Chapter 10: A Necessity

"Knight to C4. Check." Dan Heng spoke as the morning sun pierced the clouds and gave SCHALE's office its warm embrace. The chess pieces of the board reflected the rays of light throughout the office, basking it with a comforting ambiance that was visible even with the bright white lights of the office shining just above.

"Hm," Kayoko, who was currently his opponent, mused, covering her mouth with her left hand as she became lost in thought. "King to C1. What do you think of my proposal?"

"It's quite a good idea. I'm rather impressed you were able to grasp our situation and the concept of Space Anchors so quickly. And I know Stelle can give some rather odd and undecipherable explanations." After my discovery that just about everyone in Kivotos correctly suspected me of being from the stars, I had elected to fill Kayoko in on the Crew's general situation. After all, she and the rest of SCHALE would only be able to help me as much as I showed trust in them. If nothing else, this at least added to the small circle of people on Kivotos I could trust who have a definitive grasp on who I really was. Aside from Kayoko, that group currently consisted of Rin, Arona, and potentially Yuuka; if I really wanted to stretch it, I could add Hoshino to the list as well, though the trust certainly wasn't mutual with her.

After a split second of deliberation, Dan Heng made his move. "Rook to H1."

Kayoko continued as she studied the board. "As capable as Stelle-sensei is, she is only one person. And you'd probably get a lot of good data for the Express' data banks if you're going around setting up a Space Anchor network for her. We're going to have to move fast and take care of multiple things at once, since the Express Crew can't focus on Kivotos for too long. If Stelle and the rest of the Crew including you can go from one place to the next within an instant, it massively increases our chances." She picks up one of her pieces and begins to move it. "Knight takes Rook, F3."

Dan Heng raised an eyebrow. "Interesting move, sacrificing your Knight. Pawn takes Knight, F3."

Kayoko shrugged. "I've already lost. Your Queen is in a good position, and you still have an active Knight on the other side of the board, while I've lost my Queen already and my King is trapped in a corner. It would only take two more moves before checkmate, since I don't have a Queen to sacrifice to take your Knight in order to stop it."

Dan Heng sighed, a look of disappointment on his face. "I thought we'd be playing a bit longer. That was fun. You're quite the quick learner. Better than those two already." Dan Heng gestured towards me and March, who were currently at the other end of the office engaged in something else.

Kayoko gave a slight smirk as she replied. "Thank you, Dan Heng, but I'd like to stay humble if I can. If I get a big head, I'd be more likely to abuse the position you've given me."

"That's very good to hear. I suppose that open-mindedness is why you were so easily able to accept that there are other worlds, and we're among their many residents."

Kayoko shook her head. "Not at all. Alien life on Kivotos has always been a thing, though we've never had anything as concrete as Stelle-sensei in terms of their presence. Just a few reports and sightings, and the discovery of ancient artifacts. Most students here believe in their existence one way or another." Kayoko stole a glance in our direction. "Besides, the two of them act plenty alien already."

Currently, March and I were having our somewhat regular wrestling match as part of our usual routine of sparring, which had evolved to a point where we did it whenever we were both bored or had nothing better to do. I unfortunately must admit that the one time Black Swan, who was currently staying on the Express, had walked in on us having our bout was a time when March came out on top via pinfall. Needless to say, it was rather unbecoming, and something Dan Heng and March gave me no small amount of grief over the next morning.

This time, though, it was to try and get used to the set of standard issue tactical gear that SCHALE apparently gives to its security staff, something I didn't even know about until Mutsuki cheerfully greeted me with a demonic smile while wearing knee pads, a leg holster for a pistol, and a chest carrier vest; all clad in black and the vest embroidered with SCHALE's logo. Her, Aru, and Haruka all wore it over their regular outfits when I first saw them today. When I realized I basically threatened Rio and by extension the entirety of Millennium impulsively just because Silver Wolf told me to, I had to admit that a small part of me didn't want to look weak or unreliable when both myself and March rolled right up to whatever trap Rio had planned for us, but it was mostly due to myself making a point to be as prepared as possible for any situation, especially if I was having March walk into the line of fire with me.

"What are both of you doing?" Kayoko questioned.

"What does it look like we're doing?" March answered. "We're trying to see if these things are comfortable to fight in. But enough talk, have at you, Stelle!"

