AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Few quick things! Firstly, thanks to everyone for 100 follows on the fic and ending up TV tropes fic recs for BA! Used to writing for much smaller fanbases so kind of surprised how quickly this one took off. Appreciate all the comments and attention to the story all around. Means a lot and always love hearing what people think.
Secondly, slightly changed how chapters are titled before fanfiction's character limit was giving me grief and I want titles consistent everywhere I put this. I really wanna try having chapter names after the prologue and keep the volume naming scheme from BA, but the character limit is a bit restrictive.
Thirdly, you all may've noticed the cover art for the story with Ragna and the GDD. That was done by a good friend of mine, Aisenzwei. They have a Pixiv with some BA art that can be found here
en/users/8613103
Just go to Pixiv and add this at the end of the URL, fanfiction eats any links not to here. Little funfact: It was done off a one-shot I did to test if I wanted to make it a full story, so they'll probably be a (slightly modified) version of it showing up when we get to Millennium eventually.
The trip back from SRT was tenser for Ragna than he had anticipated. RABBIT Platoon seemed alright and friendly enough, but something about the FOX group was bothering him. However, those thoughts had been forced to the back burner to deal with Rin. He'd sent her a message on that thing called Momo Talk, which Arona had helped him set up, about wanting to speak once he got back to SCHALE. Arona had been insistent that texting first was the 'right' way to do it in case Rin was busy and couldn't take his call at the time and that texting was how most people communicated for shorter messages, so he'd gone along with it. He sure preferred an actual call though, texting was annoying with a single functioning hand but at least he could dictate messages to Arona.
The pause had given Ragna enough time to look through a little more about SRT's history, though it hadn't been that long as the arrival of a huge flood of messages to SCHALE's inbox, and before he could even sort that Rin had finally called back.
"Good afternoon, Ragna-sensei." Rin's cool voice spoke from the other hand. "You mentioned a few matters you wished to discuss concerning SCHALE?"
"Yeah, I'll try and make this one quick. About the damage the other day Yuuka was yelling at me over..." Ragna started with a grumble. He had a bad feeling about this already.
"Ah, yes, that." Rin's voice dropped to a business like professionalism. "SCHALE will need to file some forms associated with the incident and invoices to ensure the operating expenses are properly accounted for. You remember some of the details concerning SCHALE's finances from our discussion yesterday, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I was calling to ask less about that and more how I'm supposed to fill out these forms or the invoice." Ragna waved off the question. While getting shown around the office, Ragna had asked about money and paying for things, given he was used to largely living off the land, selling anything interesting he found, or some one off odd jobs for survival. A steady job with regular payments outside of cash was not a situation he was used to. Rin had explained a few basic things to him then. In this job, he had his regular salary of personal money to use for whatever and then could invoice the GSC for operating expenses to pay for anything part of 'official' activities, such as the combat expenses of yesterday.
"Come again?" Rin asked flatly.
"This is my first time doing a job like this and I've never had to deal with any of the headaches with financial forms or invoices. But I know people are uptight as hell about one little mistake when it comes to anything bureaucratic. Doing this once is bad enough and I'm not doing it again because somebody didn't tell me about some bullshit regulations." Ragna continued flatly. There was a headache already starting to bother him at the discussion like he was recalling a painful memory.
A sigh came from the other end of the phone. "Despite your crude way of putting it, the due diligence is valued. Between all the chaos of current events, I suppose I did forget to inform you about some standard procedures."
"Already showing why it was a good idea to call you."
"Anyway," Ragna could practically hear the exasperated expression on Rin. "the most relevant matter is that we ask for kanji numerals to be used when writing monetary amounts on official documents. Please, do not use Arabic numerals, it is a common mistake."
Ragna expression fell flat. "Why? They're much easier to write."
"This is to help prevent forgeries and misreadings." Rin answered directly.
"You want to use kanji to prevent misreadings?" Ragna did not restrain an ounce of his sarcasm. "Don't tell me you want them handwritten too."
"That is prefer- Ah…" Rin trailed off into an understanding pause. "Sensei, were you right handed?"
"I think you see the problem." Ragna said flatly. It wasn't like he couldn't use his left hand. In fact, though he was still primarily right handed, when it came to most matters Ragna could use both hands to a level which bordered on ambidextrous, particularly for combat. But for anything that needed extremely fine and careful movements, such as say writing, the usage of his non-dominant hand was painfully obvious.
"In that case, as long as you handwrite your signature on the document to verify authenticity, use of any electronic assistance will be fine. If you have trouble filling out any documents, it is within SCHALE's right to request students for aid as well. It is a club that can recruit any student who wishes to join." Rin explained over the phone.
"Don't worry, sensei! I'll help you with it!" Arona's enthusiastic voice came from the Shittim Chest on his desk.
Ragna flashed the girl an appreciative smile. Arona was quickly becoming a lifesaver. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. If I can ask stu-"
"No," Rin abruptly cut Ragna off. "that does not include me. I am busy managing my own workload and will not do your's for you."
"Didn't even let me finish my damn sentence..." Ragna dryly stated.
"If you want any assistance, perhaps it would be best to ask one of the students from the other day." Rin continued as if Ragna had not said a word. "That annoying girl from Millennium is their treasurer and would know all the necessary procedures for filing documents."
Was Rin being petty? He couldn't have been imagining that. "Is she? Well, I was going to call her anyway, I'll keep that in mind. But besides that, there's another matter I wanted to talk with you about."
"Hm? What is it, sensei?"
"It's about SRT. I visited the school earlier and talked to a few students." Ragna said casually.
Even without seeing Rin's face, Ragna could sense an immediate change in the atmosphere of the conversation that only grew with the long pause his words brought.
"I assume you wish to discuss the issue of SRT's closure being considered." Rin's words were professional, yet tense.
"Yeah, mainly that, few things associated with it." Ragna answered. "Guess those rumors weren't baseless. So, you mind explaining to me why SRT's up for closure and nobody wants to take over it?"
Rin sighed. "That is a… long answer. SRT's situation is complicated, as it was a school which answered solely to the president without oversight from anyone else. To be frank, SRT's existence has always been a contentious issue among some parties. There is merit toward the school's existence and it has accomplished several vital missions which no one else could due to its extrajudicial authority. Yet it is that very authority which inspired the controversy. Schools in Kivotos have significant autonomy for most matters, autonomy which SRT is capable of overruling."
Ragna let out a guttural sound of annoyance. He already knew where this was coming from. Maybe Yukino did have a point. "And that extends to me, because now there are two branches which exist that can do that, right?"
"That is correct, sensei. One institution meant to hold those accountable who otherwise would be in the position to abuse it is easier to accept. But for another one with the same power to crop up has caused some concern among the GSC about the merit of going back to business as usual with SRT. It could easily be seen as a gradual consolidation of power, particularly as you are unknown to most of Kivotos. The president was well respected and her authority trusted, but she is no longer here and so the same faith afforded to her no longer extends to what she was in charge of." Rin lectured, keeping her tone level.
Oh, goddammit. Ragna hated politics. "Ugh, and I'm guessing that's also why nobody has stepped up to manage SRT then? Suddenly taking all that power would look opportunistic and piss off everyone else who might want more themselves."
