For some unknown reason, Vina hid herself away as the sandstorm that had been raging for a while finally calmed down.
Thanks to that, the RABBIT Squad, which had been loading supplies into the car, abandoned their plan to set up a base camp. No one wanted to wake up and find their camp buried in sand.
In the end, the RABBIT Squad had to pull out their sleeping bags, but Hoshino pushed them into the empty dorm attached to the main building, suggesting that they use that instead.
Originally, only Hoshino, Shiroko, and Nonomi were using the dorm, but now the new students also lived there due to the sandstorm. With just five of them, there was enough space for each squad member to have their own room.
The Teacher also took one room for herself but left the dorm, claiming she couldn’t sleep long past midnight.
“Teacher…?”
“…Oh, Teacher. Where are you going?”
“Nothing much… I’m just thinking about taking a little walk since I can’t sleep.”
“Ah, I see? If that’s the case, I won’t stop you. Have a good time.”
“…P, please be careful.”
The Teacher stepped out of the dorm, glancing at Mohe, who was gently shaking the candy in her mouth, and Miyu, who was crouched down munching on chocolate.
Miyako, who had strong influence from SRT, along with Saki, who valued the importance of night patrols, split the squad into two, emphasizing the importance of watch duty. However, the kids from the committee, watching them, commented on how tiring it was and flat-out refused to do it. Their reasoning was that they had a system to warn about intruders before they got close, so why bother with night patrols?
The Teacher, thinking that if the RABBIT Squad stayed here for a few more days, they wouldn’t care about watch duty and would just become one with their beds, didn’t bother to argue.
Meanwhile, the wind outside was nearly calm. It wasn’t strong enough to whip up sand, so the Teacher felt at ease as she surveyed the sand-covered Abydos High School.
Then, she spotted a girl sitting on a bench, gazing up at the cleared night sky. Just by the silly hair on top of her head, she could tell it was Hoshino.
Silently approaching the bench, the Teacher sat down a reasonable distance from Hoshino.
Casting a glance at him, Hoshino quietly resumed looking at the sky.
The phone in her hand displayed a Momotalk chat room. Her finger hovered over a partially written message, ready to delete it.
Her broken and damaged nails from a recent skirmish with Vina couldn’t escape the Teacher’s gaze.
“Hoshino, if you have troubles you can’t speak about in front of others, how about giving me a quick hint? Only if you’re okay with it… Just a thought, so you don’t have to feel too pressured.”
“…”
After hearing the Teacher’s words, Hoshino fidgeted with her phone and deleted the unfinished message.
“Let’s say I’m being deceived and try it. Teacher, the truth is, we had a chance to ask for help before things got this serious.”
“From the Student Council?”
“No, not them, Teacher. Even longer ago… Since last year, there’s someone who helped us solely out of goodwill… There’s this friend who somehow seems like he could solve anything. Yet, this old man hesitated to ask for help. I thought it might just be stubbornness, but I hesitated to ask for help.”
Calling someone she had told not to live foolishly, it was a comically absurd situation in many ways, but she wasn’t hesitating out of pride.
The real reason was a bit more practical.
“But that friend is quite a high-ranking person from another academy… Plus, he lives a pretty hectic life every day. And since we’ve already received help from him… I know he would help us if I just asked, but I didn’t want to trouble a busy person. I even turned down his offer to come here… I thought we should try to solve things ourselves since it’s our academy… But…”
“With our own strength, we lacked resources and personnel, and as the situation worsened, I hesitated because it felt excessively burdensome to ask for help.”
“Ugh~ That’s basically it. Not exactly the same, but close…”
To put it more accurately, it would be quite funny for Hoshino, who escalated the situation out of her own stubbornness, to ask for help now. Besides, it was true that the other side was just a foolish person who enjoyed helping others, but he was distinctly a high-ranking official from another academy.
“Honestly, just because we ask for help doesn’t guarantee they’ll come to assist us. When they helped us in the past, they drew the line to a certain extent.”
Hoshino shook her head, recalling how Mika had drawn that line, saying that support could only go so far from an individual.
Of course, the situation had changed significantly now that Mika wielded immense power in Trinity, but Hoshino had no way of knowing that.
However, in the process of expressing her thoughts, Hoshino came to realize that, even though the reasons were different, there was a need to bring up another story before it got too late.
“Hoshino, how about having a conversation with that person? If he’s really as you described, he might feel worse knowing he couldn’t help a friend when they needed it the most.”
“…That’s what makes it harder to ask, Teacher.”
The fear was that he might dive in to help without thinking, putting his own matters aside.
