Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today, I came to Millenium for a few things.

Although, that might be an understatement considering the arsenal I came with. I had multiple duffle bags of long arms on my back, multiple holsters hanging off my body, and two hard cases in both hands stuffed as tight as possible while being able to close.

Needless to say, I was over-armed, especially since the students could easily defeat me in a fight without me even going through a quarter of these, but that wasn’t what I was here for.

With my bags of guns, I made my way to the Engineering Club.

“Sensei.” Utaha waved to me from where she was sitting.

I’d called ahead of course, because with how much I had on me it was going to be a mess. Seemed like Utaha and Hibiki were the only ones free at this time though, Kotori was apparently off doing something. They weren’t too specific about it, but I had to assume it was something important.

A bead of sweat fell from Hibiki’s head. “That’s… a lot of guns.”

“Don’t I know it. And it weighs a ton too.” I started getting the guns off, making sure not to drop any of them in the process.”

“So how did you get all of these? Did you collect guns before working at SCHALE?” Utaha started looking through what I brought.

“Nope, most of these I actually got recently, a shop near SCHALE closed because the owner was retiring, and he still had these stock, so I just bought it off him.”

Hibiki perked up from the AR-15 she had been analysing. “Really? So, you got all of this cheap?”

“Yeah. I wanted to pay full price, but he was pretty tough about it, so I took the discount.”

Utaha gave me a small smile. “Hah. That couldn’t have been cheap nonetheless.” She picked up a SG 553. “How much did this one cost, Sensei?”

“A pretty penny.” I removed the last holster and its gun from my body, and heaved a sigh of relief at the weight off my body. “So, what do you think of this haul?”

“There’s some good things here, but there’s also some bad things.” Utaha grabbed a battered Kar 98k out of the pile, and pulled back the bolt.

 Well, she tried at least. “The bolt here is jammed, so you can’t even disassemble it through the normal method. We’ll need to tear it apart through other means, so it might cause some damage.”

“Go ahead. I’d rather have working sacrileges to the gun gods than pretty but not working rifles, and that isn’t pretty even.”

Hibiki held up an Austen. “What about this?”

“We can probably throw it into the sea, but that’s offensive to the sea.”

“So, what do you want us to do to these?” Utaha gestured towards the pile. “Get them working, and anything else you need?”

“Well…” I reached around my back, and took out my own personal weapon.

“What’s this?” Utaha leaned over. “A shortened Hi-Power?”

“Yep. I wanted to get some extra magazines for this, since the grip has been shortened as well.” I showed off the shortened grip. “It’s been reduced to a ten-round capacity. Maybe if you’re fine with it some new grips as well, I prefer smooth grips to these stippled ones.”

“Alright.” Utaha gave me a thumbs up, and from behind where she was looking at the guns Hibiki gave one too.

“Thanks, you two. Send the bill to Schale when you’re done, if I fill out the right forms I can get this written off as a business expense.” I gave a wink.

Now all that was left was to wait.

A week later, I got a message on Momotalk from Utaha.

Utataka
Sensei, the guns are ready
Feel free to pick them up at anytime

With that in mind, after I finished up with work at SCHALE, I headed over to Millenium to pick up the guns.

When I entered the building, the Engineering Club was busy working on something. It was large, silver, and if I knew anything of how they worked it probably was something like a nuclear-powered hot dog maker.

“Ah, Sensei.” Utaha saw me, and put down her tools and walked over. Hibiki and Kotori waved at me and went back to work.

A bit lonely, but well, they are busy.

“Hey. So, it’s all working now?”

Utaha showed the table covered in guns. “Every single gun is in working condition now, even the more… ratty ones.” She picked up what once was a Kar 98k, now in a Monte Carlo stock and with a set of rings for a scope. “It may not be the most historically accurate way to get them working, but you did tell us anything goes.”

“I did. And about my Browning?”

She handed me my gun. “We made a few new magazines for it, not just cut-down Hi-Power magazines but newly built ones. New grips, made out of wood to match the nickel plating.”

I held it in my hands, savouring the new grips. They were smooth, finely polished walnut, with a beautiful grain to the wood.

“Perfect work. I doubt I’d be able to find anyone who could do this standard of work outside of Kivotos.”

Utaha gave a small chuckle to that. “There’s no need to flatter us. This is just the quality the Engineering Club brings to all our projects.”

My mind more focused on the gun and the workmanship, I didn’t think through my response. “Well, this work is good enough that I’m having second thoughts about passing it on.”

“Passing it on?” She cocked her head a little at that. “Who are you passing it on to?”

“Well, my daughter is about of that age, so I thought I’d give it to her.”

The Club still hadn’t picked their jaws off the floor when Sensei left.

Yuuka came in to help me with my finances, as always.

The first sign I had that something was wrong came when she found the latest evidence of my impulse purchases, a limited run transforming toy I’d bought. Rather than scolding me with her usual bombast, she was uncharacteristically quiet about it. Throughout the entire day she was quiet and introspective, barely saying a word unless it was important.

Finally, I had enough.

“Yuuka, are you alright?”

She snapped out of her trance with a start. “Sensei? What do you mean?”

“I meant what I said. You’ve been out of it all day, are you sick? If you’re sick you should’ve stayed home, you’re a hard worker and you need rest too.” Maybe it came off as a bit preachy, but Yuuka has always been one of the most helpful people I knew, and she genuinely deserved to have some time to herself. Like the ‘sudden unplanned break’ Noa and I had been planning for her. I surreptitiously reached for my phone in case the plans had to be pushed forward.

Her face flushing like a tomato, Yuuka frantically flailed her arms. “N-no! It’s nothing like that Sensei, I just… had something on my mind!”

I raised an eyebrow.

Yuuka continued her imitation of a tomato.

I wiggled my eyebrows.

“I just can’t hide anything from you, Sensei…” She deflated and heaved a sigh. I tensed up, fearing I might’ve pushed too much, before Yuuka’s posture changed, and the rooms atmosphere sobered.

“Sensei, is it true you have a daughter?”

I stared at Yuuka.

She stared back, unflinching.

I bolted from the room.

“Sensei?!”

I sat in the SCHALE lounge, a cup of cheap fruit punch on front of me.

Opposite me sat Yuuka, her eyes following my every movement, ready to pounce if I ran again.

We sat in silence, punctuated with the sounds of drinking.

I was on my third cup already. We’d been here for about half an hour, and I didn’t want to speak about this matter.

Sadly, for all her strengths, Yuuka was also incredibly stubborn. And scary when mad. Her eye started to twitch about 5 minutes ago, and it was just a matter of time before she broke.

But she would break before me. And that was what mattered.

So, I just sat, continuing to drink from my little red plastic cup.

As I brought it to my mouth again, she finally snapped.

“How long are you going to just drink that?”

I didn’t respond, instead choosing to make my next sip just a smidge louder.

“Is this really something you don’t want to talk about?”

I started to give her a thumbs up, then thought better of it. “Where did you even hear about it from?”

“The Engineering Club.”

Hm. I vaguely remembered looking at my pistol when and saying something. Need to keep my tongue in check. Too many awkward questions to step around. “To answer your question, no, not really. Maybe. I don’t know.”

She slammed the desk in frustration. “Then why were you running away?!”

I thought about it for a bit. Of all the ways to dodge the question, I guess starting with the truth worked the best. “I wasn’t a particularly good father. I’d be away on birthdays, I’d be busy when she won awards. Maybe I just didn’t want to think about that. She always tried to get closer to me, and I always pushed her away. Never did right by her. Should’ve. Ought’ve. Didn’t.”

I tried not to let the weight of old memories show on my face. So many things I could’ve done better. So many more things I could’ve done. But time wouldn’t let me now.

My words must’ve taken her off guard, as Yuuka looked at me, dazed, words trying to form themselves on her lips. Instead, I continued. “You know, the reason I try to do my best for the students, cause I wasn’t there for my own kid. Couldn’t see her grow up, and whenever she tried to get close I just pushed her away, justifying it was for her good, that making money was more important. But spending time with her was more important."

I looked her in the eye. “And maybe the reason I don’t want to talk about it is because some failures weigh more heavily on me than others.”

We sat in silence as she digested what I said, before she got out of the chair.

“It’s never too late Sensei! Where is she now?”

