"...Haaah."
With a pleasant yawn, Makoto awoke, tilting her head as she took in her surroundings.
For some unknown reason, she was lying in a private room, dressed in a patient's gown.
As she retraced her memories for a while, her eyes widened.
Her last memory was of declaring her victory in the bet against that arrogant pigeon from Trinity.
The important thing now was not why she was in a hospital room.
Her soul would not find peace until she had thoroughly rubbed her victory in the face of that foolish angel who relied solely on her looks and brute force.
What would be the best way to humiliate her? She desperately wracked her brain, searching for a novel idea, something beyond the cliché.
With her mind racing, Makoto quickly found and put on her uniform.
She hastily tied up her hair and left the hospital room.
She stopped by her office first, but finding it completely empty and devoid of any human presence, she wondered if it was some special day and checked the calendar on her phone.
"...September?"
Makoto might have been a fool, but she wasn't a fool who couldn't even remember the date.
At least, that was her own assessment.
According to her memory, the last date she had checked was August… 2nd? It was probably around then.
In reality, she was off by a full digit, but the moment she confirmed it was September, Makoto's mind began to race furiously.
It was a thought that moved at the literal speed of light.
Inspiration struck Makoto like a bolt of lightning.
"Kikikik. I see, so that's what it was!"
In truth, she had reached no conclusion at all.
It was simply Makoto's habitual bluster, which came as naturally as breathing.
In the end, faced with a dead end, Makoto chose the most perfect option she always defaulted to.
[Senior Makoto. You're finally awake.]
"Hey, Iroha. Something is strange about this situation."
[By the time you've woken up, Senior, I'll likely be gone from this world. For the record, this is a recorded message, so please don't get the wrong idea.]
"Wh-what…?"
[You have been asleep for a staggering seventeen years. During that time, no one dared to even dream of becoming the peak of the Pandemonium Society, and the position of chairperson has remained vacant. I have been waiting for you to awaken, trapped in my lonely, desolate room.]
Unaware that the "lonely, desolate room" referred to the hideout Iroha used for slacking off, Makoto bit her lip.
Something, something had happened while the peak of Gehenna was absent.
`[But that is all over now… By the time you are listening to this message, Senior Makoto, I will likely no longer be of this world.
If I had known it would come to this, I wish I had slacked off a bit more openly…]`
"H-hey. Iroha! Stop playing around and answer me! I'll give you a three-day… no, a week-long vacation!
Just admit that this is all a lie!"
[Of course it's a lie, Senior Makoto. I'll gratefully accept the vacation. Please don't look for me for a week.]
"What…?! Iroha! Are you telling me you tricked me?!"
`[…For the record, exactly one week has passed since the end of the festival.
Which means your slave contract is now null and void.]`
Having successfully relieved her usual stress by teasing Makoto over the phone, Iroha dropped the bomb.
Hearing it, Makoto's eyes finally snapped.
"Kuaaack!!! So the Trinity pigeon bitches really can't be trusted! To think they'd put me to sleep to exploit a loophole in the contract! This is unacceptable! No, I must not tolerate it! To engrave the hierarchy between myself and Misono Mika… yes, kikikikit!!!
I suppose all-out war is inevitable."
`[Ah, yes… Sigh, why do these annoying things always fall to me…
]`
"Hey, Iroha! Begin war preparations at once! Misono Mika… I will make you realize, down to your very bones, what a grave mistake this was. Kikikikikik—!!!"
Forced to listen to Makoto's absurd nonsense over the phone, Iroha let out a sigh filled with a thousand emotions.
She knew full well that among everyone involved in this affair, she was the only one in a position to deal with Makoto.
And while she was grateful that the other side had gone so far as to craft a scenario where Makoto was played like a fiddle, it was an undeniable truth.
there were still rare moments when Iroha found this Makoto detestable.
Of course, it was only sometimes. Sometimes…
`[First, there's something you need to know, Senior Makoto.
