The sounds of chirping birds roused his consciousness.
Vash blinked, staring up at a dust-covered ceiling. His neck felt sore, his vision blurring now and then, and his blood pressure didn't seem to be flowing right… Well, it didn't look as if he was losing blood, but there was lethargic tiredness as well as soreness as if he had been thrown through the wringer only to pass out in uncomfortable position.
Uuhh… why does it feel like my legs are hanging off empty air? The man lifted his head, stared long at the fact that he had been sleeping on messily lined up desks, then flopped back down. Well, yeah, that does it, for sure…
"Daaaaaahhh! Wake up, you moron! It's already way past morning assembly!"
Jolted by the yelling that came off a bit muffled, Vash rolled to the side and crashed to the floor, his flailing only producing more messes than when he started with. Groaning through the pile of chairs and desks that somehow managed to avoid pummeling his poor, beaten up back, the man slowly writhed out from the predicament; except the dust particles had risen up to tickle his nose and forcing a loud sneeze out of him. The undignified appearance was… not exactly the kind suitable for children to see, but he sniffled hard as he rose to his feet.
"Blargh. Blast it…" That sneeze and fall did a number to his hit points, but at least it made him awake in a snap. Looking around, the empty classroom was… well, it was an empty classroom. Memories unbidden, he recalled vague voices clamoring over rest stop and stuff, and… "Oh, right. Crashed as soon as we got done with dinner takeouts—"
"Hey! Stupid teach, you're supposed to be the responsible one here!" And then a girl's high-pitched hollering roared into the classroom. Literally throwing the sliding door open with a powerful force, a cat-eared and red-eyed school girl with a targeting circle for a halo glowered his way. "It's morning! Actually almost afternoon, even!"
Vash squeaked out a shriek. Minutes after—still only dressed with an oversized shirts that could give his left arm a snug fit and a pair of baggy slacks—he walked out from the restroom with hair let down and face washed up. The folded orange round shades were clipped in his breast pocket, and he followed Serika's lead. The sounds of footsteps filled the empty hallway, but there were hardly any bustling sounds. He would have attributed it as a trait of a countryside school, but the glance he made to the rows of empty classrooms easily proved that wrong.
What a lonesome sight…
He didn't see any trace of personal belongings. He couldn't see worn out tools for class or cleaning purpose, either. The walls, bearing cracks and chipped paints, looked desolate and seemingly abandoned without a single purpose. Dusted windows and sand-covered air vents proved their disuse as well as absence of maintenance. It didn't make this school feel lived in… not by the least bit.
"...there's nothing important here, sensei." As if she had read his mind, Serika chimed in, her voice lacking any tension or the usual irritation. "Stuff that are still usable have all been taken to the clubroom. Junks and the like were all scrapped or recycled, since we got a dire need for every pretty penny we could have. Well, the sand won't let worms to eat through fabrics and books, but even those have all been rendered worthless by the time we combed through the school inventory."
"...huh," was all he could muster in response to that. There were many things he wanted to retort and point out, but well… "Are you sure about… uuh, telling me all this?"
At his awkwardly put question, the girl huffed. It was after a long silence though, and the clubroom was now only a dozen steps away. Familiar voices could be heard chattering from the slightly opened door to the Foreclosure Taskforce's homebase. However, the casual and cheerful chit-chat contrasted the atmosphere currently surrounding Kuromi Serika; the girl who got abducted alongside him just two nights ago.
"Sensei," the first-year student called out as she turned around to face him. "I'm sorry about, uuh… before. I wasn't thinking straight. Your presence could mean anything, but it was hard to imagine it be as anything good, and no. It's not because we don't think Schale is capable, sensei."
Serika breathed in. It was a harsh breath, as if she was letting loose some kind of restraints over her own emotions. However, she maintained eye-contact and faced him in an incredibly straightforward manner. Direct. Frontal. She looked dependable in this very moment, which betrayed her youthful looks and daily behaviors.
