Fluffy War (1)
The office of the Pandemonium Society was peaceful.
Until Iroha, with her pouty face, appeared.
"Take responsibility, Senior Makocchi."
Iroha was leaning on the table, grumbling right away.
"......What?"
I couldn't understand Iroha's words because they were cut off.
I asked her with a bewildered face, "W-what happened? It's because of Senior Makocchi."
Iroha blushed and muttered shyly.
Her expression was not subtle. My face turned red too.
"W-what do you mean by that?!"
As I was panicking about the unfair accusation,
"Hmph."
Iroha burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hand and giggling.
"Iroha...... You're teasing me again?"
Only then did I realize that Iroha had been pranking me.
"It's not a prank, it's just delivering ambiguous facts. Hehe."
Iroha smirked with a mischievous smile, enjoying the moment.
The act from earlier was just to tease me.
"Both of you are saying the same thing, aren't you?"
"No, it's different. It's not lying, just not telling the whole truth. It's like the difference between banana flavor and banana itself."
After causing a ruckus, Iroha boldly declares her innocence.
"It's not just not telling the truth, it's distorting it......"
"Then shall I make it a given fact? I don't mind."
Iroha peeks at her cleavage from between her uniform.
I shook my head so fast my neck almost snapped.
"I enjoyed your reaction enough. Now, tell me in detail what happened."
"Something unexpected happened. ...... The Head Prefect wants to see me."
Iroha looked troubled and fell into deep thought.
"Hina?"
"Yes, as a reward for the last gift, she suggested a tea party."
I couldn't show it, but I was envious of Iroha. Being able to drink tea intimately with Hina. It's literally an indoor date.
"Unfortunately, I was the one who got marked by Gehenna Academy's strongest. It's clearly Senior Makocchi's fault."
Previously, I had sent a gift to Hina in Iroha's name.
The reason was that if I sent it in my name, Hina wouldn't receive it. In other words, a kind white lie.
"Thanks to me, Hina has a good impression of me."
"Then can Senior Makocchi go in my place?"
I wanted to nod vigorously but held back.
If I force an event without meeting the affinity condition, it would backfire. It would only give Hina a bad impression of me.
"No, that's a bit difficult......"
"Senior Makocchi doesn't like it but is forcing me to do it?"
"That's not it-!"
The situation was unfair. I also wanted to spend time snuggling with Hina.
But as a clone of Hanuma Makoto, I couldn't easily approach Hina.
"I was going to refuse with a reasonable excuse, but I changed my mind."
Iroha glared at me resentfully.
"That's why it would be rude to Senior Makocchi's sincerity. Haa. Annoying."
Iroha poked my side with a sharp gaze, as if to prick me.
"Anyway, take responsibility, Senior Makocchi."
"Would one pudding suffice?"
Iroha shook her head at my negotiation proposal.
"No. Since it's going to be something more precious, I'm going to receive it. It's a matter of life and death for me. I'll demand the appropriate compensation for this high-risk, high-return task."
Iroha's face was serious. It felt like an organization member going to find the boss of a rival organization in a noir movie.
"Anyway, I'll go meet the Head Prefect. I want to return before Senior Makocchi's tea gets cold."
And Iroha left the office.
The tea party with the Head Prefect.
Iroha thinks it's a burdensome but not impossible situation.
She was also curious.
What was the reason Hina invited Iroha to a tea party.
Of course, there might be a reason.
'Probably because of Senior Makocchi. The recent moves of the Pandemonium Society must be worrying her.'
The sharp thorn can't be hidden in the pocket.
Even if you try to hide your excellent talent, it will eventually be revealed.
The fact that Hanuma Makoto is two people will eventually be revealed. It's a matter of timing.
'Senior Makocchi seems to be quite wary of the Head Prefect, so if she's exposed in the Prefect Team, it would be troublesome.'
Iroha actively participated in this matter to hide the Double Makoto.
Gehenna is not on good terms with the Prefect Team. If the Double Makoto is exposed, it could become a pointless argument.