"Also correct. You're quick on the uptake for someone who voiced such disdain for political matters." Rin's voice rose to approval.
"Hey, it's not my favorite thing and I prefer to stay out of it, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid." Ragna replied with an annoyed grunt. "You're the acting president and supposed to be in charge now, aren't you? Wasn't the whole point of a vice president meant to be you take over if something happens to the one in charge?"
"That is technically within my rights as acting president, yes." Rin answered plainly.
"The hell are you leaving the school there doing nothing then?"
"Authority is like a holy grail filled to the brim with poison, sensei." Rin stated firmly. "It is a convenient trump card, but using it over and over will only lead to your destruction."
"Rin," Ragna sighed in frustration, interrupting the girl. "I get that and if you start using it recklessly then you're just a corrupt tyrant. But this isn't an all or nothing situation. If you just sit there and don't take any action then why the hell even have that power? Believe me, I know there's power you don't want to rely on and abuse, but sometimes doing nothing with it will only create more problems. I shouldn't have to bring up SRT's history and what they've done. I was reading about the school earlier and saw things, like the raid on that Kaiser factory making illegal missiles a while back."
"That is exactly why SRT's closure is a polarizing issue and no conclusion has been reached for now." Rin fired back. "I was the vice president of the GSC, but I was not given the presidency in the same manner as she was. I am carrying out all of the duties of the station, but Kivotos is facing an unprecedented crisis. Regardless of personal feelings, it is important that as many factions are able to cooperate as possible, particularly since we've only just recovered Sanctum Tower and have barely begun getting everything back on track again. Once some proper stability has been restored to Kivotos and tensions have eased, then perhaps SRT's situation can be properly reassessed. It will take time for people to change their minds and come to an agreement."
Ragna's voice turned harsher. "I get the concern, but sounds like you either don't trust yourself to make the right decision or you're one of the people that doesn't like the school."
"Not questioning yourself enough can have its own dangers, sensei." Rin kept her voice firm.
"Trust me, I know that. But if you second guess yourself too much then you'll never get anything done."
Rin let out a deep, weary sigh. "I am not foolish enough to deny the good SRT has done, but as things stand now, reevaluating the school's scope and role may be for the best. That does not mean it will be closed. The issue will be revisited at another day."
"If it's about SCHALE, I'm not trying to be the damn police and replace SRT." Ragna said with an edge. "Have you seen how big Kivotos is?"
"You don't need to replace SRT. SCHALE is free to operate how you want it to, provided it's within reason." Rin answered plainly. "But the issue of manpower is solvable, remember that you can recruit other students to assist with SCHALE's duties."
"Alright, so if nobody's gonna take charge in the GSC, what about me?" Ragna asked. To be frank, it wasn't like the man was jumping at the idea of taking over SRT. He still didn't know enough about the school and SCHALE was already pushing his tolerance for this stuff, trying to take on a whole school with that would be worse. But since it was topica, Ragna was at least curious about the nuclear option if it came to it and to see just how far he could push things if it came to it. Maybe he'd get some insight on the political situation too.
The line went silent for a few seconds as Rin processed what Ragna was saying. "Am I understanding right you're talking about… Wanting to recruit an entire school? That would be a tall ask, even for SCHALE's authority."
"I'm not asking should I, I'm asking can I."
"That…" Rin trailed off for a moment. "Is not technically outside of your station, but it would not be the same as enrollment in a school and all of the management with comes with maintaining one to ensure a proper education of students, particularly those needing specialized education like SRT. Every student being part of SCHALE would not change anything concerning SRT if it were to shut down, if that is your question."
Why couldn't things ever just be simple? Yeah, no way he could do that, Ragna wasn't built for that kind of work. He was skeptical enough of SCHALE as it was and that had a bunch of freedom already.
"If you wished to pursue official channels for such a motion to avoid that problem, I can already tell you it likely wouldn't be successful." Rin added quickly.
Ragna groaned. "Because everyone's uneasy about SCHALE for the same reasons?"
"Correct. I doubt many would be eager to hand SRT and all its resources over to SCHALE when you are still a stranger to most of Kivotos. SCHALE has great authority, but it's not unlimited."
"Oh, this is bullshit…" Fucking. POLITICS.
"If you wish to discuss the matter further, perhaps it would be better to do so another time in person. I apologize to cut a discussion like this short, but I didn't think one of the topics you mentioned would be this. SRT's situation is not being handled lightly though, I can promise you that." Rin said diplomatically. "I only have so much time at the moment with everything that needs fixing in Kivotos."
"Yeah, sure, fine. Whatever. I'll talk to you later, Rin." Ragna huffed. He was getting a headache from this conversation anyway and still had paperwork to do. At least it didn't sound like SRT was going anywhere any time soon, so not like the emergency was immediate?
"Goodbye, sensei. And please, do not forget the kanji numerals on the official documents." Without another word, Rin hung up the phone.
Ragna set his phone down, freeing up his palm to immediately slam into his face. "I'm already regretting this job…"
"Don't let it get to you too much, sensei!" Arona supportively called out in an attempt to cheer the man up. "Rin-san is just under a lot of pressure to keep everything in order. Managing the General Student Council and all of Kivotos is hard work."
Ragna sighed deeply. "I wouldn't wan- Wait, did you hear that entire conversation?"
Arona's eyes started shifting around to avert meeting Ragna's gaze. "W-Well, you still have the Shittim Chest linked to your phone so I can help manage it, so that means I can hear any calls…"
"Hey, what's with the guilty look? Not like I care, was just curious how you did that." Ragna dismissively waved his hand. "You're supposed to be my assistant, right? Saves me some time explaining the situation anyway."
At the praise, Arona's smile immediately returned and her halo became a heart. "You can count on me, sensei!"
"Great, because I'm sure as shit going to need you." Ragna grumbled with a scowl. "Know anything about filling out financial documents? Might as well take a look at these to get ready."
Arona nodded with a smile. "You don't have to worry about a thing! I can help you get started."
"Perfect. Guess I'll send Yuuka a message and see if they're available then. The more people around and faster this gets done, the better" Ragna said, reaching for his phone to contact the girl. Fortunately, he'd gotten the contact information for the squad of 4 who'd assisted in retaking the SCHALE building to add them once he got a hold of his phone.
But something deep in Ragna's soul told him he was going to hate this.
Yuuka was always a busy girl, but the last week could've been described as extra busy. Now that one of the largest crises Kivotos had ever suffered was over though, everyone could begin rebuilding. Thankfully, with how iron clad Yuuka's work ethic was, she'd managed to stay on top of all the stress inducing paperwork concerning damage assessment and, while she still had work to do, it left her with less of an overwhelming pile than she could've had. It even left her enough time for a break, or rather Noa had very firmly encouraged her to take a break.
But that was one bit of advice Yuuka couldn't take today and what was supposed to be a break was going to be spent helping Ragna organize the invoices for expenses from the mission to take back SCHALE. The man had sent her a message requesting help because they had not the faintest clue about financial forms. As concerning as that was, it still worked out. Yuuka had been wanting to learn more about Ragna to try and understand the mysterious adult working with the GSC, so this would be a great opportunity for it.