"It's just… umm," the dark-haired girl paused. "Our school's troubles… doesn't end with just delinquent problem. You've seen a lot of empty houses and shuttered stores in your trip to here, right? And all that sand out there… even the abandoned railway project."
...Vash slowly nodded. As Serika had said, there were so many things that did not make sense to him, here. By his standard, Kivotos was utopia, one where people had developed civilization to an extent where basic needs could be fulfilled without a problem. It was everything he could dream of, thought to be impossible in No-man's Land.
And yet, Abydos had been left in such a pitiful state, slowly sinking under the sand, with only five students across all three high-school grades attending for study.
The few citizens he saw on the streets. The empty houses left to disrepair. A ruin of an incomplete train system, of a dream and hope and expectation. It all didn't feel like a recent thing. It was as if years had passed, and now Abydos was on the verge of collapse akin to a town which had lost its last Plant unit. There was hardly any vitality left to the surrounding town districts, and what leftover there might be were constantly exploited, robbed, or damaged by rampant delinquent gangs. It almost reminded him of home, and he didn't like that. Not even one bit.
"I thought of saying all that because you're going to see a whole lot more. Things that are open secret, and… well, you're gonna get it anyway." As Serika's voice interrupted his running thoughts, he blinked away. Once, and then twice. The cat-eared girl propped a hand on her waist. "So…! I guess, I can acknowledge you, sensei. I think the others will also agree and be fine with you being around. But well, uhm… no matter what…"
The girl hitched a breath. She rapidly shook her head and sighed.
"Just… don't give us a promise you can't fulfill, okay?" Serika stifled a smile. Hapless, not knowing what else to say. It was an expression that felt bitter and yet sweet, as if she was resigned to fate's whims. "We've been working hard. Really, really worked hard to keep things afloat. But, this is just the way things are…"
It was a familiar sight, almost to the point of heartbreaking. For somebody like Vash, he didn't dare to look away. He couldn't, even if he wanted to.
That was just the kind of character he had.
The sliding door opened. Shiroko's ears perked up, a small thought dissipating as the teacher and her junior walked into the clubroom. Giving a morning greeting was obvious, but since everyone had ended up staying over at school yesterday, it felt right for them to have breakfast together.
"Ah~. Come, come!" From across the table, Nonomi patted at an empty chair bridging the gap between the two of them. A bowl of cup ramen rested on the desk, the lid weighed by a dry garnish sachet and disposable chopsticks. "Sit down here, sensei!"
"Don't mind if I do, then." The adult picked up sachet, flipped open the lid, and poured the garnish in one clean rhythm. The way he did all that pointed to a habit formed by a good numbers of practices. However, the way the adult blinked after the first bite hinted on being new to the flavor… or texture. He immediately dug into the cup ramen like a man possessed. "...done! That was some nice grub—ouch!"
"Eat properly! Don't inhale food!"
Serika, I think it's bad manners to whip a rolled newspapers in mealtime. Not that Shiroko was going to point that out, though. The gloom clouds hovering above her junior's head seemed to have all but dissipated. The ashen-haired girl was even certain that Serika got upset because she worked at Shibaseki Ramen, a knowledge which had just recently come to light after Ayane's deep-dive information gathering. She must have learned a lot from her part-time place about ramen.
There was no denying the respect in her voice as she lectured the teacher about savoring food, even when it was an instant ramen. The adult apologized profusely and Serika huffed before going back to her seat.
"It sure is eventful~." From across of her, Nonomi chimed in. She smiled, widely and brightly like always. "Don't you think our clubroom is growing livelier, Shiroko-chan?"
"Nn. It's a good change of pace." Shiroko returned to consuming her cup ramen. She personally never liked leaving things half-finished, and as for the broth… well, today was her cheat day, so whatever. "Sensei has been nothing but helpful. I think it's good to have him around."
"Ahaha… that's true," Ayane agreed with a soft smile. "Come to think of it, I'm honestly surprised that sensei happened to be with Serika-chan the other day."
At that, Serika grunted. She picked up the empty ramen cups on the table and put them all on a tray for her to carry off. She grouped them up and threw them into the trash can meant to hold inorganic wastes, then she wiped her hands clean with a handkerchief she drew out from her skirts pocket.
