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Author's Chapter Notes:

We're finally back to our normal weekly schedule! Hope you enjoy this chapter! (Sorry if it's a bit lengthy).

 

>>CHAPTER TYPE: PLOT<<

-Yesterday night-

     “Flat chested loser, with a little loser sister. Ha! What a joke!” A semi athletic student with plain-looking brown-haired student provoked, pointing and laughing at Furyu as he stood behind a posse of four other students. Clenching her fist Furyu was raring to punch someone to the point of near-death. The flat chest part pissed her off, but the ‘loser sister’ part pissed her off even more.

 

     “Looks like you made her mad Tatsu. Shame there ain’t shit she can do!!”

     “Yeah! The hell is a girl gonna do against the five of us?” They continued their insults, unbeknownst to what was coming next.

     “Look, just tell your stupid b*tch of a sister to back off Tatsu’s li’l bro and nobody gets hurt, or rather… tell her to back off before she ends up dead-”  With a thunderous smack, the boy was knocked out cold, his unconscious body falling flat against the pavement.

 

     “How about, I give you another offer: Talk crap about my sis one more time and I’ll break more bones than you can count.” She cracked her knuckles glaring menacingly at the group of boys. Following the initial punch, the fight transitioned to a full-on brawl that lasted over half an hour, with Furyu as the winner. 

 

     Standing victorious on top of a heap of unconscious bodies, Furyu decided that it'd be best to threaten their 'leader' before walking away. That brings us to the events that occurred right after Furyu threatened to inflict bodily harm on Megumi if she spoke about what she saw that night...

 

     Walking away from her, Furyu knew that she had made a mistake by threatening her so harshly. Even if she didn’t know her personally, it was blatantly obvious that Megumi was the kind of person who’d never betray a friend. Nonetheless, what mattered most to her was protecting her little sister. If she had to sabotage a potential friendship, or even beat someone up to the point of legal ambiguity, Furyu was ready to do anything and everything in her power to keep her little sister safe and sound. However, the more she thought about it, the more she regretted her actions. Even if she didn’t care too much about hurting the feelings of some broad, she had a sneaking suspicion that Megumi wasn’t exactly just ‘some broad.’ 

 

-Present-day-

 

     “Huh?” With utter confusion filling the halls, Mai and Rentaro were at a loss for words. Was she trying to make a joke, or was she just messing around? It was honestly hard to tell, and for the time being the only thing they could do was sit and watch as Megumi did… whatever it was that she was doing.

 

     “This seal... It must have awakened me!!!” She placed her hand on the door feeling around for some kind of energy. “In order to find the truth, I must break this seal!!!” Slamming her hand against the keypad, she frantically pushed an assortment of random numbers hoping to unlock the door with 'luck' alone.

     “Megumi… I don’t think it’ll be that easy so maybe we should ask Ms.Oshino for hel-” As Mai stared at her, trying to understand what she was hoping to accomplish by doing this, she was thoroughly surprised as a sharp beeping sound came from the keypad, followed by a light clicking sound which presumably came from the lock on the door. It was shocking, usually trying to unlock a four-digit keypad would take at least ten thousand tries, but Megumi managed to crack it in a matter of seconds. (Well, as effortless as it may have seemed, Megumi would not have been able to open the door without Ms.Oshino directly giving her the code off-screen).

 

     “Ha Ha Ha!! Never underestimate the might of a goddess! This seal may have been formidable, but not formidable enough...” She chuckled to herself sliding open the door to reveal a… 'completely' empty computer room. Megumi was silently writhing in disappointment, hoping that they wouldn’t have to face ANOTHER setback. However, she wouldn’t be like that for long as upon entering the room, the three of them were greeted with a very interesting scene. Standing alone on a desk toward the back was an introverted looking micro student with a needlessly long tattered red scarf draped around his neck. He had bandages wrapped around both his arms and wore tacky fingerless gloves on both of his hands. He was the spitting image chuunibyou and seemed completely shameless about it to boot. 

 

     “To think, a simple mortal would be the one that releases me from that unholy legacy seal. How, impressive.” He placed his hand on his face covering what seemed to be a medical eye patch, along with the right side of his face. 

