"Okay. On one, you cause a disturbance. On two, you say you're sorry."
"Wait, why am I the only one? We workers are unit—ed..."
Minori's voice trailed off as she looked around, the light fading from her eyes. She had just seen her fellow workers, who had been protesting alongside her, turn their backs on her. I offered her a bright smile and a single comment.
"That 'unified will of the workers' seems pretty flimsy, doesn't it?"
"...Y-you traitors! Have you no pride as workers, to bow down to the capital of the bourgeoisie?!"
"Um, Minori... it's not the capital, it's the overwhelming force— Heek! I'm sorry! I'll be quiet!"
One of the Red Winter Labor Party mobs tried to speak up, so I gave a little wiggle of my finger. Having already witnessed what that finger was capable of, the poor workers simply shut their mouths.
"Well then, Minori-chan. Shall we... begin?"
"Ugh, to think I would be forced to submit to such a vile bourgeois... Tsk, fine! This is merely one step back for two steps forward!"
"Ahaha, the first time is always the hardest. ☆ Now that the flame of revolution burning within you has been smothered once, the second time won't be so difficult."
"N-no! That can't be true, you villainous oppressor! The will of the revolution is like steel, hardened with every strike! It only burns brighter the more it is suppressed!"
It was so cute, the way Minori was arguing back after I'd hit a nerve. Yes, it was like watching a child who'd had their favorite toy taken away, trying to hold back tears while shouting, 'Ugh... I don't need that boring toy anyway! I have the Ultra-Super-Vroom-Vroom-Gundam!'
"Yes, yes, you're right, Minori-chan. Now, one."
"..."
After her wavering gaze swept the area one last time, Minori hung her head in resignation. Finally, she placed her hands on the sand and got into a push-up position, glaring at me as if to say, 'I'll remember this humiliation.' It was perfect.
"For causing a disturbance..."
"Yep, you're doing great. Two!"
"I'm sorry...!"
Oh, what a perfect push-up, with no wasted movement... This one's a real talent. The gym rats at Millennium would love her.
"Alright, you can get up now."
"...?"
Minori blinked a few times, staring at me with a blank expression. Her face was a perfect picture of bewilderment.
What is she so surprised about? Did she really think I'd make her do PT just for getting shot in the forehead with a few 7.62mm rounds?
"Ahahahahaha! Amazing! Minori-chan, your face right now is priceless! ☆"
"H-humiliating... I would rather die than accept the mercy of a rotten bourgeois...!"
Even as she seethed, Minori scrambled to her feet and brushed the sand from her hands.
"But the protest has been suppressed, so now we have to discuss improving your working conditions, right? Yep, this isn't mercy. Time is a precious asset that cannot be compared to anything else, regardless of one's social status."
"...Wait, improving our conditions? Doesn't a failed protest naturally come with a punishment befitting it?"
"Well, I've heard that's how things are done at Red Winter. But this isn't Red Winter, it's Trinity and Gehenna..."
"It's Gehenna and Trinity, Mika. This location is over a kilometer closer to our Gehenna district," Hina corrected.
"Shh, Hina-chan. Such minor details aren't important."
"You seemed to care a lot about the order during the press conference. Was I mistaken?"
"I don't really think about the order in casual conversation..."
Why does our Hina have to be so mean and attack me with facts? Besides, I wasn't lying. I just say whatever comes to mind in daily life; who thinks about the proper order of names all the time?
"A press conference...? Wait, now I see you're no ordinary bourgeois. You're the supreme leader of Trinity... which means you're an oppressor on the same level as Chairman Cherino! Ugh, suddenly I feel twice as humiliated!"
"Hmm... that's not a very nice thing to say."
No... being put on the same level as Cherino suddenly makes this Host position feel incredibly insignificant. What is this feeling? Is this what they call taking the red pill?
"And you are the head of the Gehenna Prefect Team, renowned as the most powerful military force in Kivotos... I can't believe it. Did our strike really draw the attention of such bigwigs? I feel a sense of pride in many ways, but it would have been even better if the protest had been a success."
I'm going to lose it. Every single thing she says is getting on my nerves, Minori. Did you just call the Gehenna Prefect Team the 'strongest in Kivotos' right in front of me?
Should I summon Tsurugi here? I'd like to see if you can say the same thing with that grotesque smile in your face.
...No, calm down. I just have to finish this and go get shaved ice with Hina. Shaved ice is a matter of great importance.
"Anyway, why did you start the protest in the first place? With the budget we allocated for this site, we could have hired at least five more groups of contractors your size and still had money left over."
"What...? Ugh, so even the scale of our capital is different...! As for why we started the protest. Hmm. Well... yes, I'm sure that after you hear the reason, you bourgeois will clearly understand what you've done wrong!"
"Ahaha... I think I'll have to hear the reason first before I can judge that."
"The reason we declared a strike is actually quite simple."
Alright, let's hear what grand excuse you have for starting this protest.
"It's hot... It's too hot!"
"..."
I slowly looked Minori up and down.
Her clothes were thick. It was clearly a winter uniform. She came here wearing the same thing she wore at Red Winter, and now she's complaining that it's hot while working in the middle of a sweltering summer. The entire Red Winter Labor Party, in fact.
Are you kidding me? You'd feel a lot better if you just took off that coat that looks like it's going to give me heatstroke just by looking at it!
"I'm more surprised the construction has progressed this far with you all wearing that," Hina commented.
I could only nod in agreement. The main structure being built on this beach was an over-water grandstand for viewing marine sports, but construction on the sites for food stalls and souvenir shops was also proceeding smoothly. To think that our dear Red Winter Labor Party was carrying out a construction project of that scale in this sweltering heat while wearing such insane outfits... you all are amazing. And I'm not being sarcastic.
