Chapter 19 - Down Time VI
...
The day after my morning excursion with Shiroko, I was swamped with work in the morning. I powered through and finished it quickly. With it still morning, albeit barely, I walk to the Problem Solver office to deliver some documents.
On the way there, Hina texted me.
Sensei, will you be free this afternoon?
I'll be done with my work for the day by then.
We can do another time if you need.
No, that'll do. I'll swing by this afternoon.
Pocketing my phone, I reach my destination. I knock on the office's door. A moment later, it opens to reveal Kayoko. "Sensei?"
"Mornin', Kayoko. I came by to bring you girls some papers." I explain, holding up said documents.
"I see. Come in." She says, allowing me inside. "I would have done some cleaning if I knew you were going to come here."
"The others not here?" I ask, sitting the papers down on Aru's desk.
"They'll be coming by later. We were up late last night doing some work." She explains.
"You okay? I know how bad it is to run on little sleep." I ask, worried.
"I'm fine. I never get a lot of sleep." She waves me off. "That's why I usually get here first and clean the office."
I didn't get much sleep for the past five years. A full night's sleep was practically a godsend.
"Well, it's nice of you to clean the office, but you oughta get a full night of sleep sometimes." I chastise the punk girl.
She lets out a chuckle and smiles at me. "You really are a nice person, Sensei."
"Thanks." I say, awkwardly. "Still, wouldn't it be easier if you waited for the others so y'all could get done faster?"
"I guess it would be..." She trails off. "I dunno. They'd probably think I was being to bossy if I said we should clean together. Besides, it'd be a pain in the ass. Aru and Haruka do a decent job of cleaning up after themselves, so that makes it easier. As for Mutsuki..." She cringes a bit. "I'm good doing it solo rather than asking for help."
"Then, why don't I help?" I offer.
"Were you not listening to a work I said, Sensei?" She asks, a bit upset. "This is Problem Solver's problem. It has nothing to do with you. Are you trying to keep me in your debt or something?"
"When have you ever been in my debt?" I ask, confused. "I was just offerin' my help."
This throws her for a loop. "But... Never mind. Arguing over something like this is stupid. I'm not usually the one to go ask for help, but I know it doesn't make sense to turn it down if someone offers." She then makes a thoughtful expression. "It's not all that different from how Problem Solver operates now that I think about it." She says, letting out a small chuckle. She then smiles a beautiful smile. "All right then, you can take care of the heavy lifting."
"Can do." I say, with a smile.
And so, I spent the rest of my morning helping Kayoko clean their office.
After leaving the Problem Solver office, I head straight for Gehenna Academy. Strangely enough, we ended up meeting in the slums this time.
"Hello, Sensei." Hina says politely.
"First, near the black market, now the slums? I thought next time would be your office." I point out.
"Ako is busy with something in my office, and I would prefer us to speak alone. Additionally, students are barred from here due to a recent prefect operation." She explains. "It had always been dangerous, but the operation should keep people completely clear for at least a few days. Meaning, I won't be spotted and we can meet here without concern." She says, smiling at the end.
"Fair enough." I shrug. "Though, why're you so worried about what others think?"
"They don't leave me any other choice. Besides, this is to your benefit" She says. "I'm sure you're aware I have my share of enemies, both in and outside of school. It's safer to assume that I'm always being watched. You could be in grave danger if you were spotted with me."
"Makes you seem kinda paranoid to me." I deadpan. "Besides, I'd say I have my fair share of enemies too. You can't make everyone like you."
Gematria comes to mind, especially.
"But, once again, why all of this? Why not just talk with me online, or e-mail me, or even text?" I ask.
Her eyes widen, then relax as she averts her gaze. She didn't think of that, huh? "I-I suppose, but... I mean..." She struggles to formulate a response.
I can kinda guess what she wants to say. "Some things are better done in person, huh?"
"...I hope you're not patronizing me." She says, after a moment. "But, yes, you're right. Some things need to be done face-to-face. Such as this!" She shouts a bit at the end, likely a bit embarrassed. "There's nothing wrong with us meeting in person to get business done."
"Then next time we can do it at your office, like I suggested last time." I say, with a tone of finality. "If anything, it'd probably be worse for us to be seen together at night, like last time."
