Chapter 50 - Down Time XIII

...

After we learned of the good news, regarding the Millennium Prize, Arona, the gamer girls and I hung out for a while until it got late and I went home.

The next day, I woke up, prepared to get back to work.

As I sat at my desk, I groaned a pain-filled groan as I looked at the stacks of paperwork there.

"Fuck..." I cursed.

"Well... This thing ain't gonna go away on it's own."

Once lunch time rolled around, I got a text from Iori.

Sensei, when you see this text, please come to the District 3 residential area by Gehenna's main gate.

There's... a bit of a problem.

What happened?

Don't ask! Just get over here!

And don't tell the other students that I'm here.

That's a little sketchy, Iori.

I'll be there in just a sec.

What the hell happened to her?

Oh well, I'd better go and see.

At the same time, I get a text from Hina.

I've been pulling all-nighters for the past few days, so I'm really out of it.

Tell those people giving you those papers to fuck off. An all-nighter is fine, but multiple in a row?

On top of that, the dispatch reports and documents I have to process are piling up...

Can't you get Ako to do it? She's your administrator, right? Can't she help?

Not for this. Whenever something happens, everyone turns to me...

Everyone else has the day off, and I'm the only person working today.

It's annoying and frustrating.

I suppose that's what comes with an important job like yours. Believe me, I've started loathing paperwork since I came to Kivotos.

...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to vent to you.

Please, forget what I said.

It's fine, Hina.

Anytime you wanna talk, text me. I'll listen.

...

Thank you, Sensei.

I sure hope Hina's okay, but for now I need to find Iori.

Iori sent me her GPS location, which I followed to a strangely narrow alleyway in Gehenna.

There's a man-made hole in the middle of the aspalt walkway.

As I move to go around it, I idly look inside.

A single, bright red eye stares into my own.

"Iori...?" I ask, slowly.

"Yes, Sensei?"

"Why are you in a hole?" I ask, confused.

"Isn't it obvious? I fell into a trap!" She snaps. "I was tracking some Helmet Gang members that were causing trouble in the Gehenna district, when they suddenly lured me toward a dead end. It turned out to be a damn pit trap!" She shouts, angrily. "Those good-for-nothing punks!"

"Iori... do you see the size of this hole? How could you miss something like this?" I ask, genuinely shocked she didn't see such a massive hole.

"I... It didn't look that way at the time!" She shouts, her face red with embarrassment. "It's not my fault! I always get tunnel vision when I set my mind to something! I'm a proud member of the Gehenna Prefect Team! I never lose sight of my target!"

"But you do lose sight of the road." I point out, deadpan.

"Anyway, are you just gonna stand there or what? Hurry up and help me out!" She cries.

"Alright, alright. Hold your gun out and I'll pull ya up." I say. Iori holds her rifle out, holding onto the butt of the gun. Bending down, I grab a hold of the rifle's barrel and begin to pull the tan-skinned girl up and out of the pit.

As Iori makes it, up she begins to speak. "Thank y-Ah!" She trips, mid sentence, but I catch her quickly.

"Whoa! You all right?" I ask, worried.

"I... I think I twisted my ankle. I'll just walk it off." She says, defiantly, as she attempts to push away from me.

"Oh no. I'm getting you back to Gehenna. You can't just walk off a twisted ankle." I say, brokering no arguments.

"But-!"

"No." I say, seriously. "Now c'mon." I say, as she hesitantly wraps her arm over my neck. The two of us then walk to Gehenna Academy.

Iori's ankle got better by the time we reached the academy, so we parted ways at the academy's entrance. She bashfully thanked me again, before running off.

I know these girls are tough, but she got over that ankle quick.

As I begin to leave, I see a girl carrying a bunch of grocery bags, like a dozen at least, all filled with various food stuffs. She pauses, to sit down the bags, clearly exhausted from walking with the weight of the food, and tired of dealing with the awkwardness of carrying a bunch of grocery bags.

The girl is short and has long, black hair done up in twintails, some of it dangling off of the two grey horns protruding up and out from her forehead. She has bright red eyes and has an orange bandana on her head. She wears a black top and skirt with a red tie and a white apron. On her feet are black, red and white shoes. On her back is a black and red SMG. Her halo is an odd shape, a red diamond with one point being much larger. There are also two, regular, diamonds next to the top.

"Do you need some help?" I ask, walking up to her. Her red eyes meet mine in surprise.

"Oh, thank you, but I'm fine." She says, heaving the bags up again.

"You sure?"

