After parting ways with Kei, Miyume walked toward the student council room with a light step.

Meeting Kei in the morning, enjoying a delicious breakfast—her mood was soaring.

“Luka-saaan, I’m here for the check-up!”

Skipping through the automatic doors, Miyume gave a sharp salute.

However, no voice responded to her loud entrance.

“…Huh? Luka-san? Are you sleeping?”

The student council room was completely silent.

Miyume tilted her head and looked around.

But Luka was nowhere to be found—not even a trace of anyone’s presence.

Since she had been told the check-up would happen right after breakfast, Miyume nodded to herself, clapped her hands, and said:

“Ah, she’s probably in the infirmary!”

Miyume knew that Luka was practically an insomniac.

Apparently, whenever she tried to sleep, her brain would get overstimulated by stray thoughts.

Anyone close enough to Luka knew she relied on the powerful sleeping pills produced by Zilnius Academy.

“Geez, she’s such a handful.”

Shaking her head in exasperation, Miyume lightly jogged toward the infirmary.

Arriving at the infirmary, Miyume was about to fling the door open but stopped herself.

If Luka was asleep, making noise would be inconsiderate.

“Excuse meee…”

Trying to keep her voice low, Miyume carefully opened the door.

She peeked inside, scanning the room.

Soon, a head of golden hair entered her view.

But it didn’t belong to the person she was searching for.

“Huh…? Toa-chan?”

“Wha—!?”

Startled by Miyume’s voice, Toa flinched and turned around, eyes slightly teary from the shock.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, actually…”

With a troubled look, Toa hesitated before speaking.

“I… ate too much, and now my stomach hurts…”

“Seriously…?”

Miyume couldn’t help but wonder why Toa even came to Zilnius Academy in the first place.

But she kept that thought to herself.

Luka had taught her that commenting on a lady’s eating habits was rude.

(For reference, at the time Luka gave this advice, she was sustaining herself on nutritional supplements and jelly drinks.)

“I couldn’t find any stomach medicine, so I was thinking of just taking this painkiller instead.”

“Wait, wait, that’s Zilnius Academy’s painkiller! It completely numbs all sensation—if you take it, you won’t even be able to walk for half a day!”

“Whaaat!? Why is something like that just lying around!?”

“Because it’s used pretty often.”

It had two primary applications:

Either it was force-fed to students who refused to take breaks,

Or it was force-fed to students who got badly injured in insane experiments.

Either way, someone was always shoving it down someone else’s throat.

“Here’s the stomach medicine. Just a normal one.”

“Normal…?”

“There’s also one for digesting magical beasts and holy relics.”

Miyume shook the glass bottle, tilting her head.

Toa, sensing a deep biological instinct for survival, frantically shook her head.

“I’ll take the normal one!”

Toa quickly grabbed the medicine and swallowed it.

She kept rubbing her stomach, likely from the pain.

“Still… this infirmary is pretty lax, huh? There’s even a sign that says ‘Feel free to take what you need’.”

“Yeah, not exactly ideal.”

It was convenient, but the fact that the infirmary was often unattended was a serious issue.

“By the way, Miyume-chan, why are you here? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Nope! I’m looking for Luka-san.”

“Luka-san? She’s not here.”

Hearing that, Miyume glanced around the room.

There were signs that someone had been lying on one of the beds,

but whoever it was had already left.

“Hmm, this is a problem…”

Miyume frowned.

Luka almost never broke her promises.

She did occasionally forget common sense, but she always kept her word.

She had never once postponed Miyume’s check-ups.

That was likely because any delay would cut into her research time.

“She said we’d do the check-up today. If she’s not here, then where…?”

“There was no one here when I arrived.”

“Hmmm…”

Miyume mulled over it for a moment, then fetched a round stool from the corner of the room.

Placing it next to Toa, she sat down.

“I’ll wait here. Luka-san stops by at least once a day.”

“Are you sure that’s okay…?”

“Even if we say no, she won’t listen. Not me, my sister, or Konie-senpai—none of us can stop her. One time, the three of us even tied her up and threw her onto a bed, but—huh?”

Miyume, who had been talking cheerfully, suddenly paused.

She tilted her head in confusion.

“Wait… when did that happen?”

“Huh? I-I dunno?”

Toa also tilted her head.

They both exchanged puzzled glances, mirroring each other.

“Hmm? I do remember doing it with Konie-senpai and my sister, though.”

“Could it be…”

Toa’s expression turned serious as she spoke.

“Miyume-chan, are you as exhausted as Luka-san…?”

“Eh!? That’s offensive! That was practically slow suicide, you know!?”

It was quite the harsh remark to make about someone who wasn’t even there.

