An Adult's Responsibility Chapter 17:

Chapter 17:

“Are you insane?” Iori eventually asked, from where she was sitting, restrained alongside the rest of the Prefect Team, “You brought an entire building down on us!”

“Well, you were the one who declined my offer of surrender.” I responded, getting a death glare in response.

The girl puffed up at that, before Chinatsu deflated her by saying, “Give it a rest Iori, he won, we lost.”

“Big words from you, surrendering without a fight…” Iori mumbled in response, as indeed, the medic had surrendered soon after the buildings came down, only asking to be allowed assist in digging out her schoolmates from the rubble.

It was thanks to her medical team that we were done so quickly, pulling out the defeated and unconscious students and tying them up, restraining them together in one big group.

“I still can’t believe you did that, Sensei.” Ayane, who had rushed back after delivering Master Seki to the hospital, “This is going to take forever to clean up.”

“I have a plan for that.” I responded, getting a hesitant nod from the treasurer, “But before that, we need to wrap things up with the Prefects.”

Having said that, I proceeded to kneel down and pat around Iori’s hips.

“Hey- Wait- WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU PERVERT?!?!” She squirmed before shouting at me, attempting to kick at my leg with her tied-together limbs.

“I’m getting your phone.” I calmly responded, “Get your mind out of the gutter. Oh, there we go, found it.”

I pulled the object out of her pocket, causing her to briefly deflate before puffing up in indignation, “Wait, no, don’t look through my things, you- you-!”

“Cute picture. You should really have a lock on this, though.” I remarked, navigating to her contacts and pressing the one for Ako, then hitting the hologram function.

She picked up on the second ring, eyes looking down to her clipboard, “That took longer than I expected, Iori. Did they really give you that much trouble?”

“More than you think.” Serika snarked, arms crossed and radiating satisfaction at the victory.

Ako’s head snapped up at that, taking in the scene of me holding her subordinate’s phone while the FTF were standing behind me, all of them hale and hearty.

“You beat Iori?!” She asked, voice faint.

“Nn.” Shiroko grunted, “Easy.”

“Maybe Abydos has more kick to it than you thought, hmm?” Nonomi smiled at the Officer, but there was an air of danger to it.

“Where is Iori?” Ako questioned, prompting me to tilt the phone to show her the sight of a blushing Iori who had her head turned away, not wishing to face the judging eyes of her senior, “Now how did you manage to mess this up, Iori?”

“Wasn’t my fault.” The girl mumbled, “He dropped half a block on us with explosives.”

That stunned Ako into silence, allowing Chinatsu to add her two cents in a sullen tone, “I told you that picking a fight with SCHALE was dumb.”

Ako sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with a hand as she did so, before asking, “So, what do you want? Did you call me just to gloat?”

“No, I called you to offer you terms.” I responded, turning the camera back to me, “This was an aggressive action against another academy, so unless you do want this to spiral into full scale war, you will need to agree to a preliminary deal to end it.”

“So you want me to surrender, is it?” She scoffed, before straightening herself up, “Big words for someone who hasn’t won yet.”

“Oh come on…” Serika groaned, something I felt like doing myself.

“Ako. Your forces are defeated. Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” I tried to appeal to her, wishing to get this wrapped up quickly.

“Oh, don’t be so sure, Sensei.” Ako puffed out her chest, projecting confidence, “After all, the Head Prefect wasn’t involved. I’m sure you’ve heard of her?”

I had, of course. SCHALE had dossiers on all notable students of Kivotos, especially those in charge of major Clubs. Sorasaki Hina, the leader of the Gehenna Prefect Team, had quite reputation as well as a long list of notable achievements in her file. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I would say the GSC student who wrote it was a fangirl of hers. However, it seemed that she was just being as factual as possible.

“Oh, you’re talking about Hina, aren’t you?” I responded, causing Ako to smile widely.

“I see, of course you’ve heard of her.” She nodded, pleased, “That simplifies things. Let Iori and the rest go, and she will not have to be involved. Of course, if you wish to press the issue, then you know what that will mean, right? Without the delinquents that were aiding you, I doubt you have the energy to continue fighting.”

