※This is an IF side story that takes place in the event that Trinity won the Summer Festival.
The expressions of Makoto, who had been relegated to facing the wall, and Saori, who stood beside me delivering the mission report, were similar yet different. Behind Saori's impassive face lay a sense of pride and a smile ready to bloom at any moment. Makoto's impassive face, on the other hand, was filled with the rebellious glare of someone who had been thoroughly wronged.
"You did great on this operation, too. How are the others?"
"No one was injured. They're all in top shape, ready for the next mission. What about you, Mika? You don't seem to have left your office at all since the festival ended."
"Ahaha… I'm fine, I'm fine! This whole thing just took a little more work than I expected. Yes. So you guys go and rest today. Start the next operation tomorrow☆"
"Understood. And Mika, don't forget to take care of yourself."
"You worry too much, Saori-chan. You know how healthy I am!"
As Saori finished her brief report and was about to leave the office, she paused and stared at Makoto. As if sensing her gaze, Makoto turned her head in that direction.
"…What is it? What are you staring at?"
"I was just trying to understand why Mika bothers to take care of a troublemaker like you."
"What…?! Who's taking care of whom?! How dare you make such a—"
"Are you so unaware that you are the reason for half of Mika's extended stays in this office? Honestly, you're so incredibly foolish and self-centered."
"Hah? For a tool that's used as I see fit, you have quite a mouth on you. A tool should just do as it's told and faithfully follow the will of its superior. An unnecessarily strong ego is the seed of conflict. Just like right now—Gah!"
People are really not easy to mold, I thought, as I averted my gaze from Makoto, who was clutching the back of her head after being unexpectedly struck by a speck of my Mystic.
"Don't take it to heart, Saori-chan. Our Makoto-chan just hasn't finished her socialization training yet."
"It's… it's nothing, Mika. I'll be going now."
After the disconcerted Saori left, I called Makoto over to my side. Then, I casually threw her a line.
"Makoto-chan, the relationship between a superior and a subordinate, you know… it's not as extreme as you make it out to be. There are professional relationships, and then there are relationships built on a more personal friendship. And in my case, Saori-chan falls into the latter category."
"…So what?"
"I was just wondering if you truly, sincerely believe what you said just now."
"Kikikikit. A strange question. Of course I do! The world revolves around the great Makoto-sama. In that process, it is only natural that the common rabble follow my—"
"But isn't Iroha-chan that person to you?"
"…Huh?"
I uttered the words nonchalantly while shuffling through some documents. There's something very strange about Makoto. There are times when she shows a spark of brilliance and her mind works surprisingly well, but most of the time, she's so obtuse I have no idea what's going on in her head. That's why simply giving her a topic and letting her think for herself usually doesn't work. She's the type of kid whose train of thought you have to guide personally to help her reach a conclusion.
"If I were to recruit Iroha-chan…"
"Th-that is absolutely forbidden, I told you! It is not possible! If you want to take Iroha, you'll have to do it over my dead body!"
"See, that reaction alone proves my point, don't you think? What do you think? Mmm, is Iroha-chan really nothing more than a tool you can use as you please?"
"..."
When Makoto is at a loss for words, she usually either shuts up or raises her voice. It seems this time, she chose the former.
"That's how it is, Makoto-chan. Of course, there are subordinates who find a personal friendship burdensome… but even in those relationships, there's a need to respect the other person, you know? I want you to grow into a proper leader. I hear that most of the students in Gehenna don't even know who the Chairman of Pandemonium Society is…"
"Th-that can't be. There isn't a single commoner in Gehenna who doesn't know the name of the great Makoto-sama!"
"For someone so famous, there were a lot of people asking who you were when you were in the announcer's box during the festival."
"…Th-that's a misunderstanding. That can't be right! They were all just blinded by my aura."
"The thing above my head is an aura. Anyway, that's what I think, Makoto-chan. A true leader should at least make the effort to let the 'underlings' you speak of know your name."
Makoto turned her head to the side and grumbled, looking as if she hadn't understood a single word. Perhaps I was just talking to a wall, but if Makoto's way of thinking changed, even a little bit… even just by a fingertip… then I felt I would have done my part.
"Mika-san."
"Hmm?"
"I believe this situation… requires a bit of an explanation."
It was the day before Makoto was scheduled to return to Gehenna. After ditching my Tea Party duties at the end of the festival to wander around, and with everyone now exhausted from the cleanup, this happened.
"Why, doesn't it suit her? Makoto-chan has such a good figure that while a sharper uniform might suit her better… she still looks rather cute."
"Be that as it may, to put a Tea Party uniform on an outsider… sigh."
"Well, if you're going to be like that, I've been wearing the SRT uniform I got for outside work quite often these days, you know?"
"That's because the uniform is less conspicuous, isn't it…? And besides, I don't recall you having much outside work to begin with."
"Nagisa-chan, you're so cute when you obsess over the little things."
"…Pardon?"
"It's nothing☆"
As I was fiddling with the hair of Makoto, who had transformed into a Tea Party mob, Nagisa approached my side, lightly slapped the back of my hand, and pouted.
"Who gave you permission to touch someone else's hair like that?"
"Ah, so that's what was really bothering you."
"Well, wouldn't you be bothered…?"
