"How are you adjusting to your new position, Sensei?"
"Well enough, I suppose. It's lively, that much I can say."
"You grow into it, I find. The art of teaching becomes second nature the longer you keep at it. Like any other hobby, hm?"
"Good to know. What was the department you said you teach for? Plum Blossom Garden?"
"Yes. My students are of much younger age than yours, granted, but the principle remains the same. Reward, punishment, reinforcement, discipline… These apply to students of all ages, Shanghaijing or otherwise."
"You must have a lot of experience under your belt."
"Oh, I've taught at Shanghaijing for some years now. There's no feeling quite like watching your little angels blossom into industrious, hardworking students. However…it does make me a little sad to see them go, like a reminder of years gone by."
"I see. I can't exactly say I empathize as of now."
"Hmm… Should I hope that you can empathize one day? Or not, so as to spare you the feeling?"
"Depends. Would you wish ill feelings on a fellow teacher?"
Shun shook her head as she let out a tinkling laugh. "More tea, Sensei?"
"Hit me."
Shun smiled bemusedly at the unfamiliar idiom, but took it as affirmation as she lifted the ornate teapot to pour me another cup.
Today started off fairly straightforward. As Abydos had the day off, there was no real urgency for me to head there in the morning, and Ayane promised to ping me if they had any problems with gangsters today. As such, I figured it would be prudent to get started on the workload for the next few days. The workload was daunting, but Chinatsu showed up to lend a helping hand. Since she was now a formal student of Schale, I delegated to her the task of organizing documents I completed, which'd save me a chunk of time. She dutifully worked on her assigned task on one of the other desks in the large office.
Fuuka had to leave for Gehenna's lunch hour, so in the early morning she graciously prepared a boxed lunch for me. I was taking a brief break for lunch when Schale received an unexpected visitor.
Sunohara Shun, an instructor from the Shanghaijing district who wanted to greet the new teacher on the block. She had long, flowing black hair with green eyes, ears of an animal I couldn't identify atop her head, and a flower-shaped halo. She carried around a long metal box, which contained, in all likelihood, her weapon. She wore a rather scanty black Chinese outfit which accentuated her sizable bust, which gave me pause when she introduced herself as an instructor. To kindergarteners, at that.
I'd seen Gomorrah "workers" dressed more appropriately than Shun, for crying out loud.
That being said, she was quite gorgeous. Hell, now that I thought about it, I'd come across more attractive women in Kivotos in just Rin, Wakamo, and Shun than in the whole Wasteland.
Maybe there's something in the water here.
Finished topping off both our teacups, Shun lowered the teapot to the table with a clink. We both raised our teacups and sipped the piping hot beverage.
Having tea with someone was a tradition that predated my ancestors' ancestors, but it was a practice that was currently very much dead, at least in most of the Mojave Wasteland. The White Glove Society, being the pretentious former cannibals that they were, occasionally held tea parties in tandem with their extravagant dinners, but I never partook.
Hence, this was my first sampling of the ancient beverage that was tea. Personally, I didn't care much for the taste. I was sure that Shun brewed tea just fine, but the flower water just didn't appeal to me. I much preferred black coffee. The Dead Horse tribe in Zion brewed a mean cup of joe.
Though the ceremony of making someone's acquaintance via tea was something I could get behind. So I summoned what I knew of fine etiquette and pretended that I liked the stuff.
Shun tilted her head back slightly as she drank, then lowered her cup as she sighed contentedly. "Do you enjoy tea, Sensei?"
"The experience is still quite new to me," I said, dodging the question.
"Oh? I take it you're a coffee person?"
"Very much so. I usually have it black."
"A mature choice. But don't be so quick to discount tea, now. Studies have shown that tea has numerous health benefits as well."
"Such as?"
"Take this oolong tea, for example. It has antioxidants that do wonders for your skin. Very good for staving off…wrinkles." Shun shuddered.
Wrinkles? Should she really be concerned about that? Shun looked like she was around my age, minus maybe a few years.
As for me? I just found it comforting to see another adult in a city largely run by teenagers.
"Anyway," Shun cleared her throat, changing the subject. "It's good to have you here, in Kivotos. There are precious few teachers in this city nowadays; it really is a travesty."
"Manual teaching isn't common here, I take it?" I asked curiously.
She nodded her head. "Most teaching sessions are recorded and conducted electronically via Blu-ray. You and I are some of the only teachers in this entire city." Shun cupped a hand against her right cheek thoughtfully. "Well, in my case, it would be more apt to say I am more an instructor than a teacher, per se."
Blu-ray, I mouthed the unfamiliar technology. I shelved the term to research later – as Nonomi showed me, internet search engines were a truly amazing tool for understanding Kivotos' technology.
"Using recordings to teach sounds inefficient," I commented.
"In a way, yes." Shun took a sip of tea and smirked knowingly. "Good luck keeping a kindergartener's attention on a recorded teaching session for longer than a minute."
"That's why they hired you, then. To help instruct the younger students, since they don't take to electronic methods of teaching all that well."
"Correct! You get a gold star, Sensei!" Shun sang, as if I were one of her students. "Some departments hire students, like my sister Kokona, to help fill in the shortage of manpower."
Confusion made its way onto my features. "Wait, wouldn't that mean you're a student as well?"
"Of course! I am but a third-year student at the height of her youth!" Shun said, batting her eyelashes innocently.
Uh-huh. Right. That made her the same age as Hoshino, who herself acted like an old man.
Nope, there's no way she's a student, I thought.
"Ara ara, what's with that look on your face, Sensei?" Shun adopted a very dangerous smile. "Are you perchance implying something about my age?"
Oh shit.
"Yes," I started smoothly, taking a nonchalant sip of tea as I fired up the ol' [Lady Killer]. "I was just thinking about how a beautiful young lady such as yourself could be so experienced an instructor, yet still be a student."
"I…well…" Shun was taken aback as a blush graced her countenance. Even Chinatsu looked up from her work to gawk. "I started instructing around Kokona's age..."
"Gotta be. You don't look a day past seventeen," I fibbed as I nodded.
"Sensei…you…" Shun's face turned a brighter red, then she sighed, as if she saw through what I was doing. "It seems Schale's Sensei is a bit of a flatterer, isn't he? Still…" Shun smiled warmly. "It's kind of you to say so, even if you don't believe it."
She stood up. "I should be going. I promised Kokona I'd be back by the end of lunch hour." Shun bowed politely. "Thank you for your hospitality. I very much enjoyed our time together."
"Hey, you're the one who brought the tea. I should be thanking you," I shot back as I grinned. "I'm gonna wrap things up here so I can go check on the students a few districts over."
"Of course. Sensei has his own little angels to watch over, after all~"
My thoughts strayed to Shiroko wearing her ski mask as she mugged Abydos' attackers.
"Angels…right…" I repeated unconvincedly.
