Chapter 53: Calm Before the Storm

"Aika-chan, Masa-chan!"

Right after our afternoon classes ended, Maiha came running over with her eyes sparkling.

"What happened? You seem terribly excited…"

"Look at this!"

She held out her phone, and on the screen was a website that looked like an advertisement for a food truck.

"Um… ice cream?"

"Yep yep! Today, a truck selling super-rare ice cream is coming to Trinity!"

Rare ice cream… If it were midsummer, I’d have jumped at it, but winter was almost here, and lately it had been getting a little chilly…

"The season for ice cream has already passed."

I hesitated over whether I should say that, but Maasa stated it plainly. As expected, she didn’t hold back…

"But it’s limited to the first 100 people! If we miss it now, we might not get to eat it again for months!"

Even that didn’t discourage Maiha—she just kept pushing, hanging on like stretchy Turkish ice cream.

"…If you insist that much, then I suppose we have no choice."

"I don’t mind accompanying you for a bit, at least."

The moment she heard our replies, Maiha lit up with a bright "Yay!" She really was impossible to resist.

Since Trinity’s Fifth Back Gate—the selling location—was quite far, we took out the Royalty to avoid being late for our upcoming class with the Arius students.

"They’re as noisy as ever, those foolish people."

Maasa sounded genuinely bored as she looked toward the group still staging their demonstration condemning Mika.

"Revoke the hearing’s verdict and expel her!"

"No mercy for the witch!!"

The hearing had already finalized everything, so overturning it was impossible. Their persistence was almost admirable… maybe. But it still felt pointless.

"…By the way, where is the ice cream truck?"

"I don’t see it anywhere… This should be the correct location, though…"

All we saw were the idle protesters and Masami trying to keep them under control—nothing resembling an ice cream truck. Then Maiha hopped out of the vehicle and walked toward the demonstrators.

"Maiha-san…!?"

I thought she was going to complain, but she instead approached them with a pleasant smile. Just in case, I rested my hand near my Webley revolver, ready to draw it if needed.

"Hello~! Can I ask you something~?"

"What, did you come here to get in our way?"

Even though Maiha stayed perfectly gentle, the protesters snapped back with open hostility. Maasa and I exchanged a look and sighed quietly. These people were hopeless…

"No, no~! I just heard the ice cream truck was supposed to be here, so I came for that~"

"Ice cream? Oh, that? We shooed it away. It was in the way."

"In the way… Do you know where it went?"

You’re the ones in the way, clearly. I swallowed that thought and simply observed.

"How would I know? Are you done? If you’re not participating in the protest, then get lost!"

After being verbally shoved aside, Maiha drooped her shoulders and returned to us. I was trying to think of how to cheer her up when—

"Hmm…? What on earth is going on here?"

"What is this crowd? Waiting for ice cream? Holding weird signs instead of lining up properly—how rude."

"Huh…? This is the right place, isn’t it? …Yeah, Trinity Fifth Back Gate, 3 p.m., limited chocolate ice cream, first 100 customers… yep, that matches…"

"I don’t see the truck anywhere though."

…The After-School Sweets Club. It seemed they had also come for the limited ice cream. They looked confused by the tense atmosphere, glancing around uneasily—and then Airi’s gaze met mine.

"A-Aika-san…! The Tea Party uniform… So what you said back then was true… No, wait, what is all this…?"

"Um…"

I didn’t know how to explain, but Maiha started in my place.

"Sorry, we came to buy ice cream too, but these people said they chased the truck away…"

"Chased it away!?"

Yoshimi shouted in disbelief, and the protesters stepped toward the Sweets Club and Maiha.

"It was getting in the way of our demonstration! Bringing down Misono Mika is far more important than some ice cream."

"Aren’t you Mika supporters? Then you should protest with us! Wouldn’t it feel great if that annoying girl got expelled?"

But the Sweets Club girls stared back in blank confusion.

"Mika?"

"Who’s that?"

"And what do you mean ‘more important than ice cream’!?"

"Um, I think they mean Lady Misono Mika of the Tea Party?"

Even after Airi explained, the other three tilted their heads. I guess general students really didn’t care much.

"Tea Party? But today’s not a tea gathering. We came here for ice cream."

"Isn’t the Tea Party Trinity’s student council?"

When Natsu said that, Kazusa and Yoshimi exchanged matching looks of: “Never heard of it.” I mean, technically, I was part of the Tea Party too…

"Good grief… It was written in the school brochure, wasn’t it? Didn’t any of you read it?"

