"Sensei. Wake up."
Ragna's single functioning eye blinked open a few times as wakefulness returned to him. In front of him was an older teenager, around 160-165cm in height from his guess, with glasses that rested in front of sharp blue eyes. Her ears were unlike that of a normal human's, stretching out to a point much like an… Elf, was the term wasn't it? A circular blue halo, with 3 lines near the front side of it, rested above her ankle length dark hair that flowed down her white upper uniform, composed of a form fitting inner half with several golden buttons and a jacket, and black pantyhose. Resting at her waist was a holster for a pistol.
"Urg, what is it now, Rin?" Ragna grumbled as he pushed away the last remnants of sleep.
Something about the name that'd left his lips before he realized it gave the man pause. He'd just met this girl a short time ago, hadn't he? But something was off about that though. Something wasn't right, where the hell was he? Hadn't he just been on a train a moment ago with… Arg, dammit he was getting a headache trying to think. It was like losing your train of thought in the middle of a sentence and no matter how hard you tried to recall it, even when the thought was on the tip of your tongue, it just wouldn't return. It was like some momentary fog he got when experiencing phenomena intervention.
No, more importantly, why was he still even alive?
Rin let out a quick, exasperated sigh. There was a detectable undercurrent of frustration within her words. "I understand you were annoyed at being asked to wait, but I didn't think you would fall asleep. I even had some troubling waking you up… I didn't expect you to be so sound asleep that quickly. You must have been having a dream."
Huh, was it all just a dream then? That'd explain the foggy feeling, trying to remember everything from a dream when you got jolted awake was always a dice roll at best.
No, like hell it was, that wasn't it. He shouldn't have even been here! Ragna should've been non-existent right now. That was his entire plan after obtaining the power to rewrite the universe and remove any traces of his existence so the Master Unit's focus on him wouldn't result in more looping time. Even Amane had said he would become possibility itself with that power, a concept instead of a consciousness, not existing until observed, yet with everyone's memories of him gone there should've been no one to affirm his existence.
But something told him that, despite continuing to draw breath, he didn't have to worry about the Master Unit anymore, he was beyond its observation now. Ragna couldn't even explain such a thought or how he knew it, he just felt it with the same certainty one would say the sky is blue.
But that didn't still didn't explain why he was here Or why there were memories and feelings of being in this place? Most of them were hazy, he had a sense of coming here for a reason and that it was important, that he'd just had a conversation with Rin before passing out, but beyond that it was odd. It was more like he had just appeared in his present position as the world worked backwards to accommodate what needed to happen for him to arrive at the now, not unlike a wide scale phenomena intervention.
"Anyway, gather yourself and focus. You seem a bit preoccupied. Do you need the situation explained again?" Rin spoke up, clearly seeing Ragna's uncertainty.
Ragna shook his head. They had, apparently, just talked and gotten him briefly familiar with the situation before Rin had walked off to attend to something. She was a General Student Council Officer for Kivotos, a massive academy city, while he was, apparently, a teacher that'd been called here, which only brought more questions than answers. He didn't even remember how he'd gotten here anyway or even agreeing to this. Yet, at the same time, there was this deeply rooted sense of impending dread if he didn't go along with it, like he knew something bad would happen without him. But even still...
"I understand this must be very confusing to you." Rin stated, almost sympathetically.
"Yeah, that's one way to put it…" Ragna huffed, wishing he could cross his arms. "I don't recall ever agreeing to be a teacher. I was the one who got asked to come here without understanding why. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do." Of all things Ragna expected out of his life being a teacher was not one of them. Something like how Jubei had instructed him? Maybe, but that was far from the kind of formal life that he was assuming this position entailed.
But on the other hand… What was he supposed to do with his life now? He hadn't planned on having one and going back home wasn't an option even if he wanted to. If he was going to have a way to live fall right into his lap, maybe it wasn't the worst idea. Besides, he wanted to learn more about whatever this sense of deja vu was connected to current events. Perhaps following it was the way to get answers.