She forced me out of SCHALE with a bouquet of flowers. Yellow pansies, she said. In the language of flowers, they meant ‘thinking about you’, apparently.

She and Noa would handle the rest of the work for the day. They sent me off with a smile and a wave, maybe a silent good luck.

I wasn’t much for it.

“How have you been doing? Well?”

Silence.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I don’t visit you more often.”

Silence.

“Since the last time I was here, I got a new job. I’m a teacher now, apparently.”

Silence.

“Yeah, I know. Weird, huh. The workaholic useless son-of-a-bitch you called a father, teaching?” I barked with laughter. “Seems they think I’m doing pretty well. Wonder what you’d say to them?”

Silence.

“One of them made me come here and visit you, the moment they heard about it. That you exist.” I placed down the flowers. “A gift from them to you. Yellow pansies. Apparently, in flower language, they mean ‘thinking about you’.”

“Wonder how they’d react if they knew how right they were.”

Silence.

“I’m sorry. I say it a thousand times, but I’m sorry. I should’ve been there more. I should’ve spent more time with you. I’m so sorry.” Tears were starting to drip.

“And I’d give everything I have now if I could spend another day with you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I kept repeating myself like a broken record, a broken man in front of a barren gravestone.

“I’m so sorry.”

Until a familiar voice came out of the shadows. “Sensei?”

I turned my head to see a pink sleepyhead staring at me in shock.

“W-what are you doing here, Sensei? At Yume-senpais grave?”

Chapter Text

“I didn’t realise you were Yume-senpais father, Sensei.”

I sipped from my vending machine cola, rolling it around in my mouth to savour the taste. After she’d found me bawling my eyes out in front of Yume’s grave, we’d stayed there for a bit, before heading to a nearby park to talk.

A long overdue talk, on my end.

“You mean you didn’t realise it from the moment we met? The same junior who Yume would always talk about non-stop in the messages she sent me, saying how she was so smart, so strong, so sharp?”

Embarrassed, Hoshino shyly scratched her head. “Well, that’s not fair Sensei, laying down all the compliments on me, hehe~”

I leaned back onto the bench, slowly sipping at my cola. “Don’t lie Hoshino, that’s one of the reasons why you were so twitchy around me when we first met, right?”

Her eyes widened, before she flopped down and laid her head on my lap. “Maaaaan, you had me all figured out, huh? And you didn’t even think about letting little old me know? When were you gonna tell me about this, huh?”

“Hopefully never.”

She gave me a full force pout. “You’re so mean, Sensei.”

We stayed like that for a while, me drinking my vending machine cola, and Hoshino lying on my lap looking at me, slowly drowsing off. Tossing the empty can into the nearby trashcan, I felt that of all people, Hoshino at the very least deserved answers.

“You know,” upon hearing my voice, Hoshino started, “Yume was born when I was around your age. We were young and stupid, and you know how kids tend to treat sex-ed… When she told me she was pregnant, I didn’t know what to do. I had to drop out of school to take care of them, to make enough money for our young family.

“The first few years, those were pretty rough, you know? But in the end, we managed to scrape by. By the time Yume was entering school, I’d gotten a pretty comfortable position, and the two of us could afford to live a little.” I let out a bark. “Well, I didn’t realise that until much later, though. Hindsight, the greatest enemy. Haunts you with the guilt of what should’ve, could’ve, ought’ve, been done.”

We sat there in silence, allowing Hoshino to digest what I said.

“Sensei.” She got up from my lap, her tone of voice deadly serious. “What happened to senpais mother-”

“We got married shortly after her parents found out,” answering the question I knew she would have. “She died a few years before… before Yume got into Abydos. She was never a very healthy person, and giving birth to Yume caused her health to go into a steep decline. She was always there for Yume though.” Unlike me.

Contemplating my thoughts, I decided it was best to turn the conversation away from these gloomy matters.

I got up, and turned to face Hoshino. “Forget about that stuff. Are you going on patrol later?”

Taken aback by the sudden change in topic, Hoshino stammered, “Y-yeah. Do you want to join me, Sensei?”

“Shit yeah. Beats wallowing in self-pity.” I didn’t care for what she thought about my swearing. She’d already seen me lower.

We walked in silence through the dark streets of Abydos, the only light coming from whatever streetlamps that hadn’t been knocked out by the sands and the ever-present full moon.

“Pretty quiet.”

Hoshino nodded. “The gangs have quieted down ever since the Phrenapates incident. I think Kuroko has been doing something, since I find thugs knocked out randomly at times.”

“Is that what you’re calling her?”

Her faced scrunched up. “I know it’s not an ideal name, but at the same time…”

“Calling her Shiroko as well gets confusing. Yeah, I get it.”

The conversation died after that.

At the end of it, I bid her farewell and went back to SCHALE.

“Yo~, Sensei.”

Bleary-eyed, I looked up from the PC monitor at the pink blob coming through the office door. “Kirby?”

It’d been a few days since the incident. I’d been working hard, trying to clear my backlog alone. Usually, I’d get students trying to help out, or ask them to help out, but I wanted to work alone – a few more students had heard about the slip of the tongue from the Engineering Club, and I didn’t want any more awkward conversations.

If working myself to the bone also had the secondary effect of making me too tired to think about anything else other than work, it was purely a coincidence.

The net effect of that was that I was now running on coffee and little else though.

I stared at the blob, trying to make it out, before it sharpened to became the familiar visage of Hoshino, pouting as she walked closer.

“Kirby? How did you mistake me for that thing? Do you need help, Sensei?”

I went back to my work, leaning in to separate the numbers of the spreadsheet from the boxes. “No, and I told the people downstairs to turn away everyone who came by. How’d you get up here?”

She cringed in an uncharacteristic display of bashfulness. “Oh, so that’s why they were so stubborn. How long have you been awake?”

“What day is it today?”

“Wednesday.”

“Five days then.” I strained my eyes as I stared at the numbers. Was that a 5 or a 3?

Suddenly I felt the chair move, as someone started pushing me away from the table. I could hear Hoshino’s voice coming from behind me chiding me softly, “Come now Sensei, you’re in no condition to be working.”

The chair quickly turned around on its swivel, and suddenly I was face to face with her. “Besides, I thought I’d bring you a present!”

Now that she was up-close, I could see that instead of the normal Abydos uniform she usually wore, she was wearing a neat one-piece dress, with a little hairclip holding her bangs up.

“What’s with the image change? Gonna say something like “I’m your present?”” I wouldn’t put it past any of the Abydos girls (apart from Ayane) to say that sort of thing – turns out the only sorts who would willingly stay in a dying school are the mad, frivolous and the odd.

Must’ve been why I liked them so much.

“Ehehehe, would you really like this old man here to be your present? I’m flattered. But no, the present is this!” She took out a photo album from behind her, an old and battered photo album.

One I recognised.

“This was Yume-senpai’s. It was in her belongings… I thought you might want it.”

With trembling hands, I gently took the photo album from Hoshino.

“I gave this to her, before she went to Abydos. I wanted her to fill it with memories, like the ones I couldn’t make…”

I looked up at Hoshino, somehow feeling that I wasn’t hiding anything from her at all. “Where did you find this? It wasn’t in her belongings, so I thought it was lost.”

She scratched her cheek, embarrassed. “Ah well, it was actually within the classroom. Here, let me show you why.” She skipped to my side, before turning it open. The page it opened on was filled with photos, and two very familiar people.

The short hair suited Hoshino.

She pointed at a picture with the two of them in front of the Abydos gate. “I remember when this was taken, we’d been painting the main gate the entire day.” Hoshino and Yume were both covered in paint, and the young Hoshino had a glare on her face. Actually, all the photos had her glaring at the camera.

“You didn’t much like it, huh.”

“Hm? Whaddya mean, Sensei?”

I pointed at her face on the photo. “You aren’t smiling in any of them.”

Her mouth made an ‘O’. “Ah, well, it’s embarrassing to say it, but I didn’t much like taking pictures when I was younger,” she scratched at the back of her head. “You know how it is, you feel like it’s a hassle, there’s better things to do, right?”

I shook my head.

“Aagh, you and Yume-senpai…” She pulled a face, before turning to the photos, wistfulness in her eyes. “She was always the one who wanted to take photos. I always went along with it to indulge her, but now that she’s gone…”

Trailing off, she glanced at me, before planting herself on my thigh and leaning back onto me. “You know Sensei, you aren’t alone. Every day I wish I could have spent more time with her, that we’d spent more time together, that we’d taken more pictures.”

