"That sums up the current latest model of drones from Millennium. Next at two o'clock, how Schale's sensei restored order in D.U. central."
The news broadcasting seems to have not figured out that I'm subbing for the actual teacher. I guess information travels slowly or is heavily guarded. It's probably the latter since I doubt the GSC would want people to know a substitute is in charge of Schale.
"Excuse me, my stop is coming up good sir." A small corgi person moves by as I make some room. I watch the little thing shimmy through all sorts of openings in the sea of people. Eventually, making their way to the door of the train we're in. The trains in Kivotos are pretty good; in fact they're great.
"Now arriving at Millennium District." The train came to a slow and steady halt. Once the doors opened, a good chunk of people left. They were soon followed by a roughly even amount entering. "Last call for Abydos District passengers!" The automatic P.A. sounded when no one came to the doors. After a bit, the doors shut, and the train began its trek to Abydos. Now that I think about it, I should ask Arona if she knows how to get to the high school. I whip out the chest from my inner pocket. The usual S symbol greets me; then it's replaced by Arona sitting at a desk drinking strawberry milk.
"Hello, S.Sensei. Is something wrong?" She tilts her head while gazing at me.
"Arona, do you know how to get to Abydos High?" Hopefully, she does. I mean, come on, she knows everything about almost every school. So why wouldn't she?
"Of course I do! I'll load a map up right now." I watched her put down her milk and make a square shape with her hands. Soon, a screen appeared of the Abydos area, with a little symbol showing me.
"Thanks." Arona gives me a thumbs-up as she sips her drink.
I focus on the map. Judging from where the train will stop, I'll need to walk down شارع حورس, then continue for three meters until I make it to طريق باركس. Then follow this road down until I hit طريق كارول. Finally, I walk down the road until I eventually make it to Abydos High. It's a shame these roads are displayed in Arabic. I guess the GPS Arona brings up can't be translated into English. Well, it's time to ping-pong myself again until I find the school.
"Now arriving at Abydos District." Well, this is my stop. I walk over to the doors and proceed out once they open. I feel the early morning sun on my face; practically no sound accompanies it, which is strange, D.U. Central had all sorts of sounds. It was pretty overstimulating if you were to ask me. Also, only a handful of people got off the train with me. Is Aybdos just not that interesting, or is it more of an underdeveloped section of Kivotos? I look back at the chest, deciding to follow the path it's made for me. Based on the time, it says I'll be at Abydos High in about four hours. Geez, I guess Abydos is a big district.
I begin my lovely little walk-through of Abydos. Occasionally, a car would zip on by down the main road. Even when I looked into the shops here, they seemed empty. Only the clerk, along with perhaps just two customers. I looked at some billboards while walking along. جرب مياه واحة أبيدوس الآن! I'm sure it's about water since the bird person is holding a water bottle. The next one was جميع جولات السترة المعدنية الجديدة والمحسنة بالكامل. احصل على منتجك الخاص اليوم. I can only guess it's about bullets since the splash art is a briefcase full of bullets. Even though I can't understand the billboards, at least the art clarifies their advertising.
I hit my first sign. Thankfully, it's the only sign on this street. The other two look like they've been ripped out? It's hard to tell because of the sand; seriously, shouldn't someone have cleaned that up? I continue down this block, noticing the most peculiar sight. Three girls that look exactly like the thugs from D.U. Central are staring down some helmeted individuals.
"ماذا تفعل هنا يا رؤوس الدلو!" A masked girl shouted while pointing at a black helmeted girl. Her friends or allies came up next to her. A blonde-haired one, and a new masked thug with a rifle.
"أصدقائي رؤساء دلو الصحيح. عصابتك غير مرحب بها هنا." The blonde one seems to be barking now. "إذًا، ماذا عنكم أنتم الأربعة في نزهة سيرًا على الأقدام." The blondie makes a waving motion with her hand toward them. I turn and look at the four helmed girls across from them. They have the same attire as Rabu's girls, so they must be the crew Rabu told me about.
"도대체 누구한테 그런 말을 하고 있는 것 같나요?!" The red-clothed helmeted gangster yelled at the three thugs. This caused her three lackeys to aim at the three. "너희 세 사람이 이 거리의 주인이라고 생각한다면, 우리와 싸워 이 거리를 차지하세요!" Then she pointed at them.
Do these seven understand each other?
"أوه من فضلك، لن يكون هناك قتال!" The rifled thug laughs.
"그래, 우리에겐 거의 싸움이 아니야!" One helmeted thug shouts back.
"أوه انتبه أنها غاضبة." The SMG girl seemed to be mocking them.
I must say watching these girls fight will probably be entertaining. But first I should check the time. I whip out my phone and see it is only 6:47 am. Cool, I could sit here and watch these seven duke it out. I look back toward the street, and the seven are standing with their guns drawn. It seems like the show is about to start. Until I noticed the red one pull out a whistle. She pulled her gas mask down and blew it. Suddenly, out of the cracks, seventeen more helmeted gangsters appeared. Where the hell were they all hiding? Some came out of shops, but a good percentage just appeared.
"تسك، أيها الجبناء ستجلبون هذا العدد لقتالنا." The masked mini-gunner seemed to be annoyed.
"글쎄요, 싸움에서 이기는 유일한 방법은 불공평하게 싸우는 것임을 알아야 합니다." The red-helmeted one says something in a snarky tone.
You know, I was hoping for a semi-fair fight. But it seems like Rabu's group believes in overkill. Although Rabu did say a group of her faction was fighting to claim some territory. I wonder if these girls are part of that group. There is only one way to know for sure.
"Excuse me; you wouldn't happen to be the helmet gangsters we hired to take territory, would you?" I shout out, causing everyone to look at me. "If so, shouldn't you be claiming the territory we asked you to claim?" God, I hope those girls are the ones Rabu was talking about. If not, I'll have to throw my lot in with the thugs. The leader of the gangsters started whispering to one of her lackeys. Eventually, she broke off to approach me.