Rin blinked, her normally composed face showing a brief flash of surprise, with even a momentary intense worry alongside it that Rin visibly tried and failed to wipe away. "Are you… Saying you don't wish to take the teaching position? Your name was personally selected by the General Student Council President and there's no mistaking it for someone else's with such an… Interesting title and matching description for someone called Ragna the Bloodedge."
Yep, that was certainly a one of a kind name. If that wasn't enough to stand out, his appearance would sure pick him apart from the crowd. White spiky hair, black hakama with a grey and white coat, then a vibrant red sleeved jacket with a few silver plates at the wrist and shoulders with two long and thin tails hanging from the back over it. Regardless of the distinctive look though, the sword he kept holstered on his back, Aramasa, would've stood out plenty. Counting the long handle it was roughly 2/3rds his 185cm height, with a long white, single edged blade nearly thick as a man's torso attached to the red and grey handle running up the other side.
"I'm not entirely sure how you get here myself, but I assumed you must have had some prior exchange if she chose you and she chose you for a reason." Rin finished, pensively eyeing Ragna up and down. She almost looked even... A bit pleading? Desperate? "There's already been extensive arrangements made for your position."
The title of General Student Council president was oddly familiar and stirred up strange emotions. There was a sense of worry like he had to do something important to avoid disaster. It also called forth a blurry image to his mind, a girl with long sky blue hair and gravely injured. Yet the more he tried to focus on that image, the worse his headache got without clearing up the haze surrounding it. Normally, he could piece together flashes of when some kind of intervention in the timeline happened and something to trigger his recollection occurred, yet this time nothing came.
He'd forgotten something, something important and he was going to find out the cause.
Much as part of Ragna was half prepared to walk out once whatever Rin needed him for, that apparently, only he could do, was finished, the other half of him felt uneasy about that idea and that it would've been a massive mistake.
"I didn't say I wasn't going to do it." Ragna finally declared with a dismissive gesture of his hand. "But how am I supposed to do something when I don't even know what the hell I'm getting myself into?"
The tension in Rin's shoulders visibly deflated, her voice easing up with it. "I see, that isn't an unreasonable thought. This was all done in a hurry, so I'm not surprised you weren't made fully aware of everything either. However, I have to offer my apologies and save a full explanation for later. I would like you to follow me for now. As I had said before, there's something I require your help with. It's a grave matter. I will explain some of the stations of your position on the way there and the rest once this matter is resolved. If you will please come with me."
Done talking, Rin made her way over to the elevator with the intention of Ragna following her, and lacking much else, Ragna did exactly that with much on his mind.
Taking the extra moment of quiet from Rin operating the elevator, Ragna started sifting through some of the questions in his head. He had experience with strange situations like this, but it didn't stop his mind from feeling out of sorts processing the new information about this world.
Firstly, there was his current status. He couldn't see with or move either his right arm or eye, but that was because seithr didn't appear to exist in this world, and normally without seithr neither of those parts worked because it was the part of his body the Azure Grimoire, an immensely powerful source of energy, had overtaken to compensate for when he'd lost that arm as a child. The Idea Engine, another power source he'd absorbed into his body, was supposed to let him use that half of his body even without any seithr after Kokonoe upgraded it, yet probing it with his senses…
Damaged, of course. Not entirely non functional, but may as well been close to it. He'd overridden all the safety limits to maximize the power it could grant him to hold off the God of Destruction Susano'o, or Yuuki Terumi as Ragna had better known him. It wasn't broken, but in its current state and having zero seithr around he doubted it could stay activated for long without further risk or backlash. Maybe he could stabilize it by activating the Azure Grimoire though… The Idea Engine had empowered his grimoire so why couldn't the reverse work? But that'd only work in an emergency, unleashing the full power of the Azure Grimoire was not to be done lightly, it wasn't his power and reckless use would've been disastrous for the whole world. At the very least, with it somewhat working, Ragna could feel that his raw physical abilities weren't as crippled as they could've been so he could definitely still fight at least.
