A/N: I had a feeling that Hideou would get a lot of attention when I wrote him. I was actually thinking of using the character Taeger from Blazblue, but his personality was slightly dull. I mixed in Bang from the same series together with Jack Rakan from Mahou Sensei Negima for his personality.
If anyone recognizes Ryougi Mana correctly, I would thoroughly surprised, as well as impressed. And you would also know why Ryougi Mana has a grudge against Sakamoto Shiki.
I thought that fighting against Shadows and Angels were quite... plain. I needed to spice it up by giving variety. The Angels themselves are going to have variety as well. Think of the more mainstream anime, Naruto and Bleach where the enemy has mid-boss level people to fight the main characters.
The Intelligence division has their own network of tunnels, as do most divisions. But on the whole, the intelligence division likes to act like ninja and assassins. They are good at sneaking around because that is their job. Makes people think they pop up from nowhere. But I'll tell all of you readers this since I probably will not state this till much later or will not say it at all. Testarossa Iris has a special device which allows her to be invisible. It also can affect up to five subordinates. This enables her to do better intelligence gathering and sneaking about. Most people hate it when she uses it to surprise them.
This chapter will introduce the first of the most powerful devices that uses the Angel Player program. Don't be surprised by it.
Angel Beats!
What We Live For
Operation 10
Wonderland
In the World of the Living
She looked down at the list of options that were written down before her and then closed her eyes, shaking her head in dismay. Was this really the best that they could come up with? She looked at the people who were gathered before the table where she sat. She was seriously disappointed in them.
".. Sigh, I wonder if I am just surrounded by idiots."
She muttered.
"Wha- what do you mean by that, Yurippe? !"
Her childhood friend demanded, banging his fist on the table.
"Yeah, we worked hard to come up with these ideas, at least give us some credibility!"
One of the members of her club added.
"... No. All are rejected."
A sudden dead silence hit the room as everyone suddenly became depressed.
"... I'll come up with something, as always. All of you may go home now."
She said, swivelling her chair around as the members of her club left the room to go. All except for one.
"... Kamiya-kun, I do not need your assistance this time. You may go home with Kanade-chan."
She said, not bothering to turn around to to say it to his face. The young man took a moment, before walking over to the desk.
"Yuri, you're forcing yourself too much again."
"I'm not."
"... The founder's festival does not require us to do as much as the cultural festival. There is no need to get so worked up over it."
She looked at him, rather disappointed in what he had just said. She closed her eyes.
"I always want to achieve more. More than what we could reach for. Wasn't it like that in 'that' World?"
He blinked a couple of times, before sighing.
"Is that why you're sulking?"
"I'm not sulking."
"You are. It has already been three months since we decided to find a way back, yet we do not even have a clue where to begin."
She knew that. She knew that and maybe that was why she was angry. Each day that passed made her dreams more vivid. Dreams of battles, of death, of 'that' place. The war was something that she had started on a selfish whim. It was only right that it would end by her own hand. She hated leaving unfinished business, and this is definitely one torn that she must finish.
"It would be better if we told the others. Maybe they will remember 'that' place as well."
He suggested, a suggestion she scoffed at.
"They would most likely see us as idiots. No, there is no need to drag them into this again. We will-... 'I' will handle this."
"... No, you are not. Kanade and I have both decided to help you, and we will not take 'no' for an answer."
She sighed, shaking her head. He was always so straight-forward and persistent. But then again, that was his good trait.
"Fine... but what bright ideas do you have? It's not like we can just waltz into limbo and expect to just walk out."
She stopped herself the moment she said that. Actually, there might be a way.
Back in Purgatory
Katsuragi stared blankly at the chalk board at the front of the classroom. The teacher was droning on about some linear equation that could be substituted into another difficult equation. To be honest, Katsuragi wasn't listening at all to the lecture. He was still feeling slightly out of it when he came here so everything that happened didn't really register in his head. He looked around the classroom and saw the other recruits. Each doing their own thing.
Daisuke was giving winks, nods and other weird signals to the female NPCs in the class, only to be ignored completely. For some reason Katsuragi's old team was in the same class as well. Yamato was folding paper into origami though they were quite badly sharpened. Ayane was looking into her book, which hid what she was actually reading, some odd magazine she took from a Guild member. Others in the same room included Saya from Beta squad, Rei from Beta, Yue from Charlie and Yoshihiko from Alpha. Each doing their own brand of stupidity to avoid paying attention to class. Katsuragi tried to remember what happened exactly before this.
