To sum up a long story briefly, Rion ultimately couldn’t overcome the trend and managed to dodge the situation by suggesting that they meet later to discuss the matter more seriously.
From my perspective, the influence of Asuna’s momentum is significant. He was probably afraid that he would be backed into a corner and have to accept Asuna’s tenacious demands without even a rough estimate.
In Hina’s case, she expressed her intention to decline, citing the overly busy Student Council duties as a problem… but, I wonder. Will that really go your way?
If I negotiate with the Student Council President and propose to advance the deployment of SRT to the Eden Treaty organization for some preliminary operations, what can you do? If the workload is reduced, what can you possibly do besides accept it gracefully, Hina?
The Student Council President won’t be able to refuse anyway. If she rejects, the troubles between Millennium and Gehenna won’t get resolved. So if you want to avoid seeing me set Kivotos ablaze before disappearing, you’ll need to cooperate.
“Oh, by the way. About that compensation issue we deferred earlier.”
[…This time, I’m terrified of what might come next, T-party host.]
“Ahaha, well, it’s nothing big. Let’s also include Neru-chan in this!”
Since we’re including Hina, we’ll take Neru along too. That makes sense. After all, if it’s a one-year idol project, it would be good to have at least one ‘girl crush’ type member. It actually resonates well with the girls surprisingly.
[That part… Okay, I’ll consider it positively.]
“Eh??? You two, what nonsense are you talking about?! I’m not doing that! Absolutely not!”
Even though she’s saying that now… well, I can clearly see Neru in an idol outfit, on stage dancing with a chic smile in the future.
“And what are you trying to do now? Come on, are you telling me I’ve been suppressed by a terrorist or something?”
“…”
…For now, while I’m angry looking at Akane, who has her neck grabbed by Akari, I know that will happen in the future.
Oh, and she’s pretending to sleep. That’s for sure. Just how embarrassed must she be to go that far?
But since it’s not just anyone, but Akari’s meal, she has to bear the responsibility. She was too busy filling her belly with Burgers to fight with others, and then she blew up the place; that’s 100% her fault.
“Well, now that we’re in this situation, the compensation issue is more or less settled. Right, as for Gehenna, Rion can handle that separately… The remaining concern is how to tidy up this situation once it hits the media, I guess?”
[Given that the situation is resolved amicably, it’s not that serious of a problem. In fact, if we respond quickly enough, it’s just a matter of burying it under a suitable excuse.]
While it’s not entirely wrong, the fact that a special forces unit from Millennium and the top leader of another academy engaged in combat is bound to lead to lingering whispers no matter how you cover it up.
…If there’s no way to sweep it under the rug neatly, maybe it’s better to just close our eyes and barrel through this madness.
“How about using this situation as noise marketing?”
[…Using the current situation how?]
“Let’s assume it’s definite that we’re proceeding with the idol project and package the gunfight that broke out here as a happening during the decision-making process of who will take on the leadership of the group. It’s like Neru-chan’s resolve to protect Millennium’s pride, saying that we can’t hand the leadership over to a Trinity student… yeah, something like that?”
[T-party host… you’re something.]
“Yeah, why? Are you surprised that my idea is so brilliant?!”
[You’re truly out of your mind.]
…Whoa, this hits hard. It’s not just Rion’s ego that’s on the line but his reasoning is extremely rational.
Hearing such words from Rion makes me reflect on myself. I feel like I’ve been hit with brutal facts.
“Rion, you know, this could be considered rational thinking? Just the direction is a bit different. Yeah, just a little.”
[No way, are you serious about that?]
With a bewildered expression, Rion’s hologram frowned. I guess that’s just the nature of a cool beauty; it makes me feel strangely judged just from her gaze…
“Ahaha, would I really say that? I’m always… yeah, always sincere, Rion. Just hear me out for a second. The reasonable excuse you thought of is bundling the academy’s soldiers as my escort who had come to visit Millennium for personal reasons… something like that, right?”
[…It’s not entirely the same, but fundamentally, the context is somewhat similar to what you said.]
It’s strange that the context is only somewhat similar. Are there other decent excuses out there? I can’t think of any.
