[Blue Archive] I am the Trinity Checkpoint Chief – Chapter 20

It feels a bit awkward to start off like this, but I need to let out some curses.

Damn it.

We’re lost.

All I can see are city streets stretching beyond the horizon. All I can feel is the persistent discomfort that lingers despite the air conditioner blasting at full power. And all I can foresee is driving aimlessly through these endless streets for hours, without a single thought in my head.

Good Lord. The unholy trinity of evil has brought about a catastrophe. Oh foolish Trinity maidens, the desert god has declared that you’re destined to fry, so fear not.

If you want to escape, keep your foot on the accelerator for a whole day.

Ugh, the damn map is the real problem. Isn’t it common sense for a map seller to update their data every time new information comes out? Selling 20-year-old maps and ignoring the customers who suffer because of it—those shops are tucked away in some forgotten corner.

Because of that, I’ve been caught up in a truly astonishing situation for hours now.

Where the map says there’s a building, there’s only sand. Where it says there’s a highway, there’s sand. Even where it says the main campus of Abydos High School is supposed to be—yep, you guessed it, sand.

This is magic, I tell you, magic! Everything’s molecular structure is turning into sand!

“Senpai… I’m dying from the heat…”

“Ritsuko-chan, just keep lying down. If you get any more sun, you’re done for. Sayuri-san, do we have any water left?”

“There’s water, but the temperature’s the problem. I’m starting to get a headache too. Are you okay, Senpai?”

Yeah, sure. One of the three of us is already out of commission, and another is on the verge of collapsing if we push any harder.

At least the vehicle’s wide enough for two of them to lie down, which is a relief. The fact that my body still feels somewhat normal is another small mercy. At least we won’t starve to death trapped in this maze of streets.

The outside temperature is pushing 40°C (104°F). Thanks to the cloudless, sunny weather, the sunlight is absolutely scorching. Even with the air conditioner on and the windows closed, the driver’s seat is still at 30°C (86°F), proving I underestimated Abydos.

If I’d known it would be like this, I would’ve kept my mouth shut and found a way to backtrack quietly.

Still, there’s one upside I can mention.

With no other cars in sight on these endless streets, I can floor the accelerator. That’s an undeniable, massive advantage.

I put all my strength into the pedal. Let’s hit max speed, race faster than the clouds drifting in the sky.

“S-Senpai, is this okay?!”

“80, 90… Wow, 95 miles per hour! These guys did a hell of a job modding the engine!”

“That’s not what I mean!!”

Ah, I’m feeling good now.

If I drove like this in Trinity, I’d crash into the car in front of me in three seconds flat and get dragged off to the Justice and Discipline’s office. They’d probably grill me, asking why I was driving like a maniac in the middle of the city.

If you’re lucky, instead of the Justice Task Force, you’d get picked up by the Valkyrie Public Safety Bureau and trade a bowl of katsu-don for some common sense. I don’t know where they get it, but their katsu-don was pretty damn good.

“Speaking of katsu-don, do they make it in-house at the cafeteria?”

“Forget the katsu-don and slow down! You’re gonna kill us!!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll slow down.”

After a wild sprint, I hit the brakes a few kilometers later. Driving at top speed constantly would wreck the fuel efficiency. If I keep going thoughtlessly, we’ll burn through 800 kilometers’ worth of fuel in just 400.

After relieving some stress, I don’t have to worry about headaches for a while. To avoid drowsy driving, let’s listen to some music.

“Sayuri-san, wanna play some tunes? Is Ritsuko-chan doing okay?”

“Ritsuko-chan’s sleeping now. Music’s a good idea. I didn’t think of that.”

Millennium-Technology made it possible to include music playback as a standard feature in the new Hifumi-chan. Back in the old Hifumi-chan days, cell phones didn’t have enough volume, so we had to carry cassette tapes. Times have changed.