Kayoko gave a sigh, clearly displeased at how the two of us were wasting time. "Stelle-sensei, you'll only have two weeks before your summoned to the preparations of the ceremony you've been invited to attend. We're running out of time, and the more time you spend doing these things, the less we have to prepare for whatever is coming, whether it be what's going on in Abydos or something else entirely." March and I continued to lock arms, as we both heaved out weary grunts and pained gasps as we tried to pin each other down.

March began making ground and was pushing me towards the wall as I distracted myself with replying to Kayoko. "Balance is important too. If we don't take breaks and have some fun every now and then, we'll be stressed out and tired from work. Sure, we're carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders, but we can't do that on broken ones. And besides, I could just give my apologies to the General and skip out on the preparations. It's not like the Luofu will get invaded if I don't attend."

"I get that, but-"

"Please, Kayoko." March interrupted. "It's fine. We're getting ready for our meeting with Rio right now, see?" March huffed as she put all her strength into what seemed to be one final push. "How's this for balance, Stelle?!" March suddenly swept my legs out from under me, causing me to trip over and fall backwards towards the floor. Before I could hit the ground, March grabbed me by the collar and held me in place. "Gotcha! This is the part where I'm supposed to give you a kiss, right?" March laughed, giving me a toothy grin as the two of us locked eyes, her chest pressing against mine as she went for the pin.

"You're supposed to pin me, not embrace me."

"Same thing, ain't it? I've got you right where I want you!"

"That's not how this works. You're supposed to-" I threw off her grip, sending her tumbling backwards onto her rear. We both managed to raise ourselves up to a sitting position simultaneously, as we locked hands and continued trying to push each other towards the floor.

"Haha, got you good with that feint, didn't I?" March teased.

I glared at her wry smile, trying to hold my ground as she pushed me ever closer to the floor. A surge of strength allowed me to push back and gain a slight edge, before she countered and we continued the stalemate as Kayoko rolled her eyes and went back to processing paperwork, while Dan Heng decided to cut our wrestling session short, as he grabbed a handheld transceiver from Kayoko's desk and spoke into it. "Any available staff, could you bring the pilot up to the office?"

Aru's voice came through the other end as she replied to Dan Heng's request. "Sure, it'll be done in a flash! She's right here in the theater. A bit too engrossed in the movie, I think." Aru seemed to have accidentally left her transceiver on, as her somewhat futile attempts to get the pilot's attention were broadcast to the office, as well as Haruka and Mutsuki presumably. "Hey, hey. Pilot. What's your name? The boss...no, I'm the boss. Sensei...no, that was the Fellow Outlaw." Dan Heng shifted a bit in embarrassment from Aru's moniker for him. "HEY! You're needed at the office! Stop staring off into space! Would you take off that helmet and just LISTEN TO ME?!"

Mutsuki's laughter came through the receiver as she began to speak. "I'm listening, Aru! At your command!"

Aru yelped in panic as the one-sided conversation with her and the pilot was suddenly cancelled from SCHALE's private radio broadcast.

"Well, she's lively," Dan Heng mused, taking an opportunity to poke at Kayoko. Perhaps his boredom while aboard the Radiant Feldspar awakened something within him. "I'd expect nothing less from someone you recommended."

Kayoko gave no response as she continued filling out paperwork, while the match between March and I continued to stagnate. It was a minute or two before the door opened, and Aru and the still-helmeted pilot walked through the entryway. Unfortunately, the sun's rays glinted off the door's handlebar as it swung open, blinding me and causing me to lose concentration as I instinctively moved my hands away from March to shield my eyes. This gave enough opportunity for March to quickly push me to the floor and pin me, my body knocking over the pilot on its way down. She let out an undignified yelp as March collapsed me onto the floor, and the pilot collapsed on top of me as well.

"Sorry," March said sheepishly. "Didn't see you there."

The pilot didn't say anything, and didn't move either, seemingly unresponsive to everything around her. I tried to break free, but the combined weight of the pilot on top of me and March holding me down prevented me from moving. The pilot remained eerily quiet, as I continued trying to escape the position we were stuck in, and March began and finished her count as I attempted to prolong our wrestling match in futility.

