PROLOGUE:
Monsters Dwell In Cromartie High School
"Dearest Mother,
"I hope work is going well. My second year at Cromartie Municipal High School started with my usual walk with Hayashida (he sends his regards). Y-City seems desolate in this corner, so close to the border of City Z. You'll be pleased to hear that the monster attacks have stayed quiet, for the most part, so our walk was uneventful."
Kamiyama surveys his classroom. The teacher, as usual, is missing. The boys instead lull about their desks, smoking, or converse in hushed groups. A few cast furtive glances at him.
"Maybe a little too quiet. I'll admit, constant random monsters gave these badasses somewhere to channel their rage. Now, they're turning their attention back to the other delinquent high schools."
His letter writing is interrupted by a slap to the head.
"Ow!" Kamiyama turns to see Hayashida.
"Yo," the purple mohawk flaps brilliantly in the breezeless room. "Let's go see what Mechazawa's up to."
"Why?" asks Kamiyama.
Hayashida shrugs. "I'm bored."
"Yeah," agrees Kamiyama. "Okay."
The two trudge down the hallway.
"What do you think of this reconstruction?" asks Kamiyama.
"It's okay, I guess," answers Hayashida. "I just don't see why they needed to move the whole school to Y-City just because of one meteor."
"It only damaged the first three floors," contemplates Kamiyama. "So it does seem overkill to rebuild the entire school right next to the border of City Z."
"Isn't it obvious?" chides Hayashida. "It's to keep us badasses as far away from 'the good people' as possible."
"I don't like to think that cynically."
"Think about it, Kamiyama: People think we're monsters, so they want to keep us with the monsters."
"I don't know if it's that black-and-white. If so, why not rebuild Cromartie as a prison, and keep us here 24/7?"
"Don't they, though?" contemplates Hayashida, his hair stretching as if reaching for the truth. "Most of us moved to apartments in Cities W, X, and Y. Destrade and the other schools also moved. They weren't pummeled by a meteor!"
"It does seem highly coincidental," says Kamiyama. "That every delinquent school across the different cities had mold, or gas leaks, or similar infrastructure problems just before the summer break. They're even consolidating all the girls in a new school about ten minutes from here."
A teddy bear watches through the window, as the boys walk backward and forward down the same hallway. Freddie rises from the corner.
"A new girls' school?" cries Hayashida. "Screw Mechazawa, we should go check that out!"
"I doubt we can go during school hours."
"Then let's check it out after school!"
"We're getting off-topic," states Kamiyama. "You think they're gathering all of us delinquent teens on the edges of Y-City for a reason?"
"Yeah," says Hayashida. His hair splits off, and each side dances up-and-down. "To keep us with the monsters. Maybe they think putting a wall of badasses will protect them, or they think the monsters will eat us and they won't have to deal with us anymore. Think about it, it's a win-win for them!"
"Who's 'them,' though?" asks Kamiyama.
"'Them,' you know," the question catches Hayashida off-guard. "Uh, the government and the system and stuff."
"And our parents?" Kamiyama points out. "While there may be adults who think we're part of the problem, there are those who recognize the barbarism in lumping us with the monsters. There are those in government who work to improve society, and they will always have a voice in defending against corrupt legislation."
"So how do you explain," cut in Maeda, literally from nowhere. "All the schools being piled between Y and Z City so suddenly?"
"How do you explain where you came from just now?" inquires Hayashida.
"I've been with you guys the whole time!" Maeda shouts. "You didn't even notice. Typical!" He clears his throat, then speaks plainly, sinking into darkness with each sentence: "Sympathetic players in government is a load of bull, especially for guys like us. We're a strain on the system, everyone complains about their tax money going to helping us. Like Hayashida said, putting us this close to monsters takes care of two birds with one stone, as far as they're concerned."
"But," Kamiyama's calm face inflates through the dark miasma. "Society works to improve its youth and uplift them, not send them to consistent, violent deaths!"
"Consistent, violent deaths of minors is our society," Hayashida reminds him. "Put us by a monster pit, whatever happens can look like an accident."
"Bingo," agrees Maeda.
Kamiyama stands before a great mountain and beautiful blue sky. "You both make convincing arguments. As dark as it may be, there is merit to what you say. But consider the Hero's Association, already stretched too thin and coming under scrutiny for being elitist." Geysers erupt beside him. "I doubt they'd want to give themselves extra work by deliberately planting susceptible juveniles on monster turf!"
"That's true," contemplates Hayashida, with his chin in his hands and hair swishing wildly. "Creating easy targets would just make things more expensive for them. And don't a lot of the Hero Association people also work for the government? Or invest in it, at any rate?"
"Yeah," concedes Metal Bat, leaning against the wall. "But it's like Blondie said, even amongst the Heroes, there are those who complain about having to help unsavory types like us. Most wouldn't even answer the call."
The other boys stop.
"Who is that?" Kamiyama asks Hayashida, pointing. "Butting into our conversation?"
"How do you not know who I am?" cries Metal Bat. "We were in the same class all last year!"
"That's Bad," Hayashida answers as if Bad isn't there. "Or Metal Bat, an S-ranked hero."
He waggles his fingers, as if magicking everyone around to be impressed. Maeda, Freddie, Gorilla, Hokudo, and his lackey all snicker.
"Oh," says Kamiyama, actually impressed. "See? They must have planted an S-ranked hero here to keep us safe."
"Or in line," grumbles Hokudo's lackey.
"I just said I came to this school last year!"
"Think about it," says Hokudo. "If the Hero's Association has an inside-agent-"
"I'm a student!"
