Night. Schale.
Standing on the balcony of the master bedroom, I looked up at the star-filled sky, where several enormous deep-blue halos hung overhead. From the phone pressed against my ear came Yukino's calm voice:
"Sensei, we're currently hiding inside a military training facility built before the General Student Council President disappeared. Since its very existence is considered an SRT secret, even the General Student Council doesn't know about this place... Furthermore, the Defense Office responsible for the manhunt falls under Kaya's jurisdiction."
In other words, the FOX Squad had successfully escaped and settled down somewhere safe.
"...I see."
After a brief pause, I replied as calmly as possible.
Several days had already passed since the FOX Squad's assault on Sanctum Tower, yet the aftermath showed no signs of settling down.
The General Student Council, which had suffered the attack, officially classified the incident as a spontaneous uprising by the FOX Squad after they vaguely sensed the threat posed against them. As a result, the Council once again recognized the danger represented by SRT Special Academy.
With only four operatives, relying on superior equipment and exceptional tactics, they had managed to burn down part of Sanctum Tower and injure several important members of the General Student Council.
A number of department heads had even been hospitalized, forcing their deputies to temporarily assume their duties.
For a General Student Council already suffering from severe manpower shortages since the President's disappearance, this was nothing short of adding frost to snow.
And so, the voices calling for SRT's abolition, voices that already held influence, became even louder.
It was likely that before long, another meeting concerning SRT Special Academy's fate would be convened within the General Student Council.
Under Kaya's deliberate guidance, the conclusion would inevitably become the one she desired.
Her scheme to abolish SRT and absorb its assets for herself had succeeded.
Although I had already anticipated this outcome, actually seeing it happen before my eyes still made my heart grow heavier.
Even with all the reasons I could give myself to justify my choice, I couldn't help but wonder whether ignoring, and even facilitating, Kaya's actions for the sake of what I considered a more pressing issue had truly been the right decision.
Was there perhaps a better solution that could have resolved every problem I faced at once, one I simply hadn't thought of?
For the first time, I truly understood how difficult it was to bear responsibility for one's decisions.
After reminding Yukino to stay safe and once again arranging to find an opportunity to meet her and the rest of the FOX Squad in the future, I ended the call and returned to the bedroom.
I lay in bed for a while, tossing and turning as my restless thoughts prevented me from falling asleep.
Eventually, I picked up the tablet beside my pillow, recited the password, and entered the internal space of the Shittim Chest.
The virtual space inside the Shittim Chest always matched real-world time, so it was likewise immersed in the silence of night.
However, Arona was still awake.
"...And that's basically everything."
I poured out all the worries weighing on my mind to the blue-haired girl before me, then sincerely asked:
"Arona, what do you think I should do?"
Yet Arona, sitting atop a school desk and swinging her slender white legs, let out a huge yawn. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
"Sensei, you woke me up in the middle of the night just for something like this?"
Hearing her complaint, I fell silent for a moment before nodding solemnly.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have disturbed your valuable rest over something this insignificant. It shows I haven't been considerate enough toward you. Since that's the case, I've heard consuming too much sugar can make people sleepy, so tomorrow's strawberry milk..."
"After my professional analysis, this is clearly an extremely serious issue directly related to Kivotos's survival!"
The Shittim Chest OS immediately cried out.
"Sensei, I've suddenly become completely awake!"
Then she frowned as though recalling something and shot me a resentful look.
"Besides, isn't my lack of sleep all your fault anyway..."
What nonsense!
I clearly remembered that when I first obtained the Shittim Chest, Arona had already been capable of sleeping twenty hours a day. How was that somehow my fault?
More importantly, the idea that an AI needed sleep in the first place was already strange enough!
As an ordinary human being, I could rely on my natural talent and remain energetic with only a single hour of sleep every day.
Still, remembering her tremendous contributions over the years in deepening the relationships between myself and Kivotos's many students, I decided to forgive the offense.
Laughing awkwardly, I let the matter drop and returned to my gloomy mood.
"If I'm willing to sit by and even facilitate students being harmed in pursuit of my goals, then what's the difference between me and Mika or Kaya?"
"Of course there's a difference."
Under my hopeful gaze, Arona answered seriously:
"Your hair isn't pink."
I immediately fell silent.
Then, exasperated, I rubbed her head.
"You're one to talk, Arona. You're basically pink-haired too."
In fact, anyone who looked closely would notice that the underside of her blue hair was dyed pink.
Fully aware of the First Law of Kivotos that I'd formulated, Arona widened her eyes and puffed out her cheeks.
"Wah! Sensei, I was trying to comfort you, and this is how you treat me!"
"Hahaha. Sorry, sorry."
It took considerable effort, including the promise of doubling tomorrow's strawberry milk supply, before I finally managed to calm her down.
After that, she became slightly more serious and returned to my original question.
"Sensei, I think you're acting for the sake of more students in Kivotos. It was the rational choice, the better solution. Although some students were hurt, that wasn't your fault. Even if they learn the truth someday, they won't blame you."
Yet I could only shake my head with a bitter smile.
"If that's true, then how am I any different from Rio?"
Arona frowned, suddenly sounding anxious.
"Sensei! That's completely different! The fact that you're troubled because you think you haven't done enough is exactly what makes you kind!"
I fell silent before sighing.
"But wasn't Rio kind too? Even if the way she expresses that kindness is sometimes difficult even for me to accept."
