Academy City Prime

Four: Catching up

Shane Llewellyn woke before first light, pretty much as always. He sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes, then the shorts and t-shirt clad man got out of bed and grabbed his bathrobe. Sleepily he shuffled to the bathroom, and began to get ready for the day.

A few minutes later the brown haired man had his hair tied back in a ponytail, a crisp blue suit on and a tan overcoat flowing around them. His housemates were at the kitchen table, munching on a hurried breakfast.

"Morning Yomiko, Nancy," Shane nodded a greeting as he hurried over to the toaster and popped two pieces of brown bread in.

"Morning," Nancy Mukahari nodded, the purple haired woman sipping her coffee. Her lover Yomiko Readman was reading the paper, the brown haired woman seemingly engrossed in the stories as she sipped from her cup of tea.

Shane grabbed the kettle and made himself some tea, finishing up just as the toaster popped up. "How's work?" he asked curiously.

"Busy," Nancy admitted, "Rin and I are thinking of bringing in another partner, especially after the academy itself has been throwing us some work." She gave Shane a thoughtful look, "You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?"

"I did not exert any undue influence," Shane protested, blushing faintly.

Over the past several months Shane had been gradually easing into a relationship with Revy, who sort of served as a general security head on the island. When Revy first encountered Nancy there was a instant dislike and distrust between them. With some cause, of course, since he, Nancy and Yomiko had been here on the island on a mission for the British Library.

Privately, Shane thought their dislike had been for more primal reasons, two Alpha females meeting and instantly having to prove which was tougher. Of course, he didn't tell that to either of them, as he didn't want to die messily.

Shane munched on some toast as he pointed out, "I think the way we all got involved in that attack by SEARRS helped clear things up for her."

"Yes, you were so heroic, Nancy!" Yomiko agreed brightly, showing she was listening and reading at the same time.

Nancy and Shane exchanged a look, both remembering that day not too long ago. There had been nothing 'heroic' about the mad scramble to fight off the attacking army of mercenaries, with students and teachers caught between them and the security forces. Nancy had stolen a sub-machine gun while I used my paper talents as covertly as possible, and ended up watching over a group of students who chose to fight.

Damn, that was a insane moment. A band of teens who shouldn't have been anywhere near the fighting, hauling gear stolen from the Academy's science department along with a experimental mecha. Shane had taken charge, not because he wanted to but because some adult had too, and when the picked up a radio broadcast from Boris that his squad was being overrun, they had headed to help.

Shane shook off the memories of the past and managed a wry smile. "I think seeing you charging to rescue, guns blazing along with Rin and Mimi, at least made her decide you weren't an enemy," he said.

"Yeah, but not a friend either," Nancy noted as she drank her tea.

"Better than nothing," Shane shrugged as he finished his toast. "I need to oversee a meeting of the Library Rearch Club this evening, so I'll be a bit late," he said as he grabbed his briefcase and got ready to go.

"Have fun with the Bibliophiles," Yomiko waved, laughing as he headed out.

The new apartments for teachers were in a older style building, though one that had been fitted with all the conveniences. Shane trotted down the hall to the elevator, nodding to a young man hurrying to catch it too. "Good morning, Prof. Springfield," he smiled.

The barely teenaged Negi Springfield nodded bashfully, his red-brown hair falling into his eyes. "Mr. Llewellyn," he nodded, carrying that odd staff over his shoulder. "Heading out early today?" he asked as they took the elevator down.

"Got a new shipment of books coming in," Shane admitted a bit sheepishly, "I'm positively eager to start sorting them."

Negi smiled slightly, nodding, "I get that feeling following my archeology hobby."

"You collect antiques right?" Shane asked as they reached the bottom and headed towards the building's entrance.

"Yes, of a sort," Negi agreed, nodding.

The two men were quickly seperated by the crush of students heading into classes and the adults going to their jobs. Shane got onto the light rail system and was crushed in with the other riders, holding onto a strap for dear life.

"Ooh," Shane grunted as a elbow hit his gut, and restrained his instinct to strike back.

"Sorry, sir," Kuroko apologized, the smaller girl looking very sheepish, wearing her 'Judgement;' armband and carrying her school bag.

"No problem," Shane nodded politely. "You're in Judgement, I see... been a member long?" he asked curiously, wondering if the teen had been there since the squad had organized recently.

"Yes, since the squads started under Setsuna-sempai!" Kuroko agreed, eyes shining. She studied him a moment, "You... you know Ms. Mukahari and Ms. Readman, right?"

"Yes I do," Shane acknowledged a bit warily.

Kuroko's eyes suddenly shone happily, "They're my idols! Beautiful, busty Yomiko and sly, tough Nancy! I dream of finding my own soulmate like that!"

