Vash woke up in a small park full of greenery. At a gazebo with street lights dimly shining over the scenery, he breathed in the cool and fresh night air. Slowly, he got up, catching a stare from behind the table laid out before the bench he was in. Her ring of light, shaped in the form of two rounded five-pointed stars, glowed brightly. Pale blue tinted with light pink dyed her hair, and the girl wore a familiar gray and white orthodox school uniform.
Vash heaved a wry smile as he pushed his shades up the bridge of his nose. Memories came to him in seconds, and he easily recalled what brought this change.
"Hey. What'cha up to?"
"...uh. G-good evening." The girl gripped the edge of the table with both of her hands, leaving the digits on display. Unlike before, the boisterous firecracker almost looked like a small critter poking her head out from her burrow. Well, that might be rude to say out loud, so Vash refrained from saying anything. "Err, Suzumi-senpai is currently off buying warm drinks. It turns out we didn't have to buy a cold compress and cream for bruise, but it's getting really chilly around this hour…"
...right, he was still the same ole him. Shrugging, Vash swung his legs off from the bench and rested his elbows on his thighs. "Nothing I couldn't live with. Were you worried?"
"Uuhh… yeah. I mean, I didn't think you're the rumored teacher of Schale." For some reasons, the girl's bubbly and noisy personality could hardly be seen now. How… odd. Even though Vash had barely known her beyond a short banter, he somehow figured out that this was out of the norms for her. Yes, it almost felt as if she was… apologetic? "I'm sorry for earlier, sensei… Even though adults are built differently to us, I went up and pounced at full force out of habits…"
Hoh ho, so she does have a good level of self-awareness in her. Vash cupped his chin in two fingers and hummed appreciatively. Something she had just said earlier also rang a bell in his mind… yes, of a certain pair who formerly worked for insurance company. It was a rather interesting coincidence, a common similarity or perhaps a parallel between those two strong women and these two girls. Well, she called Suzumi "senpai," so she must be a freshman… first-year? New meat? At any rate…
"Hang on… since you're with Suzumi—"
"Hm! Hmf! Uzawa Reisa, the Trinity's Apostle of Justice, at your service!" The girl's eyebrows sharply pointed down and her lips shifted into a smug-filled smile. Her eyes seemed to glitter, and the white gun slung behind her loudly rattled. Vash wasn't sure what to say about the glaring yellow symbols painted all over the gun's body; it was super bright, like very very bright even in this dimly lit park. "If you have any problems while exploring our school districts, feel free to give us a call! Thugs, smugglers, tyrannical businessmen, or even legendary rulers of the dark world—I shall defeat them all if you ever encounter them!"
Right… Vash pulled out some treats from his pocket. "Want some candies?"
"The ramune gummy one!" Reisa fetched the candies as soon as she saw them. It sure didn't take much to ease up the atmosphere between them. "Thanks for the treat, sensei…! Guess you can't trust rumors all the time!"
"Uh-huh. You sure are spirited," Vash said with a widening smile. "So. What's the rumor mill saying about me?"
"Hmm? Huh… well." Reisa gulped down the gummy candy after a constant of chewing. Her eyes drooped at the corners, so when she looked upward, she looked quite adorable. Was this what they said about cute things existing because they wanted to be spoiled? "Uuh, I heard that the teacher of Schale can kick a shell at near point-blank range back to the tank that fired it, threw wanted criminals out of his office like taking out trash, breaths fire that can melt concretes, and also shoots laser beams when he wears glasses?"
"What am I, a radioactive-spewing giant lizard?"
"Oh! I know that one! That's the ancient movie franchise often fought over because everyone keeps on making copycats of it, right!? I heard the Perorordzilla sub-franchise didn't quite pass the pre-production stage, but who knows if it even exists, aha!"
I'm not even sure what to say about that. Vash tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms together. Somehow, Reisa also followed in suite. Well… at least they were in a similar wavelength. That was good, right? Maybe. Probably. Honestly, she sure resembled Milly in more ways than one. Bubbly, full of smiles, hyper and all, yet soft nonetheless—
"Sensei? Have you woken up?" From behind, Suzumi's voice reached his ears. He turned around to see the red-eyed girl holding a few canned drinks in her arms as she let out a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness you're okay… Seems like you've been interacting with Reisa, as well. She hasn't caused any other problems, hopefully?"
Vash grinned. "It's no biggie. All waters under the bridge, now. We've only been chit-chatting, too. Right, Reisa?"
"O-ohh…! I've also apologized for my mistakes, senpai!"
"I see… all is well, then…" Tension sapped away from the silver-haired girl. Sitting down across of him, Reisa followed after her to sit near her side. Vash gazed upon the three canned drinks laid out on the table and then picked one up. "Ah. My apologies, it's already so late, there weren't many choices to pick."
