Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It was another day in Kivotos.

A good enough day for a coup.

It was a bridge I had never wanted to cross. But necessity and pride had beaten back all the objections in my head. And some of it was, admittedly, very selfish. Very vain and human. I would probably be looking back on it with no small amounts of shame, tempered with the cold rebuttal that this shit really needed to be done.

I walked into the carriage office, and saluted the OPFOR, she who was the tyrant much reviled. In all my days, in both my lives, I would have never thought that any student council president could ever become some sort of tinpot dictator. But this was a strange world, and one which made tyrants of young girls with bright, if ill-thought, ambitions.

"Ah, Deguchi-kun, come in, I'd like to hear your opinion on this new proposal of mine." The tyrant's hair was long and sleek, with streaks of red throughout. She bore the unnatural feature of horns on her head. I have heard it an uncommon feature for one enrolling in Highlander, the expectation was she'd be enrolled in distant Gehenna.

"Understood ma'am," I said, marching the last few steps over the carpet towards the precipice. Towards destiny, perhaps. "However, may I have permission to say something first?"

"Go on," the tyrant said, leaning back, expression open and pleasant. She never would expect me to say what I was about to say, nor less conceive of it in my head. I had her trust, and I would be breaking it, for my own sake. But really, one girl against a whole school, what was my alternative?

I let anger guide me, to focus my thoughts as I'd done once, flying over the skies of a wartorn continent. Deflect the misgivings of betrayal; and remember the indignities, the injustices, the repeated failures to appeal to either sentiment or cold calculus. And of course, there were the craven whispers, which had no desire to stand between the foolishness of a Napoleon who thought herself smarter than she was; and the rest of Kivotos' mighty schools.

Well, scratch that: Napoleon had at least the love and loyalty of France; this girl only had one railway and train to her name. And her people: oh, how she'd squandered our devotion and goodwill.

I instantly pulled out my gun, and pointed it at her. A small pistol, a sidearm I seldom used, but I knew it would prove the point. "Greatest apologies, president, but the Kanon Union no longer has need of your leadership."

I gave credit to her; she didn't sputter in outrage nor wallow in confusion. She quickly pressed the button on her table, summoning her guards to the office. "… What a disappointment, Deguchi-kun. This is too mad, too rash, especially for you. I'd like to know more about it, after the interrogation's done."

Three students came, led by short Sizuru, twin-tail blonde hair, eyes clear and blue. "Ma'am," she said, adjusting the peak of her cap.

"Take Deguchi-kun away." I saw that her eyes had narrowed slightly, upon seeing that the guards weren't rushing to grab me.

Sizuru snapped a salute. "Apologies, ma'am, but that will not be possible. This is a coup, you see."

There was a whole second's pause, before the tyrant bolted from her seat. In one motion she'd grabbed her own side-arm, and crossed her arms before her to barrel out the window of the carriage.

WHUMP!

"Urk!"

Unfortunately for her, she slammed right into the window as she'd hit a wall. We didn't give her the time to be shocked by the sudden reversal before we'd ganged up on her, our bodies pinning her down as we fastened handcuffs to her wrists.

"Traitors!" she howled. "I'll make sure your deeds are known in all of Kivotos! I—"

"Don't worry, leader," Sizuru drawled. "You're free to do that, after we've also published how horrible a girl you are. Then no one will care; it's just a poor leader who got her just deserts. Up you go~"

We frog-marched her into the next carriage, where our co-conspirators were waiting, after I'd given the signal a few minutes back. Our soon-to-be ex-leader continued struggling, spitting insults for all to hear.

My comrades all looked relieved when they saw us bringing the tyrant in chains. I nodded towards the chief of the engineering division, Utsumi Aoba, who asked nervously, "Did it work?"

"It worked very well," I replied, gesturing towards our prize. Without the engineers' cooperation, we would never have been able to capture her considering her prodigious strength. A little reinforcement of the windows during a prior maintenance shift had made it impossible for anyone to just leap out of them.

The tyrant looked about with wonder at the ones gathered there, blinking rapidly as if she was seeing something she could not understand.

"Atami? Mariya? Aoba? Even you, Hisoka?" she cried. "You wretches. Cowardly rats! Do you think the rest of the Union will tolerate this… this coup?"

"Our students have, one and all, placed their hopes in us… leader," Atami declared.

"You mark my words, your time will come! People do not like the names of traitors!"

"Enough of this," I said. I pulled out the piece of paper. "Akame Kurogane, in light of your grievous crimes against the students of the Kanon Union, which demonstrates a dereliction of your sworn duty to uphold the continuing welfare and dignity of all its students, you are hereby stripped of your rank as student council president. So signed, by a tribunal consisting of the highest-ranked members of the school's officially recognized divisions, as recorded on the roster of departments."

"A tribunal?" she spat. "A conspiracy, you mean! There is no legal basis for this coup!"

"And when the matter of legality ever stopped anyone in Kivotos?" I asked. I looked into her eyes, unafraid of the brewing anger within. "When did that stop you, even?"

"When I tore us free from Highlander, we had the moral and legal right!"

"You certainly had that moral high ground at the start." I tried not to reminisce too much of those frantic early days. "Which you began to lose day after day. And as to the legal right—do we not receive emails from Highlander all the time, demanding we return our train to the consortium?"

"You will not be able to survive without me. Any of you! You've thrown your fate to uncertain winds! You need strong, proper leadership! I'd like to see any of you try it!"

"… To be fair, we must really thank you, leader," I continued. "You cobbled us into a functioning Union, and one which we were proud of belonging to. It's such a shame you squandered your time at the operator's seat." I pulled out another piece of paper, another one which we had all signed.

"Now then, there is another matter. Without a leader, the temporary powers of the president have now devolved unto the council of leaders gathered here in this room." I looked around at them all. "And so, as our first act, we henceforth expel Akame Kurogane from the rolls of the Kanon Union. She forfeits all rights to the school's resources, and is forevermore barred from re-enrolling. She shall receive no letters of recommendation from the governing council, and all the student body is furthermore encouraged to shun her from this moment forward."

"You can't do that!" she said, tears in her eyes.

I flipped the paper around, showing her the part where we'd all made our signatures. "We have all spoken in our capacities as members of the council." I paused, then nodded towards the guards. "The proclamation has been made. You've been expelled, Kurogane-san. May you find success and happiness in some other place. There is nothing personal in this; we have done this for the good of the students." I leaned forward, and with a firm tug, pulled the gun attached to her holster.

"The clothes you wear… we shall consider that your personal property. This one, though, we'll keep, as this belongs to Kanon itself."

The ex-leader's head had slumped forward, her shoulders sagged in defeat. And yet when the guards moved to take her away, she suddenly shouted, "Tae Deguchiii!"

I moved my hands to hustle the guards along, while she kept on screaming. "I'll remember this! The rest are base and opportunistic rats, but you! But youuuuu! You were an ally! A confidant! A comrade! One way or another I'll make you pay for this betrayal! Just you wait! You'll all pay!"

"Off you go now~" Atami said, as the guards pushed her out the door. I nodded towards Sizuru, who made a call on her phone. She was still screaming up at the windows, hammering at the walls of the carriage as the train began to accelerate. Frankly, I was worried she was going to keep holding on to it by her nails, but soon enough we were cruising at a nice speed, and Akame Kurogane became a mere speck in the distance.

In the silence that followed, we all looked at each other.

"Very good work, everyone," I said. I felt the tense atmosphere relax. "We've achieved part one of our plan. Now then, it's time to inform the students of our victory. Please, go to your stations and spread the word. Remind them of the vote, and feel free to make your appeals to them as you please. We all have a great decision to make."

I turned around, towards the carriage which had now been vacated of its owner.

"O-Tae-san?" Aoba asked, with tremulous voice.

"Hm?"

"Are you alright?"

I turned my head and nodded. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I thought…" She scratched her cheek. "Never mind."

I cleared my throat. "I have to make that speech now. Do carry on."

"My fellow students.

"Twice now we've been forced by bad luck and circumstances to overthrow the chains of oppressive authority on our shoulders. I am pleased to say to you all now, that two times has been more than enough—there need not be another time! Our great oppressor has been expelled by the will of all the students attending this school, never to return!

"I know what all you have suffered, for I was there to witness it all with you. How we were once forced, by the mandate of a tyrannical majority, to suppress our own good health and comfort, risking our very lives and dignities! How we were then manipulated by a serpent we once thought to be a guiding figure, to join her self-serving crusade and declare our independence from the leeches at Highlander. We were determined to craft our own schedules, to ensure our beloved school ran on its own times!

"Yet soon enough, our glorious leader, so-called, was quick to lay her yoke upon our shoulders, putting it under the guise of 'necessary measures'. I was there, with you, my fellow students. From the start I have had reservations about these measures. Were they even necessary at all? Let me recount.

"Mandatory overnight schoolwork, just so we could execute her dangerous night raid operations using our own small means. A 'necessary' measure. Enforced educational extensions, forcing each of us to take on extra academic work just to become 'better soldiers'! Another necessary measure. Perhaps worst of all, the institution of a 'collective pool', where we were each to contribute our hard-earned money and homework and equipment and everything else, just so she could do with it as she pleased! Yes, certainly a very necessary measure!

"Yet what did such measures bring? Many sleepless nights for us all, as we assaulted other schools, resorting to shameless banditry, like a common gang! We were forced to reschedule our lives at a moment's notice, if only to spend an extra hour on schoolwork that wasn't even suitable for us! Certainly, perhaps giving up our possessions for the collective good is a noble goal, but had we ever seen a return? I challenge you all to tell me of a time where she did allocate something from the collective pool to you—that was not just another piece of homework!

"But I am not here to speak of the past for long. We have, by our will, forced our school down to the next station, leaving all the craziness and… stupidity of our past behind. Let us leave them back there, and hope we never have to come back.

"And so, let us now move forward. For in our path there are many tracks to switch to, and it is now important more than ever to address it. I wish I could tell you all that we could take it easy after our liberation, but as we all know, life in Kivotos is never that clearcut and comfortable.

"You are all aware of the constant demands from our old friends. Highlander has always continued to demand the return of the Warpig to their authority, promising us amnesty for our 'past crimes' and a guarantee for any property we possess. The stations shall also be admitted as autonomous entities, promised enormous privileges. With such promises comes threats: that if we spurn this offer they shall never show us mercy. What drivel!

"Let us consider then, our actual options. You all are aware that our Union is a school amalgamated from four separate entities: the Warpig line and its associated railway, and the stations Otsuka, Higashiyama, and Wakamatsu. It is our former leader's handiwork that has gathered together four separate schools, but it is our own will and expertise that has in turn made it great!

"Unfortunately, we must acknowledge that the unity that our ousted leader once espoused has long been in doubt. We must acknowledge this fact, my fellow students. What had once been a vision of a true unity between our schools was squashed by ineptitude and arrogance, for which none of us hold blame. Each of the stations feel as if the others are given more importance, that they can be so easily discarded on the occasion of a sudden invasion. And the students manning our great 'pig feel in turn as if their tireless work operating the train is being taken for granted by the stations.

"Such are the facts, my fellow students. At this stage, we have no time to spare for refutations, or perhaps for reconciliations. Decisive action is required of each of us, to come to a decision that we all can live with, even if it is painful.

"First: should we continue as we have, trusting in the bonds we have forged with the other students to not fray further and sow seeds that would lead us to greater disaster down the line?

"Second, should we formally separate into two academic entities, neither subordinate to the other, each bound in firm and equal alliance: the Warpig and the united stations that serve its lines; and with this ensuring that the rift between our students be not too wide or too tight, that our voices can be heard, each of our wills respected in the manner to which we aspire?

"Or thirdly, in a most drastic decision, should we peaceably adjourn into our constituent states once more, free to pursue our own separate destinies, unburdened by the shackles of our unfortunate pasts, able to engage with the rest of Kivotos as we each see fit; while still retaining our friendly dispositions towards each other?

"I shall leave it all to you to decide, my fellow students. The poll has been set up on our school's network, ready to be answered. You all have the next hour to think on the best decision, not just for yourselves, but for the people around you—friends and comrades. I shall hope that we can all come to the solution that suits us all best, and that which leaves us all satisfied.

"That is all. Thank you for hearing me."

I sat on the chair, sucking morosely on a chocolate cigarette. The atmosphere in the room was tense, as we waited for the hour to wind down to the last minute. Everyone was anxiously looking forward to the results of the poll. Such a monumental decision would shake the very core of our existence as an independent school. Whether or not to stay united, sputtering along in fragility, or to make a clean cut and a new beginning—that was the question for every one of us.

We were all the chiefs of our respective divisions and departments, and we all took the responsibility for executing the coup which got rid of Akame Kurogane from our lives once and for all. A tyrant in the form of a young girl, masquerading as some visionary founder of a school that wished to rival something like Millennium—perhaps, if she had followers instead of subordinates, she might have succeeded in the long run.

Once more, I took a mental count, using the faces of each chief as a totem representing each demographic that was currently deciding on their votes.

First was myself, head of the Logistics department on the Warpig. We were a small department—criminally understaffed. I knew my girls disdained the mixing with the students from the station schools. An offshoot from Highlander could never mix in easily with students from other schools who did not share the same background. We liked our orderly trains, our strict regimental schedules, our minds were constantly in motion, and we rather liked our fancy hats. On the other hand, life in the station was too bureaucratic, too mercantile, too sedentary.

I did not really consider dissolution, the third option, as serious. Alone, none of us could survive long against the other schools, who would see our clear weakness and pounce on us without reserve. Such opportunism was a fact of life in this Kivotos, which I had many years to get used to.

Next, was Aoba, my fellow chief, and who'd been appointed head of the Engineering division. Hers was a vital demographic, average in size, with duties scattered among the stations and the train itself. If separation were to be chosen, it would see her people scattered among the remnants. I knew that she personally preferred the first option—a bizarre opinion I didn't try to question. But come on, she was an engineer! Couldn't she see that trying to keep an old, sputtering engine alive for as long as possible was dangerous? I predicted her demographic to be a mix of opinions, so I couldn't get a proper read on how they'd influence the vote.

Next, Sizuru, tiny and serious, head of the Security team. She had the second-highest number of subordinates, and were responsible for the school's defense, for law enforcement, for riot control, and our main offensive force when needed. A great majority were old hands of the Warpig, which meant that any dissolution would leave the other stations tremendously under-protected and understaffed. Hers was the military clique, most concerned with defending our sovereignty, so I expected they would vote for the first or the second options.

Mariya was the autocrat of the Science and Research division, which also doubled as our health care department, considering most of her subordinates were more medics than actual researchers. We were a far cry from Millennium's best, or even their worst, but we were trying our best. She was secretive to a fault, leading many to be suspicious of her, wondering if she would betray the coup to Akame. But she hadn't, in the end, whether out of loyalty to her people or of a genuine dislike for the tyrant. Hers was the tiniest faction, which was a testament to our deplorable deficiency in smart minds.

The smiling Atami was chief of General Operations. As a student from Otsuka station, she would have to go back to her original school if option three was chosen—which made me think she would never choose that. Hers was the most sizable section, which counted for about a bit under half of the entire population of the student body. Our former leader had elevated her after expelling the former chief for "gross misconduct". Admittedly, Atami was very competent for someone in charge of so large a department.

General operations was responsible for the various day-to-day work that was not under any of the previous bailiwicks, which included our mercantile arm in each of the stations and their associated sub-departments (we were involved in food, arbitrage, advertising and others) and the train crew responsible for the public face of our train operations, such as the attendants and the conductors. Though large, there were certain "factions" I labeled within her group which I saw would favor each choice: I tabulated them in my head and fortunately there were only a few that would push for the third.

Last, and definitely not least was Hisoka, who was responsible for the artillery armament that was the Warpig's trump card, which was sufficient deterrent to make sure few gangs and schools ever got the idea to assault us. Stealing this over-large railway gun from Highlander's own armory was perhaps one of the wisest and most audacious things our former leader had ever done. The department was small, almost equal to mine, and were all from Highlander. Therefore, they were greatly expected to favor the third option. They were a bunch of train purists (a strange enough concept but then again this was Kivotos) who looked down on anyone who had not originally been enrolled at Highlander.

The existence of Hisoka's department as its own independent arm was a considerable point of tension between herself and the jurisdiction of Aoba and Sizuru's. The engineers were already tasked to maintain the artillery gun, so they thought to subordinate it under their purview; and the military also naturally thought that such a valuable piece of equipment was theirs alone to control.

All in all, that was about five hundred students of the Consolidated Railway and Stations of the Kanon Line, otherwise known as the Kanon Union. Tallying the votes in my head, I saw that only one-eighth of the total wanted the third option, with the other two options being a clear toss-up.

I was glad to see it: in my opinion the third option was a non-starter. But I still had to give them the option, or else Hisoka's faction would have complained. And while they would not have had the necessary weight to really change things, agitating a minority was not good for this post-coup environment. It was nice for my fellows to have their own opinions, but pragmatism would be valued more for now.

In my humble opinion, we were better off with the second option. That was the best compromise that I could foresee would be of great benefit, morale-wise, to our Union. The students from the stations, who had a vastly different culture from the Highlanders, would be able to act according to their own desires, and would not feel stifled by our regimented work. On the other side, Highlanders would also be satisfied that their culture would be maintained, meaning they would no longer need to jump through hoops and act differently with the other students.

The first option was too idealistic, and presented its own problems. With all due respect to Aoba, whom I consider at least a comrade, if not a friend, letting us continue on our present course with barely any change was akin to trying to stuff a bag right back into the vending machine. Even if you got the wrong thing, you'd already pressed the button, so the path of least resistance was to walk away crying and try again another time. Sooner or later, some form of conflict or resistance would rise, opening the way for even more divisions which our school could not shoulder for long.

The allotted hour wound down—we were five minutes to the end. The others were trying to make small talk. Frayed smiles, forced laughter, fulsome jokes—mostly from Atami and Hisoka.

"Everyone, I'd like to say a few words," I said, cutting the banter short. They all looked to me, their usual expressions on their faces. Aoba straightened, her face panicked as she put down her phone. The others cleared their throats and sat up straight in their seats. This much did the coup accomplish, if nothing else: our faces were free to make whatever expressions we wanted without the fear of antagonizing Akame. "Regardless of what may happen in the future, I should still like to say that it has been an honor to have spent our school life together. The battles we have fought, the struggles we went through—for all the bad things we endured, at least we are assured that it was never for nothing."

I paused, to take in their reactions. They all looked approving, nodding their heads, or grinning. Only Aoba looked serious for some reason, as if she wanted to say something. I leaned back, waiting to see if she would interject. When she said nothing, I concluded, "Well, that's all… I wished to say. Thank you for listening." They murmured their thanks.

I bit down on the choco-cigarette, as the final minute passed. Everyone's shoulders stiffened, their expressions tightening as they leaned forward to access their phones. I gave the surface of my phone a swipe, then my finger hovered above the button that would reveal the truth.

I pressed it.

The bars shot upward. The numbers showed the proof. The summary proclaimed the conclusion.

Save for twenty-one who voted for the third option, all of the students had voted for the union to continue. Kanon would remain united and proceed to the next station as they were.

I heard a bang, and I braced as a wave of noise erupted within the very room, smacking me like a wave of water. I didn't know why, but everyone had begun to erupt simultaneously into a thunderous riot. They pounded their fists on the table, they jumped repeatedly in the air, Sizuru even shot a round from her gun. I spotted the tears glimmering in the corners of their eyes.

All I could do was stare, abjectly surprised. None of them had ever really given an indication that they vastly preferred the first option. And even if they did, silently in their heads, that still didn't explain all this cheer. It was like their side in some sort of ball game championship had won, and now they were about to start a victorious riot in the streets.

"Everyone, please!" came Aoba's shout. "I—I have something to say!"

I looked at my fellow, whom I'd considered something of a confidant ever since I'd been reborn into this world. A smart and introverted lass, she was at least competent and dependable. I knew that she never really liked to speak on most times, preferring to do her duties well and on time.

Now, she had this look on her face that I had rarely seen. It was one that was filled with determination to go down on her knees in supplication to the old tyrant, begging for mercy, going against all logic, against her dignity, against her sense of self-preservation. In other words: beware the silent ones, who can leap into action that you never expect.

"I must propose, to everyone here, that… That henceforth!" She pointed right at me. "Tae Deguchi shall be acknowledged as our new President!"

"I second the proposal!" Sizuru said.

"All in favor?" Aoba asked, her voice ringing, her hand already in the air.

I looked around. I was the only one who didn't have a hand raised.

The chocolate cigarette fell from my lips.

The enormity of the sight was like someone had placed a weighted blanket on my shoulders. There was a scream in my soul, silent and unheard. I could almost feel the giant target being painted on my back, in real time.

The day had begun with a coup and had ended in my coronation.

It was just another day in Kivotos.

142 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

Kivotos was a frightening place to someone on their first rebirth.

Having lived as Tanya Deguracheff, even for a short while, I had been able to gather a bit of perspective, which I was fortunate to retain after my humiliation and banishment to this… strange reality.

Kivotos had a certain set of peculiarities that set it apart from my previous existences; and yet it was also rather familiar to my first turn at the wheel. From the atmosphere to the aesthetic—there were things my young mind naturally saw as familiar and comforting, even as the strange began to slowly intrude.

This was a world which I could describe as having tremendous "possibility". One could aspire to do almost anything here in Kivotos, if one had the brains and the gumption to accomplish it. In fact, I had the feeling that if the colleagues of my worst enemy had been responsible for willing this world to existence, its main purpose may be to facilitate the nurturing of a vast number of especially gifted human beings, for some purpose I cannot fathom.

Though I admit, that assumption is born more of my cynical awareness of the unfeeling capricious intelligences that called themselves gods more than some conscious realization. Having been made to stare beyond the curtain at the creature behind it, I could do nothing else but shudder and drop my tired head in resignation.

The first thing that I noticed, conscious of my first life, is the fact that normal humans are nonexistent. While there are an assorted number of beings such as mechanical robots and anthropomorphic animals who act very much as humans do, the more familiar shapes of humans are very clearly not. But one would ask, how could that be so, when one sees all the students out there on the streets right now?

Well, the thing is, when I first looked in my own reflection, I saw a halo floating above my head. And as far as I know, it's been there ever since.

Every other human here, most especially those belonging to the myriad schools which make up Kivotos, possessed these halos. Typically, it marked one as a "student", expected to grow up, learn, and take a role in the education system to learn some more.

And this education system in turn, was what lay at the center of Kivotos' great enormity.

A typical school in Kivotos had about a thousand students each, on average. Well and good.

There were thousands of such schools in Kivotos, and some of them had rosters greater than that. Trinity, one of the more prominent schools, was rumored to have close to a hundred thousand students. That was almost a small town to my knowledge, and this was only counting the students and not the various robotic and animal functionaries who helped keep things running.

Such a setup engendered a society that was drawn more along school lines, where loyalty to one's place of education was deemed an oath of citizenship in of itself. Of course the degree to which one expresses said loyalty varied. The only unifying cultural quirk among the haloed students of Kivotos was that school life was important, and that everything must be done to make it as comfortable as possible.

One must then be reminded of another strange factor that informs the lives of these students. The halos seemed to confer some form of superhuman strength and resilience onto each youth. Looks were very deceiving: a small waif could bench press a hundred pounds, and might even throw a punch that could cave in metal bars. On the other side, a student's body was very tough and resilient—enough that it could be considered bulletproof.

It was not invulnerability, not really. Take enough rounds to the face and it would knock someone out cold. Get caught in the blast of an explosion and you'd be bruised and injured—but you would still live.

That was the rub. Death wasn't a fact of life for most in the world. Death was known as something that can happen, but students with halos especially didn't fear such a thing. When one could survive the direct impact of an artillery round—it would knock you out for a day and it really hurt, I should know—it made it easy to simply ignore risks that ordinary humans of both my previous lives would fear.

It also warped the culture of Kivotos in a certain way. Being functionally bulletproof didn't mean guns were useless. Rather, the efficacy of guns made them very useful to prove a point. Venting bullets rapid-fire down range was giving your foes the business with extreme prejudice. Equally satisfying was lining up a high-powered shot from several hundred meters away. Or you could just unload an explosive right in the midst of unruly delinquents and delight in seeing them fly, knowing that you hadn't just committed murder by virtue of the halo.

You couldn't kill, and you couldn't be killed. This naturally led to the sort of frenetic, reckless chaos that defined everyday life in Kivotos.

Naturally there were limits to such things. Bullets weren't cheap then in my own world, and they weren't cheap here. You needed a proper supporting infrastructure to even get your daily stipend of ammunition, or the tools to maintain your personal gun. Only the schools could provide such—officially. So if one desired to wreak mayhem, one needed the support of a school.

Not all schools were created equal, however. Some schools could get by with creating their own industries, becoming self-sufficient in a way. Others had to rely on corporations to get their usual supplies. In either case, these were the basis of an economy, which threaded its way throughout the entirety of Kivotos.

All in all, I kind of liked it here. There was no formal government, other than that which were formed by necessity in all the schools. There was a central Student Council that was said to oversee everything in Kivotos, but as far as I saw they couldn't or didn't wield their authority as far as they could. That left each aspect of Kivotos' society free to do things as they pleased, and the churning of life would then be influenced by each individuals' actions, and influence them in turn.

If there was one thing that might be deserving of complaint, it was that the rule of law was practically nonexistent. Everything, from the protection of one's property, to the ersatz authority of various groups committed to keeping the peace, needed to be enforced at the point of a gun. It was a savage system, one that rewarded might and cunning, putting me in mind of those ancient American Westerns from the past, where law and justice needed to be bought through rigorous exertion of blood and sweat and the surety of iron.

