Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Anzai Chieko nervously pulled at her collar as she sat in the main lobby of Schale, crumpled application in her shaking hand as she waited her turn to be called. She'd gotten dressed up for this, not half bad if she said so herself, but she wondered if brown hair and short pigtails made her look too...generic. Some of the girls who passed by were so pretty...she couldn't stack up to them if she tried!

C-Come on, Chieko, the former delinquent thought as she swallowed a lump in her throat. You can't be a coward forever! You already made it this fair, do it for her...!

It was not immediately obvious upon first glance, but Chieko was on the ground at the time of the Great Sanctum Riot. A "delinquent" who was one of the first to meet Duke-sensei and PS68, it was an honor she wore with some measure of pride...before getting completely stomped as they moved on to save the city.

Eh. She always knew she wasn't great with a gun, her grades were actually pretty alright so getting back into school was possible, and getting thrashed just gave her an excuse to go clean like a lot of the other actual delinquents did. Getting her ass kicked was one of the best decisions of her life! Especially because it led to her getting something even better than a place to belong: a person to belong to.

That's right, baby, Anzai Chieko was a taken woman! While her girlfriend couldn't be here today, something about some job out in a desert or something, that was okay! She promised her that it was her last job as a Helmet Ganger. Once she was done, she'd be free to quit and join her on the straight and narrow. If she didn't make it into Schale (she was almost confident she wouldn't, actually, but Chieko had kissed those particular worries away), she'd become a waitress or a store clerk, anything to stay with her.

Ahhh...she was so cute...

"Anzai Chieko!" a cheerful white-haired girl called out as a girl exited the room, sighing tiredly. Oh hey, she knew her! She was the short girl!

...

N-Not that she'd remind her of that or anything. That MG5 was scary...

"Um, yeah, that's me!"

"Cool! Come in, Duke-sensei is ready to see you!"

Getting up, Chieko brushed her skirt and straightened her necktie. Hurrying over, she nervously smiled as Short Girl nodded to her.

"Good luck!"

"T-Thanks, you too!"

...

Oh fuck.

Goddamnit! No, maybe-

Fuck. Fuck, no. She knew. That smile. Oh god she actually said-

"Hey there, kiddo. You've reached the desk 'a Duke Nukem, Sensei extraordinaire. You feelin' alright?"

Startling, Anzai Chieko burbled out a reply and shot her application forward like it was burning.

"Tense, huh? Don't you worry about a thing," Duke-sensei smiled from his place at the desk, and wow it really was comforting as all those thirst posts on Momotalk said it was. "I'll judge ya fairly, and even if ya don't get in now that isn't to say that the door's closed forever."

"O-Oh, right, yeah," Chieko nervously laughed, taking a seat and looking around the room as Duke appraised her application. It was white washed like all the other rooms she saw in Schale, but all manners of bits, baubles and books lined the shelves and his desk. A couple of wall scrolls and some paintings also went a long way in livening up the place.

Wait, are those...weeds? In pots?

"Not goin' for operative, eh?"

"Oh, uh," Chieko scratched her head. "M-My skills with a gun aren't really, um...great?"

"Ah, that's fine. We all got skills, and yours just might not be active firefights. No shame in that."

...Yeah. Yeah, there wasn't any shame in that! Chieko sat a little straighter.

"Says here you're 'decent' at cooking, helped out with a couple 'a community events and soup kitchens...I like what I'm seein'..."

Chieko cleared her throat and tried not to get her hopes up. The interview hadn't even started yet, after all! Duke-sensei typed in something at his computer, scrolled, and leaned back to look at her.

"Looks like you've got an infraction for being an 'instigator' at the Great Sanctum Riot. Mind explainin'?"

The former "delinquent" flinched, her (recent) dark past having finally come to kick her in the ass. Oh well, it's not like she had anything to lose by being sincere.

"Um, well, I-I...yeah, I was there. B-But I didn't break anything, o-or steal anything! I just...I fell in with the Kobras because I didn't have anyone else. They...they could come on a...little strong sometimes," Chieko giggled, "but they weren't bad. We just...fell through the cracks and found each other."

"...Gotcha. So then, what brings ya to Schale, then? What makes Anzai Chieko a good fit for the Cafeteria Team?"

"W-Well, uh, I can make a mean bisque!" God, that sounded so fucking dorky! This is Schale, everyone could probably cook like a goddamn queen! "I-I'm good with a wok, fiddled around a bit with an air fryer, o-of course the microwave, I'm just good with appliances! I, um, I'm also willing to learn! Really! They could even put me on dishwashing duty and I'd be happy!"

Duke-sensei hummed, scratching his chin and typing something that made her back sticky with sweat.

"Why are you really here, Chieko?"

She flinched, searched deep inside herself, and took a shuddering breath.

"...I-I don't wanna be a deadbeat, Sensei. I, um, I got a girlfriend and I...I love her a whole lot. I wanna do right by her and she wants to do right by me, and we can't live like this forever. She's, um, she's a delinquent, b-but she promised me she'd quit and go clean too! So, I wanna show her that it's possible even for a plain girl like me!"

Duke-sensei nodded, typed something up, and picked up her application again. Scanning it briefly, he hummed and nodded before putting it back down on the desk. Whatever it meant, Chieko didn't know, but even if she didn't make it into Schale she'd try her best to-

"When can you start?"

"...Huh?"

Duke-sensei smiled at her, and she figured he must have been used to it after all these interviews. "When do ya think you can start? Listen, kid, if I cared about you or your lovely lady bein' a delinquent, I wouldn't be havin' these interviews at all. The Cafeteria Team would love to see what you can do behind the wheel, past schmast."

"Wha- a-ah, I mean...! I-I can start right away, as soon as possible!" Chieko croaked, feeling her eyes mist over. She was accepted! She got accepted into Schale!

"Here," Duke-sensei gently pulled a tissue from a box on his desk and handed it to her. Gingerly taking it, she dabbed at her eyes as the Sensei adjusted himself in his seat. "I'll send the team a memo to expect you in by tomorrow, 8 AM sharp. You game?"

He held his fist out, and Chieko couldn't help but laugh and bump him back, giddy and relieved and crying as she was.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, I'm game! C-Can I...?"

"Sure. I'd say have a good day, but..."

"Yeah, no, it's fu- it's great," Chieko blushed, scrubbing at her eyes. "T-Thank you, thank you so much Sensei, I won't let you down!"

"Didn't think ya would! See ya soon!"

And with that, Chieko left the room on cloud nine, waving excitedly to Short Girl before fumbling to get her phone out of her pocket. Opening Momotalk faster than she ever had before, the newest member of the Cafeteria Team sent a landmark message to the girl she loved most.

RABU HON I MADE IT IN! ! !

"Aw, that's so nice," Arona cooed from the Shittim Chest as Duke let out a content sigh, saving and exiting out of the document program he was using to take notes on all the applicants. Another busy day done and over with, but the amount of firefights he was in and citywide catastrophes he had to solve remained a solid zero in recent history and he was giving kids down on their luck and willing to improve themselves an opportunity to turn their lives around.

Radical.

"Yeah, young love...no clue why she was shittin' herself over the interview, though, she was pretty damn qualified for a student job."

"Sensei, I'm sure you can guess how hard it is to live as a delinquent in an academy city," his super-secretary sighed. "No luck getting a job in the good parts of the city, getting shot at as 'preemptive suppression', the student bank account freeze, it's...it's tough. Knowing all that, imagine applying to a GSC-sponsored multi-district organization as a shot-in-the-dark."

"Damn...wonder if Rin's doin' alright with those classes for mental wellbeing..."

"I'm sure she's doing fine, these things take time and effort to set up, after all. Would you like to message her on Momotalk?"

Duke rolled his shoulders with a groan, and the screen of the Shittim Chest popped on as Arona made to copy him. "Nah, she's busy as hell. I should go through all the paperwork, mail 'n messages that have piled up, though."

"Ah, yep, good call! Please give me a minute to sort the electronic stuff..."

"Thanks, partner. I'll check out the physical shit, then."

Duke hummed as he pulled out a thick stack of letters, flyers, and other miscellaneous junk mail he had stored on a pile in a space under his desk.

"Junk, junk, ad...offer for some sponsorship on, uh, lucky germanium bracelets...? What the hell?"

Arona snorted as she continued digitally sorting envelopes. "Lucky, huh? If you're interested in making lenses for cameras and microscopes, sure. Otherwise congratulations, you've got yourself a bracelet that looks like sprayed tinfoil."

"...Didn't even know that and it sounded like a crock of shit. Well, I feel bad for whatever poor sucker falls for it anyway."

Arona and Duke laughed, shook their heads, and watched as he deposited the offer into the paper shredder. H moved onto the next piece of mail and let out an interested hum.

"Huh, this one is a bit different."

"How so?"

"A letter from an Okusora Ayane. It's got some...the hell, is this sand?" Duke shook the envelope, letting a couple of grains fall to his desk.

"Well, we won't know what's inside unless you pop it open! Maybe it's fan mail!"

Duke chuckled. "Doubt it, Arona, been getting those in the form 'a texts 'n emails."

"Okay, but what if-"

"Uh, hey, Duke-sensei!" Mutsuki shouted from outside. "There's someone who absolutely has to see ya!"

...Weird? Duke and Arona shot each other a look before the Shittim Chest's screen went dark. He'd get back to that letter Ayane had sent him later. Getting up from his chair with a groan and tucking the tablet under his arm, Duke trudged over to the door and swung it open.

"Everything in Kivotos is kinda weird to ol' Sensei, Mutsuki, you're gonna have to be..."

Mutsuki shot him a concerned look as he trailed off, staring at the girl before him. The student before him was in a uniform he had never seen before, covered in bloodied cuts and bruises. The formerly white uniform itself was tattered and covered in mud, blood and other grime, a broken gas mask hanging limply off her neck by a few surviving straps. It looked as if the very act of breathing was painful for her, the image 'enhanced' by her dull, lifeless blue eyes.

"Y-You...the Sensei?"

"Yeah, that's me...but what the hell happened to you?" Duke replied, hovering over the heavily injured girl. He was about to put a hand on her shoulder before she flinched away, a haunted look in her eyes.

"N-No, Madame, please! D-don't, I...s-sorry, take this," she opened a pouch on her bulletproof vest and staggered toward him, battered grenade launcher in one hand screeching against the tile. She held a torn piece of scrap paper out at him with another shaking hand. "Princess, s-save the Princess, please...!"

Dangerously swaying on her feet, Duke had just enough time to grab the paper before diving to grab her, Mutsuki quickly catching her instead with a wheeze. Her light blue halo fizzled out, signifying that her fall into unconsciousness was genuine.

"A-Agh, geez! Never a dull moment around here, eh Sensei?"

"Yeah, guess I won't be retirin' any time soon," Duke slyly remarked to soothe his nerves, passing the scrap paper to one hand while holding out the other for the girl. "C'mon, let's head to the medbay to drop her off. We can read this thing on the way."

"You got it, chief," Mutsuki saluted, pushing the girl gently into Duke's arm. He hefted her up with little effort, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as he hooked the arm under the back of her knees. With her safely secured, Duke was free to read the letter...after angling it a bit for Mutsuki to read too.

SENSEI

PLE ASE SAVE US

UNDER TR EN INITY

THIS HATRED I S NOT OUR OWN

I WANT TO BE

(Duke gently rubs the circular spots where the paper is more brittle with a thumb, and hears the creaking of leather as his other hand balls into a fist.)

CHANGE OUR FATES

ATSUKO

"Goddamnit," Duke lowly muttered under his breath. "Hatred not our own, huh...?"

Were they being abused? Were they hurt like this girl was? How much time did he have? Duke found himself walking a little faster.

"Whoa, whoa, Duke-sensei!" Mutsuki called out, holding onto his sleeve as they power-walked down the hall. "Dunno what's going on in that noggin of yours right now, but let's get the girls together, okay? We'll think of something together!"

"...Yeah. Sorry, kid, I just..."

"No, it's all good! That is a pretty spooky letter, though. Under Trinity...what could be under that goodie two-shoes school?"

Duke sighed as the doors to the in-built hospital slid open automatically. The girl at the desk, a Gehenna Prefect Team officer turned Schale part-timer, adjusted her cap and saluted as the group approached. One glance at the dirtied girl he was carrying was all the receptionist needed to make a decision.

"Good day, sir! Would you like me to the radio the medical team for a patient intake?"

"If ya could, Kei, I'd appreciate it."

"If you'd excuse me, then."

Pressing a button on a nearby console, the girl proceeded to mutter some codes into the mic before taking her finger off. Soon enough, a team of nurses with a stretcher rolled around the corner and in front of Duke.

"If you could?"

"Ah, yep," Duke grunted as he gently set the girl down. "Almost positive this one comes from an abusive situation, Code...Orange. Maybe a Red, dunno how much training she has, but..."

He gestured to the tactical gear and the nurses let out noises of understanding.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Sensei, we'll be careful with this one," the head nurse nodded. "Have a good day."

"You too," Duke smiled at her before they made to wheel back, muttering about the girl's medical history and procedures as they went. Watching them go, Duke looked back over to Mutsuki and jerked his head over to the door.

"Thanks for the help, Kei, we've gotta get goin' now. Keep it up kiddo, and don't worry about your math score, alright? 78 is a good starting point, and I know you'll be gettin' better and better."

"Ah-" the receptionist choked, face turning pink. "Uh, t-thanks. See you, Sensei!"

With that, the two exited the hospital, Mutsuki sending the last of her messages to the rest of Problem Solvers.

"The girls are finished with today's job, Sensei, so they'll be back in like an hour. Wanna head to the main lobby to wait? We'll give 'em a warm welcome home!"

Home, Duke thought with a warm chuckle. It always surprised him a little that the old saying 'home is where the heart is' really held weight its weight as time passed, even in another world. After all, Schale and the Problem Solvers were his home, too.

When he saved Atsuko, the gas mask girl, and however many little friends she had, maybe they'd reach out and make it their home as well.

So, I've done some digging based on that letter, Arona had suddenly said as Duke was simply lounging on the couch. And it seem like there's a lot more to Trinity than we thought, Sensei.

Izzat so? the man thought in response Lay it on me, Arona.

Okay, so...I-I made this infographic thing, right, and I put it away for safekeeping...

Alright...?

And I lost it- no, no wait! Arona gasped. I think I found the file! Okay, let me see if this comes through correctly...

You gonna beam somethin' into my head? Duke raised a mental eyebrow at her.

Yep, brace yourself!

...

...

Duke, still remembering that his body was most definitely still in the real world, fought a valiant struggle to keep from guffawing. Mutsuki, having taken up a quarter of her own sofa, was eating her way through a bag of spicy rice crackers and peanuts none the wiser.

WAAAAAH IT'S NOT DONE IT'S NOT DONE YET SENSEEEEEEEI! Arona's anguished wailing bounced around in his skull and he almost perfectly imagined her frantic flailing. DON'T LOOK! I'M DELETING THAT FOREVER!

What the hell- Duke mustered willpower he didn't think he had anymore to suppress a snicker. I love it, seriously, but what the hell's happening to Mutsuki over there? Is she gettin' struck by lightning?

I-I fell asleep mid-coloring...! It was gonna be so cool! Arona whimpered, and to her credit Duke actually did feel a little bad for her. I'm gonna look for that infographic now, I'll be back!

Sure this ain't you runnin' away from that sweet drawing of yours?

The silence he got in return was telling. He'd have to send his dear secretary a boatload of pastries later, just to show her that he meant no harm. It really was a sweet gesture from the AI, and it made him want to actually introduce them whenever he had the chance. Aside from that, though, there was little to do other than wait and plan. It sounded like there was a conspiracy involved, there would be plenty of skulls to crack, and he'd have a mountain of paperwork to do when he gets back.

He was beginning to think this was every other work week in the academy city.

Just hold on a lil' longer, Atsuko, Duke prayed, flexing his hands again as he leaned his head back with a sigh. Next stop, Trinity General School...and whatever bitch-ass skeletons its got hanging around in its closet.

He had his guns, he had his strike team, and he had plenty of motivation.

It was time to fill some motherfuckers with Duke Nukem's own brand of holy spirit.

Wakamo threw a pillow to the ground with lethal amounts of force, heaving with a face flushed with sweat. Collapsing onto her bed yet again, she stared up at the ceiling of her hideout in confusion, lust, and rage.

There had been videos, videos of Duke-sensei online that showed off his battle prowess. His way with words. His kindness. She did not think it important to look at him before, because why would she even bother looking at the man who ruined her fun before the fated moment of his death?

She was wrong. Kosaka Wakamo was rarely wrong but this was a complete fuck-up on her part.

He was perfect, she had decided after glimpsing him asleep on the sofa with that little team of irritants, some drivel playing on their television. How could she have even thought of killing the man?! His chiseled form, protecting a soft heart that was open to all, his striking jawline, his velvety tones that did things to her...

He must be hers. Or she must be his. Whatever, however, it needed to happen...at least, that's what she thought at first.

Why?

Why?!

Why the hell was she STILL reminded of Akeboshi Himari after meeting him?! It defied logic! There could be no explanation for this!

...

Except...

No, no it was impossible, she was not thinking of the gnat like that! She had Duke-sensei, and Duke-sensei had to be waiting for her! Only Duke-sensei could enflame such passion within her!

(His strong hands on her body, his voice cooing sweet nothings softly into his ear, the way her thin body folded neatly against her own, she wanted to talk to her the Fox of Calamity-)

"GRAAAAH!" Wakamo screamed, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't live like this! Something needed to give! She needed to meet one of them, yes, meet one of them and find where she stood!

("It's Wakamo, don't talk to her-" "If you just did what you were told, I wouldn't have had to-!" "Don't hurt me, please!" "Were you stalking me, you freak-"

"...I'm sorry.")

And so, Wakamo of the Seven Prisoners made a decision that day. Sensei could not see her like this. He could not see this broken ugly thing that was sullied by some incomprehensible conflict within her twisted heart.

It was time to visit Millennium and end this farce once and for all. Then, she would be perfect enough to stand by his (her?) side.

Chapter Text

"Hey, Kayocchi, does this make my butt look big?"

"Huh? How should I know?"

"I dunno, mind lookin' a little closer~?"

"...You got your head screwed on straight?"

"Come on _____, quit bugging Kayoko already. In the first place, haven't we been here long enough?! We need to get back to work!"

"Oh fine! It's time for Kayocchi to WAKE UP anyway!"

"...What?"

"Sorry, Kayoko, but I guess even idiots can be right once a day. Wake up already!"

"Hey, seriously, what the hell are you two-"

"Waaaaaake UUUUP!" Mutsuki shouted, having scooted over right up to Kayoko's ear with cupped hands to her mouth. Naturally, from Aru's panicked expressions and Duke's sigh of quiet resignation, nobody believed that this was a good idea. Nobody except Mutsuki, who decided to donate her single brain cell to charity, and Haruka, who was out like a log.

The former two were, unfortunately, correct: Kayoko drove her elbow into Mutsuki's gut with frightening speed as she jerked awake, causing the smaller girl to collapse onto the bench with an agonized wheeze before rolling off with a clank.

After the rest Problem Solvers had reunited within Schale's walls, Duke laid out the situation as soon as they were cleaned up and had some food in them. Despite some initial reservations regarding Trinity's relationship with Gehenna (which made Duke's blood boil; if any two-bit racist thugs wanted to take it up with him or his girls, he'd send 'em packing like a buncha hikers), Problem Solvers 68 agreed to take on the job of both escorting Sensei and rescuing a student (or students) in unknown yet perilous conditions. Of course, not without pay: aside from the dinner he owed them, he was now obligated to...take them to see a movie coming out soon. He personally thought it wasn't a square deal, but was also left with a fuzzy feeling as he realized that yeah, they knew that too.

They agreed to never do dirty work pro bono, but they also intended to answer respect with respect in kind. Damn, what badasses.

Thus, with everything squared away, Duke made sure they packed up, got a Schale transport copter to use, charted a course for several hours, and had everyone roll out. The going was smooth for the first two hours-

"What...?" Kayoko heaved, looking around the cabin with a wild glint in her eyes. "What the fuck...?!"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Aru blubbered, looking the farthest from being the boss and more like Haruka as she fearfully clutched Duke-sensei. "I tried to tell her that it was a bad idea, but you know how she gets when she's in 'The Mood'! Don't hurt uuuus!"

"T-The flight ih-hhhh-s so boring..." Mutsuki groaned, still curled up on the floor like a roly-poly. "N-Needed to do something...!"

-until Mutsuki got bored, had no outlets, and also needled Aru for the first hour anyway.

"Then just take a nap or wait like a normal person, you goddamn gremlin," Kayoko irritably huffed, leaning back against the wall with her hands shoved into her pockets. Duke Nukem, former badass soldier and ladies' man, sighed like a single father with three little kids and leaned forward. He figured that her foul mood was pretty justified, but carefully pulled Aru off of his arm to plod over to Kayoko anyway.

"You alright, kid?" Duke whispered, having bent down to reach her ear.

"Yeah, I'm...fine," the Section Chief muttered, glancing down at her knees. "Just saw a few people I didn't think I'd see again in my dreams, s'all...not actually all that pissed at Mutsuki, or anything."

Eyes widening at her admission, Duke let out a gentle breath and shook his head. "And here I thought this ol' fossil was the only guy who'd go through that. Well, you know I always got time for ya, so if ya feel like talkin' about it, gimme a ring."

"...Yeah," Kayoko finally smiled and looked up at him, red eyes aglow with adoration. "Thanks, Dad."

Delivered so casually, the line didn't sink in for anyone inside that helicopter for a few seconds. Slowly, as if they were trying their best not to startle an apex predator, the two conscious members of Problem Solvers and Duke turned to stare at her.

"...Someone say something," Kayoko growled, red to her ears and natural scowl cranked up to twelve. "Right now."

"I'm not pushing my luck," Mutsuki shook her head, completely genuine as she hopped up and slid into her seat. "The intrusive thoughts beckon me to say 'something', but I already got burned like seven minutes ago. There's really no need to take the easy path in signing my death warrant."

Aru laughed hysterically and glued her face to the window. "W-Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice that, erm, th-that cloud before! It looks like a boot if you squint a little (actually a lot)! D-Don't you think so, Haruka?!"

At the sound of her name, the girl in question awoke with a snort and frantically looked around. "Wuh-! I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry, what's happening?!"

Duke couldn't respond, stone-still in his seat with a smile on his face as he mentally slapped five with Arona.

"Uh, I hate to ruin your guys' fun," the pilot radioed in, "but we've got clearance to land in Trinity's airfield. Grab your stuff, freshen up, and get ready to meet the delegation in five!"

"A hundred yen says their faces scrunch up like this," Mutsuki demonstrated a disgusted expression, "when they see us comin' out after Duke-sensei."

Aru daintily shrugged her shoulders, dignified mask in place as she hefted her sniper rifle over her shoulder. "We're here for a job, so we don't have to care about what they think. Besides, we have Sensei's support."

"I-I'll try not to embarrass anyone..." Haruka quivered, holding her shotgun to her chest, and Kayoko gently pet her back.