"Matcha green… huh." It was as eastern as it could get, flavor wise. Plants were capable of many miraculous things, but it had been mankind's ingenuity to craft and subvert their mysterious workings to reproduce what couldn't be found in No-man's Land. "Oh, it's surprisingly sweeter than I thought."
"It wouldn't last long, otherwise." Suzumi nodded sagely. Her choice was a chocolate-flavored milk called Wintry Chocolate. "I'm sorry that we ended up cutting our patrol short, by the way. As it's getting—"
"Sleep is good. Eat good meals and get enough sleep. You're growing kids, anyway." Vash chuckled at the flustered looks Suzumi wore. "I can walk myself back to the office. You don't need to worry about me, Suzumi."
"Well… if that's how you want it, sensei." The Trinity girl rubbed her thumb across the side of her canned drink. He could hear the gasp and the befuddled gaze from her underclassman, but why was that? He didn't exactly say anything unreasonable, so… did it have something to do with Suzumi's instant acceptance? "What is it, Reisa?"
"No, well… Suzumi-senpai, isn't the teach here more fragile than either of us?" The boisterous girl definitely looked confused. However, he did want to point out her pointing at him felt rude and uncalled for. "The dark time beckons great shadows! Lots of malicious denizens and evil beasts roam the city at this bewitching hour, you know?!"
Oh god, why does that phrasing sound so wrong and embarrassing? Contrary to Vash's growing concerns and heated-up-to-a-boiling-point ears, Suzumi somehow managed to take in a stride Reisa's words as if at face value. No, wait. Was this just a secret language used between the Vigilante Corps members? Did they understand each other in a special way like this? This old man can't keep up with all these modernity!
"Well… that's what she said, sensei. How about it?" Suzumi, someway or other, had entirely dropped the idea of explaining and went straight to asking him. "While I don't believe there will be much troubles, knowing your abilities, there's nothing wrong with being safe, I believe."
Don't just—oh, wait. "You sure think highly of me, Suzumi."
The silver-haired girl shrugged. "Honestly, I still thought it was something straight out of a battle manga, but since Schale has been given the trust of the missing President, I can only accept what I saw that day to be the reason why."
"No, no, no. That's not how you should decide how good somebody's for the job." Vash waved with his right hand rapidly. "I got recruited into teaching position. Sen. Sei. What good is brute force for in a role like that?"
"Uuuhhh… for maintaining order during classes?"
Thank you for the hypothetical answer, Reisa, but wrong! Vash exhaled roughly, now realizing that his actions might have been misunderstood as a show of power. It was a complete fluke that he trusted in the Crusader tank's spec to be lower than the overly modified insanity of his homeland. The gunpowder didn't have the right oomph to it…
"Say," Vash paused. Lowering his line of sight slightly, his sweeping gaze met the two Vigilante Corps members in the eyes. "Does it hurt when you get shot at?"
"Eh? Well, yes. Depending on the shell type and caliber, it may end up leaving a bruise…"
"Yeah… those can get pretty nuts." Reisa made a face as if in reminiscence. She folded her arms together and sat cross-legged. "A buckshot to the face can mess our uniforms badly, some pepper you real hard, too..."
Just a bruise… The stranger from a whole different planet decided not to pursue that lane of thought; lest he be distracted into tangents. He could set aside some free time on personal research about biology and anthropology subjects—but not now! Right… okay, how about this, then…
"Well, it's still better if you never get shot in the first place, right?" Vash curved his lips, putting effort to look convincing as he could. "People don't like pain. They'd do anything to not get hurt, but that can end up causing a whole lot of mess down the line…"
"You mean… aversion to the truth, no matter how horrible it is, may end up inflicting bigger harm in the end?" Suzumi blinked, her ruby red eyes shining with a curious glint.
"Well, that can work, too." I feel like these two are still not ready for this kind of talk, but well… no better time than now, I guess. He had no doubts that they'd still act like this, patrolling dark alleys and protecting the innocents. Even if that meant coming into conflicts with armed thugs, they had decided to shoulder this duty and responsibility by their own will, and Vash could respect that. It probably didn't matter whether or not he was around, too. "I don't like fighting, you see. Even in the absolute worst situation, it'd be better off for everyone to settle things out without getting hurt…"
"That's… a noble aspiration, sensei."
Vash chuckled. It seemed that Suzumi could tell something was off. His wording, while not exactly designed to hide underlying intentions, could came off as pathetic.
The world was everything, but welcoming it was not. It could not be nice, kind, gentle, and so on. Mother nature was cruel in her infinite glory. And yet, people did their best to survive, to live on. They raised their heads, extended their hands forward, grew up, argued, fought, shed tears, fell ill, have family, and laughed. The song of humanity was one such chaotic ensemble from start to end.
Hence why—
"It rests on everyone who's still alive whether or not you can make the world be a kinder, better place than the point where you first saw it as. After all…" Vash faltered, a shard of the past surfacing from the bottom of his heart for an instance. He quickly crushed that emotion, that memory, and held back on continuing his words. It was… it wasn't right. He didn't want to let down these two kids, not like this. "Well, just means that diplomacy is the best. Love and peace, you know!"