Shun let out a giggle at my tone. "I wish you the best of luck with your little troublemakers. If you ever need a hand…" She opened her black box and pulled out a paper slip, placing it onto the table. A Schale recruitment form. "…don't hesitate to call. I know a thing or two about disciplining, myself," Shun said, tapping the black box with an index finger.
I accepted the form with a hint of surprise. "I'll be in touch, then."
Shun gave one last warm smile before picking up her weapon case and sauntering out of the office, still looking a tad reddened from my words earlier. The door shut behind her.
Shun appeared trustworthy enough, so I approved her application via the Shittim Chest. An unexpected addition to our roster, but I wasn't going to turn down extra firepower. That put Schale's recruits at four, which was more than enough to conduct an operation should it be necessary.
I wasted no time going back to my desk and sorting out unfinished work. Satisfied with how much got done, I put away some of the more confidential documents and let the rest be for tomorrow.
This'll do for today.
Checking on Chinatsu's progress, I noted that she was an extremely efficient worker, as she finished sorting most of what I'd assigned to her.
"Chinatsu."
She jumped slightly. "Y-yes, Sensei?" she asked, avoiding my gaze, her face beet red.
"Something wrong?"
"No, nothing…" she said, still avoiding eye contact.
"I was going to say good work today. That would've taken much longer if you hadn't helped out."
"Ah, think nothing of it." Chinatsu perked up at the praise.
"Feel free to call it quits for today. I'm headed to Abydos," I said, slipping on my helmet.
"Abydos…" Chinatsu pondered. "Would you like for me to accompany you?"
"Don't you have Prefect Team duties? You mentioned something like that when you came in."
"I normally handle the Prefect Teams more mundane paperwork. But the senior administrative officer, Ako, was kind enough to take some off my hands. I should be fine for the rest of today."
Chinatsu as a companion, eh?
Not a bad choice, as far as companions go. Not much firepower but she was skilled at medicine, somewhat like Arcade. Only a hell of a lot more durable.
However, since Abydos was taking the day off and Ayane hadn't seen any additional signs the gang was going to attack, I wasn't exactly anticipating combat. Though I was prepared to, should the need arise.
Besides, I had a different goal in mind for today.
Reconnaissance.
If I was going to try and tackle something like Abydos' debt, I needed to understand the district's situation inside and out. And with any luck, Kaiser would have offices in the district that I could probe for information.
Students in Kivotos were powerful to be sure, but I had yet to come across anyone here who truly had tact. The closest was Shiroko, and I hadn't known her long enough to assess her stealth skills.
Hell, even in the Wasteland, there were exactly two people I trusted with keeping a low profile in sensitive missions of this nature – Boone and Lily. The former was a consummate professional at stealth, and the latter was a Nightkin.
"Maybe next time. I'm not expecting trouble this time around, anyway," I said.
"Understood. I'll be on my way, then," Chinatsu acknowledged, gathering her things before she headed out.
I checked my belongings before I also headed out, notifying the hangar to prepare a chopper.
Let's see what the Task Force is up to today.
"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what just happened." Ayane scratched the side of her head.
Ayane, Shiroko, and I huddled around a boxy air conditioning unit in the school's halls. Nonomi diligently swept up dust from the halls into a small pan, humming a merry tune to herself.
"Your air conditioner had some faulty wiring, probably due to age or expansions from sudden weather changes. This was causing your AC circuit breaker to trip," I informed, gathering the various tools I had laid out and returning them to my pack.
"Yes, that much I understand. But what confuses me is what you did."
"I replaced the damaged wiring and tightened up the loose connections."
"With circuitry salvaged from a broken coffee maker and an old hot plate," Ayane flatly pointed out.
"Hey, if it works, it works," I defended.
"It works, but all conventional knowledge tells me that shouldn't be the case. They're not even the same types of circuitry!"
"Are you unhappy your AC is back up and running?" I asked, tilting my head.
"It was getting really stuffy in here ever since it broke down earlier," Nonomi contributed.
"Hoshino-senpai fell asleep as soon as the AC went back online, so I think she's happy," Shiroko said, peering into one of the rooms to the side of the hallway.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm relieved that we won't have to order replacement parts for the AC, but…" Ayane trailed off.
"You can take a grenade to the face, but repairing an air conditioner is too absurd for you?" I snickered.
"T-that's different!" Ayane protested.
"Is it really?"
"Yes!"
"What did you call your technique earlier, Sensei?" Shiroko interjected curiously.
I smiled fondly. "[Jury Rigging]. Extremely useful if you need repairs but don't have exact replacement parts nearby. Flexibility is key, especially when it comes to technology. After all, before people invented interchangeable parts, they had to tailor-make and retrofit each individual piece of technology," I lectured in a manner befitting a teacher.
"Can you teach it to me?" the wolf-eared girl asked.
"Depends. How much background do you have in engineering and repairs?"
"All of us have some experience."
"We've had to maintain and repair the school ourselves for as long as we've been enrolled," Ayane added.
"Good, but might not be comprehensive enough," I mused, until I had an idea. I rummaged around in my pack until I retrieved a rolled-up magazine. Unfurling the magazine and flattening out the crinkles, I handed it to Shiroko. "This should help fill in any gaps you may have."
"…Fixin' Things: Issue #47?" Shiroko read off the cover.
"Yup. Was really useful when I was just starting out. Just be careful with turning the pages, the thing's centuries old," I joked, before I realized that that was literally the case.
Shiroko flipped a few pages in, with Ayane joining her in perusing its contents. Their eyes pored over the diagrams within, as well as the myriad notes I left in the margins when I used the magazine as a reference in the past.
Shiroko furrowed her brow. "Um…"
"Something wrong?"
"Mm. I can't read most of it," she remarked, Ayane nodding in agreement.
I felt like slapping myself.
Duh, of course they can't read it, I chided myself internally. The damn thing's in English.
Though she read the title just fine. I suspected that students knew as much English as Legionaries knew Latin – just enough to parse certain phrases, but not enough for conversation.
"…I'll go over it with you another time," I said.
"Okay. Can I hold onto it for now?" Shiroko asked.
"No problem." At this point, I probably knew everything in that magazine by heart, anyway.
Thinking back to its contents, I deemed there shouldn't be anything that hints toward the Great War or the Wasteland. Much of the magazine's content was apolitical, which was actually something of a rarity when it came to pre-war literature written after the twentieth century.
Maybe I'll bring along my copy of Dean's Electronics next time. Magazines are good for learning neat little tricks, but in my opinion, true foundation is built using books, then solidified with experience.
Shiroko nodded and slipped the item into her bag.
"I'm glad you're teaching her something wholesome, Sensei," Ayane said with a slight smile.
"Hey. You're speaking as if I'm some morally bankrupt vagabond who steals everything that's not nailed down."
"I said nothing of the sort!" she retorted, face flushed at the wild accusation.
"You were thinking it."
"I was not!"
