

"Um-hmm."

Without any of the awkwardness that a shy girl might feel when her hidden hobby is discovered, Yuki answered without hesitation, even nodding her head. It was clear she was genuinely interested in the popular idol.

"What do you like about her?"

Finally finding a hobby of the alien girl other than reading would greatly help Levi's investigation into the "Information Integration Thought Entity." And it was also related to his purpose for coming today.

"Everything."

A concise yet speechless answer. Was she too lazy to elaborate? Or was she unable to weigh the importance? In any case, the information that the human interface created by the "Information Integration Thought Entity" for organic life contact was interested in popular idols was noted by Levi.