Two hours and forty-eight minutes have passed—

"Um... when this is over, well..."

It was just as Miruru hesitantly started to speak.

A single white pigeon passed through the wall and flew into the office. Likely a familiar of the Student Council. A familiar thick envelope was held in its beak. Miruru received it and stared at it in silence for a moment.

"Ah... it's a new... job..."

Did Guest answer "Sure"? Or did they collapse onto the desk saying "You've got to be kidding me"? Either way, a heavy silence fell over the office.

Originally, the plan was just to clear some paperwork before lunch. However, as soon as Miruru took her seat, cases addressed to the Student Council were brought in one after another, and before they knew it, nearly three hours had passed, let alone lunch. It was no wonder. Twenty thousand students. Including faculty and those related to the Academy City, nearly double that number lived here. Only six Student Council members supported a scale that large.

Even so.

"...What are the other five doing?"

The workload was skewed toward Miruru far too much. When questioned, Miruru tilted her head troubledly while her pen continued to move across the documents. The small flame inside the loops of her hair flickered slightly.

"Hmm... well..."

After thinking seriously for a while, she answered softly.

"People have things they are suited for... and things they are not..."

In short, it seemed the other five had no intention of doing desk work. It was a very considerate way of putting it, but that only made it more hopeless. When Guest gave her a skeptical look, Miruru hurriedly looked up.

"B-but... everyone is much stronger than Miruru, you know?"

She smiled as if to say that made it okay. As if she didn't mind in the slightest that everything was being pushed onto her.

"Guest-san."

Then, after a while.

Just as hunger had completely turned into drowsiness and Guest's consciousness began to drift, Miruru suddenly spoke.

"The rank matches... are starting."

After a long period of adjustment, the rank matches were finally resuming.

In this academy where powerhouses with bizarre strength gathered, the season of fever and conflict was returning once more.

But Miruru's expression did not brighten.

Her lips were tightly set, and ink bled from her halted pen tip, spreading a black stain across the document.

"This time... I feel like something is going to happen."

Her usually gentle voice sank slightly.

"Since it's a duel, it would be stranger if nothing happened... but I don't mean it in that way."

Miruru kept her eyes down on the paperwork and continued quietly.

"I feel like something bigger... something irreversible... is going to happen."

Miruru was not the type of person to voice groundless anxieties.

If she said "something is up," then there likely was.

"Please be careful not only of the high-rankers... but also of those called the low-rankers."

"The low-rankers?"

"Yes. Rank and danger are not necessarily the same thing."

Having said that, Miruru signed the last document and quickly straightened the stack.

Before they knew it, there were no more pigeons bringing paper into the room.

She had processed all the cases that had been piled up like a mountain in just a few hours. Without boasting of her abnormal efficiency, Miruru stared at the stack of completed documents. As if preparing for whatever was to come.

"Now... thank you for waiting. It's gotten late, but let's have lunch."

Miruru's slender fingers gently entwined around Guest's wrist.

The place she touched sank softly, becoming enveloped in warm wax. While emitting a sweet aromatic scent, she relaxed her cheeks just a little.

"When that's over... there's something I want to try."

"What?"

Even when asked, Miruru did not answer.

She simply wore a rare, mischievous smile and applied a tiny bit of pressure to her entwined fingers.

"Miruru's wax... it's warm, isn't it?"

The sensation enveloping the wrist grew deeper bit by bit.

"It's like a bath... I'm sure it will feel good."