Hifumi let out a small yawn and her eyes sprang wide open.
It was the moment she had been waiting for. The morning when all history begins had finally arrived.
“Hehehe…”
Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Hifumi made her way towards a mountain of carefully wrapped gifts, starting to open the boxes one by one, leaving the largest one for last.
Her face turned red when she saw the unspeakable item that Hanako had gifted her.
Carefully tucking away the handmade flower-press bookmark that Atsuko had created with her own hands.
She also let out a scream the moment she received the Peroro beret that Azusa had sneakily bought from the black market for a hefty price.
With how popular she was, Hifumi had received a bunch of small gifts like candies or snacks, and even grenades or flashbangs from all over. Her gaze finally landed on the last two remaining gifts.
‘Hifumi-chan.’
For some reason, she thought she heard Nagisa calling her name. Hifumi opened the present. Inside was a small note and a container full of homemade cookies.
[Hifumi-chan, thank you for staying a good friend to both me and Mika… especially to Mika. I hope you continue to look after her as you have until now.]
“Ah, ahahaha… Nagisa-senpai, you say such embarrassing things…”
Hifumi awkwardly scratched her cheek, completely unaware of how significant a role she played in alleviating Mika’s stress.
Although both Nagisa and Mika had made friends of their own since Nagisa’s birthday and had busy schedules that made it harder to hang out,
Hifumi was still one of the students Mika felt comfortable with. Of course, that was when she successfully managed to avoid talking about Momo Friends.
Setting Nagisa’s gift aside, Hifumi finally turned her gaze towards the much-awaited present.
Seeing a gift box roughly the size of Azusa, Hifumi believed it would open up new paths for her. It was truly the key to a new world.
“Fuh, fuu. I have to calm down… Hnngh!”
Ultimately unable to hold back, Hifumi tore open the wrapping and opened the box. She lifted the contents high above her head.
And with that, a single scream echoed out.
“Ugh…!”
With a thud, Hifumi fell backward, getting squashed under a gigantic Peroro doll as her eyes slowly closed.
Ajitani Hifumi, age 15. What a tragedy.
*
“Hmm.”
If a brilliant little sickly girl existed in Millennium, then a frail prophetic fox girl existed in Trinity.
Yurizono Seiya had recently awakened from the dreams that had continued every time she fell asleep and stared blankly at the ceiling.
The dreams certainly continued, but she couldn’t remember the contents. Or rather, she could only infer that time was flowing in pieces of information.
However, there was one thing she could distinctly recall—the final moment of all her dreams, where the clouds parted, and a hopeful light shined through.
As of current times, the three factions composing T-party had effectively formed a unified regime in terms of political ideology.
However, there were slight differences in how each faction treated their leader.
Pater once viewed their leader, Mika, as their idol and spokesperson. Yet, in the present where circumstances had changed, they no longer dared to assign her such a role.
Aside from a radical extremist faction almost without any voice, it was now effectively true that all of Pater regarded and followed Mika as a matriarch.
This was somewhat similar for Filius as well.
But Sanctus was different.
For Sanctus, their leader Seiya was not a matron-like figure but someone they must protect, akin to a sacred relic that must be guarded.
To prove this, Seiya was the only Student Council President whose face remained largely unknown, even though the secretive nature of T-party had become more or less irrelevant by this point.
This hinted at a stark truth—she had no friends.
Aside from the gifts sent from Sanctus, the Christmas presents she received could be counted on one hand, which was telling.
… In fact, this was a recent excuse Seiya had begun using. It was clearly an excuse that the original Mika would have scoffed at.
Seiya let out a small sigh and began to check the gifts one by one.
“This is…”
As she blinked upon confirming a drawing sent from Sanctus, she noticed it was the same drawing that Mika and Nagisa had received from their respective factions.
As it contained a lot of children’s heartfelt efforts, it touched her. Seiya stared at the drawing for a while before carefully putting it away.
Aside from that, Miné from the Rescue Knights had sent her some nutritional supplements. Having received the same gift last year, Seiya found it a bit awkward. Her congenital frailty had always been rooted in Shinpi.
When she spotted Nagisa’s gift and the accompanying letter, Seiya smiled softly. The ornament that originally adorned her fox ears, now added with a forget-me-not, had a clear meaning.
“… Nagisa, you’re too soft-hearted.”
The relationship in T-party divides before and after Mika’s change.
Before, it had been more raucous, with some playful bickering while maintaining a proper distance—essentially a three-person T-party.
Now, it had become a more serene yet cohesive group, centered around one person with no political contention.
Of course, the former might have been the more politically beneficial structure. But both Seiya and Nagisa, who loved peace, couldn’t deny they preferred the current T-party.
However, that’s only if one disregards the changed relationship between Mika and Nagisa.
After the memory loss incident, it was clear to Seiya that Nagisa and the altered Mika were drawn to each other.
At first, it had been perplexing and absurd, and she mischievously taunted them both, but after a certain prophetic dream, there had been an occasional hint of jealousy mixed in.
