Chapter 19:
As I stepped off the platform into the train, I instantly knew something was wrong. The first clue was the door slamming shut as soon as my foot cleared the threshold, the second was that the train was completely empty as it set off regardless.
My instincts remained sharp, as my gun was in my hand before I even consciously registered these facts, quickly sweeping the train in both directions, pausing as I noticed an odd business-suited cyborg sitting on the seats to my right. Lining up my weapon on him, I stepped back towards the corner of the car, which I had seen was clear.
“Ah, kind of you to join me, Albrecht-Sensei.” The man spoke, his voice giving the impression of someone who knew more than they thought you did, “Although, your immediate readiness for violence is rather surprising, considering the current guise of Kivotos.”
“You have me at a disadvantage.” I spoke, despite the lack of visible weapon on him as I kept the gun trained, “You obviously know my name, yet I am afraid yours has escaped me.”
“Hmm. True, my manners escaped me, I apologise.” He nodded, “I am called Black Suit. It’s not the name I gave myself, but it seemed to have stuck and I find myself quite partial to it. I decided to speak to you now Sensei, before you rush off to rescue Takanashi Hoshino. There are two reasons why your plan is poorly conceived.”
“It is apparently well conceived enough to get you to set up- this meeting.” I pointed out, getting an inclined head from the other man, “So you are the one who took her then? What made you think you would get away with such a blatant attack?”
“I assure you, everything was perfectly legal and above board.” He spoke, reaching slowly to the folder of paper placed next to him, which he proceeded to put on the floor and slide toward me, the sound rasping in the empty car, “I know you find that hard to believe, but the paperwork is all in order, as you’ll find in that folder.”
I grinned, not looking at the folder, keeping my eyes and weapon trained on the threat in front of me, “Nice try. But I am not that easily distracted.”
“Please, Sensei.” He sighed, “You might not believe me, but making an enemy of you is the last thing I want to do. I am unarmed and even if I was not, the Shittim Chest would surely protect you from a surprise attack long enough for you to retaliate, no?”
I tensed at that, his knowledge of the Chest coming as a shock. I was keeping that in reserve, just in case he had someone attack from outside the car at my back. But seeing as he knew about it, he likely also knew that even with this train hurtling towards Abydos, I was not nearly as trapped as I appeared.
I considered the situation for a second, before sighing and holstering my gun, taking my eyes off the man and bending to pick up the folder, “So you even know about the Chest, huh? It makes me unhappy to know that such knowledge is widespread.”
“On the contrary, your secret is relatively well protected, still.” He remarked as I started to look through the papers, “Only my organisation, Gematria, know of its existence. You see, that is what we are for, to get to the truth of this world and to divine its secrets. Tell me, Sensei, did you never find it odd that these ‘students’, despite looking like young girls, are capable of such immense feats? Super durability, super strength, being able to shoot through tanks… Surely not normal, no?”
“Of course I did.” I responded, eyes quickly going over the transfer documents in the file, searching for one thing in particular, “But that ranked rather low on my list of priorities of things to figure out, to be honest. I’m sure I would have got there eventually.”
“Well then, allow me to enlighten you.” He spoke, a smile in his voice, “These ‘students’ as they appear currently, are not students at all. Far from being the innocent girls they present themselves as, they are beings capable of utilising Mystic in order to change the very fabric of this world. This Mystic holds the key, the answer to finally unlock the secrets of existence.”
“That’s why you needed Hoshino, then? For her Mystic?” I probed, reaching the last page and letting out a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t present.
“Indeed, Sensei. You are a smart one. Takanashi Hoshino possesses the strongest Mystic in Kivotos, which once inverted, will allow us to determine how their power works, to answer the Seven Koans.” He spread out his arms, “That is the true purpose-”
I cut him off, “What happens to Hoshino if you do this Inversion? Is the process painful?”
He paused, as if genuinely stumped at my reasoning for asking that question, “What does it matter?”
“She trusts me.” I responded, watching as his bafflement deepened, “Obviously not enough if she went through with this dumbass idea, but still. I will not allow anyone to hurt her while I could stop it.”
