Chapter Text
A man woke to an unfamiliar ceiling. Tiny lights dotted the gray ceiling’s circular perimeter. Windows lined most of the room, which overlooked a massive city. The man glanced through the window. The reflections of the window were not of the Pale Heart. The memories of the old tower and the ever-changing landscape were replaced by skyscrapers and a city that stretched beyond his eyes' reach.
Miniature paintings hung from the wall while sculptures made from different materials stood below them. The man pushed himself off the floor. He saw a lady sitting behind a long wooden desk. She was engrossed in her work, typing away and scrolling through different documents, only stopping to take a sip from her coffee mug. She didn’t even bother to look up. He grimaced as he stared at the woman mulling through paperwork.
However, her attire was utterly unfamiliar. She was wearing a white coat with an armband over her left sleeve. She wore white gloves and a blue tie with gold accents. Bronze buttons lined her coat, sleeves, and white dress shirt. Blue eyes lay beneath her glasses. Her ears were long and pointed. Her hair had highlights, an inner layer of blue, and an outer layer of black.
A perplexing device caught the man’s attention. A thin blue ring with three stars floated just above her head. What is that floating above her head? It could be Braytech or Vex in origin, but that doesn’t quite add up even when trying to make sense of it. I am at a loss for words.
He took a moment to examine her appearance for a few seconds. Satisfied, the young man looked around the room, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He looked around multiple times. Where the hell am I? The tower? This makes no sense. The last thing I remember was fighting the Witness inside the traveler.
“Where- Where am I?”
“Hm?” The lady's eyes glanced up from her laptop.
The young man locked eyes with the woman, who didn’t look nearly as confused as he was. “Listen, I didn’t mean to barge in. I just woke up here. Where am I?”
“It is alright, Sensei. It seems you have arrived. Thank you.” The lady left her desk and walked towards Sensei. She had a sidearm holstered on the right side of her waist, secured by a white belt with gold accents. She wore what seemed to be a dress shirt with black tights and white heels.
“Wait, wait, wait. What did you just call me? What happened before I passed out?” The armored man's current predicament only made him more confused.
“You are Sensei. I don’t know exactly how you got here. This is my first time seeing you in person, after all.” The young lady walked closer to him to greet him. Her demeanor wasn’t hostile or warranted any defensive action, but he couldn’t trust her.
“Timeout, okay? Hold on. Who are you exactly?” The armored figure raised and waved his hands, taking a few steps back.
Rin adjusted her glass and took a step back. “My apologies, Sensei. My name is Nanagami Rin. I’m the Chief Administrative Officer of the General Student Council of Kivotos Academic City. I can assure you that we are not here to harm you. However, we need your help to fix the situation we are in.”
Sensei sighed and lowered his hands, trying to relax his shoulders. “Why should I trust you? I mean, I just woke up here with no rhyme or reason. Sounds like kidnapping to me.” Sensei began but paused momentarily, realizing Rin had spoken of other unfamiliar words.
Academy City? Kivotos? General Student Council? What do those mean?
There was a moment of silence between them before Rin inched toward Sensei again but with a more serious demeanor. “I understand your distrust, Sensei, but the city needs your help. We are short of time right now. I can explain everything to you after it has calmed down.” Rin stopped before him, her head just reaching above his chest.
She's really short, he thought to himself. “Ok, hold on, before that, how did I get here? The last thing I remember was inside the traveler….”
Wait a second, wasn’t I just fighting the Witness? They could've sent me into another reality, timeline, or whatever freak show idea they came up with in their demented head. Is this an illusion to trick me?!
Within the span of a second, He drew out his gun, a large, rifle-like weapon with bronze plating. It had an enormous scope that resembled an eye from a machine. The gun he carried was strange, to say the least. It had a peculiar design, with the weapon barrel's rail extending underneath the trigger as he held it. The rest of the gun was black under the bronze plating on top, which startled her, causing her to stumble away from him.
“Who are you, and what in the hell is going on here!?” Sensei shouted at Rin in confusion and frustration, causing his face to scrunch up underneath his helmet.
