After Ryuto Kaizu left, the office fell into a heavy silence. The polite voice that had been there moments before, the cold silver eyes, the presence of a 182cm frame——all of it vanished, leaving behind only Hoshino's tablet sitting on the desk and something quietly burning inside Sensei. Hoshino picked up the tablet. Her silver-white twin tails swayed with each movement. "[serious]……I'm not wrong about this, right?" It wasn't a question. It was the tone of someone convincing themselves. Sensei didn't answer. He was looking out the window. The central district sky visible from the mixed-use building in Federal Commons was hazy white in the morning light. Three hours ago——he was replaying in his mind the moment when Hoshino had brought the data she'd analyzed through an all-nighter to Schale. The remnants of the device. The chip. The logs that the burned-out temporal interference device had recorded last. Hoshino had taken it back to the underground lab in the engineering building of Millennium Science Academy, where her research room was located, and spent the entire night restoring it. "[excited]Look at this!" When she'd burst in at eight in the morning, there were dark circles under Hoshino's eyes——evidence of the all-nighter. But the light in her eyes hadn't dimmed. She'd slammed the tablet down on the desk, turning the screen toward Sensei. Decryption file expansion logs. Communication record IP addresses. Strings of numbers. "[excited]That day——the encryption keys used in both the attack orders to Trinity and the attack orders to Gehenna, they're coming from the same ID from the Federal Parliament's internal terminal——!" Hoshino swiped the screen. Next page. Access permission allocation records. "[serious]Ryuto Kaizu. Federal Student Council access ID, RK-0044——both orders came from this terminal" Sensei stared at those numbers in silence for thirty seconds. RK-0044. Ryuto Kaizu. Vice President of the Federal Student Council, eighteen years old. White hair with blue gradient, cold silver eyes. After that——Hoshino's chair had tilted and nearly tipped over. The excitement seemed to have drained all at once from the post-all-nighter exhaustion. Without saying anything, Sensei just reached out and steadied the back of her chair. "[surprised]Ah……thank you" "Be careful" That was all. The two of them stared at the screen for a while. The evidence existed. But. Hoshino had said it herself——"It's just a match of the transmission source terminal, so we can't definitively say Ryuto operated it directly. There's a non-zero chance someone else used his ID to operate the terminal." Strong evidence. But one step short of being decisive. Then——Ryuto Kaizu himself came to Schale. —— "Excuse me." Only one knock. It was polite. Cold silver eyes appraised the office's cramped space and the lukewarm coffee smell in an instant, and said nothing. White hair with blue gradient short hair. Two piercings in his left ear. The wrinkle between his brows never disappeared from start to finish. "[cold]I also find it regrettable that your advisor authority has been suspended. I'm in a position where I can work within the Federation" His voice was calm. Polite. Sensei listened standing up. His expression didn't change. Ryuto continued. There was also a possibility that the Federation could hold a re-examination regarding Schale's budget issues. However, he said. "[cold]Regarding the Gehenna matter——from the Federation's position, there's a strong view that Schale's intervention itself is prolonging this confusion. If you step back, the pressure on Nagisa will naturally subside" "[cold]I don't tolerate waste. You think so too, don't you?" Sensei looked at Ryuto for a moment, as if confirming something. RK-0044. The orders came from this man's terminal. But the evidence was incomplete. If he moved now, it would give Ryuto an excuse to strike first. "……I'll think about it" That's all he said. Ryuto bowed and left. The door closed. The office became quiet. Hoshino looked at Sensei's face. Sensei was looking at the chair where Ryuto had been sitting. Neither of them said anything. But they were thinking the same thing. ——It's him. "[serious]……Are you going?" "Yeah" "[serious]You have zero authority. You can't get into Gehenna" "I know" Sensei took the tablet from Hoshino. He opened the data. RK-0044's access logs. Communication timestamps. Encryption key matches. "[serious]You're taking that with you?" "I'm showing it to Nagisa" Hoshino paused for a moment. "[gentle]……Be careful" Sensei put the tablet in his coat pocket. —— Gehenna District was as rugged as always in the afternoon light. Red brick and black iron frame school buildings. A cast iron gate six meters high. Two discipline committee members standing in front of the gate moved the moment they saw Sensei. Fast. Trained movements. "[serious]We're confirming the expiration of your advisor authority. You cannot enter" "I understand" Sensei didn't argue. He stopped in front of the two committee members and simply turned toward the school buildings. "Please tell Committee Chair Nagisa" "That's not possible. You are——" Sensei raised his voice. So it would reach the school buildings beyond the gate. "[serious]Sayama Nagisa! I have evidence of who's been cornering you politically!!" His voice echoed across the plaza. The students around them all turned at once. The discipline committee members looked at each other in confusion. There weren't many adults who shouted outside gates in