At the entrance of Ragna's office, Yuuka proceeded to let herself in as Ragna had said to do exactly that. "Sensei, I'm here and brought some spare forms. Wait, sensei doesn't SCHALE have a uniform?"
Inside, Ragna was sitting at a desk in the same clothes that he always wore, a thoroughly drained expression across his face. Which was reflected in the tone of his greeting being borderline hostile. "Oh, hey Yuuka. Yeah, it does. What about it?"
"… Shouldn't you be wearing it then?" Yuuka asked flatly. "It's important to maintain a sense of professionalism when handling such important work."
"Nah, I like my coat better." Ragna answered with no hesitation. "It's not gonna make me write any faster to wear something else."
Yuuka sharply inhaled through her nose. Oh, this was an omen of what was to come, wasn't it? What kind of man did the president choose...
"So, we going to get started then or what? Hope you can help this go faster. Rather fight an army than deal with this crap." Ragna added with a light groan.
Yuuka sighed, head slumping. "Sensei, it's not that bad."
"Maybe for you." Ragna said with a sarcastic scoff. "I'm just glad I don't have to handwrite everything or I'd never get this done."
"Eh?" Yuuka brow furrowed in confusion until realization slammed into her mind and her eyes wandered over to Ragna's limp right arm. Ah, that was right… Trying to fill out documents with your non-dominant hand was almost always a mess, that would explain some of the frustration.
"Actually, sensei, there was something I wanted to ask you about, before we got started." Yuuka spoke up, a touch of uncertainty in her words. The thought was a good excuse to press for more about that and even offer assistance. She didn't know where Ragna came from, but Millennium had the best technology in Kivotos. If wherever Ragna came from couldn't offer a prosthetic, then perhaps her school could help solve both the issue of his eye and arm.
"Sure, hit me. Anything to take a break from this damn paperwork." Ragna said, pushing his chair away from the desk without any hesitation.
"About the right side of your body…" Yuuka paused for a moment to consider her words. If it was a sensitive subject then it would've been incredibly rude to not treat the situation with some weight and respect. "I sympathize with the problems you must have to deal with. If you'd like, Millennium could make some prosthetics for you, so you'll have an easier time in Kivotos and with your duties. Our school is the most advanced in Kivotos and can make replacements every bit as good as the natural thing."
"Thanks, but no thanks." Ragna answered without so much as a pause to consider.
"Eh? B-But why?" Yuuka couldn't help herself blurting out the confused question at the instant rejection from the other.
"It's…" Not remotely offended, Ragna looked up at the ceiling with a deep, contemplative frown. "Complicated. My arm and eye used to work fine before I came to Kivotos, but it ran off something that Kivotos doesn't have."
"Oh, in that case, if you'd be willing to let us look at it perhaps we could make an alternative power source." Yuuka suggested with a friendly tone. If it was already a prosthetic, then that made things easier to work with. Wait, his hand was already replaced?
"That's not happening either." Before Yuuka could ask another question, Ragna once more firmly slapped away the helping hand offered.
Now, Yuuka's frustration was starting to grow alongside her confusion. "Sensei, there's no need to be stubborn. If you don't trust Millennium's capabilities, I'll gladly show you around the campus so you can see for yourself where ou-"
"It's not that I don't trust you specifically." Ragna abruptly cut off Yuuka. "Even back where I came from, there's almost nobody I'd trust to look at my arm. It's not any ordinary prosthetic arm."
Yuuka remained silent, carefully absorbing Ragna's words.
"What's the best way to explain it…" Ragna hand went to his head, scratching his scalp in frustration. "Alright, simplest way to put it would be that if somebody screwed anything up checking over this arm, it'd probably kill me. And whoever's working on it."
"E-Eh!? W-What kind of person would even put that on somebody? Who even makes a prosthetic like that?!" Yuuka stern words were plainly laced with concern as she looked at Ragna's arm with suspicion. How bad was the medical situation where Ragna came from? Was it some kind of military device with a failsafe to prevent falling into the wrong hands? Even that idea was hard to fathom. What kind of history did Ragna have?
"Because it was that or die." Ragna stated with a direct casualness that made Yuuka feel uneasy.
"Oh… I'm… sorry, sensei. I didn't mean to be insensitive like that." Yuuka said with a guilty frown, averting eye contact with the man. When the stakes were that, even if it were dangerous it wasn't hard to imagine picking it with what the alternative was. It was starting to look like some of her earlier assumptions about Ragna were right. That would explain a lot about his demeanor.
"Hey," Ragna dismissively waved his hand. "don't worry about it. You didn't know and this thing's unusual even by the standards of my place. Might be deadweight now, but sure as hell got me through a lot over almost a decade."
Decade? Ragna had mentioned he wasn't even in his mid 20s, which meant if he got this that long ago then…
Yuuka frowned sympathetically at the man. He very well could've been younger than her when he lost his arm and eye, forced into such a difficult choice. Despite that, Ragna seemed rather comfortable discussing the subject, perhaps because it had been so many years? Maybe it was a bit insensitive to ask, but while Yuuka was curious she also wanted to offer some proper sympathy. The man was surprisingly… Amicable in the right situation, certainly not as much as Yuuka expected with her first impression. "Sensei, do you… Want to talk about it?"
"Really want to know, huh?" Ragna closed his eyes briefly, his expression unreadable. "Alright, I don't mind talking about it a bit, it's not a long story. About a decade ago, I was being raised in a church with my siblings, but there was… an incident and it got attacked."
Yuuka listened carefully as the man spoke. She could see Ragna's face grew distant, his single eye less looking at Yuuka and more past her. There was a tenseness to him that was different from his usual self, not the same near perpetual annoyance.
"The place got burned down and the sister looking after everything was killed, lost my arm too." Ragna said with a heavy voice, eyes clouded with memories. He was silent for a solid several seconds, letting the pause hang in the air like he was deciding how much more to elaborate on. "After that, well, it was either bleed to death or this thing. Wasn't hard to choose."
Yuuka had a suspicious feeling there was far more to the story than Ragna was letting on, but the matter was clearly a sensitive subject, far more than she had expected it to be. She barely knew Ragna so if he wanted to keep a few things to himself, she could respect it. "That's a lot you had to go through at a young age. I'm sorry, sensei."
"Yeah, well, it helps the son of a bitch responsible for it isn't around anymore." Ragna said, some of the tension in his body relaxing. "So it's all in the past now."
Even despite that, it just didn't feel fair if Ragna had to face the prospect of his arm being permanently disabled when it could've otherwise been fixed. Yuuka couldn't so easily accept it. "I can understand your choice and hesitation in letting anyone look at it, sensei. I don't know how it compares to where you're from, but I'd still like to help and Millennium does have some incredibly advanced technology. Perhaps I could bring you to the campus sometime to judge for yourself. It doesn't feel right for you to be stuck like that for the rest of your life over something you had no real choice in."
"Rest of my life huh… Guess I do gotta start thinking about the long term more." Ragna muttered, more to himself than anything else. "Maybe some other time. Got something a little less dangerous that might be possible to work on and fix this, but don't act surprised if I still say no. Might kill me if somebody screws something up on that too."
