Yuuka was troubled.
She was having problems solving her favorite puzzle cube. Yuuka was no stranger to solving these cubes; it was a favorite pastime of hers growing up. For her analytical mind, solving these cubes were a fun and relaxing distraction.
But not this time.
Yuuka was having trouble figuring out the next algorithm to use. She was in a rush to solve the cube before school began and made a lot of mistakes.
She looked at the clock.
No luck.
She set the cube aside, unsolved, on her night stand and got ready for school.
Yuuka locked the door to her apartment and walked down the stairs, ready to begin her second day at Abydos High School. She thought of her experiences yesterday, casually chatting with her classmates and their friends with no hints of any grander expectations. Yuuka hasn't experienced such hospitality from her fellow peers ever since she became the Treasurer of Seminar.
It was nice. Everyone was so relaxed, even if they've only just met me.
As Yuuka reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw a short white-haired girl with a purple halo waiting.
"Hayase Yuuka," she said.
"Head Prefect Hina."
"How's Abydos? It's a wonderful school, isn't it. Small, but welcoming, I hope."
"Yes."
Yuuka started walking in the direction of her school without saying a farewell.
Why is the Head Prefect here?
Hina started following Yuuka a close distance behind her.
"I'll take it that you met Iori yesterday, right?"
"Yeah. We ate ramen together. Why?"
"She was supervising a group of delinquents from Gehenna. Problem Solver 68. I assume you're familiar with them as well?"
"Yes."
"It appears they've ran off and are taking refuge somewhere in this district. If you have any information on their whereabouts, could you please tell me?"
Yuuka shook her head.
"I have no idea where they would be. And why are you asking me? I only just transferred here. You'd be better off asking one of the other girls who are more familiar with this place."
Hina sighed. "I was hoping you'd have information on them, but that's not the real reason I'm here. Let's not waste any more time. I've come here to ask you, as a former member of Seminar, about Rio."
Yuuka didn't respond and just kept walking.
"I understand if you don't want to talk. I'm sure you want nothing to do with Millennium anymore, and that's why you transferred out."
"If you know that, why are you here? If you want to know her favorite hobbies, I'm afraid you'll have to ask someone else."
"I want to know about the incident that happened at Millennium two months ago. We know something happened around that time, and after that Millennium cut off all official communications to Gehenna and stopped the free flow of students from entering and leaving the district. Would you know anything about that?"
"No. And even if I did, why would I tell you this information?"
"A top ranking official at Millennium transferring to another school after a drastic shift in policy. Everyone's talking about it on Momotalk. Not you transferring, specifically, but about how quickly Millennium is changing. For the worse, I might add. It's in my interest, as Head Prefect of Gehenna, to ensure the public safety of our students. Keeping tabs on what's happening at the other academies is part of that job. It's been getting difficult to get any information from Millennium directly, so now we're investigating anyone who might be related to them indirectly."
"Me."
Hina nodded.
"Basic intelligence gathering. Since you're no longer part of Seminar, I'm wondering if you have anything you'd like to share."
Yuuka stopped. "Look, I still have a professional expectation to keep my mouth shut about my business in Seminar, and I'm not about to spill any important secrets from my old school to a school that I would have called my rival a few months ago."
Hina nodded. "I completely understand your reservations. This was just a complete shot in the dark for us. Normally we wouldn't go out of our way to interview former students, but Gehenna intelligence lately has been… lackluster. I would have asked Sensei, but I don't want to bother him or SCHALE with what might just be some petty power struggle between our schools that amounts to nothing."
Yuuka started walking again and rounded a corner.
"What happened in Millennium was out of my control. I don't have all of the details, so that's all I can tell you. I don't know what Rio is thinking, and as soon as I saw what she was doing, I transferred out. If I could tell you more, I would."
"I'll take it you're not a big fan of her?"
"Nobody is."
Yuuka turned a corner, and Hina followed right behind.
"Hina."
