Lesson 4: All's Right With The World

It would likely take weeks, if not months, before the entirety of the Helmet Gang's dregs were completely dislodged from their foothold in D.U. A long and arduous battle lay before Rin, she knew. Even if Valkyrie Police School surpassed her expectations and accomplished their mission quickly and efficiently, it would still only mean that they all had reached the proverbial starting line ahead of schedule. The process of both securing D.U.'s outskirts and rebuilding SCHALE was a battle she expected to take even longer and with considerable resistance from other sections of the General Student Council that would rather the available budget be turned towards other priorities. Battle lines, alliances, favors traded… Compromises made, and morals compromised.

Rin sighed.

For all that the figurative war for the city still raged on, Rin was glad that the initial battle, at least, had been such a resounding success. The downward spiral that Kivotos had been trapped in had been broken, order had been restored -well, as much as it ever was- and all that remained was to take the battle to the gangs and delinquents that remained stubbornly defiant. For the General Student Council's Vice-President, this was a battle that started at her office desk. In the dead of night. With a cup of coffee and reams of paper that threatened to obliterate her desk under their ponderous bulk.

Rin's desk creaked slightly, and she reassessed her current situation.

I'm going to need more coffee, she thought to herself as she reached towards the first set of reports.

Two cups of coffee and a considerably less ponderous mass of paperwork later, Rin sighed, stretched her arms overhead and turned her thoughts towards the SCHALE dilemma. The so-called Federal Investigation Club that her friend had set up before her untimely disappearance. The organization was meant to have unrivaled autonomy and extrajudicial authority to resolve student issues that the GSC was forced to dance around. That authority remained, but all that SCHALE had to their name now was a bombed out campus in desperate need of repair, a mysterious tablet computer, and an even more mysterious waif without a halo. Said mysterious waif currently asleep on Rin's office sofa after the Vice-President had offered to put her up for the night while more permanent arrangements could be made. The pallid, halo-less girl was holding the motorcycle helmet she'd carried around all evening to her chest as she slept.

Rin scowled at the sleeping girl as her thoughts returned to their first conversation.

"That information is confidential. You do not have the appropriate security clearance."

Rei's words had been seared into Rin's mind and glared balefully at her from behind every thought and action that she took for the rest of the day and up to the current moment.

As she bowed her head and begged that strange girl for help.

As she cajoled and strong-armed three academy representatives into following her lead.

As she fought her way through gang-controlled streets.

As she handed over the Shittim Chest to the girl and silently prayed for a miracle.

Just who are you, Ayanami Rei? Who do you work for? Rin thought to herself. Oh, she had begged for the girl's help and promised her own in return. There was no denying that, but that didn't mean she trusted her at all. How could she, after hearing those words? How could anyone? She'd keep her end of the bargain, just like Rei had kept hers, but she would continue to harbor her doubts towards the sleeping girl and her secrets. That was her responsibility to everyone in Kivotos after all.

A sound distracted Rin from her thoughts and she looked towards the only other occupant of her office at this late hour. Rei had moved in her sleep, the helmet clattering to the floor. Shaking her head, Rin stood from her desk and moved to pick it up. She walked as quietly as possible so as not to wake her suspicious guest and as she moved closer, Rin realized something else.

Rei was crying in her sleep.

Soft, barely audible whimpers escaped the girl's lips as whatever nightmare ravaged her mind made her shudder and move in her sleep. From further away, Rin might have thought her to be a twitchy sleeper, but from up close the tears falling down her face were unmistakable and undeniable even through the dim light of her office.

In that moment, Nanagami Rin, Vice-President of the General Student Council and Chief Administrative Officer, felt like complete and utter human garbage.

Shame and guilt stabbed at Rin's heart simultaneously as she watched the young girl groan and twist again. A girl younger than her! A girl alone, far from home, surrounded by strangers, and wanting only to return to the place where she belonged. A student like her! A student who had no reason to help, but had done so anyways without complaint, asking only for help to return home.

Rin screamed internally, berating herself for her previously ungrateful thoughts. As a senior student, as a GSC officer, as any person should, she had a responsibility to look after those younger than her. She should be better. She had to be better. And it started now.

No matter what it took, she was going to get Rei home.

She stepped outside her office and turned on her phone.

Before she followed her friend and joined the GSC academic course, she had once been a regular student like any other.

It was time to do something she thought she would never have to do ever again.

It was time to call her alma mater.

Millennium Science School.

She took a deep breath and dialed.

"Yes, it's me. Yes, I know what time it is. I'm sorry for calling, but I... I need your help."

In her dreams, Ayanami Rei felt the snarling woman's hands tighten around her neck in a vice like grip. She struggled, but it was pointless.

Darkness took her and she was falling.

A red pinprick.

Another, and then another.

And then the soulless giggling started as they all clawed at her, tore at her, gnashed at her.

A deluge of voices shrieked at her in the darkness, begging and demanding the light of a soul, and she clutched at her ears; refusing to listen to them.

