Chapter: 17. Daily Life of the Team
“Have you all found out yet?”
“Ah, that old man seems to have been bragging about successfully inviting the S-rank~,” Twelve Lang shrugged and replied, referring to the man with gold-rimmed glasses who is a senior figure in the Special Ring SEMA.
Due to the close cooperation between Tsukuyomi Academy, where Kanade belongs, and Special Ring SEMA, their personnel interact frequently.
“And that old man just asked us to greet the person in charge over at Hoshi Academy.”
Perhaps it was inconvenient to discuss this in the room? Or perhaps Kanade was already planning to head to Hoshi Academy.
So he was leading Twelve Lang toward the break area of the operations center.
Tsukuyomi Academy is located near Europe, which means it is exactly 12 hours apart from Hoshi Academy in terms of time zones. This implies that Kanade wouldn’t have time to rest and would soon be heading to Hoshi Academy in Hawaii.
Days like this, without any time to rest, are not uncommon for Kanade. In the past, during the busy days when he faced the End, he had gone a month without closing his eyes.
He has long since gotten used to such a routine.
However, he felt it was still necessary to grab a cup of coffee.
The door to the lounge slid open silently after the fingerprint recognition, and a waft of coffee aroma and soft lighting greeted him.
A U-shaped sofa occupied the central area, with a black glass coffee table embedded with a touch control panel placed in the middle. Several team members were gathered on that sofa chatting.
One person, upon seeing Kanade and Twelve Lang enter, hurriedly cleared their throat in panic.
The next second, the formerly relaxed team members sitting on the sofa sprang upright.
“Captain’s here!” A female team member straightened her back suddenly, her voice robust.
The others almost instantly switched to a standing posture, backs straight, heels together, their expressions solemn as if they were about to face a military inspection.
Even those who still held half-eaten energy bars quickly concealed them behind their backs.
For a moment, the entire lounge felt like an inspection site for special training, and the air was so tense that even the lighting seemed to dim slightly.
Even Twelve Lang, standing behind Kanade, stood at attention.
Amid the oppressive atmosphere, the one to break the silence was—
“… Are you really planning to carry on this absurd silent inspection as part of your daily routine?” Kanade sighed, his tone tinged with helplessness.
As soon as he spoke, the previously stern faces of everyone relaxed, and the serious expressions and looks of panic seemed to vanish as if they had never existed.
“When we visited Hibi Academy previously, we saw their rigorous inspection methods, and the vice captain said we need some sense of ceremony,” the female team member chuckled.
“Exactly! I think the effect just now suits the captain perfectly.”
“And every time I get to see the captain’s troubled expression, it sweeps away the gloom in my heart.”
“Why is your way of relieving stress built on my suffering?” Kanade couldn’t help but retort about the last remark.
As everyone returned to their relaxed atmosphere, they settled back onto the sofa, and one muscular bald team member even patted the spot beside him, inviting Kanade to sit next to him.
Kanade ignored the invitation and chose to sit on the far side, away from the bald team member.
“Ah, little Bell’s invitation has been rejected by the captain again,” Twelve Lang couldn’t help but tease from behind Kanade.
“It’s all little Bell’s fault for always pulling people to show off his newborn daughter whenever he has free time!”
“Because little Sarah is really cute—”
“—yes, yes, yes, while I don’t deny that, don’t you think showing us her photos more than ten times a day is a bit excessive? If someone didn’t know better, they might think she’s my daughter.”
…
The team members chatted about some meaningless topics as usual.
Kanade silently listened from the side; for him, this was another side of life, a slightly more relaxed environment.
The others seemed accustomed to their captain’s habits and didn’t pay much attention to him.
The skylight in the lounge was in a half-shade mode, with raindrops pattering on it, creating colorful reflections in the light film.
Below, the team members unknowingly steered the conversation toward the topic of Kanade’s earlier discussion with Twelve Lang.
“Captain, are you really planning to go to Hoshi Academy?”
“Mm.” Kanade’s response was as curt as ever.
“Are you going to win the support of Hoshi Academy while their S-rank is away?” The female team member said, as she bit open the corner of a protein bar’s packaging.
“No, I actually haven’t thought that much,” Kanade replied, which was the truth.
The main reason he was going to Hoshi Academy was not what everyone thought.
Although the fact that the S-rank esper “Mimic Light” from Hoshi Academy wasn’t showing up in front of the public recently gave him an opportunity to gain some advantages in negotiating with Hoshi Academy,
In reality, what Kanade truly wanted was to take this chance to see an acquaintance at Hoshi Academy.