"Of course, it's not that heavy." She retorts.

"That's fine, but isn't it a bit awkward to carry all of that?" I ask, gesturing to how she's holding her arms almost straight out to carry all of the bags.

"Well... If you're offering... You can carry half." She says, relenting.

With a nod, I take six bags, held on one of her arms into both of mine. "So, where to?" I ask as we begin to walk toward the building.

"To the Gehenna student dining hall." She says.

"Oh? I see the get-up, you a chef there?" I ask, curious.

"That's right. I'm Aikiyo Fuuka, member of the Gehenna School Lunch Club." She introduces.

"Joshua Birkin, Sensei of Schale." I say.

"Hang on, you're THAT Sensei?" She asks, her eyes wide.

"Yup." I say, simply, earning a giggle from her.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Sensei."

"You too, Fuuka." I say, returning her smile.

As the sun starts to set, I begin to walk back to Schale. As I walk, I see Mutsuki walking around.

When I go to speak to her, she walks off.

Hang on... isn't that way... the black market? The hell is she going there for?

...I should go after her.

"Yo, Mutsuki!" I call out to the imp girl, as I catch up to her.

She swivels around, shocked. "Huh? Oh, it's just you, Sensei. Weird to see you in a place like this. Do you have business at the black market?"

She's not even trying to hide that she's near the black market?

"Nah, I saw ya and figured I'd say hi." I explain. "What are you doing around this place?"

"Haha! I'm here because of my hobby!" She says, with a smile.

"Oh? What kinda hobby would bring you out here?" I ask, curious.

"Mm, it'll be easier to show you what's going on than tell you." She says, as she moves closer to me, her sly grin appearing. "Don't you agree, Sensei?"

"Heh, fair enough." I say.

Mutsuki then surprises me by grabbing onto my arm tightly. "Okay, Sensei. Let's go!" She says, her sly grin never leaving her face.

"Haah... Lead the way." I say with a sigh. This girl just does whatever she wants, huh?

Mutsuki then leads me to a shop. "The Boom Shop, all the kabooms you could ever need?" I ask, reading the strange slogan. "This is your hobby?" I ask, a bit dumbfounded.

"Yeah. I collect explosives." Mutsuki readily admits.

"Seems more like a Haruka thing to do, honestly." I say, earning a smile from the imp girl as we enter the store. "Still, why explosives?"

"Kehehe! Obviously, it's because bombs make the best pranks!" She says without an ounce of hesitation.

"Pranks...?" I ask, deadpan.

"Yup yup!" She says, grabbing something from a shelf. "Check out this one, for example."

"A... smoke bomb, right?" I ask.

"Right! When I pull the pin and throw it, I can blind everyone around for about a minute." She explains. "Which means~"

"Means what?" I ask, wondering why she teased that word out.

"If I throw it somewhere like a plaza, I can prank everyone I want for a whole minute without anyone noticing!" She says, proudly.

"Yes, that makes sense." I say, rubbing my temples at the girl's antics.

"I also have a flash bomb, for similar purposes." She brags. "When the sun sets and this thing blows up, people will run around like chickens with their heads cut off! It's so fun!"

"Chickens, huh...?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, there's also sticky bombs. Pretty neat, right?" She asks, happily. "Besides those, there's also this... and that..."

Mutsuki zooms back and forth between shelves.

"There's lots of bombs, huh?" I ask.

"Hah, that's right!" She says. "And it's not just what's inside the bombs that sets them apart, Sensei. There are thousands of different kinds of bombs. No matter what you need, there's a bomb for that. Do you understand now how amazing and deep the world of explosives is?" She asks, happily.

"Well, I can see that you're really into them, at least." I say.

"Heehee, really?" She asks, with a chuckle. "I wonder if I can get the hookup since I have you with me today." She mutters loudly, before grabbing another one. "Hey, Sensei. How do you like this one? It's a glitter bomb!"

"A glitter bomb, eh?" I ask, taking the thing from her. "Y'know, I set one of these off at school when I was young."

"Really?" Mutsuki asks, her pink eyes widening.

"Yeah. This other class at my school was filled with assholes. To get back at 'em, I snuck into the classroom at night and rigged the room." I explain, catching the girl's attention. "The next morning, before the teacher came in, the assholes were sitting around in class, minding their own business when boom! A bunch of glitter bombs on the walls and a bunch of stink bombs on the ceiling went off."

Mutsuki begins to laugh uproariously. "Really?!"

