Chapter 32: Ugh~ That’s exactly what an apology means~

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Rat-a-tat-tat.

The familiar sound of high heels, just as previously agreed, once again appeared at the door of the spare rest room after a period of time that was neither too long nor too short.

With a click, the person behind the door gently pushed aside the obstacle.

What the teacher on the bed saw first was that halo which looked especially luminous for some reason, along with the cross that had not yet completely stopped, still slowly rotating.

Then, the petite yet composed girl stepped into the room, naturally walked quickly to the bedside, sat down beside him, leaned over, and stared straight into his eyes.

A familiar voice, a familiar smile, and those familiar emerald-green eyes.

Although her expression seemed somewhat eager, it was as if she had encountered something good, her eyes filled with that calm and restrained joy.

“Advisor, I apologize, I’m back. There were some urgent matters to handle, please don’t worry.”

…Isn’t this child’s sense of distance a bit off?

He hesitated, somewhat awkwardly meeting Hua Ye’s gaze, those eyes full of laughter yet showing a trace of apology.

Should he remind her that there were other people present right now, and that this slightly ambiguous posture would damage her image?

But Hua Ye moved faster than he did.

Just as he was about to speak, Hua Ye made the first move, signaling him to be quiet with a shushing gesture, interrupting the words he wanted to say.

Then, she closed her eyes, a look of hesitation on her face.

Finally, under the gaze of the other squad members beside her who had been excited beyond measure ever since she walked in, she slowly spoke, saying softly,

“Advisor, I… there’s something I want to… discuss with you.”

The squad members beside her had flushed, radiant faces, their eyes sparkling as they watched Hua Ye and the teacher on the bed.

They trembled continuously, making indistinct sounds from their throats that they were deliberately suppressing.

In an instant, a strange atmosphere filled the spare rest room.

It was as if, in this small room, someone unknown was scattering rose petals—

Turning his head, he immediately discovered the truth—

With a somewhat speechless and helpless expression, he watched a certain child who was pulling out rose-scented disinfectant spray still bearing Peroro stickers from the medical kit and quietly spraying it around the room.

He gently shook his head, silently stopping her strange behavior.

These kids who caused headaches… teenagers always fantasize about fairy tale plots, hoping to meet their imagined Prince Charming in reality, or hoping to witness such beautiful love.

Youth grants them the courage of boldness and persistence, and now, these children were clearly treating him and Hua Ye as the subjects of their fantasies.

In fact, in the past few days, while checking the recovery of his waist, they had repeatedly conducted what they called “Momotalk evangelism” on him, trying to convince him to accept that Momotalk cult widely circulated among them, and boldly acknowledge that nonexistent romance…

—By the way, according to their popularization, the Momotalk cult seemed to have many branches.

Based on the different sections of Momotalk, the current cult branches included the Chatting Sect, the Anime Sect, the Toy Sect, and so on.

They belonged to the Romance Division under the Comics Sect, so their preaching to him mainly focused on love stories from comics, or rather, fairy tales that used romance as a selling point but whose core was more like adventure and exploration.

Every time they preached the doctrines of the Romance Division to him, envisioning fantasy love, he couldn’t help but think—

—Although they wouldn’t publicize things that don’t exist, they also wouldn’t give up their fantasies…

This too was part of their youthful willfulness.

But now, looking at Hua Ye’s wavering gaze, the inexplicable blush spreading across her cheeks, and this strange and dangerous distance, the teacher who had originally believed there would never be anything beyond a teacher-student relationship between him and his students suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

His instincts began to warn him: if he let her continue speaking, if he let her continue in front of the First Aid Squad who had just been chattering endlessly about their Momotalk romance comic plots that were comparable to omnipotence, he would likely be in great danger.

Looking at Hua Ye, who barely reached his chest and, despite her mature and steady demeanor, still bore a childish innocence on her face, and associating with her age, a powerful sense of restraint from an unknown source immediately climbed up his wrists, tightening layer upon layer as if trying to lock him down.

The teacher instinctively felt that if he dared to make any improper move toward Hua Ye, or say anything improper, something terrible would definitely happen—

“Hiss…”

No, he couldn’t let his mind wander like this.

As a teacher, he must not casually speculate about these children’s thoughts.

Hua Ye had just suddenly left for official business, so this discussion was probably about some important official matter—such as the Abydos problem.

The serious expression she had just shown must have been because something quite urgent had happened in Abydos or elsewhere, and her current appearance was entirely because she was eager to discuss this matter with him.

As the head of the Defense Office, Hua Ye was reliable and steady; she probably wouldn’t do anything like that.

Besides, Hua Ye was a good child, right?

His eyes glanced to the other side, avoiding Hua Ye’s gaze, and then he gently pushed the girl who was too close with his restrained right arm, answering in a gentle voice,

“It’s something very important, isn’t it.”

Buzhihuo Hua Ye, who hadn’t yet realized how close she was to the teacher, froze.

Then, as if she had just registered what happened, she abruptly leaned back, moving away from the teacher.

For some reason, her face even more flushed, she gently closed her eyes, nodded weakly, and replied in a low voice that betrayed no emotion,

“Yeah.”

Watching the subtle atmosphere between the two before them, the First Aid Squad members grew even more excited.

“Ohhhhh! This is it!”

“Being able to witness such a classic romance scene is worth it even if they dock my pay!”

“Guh! Gwa! Ah!”

