The meetings to adjust the detailed policies for the ETO's trial run were held several times over the course of October.
The process was repetitive: the three of us would share our opinions, gather additional feedback on those opinions by working our subordinates, and then refine them at the next meeting.
Kaya, who had presented a rather excellent operational method from a different perspective at the first meeting, unfortunately did not attend any subsequent meetings.
I had to understand, since she had said from the beginning that she would only observe once, but since that single opinion she had offered played such a major role, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
I don't know how busy the position of Defense Director originally is... but I do know that she is struggling to clean up the mess left by the former Defense Director and to restore the trust of the past.
She herself humbly stated, 'The ones who are truly struggling are the practitioners working in the field. I am merely sitting behind a desk and giving orders,' but there's no way a position like the General Student Council's Defense Director is a cushy job where one can just give out a few commands.
In any case, the story is that while I secretly hoped Kaya would continue to attend the meetings and offer her opinions, it was not to be for the aforementioned reasons.
Besides, since the ETO was scheduled to be placed under the jurisdiction of the SRT Specialist School, the very act of the Defense Office, which exists as a separate committee, adding its influence could have caused controversy.
.
And so, after a series of meetings that continued until the end of October, it was decided that the ETO's trial run would officially begin on the upcoming November 15th.
However, it was also true that there were still many areas where preparations were lacking, and these were to be gradually improved upon in the future.
If things had gone as originally planned, we could have aligned the schedule with All Saints' Day, a day of great symbolic significance for Trinity... but with Gehenna as one of the parties to the treaty, it would be stranger to fuss over that part.
"Mika, Trick or Treat".
Oh, right. There's something you can't miss when talking about the end of October, and that's Halloween.
I had been so busy that I hadn't realized Halloween was just around the corner... no, that's not it. I had allocated a bit of the budget to decorate the entire Trinity campus in a Halloween festival atmosphere.
But how long does it take to decorate an entire campus? Naturally, the school had been in a semi-festival mood for over a week, and students had gone beyond mere decorations and had begun to hold their own parties.
There were students in proper costumes, while there were just as many who looked no different from usual.
However, seeing that even some of those students had Halloween-themed decorations on their wings or in their hair, one could guess that the majority of them were determined to enjoy Halloween to the fullest.
The Atsuko standing before me now was... well. At first glance, she looked no different from usual.
No, she seemed the same, yet there was something different.
Unlike her usual self, who always kept her coat open, today it was zipped up tight.
.
"Um, Atsuko-chan. I'm sorry, but… I don't have anything left to give you".
Of course, I had no more candy or treats to give.
I had already been accosted by dozens of students; how could I have any candy left?.
If I had cultivated more of an 'untouchable V.I.P.' aura in my daily life, I wouldn't have had to suffer like this.
Well, even so, wearing clothes that didn't suit me wouldn't have looked good anyway.
As expected, I'm better suited to living among my girls.
"...Really, not a single one?".
"Ahaha, sorry. Really, I don't know why everyone is so desperate for candy from me… It's not like I didn't prepare any, but I ran out in no time".
"Hmm, this is a problem. My friends are going to give me a hard time. They'll ask how I couldn't even get a single piece of candy from the person I was always singing praises of.
For sure".
"Oh? So you talk about me to your friends, Atsuko-chan?".
"Yeah. I boasted that you're the prettiest and kindest older sister in the world".
"Whoa...?".
"...Is that bad?".
As Atsuko tilted her head and asked, I couldn't bring myself to tell her that boasting like that would normally make her look like a sis-con.
She wasn't even her real sister, and besides, I knew for a fact that Atsuko would just ask what a 'sis-con' was.
"W-well, it's fine, but. What about Saori-chan?".
"Hmm. Saori is... Saori".
"...Right? And Saori-chan is your older sister, too".
"Mika… Saori isn't the kindest older sister in the world.
You'd understand if you went through her training".
"W-well, I don't go through the training, but we do train together sometimes. Though usually Saori-chan is the one who gives out first".
"...Ah".
Hmm, is this an unavoidable difference in perception? To Atsuko, the Saori from her time in Arius must have been a drill sergeant from hell… but from my perspective, I just ended up feeling sorry for Saori.
"Anyway, it's a problem that you have no candy. I heard that if you don't give candy, I have no choice but to eat you up".
"Ahaha! Atsuko-chan, that's just something people say to get candy.
You don't have to take it so seriously☆".
I'm reminded every time, but Atsuko's innocent and calm face makes even the strangest things she says seem endearing.
