Fate/School Days Sidestory 2: Karin
Class just wasn't the same without 'Yuki around. Oh the other students were all very interesting in their own ways, but there was none of the challenge in getting a reaction out of a literal kuudere that only my sister could provide. Or her Mother. But Akitsu-kaachan is Mommy's responsibility.
Yuki staying at home off to care for her sick mother somewhat made sense. Daddy couldn't take the day off, he was just too crucial for his job. Many of the other kaachans had their own duties to take care of. But where did that leave me?
Bored. Absolutely bored out of my mind.
Sensei was busy pointing out the finer points to a mathematical question that would have been solved in just a few derivative calculations rather than this algebraic he insisted on using. I felt safe in tuning him out while I mentally connected with the camera setup in Class 3. Keiko's class was having their own lecture in chemistry, and I could tell from the view that she was finding it equally dull, more so perhaps since none of the compounds being discussed could explode in any satisfying manner.
I extracted my consciousness from the school's surveillance system and regarded the small monitor built into my desk. MBI's communications technology had grown by leaps and bounds over the decade and microPCs were now pretty standard fare in the classroom. As I watched, the image on the monitor changed to reflect the theorem behind the calculations Sensei wanted us to discuss, and comments began to pop up along the side as the class posted their interpretations. I scribbled my own contribution onto the screen using the provided stylus and then dived back into the system.
In addition to networking the student's computers with their teachers, the school network also provided a rudimentary mail/chat system so public notices and club announcements could be circulated. Naturally student's also tended to use them to pass along notes of a more personal nature, but what the majority never seemed to understand was that everything that went through it was logged and monitored on a weekly basis.
Well, everything that went through the normal channels. For me it was child's play to circumvent the whole thing and simply take control of any particular machine, but I usually limited myself to dodging the whole transmission loggers.
I found myself in Keiko's desk as she scribbled down various doodles in her notebook program. Taking control of my own virtual pen i scribbled onto her screen.
Keiko-chaaaan~
There was a slight pause as the user reacted to the unexpected interaction before another word scribbled its way into existence beside my own. "Bored?"
Booo~oored~
"Do you even need to *write* like that?"
Yes. The advantage of writing directly like this was as far as the system was concerned, Keiko was more or less taking notes by herself. The notebook program didn't use any transmissions of any sort and thusly this was a completely untraceable way to communicate with each other. Assuming nobody was looking over her shoulder at least.
"What do you have this period?"
Math.
"That sounds quite dull."
=(
"Are you sure your teacher isn't going to call on you to answer a problem?"
O.o; ...wait one.
I pulled enough of myself back to pay enough attention to my physical sight and hearing, to find three other students at the front solving the problems Sensei had placed up there. I dived back in.
Nah, I'm good. How's chemistry?
"How did you... never mind, I don't know why I keep getting surprised. What's Sakuya up to?"
Mm... let me see~
Another few moments, I had to split off a full quarter of my consciousness for this dive to find our sibling in Classics, watching a period documentary about the Second World War. Her class seemed to spend the time scribbling out their comments that would scroll along the bottom of the screen. Sometimes during a particularly interesting scene the comment section would flood with text, making the whole thing unreadable. Sakuya herself seemed to be holding two pens and jotting down comments ranging from the unremarkable to the incendiary.
She's fine, I noted back at Keiko's desk. Her class is watching the History Channel or something.
"Lucky her."
Are we doing anything for 'Yuki after school?
There was a slight pause as her sister thought about it. "I think Riko and Aoshi will want to head back right away. Sakuya and Fuuko don't have any plans as far as I know, but knowing Fuuko she might have something going on..."
...and you~u?
"...I might... have... something... to do..."
:D Should I be starting a search through your inbox, sister?
"You do and you're so dead."
Would you even know?
"You just told me."
...right. =(
I noticed the timekeeping program in the corner of my awareness and saw that class had about five minutes to go before the bell rang. I said as much to Keiko so we could both recenter ourselves. Literally for me. I collected my consciousness from the various networks I had infiltrated and pulled myself back into my body. No one was the wiser, to the outside world my body was merely studiously, continuously taking notes. I had the grades to match so Sensei never had any cause to suspect.
I did notice the last portion of class had been set for a pop quiz, but with five minutes to go I had all the time in the world. After a brief glance at the problems on my screen I took the time to scribble down the answers, and enough work using plain, boring algebra so as not to give Sensei any reason to suspect. The remaining time I used to quietly hack into Sensei's lecture notes and slides, and copied them directly into Yuki's desk so she would find them the next day she came to class. After that it was a long four minutes waiting for the bell to ring with the promise of freedom.