"Uh... the preparations are done, and... so, all I have to do is go there and act a little, right?"
There was no way I could just change into a Gehenna uniform and fool Hina with a half-hearted disguise like that.
So I’d prepared a wig and some disguise gear I’d bought at the Black Market a while back. If you asked whether there was any reason I had to go all the way to the Black Market to buy it, the answer was no.
"Still... the Black Market has more trustworthy stuff than I expected, so this should work out, I guess."
I’d gone through a simple test to get into the Prefect Team. Or rather, it was more like an initiation, but that was something I could let slide with a smile.
Before joining the Prefect Team, I changed my voice with a voice modulator I’d bought at the Black Market. I hadn’t known such a useful thing even existed, but well, what did it matter?
After the initiation ended, a few Prefect Team mob girls started asking me questions.
"...Why are your eyes... like that...?"
"...Ah... I hurt it by accident when I was little..."
Well, it was a harmless lie, so even if they learned the truth later, they probably wouldn’t say much.
"So? Why did you join?"
"Hmm... I just thought the Pandemonium Society was a little much, and there wasn’t really any other club doing normal activities..."
"That’s true... the Pandemonium Society in Gehenna just throws work away and goes out to have fun."
"Right... I was dying yesterday trying to catch the Gourmet Research Society..."
"Wasn’t it the Hot Springs Development Department the day before that...?"
Just from listening to them, it already sounded exhausting. Seriously, how was Hina supposed to deal with all this?
"Hey! New kid over there!"
"...?"
When I looked toward the source of the voice, I saw a familiar silver-haired girl with twin tails.
"...Ah... Iori."
"What are you doing? Move it, move it!"
"...Um, where’s the Prefect Team chief’s office?"
"What? They didn’t even tell you that...? No, more importantly... your eye..."
"I’m sorry!"
"Ah! It was injured in an accident when I was little!"
"...O-Oh... I see..."
Gehenna really was basically the military. Or... maybe a little better than that?
Since this wasn’t exactly a school that ran normally, I decided to meet Hina first. Iori seemed to know where she was, so I figured I’d ask her.
"Iori! Then where is the Prefect Team chief’s office?"
"Haah... go up to the second floor from here, keep going straight, and when you hit a fork, turn right."
"...Honestly, I don’t really get that, so could you take me there just once?"
"What? You can’t even do that much!?"
"Hehe... sorry."
"Fine... everyone’s awkward at first! I’ll take you there once!"
That was Iori all right. She acted mad on the surface, but she was more helpful than I expected. I wished Ako had a personality like this instead.
After heading up to the second floor and following Iori, we reached an old-fashioned door.
"...I’ve seen this somewhere..."
"Huh? What now! You don’t know something again!?"
"No... it just reminded me of something..."
"..?"
Iori looked at me with a puzzled expression, but there was no way I could explain it. No, I shouldn’t explain it.
"So... this is the chief’s office?"
"Yeah! This is the room our chief uses."
"Heh... what kind of person is she?"
"The chief? She looks cold, but she’s actually really warm-hearted! And she’s incredibly strong!"
Honestly, I wondered if Iori had just hated Sensei because he was a man. She became endlessly sweet in front of the Prefect Team, though.
"Anyway! You said you had something to talk about with the chief, right?"
"Yes... well, the Pandemonium Society told me to deliver something."
"? The Pandemonium Society raccoons...?"
"Ah... yes... something like that."
"Hmm... don’t get involved with the Pandemonium Society! There isn’t a single normal person there!"
"Yes, ma’am!"
"Good! Then I’ll head back down first!"
"Thank you!"
"...Got it. Deliver it and come out! Training starts soon."
Iori turned around and headed back toward the stairs.
"...Pfft... I wonder how shocked she’ll be when she learns the truth later...?"
All that was left was to see Hina’s reaction.
"...Haaah..."
- knock knock
"...? Who is it?"
"Ah! It’s the new recruit who just arrived!"
"...? Oh... come in, then."
- creak
"Excuse me!"
"...?"
Hina stared at me intently. What was this? I was sure everything was perfect.
"...."
"Uh... um... this is something the Pandemonium Society asked me to bring you."
Just as I was about to set the note on Hina’s desk and leave.
"...Hey..."
"...Yes...?"
I had a bad feeling about this.
"...Haruta?"
"..."
Would denying it even help here? She’d already figured it out once. Since dragging this out any longer would be pointless, I decided to drop the act.
"...Hey, Hina?"
"Haruta!"
The moment I took off the voice modulator and spoke, Hina ran over and hugged me. I should have just done this from the start.
"Haha... but how did you know...?"
Hina rubbed her cheek against me, then pulled her face back a little and looked at me straight on. Of course, with a heart-fluttering forty-centimeter height difference, she couldn’t really see me properly.
"Hmm... well..."
From Hina’s explanation, it went like this.
First of all, there were only a handful of students in Kivotos who were that tall.
And since Kivotos students almost never had only one eye, she’d been able to tell right away.
"...Damn it."
"Haruta... then why are you here?"
"Um... the Pandemonium Society told me to deliver this."
Hina opened the letter and slowly read through it. But why was her expression getting scarier and scarier?
"Haruta."
"Yeah? Why?"
"Did the Pandemonium Society try to recruit you?"
"Yeah... but why?"
"..."
- step... step...
Hina headed toward the gun locker.
"...W-wait a sec—"
- clack!
"Haruta? I’ll be back in a moment."
- BANG!
"...Yikes..."
And for a while after that, screams echoed from the Pandemonium Society building.
What on earth had been written in that letter? I was way too curious. She hadn’t told me not to look at it, so it should be fine if I just read it, right?
So I picked up the opened letter and read the handwriting. Judging by the style, Makoto had written this.
"...Sorasaki Hina... transferred her affiliation from Chaos to the Pandemonium Society...?
And now Chaos is... ours... so give up already...?"
No wonder Hina had grabbed a gun and charged straight into the Pandemonium Society.
"...But seriously, what kind of nerve did Makoto have to write this...? No, wait... is this the kind of thing Makoto could actually do...?"
After thinking about it for a moment, all I had to do was file an official complaint with Schale.
"...But this is the first time I’ve ever seen Hina this angry."
Still, if I didn’t stop her now, the Pandemonium Society might really get destroyed, so I decided to go check.
- crash!
"...Hina...? Are you in there?"
"Ah...? Haruta...?"
The Pandemonium Society building wasn’t burning. There were just a few bullet marks on the walls.
"...?"
And I could see Hina playing with Ibuki.
- click!
"Nice!!! Got a picture of little Hina!"
I immediately pulled out my phone and took a photo.
"Ah... aah!! Haruta, delete that!"
"I’ll treasure this for the rest of my life."
"Waaah!!"
"Haha, I’m joking. I’ll delete it."
"...Delete it already..."
While I was deleting it, I looked around and saw the spectacle of Hina having folded Makoto in half and pinned him to the wall.
"...Whoa... Hina? You did that?"
"Yeah, I did."
She confirmed it instantly, without a single lie, a single doubt, or even the slightest hesitation.
"...But why is Ibuki sleeping so peacefully...?"
"Ah... this isn’t a one- or two-day thing."
"...Haah... so... am I in the Pandemonium Society... or the Prefect Team?"
"...Ah... Haruta... we reached an agreement that you’re affiliated with both the Pandemonium Society and the Prefect Team..."
Iroha, as if she’d been waiting for the chance, spoke to Haruta right away.
"...Damn it all."
My Gehenna life from here on out really did seem thoroughly screwed.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register