[1:00 a.m]
Hoshino and Shiroko arrived in front of an abandoned factory.
"Hehe~ this is the last one. Sorry, Shiroko, having you working so late, you must be sleepy, right?" Hoshino said, then yawned herself.
Shiroko shook her head. "I'm fine. Sometimes I even work out until this hour."
"That won't do, you know. You're still in your growing years, Shiroko."
Hoshino thought for a moment. "Well then, for this last job, I'll do it alone, this Oji-san doesn't mind staying up late~"
"I really don't mind. Besides, two people will be more efficient, right?"
"All right, all right, behave~ You stay outside to provide support, and keep an eye on my bag while you're at it, my poor old back can't take much more of carrying it. I'll trouble you with that." Hoshino said in a tone that brooked no argument, and shoved her backpack into Shiroko's arms, then entered the factory by herself.
Watching her figure disappear into darkness, Shiroko looked down at the backpack in her arms, feeling a strange unease.
It wasn't worry that Hoshino would be in danger alone, but some odd premonition stirring inside her.
Driven by that intuition, Shiroko opened the bag and began rifling through its contents.
Until she found an application form hidden in a compartment, already signed with a name.
Shiroko's pupils constricted sharply.
—
[7:00 a.m]
On the running train, Hoshino yawned as she complained to the junior beside her:
"Why do you have to ask me to come, wasn't Nonomi wanting to participate too~?"
Serika snapped back irritably, "Come on. It has to be the President or Sensei leading things in person. That's proper manners, isn't it?"
In short, Hoshino, Serika, and Nonomi were on their way to a nearby hospital to visit Captain Shiba, who was hospitalized.
Though said "nearby," it was already in the autonomous district of another academy, so they had to take the train.
Hoshino sighed, "Uhee~ wasn't it originally supposed to be led by Sensei? It's okay to postpone it a bit, right?"
"Sensei... they have serious work to do today. You're always loafing around school, Hoshino-senpai. It'll be nice if you do something useful with us now and then." Serika said.
Ayane added, "Hoshino-senpai, we'll have to depend on you for this."
"Mmm~ if my juniors are going to say so, then this Oji-san will muster up some energy!" Hoshino said and in that respect, she followed through.
When they arrived at Captain Shiba's ward, Hoshino dropped her usual unserious, slacking persona. She greeted the Serika's boss properly at the bedside:
"Good morning, Captain. We came to visit you."
"Oh... Serika, and Hoshino and Ayane, you came too. Thank you so much for visiting me first thing in the morning,"
"How is your condition?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine... just some bruises."
Serika, unable to hold back, said, "But your shop…"
"Ah, sorry I couldn't let you work there anymore. But I'd planned to close it anyway, this just came a little earlier than intended."
Amid the group's surprise and suspicion, Captain Shiba said:
"Not long ago I received a demolition notice from the property owner."
Hoshino frowned slightly, "Property owner…?"
—
[11:00 a.m]
Back at Abydos High, Hoshino, Ayane, and Serika were deep in the archives room, searching.
Because of what Captain Shiba had told them, "the building and land rights of Abydos were transferred years ago", they were seeking concrete evidence.
"It's strange… the land registry… where is it… cough cough!" Serika accidentally inhaled dust mid-sentence, covering her mouth and coughing.
Their haloes could protect them from bullets and explosions, but not from tiny particles entering their respiratory system.
Ayane warned, "Serika, be careful... ahem… wait, I'll get a mask!" She ran out, quickly put on a mask, returned, and handed masks to Serika and Hoshino.
Serika put hers on and complained, "How come there's so much dust here?"
"Sorry… the documents here are seldom needed, and it's hard to clean, so we never got around to it…" Ayane apologized.
Listening to her juniors' chatter, Hoshino pulled a folder from a shelf, opened it to look, then closed it and stared at its cover, deep in thought.
Suddenly she asked, "By the way, who has the keys to this archive room again?"
Ayane looked puzzled. "Only members of the Foreclosure Task Force do."
"Including Sensei?"
"Of course, Hoshino-senpai, why do you ask?"
"Nothing much, just curious." Hoshino's fingers pressed on the folder's cover, leaving a faint mark.
As though expelling all the air from her lungs, she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.
Then, brushing the folder's nearly nonexistent dust with her hand, her eyes wide behind the mask, she feigned shock:
"Ah! I think I found something!"
—
[11:30 a.m]
I was at Gehenna, in the Prefect Team Chairwoman's office as a guest.
More precisely, I was watching Ako handle official business.
How it ended up this way…
First, as a visitor my schedule should have been arranged by the administrator officer.
That administrator officer was the despicable Ako.
Hina probably intended to offer an olive branch between her and me, but instead, Ako seemed to see it as an opportunity for personal revenge.
Though Hina restrained her, Ako arranged only one activity for me: to stay in the Chairwoman's office and observe the Chairwoman at work.
Her reason was plausible:
Gehenna has too many undisciplined students, and the Prefect Team is severely understaffed. They claimed they could not guarantee my personal safety outside, so I was confined to the chairwoman's office.
At the same time, though I was observing, confidential files could obviously not be shown to outsiders.
So I was only allowed to watch the Chairwoman's hands...
Under Ako's supervision while writing a thousand reflection essays as punishment.
I thought: To devise such a bizarre method of revenge, Ako really is a genius.
And in some sense it even held some logic.
Thus the scene was: Hina behind her desk handling papers, me nearby staring at her hands, Ako opposite me, lowering her head to write a few lines and then glancing up to check that I wasn't looking away.
I don't know but I found it kind of amusing.
But that scene lasted less than a minute before Hina lost patience.
Right in front of me, she scolded Ako, ordered her to pick out non-classified documents, and then made her process and show them to me.
Ako's unwilling expression was truly something to savor...
Just then, I received Hoshino's message.