There's Space Behind the Wall
The "Space Behind the Wall" incident had finally come to an end. The traitor was dead, and though a few students had sustained minor scrapes, no one was seriously injured. It was, by all accounts, a flawless victory for the Academy.
...Or so those who only looked at the surface of the event would think. However, those focusing on the mere fact that such an incident had occurred in the first place did not share that sentiment. While the Academy had certainly proven its ability to resolve such unexpected crises, some had begun to question the security of the institution itself, raising doubts about whether the Academy was truly safe.
Our Headmaster was also of the opinion that the incident should never have happened in the first place. ...Honestly, as far as I was concerned, it didn't really matter. Down the line, this would probably just be something we could laugh off anyway. Regardless.
The moment it was revealed that there was a traitor among the faculty, the Headmaster wrapped up his external business as quickly as possible and rushed back to the Academy, immediately eyeing the teachers with deep suspicion. Well, the teachers understood that much. After all, a colleague they had been chatting and laughing with just days ago had turned out to be a criminal whose ultimate goal was the assassination of the Imperial Princess and her observer. The more worldly-wise teachers accepted it as an inevitable consequence and let it go.
However, the teachers failed to realize one thing. Or rather, even if they did, they deliberately looked away, trying to convince themselves that nothing would come of it. And now, the consequences of their willful ignorance had arrived.
"Miss Ophelia, are you in here? We're not bad people, we promise. If you come out, we'll give you a piece of candy."
Candy, my foot. They weren't going to give me candy; they were going to dump a mountain of paperwork on me. Holding my breath, I prayed with all my heart that they would just pass by without noticing me. I didn't even believe in them, but surely gods existed in this fantasy world. Oh, dear gods, please don't let them find me!
"Found her! It's Miss Ophelia! Get her!"
"...Oh, seriously! See if I ever pray again!"
"Catch her, quick!"
Why on earth was I being chased by my fellow teachers, you ask? To explain that, we have to wind back the clock a bit.
The Academy was already severely understaffed. That was why the Headmaster had been running around everywhere trying to headhunt new talent. Fortunately, thanks to a well-established system and the fact that only highly competent individuals who caught the Headmaster's eye became teachers, the Academy had managed to run smoothly until now.
...Yes. If only that incident hadn't occurred, these teachers wouldn't be chasing me down with such hollow, exhausted eyes.
The terror incident had thrown the Academy into absolute chaos. Naturally, worried families flooded in to check on the students. Civil complaints poured in, while the Imperial Palace and the Holy See constantly poked and prodded at the Academy. On top of that, reporters sniffing out a scoop kept swarming the gates. To call it merely "hectic" would be an understatement; we were drowning in work.
In an already understaffed Academy where every single person counted, we had lost one staff member, and the workload had exploded exponentially. Even if the remaining staff tried their best to handle the crisis, the Headmaster kept dragging working teachers away for unannounced ideological screenings. Plagued by high-intensity labor and constant overtime, the teachers desperately wished for additional reinforcements, but...
As if that was going to happen. It hadn't even been a month since a terrorist had infiltrated the school. Naturally, applicants would be scarce, and even if someone did apply, there was no guaranteeing they weren't another criminal. Thus, the Headmaster had declared a temporary freeze on hiring. Just as the teachers were letting out deep sighs, convinced they would literally work themselves to death at this rate...
I had the misfortune of catching their eye.
As the counselor, I was usually free, making me the perfect target to dump their excess work on. Even when I protested, claiming I had absolutely no experience with administrative tasks, they completely ignored me. They shoved me into the grind, telling me I could just learn on the job.
Of course, I did my best at first. It felt wrong on a basic human level to ignore my colleagues when they were clearly suffering so much. But there was a limit to my charity. When it became clear that the mountain of work would never shrink, I quickly made a decision. I can't keep doing this. So, I ran.
"Pant, pant... A-A dead end..."
Of course, there was no way an ordinary person with a physically weak body like mine could actually outrun those teachers. ...Then why hadn't they caught me yet, always trailing just a hair's breadth behind? The reason was actually quite simple. They wanted a break. Under the pretext of chasing me down, those teachers were taking a breather.
The moment they felt they had slacked off enough, they would immediately close the distance and grab me. And now that I was cornered in a dead end, they would drag me back to the office with them under the guise of having "finally caught the runaway." It wasn't just unpleasant; it was horrifying. I refused to work an eighteen-hour shift...!