One hour before
Being dragged out of the bed early in the morning, Katsuragi and the rest of the recruits were all drowsy and tired, sitting in an empty room while being briefed by the leaders of the diversion division, Kinoji Awase and Jinnai. However it seemed that the one really doing the jobs was Jinnai, as Awase seemed to be dozing off in the corner with a smile on her face and drool coming from that very smile. Was she really the leader of a division? Jinnai shifted his glasses before starting to talk.
"All of you will now undergo the most important training you will receive."
Immediately Yamato raised her hand. Katsuragi wondered if she could just stay silent for the moment, especially considering they were sitting in the room according to their old squads again.
"I thought fighting was most important thing we could learn. Fujibayashi-senpai said that."
"Well Fujibayashi is nothing but a barbaric boar of a woman."
Jinnai snapped back, obviously losing his cool for that moment. But he quickly switched back, giving a slight cough.
"Now, let's get on with the basics. In this division, there are different squads specializing for different activities. Some distract in classes, others in clubs. We have recently started a band to handle large operations but that isn't of your concern. What you will all learn here is how to act when in the school. Although Fort is a clear exception, all divisions have to learn how to blend into the school, while at the same time prevent themselves from 'passing on'. These lessons are integral to surviving in this World as it not only teaches you how to blend in, but it can also teach you how to predict the movements of NPCs, thus letting you know when and where a Shadow attack would come from. Right, the first thing you all need to know is what 'not' to do. The most important is not to pay attention to class. Do something else. Anything else."
Present time
By anything, Katsuragi did not know that Jinnai literally meant 'anything'. An explosion from the back of the classroom caught the attention of every NPC in the class, including the teacher, though the SSS2 members simply ignored it. It was Yoshihiko from Alpha squad. His own brand of 'anything' was actually checking his weapon stock, and that included a couple of grenades he nicked from the Guild armoury. As for how and why he did so remained a mystery. No point in asking blown up remains since you would not get any answer from them. Looking at the others in the class, Katsuragi took note that Kinoji Awase, one of the division heads, was actually with them in this class. If she was meant to look after the recruits, she wasn't doing a very good job. In fact, she wasn't doing anything at all that suited the position of a division head, since she was sleeping.
Was this all they had to do? This wasn't really training, was it? It felt more like 'free time'. But Katsuragi guessed that everyone needed it. After the hellish training that they went through, a good rest was the thing they needed. He looked up at the board, noticing that the teacher had gone back to teach whatever the lesson was about. However it seemed that the teacher forgot what he was going on about, resulting in him teaching something completely different. He guessed this was also something to be considered as 'diversion'. As he stared at the board without paying it any real mind, he began to think back. What was the point of this again? Besides that. Why couldn't he remember anything from his past? And what exactly is this World? He began to question about his own self. Was he really alive? What if this was all a figment of his imagination? But then again, he could not have just imagined this World to life... so to speak.
This World had rules, rules that were clearly formed by people. A person with complete amnesia would be no different from a new born child, thus would not be able to create a World with such profound rules. Unless he was someone who did not have complete amnesia, meaning though he forgot a lot of thing, he still had some memory of the basic understandings of society. But in the end Katsuragi knew within himself that this World was not his own, but something of a larger scale. It was not created by one being, but it contained the fragments of multiple people. Thousands, millions of people and maybe even more than that. It was a collection of memories.
But how did he know all of this? This World was foreign, yet familiar to Katsuragi. It felt natural for him to be here but at the same time he knew he did not belong here. He was dead, he was once part of the living World. So why did it feel so odd? The door to the classroom suddenly slammed open, making everyone turn. At the doorway were a group of students, dressed in black and each having a green arm band on their right sleeves. It was the disciplinary committee.
'"Attention all SSS2 diversion units, evacuate now."'
A loud announcement from the courtyard below sounded, alerting everyone in the classroom. The SSS2 members all started to get up and run towards the other exit, but more disciplinary members appeared, barring them from escaping.
"You will not escape this time."
One of them smirked, reaching a hand out to grab the nearest one, Saya.
