Hajime wanted to die.
He wasn't suffering from injuries or any aftereffects of his powers, but from embarrassment.
It turned out his mental faculties weren't at 100% when he returned home; that's why he had told Kaori and her mother that he had been out all night with a girl.
At first, it seemed like a good idea to use that excuse, but when he saw the expressions on the faces of the women he cared about the most, he knew he had made a mistake. A huge, colossal mistake.
"Who is she?! Is she going to your new school!? How old is she!? I want to know everything, onii-chan!"
"Calm down, Kaori-chan; Hajime can't answer you if you bombard him with questions!"
Kaori and Aina were curious to know everything about their older brother and son's supposed girlfriend. The 17-year-old's mother momentarily forgot all her pain and regained the exuberant vitality she had lost years ago.
"Um... actually..."
The young [mage] didn't know how to get out of this situation. If he backed down, he would find himself in a dreadful predicament: with his little sister and his mother not trusting his words anymore.
"(I need to come up with something!)"
As his mind worked overtime, Hajime had an idea. In the long run, it would be a problem that would drag someone else into this mess too, but for now, he decided not to think about it.
"Well... I don't really want to talk about it; we are still at the beginning... I know her from a while back... yesterday, after I went for a run, we happened to meet, spent a couple of hours together, but it got late, and I stayed over at her place... that's all."
"Be more specific, onii-chan! Mom and I want to know the juicy details."
Hajime wanted to bury himself in a hole right now; who would have thought he would much rather relive his horrendous experience with his new [Grimoire] than have this kind of conversation? Certainly not the Hajime from just a few hours earlier.
"Okay, that's enough, Kaori-chan. Let's leave your brother alone, at least for this time."
Fortunately for him, his mother took pity on him after seeing him blush in a shade of red that bordered on inhuman.
"But first, I want to know her name; it's the least you can tell us after disappearing all night and skipping school this morning."
".......hmm, her name is Cloe, Kusanagi Cloe."
"Nice name..." (Aina)
"When can I meet her, onii-chan?" (Kaori)
"Never! I mean! I wanted to say...!? Not now, I don't even know... nothing! I don't understand the whole situation yet! I'm more confused, so can we just drop it!?"
Kaori and Aina misinterpreted Hajime's nervousness as embarrassment or some other common emotional problem typical of teenagers, so they decided to stop interrogating him, at least for now.
"I'm going to my room." (Hajime)
Once the young [mage] lay down on the bed, a single thought crowded his mind: "Why did I mention Cloe's name?"
"(Damn... I'm 100% sure this isn't over with Kaori-chan and Mom... I've dragged Cloe into this mess too... why didn't I think of a fake name or something... tsk! I could have said Kaede's name in the worst-case scenario... shit! I didn't ask Fumio-sensei if I had the permission to tell her the truth or not!... Better sleep; the longer I'm awake, the more I realize how messed up my life is.)"
Despite it still being afternoon, Hajime managed to sleep until the next morning. He might have continued to lay in bed if he hadn't been awakened by his sister, who reminded him that he had already lost a school day to be with his "girlfriend."
"(I recover quickly, but I'm still dead tired... I guess I'll sleep in class... oh, right, I forgot about Mark Watson-san... I wonder what Fumio-sensei decided to do about him?)"
*****
Around the same time, Hajime's and Kuro's teacher was preparing to solve the problem with the school nurse and the members of his team.
Thanks to Kohaku and the dense surveillance network created through the use of drones and hacked security cameras, the man now knew everything there was to know about the spy who needed to keep an eye on Hajime.
"(There are no other spies besides him... or at least I think. I should tell Kamijo-san to be careful about how he behaves at school, even though we have the spy under control.)"
The best way to eliminate an informant was to kill them, but since Fumio followed the "avoid unnecessary deaths" policy of Yukihime, he opted for another choice.
"(Spreading false information is the best option in this case; the less Goto suspects Kamijo-san, the better.)"
The [mage] stealthily approached the school nurse. Mark had recovered from the beating he had received not long ago; he had stayed home for too long, and if he continued like this, his position at Howaitotaiga would be at risk.
"(I'm late... better hurry up.)" (Mark)
Even in a hurry, the man was still incredibly cautious as he walked toward his workplace. Normal thugs wouldn't be able to catch him off-guard today; however, unfortunately for him, Fumio wasn't a normal thug.
"Hello, Watson-san."
Mark felt chills down his spine; despite being a [mage], the man's power was so trivial it was as weak as an average civilian's.
And that was why he had developed a strong survival instinct, which, at that moment, told him that the person before him was a danger to his life. The strong murderous intent that Fumio had concentrated on him was also proof of his danger.
"W-who are you? Do you want money?! Take it all! You don't need to hurt me to..."
"I just want to talk to you about your current situation."
"I'm just the school nurse! I have nothing to do with what the kids..."
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the job that earns you some extra money, which helps you with your little clinical issue."
"!? W-who the hell are you?! The [Black Corps]..."
"They won't protect you from me or my friends; to them, you're just an easy-to-discard pawn, a disposable object, like a used tissue that is reused until it becomes useless... let's do this, since you're in a rush: after you finish your work, go home and wait. I'll contact you."
"What makes you think I won't go to the [White Corps]!? You're threatening me with..."
Fumio intensified his murderous intent, immobilizing any movement of Mark's body. Even his breathing and heart stopped for half a second.
"What? We're just talking. And besides, you don't have another choice, do you? Your superiors will get rid of you if you're not careful about how you move; creating too much chaos isn't convenient for an informant. See you tonight, Watson-san."
The nurse felt the cold chills down his spine even after Hajime's teacher and Kuro left his sight. The man eventually collapsed to the ground, paling like a sheet.
"(Damn it! Damn it! Why did it have to go this way!? Who the hell was that!? How can I get out of this situation!? )"
Meanwhile, far away, Fumio looked at the man with a certain pity painted on his face.
He had scared him to death, reminding him of his precarious position, and worse yet, he had let him go, giving him hours to ponder just how hopeless his situation was. It had been cruel.
"(I'm sorry for you, but this was necessary.)"
The 30-year-old [mage] hadn't enjoyed what he had done, nor would he enjoy what he would force Mark to do.
From what he had discovered through his investigations, Fumio knew well that the man was merely an unfortunate person who had been dealt a bad hand in life.
"(I promised Kamijo-san that he would make it to the end of the chessboard, even if he was just a pawn. If you do a good job, then the [New Dawn] will help you, Watson-san, but if you die... then we won't forget your sacrifice.)"
Hajime's teacher wasn't stupid; Mark wasn't a trained spy, and he wouldn't be able to deceive the [Black Corps] with false information indefinitely, but if he could manage it for a few months, that would be enough to set some plans in motion.
If the nurse could give him some names of the other informants, which was very unlikely but not impossible, that would be ideal.
"(And this is done. Now I need to think about Kamijo-san and the issue of Veronica White-san.)"