As soon as I entered the Seminar office, I saw Yuuka lying perfectly straight on the floor. Her eyes were closed, her hands folded over her chest, and a peaceful, serene smile rested on her face.
The sight gave me quite a scare, but after taking a closer look, I saw that there was a mattress beneath her and a blanket covering her. She was probably fine.
When Noa noticed my arrival, she stood up, walked over to me, and explained in a lowered voice:
"After hearing the news, Yuuka-chan fainted. I've already had medical staff examine her. They said she's perfectly fine, just overwhelmed emotionally for a moment. A good rest should be enough."
Having personally been taught how to handle accounting-related work, I naturally understood just how devastating the complete destruction of the ledgers would be for an accountant.
I glanced at the white-haired girl beside me, her face full of concern. She was probably the one who had arranged her friend into this almost funeral-like pose.
So I pulled out my phone and openly snapped a few pictures of Yuuka's adorable sleeping face. After exchanging and appreciating them with Noa, who had apparently already done the same thing, we finally got down to business.
The matter was too serious to explain properly over the phone or Momotalk. It had to wait until we met face-to-face.
According to reports, just moments ago, Habu, the former Millennium communications-unit AI, now known as the Decagrammaton Prophet Hod, had launched a terrorist attack against Millennium from underground.
Although there were no casualties, and nobody had even directly confronted Hod, the attacker had not only destroyed the electronic ledger data but had also burned every paper backup copy, causing immeasurable losses to Millennium.
"The President was absolutely furious about it as well," Noa said softly. "She believes this was retaliation from the Decagrammaton and says it's the perfect proof supporting her Decagrammaton threat theory. She also declared that no matter how difficult things become, she will secure ample funding for the Super Phenomenon Task Force."
"So it was the Decagrammaton!" I exclaimed in sudden realization. "Then even if the timing's a little suspicious, everything makes perfect sense!"
"Exactly, exactly." Noa nodded and sighed helplessly. "There's really nothing that can be done about it."
After lamenting the situation for a while, I suddenly asked:
"Do you believe that?"
"Nope. What about you?"
"Heh. I don't either."
What kind of coincidence was that?
I'd only just secretly asked Noa to investigate the accounts, and then Hod, whose true identity nobody had even seen, suddenly appeared and destroyed every last ledger?
I let out a cold laugh.
"No wonder someone's popularity is this bad. Sometimes I think Himari's right about her."
Noa smiled and gently advised me.
"Sensei, without evidence, you shouldn't make accusations."
I had to admit she was right.
Many times, even when anyone with eyes could guess who the culprit was, sufficient evidence was still necessary.
Without evidence, it was all just suspicion.
But the more important issue was...
"Even if I got evidence, I wasn't planning to do anything to her! That's exactly why I kept this from Yuuka in the first place!"
Or rather, my intention in finding evidence had always been to first confirm who was taking advantage of "Koyuki privately issuing bonds" before deciding what to do.
I said irritably, practically naming the person outright:
"It's not like Koyuki didn't actually sell bonds without authorization. Being punished for it is perfectly reasonable. If someone really had circumstances they couldn't talk about, and needed to secretly divert funds that they already had the authority to control, it's not like I'm some inflexible fool who can't adapt, right? Couldn't we have just privately compensated Koyuki and Yuuka in some other way? Why did things have to escalate to this point?"
I genuinely couldn't understand what was going through Rio's head.
Did she really distrust me that much?
And worse, she had dragged innocent people into it.
What exactly had Yuuka done wrong?
"Although it isn't directly related to what you're talking about, Sensei, I'd like to add a little side note."
Noa suddenly spoke up.
"The President mentioned earlier that she intends to give Yuuka-chan some time off. Until her vacation ends, the President plans to personally handle the current mess herself."
She had probably waited until now on purpose before telling me this.
As for the reason...
Knowing a certain someone's personality, she was undoubtedly listening in secretly right now.
My expression softened slightly, though my tone remained unpleasant.
"That at least makes it somewhat acceptable. But Rio's already overwhelmed with work as the Seminar President. If she gets dizzy while doing the books and accidentally writes too much, too little, or misses something entirely, there won't be anyone around to correct her."
"That concern is understandable," Noa said after a brief pause. "However, I believe President Rio will be sufficiently meticulous when handling the accounts."
