NOVEL NEXT In the end, I had to find Mika to resolve this entire situation.
Now that I knew the fundamental cause and the solution, there was no time to hesitate.
However, there was one problem here.
“So, where is Mika?”
I had no idea where Mika was.
After all, it was impossible to guess the location of someone who could move anywhere they desired at any time.
If Mika were up in the sky, it would mean we had no way to solve that issue.
…But there was no option to give up, and the time we had was limited. So instead of wasting time, I decided to start searching for Mika.
For now, I reasoned that the most likely place Mika was would be Trinity. It’s not like she appeared near the High Cathedral for no reason… but honestly, no other spot came to mind where she might linger, so I was more praying than reasoning that she would be in Trinity.
Anyway, under this judgment, I chose the direction towards Trinity and decided to take the helicopter owned by the Student Council.
As I surveyed the landscape of the Trinity Autonomous District visible below from the helicopter’s window, I paused to think of places Mika might go.
Other than her home, it didn’t seem like she had many options.
Mika certainly wouldn’t be unaware of the safehouse locations of the T-party, but that place was always managed by them, and if she stayed there, she would have been caught long ago.
On the other hand, it was hard to imagine Mika wandering the streets and camping out; she was, after all, a treasured child…
…Wait a minute.
What if I had been completely off from the beginning?
If I thought back to where Mika headed right after getting her body, it made sense, actually.
Mika first sought out Shalle in D.U., and the only reason to search for Shalle would be the Teacher.
And Mika turned her gaze away from this world before the current Teacher even arrived. It isn’t surprising at all if she sought Shalle, hoping the Teacher was the person she always loved.
If Mika was still infatuated with the Teacher back then, it would be much more likely she was wandering places related to me rather than herself.
Shifting my perspective, I thought of places linked to the Teacher version of me. It would be even better if they had connections to Mika, but regrettably, the only place that came to mind was the solitary confinement cell where she imprisoned me, so that was out.
Then, what places are connected to me, and where might they be located?
While I was racking my brain, I felt like I was on the verge of a thought, only for it to slip away like a vapor. As I kept pacing in frustration, I eventually received a message.
The sender was none other than Yurizono Seiya.
With a sense of disbelief, I checked the message, unable to hold back a sigh.
[Mika, head to the Clock Tower.]
The content of the message was somewhat unexpected, but it was precisely what I needed right now.
Even though the worries I had just moments before became utterly useless, it didn’t feel as hollow as one might expect.
In a situation where I had to resolve things as quickly as possible, there was no room to dwell on trivial matters.
Thinking that, I sent a thank-you reply and conveyed the newly determined destination to the student in the driver’s seat. Now that a clear destination had emerged, it was certainly a fortunate turn of events.
Looking out at the streets of Trinity, they didn’t differ much from D.U. Everyone had vacated due to the fierce storm swirling around the red sky, leaving behind a desolate atmosphere.
In a way, I thought it might be better than the devastation caused by Perorozira… but knowing the vibrant streets as they usually were made me feel a bit complicated.
As the silhouette of the Clock Tower became clearer in the distance, I took a deep breath to steady my pounding heart.
This was the first time I would face Mika directly since she regained… or rather, obtained a new body.
And amidst all this, I had a piece of news I had to convey. The weight of its content was anything but light.
In this situation, it was impossible not to feel tense.
“…Huh. Hey. Can you drop me right there?”
“Yes, of course.”
As the helicopter decreased in altitude, the aircraft shook violently.
What was it? I’d seen somewhere that wind was worse between high-rise buildings…
Of course, this wasn’t exactly between tall buildings, but the storm felt like it had more of an impact here.
Anyway, disregarding that tidbit of knowledge, I silently waited for the helicopter to descend further.
Just as it seemed we had reached a suitable altitude, I stepped out towards the open door.
“Thanks! Don’t worry about waiting for me and just head back!”
I shouted to the student piloting the helicopter and leaped out of the door. Though they seemed to want to say something from behind, I didn’t have the luxury of time to care about that right now.
During my fall, I grabbed onto a streetlight to slow myself down and landed lightly on the ground.
It wouldn’t have been impossible to jump directly from the helicopter onto the Clock Tower roof, but I chose to do this instead to sort out my thoughts a bit more while climbing the tower.
