"Haah..."
He had been far too complacent.
Han Seol-guk considered Serika's kidnapping his own mistake. Originally, Serika should have been kidnapped the previous night.
That was why Han Seol-guk had gone with Hoshino, under the pretense of a late-night stroll, towards Serika's location, preparing for the ambush. He figured Hoshino, at least, could easily handle the kind of mortar fire seen in the original story.
Honestly, he'd wanted to bring more students, but that would have raised suspicion:
How did he know?
It was too risky.
It wasn't that he didn't trust the students.
It was because it might lead figures like the Gematria, Kuroko, Maestro, or Golconde to realize, "The Sensei can see the future!"
If that happened, the danger level of future events would drastically increase.
Think about it. They were already lunatics obsessed with mystery or terror, but what if Sensei had the power to read the future?
Kuroko, Maestro, and Golconde might think they could be defeated and leave him alone. Beatrice, however, would definitely interfere. She would see his ability as valuable. To that madwoman who thought she was a queen, such an existence would be like sweet honey.
Therefore, he believed it was best for as few people as possible to know this fact.
The problem was that Han Seol-guk had trusted the original story too much.
Serika hadn't been kidnapped last night. There was no ambush. The Kata-Kata Helmet Gang simply wasn't there.
He'd just gone home then, wondering if the original story had been altered.
But the news that reached him was that Serika had been kidnapped.
It turned out the Kata-KataHelmet Gang had noticed Hoshino's presence, hid themselves, and waited for an opportunity. And the result was that Serika was ambushed and kidnapped while on her way to her part-time job this morning.
It was a complete failure.
He had thought trusting the original story would make future events easier to handle. But that very thought had turned into poison for Han Seol-guk.
Perhaps it was a good experience. If this had happened during something like the Eden Treaty or the Final Battle, his arrogance might have led to utter defeat.
His friend, the one who had passed away, would have called him an idiot and smacked him on the back if he'd heard about this.
From now on, the original story would only be used as reference material. He would no longer blindly believe it.
As an adult.
As a Sensei.
One mistake was enough.
"Sensei, everyone has arrived at their positions."
"Thanks for letting me know, Ayane."
He activated his only weapon and assistant, the Shittim Chest.
"Arona."
[Yes!]
"Connect me to the kids."
[Understood!!]
"Ah, ah, everyone. Our goal is to rescue Serika. I'm sure you all know that, right?"
[Yes.]
[Uhehe~ Of course~ How dare they touch Serika-chan?]
[Should we beat them up?]
[We're punishing them!!]
The determined voices of the students came through the tablet. There was a bit of bloodlust mixed in, but he decided to ignore it for now.
"Let's make them regret kidnapping Serika."
[Naturally.]
[Let's finish this quickly. Serika-chan might be crying, you know?]
[Should we steal their wallets?]
[That's a great idea!!]
Ah, ah. That's not good behavior for students. But perhaps, just for today, Sensei can overlook it.
"Alright then."
Operation Start.
[[[[Roger!!]]]]
The angry students had been unleashed.
***
Rattle. Rattle.
"Uh, ugh... my head..."
With the pain in her head and the shaking of her body, Serika, who had been unconscious, slowly came to her senses.
Rattle. Rattle...
"This is... inside a truck?"
She couldn't see clearly, but she was certain she was inside a truck.
And by recalling her memories, Serika realized she had been kidnapped. She remembered being hit by a Kata-Kata Helmet Gang member's Flak41 88mm anti-aircraft gun and passing out.
"First, I need to figure out where we're going..."
While trying to ascertain their location, she noticed a small sliver of light peeking through a gap in the truck door.
So, holding her aching head, she stumbled towards it.
"...Desert... railway tracks?! If there are railway tracks... could this, could this possibly be the desert on the outskirts of Abydos?"
This was bad. She couldn't reach anyone here. Which meant, even if she escaped from this truck, she had no way to contact her seniors.
"...Everyone must be worried..."
It had been such a sudden ambush. There was no way Abydos had been contacted yet.
"...Is the plan to bury me somewhere out in the wasteland... where no one can find me? They'll think I cut off contact and left town like the other students..."
The thought terrified her. Because if that happened, she would become the traitor she so despised.
Now, she even felt wronged. She would die in a place no one knew about, without being able to clear up the misunderstanding.
"No, I don't want that..."
Drip. Drip. Tears fell from her eyes.
Why was this happening? Why did she have to die like this? Serika didn't want to die. Especially not a death that would lead to such misunderstandings.
It was only natural. Just yesterday, she was working hard at her part-time job to earn money and pay off debts, only to suddenly fall into the abyss of being called a traitor.
"Uuugh..."
She wanted to see everyone at school.
"Ah... especially with Sensei, Yami and Shiroko-senpai will be constantly bothering him..."
As the only somewhat normal person, she had to stop that. It wasn't because she liked him or anything. It was just pity.
Yeah, that must be it.
Rattle.
"Huh?"
Didn't the door just rattle quite a bit? Was she imagining things...?
KABOOOM--!!!
"Fuu-nyat..!!?!"
Just then, as the truck exploded and the locked door burst open, Serika was forcibly thrown outside.
"Cough... cough...!! Wh- what?! An explosion?! The moving truck exploded?!"
With the sudden events, Serika's mind couldn't comprehend the situation.
"What on earth happened?! Did we get hit by artillery?!"
"Serika!!"
"Huh?"
Hearing her name called from a distance, Serika turned her head.
"Eh. EEEEEEEEEH..?!?! Yami?! And everyone?!"
There stood the Foreclosure Task Force, running towards her, their eyes fixed on her.
Seeing them, she felt the tears she had shed earlier welling up again. But she held them back tightly.
If she let them show, they would definitely tease her.
But they had already seen her red, swollen eyes and knew she had been crying.
"Serika, you cried?"
"Hmm... Looks like it. How scared must Serika have been to cry?"
"What?! Our Lady was crying?! Did you cry because you missed us? And this mom didn't even realize it!!"
"U- Uwaah?! Shut up!! I didn't cry!! I didn't cry at all!!!"
Blushing with embarrassment, she insisted she hadn't cried, but no one believed her words.
"That's a lie! You're still shedding a few tears now!!"
Shiroko kept calling her a liar, as if she were a lie detector.
"Don't cry, Serika-chan~! We're here, so we'll wipe away those tears~!"
Nonomi used her handkerchief to gently wipe Serika's eyes.
"If you're lonely, want a free doll?"
Yami took out a Peroro plushie from his bag and held it out to her.
[Oh dear... Serika... If you wanted to hide it, you should have hidden it properly!! You'll have supplementary lessons next time!! Be prepared!!]
Sensei declared supplementary lessons to Serika via hologram.
"Uhehe~! Well, this old man just got a great story to tell~"
Hoshino laughed cheerfully, looking pleased.
"Huu... Fuu-nyaaaaang!!! I SAID I wasn't crying, just shut UP, all of you!!!!!!"
In the end, embarrassment caused Serika to explode.
Was it just her imagination that she smiled then?
What was certain was this: she was incredibly happy right now.
"Argh...!!! Since it's come to this, it's time for evidence destruction!!!!"
"Whoa~! Serika-chan is going wild~!"
"Save me~"
"A runaway train?"
"Did she dislike Peroro that much?"
Probably?
T/N: I will be posting 3–5 chapters every day, barring weekends where I will either post less chapters or more chapters if time allows, and will keep that schedule until there's nothing to translate anymore.