"Don't worry about it and stick to us. If they harass you anyway, just come running and we'll resolve it, okay?"

"Okay...t-thank you..."

Patting the back of Haruka's head, Duke stepped up in front of Aru and tugged at his fingerless gloves. "All goes according to plan, I'll be the guy they speak to anyway. If they give any one 'a you trouble, send 'em to Duke. They'll head back to the dorms with some needed respect and a fresh perspective."

"We can handle ourselves when it comes to the riffraff," Aru nodded, "but thank you anyway, Sensei. Get through introductions first, we will reveal ourselves afterwards."

"Oof, am I not lookin' forward to this..."

"I'll follow your lead, Lady Aru! Duke-sensei!"

"Mmhm."

The helicopter touched down with a heavy thud, rotors gradually slowing down and cutting the noise.

It's showtime.

As Duke opened the door and stepped out, the first thing he saw was the bright sunlight of late afternoon reflecting off white tile. While the airfield was fairly empty, he did notice a gigantic gothic cathedral-style building right in front of it, with student workers milling in and out like ants. Some had even stopped to peer curiously at him.

Holy crap, he thought as he stepped out to meet the group of Trinity girls, Shittim Chest tucked comfortably under an arm. With an emphasis on holy. You got enough white here to fill a 70's suburb.

"Good day to you, Sensei." The girl in front bobbed a proper curtsey to him. "I speak on behalf of all of Trinity when I say that I am honored to see that you have decided visit our school before all others."

"Ah, well, it's an honor to be here," Duke casually fired back, slightly bowing his head to her. "The name's Duke Nukem, Sensei and head member 'a the Federal Investigation Club: Schale. Might I get the names 'a the lovely ladies I'll be speaking to?"

"Aww, what a charmer!" a girl behind her squealed, pink hair bobbing excitedly. "Me! Me! I'll go fir-"

"My name is Kirifuji Nagisa, one of three presidents of the Tea Party. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sensei."

"Booo, Nagi-chan!" the girl huffed and puffed, her cheeks like an angry squirrel. "I wanted to go first, you thief!"

Nagisa's eye twitched, and Duke almost felt a little bad for her. "Mika, please."

"And now you ruined the mystique! Gosh, Nagi-chan, you can be a real buzzkill! Anyway, Duke-sensei, my name is Misono Mika! It's real nice to meet'cha!"

"Uh, yeah," Duke grinned back at her. "Nice to meet ya, Mika."

"...Mika, again," Nagisa politely interjected as a nun in the background shook her head, the nurse by her side simply staring directly at Duke with a neutral expression. The black-haired woman instead stared at the helicopter as if something was wrong. "You must remember your propriety as a member of the Tea Party."

Seriously, why the hell was she staring at him so intensely? Did he have something on his face?

"Oops, sorry! I didn't mean to be so informal. Let me try again...good day, Sensei! My name is Misono Mika, another president of the Tea Party, and it is a great pleasure to see you on our hallowed grounds. Now, the third member of the Tea Party would be here, but she's not feeling too well..." 

"It is a shame, but we can discuss those kinds of details later. Introductions are still on-going."

Nagisa nodded to the nun, who stepped up and bowed to Duke.

"My name is Utazumi Sakurako of the Sisterhood. May your stay in Trinity be blessed with productivity and good fortune."

"Right back at ya, sister," Duke smirked and shot her a finger gun. The delegation blankly stared it aside from Mika, who snorted and covered her mouth with a hand. Simply deciding to pretend it didn't happen, the nurse stepped up and offered a hand to Duke.

"I am Aomoi Mine of the Knights Hospitaller, and I have heard of your strength. Sensei, please let me know if I could assist in any rescue operations, thank you."

"Spirited, huh?" Duke took her hand and shook, inwardly surprised at her strength. He almost kinda felt that one. "Pleasure's all mine, Mine."

"Last, but certainly not least...!" Mika announced. The woman (what the hell she was not a goddamn student looking like that) walked up with bold strides and bowed lowly, Duke making sure to keep his eyes on her halo at all times.

"My name is Hanekawa Hasumi of the Justice Task Force. A pleasure, Sensei."

"My pleasure," Duke returned, nodding. "Now then, while I'd love to get down ta business, mind if I introduce my team? They're the protection detail I've sourced for this little visit."

"...Protection?" Nagisa raised a suspicious brow. "Is...there a mission you will be conducting in Trinity, Sensei?"

"I'll be happy to explain once we're all acquainted," Duke shrugged. "Come on out, girls."

The door to the helicopter opened once again, and Rikuhachima Aru stepped out to a-

-wave of murderous intent radiating off of-

"...A-Ah..." Aru whimpered, trying to keep the tears from her eyes from being noticeable and her knees from clacking together like a marionette. It had passed just as suddenly as it came, but what the hell was that?! "Ah, u-um, I...ahaha! My name is Rikuhachima Aru, boss of Problem Solvers 68! I-If you've got the cri-!"

Aru's mouth shut with a clack.

"...Ahem. I am charmed to meet you."

(AAAAAH I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GIVE THEM THE CRIME MOTTO! AND I SCREWED IT UP!) Internal Aru screeched, her mental landscape currently on fire. (THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED US FOR SURE! FIRST THE GSC AND NOW TRINITY, WHAT SORT OF MONSTERS ARE THEY GROWING IN KIVOTOS?! WHAT DO I DO, WHAT DO I DO...?!)

She put a hand on her chest and cleared her throat, if only to calm her frantic heart. The shadow from her bangs framing her eyes, she noted that Hasumi regarded her with veiled distaste while Nagisa, Sakurako and Mine's expressions betrayed nothing. Mika, on the other hand...

She was smiling. Just smiled and stared at her unblinkingly with those empty yellow eyes. Was that where...?

"Come on, boss!" Mutsuki happily cried as she stepped off the plane, slapping Aru on the back and causing her to jump with a squeal. "You didn't forget about us, right? Heya folks, the name's Asagi Mutsuki, Problem Solvers' Staff Chief! Hope we can get along!"

"...Charmed," Nagisa responded with a plastic grin and Mutsuki cheekily grinned at her, eyes a little too sharp and hand still on Aru's back.

Mika twitched.

It was Kayoko who stepped off the helicopter next, Haruka timidly clutching her sleeve like she was her daughter. The two took one look at Mika and their stances subtly shifted; Kayoko's face settled into a firmer frown while Haruka shied away behind her even more. This did not escape Duke's attention: had Mika been less laser-focused on the presence of the Gehenna students, she would've been able to feel the towering man's eyes on her the entire time, hidden away behinds his shades as they were.

"Onikata Kayoko, Section Chief of Problem Solvers, and this is Haruka, an employee of ours. A pleasure, I'm sure."

"More of them?"

Everyone suddenly looked to Mika, whose eyes had widened at the faux-pas. She replied to their concern with an airy laugh, and when she opened her eyes again they were no longer hollow.

"I mean, isn't this a surprise~! More students from Gehenna in our school! Ah, how fun, how fun...! Sensei...you certainly are an interesting person."

Aru swallowed, getting ready to defend her employees despite her own fears before Duke cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Mika. I hope the presence of my students won't ruffle any feathers," Duke dryly remarked, casting a stern gaze over the Trinity delegation. "I can vouch for their strength 'a character, they won't be causin' any trouble...in case anyone was concerned."

"...I did not think they would," Nagisa acquiesced, correctly realizing that this was just as sensitive an issue to him as it was them. "Well then, allow Mika and I to lead you into campus proper, Sensei. Sakurako, Hasumi, Mine, I am sure that we have taken up valuable time in your busy schedules. Thank you very much for coming."

Duke let out an approving hum, turned to look at Problem Solvers 68, and nodded. They easily fell in line behind him (and stayed that way) before the large group began moving, Mine and Sakurako eventually splitting off to different areas of campus with their own goodbyes. However, despite their size having been reduced, they somehow stood out even more to the general Trinity student population.

"Hey, that's the Tea Party...!"

"I-Isn't that the Sensei from Schale?"

"Are those Gehenna students with him...?!"

"That one has horns, so they've got to be...!"

"Ew, what the hell are they doing here?"

"A-Are they going to destroy the campus?"

"He brought those damn freaks to Trinity!"

Kayoko sped up to match Duke's unflinching stride, tugging at his sleeve and getting him to angle his head her way. "Sensei," she whispered, "did you feel that earlier?"

"Hard not to," he whispered back, staring into Hasumi's eyes as she shot them a suspicious look. Naturally, an impromptu contest between himself, Kayoko, and Hasumi could only end in the JTF vice chairwoman claiming defeat and looking away first. "It was Mika."

"Her? She looks like cotton candy and sprinkles on legs," Kayoko muttered, quickly glancing at the girl in question before coolly staring ahead.

She did. Duke would readily admit that Mika was adorable...and most likely directly styled herself to be. She tried a little too hard to be energetic and friendly, and Duke's time in office back on Earth had left him uniquely talented in spotting the masks people wore. There was something nasty festering inside of Misono Mika, and Duke wouldn't let it so much as touch his kids if he could help it.

With luck, I'll be able to do somethin' about it on our way to Atsuko, Duke thought with a grimace. And if things go to shit, she becomes an obstacle, which would really be the pits.

Being a president of the Tea Party aside, no kid should have that level of deep, violent hatred in them. Hell, feeling it reminded him of that old bastard, the Cycloid Emperor, and that fucker actually killed plenty of good people. If it came to it, he'd have to fight her: he had a sinking feeling that even the combined might of PS68 wouldn't be able to stop Mika if she got serious.

"Don't worry, Duke-sensei," Arona quietly piped up from the Shittim Chest. "I can keep an eye on her."

Through what?

"Her phone, of course. Won't take me too long to install a homebrewed data collection app, hide it behind a few dozen walls, and create a public-private dossier on Misono Mika within...oh...a couple of hours?"

...What the hell, that's kinda scary. What about her privacy?

"Hey!"  Arona exclaimed, and though the Shittim Chest remained off Duke could imagine Arona pouting up a storm. "I'm not about to go for a deep dive to find lewds or anything! This is only because she's acting really weird, and I don't want you or Problem Solvers getting hurt."

Well, as long as you know, Duke gave in with a sigh. The Web's come a long way from Usenet, huh? Wrote a whole damn book about it back in the day...

"Usenet? You're so old, Duke-sensei..."

Rolling his eyes and thanking his shades for his own measure of privacy, Duke found the presidents of the Tea Party slowing down as they approached an elegant tea table, with lower-ranking members standing at attention on the opposite side. Nearly in sync, these members pulled the chairs out for Nagisa and Mika to delicately slide into place and pushed them in just as quickly. 

Before any of the proceedings, Nagisa simply nodded her thanks to Hasumi. The girl cast one long look over the group from Schale and departed.

"I must apologize for the lack of seating, Sensei and...Problem Solvers," the president slightly bowed her head. "As previously mentioned, this visit is a surprise, though not an unwelcome one."

"I understand, thanks for the hospitality," Duke responded, getting a bit tired of the niceties. "Mind if I cut straight to the reason as to why we're here?"

Mika tittered into her hand. "It can't take that long, right Sensei? Come on, try a cake roll! I'm not really partial to them, but you won't get better anywhere else!"

Duke chuckled and scratched his head. "Ah, no thanks, Mika. Nothin' like leaving home on a nice meal, eh?"

Unfortunately, someone's stomach growled behind him at just the right time, and he turned to see Haruka shaking in her boots with an ashamed blush on her face. The rest of Problem Solvers looked torn between their concern for the youngest member and their rage at the Tea Party members snickering behind their backs.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry to have gone and embarrassed everyone...to be hungry even after having Sensei's lunch...aah, I should disappear, I'm w-worth less than the dirt under your boots..."

Haruka tried to run through the breathing exercise Duke-sensei had taught her, but found the laughter behind her back too overwhelming. Her breath instead came in and out with shallow puffs and wheezes.

"Excuse me," Aru began lowly, the shadow of her bangs now properly framing the cold glint of her eyes as she looked between Nagisa and Mika. Even under Mika's subtle glare, the boss didn't budge an inch. "But I really must ask that you keep the members of your club in line. My employee's hunger is no fault of her own, and I would very much appreciate it if she was not mocked for it."

"..."

"Oh my~!" Mika cooed, "so scary! It's not like we told them to laugh, and we can't control what they do, buuuut we'll brief them later on-"

"Enough, Mika," Nagisa politely intercepted her old friend. "A failing of theirs reflects a failure of our own," she declared, loud enough to have the background members startle and stand back to attention. Daintily standing up, Nagisa swept dust off her skirt before grabbing a pair of tongs and using them to place a slice of cake on her plate. Mika sat in her seat and fought to keep an expression of downright affronted shock off her face as her childhood friend placed a fork on the plate and walked over to the stunned Problem Solvers, stopping in front of a terrified Haruka.

"Would you please accept this with my apologies, Miss Haruka?"

The girl meeped, looked at the cake, looked at Nagisa, and then finally looked to her dear Lady Aru for guidance. Upon seeing her slowly nod, Haruka accepted the plate gingerly and bowed her head.

"T-Thank you very much, Lady Nagisa. T-This is too kind...!"

Haruka took a second to marvel the slice she had been given. A vanilla base encased in chocolate frosting, complete with a small scoop of mint ice cream, chocolate flakes and two tube wafer cookies on top, made for a very picturesque piece of cake. Her stomach almost growled again at the thought of splitting it between her club members and Duke-sensei.

Nagisa giggled. "Think nothing of it, truly. We of the Tea Party must hold ourselves accountable, both for our triumphs and our deficiencies. With the Eden Treaty only months away, we must work to put aside our petty grudges and think of things larger than ourselves."

She turned to her friend and fellow President and gave her a small yet genuine smile. "Do you not agree, Mika?"

CRACK

Mika's teacup fell to the table and spilled its contents all over the tablecloth as the handle was cru- mysteriously broken between her fingers. 

"...?!"

"..."

Duke and Problem Solvers looked on with bated breath.

"Excuse me," Mika simply said, eyes closed. "I am feeling unwell. Thinking of Seia-chan's health must have caused me to have a lapse in poise. Please proceed without me, thank you."

Pushing her chair out, the president dismissed herself with a stiff curtsey and walked away, the sound of heels clacking on tile echoing around her exit.

"I..." Nagisa hummed, awkwardly trailing off as she watched Mika nearly stomp off with not a look back.

"Don't worry Sensei, I've planted the app on her phone," Arona whispered, which Duke acknowledged by gripping the Shittim Chest a bit tighter. "I'll be reviewing and scrubbing the data for any extraneous information as it filters in, so be patient with me..."

"We can just...have our discussion in the near future," Duke sighed, trying his best not to be too disappointed. He could probably glean some info on Trinity and whatever was under it from Arona. "I'm sure two out of...three? Three presidents being out of the picture isn't ideal."

"Quite right," Nagisa nodded. "Does this mean you will be staying at Trinity for the time being?"

"Yeah. It's a great place, so I hope you don't mind if we see the sights."

"That sounds lovely," Nagisa bowed her head. "You will have no problems on our campus," the pointed implication clear to the rest of the members, "so feel free to enjoy yourselves within reason."

"...Thank you for your hospitality, Lady Nagisa," Aru stepped up and nodded in respect to the girl as the groups made to part. "And thank you for taking care of my employee. Problem Solvers 68 will not forget that act of kindness."

"Think nothing of it," Nagisa smiled. "Perhaps your presence can be a...symbol of reconciliation, in the coming days."

Despite inwardly screaming at the responsibility that was now set upon their shoulders, Aru gave the president of the Tea Party a smug grin. "Quite an undertaking...one that Problem Solvers 68 shall relish with aplomb. We bid you good day."

With that, Aru, Duke and Problem Solvers promptly turned and made to walk further into campus. Staying behind, Haruka shot Nagisa a shy smile and bowed again, making sure to keep the plate at a steady angle, before...

...

Before finding that she had lost her group on the Schale field trip. Both girls (and the faceless members of the Tea Party, who were careful not to visibly react this time) stood there awkwardly at the realization that the rest of the Problem Solvers and Duke had somehow disappeared around a corner without any of them bothering to see which one.

Nagisa looked toward the members at attention, but all she got was a silent shrug back. Her mouth twitched.

Haruka looked toward the members at attention, looked back at Nagisa, and began shaking so hard that her beret was bouncing around on her head.

"U-Um, ah," Haruka stammered, gaze towards the ground, "D-D-Don't worry about me, Lady Nagisa. Not that you would. N-Not that I do either. I'll just...um...t-take in the fresh air! Aha...a-ahahaha...!"

Nagisa felt the startling urge to accompany the girl as if she were a lost child at a mall, but carefully squashed the feeling and nodded. She had her own responsibilities, after all, and Haruka was both a valued member of Schale and armed as all students were. While she would like for this incident to pass without any complication, she had vague confidence that the young member of PS68 would be perfectly fine if something did arise.

 "Very well then. If...you do need assistance, please go to the Justice Task Force club room, give them Sensei's phone number and wait patiently, okay?"

Letting out a garbled reply that might have sounded like "okay thank you" if you tried hard enough, Haruka stumbled off and rounded a random corner to try and find her family. Would she run into thugs on the way there? Was she allowed to whack them on Trinity property? No, it would be fine, Haruka told herself. She could definitely find them before they forgot about her and she starved to death after eating this cake.

Or at least she would have, had she not almost immediately stopped herself from bumping into someone. Leaping back with a shriek, Haruka impressively enough managed to keep a handle on the plate as she began belting out her usual apologies to the girl.

"Whoa, whoa, it's alright," she put her hands up in an attempt to soothe the frantic stranger, realizing that they were making a scene. "You good?"

"N-N-No...!" Haruka whimpered, looking all the more like a miserable purple puppy.

"Oh." The girl replied awkwardly, feline ears flat to her head. After a couple of seconds of staring at each other, the girl looked down at her slice of cake and cleared her throat.

"Um, so. Mint, huh? Looks good, I know a club member who would have loved to dig into that, heh. I'm...part of the After-School Sweets Club."

"A sweets club...? T-That sounds nice..." Haruka muttered, before jolting. "Oh, uh, m-my name is Igusa Haruka. I'm sorry that someone like me almost bumped into you..."

"Someone 'like you'?" the girl's head tilted, her ears twitching. "You seem fine to me. Well, look, my name is Kyouyama Kazusa. You seem a little lost..."

"I am..."

Taking another look at the skittish girl, Kazusa sighed. It should be fine; that 'stalker' of hers didn't show her face at all today, and her clubmates probably wouldn't mind the new girl joining for a session if she brought some sweets with her. In fact, if Haruka liked mint, then she'd probably get along with Airi just fine, and everyone loved Airi.

Shaking her head, Kazusa smiled. "Would you like to come with me and wait for your friends with my club?"

Chapter Text

As Kazusa leisurely opens the door to her club's building, ferrying Haruka in, she takes a few seconds to really think of the strange new girl she's met.

If she had to get the elephant out of the room, it was that the girl was obviously a student from another district. From the way she silently marveled at every building they passed to her timid shrinking from other students' gazes, this had to be her first real rodeo in Trinity. That was fine, it wasn't like she was Trinity-crazed nut like some of the other students here, but the question of where exactly Igusa Haruka came from (and who exactly her friends are) would eat at Kazusa a little, this she knew.

There are other little things that kinda bug her too, like what her admittedly cool-looking patch meant, why the shotgun on her back was covered with spikes (didn't that hurt?), and why she was so freaked out all the time over the simple act of breathing, but she figured that some time with her club would soothe the girl's nerves enough to talk. It wasn't like she was a bad person, Kazusa knew what the bad ones looked like, but she was a mystery, and one that she was about to unleash on her friends.

"Alright, we're almost there. How's the cake doing?"

"Um, g-good?" Haruka looked distressingly at the melting scoop of ice cream, taking the tube wafers with it on its slow decline. "Um, and you're sure your friends wouldn't mind if I ate it...?"

Kazusa rolled her eyes. "It's yours in the first place."

"B-But still! I'm a guest," Haruka's distressed gaze went to the ground. "And all I brought was a slice of cake. Aah, Lady Aru would be so disappointed...!"

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Haruka."

'Lady' Aru, huh?

She must've been someone real important to get a title. Kazusa grimaced as she remembered a certain pain in her side and made sure to file that one away as she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"Hey everyone, I'm back."

"Welcome back, Kazusa!"

"Yo, Kazusa!"

"How fortuitous that our paths should cross again."

Airi, Yoshimi, and Natsu looked up from their various activities, greeting their fellow clubmate with a smile...before staring at Haruka with naked curiosity.

"Who is she?"

"Did you bring a friend? How nice!"

"Ah, a new fate intertwined with ours. How lucky we are."

"Yeah, sure. She's a bit shy, so be gentle with her."

"Hello everyone, my name is Igusa Haruka..." she mumbled, "I'm very sorry that I didn't bring anything for your club despite imposing on your precious time, s-so if you'd like this slice of cake, o-or perhaps my life I-"

As if to remind Haruka as to why exactly she got the slice to begin with, her stomach loudly growled in protest. Almost immediately, her face went tomato red. 

"Well, thank you for the generous offer," Airi nodded, sending the girl a soothing smile. "It looks delicious, but I'd be happy if you ate it instead. We can formally introduce ourselves once your belly is full!"

"Yeah, if you're that hungry I'll just feel bad if I took some," Yoshimi smirked at the girl, leaning back in her beanbag chair. "You gotta tell us how it tastes, though. It looks really good..."

"That slice of cake, perhaps it too can be seen as an avenue into the human heart," Natsu hummed, closing her eyes. "The exterior is everchanging, but the interior remains firm...and spongy. Isn't it a romantic sentiment, Igusa Haruka...?"

"Uh," she eloquently replied, looking nervously to the other club members. When she got sympathetic smiles and eyerolls in response, Haruka just let out an understanding 'ah': the pink-haired girl indulged in navel-gazing on the regular, it seemed. Seeing no other reason to delay, Haruka delicately sat down in an unoccupied beanbag chair, picked up her fork, and took a timid bite of her cake.

"O-Oh, it is really good!" she happily squealed, eyes closed in bliss as she slightly kicked her feet. It wasn't often that she ate these sorts of things: when Problem Solvers were on their own their diets were pretty utilitarian, and even when they joined up with Schale she kept in moderation. Cup ramen, bean sprouts, stir-fried herbs, the occasional meat dishes when they had a little extra...now those were more familiar to someone like Igusa Haruka. But this? They had a few simple cakes as a part of the holidays, but the pure flood of sweetness that had hit her tongue, combined with the softness of the cake, was amazing! The fresh snap of the mint ice cream was a welcome surprise, too!

She took a bigger piece of with her fork this time, not realizing that the After-School Sweets Club was happily watching her the whole time.

People really eat this every day...?

...

Haruka idly wondered what this would be like if she was still with Duke-sensei and everyone in Problem Solvers. Maybe Mutsuki would try to take a piece only for Duke-sensei and Kayoko to admonish her, causing her to scurry back with a laugh or three. Maybe Lady Aru would tell her that she should've spoken up earlier; they could fit a cake into the budget every now and then, just to celebrate how far they'd come as a company. They'd gaze upon her with a little exasperation, but overwhelming fondness, and Haruka wouldn't be able to look any one of them in the eyes as she smiled and thanked them for being a part of her life.

