...
Two days after the awkward meeting with Hasumi and the strange meeting with Tsurugi, I'm still sorting through paperwork.
You have to understand that I'm almost done with the paperwork from before I started working here at Schale. After that's done, it's onto the paperwork I received after I started working here.
That's right, I'm still receiving papers and letters. And they don't. Stop. Fucking. Coming.
I'm done with the old papers and will take a break for the rest of the day. The newer ones can be done tomorrow.
I asked Arona more about the other districts, wanting to know more without spending time researching myself. It's best to get this done.
She explained that, alongside the Trinity General School, Gehenna Academy and Millennium Science School are the three biggest schools in Kivotos.
Trinity is one of the oldest and biggest schools in the city. It's headed by three factions, Pater, Filius, and Sanctus, fitting with the biblical shtick from the name 'Trinity'. After all, the 'holy trinity' is Pater, the father, Filius, the son, and Spiritus Sanctus, the Holy Spirit. The heads of the three factions run the Student Council, also known as the Tea Party. This triumvirate system works by the three members taking turns 'hosting' the Tea Party, making it so that there's always a president and two others to keep them in check.
Interestingly, Trinity used to be many smaller schools, but the big three, Pater, Fillius, and Sanctus, joined together and rallied the other smaller schools together to unify Trinity as it is today the records did show all, but one school, Arius, joined together. Hmm... I wonder what happened to them?
Fittingly, Trinity also has a plethora of cathedrals and even holds Sunday mass along with the Sisterhood, a club of nuns. On top of that, there's also a massive network of caverns under the district, barely even a percentage of a percentage of them are mapped out for some reason.
As for Gehenna, it's a school older than even Trinity. Whereas Trinity has the reputation of being peaceful and kind, like angels, Gehenna is known for being chaotic, like demons. Gehenna was the name of hell in Judaism, so it fits. It and Trinity are bitter rivals, but there's a peace treaty, the Eden Treaty, in the works, allowing the two schools to finally work together.
Someone's gonna try to fuck it up, I already know.
Similar to Trinity's caverns, there's a whole undocumented area near Gehenna. Why's it undocumented? Because it's near a fucking volcano. Hinnom Volcano they call it.
Hang on, Jerusalem has the Valley of Hinnom, the place Gehenna refers to. Coincidence? Nah.
As for Millennium, despite being nearly as big and as influential as the other two schools, it's only seven years old. Some researchers tried to solve seven unsolvable problems. Then more tried to help them, then more, then more. Then those researchers made the place into a school. Lots of tech is from Millennium and the Kivotos of today can only exist via their technological advances, as I understand it.
Millennium as a whole doesn't seem to have a religious shtick, but instead is focused around STEM. Thank god it isn't focused on Scientology.
Come to think of it, wasn't there something called the 'Millennium Prize Problems' back on earth? Seven near-impossible problems? What a coincidence.
Deciding 'Why not?', I went to the Gehenna district to visit today. The architecture is much different from Trinity. More dark colors and a grittier atmosphere.
Eventually, I came across the Gehenna Academy itself. It's truly massive and resembles a governmental building.
I spot a familiar blonde-haired elf girl nearby and decide to say hi. As I approach, I notice her struggling to carry a few boxes.
She sighs to herself. "Is this ever going to end? All of this work piled up, and the others aren't doing anything to help." She groans as she tries to hold the boxes aloft. "And it's so heavy, too. Though that shouldn't surprise me at this point." Sitting down the boxes, she notices me approaching. "Huh?"
"Need a hand, Chinatsu?" I ask.
"S-Sensei?! What are you doing here?" She asks, a bit shocked.
"Finally got a break, so I figured I'd explore. I went to Trinity for a bit the other day, so I figured Gehenna would be next." I explain.
"I-I see. And the answer is no! I can handle carrying these documents just fine." She once again struggles to lift the boxes.
"You're havin' a hard time. Let me carry half." I say, picking up some.
She sighs. "I really shouldn't be asking a teacher to do this for me..."
"You didn't ask, I offered my help."
"Fine. You're offering, so it would be rude to turn you down."
"Alright then," I say, easily picking up a few boxes with ease.
