A handful of reincarnators, the Professor included, had begun attending the human race's academy.
To my surprise, beyond the two reincarnators the Professor had recently met, two more turned out to be enrolled at the same school.
Natsume-kun and Hasebe-san.
As for Hasebe-san—this might sound rude, but she hadn't left much of an impression on me.
She wasn't exactly invisible, but she wasn't the type to stand out either.
What would you call it? Ordinary?
I think that's the kind of girl she was.
No, honestly, I just don't remember. Sorry.
But the reincarnated Hasebe-san was the polar opposite of that past-life impression—overwhelmingly so.
First, she was beautiful.
In my hazy memories, I don't recall her past self being particularly stunning. I think she had a cute, slightly childish face with a bit of lingering baby fat, but in this life she was undeniably gorgeous. Even as a child, her features were so refined you could see the beautiful woman she'd become.
Well, to be fair, reincarnators do tend to turn out rather handsome or beautiful with suspicious frequency.
Whether that's some kind of gift from D or what, I don't know.
But beyond her looks, her personality had changed even more drastically.
"The Divine Words are, as the name suggests, the words of God—God's very own oracle! That's why we have to raise our Levels and hone our Skills so we can hear as much of that divine voice as possible! Because if we don't, we won't be able to hear God's words!"
Wow.
Nope. Absolutely not.
How did this happen?
I hadn't even been aware of Hasebe-san's existence. The Divine Words religion had apparently been hiding her quite effectively.
They'd hidden Ogiwara-kun too, but I'd run into him often enough to become aware of him. As for the other reincarnator the Divine Words religion had in their fold—that would be Kusama-kun.
Hmm.
I'd been putting it off, but I really ought to make contact with the Divine Words religion at some point.
There was the
What was their intention in gathering reincarnators? And why had they deliberately sent one to the elves' territory?
I needed to find out what the Divine Words religion was aiming for.
As for Hasebe-san, though, I figured I could leave her be for now. That girl was halfway out of her mind.
You could say she'd been conveniently brainwashed by the Divine Words religion, but it didn't seem like she'd been entrusted with any secret mission or anything of the sort. Surveillance had never turned up any suspicious behavior.
I'd keep watching her, but there wasn't much need for heightened alertness.
If there was a problem, it was more likely on Natsume-kun's end.
Unlike Hasebe-san, Natsume-kun had left a strong impression on me.
In a bad way.
In a word, he was the playground bully type. Even after becoming a high schooler, he never stopped throwing around thug talk.
And he was the one who had tried to crush me flat.
My memories as a spider don't actually retain the fact that Natsume-kun was the one responsible. All I have is a vague awareness that someone nearly killed me.
But
And I remember the Professor stepping in to stop him.
Do I hold a grudge?
Of course I do. Attempted murder is still attempted murder. My spider memories are almost completely gone, but the terror I felt back then, and the gratitude I felt for being saved—those I haven't forgotten even now.
I wonder if there's some way I could make Natsume-kun's life miserable?
Killing him would be the fastest and most satisfying option, but that would make the Professor sad.
I think back to when the Professor was talking with Oshima-kun. The expression on the Professor's face when discussing the dead students—it was completely hollow.
But I know something. I know that sometimes, in the middle of the night, the Professor wakes up crying.
Hunched over, trembling, whispering "I'm sorry" in a small voice.
Four students had died. One of them was doing fine, so really it was three.
I understood all too well how cruel this world was.
And into that world, an ordinary Japanese high school student had been reborn as a baby and, with almost no resources, managed to keep the death toll to only three.
I was sure that before I'd even become aware of the situation, the Professor had been walking an impossibly dangerous tightrope, pushing way beyond what anyone should have to endure.
As far as I was concerned, that was more than enough of an achievement.
But the Professor didn't see it that way. The Professor constantly agonized over whether those three could have been saved too.
Even though that was impossible. A single person can only do so much. Even gods aren't omnipotent. Believing you can save everyone is nothing short of Pride.
I think the Professor deserves to be proud.
But the fact that the Professor can't—that's exactly what makes the Professor who they are. Truly.
Whether it's the Professor, the Demon King, or Kuro—trying to wrap everything up with a happy ending just isn't possible anymore. There can't be a grand, joyful finale. To save everyone, there are simply too many scum in this world.
People like Potimas. And people like Natsume-kun.
I'd had my eye on Natsume-kun from an early stage. People called him a born genius and speculated he might be a reincarnator.
And sure enough, I was right.
I confirmed it when we regrouped with the Professor's party, but I'd expected as much.
After all, Natsume-kun was exactly the same person he'd been in his past life.
No—if anything, he was worse. He'd been born into the body of a prince, hailed as a born prodigy, and actually possessed formidable power despite being a child.
Yeah. He was full of himself.
An absolute blowhard. Nose held so high it was practically piercing the stratosphere.
It would be easy enough to snap that oversized nose of his, but that wasn't my job. Watching him was infuriating, but I really shouldn't intervene.
A bunch of reincarnators had finally gathered in the isolated environment of the academy. If I made a careless move and he got suspicious, Potimas or one of his people might swoop in.
That would be bad.
Especially since I wanted to avoid any interference from that guy—Yamada-kun's brother, the Hero