Ah, so she had noticed that Problem Solver had run off, then. As the main reason for the battle, I had told them to scatter before the situation got complicated, as it could then be argued that Abydos merely temporarily allied with the group, rather than looking like they were deliberately harbouring fugitives from Gehenna.

So that was her play? Unfortunately for her, it won’t work. A major deployment of the Prefect Team, in foreign territory? There is no way that Hina had not been aware of this matter. That is unless of course, that this was not as authorised as Ako implied. If it was, then why wasn’t Hina here leading the operation?

I decided to call her bluff, “Go ahead and call her. I’m interested to hear how you plan to explain this situation to her.”

Ako deflated like a popped balloon, a grimace on her face, before a new voice sounded out from behind me.

“Indeed. I would also be very interested to hear your excuses for this, Ako.” The Abydos girls behind me reacted quickly, guns up and trained on the newcomer.

I turned to the voice, being greeted by the sight of a petite student with long, fluffy white hair gently landing on the rubble of one of the collapsed walls of the building. Her method of reaching that spot was obviously the large, bat-like wings which were flared behind her. Paired with horns that grew from her head in the shape of a crown, it made for quite the imposing figure as she landed on the concrete, her heeled boots making a soft ‘clack’ as they made contact.

She stalked forwards, unconcerned about the guns trained on her as she glared at Ako’s hologram with her purple eyes narrowed, “Well, Ako? I’m waiting. Surely you must have a good reason for all this if you were offering to call me?”

“Oh good, we’re saved.” Iori muttered, from her position in the prisoner pile.

“Hina!” Ako spoke, pale and shivering, “That was, I just, with the Eden Treaty coming up I thought…”

“Ako.” Hina cut her off, her eyes flashing in irritation, causing the other girl to flinch and hold her clipboard over her chest protectively, “Shut up.”

She then turned to me and the FTF gathered defensively surrounding me. Tension ratcheted up, both sides evaluating the other, before hse made the first move by bowing deeply in our direction.

“My subordinates have caused you a lot of trouble. Please allow me to apologise.” She straightened up, “I will accept any punishment that you deem fit, as the Sensei of SCHALE, as well as commit to compensating Abydos for the inconvenience. However, the situation at Gehenna means that my prefects are needed to be back in action soon. May I ask that I be allowed to take them off your hands?”

I stepped forward, nodding to her as I did so, “I’m fine with that, as the sooner we can start the clean up here the better. However, you’ll have to confirm that Abydos is also okay with picking this up later.”

At that, I indicated the other girls who looked at each other for a few brief moments, obviously considering how to respond.

“Well, we don’t really have the facilities to keep them long term…” Ayane spoke, unsure, “But what guarantees do we have that you won’t just attack again once you have the chance?”

“My personal word as Head Prefect of the Gehenna Prefect Team. As well as the witness of SCHALE’s Sensei, who will likely be reporting this matter to the GSC as soon as he can.” Hina tilted her head towards me, getting me to nod in response.

“That’s more than enough for me!” Nonomi chimed in, “But we will need to confirm it with our President, before anything can be decided.”

“Right, Hoshino should know.” Serika was quick to say, pulling out her phone while Shiroko kept a distrustful eye on Hina, “Let me call her and tell her what happened.”

“No need, it was rather difficult to miss people demolishing half a street.” A voice called out, echoing through the hallways, accompanied by steady, unhurried steps.

From the doorway of the collapsed room, Hoshino entered, her mismatched eyes sweeping over the assembled figures inside, “Man, this old timer can’t even take the smallest break without you kids getting into trouble, can I?”

Out of everyone, it was surprisingly Hina who had the biggest reaction to the sudden appearance, tensing up as she laid eyes on the newcomer, asking in a terse voice, “Takanashi Hoshino? You are still protecting Abydos?”

“Hmm?” Hoshino scratched her cheek, lazily looking Hina up and down, utterly relaxed, “That’s right. Have we met before? You’re looking rather tense there, for someone I don’t recognise.”

“No. We have never met, but I have heard of you.” Hina responded, eyes analysing Hoshino deeply, “We were just discussing the issues caused by my subordinates, and the condition for their safe return.”

