At those words, both my wife and I let our mouths hang open in pure disbelief. Only Sushang looked on, her eyes gleaming with genuine curiosity at the unfolding drama.
Wait, hold on. WHAT?!
"And because something felt off, I decided to wait," the Class Monitor continued, her voice stern. "A long while later, I saw Durandal-sama emerge with her uniform completely disheveled. Following right behind her was Rita-sama. She looked the same as before, but she was visibly breathless, her chest heaving as if she'd just endured an intense physical struggle."
...Excuse me?
"Given that, are you truly telling me I have no reason to be suspicious, Captain?"
I had no words. I maintained a wall of silence because, frankly, what was there to say?
So, those two visited my room on the Hyperion, stayed for a long time, and then walked out looking like they'd just finished a... marathon of sorts?
Well, when you put it that way, it does sound incredibly suspicious!
...No, focus. That's not the point.
"Something's not right here."
"What could possibly be 'not right'?! The evidence is right there!" the Class Monitor barked.
"No, I mean that specific part doesn't make sense."
I scratched my cheek, desperately trying to recall the events of that night. I needed to set the record straight.
"Because on that day, I wasn't even in my room."
"...What?"
The Class Monitor stood there, completely stunned. I gave her a bitter, strained smile and repeated myself slowly so it would sink in.
I told her again: I was not in the Captain's Quarters on the Hyperion that night.
Therefore, her entire premise was fundamentally flawed.
Upon hearing my explanation, my wife's eyes widened as she recalled the evening. A small "Oh..." escaped her lips.
She knew I was telling the truth because she was the person I had been with until the very end of that night.
"Wait, just a moment. If that's the case, then where exactly was the Captain?"
"I was in Bronya's room," I replied.
"What? Why were you in Comrade Bronya's room?"
"Well, even after we announced our marriage, Bronya was still feeling a bit... unstable. I stayed with her to reassure her and—Ahem!"
A sharp jab to my ribs from my wife brought my explanation to a grinding halt.
To be blunt, telling someone that we spent the night 'passionately and intensely' reaffirming our love until our stamina was completely spent was a bit much for a public conversation.
"It is as my husband says," Bronya interjected, her expression cooling as she regained her composure. "He was with me that entire night. I can testify to his alibi."
"I see... Phew. In a way, that's a relief."
Realizing the worst-case scenario hadn't happened, the Class Monitor calmed down visibly. Her face took on a sort of enlightened, peaceful expression, as if a long-held trauma had finally been lifted.
It made me feel guilty. She had clearly been agonizing over this alone, thinking she was protecting the sanctity of our home.
"Then why... why did those two come out of the Captain's room looking so disheveled?"
"I wonder...."
We all fell into deep thought, racking our brains over the mystery. Bronie started tugging at my arm, clearly bored and wanting to play, but Sushang managed to distract her, for which I was eternally grateful. We returned to the unsolved case.
"Captain, was there anything in that room you shouldn't have left behind?"
"No, nothing. All my personal belongings had already been moved to our current house, except for the standard-issue bedding provided by the ship."
The room should have been empty of anything personal, except—Wait.
No, it couldn't be... could it? If they stayed late and came out disheveled because of *that, it might make some sense, but still. No matter how close those two are, they didn't see each other that* way. I knew that much.
But what if they had stumbled upon the 'February 29th File' and it had triggered some sort of... strange reaction?
"Hmm...."
...But thinking about it, that makes even less sense. Even if that explained the state they were in, it didn't explain how they ended up having children.
"Ah, now that I think about it, something just occurred to me," Bronya said suddenly.
"What is it, Bronya?"
"Honey, didn't you go back to your room that night to grab something?"
"Grab something...? Oh, right. I did."
On the final day of packing, I had some last-minute paperwork to sign. After the movers left, I had used the HOMU fountain pen Bronya gave me as a gift. Out of habit, I'd tossed it back into the desk drawer and forgotten it.
After the retirement ceremony, I remembered it. After my 'activity' with Bronya left her resting in bed, I had asked for her permission and headed toward the Captain's Quarters.
Was Bronya suggesting that something happened then?
"But when I went there, I didn't see Bianca or Rita. I didn't even see the Class Monitor, who says she was hiding."
Furthermore, I had only grabbed the pen and come straight back. The timing didn't match at all.
"I was only gone for about two minutes, remember?"
Bronya looked at me with a confused expression, her brow furrowing.
"No. Honey, you returned two hours later."
"...Eh?"
I froze. My neck creaked like rusted machinery as I turned to look at my wife.
Assuming I simply hadn't heard her, she repeated herself firmly.
"You returned after two hours."
"...You're joking, right?"
"I am being serious."
The certainty in her voice made me realize something was horribly wrong.
"That's impossible. According to my watch, exactly two minutes had passed. Are you sure you aren't misremembering?"
"I am not. I remember clearly because you were gone so long I began to worry. You left around 11:00 PM and didn't return until just after 1:00 AM."
"But when I got back and checked the time, only two minutes had passed!"
I combed through my memories. When I returned with the pen, my wife had greeted me with a worried face. She had asked where I'd been and said she was scared because I took so long—but when I checked the time, it seemed like no time had passed at all.
At the time, I just assumed Bronya was in a fragile mental state and was being clingy, so I just hugged her and went to sleep.
"...Comrade Bronya, did you say it was around 11:00 PM?"
"Yes."
The Class Monitor, who had been silent, suddenly adjusted her glasses, the lenses glinting with a cold light. Her expression was grave, the look of a detective who had just cracked a case.
A wave of anxiety washed over me as she slowly opened her mouth to speak.
"That was exactly when I saw Durandal-sama and Rita-sama enter the Captain's Quarters. They emerged roughly two hours later. So the reason they took so long to come out..."
She shook her head as if the memory was too painful to revisit, yet her voice was filled with absolute certainty. I immediately moved to protest.
"Wait, but I never saw Bianca! I didn't see Rita either!"
Furthermore, I was stone-cold sober. There's no way such a thing could have happened without me knowing.
In Seele's case, I was so intoxicated that I mistook her for my wife, which led to that... incident. But after that day, I had stayed away from alcohol entirely to ensure it never happened again.
Above all, I wasn't the kind of irresponsible man who would leave his exhausted wife alone to go fool around.
"...Actually, it isn't impossible for the Captain to have no memory of it," the Class Monitor murmured.
"How? Unless someone used Fenghuang Down to manipulate my memories, it's impossible."
The Divine Key, Fenghuang Down, had been destroyed a long time ago.
The Class Monitor had said so herself, so I was sure of it.
Even if it could be used, it would only be through the Void Archives, and the Void Archives had vanished along with Otto Apocalypse.
"Now that the Void Archives is gone and Fenghuang Down no longer exists, memory manipulation shouldn't be possible, right?"
"...No. That isn't entirely true."
The Class Monitor avoided my gaze, cold sweat beading on her forehead. An ominous feeling began to coil in my stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and confessed.
"To be honest... that day, Durandal-sama and Rita-sama approached me. They knew I still possessed one remaining feather from Fenghuang Down... and they asked me to give it to them. So... I gave them one."