She sits still for a moment, eyes wide. "You're stronger than I thought, Sensei."
"Schale has a gym room I use every morning," I say, with a shrug. "C'mon then."
Chinatsu picks up some of the boxes as she leads me into the academy. As we walk through the halls, I ask. "So, where to?"
"Oh, It's just straight down the stairs here." She says, motioning to a staircase. "I promise it's not too far."
"Alright. Still, I can't believe you were gonna have to go down these stairs with this stuff." I point out, as she was struggling with this stuff on flat ground.
"I don't think it would have been that dangerous. Well, maybe a little..." She trails off, suddenly a bit worried. "Now that I think about it, you're the first person to say something like that to me. Thank you."
I get a bit confused by that. "I'm the first person to worry about you?" I ask, eyebrow raised as we walk downstairs.
"Well, the students of Gehenna have unique personalities, to say the least. Many of them would never bother with this kind of menial work. They always try to avoid it. So I have a lot of practice in dealing with these sorts of things, that's all." The elf girl explains.
"What are you in charge of anyways, paperwork?"
"No, I'm the head of the Medical Committee." She says like it's obvious.
"Then why the hell do they have someone with your position doing something so unrelated?" I ask, a bit upset. "You should be focusing on medical stuff, not menial crap like this."
She sighs yet again. "I don't get why a medical officer would have to do this either. Truthfully, I wish we had more people to take care of this kind of work. If no one does it, then it'll just keep piling up. Someone has to do it." She then smiles and says. "Though this kind of work suits someone boring like me. Haha..." She trails off with a self-deprecating laugh.
"Hmph." I huff, annoyed at what she's saying about herself. "I wouldn't call you boring. I think you're a very kind-hearted girl."
Chinatsu suddenly stops walking. "...Excuse me?"
"What?" I ask.
"I must have blacked out for a second because you couldn't possibly be talking about me." She says, blinking.
"Of course I was," I say, squashing her doubts.
Her face lights up with a blush. "M-More importantly! I should apologize for taking up your time like this. You came all the way here, and yet I..." She trails off. "W-We should hurry," She says, picking up her pace.
Not long after, we reached the room. "Thanks for your help," Chinatsu says. "You can leave your stack here, I can take it from here."
"Hmm..." I hum to myself. "I think I'll help until you're all done."
"What?!" She shouts. "But... why?"
I shrug.
"You don't..." She stares at me in disbelief. "I'm not sure what to say. No one's ever offered like this before."
"Eh, just go along with it. Think of it like we've been workin' together for a while now." I say, trying to calm her mind.
She stays silent for a moment, before giggling. "It's nice of you to offer, but I couldn't agree to that. The last thing I want to do is inconvenience you." Before I can say anything, she cuts me off. "But I will admit this. Today's work was much less tedious with you here, Sensei. I won't ask you to help me every day, but as long as you're up for it, I may turn to you if you aren't busy."
"Glad to hear. The last thing I want is you to overwork yourself." I say with a smile.
She nods. "That will also allow us to... catch up." She says, with a blush. "I-I'll be looking forward to it." I merely smile and begin to help Chinatsu organize the documents.
About an hour later, I heard a girl walk by. Noticing Chinatsu, she stops and enters the room. "Chinatsu? Are you still busy?" She asks.
The girl has light brown skin and pale white hair, tied in long twin-tails, held with black bows. Her bangs hide one of her red eyes, but not her pointed ears. She wears a white, long-sleeved shirt along with a black tie and skirt. She also has short black boots and socks. Sticking from her skirt is a black tail, pointed at the end with a sort of double triangle. Her hands are covered with black and red gloves, a Gehenna Prefect badge pinned on her sleeve. Her halo is two steely grey rings combined with three ovals.
She's also carrying a long, black rifle with a wooden finish.
"Iori?" Chinatsu asks, looking up from the papers. "Yes, there were quite a few papers, but Sensei decided to help me."
"This... guy?" Iori asks, gesturing towards me, a bit surprised by seeing a guy. Geez, it's something I'm gonna have to get used to, huh? "He doesn't look like much."
"Iori, don't be mean to Sensei." Chinatsu chastises. "At least introduce yourself."
