[Blue Archive] I am the Trinity Checkpoint Chief – Chapter 62

This is… truly shocking news. To think there were 13 spies within the Checkpoint.

In terms of percentage, that’s 3%. Roughly one spy for every 34 students. What does this mean? If we apply the same ratio to Trinity General Academy, there would be at least 200 students acting as spies.

We threw them all in cells. Nine regular members and four mid-level officers. I can still vividly recall the shocked faces of the members who were connected to those students. Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I’d feel the same.

On the surface, this situation is nothing short of a great purge.

Thirteen students could form an entire platoon. Whether you look at it statistically or in terms of their networks, it’s by no means a small number. From a security perspective, this is a catastrophe for Trinity General Academy’s counterintelligence agency—one that may never be surpassed.

Should I report this to Nagisa-sama? For someone like me, who’s been so vocal about counterintelligence, to have this happen in the club I lead is something that would leave a bitter taste at the Tea Party. The Pater faction must be thrilled.

What they want is to tear me down. Their goal is political dominance. This situation is a perfect opportunity for the Pater faction to easily place themselves above me.

Clatter. Sayuri-san entered the room.

“Seems like rumors about Matsushiro-san have spread quite a bit. The kids spilled information more easily than expected. Thanks to that, neither I nor the intelligence team had to work too hard during interrogations. In that sense, we might owe you some thanks, senpai.”

“To me? What did they say?”

“I told them if they kept their mouths shut, I’d call you.”

“…Hey.”

Yeah, it’s always like this. While I’m worrying about being politically isolated, my image among the students locked in the cells has somehow morphed into something akin to Captain Tsurugi. What did I even do?

I asked Inori-senpai, and apparently, the conversation I had with Matsushiro-san—the one who personally pulled back the curtain on this security fiasco—got twisted and spread as a rumor. And in a much more aggressive tone, no less.

Honestly, “filthily aggressive” might be a better way to describe it.

“I can just casually announce it: the blisters in the left lung are likely traces of tuberculosis, and the bruises on the neck and hands are from CPR, so, well, isn’t that clear evidence there was no torture?”

“Just make a small gift and a request to the Chronos kids. The next day’s paper will read: ‘The student was so nervous that when the investigator slammed the desk, they went ugh—oh, they’re dead.’”

I swear, I’m repeating exactly what Inori-senpai told me, word for word.

Where did it all go wrong? It’s only been a few hours since I lifted the security clearance on the spy situation, and already, rumors have spread through the guards in the Checkpoint’s underground cells.

Of course, there’s a psychological effect. From their perspective, they’re hearing that the scary club boss threatened to kill their fellow spies if they didn’t talk. They’d be terrified out of their wits.

The problem is that this psychological effect applies to me too. How do you think it feels to be on the receiving end?

“Sayuri-san, if you spread rumors like that, it makes your senpai sad. I’m Hikari Yamatsu! Don’t I treat the kids pretty well as a club president? Plus, I throw a lot of team dinners.”

“And to the Tea Party executives, you’re an object of scrutiny and fear. Tone it down a bit, senpai.”

“Haven’t I been toning it down?”

“Normally, people who tone it down don’t have a public image that rivals the Sisterhood. There’s even talk that people don’t know how scary the Checkpoint is. How can the person in charge not realize this?”

…Hmm, that’s a fair point.

And it makes me even sadder because it’s fair. It would’ve been better if I could argue back and feel indignant. It’s like the feeling I get every time I visit the Tea Party and sense the wariness from their members—only worse.

I want a better image too! All I’ve done so far is act reasonably, haven’t I? Avoiding close combat with protesters because it would cause too much damage, so we lobbed tear gas and Molotov cocktails instead. And to suppress them faster, we used high explosives. That’s it.

If people think that’s not reasonable, they should take a look at the Engineering Department and the Gourmet Research Society.

I’m normal, right?

“Sayuri-san, if the documents I’m looking at aren’t forged, then… not much information leaked, but it went to a lot of places, didn’t it? Gehenna was expected, of course, but… ugh, wasn’t SRT already shut down?”

“Yeah. Millennium Science School was a real surprise. I don’t know which crazy girl did it, but you know how someone hacked the Checkpoint’s CCTV? They even used a small robot or drone to try to break into the closed circuit. I had to chase that damn fly all morning.”

“Did you catch it?”

“I wouldn’t be telling you if I didn’t. I don’t know if this was the intended use, but the L85 stock came in handy. Since it’s solid metal, I swung it right at the robot’s forehead, and it went down in one hit. You should’ve seen it, senpai.”

Swinging a metal stock at a robot’s forehead is dangerous even for a regular student, Sayuri-san.

The students caught in the spy network came from various backgrounds. Gehenna Academy had the most with eight—five from the Prefect Team. Three were identified as being from the Arius Branch School based on their possessions. The remaining one, surprisingly, was from Red Winter.

Of course, if you add the phrase “for now,” the story changes.

There are plenty of ways to get students to talk. My resources may be limited to time and budget, but compared to the leeway in those kids’ hearts, I can confidently say I have plenty—especially time.

Looks like there’s one more task for the Eight-Member Committee. Have we ever paid attention to the Arius Branch School before? Counting the students imprisoned during Mika-sama’s coup, there are roughly 400 from Arius. How do we even gauge the scale?