This lay at the crux as to why I didn't envy Akame her job as president.

It was also why I now dreaded the imposition of her former role on myself.

After I had been voted in by the leader council, I forced through a referendum, asking the entire student body if they affirmed their decision. I'd initially wanted a full-blown election, but under the circumstances it was hard. I still wanted that layer of legitimacy, even just to dispute the council's decision; and maybe I could propose someone else take it up.

But I underestimated how easily the common people could be led on by their feelings, swept up by the euphoria of freedom. It was another landslide, almost unanimous approval that came up on the resulting poll—my own objection had been definitively crushed by the weight of numbers.

And so, it was now my responsibility to herd the Kanon Union, with its five-hundred or so students, towards a life of security and prosperity.

Failure didn't mean death, but it would be a colossal blow to one's pride. One's reputation never really went away in Kivotos, and my failure would be remembered for however long this world endured.

It was another day in Kivotos. I arrived promptly at Wakamatsu Station, where the Warpig was scheduled to start each day. I passed trendy stores and convenience shops, each about to open for the day, each manifestations of our mercantile arm. Yawning students from Sizuru's group took up their posts for their part in the shift. It was jarring how much they acted like professional soldiers from my previous life, with the only incongruity being their schoolgirl uniforms.

I boarded the train, issuing greetings to my fellows. It was hard not to, as everyone I met were shouting at me while appending my newfound position, "President! Good morning!" Obviously I couldn't just tell them my true feelings about it, so I waved and accepted it all with a plastic smile.

My footsteps naturally lead me to my office at Logistics. I hesitated outside the door—just yesterday I'd overseen the daily needs under the veil of the impending coup. Now I had to leave that behind, and appoint someone who could take my place. It had to be someone with a good head on their shoulders: managing the continuous operation of a train line and their associated stations was no joke.

Among the schools of Kivotos, Highlander Academy was something of an odd duck. They had train lines servicing all corners of Kivotos, which meant they were pretty well-entrenched into the city's economy. Each line, however, was an autonomous micro-state unto itself. While they shared the same education and core values as the rest of Highlander, they pretty much acted independently and answered to no one above them. Technically there was a regulatory board, but as with the General Student Council, they had no real authority.

Akame was a maverick of that ilk, who'd gotten delusions of grandeur as the operator of the Kanon line. And I had been unfortunate to have been part of her crew when she'd decided to execute her master-stroke. I'd honestly been shanghaied to become part of her little secession, and to this day I was still kind of pissed about the circumstances that had led to it.

Reputation was everything, and no matter how hard I'd tried to explain, my name was now associated with the Kanon Union which Akame had declared. Even were I to submit the school to them now, as the new president, my name would remain tainted. While Highlander's autonomous lines kept to themselves, they unilaterally had dim views of traitors. I could bear it if I came crawling back to them now, but could my students do the same? And how would they feel if their president had up and sold them out?

All the leaders from yesterday were there, ready for the morning meeting. As with the other students, they stood up and cheered me, which I accepted with a tight smile.

"Everyone, thank you for coming early. Have you eaten yet?" I'd already had breakfast, and it was a given that everyone else was going to eat on their own initiative at their houses, so this was just a courtesy. Bigger schools had dormitories and cafeterias, a luxury we were completely unable to afford. I was just fortunate that my apartment was rather close; I'd heard of students who had to bike for long miles to reach their schools every morning.

"Here, I brought donuts for everyone!" Atami said, raising a box, upon which was stamped a certain donut shop's insignia. "And coffee, too if you're interested." There was another box, a takeout from a famous coffee-making franchise.

I tried hard not to roll my eyes. Ever since she'd taken up the post as leader of general operations, I'd considered Atami something of a "suck-up", who was eager to please by appearing generous and thoughtful to her fellows. Naturally, I wouldn't discount a student's kindness just for the thought they had some hidden motive. I also couldn't discount that she was using her usual modus of going immediately on a charm offensive, only a day after we'd executed our coup.

"That is much appreciated Atami. If anyone wants to eat during the meeting, they may. I'll be brief at this time so we can continue forward with our day as if everything were normal." I sat down in my seat, while the others immediately scrambled for the donuts, one would have assumed they'd been starving till this point. But it seemed to be a given that the haloed girls of Kivotos were gluttons for anything sweet and delicious. I was one of the few exceptions of course.

Atami went the extra mile and brought me a cup of coffee without me even needing to ask; for which I nodded with gratitude.

"First off, I'd like to share a few personal words." I looked around at all of them. "I am honored that you should choose me as president. I also admit to being bewildered. I'd initially thought we would run this as more of a council of sorts."

"We thought about it," Mariya said, "But I think it makes far more sense for there to be a strong leader at the helm, Otae-san."

O-Tae-san… it was my nickname among the students of Kanon, given to me by Atami, which had been enthusiastically adopted by our old leader. Once, it had been "O-Tae-chan," until I'd moved on to second year.

"And out of all of us, you seemed the natural choice for the job," said Hisoka. "Sizuru's hopeless with administration, no one wants Atami or Aoba at the head, and Mariya…" I wanted to reach over and slap the grin from her face. She and everyone else had no idea how I felt about this.

"Um… Could we ask… Are you really okay about this, Otae-san?" Aoba asked. Oh, that was just unfair. Aoba had this look in her eyes that was almost like a beaten dog. The only thing missing was actual animal ears—a common thing to see on students by the way, very fascinating and strange. They could also have tails.

"I am truly flattered that you all have faith in my skills. I can only hope that I shall be able to perform well in accordance to each of your expectations. I will do my best in my capacity as president, and I'm sure all of you will do the same. Rest assured, I don't want the title of 'tyrant' to be placed upon me."

Everyone laughed at that joke. For some reason, even Hisoka looked smug. Aoba smiled, looking relieved.

I cleared my throat. "… Let's move on." There were a lot more things I wanted to tell my co-conspirators, but that would be counter-productive at this point. Sometimes, one had to keep on rolling in order to maneuver from a drop.

"It's still early days, but I'm reasonably sure that the ousting of our former leader will have no real disruptions on our daily operations. Is that impression correct, or does anyone have anything to comment?" I looked around.

"Will there be any forthcoming changes?" Mariya asked. "I believe we're all still in a state of uncertainty, regarding any plans you might be making, President."

"President". I was already starting to hate the word. Still, she brought up a good point. I wasn't looking to rock the boat, not now, but there were certain kinks and peeve points that I thought could be improved or changed. "I'm still making my considerations. You may rest assured that if there are indeed any changes, I shall be consulting you, the council, and I shall also be using our MomoTalk group to coordinate getting feedback from the student body."

Everyone murmured their approval. "In that case," Sizuru said, "Then so far I can predict that my own shifts and that of my girls will remain unaffected by the leadership change."

"Mine as well," Atami said.

"Yep, yep, no change here," said Hisoka, grinning.

"I should like to discuss certain aspects of our policies in the future," Mariya said. "But these are early days, and I agree that we must stabilize first."

"Um…! I also don't think there'll be problems," Aoba said, finishing off.

"Hm. Very good. By far the biggest change I will need to make is to appoint someone to replace me on Logistics." I nodded at them.

"Who'll it be?" asked Sizuru.

I glanced at Aoba, who didn't blink. "I haven't decided yet. But it'll be soon." I tapped my pen on the table. "Next is an issue that affects our school as a whole. In the past we've all made our feelings clear on the matter, even when we were under her. But now that we're under a new paradigm, I feel that it is right and proper to ask again."

I placed my palms flat on the table, and stared out at them sternly. "Shall we agree to rejoin Highlander Academy? Or if not, shall we allow ourselves to be subordinated by the academies bigger than us, such as Trinity General?"

Their answer, as expected, was a resounding "No!"

They each leaped up to make their respective points, as if I'd initiated some sort of debate. Sizuru said, "I'll be damned if I have to study under Highlander again! If there was one thing that damned tyrant did right, it was to get us free from the standardization protocols! Now I can equip my girls with whatever tools and weapons they need!"

"It goes without saying that we all went along with becoming pariahs in Highlander's eyes, and we can't just bow our heads after wards and meekly crawl back to them, after everything we've done!" Hisoka said. "That would make us look incredibly foolish, like we were just on a delinquent lark!"

"While we of Otsuka are no strangers to joining up with stronger schools, I too would have reservations of the Warpig rejoining Highlander," said Atami. "I do not think we would be received kindly by the Academy, and many of the girls would find it hard to adjust to life in a bigger academy." I made note of the fact that she had only objected to Highlander, and not to any other school. Something to remember.

"Frankly, I don't have any reservations, as a principle, to our rejoining Highlander, or taking up with someone else," Mariya said. "I will, however, be going along with the majority. My group is small, and we really can't make a difference in having our voices heard. So long as we're left to our duties, we'll accept anything." A neutral response to the question was unsurprising coming from Mariya, who seemed to prize the solitude of her position.

"I for one am opposed to rejoining Highlander," Aoba said. "She squeezed her gloves tight we could all hear the material squeaking. I could tell her shoulders were trembling. "To be forced to work with those ungrateful, unreliable, unqualified…! Just thinking about it makes me angry, sorry to say. Kuh…! I don't even want to remember it... W-We can't return to that den of incompetence, President. Please."

I leaned back, nodding my head. I let the silence dwell for a few moments. "It looks like we're almost all in agreement to shun Highlander, just like the tyrant once did. It's good. Now I can face their messages without reservation. That said, I didn't really hear anything about our submission to some other school, like Gehenna or Millennium. Atami is reserved; Mariya's okay with it. What about the rest of you?"

"We've survived well being on our own so far," said Sizuru, twirling her revolver lazily by a single finger. Such a heavy-looking armament seemed incredibly light, like a children's toy, when wielded by the strength of a haloed girl. "And I don't see the need for us to change that."

Hisoka slammed the table. "We don't need the meddling of Trinity, or Gehenna, or anyone else! We rule ourselves, for ourselves! If ever they come knocking, President, you should tell them to go screw themselves! The Kanon track is for Kanon lives!"

"As for myself…" Aoba hesitated. "I trust in your judgment, Otae-san. I'll follow your lead."

I sighed. "Well then, it seems we have a consensus, or close to one anyway. For myself, I don't wish for us to rejoin Highlander, nor to submit ourselves to any other school. That said, I will be open to considering other options which would be important for us as a whole."

Hisoka gasped. "You're not thinking of finding some school to join…!"

I raised a hand. "No, I didn't say that exactly. I just meant that I would be open to hearing offers if they will be made. And I repeat, whatever offer we get, I will never make any decision without first consulting you, the council, or the entire student body. This I promise."

Hisoka's eyes narrowed, and for some reason there was a small grin on her face. When she didn't say anything more, I then nodded. "Well, that's it for me this morning. This has all been very illuminating, and I look forward to even more of our meetings. For now, we must all return to our normal duties. Have a good day everyone, and do not hesitate to consult me by whatever means. Aoba-san, please stay behind."

The others shuffled off the carriage, leaving behind Aoba who walked up to the desk. She cocked her head curiously. "What is it, Otae-san?"

"I'd like to speak with regards to our previous discussion." When she still stared blankly at me, I continued, "… It's about you taking over the Logistics Division."

Her brows rose. "Oh. Oh!" Her eyes blinked rapidly. "I… Well, this is rather unexpected, I confess…"

I shrugged to myself. "I know how that feels. So, are you still set on that? I could settle it now, have you officially transferred to become head of my department. On this very day even; the work doesn't stop even when I've been 'promoted'. If you accept, there's the door behind you leading to my office, where I'm sure there's a bunch of paperwork waiting."

I'd known Utsumi Aoba perhaps the longest out of everyone in Akame's rebellious state. Formerly a part of Highlander's logistical arm, her presence during the initial uprising had seen her catapulted from a small-time engineer to the head of Kanon's entire department. She was one of the few people I knew in this world who were agreeable enough in demeanor and attitude, competent in her assigned duties. She was a kindred spirit in a way, and we occasionally united in our roles as heads of our respective departments to solve some administrative problem that the meatheads like our former leader or the other heads didn't appreciate.

Once, I'd talked to her of how I wanted her to be my direct subordinate, by convincing our former leader to transfer her. Rather than be insulted at such a demotion, she was intrigued, confessing that she didn't really like to lead herself, and that she much preferred following orders. Plus, I could tell she was more enamored with the task of petty logistics than with mucking about with the engines and such. She always complained of it being a thankless, dangerous job, and suffered immense pressure from being the leader.

Admittedly, I felt a little miffed at that. I didn't much relish the torch of leadership myself, but yesterday she'd done that to me by thrusting me right into the role of President. Then again, it was clear that this was a secret conspiracy by the others that was hidden from even myself, as the others had been quick to accept the nomination without debate.

"I'd be honored to accept!" Aoba said. "And regarding my replacement, I can give you their name now. She's much better with machines than me."

I nodded. "Take your time with making the announcement, I'll be issuing the memo to my own soon. And Aoba-san, congratulations." It wasn't really a promotion, but it had been her desire, in a way, and I was keen on rewarding such aspirations now that I could do it. I stood up and shook her hand.

"Thank you, Otae-san!" Aoba said brightly. "Now I can take off these overalls for something smoother and softer! Um… I better go now! The day's waiting!"

After seeing her off, I leaned back in the chair and sighed. Well, that was one item on the list crossed out. Only a hundred more to go. I groaned inwardly, though I did appreciate the quiet left to me in that moment.

I took a sip of Atami's brew, and felt sweet, hot nectar warming my body. "Mm… That's good. That's some damned good coffee." I wanted to make a note to look this up—good brewed coffee was a rarity one needed to seek. I wonder if the Eat or Die blogger had mentioned this? I'll need to look it up later, when I get some free time.

I smacked my lips and stretched my arms. The day was starting, and I was certain someone was about to be contacting me this instant. The news was sure to have spread, and my number was free for anyone to look up online. Everyone in Kivotos would have known that the tyrant was out, and that I was now seated at in her place.

The MomoTalk app on my phone beeped.

Here we go. I stretched my arms and accepted the call.

"Yes? Yes, I am indeed Tae Deguchi, Appointed President of Kanon Consolidated Railway and Stations, otherwise known as the Kanon Union. How might I help you, Highlander Academy?"

141 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

Author: I admit, this chapter kind of got away from me, such that I needed to split this in two. Second part should be coming soonish.

The Makidera Line was one of many major railway lines running straight through the Academy City. It was noted for being one of the only lines that somehow jutted into the territories of what would become Millenium Science School, and the thousands of schools that amalgamated into Trinity General and Gehenna Academy, covering many hundreds of miles. It was therefore one of the few ways that one could ride express from one district to the next, and in terms of freight logistics there was no other competitor. I had even heard apocryphal tales of Highlander leveraging its neutrality in the past to do gun-running and smuggling jobs during some major war or another.

The Makidera Line was then renamed to the Kanon line after a certain Chief Kanon who managed to lead Highlander to some great victory over an "Emperor" in the past, whoever that was. A certain famous armistice was also signed in one of the carriages on this very Line, though the carriage itself was in a museum at Highlander Central Station.

As an aside, the notion of some young girl becoming an Emperor was certainly frightening to even contemplate, and I couldn't really picture it in my head. I imagined serious, earnest Aoba wearing an Imperial sort of garb, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

The Kanon line was therefore vital to Highlander, as it managed to service three of the most prominent schools in Kivotos at the same time. There were other lines leading to, through and between two districts, but Kanon was the only one that went through three. Many were aware of this fact, and it served as vital a thoroughfare as a natural river might in another world; able to provide numerous benefits of both strategic and non-strategic nature.

Needless to say, suddenly losing this line to our former leader's rebellion changed up things a lot. Highlander was pissed at how Akame had so brazenly declared her independence; even more that she'd managed to succeed. Highlander's fractious nature worked against it, as no one unifying stratagem could manage to dislodge Akame from her perch. I still recalled all those weeks of brutal urban assaults launched on our train, when the students still believed in the tyrant's vision and were willing to sleep less nights defending their own. The only thing holding the Highlander forces back was their utter reluctance to damage both the train and the railway line using heavier armaments, which helped to stave off disaster.

I was also fully aware that the other schools, particularly those three I'd mentioned, had then stepped in and placed silent pressure on Highlander to back off. I'd been there in Akame's office when she laughed at how Highlander could do nothing but accept the state of affairs for the moment after their ultimatums had been given.

It suited those three schools for Highlander to lose a vital part of their territory. And of course, a school much diminished and isolated was easier to influence, maybe even dominate. That was simple geopolitics.

I'd been privy to the diplomatic messages we received over multiple months, all of them from various schools including the Three, enticing us to join them fully. Of these, only the petitions for protection from the former station schools had made the tyrant budge, though admittedly it was easy to see how they'd helped us immensely with logistical needs after being annexed. Otsuka Station in particular had a large area to house our rolling stock, a warehouse of theirs we'd immediately turned into a train depot.

Akame had been playing coy with all those offers, and focused more on leveraging our position for favorable trade arrangements and duties. It was thanks to her vision and our efforts that the Union managed to stay afloat through our participation in various lucrative, if brutally tiring contracts, though I was aware our finances remained a very close thing.

Now, I was supposed to try my best not to fuck it up. Hearing there was new management would encourage the offers to return, perhaps with greater incentives—and also bigger threats. I had, however, a duty to adhere to the wishes of my council, who demanded a preservation of our independence. Therefore negotiations and pacts would have to proceed from that precarious premise.

The park I'd chosen was a good meeting place. It was in neutral territory—belonging to none of the participants I'd invited to meet. It was wide open, with just enough student traffic to make sure our upcoming business could be done in relative anonymity, though I was aware that in Kivotos that was never a guarantee. Being so flat and open, there were just as many routes and opportunities to make a quick exit as there were a sudden attack.

Not that I really expected trouble to come knocking. When one invited representatives from the three prime schools in all of Kivotos to a public sitdown, I was reasonably sure that they would be making their own arrangements to ensure the safety of their emissaries. I could see that so many overlapping interests could result in havoc; but it also meant external forces were a non-factor, or so I would hope.

When I relayed my plan to the council, they were all flabbergasted. It was on the second day, after I'd firmly rejected Highlander's demand for us to return.

"President Otae-san, you can't be serious!" they'd tell me. Aoba's frantic face was a representative of their feelings.

Indeed, who would ever have the brashness to demand that the three schools send people over for a face-to-face? The reality of the sheer gulf separating our school to theirs was humbling, and I would be mad to even attempt it.

But I knew audacity was a superpower all on its own. And a blitz appeal was exactly the sort of thing that I knew these three would not expect. They expected me to set appointments, in private, where we could hash things out. Or even just send an email or a MomoTalk if an actual discussion wasn't needed. I was doing the opposite: dragging them out, and furthermore bringing their rivals to the same table.

It was a very big risk, a large calculated risk, and I only hoped my math was good enough.

As I explained to Aoba and the others, we needed to do this show of force if we were to guarantee our independence. If we weren't allowing ourselves to be courted by any one school, then we needed to make sure we were strong enough to survive on our own. Or at least make an appearance of such.

Adding to that, we also needed to show our friendliness to them, because the reality of the matter was that we did, in a way, rely on their silent patronage; as we were a minor power of middling influence and resources. They needed to be impressed enough to humor our pretensions of independence; while also making it clear that the other two big schools would also not benefit more than them. I had in mind a nation from my distant past: a mountain nation sandwiched between three Great Powers, long known for its neutrality. If our little patch of railway could accomplish something similar—well, I would be satisfied.

This particular park, owing to its role as a major thoroughfare for wandering students, had plenty of stalls serving food and drink. From a distance, I eyed the meeting location, and turned my gaze to the side, taking in all I could see. To the average Kivotos citizen, there were enough warning signs that raised red flags in the minds of the vigilant.

First, there were the helicopters. Now, helicopters were a common thing to see in Kivotos, flying around the air at all times of the day. Many people and schools owned them, fulfilling an important utility as aerial reconnaissance and overwatch. The tyrant had wanted our school to own at least one, and I would also have appreciated some helicopter support during all the bullshit missions I'd needed to do.

There were a whole bunch of helicopters now buzzing overhead, more than enough to make one would think there was was a major operation going on. They were keeping their distance, following a flight path that didn't make it too obvious they were watching the promenade—but they very likely were. I could see a couple of students' heads looking up with frowns, outsiders realizing something was fishy.

Then there were the remote drones. A whole bunch of them were also flying overhead, filling the aerial space beneath their bigger cousins. One of course never expected a murder of drones in the sky, unless some enthusiast club was celebrating something, or there was a major concert. They were considered a frivolous expense for the average student, and so there was really only one school who could afford to throw these around in bulk, with designs so sophisticated it might have intrigued the humans of my first life. A murder of drones almost always meant Millennium was out in force.

Third, were the armored vehicles. Armored cars, tanks, artillery were sitting innocuously all around the park, with students chatting on top of them or near them like they'd just driven their bikes to a park for a pleasant talk. It had turned the whole place into some sort of outdoor museum dedicated to army vehicles. Obviously, no one brought such ordnance except to make a definite point, as those things were expensive to deploy. That was a big fact in Kivotos: once you noticed the tanks and APCs arriving in droves around you, you knew to get out of dodge unless you wanted in on the upcoming action.

Lastly, there were the students themselves. I was pretty sure that no one could give me an explanation for why—on this particular time on this particular day—several types of students from those three schools were all mysteriously here in great numbers, for no discernible reason. Someone might call me biased because I see horned students and students with wings and instantly think: "those fellows are likely from Trinity or Gehenna".

Well of course that's a clue, but they're also wearing their damned uniforms! By this point, one could easily spot a Millennium, a Gehenna, or a Trinity uniform even from a thousand yards away. They were so distinct, and each of the students wore those with pride. To conclude then, there was really no other reason for students from those schools to be present, in great numbers too.

I'd like to say I was flattered, but it was obvious that this was no mere flex from the big three. It was a message to me, and to every one else I'd invited—they'd come here on what they thought to be important business, which meant that there'd be no mucking about.

I turned my eyes and sighed, as I continued walking along with Aoba. Naturally, I wouldn't be going to the meeting without protection of my own—I was the President of an entire school. Sizuru had set up her own perimeter around the park, and there were "plainclothes" members of her division on the lookout, blending in with the crowd. I was sure they were walking right beside the security details of the other schools.

Aoba had insisted on coming, even when it was unnecessary with Sizuru and her girls present. But she wanted to tag along as a sort of bodyguard and assistant, which would allow Sizuru to act as a more general operations control watching everything from a bird's eye view. The plan then, was for Aoba be a sort of secretary/bodyguard, a task which she seemed keen on doing, for some reason.

I walked up to a stall and ordered something. Aoba went over to purchase a yakisoba bun.

"Of all the things to buy, you went for that?" I asked, half-jokingly, when we had our food in hand. "You know this is an official operation, so it's all on the school's dime."

"You get used to chugging finger food, especially in long stretches of hours needing to fix something," she replied, with a shrug. "And I still like the taste, even if I'm out of that pit. Besides, you also ordered shaved ice, Otae-san."

I looked down at the flavored ice I'd bought, dipped in a light red color. It was small, not too sweet, and more importantly, very cheap. I had said that the girls participating the operation were free to buy food for themselves using the school's money, but I wasn't following my own advice. I didn't mind a little austerity, and I wasn't really hungry anyway. Not that I would tell Aoba that.

Besides, I knew I'd be needing to spend a lot more of the school's money in a few minutes.

"That was strange though…" Aoba was saying.

"What was?" I said, my eyes scanning the crowd.

"I passed by a stall, and I could swear there were explosives attached to the stools and such."

"… Did you say anything?" I asked.

"… No." She muttered something about the time.

I nodded. "Good choice. Let's try not to interfere in the business of other people, especially businessmen with a plan."

I'd seen those explosives inexplicably lying around in certain shops myself. At first I questioned it, but when I paired it with what I knew of this world, I reached the conclusion that this was part of some sort of insurance fraud scheme. Was it criminal? In my mind, yes it was. But it wasn't my place to be doling out justice, or making some sort of complaint, to an authority that was practically nonexistent. That was a fight that the insurance companies had to make for themselves, and I wished them well with that.

"Hm? What exactly does that mean, Otae-san?"

I smiled and waved dismissively. "We should respect the hustle, if nothing else. Anything goes in Kivotos after all." I glanced at my phone's digital clock.

"It's time. I'm guessing they're already here," I told Aoba.

"I've confirmed the details with Sizuru-san," Aoba said, looking at her phone. "They're all in position."

"Alright then," I said, rechecking the time on my phone. "Time to do this."

"Are you feeling ready, Otae-san?"

"Sure, I am," I said, with a grin I really didn't feel. "Be back soon."

As I walked forward, I hoped I hadn't shown much of the anxiety I was feeling, bubbling up inside my stomach. I had many misgivings about all this, despite the fact that I had ultimately chosen to begin this audacious move.

Who was I, to be even sending that sort of invitation to those three schools? How arrogant could I be, to think that our piddling school had the means to be sitting at the same table as them?

It was like a small start-up company asserting themselves against three giant tech companies regarding something that was ultimately irrelevant. Well, yes, perhaps I was the patent holder for a brand new process that optimized some technical thing, which I would be willing to license to them. But if they were to really flex their arms, they could simply just buy me out completely, or tear my company apart to force my capitulation.

In this current scenario, we would be crushed if any of them attempted to annex us by force. Each of them could just send legions of students to capture our stations, leaving us completely at the mercy of someone who could blockade our train—or just destroy the track.

I was tempted, sorely tempted, to just turn back and abort everything. I could summon up a whole bunch of reasons why, and I was sure people would believe me. After all, I'd only been wasting time. But something in me stubbornly refused to go back on my words. Perhaps it was some vestige of Tanya, or the one before? No, wait, that didn't make sense, I wasn't that type of person.

