ALT-FLAG 01: Quick to Panic?

"Hey, who's that?"

"Must be the other substitute teacher they were talking about a few days ago."

"Really? He looks relatively young. Handsome even…"

"Heard that he's just a substitute teacher, but he got his Masters degree at the age of 21."

"Wow! He must be good. Anyways, who's he going to replace for the time being?"

"They said it's Kodama-sensei, since he's gone off for a long vacation. Somewhere in Hawaii, I heard."

"Sigh. That guy sure gets it big, but seems to act more than a hothead rather than a teacher..."

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The ramblings went on as Suzaku passed through the hallway of Maijima's High School Department. Within just minutes inside the complex, he's been getting lots of glances from students. Some students who were loitering were quick to throw a glare at him, being a teacher and all.

It was expected to happen anyway as he was wearing a black long coat over his pepper-gray turtleneck shirt, hiding the hellion collar on his neck. Still, that did not stop him from giving out a detective aura.

It was another story with the female demographic however, as he instantly became a heartthrob. Others flustered upon seeing his dark purple eyes. Others fainted when he occasionally threw a stepford smile or two at their direction.

"It seems the purple contact lenses were drawing too much attention. I should consult this to Sylvia, see what she thinks," he thought, as he walked closer into the front door of Class 2-B.

Inside, the class was in their usual "relax" mood: some boys huddling over a dude who bought a magazine, some girls talking about their favorite TV idols and such, and a few others doing their business.

"It's quite a sight, seeing you this early for your first class, Shinozaki." The voice came from the High school principal, who just arrived a few seconds after Suzaku. "I'll let you get familiar with the class for a few minutes. After that, you can settle in at the Faculty room."

"Thank you, Mr. Principal," he responded, with a light nod.

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"All Stand!"

"Good Morning, Mr. Principal!" said the entire 2-B, as the Principal stood in front of the teacher's table.

"Good Morning, class," he responded. "As you already know, Mr. Kodama Ichiro recently left our school to pursue his 3-month Doctorate in English in Hawaii, and to allow him to get his share of rest. The good news is, in his place, we have his temporary substitute with us today."

As expected, some of Class 2-B breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they would not be seeing their loudmouth teacher for quite a while. Others were already speculating as to who will replace him.

"Man, I sure hope the new teacher's like our previous one, Nagase-sensei."

"Yeah. I always feel at ease with female teachers around; especially the ones who have "assets" to die for."

"Mind getting your minds out of the gutter, guys?" said a random female from the class. "We'd rather have a handsome guy that would dispel the nightmares we usually get when Kodama-sensei's in the room!"

"Yeah, about time we get our share of motivation for once."

"Settle down, class," the principal commanded. "Let me introduce him now so that you could gauge yourself."

He motioned to the door, which opened to reveal a guy clad in his knee-length long coat.

"Greetings, class!" he said, facing the students. "My name is Shinozaki Suzaku, and I will be pitching in for Kodama-sensei as your English teacher for the rest of the year. I hope we get along properly, okay?"

2-B suddenly went silent for 5 seconds.

"…"

Then the girls erupted in squee.

"Okay, Shinozaki-kun. I'll leave you with the class for now. Do your best," said the Principal, as he exited the classroom.

"Uh… Thank you, sir…" Suzaku said, as he felt a drop of sweat run down his right cheek.

"Alright now, Suzaku; keep your cool and do your job. You did not just graduate from university for nothing," he said to himself.

He eventually got everyone to settle down.

"Class, since this is just our first session together, I would like to see how much you've gone on your lessons with Kodama-sensei. Next meeting, I want you to write your experiences over the past month. In English. And, to top it off, I will be selecting some of your works to be recited in front of everyone."

The class quickly changed their mood upon getting the assignment from Suzaku. They thought that they would be able to relax, but no; they got their hands tied to work.

"I know you guys are a bit disappointed, but think about it: you have had your annual school festival. I think you would have a lot to write about."

Unfortunately, the class stayed as gloomy as before.

"Tell you what: I will leave you all for the rest of today's session in order to give you a head start on your assignment. I think it is a proper "compromise", right?"

The class responded a bit more positively now, since they'd get a few hours of reprieve.

"I'll see you all next meeting then. Take care!"

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"Well, that was quick. I thought I'd screw up that one." Suzaku let off a sigh as he headed for the Faculty Lounge. Upon reaching it, he made his greetings with the teachers there, and was escorted to his separate table. He went past Kodama's which had a note stuck on it:

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'Note to all: DO NOT TOUCH!'

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"Um, guess that's one reason for the separate table…"

They gave him a decent table space near the water dispenser. There, he unloaded some of the books he brought with him and arranged them according to height. He then proceeded to make preparations for the following sessions with other classes.

A few minutes have passed when a dark-haired woman approached him.

"You must be Kodama's substitute. I heard you went straight for 2-B when you arrived."

Suzaku turned and saw the woman who spoke to him.

"Hmmn… Ms. Nikaido Yuri, right? A pleasure to meet you." He said, while reaching out for a handshake.

"I was expecting you to arrive a few days later. I guess you did not waste a single second coming in here." She said, letting out a light grin.

"Maybe a bit too early, to be honest." Suzaku responded, rising from his seat. "Mind if we have this discussion somewhere else?"

"As you wish then," was her response.

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The two then went to the rooftop. Luckily, no one was around, so Suzaku continued the discussion.

"I heard from my Demon partner that a lot had happened during the past few weeks here in this school. That was apart from the message regarding the organization called 'Vintage', and the eventual capture and death of Dokuro Skull."

Nikaido nodded in response.

"To be honest, I was not expecting Dokuro to turn up as their leader in the first place. It was clear that there were some 'manipulations' behind the scenes. She must have realized this and tried to quell the crisis down, even at her own expense."

"But that's not the main issue here, is it?" he uttered.

"I figured you would say that. Rimyuel and I have been doing some further surveillance on the matter. It seems there were others who were planning another Almage Machina with some interesting 'chess pieces'."

"You don't mean the Level-5 Weiss?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But there's another target. During the term tests, one of my students was reported to have made a public confession to another."

"You're talking about the issue regarding the idol singer Nakagawa Kanon, right?"

"Yes. I tried to follow her when she parted ways with the man she was with. When I got to her, she was apparently stabbed by a Vintage agent named Lune."

"Wait, you were saying she was stabbed? But what about her appearances on Television?"

"Apparently, the Kanon that appeared there was a stand-in for her; she is also one of my students in class… and a member of the Runaway Spirit Squad."

"Okay. I'll need some names here if I were to make some sense into the situation."

"Very well…"

Nikaido then pulled out a couple of folders and gave then to Suzaku.

"The guy in the other folder is her human buddy. Together, they have made about 14 captures. Also, the boy was found to have revealed all the rumored vessels of the Jupiter Sisters."

"I see…"

Suzaku then opened both folders revealing their student profiles. The girl had a long ponytail, a spirit sensor on her hair, a pink Hagoromo, and a broom. The boy had glasses and a bed hair sticking out from the back of his head. He turned his attention to the boy and quickly looked for his name…

"Katsuragi Keima, huh… I think I can start from here…"