     Feeling that they’d only get in the way, Mai and Rentaro left Megumi to deal with the situation on her own as they went on to face a more pressing issue.

 

     “So… what do you think the club name should be?” Mai asked walking down the vast hallway.

     “That’s a really good question! In all honesty, I haven’t thought about it.” He scratched the back of his head trying to think of something good. “Ooh! What about the ‘Micro-Representative Assistance Association!’ I think something like that would be a good fit for what we’re trying to do, don't you think?” He smiled, proud of how good the name sounded. 

     “That’s way too long, but you're on the right track!" Placing her hand on her chin she thought about a way to make the name more appealing. "What about the ‘Micro-Rep Support Squad!” Mai suggested. The name was concise and simple. Conveying the purpose of the club without sounding too wordy or long-winded. 

     “That’s way better! Unless Megumi has a different name in mind, I think we should keep it-” Turning the corner Rentaro had crashed right into a very nervous looking micro girl with short brown hair and a very nervous looking demeanor. And as she daintily fell onto her butt, Rentaro caught a small glimpse of her very feminine underwear. 

 

     "I'm really sorry about that! I wasn't paying attention, it's all my fault!" As he apologized to the girl, Rentaro couldn’t help but notice just how strange she was acting. She was constantly looking over her shoulder, and the look on her face was one of both fear and worry. She definitely seemed paranoid, and could you blame her? Going to a mixed sizes school was anything but relaxing for a micro, especially for a first-year student, and having an air of cautiousness was a plus. However, this girl seemed a little too worried. 

     “Y-You really shouldn’t apologize. It was my fault.” She got back onto her feet and continued on her way.

 

     “Shinako! Wait up!” Trailing behind her was a guy who seemed to be on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. He seemed confident and naive and shined with a commendable air of positivity. As he turned the corner he was shocked to see that the person he idolized was right in front of him. “No way… M-Mai Ogasaki?!” He yelled out in surprise. After seeing her for only a few seconds his body was coursing with excitement and an expression of pure admiration appeared on his face.

 

     “Yup, that’s me!” She smiled taking pride in his excitement.

     “It is an honor to meet you.” He took her hand and began to sing her praises for all to see. Mai was used to hearing compliments from her fellow students but this guy was taking things way too far. His admiration was that of an eager fanboy, and that prideful feeling Mai had earlier was slowly turning into an awkward feeling of discomfort. 

 

     “Shinako, was it? Is he always like this?” Rentaro asked looking at the girl from earlier, as she stood awkwardly hiding her face in embarrassment.

     “Um, I guess? He’s kinda obsessed with righteous activism,’ Like, whenever it comes to protecting a fellow student from being crushed, or whatever, Mutsuhiro is always willing to throw himself into danger to fight a losing battle for equality or something… or I mean uh,” Upon letting her pessimism slip, she frantically tried to correct herself to not offend Mai, and by extension, Rentaro. 

     “You really shouldn’t worry about it. I know more than anyone how stacked the odds are against us micros, but no matter what… I will never stop trying to fight for the rights of every micro at this school!!!” She exclaimed triumphantly clenching her fist.

     “So cool!! As expected of the one and only micro student representative! I hope that one day I’ll be able to fight alongside you and the rest of the micro representative council!” He smiled staring at Mai in pure amazement at her selflessness.

     “Why would you go so far..?” She mumbled catching Mai off guard.

     “Huh?” She asked confused by her sudden remark.

     “Why go so far for something so… useless! Can’t you just be contempt with the life you have right now?! You’re already risking your life by coming to this school every day, what’s the point of drawing attention to yourself?! I just don’t get it! Do you have some kind of deathwish?!” She yelled, clearly upset by how recklessly optimistic the two of them were. As you could tell, Shinako Tanaka isn’t exactly the most positive person around. Hoping to live a completely average life, she wasn’t exactly pleased to learn that she’d be attending a mixed sizes school with her brother, Muneki. After pleading and begging to be homeschooled, she reluctantly accepted that the next three years of her life would be spent in a state of constant fear and paranoia. She knew of all the risks and she hoped and prayed that nothing bad would befall her or her brother. However, her brother had different plans. 

