The Fraying Mask
While the rest of the campus was buzzing with excitement for the Jerion Academy Founding Festival, the members of the student council were slumped in their seats, their faces etched with sheer exhaustion.
"Haah... Finally, a moment to breathe."
"Tell me about it. I thought I was going to die with all these schedules overlapping."
The student council members groaned, lamenting their brutal workload. The Nikita incident, the sudden absence of the vice president, the preparations for the Founding Festival... and to top it all off, the upcoming International Academy Individual Tournament right after the festival.
The student council was practically drowning under a tidal wave of endless tasks.
Perhaps that was why, despite hearing whispers of unsettling movements among the student body, they hadn't been able to take any real action. They were simply too busy, and they assumed the students wouldn't actually pull off anything major.
"By the way, where's the president?"
"He said he was going to the student council room."
"Is he just going there to sleep again?"
"Surely not."
The student council members didn't seem to hold much trust in their president. Normally, most of them preferred to consult Vice President Nikita rather than Sylvester.
Because of this, Sylvester Drapen occupied a rather precarious, unreliable position as the student council president.
"Still, the president worked his butt off for today."
"That's true."
Though often labeled the "Incompetent Idler," Sylvester had actually been working quite hard in his own way ever since Nikita disappeared. Just as the council members were trying to give him some credit—
"Guys, you need to see this! Holy crap!"
Another student council member burst into the classroom where they were resting. As the others looked up in confusion, they caught sight of the paper in his hand.
One by one, they bolted upright.
The current student council is fundamentally broken.
Below the bold headline, the page was densely packed with a list of the student council's past misdeeds and corruption.
These were historical transgressions committed by past student councils, dating back long before Nikita had even joined.
Jerion Academy had a long history, and the student council had existed just as long. Naturally, over such a vast span of time, some members had engaged in unsavory practices.
During Nikita's tenure as vice president, all such corruption had been thoroughly eradicated, meaning the current council had nothing to do with it.
But there was no guarantee the current student body would see it that way.
Worse, the names listed on the paper didn't just belong to graduates. They included current professors, associate professors, and assistant instructors.
Wherever people gathered, bad apples were bound to exist. And while the students might have been indifferent to the student council, quite a few harbored deep resentment toward the faculty.
With even a single one of those names exposed, the students' fury would inevitably sweep up the student council in a wave of collective guilt.
"This is insane! This is pure instigation! We never did any of this!"
"...It's not about what we did. This is targeting the entire hotbed of corruption within Jerion Academy, including the student council."
One of the quicker-witted council members realized the true gravity of the document.
"Besides, this information... only someone deep within the student council or the academy administration could possibly know this."
He swallowed hard, his throat dry.
"It just happened to blow up during our term. Someone is deliberately trying to rip out the very roots of Jerion Academy's corruption."
In that moment, a heavy silence fell over the room. They all felt the approach of a massive, unstoppable tide—something far too grand for mere students to handle.
"W-What do we do?"
"What do we do? We have to..."
"First, confiscate the flyers! If we leave them be, we'll get dragged down with them!"
"But wouldn't doing that just be admitting we're guilty?"
The student council members began to argue frantically. Normally, there would have been someone to take charge and direct them, but none of them possessed that kind of leadership.
As a result, the chaos only deepened.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud noise reverberated through the air. It was the sound of a distant explosion.
The sudden blast froze the student council members in their tracks.
Slide!
The door slammed open, and a black-haired boy burst in.
It was Hanon Airey.
"What are you guys doing just sitting here?!" he yelled. "The student council room has been seized by the boycotters!"
The council members' eyes widened in shock. Whatever else happened, they couldn't just stand by and let their own headquarters be occupied.
"Everyone, follow me! First, we take back the student council room!"
"Those bastards have gone too far!"
"They really think the student council is a joke!"
The council members charged out of the room in a frantic rush.
Once they had gone, "Hanon" let out a long sigh and reached up to adjust his hair, finding the wig a bit uncomfortable.
"I know I helped, but I didn't expect it to blow up this much."
This "Hanon Airey" was actually Hania Rapiddia in disguise.
After planning the boycott with Hanon, she had supported him and the boycotters by feeding them internal information.
Initially, Hania had intended to lead the boycott group herself. But after seeing how Hanon managed them, she decided to step back.
It was better to leave it in his hands.
I seriously have no idea what kind of person he really is.
Hanon understood the inner workings of Jerion Academy far deeper than the information Hania had gathered.
At first, Hania had simply planned to root out the corruption to align with Iris's goals. But with Hanon driving the plan, they weren't just pulling weeds—they were about to tear up the academy's darkest secrets by the roots.
In fact, Hanon had even suggested arranging for a new set of "roots" to replace the old ones.
This task was handed over to the 3rd Princess's faction. Thrilled at the opportunity to plant their own people within Jerion Academy, Iris's supporters had cooperated with absolute enthusiasm.
It had gone so well that Iris had even received high praise from her grandfather, Duke Robliaju.
Iris, in turn, had passed the praise along to Hania, expressing her deep gratitude for everything Hania had done for her.
Receiving Iris's gratitude was incredibly rewarding, but Hania knew she wasn't the one who deserved it. It was Hanon who had orchestrated the entire thing.
The gratitude was directed at the wrong person.
...If only he hadn't made me promise not to tell.
Hania had made a single promise to Hanon regarding this operation: she had to keep his involvement a complete secret from Iris.
