Vanitas Vanitatum et Omnia Vanitas.

"The vanity of vanities. All is in vain." Sensei read the inscription on the rifle on the bed before he picked it up.

Sensei's eyes widened as glowing circuit lines quickly traversed from his hand to the rifle. He remained motionless for a few seconds before the lines disappeared as he glanced at the door. "It's fine, Azusa. You can come out now."

"Sensei, so you noticed me." Azusa asked as she stepped into the room. She turned her attention to the words on her rifle. "You know what it means?"

"I've studied the language in the past," Sensei replied as he handed Azusa her rifle. "Sorry for touching your gun without your permission."

"It's alright, Sensei." Azusa shook her head as she wore the rifle's sling.

"Azusa, about that inscription…" It had been bugging him for a while now. It wasn't necessarily a negative saying, but it would still depend on how one interpreted it. He already knew what the girl thought about it after he inadvertently analyzed her rifle's history, but he still wanted to hear it come from Azusa herself. The things he'd seen on the rifle were…grim.

"It was something that was taught to us in my old school," Azusa replied. "Personally, I think that even if everything is in vain, I would still struggle to the end as I don't want to regret my actions."

"That is incredibly insightful," Sensei said with a smile, inwardly relieved as he turned his attention to the state of her rifle. "I can tell you've been diligent in maintaining your weapon. How long have you had it?"

"For a long time," Azusa said with a smile. "It's been my partner ever since I could remember."

"I see… You've been through a lot, haven't you?" Sensei ruffled Azusa's head.

"What's this about, Sensei?" She complained, but didn't really try to move away.

"I just felt like it."

Azusa pouted as Sensei made a smug smile.

"Now go. You're going to be late for the exam. I'll catch up with you in a bit."

After Azusa left, Sensei's smile faltered as he sighed.

"What am I going to do with this knowledge…?" Sensei muttered as he looked at his hand as he silently muttered an apology to Azusa for accidentally prying into her past due to his habit of analyzing any weapon he held while simultaneously being proud of his student for not letting her past weigh her down, though some of the things he'd seen confused him and would require further analysis.

What was clear was that there were still a lot of things that he didn't know about Kivotos, but it was clear that he would have to prioritize investigating Trinity's inner workings and history.

"Arona," Sensei said as he pulled out the Shittim Chest, "what can you tell me about Arius Satellite School?"

A few days later, while Sensei was currently talking with Mika by the pool…

"The traitor that Nagisa is looking for is—"

"It's Azusa, isn't it?" Sensei interrupted Mika's words, who widened her eyes in surprise. "She originally came from Arius."

"So you knew…" Mika muttered. "Since when?"

"The morning before the first make-up exam," Sensei answered. "Honestly, it was troublesome to keep it from Nagisa when she interrogated me about it."

"You've known for that long, and yet you didn't rat her out." Mika giggled. "I thought you were bad at lying."

"There are many ways to keep a secret without specifically lying," Sensei replied with a cheeky smile. "And besides, Azusa is my student. What kind of teacher would I be if I rat them out at the first sign of trouble? It's clear that she's in a complicated position, so I'll do all I can to help her."

"You would go that far?"

"Perhaps I'm being nosy, but I can't help but want to help others," Sensei said as he scratched the back of his head. "In a way, becoming a teacher was the best thing that happened to me."

"If I ever need help, would you help me, Sensei?"

"Of course. Not just you, I'd try to help everyone if possible."

"Everyone…That's the same as being on no one's side, isn't it?"

"And yet I'd still try to help everyone and try to find an outcome where everyone would be happy."

Mika stared at Sensei in silence before her expression turned forlorn. "If you were here a year ago, then perhaps…" she muttered.

"Mika, is something wrong?"

"N-No, it's nothing, Sensei! It was just a silly thought."

She's hiding something, but what? Sensei thought as Mika continued the conversation.

The history of Trinity. The First Council. Arius' banishment and fall. The Eden Treaty. A Military alliance with Gehenna. The formation of the Make-Up Work Club to weed out the traitor. Some of these were things that Sensei already looked into, but it was still different hearing about it from one of Trinity's presidents, who was able to share her insights on how things stood.

The situation with Seia however, alarmed Sensei.

"Seia's…dead?" Sensei had gotten used to the fact that the students of Kivotos were highly durable and could shrug off an attack that would normally be fatal. The only other incident he knew in which a student died from non-natural means was about Hoshino's senior and the former Student Council President of Abydos.

Also, there was one other thing… Sensei thought, before he turned his attention back to Mika.

"Yes…You could say that it's the reason why Nagi is so paranoid."

