Chapter 27: Suspicious Demon

“…I heard you were seriously injured. Sora.”

“…It’s fine. It’s a little uncomfortable to move, but it’s not a big problem.”

After parting with Seia and being guided by Aomori-senpai to return to school, I was immediately called to the Tea Party office where Nagisa and Mika were.

Seia is known to have died, so… Both of them must be upset. Especially Mika, who was a person who cared a lot about those around her, would be especially so.

As if to confirm this guess, Mika was sitting in a chair, quietly sipping black tea, unlike usual.

“…It must have been an assassin, right?”

“Yes…”

“…Did you hear Seia’s news?”

“I heard she was seriously injured… I’m sorry.”

“No. I have no intention of blaming someone who is wrapped in bandages all over their body, even their wings.”

I’ve been living in the Tea Party for several months, and I’ve been able to understand people’s emotions to some extent.

It must have been unavoidable because it’s a student council that is deeply involved in politics.

And from Nagisa… a trembling voice was coming from behind her calm expression.

If it were the usual Nagisa, she wouldn’t make such a mistake, but… She’s desperately trying to hide her expression, and… She’s probably burning inside…

“Ahem… Then, I’m sorry on the day you were discharged, but can you report the information about the assassin?

Originally, the chief administrative officer should do it, but since one of the faction leaders of the Tea Party was attacked, I thought I needed to hear it directly and judge it, so I called you directly.”

“Yes… The assassins were divided into an infiltration team and a sabotage team. There are at least two members in the infiltration team, and I couldn’t identify the sabotage team.

I’m sorry, but neither of them had any external features that could identify their school, but I believe that their equipment is standard equipment from somewhere.

There was no special coloring or decoration, and some parts were attached, but there were no other characteristic parts. They are probably a strike team or a sabotage team from an external force.”

Nagisa asked for a report, so I tell her everything I know, to be precise, everything I can know except for what I heard from Seia.

“There’s little information… What was the standard equipment?”

“It was a SIG Sauer M400. The other one had a CZ Scorpion.

Judging from the slight coloring, it’s probably a personal weapon, but… I couldn’t see it in detail,

but there was a picture on the armband of the person using the SIG Sauer, which was the same as the logo drawn on her bulletproof plate.”

“SIG Sauer… At least among the schools I know, there isn’t one… We should also consider the possibility that it’s an external force or a mercenary group from the black market, not a school.

Also, in Kivotos, there are few academies or groups that use bulletproof plates for autonomous district security personnel, so we’ll focus on searching for standard equipment…

“Nagisa, excuse me, but… I don’t think it’s a mercenary group from the black market.”

“What’s the reason?”

“The trajectory of the bullets bent significantly in front of the eyes of one of the people I suppressed. It seems to be an artifact or a new technology possessed by an external force.”

“…”

…Certainly, it’s equipment with excessively high technology for a mercenary group in the black market to use in actual combat…”

Tens of minutes passed while explaining the report and the situation at the time.

“Thank you for your hard work. Sora, please go back and focus on rest and recovery. Since this happened… Sora’s burden will likely become stronger.”

“Yes… Thank you.”

“Mika… What do you think?”

“Yeah… I think she’s not lying, Nagi… And… Your voice is trembling…”

I’m sorry to Sora, who is wrapped in bandages all over her body as soon as she was discharged from the hospital, but I called her right away and asked for a report as if interrogating her.

Is it because of guilt for not being able to protect Seia? Sora is polite and formal to some extent, but she also jokes when the time is right, and she wasn’t a person with a voice that was that low.

Judging from the fact that she was much more serious than usual, I wonder if she is also taking this incident seriously to some extent?

I organize my thoughts to some extent and ask Mika for her opinion.

Mika is much better than me at understanding people, so she’s a reliable person, so she’s the most appropriate person… Mika also answered with a voice that was lower than usual.

In addition… I also received a point that my voice was trembling along with the answer… I made a mistake.
I wonder if I looked anxious…

“I made a mistake…”

“Yeah… And… Nagi, this is definitely…”

“Yes, that’s right… Insider… There’s an insider… The pattern of changing the location of the panic room is confidential information one by one.

It would be better to investigate students who are high-ranking or… who can freely move around inside Trinity.”

“Yeah… I don’t want to doubt, but… The situation makes it so… Yeah…”

“Yes… We will find trustworthy personnel… And start searching for traitors…”

It was the moment when suspicion sprouted in her.