But the True Azure, the power he'd used to rewrite his world's past, present, and future was nowhere to be felt. That was another mystery, did he lose it because of having an existence again?
The rumble of the elevator moving upward drew Ragna out of his thoughts while Rin moving to the back side of the elevator drew his attention.
"Welcome to Kivotos, sensei." Rin gestured to the clear glass of the elevator that provided a perfect view of the sprawling metropolis below.
Numerous buildings dotted the landscape in all shapes and sizes, from small apartments to towering skyscrapers that extended past the few dozen meters height Ragna and Rin were at. A crystal clear blue lake separated two halves of the city from one another, or rather just this one section of the city. Far as the eye could see there were buildings well into the horizon below the barely cloudy blue sky. It was a city on the scale the likes of which Ragna had never seen, the closest he had were images from Pre-Dark War cities before the Black Beast had shattered the world, but even those felt tiny compared to the sheer scope of Kivotos. The city felt like it stretched on nearly forever.
"Damn, I've never seen a place this huge before." Ragna muttered to himself.
Rin's expression briefly lightened. "Kivotos is a massive city, home to thousands of different academies. I would hope this will be where you'll be working soon." Rin stated though Ragna noticed the slight uncertainty in her last few words.
"I know you said that you didn't often spend extended time in cities like this, so I understand if you might find it difficult to fit in at first, especially if you are uncertain about teaching, but I'm certain you'll adjust just fine." Rin finished with a hint of hope in her voice.
"You don't have to worry about me there." Ragna replied dismissively, he recalled mentioning something like that to Rin earlier. "I'm used to living in all sorts of conditions worse than this." He'd never even truly had an actual 'home' after the church was burned down. Being a world wide wanted criminal by a corrupt world government that'd issued a bounty high enough to buy a small country meant most of his time was spent camping in the wilderness with seithr mutated animals or on the move. If he could adapt to that then how hard could it possibly be to adjust to a sprawling city like this?
Rin's expression lightened just slightly, something close to a smile coming over her. "The confidence is relieving to hear. I wouldn't expect anything less from a man chosen by the General Student Council president. But we can leave the rest of the details for later."
As if on cue, a chime echoed and the elevator stopped moving.
"Wait, were there supposed to be more people I'm meeting or something?" Turning toward the elevator door, Ragna spoke up before it even opened. He sensed a few presences in the adjacent room without any need for sight.
Rin looked at the man in confusion, until the doors separated and revealed four other individuals, at which point Rin's face fell to a barely restrained grimace. None of them looked happy.
"There you are, Acting President! We've been waiting! Get the real president in here already!" The first girl spoke up with frustration thick enough you could've cut it with a knife, glaring at Rin with her piercing purple eyes with an unusual red in the center of the iris. She had waist length purple hair with a side tail on both sides of her hair. Part of her outfit resembled an office worker, a black and white formal coat on her upper body that trailed into a pleated skirt of a similar color and gloves over her hands to match. Even her ankle height boots were likewise black. Contrasting the black layer was a white jacket that hung loosely down both her shoulders. Like Rin, she too had a halo and guns, but her halo was a circular black with a blue inner light that almost looked futuristic. Compared to Rin's pistol, the girl had a pair of black SMGs with blue engravings.
Ragna was certain he'd seen her before.
Her eyes flicked over toward Ragna, where her expression softened into one of confusion. "Huh? Who's that adult with you?"
Before either Ragna or Rin could respond to the first address, more barraged the pair, which at least gave Ragna time to assess who they all were.