She started flipping through the book, until she found a page with a picture of Yume and her in two matching sundresses, the one Hoshino was wearing in the image very similar to the one she was wearing now. No, rather…

“You really haven’t grown much, eh?”

She gave me the side-eye, and theatrically sighed. “Your lovely student comes and dresses up for you, and you give her comments like that? Other people would be jumping for joy over that, you know?”

“So this was my present!”

“Hush. You’re ruining the moment. Anyways, this picture was taken when she dragged me out and dressed me up.” She pointed to the next image on the page. “We went to the aquarium that day. The same one as we went to that time, Sensei. You remember?”

 “Of course I do.”

She gave me a soft, melancholic smile.  “Yeah… it was fun. ‘Course, it was the last trip Yume-senpai brought me on.”

We sat in silence, staring at old memories never to be recreated.

“How many pages are there in the album?”

“Most of it is filled, so about 300?”

We spent the day laughing and crying about a person dear to us, long gone but never to be forgotten.

“Se~n~sei?”

Yuuka towered over me as I tried to focus on the monitor.

“What’s up, Yuuka?”

“’What’s up?’? That’s all you have to say, after closing off SCHALE for five days?!” She glowered at me, filled with pent-up rage.

“Nope.” I said, making sure to pop the p. I waved towards the pile of paperwork on the spare desks. “I also finished up my taxes, filled out my expenses, and filled out a bunch of paperwork. For the first time, I’m actually almost done with work.”

Her mood swung from anger to befuddlement. “Eh?”

She leaped for the stack, rapidly scanning through the pile of papers.

“In fact, this is the last document I need to sign. Once I’m done with this, how about we go and get something to eat? I’ve been eating cup noodles the whole week, might be nice to, say, get some crepes?” I wiggled my eyebrows. “You down?”

“Wait, what?” Turning to me, face starting to redden, she started to form a retort on her lips, but I shushed her.

“Let’s have this be our little secret, yeah?”

She stared at me, before sighing. “Fine… I know a nice cake place at Millennium we could go to?”

Giving her two thumbs up, I grabbed my phone and wallet, my fingers brushing against the battered photo album on my desk.

Yuuka caught sight of it. “Sensei, what’s that?”

I gave her a smile. “Something precious.”

Chapter Text

It was raining.

The rain pelted the windows of SCHALE, while the sun shined down to taunt everyone hiding from the wet with the promises of sunshine.

I was working in the office, slacking off. I’d managed to finish up my work early today; the entire week had been a quiet period among the usual chaos of Kivotos.

A good thing, considering who was supposed to be coming here today on the duty roster.

“It’s been a while, Sensei.”

I waved at Hina as she walked into the office, her wings flapping to get the water off them. Her umbrella, covered in a plastic bag, was nearly her height, along with her machinegun, but despite that both didn’t hinder her as she trotted in, leaving her soggy coat on the coat hanger.

“I’d say. How have you been?”

“Good.” Plunking herself on the seat opposite me, she got down to business. “So, what sort of work do you have now?”

I looked over at my monitor. “I’m watching Top Rifle. Great movie, a real classic.”

“Sensei… you shouldn’t be slacking off.” She glowered at me, not wanting to get drawn into any shenanigans today, it seemed. Sadly for her, today I was all shenanigans.

“I’ve got nothing today. Seems like after last week everyone has been silent for a bit.”

Her mouth made an ‘O’. “Ah. I remember that. That was when the rumours of you having a child were spreading around, right?” Heaving a sigh, she slumped into her seat. “Honestly, the amount of chaos they raised just because of some baseless rumours…”

“Oh, they weren’t exactly rumours.” I passed the bag of popcorn I was eating to Hina. “You want some? It’s the gourmet stuff.”

She didn’t respond.

“Hina?” I paused the movie and looked over at her.

A billow of smoke was pouring out of her ears.

“Aw, nuts… I broke my Hiniature.”

We sat in silence, broken only by the noise of Top Rifle and the crunching of my popcorn.

So really, not in silence at all.

Hina sat beside me, having been dragged to watch the movie with me. She sat silently throughout the entire movie, only giving cursory mumbles and nods when I offered food to her, and when Geese died.

Only after the end of the movie did she speak.

“Uh, Sensei… Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

She looked at me oddly, before shaking her head. “You’re too easily influenced. I wanted to ask, erm, well, howdo I say it …” She hemmed and hawed, before mustering the courage to ask her question.

“Sensei, what is your daughter like?””

Ack. 

I should’ve expected this.

I didn’t particularly want to talk much about this, but Hina is a good kid, and wouldn’t tell others unless I let her do so, but at the same time I didn’t particularly want to talk much about this, and-

My internal battle must’ve been showing on my face, as Hina fumbled for words, her hands flailing around. “Ah, if you don’t want to say anything, it's fine too, I just thought, what with the rumours flying around, then SCHALE closing for a week, I thought that uh, maybe something might’ve happened and you didn’t want to talk about it but at the same time I was curious and I’m sorry we can forget about this completely!” Her voice steadily grew louder, to the point she was shouting at the end of it.

She never usually got this agitated… I sighed, and planted my head in my hands. “ Honestly, what am I doing…”

“Sensei?”

“Sorry Hina, just reflecting… Anyways, I think it’s fine to talk about it. She would’ve been about two years older than you are now, and-” 

“Would’ve?” I hid my grimace internally, as Hina, pouncing upon my noun of choice, pondered upon my choice of words for a while, before suddenly blanching. “Wait, Sensei, you don’t mean… I, I’m sorry for bringing up this topic!”

I waved it off. “You didn’t know, it’s fine. It happened a while ago anyways, before I took on this job.”

The mood grew awkward after that, and Hina left soon after that.

The next day, I was still pretending to work, when I heard a familiar voice.

“Sensei?” Hina tottered in, hands behind her back and unsure of herself.

I waved to her. “What’s up, Hina?”

“Well, I, uhm…” She stood there, eyes wandering, before a change came over her. She straightened her back, raised her head high, and in an instant she went from “Hiniature” to “Head Prefect Hina”.

“I wanted to give you this!” The impression was broken the moment she opened her mouth, the voice coming out the same sweet girl as always, her face breaking into a full blush as she took out from behind her, a pack of…

“Chocolates? What brought this on, Hina?” I took the pack on reflex, recognising the brand as being one I favoured, a Nama chocolate with added liqueur. 

“W-well, I thought, yesterday ended quite awkwardly, and you seemed pretty depressed at the end, so I saw they had these on sale, and I remember you had a few packs in the fridge in the break room.” She trailed off her sentence, as I took in what she said.

“Aw, Hina. You didn’t have to do this-” 

“But! You lost your daughter… and I brought it up not knowing…”

I cut her off. “That’s precisely why. You didn’t know. I’ve never told anyone about it, so you couldn’t have known.” I reached out to pat her head. She flinched from the touch, before leaning into it. “Don’t blame yourself for things you don’t know, alright? Especially since it's probably my fault for being so laissez-faire when it comes to this information, ahaha… I was talking to someone about it the day before, so it's been on my mind for a while, anyways.”

Taking my hand off her head, I put the forgotten pack of chocolates on the table. “Now, I don’t exactly have much to do now, so how about we share some chocolate?”

It was delicious, as expected.

Chapter Text

“Honestly, Mika, did you think to even check what sort of area Abydos is like now?” Fanning herself futilely, Nagisa tried to ignore the beads of sweat going past her eyes, as Mika turned back to face her, her cape in her arms as she tried and failed to keep a smile up despite her hair being matted with sweat.

“I didn’t expect it to be this hot! I mean, what kind of weather is this even! I didn’t realise desertification could change the climate of the entire region!”

“No one knows what desertification does! Because Abydos is the only place in Kivotos going through this!” She opened the thermos of tea she brought, but upon raising it to her lips found it empty. “Gah. Honestly, why did I even come with you?! I should’ve just stayed with Seia!”

“Because you love me, Nagi~” Nagisa gagged a little at that. “No, because I don’t trust you to go alone by yourself to investigate this without setting Trinity-Abydos relations back by twenty years!”