"Yes?"
"Something tells me my answer's not what you were hoping for."
"I would like a little more details, yes."
"And if I don't tell you?"
"This won't be the last time you see me."
"Are you threatening me?"
"Not you in particular."
"Abydos then?"
"What happened two months ago is bigger than you, bigger than me, and bigger than Abydos. Whatever's going on in Millennium right now, both Gehenna and Trinity don't like it. And whether you like it or not, you have a target on your back. Consider this a warning."
"Hmph. Like I don't already know that."
Yuuka pulled out her phone, not intent on continuing the conversation. Hina, for her part, took the cue and didn't pry any further.
Turning another corner, Yuuka noticed Nonomi and Shiroko with her bike standing around. Nonomi noticed Yuuka and waved her over.
"Yuukaaaaa!"
Shiroko's wolf ears twitched when she saw Yuuka followed by Hina.
"Ah. Isn't that?"
"Oh, aren't you on the Gehenna Prefect Team?" Nonomi asked Hina.
"Yes. I'm here on other business today when I saw Yuuka. We're acquaintances, and I just wanted to see how she's doing."
Yuuka furrowed her brow when she heard Hina reveal that they knew each other.
What could she want by telling them that?
"Oh, I see. I didn't know you two knew each other! We're going to our school now. If you'd like, you can walk with us and you can maybe catch up?"
"No, that's okay. Like I said, I'm here on other business and I'm already running a little bit late."
Hina looked at Yuuka.
"Have fun at your new school."
Hina turned around and walked away from them.
Shiroko smiled at Yuuka.
"Wow. You know that person? I heard she's quite famous."
"Yeah. From my time at Millennium. So were you two waiting for me?"
"Your apartment's not too far from the route I normally take."
"And I just wanted to see you!" Nonomi added.
Yuuka nodded.
"Okay. Let's go then."
Hina's warning echoed through Yuuka's mind as they made their way to the school.
Problem Solver 68 set up camp in a park in Abydos and were relaxing with their phones out.
"Heh."
"Mutsuki, what's so funny?"
"Okay, so there's this picture. So there's two girls, right? And they're sitting at a table. They're shouting at something and they have the most angry look on their face! And these two girls are pointing at a cat, who's sitting on the other side of the table! And the cat just looks so confused!"
"Oh, I think I know that one! That's a classic."
"Aru! I have a meme! This one made me chuckle!"
"Yeah? Okay. What is it?"
"This man rushes into a hospital."
"Right."
"He asks the receptionist and the receptionist points in a direction."
"Okay."
"He's checking in with a doctor. The doctor says, 'She drank a nearly lethal dose.'"
"That's quite bad. Go on."
"The last panel is him looking over a woman who's crying. She's saying, 'Owwwww, my bones hurt a lot, oof ow my bones.'"
"Clever misdirection that meme is. How about you, Kayoko, you see any good memes lately?"
"..."
"Kayoko?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. What was that?"
"Did you see any memes recently that stuck out to you?"
"Not really. None that I've saved to my phone in maybe the past week? Oh, actually, there's this video format that's been going around recently where porn's playing in the background, but before anything gets shown, it gets interrupted by an anime fight scene with heavy metal playing in the background. The songs themselves are some of the heaviest I've ever heard. I definitely recommend listening to it."
"Sure. Mind putting it on speaker?"
"I'll just pass the headphones around. Speaker quality's trash. You really need the best audio quality to enjoy it."
"I'll take your word for it then. Oh, hold on, my phone's ringing. Ugh, it's Iori. Yes? Problem Solver 68 here."
"Did you do the job yet?"
"No. I'm afraid Abydos is bigger than we expected, and we're going to need some more time to cover all of it."
"I said have it done by this morning."
"Ah, see, we never officially signed a contract with these new job requirements. Certainly, we are willing to renegotiate the terms, with additional compensation of course."
"And like I said last night, your compensation is not something I can control."