"Oh yeah." I say with a grin. "Plus, I also managed to get the windows and door locked, so they were covered in glitter, while stuck in a horrid-smelling room. I could see it all from my classroom, the teachers were scramblin' around, trying to get the door unlocked, but I had fucked up the lock. Eventually, one of the stronger faculty members had to kick the door down. Those assholes came out, all shiny and smellin' like a garbage dump. The school was closed for a week over that shit, a week!" Mutsuki gradually laughs harder and harder at my story. "Even then, that room turned into a storage room 'cause the smell seeped into the walls and stuff."

"Ahahahaha! That's hilarious!" Mutsuki says with a boisterous laugh. "I didn't know you would do something like that, Sensei."

"Yeah, well, I was a kid and all." I say.

"Oh? Maybe we should prank someone sometime." The imp girl says with a teasing grin.

"Sounds like a good idea." I say, grinning back.

Mutsuki and I went shopping for a while, until I got a text from a new number. Wonder who it could be?

This is Amau Ako, the Senior Administrator of the Gehenna Prefect Team.

I'm contacting you about a cooperative task for Schale.

Oh?

I'll provide you with the exact details regarding location and time at a later time. I would really appreciate it if you could take some time out of your busy schedule.

I look forward to seeing you.

And you as well.

Okay, this is sudden. She even sent a location and time for us to meet, and it's just an hour or so away.

Sighing, I begin to walk through the Gehenna district, to where Ako wants to meet.

As I entered a somewhat ritzy, yet small restaurant, I saw a girl sitting at a table with a stack of paperwork. No one else is around, oddly enough.

Oh, sorry, did I say stack? I meant STACKS.

There are small lights hanging from the ceiling, illuminating the room, as the sun has almost completely set.

The girl at the table has curly, pastel blue hair and similarly colored eyes with a black headband on top of her head. She wears a black top which doesn't cover her breasts at all and has a small cowbell at the collar. Her breasts are covered by a button-up, white undershirt, which reveals the side of her chest.

What an impractical design.

She also has on a short skirt and black thighhighs held by a garter belt underneath. She has on high-soled shoes and has a pistol strapped to the back of her hips. Her halo is a pale blue and resembles a moon somewhat.

She mutters to herself as she works on the paperwork, pencil flying left and right as she scribbles on the paper with complete efficiency. "Uh, this is because... it's connected to this side..." She stops, and lets out a sigh. "Really! How am I supposed to do all of THIS?!" She snaps with a rather pissed face, as I decide to bite the bullet.

"I take it you're Ako?" I ask, breaking her out of her rage.

"W-Wha?! You're... Joshua Sensei, right?" She asks.

"That's me. Ako, right?" I ask.

"That is correct. When did you get here? Don't scare me like that." She says sweetly, her face going back to normal quickly. She sighs again, however. "Seriously..." She says, looking at the desk, despondent.

"Looks like you're busy. You doin' all right?" I ask the girl.

"Huh?" She asks, looking back at me as I sit down on the opposite side of the table. "This is my typical workload, more or less. And it has to be done by this evening. I've already processed one pile, so I may as well look over those too."

"Sheesh, you have it rough. And that's coming from me." I say, offering my sympathies to her.

"This is nothing. I'll be done with most of these in a heartbeat." She says, with an awkward chuckle.

Her face a moment ago betrays her words.

"I can't call myself the manager of the Prefect Team if I cry over this measly amount of work." She says.

"If you say so." I say, relenting.

"Oh, but never mind that. I called you here for a reason." She says.

"Ah, right." I say, remembering what she said on Momo Talk.

Ako then hands me a stack of papers. Many of the papers are stapled in small bundles. "Could you check these documents?"

Picking up the stack, I look at the title. "Request to report on Schale's monitoring of suspect activities within the Prefect Team?"

"Yes. It turns out this is something only you can do." She says. "I wanted to know if there are any complaints about our Prefect Team from Schale."

"If I have a complaint about someone, I'll tell them directly instead of tattling on them." I say, sitting the bundle of papers back down.

"Hmph. Don't wanna cooperate, huh?" She asks. "Are you sure, though? I thought you'd want to pay me back for all I've done for you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I ask, eyebrow raised.

"Don't play dumb with me. Or did you forget about that mess with that PMC not long ago?" She asks, her veil of calmness breaking.

"And I'll pay ya back for it in a different way. Not this." I say, not relenting.

"Huh? Wait..." She says, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Is this what adults do when they don't want to admit something incriminating?! Something about pleading...? 'Plead the'...?"