"I... guess so? I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at..." She says, utterly confused. "Late at night... Potentially a problem... In other words..." I think she's on the right track. "Wha?!" She shouts, eyes wide with a crimson face.
I didn't think she could make that expression.
"Wh-What are you suggesting?!" She shouts. "You and me, Sensei...?! Do you think I have no shame?!" She continues, before lowering her volume. "I would be happy to take care of a misunderstanding if that were the case..."
"Okay, okay, calm down, please." I say, trying to placate her.
It seems to work, as she then finally calms down. "But you have made your point. People do love to gossip like that. Meeting with you at night is dangerous in and of itself."
"Which is why I'm glad we met in the afternoon this time." I say.
"Perhaps it would be best to meet during the day. But, usually those are my business hours..." She says, worried.
"Why don't we just stick with the afternoon, or perhaps lunch?" I offer, but she still was worried and troubled.
We finished up our business discussions, despite her worries. She did mention that operation from before once more. More specifically, that Iori had gotten slightly injured during it. Feeling a bit worried about her, I decided to go visit her at Gehenna Academy.
She wasn't hard to find, as she was in an infirmary. I opened the door to find Iori, struggling to reach her back with her hands, for some reason.
"There you are, how are you doing, Iori?" I ask.
"What? Sensei?!" She shouts. "What are you doing here?!"
"I had some business with Hina and she mentioned you got hurt, so I figured I'd come check up on ya." I explain. "How's your injury?" I ask, concerned about the girl.
"Oh, it's not too bad. Prefects expect to take damage in the line of duty. Don't worry about it." She waves me off.
"Your my student, Iori. I hafta worry about you if you get hurt." I say, truthfully.
Her crimson eye not hidden by her bangs widens as her face turns a similar color. Her eye returns to normal as she averts her gaze from me. "Well, it's fine. I already treated it long before you showed up."
I feel relief wash over me. "Well, that's good to hear."
"There... is one problem, though." She admits, shyly. "I can't quite reach around to finish tying up the bandage."
"Say no more. I'll turn around so you can take off your uniform." I say, turning around.
As I do, I hear the tan girl thank me quietly. "...And don't get any funny ideas." She adds, quickly. She's clearly embarrassed by this whole thing, so I'll just be quiet. After a minute or so of the sound of clothes rustling behind me, she speaks up again. "I'm done. You can turn around."
Doing so, I'm treated to a rather beautiful sight. Iori is sitting on the bed, her back facing me. Her uniform top is covering her chest and being held with one hand, while her other hand is holding back her hair as she looks back at me, revealing one of her pointed ears. A blush is still present on her face, as she appears to be hiding her nervousness and embarrassment with a visage of annoyance. It's not working too well, though. It should also be noted that her skirt is lowered to just below the base of her demonic tail. The skin of her back is pristine, aside from the gash on her lower back.
"Why are you making that face?" She asks, breaking me from my trance. "You had better not be thinking anything lewd!"
"Sorry. You're just, uh... pretty, so it... yeah, sorry." I stutter.
I haven't had any intimate interactions with a female in years, so...
"How long are you just going to stand there staring? Hurry up and help me." She says, annoyed.
"Right, sorry." I apologize, picking up the bandages. As I begin to wrap them around her body, she gasps a bit, in pain. "You okay?"
"Of course." She says proudly. "I'm a Gehenna prefect. This is nothing! It just... kind of tickled, is all." She admits shyly.
I stop moving for a second, most definitely getting a blush, before resuming my bandage wrapping and chuckling to myself.
"What's so funny?" She asks.
"Well, it's just that I fought a giant mech the other day, with no hesitation, but seein' a pretty girl has got me locking up and stuttering. It's kinda funny in retrospect." I explain.
"Pr-Pretty?!" She almost yells.
"Stop squirming!" I chide. "The bandages are gonna come loose."
"R-Right, sorry." She says. "And you don't have to stand so far back, so hurry up!" She yells in a very tsundere-like manner, hiding her nervousness once again.
I quickly finished wrapping her bandages. She got dressed afterwards, as I turned around again. As I turned back around, she was sat on the infirmary bed. "Thanks for your help." She says, still blushing fiercely. "You've always struck me as a weirdo, but you do have a sweet side to you."
"You're welcome, Iori." I say with a smile.
"You, um..." She trails off, nervous to continue. "You would help me treat my wounds again if I asked... right?"