Hokudo talks over Bad's interruption, "-and the government has sanctioned all the delinquent schools here, they must be in cahoots."
"How do you figure?" Kamiyama asks doubtfully.
Hokudo stands before Kamiyama, the two undergoing an inflation contest according to who's talking. Metal Bat stands in the background, between them, looking extremely annoyed.
Holding up one finger, Hokudo starts counting off his points: "The government segments all the delinquent schools at the border of Z-City. Then, they put a hero or two within to maintain order without having to call in other heroes. So, society gets to be more-or-less rid of us, while the Hero Association doesn't have to take direct responsibility if anything goes wrong."
Kamiyama crosses his arms. "That sounds an awful lot like a conspiracy theory," he says, an alien saucer zipping by. "He just said the heroes don't care about delinquents either. So why would they waste time keeping tabs on us?"
"To count how many of us go through the monster meat grinder," growls Hokudo's lackey cynically.
"For real," says Hayashida. "I think it makes sense. Why wouldn't they ask somebody who already goes here to be an inside man?"
"I thought we decided he wasn't a spy," whispers Kamiyama to Gorilla. It nods.
"S-rank is supposed to be pretty high up," Hayashida continues, glaring at Bad. "Bet you report straight to the head honchos about what we do, like a good little teacher's pet."
"I'm nobody's fucking pet," growled Bad. "And it's S-Class, not S-Rank. Rank is the number."
"OH MY GOD who cares?" cries Hayashida. "Don't get your panties and cape twisted, Hero Boy. We all know you're hot shit, we smell it everywhere!"
Everyone chuckles except Kamiyama and Freddie.
Bad picks up his bat and taps it in his hand. "You wanna go, Mohawk? Cause you're starting to piss me off!"
"Now you're talking," Hayashida steps up, inches from Metal Bat's nose. "Give you something to report to the Heroes, if I leave you conscious enough."
"Nah," smirked Bad. "I'll just bring them your fucking head."
"Gentlemen!" Kamiyama rises from the floor, right between them. "This is getting out of hand!"
"That's right," cries Maeda, rising from the floor next to Kamiyama.
The presence of two boys between them makes Hayashida and Bad both fall over backwards.
"Our problem seems to be the system," Maeda continues. "Not each other."
"Yes," agrees Kamiyama. "Let's not forget that since Metal Bat goes to school here, he is, essentially, banished with us. And if somehow eradicating monsters or delinquents is the goal, why not just build a massive wall with armements and military outposts? Why not attach it to a permanent prison where they can train us to fight for them?"
"Whoa," cries Hayashida. "You really think that's possible?"
"Would cost about as much as building four whole high schools from the ground up," ponders Hokudo. "And it would be easier to simply assign heroes and new recruits to the outposts."
"You guys sound like you're talking about a video game," says Metal Bat.
"Yeah," says Hokudo's lackey. "I mean, if all that were true, just build a legit prison! Instead of schools full of kids."
"But we're badasses," Hayashida tells him impatiently. His hair plays tetherball with itself. "We're not, like, 'kids' to them. Not really."
"Hate to agree with the mohawk," groans Bad. His pompadour wobbles and grows. "But he's right. The Association probably doesn't know what school I go to. Cause despite what you think, their information gathering is pretty fucked! And they really don't care about what threats mean to people. Honestly, this probably has nothing to do with them, and it's all the government. In which case, seems pretty cut-and-dry: Dump us here, keep the sweet and innocent people safe, while the muck cleans each other out."
"Damn, dude," remarks Hokudo's lackey. "That's pretty harsh."
"Reality's harsh," agrees Hokudo.
"But I refuse to lose hope," cries Kamiyama, great waves crashing in his wake. A walrus on a rock looks confused about where it is. "We're a school of badasses, after all! How many of us fight monsters already, on a regular basis? No, really, I'm asking, I always run away."
Freddie, Gorilla, Mechazawa, Hokudo, and Metal Bat all raise their hands. Hayashida lifts his about halfway.
"I did impale that lizard one in the eye," he says. "Remember, Kamiyama?"
"Oh yeah," Kamiyama responds gleefully, with twinkling stars and flowers dancing around him. "I remember, that monster goop got all over me. It took weeks to wash out. I never knew you could actually stain black fabric."
"Aww," coos Bad at Hayashida, his hair pulsing. "Little Mohawk can crawl, that's so cute."
"I'm more built for fighting humans," Hayashida cracks his knuckles; his mohawk wiggles. "Pompadour."
"Before this escalates again," cuts in Kamiyama. "Why don't we change the subject?"
"Hell yeah," concurs Maeda. "Weren't we talking about sneaking into the girls' academy before?"
"What?" cries Hokudo's lackey.
Hokudo looks just as surprised. "There's a girls' school of delinquents?"
An alien abducts a cow next to Hokudo's head as he thinks, Could it be? Could she really be there? Hmph, that bitch would enroll and never tell me!
"Hell yeah!" cries his lackey. "What the fuck are we still doing here? Let's go!"
"Hold on," objects Kamiyama. "Do we really want to break into another school?"
"Another school full of pussy?" Hayashida jumps through a field of wildflowers, spreading more petals from a basket. "You better believe it!"
Hokudo's lackey, Maeda, Metal Bat, Freddie, Mechazawa, and Hayashida all high-five. Then, keeping their hands attached, they dance in a circle.
Hokudo stands, contemplatively nodding.
Kamiyama facepalms. "It's not like they're going to be hanging from trees!"
"Dearest Mother,
"Next time, on Cromartie High School: We probably won't be free to do much, since we all got caught and suspended for trying to break into the girls' academy."