He took his hand in his, words failing him.

The man smiled, bestowing his sublime wisdom.

"...You shall call me 'Kether'."

Shua couldn't help but question things. It was in his nature, ever since he was younger. Asking questions was a favorite pastime of his.

But as time went on, the only person he could question was himself. That was the nature of time, where everything eventually erodes. Relationships were no exception.

When he attained someone to talk to again, he decided to stop questioning lest they leave him once more.

While one could look back fondly, there was a distinct difference in having something and not having it any longer. That was the motivation that drove such fallacy.

Was it right, or was it wrong? When it came to people, it was truly hard to grant such a definitive answer. There were different types of them, and the ties that bind yourself to them could either drag one down to the depths of hell, or pull you up to heaven.

Blood was thicker than water, but water and blood were nevertheless fundamentally liquids. The constituents were different, but a container would hold them both. But water would evaporate, leaving nearly nothing, whereas blood would coagulate, leaving stains that were incredibly difficult to clean.

In this world where he had no family, he was glad for it. His heart couldn't take another staunch cleaning. He only hoped that he wouldn't grow too attached to anything. He was a bleeding heart in more ways than one, after all, and it was in his nature to do so.

He wouldn't change. He couldn't change. What made him think he could change the world?

Even now, he could only question himself.

What a sickening joke.

The sound of birds chirping awoke him. The lights slowly bloomed to medium intensity as he got up from his bed, to prevent blinding him with a grandiose light. It was a setup that Arona had devised, to have the sounds of birds chirping from the speakers of the Shittim Chest to facilitate a gradual awakening, rather than a sudden one. It wasn't too great to be awoken with a start, after all.

The room was as it always was. Spick and span due to Arona's insistence of him not falling into slobbish behaviors, the scent of phenol that mildly tickled his nose and reminded him of a hospital, and… a black haired girl sitting at the coffee table, her hair flowing across the floor, playing games on his laptop.

That certainly wasn't a common thing here. He shook his head rapidly, almost thinking that he was merely seeing a mirage in this waking hour, but she was truly, really there.

"...Arisu, did you not go to sleep?"

The girl looked up from the computer, clicking on the escape key to pause the game, before innocently smiling at Shua.

"Arisu does not require sleep, Sensei. My processors are fully capable of running full throttle at every moment!"

Arisu's smiling face made him unconsciously smile as well, but he was mildly concerned. He knew that she didn't exactly have the same constitution as a regular student, but was it really okay for her to do so?

"...Are you sure?" A puzzled look took over his face. "You don't need to sleep at all?"

Arisu shook her head in denial. "Not at all, Sensei. It's something that I'm capable of, but it's not something that's mandatory for continued processing. At most, it works as a way to partition information that I've acquired, but I've not reached my storage capacity just yet. That'll take about 3000 years at the current read-write ratio that we're proceeding with."

"...I see," Shua couldn't help but feel outmatched. Just what were her specs if she could do something like that? He'd honestly have to learn not to compare himself with a freak of creation like this, but it just didn't feel right whatsoever. "I think you should at least go to sleep once every two days, though, even with your abnormal constitution."

"Is that an or—" Arisu cut herself off, before continuing, "Understood, Sensei. I'll take you up on your suggestion. It's a shame, though." Arisu shook her head, "It means that I won't be able to play games during that period."

He gave her a disapproving look, but he held his tongue as Arisu shortly continued.

"By the way, Sensei. You make some strange noises when you sleep." Arisu seemed to ponder for a bit, as if she were coming up with words to describe just what she heard. "It almost sounded like you were in pain, Sensei. Are you okay?"

"...I'm alright." What a blatant lie. "Thank you for your concern."

Arisu nodded immediately afterwards, fully believing Shua.

