After the guards from Odyssey exchanged a few words with me, and then reluctantly left under Koyuki's urging.
Inside the temporary holding cell, only me and a few Millennium students remained.
The three members of C&C exchanged silent glances. The atmosphere between them was extremely awkward.
Even for them, as Millennium's top special forces organization, not every mission went smoothly. There were times they only narrowly succeeded after going through dangerous twists and turns.
But situations this miserable were rare, extremely rare.
Especially since this time, it all happened right in front of their master, me, and that annoying, arrogant little brat.
Koyuki suddenly burst out laughing, pointing at them as she doubled over.
"Nihahahahaha! Ah... *moan* being alive really does mean you get to see all kinds of things~! I never thought I'd live to see the infamous C&C get arrested in such a pathetic state!"
But I thought that given her smug attitude right now, if she ever ended up in the hands of those maid operatives, she would gain a much deeper understanding of what "a rare sight in one's lifetime" really meant.
Then Koyuki shook her head as if relieved, sighing dramatically.
"Ahh, freedom really is wonderful! As expected, the Thirty-Six Stratagems say fleeing is the best option!"
Even though she seemed to notice the cold gazes from her three seniors, she completely ignored them and suddenly realized something.
"Ah, speaking of which… Asuna-senpai is still nowhere to be seen as usual, huh? But she's definitely still on the ship, and considering the number of security guards, getting arrested is only a matter of time! Niahahaha! Please wait a bit longer, soon we'll all be nicely gathered together!"
As she said that, she began fantasizing.
"What should we do next~? Maybe just dump you all on some deserted island. Ah, don't worry, Sensei, I definitely wouldn't do that to you!"
Koyuki, already acting as if she had won, turned to me.
"Right, Sensei! Let's aim for S-rank together on this ship! You can spend as much money in-game as you want, I'll just keep selling bonds! Nihahaha~"
…Should I be thanking her for even inviting me?
I glanced at the maid operatives who had been mocked. All of them already looked like they could not be bothered to respond to Koyuki anymore.
Of course, it was also possible they were suffering an unprecedented setback and had fallen into a bit of depression.
As for me, the only one being treated politely, I still decided to try and persuade Koyuki.
If I could make her understand even a little how serious it was to issue bonds under the name of the seminar without permission, it would be best if she could also apologize to her seniors.
This was for her own good.
But before I could speak, the sound of the cell door opening came again.
Then a blond girl with a bright smile walked in. After seeing the situation inside, she said in surprise.
"Ah, Koyuki-chan! So you were here?"
Asuna, the final member of C&C, had arrived here under the escort of security guards.
As expected, even good luck has its limits.
In the end, it would still have to rely on my charm to resolve things.
"Nihahahahaha! Hello there, senpai! And to the security guards as well, thanks for your hard work!"
Koyuki's smile grew even more arrogant as she stepped aside and spread her arms.
"Alright, alright, please come in! Now we'll all be neatly gathered together! Even if you try to resist, it's useless~ This isn't Millennium, so if you do that, there'll be seve—"
However, the guards ignored her and stepped forward instead.
"…Honored guests."
"…Honored guests? Are you talking about me?" Koyuki tilted her head, then quickly arrived at a reasonable conclusion.
"Ah! You mean me and Sensei, right!"
"…No, not you. Sorry, and not you either, Sensei. I'm referring to the C&C members over there."
His tone changed three times in succession.
Cold toward Koyuki, gentle toward me, and respectful toward C&C.
The guard put on a businesslike apologetic smile.
"We sincerely apologize for the earlier misunderstanding. You are all now free to go."
"Eh?"
At that moment, the three girls who had been arrested, along with Koyuki who had come to gloat, all made confused sounds at the same time.
Is my face really this useful?
Or did the Golden Fleece somehow contact the Seminar in this short time and reach some kind of agreement?
Then Karin asked in confusion.
"Released? Why?"
The guard replied.
"By order of Asuna-sama."
"…Sama?"
Noticing this special title, Koyuki tilted her head in confusion.
Even she, who had boosted herself to A-rank through heavy spending, was only addressed as a guest.
