"I wish I could just stay in Antarctica forever."
After two and a half glorious months at the Antarctic base — a life that boiled down to eat, sleep, wake up, eat again, and play video games in between — Gabriel let out a profoundly gloomy sigh.
"The Antarctic base has absolutely no intention of housing a lazy, freeloading waste of an angel like you," Vignette muttered, folding Gabriel's clothes into her luggage with practiced efficiency.
"Vigne, what kind of thing is that to say? I properly completed every task I was assigned!"
"That's only because everyone went easy on you out of consideration for you being a high school student. Equipment maintenance, mechanical inspections, geological surveys — which one of those professional tasks could you actually handle?"
"Tch. If push came to shove, I could just use divine magic to sort it all out for them."
"Stop dreaming. Try something like that and you'll get hauled straight back to Heaven. Now, Gab — hand me that roll of tape over there."
Gabriel passed her the tape, then dropped onto the mattress with an irritable thump.
"And now we have to go back to studying. I really, really don't want to go to school."
"The fact that we even got to come out here in the first place is practically a miracle. You should focus on finding a way to readjust to school life sooner rather than later."
"Says the girl who's going to be totally lost the moment she sits down in class."
Vignette blinked in genuine puzzlement. "Didn't you attend Kazami-senpai's lessons?"
"What's that?" Gabriel picked at her pale, perfect toes with the detached curiosity of someone encountering an entirely foreign concept.
"The supplementary classes at Kazami-senpai's place every week — the Antarctic School catch-up sessions. Our groups were different, so I just assumed you'd been attending all along."
"Jhin's older sister runs a class? I never went once." Gabriel had absolutely no intention of seeking out extra studying on her own initiative. With no mandatory attendance enforced, she had simply ignored it entirely. "Is she actually a good teacher?"
"She's honestly better than the teachers at our actual school. And Nymph too — she's so young, and she's already collected university degrees from top overseas institutions."
"Are you serious..."
Vignette gave her a withering look. "Why would I lie to you? Anyway, everything's packed. Let's go bring this stuff to Jhin."
"Yeah, alright."
Takako Kobuchizawa chose not to return to the mainland with her daughter. She stayed behind in Antarctica with Gin Toudou and the others to continue the scientific survey work. Though a trace of worry still lingered in her heart, Shirase Kobuchizawa chose to respect her mother's decision — and hand in hand with her closest friends, she stepped aboard the icebreaker bound for home.
They had already made a promise to each other: they would come back to Antarctica.
"So this is Mihama Academy?"
Miyake Hinata arrived at the school gate — which looked impressive even at a glance — dragging her luggage behind her. Today was the day she officially enrolled. After returning from overseas, she had only stopped by to say goodbye to her old convenience store manager before heading back to her apartment, where an enrollment notice was already waiting for her.
The entrance exam Jhin had mentioned before never materialized. The tuition was absurdly cheap. If she hadn't already trusted his character enough, she might have seriously wondered whether Mihama Academy was actually a front for a human trafficking ring masquerading as a school.
"Oh? A face I haven't seen before."
A strikingly gorgeous blonde woman stepped down from a Ferrari, removing her sunglasses as she looked the orange-haired girl standing at the gate up and down. "And who might you be, little miss?"
"Ah — um — my name is Miyake Hinata. I'm enrolling at Mihama Academy today."
"My name is Julia. And the woman over there with the cheap beer and absolutely zero taste is Kusakabe Asako."
"Oh, shut up! Beer doesn't have a 'cheap' or 'not cheap' — it's all beer!" The only thing stopping Kusakabe Asako from hurling her can at Julia was the fact that it wasn't empty yet.
"So you're all here."
Jhin's figure appeared at the school gate. He pushed it open and greeted the three of them. "Julia, Asako, Hinata — long time no see."
"Oh my~" Julia's silky, theatrical voice immediately made the hair on Jhin's arms stand on end. "Sweetheart, when did you get your hands on yet another adorable little girl?"
Jhin rubbed his arms and shot her a flat stare. "Julia, you and I have a perfectly clean, innocent relationship — unless, that is, you'd like me to start talking about what you and Asako got up to back th—"
"No no no, I take it back, I was wrong!"
"Ha ha ha ha! You don't have a shred of resistance where men are concerned, and you still have the nerve to flirt with Jhin." Kusakabe Asako laughed so hard she nearly lost her grip on her beer.
"Asako, Julia — go ahead and take a look around the campus. I'll walk Hinata to the principal's office."
"Sure thing, kid, off you go."
Miyake Hinata dutifully followed behind Jhin to meet Tachibana Chizuru, who did not look remotely like anyone's idea of a school principal. She completed her enrollment paperwork in the office, and then the two of them walked together to the student dormitory.
"Everyone living here is someone I know personally. I'm the dormitory head — I'm not always on campus, but if anything comes up that you can't handle, you can reach me through the [momotalk] app I just sent you, or find Komine Sachi, the class representative."
"Got it." Miyake Hinata had been quietly worried about fitting in with new classmates. Discovering they were all friends she'd already made in Antarctica put her at ease almost instantly.
Jhin called Komine Sachi out to introduce Miyake Hinata to the dormitory. That kind of thing was better left to a fellow girl anyway.
Kato Megumi appeared at the dormitory entrance without a sound.
"Jhin." Her voice was quiet and even. "Has Gotoh-san already accepted the fact that you're building a harem?"
Jhin smiled back at her. "She has. So, Miss Grand Assassin of the school — are you here to gather intelligence for Kasumigaoka-san, or is this pure personal curiosity?"
"Both, honestly."
Kato Megumi and Kasumigaoka Utaha had both noticed it: starting from the Christmas holiday, around the time Jhin and Hitori Gotoh had requested those two days off, the girls who were involved with Jhin had all quietly stopped bothering to hide it in front of them. That in itself was conspicuously abnormal. Combined with what Kazami Kazuki had once let slip — that he'd been planning something important — the two of them had already more or less pieced together the general shape of things.
"Betraying your employer is the cardinal sin of any assassin, you know."
Kato Megumi gave him a small, playful blink. "But I'm not a real assassin. And Utaha never hired me."
"You've been picking up more little habits. Getting along better with everyone around you too. Keep it up."
Faced with the compliment, Kato Megumi glanced away. "Let's talk about Gotoh-san instead. How exactly did she come to accept all of this?"
"It's a bit hard to explain the specifics. Just think of it as her having issued her formal declaration as the official girlfriend."
"Does that count as her throwing down a challenge to Kazami-san?"
Jhin stifled a laugh. "She has no idea about Kazuki at all — that's exactly why she said it the way she did."
"So Kazami-san is actually the real official girlfriend?"
"No, no, no." Jhin shook his head several times. "She only ever wants to be the hidden one. Nobody in the world is more attached to the identity of 'older sister' than she is."
"It feels like you're bragging to me right now."
"Megumi, I really can't be blamed for this one — you brought it up yourself." Jhin spread his hands in a gesture of pure innocence. He was only answering her questions. He wasn't bragging about anything.
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