"Oh shush." I chide. "Though, I didn't know you could 'Plead the fifth' here in Kivotos."

"Hmm. Either way, I wasn't expecting a straight answer." Ako says. "Then next time." She says, handing me a few more papers.

"Describe your thoughts and ideas regarding the Prefect Team in twenty thousand characters or less?" I ask, dumbfounded that she would give me something like this.

"This is a light test. Think of it as a simple document to verify your true intentions." She says, nonchalant. "Oh, and it goes without saying that you shouldn't even think about lying. Don't you think that inferring someone's values from their use of context, vocabulary, language and such, will be easy as pie for a capable administrator like myself?"

"You really need to go THIS far?" I ask.

"Huh?" She asks, shocked. "Of course I do! Surveillance of dangerous forces is not to be neglected for even one second!" She shouts, passionately. "Furthermore, Schale is one of the most cagey organizations around! It's purpose, structure, and history are suspicious, so it's only natural we'd investigate further."

"You do realize that I am Schale, not just a part of it?" I ask, deadpan.

"Our Prefect Team has fought enemies who hate us everywhere and in every conceivable form!" She declares. "But, we've never lost or suffered. I have zero tolerance for any uncertainties!"

"I... think there's more to it than that... but I can see that you work hard." I say, slowly, taken aback by her sudden shouting.

"Well, that's excluding the Head Prefect... But, honestly, I don't think that even that is enough. Just yesterday, there was a terrorist attack against the Prefect Team. You can't let your guard down." She says.

"Terrorist attack?!" I shout. "Y'all have to deal with those nutcases here too? What happened?"

"Well, what happened was..." She trails off. "I was working overtime in the annex building early yesterday, when suddenly... We had a blackout!"

"...Ako?"

"Yes?"

"That's not what terrorists do. That's just something that happens sometimes." I say, deadpan. "The repair guys were probably there doing maintenance."

"A blackout? In the middle of the mission? No, there's no doubt in my mind. This could only be a terrorist attack organized by rebellious forces who knew that I, the administrator of the Prefect Team, was working overtime." She says with absolute certainty. "They shut down the generators to interfere with the Prefect Team's work. Their conniving plans have caused me to be unable to finish my work properly."

"That just sounds like a coincidence." I say. "And you're overthinking it all, that's not good to do."

"No! There's no way!" Ako shouts. "Regardless, there are still plenty of people in Gehenna who are looking for weaknesses in the Prefect Team, you know?! If you allow even the slightest gap to appear, they'll eat you alive! This situation is definitely, irrefutably, beyond a shadow of a doubt an act of sabotage against the Prefect Team! Let us bet on it, Sensei!" She says, suddenly.

"What?"

"If I find the culprit, you'll do ten laps around the gym on your hands!" She says, frantic.

"Ako, calm down." I say, seriously.

"The number of suspects is already in the double digits! This is... yes! There's no other way! As soon as I return to the academy, I must install one-hundred security cameras to catch the culprit!" She declares. After a long moment, she sighs. "Excuse me, it seems I got a little too carried away. Hehe."

"A little?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"My goodness, how could I have gotten so carried away?" She asks herself. "I may have showed you a side of myself I shouldn't have."

"Er, no, it's fine." I say, waving off her concerns.

"Please forget about today." She asks of me. "Then, please take care of the discussed paperwork. I must attend to my next task, so..."

"No, worries." I say, picking up the small stack of papers. "See ya later then, Ako."

"Yes, goodbye Sensei." She says, face back in her papers.

As I walk out of the building, papers in hand, I sigh.

What the fuck did I just witness?

As I walk back through the Gehenna district, on my way to Schale, I see the Gehenna Academy, lit up by the moon and some street lights. It looks kinda pretty like this, and...

Hang on... All of the lights in the building are off, except...

The Head Prefect's office?

Hm... She mentioned about pulling some all-nighters recently.

I think I'll go check on her.

I then walk through the darkened hallways of Gehenna Academy, making my way to Hina's office. Knocking on the door a few times, no one responds. Shrugging, I go inside the room.

Hina is there, sitting at her desk, covered in an ungodly amount of paper. There's at least an entire tree worth of paper here. Her coat and blue uniform top are to the side, so I realize there's and undershirt she's always wearing, and it has no sleeves.

As I enter the room, she notices me from the corner of her eyes. "Huh... S-Sensei?" She stutters, surprised by my presence.

"You're STILL working?" I ask, shocked. "Fuck it, let me help." I say.