"Under the orders of Asuna-sama, who has obtained S-rank VIP status, you are to be released. We have already discussed the situation, including your relationship with Sensei. In any case, we sincerely apologize, and we ask that you accept compensation for the damages incurred during the earlier conflict. As long as compensation is paid, everything else will be forgiven."
S-rank VIP.
A legendary rank that essentially allows its holder to bypass a significant portion of the Golden Fleece's ship regulations.
"Although this development only occurred just now, we still apologize for the earlier inconvenience. Please continue your discussion… Sensei, if anything happens, please call us at any time."
With that, the guards left the cell again and waited outside.
In the somewhat strange atmosphere, Asuna explained.
"Basically that's what happened! I was almost arrested just now, but as soon as they saw the game screen, they all stopped acting? It looks like there were a lot of communications going on, and then they just told me 'please do as you wish,' so I just went with it freely!"
And so, the one whose luck seemed limitless happily announced to everyone.
"In other words, we have to pay a bit of money, but we're free now! Everything's back to normal!"
For some reason, I found this girl, who already had quite a favorable impression of me and once again resolved the situation in a near-miraculous way, even more likable.
So I sincerely praised her.
"As expected of Asuna! That's amazing!"
Clap! That's right, this is exactly the kind of authority I want! Stop dragging it out already!
Where's the narration? Speak, speak!
And at that moment, as if hearing my thoughts, that same calm female voice I had heard before, slightly different from both earlier versions, echoed like an illusion.
["You are to wait for the end, for you shall rest. At the end of days you shall rise and receive your portion."]
…Why does this feel like it's subtly insulting me again?
I fell into thought.
"…Haha."
At that moment, Neru curled her lips into a grin and let out a quiet laugh.
And Koyuki, whose face had been pale since earlier, trembled at that ambiguous laugh from her senior.
Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. Perhaps she understood that at this point, no amount of begging would change anything anymore.
But then again, if you knew this would happen, why act like that in the first place?
This was exactly the kind of consequence Koyuki should have faced for laughing so happily at her seniors earlier.
Neru nodded to herself, then seemed to speak aloud or ask someone else's opinion.
"So, in other words… as long as we pay compensation, we can do whatever we want afterward, right? It won't be treated as an inter-school incident… I can understand it that way, yes?"
Clearly, there was no issue with that interpretation.
So neither I nor C&C objected. At most, we only offered faint approving smiles.
But there was still one person left.
"Um." Koyuki suddenly looked at me and, gathering courage, forced a flattering smile toward Neru.
"Senpai… can't we not interpret it like that?"
Unfortunately, her opinion was not taken into consideration.
"Ha."
Ignoring her completely, Neru closed her eyes and relaxed, as if releasing her restraints.
"…Not bad."
Then she suddenly opened her eyes, which seemed to burn with flame, a cruel smile filled with violent fighting spirit spreading across her face.
The orange-haired girl clenched her fists, rotated her neck, and rolled her shoulders. Her loosened joints cracked loudly, each sound making Koyuki even more fearful.
"Hey, White Rabbit…" she called her junior by code name, speaking in what sounded like concern. "Do you want to run now? I'll give you ten seconds."
But everyone present knew it was nothing more than a cat playing with a mouse.
"…Ah, seriously."
The pink-haired girl looked ready to bolt, but whether by reason or instinct, she cast a pleading gaze toward me.
"Sen-Sensei, please save me…! I'm really going to be killed by Neru-senpai this time!"
I thought for a moment, then sighed.
"Sigh. Neru."
"Yeah, I'm here. What is it, Sensei?"
"Go a bit easier on her. The Seminar's finances aren't exactly in good shape."
Hearing that, Koyuki was dumbfounded.
"H-how could that be!?"
What else did she expect?
I felt that being able to say even this much at this point was already quite kind of me.
"Alright, alright! Got it!" Neru laughed more brightly. "Hey, White Rabbit, want to try begging me too?"
Koyuki said nothing, her expression turning very ugly.
"What a shame. Well then, run properly, okay?" Neru said. "If it ends too quickly, it'll be boring!"
The words had barely fallen when Koyuki let out a scream and bolted toward the exit like a rabbit.
After calmly counting to ten, Neru laughed with satisfaction and began the chase.