"Now be a good student and come with us-"
The NPC was cut short when a large table was flung to his face, throwing him backwards with such force that he bowled over all of his fellow disciplinary committee members. Everyone turned around and saw that Awase had just gotten up. While stifling a yawn, she picked up another table with one hand, turning to the second group of disciplinary committee members, reared back and gave it one good throw. The NPCs all ran away by now, but they would be back. Awase scratched her head as she turned to the recruits.
"You all better leave now while they're gone."
She smiled. The recruits did not need to be told twice and they ran out of the classroom with Awase following behind. They ran down the hallway, but the NPCs were soon hot on their trail once more. Awase stopped and turned around to face the NPCs alone.
"S-senpai? !"
Yamato turned around but was stopped by the sudden appearance of Jinnai, the second leader of the diversion division.
"Let's go now."
"But-"
"Awase can handle more than her fair share of Angels. A few lowly NPCs are nothing more than a nuisance."
Jinnai said, pushing the recruits down the hallway.
"Jinnai, take care of them."
Awase said without turning her gaze from the NPCs charging at her.
"Understood, leader."
Jinnai saluted before rushing the recruits down. Awase sighed, looking at the NPCs who stopped right before her.
"So, finally willing to surrender?"
One of them asked. Awase rubbed her tired eyes and placed her hand on the pillar column next to her.
"Hmm? Can you say that a bit louder? I could not hear from all of that cracking-"
Her grip suddenly tightened, cracking the concrete column and scaring some of the NPCs.
"And crumbling-"
Her hand yanked out a good portion of the column.
"And... oh look, the wall came off. You know, you guys should put better effort into making these walls. It is a nice place to lean against to sleep, after all."
Awase smiled.
"Ah, I forgot to ask about something. Last week, one of my captains was captured by you guys but he has yet to come back even though his sentence was light. Anyone care to explain?"
Her hand than gripped the wall piece tightly, crushing it and pulverizing the piece into dust. Awase's smile slowly dropped as her eyes became more serious.
"No? I guessed not. You are all mere slaves who do mindless jobs. Mere pieces of JUNK..."
Awase's expression was quickly changing from her carefree self, to that of an enraged demon. She reached into a small pouch she kept by her side and pulled out two things. A golden pocket watch and a small cloth that had been rolled into a ball. Awase raised the ball to her eye level.
"Sorry about this, but you are all going to disappear here. EXEC_ANGELPROGRAM: / / / SYSTEM_LINK WEAPONS_ACCESS\RABBIT_HOLE; ACTIVATE"
Awase threw the ball of cloth up into the air and it unwrapped by itself in mid-air. In the middle of the cloth was what seemed to be a black spot, but it actually a hole. From that hole came forth hundred of weapons. Swords, spears, tridents, rifles, grenade launchers, pistols, daggers and even a machine gun. The weapons flew out in all direction, striking some NPCs as each weapon embedded itself into the wall, floor or ceiling. The entire hallway was literally covered with weapons. With a smile, Awase raised the pocket watch up.
"Welcome boys, to a place where dreams and nightmares coincide. A place where everything and nothing are real. Laws of Worlds and men do not matter in here. Don't worry, I will paint this place red with your blood. Welcome to my wonderland."
Awase snapped her pocket watch open and muttered these words:
"EXEC_ANGELPROGRAM: / / / SECONDARY_SYSTEM_LINK WEAPONS_CONTROL\LATE_RABBIT; ACTIVATE"
The hands on the watch suddenly slowed down and everything around Awase seemed to slow down as well. Awase merely walked up to the nearest weapon, a pair of pistols. She raised her leg up and stomped down hard on the ground, the vibrations causing the pistols to jumped off the ground and into her hands. The moment she grabbed those pistols, Awase fired them without hesitation. She quickly emptied those pistols, dropped them and kicked a rifle from the wall, bringing it to aim and firing at the next target. Once the rifle was out of bullets, she tossed that away and grabbed two swords, throwing them like they were throwing knives at the enemy.