Even if that person hadn’t contacted him since then and hadn’t spoken to him anymore, in Kanade’s heart, she was still a friend he cared about deeply.
So he wanted to check on how she had been doing.
“However, winning Hoshi Academy’s support—this is something we will face sooner or later, isn’t it?”
“… Perhaps,” Kanade acknowledged, knowing she was correct.
If he wanted to gather enough resources and information to “revive” Nagi, he would have to become the sole “protagonist,” and to become a protagonist, Hoshi Academy’s support was essential.
“Well, I have a good suggestion,” Twelve Lang chimed in.
“What is it?”
“One of the directors at Hoshi Academy, Professor Amagi Shinkou, have you heard of him, Captain?”
Kanade nodded lightly; he was indeed quite well-known at Hoshi Academy.
“If you plan to win their support, it might be better to start with him. He currently has significant influence at Hoshi Academy, and gaining his approval would bring you closer to success.”
“… Your suggestion sounds a bit like you want the captain to court him.” The female team member couldn’t help but tease.
“Cross-age same-sex—romantic involvement—”
“No thanks, why would I be treated as one of those people?” Kanade immediately interrupted, cutting off the imagination of a certain team member whose mind had already decayed.
“Anyway, it seems that Professor Amagi doesn’t share the same thoughts as you, Captain?”
“…” Kanade silently gazed at Twelve Lang, shifting slightly on the sofa to move away from him.
At that moment, the bald team member explained to Kanade:
“Actually, the professor specifically requested—he wants our Captain to attend their ‘New Student Welcome Dinner.’”
“Me?”
“Ah, and he even designated a dance partner for you, showing an unexpectedly strong insistence.”
“What?” The female team member’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the gossip: “Could it be the professor’s daughter or something?”
Twelve Lang took over the conversation: “I remember… Professor Amagi is over seventy. If it’s his daughter…”
He looked at Kanade with a scrutinizing gaze: “Captain, maybe your dance partner is a middle-aged woman in her forty or fifty—”
“… I feel like I’m becoming more and more like a host to be sold to Hoshi Academy.” Kanade’s mouth twitched.
“‘Heh heh, Mr. Tsukuyomi, if you want my support, you should know what to do~’ or something like that?” Twelve Lang mimicked with a high-pitched voice.
“For some reason, I suddenly don’t want to go to Hoshi Academy.” Kanade replied instantly.
“Well, it may not necessarily be a daughter; maybe it’s a granddaughter?” Another team member wearing glasses calmly interjected: “I heard there’s indeed been a new assistant around him, quite mysterious, and it’s tough to get any information; seems to be quite favored.”
“See?”
Twelve Lang threw up his hands: “Designated dance partner, a new assistant who looks good, and is ‘granddaughter-level,’ isn’t this—”
He paused, glancing at Kanade, “The beginning of a future son-in-law storyline?”
“Have you all recently been watching some dramatic series?”
“Well, it’s rare to visit Hoshi Academy; gaining some favor in the professor’s eyes can’t hurt,” Twelve Lang added: “If starting from that ‘granddaughter’ can help break the ice, it could also be a tactical approach.”
“You mean to let me?”
“Don’t use such unpleasant terms.” Twelve Lang smiled sincerely: “We prefer to call it ‘tactical proximity,’ a part of the information warfare, devoid of emotional factors. Besides—”
He paused, shrugged:
“In this day and age, if you want to achieve your goals, you must sacrifice something.”
“Such as your body.”
“Such as your sense of shame.”
“Such as… cross-dressing?”
One by one, the team members chimed in.
“The last one—what does that have to do with cross-dressing?”
—————–
After Kanade left the lounge to board the private jet waiting for him.
The lounge fell into a brief silence.
The rain continued to fall, and the water droplets slowly slid down the glass of the skylight.
The female team member rested her chin on her hand, her gaze landed on the empty doorway, and she blew a gentle breath: “… Do you really think the captain would be interested in that ‘assistant’?”
“The captain has rejected such behavior countless times, hasn’t he?” The glasses-wearing team member added.
“For Captain Kanade, aside from that long-deceased childhood friend…” The bald team member’s words remained unfinished, but his meaning was clear.
Twelve Lang didn’t answer immediately; he walked to the skylight, looking at the dark sky outside.
He whispered:
“I don’t know.”
After a pause, he continued:
“But at least… if you don’t start, there will never be a result.”
