"Hey, calm down, Class Monitor!"
"!?"
Since she showed no signs of snapping out of it, I grabbed her shoulders and gave them a firm shake. A faint glimmer of life finally began to flicker back into her hollow eyes.
Her gaze was still trembling, but at least she stopped repeating the same words over and over like a broken robot.
"Deep breath in—"
"H-Huuuuh...!"
"And out."
"Phew...!"
"Good. One more time. In—"
"Huuuuh...!"
"And out."
"Phew...!"
"Are you feeling better now?"
"...Yes, thank you."
The Class Monitor finally regained her composure, her eyes steadying as she followed my lead. She offered a quiet word of thanks.
Watching this, my wife finally spoke up.
"Class Monitor, what on earth happened after the retirement ceremony?"
Fu Hua's eyes flickered with a brief tremor again, but unlike before, she didn't lose control.
"...Right, let's calm down. I'm okay... HUA is a capable girl. Yes, I can do this."
For some reason, she was muttering words of self-encouragement with a desperate intensity. Suddenly, she whipped her head around and stared straight at me.
She pressed her lips thin for a moment, then, as if resolving herself, she slowly parted them and spoke in a trembling voice.
"....saw it."
"Hm?"
"...I saw it."
"Saw what?"
What could it be? Her initial words were so quiet I could barely hear them. When I asked for clarification, she thumped her chest a few times, let out a massive sigh, and shifted her tone.
"What I'm about to say... might have been a hallucination. Or perhaps I've mistaken a dream for reality. No, it was definitely a dream."
"Come on, Class Monitor. With the power of the Herrscher of Sentience, you can tell the difference between dreams and reality whenever you—"
"It was a dream."
"...If it's something you're worried about, we could use a remnant feather of Fenghuang Down to examine—"
"It was clearly a dream."
"...Ah, alright."
She gripped my shoulders with a terrifyingly firm resolve, as if the answer had already been decided. I had no choice but to nod.
It's not like I nodded because the light was fading from her eyes again, or because I felt like I needed to agree just to keep the conversation going.
...And it certainly wasn't because I was scared.
"First, I have a question for the Captain and Comrade Bronya."
"What is it?"
"What is your query?"
At our response, the Class Monitor took another deep breath and continued.
"Have you seen Durandal-san or Rita-san recently?"
I shook my head immediately, and my wife did the same.
"No, I haven't seen them."
"The Bronya has not seen them either."
"I see... Then, have you heard the news that those two have gotten married?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
I didn't know why she was bringing this up all of a sudden, but we both nodded. We had found out through messages shortly after our own wedding.
"It was Bianca who contacted us first, right?"
"Afterward, we received word from Rita-san as well."
"And then not long after that, they told us they were pregnant. A few years later, they even brought their children over to visit."
"Their daughters were the same age as our Bronie, weren't they?"
"Exactly. That's why Bronie played with them when they came over."
I remembered watching the kids run around while we had tea in the park. They were adorable and beautiful children, taking after their mothers.
Of course, our daughter is still the cutest!
No matter what kid you compare her to, our daughter reigns supreme in cuteness!
She's smart, has a great personality, and she's so mature for her age!
Ahem. The point isn't to brag about my daughter; it's that those kids were also quite charming.
Since then, they had visited occasionally to let the children play together.
"I see... Then, here is the next question."
With a serious expression—one might even say a stiff, frozen mask—she pushed up the bridge of her glasses with her index finger.
Was I imagining things, or did her lenses just glint ominously?
"Have you two ever met their husbands?"
Her question only deepened my confusion.
I mean, we're all acquaintances who have known each other for years. There's no way we wouldn't know—
...Or so I thought, until the realization finally hit me.
"...I haven't."
"The Bronya hasn't either."
To my surprise, despite hearing about their marriages, I had never received an invitation, let alone seen a single wedding photo.
I also recalled that when they visited with the children, it was always just the mothers and the kids. Not once had I seen the husbands.
But there's no way they would hide their husbands without a reason... Ah, right. I remember them giving some kind of excuse when they visited with the kids.
It was definitely something like—
"Didn't they say their husbands were famous figures in the industry, making it difficult to reveal them?"
"Yes. They said they didn't go public because they wanted their children to grow up normally."
At our explanation, the Class Monitor let out a heavy sigh.
"Have you never thought about it this way? That perhaps they were being a bit oversensitive? That they could have at least told the comrades who crossed the threshold of life and death with them?"
"Well, I was a little disappointed, sure. But as a parent myself, I understood where they were coming from, so I didn't give it much thought afterward."
If I hadn't retired, my own daughter would have been the center of intense scrutiny as well.
At least now that I'm retired and living a quiet life, and my wife has left the Valkyries to work as a CEO and creator at a game studio alongside Mr. Welt, we draw far less attention than those who are still active.
Though, I suspect the main reason for our privacy is the fact that we live at Schicksal Headquarters, high in the sky.
By default, unless there's a scheduled press conference, reporters aren't allowed anywhere near HQ due to security protocols.
Anyone trying to sneak in would be immediately flagged by Schicksal's high-tech surveillance and potentially turn it into an international incident. Our data is safer than anyone's.
Well, there are still a few fearless fools who try... but I'm sure my Aunt handles that. Haha.
Besides, most residents in our living quarters are either active or retired Valkyries. Since we see each other all the time, no one really stares or cares.
In this place, I'm not some hero or a Captain—I'm just Bronie's dad.
That was why I found it hard to understand those two, since they live outside Schicksal HQ.
If they had just convinced their husbands to live here, they wouldn't have to worry about all that privacy stuff.
"...Actually, I happen to have seen those two husbands."
"Eh? Seriously? You saw them?"
"What kind of people are they? Did they seem like good men?"
"Honestly, if they've been hiding them this long, I wonder if there's some kind of problem with them."
"Perhaps they are people so famous that anyone would recognize them instantly?"
"That's a possibility."
As Bronya and I exchanged theories, the Class Monitor shook her head, her eyes looking hollow once again.
"That's... well... sigh, let's just move to the next question... No, this is more of a confirmation from you, Captain."
"Hm? Me?"
"Yes."
As she spoke, she laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them, her tone turning grave.
"Captain... by any chance, do those two girls not treat you exactly like a father?"