"당신은 카이저 출신의 누구와도 닮지 않았군요. 그리고 그 망할 부러진 십자가는 또 뭐야?" She stalked up to me for some reason. I am unsure if she's trying to intimidate me or if she doesn't believe me. "결국 카이저 사업가들은 노숙자처럼 보이고 나무 십자가처럼 형편없는 옷을 입고 있다." She finally closed the distance, my face appearing in her goggles. The damaged glasses and the broken wooden cross became the most apparent of my reflection. "좀 더 전문적으로 보이도록 도와드릴게요" She made to grab the broken cross.
In an instant, my hand caught hers, gripping it. She's caught by surprise momentarily, then tries to break free. Her struggle caused me to increase my grip. "You shouldn't try to nab other people's things you know." I scan the others to make sure they aren't moving when I say that. She grabs her rifle to raise it, only for me to slap it effortlessly out of her hand. While I can heal, I'd rather not experience said healing. "In the future, I recommend you don't try taking people's things; they may not be as nice as me." I let go of her hand and watch as she cradles it. "Now then, take your motley little crew and do your job." She backs away from me, a little bit smaller than before.
"오른쪽! 죄송합니다 선생님 이제 가겠습니다. 다들 가보세요!" She turns, barking orders at the black-attired gangsters. They all seem to scamper away quickly. It's almost like they're scared of something. I guess whoever hired them must have them all on a tight leash. I decided to turn my attention to the three thugs. The three stand there and look at me.
"Welp, happy trails, you three." I wave off while starting my trot away. Only for the three to quickly catch up
"مرحبًا، ما هي الفكرة الكبيرة التي كان من الممكن أن نأخذها أيها اللقيط!" The Miss Ponytail began to poke me while sounding displeased.
"مهلا قطع الرجل بعض الركود. بعد كل شيء، أنا متأكد من أنه كسر يد ذلك الغبي" The blondie piped up while putting a hand on my shoulder.
"كان من الممتع مشاهدة تلك النظارات التي ترتدي الخاسر أمامه." The rifle-wielding girl laughed while walking ahead of us.
What is happening? Why are they just walking with me all of a sudden now? I get that maybe these three aren't part of the same group that was in D.U. Central, but still. Shouldn't you do something else besides follow me around? I don't understand. Yet they seem determined to follow me around for the time being. As long as they don't cause issues, I'm okay with it, I suppose. I feel like I shouldn't be though.
And so the four of us walked onward towards my destination. Now that I think of it, I should check other chest features while walking, right?
"Of course I should," I mutter under my breath.
It would make the walk more bearable and let me dive deep into the chest's features. I minimized the map Arona made and scanned the tablet's many buttons—specifically some I had neglected. Momotalk appeared, but Arona also put it on the desktop back at Schale, so I'm not surprised it's here. I notice a little baggy with a head that looks like Arona's. An option to buy pyroxenes? Oh! I can probably buy more with credits!
"That makes so much sense; I'm an idiot!" I slap my face hard. Of course, there would be a way to get more pyroxenes; if there weren't, I wouldn't be able to approve student applications. Which still doesn't make sense.
"ا هو المنطقي؟" Miss Ponytail sounded confused. Shit, I forgot I've got three people following me. I turn toward her and notice the other two also staring at me.
"Forget you heard anything, please." I look them in the eyes when I say that. They all nod their heads, huh, for dressing up like homeless thugs; at least they listen. I look back at the chest and tap the pyroxene option to see how much they cost. Probably not a lot; it would be weird if I had to spend a finger to approve applications. A screen appears in front of me
"Please scan an adult card." Huh? Adult card what does that mean? Is that some identification or something? If so, why not just flash my identification? I'm pretty sure I have one. I scratch my chin, then pat myself with my free hand. I probably have a wallet; it'd be weird if I didn't. I check my pants pockets, no dice. I reach my outer coat pockets, and also no dice. That leaves the bottom four of my inner coat pockets. Thankfully, I feel a hard spot and fish whatever it is out of my pocket.
"يمكنك استخدام محفظة جلدية. أنت لا تبدو بهذا العمر؟" The blondie asks. While pointing at the leather wallet I just pulled out.
"Pretty stylish," I say while smiling. I can't grasp when I got the wallet; however, it is pretty dapper.
"أنيقة أكثر مثل القديمة." I hear the rifle-wielding thug snicker.
"أشبه عفا عليها الزمن تماما ولا قيمة لها. حتى الأشياء القديمة يمكن بيعها مقابل المال." I heard Miss Ponytail cackle.
Honestly, I feel like I'm being made fun of or mocked. I open the wallet, and the first thing that greets me is a H.U.S.K.S ID? The picture is my face with my tongue sticking out. I slide it out of its slot. Sadly, my info is all scratched out, just like my file, which I went over with knife ears. There are only three things: the date I got the permit, 02/29/2136. I'm disavowed from the H.U.S.K.S association for tier five disorderly conduct. Also, my age is twenty, so I was right about my age.
I sigh while flashing the card at the chest. The chest loads the scan before showing a massive red x. "Please scan an adult card." Well, I guess it's not an identification. So, it's not asking for me to verify my age. I shouldn't ask Arona since these three are with me. Something tells me Arona probably doesn't want other people to know about her. So I guess I'll try something else. I put my H.U.S.K.S license back in its slot and looked inside my wallet's other slots. I only have two cards. A white debit card with the cardholder's name scratched out; it also has a black and red arrow near its chip. The other card has absolutely nothing on it. Besides a singular word on it.
"Temporary."
