The Federal Investigation Club, Schale
The final boss of the Blue Archive story doesn't matter to me. It's incidental—a sideshow. My purpose is pure love for Hina. And the final boss of that pure love is Sensei.
To me, he is the endgame tyrant of the devoted-love showdown, the greatest adversary in all of Kivotos. The strongest rival of all is none other than Sensei of the Federal Investigation Club, Schale.
...Thinking about it that way, I sound like a thoroughly despicable villain.
Treating Sensei—the absolute good of Blue Archive—as an enemy. What a wicked notion.
Even so, the thought that Hina might be stolen away by Sensei fills me with an anxiety I can't endure.
Still, I can't help being jealous of him. Sensei is the one who holds Hina's absolute affection, after all. Why did the heavens see fit to birth me as Makoto's clone—and then birth Sensei as well?
Hina, myself, and Sensei. In this love triangle, I am overwhelmingly outmatched: a villainess whose defeat has already been written in stone.
Cheap. Sneaky. Cowardly. And so unfair!
My jealousy toward Sensei doesn't even compare to what I feel about Ako. Ako is nothing more than the puppy Hina dotes on—leash and all. Envying a dog would be childish. But Sensei is the adult Hina looks up to. I have no choice but to hate him, like some petty villain.
And so came the first day I would face Sensei as Schale's duty attendant. Arriving at the building, I burned with hostility.
Let's get a good, long look at that handsome face of yours, Sensei.
A preemptive strike. I snapped a few sharp jabs at the empty air, steeling my fighting spirit. Once, I too had been a player of Blue Archive. Now I was Sensei's rival.
Not that he'd ever see me that way. This is entirely one-sided.
Before long I entered the office on the top floor of the Schale building. The moment I stepped inside, I surveyed the interior like a keen-eyed scout.
"Hm?"
A familiar face. Hinomaya Chinatsu, an officer of the Prefect Team.
"...President Makoto?"
Chinatsu's brow furrowed the instant she recognized me. Residual resentment from our recent clash over the Supply Club still lingered on her face.
"What's this—the Prefect Team? What business do you have at Schale?"
Running into Chinatsu in a place I hadn't expected. I was just as awkward about the situation as she was.
"This has nothing to do with the Pandemonium Society. It is a purely personal matter."
Chinatsu grumbled, dodging the question. Her tone drew a firm line between herself and the Pandemonium Society, and a chilly atmosphere settled between us.
"I've come to see Sensei of Schale. Where is he?"
"Sensei has stepped out for a moment. After working through the night, he went to grab a light meal... I am concerned about his health from overwork. How he even manages his fatigue, I truly cannot imagine."
Chinatsu let out a long sigh as she unburdened the worries she'd been nursing. She must have been desperate for someone—anyone—to vent to.
"Ah. Why am I even telling you this...!"
The moment she realized her conversation partner was me, Chinatsu snapped back into a defensive stance. Judging by her manner, this was not her first or second visit to Schale. She had the air of a veteran.
A privilege of being a starting member, I suppose. She's clearly been here plenty of times.
Chinatsu—the girl who appeared as Gehenna Academy's representative in the prologue of Blue Archive. She'd been acquainted with Sensei from the very beginning. Frequent visits to Schale were only natural.
"And what business does President Makoto have with Sensei, exactly?"
I was the one who didn't belong here. At this point in time, Hanuma Makoto had no connection to Schale whatsoever. In the original story, Makoto first meets Sensei just before the signing ceremony of the Eden Treaty. But the story had changed.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here on duty."
Because I, Makoto's clone, had volunteered as Schale's duty attendant.
"Hmph... Unlike our Head Prefect, the president of the Pandemonium Society must have quite a lot of free time—enough to come serve as Schale's duty attendant in person."
Chinatsu shot me a look of open displeasure. A barb laced with hostility toward the Pandemonium Society.
Huh? Wait a second. That means Hina is too busy to come to Schale. That's... actually great?
