"This is bad."
"Yeah. I thought three of us would be enough to get out alive."
"We realized too late that they were an organization. No wonder we underestimated them—they were stronger than we thought. And of all people, it had to be him who died first."
"Marumo was always the weakest, after all."
The dimly lit conference room.
The empty chairs around the table, adorned with the twelve animal symbols, stood out.
It was usually packed with people.
Was I the only one who felt the tension? For some reason, everyone seemed quieter than usual.
"...So? Has the boss arrived yet?"
"I told you not to call me that. Don’t you remember?"
"No, even if it’s the Twelve or the executives, this is still an organization she created. What’s wrong with calling the boss the boss?"
"It’s not *wrong*, but I asked you not to, didn’t I? I wanted to be treated as an equal."
"...Ah, there she is. Boss."
"Sigh. You never change."
Hmm. They say even a tiger shows up when you mention it, but our boss is a dragon. And the tiger’s right over there.
As I was lost in that pointless thought, the boss—her violet horns gleaming beautifully—approached her seat.
And then, naturally, I expected her to sit down. ...Why wasn’t she sitting?
"Boss? Your seat’s right there."
Ignoring my question, she walked over to the window and suddenly flung the curtains wide open.
"What are you all, children of darkness? Get some sunlight once in a while."
"Aaaah, my eyes! Boss, we *are* villains, so we *are* children of darkness! Close the curtains!"
"...Is that so?"
As everyone groaned under the sudden glare, she awkwardly laughed and closed the curtains again.
She really did pick up the most unnecessary habits. She didn’t have to do that. I knew she was trying to be considerate, but we didn’t need this kind of treatment.
The heavy atmosphere had lightened after the commotion, but then she sat down and dropped a single sentence that silenced everyone again.
"Four of us are dead."
"..."
"Wow, I didn’t realize how empty it would feel with a few people missing. It’s scary how quickly you get used to things."
"...Boss."
"I know, I know. We’re villains. It’s not strange if we die or get arrested at any moment."
After staring at the empty chairs for a moment, she finally explained why she’d called this emergency meeting.
"Listen up. The plan’s fallen through."
"Yeah, it has. So what now, Mir? Weren’t we supposed to raid the Academy?"
"We were. ...But there won’t be any changes to the plan. We’re going through with it as is."
"What? But that—"
"You’re assuming it was only possible with all of us present? I know. But you’re aware of our goal, right?"
"...The goal. Yeah, I know it well."
Was there anyone who didn’t know that?
The secret room mentioned in the first headmaster’s diary, which the boss had discovered by chance. And the artifact sleeping there.
It was the key to the organization’s ultimate goal, after all.
"We need that to achieve our goal. That’s why everyone was so happy when we lured that kid in. We thought it’d be easy."
"And in the end, all that effort went to waste when she died."
"Sigh… Yeah. It would’ve been perfect if she’d just stayed alive."
After listening to the other executives, the boss let out a sigh and declared to us,
"We have to find the artifact hidden inside the Academy. That’s the only way we can fulfill our wish. We can’t delay the plan any longer."
"…Because of Arachne, huh?"
"Exactly. Those meddlesome bastards. They really seem to hate villains."
Well, they had every reason to.
Villains were criminals, no matter how you tried to sugarcoat it.
And not just any criminals—they were the kind so powerful that their victims couldn’t even fight back, making retaliation impossible.
Even the authorities, except for a few, didn’t even try to go after Arachne.
Tch. Weren’t they villains too? Why weren’t they doing anything?
Maybe it was just convenient for them. That was the most likely explanation.
It must’ve been *very* convenient. Someone else was taking care of the troublesome pests they couldn’t handle.
"We should take care of them first, then raid the Academy…"
"No. The casualties would be too great. That entire group got wiped out. If we all gather, do you think the authorities will just sit back and watch?"
"…Probably not."
"Everyone only needs to assemble on the day of the attack."
The boss and Horangi’s chatter buzzed in my ears.
They were probably discussing how to steer the organization in a better direction.
Other executives’ voices started to blend in, but I closed my ears and lowered my head.
I didn’t understand all that complicated stuff.
The boss would figure it out. She always did.
I was the boss’s loyal hound. As long as I stayed by her side, that was enough.
"…Annie. Annie!"
"Ah, Boss."
"I told you not to call me that… And here you are, dozing off again during the meeting. I said this was important."
"But I don’t get all that stuff."
"Ugh, what am I going to do with you?"
Even as the boss sighed, I just felt happy.
If she’d woken me up, that meant she had something to say.
"Did you decide?"
"…Yeah. We’re raiding the Academy."
"When?"
"During the end-of-term ceremony. Security will be at its lowest then."
"I see."
"…Annie, you never question anything, do you?"
"Boss—no, Mir. You’re always right."
I burrowed into the boss’s arms as she gave a bitter laugh.
I am the boss’s loyal dog. I only follow.