Still, the diversion had eased my mood somewhat.
After shaking my head clear, I asked again:
"So then, do you have any good advice?"
"I suggest you go to sleep."
After all the commotion, Arona yawned again.
"Tomorrow is the day the Eden Treaty gets signed, right? Didn't you already decide that once the treaty was completed, you'd finally have the freedom to deal with other problems while also better uniting Trinity and Gehenna's strength? So why are you worrying about it now?"
"...Maybe because tomorrow is finally the signing ceremony."
Ever since arriving in Kivotos, I had heard about it.
Before I realized it, I'd become deeply involved in it.
And now, the major event capable of shaping Kivotos's future was finally about to reach its conclusion.
At a moment like this, there was no way I could remain calm.
"And..."
I sighed.
"The Arius Academy District really is hidden within Trinity's Catacombs, isn't it?"
The Trinity Catacombs were one of Kivotos's great mysteries, often compared with Millennium's Ruins and Gehenna's Hinnom Volcano.
The catacombs themselves formed a vast labyrinth whose full scale remained unexplored to this day. They connected to countless ruins scattered throughout Trinity territory.
Among them was the Ancient Cathedral of Trinity, which would soon serve as the venue for the Eden Treaty signing ceremony.
Although the cathedral had long been managed by the Sisterhood and would be under even stricter protection on the day of the ceremony, with security forces from both academies gathered there, the possibility of Arius exploiting the situation could not be ruled out.
And according to information provided by the returned Seia, the Arius Academy District itself seemed protected by some incomprehensible force.
Trying to locate it before the treaty signing was little more than a fantasy.
If something really did go wrong...
"Sensei, but didn't Seia say so herself?"
Arona wore the somewhat silly smile that always reassured me.
"She woke up at this exact moment because she saw, in her dreams, a fairy-tale-like future where Trinity, Gehenna, and Arius all moved forward hand in hand."
However, Seia hadn't elaborated.
After saying she wasn't feeling well, she'd returned to her room to rest.
Over the past several days, I'd been overwhelmed by preparations for the Eden Treaty, constantly traveling between Trinity and Gehenna.
I hadn't seen her again.
Still, that was precisely why Trinity hadn't requested a last-minute venue change.
Even so, a sense of unease remained.
"But Beatrice is still a member of Gematria..."
Arona tilted her head.
"But aren't the other members of Gematria weird but respectful toward you?"
"On the surface, it might seem that way."
I explained:
"But they respect me only because they mistakenly believe I'm some kind of 'True Gematria' and because they want something from me. If an irreconcilable conflict of interest ever arises, or if they discover I'm not what they imagined, that respect will disappear instantly."
Gematria was, ultimately, an enemy, not an ally.
Moreover, while they inherited the name of an ancient organization deeply connected to the birth of the Mystic Names and long rooted within Kivotos, the people themselves were outsiders.
They possessed countless technologies unknown to Kivotos.
Though they followed rules, they constantly searched for loopholes.
They could not be trusted.
"Hmm... I don't fully understand, but Sensei..."
Arona hesitated.
"Even so, wouldn't Beatrice's interests and the interests of the other Gematria members be different?"
I laughed.
"We can't casually assume that. Besides, what's stopping Beatrice from convincing the others? At the end of the day, they're members of the same organization."
"Even then... even then..."
Arona thought hard for a while before speaking cautiously.
"Sensei, I think even a mysterious organization like Gematria shouldn't be able to alter the outcome of Seia's prophetic dreams."
After thinking it over, I nodded.
"That's true. Otherwise, Seia probably wouldn't have escaped Arius's attack by faking her death so easily."
"Then there's nothing to worry about∼"
Arona flashed a bright smile.
"Didn't Seia already say it? No matter what happens along the way, it'll end in a happy ending! Isn't that enough?"
What worried me was precisely what might happen along the way.
I'd long known that Seia's prophetic dreams weren't omnipotent.
They only allowed her to glimpse fragmented pieces of the future, random and disconnected.
The limitations of her foresight had already been demonstrated when I went to the Abydos Desert to save Hoshino.
She foresaw that the Foreclosure Task Force would become Abydos's student council but saw no student council president.
In reality, Hoshino simply didn't want the position because she was nostalgic for the past.
"But..."
"Alright, alright."
Arona interrupted me.
Lightly standing up, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug.
"No matter what happens, I, Arona, will always stay by your side, Sensei. If something unexpected really does happen, and some bad guy tries to hurt you and everyone else, then I'll protect you!"
"...Heh."
Pressing my chest against her completely unremarkable chest, I felt warmth spreading through my heart because of her actions and words.
I couldn't help but laugh softly.
"Thank you, Arona."
"Hehe∼ I knew it all along∼"
The blue-haired girl's smug voice sounded beside my ear.
"The reason you came to see me... was for this, right? Right?"
Faced with her relentless questioning, I originally intended to dodge the issue.
In the end, though, I could only sigh.
"...Let's just say it was."
"Ehehe∼ There, there∼"
Her laughter immediately became even more triumphant, containing very little respect for me whatsoever.
Unfortunately, sometimes a simple hug really could smooth away one's anxieties and provide the courage needed to keep moving forward.
After spending a little more warm time embracing Arona, I said goodbye to her and left the Shittim Chest.
Before long, the night passed.
The day of the Eden Treaty signing had arrived.