As they began to load the students onto the train sequentially, Malia checked her ‘Sense Sharing’.
‘It seems the Dean has already arrived, and Ms. Jane is in the rear carriage.’
Despite dealing with Indus, the school trip needed to proceed without issues, so the teachers of Constel were divided into two teams.
One team to escort the students and another to deal with Indus and take action.
Malia was in charge of understanding the situation of the students and the entire trip, relaying that to Dean Osprey. Essentially, she was the commanding officer of the escort team. This was made possible, of course, by her ability ‘Sense Sharing’.
‘I really should have applied Sense Sharing to Frondier as well.’
Malia’s Sense Sharing was competent, but there was a limit to how many people she could connect with at once. Having applied Sense Sharing to all the key personnel, she was unable to check on Frondier.
It was a relief that Osprey said Frondier would be performing a mission in a very safe place, but it was still worrying.
“Umm, Ms.?”
“Is Mr. Frondier on the train or in the next carriage?”
“Ah, right. It’s easier to think of Frondier as having a completely different schedule.”
“…I see.”
Aten tried to hide her disappointment as she boarded the train.
Shortly after, Sybil approached and asked.
“Ms., which one is the carriage for class 5? Can I move my seat?”
“Oh, you just need to talk to the teacher in charge about moving.”
“I see. Thank you~”
Sybil responded politely yet charmingly as she left. Watching her back for a moment, Malia said.
“Just in case you’re wondering, Frondier isn’t here.”
“Eh?”
“He’s volunteering. He’ll be going in a different car from us.”
Sybil turned around to look at Malia in surprise, blinked her eyes, then quickly regained her composure and said,
“Ah, hahaha! Oh, teacher, it’s not because I want to go to Frondier. Why would I do that? I just want to talk with the kids in class 5.”
Malia smiled kindly in response.
“I see. Get along well then.”
“Yes, yes.”
And with that, Sybil went in.
After that, Aster, Selena, Lunia, and even Robald came one after another to ask about Frondier. Malia sent the students off with almost the same answers.
‘Why is our son so popular?’
The reputation heard and the reality were too different. There were still occasional stories about Frondier, but nothing seemed to have changed from before. To most students, Frondier was still the human sloth.
Yet, was someone noticing?
“Excuse me, teacher.”
Then, another student approached Malia.
This time, it was Elodie.
Malia responded almost reflexively.
“Frondier is in the next car.”
“…What? Oh?”
“Oh, my apologies. Wasn’t that what you were going to ask?”
Elodie tried to understand Malia’s words, then her face quickly turned red.
“Why, why would you think I would ask that?”
“Just because?”
Everyone who knew Frondier came to ask about him, just because.
At Malia’s response, Elodie’s face turned even redder.
“Why, why would the teacher say that too…”
Elodie remembered the conversation she had with Aster just before.
Aster had responded with something like ‘Yeah, why was that?’ and now Malia too?
What’s going on? Why is everyone talking to me about Frondier?
“Um, sorry. So, what was it you wanted to ask?”
Of course, Malia had no way of knowing Elodie’s true intentions, so she asked again.
“Ah, that, um, where is the bathroom?”
“…I mentioned before boarding the train that you should use the bathroom during the wait.”
“Oh! Right, thank you!”
Elodie nodded quickly and walked away rapidly. Not to the bathroom, but to board the train.
It was almost as if she had fled.
“Isn’t she going to the bathroom? Well, there wasn’t much time left anyway.”
Among the students, some felt an unnecessary urge to urinate due to nervousness. Since they were allowed to go to the bathroom during the wait earlier, Elodie should be fine.
[Attention please. The train to Cropolis will depart shortly. All passengers are requested to board the train.]
The announcement echoed throughout the station, and Malia also boarded the train.
The chaperoning teachers checked the number of students in each class and then made an OK sign with their fingers in front of them. Malia confirmed this through Sense Sharing. All was well.
Clang-
The sound of heavy metal dropping was heard. It was the sound of the train departing.
At the same time, a look of tension spread across the teachers’ faces. There was no turning back now.
This train was heading for the aerial railway. Frondier had said nothing would happen, but from the teachers’ perspective, that was merely a hope.
‘Then, the dean…’
Malia sat down and checked Osprey’s view through Sense Sharing.
‘…Huh?’
But the scenery seemed a bit odd. The trees were too low, and no road was visible. It was hard to tell where Osprey was standing.
After checking Osprey’s view for a while, Malia soon realized.
‘…He’s floating in the sky. Way above the aerial railway.’
It seemed that Osprey was fully prepared to welcome the guest.