Episode 128: Discord
The Territorial War is approaching tomorrow.
With victory all but assured in the Territorial War, the students of Mikage Academy were buzzing with excitement, as if celebrating a festival.
They would be dividing up the vast lands of Kisou Academy and even taking possession of their relics.
Moreover, they would get to administer righteous justice against Kisou Academy, which had been constantly causing trouble for them. This prospect filled the students of Mikage Academy with great satisfaction.
Thus, every student’s face was bright with anticipation.
Except for one—Tourak, who was running down the corridor.
“…”
The expression on Tourak’s face as he rushed past the other students was desperate.
Normally, he would apologize even for the slightest bump, but now he didn’t even notice colliding with anyone as he continued his sprint.
Reaching the infirmary, Tourak burst through the door and immediately shouted.
“Mihaya!”
Several people turned at the sound of Tourak’s voice.
Rinka was the first to speak when she saw him.
“Tourak, you came.”
“Of course. But more importantly, where’s Mihaya…?”
Seeing Tourak’s anxious state, Rinka smiled gently to help calm him down.
She then pointed toward the bed.
“She’s asleep right now. Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine.”
“I see… Phew, that’s good.”
Lutra, who had transformed into her sword form, supported Tourak as he collapsed onto the spot.
Despite her small, childlike appearance, Lutra held up the limp Tourak with surprising strength. She looked at Mihaya and spoke.
“…Yes, there are traces of an angel.”
“It figures… Mihaya mentioned it before she fell asleep. She said it was probably an angel that attacked her.”
Hearing this, Tourak’s expression hardened once again.
An angel—an irregularity that should now be regarded with utmost caution.
Thanks to the data provided by Solciera, they had learned much about angels.
For that reason, any claim involving an angel attack could not be ignored lightly.
“An angel… so they’ve finally appeared.”
“And, um, I want you to listen calmly, okay?”
Rinka placed her hand on Tourak’s shoulder and met his eyes.
It was one of the techniques she had learned during her time with the organization to help calm someone down.
She rarely used this technique on friends, but she did so now because of one simple reason:
What she was about to say might have unpredictable effects on Tourak.
“The angel that attacked Mihaya may have been under the control of Kisou Academy.”
“…What?”
Tourak looked back at Rinka, waiting for her to continue.
Rinka chose her words carefully as she addressed his questioning gaze.
“At least, that’s a possibility. To begin with, Mihaya ended up like this because she went to respond to a rescue request. One of our own students had been attacked, so she went to help.”
“…What happened to that student?”
“They’re fine. Isn’t that amazing? Mihaya managed to protect the student, defeat the angel, and return alive.”
Rinka stroked Mihaya’s head gently.
Then she turned to Tourak.
“According to the testimony of those students, a student wearing Kisou Academy’s uniform was controlling the angel. It looked like a monstrous white bird.”
“I see… Kisou Academy…”
“No! Tourak, calm down. We don’t know for sure if it was a student from Kisou Academy. Getting another school’s uniform isn’t difficult. So, there’s also the possibility that it wasn’t them—”
“Could it be that Kei’s plan to capture Kisou Academy’s angel succeeded?”
Tourak’s suggestion left Rinka speechless.
She was aware that this possibility was highly likely.
But accepting it as the truth could cause Tourak to lose control right now.
(He’s already lost sight of everything else because of what happened to Kei. Losing Mihaya too would be bad.)
Rinka knew.
When consumed by anger, truly frightening individuals are usually the gentle ones.
That’s why she was being cautious in handling Tourak.
“There’s no advantage for Kisou Academy to deliberately attack us now. If they do, they risk being dismantled without even getting to participate in the Territorial War. There’s no point in attacking us, right?”
Eventually, Tourak would figure out on his own that Kisou Academy could be the culprit.
That’s why Rinka preemptively presented this possibility in an attempt to manage his emotions.
However, Tourak was exceeding her expectations.
“Don’t you know what kind of terrible things they’ve done? Remember the incident at Factom General Academy? Their student council president was threatened and turned into a test subject. Many other incidents originated from Kisou Academy. It’s strange now to think they’d play fair in the Territorial War.”
“That’s true… But still, it feels too convenient. If they were going to attack, wouldn’t they have made sure to leave no trace pointing back to Kisou Academy—”
“Why are you defending them, Rinka?”
“…No, Tourak, please calm down. I just want you to stay rational.”
Ignoring Rinka’s words, Tourak approached Mihaya.
He stroked her head and whispered, “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”
Lutra silently gripped his trembling hand and looked up at Tourak.
“Are you alright, Tourak?”
“I’m fine… I’m fine… Mihaya must have suffered. Again, I couldn’t do anything…!”
Tourak muttered these words as if trying to engrave them into his own mind.
“I’m calm. I’m fine… I won’t go to Kisou Academy and slaughter everyone. They’ll come to us tomorrow anyway. They’ll probably try something then. I’ll just deal with them all at once.”
His cold eyes shook with an unsettling intensity.
They were the eyes of someone from the Gotou family.
“…I’ll complete the Star Slash Form. I’m leaving now.”
“Is that alright? You can stay with Mihaya a little longer if you want.”
Standing in front of the door, Tourak spoke without looking back.
“…And—”
“If just watching will make me stronger, then I don’t want to do it. I hate the idea of my weakness being the reason I couldn’t save someone.”
Tourak didn’t respond to Rinka’s plea.
He most likely headed to the training ground.
(This is bad. The person who could have stopped him has fallen too. What should we do?)