"One! Two! Three! I win!" March jumped up and began showboating and prancing around the room, breaking my winning streak of three in a row against her. She struck a victory pose as she stood over the heap that was me and the pilot, holding out a sideways V sign next to her closed right eye while holding her left eye open in a wink. "Another victory for the Superstar Cute Bomber, March 7th!" Distraught at having lost again to March 7th in such a public fashion, I rolled away from the pilot and onto my side; curled up into a ball with a blank, pained expression on my face. The victorious March continued to stand over me, eyes closed with a smug self-assured expression with her hands on her hips, as she puffed her chest out in pride.

"Are you alright?" I could hear Dan Heng say in a concerned tone. I assumed it was directed at the pilot, as I could hear her begin to shakily get up. Aru bent down to help her up, and her helmet rolled away to reveal a girl with light brown, low twintails, tied together with a yellow-black ribbon. Her golden eyes matched my own, and although I was the only person who could see them, I still made more of her halo; a smaller inner circle surrounded by a larger outer circle with a single wing on both sides, their colors matching her eyes. She seemed to be sobbing, as if she had gotten hurt from the fall.

"Hey, it's OK." Aru gently placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder, trying to comfort her, as Aru's own haughty masquerade completely evaporated. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm... I'm OK. I'm not hurt at all," the pilot replied. "It's just I waited so long to get one, and..." She stared at the floor and silently let the tears run down her cheek, where lied the shattered remains of a statuette of what seemed to be a cross eyed giant chicken. I recognized the character as being the same one featured in the movie currently playing in SCHALE's theater room. The statuette seemed to have taken the brunt of our fall as she had seemingly dropped it when I knocked her over and had shattered on impact. The pilot's voice wavered as she spoke again. "It was a limited edition Peroro figure. It was signed by the sculptor too..."

"Is that all?" Aru sighed, a hint of relief in her voice. "Don't worry about that, we can always get you a new one."

"But it's limited... I'll probably have to go to the black market in Abydos for it."

I remembered that the Sanctum Tower had the Basement Synthesizer in its Crafting Chamber, and as Rin stated, it was perfectly capable of making toys and replicas. Unfortunately, March was still standing directly above me, which prevented me from getting up. She didn't seem to mind that I could see directly up her skirt. We are both girls, but if I didn't know any better, I would think March was trying to flaunt her undergarments to me.

"March, a little help?" I asked flippantly.

"Aw, does the big bad Galactic Educator admit her defeat in the ring?" March questioned mockingly, having failed to read the room yet again as usual. I threw a quick jab at her right thigh, and she seemed to have gotten the message. "Ow! Jeez, fine." She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up. "Sore loser."

As soon as I stood up, the pilot ran past me and picked up the Peroro figure's head and body, cradling the figurine and letting out another tearful whimper.

"Oh, hey..." I paused awkwardly as I realized, despite us having met in the hangar during Rin's tour and having expertly flown me into the red-hot landing zone that was Abydos' school rooftop, I never bothered to learn her name. In fact, this was the first time I've seen her face, as she always kept her helmet on in our previous encounters. She probably kept it on as it let her mask her otherwise meek demeanor; in our previous encounters I could count the number of times she spoke on one hand, and it was only to confirm takeoff and landing during our flight to Abydos. She reminded me of Firefly in that regard, and like Firefly, seemed to adopt a completely different personality when suited up in gear. "Do you mind if I take the figure? I can fix it for you really quickly." She nodded and handed the remains of the figure over to me.

I could feel March's glare of disapproval, never mind that she was the one who pushed me into her in the first place. She pulled up to me and whispered in my ear low enough for no one else to hear. "Her name's Hifumi, dummy." I questioned how March was so hyperaware about minor details like this when she usually gets the broader picture completely wrong.

I turned the Peroro figure's pieces over in my hand and examined them. Despite being a mass-produced hunk of resin, the paint was surprisingly well done, and it felt solid in weight and texture. I signaled to the rest of the others I'd be back shortly and bolted for the skybridge connecting the Residence Hall and Office buildings together.

"Arona, could you tell me more about Hifumi?"

Arona answered back in the most audibly sour tone of voice I had heard since then. "I can't believe you didn't bother reading your own personnel files. Get it together, Sensei."

