[Prequel, Part 4] Kayama Esumi: The Story Begins to Move

Somehow, I had a hunch.

Born here in the Trinity Autonomous Region, and before I knew it, already eighteen years old. To be precise, I haven't reached my birthday yet, so I am still seventeen at the present moment, but either way, I would soon turn eighteen.

In addition, though I ended up being held back a grade, as a student, I had reached my fourth year attending Trinity General School. The girls who used to be underclassmen were now all in the same grade. Exactly as one would expect, considering the current social climate of Kivotos, it had entered a period where it wouldn't be strange for the so-called “coming of age story” to begin.

“...I can't... concentrate…”

That was precisely why Kayama Esumi, who should have been quietly holing up in her production room all by herself and drawing away, found her concentration gradually chipped away by a mysterious anxiety and excitement welling up from the depths of her body, and by now, the pencil in her hand had stopped moving in mid-air.

It was an extremely rare sight for an art fanatic who never stopped her brush unless an outsider's disturbance or an urgent matter came up.

......

Esumi placed the pencil—its core still sharply pointed—on the desk and approached the room's window to clear her head.

Her own exclusive production room set up in a corner of the school building. The scenery outside visible from that room's window never changed from year to year, and it wasn't as though anything particularly interesting could be seen there.

Yet, even if it could be said that an unchanging landscape merely spread out before her, it remained the familiar scenery Esumi had constantly looked at for four years.

A landscape that never changed no matter what was or wasn't there gave people a kind of reassurance in a certain sense.

Esumi gazed outward.

Just like always, she leaned against the window and looked at the scenery outside. As if believing that by doing so, her ordinary, uneventful daily life would return.

Yet her faint wish was shattered into pieces by the sudden ringing of her smartphone.

“...I have a bad feeling about this.”

Even within this Trinity Autonomous Region, very few people knew her contact information. Most were customers who bought her art or specialty art material shops, and narrowing it down to students, there were only a handful.

Even among those few students, they were people who could meet Esumi directly without using a smartphone. To put it bluntly, for someone to send a message to her smartphone meant that, whoever they were, it was an urgent matter.

Pulling her smartphone from her pocket, she first checked the caller ID to see just who was reaching out to her.

“Withheld?”

Unfortunately, however, the display on the smartphone screen showed withheld. In other words, an unknown number.

Frowning suspiciously, Esumi found that even as she stood there, the phone's ringing refused to stop. At this rate, it would likely keep ringing forever until Esumi answered.

She let out an annoyed sigh.

If it's a troublesome person, I'll just chat with them briefly and hang up. Thinking that, she operated the smartphone with her left hand and brought it to her ear.

“Yes... this is Kayama.”

With her gaze still directed out the window, she announced herself while hiding her displeasure.

Then, shortly after, upon hearing the person's reply, Esumi widened her eyes slightly.

“The General Student Council?”

Unexpectedly, the withheld caller was none other than the General Student Council, the central organization that shouldered the administration of all Kivotos and operated or managed it.

To be precise, the chief administrative officer belonging to that organization, Nanagami Rin, was Esumi's caller.

In any case, it wasn't the kind of existence that would bother to personally call a single student enrolled in Trinity.

Esumi let her gaze wander slightly here and there, then calmly continued the conversation for the time being.

“How do you know my contact info? I don't recall providing my contact details to the General Student Council.”

It wasn't that she was angry, but suddenly receiving a call from the General Student Council on her personal smartphone was quite a heart-stopping event. Excluding her hospital stay, there had only been one occasion in the past where Esumi and the General Student Council had interacted. In none of those instances had Esumi given her contact details to the other side.

To begin with, Esumi herself didn't even desire to build a relationship where she casually exchanged messages with the General Student Council.

Therefore, it was only natural for her to feel doubt and displeasure as to where on earth they had acquired her contact information.

However, Esumi's doubts were easily cleared away upon hearing Rin's reply.

“...Tsukusu gave you my contact information?”

Tsukusu—she was a student who had served as the head of the Sanctus branch of Trinity General School approximately three years ago, and her full name was Iō Tsukusu.

