A month had passed since the recapture of Schale. A massive riot that had filled the streets occurred, but as time passed, it died down as if nothing had ever happened. They were still pursuing the 'Calamity Fox', presumed to be the main instigator of the riot, but there was no particular news.
Peaceful days. Kenji thought so as he leaned back on the sofa. The fresh scent of spring wafted through the wide-open window. Come to think of it, it was already spring. He stared at the cherry blossoms dyeing the streets pink and formed a faint smile.
He had always liked flower viewing. He still had no interest in flower language or care methods, but if it was just viewing, he had often gone out for walks on paths. Unfortunately, after coming to Kivotos, he hadn't had much leisure to go flower viewing, but at a time like this, it seemed he could go out anytime.
'Where was that walking path nearby?'
Kenji took his smartphone from his pocket and searched D.U. for famous parks or walking paths. Then, a groaning sound pierced his ears.
"Ke, Kenji... Won't you help me a little...?"
It was a voice like a zombie's. Kenji furrowed his brow deeply and put down the smartphone he was holding. Then Ha-yul's face, buried in all sorts of documents, came into view. Even at a glance, she looked tired. Well, that was understandable.
This place.
Schale's office. It was excessively wide for a name like 'office', but it was technically an office. And Ha-yul had been swamped with work every day since the day after recapturing Schale.
Schale is, first and foremost, a Federal Investigative Club. Even Rin didn't know what exactly they investigated, so the only tasks given to Ha-yul were handling the complaints and requests pouring in from the hundreds of academies existing in Kivotos.
When she first heard that explanation, Ha-yul smiled brightly and was happy. The reason was that she was glad not to be tasked with anything difficult. But contrary to her expectations, the volume of complaints pouring into Schale was beyond imagination. It seemed that her commanding students to suppress the riot left quite an impression, as Schale, where the Teacher belonged, instantly became a hot potato within Kivotos.
Thanks to that, not only the Big Three academies of Kivotos—Trinity, Gehenna, and Millennium—but also various other academies were sending in all sorts of complaints and requests. Most of them were requests for her to visit their academy at least once, but amidst overwork like this, visiting was impossible.
But if she didn't visit, she was afraid the requests would keep pouring in. If she did visit, she was afraid other academies would protest, asking why she didn't visit theirs. It was a kind of dilemma. It's understandable why Ha-yul was groaning while holding her head.
But.
"I was just about to rest..."
Ha-yul wasn't the only one suffering from overwork.
Schale is a new department created just a month ago. Naturally, it was understaffed, and the currently available personnel were only the 'advisory teacher' Ha-yul and Kenji. Moreover, to make matters worse, both were people clumsy at paperwork.
Still, they did their best. Staying up all night for nearly a month was routine, and they lived with coffee and energy drinks constantly in their mouths. If Rin, who happened to visit, hadn't stopped them from trying to inject caffeine shots into their veins, their arms would still be dangling with IV bags filled with thick brown liquid.
It was that tough. But today, the workload was lighter than yesterday, so they had the leisure to decide who would rest through rock-paper-scissors. The person decided that way was Kenji, but it seemed Ha-yul couldn't handle the work alone. Given that she was calling him just about 5 minutes after he started his break.
Kenji let out a deep sigh and got up from the sofa.
"How long do we have to live like this? It wouldn't be strange if we died from overwork tomorrow..."
"They said the General Student Council itself doesn't have many people, so there's no one to help us either... But at least if we die, we can meet in heaven..."
"I guess so..."
The two conversed in tones that seemed to drain their energy. Kenji trudged over to his seat and looked at the documents piled up like a mountain. Just looking at them made him feel like vomiting... He sorely missed a few months ago when he solved commissions using his body...
But what could he do? Work had to be done. He let out a deep sigh, picked up any document, and mechanically began the work.
Roughly read the document title, stamp 'rejected', read again, stamp,
Read, stamp.
Read... stamp...
Rea... d.
Sta... mp.
"I can't live like this!"
Just as shadows were settling under Kenji's eyes, Ha-yul slammed the table, bang!, and stood up. Then she glared at Kenji with eyes steeped in fatigue and opened her mouth.