"Then I'm afraid we're at a roadblock."
"Do you even know what shit you're in right now if you don't do this?"
"The contract we signed was for a job we did yesterday. Nowhere did it say that we had to work more after that. We're merely following the stipulations of that. I must say, it would reflect quite poorly on you if you don't do the same."
"Do you really think you have any leverage here?"
"Why yes, as a matter of fact I do. You're just acting out the orders of the Head Prefect, are you not? As far as we're concerned, the orders are for you. And our agency is merely a tool to help you get it done. Do you see where I'm getting at?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Problem Solver 68 is not obligated to solve the Prefect Team's chores. You said yourself that it's your job to supervise us. What happens to you, then, if you don't supervise us?"
"What?"
"It's your job to get intel on Millennium. Not ours. So if we don't do that, then you don't do that. And what does that say about you, hmm?"
"Why you!"
"If you have any complaints about this current arrangement, please feel free to submit a new job request. Until then, goodbye."
"..."
"Wow Aru~! You've sure grown up to be an impressive young woman~."
"As boss of Problem Solver 68, I must be confident and assertive at all times. If it's not in our interests to take on a job we can't or don't want to do, then I will give a confident 'NO' in response."
"Well said, boss!"
"Aru, look at this!"
"Haruka? Okay. Heh. Heheh. That's pretty good."
"What is it?"
"You've seen that meme of the guy saying he's got the perfect place to store a precious item, but then he complains that he doesn't have the item, right?"
"Oh, yeah, that one."
"Instead of him complaining, he says, 'Dinner's ready! We're having invisible corn on the cob!' and then the second panel is him eating an invisible corn instead of yelling. Haruka, where do you find these memes?"
"From here."
"...'Bone hurting'? What does that mean?"
"If it's funny, then it hurts your bones."
"...No. I can't say I get it. Maybe I just have to look at more examples. Hina, do you have any thoughts?"
"..."
"Hina?"
"..."
"ACK!"
Each member of the Problem Solvers jumped out of their seats with their phone in hand and looked at the new intruder. The Head Prefect of Gehenna, Hina was glaring at them with murderous intent.
"Head Prefect! W-what are you doing here?" Aru stammered out.
"I would like to ask you the same question. Shouldn't you be doing your assigned job right about now?"
"W-well-uh, for professional reasons, we aren't doing the job because we never signed a new contract with new conditions with the Prefect Team."
"...Is that so?"
"I mean, we're only taking a break! We've been working all night long and as soon as we're done talking, we'll get right back to work! Isn't that right Haruka?"
"Huh? Um, yes ma'am! We are very hardworking!"
Hina tilted her head as if in confusion.
"So is that why you've been doing absolutely nothing this entire day?"
"Wait! How long have you been here?"
"Long enough."
Hina pulled out a paper from one of her pockets and showed it to Aru.
"This is my copy of the contract we signed. I believe the required condition was 'Learn what happened at Millennium two months ago.'"
"R-really? Iori told us that it was just to set up a normal conversation with her… Haha."
Hina folded the paper back into her pocket and placed her hands on her hip.
"Ideally, that would have been all that it took. But from what Iori's told me, you weren't able to get that information out of her last night, am I correct?"
"Well… Yes, that's right."
"Then as far as I'm concerned, you're still employed under me and you're slacking on the job."
"Eep!" Aru whined.
Kayoko stepped forward to cover for Aru.
"Hina."
"Kayoko."
"Why are you sending us after Abydos? Can't have one of your personal goons do it for you?"
"..."
Hina stepped over to a tree trunk and leaned her back against it.
"Actually. You are my personal goons."
Aru composed herself and raised one eyebrow inquisitively.
"No. We are a legitimate business and we do jobs as we receive them and accept payment as a reward for a job well done. The only orders we follow are what's written down in a contract we accept."
"Do you really believe that?" Hina snapped.
Aru flinched at her outburst.
