A/N: Sorry for the delay, there seems to be a flu bug going around and it doesn't help that i sleep late and the air-conditioning is constantly blowing at my face. Also, though I am sick my mother strongly believes that going out will cure me. It made things worse.
some of you will be glad to know that I am writing a side story for this. It will be a collection of short stories written in the POV of some of the characters. This is my way of thanking those who contributed their characters to this story. I may not be able to publish it so soon as I am concentrating on this story but you can be assured that it will be done.
Angel Beats!
What We Live For
Operation 18
Switch
Back in Purgatory
Tapping her finger on the table, Taeno Yuki sighed as boredom was starting to creep into her. She looked at the mountain of paper work that she left piled up on her desk. Since when did this organization have a need for her to read and sign documents? How did a small band of students fighting a guerilla war suddenly blow up into a full size army complete with signing documents? She did not create this organization just to sit behind a desk to sign documents! She needed to shoot something! To kill something! Her fingers were fidgeting as though she were holding the trigger of her pistol. But first and foremost, she needed to clear all of these documents. Besides, if she were all so mighty in this organization, shouldn't she be able to assign these stupid documents to someone else?
"EXACTLY! What am I, the most important person of this place, doing stuck in an office with nothing to do but look at paperwork? !"
Yuki finally flipped. As did her desk. But before the desk could fly any further, it was caught and put back into place by one of her two aides. A strong and rather muscular man by the name of Ayuji Gorou. The scattered documents all disappeared in mid-air and appeared in the hands of the second aide. The agile and nimble girl who is probably a ninja, Tetsuji Kaname. These two were Yuki's aides though their actual role was probably more like caretaker. They had to deal with Yuki's every whim and stubborn outbursts.
"Two minutes and five seconds."
Kaname muttered the time it took for Yuki to sit behind a mountain of paper work before exploding while putting the documents back onto the table.
"That's a full minute less than before."
Gorou noted. Yuki's outbursts were nothing new and the two aides were very aware of the situation.
"Yuki-sama, you must complete these documents. The intelligence division is pestering us to get them looked over and signed."
"Why do I have to look through them! You guys can look over them as well!"
Yuki shot back.
"But we are nothing but lowly aides. We merely help Yuki-sama in whatever trouble she has."
Kaname answered.
"Then help me now!"
"We are unable to look through such important documents. Besides, wasn't it Yuki-sama who demanded that all documents must go through you?"
"I... uuuuggh... Kaname is a bully."
Yuki sulked.
"Yes yes, we are bullies. Now, Yuki-sama, look through these documents. By eleven, you need to oversee the new training regime of the Fort members. By twelve you are to meet with Assault division leader Ein Shrewerz to finalize the plans of the joint training exercises. At two you need to meet Guild division leader Himura Yuuko over the faulty production line of Big Site. At four you are needed to meet with intelligence division leader Tatsume Kenji to discuss the use of the program, as well as to ensure that the intelligence division is still giving out proper information to the respective divisions. By eight, you are required to-"
As the list went on, Yuki's patience was starting to wear out.
"DAAAHH!"
She eventually flipped. Again.
"I don't want to do all of this! Get someone else to do it!"
"Sigh, as we said before, Yuki-sama. These are things that only a division leader is able to do."
Yuki slumped onto her desk, wanting to just cry. But there are certain things she just cannot do. Like cry in front of the others. Yuki had always maintained a strong front. She needed it. She needed to let the men know that she would not waver. That she alone could be strong enough to face everything and be their support. But it wasn't like this in the beginning. In the beginning they were all just trying to survive. To fight and live on. And for the hatred within her. The unfairness of her life, the desperation to vent her anger. Now she sits behind a desk looking at paperwork.
"... Kaname... what day is it?"
She asked, hoping for it to have some miracle.
"A Tuesday, I believe."
Kaname answered normally. Tuesday. The cafeteria special should be katsudon. How she wished she could have a nice bowl of Katsudon right about now... Wait... Tuesday? Yuki sat up with a smile.
"... Kaname. Gorou. It is time."
The moment she said that, her two aides looked to each other with a slightly worried face.
"T-time, Yuki-sama?"
