Late at night, just like yesterday, Hifumi came to my room and sat beside me on the edge of the bed.
Perhaps because she had just taken a bath, the girl's hair was a bit fluffier than during the day, and she carried a fresher scent about her.
I felt an urge to pull her into my arms and take a deep breath, but the solemn expression on her face stripped the room of any atmosphere of a secret late night meeting. Regretfully, I gave up on that thought, straightened my mindset, and prepared to hear what Hifumi wanted to say first.
"Sensei. It's about Hanako-chan…"
Hifumi paused briefly, as if organizing her thoughts.
"…While I was gathering reference answers, I don't know why, but I discovered they were neatly sorted and stored together. Maybe because they were something rare, so they were preserved? I'm not sure why… What was organized were last year's exams. From first year to third year, all the answer sheets were kept together. How should I put it, there was someone who solved all of those exam questions…"
By the time she was halfway through, I had already guessed who she meant.
"It was Hanako-chan," Hifumi said. "After seeing the first year results yesterday, even though it was kind of peeking… Hanako-chan already got perfect scores on every exam back when she was a first year last year, including courses that even the elite third year class found difficult… You could say she was completely top tier…"
I had expected something along these lines, but even so, I had not imagined it would be this extreme.
…So that's how it is. This is the level of a prodigy known throughout all of Trinity, seen from the perspective of the leader of the Sisterhood.
Come to think of it, merely being generally excellent would indeed not be enough to catch the attention of the school's upper ranks.
"When I saw the first year test results, I thought Hanako-chan must have 'suddenly had her grades drop this year.' But looking at this, that's not the case."
I reassured her. "It's not a big problem. Hanako deliberately failed back then, so there must have been some reason she couldn't talk about. And now she scored over sixty on the make up exam, didn't she? Plus, during these past few days of tutoring, she's been doing her best teaching Azusa and Koharu."
Hifumi showed a reserved smile. "Yes, that's all thanks to you, Sensei."
I shook my head. "Not at all. It must be Hifumi's efforts that reached Hanako."
Hearing that, Hifumi's eyebrows drooped slightly. "Ah wah wah… Sensei, you're doing it again… Clearly, it's because something happened between you and Hanako-chan in the days before the first evaluation exam, right?"
Was she guessing? Or was it really that obvious?
Or perhaps Hifumi's affection for me far exceeded what I had imagined, and she had been quietly observing me all this time.
Being honest was not impossible, but it involved secrets Hanako did not want outsiders to know. I also did not want to say something vague that would only make Hifumi worry, so I decided to play dumb and see if I could slip past it.
"Uh, what are you talking about?"
After saying that, I could not help wanting to press my hand to my forehead and sigh. Even I felt my acting was far too clumsy when facing pure and kind Hifumi.
"Eh? Is that not it?" Hifumi asked doubtfully. "I remember there was a day when you and Hanako-chan seemed really worrying… But after that, you suddenly became closer, and it felt like you shared some little secret… Was that just my imagination…?"
She really had a sharp nose for these things.
I rubbed my nose and could only admit as vaguely as possible. "How should I say it, if you ask whether something happened, then yes, something did happen. But how should I put it…"
"Um… I'm sorry, did I put you in a difficult position, Sensei?"
Hifumi gave me an apologetic smile. "You don't need to tell me the details. I just wanted to say thank you, for always quietly doing so much for everyone."
Those words sent a warm current through my chest. Unable to suppress the impulse in my heart, I apologized once, then carefully pulled the angel like girl into my arms.
As for my forwardness, Hifumi, who had already experienced it once yesterday, did not resist.
Feeling the warmth of her body, I spoke sincerely.
"The one who should be thanking you is me."
"…Ehehe." Hifumi laughed foolishly, hugging me back and burying her face in my chest. "Sensei, you're just like Peroro-sama…"
How am I anything like that?
Being told something so hurtful, even knowing it was meant as pure praise in her eyes, still left me deeply wounded.
Especially since after she said that, her small hands seemed to start wandering, as if she really had taken me for a plush toy.
If I were not a gentleman who understood how to restrain his own anger, with Hifumi bullying and humiliating me so brazenly, there might have been bloodshed today.
The key issue was that this place was also not very appropriate.
In any case, I once again tearfully let this deceptively dangerous girl take advantage of me for quite a while, until she suddenly realized how late it was. After apologizing repeatedly, she returned to her room, leaving behind me, still simmering with stress and completely unable to sleep.
After washing up, I buried myself in paperwork, trying to distract myself and bring back my drowsiness.
But just as I was starting to feel it, my phone rang with a special notification tone.
It was a message from Himari.
She opened with a long, rambling preamble.
After quickly skimming past the parts where she bragged and fished for praise, I finally reached the main point I had been waiting for.
Himari: …So, you should be mentally prepared by now, right?
Me: Of course. Stop dragging it out.
Himari: Mm. Even after dozens of fund transfers, even a super genius beautiful girl hacker can't trace it back to the original source.
Himari: But within this chain of transfers, I noticed one anonymous account's past transaction records.
Himari: After investigating, it's not hard to infer what it was used for.
Himari: You can think of it as the dirty work of a certain foundation.
Himari: As for what comes after that…
Himari: Sensei.
Me: Yeah, I'm here.
Himari: In principle, even though I don't hold an official position,
Himari: someone like me, who can more or less be considered part of Millennium's upper ranks, shouldn't interfere in other schools' internal struggles, you know?
Internal struggles… huh?
I frowned at first, then let out a relieved sigh.
I suppose that figures. If no one within Trinity had helped, given Azusa's academic situation, there was no way she could have passed the entrance exam.
But according to Himari, the person who helped Azusa transfer into Trinity likely held an even higher status than I had originally imagined, most likely the head of some faction.
Seia, Nagisa, Mine, Sakurako, and…
Just then, I received a new Momotalk message.
Mika: Do you remember?
Me: …What?
Mika: The time for you to make good on your promise might be coming.
Mika: You owe me a favor, you know.
Me: Yes. I remember it clearly.
Mika: Hehe, that's good. So then.
Mika: I want you to repay me.
Staring at the message sent at this moment by the proud and willful girl, I fell into deep thought.
Me: I understand.
Mika: What the heck, you have a likable side too.
Mika: Then, see you tomorrow. I'll come to the annex to find you, so remember to get up early.
After that, thinking about the meeting the next day, I lay awake for a long time, unable to fall asleep.