“…”
gulp.
A chilling silence settled over the meeting room.
In that stillness, the sound of someone nervously swallowing could be heard.
The owner of that sound was none other than Amau Aco. While she was receiving someone’s intense gaze, she slowly turned her head towards me.
Then, sending me an SOS signal with her eyes, I swallowed a sigh and opened my mouth.
“Hey, Mika? I would appreciate it if you could stop bothering Aco-chan…”
“But I don’t really think I’m bothering anyone. I’m keeping everything I want to say bottled up and holding back in many ways. I think this is more of a reason to be praised.”
“That may be true for someone else, but your glaring at her with such malice is definitely enough to call it bullying…”
Naturally, the one glaring at Aco was Mika. Aco didn’t exactly look devilish, but she was undeniably part of Gehenna…
“But.”
“I understand how you feel. However, there’s no need to be so openly hostile. I’m not going to make ridiculous demands like you should just get along… Oh, how about just pretending not to notice?”
“…Heueng.”
Aside from the fact that Aco is currently here to help me as a delegate from the Student Council, she is also a core member of Gehenna’s student leadership, practically Hina’s right-hand woman.
Naturally, they’ve seen the worst of each other, and Mika’s malice… is, well…
To put it bluntly, it’s inevitable that Mika’s hatred of Gehenna is focused on Aco; it would actually be weirder if it didn’t happen.
“If the teacher is saying that much, I might at least pretend to listen…?”
Mika, trailing off, subtly locked eyes with me. Her intense gaze conveyed that she desired something, and I was already feeling mentally drained at this point.
It was reminiscent of the time when Nagisa and Haruna were at odds.
The problem is that Mika is even harder to read than those two. The only upside is that it isn’t too difficult to manage her.
Though that does require some suffering on my part, it’s still better than not managing it at all.
“Please, Mika. Be kind, okay?”
“Hehe… That girl over there is just lucky, right? Oomph.”
“H-Huh? Lucky girl…?! What kind of ridiculous thing are you saying…!”
While I was gently petting Mika and making my request, her mouth blurted out in excitement before she could hold back for that brief moment.
I instinctively covered Mika’s mouth and sent Aco an apologetic glance for the factual burn.
“Ahaha… Don’t get too worked up, Aco-chan. You know how she is, right? So, let’s agree to ignore each other.”
“Ugh, Ugh… I can’t help it… Someone so reckless and rude, full of biases——”
But thinking about it, Aco herself isn’t exactly a walk in the park either. She reminds me of a chihuahua that barks a lot but doesn’t bite.
Still, being loud and ferocious doesn’t change, so I subtly raised my empty hand.
“——It’s just too wasteful for a face like that… Pueh?!”
I poked Aco in the side with my fingertip, effectively silencing her, and let out a small sigh.
With just this brief conversation, I could be sure.
Mika must never, under any circumstances, be allowed to be in the same room with kids from Gehenna. Never.
“President, I have roughly gotten the details from you…”
“…Ah, Rin-chan.”
“What is this ‘teacher’ title that the person over there is using…?”
Hearing Rin’s words, I subtly looked towards the only adult in this meeting.
Seeing the heavy dark circles under her eyes, it seemed like she was in a really weary state, but her gaze remained firm, bringing a sense of trust.
The teacher’s knowing ‘I kind of thought so…’ gaze felt a bit strange, and on the other hand, I felt as if I was being reproached, making me quickly return to my senses.
“The teacher is the teacher. Yep, my teacher.”
Just then, it wasn’t me who answered Rin’s question.
Mika, naturally brushing my hand aside, answered nonchalantly and leaned her head against my shoulder.
As everyone began furiously digesting the new information, it was only natural. They had already been given enough context, so it wouldn’t take long to draw conclusions.
…But, what about this situation? It felt a bit odd.
Hadn’t Himari, who was by my side throughout all this, given any explanation?
Glancing at Himari, who was sipping warm coffee with a comfortable expression, her eyes formed a charming curve as she caught my gaze.
“I’m someone whose inner beauty matches my outer beauty.”
“…?”
“That means I can respect personal privacy, okay? I’m a flawlessness perfect beauty in every aspect.”
“Ah, uh…”
As I was about to casually point out that she also happens to be the head of the hacking club, I stopped myself. She would likely continue on with her justification while keeping her smile intact.
Or she might shamelessly respond with something like, ‘The actions of a beautiful girl are justice, so that’s not infringing on privacy, merely doing what needs to be done?’
“Um, um, Mika-chan? The way you’re looking at me feels like you’re gazing at something utterly hopeless, and it kind of hurts my feelings.”
Well… I really didn’t think that was the case. Himari was making too much fuss.
