A dark and secretive place.
In a location no one should carelessly peer into, a girl leaned back in a chair with an arrogant expression. A faint shadow covered her pink hair.
“Is it that in the end, there’s no opponent I need to deal with? I’m disappointed with the level of Sky Island.”
Leonard, slouched in front of her, glanced over. He roughly flipped through a thick report and skimmed it.
“Isn’t it only natural that the administrative personnel have already filtered through? If there’s a problem, we should start by re-hiring the staff.”
“Chief Inspector, that’s a foolish notion.”
The girl shook her head, resting her chin on her hand. Her pink eyes deepened as if looking far away.
“It’s meaningless to assess the level of the staff, whether they performed well or not. No matter how well they do, they still feel incompetent at my level. If you apply too harsh a standard, none of my limbs would be able to endure my genuine restructuring.”
One of Leonard’s eyebrows raised.
“Speaking of which, you’ve pulled high-level personnel that were dismissed after restructuring the Knight Corps into your organization. Can you really be that brazen about it? Even if it’s already done, you are essentially dividing and consuming the legacy of wartime.”
“Oh, the Knight Corps. Must I even explain such things?”
The girl sighed softly.
“It’s difficult to manage an oversized government organization without a significant trigger. But even so, it’s not right to create a big incident just because a trigger has arrived. The government isn’t private; even minor noise can have unnecessary impacts on society as a whole.”
Her gesture arrogantly pointed to herself.
“The measures I took, which I labeled as drastic restructuring to teach the Knight Corps up and down, are closer to reassignments in reality.”
The position of her chin shifted lazily.
“I moved personnel from the Knight Corps to the Craft Guild, or rather, from a government organization to a public enterprise. I intended to observe the societal fallout and make subsequent adjustments. Those deemed unnecessary would be returned to the Knight Corps.”
“Oh, I see. If outright privatization of power occurs, it can be managed in that manner.”
The girl sighed again.
“Chief Inspector, must I explain this basic strategy too? Please make simple inferences on your own.”
Leonard’s eyebrow raised again.
“Hey, how is this simple?”
The report was casually closed.
“And why does your tone sound like that today? Did you eat something bad?”
“Whoa.”
Her pink eyes gazed into the distance.
“Indeed, this place isn’t suited for my level. I can’t even handle minor strategies.”
“Level, level.”
Suddenly, the door flung open. A barrage of intense light invaded the dark and secretive place. The demon girl who opened the door looked puzzled in the halo.
“What are you doing in the dark?”
Footsteps headed for the window. A gesture opened the Student Council room’s curtains. The dim room brightened all at once.
Bright sunshine hit Pastel.
“Ahhh! It’s dazzling! My eyes…!”
Her vision dropped to 0.1!
Pastel flailed her arms to shade her eyes from the sunlight.
“It’s too much photosynthesis!”
A bad environment for cherry blossoms!
Ellie, additionally, opened the window to ventilate the room.
“If you came earlier, you should have ventilated first.”
The demon girl watched Pastel’s distress before looking at Leonard. Their glances met as Leonard, despite himself, looked back at Pastel before turning his body toward the door.
“I’m leaving.”
“Take care!”
Pastel rubbed her eyes as she waved goodbye.
As Leonard left, Ellie peeked at the monitoring report again. She seemed extremely curious.
I wonder if I’ve monitored Ellie again.
Boop.
Good Pastel wouldn’t do such a thing to her friend.
“This time, President Horace decided to hand over the bankrupt guilds to the Craft Guild. Have you checked if there’s any suspicious place among them? If the cult has even a thread connected to it, it means the cult has infiltrated my line. Ignoring it and allowing an important link to be eroded would be extremely troublesome.”
“Oh, that.”
Ellie’s expression became pinched, reflecting the secret infiltration that rendered her irreplaceable in the administrative domain, just as Pastel had feared.
Pastel grinned.
“Of course, Ellie must feel differently! We’re friends!”