"You... want to help me with my work...?" Hina asks, shocked, her pretty, purple eyes wide. She has incredibly dark circles under them. "At this hour?"

"Yeah."

"I appreciate the thought, but this is my responsibility. I don't think there's anything for you to do." She admits, averting her gaze from me.

"Then... I'l just keep ya company." I offer.

My words surprise her again, as she looks at me, wide-eyed. "...Have it your way." She says, a blush appearing on her tired face.

And so, Hina got back to work as I sat beside her and watched. Occasionally, she would need a paper from the other side of the room, and I'd hand it to her. Other than that, I didn't do anything.

As time passed, Hina continues to furiously write on papers and rustle through mighty stacks of them. Eventually, the sounds of movement come to a stop.

"This isn't going to work." She says suddenly.

"What isn't?" I ask, confused.

"Staying focused is difficult enough without having you stare at me." She says.

"Oh. Well, I can look away if ya want." I say, awkward.

"...And why is it suddenly getting so hot in here?" She asks, tugging at her collar.

I turn to look at her more closely. "Your face is pretty red. You don't have a fever, do you?" I ask, concerned. I begin to reach over to feel her forehead, but she suddenly jerks back, a frantic look on her face.

"W-Wait! What are you doing?!" She shrieks.

I let out a sigh. "Come here." I say, as I place the back of my hand onto her forehead.

"A-Ah!" She gasps, her face becoming redder and redder.

"Christ, your head is burning up." I say, pulling my hand back.

"N-Naturally. I mean, it must be because I haven't slept in days." She says.

"When was the last time you slept?" I ask, concerned.

"At least four days." She admits.

"Four?!" I shout, worried.

"Look, I'm supposed to be working right now." She says. "I get so comfortable around you that I feel like I could fall asleep."

"I don't think I have anything to do about it. You're runnin' on fumes right now." I say.

"...Haha." Hina lets out a soft chuckle. "Now that I think about it, it's been a strange night. I never thought we'd be in this office alone together at this hour. With you here... I feel like I could fall asleep just like this." She says, as her eyelids flutter. "Hehe... I think... I'll do just that..." She says, as she begins to lose balance.

"Ah!" I gasp, catching the short girl in my grasp as she nearly falls out of her chair.

"So sleepy..." She mutters, as she holds onto me tightly. "And comfortable... Sensei..."

Sighing, I pick the poor girl up in my arms. Looking around the room, I see a padded, backless couch next to a window. Walking over to it, I gently lay the half-asleep Hina on it. Her long, white hair pools around her, making it look like she's laying on her hair, rather than a piece of furniture.

She looks at me with a sleepy smile, the moon illuminating her delicate face. "I get so embarrassed when... you stare at me like that." She mutters softly. "I... I don't get it. I feel so at ease when we're together..." She admits, surprising me.

"Really?" I ask, softly.

She nods her head lethargically. "The truth is... seeing you smile makes me happy."

My eyes widen at her words. "That's..." I then smile. "Well, your smile makes me happy too."

She weakly smiles at my words, before sighing deeply. "I feel like I could drift away."

Slowly, but assuredly, Hina's eyes close and her breathing becomes softer and softer.

Just like that, the Head Prefect fell asleep for the first time in days.

Softly chuckling, I lean forward and kiss Hina's sleeping forehead. "Sweet dreams, Hina."

She must've heard me in her sleep, as her smile grows from my words.

Picking her coat up, I drape it over her sleeping form.

Quietly, I left the moonlit room, Hina's soft breathing being the only sound remaining.

Waking up the next morning, I got a text from Hina.

Um... Did I say anything... weird last night?

Weird?

I don't remember if it was a dream or not... but I think...

I might have said something really embarrassing.

So...

...did I?

No. Nothing out of the ordinary. Must've just been a dream.

...

Yeah. That must have been it.

...Thanks.

No problem.

And please, take care of yourself, Hina.

I will.

Smiling, I put down my phone. I hope she gets to feeling better. A moment later, my phone pings again. This time, a text from Ako.

Sensei, I am indebted to you.

What for?

It doesn't have much to do with what we were talking about, but when I checked on the case, it turned out that the power was cut due to electrical repairs.

Glad to hear it wasn't terrorists.

On that note, do you perhaps need 100 surveillance cameras?

...You actually went and bought the cameras?

Just...

Just put them up like you planned.

Very well.

The only thing on my mind when I start getting to work is...

'What the fuck, Ako?'

AN

A day off in Gehenna... How wonderful!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next!