More importantly, what right did I have to judge others like that…
“Ah, ahaha! More importantly, let’s get back to the real important topic, okay? Yep. I think everyone has a rough idea of what Mika and I’s relationship is!”
…That was close. I almost brought up something I had been trying to sweep under the rug.
Of course, I promised myself to remember my crimes, but that didn’t mean I intended to fall into self-loathing in this situation.
Quickly regaining my composure, I promptly requested a briefing on the current situation from Rin.
“First of all, while the president is absent, we’ve shared the observational data on the energy flow from the airspace with Rion of Millennium… and based on the data, we’ve succeeded in predicting, with some accuracy, the time it will take to restore the sanctuary.”
As if on cue, Rin began to recite the current situation’s information.
“To cut to the chase, President, time is tight.”
And what followed was certainly not good news for us.
“…How tight?”
“A maximum of three hours… perhaps.”
“Three hours…”
That is genuinely not good.
Originally, I had calculated that we would have some time to spare, and was planning to gather strength from each academy to climb up to that ark in the sky.
But if time is that tight, then the story changes a bit.
I had carefully selected children who could be helpful, but if we can’t solve the problem of the ark within that limited time, it would be troublesome if the sanctuary starts restoring.
We couldn’t just call that necessary sacrifices for the inevitable damage that would arise from the ground. After all, there’s no guarantee that the false sanctuary will just disappear after we finish dealing with the issues above.
The only silver lining is that without the ark, which is at the center of the energy flow, the sanctuary will not be infinitely restored.
…Truthfully, no matter how we look at it, if we fail to resolve this issue in time, we need to consider that Kivotos itself may end.
So…
“What if we minimize the forces responsible for the sanctuary, setting the policy to passive defense, while launching an all-out attack on the ark?”
Wouldn’t it be better to focus all our efforts on the ark instead?
Regardless of which decision we make, with our limited information, there’s a possibility of variables emerging.
In that case, it’s best to secure the worst-case scenario first and then think about the follow-up.
“True, there’s a possibility that if things get tangled up at the ark, the damage could spiral out of control.”
“But, see, I think that’s a risk we must accept. Yeah, if we try to tend to every small detail and end up missing the most critical point, it would be truly upside-down.”
“That’s true…”
“I don’t see that damage as loss of life, so it shouldn’t even be labeled as a risk. The passive defense Mika mentioned is fundamentally about that. Right?”
Hearing the teacher’s words, I nodded immediately.
In the first place, physical damage had already surpassed reasonable worries. As for D.U., I would expect Aoi to look at me with disappointment whenever damage from Perorozira needed recovering.
Like, “Is this really the best we could do…?”
Well, then again, I haven’t even had a proper conversation with Aoi, so it’s probably just unnecessary worry.
As for the damages in other autonomous districts besides D.U., to be honest, I don’t need to be concerned. Given how well I know the budget a large academy can manage, as long as we just protect the people, that’s all that matters.
“So let’s mobilize all available forces to the maximum——”
“Wait a second, teacher. There’s one thing you’re overlooking.”
“…Hmm? What is it?”
All gazes turned to Mika, who had interrupted me. However, Mika, unfazed by their attention, leaned solely into my eyes and spoke.
“You’re not dealing with a sandbag that just takes hits. The other side has some minimum level of awareness about what we’re doing and what moves we might take. Yeah, I agree we should assemble a certain amount of personnel, but…”
“…Haha. If we show any movement suggesting gathering a large number of troops, there’s a big chance they’ll respond appropriately.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s a valid point. There’s research showing that the phenomenon of color itself is imbued with intention…”
“Um, I’m not really into airy theories. But the fact remains, they have their own commander. That is a clear fact.”
Mika’s words certainly held validity. The once-destroyed world line’s Shiroko couldn’t just provide support against the color invasion—she was even leading it…
“So, gathering other kids through spatial movement is…”
“Ugh… I wouldn’t particularly recommend that method. Basically, this involves color and the method of movement being utilized through the ark. If you start using it openly with the intention of gathering forces, you’re done for, I think. It’d probably be best to use this ability to sneak into the ark just once.”
“‘Done for’ means they can interfere with that method of movement from their side, right?”
“…It’s not certain. I just figured that once you get entangled with color, you naturally gain authority, so it might be possible for the spearhead of color to take that authority away. Yeah, if that happens, you would find yourself in quite the predicament.”
As I listened to Mika’s words, my head began to ache, but at the same time, I felt relieved. If Mika hadn’t been here, we would’ve had to charge in blindly against an enemy that looked down on us as if we were in the palm of their hand.
Well, we probably wouldn’t have even been able to reach the ark in the first place, though.
“…Hmm.”
So, if we gather the kids without raising the suspicion of Shiroko tainted by color, we could consider the ones within D.U. to be safe, right…?