"Yeah, I know. 'Eating you up' has a slightly different meaning, Mika".
"...Um, Atsuko-chan. That, uh, 'different meaning' isn't what I think it is… right?".
"Who knows. What do you think it is, sister?".
…The moment I called her innocent, she hits me with a sudden dirty joke like this?.
?.
You're spicier than you look, Atsuko. Way spicier. Even Hanako doesn't make dirty jokes like that in front of me.
"I remember what you said. That we should talk again after I get into high school".
"Um, Atsuko-chan? W-why are you suddenly touching your jacket?".
Atsuko suddenly brought her hand to the zipper of her jacket and began to pull it down.
Seeing this, and after a moment remembering what sort of attire Atsuko usually wore under her coat, I quickly reached out to stop her hand.
.
"…I'm all grown up now, so why do I have to wait?".
In an instant, Atsuko zipped her jacket all the way down, and with those words, she looked at me with a faint smile.
"A-Atsuko-chan! If you do that outside, people will think you're strange!".
"No one saw but you. So I think it's okay".
I scrambled to quickly re-zip Atsuko's jacket all the way up.
I don't know who taught Atsuko how to enjoy Halloween, but they should have kept her away from mummy costumes…!.
The hastily wrapped bandages that revealed her pale skin were enough to make my head spin with just a glance, and more than enough to send me into a panic.
I had rushed to fix her clothes out of fear that someone might see her like that, but I myself was on the verge of dying from how much it was on my mind.
No, who would have thought she'd be wearing such an obscene costume, one I felt bad for even calling a costume, under that coat… This makes me wonder what happened when Hanako and Atsuko got close—.
Wait a minute.
Wasn't I the one who arranged for Atsuko and Hanako to meet for the first time?.
?.
"…Atsuko-chan. Who in the world showed you that mummy costume?".
"Hmm? Senior Hanako showed me. Why?".
"".
To corrupt our little princess, who was not entirely innocent but still… this was not something I could so easily forgive, no matter how much I cherished you as a junior.
So, Urawa Hanako, you had better prepare yourself.
I know I was the one who lit the spark in you when you were living in innocence, but that was something that would have happened eventually, no matter what I did….
"Ah, there you are. Atsuko, I've been looking all over for you! It's my first time on the high school campus, I almost got lost. So next time, let's stick together!".
As I was contemplating how to cook Hanako, I heard someone approaching and calling Atsuko's name. Naturally, both of our gazes turned in that direction.
"That pretty older sister or whatever, I was going to be generous and forgive you even if it was a lie… huh? Hmmm??? What, am I seeing things?".
"Ah, Yoshimi. I got lost looking for Mika, too".
"Hey, why are you saying that so proudly? Honestly! Anyway, don't tell me this is the pretty older sister you were talking about…?".
"Yeah. She's my sister, whose heart is even prettier than her face".
The blonde, twin-tailed girl who was looking back and forth between me and Atsuko with a flustered expression, seemed to be one of the 'friends' Atsuko had mentioned.
Her name was… Hmm, I don't remember her last name, but I think her first name was Yoshimi.
Based on the original story, she belonged to a club called the After-School Sweets Club, a group of perfectly ordinary students about a million light-years away from Trinity's politics.
but as far as I knew, a club called the After-School Sweets Club did not currently exist in the high school division.
Therefore, I knew that all the members of that club were in the middle school division, but I didn't know that Atsuko had befriended one of them.
"You must be our Atsuko-chan's friend! Nice to meet you! I'm Misono Mika☆". "Ah, uh, um…? I'm Ibaragi Yoshimi. No, Yoshimi-desu…?".
Even though it was obvious she wasn't used to honorifics, Yoshimi made a point of trying to correct herself.
This was because, once placed within the framework of a senior-junior relationship, students could not simply ignore it.
"Ahaha. Just speak comfortably! I've heard a lot about how you're making friends and getting along well in the middle school division, Atsuko-chan… but seeing it in person like this is a huge relief".
"Mika doesn't like stuffy atmospheres, so she probably won't mind if you talk like you normally do, Yoshimi".
"I-if you say so, I'm really going to speak casually, okay? I'm really going to, so no take-backs later, alright?".
"Yoshimi, aren't you already speaking casually?".
Watching Yoshimi, who kept glancing around nervously even as she dropped her formalities, and Atsuko, who was teasing her for it, I suddenly had a bad feeling.
Surely one of the candidates to take over my Host position wouldn't end up joining the After-School Sweets Club, right?.
…Right? Please no.