Moon Cell Irregular
By psychored1911
Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/EXTRA or Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Chapter 5
Five days later, after classes finished for the day, Hakuno scrolled through some emails on his phone.
One was from Miyuki: she wanted to know if someone named Honoka apologized to him; turns out Honoka, aka Mitsui, wanted to make amends with the Shiba siblings sometime after she befriended him. Perhaps befriending the two was her intention in the first place, and she only joined Morisaki's group in a misguided attempt to associate herself with Miyuki. Well, Mitsui wasn't some psycho in the first place; he let Miyuki know she was a pretty nice girl and that they should totally be friends.
Another was from Erika, who wanted to know what Laeticia's into so she could get enough tickets for that new Maki Sawamura movie without leaving her out; he made a mental note to ask her once he got back. Hopefully, this flick won't be a total flop like Sawamura's last one.
And finally, there was one from Tatsuya, who gave him a head's up that the Guidance Counselor, Ono-sensei, was taking surveys on the First Years, in order to make a generalization about their societal attitudes. He also said that the Guidance Counselor is going to try and dress provocatively in an effort to get more information out of him…
...That last one sounds more like grounds for sexual harassment than anything else.
On an unrelated note, Hakuno began wearing gloves in order to 'comply with the dress code policy (read: hide his Command Spells because Mari from the Public Morals Committee thinks they're tattoos and will whoop his ass for showing them in public). They were an old pair of leather gloves that he dug up from his garage. They were a bit dirty, and he had to remove them whenever he wanted to use his phone, but at the very least they provided a good grip. Besides, those glove-shaped CADs on the market were way too expensive, even compared to the already pricey conventional models. Jeez, no wonder his parents-
"Mibu, can you at least hear me out-"
"We have nothing to talk about, you fucking Bloom!"
Hakuno turned to his right, where he found these two second years, a Bloom boy and a Weed girl, having a shouting match in the school courtyard while a small crowd formed around them. Though, calling it a shouting match is a bit of a stretch; it was really the Weed girl nearly raving at the Bloom boy like a madwoman while the latter desperately tried to get a word in, to no avail.
The Bloom boy raised his hands in surrender. "I'm trying to say sorry-"
"Oh, so NOW you're sorry?!" The Weed girl snapped, shutting her counterpart up. "You think a simple apology can justify what you did to me?!"
"Well-"
"NEVER talk to me again, you arrogant son of a bitch!" The Weed girl stormed off as the Bloom boy tried to reach out his hand towards her, only to draw it back when the words failed to form on his lips.
Hakuno could only cringe empathetically as the crowd, whose free show was now over, dispersed to do their own business, leaving the Bloom boy standing there in dejection, paralyzed by his counterpart's scathing rejection.
Feeling bad for the young man, Hakuno held his breath and approached the Bloom. "Excuse me-"
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU-?!" The Bloom suddenly roared as he snapped towards Hakuno, only to reel it in just as quickly with an apologetic expression. "...S-Sorry about that, man. I'm… kinda having a rough day right now, as you probably saw... a couple seconds ago…"
"It's alright," Hakuno said nervously as he glanced in the direction the Ponytailed Weed stormed off towards before returning towards the young man. "Um, I know we just met and all, but… you seem like you need a friend right now. Would you like to talk about it?"
Hakuno massaged his temples as he bore his eyes straight at the Bloom. "Let me get this straight; you knew her since middle school, yet instead of properly introducing yourself then, you just sat back and 'admired her swordsmanship'?"
The Bloom, Kirihara, shifted his gaze uneasily. "When you put it like that, I kinda sound like a total creep."
Hakuno facepalmed; 'total creep' was a bit of an understatement. When he sat Kirihara down at this cafe across the street, he expected the latter to set the stage for a huge breakup or something along those lines. Instead, Kirihara and the Weed girl, Mibu, were never in a proper relationship in the first place. In fact, they never even properly spoke with one another; Kirihara just 'watched her from afar' until high school. Lots of red flags so far, but jumping to conclusions was never a good idea, so he just let him continue.
"Anyways, when I saw her again in high school…" Kirihara's voice faltered a bit. "She had changed…"
"Many people use the transition from middle school to high school as a chance to change their image." Hakuno pointed out.
