Chapter 33: The End of Unreasonable Malice (7)

-Hime, we just left!

“Strange.”

Sensei muttered under his breath. His gaze was on the MomoTalk chat window.

That’s because there was no reply to the MomoTalk he had sent earlier.

He thought hard, wondering if he had done something wrong, but nothing came to mind.

Maybe he had made a mistake without even knowing it.

If so, Sensei, who had decided to apologize right away, looked at his side.

In his gaze, the familiar figure of a student came into view.

Long pink hair and a relatively small stature. Always a leisurely appearance.

“Is this Hoshino’s first time in Trinity?”

“I’ve been here a few times, Sensei? Of course, not to come looking for someone like this.”

Trinity, as expected of a ladies’ school, still boasts an old-fashioned atmosphere.

From the buildings to the students’ uniforms.

Everything looks luxurious and full of courtesy.

Sensei, though having seen this sight many times, still couldn’t help but be amazed.

Hoshino was also exploring around, in an atmosphere completely different from Abydos. She seems to be quite excited.

Sensei smiled, feeling pleased at that childlike appearance.

In the past, Sensei listened to Hoshino’s past and guided her in the direction she should take. After that, Hoshino was slowly getting up, using her past as a stepping stone.

Sensei secretly admired Hoshino.

All he did was listen to Hoshino’s story and give her directions. She herself reflected on herself, overcame the past, and got up.

Sensei sniffled at the sight of Hoshino getting one step closer to being an ‘adult’.

‘Really well done, Hoshino!’

Actually, Sensei had a lot of worries. The worries about whether it was right to tell Hoshino about Hime’s existence.

The thought that it might be an act of stirring up the wounds of a student whose wounds had just healed.

However, if Hime was indeed Hoshino’s senior, this was a problem that couldn’t be overlooked.

It was an opportunity that might even be able to turn back the past that Hoshino had regretted and suffered so much.

The senior she thought had died was alive.

If it was true, it couldn’t be a better thing for Hoshino.

So, Sensei told Hoshino about the student named Hime.

“The meeting place is here, but…”

Sensei looked around. But Hime wasn’t visible.

They had definitely agreed to meet at this park, but Hime wasn’t even there.

Sensei’s calls to Hime were also useless.

“…Is that so.”

Then they had no choice but to go and find her in person. Hoshino also nodded at Sensei’s suggestion, and so the two stood up from the bench where they had been sitting in order to go meet Hime.

Then, from a distance, they felt a familiar student running towards Sensei.

“Sensei!!!”

“Mi, Mika?! Just a moment─”

Mika, who had run over in an instant, embraced Sensei. At that sight, a vein popped up on Hoshino’s forehead.

“Huh?”

Whether she liked it or not, Mika strongly hugged Sensei and buried her face in Sensei’s arms.

“Sensei! What brings you to Trinity? Is it… to see me☆?”

“Ahaha… U, Mika, can you back off a little?”

Sensei tried to push Mika away, but it wasn’t easy for Sensei to push Mika away with his strength.

“You know I’ve been really lonely because I haven’t seen Sensei lately? I felt like I was Juliet from Romeo and Juliet☆ Of course, Romeo didn’t come looking for me.”

At Mika’s words, Sensei laughed awkwardly, sweating.

“Mi, Mika? Sensei has been really busy lately. Will you forgive me…?”

“…If that’s the case.”

Mika, who had finally let go. Sensei fixed his disheveled clothes and let out a sigh of relief.

But Hoshino couldn’t be relieved.

“Sensei, let’s go quickly.”

The pink-haired student in front of her, who was the same as herself, couldn’t help but care.

This student must have also received great help from Sensei like herself.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be showing such affection.

“Huh? Where are we going?”

Mika quickly tried to escape from the student in front of her, but Mika didn’t let go.

“Oh, actually, we were on our way to meet Hime.”

“Hime-chan?”

As soon as the name Hime was mentioned, Mika’s face brightened. Perhaps to the same level as when she found Sensei earlier.

Seeing that, Sensei also looked at Mika and smiled wryly.

“If you’re going to meet Hime, I’ll go too! I also have something to say to Hime☆”

“Then let’s go together.”

Sensei readily accepted. Hoshino seemed to be dissatisfied, but she didn’t express it.

“Heung~ Hime~ Hime~☆”

Mika hums a song. Sensei, who was looking at that scene with pleasure, asked Mika.

“Do you like Hime that much, Mika?”

At those words, Mika’s eyes sparkled.

“Of course! Hime-chan is my princess☆”

“Uhe… You’re saying such embarrassing things…”

Sensei, who had a track record of saying such embarrassing things, smiled awkwardly.

After walking and sharing a small conversation with each other, they reached the front of the dormitory where Hime lived.

For some reason, Hoshino tapped her cheeks, feeling like she was getting nervous.

Sensei walked towards the dormitory as if he were used to it.

Mika and Hoshino also followed Sensei.

They went up the stairs and headed down the hallway. After passing through the long hallway, a certain door came into view.

“She must be sleeping if she still hasn’t seen her messages.”

Sensei muttered, looking at MomoTalk. At those words, Mika sighed.

“Hime-chan likes sleeping too much.”

“…Hime-senpai… really liked to sleep too….”

Sensei cautiously approached the door and knocked. But there was no response.

He knocked again.

Still the same.

“Hime? It’s Sensei. Are you inside?”

There was no response even when he called her name. Sensei, who felt something was off, knocked even harder.

Then the door opened.

The door was already open in the first place.

Perhaps sensing something ominous, Mika and Hoshino also looked tense.

Why is that?

A sense of foreboding is felt.

Sensei felt that the sense of foreboding was not a feeling.

“You two, wait here for a moment.”

“If it’s Sensei’s words…”

“……”

The moment Mika, who looked at the door with no expression on her face, caused a moment of anxiety, but Sensei ignored it and grabbed the doorknob, cautiously opening the door and entering inside.

One step, one step forward.

For some reason, with each step he took, a sensation of something holding onto his feet was felt.

Sensei, repeating to himself that it was his imagination, moved forward.

Because the choice to give up and turn back has never been an option for Sensei, not even once.

This time, he will only move forward.

One step, one step.

And he could see.

“[Se, Sensei… Th, this is….]”

“[…….]”

“……”

His student, the student with whom he had once laughed and talked with.

Sometimes cried, and pretended not to care, but liked aquariums.

“…Arona, Plana. Contact Valkyrie.”

Hanging from the ceiling, dead.