"He was being really nosy and persistent like a stalker," Serika said. "How am I supposed to know what part of his teaching he needed to fix?"
"Uheee~. Like an oily salesman, huh?" From the head of the table, Hoshino perked up.
"Nah, more like a wage slave panicking over unmet quota that may decide whether or not he will get fired from the company." That… might be a bit heavy-handed of an example to bring up for comparison. Even Ayane's eyebrows twitched at Serika's words. "The rest's history."
"Aah, so that's how it is…"
"You girls sure do talk as if I'm not here. Even little ol' me has feelings, yanno?"
Shiroko looked back. The teacher rested his left elbow on the desk and planted his cheek on his palm. However, the exposed metallic sheen to it… huh, somehow, that didn't look right to her? The back of hand was sleek and blocky, the joints were riddled with cables and tiny iron rods, the palm having a round hollow in the middle, while the wrist especially looked as if it was made from…
"E-hem! Shiroko-senpai, do you want some refills?"
The 2nd-year student blinked once and twice. A cup of water was shoved her way, demanding her to accept it, but the problem was, hers still had some in it. When she looked at her junior, the girl pursed her lips, her red eyes looking straight at her, and she had even raised the volume of her voice by a notch unlike the usual. This was… her way of telling her to not pry on things?
Are you sure, Serika? Though she wasn't sure why would she do this, what with the timing and circumstance, the cat-eared girl had never once faltered. Very well, then…
Giving up for the time being, Shiroko eased her shoulders. She then moved her gaze to the teacher's overall appearance.
"Sensei, you look different with your hair looking like a mess like that."
"Oh, ooh~. Do you have a thing for a grown-up bachelor, Shiroko-chan?" Without a single second put to waste, Nonomi suddenly leaned forward, a conversational smile painted on her face with glimmers deep inside her emerald green eyes. "Has spring finally arrived for my dear classmate?!"
"Hrm. I don't really get what that means… but he just have a completely different air to him, right now." Shiroko was used to her classmate's forwardness by this point, but she couldn't help the flinch oozing from her being. "Also, too close."
"Ehe he he~…! It's rare to talk about this kind of thing, after all! I need to have my own fill too, you see?" Nonomi clasped her hands together, shining all the while. "A rose-colored school life is a staple, but! In my honest, humble opinion, the story of youthful vigor is only second to the brilliance of school idol group debut! Ah, but romance is still a good thing to talk around. It's an exclusively girls' talk!"
"Why is that second to school idol group debut…?" On the side, Ayane whispered quietly out of sheer bewilderment.
"Who knows…" Serika shrugged, tone full of resignation.
"Guhh… she's already off to her own world…" And Hoshino lolled her head at the amazing display of energy shown by Nonomi. "This is gonna take a while…"
Shiroko shared the sentiment with her senior. It really couldn't be helped, and so the late morning scene played out in such manners… much to the utter dismay and confusion of the teacher, of course.
"Ko-hon. Now, then. Everyone, it's time for the long-awaited Abydos Foreclosure Taskforce's strategy meeting."
To the applause given to her, Okusora Ayane felt her heart fluttering. This was certainly something she had been waiting for. After the dust settled, it was only natural to pick up their pace. There were things in life that could not be missed, and to her, the recent incidents had all been a string of mysteries in dire need for an answer. It worried her greatly that the taskforce's rhythm was being disrupted, but it wasn't like they dallied around without anything to show off for themselves. Personally, Ayane believed that the information they had gathered so far was enough to form a good guesstimate, but well…
"We've got Vash-sensei around, so an introduction shall be in order. Does anyone have any complaint? ...nobody? Then, allow me to begin." Ayane stepped to the side, letting the diagram drawn on the whiteboard be fully exposed for all to see. At the center existed the rectangular shape of their school. "We, the Abydos Highschool, is the sole remaining student body currently active in the Abydos Autonomous Region. One could say that our situation is… well, troubled. But that is hardly the extent of it."