Ignoring Mika sticking her tongue out at her, Nagisa thought back to the real reason they were here…

Hearing what Mika was saying, Nagisa couldn’t help but put her cup down. “Sensei hasn’t been responding to your messages?”

“That’s right!” Gesturing wildly, Mika started yapping. “You know, I was asking him about what kind of perfumes he would like, because I was reading this magazine the other day and it had an article about the kind of man your man is based on the smells he likes” - Nagisa made it a point to ignore that part - “and I wanted to know what kind of smells he likes! But he didn’t respond for a whole day!”

Nonchalantly sipping at her cup, Seia just rolled her eyes. “Couldn’t it be that he’s just busy? I heard the General Student Council is having an audit coming up.”

Mika slammed her hands on the table, causing Nagisa to quickly hold her cup to prevent it spilling. “That’s the thing!” Ignoring Nagisa’s side-eye, Mika continued. “I asked Koharu about it too, and apparently Sensei’s been leaving them hanging too!”

“He’s ignoring the Make-Up Work Club too?... Now that is unusual.” Draining her cup dry, Seia reached across the table for a victoria sandwich. “I don’t see how that is our problem, though. In any case, he usually goes above and beyond for us students, and maybe prioritising us over his work has finally got to him…”

“Sensei isn’t that kind of person!” Slamming on the table again, Mika ignored Seia as she fell face first onto the jam. “And besides, I think I actually know why!”

“Oh? And what could this be, pray tell?”

As Seia did her best to strangle Mika, the pink-haired student started jibber-jabbering. “We~ll, have you heard the rumours about Sensei having a child?”

“Why should those rumours prevent me from strangling you like a chicken?!” 

Nagisa sighed, and got up to drag Seia off of Mika. “Come now Seia, you will never be able to beat her and you know it. Please continue, Mika.” The short fox pouted, and started cleaning her face.

“Well, actually, you know how I slept with Sensei?” Only for Nagisa to spit-take right at her.

“NAGISA!” “Sorry Seia! But Mika, what the heck do you mean by that!”

The pink-haired agent of chaos just tilted her head. “Did I never mention this? Ah, wait, it’s technically against the rules, eh-heh~”

Narrowing her eyes, Nagisa’s voice took on a sharp edge.“What did you and Sensei do, Mika?”

“My, is Naginagi thinking of something dirty~? All I meant was that Sensei slept over at my place, nothing more, nothing less~”

“You little…” She let it go. If she kept responding to every little thing Mika did, they would be here for hours.

“As fun as it is to see Nagisa spit tea everywhere, could you cut to the chase?” Seia now had her face covered in cranberry jam, earl grey tea and spit, and her eyes showed her mood.

“Ah, sorry, Seia…”

“You better be.”

Taken aback by that, Mika stuttered “W-well, it turns out, Sensei actually sleep talks!... and when he was sleeping, he kept saying a name!”

““A name?”” The other two Trinity students leaned in to hear what Mika had to say.

“He kept calling out for a person called Yume! And, using my patented search methods, I managed to find a list of students with both that name and his surname, and found a match!”

“‘A’ match, you say? While his surname isn’t very common, you would think there would be more people matching that than one person…” Skepticism reigned as Nagisa thought about the matter. Yume isn’t an uncommon name, and while Sensei’s surname isn’t a particularly common one, you would think that there would be more people with a name than one… this seems too convenient to be true.

“Well, it has to be this, because I found a picture of her! Look!” She took out a printed piece of paper with an image on it, a selfie showing a girl with long teal hair and massive assets - both Nagisa and Seia looked down at their own modest chests and shared a scowl - beside a girl with messy short hair that seemed to be angry at the idea of taking pictures, and from the angle of the selfie, much shorter than the former.

As she looked at the image, Nagisa found something familiar in the taller girl. “Hm. I’m guessing this one is Kuchinashi Yume then. She does have Sensei’s eyes.” And his smile. The girl had a massive, open smile that reminded Nagisa of the sometimes awkward, sometimes professional, always happy Sensei that made her heart flutter - quick, think about something else!

“Yes,” - Nagisa silently thanked Seia - “she does look a lot like Sensei. There might be something to this rumour after all.”

“Right? You two think so too right? The only problem is, I can’t find more about this girl! It seems like she just dropped off the face of the earth two years ago, and never came back!” Mika’s cheeks puffed up in frustration. “I tried looking everywhere! Chipa, Momogram, Angeltube, I checked them all! But nothing besides the Talkbook page I found this picture on!”

“Curiouser and curiouser…” Seia took out her phone. “Kuchinashi Yume on Talkbook, right?” Tapping away at her phone, she brought up said page. “Hm, it says she’s a student at Abydos.”

Nagisa started thinking out loud. “Abydos? Isn’t that the school that Sensei spends quite a lot of time at? I seem to remember Hifumi telling me that she met him there once.”  

Seia leaned back on her chair. “It’s been suffering from desertification the past few years. Remember how big it used to be?” 

“Ah! I remember watching the Halo Games with Nagi when we were younger! Abydos would always have a lot of students winning!” Resting her head on her hands, Mika tilted her head. “But this year there were only five of them? What happened?”

“Desertification happened.” Speaking in a low voice, the atmosphere around Nagisa changed dramatically. “No one has found a reason for its cause, but the effects brought Abydos to bankruptcy and ruin. From what Hifumi told me, the school is facing a massive debt crisis, and there’s only five students left in the school…”

Mika slammed down on the table again, and both Seia and Nagisa caught their cups in time. “Eeeeeh?! You mean, those five students were the entire school?!” 

“That’s right. From what I heard though, Hifumi has a very high opinion of them, both morally and physically.” Finishing her cup, Nagisa moved to pour another one. “Apparently their eldest member is a combatant on par with Tsurugi.”

“Heeeeeh~” Mika leaned in, intrigued by the idea. “Tsurugi is pretty strong though? Which one of those girls was it?”

Nagisa took out her phone and opened Momotalk. “She sent me a picture she took with them, let me see if I can find iiiiiii-“ Her eyes widened as she looked at the picture.

“Nagisa?” “Nagi?”

She stared at the image. “This is remarkably convenient.You two, take a look at this picture.” She turned her phone over, showing the other two the image on the screen.

Leaning in, Mika squinted her eyes to spot what had taken Nagisa by surprise. “What are you- oh.”

There in the image, was a girl, the spitting image of the pink-haired girl that was standing beside Yume. “Hifumi called her Hoshino. What are the odds that this is the same person as in that image?”

“Very high.” Seia covered her mouth with her hand, a habit that told the other two that she was in deep thought. “I think I know what you’re thinking about Mika, and let me state for the record that I think it’s a bad idea.”

Mika leaped out of her seat to hug Seia. “Come on, Seia~ aren’t you curious to find out more about Sensei’s daughter?” Rubbing her cheek against Seia’s, she gave the smaller fox-girl an uncomfortably close view of her bosom.

“Mika, I think you’re suffocating her.” She ignored Nagisa, while Seia’s face contorted into a long suffering frown. Nagisa hid a smirk with long practised manners. “Still, I have to agree with Mika. While it’s not necessarily a pleasant thing to do, this could give Trinity a leg up in dealing with Sensei - bribery was looked down upon, but small gifts and such were considered good manners - and as well, it would help in getting to know Senseis private life better…

The other two jumped as Nagisa suddenly slapped herself. “Nagisa? What on earth…” Seia trailed off as Mika shushed her, and whispered into her ear “Let’s just leave it.”

“A-anyways, I do think that an investigation would be best, but we would have to keep it low-profile.”

Mika raised her hand. “I volunteer!”

“What?” Thoughts started floating in her head of Mika going to Abydos, starting a duel with Hoshino, blowing up buildings, causing a diplomatic disaster…

Talking to Sensei’s daughter before her…

Knowing Sensei's preferences before her, knowing what kind of behaviour he showed at home before her...

“Not alone you aren’t!”

“I’m such an idiot!” Her screams of frustration echoed throughout the desert, stopping Mika and a passing cyclist in their tracks.

“Nagi?! Are you okay?” Mika’s eyebrows jumped as she heard the screaming of her childhood friend.

Nagisa waved her concerns off. “I’m just angry at myself, nothing to worry about. How much longer do we have to get to Abydos?”

Whipping out her phone, Mika consulted the map app. “It says we have about-“ “Ten and a half kilometres to go, nn.” “No, about half a kilometre. Wait, who?” Mika turned towards the unfamiliar voice, which turned out to be a grey-haired student.

