An Adult's Responsibility Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

I was suddenly not in the basement of SCHALE. Instead, I was in a classroom that appeared to have it's roof blown off and missing a significant portion of one wall, revealing a brilliant blue sky outside. Desks were placed around the room in regular intervals, the chairs neatly pushed in on them all, except for one.

In that particular seat, sat a petite light-blue haired woman in a sailor uniform, apparently sleeping on her arms with a white umbrella gripped in one hand. On closer inspection, it appeared that the umbrella had a rifle butt with a blue whale charm hanging off it, denoting it as a firearm rather than just and umbrella. Is this girl a student?

As I walked up to her, she started muttering in her sleep, "Mmm, strawberry milk... hehehe."

Cute.

Unacceptable, I needed to show that she couldn't get away with that. Feeling in a teasing mood for some reason, I poked her cheek. Her brow furrowed, but then relaxed, without her waking up. Holding in my laughter, I poked her again, causing the annoyed furrow to return. She sleepily opened her blue eyes, glaring up at me.

We stared at each other for brief moment before she suddenly shot up, pointing her finger towards me, "AHHHH! Who are you?! How did you get here?!"

The laughter I had been holding came out briefly, her reaction amusing me. Getting the chuckles under control, I nodded to her and expected my hand, "Sorry about that, my name is Carl Albrecht, the leader of SCHALE. I was speaking to Rin when she gave me a tablet that I activated that brought me here."

She nodded along with my explanation, before gasping, "SCHALE? That means you must be the Sensei I was waiting for!"

She smoothed her skirt, holding her umbrella rifle with both hands at her waist as she bows, "I'm pleased to meet you, Albrecht Sensei! My name is ARONA, I am the Operating System of that tablet you mentioned, the Shittim Chest!"

"Nice to meet you Arona." I looked around the room, thinking that it might be some sort of hyper advanced Alternate Reality interface. Seeing as I just saw women summon shields from thin air and blow through tank armour by just focusing for a bit, it would not be beyond the realm of imagination.

I decided to ask the bubbly OS, "So why am I here? Not that I'm sad to see you, but Rin might be worried about me."

Arona waved her arms, "Don't worry about that, Sensei! I stopped time outside the Chest!"

After that absolutely terrifying statement, she beamed up at me like a puppy looking for a reward. Did she accelerate time here, or can she actually stop time? I don't even know any more.

I reached out and ruffled her hair, her eyes closing in happiness as I did so, "Well done Arona. But why did you need me to come here?"

"Ah!" Her eyes snapped open, "That's right, I need to authenticate you so you can use the Chest! It's super useful! It allows you to store a large amount of items inside and it also protects you from harm! Using me... using it will allow you to preform all sorts of activities with the students without risk!"

Seeing as she was the OS, she was understandably intent on selling me on her usefulness, "I understand Arona, that sounds perfect. What do you need me to do?"

"Ehe!" Arona giggled happily, "It's easy!"

She extended an arm towards me, index finger out so that I could see the pad of the finger, "Just put your finger here so I can read your biometrics an authenticate you to the Chest!"

I did as the small OS instructed, placing my index finger against hers. She tilted her head, sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth. We stood there in silence for a few moments, as she tilted her head back and forth in increasingly apparent confusion.

With a muttered, "It should be fine right...?" That I was sure she did not mean for me to hear, she pulled her finger back and beamed at me, "There we go! All done! You are now registered as the owner as the Shittim Chest and have full administrative ownership of the Sanctum Tower!"

That surprised me. The Sanctum tower was the administrative and data hub of the entire City, right? Suddenly having the entire city in the palm of my hand like that was an odd feeling to describe.

I spoke to the little AI, "Could you hand over access to the General Student Council? Leave a back door in case we need to this again, but seeing as I am a newcomer and know nothing about how things are around here they will do a better job than me."

She nodded, seemingly happy with my choice, "Will do Sensei! The GSC now has control of Sanctum tower." The sky outside the broken wall started to gather clouds and Arona looked past me towards them, seeming to droop down.

"It seems out time is running short, Sensei. I'll have to send you out again soon."

Seeing her sad, I reached down and pet her head, "Don't worry Arona, I'll be sure to come back and visit you again. In fact I'll do it as soon as I'm done out there, okay?"

She was all smiles again, "I'll hold you to that, Albrecht sensei!"

I grinned at her, and in a blink I was back in SCHALE's basement staring at the now blank tablet that held Arona within. The same basement that also held a standoffish elf.

"Sensei?" Rin asked, "Did the tablet break? Why is it..."

She was interrupted by a jingle from her own tablet, breaking her focus. She quickly picked up the call and listened for a few seconds before turning back to me, a look of shock on her face.