Yuuka blinked, visible concern and confusion rapidly spreading over her face. He had TWO things on him like that? If the first one had such a story behind it, what could've possibly been the reasoning behind the second one? Was even standing next to Ragna like holding a time bomb that could explode at any moment? She wasn't sure to feel more sympathetic or cautious.
"Now," Ragna spoke up before Yuuka could. "you really wanna help me with something? How about getting these documents ready before I start getting ready to hang myself."
Immediately brought back to light matters, Yuuka sighed deeply. "Sensei, don't be so dramatic. It's just paperwork. But that's what I'm here for so alright. While I'm here, you mentioned not having much experience with financial documents. Would you like to go over some of the other forms. It'll be important for SCHALE to keep things like proper journal entries and income statements."
"The hell are those?"
Yuuka's expression and voice turned flat. This couldn't be as bad as she thought it was, right? "Sensei… Please tell me you know what taxes are."
"Don't look at me like I'm stupid, of course I do!" Ragna huffed.
Oh, good. For a second there Yuuka was worried th-
"Not my fault if I never had to pay them though."
Rarely in her life was Yuuka ever truly speechless.
This was one of those moments.
How does somebody like this even get trusted by the GSC President and HIRED in such a high level position?! Ugh, no, she had to calm down. Ragna's life was far from normal, maybe he had some reason for this too. Her earlier suspicions had been even more correct than she'd realized, he could have a little more benefit of the doubt. No matter how much it was being stretched now.
No matter, Yuuka still had a long day ahead of her.
Ragna had blazed through fortified military compounds without a scratch, crushed armies worth of men single handily, and even killed a god that could end time itself.
But THIS? This cursed battle against the most boring thing known to man that was paperwork? That may as well of been one of the worst fights of Ragna's life. Why did he even agree to this position if this was something he was supposed to do regularly? Why oh WHY did there have to be so many forms and numbers to do for what could've been so simple? If somebody was throwing extra forms at Ragna as a way to dissuade more accidental collateral, it damn well was working.
The slowly setting rays of the sun blanketing the world in orange, alongside the empty cups, attested to just how long everything had taken. It had taken longer than it could've because Yuuka just HAD to insist on trying to teach Ragna about documents and money.
At least it was finally over after such a long and arduous day. For now.
"Yuuka, you probably saved my ass with how much worse that would've been without you." Ragna plainly said, sliding his chair back from his desk like it were cursed. There wasn't any sarcasm or joking in his voice. Even with Arona around trying to do everything would've been an ordeal, but at least she was sorting mail for him while he and Yuuka worked on the documents.
"Ragna…" Yuuka paused for a moment, visible hesitation written all over her face. "… sensei…"
What the hell was with the hesitation adding sensei there!?
"I appreciate the thanks but… There's no way I can leave you to manage SCHALE's finances after that." Yuuka said, flashing Ragna a stern glare that was laced with actual worry. "I can't fault you for not knowing with where you grew up, but the work still needs to get done."
"Hey, a desk job is the last thing I ever saw myself doing." Ragna grumbled. He was feeling like Rin had taken him for a ride downplaying how much he'd have to do in this position. No shit he wasn't familiar with paperwork. How was knowing how to do taxes supposed to help with all the fighting and survival Jubei taught him? He'd probably laugh his ass off if he could see Ragna right now.
"And that's why I can't let such an important institution with so much power do their paperwork so haphazardly! So starting right now, I'm going to help you with organizing SCHALE's paperwork and finances. I'm the treasurer of Millennium's student council, Seminar, so I'm an expert when it comes to managing this."
"Be my guest then." Ragna said, his one hand up in resignation.
"That wasn't an invitation to do everything for you, sensei!" Yuuka glared disapprovingly. "This is for your own good and you need to learn how to do this! You're supposed to set an example for your students!"
How lazy did she think he was!?
"I wasn't asking you to, dammit." Ragna said with a huff. "I'll get used to it, but like hell I have to like it."
Yuuka groaned.
"But all that aside. I really mean it, thanks Yuuka." Ragna said, his tone lightening to something more appreciative and less annoyed.
Yuuka looked momentarily caught off guard by the genuine thankfulness, blinking a few times as he expression turned slightly more reserved, even a little bashful. "I-I'm just repaying the favor for helping get Kivotos back in order."
"Guess I shouldn't keep you any longer though. It's getting late." Ragna said, glancing out the window at the sun half behind the horizon.
"Eh, it's that late already?" Yuuka mirrored the gesture and promptly pulled out her phone to double check the time, which made her frown. "Ugh, I spent longer over here than I expected to."
Yeaaaaah that… Was probably at least a little bit of Ragna's fault with some of the arguing. It wasn't his fault if half these practices made no sense to him. At least some of it had felt oddly quick to pick up, like getting a refresher course. It was similar to when he was learning about guns with SRT.
That still didn't mean he had to like it.
"I need to get going." Yuuka said with a sour look, fiddling with her phone like she was typing something, likely a message to someone else. After a moment, she turned her attention back toward Ragna. "Sensei, I'll be checking in with you later to ensure all the documents stay in order. I'm not doing all your paperwork for you, but I'll at least manage the financial documents. Finances are my specialty and it won't take me any time at all." Yuuka finished with a proud look.
"Alright, see you later then, Yuuka." Ragna threw a casual wave at the girl as she then departed the room. The very moment she did, Ragna slumped back in his chair and let out an exaggerated groan that resembled a dying animal.
"Sensei, it wasn't that bad." Arona chimed in from his coat pocket. "Yuuka-san's strict and thorough, but she tried so hard to help because she cares!"
Producing the tablet from his clothes, Ragna set it down on his desk, looking down at Arona with exasperation. "I was sure as shit not built for office work."
Arona flashed a supportive smile. "Don't worry about it, sensei. You have people you can depend on, like your assistant Arona-chan! It'll get easier once you get used to how to file everything."
"Somehow, I doubt that." Ragna flatly said. There was something deep inside the depth of his very being which viscerally reacted to the mere idea of it, like long buried trauma being dug up freshly. "I'm getting the hell out of this office tomorrow for something more my speed. You got anything from all those messages you said you were gonna sort while Yuuka and I dealt with the paperwork?"
"I do!" Arona beamed. "There's one letter in particular I think you'll want to take a look at, sensei."
A moment later, a message flashed on the screen. It was a message by a student named Okusora Ayane from Abydos High School, detailing how their school was being harassed by a gang she suspected was after the school itself and asking for help with their rapidly depleting supplies. But there was something else which pushed that to the back of his thoughts as he read the letter.
A jumbled flood of images assaulted Ragna's mind once more as he read about the situation that already felt familiar. Some names and events were crystal clear, Ragna could already picture the girl behind the letter. 1st year, below average height with a neat navy blue blazer over a beige sweater and pleated black skirt, accompanied by short black hair and red glasses on her head over amber eyes with a red crosshair for a halo. Other parts were less distinct but still recognizable, somewhat like looking at a blurred photo, or inspired a strong feeling. Endless amounts of sand, battles with gangs, a desperate situation with seemingly no way out…
There was no mistaking it. He hadn't met Abydos, but he knew them. Or, perhaps it would've been more accurate to say he hadn't met them yet this time.