Gorou asked nervously.
"Yes... It is time... Call for all Division leaders! It is time for an Organization Operation!"
Katsuragi stifled a yawn as he stepped into the Wolves' room. The request he took on the night before was quite tiring. Maybe taking on three Shadows wasn't such a good idea after all. If it weren't for the sniper squad of the Assault division, he would have been consumed by the Shadows for sure. But why were the sniper squad in the area? He was sure that no other division was meant to be there that night. Oh well, nothing good would come out of it.
"Yo, Corporal Katsuragi."
A voice called out to him. He turned around and saw the over-excited face of Sergeant Arisato Hamuko. She still had a bit of curry stain on her cheek.
"Hamuko-san. Good morning. Did you see Yamato around?"
He asked, wondering why the other member of his duo team had not arrived yet.
"Yamato-chan? She should be by the board."
By the board? Katsuragi looked over to the request board but Yamato wasn't there. If she wasn't at this board, then she should be at the other one. The Wolves had gotten hold of a second board, due to the influx of requests that keep streaming in. The one in the Wolves' room were dedicated to only Lieutenant and above difficulty. The other was probably where Yamato was. However it would not be awkward to find Yamato actually looking at this board. Though Yamato and Katsuragi were technically Corporal ranked, they had earned a certain reputation of being able to take on missions that were captain ranked.
This was in part due to the two of them usually tagging along with their seniors to do requests that were usually not for their rank. This was actually Yamato's idea and Katsuragi did not miss Yamato's rather eager nature to quickly move up through the ranks. However due to Yamato's over-eagerness, one that Katsuragi could not compete with, Yamato and Katsuragi started to take on separate requests.
"Right. Thanks, Hamuko-san."
Just as Katsuragi was about the leave, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. He turned around and saw Hamuko simply smiling as him, refusing to let his sleeve go. Katsuragi knew what she wanted, but it was rather difficult for him to actually give it to her. But he finally relented. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a meal ticket.
"Ooo, thank you!"
Hamuko snatched the ticket from his hand and went off happily. Well, there goes one MT. Hamuko usually gives good advice, as well as being a good teacher when it comes down to various things. The problem is that she eats too much. Katsuragi headed over to the second room, which was a store room of sorts. Katsuragi walked into the room and saw that Yamato was indeed at the board in this room. Yamato had tied up her hair into a long tail, complaining a few times that the number of times the hair went into her face was more than enough to warrant a ponytail. When Katsuragi asked why did she bother to cut it, she simply kept quiet. Perhaps it was something that she didn't want to get rid of.
"Yo."
He smiled, walking over to join her by the board. Yamato did not even turn his way to acknowledge his presence as she gave a slight nod. The dark rings and large bags under her weary eyes being the result of pulling off too many all-nighter jobs. Katsuragi had stopped accompanying her along for those sort of requests, citing the fact that though they cannot die, they weren't immune to sickness. Besides, a tired fighter would only be prone to make more mistakes during combat. Or so Fujibayashi Kyou would say.
"How was last night's request?"
He asked, though he would know the answer to that.
"..."
Yamato kept silent. If he remember correctly, Yamato took up an extermination request like his. The only difference being he faced off three Shadows while she faced off five.
"You need to rest, Yamato."
He said, placing a hand on her shoulder, which she shrugged off.
"I'm fine."
She muttered, snatching a request from the board. Yamato obviously wasn't fine but there wasn't much Katsuragi could do to change her mind. Yamato was a driven person. She always looked forward with such determination and ferocity that Katsuragi had to wonder if there was something Yamato was trying to achieve by doing all of this. Perhaps there was. Just as Yamato reached the door, Iori stepped in.
"Oops, sorry about that."
Iori smiled, but Yamato simply ignored him and tried to go around him but Iori placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back into the room.
"Now now, Kusanagi-kun, don't be such a bad sport. I have something to tell both of you."
Yamato was seriously angry with Iori, but Iori did not even seem to notice it.
"Don't need to get all excited over the next request. In fact, you don't need to do it."
Iori said, making Yamato and Katsuragi confused.
"There is going to be an Operation. All requests are void for the next few days while the Operation is underway. Come on, there's going to be a briefing in the meeting room."
