Chapter 40: A Fairy Tale (3)

How did it come to this? Why did it happen? If you ask me “why now,” I have nothing to say, but even so… all I have left is regret.

Why did I let her into the Tea Party… No, such regrets are meaningless now.

“Why… did you do that…? That position… wasn’t a position you entered because you wanted to…”

I forced her, to some extent, to become our bodyguard. She could have been dissatisfied. She could have been insincere. But she strived to fulfill her responsibilities even in a position she was placed in against her will.

Every time you fulfilled those responsibilities, you were hurt and collapsed. In the process, I guess I also became attached to you as a person. You seem to have become someone very precious to me.

Why? Why can you throw yourself into saving others without any hesitation?

In the end, your body is left with irreversible scars, and even though you suffer so much, why can you still stand up for others in the end?

It certainly wasn’t like that when I first saw you.

You were just a person who carried out your duties and responsibilities to the end to avoid harm to yourself, but at some point, you started to fulfill your responsibilities without any reason.

What changed you so much? What made you like this… And… Why are you driving a nail into my heart…?

No… It’s me who’s driving the nail into my heart. I’m driving the nail of guilt into my own heart. Is this also my fault?

I just keep asking questions. Even though you can’t answer now, I keep asking. Because I can’t bear it if I don’t, because it’s irreversible if I come up with the answer myself, I ask you.

From the moment you saved me until now, this very moment, I was just safe. Thanks to you… Thanks to you… I haven’t done anything for you. On the contrary, I’ve only pushed you, but even so, you thought of me first.

I don’t know how many times I cried out your name in that damn ambulance. I was stuck in Trinity’s safe house, led by the Tea Party attendants, and I ran as soon as I heard the news that you had been brought in.

“…Hic…Ugh…Ahhh…Why….Hic…Haaaaaaak!!”

As soon as I saw your face lying in the hospital room, the tears I had barely held back burst out.

The wings that protected everyone were limp and drooping, and silicone sheets were attached to your right hand and body to treat the burns.

I heard from Mine… It was too late, and the burns were severe in the first place, so scars would remain…

The wings pierced by the damn pipe, the wings with burnt feathers cut off for treatment, had clear burn marks and puncture wounds.

Fortunately… No, it’s not even fortunate… Mine said… You’ll be able to move, but you’ll have aftereffects…

Guilt, guilt climbs up my back and chokes my neck.

I kept my reason, established my authority, and climbed up to this point, but it was all useless.

I was just a pathetic person whose life was preserved by a single junior whom I had gotten involved with.

“…Nagi…?”

“….Ah…Hic….Mika….”

I hear Mika’s voice from behind me.

“Are you…crying…? Nagi?!”

“Ah…Ugh…No…”

I have to get myself together. They are still, they are still standing on this land of Trinity with their dirty feet. I will drive them out of this land… and bury them forever, so they can never rise again, never see the light again.

“Nagi…?”

“Mika… I’m fine… Phew… More importantly… I heard about the situation… Tsurugi stepped up, right…?”

“Ugh, yeah…”

The history of the First Council? Oppression and suppression? It’s no longer my concern. I’m just determined to send those damn delusional patients who pointed their swords at us back to the Stone Age and wipe them out…

“Mika? How many of Pater’s Praetorian Guard are left? How’s your physical condition? The Justice Task Force members have been greatly reduced in number, so…

It would be good if they could support the artillery battery… Tsurugi should still be fine, right?”

“Nagi…?”

“The vigilantes would also be a great help at this moment. Ah, I see… Conscription, conscripting those among the general students who have some degree of force….”

“Nagi!!!!”

“?!”

Mika’s agitated voice, which I hadn’t heard in a while, or rather, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d heard it, pierced my ears. The thoughts I was drawing in my head scatter in an instant.

“Calm down… You know it’s not like you, Nagi?”

“But… I’m now…”

I see, I was too excited…. But… then what should I do? I’ve come this far by excluding everything, so I can only think of that method.

I’ve lived in such a dirty world for too long. I’ve lived by excluding everything that could harm us, Trinity. I don’t know what, what meaning remains for me.

“Yeah… I also… want to run out right now… and break everything… I can’t… forgive them…

I hate myself so much for starting this. I can’t stand it…

But, Nagi, listen? That’s… not what Sora would want.

I told that child that I even wanted to save Arius.

That child saved me, who was about to destroy everything. She affirmed even that part of me…

She told us that we’re still students, that we still have countless opportunities ahead of us.

She said that Arius just didn’t get a chance… So… Huh?

When Sora wakes up…

I hope Trinity is still a place where Sora can come back to….

I don’t want Sora to blame herself for being insufficient, or for Trinity to become a place she can no longer love…

I don’t want to make Sora the cause of making Arius a public enemy.

