The morning of the twelfth day after the incident. The stale air from last night still lingered in Schale's office. Hoshino sat at the edge of an old sofa, a tablet resting on her lap, her gaze fixed on the screen. Her silver-and-white twin tails threatened to slip forward with each lean. Faint exhaustion showed beneath the star-shaped mole under her right eye. But her mismatched gold and silver eyes gleamed with intensity. Nagisa stood beside the desk, arms crossed. Jet-black long hair with red streaks. Sharp crimson eyes tracked Hoshino's screen intently. Her mouth remained closed. Sensei watched the two of them from the window, coffee untouched. Hoshino had started digging through the Federal Assembly's public records database before six this morning. She'd moved immediately after Sensei mentioned last night that "documents issued under the chairman's authority might be usable." Whether she hadn't slept or simply chose not to, Sensei hadn't asked. "[serious]Found it" Hoshino spoke in a low voice, still staring at the screen. Sensei and Nagisa approached simultaneously. A public document registry entry displayed on the tablet screen. Document number, signatory name, registration date. ——Special provisions regarding permanent guarantee of Schale advisor authority. Signatory: Twelfth-generation Federal Student Council Chairman. Registration date: November, three years ago. "[excited]This might be the document that qualifies as an exception clause that could invalidate Sensei's authority suspension without a Federal Student Council majority vote! It's not digitized, so the original is in the physical archive storage——oh, wait, let me check the specific clause——" Hoshino rattled off the words while swiping through the screen. Then she made a victory pose. The momentum was too much. The stylus pen in her hand flew across the floor. A dry *clink*. Hoshino said "ah" and started to lift herself from the sofa to pick it up——and smacked her head on the desk corner. *Thunk.* "[sad]Ow……" Nagisa's eyes narrowed for just a moment. Whether it was exasperation or suppressed laughter was impossible to tell. Sensei picked up the pen and silently handed it to Hoshino. "[gentle]Thank you……okay, clause verification complete. If Nagisa uses her Disciplinary Committee Director authority to file a viewing request and brings the original, there's a high probability we can use it as grounds to invalidate Sensei's authority suspension" Nagisa stepped forward. "[serious]We have no choice but to go" Sensei looked at Nagisa. Nagisa kept her eyes on the screen, not raising her face. But her words carried no hesitation. Sensei nodded. There were no words. Yet Nagisa, though not looking at Sensei, seemed to sense something and relaxed her shoulders slightly. Had a reader witnessed it, they would have felt the shift between the two. Not anger or distance, but facing the same direction. —— The Federal Assembly was the symbol of Kivotos' central district. Twelve stories above ground, the tallest building in Kivotos. White and gray exterior walls, polished stone paving at the main entrance. Being a weekday morning, a few students came and went through the entrance. As the three of them walked down the corridor toward the basement entrance, Hoshino spoke quietly. "[serious]The chairman's office is on the top floor, right? I heard it's still locked……" "Not relevant right now" "[serious]Right. First, the archive" As they descended the basement stairs, the air changed. Humidity and the smell of old paper. The corridor was dimly lit, fluorescent lights humming as they flickered on. The public document storage——the entrance to the Federal Archive had a wooden counter. Behind it sat a middle-aged woman. A rigid-postured staff member wearing thin glasses. The nameplate on her chest read "Sakurai." Nagisa placed the application form on the counter. "[serious]A viewing application filed by the Disciplinary Committee Director of Gehenna Academy, based on Federal Regulation Article 14. All documents are in order" Sakurai picked up the application and reviewed it once. Then she slowly looked up. "[cold]I apologize, but viewing reception has been suspended today" Nagisa's eyes narrowed slightly. Sensei, listening from beside her, understood immediately. Ryuto. He'd known the viewing application would be filed. He'd already made arrangements beforehand. "[cold]Please provide written documentation of the legal basis for the suspension" The voice was low and quiet. But she didn't yield an inch. Sakurai's face showed slight agitation. "[serious]That is……I need confirmation from above" "[cold]Then confirm it. We will wait here" Sakurai stood and disappeared down the back corridor. In that moment, Sensei quietly moved his body to the side of the counter——to the door leading to the storage. Nagisa and Hoshino noticed. Sensei said nothing. Just stood there. At the door. Hoshino whispered. "[whispers]……He's shielding us again" Sensei didn't answer. Nagisa glanced at Sensei briefly. For a moment, the image of him standing unarmed at the entrance to that warehouse overlapped. Nagisa quickly looked away, but her lips tightened slightly. Two minutes later, Sakurai returned. Her complexion was worse than before. "[serious]Um……until confirmation can be obtained, could you please wait a moment——" "[cold]Federal Regulation Article 14, Section 3. Formal applications filed under Disciplinary Committee Director authority fall under the exception category for viewing suspension measures" Hoshino pulled out her tablet and displayed the clause right there. "[serious]Here's the clause. Please" Sakurai looked at the screen. Her expression became one that couldn't deny it. Nagisa spoke. "[serious]The procedures have been followed formally. If the basis for suspension cannot be shown in writing, viewing must be permitted" Sakurai was silent for several seconds. Then she let