Click. I pressed the button, and a blue screen popped up with a search bar and a music list. They didn’t bother including a navigation system, which would’ve been useful, but they added a music player I didn’t even ask for. I’d love to know why, but it’s too late to ask now.

I selected a favorite song, and soon enough, the music echoed inside and outside the vehicle.

And Sayuri-san was not impressed.

“Ugh… Senpai, your taste in music is so predictable.”

“If you don’t like it, just say so. I’ll switch to something you like. You know me—I’m not picky about music.”

“…It’s not that I don’t like it.”

Actually, she didn’t hate it.

A few minutes later, I could tell because Sayuri-san was quietly humming along and bobbing her head.

See? Our music tastes are secretly pretty similar.

With the music playing, the atmosphere feels much better. Of course, the streets still look the same, we still have to keep driving straight, and the blistering midday heat is still the same. But music—it changes a lot.

If we keep moving until the fuel runs out, something’s bound to show up. There’s no way it’s just these same streets for a thousand kilometers.

Let’s see if the now-infamous Abydos beats me, or if I beat it.

Okay, sure, I did mentally declare war on Abydos High School.

 

But I definitely didn’t want to win like this.

“Senpai, drive faster! We need to turn right seven blocks ahead!”

“…This is insane.”

I mean, I wasn’t even thinking about it.

The idea that every helmet gang in the area would mistake our truck for Kaiser Loan’s cash transport and come after us? Yeah, that wasn’t on my radar.

BOOM! An RPG warhead whizzed right past the window. Buildings crumbled, and the truck shook as we barreled through the debris. Some helmet gang students opened fire, and the sound of bullets ricocheting was crystal clear. I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel as hard as I could.

“Argh! Senpai, drive safer!”

“It’s not my driving skills—it’s that this truck is too damn big!”

The massive truck, nearly 15 meters long, swerved abruptly. Unlike the front wheels, which turned smoothly, the rear wheels spun out, screeching sharply. The scenery outside the window changed in an instant, from a cluster of small houses to the heart of the city.

That screeching noise wasn’t just ear-piercing—it was the sound of the tires getting shredded. These aren’t regular car tires; they’re military-grade, but even they can’t handle that kind of force. A few more stunts like that, and they’ll be completely bald.

Of course, that also means I’ll be shelling out a fortune for new tires when we get back to Trinity. I can already hear the tire shop owner laughing from here. No more drifting until we reach the checkpoint.

“From what I can see, we’ll need to do that a few more times. About 300 meters ahead, turn left at the intersection and head toward the roundabout.”

“A roundabout? Nah, that’s a cloverleaf interchange. If you turn left at the intersection, you hit the tollgate, which leads straight to the cross-country highway.”

“Oh, you’re right. How do you even remember this stuff?”

I’ve been living at checkpoints for years—there’s a trick to it.

From the days when there wasn’t a single streetlight on the way to the checkpoint, to now, I’ve survived by getting my head bashed in and learning the hard way.

They say pain is youth, so I endured, but man, it was rough. Itsuka-senpai just tossed me a map ten years ago and left me to fend for myself, so I had to remake the damn thing from scratch—

BOOM!

“—Goddamn it! Every time I try to think, shit hits the fan!”

“That was an artillery shell. If it’s from Abydos, it’s probably an 8.8cm, right? It’s holding up well.”

“Pull Ritsuko-chan further inside. We don’t want her waking up.”

Anyway.

These helmet gang kids have no mercy. They don’t care what kind of story or circumstances you’ve got. If it’s not theirs, they threaten you, and if you resist even once, they start shooting.

Their behavior’s a bit much, to be honest. I get that they cower before the strong and bully the weak—that’s understandable. But sometimes, they don’t know their place and pick fights with the strong, like right now.

A massive intersection, slicing through the heart of Abydos, came into view.

Sand dunes were scattered everywhere, and the signs were long gone, leaving no trace.

But one thing was certain: a left turn here would mean escaping this godforsaken Abydos.