Rin's eyes widened, and she reached for her firearm. The man could tell how emotional Rin was getting as she had a worried and a tad frustrated look on her face. “I- I don’t know how you got here. And I have no idea what a traveler is. How am I supposed to know the President didn’t tell me what you were dealing with before you got here?”
Sensei lowered the weapon and became even more confused. “President...? Wait, what?”
“Yes, the President is the one who knows who you are. But she disappeared; I have no idea where she is, and I have no idea how you got here; she didn’t tell me.” Rin pleaded as Sensei's face relaxed, realizing he was just bullying a random lady he had just met.
Sensei let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry. I got carried away; there are a few gaps in my memory on how I got here and even before that. It's like someone cut open my noggin and threw everything out.” Sensei slung his gun over his shoulder and onto his back.
“Listen, I uh… I'm sorry, I thought you were with them, or this might’ve been some sort of trick. This is all really real, right?”
Rin nodded her head silently as her frustration and fear washed off her face. “I see… Well, let’s start over. I don’t have a name; people just call me Guardian… But you called me 'Sensei,' what's that about? Never been called that before.”
“The President didn’t tell me how you got here, but she told me what you looked like and that you were Sensei. She said you weren’t from Kivotos. That is all.”
“Well, I must be the person you are looking for, but still, ow… It hurts.” Sensei put his hand to his forehead as a dull pain rushed through his head, sweating a little bit under his armor.
“Sensei? Sensei? Are you alright?” Rin walked over again with a worried expression creeping onto her face.
“Yeah. Just give me a moment.” After a few moments, the pain subsided. “Whoever sent me it must have been one hell of a ride. Dontcha think?” Sensei chuckled.
“Uh- Yeah, if you say so. By the way, Sensei, who are ‘they’? And Why did you just try to shoot me? ” Rin pouted.
“You have no idea, do you? Do any of these names ring a bell? Witness, Traveler, Pale Heart, and the Darkness anything at all?”
Rin simply shook her head to Sensei’s question. “No, like I said, I have no idea what any of those mean. The President didn’t tell me anything about what you were going through. I already said that. But I could guess what, is it some battle or something? Also, you didn’t answer. Why did you try to shoot me?”
“Ah. Sorry, I thought you might’ve been an enemy or a threat. Sorry for rushing to conclusions, but yes, I was in a battle, let’s call it that.” Sensei thought, If it is true that she has no idea, then I shouldn’t reveal too much about who I am. This could be an alien world far from Sol, for all I know. How would she react, knowing who I was? What would her response be? Currently, there are just too many unknowns, and I cannot disclose too many details.
“Ah, I see… Well, Sensei, can we focus on what I was talking about earlier? Kivotos is in trouble right now for all of us.”
“Uh- What is Kivotos?” Sensei stared down at Rin.
“ It would be easier to explain if I showed you what it looked like up closer,” Rin explained.
“Well, lead the way, Rinny! Let’s get on our way!” Sensei ran towards the door exiting Rin’s office.
“Wait! Sensei! You don’t know where you are going!” Rin shouted at the man, causing him to stop in his tracks.
“Oh, whoops, I got ahead of myself again; sorry, I will follow you.” Sensei stopped at the door as Rin walked to Sensei's side.
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Rin walked down a well-lit, white-marbled hallway with Sensei at her side. He's a bit odd, to say the least. He doesn’t seem like a bad person, but one moment he's trying to shoot me, then the next he's apologizing. Whatever the President did to get him here must have been quite severe, but the President trusts him.
Rin glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Sensei dutifully following behind her. Unfortunately, following her was the last thing that seemed to be on his mind.
Sensei was frantically searching for himself, looking up and down his armor. Even if she couldn't see his face, she could tell something was wrong. What ’ s going on here?
“Sensei? What are you doing?”
He ignored her and continued to search his pouches and tool belt. Eventually, he stopped and stared for a few moments, looking down into one of his pouches.
“Damn it!!” Sensei cursed as Rin’s face instantly fell.
She walked towards him but stopped when he spoke again. “How could I? How could I forget something so important? What the hell happened back there?” He asked in defeat as he glared holes into the floor with clenched fists bolted to his sides.
“Is something wrong, Sensei?” Rin asked, leaning over worriedly. “Is it… something related to your past?”