'If the Prefect Team finds out about Senior Makocchi's acting as president, it would be troublesome. ...... But I don't want to go back to the original Makoto system, so I have no choice.'
Iroha stepped up for Makocchi. She charged into the enemy camp, enduring the exhaustion.
Iroha entered the Prefect Team building.
The Prefect Team members looked at Iroha with wary eyes. It wouldn't be a good sign for a Pandemonium Society executive to visit the Prefect Team.
Was it an irregular accounting audit? The tense atmosphere of the Prefect Team.
'Haa- I want to return quickly.'
Iroha moved her feet to the Head Prefect's office. She had been there a few times.
There was also a time when she met Hina to facilitate smooth business cooperation.
It was a reasonable judgment. It would be easier to handle business through Iroha than through Makoto.
"Excuse me."
Finally, Iroha entered the Head Prefect's office. Hina was there.
"Long time no see. Iroha-kun."
"Yes, long time no see. I hope the Head Prefect has been well."
A business-like greeting was exchanged.
Hina gestured for Iroha to sit, and Iroha sat down.
The occasion was a tea party, but it wasn't a place where emotions were important. The purpose wasn't friendship.
Behind it lurked an information war.
"The gift was received well. You sent high-quality beans from a good brand."
"It's nothing special. The Pandemonium Society regularly sends gratitude gifts to those who help Gehenna."
Hina planned to probe information about the Pandemonium Society from Iroha.
So, Iroha thought she would hide as much information as possible.
"But the Prefect Team has known for a long time that it was excluded from that list."
It was the original Makoto's instruction.
Because valuable budget couldn't be wasted on the Prefect Team, Hina was excluded from the list.
"Yes, that's how it was."
"Then, what wind blew to send a gratitude gift to the Prefect Team this time?"
"There's no special reason. As an individual civil servant, I simply followed the given regulations."
Hina's comment was sharp. But Iroha evaded the question appropriately.
The fact that Makocchi was involved in the gift delivery to Hina was not revealed.
"Oh? So Makoto even allowed it. Unexpected."
Hina's tone was prickly as she mocked.
Iroha's mood suddenly soured.
"Please don't speak ill of Senior Makocchi, Head Prefect."
"......Um. I see you were called Makoto in an unusual way. It changed from before."
Hina picked up on the alien element from Iroha.
She had dug into Iroha's gap.
"There's no big problem. It's just the result of accumulated internal intimacy between us."
Iroha answered without being outdone by Hina.
It was an unintentional slip, but not fatal. It was a thread that could be dealt with as a nickname.
"Perhaps Makoto has changed."
"I'm sorry to say, but nothing has changed."
"......Is that so."
Hina stood up from her seat. Then she took something from the shelf and showed it to Iroha.
"What is this?"
"It's a thing that hasn't changed."
Hina answered Iroha's question.
It was a small box. Nothing special about it. The only eye-catching feature was the small lever attached to the top of the box.
"Shall I try operating it?"
Hina's proposal. Iroha pushed the lever.
Click. As the lever moved, the box opened and a cat hand popped out.
Then the cat hand restored the lever to its original position. The change that occurred resulted in nothing.
The box had operated to stop itself.
This is why it's the world's most useless machine.
"I don't understand what this means, Head Prefect. Why are you showing me this?"
"......Iroha-kun is speaking as if seeing this item for the first time."
Hina calmly revealed the item's identity.
"This item was the gift you sent to me, wasn't it? This thing."
"Ah."
Iroha realized belatedly that she had made a slip of the tongue.
'Senior Makocchi sent one gift to the Head Prefect...... or not?'
She didn't specify that the item she sent as a gift was from her own name.
Iroha was bewildered by the sudden predicament.
"Perhaps this item was sent to me as a gift only. If the sender isn't Iroha-kun, it must be Makoto, right?"
Hina sharply dug into the full story of the incident.
The unexpected information asymmetry had pushed Iroha into a corner.
'Senior Makocchi is an idiot. ...... Haa.'
It would have been better if she had given me a heads-up first.
Iroha sighed as the situation became rapidly annoying.