Chapter 71: Maid Trainee

Ever since Nagisa contacted me and I went to help Sensei a few days ago, I’d been floating in this vague haze—half excitement, half anxiety.

(Hehe… I actually gave it to him… my feather.)

Before Trinity became a single academy like it is now, there used to be several schools. In one of them, students who had wings and were close to one another had a custom of exchanging feathers. It was supposed to mean “may we always be together.”

Over time, that practice shifted. Giving your feather to someone of the opposite sex came to be viewed as the equivalent of a confession—or even a proposal.

A few months ago, when I was bored, I leafed through books about Trinity’s history in the Antiquarian Library and happened to find that passage. I casually asked Maiha and Masa—and even Nagisa—about the feathers, but they all just tilted their heads.

Maybe because it was centuries ago, hardly anyone knows about it anymore. Honestly, if people did know, there’d be a lot more students trying to give their feathers to Sensei. But judging by the reactions so far, it seems like I was the first person whose feather he ever accepted.

(My heart’s pounding…)

Yes—no one else knows what it means but me, yet the reality remains: I basically confessed to Sensei in a roundabout way. And he accepted it. In a sense, that means I’ve got him all to myself.

That’s the exciting part. As for the anxiety…

(What happens to me if people find out…?)

If anyone realized I’d practically confessed to Sensei, someone might literally come after my life.*1 And if Sensei became aware of what accepting that feather actually means, he might say something like, “Sorry, could we pretend that never happened?”

(If he said something like that…)

That’s where the anxiety comes from. Maybe my feelings for him are much bigger than I realized.

Right when I was sinking into that sentimental spiral, I got a MomoTalk notification. It was from Maiha—and I let out a breath of relief when I saw it wasn’t from Sensei.

"Heyyy Aika-chan (^-^)/ I’ve got someplace I wanna go—are you free today? >ω<"

I didn’t have anything planned today, so I agreed. She told me to meet her in front of Tea Party HQ, so I changed into my uniform and drove Royal Tea over to the rendezvous point.

Maiha and Masa were waiting for me. As usual, I put both of them in the driver’s seat while I rode in the cargo bed.

"Come to think of it—you said there was somewhere you wanted to go. Where exactly?"

"My house!"

Maiha’s house, huh. She’d mentioned before that it was in the D.U. District,*2 but I’d never actually been there.

"I’ve got some free time today, so I thought I’d go back for the first time in a while. I wanna hang out with you both~"

"I see—that was your plan."

She gave me the address, and I switched to auto-drive. We left the Trinity autonomous zone, entered D.U., passed through the city center toward the outskirts, and finally reached our destination.

"Goodness—what a splendid estate…"

Even among the surrounding high-class residential area, this property was noticeably larger. Cream-colored marble walls, a pale-blue roof—an old-fashioned manor straight out of a classical portrait stood before us. The nameplate on the gate clearly read “Tsuchimikado,” marking it as Maiha’s home.

"Welcome back, my lady. And these guests are your friends, I presume?"

As we stood by the gate, taking in the view, a woman in a pale-blue maid outfit stepped forward—long black hair, purple halo.

"Yup, I’m home~ These are my friends, Aika-chan and Masa-chan~"

"I see—so these two are…"

Hiring a maid—yes, this was on a completely different scale from my own rural-noble background. We followed her inside as she guided us through the mansion.

We walked through a hall decorated with fine furnishings until we reached Maiha’s room.

"So this is Maiha’s room."

"Exactly what I expected, really."

"You think so~?"

The room was decorated in soft colors. A few plush toys sat on her bed, fancy cosmetic containers lined her vanity, and her bookshelf held volumes with titles that screamed shoujo manga. In short—it was the epitome of a girl’s room.

"Come to think of it—are your parents not home today, Maiha?"

We’d walked straight here from the front entrance—come to think of it, I hadn’t seen them.

"Papa and Mama left a while ago for another autonomous zone~ They’re doing business abroad—import-export stuff~"

I knew her family was wealthy—Trinity students often are—but trade? That was new to me.

"I visited Aika-chan’s place the other day and saw she lives on this huge farm, but what about you, Masa-chan~?"

"My family? We’re landowners—and a military line."

A military household, huh… well, Masa really does give off that vibe. Hearing it, Maiha looked a little uneasy and asked:

"So, is your family strict about stuff at home?"

"No, not particularly. I’ve always liked games, and no one’s ever told me I couldn’t. The only rule is that I must never skip athletic training, as part of building physical strength."

Oh—right. When we went to the beach, she mentioned she did swimming.*3 That’s what she meant. Makes sense now.

"So then—what exactly was your purpose in bringing us to your home, Maiha?"

After all, she’d only said “come over and hang out,” so I still didn’t know what she actually wanted us to do. It’s not like she was introducing us to her parents.

"I just wanted to have fun together~! Also, there’s something I wanted you to wear~"

"Don’t tell me you plan to put me in some frilly dress like last time, do you?"

"Ufufu~"

Maiha neither confirmed nor denied it—just smiled brightly. Judging from that reaction, she definitely intended to dress us up.

"Haa… honestly. Fine. Just don’t bring anything too strange."

Masa’s tone suggested resignation, but she was willing to go along. Somehow, it was kind of heartwarming—she really had opened up to Maiha.

Then Maiha took some clothes from her closet and handed them to us. And those clothes were…

"…Maid outfits?"

"Yup~! The fine details are a little different, but all three match~!"

These maid outfits had a different style than the one the maid earlier was wearing. Black, long one-piece dresses with white aprons—the classic traditional-maid style.