"I know that, but this was different than a new haircut or ditching some lame hobbies. Nothing like that." Kirihara's eyes wandered to his drink as he offhandedly stirred the glass in a tiny circle "The next time saw her… her swordsmanship changed, almost like it was… tainted."
Hakuno cocked a brow, his curiosity piqued. "Tainted? How does a fighting style get 'tainted'?"
"Well, her stance became more feral, her swings were furious, and that confident face of hers was marred with resentment and rage… It was like she threw away all her grace and skill from before and replaced it with absolute bloodthirst." Kirihara shuddered for a second before continuing. "And it wasn't just that. Every time I saw her, she seemed to be on a permanent hair-trigger, like any little thing could've set her off." Kirihara almost turned away in disgust. "As a fellow swordsman, I knew I had to do something."
Oh boy, this should be good… "So I take it you talked to her about what happened?"
Kirihara winced as he sheepishly scratched his head. "Well, actually… I thought our swords would do the talking so I… provoked her into fighting me during Recruitment Week."
Hakuno stared at him blankly, remembering the rumors about that fight that broke out earlier. "Wait, that was you?"
Kirihara chuckled half-heartedly, clearly embarrassed. "Yeah, not exactly my best moment, especially since I played the arrogant Bloom card to actually get her to attack me. Hell, I even used the Sonic Blade spell to spark the inner warrior in her, and well… I got a bit carried away."
Hakuno's mouth fell agape, astonished by this guy's sheer stupidity. "You're telling me you've been stalking this Mibu girl all this time, never once bothering to actually introduce yourself, and once you noticed something wrong with her, instead of actually talking to her, you provoked her like a grade-schooler before nearly killing her with Sonic Blade?! You didn't think there was anything wrong with that?!"
Kirihara flinched as Hakuno raised his voice in outrage. "Well… to my credit, I was stopped by that Tatsuya dude before I accidentally hacked off a limb or something else important. And for what it's worth, I did try to apologize to Mibu after I gave it a few days. Not like I have much to do anymore. The kenjutsu team captain booted me and my friends out of the team for that stunt... and my folks took my CAD away and grounded me for life... and detention. Detention from now until December. Did'ja know they still have those two freshmen who nearly blew some poor guy's head off over there? It's fuckin' messed up that they're only there till June while I'm stuck there 'till Christmas. Jeez, those folks from the Hundred Families always seem to get a slap on the wrist."
Hakuno suppressed the urge to facepalm again. While Kirihara seemed like a decent guy for all intents and purposes, his actions spoke far louder than his words, and not in a good way. His 'swordsman mentality' seems to be doing him more harm than good; he was so focused on actually fighting Mibu he apparently forgot his actual purpose, namely finding out what was wrong, in the process. Granted, his observations on her were a tad alarming, but they were still only one side of the story. And he was in no position to do something about it.
It was weird that Mitsui and Morisaki got a lighter sentence than Kirihara did, and Mitsui (for all he knew) wasn't even connected to the Hundred Families. Heck, they technically should've had Kirihara expelled and arrested for that stunt he pulled. Perhaps the school administration doesn't like booting kids out for one-time encounters.
"Well, what should I do man?" Kirihara asked expectantly.
Hakuno sighed once more as he put his hands on the table. He wanted to help Kirihara with his girl problems (for lack of any better terms), but this was a bit out of his depth. So, he asked the latter one simple question:
"Did you ever consider consulting her parents about it?"
Kirihara blinked. "Huh? How would that help?"
"Parents usually notice if there's something wrong with their children." Hakuno pointed out. "Even if they didn't notice anything wrong, bringing it to their attention would be more than enough for them to intervene."
He could almost see the gears in Kirihara's head turn before the latter shook his head in denial. "Nah, that won't work. What if Mibu recognizes me and just kicks me out of her house? Hell, even if I manage to get past her and talk with her folks, what's stopping them from kicking out the guy who nearly killed her."
"What makes you say that you need to be the one to tell them?" Hakuno countered. "You could just give someone like Ono-sensei a head's up and let her handle the rest. It's uncanny how many problems could've been solved if teenagers simply asked trustworthy adults for help."
Kirihara paused, staring back at Hakuno dumbly. Clearly, he never thought about that before. "You know what, that just might work." He sighed in relief "Thanks man, I really needed this."