"Anyway, Sensei! I've managed to get a 10 second clear on Chapter 4, Stage 1! As it turns out, if you boost yourself with a grenade you launch behind you and shoot it with the explosive railgun, you send yourself flying at incredible speeds!" Arisu could barely hold her excitement at figuring this out. "By doing it this way, you don't need to destroy any enemies at all, and there's a destructible hole that leads to the end portal when the boost inevitably ends!"

"...How long have you been playing this?" Shua shook his head, unbelievingly. That was something that he needed to use a guide for, and even so he fell behind her time by about 10 seconds. He never could get the timing right.

"I've been playing since after dinner and till you woke up, Sensei." Arisu pouted. "There's so much to this game! So many options… Hehehe…" Her giggling was like music to his ears. He couldn't help but grin in response, but he had to lay down some ground rules.

"Alright then, while I see you've been enjoying yourself, I forbid you from playing games for more than 3 hours a day." Arisu quickly made a shocked expression, her mouth opening to interject, but Shua shook his head to silence her. "You and I have work to do, Arisu. You're my assistant, and before that, you're my student. I've got lessons for you to partake in, and while games make an effective way to learn certain things, there's plenty that it can't teach you at the same time, and we need to work on those things."

"But… okay, Sensei." Arisu's disappointment tugged at his heartstrings, but this was for the best.

"On the topic of work, we need to head out after breakfast to help out some students at Abydos with some problematic gangs in the area firing at shops and being general nuisances," That did remind him of an important thing. "I'll give you my pistol, holster and spare magazines later, it wouldn't do for you to not have a weapon as a student."

It would be better in her hands than his, anyway.

"Ah, a weapon!" Arisu nodded in anticipation. "Is it time for the hero's journey to begin?"

What? Shua looked at Arisu with confusion.

"A-Ah… I mean, t-thanks, Sensei." Arisu looked down in embarrassment, poking her index fingers together shyly, "...Umm, can I have some coins too?"

Coins? What? Just what would she need them for?

Shua sighed. He honestly didn't understand what was going on in her head, but he'd acquiesce anyway.

And so began their first day together as teacher, and assistant.

"Clink… Clink…"

The jingling of coins was heard from her jacket pocket for every step she made. She hummed a merry tune that came from one of the games she played just the day before, that Shua recognized to be from an RPG that had the main character go back in time several times to prevent certain tragedies from occurring.

Somehow, that story's plot seemed more than familiar to him, but he didn't quite know why.

"Sensei…" Arona voiced out from his earpiece, "That's going to be problematic if we're trying to sneak somewhere…"

"...Yes, it will." Shua sighed as he looked at Arisu, who walked next to him, now clad with his holstered pistol, magazines and combat knife fastened onto her skirt. "If she really wants to carry coins around I might as well craft a coin dispenser. That'd solve this issue. Let's go work on that later today."

Arona made a noise of affirmation as she yawned, before presumably heading back to sleep.

They had just walked out of the Abydos High School train station together, barren of any people but them. It made sense, considering Abydos didn't have that many residents, and that the stop would only really cater to a certain number of people. The sand also made it quite a bumpy ride, to which he honestly should've gotten used to by now.

Now, they were taking a short walk towards the school, where they would meet up with the Foreclosure Task Force, and then discuss methods of action in order to deal with the rowdy bunch of troublemakers.

"Ah, Sensei!" He looked up to see the Abydos High School gates closing in on him, where a red glasses-clad black haired girl in uniform stood, waving at him. "Welcome… huh?"

This was Ayane, of the Foreclosure Task Force. She was the one who mostly kept the rowdy bunch in check, but that didn't mean she wasn't exempt to explosions of anger and exasperation when she got absolutely frustrated with the idiocy that occurred around her. But, otherwise, she was a calm, prim and proper girl that stuck to regulation to a T. Shua found her personality quite refreshing as a result.

"Ah, Ayane." Shua nodded as he came to a stop, greeting her. "I'm here to help with the commission you guys requested?"