"Sorry, Arona. I guess I was too focused on Abydos, and now we can't do anything there but wait for something to happen. Anyway, tell me about Hifumi."

Arona began her best impression of an automated text-to-speech engine, her monotone voice echoing in my ears. "Ajitani Hifumi. Student at Trinity High School. Average grades, somewhat popular around campus." She then paused and became her rather expressive self again. "What the heck?"

"What's wrong?"

"You're not going to believe this, Sensei, so I'll start with how she became a pilot. Apparently, she stole a Crusader tank and went on a rampage with it, and the combined arms of the Justice Task Force and Valkyrie Police Academy couldn't do anything to slow her down. If you remember, Hasumi is the vice chairman of the JTF. They're the disciplinary committee of Trinity, so basically their military. The chase went on for over an hour, and the JTF and Valkyrie took an extremely high number of casualties. Eventually, anti-tank snipers managed to disable the tank engine. What do you think happened next?"

I was curious. "What?"

"Hifumi fled to a nearby heliport operated by the GSC and stole an unarmed transport chopper. You'd think that would make her an easy target, but she was able to dodge anti-aircraft guns as well as handheld missile launchers. At one point, Valkyrie set up an ambush for her on a rooftop, and she used the tail rotor of the helicopter to bash all of them unconscious in one fell swoop. At some point, the authorities lost pursuit of the craft, but they eventually found she had landed it and she was captured nearby. The Tea Party, that would be Trinity's student council, pardoned her and paid for the property damages, but the GSC forced her to perform unpaid community service as a pilot anyway. In fact, Hifumi was the one who took part in the mission to retake the Sanctum Tower as well as your pilot. She was transferred over to SCHALE at Rin's request when the GSC cut off your funding for the month, and the rest of her community service was commuted in exchange. All this, and she had never flown or driven a tank before the incident."

I was stunned. Hifumi really was more like Firefly than I could have possibly imagined. Underneath that meek exterior was a girl who was an absolute juggernaut behind the rotor, and I couldn't possibly guess the pilot during the Sanctum Tower raid and Hifumi were one of the same, as their attitudes were completely different. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, Sensei. When questioned about her motive by the police, she stated she did all that to get the Peroro figure you just broke."

I quickened my already sprinting pace towards the Space Anchor to avoid provoking Hifumi's wrath. The last thing I want is to owe a second person who could crumple me like a tin can 20,000 credits.

"We're entering Millennium airspace, Sensei. We should be arriving at the school's helipads within a few minutes."

I was panicking somewhat when I fed the broken pieces of the Peroro figurine to the Basement Synthesizer along with one of the remaining keystones, not even bothering to read the descriptions on the nodes I selected on the crafting interface. I simply pressed whatever happened to be glowing a golden sheen on the menu. Luckily for me, the result was a perfectly repaired resin chicken, and Hifumi instantly lit up like a scoreboard whenever it was my turn at bat. She was in such a good mood, in fact, that she hadn't worn her flight helmet and became quite the chatterbox about all things Peroro-related: books, movies, tie-in video games; you name it, Hifumi knew all about it. I had come in knowing nothing about the silly-looking chicken and was about to leave the chopper with far more knowledge about this franchise than I cared to internalize. In particular, a shipping vessel containing the first edition of a Peroro toy line sunk, causing the subcontracting company responsible for it to go bankrupt, thus leaving the merchandise forever lost at sea. I wasn't sure what relevance it could have on my work in Kivotos, but for whatever reason, Hifumi's recounting of the tale sent chills down my spine.

I took a deep breath and tried to relax as I glanced back at March, who had been silent since we left the office. Her eyes remained firmly closed as she sat motionless, clearly catching up on the beauty sleep needed to maintain her "super cute" figure. Dan Heng, meanwhile, was surveying the terrain below and taking as many photos as possible. As the helipad neared, Hifumi changed the topic.

"Sensei, please be careful around Rio. She has a reputation for being quite paranoid and quick to anger. I heard rumors that something happened internally within Seminar, which has made her pretty agitated. If she thinks you're trying to manipulate her in any way, or if you threaten her or Seminar in any manner, she will lash out, even if you've done nothing wrong. At least, that's what I've heard."