“Welcome, Sora.”

“Yes, I heard you called.”

A few weeks later, I was called to the Tea Party again.

“First, please take this document. And… Please listen while reading the document.”

“Yes… This is….”

“As you know, we believe that there is a traitor, an insider, behind the previous attack.

“Because the attack location was a panic room, a safe house?”

“Yes, the panic room used by our Tea Party is always changing its location according to a fixed pattern, a pattern that is strictly confidential.

It’s so that outsiders can’t know. Therefore, we are judging that there is an insider among the Tea Party or among the personnel who can freely move around Trinity and grasp the pattern of the panic room.

And the document I just gave you is the content that I think is the final step in finding a traitor or an insider.”

The document described the establishment of a temporary club.

There is a record of it being operated once or twice in the past. Since most of the purposes of the club, which does not fit the name, were political checks or exile, if necessary,

they are thinking of temporarily exiling all suspected personnel…

In addition, this one was a little different from the previous temporary club establishment used for political strife.

By borrowing Schale’s supra-legal authority, various legal and administrative procedures are ignored, and even an organization is given the power to restrict school life to some extent during club activities.

“Supplementary Class Club… According to the content, since there is a pretext, it is possible to temporarily exclude suspected personnel from the Eden Treaty as a minimum effect…”

“The maximum effect is… To exclude the traitor itself from Trinity.”

Supplementary Class Club. It’s the last chance given to children who have received failing grades, and if they fail all three additional exams three times, they can even be expelled after review by the Tea Party.

It’s radical but certain.

But at the same time, since this system was ultimately created with the intention of proving oneself again, if everyone passes the test, there is no legal means that the Tea Party can take.

“Sora, you are a person with a low status among the people I can trust now, so conversely, you are a person with less restrictions on your movements.

Therefore, I will ask you for one thing. As the supervisor of the Supplementary Class Club, please assist Sensei and monitor the students.

Recently, I made a debt to Sensei, so I plan to ask Sensei for help using this and ask him to be the advisor to the Supplementary Class Club.

Please become the Tea Party’s surveillance officer of the Supplementary Class Club in the form of temporarily leaving practical work due to injury.

You will maintain your affiliation with the Tea Party, so you don’t have to worry.”

It’s not a pleasant way. Even if it’s certain that there is a traitor, I don’t want to take away the opportunity to prove it, even if there is a possibility that they are not, while they don’t know anything.

Therefore… If I can protect their opportunity, if they are innocent, I want to prove it.

“Then what I have to do is to assist Sensei from the side in this final stage and monitor the members of the club from behind to find and confirm the traitor…

If… If I can find evidence that not everyone is a traitor… If I can prove that… Would that be okay…?”

“Yes… If you can do that, I would also like it if it’s the work of an external force without an insider… I sent a letter to Sensei. According to the reply, he will visit tomorrow… So please pick him up.

You can go rest for today. As for the documents… Please return the first one you received and take this one again.”

“Yes…”

Nagisa continued to speak, but in the end, she turned the conversation to Sensei’s visit tomorrow. After that, I left the office with the dismissal order and the new documents I received.

“…!”

I flipped through the documents and saw a familiar face. I haven’t been able to meet recently, but… It seems that I need to do my best to find evidence.

[Ugh… Trinity is huge… It took a long time just to get from the airport to Trinity…]

‘But it’s much quieter than Gehenna!’

[That’s right. Certainly, the nickname of the academy of young ladies is not for nothing.]

I was called by the student council Tea Party of Trinity, and after flying for a long time, I arrived at the Trinity Autonomous District, but I had to spend a lot of time to finally arrive at Trinity Comprehensive Academy.

I refused because I felt like I was being too indebted when they said they would arrange transportation or a private plane, but it didn’t take long to regret it…

[They said they would send someone to pick me up, and the meeting place was the central square… Is this not the central square?]

They said they would send a pick-up person, so I waited for a while, but I was thinking, when will they come? Did I come to the wrong place? Then, I saw a familiar figure in the distance, a student with one wing wrapped in bandages.

“Welcome, Seito-sensei. We sincerely welcome you to our Trinity. I’m Yumetsubasa Sora, in charge of guiding the Tea Party today.”

A child with a very businesslike tone, the child I saw on the first day, came out to meet me.

So, perhaps, a story that would not have suited this Kivotos, a heavy story for the students, began now.