I Became the Academy's Pink Airhead

Chapter 23

I Became the Academy's Pink Airhead - Chapter 23

Bell, who had finished her business along with the absurd happening, said she would call headquarters before returning to the garrison on the late-night direct train.

Alvit spoke to Bell with a doubtful voice:

“Is it okay to go back and forth by train to for such a trivial matter...?”

“...?”

To Alvit’s eyes, Bell seemed like someone who would take a taxi for any distance over 5 minutes of walking.

and weren’t that far apart, but it wasn’t a distance to be going back and forth so frequently either.

But Bell answered in a very nonchalant voice:

“...Huh? What’s the big deal? All necessary expenses come out of the ’s coffers anyway. And with the dignity maintenance fee I received in 1st year at , it’s enough to ride all year~”

“Di-dignity maintenance fee...?! And riding the train for a whole year?!”

“Isn’t that normal for schools from the union? should be part of the union too... Come to think of it, don’t you receive a dignity maintenance fee from your school foundation?”

“We don’t have a foundation... Let alone a dignity maintenance fee, we don’t even receive a survival maintenance fee...”

“Wow~ You guys really are beggars.”

“...”

Bell covered her mouth saying ‘Oh my oh my...’ with a truly shocked expression.

Alvit hung her head.

She just clenched her fists and vented her frustration.

“Ahh, this damn school...!”

At the same time, Kara and Rota also sighed while holding their heads.

“Hoo...”

“Haah...”

“Ahaha―♪”

Be strong, Peach Sisters.

Though you may be beggar girls of Takchoeon now, someday you will ride in carriages with huge roofs like the branches of that World Tree.

I was about to inwardly console Alvit while nodding my head, but flinched.

‘Oh right, Shu perished...!’

The example was too ominous.

Shu Road.

The place even Zhuge Liang couldn’t escape from.

Like the Shu Road in the treacherous mountains, was also on a steep hill road.

“...!”

I got goosebumps for a moment as I thought of Zhuge Liang’s tearful later years.

Ominous keywords swirling in my mind...

Memorial to the Throne, Five Camps at Wuzhang Plains, Zhang Wan, Flying Rain...

Our northern expedition had to succeed.

‘Ma Su...! We have to take down Ma Su!’

I decided that if I saw anyone saying they would climb mountains because the scenery was nice from now on, I would stuff the ultimate technique [Pink Lemon Sherbet] into their mouth.

Leaving Bell behind like that, who said she would make a phone call.

We returned to school from the shopping district with no results.

But I decided to have tea to stave off hunger rather than have everyone starve together. We had used up all the tea leaves we had taken out in the student council room. But since there were many tea leaves piled up in the supply closet, there was no problem bringing water in buckets to boil.

I clapped my hands to focus the attention of my juniors who were about to go to their rooms.

Clap clap―☆

The juniors turning around at the sound of clapping.

“...?”

“What is it?”

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t we have tea time while drinking some tea? If we all chat together including Bell who will come back later―☆ Both hunger and sadness will fly away to heaven♪ It will☆”

“Hmm... The occasion is a bit sad, but I agree. The wind seems chilly today too... I want to drink something before bed.”

Twitch

As Rota agreed first while moving her cat ears, Kara and Alvit also nodded. And they came out after changing into comfortable tracksuits in their rooms.

“Now now♪ Ladies―☆ Please follow this cute older sister well―☆”

“I get uncomfortable every time senior calls herself ‘older sister’...”

“I agree with that. No matter how I look at it, you seem like a peer or younger...”

“Yeah, honestly I don’t feel any respect at all...”

I pointed at Rota and Kara who were chattering and said:

“Hey―☆ Those two girls saying bad things! 2 demerit points―♪”

“What’s that?”

“Huhu. How scary.”

While the people in question were ignoring it, Alvit was the one who reacted to the word ‘demerit points’.

“What bad thing happens if demerit points accumulate?”

“By the way, if you accumulate 10 demerit points for doing bad♪ things―! Oh my goodness!”

“If you accumulate?”

“If you accumulate...!”

Alvit looking innocently.

I puckered my lips like a duck’s bill at her and clucked.

My glossy pink lips collided, making a cute sound.

Smooch smooch―☆

“You’ll receive a barrage of kisses from this cute girl―♡ Chu chu―♡”

“...”

Alvit looked at me with eyes like looking at trash.