I nodded.
"Let's hope so."
After saying that, I waited a little longer.
Yet no communication came.
Even after hearing all that, she still managed to stay put.
Rio really was patient.
But with her acting like this, there wasn't much I could do. Instead, I used Momotalk to arrange a meeting with someone else.
Himari, who could practically be described as mortal enemies with Rio, agreed immediately and promptly sent me a set of coordinates.
After saying goodbye to Noa and to Yuuka, who was perhaps dreaming of a world where the ledgers had never been destroyed, I followed the coordinates to a corridor in Millennium's club building.
Just as I was wondering where Himari was, something rapidly approached accompanied by the sound of wind.
I recognized it as one of Millennium's security drones.
After stopping in front of me, it spun in place once as though signaling for me to follow.
So I did.
The drone guided me all the way to the deepest part of the floor, stopping before an utterly ordinary clubroom.
I glanced at the plaque beside the tightly shut door.
It read:
[No Ventilation • Pi Recitation Club]
...Millennium actually had a club like this?
Compared to that, the Game Development Department suddenly seemed fairly productive.
At that moment, Himari's voice came from inside the room.
"I've been expecting you, Sensei. Please come in."
The door then opened automatically.
The security drone and I entered the clubroom one after the other.
The first thing I saw was a white-haired girl sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a faint smile.
"Hehe, Sensei, welcome."
After speaking, Himari pulled up a holographic display and operated it a few times.
"Thank you for guiding him. Please return to your assigned duties."
The drone that had led me here immediately flew back out through the open doorway, after which the clubroom door closed automatically.
"Since I'm a frail and delicate beauty, personally going out to greet you would have been difficult. So I hacked into a nearby security drone that happened to be patrolling around the clubroom... no, I merely borrowed it for a little while."
After explaining, Himari smiled again.
"Those children are all such good, adorable kids, don't you think? I felt they were perfect guides."
As for who would handle the security duties those drones had originally been assigned...
All I could say was that Millennium really had an unusually large number of self-centered problem children.
Fortunately, my level of handsomeness was more than enough to deal with them. Otherwise, things would have been awkward.
"By the way, what is this place?" I asked. "When I came in, I saw that rather strange club name on the sign. Is this the former clubroom of some disbanded club?"
However, upon hearing my guess, Himari visibly shuddered and looked deeply wounded.
"Eh...? Is... is the name really that strange...? I spent three days and three nights thinking about it before finally coming up with a name that was elegant, intelligent, and could conceal my identity..."
Her expression became extremely dejected.
"I thought it was the perfect name for a genius beautiful girl that all of Millennium could be proud of..."
Seeing this, I thought for a moment before asking:
"Was it actually three days, one hour, four minutes, and one minute fifty-nine seconds?"
The moment she heard that, Himari brightened up again.
"Hmph hmph~ I knew Sensei would understand! You agree it's a wonderfully distinctive name, right?"
I nodded.
"It certainly is. So why did you choose to meet here?"
Himari pondered briefly.
"Simply put... let's see. You could call this my own secret hideout. Unlike the other clubrooms I normally use, which are all under BIG SISTER's surveillance, I hacked into Millennium's management system and issued a permit for an unused clubroom. Then I turned it into my personal space."
With her hacking skills, achieving a state of invisibility beneath Millennium's dense network of surveillance cameras and security drones was hardly difficult.
In other words, this was a very safe place where Rio couldn't monitor us.
I sincerely praised Himari's intelligence, and she responded with an extremely pleased, smug expression.
"I have no weaknesses. I am invincible! Hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph."
At that moment, my phone suddenly chimed.
A Momotalk message.
Pausing my conversation with Himari, I opened my phone with a bit of anticipation.
But the sender still wasn't Rio.
Instead, it was someone unexpected, yet also entirely reasonable.
Yukino: Sensei.
Yukino: May I meet with you sometime in the next few days?
Yukino: There is something extremely, extremely important that I wish to discuss with you in person.
Yukino: Although my movements have recently become much more restricted, I will do my best to find a suitable opportunity to come out.
At a time like this, Yukino suddenly requesting a meeting was probably directly connected to the reason Kaya had sought me out earlier.
And even if it wasn't, there was no reason for me to refuse such a rare opportunity to meet her.
So I immediately sent back an affirmative reply.