An Adult's Responsibility Chapter 16:

Chapter 16:

There was a brief pause, the smoke and dust whirling through the air between us, before the dark-skinned girl hurriedly pulled out her phone, rapidly typing in a number.

With a beep, I could hear a tired voice coming out from the speaker, “Yes, Iori? What is it?”

The newly named Iori fiddled with the phone, before it projected a hologram of a dishevelled-looking young woman, her blue hair unkempt and out of place as she looked up from a clipboard. Her uniform was modified to show a large amount of the sides of her chest, but otherwise was fairly standard. I instantly recognised the face of Amau Ako, the Executive Officer of the Gehenna Prefect Team. Seeing her, I only had one question.

Why was she wearing a collar with a cow bell?!

The strange fashion choice surprised me long enough for Ako to look over the group I was standing in front of, the FTF girls behind me and the recovering forms of PS68 behind them.

“Albrecht-Sensei, of SCHALE.” She spoke, looking directly at me, “I see. You encountered him during your mission, Iori?”

“Yeah, we hit him with an artillery strike.” The response caused Ako to whirl on her, eyes wide, “That’s why we called you, this is quickly becoming complicated, Ako.”

“On the contrary.” I interjected, “This is a relatively simple matter. You do not possess authorisation to act within the border of Abydos and launched an unprovoked attack on members of another school. You will retreat this instant and wait for the result of a joint GSC and SCHALE investigation into this event.”

Ako laughed at that, a bit manically, but it petered out when she saw I was serious.

“I see. So that’s how it is.” She muttered, before her voice regained strength, “Sensei. You are harbouring fugitives that are wanted in Gehenna. The Prefect Team is authorised to arrest all troublemakers and those aiding them.”

“In the bounds of Gehenna, correct. However, this is Abydos and under the jurisdiction of Abydos High School. You are violating their territory by carrying out operations on their soil.”

“Abydos High?” She scoffed, “Please, that school is basically already shut down. That whole district is a lawless wasteland. They couldn’t stop us if they tried.”

“Oh, really?” Serika couldn’t let that one slide, “You wanna bet? You heard Sensei, scram before we make you.”

“Serika!” Ayane chided as she moved to stand beside me, taking in a deep breath, “Miss Ako, You are officially being notified that you are interfering with Abydos business. If you persist with your actions, we will be forced to view this as a declaration of war.”

Several prefect team members shuffled awkwardly at that, looking to each other in worry.

Chinatsu began to speak, “Ako, considering Sensei is with them, maybe we should-”

The angry Executive cut her off, finally snapping, “You know what? Fine. The GSC can only investigate what they know about. Iori, Chinatsu, you have authorisation to engage. Detain all present and bring them into Gehenna custody. As for you, Sensei, I see your game. Going to Trinity before us and now interfering with our operation? I won’t let you weaken us before the Eden Treaty.”

I blinked, taken aback by that accusation, “You know I can’t visit Academies that I haven’t been invited to, right? My not going to Gehenna is your fault.”

“I don’t care for your justifications.” She snarled, “Prefect Team! Engage!”

With that, her hologram disappeared, causing Iori to look at her phone with some degree of apprehension.

She gripped it tightly, closing her eyes as she did so, “What a mess… Thinking it through, they are troublemakers, right? I’m supposed to catch troublemakers… so this should be fine, right?”

She nodded to herself, resolve filling her. Chinatsu started whispering furiously to her, the two seeming to try and figure out what to do.

Seeing that conflict was likely impossible, I nudged the worried Ayane next to me, whispering to her, “Go and take Master Shiba to the hospital.”

A small voice sounded out from behind me, a soft tug on my shirt accompanying it, “Um, you guys protected us, so could we help somehow?”

Turning I was met with the sight of an uncharacteristically contrite and shy Aru, with the rest of PS68 behind her.

“We owe guys, but after this we are even, got it?” Kayako said, giving me an even look, but wincing as she tried to put her hand in her hoodie pocket.

“You guys…” Serika grit her teeth, but looking at the ranks of Prefect Team members blocking the street, she thought better of castigating them.

