Saito placed down his spectacles and massaged the bridge of his nose. Ayame and Nonomi stared at him and waited for his response.
"So… your school is facing not just harassment from the local gangs, but also a huge debt to a loan company." The teacher summarized.
"Yup." Hoshino nodded.
"And the reason why this school had a debt was because the school was raising money for disaster relief… which led to borrowing money… to ultimately lead to this school owing-"
"900 million yen…" Hoshino continued.
"962,350,000 yen to be exact." Ayame added in. "That is the amount of debt that Abydos- no Foreclosure Task Force had taken to pay. The loan company will foreclose on the school and shutter it permanently if we don't pay them."
Saito looked down, sinking in the new information that was given to him. "No wonder so many had left or transferred to other schools."
Any person looking at the insurmountable obstacle would walk away from it. Worse, - according to Styx during his ride to Abydos- the sandstorm that had plagued Abydos did not let up even after the first wave many years ago.
"I am curious, when did the sandstorm become worse?" Saito asked.
Hoshino gave him the answer. "Some decades ago? We all knew it had been like this for many years now, so most of us never really get into the actual reason why the sandstorm got worse."
"So it has been an issue for a long time…" Saito muttered. "Anyway, sorry for getting off topic. I can safely assume this was the biggest reason why students left or had no increase in number of students."
"Nn," Shiroko agreed. "All except for us."
"And I assume that the school ultimately had to turn to loan sharks for money as another way to raise funds for disaster relief."
"No banks were willing to give us such a huge fund…" Ayame replied sadly.
"I want to say they were not making the right decision… but considering the circumstances, I can't blame our seniors for making this decision in a desperate time." Hoshino added her commentary.
Saito nodded solemnly and muttered "I see." Everyone in the room stayed in silence, letting their teacher sink in all the information one more time.
Sensei then looked at all the students in the room. "Thank you all for telling me what exactly is going on in your school. I might not be able to directly help you with the debt, but I'll try and see if there is any way I can help lessen the burden for all of you."
"Nah, we should be thanking you, Sensei." Hoshino said. "Now that you helped us with putting the Helmet Gang behind the bars, we can now return our focus on clearing the debt."
He stood up. "Still, I am a teacher, it is my duty to help all of you. I won't abandon any of you."
Not again.
Ayame gave a small smile. "You don't have to say that, but thank you, Saito Sensei."
Hoshino let out an 'aww' and gave both her junior and Saito. "You're going to insist on helping us, huh…"
"Sorry, none of you are going to talk me out of this." He replied.
"Don't worry, we won't." Ayame replied. "This is the sliver of hope we need, afterall…"
After finishing talking with the Foreclosure Task, Saito left the school and began his journey to get to the closest train station in Abydos. According to Ayame, the train station that she pointed to has the least likelihood to have delays, and it is one of the few that is still functioning.
"Really need to talk to Rin if there is more info on how Abydos got to this point." Saito murmured as he took note of the location of both Abydos and the train station in the Schitim Chest.
"There must be a multitude of reasons." Arona said. "I mean, I am sure there must have been plans of ideas the GSC had to help out Abydos, but they never materialized". She reasoned.
"That doesn't sound reassuring." Sensei nervously replied.
"C'mon! Just give me the benefit of the doubt!" Arona pouted.
Saito laughed softly at Arona and finally walked towards the train platform that he needed to go back to Schale. Looking around the station, there was no one there waiting for the next train arriving. The silence in the station felt… suffocating.
It's a different kind of silence that Saito is used to in his short time in Kivotos. The silence he was used to is tranquility in his office. One where he knows that he is safe.
But he doesn't feel safe right now.
"I kept feeling like someone was staring at me from somewhere." He wasn't sure, but he swears he is not alone (minus Arona).
"Are you alright sir?"
He looked to his side in shock. A girl, covering her face with a hoodie, but her yellow halo is very much visible. He also notices her long cyan streak of hair that slips out of her hoodie, but the cyan looks… unnatural.
"Sir?"
He blinked twice, breaking out of his thoughts to answer the girl. "Sorry, I was just… startled."
"My apologies, my sudden appearance must have shocked you."
"No need to apologize. I was too deep in my mind."
The young girl nodded at his answer and looked back to the train track, also waiting for the next train coming.
"I never seen you around here before. Are you new here, sir?" The mysterious girl asked.
Sensei nodded and replied to her. "Yeah, first time in Abydos actually. I honestly am thankful that the students here are helpful in giving me direction to this station."
"Come to think of it," Saito continued. "I didn't see you in the Abydos academy. Are you from another academy?"
"Something like that." She quickly replied. "I came here to see how a … friend of mine is doing nowadays. She seems to be doing well."
"That is really nice of you." Saito said reflexively.
She waved off his praise. "I wouldn't say that… I'm just doing what I am supposed to do."
"Regardless, I'm sure your friend would appreciate the gesture." He replied.
