Inside one of the Tea Party's classrooms.
Having convinced myself that I had at least played some part in stopping the coup, I finally received contact from Seia.
Following the address she sent, I brought Serina along, as well as Koharu, who had tagged along on her own, and arrived at the location.
The moment I pushed open the door, I saw many students gathered inside, some I knew, some I didn't, from the Tea Party, the Sisterhood, and the Justice Task Force.
Drawn by the sound, they all looked toward me at once, revealing relieved and delighted expressions, as though they had finally found someone to rely on.
Among them were Mari, Hanako, and...
"Seia, you..."
Looking at the fox-eared girl standing there completely composed, I hesitated.
"Sensei, you've arrived."
Seia greeted me first, then sighed softly.
"I never expected you to wake up so quickly. You've truly seen something embarrassing."
I shook my head apologetically.
"It's nothing like that. If anything, I acted on my own and nearly ruined your plan."
Seia replied gently,
"You needn't worry. Given your position, taking action immediately after learning of this was something I should have anticipated from the start. Failing to explain things to you was my mistake."
Hanako smiled from the side.
"Though honestly, nobody expected them to confiscate Seia-chan's phone too, using 'cell phone radiation is bad for patient recovery' as an excuse."
Hearing that, the confident smile on Seia's face weakened slightly as she used one of her newly learned verbal quirks.
"Mm. That was indeed my miscalculation. Even after successfully detaining every faction, they still weren't satisfied and severed my means of contacting the outside world..."
The war faction led by the Pater faction attempting to drag all of Trinity into war against Gehenna truly had been beyond Seia's foresight.
However, with the intelligence network Seia controlled, she noticed the signs immediately after waking up.
And at that point, things were still far from irreversible. Yet instead of stopping it, Seia chose to turn a blind eye to it, even subtly encouraging it.
As for the reason, after getting in contact with her, I had already heard it from Seia herself.
It was not hard to guess. She simply intended to use this opportunity to flush out the ambitious schemers hiding within the Tea Party.
...Though choosing a moment like this really was exactly Seia's style, wasn't it?
"Fortunately, while a few harmless deviations occurred midway through..."
Seia said leisurely,
"In the end, the results were still quite satisfactory."
I could not help recalling the words I had heard earlier in the prison.
If Mika had truly accepted the Pater faction's proposal, then with her combat ability, the coup and full-scale war probably would have become reality.
Still, she had probably only said it out of desperation to scare those people. Otherwise, why would she have been beaten up by the war faction earlier, and why would she immediately pretend nothing happened once I arrived?
Setting aside that currently unimportant issue, I got to the main topic.
"So then, how's the search for a way to deal with the Justina Council going?"
"Well..."
Seia smiled confidently.
"There has been almost no progress whatsoever."
...Then what exactly was she smiling about?
A troubled look appeared on Hanako's face.
"We already sent people to the Antiquarian Bookstore to seek help from the head of the Library Committee, the one known as the 'The magician of the antiquarian bookstore,' who is said to understand nearly all of Trinity's ancient classics. But..."
It was obvious that none of them truly believed they would find a suitable solution within ancient texts. They were merely trying whatever they could.
Seia said calmly,
"In other words, for now, only the simplest and crudest method remains."
Hearing that, my emotions became complicated.
According to the information Hifumi obtained from Azusa, the Justina Council was an existence attached to the Contract.
As long as the core of the contract remained, the Justina Council, which judged the conflict between Trinity and Gehenna to still exist, would endlessly revive and multiply forever, impossible to destroy until both academies physically vanished from the map of Kivotos.
But viewed from another angle, if the core of the contract disappeared, the Justina Council would naturally collapse and perish on its own.
And the ones who usurped the name of the Eden Treaty Organization, distorted the contents of the Eden Treaty, and used it to summon the immortal Justina Council...
Were the Arius Squad.
That was why Azusa had resolved to destroy Saori's halo.
Suppressing my emotions, I said in a low voice,
"There's no need to make a decision yet. For now, continue searching for alternative methods, while also sending people to locate Azusa and the Arius Squad."
After receiving unanimous agreement from the girls, and confirming that there was nothing here requiring my presence after providing a boost to morale, I headed toward the next location accompanied by Serina and Mari.
Koharu felt that she might still be able to help with miscellaneous tasks, so she stayed behind. As for Mari, she embarrassedly admitted that aside from praying, all she could do was help with chores anyway, so rather than remaining there, she thought it would be better to stay beside me since I was still injured and might need her more.
The difference in awareness between the two could only be described as crystal clear.
Along the way, the image of the white-haired girl going off alone to do something foolish surfaced in my mind once more.
Endless worry condensed into a silent sigh.
At the very least, I only hoped Azusa could protect herself.
...
Trinity, ruins district, inside an abandoned building.
"WuoOOOOOOO...!"
The inhuman screech sent chills down one's spine.
"C-confirmed..."
Hiyori took half a step back and swallowed nervously.
"This is... 'that,' right...?"
Saori stared at the bizarre existence before them and evaluated it calmly.
"A 'tactical weapon'... It's basically just a monster."
Atsuko explained things to her companions through sign language.
"A failed creation made according to the [Ancient Doctrine]...?"
Misaki read the meaning aloud, then asked in confusion,
"So that doll failed?"
Atsuko shook her head and gestured again.
"It's kind of hard to understand something this complicated... Even though it's a failure, there's no problem with it as a 'tactical weapon'?"
After speaking, Misaki nodded slightly.
"That's good then... But hasn't everything basically been exposed already? The Justina Council, this tactical weapon, and even our next target."
As the squad leader, Saori spoke calmly.
"Even if they realize it now, it's already too late. Contact the standby forces. Next, we launch the attack on Trinity."
However, in the very next moment, for no apparent reason at all, Saori's pupils suddenly contracted.