I chuckled at her indignant expression. The straitlaced ones were always fun to mess with.
Shiroko's phone rang briefly and vibrated. The wolf-eared girl pulled it out of her bag and checked the screen.
"Serika," she said simply, typing a quick response before putting it away.
"What did she say?" Ayane asked.
"She'll be back late today. Ten, earliest."
"Again? She came back really late yesterday too," Nonomi said.
"Why does she need to come back to the school? Do you guys sleep here?" I asked.
"We did while the gang was pressuring the school," Ayane explained. "But now we've assigned two rotating members to stay in the school building at night while the rest go home. Just in case."
Shiroko shrugged. "Maybe she got another part-time job."
"There's not many places to work at around here," Ayane stated thoughtfully.
"Maybe it's at that place she likes to eat at? Shiba Seki Ramen?" Nonomi suggested.
"It's certainly possible. I told her that pulling double or even triple shifts isn't good for her sleep schedule, but you know Serika…"
I tuned out the conversation as it drifted to other topics.
Even yesterday, I hadn't seen much of Serika. I didn't want to mistrust anybody, but cold, hard experience taught me to look for deception in any group, no matter how tight-knit or innocuous they seem. The late Jeannie May Crawford in Novac was a prime example of this.
Serika spoke somewhat abrasively, which was tolerable on its own, but her late-night excursions, which just so happened to coincide with my arrival in the district, made her suspect in my eyes.
Hoshino I also found a tad suspicious, if only due to her connections to the past student council. I had no doubt she knew more about Abydos' situation than she let on. But I had no way of coaxing any solid info out of her. I got the impression Hoshino was the type to keep her cards close to her chest.
At least she was honest about one thing. One peek into an adjacent room told me that the vice president was fast asleep on an exercise mat, hugging a plushie of…a whale?
If there's one demerit of being a student, it's that they can't pretend to be asleep, I thought, noticing her lack of a halo.
I picked up the last of my tools and stowed them. "I'm heading out. Call if you need anything."
"Where are you going, Sensei?" Ayane asked.
"Out," I tacitly replied, to which she pouted.
"Want me to go with you?" Shiroko offered.
"Thanks, but I'm just gonna handle some business nearby."
'No, because I'm going to spy on your suspicious classmate' would probably be inappropriate to say.
"Hmm…" Nonomi put a hand to her chin as she stared into my soul. "I see what you're doing, Sensei."
"Oh?" I tilted my head, playing it cool.
"Everything makes sense now."
"It does?" Ayane, Shiroko, and I said simultaneously.
Shit, is she onto me?!
After a dramatic pause, Nonomi spun on her heel and held out an index finger. "Sensei is off to do 'adult' things in the city!"
…Huh?
Shiroko also put a hand to her chin in thought. "I see. That does make sense," she concluded.
Ayane, meanwhile, was embarrassed by whatever thought she was having. "S-Sensei! Aren't you supposed to be a role model for your students?! How could you do something so indecent?!" she accused.
"In broad daylight, too!" Nonomi happily added, giving Ayane a further meltdown.
Shiroko began pushing me toward the exit. "Go, Sensei. Don't mind them."
"Shiroko-senpai?! How could you support this? What has he been teaching you?!" the elf-eared student exclaimed, half exasperated, half-flustered.
The wolf-eared girl ignored her. "Good luck, Sensei. Don't get caught. And watch out for the laser tripwires."
They're definitely on different wavelengths…
"Uh…sure." I nodded as I fled the scene, Ayane's screeches and Nonomi's giggling subsiding.
Once I was out of the school building, I said aloud, "Arona?"
"Ah," she responded, as if she were in the middle of something before I called. "How can I help?"
"Could you search the web for Shiba Seki Ramen's location?"
"Okay. One second." Exactly one second passed. "Done! I've marked it on your map."
"Thanks. You're getting better at this."
"Eheheh…" Arona suddenly appeared on my Pip-Boy. She scratched the back of her head modestly. "I've been practicing!"
"And here I thought you slept all day."
She puffed up her cheeks in annoyance. "Hey!"
The sunset-bathed outskirts of Abydos were significantly more populated than the rest of the district. The streets were by no means bustling, but at least there were people around. Though "people" may be stretching the definition.
More accurately, there were robots. Sapient ones, at that.
Rumors of the Institute and their synths in the ruins of the former state of Boston came to mind. It was said that their most advanced iteration of artificial humans could effectively pass as a living, breathing organic person. Which, predictably, scared the piss out of many people; so many that even citizens of Vegas were buying into the scare.
Personally, I didn't pay this fearmongering much mind – if they act human, think human, and look human on the inside and the outside, then they are human, at least as far as I'm concerned. It'd be hypocritical of me to say otherwise since I'm not even completely human.
So seeing humanoid suit-wearing robots with Securitron-esque TV screens for faces was a novelty, but not earth-shattering.
But that wasn't all.
There were dogs. And cats. Wearing clothing, walking on two legs, and holding suitcases and other objects, in blatant disregard for their lack of opposable thumbs. They also spoke and emoted as any human would.
Halos were absurd, but this? This was encroaching on Think Tank-patented insanity territory.
Hey, Doctor Mobius? If my brain is actually still in a vat and everything that's happened in Kivotos is just a delusion brought on by tripping on Mentats-infused biogel…
Please.
Please give me a sign.
"Hey, bub. What's the big idea, staring like that?" A gruff voice brought me back to what I sincerely hoped was not reality.
My attention focused on a cat whose voice sounded like an adult human male's. He wore some kind of robe of Japanese origin.
Figures that the first adult male I run into here is a freaking talking cat.
"…Do you have the time?" I asked emptily, bereft of anything useful to say.
The cat checked his watch on his left foreleg. "It's a quarter past eight," he informed.
"Thanks a million."
He gave me a weird look, as if I were the talking cat, and walked off at a pace that one might expect from a bipedal feline.
I stood there dumbly in the same spot before lifelessly shambling on to my destination.
Just roll with it. Just roll with it… I desperately reminded myself.
"Um…Sensei?" Arona carefully asked. "Are you okay?"
"Are you real?"
"Eh?"
"Are you real?"
"What do you mean-"
"Are you a figment of my imagination?"
Arona looked like she wanted to be upset at the question, but hearing the seriousness of my tone, she gave it a shot. "That's a very heavy question… Well… I'm virtual, but my software is real. So if you consider software a part of your definition of 'real'…"
"Is Kivotos real?"
"Eh-ehhhhh?! Where'd this existential line of questioning come from, anyway?!"
I looked at my gloved hand. "…Am I real?"
Arona frantically began searching for something to divert this potentially destructive train of thought. "Uh, um! Look, Six Sensei! We're almost at the ramen shop! You can now do whatever it is you were doing to do! Right?" the AI said nervously.
The mention of Ulysses' seemingly favorite number being used as my "name" brought back unpleasant memories of the Divide, which ironically snapped me out of my funk.