Rinka gazed at Mihaya, who was still asleep.
“…I guess I should move too.”
Nodding, she also left the room.
■
“—So, what brings the vice-chairman of the discipline committee here?”
In one of the top-tier apartments in the Kisou Academy autonomous zone,
Rokuhara stood at the entrance, his face clearly showing how bothered he was.
Eina, hiding behind Rokuhara and peeking out, muttered, “Ah… it’s not the pizza delivery after all.”
“I’m enjoying my day off here, you know?”
“But, wow, Rokuhara-senpai moved to such a nice place without me noticing! Truly impressive, the rise and fall of Rokuhara! A man who can pay off debts so quickly, yeah!”
Chiaki Forkami bowed deeply, rubbing her hands together while forcing a smile.
Her extremely humble posture was far removed from what one would expect from the vice-chairman of Kisou Academy’s discipline committee, and other students would be shocked if they saw it.
Seeing this, Eina thought, “This is fun,” and tried to step forward, only to be grabbed by the collar and thrown into the back of the room by Rokuhara.
“State your business, or I’ll rough you up. Like what happened to Eina.”
“Eep!”
Seeing Eina who had just been flung away, Chiaki screamed and bowed her head.
“Please, help me! There’s no one else I can rely on besides Rokuhara-senpai!”
Sensing trouble ahead from Chiaki’s desperate demeanor, Rokuhara sighed and spoke.
“Alright, spill it.”
“Yes, sir! Around noon today, one of our students was attacked.”
“As usual. They’re hated by everyone.”
“But, it seems they were attacked by some strange creature.”
Chiaki then pulled out a photo using her Dive Gear and showed it to Rokuhara.
It displayed the image of a white bird.
“Take a look at this. It’s neither a dungeon monster nor anyone’s autonomous weapon.”
“This is… an angel?”
“An angel? Isn’t that the recent famous urban legend?”
“So, where did this appear? Is it still around?”
Chiaki shook her head.
“No, luckily, Kiraku Committee Chairman defeated it. But, that’s not the main issue.”
Chiaki hesitated before continuing.
“It appears there was a student controlling the angel—and they were wearing Mikage Academy’s uniform.”
“…Ah, I see.”
“You understand, right?! It’s serious! Kiraku Committee Chairman is ready to invade right now! She’s smiling softly while maintaining her naginata!”
“And the entire Discipline Committee is trying to stop her, right?”
“Exactly! And it’s not helping that she loves violent fights so much… Oh, thinking about it makes me nervous!”
Recalling the image of the overly enthusiastic Yamato Nadeshiko, Rokuhara sighed again.
“Can’t that idiot wait until tomorrow… Also, is it really a student from Mikage Academy?”
“Huh?”
“There’s no reason for them to interfere. Especially if they’re dealing with an angel. There’s no way they’d intentionally show it to us here.”
Rokuhara twisted his face into an amused grin.
“To me, this looks like the work of some fool who thinks they can finish off our weakened Kisou Academy.”
“R-Rokuhara-senpai!”
“Don’t stick to me, it’s annoying.”
“I thought the same thing! But everyone hates Mikage Academy so much that they insist it must be them! Even though I’m the vice-chairman, no one believes what I say!”
While crying and clinging to him, Rokuhara pushed Chiaki’s head away with obvious irritation.
From deeper inside the room, Eina exclaimed and rushed over.
“Who do you think you’re hugging our leader?! Get off, you thief cat!”
“W-Waaaah! Help me, Eina-chan!”
Gripping the hand that tried to pull her off Rokuhara, Chiaki clung to Eina as well.
Seeing the taller and higher-ranked girl crying and clinging to her, Eina’s lips curved into a smile as she glanced at Rokuhara.
“Hehehehehe. Leader, let’s take a picture together! Right now, I feel absolutely wonderful!”
“You…”
While recoiling from his partner’s persistently unpleasant character, Rokuhara squatted down in front of Chiaki, who was now crying like a toddler, and asked seriously.
“I could intervene, but did you inform the Student Council first? After all, the Discipline Committee technically reports directly to them.”
Chiaki shook her head upon hearing this subtle hint of being passed the buck.
Then she cried even louder.
“The Student Council has already been dissolved!”
“What?”
“After the disappearance of the Student Council President, everyone fought for the next presidency and ended up hospitalized. Taking advantage of this chaos, other students started fighting among themselves to seize control of the Student Council… Now, no one knows who the official Student Council is! Stopping Kiraku Committee Chairman alone is already exhausting us, and with the increasing internal conflicts, the Discipline Committee can’t handle it anymore! With no Student Council President around, Rokuhara-senpai is the only one we can rely on!”
“Man, I really don’t want to get involved… Is the Student Council President missing too?”
Rokuhara involuntarily looked up at the ceiling.
He had known that she, who was also an S Rank and an Enforcer, wouldn’t be participating in the Territorial War.
But he hadn’t expected her to disappear altogether.
(Absolutely troublesome things are bound to happen…)
Feeling restless with nowhere to vent his frustration, Rokuhara scratched his head carelessly.
Meanwhile, Eina was forcing a two-shot photo with Chiaki, making peace signs.
“Leader, let’s take a picture together! Hehehe, this will make the delivered pizza taste even better!”
“…Haa”
Today was supposed to be a precious day off for Rokuhara, who was both S Rank and an Enforcer.
However…
“Waaaaaah! Rokuhara-senpai!”
“Hehehe, snot’s coming out! You’re crying so hard, aren’t you?!”
It seemed like that moment had vanished completely.
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