General 24

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Chapter 24. Because I Can't Just Let It Go

"I see. So there's a system in place where students repel attackers from the outside."

Taking command just now, and rallying the instructors at the beginning, I didn't even know the school had such a mechanism.

"That speech from the Major General just now was good."

"Stop it, Lieutenant Hayami. I said something slightly off earlier, it's embarrassing..."

In a situation like this, you'd think of it as an emergency situation where terrorists have infiltrated the school.

Ah, this reminds me of something I saw in a manga when I was a kid!

Right now, I'm sitting where the vice principal usually sits in the faculty room, checking the situation on the monitor hanging from the ceiling.

Standing next to me is Lieutenant Hayami, like a secretary.

"Report. The Student Council President, Domon, of the 3rd year, overwhelmed the enemy, and the 3rd-year floor and rooftop are clear."

"Next report. Vice President Nase of the 2nd year, along with the top-ranking student of the 2nd year, Kohou Mina, have successfully neutralized enemy forces."

Reports are coming in one after another from the instructors who have turned into operators.

The students of the student council are leading the battle, while the instructors confirm the situation and intervene if necessary.

Quite a system indeed. It's like actual combat training using intruders.

"Send personnel for capture... No, not yet."

"Yes, I agree. It might be better after securing the first-year floor downstairs."

Hayami-san expresses a concurring opinion to my decision.

Although the defense has been successful so far, it's only on the upperclassmen's floors.

Sending a separate unit now would be risky.

"Has additional enemy forces been confirmed?"

"Not yet."

"A report from the 1-A homeroom teacher. Student Kamiya was absent from the classroom during the alert. Urgent search and rescue is requested."

That's me.

The homeroom teacher currently teaching probably doesn't know my true identity yet, so it's natural to worry.

The operator instructors seem a bit uncomfortable too.

"...Respond from our end. Who's handling the situation on the first-year floor?"

"It's Hinoura, the top-ranking student."

Right. Because he's a member of the Student Council.

"Is this Hinoura's first battle?"

"Yes! As expected."

In this situation, with Hinoura-san's abilities, she should be able to subdue the opponent without any issues.

Even so, if they're having trouble...

"I'm intervening on the first-year floor."

Feeling a sense of unease, I decided as the commander.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

"Haaa... haaa..."

Kotomi Hinora crouched in the shadows of the corridor.

She desperately tried to control her erratic breathing by pressing her hand against her chest.

Was her heartbeat so loud that others could hear it? 

She was nervously tense to the point of thinking that.

"This is... real combat... the exchange of lives..."

Just earlier, she received the alert for the first-level warning of terrorist intrusion and hurried to the corridor.

As a member of the Student Council, it had been drilled into her since she joined that she was obligated to take the lead in defense.

As trained beforehand, she quickly generated paralysis poison with her soul ability and swiftly filled the area of the corridor with it.

During a first-level warning, barrier runes were automatically deployed on the classroom side, so other students couldn't be exposed to the threat of poison.

However, due to the swift response, Kotomi didn't see the terrorists.

Presumably, the poisoned terrorists had collapsed near the stairs or landing, but she couldn't see them from the corridor.

"If... there are ambushes or reinforcements... if they're deliberately silent to lure us into complacency..."

Her anxiety about "what ifs" continued to grow.

"Haaa... haaa..."

Her breath became shallow due to the accelerated heartbeat, causing tunnel vision and an invisible fear to escalate.

"Ahhh!"

Taking a deep breath, Kotomi began constructing a large-scale paralysis poison generation spell.

"Okay, calm down, Kotomi."

Kamiya, who had somehow appeared behind her, embraced Kotomi from behind.

"What?! Why is Kamiya here?! Non-members of the Student Council shouldn't be able to leave the locked classrooms during emergencies."

"Oh, well. I went to the restroom before the alarm went off."

This was technically not a lie.

"This isn't the time for this!"

"The opponents are already neutralized by your paralysis poison. Anything more would be overkill."

Just earlier, Kamiya had confirmed both staircases and observed the terrorists foaming at the mouth.

"No... unless I make sure they're completely incapacitated, I can't relax."

"It's troublesome if you develop a habit of unnecessarily hurting opponents."

"How would you understand?!"

To kotomi's heated frustration,

"I do understand, because I used to be like that too. It's troublesome when that bad habit sets in. Eventually, it'll hurt you."

Kamiya replied with a self-deprecating tone.

"But, in the Student Council... I have to protect the other first-year students."

"Kotomi..."

Kamiya placed his hand over Kotomi's clenched fist.

"Eek?! What are you doing?! Why do you always suddenly embrace me without my consent?"

Despite saying that, Kotomi's resistance weakened every time Kamiya embraced her.

"Well, I can't just leave you alone."

"Huh?"

"It's like I'm looking at my past self."

Peeking from below, Kotomi looked at Kamiya's profile as he gazed into the distance, reminiscing about the past.

"Are Kamiya and I similar...?"

"Yeah. It's embarrassing, but when I had my first battle, I was so scared that I crouched down and cried and couldn't even leave my room. Compared to that, you're excellent."

As Kamiya tightened his embrace around Kotomi, her tense body relaxed slightly.

"Did someone embrace you like this during Kamiya's time?"

"No, I got smacked on the head and dragged out."

"That's terrible..."

"Haha, right? It was awful."

Laughing, Kamiya recounted his past "black" behavior.

Kotomi also returned to smiling.

"That's probably why. When I'm embraced like this, I feel a little reassured. But, sorry. It's just my selfish wish from back then. I'll let go soon."

As Kamiya began to loosen his grip on Kotomi's arms,

"No... I feel safe, so can we stay like this a little longer, Yuu?"

Kotomi grabbed Kamiya's arms and wrapped them around her body again.

"Huh? Yuu?"

"We're classmates, so it's okay to use first names, right? You've been calling me Kotomi without any fuss. Also, what you did earlier, it's a psychological approach to listen to me and reset, but since I feel relieved, I thought I'd just go along with it."

Although Kamiya began to explain, he decided against it, feeling that it would be rude to interrupt Kotomi, who had relaxed and leaned into him.