The tan girl huffs. "Fine." She says, turning to me. "I'm Shiromi Iori, the Field Captain of the Gehenna Prefects. So don't try anything here, or I'll detain you, Sensei or not."
The Prefect Team, also known as the Disciplinary Committee. Gehenna's filled with crazies, so they take care of keeping the peace, kinda like Trinity's JTF.
I can't help but chuckle at the new girl's words. "Don't worry, Iori. I've got no intention of doin' any bad here. Anyway, my name's Joshua, a teacher at Schale."
"Hmph. I'm still going to be keeping my eye on you." She says, before turning back to Chinatsu. "Keep an eye on him, Chinatsu."
The elf girl just sighs at her peer's antics. "If that's all you're going to say, I'll just get back to work."
"A-Alright then," Iori says, caught a bit off guard. "Goodbye, Chinatsu, Sensei."
"Later, Iori," I say, waving at her.
"I'm sorry about her, Sensei." Chinatsu apologizes.
"Don't worry, I've been told a lot worse things. Let's just finish up here." I say. Chinatsu responds with a nod.
________________________________________
After we finished, I left Gehenna Academy. Walking around the district, I got a text from Chinatsu.
Thank you so much for today, Sensei.
I don't know how to repay you, but I'll think of something soon.
You don't need to repay me. I was just happy to help.
...Thank you, Sensei.
I hope to see you again. - Chinatsu.
She is a sweet girl.
As I pocket my phone, I see a young girl ahead of me walking happily, swaying her arms back and forth in a wide manner, a big smile plastered on her face. However-
"Ah!"
She trips on a rock.
Dashing forward as quickly as I can, I catch the small girl before she impacts the ground.
"You okay?" I ask.
"H-Huh?" She asks, dumbfounded by this turn of events as her wide, yellow eyes widen and stare into mine.
"You gotta be more careful, young'un." I chide as I stand her back up straight.
"How did you catch me so quick? I didn't see you anywhere, Mister!" She asks, surprised.
I take a moment to observe the girl. She seems to be a middle-schooler with blonde hair tied in uneven twin-tails and similarly colored eyes. She's wearing a cute little blue school dress and a white undershirt. Her skirt is short, but that's fine since she has white bloomers underneath. Over her dress is a massively oversized black coat, matching with her black military cap, also oversized. On her feet are bright yellow boots and clipped to her jacket are a pair of keychains. She also has a purse draped over her shoulder, which is shaped like a teddy bear. Her halo is an orange and yellow ring with 3 points attached at the bottom and 3 more on top, unattached to the ring. She also has a white assault rifle on her back.
"I'm super quick," I say proudly.
"Wow, really?" She asks.
"Yup," I say.
"Say, you seem familiar..." The young girl says with a slight tilt of her head.
"Maybe I am. I'm Joshua, the Sensei of Schale. Nice to meetcha young'un." I greet her with a smile.
"Whoa! You're Sensei?! Awesome!" She cheers. "I'm Tanga Ibuki, the mascot of the Pandemonium Society! Nice to meet you, Sensei!"
Mascot? Why would Gehenna's student council need a mascot?
"Stull, you need to look where you're going next time. I probably won't be there to catch you, so be careful." I chide.
"I will, Sensei." She says, still smiling. "Oh, right! I'm late!" She says, running off. "Bye-bye, Sensei!" She says.
"Later, Ibuki-chan!" I yell back. What a sweet girl.
Strangely enough, right as she disappears from my sight, I receive another text. Taking my phone out, I see it's from Yuuka. I'm planning on going by Millennium next, so I wonder what she wants.
Sensei, if you're not busy, could you drop by the student office after school today? I've got a problem that's even beyond me.
If you couldn't solve it, I doubt I could.
Yuuka's probably much smarter than me. She goes to a science school, after all.
No, it's not like that. What I really need is help from an adult!
Well, I was planning on visiting Millennium soon, so I'll swing by and try my best to help.
Okay, I'll be waiting in the student office.
Well, I guess I've got a clear destination in mind now. Onto Millennium!
________________________________________
This is some sci-fi bullshit.