Argh, damn it all, here goes nothing!

I strolled forward, carrying my shaved ice with one hand, the other free to hover at my waist, ready to pull out my side-arm if bullets started raining everywhere. I approached the table I'd designated. By sheer coincidence, a group of students had been sitting there, and by another instance of sheer coincidence they got up and left as I approached. I silently thanked the Kanon students for their service, as I settled onto the tiled seat, careful and unhurried.

I placed the shaved ice on the table and looked up and straight. My face wanted to shiver and melt, but I bit my tongue as I waited. I tried not to fidget—damn it this bench's surface is hard on the buttocks! I should've chosen someplace better but there was no time—

As if on cue, several students approached from different directions. I gave them this: I would never have known they were the representatives had they not shown themselves. They had blended easily with the crowd.

I counted three… four? Four students were making their way towards my table. Conscious of their gazes, and of everyone else in that park, I interlaced my fingers and faced them fully, ready to receive them.

There was a girl in Millennium clothing, from the left. She looked a bit flushed and harried, her gaze mildly hostile as if she were blaming me for something. "Nice to meet you. Hayase Yuuka, treasurer of Millennium's student council."

Next to her was a giant of a girl, relative to my own size, garbed in a black Trinity uniform. It was hard not to stare at her… enormity, from her long, black hair to the great wings sprouting from her back, each in black. "Good day. Hanekawa Hasumi—vice-chair, of the Justice Task Force of Trinity. I hope our discussion is fruitful."

From the right were a curious pair. One was a bespectacled girl, looking rather plain with a distinct red armband around her arm. Her gaze was strict and steady as she bowed slightly. "Good morning. My name is Hinomiya Chinatsu, member of Gehenna Academy's Prefect Team, and representing its interests."

From the right was a horned girl in a long, black coat, which she wore more like a cape that slung over her shoulders. She tipped her hat at me and said, "Motomiya Chiaki, at your service! Secretary of the glorious Pandemonium Society of Gehenna and all that. I'm not here as a representative."

"… Pardon?" I asked, with a blink.

"No, no, our leader would prefer to leave something like this to the Prefects," she said, her smile bright as she pointed at the bespectacled girl beside her, whose eyes narrowed. "And they just sent me to take note of things, y'know, have a look at you. Aaand now I've done it. So I'm gonna go now. Nice to meet you! Oh, and say cheese, Miss Dragon!"

"Miss what?" I asked, as she revealed an old-style camera from somewhere in her coat, and before I could blink, flashed a picture that turned everything white.

As my irises adjusted, she said, with a goodbye wave, "Thanks for this~ Good luck with whatever business this is! And feel free to come see us at Gehenna, if it pleases you~" She went off, skipping down the street. I noted several groups of dark-clad Gehenna students moving to escort her.

And then, there were the four of us left, each staring at each other with mild bewilderment at what had just happened.

In the meantime, I was trying not to have a panic episode.

A member of Millennium's student council.

Vice-chair of the JTF, an infamous group representing Trinity's vast interests.

A member of Gehenna's disciplinary committee, feared all across Kivotos.

What the hell were they doing meeting with me? I'd thought they would send minor functionaries, not the goddamn cavalry! It was like requesting a meeting with the sales department of another company, only for an actual board member to come walking into the conference room!

Well, nothing for it but to fly.

I laughed nervously, to break up the awkward silence. "Well, looks like your schools brought out the big guns."

138 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

Author's Note: I really wanted this to be one whole segment, but it seemed too large, so I'm splitting it in two, effectively splitting everything into three. Last part will come soonish, don't worry!

PoV: Other

Millennium Science School

"President, I do understand why we need to listen to what Deguchi wants," Yuuka said. She pointed at herself. "But why on earth does it have to be me?"

As both of them were occupied, this was not a face-to-face conversation with the President of Millennium, but one done through a holographic intermediary.

"You've seen the portfolio, have you not?" came the cool voice of Rio from wherever it was she was working.

"It reads like the entry to some great UMA (unidentified mysterious animal). Are we sure our intelligence ops hadn't mixed in some wild rumors to go with the facts?" asked Yuuka.

"I have confirmed it myself through my own sources, and I have determined that there is only a 5% chance of the data being outright fabrications."

"Of course you have," Yuuka said with a sigh. "About the only thing I do believe is that incident regarding the destruction of the Series B 'Trojan' prototype. I headed the entire investigation of that mess, after all."

A few months ago, there had been a secret project undertaken by Millennium that would use highly sophisticated nano-machines, that were to be bred to infiltrate through entirely microscopic means, and then act as audio and video recorders. Such machines could infiltrate the other academies of Kivotos without ever being detected. The success of such a project would have meant that Millennium would gain unparalleled access to information from all over Kivotos.

Unfortunately for them, the nano-machines were still in their "infancy" and required a period of crypto-incubation in specialized machines. The machinery was so complex, and the need for secrecy was paramount, that only one copy of the machines had ever been made. Yuuka herself hadn't even known until it had been over.

On a certain night, someone had scaled a building from a neighboring district, some five miles away. From that enormous distance, a high-powered round had been shot, piercing through the industrial lab's high-spec fiberglass supposed to be proof against most conventional firepower. The bullet hit the incubation machines at the right place, causing an internal detonation that destroyed the prototype, and much of the room it had been in.

There had been an immediate inquiry, as the project had been supposed to be top secret, unknown to even most members of Seminar. C and C and Veritas had independently uncovered the trail of a leak from students who had been compromised by elements from Trinity, who must have been aware of the project. But who had fired the shot?

It was only fortunate that even without the nanomachines, Millennium still had the means to adequately surveil most of Kivotos. And they had identified the shooter, who had been revealed to be the so-called "Dragon of Kurogane", Tae Deguchi.

The recording had shown Deguchi, clad in all-black tactical wear, enter the skyscraper at night, then emerge out onto the roof. A drone had seen her unload, set up and shoot from her gun at the exact time when the prototype had been hit. Apparently, this had been done as a sort of mercenarial contract. Tapping the MomoLine communications had traced Deguchi's subsequent confirmation of the job's completion to the (former) leader, Kurogane Akame, and then to a series of middlemen and handlers. It had all terminated at a contact suggesting a link to either Trinity's Sisterhood, or a Gehenna club called the "Hot Springs Department", or even both, where the trail ran cold.

For the moment, Rio had commanded all traces of the project to be scrubbed, and for Yuuka to head a sweep to plug up other potential leaks. That Gehenna and Trinity had been made aware of their project made Millennium a bit warier to repeat the process.

And as to the matter of Deguchi, Millennium also compiled a dossier on her, as with all other elements deemed "dangerous" to Millennium. It uncovered a whole bunch of information about her confirmed participation in various other mercenarial activities, each with their own nigh-impossible feats. But really, that sniper shot from five miles was, for Millennium, the biggest headscratcher. None of the simulations created subsequently could explain how such a feat was possible.

Such feats had earned her the name of the "Dragon of Kurogane", as she was working under the Kanon Union's President. A whole lot of danger in a small package.

Now, with Kurogane having been given the boot, Millennium was understandably curious about how this overly competent solo operative would act as the Kanon line's new leader.

"… We need to ensure that Miss Deguchi knows that Millennium takes her seriously, for both our own image and to appease her ego. I have determined that there is a 65% chance that she will be mollified by promises of aid and protection, obviously within reason. And as such, I have also determined that you are most suited to be interfacing with this unstable element, considering your personality."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Yuuka snarled, a fist raised.

Rio's hologram didn't blink. "My apologies. I should clarify that most of my models have determined that Miss Deguchi would respond more favorably to a person of a disposition trending towards sincerity, empathy and benevolence."

"O-oh, that's what you mean… I certainly am that, I guess…"

"In addition, your approachable personality will be of a great boon should some form of negotiation come to pass. It will be vital should Miss Deguchi decide to press on some matters, but there is a hefty seventy-percent chance that she won't."

Yuuka rubbed her forehead. "But President, I'm sure there are lots of other students who possess a personality similar to mine. Why send a member of the student council? I mean, isn't it too much for a small meeting?"

"It will show Miss Deguchi that we of Millennium are not taking her lightly. Sending a lower-ranked student will only quickly signal that we do not deem her of significance; when it is precisely the opposite. When she has become such an anomalous factor all by herself, her gaining the control of an entire school elevates her threat level beyond many of the applicable thresholds. On the other hand, sending a full diplomatic contingent would be too much as well. We must remind her and her people of Millennium's superior position, even if we don't say it directly to her face."

"Sheesh… this two-face, underhanded, double-dealing isn't what I'm really about… Noa would be better..." Yuuka mumbled to herself. "But I'll do it, I guess."

"Also, please do not say it directly to her face."

She stared for a long moment. "What?"

"… Apologies. I was appending that statement to my previous statement. That is to say: do not explicitly remind her of our superior position. I… had thought it needed to be said—that you should not say… it." For a brief moment, Yuuka thought her President's voice had become somewhat embarrassed.

Trinity General School

Koharu was sorely tempted to do it, but these were her senpais.

They were flagrantly flouting the stated protocols when a deployment was in place. Didn't they realize they were in a combat situation, and that discipline needed to be maintained?

Obviously, if they hadn't been mustered by the chief it would be fine to relax and play hooky. Telling them off, however, would also not be her place. She was only a first-year, a newbie to the Justice Task Force, and the one thing that Ichika-nee always advised was to respect the pecking order, for the sake of troop harmony.

She gripped her weapon tight and tried not to think of anything else. Her fingers itched to grab and investigate another parcel of confiscated material. The first ones she'd read had been quite scandalous, as expected of this new, mysterious high school environment. More investigation had to be done.

As she stood there as only a model Trinity soldier must, she overheard the whispered talk of her fellows, whose words couldn't help but filter in to her sensitive ears. Damn her curiosity, but it wasn't really her fault! Her ears seemed to naturally pick up on even the slightest of noises.

"… It's really going to be her, isn't it?" Senpai A asked.

"Yep. The 'Silverwing'," said Senpai B. "The girl who held off an entire deployment of the Sisterhood for an hour."

"I looked up her photo, what's so silver about her?" Senpai C asked. "That pipsqueak terror's got blonde hair, almost like sand, ugh. Eyes also aren't silver. And she doesn't even have wings!"

"Well, I've heard it said that it was the Sisterhood who named her, after their battle."

"What was this battle again? When was it?" asked Senpai C.

"It was in one of the abandoned cathedrals, at the border of the district. Seemed like she was working with Gehenna—" said Senpai B, who was then interrupted by C.

"Gehenna? But isn't she part of that small school… Kanon something?"

"If you would let me finish, and stop interrupting." There was the sound of something elastic hitting skin.

"Ow, ow, ow, my cheek! Please let go… Sorry!"

"...As I was saying," B continued, "Gehenna seemed to have hired the Kanon Union as a sort of mercenary or something. Rather daft decision, if you ask me, but I suppose the poorer schools need it. So there was this old, destroyed cathedral, and the ruins had made it a virtual maze inside, very dark, no electricity, no lights, like a tomb. Now, they were content to just leave it aside to focus on the Gehenna assault on other areas, but the Sisterhood was adamant that no one occupied the cathedral at all."

"Our fellows are skilled, but they can be kind of stubborn, huh?" said C.

"Sssh… Don't you know they have ears everywhere?" Senpai said, with a hissing voice.

B continued, "So they sent a contingent of Sisters to flush out the enemy. Only, it was the Silverwing there, Tae Deguchi. And for a whole hour, that group of sisters failed to dislodge the little terror. She gave them the runaround, forcing them to run into traps, forcing them to hit their own people just to try to hit her. But she was moving so damned fast.

"And get this… there were these large, stone pillars still standing right? Well, we got video recording of Deguchi just flying around near the pillars, like some sort of snake or lizard. She'd suddenly appear from behind one, shoot, then start flying up before they could retaliate. They'd surround the pillar, and what do you know, she's over on the next pillar, already lining up her next barrage.

"How could she do that? Rope? Wait, she doesn't have wings, right?"

"No, and no. There was no rope. But she was wearing some sort of battle harness, so there might have been some secret tech there. And I think it's a reasonable assumption that—"

"Oh, I know, I know!"

Squeeze.

"Arwashgnrnrsayitshazmlenmmmm…"

"Hm~?"

"Ow! Sorry! Again!"

"What were you saying?" A asked.

C sighed. "I was gonna say it was Millennium who gave her the tech."

"That's the most likely explanation. Suffice to say that with that work, and with her capabilities, she's become a sort of high-value target for the JTF, and the Sisterhood. Especially the Sisterhood, who's never forgiven her for forcing them to blow up half the cathedral. But since we know she's backed by Millennium, and has links with Gehenna, we can't really go bounty hunting for her, or have Valkyrie pick her up. She's just… a student of interest. Extreme interest."

"And that's who Hasumi-san is meeting today? Chills."

Another senpai marched past, who had silver hair with a single wing attached, wearing the garb of the independent Vigilantes. She turned to the gossiping fellows and glared, causing them to straighten and shut their mouths.

Koharu sighed with relief, and wanted to share a grateful look towards that senpai, but she had already walked away.

Gehenna Academy

The video feed was dark and unclear, owing to the low light during its recording. Yet Chinatsu could nonetheless see the outline of a person walking, moving through the darkness in a readied stance, rifle steady and raised, steps careful and meticulous.

How could the people in the foreground not see it? He could see her fellow school-mates, belonging to another club, looking seriously towards the camera, hands on the triggers of their guns, scowls on their faces, and yet they didn't sense the shadow walking towards them.

It didn't take long for this predator to strike. Tap. Tap. Twin bursts of light presaged a bullet to the backs of their head. Their haloes faded as they were knocked unconscious. A third star bloomed before static replaced the image—a sign that this shadow had shot the camera.

"So… is this really Tae Deguchi?" Chinatsu asked.

"Uhuh." Her fellow in the Prefect Club, Iori, was cleaning her gun, while keeping a side eye at the footage. "All the video feeds that were interrupted show no actual methods for identifying her. But she made one big slip-up. On a particular feed—I think it's camera VX-22, the one on the third floor—residual light in the environment was able to illuminate her gun for a brief second. It had markings which were definitively cross-checked to the ones used by the Bloody Storm during the Altana skirmishes a few months back. Combined with the build, and the size estimation from the feed, it's a pretty close match with her."

"Is that some sort of stealth suit?" When she saw the wall suddenly come to life, where there had been nothing and nobody a mere second ago, Chinatsu literally felt a chill run down her back.

"Unknown at this point, especially with just the recording. We have the usual suspects in Millennium, who always seems to want to budge into our business. But we can't rule out that Trinity has tricks of their own, and sponsoring some mercenary for a bit of wetwork isn't too far from their usual game."

"Huh…" She had switched over to other feeds, where the same black shadow had moved like, like an actual shadow, virtually unseen to the group of Gehenna students who'd been guarding the secret depot. These were veterans, even: third years of their chairman's generation who had accumulated an experience of a thousand battles on average. If this was indeed Deguchi…

"… Why is she named the 'Bloody Storm' though?"

Iori grinned. "Because apparently, in all the battles she's been, Deguchi's been described as this stone-cold mother while a rain of blood and bullets surrounds her. She's like the eye of the storm, calm and tense, while she leaves behind a trail of destruction. It's kind of like facing down the chairman; but as far as I know they've never had a reason to clash. Though I'm still placing my bets on the chairman." She held up the gun to the light, and blew lightly on the surface.

"Anyway, why are you even looking the girl up? She related to this mission you've been given?"

"I'm to meet her," Chinatsu said faintly, trying not to think of an existence considered an equal to Hina-senpai talking to her as an enemy. "For some sort of outdoor sitdown."

"What? What for?" Iori asked.

"Haven't you heard?" Chinatsu said, looking puzzled at her fellow. "She's the President of the Kanon Union now. Ousted the former president Kurogane and everything. Hina-senpai's been sent an invitation for Gehenna to come meet."

"What? First time I've heard of it," Iori said, clearly in shock. "The Bloody Storm's in charge of the train I take to school? Damn, that sounds kind of dire." She slapped Chinatsu's shoulder. "I'll pray for you, don't you worry."

"Don't make it sound like I'm going to my death!"

"Chinatsu."

They all stood up at that flat, cool voice. The Prefect Team's leader, the chairman, had emerged from her office.

"The arrangements have been made. You're to leave within the hour for the meeting with the Kanon Union," said Sorasaki Hina.

"U-understood, ma'am!" she squeaked.

Hina's gaze went to the video feed, where the shadow of Deguchi kept on walking through different places. Then she locked eyes with Chinatsu again.

"Don't worry. You'll be safe," Hina said. "I've arranged for Iori to be there, watching you as well."

"Oh, me?" Iori said. "But chief, what about that thing with the thing?"

"I'll take care of your task and Ako's already agreed to take some of mine," Hina said. "This has priority. We cannot trust that the Pandemonium Society will send their best; which may misrepresent Gehenna to the Union's new leader. We must ensure that the peace holds—and that the other two schools who will be there are also made aware of our intentions."

"Roger," said Iori. "I'll go pack up."

"Try to play nice with Trinity as well, Chinatsu," Hina continued.

"Why is that, ma'am?"

She fixed him with her gaze. "… It is important."

"...Right."

"And… I am also certain that Tae Deguchi is not some brute," Hina said, rubbing at her forehead. "Despite all the names she's accumulated to herself over time. Treat with her right, and she will extend courtesy in turn."

"Personal experience chief?" Iori asked.

Hina said nothing as she turned back towards her office. Then she sighed, her wings twitching. "… You could say that."

138 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

AN: Finally, it's done! Going forward, I hope I can write in more manageable chunks. Anyway, please enjoy!

Present Time

The girl chuckled, a dark, forbidding sound. "Well, looks like your schools brought out the big guns."

For some reason, her eyes focused on Hasumi as she said this, eyes moving up and down her body. Then she waved her hand. "As the one who invited you all for a talk, I should like to invite you to order anything you like before we begin. Choose any of the stalls and find something that pleases you, and feel free to send the receipt over to us at Kanon Station, where we shall be glad to…" she glanced at Yuuka. "… Reimburse it."

The three students shared a look. Yuuka was the first to shrug. "Well, that's fine. I guess we do have to follow the proper order of things."

"Um..! Right, I concur," Chinatsu said. She felt utterly tongue-tied at that moment, and not just because of the representatives from the other schools. There was something strange about Tae Deguchi's gaze, as if there was something mysterious laced in that quiet intensity, like thunderheads on the horizon, heralded by swelling black clouds.

Hasumi bowed lightly. "Very well. I thank you for your generosity."

The three representatives didn't take long to return to the table. Yuuka had chosen a stylized taiyaki, Hasumi a massive crepe that seemed to groan beneath the weight of its toppings, and Chinatsu had an iced coffee mix.

"Excellent," said Deguchi, as soon as they had seated themselves. There was an odd, brief moment when the whole bench creaked loudly as soon as the three sat down, but if Deguchi had noticed, she made no mention of it.

"To start, I should like to reintroduce myself, though I know everyone's likely aware. Tae Deguchi, newly instated President of the Kanon Union. I am pleased that you all have come. Please, allow us to enjoy our chosen treats for a bit, before we begin. Perhaps we can use the time for you to ask your questions first. I'm sure you're all very curious."

"What sort of questions?" Yuuka asked, after wiping crumbs from her lips daintily with a napkin.

"Oh, the simple ones. Ones that don't have anything to do with our topic, perhaps." Her expression was warm, open.

"Very well. Then let me ask this," Hasumi said, as she spooned bits of cream and fruit and caramel into her mouth. "What happened to Kurogane Akame?"

Deguchi's smile faded, and her voice was firm. "By the will of the Union's students, she has been deposed from her rule."

"Could you even do that?" Yuuka asked skeptically. "It all sounds rather drastic."

Deguchi raised a brow. "Of course. Why should we have not? When leadership falters, it falls to those below them to decide if such matters can continue, or if they must change things for their own benefit."

The three seemed to share one thought: And who was directly below the former leader? Why, this girl, of course.

Chinatsu shifted in her seat. "Well, to be honest… if… a change in leadership seems mandatory, then the students certainly have the right to ask for a change."

"Indeed. We are only following precedent, after all; it has happened in your own Academy, Hinomiya-san." She honestly didn't know why, but she felt attacked, as if the girl was saying, Well you Gehenna people did it first, why couldn't I? She felt obligated to defend those who had spearheaded that revolution to topple the tyrant, but she felt tongue-tied beneath that piercing gaze.

So it was the Trinity student beside her who spoke next.

"And it is good to see that it was done without violence, or so I've heard."

"Yes, we only used a minimum application of force to get her out of power. Unfortunately, we were in a very desperate situation, so we could not emulate your own school's prestigious founding, Hanekawa-san. Dialogue and diplomacy would have been preferred, but she gave us no choice."

"It is certainly a shame," Hasumi said, eyes narrowing. "But it is your school's business."

"Did you really need to expel her though?" Yuuka asked. "It seems a bit cruel, don't you think?"

"Some might agree that it is cruel; but as Hanekawa-san has already said, it is our school's business. And the school determined for itself that we could not have such a mind at the operator's carriage for much longer. We could not afford to be complacent; we are not like your own schools to have the resources and structures that would have seen an… orderly transition of power. In time, we hope that this will be a minor bump, and our school can soon grow to something worthwhile. Perhaps like your own school, Hayase-san. Millennium's meteoric rise to power is something to admired."

Yuuka made a humming sound, something shifting in her expression. "… Thank you for saying that." Was that just some idle praise, or was there a hidden expression of intent? She thought.

"I believe we have spoken enough of the preliminaries," Hasumi said, putting away her spoon. They all noticed how the crepe was now practically headless. She glanced around at the rest. "We should move on into official business." After a beat, the others nodded in agreement.

"As you wish." Deguchi shifted in her seat and leaned forward.

"The Kanon Union has undergone a change in leadership. There are bound to be many changes within the organization of our school—which I am not at liberty to discuss, my apologies. But a change internally need not necessarily correspond to a change externally, and yet the open question must still be answered. How shall the relationship between my school and yours change moving forward; assuming it does need to change?"

"It is a concern that we also share," Hasumi said. "Considering that your line has been an important part of our school's own daily operations."

"And we're grateful that you've managed to keep things running, even after the coup," Chinatsu said. "I must say that Io—a friend of mine does appreciate the commute."

"Millennium does appreciate the value that the Kanon line brings to us. But I'm confused… Why invite us at all?" Yuuka said.

"Beg pardon?" Deguchi said, blinking.

Yuuka hesitated, glancing at her fellows, before saying, "I am quite certain that the outcome of this meeting is going to be just as everyone expects. Y'know, I mean, no one really expects anything to change. Am I right?" She faltered when the other two just stared blankly at her.

"That is the hope, certainly," Deguchi said, sounding cautious.

"Oho, so you agree," Yuuka said, with a bit of satisfaction. "Furthermore, it's good odds that nothing important will be discussed here—here of all places. I mean look around, this is the place for a lunch date, not a serious meeting!"

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Hasumi asked.

"Mrgrgr…!" She pointed straight at Deguchi. "This could have all been done with a single, simple email! Just something to tell us formally that so-and-so happened. Why did you need to call us all here? You know how much we spent just deploying a small battalion here?"

Deguchi was silent for a while, shifting in her seat. Then she turned to Hasumi and Chinatsu. "Do you both still feel the same? Is the representative from Millennium correct? Is this not a… serious meeting?"

"Well, obvious—"

"Please wait," Hasumi said, raising a hand to stop Yuuka. "My esteemed counterpart from Millennium has made her point. And indeed it is a good one. And yet…" She side-eyed her fellow. "For Trinity, this is very much a 'serious' meeting. I do not fathom why Millennium does not think so, but she and her people are welcome to their own opinions."

"Wha—"

"For that matter," Chinatsu said, feeling brave. "I don't think this is something that can be left to an email." This was, after all, the Bloody Storm they were dealing with. Even beyond just curiosity, she was conscious that Gehenna needed have someone personally evaluate Tae Deguchi; the chairman was surely relying on her to make an accurate report. No pressure though, a cheerful voice that sounded very much like Ako said in her head.

"I don't understand what you—ugh, will you get this off?" Yuuka pushed Hasumi's great black wing away from in front of her like was a piece of cardboard.

"...Apologies," Hasumi murmured, making her wings fold inward. "Perhaps you may leave now, Hayase-san. As you say, Millennium has no business here."

"I didn't say that at all!" Yuuka said. She raised a quelling hand. "Wait, wait, wait, are you telling me that you are going to discuss something of, of substance with her?"

"That is rather the point of the meeting, is it not?" Hasumi said with a shrug. "The Makidera—no, the Kanon line is historically a vital part of Trinity's well-being, having served hundreds of student councils in the past. Making it clear that there will be no disruptions to it… Well, that is something I am obligated to determine."

"The Kanon line is also important to Gehenna," Chinatsu declared. "And as such, we wish for certain assurances. One which I hope can be determined now, for all of us to hear."

Deguchi chuckled, bringing all their attention back. "I am heartened to see that we are treated with at least a good amount of respect. To be sure, I would also wish for a fruitful continuation of our present arrangement: unless there is something which any of you would like to offer? Hayase-san?" Yuuka bristled at how Deguchi's voice seemed to mock her, as if to neatly refute her earlier words. Now she looked like the fool with egg on her face.

No, don't sink down, she thought. Be calm, remember your part.

"Very well. I apologize for implying this meeting is not important. I can clearly see that it is for you. Millennium has also benefited much from the presence of the railway that connects so many parts of our district." She took a breath, then continued, "But do forgive me for saying this: my assertion that nothing will be changed… that isn't so far off the mark, yes? I mean… You're not here asking to join any of us, or to make different arrangements."