Currently, having graduated from the academy, she had moved to another region for her hobby of political activities, so she was no longer in the Trinity region.

Even so, she was also someone whose inner thoughts were unreadable despite her appearance, and depending on how you looked at it, she was a person who nonchalantly performed actions that could be seen as either operating in the shadows or being deeply active.

If she were still around, she should already be twenty years old... well, let's put the age matter aside for now.

At any rate, according to Rin, the one who provided Esumi's contact information to the General Student Council was none of other than Tsukusu, so she figured Tsukusu must have had some reason of her own.

She was surprised in the first place that Tsukusu had a connection with the General Student Council, but judging that it was foolish to worry about it, Esumi let out a small sigh and continued her conversation with Rin.

“That person provided my contact information to you guys in the General Student Council, huh. I see... Then, could you tell me about that now—why you contacted me?”

“...Yes... Actually... um…”

“...Nanagami?”

She seemed to hesitate for words.

Esumi removed her gaze from the window and turned it toward her own hand holding the smartphone. At the same time, she began tapping one foot as if keeping rhythm.

Meanwhile, the silence Rin kept on the other end of the call lasted only a few seconds. Yet those few seconds felt agonizingly long.

Eventually, as if resolving herself, words reached Esumi from Rin.

“The General Student Council President... has gone missing.”

Thump, her heart beat loudly.

Was this excitement because the anticipated future had finally arrived, or was it fear?

Honestly, either was fine.

Because it had finally arrived. That period, that beginning, that event.

The starting point and origin of everything, signifying that the true story of this Blue Archive world had begun.

The disappearance of the General Student Council President.

“...I see.”

For now, Esumi muttered those words with a composed appearance.

However, having experienced the beginning of the story that had finally come upon her with her own body, her body trembled slightly. Shaking her body as if to calm herself, Esumi asked Rin after a brief pause.

“If that story is even true, it's going to be major information that shakes all of Kivotos... but why did you tell someone like me personally? Of course I don't intend to misuse it, but conversely, even if I get my hands on that information, it's something beyond my personal handling... What on earth is your purpose?”

“That is... if anything happens to me, to pass that information on to Esumi-san first thing. That is the General Student Council President's... official instruction left to us before she disappeared…”

“......”

Stopping her foot-tapping, Esumi frowned.

She seems to think rather highly of me, that person.

“Truthfully... I feel a strong hesitation in voluntarily providing such confidential information to a single student who belongs neither to the General Student Council nor even to an academy student council. But she must have believed... that if it were you, you would put this information to good use. Therefore, as an administrative officer and as the acting president of the General Student Council, I believe her judgment.”

“...Understood. Since I also operate as an information broker of sorts anyway, I'll handle the provided information with the utmost care. But an unprecedented matter like the disappearance of the General Student Council President—it's a case that will inevitably have to be made public to society eventually, but is that going to be alright?”

To that question, there was no reply from Rin.

Yet that reaction was only natural. The sudden disappearance of the General Student Council President, who possessed abilities so high she was called a superhuman by some.

The operations she had been running smoothly, or the projects she was about to undertake. All of them would be interrupted by her absence, and in the worst case, reduced to nothing. The losses that would undoubtedly emerge for the General Student Council hereafter must be immeasurable.

In particular, Rin, who held the post of chief administrative officer, would temporarily have to bear all of the cases the General Student Council President had been in charge of.

On top of that, the interior of the General Student Council without its top leader must be filled with chaos right now, running about in confusion over how to handle things going forward.

To be honest, that was a much bigger problem than whether or not to make the disappearance public to society.

There was no way an answer would come out just because Esumi asked.

“For now, until an official statement comes out from the General Student Council, I'll spread the information to only a very small number of students on Trinity's side. Even without this, both Trinity and Gehenna are at odds over that treaty she devised, and if the initiator of that vanishes, there's no telling what might happen... Well, the treaty itself will probably disappear on its own eventually, but to steer things smoothly, we need to inform the top of the Tea Party in advance.”

