Chapter 20: Dependencies

"Student Council President, are you sure?"

As Naoi's words left his mouth, the tempest that raged outside the building roared in all its fury and flung lightning at the earth, spearing the sky with a tremendous orchestra. The hypnotist was standing by the door of the student council meeting room, which was occupied by only one other person; a certain petite white-haired Angel.

Tenshi, who sat in a folding chair facing opposite him, reached up the tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Turning her head only a minuscule amount to address her subordinate, she said softly, "Yes. It must be done."

The muscles in Naoi's neck jumped at the girl's response, and a bead of sweat formed on his forehead and began making its way down the side of his face. The Council President had proposed some unorthodox methods of keeping the students in line before, but this was...

This was simply unheard of.

Naoi was startled out of his tormenting thoughts when the storm outside screamed once again. For what felt like the first time ever, bad weather had its grip around the school. Rain pounded the windows in sheets in quick succession, almost like a rapid, relentless drumroll that sent everybody on edge for the entire day. Trying desperately to resume his composure, Naoi stuttered, "H-How will you deal with the reactions of the students? They are sure to rebel at such treatment-"

"Just keep a little faith in me, Naoi," Tenshi interrupted him, smoother than Nutella. "Their suffering shall be a testament to what happens when you step even a toe out of line here. They must learn their lesson. So their reactions will not matter to me."

Naoi's hands had also begun to sweat by now, and all he could do was nod frantically, squeak out a "Yes, ma'am!" and stiffly walk out of the room.

Once he'd left, Angel allowed herself a small smile.

And outside, the tempest howled in all its agony.

Tap tap tap tap tap.

My life really needs a "high-tension release" button, Yuri thought as her nimble fingers raced their way across the keyboard of her computer. I wonder if that could be an operation later in the future...

Dismissing the idea, she continued working.

Click clack tap tap click...

Outside, the orange sun continued its descent from the heavens. It was around six in the evening, and the sun had just about disappeared behind the horizon. The storm from the day before had drenched every exterior surface in the Afterlife during its deluge, and it had essentially taken the sun the entire day starting the following morning to dry everything out. Now, as Yuri turned in her chair to watch the said sun set, she felt her mental concentration breaking down. I've been at it for hours, she thought,closing her laptop and rising from her seat. Maybe I should take a break and go get some coffee.

Yuri had decided that she would indeed go ahead and do just that when the door to Headquarters was pushed open.

Looking up, she saw Otonashi making his way into the room. "Ah, Yuri," he greeted her, turning briefly to close the door and step into the middle of the room. "There you are."

Yuri tilted her head as she put her hands on her hips and regarded her subordinate. "Were you searching for me?"

"Yeah. The others were outside and we all wondered what you were up to up here. Most of them assumed you were planning another operation; I guess they were right," Otonashi added, eyeing the laptop sitting on the desk.

"Oh," Yuri murmured, also looking down at her computer. "Operations..."

An embarrassed look crossing his face, Otonashi continued, "But of course, some of us had our own speculations. Hinata, for example, seemed quite sure you were doing 'other things' up here all by yourself..."

"What other things?" Yuri demanded, a slight flush rising to her cheeks as some rather inappropriate examples of "other things" were supplied by her brain.

"Nothing really," Otonashi assured her as he smiled amiably. "He just thought that maybe you were fooling around in secret while nobody was around to watch."

Yuri's eyes narrowed. Closing her eyes and turning her head away from him, she said nonchalantly, "Well, you can tell Hinata that he's got the wrong idea. I don't have anything to hide."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two people conversing inside the Headquarters, someone else was passing by the doorway. Upon hearing the voices inside the room, Angel turned her head with her eyes narrowed. She always made sure to walk along the wall furthest from that door, ever since a massive hammer had fallen from the roof seemingly out of nowhere. Not that the heavy object would have obliterated her if it was the even make contact, but the interruption had been annoying all the same. She hadn't even been aware that the SSS were holed up there at that point. Even from this distance though, her keen ears could pick up snatches of the conversation going on inside. Although spying on another student was strictly forbidden by the rules, Kanade found herself rooted to the spot, listening attentively.

