An Adult's Responsibility Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Yukino looked at the dorm room where the rest of her squad were strewn about. Otogi briefly looked up as they entered, raising an oil-stained hand up in a lazy salute at her before returning to tinker with her gun while Kurumi was sprawled out on a couch, legs kicking idly off the end while she stared up at her phone screen. The last member, Niko, had entered with her, the two of them having just finished going over the evidence on the USB provided by Sensei.

It didn’t take much to verify his information. Niko had an override login into the GSC systems at Sanctum Tower, allowing them to test how much access the Council had over SRT systems. The answer being, none at all. When sensei said that the upper levels of SRT were exclusively locked off to only the President, he wasn’t kidding. Not even her admin account could work, as everything was tied to her biometrics.

“FOX. Fall in.” She ordered, causing Kurumi to start and almost drop her phone onto her face while Otogi snickered.

The sniper wiped her hands clean, standing as she did so and coming to stand at ease in front of the Lead, “Got some juicy intel for us, Yukino?”

Kurumi had finished scrambling up by that point, rushing over with an eager look on her face, “I thought we weren’t able to go on any more missions?”

“Yes, I have some new intel, no, we are not going to be on a mission.” She spoke, causing the blond fox girl to slump, “But it could lead to us getting out on the field again.”

Kurumi perked right up at that, causing Otogi to laugh lightly, “Well, that’s certainly caught her attention. I thought we were getting shut down for good?”

“We were. However, I was recently contacted by Vice-President Rin who wanted to forward an offer to me.” Yukino explained, “You’ve probably heard of the Sensei of that new organisation, SCHALE?”

At her question, all of the Foxes nodded, Niko being to one to speak, “Yes. The whole thing seemed very odd, but from chatter online it seems that he is well regarded by those who have met him so far.”

“Well he has heard of us too. Once he looked into the situation with SRT, he requested that we be reassigned to work under SCHALE.” The other members of her squad looked surprised at that, but a knowing look entered Niko’s eyes as she immediately realised the source of the information Yukino had acquired, “This morning, I went to visit him to discuss it with him directly. Rin thinks that I am the commanding officer of SRT, so my input counts.”

After a tense look passed between the team at that, Niko gently placed her hand on Yukino’s arm, “Yukino… You ARE the commanding officer. The last instructor resigned yesterday.”

The arm under her grip shuddered, a tremor passing through the entirety of the team lead’s body before she took in a shuddering breath. What Niko had said was absolutely true. All their instructors, all the graduates who were assisting them, they had left due to the lack of funds to continue SRT. Even this Dorm would have to be sold off before the end of the month.

“Right…” She forced down another lump, “Well, that’s why I had to speak with him. He told me what the offer was and why… Why this is happening.”

“You mean the SRT shut down?” Kurumi asked, getting a wince from Otogi and a small nod from Yukino, “I… Thought we messed up.”

The admission came with a flattening of her ears, but Yukino shook her head, swallowing again. An awkward pause stretched briefly before Niko broke it.

“Sensei gave Yukino some files that she asked me to look into. Using the SRT Admin access to Sanctum, I verified them. SRT is locked to the GSC President’s Biometrics, the funding, authorization, orders… Everything needs her.” The pink haired fox spoke, her hand transitioning from the arm of FOX One to gently rub her back.

Otogi quickly realised what that implied, “With her going missing, that means that the GSC can’t access anything to do with us. No wonder they are shutting us down.”

“That’s bullshit!” Kurumi exploded, her blond hair waving as she gestured angrily, “We gave them so much, fought for them, bled for them, then they just throw us away?! Like unneeded trash? Where do they get off?! Maybe we should have just let Wakamo blow their stupid tow-!”

“KURUMI!” Yukino snapped out of her funk, yelling at the point-woman, who snapped at the shot, “Watch yourself! I know you are angry, but some words can not be taken back.”

Kurumi visibly struggled to contain herself, before snapping out a shaky salute, “Sorry Leader. Won’t happen again.”

Yukino sighed, nodding down the salute rubbing her nose. She raised her head, staring each of her squad in the eyes before continuing.

“As I was saying, as the… commanding officer, I went to go meet Sensei and ask about his plans for us. He explained them to me, but I asked for his permission to consult with you all before I said yes or no.” Her voice was remarkably even, the turmoil that had so recently surfaced being successfully subdued.

Otogi was the first to respond, “With SCHALE’s mandate, I could see multiple uses he could have for us. But why did you want to consult leader? We will always follow your lead.”