He would have to reassess the situation. It seemed that this was far more serious than he originally thought.

"To reiterate, if the Eden Treaty is signed before Arius and Trinity reconcile, then it would make it impossible to do so afterwards," Mika said. "In a way, you could say that I'm the traitor that Nagisa is looking for, since I'm interfering with her plans."

"So what you want to do is to have Trinity and Arius reconcile before the Eden Treaty is signed, correct?"

"That's right," Mika replied. "I have to admit that I'm still a little aghast at the idea of joining hands with Gehenna, but…"

Sensei found it strange that Mika had an intense dislike for Gehenna. He knew that the two schools had a long time feud, but he never knew it was to this extent.

"Mika, have you ever interacted with someone from Gehenna?"

"Aside from the few times I've met the Head Prefect during meetings, no. That, and my position as Pater's head prevents me from doing so," Mika admitted. "Out of the three factions, Pater is the most against the Eden Treaty. The only reason why I'm not more vocal about this to Nagi is due to our friendship."

"I understand," Sensei said with a smile. "As your teacher, I would suggest that it would be good for you to expand your horizons, but I won't force you."

"Maybe if you promise to treat me to a meal next time, I might think about it—"

"Sure. Why not?"

Mika froze on the spot as she heard Sensei's reply. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, wanting to say something, but eventually she flattened her expression as she made a curt smile. "Sorry Sensei, that was just a joke."

"That's too bad," Sensei said. "Should you change your mind though, I could always make some time for it."

"Sensei, if you keep this up, I'm going to fall for you for real~!" Mika said with a giggle. "I'll keep it in mind, Sensei."

After a few more exchanges of words, Mika excused herself.

Sensei felt that he couldn't just leave their conversation here, so he said one more thing to her.

"Feel free to visit SCHALE if you have some free time, Mika!" Sensei yelled to Mika once she was on the other side of the pool.

"Hehe~! Maybe if I have some time!" Mika replied with a smile.

As Mika's figure became smaller, Sensei recalled what happened that morning when he held Azusa's rifle. Sensei recalled what he'd seen when he touched the gun. He'd seen many things, including that fateful night when Azusa was sent to assassinate the Prophet of Trinity.

"You didn't come here to kill me. You came here to seek advice. About your struggle," Seia said to Azusa, whose shoulders shook a little.

"That's…right," A younger Azusa replied.

"Very well, but before that, I must address one more person in this room."

"One more? But there's only two of us here. I triple-checked the area beforehand."

"They're not here in the physical sense, but rather…Well, you could say that they're similar to me in some sense." Seia said as she stared at the rifle. "Hello, Sensei."

"Sensei…?" Azusa was confused. "Who is that?"

"Someone who you'll meet in the future," Seia replied with a smile. "Sensei, the next time we meet will probably be in a dream. Or perhaps…"

Seia removed the flower crown she was wearing on her left ear—

That was as far as Sensei was able to see, as he noticed Azusa's presence right after. But Sensei understood what Seia was trying to tell him.

I should talk to Azusa as soon as possible, Sensei thought as he returned to the building. And apologize for invading her privacy.

"Maybe I should buy her a gift while I'm at it," he said as he decided to ask Hifumi where to find Peroro merch, considering Azusa expressed her interest in it. "Hmmm…maybe I should buy one for everyone instead. And cook them something great while I'm at it."

Sensei nodded as he decided on a course of action.

Azusa would later point out that Seia already informed her about his ability to read an object's history, and that she had been intentionally leaving her rifle for him to read its history for a while now.

"It's a convenient ability that lets you secretly pass a message," Azusa said. Sensei had to admit that her assessment of his ability held some merit.

Everyone else however had a field day when they found out about that ability of his. While Sensei had all of them promise to keep this particular ability of his a secret as much as possible, it had become something of an inside joke for the Make-Up Work Club. Hanako in particular was all too eager to have Sensei test that ability of his on some of her belongings, while Koharu kept her distance for a while.

Oddly enough, Koharu also kept dropping things for a while after that.

"You wanted to read its history, didn't you! Death penalty!" Koharu blushed as she took away her notebook.

"Oh my, Koharu." Hanako giggled. "You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?"

"G-Get your mind out of the gutter, you perverted woman!"

"Oh? And what did you think I was implying?"

"You…! Death penalty!"

Sensei scratched the back of his head.

"Ahaha… Do you want me to stop them?" Hifumi asked.

"No harm done. As long as they're having fun," Sensei said with a smile.

Besides, his years of experience told him that attempting to dissuade them was an exercise in futility.