“I- Yeah, something like that…” He let out a heavy sigh and slowly closed the pouch, his gaze transfixed to the floor.
Rin was rooted in place. She didn't know what to say or what to feel. What did he remember? Whatever it was, it disturbed him. Is it related to the President?
“Would you like to talk about it?” Rin asked cautiously.
Sensei looked up at Rin and spoke in a softer tone.“Hmm… No, it's nothing to worry about. Nevermind.”
Sensei forced a smile.“It's fine. I mean, you said your city needs my help, right? I am afraid this will only get in the way.”
Rin continued to worry silently. What could have possibly happened to him? He says he will be fine but is that really true?
Rin had to throw those thoughts away for now though and simply nodded, “Understood. Let’s go.” She led Sensei to an elevator. Rin had always enjoyed the fantastic view from the glass elevator.
She gestured to the city below. “Welcome to Kivotos Sensei. You will see many unfamiliar sights and events in Kivotos that are likely quite different from those in your home. We have thousands of academies, each of which is unique in both culture and structure.”
Sensei pressed his helmet up against the window, looking down in awe, “Woah… What am I looking at right now, Rin?”
She smirked slightly at Sensei's reaction. “This is DU Shiratori, Sensei, the heart of Kivotos, where the General Student Council directly governs; it will also be your new home.”
”Shiratori, huh? Really reminds me of home.” He said, rubbing his chin at the cityscape.
Home? Rin thought to herself. “ Somewhat similar, what makes them different from each other?”
Sensei stopped pressing his face against the glass and stared at Rin. “Well, Shiratori is ancient in terms of architecture. Things are way different from where I am from.”
Rin raised an eyebrow. Just how different could it be?
“It’s the only place I could call home without the threat of constant attacks… But Shiratori is much, much bigger than where I lived, and from what I can see, much more peaceful, too. People back home would’ve killed for something like this, y’know.”
Rin’s curiosity turned to a slight frown. She turned away from Sensei. Looking down, she placed her hands on the railing. “I see… your home is very different. I am almost afraid to ask what lies beyond your home, Sensei.”
“Ruins, forests, and the unknown. There's not much, really, but it’s dangerous to venture alone. Anyway, I didn’t mean to be a negative nelly. Your city is very beautiful, Rin. It's worth protecting.”
Rin turned to Sensei with a smile, “Thank you.” Maybe the President chose the right man for the job. She thought of easing her concerns.
Sensei pointed down to the streets of Shiratori.“Wait… WAIT! What are those?! Are those walking cats and dogs?! What is going on here?”
Rin was shaken out of her thoughts and looked at what Sensei was pointing to., “Those are everyday adults and citizens of Kivotos.” She turned to him confusedly. “Do you not have them from where you’re from, Sensei?”
“Adults? Wait, if that's what adults look like, then what are you?”
Rin looked at him with the most neutral expression she could muster, “I am a student, Sensei.”
Sensei pointed to himself, “A student? Wait, does that make me a student, too, then?”
“Uh, no? You are an adult, Sensei.”
“Then what's the difference?!”
“Hah? Generally, students are younger than adults.”
“Wait, Rin… How old are you?”
“I am seventeen. Why do you ask?
Sensei stood still completely for a few moments, confusing Rin. “Sensei?”
No response.
Rin stepped closer to Sensei and knocked on his helmet a few times. “Hello? Sensei?”
“I- Yeah, I’m here, Rin. It's just, well, that might be the craziest thing I've heard yet.”
Rin only became more confused. “What do you mean? How is that crazy at all?”
Sensei then took a step back away from Rin and pointed a finger at her chest. “Well. You see, I thought you were quite a bit older, judging by your appearance.”
Rin stared at Sensei's finger and followed where he was pointing, looking at her breasts. In the next few seconds, her expression changed from confused to mortified. “What are you talking about, Sensei?! How rude!”
Instinctively, she turned away from the pervert and covered her chest.
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Sensei and Rin exited the elevator, the metal doors closing behind them. They entered another, shorter hallway that led to an open lobby. He glanced over at the absurdly young administrator. Rin was still pointedly refusing to look in his general direction. Well done, Guardian. I really gotta apologize to Rin. She’s more upset than when I pointed my gun at her. Talk about priorities.
