"Ha Mika… why is the teacher at the Schale…?"
Nagisa barely managed to steady the trembling kettle and poured the tea. It overflowed, splashing onto the plate, but she didn't even notice.
It was divine chaos.
"The secret plans for the Treaty of Eden were leaked… from the Schale… and it's only one day old…"
"Nagi-chan, calm down. You're going to spill all the tea."
"Mika, please stop shaking your legs. They say since ancient times that a lady shouldn't shake her legs."
"Umm…"
Nagisa took a cautious sip of the half-filled cup, feeling slightly steadied. Mika clasped her trembling legs with both hands.
"Nagi-chan… the teacher at the Schale… what kind of person is he? How should I behave around him?"
"Didn't you ask the same thing yesterday?"
"Yesterday and today are different!"
"Ha. My answer hasn't changed. If someone can help us, we help them as a Tea Party. If not… we just… bump into them as students. That's all."
"It's so cold," Mika muttered.
"In this place, we must look at everyone with utterly dispassionate disapproval."
"Me too?"
"Yes, you too, Mika."
"Ugh… it's not even winter yet and I'm already freezing," Mika complained, shivering.
Drip.
"The teacher from the Schale has arrived."
At those words, Mika slowly raised her head to the door, while Nagisa kept her eyes fixed on her teacup.
"Hello! Teacher!"
"Teacher… nice to meet you. I—"
"Kirifuji Nagisa. Misono Mika. Right?"
The two blinked, wide-eyed, at the teacher's calm precision.
"I'm so touched that you already know my name," Nagisa murmured.
"Can I call you Nagisa or Mika?" the teacher asked gently.
"Please do as you wish, teacher," they said in unison.
The teacher sat in the remaining chair at the round table and met their gazes with a quiet warmth.
"I'm sorry for arranging this meeting so suddenly," he said.
"No. We also had some time left," Nagisa replied politely.
Nagisa poured tea for the teacher. He sipped the warm liquid and opened his mouth.
"This might be impolite since we're just meeting today… but…"
"Can you tell me about the Arius branch?"
"Arius—"
Mika, flustered by the unexpected question, averted her gaze. Nagisa noticed her friend's unusual reaction.
"Mika?"
"Teacher… may I ask what you mean by your question?"
Mika clenched her fists and swallowed hard.
"There's a child… left alone, carrying a heavy burden. I want to save that child."
Mika let out a mysterious exclamation and looked away, conflicted.
"Um… this is too direct… this won't do…"
"Mika?"
"This is a start," she whispered.
"Huh?"
…No. Since Mika is like that, I will explain it for her, the teacher thought, calm and patient.
Nagisa blatantly leaned back in her chair, ignoring Mika, and met the teacher's gaze.
"I heard that the Arius branch was a former sect of Trinity."
"Then I guess I don't need to explain the background," the teacher said calmly.
"In short, we have no contact with the Arius branch. Trinity has no knowledge of what's currently happening there, nor the atmosphere within."
"However… I heard that a few years ago, they ended the civil war and united as one."
"A civil war…?" Mika murmured.
"One more thing," Nagisa asked, setting her teacup down and shaking her head weakly. "Where would I go to reach the Arius branch school site?"
"We don't know that either. Sorry," the teacher replied gently.
"No, it's okay. Thank you for answering my difficult question, Nagisa," Nagisa said, bowing slightly.
"It just played the role of the Tea Party," the teacher added with a faint smile.
"Thank you, Mikado, for coming," Nagisa continued, her tone softening.
"It's a bit different from how Nagi-chan is treated, but… it's okay. I've confirmed the teacher's intentions," Mika muttered quietly.
Though the meeting lasted less than ten minutes, Nagisa's impression of the Schale teacher shifted ever so slightly.
As for Mika…
"Um… what should I do? Nagi-chan, Nagi-chan… what do I do in this case? Huh? Huh? What should I do so the teacher… no, the teacher… will stop?"
Mika's hands trembled as she jabbed at her cake with the fork, shattering the roll into bits.
Nagisa sighed, eyeing the mess. "You don't even tell me what's going on, and yet you just keep talking about yourself."
"No, but you know… can't you tell me? My heart, huh?" Mika muttered, her voice small and jittery.
"Haa… is love really this… easy?"
Nagisa's sigh got swallowed by Mika's nervous murmuring.
"Hmph," she muttered.
Today, she really tasted all the flavors of what it was like to meet the teacher.
She had talked openly with the kids, shared snacks, and tried her best at every turn.
Had she truly opened her heart?
Well… for a beginner teacher, that was some remarkable growth.
"Hello!"
"Oh, welcome?!"
As I entered the convenience store and greeted them brightly, Sora suddenly dashed out from behind the counter, grabbing my shoulder.
"Hey! Where did you go?!"
