Sensei was making his way back to SCHALE after eating lunch with the Game Development Department after Momoi and Midori successfully improved Aris' speech pattern after finding her in the ruins earlier that day. There's still room for improvement, but at least now people would view Aris as a girl with a quirky way of talking rather than suspect her of being a robot.

He was a little concerned at how Aris, Momoi, Midori, and Yuzu reacted upon tasting his food, but it still wasn't as bad as Otogi's reaction at least. More than that however, there was something else he needed to resolve as soon as possible.

"I need a gun." Sensei blurted out of nowhere, startling the sleeping Arona awake.

"S-Sensei?!" Arona was bewildered. "What do you even need a gun for when you have all these powerful swords?"

"That's precisely it, Arona," Sensei said as he pressed into his earpiece. "Most of the weapons in my arsenal are far too strong. Even my weaker swords are still comparable to high caliber guns, and I think using high caliber guns when I'm trying to keep casualties and collateral damage to a minimum is a bad idea."

"Couldn't you just use regular knives or something, Sensei?" Arona suggested. "Wait, I think you said something about it being a bad idea during your visit to SRT, but you refused to elaborate."

"It's an embarrassing story, really…" Sensei said as he remembered his first day in Kivotos, where he helped Rin retake SCHALE's building and had a run-in with Wakamo, who surprisingly left without much fanfare. "I did just that to avoid injuring the delinquents, but I think I may have traumatized more than half of them when I sent a barrage of knives at them."

That, and the fact that he left tears on their clothing, as while school uniforms in Kivotos were resistant to wear and tear as a result of the constant chaos, there was only so much punishment it could take before it starts to wear off, even if the student doesn't get hurt thanks to their halo. Thankfully, rumors of him being a pervert died out. Mostly.

Minimizing the damage to an opponent's clothing had never been an issue to him before, but as many fights in Kivotos were between students, it was clear he would have to be mindful of how sharp his swords were from now on. For both their safety and their decency.

"I still don't get it, so let me look up the footage of the fight from back then…" Arona said, before she blushed a little when she saw the aftermath. "Yep, let's get you a gun straight away, Sensei!"

…

…

…

As guns in Kivotos were so ubiquitous that even convenience stores sell them, Sensei checked them out first. Surprisingly, SCHALE's Angel 24 had quite the selection of guns. They even had a variety of scented bullets, which was odd, but then he remembered that the ones using these are usually teenage girls who would rather not smell like gunpowder if ever they find themselves in a gunfight before they reach school.

Unfortunately, due to Sensei's rather specific specifications that it has to be a pistol, light enough to be carried all the time, capable of long range, and easily concealed, he had to trouble Sora who had to look at everything they had in stock. He also wanted it to have a large ammo if possible, but he supposed he could have the gun modified later.

"U-Um…" The clerk, Sora, called Sensei's attention. "I couldn't find any that meets all four specifications, but I found these two."

Sora placed two different pistols on the counter. One was the Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum, an old-style revolver type. The other was the Desert Eagle that uses a magazine to load its rounds instead.

Sensei tried both in his hand, finding the Redhawk to be more comfortable. He also liked the fact that the Redhawk had a revolver design and thus easier to work with when he needed to create rounds on the go.

Even one well-placed shot can quickly turn the tide of a battle, and Sensei was confident that his accuracy with a gun is still as good as when he uses a bow, even though it had been a while since he used one.

"I'll take the Redhawk and 10 boxes of its rounds," Sensei said. "Oh, and do you have some fresh meat, vegetables, a few energy drinks, and some tea?"

"Y-Yes we do, Sensei! I'll go get it for you."

"Sora, you could tell me where—And there she goes," Sensei said as he made a wry smile. Well, I guess he'll just have to return the favor to her.

"Hmmm…?" He noticed that one of the fridge was turned off.

"Sensei, I got them all here!" Sora exclaimed as she scanned them one by one. "Will you be paying by cash or card?"