Sensei stopped and turned towards Rin with a bow. “Rin, I apologize for my earlier actions.”
Rin, who had been striding down the hallway, completely disregarding the larger man, stopped in her tracks. She sighed, “I will accept your apology.”
“Great! Okay, where are we going, and what does it mean to be a Sensei? I know Sensei means teacher and all, but am I only going to be teaching, or will I do more?”
“There are a few problems that require our attention.”
Sensei just nodded. “Understood.”
They continued walking until they reached a reception room. It was different from Rin’s Office. The roof was completely rectangular, unlike the office, although it was decorated in a similar fashion. Behind the reception desk stood a blue wall with a strange symbol. The emblem had a giant tower with the words “General Student Council” beneath it.
Everything feels so similar to pictures of the golden age, yet it feels different at the same time. So neatly clean and well-kept, like I’m looking back in time, looking back in time. It’s almost too good to be true, almost like an illusion.
Rin and Sensei weren’t alone. Others were waiting in the reception room as well. One of them ran up to them immediately. She had long purple hair extending down to her shoulders and twintails tied by two metallic triangles. Floating over her head, like Rin, was a thin black metal ring with blue accents. She wore a pure white jacket with blue interior lining, complete with black cuffs at the end of her sleeves. Unlike Rin, she left her jacket hanging loosely on her arms. She wore a badge that read “Millennium.”
Sensei stared at the girl. Is she one of Rin’s colleagues? She’s wearing a different uniform, though it’s hard to tell. And more of these floating ‘halos’, what on earth are they? Is that purple hair naturally dyed, or is it a dye job?
“Where is the President? Acting President, Hurry up and get her in here already…! Wait, who’s that?” Millennium girl, obviously annoyed by Rin, looked up at the towering figure. Her annoyance transformed into curiosity.
Sensei sympathized with the new girl. Wow, she’s angry about the missing President, but I can’t blame her. I have questions for her myself.
“I’ve been waiting, Chief Officer.” Another girl said. She was taller than the others. Her hair was long and black. She had blood-red eyes and wore a black sailor dress with red and white accents. A symbol was woven into her dress that resembled a cross. She wears a red skirt and black stockings. Her halo was a red star, but tips like knives with a circle and a diamond in its center. Most alarmingly, she had humongous black wings that protruded from the back of her waist, giving a raven-like appearance, complemented by a decorated bolt-action rifle.
Sensei stared at her, examining her up and down, stopping momentarily to examine her legs and chest. What the hell is going on here? Do people in Kivotos really dress like this? Are there perverts here or something?
Sensei continued to stare, thanking the Traveler that he was wearing a helmet, and it wasn’t discernible where he was looking. Sensei stuttered, “L-l-lew-”
Another visitor thankfully cut his words off in time. “I’m here to meet with the President. I have terms to discuss, set by the Head Prefect.”
She had amber eyes, long, pointy ears like Rin's, and blonde hair tied in pigtails that reached down to her shoulders. She wore a military armband with Japanese writing on her left sleeve and red gloves covering her hands. Slung over her right shoulder was a large brown satchel bag with a black “X” and red accents. It was teeming with medical supplies, such as syringes and compression bandages. A red crosshair floated above her head, formed by four red points. She carried an ancient golden age sidearm.
Sensei pondered the appearances of the three who had arrived, putting a hand to his chin . She is a medic. But what gun is she carrying? A Mauser? Haven’t seen those in a long while. All these students have distinct features as well. Purple hair, giant wings, and those elf-like ears. They all resemble creatures from fantasy stories. Is it possible they could’ve been touched by the light or darkness, similar to the awoken?
“Ugh… This is rather unfortunate timing.” Rin’s tone and expression turned sour.
Sensei turned towards her. “What’s wrong, Rin? These three kids? Want me to take care of them?” Sensei offered to eliminate these three nuisances by force if necessary.
“Kid?! Who are you supposed to be?! To call us kids!” Purple Hair’s expression immediately soured.