I floored the accelerator, closing the distance of a few hundred meters in no time. The helmet gang was chasing us, but they wouldn’t follow us onto the highway.

Freedom was just a few minutes away.

 

At the intersection, a massive battle was unfolding.

The students of Abydos High School’s Countermeasures Committee and Problem Solver 68 were clashing with the Prefect Team, who had come to apprehend the troublemaking Problem Solver crew.

Naturally, the Prefect Team had far more students, but there was one thing only one of them noticed.

“Sensei, your orders.”

“Got it, Shiroko. Deploy the drones at a 30° angle forward!”

The Abydos Countermeasures Committee had a Sensei.

Just a few weeks ago, he appeared, inherited the authority of Sanctum Tower, and normalized D.U.

By chance, his first act as Schale’s advisor was to assist the Abydos Countermeasures Committee.

He came to grab a bowl of ramen, only for the shop to get blown up, and now he was caught in a preemptive attack by unfamiliar Gehenna students. Yet, Sensei calmly supported the students’ fight. That was undeniably a stroke of luck for the Abydos students.

In fact, they were overcoming their numerical disadvantage and pressing the offensive against the Gehenna Prefect Team.

Shiroko Sunaookami, a second-year student at Abydos High School, thought to herself:

Maybe, just maybe, with Sensei’s help, they could actually win this battle.

Just a few more minutes…

Of course, that was before an unidentified self-propelled gun came barreling in from a few hundred meters away.

Rumble.

The sound of four wheels grinding against the asphalt drowned out everything at the intersection, and soon, the faint gunfire fell silent.

Hundreds of students turned their attention to the only sound ringing out—the roar of a vehicle.

“…What’s that?”

“Wow! A white truck? That’s a first!”

A massive truck.

No, in Shiroko’s memory, it was the biggest truck she’d ever seen.

Its body, tall enough to reach the second floor of Abydos High School, was charging forward, blaring its horn.

The Prefect Team students panicked. As it became clear the truck was barreling toward them, most dove to the edges of the road. Even Shiromi Iori and Hinomiya Chinatsu were no exception.

“What’s with that truck?!”

“It’s a model I’ve never seen before. It’s not one used by Kaiser Corporation or the helmet gangs.”

“I know that, but what the hell is it?!”

The truck was forging its own path.

Like the indomitable spirit of Abydos High School students, it smashed through debris and sent students flying, asserting its value as a weapon of sheer mass.

Of course, it wasn’t actually affiliated with Abydos High School.

Though, for show, it had a small Trinity emblem handkerchief tied to the side mirror.

But that meant absolutely nothing to the Gehenna Prefect Team.

What mattered was that it posed a massive threat.

Iori-san realized this and acted faster than the other students, who were frozen in panic.

“Change of target! Make that truck the top priority! Contact the artillery unit!”

“Y-Yes, ma’am!”

The students snapped out of it, one by one raising their rifles and aiming at the truck.

But they didn’t stop to wonder why the Abydos and Problem Solver students weren’t reacting.

It was because the truck had vanished so quickly they couldn’t respond.

By the time the Prefect Team raised their rifles, the truck was already attempting a sharp turn at the intersection.

By the time they chambered their rounds, it was speeding toward the roundabout.

By the time they fired their first shots, the truck was already climbing onto the overpass.

It moved fast enough to be a Millennium physics problem on uniform acceleration.

It seemed like the driver had nothing on their mind except heading toward the Abydos campus.

At least, that’s what Shiromi Iori thought.

Or rather, she tried to think, but the thought quickly slipped beyond her consciousness.

Because a massive group of helmet gangs chasing the truck collided with the Abydos, Problem Solver, and Prefect Team students, turning the intersection into a chaotic battlefield filled with gunfire.

The truck was gone—physically and from their minds.

Except for a few Abydos students, no one had the time to care about it.

 

And so, as Shiroko lobbed a grenade, she thought to herself:

She’d find the student who deftly maneuvered that massive truck, no matter what.