"Ah, right," Shane blinked.

The girl was practically sparkling as she gushed, then got distracted by a tall, slim girl. "Mikoto! Good to see you!" she nearly teleported across the crowded train to go annoy the other girl.

Shane grinned as he watched the two interact, the taller girl happy to see Kuroko, yet acting annoyed. What the Japanese called tsundere, he guessed. He people watched the rest of the train ride, then got off near the university's central complex.

The university library was a sprawling facility, as fitted a school that nearly covered the whole island. There were also seperate buildings for high school and the college faculties, and the astonishing Library Island off shore. Shane itched to go out there and explore, but finding the time was so hard...

"Ah, Mr. Llewellyn, hello," the smarmy voice said as he entered, and Shane had to fight the urge to grit his teeth as he stopped by the main desk and looked towards the man he heard.

Nagi Homura looked amused, the silver white haired boy dressed in his suit pants and white T-shirt. He looked no more than a teenager, but was at least in his twenties according to various records. Of course Shane rather doubted those files, since he could find no eyewitness confirmation of any of it.

"Nagi, good to see you," Shane nodded, "but shouldn't you be at the junior high library, where you're assigned?"

Nagi bared his teeth in what could charitably be called a smile. He wanted the higher ranked position at the university library, but Shane had been chosen for it. So all he could do was be irritating, unless he found some leverage to get him the job. "I was just on my way," he admitted, "I heard you got some new materials in?"

"Some," Shane conceded, "the requests I asked for came in, and we received a bequest of books from a wealthy supporter. No idea if any of it will be kept, of course."

"I see," Nagi nodded, clearly eager to see what might be in the bequest. Then the doors to the front slammed open, making us both jump.

"Nagi you little weasel!" Revy growled, the brown haired woman glaring across the room at the man. Thankfully she didn't look like she was armed, but you never knew with Revy...

Nagi paled visibly, "Ah, hello Revy! Nice to see you, but I must be going." With a speed unexpected for someone so short he booked, getting out of the room before Revy could even get a grip on him.

"What did he do now?" Shane asked as Revy sauntered in, her expression more amused than anything else, now that Nagi was gone.

"Nothing, I just like scaring the little bastard," Revy grinned as she looked Shane over, "besides, I don't trust him."

"Well, join the club," Shane agreed. He was tempted to hug Revy, but something in her manner made him decide it was a bad idea. Dating Revy was a prickly experience, he found, and much of it was guided by subtle signals.

"So, what you doing tonight?" Revy asked abruptly, as was her usual style.

Shane raised his eyebrows, "Well, I have to supervise a club meeting, but other than that I'm free." He looked over at her thoughtfully, "Wanna grab dinner together?"

"Be at the usual place," Revy nodded, then leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Before he could respond she was off, striding away to whatever her next job might be.

Shane watched her go, once again feeling a bit off balance. Revy was like that, sweeping in, taking over, then rushing off again without a care for the usual social niceties. Still, he found he kind of liked it, really.

As Shane turned himself to readying the Library for opening, he thought of a conversation he'd had with Rock Okajima. The former businessman had been playing the role of Revy's big brother, sort of, and had come around to make sure Shane's intentions were pure towards Revy. It had been hideously uncomfortable for both of them, though once he decided Shane might be okay Rock also gave a pretty insightful talk about Revy.

Rock didn't know too much of Revy's background (Hell, he even suspected Chambers wasn't her real name) but he did know it had been extremely rough on her. Part of how Revy had survived had been to bury all the hurt under a tough shell and carry on as if nothing had happened. It wotked hor her, but it had left the adult Revy very uncomfortable with her emotions. She found violence easier than talking, and was deeply uneasy about showing how much she cared.

'Guess I'll just have to let Revy set the pace,' Shane decided even as he made sure the card scanner was ready, as was the desensitizer for the book's alarm strips. He took a walk around the main floor, checking for any garbage or items left over from yesterday, then headed back to the front desk.

Walking to the front he unlocked the main doors then headed back to the desk. 'And so the day of a librarian begins again,' he mused, even as the first students hurried in, presumably to finish work or maybe use the building's free internet.

"Good morning sensei!" Nodoka Miyazaki called as the young woman helped her friends Yue and Haruna return several stacks of books.

"Morning," Shane agreed as he helped them get the books on the counter. "Looking forward to this afternoon's Library Exploration Club meeting?"

"Oh yes!" Haruna grinned, "we're finally hauling you out to Library Island, sir. It's about time you visited it!"

"I'll look forward to it," Shane smiled, having no idea what he was in for.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, this is a sorta self insert character. Shane will not always get the girl, and he's gonna get into shit pretty regularly.