I smiled at them, grateful for the offer, “Could I ask one of you to go with Ayane? We need to get the civilians away from here before I can start to whittle their numbers.”

Kayako’s eyes flashed with interest at that, “You want to… Yes, I see.”

“Kufufu!” Mutsuki’s laugh was the same as ever, but it carried a hint of exhaustion hidden behind it, “If you need someone to blow a way through, you’ve come to the right girl! I’ll make sure Glasses gets out safely.”

“Glasses?!” Ayane squawked, adjusting the reason for the nickname as she did so.

“Hee hee.” Nonomi smiled, although her eyes were on the unsure looking Gehenna students lined up in front of us, “That’s a really cute nickname, Ayane-chan!”

I smiled briefly before nodding towards Mutsuki and the others, “Thank you, I appreciate the help.”

Aru puffed up, “Of course, I wouldn’t be able to call myself an outlaw if I left you in the lurch like this!”

“Enough!” A loud voice cut across the street, Iori stamping as she did shouted, “We’ve been given our orders, we need to carry them out!”

Chinatsu threw up her hands, huffing as she did so, “Fine! Be that way!”

She turned towards us, eyes seeking me out as she did so, “Sensei! Please just come with us quietly. I’ll speak to the Head Prefect and get this all sorted out, I promise!”

I shook my head, saying as I did so, “Sorry Chinatsu, but I can’t do that. Rules exist for a reason and as a teacher, I can’t be seen to reward those who break them arbitrarily.”

She huffed, before turning around and moving back to the rear of the Prefect’s formation, muttering to herself as she did so.

Iori watched her go before she rolled her eyes, then glared at us, “Right, now that is over, where were we?”

Shiroko was the one who answered her, “You were about to lose.”

---RERERE---

She gripped her rifle tightly, the grasp she had over the weapon only growing tighter and tighter as she watched the events play out in her scope. She had been stalking- er, that was, watching over that man for days now. Ever since she had met in him in that tower, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. His smile, his voice, how he so thoughtfully looked out for her… It still made her heart beat furiously.

Everyone was scared of her, ever since her Mystic awoke properly. From a relatively unassuming student, she quickly became one of the most dangerous people in Kivotos. Of course, the other academies and the GSC didn’t care that her rampages were due to her mystic going haywire, they simply demanded her academy to arrest her, forcing her to go on the run.

She had fallen into habit then, being treated as a criminal made her act like one, in a vicious cycle. A cycle that was broken by him.

Sensei. Her beloved. How he smiled at her, without an ounce of fear, how he simply accepted her as if she were any other student.

It had caused her heart to stop and she knew for certain, it was love. What else could this beautiful, fluttery feeling she had every time she saw him be? No, she had fallen for her destined one at first sight, like a beautiful poem of old.

Then Gehanna hit him with an artillery strike. She had despaired, before rage had almost utterly consumed her. The damage she inflicted had always been incidental, a fun but ultimately unintended side effect of people attempting to stop her getting to her goals. However, this time, she would ensure that Gehenna was turned to cinders, with her stamping down their ashes.

It wouldn’t bring her love back, but at least he would have been avenged…

Her dreams of fire and screams were interrupted by movement, in the crater, bringing her eyes to the scope again before her mind even registered that she was moving. She watched, stunned, as Sensei stood from the blast zone, completely untouched by the shell that had landed almost on top of him.

But how? He didn’t have a halo, so how was he so durable? Was he a realistic looking Cyborg? No, of course not, she had seen his chest moving with his breathing, had watched as blood moved beneath the skin of his neck. So however it occurred, it just proved that Sensei was even more amazing than she thought.

She had smiled widely at the thought, so grateful that the one that fascinated her so had depths that even she could not comprehend, before she was forced to watch the rest of the encounter play out. It appeared that one of the Gehenna harlots knew Sensei and was appropriately distraught over her sin. However, the other merely called that higher up of the Prefect Team that once interrogated her, who apparently ordered the gathered students to attack.

Rage, so briefly quelled, filled her once more. How dare they interfere with her beloved? How dare they try and hurt him? The stock in her grip creaked, reminding her of the power she held here. None knew she was watching, so she could aid her dearest without interference. However, merely taking out one of the two ungrateful ants that dared spit on his kindness would only make the situation descend into chaos.