“This is our new Sensei. No need, I can take care of these annoy- I mean, very important representatives. I am already well aware of the issues going on outside. You are here to blame us for those said issues, correct?” Rin closed her eyes, and her expression grew colder by the second as she turned to the three people in front of her.
Purple hair continued to shout at Rin. “If you knew about these problems, then why aren’t you fixing them?! Everyone is in a panic right now, and everything is falling apart. We’re barely able to keep the lights on!”
“It’s also rumored that there was a prison break of students held in custody by the Federal Corrections Bureau.” Amber eyes spoke in a serious tone.
Sensei thought to himself. What's going on? It seemed mostly fine to me. I suppose this is what Rin meant by ‘focusing on the current situation.'
Sensei wanted to say something, yet couldn’t think of anything to say. Soon after, another girl barged into the conversation. “There has been a considerable increase in lowlifes attacking our students on the way to school. Public Safety and Law Enforcement are not able to function properly.”
She had red eyes and silver hair extending down past her waist. She had a wing emerging out of her head on the left side. She wore a grey and black sailor dress with a red bow tied around her collar. On the left side of her chest was a clipped badge that said “Trinity” and a patch on her left shoulder with a strange symbol. She wore brown shoes, and her legs were covered in black stockings. She had a pink crosshair above her head with four arrows pointing outward and carried a rifle.
Sensei indulged in the current phenomenon. Well, it’s evident that all these ‘humans’ have halos. More so, what do they mean? Why are they there? There are so many questions, and I don’t know what kind of answers I'll even get.
“There has also been a spike in illegal distribution of tanks, choppers, and other weapons that we don’t know of. Normal school life here will be a thing of the past at the rate this is going.” Black Wings explained to both Sensei and Rin, but they remained silent.
“And for heaven's sake! Where is the General Student Council President in all of this? She better come out right now; I demand it!” Purple hair only got angrier at the current state of affairs of the General Student Council.
Sensei tensed up. “Sadly, the President has gone missing and is nowhere to be seen.” What game could she be playing?
“HUH? Chief Officer, what is this Sensei saying?!” Purple Hair puffed out her cheeks like she was ready to explode.
Rin sighs. “Sensei is correct, the President is nowhere to be found.”
“What?” Purple Hair and Amber Eyes gasp.
“So, the rumors were true after all…” Black Wings frowned.
“Let me get to the point: the General Student Council has lost access to Sanctum Tower,” Rin explained.
“Sanctum Tower? What's that?” Sensei, confused by the new object.
“It’s how we monitor and control the city. We are blind without it; that is the main cause of all the issues in Kivotos. We have been looking for ways to gain access, but all efforts have failed until now.”
“Until now? Do you mean there is a way?” Black Wings spoke curiously, staring at Rin.
“You are correct. Sensei is the one who can solve our problem.” Rin smiled and turned to Sensei. The whole room focused on the Guardian, with varying reactions from each student before him.
“He’s the one?” The sudden proclamation took Black Wings off guard.
Sensei took a slight step back.”You never explained this, Rin. What am I doing again? I’m getting a real case of deja vu here.” Dumbfounded, Sensei thought, this is exactly like when I was resurrected in the Cosmodrome all those years ago, being told I’m the solution to everyone’s problems. Now, I’m diving headfirst into an unknown situation. They do say history repeats itself.
Purple Hair cut off, Sensei’s realization.“Hold on, just one moment. Where did they even come from?”
Purple Hair stared at Sensei with doubt. She wasn’t sure what to make of the person standing before her.
“According to Rin, I’m Sensei apparently. I only seem out of it because I’ve been processing tons of information since I woke up.” Sensei stood up straight.
Rin frowned slightly. “I see. What did you mean by Deja vu? Did you remember something important?”
Sensei merely shrugged. “Not really, it is technically one of my first experiences.”
“And what exactly is that?” An annoyed purple head cut off Rin.
Miss Millennium pressed Sensei for an answer. “If it's to do with the Sanctum Tower then it would be important to tell us.”
Sensei momentarily took a step back and put out his hands. “Nothing like that kid, I have zero memory or recollection of Kivotos, so no, none of my memories would serve this specific situation we’re in.”