There. Nailed it. He laughed, and laughed. The two Trinity students glanced at each other, but they didn't say anything. Man… he sure was lame.
The stars twinkled. Lady moon shone. Clouds dispersed, and a breeze sneaked by.
The walk back to the dorm was… quiet. It was tranquil, oddly enough. Of course, it wasn't like there weren't calm days like this. As that enigmatic adult had said, peace was for the best, and Suzumi wouldn't have it any other way. She could rest easy without minding over injuries or fatigue tonight.
Parting ways, they said goodbyes and words of expectation for tomorrow. See you later, see you next time, until tomorrow… it was something Suzumi had always considered as a given, words that were only polite and nice to say and to hear. After all, time would pass and tomorrow would arrive. Less than six hours from now, dawn would break out. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…
"Say, senpai?"
"Hmm? Yeah, what is it, Reisa?"
"Uhmm… can I, request something from you?"
Suzumi raised an eyebrow. Hearing her junior's request, a small smile broke out. The girl nodded, extending her hand slightly to the side. In the next seconds, the pair of freshman and sophomore walked under the starry sky. Together. Hand-in-hand. Against the chilly airs of the night and the shadows blanketing the sleepy city.
It was cold, for sure. But it's a bit more tolerable, now.
"Senpai…" Reisa called out once again.
"Yeah. What is it, Reisa?"
Suzumi looked ahead. They had passed another light post, ancient and old, marred with weathering scars as well as dents caused by ricocheting bullets. A plaza was waiting just further ahead of them, a fountain and the shiny golden fences on the side foretelling of their destination being close at hands.
"Do you think sensei is happy living here with us?"
"Hmm… I don't know. I don't want to presume things," Suzumi rubbed her chin with her free hand. The weight of her rifle made itself clear as she rolled her shoulder. "When he said that he dislikes violence, does that bother you?"
"Well… fighting thugs, and making peace. Those are… aah, I get it." Reisa's voice sounded feeble in the middle, as if unsure, yet it picked itself back up at the end. "It's just, uhm… how do I say it?"
As she hemmed and hawed, Suzumi chose not to say any more words. She didn't know Reisa for long. It was still spring, she had just reached her 2nd year, and so she could hardly think of herself as one full of maturity. Experiences mattered, but she doubted she had made enough right choices to speak on behalf of others.
Therefore, she waited. Therefore, she kept herself at apace. Slowly, steadily, relaxed and reassuring. I guess Reisa is my escort for this evening work, then.
At some point, Reisa made an audible sound. She looked up, staring at the night sky.
"It's because… he sounded so sad, back then." Reisa's words made Suzumi to follow after her direction, staring out to the sky full of stars. "It made me feel sad, too."
I see… so that's how it is. When put like that, perhaps it couldn't be helped that Reisa was feeling hapless. Even Suzumi shared the same sentiment as her. To the two of them, studying and gunfighting were parts of their daily lives. Kivotos was a wide place, but it was also everything that all students had ever known. In a way, Suzumi only now realized how small her microcosm was, what with club activity limiting her movement only to the furthest edges of Trinity's autonomous districts. I wonder… what does the outside world look like?
Where did the City end, and where did the Outside start? What would be waiting for her, once she finished her study and embarked on her journey past graduation? It all came back to that person who… at the time, had worn a sad smile on his face. He was a teacher, an adult, he who preceded others; the guide for those who came after him in the long journey called life. Surely… he knew the answer?
"...I hope we can get to know each other better."
To Reisa's murmuring, so feeble that it might as well be a noise in the winds, a corner of Suzumi's heart hoped that it would not end as mere prayer.
The stars twinkled. Clouds scattered. Lady moon waxed and then waned. As the world turned, dawn cracked open the night and so morning arrived.
Sunlight peeked through white curtains. It illuminated the flat with the bright white ray falling upon a rectangular dining table. A white tablet left on the wooden surface flickered to life, black screen shifting into a patterned canvas of white and blue.
A clear "ping!" came from the smart tablet. A white box appeared, signifying the icon of a letter entering a box. Unfortunately, the digital assistant inhabiting it was fast asleep with just a portion of her head poking out to the screen from below. Her sleeping habits, terrible as they were, caused the system manager of Shittim Chest to swipe her arm across the screen. Though faint beeping sounds followed in suite, neither Arona nor the teacher of Schale managed to wake up.
As a result, the message was left opened, blown up to fill the screen. The system identified the sender and addressed it at the top of the page, and the message carried within it a special digital signature in the form of a triangular logo bearing the pointed orb of the sun. The message read as thus—
[To: Sensei of Schale
From: Abydos Foreclosure Task Force
Subject: Please save our school, senseil!]
A/N: And that's a wrap! First Volume, here we go!
