Narrator pow:
"Oww... That was rude..." Rosehip said, standing up from the wooden floor in what seemed to be a pale-looking corridor you usually see in office blocks.
"Hey, you, you're finally awake." Maken greeted her, standing in front of her with a mug of hot tea and unamused look on his face.
"Maken?" She asked in suprise, starring at his untidy facial hair and weirdly lifeless eyes.
"The man who pulled you in here told both of us all I need to know." Caudillo said, helping her stand up from the ground before taking out her cellphone from her pant's pocket and handing it over back to her. "Now call Andou and Eclair, we have a lot to discuss and clarify." He added, making three steps back and opening the doors to his left which led into his office.
"Discuss and clarify what?" Rosehip askes again, her suprise slowly fading away in favor of the unsure glare.
"Future and the past respectively..."
Andou pow:
"... So, do you have any ideas on why Maken insisted on us coming to him now?" I asked Eclair as we made it to the office doors of Maken's quasi-palace, not a normal house for normal people like me but still ages away from what BC Freedom had to offer.
"Non, but I am willing to believe that it has something to do with our investigation." She respond as I open the doors and saw Maken waiting for us behind his desk while Rosehip was baning her fingers against it from the other side sitting on one of three folding chairs that definitely were brought here for a one-time event.
"Hey girls! Glad to see you again!" Rosehip greeted us from her seat before moving to the one placed on the left.
"Please come in, I have the answers for your questions." Maken added, waving his hand for us to come in.
"I sure hope you do." I responded as we walked in and took the seats. Me in front of Maken and Eclair to my right.
"Excellent." Maken smiled, pressing the button on his smartphone which caused the doors to automatically close behind us and lock themselves in a near instant. "So then, where do you want me to start?" He asked me afterwards, making a face that can usually belongs to cartoonish mafia bosses.
"Why did you go to kill criminals on the streets?" I asked right away, nearly making Rosehip jump in surprise.
"Here's the neat part. I didn't." He responded with a shining grin, making me feel confused. "Outside of the time I saved you and Eclair from few questionable figures some time ago I personally faked the evidence in a way that you two would think I rampage across entire Japan to promote homicidal quote on quote 'justice'." He added, while Eclair looked away at the giant balcony windows behind us and sighed deeply. "After all, every legend has some truth in it. Otherwise it turns into a mere myth."
"Then how did only we two recieve it?" I asked with unrelenting feeling of being toyed with for the entire time.
"Andou, my dear, please. I am Sudamericana. I can do whatever I want in here, which includes who the right to decide on who gets to see my fake self-blaming evidence." He smiled, placing his right hand under his chun as if he wanted to bargain about something.
"Then why did you sent us that?" I questioned him, feeling my nerves spazzing out a with fierce willingness to punish him.
"I was tesing you two." He replied calmly, making my muscles shut down and my body to lifelessly fall onto the chair. "Before you ask, Rosehip had her own tests, otherwise she wouldn't be here."
"Oui, But why did you test us in such a way?" Eclair asked him, turning back from starring at the sky outside and taking the active part in the conversation.
"Because I need help." Maken responded, almost cousing her to get a moment of apnea. "You see, as Rosehip already know my freakish body damage I suffered back when I was Bonple's student was so big that the only way for me to be capable of something above playing a mumified zombie was to take experimental powers from non-certified maniac... However, I cannot cheat my apparently nonexistant wound healing, rotting body, lack of balls or psychological damage to just name a few." He counted, while I finally moved my back from backrest and returned to active participation in the discussion.
"Wait, when did that happen to you?" Eclair asked, growingly taken over by the seemingful tragedy as a caring person she is.
"When I got stupid and wanted to play hero while Bellwall Academy Sensha-do team opted for constants fire inside the non-combat zone with no target discrimination!" Maken responded, nearly growling in the last part. "I got so stupid back then that I slured on someone's mother of all people when they tried to tell me that suicidal defense is stupid! And yes, I feel terrible with that!"
