The teacher thought.

Misono Mika, what on earth is her true identity?

At first, I thought she was just a friendly student, but the more I dig, the more surprises I find.

The position of Student Council President at Kivotos, an academy city, was far beyond what I initially expected—especially at an academy attended by wealthy girls from Trinity.

Hearing that she could personally operate a helicopter and had been crushed by work for nearly three weeks with less than five hours of sleep each day only confirmed that this was a powerful position with considerable authority and accompanying responsibilities.

Though I benefited from her casually sharing some trivia about Kivotos, questions about Mika started to bloom as the days passed.

When she came to give me chocolate for Valentine’s Day after spending a few hours together, I began to feel a certain level of confidence that her fundamental nature was kind…

But the moment I saw the Defense Office Head, Kaya, addressing her with respect, calling her ‘Ms.’, I sensed something was amiss. This reminded me of the expression ‘Queen’ used by Chief Administrator Rin when referring to Mika.

Having Kaya, who holds an important security position in the Student Council Administration, using honorifics for Mika indicated how highly she regarded her. During their conversation, Kaya showed an attitude of complete trust in Mika, saying that with just one guarantee from her, she would fully believe in me as the teacher.

This directly revealed how highly Kaya rated Mika, and unable to contain my curiosity, I casually asked Arona for information about Mika.

In response, Arona explained how the Trinity Student Council operates and Mika’s position as the first re-election host there. Out of respect for Mika, who had struggled to keep the chaos in Kivotos under control, Arona refrained from mentioning anything about her private life, acting as her last shred of conscience.

Having confirmed all this, I left for Abydos after receiving a letter from the desert, only to find that Hoshino, the only third-year here, seemed to know Mika as well.

I couldn’t help but wonder how well-connected she must be. Brief as it was, after chatting with Hoshino, I managed to earn a promise for Mika’s assistance.

From there, what ensued was truly astonishing—Mika’s great exploits unfolded.

When the Committee for Countermeasures and Shalle couldn’t come up with any solutions, we concluded to capture Vina first, but Mika casually found a breakthrough in that seemingly hopeless situation. It felt almost too good to be true.

The past actions revealed in that process were anything but ordinary. The method she used to discover the solution to this dilemma involved pressuring a major private corporation she had brought down with her own hands last year—an utterly surreal process.

It was quite fortunate that a student with such abilities and influence possessed a fundamentally kind nature. Yet, one suspicious point began to trouble me.

That night when Hoshino asked for help, Mika had clearly mentioned the name ‘Vina’ after hearing about the desert monster.

And today, Mika mentioned that same monster’s name, claiming to have obtained information from the Kaiser Corporation.

There was no doubt about it. This meant Mika had known the name of that monster even before coming to the desert.

Once I recognized that one suspicious point, I couldn’t help but look back on Mika’s behavior and the stories surrounding her. It had only been a little over a week, so most memories were still vivid.

Is Mika really as innocent as she appears?

I heard that when the Student Council President went missing, up until the moment she opened her eyes in Kivotos, she had obtained relevant information in the Defense Office without revealing it anywhere.

If a student can manage that, then hiding her true intentions wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

Furthermore, when Mika described Trinity, she mentioned that the upper-class girls commonly referred to as socialites often speak in a manner that hides their true intentions, making it tiresome to deal with in the past… yet she herself didn’t seem to be excluded from that condition.

And…

I decided to set aside my suspicions.

Assuming she did know about Vina’s existence and identity beforehand, that wouldn’t erase the altruism she has shown thus far.

It’s natural to be suspicious and to question her. However, the Mika that I observed and judged seemed to have hidden those things for genuinely good reasons.

If anything, her relationships appeared to be the problematic aspect.

Having gone to a ramen shop in the city for lunch with Hina, Mika, who had been too busy lately to train properly, mentioned that she’d like to participate in SRT training and disappeared in that direction.

At that point, I called Hina over for a little chat about Mika.

While it’s not right to meddle in other people’s relationships, I couldn’t shake off the thought that there was something inappropriate about it. Especially in the positions of educator and student, it was a relationship that naturally should be questioned, making it hard for me to simply accept and move on.

“For that reason, I’d like to hear a bit from Hina about their relationship… or perhaps any stories about Mika.”

“Teacher, weren’t we going to leave that matter untouched?”