Despite these thoughts, Hoshino’s fingers began tapping the keyboard to send a message.
“Um… But at this hour, isn’t that person sleeping?”
“Perhaps…”
Ding!
“Thankfully, he’s still awake~.”
Checking the immediate reply, Hoshino pondered how to break the ice but decided to continue from their previous conversation.
[Mika-chan, the teacher from that Shalle is here right now.]
As Hoshino quietly waited for a response, what returned wasn’t a message but a phone call.
[Huh… The teacher is in Abydos? Why…? What’s going on…?]
Upon answering the phone and hearing the voice immediately, the Teacher couldn’t help but chuckle.
So that friend was Mika? Just what kind of connections did they have to keep popping up whenever it felt convenient?
Hearing Mika’s voice, which somehow sounded lethargic, Hoshino and the Teacher thought that Mika was just sleepy and brushed it off.
“First… let me explain what’s been happening recently, Mika-chan. Right now in Abydos, sandstorms are constantly hitting, and even the relatively normal Autonomous District is covered in sand. I’m sure the rumors have spread to some extent.”
[Is it the rumor that things got serious after Saint Nephthys resumed their railway business?]
“Exactly. But the problem doesn’t end there. There are huge serpent-like monsters creeping through the abandoned desert of Abydos… Their activity range has widened considerably. Just a few days ago, one got as close as our school.”
[Is it Vina…?]
“Huh?”
[Oh, it’s nothing… Heueng. So, that monster is the reason you needed help, huh?]
“It was actually one of the new students who asked for help…”
After relaying the discussions and conclusions from the subsequent meetings, a brief silence lingered on the other end of the phone.
After quickly organizing her thoughts, Mika spoke again.
[In summary, you suspect that the monster in the desert is one of the reasons the desertification is accelerating, so if possible, you want to hunt it down, or if that’s difficult, at least inflict enough damage to drive it back into the desert? Even if that doesn’t guarantee the situation will be resolved, you’re jumping into this because you have no better ideas?]
“Ugh~ Now that I say it like that, it sounds pretty grim, huh? This is why I told you not to come to Abydos last time.”
[I’ll help.]
“…So that’s how it is. But this alone doesn’t provide justification for moving Trinity, does it?”
[Justification? Hoshino-chan, that’s a bit disappointing☆ Are you really saying that if a friend is in need of help, I’d be cold enough to weigh it against benefits?]
“No, it’s just that Mika-chan is a fool. I expected you to charge in without a second thought.”
[Ahaha. Well, there’s no denying that while justification isn’t totally unnecessary… that’s more up to me. By cooperating to resolve this situation and assisting in the reconstruction of Abydos, I’ll create an everlasting bond of gratitude that can’t just be easily erased… Justifying my actions like that should suffice.]
Mika boldly declared that, ‘Anyway, my kids will follow through with just the bare minimum of justification if I ask.’ She then directed her attention back to the Teacher.
[By the way, Teacher, how are our rabbits doing? Do you like them?]
“They all seem to have their own worries, but they follow the Teacher’s words well. It feels like they haven’t had enough time to get to know each other, so I’m trying to pay a little attention to that.”
[Well, they are first-years! It hasn’t been long since they started working together, so we can’t expect perfection just yet. But once they open their hearts to each other, it’ll really help the activities at Shalle… ]
Once again, silence fell. However, this time the reason was slightly different.
Hoshino was the only one to hear Mika’s voice faintly coming through the phone, barely above a whisper.
‘Really, Nagisa-chan. It’s almost over, so stop pestering me now. I know you’re upset because I’m ignoring you…’
Connecting the lethargic tone of Mika’s voice to the words she just heard halted Hoshino’s thoughts momentarily. Thankfully, the Teacher seemed unaware of Mika’s words.
[Ah, um. Teacher, Hoshino-chan. For now, I’ll look for ways to help in my own way. And when we’re actually going to hunt that desert creature, don’t forget to call me then, okay? It’s definitely something you say when you’re lucky to have a good friend.]
“Uh, um. She is indeed a ridiculously good friend…”
[Wow—! Isn’t it a bit of an honor to get such words from Hoshino-chan…? Oops. Anyway, I’ll go sleep now… Goodnight!]
The abruptly cut-off call left Hoshino and the Teacher looking at each other blankly. Either way, it was a good thing to have an excellent ally now.
“Hoshino, shall we head in as well?”
“Well, I suppose that’s for the best. It’s getting late, and the desert nights can be cold…”
However, while the Teacher remained oblivious, Hoshino was haunted by the revelation she had reached herself, which would keep her awake through the night.
It seemed the cold was anything but just the desert night.