"I've been waiting to see you, Chief Officer." The more composed words came from a tall, nearly Ragna's height but still shorter, girl with long, flowing dark hair and red eyes. She had a long sleeved crop top with a symbol Ragna didn't recognize and the word "Justice" embodied onto the chest. She also wore a pleated skirt, though longer than the first girl's as it came down just past her thighs, which were covered by dark stockings and heels over her feet. Just like the others, she had a halo, a circle with four dagger like points around it and one in the middle, and a large, ornate looking rifle. Unlike the other two though, she had a set of massive wings, which even when folded up were practically as tall as she was.
"I'm here to meet with the General Student Council president. The head prefect has terms she would like to discuss." The next comment came from a girl of average height with chest length, pale and nearly strawberry blonde hair tied into pigtails that went over her shoulders and had a black ribbon at her forehead. The upper part of her uniform was a long sleeved blouse which ended in dark red gloves and had an arm band over her left are. Her lower half was a pleated black skirt that led to red tights and long black boots which went up to nearly her knees. The girl's halo was a small red circle with four points that created a crosshair look, while her weapon was another pistol. They also had some large, oversized bag half her height slung over one shoulder. There were several syringes pocketed around the side and a few things that looked like bandages poking out from inside. Was she a medic?
The fourth one, thankfully, remained silent and just observed. She had white hair that flowed past her knees with a gray sailor dress with white highlights and a black vest for an underlayer. Black knee high socks covered her legs alongside plain brown shoes. In her hand was a white and black rifle. Her halo looked like a purple crosshair with four arrows pointing outward. Right below it was what looked like a white wing on the left side of her head. Ragna couldn't tell if that was how she'd somehow stylized her hair or part of her anatomy.
"Well…" Rin suppressed a groan yet didn't bother hiding the scowl on her face as she walked into the room, Ragna close behind. "This timing is rather inconvenient."
Recomposing herself, Rin put on one of the fakest smiles Ragna had ever seen, it looked more like she was actively holding herself back from telling the other girls to get the hell out of the room, and continued. "Hello, guests that represent neighboring academies's student council's, disciplinary boards, and those who otherwise have too much time on their hands. I am well aware why you irksome- I mean important representatives have come here today. You're here to blame us for the fuss happening in the city. Isn't that right?"
Ragna felt a twinge of pity for Rin. Political bullshit was such a pain to deal with and Rin was clearly forcing herself to keep things professional. Well, if she wasn't going to be blunt, then he'd do it for her. Ragna wanted answers anyway and listening to everyone complain and moan would take a while.
"Hey," Ragna spoke up, slightly raising his voice to command everyone's attention before any biting reply could come to Rin's statement. "How about everyone pipes down a bit so we don't waste time yelling at each other and have Rin get to the point? I'm guessing this has something to do with why you called me up here to help with that urgent problem, isn't it?"
The SMG wielding girl eyed Ragna up and down skeptically. "We still haven't heard who you are supposed to be."
"If you will listen to his sound advice and let me speak, I can get to explaining everything." A hint of appreciation in Rin's words for what Ragna had said, her face eased up from being on the verge of strangling the next one to speak to now only a restrained desire to scream. "If I may cut to the chase, we can get this matter resolved and everyone back to their lives which are clearly not busy enough."
An annoyed huff came from the purple haired girl, but otherwise the gathered party watched Rin with scrutinizing eyes.
"The reason for all the current chaos of Kivotos is that the General Student Council has no authority because the top administrator of the Sanctum Tower has gone missing." Rin stated lowly.
The eyes of the other girls widened. "So the rumors were true…" The tallest girl mumbled to herself.
"What!?" The one in business like attire shouted. "You mean…"
Rin nodded. "To be frank, the president has gone missing. Since then, we've been searching for a way to bypass the need for verification, all to no avail… Until recently."
"And that means me, doesn't it?" Ragna stated more than asked. He still wasn't sure what exactly his role was in all this anyway.
"Correct." Rin's gaze shot over to Ragna, as did everyone else following her's. "Ragna-sensei, you're the answer to our problems."
Already expecting it coming, Ragna was not surprised, yet that still left one giant question hanging. "What the hell am I supposed to do then?"