I wasn’t ready to face Mika head-on yet.
And for the most part, I felt like Mika wouldn’t be ready to confront the truth either.
So giving each other time… was just an excuse.
In reality, I was the one scared of facing Mika again.
I didn’t think it was wrong to foster more affection for one student as a Teacher. There’s a reason the term “favorite student” exists, and it’s not strange at all for a person to have a student they feel closer to.
However, that became an absolute flaw for someone like me, a Teacher of Kivotos. Unlike the original Teacher, who maintained a strict distance with every student, I shouldn’t have neglected a student based on the excuse of trusting them as they started to stray.
Moreover, if Mika saw the world crumble with her own eyes and witnessed the death of the one she loved before her…
She might have thought my mistakes were her own.
It was entirely realistic for Mika to feel that way, and the notion weighed heavily on me.
I had no idea if Mika would trust me, and even if she did, it was still a problem how to treat her, so it felt like I was buried under countless troubles.
…I really am a woman full of sins. In more ways than one.
The idea of being a femme fatale on a world scale seems quite problematic, but I’ll leave that aside for now.
What should I say to make Mika trust me? And how do I patch up her crumbled mental state, which I don’t even need to look closely to guess was in tatters? In that process, relying on me…
Ah. That part is probably already too late.
Thinking about why the original Teacher distanced themselves from Mika after the Eden Treaty, I realized I had made the first error right from the start.
My head spun with thoughts causing a headache, and before I knew it, I found myself inside the Clock Tower.
Normally, outsiders wouldn’t be able to enter…
But for someone like me, who had once disregarded “No Entry Except for Authorized Personnel,” it wasn’t much of a problem. Even if there were locks, I’d have found a way to unlock them.
…Hmm. It’d be better to abandon the idea of doing the whole Teacher act again. Given that I’d already failed once, trying to fit into that ill-suited role again would be comical.
From that perspective, Mika bore just as much fault as I did, so doesn’t she owe it to herself to make amends?
Suddenly, I found myself shaking my head, realizing just how wrong that train of thought was.
Though my identity became even more confused due to my past as a Teacher… even if I define myself as an adult, it’s natural that I should be more mature than the kids of Kivotos.
So, just as I resolved before, all the sins should fall upon my shoulders.
Yeah. That’s the right thing to do.
Back to the main point, I had to devise a way to persuade Mika.
Simply revealing to her that I am her Teacher would be a terrible move. Proving it would be anything but easy.
Bringing up memories that only Mika and I knew could pose issues too. If I were in her position, I might suspect that she had snooped into my memories.
In a way, the Teacher version of me would be like a dragon’s reverse scales to Mika, requiring caution in my approach.
…Huh?
Wait a second… I think I might have thought of a convincing method!
Ruminating on whether my solution would be correct, I concluded that there was indeed a possibility.
It wasn’t a perfect method, and no matter how I wrapped it up, it felt like it could end poorly. But still, I believed it could work.
Alright, let’s go with this method.
Having made my decision, I climbed the Clock Tower with a determination that made my earlier hesitance seem like a thing of the past.
I was heading towards the place where my princess, and not just anyone, was waiting for me.
Hurrying up the stairs, the crimson sky came into view just beyond my line of sight.
And in the midst of it all,
“…”
I locked eyes with Mika, who had slumped down against the railing, her arms wrapped around her legs.
Mika, whom I was meeting in reality for the first time, looked faded. Nevertheless, her beauty remained undiminished, proving once again why she was my favorite character.
Without a word, I saw her gaze filled with various unnameable feelings directed at me… and I steeled myself carefully.
“Mika…”
As I softly uttered her name, Mika frowned as if something didn’t suit her. And it was understandable.
Right now, I was just beginning to perform an act rather than acting naturally.
That too…
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault… I-I never imagined it would turn out like this…”
I lowered my head, showcasing a figure that could have looked like a girl dejected in front of me.
Before I knew it, tears began to glisten at the corners of my eyes, slowly pooling up like morning dew on leaf blades.
Finally, with that, I dropped to my knees in a scene I had intentionally crafted.
“What the…?”
Simultaneously hinting that I was her Teacher and portraying the shattered mental state in front of her.
In other words, the ultimate choice.
That was the best move I could think of.