Since losing her memory, Mika had been showing an abnormally reckless side at times but also surrounded herself with a different mature aura than those two. With much of Mika’s focus shifting towards Nagisa, the subsequent dreams prompted Seiya to put in effort to redirect that attention toward herself.
“But Nagisa, there’s a big difference between the gaze Mika gives you and the one she gives me.”
At some moment, Seiya realized that the feelings Mika showed to her were markedly different from romantic feelings.
Though she sometimes raised her voice at her, she saw her merely as a child whom she had to protect and care for.
Thus, she resolved to be satisfied with this relationship. That dream from earlier, she decided, was just an ordinary dream, not a prophetic one. Yet,
[The three-person T-party.]
There was one fool who disrupted her resolution with strange words.
Once keeping an eye on her, now that fool was trying to embrace her.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Seiya chose not to place the received ornament on her head.
Then, as she checked the gift from Mika, she let out a snort. This time, it was a tea set adorned with lilies that popped out.
It was as if they had conspired to hope she would draw closer to the other side.
“… With this, I can’t bring myself to refuse.”
Ultimately, Seiya reversed her decision, placing the ornament Nagisa gifted her on her head, and accepted the invitation to the T-party with a small smile.
Unbeknownst to her, she was thinking about the bomb waiting for her.
The T-party in Trinity completed itself with the three of them united.
*
Recently, Hanako had been enjoying her academy life immensely.
If asked a little over six months ago, she would have never uttered such words.
The reason behind this transformation ultimately comes down to one person.
During the time when the various factions and clubs of the so-called elite class in Trinity were attempting to make her their own, utterly desperate to recruit her, Hanako was instead feeling disillusioned with Trinity.
Her dream of a normal school life had vanished, left only with stress from the snakelike power struggles. Ironically, it was someone at the pinnacle of that same power structure in Trinity who breathed life back into Hanako.
With an ultimatum that put an end to the feelings that she was losing herself the more she interacted, she also introduced her to friends who were so genuine that they seemed to heal her heart as well.
To Hanako, Misono Mika was truly a benefactor and also an object of admiration.
The Mika she had seen was the epitome of veracity. Perhaps Mika herself was so skilled at hiding her true feelings that she wasn’t even aware of it, but to Hanako, she appeared to be a person whose exterior and interior completely matched.
That’s why it was even more astonishing. Using a typical straightforward approach, so far removed from Trinity’s customary ways of deception and intrigue—going in circles, masking true intentions, uncovering others’ intentions, and discovering weaknesses—she achieved results that would be recorded in Trinity’s history.
“But even such a flawless Mika isn’t perfect all the time.”
“Eh? Hanako-chan, why are you suddenly talking about senpai Mika…?”
“Hifumi-chan. I’ve made up my mind.”
“Uuuh… Hearing that Hina-chan has made a decision makes me uneasy right off the bat!”
“Hehe. What about it makes you anxious, Hifumi-chan?”
“Ugh… Hanako-chan, asking that is kind of a bother.”
“True… I apologize. Everyone deserves their privacy, and I too may have pried too much. By the way, did you like the gift I sent?”
“Uuuh…”
Seeing Hifumi’s face turn red as she looked down, Hanako couldn’t help but chuckle as she gazed out the window.
She suspected Mika still believed that she was enjoying the occasional playful advice she had given, like taking photos in her swimsuit. After all, Mika went to great lengths to hide her ordinary self. She wanted to show her esteemed senior only her best side.
Because of that, the gifts she received were pure and normal, ranging from Millennium’s famous book full of tough problems to various hair and scalp care products. They would feel inadequate in comparison to what she had gifted to Azusa, Hifumi, and Atsuko.
But… something felt lacking. It might be accurate to say it was a deficiency.
As she subtly dropped hints of her true self to the admired senior, once she finally got discovered and fully revealed everything, what would her reaction be? Hanako was curious about that. Just imagining any possible endings sent a chilling thrill through her.
And to achieve that, she needed more connection with Mika.
Mika was a person who was always extremely busy, making it nearly impossible to find enough time to hang out with her given their current relationship.
“Hifumi-chan, I really… have to join the T-party.”
“Y-You? But, Hanako-chan, you said you didn’t want to be in any club…”
“Hehe. Well, that means I’ve decided.”
When the girl who had previously distanced herself from the elite class of Trinity again stepped into that space for her own sake, how would Mika react? And how would she feel seeing the junior she playfully teased transform so dramatically?
Imagining that, Hanako felt both sadism and masochism deep in her heart. Even if the object of her admiration bore guilt for leading her junior down the wrong path, that was fine. It wouldn’t be so bad if Mika ended up detesting her for it.
Either way, that kind, sweet senior wouldn’t be able to truly hate her.
Unfortunately, Hanako still did not realize that the admired senior had long known her true self and had merely been pretending not to notice her changed demeanor.