"I hope so." She whispered.
She turned her head and continued to speak. "I have some else that I need to tell you though, sir."
"Something big is going to happen. In Abydos, I mean." The mysterious girl said.
Then she began to walk away from the platform, just as the announcement of the train arriving. The girl leaned in towards Saito's ear, muttering her next words.
"I suggest you make the right decision, Sendou Saito."
Saito let out a shocked 'huh'. He watched her picking up her pace as she went out of the station. Before he could even say a word, she vanished from his sight, while the train arrived at the station, waiting for him to enter the train.
"... I never told my name to her." He muttered.
"And yet she knows." Arona whispered in his pocket. "Sensei… there is something up with her."
He nodded and replied. "Arona, let's check and see if there is a cyan hair girl like her in the student registry."
With that, the teacher went back to Schale in silence, wondering and lingering on the cyan-haired girl's last words before she left.
Right when he went back to Schale, Saito immediately called Rin to request for the student registry to find out the mysterious student's identity. To which the vice president complied and told the teacher to wait for a few days to see if there are students that match his vague description.
"I'm going to sleep now, Arona."
"Alright, good night, Sensei. Have a good rest!" Arona replied before the Shittim Chest closed off, indicating that Arona also went and rested.
Saito laid back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling while reflecting on everything that happened today.
"The debts that Abydos needed to pay and the gang attack on Abydos have to be connected." He muttered. Whoever was behind all of this must be rich, that much is known; and the last words that the gang leader said as she was pulled into the police car seemed to have given the Abydos an idea who might be the culprit.
"This isn't over, he will come and get all of you! Not even we can get away from that damn robot!"
The question now is who was the money lender? And what do they get from attacking Abydos? Was it power? Or was it something else?
And then there is the girl…
"Who are you? And-"
He held her in his arms, desperately calling out her name, but her golden eyes are losing its luster while she-
"-Why do you sound so familiar to me?"
Within a high-rise building in Abydos, two figures, one taller and one shorter, stand in front of each other.
"So they all have failed…" One of them spoke with a robotic voice.
"Yes, and they lost all the ammunition you have provided too." Said the other person, in a feminine voice.
The figure with the robotic voice snorted at her comment. "Even as an organized crime group, they still are nothing but incompetent."
"We told you, did we not? If you want to get something done, you need to enlist a more skilled professional, even if you have to cough out more money." The other person replied.
"Is it another 'Gospel' by your 'Prophet'?" The robotic voice said sarcastically.
"No, just advice from my logical perspective." The feminine voice said evenly.
The taller figure sneered. "Fine, looks like I just have to take out more money out of my pocket then. Not like I have not poured out more money than I really should."
"You can do that," The shorter figure said, before they pulled out a Progrise Key out of their pocket; then a red halo appeared on her head with 10 pointed edges. "Or you can heed my previous advice to you and your associates when I first met you and let me lead the job."
The larger figure stared at them in silence for a few seconds, then he finally replied. "Fine, but I will still hire a skilled professional to make sure the job can be done."
"You do you." The smaller figure said as they pulled out another Progrise Key and gave it to the larger figure, "Just to be more clear, I have my own job, so do not interfere with my job as a follower of our 'Divine Being'. And I am here only because you are the best choice to further my goal. Do not make me regret it."
"I think it is more like you don't make me regret accepting your request for help."
"Regardless of what you said…" The one with the halo pressed the Progrise Key they still held.
"All are under the will of Decagrammaton."
HUNT!
Someone was gone for 10 months without any news and then reappeared with a smaller chapter. Wow, that person must have a pretty crazy time in real life! It can't be me, right? Right?
Sorry I had to make that joke.
That aside, this is basically a breather and a set up chapter for my planned upcoming chapter for next year, as other than the sporadic free time I have, I do not think I have time to write at all considering my current work.
And speaking of being absent for so long… I have to apologize again.
Work has not been kind to me, it was exhausting. It took way more of my free time than I thought, and it took a ton of energy (my boss not being the most cooperative person not helping).
My physical health is not too good either, every month I seem to get sick, so I need to take care of myself first.
But on the other hand, I can only blame myself for putting way too much time on other things such as getting more competitive in Grand Archive (still WIP) and playing Honkai Star Rail, thus cutting more time from writing.
So yeah, it's half my own poor time management, and half outside factor.
Next chapter: Our resident cat princess gets kidnapped, and it is up to the self proclaimed stal- I mean Sensei and her friends to save the cat. When will the next chapter come out? Who knows, it's all up to my motivation and energy now.
Also side note: Future updates will be just to edit the previous chapters. Mostly just fixing naming errors.
Oh, and I just found out that this story got recommended in the Blue Archive's FanficRecs page of TVTropes. I honestly am shocked as I did not expect to get one to begin with. Really, thank you to the person who recommended my fic in the TVTropes page.
Anyway, see ya.