"Glad I could help." Hakuno smiled half-heartedly. "Just... don't get your hopes up with Mibu after this is over. I think you burned that bridge the moment you played the Bloom card."
"Alright, man. I'm gonna go talk to Ono-sensei about it right now. I'll see ya later."
Kirihara stood up and put a couple of bills on the table before leaving the cafe with a friendly wave. As for Hakuno, he turned to his left, finding Mitsui and her stoic-looking friend sitting at a nearby table; the former nodded at him approvingly while the latter gave him a friendly thumbs-up. It was clear they saw his little pep-talk with Kirihara from start to finish, and judging from their reactions, they clearly liked what they saw.
Ah well. Returning the friendly gestures with a short, polite nod, Hakuno paid the cashier upfront (plus a tip) before going on his way. He had to admit, the past few weeks have been quite eventful, what with all that's been happening recently. But of course, it's not like it could get any crazier, right?
"ATTENTION FELLOW STUDENTS! WE ARE THE VOLUNTEER ALLIANCE SEEKING TO ABOLISH DISCRIMINATION WITHIN THE SCHOOL!"
...He stood corrected.
The following day, just as class was about to end, the speakers blared to life as a 'volunteer alliance' began exhorting abolitionist rhetoric for all the student body to hear.
"ALL OF US HERE AIM TO BECOME MAGICIANS! HOWEVER, AT THE SAME TIME, WE ARE ALL ALSO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS! WE CAN NOT OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT THE SCHOOL DISCRIMINATES AGAINST STUDENTS WITH POORER MAGICAL ABILITIES!"
Hakuno could hear several of his fellow classmates cheer excitedly, while roars of protests could be heard from some of the Course One students outside. However, for the most part, stunned silence was the resounding consensus among the general populace.
"MAGIC IS NOT ALL THERE IS TO US! TO THIS END, WE DEMAND DISCUSSIONS WITH THE STUDENT COUNCIL AND THE CLUB MANAGEMENT GROUP ON EQUAL GROUND REGARDING THE ABOLISHMENT OF DISCRIMINATION! UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET-"
The PA system abruptly shut itself off. It seems that someone had the sense to shut off the power. As the voice on the speaker was silenced, the voices of his classmates came to life as countless conversations echoed throughout the room. Some were happily cheering on the 'Volunteer Alliance', others were denouncing it with an equal amount of fervor, and some actually left the classroom altogether, either to get out of this hot mess while they still could or to watch the next chapter of this debacle.
He couldn't blame any of them for being curious, especially since he was just as curious as they were. Rising from his seat, he tossed his sketchbook into his bag, picked it up, and went into the hall. Jeez, for all its fame and prestige, this school was pretty chaotic.
When Hakuno got to the PA room, he found a crowd surrounding it, with the Public Morals Committee setting a good perimeter around the door. Within the perimeter was Tatsuya, Mayumi, Mari, a long-haired Second Year girl, and… this very ripped Third Year boy (seriously, the guy was huge, as in Teenage Bodybuilder 2095, 'what kind of protein powder does this guy snort?' huge). Whoever the latter two were, they either had to be from the Student Council or the Public Morals Committee. Anyway, it seems like Tatsuya (for some reason) was the one facilitating the negotiations between the Student Council and the 'Volunteer Alliance' with his phone-
"Do you honestly believe I'm that stupid?!"
"I never said you were stupid-"
"Don't mince your words with me! I know you're planning on detaining everyone in here the second I open the door! Did you honestly believe I'd sell everyone out just to save my own hide?!"
"Did you even listen to-"
"Shut up! I won't let you silence us!"
...And utterly sucking at it, if the yelling from behind the door was of any indication.
In all seriousness, it was a mystery why the faculty weren't intervening, or why they hadn't already intervened in the first place.
Mari frowned as she massaged her throbbing temples before barking at her subordinate. "Tatsuya, cut it out! You're just making things worse!"
Tatsuya cringed as he reluctantly handed the phone over to her. "I apologize. I assumed I could handle the situation, but I was wrong."
Mari took the phone, her face interlaced with disappointment and anxiety in equal measure. "I'll let it slide this time because it was your first mistake, but next time you let me handle the negotiations."
"Understood."
