Chapter 41: A Fairy Tale (4)

Where did it all go wrong?

“Who’s the fake?!”

“Wow~ This is really a mess, isn’t it? Sensei and Boss keep getting caught up in this kind of thing, I guess they have a knack for trouble?”

“That mask is, could it be…?”

Through the numerous hordes of the Saint Society, an army of strange figures emerged.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We walk the path of carnage with unwavering resolve.”

“Yeah, that’s our motto.”

“The Swimsuit Masked Gang, assembled by order of Leader Faust!”

It’s absurd. Was it a real organization? It was a blunder not to properly investigate it, thinking it was just a ridiculous rumor.

Even a quick glance reveals that they are clearly formidable opponents. But even so, it’s still manageable.

“Unrecognizable. A force not in our data.”

“Fufu… We’ve seen a new side of Hifumi…?”

“Ahaha☆ What, it was a real group? Nagi-chan has good intuition in these matters~?”

“Fufu… Interesting, now Sensei? Are you ready?”

[Haha, thank you all for gathering?]

Sensei, and Trinity’s Tea Party walked through the path cleared by the Swimsuit Masked Gang.

The sound of Gehenna’s mortars can be heard in the distance. Along with the support of Trinity’s artillery battery, the Justice Task Force and the Prefect Team are seen advancing.

“Leader. Those guys, though they’re smiling innocently, don’t seem like pushovers. That Misono Mika is also here. We should be careful.”

It’s still manageable. Even if they broke through once, we still have a large number of Saint Society forces.

The Saint Society’s forces can be replenished many times. Therefore, we can win this fight.

Although it may take some time, and a large number of variables have appeared, we still have irreplaceable forces.

“This number is not to be ignored. Leader.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s meaningless in front of the infinitely multiplying Saint Society.

….No, it’s even better. I’ll teach not only Azusa but everyone gathered here.

No matter how much you struggle, you can’t escape! Because everything is futile and empty!!”

Yes, I’ll just destroy everything here and now. We, Arius, will change everything. We will root the truth in this world.

“Azusa. I’m angry at you. Very. Very angry.

But… I’m glad you’re safe. Azusa. So it’s okay.

I was very angry, but when I think about it, it’s not Azusa’s fault, so I’ll forgive you.

But I can’t forgive them.

Murder… Hatred… Forcing those things as the truth of this world…

Forcing something unknown like everything is futile….”

Now I think about it. Where did it all go wrong?

“I hate it!!”

When I was overconfident and told Sensei everything but failed to confirm the kill?

“I hate Azusa becoming a murderer.”

Was it the moment I failed to definitively dispose of Yumetsubasa Sora, and Sorasaki Hina?

“Those…. those depressing and unpleasant stories, stories with a bitter aftertaste, even if they’re true, even if they’re the truth of this world, they’re not to my taste!!”

Was it when Kirifuji Nagisa’s attack failed? Was it when Misono Mika betrayed us?

“I like ordinary things! I’m ordinary and have no individuality, but I won’t yield my taste to anyone!”

Was it from the day I was blocked by that Yumetsubasa Sora?

“Overcoming hardships through friendship, effort not being belittled, and even if it’s childish, everyone smiling in the end!”

Was it from the time I entrusted the confirmation kill of Yurizono Seia to Azusa?

“And a story where everyone becomes happy in the end!”

Was it from the time when hope began to appear in Azusa’s eyes, and I couldn’t bear to trample on it?

“I like that kind of ordinary story!!”

Was it from the time I sent Shirasu Azusa to Trinity?

“No one can force it on us!!”

Was it from the time I could no longer bear to stop Misaki’s self-harm…?

“The story we’ll make, we’ll decide!!”

Was it from the time Hiyori began to give up on everything…?

“So, we’ll start now!”

Was it from the time Azusa didn’t stop struggling…?

“Our story!!”

No… It was from that day… From the moment I looked away from a fragment of truth from the old scriptures and accepted it as unavoidable.

“The story of school and youth!”

No, it’s not that either. It was from 10 years ago, when that woman ended everything.

“You said it well, Hifumi.”

“Yeah! It’s good! I think I understand why Nagi-chan cherishes you!”

“Then, now, here, Trinity, which is responsible for one axis of the Eden Treaty, all of the Tea Party gathered as a united Trinity, as the host of the Tea Party, as the representative of Trinity, I petition.

Whether they are still qualified to be the Eden Treaty Organization, and whether it is appropriate to maintain that qualification.”

“Nonsense! Such sophistry won’t work….”

The sky begins to clear. Everything I’ve done, all the wrongs we’ve done, is being denied.

“Th, the clouds….”

“This is…. what…? Weather manipulation…? No, this is….”

“Is it a miracle…?”

“There’s no such thing as a miracle! This is…. something else…”

[Alright, as the final initiator of the Eden Treaty and the representative, the deputy of the General Student Council President, I declare here and now.]

