“…yawn”
With a pleasant yawn, Makoto came to her senses and tilted her head in confusion.
For some unknown reason, she found herself lying in a single room, dressed in a hospital gown.
As she reminisced for a while, her eyes widened. The last memory she had was declaring her victory in a bet against Trinity’s cheeky pigeon.
What mattered now wasn’t why she was hospitalized—no, that was irrelevant!
She had to take her smug face and her childish bravado and rub her victory in that foolish angel’s face! How could she shame her in a way that was fresh, not stale? She desperately racked her brain for a new idea.
Lost in such serious thoughts, Makoto quickly found her uniform and got dressed. Furthermore, she pulled her hair into a hasty ponytail and stepped out of the hospital room.
First, she dropped by her office only to find it completely empty, devoid of any warmth. This made her wonder if today was some kind of special day, prompting her to check her phone’s calendar.
“…September?”
Makoto might have been foolish, but she was no fool for forgetting the date. At least, that’s what she believed.
According to her memory, the last date she noted was… August 2nd? It had to be around then.
In reality, she had completely mismatched the date by a digit, but now that she was aware it was September, her thoughts started racing at lightning speed.
Her thoughts cut through the air like lightning striking down on her.
“Kikikik! So, that’s what happened!”
In truth, she hadn’t arrived at a solid conclusion at all. It was just her habitual bravado bubbling up without a reason.
Ultimately, Makoto, caught in a blocked situation, made the perfectly textbook choice she often made.
[…Makoto-senpai. You’ve finally woken up.]
“Hey, Iroha. Something’s off here.”
[If you’ve just awoken, I probably won’t exist in this world anymore. Just to clarify, this is a recorded message, so please don’t misunderstand.]
“Wha, what…?”
[You’ve been asleep for a whopping 17 years. During that time, no one dared to step up as the pinnacle of the Manma Battle, leaving the chairperson position unoccupied. I’ve been waiting, locked away in a lonely, desolate room, for you to awaken.]
Not knowing that Iroha was referring to the hideout she often used to skip work, Makoto bit her lip. Something, something had gone down while the peak of Gehenna was vacant.
[But that’s all over now… by the time you hear this message, I’ll probably no longer be part of this world. If I had known this would happen, I might have slacked off a bit more.]
“Hey, Iroha! Don’t joke around! I’ll give you a three-day… no, a week of vacation effective immediately, so just confess it’s all a lie!”
[Well, it’s only natural that it’s a lie, Makoto-senpai. I’ll graciously accept the vacation. Please don’t look for me until a week from now.]
“Wha…?! Iroha! Are you pulling a fast one on me?!”
[…Just so you know, today is precisely one week after the festival ended. So, your slave contract can be considered nullified.]
Iroha successfully relieved her usual stress by teasing Makoto over the call, leading to Makoto’s eyes practically spinning in her head.
“Gyaaa!!! I knew those Trinity pigeon girls were unreliable! They put me to sleep and then took advantage of the loophole in the contract! I can’t stand for this! No, this can’t be! To make sure that I and Misono Mika know our standings… yeah, kikikik!!! No choice but to prepare for total war!”
[Ah, yes… Haah, why do these annoying tasks always fall on me?]
“Hey, Iroha! Start preparing for war right now! Misono Mika… I’ll make her realize how big of a mistake she made. Kikikikik!!!”
Iroha sighed heavily, filled with all sorts of emotions, as she had no one around her capable of handling Makoto, fully aware of her predicament.
In fact, she appreciated that this scenario had been crafted for her, where she was to toy with Makoto as if she were in the palm of her hand… but sometimes, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed by Makoto.
Of course, “sometimes” was the key term. Just sometimes…
[First, there’s something Makoto-senpai needs to know. The main culprit behind this is not Mika-san, but Kaiser Corporation.]
“…What? Why on earth would Kaiser attack me like that? Iroha, please don’t spout nonsense——”
[During the time you were asleep, the enraged Mika-san wiped out Kaiser, who was behind it all. They were researching biochemical weapons, leading to the corporation collapsing like dominoes.]
In reality, the current situation had fallen into place by accident. Initially, Hina and Iroha thought about having one person shoulder all the blame. They had used the “sleeping pill that makes you feel rejuvenated after a deep slumber, but the sleep lasts a week” they commissioned from Sanhaegyeong.
Before she left, their discussion on Makoto led to Mika deciding that a leash on Makoto would be more suitable.
[If Mika-san hadn’t retrieved the antidote from Kaiser’s lab, we might have never known how long you would have been asleep… Haah.]
“…Misono Mika took down Kaiser for my sake?”
[While I can’t say it was entirely for you, I can definitely say it had a significant impact. I know very well how you feel about Mika-san, but…]
“Enough. That’s far enough.”
Silencing Iroha, Makoto sat down in her office chair and closed her eyes. Was it really okay to believe those words? If Iroha was merely being deceived by Trinity’s cunning pigeon…
The more she thought about it, the deeper her agony became.
‘…Come to think of it, from our first meeting, Misono Mika has always complimented me on my good looks. Could it be she actually meant it and wasn’t just playing around?’
That was indeed the truth. It was just that Makoto, due to her bias against Trinity, had never considered taking it seriously, at all.
‘Could it be… that Mika might be aspiring to the leadership of this body that stands as the pinnacle of Gehenna?’
Before she knew it, Makoto’s thoughts began to veer in a strange direction, even shortening the name she internally called Mika.
‘Surely… even after losing the bet, Mika’s expression was unusually bright for a loser. If she had been hoping for the outcome to start with, it could mean she was merely wanting to serve me, the great Makoto, closely and learn from me… then everything falls into place.’
“Kikik. Is that so? That makes sense!”
Finally, Makoto’s brilliant mind reached a clear answer. This revelation was enough to leave Iroha horrified and incredulous shortly after.
“Ah, I’ve finally awakened to the truth. Mika has been inspired by my greatness all along. She just couldn’t express it openly due to the barrier of the academy.”
[Huh…? What the…?!]
“Kikikikikikik!!! Yes. Even the pinnacle of Trinity couldn’t help but acknowledge my greatness that has reached the heavens long ago. I just regret that I realized it a bit too late.”
[…Haah.]
If she had known this would happen, wouldn’t it have been better to go with the usual Manma Battle vs. Student Council setup? As Iroha thought that, Makoto drove the final nail in the coffin.
“The greatness of my being was simply too immense for Gehenna to contain, Iroha. Kik! Kikikikik!!!”
[…Makoto-senpai, right?]
Iroha asked back cautiously, sensing something ominous in the direction this conversation was going. She could already see what shocking revelation awaited her at the end of it, and it was all too predictable.
“The endeavors of Hinauma Makoto should not stop at Gehenna. No, they must reach all Kivotos! So… I shall become the Student Council President. Yes, I will stand under the skies of Kivotos. If Mika is utterly enamored with me, she will undoubtedly support me! Kikikikikik— cough cough!”
[Thud!]
Iroha’s head banging against something could be heard over the phone, but Makoto, busy coughing, didn’t catch it.
‘Oh no… does Mika know what kind of terrible poison she’s unleashed on Makoto-senpai today?’
As she imagined Mika arriving at Trinity by now, Iroha let out a deep sigh. Unintentionally lost in the moment, she ended the call and switched off her phone.
“I… I don’t know anymore. Well, whatever happens, I’ve accepted the vacation, so let it be.”
That day, the malice Makoto had held against Mika completely vanished. Whether Mika would welcome such a change in their future encounter remained an open question.