That was my first thought upon arriving at Millennium Academy. The whole thing is a Star Wars or Star Trek fan's wet dream.
The buildings are a pristine white color and are built in a futuristic way. The whole place looks really... clean, for lack of a better term.
Upon entering the main building, I decided to ask someone where to go. I walk up to a crouched girl, working on a small robot. Next to her are an assortment of tools, as well as a toolbox.
"Excuse me," I say.
"Hmm?" She asks, turning around, but not getting up. She has long, purple hair and equally colored eyes. She wears a grey vest over a white shirt and a blue tie. Below that is a white skirt and dark leggings covering her legs, finished with black shoes. Her hands are covered with black gloves, one holding a wrench. Above her head are two mechanical things resembling rabbit ears. They're next to her magenta halo, resembling a hexagon, spit into six parts. The inner ring is a diamond, split into four parts, also magenta.
"I'm here to meet someone at the student office, but I've got an idea where it is, could you help?" I ask her.
"Sure." She nods and points me in the direction.
"Thank you." I thank her, and then I suddenly remember to introduce myself. "Oh and, my name's Joshua, a teacher a Schale."
"A teacher?" She asks, in slight awe. "I see. I'm Shiroishi Utaha, head of the Engineering Department." Makes sense, she is fixing that robot. "You're free to visit anytime, Sensei."
I smile. "Thanks again, Utaha. Later." I say, waking away."
"Goodbye, Sensei."
Soon, I make it to the student office without any fanfare.
"Ah. There you are, Sensei." Yuuka says, standing next to a table, as I enter the room. There are a few tables and short cabinets scattered around and not much else here.
"Today's agenda pertains to Millennium's finances, so I can't discuss it with other students. I've been mulling it over all day, but haven't come up with a suitable solution."
"What's the problem exactly, Yuuka?" I ask, crossing my arms. My white suit, creased somewhat.
"Could you take a look at this picture?" Yuuka asks. On the table is a small picture. One that resembles a child's drawing. "What do you think it looks like?"
"Something a therapist would show me, asking how this picture makes me feel," I say the first thing that comes to mind.
The purple-haired girl merely sighs. "So you agree. Let me get to the point. This abstract painting was given to us as collateral by an entrepreneur who owes the Millennium School money. According to them, it was painted by a genius painter named Matsumoto from the Wildhunt Art Academy, and it's worth at least one hundred million yen."
"This piece of shit?" I ask, dumbfounded. Also, Wildhunt Art Academy. More mythology.
"Yes. No matter how much I stare at it, it looks like it was scribbled by a toddler." Yuuka says, annoyed.
"Guess some art is like that." I shrug.
"I'm aware, but I just can't shake my disappointment. That's all." She shakes her head. "Taking all supplies into account, it couldn't have cost more than ten thousand yen to produce, but it becomes thousands of times more valuable just because the artist was supposedly famous? I can't fathom why that would be."
She sighs. "Then again, I'm only Seminar's treasurer. It's not my job to appraise art, I only wonder whether this counts as collateral or not."
"Art's one of those weird things I never understood. You can't exactly put a price on this kinda thing, at least not with conventional math." I don't know any other way to describe it. The art world is stupid, truth be told.
Though this isn't nearly as stupid as those damn monkeys.
"If it can't be calculated with a formula, then how DOES one calculate it?" Yuuka asks, clearly fed up.
"When specialists examine these things, they usually measure the artists' effort and creativity."
"Interesting." The treasurer says, holding her chin. "I suppose I'd be angry if a fully functional robot and a pile of scrap were considered equal in value just because they weigh the same. But, that brings us back to square one. Since I can't evaluate art, I want you to appraise it." She says, putting her hands on the table. "How much do you think it's worth?"
"Zero yen," I say, brutally honest.
"What? How can that be?" She asks, startled.
"You sure there's someone named Matsumoto at that art academy? Counterfeit paintings are sold all the time."
"Counterfeit?" She asks, staring at the painting.
"Usually, an artist signs their work, but there's no sign of that here. High chance of this being fake."
"Seriously?!" Yuuka yells.
After a bit more talking, I decided to take it back to Schale to hang up. It was either that or toss it. Who knows, it might make for a good memento.
