Major Angelina Sirius's mission was an infiltration investigation, yes, but it also carried a strong element of diversion. As part of that, she needed to confirm the target's appearance while simultaneously revealing her own to facilitate a "first contact." It seemed this initial step had gone well. She had worried that approaching while concealing her presence might make them suspicious, but as her subordinate had predicted, her fears were unfounded.
However, the fact that she had been noticed so easily left her feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Pondering this, Major Sirius unlocked the door to the apartment that would serve as her living quarters for this mission.
"Welcome back."
"Sylvie? You're home already?"
Contrary to Major Sirius's expectation that her roommate would not yet have returned, a voice welcomed her from inside. The Major addressed the older woman, who had come all the way to the entryway to greet her, by her nickname.
Her roommate's name was Sylvia First. Aside from "Sylvia," the rest was a code name indicating she held the first seat of the Stars Planetary-Class Magicians: "Mercury." Her rank was Warrant Officer, and she was twenty-nine years old. As evidenced by her holding the "First" code despite her relative youth, she was a highly evaluated warrant officer.
Sylvia had not originally aspired to be a soldier; she had majored in journalism at university. For this mission, she had been selected as Major Sirius's aide specifically for her information analysis skills.
"Sylvie?"
Strangely, this capable roommate did not respond to Major Sirius's words. Instead, she was staring fixedly at her. Finding this suspicious, the Major called out again. Sylvia, keeping her intense gaze locked on her superior, finally spoke.
"Lina... what on earth is that outfit?"
"Lina" was Major Sirius's private nickname. She had ordered that she be called by this name to conceal her identity during the infiltration mission. Since Sylvia was naturally a free-spirited woman, she had quickly adapted to a frank tone, disregarding the difference in rank and position. Even now, while technically using polite language, her tone was hardly appropriate for addressing a superior officer—not that Lina seemed to mind in the slightest.
"Oh, this? I wanted to make sure I didn't stand out unnecessarily, so I researched various Japanese fashion pictorials from the past century. It was quite a lot of work. Does it suit me?"
"...Before I answer that, I have one question."
"Yes, what is it?"
"Those boots. Aren't they hard to walk in?"
When Sylvia asked this, Lina nodded vigorously, as if to say, 'Exactly!'
Following this exchange, having been pointedly told that she was hopelessly "Out of Fashion," Lina was forced to cancel all her afternoon plans to undergo a lecture on current Japanese fashion trends...
The winter break, short yet filled with events, had come to an end. Today marked the beginning of the third term.
Among those "events" was the rather intense experience of seeing Shizuku off at the airport, where they were swept up in an unexpectedly tearful farewell. Tatsuya hadn't been merely a bystander to this scene; Shizuku had hugged him while crying, so it wasn't exactly "other people's business."
Now that the new term had started, an exchange student was scheduled to arrive in Class A today to take Shizuku's place. For the moment, Tatsuya considered this unrelated to him. However, since the student would be in the same class as Miyuki, he figured he wouldn't be able to remain completely uninvolved. Of course, he had no intention of getting involved voluntarily.
As for classes, the curriculum resumed at full capacity from day one of the third term. By the end of the first period, rumors about the Class A exchange student were already circulating. Tatsuya didn't actively tune his sensors to them, letting the chatter flow in one ear and out the other.
However, his detached stance was, as always, in the minority. During the break after the second period, he was dragged into the vortex of rumors by his curious friends.
"I heard she's a super beautiful girl!"
Tatsuya finally found himself unable to deflect Erika, who kept speaking to him with genuine—or perhaps feigned—excitement. In reality, Erika just wanted Tatsuya's attention and kept talking until he gave in.
"They say she has beautiful blonde hair. Apparently, even upperclassmen are going to see her."
"You aren't going to look, Erika?"
It bothered him slightly that despite her enthusiastic narration, everything she said was hearsay. So, he asked.
"I can't go charging into a crowd like that."
"So even you know the concept of restraint, huh?"
Leo made a jab at her while simultaneously adopting a defensive posture to protect his head. However, Erika's attack struck his throat. Leo let out a sound like a tone-deaf frog and collapsed forward.
"I am a girl, you know. No matter how beautiful they say she is, I don't have any desire to get crushed in a crowd just to see her."
"Well, you're plenty beautiful yourself, Erika."
At Tatsuya's casual remark, Erika was struck speechless.
"Apparently, there are a few coming to the university as well. Rumor has it they're here to sniff around because the military utility of Flight Magic was proven to be exceptional during the Yokohama incident."
Ignoring the frozen Erika, Mikihiko took over the conversation as he returned from the geometry prep room.
"So, does that mean the exchange student in Class A is a spy, too?"
"You really are..."
Erika, having recovered from her speechlessness, looked exasperated at the blunt, tactless question from Leo, who had just recovered from his agony. Mikihiko and Mizuki followed suit with similar expressions.
"Leo-kun, even if you think that, it is probably best not to say it out loud..."
"We have to interact with her as a classmate, after all..."
"Wait, 'interact'? She's in Class A, right? We don't have any connection to her, do we?"
"Idiot. Miyuki is in Class A. She's an exchange student arriving after who knows how many years, and Miyuki is the Student Council Vice President. Until the student gets used to the school, Miyuki will inevitably have to look after her in some form or another. And if Miyuki is involved, there's no way we can stay unrelated."
Hearing Erika's logic, Tatsuya—who had been hoping to avoid active involvement—sighed internally.
She's probably right.
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