“This isn’t just about us.” Yukino explained, “This is a full merger of the last SRT Students. RABBIT will be included as well. As for why I wanted to discuss it… I might have missed something. Agreeing too quickly would be dangerous.”

The true reason, the one that she hid from them all, is she couldn’t trust herself to make this decision on her own. Just when everything was falling apart, when all hop had seemed lost, she was suddenly thrown a lifeline. Of course she wanted to immediately grab onto it with both hands, that was only natural.

However, she knew that desperation travelled hand in hand with vulnerability. She needed some time and distance to properly evaluate the offer and seeking out fresh eyes provided her with both.

“You mentioned us getting back in the field.” Kurumi spoke, “I’m guessing that what he wants has something to do with that?”

“It does. SCHALE has the authority to deputise students to carry out enforcement within academies once they have been invited to do so. However, there is a problem with this, as gangs are usually made up of students that no longer belong to a particular school.” Yukino explained, using her hands to emphasise her points, “If SCHALE is currently working with Gehenna, but their targets slip into Trinity territory? They would have to back off.”

“Once the gangs realise this, they will start to exploit it.” Otogi immediately pointed out, “Just like when they saw Kurumi coming and dipped out of the D.U.”

“They heard your loud ass gun first.” Kurumi pouted, “Leader, does that mean that we would be able to operate freely, even outside of the bounds of the D.U.?”

“Yes. We would be working directly under SCHALE, authorised to act in any Academy they have been invited to without restriction. He even said he would buy the logo of SRT from the GSC, so we can keep the name and emblem.” Yukino spoke, turning to her side, “Niko, what do you think?”

“...It’s dangerous. We wouldn’t be tied to the GSC, but acting as the private enforcement for this Sensei of SCHALE. Even if he doesn’t specifically order us to perform illegal acts, he could manipulate our intel into doing them anyway.” She spoke, her long ears flicking to and fro, “What is your opinion of him, Yukino?”

Yukino looked down, closing her eyes as she recalled every detail of her meeting with the strange man, “He’s really strange. When I arrived, he had just woken up. It looks like ha had been going over reports late into the night until he fell sleep in his chair.”

“Did you see what the reports were?” Otogi asked, curiosity lacing her voice.

“No.” Yukino shook her head, “I was more focused on what he was telling me. He said the reason why he was making the offer is because he thought that we have been treated unfairly and he wanted to make it right. He called us exceptional.”

Something in her voice caused the squad to look to each other, confused.

Niko was the one to break it, “Do you think he was sweet talking, or did he really mean it?”

Yukino crossed her arms, thinking deeply for a moment. The man was really odd, his scruffy appearance, the beard, the slightly askew glasses. Ruffled long sleeve shirt. Everything about him seemed sloppy, but he had an intensity to him, a sort of warmth that made you believe what he was saying.

“I think he meant it.” She decided, turning the conversation over in her mind, “He didn’t treat me as part of FOX squad, or an asset. He repeatedly emphasised that we were his students, before anything else.”

Kurumi laughed, the sound sudden as she belted out, “Oh man, when was the last time any of us were ‘just students’? That must have been weird!”

“It was.” Yukino agreed.

She kind of liked the feeling though.

“Well, sounds like a character. But if you think he’s genuine, I will trust you, Yukino. Always.” Niko mused, a smile on her face.

“Thank you. Shall we put it to a vote? If we accept, we can iron out the details with him together.” Yukino spoke, causing the rest to nod.

“Sure, I’m in. The guy sounds fun, and if he’s sketchy we can just turn him in.” Kurumi easily agreed, as mile on her face.

“I agree too. Someone has to keep you all safe, especially with this reckless one here.” Otogi grinned, ruffling Kurumi’s hair to the shorter girl’s loud protests.

“I’m in as well. But I will want some guarantees from him, and the right to veto any mission that we think is fishy.” Niko made it a majority.

“Then that makes four.” Yukino sighed, a big weight falling from her shoulders as she revealed her vote.

They had been left in a pit, deep and devoid of light. But this felt like the first step out, towards a brighter future. So long as Sensei agreed with their conditions, they could be SRT again. They could have a purpose again. They no longer had stumble blindly, without direction.

Perhaps, sometimes, if one was lucky, prayers really were answered.

---RERERE---

“…Due to these factors, we believe that the tanks were sourced from there.” Ayane spoke, turning towards me and pausing, remembering that I was watching her presenting the evidence, “We have nothing… That is, this is all the intel we have managed to gather so far.”