 

     Living life with a righteous and naive perspective Muneki Tanaka was always hell-bent on helping those who were in trouble, even if it meant angering larger students. His goal in life was eerily similar to that of Mai: to make a change for the better and to help those in need. Typically that’d only be a good thing, but for his sister Shinako, it meant having to tag along as he naively stood his ground against the normal students of Hanichi Highschool. After so many close calls and near-misses, it was honestly a miracle that he was still standing to this day. 

 

     “I-I’m sorry…” Shinako hid her face in embarrassment and ran off in the other direction. She didn’t mean to get so heated, and yet for some reason seeing how determined they were set her off. 

     “I’ll try to cheer her up, sorry for cutting things short. It was nice meeting you!!” Muneki waved off running after his distressed sister.

 

     “I kinda feel bad for her. Something bad must have happened for her to be that pessimistic.” Rentaro remarked. It was honestly a little shocking but as hopeless and despairful as those words were Mai, knew more than anyone the truth behind them.

     “When you think about it, she’s right in a lot of ways.” Mai sighed, thinking back on her despairing words. “Attracting as little attention as possible is without a doubt the best way to survive high school as a micro student. Hiding from problematic normal students, running from them, submitting to them. When you don’t want to die, you’ll try anything and everything you can to avoid being squashed flat like a bug. Some students live on in fear, contempt with their safe and riskless lives but, does that sound like a true high school experience?” She asked rhetorically. 

     “From all the anime that I’ve seen and the manga that I’ve read, high school life is all about hanging out with friends, and joining clubs and stuff.”

     “That’s right! Highschool life is meant to be enjoyed! It’s meant to be spent worrying about grades, popularity, and tests not worrying over your life! And without the will to fight on and make a change, we may never have the luxury… But, if we try hard together, we’ll be able to make that difference and someday we’ll be able to enjoy all the slice-of-life cliches, and go through high school like any other student!” Her words were truly inspiring, and at this moment, Rentaro was finally allowed to observe, in-full, the admirable ambitions of the one and only Mai Ogasaki…

 

     Meanwhile in the computer room, Megumi or rather, Megami was in the midst of a heated battle of epic proportions. With the two of them ‘running low on mana’ they threw out their final moves in hope to end this duel.

 

     “HAHAHA! With the cursed black flames that course through my veins, I invoke thee! Corrupted magic that lies dormant in this unholy world submit yourself and form in my hand, repent in ashes and suffer in eternal purgatory!! Blaze Inferno of Eternal Darkness!!!” Acting as if he was casting some spell, he tightly clutched his arm and directed towards Megumi. In his mind, he was probably imagining a wave of black flames engulfing Megumi.

 

     “Even in this body, my status as a fallen goddess protects me from such accursed magic!” Pretending to be unfazed by his ‘attack’ Megumi clasped her hands together and began to cast a spell herself. “Heaven’s Blade, come to my aid once more! Summoning the true might of the godly realm, I give my body and soul to you!  Appear in my hand, form twenty-four of the holy arsenal: Light of Divinity!”

 

     “Agghhh!! Damn, even in the body of a human the power of the gods is unmatched.” He fell to his knees. “Being trapped within this sealed room has diminished my magical power, thus for the time being… I’ll accept my defeat. But, before you finish me off, I’d like to know your name.”

 

     “Stricken down from the heavens and forced to adhere to the holy church, my name is Megami Shiroe! A fallen goddess trained to be an unstoppable knight, and the one true wielder of Heaven’s Blade: The most powerful weapon in all of the divine realms!!” She pressed her left hand against her right eye and struck a victorious pose. “Furthermore, I have no intention of finishing you off. Instead, I request your assistance in discovering the true reason as to why I was awakened in this world.” Holding out her hand, Tomoya had no other choice but to accept her terms. And thus, Tomoya had officially joined the MicroRep Support Squad.

 

     Following her successful recruitment, Megumi exited the room to make a quick phone call.

