The Gehenna Prefect Team was perpetually busy; if not from the various terrorists that plagued Gehenna, then the unreasonable demands made by the Pandemonium Society.
It made the moments where they weren't swamped in work quiet, as the members relaxed and hoarded their strength.
Looking at her phone, Ako's face twisted into an angry rictus. "Why that-" Ako's sudden outburst drew no looks from the other members of the Prefect Team, who were more than used to her anger issues.
"Ako?" Hina looked up from the book she was reading over to her assistant. "What happened?"
Her gaze sharpened. "Makoto again?"
"Eh? Ah, no, it's nothing like that." She waved it off with a strained smile. "I just need to go out now."
"Now?"
Downcast, Ako's eyes avoided Hina's. "I'm sorry President, I tried telling them I couldn't, but-"
Interrupting Ako, Hina gave Ako a soft smile. "If it means you'll take a break, then it's perfectly fine. We aren't particularly busy today, anyways." She chuckled at that. Iori was lying on the couch browsing the internet, while Chinatsu was reading a book of her own beside Hina. Ako was the only person who seemed to find work to do at this moment.
"T-then I'll take my leave, President!" Leaving as she shouted, she was out of the door in seconds, while inside the room they could hear her footsteps thumping down the halls.
Looking up from her phone screen, Iori shot a bemused look at the open door. "Ako must've been looking forward to seeing this person."
Before anyone could answer, the phone rang. Hina got up to answer it.
"Prefect Tea-"
"Sorasaki Hina. Just the person I was looking for." Upon hearing the slimy slick voice of Makoto, Hina's face scrunched up into a frown, like she had bitten on something sour. Upon seeing the expression, the other two Prefect Team members present groaned.
"Makoto. What do you want."
"Is that the way you ought to speak to your betters?" The smugness leaked out of the handset like a leak in a boat. She could see Makoto, legs crossed, trying her best to look cool - and she would do a much better job than if Hina ever tried, that was the galling part. As long as she did her job, and didn't open her mouth… Hina didn't have the body for it at all, unlike her.
"There's been a disturbance in the shopping district. It seems like some thugs are trying to muscle their way into Gehenna, trying to extort the merchants of their hard-won earnings. Go take them down for us."
The manner in which Makoto talked down to her was galling, but this was definitely something for the Prefect Team. "I'll get a team down there to take care of matters. Is that all?"
The buzzing tone told her Makoto had already hung up. Mentally, Hina fumed. ' She didn't even tell us what street it was on! '
Heaving a deep sigh, she turned towards the other two in the room. "Iori, gather a team to the shopping district. Chinatsu, get ready to attend to any injuries. Since Ako isn't here, I'll take care of coordination today." ""Understood!""
Break time over.
In the end, despite the lack of detail, it wasn't that hard to find where the commotion was. In another detail Makoto conveniently didn't tell them, members of the Pandemonium Society were already fighting the thugs; Hina supposed that was how Makoto had found out about the trouble.
Thankfully, that made their job easier. Right now, as she controlled the drone letting her see from her desk at the Prefect Team HQ, all that was left was to clear out stragglers as the bulk of the rule-breakers were out cold on the floor.
"Iori, scanners show two down the alley to your left." "Roger!"
Hina looked on impassively as on the screen, Iori dived down the alleyway, rapidly firing off three shots to take down the thug on her left in an impeccable failure drill, then slammed the butt of her rifle into the other before they could aim, causing them to send rounds away from her and in these close quarters knocking the thug off balance, letting Iori sweep them off their feet and onto their back.
"Clear."
Hina scanned for more targets using the drone. "No more enemies found. Good work, Iori."
"Thanks, President." Iori let out a sigh. "Couldn't the Pandemonium Society handle them by themselves? They just called us in here to clean up!"
"It is our job, Iori. And besides, it could've been worse. Makoto could've called us in after they'd finished, and just let us collect them. Imagine what she'd say after that."
Hina couldn't help but smile as she saw the way Iori's face scrunched up. "I'll handle the paperwork now; if there's any issues call me."
"Understood." The video feed from the drone went dead as it returned to autonomous mode. 'One of the many conveniences of Millennium technology,' thought Hina. 'I can go back to signing forms without any interruptions.'
With a sigh, she started tapping on her keyboard for the required documents to arrange a stay in the prison for extortion for 20-odd students.
As the other members left, taking the two thugs with them, Iori looked around her surroundings for the first time. The alleyway was like all other alleyways, a narrow corner of the world where little light shone, with small air conditioning units hanging from the buildings… and the sounds of talking coming from the other end?
