A/N: Er... Oops. It seems like I may have made a mistake. A lot of you readers are expecting me to write out the battle between Yuuko and the horde of Shadows. Unfortunately... no. I'll leave it up to your imagination to decide what happened. I'll just give you guys the aftermath report. Also, a reader prompted me to write out a status page some of the characters. I had done so for another fic and my blog had done a rather crude one. So in addition to the battle report, I will also put out the stats on some of the more important people. Those who have yet to show their power will not have their stats revealed.
Battle Report:
Casualties: 150 Shield members
Survivors: 1
Enemies: 500 Shadows; infantry type
Enemy count by time of battle:
-500 (00:00:00)
-450 (00:00:01)
-350 (00:00:02)
-200 (00:00:03)
-50 (00:00:04)
-0 (00:00:05)
Action report:
-Guild Division leader Himura Yuuko activated Angel Program: Hammer of Hephaestus
-Guild Division leader Himura Yuuko activated Hammer skill: Babylon
-Due to explosive nature of Babylon, all 150 shield members were killed instantly by their own boss before the battle begun
-All Shadows eliminated within five seconds of Babylon activation
Aftermath:
-Tunnel F4 severely weakened and will need to be closed off till repairs are made
-Torching of tunnel F4 commenced after battle
-estimated time till F4 can be reopened: 2 weeks
End Report
Report made by Intelligence Division for archiving.
[Angel Program SSS2 Division leader archives]
[Accessing Division leader records]
[Access denied]
[Rerouting]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Access granted]
[Displaying records of Division 4 leader: Kinoji Awase]
Name: Kinoji Awase
Age at death: 17
Sex: Female
Height and Weight: 158 cm 45 kg
Division: 4, Diversion
Alignment: Neutral Good; Sloth
Weapons: Sig Sauer (rank C), Rabbit Hole (rank SSS), Rabbit Foot (rank SSS)
Strength: B
Agility: E (Utilizing Wonderland, Agility becomes A)
Endurance: E
Luck: S
Abilities:
-Sleep anywhere (rank A)
-Wonderland (rank SS)
[Displaying records of Division 2 leader: Himura Yuuko]
Name: Himura Yuuko
Age at death: 16
sex: Female
Height and Weight: 160 cm and 48 kg
Division: 2, Guild
Alignment: Chaotic neutral, Greed
Weapons: Switch of dropping (rank A), Bakuhou (rank A), Remington 1100 shotgun (rank B), M60 Machine gun (rank B), Taurus Tracker revolver (rank B), Hammer of Hephaestus (rank SSS), Anvil of Hephaestus (rank SSS)
Strength: A
Agility: C
Endurance: A
Luck: F
Abilities:
-Creation (rank A)
-Babylon (rank S)
-Kagutsuchi (rank SS)
-Never-ending cycle (rank SS)
-A.Y.B. (rank SS)
Angel Beats!
What We Live For
Operation 15
First Request
Katsuragi walked down the hallway with Yamato next to him as they looked for their squad room. After they got back to Fort from Guild, Rio told them to find their own squad leaders and rooms in order to learn more about their duties. Hitomi was sent to Camelot, so her leader would be Imagawa Jin, though that idiot was more or less out of action at the moment. Rio told Hitomi that she should report to the second in command, a girl who had more sense than Imagawa and was the actual real person holding authority in that squad. As for Daisuke, he was assigned to the relief squad of Little Busters whose leader was a person called Riki. And so the four recruits separated to head towards their own squads.
However Katsuragi and Yamato were both assigned to the same squad and as such they headed towards the same place. There an awkward silence between the two as they were probably thinking the same thing. 'Why is he/she still here?' Unbeknownst to the two, the reason they were put in the same division was due to the influence of none other than the Queen of Fort herself, Taeno Yuki. The two finally reached the room which served the Wolves. It looked like most other rooms, though just standing outside of the doors was more than enough to feel that a sense of fear that would petrify anyone daring to enter. Yamato and Katsuragi swallowed hard before reaching out to the door knob.
The door swung open and the two were greeted by a strange sight. Within this room were large sofas lined around in various positions. Cupboards, bookshelves and lockers adorned the sides of the room while tables covered with documents and weapons lay scattered throughout the place. One large central table was in the middle of the room with a large map of the school spread out on it. The room had at least twenty people within it, all turning their sharp gazes to the new recruits who had just opened the door but have yet dared to enter. Katsuragi and Yamato stared at the room, not sure of what to do and all of the members within the room were simply staring back at the recruits. Studying them. The silence was extremely tense and Katsuragi could his own heartbeat.
"Ah, its the new recruits. Welcome!"
A familiar voice called out, breaking the tense moment. Stepping out from the back of the room was a face that Katsuragi and Yamato had seen before. With his cheeky look and sharp eyes, Iori approached them. So he was a member of the Wolves as well.
"So the two of you are going to join the Wolf pack from today onwards, right? Good! Come in, come in. No need to stand on ceremony."