“That’s… It’s an ‘it’, Sensei. Not a ‘she’. These mystics and their projections are not real people, like you and I. Treating them as if there are human is a mistake, they are separated by an-”
I cut him off once again, “Can they reason? Can they remember events? Can they make choices? Can they feel, Black Suit?”
I stepped towards him, for the first time seeing him genuinely on the back foot, “That sounds human enough to me. Even if it wasn’t, even if they were just machines or completely unknowable entities, it would not matter to me. Do you know why?”
“...Why, Sensei?” He question, morbidly curious.
“Because I am their teacher and they, my students.” I responded, getting a suppressed incredulous laugh from him, “My job is to protect and care for them, no matter who or what they are.”
“That’s preposterous!” He spoke, raising his voice for the first time, “You are an adult! Being an adult means doing what is best! To exploit and decree, to force the world to bend to what you think it should be, not cling to idealistic views such as what a teacher should or shouldn’t do!”
“To what end?” I questioned, making him rear his head back as if struck, “Bending the world to your whims, forcing through your will… You can do such thing, easily. However, what will the eventual result be? A system held together by your own force of will and desire will inevitably collapse when its architect dies or moves on. All that is built and obtained that way is tainted, cursed to inevitable collapse.”
“So we simply accept the world as is, refusing to take steps to change anything and playing out our roles? I refuse to accept that!” He argued back, swishing his hand through the air.
“Then you will never grow up, Black Suit.” I responded calmly, “Being an adult means you have power, your age and wisdom grants you the ability to change the world. However, with power comes responsibility. I have a responsibility to my students, because they are the next generation. My ideals, my dreams, I will entrust it all to them. When I am dead and buried, they will live on in each of my students. That is what being and adult, what being a teacher means.”
“You truly are…” He trailed off, before I slammed the folder next to him, making him jump slightly.
“More importantly, one of my students is in danger, Black Suit. I will take her back to her rightful place.” I stared into his eyes, the tension between us ratcheting.
“Even If I wished to give her back, I can’t. She legally transferred to Kaiser corporation, Sensei. She is no longer your student, or your responsibility.” He spoke, slowly, carefully.
“Wrong.” I responded, flipping the folder open with my fingers, “I looked through all the documents here, you know what I didn’t see?”
“They are all perfectly filled out.” He frowned, “I don’t see what you could take issue with.”
“I didn’t sign these papers. These transfer documents do not have the signature of any teacher on them, meaning that they were not approved by the Abydos faculty.” I responded, grinning.
“But Abydos doesn’t have a faculty! No Academy does! That law was defunct years ago-” His eyes widened, “But-”
“It was never removed from the books.” I finished for him, straightening, “I am the only teacher in Kivotos, given administrative power over every Academy by the Student Council President herself. Without my signature, no Transfer is legitimate, unless approved by me. In other words…”
My voice grew icy, eyes narrowing, “You want any of my students? You can take them over my dead body.”
My statement floated in the air for a few moments, before Black Suit deflated into his chair, “Well played Sensei. I will send the Coordinates where Takanashi Hoshino is being illegally detained to the Chest. I doubt Kaiser will give her up, even with my recommendations, so you will likely have to fight to rescue her, but it seems you already expected that. I apologise for proceeding with the transfer without your approval.”
I kept my gaze narrowed, as the train came to stop at the next station, the floor beneath us slowing ever so slightly.
I eventually nodded, before turning my back towards Black Suit, walking towards the open door, “I doubt this is the last time we will meet, Black Suit. For now, however, I have a student to save.”
“Sensei, wait!” He called, “Gematria has multiple paths to success, but the one thing we cannot have, the one state of failure would be making an enemy of you! Please, before you leave, inform me of anything you would find to cross the line so that we may avoid each other’s toes!”
I turned to him, firm, “Leave the students out of it. If I find you have done anything that negatively affects them, I will not hesitate to work tirelessly to burn your organisation to the ground.”
I walked off the train after saying my piece, only hearing the last whispered words as the door swished closed.
“That may be more difficult to avoid than you think…”
---RERERE---
She paced up and down, nervously chewing her fingernails as she did so. It was a bad habit, but it made an appearance every time she was stressed out. Right now, she was really, really feeling that stress.
