Ormet took her to the teacher's office.

It was not incomprehensible. Using two forms to fool the students in school may be acceptable, but trying to fool the colleagues in the office was not possible. Presumably, the teachers should have known about it.

Setsuna greeted him politely outside the door and followed the man into the office.

"Oh, isn't this the child with great potential?"

Suddenly, an unexpected compliment flew towards him. He raised his head in astonishment and was instantly frightened by the enlarged female face in front of him. He did not need to analyze the faint fragrance of the other party to confirm the identity of the visitor, "Teacher, Teacher Midnight …"

"Midnight, you're here."

Ormet was equally surprised. He looked around the office and asked, "Where are the others?"

"Aizawa and 13 are injured. Mike and Kongling are nurses. The cement company is involved in the reconstruction of the site in USJ. As for me …" She waved the lesson plan in her hand and looked slightly annoyed. "Like the rest of the guys, there are still children in the class waiting to be comforted.

Those reporters with a keen sense of smell will probably be here soon. We have to unify the school's standard in advance. "

Ormet suddenly felt a little guilty. After all, the other party came in the name of erasing the symbol of peace. He had to take the blame. "… Sorry for the trouble."

"What are you talking about, No.1?

Hero。”

Midnight, who had already reached the door, stopped in her tracks and looked back with a smile. She did not have the gentleness of the usual pheromones. Instead, there was an indescribable feeling.

"You can't be so dejected. If you want to apologize, wait until it's over."

The door closed gently, and the sound of high heels hitting the ground gradually faded away. Setsuna recovered from the conversation between the two and found that Ormet, who had stepped into the office first, had pulled out a chair and gestured to her. "Thank you …"

Ormet waved his hand.

"The following conversation will be very long, so it's better to sit down."

As he spoke, he sat down across from her. After a moment of silence, he said, "… Although it's hard to say, as you can see, the so-called 'symbol of peace,' the 'No. 1 hero' … in reality, he's already weakened to this state."

It was a little hard to accept reality, but compared to seeing the gas leak without any warning, it wasn't too shocking. Setsuna nodded in understanding and waited for him to continue.

Since he had already started, the rest of the words were easy to say. Olmut raised his hand and pressed on the right side of his ribs. "Here, after the war six years ago, there was an irreversible injury. Although various professional heroes helped me, my body still couldn't recover to its peak state.

Now, there is a limit to the amount of time you can spend in that form. To be honest, in order to hide from the eyes of the students, I, and even the teachers, have done a lot of work.

“

"So …"

He lowered his hand and looked straight into the girl's eyes.

"Please understand the painstaking efforts of everyone who took the trouble to cover up this secret.

Today's society still needs a perfect hero to suppress those villains who are ready to make trouble in the dark. The symbol of peace can't be lost now. I know that I'm making a request that's too heavy for a student, but no matter what. "

He lowered his head, his forehead touching his knees, his straight back parallel to the sky, as if he wanted to carry the weight of the world with his weak shoulders and neck.

"Please, keep the secret."

"I'm willing, I'm willing."

Silence.

Setsuna silently looked at the man in front of her who bowed his head to her. The natural-born hero, the symbol of peace, who never took a step back in the face of all the villains, the spiritual pillar of everyone, the guardian of her countless nightmares, Ormet.

The thin figure, the drooping hair, the empty white t-shirt hanging on his body, the pale face that looked like he was going to vomit blood at any time, the one who bowed his head to a middle school student in a serious request, Ormet.

A corner of her body was aching, but the pain was not as bad as when she was torn apart by the black fog. At least her mind was clear now, and her calculations were smooth. Other than the slight fatigue in her hands and feet, she could even immediately go to the simulation battlefield and fight a few hundred rounds.

But at this moment, as if her heart was squeezed, she couldn't breathe smoothly at all.

Her body moved spontaneously, she left the chair under her and sat on the ground without caring about her image. She raised her head and tried to look at his eyes, but when she found that his eyes were closed because of the death request, her heart couldn't help but soften.

"— Please raise your head, Teacher Ormet."

She said softly.

Ormet paused for a few seconds in that position, his forehead slowly lifted from his knees, and his blue pupils calmly embraced the figure of the girl in front of him.

"You never need to apologize to me."

She got up from the ground, and then, perhaps because she hesitated, she raised her hand and gently hugged the person in front of her.

(I can't calculate how strong a person has to be to bear this weight.)

(But at least.)

"… You've worked hard so far."

(I want to share some of his burden, even if it's just a little.)