But using Hypnosis to get out of this? That didn't sit right with me either. ...How should I put it? It felt like admitting defeat.
"Ugh, what do I do..."
"Hide in here, Teach."
"Ai-Aileen...?"
Just as I was racking my brain for a way out of this predicament, Aileen's voice drifted over. ...But there shouldn't have been anyone around here? I hurriedly turned my head toward the source of the sound, but all I saw was a plain white wall.
"...Am I hearing things?"
"You're not."
"?!"
"Why are you so surprised?"
"O-Of course I'm surprised! A person just popped out of a wall!"
My goodness, my heart nearly stopped. Was there actually a space behind the wall...? Looking closer, I noticed an incredibly faint crack running along the surface. It was so microscopic that one would never notice it without staring intently for a long time. Moreover, the cross-section of the wall was cut with absolute precision. Was this some kind of secret passage within the Academy?
"I had no idea the Academy had a secret passage like this. How fascinating."
"? There's no such thing."
"Huh? Then what is this...?"
"I made it myself as a temporary setup. It's a great spot for slacking off, isn't it?"
"..."
"Get in. I'll help you hide for a bit."
And here I was, getting all excited. A hidden passage inside the Academy that nobody else knew about—I thought it sounded so cool. Feeling a sudden wave of betrayal, I stared blankly at her face. But my disappointment was short-lived. Hearing footsteps approaching from the distance, I scrambled into Aileen's secret hideout.
"...Huh? I'm sure she headed this way."
"Are you sure you didn't missee her?"
"Hmm..."
Please don't let them find me... Please don't let them find me...! This time, I prayed to the gods with absolute, desperate sincerity. I'll forgive you for ignoring my prayer earlier...! Please! Just this once! Have mercy!
"Ah."
"What? Is something wrong?"
"...!"
But as expected, the gods had no intention of answering my prayers. Through a tiny, microscopic gap in the wall, my eyes locked directly with those of the teacher who had followed me. God is dead. He must be dead... I cursed the heavens in my heart. They never granted my prayers when it mattered. I didn't want to work anymore. I suddenly found myself envying my past self from just a few months ago, when I was living comfortably as a phantom thief stealing a salary.
"No, I think I was mistaken. Let's take our time looking around. Miss Ophelia is surprisingly good at running away."
"Hey, be honest. You saw her, didn't you?"
"Me? No, I didn't."
"Come on, why are you hiding it? Miss Ophelia! We don't know where you are, but you're taking a nice, relaxing break, aren't you? Let us piggyback on your slacking for a bit!"
"How can you say that? We're supposed to find her and get back to work."
"Ah, right. My bad. ...Hurry up and find her! The paperwork is piling up!"
I take back my curse. It seemed the gods had answered my prayer perfectly after all. I let out a long sigh of relief only after the teachers' voices faded into the distance.
"Thank you, Miss Aileen. You saved my life."
"...What? You know my name?"
"Of course I do. I heard about you from the Princess."
Well, I hadn't actually heard it from the Princess, but if I framed it like that, she would probably just accept it, right? As if proving my assumption correct, she let out a sigh and muttered under her breath.
"...Damn it, that woman. Always blabbering about useless things."
"Haha."
Aileen, the sword prodigy. She was a playable character with insane growth potential, but in exchange, her starting stats were so pitifully low they were practically non-existent. Though, perhaps due to some real-world buff, she still seemed stronger than Leo. In any case, she was not the type to move unless absolutely necessary. According to the game's lore, she spent most of her day slacking off. ...I had always wondered how exactly she managed to slack off so effectively, but to think she had cleanly sliced open an Academy wall to hide inside it. Her swordsmanship was so precise that the cut was practically invisible—a truly magnificent waste of talent.
"...Why did you help me?"
"Hmm?"
"From what I've heard, you absolutely detest... troublesome things, Miss Aileen."
Aileen had a pathological aversion to anything troublesome. If an incident occurred, she was the type to run away from it rather than try to resolve it. ...So why did someone like her help me? In response to my silent question, she gave a casual shrug.
"Oh, I just felt a sense of kinship."
"...Kinship?"
I was left utterly bewildered by her completely unexpected reasoning. Should I be happy about this or not...? While it was great that I had managed to break the ice with her much more easily than anticipated... I couldn't help but feel a bit conflicted. Did I really come across as that similar to her?