“Yes, please... I leave all matters regarding how to handle this to Esumi-san. If possible, I can only pray that no chaos arises…”

“...Indeed.”

Well, either way, the fading away of the treaty should proceed without any particular problems.

What mattered was what came after.

Led by Kirifuji Nagisa, Trinity itself would move toward realizing the treaty, but if anything, that was where the real show began. The popular, long-running story characteristic of the original Blue Archive set against the Trinity Autonomous Region would finally begin.

Its name is the Eden Treaty Chapter.

As Esumi, who was still enrolled in Trinity, nine times out of ten it was a massively popular long-form story in the original Blue Archive that she was guaranteed to get swept up in. A mega-story starting from the disappearance of the General Student Council President and pulling in Gehenna and Arius as well—that was the Eden Treaty Chapter.

As an Esumi who didn't want to intervene in the original work, it was an event she wanted to avoid as much as possible.

“...Hah.”

Esumi should have graduated from the academy at this time last year.

Of course, since she had been held back, she had faintly sensed that things would turn out like this.

Yet still, upon witnessing the curtain-raising of the original Blue Archive main story, she couldn't help letting out a deep sigh of why did it come to this.

Afterward, deciding she had no other business, Esumi ended her call with Rin, sat down on a nearby chair, rested her body against the backrest, and stretched her arms out wide.

Then, gazing blankly up at the ceiling, she pondered deeply. Several seconds, tens of seconds, minutes. Moving not at all, closing her eyes not at all, she continued to think while simply staring at the ceiling.

“Alright... time to move.”

Eventually, as she had finally reached a decision, she stood up from the chair, headed toward the shelf by the wall with brisk steps, muttered to herself, “I'm sure the materials I can use for cryptography were right here, pulled several documents from the shelf, and put them into her bag.”

Next, she grabbed art supplies like the easel and sketchbook left in the corner of the room, threw on a dark green blazer so she wouldn't get cold, and stood at the room's doorway looking very much like she had finished preparations to go out for drawing.

Then, casting her gaze back out the window, Esumi wore a somewhat lonely expression.

“...I suppose this scenery... is finally coming to an end.”

For the past four years, the unchanging landscape had continued on, but that too ended today.

Now that the story in question had finally begun, this scenery would likely undergo a drastic change in atmosphere before long. Of course, it wasn't just the Eden Treaty Chapter. To Esumi, who remembered the stories beyond that to some extent, her life up until now had all become a thing of the past.

The scenery and events she was about to witness would likely be her second time, including memories of her past life.

It was pure déjà vu.

Smiling as if bidding an eternal farewell and shrugging her shoulders, she took her complete set of art supplies and left the room.

There was only one thing she was going to do from now on. Casually convey the matter of the General Student Council President's disappearance to the Tea Party members and have the currently progressing Eden Treaty temporarily scrapped.

For now, the person currently serving as the host of the Tea Party was Yurizono Seia, but lately her health had worsened again and she frequently became bedridden, so it would probably be best to inform Nagisa, who had acted as the host proxy in her place in the original work as well.

In fact, to prepare for such urgent matters, art-based cryptography that only Nagisa could understand had already been devised. Having tried it out with Nagisa several times in the past, given her, she would surely still remember it.

Therefore, this time she intended to use that cryptography to convey the matter of the General Student Council President's disappearance to Nagisa.

Afterwards, Nagisa should take the lead and start moving toward realizing the Eden Treaty again, so Esumi would wait for an opportune moment, hole up in her production room, and concentrate on her primary activity as a painter.

Yes, sounds good. A wonderful plan.

After that, the girls would start the main Blue Archive plot on their own accord, so Esumi only needed to stay quiet so as not to get in the way. Fortunately or unfortunately, she was naturally good at staying quiet.

Inwardly expressing joy with an “Alright, this should be fine”, Esumi psyched herself up to handle things properly this time around.

Yet, standing before the start of the main Blue Archive plot that had finally arrived, whether out of excitement or panic, uncharacteristically for her, she hadn't properly grasped the gravity of the situation.