"So, is being hot the only reason for the strike?"
"...No, of course not. The General Student Council failed to properly meet our demand for cool drinks!"
"Hey, Minori-chan. Then what's that ice water that worker over there is drinking, and the cola in the hand of the worker passed out next to him? They look like cool drinks to me."
"...Unfortunately, those comrades are not from our Red Winter Labor Party. So they can be satisfied with the drinks provided by the General Student Council. But the only drinks that can satisfy us are limited! Sweet Kampot! Sweet and sour Mors! Refreshing Kvass! It has to be one of those!"
"...Sigh."
"W-wait. Why are you sighing! Can't you feel this heartfelt sincerity welling up from the depths of my soul!"
...GSC President! How could you dump this on us when you couldn't even fulfill a request like this? Are you kidding me?
No, wait. Did she just pawn this off on us because she didn't want to deal with it herself? Honestly, this is the kind of day that makes you want to start a riot...
"Minori-chan? First, let's take off that thick coat. I don't know what you were thinking, working in this heat wearing that..."
"Ah, wha-?! This is the pride of our Red Winter! I'll never— Heek!"
"There. And I'm confiscating this scarf, too. ☆"
"P-please, not that!"
After stripping Minori, she actually looked... pretty good. The white uniform and a cute girl is a winning combination. That pout on her face is the finishing touch.
"Wow, your school uniform is really pretty. Yep, I like it!"
"Uuu... the spirit of our Red Winter has been utterly defiled by the hands of a cruel bourgeois..."
"So, feeling a little better now?"
"...Yeah."
Sigh, see? Why were you so stubborn? You would have felt better if you'd just taken off one coat. I guess I'll have to arrange for some light work clothes for them.
Next, I'll contact Red Winter. Minori probably wants the authentic taste, so it's better to just pay a little extra and have it shipped directly from there.
"Okay, so work clothes and drinks are taken care of... what was the other demand? Extra pay?"
"Y-yes. Overtime and holiday pay!"
"Hmm... wait a minute."
I decided to go ask the third party on site, the GSC supervisor, how much the contract workers were being paid. He seemed to have been traumatized by witnessing the brutal suppression of the protest earlier, because he started trembling and fidgeting the moment I approached him, which was kind of hurtful.
After talking to him...
"What, you guys are getting paid 1.5... almost 2 times the normal daily rate?"
"...Actually, that part was just my own calculation that it would be more effective to have a variety of reasons during the protest rather than just repeating the same thing... Kyaak!"
So Minori was just a cheeky brat. I gave her helmet a light smack with my palm and began to think seriously.
Hmm... will Nagisa get mad...? Still, it's probably better to just give them what they want rather than have another protest during the construction period.
Ah, that's right. If the construction finishes ahead of schedule, there won't be much of a difference in the amount we have to pay them. The amount they take home per hour will increase, of course, but... since we already have a budget set, it's not like we're losing anything, right? And the fact that they're striking in the first place must mean they're confident they can finish on time.
"Hina-chan, come here for a second."
"...Hm? Alright."
I pulled Hina aside and suggested we just give them the extra pay and move up the construction schedule. She asked if that was even possible. The original schedule was already quite tight, but... I decided to believe in the full-power mode of the Red Winter Labor Party.
"If they fail to finish this project on schedule even after we've met all their demands, it'll tarnish the name of the Red Winter Labor Party. And I'm sure Minori-chan would rather die than let that happen."
"If you're going to go that far, Mika, then I'll handle the extra pay on my authority. That's what you want, right?"
"Yep! Thanks, Hina-chan!"
"I get it, so just get off me, Mika. No, it's not that I don't like it. It's just... hot..."
"Ah, sorry! ☆"
By the way, does Hina know that there's no strength at all in the hand she's using to push me away? She hasn't had many people she could call a friend, so her body must be honest. Fufu.
"Minori-chan, your overtime and holiday pay... we'll pay for it all."
"...You're really going to pay for it? Even I know that's an unreasonable demand. No matter how much—"
"Aren't you underestimating the capital of Trinity and Gehenna? This is less than the budget we allocated for a single book for our library head."
"Ugh, so in the end, everything is meaningless before the capital of the bourgeoisie...!"
I'm not kidding. The book we bought last month cost more than the additional labor costs for the Red Winter workers. So this is a rational expense.
"But there's one condition. You have to make up for the time wasted on the protest, and the time you were planning on wasting, by finishing the construction ahead of schedule. Can you do it?"
"So you want us to finish... three... no, four days early. The schedule will be tight, but it's not impossible."
"Great! Then that settles that... Oh, right. There was one more demand. A pudding a day, was it?"
"Yes! All the pudding in Kivotos is for the struggling students...!"
"I'll give you three a day. The highest quality pudding from Trinity."
"Gr... wait, three a day?!"
What the hell, I'll just pay for it myself. Think of it as a gift for working so hard in the heat, so accept it gratefully.
"Ahaha, just make sure you get the work done in exchange for the pudding. We won't tolerate any shoddy construction, for the honor of both our schools. And don't forget, safety first! ☆"
"Hmph, what do you take the Red Winter Labor Party for? Shoddy construction isn't in our vocabulary! Right, comrades?!"
"Of course!"
"All hail the great Secretary-General of Trinity!"
...Wait, hold on. What kind of nonsense was that, my labor friend?
"Alright, back to work!"
"Uwoooooooh!!!"
Hina and I exchanged bewildered glances as we watched the Red Winter Labor Party, still in their sweltering work clothes, charge back to the construction site.
It was a red summer.