Just looking at it rubs me the wrong way. I put the "temporary" card back in my wallet and flash my debit card at the chest. Really, besides these two cards and my driver's license, I got nothing else in my wallet. For a moment, the chest spasms before a green check mark appears. I'm now seeing a host of pyroxenes that can be purchased at different prices. Each one displayed Arona carrying or swimming in said pyroxenes. However, the most eye-catching thing was the cost of the resource. USD, not credits, which I find strange. Does Kivotos have USD for me to acquire and spend? If so, where can I find it?
"Well, no point in worrying about it." I tap out of the pyroxene shop. I noticed the little clipboard icon with tasks listed below it. I'll click that in a bit. After all, it doesn't take a genius to figure out those are work-related. Instead, I click the megaphone icon that says notice.
A bunch of errors, fixes, and updates have happened in the short span of three days. Most read as the following.
"A.R.O.N.A custodian system bypass accepted. Allowing user Substitute Sensei to access features."
"A.R.O.N.A custodian system maintenance approved. On unknown data corruption."
"A.R.O.N.A custodian update approved. Substitute Sensei will now be identified as S.Sensei."
It looks like a log of changes Arona made to the chest; it's best to leave it be. I tab out and click the icon with squares in it.
"مرحبًا، لقد تجاهلتنا لفترة من الوقت. لا يمكنك تجاهل السيدات مثل هذا كما تعلم!" The ponytailed girl says while peering at the chest as a window appears. Options, items, equipment, and sticker book. Before I can tap one of the icons, Miss Ponytail decides to tap the equipment tab. "لماذا ليس لديك أي شيء عمليا. ها ها ها ها" She began laughing for some reason. I ignore her and look at the few things in the window. Mostly just accessories, shoes, backpacks, and lesser enhancement stones. "حجر غريب ." Miss Ponytail taps the chest without my permission again, causing the chest to glow. Suddenly, a blue light shows up in front of the four of us, and one of the stones I had just landed at our feet.
"Neat."
"واو"
"الجحيم؟!"
"صندوق السلعة!"
After all of our exclamations, I picked it up. It can barely fit in the palm of my hand, and light reflects off it sharply. I toss it in the air, feeling its weight upon catching it. It can't be heavier than at least five pounds. I look at Miss Ponytail and pass the thing to her. She goes to catch it but slouches down when she does. I guess she wasn't ready for the weight. I tap back and click the items menu. I only have a single stamp from Arona and the students' DFS. Options are self-explanatory, so there is no need to tap that.
Similarly, I'll ignore the sticker book. Well, that leaves the tasks icon to check out. I went to press it.
"تشكيل الجحيم يعني؟" The blonde girl taps the formation icon before I can stop her hand. "هل هذا نحن؟" She points at the current team. It seems to be the three of them.
"Giggit, Widget, Digit?" Their names sound kinda, well, like their parents didn't try. Blondie is Giggit, Miss Ponytail is Widget, and rifle-wielder Digit.
"إنها نسخ تشيبي صغيرة منا." Digit pokes herself, lifting and dragging her chibi. Digit's chibi fumbled with her rifle while glaring at us.
"انتظر في الطريق، هل نحن جميعًا صفر نجوم؟!" Widget pointed at her star rank, which was a fantastic zero. All three of them had star rank zero.
I break my attention from the roster to check the map. I've made it to where the next sign was supposed to be. I look around at our surroundings only to see sand. Sand everywhere. The buildings sinking into the sand, signs completely buried, roads barely visible, and not a damn living soul besides us four. Is this section of Abydos just abandoned? I double-checked the map Arona made for me. I looked up from the map and surveyed the area. Looks like I didn't take the wrong route. Okay, so why does this section seem rough?
"Okay, so we just need to go north from this place to reach the next sign." I try to find a mental marker so I can at least have a starting point here. I spot a singular vending machine that's partially covered in sand. "Alright, you three remember that vending machine that's our landmark." They follow my finger towards the vending machine.
"حسنا أعتقد." Giggit shrugs. The other two nod their heads. I guess Giggit is the leader of the three.
We begin walking north through the sandy dunes. It's like a massive sandstorm ravaged this part of the district. This explains why not many people are in the district overall. I'd leave too, if massive sandstorms constantly buried my home and workplace. We hit a gigantic dune of sand. Scaling myself was easy, but those three had trouble since they wore heels. I watched as Widget stumbled, grabbing Giggit's baggy pants.
"القطعة أيها الأحمق لا تسحب سروالي إلى أسفل!" Giggit whacked Widget over the head.
"أنا لم أكن أريد أن أسقطك أيتها العاهرة!" Widget yelled back at her. Digit helped Widget get back up.
I shake my head at the three in dismay. To think these girls thought of fighting Rabu's girls. I look outwards from the top of a massive dune. I spotted a school building and neighborhood. I checked the map and noticed my time was down to an hour. It's good to know I haven't been turned around when walking through Sand County.
I whistle and usher the three to hurry up before sliding down the dune. On the slide down, I notice a tiny dot in the distance going through the neighborhood. I guess we won't be the only ones walking through. I stick my landing after my slide down. The three girls following me stumbled but stuck their landings. We landed at an intersection that leads to the neighborhood.
Walking into the neighborhood, I noticed how uniform all the houses were. It's rather uncanny to me that there's not much variety. Not even a differently-painted roof. I feel someone press down on the chest.
"أوه انظر لدي مهارات رهيبة!" Digit exclaimed, sounding giddy. My eye twitches in annoyance at these girls just touching the chest. I look at Digit's stats as we walk. They're abysmal, being only double digits. She doesn't even have her active skill unlocked. "واو أنا قوي جدا هاه!" She sounds happy about her stats. Poor thing doesn't realize that her stats are dogshit.
"أنا التالي!" Widget tapped the little arrow on the left side of the screen. Now it's her stats; they're barely better than Digit's. "مصها رقم أنا أقوى منك." Digit takes a swing at Widget the second those words leave her mouth.