out a small breath and unlocked the door. —— The storage room was vast. Metal shelves reaching to the ceiling lined up in multiple rows, stacked with cardboard boxes and bound files. The smell of dust. The air felt stagnant. Labels with numbers and dates were affixed to the shelves. Hoshino pulled out an index file and flipped through the pages. "[serious]Three years ago, November, chairman signature, Schale advisor authority related……shelf number A-7, lower section" Sensei and Nagisa searched for the shelf. Hoshino jogged after them, cross-referencing the index with the shelf numbers. Column A, number 7. A cardboard box on the lower shelf. Sensei pulled out the box. Dust swirled. Inside were over a dozen bound files packed tightly together. Hoshino checked the spine of each file in order from the front. "[serious]This one, this one……not here……found it!" She pulled out a single file. On the spine, handwritten numbers and the text "Schale Advisor Authority Permanent Guarantee" were visible. Hoshino opened the cover. All three looked at the paper document, not a screen. ——As Federal Student Council Chairman, the authority of the Schale advisor cannot be suspended by a unilateral decision of the Federal Student Council. In accordance with the following special provisions, it is permanently guaranteed—— At the end, a signature and the Federal's circular seal were stamped. The ink was aged and slightly brown, but legible. Definitely the chairman's signature. Sensei picked up the file. He felt the weight of the paper and the texture of three years of dust. "It's real" At that moment, the storage room door opened. Sakurai returned with another staff member. This time, something like determination mixed with her expression. "[cold]That document……for administrative reasons, we need to request its return temporarily" Sensei held the file without moving. Nagisa stepped forward. "[serious]The viewing has been completed" Her voice was quiet. But that single statement changed the air in the room. Sakurai started to say "However——" "[cold]After the completion of formal viewing based on Federal Regulation Article 14, the seizure of documents requires separate legal procedures. Forcibly taking it without going through those procedures constitutes a regulation violation" Hoshino quickly photographed it with her tablet. The page open, capturing the section with the chairman's signature and Federal seal. Sakurai fell silent. Nagisa spoke without turning around. "[serious]Let's go" The three of them left the storage room. —— The Assembly corridor suddenly became bright when they came up from the basement. Sunlight streamed through the windows. The three walked side by side. Nagisa, Sensei, Hoshino in that order. Behind them, Hoshino was "[excited]We did it! It really existed! Sensei, your authority's coming back, right, right?" Sensei didn't answer. He walked while holding the file. Nagisa slowed her pace slightly and moved to walk beside Sensei. For a while, there were no words. Only the sound of footsteps echoing through the corridor. "[gentle]……I'm glad you came" A low, quiet voice. Not anger, not emphasizing gratitude. Just honest words. Sensei didn't know what to say for a moment. Nagisa continued, keeping her face slightly forward. "[serious]But next time, tell me first" Sensei heard that and paused briefly. The words assumed there would be a next time. "[serious]Understood" That was all he answered. Behind them, Hoshino started to say "[laughing]Huh, wasn't that just a good moment!? I was totally listening to——" but Sensei stopped her with just a glance without turning around. Hoshino closed her mouth. But you could see her hand covering her mouth, suppressing laughter. —— They returned to Schale in the early afternoon. The three of them spread the file open and gathered around the desk. Procedures to temporarily restore Sensei's authority, then how to proceed with the accusation against Ryuto Kaizu. The materials were coming together. "[serious]Combined with the evidence of the encryption key Hoshino recovered and this document, we have sufficient grounds to appeal to other Federal representatives" "[serious]Ryuto will naturally try to obstruct us. But if the procedures are formal, he can't stop it" "[serious]Right, so——oh, wait a second" Hoshino suddenly pulled out her tablet. She was opening something. "[serious]When we were searching in the storage today……there was another file on the neighboring shelf. I caught a glimpse of it——the one about the chairman's disappearance record" Sensei and Nagisa looked at Hoshino's face. "[serious]A few days right before the disappearance three years ago, only those pages were blank. I don't know if the records were erased or just never written in the first place" Hoshino tilted her head slightly. "[serious]It bothers me" The office fell silent. Sensei was looking at the file cover. The chairman's signature. Three years ago. Ryuto's advance obstruction. The blank pages right before the disappearance. Nagisa glanced at Sensei. Sensei looked at Nagisa too. There were no words between them. But the same thing occupied both their minds——the accusation against Ryuto comes first. But this blank space is nagging. The sound of a delivery truck leaving the first-floor convenience store "Totem" drifted in. Sensei's eyes turned slightly toward the window. He'd been thinking alone this whole time. Trying to move alone. But today, the three of them stood together in that storage room. Nagisa's persistence, Hoshino's index work, Sensei buying time at the door. Any one of them missing, and the document wouldn't have been found. His hands weren't shaking. There was still the next mountain ahead——the accusation against Ryuto. And something else too, the blank space in the disappearance records. Sensei placed his hand on the file and spoke quietly. "[serious]Let's think about what comes next"