That's right. I was here for a reason. Investigate the suspicious student.
You're not paid to think; you're just a courier… Think about the sapient, bipedal cats and dogs later.
A little building around thrice the size of Raul's shack came into sight. "Shiba Seki Ramen" was emblazoned in stylized lettering atop the front. The building was rather dimly lit from the outside, the only nighttime illumination being offered by the occasional streetlamp. There wasn't much in the way of traffic in this particular street, which made stealth easier.
Arona heaved a sigh of relief as I crept toward the building using the dusk and the shadows as cover. I circled around the restaurant until I located a window. I tentatively looked through the glass.
The interior was of a design I had never seen before, with a blend of modern and Oriental architecture. Paper lanterns dotted the roof, making for a cozy-looking atmosphere. There were no customers at the various tables throughout the restaurant, which made sense, considering the time and district. There was a small partition separating the kitchen from the dining area.
Inside the kitchen, a student dutifully worked at the sink, washing dishes. She was joined by a bipedal dog, who used a stepstool to reach higher shelves and cabinets as he restocked ingredients. The dog's mouth moved animatedly, presumably in a conversation. I pressed the side of my head to the walls; the thinness of the walls, in conjunction with my helmet's sound amplifiers, made listening in a cinch.
"I don't mind the extra help, but are you sure? You've been here since morning shift…" a deep masculine voice said.
"It's fine, Master Shiba. You look like you need some help closing up shop here, so what's a few more hours?"
"Hmm…"
"W-what?"
"That's not the whole reason, is it?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about."
"…Is it your friends from Abydos?"
"What? No!" A small clinking of dishware punctuated the refutation. "Everything's fine with them."
A sigh. "Serika, you've always been insistent on taking on as many shifts as you can, but you've never buried yourself in your work like this."
"…"
"Tell me, what's wrong?" Master Shiba softly asked.
"It's…"
"It's?"
"It's just some creep…"
"Hm? Some creep?"
"Yeah…"
"Do you have a stalker or something?"
"Huh? No, I don't think so…"
"That's a relief. Here I was thinking that this 'creep' might be outside looking through the window as we speak, hah," the little aproned dog joked as he guffawed.
I shifted uncomfortably.
"Don't even joke like that, Master Shiba," Serika deadpanned.
"Heh. Sorry, sorry…" he said placatingly. "So, what about this person?"
"He…said that me and my friends' dream is impossible," Serika quietly confided.
"Oh?"
"Yeah."
"What does this have to do with you taking on triple shifts plus side jobs?"
"…"
"Serika?"
"…I'm going to prove him wrong," the student resolutely stated.
"That so?"
"Yeah."
The sapient dog hummed. "Well, if having you here working helps you toward your goal, then I'm even more glad to have you helping here. Just make sure to watch out for your own health, okay?"
"…Thanks, Master Shiba," Serika gratefully replied.
The dog laughed. "Don't thank me yet! We've still got to finish preparing the broth for tomorrow."
"Right!"
I took my ear from the door as their conversation segued into unrelated topics, quietly contemplating what I just heard.
It appeared that Shiroko was right – Serika had taken up yet another part time job, which happened to occupy the better part of the last night. That put to rest my immediate worries that she was colluding with an enemy of the district.
Her reason for doing so was a different story.
Judging from her comments yesterday, it was obvious who she meant when she referred to a 'creep'. But what she said about her dreams being impossible?
I knew she took my words after the fight yesterday harshly, but I had no idea that they'd spur her to work herself to the point of exhaustion.
Did she do it to spite me?
…No, otherwise she wouldn't have kept it a secret.
I didn't know why the Foreclosure Task Force insisted on clinging to this skeleton of a district. But despite being dealt a bad hand, the students had grit that I could respect.
I turned and left the area quietly, as I felt that the longer I stayed, the more validated Serika's claims of me being a 'creep' were. I already felt bad for eavesdropping on what was supposed to be a heartfelt conversation.
Rounding the corner leading out of the restaurant's street, I stopped as I picked up movement in the dimly lit area.
A helmeted thug swaggered down the empty street, her gun hoisted over her shoulder. She wore a motorcycle helmet and outfit not unlike the gang's from yesterday, just with some stylistic and color differences.
Ayane was keeping watch on their base, so this gangster had to be from one of the splinter groups Ayane mentioned yesterday. But what business did this group have in Abydos? Were they hired like the other gang?
The thug approached a lamppost and leaned on it, trying to look inconspicuous. She subtly swiveled her head from side to side, perhaps keeping watch for something. I was well-hidden behind some shrubbery, so I kept spying with some vague hope that the thug might lead to a hint of their employer's identity.
This continued for some time until the gangster was joined by another gang member, and they engaged in small talk, their weapons stowed but their postures noticeably tense. They constantly looked around, surveying the environment. I began to suspect that they were not here to meet an employer, but were waiting for a target.
One student who was currently isolated from her peers came to mind.
There was strategic value in obtaining a hostage, or perhaps maiming her to send a message to Abydos. But the idea was almost laughable. Two thugs couldn't stand a chance against Serika, from what I saw of her in battle. Even if the gangsters had reinforcements lying in wait, a lone student escaping into the night would be child's play, especially since Serika most likely knew the layout of the district well. Home field advantage was not to be underestimated.
About an hour passed as I kept an eye on the two. I picked up some keywords from their conversation, some of them being a hideout in Gehenna, as well as a gang member named Rabu. But frustratingly, nothing about an employer.
As I considered just taking them out and interrogating them instead, someone approached from the opposite end of the street.
Serika, back in her uniform and slightly tottering from exhaustion, barely registered the gangsters' presence until they called out to her from a few feet away, drawing their weapons.
They came for a fight, then.
"You're one of them Abydos twerps, aren't you?" one of the helmeted thugs asked.
Serika blinked, her eyes coming into focus, before her tired expression morphed into a snarl. "It's you pests again?! How many times do we have to teach you this lesson before you get it?" She drew her assault rifle and fired in quick succession. "You're. Not. Welcome. Here!"
One of the gangsters fell to the ground, stunned but not knocked out, while the other fired an SMG at the Serika, to little effect. The gunfire merely served to piss off the cat-eared student even more.
I drew the silenced weapon I had on me, the Ratslayer, and took advantage of the element of surprise. Two shots in and I helpfully finished off the gangster that Serika initially stunned.
As I predicted, reinforcements numbering at least four started coming out of the woodwork to gang up on the lone student. I expected and hoped she would retreat.
"I'm taking you ALL out!"
Instead, she angrily held out a fist, and, to my utter stupefaction, a harsh blue light surrounded the student, akin to a raging flame. Immediately, she aimed down the sights and let loose a volley into the second thug in front of her, instantly downing the thug. Almost as fast as if she were using V.A.T.S., she swapped targets and began raining fury on the approaching reinforcements, causing them to run for cover. The sight brought an amused smile to my face.
