Today was a rare occasion where all three leaders of the Tea Party gathered for teatime.
Nagisa still tried to stick to me, going to what I felt were slightly excessive lengths to make time, but we were both busy people, so we couldn't be together always. Still, I wanted to make time for her, even time she didn't have, so I made an effort to be with her whenever the opportunity arose.
Seia, on the other hand, was so difficult to see that she might as well have been on another plane of existence, but she would meet with me if I made an effort to see her. The only problem was that I, too, had a lot on my plate, which made it difficult to find the time.
For that reason, it wasn't common for the three of us to be in the same place unless there was something truly important to discuss. Today, we had gathered simply to address the matter of the current Justice Task Force Vice-Captain's retirement.
It seemed this was around the time Tsurugi was to become the Captain.
The thought of seeing the two who would soon be appointed Captain and Vice-Captain of the Justice Task Force made my head spin a little. Both of them, for different reasons.
As I was watching Seia and Nagisa debate whether appointing the current Vice-Captain, Tsurugi, as the new Captain was the right course of action, a Momotalk notification chimed.
"…Mika-san, silent or vibrate mode. It's proper etiquette when we're working, is it not?"
"Nagisa, my dear, if you act so prickly all the time, you might find yourself on Mika's bad side."
"That's impossible. Mika-san is not so petty a person."
"…"
"…Right, Mika-san?"
"Huh? Ah, right. Sorry, Nagi-chan. I had the sound on because I was waiting for an important message. And for the record, I'd much rather listen to your nagging than Seia's rhetoric☆"
Hearing my answer, Seia sighed and closed her eyes. Nagisa looked as if she were debating whether to be pleased by this or not.
While I checked the contents of my Momotalk, the two of them started bickering again. Surprisingly enough, this was the daily reality when the Tea Party gathered. Of course, they could only act this way because they both considered each other close friends.
[Hina-chan]
[Our side is ready.]
[You pick the date, Mika.]
It seemed the time had come for me to become the first Tea Party Host to set foot in the Gehenna Autonomous District.
[They say to strike while the iron is hot, right? Let's make it tomorrow.]
I didn't have the luxury of taking my time. It was still early summer, so if we started preparing like mad now, we could hold the festival before summer was over. But that was only on the premise that we started now.
I feel bad for the underlings who are about to be worked to the bone, but I'm being worked just as hard, so cut me some slack, won't you? I'll make sure your welfare and compensation are well taken care of, at least.
Anyway… whether I had to persuade Makoto or just beat her up and force her to stamp the documents, this was a matter of utmost urgency that had to be dealt with one way or another.
After I get back, I also need to make time to personally try and make contact with Arius. My heart already trembles at the thought of venturing into the Catacombs, but I don't really have any other viable options.
I'm so busy I wish I had a clone. And since this has become something I'm doing because I want to, I can't even complain. I can only accept it as my own karma.
"Hey, Nagi-chan, Seia-chan. If you're done fighting, could you look over here for a second?"
"Me, fighting with Seia-san? Mika-san, that is a misunderstanding. I was merely bestowing upon her a small lesson."
"Oh, my. Nagisa, it is said that the more one learns, the more one knows to distance oneself from arrogance. 'Bestowing a lesson'… does that not sound terribly arrogant? It seems your own learning is still insufficient."
"Insufficient learning? What a rude thing to say. Have you forgotten that my grades are better than yours, Seia-san?"
"…You know, if you two don't shut your mouths, I'm just going to quit being Host and leave the Tea Party. What'll it be?"
At my threat, the two of them immediately clammed up.
Hmph. They should have just listened to me from the start. They claim they weren't fighting, but their conversation was nothing but them poking at each other's sore spots.
And for you, of all people, to speak of arrogance, Seia, is a bit much. As a former Sensei, I have no choice but to give you one demerit for hypocrisy.
"Instead of fighting over trivial matters with foregone conclusions, let's talk about something important. There's something I've been pursuing personally. I'm not joking, I'm one hundred percent serious, so please listen."
And so, I began to explain everything to the two of them in earnest.
I started by telling them I wanted to improve relations between Gehenna and Trinity, and to that end, I revealed that I had been personally corresponding with the Head of Gehenna's Disciplinary Committee. I also showed them the letters we had exchanged.
The Momotalks, of course, were an exception. They contained private conversations with Hina, and showing them would be disrespectful to her. I couldn't show others the idle chatter that the busy Hina had gone out of her way to have with me.
"…Mika-san, I'm sorry, but are you feeling unwell somewhere? No, I don't even need to be sorry. What in the world is the meaning of this?"
"Mika, on this, I must agree with Nagisa. Your intentions are not what's important here. What's important is that you were plotting something like this with the Head of Gehenna's Disciplinary Committee behind our backs."
"You should have at least consulted with us first. You, who hated Gehenna more than anyone, who stood at the forefront proclaiming that the demons of Gehenna were an untrustworthy lot… I can't believe you were planning something like this while hiding it from us."
Come to think of it, why was I keeping this a secret from these two? Looking back, I can't recall why I did it.
"Uh, sorry…?"
Even as I said it, I felt it wasn't right. The next moment, seeing Nagisa's reaction, I knew I was the guilty party.
"'Sorry' isn't enough…! Now that you've pushed things this far, it means you intend to force it through no matter what we say. And that means you plan to go to Gehenna alone, hic, to Gehenna… What if they're luring you there with the intent to harm you! What were you thinking, agreeing to go there yourself…?!"