Not here.

Please, not here.

In her dreams, Ayanami Rei saw Unit Zero's eye turn towards her with unthinking hate and the machine opened its jaws…

Not here.

She fell further into the darkness.

Four and three eyes stared unblinking and whispered that she was no one and nothing and worthless.

Not here.

She fell further into the darkness.

She was in the Entry Plug. From the hatch, Commander Ikari asked if she was alright.

She did not answer.

She was at Terminal Dogma. Through the glass, Doctor Akagi asked if everything was alright.

She did not answer.

She was at school. Standing beside her, Ikari-kun asked if she was alright.

She turned to answer.

She heard someone call for help.

She was on a train car.

Rei blinked.

In the window in front of her, the sun was beginning to rise over an endless sea and the sky was awash with color and light as dark skies gave way to the morning, and the train car's interior was bathed in hues of a purple morning sky.

In the row of seats in front of her, a girl in a white uniform with three stars was dying. She had a gentle air to her and felt strangely… familiar. The girl, obviously in pain, managed a wan and ephemeral smile. Her hands were clasped demurely at her lap, and the bullet wound in her stomach dribbled out crimson blood that stained her uniform, the seat, her skirt, her boots, the floor between them.

"I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you," the dying girl said in a voice full of regret, trembling with unshed tears. "I'm sorry for the pain I've yet to cause you. And I'm sorry that you won't remember any of this."

Rei blinked and the dying girl continued.

"Still, I'm glad I found you. I won't ever regret that. I cannot regret that. Because the choices that you and I made are the ones that have led us here. Those choices are my responsibility to bear now, and I won't ever shirk them. Because of you. Because you're the only one."

"Who are you?"

The wan smile got weaker still at Rei's question, and the dying girl closed her eyes.

"I am so sorry," the dying girl whispered with failing strength. She was still smiling. "Please help us once again. And thank you once again. Thank you for answering when no one else did."

The sun rose higher in the sky, and the light became blinding in its intensity.

"I promise you..."

Unshed tears finally fell.

"Everything will be alright…"

Ayanami Rei woke up.

Early morning sunlight shined gently in the office where she had first woken up a day prior. Nanagami Rin stood at the entrance again with a confused expression on her face. She was holding a breakfast tray.

"Is everything alright?" the bespectacled girl asked.

Rei blinked.

"Yes."

Everything was not alright as Rin, flushed with embarrassment, had had to step outside again and get a second tray of breakfast after Rei informed her that she was vegetarian and could not eat what Rin had picked out for her.

Rather than waste any food, Rin ate breakfast twice that day.

"As I explained yesterday," Rin began in the cool and professional tone of someone who had definitely not been forced to eat breakfast twice over a silly mistake, "The tablet that you activated for us last night is called the Shittim Chest. Despite being left behind by the President, its origins are a mystery to us. It's an ancient piece of technology that we have been unable to decipher, akin to the Sanctum Tower that runs the city, or the ruins beyond the city limits, or…"

Rin paused, bewildered, as she watched Rei give the Shittim Chest a small wave of her hand.

Not for the first time, Rin wondered what was going on in the girl's head.

Rin cleared her throat and began again. "Where was I? Ah. According to our initial analysis, it should still function like a regular tablet computer despite being made of undiscernible components. Before disappearing, the President said it would help Sensei with their SCHALE duties, but…"

Rin worried at her lip briefly before continuing.

"Rei, you don't have to do this," Rin said with all the sincerity she could muster. "You've already done more than enough for us and… Everyone who could ask for help already owes you more than they could ever know. You don't have to go out there and pretend to bond over anyone's problems."

"A bond," Rei repeated as she lifted her gaze from the tablet and stared at Rin with her disturbing crimson eyes. She remained silent, considering her words for a moment before speaking again, "Tokyo-3 has my bond to everyone. I must return there."

"I've already started working on that, but" Rin sighed, and exhaustion seeped into her voice. The dark-haired girl reached for another cup of coffee before continuing. "Rei, it's not going to be fast. I'm sorry, but I have no idea how the President brought you here or where Tokyo-3 is. Rest assured, however, that if she found a way to get you here, then I'll find a way to get you home. It's just… Please be patient with me."

Rei nodded in understanding and pointed at the Shittim Chest in her hand.

"A request has arrived," Rei stated simply, in the same impassive tone as always.

Rin arched an eyebrow at the girl's words "And what will you do? Will you accept it?"

Rei nodded.

"Why?" Rin asked, genuinely curious. "Even after what I've just said: why?"

Rei remained silent, her eyes fixed on the Shittim Chest, and the silence stretched for what seemed to be an interminably long time before the younger girl finally spoke.

"I do not know."

The taller girl stood up without a word, looking at Rei with an odd expression on her face. She nodded, coming to a decision, and headed towards the door.