That is one pissed off cat, I thought.
Increased weapon handling speed, faster effective fire rate, even enhanced weapon damage. Whatever the hell Serika did, it was like she just shot up Psycho and Jet at the same time. Only flashier, and hopefully less addictive.
A sniper appeared on a rooftop overlooking the battlefield and took aim at Serika, only to confusedly look around as consecutive 5.56mm match rounds from seemingly nowhere impacted the sniper in the head and neck. One more well-placed shot and the Ratslayer claimed its next non-rodent victim as the sniper fell. I continued taking on a support role as I shifted my focus to the enemy reinforcements, leaving the vanguard to the bulletproof student who didn't show any signs of slowing down despite the visible scratches appearing on her body.
Luckily for me, the gangsters and the angry cat were too busy trying to fill each other with holes to notice the creep in the bushes plinking away at their reinforcements.
The reinforcements stopped flowing, placing the gang's number at around ten, but at the rate Serika and I were going, we'd be finished in a jiffy.
Then I heard a sound that made me flinch, and my blood ran cold. It evoked memories of my first run toward Nellis Air Force Base through Boomers territory.
The sound of artillery being fired from some distance away. Where a common gang acquired military-grade artillery was beyond me.
What became clear, however, was that the gangsters here were merely a distraction. From the faint sound of the incoming shell, the shell was on a clear course toward its target.
"Look out!" I shouted, giving away my position as everyone on the field turned to me.
Serika stopped and stared incredulously at me. "Sensei?! What are you doing he-"
Not a second later, the artillery shell impacted the student square in the abdomen and detonated, kicking up a large pillar of dust and smoke, launching her backward. Serika's assault rifle hit to the ground at the same time she did.
"…What just…" Serika's face scrunched up in pain as she tried to keep her eyes open, before she fell unconscious and her halo disappeared.
Meanwhile, the gang started muttering amongst themselves.
"That's Schale's Sensei!"
"You said he wouldn't be here!"
"He shouldn't!"
A third one spoke up. "Should we get outta here? You heard what happened to the other guys at the school."
"They were being stupid and attacking directly. If we get that hostage, we're golden."
"But Sensei…" another nervously said.
"Are you serious? We got a Flak 41. What's one guy gonna do?"
As they bickered, I weighed my options.
The gang had their weapons pointed in my direction, but they made no move to fire yet. Their words all but confirmed that they received word of what happened to the main gang. But intimidation and fear would only work for so long, especially since they were backed by heavy firepower.
I needed to get Serika out of here. Escaping by myself would be easy, but letting the gang gain a hostage would be an exceptionally stupid, not to mention callous, move. Taking on the gang was doable, but I didn't know where their artillery was located.
Even if I were to grab Serika and run, nowhere on the field was safe as long as they had artillery.
My gaze passed over the abandoned two-story apartment buildings lining the sides of the street. Those would suffice as cover for now. I had to act quickly, since for all I knew, the artillery was taking aim at me next.
I stowed the Ratslayer and activated Implant GRX, reveling in the familiar sensation of Turbo coursing through my veins while the world around me slowed to a crawl. Taking advantage of the gang's discord, I made a mad dash toward the fallen student, ignoring the gangster's orders for me to stop. I scooped up the student in one arm and carried her over my shoulder, then sprinted to the abandoned apartment complex in sight.
Several rounds impacted me from behind but didn't cause much damage, so I paid them no heed. The artillery in the distance fired once more, but unlike Serika I had ample opportunity to maneuver. I sidestepped left out of the predicted trajectory of the shell and continued running.
To my outrage, the shell adjusted its trajectory mid-flight to better hit its target.
The gangster said Flak 41. From what I remembered from Patriot's Cookbook Issue #45, those were World War II-era anti-tank weapons. Their shells decidedly did not have the capability to alter their paths mid-flight.
More Kivotos bullshit, I thought. This is really gonna hurt…
Anticipating an explosion behind me, I instinctively shifted Serika away from the expected blast. The artillery shell hit the ground directly behind me, barely missing my ankles. The round detonated, and pain flared up in my lower extremities and back, though nowhere near as much as I was expecting. The force from the blast caused me to stumble forward, but I found my bearings and continued running, with the gang in hot pursuit.
"…sei!"
Amidst the resultant ringing in my ears from the blast, I became dimly aware of someone calling out for me.
"Sensei!" Arona cried out.
I grunted in response, a bullet glancing off the side of my helmet.
"Thank goodness. I managed to shield you from the brunt of the attack, but please be careful!"
Wait, shield? As in, energy shields? She can do that?! I pondered, but shelved the topic for later.
Reaching the abandoned apartment complex, I attempted to twist the knob on the door, only to find it locked. With no time to pick the lock, I shifted Serika to my other shoulder and reared my right arm back. Greased Lightning hissed as I punched the door at full force, the hydraulic-enhanced punch causing the door to fly off its hinges and clunk to the ground at the end of the empty room within. I rushed in and set Serika down on the dusty floor, out of sight of the entrance. After laying down several proximity mines around the empty doorframe, I returned to the unconscious student to assess her injuries, at the exact time the dose of Turbo wore off.
No blood, which meant that even a direct hit from an anti-tank shell wasn't enough to pierce a student's skin. But they weren't above the need for medical treatment, if Kirino and the rest of Valkyrie were any indication.
Her clothing was frazzled and burnt at the site of impact, but was otherwise intact, to my confusion. Maybe clothing was made of sturdier materials here.
I rolled up her shirt just enough to check the severity of the injury. She had a very large, angry red mark on her abdomen. Within a day or two, it would likely turn into a nasty bruise. Left untreated, she may find it difficult to move for the next few days.
The sound of mines detonating accompanied by pained shouting near the entrance caused me to perk up. It wouldn't be long before we were assaulted again, so I needed Serika ambulatory at the very least. Fighting while carrying what was effectively dead weight was a massive disadvantage.
I dispensed one Stimpak from my armor and prepared to administer it before I paused.
It occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea how a student's physiology would interact with Wasteland chems. Would it cause an acute allergic reaction? Have no effect? Turn them into hideous mutated tentacle monsters?
…Likely not. I had no problem eating the food Fuuka prepared, so their bodies had to have similar biochemistry to regular humans.
Shouts from the outside of the complex suggested that the gang had the building surrounded. With the last of the mines detonated, there wasn't much keeping them from storming the building other than their own fear.
Deciding to take a small risk, I injected an eighth of a Stimpak dose into Serika's arm (while wondering how exactly a needle could pierce their skin but a tank shell couldn't) and monitored her condition closely to determine whether I'd need to halt treatment.
Some of the scratches on her face subsided, and the redness of the mark on her abdomen lessened. No immediate adverse effects. It worked.