“Yeah, I heard.” Hoshino nodded, eyes moving to the tied up prefects, before she shrugged, “It’s fine by me. Your girls have learned their lesson by now, I’m sure.”

“If they haven’t, I’ll be sure to teach them it personally.” Hina muttered, “Thank you for your consideration.”

“Don’t mention it. Just make sure I don’t regret it, ‘kay?” Hoshino waved her off, before turning to the rest of the FTF, “Are you all okay?”

“Nn. We weren’t hurt.” Shiroko responded, getting a grin in response.

“Great. Let’s help get our guests on their way, shall we?”

With that we helped Hina organise her students for the march home. Surprisingly, she asked us to keep them tied up, as she stated that having to walk all the way back to Gehenna like that would make sure that they learned from this experience. The FTF shrugged it off, but I only agreed once Chinatsu assured me that it was uncomfortable, but not painful.

After they were organised into their formation, Hina spent a few moments to speak to me personally, before confirming things with the FTF.

“I am sorry that this is the way we meet, Sensei.” Hina spoke, glaring off into the middle distance, “I had hoped that your first impression of Gehenna would have been a positive one.”

“Unfortunately, sometimes life has a way of making things go the opposite way of what we would like.” I responded, getting a terse nod in return, “Although, your conduct in all this has impressed me greatly. I can tell why the Prefect Team looks up to you as much as they do. So, how about this? We can set up a time to meet soon and start over. All this will be water under the bridge.”

“I would like that.” The tension relaxed slightly, before she looked a bit unsure, and then saying, “I don’t know if this is at all relevant to you, but I feel like I should inform you. Kaiser PMC is doing something out in the Abydos desert, erecting facilities and digging around, although for what, I don’t know.”

“Thank you for the information Hina. Have a safe trip home, I will be waiting for your message.” I thanked her, grateful for the tip.

There were several things that pointed towards that possibility in the papers I had liberated from the Stygian Bank, but getting it confirmed was very useful.

With a few more exchanges, the Prefect Team departed from Abydos.

That left me facing a rather unimpressed elfin Treasurer, who was currently scolding me, “I didn’t want to say anything until we were done, but what were you thinking, Sensei?! Sure, we managed to beat them, but you completely destroyed this street! It will take months to get everything cleaned up here, not to mention how much it will all cost!”

“I know, Ayane. But this area has been abandoned for a long time, so these buildings would likely need to have been rebuilt eventually anyway. This damage occurred due to a SCHALE operation and under my orders, so I will be using the collateral budget to pay for the repairs and the rebuilding.” I responded ,taking the wind out of he sails of her anger.

“Nn. I knew Sensei would handle it.” Shiroko nodded to herself.

“Hey, waita minute.” Serika narrowed her eyes at me, When had you decided to do all that? Was it just as the battle started? How far ahead did you plan all that?”

I laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head as I did. Honestly, as soon as the artillery strike was over, I was planning on how to get them to accept me paying for the repair of the street. I knew that saying that however, would probably not go down to well.

“Mah mah, Sensei is rather sneaky isn’t he.” Hoshino chuckled, before fixing me wit ha considering look, “Maybe things will work out after all.”

I did not know what she meant by that.

---RERERE---

“Sensei.” Hasumi spoke after the Patrol with the JTF, “Do you have anything scheduled after this?”

Tsurugi and Ichika perked up at the question, paying close attention to my response.

“No, I have a meeting with a survey team in Abydos this afternoon, but I’m free until then.” I answered, getting a smile in return.

“In that, case, may I impose on you to join us at the new cafe that opened up recently?” She offered,
“President Tsurugi offered to treat us after this patrol.”

“Oh, well I wouldn’t want to intrude if it’s a pre-planned thing…” I spoke, scratching my cheek, “Will you be okay with me coming along, Tsurugi? I will pay for myself, so-”

“No! That’s… That’s not necessary, Sensei.” Tsurugi shouted, before blushing and fidgeting, awkwardly shuffling her feet, “It’s my treat, so…”

“In that case, I’ll be glad to tag along.” I smiled getting a hesitant smile from Tsurugi in return.