"... What happened then?" I asked, slightly unsure on how to react to Maken being clearly not in his usual temper, althrough still outside of violent behavior.
"I thrown one girl by the collar out of the tank and drove forward to distract Bellwall's tanks from shooting at the bridge where my team and civilians were fleeing." Maken resumed his story, his eyes now looking very tired and even black in some spots. "I took out one or two of their team before they actually began aiming at me and bombarded me so badly that typical protection of tank's crew didn't hold it..." He paused to take a SIP of tea before putting the mug back on the desk. "This obviously meant that I was delievered the full experience of being inside burning, exploding mix of metal, ammunition, fuel and electronics. I still have no idea how did I manage to get out alive from this hell."
"... Hold on, these girls were actively shooting civilians?!" I exclaimed, having a sudden realisation.
"Yes. Needless to say The Federation covered everything up because of how damaging it could be in public image. Honestly, I can't even blame them given that they actually suspended those who took the part in it and had to defend their reputation." Maken resoinded with a note of relief in his voice, almost as if he was at peace with this specific part. "As soon as I got out of the tank, I was screaming like a demon from since fire and gasoline is a bad mix. Then I blacked out and woke up a day later in the gabinet of Doctor Ludwig, who usually gets lost causes on his table and usually manages to at least have the patient live, thus why he operates without a license and got me back then."
"Then he gave him those weird powers as an experiments to keep him alive and satisfy his curiosity." Rosehip added shortly after, also getting to actively speak after a long period of pasisve listening.
"After some healing I got back to Bonple, had a heated argue with Jajka about tradition causing our chain of failures, then we had a duel on sabers where I almost cut off her arm and rightfully got expelled and found my place in here, personally investing the rest of my life to make this place into what it is now... At the cost of local traditions of course." He ended, giving us a weak but polite smile as he ended his storytime.
"... That explains a lot." I concluded given the lack of better comments in my mind at the moment.
"But why us? And with what we have to help you?" Eclair added, now definitely worried as her hands were shaking out of nerves.
"With the way to make this school survive when I hit the bucket. This school right now is completley unprepared to exist without me doing everything at once." Maken responded, taking out two briefcases, one being handed to Rosehip and the second, larger one being given to Eclair. "Now, given that I'm not entierly confident on your goverment-related skill, I opted for one, final test for all of you. Two of them are easier then previous ones you had, but one is harder." He paused, looking to his left at Eclair. "Recently two very highly esteemed girls were kicked out of Pravda for speaking Russian for the n-th time after Katyusha's engagement to have her team speak only i Japanese becane the school statute official element, effectively making them out since that Academy failed to inform them about the change." He paused, propably waiting for her to make any topic-related questions.
"... Oui, what's inside the briefcase?" Eclair asked after a while of silence.
"The finest business suit I could afford with high heels to complete the visual look." Maken responded with confident tone, making it clear that he was serious. "Your trial is to have an official meeting with the two or their parents and convince them to join our school. Hard one, I know, but I know that you have what it takes." He ended, turning to his right and looking at Rosehip with a somewhat serious face. "As for you, the briefcase has a letter and one hundered thousand Yen. I want you to deliever it to Jajka since I just heard she was removed from Bonple after some self-porclaimed fangirls of mine though that she was an obstacle for school's progress."
"You can't do it in person? Or send it by mail?" Rosehip asked him, doubtful of his insisting on that way of making it.
"If I come to her, she'll just kill me and dumping some mail packages isn't genuine. I need a trustworthy person to do it in my name. Namely: you." Maken responded decisively before taking the turn to tell me the last challenge. "As for you, Andou, it's nothing too special. Just win against BC Freedom and show Ruka that you moved on to the better place." He said, almost as if he didn't want to explain more details.
"That's it?" I asked, suprised on how simple yet obious the mission was.
"Yes. Presentation of your confidence to the public is the last thing you need to be ready, if you ask me that is." Maken said in response, giving me a full, polite smile as if he wanted to support me. "The clock is ticking, my beautiful change trio, go out and show me I can leave this school to you!"