"Kenji! Let's recruit one new member today!"
"A new member...?"
"Yeah! I'm not sure about the details, but they definitely said with the authority I have, I can bring anyone from any academy into Schale! So we're bringing in a new slave!"
"Sla... ve...?"
Vitality returned to Kenji's eyes. He nodded vigorously and sprang up from his seat like Ha-yul.
"Slave!"
"Yeah, slave! We'll make them just like us!"
"But do you have someone in mind?"
"Of course I do."
Ha-yul smiled slyly and took out her smartphone.
"There's this student named Hayase Yuuka, right? The one who kept saying she's a big shot? Let's call her!"
"Do you have her contact info?"
"Of course. Obviously... Huh?"
She looked at the list that popped up in her contacts and blinked. While numbers for Kenji at the top, Rin, Momoka, and other General Student Council members were saved, Yuuka's name wasn't visible. No matter how much she searched, it was the same. Ha-yul's face fell dejectedly, and she lowered her head.
"Sor... ry!"
"......Let's just work."
"Yeah..."
Kenji let out a deep sigh and sat down again, and Ha-yul sniffled as she tried to put her smartphone in her pocket. And at that moment, a MomoTalk message appeared on her screen. Ha-yul checked the sender of the message and beamed.
[Hayase Yuuka: Hello, Teacher. This is Yuuka. You remember me, right?]
"......So."
Yuuka looked down at the two people staring at her as if she were their savior and held her forehead. Regardless, Ha-yul and Kenji, buried in a mountain of documents, were staring holes through Yuuka.
"Just what is this situation?"
"Help us."
"I just came to submit a claim for the bullets used during the Schale recapture!"
"No. You're our comrade from today."
"What are you talking about..."
Yuuka glanced at Ha-yul, who spoke in a half-dead voice, then turned her head toward Kenji, who was similarly slumped over. It was the first time she'd seen his face, but she recognized his identity the moment she saw him.
"Are you Tenma?"
Kenji was silent for a moment, then stared at Yuuka with bleary eyes and answered.
"Heavenly Fiend. That is what refers to this great one, and this mask is to conceal my excessive charm, unfortunately—"
"You've gone completely insane."
Sigh.
Yuuka let out a deep sigh and approached Ha-yul.
Certainly, even from the perspective of Yuuka, who belonged to the Millennium Student Council, the amount of paperwork piled before Ha-yul was considerable. She could roughly guess what kind of help was wanted. Surely it was to help process this immense amount of paperwork. She casually picked up a document and read it, then slowly nodded.
"If it's paperwork of this level... I think I can help."
The two immediately reacted to her muttering. Ha-yul muttered 'goddess' and respectfully grabbed Yuuka's hand, and Kenji offered a prayer to the ceiling. Yuuka let out a hollow laugh seeing that.
Were the two people she saw during the Schale recapture and the people before her eyes really the same? Where did the Teacher's charisma shown during the command go, and where did the Tenma who tore apart a tank barehanded and spread a strange aura disappear to? Did a week's worth of work cause such a major abnormality in the mental state of these two? She gently withdrew her hand from Ha-yul's grasp and spoke.
"For now, both of you rest. It's almost lunchtime, so you can go eat or something. I'll handle all the non-urgent documents. You can write the claim sheet after that, it's fine."
"No, you don't have to go that far. Let's just finish the work quickly together and go eat together."
"O, okay then?"
Yuuka nodded awkwardly. Thus, the three quietly sat down and processed the documents.
Perhaps because she was from the student council, Yuuka's work processing speed was considerable. She finished her own share and even helped with Kenji's portion. Kenji looked at the mountain of documents that had vanished in an instant and gave Yuuka a tired smile.
"Thanks. For not refusing even though I asked you to come one-sidedly."
"Since it's the Teacher's request, I can't just flatly refuse. I should at least hear you out."
"But I'm still grateful."
Kenji said that and stretched out. A slight refreshment seemed to seep into his stiff body. Just in time, Ha-yul also seemed to have finished her work, looking refreshed as she turned to Kenji and Yuuka.