Even as she said it, she naturally started braiding Makoto's hair with me, which told me she was also interested in this. It reminded me of the old days, before I could do my own hairstyle, when Nagisa used to help me a lot.
"By the way, she's sleeping quite soundly in a place like this."
"Ahaha, right!"
As Nagisa said, Makoto was fast asleep, her arms folded on the railing of our Tea Party's outer office. Her vanished halo was proof of that fact.
"You're amazing in your own way, Mika-san. If it were me, I think I'd go crazy if I had to spend even an hour or two in the same room with this person."
"She is a bit much, isn't she?"
As she braided Makoto's hair with me, Nagisa brought up the matter at hand.
"A formal message has arrived from the Gehenna side."
"Hmm? Why, was it something important?"
"It was a request for us to keep this person in Trinity a little longer. In fact, they said the longer, the better…"
"Ahat! The nerve. They should be paying us 10 million yen a day for that to be a fair deal."
What kind of twisted negotiation with a quasi-terrorist was this? It wasn't a kidnapping, but to ask us to keep their dignitary instead of taking her back… I understood why they were doing it. I understood it all too well, and that was the problem. For them to be so blatant about it was actually quite annoying, to the point where I considered sending her back a day early.
"By the way, you're not, are you?"
"…What are you talking about?"
Seeing her silently point at Makoto with a displeased look, I had a good idea what she was worried about. Sure, Makoto is handsome, but…
"Nagisa-chan, I won't deny that I'm a sucker for a pretty face. But I care a lot about personality, too. And Makoto-chan is…"
Given that Nagisa perfectly satisfies both criteria, my argument might not sound very convincing, but I fundamentally prefer people whose personalities mesh well with mine. The only exception to that rule is someone with the looks of our princess, and unless they're so beautiful they can confidently say, "But I'm pretty!" without it sounding out of place, they absolutely must have a good personality.
"Yeah, if I had to keep her here for another week, I think I'd actually go insane."
Unless Makoto gets struck by lightning one day, suddenly becomes a genius, and we start getting along really well, she is not someone Nagisa needs to be wary of. Right now, I'm the one holding her leash, but if someone told me to live in the same house with her for a week without any such constraints, I might just throw the first punch.
"That's a relief. If another demon had been added here… there would have been four demons instead of three."
"..."
Nagisa's words didn't sound entirely like a joke, and it made me flinch. Still, for me to feel any sort of romantic attraction to Makoto, she would have to become a completely different person, and that's not going to happen. Nagisa has nothing to worry about.
"Hee hee hee."
As I leisurely continued braiding her hair, a little tune escaped my lips. I wasn't trying to make it look pretty; I was just grabbing whatever hair I could and braiding it indiscriminately. I was looking forward to Makoto's reaction when she saw it.
And right on cue, as if a light had been switched on in the room, a halo appeared above Makoto's head. We were just about finished with the braiding.
"Haaaaaam… hmm?"
Makoto let out a long yawn and raised a hand to scratch the back of her head. I slapped it away. Belatedly sensing something was wrong, she startled and tried to turn around, so I let go of her hair.
"What, what is it? Hey, what did you two do while the great Makoto-sama was meditating?!"
"Mhm. Sleep well, Makoto-chan?"
"Very well… that's not it! I said I was meditating, didn't I? Honestly, this is why pigeons are—"
"Wow, you're not calling us 'pigeon bitches' anymore. That's a huge improvement! Mmm, just 99 more steps and you might just become a person."
Makoto scowled and reached for the back of her head. Feeling the strange texture, she just kept stroking it with a blank expression. She looked like she needed a mirror, so I took a hand mirror out of my pocket and presented it to her.
"…You, you two."
"What do you think, isn't it pretty? Do you like it? It's my masterpiece☆"
Makoto, who had been trying to see her hair from various angles, began to tremble. I quickly snatched the mirror back before it went flying somewhere.
"What have you done to my hair?! A hairstyle like this has absolutely no dignity!"
"But it's cute. What do you think, Nagisa-chan?"
"I think she'd have an unrivaled presence in the Tea Party, even without her horns."
"Eh."
Hey, Nagisa. That's not exactly a compliment, is it?
"Graaaaaaah!!! Change it, change it back to normal! If you don't…!"
"Yes, or else what?"
"...Damn it. Please, change it back."
No way. I didn't even have to say anything, and she resorted to using polite language, just as I had taught her over the past few days. Did she hate it that much…? That's a bit of a shock.
"Hurry!!!"
Still, thanks to Makoto's sacrifice, I was able to learn a valuable lesson: from now on, I should leave my hairstyling to others. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.
There are many things in this world that you miss when they're gone.
Fortunately, Makoto was not one of them.
After a week of humiliating slavery—or rather, a butler experience—Makoto returned to Gehenna. The next day, she sent me a Momotalk that made me snort with laughter.
[Blockhead☆]
[Hey.]
[You'd better be prepared for next year's TGE.]
[I'll give you a slave experience so humiliating you'll weep.]
Hilarious. Who'd agree to another stupid bet like that next year?
I kindly corrected her to use the term "GTE" like a proper loser, then returned to the mountain of paperwork in my now-empty office.
"Makoto-chan, could you refill my cup…"
It was only after I had unconsciously called out for someone who wasn't there that I realized.
Apparently, it wasn't that I didn't miss her at all.