“For Gehenna’s Student Council, they’ll probably bury the major issue of Gehenna unilaterally infringing on Millennium’s autonomy by saying they were officially permitted military activity to suppress terrorists from Gehenna. Yeah, it’s more rational that way.”
[Why is someone who knows the right path suggesting an irrational one? Is there a reason to describe it as ‘rational thinking’?]
“Eh? In that case, the ‘right path’ you’re speaking of is one predicated on self-sacrifice, isn’t it? What you think might fundamentally be the right solution, but did you consider the damage to your reputation in that process?”
[What do you mean? Is that a problem?]
Watching Rion reply without even a hint of a change in expression makes me boil inside. Why on earth does she choose the harder path?
“Of course it’s a problem! Rion, not only did you attack the T-party host’s group first, but you’re the Student Council President who enlisted the forces of another academy to suppress three people in a mere club. You’re carrying all the weight of every issue yourself, don’t you think that’s really a problem?”
[T-party host, my reputation isn’t that important. I’m not particularly concerned about it. For achieving my goals, a bit of damage to my reputation is just a trivial sacrifice.]
“That’s exactly the issue I’m talking about! Why should only you bear the responsibility that all three academies should take? That’s a selfless sacrifice that no one acknowledges, Rion. Yeah, that’s absolutely undesirable. The moment you accept blame for Millennium attacking me first and being incapable of suppressing even terrorists without bringing in forces from another academy, that’s not a reasonable solution at all.”
[…I don’t get it. Why would you, someone I’ve just met for the first time today, worry about my reputation?]
Well, to be honest, I don’t quite understand either. Maybe it’s because I’ve once tried to shoulder everything alone, and now I want to show you that going that route is wrong since no one else can teach you.
“Ahaha, you should ponder that yourself and find the answer. I also can’t explain it clearly.”
[Irresponsible. You give a response on something you don’t even fully understand.]
“I’m a bit sorry about that, yeah. But… once you partially agreed with my completely crazy proposal, you’re on this ship too now, right? So it’s troublesome if you keep trying to back out like that. I’m filled with determination to make this work as proper compensation for Millennium.”
[Why are you…? It’s absurd that you know that it’s a crazy proposal.]
I had no words for Rion, who looked incredulous. To me, this was the conclusion I arrived at after desperately considering things, but how could I explain that? There’s no way to do so without mentioning the future.
Anyway. After that, it turned into a narrative that even Makoto would laugh at, asking if I could actually believe this.
A collection of irrational ideas where common sense couldn’t be found, even a hint of rational thought couldn’t be tacked on as empty words.
In secret, Millennium had planned some kind of multinational… should I say multi-academic? Anyway, the T-party host, who learned that a certain idol group was in the works, finds herself yearning for a breakthrough from the burdensome workload, and thus dives into the world of idols. Coincidentally, the Gehenna Student Council President also ended up participating in the group with the same mindset.
Why do I state for sure that Hina will join? Because no matter what happens, I will make it so.
In other words… Aco, are you ready to prove your abilities?
As mentioned earlier, the gunfight was packaged as a struggle between Neru and me over the leader position. For the shop getting blown up, we decided to just state the truth. I did consider noise marketing for joining the group to take responsibility for something Haruna didn’t do, but discarded that because it might create too much of a negative image.
Honestly, I can’t believe I’m asking people to believe this flimsy patchwork of a story, but if all three academies say so, lies become truth. There’s a saying that ‘three people make a tiger’ for a reason.
As a result, while trying to cover up this incident, the six-member idol group that was hastily formed will become known to the world, so isn’t that a good outcome in some way?
[T-party host, I think it’d be good to meet in person soon and discuss this further. You seem quite sincere about this idol project, so this side should also analyze what kind of profit we might expect from that venture.]
Fortunately, this situation didn’t escalate like a spring wildfire and was managed well enough. An incident that could have irreparably soured relations between Millennium and the other two academies got resolved thanks to me, Haruna, and Hina selling our bodies, leaving me completely drained.
And so Rion’s avant-garde AMAS returned to the Millennium campus, leaving an awkward atmosphere among those who remained.
It’s hard to consider the relationship between Trinity and Gehenna as favorable… particularly with the Arius Squad, which is close to an extremist faction, facing off with the Student Council, a forceful group, and for now, Nagisa and Hina align with the moderates, so they’re not at risk of conflict.