"Anyways, you want go...get some...cafeteria hall?" Came a familiar voice from behind the door. Otonashi-san. Judging from the volume of his voice, he must have been standing pretty close to the entrance.

There was a muffled reply to his proposition, and Angel had to strain herself to pick up just a few snippets of it: "Sure...guess so. Haven't...a while. Just in love...that stuff. I'm hooked. Doesn't...work, though."

Then Otonashi's reply. "I know, right? Sometimes it gets stuck when I put it in...that stupid hole...not wide enough."

That final sentence reached Kanade's ears and she just barely quirked an eyebrow, which in itself was actually an excessive reaction (by her standards). Hole? Stuck? Not wide enough? As Kanade's cool mind ran through what she'd just heard, she (surprisingly enough) came to the conclusion that any other normal teen would have come to. Are they having intercourse within school boundaries? At the very least, they would do something like...like that far from the school, where they wouldn't be interrupted. Where, though? The river was a mile away, and from her observations Otonashi and Yuri seemed to stay inside of the school premises nearly around the clock. That meant...

A slight glint of steel entered Kanade's otherwise impassive eyes.

It must be within the school campus. Disgusting.

For the first time in years, Angel was stunned thoughtless. Her fingers twitched as of their one accord, trying to find something to grab onto in order to steady herself. So they're willing to go this far... she fumed suddenly, a fire lighting itself in her golden eyes. I can't allow this to happen. They must be stopped.

Taking a deep breath, Kanade resumed her walk down the halls of the school.

It seems I was right to punish them after all.

A few minutes later, Otonashi and Yuri were walking their way down the halls of the school, headed towards the area where the cafeteria was located. Their destination was the hallway that led off from there, where all of the vending machines were situated. Their target: Key Coffee.

"I haven't had any Key Coffee in a while," Yuri had said earlier. "Gotta say that I'm just in love with that stuff. I'm hooked, really. The stupid vending machine doesn't always work, though."

"I know, right?" Otonashi had sighed in agreement. "Sometimes it get stuck when I put it in, the coin I mean. That stupid hole is not wide enough. They really need to fix that."

Now, as the two of them rounded the last corner, they were surprised to find the place completely empty. Usually a small group of NPCs and living students could be found here, buying what snacks and drinks they wanted before the night fell and curfew went into effect. Yet today, the place was completely deserted.

"Where is everybody?" Otonashi said, voicing both of their concerns.

Shrugging, Yuri said, "Don't know. All I know is this means I won't have to wait in a massive line to get my coffee." That said, she walked over to the vending machine with the Key Coffee in it and tried to slot her coin into the feed.

Otonashi joined her as Yuri frowned in confusion. "The machine won't accept my coin," she said dumbly.

"Maybe it's out of order?" Otonashi speculated, eyeing the machine in question.

"If it was there would be a notice sign stuck to the front. And it looks like it's working fine. But it won't let me have any Key Coffee!" Yuri suddenly yelled, fuming. She'd been looking forward to drinking some of that stuff, too. She would never openly admit it to anyone other than Otonashi, but she was obsessed with Key Coffee.

And one of the myriad of reasons why she could confide in Otonashi (aside from his level-headedness in comparison to the likes of Noda) was because he shared her addiction.

I'll stop them right in their tracks, Angel thought calmly as she made her way through the halls of the school. Thankfully, the halls were quiet and empty today. It must be due to my new punishment, she thought absently as she quickened her pace. Serves them all right. At least they're staying inside of their rooms instead of causing trouble everywhere.

But her idea to remove all the Key Coffee from the vending machines had, apparently, failed to faze Nakamura and her friends. Kanade had felt like showing just a little compassion and caring would come across as acceptable to the girl, but it seemed she was wrong.

A shame, really. Kanade had come up with the idea one morning during a meeting. Key Coffee was widely recognized as the most popular selection among the students of the school, regardless of whether they were NPCs or living humans. The solution, she'd then explained, to reining in their horrible behavior as of late was to take such a thing away. The NPCs had become increasingly rebellious as of late. Even last week, a massive group of NPCs had soundly refused to leave a guerrilla concert staged by that rock girl group, GirlDeMo. Usually a stern command from the teachers was enough to send them scurrying to their beds, and this new strain of resistance was troubling.

