“Here. This is a souvenir.”

Lunchtime.

In the usual clubroom of the school’s Soul Armor Research Club, I present the souvenirs I bought at the military preparatory school’s festival as an after-meal dessert.

“Preparatory School Sable, Preparatory School Senbei, Preparatory School Cheesecake… they make a lot of things.”

Recently, Suo-senpai, who had changed his career path and said he wanted to go to the officer school after graduating from the academy, was looking at it with interest.

“Suo-senpai, if you’ve switched to aiming for the military, you should have come.”

“I’m planning to visit the officer school’s opening festival next month. They’re setting up a career consultation corner, so I’ll go there.”

“Onii-chan, you look excited.”

“Yeah. Until now, I thought I’d only be dealing with rough situations at private front companies. I’m behind other military aspirants, so I have to work hard.”

Next to Suo-senpai, who had sparkling eyes, Marin-chan was watching her brother with a happy expression.

Marin-chan will surely follow her brother to the officer school too…

She’s already a major, though.

“Speaking of which, Kotomi also said she wants to go to the officer school to join the military after graduating from the academy, right?”

“Yawn… Yeah, that’s right.”

Kotomi must be tired from unfamiliar duties.

She seems quite sleep-deprived.

“You seem to be quite active.”

I glance at the newspaper on the tatami in the clubroom and smile at Kotomi.

“Yeah, I’m tired. But now that I’ve mostly cleaned up, I think I’m done for a while.”

Kotomi responds to me vaguely, diverting the conversation.

On the front page of the newspaper was an article about how the naval and air force technology levels of a country that had recently invaded Okinawa had fallen to the level of 80 years ago without computer control, leading to invasions from all directions.

The tag team of Dr. Kirigaya and Kotomi seemed to have been quite formidable, with news that they had completely destroyed the invading country’s communication infrastructure and computer control systems, shocking the world.

“‘It’s a shock to military tactics history since the simultaneous saturation bombing attack., someone I know commented in a social section article, and I almost spat out my coffee this morning.”

Mina told me something amusing, so I flipped the page from the front of the newspaper, and sure enough, there was a familiar face…

“Well, Dr. Kirigaya is a world-renowned authority on soul armor electronic warfare.”

“No, this must be a fake article. The sentence doesn’t end with ‘desuzo~’, and she’s sitting gracefully in neat clothes.”

In the article’s photo, Dr. Kirigaya’s usually messy hair was neatly tied back, she was dressed in a clean blouse with lace, and her intellectual look was complemented by a bolo tie, wearing contacts instead of glasses for a softer impression.

“Her facial features aren’t bad to begin with.”

“Women can transform like this, Yuu-kun.”

Mina and Kotomi say it as if it’s obvious, but do all women do that?

By the way, Dr. Kirigaya, despite what she had done, commented to the reporter as if it were someone else’s problem.

She can act like that, huh.

“Speaking of transformations, Kohou-senpai was unusually quiet on stage the other day.”

“……Huh?”

Marin-chan suddenly brought it up, and Mina feigned ignorance, wondering what she was talking about.

“You participated in the military preparatory school’s beauty contest and won first place, didn’t you?”

“You were unusually dressed in a kimono and hakama.”

“How do you know that!?”

Mina panicked this time as Marin-chan and Suo-senpai pointed it out.

“These days, many places live-stream school festivals. Last night, several short videos of Kohou-senpai’s part were uploaded, and they seem to be very popular. I saw it there.”

Kotomi showed me her smartphone with a search result from a video site.

Indeed, there were many videos uploaded by users other than the official ones.

And the number of views had exploded in just one day.

“Let’s see… ‘A new silver-haired beauty in traditional Japanese clothing’, ‘She’s so cute, blushing as she comes on stage’, ‘A raw talent, truly amazing’, the comment section is buzzing too.”

“Yuu-kun, please don’t read those out loud, it’s embarrassing…”

Mina, embarrassed, took the smartphone back from Kotomi.

“I thought you enthusiastically participated, but that wasn’t the case?”

“Actually, the original contestant canceled last minute, and the preparatory school staff were in trouble, so I had no choice… right? Yuu-kun.”

“Yeah, that’s right. After eating frog at the food stall, the sergeant who helped us during the joint training asked us.”

“What were you eating at the preparatory school festival?”

“No, I’m telling you, frog is delicious!”

“When I couldn’t go to the preparatory school festival with you due to some… work, I regretted it, but maybe it was good I didn’t go.”

Indeed, if Kotomi had been there, she probably would have been put on the beauty contest stage too.

I’ll make sure to get you some fresh frog next time, Kotomi.

“Today in class, many boys were glancing at me while looking at their smartphones, and this is why.”

Mina sighed in annoyance.

Though she stands out as the top of her grade, she doesn’t seem to enjoy the attention for her looks.

“By the way, was there a prize for winning the beauty contest?”

“No. I just received the kimono from the sponsoring company.”

“Then it doesn’t violate the ban on side jobs for special national public servants. Even if it were a prize, unless it’s too high, I think you wouldn’t need to apply for a side job permit.”

Kotomi, in a student council-like manner, gave her view on the rules.

“Ah, we are technically public servants after all. It would be a hassle if it were considered a side job. You’re really observant, Kotomi.”

“Flattery won’t get you anything.”

Kotomi, embarrassed, looked away.

At that moment, the sliding door of the Soul Equipment Research Club’s room suddenly opened with a bang.

“Hey, old lady. You should at least knock or call out. Didn’t you learn how to enter a room properly in officer school?”

Mina, annoyed, rudely criticized Hayami-sensei, who had suddenly entered.

But Hayami ignored her and approached us, who were having lunch on the raised tatami floor.

“Kohou-san, and Yuu-sama. Please come immediately.”

With a smile, Hayami told me and Mina to follow her.

We exchanged glances, puzzled by her use of “Kohou-san” instead of her usual “little girl.”

I had a bad feeling about this.