Chapter 99: The Things I Buried (6)

The day after visiting Sensei, the atmosphere within Trinity… no, within the Tea Party, had become quite tense.

It was quiet, like the calm before a storm.

The Tea Party was usually a place where members would criticize each other and sometimes get noisy.

But for the past few days, it had been silent.

It seemed everyone had their own tasks, working silently, and some people even looked like they were filled with venom somewhere.

The older girls…

“I’m sorry… Sora-chan… Please understand just this once…? Okay…?”

“I apologize, Sora. Once this matter is concluded… let’s make sure to spend proper time together.”

“…”

“Don’t make that face, Sora. You understand Mika’s and Nagisa’s thoughts well, don’t you?”

Well… yeah… Like Seia said, the thought of not exposing me to these dirty political entanglements is something I should probably be grateful for.

But apart from that, I also feel a bit disappointed.

I wish they would rely on me a little, especially at times like this… though I also wonder what help I could possibly be over there…

Well… considering what I’ve been doing since… no, starting from yesterday, I’m directly disobeying the older girls’ words, so I have nothing to say.

[I’ve been waiting, Sora.]

“Yes, shall we start for today then?”

As soon as I left the Tea Party building, Trinity’s main school building, the person I met was Sensei, who had been waiting for me.

I had thought that handling things inside Trinity might be somewhat possible if it were the older girls with their capabilities.

Therefore, the method we took was one: gather information from outside the Tea Party and resolve related issues.

In addition to that…

[…Ah, external surveillance team ready.]

[Internal surveillance team ready. I’m on duty now, so I can’t talk from here on… Ha… How did I get caught up in something like this…]

Notifications ring on my smartphone; messages from two people appear on the screen via Momotalk.

Thanks to Saori, and Misaki who was half-forced into participating in this matter at Saori’s request, we could grasp the internal situation to some extent, though not perfectly, allowing us to understand what was happening inside.

To explain the internal situation…

yes, like that girl who told me about the incident in the conference hall back then, several others who sensed the abnormality within the current Pater faction began cooperating with Mika, gradually improving the situation itself.

Since Nagisa had deemed the members within the Pater faction unreliable due to the past incident, this started acting as a significant advantage in the current situation.

The number of factions turning away from Mika was extremely small, so it couldn’t overturn the board, but the information they brought was valuable, so the situation seemed to be gradually improving.

Anyway, what we had been doing these past few days was simply asking a few questions to some Pater faction executives returning home and acting based on the answers obtained.

Why could it be?

Within the Pater faction, a sense of unease and awkwardness emanated, and the members, who seemed quite different from how I’d seen them before,

would shed that unease and awkwardness like melting snow whenever they stood before Sensei, returning to the girls I had seen previously, which only doubled the suspicion and strangeness.

[Hmm… Indeed…]

“Kngh… Certainly, back then, things overlapped with the Arius Liberation Front and various circumstances…

and there was Beatrice to pin the blame on, so public opinion could be swayed quickly, but considering what Arius has done so far, it’s true that lenient punishment, even applying special exceptions, was granted…”

“…Yes, within Pater, even though they were used, many stories circulated that Arius also bore guilt, and that Mika-sama… granted them special exceptions due to her own achievements or personal reasons…”

[Still, this can be sufficiently refuted. Bring up the first Ecumenical Council where Arius was expelled, the atmosphere in Trinity at the time, plus the history of Arius’s oppression by Johan, Pater, Sanctus, and Filius…]

We heard about the materials they would use within the Pater faction from the information they gave us…

“Lucy… that woman is crazy… Yes… Gehenna hatred? That can happen…

But it’s so obvious she’s willing to go to war, how can I continue to associate with her? It’s true I dislike Gehenna, but I’m not a warmonger… That woman… is crazy…”

[Haha…]

“Wow… This is a bit much…”

We learned what kind of mindset she had, what policy she intended to lead Pater with, and furthermore, that her actions were considered quite radical even by Pater’s internal members, and…

“…It was a man and a woman I’d never seen before… The man didn’t have a halo, suggesting he might be from outside Kivotos… The woman was incredibly tall and carried a long rifle…”

We became aware of the existence of suspicious collaborators of unknown significance.

Honestly, the investigation over the past few days hadn’t been that rational or effective.

It wasn’t that there was no good information, but most of it could have been predicted to some extent through her behavior and actions.

Therefore, the information that flowed from her mouth was the first I felt was genuinely useful.

[That story, I’d like you to elaborate a bit more? If possible, what conversation they had and their characteristics.]

“Do you remember the type of that long rifle? Hair color? What were their eyes or attire like?”

“Hwuet… Y…Yes…”

Sensei and I, perhaps a little excited by the first real piece of information in a while, approached the girl in front of us, questioning her with such vigor that it might have felt pressuring…

As expected, the girl in front seemed to feel pressured… No… wait… Her gaze is fixed on Sensei, so it seems Sensei’s guilt has become a bit heavier.

“Well… the man… had white hair, blue eyes, wore a suit and a fedora. The woman, as I mentioned, was incredibly tall, her hair reached below her waist…

I couldn’t see her eyes because of her bangs, but they were dark blue… Her attire was also a suit… though she wasn’t wearing a hat…”

Well… thanks to that, the girl in front readily spilled the information… which greatly helped in deciding our future course of action.