… …

… … …

… … … …

When she left the office, the sun was already setting, and the few students in the school showed the fact that school was already over.

Setsuna dragged her heavy body and planned to go back to the classroom to get her bag. There was too much information today, and she just wanted to go home immediately. Could she come to school tomorrow morning to copy her homework, or ask Sunny Day for help at night …

Halfway through his rambling, he was stuck.

She looked blankly at the young man with the distinctive hair color in the classroom, and for a moment, she just wanted to kneel down and beg for mercy, "Sir, please let me go, I just want to go home and sleep, I'm not in the mood to discuss life ideals with you."

But this was destined to be a beautiful fantasy. After all, Xinshu was right. She was the kind of person who had a hundred complaints in her heart, but she couldn't say a word.

"… Bang King."

Thousands of words finally turned into a sigh. Bang, who was sitting at the back of the classroom and reading, looked up, and after seeing her standing at the door, his eyes lit up slightly.

"Is your body … okay?"

Maybe he felt that it was too abrupt to go straight to the point, so he chose to ask this question.

The person who was asked was stunned for two seconds before she reacted. She doubted if the person in front of her was still the unapproachable flower who didn't have much interaction with her classmates. She nodded and replied, "Thanks to the Healing Lady, I'm fine now."

"Is that so?"

Hearing this, Bang's expression relaxed a little. "I've heard about your injury from the teachers. At that time, I was too harsh on you. I'm sorry."

In fact, at the end of the day, Hong's suggestion was only a possible solution. After all, it was Cha Na who made the final decision. Hence, she shook her head gently and said, "It was my own decision to do so. Besides, I could help a little in that situation. How should I put it …" She could not help but laugh. "I feel quite happy about it."

This smile, compared to her usual cleverness, caution during battle, and even slyness when she had the upper hand, seemed a little silly for no reason. But perhaps it was an illusion caused by the setting sun, Bombardment Scorch felt a little dazzled at that moment, as if a lens was swept by a halo.

He closed his eyes in a panic, and when he opened them again, the world returned to normal.

"… Also, about that thing during the battle, I've thought about it."

He said, trying to pull his attention back from the scene just now. "Maybe you're right, Chisaki. How to use my personality, and what to use it for, ultimately depends on me, but …"

He stopped halfway and closed his mouth tightly. Setsuna felt that his expression was a little familiar.

Yes, familiar.

After all, that expression was exactly the same as when she thought about the incident two years ago.

The same thousands of times she wanted to talk about it, and the same thousands of times she couldn't find someone to vent to. Later on, she couldn't even understand her own feelings, and only felt weak and tired.

So all her feelings eventually returned to silence. Even if she wanted to talk about it again someday, she didn't know where to start.

"… I won't ask."

She said softly.

"It may be difficult to take the initiative to talk about it, but I want to wait until the day Bang King is willing to talk about it. After all, no matter how much I say, I can't participate in Bang King's past, let alone make a decision for you.

After all, we … "

Her eyes dimmed for a moment, and she thought of someone again.

"… You came here to face such things, didn't you?"

The young man raised his eyes to look at her. That pair of different-colored pupils glowed with an incredible color under the faint light. They were like glazed tiles that had been polished until they were extremely smooth. They were colorful and clean at the same time, like a very shallow lake that one could see the bottom of.

"Ah."

He responded with simple syllables and lowered his head to tidy up his bag. The curve of his cheeks softened unconsciously. He kept that expression as he left the seat. When he took a step out, he remembered something and turned back. "By the way, at the end of your time in USJ …"

He didn't finish the question, but the two of them knew the rest of the sentence. Setsuna lowered her eyes and smiled. "Nothing."

Nothing at all.

"Is that so?"

The teenager said. His side profile reflected in the afterglow of the setting sun was a little too gentle and handsome. A pair of glazed eyes looked over with some kind of tacit understanding.

"Then, I won't ask."

Watching Hong's back disappear outside the door, Setsuna finally relaxed and began to pack up the books to take home. At the same time, she couldn't help but recall Hong's last sentence. He was so considerate that he didn't seem like her classmate who always kept people at arm's length. But in the end, they weren't that close. The so-called impression of keeping people at arm's length might just be her judging people by their appearance.

Such non-nutritious thoughts filled her overused brain. She stuffed the last book into her backpack and took out her phone from the inside of the desk. She was about to slip away when her peripheral vision accidentally fell on the lit standby screen. For a moment, all her movements froze.

Then she held the phone and showed an expression of a prehistoric creature trying to start thinking.

Because that was what the small prompt box on the screen said.