Chapter 56: Fuse (1)

It was just before the upcoming Great Athletics Festival.

As it was my turn to work as Chalet’s assistant, the Sensei had entrusted me with a considerable amount of work, saying that he trusted me to some extent.

[Haha, so it has come to this…]

“What are you looking at, Sensei?”

As I was moving the documents I had finished approving, I saw the Sensei muttering to himself while looking at Momotalk on his smartphone, so I peeked over his shoulder…

The photo uploaded on Momotalk showed Yumeka, a girl who caught my eye while spending time on the weekend, Kazusa, and the members of the dessert club, all posing in front of a table full of desserts.

The sender was Kazusa, and…I was glad she had blended in well.

Even though Yumeka’s expression didn’t seem to have brightened much, it wasn’t the same parched and resigned look as before, so I thought she was gradually getting better.

Kazusa said it was just a simple whim, but seeing her with the dessert club members, there must have been a reason.

But that aside…

“Here!”

[Ugh…]

I lightly hit the Sensei’s head with a bundle of documents.

Not with force, just a light tap.

He was slacking off, looking at Momotalk in front of the student on duty who was working hard during a busy time?

Unforgivable.

“Get to work!”

[I am working…]

“Ahaha☆ Sora-chan is strict~”

I heard my onee-chan’s voice from the sofa.

Well…yes, Trinity had almost finished preparing for the Great Athletics Festival, so it seemed that all that was left was to call a meeting of the executive committee.

That’s why my onee-chan came running to Chalet as soon as school ended, knowing that I was on duty after school hours.

“But onee-chan, if you don’t do this, you won’t have any time to rest, you know?”

“Ehehe…that’s because I slack off so much while working, so the time to play is the same, isn’t it?”

Wow, I never thought of such logic…but I’m still happy.

It means that my onee-chan appreciates the time she spends with me, so I can’t help but be happy.

However…

-Fiddle fiddle-

“But…onee-chan…this is uncomfortable…”

“Ahaha☆ I’m sorry, but I’m a troublesome woman~”

“Haha…”

This time, my onee-chan started fiddling with my wings again.

It’s not a lie that I said it was uncomfortable, but in fact, I’m used to it by now.

She always comes and fiddles with them when her hands are free while I’m sitting and working in the Tea Party office.

Nevertheless, the reason why I spoke up this time was…yes, because the Sensei was there.

It’s a little embarrassing to show this kind of appearance to someone who is not a member of the Tea Party, but rather an outsider.

Still, thankfully…the Sensei didn’t pay any attention and just focused on his own work, so I was able to concentrate on my work as well.

Until my onee-chan took her prank to the next level.

-Munch-

“?! onee-chan…onee-chan!?”

“Ptooey…this was a bit much, after all…ugh…”

[…Huh…]

No, now…my wings…in her mouth…no…thankfully my onee-chan’s mouth isn’t that big…and she didn’t bite it…so there’s no pain or stickiness or anything, but it was enough to make me panic.

The Sensei was also looking this way with a surprised expression.

The Sensei wasn’t originally looking this way…but he must have quickly turned his gaze to my side to see what was happening to me after hearing my scream-that-wasn’t-a-scream.

“onee-chan…onee-chan…?”

“Ehehe…what?”

“…N-nothing…”

[…? You’re…just letting that go…?]

“Ehehe…”

I guess I can’t win against this innocent person…

In the end, I had no choice but to give up my wings for the rest of the day’s duty until my onee-chan went home because it was getting late.

If it wasn’t Chalet because of duty, but a regular Tea Party overtime or just a private space, I might have had to give up other things besides my wings.

No, I’m sure I would have given them up.

And I wouldn’t have hated it, I would have gladly accepted it…

Ah, if it was Tea Party overtime, it might have been difficult because of the other two…

[…Phew…it’s finally over…]

“It is…”

Finally, in the middle of the night, after my onee-chan had gone home and all the work was finished, a peaceful rest time had returned.

[Shall we eat something?

We skipped dinner.]

“Let’s…are you still eating delivery food or convenience store bento boxes?”

[Haha…sorry…]

“Sigh…well, it’s fine…I don’t have the energy to do anything today either…”

I think I scolded the Sensei about this when I was younger, but in the end, I was also too tired to cook, and I was agreeing to order delivery food.

Well.

I wanted to eat something greasy for the first time in a while, and I was tired…

And I wanted to give him what I had prepared, but giving it to him while eating would be a bit of a mood killer, and it would break the flow.

“So, Sensei, what do you want to eat?”

[The restaurants that are open at this hour are mostly hamburger places…you don’t not eat them, do you?]

“Ah, yes, I don’t have any particular food preferences.”

Hamburgers…come to think of it, I haven’t eaten much delivery food since I entered high school.

Since I joined the Tea Party at the same time as I entered the school, I ate a lot of desserts, and I felt a little burdened by eating delivery food like fast food.

I agreed with the Sensei’s suggestion, thinking that one hamburger for the first time in a while would be fine.

And I’ll take this opportunity to give it to him.

I saw earlier that the Sensei’s pen was running out of ink, so the timing was perfect.

