Lesson 2: The Teacher

"Wait!"

The few brief moments that Rin had spent in complete and utter shock had been enough for the strange girl to put quite some distance between them. Her unfamiliarity with the building's layout had not slowed her down in the slightest; she had simply picked a direction and moved with conviction through the empty, pure white corridors of GSC HQ. This approach, however, was not enough to prevent the bespectacled Chief Administrative Officer from catching up to her. For one, Rin knew HQ's layout like the back of her hand and secondly, she was taller, with longer legs.

Most importantly of all, Rin was running full tilt to catch up.

"I said wait!" Rin shouted again as she caught up and grabbed the younger girl by the arm.

She realized instantly that this had been a mistake as those cold, red eyes focused on her once more.

"Let go."

The younger girl's words had been spoken in the same emotionless tone as before. Despite this, Rin felt her blood turn to ice and a chill run up her spine once again. She instantly released the younger girl as if the briefest touch had burned and stared at her gloved hand in bewilderment. Her quarry turned around and continued walking away unconcerned.

As she watched that uniformed back getting further again, Nanagami Rin's worries and frustrations finally defeated her patience.

"Just who are you? How did you even get in here?" she called bitterly at the uncaring student's back.

THAT finally got the bizarre girl to stop walking away.

"I do not know."

Rei's words must have been no louder than a faint whisper, but Rin somehow managed to hear them clearly.

"I do not know how I arrived here." Rei spoke again, her brow knitted slightly in what was a clear, if muted, expression of discomfort.

Rin was stunned once again. "And you expect me to believe that?" she asked incredulously.

"There was a girl…" Rei ignored Rin's outburst. The uniformed girl clutched at her head, struggling to get her words out through gritted teeth. "She called for help. None answered. A girl in a white uniform with three stars…"

Rin's anger dissipated immediately. A gasp escaped her lips as a wild hope surged in her chest. Without thinking, she rushed forward again and grabbed the shorter girl by the shoulders.

Only two people in all Kivotos wore a white uniform with three stars on it.

"The President? You saw her?" Rin asked breathlessly, her eyes frantic.

"Let go."

Whatever strange spell had overtaken the halo-less girl was over as suddenly as it had begun. Gone was the distress of trying to recall a fleeting and hazy dream. In its place was once again that frustratingly expressionless mask of total indifference. Could it have been an act? A means to hide her true intentions, throw Rin off guard once again, and earn her good graces? No, even if it were a lie, the situation was so bleak that Rin had no choice but to grasp at whatever hope she was given. She could think of several reasons for why someone foreign to Kivotos would be familiar with the uniform that only she and the President wore. None of those reasons were particularly optimistic ones. Truth be told, she had more questions than answers so far as the bizarre stranger was concerned, but hope drove her towards only one conclusion: this girl was the one she had been waiting for. The one they had all been waiting for.

"Please, if you really saw the President, then she must have sent you here to help us," Rin pleaded with all the sincerity she could muster as she complied with the shorter girl's request and took her hands off her shoulders. "Sensei, we need your help."

"I am no sensei. I am Ayanami Rei. The First Child. I must return to Tokyo-3."

And Ayanami Rei turned around and walked away.

In desperation, Nanagami Rin, Vice-President and Chief Administrative Officer of Kivotos' General Student Council, did the only thing she could.

She bowed deeply.

"Please, Sensei, lend us your aid."

She could still hear the faint footsteps getting further away.

"I know this is a lot to ask for from a stranger who has treated you so rudely, but I have no other option left." The words were spilling heedlessly from the dark-haired girl's lips as her mind raced for the right combination that would get this total enigma to stop and listen. "I, no, this city, needs your help. I beg of you. I'll do anything."

Silence.

A heavy silence that seemed to stretch interminably.

"I must return to Tokyo-3."

The same answer as before. And yet…

Not another footstep had been taken. Rei had not left. The words were no longer a statement of intent as they had been before. Now they were a request, the condition for which the assistance that Rin needed would be granted.

Rin accepted without a second thought.