Mm-hmm!
After this remark, Ellie hesitated as if something had occurred to her.
“This isn’t intended, just a simple question—what happens if we’re not friends anymore?”
“Huh?”
Pastel’s eyes widened.
“That’s an innocent question, right?”
Suddenly anxious.
Ellie tensed up.
“You said it yourself. If trust cannot be built through words and deeds, let’s establish trust based on interest. In that case, you should also understand the risk of betrayal. Separate from my intentions, there can be instances where circumstances are contrary to your advantage. We must accurately share risks to avoid misunderstandings in our judgments.”
“Now that you mention it, that makes sense!”
Wow!
That’s a remarkably smart and valid statement!
Is this a conversation with a friend where contemplation precedes disappointment?
Pastel crossed her arms and pondered seriously.
“I really, really like Ellie! If Ellie were to betray me, I think I’d focus on persuasion rather than revenge! I’d be curious to know what I did wrong!”
Mm-hmm!
“I think I’d naturally try to talk it out first! There might be a way to resolve it amicably, right? After all, friends do fight and reconcile!”
Ellie’s expression relaxed slightly.
“True. No matter how I look at it, liking a friend doesn’t seem like an act. So, initial dialogue even in cases of conflicting interests.”
Muttering to herself, Ellie headed for the cupboard.
“Mm-hmm! Of course, Pastel is different!”
As if trying to have some green tea, Ellie, while taking out a teacup, suddenly stopped. She turned around quickly, her expression filled with question marks.
“Why is that different?”
Pastel tilted her head.
“Public dealings and private dealings should, of course, be different!”
“That’s, well, it is, but…”
Ellie looked confused.
Huh?
What could be the problem?
Ellie squinted her eyes shut and then pressed her forehead.
“So, how does Pastel handle things if not through initial dialogue?”
Pastel pondered for a moment. Once she finished thinking, she answered brightly.
“That’s government work, so I can’t tell the stakeholders! If I disclose the principles, it would be easy to abuse them!”
Ellie’s expression turned to one filled with question marks again.
“No, but earlier you…”
Gasp.
I think I get it!
This reaction reflects the challenges friends have when trying to comprehend the popular Pastel!
Being popular often means that when friends want to hang out, she sometimes has to refuse because her schedule is too packed!
However, that friend often thinks it’s because Pastel dislikes them and feels hurt!
Ahhh, I’m sorry for being so popular!
Ellie’s situation is similar!
Pastel often has so many priorities that personal relationships become a lower consideration!
But it’s not because she dislikes that friend! She really, really likes her friends!
Yet from the perspective of a friend who adores Pastel a lot, feeling hurt is unavoidable.
“Don’t worry, Ellie! No matter what, I won’t take any irreversible actions!”
We’re friends after all!
“Irreversible actions.”
Ellie mumbled with a dazed expression.
“Irreversible, irreversible….”
The Student Council room door creaked open slightly.
Dustin, with messy hair, peeked inside and felt embarrassed under the focused gazes.
“Am I late?”
“Hi, Dustin!”
Pastel waved her arms energetically.
“You came to see me again today!”
Dustin looked confused.
“Huh? Is that, is that so? I came to work…?”
Then he rubbed his neck, murmuring shyly.
“I guess it does seem that way.”
Wow!
Just saying it was just a coincidence turns out to be true!
Ellie stared at Dustin with the same dazed look.
“Did you not wash your hair?”
It was a somewhat half-hearted question.
“Huh? I washed it before sleeping.”
“Disgusting.”
Ellie blurted out and walked to her seat.
Dustin was left stunned.
Pastel, noticing his hair state, cheerfully shouted.
“I think so too!”
Mm-hmm!
“Huh?”
Dustin appeared flustered.
“Why is everyone treating me like this since morning?”
No one gave a proper answer.
Dustin observed the atmosphere, then quietly returned to his dorm to wash his hair.
