Hi. Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. I have a ton of homework to do. I have 11 chapters of French to learn this summer, and I just finished chapter 6. Ack.
Anyway, hope you enjoy.
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War never ends, it only pales, reddens, blackens, and lightens again.
-Steven Rawn
By the time everything had gotten settled, and all of the students were in place in the auditorium, Oujou and Satsuto were standing on the stage, ignoring the whispers and murmurs coming from the crowd.
Oujou rubbed the side of her abdomen, where sharp pains still shot through every once in a while, despite Subaru's healing.
Satsuto had written a speech while they were on the flight back from Germany, but Oujou, ignoring his request to do the same, had pretended to rest until the hum of the plain had lulled her into an uneasy, nightmare-plagued sleep.
Satsuto stepped in front of the microphone, tapping it to check that it was on. "My name is Imota Satsuto, headmaster of the Japanese Gakuen Alice. As you all know, recently there was an invasion of the school by the AAO, and multiple students were taken. This was all a prelude to what we believe will be a much greater fight. As of now, until further notice, classes will be running at a half-schedule. The rest of the time will be used to train and prepare for the upcoming fight.
"The section leaders will be Narumi-san, Hyuuga-san, Jinno-san, Noda-san, and Yamada-san. Every person over the age of eleven will be expected to fight. Any person under that age is permitted to request fight, but there is no guarantee that that request will be granted. Oujou Kanjouinyuu and I will be leading this operation. All section leaders are to meet with us now; everyone else is to return to their rooms until meal time."
Everyone flooded out of the room except for the section leaders, who walked up to the stage. Satsuto addressed all of them when they congregated around him. "Follow me to my office."
He and Oujou headed towards his office, and the four section leaders followed without a word. When they reached the office, Satsuto sat down at his desk, leaving Oujou standing beside him and the section leaders in front of him.
"Before I tell you anything, you have to understand something: arguing will do you no good. Don't try."
Natsume spoke up, drawing the eyes of the others. "What the hell is going on?"
"There's going to be a war, Hyuuga," Oujou shot at him. "Just listen."
Satsuto sighed, then continued on as though he had never been interrupted. "The five of you will lead different sections of this operation. Hyuuga-san will be in charge of the offense. Jinno-san will be in charge of the defense. Noda-san will be in charge of the special alice type group. Narumi-san will be in charge of the dangerous ability class. Yamada-san will lead the rest. First, Hyuuga-san will choose the students he needs for the offense. Then, Jinno-san will choose all those he needs for the defense. The dangerous ability students will go to Narumi-san, the special ability students will go to Noda-san, and the rest available to fight will go to Yamada-san.
"Oujou-san and Hyuuga-san will be in charge of the basic training. Oujou-san and I will jointly be in charge of the operation. Follow any orders from either of us. If any of you leave your post for any reason without permission, I will personally kick your ass when this is done."
They all nodded, stoic, and then Oujou spoke. "If Satsuto-san is finished, I need to speak to Hyuuga-san." Satsuto nodded, and Oujou pulled Natsume outside of the office.
"What the hell do you need?" Natsume demanded, but Oujou ignored him for a second, propping herself up against the wall.
"Who that was taken is dangerous?"
"You don't need me to give you facts."
"I didn't ask who was a dangerous ability student. I asked who was dangerous. You know the difference as well as anyone."
Nastume sighed. "If they can control Youichi, he'll be dangerous. Tobita Yuu generally wouldn't hurt a fly, but illusions can be dangerous if you correctly. Matsudaira Hayata is dangerous as hell, but he's stupid."
Oujou nodded. "Thanks. Once you choose all those that will be serving under you, I have full authorization to add or remove any member of your 'team'. I don't want to do that, but there are some people I don't want in the offense, and some I do."
"I get that. But don't get in my way."
Oujou nodded again, scrubbing her face with the palm of her hands until her eyes were red. "I won't. Now where's Imai?"
A smirk crossed Natsume's face. "Officially, she's in her school issued lab. Unofficially, she's in the steel-reinforced bunker she had her lunatic animal robots build directly after the invasion."
"Thanks." Oujou stuck her crutches under her armpits and began limping down the hall. Natsume followed.
When she looked back at him, he told her, "Sakura and Ruka are with her." Oujou rolled her eyes, but she let a smile cross her face as she turned back around to face the end of the drab, white hallway.
When they reached Hotaru's lab, it was empty; Natsume walked up to what looked like a regular, blank wall, pressed a hidden button, and spoke his name. A panel on the floor slid open, revealing stairs that led down into a half-lit room. Natsume headed down the stairs, and as soon as Oujou, limping, got far enough down behind him, the panel slid shut above them.
Hotaru was sitting in a chair all the way across the huge, cluttered room, staring at a computer screen, while Ruka was feeding a rat that sat in his lap and Mikan was playing with one of Hotaru's inventions.
"Imai, I have to talk to you," Oujou announced, as Natsume walked over to stand beside Mikan, who looked up and smiled at him as he approached.
Hotaru didn't react, except to say, "I'm listening."
"How good is your security system of the school?" Everyone turned to look at Oujou—except for Hotaru—at that statement. "I mean, I know you must have one. Some way to track who comes in and out, or something like that."
"And if I don't?" Now everyone turned to look at Hotaru, their heads snapping towards her as though they were watching a ball move back and forth in a tennis match; the ball was in her court now.
Oujou shrugged and turned as though about to leave. "Then I suppose you're not as good as I thought you were."
Hotaru still didn't turn around, and all eyes—except for Oujou's—remained focused on her. "I do. I can track it by what their alice is, or just by heat signatures. What do you need?"
Oujou turned back around. "Nothing right now, but I'm going to need, as of later today or tomorrow, regular updates about people passing on and off of the grounds. And you're going to hear the announcement later, but tomorrow at nine, everybody above the age of eleven is to report to the main gymnasium at nine in the morning tomorrow."
"I'll send the updates to your phone starting in an hour, for every half an hour, unless more than three people pass in or out within the span of two minutes. Good enough for you?"
Nodding, Oujou turned and limped back up the stairs.
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"We need to discuss a few things," Oujou told Satsuto as she sat down in the chair facing his desk; he was working on his computer, but he looked up when she came in.
Satsuto nodded, interlacing his fingers in front of his chin. "I agree. What would you like to discuss first?"
"First? Sakura Mikan."
"Sakura-san? What about her?"
Oujou rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb. You know as well as I do that she may be the most important person in this war."
"The main player, so to speak."
Oujou's eyes tightened as she spat out, "This is not a game. Don't you ever dare treat it that way."
Satsuto bowed his head towards her. "I apologize. You're right. You want Sakura-san in the offense?"
"So she can be killed? No. I want to train for a long time, until she perfects her powers, and then I want her in the defense. If it comes to it, we need to be able to take out their alices."
Satsuto stared at the wall somewhere past Oujou's head, deep in thought; finally, he answered her. "That'll take out our powers, too." There was no way to tell what he was thinking.
"That's why she needs to train, so she can learn to localize her powers, target certain people. I know it's possible. My mother could do it."
A sigh came from Satsuto. "Your mother was a genius."
"I know that. But that doesn't mean Sakura can't do it."
"Then who should train her? She wouldn't be able to train with everybody else, because of the nature of her abilities."
Oujou smiled. "You."
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Oujou perched on the corner of her bed, leaning her crutches against the mattress beside her. She took out her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart.
The person answered in one ring, with a short, crisp, "What?"
"You owe me a favor."
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Hi. How are you? Good? Good. I hope you liked it. There will be around ten chapters left, and then an epilogue. Please review. Thanks.