"I'll have Ayumu accompany you," the dark-haired girl said without turning back. "You shouldn't be wandering around by yourself in a district you're so clearly unfamiliar with. Don't worry. Ayumu is a professional. Everything will be alright."

Rei blinked.

Iwabitsu Ayumu's emotions were, as was often the case, in turmoil. Her first reaction upon hearing her friend and superior telling her to take the rest of the day off had been to wonder if she was finally being tossed out of the GSC for incompetence. The blonde had, of course, loudly and tearily begged not to be fired, promised she would work even harder, and clung to Rin as if she were the sole source of light, reason, and order in a dark and terrifying world.

Which she was, of course, but that's beside the point.

Ayumu had become considerably calmer after being told that, no, she wasn't being fired and please pick up the paperwork she had just dropped. Rin had then explained that Ayumu was being given another assignment and as such her duties at the Arbitration Office of the GSC were being put on temporary hold. She brightened at that, but only briefly as Rin informed her that she would be helping SCHALE, the halo-less girl, with their first assignment.

The winged girl had started crying in earnest at that point.

She didn't want to do this! The halo-less girl was scary! There was something seriously wrong about her! The very air around her felt cold and prickly, and really unpleasant. Surely, somebody else could be sent instead of her, right? But, no, Rin had assured her that she was the one best suited for the job. Besides, who else could they send? Momoka? And Ayumu had to concede the point that, no, they certainly could not send Momoka to do, well, anything.

And so, that was how she found herself onboard a train heading towards the district of her alma mater prior to joining the GSC, in the company of a completely silent girl who seemed absorbed in the act of tapping away at her tablet.

Ayumu had to sigh in relief at seeing the strange and scary girl so absorbed with the mobile device. The air around her was still cold and prickly, but she almost seemed normal like that. Like any other girl, perpetually stuck to their smartphone. Just without a halo, which was still kinda weird, but ok. Maybe this wouldn't be so after all?

Yes, Ayumu thought to herself with conviction. Everything was going to be alright!

They arrived at Trinity District in complete silence and headed towards the meeting point, also in complete silence. Ayumu was glad to see that there was already someone waiting for them at their destination. The student who had placed the request, surely. She was less glad to see the black-haired girl jerk back when she noticed them approaching, the feline ears atop her head lowering against her hair.

Oh no! Ayumu thought, distress starting to take a hold of her mind, I knew I should have changed out of my GSC uniform.

"Uuhh… Who are you guys? If you need directions, then…"

"Ah! No!" Ayumu interrupted hastily, shaking her head. "We're actually with SCHALE. Well, she is, I'm just helping. We're here to meet with Kyoyama Kazusa. Could that be you, miss?"

The girl, Kyoyama Kazusa, nodded and relaxed slightly. She was dressed in a baggy, black hoodie that almost completely covered her uniform aside from a short sliver of her light blue skirt and dark tights. Her halo was a simple circle of purplish pink color with a circular cat's eye of the same color floating in the center. Kazusa regarded them both and gave a lopsided smile.

"I saw the announcement about a federal club for advice and help, but I guess I didn't know what to expect. Sure wasn't expecting the GSC to turn up, though."

"Sorry about that," Ayumu apologized immediately.

"So, you guys are SCHALE, huh?"

"She is. I'm just helping."

"Sure, whatever," Kazusa replied with a shrug before she looked at Rei with a wariness that indicated that the cat-eared girl was ready to bolt away at a moment's notice. "Uh… she isn't sick or anything is she? Nothing contagious?"

Rei blinked at that, and a small scowl briefly crossed her face.

"Nope," Ayumu shook her head softly as she regarded the smaller girl. "She's just like that. She's not from Kivotos."

"Huh. Never met anyone from outside the city before. That's pretty weird," her tone was nonchalant again, but only briefly as she let out a defeated sigh and her shoulders slumped. "Well, you guys already came out all the way out here for me so, hey, might as well. Come on, there's a café near here. I'll buy you guys like a cupcake or something."

Ayumu liked the sound of that, definitely.

Rei nodded.

"Carrot cupcake," she said.

"And maybe you can tell us what's bothering you while we walk there?" the blonde added.

"Yeah, sure," Kazusa shrugged noncommittally as she started walking away without another word.. It was several minutes before she broke the silence again.

"I need help because I, uh…I'm pretty sure I'm being stalked."

Lesson 4: End

What did we learn today, class?

Yes, that's correct!

Make sure to ask others for their preferences before serving food!

Join us again next time for Lesson 5: Youth means sweets. We'll have: Sweets! Gunfights! Misunderstandings! Stalkers! Smiles! More Sweets! And a disclaimer that any one of these elements might be absent depending on chapter length and time.

Don't be late!

AN: I started writing and could not stop, so this got done A LOT faster than I expected. I was estimating this to be ready a week from now. And yet, here we are. I got some major whiplash as I was writing it. It was a good pain, though. I hope you had fun.

The surprise? It was Ayumu. Surprise!