     “I did it! We can officially become a club now, haha! Yay!!~” She exclaimed ecstatically over the phone jumping up and down with excitement. Mai may not have been able to see her at the moment, but from how happy she sounded, it was pretty easy to tell just how big her joyful ear-to-ear smile was.

     “You really are an angel, Megumi. We’re heading over there right now! Thanks a lot!” As Mai imagined all the good that they’d be able to do, she was filled with an insane amount of motivation and hope. 

     “Would you like me to pick you guys up?”

     “Nah, it’s fine. We’re almost there anyway.” As the two of them made their way to the computer room, Rentaro couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching him but, given the current mood, he thought it would be rude to bring it up and decided to just not say anything about it for the time being.

 

     As the two of them arrived in the computer room, they were met with quite an interesting introduction.

 

     “Enshrouded by a wicked aura, and blood laced with the hellish dark flames of my soul. My Tomoya Utsumi, otherwise known as, The Dark Flame of Annihilation!!! A typical conversation would have ended with exchanging pleasantries, but I do not plan on conversing with such menial words!” He scoffed, dramatically covering his right eye. “It is clear that at my current state, I am unable to withstand the power of this accursed fallen goddess and thus, for the time being, I will be working with you as a temporary club member.” He sighed handing Mai a signed club enrollment form. 

     “The lingering powers of my old body remain, though much like my fellow comrade, I too am lacking sufficient magical energy to fully sustain even a sliver of my heavenly powers,” Megumi said clutching her arm like someone trying to cast a spell. As confusing as this whole situation was, Mai could just barely understand what Megumi was trying to do. Similar to what she had done with Furyu, Megumi imitated Tomoya’s personality to form a relatable connection. “Rentaro! Please accompany me to the faculty office so we can deliver this club enrollment document!” She gently picked up Rentaro and made her way to the faculty office. 

 

     “Hey, Rentaro… what do you think of this school?” Being a new student, Megumi was more than enthusiastic to learn more about her surroundings, however, she wasn’t looking for an answer that would be particularly useful to her. Instead, she was hoping to find out more about him. 

 

     “What do you mean?”He asked, leaning against the palm of her hand.

     “Like, why did you enroll? And other stuff like that.”

     “When I graduated from junior high, my parents gave me the option of choosing which school I would be attending. And when they gave me options, they meant it. Boarding schools, academies, prep schools, micro-only, mixed sizes, public and private, even prestigious schools like Okisana and Issunkyoji.” Rentaro explained. “Though, since I'm not really good with decision making, at the end of the day, I just went with whatever school was closest." Scratching the back of his head he had prepared himself to be made fun of. 

    "That makes sense, I'm guessing you're not big on traveling then." She giggled softly.

     "Well, not exactly... In all honesty, I just didn't want to be a burden. This is the only high school in the area and if I were to choose any other, my parents would've had to hire a personal driver or something." Half joking, Rentaro began to wonder how his life would've been if he had gone to a different school, like Okisana. With all it's credibility, he'd probably be able to experience the typical high school life he was talking about earlier. 

 

    "Well, I'm speaking from personal experience, but I think that you'd really like it in Okisana…" Looking back on all her school memories, she began to feel kinda sad, and as she scrolled through all the unread messages from her old classmates, that sad feeling turned into something different

 

     "I'm sure I would! Though, if I had enrolled in Okisana… I'd probably have to feel the sadness of seeing you leave." He smiled sweetly towards her. If Megumi didn't have the romantic awareness of a rock she might have misinterpreted what he said as some kind of romantic confession. Instead, those words only made Megumi come to a stunning resolution. "But, even if it's a bit dangerous, I'm glad I went to this school because I got to meet you… and all my other friends."

 

    "Ughhh I'm such an idiot!!" Putting Rentaro in her shirt pocket she whipped out her phone and realized that if she kept ignoring all her friends she'd made them worry.

    "What do you mean-" Looking towards her hands Rentaro understood exactly what Megumi was doing. At that moment, Megumi had relieved herself of all the embarrassment of talking to her old classmates and decided that, at the end of the day, it'd be best if she just responded to all their messages.