She missed them. She missed them a lot.

"Oh, is the cake not good?" Airi worriedly asked, scooting just a bit closer to Haruka.

"H-Huh? Oh, no, I just..." Haruka stared at her partially-eaten slice. "I-I'm very sorry, but I...I miss my friends..."

Yoshimi grimaced. "You got separated from them, huh? That sucks...least you're not totally alone, though!"

"The plot thickens!" Natsu exclaimed, eyes popping open. Haruka, strangely enough, could imagine the girl sparkling in the moment. "Perhaps this guest is here to stay! Lost, confused and abandoned, our protagonist finds comfort in the arms of another!"

"H-H-Huh? Abandoned?!"

"Eh? What're you on about now, Natsu?"

"Natsu, please..."

"The hell do we look like to you, clubwreckers?!" Kazusa growled incredulously. "Look, she's just gonna hang here until her friends can text her or something!"

"Boo."

"That's okay with me!" Airi clapped. "Since you may be staying for some time, let us know if you're still hungry, okay? We've got plenty of leftovers in the fridge!"

"Oh no, I couldn't!" Haruka sputtered, waving her hands at the mint-themed girl. "T-This is already too much of an overindulgence!"

"Huh?" Yoshimi tilted her head. "An overindulgence? It's just a slice of cake. Heck, we could spare some slices for your friends whenever they come over."

Natsu shook her head, staring at Haruka with an intrigued glint in her eyes. "I don't think you understand. Haruka, surely, has led a life of hardship and sacrifice. The way she treasures that slice as if it were ephemeral...it makes you feel like a pleb, right?"

"Huh?!" Yoshimi screeched in response, shooting the (slightly) taller girl a feisty glare. "I'm no pleb!"

"W-Well, I wouldn't say it was full of h-hardship or anything..." Haruka giggled nervously, smiling and closing her eyes as she let the good (?) memories wash over her. "Sure, there were times where I worked so hard that I wanted to puke...a-and there were times where my lowly self wanted to die...and sometimes I'd return from a job with a lot of blood to wash off my uniform...but I wouldn't say it was hard! A good employee sucks it up and gets results! Besides, after the first few times you go to bed hungry, you stop noticing it!"

Finally opening her eyes, Haruka's smile died an ugly death at everyone's horrified reaction. Even Natsu, normally unflappable, stared at the girl with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"...W-Was it something I said? Did I spoil the atmosphere with my pitiful, self-serving stories?! I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'm-"

"I can't believe none of us were watching her!" Aru exclaimed, nearly tearing her hair out as she stomped around the guest room the group had stayed at.

"Heehee."

"Don't 'heehee' me! I'm sure if Sensei wasn't busy with that last-minute paperwork of his he'd come over there and throttle you with me! Our instructions were clear-"

"Re-lax, Aru," Mutsuki drawled, stretching on top of one of the four single beds in the room. "I get it. We were supposed to stick together and we didn't, big whoop. But as much as I like to dote on our little Haruka, she is capable of some seriously wild stuff."

"I-I know that, but..." Aru nervously fidgeted in place. "What if she gets into trouble?"

"She can just shoot it 'till it goes away, I guess!"

"Okay, w-well, what if she gets into trouble bigger than just one shootout?! We don't even know where she is!"

Kayoko sighed heavily. "Why don't we just...text her?"

"..."

"...Ahaha, you can't be serious, Aru!"

Aru's face turned as pink as her hair. "I-I didn't see any of you doing it first!"

"I was busy...!"

"Winking at every Trinity girl who glared at us? I'm pretty sure you've confused more than half of them on a fundamental level!"

"Izzat so?" Mutsuki stuck her tongue out and lightly conked herself on the head. "Oops."

"Oh for- Mutsuki!"

Mutsuki snickered as she was wont to do. "Aru, for real, how much trouble is she going to get into on a Trinity campus? She's not like us; s'long as her shotgun doesn't give her away she's probably fine."

Kayoko raised an unamused brow as her boss turned her glare to her. "I was going to text her earlier, before you and Mutsuki decided to drag me into making a missing child poster."

"It is a very nice poster."

"No it isn't," the oldest member of Problem Solvers narrowed her eyes, "Haruka's eyes aren't even that shade of purple, and her beret is off."

"...That's not a beret," Mutsuki squinted. "Pretty sure she's wearing a sailor hat."

"You can't be serious."

"Yeah, look it up!"

"Is this really important?!"

"Girls," Duke groaned. "I hate ta be a party pooper, but if you're gonna make all this noise..."

"S-Sorry, Sensei..." Aru winced. "Okay, my beloved Problem Solvers, mandatory overtime is in effect! Let's get back our precious employee!"

"Hooray!"

"Finally."

Aru snickered quietly, tilting her head up so her bangs would shadow her eyes. "Kayoko, be a dear and contact Haruka. We'll find out where she is and strike immediately."

The girl rolled her eyes, bringing out her phone with a grumbled 'aye aye' as Aru and Mutsuki said their goodbyes to Duke-sensei. She had pulled up Haruka on Momotalk in seconds, casually letting Aru loop a lanyard with her Schale ID over her neck.

Hey, Haruka. Sorry we're late, are you okay?

Haruka

Oh.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience...

Everything is...nice.

But

Uh

what is happening

explain

Haruka

No, really, everything is okay!

I'm sorry!

I made an acquaintance and she took me to meet her club.

It is a club dedicated to eating sweets.

Okay.

You're safe though, right?

Haruka

Um...

Well...

Maybe I said something unbelievable...

They keep doting on me.

I don't know how to feel.

...Huh?

(Actually, she kind of got it.)

Haruka

I'll send the coordinates in the group chat soon.

Will you be bringing anyone else?

Duke-sensei has paperwork to do but Mutsuki and Aru are coming with me.

We'll be there soon.

Haruka

Okay.

I miss you

I mean

I didn't mean to

send that

sorry

I'm sorry

...

Wait, no.

I did miss you. If it isn't too much of a hassle I'd

like to see everyone again.

(Kayoko brought her phone up to her face a bit closer to hide her smile. Like she needed Mutsuki on her ass before they left.)

Hey

Haruka

?

Aru, Mutsuki, Duke-sensei

We all miss you too.

Let's talk more when we're back together, okay?

Haruka

...

aefgvdvb

Thank you

See you soon.

I will be sure to save the best sweets for all of you to enjoy!

Sweets... Kayoko thought, huffing and re-reading the message. They had a club dedicated to eating sweets in Trinity...how whimsical. 

...

Well, maybe I shouldn't be talking. We have our own group of gluttons, to say nothing of that madcap group of hot spring morons.

"Alright, good news boss," Kayoko said, Aru and Mutsuki leaning forward in anticipation. "Haruka's totally fine. She's having some sweets with a couple of new friends she made. Keep an eye on the group chat, she'll tell us where she is soon."

"Wha- that's great, I'm so proud of her!" Aru gushed before quickly clearing her throat. "I-I mean, she's making connections like any fixer worth her chops! Nagisa said we were some sort of symbols, right? What better publicity exists than getting along with some completely normal girls?"

"Nice save there, boss!" Mutsuki snickered. "But that's actually good to hear. Heh, seems Haruka is finally enjoying a story of youth, huh?"

Aru gave her a flat look as they exited the building. "Don't say it like that, it makes us sound ancient. Ah, but...we should probably pick up something for those girls she's with. To show up empty-handed after a kind gesture is not the Problem Solvers way!"

Mutsuki let out an impressed 'ooh' and clapped her hands. "Haha, guess Aru-mama wants to make a good first impression on her kid's new friends, huh?"

As the two bickered like they usually did, Kayoko let out a content huff and shoved her hands into her pockets, idly wondering what urgent matters Duke-sensei had found himself in.

...

"So what do you think? Not a bad infographic, right?"

Duke let out an affirmative grunt as he swiped through the slides once again, making sure to commit as much information to memory as he could. Arona, having manifested herself over the slideshow program, watched in anticipation in the bottom right corner.

Before Trinity was Trinity, there was Pater, Filius, and Sanctus...and a whole assload of small factions. Most of them had been lost to time, but some survived as clubs in the modern day, such as the Remedial Knights and the Sisterhood. To put it bluntly (normally, in his case) these factions hated the shit outta each other, and were more than willing to beat the tar out of each other whenever they damn well felt like it. It took a while, but the ones that survived presumably said fuck this, came together to make a council, and made Trinity off of it. Sounded good so far.

Then he learned of the academy known as the Arius Satellite School (with a logo that looked kinda sick), and Uncle Sam could sock him in the face if things didn't start to get real suspicious.

Schale's records on Arius are, predictably, slim. The academy was marked primarily by its hatred of Gehenna, and for some reason really didn't like the idea of forming up with Trinity. They got fucked up in an ensuing fight with Trinity and disappeared without a trace. That'd be the end of it...had Arona not compiled a list of conspiracy theories for some casual reading. Tinfoil nonsense like Arius having a mechanized academy on legs, having undercover spies in every district, hiding their academy right under Trinity's nose with the help 'a mole people, it all sounded like a load of horseshit...

If that last one really didn't rub him the wrong way. Sure, it was just probably some big joke on a forum that some nutjob posted for a laugh, but Atsuko's note burned a hole in his pocket all the same.

...

Except that mole people bit. Guess whackjob theories transcended dimensions.

"Arona, you can't send out, uh, computer feely things and just...find 'em?"

"...My what now? Sensei, I'm good, but I'm not that good. Most of my power is locked to a little area around the Shittim Chest and your mind, anyway." Arona shook her head. "They're definitely using some sort of Mystic power to hide themselves, I'm sure!"

"Mystic, huh?" Duke grumbled, scratching his chin. That was a different kind of nuts he didn't want to get into just yet: finding out that every student under your watch (or would be eventually) had some sort of magic power both made a lot of sense and didn't. "How the hell do we even begin to smoke out a magic hidey-hole that could be anywhere?"

"We're really subscribing to the idea that Arius is related to this off of a conspiracy theory?"

"Sure," Duke shrugged, yawning. What the hell, was he really this tired? "We ain't got any other leads for now, and there ain't anything else I can think of under Trinity. Guess we're gonna have to...talk to Nagisa in the mornin', Tea Party be damned..."

"Alright, I'll make a note of it. You look tired," Arona noted amusedly, "Take a page out of my book and take a nap, Duke-sensei! It's been a long day and I get the feeling tomorrow's gonna be even longer."

"Mmhm."

Duke slowly closed his eyes and slipped away.

O

o

O

o

O

Duke's eyes opened, and he found himself on the ground in a black void. Grunting, Duke sat up, shook his head, and got to his feet.

"What the hell...?"

"I-It wasn't me!" someone cried to him, and Duke whirled around to find Arona in the black void as well, just as lost and confused. "I was just about to check the collection app and take a nap too, I swear!"

"I trust ya, but if it wasn't you..."

"Then it had to be me."

Arona shrieked and stuck herself onto Duke at the soft, melodious voice that was suddenly behind them. Slowly turning around with his AI secretary in his arms, Duke looked down to find a blonde, sleepy-eyed girl. Fox ears twitching in amusement, the girl gave the pair a bow.

"My apologies for the abrupt visit, but I foresaw no better chance to get the answers I seek out of one of Kivotos' greatest mysteries."

...Greatest mysteries? Foresaw?

"...But I suppose my curiosity can be abated for now. After all, I believe you two need information I can provide...and I saw a future where you would pull my cheeks if I got philosophical with you."

Duke and Arona stared at her.

"I'm new to this whole 'changing the future' business," Seia shrugged, remarkably casual. "I thought that I was to be assassinated...well, almost assassinated, but it seems my fate has changed thanks to you, Duke-sensei. Perhaps that's proof enough that I could try...just a bit harder."

...

"I'm sorry," Arona politely replied, "you were going to be what-"

"My name is Yurizono Seia, one of the three presidents of the Tea Party. Are you perhaps interested in Arius Satellite School? Its history, its creed..."

Seia smiled.

"Its location?"

Chapter Text

"That is the best damn set of questions I've ever heard in my life," Duke replied, grinning like a madman. He would've said he hated lazy plot conveniences, but his last official outing before Kivotos was a narrative fucking tragedy anyway. Plus, a student was in danger here, and that was all he needed to tell the rules to go fuck themselves.

"Very well then, if you could walk with me..."

Arona and Duke looked at each other, nodded, and bumped fists. It was time to get to the bottom of this.

"First, let's start with a probe. How much do you know of Arius?"

"Ooh, ooh!" Arona raised her hand, bouncing in Duke's arms. "I collected the info! Pick me!"

Duke rolled his eyes and jerked his head towards his tiny secretary.

"What energy. You remind me of a certain someone. Very well then, miss...?"

"Arona! Just Arona is fine."

"Arona, then. What does Schale know of Arius?"

Duke took a look as the void around them bent and shifted, becoming the same long table filled with sweets that the Tea Party had been at earlier in the day. However, the night sky of the mindscape was blotted out by the lights of the campus buildings, giving off a false sense of life that he couldn't help but feel mildly discomforted with. If Arona had noticed, she didn't say anything focused as she collected her thoughts, and Seia simply pulled a seat out at the far end and sat as if this was a daily occurrence, nursing a cup filled with (fake?) tea.

"I know that Arius split off from Trinity following a disagreement, and were quickly defeated and banished. They then disappeared, and no one knows where they went to this day," Arona recited, and Duke pat her on the head at her proud look. Seia looked at her and nodded, placated but not impressed.

"Surface knowledge, but I suppose it is justified. Much of Trinity's early history is subject to interpretation, some information simply being lost to time even to us. The truth of the matter is that the Arius faction is, indeed, still clinging to life. Just barely, enough to be little more than a withered husk of what was once a great beast, but it is alive."

"...How do you know this?" Duke raised an intrigued brow.

Seia took a dainty sip. "I am 'blessed' with the powers of foresight. I glimpse of the future in its many forms in my dreams...whether I wish to or not."

Duke and Arona looked at each other uneasily.

"Is there somethin' in the future that we need to look out for?"

"Many things. Many things that I thought were destined to play out. Many things that I thought would contribute to the tragedy that is...or rather was, Trinity. That's not to say that there is no hardship coming," Seia reached over the table to grab a croissant, "but that there are things that even I am unsure of now."

"...Unsure?" Arona tilted her head, trying very hard not to drool at the various dream-pastries. "I thought you could see the future in your dreams. Can't you just, uh, re-dream them the next time you sleep?"

Seia huffed amusedly. "Compared to the nightmares, I most definitely would have jumped at the chance to. But my dreams have only involved you very recently, Duke-sensei."

"Well, I just took up the job," Duke shrugged. "Makes sense ta me."

The seer hummed, putting a hand to her cheek in thought. "No, perhaps I'll need to rephrase this...how do I...ah, yes."

"You see, I had long since been expecting another...a different Sensei. A woman and her dear Make-Up Work Club, unravelling a plot of betrayal and hatred..."

Duke's heart hammered in his chest. It could only be her again, and this time someone remembered. How deep did this rabbit hole go...?

...

He shook his head. Like the whole deal with Arona, he had to table this for later. As much as it pained him to say, the only good those stories of his wife would do would be for his heart. Right now, this was his story, and he was needed.

"...Yeah, I knew her," Duke responded quietly, squeezing Arona a bit tighter at her concerned look. "But I can swing by Trinity after all this is over with to talk about that, if you're cool with it. Let's just deal with the here 'n now, Seia."

"You're a focused man," Seia nodded, "I can respect that. Please, sit down. I'll give you the information that I believe is the same."

Letting Arona hop out of his arms, they walked over and took seats on opposite ends to Seia. Once they had settled in, Arona piling her plate with various sweets, the president of the Tea Party cleared her throat.

"Now then, let's get to the most salient information: Arius Satellite School is, indeed, underneath Trinity. Linked by an underground passage and surrounded by false entrances, getting to the district itself will be no easy feat."

False entrances, huh? Of course it had to be some kind of fucking puzzle.

"So how the hell do we find the right one?"

"I may not remember the exact details, everything blends together when you're forced to watch it against your will dozens of times," Seia sipped her tea again and let out a quiet sigh, "but there is a code for the internal route to the real entrance. There should be one student in particular who you may be able to reach that has the skills necessary to decipher said code."

"Wait a minute, how does a Trinity student know how to get to the Arius district?" Arona questioned, and Duke's eyes shot open as he connected the dots before her. Seia, noticing his shock, merely smiled.

"Simple. She wasn't originally from Trinity..."

"She's a goddamn plant from Arius," Duke breathed, and Seia nodded. Suddenly, the scenery shifted again, the three of them deposited from their seats as the warm lights and elegance of Trinity melted away to rubble, ruin, and vanity. Arona's mouth shut with a clack, whine about her missing food dying in her throat as they all looked around the decaying Arius district.

"Just a preview of what is to come, I fear my strength is waning. That girl, the spy...and my would-be assassin is your target, originating from this lifeless world." Seia smiled a bit wider this time, clashing heavily with their surroundings. "I believe it will be obvious who she is upon first glance. As an aside? I recommend getting to know Peroro and Friends. You'll find she isn't as cold as she seems."

As Aru struts her way to that sweets club's building, fancy bag of cookies in hand, she idly wonders how nothing crazy has happened yet.

Now don't get her wrong, there's nothing bad about getting down and dirty for the job, and getting into at least one firefight per week is pretty much mandatory for any student living in Kivotos.

But wasn't it a little too peaceful here?

They're a group of Gehenna students in Trinity. You couldn't blame her for expecting some sort of shot to plink off the back of their heads, or someone to trip her as she was walking, or for some disgruntled student to throw a grenade at them as they were at a vending machine. But no. There are glares, there's muttering behind their back, there's flustered confusion whenever Mutsuki winks and licks her lips at them (seriously, what is she even implying?), but there's no outright violence. Compare that to Gehenna, where if you breathe funny you're getting laughed at and then eating lead...if, of course, you didn't shoot them in the throat first. Throw in about twenty more guns, half of which weren't even related to the situation in the first place, and you have a normal day for the Prefect Team.

"This place is kinda snazzy," Mutsuki hummed, skipping along in front with her bag slung over her shoulder. "Who knew Haruka got to buddy up with some highfalutin girls?"

"Come now, Mutsuki," Aru chided, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Regardless of what their allegiance is, Problem Solvers 68 never fail to repay kindness with kindness! Respect with respect! Dignity...with dignity."

Mutsuki hooted and clapped as Kayoko rolled her eyes and shrunk deeper into her hoodie. Just another day of them not appreciating the company mottos she painstakingly crafted for every occasion.

If only Haruka were here, Aru ruefully thought to herself. She would give my declaration the gravitas it deserves!

Oh well. At least that would be a moot point in about two minutes.

"Take a right here and we'll be at the door. We don't have anything to worry about, Haruka said they're...heh, sweet."

Mutsuki's face scrunched up, and Aru couldn't help but raise a brow. Seriously, she made all kinds of dumb jokes and pranks but drew the line at Kayoko's puns? Rolling her eyes, Aru pushed open the door-

"Shhh," Airi quickly put her finger to her mouth, stopping the rest of Problem Solvers in their tracks. Finding what was assumedly the After-School Sweets Club snacking in a semi-circle, the focal point of their attention was on the slumbering Haruka currently laid across Airi's lap, bundled up with Kazusa's jacket. Her sailor hat had been delicately put to the side, and the girl's expression seemed to be one of rare peace.

"Are you...Haruka's friends?" Kazusa quietly asked, eyes fixed on Aru's horns.

"...Yes, we are," Aru quietly responded, knowing full well where the girl was staring and tensed. "I've heard you all have been taking care of her," Aru brought the bag up, "and would like to thank you for that."

"Um," Yoshimi mumbled, gaze darting from Aru to Mutsuki to finally Kayoko. "Yeah, sure. Come on in an' take a seat."

"Wow," Natsu murmured in amazement, drinking in the rare sight of students from Gehenna in their club room. "So Haruka hails from the land of our fated rivals...I suppose the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place."

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me," Airi lightly ended the conversation. "A friend of Kazusa's is a friend of ours, and friends of Haruka's are also friends of ours. You all seem like nice girls," she cracked an eye at them, "but I do believe you have some explaining to do."

Even Mutsuki gulped.

...

"Wow, all of you have led a pretty hard life," Yoshimi nodded as she munched on a cookie from the bag. "Never heard of a team of 'fixers' in Trinity. Guess it's good to know that you're all not driving Haruka here to an early grave or anything."

"What?!" Aru hissed before quickly composing herself. "We at Problem Solvers are like family, there's no way we would order Haruka to work herself to the point of near-death! Honestly..."

She scooted over to Airi and gently pushed some of Haruka's hair behind the girl's ear, feeling some part of her grow warm as her employee seemed to unconsciously lean into her touch. Airi, watching her closely, nodded as if coming to terms with something and smiled warmly at her.

"How did she fall asleep here anyway?" Kayoko muttered. "Haruka never falls asleep in unfamiliar places...or with unfamiliar people in the room."

"She encountered the worst fate that a sweets rookie could reach," Natsu leaned in, pausing for dramatic effect. "The sugar crash."

Problem Solvers stared at Natsu, looked amongst themselves, and looked back at the other club without a lick of understanding. Kazusa rolled her eyes and stretched, and Kayoko was struck with the near-overwhelming urge to scratch her behind the ears.

"She'll be fine," she grunted. "Just need to sleep off all the stuff she ate. She really packed it away...though I kinda think she just wasn't able to say no."

"Yes, well, that certainly sounds like her," Aru sighed wearily. It wasn't really something that screamed 'outlaw', but at least Haruka had enjoyed herself...or at least she hoped the girl did, being the nervous wreck that she was. "Still, it's a good thing if we can treat ourselves every once in a while."

A quiet chorus of agreements rang out, and the groups gradually settled into a comfortable silence, the sounds of Haruka's soft breathing and the munching of snacks being the only sounds in the room.

"So," Yoshimi finally broke the silence after a few minutes, looking over to Mutsuki. "I heard rumors going around that a group from Gehenna were on campus, but I didn't think we'd get to know you this well."

"Yeah, we stick out a bit, huh?" the chief of staff wryly grinned. "I don't think it's a problem with you lot, but..."

"I've no idea about my fellows, but I am beyond such shallow thinking," Natsu declared, thumping her chest. "Life is like a box of cupcakes: each one has its similarities and differences, yet every one of them is to be cherished. If you love sweets from the depths of your heart, then you will find sanctuary here."

Yoshimi shook her head. "Not gonna lie, you looked all business-y when you first showed up, but now you don't seem half bad. All those rumor-mongering idiots were just blowing things out of proportion, I guess."

Aru huffed amusedly. 'Don't seem half bad', she says! "Well, you're not entirely wrong: the life we lead is one fraught with danger and intrigue," Aru commented, a smug sneer on her face as she gracefully accepted a cookie from Natsu. "Problem Solvers 68 is no stranger to death-defying battles! Tremble in awe at our brutal efficiency and rugged professionalism!"

Haruka snorted in her sleep, whined and stretched a bit, and then snuggled back into Airi's thighs.

