.“You’re awake?”
Closing the book she was reading, the female Instructor wearing a suit placed her knees together at the chair beside the bed.
“Rushing to gain achivements, this result isn’t like you.”
Nash remembered all he’d forgotten when Instructor Yumelda spoke those words.
“……Ending up in this condition from pursuing the Yuugenshu is laughable, isn’t it.”
While suppressing a low laugh, the intense pain of his injuries returned.
“How about the other three?”
“They’re in the middle of treatment at a different office. They’re at the regular office and you’re in the purification ward. You were the only one who was bathed in mateki so you’ll be hospitalized until the mateki response completely disappears.”
That was the reason he was wrapped in a shinryoku carved seal spell cloth from his neck to the tips of his toes.
“What are your impressions from your first fight with a Yuugenshu?”
“……The positions were the reverse of what I thought; if I said that, would you be satisfied?”
He had piled on Yuugenshu simulation training and never had a rough battle even against the mock puppets. But the opposite was true; that strange monster hadn’t broken a sweat against them.
“You need knack and experience to fight against a Yuugenshu. There isn’t an Instructor who thinks that Nash the Cadet Guard is weak but those who think it was rash are not few.”
“……I’sa the examiner as well?”
Saying so, his face tightened with a self-derisive feeling.
“What happens from now on is dependent on you guys.”
The Instructor continued to just chew her cigarette without lighting it. She placed the magazine under her arm and stood up, then walked towards the door───
“……I have no intention of it ending like this.”
Nash proclaimed while still lying down.
“……I……we absolutely won’t give up. Next time, we will magnificently claim indisputable victory ────── tell that examiner.”
“That att.i.tude towards the examiner as well?”
“Add that too.”
“Then I’ll tell her; don’t disappoint us next time.”
Lifting the corners of her mouth fearlessly, the Instructor known for her demonic training showed a rare smile.
Part 2At the medical office next to that───
“You stayed alive well; a person’s life force is amazing.”
“……You, don’t you have anything else to say?”
Vaiel glared up at the girl who had came under the pretense of visiting. This was the point where he’d like to grant her his fist if he could move but unfortunately his body had been wrapped in a spell cloth and lain down.
“I see, then ─── thank you very much.”
“…………”
“Ahh, look, you just averted your eyes. I thought this would happen so I tried starting from something casual.”
Kagura sighed. Her arms and legs were also wrapped in spell cloth but it seemed that the mateki curse was slight so there was no problem in walking around.
“Say, Monica?”
“Honestly, if somebody hadn’t performed emergency purification, what would have happened?”
“……I’m telling you that was just pointless interference.”
“If you have that much willpower, then you’re fine.”
Monica folded her arms and smiled wryly.
“Well then, Kagura, I have a report to make to the Instructor.”
“Yes, see you later.”
Seeing off the unit captain from the room, fuu ─── Kagura softly exhaled.
“The removal of mateki has finished so I should be able to be discharged after a second check-up.”
“……Hmph, a troublesome mission awaits after that.”
Their compet.i.tor, Nash’s unit, had defaulted, making the expedition to the Governmental Sector their mission. To start with, it was just another troublesome thing added to the mix for Vaiel though.
“Jeez. In the end, I have to take care of you brats.”
“Ah, that’s right. That made me remember. It’s about the trade conditions from when I invited you before.”
“I take it you are fine with me leaking your secret throughout Tenketsu Palace ?”“For example, yesterday at the storehouse next to the outdoor training grounds──────”
“……You haven’t leaked it to anyone, right.”
“Yes, I won’t say that you’re secretly keeping a pet kitten behind the storehouse.”
“! Y-you! The doctors pa.s.sing by in the hall can hear!”
“It’s okay, I made sure the door was closed. ……If someone as tough as you were to be known for keeping something as soft as a kitten, it would destroy your image, would it not?” [T/N: That’s “soft” as in “softy” or someone who’s really weak against cute (or the like) things.]
Vaiel decided to keep silent in response to Kagura who was nonchalantly talking.
“Do you like kittens?”
“……I don’t like them; it’s just because n.o.body realized it was weakening under the rain.”
“Well, then let’s leave it as that. At any rate, this is the extent of what I know of your secrets. I don’t have anymore things to negotiate with. That’s why”
The girl slowly drew near.
“This time is a request without trade conditions. Would you enter our unit? Not just for the Governmental Sector mission……the next one as well and the one after that too.”
“…………”
“I don’t mind if you answer later. Well then, it will soon be my check-up time so I’ll excuse myself here.”
Towards her who was turned and ready to leave for her own hospital room.
“It’s a three person unit riddled with brats. ……It’d be troubling if you ran off solo like this time so……that is, well……if I feel like it, I’ll look after that.”