It was obvious from a rational perspective: why rock the boat when the current cruise has been good so far? Seeking to change for the sake of change itself was never the wisest thing by default. Yuuka couldn't believe that the others hadn't grasped this fundamental fact. Or maybe they were working a different angle.

Then she caught on to the way Deguchi was looking at her, then at the others to her left. She opened her mouth, then closed it, several times. "Wait, wait, wait!" she cried, almost leaping to her feet. The bench creaked beneath them. "You can't be serious? I personally… I, by myself… We can't be talking about any changes! I can't decide that!"

"As sole owner of this line, the Union has the wherewithal to do whatever it wants with its property," Chinatsu remarked. "Unfortunately, Hayase-san, I am obligated to find the best deal for my school. And if I can come to an arrangement with Deguchi-san…"

Left unsaid, of course, was the implication that she would want her school to benefit the most. And Yuuka picked up on that, yet remained fastened to her point.

"We can't do that! We shouldn't be doing it!" she said. "Everything should just remain as they are."

"And who are you to decide that for my school?" Hasumi said, a little coolly.

"O-or mine!" Chinatsu said.

Now Yuuka was facing her fellows fully. "You want to do this? For real? You want to start fighting for it? This small—" she caught herself. She'd almost called the matter of Kanon a small matter. She huffed out a breath. Then she said, in a more measured tone, "I am of the firm belief that there is no reason for things to change. Because… think about it. Let us say for example that someone proposes a change. A change we don't like. Millennium or you two will surely contest it, with all our might, we'll do some posturing, some saber-rattling, and then eventually we are forced to come to a compromise after much talking, and we end up right back to our previous point."

"Is that the famous Millennium reasoning that everyone talks about?" Hasumi said with a scoff. "The thing is, if there is to be a new compromise, why does it need to involve you lot?"

"We could make it so your school's shut out entirely," said Chinatsu. "It would be of very great help to us." Particularly after your mad creations keep screwing over our lives! She thought.

"This is crazy talk! Deguchi-san, what do you say? I know you're reasonable," Yuuka said. She needed to get things back on track, or she would have to explain to Seminar how she'd bungled up a simple diplomatic meeting so badly. "Aren't things okay as they are? Forget what I said before. I apologize for that. But still, you see my point, don't you?"

Deguchi seemed to sigh, as if she found this all so tiresome. The silence lingered as she shifted her body. All of them could sense something was changing, like an imaginary breeze picking up. She looked at them all slowly.

"Stability is all well and good," she said carefully. "But... prosperity is also another thing to aspire to. You perform your duties for the good of your school, and I intend to do the same. Whether that is by maintaining the current stability, or by seeking to change to another form of it—well, that is the matter I'd like to hammer out."

"What is it you're saying?" Chinatsu asked. An ominous feeling came over her.

Deguchi flexed her shoulders, and grabbed her cup. "What if I say, that our current arrangements are not enough? Perhaps we'd like more of the share of the profits from our mutual business. In fact, we could all be making so much more, by spending more. And that in turn, will help me in my goal of providing for the prosperity of my students."

"Wha—"

She raised a hand. "Or what about something else? Exclusivity. No one likes that word, except for those who are exclusive. What if we desire to maximize our position, by dealing with the one school that treats us fairly? I'm sure even just one of you can manage just that shift. And think of the benefits my rail line could give you."

She dipped a spoon into the cup, carving out a serving of the blood-red mix. It was slightly watery, with a lone shard floating morosely at the center.

She lifted the spoon high, and tipped it. The slurry slowly fell in drops back towards the cup.

"After all, such things as 'stability'… They don't really last long in Kivotos. All of us treat order and peace like ice—easily melted as it suits us."

BOOM!

Something from behind her exploded, a great mushroom of smoke and flames rising high, followed by screams and yells. A food stall could be seen, streaking through the air, before falling back down with a rumbling crash. Near the crowd of gathering students, a dog-man in an apron howled on his knees.

All of them at the table had turned at the sudden disturbance, hands immediately drawing their weapons. Even Deguchi had turned fully, a pistol already in hand. For a while, everyone just stared.

Then, to their surprise, Deguchi snorted, and chuckled. She turned and looked at something or someone in the crowd, as she put away her gun.

"Do forgive me," she said, as she faced them again. Backlit by the flames, her mirthful expression looked downright sinister. "It is not right, of course, to laugh at something like this. But you've got to admit, it was really smart…" She sucked in a breath and placed the spoon in other hand back inside the cup. "… Now then, shall we cut straight to the matter of this thing of ours?" She rubbed her palms together.

A horrifying realization came over the three; had she orchestrated it? No, she couldn't have—she had reacted much the same as them. As would anyone in Kivotos at the sound of an explosion. And yet that reaction…

If she had wanted to make a point, she'd done it in so decisive and frightful a matter. What had once been a happy, tranquil scene had devolved into a panicked chaos. Gunshots rang in the air, and the staccatos were soon joined by the explosion of a grenade or two. The three of them saw their fellows moving about like a flock of disturbed birds, trying to contain the situation in their own ways.

"What is the meaning of this?" Yuuka cried, leaping to her feet and causing the table to creak. "I have half a mind to—" She stopped, as something came over the comm in her ear.

In fact, all three of them were now putting their fingers in their ears.

"Excuse me," Yuuka said, turning away.

"Pardon me," Hasumi said.

"Sorry," Chinatsu said.

The girl on the other side just waited, and watched.

"Yuuka, you've done well," came Rio's voice. "But it's time to abort. I need to speak with her personally now."

"Ehhh?" Yuuka said. She'd thought she'd been deafened by all the ruckus around them.

"My apologies, ma'ams," said Hasumi, a few feet away. "I shall put you through to her now."

Chinatsu was also receiving similar instructions.

"Good work, Chinatsu," came Hina's voice. "But this has admittedly escalated. I need to be the one to speak now."

"I'm… I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be. You did your best."

Then they addressed Deguchi again.

"My President would like to speak with you," said Yuuka.

"And by sheer coincidence, so would the current host of the Tea Party," said Hasumi.

"Our Head Prefect wishes to speak with you as well, Deguchi-san," Chinatsu said.

Deguchi blinked, seemingly nonplussed. She jerked her shoulders in what appeared to be a shrug.

A drone flew in from somewhere. Chinatsu and Hasumi placed a small device on the table's surface. All three machines glowed, and a projection appeared from within the irises on their surface, gleaming, semi-transparent, showing the full-body images of three students. Though their normal sizes were diminished, they nonetheless towered over Deguchi, as they stood on the table itself.

One was tall and wore a dark suit, pleated skirt, pantyhose and high heels and had long black hair, sleeker than Hasumi's. The other two were decidedly shorter: a blonde girl with fluffy fox ears, a circle of flowers on her hair, and wearing a white sleeveless dress; with the other being a white-haired girl, with a great crown of horns on her head, wearing a dark military-style uniform, fur-lined coat, and the same armband that Chinatsu wore.

They heard Deguchi chuckle. She placed her elbows on the table, and laced her fingers together. Her shoulders were shaking, very likely from fevered anticipation. Her eyes danced with light, as if all this was just amusing to her. Her smile, once soft, now widened: a full-toothed grin, looked chilling to behold. And behind her, all around her, a scene akin to a warzone, and she sat at the center, as if glorying in it all, as its arbiter, the war-goddess on her throne.

"I'm glad that we can finally talk serious business," she declared, staring up fearlessly towards they who were said to wield authority in the three schools. "Nice to meet you all. I am Deguchi Tae, President of the Kanon Union. I look forward to our fruitful discussion."

"President, I'm back!" Chiaki proclaimed cheerfully as she entered the headquarters of the Pandemonium Society. She glanced around; the room was decidedly empty of its usual occupants, except for the President herself, Hanuma Makoto, who lounged behind her desk, looking at her expectantly like a patient sphinx.

"Ah, welcome back, Chiaki."

"Where's everyone else?"

"They're on an important mission," Makoto replied. "And I could never refuse her."

"Oh, then I've got to go join them! But why aren't you there too, Prez?"

"I wanted to see the result of your mission first," Makoto said.

"The picture? Okay... Here. I think I got her profile clear enough." Chiaki handed her camera over to Makoto, who flipped it over to bring up the photo on its memory.

At the sight of the person on the screen, Makoto seemed to still. Her gaze intensified, and she was so lost in her thoughts that it took Chiaki three cries before she noticed her voice.

"Oiiii, Prez? Are you okay?"

She blinked, and the spell that seemed to grip her was broken. "Y-yes, I'm alright. I'm… everything's alright."

"Hm?" Chiaki could tell that something was odd with the Supreme Leader. "You okay, Prez?"

"Yes, I am. Here, take it."

"Did the photo turn out alright?" Chiaki asked as she took back her camera.

"Fine. It was fine," Makoto said. "You may go. I'm sure she'd be happy for one more person to come."

"She'd be happier with you there too, Prez! Come on!"

"Apologies. I'd love to, I really, really do, but not now." She looked down. "I'm… busy."

"Busy."

"...Yes."

"Busy?"

"Yes."

Chiaki placed a hand on her mouth. She began to pace rapidly around. "… No way, did someone kidnap the Supreme Leader and plant a doppelganger in her place!? We need to call the Tekken Squad—"

"Kihihihi! It's good to be suspicious. But I'm fine, really. Go, Chiaki."

Chiaki subsided, and adjusted her cap. Despite her nature, she was quick on the uptake. "… If you're sure, Prez. See ya later!"

Makoto watched her go. After the doors closed, she finally lifted her hand, which she'd kept hidden inside her coat. She unclenched, and was unsurprised to see that her hand was trembling like mad.

"Haaaah… That girl…" The image on the photo seemed like a complete stranger, but perhaps it had really been a long time since then. But to hear of her now felt as if her spine had been thrust into the heart of Red Winter's wilds.

Putting a face to the girl to match her feats had been astonishing the first time, all those years ago. To be reminded of it all now…

Especially since she'd become President of her own school, a school that had a special relationship with her own.

"So that's where you ended up. I'd almost thought…"

Hanuma Makoto's mind drifted, sinking into memories that refused to fade away.

The first time she'd seen her, Makoto had almost thought her a rusted piece of steel jutting out from ruined masonry. Or like a thin twig stuck in the mud where it had fallen so long ago.

Yet when she approached, the shape moved, creaking to life like one of those claymation movies. Now Makoto could see it was a living thing after all, though it looked mighty strange, almost feral. Hair the color of sand was daubed in soot and ash and crude oil. Even her halo seemed ragged and dull, as if it were made of faded cloth.

Something shifted in the morass, and the faceless, thin effigy then showed a hint of a face: a chin, a part of a nose, then a lone eye, quiet, alert, intense.

Makoto approached at the head of an armored unit, who would be guaranteed to reduce this trench-line to dust if someone acted. Yet still, she didn't feel safe as she neared the figure, whose attention she had definitely drawn.

"Hanuma Makoto, Gehenna Intermediate School Security Recon Group, 1st Battalion. I'm here to receive your surrender."

"… Deguchi Tae. Highlander Academy, Journeyman Volunteer Corps. I acknowledge."

Makoto swore. "You're in elementary!?"

"I head into middle school next year," Deguchi replied. "… And you're one to talk, aren't you in middle school?"

She wanted to say that this and that was the reality of one who entered Gehenna, which surely must not be the case in Highlander; but there was no time for small talk. She had to keep going, as per the orders.

"… Where's your leader? I need to speak to her."

"She's not here. You managed to blow up Operator Tsutsui's command train a week ago."

"You're kidding me."

"No."

"You are not saying that you're the one who lead all these Highlanders."

"Yes I am."

"You? Are you for—" She stared, disbelieving.

"I don't need to joke. If you're not willing to believe me, then that's your problem."

Could it really be true? This grade schooler had been their so-called wall for the past week? The thorn in Her Excellency's side, the one flaw in her grand Operation Thunderhead?

Gehenna had been desirous of punishing Highlander for siding with Trinity at the last minute, like a bunch of opportunistic rats. Several lines within their district had been hit hard: the Omotsukasa, the Kousagi, the Hidemori, the Kanon lines and others. Armored columns had surged forth, encircling their precious trains; all had fallen within the span of a day, except one.

The Kanon redoubt had turned from a defensive bulge into a problematic hotspot into an operational canker that began drawing reserves from the Trinity front; which began to stretch thin when a determined counter-offensive came smashing through Rintarou Commercial Intersection, threatening to cut off a significant portion of the mobile forces.

So more bodies had been sent. When it was clear that the normal divisions couldn't cut it, the veterans were deployed. First years, second years, then third years. And then, when their senpais couldn't cut it, the middle-schoolers, like Makoto.

All were repulsed with heavy casualties. Makoto could but wince at the failures of her schoolmates, who were bound to "disappear" in the future as punishment, according to the whims of their Leader. As a result, the captains became increasingly desperate, unleashing hell and giving no mercy to the Highlanders.

But they were unprepared for the level and intensity of resistance that the students from Kanon had mustered. Every inch gained was always at the expense of many casualties, many failures. And that was not to mention rumors of some sort of dark beast that haunted the battlefield, which ambushed helicopters from impossible heights, which brutally exploited careless commanders who'd left their tank hatches open, who could goad multiple squads into the dark recesses of a building to then ensure they never emerge. Even Makoto had experienced it herself, completely stalling their advance by knocking out her captain, forcing her to order a saturation their own locations with artillery, a terrifying gambit that nonetheless forced the thing to withdraw.

Could it have been this Deguchi? She felt a chill. But no, she would not have been able to lead her troops on the defense if she had been acting so independently like that. The defense had been meticulous, requiring someone to be at the comms, to be at headquarters coordinating. It was most likely a creature from Trinity.

And in the end, it was not that beast that had ultimately frustrated Her Excellency, but this Deguchi. This grade schooler, if she was telling the truth was the mind behind the defiant defense, which had reached over to stain 'her' laurels with an oil-stained finger.

"… Fine. Not like I really care about the truth… Highlander and Gehenna have already agreed to an armistice," Makoto said. "We'll allow you to leave here with your train and whatever else attached, even let you keep your equipment. But the railways will need to be out of operation for the duration of the war. In the end, consider it a form of sabbatical or a vacation. Take a break." From all this.

Deguchi snorted. As time passed, more and more of the dark film covering her oozed away, and she almost seemed normal—well, as normal as a kid wrapped in the leavings of war could ever be anyway.

"I want a promise from you—not your boss, your general or whoever—from you that my girls can walk back to the train safely. Otherwise… all bets are off." Makoto swept her gaze towards the area behind the girl, and felt many eyes looking towards them. She couldn't see them, but she could feel their gazes, burning her skin. Maybe they even had a bead on her, right this moment.

Makoto reached a hand into her breastpocket. The girl didn't tense, but she did watch her hands carefully.

She pulled out a pack of choco cigarettes, held it up to the light, and then offered one stick to her.

"Not even a pocky?" asked Deguchi, though she did grab the sweet quickly.

"I'll make that promise, on my own word," said Makoto quietly.

Deguchi stared at her for a good, long while, before nodding. "… Fine. You have our surrender. This area is yours."

Just then, static preceded the sound of the Leader's voice, booming out from a series of loudspeakers linked in concert.

"Attention, lapdogs of Nephthys!" came the words of the Supreme Leader. "You have fought well, and fought hard, even against me; and for that I give you great honor. Know that Gehenna's doors are always open, and we are always willing to accept transfers of those like you with exceptional valor and grit.

"And as for the one who lead the successful defense of this sector! I know you're there, listening. Your courageous deeds and exceptional cunning are worthy of remembrance! You are a soldier of Gehenna, even in name. For only those of our great school have the strength to withstand all obstacles! Heed my words, then, and be proud. For I shall bestow upon you a title as fitting reward for your inspiring grit.

"Receive your title with gratitude—oh 'Devil of the Line'."

138 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

Note: Breather chapter for now.

In the end, we were able to come to an agreement that everyone was satisfied with, or so I hoped. It was a handshake deal, and of quite dubious nature—especially when I was talking to holographic counterparts—but at that point I was honestly eager to take anything. The appearance of the CEO when you were just looking to rationalize an investment opportunity was nerve-racking. Especially when two other CEOs from other companies arrived; what was a girl to think about that?

I didn't even know these leaders, aside from their names, and little else of their reputations. As a mere head logistician of a pretty minor breakaway railway, I hadn't had time to browse the who's who of the entire Academy layout. The whole place was just too damned big, stretching for thousands of miles, and there were far too many people to keep track of.

President Rio had been just as I had heard: cool, efficient, and logical. She was as one could expect from the leader of a technically technocratic organization, where the best minds in all of Kivotos were encouraged to gather and express themselves unto scientific advancements. I had a feeling that it was for this reason that Millennium had advanced so much as a major power of Kivotos in so short a time, or so I'd heard at least.

"We are amenable to the expansion of your school's activities," she'd told me. "And are willing to provide whatever technical aid is necessary, insofar as they are not detrimental to the interests of Millennium, or to the continued peaceful relations with the other schools gathered here."

And so I was able to secure promises of non-interference from the three schools, which a somewhat tepid concession that would nonetheless please my people back home, who desired to preserve our independence. Millennium also promised technical expertise, offering students to serve as tutors for whatever industries we might need. They didn't promise the best, for obvious reasons, and they would be fools if they did so.

From Gehenna was Hina, who was the Head of the Prefect Club, one of the school's more powerful, and infamous organizations. Though formal and cool, she also raised plenty of concerns regarding the protection and lifestyles of the students who would be taking our trains and using ours stations I did express my doubts if she could speak for her school, as "on paper" it should be their President dealing with me.

"I can give you my own guarantee that the Pandemonium Society will not interfere or object," she told me. "If there is to be conflict, then I also give my assurance that none of it shall affect our existing agreements."

Well, I couldn't say anything to that. I was aware of Gehenna's circumstances, and knew that the risk of a civil disagreement, or even a war was pretty high. But all I could do was accept what I could take; which for Hina was a promise from the Kanon Union to use all available means to safeguard the passengers and users of our rail. That lead to my allowing the three schools to maintain a presence in our current stations, and in any future stations we might build, or get. I knew there were many who didn't like that—fortunately, neither I nor they mentioned anything about the trains. It also meant they would expend resources to help us indirectly as well; which meant arms deals and limited intelligence sharing, and that was very much a boost.

Trinity was one of the oldest schools, and therefore the most established. While one could expect that they would be very traditionalist in outlook, they seemed canny enough to roll with the changes as needed. Their representative was the "host", Yurizono Seia, whom I could immediately see to be a calm and very effective speaker, very elegant, able to instantly gain a grasp of the situation and use tactful words to smooth things.

She was very verbose and eloquent during the meeting, which put me on the defensive just to keep up with her thought processes. In the end, I was able to secure a significant chunk of funding in the form of investments, something I was going to use to the utmost. They also promised study aids to boost Mariya's department—our medical staff. Trinity had some of the better medical departments in Kivotos, and gaining some of that knowledge was indeed a boon. It wasn't just bullets that could hurt, but also every other nasty thing that could happen to young girls.

In addition to everything else, Kanon agreed to a non-aggression pact—but with each individual school. I suppose it would be too much to ask for them to sign such pacts with each other. Not that I really expected it—I had no idea as to their respective circumstances, nor less their current histories. I was rather surprised at this concession of theirs, as it would ease off the pressure from our school considerably.

We would need to bring in the General Student Council to be involved and witness a formal signing of our agreement, but they assured me the terms would come nito effect as soon as could be possible.

Overall, I was more than pleased with the outcome of my little blitz strategy, even when I felt like I'd shaved off several years of my new life here just from several of those moments. I almost felt like gnawing at the table, cradled by fear. That explosion had been a literal heart-stopper, and Sizuru had been unable to explain what exactly had happened back there.

Once I'd returned to the school, I was greeted by a crowd that seemed to have been gripped by hysteria. They seemed to be ignoring the more onerous parts of the agreement, such as the stationing of troops at our stations; and focusing more on how I'd successfully negotiated with the big three at all. I really wanted to point out the flaws in their assumptions; but it was already late in the day, and everyone deserved to go home and take well-deserved rests.

Everything returned to normal for a few days afterwards. Well, it was "normal" in the sense that any days in Kivotos are considered normal. It was also normal with respect to the amount of work that we all needed to do to keep the trains running. I'd made the boast to those three school leaders after all, that the trains would never stop unless there was some emergency. As a Highlander lass, I was culturally obligated never to disappoint when it came to the optimizations of each second of the daily routine.

"I don't know why we're all bringing it up again!" Hisoka said.

Scribble. Scribble.

"And especially—well, I understand you've always been bitter about it, Sizuru, but you, newbie! What gives you the right to hassle my girls about it?"

Tap-tap-tap. I clucked my tongue as I erased the line of text on the tablet. What I wouldn't give for one of those holographic keyboards.

"Excuse you! I've been voicing my concerns together with Utsumi-san, for the longest time now! You bet I know full well what we of the engineers are owed!"

That was Shinonome Tsukimi, the engineer Aoba recommended to replace her upon her departure as department head. A competent girl, good enough grades, purportedly better at engineering than Aoba. I'd heard rumbles that Mariya wanted her for her own department, but nothing concrete. Tall girl, short and curly-haired, slim, thankfully flat-chested.

I paused, as the imagery of large, insurmountable mountains attached to that giant tengu of a student flashed briefly in my mind, which I had to dismiss.

"… You can't divide and conquer anymore, Hisoka," Sizuru said quietly. "We've agreed—"

"Conspired!"

"—agreed that if it comes to it, the engineers will bow out of the way."

"No! Heck no!"

Where was that—ah, there it was. I slipped the choco cigarette in my mouth, my eyes consulting the graphs on the third screen.

"My crew's been servicing the 'Pig for the longest time, even back when we were still middle schoolers! That's a long and honorable tradition of tending to the big girl! No one else knows better than us on how to take care of it."

"That's bull, and you know it," Tsukimi said. "You lead her to the fights when they begin, but we have to wash her down afterwards and make sure she hasn't got a shell stuck in her throat. Now how do I know this? Oh yeah, we've also been working on her too for that long!"

A new memo. Tap. Click. Tap. Ah, Atami had read the message. Good.

"It's great that you're bringing up that exact same point again," Sizuru growled. "Since you say you've been there from the start, you will also kindly recall that in middle-school, you were all under the security division, and your predecessor was only given permission by Kurogane to operate independently as an emergency directive. An emergency that's long over by now."

RING!

They all looked at me. I glanced at the phone screen and frowned. I grabbed the phone, and told them, "Sorry, got to take this, it's from someone at Millennium," then went towards my inner office for privacy.

"Sorry it took so long to call," Aoba said.

"You were right on time," I said, with a huff. "Sizuru and Hisoka's been going at it again."

"How's Tsukimi-san been?"

"Oh, she's got fire," I said. "She seems very determined to take up where you left off."

"Well, we did share the same opinion of Hisoka's stubbornness," Aoba said, and I could practically feel her anger from the line. "I—I just wish she doesn't take it too far, that would inconvenience you, Otae-san."

"Don't worry about it."

"Have you really decided?"

"Yes. I've decided to do the best thing."

"Which is?"

"To do nothing."

I returned to the office after explaining everything to Aoba, and settled back into my seat. "Sorry about that. Really busy with a lot of... foreign stuff."

"It's okay," they all told me.

I pretended to shuffle some papers, and then paused. "Now then, where were we?"

"President, they can't just keep hassling me about this matter every other week," Hisoka said. "Please let it be known for everyone that such topics are no longer allowed to be brought up! The artillery department is its own thing, and will remain as such for as long as the Union stands!."

I looked at her. "No."

"Eh?"

"I will not be doing that."

"Then you will fold the department under either of ours?" Sizuru asked.

"I won't be doing that either," I said. I looked at each of them in turn, and shrugged. "You've both made your points, but I don't feel that it is necessary to be changing things at all."

Hisoka's disgruntled expression turned relieved. "Oh, thank you, Prez. I knew you'd see it my way."

The other two began to speak, and I raised my hand. "A blanket ban is a tad premature, as well. Let's just… let things stand, you two. If there should be a major issue that needs to be addressed, regarding this one topic, then we shall revisit it." There was a knock on the door. "That's the next one on the queue. Was there anything else that needs to be discussed?"

They all shook their heads. Two out of three obviously looked displeased.

"Well then, good day to you all. Tell… Atami outside to give me three minutes before she comes in."

Once I left, I snorted. I wasn't sympathetic to Hisoka's claims. I was really planning to have Sizuru take over it all. However, even such a small portion of the student body was liable to stir up unrest. When there was no benefit to unilaterally changing the setup, then I felt no need to move.

In any case, I would let time take its course. I didn't expect us to be moving into battle at all at any time between now and the following weeks or months. The constant need for raiding and invasions was one of the factors that led to the tyrant's downfall after all.

I chuckled to myself. Then, in that distant time, just like an organ of the body that was no longer needed, the artillery department would be—after a subsequent review—found to be unquestionably superfluous in the daily goings of Kanon, draining manpower and resources that were no longer in demand. And so would the department would sunset, without much fuss. I was honestly looking forward to it.

And I wasn't too concerned about Tsukimi or Sizuru. As far as I could tell, the friction only occurred when our 'Pig needed to be deployed. Since I fully expected peace, outside of a few token defenses against delinquents and gangs, they would have no cause to keep complaining.

Coming up next was Atami, who stormed in with an expression that I could charitably call, "pissed off". It was something I'd expected, particularly after I'd sent that memo to her.

"Good morning, President."

"Good morning, Atami." I leaned back. "It's good that you came quickly."

