"This is…"
After clearly seeing the words engraved on the naplate above the doorfra, I could not help but fall into a state of confusion and hesitation.
Although just a few days ago, while carrying out a commission from the General Student Council within Trinity's grounds, I had already dealt with mbers of the Justice Task Force, this was still my first ti visiting their activity room. I never expected it to be under circumstances like these.
I asked Hifumi beside , "The person we are looking for is in here?"
Hifumi nodded hesitantly. "Mm… I heard she is being detained here…"
…My bad feeling ca true.
At first, I comforted myself by thinking that perhaps it was so elite mber of the Justice Task Force who, for reasons similar to Hifumi's, had missed an important exam.
Even though I had prepared myself ntally from the beginning, how did there really end up being such a troubleso character in the Make-Up Work Club, soone actually locked up by the Justice Task Force?
I also had no idea what she had done. Could it be one of those delinquent students who are hard to get along with?
This was only the first one, yet already a heavyweight, making feel the heavy responsibility on my shoulders.
Still, it was better to et her properly first.
Even if she truly was beyond saving, our interests were aligned for now. As long as she did not interfere with my teaching or the other students' studies, that would be enough.
"Ah, ahh… even I do not really want to co here…"
Hifumi sighed. Under my encouraging gaze, she knocked on the activity room door and raised her voice. "Um, excuse us… is anyone here?"
After quite a while, there was still no response.
"Th-that is strange. Is no one here?" Hifumi muttered as she pushed open the unlocked door.
What was revealed was a girl standing right behind the door, startled by Hifumi suddenly opening it, and who in turn successfully startled both Hifumi and .
I focused my gaze and saw a petite girl with pink hair and pink eyes, wearing a beret and twin ponytails. She was dressed in a Justice Task Force uniform that looked slightly oversized and loose on her, causing one side of the collar to slip down naturally, exposing half of her shoulder.
On her fair skin were also two thick black lines of unknown origin. One encircled her neck like a choker, while the other ran perpendicular to it, aligning exactly with the center of her body and extending downward into the mysterious area covered by her clothes.
Most eye-catching of all was that not only behind her, but even on her head, there grew a pair of small, agile black wings. Startled, they instinctively covered the upper half of her face, revealing only her slightly parted lips and small, refined nose.
…It should have been a cute sight, but unfortunately, I inexplicably thought of Beatrice.
Even setting that aside, wings growing from a student's head, and ones that could move at that, was still a bit too strange when you thought about it carefully.
I felt that, for the mont, it was a little hard for to accept…
Until one of the wings slowly spread to the side, revealing most of the girl's shy, sowhat childish, and adorable face. At that mont, I changed my mind.
Kivotos is like this to begin with, is it not? How could I again let my past common sense bias my view of students' appearances?
After confirming there was no danger, the small wings atop her head folded back to either side, revealing her slightly flushed face.
She looked at , then at Hifumi, pressing her lips together and saying nothing.
"Ah, h, hello…"
Hifumi raised her hand and tentatively greeted her.
However, this Justice Task Force mber, whose na we did not yet know, remained silent.
From the small trembling movents of her wings, I could tell that her heart was likely filled with nervousness.
It seed she was a shy child, afraid of strangers.
Seeing that she did not respond, Hifumi spoke again. "Th-then…"
"…What?"
The girl finally spoke, but her words were extrely brief and her tone extrely cold, all while staring intently at Hifumi.
"Ah, ahh… um, th-then…" The honest Hifumi, unable to gauge the other party's attitude, asked uneasily, "Ahh… d, did I do sothing rude?"
At tis like this, it was my turn to step in and ease the awkward atmosphere.
I cleared my throat lightly, patted Hifumi on the shoulder, and gave her a reassuring look.
Then I took half a step forward and spoke gently. "Hello, we are here to look for soone."
"Look for soone…?"
The girl's eyes lit up, and she imdiately switched to an aggressive, interrogative tone.
"Hah!? You an you want to commission the Justice Task Force to find soone? What do you think we are!? A volunteer group? We are not that free, you know?"
This rapid-fire string of questions, which could easily make one think she was hard to deal with, instead confird my earlier guess.
As expected, she was the type who was not good at dealing with strangers.
"No, um… I heard that the person is being held here…" Hifumi explained.
"…Hah?" The pink-haired girl blinked, making a sound of confusion.
"So, um, we are looking for soone who did sothing bad and was locked up here…"
The girl froze for a mont. Then, as if she had thought of sothing, her body trembled slightly, her cheeks growing even redder as she muttered.
"Eh, if that is the case, could it be…?"
Just then, a gentle female voice suddenly sounded from the side, cutting into our conversation.
"Hello. Could it be that you are looking for ?"
I followed the sound of the voice, and my gaze was imdiately captured by gravity itself.
Such a familiar burden… no, such a heavy person…
And why was she wearing a swimsuit? In a place like this, no less?
That was right. Appearing silently beside us was a girl with cherry-colored hair and green eyes, a gentle atmosphere about her, wearing a swimsuit that felt incredibly familiar to .
Right after that, I recalled the source of my sense of déjà vu. First were the rumors I had heard from other Trinity students, and then the ti I had unexpectedly witnessed it with my own eyes. The excitent of that mont and the pain in my neck were still vivid in my mory.
The girl with pupils shrunk like a cat's, after a brief shock, shouted at the newly appeared swimsuit-clad girl.
"Eh, hah, why!? H-how did you get out of the cell!? It was properly locked!"
The swimsuit girl, however, looked puzzled.
"No, the door was open, you know? I heard voices that seed to be talking about , so I ca out to take a look. Is sothing the matter?"
After speaking, she turned her gaze to and said in surprise, "Eh? You are… ah, I see now. So you are that sensei from Schale, right? Hehe~ then let greet you again properly. Hello."
Clearly recalling that she had t before, the girl looked straight at with gentle eyes.
"I am a second-year student, Urawa Hanako. Please take care of ."
And that's how I t Hanako.
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