By early evening, there were only a handful of customers in the café beneath Schale.
After entering, I glanced around briefly before spotting the person I had arranged to meet.
I took the empty seat across from her, set down my briefcase, and politely said,
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Mmhmm."
The black-haired girl gave a muffled response, quickly chewed up the pudding in her mouth, and swallowed it.
"Whew... Not at all. I only got here a little while ago myself. It's been a long time, Sensei."
She was Yasumori Minori, the head of Red Winter's Labor Party. At the recommendation of the Engineering Department this morning, I had contacted her. We'd met once before in Red Winter.
As a Red Winter student, her outfit reflected the academy's perpetually snow-covered climate.
Even though summer had only just ended and it was only mid-September, Minori already had a thick white scarf wrapped around her neck that looked wonderfully warm. Over her clothes she wore a heavy fleece-lined coat, while her feet were tucked into insulated snow boots that were both long and thick without restricting movement.
Setting those three items aside, however, underneath she wore a white blouse, a short skirt, and black stockings, giving her a bright, youthful appearance.
Like most Kivotos students, her looks were naturally beyond reproach.
Her slightly dark green-black hair flowed down her back, her grayish-green eyes were full of energy, and her composed expression carried an air of sincerity.
Matching her brisk appearance, her work style was equally decisive. As soon as we'd confirmed our intentions, she had insisted on meeting that very afternoon.
Or perhaps, after our first meeting, she'd never been able to forget me and had simply longed for another chance to see me. She just hadn't expected the opportunity to come so suddenly, leaving her too excited to contain herself.
"How's the pudding?"
I asked with a smile.
Minori licked the corner of her lips with lingering satisfaction and praised it generously.
"It's wonderfully smooth, with a rich, full-bodied flavor... Truly excellent! If you could provide pudding of this quality for the workers, everyone would definitely be bursting with motivation!"
Wouldn't simply hearing they were working at Schale already send their motivation as high as it could possibly go?
I glanced toward the counter, where the dark-skinned girl who noticed my gaze returned it with a smile. I nodded in approval.
Today's café shift belonged to Karin.
The desserts she made had always been highly praised.
Unfortunately, she had to balance C&C activities with her studies, so she couldn't work here regularly.
"That'll depend on the construction schedule."
I paused before continuing.
"But I can guarantee that the workers will always receive pudding that's above standard."
"Hehe, I trust you completely."
Minori smiled warmly, her eyes filled with approval and admiration.
"After all, Sensei is a companion of us workers."
...When did I earn that title?
Was it because Schale's Sensei was also dedicating himself to helping build Kivotos?
At that moment, apparently misunderstanding my expression, Karin hurried over to ask whether I wanted to order anything.
I wasn't particularly interested, but since Minori seemed to enjoy it so much, I treated her to another pudding.
After all, we were comrades.
Watching the beautiful girl, whose appearance at least perfectly matched my tastes regardless of what lay beneath, happily enjoying her dessert, I couldn't help recalling the taste of Millennium's genius beautiful girl flavored Monster MAX from this morning.
Looking back now, I really had acted a little impulsively.
But Himari just happened to have a pair of feet dirtied by juice, and I just happened to have a mouth that was thirsty.
Since fate had arranged such a coincidence, and the two of us had both been willing participants, crossing the line just a little was perfectly understandable.
The only regret was that Himari herself was still rather conservative.
Or perhaps she simply couldn't relax with Rio watching.
After washing them just once, I reluctantly had to switch to using a towel instead.
What left me with even more complicated feelings was that the card, which had remained silent ever since I successfully saved Mika and thereby completed Seia's route, had suddenly appeared again and brought me a different sort of surprise.
...
Conversion Authority: [Origin]
Description: Can transmit Origin.pdf to electronic devices.
Source: Himari Route Completed.
...
Wow, it's actually a PDF.
I really didn't see that coming.
It felt like the card was either messing with me or secretly preparing something much bigger.
As for the authority I obtained from Seia, the one I wanted to ignore even more...
...
Conversion Authority: [Apocalypse Revelation]
Description: The holder may consume their lifespan to experience a prophetic dream concerning the End of the World.
Source: Seia Route Completed.
...
After discussing it with Seia herself, we'd reached the same conclusion.
This authority absolutely could not be used lightly.
One who foresees the apocalypse, how can they know they themselves are not also foreseen by the apocalypse?
The potential reward simply wasn't worth the unknown risk.
More than the authority itself, what lingered in my mind was Seia's unbelievably adorable reaction upon learning she'd unknowingly been conquered by me.
At the time, Seia had blushed so deeply that even the insides of her fox ears turned red. Only after learning from me that Mika had also been conquered did she calm down a little.
Afterward, she suggested that once Mika officially returned to academy life in a few days, everyone should hold a tea party to celebrate her.
Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that Seia, who had been quietly laying plans for the past six months, had an even more interesting objective hidden away.
Nor could Nagisa, who had once suffered such public humiliation, possibly have forgotten that disgrace so easily.
So I pretended not to notice, quietly nurturing even greater expectations.
I do enjoy watching women get jealous and compete over me.
Then, once I've enjoyed the show enough, I'll leisurely step in afterward to clean up the mess and restore peace.
"Whew, I've finished the delicious pudding."
Minori let out a satisfied sigh.
"Sensei, thank you for the treat! Just like the rumors say, you're incredibly generous... But that's exactly why you must be careful not to become the target of unscrupulous capitalists. Choosing Red Winter's Labor Party definitely won't disappoint you! In any case, let's not waste any time. We should finish before the workday ends."
She stood up.
"Please show me the damaged area. If everything goes smoothly, we can sign the contract tomorrow morning and begin construction immediately."
"Alright. I'll be counting on you."
I quickly brought Minori to the kitchen, which was so badly damaged it was almost unrecognizable.
She carefully inspected every part of it while jotting notes into her notebook. Before long, she had given me an estimate of both the expected cost and construction time.
Since the estimate was considerably better than I'd expected, I agreed immediately.
After smiling and shaking my hand, Minori announced that it was the end of the workday and hurried off as briskly as she'd arrived.
Her straightforward manner left me with quite a favorable impression, enough to completely outweigh the poor one I'd had of her before.
Perhaps if I needed construction work again in the future, I could contact the Labor Party.
Like commissioning a statue of myself, for example.
Just kidding.
Chuckling as I shook my head and dismissed the absurd thought, I returned to my office to continue dealing with paperwork.