“Hmm, I can’t recall. But in the end, I’m pretty sure Konie-senpai knocked them out with a headbutt.”

“A headbutt…?”

“Yeah. Konie-senpai’s headbutts hurt, you know? She leans her entire upper body back to build momentum before striking.”

Toa wanted to say that she wasn’t particularly interested in the details of the headbutt, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

Miyume had been speaking cheerfully at first, but as the conversation continued, her expression darkened.

“Why… did they end up hating me?”

Her relationship with Konie had been good.

That was how Miyume remembered it.

Miyume’s fearless personality and Konie’s straightforward nature had made them a well-matched pair.

From an outsider’s perspective, they should have been seen as a close senior-junior duo.

“Did I… do something?”

Toa, noticing Miyume’s slumped shoulders, hurriedly tried to reassure her.

“N-no way! There must be some kind of reason!”

“A reason…?”

“Yeah! Something like… an unavoidable circumstance…”

After some hesitation, Toa decided not to mention that Konie had summoned her in the middle of the night.

She was aligning her actions with Kei’s, and more importantly, she had concluded that adding uncertain elements at this point wouldn’t be wise.

And in hindsight, it turned out to be the right decision.

“—Regardless, the fact remains that Konie expelled you.”

They turned toward the voice.

Luka stood quietly at the infirmary door.

She had likely been there for a while, waiting for a chance to speak.

“Luka-san!”

“Miyume… You shouldn’t dwell on Konie. Just forget about her, okay?”

“Huh?”

“Otherwise, you’re only going to keep hurting yourself.”

Luka’s expression was deeply weary as she spoke.

Miyume sighed, assuming she must have been up all night.

“Haah, you stayed up again, didn’t you? Luka-san, you really need to sleep—”

Before she could finish, Miyume suddenly found herself in Luka’s embrace.

This was something Luka would never normally do, leaving Miyume at a loss for words.

“Luka-san?”

“…I’m sorry, Miyume. If I were as wise as President Hishou or Kanon… If I were as strong as Konie… Then maybe I…”

“W-what’s wrong, Luka-san?! This isn’t like you! Don’t tell me you messed up a magic formula and caused another explosion?”

Still confused, Miyume simply patted Luka’s back.

Toa, watching from the side, could only fidget awkwardly.

Luka stayed like that for a moment, but then, as if suddenly coming to her senses, she pulled away from Miyume.

“…I just thought, if I were more reliable, maybe you wouldn’t have had to suffer.”

She smiled as she spoke, but her eyes looked slightly bloodshot.

“Luka-san… You must be really exhausted.”

“Maybe so.”

“But I’ve already been helped plenty by you, Luka-san!”

“…Is that so?”

At Miyume’s bright smile, Luka responded with a short reply.

Then, she picked up a painkiller from the Zilnius Academy’s supply nearby, swallowed it, and staggered toward the bed.

“Miyume, your examination will be in the evening. Until then, find something to do.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

Clearly, Luka was utterly exhausted—she collapsed onto the bed.

Watching this, Miyume gestured to Toa, signaling that they should leave the room.

“Well then, good night.”

Slipping out of the room, Miyume said her farewell before closing the door behind her.

Left alone, Luka curled up and shut her eyes.

“—One must act with reason and measure things with intellect. We must be beasts of reason.”

Who exactly was that statement meant for?

It seemed it would take a little longer for her to fall asleep.

■

At the same time, in a dormitory room at Fectom Academy—

“Strawberry milk, check! Potato chips, check! Game, check!”

Currently, the only one with absolutely nothing to do, Shieru, was in her assigned room, happily pointing at her collection of boredom-killing items.

There was not a shred of dignity in her demeanor as a member of Demonsgear.

“Today, I shall rank up one tier higher.”

For Shieru, gaming was her forte.

Ever since Mizuhi reached S-rank and gained some financial freedom, she had bought Shieru a game.

For Shieru, it had been nothing short of a fateful encounter.

With her computational prowess, she could compete on a professional level in any game.

Ever since arriving at Fectom Academy, Shieru’s daily routine had consisted of either helping Miroku with paperwork or playing games.

At this rate, she was on the verge of becoming a reclusive gaming prodigy.

“Miroku seems to be waiting for something. In that case, I shall remain still and not interfere.”

Justifying her gaming session with airtight logic, Shieru plopped onto her beanbag cushion.

She picked up the controller and was about to start matchmaking when—

“Hm?”

A teleportation magic circle suddenly appeared in front of her monitor.

Shieru blinked in confusion.

“Huh, this… Sister? What’s going on? Wait, don’t pull me! At least tell me the reason! I’m in the middle of a ranked match! I was about to hit Diamond! Today was the day I was going to Diamond!”

Those were her last words before the room became empty.