She looked at the unopened letter, it representing the cause of her recent stress. Just what had Hoshino been thinking? What possessed her to leave them all behind like this? Especially as it was just as things were getting turned around, improving, becoming better.
The district that had been destroyed in the conflict with the Prefect Team had been fully funded by SCHALE, just as sensei promised, the paperwork getting cleared late last night. With that revamp, they could attract businesses back, expand the amount of area they reclaimed from the desert…
It was small, but it was a win, right? They had been getting a lot of those lately, more than she could remember getting in such a short time. In that case, why would she-
“Ayane.” Nonomi grinned at her, but the tension behind it dimmed her smile, “You should stop worrying so much.”
The older girl took her hands in her own.
Pressing them softly, she spoke gently, “Relax, okay? We will get to the bottom of this.”
“Sorry.” She responded to her Senpai, “I know you’re right, but it’s just… We agreed to wait for Sensei, but it’s eating me up not knowing what the letter says.”
“Me too.” Nonomi admitted, before drawing her into a hug, “But we should read it together, right? Even if we do it by ourselves, until Sensei arrives we can’t really do anything about it. So let’s just wait patiently, alright?”
“Yes.” She nodded, hugging the soft girl back hard, sniffling, “It’s just, been one thing after another, you know? I wish that we had more time to… I don’t know.”
She felt silly, her thoughts jumbled, all a mess. She wasn’t making any sense, on top of embarrassing herself in front of her senpai like this.
“I get it.” Nonomi responded anyway, stroking her back, “I feel the same. I’m just putting on a tough front for you girls, but this has me really worried as well.”
She sniffed again, burying her head into the crook of Nonomi’s neck, grateful for her support. The warmth of the older girl seeped into her, relaxing her tense muscles and allowing her to breath for a moment, focused on something else rather than her worries.
That brief peace was broken by the blaring of an alarm, causing her to jump at the sudden sound and whirl back to the deck, scooping up her phone as she did so.
Glancing at it, she turned to Nonomi, her worries coming back to the fore with a vengeance, “It’s Shiroko, An armoured column bearing Kaiser’s insignia is moving towards the school!”
“No time to rest, huh?” Nonomi asked, before she heaved her minigun, preparing herself, “What do you think, should we go give them a greeting?”
“We will have to go see what they want.” Ayane sighed, “I just wish Sensei was here.”
“It would be helpful.” Nonomi hummed, “But if he’s this delayed, it’s because he’s doing something important. We should go buy him time to arrive, right, Ayane-chan?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, steeling herself, “Let’s go do that.”
---RERERE---
He grinned, as the culmination of his plan finally approached. At the head of the armoured column, he was among the first to see the pitiful sight of the last building in use by Abydos High-school. It was a decrepit thing, with evidence of patchwork repair and futile attempts to keep it clear of the encroaching desert.
It reminded him of the state of Kivotos as a whole. The ungrateful, arrogant brats that controlled the districts and how their immature whims and desires caused nothing but chaos. It left a bad taste in his mouth.
After today though, such a thing would be a thing of the past.
He saw a bit of movement at the gates, the dregs of Abydos apparently moving to greet their new owners. He felt like grinning, everything proceeding as smooth as they could have hoped for.
His APC stopped, allowing him to open the door and step out with a flourish, his cloak waving as he did so. The four students before him were unimpressed, showing their lack of taste to go with their capability.
“Greetings, Students! I’m sure you know who I am, so I won’t-”
The silver haired one cut him off, “We don’t.”
He paused, feeling confusion well up in him, “You don’t? Kaiser owns your debt, how do you not know one of it’s executives?”
“We were more worried about paying it back than caring about who was profiting off it.” The black haired cat spoke, crossing her arms and looking sour, “So who are you and what do you want?”
“Ah, yes, well.” He cleared his mechanical throat, more out of habit than need, before continuing, “I am the CEO of Kaiser PMC. Due to your school defaulting on their debt with its dissolution, Kaiser Acquisitions has sold the debt to my branch of the company, meaning that we now own Abydos and all its institutions. As you are trespassing on our property, we are here to take you into custody.”