“Amazing.” My frank comment caused her to blush, elfin ears wriggling in embarrassment, “I spent the entirety of last night researching them, and I only found out slightly more than you.”

“Oh my!” Nonomi spoke, bringing a hand in front of her mouth, “I thought the bags under your eyes were heavy. Did you really lose sleep over this?”

“Smuggling of military hardware is a rather concerning thing for me.” I smiled at her, thankful for the concern.

“You do seem quite invested, Sensei.” Hoshino spoke, resting her cheek on her hand as she looked at me, “Makes this old man feel all warm and gooey, having an adult care this much.”

“You have some heavy bags under your eyes as well, Hoshino.” I reposted, “Is it so strange for me to care that much?”

“Nn.” Shiroko shook her head, opining, “Sensei cares too much about a lot of things.”

“How do you know that?!” Serika questioned the wolf girl, “Personally I find it really sketchy, that a teacher gives this much of a damn.”

“Here.” Shiroko spoke, pulling out her phone and quickly navigating to a particular web page.

She placed it down , allowing the girls to crowd around it on her side of the table. They looked at the screen, then at me, before returning to the glowing rectangle.

“Do I want to know?” I questioned, a grin on my face.

“That’s so creepy.” Serika spoke, crossing her arms and stepping back, glaring at Shiroko, “Stalking someone online is not cool.”

Shiroko merely shrugged, causing Nonomi to giggle to herself and respond to Serika, “Oh, don’t be so strict, Serika-chan. Shiroko-chan just wanted to know what Sensei was up to when he’s not with us.”

Hoshino didn’t say anything, merely looking through whatever Shiroko was showing them, scrolling with a purposefully blank face.

“Hmm, you’re really popular, aren’t you?” She sent a sharp grin my way.

Ayane cleared her throat and lightly stomped her foot, causing attention to be snapped back to her, “Be that as it may, we’ve gone off topic. What did you find out about these tanks, Sensei?”

“Ah, sorry Ayane.” I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, “Well, like you girls figured out, the model is used by Kaiser PMC. You also deduced that they get sold through the Black Market. Apparently, they ‘lose’ several from a shipment, writing them as losses or defective. Then the same tanks show up sometime later used in criminal activities. The serial numbers are sanded off, but there are still some markers, such as the number in the inner gun assemble or the track production number which can allow us to track which tanks went where.”

“So you can find out where the Kata Kata got the ones they used?” Ayane questioned, getting the full attention of the rest of the FTF.

“I already have. The deal went through the Stygian Bank.” I responded.

“That’s great! With that information, we can look into it more from our end.” Ayane smiled happily.

“Do it carefully.” I spoke, “I don’t want you girls to get hurt.”

“Mah mah, it’s a bit late to say that after telling us where to look, Sensei.” Hoshino grinned at me.

“Nn.” Shiroko nodded along, “We should rob the bank. Then we can look through their documents.”

“Oh no!” Nonomi shook her head, “That’s far too dangerous. Instead we should dress up as idols and cause a distraction, then someone can sneak in and access their records undetected.”

“If it’s a distraction we need, why not just attack their outskirts? That way even if the one going for the records is detected all their guards will be pulled away. Thanks to Sensei, we have the supplies to cause quite the party.” Hoshino offered, a teasing grin on her face.

Serika looked worried, her gaze on the reddening face of their treasurer, “Uh, guys. Maybe we should slow down-”

“That’s dumb.” Shiroko was emphatic, “If we are causing a distraction anyway, we should just rob them blind at the same time-”

“WILL YOU TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY?!” Ayane shouted, a vein throbbing in her temple as she flipped the table in front of her.

Shiroko calmly grabbed her tumbling phone from the air, hand sneaking through the flying stationary and papers. I jumped back, arms held up and out of the way of the sudden projectile. Serika dived out of the way, while Hoshino laughed and Nonomi tittered.

“There she is. Our serious Ayane-sama.” The blond’s grin was wide.

“Why are you guys like this?” The elf asked as she breathed heavily, her rage leaving her, her shoulders falling as the furious energy left her.

“You were getting frustrated. It’s good to vent.” Shiroko explained calmly.

“Couldn’t you just tell her that?!” Serika yelled, standing up from her dive, her own anger roused.

“Well, at least you girls are still lively.” I smiled, watching the chaos unfold.