Well, I’ll leave that to the kids. I’m not one for overthinking.

“How’s Ritsuko-chan doing? I heard she’s been acting as an interrogator… or rather, a counselor.”

“She’s enjoying it since she gets along with a few of them. They’re trading banter like they’re best friends. Ritsuko-chan said, ‘If that bastard wasn’t a spy, we’d be having a butterbeer in an alley together.’”

“Oh, butterbeer. That stuff’s delicious. There’s a place I know near the Tea Party’s city area—their stuff is beyond just tasty. How about a glass after work, Sayuri-san? Just one, bam, what do you say?”

“Weren’t we talking about work?”

Oh, of course we were. Absolutely.

I’m definitely not changing the subject because of Sayuri-san’s scary glare, so don’t worry.

***

It’s been a while since I visited the Tea Party’s Intelligence Office.

Unlike before, the intelligence team members seemed quite welcoming when I arrived. There are probably several reasons, but I bet it’s largely because I spearheaded the last speech and the aggressive expansion of their authority. I’m like the godmother who boosted their power.

I got a call from my senpai. From what I overheard, it’s about the Arius Branch School. The fact that they contacted me via a secure radio network instead of a phone call is a bit concerning.

The Intelligence Office is still swamped. There’s a mountain of work.

The operation to root out spies from various clubs is in its final stages, but replacing the leaked information is still ongoing. That’s actually the biggest part. Overhauling a system takes a long time.

How many communication frequencies need to be changed for the Justice Task Force and the Guard alone? Eclaire-senpai has been pulling all-nighters, breaking records, to revise the defense plan. It’s a relief the codes haven’t been compromised.

The Checkpoint’s no better off. Sure, it wasn’t classified, but Caesar’s basic specs—which you can find detailed down to the inch on the manufacturer’s website—and our deployment charts were completely leaked. When the enemy gets hold of your weapon systems, it gives them plenty of time to prepare countermeasures. It’s less of a worry since it’s Gehenna, but still.

Changing the defense sites is a headache too. Finding an open area with the right distance and size for the target isn’t easy. If push comes to shove, we’d need to cut down trees to make space for another Caesar unit, mobilize heavy equipment to build a road, and deal with the Tea Party’s constant interference in the process…

There’s a ton of crap to do. I thought being high up meant I could see everything, but it feels like I need to build an entire pyramid to achieve that.

“…Sigh, senpai. There’s too much work left.”

“You too, Hikari-chan? We’ve been swamped lately too. Especially since we opened the Sisterhood’s archives. The number of document decryption requests coming in daily has practically squared.”

“That’s rough. Knowing you, senpai, you wouldn’t complain, but isn’t it tough?”

“It’d be a lie to say it’s not.”

We had a casual conversation as my senpai handed me the documents. Having colleagues or seniors in the Intelligence Office—especially high-ranking ones like directors or presidents—as connections comes with a lot of perks. For instance, getting information on the spot.

Today’s meeting is similar. It’s strictly off-the-record, and on paper, it’s just a visit for routine administrative work. Getting caught by the Pater faction or others wouldn’t do us any good.

Of course, I also nabbed some Sisterhood documents in the process.

“So… hmm, this is it? The Arius documents you mentioned, senpai.”

“Yup. The First Director found it, and it felt off. I grabbed it just before it was unsealed. As expected, the contents are pretty serious. My skills haven’t dulled yet, have they, Hikari-chan?”

“You’re still sharp, so you’re still the president, right, senpai? But why show this to me? Doesn’t the Sisterhood’s security clearance apply to me too? Senpai, you know getting caught with this kind of thing is a big deal.”

“I’m showing you because I trust you, Hikari-chan. It’s my way of saying thanks. If it weren’t for you, would the Intelligence Office have gained this much authority? At the very least, this senpai doesn’t have the guts to negotiate with Nagisa-sama.”

“Still, giving a gift like this puts the recipient in a tough spot.”

“That’s why I’m giving it to you in secret.”

“…Fair point.”

“Right?” Senpai smiled faintly, but no matter how I think about it, if I keep receiving Sisterhood documents like this, I’m bound to get caught and have my head cracked open.

I’ll milk this for a bit and then back off.

I picked up the documents Nagato-senpai handed me. The packaging and internal record format weren’t much different from the usual Sisterhood security protocols. The only difference was the bright red “Top Secret” stamp. What could that mean?

I flipped through the documents. I passed the brief title and table of contents. Within a few pages, the density of the text increased exponentially. I’d reached the main content.

And I kept reading. Ten minutes, twenty minutes… maybe over half an hour.

According to senpai later, it was about an hour. Once I felt I fully understood the content and its significance, I closed the document and tucked it between some books.

“Senpai, this is… kind of a big deal, isn’t it?”

“Right? You think it’s a big deal too, Hikari-chan?”

“Yeah. This is… a pretty serious issue. The Tea Party might have to hold the Sisterhood accountable directly. Who the hell wrote this?”

“I don’t know. Probably hard to find out. But that’s not the issue, is it? The fact that this was written means—”

“—Everything’s been exposed.”

Our guess will probably turn out to be true. Most of the information compiled in documents like this has already been chewed up, torn apart, and digested by the parties involved.

Whoever did this is one bold bastard.

Who the hell would dare conduct surveillance on the Tea Party?