The fact that she, who had already met core Tea Party members like Kirifuji Nagisa, Misono Mika, and Yurizono Seia back in middle school and built more than enough trust with them, could no longer casually vanish into the clouds like this.

“Esumi-chan, please!! I want you to become the tutor for Shirasu Azusa-chan, who is transferring to Trinity soon, you'll do it, right??!!”

“...Huh?”

That was a few days after she had safely conveyed the matter of the General Student Council President's disappearance to Nagisa.

Misono Mika, who had rushed into the production room without an appointment, tightly hugged Esumi while holding a transfer application document, burying her face into Esumi's chest just as always, and directed her sparkling eyes straight at her.

Meanwhile, Esumi, who was being hugged and left to her fate with a bewildered expression throughout, tilted her head at the words uttered by the carefree Mika and cast a sideways glance at the document she was holding.

Written upon it were the words Trinity General School Year 2: Shirasu Azusa.

There was no mistake. The key person in the Eden Treaty Chapter in question—the transfer application for Azusa, who would later become a member of the Remedial Class. Seeing the name of such an outrageous person right before her eyes, Esumi's face turned faintly pale, but Mika didn't notice.

“Azusa-chan has a bit of complicated circumstances, you see. It must be tough for her to fit into Trinity, which is full of politicians and young ladies. But Esumi-chan is in a neutral position, and since you're older than me, you're always calm and good at taking care of people, right? That's why I want Esumi-chan to be her tutor!! It's fine, right, Esumi-chan will take it on, right!? Please, I can only ask Esumi-chan for this!!”

“...Misono.”

Leaving aside the question of where on earth that mysterious trust in her came from.

Esumi stared at Mika, who was burying her face in her chest, with an immensely complicated expression.

“Esumi-chan... no good, huh?”

“...Uhm…”

Not only her arms, but wrapping her large wings all the way around Esumi's back, Mika hugged her like an imploring child (though normal children didn't grow wings).

Watching that sight up close, Esumi worried terribly over how she should respond and remained silent for a while.

“...A, Ahahaha... Sorry. It really is a bother, isn't it? Asking for something like this without even knowing Esumi-chan's circumstances... Look at me, what am I doing…”

Then, perhaps feeling a sense of guilt win out upon seeing Esumi's attitude, Mika said that with an awkward smile. The strength in her arms wrapped around Esumi's back naturally weakened.

Even so, Mika made no move to pull away.

No, she surely didn't want to detach herself from Esumi.

Apparently, beyond expectations, Mika might be quite mentally exhausted right now. Or perhaps she was harboring anxiety. If it were normal Mika, even if she occasionally took such actions, she wouldn't get so deeply depressed that it was obvious to an outsider.

“...Hah.”

Esumi let out a small sigh.

Yet that wasn't a sigh of exasperation directed at the girl before her.

“Well... just this once, okay?”

Receiving the transfer application document with her left hand, gently stroking Mika's head with her right hand, Esumi let those words slip out with a smile. At that moment, Mika broke into a radiant smile, poured strength once more into her arms wrapped around Esumi's back, and this time rubbed her face firmly against Esumi's chest. She must be happy. She must be moved.

Even so, Esumi frowned. Because...

“Yeah... it hurts, it hurts, Misono... Soft as my chest may be, it's painful enough that this is too much. My chest is going to get crushed…”

“Thank you... Thank you so much, Esumi-chan!!”

Mika spilled out words of gratitude. It was a voice packed with joy and happiness.

“...Good grief.”

There was no helping it when words of gratitude were thrown at her directly. For now, she decided to ignore this physical chest pain. Well, pain was pain.

Now then, as Esumi let Mika do as she pleased with a weary air, her gaze happened to shift back to the transfer application document in her left hand bearing Azusa's name. It was a splendidly forged transfer application. Even knowing it thanks to her past-life knowledge, an ordinary student would surely be fooled by it.

(That aside... in the end... I'm getting dragged into the story, aren't I... What am I going to do from now on?)

Whatever the case, Esumi worried over her own future path ahead.