"...That could count as professional courtesy in some circles," Kayoko smirked, shaking her head. As everyone quietly chuckled, Aru futilely sputtering in the background, they could hear the sound of loud thumping indicative of someone bounding down the hall.

"Geez, some people amirite?" Mutsuki groaned. "If they wake Haruka up, I might just have to correct 'em with a prank or three~!"

A muffled scream that sounded something like 'ooy'ma asoosaaa' bore down the hall, and Kazusa dropped her half-eaten muffin as her ears went flat against her skull.

"Kazusa...?!"

"H-Hey, what's the matter?"

"No..." she whispered, eyes wide and terrified as if she had just beheld a cucumber. 

"KYOUYAMA KAZUSAAAAAA!"

"I-Is she a friend of yours?" Aru asked, uneasy at the girl's naked terror.

"Absolutely not!" Kazusa hissed and jumped up, and Natsu had to bite her lip to keep the obvious joke from slipping out. "We've gotta get outta here, Yoshimi, get- just get the window open!"

"What? I'm not- no, we're not jumping through a bush because you're scared of that girl!"

"Scared?! Hell no! She's been bugging me for a while now a-and I have no idea what she wants! Always calling me out for, uh, t-things...it's so annoying! I've told her to grow up and leave me alone already," Kazusa's hands mussed through her hair, "but she just won't get it! I didn't see her all day and I just knew it was too good to be true!"

Kayoko raised a brow as the girl's eyes darted around the room, sweat pouring down her face. 

She couldn't be a worse liar if she tried, she mentally huffed. But it's none of my business. The boss, on the other hand...

"You're being stalked?" Aru tilted her head, causing a wave of scandalized gasps among the After-School Sweets Club and an embarrassed growl from Kazusa. "Well then, don't worry your pretty little heads. Being our benefactors has its advantages, you see," the boss of PS68 stood up and brushed some dust off her skirt, pulling Wine Red • Admire off her back with a flourish. "Girls...?"

Snickering, Mutsuki pulled Trick or Trick off the wall rack and leaned it on her shoulder. "Aw, isn't our Aru just the coolest~! As she said, you girls can sit back and relax. I like you lot, so I can beat up a stalker for you easy-peasy!"

Kayoko nodded, pulling Demon's Roar from its holster and, just to show off a bit for their new clients, twirled it with practiced ease. "This'll be good for PR, at least. Though I suppose Aru wasn't thinking about that in the first place."

"Yeah, I bet she just wanted to protect her new friends! What a gal, huh?"

"Would you two just let me have this?!" Aru huffed, cheeks turning pink as the After-School Sweets Club snickered behind them. "Let's do away with this stalker as quick as possible, for our peaceful evening and Haruka's rest!"

"KYOU- Ah, is this the right...? H-Hold on, um...ah...yeah! Yeah, okay...whew!"

The girl behind the door cleared her throat, the sound of fabric shuffling about masking the sounds of Problem Solvers getting into position. Yoshimi, Natsu, and Kazusa had also drawn their arms and posted up as best they could, guns pointed to the door and trigger fingers at the ready. Airi had managed to throw Kazusa's jacket back at the girl, picked a drowsy and confused Haruka up and moved the pair out of the way of the ensuing firefight...at least temporarily.

Airi was completely ready and willing to fill Kazusa's stalker with holes.

"Hoo, hoo...okay, y-you've got this Reisa. READY OR NOT, CATH PALUG, TRINITY'S SHINING HERALD OF JUSTICE-!"

"Trinity's shining who now?" Kayoko raised a brow.

"Cath Palug?" Natsu looked to Kazusa with sparkling eyes. The cat-eared girl could feel her sweat soaking through her recently-acquired jacket as an apocalyptic rage boiled inside her.

The door burst open with a mighty kick, and a small girl with pink-and-blue multicolored hair rolled in and struck a tactical pose with her shotgun. It would have looked heroic, had the plushies attached to her bag, her oversized coat, and the little buttons adorning said coat not made her look adorable instead.

All capped off with the proud expression on the girl's face betraying her status as a few macarons short of a box.

"Uzawa Reisa, is here!"

Reisa took a look at the veritable wall of guns pointed at her from every angle, turned her gaze to Kazusa's absolutely furious expression, and decided to open her mouth anyway to try and fit her entire sneaker inside.

"Wowie, I guess paying a thousand yen for that intel was a good idea!" Reisa happily declared, before dramatically gasping. "Wait a moment! You've brainwashed these poor innocent souls into becoming your thralls, Cath Palug?! Unacceptable! The depths of your devilry truly knows no bounds, she who makes even her fellow delinquents weep in fear!"

She pointed right at Kazusa, who was gritting her teeth so hard that it was nearly audible. Yoshimi and Natsu even shimmied away from her a bit. "Your reign of terror ends TODAY! I cha-"

Reisa would never finish her sentence as Mutsuki popped a round into her forehead, soon joined by a hail of gunfire as Trinity's Shining Herald of Justice began screaming.

As Mika sat alone in the darkness of her room, legs pulled up to her chest, she came to terms with the fact that didn't understand her precious Nagi-chan at all.

Why?

Why?! 

Why would they even think of parleying with Gehenna?! They were lawless and barbaric! That sham club that calls themselves 'the Pandemonium Society' (wow soooo cool they think they're so much better than you) is nothing but a gaggle of idiots and blowhards! She had a begrudging respect for the Prefect Team, very begrudging, for trying to keep order in a hostile land...but that one was group. A drop in an ocean of degeneracy and filth.

How unlike her.

How shameful.

And Nagi-chan wanted to bring that here, to their beloved Trinity.

But I'm the stupid one, Mika bitterly laughed to herself, biting her thumb and rocking back and forth. So what do I know? Seia is smart, witty and sees the future in her dreams. Nagisa is pretty, charming, and a real lady. Why do they even need me, that flighty idiot who can't even remember her 'propriety'?

(You are nothing to them)

Mika clutched her head and moaned pitifully. It wasn't true, her friends loved her...it hurt, it hurt, why did everything hurt when she tried to think...?

(You are not a thinker, you are a fol̷͖̀ĺ̷̦owe̵̬̔r)

No, no, no, Mika thought to herself as she stumbled off her bed and towards the table. Plan, she planned something with Saori, her plan was to-

(Plant the spy, the Tea Party will be m̵̢̧̲̺͒́́̓͜i̴̮̣̠̲͈̦͋͊̽̉̕ne, take this bom̷̡͖̌̊͜b, a short trip to the ho̶̧̢̡̢̹̟̣̟̗̳̤̩̖̔͐̔͂̈͜spitá̸̢̡̟̪͖͓͖͕͍͎̟̇l̶͚̾̀̔̕-)

Something within Mika roiled at the thought, and she knocked over the water bottle she was about to drink from with a shuddering sob as she began dry heaving. She didn't want this anymore, Saori, Saori, what was this, why was she just so angry all the time now, this wasn't-

(̶̳̑̀̓ͅY̴̬̝̱͋͆o̷̻͚͛̿ų̵̢̥͐ ̸̭̤̟̾̑͊ą̸̛̋ŕ̴̙ë̵͓́͒͋ ̴̙̦̇n̶̛̞̠͆ö̶̡́̋t̴͖̫͕͗͊ ̸̝̿̾̒a̵̞̥͂̒ ̵̈́͜ͅt̸͖̊h̶͙̔͗̈́i̵̺͝ṋ̸͚̋͝k̴̳̿͐è̷͖̤͎ř̸̯͖,̴̪̇ ̶̣̊͌y̴̨̬̣̅̿̿o̸̫̹̾̇ų̴̜̅ ̷͓͙͐͠â̴͖̦̞͛͝ř̸͓͍é̶̤̗̉ ̴̻̃͗ä̶̳̥́ ̷͔̱̈́̓̏͜f̷̼̒ỏ̸̜͒l̴̟͔̫̓l̴̻̼̪̔̔ơ̴͉͚͍̑̕w̷̬͖͉̚ẽ̴̛̯ŕ̵̞̈́͝)̶̨̫͈̒̀

(Do what you are told.)

...

...

The bomb was on its way.

The spy was on campus.

The seer would be dealt with. The lady would be locked away in a tower. The Tea Party would be in the hands of the princess, and under her just rule the vile demons would be slaughtered to the last.

That was the plan.

Misono Mika dried her face and puzzled out a smile as she wobbled back to her feet and slipped into bed.

Tomorrow would be another bright day!

(Good child.)

(Obedient child.)

The longer Duke sat in his seat at the Tea Party's table thinking of the poor state of the Arius district, the more his blood boiled.

Atsuko, Saori, Misaki, Hiyori...and Azusa. He had burned those names into his memories as soon as Seia told him, the girl's power of visualization petering out. They were Arius Squad, an elite team that bitch Beatrice used as her personal attack dogs...as long as they were useful and obedient. Beatrice was willing and able to discard them without a second thought if managing them was too inconvenient, as she had with countless other students so far.

(Princess, s-save the Princess, please...!)

...Oh, he was stomping mad. The dead had names, and Duke would make sure that Beatrice would remember each and every one of them as he compacted her into meatloaf.

"M-My apologies, Duke-sensei, that I could not show you more," Seia coughed into her sleeve, and Duke did understand: the poor girl was sagging at the mental strain of having kept up the illusion of Arius for so long. She had warned them that she wasn't the most robust student normally and here it was demonstrated to his face. Granted, he thought he'd be the one taking the heat seeing how it was his mind and everything, but this wasn't an exact science anyway.

"Ain't a problem. Your intel was real gold star stuff, kid," Duke leaned forward. "So, how do we get outta here? Arona and I got our work cut out for us, and we better get started on finding that Azusa kid as soon as dawn breaks."

"I can handle that," Seia gently assured him. "...But may I please request something before I send you two off?"

"Sure thing."

"Alright!"

"Thank you," the president smiled at them briefly, her smile being replaced by something smaller and melancholic. "I beg you to save my close friend...and persistent pain in the rear, Misono Mika."

"...Save her from what?" Arona tilted her head. "She seemed a little prickly to me, but otherwise fine."

"And that is not right," Seia's eyes narrowed. "Mika is many things. She is a bit dumb, too impulsive for a Tea Party member, and too innocent for her own good. But her hatred of Gehenna...that deep, smoldering rage of hers...it is the mark of a devil. I don't wish this upon her. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

For the first time since they'd met, a crestfallen expression sat upon Seia's delicate features. "Nagisa doesn't know. Their deep friendship blinds her to Mika's inner darkness. But she can be saved, Duke-sensei. I know it, I've seen it. I may heap scorn onto her, sometimes justified and other times not, but I don't want to see her desecrated like this. Please, save Misono Mika from the hatred that is not her own."

...Not her own? Duke leaned forward, about to ask for clarification-

"...?!"

"...?"

The world shuddered.

"...Uh? Is, um, is something supposed to happen?" Arona whispered.

"Not really sure..." Duke muttered back before looking at Seia. "Hey, Seia, you alright over there?"

"I...w-what was that?!" Seia sputtered, eyes swiveling wildly in an attempt to spot the unknown enemy. "Something is here...! Something is coming!"

Duke tensed as Arona's gaze sharpened. "...What joker is tryin' ta piss around in my head?"

"My, my. What a crass man you are, 'Sensei'. Oh well, I suppose I can forgive an uncouth first impression."

Seia gasped as the dreamscape twisted and screeched around them, and the group was suddenly back in the Arius district. Pulling Arona and Seia close to him, Duke took a deep breath and stayed alert.

"And what a naughty child you are, Yurizono Seia...sticking your filthy little fingers in an adult's property. You've even brought along a little friend...how detestable."

"Just stay near big ol' Duke, kids," he lowly muttered, feeling a surge of protectiveness as two small hands gripped his shirt.

"Oh, but where are my manners? I suppose it would only be good etiquette to introduce myself personally, no? Hahaha..."

Duke didn't even flinch as a vortex, swirling with red and black energy, opened before him. With Arona shuffling behind him and Seia trying to stand firm beside him, Duke Nukem felt no fear in his heart as he beheld the woman that stepped from the portal.

If her red skin hadn't made her inhumanity obvious, the crown of eyed wings composing the top half of her head certainly did. The woman wore a lacy, backless white dress that hugged her curvy figure, the end of it stylized with roses that billowed outward behind her. It was stylish, sexy and graceful all in one package, but the aura of sheer contempt that radiated from the woman ruined any notion of sensuality she tried to project.

"Greetings, Duke-sensei," the woman regally tilted her head, the barest shred of respect in her action. "I am Beatrice, a member of Gematria. You may call me Madame, and those little parasites nipping at your heels?"

Beatrice's many eyes glared disdainfully down at Arona and Seia as she flipped open her fan, hiding the lower half of her face. Duke, on the other, felt his lips pull back into a snarl as he clenched his hands into steely fists.

"They are not allowed to call me at all. I do believe an apology for trespassing upon my estate is in order."

SIDE STORY 01: A Change of Heart

Komakaze Rabu knew that this job was kinda shitty. The only difference is that she really didn't care until recently.

"Are you sure about this, captain?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Once Kaiser finds out..."

Rabu snorted. "I know what Kaiser'll do. That's why I told you and the girls to get the fuck outta here before things really go to Hell. You can disappear, start new somewhere else while I bum around, steal an assload of supplies in an unmarked truck, and-"

"No way!" the Helmet Gangster exclaimed, pumping her fists. "The other girls and I, we talked. If you're really going through with this, we'll follow you and just multiply that assload. Fuck Kaiser, right? We've gotten by without 'em in the past, and we can do it again!"

Rabu actually laughed this time. "Yeah, fuck 'em! They think they're hot shit, talking down to us and giving us dogshit pay just 'cuz we're dropouts? Nobody screws with the great Komakaze Rabu and her crew!"

The Helmet Gangsters around them guffawed and exchanged boasts of their own amongst hushed murmurs. Rabu herself just shook her head fondly and took her cracked phone out.

Chichi

RABU HON I MADE IT IN! ! !

Thats great babe! knew schale would be fuckin stupid if they didnt take you in! love u!

Chichi

I love you too, Rabu.

Come right home after that job, okay?

We'll celebrate! I'll put in a good word to Duke-sensei

Let's see if you can get into the Security Team!

(She smiled, smiled so wide it almost split her face. Chieko always believed in her, that fuckin' softie, so unlike your standard delinquent that their relationship felt like a dream even now.

Chichi wouldn't be able to sleep at night if she knew her girlfriend put a dying school down like an old dog. And so Rabu didn't.)

(You have read up to this point.)

Hey

Chichi

Hey hon!

Learning to cook the different kinds a steak

Whats up?

I need to talk to you about something

Chichi

Is everything okay?

This job

I quit

And I'm gonna let bossman know in the only way I know how

Chichi

Rabu

Are you okay

Are you safe

I love you. You make me a better person

I'm gonna do the right thing

Then I'm comin back home with the girls

And we're never doing this shit again

See you soon

Chichi

Rabu

"Hey, Captain! Trucks are all loaded. We ready?"

Rabu turned off her phone and pocketed it, muttering a silent apology to the heavens. Truthfully, she had no fucking clue if Abydos would even welcome them, if Kaiser would just roll in and stomp the shit out of them once they defected, and if they'd even make it there in one piece in this sandblasted district. She had no idea if she just made the worst decision of her life or was about to find her return to morality paying dividends.

What she did here was the opposite of lying low and doing the job to get home. But she had a girl back home. Someone who looked at her lifestyle, said 'nah', and made an effort to go clean. And she did it...all to provide for some lowlife like her. Then Chieko took Rabu's hands, her eyes bright and clear, and told her that she could get outta here too.

They say love made dumbasses out of the smartest girls. Rabu was already a dumbass, so what the hell. Let's just go balls out for love, then!

"Alright gang, let's move out!" Rabu shouted, and they all scattered like ants to their own trucks. "We're headin' to Abydos High! Let's save those pricks and stick it to Kaiser, eh?! For our clean break!"

"Our clean break!" the gang hollered back, whooping and hollering and waving their guns in the air like it was the world's most heavily armed sports game.

Rabu turned her head and motioned to a Helmet Gangster with long black hair. "Ami, gimme that megaphone. I'd rather us not get shot to shit when we're closing in on Abydos. Those drone's rockets fucking hurt."

"Gotcha, captain."

Whatever happened in this godforsaken desert, Rabu was gonna be right in the center of it.

...

Fuck me, this better work.

Chapter Text

An apology. Duke couldn't keep a surprised bark of laughter from tumbling out, Seia looking up at him incredulously.

She wanted a fucking apology. From him.

"You seem tense. Droll, but expected," Beatrice stepped towards the man with graceful strides, Arona letting go of Duke's shirt to pull Seia back and put herself in front of the seer. "I am aware of your...affection...towards these children, and while we may not agree on the finer details, we need not be enemies."

"And what, exactly," Duke made a conscious effort to unclench his jaw, "would bein' buddy-buddy with you bring me."

"Power, of course."

Beatrice snapped her fan shut.

"The power to take this sad little city and play with it like a toy. You are upset with me, Sensei. You are upset because you have the notion that I did this to the Arius district...but I must disagree. They did it to themselves."

The woman let loose an imperial giggle, and Duke did everything he could to control his breathing.

"Did you know, Sensei, that the students of Arius were locked in a vicious civil war before I had even come along? Hate, contempt, rage, disgust...these emotions already existed within them. All I did was fan the flame, give them what they wanted. They were not poor, innocent lambs that the wicked witch had perverted. No...they were already broken."

Beatrice shook her head, and Duke flexed his fingers.

"Or...perhaps they were merely true to themselves. Deep inside the human heart lies a primal violence and selfishness. The only thing that separates them from beasts is a thin veneer of civility...as you and those precious little nobodies from Gehenna have already experienced."

Arona took one look at Duke-sensei's face and backed off further, nudging Seia back all the while.

"Knowing this...it is impossible to deny the beauty of my methods.

CRCK

SNAP

Beatrice's perfectly molded face split apart, revealing a beastly set of sharpened teeth that smugly sneered at the man before her.

"I am no barbarian. I am no philistine. I take what is already within them, that yawning pit of despair and anger in their hearts...and I create. I craft for my students a purpose beyond whatever pointless feelings they have bouncing around in those heads. The pain...the guilt, their crimes bring? The knowledge that they will come crawling back to me because I am all that they know? It is priceless."

She giggled again, shaking her head. "I am their world. What I say reality is for them simply is. I could say that up is down and a cat is a dog, and they would thank me for defining their pitiful lives. A microcosm of my 'paradise': a world where us adults may shape, crush, and devour these souls as we see fit. A Hell for them...and a Heaven for us."

...

"Join us, Sensei. Join me. You need no trust from them. You need no love from them. In a world made for adults like us, you need only your conviction and the power to see it through."

You'll do my students right.

"Aren't you curious? Even a man of your strength..." she purred, finally closing in and putting a gentle hand to his chest. She pressed against him in a one-sided embrace, that hand easily tracing the lines of his collarbone. "...Can only be refined. And all we'd need to do is sacrifice a few lowly students to pave the way to paradise. Our Eden."

Adulthood, responsibility, obligation...the choices we make that extend beyond those ideals.

"The truths of this world and its secrets...I will lay it all bare for you to partake. To say that we owe them anything is a laughable illusion. For the very crime of their existence, these children must pay with their service and their lives."

All that and more we pass onto the next generation, to mold them into something better than what we ever could be.

"Accept me. Take my hand and become something greater."

"Sensei, whatever you're doing...!" Arona worriedly mumbled.

"They are weaknesses, Sensei. Weaknesses that we can expunge with a snap of our fingers. Choose, and choose well," Beatrice purred. "I know you'll use your head."

"D-Duke-sensei...he wouldn't...?" Seia nervously whispered. To reassure her, Arona simply gripped the seer's hand and shook her head.

Taking a deep breath, Duke Nukem gently raised his left hand to grasp Beatrice's. The woman's grin split apart in wicked, victorious glee as Seia cried out in despair. Arona merely grit her teeth and waited, trusting Duke.

He exhaled, leaned his head back-

"That's enough out of you."

And smashed his forehead into Beatrice's skull, sending the woman reeling back with a pained screech that echoed throughout the barren Arius district. Her hand still in his, Duke crushed it within his own grip, yanked her back up, and stepped in to deliver a vicious right hook that collided with her left cheek, letting go of her hand to let her flip and tumble through a pile of rubble and through the wall of a dilapidated house.

Arona and Seia's jaw dropped as they truly beheld Duke Nukem in his prime: pissed and ready to let loose. 

"Damn," he growled, teeth bared in his own wild grin as he took a look at the fangs he managed to dislodge. "That felt fuckin' good. But I ain't gonna be satisfied..."

Reaching into his pocket, he took out his SUPERNOVA, checked it over with a glance, and slung it over his shoulder as he stomped towards the ruined building.

"Until whatever remains of this alien bastard can be packed into a hoagie!"

"Grrgh!"

Reisa struggled against her bonds with the willpower of a true hero. Unfortunately, willpower did not actually translate into greater strength, and her captor merely jostled her as the group continued walking.

"Gnnnnghrghl!"

She had to break free! She must break free! What sort of heinous things would happen to her should Cath Palug take Uzawa Reisa, Trinity's Heroic Star, back to her fetid lair?! Perhaps she would use her delinquent brainwashing powers and lead her astray from the path of justice! Yeah, the she-devil would bring Reisa in close...! She'd stroke her hair...whisper temptation into her ear...s-slowly take her coat and, uh, haha, was it hot in here...?

"...?"

"Did she stop struggling already?"

"Hey, I think the blood is rushing to her head or something. She's blushing like crazy!"

"Maybe she's realized that you're lugging her like a sack of potatoes," Kayoko flatly offered. "You know, a girl in a skirt."

"Hey, the crowd dispersed the moment the gunfight died down," Kazusa hissed, her own cheeks pink as she realized the implications. "There's no one around this late anyway. I'm not that much of a psycho!"

Mutsuki smirked and sent her a side eye. "Oh, so it was another Miss Palug that shoulder-checked our little hero into a wall, huh~?"

The former delinquent grit her teeth and sent Mutsuki the evil eye. "Please. Do not call me that."

"But it's true!" Reisa shouted from her position over Kazusa's shoulder. "They say a leopard cannot change its spots, and you are but a leopard among sheep!"

"Yeah well, leopard schmepard! Who cares what you think, anyway?! You've been stalking our friend!" Yoshimi spat, and Kazusa's eyes widened as she watched the rest of the After-School Sweets Club passionately nod.

"I-I'm her archnemesis! I've known her ever since middle school, where she let the beast within rage wild and free. What you see before you is merely an obfuscation from a master-class thug!"

"Or," Kayoko droned as she pushed the club room's door open, "she actually is just a normal girl now. She could've just left that life behind. We all changed somehow from middle school...except you, I guess."

"...Huh?" Reisa blinked uncomprehendingly as she was plopped onto the ground in the middle of the beanbag circle. With the students of both clubs sitting down to surround her in less than a minute, the little hero was quickly coming to terms with the fact that she wouldn't be making it out of here so easily. "No, that's- I'm two-hundred percent certain that Kyouyama Kazusa is still a violent ne'er-do-well! Why else would she run from justice?"