________________________________________
Upon leaving Millennium, I receive another text.
Hello, Sensei. It's Suzumi. I'm not sure if you remember me.
Suzumi? That's all four of the girls I met the other day.
Yeah, I remember you. Nice to hear from you.
Thank you. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Sorry if you're in the middle of something. I was hoping we could meet when you have the time. Just let me know.
Well, I'm at Millennium taking a break. I suppose I'll swing by Trinity before I go back to Schale.
________________________________________
Before our meeting, I decided to stop by a convenience store on Trinity's outskirts to grab some food.
"A pork lunch, a black coffee, and three energy drinks. That'll be eleven-thirty yen." The robotic man at the register says. I pay the man. "Thank you. Please come again!" He says.
I nod and smile. As I do, I turn to the sound of someone else entering.
"Another one already? Welcome!" The sun robotic man greets. "How can I... help..." He trails off as he notices the two girls who have entered. Both of them have face masks and look like delinquents.
I'm proven right when they shoot at the man, seemingly not noticing me.
"Don't move! Get on the ground and keep your hands where we can see 'em! This is a stick-up!" One with blond hair shouts. Who says 'stick up' anymore?
"Don't try anything funny!" The dark-haired one shouts. "Stay still if you want to get out of her alive!"
"Eeek!" The man cowers. "This is the Trinity district! You won't get away with this!"
"We won't, will we?" The blond one says, sarcastically. "Guess again! We already are!"
"The Justice Task Force is nowhere to be found! We scouted!" The dark-haired one proclaims, proudly.
"Even they can't patrol every nook and cranny of somewhere this remote!"
"Don't get your hopes up! Open the safe and give us everything you have!"
Okay, this is getting really cliche...
I walk over to them and place my hand on either of their shoulders. "Hey." I say, making sure to use my 'terrifying face' on them.
They both turn around. "What do you-?!" As they do, they both freeze up, eyes wide. I've gotten pretty good at focusing pure killing intent on people. That, alongside my ability to scare someone with just my face, must make me seem like a demon to them. Though, these two are just dumb students doing bad shit, so just a little bit of killing intent should be enough to scare 'em.
"Good students do go around robbing people while spouting cliches," I say, intentionally deepening my voice for good measure. "Both of you. Get lost now."
They both recoil in fright, leaning against the counter. "W-W-We aren't sc-scared of you!" One shouts, stuttering.
"You are. Leave. Now. And we can forget about all this, or I can call the Justice Task Force. Your pick." As I say that, they flee in fear of punishment. "You okay?" I ask the robotic man, returning my face and voice to normal.
"Y-Yes, a bit shaken, but I'm fine." He says, relieved.
I smile. "Glad to hear it." I begin walking away. "Stay safe, man."
"Thank you!" He shouts as I walk through the doors. As I do, I find the two delinquents, being tied up by Suzumi. They both seem dazed and confused.
"Oh, Sensei," Suzumi says, noticing me.
"Yo. This wasn't where we were gonna meet." I point out.
"It wasn't, but I'm always on duty, so to speak. When I saw these two, I decided to detain them." She says.
"Detain?!" One of the tied-up girls shouts, upset.
"You fucking flashbanged us!" The other shouts.
"You flash banged them?" I ask, eyebrow raised.
"Flash grenades make it easy to detain targets." The silver-haired vigilante says.
"I... see," I say, slowly. "I'm here now, so..."
She smiles. "Good, then let us go."
As we begin to walk away, I notice the detainees. "You just gonna leave 'em?" I ask.
Suzumi merely nods. "The Justice Task Force will find them later."
"You're just gonna leave us tied up here?!" One shouts.
"You're right. I should detain you more thoroughly." She says. "I'll make you listen to 'Baby' by Austin Deiber on repeat."
...I feel like I just heard something crazy just now.
The two delinquents recoil in shock. "Why that? It's not even popular anymore!"
"What are you, some kind of pop music dinosaur?" Suzumi takes offense, moving over to them and tying headphones to their heads as they scream in agony.
"Effective," I say, simply.
"Indeed, let us go," Suzumi says.