[We’re launching the full-scale attack on the day of the end-of-term ceremony!]
"…What?"
[It’s the Übermensch! A full assault on the Academy during the end-of-term ceremony! The Academy in flames!]
"Are you insane?"
Ah, slip of the tongue.
I accidentally blurted out what I was thinking.
Maybe the lucky part was that the Author was so startled by my intense reaction?
For a second, I tensed up, worried the Author might get angry, but fortunately, they didn’t.
[W-why…?]
"What kind of Academy novel has the Academy burning down on the day of the end-of-term ceremony? You’re not even writing a vacation event?"
[Ah, no, it won’t burn! The protagonist will heroically stop it all!]
That’s delusional. How’s he supposed to take down eight executives? Are you out of your mind?
At this point, I need to push back hard.
The most important thing is to convince the Author.
…If I were told to fight eight executives, I’d lose. No doubt about it.
When I fought three, if my bluff hadn’t worked, who knows what state I’d be in now.
But Yu Siwoo is supposed to take on all the villains at once? You’ve got to be kidding.
A full-scale offensive would definitely bring out a ton of powerful villains.
Yu Siwoo hasn’t grown that strong yet.
Sure, I can see he’s getting stronger little by little…
But he hasn’t shown the kind of astonishing growth you’d expect from a protagonist.
"It’s impossible. The protagonist hasn’t grown strong enough for that yet."
[But… couldn’t it work?]
Work? What are you even talking about? That’s nonsense.
"Unless Yu Siwoo suddenly gains an ability like turning into a phoenix or something. But you can’t do that, right, Author? You’re not that kind of writer."
[W-what?! N-no, I can’t! Right! It’d lack plausibility!]
…What’s with the shock? It’s common sense.
The most important thing in a novel is plausibility.
In real life, if someone randomly dies in an unsolved murder, people just mourn, but in a novel, that’s a disaster.
The moment a main character dies in a random, unsolved murder, readers riot.
That’s why novels have to be even more careful about plausibility than reality.
That’s also why the Author isn’t omnipotent. At the end of the day, they’re just the one writing the novel.
Ah, I wish the protagonist was overpowered! But they can’t just shove three or four abilities onto him.
The setting is one ability per person, so if you favor the protagonist by giving him extra abilities, the plausibility falls apart.
Unless an ability gradually evolves into something new, you can’t just pull new ones out of nowhere without proper buildup.
"There’s nothing we can do, Author. Does it absolutely have to be the end-of-term ceremony?"
[I wanted to have the protagonist take down the villains in a cool way on the day of the ceremony, then write a bunch of slice-of-life parts during the break…]
So there *was* a plan?
I just assumed you were spouting nonsense without thinking.
It was a plan as vague as trying to grab a floating cloud, but once the whimsical author had set her mind to it, interfering felt awkward.
If he forced the issue and said the plan wouldn’t work, he could already see the backlash coming.
…It wasn’t like some space spaghetti monster was descending to destroy the planet, so maybe he should just drop it here.
It wasn’t as if there was no solution.
"Final exams are coming up soon. And after that, the end-of-term ceremony, right?"
[Yes!]
"Let’s think about how to reduce the number of villains in the time we have left."
[Y-Yes…]
Time was running out.
He had to take down the four executives, no matter what, before the end-of-term ceremony.
"Agh, what are you doing? Try again."
"Ah, Arte… Want to hang out with me?"
"You sound so unsure! Again!"
"…Amelia, are you *sure* we have to do this?"
Siwoo was starting to resent Amelia.
What the hell was this even about?
"I’d rather be searching for the secret room…"
"I saw you can’t focus at all! Just practice this! Honestly, this seems more promising."
"…"
Where did Amelia get this baseless confidence?
Siwoo suddenly wondered.
"Hey, Amelia."
"Hm?"
"Hypothetically… if Arte *wasn’t* actually into me, what then?"
Amelia opened her mouth to retort with a pout, so he quickly added,
Not that it mattered—she’d probably just say love was the only answer, like always. He’d heard it enough to be sick of it.
"Hypothetically! If she *wasn’t*!"
"Do I really have to answer that?"
No, did I say something wrong?
Was it really love? Because if it was, why hadn’t she ever asked him to hang out?
At first, he’d thought maybe it was true, but doubting it now felt natural, didn’t it?
Amelia answered his question as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Even if Arte *wasn’t* into you, it wouldn’t be a problem."
"…Why wouldn’t it be?"
"Because you’d just make her fall for you."
He was left speechless.
Where did Amelia get the confidence to say something like that?
"So get ready again! Come on, one more time! Naturally!"
"Ugh…"
He had no choice.
He was the one who’d upset Amelia by overthinking how Arte might feel.
If he argued any more, she’d throw a fit, so he decided to go along with it.
"Arte, want to hang out with me?"
"Oh, that was decent. Again!"