"Anytime." I say, simply. "Just don't hurt yourself on purpose, okay?"
"Of course! I'm not that stupid!" She shouts indignantly, before fidgeting, "But, if and when it does happen... I hope I can count on you."
"Like I said, Iori. Anytime."
Iori left the infirmary soon after, a pleased look on her face. Before she left, I told her she could swing by Schale anytime.
As I walked out of Gehenna Academy, I got a text from Hifumi.
Sensei, Momo Friends is releasing a new Big Brother bag!
You going to get one?
Maybe. This one is cute, but...
The Peroro bag is my favorite!
Come to think of it, you're always carrying that same Peroro bag, aren't you?
Heehee, isn't it cute?
This bag was a precious limited-edition item that was released during the initial Momo Friends launch.
It's very roomy, so I can carry all kinds of things. It's my treasure!
Been a fan from the start, huh?
It's pretty impressive to be a fan of something when it comes out, then become an even bigger fan as time goes on.
We end up agreeing to meet up, outside Trinity Academy.
Not long after, when I reach the academy, I see Hifumi nearby, and call out to her. "Yo, Hifumi!"
She turns to look at me. "Oh, Sensei!" She says, bounding over, before tripping on seemingly nothing. "Ouch."
"Shit, are you okay?" I ask, running to her. I kneel next to her, and give her my hand to help her up.
She awkwardly chuckles as she stands. "I-I'm okay. Falling over from clumsiness is nothing new to me."
"Well, that's good to hear." I say, relieved.
"Actually, that was weird." She says, looking at the ground behind her. "I didn't trip over a rock or anything. Why did I lose my balance all of a sudden...?"
"Maybe you've got too much stuff in your bag and it messed with your balance." I theorize.
"Hmm." She looks down at her bag. "Maybe you're right. I do have a lot of stuff in it, so it's pretty heavy. I've been meaning to get around to organizing it. On second thought, what better time than now?" She asks rhetorically, while walking over to a nearby picnic table. She then sits down and empties her bag.
"Holy shit!" I can't help but say as a bunch of stuff comes out of the small bag. "Is that a... box of bandages with Peroro on it?"
"Good eye, Sensei!" She praises. "I carry them in case my friends ever get hurt when I'm around. I'd feel terrible if I couldn't help. That's why they have a permanent spot in my bag!"
"Well, that's awful nice of you." I praise.
"Is it?" She asks, causing me to nod in return. "Oh! There's my Big Brother cushion." She says, happily.
"Been lookin' for it?" I ask.
"Yeah. It's stuffed with feathers, so it's very fluffy." She explains, reminding me of that duck down mat Hoshino has. "No bench is too hard when you have this behind your back!"
Continuing to sift through the stuff, I find... "A mini umbrella?"
"Yes! It has a Pinky-Paca print! It's not supposed to rain today, but you never know, right?" She says.
"Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." I say.
"Yup!" She agrees, enthusiastically. "Still, I thought I'd find something I can part with in here, but everything is super important." She says, as she starts to pack everything back up into the bag. "It looks like I'm stuck with my bag being as heavy as ever..." She says, dejectedly.
"Well, you're well prepared, so that's something." I say, hoping to cheer her up a bit.
"Y-You think so?" She asks, with an awkward chuckle. "I don't have any particular talents, so I do what I can to be helpful to my friends. My bag being so full is proof of that!" She says, proudly. As she does, something lands on my shoulder.
"Rain?" I ask, looking at the dark spot on my shoulder where the raindrop landed. Right after, some more droplets begin to hit the ground all around us.
"Oh, a sudden rain shower..." Hifumi says, surprised. "See? This is why I always come prepared!" She says happily, taking out her umbrella, unfolding it. "Here, Sensei! Get under my Pinky-Paca umbrella. Come on under! Don't be shy." She says, looking at me expectantly.
Sighing, I reluctantly stand under the umbrella with Hifumi.
The two of us walk until I see a convenience store. Realizing I don't actually own an umbrella, I decide to go in and buy one. I bid Hifumi farewell as I enter the store.
Convenience stores in Kivotos carry all sorts of odds and ends, especially bullets. It's like the stereotypical American's wet dream.
As I walk over to the counter, I see a girl there ahead of me. She's looking frantically through her small bag for something. The robot cashier looks at her patiently. She then awkwardly chuckles. "Well, looks like I can't find it."