Sparing a glance at the delinquents-turned-torturees, I just shrug and keep walking with her. The two of us walked around Trinity for a while.
Not long after, the sun began to go down and Suzumi decided to escort me to Schale.
"Here we are," Suzumi says. I notice the city is only lit by lights and no longer the sun. "It should be safe to go alone from here. You should get inside since it's late."
I chuckle a bit. "Thanks for this, Suzumi."
"Huh?" She seems a bit surprised. "You don't need to thank me, I'm just carrying out my Vigilante Crew duties. Even if it's not an official club..." She trails off, a bit embarrassed, but recollects herself quickly. "Trinity is all too prone to incidents like this today. We have to keep working to maintain the peace."
"You're real selfless to take time out of your day to do this stuff, Suzumi." She blushes and looks away. "Still, I had fun."
"Fun? You were almost in a hostage situation, what part of that could be fun?"
"Not that, us walking together was fun," I explain.
Her eyes widen a bit. "N-Nevertheless, my job here is done. Y-You should get inside!" She stutters, before taking a moment to calm down. "...I'll admit, I had fun too. There wasn't much in the way of conversation, but the walk was nice."
I nod and hum in agreement. "It's nice to just spend some time with someone now and again."
"For whatever reason, when I was with you... I forgot I was a member of the Vigilante Crew. I hope we meet under more relaxing circumstances next time. Though, preferably during the day."
"Agreed," I say.
"Oh! And here's a parting gift."
She moves closer and hands me a... "A flash grenade?"
"It may not be a gun, but it should come in handy."
I do so. "Still, I doubt I'll need it, I've got you to protect me, right?"
"Huh?! W-Well of course I will! That goes without...!" She says, blushing, before once again, calming herself quickly. "That is the mission of the Vigilant Crew. I'll be going now Sensei, have a good night." She says politely, as she begins to walk away.
"Night," I say back. As I watch her leave, I notice something. Her gait was a bit different than before, almost... happier?
________________________________________
A few minutes after I entered the Schale building, I got another text from Suzumi.
It's Suzumi. Did you get back safely, Sensei?
Yup. All good here. Thanks again.
It was nothing. I'm glad. And besides...
Umm...
She begins to stutter in her texts.
Just let me know if you ever need anything, and I'll be right over.
Smiling to myself, I put my phone back in my pocket. Entering the Schale room, Arona greets me from her monitor. "Sensei! You're back! How was your day off?"
"A bit exhausting, but fun. If I didn't like Kivotos yet, today definitely would've changed my mind." I say, sitting my bags of convenience store stuff and the painting down.
"Hmm..." Arona hums in thought. "Are you sure you don't mean you like the people here?"
This causes me to pause. "Maybe... I've..." I struggle to form the words. "I haven't had anyone that I'm close to for years now..." I trail off, my mind lost in nostalgia. "Maybe somewhere along the line, I forgot what companionship was like. Or maybe even just what basic human interaction was... Deep down, no one wants to be alone, y'know?"
Arona smiles at me. "I agree, it's been fun spending time with you, much more than when I was waiting in the Shittim Chest..." She trails off as her smile turns a bit sad.
"Guess we've both been lonely. Guess the best cure for that it make a friend who's also been lonely?" I let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
"Yeah! We won't be alone, so long as we're together!" Arona cheerfully exclaims. "And I'm going to be sticking with you for a long time, Sensei."
I merely smile. It feels nice to have someone care for you, but I haven't had that in a while, either. "I'm glad. Well, I guess it's time to make some food."
"Oh, I wish I could eat the food you make! It looks so yummy." Arona daydreams, drooling a bit.
"One day, I'll figure out how to make you a body, Arona," I say, kinda offhandedly.
"You promise, Sensei?" She asks, quiet yet hopeful.
"I promise," I say, looking her dead in the eyes. "Now, it's time to get to work. All the walkin' I've done today's made me hungry!"
What I feel now can only be described as happiness.
I don't wanna let go of this feeling.
If anyone tries to take that away from me, well...
It won't be the first time I've fought through hell and back.
________________________________________
(Which do you guys think is number 1# Waifu in Blue Archive? For me, it is between Ichinose Asuna or Takanashi Hoshino.)