"Yes… of course… I was very much surprised by that, President." She looked at me, and I could tell she was trying to read my face. "May I ask… what exactly are the reasons for that proposal? My department is already functioning well as it has always done."

Well that was false, but I wasn't going to call her out on it. General Operations was a bloated thing, holding a bunch of sub-departments beneath it that deserved to be separated from the whole. In particular, our commerce arm could stand to be its own thing, as well as a tourism department under it or as another independent. We even needed our own group that would handle financial matters, to be able to accurately give reports directly to me, or to whoever succeeds me.

On the other hand, I could clearly sense that she would be displeased to be losing so much power. Any minister would, when threatened with a shrinking of their own base. And I would not incite Atami just as with Hisoka.

So I would have to be careful, and as with Hisoka, let time be my ally.

"It is a necessary change, but I don't see why you would be disturbed by it," I told her frankly. "It's not like I want to strip away your subordinates from under you."

"...But what else does this memo mean other than doing exactly that?"

"You'll notice that it only allows for the creation of new clubs from students assigned to General Operations. They will still be under your authority, Atami. And then I'm just authorizing the creation of a certain few clubs which I think need to be made, which is separate from those other clubs our students wish to organize. Simple." I counted those with my fingers. "The Treasury Club, for example, is a no-brainer. They'll be drawn from those already doing their tasks in your group. Speaking of which, I will be needing the names of the people you've already assigned to the tasks that Club will be doing, they'll be a natural shoe-in; well, if they accept that is."

"Assigned…" she repeated slowly. "Eh?"

I stared at her. "You know, the ones who've been providing the financial reports every week."

"Right…" She nodded, her eyes blinking rapidly. "I… Yes… Certainly…"

I shrugged. "And we won't be stopping any other student who'll be interested in that Club. I'm sure we have a lot of talented students in your group who'd like to do it."

"Yes… I'm sure… there will be…"

"Next I think we could use with a sales or commerce club; I want them to look exclusively into all our mercantile prospects, nothing major. Logistics makes sure we get the things we need, and take it to where it's needed, so this group will be responsible for the shops on our stations, that sort of thing. Making it tidy, making sure everything's to spec, all that jazz. So we'll be needing a different sort of student. A whole bunch of savvy managers, coin-counters. Someone who has grand ideas, perhaps, who'll be able to liaise with all the other companies we do business with, coordinate with Logistics for certain things, set up and manage advertisements, try to earn our line a little more profit, eh?"

"Haaah… I think I… Yes, I see…"

I lifted another finger. "I'm also thinking about having our own tourism department. We can reach out to Highlander for some of this."

"Highlander?" she asked.

"I know it kind of feels bad, but an agreement between our lines to promote travel across Kivotos using our lines, well that's very enticing isn't it? Someone on vacation can travel from Millennium, to any of the other two schools, then go to a connected line to take them to Hyakkiyako, all in a single day, you know, that sort of thing. They can also talk to Odyssey, see if we can get a combined travel package there, split the profits. Oh, and of course, even with the agreement, we'll still need to defend the train and the stations, so a guarantee of our security on these lines will go a long way to appeal." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I kind of spoke a little too much. For now, those're the groups I see being most useful to begin as clubs, starting from now."

"Starting..?" Atami said.

"Yeah." I cocked my head. "And obviously if you happen to have any ideas for other sorts of clubs that we could definitely use, then I'm all ears. I do love hearing all these suggestions from you." I smiled at her.

"Haah… I see…" she repeated. She was still wide-eyed, looking at me. "But, pardons Prsident… it will be a hassle looking up student records to… find qualified individuals."

"Oh, no need." I pressed a button on one of the tablets in front of me. "I've already made a spreadsheet pulling their current performances and had the program analyze each of their strengths. Now there's obviously no guarantee that their aptitude reflects their willingness… which is why I'm just phrasing the announcement of the clubs as an invitation. I'm not really ordering anyone to participate."

"Today."

"Yes, today. Gives the students time to process it… Lets you do some interviews."

"Interviews?"

I chuckled. "I'm joking. Obviously you won't do it yourself, you're so very busy. I can relate, of course. But I'm sure you already have your people who can help you with such matters. And feel free to give me a list of the other clubs some students propose." I looked at her. "Are you alright? You've looked pale for the past few minutes."

"No, I'm… Merely processing," Atami said, blinking. "I admit, it all seems like a very big thing, Otae-san."

I smiled. "Well, it's a very big department."

"And all this," she squeaked once, then cleared her throat several times. "And all these clubs… Will still be under me, yes?"

"Well, of course. It's what I've been saying from the start. It's your division."

She took a deep breath, as if she were marshaling herself. "Then, in that case, there's no problem from me. I am sure I can take care of the… the whole organizing… reorganizing the clubs."

"Especially those clubs I specified," I said. "Those are kind of important to me—well, to the whole school."

She now exhaled. "Yes… yes of course. Understood, Otae-san. President. I'll get right on it, shall I?"

"Uh-huh. Have a good day. I'm expecting big things. Big!" I clasped my hands together. When she was gone, I slumped back in the chair.

I hoped I'd handled that as well as I could. I knew I was making a bit of a gamble when it came to the affairs of the General Operations department. In a reverse from Hisoka's situation earlier, this whole thing with Atami involved someone who would be unwilling to just let people free from her authority. Her initial reaction to my memo proved the fact of her reluctance to me, something which had never occurred under the tyrant's old rule.

Not that I blamed her much for that, of course. It was only unfortunate that our school had immediate needs that would have to clash with her desires. That said, it was not as if I was working to force her out completely. I liked her, she was competent enough, and she'd agreed to oust the tyrant.

I envisioned several things. First, the clubs would undermine her authority, because at the very least, whoever headed the Treasury Club would very likely wish to be promoted by me to a position in the leading council. The same could apply to any other clubs that would form. If they did a good job and it was clear to all in the school, then they would "naturally" feel that they could do better than being always Atami's underling.

Now, optimally, they would do so good a job that it would only be a foregone conclusion for me to promote them, when the time comes. But Atami might wish to keep things firmly under her control. Having Atami squabble with her subordinates would be another way to undermine her relationship with all the people under her umbrella. Their ambitions would serve either to make of Atami a stepping stone, or to paint Atami as a petty tyrant. Either way, the school got what it wanted, and I'd only get a measure of resentment from her.

On the other hand, if Atami was the sort of benevolent dictator that got things done, and her subordinates were equally loyal to her, then that would mean things in the school would go a lot smoother. Her department would become like a finely oiled machine, the beating heart of our little school. I would definitely welcome such an outcome, as it would ease the burden on myself by a lot.

There was the risk of things exploding beyond mere squabbles, but in that case I would just have Sizuru come in, and restore order. And then, depending on how the situation escalated, I would demote or transfer whoever was responsible, give out punishments as needed, which would leave me free to reorganize the General Operations department with more freedom.

In all plausible situations, my hands would remain blissfully clean, allowing me to float above all the potential landmines that might cross my path. A win in all cases, and with little or no ire coming my way.

Aoba called me then.

"Tsukimi just dropped by the office. You're really going to just let this stew, Otae-san?"

"Yep," I said. "Let's just give it a few months of peace. And then, you can just give the proposal, or maybe Sizuru could do it. You bring the first punch, I'll bring up the spreadsheet, and we'll watch Hisoka shrink down like a wet blanket."

"Seems a little slow."

"Slow is good. Envy the turtle who gets to win the race."

"The… turtle?"

"Never mind. Just a saying."

"Huhhh… Okay. Are you still going on that break of yours tomorrow?"

"Oh right." I checked the calendar. It was that time of the month. "Yes, I'm definitely going."

"So are we going to arrange security—"

"Aoba-san, please. It's my break."

"You're the President now! F-forgive me for shouting… But it's true… is it not?"

"I'll be fine. And it'll definitely kill the vibe if I've got Sizuru and co. shadowing me. Even if you're all hundreds of feet away watching me on a scope, I won't be able to relax. And that's the important part about days like these. I get to relax." I smiled, my mind already wandering.

I heard her sigh. "A-Alright. But you're gonna have to be the one to tell Sizuru."

"I definitely will." I ended the call. I shook my head. Last month, no one was looking twice at my monthly break. And now, I'd need bodyguard details everywhere I went. Well, not this time. Tomorrow was my well-deserved (personal opinion) break, and I wouldn't let anyone spoil it for me.

135 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

AN: Busy with commissions, so a bit delayed, apologies for that. Please do enjoy reading.

Every month on a certain day, I wake up early two hours before dawn as per my usual, but not to prepare for work. I set out to prepare rigorously for a day of rest and leisure.

By the time I've packed everything I've needed onto my jalopy, it's almost school-time for the rest of Kivotos, and the sun's just about visible on the horizon. It's a wonderful thing to see, to be honest, especially when you're about to go on a long drive.

I estimate close to an hour of travel, give or take depending on the traffic I encounter on the way. If it's good traffic, then there's nothing to worry about. If it's bad traffic I'm also set. One thing that I like about Kivotos is that you can always just scrape bits of delinquent-worn cloth from the front grill without suffering even an ounce of conscience.

I used to alternate my routes every month, and that was when I'd been a low-ranked official. Now that I was President of a whole school, I really had to watch my routes. It was reasonable to assume that someone somewhere had a grudge against me, for whatever reasons existed in their head. I hoped they were good reasons at least, because I've never gone out of my way to antagonize people at all.

Today I seemed to be exceptionally lucky. There was none of the good traffic, nor did I need to drive through a warzone. It was straight cruising all throughout, and my jalopy could rule the road as it was meant to. (Not that it was an exceptionally good machine, mind, the savings of a mere logistics officer can only get one so far)

I estimated about a fifteen or thirty-minute cut from my usual travel time, which was a pleasant surprise. I was able to see the bits of sand and rugged terrain that led towards my destination.

Some great ecological collapse had happened to this area of Kivotos, I'd heard, which had accelerated its desertification somehow. The first collapse had then led to a second, where the inhabitants of this district left, unable to contemplate living in an area that had radically changed so much. It therefore painted a sad picture of dry winds swirling through empty, dilapidated husks of skyscrapers, lamp posts, abandoned cars and highways, entire neighborhoods buried in the ever-present sand.

Not the best places for a break, mind. The wind was hot on one's face, and at midday the sun really liked to pat your head with its heat. One desperately needed an oasis in this sort of place. Luckily, for the truly determined, one could just build an oasis.

Though it must be said that I'd looked into other possible locations for myself, and they were rather inconvenient in various ways. They were either too far, too pricey, expected to have a crowd of students at all times, or were located in other districts belonging to schools which would be a pain to petition.

My actual destination was nestled within one of those sunken, dilapidated neighborhoods. A particular structure, once home to a news agency known as the Evening Pharos, presented itself in the middle of what used to be a business district.

I stopped the car, and looked around at the various flags and trip-wires I'd left.

Good, I thought. Nothing and no one had breached the perimeter.

The building had an old garage door, leading to an underground parking lot. I wondered how long this space would last; but for the moment I hoped it wouldn't cave in and crush my ride. One of these days I would have to give up my precious secrecy and have someone professional inspect the whole building. But that was a problem for the future me.

The most I could do was reinforce the door to be at least blast-resistant, and then adding an automated verification system, keyed in to both my license plate and the ID I flashed before the scanner.

Once I was parked, I then got out and started pulling all the bags and containers from my car. As a citizen of Kivotos, it was easy to start lugging around all of these, which to my previous lives would have numbered in the hundreds of pounds in weight. There was still a noticeable strain—gravity doing its work—but I wasn't tired.

Next to my parking spot was the old elevator. Using a video guide made by someone from Millennium, I'd managed to strip it from the centralized control systems installed by the previous owners. I needed to be sure whatever slumbering remnant of this building's security system would not glitch some day and cause problems. Not that breaking out of this particular elevator would be hard, of course.

I managed to squeeze everything I was carrying into the elevator, before I pressed the button to take me up. There were about fifteen floors here, but most of these were abandoned, and I hadn't cared to do anything more than inspect them. My destination was the very top, which had another security measure as soon as the doors were opened—a small space where another ID needed to be picked up by the sensors, or the deployed turrets sitting at the far end would open fire immediately. These were tech from Millennium, acquired them from third parties, with much of their proprietary markings and programming chips stripped out. Gone was the majority of its sophisticated software, turning it rather analog and dumb. But that was preferred to some enterprising hacker seizing control of them.

After passing the check, that was another minute or two navigating the rather tight corridor, with all a bunch of wires connecting power here and there.

And then, I was here, my home away from home.

Though, as I glanced at the pair of shoes at the threshold, I hadn't arrived first.

I went to the freezer I'd installed on the wall, and started putting some of the things I'd brought inside it.

"Good morning, senpai. Good to see you again."

The girl reclining on the hammock behind me yawned in response. "Morning, kouhai-kun~ What took you so long~" The heterochromatic eyes of Hoshino-senpai flashed for a second as they regarded me, before they closed once more.

I pointed at the grill that was already heated up next to her. "This is certainly a surprise, seeing you early. And thanks for setting up the grill already."

"Well, I'm hungry you know~ If I don't get enough energy, this old fart's gonna vegetate soon enough~"

"You were going to vegetate regardless," I said with a snort.

"I really wanna say something, but I really wanna eat~ I'd do anything for some grub~"

"Well, you could start by helping me chop these so it'd be faster," I said. I flicked the television open, which began showing the various news from Kivotos. I pulled the folding table from the wall, and dusted its surface. Then I washed my hands at the sink. The water line still worked, which was a blessing, and probably the most important thing.

"… Well, I'm not that desperate. Maybe it's good to starve once in a while~"

It was some time ago, just a short time after I'd entered high school.

Some ambitious operator dragged me, unwittingly, into her hare-brained plot of secession, of founding a new nation, along with a whole bunch of innocent people.

For the longest time, I'd harbored hopes of being able to ascend to her level. A job working as a minor head of a Highlander Academy train was exactly the sort of position I liked. I'd have enough authority that I didn't have to work back-breaking hours and could just sit back and manage things; while also having the wherewithal to refuse participating in the relentless squabbles involved in the Central Command.

In the end, I was involved in the squabbling of a single-track dictator, and I was still to do back-breaking work.

One morning, I just woke up, dragged my carcass, a few guns and other essentials to my car; and just pushed my feet to the pedal, straight down the road to nowhere in particular.

I have no idea how to characterize the mindset I was in on that particular day. Looking back in hindsight it was the stupidest thing to do, and it was baffling for me to have decided upon that course. Then again, I do recall that in that moment I also didn't much care about anything at all.

I don't really recall what exactly happened. I might've run over some students, caused some property damage, and frightened a lot of innocent souls in the process. Someone probably took a potshot at me, and I took a potshot at them; I can't really recall, it's all rolled into one big smoothie of a recollection.

The last thing I distinctly remember with real clarity was reaching this place. The hot breeze on my face was as good a slap in the face as any. I checked the time, and I saw that it was almost noon; I'd missed the school day entirely. A whole bunch of MomoTalk messages had been left unread.

To top it off, I was almost out of gas, and something was wrong with the engine of the car. I took a look, and saw several bullets had managed to make its way into the engine. Trust in Kivotos craftsmanship that nothing was leaking or broken—but the various dents did need to be replaced or they would implode of their own accord before I could get back home.

I was of two minds: desperation to go back home and do my best to kiss Akame's ass so she wouldn't expel me, and the anger that still lingered, that told me I had nothing to fear, and I should just drop out of school entirely.

"Maybe I'll even live here!" I shouted to the sky. "It's a damned good place for some solitude!"

As if in answer to my unreasonable shout, I heard the distant sound of gunfire. I immediately ducked, and looked around to see where my shooter was. There, huddled by my car, I heard a few more shots, and determined that they were coming from too far a direction that it was unlikely to be intended for me. Still, I couldn't discount anything, so I carefully crawled to cover behind one of the old buildings.

I could have ran back to the car and bled out the last of my gas to escape, but something about the constant stream of gunfire intrigued me. It was the only sound that broke the stillness of this place. Was it some delinquents bored out of their skulls?

Surrounded by all that sand, it called to mind my vague impressions of my life trudging through the desert. The unpleasant prickling of heat and sand particles on my skin was nothing compared to the hellish slog of those days.

Eventually I tracked my shooter to the top of the Evening Pharos building. I saw the flashes of a discharging gun, and couldn't quite believe it: the profile of the shooter was not of firing a rifle but a pistol. Then I focused on where it was shooting, and saw the fallen bodies of strange-looking automatons. As I watched, a couple more emerged from the distance, and the shooter kept firing, bringing down the automatons one after another.

Was this some sort of training? It felt like a waste of time and money deploying automatons for the purpose—we couldn't even afford automatons of our own thanks to Akame's ill-thought ambitions.

Deciding to humor my curiosity, I made my way to the building, trying to stay as unobtrusive as possible. The normal doors were sealed, but luckily the gate to the garage was open. There was no power, so the elevator was out, but there were stairs. I took a cursory look in each floor, finding mostly abandoned rooms filled with detritus and little piles of sand.

When I reached the very top, I stopped myself from tripping over the claymore set up just a step away. Having fallen victim several times to that, I didn't want a repeat of an agonizing several days of bed rest and painkillers. I looked around, eyes narrowed.

"You can come on in~ Just mind the traps~" came a voice from around the corner. I looked up, blinking, my hands already curled around my pistol.

"S'long as you ain't thinking of anything bad, that is~"

I tip-toed towards the source of the voice, and found the shooter.

It was a girl, short like myself, with a mane of pink hair, and heterochromatic eyes.

There were a bunch of weapons at her feet, along with a black riot shield, like a plate of iron.

I raised my hands. "I'm sorry, I don't want any trouble." I looked into her eyes. Those were the types you never wanted to see up close—wait, what was I thinking? At that moment, I had flashed back to the battles at middle school.

Then the harsh expression on her eyes faded, replaced by something relatively more normal, warm even. A grin cracked her face, tired and sleepy-sounding.

"When I saw you scurrying around down there, I thought you were some strange creature like those guys down there. But you're just a normal girl."

I blinked. "Er, thanks?"

"Lower your hands, girlie. Come closer and take a gander if you like. Ain't got nothing to show you hospitality, except maybe the water I got in my jug," she said, now looking back out of the window. She took aim and shot a few rounds. "But you should prob'ly leave. A whole bunch of stinkers are here causing a ruckus in the neighborhood. No good, no good. Can't even let an old geezer shrink up in peace~"

I cautiously walked towards the window, as close to her as I thought I could manage. I thought I could subdue a lone combatant like her, but judging by the gear she was toting, that looked a bit tricky.

I looked out the window, and saw the same robots again—or rather, more of their kind, another group marching forward towards the building.

Pop-pop-pop came the girl's report, and that group slumped into pieces.

"What…" I asked. "Is this, If you don't mind me asking? Who are those guys down there?"

"I'd like to know myself," she said, voice now sounding like a whine. I shuddered; I could already tell she was going to be a handful in a normal situation. Was that harsh mask earlier a persona, or the real face? "Stupid things showing up where they're not supposed to."

I saw her quickly unload and reload a gun, so fast it was almost a finger-snap in speed. That was the second time I was impressed since I came up here.

"Anyway, I'd like to ask you for license and registration," said the girl. "You are coming into these parts unannounced, and that's pretty naughty~"

"Naughty?"

"But it's a pain having to do that, so I'll settle for a name, and what you're doing here. You can lie, but make it a good one, eh~~"

"… Why would I lie?" I stared incredulously at her.

She glanced at me, looking up and down. "I dunno, you seemed like the type. Sorry if it offends~ I'm just an old geezer too nosy for her own good~"

I exhaled a deep sigh. I shook my head. "I won't… lie, but I'm afraid I can't say anything more; other than that my name is Tae Deguchi, and I'm from Highlander. Well, used to."

"Highlander?" She glanced at me again. "You're a long way from home, missie."

"I assume by your words that you, or your school or organization, owns this place?" I indicated the sandstrewn, abandoned buildings around us.

"Wouldn't that be nice?" she said with a laugh. "But no, not really. Around these parts, we call this place the old borderlands now… a place where no student should ever go. I mean look around, there's no people, no shops, no nothing."

"Then why are you here?"

She stared off into the distance for a long while before she blinked and answered. "Well, in a way, I still feel responsible for the place. As the last… Well, the last of the ones who care for this old, dried out waste, I'm just making sure it fades peaceful-like." She frowned and raised her gun again. "But there's no way it can if there's pests like those fellows coming to sniff around. So this old guy's got to set them straight, anyway I can."

She made another set of impressive shots. "You're… pretty good with that. Especially since they're so far away."

"Just need to aim it right," she replied airily. "Any bullet can fly real high if you let it."

"Uh-huh."

"Why don't you try?" she said. "I see you got your own."

"At this range?" I rubbed my chin. "Would be a bit of a tall order. I've got a rifle, though." In my car, which would be a bit of a trek.

"No need, I'll bet you you can shoot something with just that."

"What?" I raised a brow. "You'll bet… that I succeed?"

"Yeah," she said. "Call it trust. Or maybe pride. I'll stake my pride I didn't make a bad read. 'Cause I know you got it in you, kid~"

"Please don't call me a kid."

"You're second year right?" She tapped her own chest. "Third year. Senpai's privilege yanno~"

Third year? I felt a twinge of fear. I looked at her body a second time. Was there really no escape from the curse for the unlucky?

"Apologies, senpai." I sighed. I looked out the window again. There were a few more automatons running around. "Well, here goes."

I took aim. It was hard; the things were moving constantly. Then again, this was essentially a straight line—they weren't even trying to hide or duck. Just got to aim it like so—

Bang. Bang.

"Whew. Now that's winning for ya," the girl said. "Nice shooting, Deguchi-kun~"

"Hum." I clicked the safety back. "Well, admittedly, it was kind of easy."

"Ehhh~ No need to be shy now, kid~ You did it, because you're special~"

"And that makes you extra special, eh senpai?" I said with a raised brow.

"Me? I'm nobody. I ain't even got a name~" She raised her hands in the air.

I wanted to point out to her that it would be very easy to look up a name just from a description of her features and her clothes, especially her uniform which literally said "Abydos". "Now that's incredibly rude of you, senpai. Do you not have responsible kouhais who'll set you straight?"

"Nah, ain't got nothing of the sort. We're all a bunch of bad girls with bad dreams… Unlike you. You look like a girl with a plan, Deguchi-kun. I know the type. So whatever difficulties you're having right now, it's best to keep sticking with that plan, yanno? Makes things a looot simpler."

"… What makes you think I… That we're even having difficulties?" I asked. "You don't even know me."

She snorted. "Are you serious? Look around you, Deguchi-kun. No one, not even a delinquent gang comes 'round these parts. I don't wanna ask about your circumstances, that's yer business, but whatever it is must've gone real south to make you end up here. Not unless you got launched on a rocket."

"Hm." I crossed my arms. That… was a good observation. What was I even doing here, of all places, meeting a strange senpai who was the same height as me?

"Well, enough of the heavy talk, right~" she said, lifting her gun. "If you're still hanging around, you could help me out. Why don't we make a game of it?"

"Oh?"

"Help me pick off all those guys who keep coming out. Only this time, I bet that you'll score a lot more targets than me."

"Who bets against themselves?"

"Well, I give you my word I won't be sand-bagging," she said. "And I'll know if you are. Senpai's got mad sharp eyes~"

I grumbled and lifted my gun. "… Alright. Sounds stupid, but alright."

This senpai was probably looking to leave me unbalanced by playing around with me; well, I was going to take her game and make her eat her victory. I had nothing else to do at the moment but to succeed, and I would succeed by losing—or winning, as it were.

It became an odd contest. I hunted around, shooting as fast as I could. But she, unfortunately, was better. I had to take some time with my aim; she just shot faster, like she was letting instinct guide her.

"Huh. Looks like you won," she said, once the last of the automatons had gone down for the moment.

I gritted my teeth. "If this was some sort of test of my skills, well… I will admit I wasn't at my best."

"Really? Then does that mean you let me win?"

I rubbed my forehead. "No, you shot more, so I won. But it is clear that you are more skilled."

She looked at me. That smile she had—it seemed like it was teasing, but not really. "More skilled at shooting, prolly. But not too skilled, that I'd assumed you would be able to win. That was my bad~"

"Oi," I said, a little angrily. "In the first place, if the contest had been—"

"If it had been straightforward, you might have won?" she asked.

"No, I—I was just posting a hypothetical. If the object were indeed to win based on our own achievements, then—" I paused, and shook my head. "No, I concede that I would have never won or lost, in either of the ways you made the stupid bet."

"Eh, don't get your panties in a bunch," said the girl. "Since I won the first time, and you 'won' the second, let's meet at the middle and call it even. Sound good? Clap, clap."

I actually ended up spending the rest of the day there, just using up my bullets to keep on killing those mysterious things. We didn't talk a lot, and when we did it was just a bunch of stupid things. I don't want to say it was therapeutic or anything.

When I came back to the train, close to sunset, and went to Akame to apologize on my knees, she just laughed it off irresponsibly.

"A monthly break sounds like a marvelous thing!" she proclaimed. "Perhaps we should mandate it for all officers of a certain rank and above. Write this down, Deguchi-kun, and make sure everyone knows it by tomorrow!"

I couldn't quite believe it, but I'd narrowly avoided getting punished by this tyrant for some reason. I always wondered how much she'd known about where I was—it wasn't hard to put a tracking program on the phone, which could never be quite outwitted, no matter how robust the preparation.

I'd said goodbye to the girl at the desert without even learning her name, but it was easy just to look her up. "Takanashi Hoshino" seemed to have her circumstances, judging by what I learned of her school. That was her business, as I'd told her, so I let that be. There were also some other interesting things about that place, but I put that aside too.