"Card please," Sensei said as he pulled out a white card from his wallet. "Whoops, not this one. I really should put this somewhere else."

Sensei eventually pocketed the white card inside a hidden pocket in his uniform before he pulled out a yellow credit card from his wallet.

"I have received the payment, Sensei," Sora said as she handed him a receipt. "H-Have a nice day!"

Sensei decided to head to the firing range after placing the ingredients he bought in the fridge. He saw some robot workers along the way and greeted them, eventually arriving in SCHALE's firing range.

There he was greeted by a lone student who had gray hair and wolf ears. She had just finished practicing in the range herself when she noticed his arrival.

"Nn. Sensei. I've been waiting for you," Shiroko said as she approached him. "I hope you don't mind me using SCHALE's facilities."

"Oh no, don't worry. You're free to use all of SCHALE's facilities, as well as the other students who visit SCHALE," Sensei said as he prepared to practice in the range.

"You're going to practice too?" Shiroko asked as she looked at his new gun. "You bought a gun? Why?"

Shiroko's confused look reminded Sensei of Arona's own reaction earlier, so he explained it the same way he explained it to Arona.

"I see…You really do care about your students."

"I'm not the type to just stand by and watch you all fight when I could too," Sensei admitted. "But it would be counterproductive if I end up hurting other students and destroying public property."

"So you willingly hold back by using a gun."

"I mean, I could just not use any of my weapons and subdue delinquents with my arms and legs—"

"No. Bad Sensei," Shiroko said. "Leave the recklessness to us students."

"Shiroko…Promise me you won't try to rob another bank, okay?"

"Nn."

Sensei placed the box of rounds on the table, taking 6 cartridges to load into the chamber with practiced ease.

"Have you used a gun before, Sensei?" Shiroko asked.

"On occasion," Sensei replied as he checked the gun one last time before locking the cylinder in place. "This is the first time I've used this model though."

After he finished his preparations, Sensei aimed at a target and fired.

The bullet landed on the right side of the target.

Hit.

"Hmmm…A little bit more to the left…"

Hit.

"Incredible Sensei," Shiroko commented as she saw the bullet hit just a few millimeters from the center of the target.

Sensei on the other hand remained focused on the task at hand. "I see. So that's how this gun works."

Sensei said as he made his third shot.

Bullseye.

And the fourth.

Bullseye.

He moved to another target.

Dead center of the body.

Headshot.

Sensei repeated the cycle of firing 6 shots, reloading, then firing once more.

Eventually, Sensei went through another 6 shots. But rather than putting in new rounds in the chambers, he closed it as if he was finished reloading. Shiroko didn't overlook how the supposedly empty chambers were now filled with new rounds.

Sensei fired the gun with the bullets he created. The shell casings that remained in the chamber disappeared in motes of light before a new round appeared to take its place. This meant that Sensei did not have to break his aiming stance to reload as he kept firing continuously, firing for 5 straight minutes at an increasing speed, until his firing speed became limited only by the spin of the revolver.

Eventually, he stopped creating new bullets, and all used casings disappeared until he was only left with one round remaining. Sensei paused a little, before he made his final shot.

His final shot missed.

"Huh, so that's what it's like to miss." Sensei muttered as he lowered his gun. "Also, maybe I should've bought a second gun to double my rate of fire…"

"Whoa…" Shiroko said in awe. "Sensei, after the first two shots you hit all but one accurately. …Why did you completely miss that last one?"

"About that, I–Oh?" He said as he noticed that there were more students now who were watching him. It was Rin, Yuuka, and…

"I don't believe we've met," Sensei said after introducing himself to the white haired girl beside Yuuka. "And you are?"

The girl blinked a few times as she realized that she had been addressed. She looked at him with a smile. "Ushio Noa, Seminar's Secretary and Yuuka' best friend. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sensei."

"Are you okay? You seemed a little out of it."

"Please excuse me for that, Sensei," Noa giggled. "I was just fascinated with the way you were shooting just now. Even the way you missed at the end was purposefully done."