' Did the scan miss some? ' It wasn't uncommon for the scan to be imperfect. The salespersons from Millennium had tried to explain it to her, but Iori had been unable to understand their technobabble apart from 'flir' and 'radar'. All she understood was that it basically boiled down to the system being unable to be perfectly accurate at detecting potential enemies. And there was a bend at the end of the alley, which would block off the scanners…
Raising her rifle to a ready stance, she slowly walked down the alley, treading lightly so the people at the end wouldn't hear her, yet purposefully, maximising every step.
Everything in her vision became sharper, the sounds in higher definition, as she focused on the task at hand. Garbage bins, overhanging power lines, even the odd bird… she let none of them disturb her concentration as she stalked closer.
The closer she got though, the clearer the voices became, and as they became clearer, the more familiar they became.
' Is that?...' Slowing down, Iori let her rifle hang low. She knew those voices. Hesitantly, she creeped softly forward, hiding behind the bend in the alley so she could eavesdrop on the two of them. She knew she ought not to eavesdrop, but it wasn't everyday you heard these two talking, and usually one of them was at the other's throat. So she might have been curious to see what they were doing out and about, when Ako had been asked out so suddenly.
Still, maybe she could afford to take a peek. Some of those sounds were pretty odd.
Making sure her twintails didn't let her position away, Iori peeked around the corner…
"I'm so sorry for not being there yesterday!" Looking on as Ako bowed deeply in penitence, the only thing Hina felt was a sense of annoyance.
"Ako, you already did that an hour ago. I already said there's no need for that an hour ago, and forty-five minutes ago when you did it again, and half-an-hour ago when you did it again, and fifteen minutes ago when you did it again."
"B-But-"
"Ako." Bending over, Hina tugged at Ako's arms. "Do you really think I'd be so petty as to be mad at you when I told you to go meet your friend, and chose not to call you back?"
A beat passed, before Ako sighed. "No…" she said, her voice softly trailing off.
"Now get up, before weird rumours start flying around." Hina pulled Ako up without resistance, the scene of the tiny white-haired girl pulling the much taller bluenette up absurdist anywhere else, but everyday matters in Gehenna.
"Now then, can we start this meeting?" Hina raised an eyebrow, speaking not just to Ako but to Iori and Chinatsu, who had been present the whole time this charade had been happening.
"Of course, President." Unslouching herself, Chinatsu sat up straight, while Iori's neck snapped to face Hina, nearly falling out of her chair as she turned back to face Hina.
"Good. Now, Ako had something to say about the state of the budget." The meeting started in earnest as the four top members of the Prefect Team started discussing the various matters regarding operations, maintenance and enforcement…
Except, Iori was out of it the entire time, Hina noticed.
The meeting wasn't particularly long. Makoto was annoyingly consistent with her policies against the Prefect Team, and all of them knew what that meant. They had a method to deal with her, one well-rehearsed at this point.
The one thing that wasn't consistent was Iori's behaviour throughout. Hina would catch her eyes wandering, and she was oddly spaced-out the entire time.
Hina decided after the meeting that it would be best to check with Iori to see what was wrong.
The problem with that was the amount of work needed after the meeting. She signed another form as she sighed. Endless amounts of work, all because of Makoto's petty grudges…
She picked up her mug, and took a swig of coffee, only for nothing to come out of the cup. Another issue, she thought. At least it gave her an excuse to stretch her legs.
"I'm telling you, that's what I saw!"
Hina heard Iori before she saw her. Peeking past a corner, she spotted Iori and Chinatsu with their heads bent over.
Shrugging, Hina was about to continue to the coffee machine when she heard the next words Chinatsu said.
"Sensei and Ako though?..." Her curiosity piqued, she leaned back against the wall, trying her best to look as nonchalant as possible while she kept an ear on the conversation.
"That's what I saw! Look, I couldn't believe what I saw too you know! But I saw the mark on Ako's neck just now!" Mark? She must have missed most of the conversation. Unconsciously, she tilted her head closer to the corner.
"How? She always wears a collar-"
"A bit of it was showing, on the edges of the collar. Right where he kissed it!" The mug in her hands trembled. Sensei kissed Ako? On her neck?
Iori continued speaking, because of course she couldn't see Hina's face. "Plus, haven't you found it weird that she's been covering her sideboob recently? I saw him… g-gobbling them up!"
Hina's thoughts were in a whirlwind of depression, rage and madness. She has been wearing less revealing clothing recently… to cover up the marks? Her traitorous thoughts filled in the blanks instantly. The way she rushed off yesterday… the way she's been on her phone more often…
A sick feeling rose from her stomach, and quietly she slipped past the corridor the two of them were talking in and rushed to get more coffee.
"Maybe Iori was leaping to conclusions" was repeating in her head the whole time.
Despite that, she couldn't shake off the feeling of unease growing within her.