“You’re going to Abydos? The location online is wrong, it’s telling you to go to the old location. The new one is about ten and a half kilometres that way.” She pointed towards the direction the two Trinity students had been walking from.

“Wait, so we’ve been walking the wrong direction the whole time?!”

“Where did the two of you come from?”

“The train station!”

She nodded. “Then you have. There’s a bus that goes to the school from there that you could’ve taken.”

Nagisa slumped. “We thought it was mislabeled because the map told us to go the other direction and it was marked as a branch school…”

“The current location used to be a branch of the main school, so when we moved they just renamed the route.” The wolf-girl took a look at the two of them, then at the road. “I’m going to Abydos now. Do you want to follow me?”

“Ah, really?” The two of them took their first good look at their saviour. Despite it being a desert, she was wearing a scarf around her neck, matched with the blazer of Abydos High School.

“Nn. It’s not the first time I’ve found people lost in the desert.” She held out her hand. “Sunaookami Shiroko, second year.”

“Kirifuji Nagisa, third year.” “Misono Mika, third year as well~”

The two of them, plus their guide, were making good time to Abydos. At least they assumed so - all the dunes in the desert looked the same to them.

Shiroko wasn’t much one for small talk though, which caused some surprise when she started musing out loud. “Hm. Why are two Trinity students going to Abydos?” Her eyes lit up. “Are you transferring here?”

Embarrassed, Nagisa shook her head. “Nothing that drastic, I’m afraid. Just had some business with, um, Takahashi Hoshino.”

The wolf cocked her head to the side in befuddlement. “Business with Hoshino-senpai?”

“Yes. We just wanted to talk to her on certain matters.”

“Hm. Alright.”

She was silent until they reached the gates of Abydos.

“Shiroko’s late…” Ayane stared out the window, waiting for the final member of the Foreclosure Task Force to appear.

“Uhe~ It’s fine, she might’ve just gotten distracted by her hobbies.” Hoshino laid her head forward on the table, chin resting on her whale plush.

Leaning dangerously back on her chair, Serika couldn’t hide her worried expression even as she spoke with an angry tone. “She better not be doing anything stupid!-”

Just then, the door opened with a slam, and Shiroko walked in along with two Trinity students, all of whom ignored Serika writhing on the floor in pain.

“Shiroko-senpai?! Who are those students-” Ayane was cut off by Hoshino. “Uhe~? It looks like little Shiroko has finally become a kidnapper~” She wiped tears from her eyes. “Ah, they grow up so fast.”

Nonomi clapped her hands together. “They really do~, remember when we found her, senpai?” She tittered.

“Ah, she was just the cutest thing then, so small… where have the years gone?” Getting up from her seat, Hoshino walked over to Shiroko. “But you know Shiroko, we can’t keep them-“

Nagisa finally snapped, and shouted out. “Hold on, what are you all going on about?!” 

A look of befuddlement crossed Hoshinos face, but her eyes showed amusement. “Well, we thought she’d kidnapped you two to boost our enrollment numbers?” Yawning, she turned to face them. “Then, who are you and why are you here?”

Nagisa bowed and introduced herself. “I am Kirifuji Nagisa, and this is-“ “Misono Mika, hi~” “and we came here to ask a few questions.”

Hoshino seemed taken aback. “Wooooooow, so that's Trinity manners huh? I’m Takanashi Hoshino.”

“Izayoi Nonomi, nice to meet you two!” She raised her hand in greeting.

“Ah, uhm, I’m Okusora Ayane, n-nice to meet you two!” Bowing, her glasses came askew.

Serika dragged herself up from the floor, flopping onto the table. “K-Kuromi Serika here…”

Clapping her hands together again, Nonomi beamed. “Now that the introductions are done, how about we go and have breakfast?”

“N-Nonomi-senpai! We haven’t even started the meeting yet!”

“Ah, don’t worry Ayane. We have guests here anyways. We can leave it for another day.” Walking back to the table, Hoshino grabbed her shotgun and shield. “Besides, our guests look exhausted.”

“Oh, please don’t feel any need to accommodate us, we-“ Nagisa’s attempt at demurring failed as she was struck by a sudden wave of giddiness.

“Here.” Hoshino held out a bottle of water- taken from where? -that Nagisa took gratefully. “Did you even take breakfast before you two came here?”

“Nope! Nagi-chan thought we might be able to find a place in the city to eat, but everything was closed!” Partway through that sentence, she’d thought about shutting Mika up, but the taste of water on her tongue was too great for anything else. She settled for giving her the dirty eye.

“Oh dear… that won’t do now!” A passion came over Nonomi, one best likened to that of a grandmother dealing with hungry grandkids. “Come on, let’s go and get something to eat! There’s a great ramen place in the city that we go to!”

The two Trinity students, with nary a protest, followed Nonomi out the door. 

Leaving the Abydos students alone.

Ayane was the first to speak. “Those are members of Trinity’s Tea Party right?!”

Hoshino nodded. “Kirifuji Nagisa… that’s the one Hifumi called her friend right?” She slung Eye of Horus onto her back. “A friend of Hifumi is a friend of ours. Right?”

She got three nods in response. 

“They said they were here to talk to you, Senpai.”

“Oya? Well then, let’s see what they have to say after breakfast.” She glanced at the clock. “Or lunch.”

“Delicious!” Forgetting or ignoring the manners instilled into her, Nagisa slurped ramen from the bowl, the taste, enhanced by her hunger, carving its own niche in her taste buds.

Mika had already finished hers. “Seconds! Could I get the special with rich soup?”

“Uhe~ You two really must have been starving.” “I know! Look at these poor things!” 

Shiba Seki may no longer have had a permanent location, but the ramen was still as good as it had always been.

The master laughed. “With how much they’re eating, I probably will need to close early! And that’s a good thing,” he quickly added, “means less work for me!”

Sipping at her tea, Serika looked at the growing pile of used bowls worriedly. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

“I can’t ask a girl showing friends around to work now, can I?”

“The master is worried about you overworking too, Serika~” Hoshino raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to waste his concern for you?~ Man, she’s at that rebellious age already, huh?”

The master melodramatically shaked his head. “Ah, it’s fine, this old man will just deal with the heartbreak of watching my finest worker collapse from overwork…”

“I’m your only worker!”

Listening to the backchat between the Abydos students and the proprietor of the ramen stand, Nagisa couldn’t help but give a little smile.

Sitting beside her, Ayane mistook it for something else, and started apologising. “Sorry about this, they’re like this normally, but you’re probably used to quiet in Trinity…”

“Don’t worry~” Leaning over, Mika gave Ayane a pat on the back (knocking her glasses loose and the air out of her lungs). “It’s not like we hate it, we just aren’t used to it! Right, Nagi?”

Without missing a beat, she replied. “Maybe you aren’t, but I’m definitely used to it with how much time I spend around you.” 

“See?” Mika gave a hearty laugh. “We don’t mind at all! We may be members of the-” Nagisa quickly slammed her mouth shut with a bamboo shoot.

The Abydos students had brought Nonomi up to speed, and they collectively decided to pretend they hadn’t heard anything. That just meant they watched as Nagisa tried to dig herself out of a hole that was exposed to the whole world.

“S-so, she meant, uh, the, the Tea Club! That’s right! She meant the Trinity Tea Club! Right Mika?” Sweat fell from her brows not just due to the Abydos heat as she tried to blag her way out of Mika’s misspoken word. But as she continued, her red cheeks and confused eyes did nothing else than inspire sympathy in the Abydos students.

Finally, Hoshino interrupted her. “Don’t worry about it, we already knew you were from the Tea Party.”

“…heh?”

“Hifumi told us about you before. Miss Nagisa of the Tea Party, who always gave her quality teas and quality advice.” She gave her a warm smile. “And who also lent her the artillery of Trinity to fire on a spot in the Abydos desert when we needed help. We never got to thank you for that.”

Nagisa couldn’t suppress the smile that crossed her lips from the praise. “Yes, well, they needed to get some practise out, and Abydos does have some wonderfully isolated desert for firing… no need to worry about any rounds going off course.”

“It really did help us though! You know-“

“Wait wait wait!” Mika loudly interrupted. “When did this happen?”