"Is that all? I didn’t need to brace myself. I thought you might force Gothic Lolita fashion on me."

Well, with Masa’s shorter height, I could actually see her pulling off Gothic Lolita. Thinking that, I switched out of my uniform. I’ve changed clothes among other students countless times during mobile classes, but changing with just a couple of friends—face-to-face—felt weirdly embarrassing. I turned toward the wall to avoid looking at the other two while I changed.

Once we were in maid uniforms, we spent a while chatting and snacking. Even so—these uniforms… the size fits perfectly, and there’s even an opening designed for our wings. It’s like someone acquired our body measurements and custom-tailored them. How did she get that info*4?

"Oh, right~ We should totally show the maid outfits to Sensei~"

"Sensei?"

"I’ve heard Sensei is fond of maids. I admit I’m curious to see how he reacts."

Sensei… If he sees me like this, will he say I’m cute? I… really hope so.

"Let’s go. It’s not that far from here to Schale, is it?"

"Wow, Aika-chan—you’re super into this~"

"You’re easy to read, Aika."

When they teased me like that, my cheeks grew hot. I just agreed to Maiha’s idea, that’s all!!

"Oh, honestly—you two…! Let’s just go already!"

I stood, marched out of the room to cover my embarrassment, retraced our steps to the entrance, and we loaded into Royal Tea to head toward Schale.

We reached the Schale building, a little removed from the center of the D.U. District. Normally you’d see delinquents wandering around here, but today there were no figures at all—eerily quiet.

Entering the building with the faintest sense of unease, we headed toward Schale’s office. But inside, Sensei was nowhere to be found—and instead, we discovered Ushimaki Juri alone, wrapped tightly in bedsheets like a cocoon, with tape slapped across her mouth.

"Um… what happened here?"

"Mmmph—mmph! Fffmmph!"

"Masa-chan, she can’t talk like that. We need to help her first."

Just as Maiha said, we started by undoing the bedsheets pinning Juri’s arms. The moment her hands were free, she tore the tape off her mouth and shouted, frantic:

"S-Sensei… Sensei was abducted by the delinquents!!"

"Sensei…?"

Kidnapped…? No way. We have to help him—fast.

"Um, breathe… could you start from the beginning, please~?"

"Yes… ah—first, I’m Ushimaki Juri from Gehenna Academy’s Lunch Club. I was on duty today and came to Schale… I was helping Sensei with paperwork, and then suddenly a huge group of delinquent girls barged in here! I tried to fight them off, but I couldn’t handle them alone…!"

"So they took Sensei and restrained you afterward."

Calm down. If they kidnapped him, they probably don’t intend to hurt him immediately. Sensei should be safe. Which means—

"Aika-chan, you okay?"

"Y-yes…"

Right. We just need to rescue him. Everything else comes after that.

"Uu… if only I were stronger, then Sensei…"

"If you were blindsided by a large group, then it couldn’t be helped. Besides, we can simply retrieve Sensei now."

No clue how many delinquents there were, but it sounded like a lot. Honestly, even most of our Prefect Team wouldn’t be able to counterattack properly after getting jumped like that.

"I-is that so? In that case…!"

"Yeah, let’s all go save Sensei~"

I nodded at Maiha’s words. First we had to locate Sensei—so we contacted the General Student Council. Maiha told us not to worry because she had a strategy for whoever picked up. What on earth did she mean by that?

〈Hello, General Student Council. If this isn’t urgent, call back later.〉

A languid voice… and I could hear rustling—crinkling? The moment I heard it, I knew exactly who it was.

"No, it’s urgent. Sensei has been kidnapped."

〈Ah—not Sensei calling. And what do you mean, “kidnapped”??〉

Given Momoka’s reputation for slacking off, I felt a bit uneasy—but at least she was willing to listen. We relayed everything Juri told us, and Momoka responded:

〈Hmm, hmm. I see how it is. Did those delinquents say anything?〉

"Ms. Ushimaki—do you recall anything the delinquents said?"

Juri answered clearly:

"Yes—when they carried Sensei off, I think they said things like: ‘This seals our victory,’ ‘We’ll make the Prefect Team choke on this,’ and… ‘Time for a hit.’ That’s what I remember hearing."

"…Ah, I think I might know what those sukeban girls are after."

From Juri’s recollection, it seemed Maiha had figured something out. I leaned in, wondering what she meant.

"Sensei’s leadership has been praised all over Kivotos, right? So those delinquents probably want revenge against Gehenna’s Prefect Team—the ones who gave them a really rough time in the past—and they’re planning to use Sensei to do it for them… something like that?"

"…That does sound plausible."

Well, whether Sensei would cooperate with that is another matter entirely. But that isn’t our priority right now—we need to find where he is.

〈Alright, got it. Traffic data in the D.U. sector… vehicles heading from Schale toward Gehenna… roads clogged with bikes… slums… that’s the one.〉

After we relayed Maiha’s deduction, we heard Momoka tapping away at her device—on and off, for a few minutes straight. Then she sent over several coordinates near the border between the D.U. District and Gehenna’s zone.

〈Sensei should be at one of those points. And if Sensei doesn’t come back, I can’t slack off in peace, so I’m counting on you all.〉

"Ah—um… thank you very much."

〈Mm, later.〉

The line cut there—she was clearly leaving the rest to us.

"Well then, everyone. Operation: Retrieve Sensei is officially underway."

"“Ooooh!”"

To get Sensei back, we hurried out of Schale, boarded Royal Tea, and headed straight for the first target location.