At her nod, everyone switched to the next page of the primers granted to them.
"Everyone across the city knows our school's issues, but reading it up again sure makes for a rather depressing impression." Serika glumly echoed her thought, a sentiment shared by the rest of the club members. "The big sandstorm several years ago was a total catastrophe. Some areas got completely buried, so many people turned into refugees overnight, and the relief funds the school had raised could hardly catch up with the accelerating desertification, never mind the still ongoing sandstorms…"
"Well, as a result, there's not enough money." The seemingly simple and lackadaisical comment came from none other than their esteemed leader. Hoshino yawned, an eye closed as if half-asleep. And yet, she gripped at the papers and looked on with an unreadable thought behind her gaze. "Unfortunately, no bank was willing to loan out such a huge sum of money, even if it's for disaster relief effort."
"And so the school turned to loan sharks…" Shiroko murmured with a frown gracing her usually collected face. "The people back then must have thought it was a sum they could repay quickly, but…"
"The sandstorms and desertification persisted." Nonomi nodded deeply. "Currently, we can barely pay for the interest every month. But the amount our club have taken up to pay is still somewhere around…"
"962,350,000 yen. You girls sure got yourselves in a real bind."
At once, all attention focused on the teacher of Schale. The adult, still dressed in a baggy and oversized shirts with his black hair let down, mused on with a knuckle pressed on his chin. His solemn gaze easily denied his delinquent-looking appearance, considering the earrings and informal attitude. Ayane felt it odd how she still barely knew him, yet she had a certainty deep within her that a face devoid of a smile did not fit Vash.
"...sensei," in the deafening silence that followed, it was Serika who shattered it. "Just to be clear, we did not ask for Schale's aid in repaying our school's debt."
"Yeah. The request specified supplies for combat mainly, so I already have a vague feeling back then." The spiky-haired adult pulled away the papers so as not to let them block his face. He smiled, however, a bitter smile that seemed to say 'I really don't know what I should do with you all' to Ayane. "You girls want to deal with this debt on your own, I'm guessing? Is this debt something absolutely everybody knows about, then?"
Ayane blinked. Once, twice. The teacher… wasn't telling them to be less stubborn, or even asking them why would they shoulder the debt on themselves?
"...huh. Well, would you look at that?'
I get you, Hoshino-senpai… no, wait! That wasn't the problem. Actually, no, maybe it was, but it was completely unheard of for an adult to let the topic slide just like this. The Foreclosure Taskforce had dabbled in many efforts to raise up funds to repay the school debts, but the first time they did a round of interviewing the citizens, they had been met with derisiveness and cold stares. It was a painful experience, but that was all it took for the taskforce to switch gear into various part-time jobs and hunting down wanted outlaws for money. Even then, it's still a huge amount of money practically impossible to pay back…
The odds had always been stacked against them. For better or worse, everyone in the room understood that somewhere deep in their hearts.
Even still, Ayane and Serika had decided to become Secretary and Treasurer of the taskforce to help out. Because they were the youngest and least experienced, they willingly took on the burdens of desk works and tedious part-time works so as to free their seniors with enough time for them to catch bigger priced outlaws. Of course, dividing works in accordance to their respective specialization wasn't quite a big deal, but they had to do multi-tasking sometimes.
But, the adult… no, we're going off on a tangent, at this rate! "I, uh… yes. Sensei, this is our—Abydos' internal affairs, but it's not exactly normal for a school to crumble away in this manner. The disastrous sandstorm had even made for a headline news at the time…"
"More like, the school's reputation tanked hard because of it." Her fellow classmate huffed as she flopped back in her chair, the primers gently tossed to the table. "Since the environment is growing harsher with no signs of improving, the school rapidly lost arable lands to cultivate. Any business that decided to make a stand here would require significant investment to protect themselves from the elements, and there's a good chance of their places swallowed by the desert. Of course, most people who have heard of the debt will also run off for greener pasture, so…"
"Nn. We're the only ones left here."