Kivotos——or anywhere else, for that matter. Thirty seconds. A school building door opened. Jet-black long hair with red mesh. Sharp red eyes. A short sword at the waist. A 165cm frame walking straight toward him. Fast footsteps. Angry. Sayama Nagisa stopped inside the gate. Her eyes were definitely angry. Quiet, cold, suppressed anger——but definitely burning. "[cold]……I told you not to come" Her voice was low. Definitive. Sensei didn't apologize. He took the tablet from his pocket. Opened the data and held it out across the gate. "Look at this" Nagisa didn't move. "[cold]……What did you bring" "The simultaneous attacks that day——the logs of the terminal that issued both orders. They match Ryuto Kaizu's access ID" Nagisa's eyes moved slightly. One step. Two steps. She approached close enough to see the tablet screen across the fence. Sensei angled the screen to Nagisa's eye level. RK-0044. Communication timestamps. Encryption key transmission source. Numbers lined up. Nagisa was silent. The surrounding students were buzzing. The two discipline committee members were frozen, waiting for Nagisa's judgment. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Something was clashing inside Nagisa's eyes. Sensei could see it. The anger at having her "don't come" words broken. The composure of understanding the data's meaning. Which would come first—— "[cold]Can this move the Federation?" It was a quiet question. A voice with emotion suppressed, businesslike. "The evidence is strong. But there's an interpretation favorable to Ryuto. We can't rule out the possibility that someone else operated the terminal" Nagisa paused for a moment. "[serious]……You said it honestly" "There's no point in lying" "[serious]Don't say something stupid" "What is" "[serious]Shouting in front of a gate with zero authority——if that's not stupid, what is?" That was a rebuke. But the tone of her voice was, just slightly——softer than before. Nagisa turned her gaze back to the tablet. "[serious]The Federal Archives——the public document storage vault might have records that can be cross-referenced with terminal logs. With my discipline committee chair authority, I can file a viewing application" Sensei asked. "That would require my advisor authority as an applicant too" "[cold]I know. A suspended authority can't be added to an application" Silence. Both of them were seeing the outline of the problem clearly at the same time. Nagisa's hand went to the gate lock. The sound of iron, and the gate opened. "[serious]……Come in" It wasn't a command. It wasn't a request. Just——the natural next move. Sensei took one step into Gehenna's grounds. Behind him, one of the discipline committee members said quietly. "[surprised]……Chair Nagisa, is this okay?" Nagisa kept walking forward, answering without turning around. "[cold]The situation has changed" That was all. The committee member closed their mouth. —— They returned to Schale in the evening. Hoshino was curled up on the sofa waiting. She woke up when she saw Sensei's face. Her eyes still had dark circles. "[surprised]……You got in?" "Yeah" "[excited]For real!?" Sensei sat at the desk and began researching the access procedures for the archives on the tablet. Hoshino slid in beside him and peered at the screen together. The Federal Archives——the public document storage vault in the basement of Federal Parliament——required proof of the applicant's authority for a viewing application. Nagisa's discipline committee chair authority, and Schale's advisor authority. The problem was the latter. "[serious]To get a suspended authority recognized as an applicant, you need either a Federal Student Council majority vote or——special authorization by the president's authority" Hoshino read aloud while scrolling through the screen. Her voice was low. "A majority vote would favor Ryuto" "[serious]Yeah. He's got influence in the Federation……" "What about the president's authority" "[sad]……The president position has been vacant for three years, hasn't it? What do we do?" Hoshino looked at Sensei's face. Her eyes were checking if he'd given up. Sensei scrolled the page. The exceptions section. Fine print lined up. "There's an exception clause——documents issued by the president's authority in the past hold equivalent force" "[surprised]……Huh?" "The archives should contain public documents issued by the president before their disappearance. If we can use those——" Hoshino was silent for a while. Then she slowly nodded. "[serious]……So you need something from inside the archives to get into the archives?" "We use Nagisa's authority to create a foothold for the application. If we can use the president's past documents there, my authority might temporarily go through" "[serious]……We're stuck" Hoshino looked at Sensei's face and closed her mouth partway. There was no resignation in Sensei's eyes. Hoshino sighed. But she smiled slightly. "[serious]……Got it. I'll look into the archive application routes. See how far we can get with Nagisa's authority" Sensei nodded. The office fluorescent lights were quietly on. From the first floor totem, the faint sound of evening delivery trucks drifted up. Eleven days since the incident. Zero authority. Incomplete evidence. The mastermind is in the Federation's core. But Sensei wasn't alone. Nagisa's discipline committee chair authority. Hoshino's technical skill and stubborn all-nighter resolve. And Sensei's refusal to give up. If those three came together——the path to the archives might open.