“A while back.”

“And I never knew?!” 

“You must’ve been busy preparing your coup, Miss Mika .” Taking a drink from the cup given to her, Nagisa was amused to see Mika shrivel slightly.

Firing back, Mika replied. “W-well, isn’t it overstepping Trinity’s bounds to fire in another district?!”

“Oh,” said Hoshino, “we don’t actually mind. In fact, if you wanna do it more often just tell us. Although, there’s some legal obstacles like us technically not owning the land-” “Wait, what?” “Oh, nevermind that little detail.” Making a money symbol, she smirked. “Just pay us in cash and you can do whatever you want!” 

The Abydos students stared in wonder as the two members of the Tea Party started giggling, then laughing, before joining in the laughter.

The rest of the day was filled with more fun.

“Goodbye!” Waving to the rest of the Abydos students, Nagisa quickly hurried to rejoin Mika and Hoshino as the shorter Abydos student showed them the way to the train station.

It was becoming sundown, and if they wanted to return to Trinity before it got dark they would need to catch the next train.

“That was fun right, Nagi? When was the last time we went out like this?”

“Oh gosh, when was it? Must’ve been over a year by now at least!”

“Wow, you two really must be busy.” Hoshino stretched herself out. “Maaaaaan, you two really are incredible! This old man wouldn’t be able to keep up with that kind of workload.”

Nagisa tittered. “Oh nonsense, you’re a very capable person Hoshino! I don’t think either of us could deal with the sort of stress that comes with dealing with such a large debt.”

In front of her, Hoshino looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “Heeeeeh~? Flattering this old man? So you still have things to discuss with me then?” 

 “Dis- oh, we completely forgot about that!” She gave a suspicious glare to the pinkette. “How did you know that?”

“I have my means~ Well, go ahead you two, this time of night Abydos doesn’t have anyone around.”

Nagisa shared a look with Mika, before turning back to Hoshino. “We actually came here to ask… do you know the current location of Kuchinashi Yume?” 

Suddenly, the atmosphere around Hoshino changed. As she turned to face the two, her spine stood straighter, her eyes more upturned, and her ever-present smile disappeared, replaced with a ferocious growl. On reflex, Nagisa’s hand moved closer to the pistol at her side, and she could see Mika reaching for her submachine gun.

“ Where did you hear that name. ”

“W-we went digging, after hearing the rumours of Sensei’s… well, Sensei’s daughter! Mika had heard something before, so we did some digging and found an image of you and her together!” Trying to defuse the situation, Nagisa added, “We just want to ask her about Sensei! Nothing else.”

They stood there in tense silence, before Hoshino deflated. “Heheh, looks like you girls are speaking the truth.” Turning around, she continued.

“If you want to speak to her, then let’s take a little detour.”

They had taken the train to an area within the D.U, and walked further on, the crowds of people thinning out further until they’d reached an empty park.

Without thinking, Mika said out loud. “Wow, she lives in a pretty deserted area, huh?” 

“She does.”

“Uhm, Hoshino, do we really have to walk through a cemetery to go to where Miss Yume lives?…”

“Haha. Well, don’t worry you two.” She turned back to face the two of them, one hand pointing to the left. “We’re right here.”

“But this is a ceme-…” Nagisa’s voice trailed off as she read the text on the gravestone Hoshino was pointing towards.

“Oh.”

Hoshino gave her a sardonic smile. “Oh, indeed.”

“I didn’t mean to…” Mika was in near tears as they sat on the train back to Trinity.

And if she was being honest with herself, Nagisa completely understood why. “She knew that too, Mika, don’t worry. It might’ve seemed like she was mad, but she wasn’t, alright?””

Death as a topic was uncommon in Kivotos. The simple fact of the matter was that while some outliers existed, most students were well protected from harm by their halos, and for the most part the only things that could really cause long-term damage was through sicknesses or internal injuries, something that medical advancements made a rarity.

And yet, Hoshino had lost her senpai.

That meant that something must’ve happened to her in those categories. Hoshino herself was reluctant to say, but out of all those possibilities there were some that she definitely would much rather tick off.

A shiver went down Nagisa’s spine. Beyond that… she’d made it very clear that Abydos was only the two of them at one point, and it was obvious how close they were. 

 If someone close to her died, and if she had to find them like that…

She glanced at Mika’s defeated form. What if Mika…

The thoughts followed her all the way home.

“Haaaaah… Do you think I was too harsh on them, Yume-senpai?” The pictures in the album were unable to speak, but Hoshino felt she could hear words from them anyways.

“Yeah, maybe I should apologise… What would you do if you were here?” Inside her heart, she already knew the answer. She’d have taken them out for lunch, showed them around Abydos, and then showed them off at the train station - all the things they had done today, except without showing them the final resting place of the departed. Because she’d still be around.

But she isn’t around, is she?

She heaved a deep sigh, and held the album to her heart. If Yume was still around, would she still be like this to Sensei? Would she still have little flutters in her heart whenever he was around, whenever he showed that silly smile of his? Maybe not. Somewhere deep inside, she knew she was just using him to fill in the parts left empty by Yume.

Maybe I wouldn’t have felt like this since he’s her father… Still, to be depressed for this long…

Flipping the album open to a page rendered supple by countless flippings, she stared at the picture on the page. One of the last in the album.

Maybe Yume-senpai would cheer me on, she resolved, and placing the book gently on the bedside table, she skipped over to the closet to take out an old dress she hadn’t worn in two years.

Yes, she decided, she would pay him a visit tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The table was empty of the usual chatter, the only sounds being the birds chirping and the sounds of the street floating up to the empty balcony.

Sipping away at her tea, Seia let the other two stew in the silence, purposefully making her sips louder than usual as she enjoyed the view of Nagisa squirming uncomfortably.

It was a game of bluff, mano a mano , and the loser was already decided.

“I told you so.” Nagisa jumped as Seia placed down her cup and spoke, with not a little smugness in her voice. In fact, the smugness was overflowing from every single word she said, her smile that of the fox that ate the canary.

“Well… that is… yes…” Nagisa’s voice trailed off as she knew that yes, Seia did say going to Abydos was a bad idea, and she still did it anyway.

“So what are the two of you going to do? Oh my, these chelsea buns are delicious. Where did you get these from?” 

“A new bakery that opened up. I’ll text you the address later. As for what…” Nagisa’s head hung low. “I don’t know.”

Seia pointed towards Mika. “Is that why she’s been like this all day?” The pinkette’s head laid on the table, facing away from both of them. A breach in manners, but among friends manners mattered less, and technically speaking she wasn’t a part of the Tea Party anymore. Technically. While her actions had caused her reputation to collapse, Pater was still finding someone to pick up the mantle, so until then it was accepted that she would stay there as the unofficial representative.

“Yes well, it was rather hard on her…” Seia shook her head in disbelief. ‘Rather hard’ was an understatement, in the same way that saying murder was a mild social deviance was an understatement. Mika had been like this since the two of them had come back from their fact-finding trip to Abydos, and her mood hadn’t improved at all in that time.

“So? Are you two just going to mope then?”

Nagisa twitched. “I beg your pardon? What did you just say?”

Seia leaned over the table, looking her in the eyes. “I said, are the two of you just going to sit around going ‘woe is me’ while anticipating someone to tell Sensei what the two of you did and for his wrath to fall on you?” Ignoring Nagisa’s shaking hands, Seia continued, “Honestly, how did the two of you even manage while I was in a coma? Is that why you immediately went out looking for heads?”

Glaring at Seia from the corner of her eye, Nagisa sipped at her tea before dignifying her with a response. Seia would have said she was trying to come up with a response. “You try finding a traitor while keeping it under wraps! It wasn’t easy, you know!”

‘ You nearly burnt all your personal ties to find the traitor and in the end it took the real traitor revealing herself for you to find them’ , Seia didn’t say. Instead, she just shook her head and let Nagisa have her continue.

“Besides,” Nagisa continued, “do you think you could’ve done much better? I tried my best to do what I could with what I had.”

‘ She fell for it.’ Hiding her smirk, Seia relaxed her body. “You hid yourself while letting others do the work, solving nothing in the process. And now, you’re so scared you might’ve crossed the person who helped you that you’re reverting to old behaviours.” Seeing Nagisa twitch, Seia knew she had her. “Honestly, all over a silly little c-“ A loud bang came from the table as Nagisa slammed her hands on it.