The Gourmet Research Club, which has been in the position of a terrorist throughout this event, and the C&C that received the order to suppress them.
Caught in the middle is Yuuka and Noah from the Seminar.
And then there’s Hiyori and Azusa, who appeared dragging Karine from C&C.
What a bizarre combination of kids in one place.
“Well… I guess there’s nothing more to discuss here? Regarding the idol project, I’d like to properly discuss it after this year’s Summer Festival is wrapped up… so it’d be great if those who are supposed to participate could leave their contact information.”
“Just saying in advance, I’m not doing that even if I die. I have no intention of giving you my contact…”
“Okay, okay! Here’s my Momotalk ID! Oh, and I’ll register our leader’s too!”
“Hey, wait?!”
Alright, that’s two secured. No need to get Hina and Haruna’s separately, but Noah…
“Hey, Noah-chan, could you register for Momotalk? Also, don’t call me T-party host; just call me casually☆”
“Sure, anytime. By the way, Noah-chan… that sounds a bit, um…”
“Ahaha, sorry if that made you uncomfortable! I really dislike distant terms of address…”
“No, it’s not uncomfortable or anything; it’s just that I feel a little excited about the newfound connection unconsciously? Hehe…”
After Noah registered her Momotalk on my phone, she seemed to be pondering something before unexpectedly bringing up a different topic.
“Um, Mika-san? I’m actually a bit interested in that person over there… if it’s not too much to ask, could you possibly introduce us?”
The person Noah indicated was surprisingly Haruna. It was a bit surprising because it was an unexpected combination, but since they’re both set to join the same idol group, it’s not that out of the blue, I suppose. I don’t know why she doesn’t seem interested in Hina, though.
“Hmmm, that’s no problem. It’s not that tough!”
I approached Haruna, who was chatting with the members of the Gourmet Research Club, bringing Noah along.
“Haruna-chan, this girl wants to get closer to you!”
With those words, Haruna looked at Noah with interest and playfully asked her a question.
“I hope I’m not being rude, but how do you feel when a restaurant serves you food and service below your expectations?”
Are you seriously starting off with a thought police interrogation…?
“Umm… that’s a tough question. My answer would depend on how far below expectations it was. If it’s pretty standard below, I’d note the restaurant’s name and leave a review at Millennium Bamboo Grove for that place, but if it’s intolerable…”
What’s with that meaningful smile? It feels uncomfortably… like I’m connecting two people who shouldn’t meet.
“Even though it was a joke… yes, I’ll give you passing marks. I’m Kurodate Haruna, chief of the Gourmet Research Club.”
“I’m Ushio Noah, the secretary of the Seminar. I look forward to getting along with you, Haruna-san? Hehe.”
“Hehe, I’m looking forward to it too, Noah-san.”
After some sort of encounter that seems like it shouldn’t happen transpired, Haruna stepped closer to me. Not just one step, but two. Three steps. The memory of the incident that initiated all this made me subconsciously retreat, and before I knew it, Haruna grabbed my wrist.
“Mika-san, I have something I really want to say before we go back.”
“Eh…? What is it?”
“It’s about the ultimate culinary experience I’ve been searching for.”
Uh, um?
No way. It can’t be. That’s not happening.
Though I’ve secretly been looking forward to a day like this, I had never even considered it would actually happen.
“The ultimate taste I was looking for isn’t about the impeccable dish that doesn’t exist in this world. It’s the meals shared with precious people that I truly pursued. The ultimate culinary experience I’ve finally realized is…”
While holding onto my arm so I couldn’t run away, Haruna drew closer.
“Dining with a truly unique person in this world.”
Haruna’s lips brushed against my cheek… almost close enough to be considered against my lips. The citrus scent enveloped me as I distinctly felt the softness of her lips.
“Maybe, it’s that I might just be the ultimate culinary experience for you, Mika-san.”
With those words, Haruna turned and headed towards Izumi and Akari. Her tail swayed more enticingly than usual, reflecting her mood.
Feeling dazed, I looked around. I witnessed the kids from both the Squad and Hina glaring intensely at Haruna.
And then I caught the shocked expression of Nagisa, who stared at me with a look as if her world had crumbled.