“Nice~!” Ichika stretched, “Sensei getto! This will be fun.”

“Thank you Sensei.” Hasumi spoke, nodding to me, “The cafe is this way.”

The three girls led me to a rather gaudily decorated store front, with chairs and tables inlaid with delicate, intricate patterns. Along the way, they made some small-talk, but nothing of great import was discussed, merely some discussion about how their week was going and what they planned to do next.

Soon enough, we were seated and the needlessly complex tables, having placed our orders. As the waiter left, Ichika, who was sitting across from me, lent on the table, chin on her hands as she grinned at me.

“So, Sensei, you’ve been working quite a bit over in Abydos, right?” She questioned, with a leading tone.

“Yes. I was requested by their acting student council to help them with some of their problems, but it seems like it’s going to take a while before things stabilise over there.” I explained, causing her to grin.

“It’s nice to know you are so dedicated, Sensei. But, that makes me want to ask, what about this rumour I heard about Gehenna in that district?” She tilted her head as she asked this.

Hasumi’s teacup creaked dangerously as she slammed it down onto the saucer, her eyes narrowing, “What’s this about Gehenna? Did you run into them, Sensei?”

“Aha, yes, I did. Although, I suppose it would be more accurate to say they ran into me.” Seeing the clear curiosity of the students, I explained further, “The were pursuing a delinquent club and decided to enter Abydos territory in order to apprehend them. They ran into me and the Abydos students while doing this, forcing me to get involved and telling them to leave. They refused, so I had subdue them.”

“So humble, Sensei.” Ichika giggled, “I saw the video, the whole Prefect Team tied up and marching back to their district. They looked like stray kittens, it was hilarious.”

“Well, I did ask them to surrender before we fought and I offered to untie them, but Hina, their Head Prefect, said that she wanted them to learn their lesson.” I shrugged, not comfortable with laughing along with the teasing.

“Oya? So Hina wasn’t pleased with their actions?” Ichika inquired.

“No, not at all. Apparently, the whole operation was done without her knowledge.” I responded, before noticing the sour look on Hasumi’s face, “Do you know Hina, Hasumi?”

“Yes, unfortunately. I am the JTF’s liaison with Gehenna, for the rare times when we have to coordinate with them.” She spoke, before sniffing, “Sensei, I won’t try and tell you how to conduct yourself, but be careful when dealing with Gehenna. I have had numerous unpleasant interaction with them.”

“If… If you don’t like it…” Tsurugi spokie, blushing as everyone looked at her, “I could do it for you, Hasumi?”

Hasumi smiled at her friend, “As much as I appreciate the offer, I volunteered, I will not shirk my duties.”

“Okay.” Tsurugi nodded, before reaching for her cup, accidentally knocking it over.

Tea spread all over the table, running down the engravings with frightful speed, before landing right where I had been sitting. Noticing the issue before it could reach me, I had quickly slid off my chair, avoiding the splash.

“Oh no!” Tsurugi covered her mouth mortified, “Sensei, I am so sorry!”

“No worries.” I waved her off, smiling, “No one was hurt, it’s just some tea. Would you like another cup?”

She nodded, looking down at the floor after doing so, “You’re way too kind.”

“I don’t think I am.” I laughed, watching as Hasumi waved down a waiter and asked for us to be moved while they clean the table, “I’m just trying to be a good teacher.”

“That’s more than we are used to, believe it or not.” Ichika spoke, before sidling up to my side, “Seeing as you’re already standing, Sensei, do you mind taking a selfie with me? I want to post it to my wall.”

“I don’t mind, but make sure Hasumi and Tsurugi are included, they invited me, after all.” That got a squawk from Tsurugi and a soft laugh from Hasumi.

“Okay!” Ichika trilled, before carolling the group next to a wall, taking the selfie and posting it triumphantly.

I watched her enthusiastically tapping away at her phone, shaking my head fondly. I never quite got the social media craze, but it seemed that she was happy, so I suppose that should be good enough.

“Oh, it seems that they found us another table, Sensei-” Hasumi was cut off from continuing by a ring tone sounding out, the Chest vibrating in my pocket.