"You're so loud! You thought it was about an actual tea party too, didn’t you!?"

Natsu looked away and tried to whistle… and failed. Apparently, the accusation hit home.

"Anyway, there’s this beautiful lady named Mika-sama in the Tea Party, but it sounds like she got caught up in some incident… maybe this protest? Maybe that’s related."

"Really?"

"I mean, most people don’t care that much about the student council anyway, right?"

"We’re, um… actually part of that Tea Party, you know…"

At Maasa’s words, the three—everyone except Airi—stared at her in shock. Did they really not notice even with the uniforms? Were regular students all like this, or were these girls just particularly clueless? While I was thinking that, Airi turned back to the protesters.

"Um… so, where exactly is the ice cream truck…?"

"Well, that is…"

Maiha was about to answer in Airi’s place when one of the anti-Mika students cut in.

"Ugh, you’re seriously getting on my nerves! If you’re not helping, then get lost already!"

She shoved Airi and Maiha.

"…"

A sharp bang rang out—like a handgun firing. When I opened my eyes, my revolver was in my right hand, faint smoke curling from the barrel. And ahead of it, the student who had shoved Maiha staggered and collapsed.

"What do you think you’re doing to my friend?"

"Eek…!"

"S-so you finally show your true colors! You’re one of Misono Mika’s supporters!!"

A blend of “oh no, I messed up” and “good, they deserved it” churned inside me. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, my body and mouth moved ahead of my better judgment.

"Don’t you dare run your mouth at me."

There were… one, two, three, four, five of them reaching—or attempting to reach—for their guns. They all ended up incapacitated.

I didn’t have time to reload. I tossed the revolver into the corner of the truck bed and cranked up the Pom-Pom Gun.

"Whoa—senpai, you can’t just start a shootout here!"

"I-Ichika-senpai… we should retreat, we’ll get dragged into this…!"

"Yeah… didn’t expect she’d be the same kind of fighter, huh…"

Fire. Keep cranking. One shot, two shots, three… fourteen.

I moved to reload for another sweep—

"I… A-Aika!"

A familiar voice. Masa?

"Masa-san…?"

"Aika, you’re going too far."

"Eh…?"

When I calmed down and looked ahead, the protesters lay scattered like fallen soldiers, while Maiha, the After-School Sweets Club members, and the Justice Task Force had taken cover some distance away, watching the scene.

"Aika-chan, what happened!?"

"Masa-san… um…"

There was really no other way to describe it: I had simply lost my temper.

"Um… thank you for saving us…?"

Apparently deciding the danger had passed, the After-School Sweets Club approached us.

"I was kind of annoyed, so thanks to you, Aika, I feel better now."

"Those idiots even shoved our Airi too."

"Well… um… I only acted because they laid hands on Maiha-san and I hit my limit… I’m not sure it’s something to be thanked for…"

Feeling a little down, I noticed Ichika had also approached the truck.

"Um, sorry… technically this counts as causing trouble on school grounds, so… could you come take a statement?"

"Yes… that’s right…"

"…Ichika-senpai."

Maasa called out as if she had something to say, and Ichika responded.

"I know, but those protesters were in the wrong, so it won’t be treated as a serious offense."

"…Yes, please."

Following Ichika, we went to the Justice Task Force room for questioning and were released afterward. I was fined for the damage near the school gate… but since the protesters were largely at fault, and since I showed remorse with no prior incidents, the punishment was only a verbal warning.

As for the cost of repairing the pavement, gate structures, and landscaping…

"I’ve already taken care of the payment."

"N-Nagisa-sama…!?"

I’d been called to the office, expecting a scolding, but instead Nagisa had covered the costs. In other words, there was practically no punishment for me.

"Why… is that…?"

"Aika-san, you belong to the Filius faction, correct? Then naturally, as the top of Filius, it’s my responsibility to take responsibility."

Well, that did make sense. Even though our orders for the shipbuilding engineering department had drained some savings, I wasn’t so poor that I couldn’t have paid the compensation myself… but it was fine that Nagisa took care of it.

"And besides…"

"…?"

"Those kinds of people won’t understand unless they experience some pain firsthand."

Nagisa said this with a bright, cheerful smile. So it was a sort of ‘thank you’ for removing a group that had been unfairly harassing her childhood friend Mika. That made sense.

"…Let’s keep what happened just between us, okay?"

"…Yes, of course."

This time everything ended without incident, but I resolved to act more calmly next time… and left Nagisa’s office.