In other words, Sensei wouldn't be able to loaf around with Hina. My mood suddenly cleared in the most purely devoted way.
"How very kind of you. I'll take that as a compliment."
"Excuse me?"
Chinatsu looked so startled her glasses nearly slid off her nose.
"If you'd like, I wouldn't mind covering Hina's share of the duty as well."
"That will not be necessary!"
Chinatsu recoiled as if she'd just laid eyes on an incurable strain of idiot bacteria. She seemed thrown that I'd taken her sarcasm as praise.
And so, while Chinatsu and I were going at it—
"Chinatsu, I'm back."
"Ah, Sensei! You've returned."
Chinatsu turned toward the voice with a bright expression. I looked that way as well, almost without thinking. And then I came face-to-face with Sensei of Schale.
...Huh?
Captivated by that enchanting face, I went blank for a moment. If Charm were a stat, his looks would have shattered the cap and broken through the limit. The Sensei standing before me possessed a magnetism unmatched by anyone in Kivotos. Without realizing it, I found myself staring, transfixed.
Looking like that is cheating. He's not a teacher—he's a walking pheromone designed to bewitch students...!
To be drawn, even for a second, to the rival of my pure love. An indelible humiliation.
I have Hina. I must not be led astray by Sensei.
My devotion is a limited edition, made for Hina alone. That unshakable iron rule had wavered, just for a moment, because of him. A thoroughly rebellious Rabbit 1 might have opened with a preemptive I hate adults like you the most—but I'm not a rabbit.
"President Makoto, aren't you staring at Sensei a little too intently?"
"Hyahk!?"
"You're about to drool, you know."
Chinatsu needled me as if asserting her turf. In Gehenna she might be a subordinate, but here at Schale, perhaps she considered herself the senior.
"If you're eyeing Sensei to drag him into the Pandemonium Society, I won't stand for it."
Chinatsu was checking me—not as a member of the Prefect Team opposed to the Pandemonium Society, but as a girl.
So this is the narrative gravity of an adult.
My face accepted it. But I would not surrender Hina. I had come to Schale precisely to drive that point home to Sensei.
"I am Hanuma Makoto of Gehenna. As the great president of the Pandemonium Society, I have this day specially deigned to grace Schale as its duty attendant."
I finished my self-introduction to Sensei with all the dignity I could muster. A bit of showmanship, to play Makoto as her clone.
It's a pain, but Chinatsu from the Prefect Team is right here. I'd better lay on a little extra theatrics.
The Prefect Team already suspects me. If Double Makoto gets exposed, we're in trouble. As Makoto's replica, I had to raise my match rate with the original.
"Ki, kikit... kehck! Kek! Kyahht!"
I had absolutely no talent for impersonating that laugh.
"Sensei. Should you ever have a request for Gehenna Academy, come to me directly. This Pandemonium Society intends to spare no support for Schale."
It sounded like goodwill. It was a check. I would funnel any request Sensei might plead of the Prefect Team toward the Pandemonium Society instead—sealing off any occasion for him to meet Hina.
"How shameless, President Makoto."
There was an obstacle, however. Chinatsu glared at me, eyes wide.
"Plotting to use Sensei to keep the Prefect Team in check... So that's why you volunteered as Schale's duty attendant."
But Chinatsu had the target of my check all wrong. I wasn't checking the Prefect Team—I was checking Sensei. It was only my desire to protect Hina.
"The Prefect Team's prejudices are a fearsome thing."
"If the President intends to slander the Prefect Team, perhaps she should at least try it when the other party isn't present?"
"A pity. It seems your imagination is as poor as your eyesight. Interpreting the Pandemonium Society's goodwill as paranoia..."
The timing was unfortunate. Of all things, Chinatsu had arrived at Schale first. And so I ended up bickering with an officer of the Prefect Team.
"..."
Amid the commotion, Sensei stared straight at me. More precisely, at the area around my head. And then Sensei said—
In the middle of everything, he came out with an utterly outrageous, degenerate remark.