As Fort did not own a large room compared to the other divisions, the briefing room was used to debrief squads one at a time. The first squad to be debriefed would be the Wolves, considering they were the elites and the ones that Yuki had chosen personally. As the Wolves gathered inside the briefing room, Katsuragi took note of the number of members the Wolves had. While the Wolves, being an elite force, did not number as many as Camelot, the Medics or even the relief squad Little Busters, there were still quite a number of Wolves. Around a hundred members of Wolves were gathered in this room, each armed with their own special brand of weapon.
These were the elites of Fort. These were called the closest group to the Guardians in terms of sheer strength and ability. These were the Wolves of Fort. The assassins of Yuki. The Knights of the Queen. It was quite an intimidating thing to be in, let alone see it. Taeno Yuki, the leader of Fort, walked into the room with her mighty presence and all of the Wolves stood up to their feet in unison. They snapped to attention, creating one loud bang with their feet. Yuki had a mens blazer draped loosely over her shoulders, her beret bearing the symbol of the SSS2 and she also walked in with a cane. She wasn't injured, so what was with the cane? A weapon?
"... At ease."
Yuki said, and the Wolves stood easy, sitting back down on their chairs. Yuki nodded to one of her aides, who turned off the lights in the room as a large screen at the end of the room turned on, showing the symbol of the SSS2.
"Tomorrow, we will initiate Operation: Switch."
The screen displayed the large words of the Operation name. Switch? What sort of Operation was that? Were they to take something from the NPCs and switch them? That sort of Operation would not require the entire Organization. It could be something stupid like switching the menu of the cafeteria, or switching the exam papers of the NPCs. Katsuragi remembered meeting up like Daisuke and how he told Katsuragi about one Squad request he had to do where they switched the exam papers of the student council members. Nothing really happened after that though, so nobody knew if that would be considered a success or not. Yuki cleared her throat.
"For this Operation, we will proceed to cause massive confusion amongst the NPCs, hopefully causing a disturbance small enough to prevent destabilizing this World but large enough to cause a reaction from the program. Intelligence division reports that it may be possible to see a 'phasing out' from the NPCs, thus allowing us to pin-point any NPCs who have been using the program."
The screen switched to a picture with an NPC, only the NPC seemed to be slightly odd, as though his entire image was slightly blurred by static. Was it a bad picture? No, the picture was fine. So this was 'phasing out'.
"Not all NPCs will have a 'phasing out'. The Intelligence division reported that 'phasing out' will only occur to NPCs who have been accessing the program, or been heavily influenced by it. Those influenced by it are likely to be the altered Shadows which have been appearing all over the place."
A wave of murmur went through the room. Yuki took her walking cane and stamped its butt on the ground hard, causing the room to quiet down.
"This Operation will be overseen by Corporal Takahagi and Sergeant Doujima... Where are they?"
Yuki looked around but saw no sign of the said two. She sighed, shaking her head. She took her cane and took a deep breath. She tapped her cane on the floor twice before shouting out:
"COME! PERVERT SQUAD!"
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Huh? The entire room fell silent, mainly from shock. Pervert... squad?
"Hmm... I did not know there was another squad."
Yamato muttered. Was that what you were thinking about? ! How about questioning the name of that squad in the first place? However, before Katsuragi could question Yamato's current mental capabilities, the floor before Yuki suddenly exploded, pieces of floorboards flying everywhere as two large figures jumped out and landed with a loud thud before Yuki. The smoke soon cleared and Katsuragi could now see them clearly. Two well built men, each looking fierce and powerful just from one look. Only... why wasn't one of them wearing any pants? And the other is shirtless and having a full carpet of chest hair.
"You called for us, Yuki-sama?"
The one without pants asked in a booming voice.
"Yes, I did. Why weren't you two here before? This mission is to be overseen by the two of you."
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EH? These two perverts were the ones to oversee this Operation? The one without the shirt stepped forward, looking dead serious as he replied Yuki.
"That is because, Yuki-sama... we just warmed up some milk to drink."
