"Mika..."
"Mm, yes!"
After entering the room, Mika first looked around for a while. Then, she immediately hid the disappointment in her expression.
"I rushed over as soon as I received the message. You said you wanted to talk alone with me... That really isn't like Seia-chan's usual style, so I was surprised! I also had the Justice Task Force girl who was assigned to monitor me wait outside the door, so is Sensei hiding somewhere?"
However, Seia merely stared at Mika with empty eyes and called out again in a weak voice.
"...Mika."
She did not even have the strength, nor the intention, to take out the prepared recorder.
If one were to search for the origin of everything that had happened, and everything that was about to happen...
It would certainly be...
"Se-Seia-chan...?"
Mika finally noticed something was wrong with her friend and asked with worry.
"Eh, your complexion... Are you okay? Your body is trembling too... Are you really okay? Should I call someone..."
"When you made contact with the Arius District, did you meet anyone besides Squad?"
Mika was stunned by the question.
"Eh... Arius...?"
But Seia, whose expression had become serious, continued questioning on her own. Her wording also grew increasingly stern.
"You really have never gone to the Arius District even once?"
"Uh... Um, Seia-chan...?"
Seia forced herself to get up from the hospital bed and approached Mika, nearly stumbling and falling.
After Mika hurriedly supported her, Seia still asked:
"Did you see a tall woman wearing a dress? And do you know any other information regarding Arius Squad?"
"Th-that... Seia-chan, what are you talking about...?"
Mika asked in confusion.
"Rather than that, your body right now..."
Before she could finish speaking, Seia suddenly began coughing violently.
After barely recovering, Seia tightly gripped the pink-haired girl's arms. Using almost all of her remaining strength, she raised her head and looked at the other girl's face, which was filled with both concern and confusion.
"Because of you, because you came into contact with Arius..."
Upon hearing this, Mika understood.
Then her expression quickly dimmed for an instant, before immediately returning to her usual smile.
"Ah... Y-yes, that's true. It was because of me... that all these things happened..."
"Sensei..."
Seia breathed heavily.
"Has been targeted by Arius Squad..."
"What...?"
"Seia-chan, what exactly does this mean..."
Although her expression had already become serious the instant she heard those words, Mika was still completely confused about the current situation.
Seia's consciousness was already almost completely blurred. Using the last trace of her strength, she loudly spoke the words that had first appeared in her mind according to her own logic.
"Because you brought Sensei here!"
But to Mika, these words sounded like a thunderous accusation.
Her eyes widened, and she froze in place, completely at a loss.
Seeing this, Seia realized that she had spoken incorrectly in her desperation and was about to apologize and correct herself. However, her body's instincts took over. She began coughing so violently that she could not speak, and another overwhelming wave of dizziness swept over her consciousness.
Why did it have to come at such an unfortunate time?
Why did it have to be precisely now...
Carrying intense confusion and unwillingness, Seia closed her unbearably heavy eyelids.
When she opened her eyes again, the exhaustion of her body and the sluggishness of her thoughts seemed to have been thrown into another world. The scenery around her had completely transformed into an unfamiliar place.
Desolate.
Ruined.
"...Where is this?"
Seia muttered to herself in confusion.
"This architectural style... Could this be the Arius District...?"
"That is correct. This place is known as Arius's [Basilica]."
A woman's voice that left a deep impression on Seia came from behind her, causing her to suddenly startle.
Just as she instinctively turned around, the red-skinned woman in the dress had already closed the distance between them, easily knocking Seia to the ground and binding her tightly.
Beatrice gave a mocking laugh.
"I was wondering what mouse was spying on us. As expected, it was you. I never thought you would even chase us to this Holy Sanctuary. Did you become careless because you were in a dream? The prophesied archangel... No, Yurizono Seia."
"T-this place is... that altar...?"
"Ah. This is a hidden realm that even the other members of the Irregulars have never set foot in. Feel honored."
Seia tried with all her strength to awaken from this "dream," but just as she faintly heard Mika's desperate cries for help, her consciousness was dragged back into Arius's Basilica once again.
Her escape had failed.
When she raised her head, what entered her eyes was a massive stained glass window that made one feel ominous just by looking at it.
And a purple-haired girl hanging from a frame by strange plants resembling blood-red thorns.
Just what kind of disaster was Beatrice trying to bring upon Kivotos?
Amid fear and confusion, Seia could only desperately send an anxious call from the depths of her heart toward the person she cared about most, and the only one who might be able to feel this emotion she held right now.
'Sensei, if you can hear me...'
...
Inside the Schale office, I used my pinky finger to scratch my ear, then blew lightly toward my fingertip. Looking absentmindedly at Saori on the floor, whose expression was filled with disbelief, I asked:
"What is it? Is something wrong?"
"No, how could we... How could we possibly..."
Saori desperately tried to deny it, but could not continue.
Perhaps she herself had already realized it. Such a possibility did indeed exist.
And they had no way to prove their innocence.
They had already betrayed me twice.
The people whom I might have once held expectations for, how could they possibly regain my trust?
Thus, she could only tightly press her lips together and stare at me with her pitiful, sorrowful ice-blue eyes filled with tears, repeating weakly:
"I didn't... I didn't want to do that... I really didn't..."
Being suspected while being unable to defend oneself must be a terrible feeling.
These inhuman beings who did not know how to appreciate kindness should have a taste of the same bitterness.
Although I thought this, for some reason I did not feel much satisfaction. Instead, I felt...
Bored.
Was it because they begged for forgiveness too quickly, preventing me from enjoying it?
But then, where did this strange feeling of discomfort actually come from?
I looked at the three people beneath my feet, each with different expressions. In my heart, I faintly reached an answer.
But that answer made no sense.
It could even be called a betrayal, both toward myself and toward the other people important to me.
Therefore, I absolutely refused to acknowledge it.
"...It is true that we received a proposal similar to that."
And just then, a calm female voice rang out.
My heart suddenly jolted.
I shifted my gaze and met Misaki's unnaturally calm eyes.
"...Oh."
I said.
"Interesting."