[I revoke Arius’s authority as the Eden Treaty Organization.]

“Wh…?!””

“Leader… The Saint Society…”

The Saint Society is slowly losing its form and disappearing. I see, they were countered in an adult way for their adult way.

The Saint Society is slowly disappearing without leaving a trace. In the places where they remained, nothing, not even a trace, can be found.

The sword we sharpened with hatred for a long time is rusting and weathering away. Still, we can’t stop.

“…Futile!!! What’s the point of that! What can you change with such a declaration!

Do you think this world of hatred and distrust will change because of that! It’s a dream! This world is not a damn fairy tale!”

I scream. They are receiving so much of the sparkle that we didn’t receive.

I clung desperately. I messed up and messed up again, rampaging. But they deny everything and start to fly again.

We didn’t receive anything like that. We didn’t get a chance like that. This is the only truth I know.

Therefore, the unjust things I’ve seen, that we’ve seen, are not beautiful and shining fairy tales, but damn bloody and gruesome tales. Therefore, we only know this.

[Yes, the world is not a fairy tale, but fairy tales are based on the world.]

[They’re based on the dreams people dreamed, the dreams students dreamed.]

[And it was always the duty of adults to realize the dreams of students.]

[I’m just answering that dream, I just believe in that dream.]

Everything ended there. All that remained for us were the regular soldiers who couldn’t fight properly due to the previous fight with Kenzaki Tsurugi. I was also not in a condition to fight properly.

We were pushed to the end. To the ruined Old Cathedral. In the end, everything was futile. No matter how much we struggled, it was all in the hands of adults.

All our forces were defeated… We lost the Saint Society, and everyone and I were injured and unable to fight.

I denied everything, but I guess I still had some lingering feelings. I let everyone escape and I’m the only one left. In front of me stands the child who suffered with me. But she is the only one who crossed over to the blue world.

In the end, after a long battle, I was the one who lost. It’s a truly unfair world. We started with everything taken away from us, and they started with everything.

We barely managed to crawl up, but are they trampling on even that chance?

“Why…. Why only you, why only you….

We would have suffered together, despaired together… In this gray world…

Only you… Why are you still in that blue world… Why can you stay there…”

I scream, I pour out my screams. I resent it. I shouldn’t resent it. But I resent it. Why? Why? Weren’t you the same as us? Why are you different from us? Why can you shine so brightly…

Were you able to regain that light back then?

“Atsuko…”

I hear a voice that shouldn’t be heard.

“Princess… Why didn’t you run away…”

“We lost, Azusa.”

“N, No, Princess…”

No. She… will kill the princess. No… I have nothing left. Only those children remain. Don’t abandon my last lingering attachment.

Princess…. Please.

“It’s okay. It’s all over now. Anyway, she wouldn’t have let me live. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“So, let’s stop now. Saori.”

Stop… We have come this far… We have put in so much effort for this moment… Why…

If we go back to Arius… we’ll be killed anyway… Why…

“Yeah, not Arius… Let’s run away together, Azusa told me. These feelings we have, this hatred we have, isn’t ours, right?

Sensei said, the world is not a fairy tale… but we can make a fairy tale… So… Let’s run away.

From Arius and from the hatred that is not ours.”

Ah… I see… I was just a foolish fool who mistook what was not mine for mine and struggled.

I was just a hideous monster trying to drag down, not crawl up with hatred that wasn’t mine.

What is left for me?

“Azusa… You met a good adult… Azusa, you found the school you should be in…. Sensei? Please take care of Azusa.”

[….To you too….]

“No… We have our own lives… Yeah…”

With the small figure walking away, the encounter (separation) with the Arius Squad ended.

“Ahaha☆ Nagi-chan…? Why do you still look so down? We somehow managed to wrap everything up, didn’t we?”

“That’s because we still have homework we haven’t solved, something we need to atone for.

Having said that, that’s the first reason… Mika, you know, don’t you?”

“Wai… Seia!”

“Ahaha☆ Yeah, there’s that~ Should I restrain myself a little?”

From beyond the door leading to the Tea Party office, which is actually in the form of a terrace, I heard the familiar voices of three people.

They probably didn’t expect me to come to work on the day I was discharged from the hospital. Let’s tease them a little.

-Creeeak-

“I’m sorry I’m late…?”

“Welcome, Sora.”

“You’re here?”

Huh? How am I perceived? They weren’t surprised at all? Do I have an image of a workaholic?

“Ahaha☆ Yeah! Sora-chan is surprised~”

“You should have thought that we know you as well as you know us, Sora?”

“Haha… This time I was caught… Huh? Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever won in a battle of wits…”

“Fufu, that’s how it is, so please do your best today too, Sora.”

Perhaps the long major incident ends like a story.

In the end, it returns to everyday life.

But this is not a story.

It’s not a story in a fairy tale. Therefore, we must not forget this.

We must not stop. Therefore, we gather here today.