"I… went to school," I replied.
"Phew… you didn't go anywhere strange…."
"Strange place?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just glad you came back."
Was this the student who worried? Somehow, the worried and the cared-for roles felt reversed.
"More than that… can you tell me your name?"
"Praline," I said softly.
"Praline?" Sora repeated, surprised.
"Yes. Just… Praline."
"Just the last name?" Sora asked, tilting her head.
"Nope. Just Praline, that's it. And the sky is just sky, right?" I shrugged.
"Well… that's true," Sora said, blinking slowly.
I held up my student ID, showing the blank affiliation.
"See? It's really just Praline," I added, letting my fingers trace the edges of the card.
"It really is… Praline. That's… so strange…" Sora murmured, frowning a little.
"Sora?" I prompted, sensing her hesitation.
…Ten… nineteen years old? she thought, eyes widening.
"Yes, I'm nineteen," I said softly.
Sora froze, almost dropping the kettle in her hands.
"Nineteen…?" she whispered.
"To?" she added, her voice trembling.
"I, uh… I mean… uh… no… I— I have a fever… no…" Her words stumbled out like a little stammering puzzle.
Hehe… okay, okay, I decided to slide back into a more childlike guise for her sake. Even though speaking as myself was fine, the age gap was… huge. Really hard to bridge, like a desert canyon.
"Hey, this is wrong. My real age is fourteen," I said, giggling nervously.
Still, technically I'm a year older than fourteen… thirteen would've been way too tiny.
"Is that so? Well… I guess… yeah…" Sora's gaze flickered, like she was trying to piece together a puzzle.
I tilted my head and looked up, squinting at the blinding light overhead.
"Eek?! S-sorry!" Sora squeaked, her flustered little reactions too cute to fully understand.
…Hehe, just like Sirocco's grumpy expressions, this will gradually become easier to read.
"Oh! But there's no school listed here. So… which school are you going to today?" Sora asked carefully.
"Abydos," I said calmly.
"Abydos…?" she echoed.
"It's between Trinity and Gehenna," I added.
"Is… this… a desert?" she whispered.
I nodded.
"I see… so… about the water in the morning. Are you going tomorrow too?" she asked.
"Nope. I can't go tomorrow," I replied.
"Why… why not?" she stammered.
Hoshino had told me not to come—it would be too hard, and I had my own work to do. Uninvited guests wandering around would just ruin everything.
"Um… I've got something to do. I'll go later," I said gently.
"For some reason—" she started, but then paused.
"Excuse me? Could you calculate the bill for me?" I said, glancing toward the counter.
When I turned, a small line of customers had gathered, waiting quietly.
"…Ah? Ah! No!" Sora exclaimed, flustered again, as the little crowd in front of the door ended things abruptly.
"Two o'clock… eight o'clock… ten o'clock… two o'clock…"
After a quick shower, I slipped into the bedroom and started juggling the store's hours, the café's part-time schedule, and Angel 24's bedtime—courtesy of the note Hoshino had given me.
"Uhm…"
Maybe it was because I was a little thrilled about applying for my first part-time job in this world. I hadn't even thought about overlapping shifts yet.
"If this keeps up… I feel a little sorry for Hoshino…"
The place Hoshino recommended was familiar from the main story—a cozy little spot where a cute junior secretly worked part-time without letting their senior know.
Serika had scribbled down her class schedule with BD on the note too. I guess the hint was to coordinate part-time hours carefully… but with all these overlaps, it seemed nearly impossible to start smoothly.
"Let's just sleep a little tonight and figure things out early tomorrow," I muttered, letting my eyelids droop.
I had no choice… I had to move fast if I wanted to secure a spot. One day earlier, and Sora's shift could've been mine…
Exhaustion claimed me almost immediately after I closed my eyes.
And then… a dream.
The background shimmered like an illustration I'd seen countless times.
A blurry student stood there, their figure hazy like a memory just out of reach.
"So… the Treaty of Eden…" I tried to listen, but their words were faint.
"Eden is… in the ancient scriptures…"
I leaned in closer; their voice grew just a little louder, clearer, as if coaxing me to understand.
"Teacher… the story that's about to begin… huh?"
"Hi."
"…Why you, and not the teacher?"
At first, I thought this child couldn't speak… but they could. And maybe… I could too, if I tried.
Now I could hear it clearly.
"I… I have never seen anyone in the future I foresaw…"
"Excuse me?"
"Predicting again… no, that's impossible…"
"Hey, can't you hear me?"
"…This—"
I snapped awake from the dream.
"What even was that?"
It wasn't just a weird dream. It was a trickster dream.
No, wait… maybe a fox dream?
Either way, it left me feeling like I'd been spun around three times and dumped back into bed.
Because of it, I woke up even more tired than before.