     Scrolling through all the concerned messages, and sincere goodbyes she came across a wholesome group photo of that she took with her former group of friends. At the bottom of it was a sincere message: "Thanks for all the memories! We'll always be your best friends Megumi and don't you ever forget it!" Seeing the photo brought a small tear to her eye and gave her a better reason for making a change in this school. 



     Meanwhile, in an undisclosed empty classroom, a certain trio of bullies was planning their next move. 

 

     "We kind of have a problem. That new transfer student has joined forces with that pesky micro student representative and she's very clearly onto us!" Alice exclaimed slouching onto a nearby desk.

 

     "Is that really what you called us here for?" One of them asked, absent-mindedly flipping through the pages of an inappropriate light novel. And aside from her short blonde hair, she seemed like a completely average student. And despite her looks, Tsumi Yoshikawa is a merciless sociopath. Responsible for the deaths of over a dozen micros, she along with the other two bullies have consistently escaped prosecution due to lack of evidence. (if you remember, she made a brief appearance in Chapter 5 as the girl who tried to kill Rentaro, after thinking that Megumi was hiding him in her hands).

 

     "This is serious! If she blabs to any of the teachers we're done for!" Alice yelled genuinely worried about the future of their little group. 

 

     "Can you keep it down?" She sighed rudely telling Alice to be quiet. "And even if she does report us, it's not like she'll have sufficient evidence. Furthermore, I have no idea why you're telling me any of this. I'm pretty sure it's your guy's fault that she even made contact with that bug. You did leave her alive, after all." Flipping through the pages once more, she uncaringly shifted the blame towards Alice and Sekira.

 

 

    "Ugh, what do you think Sekira?" She turned her attention to the black-haired bully who was currently staring at some blurry stalker photos of Rentaro. She seemed to have quite an unhealthy interest in him for reasons even she couldn't understand. "Hello? Earth to Sekira! You there?" She asked waving her arm pin in front of her face trying to gain her attention. 

 

     "Hehehe~ so cute… Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure!” She hid her phone behind her back and started to pay attention to what Alice was saying. However, it was far too late as Alice realized that she was the only one taking this ‘meeting’ seriously.

 

     "You guys are hopeless…" Alice facepalmed and turned her attention towards Tsumi once more. “What are you reading anyway?”

 

     “It’s some stupid cheesy fantasy novel.” She remarked with a hint of disdain in her voice.

     “If it’s stupid why are you reading it?” Sekira asked, examining the cover.

     “I have no interest in any of the garbage that’s written inside… I only care about the illustrator." Flashing a page of the story, she showed the two of them an incredibly gory and graphic scene that consisted of a haughty looking highschool girl torturing an entire class of micros. "Fuzue Shijo's art is amazing!! No, it's more than amazing!" When it came to talking about her favorite artist, Tsumi seemed genuinely willing to talk enthusiastically. Compared to her usual manner of speech, it was honestly a bit jarring.

 

     "Wow, that is good…" Staring at the illustration, Sekira was astounded by how stylish and detailed the art was. 

 

     "Well, not all of their art is good. Unlike other artists, Fuzue makes an incredibly wide variety of art." Typically you'd think something like that would be a good thing but for Tsumi, who only cared about the brutal and gory art she always despised the fact that she'd do gentle content from time-to-time. "In any case, I'd love to meet them but they're known for being super reclusive. And they don't even show up to their own Comiket booth. Every time I've gone to their booth it's always a bunch of pompous looking Okisana Academy students cosplaying as her original characters." She sighed thinking that her dream was incredibly far from coming true, little did she know… it was way closer than she thought.

Chapter End Notes:

Here's the preview!! With the MicroRep Support Squad finally ready to go Megumi is excited to get things started! However, when a certain members secret is revealed things might not go exactly as planned. Next time! "Dark Flames of Lies and Truth."

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Special Thanks(as always) to:

@LabbaArt (https://twitter.com/LabbaArt or http://labbacomics.com/ or https://ko-fi.com/labbaart) or if you want to check out the original "source material" it's all up on http://labbacomics.com/

 

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