"Then shall we go eat? What should we eat today?"
"Let's go to the Schale cafeteria. I'm sick of eating only convenience store lunch boxes lately."
"Ahaha, shall we?"
"W, wait a minute? Convenience store lunch boxes?"
Yuuka interjected into their conversation. She looked at Ha-yul with an expression of disbelief and asked.
"Why are you eating things like that? This might be an overstepping remark, but do you know how bad the nutritional balance of convenience store lunch boxes is? That would hinder your work..."
"Ah... Well, lately I've had no money..."
Ha-yul responded, breaking into a cold sweat. Yuuka's brow narrowed slightly.
"Huh? The Schale Teacher's salary is that low? That can't be... can it...?"
Suddenly, a receipt on Ha-yul's desk came into her view. Yuuka checked the store name and purchased items written on the receipt and widened her eyes.
"A limited edition transforming robot... 100,000 Yen?! And that was last week?!"
"Gasp...!"
"What is this, Teaaaacher!!"
"I, I can explain."
Ha-yul said, sweating. Yuuka gestured for her to go ahead. Ha-yul gulped, then looked at the flashy robot placed in her display case and muttered.
"Transforming robots... are romance."
"I agree."
Clap clap.
Kenji applauded.
Yuuka tore the receipt to shreds on the spot. She couldn't bring herself to touch the robot itself, partly because of its considerable price, but also because Ha-yul desperately tried to protect it. So she took a rough breath and pointed her finger click at the robot.
"From now on, when you buy things like that, get my permission first! No, I need to see the household account book on this occasion! I think I need to check it properly!"
"I, I don't keep an account book..."
"That's why you spend money like this! Anyway... But there must be purchase records, so at least show me those."
Yuuka spat out in a sighing voice. Ha-yul threw a look at Kenji as if asking for help, but he only smiled and gave no reaction. Feeling intense betrayal at that sight, Ha-yul nevertheless handed Yuuka her smartphone with the payment records.
"Let's see... Convenience store sandwich from half a month ago... New manga volume... Huh? Club Malam-Malam... 20,000 Yen?! T, Teacher! For a person like the Teacher to go to such a... such a obscene place...! This is the worst!"
"No! That's a gacha collection game! It's not a weird place!"
"Ah, aah... I'm sorry. I misunderstood... No, but even so, 20,000 Yen is too much! This is why you have no money, with such impulsive spending!"
"B, but! Kenji encouraged me!"
"Kenji? Who's that?"
Click, Ha-yul pointed at Kenji with her hand. Suddenly singled out, Kenji's face showed a flustered expression, but Ha-yul paid no heed and desperately argued.
"He said if I pull now, I'll get the rate-up!"
"......"
"And he spent more money than me. I saw him burn 200,000 Yen on the spot!"
"......Gasp."
Kenji gasped in betrayal. Who would have thought the Teacher would sell out someone else to save herself! He ground his teeth while glaring at Ha-yul, but Yuuka's voice was faster than Ha-yul noticing that gaze.
"2, 200,000 Yen?! Is that true, Mr. Kenji!"
"......How could I resist a meta character."
"I agree."
Clap clap.
Ha-yul applauded.
Yuuka placed Ha-yul's smartphone she was holding on the table, then shouted loudly at the two.
"This won't do! Both of you, sit on the sofa quickly! I'm going to explain how bad overspending is!"
"C, can't we do it later? I'm hungry..."
"No!"
Yuuka was firm. Eventually, the two timidly got up from their seats and sat demurely on the sofa. Even while doing so, the two conversed with their eyes.
Why didn't you help me?
No, it's your own fault to begin with. And why drag me into it?
You brought it on yourself too.
You wouldn't have known if you hadn't said anything.
So what.
Huh? Are you mad?
"You two! Pay attention!"
Smack smack!* Yuuka slapped the whiteboard with her palm and shouted. Only then did the two shut their mouths tightly and fix their gazes on the whiteboard.
Her lecture continued until just before lunchtime ended.
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