"Because I did give up on being a thug, idiot. I was supposed to be a new Kazusa when I stepped into Trinity if not for you!"

"W-What?" Reisa sputtered, staring at her rival with wide, uncomprehending eyes

"Tell me what part you don't understand," Kazusa lowly growled. "I'll gladly elaborate."

"I...well, I just don't..."

"You just don't get it, right? Yeah, I know," the ex-delinquent bitterly chuckled, trembling.

"No, I don't. But I know you. I know you wouldn't just...just up and throw it all away! You're Cath Palug-"

"NO I AM NOT!" Kazusa shouted, hopping to her feet as everyone else startled back. "Stop! Calling me! CATH PALUG! You don't know shit about me! Why can't you just leave me alone already?!"

She pointed a finger at Reisa's stunned face, a snarl on her lips as she prepared to bare her heart to this tumor on her life. "How do you think it feels to know that some- some specter of your past is always hanging over you, ready to fuck up your second chance at a normal life whenever she wants? Huh?!" Kazusa pounded her chest with a palm. "How do you think that makes me feel?! I've been trying to keep it cool, but I just can't take this anymore! How...just how much longer are you gonna screw with me until you're satisfied? Is this enough? Is them knowing who I was enough for you...?"

"B-But, you..." the hero found her resolve escaping her at Kazusa's defeated tone. "You're a delinquent, you...don't you like it? Isn't this your gang?"

"They're not my gang! Don't you talk about them like that!" Kazusa thundered as she stomped over to Reisa, who shied away from the furious girl as much as her bonds would allow. "They're...they didn't know! They're just normal girls! They make me want to be normal, you...don't you get it?!"

"Kazusa..." Natsu began, shutting her mouth when the girl whipped around to look at her with moist, terrified eyes.

"You...you have no idea how scared I was. I was so scared that if you guys found out, y-you'd dump me. We wouldn't be able to go to pop-up cafes no more, I-I wouldn't be able to sit around a-and laugh with any of you anymore...I didn't know what to do. Hell, I wanted to call Schale to see what that Sensei guy could do about it! I...I couldn't bear it if all of you were terrified of me..."

"Oh, Kazusa..." Airi gently got up and dragged the girl's hands up, holding the clenched fists with warm hands of her own. "We would never abandon you."

"What you did in the past could honestly matter less to me," Natsu jumped in, placing a soft hand on the girl's shoulder. "You are Kazusa, and you exist in the here and now. You are my friend and I value you."

"Yeah. You were some big delinquent back then, whatever!" Yoshimi rolled her eyes, patting Kazusa's other arm. "We could be delinquents tomorrow if we felt like it. Look, I-I'm not gonna get all sappy or anything, but...if you were unsure if we'd stick by you because of this, don't worry about it. We're cool."

Kazusa clenched her eyes tightly, a few tears leaking out as she choked down her sobs.

"Come here, come here..." Airi gently cooed, bringing the slightly shorter girl into her embrace and running a hand through her hair. "It's okay, let it out. We'll still be here after all is said and done, okay?"

"...Ah, y'know what, fine! I'll join in for a little hug. Get over here, Natsu!" 

"Our love shall be like a sandwich cookie," Natsu sagely nodded. "Alone, we are but mere ingredients, unrefined and lacking direction. But within the protective embrace of the cookies, the filling can find its true purpose. The romanticism of the situation threatens to overwhelm me."

"...There's three of us," Airi reminded her with an uncertain smile as Yoshimi gave the philosophical girl a flat look, getting on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around Kazusa's shoulder and Airi's back.

"...Yuh."

And so the After-School Sweets Club came together for their member with a storied past, their new friends in Problem Solvers 68 watching them contentedly. Undoubtedly, the once-simple Trinity club would come out of the incident with stronger bonds than before, a heavy weight having been lifted from Kazusa's shoulders.

Leaving one Uzawa Reisa to watch the scene with a devastated expression on her face.

For as long as she could remember, she stood for justice. She stood for the downtrodden, the meek, the bullied. She fought bullies and delinquents wherever they appeared, because it was the right thing to do.

Uzawa Reisa was a hero. Even if she had to walk the path alone, even when no one wanted to talk to the weird justice kid, and even if there was nobody to tell her how their day was or hug her when she was feeling down, Reisa had to be a hero. And she was a good one, a great one.

Then came one Kyouyama Kazusa, who viciously thrashed her when she had tried to dispense justice and left her unconscious in the street. Cath Palug, they called her, able to cow even her fellow delinquents into submission without a care in the world and defeat everyone who stood in her way.

She remembered waking up hours later, heart thrumming in her chest and a sparkle in her eyes even as her body ached and her cuts bled. Her scruffy, two-toned hair. Those lifeless red eyes of hers. That open coat revealing her scars, the weathered machinegun, Reisa had committed everything to memory because she had found it!

True evil!

Every hero lived for this day! The mouthwatering knowledge that they had an archnemesis! She could almost imagine the epic fight that made the world tremble as they exchanged blows. Kyouyama Kazusa was the one, she had to be the one!

And so she made the letters. As many letters as she could, challenges to Cath Palug for this specific time and this specific place. Sure, she still fought as many thugs as she could find, but she had a purpose now. Reisa needed Cath Palug to pay attention to her, because she'd be the architect of her doom!

They fought, and Reisa lost. And then she kept challenging Cath Palug and kept losing. But it was okay, because a hero always had their archnemesis! She trained every day for as long as she could, because there was always tomorrow. They'd fight tomorrow, and then the tomorrow after that, and then the one after that too. Because there was always the promise of a tomorrow where Reisa the hero won and Cath Palug the villain lost.

And then they graduated. They went to Trinity. And suddenly Cath Palug disappeared...only to resurface as Kyouyama Kazusa, just Kyouyama Kazusa.

She didn't get it.

She didn't understand.

Why wasn't she Cath Palug anymore?

(No, she had to be. She was hiding it. She was fooling everyone! She was using the cover of night to hide her malicious dealings! She had to be.)

Reisa tried to challenge her again and it didn't work. She tried chasing her, provoking her into a fight, throwing things at her. And Kazusa just...ran away. Yelled at her to leave her alone already, because she was being the nuisance. Again, and again, and again.

...

Weren't they archnemeses? Why didn't Kazusa want to see her anymore? 

Reisa was a hero of justice! She couldn't just give up the pursuit, that...it wasn't fair! Why was Kazusa allowed to run away...why was Reisa the one who was left run after her?

She drafted up another challenge letter, the flashiest one so far. She had gotten word that Kazusa was hanging out with her 'club' (another gaggle of delinquents, for shame Cath Palug!) late into the afternoon, and she had apparently taken some strange new girl hostage. That couldn't stand! Reisa bounded down the hall, shouting as her heart thrummed in her chest as things were finally normal again-

And got ambushed. Ambushed, tied up, and left to watch as her actions made the normal girl known as Kyouyama Kazusa cry into the arms of her friends.

Her friends.

To her, Reisa was little more than a stain of her past that she wanted out. She was a metaphorical executioner, holding an axe above Kazusa's happy relationship with her new, completely normal friends.

(What about her 'normal'?)

Kazusa didn't need Reisa anymore. No, rather, maybe she didn't need Reisa at all. Uzawa Reisa was just a villain standing in the way of Kazusa's happy beginning, and the thought left her throat dry and her body unresponsive.

It took someone bringing her to her feet to jostle her out of her thoughts.

"A-Ah, um, where are you...?"

"You gotta go," the short white-haired girl muttered as she pushed Reisa to the door, her face no longer settled in that smirk she was wearing during their fight. No, if anything, there was a storm raging behind her eyes. "Whatever welcome you had, you've overstayed it."

"But, I...! Cat-" Reisa shut her mouth with a click and tried again. "Please, um, please let me talk with Kazusa...!"

"I think," the coat lady began, and she looked down upon her with an icy expression that made Reisa shudder and avert her gaze. "You've said quite enough already. We will free you from your binds and you will leave, lest you want to see Problem Solvers really get to work."

"N-No, I...I mean, I'm sorry! Ah, no, I mean I just wanted to tell Kazusa that I'm sorry!" Reisa babbled, nervously squirming and trying to look past her. "It's- I made a mistake, I'm sorry, I-I'll change my patrol route so I don't need to be near her anymore-"

"Kid."

"-I'm...s-she doesn't have to forgive me! I know I hurt her!" It hurt, why did it hurt to say that? She was Cath Palug. She was Kyouyama Kazusa.

Who was she apologizing to? Whose forgiveness did she seek?

"But I- I'm sure that if I just talked to her one more time I...w-we...!"

"Kid," the scowling girl put her hands roughly on Reisa's shoulders, spinning her around to look her in the eyes as the short girl flicked open a pocket knife that made Reisa shake uncontrollably...only to cut the thin rope she was tied up with. "There is no 'one more time' anymore. You've done enough, just move on and leave her alone."

"Leave her alone...? Leave her alone and go where?!" Reisa exploded, yanking her arms away from the short girl roughly as she stumbled away from the weird group of girls. "I...! I don't...there's nobody..."

Reisa clammed up, words clogging her throat and breathing heavy and uneven. Nobody in the Vigilante Crew was her friend, and they rarely met up aside from patrols that Reisa would awkwardly shy away from anyway. Suzumi was more like her senior, and even she was smart enough to realize that the older girl saw her as kind of annoying. Not even the girls that she would save even wanted to talk to her, thanking in her a hushed whisper before scurrying off to their own friends.

Uzawa Reisa was a hero, and Kyouyama Kazusa was her villain. She was the only thing Reisa had and now she was gone and Kazusa hated her and she'd never see her again-

"That's none of our business. Why should we care?"

The coat lady merely looked at her disinterestedly as she delivered her concise answer, and suddenly everything just kind of...stopped.

(Had Reisa been in a better headspace, she'd have seen that the scowling girl and even the short one looked at their boss a bit oddly for that one. But it didn't matter, because-)

Yeah.

That.

Reisa couldn't help but giggle a little.

Why should they care?

(Why didn't anyone care?)

Reisa brought her hands up to her eyes and flexed, feeling a bit off-balance. Everything was in order and the pain from their earlier fight had receded, but something had settled into her stomach that somehow made her feel way too hot and it was too hard to breathe in here-

She needed to leave. She just needed to go.

(Go where?)

"Um. Right. O-Okay. Sorry, um, I'll just...go then!" Reisa smiled and it felt gross. "I've got...patrols to get to. So, um, I-I won't...bye!"

None of them responded, simply staring at her in a way that made her sweat stick uncomfortably on her skin and her vision shake. And so Uzawa Reisa turned and stumbled down the hall, grin twitching as she staggered into the main lobby and all but shoved her entire body into the door.

Once outside in the fresh air, the sun dipping into the horizon and painting the sky a lovely orange and purple, Uzawa Reisa the hero lurched forth towards a bush and vomited, body shuddering.

As Duke stomped his way over to the ruined building Beatrice had crashed into, he forced himself to calm down a bit and assess the situation.

It'd wishful thinking to assume she had been killed by his surprise attack. Beatrice might've been a complete bitch that he'd love to fold like an omelet, but she was strong enough to waltz into his head right under Seia's nose, who had been assumedly doing this kinda shit for a while already. There was no telling what she could do once she got out of the rubble.

As bright red light oozed out of the pile of rubble before exploding outward, sending debris flying everywhere, he figured that was a good enough move if any. Dodging a few larger bricks in the nick of time, Duke found one pissed Beatrice snarling at him with twitching red eyes, glaring at him as her lower jaw hung loosely off her face and blood poured out onto the tile in spurts. 

Huh, Duke grimaced as he watched her face reconstruct itself, her jaw snapping into place as muscle and skin grew to connect it back. Freaky magic trick.

"You...!" she hissed venomously, and Duke couldn't help but smirk at her. "You think you can disrespect me...? Lay your hands upon me as if you were some lowborn cur?! I shall flay you alive like the DOG that you are, Duke-sensei!"

"If I'm the dog, how come you're the only bitch I hear barkin'?"

Screeching like a banshee, balls of energy that were black as night formed in her hands as Beatrice flowed towards Duke like a snake. Unfortunately, it seemed that she had spent a bit too long reveling in what was essentially super child abuse to realize that terror factor didn't really matter much to a man like Duke Nukem, who took one look at the target barreling straight towards him with a smile on his face and a shotgun in hand.

"Wow, guess I've still got the Nukem charm! Ladies're just throwin' themselves at me!" he laughed, letting the first claw sail past his face before interrupting her followup attack with a timely shotgun blast. The newly-crippled Beatrice screeched in pain as her hand had been blown apart, stumbling back to give Duke a generous amount of time to pump the shotgun and flip it around.

"Open up, sunshine."

BRAK!

Beatrice fell hard onto her back as the synthetic stock of the SUPERNOVA rearranged her teeth once again. Slithering away, she reformed herself from the shadows with a ghastly shriek as her eyes lit up.

"Ah, no boss battle'd be complete without-"

Duke clutched his shotgun Haruka-style and rolled, dodging a barrage of laser beams that would have surely torn right through flesh and bone like paper.

"-some fuckin' lasers. Damn, if you're some kinda brainy master planner why couldn't ya cook up some more interesting attack patterns, bozo?"

"GREEEEEAGH! YOU WILL NOT LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SEE MY ASCENSCION COME TO FRUITION!"

Eyes twitching wildly in every direction, Beatrice let loose a storm of beams, forcing Duke to duck, dodge, and roll as the formerly elegant member of Gematria went berserk.

"Goddamnit!" he grunted, quickly ducking his head as a laser screamed past and firing off another shot at his opponent's torso. Can only hope that Arona and Seia got to cover during this shitshow!

As if they were reading his mind (Duke smirked), he heard a faint 'Duke-sensei!' from Arona. Something that Beatrice, even during her apocalyptic rage, noticed as well.

The two looked at each other as combat hit a lull.

"Don't even think about it, ya cabbage-head chump," Duke growled, swapping out the SUPERNOVA for his M4A1. "You touch a hair on their pretty little heads and I go biblical on your ass. Try 'Parting the Red Ribcage' on for size!"

"Oh Duke-sensei, didn't I tell you?" Beatrice crooned, voice dripping with a rotting sweetness as she daintily raised a hand. "Those precious students you love so much are a burden. Allow me to relieve you."

Duke snarled, snapped his weapon up and shot her in the head just as Beatrice clenched her fist, a column of red-and-black energy bursting from the ground with a howl that devoured everything within its radius.

"No!" Duke Nukem roared, throwing his rifle to the ground to barrel towards Beatrice with a burst of speed and nail her with a mighty boot. Doubling over with a wheezing cackle, the ruler of Arius Satellite School could do nothing as Duke rained blow after blow onto her, hooks transitioning into another boot to the gut followed by a haymaker that sent her head through solid brick. Seeing his opponent incapacitated at least temporarily, Duke whirled around to see a blue, hexagonal force-field power down.

Sweat pouring down her face, Arona nodded to Duke as she urged a shaken Seia to keep moving. Now reassured that the pair had some method of defense and were out of sight, Duke turned around to see Beatrice just about to pull herself out of the wall.

"Hope you've still got some fight in ya," Duke sneered, "because you just gone an' pissed me off again."

"Grraah...hgggh..." Beatrice gargled, some of the wings on her face falling off as a consequence of her ass-beating. Wobbling, she righted herself and brought her head up. "You-"

Duke's fist collided with her face with a satisfying crunch, sending her crashing through the wall yet again with the upper half of her body now collapsed over it. He patiently waited for her to even attempt to get up again before grabbing her by the leg-

"No, no, wait-"

-and swinging her like a screaming hammer onto the street, her head rebounding off the concrete with a loud crunch to denote her fanged teeth being pushed through her gums and into her skull. Finally, it seemed as if Beatrice was done getting rolled like a pig in mud as her manifestation faded away into smoldering ashes.

"Don't think you've won here, Duke-sensei...!" her ethereal voice hissed out, bouncing around the walls of his mind as the Arius district began to fall apart at the seams. "These delusions of power in this sickening head of yours are an utter eyesore! I shall return with incomprehensible power and crush both you and the pitiful little wretches you watch over! Your bravado shall crumble under Gematria's might!"

Duke guffawed as he shook his head.

"You think I give a shit? Tell ya what, sweetheart. Send your best and I'll send 'em back in a casket. You can get a piece 'a Duke whenever you want," he casually ran a hand through his hair as Arona and Seia hesitantly moved towards him, "I'll always be ready to throw down and come out winnin'."

"...Always, are you?"

Beatrice cackled, her voice fading away.

"Then I suggest you begin to sleep with one eye open, Duke-sensei. My 'best' deserves a bit of exercise before they destroy you, body and mind...!"

Duke smiled this time, an actual full smile that Arona didn't understand. Analyzing each word carefully, it didn't take her long to gasp.

"Go ahead, asshole. Go riiiight ahead."

As he felt the last traces of Beatrice's influence fade away, Duke turned to his two charges.

"...Clever. You've baited Beatrice into handing Arius Squad over to you on a silver platter. However, for all your prodigious power, bear in mind that they are much more dangerous than an outdated tank."

"Honestly, I wasn't too sure if it'd work," Duke shrugged, taking deep breaths as the adrenaline wore off. "Guess all the brain damage and baby-bitch rage were enough to make her sloppy."

"That was amazing!" Arona squealed, hopping as her halo turned a vibrant green. "B-But how do we know she's gonna be sending Arius Squad at all...?"

"I don't," Duke admitted. "Hell, she could just drown us in students like Pigtails back at Schale's medbay. But if she doesn't wanna blow her cover like a dumbass, I doubt that'd happen. Arius Squad is her best bet 'a taking me with as few students as possible...is what she thinks, anyway."

"...Pigtails. Really?" Arona squinted at him and puffed her cheeks, Seia putting a sleeve to her mouth to hide her grin.

"I-I'd call her by name if I knew it!" Duke defensively shot back to his unamused secretary. "What else am I gonna call her, Nadey? Gas Mask?"

As they chuckled, Seia cleared her throat.

"As much as I'd like to stay, I can feel myself slipping away to the waking world once again. It's honestly quite the miracle I was able to hang on long enough to witness the fight in its entirety...and what a glorious display of martial skill it was, Sensei."

Humbly shaking his head, Duke stepped up to put a hand on her head. "It ain't over yet, kid. Let's save all the cheerin' for after I save Mika and the Squad, huh?"

Letting out an amused huff, Seia slightly nuzzled into his hand as he rubbed behind her ears. "You're just full of surprises, Sensei. I like that..."

And with that, she slowly faded away into wisps of golden light as the two waved her off. Now just Arona and Duke himself left in his head, the super-AI snapped her fingers and let the familiar scenery of the ruined classroom she lived in surround them once more.

Duke fell on his ass with a heavy sigh, feeling the water thread through his fingers but not exactly getting wet. "I should be worried about so many people bein' able to redecorate my noggin this easy."

Arona tiredly chuckled as she rested her cheek against the cool desk. "I'd say three isn't too big a number, but I'd have to agree: three in a row is too damn many."

"Hey," Duke warned, no real heat in his voice.

"What? You say it all the time!"

"Do as I say, not as I do," he returned it with a shit-eating grin that his secretary could feel.

Arona cracked her eyes open to roll them. "Fine, Dad."

"There it is with that Dad thing again, do I really give off that vibe?"

"Yeah, kinda," Arona shrugged. "I mean, you're always there for your students, you encourage them to work hard so you have an excuse to pamper them like a madman-"

"Ahem."

"-seriously, it's a real good thing we bring in the money because you use it fast enough to make a calculator cry."

"The hell does that even mean?"

"Oh, where was I...you basically adopted an entire school club and they know it, lectured one of the two great powers of Gehenna and told them to get along better, and the current situation is shaping up for you to adopt another from Kivotos' most dangerous district," she finished with an air of smugness. "...Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah. You missed the part where you update that drawing of yours so I can hang it on the communal fridge."

"...I can put you in a clown outfit. This is my world."

"And I can just not give you dessert for a week," Duke shrugged. "It's my credit card."

"I'll get you someday!" Arona shook her fist at him in mock-anger as Duke laughed, and the two enjoyed a pleasant rest before he'd be required to fight once again.

Chapter Text

"Saori. Do you know why I have called you here?"

"No, Madame," the girl in question shook her head. Madame was lounging, which was not an unusual occurrence, but she carried herself with a stiffness that had Saori on edge. "Have I done something to displease you?"

"No. If you had, I would have let you know already," Beatrice purred, the implicit threat making Saori take a breath. "You children have been obedient and effective. I am...contented, I suppose."

Saori exhaled. Naturally, Madame would not stay contented for long, but so long as they produce results...

...

Vanitas vanitatum. The embers of fear in her heart were pointless: if Madame wished to punish her, then she simply would as she had countless times before.

"I will be giving you new orders. These will take priority over your first mission, you and your Squad will depart at once, and you will not return here until you have done what I ask. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Madame."

"Good girl. This mission is a capture operation. Your target? The Sensei of Schale, known as Duke Nukem."

Duke Nukem...that name is familiar. Some circles called him the 'Tank Shredder-sensei', his greatest feat of strength self-evidently being the disassembly of a Crusader tank with only his limbs and a rage near-unseen in Kivotos. Utterly juvenile, but it made sense regardless.

In any case, letting this new asset of Schale's run around Kivotos without eyes on him was unthinkable - Squad (especially the Princess, oddly enough) had collected countless videos and photos of him online and offline as a part of reconnaissance, all for the day they were sent to eliminate him. Saori was confident they could do it: while she would freely admit that he was physically impressive and kind of heart, he was still without a halo. 

That 'Ego Bar' of his...mere fantasy. Even Saori, who knew little and was content, knew that the world did not work like that. Blocking bullets without a halo...how ridiculous.

The eyewitnesses to the claim were delinquents anyway, their dubious history of reliability speaking for itself. Hell, the GSC's propaganda machine could be trying to put this Sensei on a pedestal in a petty bid for relevancy. Many explanations along these lines flitted through Saori's head...before she promptly decided that they did not matter. Once her Squad had him in sight, he was as good as theirs. Once Madame had him in her grasp, he was as good as dead.

...

But despite her best interests, despite the vanity of it all, Saori was curious. What had he done to draw Madame's ire?

"Madame, permission to speak freely?"

"Ugh," Beatrice irritably clicked her tongue. "You really do like to inconvenience me so. Very well then, I shall allow you one."

"Is there a specific...reason...we are hunting this man?" Saori slightly tilted her head.

"...Rather unsurprising that you wasted it," the woman drawled, "but the answer is simple: he spits upon all you stand for. Your hatred, your pain, your despair...they are your only belongings now. Think upon the days you were beaten within an inch of your life and the days you've laid to rest hungry and cold, only to awaken in this sunless realm once again...that man is surely laughing at it all as he gorges himself with Trinity's excesses. It is sickening, is it not?"

"...It is."

Beatrice's eyes lit up with barely-veiled malice as she tightly gripped her fan, maw splitting open to reveal a familiar set of fanged teeth. "Yes, yes, Duke Nukem is an affront to us all, Saori. Use whatever you must to ensure his capture. Traps, hostages, that silly child you left in that deplorable school...any and all means will suffice. He shall pay...he must! Once he is delivered, I will carve the consequences of denying me what I am owed into his very soul...!"