Awase did not stop in her rampage, kicking, punching, grabbing weapons that her cloth had spewed out from its twilight dimensional hole and using them before grabbing another weapon when the weapon in her hand was done. It was like watching a dancer waltzing through a hallway, if you discount the bullets, cries of death and blood splatter. It was scary to see, in fact, since Awase was usually the gentle person who would just fall asleep anywhere. But her current personality was like a complete opposite. Rage, anger, all pent up and disguised by her happy-go-lucky persona. And soon, it was all over. Nothing was left in the hallway but blood, bodies and used weapons. But in all of this carnage, not a single drop of blood touched Awase. She closed the pocket watch and time reverted to normal. She kept her pocket watch and walked off, but not before taking one last look at the body of that one particularly loud-mouthed NPC. A sad smile crept on her face before she turned and left.
The recruits had not been too far away to catch a small glimpse of what Awase did. And while it was amazing to see, the recruits felt nothing but fear from it. Jinnai gathered the recruits for a debriefing in one of the empty rooms at Fort and they noticed that Awase was not there. But maybe it was good thing she was not there. The recruits did not think that they could actually stand straight if she were in the same room as them. Jinnai seemed to have noticed the recruits' discomfort and sighed. This was going to take some explanation.
"Do not be afraid of Awase. She would never harm any person she considers a friend. Of course she wasn't always like that. There was a large battle five years ago that changed this entire organization."
Jinnai explained.
"The Battle of Big Site, am I right?"
Yue asked, to which Jinnai nodded his head.
"Exactly, I'm guessing you heard from someone about this. The Battle of Big Site was the largest and costliest battle the SSS2 had ever faced since its founding. It was the day we faced against our new enemy, the Angels. Although the number of Angels that currently exist are now limited, during that battle the number of Angels we faced were in the thousands. We lost a lot of good people, and it changed many people... During that battle, Awase lost a lot of her friends. Awase was never one to consider those in the Diversion division to be her subordinates. Every one was her friend and that was how she became popular. But because she took them personally, losing even one person was extremely difficult for Awase. Awase rarely gets angry, so when she does she releases everything she has."
Jinnai was clearly not too happy about explaining this either. It was clear that he too suffered from some sort of pain.
"What about her weapon?"
Kazu asked.
"Her weapon? Ah, you must mean the 'Rabbit hole' and 'Rabbit's foot'. Those two are weapons made specifically for Awase and as a set they make up one of the only five 'SSS' ranked special weapons Guild have created. As all of you are aware, there are black and white essences in this World. Black essence creates weapons that are high in offensive abilities but almost zero in defensive. White essence is used for weapons with particular abilities that enhance the user. I heard that you recruits met Hideou from the Assault division. His gloves are made from white essence which enhances his own physical capabilities. For Awase, her pocket watch speeds her up to the point where everything around her can literally stand still. It is probably to make up for all of her times sleeping. As for 'Rabbit Hole', it acts like a portal to a separate world. It produces anything Awase wants it to but Awase is usually too lazy to think of only one item, so it usually ends up spitting out an armoury load of weapons, which leads to Awase's special skill: Wonderland."
"Don't go talking so much about it, Jinnai."
A voice suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned around and saw Awase walk in whilst clutching her abdomen. Her uniform around that area was stained red.
"Awase! You're-"
"I'm fine... just need to sleep it off."
Awase smiled, waving Jinnai off as she leaned against the wall and slumped to the ground.
"Feels cold... I guess... I'll see you in a few hours."
Awase smiled before she closed her eyes and her body fell limp.
"Awase... you were being too reckless again."
Jinnai sighed, walking over and grabbed a blanket, covering Awase with it. Katsuragi thought that he felt a certain emotion coming from Jinnai. Was it concern? Or something more-
"You had to go ruin the floor again, and how many times do you want to die before you're satisfied with leaving me with all of the paper work? You lazy excuse of a leader. Sigh, sometimes I wonder why I even bother to clean up after her."
Or maybe Jinnai was just angry at her. Katsuragi sighed, berating himself inwardly at how he was probably thinking too much into things again. Jinnai got back up to his feet and turned to the recruits.
"All of you have done well. Though this training is short, I'm sure all of you have a good grasp on what it takes to blend into the school environment. You may all return to your rooms. In two days time, you all will receive notification on which division you will be entering based off your own abilities that you have shown. Though you all may be in different divisions and rivalries are bound to occur between the groups, do not forget that all of you are now full-fledge SSS2 members. Wear your uniform and badge with pride and protect what you all hold dear to you. Your lives."