Every time the school came up the memories were among the most vivid Ragna could recall with the simplest prompt. If most of the other instances were like getting just the frame of a puzzle when prompted, this was like having fragmented and disconnected pieces filling in the center, yet still incomplete. But still, if that was the case, then he must've been close to or spent significant time around that school to have such strong memories in comparison.
If Ragna wasn't convinced of it before, then he certainly was now. He had been through these events before. This was almost exactly like what happened when a wide scale and powerful Phenomena Intervention occurred for him.
But then what in the hell could've caused such a massive scale Intervention? He wasn't certain if something on the level of the Master Unit would've been required, that had been capable of creating a hundred year long time loop centered around him and effectively resetting reality as a whole. Even if not that high level this was easily beyond what the Takamagahara system could do. That power was capable of undoing major events short of those effecting most of the world. But that didn't feel right either, something in Ragna's mind said the Master Unit was a closer comparison, especially with the holes in his memory. Could it have been related to how and why he was called here in the first place? He always trusted his gut feeling, but this time Ragna felt more behind many of his assumptions than pure gut instinct.
Arg, son of a bitch. He just knew too little and had too many gaps in his memories. Knowledge appeared to come to him when he had something associated with it come up, that was normal for situations like this, but trying to freely recall everything was like trying to force a blurry picture to be clear. But why, why the hell was this still happening again? He was supposed to have left that all behind with his old world. At least his prior experience with matters like this would be useful in dealing with it, hopefully, but he shouldn't have needed it dammit. His life just always had to be so complicated, didn't it?
Well, nothing to do but follow the bread crumbs and hope more came to him for now. These girls needed his help.
"… sei! Sensei!"
"Huh, what?" Ragna snapped out of his deep reflection, gaze shooting to Arona.
"Sensei, are you alright? You spaced out there for a minute. I know it's a bad situation for Abydos, but we'll manage." Arona said supportively, though some worry dampened her usual high energy.
"It's… Not that, Arona." Ragna said with a tense frown. "We might have a real big problem to deal with though, I'm not sure if anything's alright now."
"Sensei?" Arona tilted her head, a concerned frown spreading over her.
Ragna didn't immediately answer, instead half talking to himself while he reached for his phone. "This might take a while to explain. Maybe I should call Ayane first and ask how much to bring… Might be too late if I do that later."
"Eh? But, sensei, you don't have her num-"
Arona was cut off by the sound of Ragna's phone ringing.
"H-Huh!? How'd you call her?" Arona stammered.
What the hell, how did he do that? So distracted by the wider implications of what could've manipulated time, Ragna had dialed Ayane's phone number without realizing it. He must've spoken with her a good bit the first go around for that to seem like such a normal action. Probably best to ha-
"Hello? Who's this?" Ayane's soft, yet confused, voice came out of the speaker.
Shit.
"Uuuh, Ayane, right? I got your message to SCHALE." Ragna stated, hiding his racing thoughts behind a neutral tone. He was gonna need an explanation for this.
"Oh, Ragna-sensei!" Ayane's voice briefly warmed up with optimism, only to be quickly replaced by confusion. "Wait.. How did you get my number?"
"Er, student… registry SCHALE has." Ragna answered after a moment, trying not to sound too unsure of himself. Wait, no, he didn't have one of those yet, did he? Well, at least as she didn't know that.
"Eh? They included us on something like that? That's a little surprising to hear." Unfortunately for Ragna, Ayane wasn't going to so easily roll with his lie.
Arg, yeah that was right. The finer details escaped him right now, but the situation at Abydos and its continued existence as a school was rather complicated, wasn't it? "Yeah, well, I called to talk about your letter and coming down tomorrow."
"Y-You're planning to come down tomorrow?" Ayane stammered in such a manner it made picturing her wide eyed expression too easy. "T-Thank you for responding to us so quickly, sensei. I didn't think you'd answer that fast."
"Couldn't exactly ignore somebody who sounded so desperate." Ragna stated. Alright, good, looked like Ayane was distracted from the previous topic. "I'll see about getting there late afternoon. Give me a list of everything you need and I'll see what I can bring."
"That'd be really helpful, thank you sensei! Can I send you a list on Momo Talk? We just finished a meeting, so I'll need a few minutes to get a list together." Ayane said with a cheerful tone.
"Alright, I'll talk to you a bit more tomorrow then. Got a few things I need to take care of here, just wanted to check in for a minute." Probably was better for Ragna if he didn't linger on this conversation for too long in case he said something wrong by accident. He was going to need to get this whole problem sorted and fast.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then, sensei!"
With a brief exchange of Momo Talk IDs, the call concluded and Ragna let out a frustrated groan. Now, he had to figure out how he was going to deal with this… Everything else. There were far too many unknowns right now.
"Sensei, is everything alright? Is there anything you wanted to talk about?" Arona asked with a pensive frown, much of the usual energy in her voice replaced instead by deep concern.
Ragna tapped his hand against his chair. How much should he tell Arona? The whole story behind his experience with matters like this was… Not short, it could've taken at least all day to go over most of the details, if not longer. Never mind the fact that if he tried explaining all that to somebody who had no concept of terms and powers responsible for those events Ragna would look out of his mind and take more time to explain. But at the same time, something told Ragna he could trust Arona. He didn't remember meeting her specifically, unlike with Abydos, yet there was a feeling of ease and familiarity around his assistant. Maybe it was the fact she looked, and even acted a bit like from what little he could recall, a younger version of the GSC President? Or maybe there was something more there. It sure felt that way.
No, he could trust Arona. She knew some vague details about the Azure Grimoire already too and was supposed to be his assistant that would always be with him. If he was going to do some investigating into this, then she would figure it out anyway and might even be helpful navigating around technology. If there was anyone he could talk with, it was her.
"Arona." Ragna finally spoke up, looking at her right in the eyes.
"Hm?" Arona tilted her head with an uncertain expression.
"I'm going to say something that sounds crazy, but I need you to trust and hear me out." The man continued with a heavier weight to his words than was normal.
"Whatever it is, you can count on me, sensei." Arona said with a supportive smile, some of her usual energy returning.
"You remember what I said in our first talk, right? About feeling like I'd met everyone already?"
"Yeah, I do…?" Arona answered with an inquisitively raised eyebrow.
"I was already suspicious about it before, but I wasn't certain with how strange this whole thing has been with me arriving in Kivotos and it was mostly vague feelings," Ragna paused for a moment, thinking about how to phrase his next words carefully. "but now I know that time is definitely repeating. I've been through these events before. Everything's not clear, but I can remember things, details and scenes, about people and places I've never met or been to yet."
Arona's eyes went so wide Ragna was almost convinced they were going to pop out of her head. "You…" Arona mouth hung open for a second, trying and failing to find words until she finally forced a few awkward and near breathless ones out. "Can remember things like that?"
"Yeah, and this isn't the first time I've been through something like this." Ragna said with a nod. "I know what it's like. My memories are pretty resistant to Phenomena Intervention now, but whatever, or whoever, caused this, was able to even severely effect that. That's not easy to do."
Arona worry was briefly undercut by confusion, her eyebrows raised. "Phenomena what?"
