Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: 9.4 The Chairwoman's Summons
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“Naibusu.”
“Ugh?!”
Whoa, that startled me.
As I was about to pass through the academy gates, someone suddenly called out to me from behind.
No one in the academy sneaks up on me from behind like this. At this point, I had a rough idea who it was.
Turning around, there stood a suspicious figure in shiny, skin-tight spandex pulled up over their face like a mask. If they weren't wearing the women's academy uniform over the spandex, they would've been hauled off as a suspicious character without question.
“Ku-no-ku-no senpai. You scared me.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
Kong. Ku-no-ku-no senpai taps my forehead with the handle of her kunai.
“Ow.”
I rubbed the spot, frowning.
“Hitting a cute junior with a weapon? That's too much.”
“You deserved it.”
“Not denying I'm cute, huh.”
“You'd be cute if you just shut up.”
“Wow. Ku-no-ku-no senpai just confessed to me. Ow.”
Kong. Hit the same spot again.
“That hurts.”
“If you don't want to get hit, stop messing around.”
This is Kumon Kikuno, a fourth-year in the high school division of Rune Academy.
She's a slender beauty who always covers half her face, giving off a mysterious vibe—or suspicious, if you're being negative.
I'm calling her a beauty without seeing her face because it's better than assuming she's ugly.
As her name and outfit suggest, she's a kunoichi—female ninja—concept character. I'm the one who gave her the nickname Kumon Kikuno = Ku-no-ku-no, right alongside Sinozaki Shinobu = Shi-no-shi-no.
“Anyway, Ku-no senpai showing up means...”
“The Chairwoman's summons.”
“Ugh.”
If the Student Council President has her guard captain Shi-no-shi-no, the Chairwoman has her intelligence chief Ku-no-ku-no senpai.
She took over as chief last year during the big cleanup, replacing the previous one, so her tenure isn't long.
But her skills are leagues beyond Shi-no-shi-no, another newbie. She can sneak up on me like this.
I worked closely with Ku-no senpai last year on various ops, so we're pretty tight.
Compared to Shi-no-shi-no, who growls whenever she sees me, Ku-no senpai's practically a fairy.
But closeness and a Chairwoman summons are separate issues.
“Sorry, I gotta head to class soon.”
Trying to slip away, I got grabbed by the scruff by senpai.
“Second period's almost over, and you're just strolling in late? No excuses—follow me.”
“Waaah.”
Ku-no-ku-no senpai looped a rope around my neck like I was a criminal and dragged me along.
Afraid I'd bolt? Of course I'd run at the first chance.
“Huh? Not the Chairwoman's office?”
The direction was different from usual.
The Chairwoman's building is that way.
“Today's in the council president's office.”
“Oh~ A lecture after all this time.”
The Chairwoman of Rune Academy, Mizuki Ryoko—or as her name suggests, Student Council President Mizuki Kyoko's mother.
But she reins in the president so strictly, you wonder if she's actually her mother-in-law. Watching from the sidelines, I almost feel sorry for the president.
Growing up under a mother like that must be why the president's personality is... a bit off.
Hmm... Poor president.
-Knock knock.
Arriving at the Student Council President's office, Ku-no senpai knocks on the door.
1.5 times the usual number of guard members stood watch with about fifteen times the tension.
For them, it's like the commander dropping in unannounced. I silently prayed for the guard seniors' well-being.
“Chairwoman. I brought the problem child.”
-Click.
Stepping inside, there was the president with a gloomy expression, Shi-no-shi-no looking tense as a bowstring, and the Chairwoman Mizuki with a faintly irritated look.
“Problem child? Where's a model student like me?”
Naibusu...!
As I grumbled, Shi-no-shi-no shot me a terrifying glare.
Hmm. Better stay quiet, or Shi-no will chew me out later.
-Hoo.
The Chairwoman in the head seat puffs her pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
I fanned it away from my nose like she was showing off, and she chuckled leisurely with a fu.
Today, Chairwoman Mizuki wore a flashy kimono with red flowers on a white background. Holding what looked like an expensive pipe in one hand, she radiated a decadent aura.
Hmm. Like Sana-san, she looks unrealistically young—probably thanks to the original game.
Just looking at her face, she's almost indistinguishable from President Mizuki. Without the mole under her right eye, even her husband, Chairman Mizuki, might mix them up.
What if Chairman Mizuki hugs the daughter pretending it's his wife?
Unforgivable.
“Naibusu Winzer. It seems you caused quite the spectacle while I was away.”
Chairwoman Mizuki Ryoko began her gentle scolding in her usual polite tone.
She's been away on a tour of academies in Europe and North America for the past few weeks.
Of course, I didn't plan to stir up trouble in her absence. It just happened to overlap. And it wasn't trouble anyway.