We don’t know their purpose for acting, nor the reason they are cooperating with Hoshiaka Lucy.

To find that out, it would likely be impossible without securing her close associates, Lucy herself, or the collaborators directly…

Therefore, it’s uncertain. They could be mere acquaintances or people unrelated in particular.

“Ah? Those people? Let’s see… Right, they definitely came as visitors last Friday, didn’t they?

Said they were acquaintances of Lucy-sama… Honestly… it’s tough… Even though I support Lucy-sama, this time seems a bit excessive…”

Therefore, Sensei and my decision leaned towards gathering more information rather than immediately searching for them, repeating the same process we had been doing.

We luckily succeeded in hooking someone who had been acting as Lucy’s close associate for some time,

and it was a moment that made me suspicious just how radically Lucy had orchestrated things for even her associate to cooperate with us like this.

Putting that aside, contradicting our decision to gather more information, the intel she handed over was related to the start time of their activities,

which perfectly coincided with the period when public opinion within Pater drastically changed, leaving no room for doubt about anything else.

“…Ah, you’ve arrived.”

“Hmm… It seems things are proceeding well enough… Any issues?”

“Wah? ‘Fried’-san? Aren’t you too stiff? A little icebreaker or… Oh dear… Is Lucy ignoring me too…”

‘We’ve finally come this far.’

‘This headache that started recently, once this is over and the contract with the man before me is completely finished, I should be able to be free…’

‘Yes, good… Everything is flowing favorably for me.’

‘Misono Mika, you could never know the extent of the sense of loss I felt. No, perhaps now you might understand. That is also the reason I restricted your use of ‘that’.’

Anyway, now is the time to answer my partners’ questions.

“Yes, things are proceeding steadily, one by one? The hearing is less than a week away now… Though they probably don’t harbor a shred of suspicion about this strange speed or schedule?”

“Is that so… For that claim, the consumption of ‘that’ seems rather severe?”

“Right, right~ It seems like seven of my ‘bullets’ were used too?”

Yes… Unfortunately, I cannot hide much from the man standing before me.

Regrettably, the provider is the other party, and I am merely the receiver.

“Yes… It’s a bit sudden, but just the day before yesterday and today, unexpected incidents occurred.”

“Two incidents? What happened?”

“As per your instructions, an assassin did come to the conference hall, the place we previously used…”

“Right, I told you to fend off that assassin or use ‘that’.”

Yes, the man before me, though for a short time, had given me instructions on modes of action, immediate tasks, or important matters.

That day too, I had received a directive, or something like it, from the man before me and was waiting for the assassin in the conference hall.

Employing or bringing along others from my faction skilled in combat would have been an option, but for some reason, I couldn’t think of that method at the time, and since I myself am not particularly confident in fighting, I intended to use ‘that’.

“Yes, but… for some reason, the assassin’s face appeared obscured, as if by noise, and ‘that’ didn’t work either.”

“…Is that so… Understood. Unexpectedly, they are clearly a threatening opponent…”

“Definitely seems so~ Using seven bullets and still not being able to stop them, and Fried-san’s ‘that’ not working either means they have countermeasures~”

Regrettably, the assassin was somehow able to resist ‘that’, and even using the ‘bullets’ provided by the other woman before me, though my own martial prowess is lacking, it didn’t work against the assassin.

Rather, there were numerous moments where I was nearly subdued, and I could only barely escape with my body intact.

I could dare to guess that Misono Mika’s side had also begun receiving some kind of incomprehensible assistance.

Truly…

“…Understood. What is the remaining issue?”

“Just today, although I managed to resolve it by using additional ‘that’, I confirmed the existence of individuals who are escaping its influence.”

Oh dear… Now is not the time to be lost in sentiment.

The other matter, frankly, this is currently the biggest problem.

The external assassin can be dealt with.

With the help of my partners here, I’ve confirmed I can handle it to some extent alone, and if I mobilize others skilled in combat, it should be entirely possible. But…

If ‘that’, which has become the biggest framework for building my foundation internally, starts malfunctioning, it becomes the most significant problem threatening me right now.

“Understood. We are the ones who proposed the contract, and we are the ones who agreed to provide support, so I will investigate that matter myself. Keep up the hard work. We shall leave.”

“Eh~ What, leaving already? The tea here always smells so good~ Hey Fried, can’t the next contract be in Trinity too? It seems Lucy-ojousan quite likes our deal?”

“Be quiet, ‘Agathe’. We are leaving. Good work, Lucy.”

“Yes, let’s maintain a good partnership, at least until the day the contract ends.”

Yes… That’s right… As they leave the Deputy Faction Leader’s office, the emotions I had momentarily suppressed burst forth.

‘How long have I suffered? Why can I never surpass Misono Mika?’

‘Born into the dmn Trinity nobility, destined for the fcking Pater faction…’

‘From a d*mn high-ranking family, aiming for the Pater faction leadership, working so hard…’

‘Absurdly, I ended up losing to Misono Mika in every aspect, forced to be satisfied with the position of second-in-command…’

Hmph… No… This far… Now is not the time to indulge in d*mn emotions… It’s almost over.