"Hold up." The annoying one with twin SMGs interjected again. "Who is this 'Ragna-sensei' you're talking about? What are they doing here in the first place?"
"Whoever they are, they don't seem to be from Kivotos." The tall girl said, looking over Ragna curiously.
The only thing that kept Ragna from making a comment was his desire to get to the damn point already, but even still the reactions confirmed Ragna's growing suspicions. There wasn't a person alive who didn't know his face, and infamy attached to it, back home. Yet beyond Rin, who'd known about his coming in advance, none of the girls had the faintest idea of who he was. He wasn't in his world or timeline anymore. The lack of seithr, the strange things like halos, the modern and spawling city, there was no way he was simply in either the past, even further than the Dark War, or far future. He'd ended up in some entirely new world.
But how?
"This is Ragna-sensei." Rin answered, gesturing to him. "They were personally selected by the General Student Council president to be a teacher."
"Hey," Ragna interjected with a soft glare. "I'm waiting to hear exactly what I'm getting myself into before agreeing to anything, remember?"
His statement earned another pensive look from Rin, a glare that was telling him to shut up even.
"The president chose them. The one who's now missing? This is making less and less sense…" The girl with purple hair trailed off, the uncertainty visible on her face.
"Well," Ragna began casually, ignoring the glare from Rin as he'd seen worse. "Guess I don't need to say much since my introduction's taken care of, but I'm Ragna the Bloodedge. You can just call me Ragna."
"Ragna the… what?" The elf eared girl spoke up, blinking slowly.
"It's a title I took to honor someone that helped save where I come from." Ragna answered plainly. That was the simplest way to put it, he was not even going to begin trying to unpack the utter mess that was that story and the fact said someone was himself. It wasn't like he knew that when he took up the title.
How the hell did his life get so complicated?
The girl who'd questioned his name had her cheeks turn a hint pink. "Ah, I'm sorry, Ragna-sensei. I didn't mean to be rude."
Even Rin looked momentarily guilty for her earlier comment about his name.
"I haven't even taken the job yet, no need for that." Ragna commented. Rin, he understood because clearly she was trying to push him toward the job, but everyone else? It felt so annoyingly formal for him.
"It would be better for you to get used to your new title early, Ragna-sensei." Any guilt vanished as Rin interjected with an exaggerated emphasis to his title and a glare that looked like a combination of threatening but also pleading him to stop talking already.
Ragna sighed before continuing like he hadn't heard that, not wasn't the time for this. "So, you going to introduce yourself or am I going to have to start thinking up nicknames?"
"R-Right." The angry girl with SMGs suddenly seemed flustered when put on the spot and recomposed herself. "It's good to meet you, sensei. I'm Millennium Science School's-" The girl shook her head, expression growing sour. "I-I mean, why am I even bothering to introduce myself right now? It isn't the time for this!"
Though she hadn't properly introduced herself, a name suddenly came to Ragna's mind, Yuuka. He wasn't sure if it was correct or where it came from, but something about it felt right. More deja vu…
"While she is correct, don't worry about that annoying girl. Let's just move on to more urgent matters..." Rin dismissively stated.
Alright, guess he'd just have to go without names for now. Everyone felt vaguely familiar to him, but trying to put a name to each girl unprompted was more difficult.
"Who are you calling annoying!?" Yuuka shouted with a glare toward Rin. "I'm Hayase Yuuka!" Her gaze shifted toward Ragna, lingering frustration over her last target bleeding over into the expression he received. "You should remember that name, Ragna-sensei!"
"Gonna be hard to forget somebody who's always shouting in my ear." Ragna dryly remarked.
"Don't you have any sense of urgency over the current situation!?" Yuuka shouted again, this time with a glare that was all for Ragna instead of Rin.
"Hard for me to know what the situation is if everyone keeps interrupting each other." Ragna shot back without so much as blinking.