“That,” Nagisa whispered, “was uncalled for.”

Seia nodded. “It was. But you understand what I’m saying, right?”

Without saying a word, Nagisa grabbed Mika by the scruff of her dress and hoisted her up to her feet. “Mika! We’re going!” Nagisa said, sharply.

“N-Nagi?! Where?!” 

“To Schale!” Dragging a loudly protesting and panicking Mika, Nagisa slowly disappeared from view, allowing Seia to collapse into her chair.

“Honestly, does she really think Sensei would be that petty?....” She greedily drank her tea, allowing her dry mouth to soothe itself, while Nagisa’s furious expression ran through her mind. “...I’ll apologise to her later.”

"But first..." She took out her phone.

Despite what she had said to Mika, Nagisa had no plan whatsoever, and only on the way there did she think about what she was going to do.

She had come up with exactly one idea that would probably work. The others had too many unknowns, too many variables out of her control, that they were discarded almost immediately.

“Uhm… Nagi? Are we really doing this?” Mika was still unsure of their course of action, but couldn’t she see that it was the optimal way forward? That this was the only surefire way that no matter how much Sensei h-hated them for going behind his back and intruding on his privacy, he would definitely forgive them?!

“Nagi?” But wait! What if he still didn’t forgive them even with this?! What if his anger required more?! B-b-b-b-b-but the only way to go further would be to-

“NAGI!” Mika’s shouting snapped Nagisa out of her thoughts. “Are we seriously going to do this?!”

Irritated, Nagisa snapped back. “Of course we are! This is the most likely way he will forgive us!”

Red-faced, with her arms covering herself, Mika was a far cry from the boisterous gorilla she usually acted like. “But do we really have to wear bunny suits?!”

Clad in a pink bunny suit with matching rabbit ear headbands, with her usual tights on, the one-size too small leotard that made her large breasts look like they were about to burst out, Mika was the perfect image for eroticism, a pink haired goddess of fertility clad so skimpily no man would be able to resist her, and her adorable expressions.

Nagisa was, of course, wearing a similar outfit. Her leotard was white instead, but similarly smaller than comfortable, a calculated move to ensure that Sensei’s eyes would be drawn to their bodies (even if the way it squeezed their bodies was incredibly uncomfortable). While Nagisa was usually a modest individual, at this moment, she was incredibly confident that no matter what mood Sensei was in, he would be unable to resist the two of them together.

“Of course we do. After all, how else are we going to seduce Sensei to ensure his anger dissipates itself after we confess what we did?”

Mika stared at her like she had grown a second head. “Nagi, are you mad? Have you gone insane?”

“You were the one who was crying! Meanwhile, I’ve come up with an idea to get us out of this situation!”

“B-by throwing away our dignity?” The sentence came out as a screech, as Mika’s face bloomed red like a rose.

Nagisa held her head up high as she looked right into Mika’s eyes. “One must be prepared to sacrifice everything.”

“Ahahaha… Nagi has gone mad… it must be my fault… all the stress I put on her caused her to snap…” Ignoring Mika’s words, Nagisa confidently turned towards the door and made to knock, only for the door to swing open by itself.

And for Sensei to be standing in the doorway, staring at the two of them.

Not a word passed between the three of them for what felt like hours, until the silence was broken by him awkwardly coughing. “Uh, did Halloween come early this year?”

I let the two of them get comfortable as we sat down around the table, the blush on Mika’s face still as bright as the sun.

“So, uh, interesting outfits.” I gestured towards them. Interesting was not necessarily the right word for this situation, but given what I knew Nagisa was here for, I felt understatement was the right move.

Said girl was strutting like a peacock, metaphorically speaking. In truth, she was trying her best to show off her chest, leaning forward to emphasise her cleavage as she tried to seduce me in the awkward manner of a hormonal teenager trying to seduce someone to get out of trouble.

Maybe if I was a decade or two younger I would fall for it, but I had experience on my side, and more importantly, seen much larger ones. Both fully clothed and naked.

She had passed them down to Yume, after all.

“Thank you Sensei,” Nagisa said, trying and failing to look like a dignified woman showing off just a little too much skin. “We thought it might be a good change from the usual-“

“A good change?” I muttered.

“-and we thought we should get an opinion on it.” She finished. Holding her hands out, she stood up and gave a little twirl, finishing with a wink at the end. “How does it look?”

“Well, I think Mika is going to explode in a few minutes.” Her face was nearly completely red, from her chin to her ears, in embarrassment. I put on my best thinking expression, with my hand on my chin, and continued. “Besides that? You do make it look good, both of you. The contrast between your usual outfits and this would definitely make some folks happy.” Nagisa preened as Mika became even redder. “But, you shouldn’t really shout your plans outside the door.” I gestured towards it. “The soundproofing sucks.”

Instantly, Nagisa broke out into a cold sweat, while Mika buried her face into her hands. I could see Nagisa darting her eyes around, and I quickly continued before she did something. “Now, uh, I’m flattered really, but I won’t get angry no matter what you two did, you know? So just feel free to tell me what’s on your mind-“

“I’m sorry Sensei!” Wailing loudly, Mika cut me off. “We went heard the rumours going around, and that time you were sleeping over I heard you say something, so I did some digging and found your daughters name and we went to Abydos to see if we could talk to her but then after talking to Hoshino we found out what happened to her and your wife and we just felt so horrible about it and we wanted to apologise but then Nagi had this stupid idea and I followed her like an idiot and now we’re here and I’m sorrrrryyyyyyyyy!” The words came like an avalanche, and by the time it was over the girl was sobbing into her hands, the light sounds of weeping a backdrop of noise over the silence in the room.

Avoiding my eyes, Nagisa spoke. “I-it is as she said, Sensei.” She bowed deeply. “I’m sorry for betraying the trust you placed in us.”

I sat there watching it unfold, absolutely flabbergasted. When I was sleeping over… that time she got me locked in her dorm? I remembered having a bad dream then, I must have been speaking in my sleep as well. But more to the point…

“There’s nothing to apologise about though?” As he spoke, his tone was full of emotions, amusement, confusion, concern… but not anger.

Nagisa felt a warm hand on her head, ruffling her hair gently. “I wasn’t exactly hiding anything, just not mentioning it. And it’s not like I wear a ring or anything or keep photos around.” A low chuckle, followed by something muttered too softly for her to hear. 

“You’re not angry?” A pang of anger flashed through Nagisa at herself for letting her voice crack on the sentence, but the hand mussing up her hair just redoubled its efforts.

“Why would I be? It's about things that happened years ago, that I never even mentioned anything about. If Yume was still around, you wouldn’t be here apologising, would you?” Another chuckle. “You’d just have a nice chat with her about the past and that would be it. It’s just bad circumstances, that’s all.”

The hand left her head, and before she could feel sadness over it she felt it gently tugging her chin. “So come on, look at me.” 

She closed her eyes and followed it, fully braced for whatever that would happen.

Only to be met with a fatherly face smiling at her, filled with concern for her wellbeing. “There we go.” A tender tissue dabbed at her eyes, and touching them she was surprised to find there were tears in them. When was the last time?…

“Come here Mika, let’s clean you up.” Doing the same for Mika, it gave Nagisa a chance to think without the panic clouding her thoughts. What was she even doing? When had Sensei been anything but fair to them? ‘ I ought to have trusted Seia more… ’

A cloth fell over her shoulders, and before she could jump she heard a voice coming from behind her. “Here.” After draping another blanket around Mika, he sat back down opposite them.

“If there’s anything you want to ask, I’ll try to answer it as best as I can.” He gave that silly smile he always made, the one that made Nagisa’s heart flutter. “And don’t worry you two, I won’t stare.” He gave a wink, and it made Nagisa realise just how much the bunny suit showed off. 

She couldn’t hide the blush that covered her face, or the smile when she batted Mika for teasing her about it.

Sorted

The message from Sensei was short but comforting. Letting out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding, Seia looked out at the trees, and listened to the birds chirping. 

Another peaceful day in Kivotos.

Chapter Text

The door of the homely apartment opened, letting the moonlight illuminate the darkness of the house, and allowing a single figure in. The figure was cleanly-cut in a full suit typical of an office worker, and his briefcase did little to dissuade that notion.