Briefly, Saori wondered how this factored into their original plans. It was nowhere near the Eden Treaty, obviously, but their preparations would surely be complicated during this operation, if not completely ground to a halt.

But Saori is no fool. She is obedient and effective. And so she said nothing and bowed lowly as Madame cackled.

"I shall ensure that it is done, Madame."

"Go then," Beatrice began to wave her off before her hand stilled. "Ah, Saori."

"Yes, Madame."

"I am certain that fool will attempt to persuade you to his point of view, as if you are like the dull children who follow him like chicks to a hen. I trust you and yours will not be led astray by his honeyed words?"

"Of course not, Madame."

"...Good. You know what is at stake if you fail."

Saori froze momentarily, but found herself nodding anyway.

"You are dismissed."

...

"...Hime. Is Misaki well?"

Atsuko's masked face stared back at her as the girl lightly shrugged, unscrewing the cap off of a canteen filled with semi-clean water. The member of Squad in question was asleep on one of their two cots, breaths coming out weak and uneven even as Hiyori fussed over her with their limited resources.

[Better now.] she signed, and Saori let out a quiet breath. She didn't think Misaki would get so creative this time, but Saori could only thank that vague sense of unease she had felt so early in the morning that woke her up in time. Another attempt to mentally file away, another method to devise counters for. [Vomit cleaned. Got rid of pills. Found hidden cache. What did Madame require of you?]

"We have a new mission. We are to capture the Sensei of Schale, who has been spotted in Trinity cozying up with-"

TAK!

Atsuko's unfeeling mask bore holes into Saori as the canteen clattered against the ground, water spilling out onto the concrete. The leader of Squad had no words in response to Atsuko's sudden action and instead slowly slid her gaze to Hiyori, who looked back at her like a deer in the headlights. Figuring that she'd get nothing from the exchange, Saori brought her gaze back to the pure one to find her hands minutely shaking.

"Hime, are you well...?" Saori began carefully, cool blue eyes sharp and analytic. Snapping out of her shock, Atsuko quickly nodded and controlled her breathing.

[He is here?]

"Eh...? D-Do you think he knows who we are? T-That we're coming for him?!" Hiyori quivered. "What a scary adult...! Ah, this is bad, this is so bad, why must we suffer like this...?!"

"...So his presence is important to you too, Hime."

"I-I understand why..." Hiyori whimpered, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "That Sensei tore a tank apart with his bare hands...aah, h-he'll probably resist with all his might if we try to take him head on..."

Atsuko turned to Hiyori and shook her head. [Do you trust me?]

"A-Ah...! Um..." the crybaby of Squad whimpered at the sudden attention from both her leader and the princess, but rallied to give her friends as brave a look as she could give. "Yes, o-of course I do. Even if it's all in vain...I-I'll follow you to our bitter end, Hime."

[Thank you, dear. Saori, do you trust me?]

Saori hesitantly nodded.

[Allow me to take control of this operation.]

"Hime, that's...!" the leader began, only to slightly startle as Atsuko turned back to her and staunchly shook her head.

[Think about it.]

"..."

Saori...could see the tactical benefit in allowing such a thing. By leading the capture of Duke Nukem, Hime would cement her worth beyond her 'purpose' to Madame. And Hime was hardly helpless: she had applied what Saori had taught her of team tactics on a few small missions, she was already a competent field medic, and Hime quite obviously had Squad's trust. It filled Saori with no small amount of pride to say that she really could have slid into the role of leader whenever she wanted.

If she performed exceptionally well, perhaps Madame could even find another sacrifice, or devise an alternate method to gain the power she desired while keeping a valuable operative. A small part of Saori felt guilt over potentially ripping away someone else's Atsuko, but she ruthlessly quashed it.

Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.

All struggle is pointless. Their end would come. But a selfish part of her whispered that if they could delay it for one more day, even with the blood and bones of another, it would be enough.

"...Very well then. I admit I still have misgivings...but perhaps this can prove to work in our favor. You can rely on me, Hime."

"Ooh, th-this is gonna be painful, I just know it...our lives are so poor that it might as well be a comedy..."

Misaki groaned and twitched in her sleep, and Atsuko figured that it would work as support for now.

[Life will change.] the princess signed. [This operation will be our salvation. This I assure you.]

"If you say so, Hime, then I will believe it."

[Thank you, Saori. Hiyori, please pick Misaki up.] Atsuko signed, and though her apologetic expression didn't translate the teal-haired girl sighed heavily and pulled Misaki into her arms anyway. [We will need one week to prepare. Cannot waste a second.]

"Ah...even one week is..."

[It is necessary, I assure you. Plan our routes in and out. Prepare our gear and other contingency plans. We should bring the stash.]

"All of it?"

[Yes. Prepare for the possibilities. We may need provisions. Ammo. Other things.]

"Good thinking, Hime." Saori nodded, striding over to a grungy file cabinet in the corner, deftly unlocking the bottom drawer, and collecting a slightly crumpled stack of Credits from the back to stash away in Hiyori's bag. They could survive on very little and scrounge for more if they needed to, but it never hurt to have some money for truly unprecedented circumstances.

Blood money saved is blood money wasted, after all.

"A-Ah, yes, I see..." Hiyori mumbled, casting a sad look at the unconscious friend in her arms. "Better to spend while we're alive rather than have it rot with us in the grave, h-haha...ah..."

Soon, my dear knights, Atsuko sadly thought to herself as she mechanically checked over her Scorpion, hearing the comforting, familiar sounds of guns racking and cloth shifting behind her. She had almost played her hand too quickly - Saori had picked up her excitement, but had thankfully misread her intentions. She loved her Squad dearly, but trying to convince them to rebel against Madame now would only serve to confuse and worry them. 

Her talons are dug too deeply within them, the princess grimaced as she slung her SMG in a compartment in her coat. But I have time now, plenty of time to convince them. Duke-sensei, you got my letter after all...

He came for her, and through her the Squad. He likely didn't know a single thing about Arius, about Atsuko, but he came to save them from their fate. She wondered if Madame had fought him, claws and fangs useless against his might. She wondered if he thought about them as his fury mounted, driven to a frenzy over the thought of saving his precious students like he had saved that girl from the tank so long ago. It filled her heart with a jittery warmth that nearly drove her crazy-

"Nnngh..." Misaki groaned, dead hazel eyes fluttering open. "...Still here, huh?"

-but she carefully shoved that feeling into a box and hid it away somewhere deep and dark. This performance of an operation had to be carried out flawlessly until the point of collision, and Atsuko could not fail. 

"Yes," Saori nodded, expression stoic as always. "As I've said before, you can try as many times as you like-"

"-But you will always be there to stop me, I remember," Misaki croaked, shooting a look at a frightened Hiyori that told the girl that she would really like to be put down now. After being put on her feet, the girl properly looked at the rest of the Squad, let out a deep sigh, and scratched at her bandaged neck.

"We have orders?"

"We do. Hime is in charge of this operation," Saori shot a look to Atsuko, who nodded gratefully in response. "So we follow her lead. Ah, actually, I have to let you know something before I fill Misaki in on the details, Hime..."

The princess tilted her head.

"You'll need to contact Azusa. Madame mentioned her as an asset during this operation, and..."

Ah, yes, that's right. Their little Azusa was living rather nicely up in Trinity, a little...too nicely. Already, Atsuko could see the cracks in her resolve: hesitation seeped through her stoic mask and her intel was full of anecdotes on inane things like her studies and how she was regarded by the other students, as if she did not regard them as superfluous. If they, if Madame, required her to kill, she knew deep in her heart that Azusa could never do it.

And perhaps that...wasn't a bad thing?

Perhaps if Duke-sensei hadn't existed, it would be; if Azusa was going soft she'd be in horrid danger, after all, to say nothing of the consequences the rest of them would face. Madame's world was a cold one, one that preyed upon hatred and despair, and for Azusa to spurn that was to spurn life itself. But now she realized that Azusa had tasted the other side and craved for more, a desire that she knew intimately these days.

Maybe they could want for more, too. Maybe they could be selfish, too. And much like that plan the Tea Party girl had proposed a while ago, the one they and Madame had ruthlessly perverted, maybe they could hinge their bets on Azusa being a symbol of reconciliation after all. 

[Leave it to me. I will update her on the situation when we meet to exchange intel.]

"I see. Thank you, Hime."

"I-It'll be nice to see her again..."

"Taking initiative, I see." Misaki droned, dull eyes shooting to Hiyori as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She had been picking at the bandages with restless abandon, already getting under a few with her nails uncomfortably close to the scabs and scars underneath. Nevertheless, Misaki got the message and slowly drew her hand away from her neck to stare at the wall, the terrified girl letting out a shaky exhale while all but collapsing against the wall. Saori made sure to shoot the timid sniper a grateful expression, for all the good it did.

[We will complete the operation flawlessly.] Atsuko shook her head and signed. [Now come. There is still much to discuss while we travel.]

She had plans to develop and another letter to draft, after all. If the evil witch expected this princess to be meek and subservient, well.

Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas.

Everything may be in vain, but Atsuko felt like fighting regardless. There was a saying that those on the surface liked to use, that there was always 'a light at the end of the tunnel'. She always thought it was cute, that soft girls like them would say such things without knowing of the darkness and despair that festered beneath their feet. But she got it now, or at least she thought she did.

Surviving in this hell made basking in the light just that much more enticing.

"Are you suuuure we couldn't have stayed for the sleepover?"

"Yes, Mutsuki," Aru sighed wearily, not even reacting to the shorter girl's usual mischief as she swung her hand with all the limp energy of a single mother with two kids. "After the events of today, they should have their private time together as a club."

Kayoko hummed, keeping a firm grip on Mutsuki's other hand and lightly swinging it as the group trotted back to the guest dormitories under the warm light of the streetlamps. Haruka trailed behind the three, happy as always to be in her dear Lady Aru's shadow.

"Speaking of the events of today, you sure did give it to that Reisa girl."

"Yeah. I mean, I wasn't too happy with her little hero play either," Mutsuki shrugged, "but geez, I wasn't expecting you to devastate the kid. She looked so anxious that it reminded me of when we first met Haruka..."

"Ah, u-um, is that so...?" the girl in question nervously mumbled. "I'm...well...i-is she okay?"

Aru took a quick look around. Once she found that nobody was in sight, she tipped her head back and groaned.

"Probably not! I- Ugh, I think I messed up...we heard Kazusa's account first and I was furious at seeing a friend of ours be driven to tears, right? So I figured I'd show her what a truly cold-blooded villain sounded like," she grumbled, nodding appreciatively as Haruka pushed the door to the building open and politely let everyone inside, "but then I saw that she was so- well...I don't know what to feel, is she a good or a bad girl?!"

"I don't know, that's just life," Kayoko shrugged as the three disentangled hands. "Funny enough, labels like 'good and bad', 'hero and villain'...you can't just lump people into them."

"Hey, we've seen our fair share of scumbags," Mutsuki lightly rebutted, nudging the older girl with her shoulder and snickering as she was lightly shoved away. "Filled 'em with our fair share of lead, too~!"

"A-And Duke-sensei is very kind to us..." Haruka mumbled, smiling as she remembered their time with him. "I would call him a hero...i-if it isn't too conceited of me, of course!"

"Gah, this is getting way too complicated...!" Aru pouted as they all squeezed into the elevator. "We're a team of merciless outlaws beholden to none-"

"-ostensibly, yes." Kayoko droned, letting a small smirk grace her features as Aru sent her a suffering look.

"-soooo we should just do as we do without looking back! Profit and power, that's the Problem Solvers way!"

"Y'know, Dad would say that everything's a learning experience," Mutsuki added, grin somehow even smugger than usual . Kayoko sent her a deeply unamused look, which Mutsuki's finely honed senses picked up on as a smirk nearly split her cheeks.

"Y-Yeah, well, he can be wrong sometimes!" Aru turned away as a random breeze caught her coat, a dramatic gasp coming from Haruka to emphasize the moment. "We're probably not going to see her again, in any case, so I'll simply bear the weight upon my shoulders and press onwards! It's high time I decided to take back my status as a cold sniper, a brand-name in the underworld who runs a team of fixers so terrifying that they are spoken of in whispers...lest they invoke our wrath!"

Everyone else stayed silent in various states of skepticism. While the claim was obviously going to implode the moment she actually talked to Duke-sensei again, the rest of Problem Solvers came to the quiet agreement that something like this would likely become a monthly occurrence. Aru cleared her throat and continued.

"We don't need his approval for everything we do, we were doing just fine without Duke-sensei!" she huffed, sounding more like a rebellious daughter wanting to drink than the hard-boiled outlaw she'd like to be.

"U-Um, well...you're right of course, Lady Aru, b-but, uh..."

Mutsuki hummed and snapped her fingers. "Ah, I get it now! The guilt is eating her alive so she's just doubling down. That's our Aru!" she exclaimed, proud for indecipherable reasons.

"We should probably apologize to her later, though..." Kayoko muttered, Haruka letting out a little noise of support.

"Yeah, poor thing. Hey Aru, what do you think?"

"In fact, I'd like to see him try to order me around again!" Aru proudly boasted, lost in her own world. "I'll show him what for!"

Ding!

"Oh!" Duke stepped back from the elevator doors as they opened. "'Ay, I was just about to head out and look for ya! I see ya brought back Haruka safe 'n sound, thank God."

He stepped forward and patted the girl's head, Haruka leaning her head into his large hand with a wobbly smile.

"Aw, no fair! I need some affection onto me too; you wouldn't believe the day we had!" Mutsuki whined, circling him as the group exited the elevator to hop onto his back like a koala. Shaking his head and chuckling, Duke used his other hand to adjust her grip around his neck before before standing up.

"Guess I wouldn't. What happened?"

"Just some drama between a club and some girl, we'll tell you about it later. It's good to be back, Sensei," Kayoko stepped close to him, sending him a small but warm smile.

"Good to see ya, Kayoko," Duke rolled around to gently ruffle her hair, which Kayoko tolerated briefly before lightly batting his hand away. She narrowed her eyes at Mutsuki's waggling brows.

"Just a thought, but whenever you want to punt Mutsuki like a football, I'll look the other way."

"Ya think I'd fly far?" Mutsuki put a hand to her chin. "Sensei's got a killer kick. Lookit those legs!"

"I-If anyone has to be kicked, I'll take the responsibility...!"

"Nobody is getting kicked," Duke deadpanned, poking a giggling Mutsuki in the cheek. "Hey Aru, you good?"

"Uh...guh, you..." Aru sputtered, taking one look at her team of 'terrifying fixers' and wilting. "...Oh, whatever. It's been a long day, Sensei."

"Sorry about that, kiddo," Duke furrowed his brows apologetically. "I was gonna head out for some shoppin', you girls wanna relax in the room?"

"...No, I wanna come with," Aru mumbled as everyone else voiced their assent, actively avoiding Kayoko's look as she fell in line with the rest of Problem Solvers.

Unfortunately, it seemed that her dreams of flying solo with her crew once again would remain short-lived...not that they had much of a standing to begin with.

"I mean, put it under a certain light and the thing's cute," Duke muttered, tilting his head to get another angle at the merchandise.

"I-I like it...!"

"Eh, really?" Mutsuki held up a Peroro doll with a raised brow. It was wearing a small tie adorned with smaller pictures of pineapples, the tag naming this particular iteration 'Festive at a Black Company Peroro'. "Personally, methinks it's two rounds short of a full mag. Whaddya think, Aru?"

"..." Aru shied away from a particularly haggard looking Peroro with glasses, ominously titled 'Nihilistic Professor Peroro'.

"When you said you needed to go shopping," Kayoko drawled, "I was expecting something a bit different than stuffed animals."

Duke grunted, looking at the various dolls, hats, and other Momo Friends-themed merch with at least some degree of interest. Initially, he had no damn clue where you would buy such things other than a mall or a toy store, but it wasn't like any of those were worth traveling out to at night, and Arona was exhausted from shielding Seia and promptly knocked out as soon as he was back in the realm of the living. Thus, he settled for the surprisingly lavish Trinity gift shop, thankfully empty given the time and which just so happened to have a Momo Friends section.

Though primarily stocked with Peroro and variants, rest assured in that it was complete with the whole cast, including Trinity-exclusive versions of all your favorite(?) characters...for some reason. Now if only he understood said characters' appeal.

Let it be known that Duke Nukem wasn't really 'into' what the kids jived with these days. Now, don't get him wrong, he knew what was hot these days: there was that 'Pub Gee' thing where you were put in this circle thing and fought it out with like a hundred people to the last man, but back in his day that'd just be King of the Hill with extra steps! There was that 'Fred Five Nights' guy too, he was a real bastard who liked eating kids or something, but everyone loved him!

(That these trendy titles didn't exist in Kivotos didn't occur to him.)

The point was that if kids these days were weird, he'd have to be weird too. If Azusa liked this chicken thing with its floppy tongue and cast of animal buddies (seriously, why was the tiny one bundled with a philosophy book?), power to her. The Skullman plushie he was holding was pretty badass, maybe he liked lifting weights and volunteering at the local soup kitchens like Duke did.

"Sorry, a student 'a mine said she liked this kinda stuff," Duke dropped the Skullman plushie into his handcart, "so I'm givin' it a fair shake. She's had it tough, y'know?"

Kayoko hummed, looked back at the shelves, and picked up a Wavecat neck pillow to weigh in her hands. "...I guess this one isn't too bad, at least."

"Yeah, the more I stare at these things the more I see the weird niche appeal," Mutsuki stuck her tongue out as she appraised a Momo Friends-themed spork. "...I think this place is probably dangerous for our health, Duke-sensei."

"I mean..." Haruka squeezed a fat Peroro plush to her body as the group moved to the register. "P-People find him weird and a little gross, but he's happy with life regardless. That, um, t-that resonates with me..."

"First, if someone calls you weird or gross, let us know so we can shoot them. Second, if that's the case...I guess I can tolerate them..." Aru cast a suspicious look over to a plushie pile in the corner of the store. They were dusty and old-looking, as if nobody had given them the time of day in a while. It kind of looked like they were following her with their eyes, but perhaps that was just her paranoia. Turning away, Aru noticed the group moving to checkout and hurried over to them, taking one last look over her shoulder-

(-holy crap their eyes were on her-)

-and striding over to Duke, who let out a questioning noise as Aru gripped his sleeve like a vice.

"You good back there?"

"I-I don't know!" the boss of Problem Solvers 68 mewled, pointing to the plushies as if they had burned her. "I think those little devils are tracking me with their soulless, beady little plastic eyes...!"

"Eh? Is that so, Lady Aru...?" Haruka deftly pulled her shotgun from her back and pumped it with a malicious smile. "I'll go eliminate them on the double!"

Duke cleared his throat, causing her to jolt and shy away. He decided to ignore how Mutsuki snorted with puffed cheeks, Kayoko sending a look of disbelief at the offending plush toys to find that their eyes were just staring at nothing in particular.

"No need, Haruka. I'll just pay for the stuff and we can leave, go grab dinner."

He didn't really like disregarding Aru's concerns, but it did sound kind of crazy. They were weird-looking, but not that weird; maybe they were like those weird baby dolls that pissed and cried...and instead had some tracking feature in their eyes.

That kind of achieved the opposite of making him feel better, now that he thought about it. Still, he rested a hand on Aru's shoulder, pulled her closer, and kept his guard up. Kivotos was weird, and it wouldn't hurt to exercise a little vigilance: he did have some experiences with ghostbusting while blasting his way through the Gates Motel way back then.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Aru," Mutsuki cooed comfortingly. "Since we're all sleeping in the same room, we can protect you from any pernicious plush toys~!"

Aru blushed as she cleared her throat, at least making some attempt to regain her dignity.

"Look, I really wouldn't worry about it since you're not taking any of them home," the student cashier tiredly sighed and handed Duke his change, her own soulless eyes reflecting the deep mourning of a veteran wage slave. It seemed as though the sheer mundanity of her job overrode any feelings towards meeting the Tank Shredder-sensei, the Gehenna students before her, and even the potential paranormal aspects of their merchandise.

"They like it here, so as long as you don't take any of the things they whisper into your ear seriously, you'll be good."

...

"Funny. Reaaal funny," Kayoko mumbled, glancing at the pile uneasily now.

"The offer is still on the table," Haruka helpfully reminded the group, shotgun still pointed in the plush toys' direction. "Ready and willing, Lady Aru!"

"Freaky," Mutsuki blinked, before a wide grin settled on her face. "You think they got any good prank ideas...?"

Aru blubbered incoherently and frantically pointed at the double doors.

"Well, you have a good evening folks," the cashier grunted, fidgeting and grimacing like she ate an entire lemon. Before Duke could ask if she needed an ambulance, the girl stood back and bowed quickly.

"Tell your friends about the experience; we've got deals here at Trinity that'll make you go...'holy cow'," she grit out, rising up and holding out her fingers to form a very unenthusiastic triangle. The group looked amongst themselves, silently looked back the cashier, and nodded as Duke slipped an extra bill on the table.

"Oh thank the Council, this month's budget needed a little wiggle room," the cashier muttered, grabbing the bill and cramming it into her pocket out of the watchful gaze of the overhead camera. "Seriously, you folks take care, and don't worry about them: they don't bite. I won't let them."

"Um, thank you...?"

"We'll keep that in mind~!"

"Hm."

"Ahahaha, well, w-we should leave before they change their mind...!"

Even Duke cast an uneasy glance at the toys this time. "...Right then. Let's just go get dinner we get our asses haunted."

And so the group eagerly left, leaving the cashier alone. It was quiet for a few minutes before she leaned on the counter and looked towards the Momo Friends aisle.

"I told you that it was stupid, why did I even let you talk me into that? They looked at me as if I was an idiot."

...

"Okay, fine, so they probably didn't think I was an idiot. I still feel like one. Wha- Yes, I'm aware I got something out of it," she squinted at the pile of toys, "but I still wouldn't do it again even if I knew ahead of the fact."

Some things giggled.

"Oh I'm so glad you're tickled pink over there...just you lot wait 'till I leave you to rot in a dump like Slumpia," the girl grumbled as she pulled a broom and dustpan out from under the counter. It was close to closing time, her favorite time, and she was just going to do a quick sweep and be done with it for the day.

"I'm sure you'd be hooting and hollering with those broken attractions and garbage."

One poor waitress of Chateau Beau cleared her throat and adjusted her tie as she approached a certain table, nerves causing her legs to quake.

She was not the only one; patrons in fine evening wear stole glances at and muttered worriedly towards the collection of Gehenna students sitting around the new Sensei as they essentially lounged around in the upper-class restaurant's booth. As the largest member of the group by far, Duke took the seat right by the window as Haruka sat next to him, needing his help to decipher some of the more exotically-named dishes, and Kayoko held the out-seat with perfect posture. Across from them was Aru and Mutsuki, the boss of Problem Solvers mentally pronouncing each dish with quiet desperation and her best friend simply humming a tune as she stared out the window, kicking her feet.