Hence the banishment of the coffee.

The students had gone absolutely ballistic over the new ban. Complaints had filled the staff's office in a matter of hours, overflowing the industrial sized box where complaints were supposed to be submitted. NPCs and students alike had come to her dorm throughout the day in order to beg her to reconsider. She had never swayed, however, and the general populace seemed to have given up. Now the halls were silent.

Just one more mess to clean up, and everything will be accomplished, Kanade determined as she made her way towards the last corner.

"Here's another one. Just try shoving it in this time!"

Angel threw the brakes and stopped dead in her tracks, the blush returning to her cheeks. Flattening herself against the wall, she listened carefully, intent on gathering evidence for a future prosecution.

"Are you sure?" His voice. Otonashi.

"Yes, I'm sure! How else are we going to fit this stupid thing in there? You'd need the world's greatest lubricant ever to put it in normally."

"Yeah, but I'm afraid of breaking it."

"Pfft, don't worry about it, Otonashi. This thing's probably been pounded on by every single person in the school. It never works right, after all. But it is durable."

Around the corner, Angel gritted her teeth to the point of breaking them. But then something occurred to her. Durable?

"Well if this one doesn't work, we won't get to try again. I'm all out. This has got to be at least our fifth try."

"Then have no regrets and do it! I swear, Otonashi, sometimes you're so indecisive. Just close your eyes and do it as hard as you can! Stop being so useless."

"Is this really worth it, Yuri?"

"Of course! Don't you know how much stimulus that stuff gives you when you drink it?"

"Then here, I-"

That's it. With a quiet whisper, Angel had her Hand Sonics appear until they were only semi-formed, so that the length of her sleeves would serve to conceal them until they were needed. The Battlefront members had never known, but during many of their meetings she had done this; they just never noticed.

Then she steeled herself and turned the corner, ready to see the worst.

Surprisingly enough, she didn't have to stamp the next thing she saw with an expulsion brand.

Otonashi and Nakamura were standing...in front of the vending machine. In a rare moment of confusion, Kanade narrowed her eyes at them. But the conversations she had heard beforehand...weren't they...?

At that moment, Yuri pounded her fist against the steel of the machine and growled, "Still can't fit those stupid coins in there."

That one statement was all it took for Angel to perceive her misunderstanding. Ah, she thought neutrally, her eyes losing their slight concentration. A poorly made assumption, it seems. Mentally flexing her will, she allowed her blades to whisper out of existence before she turned to leave.

"Tenshi!"

Freezing, Angel turned her head to the side and regarded Yuri with one golden orb. "Yes?"

Pointing indignantly at the vending machine, the girl spat out, "Do you have any idea what's wrong with this stupid piece of crap? It's always been wacky, but even when we manage to get a damn coin into it they just get spat right back out! I need my coffee. My patience wears thin. Can you explain this?"

Tilting her head to the side, Kanade, quite casually, dropped the bomb. "I've removed all of the coffee from the machines."

There was a dead silence in the cafeteria hall.

"...Excuse me?"

"The Key Coffee. All of it. They've been banned. It's a punishment."

"Tenshi..."

Either failing to take the hint or just because she had a bad habit of unintentionally challenging people, Kanade said softly, "Yes?"

At that moment, Yuri raised her head, and her eyes blazed with an endless rage. "You...you...you DEMON!" And with those words, she pounced.

Without a gun.

Sighing briefly, Angel pulled out her blades and let them whistle through the air.

Chop, chop.

A few moments later, Otonashi stared with a stricken expression on his face at Yuri's carcass. True, she wasn't really dead, but the sight still made him a little queasy. The blood staining the walls weren't going to be easy to scrub off either, and at this rate Angel was probably going to employ him to do it himself, seeing as his accomplice had been thoroughly minced.

The chilling silence was abruptly broken when Angel addressed him with a rare commanding tone.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Steeling himself, Otonashi raised his head and retorted, "It tastes good," Before turning tail and speeding his way down the hall.