I'm praying they knock each other out. I leave them to their tussle, focusing my attention forward. The school is coming into view; however it doesn't seem like anyone's there. Then again, everyone is probably in classes. Checking the time, it's 10:57 am. Yeah, students are definitely in classes. Coming upon the school gate, I notice that the school has seen better days. Some windows are boarded up, and there are cracks in the foundation.
"المكان يبدو وكأنه تفريغ," Giggit mutters something. I don't know what she said, but I agree.
"Alright, Giggit, I have business to take care of here. So stay out here and keep those two in check." I point past her to the other two. They seem to be fist fighting, if you could call that.
"حسنًا، ليس وكأن لدينا أي شيء أفضل لنفعله" Giggit shrugs at me.
I go to open the door to the building only to have it pop off the hinges. "Alright, good to confirm the place is falling apart." I put the door aside to walk into the building. Upon entering, I feel the stillness of the air. I guess the teens in this building are well-behaved. I walk down the east hallway, checking classrooms. Most are just empty or full of clutter, and it's not even a couple; it's every classroom. The hallway is also starting to get more dingy as I progress. Something isn't adding up. I should check the west wing.
The west ring was much cleaner than the east. However, the classroom situation was precisely the same. Walking down the western wing, I exit out of a double door. Only to find myself in a library.
"Quite spacious." Looking around, I see most of the bookshelves are covered in dust. There's a second floor to the library as well. Walking into the library's center, there isn't a single soul. "Okay, something is wrong here." I look around until I spot what I assume to be the checkout for books. The computer is completely shut down, so no luck in finding anything out from there. "Damn, hopefully there's a dossier." I open the cabinets to find anything. Sadly, the paper is ineligible. Suddenly, I pick up the faint scent of a cat.
I follow the scent all the way upstairs. It was probably a stray that got into the building somehow. It's best to get it out of the building. "Nose, don't fail me now." The scent leads me to a group of desks that are together. I look over the desks until I find a single strand of black hair. It doesn't look like cat hair, but the smell is coming from it.
"Oh well, better leave this building. It doesn't seem like a soul has been here for a while." They probably moved to a different part of Abydos since the midpoint of this district was smothered in sand. I wonder if whoever developed Arona uploaded old map data? I walk downstairs, exiting from a different pair of double doors leading me outside. Looking left, I see the main gate along with those three hooligans.
Giggit seems annoyed while Widget and Digit perform some weird comedy act. I watch as Giggit strikes them both over the head with her minigun. I turn my head right, noticing another building. I poke my head through the double doors, noticing lunch tables. There are vending machines that are fully stocked, too. "Weird," I mumble while walking in a bit further. I guess no one came back to reclaim the vending machines. Just like the library, the scent of a cat is in the air but now accompanied by a canine-like smell. My curiosity and apathy wrestle for a bit. Apathy is about to win until I hear a door closing. Curiosity overpowers apathy, killing it while pointing me toward the sound. I walk to the preparation room of the cafeteria, stopping in front of the cooler door. The smell of cat and canine emits from the cooler. Now that I'm closer to the canine smell, I can tell it's a jackal. I open the door to the strangest sight.
Two girls are in front of me, one with black cat ears and the other with gray jackal ears. The three of us are in complete silence for a moment. I eventually noticed that they had guns drawn on me.
"Apologies for disturbing you two." I close the door, move a sixty-inch burner oven in front of it, and leave the cafeteria building. I'm sure they'll be able to leave, but I don't want them to follow me. Especially the jackal-eared one, she had a dangerous air about her. I'm pretty sure their combined might can't move that oven. At least I hope their combined might can't move that oven.
"أوه لقد عدت مبكرا" Giggit greets me with a raised brow. I waved at her while turning my attention to the comedic duo. Widget was standing on Digit's shoulders while scanning the area. I point at them. "إنهم أغبياء," Giggit responds curtly.
"I see. Well, come you three, no one is here." I begin to walk toward the gate. I even quickly push Digit, causing her to stumble. "Timber," I utter while Widget and Digit face plant. I kept walking before those two could say anything, Giggit cackling all the while. Well, it's time to maul over countless possibilities when returning to Schale.
The journey back is uneventful, besides Widget and Digit yapping constantly. Giggit, thankfully, would whack them both over the head to get them to shut up. When we arrived at Schale, the three seemed impressed by the place.
"This way you three." I usher them to continue following me. I open the door to the stairwell, heading up to the fourth floor. I open the door to the office space full of filing cabinets. "Well girls, welcome to your new place of employment," I say while staring at them. Judging from their reactions, they aren't happy about it.
"ماذا بحق الجحيم تقصد مكان العمل." The three yelled simultaneously, causing me to cover my ears. God, must they be so loud?
"Look, you three either work here, or I beat you three within an inch of your lives," I say while staring at them. They seem to be weighing their options. "Think about it: you work here, you get money. Hell, you won't even have to leave the school you're in." I walk towards them, causing the three of them to look at me with suspicion. "If you don't want to work here, Valkyrie will love to have you. So would a ditch." The three seem to look at each other and then give me a thumbs-up. Huh, they agreed quickly; I thought they would've fought back. They have guns; it's not like I'm bulletproof. "Also, before I forget, do you girls speak English?" Giggit steps forward.
"I do, these two idiots don't. Don't worry though. They understand just fine." Huh, I wonder why Giggit can only speak English. "But why do you want us to speak in English?" Giggit raises her brow.
"Simple, the GSC requires you to speak that language when conducting duties." I could be completely wrong. But given Knife Ears spoke English, I'm betting on it.
"Hold on, you're saying you work for the GSC?"
"Indeed, Giggit, that's what I said. And now you three do as well. Unless you want the other option I gave you girls." All three of them look at each other shaking their heads. "Grand, so any questions?"