"Shiroko-chan, I don't think that's the right timing to give out a smug face…" The pink-haired third-year student let out a tired sigh with a chuckle. "Ah, well. There you have the long and short of it. Sensei, you don't need to pity us or use Schale's authority to drag us out of this hole."
"Hmmm…"
"...please give a proper response, sensei. That vague sound is reaaallly unconvincing."
At Hoshino's remark, the adult threw up his shoulders in defeat. With a 'well, what you can do' look visibly written on his face, he smiled softly and settled down in his seat. The silence left behind was awkward, and a small part of Ayane realized that Vash had never once replied with words even then. That was worrying in its own right, but then again, the enigmatic adult was still an unknown element.
What was his purpose? What plan did he have in mind? What sort of feeling did he have and what did he think after knowing the extent of everything Abydos had to offer in its current state? In truth, this could be applied to basically everyone who did not hail from Abydos proper, but Ayane couldn't stop the morbid fascination from bubbling up. Could the teacher find out a solution to the bottomless sinkhole her school had landed in?
After all, their school had never once been gifted with an aid. Whether it be by other schools, the populace native to Abydos, or even by the General Student Council.
"Well, I can sort of understand your situation, now." With a leg folded on his lap, the adult placed his elbow on the desk and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand. It was the same pose he showed from earlier, except this time around he was using his right arm to prop his head. "Since you girls are willing to work yourselves to the bone for your school, let's leave it at that and move on."
"...are you certain, sensei?"
"Sure am. Not my place to talk you down when it comes to resolution," the teacher said with a lopsided grin. "But the debt and the attacks from the other day… are you girls sure those aren't completely unrelated things?"
Oh, I didn't think of that angle—wait, what? "Errm? S-sensei, what do you mean by…"
"Ahaha~! I guess that does make sense, somewhat." Hoshino's cheerful interjection rang out, but that ended up drawing a lot of blank-faced surprises as well as alarmed concerns from the other club members. The pink-haired older girl reclined back in her chair, a seemingly dopey and half-awake smile on her face. "If our school goes under, the loan sharks can do whatever they want with the autonomous region. Sell it, develop it, do business investment and whatnot… not that it's possible."
Ayane blinked. That was a sudden turnaround… "Uhm, is it because of the sandstorm and desertification?"
"Yep. Water and gas are precious commodity around here, never mind the upkeep cost for power grids against the elements. Businesses are hard and complex works, so I can't imagine them finding any practical use of the land immediately… Well, it'd be a different matter if a school gets built on our land, I guess."
"Do-doesn't that mean our enemy is rivaling school—"
"Nah, nope. Can't imagine that happening either."
And this time, it was Vash who had interjected. Ayane was feeling a bit dizzy as her world flipped upside-down several times over. B-but, but… this was a strategy meeting, right? As the secretary of Abydos Foreclosure Taskforce, the basic duty she was tasked with would be to hear out ideas, and…
Urgh, what else is there…? "C-could you tell us the reasoning behind that, sensei?"
"Hrm? Nothing much." At her inquiry, the teacher of Schale smiled brightly, widely, and almost all-too-innocently. "Where would you even find teenage kids who'd do mind games like untraceable gangster harassment and abduction with high-tech stuff? It takes less effort to overwhelm our side with pure numbers and brute force, yanno?"
...well, yeah. Ayane could see the rationale behind that argument. She could even understand it, but somehow, the way he put it kind of—
"You're just trying to put it oh-so-nicely that we're all dumb kids too pure and fragile for the world, aren't you!? You stupid teacher…!"
Serika-chan, I wish you didn't openly state that out loud… Ayane felt her eyes misting as an adult yelped in pain. As if that served as the trigger, arguments broke out from all over the place, the peaceful late morning devolving into total chaos. The glasses-wearing first-year hung her head low, her shoulders sagging with immeasurable disappointment and betrayed expectations. This is hopeless...
A/N: This chapter was super hard to wrap up. I struggled a lot IRL too as of lately, so it took a lot to be done with it all. On a side note, next chapter will (at last) feature one of my most favorite characters, so motivation isn't gonna be an issue.