Because of this, even though she had been praised by Iris, she couldn't help but feel a lingering sense of guilt. Taking credit for someone else's work was definitely not Hania's style.
"Hania."
Suddenly, a voice called out her name.
Hania instinctively started to turn her head, then froze.
Right now, she was disguised as Hanon, not Hania. Yet the voice had clearly called out her real name.
The quiet hallway was completely empty, save for her.
Hania slowly turned her gaze toward the source of the voice.
Standing there was a girl with short, honey-blonde hair.
Her amber eyes gleamed as she smiled, but there was an unsettling, spine-chilling edge to that smile.
"Hanon... where did he go?"
It was Isabel Luna.
Hearing her question, Hania felt an instinctive shiver run down her spine.
Was Isabel always this terrifying?
Whenever Isabel followed Hanon around, she had always seemed like a bright, cheerful golden retriever. But right now, there was a complete absence of warmth in her.
An oppressive, suffocating aura radiated from her, cold enough to make even Hania shudder.
"...I don't know what you're talking about. I'm right here," Hania feigned ignorance, though she knew there was little chance Isabel would buy it.
Just as she expected, Isabel didn't even blink.
"Ah, right. That's fine. I think I have a pretty good idea of where he is anyway."
Hania swallowed a nervous lump in her throat.
Isabel turned to walk away, but after a few steps, she paused as if remembering something.
"Oh, by the way, Hania. When he feigns ignorance, his eyebrows twitch upward just a little bit more than that."
Hania's shoulders flinched.
Isabel offered a serene, effortless smile.
"You should at least remember that much. After all, you're playing the role of his girlfriend. Shouldn't you do a proper job?"
With those parting words, Isabel turned and vanished down the corridor.
Hania stood frozen for a moment, then reached up to brush back her sweat-dampened hair.
Though she usually tried to keep her language in check, right now, only one thought came to mind.
...Hanon, you are absolutely screwed.
Biting her lip, she spun around and bolted.
"Ugh, seriously... that guy is so much work."
Over in the main building, where even the professors had cleared out due to the Founding Festival, a loud commotion echoed through the hallways.
The noise was coming from the boycott group that had occupied the student council room.
The returning student council members had clashed with the occupiers, sparking a chaotic brawl.
Meanwhile, the boycotters were busy tearing through the student council room and the professors' offices, unearthing hidden evidence of corruption.
"...Why are you doing this?"
A voice spoke up beside me.
I was currently inside the student council room, disguised as Vikaman.
Just to be safe, I had wrapped an extra layer of the Bandage of the Veil over my true appearance. I was Vikaman, but a version of Vikaman created by the bandage's magic. Thanks to that, the lightning scars covering my body were completely hidden.
Sitting bound on the floor next to me was the student council president, Sylvester Drapen.
If he wanted to know why I was doing this, the simple answer was to progress the scenario. But even if I explained that to him, he would never understand.
"I'm just correcting what is wrong."
The student council of Jerion Academy was fundamentally corrupt. But it wasn't just them. Because the academy had stood for so long, seeds of darkness had quietly taken root beneath the surface.
It was a tragic truth, but stagnant water always rots.
Sage Jerion originally founded this academy to nurture heroes...
But as the eras passed, internal rot had set in. The student council's corruption was merely the surface of a much deeper decay within Jerion Academy. And this decay would inevitably trigger a cascade of disasters.
It's the perfect breeding ground for the Evil Zone.
Sylvester let out a hollow, self-deprecating chuckle at my calm response.
"Vikaman."
He still remembered me.
"What you're doing won't fix anything. In the end, the cycle will just repeat itself."
He wasn't wrong. Even if we purged the corrupt professors, their replacements wouldn't necessarily be saints.
But I was certain of one thing.
The associates of Duke Robliaju who would soon take over the vacant faculty positions would, at least for the time being, focus entirely on running the academy properly.
The 3rd Princess's faction had to prove to the Emperor that they could manage Jerion Academy far better than the 1st Prince's faction.
Therefore, for the foreseeable future, the academy would be run with unprecedented transparency.
Whatever happens after that is none of my concern.
For now, this move gave me a much cleaner slate to rip out the roots of the Evil Zone. That was all that mattered to me.
"Sylvester, cut the crap."
Rozamin, the leader of the boycott, cut Sylvester off. He glared down at the president with eyes burning with righteous fury.
"Everything you're saying is just an excuse. You sat by and did absolutely nothing, you incompetent coward. Don't you dare look down on those who are actually trying to make a change."
I was genuinely impressed.
When I first met Rozamin, he had seemed like a bit of a dramatic fool. But through his genuine commitment to the boycott, he had grown immensely.
He truly wanted to change Jerion Academy. He wanted to be someone who stood up and corrected what was wrong.
I guess people really do grow.
In the original game, Rozamin was nothing more than a minor Act 4 villain. But now that this world was my reality, I was witnessing sides of him I had never seen before.
"...I suppose you're right," Sylvester conceded, surprisingly easily.
"But sometimes, it's better for the incompetent to remain silent."
He let out a thin, bitter smile.
Boom!
Another explosion shook the main building, far louder and more violent than the first.
Hearing the blast, Sylvester looked up, his expression darkening.
"If you wanted to play revolutionary, you should have stuck to targeting the student council."
He knew exactly who would be provoked by this move.
"There's no way the professors implicated in this corruption are just going to sit back and watch."
One of the corrupt faculty members of Jerion Academy had finally made their move.