I was in the ES building all day yesterday.

Ohh... So that's why you just came in through the entrance?

Yep. I got a ticket to SANCTUARY too, so I was worried something was wrong 'cause it was so crowded.

Anyway, I asked the chairman of the SS Administration Committee—Gatekeeper—to tell me what was going on behind the scenes.

Gate...keeper? Are they from another country or somethin'?

Oh yeah, you guys wouldn't know him. He's like some sort of mastermind, working from within the shadows.

I met him back when he was giving the other unit leaders their Secret Orders, so I guess you could say we're acquainted.

But I wouldn't have even recognized his face if Mako-chin and some others hadn't given me more info about him first.

(...But from what I could find, Gatekeeper sounds like a real bad guy.)

(You could even think of him as a mob boss from overseas.)

(If we provoke him without thinking, he could easily destroy this peaceful everyday life we treasure.)

(So I have to follow the Secret Order and not tell anyone where Anzu is.)

(That's probably the Order Tomo-chin was given as our leader—to not let any other idols know where she is.)

(And I mean, Tomo-chin isn't supposed to know where she is either, so it's a pretty useless Secret Order to begin with.)

(But it actually came into play now. Just how far ahead was this planned?)

(As long as Tomo-chin isn't the one to spill the beans, it might be okay—)

(But if I go and blab about it, there's still a possibility of it counting as a violation of his Secret Order.)

(If they twist it around to make it sound like Tomo-chin was the one telling me to do it, we don't have any evidence to counter that claim.)

(It feels like I'm being squeezed into a mold... Reminds me of how Tenshouin did the same thing. People in power are the worst.)

(What the hell do you think people are?)

Nii~chan...?

Oh, sorry. I was staring off into space. I guess I've been enjoying college life so much, it's been a while since I've had to deal with any of this stuff. Makes me a little dizzy, yeah.

......?

Anyway, I heard about everything from Gatekeeper yesterday at the hotel he booked for me.

Y-You stayed at a hotel yesterday, Nii~chan?

Yep. They didn't do anything weird to me either, so don't worry. They were so sweet to me that it was scary.

The mysterious old couple1 who helped us out during Bogie Time took care of me.

Huhh? That real nice grandma and grandpa? Mannn, I miss them! They did a whole bunch of stuff for us during Bogie Time!

Yeah, they told me to say hi to you too. They said they're cheering you on.

And then... Well, they explained a bunch of stuff to me, so I have a pretty good grasp on how this SANCTUARY thing works.

Why couldn't Tenshouin do it himself, that bastard. I don't know if he's embarrassed or what, but it looks like he's given Gatekeeper the job of explaining everything.

Couldn't he just say it himself? He went through all the trouble of getting me to rush over to Gatekeeper to make him explain it.

Well, even if he did, I'm sure there'd be some crazy misunderstanding somewhere along the line, and I'd end up thinking the worst...

Hearing it from a third party helped me understand the situation pretty easily.

(Gatekeeper is shady as hell, but the bulk of it was explained by Anzu since she was there too—and she's someone that we can definitely trust.)

(It's annoying that I can't tell anyone else about me seeing her. I'd like to try and sneak the info over to Mako-chin somehow—)

Hey. I wanna hear about this too.

Yikes?! Nyou can't juss creep up on people from behind!

Sorry, but I don't think it's our fault. You're just letting your guard down too much, right?

Are you sure that you'll survive in college like that?

Shut it. You'll be fine as long as you take your studies seriously enough. If you get too nervous outside your lectures, you'll wear yourself out. And if you're on edge twenty-four-seven, you'll have a breakdown.

Yeah, well, you used to be pretty high-strung and honestly kinda terrifying all the time... I think you're a lot cuter now that you're more of a coward.

Don't call me cute!

Aha. Haven't heard that in a while. It takes me back⁠♪

Oh, right. Both of you were in the tennis club at Yumenosaki. I guess that's why you're so friendly with each other.

You got it. It's just like how you and Eichi-sama are so close thanks to the tea club. Compared to you guys though, the tennis club was a lot more relaxed. We didn't really get to know each other that much.

But we did still spend a good amount of time together, so we've bonded. And I'm definitely not gonna make light of that.

I'd like to think it's the same for our seniors too. Right now we're rivals competing against each other in SS, but it's not like we hate each other⁠—

We're friends who came together for the same hobby, for the same love, and that's not gonna go away. At least, that's what I want to believe.