"Ahem." Rin cleared her throat to diffuse the situation. "You're here to serve as the advisor for a club that was formed by the General Student Council president. The Federal Investigation Club: SCHALE."
"A club." Ragna stated, completely flat. He wasn't sure what he was expecting but that wasn't it.
"This isn't your average club." Rin quickly corrected, a brief flare of worry at seeing his hesitation. "It's more like a type of extrajudicial organization. Since it's a federal club, you'll be allowed to register students from any of the academies of Kivotos. Each academy region can perform battle activities without restriction."
"Wait, wait a second. Battle Activities?" Ragna repeated, skeptical, yet intrigued. Though, after a second to think it over the idea made more sense. What the hell else could've been the reason for those weapons he saw literally half the inhabitants wielding? He was used to most people around him being armed, but usually they were also security and trying to use their weapons on him.
Maybe this wouldn't be such a quiet job after all, that sounded a little more up his alley.
"That's correct. I assume you must be familiar with combat, given the weapon you're carrying?" Rin stated like she were explaining the weather.
"Plenty." Ragna answered confidently, placing his hand on his hilt. Thankfully, he'd modified the holster to easily switch between left or right handed so even without his dominant arm he could still quickly reach it.
"Good, that expertise will be needed. Now then, the SCHALE club room is about 30 kilometers from here. The building is currently empty, but we had to put something in the basement at the president's request. It's my job to take you there. I'll prepare transport."
With the click of some kind of communicator, Rin started talking again. "Momoka. I need a helicopter to take us to the SCHALE club room."
A translucent, blue tinted image of another short girl appeared. Her clothes were similar to Rin's, and she even had similarly pointy ears. Her hair was bright pink and done up in pigtails with short green horns below her halo that was comprised of five individual four-tipped stars connected at the sides in a circular pattern. Coming from beneath her skirt was a long, deep blue tail that ended with a pink and white tip.
"The SCHALE club room?" Momoka sounded disinterested, accentuated by the bag of chips in her hand. "That's over in the outskirts. Things are kind of crazy over there right now..."
After a brief pause, Rin's brow furrowed. "What do you mean 'crazy'?"
"A suspended student escaped from the Corrections Bureau and is wrecking havoc. It's a battlefield over there right now!" Momoka elaborated.
"What?" Rin's face soured.
Oh, Ragna could just never have things go easily for him, could he?
Momoka continued her explanation, uncaring of Rin's growing scowl with every word. "They rallied all the thugs in the area and are destroying everything in their path to get revenge on the General Student Council. I hear they've even got a Crusader Tank! They must be trying to occupy the SCHALE building because they know the General Student Council controls it. Maybe they think there's something valuable inside."
Ragna took a step away from Rin as it looked like she was about to explode any moment.
"Oh, well. The city's already a dump, so I don't think it'll make that much of a difference… Oh, great! The food I ordered is here. I'll talk to you later!" Without another word, Momoka hung up the call and vanished.
Rin took a deep breath that she held for a solid few seconds.
"Hey, Rin. You sure you're not about to have a heart attack?" Ragna commented, he'd worn that expression a couple times in his life and knew the rage it took to make.
"I'm fine…" Rin stated with another fake smile and low, forced tone that indicated she was anything but fine. She looked ready to scream. "It's just a minor setback… No problem at all." Her gaze shifted over to the other four individuals like she had some malicious plan in mind.
"What? Why are you looking at us like that?" Yuuka asked, nervously taking a step back.
"It's so reassuring to have you trustworthy academy representatives with us." Rin began with a stare that said they had no choice in what she was about to say. "We are going to need your help to bring peace back to Kivotos. Come with me." Without another word, Rin started walking, expecting everyone to follow her.
"W-Wait, what? Where are going?" Yuuka, completely lost, stated as she reluctantly followed Rin with an uneasy, even a bit fearful, face.
No matter where he went, Ragna could always count on it not being boring.