Vaiel muttered with his face turned to the side.
“Really?”
“Men don’t repeat themselves.”
“I understand. I will inform Monica immediately. ───Yes, this is Kagura calling to inform you that the chef has just become a comrade. With this, we can also be relieved about the issue of the unit’s culinary lifestyle.”
Chef? He called for the girl who was speaking quickly to stop upon hearing a word he wasn’t used to.
“……Hey, wait. What’s that chef thing?”
“It’s your role in the unit since you’re the only one who can cook. Does it displease you?”
“Of course it does. d.a.m.n it, I look like an idiot for having actual expectations. Oi, it’s null, null; I’ll be taking back what I said earlier. I’m nulling what I said about looking after your troubles.”
“Unfortunately, I actually finished registering your name under the unit yesterday.”
“Th-that’s dirty! You guys submitted the application while I was asleep!? Oi, wait, I’ll cancel it, I……I won’t accept this, d.a.m.n you!”
Part 3Tenketsu Palace , floor 287.Sheltis continually checked the time displayed on the elevator door.
“……I wonder if I’ve kept Ymy waiting.”
The promise with her was for XX PM. However, there was the report to the Instructor and the writing of the report on the specifics of the Yuugenshu they’d defeated. With the creation of that report, the promised time had pa.s.sed by before he knew it. [T/N: Should I switch it with XX or use the original ○?]
The elevator stopped with the ring of a bell.
The s.p.a.ce was filled with only silence. It was already lights-out for the Priestess-use floor and only the fluorescent emergency lighting faintly illuminated intermittently.
Tap……p……tapp……
Listening to his own footsteps, he headed to the promised intersection.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Rather than that, I heard from Instructor Yumelda just before.”
Underneath the dum emergency lighting, her off-gold hair shone.
“We can go to the Governmental Sector together. ……I’m glad.”
Her face that had the purity of a baby smiled gently.
It was kind of embarra.s.sing for Ymy to be so happy like it had happened to herself that Sheltis nodded with his face slightly averted.
“By the way, what’s up, was there something you were worried about?”
Today at noon. While he was in the middle of writing the report, Ymy had suddenly called him through an emergency line and said, “I want to see you.” She added on that today would be good because there was something she wanted to discuss.
“…………Ah, ……umm.”
His childhood pressed down on the bosom of her vestment. Letting her gaze wander through thin air, she looked for words to describe what was within her heart ─── it was that kind of trailing note.
“……Nope, as I thought, never mind.”
“Eh?”
“Originally, there was something I wanted to consult you about. Like about me……and about Priestesses. Also about the barrier and the Garden of Corrupted Song .”The words mixed into her speech were all things that were serious points of discussion.
“It’s okay, Ymy, don’t hold back. I can listen to what you have to say all night.”
“Thanks. But it’s fine, really. Somehow……I felt relieved seeing Sheltis’ face so I’ll think about it more on my own. If I’m still anxious, I’ll consult you. Also”
She began twirling a tuft of her off-gold hair around her index finger. Unchanged from their childhood, it was Ymy’s way of hiding her embarra.s.sment.
“Well, how to say this. It’s been a while……since we went somewhere together.”
“To the Governmental Sector? Ymy’s going for negotiations and I’m going as a mission though.”
“But it’s a big step, right?”
“……Yeah.”
Ymy was this happy that they would be traveling together to the Governmental Sector. It had been a screening battle that even turned into a fight against a Yuugenshu but it was worth it to see this smile.
“That’s right. About Monica,”
“Ah, that’s right! I’ll also be able to go with Monica-senpai. ……How was senpai?”
Monica had just walked out on Ymy without saying anything before.
“Be at ease. It looks like she really was just embarra.s.sed and had wanted to report to you after becoming a Regular Guard, but she was fl.u.s.tered because she’d been seen before that. It’s just like Monica.”
“……I see. That’s great……I was wondering what I’d do if Monica-senpai hated me.”
His childhood friend sighed in a grand expression of relief.
Seeing her shoulder relax after having been bunched up with tension, she had probably been pretty mindful of it.
“Is she that important of a senpai to you?”
“Of course! She’s really kind and good and looking after others and her reliability is…………is…………”
Saying so, Ymy’s expression froze over.
“Th-that’s no good! As I thought, I can’t say anymore! I’ll become disadvantaged!”
“……Disadvantaged?”
What did she mean?
Even though he tilted his head, Ymy’s face went bright red.
“She-Sheltis shouldn’t pay it any mind! Rather, you can’t, you’re not allowed to!”
“Ehh, again!? Ah, wait, Ymy, why are you running!?”
“Sheltis, you idiot─────────!”