Nagisa, who always had such a calm and composed demeanor. Nagisa, who always maintained her dignity with a noble and elegant bearing.
That Nagisa, because of me, threw all of it away and broke down, becoming just an ordinary girl.
I didn't make the mistake of just staring blankly as Nagisa burst into sorrowful sobs. I had made a huge mess, and it was my duty to clean it up.
I immediately rose from my seat, approached Nagisa, and took the teacup trembling precariously in her hand, placing it haphazardly on the table.
Careful not to hurt her, I helped Nagisa to her feet and pulled her into a rough embrace. Despite the almost non-existent distance between us, my only thought was how slender Nagisa was.
As her shoulders shook with intermittent sobs, I gently patted and stroked her back, whispering "I'm sorry, please stop crying" into her ear over and over.
From behind, I could hear Seia muttering, "There they go again with the public displays of affection." A public display of affection? That would only apply if I were a boy. Seia really has these strange reactions sometimes.
Thankfully, Nagisa began to gradually calm down after a little while. To be perfectly honest… now that I was aware I had done something terrible to her, to both of them, I was afraid of what would happen after Nagisa composed herself.
"Nagi-chan, are you feeling a bit calmer now?"
"…No, I'm still not calm, so listen closely. You seem to trust that Disciplinary Committee Head completely, Mika-san, but I cannot agree with that… It could all be an act to lure you into Gehenna and devour you."
To me, who knows Hina well, it's all just groundless speculation, but Nagisa doesn't know Hina. No, even if she did, she probably would have reacted the same way. The only reason our perspectives differ is that I acted based on my omniscient understanding of her existence before I ever met her as a person.
"I have no intention of denying that the Head of Gehenna's Disciplinary Committee has a decent reputation, but this is a completely different story. For Gehenna, simply capturing you, Mika-san, would put them in a position of absolute superiority against Trinity. You're not so foolish a woman as to not have thought of that. I know that now."
"…I'm sorry, Nagi-chan. But I can guarantee that Hina-chan isn't that kind of person—"
I realized midway through my sentence that I had stepped on a landmine. This might have been fine with anyone else, but saying it in front of Nagisa was a clear mistake. I had forgotten that Nagisa, as a leader of the Tea Party, was a deeply suspicious person, though perhaps less so than in the original timeline where she believed Seia was dead.
"…Yes. A guarantee, you say. That Sorasaki Hina, the Head of the Disciplinary Committee of Gehenna, a school that has been hostile to ours for ages, someone with whom you've only exchanged a few letters and met a single time… you're saying you'll guarantee she's not that kind of person. Please, just tell me you're joking. That's absurd."
Nagisa, spitting out Hina's name as if chewing on it, looked extremely displeased. The only reason she wasn't pressing the issue was that she knew of Mika's tendency to speak informally with everyone, but her bewilderment was plain to see.
That fox Seia, just as she did in the original story, had entered spectator mode. Not that I could blame her; when you got down to it, I had wronged her as well. It didn't change the fact that I was in no position to say anything.
"How can you be so certain of the Gehenna Disciplinary Head's true intentions, Mika-san? By what means? If one could grasp everything about a person in a single meeting, there would be no deception in this world."
Leaving aside Nagisa's suspicious nature, the problem was that everything she said was absolutely correct. This was different from the things Nagisa had said about Hifumi. This wasn't excessive suspicion; it was natural suspicion.
"Answer me, Mika-san. On what grounds am I supposed to just stand by and watch you go to Gehenna…?"
Oh no, she's going to start crying again. What do I do? Normally, I feel like I could have persuaded her somehow, but things have gotten so twisted.
"On this matter, I believe Nagisa is right, Mika. Even if you desire to improve relations with Gehenna, you should not have proceeded in this manner. You know that well, do you not?"
…I was wondering why Seia was just watching, and now she decides to jump in and take Nagisa's side? I know it's the natural thing to do in this situation, but it's all the more annoying because she stayed quiet until now.
Still, thanks to her, I learned something. I finally realized that it wasn't that I didn't trust Seia and Nagisa, but simply that I was trapped in the obsession that I had to do everything myself.
It would be difficult to open up about everything to them, but at the very least, I should stop keeping my ongoing projects a secret from them.
"I'm sorry for proceeding with this while keeping it a secret from you two, Nagi-chan, Seia-chan. It's a little hard to explain, but I had my reasons for doing it this way. And Nagi-chan… this isn't something that can succeed by looking for a reason to trust."
The relationship between Gehenna and Trinity can definitely change. At least, I believe so. I believe it only failed to change because someone didn't trust the other first. Because they didn't try to trust.
"It's something that can only succeed if you trust from the very beginning, something you build upon a foundation of faith."
If I, who am free from the emotions that have piled up between the two academies for so long, don't trust first, then who will? That's why this is something I have to do.
The irony that I failed to trust those closest to me in the process is not lost on me, but it's enough that I realize it now. From now on, we can change things together.
"…If you're going to go that far, Mika-san, then I will forgive you. Yes, of course, I'll forgive you."
"Ahaha, thank you, Nagi-chan! I knew you'd—"
"Whether my roll cake will forgive you, however, is something I do not know."
As Nagisa hugged me back tightly and whispered those words, I couldn't help but become acquainted with the emotion called despair.
Mercifully, my throat did not end up making friends with a roll cake. But the fact that Nagisa wouldn't let me go for the rest of that day… I don't think that was just my imagination.