Not quite food waste, but like somewhat dirty and torn newspaper... Eyes like looking at those paper bundles you occasionally see walking in the park.

That was about right.

I felt satisfied receiving that gaze.

‘I need to manage likability with ‘Clara behavior’ for a while since Alvit’s respect had risen above the allowable line.’

My juniors quietly drinking tea while looking at the bonfire with blankets draped over their shoulders. Among them, Rota seemed unable to drink hot things well, as she couldn’t take even one sip.

A bonfire lit under the dark night sky.

Girls in tracksuits wrapped in old blankets.

Bitter tea being swallowed to forget hunger and cold.

“...”

Isn’t this just a scene in front of a labor office at dawn...?

I couldn’t help but chuckle for a moment.

I thought it felt like a scene I’d seen many times before.

But it wasn’t too bad.

“...”

Alvit spoke in a quiet voice while drinking tea:

“...Senior Bell. She’s late.”

“Hm? You’re right? She doesn’t seem like the type to just disappear without saying anything...”

Rota, who hadn’t been able to take even one sip and had just been blowing on her tea, reacted to those words. And Alvit continued speaking with her gaze still fixed on the bonfire:

“Is it because of the... dungeon gate erosion state? It seems like something bigger than expected has happened.”

The words Alvit blurted out.

Those words added a chill to the comfortable silence that had continued until now.

“...”

“...”

“...”

We had all been inwardly sensing the unsettling atmosphere since the moment we left the bakery with no results.

“...”

And I quietly put down the cup I had been drinking from.

Apparently something really unsettling had happened.

Because there was a presence rushing urgently towards this place reminiscent of a labor office.

“You guys―!! Wait~!! Help me―!!”

Tap tap tap―!

A brat wearing the same red tracksuit as us.

Bell was running towards the bonfire across the school grounds, waving her hands with an urgent voice.

“...Senior Bell?”

Clatter

We who had been drinking tea, including Alvit, quietly put down our cups and looked at Bell.

“...?”

“What’s the matter?”

And Bell, who had run at a very fast speed befitting a high-level ether ability user, pleaded with a desperate expression:

“Aaaaah―!! Big trouble!! The guys at the garrison―!! They ignored my standby orders as the on-site commander and went to the north!!”

“What?!”

“Moreover, those guys are now wandering around in the north as they please and got into a fight with the guys―!! I don’t have enough hands by myself!!”

We looked at each other silently.

* * *

The vice president of the .

Sieglinde urgently knocked on the door of the president’s office, passing by dozens of attendants trying to stand up and greet her.

Her expression was terrifyingly stiff, and her black wolf ears were trembling.

“I apologize, President. The ether reception phone condition was poor, so I came to report in person.”

Knock knock knock

“...!”

At that moment, the attendants who were about to stand up and greet her all rushed out.

Three knocks.

It meant a serious matter that only executive-level students could hear.

After the presence of the quickly departing attendants passed, an indifferent girl’s voice was heard from inside the door.

“...Enter.”

“Excuse me.”

Creak

The president’s office she entered.

There, sitting in her seat was the silver-white girl with an expression like a wooden statue as usual... Brunhilde.

Sieglinde stood at attention in a polite posture and reported:

“The leader of the investigation team dispatched to in the northeastern region, Sigrun, unilaterally led the investigation team to conduct an investigation in the northern eroded area. And it is reported that a clash occurred with students of encountered in the northern region.”

“...”

“In the... process, news that one of the Five Colors... [Crimson Trajectory] intervened...”

Clang―!

As soon as Sieglinde’s words ended, Brunhilde stood up holding the lance behind her seat. And she gave instructions without even looking back:

“...Arrange a train heading to the northern region.”

“I’ve already instructed that.”

“Understood.”

Trudge trudge

Like that, Brunhilde left the student council president’s office without a moment’s hesitation.

“...”

While Sieglinde was counting instructions to give to the attendants in preparation for the president’s absence. She suddenly felt something off about the items on the president’s desk.

Narrowing her eyes as she looked, she could identify the source of that unsettling feeling.

“...?”

For some reason, the ether reception phone directly connected to the president’s office was smashed.

Amidst the shattered pieces of the phone, what suddenly caught her eye was... a very small amount of blood.

“...President?”

Sieglinde looked with an expression of disbelief at where Brunhilde had left, but there was only a chilling silence lingering there.