I hope she’ll never call herself or someone else a witch someday…

And… I hope we’re still…

students. I hope we, they, have a happy future ahead of us.

I hope this isn’t all that’s left for us.

I hope we, Trinity… are still precious to Sora…

So… Nagi…? Let’s calm down… Let’s look around… just a little… Okay?”

Ah, I see… Because you were so innocent and didn’t know the world, could you understand Sora first? Or is it because you were saved by Sora before anyone else that you can understand? I might be a little jealous.

And… I see… If I do that… Sora will definitely not be able to consider Trinity a place to return to. She’ll blame herself.

I have to prevent that at all costs… Let’s try. My life has been saved once, so isn’t it okay to let go of everything for her sake? Let’s give it a try.

“….If by any chance…. Assuming dozens of leaps of faith…. If… by any chance… this is real…. There is no way to solve this…”

“….Yes?”

I was commanding the scene and gathering information at the Sisterhood. But… With the information we have, it only proves once again that this situation has long since gone beyond our control.

“Trinity and Gehenna…. will disappear from the map of Kivotos…. Just like Arius did after the First Council in the past….”

“We need to break through the situation. But… somehow… I can’t. All the information, all the reality, is driving Trinity, Gehenna, to ruin. I can’t… think of a way to break through this situation…”

“…That’s not like you.”

“?!”

While holding my head and somehow connecting information and information to find a hole… I heard a somewhat familiar voice.

“A solution, isn’t that already in front of you, by those you know well? Hanako?”

“You’re safe… More importantly, what do you mean… Ah…”

I see… That’s right… She was there. She was there, who would have risked her life to protect everyone, who would have definitely done so. Then there’s still her, whom I once hated the most, but now I just feel sorry for.

She’s still there, who so easily changed what seemed absolutely unchangeable. She was out of touch with reality, like living in a fairy tale, but now she’s still there, looking at only one thing.

And… She’s in front of me, who has stopped just watching from behind.

“…Ah..ha..haha…Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!”

“Ha, Hanako…”

That which I hated the most, but has now changed a little, Trinity, the Tea Party, remains.

Ah, I can’t stop laughing. Someone said it, right? Madmen can’t be understood by anyone, that’s why they’re madmen.

Then I must be a madman now.

I’ve confirmed that uncertain possibility, based on dozens of leaps of faith, within myself. And it must be a good omen, definitely a good omen.

That’s because….

[Ah, everyone’s already gathered?]

“Sensei?”

“It’s Sensei…”

“Sensei…?”

“You’re here… Sensei…”

“Ahahahahaha… What… It was such a simple problem… I see… Haha… Phew… Fufu…”

[Haha, you seem to be a little better, Hanako?]

[You’re awake, Hasumi?]

“….Sensei… Here… What on earth… What happened…”

[I was worried about you, Hasumi.]

“…I see. I thought my halo would break.

Tsurugi…. The others….”

[Everyone’s finished preparing?]

“You’re awake, Hasumi…”

[Ako. Iori. I’m glad you’re safe.]

“The leader… disappeared…”

“Who disappeared?”

“Leader?!”

“Sensei…”

[Hifumi…]

“Azusa-chan… is fighting alone…. She’s still trying to fight alone….”

[Yes, I know.]

“But… I… don’t know what to do… I don’t know the solution… I don’t know anything….

For someone as ordinary as me…. It’s too big and overwhelming…

Is there a way…. For these…. scary things…. Is there something I can do… Is there a way I can help Azusa-chan…”

“We can’t leave Azusa alone! Sora… and everyone else… did so much!”

“Koharu-chan…”

“I, I…. know how lonely it is to be alone…. We can’t leave Azusa alone….

We have to stop Azusa, who’s trying to be alone again!”

“Yes. That’s right. Azusa-chan, surely alone and lonely…”

[Thanks to Hifumi, the Supplementary Lesson Club was able to come this far.]

“Sensei…?”

[And ordinary Hifumi didn’t give up in difficult situations, and tried to do what she could.]

“Well… That’s right. She’s the leader of the Supplementary Lesson Club…. And she’s been taking care of various chores.”

“That’s right. If it weren’t for Hifumi-chan, we definitely wouldn’t be here….”

“Yes, Sensei… I understand what you’re saying…. I won’t give up. I won’t worry either.”

“Sensei… Let’s go help Azusa-chan!”

“I’m sorry I’m late, Ako, and…. Sensei… Sigh… I thought I could finally retire…”

“I see… Tsurugi?”

“On behalf of the Justice Task Force… Thank you, Sensei.”

“Am I okay? Yes, I could do it all night for three days now♡”

From now on…..

[Leave it to me.]