Prologue
Sitting uncomfortably in an aisle seat in the economy class section of a plane is a man wearing a white lab coat.
A bead of sweat trails down his temple as the pressure from the plane's speed continues to take its toll on the inexperienced traveler.
This plane that was designed and built in Academy City is capable of flying up to Mach 3, three times the speed of sound, something that most other planes in the world currently could not hope to reach.
The total trip time of an hour and a half is still only a dream for everyone else who still must travel between 12-14 hours to reach the same destination.
It is a destination that Amai Ao has been to before.
A slight tremor shook the cabin and seats from a brief period of turbulence, which caused him to grit his teeth from the feeling. Flying at about 7000 kph, such turbulence would have caused massive damage to any other kind of plane, causing possibly a dramatic crash into the ocean below. Instead, the event only creates a short moment of unpleasantness, like a sleek sports car driving at high speed over a graveled road.
A sharp pain as though he had swallowed a dozen swords stabs at Amai Ao's chest and causes him to cough to adjust the tension.
Reaching into the interior pocket of his white coat, he quickly twists open the white topped orange plastic cylinder and popped a white tablet the size of a watch battery into his mouth. The taste of flour fills his mouth when he chews on the tablet and returns the plastic cylinder to his inside pocket. Not even a swig of mineral water from the bottle provided with his lunch earlier makes the chalky taste go away.
The thought of returning to Academy City made him queasy with displeasure, like being told he had only one way of graduating high school and that was getting a perfect exam grade on all seven of his finals even when he had essays and projects to deal with for regular class.
The feeling was strong enough that it had overcome the pressure of the plane's speed, if for just a few seconds.
The announcement of their arrival from the automated voice coming from the speakers was noted, after the same message was repeated in several languages including Japanese, but the specific details were not especially paid attention to.
In the window seat to his right is a girl, whose brown hair reached down to the middle of her back.
Her clothes were not anything especially noteworthy; casual clothes like jeans and a hooded sweater. Clothes that girls her age wore, Amai figured simply.
Showing no sign of being affected by the Gs produced by the plane's speed, the girl stared out of the reinforced glass windows of the plane with a neutral look on her face, watching as individual clouds zoomed quickly passed above a vast expanse of the barely illuminated ocean below.
"You heard that? We're almost there…" he said to the girl in heavily accented English.
"…"
The researcher rolled his eyes away and took a glance around the cabin.
The supersonic passenger plane was a size bigger than the usual passenger planes, but as of yet they only served to carry people to and from Academy City and not between other countries. Because of such a narrow range of customers there were many seats left empty.
He shut his eyes for a few minutes but was too put off by the oppressive feeling of the plane's speed falling onto his body to go to sleep. Opening his right eye, he glanced again at the girl sitting next to the window.
"Do you remember being in Academy City?" he said again in heavily accent English. It was not a matter of simple curiosity on his part but a test of the last few years of his experiments, especially the most recent months before this trip had begun.
"…" he stared at the girl and the lack of response and closed his eye again, too tired to pursue a conclusive result at the moment.
"Just make sure you finish up quick so I can go back…" he mumbled in Japanese as another sharp pain shot through his chest. Another pang of anxiety struck when the loud whirring of the plane's landing gear rumbled throughout the entire plane. Because of the high speed, it was necessary for the plane to slow down even before its official descent procedures took place, causing a slight shutter of the entire aircraft even before the full turbulence caused by the outstretched wheels' air friction took effect.
His throat tightened up and the number of swords in his chest seemed to have doubled. Amai opened his eyes again to remove the image of the white haired demon that had been lurking in the back of his mind; the reason of his insomnia for the past month but even more so in the last few days when he was told he would be going back to Academy City to oversee the final parts of the plan.
It was then so maddening to have to return even if he was paired with the girl sitting next to him.
If the plan succeeded, the matter of his being wanted would probably not matter, but his life expectancy was in danger no matter what the outcome.
His actions concerning what happened that August left only the underworld as his sole option for research and his livelihood.
It was the actions of Academy City for wasting his research in failing the experiment and leaving him indebted after he invested so much into the Level 6 Shift Program.
It was the actions of that damned Yoshikawa Kikyou who shot him and left him for dead.
It was the actions of that demon Accelerator for interfering in the first place. He was supposed to kill those clones and reach Level 6 so all of that investment wasn't a waste. He wasn't supposed to give a damn about those clones and just watch with a stupid grin when Last Order was infected with a virus.
Not caring about the chalky, flour taste in his mouth that would result he quickly popped a second tablet and hurriedly chewed as his anxiety grew but the chest pains slowly disappeared.
Outside the window, the expanse of ocean visible during most of the flight had since been replaced by the increasingly urban sprawl of land until they came upon the wide black expanse of tarmacs that primarily comprised District 23.
Staring at the back of the seat in front of him instead of outside the window, where in the flat horizon the sun continued to peer and cast its morning light onto Academy City, Amai Ao took a deep breath as the plane landed, then taxied toward the gate.
Author's Notes:
- Sequel to "Sister Act!", it's not necessary reading but I'll be making references to it.
- All characters belong to Kazama Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura as author and illustrator, respectively.