"Yeah, why did you choose us? You barely know us, and we only followed you because we were bored." I smirk at Giggit's question.
"Simple, I don't want to do file maintenance, and this punishment is something you girls can at least benefit from," I say while walking to leave the room. "Also, I'll be getting you three I.D. badges later." I close the door before they can say anything else. I jog up the rest of the stairs to the primary office. I honestly would have taken the elevator; I didn't feel like it.
I enter the main office, sit at the desk, and take the chest out. I turned it on and relaxed my body, bracing myself for the transport into it. I lurch for a second as my stomach calms.
"To think I would get used to that by now." muttering to myself while looking around the classroom. I spot Arona looking out toward the vast expanse outside. I walk over towards her.
"Hmm, I wonder what he's doing right now?" I'm close enough to hear her mumbling.
"Who are you talking about?" I whisper to her. She gets scared, swinging her umbrella rifle at me. I catch it before it impacts my face.
"S.Sensei, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that!" Her face goes to a pout, and her halo is red-spiked.
"Sorry, sorry, just came into the chest to ask a question." I let go of her umbrella, and she held it behind her back. Her halo turned into a question mark.
"What?" She tilts her head
"Are you sure you gave me the right map for Abydos High?" The second the question leaves my mouth, her face swaps to a prideful smile.
"Yup, sure did. I bet that map got you there unbelievably fast." She seems so proud of herself, her halo turning into a trophy.
"No, it took me to an abandoned building." That pride was evaporated and replaced by a lockjaw expression.
Arona seemed to process what I said slowly. Her halo morphs from the trophy to blue shocks, then the standard sad blue halo. "My map was wrong?" Oh no, the tragic tone is back.
"Yes, but I doubt it's your fault. Chances are whoever made you didn't update your data." Honestly, that seems like the case. Our first meeting was probably the only time she awoke in a while.
"Why wouldn't they update my information? That seems like blatant sabotage!" Arona started stamping her feet on the floor in childlike rage.
"Easy, easy chances are Abydos was fine when you were made. So let's pull that data up to see if there's any other school building in the district." She still has a pouting expression while taking my advice. More of that weird data corruption is there when she pulls it up.
"Nooooo, it's even here!" Arona falls to her knees at the sight of the mess. I don't blame her. These last three days have been rough. And it seems things are going to get harder before they get easier. "It'll take forever to clean all this up." Poor thing.
"Hey now, little star, how about this; I'll ask around Abydos district while you tidy this up. That way, we can figure out where the actual school is faster." I rub her head, watching her halo turn green.
"You're right; we can overcome this together!" Arona shot up, motivated and ready, when a small box appeared beside her. "I'll clean out this stuff before you know it!" I give her a thumbs up as I leave the chest.
Well, I'll go back out tomorrow and see if I can find the school for now; however, emails. I flick the computer on and type my password, and then I'm hit with a barrage of notifications from the GSC terrific.
(Day two of looking for Abydos High.)
I was walking around the market section of Abydos now. A lot of the shops seemed to be having slow business. The worst thing about this slow business is it's happening on a Saturday. I notice a helmeted girl sitting on a bench. I'll ask her where Abydos is; after all, she's operating in this district, so why wouldn't she know?
"Excuse me, little lady." She snaps her head towards me.
"도대체 무슨 짓을 하는 걸까, 하는 짓, ..." I noticed she stopped speaking the second she looked at me.
"I was wondering if you know where Abydos High School is? I'd appreciate the help." I go to pull out a paper map of the district. Only to look up and see she's run off, weird.
I sigh while resuming my walk through the market. I'll have to find a different passerby to ask for directions. It would be weird to barge into a shop to ask for help. But at this rate, that may be the best option. I feel my stomach growl however, so it looks like I'll grab something to eat first. I look over the map, hoping for a canteen to be close by. The nearest one is Shiba Seki Ramen.
The walk there was as uneventful as the first walk through Abydos for me so far. So I'm happy that Abydos is quiet. But when I arrived, I was surprised by the number of customers inside the canteen. There are many teenage girls, animal people, and robots. I decided to sit at the main counter in the canteen.
"أهلا ومرحبا بكم في شيبا سيكي رامين. ماذا يمكن أن أحضر لك….." A voice trailed off as I looked to the source.
"Oh…hi…..again," I speak awkwardly at the sight of black cat ears and a familiar face.
"ماذا تريد أن تأكل." She says something through obvious fake pleasantries.
"Uh..I don't understand Arabic. Could you perhaps speak English?" She briefly glowered at me before the fake pleasantries came back.
"What would you like to eat, sir?" Somehow, she sounds even more fake when speaking in English!
"Well, first, I want to know if you take yen or credits." I need to remain calm. Teenagers can smell fear.
"We only take yen, sir." I nod my head at her, checking my wallet. I made sure to grab some yen before leaving the office.
"May I please have the weekly special." She writes down my order and then walks off. I doubt I've ever felt so unbidden in a canteen before now. At least I won't have to deal with her too much. However, now that I have looked at her face, she seems familiar. Surely she isn't the same girl that Pandora smashed, right? If she is, though, her hating me will make things easier in the long run.
"Your order sir." WOW, that was fast. It's a vegetarian-style bowl. Mushrooms, bok choy, brussel sprouts and snow peas. It's a small serving size, though.
"Thanks for the food, kitty." Her eye twitches a little as she leaves me to my food. Huh, to think that nickname would get under her skin. Then again, she doesn't like me, so I should eat quickly and leave. I quickly devoured the food and waited for her to make another pass. "Check, please," I ask when she rounds back toward my way. She seems surprised by the fact I'm done.
"Okay, please give me a moment sir." She says as she resumes her original actions. I watch her work efficiently and gracefully with every customer. After bouncing around, she returned to me with the bill. "That'll be 1500.00 sir." Holy shit, that much for one person! The serving wasn't even that big! I place the cash on the tab and hand it back to her. "Thank you, and please come again." The slight edge in her voice isn't lost on me.