Oh, great. Hifumi was, to my knowledge, a pretty average student disregarding her inexplicable skill with vehicles. If even she's telling me to exercise extreme caution when dealing with a fellow student, that meant Rio's paranoia and aggression must be at least on the level of my own when I thought Firefly was dead, or maybe even worse. I didn't have the heart to tell Hifumi that I had actually threatened Rio, all because Silver Wolf had goaded me into doing so on her behalf; Hifumi's cheerful smile and good mood was something I didn't want to put a damper on after having just made her cry.

"Got it. I'll do my best."

As the helipad loomed ever closer and Hifumi began to touch down, March suddenly woke up with a high-pitched yelp.

"I'll be taking Dan Heng around Kivotos, Kayoko marked a bunch of places, so we'll try to hit as many of them as possible today. Stay safe, Sensei."

"Thanks, Hifumi," I replied. "You be careful too."

March and I exited the helicopter, and it lifted off with Dan Heng in tow and disappeared into the city skyline. The helipad was oddly empty, with no one in sight to greet us. As we began making for the roof access doors, Yuuka emerged from the other side and motioned for us to follow her.

"Stelle, March," Yuuka began. Considering Yuuka called me by my real name again, whatever happened must have been pretty serious. "Sorry about the improper welcome. Normally, Noa would be the one to guide you around, but she's got her hands full at the moment. After this, I'll be pretty busy too." She grimaced as we descended towards the main floors, with cracked walls and blown open doors strewn about, as well as various other property damage including dented drones or caved-in lockers. Some of the students simply went about their daily tasks, while others could be heard complaining or sobbing; though the ones that were had what was to me rather skewed priorities. "My poor vending machine with mechanical tentacles! Now how will I get project funding?"

Yuuka continued talking as we were presumably coming closer to Seminar's meeting room. "Normally, I'd boast about how Millennium Science School has the most advanced campus in all of Kivotos, but as you can see, it's in a pretty bad state of disrepair at the moment. An android went on a violent rampage, and it took basically every student we could muster to stop it." Broken glass seemed to grow out of the floor, and flickering lights sabotaged the sleek styling of the campus. She paused as her expression continued to sour, and shot both myself and March a frowning, worried look. "I'm not sure what Rio is thinking, since she hasn't been talking to me or the rest of Seminar much lately, but it's pretty clear she holds the both of you responsible."

I couldn't hide my baffled state of mind. "Me, sure. But why March?"

Yuuka simply shrugged and said nothing, clearly not in a mood to speak about it further. We had gone quite deep into the campus, and she gestured towards intimidating looking double doors which looked more akin to a vault than a school. "Rio's ahead. Please, be careful." She began walking away, before turning around and stopping to say one final thing. "Don't mention the Punk Lord around her." Yuuka then left us alone before the jaws of the beast.

"Well, March," I began. "Ready to go toe-to-toe with..."

"...another two-faced hag?" March finished for me. "No time like the present. Come on, Stelle. This will be a piece of cake. Let's add one more to our list."

As we threw open the doors and walked through, it immediately and automatically slammed shut behind us with a deafening thud, and steel bars blocked the way out. As this happened, what seemed to be hundreds of white drones with "AMAS" marked on them came out of both the ceiling and walls, pointing their miniature turrets in our direction. I shot March a glare for tempting fate, and she responded with a nervous chuckle.

Rio sat opposite us behind a desk strewn with computer equipment, documents, and holographic displays; she was tall and busty with pale skin, as well as long black hair that reached just above her knees complementing her blood red eyes. She shot us a stern and angry expression and seemed to be reaching for a carbon black handgun which was on her desk. Beside her was what I presumed to be the android responsible for the rampage Yuuka mentioned, currently in her birthday suit and with only her long black hair tied together with a headband covering her skin; it was so long that it seemed to spread out on the floor like tentacles. It suddenly jolted awake, its eyes glowing bright pink and began speaking out in garbled, broken speech. "Alice...attempting reboot..."

Rio grabbed her handgun and shot the android, Alice, in the head. It instantly shut back down and lay motionless once more. She then turned it towards myself and March, and furiously began roaring at us.

"This is all YOUR fault."

Author's Note: It's been a very long time. This was originally going to be one long chapter that combined both the formal introduction of Hifumi and the confrontation with Rio, but I felt it was more appropriate for them to be separated with a cliffhanger leading into the confrontation.