Or they could call the staff over because they're obviously biting off more than they can chew! Seriously, what kind of irresponsible faculty would simply leave such an incident for their Student Body to handle? Sure, this school puts a ton of emphasis on self-determination, but this is one of those times when the kids have to step aside and let the adults take over matters.
"Students, please move aside."
Like the Red Sea, the mob of spectating students parted as Vice Principal Yaosaka-sensei, flanked by Ono-sensei and several other staff members, made his way through them and towards the PA room door with the other staff at his heels.
Mayumi stepped up nervously as Yaosaka-sensei knocked on the door. "Vice Principal-"
"Not another word, Miss Saegusa, Miss Watanabe. I shall handle it from this point onwards. We shall talk about how you mishandled this later." Yaosaka-sensei said sternly, his eyes locked on them and Tatsuya before turning towards the door. "I need to ask the students in the PA room to please unlock the door as soon as possible. You all know that I am far more reasonable than Principal Momoyama himself, so if you have anything to say, please say it now."
"We want to end the discrimination between the Course One and Course Two Students!" A Student inside the PA room barked. "Course Two Students have been repeatedly bullied and discriminated against by the Course One Students and the School itself does nothing about it or actively encourages it! We want it to change, now!"
"Yes, yes I believe we all heard you during your little announcement," Yaosaka-sensei admitted. "But before you say anything else, please tell me this: why didn't you simply make a petition?"
The once raucously rebellious students suddenly went silent.
"If you simply made a petition and had a majority of the students sign it, the administration or even the Ministry of Education would have no choice but to run an investigation and look into it," Yaosaka-sensei explained. "Why would you endanger your own education in one of the finest high schools in the country with a stunt like this? What would you gain by bringing all this negative attention to yourselves? All you're doing is shooting your message in the foot with this outrage and you know it. Just please, let yourselves out of the room and we can all figure this out like adults."
A couple of minutes passed in complete silence. The Vice-Principal, the Student Council, the 'Volunteer Alliance', nobody made a single noise until…
*click*
The door unlocked, with a small group of students filing out one by one, a look of deep, deep shame on their faces. It seems that Vice Principal Yaosaka's words struck a nerve with them.
"Tch…"
All except for one, at least.
The last of the 'Volunteer Alliance' to leave was the ponytailed girl from yesterday, Mibu, if Kirihara was to be believed. Unlike the rest of the 'Volunteer Alliance', she didn't seem particularly repentant for causing such an uproar. In fact, her expression seemed downright spiteful instead of regretful.
Whatever the case, it seems that Yaosaka-sensei didn't notice it, sighing in relief as he folded his arms. "Well, now that that's over with, why don't we set up a meeting and sort this out."
Afterward, Vice Principal Yaosaka corralled the 'Volunteer Alliance' and the Student Council into the Conference Room along with the guidance counselor. Due to Tatsuya's interference in the whole incident, he was brought in as well. Once they were all in, Yaosaka-sensei told the rest of the students that their show was over and to go back to their own business.
Naturally, since Hakuno's club was canceled (mainly because his club president was a member of the 'Volunteer Alliance') and all his friends were unavailable for their own personal reasons, he simply went back to his house for the day. The inner details of that event and their implications still gnawed at the back of his head though, especially since that Mibu character Kirihara was talking about earlier was involved. Hopefully, Kirihara talked to the guidance counselor and had her talk to Mibu's parents by now.
Anyways, Hakuno returned home, finding his dad cooking something by the stove, watching a news report about an Anti-Magic Protest on the TV in the living room, while his mom was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to help Laeticia with her math homework.
"...To get to the square root of a number, you…"
"Root…? Number? ...I don't…"
The keyword here is: 'trying'. Laeticia was struggling despite his mom's best efforts, judging from how strained the look the former had on her face. Perhaps he'll check in with them later.
His father glanced at him. "Oh. Hey there, Hakuno. How was class?"
"Eventful, to say the least," Hakuno muttered as he plopped by the kitchen counter and dumped his bag next to his feet. "So, are you and mom still working later today or-"
"We're free for the rest of the week if that's what you were asking." His dad said, reaching over and tousling his son's hair. "Also, we contacted our friends back at the old office. They were surprised you managed to make it into First High School."