Indeed, the only thing that Kuchinashi Takashi did differently than others, was the time he came back. Being the sole breadwinner of his family was a tough job, but he’d pull through. It was something he had to do.

Following his usual routine, he took off his shoes and left them on the rack, moving on to the bathroom, where he started filling up the bathtub, knowing that it would be filled by the time he was done with everything else.

Moving to the kitchen, he opened up the fridge looking for something he could have for dinner, and saw the cling-wrapped curry inside marked ‘For Papa’ on it. He shook his head, sighing and muttering as he did so. “I already told her she didn’t have to…” A smile was on his face though, as he saw the hand-written note. Closing it back, he moved into the living room and the family shrine, newly installed just a year prior, that sat in one corner.

The final step in his back-from-work ritual. Gently, he took out a joss stick, and with a small lighter lit it, before placing it in a pot filled with ash. Behind the pot, was a picture frame and a small, modified handgun. He adjusted the pistol to sit just a little stabler on the shrine, before wiping the dust off the picture frame.

It had been nearly a year since Kuchinashi Sanae had passed away, and everyday he was reminded just how much he had depended on her, how much he had needed her, how much he missed her.

He would have to do his best to take care of their daughter alone, to make sure she could rest peacefully.

Clapping his hands, he bowed in prayer, before turning to the side as he heard another pair of hands clap.

Even though she was supposed to be asleep, Takashi couldn’t help but curl his lips up into a smile. “Yume, what are you telling mommy?”

Kuchinashi Yume had bawled her eyes out at her mothers funeral, but while it still took some getting used to for him, Yume was already moving on, stepping into some of the roles her mother had left empty, even if it caused him grief to know that his daughter had to learn all of this herself and for him.

He justified it by telling himself that he did it for their sakes. That it was necessary for him to be away from home from sunrise until midnight so that they wouldn’t have to worry about anything. That Yume understood it, and that she knew why her father could never be at school events, could never be at home, and could never spend time with her.

A part of him he kept quiet told him that he was stupid for thinking that, and that he ought to spend more time with her. 

“Eh?” She looked up at him with a quizzical expression on her face. “Uh… I didn’t know you did this to talk to mommy!” Her face brightened up in an instant. “What’s mommy saying!”

On a bent knee, he mussed up Yume’s hair. “She says that she hopes her little darling has been a good girl at school today. Have you?”

“Yeh!” She nodded her head frantically. 

“That’s good. Mommy says it's good too!” A hand landed on her head, and despite her protests and squeals it started ruffling her hair.

“Papa! Stop it! My hair!”

The slightly worn door to the apartment opened, letting the midnight moonlight into the still lit house and silhouetting a backlit figure. Taking off his shoes, Takashi stopped for a moment to look into the mirror. His figure had lost some of the tone it once had, while his hand ran down the outgrown beard, and he took in his eyebags and unhealthy complexion. “Might need to get some makeup for this…”

That’s when he noticed the lights. Quietly opening the door, he spotted a silhouette slumped on the dining table.

Yume had grown up well in the six years since her mothers death. He had made sure she would not grow up wanting, that she would have everything her mother and him didn’t have.

She was still shorter than him though. Truly her mothers child, and sadly enough in the chest area as well. He already had plans on how to beat off anyone with ill-intentions towards her… years of beating off horny folks on the beach who tried to flirt with Sanae would come in handy with that.

It still stung, sometimes, knowing that she wasn’t here. Even with how many years it had been. 

He shrugged that thought off. Right now, he had to try and carry his daughter to bed.

The floorboards had different ideas though, and as he stepped on them they creaked loudly, and he saw Yume move. 

He froze and watched as Yume moved, and slowly got up from where she had been lying.

“Papa? ‘sat you?” Drool was coming down the side of her mouth as she blearily rubbed her eyes. “Mmmm… I was waiting for you to come back… I made dinner…” She yawned. “Sorry… I must’ve fallen asleep…”

“It’s fine, dear. What did you make?” Taking a seat beside her, he looked at the covered dishes on the table. “Is that miso soup?”

“Mhm, and this bwol - this bowl! - is nikujaga, I know how much you like it papa! And this plate is teriyaki chicken, for a full balanced meal! Oh, and they had a deal for this rice down at the supermarket, so I bought it! It’s some sort of specialty from Shanhaijing.” Her energy slowly came back as she spoke, and by the end of it she was back to her sparkling self.

Despite how tired he was, Takashi laughed and ruffled her head. “Thank you, Yume. I’ll enjoy-”

“Let me heat it up first!” Standing up, she took the bowl of rice and the bowl of nikujaga, while Takashi quickly took the plate of teriyaki. Upon seeing that, Yume pouted. “Papa, go sit down! I can handle it myself.”

“Like this we can take it in one-shot right? C’mon, let me help you out.”

“Grrrrrrr… fine! Hmph! You workaholic!” She faked a huff and walked off behind the kitchen counter, while Takashi sheepishly followed.

“Ahaha, sorry about that.”

Yume stopped in her tracks for a spell before replying. “It’s fine. I know you do it for me.”

The two of them waited for the oven to heat up the meal, when Yume spoke. “I’m applying to Abydos.”

Takashi whipped his head to face Yume. “What?”

“That’s why I was waiting for you tonight. I’ve already sent in my application-”

“Yume, are you sure? You know what’s happening to-”

“I know, papa.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked into his eyes. “But I can’t let the place where you and mama met disappear. You always looked so happy when you shared stories of how the two of you met there, and I don’t want you to lose those too.”

The words touched Takashi, and yet he wanted to turn her away from it. Abydos was dying, no matter how hard people tried - and very few people were trying.

Even he had left with Sanae before Yume was born. But now it seemed the repercussions of the old stories he told of his life with Sanae in Abydos were coming back to bite him.

Yet, as he looked into Yume’s eyes, seeing the determination in them, he held back the words he wished to say, the words he wanted to use to dissuade her from going to a place with no future, with no hope.

Instead, what he heard coming out of his mouth was something he didn’t want to say. “If you’re so sure about it, then I’ll support you the whole way.” He gestured towards the shrine, and the pistol that sat there. “How about you take your mothers gun? She would want you to have it…”

She shook her head, but the smile on her lips lit up the room. “Nope, it was something you treasured but thank you papa!” 

A ding came from the oven. “Alright, let's get the food out so you can eat! You must be starving!” Yume opened out the oven while Takashi took out the tray.

“Papa! Let me do it all!”

Takashi laughed as he carried the tray with one hand and ruffled Yume’s hair with the other.

“Papa~!” 

His laughs grew louder and heartier the more Yume wailed.

As the door opened and let the inhabitant of the house in, his legs finally gave out and he crumpled onto the floor.

Tears falling from his face, he cradled the jar holding the remains of his greatest treasure in the whole world.

He had managed to keep a strong face throughout the entire ceremony, unlike the pink-haired student that had been the only person from Abydos High School that had been there. She had been crying throughout. Probably the junior that Yume had always raved about, the always reliable little junior.

It had warmed his heart to see how much she had loved Yume, but at the same time it had made it so much harder to keep strong until now.

He couldn’t let others see how much it had hurt him. Old-fashioned sensibilities maybe, but he didn’t want others to see his pain.

Now that he was at home and alone, he let it all out. He cried and cried and cried, and only the thought that he still had the urn in his arms made him want to move.

Wiping his eyes, he got up on shaky legs, trembling with every movement that he made as the memories that filled the empty home taunted him with what he had lost. Yume may have not lived here for the last two years of her life, but she had made her mark here, and to his own immeasurable sorrow he wasn’t around for most of it.

And there wouldn’t be more. 

She would not sheepishly laugh as the oven was filled with popcorn, could not accidentally burn the roof of the kitchen, or panickedly be cleaning the floor of a jelly accident.

There would be no more nights she spent awake waiting for him, drooling asleep on the dining table as she failed to stay up. No more times he would catch her empty-headed as she walked out of the bathroom after a long bath. No more praying with her to her mother, as they tried their best to talk to the dead.

Now, he was left alone.

His trembling hands put the urn beside her mothers, and once it was there, safe and secure, could he catch his voice.

“Welcome home, Yume.”

The tears rolled down as he repeated himself like a broken alarm.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

He stayed there for hours until he finally found the remnants of courage to pull himself from the two people he cherished the most in the whole world.