I became the Strongest Minus's mother!

Chapter 37: Kumagawa-kun, you have horrible taste in women

That classroom from long ago. That classroom which was completly destroyed by the fight between Kumagawa and Medaka.

But it was still intact in Kumagawa's heart. A place where Najimi liked to talk, more like mentally torment him.

That was not only when he died, but also when he was asleep. Those affected by Error Message Plate could be considered asleep.

Najimi:Heya, Kumagawa-kun. I didn't think we'd be able to meet for quite a while, so I'm actually surprised we were able to meet so soon. Hm? What, you can't talk?

Kumagawa stared blankly at her, more than usual. The form of him in his classroom didn't have a card imbended into his head, but was still momentary incapacitated so to speak.

Najimi:Ah, it seems that the effect of Sukinasaki-san's dkill applies even to the classroom over here. That's pretty amazing, huh. If anything, considering you have no desire for power, that Skill shouldn't have affected you at all, so the fact that its effect is showing up so obviously probably means that you yourself made the preparations to take the brunt of that skill.

She really can't say what's going on in his mind, Kumagawa had alwais been the one being that eluded her. It's not lije she can currently ask him either.

Najimi:Even despite the fact that you're a Minus, perhaps you actually end up trusting others pretty easily. The way I see it, you ended up not being fooled by that girl's disguise because you trusted her. But really, it seems humans surprisingly do have that side to them. When it comes to people that are suspicious of others, the flip side of that is that they have the strong desire to trust others. Because they want to trust them, they want to confirm whether that person is someone that can be trusted, so they end up being constantly suspicious. It ends up being unproductive.

It was pretty funny. He did the same with Kouki and then that empty special ended up siding with Medaka.

Maguro and Kumagawa still maintained a friendly relationship after that whole fiasco, but he hasn't even seen Kouki from them. Najimi knows when they meet at Hakoniwa Kumagawa would set his sight on him.

Perhaps they were not boss and subordinate anymore, but the fear of Kumagawa was still deeply imbended within Kouki. Najimi knows Kumagawa would use psychological tactics to destabilize Kouki, but she thinks it'd be pretty funny if he used physical violence on the special.

Najimi:Well, if you can't even make any responses, then you don't need to bother trying. I can just keep talking on my own. Even if you try to make the plate's effect as if it never happened with All Fiction, it's the type of skill where, when it takes effect once, it stays in effect semi-permanently, so there's no point in doing that. Would you say that's another weak point of All Fiction? Or maybe you just feel awkward about making her skill as if it never existed entirely? You really try hard at the most useless things, don't you.

She doesn't know why he's so deeply concerned about this girl. She's far from what he was looking for all this time.

Najimi:Anyway, even though I said I was surprised, it wasn't like I hadn't considered the possibility in the slightest. It's not like the impossible just occurred. If anything, what occurred was something where I thought, it sure would be interesting if this was actually possible. Hey, don't you think so, too? Oh, right, you can't talk. Like I said, you don't need to try and respond. Either way, I think it's interesting. It's truly amusing.

She walked over to his seat and began poking his cheek. If he had control of his movements right now, he'd probably give an annoyed glare at her.

Najimi:After all, isn't it funny that there's somebody fighting for your sake? That there's a girl that's personally making a move in order to keep you at this school. Just like that girl from way back when. Although you never once decided to listen to what that girl had to say. But I wonder how things will turn out now. After all this is over, I'd like to hear about it. Unlike the girl from before, Sukinasaki-san was antagonistic to you from the beginning, and she might be an opponent that's strongly hostile towards you, but that's exactly why it has me so intrigued. Well, perhaps it's not the time for that just yet? Perhaps it's still something for the future?

Najimi shrugged her shoulders. While the girl had clear intentions of driving Kumagawa out wgen he outlived his usefullness, she doubts it'd go the way Saki thinks it will.

Najimi:For now, what you need to do first is to figure out how to get out of this situation, how to get around Sukinasaki-san. And for the record, I have zero intention of lending you a hand here. I'll be continuing the game with every intention to win. You haven't forgotten, have you? The reason I started this game with you in the first place. One of them, Kumagawa-kun, was to chase you out of Suisou Academy, and, well, that was really more of a secondary goal, but I'll include it anyway. And the other reason was to figure out how far that defeatism of yours would go. Even after becoming a hero, would you still be able to lose?

Well, it was somewhat satisfying to see. She did have a somewhat dislike towards heroes, because of a certain Destroyer.

Najimi:Since you actually dropped out at Stage 2. Since you dropped out at a point far below my expectations, your expulsion from Suisou Academy is more or less already decided. But if Sukinasaki-san, the one who defeated you, is able to complete the remaining quests and splendidly clear Stage 3 and Stage 4, then Kumagawa-kun, even if you lost midway through the game, I'll allow you the grotesque achievement of having cleared the game in its entirety. Even though there's no loser-revival round, and no overtime, it's really magnificent. It really makes me laugh.

For effect she laughed right to his face. Soon, however, her face dropped in dissapointment.

She wishes he'd just get himself free already. It was no fun if she can't see his reactions.

Najimi:And so, for the time being, I won't do anything like mobilize the 80 terminals at this academy to chase you out. I'll just keep an eye on how things develop. Good for you. Well, when it comes to the guards for Stage 3, the Kakuremino sisters, it's possible that that girl will be able to clear it properly, unlike you, but I wonder how the final stage will go? Why don't we watch over her together, Kumagawa-kun? However, if you end up eventually being able to talk, then there's something that I would absolutely like for you to tell me. That is, what exactly is that girl to you?

This was an important question to her as their relationship remained vague for his part, Saki's feelings for Kumagawa were pretty clear. Unfourtunately, it seems she can't get an answer just yet.

Najimi:In Stage 2, when she, wielding the Fool's Katana, challenged you, wielding the Hero's Sword. You saw through her true identity and ended up losing just like that, but at that time, couldn't you have actually had a "good battle" against her?

Saki probably thinks it wouldn't have been much a problem, but that's because sge never saw Kumagawa fight. Even when in battle against the former Student Council of Suisou Academy, that couldn't even be considered a children's dispute in comparassion to his fight with Medaka.

Najimi:Of course, I'm not saying that she's someone you want to protect, or that she's someone you fell in love with...It's just that, whenever there's something about you I don't understand, I just want to try and figure it out. But putting that aside.

Najimi who had been in front of his face the entire time moved aside, giving his frozen body a view of the board in front of the classroom. Said board acted as a screen, displaying the image of Saki face to face with two blonde girls.

Najimi:Well, as we're about to begin spectating this game, shall I introduce the Kakuremino sisters? Allow me to introduce those two, who I've chosen as the new guards for this stage. Class 3-3 seat number 1, Kakuremino Sude, and Class 3-3 seat number 2, Kakuremino Sumi. These two terminals of mine are in the Chess Club, you see...