"So was I…" Hakuno muttered under his breath, ''I mean, tell them I'm doing alright for myself, all things considered."
His father sighed worriedly, flipping the contents of his frying pan with a dexterous flick of the wrist. "Well, just be careful, alright? I hear magicians aren't the most beloved people in the country right about now."
Case in point, his dad pointed at the newscast:
"Earlier today, the Anti-Magic protests outside the Diet Building turned dark when a magician from the JSDF, Captain Shigeru Sanada of the 101 Independent Magic Equipped Battalion, opened fire onto a helpless crowd, killing seven with his sidearm before killing another twenty with his magic and injuring dozens more before he was eventually gunned down by police." The reporter said, disturbing scenes of a magician in military dress initiating a series of magic sequences into a crowd of fleeing protesters playing behind her. "Hajime Tsukasa, the leader of the Blanche political organization's Japanese branch and one of the key organizers of the peaceful rally, had this to say."
The screen cut to a conceited-looking man with a pompous haircut and ugly glasses, the kind of guy whose whole appearance screams 'self-righteous douchebag cult leader', who began to hold a news conference with a dozen microphones on the podium and even more reporters out of the camera's line of sight.
"This is clearly an attack on us peaceful protestors by those Magicians controlling our government, the Hundred Families!" Hajime Tsukasa declared loudly, arrogance and self-righteousness dripping through his words. "They want to silence anything that is a threat to their power! But we, the righteous members of Blanche, shall not stand for this injustice! We shall do everything in our power to curb the growing power of the Hundred Families and we shall accept all who shall join us in our fight for equality!"
The newscast cut back to the reporter, still standing in the psion-scorched street. "Despite this claim by Hajime Tsukasa and the lack of response from Major Harunobu Kazama, commander of the 101 Independent Magic Equipped Battalion, police have yet to discern a possible motive…"
Hakuno's dad lowered the volume just as the news changed back to something about that serial killer, his point made very clear.
Hakuno folded his arms uncomfortably "Don't worry Dad. I'm nothing like those nutjobs out there. Unlike most magicians in this country, I know that with great power, there must also come great responsibility."
His dad sighed, his face still marred in concern as his attention went back to the frying pan he was tending to. "Well, just don't do anything that will get you in trouble-"
"Ugh, I give up…" Laeticia groaned as she face-planted her textbook, muttering incoherent (or probably French, she hadn't followed up on teaching him the language yet) phrases in defeat.
"Hakuno's mom shook her head, stirring her coffee cup in her left hand "Laeticia, you're overreacting. Mathematics is a pain in the ass, but it's not impossible."
His dad glanced at him before motioning to the two at the kitchen table "Hakuno, could you give your mother a hand? I already tried to help Laeticia earlier. Poor girl does not like math."
"Sure Dad." Hakuno nodded before heading over to his mother and Laeticia. "Mom, tag out. I'll take over from here."
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"Thanks for helping me with my math homework yesterday," Laeticia said, smiling cheerfully as the two made it to the station arm-in-arm.
Hakuno yawned before smiling back "Don't mention it. It was my pleasure. You're still planning on teaching me French later, right?"
"Le soleil se lève-t-il chaque matin?"
"What?"
"Of course I will, silly!" Laeticia playfully smacked him in the arm "I am a woman of my word. Maybe I'll start giving you lessons in Golden Week."
Hakuno chuckled. He had to admit, Ruler was acting a lot more cheerful than he remembered her. Perhaps she's normally like this when the pressure from SERAPH is off, or maybe this was more of Laeticia than Ruler at the moment. Either way, it felt like quite a breath of fresh air.
"Well, you two seem to be getting along quite nicely."
Hakuno and Laeticia turned around as the two Shiba siblings approached them from behind. There was something off about them, though. Instead of that air of confidence, grace, and borderline incest they usually had, they were sharing this air of depression that wasn't exactly pleasant to stand around in.