I did my best to put that incident to the back of my mind, intent on buying back my respect that I'd potentially lost among my schoolmates for that bout of truancy. When the time came for my mandated break the next month, I'd honestly been thinking of doing something completely different.

But on the night before, I'd sat there in my bathrobe, staring out into the city. Beyond the bulletproof glass I saw someone jacking a car, in the distance a plume from an explosion and the scattered staccato burst of gunfire. You get used to that in Kivotos. But I was a normal person before this, and I liked my peace and quiet—an actual one, not just locking myself in my danger room and luxuriating in the jacuzzi.

A thought occurred to me, and it started to grow like a budding seed.

I made a snap decision. I made a phone call, and by the next day I went over and signed my name on the deed—and now I'd owned the building formerly belonging to the Evening Pharos, along with a decent chunk of land surrounding it. I then gathered my supplies and drove off, back to that place.

If that was to be my secret hideaway, I was going to make sure it was just as impregnable as my room.

It was hard work, connecting the old lines, making sure there weren't any surprises in the lower floors, sketching out plans on my tablet, and cleaning up where I could. It was satisfying work, particularly with the almost uniform silence that permeated the whole place. And the natural strength of a Kivotos native meant things were easier to do.

I thought I'd see the girl around, but since I didn't see any of those strange automatons I'd assumed she didn't have any reason to be here anymore. That was fine with me, and I kept on the work.

She did appear at the end of the day, sneaking in when I least expected her. Her arrival was heralded by a loud yelp, the tinkling of a grenade hitting the floor and then a resounding BANG!

I rushed to the commotion, gun in hand, only to see the pink-haired girl, sprawled on the ground, her heterochromatic eyes swimming.

"Uhe~~ I really didn't see that one~"

That kind of puzzled me; I thought my trap placement was too simple for the likes of her, but somehow she'd missed it. Or was she simply pretending?

She looked at me. "Hi."

"Greetings, Hoshino-senpai." I lowered the gun, and helped her up.

As she dusted herself, I asked, "What… are you doing here, if I may ask, senpai?"

"Well, I though I heard some more commotion 'round these parts, thought those bastards came back." She looked around. "Only to find you. What's wrong? Are you living here now? I don't know if squatting is allowed~"

Technically I owned it, but I didn't want to reveal that just yet. "I thought you said no one owned it anymore."

"Oh, that's right, I did say that. Well, you wanna live here or what?"

"No. I'd just like to have it as a sort of… holiday home."

"A holiday home?" She sniggered. "In this kind of place? You've got strange tastes, Deguchi-kun."

"Well, it's reasonably isolated, so no one except those robot friends of yours are liable to come around. I like the quiet, and I'd like it if every once in a while I get to kick back and relax." I looked at her—technically I was well within my rights to do anything. But if she took offense, then I might have to start fortifying this place more strongly. "Is that alright?"

She scratched her chin, her eyes half-lidded and expression slack. "I dunno~ This whole place has a buncha ghosts~"

I scoffed. "Ghosts?"

"… I guess it's your business, Deguchi-kun. I won't stop you, having someone living here is prob'ly better than no one at all."

"Thank you."

That should have been the end of it.

But then, a month later, on my next break, I discovered Hoshino-senpai waiting for me on the top floor, lying on a hammock which she'd brought herself. The television set I'd lugged a month back was now turned on. She looked at me and waved.

"Yo~"

"What." She'd managed to bypass quite a lot of my security—they were all intact.

"Hope you don't mind~" She pointed lazily out the window. "Those things came back again, and I thought this was as good a place around here to keep on huntin' them. I hope you don't mind, kouhai-kun."

I sighed. This was a blatant invasion of my privacy; but on the other hand, the strange senpai was skilled. And she could watch over my building when I wasn't there.

"Tell you what," I said. "I'll give you the keys to this place, in exchange for watching over it. From time to time." Technically I could already monitor everything from afar, but I would be too far to be of any use in an emergency.

"Hm~ Sounds like work~"

"You don't like to work?"

"Not for free~"

"Oh, but I'll pay you."

Her eyes lit up, looking genuinely surprised. "Hueh?" I smiled, taking pleasure in that small victory.

It was admittedly a compromise. Still, she did end up being useful. I don't know why she even came back. I suspect it was more of the fact that the building was useful to her as a sort of outpost. Over the next months she ended up adding a lot to the nest I was making, turning it into an actual fortress.

I would walk in and discover a stockpile of ammunition in the ceiling, ordinance stuffed under the floorboards, or body armor packed behind a sliding wall. Or I'd suddenly find a working cooking station, complete with grill and several stoves. Once, I'd stashed some disassembled mortar parts, and the next time I came back they were all set up and ready for me to key into my security net. She also appreciated the freezer I'd installed, remarking that she'd been using them during the days between my breaks.

I didn't really mind it. I didn't really trust her, and we weren't really "friends" or anything like that. But she was a non-hostile, familiar presence, so I was able to tolerate her without too much trouble. And she did her job that I paid her for, which was more than I could say for most other people I knew. In the end, we had a sort of understanding of the boundaries I set in front of me, and that which she'd erected in turn. So long as neither of us crossed it, we were content with the arrangement.

Present Day

We'd finished our meal, a hotpot of various food the both of us had brought separately. Naturally, she didn't lift a finger to help with chopping the vegetables and the slicing the meat, and only stirred from her rest the moment she sensed that it was done, like some loyal dog sitting by the campfire. I didn't mind that mental image—in a way, she was kind of a stray who slipped into the house from time to time. It was never really mine, but it kept watch over the house, had a pretty mean streak, and hadn't bitten me yet.

The meal done, we went to do our own things: she went back to sleep on her hammock. She was out like a light before a minute had passed—her halo completely disappearing from her head. For myself, I fluffed the pillows on my recliner chair, stashed several cans of fizzy drinks into a small cooler filled with ice, turned the television on, and then I lay down, stretching my whole body.

After a few moments of inner contemplation, luxuriating in the warm meal I was digesting, I then snapped my fingers. Several holographic screens bloomed to life in front of me. My hands hovered above the surface, like a hobby pianist ready to warm up my fingers. Then, after a deep, steadying breath, my fingers began dancing all over the shimmering interface.

She'd asked me once before, upon seeing my whole set-up. "Is that what your idea of a break is? Doing more work?"

I had given her an unimpressed raise of my brow. "Contrary to your assumptions, a break does not always mean instant hibernation. It is just as relaxing to do work on your own pace, free from the expectations attributed to one's duty. Pursuing work for the sake of the act of working itself—there can be no greater pleasure, I think."

"… Weird kid," she'd said, before closing her eyes.

The television channel was tuned into a regular infomercial channel, with various students demonstrating the efficacy of various products, most of them crafted by Millennium artisans. I was less interested in the products they were hawking, than with the information scrolling down below. Most of it was useless: frivolous gossip only meant to appeal to the least common denominator. But there some nuggets there, that could suggest a growing trend—or a dying one.

A ring signaled the arrival of a call, keyed into the tiny earpiece. With a mere gesture of my hand, I was able to receive it without needing to break my pace.

"—it was never a sure thing, but to see the results… Well, I'm happy we both got something out of it. Talk to you again."

Tap, tap, tap. RING!

"… Are you sure about that? Because I just read that there's a rumor that they're licensing some sort of production line from Trinity…"

Tap, tap, tap.

"—I appreciate your business. You'll be receiving the relevant data right… now. It's been a pleasure."

I took a sip of drink from the can without breaking my rhythm.

"—because have I got a deal for you! Ever heard of the Matsuoka liner? Yep. Odyssey. I got a really hot tip that they're selling off—"

BEEP BEEP BEEP

That was actually an alarm telling me that Hoshino-senpai's friends had been spotted, and were withing range.

I didn't even break my concentration. I made a specific gesture with my hand, and my security cued into the order to attack.

The building shook lightly as the sound of many guns fired, arcing fire straight towards the targets. The targeting system was rudimentary, but there were pre-placed areas that corresponded to each specific command I would send, keyed to each gesture.

"… Sell off all my shares in the Sugawara Electronics Club… Yes, I know they're having that MomoFriends deal coming up soon. I just have a feeling—"

From the corner of my eyes I saw plumes of fire and smoke arise in the distance. I hardly paid it attention, and continued speaking. Hoshino-senpai kept on dozing.

No more alarms, which meant mission complete.

More time passed.

Tap, tap, tap.

"… I'm sorry sir, but as was clearly stated on the agreement that both parties signed, there is a reasonable amount of leeway in the resulting wording that…"

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I finally paused, my hands frozen. I looked to the status screen and saw one of the more problematic automatons—some sort of semi-spherical object of unknown function and make.

Fortunately, the glowing spot on its center was a suitable weak point. A nice shot from an anti-material round did the trick.

Quite unfortunately, I was already well-situated in my seat, and I didn't want to move at all. Fortunately there was a system I could test.

"Hoshino-senpai!" I hissed. "Hoshino-senpai!"

"Mmmm… more servings please…" she murmured, halo briefly flickering like a lost TV signal.

"We've got a big one. You need to shoot…!"

The halo flickered again. "Nngh? You do it~"

"I'm busy!"

"Uhe~ So am I~"

"No you're frigging not!" I made another gesture with my hands. From her right, a targeting interface emerged from the wall. The machinery smashed onto her tiny frame—but she nonetheless kept on sleeping.

"Come on! You got it in your hand already! Hoshino-senpai!"

"… Alright, alright already… zzz…"

"Hoshino-senpai!" I yelled.

Her eyes shot open. Her hand shot out, clutching the controls as if ready to fire. "Reporting for duty." But her halo hadn't appeared, which meant she closed her eyes right again without missing a beat.

I looked at the remote gun's current target. That wasn't good—judging from the various metrics, the bullet would probably miss. Calculating the trajectories in my head, I knew it was a long shot.

"Hoshino-senpai! Please look at the screen in front of you! Open. Your. Eyes!"

"It's a pain so no~" she said. Then she pulled the trigger.

"Wait, it's not yet—" I stopped, when on the screen the strange machine exploded into a ball of fire. "… Huh." That had been a hit?

"Uhe~ What a pain~ So much work~" she muttered with a smile on her face, still clearly sleeping, judging from the lack of a halo.

I sighed, and signaled the system to withdraw. It dragged her arm with it, leaving her dangling over the far edge of her hammock, face down. Well, a hit was a hit, no matter how impossible it seemed.

"At least that takes care of the troublesome distraction."

I shook my head wryly, and then went right back to work.

134 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

AN: Apologies for the wait! This is also another chapter that's technically split, but I managed to restrain myself to these chunks. Do enjoy!

"By the way, kouhai-kun…"

"?"

It was already well past sunset, and I was packing the leftovers into the trunk of my car. The whole area was rapidly turning cold. Under the light of the new moon, one half of Hoshino-senpai's eyes glimmered strangely, even creepily.

"I'll be rather busy with some affairs of my own starting next week. So I am not sure if I'll be able to make it next month."

I paused, and eyed her carefully. "Are you… quitting?"

Senpai chuckled. "'Course not. It's very lucr—very relaxing, and I'll keep to the letter of my contract with ya, no need to fret. But said work doesn't necessarily involve being here on the next time you take a break, right?"

"That is true." Her only task was to watch over the place when I wasn't there. A technicality I often overlooked; considering she chose to meet me here and stay the whole day. "Well, whatever it is that you need to attend to, I hope you do well."

"Uh… Gee thanks, I guess."

All in all, it had been a nice day for a break, especially for the first time as a newly minted President of an entire school. It felt rather normal, which was good, I think. I was a bit curious as to what might be occupying my occasional room-mate's attention, but it was none of my business so I let it be.

Upon my return to the school, I was able to squeeze in one final look at a few reports marked "Important" on my desk, before I went home for the night.

The next day, I had a whole suite of duties waiting for me. Thankfully, not a lot it had accumulated too much during my break, which meant I was able to return to the usual rhythm after taking care of a few extra stragglers.

First, there was the matter of the lesson plans.

Now what was student life like in this Kivotos?

Apart from one's usual responsibilities to attend school, students were able to engage in a number of occupations from the outset of their education. But though our work was very important, especially to those who held a number of responsibilities, it was considered entirely separate from the mandate to attend school and complete one's education.

To that end, it was every school's responsibility to provide everything that they could possibly give to their affiliated students. The main responsibility was a place set aside for them to learn. Then there should be people who would function as guides or tutors or scholars who would disseminate the requisite knowledge that each student might be purported to need.

And then there were the lessons themselves.

You had the normal ones, the important ones, the ones deemed vital, like science, mathematics, and whatnot.

Then there were the miscellany. Gun use. Gun care. Operating various equipment. How to administer first aid. Gaining licenses to use military-grade vehicles.

We all could learn that at a pretty young age. Knowing which end to point at someone, and being at the least proficient in any weapon that one held, was the standard. The more one grew, the more one could learn—for example, branching out from one's preferred firearm of choice to handling multiple; or even perfecting one's marksmanship with one. Or training to be a pilot, or tank operator, or handling particularly heavy and complicated equipment, like ordnance.

And then you got introduced to more abstract topics. How to move as a squad, how to quickly follow orders, how to respond to a combat situation. One learned the various daily nuances to keeping oneself vigilant at all times, like planning out how to assault a position, or in the reverse how to adequately protect ones' position. How to read the terrain, orient oneself; how to create a rudimentary plan on the fly to fit the ever-evolving situation.

As one grew, we were instilled with the need for great discipline, which therefore necessitated loyalty to our schools. One grew attached to one's comrades, or were otherwise unwilling to just abandon all that effort. Over time, the unique idiosyncrasy of each school's culture would permeate the average student, molding upon them the label of "_ student"; just fill in the blank with your affiliation.

Where was I going with this?

Oh right. This reminded me of how I was rather amazed that they actually allowed students to learn anything, even at a precocious age. I was able to access advanced educational topics, even as an elementary schooler. Apparently, it only raised eyebrows in that I was looking to be some over-achiever, not that an actual kid was looking to leapfrog a few grades.

The point was that at our point in education, we had already gone way past the basics of what the common human was supposed to learn, at least in my two old lives. Even the drop-outs and the delinquents of Kivotos were hardened veterans of at least fifty combat situations, whether or not those had just been simulated. I thought they could honestly endure more than even the most hard-bitten ground-pounders I knew of in the Empire, for all that they did not fear death. Perhaps it was this lack of caution, which resulted from the improbability of death, that allowed students to explore all the lessons of warfare without reservation.

But that's just my view.

Going back to the requisite lessons, each school tailor-made their lessons according to their student's present needs. Each one of us could request to learn more about certain subjects, especially if one wished to specialize into something in particular. For example, pursuing the culinary arts, or of the proper, ethical use of an incendiary ordnance dispatcher.

Such customizations usually took the form of a specially-made data storage disc, more locally known as a "Blu-ray".

These discs were a rather peculiar thing, when I first learned of them. Knowledge was not disseminated in the usual manner of a teacher dispensing lessons, whether in person or through some sort of medium; but through these data storage devices instead. The role of a "classroom" setting was to facilitate such matters as the taking of exams, or of socializing with one's school-mates, rather than of a teacher arriving to give a lecture. There were educational staff, but they were more of facilitators, administrators, even small-time security or sanitation workers.

The role of a proper educator was somehow deemed superfluous, and had been long superseded by independent study—by way of these discs.

Each school had their own types of students, which led to varying needs for education, which then naturally led to varying types of discs. Such lessons were usually very specific and customized to each school, even on such topics that I thought were deemed "general knowledge", such as science or mathematics. Judging by the bootlegs I had been able to examine over the years, there really was such a thing as "Highlander lessons", just as there were "Trinity lessons" or "Valkyrie lessons".

It was a bit of a headscratcher for me, as the content I'd glimpsed did not seem too different from what I'd expected of an (advanced) lesson.

Very well, here was a lesson from, let's say Trinity, about this-and-that mathematical equation; so I made sure to chase down a disc from some other school about that exact same topic. I discovered that the content was not much different, though there were certain differences in tone and presentation.

For example, as a girl from Highlander, we were treated to a lot of bullet-point style lessons, as if I were reading some "Powerpoint" from my old self, summarizing the information in brief chunks. Trinity lessons, to compare, were rather verbose and long, including long passages that almost bored me to tears; another comparison was something from Millennium, which sometimes had entire lessons in binary. I assumed, in the latter case, that deciphering such passages through one's own skill was the point; if so, that was just as I expected from that school.

In all cases, the content was very similar. The segregation then, was rather puzzling to decipher, as there seemed to be no rules mandating such a thing. I can only speculate that it is a cultural hallmark of this Kivotos, something unspoken and generally understood by all without needing elaboration. Each school provided their own version of lessons to their students, and that was that.

As the new President of the Kanon Union, it was part of my purview to supervise the smooth continuance of my—our—responsibility to see to the educational welfare of the students. Even the tyrant, who was very neglectful in many other things, did not dare to slack off in this regard. It was generally understood that a school that could not even do that was a failure of a school, and that its students were in grave jeopardy of becoming the societal wastrels of Kivotos.

To that end, I had to ensure the continuation of this education "scheme", by consulting with Maruki-san, the Adult that had been hired on to manage Kanon's version of the system. The affable robot was competent at his task of organizing the various duties related to his purview. It must be said, however, that he was considered an outsider along with the rest of the Adult staff, and could not be called Kanon's principal or anything of the sort. In terms of comparison, he was more of an employee funnily enough, retained by the school on a technically provisional basis.

Not that I was looking to replace him now or anything—he was competent enough and didn't really question it when the news of the coup came. Then again, I myself found it rather difficult to accept Maruki-san's sentiments regarding Kurogane Akame. To him it was just an unfortunate fact of life in Kivotos, never bringing up how irregular it was that a student had just been expelled, or that a coup had even been necessary. His first concern had been if we were going to retain his services, an anxiety I had been quick to assuage.

On one hand, I could find no fault in his pragmatism. On the other… well, it just didn't quite sit well with me. Perhaps I'm being too biased regarding my earlier lives. Generally speaking, he was of the right mindset, and I was relieved he didn't put up much fuss. I couldn't really gauge his sympathies one way or another to the tyrant. If he favored her, he certainly didn't show it.

Right now I was meeting him for the president's weekly update regarding the students' records for the week. I appreciated that he'd had the data summarized for my eyes, showing me the things I needed to know, while also including all the complicated stuff, to ensure there were no questions of discrepancies. Competence like that was rather refreshing; but then again, he was a robot. Prior experiences already told me how futile it was to match their rate of data calculations.

The data included such things as the number of students who'd filed their homework on time for that period, the marks we had received, the trend of our general academic performances, among other important things.

"As ever, your scores have been exemplary, President Deguchi," Maruki-san remarked.

It was hard to feign humility to dismiss that with the hard data staring at me, so I nodded and said, "Thank you." I pointed at something on the report. "I've seen here that not a lot of people have been completing their homework, compared to the previous period. I naturally have to ask, even if it might seem difficult, Maruki-san…"

"It's fine, President," he said. "Perfectly understandable for you to be concerned. And yes, that is how it stands. But then again, the past week or so has been very tumultuous for all the students. That is a major factor, and one which we can't discount, President. I'm sure it will all return to normal after the weeks have passed."

I crossed my fingers in front of me. "What would you recommend?"

The robot shook his head. "For now? Nothing. Nothing suggests that anything drastic needs to be done. We've seen these trends before, uh-huh. In fact, there's the historical data right there, free to peruse. These shifts come and go, you don't need to worry."

I looked straight at him for a few more seconds, and then smiled. "Well, if you're not worried, then I'll choose not to be. Thank you for your hard work, Maruki-san. I'll see you next week." I rose and shook his hand. "We're glad to still have you with us, by the by."

"I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the Union," Maruki-san said affably. "And I'm certain you can do great things, Deguchi-kun."

The clock ticked for several moments after he left the office. Then I rose and left myself.

Sizuru was waiting for me outside. "Did he buy it?" she asked.

"Like clockwork," I said. I looked at her again. "New eye-patch today?"

"MomoFriend merch," she answered without breaking her expression. She did pat her eye-patch with something like affection. "Are you still thinking of selling?"

"Not sure, honestly."

There were no underperforming students of Kanon. If there was one thing we were proud of, it's that we were very much high achievers in whatever academic field we were pursuing. Akame had recognized that; or she had naturally attracted those who of that sort (except me) when she had done her stunt.

It was why she'd chosen, early in the Union's existence, to convince a small group of "patriotic" students to falsify their occasional academic truancy.

And that was because these Blu-Rays were something of a commodity in Kivotos. For various reasons, each student, and each school, were very interested in acquiring those discs. It could be as simple as supplementing their grades—understandable for those struggling with their marks. Or, it could be as devious as a school trying to get into the head of another school. It was generally understood that for those schools with much merit, like Trinity, acquiring these discs were akin to seizing crumbs of "state secrets".

Naturally, in the case of the latter, those schools were very much vigilant against the circulation of discs they produced—while also endeavoring to acquire others in turn. They would deny it, but anyone smart would know this was going on beneath the surface. For example, in the case of an upcoming operation against Gehenna, one could seek out discs containing their special training for underclassmen, and thereby learn much about how a Gehenna squad might be operating at a certain period of time.

The discs were a finite product, wearing down after a while, and often their contents became outdated ever weeks after production. And that was why there was a hidden market for these things, making them a sort of alternative currency.

In order to produce our own these volunteer Kanon students were therefore to take their allotted lessons, "lose" them for whatever reason, and then report that they were unable to perform their homework for a week or so. We would collect this extra "fat", and then sell them to whoever wanted them most.

Apparently, the works of our Union fetched something of a high price, not as great as those like Millennium, but it was up there. It was understandable for me; as we were still basically mimicking our mother school, Highlander, in most respects. Therefore, understanding us would mean understanding Highlander, which would be very interesting to those with a particular interest in that sort of thing.

So we had a system laid out for marketing our extra discs when we needed the extra cash. Akame had pursued it because we were perpetually dancing at the edge of the red. Now that she was gone, I was honestly questioning if we should continue doing it. With the treaties and with good enough fiscal responsibility, I didn't expect we'd be doing it anymore. But the extra cash was always nice—and our patriotic students were still open to doing it.

It was very convenient for Maruki-san to be totally unaware of our little action on the side. Then again, I figured that even if he did know, he was unlikely to raise much fuss. In the case of discovery, he was losing his job, one way or another.

Currently, this particular train was operating as per normal. As we walked through its carriages, we passed by many normal people, students and adults alike, going about their business, occasionally darting a look towards the group of officious-looking students marching down the center.

I wonder how they'd react if they knew that the train was currently hauling an entire R and D laboratory behind it? Well, they'd probably think it was normal. It did sound a bit unusual to have one so close to where we worked, but we weren't exactly swimming in choice locations. The stations had limited space, and the school couldn't exactly afford to buy, nor less rent some random place.

Naturally the carriage was locked up tight. Triple security protocols, Sizuru's best on watch at all times, and if we weren't moving there were more watchers on the stations.

The inside was pretty cramped. In addition to all the workshops there was also a small section dedicated to our central server, as well as a number of emergency power sources. The rest of the space was then dedicated to the testing area—within a place as small as a train carriage that was not a lot of space.

"President," Mariya greeted me, once we'd arrived. "Terada." That was Sizuru. Aoba and Hisoka were also there. The only one who'd declined to join the presentation was Atami, who had claimed to be busy.

"Mm." Sizuru said nothing in response. Mariya didn't seem offended at the cold shoulder, and instead continued to address me as if everything was normal.

"We've finished the prototype, as we'd said in the memo." She gestured to the suit that was currently propped up on a stand.

"How is it looking?" I asked. All of us took our turns going around the suit, looking at it from every angle.

She adjusted her glasses. "Not too optimistic. We reckon that we've managed to mimic the material on the layered fabric adequately enough. It's been able to bear the same loads, just the same as the Millennium prototype. However, when it came time for the practical tests…"

"Impossible?" I said.

"We've got smart people here working at Kanon," Mariya said. "But not smart enough to be in the big leagues with Millennium. Until we have more data, we won't be able to advance further."

"That's unfortunate," I said. I looked from the manufactured suit to the actual Millennium product that was placed against the wall. It was some sort of technological marvel. It was defined like a suit of armor, proofed against most bullet types, explosives, heat and cold; while still smooth and comfortable like cotton. After we'd acquired it from third-parties, I'd been able to use it once on a crucial mission, where I'd been able to use the armor's special properties to bulldoze through several thick walls and abscond with a high value target.

I saw the potential in such a thing; if we were able to replicate it somehow, perhaps on a smaller scale, it would make our future operations just a bit easier. I couldn't just be the only one wearing the miracle suit. Like all the advanced tech before it, we'd sent it to R and D to find some way to replicate it, or at least some portion of its functions.

Unfortunately, Millennium had blackboxed its technologies pretty damned well. No matter how much we'd been able to replicate it, like this suit, it still lacked that certain "spice", that quality that allowed it to stand on the original's level.

"Here's the results of our testing, if you were curious," Mariya said. I scanned the data on my tablet.

"… All of them failed to prevent penetration," I said. The original suit had weathered a direct hit from an anti-air round. It had hurt because it hit my solar plexus—but I was still intact, and so was the armor.

"Yes."

"That makes the latest one." I glanced over at the other prototypes, and their original inspirations.

One was a pair of rocket boosters, like a miniature jetpack that allowed controlled flight. It didn't hold a candle to the feats of magic that I had been capable of prior, but according to the standards of this place it was quite a bit superior. Outfit a squad of students with that, and the tactical implications were clear. But Mariya had been unable to synthesize the fuel that caused the ignition process, turning our efforts into a sort of fancy dead weight. And even the original, having run out of the special juice, was completely unusable.