Iori gestured for the two to enter and it seemed that whatever Iori did, seemed to dispel the petrification the two recruits had over them. They stepped into the room. The other members of the Wolves all seemed to take an interest in the new recruits, pausing whatever they were doing midway like polishing weapons, loading magazine clips, eating snacks, reading books, practising fighting moves and just lazing around. For now, the tense atmosphere seemed to dissipate a little. Perhaps the Wolves were more welcoming towards their own.
"Good for the two of you to come. At the moment, we only have ten percent of our division here, so you would not be able to meet everyone, but some of the more important people are here."
Iori said, walking over to the side and took two cans of canned coffee and tossed them to the recruits.
"First off, I'm Hasegawa Iori, the leader of the Wolves and the one in-charge of the two of you from today onwards. Let's work well together."
Iori smiled. So he was the leader of the Wolves. That gives Imagawa plenty of reason to fear him.
"Let's see... Ah, that guy cleaning the rocket launcher there is Ishibashi. He's the one in-charge of any fighting that we Wolves handle in our requests. Say hi, Ishibashi."
Iori called out to the large man at the back of the room, who merely nodded and went back to polishing his large rocket launcher.
"He's shy around new members, so don't think of it the wrong way. Next, we have Utada Mari."
Iori pointed to a girl who sat on the sofa sipping on some tea. She smiled at the recruits and waved.
"She's in-charge of organizing the requests that come through, to make sure no one gets a request they can't handle so talk to her if you want to know which request is suitable for you though if you try to take on something that isn't right for you, she would shoot you dead. Don't mess with her ahoge. She can turn into a demon in less time it takes you to say 'crap'. Next is Tomozuki-... where is Tomozuki? Ah, there, that quiet one in the back."
Iori pointed to a guy who was leaning against the wall at one corner, listening to some music with his headphones and ignoring the entire situation in the room.
"That guy is in-charge of networking. He gathers all information from all divisions and squads in order to provide our guys with information. He communicates directly with Throne, Fort's strategist group, so he also doubles as our strategies for squad based requests. There are a couple more people you need to take note of, but those three are the more important ones. Before I continue, let me give you these."
Iori reached into his pocket and pulled out two sets keys, handing them to Katsuragi and Yamato separately.
[Received Locker Key]
"These are keys to your own personal lockers over by that end of the room. Each member of the Wolves has their own. Inside, you will find boots to your size. Wolves always wear boots. Some other divisions like the assault division would have squads wearing boots, but we Wolves are the only squad which has everyone wearing boots as part of our squad dress-code. We also carry around this."
Iori fished out a chain around his neck. It had a bullet attached to it like everyone else, but there was one more thing. A fang?
"As proof of being a Wolf, you must collect a bottle of essence, any colour. We would then send it down to the fitters, who compress it and fashion it into a fang. It is to show your very first kill and to mark yourself as a warrior. Being the best of the best in the organization second only to the guardians. Proof that we have been chosen by the Queen herself."
Iori said that with some pride in his words. The other members in the room all seemed to agree.
"Anyway, being a Wolf does not mean we are limited to fighting for Fort. The Wolves are like the Relief squad, only better. The Relief squad is a squad meant to send people to divisions where they lack man power. We Wolves are the same thing, but we are not asked by anyone to help out. We go where ever we like, do whatever we like. Of course, we always make the defence of Fort our priority. Anything Yuki says, we do it without question. We take on requests from all divisions, making us one of the most well-rounded squads. Sleeping quarters for us are in the next four rooms and also in the Dorms. Right, that's it for orientation. Go get your stuff and I'll meet you back here at the request board."
Iori pointed to the side where a giant bulletin board was overcrowded with pinned up papers with requests.
"We're kind of popular, so we're also kind of busy. Might want to hurry up with the change."
[Equipped Wolf Boots ( +10 defence) ]
Katsuragi and Yamato felt a little odd in boots, considering they were wearing shoes throughout the entire time. During the training in the forest, they were wearing boots as well but those were property of the Assault division, being worn and muddy and did not feel too comfortable. These, however, felt great to be in. Comfortable and extremely practical, the only reason why they were odd was because it did not fit with the school uniform.
"Right, over here."
Iori gestured the two of them to go over to where he was. Iori tapped on the board covered with paper.
"This is the request board for us Wolves. The GenRe ones are basically copies of requests sent to all divisions. They are usually pinned at the sides and are the most numerous. SquaRe do not come in often, but are most pinned up in the centre of the board. DiRe are usually handed to us directly by Yuki, so no need to worry about those. ORe are announced throughout the school and we will be briefed by our leaders. Since you two have just started out, take this."
Iori tore a request from the side off the wall and handed it to them. Katsuragi looked over the request.
General Request
Quest giver: Private Mouri Yuu, Guild
Request: Find NPC third year Hanayana Touru and hand him a letter
Time limit: None
Reward: 100 MT
"Once you have gotten a request, you need to find the quest giver and tell them that you are taking on the quest. They would usually explain more about the quest in detail but usually Tomozuki can tell you about it. Once you have completed the request, the reward can be given by the quest giver directly, or you can collect it from here. There is a complicated system where the squads and divisions pay each other for requests, but it has nothing to do with you at the moment. Complete the quest and come back here. Good luck."
