[Blue Trinity] I am the Trinity Checkpoint Chief – Chapter 71

“….Hikari-chan infiltrated the cathedral to catch an Arius student?”

“And in the middle of the night, no less. It was a solid plan, though.”

“Crazy girl.”

That’s a bit harsh. Especially coming from a senior who’s caused her fair share of incidents even after getting promoted.

I had just handed over the Arius students’ statements to Nagato-senpai. If a valuable asset like this is kept under lock and key at the border checkpoint without being shared with anyone… that’s no different from a villainous general hoarding information for a coup, isn’t it?

The statements contained a lot that our friends in the intelligence department would love. The <arius squad>, a special forces unit meant to assassinate key figures in Trinity General Academy’s political scene, including Seia-sama and Nagisa-sama. Talk about some dirty romanticism.

The sad part is, despite capturing a significant number of students, the quality of the information wasn’t all that great.

It can’t be helped, I suppose. These kids, as they consistently stated during the <judgment of paradise>, were mostly disposable foot soldiers, galaxies away from the masterminds holding the main information network. Extras don’t get to know the main storyline, do they?

Details about the overall administrative structure or curriculum of the Arius Branch might be useful, but it’s not enough to create an unspoken variable in Trinity General Academy’s broader defense strategy—both in quantity and quality.

Still, it’s better than nothing.

These kids put in some effort to provide the information, so I intend to keep my promise. I can’t just send them all to a detention camp, can I?

“By the way, you could’ve sent it wirelessly, but you came all the way here? Our cute little Hikari-chan, did you miss your senior? You came all the way to the Tea Party Hall because you missed me after a few days, right? Good girl…”

“Enough with the cheesy talk, Senior.”

“Ehehe, alright, alright. I was just curious. Did something come up?”

“No. But I do have something to say.”

Some had already been sent out, but only Nagato-senpai and I remained in the Intelligence Office. I approached her, grabbed her hand tightly, and looked her straight in the eyes.

“Senpai. You skimmed through those documents earlier, right? Do you know the gist of it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then this stays between you and me. Of course, Nagisa-sama needs to know too, but I’ll handle that. Don’t tell anyone else you know. Just you, me—and a few others.”

“I think I get what you’re saying, Hikari-chan. This is pretty dangerous, isn’t it? Where’d it come from?”

As expected of Okura Nagato senpai. Even if she’s the reckless head of the department, her years of experience in the field aren’t for nothing. Even when I explain things vaguely, she gets it perfectly. How could I not like her?

“Thanks to you, we caught an Arius Branch senior. And those Arius kids who’ve been locked up since Mika-sama caused that mess. I thought they were just damn coup instigators at best, but they were surprisingly cooperative.”

“…You didn’t, like, dunk them in water until they talked, did you?”

“That’s old Sisterhood stuff. What era do you think this is to say something like that? They say even birds hear what’s said in the daytime. Even a convent head would get upset hearing that. You don’t know how scary the cathedral can be, do you?”

“The Intelligence Office is perfectly soundproofed, so don’t worry, my troublemaker junior.”

Thanks to Nagato-senpai, who teases me as a troublemaker at every turn, life’s just so exciting. The other administrators at the Tea Party Hall are the same, and even the director reacts like that. I haven’t caused any trouble lately—well, maybe a few weeks ago, but still.

Anyway, I don’t think these statements should be kept as top-secret. The fact that most of the administrators managing the First Document Joint Storage are from the Pater faction is a big issue. Honestly, there are plenty of problematic matters unrelated to the Pater faction.

If it were just one or two things, fine, but I don’t want attention drawn to a sensitive topic like the Arius Branch.

Of course, if Nagisa-sama orders the documents to be made public, I’ll comply without complaint… but right now, my immediate concern is what to do with the Arius students resting comfortably at the checkpoint. It’s giving me a headache.

“Still, shouldn’t we make it public? It might blow over like the last coup attempt.”

“Sayuri-san thought the same. I’ve considered it too, but I’m not sure what to do, so for now, I’m holding off. We can’t even tell if this is true or not.”

“True, even if the kids confessed willingly, it’s hard to just believe them. These are students who even teamed up with Mika Misono to overthrow the host regime. Verifying the source will probably be tough for us. We don’t even know where their chapel is.”

“I’m not asking for guarantees, just get a rough sense of the facts. If we throw some bonuses at the intelligence team and cheer them on, something might come up, right? If it comes to it, I’ll chip in some money too.”

“I’m not that broke, Hikari-chan.”