I leave the establishment and walk around, but sadly, I don't find Abydos despite asking multiple people. Their directions kept sending me back to that abandoned school building. So I turn my tail back to Schale and decide to try again tomorrow.
(Day three of looking for Abydos High.)
"Arona, are you sure that building is the actual school?"
"Positive S.Sensei! After cleaning out all that corruption, I can confirm that Abydos has never moved to a new building."
I can only sigh, to think that the deserted building was indeed where I had to go. It's hard to believe I arrived on the first day without getting turned around. Thankfully, I've memorized the layout nearly perfectly due to all the walks I've had to do through Abydos. Sadly, the vending machine was eventually taken to a better place.
"I'll miss you, buddy." I wiped a crocodile's tear from my eye. Besides that, I've made it back to the neighborhood. My only problem is figuring out how many students I'm dealing with. I know those five Pandora showed are definitely in the school, but how many more students are there? Based on my many visits to the building, it's evident that there are at least hundreds if not thousands. "No, that doesn't make sense; it wouldn't be so crummy if that were the case." Well, whatever. I'm sure they are probably all just skipping classes.
"S.Sensei, I have a question."
"Yes, Arona?"
"Why did you ignore Momoka when she was explaining commissions and bounties?" My mood sours a little as Arona asks that. I can't tell her I wanted to punt that gremlin upon seeing her. Or that I immediately tuned her out and had no clue what she was yapping about. "She seemed upset you weren't listening."
"I didn't ignore her. I just ignored the useless bits of information." I was just through with GSC in general. Knife ears already ripped into me earlier these last couple of days on disorderly conduct. Specifically clearing out D.U. Central.
"But it was all useful." Arona tilted her head at me. "I can play it all back for you!" Oh god, Arona recorded the conversation.
"That's okay. In fact, I see someone up ahead, so it'll have to be later. Ok, bye!" I shut the chest down before Arona could utter a word, shoving it into my coat pocket.
I do feel bad lying to Arona, but I don't want anything to do with GSC. So far, I've been hit with paperwork constantly for the past three days. The only reason I get any of it done is how hard I cut corners. Thankfully, no one in the GSC has noticed, but when they do, oh lord, knife ears will skin me alive.
Hitting the intersection, I turned left, continuing my walk down the road until hearing something rapidly approaching me from behind. I move closer to the sand near the road. As the sound gets closer, I notice a familiar sight to my right. The jackal-eared girl stares back at me as she passes by. She stops a little ahead of me. I watch as she gets off her bike and then turns towards me.
"Nnn to think I'd see you again." She readied her rifle at me.
"Uuuuuh easy, little jackal, I don't mean harm." Holy shit, I knew she was as dangerous.
"You can't say that after locking us inside the cooler. We were stuck there for two days since our phones couldn't get reception." She flipped her safety off, most likely. "You also broke into the school." She aimed.
"Hold on, I'm sorry for locking you in the fridge. But I didn't break into the school; the doors were unlocked and brittle." I saw her slowly move her finger to the trigger. I immediately threw my hands up. This girl will mag-dump me. "So how about you put the gun down, and we talk about this as civilized people." She shot next to my foot, actually; I think the bullet ricocheted into my foot based on the minor pain.
"Nnn, sorry about this, but I will take you prisoner." She slowly closed in with her gun trained on my head. I somewhat deserve this, I suppose.
You know my luck couldn't be any worse than this since I have a teenage girl training a gun on my back and marching me to her school. It didn't help that she kept pushing the barrel in my back. When we got to the building, I was forced to stay beside her as she locked her bike into the rack.
She 'escorted' me through the building until we stopped at a room. I could see four more individuals inside the place. I turned back to look at her. She nudged my back with her rifle to have me go inside. Entering the room, I see four other girls. There's the kitty, a blondie, a Pinky, and a fellow four eyes.
"لقد أحضرت الهارب," The jackal seemed to sound somewhat proud of abducting me.
"اعتقدت أنك قلت أن لديه هالة تهديد؛ هذا الشخص يشعر بالضياع بشكل ميؤوس منه." Blondie turned to the kitty.
"هو الذي ألاحظ تلك النظرة الغريبة من أي مكان!" The kitty yelled.
Pinky was probably dead; she hadn't budged. She doesn't have a halo above her head. Perhaps she's normal, but I can't lie to myself. She most definitely isn't.
"Umm, since no one else is addressing you, I'll take the initiative. I'm Okusora Ayane." Four eyes greeted me, and her knife ears wiggled a little.
"Vagus." I wave at her half-heartedly. The jackal decided to enter the argument between Blondie and Kitty.
"Pleasure to meet you; however, I must ask why you're here?" She looks at me, puzzled.
"Hmm, what are you talking about? You sent me an email to come and help you lot." Whipping out the chest and showing her.
Dear, Vagus Sensei
My name is Okusora Ayane of the Foreclosure Task Force. I'm writing this email to you because we desperately need help. Our academy is being attacked. Multiple gangs are grinding us down.
It's a long story; however, at this rate, us and the building will be gone. The remaining three of us can't withstand them much longer. We're on our last bits of ammo and supplies.
Please, help us.
"Umm, that is certainly depressing but there's five of us. Our supplies and ammunition are still fine and only one gang is harassing us." Ayane seems a bit surprised by the email. "Also I don't know your email address." Ayane added.
"Well then I guess I wasted my time coming here." Something's not adding up. I look over the email and see that damn corruption again. Did it infect the email overtime?
"Also one more thing, this email was sent nine days after today." Ayane points at the date of the email. Showing that she was telling the truth. This email basically came from the future.