Purple Head’s expression became less frustrated and turned to Rin. “Well then, how are you going to fix this problem?”
Rin adjusted her glasses. “We need to take Sensei to the SCHALE building. After that, Sensei will be able to restore control to Sanctum Tower.”
Sensei simply crossed his arms. “Well, that is incredibly vague even for me, but if it‘s a job like that, I should be able to do it by myself.”
The black winged girl turned to Sensei. “Do you hear what you’re saying? It’s chaos out there. If you go alone, it would be extremely dangerous; you don’t even have a Halo.”
So halos are something paracasual in nature? “Wait, hold on, before I ask what a Halo is, you four haven’t introduced yourselves.”
The four students frowned in embarrassment.
“Apologies, let me introduce myself. I am Hanekawa Hasumi, Vice President of the Justice Task Force at Trinity General School.” Hasumi bowed as Sensei snapped out of his thoughts and stared at Hasumi.
Sensei crossed his arms and stared at the other three students. “Aye, thank you, Hasumi. It's good to meet you. What about the rest of you? You've been staring for a while now. ”
“I’m Yuuka! Hayase Yuuka! I work as the treasurer for the Seminar at Millennium Science School!” Yuuka's face reddened as she stared at Sensei with a tinge of embarrassment.
Sensei was confused. “You don’t need to yell. You aren’t in trouble or anything.”
Yuuka only became more embarrassed. “I am not angry, Sensei… I–never mind!”
“Well, it is good to meet you, Yuuka—Miss Angry or not. I will do my best to remember.” He smirked under his helmet.
Sensei then looked at the last two students, Amber Eyes and Silver Hair.
Amber Eyes spoke first, “My name is Hinomiya Chinatsu. I’m the medic of the Prefect Team at Gehenna Academy.” Chinatsu bowed her head towards Sensei.
“My name is Morizuki Suzumi, and I’m part of the Trinity Vigilante Crew.” Suzumi also bowed.
“Thank you all. Now, Rin, can you tell me more about my responsibilities as Sensei?”
Rin turned to Sensei and waved her hand, explaining. “You’re here to be the advisor and leader of a club formed by the President. The Federal Investigation Club: SCHALE. It isn’t your average club. It's an extrajudicial organization. Since it's a Federal Club, you can recruit students from any school in Kivotos.”
“Wait, hold on, recruit students? What am I doing, amassing an army? I'm unfamiliar with these so-called 'clubs’, but this SCHALE raises so many red flags—I have so much power left unchecked.” Sensei grimaced at the thought of recruiting a bunch of high schoolers into an army.
“I agree, Sensei, that you are being given a lot of power. However, you aren’t creating an army. Club activities include peacekeeping missions, investigations, paperwork, and other simple activities.” Rin continued, which put Sensei at ease as some of his concerns dissipated.
“So it is like some sort of agency, then? I work for the betterment of…” Sensei trailed off.
“Kivotos. Sensei.” Rin reminded Sensei of where he was.
“Right, Kivotos. Thank you, Rin.” Sensei lifted a finger to scratch his helmet lightly, trying to focus.
“Anyway, to continue, the Schale building is about thirty kilometers away from here. It’s my job to take you there, and that is what we need to do. Momoka, I need a helicopter to take us to the SCHALE building,” Rin asked her acquaintance.
A voice blared out of her small datapad with a strange tone. “The SCHALE club room? Ah, that building on the outskirts of D.U.?” A crisp munch interrupted the speaker. “Things are going crazy over there.”
“What kind of things?” Sensei beat Rin to her question.
“Oh? Who are you? I had never heard your voice before . ” Another munch. “You don’t sound like a student, though.” Momoka maintained her casual tone, eating while speaking.
“Are you eating?” Sensei raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, yeah? I'm hungry. Why, what is wrong with eating a few chips?” Momoka retorted with another crunch.
“This is Sensei. Momoka, please just tell us what’s going on.” Rin sighed and rolled her eyes at the small datapad.
“Ah, right! It’s terrible out there. A suspended student from the Corrections Bureau escaped. They rallied all the thugs and low-lives they could find to get revenge on the General Student Council. I hear they even have a whole tank. It seems like your work is cut out for you, Rin-chan. Oh! My food just got here. Bye-bye, and good luck!” Momoka ended the transmission, going her own way, seemingly unbothered by the situation.