Stimpaks carried a variety of stimulant compounds, so it was likely she would wake once I administered the full dose. Pain was commonly a side effect of tissue pulling itself back together, so I dispensed one Med-X and injected half a dose before giving her the full Stimpak dose. Her body writhed slightly from the pain before settling. Within seconds, all her injuries subsided completely. With any luck, she'd have only the barest hints of pain in the coming days. I sighed in relief and grabbed my shotgun, preparing to defend the entrance until Serika woke.
"Arona, can you access my phone and send our location to Ayane?" I asked, remembering that I had one of those handy devices now.
"You got it!"
A loud boom wracked the roof of the building, causing the complex to shake slightly and dust from the ceiling to precipitate on us. The shouts from the entrance died down.
"This ain't got nothin' to do with you, Sensei! Give us the Abydos kid and you can go!" one voice declared. The building shook once more from another artillery impact.
I grimaced. So that was their angle now. Either they get the hostage or they bury us both under rubble once the building collapses. Something had to be done to hold them off until the rest of the Foreclosure Task Force get here.
"Urgh…" A groan and the shifting of a body got my attention. Serika slowly sat up, clutching her stomach. "What jusht happened?" she slurred slightly from the Med-X.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," I said glibly.
The building shook again from another impact, which seemed to bring the drowsy Serika to reality as her eyes widened. "Wait, Sensei?! What-"
"You were shot by an artillery shell."
Serika held the spot where her injury should have been, her mind abuzz with questions. "How did I get here?"
"I carried you. How else?"
Her face briefly flushed red with indignation as she prepared a scathing remark, before her gaze trailed down to my feet. Serika's face lost all color as her previous sentence died before it began. "Sensei, you…"
"Hm?"
I flinched as another explosion caused part of the roof to give way. Luckily, there was a second story to this building.
"You're bleeding…" Serika finished shakily, pointing to a small puddle forming beneath my feet.
Ah. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I became aware of a dull pain running down my left leg. I checked my Pip-Boy status screen, and noting no lasting damage to the limb, waved it off. The Monocyte Breeder could take care of an injury like this. "It's fine. It'll heal on its own. More importantly-"
"Nonononono," she frantically shook her head in panic, almost hyperventilating. "We need to get you to Ayane!"
Was the sight of blood not common at all in this city? I got the impression that it wasn't, judging by her sickly expression.
I leaned over and grabbed her by the shoulders. "We got a whole armed gang outside and this building will collapse soon if we don't do something. Then your life will be in danger too. You need to get it together."
"But…"
"Can you stand?"
"I-I think so," Serika said, unsteadily getting to her feet. She wiped the tears in her eyes with a sleeve.
I nodded. "Then you can fight."
The roof shook again, making both of us tense.
"My gun…" she trailed off as she bit her lip.
Shit. That's right. She dropped her gun back there when she got hit.
Seeing no other alternative, I handed her my riot shotgun with a spare drum mag.
"A shotgun?" she said as she clumsily accepted the weapon that she was probably not used to.
"Yeah. Dragon's Breath rounds. Should send anybody with a brain into a panic."
Serika looked like she wanted to ask what I meant by that, but another boom caused part of the second floor to collapse in on itself.
"Can I trust you with keeping the gangsters distracted?" I asked quickly.
Serika gazed at me before her expression hardened, some of the literal fire from earlier returning to her. "Leave it to me!"
With that, we got to work.
Serika took up position in cover next to the empty doorframe. "Come and get me, losers!"
Some of the gangsters approached the doorway cautiously before Serika poked out of cover and fired several shotgun shells in succession. Serika yelped surprisedly as she watched the gangsters scream in panic as they were set on fire. Their comrades opened fire at Serika, who retreated into cover.
Smirking at the sight, I turned and ascended the steps leading to the second floor of the complex. The second floor was partially collapsed toward the front wall and ceiling. I braced myself as I waited for the artillery to fire, planning to take advantage of the delay between bombardments.
As if on cue, another blast rocked the front of the building. A large chunk of ceiling gave way and crashed to the floor, missing me by mere inches. Lucky, lucky, lucky.
I wasted no time as I looked through the collapsed portion of the wall and activated V.A.T.S. There were around ten or so gangsters surrounding the entrance in a spread-out half-circle, and they were flanked by a tank that was apparently modified to fire Flak 41 artillery.
The Flak 41, if I remembered correctly, had an effective range of more than a mile. Assuming the tank was piloted by a virtual intelligence like the Crusader at Schale, there was no reason for the tank to be this close, within eyesight, other than for intimidation.
Indeed, I was intimidated by the sheer stupidity of this gang who parked their trump card within shooting distance.
I lamented the fact that I didn't bring my anti-materiel rifle, as I expended too many of my .50MG rounds in the previous battle. But the situation was far from unsalvageable. I withdrew This Machine, loaded it with armor-piercing rounds, and reentered V.A.T.S., queueing up three shots at the relatively less-armored turret ring. If these three shots didn't take out the vehicle, my plan was to take cover and wait for it to fire again.
The world slowed as Vault-Tec's eponymous targeting system guided my aim. This Machine propelled forth three consecutive .308 bullets which pierced the tank's turret ring. The tank's internal machinery let loose a few sparks, but the tank remained operational. I clicked my tongue internally as I prepared to dive to cover the moment V.A.T.S. ended.
V.A.T.S. did not end. For the second time today, I heard a sound that made a chill run down my spine. This time, though, it was a sound I had not heard since the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.
A guitar riff played audibly across the battlefield and faded away, and the fact that the gangsters and even Serika stopped shooting and confusedly looked around meant that they heard it too.
Quicker than a flash, a halo-less man in a beige overcoat and a fedora appeared next to the tank and fired his revolver at the vehicle, the first shot inexplicably piercing the vehicle and causing it to explode brilliantly. For good measure, the Mysterious Stranger shot four more rounds into the destroyed, burning tank, like a cold-blooded mobster making sure his target was dead. Then, as quickly as he came, he vanished into thin air, leaving only the tank wreckage and the strum of a guitar in his wake.
Every gangster turned around just in time to see the Stranger fire his last round and disappear. They screeched like they had seen a ghost (which may very well be possible), opening fire at the spot the Stranger once occupied. I tried and failed not to burst out laughing at the sight.
"Who the heck…" I heard Serika mutter downstairs.
"Kivotos, meet Wasteland," I said under my breath while smirking.
Taking advantage of the confusion, I swapped ammo types to .308 JSP and began picking off gang members one by one. Serika joined me in attacking the now-disorganized gang, who began to flee down the street once they realized their precious trump card was up in flames.
I hopped down to ground level through the destroyed wall, softening my fall with a pile of debris. Not willing to let them get away, I crouched as I took potshots with my rifle, downing two more. Serika, who retrieved her rifle, crouched adjacent to me and lined up her shots with a sneer on her face.
"It's time for your punishment~" an eerily singsong voice proclaimed from the direction the retreating gangsters were heading, and I got down as the street was doused in minigun fire.
The cavalry was here, and much quicker than expected.