"Very well then." The cashier says. "Please choose what to put back."
"Aww." She whines, as she looks through her stuff, deciding on what to put back.
Feeling generous, I decide to step up. "Lost your card?" I ask.
The girl turns around, her yellow-gold eyes look up at me, allowing me to get a good look at her. She has fair skin and long, pink hair that fades to blue at the end, with some of it tied in a bun on the right side of her head, held with a frilly white and blue ribbon. She wears a white dress, which comes to her knees, with gold details and small, blue bows all over. On her shoulders rests a small cape of similar color, held with a blue bow, just below her collarbone. On one of her hands, is a purple scrunchie, detailed with small white dots, resembling stars, just like the inside of her skirt. She has on white leggings and dark blue high heels with similarly colored bows on the backs of them. From her back, sprouts two angel wings, her right one adorned with gold and blue moon and star shaped ornaments. There's also a black and white MG around her back.
Even her halo follows the space theme as it, like Hina's, is one of the more unique halos I've seen thus far. In the center is a sphere which seems to pull upwards and downwards into points, without upsetting the sphere's shape. There are two rings, each forming a half-circle, both circling from the sphere, and spinning outwards. A full ring, much thinner than the other two, floats just below. All around the sphere and rings are small crosses and spheres, floating as though moons, held by the sphere's gravity. The halo, as a whole is pink, save for the outmost parts of the two large rings, the crosses and the small spheres, which turn blue, similarly to her hair.
"Yes, I can't seem to find it." She admits.
"Well then, let me cover for ya." I say, causing her eyes to widen.
"Y-You don't have to do that!" She tries to say, but I'm having none of that.
"I don't have to, but I want to." I say, shrugging. "Plus, all I'm buyin' is this umbrella, so why not?" I ask rhetorically, holding up the umbrella for a moment.
She soon relents, though. "All right, then." She says with a smile. "It would be rude to deny your kindness."
By the time I've bought my umbrella and paid for her stuff, the rain had already stopped.
"Oh, it stopped?" The pink haired girl asks, as we leave the store.
"Seems that way." I say.
"Thank you for that, Sensei." She says, looking at me.
"You already know me?" I ask, a bit surprised.
"Of course. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Misono Mika, a Third-Year here at Trinity and one of the three presidents of the Tea Party." She says, with a slight bow and curtsy. "Nice to finally meet you, Joshua Sensei."
"Nice to meet you too, Mika." I say, with a smile. "So, you, that Nagisa girl, and a third run Trinity?"
"That's right!" She says happily. "Nagisa, Seia and I run the Tea Party."
"Huh. I wasn't expecting a triumvirate style Student Council." I say, a bit surprised. "I figured it was just Nagisa when no one else was mentioned."
"Well, most, if not all of the other Student Councils just have one president." She explains, a bit awkwardly. "It's not surprising that you'd be surprised by this."
"Fair enough." I say. "Well, it was nice meetin' you, Mika."
"You too, Sensei." As we begin to part ways, she calls out to me. "Oh, Sensei!"
I turn back around. "What?"
"You're going to need to pay back that debt soon." She says simply, her smile dropping for the first time, surprising me quite a bit.
"All right, then. Just give me a call or something when the time comes." I say, seriously. "I always pay back my debts"
"Good." She says, smiling once more. "I hope to see you again, Sensei."
"Likewise."
And so, we bid each other farewell. I wonder what they could need my help with. Could it be that treaty I've heard about?
Maybe I should do some research on it when I get home.
I arrive back at Schale in the evening.
AN
You may be wondering why I skipped Iori's bond chapters 2 and 3. The answer is simple: The Sensei portrayed there is a fucking idiot.
I mean come on. He goes to Gehenna to lay on the ground to sleep, something Hoshino would do. Then, he goes to the black market to buy Iori's elementary school pictures. I mean, what the fuck?
'Bond event canon' Sensei has rarely ever been that stupid/perverted. The only other time I can think of was Karin's bond. It honestly unnerved me reading those bond events. It was a real dissonance from the other bond events.
No way am I adding those to my story. No way, no how.
Also, bet you weren't expecting Mika to show up. How's that for a surprise?
Next time, we continue along with more story.
Edit: November 1, 2022: Added girls' weapon descriptions.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!