"Did you forget," Hina continued, "Aru, about what Problem Solver 68's original purpose was?"
"A way for students to get exposed to business as a criminal freelance agency. To train the best bad guys in all of Kivotos."
"The freelance agency is a way to outsource work experience to its members. What do you think the experience is for? Why do you think we haven't cracked down on you yet, despite your numerous illegal activities?"
"Freedom is part of Gehenna's very identity. To shut us down would be a gross infringement of our rights as students of Gehenna."
Mutsuki stepped forward towards Hina.
"Yeah, what's the deal with threatening to shut us down anyways if we don't do this stupid job? Gehenna can't be that poor that they can't afford to properly pay us! Extra credit doesn't count, either!"
"Hmph," Hina scoffed. "It appears you think that having the freedom of choice also means freedom from consequences. But I can assure you, that every single one of your decisions only leads to more and more consequences that will eventually catch up to you. For months, Problem Solver 68 has been getting in all sorts of trouble and degrading Gehenna's name. Your club is a liability, and if a club is a liability, we have the discretion to shut it down."
Kayoko hissed at Hina.
"We're not a liability now. But if you shut us down, we'll one-hundred percent become an even bigger headache for you."
Hina turned to Kayoko with a frown on her face.
"Kayoko, I'm sure you know the reason. The real reason why I'll shut you down."
"Tsk."
Aru, Mutsuki, and Haruka turned to Kayoko.
"What's she talking about?" Aru asked her.
Kayoko took a moment to collect her thoughts.
"Problem Solver 68 used to be a black ops organization founded by Gehenna. Top brass used to use them to do illegal activities without directly implicating themselves. Back then, they still took on outside contracts as a front, but they always prioritized jobs from the Pandaemonium Society first."
Hina continued the explanation.
"We got this idea from Millennium. They used to have their own special forces club, Cleaning and Clearing, that answered directly to their student council. Problem Solver 68 was our answer to that. So to answer your question as to why we're shutting you down, what use is a special forces unit if they won't do their job?"
Mutsuki's eyes widened at this revelation.
"What? We're special forces? Why didn't anybody tell me that? That's a way cooler title than 'chief of staff!' Did you know about this Aru?"
"What? That's the first time I've heard of any of this!"
Hina leaned forward from the tree and walked towards the group.
"Ideally, you never would have learned of this. This is top secret, and only the Pandaemonium Society is supposed to know."
Aru asked her, "Then why do you know?"
"Top secret."
Mutsuki looked up at the sky and asked the obvious followup question.
"Then why does Kayoko know?"
All eyes turned to Kayoko.
"Did some digging of my own. I thought we would be better off if I never told you guys the truth. Clearly, I'm wrong."
Hina asked the group, "Now do you understand why I gave you this job? This isn't some personal request. You four are…"
Hina sighed.
"...now responsible for the security of all of Gehenna."
"Woah!" Aru shouted. "Way to put the pressure on us!"
"Mmmm, I don't know about this," Mutsuki hummed. "I don't think I like these implications. I definitely didn't sign up to bail out the student council whenever they asked."
Kayoko scowled.
"I'm really sorry guys. I didn't mean to let us get dragged into school politics like this."
Aru consoled Kayoko. "Don't worry about it. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the Prefect Team caught us. I didn't expect it to be like this however…"
Haruka was shaking and looked ready to explode.
"So what? Why does this information change anything? If Aru doesn't want to do this job, then we won't do it! As simple as that!"
Hina glared at Haruka. Predictably, she shrank back.
"Please forgive my outburst! I had to get it off my chest, that's all! Please don't punish Aru! If you have to, punish me!"
"Haruka, relax!" Kayoko ordered. Turning to Hina, she said, "She's right. We're still individuals after all. So what if Problem Solver 68 is supposed to do everything those idiots in the Pandaemonium Society want? And who cares if you disband it? We'll start back up. Fresh and new. With none of this specops baggage too."