Nonomi went full auto as she swept her weapon from left to right and back again, the stream of lead tagging every enemy in her path. Once the rest of Abydos caught up to her, they assisted her in mopping up the remainder of the fleeing enemies.
I looked to Serika to see how she was holding up. She looked absolutely exhausted, which likely was not helped by the metabolism-stimulating effects of the Stimpak, but her face lit up and her cat ears perked at the sight of her friends.
Once all enemies were dispatched, the first to reach us was Ayane's drone.
"Serika, Sensei. Are you all right?" Ayane's voice spoke through the flying machine, before taking notice of Serika's frazzled appearance. "What happened?!"
"Helmet Gang attacked me on my way back from work," Serika grumbled, the rest of Abydos catching up to the drone. "Sensei got me out of there and called you guys. I think."
Serika was immediately glomped by Nonomi. "You must have been so scared! I don't want to imagine what would have happened if Sensei hadn't been there!"
"Hey! G-get off me!" Serika struggled.
"No can do. Look, you're even crying…"
"What?" Serika blinked back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. "No, I just got sand in my eyes!"
"Definitely crying," Shiroko refuted before joining in on the hug.
"No! Go away!"
"Aw, our little Serika-chan must've been frightened," Hoshino cooed with a smirk before tiptoeing and joining the group hug. "Shhh, Oji-san is here now."
"Noooo! I hate you all!" Serika wailed as even Ayane's drone awkwardly joined too.
Serika is weird. She very clearly likes her friends, yet she said she hates them. Why? I pondered the mystery that was the cat-eared girl.
Nonomi turned her head and shot me a glance, as if urging me to join too. I shrugged, to which she gave a stern look that promised retribution later.
The hug persisted for several seconds, Serika struggling all the while.
Ayane was the one to speak up next. "Um, I think we should give Serika some space. She may be injured…"
At that, the hug loosened up, and Serika escaped her prison. "I'm fine. I just…feel a…little…" she started, before she abruptly lost consciousness, the consecutive work shifts and the attack taking their toll on her. Shiroko caught her before she fell and laid her gently on the ground.
"Serika? Serika!" Ayane called, her drone depositing a first aid kit onto the ground, with which Hoshino and I immediately got to work. Seemed she knew a thing or two about emergency first aid.
After assisting where I could, Hoshino and I stood back as Shiroko hefted her up into a princess carry.
"Sensei, you're injured too," Shiroko noted with a hint of concern as she glanced at my leg.
"He is? He is! Why didn't you say anything?!" Ayane fretted.
I waved a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it, it's all healed up now." I moved my left leg around readily, the limb caked in dried blood but otherwise functional. "See?"
"Fast," Shiroko commented simply.
"…I'll take a look at it later," Ayane relented.
Sighing, I nodded.
The Foreclosure Task Force turned to leave. Upon seeing that I wasn't moving, Nonomi said. "Sensei, aren't you coming with us?"
"I'll catch up. I'm gonna see what I can salvage from that." I pointed to the tank wreckage, whose flames were beginning to peter out.
Ayane hummed. "Good idea. Analyzing the parts may lead us to a manufacturer, who can point us to the person behind the attacks.
I blinked. I really was just planning on seeing what I could craft from parts salvaged from a tank, but Ayane's idea seemed good too.
Once the group departed, I set off to the exciting task of dismantling a tank for the first time. But not before looting and having some words with the incapacitated gang members.
Helping the academy with their debt and ammo problems and scaring off its attackers is killing two birds with one stone.
"Let's Ride Into the Sunset Together" played lazily from my Pip-Boy as I watched Ayane give Serika a once-over. Satisfied with what she saw, she stepped back from the infirmary bed.
"What do you think?" she asked, discarding the pair of sterile gloves she used while inspecting the unconscious student.
"Should be up and running in a day. I'd be impressed if she had any kind of bruising whatsoever. Might be some minimal pain, but she can tough it out. I also have Med-X if she really needs it."
Ayane shook her head, as she already heard my explanation of what the chem does. "That shouldn't be necessary, but I agree with your diagnosis."
"Happy to hear it."
"You mentioned you administered one dose of a… Stimpak, was it? Out of curiosity, what are those?"
"A handy little medicine where I'm from. Consists of a predetermined ratio of ground up Xander Root and Broc Flower in saline solution. Accelerates the body's own self-healing once injected," I explained.
Ayane tilted her head. "Those plants don't sound familiar. I don't think we have them in Kivotos."
"A shame," I truthfully said. To synthesize more Stimpaks, I needed a source of those two ingredients. I had some vials of Salient Green, so all that was needed was to find a safe place to clone the plants. I faintly recalled that Schale had a garden…
She nodded in agreement. "They're certainly impressive, if she can recover from a direct hit from a Flak-41 shell so quickly."
Normally people don't recover at all from something like that, I wanted to say.
And I still wasn't entirely sure whether Stimpaks were even safe for students. Part of the reason I was still here at Abydos so late at night was to keep watch for any delayed hypersensitivity reactions.
After a pause, Ayane spoke up. "Actually, Sensei, this is unrelated, but…"
"What's up?"
"It's about the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang."
"Are they causing trouble again?" I warily asked.
She shook her head. "Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact."
"Oh?"
"They're gone. They up and left Abydos just today. We were investigating the area in and around their base when we received your message earlier."
I crossed my arms across my chest in contemplation. "I see. That explains how you arrived at our location so quickly."
"Yes," she confirmed. "We don't know exactly where they went, but we're certain that they're not in the district anymore."
"And the group today?"
"They were a part of the gang that diverged due to disagreements in leadership. I believe it's safe to assume they acted independently from the group yesterday."
"Hmm…"
"Did you happen to find out anything from the gang today?" Ayane asked.
"No. They knew about as much as the last group. Gave them a good scare again, though."
Ayane winced. "I hope you didn't go overboard. Still, this doesn't bode well."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because whatever employer is putting these groups up to this will just keep hiring new ones until Abydos caves," Ayane said solemnly.
Like a game of whack-a-mole…
"That means we can expect more attackers in the future," I concluded.
"Exactly."
"…Damn."
"…"
With a start, our patient suddenly awoke, her eyes wide. She sat up as she unsuccessfully fished for her gun, breathing heavily.
Good thing we separated her from her rifle beforehand.
"Whoa, easy there. Easy. You've been out cold a couple of hours now." I raised my hands in a placating gesture.
Serika's eyes darted around the infirmary, and she calmed down once she registered the sight of me sitting on a chair to the side of the bed, with Ayane standing at my side. "…Sensei? Ayane?"
"I'm glad you're alright," Ayane said, smiling.
"Uh, thanks," she said, looking away bashfully.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Like I accompanied Shiroko on one of her biking trips across Kivotos," she groused.
"I…see?"
"She means she's very tired, Sensei," Ayane informed with an amused smile.