“Spectacle? I was preserving the academy's peace──”
As I started to retort, Shi-no-shi-no lasered me with eyes screaming please just shut up!
“Ahem. Sorry. They were completely unreasonable, so I had no choice but to use force.”
“Hehe. I'm sure. 'As always.'”
“Hahaha...”
Chairwoman Mizuki Ryoko chuckled knowingly at my obvious excuse.
She's not formal military, but wartime rank-wise, she's treated as a brigadier general. Higher than me, whether civilian or soldier.
Unlike the president or Shi-no, she knows my true nature well. She's even commanded me on ops before, so she understands my tendencies better than anyone.
“Well, whatever. Taking out a few pieces of trash is no issue.”
“Trash... well, they were trash.”
Sorry, Lieutenant Shuji. I won't forget your exploits.
Whatever they were.
“By the way, there was a girl this time too?”
“Ah... yeah, well...”
“Remarkable. The infamous 'KW' killing a girl.”
I shrugged at the Chairwoman, who smiled with her eyes in amusement.
“She deserved it.”
“So, you killed her because she deserved it, revived her, and made her your toy?”
“Anyone hearing that would misunderstand. It's not true.”
Shi-no-shi-no looked at me like I was trash.
It's not like that.
Ah, you always look at me that way anyway?
Tch.
“Naibusu. You know what my rune and Kyoko's are, right?”
“...Yes. Of course.”
By now, I could feel the ominous atmosphere.
Normally, parental runes pass to children: mother's to daughter, father's to son.
And the Mizuki mother-daughter pair, Mizuki Ryoko and Mizuki Kyoko, both possess the 'Revive Rune'.
This Revive Rune is one of the rarest in the world, infamous for how finicky it is to use.
It can revive the dead.
But the user dies in their place.
The ultimate, extreme rune: trading your life for another's.
“Hand over Tsukimiya Akane.”
The Chairwoman said it straight out.
“No.”
And I refused straight out.
I'd already read the Chairwoman's intentions—and the plans behind them—via Mind Rune, so I could reject the order without hesitation.
“Refusal? Why?”
“Tsukimiya Akane is mine. I'm not handing her over to anyone.”
Tension crackled through the room.
Shi-no-shi-no. Glare all you want. This is non-negotiable.
-Tok.
The Chairwoman tapped ash from her pipe onto the council office floor.
Bad habit. What if your daughter picks it up?
Chairwoman Mizuki let out a light sigh and spoke as if admonishing a stubborn child.
“Tsukimiya Akane is an important sample. With the scientists who revived her gone from the world, we need whatever samples they've left to unravel the mechanism of resurrecting the dead.”
“No. Akane isn't alive. Right now, she's just a doll mimicking a human—it stops when its mana battery runs out. The dead don't come back to life.”
The Chairwoman and president's Revive Rune was extraordinarily special, but it also invited bizarre controversies.
For nationally vital figures—like the emperor, prime minister, or national heroes.
If someone died and another could take their place, would there really be no one volunteering to die instead?
I don't think so.
And Chairwoman Mizuki was wary of exactly that.
“Congrats. The Revive Rune's value won't drop anytime soon.”
She has her husband, the ruling party chair, as a solid shield for now. But politics shift by the minute—you can't relax forever. In the original game, the Mizuki family fell to political intrigue.
That's why the Chairwoman wanted the Akane sample. If they could figure out resurrection without using Revive Rune, her daughter wouldn't face those absurd demands in the future.
Heh. The Chairwoman chuckled lightly.
“That doesn't add up. If it's really just a doll, why refuse? We'll compensate generously and even provide a replacement 'living person.'”
“Doll or not, it's my doll. A man protecting his woman is only natural. And there's no replacement for Akane. Ah, if you or the president volunteered to take her place, I might consider it.”
Shi-no-shi-no started trembling.
She's on reaction duty today, huh.
The Chairwoman narrowed her eyes and glared at me as she asked.
“What if the state enforces it by force?”
“Then it's total war. I'll fight to the end, prepared for mutual destruction with the state.”
“You'd lose everything and regret it? Losing all to save one—is that what Naibusu wants? Or do you think you can win against the state?”
“No. It's proportional deterrence strategy.”
Proportional deterrence.
After nukes were developed, nuclear powers can't wage war recklessly.
Even if you could annihilate the enemy, you'd suffer irreparable damage from their retaliation.
Even a weak nation becomes untouchable. That's proportional deterrence.
I conveyed it to the Chairwoman with France's resolve: even if Russia nukes us and we perish, we'll take Moscow with us.
“If you take even one from me, I'll fight with the resolve to destroy everything the taker holds dear—state or whatever.”
Yield even once, and you can't protect anything.
That's why I won't yield a single person.
That's my way.