Says the senior who was crying on MomoTalk about not having enough money for a bag of taiyaki. As if I don’t know the salary level of a civil servant in the prestigious Trinity General Academy student council. I’m the one shedding tears while getting paid.

Still, unlike her wallet, her skills are top-notch. The reputation of Trinity General Academy’s intelligence department, which clashes with Gehenna’s Prefect Team almost daily, owes a lot to its leader. Despite all the trouble she’s caused, it’s why she’s still in her position.

What I’m trying to say is, even if she talks like that, I’m sure she’ll come back with a box full of perfectly verified documents.

It’s clear what the Arius Branch was planning. I know it best. I personally put down the rebellion they started, and as the head of the Checkpoint, I spent dozens of hours wading through waves of documents.

Together with Nagato-senpai, we started cleaning up the security disaster that spanned the entire academy. I had to go to various clubs, including the Sisterhood, and negotiate multiple times. Why am I bringing this up? Because that damn Arius was involved!

Most of their forces are locked up in correctional facilities, but even the remnants pose a significant threat to us.

“I hope those documents help the intelligence department. Of course, since we knew almost nothing about the Arius Branch, the kids will love it, but… from a defense perspective, I’d like there to be something I’d love too.”

“I’ll do my best. Who knows, maybe those students who confessed made up some kind of code and spilled the location of the branch to you, Hikari-chan.”

“Then… I’d be grateful.”

That’s the best-case scenario. Even if their betrayal gets exposed, they’ve already taken down their target, so they’d face less risk, and I’d get to swoop in and take the credit like eating both the pheasant and its eggs.

The <arius chapel>, that mysterious cathedral of Arius that the students shuddered just mentioning in their statements. I don’t know what they learn there since they didn’t say, but one thing’s certain: it’s a building that needs to be blown up once this is all over.

Where the hell is it? In the middle of the Abydos Desert? Tucked away in some corner of the Great Forest?

“If you figure that out, Hikari-chan, you should become a fortune teller.”

“I’d probably make more money than I do now.”

A brief moment of laughter. Honestly, both of us are half-serious.

Please give us a raise, Nagisa-sama.

***

I can say with certainty that Hanako had that expression.

What the hell is this nonsense?

“…You’re telling me to send Azusa-chan to the checkpoint?”

“Yeah. There’s something to investigate.”

Of course, I expected Hanako’s reaction. Even considering it’s evening and the sun’s already setting, I haven’t paid any attention to the Supplementary Lessons Department since the emergency order, so it’s no wonder she’s shocked that I’d barge into their office with such a demand.

But I had my reasons. I clearly saw the five characters of Shirasu Azusa in the <arius squad> section of the statements, and I remembered Nagisa-sama’s story about her enrollment.

I handed Hanako a file. She looked flustered when she saw the mention of Shirasu-san.

“It’s classified, but since it’s related to the investigation’s justification, I’ll let you know. A few days ago, the Arius Branch students we arrested wrote statements. In exchange for temporary protection at the border checkpoint. A kind of plea deal, you could say.”

“And Azusa-chan’s name came up in those statements.”

“Quite a lot, actually. It seems the <squad> is pretty well-known at the Arius Branch. Except for a few who refused to talk, most of the students knew the identities of the five members well. Unfortunately, Shirasu-san was one of them.”

“……”

She doesn’t seem too thrilled. From my perspective, I don’t think Hanako fully trusts me, the border checkpoint, or the Tea Party Hall. Since she hasn’t had a chance to clear her deep-seated suspicions… I wonder how she’ll take this request.

When the Arius Branch attempted their uprising with Mika-sama, I witnessed the Supplementary Lessons Department fighting Arius Branch members at the gymnasium entrance. Shirasu-san was among the best fighters there.

No matter how you look at it, she’s a highly trained special forces operative—or rather, an assassin with a clear purpose. The fact that she was a key figure when Nagisa-sama was kidnapped adds credibility to the statements.

“You know that Shirasu-san was involved when Nagisa-sama was kidnapped. I heard it with my own ears.”

“…So, Nagisa-sama was on the phone with you back then.”

“Yeah. We were about to discuss the security gap in the main building. But then… Shirasu-san unloaded an entire magazine of five rounds, didn’t she?”

Hanako must have seen Nagisa-sama collapse right in front of her. Shirasu-san didn’t hesitate to shoot her.

Even as this conversation unfolds, Hanako isn’t protesting the assumption that Shirasu-san is part of the Arius Branch… She knows. That clever girl who thinks in such extraordinary ways knew from the start.

I’ve got a lot to take care of today.

“Hanako, this isn’t personal. Hand over Shirasu-san. And tell me what you know.”

“……”

“Please.”