Like when she observed his altercation with those small timers outside of Abydos, she needed to pick her moment carefully. She had destroyed the detonator that little runt had been brandishing, but even then her beloved had followed the sound of her shot, almost locking eyes with her. It had made her pulse race, but she couldn’t let him notice her protection. He r status as a criminal was too much of a divide, he would only be troubled by her.

So until she could arrange a meeting where she could convey her feeling to him properly, this is all she could do for him.

She dearly wished, oh so much, that she could merely put a bullet between the eyes of that Gehenna student who was so disrespectful to the most perfect man who ever existed, but she must contain herself. If she was patient, no matter how hard that was, surely an opportunity would present itself for her to make herself useful once again.

She deliberately relaxed her grip on her gun, taking in a breath as she did so. She patiently observed as Sensei spoke to the troublemakers, apparently agreeing to help them and forgiving them. Her stock creaked again at that, before she let out a reluctant breath. She was going to hunt them down and… explain to them what a grave error they had made by threatening her beloved, but if he forgave them she would have to do the same.

After all, she wouldn’t know what to do if he began to hate her. She would do anything to avoid that. So she would try and let her loathing go. No matter how hard it was.

“Oh dear, dear Sensei.” She muttered to herself, watching as the fighting started, “You really do not make things easy on your Wakamo.”

---RERERE---

The battle started violently, the Prefect Team moving with perfect coordination in order to overwhelm us. They were used to merely crushing resistance, their numbers and training enough that battles were quickly dealt with. Used to following my orders, the Abydos girls were able to react with a swiftness that obviously surprised our opponents, with PS68 keeping up due to Kayako’s innate talent for tactics.

We preformed a fighting retreat with grenades, cover and sight-lines used to break up the advancing ranks into smaller chunks to either rebuff them or drop them outright. It seems like the quick response and effectiveness of the Abydos girls surprised them, as well as the surprisingly complementary support from Aru and Kayako.

Haruka, on the other hand, was currently moving with me, near the rear of the combined fron her friends were making with the FTF.

“I’m told you are good with explosives?” I questioned her, before quickly ordering, “Shiroko, there’s a group to the right near the sign post, grenade.”

As the Prefect Team students yelped and scrambled away from the lobbed device, Haruka hugged her shotgun to her chest, eyes furiously averting themselves as she blushed crimson, “I’m sorry, I know it isn’t something that’s cute and I’m useless, that’s why you didn’t want me to fight with the others... but I… I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry-”

I blinked, before gently patting her on the head, causing her deluge of apologies to trail off as I gave her a gentle smile. In the middle of a battlefield isn’t the best time to have a break down like the one that she was having, but I knew that didn’t matter. One of my students was in pain in front of me, needing my help.

“Haruka, I didn’t separate you because I thought you were gross or useless. I had a very important job, without which we will not be able to win, that I could only trust you to do.” Her eyes widened at that, staring up at me unblinking, “I know you can do it, I believe in you. The question is, do you believe in yourself?”

She shook her head slowly at that, “I don’t. But I will try anyway, even if it kills me! I promise you I’ll do my best, Sensei!”

That’s depressing, but I moved past it for now while making a mental note to find her after I sorted this all out, “Then I will have enough faith in you for the both of us. Listen Haruka, you see those tall buildings, there and there? I need you to plant explosives on their supports in such a way that they will collapse into the street. Can you do that for me?”

She looked at the two abandoned building pointed out by me, before furiously nodding towards me, “Yes, I can do that! I just need the explosives and I can make sure that they are wired up to blow!”

She grinned at the end of her sentence, hugging her gun even tighter to her chest as she did so.

“Nonomi, the center, they are cluster- well done.” I was keeping eye on the battle, giving a quick update before I turned back to Haruka, pulling out a bundle of plastic explosives from the Chest and handing the bag to her, “Here you go. Once you’ve set them up, join the fight. That way I’ll know you are done.”

“Hehehe.” She laughed creepily, before she clumsily saluted and took off in a sprint, heading to the first of the buildings I pointed out.

…

Right then.