Laeticia raised a brow. "Did something happen with you two? You don't seem very very happy…"
Tatsuya shook his head wearily. "Well, something did happen, yesterday…"
Tatsuya then proceeded to explain the circumstances surrounding his negotiation with the 'Volunteer Alliance'. Apparently, his plan was to call in Mibu (that person's been coming up a lot recently) and have her open the door and have her discuss the issue, only for her to call him out on it immediately afterward, leading to the issue's escalation and the vice principal's subsequent intervention. He then began to describe the events afterward. As it turns out, only the Student Council President, the Public Morals Committee Chairwoman, and the Chairman of the Club Management Group (Mayumi, Mari, and some guy named Katsuto Juumonji) are the only students allowed to make negotiations with any unruly student bodies without faculty consent, with said power non-transferable to any other student. Tatsuya had no right to take control of the situation; nearly losing control of said situation did not help his case at all. Had Mayumi, Mari, and Miyuki not vouched for him, he would've easily been ejected from the Public Morals Committee. Instead, he was given some other form of punishment which he refused to specify while the 'Volunteer Alliance' got off with two months' detention.
Why Tatsuya needed to go into all that detail, or why they all just stood there and let him talk the whole time while their respective 'trains' came and went at least twice was a mystery to him.
"...that's what happened." Tatsuya concluded, sighing in relief "Huh, I feel a bit better after telling you guys all that. Doesn't exactly help me understand what went wrong, but still…"
Hakuno yawned, hoping he wouldn't go into another rant again when-
"Are you sure that's all there is to it?"
All eyes went to Laeticia, who apparently paid attention to Tatsuya's whole speech from start to finish.
"I have told you my side of the story from start to finish," Tatsuya told her, raising a brow at her puzzlement, "Is there something wrong with how I told it?"
"It's more like there's something wrong with the story itself rather than how you told it." Laeticia corrected, folding her arms. "What made you think that this Mibu girl wouldn't have gotten upset with the way you spoke to her?"
"I told her that if she opened the door, the Student Council President and the Chairman of the Club Management Group would negotiate and she would be guaranteed immunity. I do not understand why she thought I was trying to play her for a fool."
Laeticia's amethyst eyes steeled as she gazed accusingly into Tatsuya's "That's because you were trying to play her for a fool and she realized it. First of all, if your student council president wanted to talk about negotiations, then she would have talked to the group's leader through the door. If you were the one who was to tell her this, and you did so over the phone, you were clearly singling her out, like the weak link you presumed her to be. Not only that, you only offered her immunity, which means that in the event of a surrender, her friends would not be spared. And friends would not sell one another out for a brief reprieve. Mibu realized you were targeting her as the weakest link and lashed out at you once she unraveled it just as easily as I had this very moment. Believe it or not, Mister Shiba, but that plan of yours wasn't as well-thought-out as you believed it was."
Miyuki's expression soured as Laeticia made her analysis, "With all due respect Laeticia, what Onii-Sama did was to contain the Volunteer Alliance to the best of his abilities. Why are you putting all the blame upon him?"
"When did I ever say I was blaming him for anything?" Laeticia shot back, immediately silencing Miyuki, "I was merely analyzing his approach for that particular situation given the context that has been provided. Never once did I say anything with any intent to harm. If I had, I would have said that the entire incident was his fault; but I didn't. I said that his target had caught onto his plan by noticing the obvious tells of a trap. If you wanted to go on and play the hero, it would have been more appropriate to empathize with the volunteer alliance on some level and try to help the present authority figures empathize with them as well. That way, the volunteer alliance's destructive behaviors would be curbed while all involved parties could eventually find a resolution that would satisfy everyone."
Laeticia's brutal yet constructive critique rendered the two Shiba siblings speechless, unable to raise a proper counterargument against her. She saw through every single flaw with Tatsuya's approach and tore it down effortlessly, all before offering her own strategy for him to use at a later time.
And she did it all without a hint of malice.
Hakuno could only gulp, praying he'd never have to be on the receiving end of one of her lectures.
As the four stood there silently, one of the 'trains' slowed to a halt right next to them.
"Oh, there's my train." Laeticia said with a smile as she boarded her train "I'll see you guys later, then."
Laeticia smiled and waved at them as her 'train' slowly accelerated and left the station, leaving Hakuno alone with the two Shiba siblings.
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"Excuse me, would you like to sign this petition? We're collecting signatures for…"
"Sure, anything to put those Blooms in their place."