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Huh? Milk? Drink? What? Yuki, however, was the least pleased. Her nerve snapped as her grip on her cane tightened the point where the metal handle became slightly bent.
"Huuuuh? Milk? Drink? Are you idiots? Beyond perverts... why am I always surrounded by idiots... ARE YOU TWO LISTENING TO ME? !"
Yuki shouted as she threw her cane aside and shoved her fingers up their nostrils.
"Gaahh!"
"Y-Yuki-sama! P-Please forgive us!"
The two perverts cried out as they were forced around by Yuki who had her fingers up their noses.
"AS IF I CAN FORGIVE YOU FOR SOMETHING SO STUPID! An operation is going to go on tomorrow with the two of you being in-charge but nooo, you just had to go off lazing around AND DRINK MILK!"
Yuki suddenly lifted the two men off the ground with unbelievable strength... and by those fingers up the noses, before throwing them to the other end of the room.
"Useless... Utterly useless. And look what you two did! You got my fingers dirty with your nose dirt!"
Actually, that was her own fault. But no one wanted to say that. No one who wanted to die. Even those with a death wish did not want to say anything. An aide handed Yuki a handkerchief to wipe her hand with while another retrieved her cane.
"Fine... I'll oversee this Operation myself."
Yuki sighed, wiping down her hands. A Wolf member raised his hand.
"Yes?"
Yuki turned to the man, who got up from his seat.
"What sort of arms should we bring for this Operation?"
He asked. Yuki nodded to that question.
"This Operation will take place on School grounds. Besides specialized squads, all SSS2 members would be limited to their side-arms and other small weapons. All small items like grenades, flash-bangs, smoke grenades are allowed. Any other questions before I get into detail of the operation?"
Another raised a hand.
"Yes?"
"Since we are only allowed light arms, can we expect a minimal chance of Angels and Shadows to appear?"
The Wolf member asked. Yuki nodded to that.
"Intelligence reports show that this week will have the least amount of Angels and Shadows. This is also due to last week's mission by the Intelligence division, Operation: Overtime. The Intelligence division's ninja group managed to give half of the teachers and student council members food poisoning. We can expect little resistance if any."
Ninja group? Food poisoning?
"However, as I said before, several squads would still have access to their full arsenal. Division six is one of them. The Assault division's sniper group, the Intelligence division's Sentinels, and the Shield members of Guild are the others. With these squads, any enemy we face should be dispatched off quickly."
There was a slight atmosphere of tense discomfort. No one in the Wolves felt safe without their weapons, but rules were rules. Katsuragi sensed that Yamato was already nodding off to sleep, her head swinging back and forth, before finally landing on his shoulder. The first thing that came to his mind, 'heavy'. However one should not under estimate a woman's ability to sense bad things sad behind her back, and Yamato is not exception. Yamato's arm swung round and punched Katsuragi hard in the gut.
"Continuing on with the briefing. This operation will encompass throughout the entire week. All requests are put on hold until the Operation is done. As this would be the first Organization Operation for some of you, I will tell you what is required of you during an Operation. During an Operation, all requests are put on hold, even if you are doing it halfway. You will be working with the various divisions and it is advised that you do not stick with your own squad during an Operation. During an Operation all trips to Guild and Big Site are forbidden unless it is part of the Operation. This is mainly a security precaution as during an Operation most members are required to stay above ground and on school grounds. Prepare well before an Operation starts. During an Operation, you will be following specific objectives that has been given to you and your group. Additional objectives will be relayed to you during the Operation, so you must be prepared to change as the situation requires you to."
Yuki explained the basics. Katsuragi understood what the Operations were, though he had to question a lot about what was going to happen during this Operation.
"Right, onto the main part. Operation: Switch will commence tomorrow. Please report tomorrow morning early in the morning over at guild to receive your uniforms."
The moment Yuki said that, the entire room erupted in one loud and unified:
"Huh?"
"Hm? Weren't you listening to me?"
No no, you did not explain it in the first place! Yuki sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. Why are you disappointed? You were the one who forgot about explaining!
"Operation: Switch consists of every single SSS2 member wearing the uniforms of the opposite gender as well as wearing wigs or tying up of hair if necessary. That is all."
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"HUUUUH? !"