Or there was that hyper-sophisticated gun attachment, to which a simple rifle could be attached and turn into a miracle sniper weapon that could shoot at things at well over a mile's distance. The metallurgy had been simple to reproduce, the designs easy to trace, but when the time came for a field test, it could only allow the shooter to sight a target at a further distance, and not really allow for accurate, long-distance shooting.

There were other equipment, like a functional stealth suit, which Mariya had marked as a complete non-starter, as well as a scanner that could detect the existence of halos within a certain area, among many others. They'd tried their hand at trying to replicate it, only to hit a number of walls.

These technological marvels were described by our source as mere "junk" that the student inventors of Millennium had rejected in the course of their studies. I checked the reports of combat involving that school as much as I could, but aside from certain other wondrous demonstrations, they weren't fielding a lot of the more advanced tech which even we at the Union knew they had. If they didn't like their students to use miniature jetpacks all the time, what other sort of technological wizardry did they actually have in their arsenal?

And could they have developed a computation orb?

"Are you sure you even copied it right?" Hisoka asked. "Maybe your manufacturing methods are flawed."

"If you have any new insight that would be of use to our department, do feel free to offer them," Mariya said, without missing a beat. "We would surely appreciate it—as would Otae-san."

"You look exhausted," Aoba observed. I looked and saw that Mariya indeed had heavy eyebags, shrouded on first glance by a heavy layer of makeup.

"It's not an issue. It's just those birds on the rooftop sometimes." She pointed up. "Keeping me up with all that tapping."

"Birds?" Aoba repeated.

"Yes, they—"

"I can't believe you wasted thousands of yen just to produce no results," Hisoka said now. "Your department seems like a big waste."

"...So we're assured that the materials have been emulated exactly?" I asked, to head off the argument.

Mariya breathed out. "...99%. It was not hard to analyze the material itself. There's nothing really special to it."

"Your best guess as to where the difference might lie?"

"Nanotechnology." I stared at her. "Yes, I am not joking. Perhaps Millennium has mastered some form of ultra-miniaturized technology that is completely undetectable by most modern techniques."

I sighed. "Well, we can't really compete if they've got something that advanced. Then again, it could just mean we're not looking at the right place yet."

Mariya hung her head. "I humbly apologize for my inadequacy."

"No, you're doing good work," I told her. "It's Millennium that's… too much." Seeing that everyone looked anxious, most likely disappointed by the lack of progress, I then continued. "And that's why we shouldn't give up and keep on going."

"Huh?" Aoba said. "Are you going to go out and get some more, Otae-san?"

"Sizuru's just informed me that we have a new batch of discs ready for sale," I said.

"About a hundred and twenty. Could be more," Sizuru stated.

That would fetch a substantial sum, going by the price from our previous transactions. It fluctuated, but never downward. It was always, somehow, on an upward trend.

"Adding in a few treasures that we acquired on that last raid…" I was referring to miscellaneous objects that the students of Kivotos deemed valuable, sort of like works of art, different from the Blu-Rays we would be hawking. I even had a few of them in my apartment, like museum curios that livened up the place.

Unlike the discs, we'd acquired them through what I deemed to be petty theft. I felt that capturing an enemy's supplies in a raid was expected behavior, but doing that to schoolgirls was entirely too much. It spoke to the tyrant's barbarity that she would stoop to the level of the average street thug and hoodlum, instead of pursuing more reasonable alternatives.

Well, we'd be doing no more of that. That last raid, before her ousting, would be the last, and I would follow through on my promise to the students that we would never do anything of the sort again.

"… Well, we'd have a strong hand," I said, having mentally tallied the value of that trove.

A rare smile crossed Aoba's face. "Then it looks like we have a job to do, Otae-san."

"And that means…" Hisoka said, with a wide grin, staring at me. "It's time for dress-up!"

I really didn't like her. The ojou-sama type with the drill hairs, expert artillerist, and totally acerbic to her peers, was not a combination that endeared.

"Oh!" Sizuru said. "Well, I've got just the right eye-patch too."

"Something new?" Mariya said.

"Even the superbly sartorial and cute evil genius philanthropist needs a change up from time to time," said Sizuru, who had already produced another eyepatch and was holding it up over my face.

"Ahahaha… I'll… go get the wig and such, shall I?" Aoba said, voice unable to contain her excitement.

I shook my head, grumbling, and ducked into a corner to access my phone. There was a long list of contacts there which I never needed to contact, except on certain days like these.

I breathed out a long sigh. The prospect of what we were about to do always felt daunting. Steeling myself, I dialed the secure line to the first of our contacts.

"It is I. Does the White Rabbit require some sweets for the road?"

"Nihaha! You've got good timing! I was just about to call you too!"

131 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

"So what brings you back, comrade?"

"Back?" Kyoyama Kazusa repeated. "I'm not coming back."

"So why are you here? Together with your…" the girl looked over the other's shoulder. "New gang?"

"They're not— We're not a gang," Kazusa insisted.

"I mean, yeah, you're in Trinity, so…" the other girl muttered. "Then again you lot are here in the Black Market..."

Kazusa took a deep breath. She brought the laminated menu closer to her mouth and whispered, "Listen, I'd really like a solid. Much as I didn't want them to, my 'mates learned all about this place."

"Why would they be interested?" the other girl whispered, pressing her own menu to her lower mouth. "They looking to trade some stuff?"

"Trade? What?"

The other girl looked at Kazusa like she was crazy. "Aren't you hawking some stuff? Something stolen or something?"

She glared. "I told you, we're not like a gang!"

"So why…"

"It's a pretty famous patisserie… Well, famous in the underground. For some reason hearing the rumors set Natsu… set one of my 'mates off. And now we're here. For tasting the menu." She patted it.

"… You're really just here to dine?" The other girl said, with narrowed eyes. "… I don't buy it. The Ca—"

"Shut up. Shut up!" Kazusa hissed, throwing out a slap too fast for the other to duck.

"Damn… ughh…" The other girl said, groaning in pain. "You're still strong, comrade."

"Listen. I know you're going to let us in, because if I don't then your friends at Valkyrie's gonna know all about the 'Roaring Naga'—how ol' Michinaga was the Terror of Ushishima Street!"

It was the other girl—Michinaga—who shushed Kazusa now. "Fine. Fine! But I can't just let you in. You know the rules. You need a mask."

"Already done. We're just going classic." Kazusa had pulled out a black face mask out of nowhere.

"Huh. Classic indeed," Michinaga said. "… Well, other than the mask, you guys also need names."

"Names."

"Well, it can just be you. The others can be just your underlings—"

She sighed. "They're not—"

Michinaga waved impatiently. "Yes, yes, but that's the expectation in this place, don't you remember? When we used to—"

"Alright. I guess I'll be…"

"You could just be Cath—" Flick. "Ow!"

"Well you can just call us the After School Sw—Wait that kind of sounds lame in this place."

"Right? You got to be hardcore. Mysterious. Hard-boiled. Or dangerous as heck. You get inside, you're already aware of the consequences. But you don't care, and all that."

"Michinaga?" someone called out from outside. "Where the heck are you?"

"Coming boss!" Michinaga called. She looked at her former comrade. "Come on. You wanna get in right? Don't want people to get suspicious."

Once out of the corner, Kazusa gestured towards her friends—well, that was too much—her mates. They were only a few months in their association in the club.

Yoshimi looked apprehensive as she donned the sukeban mask; Airi looked excited and Natsu—well, who knew what she was really thinking at the moment?

"I was just talking terms with my friend here," Michinaga said, to the tall-looking girl wearing a mask that looked like an oni.

The girl grunted. "Whatever. And who is she?"

"She's Ca—" Kazusa stomped hard on her foot. "—shhhhhiii…" Michinaga glared, her eyes teary. "… Cash Palug! Cash Palug. An interested buyer."

Kazusa gritted her teeth, cat ears twitching wild, but she really couldn't say anything while under the oni-mask's scrutiny. "Well met, I suppose. Hope you and yours enjoy. But you better be spending big, huh? Come on in." The girl gestured to the entrance beside her.

The club members nodded at each other, affirming their intentions one last time, before they stepped forward.

"Oh crap, we actually did it! We actually did it." Yoshimi looked stunned as she looked around, like a frightened bunny about to flash her hidden fangs.

"Uwaaahh… That was kind of tense…!" Airi remarked. Despite her words, she was beaming wide.

"A commendable effort, Cash Palug," Natsu said. "Hm, it is an odd name, but it sounds strong. Formidable."

"Uhh… Thanks… I didn't really think about it." She didn't really think of it at all. Why couldn't she have made up a name before coming here?

"So what should we be doing now?" asked Yoshimi.

Kazusa looked around as they advanced down the dim corridor. "At the end, there's an elevator. We're gonna wait for it to take us down."

"Oooh. A proper secret lair beneath the already seedy establishment… Who knew that even the world of sweets could be colored by even the scent of the secretive, the sublime… There are surely no real limits in the world, in that case," Natsu remarked.

"I… guess?" Kazusa said. They'd reached the elevator.

"So do we press something?" asked Airi, looking around.

"No, I guess we have to wait."

"An elevator without a call button. The same sense as toffee-less toffee… for what purpose?" Natsu muttered.

"That shop outside already looked decent enough," Yoshimi said. "Why don't we just stay there? Why do we have to go to this secret place?"

"Is it not our role as the After School Sweets Club to explore the very horizons stretching forward in front of us in the pursuit of the saccharinely succulent?" Natsu said, sounding a little fervent. "The monkey king had the daring to dare; so why shouldn't we? What sort of primate are you, Yoshimi-san?"

"Who are you calling a monkey!?" Yoshimi cried.

Then there came footsteps, in the direction that they'd arrived. Kazusa's ears picked them up quick.

"Someone's coming," Kazusa said. "Try not to talk too much, please. We're all shady girls here, no need to rile things up."

"Understood!" Airi said.

Emerging from the darkness was a strangely dressed girl, leaning on a cane. She wore a pale grey suit, long-sleeved, with clear buttons along the middle, with matching trousers and high-heeled boots. There was some sort of cape or scarf worn over her one shoulder. She wore an eye-patch which covered one eye, and had long, black hair, each strand untidy as if brushing had never been an option. Dominating her face was a formidable black mustache, long and slightly wispy towards the end.

"Oh." The girl's lone eye focused on Kazusa. "You are—?"

"Cash Palug," Kazusa said, trying not to cringe. But her friend had already given her the title, so she would have to play along. "'Sup."

"Pleased to meet you," the girl said. She raised a hand to her chest, and said—

"Mordred."

"No."

"Mordred with an 'e'. Mordread. More dread."

"No."

"El Diablo." We all stared at Mariya. "What?"

I sighed. "No."

"San Culotte." Now it was everyone's turn to look at Aoba, who wilted.

"Why?" I asked.

The blush on her face deepened. "...Because you're wearing pants…? Trousers?"

That sounded French, so how could she know it? I consulted my phone, and saw the definition: Ancient term for one who is not wearing breeches… Well, breeches, like the standard-issue Highlander-esque panty-hose I was no longer wearing? But those weren't breeches. I stowed away the phone with a grunt, feeling slightly perturbed.

"Sounds French, so no," I said. I thought I had some lingering animosity towards the French—or rather, the Francois, from a previous time.

"Ah, it was just a suggestion," Aoba said.

"Thank you, it is still appreciated." She smiled weakly.

The door opened. Sizuru finally returned. She looked around at the others before walking to me.

"Cane," she said, proffering a long, thin object at me.

I stared long at it, confused at its features: at the one end where some sort of bird (which I recognized to be a "MomoFriend" creature wearing a hat), and at the fact that it looked like a candy cane.

"Cane," I repeated. Aoba's suggestion had given inspiration.

"Yes?" Sizuru asked, the one brow on her visible eye raising.

I accepted the cane and raised it to the light. "Cane."

"Ah! Cane with a K!" Hisoka interjected.

"Kane. Yes."

"Von Kane," said Mariya. They all looked at her, then at me, expecting another rejection.

"Von Kane," I repeated, with conviction. That sounded… right. The name felt like home funnily enough. Just one of my many.

Sizuru looked around. "I don't get it."

"We're giving Otae-san a name for her disguise," Atami said, leaning in with a whisper. She turned back to me. "You need a first name, too."

"How about Gaius Julius Germanicus?" Sizuru said. "Gaius Julius Germanicus Cane."

I blinked several times at my military chief. "Where did—who—n—no." I shook my head. "Too long."

"How about just Cane?" said Atami.

"I'm already Kane." Von Kane.

"No, spelled different. Cain, like pain."

"Cain Von Kane?"

"Cain with a K," said Sizuru.

"Kain Von Kane." I opened my mouth. It was a silly name. "KvK. That'll be on the business card." I raised the walking stick and planted it on the ground. A silly name, for a silly character.

Atami had chosen the clothes. Sizuru the eye patch, and the walking stick. Aoba had come up with the wig, and the moustache. Mariya had set up the comm-links, hidden in the hair, the gloves, the suit, the shoes. And Hisoka had been the one to do all the make-up.

And Akame? She'd done nothing but sit in her office, expecting us to do all the dirty work while her hands remained clean perpetually.

Hopefully one day she'd wise up. Or we would be forced to take drastic measures.

I looked at the mirror. This new guise needed to be perfect; it shouldn't ever be a possibility that this Von Kane fellow was Tae Deguchi.

What's one thing I rarely did? I puffed out my chest. Relaxed shoulders. Swagger: from a confidence I never felt. Wiggled my fingers, like some clown. Crinkled my eyes to evoke continuous amusement. I stroked my mustache, in a most sophisticated manner.

Then to top it off: a smile, ever-reliable human social sweetener.

No, wider.

And bigger.

There we go, me.

"Greetingz. I—am—"

"Kain Von Kane," said the girl, with a wide, toothy smile, the teeth all pearly white. "Very nice to be meeting you." Her voice seemed slurred, the words slightly unintelligible.

"Another formidable name," Natsu muttered. They all looked at her silently.

"It eez appreciated," the girl said, with a nod. The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Von Kane made a sweeping bow, gesturing with her stick. "After you, mein friends."

"Oh, please, it's no trouble—"

"Pleeazz, I do inseest."

"… Come on then," Kazusa muttered. The Club filed into the elevator and went to one side, and Von Kane went to another. The doors slid shut without anyone pressing a button; apparently it was automatic.

She hoped no one would have a staring contest with the girl; she was already tense enough without adding some strangely-dressed individual to the mix.

"So do you come here often?" Natsu said abruptly.

Even the Von Kane seemed surprised as they that the girl had even said something.

"Aye, that iz correct, my dear," replied Von Kane, while stroking her mustache. "It iz here that there is mucho… opportunities yes? Opportunities vee all seek… and for zat reason we gazzer here."

Natsu made a humming sound. "And what sort of opportunities could there be today?"

Von Kane chuckled. "Well, zat entirely depends… on what it eez that is required. I vud need to take full picture."

"You hear that?" Natsu said, turning to them. "Sounds like they've got a secret menu even more secret than the one upstairs!"

"Yeees… A menu iz exactly what it iz. That eez exactly what it eez my masked amigo. A list of all that one wishes, one desires… If provided one is ready to pay… mein price."

"Ah, damn, so it is also going to be expensive as heck," Natsu remarked, frowning now. "I hope I can spot you for some change, Yoshimi-san."

"Like hell!" Yoshimi said, before she stopped, recalling the situation. She glanced furtively at Von Kane and looked away quickly.

The eyepatch girl chuckled, "Hohoho… Vel, as I said, ze menu is vast and long… if not one, then I am sure zer are others more suitable to your taste."

"I agree. I'm sure there'll be a flavor most agreeable to us all," Natsu said seriously.

The elevator dinged open, and the dim insides of the elevator was inundated with a bright pinkness that almost blinded Kazusa.

When her vision returned, Kazusa peered into the vast room inside, and stared.

It was a typical restaurant place, fluffy chairs and tables, two floors, patrons. But the decor—everything was pink. Or some shade of pink: flamingo, pastel, cotton candy, lavender, or whatever it was. It seemed too sweet, like it was attacking the taste buds of her eyes.

But of course, what drew her eyes instantly, and likely those of her clubmates, were the display cases set on one side of the room, where several masked attendants waited. There were croissants dressed in various creams, macarons piled like ancient doubloons, racks filled with nothing but donuts in all their multicolored multitude, tiramisus fortified by various toppings and layers, eclairs glistening in the light, cookies and biscuits and tarts and madeleines and roll cakes and everything else that the sweet buds desired. On top of that, there were toppings aplenty, arranged in racks like ammunition, ready for the consummate dessert consumer to indulge.

"What the… I haven't seen a choco fountain that tall! And look at that cake—"

Kazusa blinked, and saw that her 'mates had already rushed forward, crowding around the various displays excitedly. She looked to the side, but saw that Von Kane had already departed, and was heading towards a table.

She huffed, and shook her head. She'd focus more on making sure her friends—were they even friends yet?—would enjoy their time here, and not get tangled up in whatever shady thing(s) was happening in here. At this point, it was impossible to clear up the misunderstanding, so she just hoped for the best.

The owner was already expecting me, which meant that no sooner had I settled into my table did several servers come in, bearing trays and platters of sickening sweets to my table until it seemed like it was going to collapse from the sheer weight.

But this glucose-infused fortification had a purpose. It was the vector through which my business here would be conducted. I didn't need to eat it all, and in fact all of this wasn't for me.

It was for our customers, who would be arriving shortly.

It was an accepted fact that the Black Market was the confluence of the less than legal trade in all Kivotos. Its infamous reputation and its centralized position made it convenient for those with the wherewithal to participate in that sort of commerce. Its reputation also worked against it, ironically giving it more scrutiny despite its original intentions. Since a convenient alternative had yet to be found, an extra layer of obfuscation was usually required—a construction of reality beneath the one presented in order to achieve a certain goal. In our case, we needed to establish an influx of cash we would never have gotten legitimately.

After some time passed, I saw each of my prospective customers arrive through the elevator. I pretended to enjoy something with marzipan; though to be fair it was pretty scrumptious.

First there was a corpulent-looking cat, wearing a muffler and eyeglasses to conceal his form. The only clue anyone here might note would be the color of his fur or his particular corpulence; then again, there were lots of brown, fat cat-people in Kivotos, so that was a tall order.

"Ah, Monsieur Montecristo, how wonderful to see you again~ Come, come, you must sample some of these," I told him, gesturing towards the piles of sweets on my table.

"Don't mind if I do," the man said, sitting down at the other end of the table. He was flanked by several students, neither of whom were wearing identifying uniforms. He took one of the long donuts, stuffing them in his mouth as one would a cigar. The message was understood; he had nothing to buy, but since he was sitting, he had something to say. "I must say that I am glad to be able to meet you here again. We have been missing your gregarious sweet tooth around these parts."

"You are too kind," I said.

"The Professor regrets that she cannot meet. But she was most grateful for the advice you gave last, regarding the tourism opportunities in Hyakkiyakou."

"I'm pleezed to hear zat," I said.

"She wishes you to have a taste of what she found," he continued, placing a thin envelope on the surface of the table and sliding it towards me.

"Thank you. Mmm… Smells rather floral." I placed the envelope to my face and smelled. "Orchid perhaps, hm?"

"I wouldn't know," the cat said, with a shrug.

I slipped the flap open, and looked at the postcard there. I read, a little louder: "My friend, wishing you were here. The view from the tree was excellent. Regards, your fellow cane connoisseur." The postcard showed what was perhaps the Hyakkiyakou district's greatest landmark: the great tree. I placed my fingers along the card's surface and stroked it from end to end, like I was admiring the picture.

I looked at my guest. "Pliss tell her, if you can, zat the sentiment iz appreciated." I leaned back and tapped my finger on my head absently. "Which brings me now to ze present. Iz zere aught I can still do for der Professeur?"

"Not at the moment, but she obviously hopes she can count on your advice again, should it be possible."

Translation: we don't have anything to buy from you or sell to you, but our group/leader would like to keep the way open in the future.

"There are several delightful treats that are supposed to be coming out of the chef's pantry soon… Ooooh, I'm sure we'd all love to have a taste, whatever they are," the cat continued, as he finished off his pastry. "...Now, I must be going. You take care, Von Kane."

"Eez bien, eez bien." I stopped tapping and smiled. "Haff gut day, sir Montecristo." The cat-person left, leaving me in relative silence for a few moments.

After that, there came a crackle in my ear. "Sizuru here. We got the goods, President."

I didn't say anything, but I did relax. We had completed our little business using only vague pass-phrases, nothing to indicate to any listener of what our business was, or any other specific. Only those of us, who were already in the know, knew.

The first clue was the scent. The orchid referred to one of several pre-arranged stores that sold books. Aoba would be waiting in one, and Atami and Hisoka would await in the others.

Orchid was a flower, so it was in "Hanasaki Retailers", the shop with the flowers on its logo.

The postcard from Hyakkiyakou, another clue—pointing Aoba or the others towards a specific section of the store.

In that section was a book, a bonafide one with paper and such, prompted by my reading of "tree", else it would have been in an online journal instead.

The last part was the series of codes stamped onto the postcard in braille, which one could read quickly with a scan of one's fingers on the surface. The coordinates I'd read I then broadcasted through Morse, transmitted through the tapping on my ear-piece while I'd been talking with Montecristo.

Fortunately, the coordinates were always somewhere out there in the Market; it didn't make much sense to leave the "reward", whatever it was, lying around in some other place. The Market conferred security in an ironic fashion despite what one would expect from its reputation. I knew that somewhere out there, Sizuru or her people had located a truck that just so happened to have been left with the keys still in its ignition. Even now, they were probably taking it to one of our stations to unload, before returning the truck.

Our contact, who seemed to be some sort leader of a secret organization, was only known as the Professor. A faceless student, or Adult, with a meticulous eye for organization, and a curious case of honor and fair play, for a shady figure at least. I wouldn't be surprised if they were outright criminals; I just didn't want to lob around accusations without proof. The only thing I knew about them was that they took a liking to my cane prop.

I poured some more tea for myself. So far so good.

"White Rabbit", one of my more prominent customers, swung by.

"Long time no see, Von Kane!" she said brightly. She was a student with twin-tails, and wore a pair of black sunglasses with a mask. She was one of the few people I knew never to underestimate in all of Kivotos.

There was a special kind of individual who possessed both cunning and gumption in spades, enough that she could just sneak out various pieces of technology from inside one of the biggest schools in the City. Oh, naturally they were pieces of "junk" by her words, but from experience that tech was functional and very much revolutionary. That she had never been caught, yet, and was likely supplying a dozen of other interested individuals like myself, made her a pretty significant figure in the underground in my eyes.

The thought that she was herself a Millennium plant, likely intended to outsource the testing of various technologies, had crossed my mind—but in that case it was no problem on my end. They were still very useful things, and if they had managed to secure some data from it, then I guess it was a win-win. I didn't like it, but it is what it is.

"Velcome, pretty rabbit," I said. "Might I invite you to join me?"

"No thanks, I've got to dash real soon," said White Rabbit. "I will have some of that fudge, though. That looks pretty good!"

"Please." I gestured.

"See ya around!" the girl said, as she bounced off.

She wanted a transaction, in cash, and the fact she didn't sit around to discuss things meant that she was keeping to the previous terms of the trade: she was only trading technology from her end. In other instances she had also traded in important data that we sold to other interested parties, such as data involving Millennium's current security codes, or some sort of "alpha" from their "games" department.

I took a sip. So that was White Rabbit done.

The infamous mercenary band, Problem Solver 68, had once been new to the scene, but I would soon find them dependable work buddies. I'd gotten into several scraps with and against them during my various black ops mandated by Akame. They were frighteningly competent, if a bit too unregimented for my taste. Then again, they consistently got results, which was the most important thing.

Now they didn't know that I was Von Kane—I hoped—which meant that my association with them was different here. They were also moonlighting an underground arbitrage, which meant I could acquire or sell things to them.

On our first meeting here a while back, I had met with "M-chan", who was wearing a disguise that I had immediately seen through. I had played along, of course; their business was not mine to pry.

Their current representative was another member, K-san, with a hood up over her head and a white mask over her eyes.

"There's been a recent breakthrough in that recipe the chief's prepared. Supposed to be rather sweet, for something bitter," she said, while munching on a cookie.

"Oho~ Now zat soundz intriguing~"

Apparently, that long-term investigation that they'd been undergoing for me had born fruit.

"You interested? I could set up a reminder for you," K-san said.

"Plizz. It iz of great interest to me."

"Alright. But I hear it won't be cheap."

"Do not be worrying of ze price. Leave zat worrying to me." I was always worried about the price, but not in this instance, when I had explicitly hired them, paying them from out of my own pocket instead of the school's. It was, after all, a matter of… personal interest.

"Well, if you're feeling mighty generous, I wonder if you'd buy me some of those angelbread over there?" K-san said, pointing a thumb back over her shoulder at the counter.

"That vud be no trouble, no trouble at all, mein friend!" I cried. "How much vud you be wanting?"

"Well… maybe around four."

"Four pieces?"

"Four boxes."

I coughed, and not just because there'd been an errant crumb in my craw. I had to take a steadying sip to clear the throat. "Koff… Boxes? Hm… Well that is… very big. Koff. Very big indeed. You are thinking of a party?"

"No, it's just for my friends."

Translation: Problem Solver 68 had a number of guns and ammunition for sale. They didn't have just four boxes, they had four truckloads. Regardless of how they'd gotten such a windfall, they weren't looking to auction this off to however many small schools that would have been interested. They were only plying it to friends—specifically the people they knew, like me.