It seems that the 'Volunteer Alliance' (that was a really stupid sounding name if you say it enough times) had really taken the Vice Principal's advice to heart. Several of its members have been running around collecting signatures throughout the school day. For obvious reasons, a lot of the Blooms refused to sign their petition, as did a number of Course Two students who were still alienated from yesterday's turn of events. Still, he heard that they obtained a significant number of signatures; there was no way the administration could ignore them now. Admittedly, he didn't sign the petition himself; while their extreme actions from yesterday did turn him off, it was because of their message than anything else. 'End discrimination between Course One and Two Students'. That was their plan; it was more of a goal than a plan. How were they supposed to end discrimination? Start an anti-bullying campaign? Get the administration to hire more teachers? Change the uniforms to all have the school emblems? Those were three plans he came up with off the top of his head, yet the recruiters just parroted the 'End the discrimination' stuff they said on the airwaves yesterday. What, were they supposed to walk in and demand change without knowing how to actually initiate it? Come on, that doesn't make any sense. Give him a solid plan and maybe they'll get his signature.
Speaking of ideas, it turns out that Tatsuya has some… interesting ideas in regard to what is considered discrimination if their discussion (one-sided extended lecture on Tatsuya's part) during the lunch period was of any indication. Apparently, Tatsuya thinks the discrimination is self-inflicted due to their inability to realize that there will always be a talent discrepancy between the Course One and Two students and that they should put up with it and prove themselves in other ways, otherwise, the only ones who see themselves as inferior are themselves.
...Hakuno was no psychologist, but that line of thinking was bound to rub someone the wrong way. He always figured the discrimination came from how Blooms tend to go out of their way to treat Weeds like crap simply for being in Course Two. Tatsuya's analysis seemed pretty harsh in comparison.
Anyways, after class ended, Hakuno went to the bathroom to wash his hands, his hands feeling clammy after wearing gloves all day.
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*ring, ring*
Once he finished drying his hands, Hakuno received a call from Erika. He answered. "Hello?"
"Yo, Hakuno!" Erika greeted "Are you busy this afternoon?"
"No, not particularly."
"Great!" Erika exclaimed excitedly. "We were planning on catching a movie later. Wanna come?"
"Sure. Mind if Laeticia comes with?"
"Hey, any friend of yours is a friend of ours, dude." Erika said, "Tell her to head... to..."
*Thud!*
The call suddenly went silent. Hakuno quizzically stared at his phone for a moment before putting it back against his ear. "Hello? Erika? You still there?"
No response. Did something happen on Erika's end?
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
Hakuno hung up and exited the bathroom, finding several students collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
"What the- Hey, are you okay?" Hakuno worriedly asked as he ran over to the nearest student, frantically trying to shake him awake.
"It's no use. They're all off to dreamland unless I say otherwise."
Hakuno flinched, cautiously turning around as a figure appeared behind him, giving him an amused, smug smile.
He was a caucasian man, with pale, short hair, wearing some anachronistic European garb, carrying some sort of tome under his right arm. He was smiling, but those pitch-black eyes of his revealed a cruel, depraved soul hidden within.
Hakuno carefully took a step back. The young man's presence alone sent a cold shudder down his spine.
He knew what he was.
"Greetings, magus." The young man bowed in a theatrically sardonic manner, "I go by a far different name, but for now, you may call me Caster. I am ever so pleased to make your acquaintance."
[WARNING]
[HOSTILE_{Caster}_DETECTED]
[CONFLICT_IMMINENT]
[ACCURACY_100.00%]
[ESTIMATED_TIMESPAN_WITHIN_THREE_MINUTES]
[{record_data()}_ACTIVE]
[{REGALIA}_SURVEILLANCE_IN_PROGRESS]
A/N: Dear God, am I late with this chapter! Before I say anything else, I would like to apologize for the long delay. You won't believe how many times I had to rewrite the last few scenes before it turned out the way I wanted it. Seriously, at one point there was supposed to be either a riot scene or a fire scene instead of this last one. Then I realized they inevitably wouldn't lead to this point so I had to scrap it until I eventually came up with this. Anyways, by this point, you must have realized that this is not a typical Mahouka fic anymore. And no, I am not going to tell you the identity of that Servant just yet; the fun is always in the mystery, isn't it? Anyways, sorry for the delay. I'll try not to take too long with the next chapter, even though Fate/Grand Order just released and I'm having the time of my life with it. Until then, please review!