Momoka’s provocations aggravated Rin. A nasty twitch seized her eye.
Sensei tried to calm her down. “It is alright, Rin. I've worked with, uh… eccentric people before.”
Rin’s attention turned towards Sensei with an odd stare. “You're right, just a momentary setback. Sensei, you said you wanted to approach this on your own. I don’t think that will be possible anymore.”
Sensei only became more perplexed. “Huh, why not? Taking down a few bad guys? That's just a Tuesday night.”
Rin and the rest of the students' eyes widened, but Yuuka added to the conversation first. “What in Kivotos are you talking about, Sensei? There is no way you could deal with all of that on your own. Like Hasumi said, you don’t have a halo. We have no idea what would happen if you got shot.”
Sensei shrugged, “Well, my armor would tank the shot. It's not for show, you know?”
Yuuka sighed. “Armor isn’t perfect, you know, you could be in danger, it isn’t the same as a halo.”
Sensei retorted. “You are right, it isn’t perfect, and what's with your halos? What makes them so special?”
Yuuka nodded slowly and stepped back. The other students fell silent before Chinatsu stepped forward.
“We don’t know much about our halos other than all students are born with them.” She said, “Also, not having a halo means you are most likely not from Kivotos, is that correct?”
Sensei stood bewildered with a tinge of disappointment. “Really? Is that it, like you guys just have them? But yes, I am not from Kivotos.”
All five of them nodded to Sensei at the same time, as awkward silence ensued in the room. Hasumi chimed in, “Exactly, that means you face more dangers than us, Sensei.”
Sensei proposed putting a hand to his chin, “So? Why does it matter even if that is true? What can y’all do to help me take back the Sanctum Tower? You guys seem to have your problems, why would I ask you to do it for me?”
Yuuka puffed out her cheeks. “What do you mean ‘why does it matter,’ you could get hurt or–or seriously injured.”
Sensei just merely shrugged again, “Ok? So? I get hurt all the time. I mean, I have a job to do, and I am pretty confident I can complete it.”
Yuuka looked like she was about to explode, like she were talking to a brick wall. Suzumi walked into the conversation. “Who are you and what was your previous occupation?”
Sensei stared at the floor for a moment, then looked up to face his students, “My name? I've never gone by a particularly formal name; people just called me ‘guardian.’ However, I worked in engineering, specifically in mechanical and astrophysics. I did that for quite a few years, then a war broke out and I joined the military. I'm currently a combat engineer.”
There is “some” truth in my explanation, I am an engineer and did serve in a form of military to defend the last city, hopefully they will believe in what I said- a surprised Yuuka cut off Sensei’s thoughts.
Yuuka glowed with excitement. “You're an engineer?” She asked with a bright smile.
Sensei had a confused look on his face. “Yes? Is that surprising?”
Yuuka snapped out of her excitement. “I guess not… But you should check out Millennium Science school, I think you would be interested.”
Sensei pondered, “I will think about it for now, I've got to complete this mission. Does my background satisfy the rest of you?”
The rest of the students stayed silent for a moment. Rin and Yuuka seemed satisfied. At least, however, Suzumi, Chinatsu, and Hasumi had their doubts.
Hasumi still seemed a bit worried by the whole ‘solo mission’ idea. “Even so, you might have combat experience, but to take on a tank alone, are you sure you can do it?”
Sensei nodded proudly, “Of course! What's a couple of tanks got on me?”
Suzumi and Chinatsu finally gave in; no matter what, they weren’t going to change Sensei’s mind, but Suzumi decided to compromise. “Well, at least allow us to follow you from afar. But we won’t get in your way unless absolutely necessary. While we might have our problems, the Sanctum Tower should solve many of them or make them much easier for us.”
Sensei perked up under the helmet, “Alright, well, I can't argue with that logic, do as you please, but do your best not to get in my way.”
Sensei and the group walked towards the lobby exit as the sliding glass doors opened. He would venture out into a foreign new world on his own. What will he find, and what awaits out there for the lone hunter in the unknown?