He looked at Ayane, and back to Arisu, who was now staring in fear at the sand near the gate as if it would scald her.

"A-Ah, yes! Uhm, may I ask who this is?" Ayane questioned, confused.

"I'll explain later," Shua shrugged, "She's with me, let's talk in the club room."

"She's got a lanyard over her neck with a card that says 'Schale' on it, so I expected as much…" Ayane sighed, before falling silent as she walked past the gates.

Shua and Arisu followed, though the latter shyly gave the sand a humongous berth wherever she paced. He thought to himself. What could've given her such a fear of sand? Did it perhaps clog up some of her receptors?

Wait, he thought, as he ran through the games that she played yesterday as they walked. A certain one of them had sand as an environmental hazard, where if you stepped on it you would take damage.

That had to be it. That was the same game that… also used coins as a weapon. Oh dear.

"Arisu, the sand isn't an environmental hazard," Shua sighed, "It's okay if you step on it."

"A-Ah, Arisu understands!" Arisu nodded in understanding, now seemingly no longer fearing for her life. "It has no negative effects on me, then?"

Maybe it was a mistake to have her play so many games as part of her curriculum.

"...Yes." Shua affirmed, as Ayane looked back at them with furrowed brows.

As swiftly as it began, the walk to the club room had ended, and the off-white sliding doors greeted them, the label atop the door hastily pasted sideways with 'Foreclosure Task Force' upon it.

"We're here," Ayane sighed. "Let's—"

The door suddenly slid open with a "THWACK". And in that sound's wake, a black haired girl with cat ears and red eyes stood with an imposing look on her face that seemed to promise pain to whomever she laid eyes upon.

"Sensei, you're LATE!" The girl shrieked.

This was Serika, a member of the Foreclosure Task Force. She was one of the only few of them, Shua noted, that had any modicum of common sense, though she did fall prey to money-making schemes quite often. Back in his world, they called those MLMs, and it was mildly funny and yet depressing to see that even as the world changed, humans did not.

"It's 8:25am," Arisu noted blankly, not even looking at any instrument of time. "The meeting time was stated to be 8:30am."

"W-Wha?!" Serika looked down at her watch, and then pulled out her phone, turning it on. "A-Ah…"

Shua raised his eyebrow, waiting for Serika to explain.

"...I mismatched the time between my phone and watch!" Serika looked down in shame. "Sorry, Sensei. W-Wait, who is this?" She glanced at Arisu, confused.

"I'll explain in a second," Shua walked past Serika, and into the room with Arisu and Ayane in tow. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"Mmph… Hear, hear!" A lazy, unenthused voice was heard, muffled by a pillow. "This old geezer's been waiting forever, y'know… I'd like to get back to my sleepy time."

There was a head of pink hair, flopped down on the desk with not a single care in the world atop a pillow. This was Hoshino, the Vice-President of the Abydos High School Student Council, though she was the only member due to certain extenuating circumstances, and now she led the Foreclosure Task Force, though it was in name only. She preferred to laze around, that he could empathize with, and that left her fellow students to pick up the slack.

Though he knew it was not without reason. She was a night owl, and roamed Abydos at night to work out issues and help people as she went. She preferred to keep it on the down low, saying that keeping the expectations of her fellow clubmates low made for an easy life.

"Mmm." A monotonous voice agreed. "It's best we nip those troublemakers in the bud, and destroy them so completely and utterly that they're six feet under."

Those were certainly words that were scary to hear with such an uncaring tone. The silver haired, wolf-eared girl with a cross hairpin who spoke those words was Shiroko, the Captain of the Foreclosure Task Force. She came off as uncaring in words and tone, but he knew that it was merely her way of speaking. She was exceedingly passionate about the school, to the point that she did come up with some outrageous ideas quite often, such as robbing a bank. That was a pretty exciting time, Shua had to admit. 'Eat the rich', he had said. That was a statement he could wholly live by.