As if she had heard their deliberately suppressed exclamations, Hua Ye slowly turned her head, looking at those children who were still making strange gasping sounds with eyes that revealed nothing, and coldly interrupted their fantasies,

“First Aid Squad, you seem quite free. After finishing your work, you still have time to… say things with absolutely no basis.”

“How about being kind enough to help us work overtime and assist our department members with organizing the data registration after relocating our base?”

“How about that? If you have nothing else to do, please step outside for a little while. The teacher and I have important work matters to discuss.”

As if instantly awakened by the familiar Hua Ye-style criticism, those children immediately snapped back to reality from the pink bubbles in their minds, their expressions awkward and embarrassed, mixed with a hint of fear and dread toward the person before them.

They immediately formed up, organized their medical supplies, checked their equipment status, and then, the squad leader at the front trotted over to Hua Ye, who was still smiling at them.

Slightly awkward and nervous, she saluted and began her report with a lack of confidence,

“Reporting! Orders received! First Aid Squad members will immediately conduct self-reflection!”

Then, she turned around and barked at the solemn and worried team members,

“Attention! Everyone, leave the rest room immediately! Two-thousand-word reflection essays each, to be submitted tomorrow! Now, forward march!”

“Yes!!!”

And Hua Ye watched these kids who had just been spreading rumors about her and the teacher march out of the rest room with firm steps and resolute expressions, silently shaking her head—

Education in Kivotos was truly terrible, for such baseless things to happen.

Between herself and the teacher—no, no, between herself and the advisor—it was clearly just a pure working relationship.

Yeah, that’s right.

She had a clear conscience.

After once again expressing her confusion and dissatisfaction with Kivotos’ education in her heart, Hua Ye turned around and, in the rest room filled with the scent of roses, earnestly and with a slight trace of apology, continued what she hadn’t finished saying to the teacher on the bed,

“Advisor, a second riot has broken out in Abydos. I plan to personally go to the scene.”

“I hope you can rest assured and remain in the Defense Office building, protected by the escort team I’ve selected for you.”

Those eyes that had once calmly analyzed the threat posed by the man before her now held only determination—the resolve to make an unfair decision by excluding him—and the apology for deciding to restrict his movements.

The teacher was stunned for a moment, somewhat like Hua Ye had just been when she received feedback from the Helmet Gang—first a blank confusion of not understanding.

But the teacher was clearly more mature than Hua Ye.

In just a few seconds, he understood all the information and revealed knowing eyes along with a bitter smile as if he already knew what Hua Ye was going to say.

Hua Ye also knew what she was going to say.

It was unkind, and it was unjust, but it was necessary and correct—if he were to join the discussion just now, he would very likely choose to resolve the riot through conversation or other peaceful methods.

—That would mean directly showing the President that she was cooperating with him to some degree, and then the pressure and questioning from the President would only increase, never decrease.

If that happened, he would probably lose any possibility of truly wielding the authority of the Defense Office Advisor.

For a man, becoming a figurehead, and having to endure the dirty looks from his superior’s superior at all times—that was a terrible feeling.

She was ultimately a dead person, fragile and weak, while the Advisor had at least partially proven his capability and reliability to her, so the future had to be entrusted to him.

Feeling that she had a responsibility to leave the Defense Office to a more reliable adult, she murmured softly, her gaze sincere and resolute,

“I’m sorry, Advisor. Unfortunately, as the head of the Defense Office, I absolutely refuse to allow your participation in this suppression operation.”

“Please rest and recover well. Once the suppression is over, we’ll go to Abydos together for further investigation.”

Second, the Advisor was merely a mortal of flesh and blood—a single bullet could easily take his life.

If she wanted peace of mind, she had to eliminate any possibility of him getting hurt.

But that was impossible.

The battlefield changed in an instant, leaving no room for an injured man, and no absolutely safe place could be found.

Who could guarantee that the Kaiser Corporation wouldn’t launch a decapitation strike like their own side had done last time?

If the officers saw their Advisor shot, or even killed, morale would inevitably plummet, and then the mission would likely fail…

Weighing both options, she had to make a decision—to “lock” the Advisor inside the Defense Office building, then station troops to guard it against a Kaiser attack.

This was, after all, the D.U. District.

After the riot, the defense forces and the academies turning their attention here would only increase, never decrease.

So, it was relatively safe…

What would the Advisor say?

Would he refuse, or stay silent?

Given his gentleness toward her before, he might even try to dissuade her from being so impulsive…

Ah, either way was quite irritating.

But the teacher’s answer still exceeded Hua Ye’s imagination,

“Hua Ye, um, is there a possibility that through the Shittim Chest, I could also assist you with battlefield coordination?”

—Because Hua Ye was, after all, just a child.

Compared to the teacher, who had been pestered these past few days by those crazed romance comic fanatics repeatedly preaching the greatness of Momotalk—that legend widely circulated throughout all of Kivotos, comparable to the collection of all existing functions—she seemed to have forgotten just how advanced Kivotos’ technology was.

“We can communicate through Momotalk’s live broadcast function and voice chat function…”

“I hope that as the Advisor, I can genuinely be of help to Hua Ye.”

“After all, isn’t the reason I was assigned as Advisor because Hua Ye was too exhausted? Isn’t that right.”

—Truly, a self-righteous, detestable fellow.

Hua Ye stared blankly at the teacher, whose smile was gentle and calm, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily curled upward.

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