I furrowed my brow, pulling the device out and seeing Arona holding a sign with Ayane’s name written on it on the screen.

“Sorry girls, I should take this.” I apologised, getting noises of agreement and encouragement to go ahead.

Accepting the call, I spoke, “Hello Ayane. I was planning to go later-”

Ayane’s panicked voice cut me off, “Sensei! Hoshino’s gone! She left us a letter, she’s been taken by Kaiser!”

“What?!” I responded, absolutely blind-sided, “Why would… No, never mind that. If she’s been taken, we need to go and take her back. Gather at the School, I’ll be there soon.”

“I hung up, before looking at the wide-eyed JTF forces around me, before Hasumi asked, “Sensei, did I hear correctly? Was a student kidnapped?”

“Yes you did. Apparently she was taken by Kaiser, but I don’t know all the details. I need to get going to Abydos girls, sorry to cut this short.”

“What are you talking about, Sensei?” Ichika asked, causing me to briefly be confused before she continued, “We will be going with you.”

“Obviously. You need help to get your student back, right? We’ll make sure you get it.” Hasumi nodded determined.

Tsurugi grinned and gave me a thumbs up, “Ye-Yes! I’ll blow them all away for you, Sensei!”

“I-” I was briefly at a loss for words, “I don’t want to feel like you have to do this, you don’t even know the student-”

“But you do. And you care about her.” Hasumi gently interrupted, “Therefore, she’s important to us to. You’ve helped us a lot by now Sensei, please let us pay you back.”

“...Thank you.” I gave in, “Thank you girls so much. Would you mind going ahead and deploying the JTF to Abydos? I need to make a detour on the way.”

“Happily, Sensei!” Ichika spoke, “We’ll meet you there.”

“I wonder if the Tea Party would be willing to help out?” Hasumi mused as they started to leave the cafe.

“I don’t see why not...” Tsurugi responded, before their voices became too faint to hear.

I smiled, heart warmed by their willingness to help, before I started moving rapidly, calling up the call function of the Chest as I did.

“Yes Sensei?” Niko spoke, “What can we do for you?”

“Sorry to keep calling you like this, but it’s an emergency.” I spoke, moving towards the train station, “You remember Takanashi Hoshino, from the thing we did recently?”

I was deliberately being vague, due to speaking in public, but Niko responded in the affirmative, “Of course. Is she in trouble?”

“She’s been taken by Kaiser. I think this is just their opening move and they are about to move against Abydos proper without her there.” I spoke, catching a sharp inhale at my words.

“Did I hear that right, Takanashi Hoshino has been taken?” Yukino’s voice came through telling me I’m on loudspeaker, “Sensei. That isn’t possible. If she went with them, she went willingly.”

“I think so too.” I confessed, “But she left without telling her friends, or her teacher. She’s currently being a truant, so it’s my duty to go to her and drag her to school, kicking and screaming if I have to.”

“...Wow.” Kurumi spoke, awe in her voice, “That’s so badass.”

“Sensei, if she decided to leave by herself…” Niko started.

“I know, Niko. But then she should be able to look me in the eyes and tell me that she is doing this for the right reasons. If she can’t then it’s my job as a teacher to help her make a decision she can be proud of.”

“Fine.” I could hear the smile in her tone, “Why are you calling us, do you want our help?”

“I can’t ask you for more than I have already.” I responded, “You haven’t accepted my offer, so I would just be abusing your goodwill if I asked you to help with this. I just thought that If I didn’t inform you and you found out later, you would be a bit upset with me.”

“Damn right we would!” Kurumi shouted, getting hushed by Yukino.

“About that, Sensei, we’ve discussed it amongst ourselves and were going to tell you later today. Trying to keep us out of it at this point would be pointless.” The FOX leader had pride in her tone, “After all, We are SCHALE’s chosen response team, aren’t we?”

“Only if you accepted my offer.” I responded, “Does that mean…”

“Yes Sensei.” Niko spoke, the sound of equipment being checked and donned coming through the speaker, “We accept your offer. Take care of us, okay?’

I smiled as I stepped on the train, headed for Gehenna, “Always.”