"Uwaah, scary…" A jovial voice interjected, "But punishing bad children is within our purview, is it not?"

That jovial voice belonged to Nonomi, a pale-blonde haired girl with a side bun on her left. She was the caring mother of the group, and even he was not exempt from her care as well. She kept everyone mostly in check, though she wasn't exempt to stunning losses of common sense from time to time. Her lap, he noted from experience, was also incredibly soft and comfortable.

They all were clad in the Abydos High School uniform, albeit in different styles and with different accessories. Shua honestly didn't know what to call plenty of what accessories they wore, so he just took it at face value. Their haloes shone bright in the room with their myriad colors, to which this day he still didn't know the meaning of. He knew it meant some form of divinity, inferred from Black Suit's words, but beyond that he really didn't have a clue.

But getting to business was the name of the game here, so Shua shook his head, preparing himself to speak, but he was quickly interrupted.

"Hmm?" Hoshino raised her head from the table, staring avidly at Arisu with her yellow and blue eyes. "I thought I felt a familiar presence beyond Sensei there. Guess I was wrong…"

Somehow, Shua didn't like how Hoshino was looking at Arisu. It was a contemplative look, akin to how he saw her the day before she left for Kaiser Corporation and took that horrendous deal she did, mixed with thinly veiled animosity.

It was like she was mentally preparing to fight a battle against a mortal enemy, but she was withholding her righteous judgment because it would result in wanton destruction that she didn't want to reap the consequences to. He couldn't see her hands, but her shoulders were taut with tension.

"My, my! Who is this cutie you've got at your side, Sensei?" Nonomi inquired, completely oblivious to the tension in the room, not that he thought anyone else beyond him and Hoshino knew of it.

Well, it would do well to ignore that tension if from what he could see, Hoshino wouldn't act upon it.

"Ah, she's Arisu." The named girl waved upon hearing her name. "She's my teaching assistant."

"Hmm." Shiroko walked over to Arisu, studying her face closely with hers in breathing distance for a lengthy period of time, her black and white pupils staring with great intensity. Arisu looked as innocently as she could, though Shua could see some discomfort forming in her face from having someone so close to her face for such a extended period.

Shiroko soon nodded, moving herself away from Arisu, and looked at Hoshino, to which she shook her head.

The tension in Hoshino's shoulders soon relaxed upon that signal. Were they both in the loop about something? He'd need to ask them about it later.

"I see," Serika nodded. "I thought it was strange that you brought someone along out of the blue, but if she's your assistant, it only makes sense." Serika sighed in annoyance, before walking over to Shua, patting him on the back. "I see you're finally taking your health and safety seriously if you've finally got protective detail shadowing you at every given moment. Now we can stop worrying about you whenever you leave Abydos."

Serika's face flared up as she realized what she said, doubling back, "N-Not that I worry about you that much, Sensei! I-I mean, the others definitely do."

"Haah," Hoshino sighed, stretching her arms as if to loosen them up from that brief moment that had passed, "Let's get back to business, and Sensei, I've got something to talk to you about later. Alone."

Was this perhaps regarding that strange reaction she had with Arisu? He honestly couldn't really fathom just why Hoshino reacted in such an adverse way. But he swallowed his questions for now, considering they would seemingly be answered soon.

Back to business, it seems. Shua nodded at Hoshino.

"Alright, so here's the plan. I did some digging," The earpiece he wore projected the file he had in mind, an overview of the base of the miscreants. "They're actually pretty lowly defended, beyond two patchwork sniper towers made from scrap iron overlooking the entrance. They are merely overtaking a scrapyard as their base, which isn't very easy to supply logistically, thus they are stealing from shops across Abydos to supply themselves. They only have a lorry at most, which they use to hold all their loot and send it back."

"Wow, is that new, Sensei?" Nonomi noted the projection that his earpiece did.