"Welp I guess I falled for the most elaborate joke ever." Seriously you've got to be pretty skilled to change the sent date. Or I'm just not that great with checking things over. "So if you girls don't need me I'll be leaving." I go to leave only to feel someone grab my coat sleeve. Looking back I noticed the jackal had acted.
"Nnn, you still have to answer for breaking into the school and locking us in the cooler." I look directly into her eyes. Despite her face and voice those eyes hold a silent intensity.
"That so little jackal?" I feel her grip tighten at my response.
"Yes." Such a simple response from her. It causes me to smirk a little.
"Alright I'll answer but don't get upset at the response." I chuckle a little before speaking again. This could work in my favor. Can't go getting attached if they all gotta vanish so I can go home. Best to be kinda dickish. "The front door just broke off when I opened it." I shrug while saying that and she seems to process the information I gave her.
"There's no way the door just popped off the hinges! You're lying!" Kitty shouted from the table she was sat
"Look kitty-
"My name is Kuromi Serika, stop with that horrible nickname!" She interrupted me
"Well Kitty Cat I couldn't care less if you believe me or not. I gave my answer and I don't feel like trying to prove my honesty." I just gotta tell knife ears I tried to help the girls at Abydos but they didn't want my help. Yeah I'm sure knife ears will believe that if I lie good enough.
"If only the cameras still worked." Blondie spoke up.
"That still doesn't explain locking us in the cooler." I look back towards the jackal.
"Well little jack-
"Sunaookami Shiroko." The fuck kinda name is that!
"Well Miss Sunao-Sunao-Sunaok- ah fuck it, it's little jackal." Her ears flick in what was probably irritation. "To answer your question little jackal it's because I panicked. Think about it, two girls with fully automatic rifles had guns aimed at a door. It doesn't help that you both looked ready to shoot whoever opened it." The room is silent for a moment when I say that. I look over to Ayane who's processing what I said. Blondie was smiling however it felt anything but friendly. Kitty looked above my head and then realization hit her. Meanwhile little jackal's face hasn't changed at all and Pinky is still dead.
"Were you two planning to shoot him!" Ayane turned on Kitty
"ماذا لا!" Kitty shouted back. "كنا سنطلق طلقة تحذيرية أو اثنتين فقط." She sounds a bit more timid now.
"Oh I suppose that's okay, as long as the rounds don't ricochet." Wait what did Ayane mean by ricochet? "Also why are you speaking in arabic all of a sudden?"
"إنه لا يستطيع فهم اللغة العربية وأيضًا كيف أقول إننا كنا سنطلق النار بالفعل!؟" Kitty began to utter trying to calm Ayane. I can only watch as kitty cowers while Ayane gets closer.
I move my attention from them and back to the little jackal. "Mind letting me go now?" She shakes her head no at me.
"Shiroko, please let go of him." Blondie spoke. The little jackal turned towards her.
"Nn, bu-
"No buts now, especially since he answered your questions. Even if he could've been nicer about it." Little jackals' ears folded down as she let go of me. "Well since that's taken care of, how about I introduce myself as well! I'm Izayoi Nonomi." Nonomi's energy and jovialness felt infectious.
"Sup." I raise a weak peace sign at her.
"A little weak but I'll take it." Nonomi states with a warm smile. "So Vagues, what do you do?"
"Oh I'm subbing for the teacher of Schale for the time being." They're silent upon my statement. Nonomi looks me up and down while Little Jackal tilts her head.
"For a teacher, you seem kind of mangy," Nonomi utters.
"And seeing four armed girls in an abandoned building is kind of suspicious," I say back.
"Touche." She chirps back at me. "We just haven't had a whole lot of time to clean up yet."
"Right, I believe you wholeheartedly,"
"I'm telling the truth you know."
"And I said I believe you."
Eventually, after a bit of back and forth that lasted an hour, Ayane decided to bring everyone's attention to the whiteboard in the room. I can tell that the whiteboard is showing a payment plan of some kind. With an absurd number at the top of the board. However, what's bugging me is why am I still here? I wanted to leave earlier but before I knew it these four minus Pinky had swept me up in this. I don't even know what the hell they're talking about because they're speaking Arabic. Occasionally Ayane and Nonomi speak in english to ask my opinion but that's it. Worst of all I don't feel like leaving for some reason?! What is going on anymore?
"Question." I finally decided to speak up, causing Ayane to stop speaking for a second.
"Oh yes, Sensei," Ayane replied
"One it's Substitute second what hell are you all going on about?" I raise my brow while looking from Ayane towards the board. It's basically gibberish for me.
"Sorry, I forgot you don't understand Arabic. We're discussing our payment plan to pay back the school's loan." She explained.
"Ayane, you can't just tell him that!" Kitty Cat butted in before I could say my piece.
"Serika his whole job is to help us. I'm sure since he's the Schale Substitute teacher."
"If he's not even the legitimate teacher then we definitely can't trust him."
I watch this back and forth wondering where it'll go before Nonomi steps in.
"Alright how about we leave it to a vote. Raise your hand if you want to tell him about the debt." Nonomi raised her hand as did Ayane. I watched Nonomi raise Pinky's hand as well.
"Hey you can't raise Hoshino's hand, that's cheating!" Kitty Cat exclaimed.
"All in favor of not telling him please raise your hand." Kitty Cat raised her hand yet the Little Jackal didn't. "Oh my Serika, it looks like you're outvoted." Nonomi smiles at her.
"Shiroko, why didn't you vote with me!" Kitty Cat rounded on Little Jackal.
"We were already outvoted." Her face gave not a hint of emotion. I decide to intervene before Kitty Cat goes further.
"Okay so since that's sorted, how big is the loan that it requires four of you to pay it off? It can't be that big right?" The four look at each other. Before Ayane decided to answer me.
"It's about 962,350,000 yen." I could only look at Ayane blankly when she finished her answer. How the hell does a school even get that much debt?