"U-Um, Duke-sensei...?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I-I'm so sorry for my lack of culture, but can you please explain what this is...?"

"Hey," Duke raised an eyebrow at her. "There's no shame in not knowing fancy foreign dishes. You think Sensei rolled outta his momma with this crap in his head? You're good the way you are, Haruka."

As the skittish girl shyly lowered her head, he sighed and leaned over to get a closer look at what Haruka was pointing at. "Pomme dauphine, mmm? Those're, uh, deep-fried potato puffs. The skin is a pastry, I think."

"Oh, that sounds good...and, um, thank you Duke-sensei. For...for everything."

Duke pat her on the head and sat back. In all honesty, he was worried about fine dining himself - he hadn't been to an uptown restaurant like this since his wife had passed. However, Duke Nukem was a man who kept his promises, and being a direct agent of the GSC had its perks: despite needing a reservation to dine under normal circumstances, all Duke had to do was flash his ID and write the meal off as a business expense. It wasn't as if he and his party were that slovenly either: Duke was still in his dress shirt and pants while the Problem Solvers' uniforms were dusted off after the earlier gunfight with Reisa, having not sustained any notable damage.

And, disregarding everything else, the group was tired, hungry, and could give less of a shit about the snooty rich twits treating them as a dinner show.

Finally, the waitress gathered her nerves and cleared her throat, pen and pad in hand. "S-So, um, would you like any drinks...o-or appetizers?"

"Hmm...I do believe some wine would be a great way to end our day, would it not?" Aru smirked, gently tracing the edge of the menu with her pointer finger.

"Underage," Duke casually pointed out, surveying the entire menu with brief interest as Aru sat back with a subdued pout. "We'll just have four glasses 'a water, if you'd please. As for dinner...I'm feeling like some 'a the Country Road pheasant tonight with...ah, the red wine salad."

He ignored Aru's scandalized look. "How about you girls?"

"Y'know, I haven't the foggiest idea," Mutsuki sighed and cupped her chin with a hand, fluttering her eyelashes at the waitress. "What do you recommend, cute stuff?"

"Uh, I-I..." the waitress looked back and forth between the gremlin and her notepad, sweat pouring down her face.

"Mutsuki, we are in a restaurant," Aru hissed under her breath, sending her staff chief a chastising look. To her credit, Mutsuki did raise her hands in surrender as an implicit promise that this was a singular incident, but it didn't stop Kayoko from flatly staring at the girl nor Haruka from looking between her and Duke with a nervous, uncomprehending expression.

"The Saint Polaire beef striploin, please," Kayoko looked at the waitress, an apology in her eyes. "I'll leave the doneness to the chef's discretion. May I have the shallot marmalade spread across the meat in...ah, what was it again...Scorpio formation?"

The waitress' mouth hung open.

"A-Ah, that...um...my apologies ma'am, but I'd have never taken you as..."

"It's alright," Kayoko shot the young girl a mysterious smile. "I'm aware I don't quite look it anymore. Please," she nodded to the rest of Problem Solvers and Duke, who were giving her looks of their own before they quickly recovered and listed off their orders.

"The lobster velouté sounds lovely."

"Ooh, the Highlander venison rack sounds really good...!"

"M-May I also have the Country Road pheasant with the...p-pomme dauphine? Th-Thank you very much!"

"Okay, alright..." the waitress jotted down the last order and clicked her pen shut. "Thank you very much, dear guests. We will deliver your food as soon as it is done."

A chorus of thanks rose from the table as the waitress hurried off, and soon it was just Duke and the girls sitting back as normal conversation slowly flowed back around them.

"So," Duke began as he looked at Mutsuki, letting the minute of comfortable silence gently end. "Noticed that you've been flirtin' around with a whole bunch of girls here. Not like I'm judging," he put up his hands, "but I'm an old fella and the game's changed. You takin' the piss or...?"

"Uh..." Mutsuki blinked. "Huh. Honestly didn't think you noticed in the first place, Duke-sensei."

"Hey, I know how it feels to have eyes on ya, and they weren't on me. Looked back earlier and saw you doin' some weird tongue thing-"

Mutsuki coughed, cheeks a bit pink. "Okay, okay! W-When you put it like that, even I can get embarrassed! Look, it's not like they're not cute, yeah? But I just think it's kinda funny how they hate me for being a Gehenna student, right, and then turn around and act all flustered when I turn on the charm, y'know? I don't think I could really settle down with one of those girls."

"Still, maybe you should turn it down a notch if you're not serious." Aru rubbed her eyes and bit back a yawn. "It won't do you or us any good if rumors start floating around that you're some womanizer. We all know you're better than that, but..."

"A-And you don't want any weird attention, right?" Haruka shyly interjected. "If there's someone out there that wants to u-use you or something, I'd eliminate them in a heartbeat..."

Mutsuki cooed and leaned forward. "Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head, Haruka~! I know you all have my back, and Duke-sensei probably wouldn't even let me have a date without vetting them first, right? Looming over them ominously, delivering the shovel talk, the whole shebang?"

Duke rolled his eyes as she fluttered her lashes at him. "If you were serious about someone, 'a course I would; what kinda man would I be if I didn't? They're treating you like a goddamn treasure or they're getting a ride home."

Mutsuki stared at him with wide eyes before clearing her throat, covering her smile with a closed fist. The imp quickly turned away to look out the window. "...Kfufu. Thanks, Sensei."

"Your ears are turning red," Kayoko helpfully pointed out, a sly smirk on her face.

"It seems like Mutsuki is a pure maiden after all..." Aru shook her head, mouth curved into a smile that betrayed her mischievous glee.

"Y-You really can't win recently, huh...?"

"Soooooo I hate to talk business at the big ol' fancy dinner table," Mutsuki interjected, very eager to change the subject, "but when do we start work? Where should we start investigating where this 'Atsuko' and her buddies exactly are, Duke-sensei?"

"Ah, yeah, thanks for reminding me," Duke nodded. "I actually had an...anonymous source ring me up with some info on the whole thing. The rabbit hole's one big pain in the ass."

"Really. How so?" Kayoko asked, questioning eyes sharp and focused.

"Try an ancient religious war, a secret society, and a whole heapin' load of child abuse on the side. We're not just here for Atsuko, kids," Duke leaned forward for emphasis, "we're lookin' at a whole goddamn team. Hell, maybe even a whole school."

The table's reactions were amusingly varied: Aru's mouth open and closed as she fought to find a retort, Mutsuki blinked before letting out a small 'wow', Kayoko's brows furrowed as she silently digested the information, and Haruka let out a few noises before staring at Duke like an adorably confused puppy. In other words, it was exactly the kind of responses Duke expected.

"...I'm sure you're telling the truth, Sensei, but it really does sound like the plot of a game or something," Aru groaned, massaging the bridge of her nose.

Mutsuki sat back in her seat and whistled. "Had a feeling this wouldn't be an easy job. Trinity, am I right?"

"I hate to be a wet blanket," Kayoko drawled, "but there's no way we can take on an entire school, Sensei. Is the Tea Party even aware that this is...?"

"It sounds d-dangerous. Well...i-if you or Lady Aru gives the order, I'll go in and sort it myself...!"

"No need," Aru and Duke shut her down quickly and simultaneously. "I'll get into the gritty details later, if you girls are up to it," Duke sighed, reasonably certain that Haruka wouldn't go wandering into the night with her shotgun loaded with good-intentioned malice. "For now..."

The table perked up as their waitress came into view, having wheeled an elegant delivery cart towards them. With practiced grace, the girl opened the doors and revealed their covered dishes.

"Let's enjoy ourselves a nice dinner, eh?" Duke smirked and eyed his students as their food was doled out.

SIDE STORY 02: Let's Connect

"Eimi."

"Yes, President?"

"Was I perhaps a sinner in my past life?"

"There's a non-zero chance, President."

"My, that's very rude. Are you getting some sort of amusement from this, dear Eimi?"

"No, of course not," Eimi deadpanned as she shot the super genius hacker a flat look. "But it's not every day that you get a text from an unknown number telling you that your boss has left a jilted lover behind in Hyakkiyako and she would like to meet at so-and-so coordinates."

Still, while Eimi could think of a handful of things that she'd rather be doing instead, it wasn't like this was a terrible idea - Himari's unknown admirer had chosen a quaint café on a quiet street, and though it was pretty much empty it did have an array of coffee blends and pastries that smelled heavenly.

Then again, any hint of caffeine or sugar would've been a godsend - the two had been tearing their hair out over that report on anomalous energy signatures for a few days now due in no small part to Himari's distrust of Big Sister, their obligation to Schale and Sensei, and how both entities would respond to the information they gathered.

"She is not my lover," Himari huffed, turning her head back to shoot Eimi an unamused pout, "In fact, I have no idea who she could be...nevertheless, I suppose this sort of thing was inevitable. After all, if anyone were to be ensorcelled by a magnetic personality and unmatched purity, it would be mine. Why, compared to that friendless garbage-personality  monstrous-chested Rio, aren't I just-"

As she puffed and preened, Eimi having preemptively whipped out her phone and tapping away, a deep sigh drew both of them out of their own worlds.

"Obnoxious," the young woman dryly remarked as she adjusted the parasol on her shoulder. "I believe the word you are looking for is obnoxious."

Letting out an intrigued hum, Himari turned her chair around and-

Oh.

Clad in a traditional pink kimono adorned with elegant floral patterning, the fox girl's piercing yellow eyes bored into hers with an unreadable expression. Her two-toned hair, primarily brown with her inner hair dyed red, was marked by floral pins and crowned by two vulpine ears. A tail poked out from below her kimono, red tip swaying near hypnotically. Himari may have been the epitome of fragile beauty, but she would say that the girl before her poses very stiff competition.

(That her throat was dry and her face was warm just looking at the girl were details that she dutifully shelved. Details that her beloved assistant Eimi picked up almost immediately.)

"Oh my, don't tell me that you don't recognize me?" the girl tilted her head and sent Himari a sickeningly sweet grin. "Wounding a girl's heart like that is no good, miss 'genius'."

Had they met before? Surely, Himari would remember a face like hers. She would need to put together the pieces: her face and garb were unfamiliar, so those were ruled out of her analysis. The parasol? No, too conspicuous. What else was she missing...? Her hair, her voice, and her halo.

Her hair...that voice, silk-smooth with a hint of danger, and...

...

"...Oh."

"'Oh' indeed," Wakamo purred, stepping up to Himari and leaning forward to loom over the wheelchair-bound genius. Again, Himari's rather impressive yet traitorous brain noted the subtlety of the other girl's makeup, how it highlighted her eyes and natural blush. "Hello again, Akeboshi Himari~"

"Hm. So she is a jilted lover of yours. For shame, President."

Both of them whipped around to shoot Eimi an annoyed look.

"She's not!"
"I'm not!"

...

It took one cup of tea and three chocolate chip muffins to calm Wakamo's flustered rage, and that was honestly one cup of tea and three chocolate chip muffins more than Himari expected. It wasn't like purchasing any of it was the problem; there was no shortage of rich twits who forgot a years-old password to their favorite site or wanted in to a locked zip file, and her name carried weight beyond Millennium. No, if Himari had to diagnose the problem it was that she really didn't have any idea why the fox had decided to drop in, seeing as how she made it brutally honest that she loathed her and there was a fair chance that Wakamo would start a rampage if this little meeting wasn't up to her standards.

That, and Eimi wouldn't stop tensely glaring at Wakamo. As it turned out, the idea that an infamous criminal was sitting across from you having tea was a tough pill to swallow, doubly so if said criminal had previously taken your boss captive and left her in a building rigged to explode. Her loyalty was genuinely heartwarming, but now really was not the time.

"So, while I am charmed that a girl of your...position would take time out of her day to visit," Himari sipped her tea with casual grace, "I must ask exactly why you've sought me out today. Are there paranormal happenings you need investigated?"

"...Paranormal happenings? Is that what your little club is based on?" Wakamo scoffed. "Fine. I wish to know what curse you've placed upon me."

Himari tilted her head. "...Curse? Despite my many, many, many, many talents, I do believe cursing people is not one of them. Only for a lack of trying, mind you."

Wakamo snarled suddenly, an accusatory finger pointing at Himari like a dagger. "Yes, just like that! If we were to speak objectively, your personality is abhorrent and insufferable!"

"My, if I didn't know any better, I'd imagine you've come all this way just to insult me," Himari remarked flatly.

"And yet...what you said back then...!" Wakamo growled, looking as if she had split a lemon in half and suckled it raw as she ignored the sickly super genius' remark. "I have never forgotten it. 'Fraught with loneliness', you said! How dare you...!"

Eimi blinked, looking incredulously between Wakamo and Himari, who continued to pick at her slice of apple pie as if she weren't sitting across from an active landmine on legs.

"I did not say that with the intent to make you suffer," Himari replied. "I merely voiced an observation of mine. To me, a pioneer whose discoveries grace the history pages, the cycle of destruction you peddle seems woefully stagnant. Hollow. What do you gain from it?"

Wakamo looked at her as if she was stupid. "Happiness," she answered instantly, only for her brows to twitch as Himari simply hummed and took a dainty sip from her teacup. "There is nothing else I need. What purpose does an elaborate backstory provide? Why intertwine human pain and drama with the glorious simplicity of taking something and crushing it between my fingers? I wish to reduce the things I despise to rubble, so I do! That is what drives my destruction!"

"And then what?"

Wakamo blinked.

"You destroy, you are repelled, they rebuild. That is the cycle you are trapped in. You've traded one set of shackles for another. If it is so satisfying, why do you come back for more? Why must you escalate further and further, as if the last hit wasn't enough?" Himari steepled her fingers. "Is it a cheap, ephemeral thrill after all...or is it really a cover for something more - a bandage for a sinking ship, as the saying goes?"

Eimi stared at her boss in a mix of awe and terror. Who else could say they had a front-row seat to the sight of a girl in a wheelchair deconstructing the motivations of the Fox of Calamity?

The table was still for a moment, silent as the grave. Himari watched as Wakamo stared down at the table.

"I don't...I don't know," she finally whispered, voice hoarse. "It's all I have. It's all I live for. I am Wakamo, the Fox of Calamity and one of the Seven Prisoners, and despair follows me. It's what everyone says, so it must be true...it must be..."

"...Does it have to be?" Eimi piped up, catching the attention of the two. "Sure, you're a criminal and you almost put the president in a lot of danger...but everyone can change, even you. We can learn to be better than the people we were yesterday - we're students in the Academy City, after all."

"Astutely put, Eimi. Wakamo...we are not just what others define us as." Leaning across the table, Himari hesitated for a second before placing a gloved hand over Wakamo's own. "I should know. Before Millennium, I too was aimless. Abandoned. Hurt by people that never took the chance to know me for reasons out of my control."

Himari glanced down at her legs with a rueful grin.

"But perhaps the specifics of those stories are best saved for later, yes? Let's keep talking about you."

Later...

"You...wish to keep speaking with me?" Wakamo asked quietly, staring at the hand gently placed over her own. "Why? No, I- you'll leave. They all do. How can I trust you?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I have memorized every enchanting aspect of myself," Himari proudly huffed, "and I can say with certainty that I don't want to forget you, Kosaka Wakamo. I...I do not wish to hurt you."

"You will," the Fox of Calamity spat, shame immediately pooling in her face as she tried to pull away. Himari merely tightened her grip in response, and even though Wakamo could have surely retreated anyway she seemed rooted in place. "You...you are no outcast. Not anymore. Once you hear of my monstrous deeds...you'll think I'm a freak too, just like they did."

"I think," Himari stroked the back of Wakamo's hand with her thumb, "that is my choice to make. Wakamo...would you please trust me?"

Meekly, Kosaka Wakamo looked up to stare into Akeboshi Himari's eyes, the warmth in her gaze beckoning her home. Slowly, gently, as if she were holding the most precious thing in the world, Wakamo turned her hand up to gently clasp the other girl's.

Quietly, Eimi slipped out her seat and out of the café. After all, the words those two would share were not for her ears.

But really, Wakamo and Himari...she smiled to herself at the thought, odd as it was, before her lips quirked upwards in humor.

Would she fall in love with one of the Seven Prisoners, too?

...

Akira sneezed, tail frizzing up. Looking around to confirm that nobody saw it, she hoisted the duffle bag of repossessed art over her shoulder and continued to slink back to her hideout in the shadows of the alleys.

It was getting colder, wasn't it? Oh, how she would have loved to cuddle up to something warm, but alas. Perhaps a warm drink to celebrate her latest success would do.

Chapter Text

As Arona sifts through the information on one Misono Mika's phone, the startling realization that she doesn't really get how teenage girls operate dawns on her.

Sure, the AI is aware that she is (at least tangentially) part of said group.

Yes, she is aware that they aren't mythical creatures: they have thoughts, desires, opinions, and goals that are all well within human parameters. She would know all about human parameters: these sorts of things are studied and catagorized, and if there is anything Arona can do it is pull up a novel's worth of documents in a few seconds.

And, though it was obvious by now, she is well aware that there is something unusual going on with Mika anyway. But quite frankly, none of that matters in the face of the sheer volume of unimportant bullshit this girl has on her damn phone.

"Ugh...!"

"You alright, partner?" Duke-sensei asked, turning his face from the emails he was attending to. Honestly, that he was doing so unprompted was rather kind of him; her processor was already burdened by the amount of tasks she was running concurrently, so pushing the most mundane of them out of queue was liberating in a literal sense. If the concept wasn't theoretically terrifying she might have tried to partition herself ages ago, try to push that menial stuff to another part of her.

"I'm just trying to go over what I've pulled from Mika's phone, but...well...what do I even do with four whole pages of food pictures?!"

"Uh..."

"And- and!" Arona whined, "what are these searches?! 'can you i eat water', 'what if cryptids were real (real)', 'do people lay eggs', 'how do talk to my friends if they lay an-' oh you get where I'm going with this! Uuu...it's like a stream of consciousness that never ends!"

Duke raised an amused eyebrow at how the virtual student wilted in her chair, ribbon and halo drooping with her. "You want to swap tasks? I'm used to siftin' through boring useless shit, it was most 'a my job as President."

"No no no, I haven't even gotten to her texts yet, where I'm assuming we'll find the most pertinent evidence. Ahh, I wish Seia was here to help us out some more..."

Arona groaned and sent away the compiled garbage with a lazy sweep of her hand. 

"That would make this real simple, huh?" Duke sighed, rolling his neck to the tune of several satisfying pops. "Well, guess our jobs can't come that easy."

"No, I guess not. Though," Arona glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled, "that hasn't stopped you before, has it Sensei?"

"Heh, no job's too hard for ol' Duke Nukem. Hm...y'know what, let's do it together, the rest 'a these emails are just publicity offers and autogenerated crap."

The super AI blinked in surprise. "Are you sure? I-It's okay to rest, Sensei, you're supposed to be asleep after all-"

"Eh, don't you worry about it," Duke shook his head and stood up, "I've probably got a couple 'a hours left. If we're gonna be partners, we're gonna work together...and I trust you can do your job at least ten times better than my VP."

In one smooth motion, Duke lifted a squealing Arona by the armpits and slid into her seat, plopping her down to sit across his lap.

"H-How bad was your VP?"

"Took about a week in for him to show up at my door at seven in the morning, naked as the day he was born and high off cheap-ass Columbian crack," Duke snorted. "But I kept him around anyway 'cuz damn...did no one else want the job. Alright," the man clapped, "let's get to work. Leave no stone unturned, yeah?"

Looking between him and the terminals, Arona shook her head and huffed, choosing to ignore the concentrated insanity he'd just dumped on her after a final retort.

"Yeah...but really, Sensei, you need to work on your material. You think I'll just believe any old thing you tell me? What do you take me for, a chatbot?"

"A what?"

Arona shook her head sadly and opened up Mika's Momotalk history on a floating display, quickly designing some auxiliary screens to handle filtering after a thought. 

"Whoa."

"My space, my rules," Duke's assistant smugly giggled. "Alright, let's get some stuff straight before we begin, Sensei. What are we exactly looking for in Mika's texts?"

"Well, we know she's definitely related to all this," Duke sighed, thinking back to Seia's plea, "but we need more stuff to work off of before we go in and fuck something up. If it were up to me, though, I'd look for Beatrice again and drive my boot down her throat."

Arona nodded, agreeing with the sentiment with almost disturbing ease. "So we could always get Occam's razor out of the way and see if she had any contact with Arius...but Beatrice seems a bit too high and mighty to be texting a student, don't you think?"

"'Course. You really think she used her own phone for this?"

"Statistically, I'm about 94% sure she did. Any scenario where she didn't is one where she's received outside counsel to do so, which is not impossible but..."

"We might as well try it anyway," Duke shrugged. "I'm thinkin' we pull as many numbers as we can."

"...Ah, burner phones," Arona hummed in realization. "Let's see here..." Contacts flit in and out of view, windows popping up and minimizing in an instant once they'd been deemed unimportant. Finally, a screen popped up and stayed up...along with plenty of others. Duke hummed in thought as he connected the threads between them.

"Coordinates and times. All around Trinity, I'm assuming."

"Correct." Arona's eyes flashed as she silently computed something. "All point to abandoned buildings in the outskirts, and some point to areas with nothing there at all. Naturally, we can come to the conclusion that Mika was meeting with a certain someone-slash-someones in secret..."

"But all of it is circumstantial evidence when it comes to Arius," Duke let out a gusty sigh and scratched the back of his head. "And we can't just bullshit our way in with 'we saw it in a dream'. Damn, we need a real dealbreaker."

"Maybe..." Arona clicked her tongue, closing out the other Momotalk tabs and rapidly cycling through some other programs before letting out a triumphant noise.

"A journal app! Actually used, too."

"Huh, so kinda like her diary. You sure we should...?"

"We don't have all the time in the world and you only have a couple of hours before you wake up anyway," Arona helpfully argued. "I'm sure that the Tea Party won't mind...and even better if they never find out, hehe!"

A devious creature in her natural habitat, Duke thought to himself as he nodded, and they pulled up the first entry. It was nothing more than an introductory page, outlining a whimsical day with such a sugary-sweet tone that the pair nearly developed diabetes just skimming the damn thing. When the second page returned pretty much the same, Duke and Arona gave each other an unamused look and pulled up a filter.

"Match the date of the journal to the texts, and..." Arona muttered as the journal skipped ahead, pages and pages going by in the blink of an eye. "Ah, there we go!"

DEAR DIARY~! ! !

something happened today!

I met an Arius student! I know like where's the fanfare, but

like

whos gonna read this but me lmao anyway

I have a plan! An amazing one!

I'm gonna find out all about them~!

What they eat where they sleep what kinda girls do they think are

y'know just stuff

.

I'll try to learn these things, little by little, until I've learned a lot.

It'll take time, a long time. But I'm sure we can learn about each other and find some common ground.

They can't be much different from us, why shoudl they have to suffer for some ancient grudge?

None of us are beyond salvation and I'll prove it. Nagi, Seia, you'd believe in me too, wouldn't you?

...

EDIT A little heavy maybe edit allat out later? idk whatever

I hope she likes what I have in mind. I'll talk to her about it once we meet up again!