"Yes, I had it made not too long ago." He decided to withhold the reasons why, lest they shout at him in worry. "Anyway, are any of you familiar with this scrapyard in particular?"

Ayane raised her hand, "Yes, this is the scrapyard that I send metal from our school to to earn some money from time to time." She paused, staring at the projection, before pointing at the back of the projected scrapyard. "This looks like an opening in their defenses... Though no wonder I couldn't sell anything the past week…"

"Alright, so we'll enter from the point marked by Ayane. The goal of this mission is to recover all stolen goods and to take these wrongdoers to justice," Shua paused, thinking of how to handle a certain aspect. "I'll get the GSC to work something out with regards to their punishment."

"So, who's going on this mission, Sensei? I want to rest…" Hoshino murmured tiredly.

Shua thought through the situation carefully. There weren't actually that many of them, and with his guidance, taking them down should be an easy feat. Honestly, he was worried about how Hoshino and Shiroko had reacted to Arisu, and deemed it a good idea for them to be apart for now.

It would also be a good time to figure out just what Arisu was capable of in battle, considering her first time usage of his weaponry… and coins. He was honestly curious as to what she'd do with them. In the game she shamelessly ripped her inspiration from, one could shoot the coins after throwing them in the air to ricochet them into enemy weak points. He didn't think ricocheting bullets like that could be done in real life, right…? He shook his head. It wasn't important now. It was time for action.

"Arisu, Serika and Nonomi." The named girls had their attention piqued. "You'll be heading out, boots on ground to take care of this. Ayane and I will act as oversight, with her drone for first aid supplies and for me to give orders."

"What about Hoshino and Shiroko?" Serika raised her eyebrows in questioning.

"Leave them be." Shua said. It was honestly for the best, in his opinion.

"Alright," He looked at his watch, "We'll have you girls head out at 9:20am and reach there at 9:30am via helicopter. This timing will coincide with them all being there, from preliminary intel. Dismissed." He clapped, and the projection faded.

He looked at Hoshino and nodded, before turning to look at Arisu.

"Arisu, feel free to sit around here and talk to them for now. You'll head out soon." He patted her head, ruffling her hair softly, before leaving with Hoshino in tow.

They had moved on to a secluded classroom, away from the Foreclosure Task Force club room, where the other girls and Arisu were now talking avidly in. They seemed to take to her well, but Shiroko seemed to hold a look of suspicion on her face from what he last saw.

"So what was that about, Hoshino?" Shua was confused. He had never seen Hoshino display such animosity towards anyone. He didn't think she would ever do so, but he had clearly been proven wrong.

"I get a bad feeling from her, Sensei." Hoshino bluntly said, a serious look taking over her features, her gait absolutely straightened, "Watch your back."

"W-What?"

"I said what I wanted to say. Nothing more to it than that." Hoshino shook her head, seemingly unwilling to elaborate.

In her expression beheld an overwhelming sense of pain and loss. That scrunched up look on her face was one he had seen on himself many times in the mirror before. He glanced at her hands. They were clenched into fists, shaking almost uncontrollably.

Shua didn't know what to say at all to that, but he had to know more.

"But why?" Shua was genuinely concerned at this point. This was so unlike Hoshino's usual temperament that he honestly couldn't help but feel only worry. "Is there anything wrong?"

"...If you have to know, Sensei…"

Hoshino turned her back to him, walking to the door to leave.

"...It's just bad memories."

Hoshino had left the building the club room was in entirely, and he could find no sign of her afterwards. He was exceedingly worried about her, but there was a job that needed to be done.

Shiroko, Ayane and him sat around the club room table, with Ayane's laptop on the table showing a live feed of the scrapyard, connected to her drone.

"Mmm. They're in position, Sensei." Ayane said, the light from the laptop causing her glasses to shine reflectively, rendering her eyes incapable of being seen. It was rather foreboding, Shua had to admit. "The mission can begin upon your word."