“We didn’t default or dissolve.” The one wearing glasses looked worried, “What are you talking about?”
“Unfortunately, you did.” He grinned, clicking his fingers and prompting his assistance to hand him a folder, “You see, in exchange for the immediate forgiveness of half of the owed amount, Abydos Vice President Takanashi Hoshino agreed to transfer to my company. As agreed, half the outstanding amount was forgiven, but as Miss Takanashi was the last member of the Abydos Student council, her transfer means that Abydos no longer has any official clubs. As all students are required to be part of a club to count as active, that means that Abydos no longer has any active students. Ergo, Abydos is no longer capable of paying the remaining balance and therefore, defaults.”
They looked stunned at that, the news hitting them hard. Good, it would make them much more compliant.
“Wait.” The wolf spoke softly, causing the others to look to her, “Sensei authorised the FTF. We are an official club.”
“What?’ He questioned, having heard nothing about this, “When did this happen?”
“That’s right!” The glasses one snapped her fingers, pulling out a pad and typing into it furiously, “That happened last week. See here, we are officially recognised as an active club by the GSC.”
She walked up to him and handed him the pad. He looked at it furiously, as indeed, with an official registration number and approval from both a teacher and the acting president of the GSC, the Foreclosure Task Force was given a certificate of approval.
The pad creaked in his grip as he stared at the registration number, fury and rage filling him. They had been planning this for years and it was all thwarted at the last minute by a blundering newcomer? He refused to accept something that absurd.
“I see.” He sighed, relaxing his grip and tossing the pad over his shoulder carelessly, “No matter, we will just have to get you all to voluntarily resign. A few days without food and water should do the trick, I think.”
The students in front of him tensed, the silver-haired one quickly moving to pull the glasses wearing one behind her as the fell back from him, showing that they knew where this was going. It didn’t matter, what could four students do against the force he had behind him?
He turned to his men, ordering, “Prepare to apprehend the intruders.”
“Are you sure you wish to do this?” The blonde one spoke for the first time, her eyes narrowed at him, “There will be no going back for Kaiser after this.”
“Is that supposed to scare me? Who do you think is coming to save you? This sensei of yours will be bought off and even if he can’t be, with you all in our hands he will know that any move against us will be reflected in our treatment of you. The sooner you accept you’ve lost, the easier this will be.”
“How disgustingly brazen.” A new voice spoke out, causing him to whirl around, being greeted by the sight of a dark-haired student in a Trinity uniform, “Is this really what Kaiser has been up to here? Sensei did say we might have to engage your forces, but this level of criminality is beyond what I imagined. Pathetic.”
“Who the hell are you?” He snarled, annoyed by yet another unforeseen variable, “What are you doing here?!”
“Paying back Sensei for all his help. I am Hanekawa Hasumi, Vice President of the Trinity Justice Task Force. Even if I wasn’t here to offer my aid, this type of injustice happening right in front of me would force me into action.” She spoke, her red eyes staring at him as if he was an ugly insect she was thinking of crushing, “I shall offer you one chance to avoid confrontation. Leave.”
“Trinity?” He spoke, ignoring the Abydos students who had huddled together and begun speaking to each other in whispers, “You have no jurisdiction here. Your threats are meaningless. Go back to your district and lodge a formal complaint if you wish, but what’s happening here is none of your business.”
“Hiding behind laws when it’s convenient to you and yet disregarding them at a whim… you truly are the worst kind of scum.” She sighed, pulling back the lever of her rifle and loading up a new round, “Unfortunately for you, SCHALE can deputise students to operate in any jurisdiction,. Even if Sensei had not done so…”
There was an almighty crash, causing him to look over his shoulder, mouth dropping at the sight of an APC flipping through the air, landing with enough force to crush a truck as it did so with a chorus of screeching metal. Standing where the vehicle had been was a student wielding two shotguns, a blood thirsty, unhinged smile on her face as she stared directly at him.
“As our President just demonstrated, destroying injustice is our jurisdiction.” The red eyed sniper finished, just before all hell broke loose.