Misono Mika siging out :)!!!!! 

"She was...so hopeful," Arona quietly remarked, almost in awe.

"Yeah. So what happened? What went bad?"

"Let's just keep reading. I'm sure it'll make sense soon enough."

For all their sakes, Duke honestly hoped it did.

Nodding to her usual retinue of guards, Kirifuji Nagisa slid into her chair with practiced ease and folded her hands in her lap. Back straight and head held high, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep, fortifying breath.

Things were not well within Trinity. She couldn't exactly pinpoint why, or how, but she knew deep within her heart that something foul was afoot. Of course, such paranoia could have just been a byproduct of stress: the Eden Treaty was a distant reality that would inevitably creep up on her, Seia's health had taken a turn for the worse as of late, and Mika...

She was...

Nagisa's perfect eyebrows furrowed a bit. The gall of her, to turn her suspicions towards Mika...it left her heart heavy with guilt. But there was no denying that she was acting strangely as of late: her sudden lack of interest in spending time with her friends, the unsettling glint in her eyes, that outburst of hers the other day...

Maybe she was stressed, too. Stressed that her best friends were sidelining her, that she wasn't being taken seriously, that perhaps they found her company annoying...Nagisa sipped her tea and entertained the idea of just sitting her down for a talk. Oh, if only she had the courage to confide her recent woes in someone...

(Briefly, her mind went to a certain average girl who happened to stumble into friendship with someone like Nagisa. Her pure golden eyes shimmering with delight, her sunny laughter, the bounce in her step...no. No, it would never work out. She wouldn't dare sully that girl with the politics of the Tea Party.)

As she quietly thanked a student for pouring her tea, Nagisa's thoughts briefly went to Sensei. Early in the morning, seemingly just as he woke up, the man had sent her a text stating his intent to have a meeting with her. Of course she accepted it; admittedly, she had been a bit of a fool when she gave him and his entourage the grand tour of the campus and then essentially sent them on their way without probing for information as to why they were there, but she did in all honesty want Sensei to like Trinity. Biased as she may be, it was a beautiful campus.

Traitorously, her mind reminded her of the whispers shared between their backs, the grime and filth that lay in the shadows of Trinity's light. Horrid slurs and vile sneers that had no rightful place in their school came to memory, but Nagisa steadied herself with a breath and promised to address it later. One calamity at a time.

Anyways, Sensei - the man who had the audacity to fly here with a group of Gehenna students. Seemingly sculpted from marble and overflowing with kindness towards his flock...surely, it was too good to be true. Adults were, after all, charismatic and devious creatures that used their talents and experience to amass power and riches. They used students like pawns in their games, and it would be so easy for Duke-sensei to wrap ever more students around his finger, wouldn't it?

...

Nagisa allowed a small, rueful smile. She who lived in a glass house should not throw stones: what had to be done for her ascension to the Tea Party was something only she and Seia would know.

"Right over there, Sensei."

"Ah, uh, I see," the man looked over to her, briefly bowing to the girl giving him directions. "Thank ya kindly."

Taking a measured sip of her tea, not too short to imply distaste but not too long to imply gluttony, Nagisa watched with sharp eyes as Duke Nukem nodded to her guard and set his gaze onto her, carefully hidden away by a pair of sunglasses.

"Thanks for meeting with me so early, Nagisa. I'm sure you're real busy."

"I can make time for you, Duke-sensei," she replied courteously as the man carefully slid into the seat across from her, "especially for an important matter. Unless...this is some kind of social call?"

Sensei chuckled, the sound of it so disarmingly amused that Nagisa almost fell for it. "Unfortunately not. I just wanted to catch ya early enough in the day to talk about why we're here."

Ah, now that was a pleasant surprise. If he hadn't brought it up, she doubtlessly would have during the course of their meeting anyway.

"I see, thank you for your consideration. Then, if I may get down to the brass tacks, what brings you and your team to Trinity, Sensei?"

Sensei sighed, and suddenly his face hardened. Good, a man who just got straight to the point. "SCHALE received a disturbing letter a little while ago. Students are trapped somewhere below Trinity and I want to save 'em. Of course, wouldn't be a big thing if it were just that, but let's just say things get...complicated."

Nagisa pursed her lips. There were a couple of things off about the situation. The first and most obvious being the nature of a letter: why bother sending one in the age of emails and Momotalk? Granted, one could not deny the impact of pen and parchment, but it seemed awfully impractical given the apparently dire circumstances.

Secondly, what lay underneath Trinity...well, only the catacombs were below Trinity. She couldn't possibly fathom why anyone would be down there period: to her knowledge, the entrances were sealed ages ago. If prospective treasure hunters did manage to blow a hole open to get underground, it was dubious that there was anything valuable enough to risk Trinity's unfettered wrath down in those dark, musty depths. She was uncertain if a student could even breathe down there. 

The whole thing sounded like a farce, if she had to be brutally honest, a trick on a newcomer to the academy city who wouldn't know any better.

"That's...forgive me, Sensei, but I'm a bit skeptical," Nagisa finally replied, careful with her tone and wording. "You see, I cannot provide a single reason as to how a group of students could survive in the catacombs below Trinity, much less send a letter to SCHALE. Are you certain this is not a prank?" Nagisa raised a brow as she voiced her concerns.

"Positive," Sensei replied. "Look, I get it," he put his hands up, "this doesn't sound good. But I got good intel from a...guess I'd call her a mutual friend of ours now, eh?"

A mutual friend? Nagisa's brows furrowed.

"Blonde hair, big sleeves..." Duke crossed his arms and leaned back, feigning a casual air. "Sees the future..."

Nagisa's eyes were blown open as she quickly made the connection, whispers breaking out amongst her retinue. Quickly, she set her gaze onto them.

"Leave us."

"B-But-"

Nagisa stared at the guard in question, making her audibly gulp. "I will be fine, Sensei means no harm. Go and make sure that no students listens in on our conversation, understood?"

"Yes, Lady Nagisa!"

With quiet affirmations of their own, the rest of the guard dispersed and took up position a bit farther away. Giving them a couple of minutes to settle in, the host of the Tea Party and the most important man in Kivotos stared each other down in tense silence before Nagisa decided to take initiative.

"Seia contacted you, Sensei?"

"Yeah, she did."

Nagisa's eyes narrowed. "How can I trust you?"

"I have proof. Couldn't have gotten it without the lead she got me."

Nagisa scanned the man's face, finding no signs of deceit. If only she could look into his eyes... "Proof...what did she tell you, then?"

"Can't ever be good news?"

"If I wanted good news, Sensei, I'd watch Kronos' morning program. According to them, there is a two-hundred percent increase in cat rescues and free hugs," she snarked, a bit too late to catch herself if Sensei's amused snort was any indication. Thankfully, he let her clear her throat and wave off the bit of heat in her cheeks before continuing.

"...Well, sad to say it is bad news, but it's nothing we can't fix. Seia told me as soon as she could, but...this is somethin' that runs deep."

I was right, the dark part of her crooned.

I was right, the weak side of her lamented.

"I see. Thank you for telling me," Nagisa sighed wearily.

How she would have loved to go back to those days where Seia was in better health. When Mika could tug the two of them along wherever she wished. When all they would use their friend's power for was to peek at what they had to study for tests and show up suspiciously early to pop-up shops around Trinity. "She's warned of us of things to come before, you know. Tragedies to avoid. Things to stamp out, lest they consume us entirely. But I would have never expected her to contact someone outside of the Tea Party..."

"Really? Is this some kinda one-in-a-million thing?"

"Well, it's not because she's unable, she's just unwilling. Past all of that mysterious air that she rather purposefully cultivates, she's actually a bit of a brat," Nagisa chuckled, shaking her head. "But I suppose that my pining for the old days can wait. Seia's message, these students of yours...dear me, would you be so kind as to sit with me for a while yet, Sensei?"

"I'll do ya one better," Duke nodded. "I'll give you the proof, and you do with it what you will."

Nagisa steepled her hands and leaned forward. "Interesting. If you'd please, then."

"Hold on, I didn't finish."

"Eh?" Nagisa blurted out.

"I just have a request," Duke placatingly held his hands up. "Just...think of this like homework, okay? Read through all the things I'm gonna hand you after I'm gone. It'll be a lot to process and I've got a feeling you'll want to be alone. I won't sugarcoat it for ya, hon, it'll be confusing and it might even hurt a little, but..."

Duke steepled his hands. "I need ya to know that there's only one bad guy here, and it ain't the person who wrote these up. Not really."

"...Sensei? What is that supposed to mean-"

"Kirifuji." The host of the Tea Party almost jumped at how steely his tone got. "Promise me something. Forgive her. She was...just a little hasty." His voice grew softer then. "A shitty adult took advantage of her. You'd...forgive a hasty student, wouldn't ya?"

"I...what does any of that even mean?" Nagisa's eyes narrowed, nearly quivering with how tense she was. "What am I going to see? Why do you care so much about this?"

"I..." Duke leaned back and sighed then, and Nagisa blinked at how older the man looked for it. "Your Sensei's made plenty of mistakes, Nagisa, and plenty of people have been...lost for them."

Nagisa's eyes squinted. After a moment, her breath hitched as she made the connection.

Duke Nukem shrugged. "I'm an old guy with a long, bloody story. All y'need to know is that my time in the sun is done and gone," he chuckled ruefully, "so all I can do is make sure you kids don't repeat my mistakes. Know that I'd never wish that on my students, that guilt and those regrets. So I'm just warning you now, as a teacher to his student..."

He pulled out a manilla folder from his pocket, ignoring the double take Nagisa gave him.

"Don't you go and be hasty too."

Sliding it across the table, Duke got up, bowed his head, and walked away. Watching him go, Nagisa got up from her seat, grasped the manilla folder and sat back down.

Taking a deep breath, she reassessed Sensei then. Reckless and blunt, but haunted by the past. A mysterious man, but one who ultimately acted in the interest of his students. Was it an act? Could she trust him?

She cracked open the folder and pored over the first page with steady hands.

Slip, twist, turn. A brief look over the shoulder and the girl let out a quiet breath, pleased that she wasn't followed. One would think that a girl plastered in bright white with a glowing mask would have no ability to be stealthy, but the emptiness of the Trinity outskirts as well as the way she blended into the shadows, embracing her as if they welcomed her home, told a much different story. Gliding up the stairs of a dilapidated building, skipping a few steps and carefully stepping around certain patches, she stopped at a nondescript door and knocked thrice.

"Vanitas vanitatum."

"...et omnia vanitas," the girl murmured. The click of a lock assured her success, and Hakari Atsuko stepped into the room to take stock of its sole inhabitant.

"So it was true, then," Azusa muttered, eyes slightly wider. "Good. I see that my...contingency plans had not slowed you down much, Hime."

[It is a good setup. No one else would have gotten around them as quickly as I did.] Behind her mask, Atsuko smiled. [It is good to see you, Azusa.]

"It is good to see you too," Azusa replied, nodding. "But I am unsure as to why you are here...and why you are here alone."

The princess sighed. [The plan has changed. We marched through the night, made a base.]

And what a march it was, Atsuko grumbled to herself. For some godforsaken reason, everyone was out for a pleasant night in the city, which meant more people to avoid and more alleys to skulk in. Their merriment only served to remind the Squad of what they never had to begin with, and even she would admit to a small prick of envy crawling up her spine at the sight. Regardless, it was all unimportant now. They had set up in an abandoned building a ways away from the campus and any vigilante patrols, and the gang that had been occupying the place was beaten so thoroughly that she was confident they wouldn't return. 

Azusa's eyes widened at the implications of her words. "'We'...the rest of the Squad is here?"

[Her orders.]

Azusa subtly grimaced, and Atsuko quietly approved of the action. It seemed that the light of Trinity did indeed brighten her once-lifeless eyes, at least slightly.

"I see. Where are they?"

[I am in charge of the new operation. Saori and the rest of the Squad are-]

-not here because I lied and I need them to stay put for this stage of the plan-

[-working on other matters. At my discretion.]

The emphasis made Azusa's eyes narrow, but the girl kept whatever thoughts to herself. "Then, what is this new operation?"

[We are to capture SCHALE's Sensei, Duke Nukem, alive and preferably unharmed. Madame has designs for him.]

Azusa raised a brow. She, along with most of the student body, knew that Duke Nukem was a special man. Special enough to be able to take a squad of Gehenna students into the den of their most vicious enemies and emerge unscathed. If Madame wanted him in her grasp he must have been there for an important reason.

"If you would like, Hime, I could subdue him in the dead of night with those students of his none the wiser. I cannot guarantee that he will come unharmed, but he will be alive."

To her surprise, however, Atsuko shook her head. [No. I have a plan. Grow close to Sensei. Enrich him with your presence and learn what you can from him.]

"...Excuse me?"

[Madame wishes to drive him to despair.] Arius' princess signed. [He is strong of body, but soft of heart. If one of his treasured students betrayed him, lured him into a trap that nullifies his physical advantage...]

"He will stand no chance. A sound strategy, but one that requires time. What of our plans with the Tea Party?"

[On hold. Sensei takes priority.]

"Will you require my assistance in designing this trap?"

[Negative. I will oversee that.]

"Very well then. Is that all?"

Atsuko took in a deep breath and exhaled, settling her nerves. There was no time for hesitation, not anymore. Adjusting her mask, she cleared her throat.

"...How is Trinity?"

Azusa startled. Madame had forbidden her from speaking, but... "I am operating with acceptable efficiency."

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

The girl in white eyed her warily. Confused, a bit anxious; Atsuko realized she had to play her cards right here. "Why...are you asking me these things?"

"Because it is important. Not to the plan...neither of them. It is important to me."

"I..." Azusa swallowed, fully out of her element. It wasn't as if she disliked Hime's concern, far from it, but this was far outside her comfort zone...if such a thing even existed. "I do not know. I feel as though I...should not."

"Tell me."

"I..."

"Azusa. Please."

"...I was given a hug by...by a classmate," the girl mumbled, something raw and vulnerable in her tone. "I smothered my urge to break her arms. I felt sick and I do not know why."

...And?" Atsuko prods, watching as Azusa's face twitched.

"And the feeling made me want to cry," the child quietly croaks out. "Hime...why does this world that hates us so much embrace me so readily?"

Azusa was never a good soldier. None of them should have been.

"I do not know," Atsuko whispered, "I cannot. But I think sometimes, of our mission and our fates. And I wonder just who I hate. Do I despise Trinity, fat and lazy in its excess? Do I despise Gehenna, with its indulgence in sin and chaos? Or..."

In and out, just do it already Atsuko-

"Do I despise this hatred that was given to us by...by her?"

Azusa blinked, stunned.

"...?!"

"This must be confusing. It will make sense in time, just follow my orders and perhaps...perhaps we will all get what we desire most."

"...I will try."

"Thank you. Azusa?"

The saboteur vainly stared into the cold, unfeeling metal of her princess' mask. 

"Continue to feel. Continue to think." And with that, Atsuko gently removed her mask, ruby-red eyes glittering with warmth as she beheld her beloved knight. "I'm proud of you. You're playing a very important role, so please try your best. Do what comes natural."

"...! Hime, you- speaking is one thing, b-but surely you've not been allowed to-!"

"I think," Atsuko interjected, quiet yet firm. "I'd like to decide that for myself. Just this once..."

She turned around, walking away from Azusa sliding the door open.

"I would like to be selfish. Wouldn't you?"

With that, Atsuko slipped out of the room and back into her mask, dancing around Azusa's hidden traps as if she free as a bird. As Azusa watched her twirl and spin, she wondered about the futility of the analogy. As a fist unconsciously gripped her skirt, she wondered about many things.

What kind of song would a jailed bird sing, if given the chance to be free?

Kenzaki Tsurugi would easily admit that she wasn't really good at the whole 'motivational speaking' thing.

Or the 'speaking at all' thing, really.

Hasumi was professional and polite, Mashiro was earnest and forthright, Ichika was trendy and extroverted, and Koharu was feisty yet adorable. The rest of the JTF, affectionately nicknamed "Mob-chans" by Ichika, were about as normal as you could get, with normal worries and normal hobbies and normal friends. Compared to them, she was...really good at fighting. Trinity valued her more as an asset than as a student, and a lot of the other students were actually scared of her. It stung quite a bit, but whenever she tried to talk about it to anyone outside the JTF she'd find herself clamming up from anxiety, and they usually ran away screaming soon after.

Hasumi and her juniors offered her tips and tried to help, bless their pure hearts, but there was no denying that there was just something wrong with her and she'd just have to live with it. So when Hasumi dragged a bandage-wrapped, empty-looking and utterly ragged Uzawa Reisa into the JTF clubroom, politely demanded her to rest and then promptly left for a meeting, Tsurugi stared at her retreating form as if she were nuts.

"..."

"..."

What the hell is she doing here?! Tsurugi internally screeched. Isn't she part of the Vigilante Crew? How did Hasumi get her hands on her? Why is she hurt? Do I offer to help?! Would that would be weird, we barely know each other!

As Tsurugi melted down, snarling and frothing at the mouth, Reisa picked at a patch on her knee absentmindedly.

"...Hey, Miss President?"

"G-GUERGHK?!" Tsurugi choked, pulled out of her internal panic and put into an external one. "ki-ki-ki-kiyaaak...?"

"I, um, I was able to clear out four gangs at the outskirts by myself. Just this morning..." Reisa mumbled, staring at the patch. That she was out in the dead hours of the morning hunting down gangs alone went unsaid. "D-Do you think I did good? I did good, right?"

"Ah...oueaaaaagh..." Tsurugi began to sweat a little, 'a little' for her coating her entire face with thick, running droplets. She could usually clear six or seven smaller gangs in an hour at top condition, and Hasumi always told her that she did well, so...it was probably good? Four was probably good for students that weren't her, so Tsurugi furiously nodded and gave the girl her best smile.

Reisa looked to the side, stared at Tsurugi's fanged grimace, and looked back down.

FUUUUUCK! Tsurugi internally roared. This wasn't working and of course it wasn't! She was going to hide Hasumi's already-very-poorly-hidden snacks later and not tell her where they were...until she apologized!

"G-Gyo...akakaka...!" the president of the JTF vocalized, waving her hands in a spirited attempt to comfort her junior. Unfortunately, it didn't work, as Reisa forlornly sighed and dragged her knees up.

"I-It's okay, Miss President. I, aha, I know a lot about pretending, you see...? So please, you don't have to act like this is a big deal..."

Why should she? After all, as Reisa bitterly thought to herself, it was her who messed up and broke things beyond fixing. Tsurugi didn't know that, but she'd probably figure it out. She was smart, and cool, and maybe a little scary, and Reisa was just some idiot who really hurt someone she...

...

But she tried, didn't she? She tried so hard to be a good person, but she failed anyways.

"I'm, um, sorry for imposing on you," the small vigilante finally replied, voice small. "Ah, it- it must be annoying to have to babysit the girl who shouts about hero this and superstar that, right?"

She knew the truth now. She must have been a fake all along. People didn't like her because she was a fraud who was protecting people because she was selfish. But even if it was selfish, even if it was all in vain...

Why? Why did it hurt to want more?

Just as the battle-starved president was about to skitter away from the silence and jump through the window to go on an anxiety-fueled patrol, a sniffle broke her out of her panic. Futilely scrubbing at her eyes, Reisa ashamedly stared down at her shoes as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry..." she hiccupped, angrily wiping at her face again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I'll leave soon, so d-don't hate me, please-"

Reisa squeaked and flinched as Tsurugi suddenly roared, pouncing onto the couch and lunging forward. Contrary to her expectation of getting torn to shreds, the girl instead stared down as blurry hands gently grasped her own.

"...Ssssorry!" Tsurugi babbled, squeezing the smaller girl's hand. "Ghhhrgh...!"

Reisa blinked, staring down to her hands at Tsurugi's. They were calloused, they were gripping her a little too tight, they were warm, they were shaking a little-

Oh.

"...I'm sorry too." Reisa echoed, looking Tsurugi in the eyes. "You really are trying hard to make me feel better, right? Um, thank you." She smiled then, a small and fragile thing that persisted nonetheless as she wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. "Thank you, Miss Tsurugi."

"...Bueheh. Gweheheh..." Tsurugi shyly giggled in response, and Uzawa Reisa felt the burden on her shoulders lighten up a bit. "Ehm, uh...Tsu-tsu-tsu..."

"Y-You just wanna be called Tsurugi?" Reisa guessed, and by Tsurugi's stunned expression followed by a quick nod she figured she was getting better at this. "Sure thing, Tsurugi! Hehe...it's almost like we're friends!"

"GHEK?!"

"Eh? Sorry, that might have been a bit presumptuous...unless, you do want to be friends?"

"..." Tsurugi coughed and shyly looked away. "I-Is that...okay?"

"Of course it is!" The little vigilante shouted a bit too quickly. "I, um, I might be a bit unreliable...b-but I would be honored to be friends with a stalwart protector of Trinity such as you!"

"P-Protec...tor..."

How long had it been since anyone called her that? Then and there, Kenzaki Tsurugi bowed and swore to protect this small child.

"Ah, there we are," the door clicked open once again, "Reisa? Are you- oh."

Morizuki Suzumi, member of the Vigilante Corps and the (reluctantly titled) Running Flash Grenade, tilted her head at the scene of her junior holding hands with the JTF's president. Smothering her initial surprise and taking a guess as to what was going on, she bowed towards Tsurugi.

"Thank you for taking care of my junior. I've come to pick her up."

"Ah...uh..." Tsurugi fretted for a bit before carefully pulling her hands away from Reisa's and bowing to the new arrival in response. "Uhn."

"P-Pick me up?" Reisa stuttered.

"Well, I heard from Hasumi that you weren't...feeling well. I figured I would stop by after my usual route and we could...hang out. And go to...places."

"Um, do you know any...places?" Reisa asked, tilting her head in time with Tsurugi.

Suzumi scratched the back of her head, wing twitching. Being the 'cold and serious vigilante' everyone avoided didn't do wonders for her social life on campus, even if she did have normal interests like everyone else.

"Uh, y'know what, let's do it!" Looking towards a baffled Tsurugi and trying to think of how to 'hang out' herself, Reisa came to the sudden realization that the whole 'social interaction' thing wasn't a strong point of anyone in the room right now. Regardless, she really didn't want to be alone again. "We could, uh, go to my room and...watch a movie. I-If you two want?"

"Ueh?" Tsurugi pointed to herself.

"Yeah, I'd like it if you came."

"...Hah?" Tsurugi looked incredulously at Suzumi. Unsurprisingly, the senior vigilante didn't have an answer either, but nonetheless she nodded.

"I...have not watched a movie with friends before. But I'm sure it'll be fun with you two." Suzumi smiled.

Friends...

Reisa and Suzumi stared near slack-jawed as Tsurugi's face visibly changed, the girl shyly looking down at her feet while pressing her fingers together. Her pupils, no longer dilated, were an adorable ruby-red and surprisingly doll-like, with her wobbly grin accentuating her round cheeks.

"...S-Sure."

Finally, the President of the JTF thought to herself as the girls (her friends. Friends, they were friends with her!) talked about movies. Finally things were starting to look up for ol' Tsurugi.