---RERERE---

The meeting proceeded from there, without any great resolution. It was decided that we would break up for the day and think of proper suggestions for tomorrow. I was walking through the sand-swept hallways of Abydos, having given the last of the info on the tanks I had gathered to Ayane.

Yawning, I was interrupted by a cheerful voice from a classroom to my side, “Oya, is that Sensei?”

Intrigued, I opened the door, being greeted by the sight of Nonomi rooting through supplies that seemed to have been abandoned for some time.

“Nonomi?” I questioned, “What are you doing?”

“The unused classrooms and clubrooms of Abydos occasionally have some great loot in them, Sensei.” She smiled brightly, head turning to look over her shoulder at me, “It looks like they dumped a lot of exercise equipment here, I was looking for some replacement parts.”

“Huh.” I looked around, noticing that indeed there were broken and dusty exercise machines contained in the piles of junk in the room, “I would have thought that you would buy new rather than repairing.”

She doesn’t flaunt it, but of all the FTF girls Nonomi is by far the most wealthy. She has a Golden bank card that I have seen several times, with no spending limit. Apparently, she has offered multiple times to buy out the Abydos debt, but her friends rejected the charity. Her family was incredibly wealthy and owned several businesses in Kivotos.

“Oh, I do. But Shiroko would be sad if I spent that much on her, so I decided to fix her exercise bike instead!” She stood up from where she was rooting through a box, dusting off her skirt, “She uses it when it rains, but it broke last week.”

“I see.” I looked away, her motions producing quite the enticing sight with her tight shirt, “That is very thoughtful of you Nonomi. I’m glad you are such good friends.”

“Oh it’s nothing. It feels good to to do things for others, isn’t that right, Sensei?” Her voice turned teasing, causing me to look back at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Why would you say it like that?” I questioned, her tone more leading than that sentence warranted.

She laughed at that, waving a hand, “What Shiroko-chan showed us on her phone. Did you know that whenever you help students, whether it’s carrying their groceries or assisting with homework, they post about it on social media?”

“I didn’t.” I admitted, but not surprised, “It doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me. I’m just doing what a good teacher should.”

“You have a weird mindset, Sensei. I don’t think any other teacher would go to these lengths.” She shook her head, smile growing fond, “After all, you even spent your night working for us. How much sleep did you get yesterday?”

I waved it off with a laugh, “Don’t worry about me, I got enough rest. Besides, I’m glad I’m weird if that’s the case. Being normal sounds like it would suck.”

My joke got a laugh from the second year, as she turned to regard the pile of junk behind her with a considering look on her face.

“In that case, would you be okay with helping me out personally, Sensei? I hate to impose on you like this-” I cut her off, stepping more fully into the room.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be glad to help. What do you need?” She grinned, a devious tint to the expression that spoke of mischief.

Her voice was sugary sweet as she pointed to a small mound of metal besides her, “There’s a gear I want in here, but my arms can’t reach. Could you get it for me?”

I decided to see where this went, shrugging as I walked over the pile, leaning over and looking at it, “Hmm, I can’t see anything that looks like a gear. You sure it’s in this pile?”

“Yes, this is the right pile Sensei.” She walked around my, a shuffling sound appearing as she moved, “It’s low down. Maybe kneel a bit so you can see it?”

I followed her instructions, sitting down on one knee as I looked through the mound. Several more metal objects made themselves known, but none of them were a gear.

“I still don’t see-!” My words were cut off as a hand gripped my shoulder, another sweeping my leg and causing me to fall backwards.

Rather than slam into the floor, instead I landed gently, staring up at the grinning upside down face of Nonomi.

“You are far too trusting, Sensei.” She teased lightly, poking my nose as she did.

The initial spike of adrenaline from the sudden fall faded away as I looked into her cheerful green eyes, a deep weariness replacing it.

“No.” I shook my head, the soft feeling of her thighs underneath my hair following the motion, “I just trust you girls.”

“That’s what I mean.” She sighed, before a hand made itself know by running gently along my scalp, “But I suppose it works for this. Trust me, and get some rest Sensei.”

I wanted to protest, to point out that the way she was sitting couldn’t be comfortable, but the rhythmic motions of her fingers running through my hair travelled right into my brain, my lack of sleep quickly catching up with me, drowsiness close behind.

“I’m...” My voice was slurred as my eyelids struggled to stay open, “Supposed... to take care of you...”

A whisper was the last thing I heard, “It’s not cute to be stubborn, Sensei.”