"Phenomena Intervention can do a whole bunch of shit, teleporting, stabilizing someone's existence, rewriting time, undoing causality, almost anything you can think of if you're strong enough. So it's kind of complicated to explain. Since I have to though..." Ragna stopped for another second, trying to think of the best way to explain everything. He could grasp these concepts fine, but trying to convey it to another person was a completely different skill and more of a pain in the ass. "Imagine you have two outcomes to something. In the first timeline, somebody dies, but in the second timeline, they don't. Phenomena Intervention would basically let you replace what happened in the first one with the second by Observing that possibility and forcing it into reality. That's the basic idea. Real high level usage of it let's you do basically anything, even rewrite the entire world and timeline back a century."
"Oh…" Arona trailed off, but let her mouth made a few motions, like she were hesitating to speak again and picking her words carefully. "The Shittim Chest can… Do something like that, I think, sensei."
"Arona." Ragna's voice was firm, with an edge to it.
"Y-Yes, sensei?" Arona fidgeted nervously, averting eye contact like he was going to yell at her.
No, hold on, dial it back a little. He'd exploded at Arona last time from everything getting to him and nearly made her cry. That was probably why she was so anxious when touching another subject about his past. Taking a deep breath, Ragna softened his voice slightly. "Arona… I want you to start explaining everything about what you mean by that."
Arona's entire body visibly relaxed, though it was only slightly, she still looked overall tense and anxious about speaking more, a low frown on her face. "Well… There's a lot the Shittim Chest, I, can do in order to help you fulfill your duties and keep you safe. Say somebody hurt you really bad. As long as it's in the moment, I could just focus on that and make it like the injury never happened, or if they would hit you then they'll miss instead. Because the Shittim Chest is linked to you, it makes it easier for me to do that and keep watching you all the time when I'm with you. It takes some energy to do though. But with you, it'd probably take a lot more energy than usual. I'm not sure why, but you're kinda hard to focus on. It's a good thing you're so tough though, since I don't think I'll have to use it too often!"
Ragna's hand tightened. He'd been afraid of that answer. Already, he didn't like where this was going and needed to know more to confirm any suspicions. "So, what exactly can you do then besides just protect me when you focus on me?"
"Hrm, why don't I show you? It'll be more fun and easier to explain." Arona said with some of her upbeat smile beginning to return. "Put your hand on the screen, sensei. It'll make this easier for me."
Curious, Ragna placed his hand onto the tablet.
With the unmistakable sensation of a Phenomena Intervention occurring around him, Ragna suddenly found himself surrounded by a familiar broken classroom, a near endless expanse of ocean on all sides with the foreign smell of the sea accompanying it, and Arona directly in front of him.
Physically in front of him and barely taller than his elbows.
With a proud grin.
"Tadah! I can bring you inside the Shittim Chest!" Arona said with the energy of a child showing their parent a new drawing they'd done.
Processing the situation, Ragna took a brief glance around the area to confirm he wasn't imagining things. Yeah, two things were easy to confirm now. Firstly, he was inside the tablet, or well, partially. It was strange, most of his awareness was in Arona's room, yet it wasn't fully. Ragna could still feel himself in the SCHALE office in his chair and he was still aware of his surroundings, alongside everything occurring there and it felt like if he tried to move himself, he could. It was… Weird, a bit disorienting even, almost like seeing two different images in each eye, yet it wasn't like having his attention split in half either. It was more like somehow being in two places at once. The other thing was that had absolutely been an Intervention, not just that it was an incredibly powerful one too to cause something like what Ragnas was feeling.
"Huh?" Arona spoke up before Ragna could, this time her face thoroughly confused, even a little shocked, as her eyes wandered to Ragna's right side, eye still closed and arm limp. "Your body should be working fine here..."
"The Azure Grimoire isn't just physically a part of me. It's part of my existence down to my soul too." Ragna quickly answered, gesturing with his head down to his unmoving arm and slightly shrugging his shoulder, the only working part of his right limb like this, for emphasis.
The fact it also ate at his very existence was better left unsaid.
Arona's eyes went wide, the girl stepping closer to Ragna and inspecting his right half like it would somehow provide answers. "Oh… That's why you were so reluctant to let Millennium look at it then. That'd explain it not working here either..."
Setting aside her umbrella, Arona gingerly took Ragna's arm in her own hands, her small, fragile feeling fingers lightly touching it with gentle warmth. The concerned frown was clear across her whole face. "I wanted to have a nice surprise for you..."
Normally, Ragna might've said something about the idea of 'personal space', but he knew Arona meant well. However, that wasn't all, the pause gave him a moment to spread his senses out more in the artificial space, more specifically it was what he sensed from Arona that gave him pause.
Now that Arona was no longer separated by the boundaries of the tablet and close to him as any other person was, he could feel out her presence more. It was a bit strange, she was there yet it was almost like she wasn't at the same time, but it wasn't the odd part. It was so… Familiar, it was like that sensation from the blurry memory of the train ride, the scene starting to become slightly clearer in his head from the familiar presence beside him. Arona didn't just look like the GSC President, she felt like her too, but no that wasn't quite accurate either. It was a similar, so much so he could mistake it for the same in passing, yet also distinct. The closest, but not quite accurate, comparison was to Hazama and Terumi. Both had their own sensation Ragna could tell apart when focusing, yet as Hazama had been created to be a compatible vessel for Terumi's existence and made in a similar image to him, they were connected and incredibly alike to any forms of perception.
So then what did that make Arona to the president?
Well, he could figure that out later. Seeing Arona look so deflated with how bubbly she usually was almost made him depressed.
"Hey, quit looking so sad and like you did something wrong." Ragna said, putting his good hand on Arona's head and patting it gently. "If you really wanna help, I got more questions about all of this."
Arona's halo turned into a heart at the affectionate gesture and her face visibly brightened back to a smile. "Ask away, sensei!"
"Alright, so firstly, anything else you can do like this I should know about?" Ragna asked. It was already looking like Arona was a powerful Observer, but he wanted to know how far she could take it.
"Hmmm… Well, it's not something I'd really do since it takes a lot of energy and I want to always have it if you need it, but I can also appear outside the Shittim Chest too!" Arona said with some of the same enthusiasm she had when showing off her current trick.
"Sorry, you can what?" Now, it was Ragna's turn to be wide eyed and shocked.
"Bet you didn't expect that the great Arona-chan could even do that too, huh?" Arona said, looking quite smug about herself.
Oh, Ragna didn't expect that, but for reasons entirely different from whatever Arona likely thought.
If she could do that and it worked the same way this did, that meant Arona could do Self Observation. That wasn't just difficult, that was almost impossible to do for any period of time even among skilled and powerful Observers.
He was really hoping the next answer wouldn't be what he suspected it was. "Arona, do you know what an Observer is?"
Arona tilted her head, looking honestly confused. "I don't know what that is, sensei. I'm guessing it's related to what you said earlier?"
Inwardly, Ragna breathed a sigh of relief behind his nod. "Yeah, long story short you could think of an Observer as somebody who can perform Phenomena Intervention. And what you just described is exactly how they work."