"I gathered as much. Guess I'll leave you to it," I said as I moved to get up.
"Wait," Serika said.
"Hm?"
"Can I ask you about some things first?"
I sat back down. "Shoot. I'm an open book."
Serika regarded me curiously. "How did you know that I was in trouble, anyway?"
"I was in the area."
"Huh…" She looked somewhat skeptical but accepted the answer. Then her eyes widened, as if she remembered something. "And who was that guy earlier?"
"Guy?" Ayane was confused.
"You mean the one in the coat and fedora?" I offered.
"Yeah."
I chuckled, further confusing my company.
The Mysterious Stranger.
He was an enigma in every sense of the word. Seemingly at random, he occasionally appeared during V.A.T.S. to lend a hand, with deadly efficiency. For some reason, he never showed up to help anyone else. The first time I saw him, I damn near pissed my pants as he casually obliterated some poor Powder Ganger, then vanished. Since then, I grew to appreciate the unsolicited assistance, even though the method by which he spontaneously appeared and disappeared eluded my understanding.
No stealth tech was that seamless. He appeared and disappeared as he pleased. It was as if the man was a ghost, or some macabre guardian angel. He had no limits as far as I knew, as he sporadically helped me from the Wasteland to the Sierra Madre, the Big Empty to the Divide…
And he followed me all the way to Kivotos. This made the theory that he was actually some kind of ghost or angel even more tantalizing. And I wasn't even superstitious.
Regardless, I was glad to have anyone who can destroy a tank with a .44 magnum revolver with one shot on my side.
"He's…an old friend," I said amusedly, taking in the blank stares of the students.
"…You have weird friends," Serika said flatly, before a small smile made its way on her features.
"Tell me about it." Ghouls, Super Mutants, robots, and now a ghost. Walking, talking dogs and cats aside, I didn't think anything could surprise me at this point.
"So…a friend came with you to Kivotos?" Ayane asked, now even more confused.
"In a way," I vaguely replied.
Serika snorted. "So much for being an open book."
"…The book is in English."
Serika groaned. Once Ayane figured out she wasn't getting any more out of me, she let the topic die, sighing.
Several moments passed.
The song changed, and the abrupt instrumental startled the two students briefly before they attempted to ignore it.
"Um… Sensei?" Serika started unsurely.
"Like the sailor said, quote, 'Ain't that a hole in the boat~"'
"Yes?"
"I…I wanted to-" she tenderly began.
"If this is just the beginning,
My life is gonna be beautiful~"
Serika scowled at my Pip-Boy. "…Will you turn that thing off?!"
"What do you have against Dean Martin?" I said, frowning behind my helmet.
"Dean who?"
"The guy singing."
"How am I supposed to know that?!" she snapped, before shaking her head. "And I have nothing against him. He's just distracting."
"Just tune him out," I advised, to which Serika just glared at me. "Fine, fine…" I turned a knob on the device, silencing Dean's song about love being a kick in the head.
The room quieted, the only sounds being the wind blowing outside and the gentle hum of the air conditioner.
"I…just wanted to say thanks. For helping me earlier."
"It's nothing."
"Also, I'm…I'm sorry," she followed up almost inaudibly.
Wait, what?
"What for?"
"…because of me…" Serika looked down as she mumbled. Miraculously, the sound was too low for even me to pick up.
"Come again?"
"You got hurt because of me!" she said louder as she sniffed. Sensing the change in atmosphere, Ayane got up and left the infirmary to give us privacy.
"That's what's got you all hung up?" I asked, before crossing my leg over my other. "Look, it's fully healed already. Even Ayane gave me the green light. Don't sweat it."
"But what if it were worse? What if it was your head?" she shakily wondered.
"Kid, trust me when I say I'm pretty hardheaded," I joked.
Unamused, she glared angrily. "Don't call me kid."
"Only if you stop blaming yourself for something you had nothing to do with."
"I had everything to do with it! They were after me!" Serika raised her voice.
"Are you saying I should have just left you there to fend for yourself?"
"It would have been the reasonable thing to do…"
"If the reasonable thing to do is to let someone innocent get hurt or killed while I can do something about it, then I'll stick to being unreasonable, thanks."
"You don't get it, do you?!" Serika replied in exasperation. "Us students? We have halos. We can take it."
"Sure didn't look that way when that Flak 41 hit you."
Serika gave me a dirty look, then tiredly laid back down on the infirmary bed as she stared up at the ceiling.
"So you're gonna continue helping us in our fights, no matter what?"
"For as long as Abydos needs help, sure."
"…" Her expression shifted away from anger as she gave a small giggle. "…You're really stupid, Sensei."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. That's you. Stupid, stupid, stupid." She turned to me, her pinkish-red eyes boring into my visor. "…But brave, I guess."
"Thanks?"
She smiled, and for the next few moments, relative silence reigned. Ayane re-entered the room as I stood up to leave.
"Try not to move too much," I said. "If you need anything, let Ayane know."
Serika made a face. "Look, I told you all earlier I'm fine. I don't even hurt anymore."
"That's because Sensei and Hoshino-senpai treated you," Ayane pointed out.
"…Huh?"
I nodded. "I helped patch you up and gave you some medicine. I advise you to take the rest of the night off. Your injuries aren't much now, but working more isn't going to do your body any favors."
Dumbfounded, she looked over herself, at the small bandages on her arms, legs, and face, then the large one over her midriff.
Her reaction was puzzling, to say the least.
"You…you…" she began, her face a bright red. "Creep! Pervert! Degenerate!"
"Huh?!"
"Laying your hands on a student while she's unconscious…What kind of teacher are you?!"
Serika grabbed the nearest object, a water bottle, and tossed it at me. I dodged the projectile and made my way out of the infirmary, extremely confused as to what I'd done wrong. Was implied consent not a part of medical ethics in this city?
Still ruminating on this, I ran into Nonomi in the hall, who was heading in the direction of the infirmary.
"Ah, Sensei!" Nonomi waved. "Is Serika-chan awake yet?"
"Yeah, but I'd be careful if I were you. She seems angry."
"Angry?" Nonomi's perpetual cheery smile briefly faltered before it returned in full force. "Oh, she's probably fine."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, Serika-chan is what you call a 'tsundere'!"
"What does 'tsundere' mean?"
"It means she can act really mean, but deep down she cares a lot!"
I put a hand to my chin.
The word had no Wasteland equivalent. I racked my brain trying to think of examples of someone who can fit the criteria.
Yuuka nagged a lot, but since she hid her emotions terribly it was easy to see that she cared.
Boone acted cold for the most part, but eventually he warmed up to the idea of being friends. Or at least, that was how I perceived it. Maybe Arcade would be a better candidate? He did tend to hide his true feelings behind self-deprecation and acerbic wit.
I shuddered. Comparing someone like Boone to Serika or Yuuka felt profoundly wrong, in a way. This warrants further investigation.
Tsundere. What a fascinating concept.