[…? Sora?

This is…]

“It’s a quill pen.

You know…people often give fountain pens as a sign of respect…especially to educators…

ah, it’s a little embarrassing to say this myself, but anyway, fountain pens are expensive, so I thought about what kind of meaningful gift I could give, and I decided on a quill pen.”

I hand the Sensei a box containing a well-preserved quill pen and inkwell.

In Trinity, gifts using feathers are considered meaningful gifts.

To be precise, they are remembered as meaningful gifts by some people with wings.

There are various meanings, and there is also a record of a high-ranking nobleman proposing with a brooch made of wing feathers in the distant past.

[Haha, thank you, Sora.

But…I’ve never used anything other than a ballpoint pen…]

“Eh?

Really?”

In the end, I had to teach the Sensei how to use a quill pen and a fountain pen until the hamburgers we ordered arrived.

I remembered learning it from Nagisa-senpai before, and I had the opportunity to learn it in my previous life, so there was no problem in teaching it.

Ah, I said I had the opportunity to learn…that was one of the biggest crises of my life.

No, the professor was trying to make me a graduate student?!

Anyway, by the time the hamburgers we ordered arrived, he had gotten used to it and was able to use it well.

“Please take care of me, Sensei.”

[Welcome, Nagisa.]

Following Mika-san and Sora, my turn for duty has come.

The key members of our Tea Party have scheduled their shifts at Chalet to be handled around the same time, so the picture of us taking turns on duty in succession has emerged.

Since the duty itself is an application system, there is no need to enter it, but diplomacy is troublesome because it makes you pay attention to every little detail, so it can’t be helped.

That’s not a reason to be on duty in a row, but the reason we do this is to adjust the schedule so that urgent work inside Trinity is all handled or postponed when the duty cycle is close, so that it doesn’t interfere with our work.

Seia-san is not participating for health reasons, so today is the last day for the important members of the Tea Party to be on duty.

[Nagisa, you seem to be good at this kind of work.]

“Yes, since I’m in the position of student council president…this kind of work is not difficult for me.”

It’s not a lie.

To be precise, a considerable number of the tasks that come to Chalet are of low importance, so if you just think about the difficulty, the tasks of the Tea Party were a little more difficult.

However, the reason why the Sensei is willing to accept the duty is also because the amount of work is extraordinary.

It makes sense that this is a person who frequently has dispatch duties, and at the same time, the image of him firmly maintaining his concern for the students was suitable for evoking a sense of respect.

That’s why I was going to give him a fountain pen as a gift of respect and gratitude for the Eden Treaty…

[I’m sorry, Nagisa.

I recently received one as a gift.]

“Ah…I see…”

It seems that the Sensei has already received a fountain pen recently.

To be precise, a fountain pen can also serve as a kind of luxury item, where it doesn’t matter if you receive several, but the Sensei is not a person who indulges in luxury, so just as I was about to give up…something caught my eye.

A quill pen, yes, a quill pen.

It was definitely a gift from a Trinity student…and since students with pure white wings are common in Trinity, I may have misunderstood…no, I would never misunderstand that person’s belongings.

It was definitely Yumetsubasa Sora, Sora’s wing feather.

There is a possibility that she gave it as a gift without knowing the meaning of the wing feather…

but at least the upper echelons of Trinity, even if they don’t practice it directly, include it in the content of conceptual understanding and learning.

Gifts of luxury goods using wing feathers carry the meaning of proposal and confession.

She’s such a…no, even if it’s a bit ambiguous, it might be meaningless at this point since she already has three people, but at least the her I know wouldn’t do that.

But suspicion and anxiety begin to engulf me.

In the end, I couldn’t continue that day’s duty properly because of the deepening thoughts caused by that anxiety.

“This is a serious matter!”

“Nagi-chan…that can’t be true…?

Okay?

Calm down…”

“Mika-san, do you think that position will be yours forever?!”

“Mika, you’re too optimistic, that’s your problem.”

Nagi-chan has been strange since she came back from Chalet yesterday….

Suddenly, Sora-chan is cheating…no, can you even call it cheating when she already has three people?

I also thought, but she started saying strange things about the Sensei being the target.

It’s a bit much for me to say…usually, I’m the one who says strange things…

The story got a little sidetracked, but to put it back, that can’t be true.

“No…Sora-chan just gave it as a sign of respect…”

“She wouldn’t say that in front of the people involved, would she, Mika-san?”

“If I were Sora…and the one I adore is also…I wouldn’t dislike it…”

If Nagisa’s claim is true, I would do the same.

I don’t want to believe it, but I should check at least once, just in case.

I’m wrong.

Nagi-chan…completely lost her reason.

Seia-chan is also a little different from usual…sigh…

Even though I heard the story directly from Sora-chan herself, Nagi-chan and Seia-chan, who had already lost their minds…I couldn’t stop them.

Ah…this is what they call mirror therapy…okay…I’ll refrain from these sudden outbursts in the future…

In the end, I couldn’t stop Nagi-chan and Seia-chan.

A word from the author (author’s note)