Hina nodded in agreement.
"That is true. I can't force you to help us out."
Kayoko continued laying into Hina.
"And what's with this crap about bugging another school? If you're gonna pick fights and use us as a weapon, at least make sure we're okay with it."
Aru added, "For the record, we're not."
"Thanks Aru." Kayoko continued. "So what's so important about this job that you came all the way here to Abydos in person just to lay into us? If it's that important to you, why don't you go do it yourself? You're already here."
Hina sighed.
"Forgive me. I'll admit that… business negotiations haven't been the best, but at this point, I might as well tell you everything. I'll increase your compensation too."
Aru smiled. "Oh? Now we're talking. Go on."
"There was a huge incident at Millennium that happened two months ago. After that, Millennium closed their borders and stopped trading with us and Trinity. Nobody can get in or out without permission from their student council. As you can probably tell, this has led to complications. Makoto and Trinity don't like this development, and I agree with them.
"Getting information on what's happening at Millennium is hard now. The only thing we have to go off of are rumors that Millennium students post to social media. It's difficult to know what's true or not.
"But yesterday, Hayase Yuuka officially transferred to Abydos High School. She was in a top-ranking position at Millennium as Treasurer of Seminar, their student council. Most people would not transfer from one of the most prestigious academies to one of the lowest without good reason. Trinity and Pandaemonium believe that Yuuka is trying to suck up to Abydos and form an alliance against us. Myself, I think she transferred because of something that happened between that incident and now.
"Regardless, as a former member of the Millennium student council, she has valuable intel and is relatively easy to get to now that she's a student of Abydos. That's where you come in."
Aru nodded. "The bugs."
"I believe Problem Solver 68 is on friendly terms with the Abydos Student Council. Is that right?"
Aru looked away from Hina. "Um. Sure. You can call it that."
"It would look very bad if they caught the Gehenna Intelligence Committee snooping around their school. But if you get caught, you have plausible deniability. Just say you wanted to tour their school and they'll likely overlook whatever you're doing."
"This would be a betrayal of their misplaced trust in us."
"I understand how hard trust is to build. That's why I'm going to give you additional compensation."
Hina looked at each member of Problem Solver 68.
"As things stand now, all-out war between Millennium and Gehenna is a high possibility. That's why I'm doing everything in my power to learn more about them. Your compensation, in addition to us not shutting down Problem Solver 68, includes you not going to the frontlines first if war breaks out. Of course, if war breaks out, we're sending in the troublemakers first. And that includes you."
Aru froze.
"War? Frontlines?"
Mutsuki was just as startled as Aru.
"Hey now. I think you're putting a little too much confidence in us. We solve more practical problems than war."
Hina took out a piece of paper and handed it to Aru.
"If you fail, and Gehenna and Millennium go to war, Problem Solver 68 will officially be disbanded. This is my final offer."
"Uh-"
This is terrifying! Do I really have to sign this scary piece of paper? What does everyone else think?
Aru turned around to look at her comrades. Haruka was looking down at the ground and as stiff as a rock. Mutsuki was looking right back at Aru, clearly expecting her to make a decision on her own. Kayoko made brief eye contact with Aru, then quickly broke it.
So much pressure!
But I don't really want to go on the frontlines…
Aru signed the paper and handed it back to Hina.
"Fine. Problem Solver 68 accepts this job."
Hina took the papers and inspected them. Upon finding them satisfactory, she bowed her head.
"I'm glad we came to an agreement."
Aru crossed her arms.
"Just so you know, I don't like being forced to follow someone else's orders. So regardless of what happens in the end, this will be Problem Solver 68's final job.
A/N: We were in an alternate universe/timeline as soon as the first word of this fanfic, but now that I gave lore to Problem Solver 68, we are now firmly in wacky territory mode and the gloves can come off now.
Anyways, if it turns out that Problem Solver 68 actually is supposed to be a special ops group in canon, uh, you heard it here first.