The true culprit behind this incident wasn't Mika-san. It was the Kaiser Corporation.]`
"…What? Why in the world would Kaiser attack me like that? Iroha, stop with the nonsensical—"
`[Are you still going to say that, even after Mika-san, enraged by this incident, literally smashed Kaiser to pieces while you were asleep?
Even after it was revealed that Kaiser was actually researching biochemical weapons, causing the entire corporation to collapse like a row of dominoes?]`
The current situation had just happened to fall into place this way. Originally, Hina and Iroha had planned to take full responsibility for the affair.
The key to their plan was a medicine commissioned from Shanhaijing, a pill that would 'make you healthy and refreshed after a good night's sleep, but the sleep lasts for a week'.
It was only when the topic of Makoto came up shortly before Mika's departure that a new scenario was quickly assembled—one that was deemed more suitable for putting a leash on Makoto.
.
[If Mika-san hadn't recovered the antidote from Kaiser's research lab, there's no telling how much longer you would have been asleep, Senior Makoto… sigh.]
"…Misono Mika, destroyed Kaiser for me?"
`[I wouldn't say it was entirely for you, Senior, but I can confidently say that you were a large part of the motivation.
I know very well how much you dislike Mika-san…]`
"Enough, that's enough."
Silencing Iroha, Makoto sat in her office chair and closed her eyes.
Could she really believe those words? What if Iroha had simply been fooled by a trick from that cunning Trinity pigeon…
The more she thought, the deeper Makoto's agony grew.
*'…Come to think of it, from our very first meeting, Misono Mika was always showering me with compliments, calling me handsome.
Could it be that it wasn't a ploy, but her true feelings?'*
It was true.
It was just that Makoto's own prejudice against Trinity meant she hadn't had the slightest intention of taking it seriously.
'Perhaps… Mika has come to admire the leadership of me, the peak of Gehenna.'
if it was simply a desire to serve and follow the great Makoto-sama from a closer distance… then everything is explained.'
"Kikikik. I see. So that's what it was!"
At last, a clear answer was derived by Makoto's genius brain.
The answer it produced was enough to, a moment later, not only startle Iroha, but to make her jaw drop in disbelief.
"Ah, at last, I have grasped the whole truth. Mika was simply in awe of my greatness from the very beginning.
She was merely prevented from honestly revealing that fact by the barrier of our academies."
[…Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean.]
"Kikikikikikikit!!! Yes. My greatness, which even the peak of Trinity cannot help but revere, has long since reached the heavens, Iroha.
It is only a shame that I was a little late in realizing it."
[…Sigh.]
Would it have been better to just stick to the usual Pandemonium Society vs. Prefect Team dynamic?.
As Iroha thought this.
Makoto delivered the final blow.
"It seems Gehenna was too small to contain my greatness, Iroha.
Kikit. Kikitkitkitkit!"
[…Senior Makoto, no, right?]
With a sense of dread, Iroha asked again.
For some reason, she could see where this conversation was heading.
She could predict what shocking words she was about to hear.
"The steps of this Hanuma Makoto must not stop at Gehenna. Yes, they must reach all of Kivotos. Therefore… I will become the General Student Council President. Yes, I will stand in the sky of Kivotos. And Mika, who is helplessly captivated by me, will surely support my cause. Kikikikikik—cough!choke!"
[Thump!]
The sound of Iroha hitting her head was heard over the phone.
but it did not reach Makoto, who was too busy coughing.
'My goodness… Mika-san, do you have any idea what kind of terrible poison you've unleashed upon Senior Makoto today?'
Thinking of Mika, who should have arrived at Trinity by now, Iroha let out a deep sigh.
As if possessed, she ended the call and turned off her phone.
"I… I don't know anything about this anymore.
Yes, I got my vacation, after all. Whatever happens, happens."
That day, the animosity Makoto held for Mika vanished as if it had been washed clean.
Whether Mika would welcome such a change in their future encounters, no one could say.