“I said so at the time, but it’s something I can’t simply overlook from my position.”

“Either way, it would be hard to change either Mika’s or my thoughts regardless of what you say. Well, to start, Mika… is very popular. In fact, she’s got so many admirers it’s a problem.”

That struck me as a bit shocking given that I had thought it was a natural thing at this point after considering everything, even if it wasn’t done in secret.

“I know of at least… at an absolute minimum, six who like Mika. If I include those I don’t know about, it wouldn’t be weird if that number doubled.”

“…”

In an instant, I was momentarily speechless as I shut my eyes tight. Rubbing my temples with my fingertips, I gestured for her to continue.

“Nana and Haruna were, to put it simply, the ones who forced this relationship into existence. I can’t say that if it weren’t for us, the outcome would have been different, regardless of who was involved. I’m always grateful to Nagisa for that.”

“Nagisa was indeed the student’s name who allowed that relationship to bloom, right?”

“Exactly. Essentially, Mika always lets us win on purpose, but she tends to do so especially for Nagisa. They seem to have a special… connection? They call themselves childhood friends, but there’s something beyond that which is hard to explain. They really are a well-matched pair. I feel a bit guilty about butting in between them… Oh, I’m sorry, teacher. Let’s pretend you didn’t hear that last bit.”

“Um? I’m not sure what part you mean. Would it be the whole thing?”

“No… more specifically, I’d like you to forget the part where I referred to myself that way. Mika asked me to cherish myself a bit more, but sometimes, I can’t help it when it doesn’t go that way. For instance, I wonder why she likes me in the first place.”

While leaning against the window frame, Hina let out a small sigh. She took out a rocket from her pocket and opened it to show me a photo inside.

“Hey, teacher. In my case, I had resolved to have one last emotional confrontation with Mika and then let go cleanly, but… if she had rejected me, I might’ve ended up clinging onto her foolishly or gotten myself into a terrible state where she wouldn’t have any choice but to look back at me.”

Hearing Hina’s words made me realize this was fundamentally different from a simple romance between students. It took me quite a while to truly accept that the love these kids talked about wasn’t just a passing interest or a silly fling.

“Mika is… the first and only person who understands my struggles better than anyone, who can empathize with me and support me. She introduced me to joy, even when all I knew was to throw myself into work without a moment to rest, rushing home only to sleep. To think that such a person lacked awareness of her own charm, while I have no immunity to it… well, it’s hard to call that bad luck.”

As Hina spoke and reflected on her relationship with Mika, she shyly smiled. It was the very picture of a girl deeply in love, evoking smiles naturally on the faces of those who saw her. Of course, I was no exception.

“Teacher, Mika isn’t the kind of person who plays with people’s feelings. Rather, she’s the type who makes us want to ensure we don’t give her bad influences—someone who selflessly gives everything she has. Nagisa said last Christmas that Mika prepared hundreds of gifts…”

“Wow. That sounds incredibly shocking.”

“Most of those gifts were for students who worked hard under her, but still, it’s impressive. Just the chocolates she received on that recent Valentine’s Day could fill a room, so she ended up sharing them with those around her. Someone like Mika, who receives so much love… while I do have thoughts of wanting to monopolize that love, even receiving a fraction of it makes me incredibly happy.”

“…I get what you mean, Hina. It was probably an impolite question, but thank you for answering so honestly. I feel like I understand what sort of student Mika is and what kind of student you are as well. I can see how much you both care for each other.”

My view that Mika’s relationships weren’t healthy remained unchanged. Even if Hina said it that way, it was clear to me from her words that if Mika had received love completely, she would likely be happier than she is now.

However, I judged that I shouldn’t meddle in relationships that the parties themselves take seriously. Just hearing from someone who knows Mika well led me to conclude that if she were hiding something, perhaps it would be better that it doesn’t surface.

The teacher nodded gratefully before following Hina, who began to head toward the training area where the RABBIT Squad and Mika were. Thanks to her, I was now quite sure that Mika was indeed one of the students I needed to fully trust.

Upon arriving at the training scene, I witnessed Mika dodging Miyu’s shot by merely tilting her head slightly, while effortlessly interacting with Miyako and Saki as if they were out for a pleasant stroll.

If I hadn’t just heard Hina’s words, I might have developed a stronger suspicion.