"If that's the condition for your help, then I accept, Rei-sensei," Rin replied with conviction, regaining a certain degree of her cool professionalism. This was well within her authority to negotiate. Given the circumstances, neither Kaya nor Aoi would be able to find fault with her actions, she decided.

Rin heard the footsteps come closer instead and lifted her head to see those red eyes looking down at her with what she thought was the barest hint of an inquisitive expression. She straightened her back and reached out a hand towards the girl who would be sensei.

"I don't fully understand how you got here, but I'll do it. I'll find a way to get you home. I promise."

Rei blinked quizzically before accepting the handshake.

"What must I do?"

Rin could only sigh in reply.

Where to even start?

A brief call to Momoka revealed that Rin's preferred course of action would need to be amended. Simply taking a helicopter and delivering Rei to the SCHALE Building would be impossible without considerable force of arms. Force of arms that, as Kaya had become so fond of reminding her, was already stretched beyond thin after weeks of emergencies, riots, and "repeated administrative failures". Mercifully a ready solution presented itself in her mind and had been presenting itself with increasing insistence as each new emergency compounded on the damages of the previous.

If the academies want solutions, then they can be part of the solution for once, Rin thought to herself as she approached the meeting room that they had prepared to receive the academies. The insistent visits had become so frequent that they had needed to prepare one to receive them all and stop the representative du jour from barging into her office unannounced. Rei followed behind at a sedate pace, seemingly disinterested in her surroundings.

The first thing that struck Rin as she entered the meeting room was the oppressive silence that hung over it like a shroud. The reason made itself immediately apparent.

"Oh wow, the Chief Administrative Officer finally shows up. You know it's rude to keep a lady waiting, right? I've been boooored out of my mind over here. I almost fell asleep like Pandemonium over there. I can aaaalmost sympathize with her waiting for so looooong, but unlike her, we take our responsibilities very seriously, you know?"

The Tea Party's Misono Mika brainlessly rambled on at one end of the table, the spiral of her galaxy-like pink halo rotating lazily. At the other end of the table was a student in the dark great coat and peaked cap of The Pandemonium Society. She was leaning back on her chair with her arms crossed and had a book over her face, obscuring her features. The prodigious mass of bright red hair that framed her uniformed figure, however, readily identified her as Natsume Iroha. Stuck between them, Seminar's Ushio Noa smiled and waved at Rin in a friendly manner.

Student Council members of the three largest academies in all of Kivotos.

Rin could already sense a formidable headache awaited her in the near future.

"Honestly! If Nagi-chan thought this was soooooo important she should have come here herself. She might be the Tea Party's current host, but it's not like I don't have my own things going on. Oh, that reminds me!" The pink haired girl's meandering diatribe came to a sudden end and her gaze became sharp as she faced Rin head on. "You ordered a lockdown, didn't you? Because of an intruder? What was all that about anyways? Really, Vice-President! You gotta work harder if you're just letting anyone barge in here as they please! You caught them, ri-"

Misono Mika stopped talking, and her golden eyes widened in shock.

Ushio Noa stopped smiling, and she leaned forward with curiosity.

Natsume Iroha kept on sleeping.

Ayanami Rei had stepped into the room and an uncomfortable silence once again descended upon those gathered there.

That is, until Mika's eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted, falling out of her chair with a loud crash that woke Iroha up.

"Can't a girl get some rest around here? What's with all the racket anyways?" The red head grumbled sleepily as she removed the book from her face and looked around the room. She then noticed the halo-less girl by the entrance. "Oh."

"'Oh' is right," Noa replied mirthfully, her smile returning. "I'm so glad it was my turn to drop by this time. I can't wait to hear the Vice-President's explanation."

Rin could only sigh in reply.

Where to even start?

Lesson 2: End

What did we learn today, class?

Yes, that's correct!

No running in the hallways.

Join us again next time for Lesson 3: SCHALE. We'll have: a tank!

Don't be late!

AN: A shorter one this time, but this felt like an appropriate place to stop. -Kero