[Accepted (?) quest]
"Ah, so you two have accepted my quest. Thank you."
The young guild member bowed to Yamato and Katsuragi when they arrived in Guild to talk to the quest giver, Mouri Yuu. It had seemed that the sealing containment of tunnel F4 was still not complete and so they took the longer route around. As things at Guild were looking normal, Katsuragi guessed that everything was going well.
"Still, to think that members of Yuki's Wolves would come down to take this quest. I feel quite honoured."
Were the Wolves really that special?
"Anyway, I want you to hand this note to Hanayana-senpai. He is usually around the fifth block, around the astrology club. That's his club, by the way. He goes to the rooftop every night to do some night gazing. He goes to the cafeteria every one o'clock and has niku-udon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He eats Omu-rice on Tuesday and Thursday-"
Mouri Yuu went on and on about this NPC, showing off a rather extensive knowledgeable background information on this guy. Yamato turned over the letter they got and realized why. She nudged Katsuragi to look and on it was a heart shaped sticker to keep the envelope closed. A love letter. From a stalker.
"-He never wears his indoor shoes when going to the roof and-... ah, look at the time. Anyway, you know where to find him. Come back after you are done and I will give you your reward."
With that finally out of the way, Yamato and Katsuragi left Guild, feeling slightly odd about delivering a letter to an NPC from a stalker.
[Received Stalker's Love Letter]
"... Is it odd?"
Yamato asked aloud as they headed back up to Fort.
"Odd? About what?"
"About someone falling in love with an NPC."
Katsuragi also wondered about that. Was it odd? Sure, one was a living soul of a human who had passed away and still had lingering regrets therefore being forced into this weird World of Limbo and forced to fight against monsters that threaten to destroy its very existence for all of eternity, and the other is a mindless brainless and almost fully automated NPC created for some unknown purpose other than to populate this weird World of Limbo and to look pretty. Yes, look pretty. But was it really odd? Alright, considering the way Katsuragi puts it, yes, it is weird. It was like a desperate war refugee falling in love with a vending machine. So what should he say?
a) Yes, it is weird
b) Totally weird
c) Are you nuts?
"... Who knows."
He replied.
[Katsuragi chose d) ]
"Hmm... I would think it was alright."
Yamato added, making Katsuragi rather surprised.
"I mean, the NPCs aren't that bad. They aren't machines but they aren't humans either. They are like... I don't know... dolls?"
"... And that is better than machines?"
"No, not that. Well, I knew some weird people when I was alive. Saw a guy who fell in love with a pillow casing."
Yamato said, sighing and shaking her head.
"I guess it is weird. Maybe in light of that, falling in love with an NPC isn't that bad. I think they at least reciprocate your feelings."
"Do they?"
Yamato asked.
"Not sure. But they surely must be. If everything that exists in this World are meant to help us pass on, then if someone wanted to fall in love with the perfect guy, this World should oblige."
"... You know, Katsuragi, you say pretty interesting things."
"Weird?"
Katsuragi asked, to which Yamato merely laughed.
"Definitely."
The two reached the fifth school block, and as expected it was crowded with NPCs going about their usual business. It was almost like Katsuragi and Yamato were no longer in a battlefield and were in a normal school. But things were never that simple. Katsuragi noticed a few SSS2 members around as well. The diversion division was working hard as usual.
"Well, time to find this person."
Yamato sighed, walking over to the nearest NPC to ask.
"Hanayana-san? He's upstairs, by the astrology club."
The NPC replied to Yamato's inquiry.
"I see, thanks."
Yamato headed off to the stairs with Katsuragi in tow.
"It feels like a rather old RPG adventure game, doesn't it?"
Yamato suddenly said.
"What is?"
"How I can ask any NPC and they would know where another NPC is."
Katsuragi thought about it and found it to be true.
"True... so what, are you expecting an encounter with a metal slime?"
"Ha ha, maybe not something that tough. We're still level one. How about giant rats?"
"Like the start of every bad adventure game?"
"Or were you expecting giant spiders and boars?"
Yamato asked sarcastically.
"I'll take the rats."
"Thought so."
.
.
.
Silence fell between the two once more. Then-
"What about cockroaches?"
BANG
[Katsuragi is dead]
After passing the letter, the two headed back to Guild to report back to Mouri Yuu on the progress of the quest.
"Really? You did? That's great! So? What did he say? Was he happy? Did he say anything about the letter? Oh, I wonder what should I wear for our first date!"
Mouri Yuu went off into her own World for a full minute before she got back to the business end of the deal.
"Right, this is what I promised you two. Don't spend it all in one place. But then again this is the only place you can spend it at."
[Received 100 MT]
Yamato and Katsuragi went back up to Fort, feeling that their first request was not so much a request for a fellow SSS2 member, but rather a messenger boy for a nut case stalker. The two reached Fort and quickly headed back to the Wolves' room, reporting to Iori of the completion of their first request.
"Really? You're done? That was fast. Well, most GenRe type are like that. Anyway, since the two of you have completed your first job, I guess you can go off on your own. Don't need me to hold your hand forever. Oh, and welcome to the Wolves."