"W-Wait! Sensei intentionally missed that last shot?!" Yuuka was flabbergasted. "Why?"

"I just wondered what it would be like to miss with the gun, that's all," Sensei replied.

"You…Fine, I guess you have your own way of thinking. As long as you don't do that in a real fight."

"There's no way I'd do that." Sensei chuckled. "I only did that because I was practicing."

"That…was you practicing…Yeah, makes sense. You often use a bow. And it's in a way that I don't even understand how you're doing such calculations while controlling the force needed. It's unsurprising that you'd be incredibly accurate with a gun when all you need to do is point at a target," Yuuka said, remembering the past few times she saw Sensei use a bow. "I'm surprised it doesn't translate as well when you're doing paperwork."

"I don't consciously think about formulas when calculating the trajectory of my shots. It's more a feeling really."

"Your explanation reminds me of Koyuki…" Yuuka placed a hand on her forehead as she could feel the coming of a headache when she thought of her troublesome junior. "Please tell me you can't hack into security systems…"

"..." Sensei elected to remain silent.

"You can?!" Yuuka was now alarmed.

"I didn't say that."

"But you didn't deny it either! And I can see your smirk behind your hand even if you cover it, Sensei!"

It was fun teasing Yuuka. It was also true that he did pick up some basic hacking skills as a result of his missions when forcing electronic locks open wasn't an option.

It was here that Nanagami stepped in by clearing her throat.

"As fascinating as this conversation is, I'll have to cut it short so we can get to the matter at hand," she said. "But before that, I see we have an unfamiliar face with us. Based on your uniform, you're from Abydos."

"Sunaookami Shiroko, 2nd year and member of the Foreclosure Task Force," Shiroko introduced herself.

Rin, Yuuka, and Noa also introduced themselves to her.

"How's the situation regarding the oasis in Abydos?" Rin asked. "Have there been any changes?"

"One of Kaiser's branches has been attempting to take over the area, but so far we've managed to drive them off thanks to the combined efforts of Abydos, SRT's RABBIT Squad, and some Millennium researchers that are…too overzealous…" Shiroko seemed to shudder at that last one.

"I'm really sorry about that," Yuuka said. "Should I have them recalled?"

Shiroko shook her head. "On the contrary, they are quite the well-behaved group. They just look like mad scientists when researching…Or demons when Kaiser nearly destroyed their research. "

"I guess it's understandable for Mystic researchers to be so protective of the place when it's the first clear sign of Mystic they've seen that isn't a student's Halo," Noa said, with Yuuka giving Sensei a quick glance.

Eventually, Shiroko had to excuse herself as she was running late to an errand.

"Is that so? I was just about to cook dinner too," Sensei said.

Shiroko's body froze as she turned around. "Nn. Maybe I could—"

Shiroko's phone started ringing, and she was torn between answering it or ignoring it. Eventually Shiroko decided to pick up the phone.

"H-Hello Ayane—" Shiroko's ear was blasted by what seemed to be an angry Ayane.

"B-But Sensei's cooking—" Based on Shiroko's reaction, it seemed to have gotten Ayane to calm down a little, but eventually her ears drooped as she lowered her phone. "N…Next time. Sensei I'll have to pass…for now."

Shiroko left SCHALE with heavy steps.

"Yuuka, what was with Sunaookami's reaction?" Noa was confused. She had seen Sensei's cooking trending in social media earlier, but she was unfortunately in the middle of a meeting with Yuuka and President Rio while Sensei was in the cafeteria so she missed the entire commotion.

When she asked Yuuka about it, she told me that she was planning to visit SCHALE later, so she could tag along if she was curious.

Yuuka giggled a little. "Don't worry, you'll find out soon."

Later, after Noa returned to her senses, she looked at the redheaded teacher with a smile and said, "Please take responsibility for 'cursing' me with your delicious food, Sensei."

Between Yuuka's surprise at her friend's words, Sensei scratching the back of his head, and Rin slowly shaking her head with an amused smile, it was quite the evening to remember.