"Hmm." Shiroko adopted a thinking pose for a brief moment. "I'm not very impressed by your assistant so far, Sensei."

Shua raised his eyebrow, before asking: "Why so?"

"She makes too much noise. The coins in her pocket give her position away. Why is she carrying coins, anyway?" Shiroko stared intensely into the laptop's screen, as if seeing what Arisu was doing would grant insight to her thoughts.

"I don't know, Shiroko." Shua sighed, looking out the window. "But we'll probably find out very soon."

He took a breath. It was time.

"Alright." He poked his earpiece, connecting it to the respective headsets of everyone on the field. "Serika, you'll be at the forefront. Arisu and Nonomi will be at the rear, giving you support."

"H-Hah?!" Serika's yell pierced his eardrums, leaving his ears ringing. "I'm going in as the sole frontliner?"

"I oppose this, Sensei!" Arisu's voice came as mild relief to his ears, considering it didn't murder his hearing. "I'm fully rated to take damage since I can repair myself quickly. I can soak up damage as a tank!"

"Why does she speak like that…?" Ayane shook her head, as if she could scarcely believe what she was hearing.

"Just accept it, Ayane." Shiroko closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, as if she were a wise man granting the gospel to a non-believer. "When it comes to Sensei, no one around him is normal."

"...What does that make you then, Shiroko?" Ayane inquired.

"A normal girl." Shiroko briskly replied.

Ayane stared at her senior with exasperation, before shaking her head and sighing.

"Sure thing, Shiroko. Sure thing."

"Ah! Shouldn't we get to work, everyone? There's some kids who need a good scolding, after all!" Nonomi interjected, bringing everyone back to the problem at hand.

Shua nodded his head, though it was to no avail since they couldn't see his face.

"Nonomi's right. Okay, Arisu, let's see what you've got!"

"You won't be disappointed, Sensei!" Arisu promised, "My programming has the details on how to handle your weapons platform, and I should be able to proceed with your orders in the field as you say them!"

"What about the coins?" Shua asked, his curiosity apparent.

"A-Ah… you'll see, Sensei!" Arisu nervously muttered.

"Well, never mind. Alright, Arisu and Serika will take point, Nonomi will be at the rear, giving fire support," Shua took a quick breath to mentally prepare himself, "The mission is a go! Let's take care of the sniper towers first. We should be able to take them ou— wait, what are you doing, Arisu?"

He watched Arisu pull a coin from her jacket pocket… and flicked it high into the air with her left hand.

The sand and dirt upon the ground seemed to gather around her in anticipation. Her blue eyes seemed to flash red, literally, as she slowly clenched her right fist.

The coin slowly fell back down back within her reach, and a gust of wind seemed to burst out from her body like a sudden squall. Her hair, flowing like a stream with her body, quickly bent backwards along with her fist, and it quickly came forward as fast as a rushing storm.

Her fist made contact with the coin, and immediately upon impact, the sand in front of her spread like a splitting ocean, with a sound that only foretold absolute devastation.

"CLANGGGGGGGGGGGG—"

The coin flew forwards with a shockwave that nearly blew Nonomi and Serika away from where they stood, and they watched with wide open eyes as the makeshift projectile sped towards one of the sniper towers.

They watched in horror, as the red hot projectile made from fiat currency struck the tower. A shockwave seemed to burst out from the point of contact, sending everything around it to a scattered mess.

The first tower fell, and with it, the second. The shockwave produced by the coin tore both of them asunder.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!"

A loud noise rang out from the scrapyard, deafening all those who stood near.

Serika and Nonomi stood there like statues, staring in shock at Arisu who now had a torn sleeve on her right shoulder. She looked at her missing sleeve with disappointment, pouting as she did.

Shaking herself out of it, she waved happily at the drone that flew high in the air, as if she did not just commit an act of absolute carnage.