"Wow, I don't know what to say. Actually, I'm impressed that a school messed up so hard it has that much debt." When I really think about it that's kind of impressive.
"You don't know a thing about our school!" Kitty Cat shouted at me.
"You're right I don't, would you like to tell me how your school accumulated this debt Kitty Cat?" I look towards her.
"Glady, since apparently we're telling you this information! It was to repair the desertification that was happening to the district." She glared at me while speaking.
"Fair enough you don't need to say anymore." Ah right I forgot the major schools that control districts also handle everything within it. But if Kivotos is a federated government shouldn't they all help each other in times of crisis? Maybe I'm being to optimistic.
"Wait really that's it?" Why are you surprised Kitty Cat?
"Yeah, I mean nothing is wrong with wanting to fix your home. I maybe an asshole-"
"Nn, he admits to being an asshole." The Little Jackal interrupts me.
"As I was saying, I maybe an asshole, but I understand wanting to keep your home safe and sound." I roll my eyes at the little jackal who seems to be happy with her interruption. "So I assume the rest of the students that are helping have yet to show up right?" None of them really meet my eyes which causes me to start to get nervous. "The rest of the students have yet to show up right?!" There's no fucking way four girls have kept this place from sinking.
"It's just the five of us," Nonomi spoke up.
"Wait, five I only count four of you." I look at Nonomi who points at Pinky. There's no way.
"Miss Izayoi, I'm sure that's a twelve-year old you girls put a shrunken uniform on." I mean her feet aren't even touching the ground there dangling off the base of the chair. The chair isn't even that tall for god's sake. I can hear Kitty Cat snickering, while little jackal looks Pinky over.
"Yeah I know she looks tiny but believe me when I say she's the oldest one here." Nonomi chuckled. I look at her then back at Pinky then back at Nonomi.
"Miss Okusora please explain how everyone is contributing to the school staying afloat." I sigh, still not believing what they're saying about Pinky's age.
"Of course, I mainly handle the supply management, along with calling contractors to make crucial repairs to the building." I nod my head at her, okay sounds like a strong start so far.
"Kitty Cat, what about you?" I give Kitty Cat the floor.
"For the last time stop calling me that! My name is Kuromi Serika! I am also the treasurer for Abydos." Besides her previous statements, I gained one piece of vital information.
"Okay so your treasurer, which is an important task, good on you. So could you tell me more about the payment you all make and interest rate?" I gotta know what I'm pretending to care about after all.
"Well currently the interest rate is 25% and we have to make a monthly payment of two million just to have the loan go down." Jeez it sounds like whoever gave them the loan really danced on the line. Any higher and I'm certain a lawyer out there would have fought to get it down lower.
"Okay so what is the usual monthly income of everybody here?" I saw Kitty Cat's eye twitch, the Little Jackal shrunk and Nonomi seemed to be occupied in waking Pinky all of a sudden. "We'll skip over that for now, Miss Izayoi, what do you bring to the table?"
"Well I buy food and snacks. Oh I also purchase equipment if any that we have breaks." I nod my head at her.
"Last but not least you Little Jackal what do you bring to the table?" I look at her dead in the eyes.
"I protect the entire building." I blink at her response before looking at Ayane.
"You all protect the building right?" I ask Ayane.
"Of course." was Ayanes' steady reply.
"Okay, I thought so." I whip back around to Little Jackal. "So Little Jackal, what do you actually bring to the table?" She runs her chin as she thinks, ears flicking all the while.
"I've cataloged countless banks. The time they change shifts, the amount of guards, times when armored trucks enter to pick up and drop off, along with how much the bank holds in total." I stare at her proud gleaming eyes.
"No! For the last time, we aren't robbing a bank!" Kitty Cat scolded her.
"Please Shiroko use some common sense." Ayane's voice had a dangerous edge.
"I'm….not sure what I was expecting. Honestly, I'm flummoxed by your answer." I stare at her blankly. "Let's put a cork in that and how about someone tell me what Pinky does."
"How about we just wake her and have her tell you herself. Besides, it's about time she's woken up." Kitty Cat walks over to Pinky and begins violently shaking her. "Hoshino, wake up!" Eventually after much shaking Pinky begins to stir halo flickering on above her head. When Pinky's eyes open we both make eye contact immediately. I noticed distrust in her eyes before they swapped to a lazier gaze.
"Uhee never thought we'd get a visitor like you to our school." She looks me up and down. "Quite mangy aren't you?"
"Yup and you're so petite I mistook you for a grade schooler." I shrug, in all honesty most people think I'm homeless to begin with so being called mangy is an upgrade. "But your name is Hoshino?" That name is familiar. "Question for you Pinky, did you send an application to work with Schale recently?"
"Hmmmm nope." Her facial features are relaxed but those pupils ain't. Guess she ain't happy I locked her fellows in the cooler for two days can't say I blame her. But why lie about applying for Schale?
"That's so, let me check something." Could be I got a different Hoshino. It's bound to happen after all. I take the chest out and look at the Hoshino I got. Let's see, you know I'll even speak it out loud. "Perhaps your Takanashi Hoshino. Height 4'9ft, Weight 103 lbs, Age 17, Weapon Eye of Horus and the Shield's name Iron Horus." God this is a lot of info. Did Arona collect all of this upon approval of her application? "Currently the chairwomen of the Forcloscure Task Force of Abydos High who's in her third year." I look Pinky dead in the eyes. "All that sound right to you?"
"Yeah it does." Damn, she had a mood shift in an instant. "How do you know all those details?"
"That's what happens when I approve you for Schale activities. I get a direct copy of your files from the school you attend. In fact a bit too much if you ask me." Honestly Arona didn't need to give me all of that. Well I think it's Arona, who else could give me that kinda info.
Based on her eyes it feels like I've stepped on a metaphorical landmine.
It's going to be a long month isn't it.