That’s plan A sorted, but just because I was planning for the Prefect team to push us towards the trap, I was not going to make it easy on them.

“Serika, cover Kayako, she’s a bit isolated. Shiroko, there’s a group setting up a MG position towards the back, use your drone.” I quickly improved our position, before pitching in myself.

I pulled the pin from a canister, hurling it past the first couple of ranks of the hostile students. It landed and bounced along the street, before with a soft thump of displaced air, it started belching up it’s thick smoke, obscuring the enemies from us, but also obscuring them from each other.

Shouts of surprise and confusion started up soon enough, which was only exacerbated when Nonomi took advantage of the lack of suppression to stand up fully and unload blindly into the cloud. Any of the students who tried to stop her, the ones that were too far forward to be hit by the smoke, were quickly taken out by the rest of the FTF and PS68.

The smoke soon thinned, showing that the Prefect Team had pulled back and reorganised, quickly rushing back into the fray, this time with grenades of their own. At the same time, a powerful crack rang out, Nonomi grunting as the impact forced her back, her Halo flickering.

“Nonomi, to me.” I ordered, getting a Mystic Booster ready for her, “Scatter, fall back, let them keep pushing. Don’t sit still for their grenades.”

The orders were carried out, with Nonomi falling into cover beside me, “Hello Sensei. Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

She grinned at me tiredly as she spoke, causing me to smile back, before jabbing her with the Booster, “Would be better if it was more peaceful, but I’m beginning to think that’s just normal around here.”

“We try to avoid it, you know.” She joked back, sighing before she once again started laying down suppressive fire.

“I know. But when people don’t listen, what can you do?” That earned a laugh from her, before I tapped her on the shoulder and indicated the next piece of cover we should fall back to.

She nodded, allowing me to move first. As I did, I heard another crack and a hole appeared on the wall next to my leg. It appears that Iori was attempting to remove me from the fight, but unfortunately for her, the Chest still had more than enough energy to alter the path of her bullets. Dodging two more shots, I managed to reach the next piece of cover and resume giving information and orders to the FTF.

Nonomi started to drown the area Iori was shooting from in bullets, allowing the rest to fall back as well. From there, we engaged in a fighting retreat, falling back further and further, guiding the enemy combatants into the shadow of the abandoned buildings that Haruka was rigging up. As we reached them, The girl in question threw herself into the fray, her Halo shining brightly as she absorbed fire from the Prefects and let loose several blasts of her shotgun, taking multiple down with each shot.

Seeing that she was isolating herself in her charge, I pulled out several smoke grenades and littered the area with them, the soft thumps sending up a thick screen of sight-blocking vapour. I called out to Kayako as I did so.

“Get Haruka to regroup with us, we’re ready!” The white-haired young woman did so, while I organised the movement of the FTF to further up the intersection, soon joined by the bedraggled members of PS68.

“That them?” Kayako asked, looking at the two buildings.

“Yes.” I responded, “Time to end this.”

Cupping my hands over my mouth, I called out, “Hey Iori! Let’s talk!”

There was a brief beat of silence as the thick smoke swirled silently, the gunfire quieting down, before I heard a voice call back, “Yeah? Ready to give up?”

“No!” I called back, “I want to tell you that I accept your surrender!”

The silence intensified, while the FTF giggled at the joke, the smoke thinning enough to show an unimpressed sniper wit ha ruffled uniform and her hands on her hips staring at me.

“Really? You’ve given me some trouble I’ll admit, but look around you. My girls are almost recovered, and we still outnumber you ten to one.” She scoffed, “Give up while you have a chance.”

“I refuse. Are you sure you don’t want to surrender instead?” I responded, smiling at her, “I know you aren’t happy with how this has all gone down. I promise that I will get this all sorted out if you cooperate.”

She rolled her eyes, raising up a hand, “Prefect Team, resume the arrest!”

“Oh well.” I turned to look at the raptly watching students besides me, a detonator making its way to my grip, “I tried.”

With a click, the battle was over.

Explosions rang out, and the buildings that the small army was standing in between groaned as they collapsed towards each other. The last sight that I saw before they smashed into the ground was Iori’s poleaxed expression.