An Observer could perform an intervention by using their power to, well, observe other possibilities and force a specific one to be 'real' by acknowledging it's existence, with powerful ones even able to do so by accident. The more unlikely or large scale something was, the more difficult it would be to impose or maintain that possibility in an incompatible reality. Somebody with that power could even observe a specific person for a whole host of reasons, up to even keeping them still existing and alive against causality and time itself determining they shouldn't continue walking. Doing that to yourself was even more ridiculous than something like a dead man resurrecting themselves.
"Aww, I thought I was the only one who could do that." Arona spoke up, a bit confused, with some of the smugness fading from her face too. "I guess you could call me that, with how you described it, sensei. Where you came from must really be something if you already know about all this."
"Wasn't exactly common and even then, there's not many people who could do what you described." Ragna added and the satisfaction rapidly returned back to Arona's face. This girl was really something else.
But if she could do all that and she mentioned watching him, did that mean Arona was Observing him? Hakumen had been pulled from the Boundary, an infinite void between worlds where all timelines and worlds intersected, by somebody constantly Observing his existence, though it'd only dragged a small portion of him into the world and left him much weaker than normal. It should've been impossible with what Ragna had done to erase himself from reality, but if that'd happened…
"Hey," Ragna interrupted Arona as she was about to speak again, his own words heavy. "I got an important question. Are you the reason I'm here in Kivotos?"
Immediately, Arona shook her head. "Sorry, sensei. I don't have any clue how you showed up here. It's rare, but sometimes people from outside Kivotos just appear out of nowhere, like you did."
"Out of nowhere sure sounds about right." Ragna said with a disappointed huff. Damn, for a second he thought he had something there. Part of him had been hoping Arona would say yes, it'd put some of his worries at ease to know somebody like her was responsible instead of who the hell knew what.
"If you can do all that, why the hell didn't you mention all this earlier then?" Ragna said with an accusatory eye.
"Oh, I…" Arona suddenly turned sheepish, a light pink on her cheeks. "Kind of forgot to mention it when you activated the Shittim Chest since the discussion got side tracked by the Azure Grimoire…"
Ragna rolled his eyes.
Arona's expression quickly turned into an indignant pout as she flailed her arms. "You didn't ask me either!"
"How the hell is it my fault for not asking about something I didn't even know about!?" Ragna fired back.
Arona, refusing to answer, instead turned her head away in a childish pout.
Ugh, Arona had her moments of being more mature, like most of what they'd just discussed, but she was also such a kid at the same time.
"Are you- You know what, no, forget about it. Noooooot worth it. Can't believe I have to deal with this again. Son of a bitch…" Ragna said with a deep scowl, looking at nobody and nothing in particular.
Arona frowned and stayed quiet for a few seconds, eyes closed in reflection. She finally spoke up with a bit lower voice that almost sounded older. "You seem really worried about time repeating, sensei. Maybe it could be a chance to fix something bad that happened…"
Ragna sighed, scowl on his face. After what happened back in his world like this, what'd happened because of simply existing, there was no way Ragna could rest easy with this hanging over his head. "Would be easy if that happened, but my last experiences weren't exactly that simple or stopped at one repeat."
Arona opened her eyes, looking at Ragna uncertainly. "What happened?"
"Where do I even start? I could spend all weekend trying to explain that." Ragna grumbled, taking a seat in one of the desks barely big enough for him and placing his elbow on it to rest his head against his palm. "Sit down, not sure how long this'll take."
Curious, Arona followed Ragna's example and took a chair across from him.
Though Ragna did trust Arona, he wasn't exactly going to suddenly dump his whole life story and the history of his world onto her to fully explain everything, there were still a few things he wanted to keep to himself. Probably just best to try and keep things to the biggest details. "I guess, to make it a long story short, back where I came from, there was this girl. She had more responsibility and suffering put on her shoulders than somebody should've ever had to go through. And she just wanted to have someone save her from it."
Arona listened carefully, her expression solemn.
"So, stuck in a machine with the godlike power to rewrite the world, but unable to save herself, she chose someone to be the hero who she wanted to rescue her." Ragna began with his voice low, looking at nothing in particular as all the memories came back to the forefront of his mind.
"… Was that person you, sensei?" Arona asked, leaning closer toward him with a curious glint in her eyes, though it was more mature than the usual immature one she had.
"Yeah, it was." Ragna said with a slow nod. "You could say I was 'God's Dream', the dream of somebody coming to save her. So, in order to try and fulfill that dream, any time an outcome happened she didn't want, anytime I died and failed,"
Arona stiffened up, eyes widening in surprise.
"with the power of the Master Unit: Amaterasu, the girl would repeat the world hoping to finally get the ending she wanted. I don't know exactly how long it went on, I wasn't even aware of until the end, but because of that… The whole world rested on me even if I didn't do anything. As long as I was still there, as long as she cared that much about me, even if I succeeded, there was always the possibility time would start repeating again to avoid anything bad happening to me. Even if everyone else were to be happy, it wouldn't last the moment something happened to me. Because that 'dream'' would always exist as long as I did. A world can't go on like that." Ragna said, looking down at his hand as it closed into a fist. He didn't blame The Origin for how things were. She never asked to be given that power to begin with. She was basically just a girl who wanted to have peace and a normal life, not have the power of god to influence a whole world. But regardless of that, having that power made those desires disastrous for reality.
"I'm sorry, sensei. I didn't know you went through something like that..." Arona said with a guilty frown.
"Thanks for the sympathy, but the hell you apologizing for?" Ragna said, looking back up at her. "Wasn't your fault and it's in the past now. Or, well, that's what I thought at least."
Arona, once more, looked uncharacteristically somber. Well, maybe that was the wrong word for Ragna to use. He'd only known Arona for a very short time, maybe her similarities to the GSC President were influencing Ragna's opinion of her somewhat. "So… What happened to the girl then, did you save her?"
"Yeah, I did." Ragna answered with a distant look in his eyes. "I dealt with the time loops too. But I can't ever go back because of it, even if there was some way I could go back."
"What do you mean by that?" Arona said, concern in her voice.
"The Master Unit, and the girl inside it, were what maintained the world. That 'dream' of her's was what kept it going. So as long as I was still part of that world, I would keep it alive and my whole existence would keep the time loops going because of it. So… I removed myself from the world and everyone's memories. That way, the world had a clean slate." Ragna said, body slumping forward slightly. There was, well, a lot more to the whole story and things weren't exactly as he'd said, like the fact he had specifically been created by The Master Unit and that was part of why his existence was a fundamental problem, a core reason why it became such an issue in the first place was that one son of a bitch named Yuuki Terumi who decided his life's mission was to make everyone else's hell, among so many other things. But those could be for another day because it would take ages to properly cover. At least Ragna got the general point across and put it in the simplest way he could. He hoped.
"You've really been through a lot, sensei…" Arona muttered with sympathetic eyes.
"Yeah, so don't be surprised if I'm not exactly jumping for joy here at time repeating again. I don't know if things are like how they were back then, but I can already tell I'm important to it all again. I didn't ask to curse another world just by existing." Ragna said with an annoyed scoff, closing his eye to emphasize the sour expression on his face.