Somehow, the drone was unscathed, and the three sitting in the club room had witnessed it all. Shua had his mouth dropped open, Ayane stared in shock, and Shiroko…

Shiroko just nodded in approval.

"I stand corrected, Sensei," Shiroko said, closing her eyes. "She's good."

"..." Shua didn't know how to react. Was this what Hoshino had feared? This destruction…

This was the girl he had taken under his wing? He couldn't help but fear just what the hell he had inadvertently helped create.

This… wasn't good at all. The ramifications of a student being capable of doing something like this single-handedly…

He needed to make sure no one knew about this. It was definitely a good thing that this was a singular incident. He could cover it up as some random act of God.

"...Girls," He spoke over the earpiece, and to the girls that sat beside him. "Let's… keep what happened here a secret, shall we?"

"A-Agreed." Serika noted, her fear apparent from the tone of her voice, with respect to the girl who had committed such a grandiose act of destruction so nonchalantly. "L-Let's keep it that way."

"...My, my." Nonomi said, her hand over her mouth in silent shock, "I'd never have thought…"

"Can we consider this mission complete, Sensei?" Arisu questioned innocently with a bright smile, "I've destroyed the towers."

That wanton destruction was attributed to this young looking girl. It was hard to fathom.

There was nearly nothing left of the scrapyard. Only bits and pieces of metal strewn about, and comatose bodies laying on the ground.

"...I guess." Shua begrudgingly said, pulling out his phone. "If any person really wants to fight after that display, I'd be surprised… I'll call in the Valkyrie Police then…"

Just what was this girl, who he took with him out of those ruins…?

At the end of the day, the renegade students had been absolutely demoralized by that display, thinking they were being punished by some higher being. They hadn't an idea of what happened to them, but due to it, they lost all will to fight.

As Shua stared blankly at the police cars that slowly drove away with the miscreants inside, he could only ponder.

The power Arisu held was something terrifying. He swore the Abydos girls to secrecy, but considering his involvement, there was bound to be some precarious things on the way for Schale. It wouldn't take much for people to put two and two together, so he mentally prepared himself.

A weapon of mass destruction. Was that what Black Suit intended for him to have?

For what reason? To shatter the balance of this world?

He didn't want Schale to have such a legacy. That would be problematic to his goals on bettering the world he now found himself in. It was akin to his old world, where the countries of power held each other by the throat, with mutually assured destruction at hand if they ever struck each other.

It seemed that for every step he took forward, he would be walking ten steps back.

He couldn't help but frown. Why was it that every time he tried to do good, he always failed in the end? This endless cycle of failure was one he was accustomed to, but he didn't want it to be.

"Sensei!" The girl who was the cause of his conundrum happily paced to his side. "Did I do well today?"

He turned to look at Arisu, conflicted thoughts crossing his mind.

What the hell was her creator thinking, giving her such power, and yet the innocence of a child?

His eyes were opened by this display. He really, really, needed to take care of her.

It wasn't right to just teach her as a teacher. That wouldn't be enough.

She needed greater guidance than that.

She needed a parent.

He wasn't mentally prepared for something like that, but dire times called for dire measures.

"No, you didn't." It hurt him to say that, and seeing the hurt in her eyes only exacerbated the hollowness his heart felt. "You overdid it today, Arisu."

"W-What…?" Arisu heartbrokenly said, liquid slowly forming in her eyes. "I-I didn't?"

"Mmm." Shua nodded, closing his eyes to avert the need to look at her saddened face. "Never pull that stunt again. I'd like for there to be much less destruction when we go on a mission if possible, Arisu."

"I… I see, Sensei." Arisu nodded in understanding, rubbing tears from her eyes. "I'll never do this again."

"See to it." Shua said, his hands crossed behind his back, turning away from Arisu.

He looked up to the sky, which was slowly turning gray, signaling rain was to arrive.

"I guess I'm making that same mistake again, huh?" Shua said, sighing to himself.

"Kether."