The clock tower on the grounds of the Royal Pioneer Academy rang the bell for the end of morning classes. Around then, Nekodoran and Yes-man were in the academy courtyard.
At the center of the courtyard were statues of this academy's first principal and vice principal. Their statues. The statues were a fountain, and both of them spouted water from their mouths, faces full of smiles.
Around the fountain were custom benches, with a sign: Top class only. Sitting forbidden to all others. It was one of the few rest spots in this academy for the chosen.
Nekodoran and Yes-man looked up at the statues, faces worn thin.
"Haa... By the start of next month, these statues will surely be taken down too..."
"At the same time the statues go... we will be gone from this school too, zamasu..."
"Around our statues was a rest spot for the golden chicks born from golden eggs... At lunch, it was always full of the golden chicks' smiles..."
"Yes, zamasu... At least as the first vice principal, I'll ask if my statue alone can be left, zamasu... As a last gift to the students..."
Students passed behind them, and a whisper carried.
"Hey, someone's sitting on that cursed statue!"
"Whoa. The rumor is if you sit there, the stupidity spreads!"
"And the rank drops don't stop, right!? Like that bald guy and Zamasu!"
"Wait, the ones sitting there, aren't they the real ones!?"
"Whoa, they are! Let's go! If the real ones are there, the curse has to be doubled!"
"Stinks! The smell of losers is drifting over! No wonder nobody's on the benches, or even around them!"
The sound of students leaving like they were running. Tears spilled on both cheeks.
"Ugh... Why, why did it come to this... Until a few days ago, every student respected me more than their own father..."
"Honestly, zamasu... At this rate even I will be lumped in with an old man who smells of age, and become this academy's dark history, zamasu..."
"But there is nothing to be done now... Ten days until the new principal comes..."
"Getting our old standing back by then is as impossible as being told to make this bald head thick again, zamasu...!"
They no longer cared who saw. Nekodoran and Yes-man held each other and wept.
Then footsteps approached from behind again.
"It is still too early to give up."
They turned, and harmonized without meaning to.
"Weiss-kun!?"
"I have an idea. A special secret plan that can return both of you to your old standing."
"Wh-what!?"
The two bit at once.
"I-is that true!? There are not even two weeks until we are driven out of the academy!?"
"Yes. With me, a sage, nothing is impossible. But both of you will have to pay a fitting sacrifice."
"If I can stay at this academy and keep being vice principal, I'll do anything, zamasu!"
"I feel even more than that! I will stake my life!"
"Very well. Then after the envoy from the education committee leaves, seal the transfer magic circle."
"Wh-what!? If we do that, this academy becomes an island on land!"
"Yes. If what we are about to do is noticed outside, there may be interference. But if the transfer magic circle cannot be used, the outside cannot touch us for a week. And to seal the students inside, issue a state of emergency, and forbid leaving the residential district."
"A state of emergency, when there is no war or plague, zamasu!?"
"No. This is a war for us, and the enemy is as vicious as a plague. Without that much, we cannot erase him completely."
Words that dangerous came out of Weiss's mouth, and the pair harmonized again. "E-erase!?"
"What are you trying to erase, going that far!?"
"Ah!? D-don't tell me...!"
"Yes. Leopin...! Haven't both of you noticed? It is not your fault that nothing you do works. It is all that trash's fault...! That plague of a guy is dragging your feet...!"
People listen to a sweet, gentle lie before a bitter truth. That is human nature, and the ones here now had been raised that way.
The absurd rumors about Leopin spreading as if true made it plain. Not only students, still immature in mind. The adults were no different.
The former principal and vice principal had their pupils stuck open, as if they had reached the enlightenment of a wicked faith.
"Right, that was it! My life was going smoothly, and it suddenly went wrong because of that trash!"
"Yes! That is true, zamasu! Think of it that way, and everything fits, zamasu!"
"Then I will use what power I have left to the full and issue a state of emergency!"
"Yes! Then I will seal the transfer magic circle, zamasu!"
Weiss rocked his palm, as if toying with both their hearts. Behind the square lenses, his eyes glinted, strangely bright.
"That is not all. To stamp out a plague, more power is needed. Power called money. Both of you have been removed from your posts, so you can no longer use the academy's funds freely, correct?"
"That is no problem! I have hidden the slave tickets collected from the students! Cash those, and it is a fortune! If that is not enough, I will empty my savings!"
"Yes! If it has come to this, I will put in the back-door enrollment savings I set aside for my boy, zamasu!"
"No. That alone is not enough. When both of you took office as principal and vice principal, you received favorable treatment from the country and built mansions in the royal capital, correct? Sell those, and make more war funds...!"
They cried out.