"I think you should cheer up! I don't think something like that'll happen again." Following Arona's voice, Ragna felt something warm patting his head a few seconds later. Opening his eyes, Ragna saw Arona leaning forward in her chair and doing her best to pat his head, despite the fact even sitting down he was so much taller than her the small girl barely managed to reach, her other hand placed on her desk to help hold the girl's weight. It looked like she was visibly straining herself and was going to fall over if she leaned even a few more centimeters forward.
"… Arona, the hell are you doing?" Ragna asked with a flat tone and unamused, slanted eyes.
"Trying… to make you feel… better…!" Arona strained to answer, a half distressed look over her.
Ragna let out an exaggerated sigh as he gently shoved Arona's hand away from his head. "Don't hurt yourself and give me even more to worry about."
Called out, Arona crashed back into her seat with a sheepish look and nervous laugh. "Ehehe… It made me feel better when you did that and I wasn't sure what to say. I had no idea you had such a history. It's hard trying to carry everything yourself like that, which is why your great assistant Arona-chan's always here for you!"
Ragna let out a sound that somewhere between a scoff and a snicker. Well, it was the thought that counted and Arona was just trying her best. It got his mind off the issue even for a few seconds anyway, so mission accomplished. "Thanks, Arona. Wish I could have some of that same optimism."
Was he jumping to conclusions a bit suddenly? Maybe, but this wasn't even getting into the Continuum Shift, which had been a much smaller scale time loop he'd been unaware of till after the fact, that'd happened following that fateful visit to Kagatsuchi. His pessimism wasn't unwarranted. At the same time, there was this nagging feeling he couldn't shake that maybe there was some truth to what Arona said. When he thought about the future, he could already recall a few distinct scenes purely when thinking of Abydos which didn't paint a good situation. Past that, he had a vague bad feeling about many things, Trinity especially, and it was a large reason he'd even taken the job at SCHALE.
"Aw, come on. You're already experienced with something like this and saved your whole world! No matter how bad it gets, I know you'll be able to do it." Arona said with a supportive smile. Her words then dropped low, almost like she were talking to herself more than anything else, and had it not been for Ragna's sharp senses he might've not heard them. "I knew you were the right person..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ragna said with dry sarcasm. "Feels like everyone I meet immediately knows I'm a weird fit for this job. Not like I can blame them."
"H-Huh? N-No, that's not what I meant!" Arona looked like a child just caught doing something they shouldn't, cheeks flushing and waving her hands in a panic. It took the girl a second to calm down, though even as she continued speaking they appeared slightly flustered. "I know you'll do great, sensei! The missing president trusted you for a reason. They must've known you're the only person who can make the right choices."
The only person huh… Yeah, he'd already gotten that feeling before, but hearing it from Arona only strengthened that. Not only that, the foggy memory of the train finally became clear again. He could see the resigned, desperate yet hopeful, look on her face and hear the words which had inspired that feeling.
'Only you can free us from this twisted, distorted fate and find the choices that will lead us to a new reality.'
"Wherever she is, I hope she's alright. I just know she's deeply involved in this." Ragna stated with a pensive frown. Things would be so much easier if he could just find the president, but she was perhaps the biggest enigma. Still… If she was involved in this somehow, that would make it easier to relax a bit. No matter where she was though, Ragna was going to find and save her too. But that was looking to be a more long term goal.
"Hey, Arona. There's one last thing I wanna ask you." Ragna spoke up before his assistant could, inspiring a curious look from her.
"Hm? What is it?"
"You're taking this whole thing in stride pretty quickly. Is there anything else you know about time loops? Maybe there's something about this whole… Everything, somewhere in the Shittim Chest?" Ragna asked, pausing for a second and debating on saying the second half of his question. "… Or anything about the president? I know what you said earlier, but you remind me a lot of her."
Arona closed her eyes, her features dropping to something unusually serious and contemplative "… Give me a few seconds to check through everything."
The girl stayed quite after that, quiet for a long time. The only sounds in the whole world were the gentle rocking of the ocean which surrounded Arona's ruined classroom, every sway of the water only furthered the tension that rose with every passing moment. In truth, it couldn't have been more than several seconds where Arona remained quiet, but that silence felt like hours to Ragna.
"… No, I don't have anything on either of those. Sorry, sensei…" Arona stated with an apologetic, sad frown.
"Damn…" Ragna again put his elbow on the desk and leaned his head into his hand, tapping his finger into the side in reflection. That wasn't the answer he expected. Judging from her surprise, it didn't seem like Arona was aware of the situation, so she likely wasn't responsible for time looping Although, Observers, especially powerful ones, were just as resistant to an intervention as he was, sometimes moreso. It wasn't impossible for Observers to be significantly affected by a strong enough Intervention, but Arona's capabilities there were tremendously powerful, going by her claims. Which either meant Arona was lying to him or there might've been something like the Master Unit behind this again, one time deal or not. He didn't like either implication, but he also wanted to trust Arona. She'd been supportive of him so far and it was kind of nice having somebody he could talk to and get some of this off his chest. If Arona was hiding something from him, he wanted to believe she had a reason, but he couldn't force the answer out of her.
"And you're really the only person here?" Ragna said, looking around like he expected to find someone else hiding. He couldn't see anyone, couldn't sense anyone, yet he still couldn't shake the feeling there should've been someone else inside the Shittim Chest. The faint image of a girl of a similar stature to Arona, but dressed in black with long white hair, wouldn't leave his head.
"No, it's just me, sensei. There's only 1 OS of the Shittim Chest." Arona stated.
Ragna furrowed his brow in annoyance. Things still… Didn't feel right, yet at the same time maybe that was part of the time loop? From what he recalled from more experienced people, sometimes there were small, and not no small, changes which occurred between resets. Either due to intentional action or simply random chance. Maybe that was the case here? But then what happened to the other girl?
This entire exchange had only left Ragna with even more questions than it had answers, he couldn't catch a damn break. Maybe more would come to him as he did things around Kivotos? Finding things to jog his memory seemed like the best approach with how just reading Ayane's letter went. That was assuming everything inspired the same reaction though, few things did beyond talking to her and Arona so far.
"Well, guess there's no helping anything more right now. I'd bet it's pretty late by now, with how long we've been in here. I need to get started early tomorrow to pick everything up for Abydos too." Ragna said, finally standing up from his chair and lightly stretching.
"Now, that you mention it, I'm starting to feel pretty sleepy." Arona said, letting out a yawn. "Thanks for talking to me about everything."
"Thanks for listening." Ragna said back, a low, appreciative expression close to a smile on his face. "Gonna take care of a few things around the office and then hit the sack. This day feels like it went on forever…"
"Feels like we got a lot thought, at least, right?" Arona said with an upbeat smile that fit her usual energy. "Good night, sensei!"
"Night, Arona." Without another word, Ragna vanished from the Shittim Chest and appeared back in his office. Tomorrow was surely going to be even busier.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Just to clear up one thing to avoid any confusion in the future, with how Blazblue terms work, if Observer(ing) or Intervention is capitalized in the story, it means I'm referring it in the Blazblue sense of the word. If it's not, then it's a normal descriptor, like anything else.
Hope this wasn't too long for everyone. I debated splitting it up into two chapters but the way things flowed felt better with one and I really wanted to get to this part of the story. This story ain't gonna be simple as Ragna being dropped into BA!