The question was: should we acquire it? It wasn't as if we were really hungering for more weapons. On the other hand, it wasn't as if we had a dearth of them. We were constantly burning through supplies—in the days since the coup alone, there had been three recorded skirmishes, which had already bled our stores.

"… In lieu of the angelbread, my friend, would you like some fudge instead? Or perhaps a cake roll?" Did she want cash? Or some other item in kind?

"Neither of those." She leaned forward. "Perhaps something more fitting would be… cream wafer."

"Oh? What kind of brand?"

"K."

"K?" I stroked my mustache in thought. "Not a brand I'm familiar with…"

"Oh you're not? They supply the three main ones."

I stilled. "Oh, that K?"

Rather odd for them to ask about that. I wondered if they knew… But that was their business regardless.

I relaxed, smiling at her, trying to read the intentions through her eyes. "What flavor of wafer, zen, are you asking, my friend?"

Several more transactions later, I would be confronted by a familiar face.

Suit, tie, black sunglasses, all identical across the three girls confronting me, standing stiffly like they were facing a military tribunal. Except that was their normal manner, typical of known executives of the Genryumon from faraway Shanhaijing. They didn't need to hide themselves from identification, protected by that school's atypical customs.

"Von. Kane. We meet again."

I tried not to give them a Deguchi look. Always cheerful, was Kain Von Kane. "A delightful day it is to greet you again, mein friends! Come, join me at my table."

"No, we have no time," their leader replied, red hair tied in a stiff bun. "We require some 'fudge'. We assume you are still… thirsty for a smoothie?"

"Smoothies haff gone out of fashion, I'm afraid." I said.

"But many people still like them," she countered.

"...Fine. Smoothies it is." We had always been able to resell their product. I leaned forward. "But leesen here. Remember vat happened before." Then, to emphasize my point, I tapped my spoon, repeatedly on the table. The other two girls flinched with each strike, while the leader's brows furrowed.

"You won't catch us offguard like before…!" she hissed.

"I don't really care," I said cheerfully. I waved the spoon at them. "Just remember to remember… And think on vat happens if you don't. Now go on." I waved them off. The girl wanted to say something, but there was a whisper in her ear, so she nodded stiffly and left. I watched them go, hiding a smirk behind my cup as I drank.

There was one customer whom I'd never seen before—though I was familiar with the ones accompanying her.

Just like the Genryumon goons, these fellows didn't need to disguise themselves, though they did still wear sunglasses and the like. It was as if they could see the utility of masking their features, yet hiding their real affiliation to their school was an unacceptable thing to do.

But then again, that must be what the students attending Red Winter were like.

"Ah, my friends from distant parts!" I said warmly. "Come, come, would you share a hot drink vit me?" As I spoke, I took stock of the girl in the middle whom I've never met before—short, blonde hair with a tall, slender physique.

"Y-You're Von Kane, right? I—I—wish to do some business with you," the center girl said.

"Apologies, but I don't deal in 'business'," I said, with a raised brow. "I'm merely here to indulge mein sweet tooth. No?" I raised my cup and took a sip.

"Ah, but aren't you the—you know, the—the girl we're supposed to—Argh! This is so complicated!"

"Mein friend, pliss sit," I said soothingly. "You zeem distressed. Perhaps ein drink, to calm the nerves hm?"

"I suppose I—no, I really shouldn't be indulging, it isn't proper—I—" she stopped, when one of her companions whispered in her ear. "… Excuse me." She turned around properly and talked. I watched patiently as they began whispering among each other.

When she turned around again, she looked like she was surreptitiously reading from a piece of paper in her palm.

"My comrades wish for a… a portion of… cookies."

"Cookies? I see… What sort?"

She glanced at her fellows. "Anything? Anything. Any kind," she said. "Anything you can supply. Give."

Well now, it felt lucky that K-san earlier was about to trade four boxes of them. "Vell… you are free to take ze cookies, but…"

"I'll pay, er… we'll pay," the girl said abruptly.

"Dear customer, you are placing me in very awkward position…"

"That's all!" the girl said. "That's all I can say! Please have a good day." She then marched off, with her fellows chasing after her. One of them stayed behind, and smiled apologetically at me.

"Please have no worries, Von Kane," she said. "It is… just a normal exchange, just like before. Some cookies, and I expect we'll order… er… some fudge perhaps."

I shrugged. "Very well. Fudge… is always good."

"Thank you for your patience," she said, before going after the others.

I leaned back in my seat and shook my head to myself. "Damn Reds," I said under my breath. Always a hassle to do business when it came to them.

All in all, it was a very productive day. We'd prepared some deals, and on balance I felt that we would be gaining a net positive, so that was always good.

But promising an exchange in the patisserie was one thing; we still had to physically exchange the goods. And Von Kane would still need to be there.

131 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN:Note, Genryumon member is a nobody.

Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).

Chapter Text

Author's Note: So this chapter wanted to grow tall and strong like it drank milk so I had to send it on its way. Don't worry, next part's coming real soon as a result.

It was cliché, but night-time was the best time for the clandestine, especially in Kivotos. When we conducted night raids into unsuspecting schools, we were able to take advantage of one simple fact: only the best schools ever tried to set up security for their own properties. Those small schools whose students had all gone home meant they were always ripe for the picking. It never sat well with me, though. I tried not to think of the schools we may have bankrupted with our efforts, forcing their students onto the streets. I was no bleeding heart, but these were students, who didn't deserve all this bullcrap.

And neither did I, come to think of it.

There were no students in Kivotos who were natural night-owls, or so I'd seen. An exemplar student usually got home before the real dark of night set in, when the halos in the sky gleamed in that surreal and beautiful way. Only those with something to prove, or those with something to hide, prowled the night streets. Night was the domain of the responsible and irresponsible Adults.

Here and there, in the gloomy and isolated corners of the City, Kain Von Kane and her merry band scurried to do their business, hoping the vigilant eyes of their betters did not catch wind of them.

My first few customers were the standard fare—those who had something to buy or sell, which I did accordingly. Goods changed hands along with money, hard yen carried in bags and cases, examined through a sophisticated Millennium-patented machine. Off went some of our Blu-Rays, off went some of our treasures—stone discs and cylindrical doodads and porcelain dolls and many others. We received crates of ammunition only to have someone else haul them away, we took custody of cars stuffed with guns which we would immediately sell to someone else.

I noted that the girls from Wildhunt were unusually jumpy, but that was their business, and they didn't voice any concern with me.

Names were crossed off the list, and our own profits were hauled in by Sizuru and her girls to double check.

Then it was time for our more "special" customers.

Miss White Rabbit was waiting for me in the blind spot of an alleyway somewhere in the Millennium district. I'd needed to sneak my way under the watchful eyes of the many drones littering the streets, unwilling to let Von Kane be seen for too long. Facial recognition software was damned advanced—especially considering I had used commercial versions myself for various reasons. If I, and the average student, had access to a good one, the school known for Science most assuredly would have better.

"Nihaha! Evening, Von Kane. Have you brought the delicious fudge I like?"

I held up the chip, within which were engraved the data linked to a digital dead drop of money. Technically the money had been mine, which required some skillful accounting to transfer the money from the school to my accounts. I never stopped feeling nervous about it.

The White Rabbit seemed to prefer that type of transfer compared to a bag of bills—even if it was easier to trace, in my opinion. But that was her preference, so I went with it.

"Oooh, my favorite flavor," Rabbit-san said with a grin. The chip disappeared quickly. "Now then, let's get started. Follow me."

I ran behind White Rabbit as she sprinted through the back alleys, going down a convoluted route that made it hard to track and remember. I assumed she was doing this to throw off people who might be following us, and also to confuse me. I didn't mind; I'd probably have done the same.

"Here we are," she said, stopping in front of some sort of shop, or the back of it in any case. "Stay here, please. I can tell there's some kind of camera up there. Need to… do something about its eyes, unless you actually want to be seen."

"I shall leef it to you, friend," I said. In the darkness, it was hard to see the camera. I gripped my cane tight, just in case. I strained my ears, for the sound of someone approaching. Because of that I was able to hear bits and snatches of White Rabbit's voice as she continued to work.

"… where is it, where is it… Ah, here it is! Tricky little thing…"

Silence. Then, an exclamation, "Uwaaah!"

"My friend?" I asked, stepping forward. "Something wrong?"

"D-don't mind me!" she replied, in a near shout. "J-just checking on things, don't worry…!"

I heard several noises, like something slamming against the wall repeatedly. There were several clangs, then a series of digital beeps, then the distinct sound of tapping on a keyboard. Then more loud slams.

"… retinal scan..? Have to… Good thing I brought… Nice thinking, me…"

The sound of a passing truck back in the street made it hard to hear her words.

"… can't read this, what do I… Hope this is the right code-base…"

The sound of contact in my ear made me lose concentration. "Otae-san, we kind of lost you! Please respond. Over." That was Aoba, handling the central communications for tonight.

"I'm here," I muttered to the comm. "I'm alright. Will report back. Over." I tried to hear what my contact was saying, though it was hard.

"…eeny meeny miny… Here goes nothing…"

I heard another series of beeps, followed by the White Rabbit uttering a cheer, like she'd won the lottery or something.

A moment later, I saw her poke her head out. "Come on, Von Kane, it's clea—I mean, I've made sure everything's all set."

"Having trouble with your security?" I asked, looking around warily.

"Mm… Something like that." I followed her through the door, and blinked as the fluorescent lights turned on. Inside felt much colder than outside, meaning there was an active AC. It all smelled clean and fresh—factory fresh, even.

"Watch out for that area there," she said, pointing towards a particular part of the room. "Laser tripwire."

I looked towards that point. I couldn't see anything, but I did spot several nubs or wires near the walls, which could indicate they were emitting a laser. "Cannot you turn it off?"

"It's… I can't…"

"Huh?"

"I, I mean I don't want to," White Rabbit said, with a chuckle. "It's a paiiin, y'know? I have to set it back up, change the locks, input the codes—very tedious work, very tedious—Anyway!" she slapped her hand. "Go ahead! Pick whatever suits your fancy."

I beamed at her without hesitation. I had my reservations, as I usually did when I visited one of her "troves". But I was sure she had very good reasons.

This was very likely one of her many warehouses where she housed her stolen goods, and likely followed a particular set-up which would be difficult to manage on a normal basis. It's what I thought I would do myself if someone ever tried to gain access to my holiday home in a friendly fashion—it would have been a right pain deactivating most of the security just to put it back up afterwards. I'd have wished they didn't enter at all, to be honest.

"Well then, what do we have here, do you know?" I was hoping, like always, that she'd have some sort of manifest to see what exactly each of the items here were.

"Nahhh, like I told you before, I just pick them up and throw them in here, heh." She mimed the motion of throwing something. "They might be junk, they might be worth their weight in gold, or they might be completely priceless! It's a gamble, but I know you'll win it all, Von Kane. After all, have I ever given you any reason to doubt me and my… skills?"

"You haff certainly not, which iz why I like your business, friend!" I said.

"Thanks! And I like being in business with ya too!" she said.

I was a little disappointed—which meant I had to look for something that looked interesting, and then of potential use.

She had always told me to take my pick, whatever it was, commensurate to the value she'd placed upon it and what I'd given her in turn. Sometimes I would be able to choose many little things at once, or one big thing, like that miniature jetpack, or that stealth suit.

The White Rabbit tapped a box, and it hissed open, revealing several objects within. I peered inside, trying to see if there was some sort of note or label attached, but there was nothing. I could only guess what each of this tech would do by their appearance. For example there was a mask—very likely it had functions related to the human head or face. Or a pair of boots—it could be something as wondrous as anti-gravity boots, or something petty like a roller-blade hybrid, which would make it a mere novelty.

I didn't really have time to test everything inside there. And I especially couldn't just up and use anything I could grab—what if it just exploded? I had to be extremely circumspect.

I knew what I wanted though. Something to reinforce or bolster our efforts to recreate that "battle suit" for my school. Maybe another sample would be nice. Even just something similar; again, perhaps a pair of boots that seemed to have the same properties, would be adequate for the payment I'd given the White Rabbit.

"What about this?" She pulled out a gun-shaped object from another box. "I think…" She peered at it. "… Think this is some sort off freeze ray-gun."

"Interesting," I said. "Too bad vee can't test it."

She took aim somewhere and clicked the trigger. Several empty clicks sounded. We stared for a few moments before she said, "Um… Probably not, then. You want to have a look?"

I shrugged and took it. It was actually kind of heavy for something that looked like a simple pistol with a stranger design. I couldn't really see if it used a magazine or a "power source". I pointed away and depressed, expecting a light click.

"Uwaaaah!"

We both stared when the gun shot some sort of attenuated beam that left a crystalline deposit on the floor. It seemed to be ice, or something. In a panic, I passed the gun back to her, feeling like it had suddenly become a hot potato.

"Is that… ice?"

We crouched and hesitantly reached out.

"Wait, let's use zis," I said. I used the end of my cane and poked it.

The ice or ice-like crystal dissolved, or evaporated, becoming like mist before disappearing completely. We both looked at each other.

I rose and sighed. "While… interesting, iz not vat I vant at ze moment."

"Gotcha," she said, tossing the gun back inside the box.

We moved deeper into the area, opening, checking and closing boxes and chests as we went. There were also other things strapped against the walls, or placed along the many shelves. Admittedly, I was a bit out of my depth without any good descriptions of each; I was forced to just take a guess on what each item might be just by looking.

"Vat is this… 'A-E Project'? Do you know?"

"I couldn't answer that, you know, even if I knew," she said.

"… Zat is fair." I was looking at some sort of thick gauntlet, fitted over the hand. I saw an inscription, small and almost missable, along its surface. I was curious because I'd seen such inscriptions before, on previous purchases, like the armor, the jetpack, or the halo-detection system.

If these were all from the same project, then perhaps Mariya could gain some more insights if I took this. They were a pair of gauntlets, and my assumption was that they were for heavy duty work—perhaps for lifting or gripping something too heavy for the average student. They might also be good for punching out somebody—but a rocket-propelled grenade could do the same thing.

"So you're choosing those?" she asked.

"Perhaps. Let us finish zis whole place before I decide."

"Up to you."

We came across boxes filled with thousands of small packets, which were labeled with the names of various food. They reminded me of astronaut "food" for some reason, though these purportedly held an entire meal inside a small packet. There were even small tubes that purportedly contained "pure water".

"I've seen these before," White Rabbit said, picking one and making it flap in her fingers. "Tastes real bad, but pretty nutritious. It's like they packed an entire meal into a small block. An explosion of flavor, bakyum! In your mouth! You wanna try some?"

"No thank you," I said politely, gesturing for her to close the box. I wondered what was the point of these. They might have been useful for my retreat, as I could envision living on one packet for several days. But this was Kivotos, and there was no "Cold War" threatening an apocalypse.

I was just about to tell White Rabbit that I'd be taking the gloves. Then she got stuck on opening a box, falling back against the shelf behind her. The whole arrangement was jolted, causing several small corrugated boxes to dislodge their contents onto the floor.

"Are you alright, mein friend?" I asked, reaching out to help her up.

"Just fine," she said, rubbing her backside.

I looked around at the mess, about to help tidy up, when my eyes were instantly drawn to one particular thing.

"Impossible," I said.

I didn't quite recall what happened. The next thing I knew, I was staring at the object in my hand, oblivious to the world around me.

It was a small, round object, shaped in a familiar way.

A computation orb.

"You recognize it or something?" White Rabbit asked. I looked at her. "You look pale—well, paler than your usual, Von Kane."

"I—" I took a deep breath. I looked back at the object, turning it around in my hands. "Well… yes. There—Zer i—iz something… familiar about it."

"Oh?" She tilted her head, looking down on it. "What's it do?"

I tensed, wondering if I should reveal it now. Instinct warred with reason; there was simply no excuse for showing off this, especially to White Rabbit. But I was also very curious, wanting to know if it worked, if it even was the same thing I knew, in a previous life.

Here were the bevels to program, the ignition switches, the power dials, the "exhaust" panels. But there were also things I didn't recognize: buttons of questionable function, and a screen akin to that used in a tablet. It also looked quite a bit more robust, as if it were a mock-up before the true design completion. And then there was the inexplicable hollow that I found after pressing a panel—like it was a place to insert analog batteries or something. But nothing was inside. I wonder if it even had a core?

I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers onto the object. A novice could flip the right formula in their sleep; but I had to be better. Manipulate the energy (pray to Him do it now) and let the orb respond.

I opened my eyes.

There was nothing.

Nothing but a familiar weight in my hands, and a clueless White Rabbit, staring at me and the object.

It failed? Or perhaps I was missing something… or maybe it was missing something. This was Millennium, after all, so perhaps they had stumbled upon the theoretical of the Orb through a mere spark of genius; and I could believe they ended up missing some things. And perhaps they had been unable to solve the conundrum, and left the orb here, lying in the corner until the White Rabbit had nicked it as part of her racket.

"Dangerous, do not touch," White Rabbit read off the side of the box where where the orb had come from. She snorted.

I made my decision. "I'll just be taking zees zen," I said, indicating both the orb and the gloves.

"You sure? Well, it's your choice. Pleasure doing business with ya again!" she chirped, looking very pleased.

I hid the orb when I met Sizuru and the others, only handing off the gloves to them. For now, this would remain my secret.

I knew that Problem Solver 68 were here even before I'd spotted any of their members, nor less the trucks they were about to give us. It was hard not to miss the tell-tale feeling that sprang its way up my spine, like an atavastic instinct recorded upon my soul, when I could sense that an ambush had been prepared. I knew there were people, hostile people, lying in wait. My eyes sought and found the hints of traps and mines prepared all over the meeting ground, all signs pointing to a pre-prepared killing zone ready to blow up in my face at the first sign of provocation.

And of course, I'd already experienced their methods before—having been on the receiving end, not that they were aware that Von Kane was Deguchi.

It was not "P-san" who met me, but their leader, one Rikuhachima Aru herself. Unlike the setting of the patisserie, here they had no reason to hide.

Aru was a formidable young girl, the horns on her head indicating her origins at Gehenna, dressed in a long, imposing fur-lined coat that hung from her shoulders. Few were the students who wore those openly without fearing ridicule or censure. She carried herself with the poise of a lioness on the prowl, quiet, fierce, regal, proud. Even when I'd scored hits on her body, she'd seemed to weather the pain with a confident smile.

She was not the type of girl I wanted to engage with for long. I suspect that she would not be the type to suffer the command of fools, which might be why she'd struck out on her own with her group of mercenaries. And to top it all, she was also a bit taller than me, which made the impression of our power imbalance all the more stark in my mind.

"Von Kane," she greeted, bowing politely.

"Mizz Aru," I said, making a sweeping bow in turn. "I hope ze night treats you vell."

Her eyes narrowed. "I hope it does. Makes for a nice change." Well that sounded ominous. She turned and gestured towards the trucks. "Come along please, there's something I'd like to show you."

I felt myself tense, wondering if they were about to pull a double-cross. I didn't think they were the type, but there was always a first time. I was armed—no one smart ran around unarmed in Kivotos—but myself against the four of them would be a major pain in the ass.

She opened the back of the truck, and a thick wad of sand smacked right into my face. I doubled over, coughing, and quickly peeled off the eyepatch to maintain my sight, while I furiously scrubbed my face free from the rough granules.

I also heard a loud, blaring sound, which I quickly recognized to be the truck's automated alarm. Through a single, pinched eye, I looked up at Aru, who had a face like granite, her body trembling as if repressing an immense font of rage.

Elsewhere…

A trio of eyes kept watch over their leader.

"Er… Is she alright?" someone asked.

"Kufufu… Don't worry Haruka-chan, this is just a proper negotiating tactic," someone else replied.

The third sighed, silent, as she peered through the night-vision oculars. They really should have cleaned out the sand from the cargo days ago, just as Aru had suggested.

But one thing had led to another, and now the result of their sloth had smacked Kain Von Kane right in her face. That had been a heart-stopper right there, as regardless of her suspicions, Von Kane was a dangerous character. She was tempted to just intervene and try to salvage it, but she knew her friend wouldn't appreciate losing face.

She just hoped Aru could salvage this situation somehow.

Also, she really should turn off the alarm now. That was just embarrassing.

The loud braying shot into my ears repeatedly, encouraging me to break character and ask "What the hell?". Yet I recognized this as some sort of power play: first using the leftover sand to unbalance me, and then using the noise as a method of intimidation. So I stood firm and just held her stare in silence, patting my face with a handkerchief wondering what sort of message she was sending.

I eventually conceded, breaking the deadlock to look back at the interior of the van. I saw that there were indeed scores of crates stacked inside, all no doubt filled with the guns and ammunition that K-san had promised. So what was the problem? And why had she still not turned it off?

"… Zat all looks to be in order," I observed.

"Oh no no no no no," she said, her voice hoarse and low and menacing. Despite the repeating alarm, her voice nonetheless sounded loud and clear. Then she cleared her throat, her tone returning to normal. "… T-that is to say, n-not exactly. It's not the whole reason."

"Vat do you mean?" I turned to her.

"Look more closely," she said, dragging one of the crates forward. She pointed at something on top of the box, printed on the wooden surface.

"Vat is—" I said, before I blinked. I recognized the symbol.

That was the sun and pyramid of Abydos High School.

I was able to put two and two together in an instant. The reason why she was even showing me this was because—

"So hyu discovered all zis… in ze course of your task," I said.

"You got that right. Imagine our surprise to find such a cache," Aru said, as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her coat. I could practically feel the chill in her voice, which was then accompanied by the alarm abruptly ending, returning the night to silence—the sort of loud silence that continued to ring in my throbbing ears.

I thought she'd made the point of her displeasure very clear. "It is enough to make one wonder, and maybe even ask some uncomfortable questions," she continued.

"So all zeees trucks…?" I gestured towards the other trucks.

"Yep."

The task that I'd commissioned of the Problem Solver 68, not as a representative of the Kanon Union, but as myself, Tae Deguchi, had been to explore the ruins of my property, over at the Abydos district. I had been curious ever since I'd excavated the Evening Pharos building; there had been a lot of scattered junk I'd uncovered that had nonetheless turned a profit, however miniscule. Could there be more in the sand-covered buildings I'd bought?

I hadn't really had the time to do it myself, nor could I realistically find people to do it for me. People talked in Kivotos, and I didn't want to accidentally reveal that I owned property—especially now that I was the President of an entire school. It took me a long while to decide that the Problem Solver 68 were trustworthy enough people to hire, and that was after I'd already known of them for months.

Still, I was wondering why Aru seemed displeased with me currently, especially in connection to all the trucks they'd brought back.

"You didn't mention that we would be exploring the ruins of old schools," she said. Ah, so that's what she was concerned about? Unless you were really desperate you didn't go around stealing or looting other people's property. Isn't that right Akame? Then again, this was my property in the first place—but should I be telling her that?

"Iz a problem?" I asked. "I did not tell you to take zese didn't I? Zat you somehow acquired zis is not my concern."

"It is your concern, if all this was acquired through extreme circumstance, resulting from an inadequacy of information," she countered. "You didn't tell me there would be opposition in that place."

There was? Could it have been those robots? "I zeem to explicitly recall zat I said I dod not know much." My mind thought ahead, and guessed where her displeasure was leading towards. "Do not worry, amigo, I shall certainly compensate you extra for ze additional—and unexpected—hazard. But pleez understand, I truly did not know."

"You'd damned well better compensate us! You're lucky no one in my group was hurt," she said, her eyes flashing. "And I also hope there'll be no problems considering these objects to be our lawful bounty?"

I considered that. Technically, these were "mine", having been extracted from my own property. But, that would end up revealing that I owned said property, which would lead to a new web of problems. They'd be even more displeased, accusing me that I'd knowingly sent them to trouble, and I could not present proof that I honestly did not know.

I wondered if Aru was probing, trying to guess if I did actually own it. Technically, it would be easy for the intrepid investigator to discover that it was "Tae Deguchi" who owned the place. And it might be possible that they could link KvK to Deguchi. But as long as that was only a possibility, I was forced to keep my options close to my chest. Antagonizing a competent mercenary group like these four was not at all conducive to my future comfort.

"It iz," I said carefully. "I do presume that will not stop your intent to sell zese."

"Of… of course not," she said, blinking.

Now I was presented with another problem. I could not really turn around and sell these immediately, not while they were packed inside these Abydos-branded boxes. People would be bound to start asking questions, and I knew full well how the rumor mill could churn in Kivotos. We needed to replace it, put it in other boxes, and dispose of those boxes; but we had no time at the moment. Fortunately we had other stockpiles to draw on, especially for a situation just like this. But it was very inconvenient, especially for my students who'd be doing the work.

"Excellent," I said. I presented the payment—the data they desired. "I truly hope to continue working vit you, my friend. You are most excellent partners."

Aru slowly took the data drive, the payment for the guns. The money to pay them for their private work I'd already authorized to be wired to their account.

"… We thank you for your business," she said after a while. "Did you need anything else?"

"I shall give you a call; for now, take care mein friend." She nodded, then departed, perhaps to meet with her group who were likely keeping overwatch on me.

Once she'd gotten to a fair distance, I called Aoba. "We got a problem, prepare about a truckload of guns for the Red Winter girls, We've got to drive these back and have it processed… some other time at least." I paused as I heard Sizuru and her people arriving, having been alerted by my signal. "Yeah, I know it's mighty inconvenient, but we've got to move fast, it's getting pretty late."

And I was about to meet with the Genryumon, oh joy. Fortunately, Aru had given me an idea.

131 DAYS UNTIL SENSEI'S ARRIVAL

AN: Feel free to message me here or on discord (jonholdhous/RHoldhous#6771).