Side: the School Chairman

The official had come the moment we put out word, and the teachers were thrown by it too. Only the vice principal and the principal knew about the basement, after all.

I received him in the reception room together with the principal, but the man was plainly displeased. Not a pleasant sort, this one.

"Honestly, we're busy enough as it is, and you've gone and made trouble for us. Does this school not even teach its students common sense?"

At the official's words, the principal's face stiffened. True enough, the responsibility for the children lay with us. But the management of that basement was supposed to be their responsibility.

If they meant to throw the blame onto us without so much as a shred of courtesy, then I'd not hold back.

"We're being condemned by the PTA and the students alike for failing to explain the basement properly, and even so, with no legal grounds to compel us, we have been cooperating with you. And yet you speak to us like this — it's beyond the pale. If you're going to take that tone, we'd just as soon make the basement public. We've nothing to be ashamed of. Let us start by asking whether it's right and proper for the state to be concealing something beneath a place where children come to learn."

I could tell they were having a hard time of it. But if they thought they could do as they pleased with private citizens by holding the nation up as a shield, then I'd fight them to the very end. Don't take me for a fool, boy.

"No, that isn't what I—"

"I'll be consulting my lawyer about how to proceed, so kindly leave."

"Wait, please!"

"Someone — our guest is leaving."

I had the pale-faced officials shown out, and just then the phone rang.

"This is Horii. Sensei, there's something I'd like to ask you about, regarding the uproar at the school just now…"

"As it happens, I've just sent some petty little bureaucrat packing — he was getting a bit above himself."

"Sensei… are you all right?"

"I'll protect the students' learning environment, your daughter's included. No need to fret over that."

"I'm not doubting you on that score. I'm worried for you yourself — your person and your position."

"If anything happens to me, see that my bones get gathered up. Being sent off by you, the finest of all my former students, would be all I could ask for. Besides, I needed to come on a bit strong — they looked ready to start talking about putting the school and the students under surveillance."

"Understood. Please, take no reckless risks."

"Mm. I know."

This call, too, might well be overheard. Knowing Horii-kun, he was aware of that even as he spoke. That was why we'd both been choosing our words.

I had to account for every contingency. I would hide away a letter, in secret, setting down all the details up to now. If something happened, Horii-kun was sure to come looking for it. "Gather up my bones" meant carry on my will — Horii-kun, of all people, would catch that I had never once wished to be seen off by a former pupil.

Will it be an ogre or a snake?¹People were scarier than anything underground. Just as I'd thought.

Side: Amahashi Kakeru

When first period ended, a call came in to my phone from Horii-san's father.

What now? And why me?

"There's no time to explain from the start. I'll ask just one thing of you. If anything strange happens at the school, let me know. Anything at all."

"That's fine, but — are you running into trouble?"

"A little. I've no intention of dragging you into it, of course. It's only that I'm worried about the Chairman. He's my old teacher. I can't ask you to simply trust me, but the Chairman means to protect you students. Even against the state."

"Understood. I'll keep an eye out."

"Yes, please do. Your situational judgment is remarkable. I just thought you might be of some help to the Chairman, even a little. I'm sorry for this."

Sounded like the situation had shifted a bit. It felt like he was desperate for help, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. I figured the reason was that he wanted information from inside the school.

It nagged at me a little. Maybe I should let Noctia know. We couldn't move freely over here, but if something happened we might have to hide the women — and the chance of all of us going on the run wasn't exactly zero.

"All right. I can't move around much, but I'll stay on guard too."

"Please. And — calls and emails carry the risk of being overheard or read by others, so bear that in mind."

"Got it. Although, Kakeru — it probably won't get all that troublesome. Officials seem to be much the same here or back home."

There I was, relieved at Noctia's words.

"It's probably the days over there making you a touch high-strung. From what I've heard of the situation, it'll sort itself out one way or another even if you leave it be."

"Got it."

By the time the call with Noctia ended, it was time for class to start. Living really was hard, I thought — but was I being too high-strung, like Noctia said?

Well, for now I had to get back to the classroom.

Side: the Man from the Bureau

"Haaah?!"

I'd just jumped on the Shinkansen to head out to the school with the ninth one when fresh word came in from the Bureau.

Apparently the staff on-site had gone and angered the school's Chairman.

What were they thinking? We were the ones doing the asking here. This is exactly why I can't stand local civil servants. Every last one of them with a full-grown sense of pride and nothing to back it.

Was this a man an apology would settle things with? I put in a request to the Bureau for information on the school.

Politicians hate things blowing up into problems. If the school really kicked up a fuss, they'd start pinning responsibility not just on the local officials but on us too.

And what about the ninth one? The reports said the danger was low, but it's inside a school that students attend. There can be no mistakes. We'd been handling it more carefully than any of the others.

"Haah…"

Sighing won't solve anything. Then again, there's no joy in running from it either, so I suppose it's fine.

First, food. It's early for lunch, but once I get there I probably won't have any time to eat. I'd have liked to grab an ekiben², at least. Unfortunately, all I'd managed to buy was a bento from a convenience store.

I stuffed my cheeks with my favorite, karaage.³The soy-sauce-based seasoning was good. If I were being greedy I'd have wanted more garlic in it — but I couldn't eat that on the job.

Still, breaking the lock to get into a basement we'd declared off-limits — that's a rare student these days. I hear kids nowadays are well-behaved.

Even I got up to a bit of mischief in my student days. Nothing as far as property damage, mind.

They deserved a scolding, sure, but at the same time, with a thing like that around the children, of course they'd take an interest. No good comes of laying excessive blame on anyone.

Once I'd finished eating and caught my breath, I checked over the documents that had just come through.

Kusanagi Academy, High School Division — private. The Chairman was Kusanagi Kouichirou, age seventy.

"Now that's quite the résumé…"

In recent years he'd apparently gone into semi-retirement and kept quiet, but in his day he'd gone by the nickname "the maverick of the education world," had he? Chairman of Kusanagi Academy, which ran the whole gamut from kindergarten through university.

Half picking a fight with the Japanese education establishment to defend his own independent path with Kusanagi Academy — he'd be from the generation that lived through the student protests and all that, or a little younger.

Not a man of half-hearted resolve or ability.

He didn't have much by way of connections in the political world, but plenty of his former students were big names in politics and finance. Handle this wrong and he's a man who'll genuinely take the fight to the state.

Now then — I was fairly sure one of the first discoverers was a young lady of the Horii Group, and… the current representative director and president of the Horii Group is a graduate and a former student of the Chairman's, is he?

This is going to cost a head or two. Am I getting demoted as well?

And after I'd clung on this hard to stay a civil servant…