"Sanctum Tower is back up and operational, Sensei. I don't know how you did it, but..." Her face softened, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I replied, flashing her a smile, "I'm sure you have tons to catch up on right?"

She flushed and looked down at her pad again, "Yes, I wanted to show you around a bit more but..."

"It's fine. Give me your contact details, I'll figure it out." I winked, "If I get stuck you will be the first one I call."

Her flush deepened, "Alright, please let me know if you need anything!"

---ARARAR---

I stepped off the train, looking around at the first academy that I was able to visit in person. The architecture and the layout of the place reminded me a lot of the time I visited Cambridge on a holiday to Britain. It seems that Trinity was inspired somewhat by that institution.

I was here to meet a club that had accepted my request for a meet and greet. I sent out requests to all the prominent clubs in Kivotos, but only the Justice Task Force accepted so far. Likely the others were waiting until I was more well known before interacting with the strange new Teacher.

Speaking of, I had been absolutely swamped in paperwork ever since the day I retook SCHALE with Rin. It seems that the position of Teacher and the authority granted to me by SCHALE allowed a lot of cutting through normal red tape when the issue was just between students. As soon as I realised what all the documents were trying using my authority to do, I started cramming in all the laws and regulations of Kivotos.

Thanks to that, I was able to approve and reject the documents with some basic knowledge of what I was doing, rather than just blindly wading in to the balance of the city like a wrecking ball. One of the interesting things I found was an old law, that designated a Headmaster position. Basically someone that has authority over the entire city, in a more encompassing way than even the powers granted to me by SCHALE.

Said position was decided by a vote from all the teachers in Kivotos and seeing as I was the last one around... I decided to keep it in my back pocket for a rainy day. I was not out to become a dictator, or force all these students to do exactly as I say, I was here because someone trusted me to be their teacher. To guide and help them, not control them.

To do that however, I needed to know them. That is why I sent out the meeting request to all the clubs, to get to know my students. Only one reply was an abysmal hit rate, but it was a start. I just needed to carefully build up my standing and soon more of the students would be comfortable talking to me.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, after all.

While I was reminiscing on the previous week, I was also making my way to the JTF head quarters. From what I could find out about them online, they seemed to be a mixture of an independent Police Force and Prefect Team, something that was rather common in Kivotos. The JTF seemed to be rather well liked, except for their "terrifying" president.

I was reserving judgement until I met them. I walked into the headquarters, coming face to face with a small secretary, obviously a junior member. Seeing me, she jolted upright, seemingly flustered.

I smiled reassuringly at her, declaring why I was here, "Good morning. I'm here for a meeting with Deputy President Hasumi? She should be expecting me."

The girl's face exploded into red and she stammered out, "Y-y-yes! Right away. L... Lest me just call..."

I nodded, "Take your time."

After putting some distance between me and the poor girl, I waited for Hasumi to come through the door that lead deeper into the building, which soon enough, she did. Upon seeing me patiently waiting, she smiled and curtsied.

"Albrecht-Sensei, thank you so much for your invitation. We at the Justice Task Force will be more than happy to cooperate with SCHALE in regards to operations within Trinity and those that involve Trinity students."

I raised an eyebrow, "That's a lot of trust that you are extending to me very quickly. May I ask why?"

She giggled into her hand, "I pride myself on being a great judge of character. President Tsurugi had no complaints either, so there was really no reason not to."

She was about to say something else, but a high pitched chime interrupted her. Sighing, she produced her phone and looked at the notification. She lightly bit her thumb before turning to me with a hopeful smile.

"Perfect timing Sensei, we just were alerted to a gang war breaking out on the outskirts of Trinity and Gehenna. We need to respond immediately, would you like to come with?"

I nodded, "I'd love to. Seeing how you girls operate in a real world situation will let me learn a lot about how to work with you."

She clapped, "Perfect, let me introduce you to squad you'll be working with."

Grabbing my right wrist, she led me deeper into the building before finding a room that appeared to be an armoury. Within, there was an older, thin girl with a red halo that was dripping blood, a long haired stereotypical schoolgirl that was smiling with barely opened eyes, and a younger girl wielding a sniper rifle bigger than she was.

Hasumi introduced them to me, "Sensei, this is the Elite Squad of the JTF. This is President Tsurugi, our close combat specialist. Mashiro, who will be on over-watch and protecting you. Finally, we have Ichika, our staff officer who will be coordinating the rest of the JTF on this operation. Girls, this is the Carl Albrecht-Sensei I told you about."

I waved at the gathered JTF members, "Pleased to meet you all. Hasumi offered to bring me along on this mission. I apologise for intruding."

"Gyaaaaaaak!?" Was the response from Tsurugi, who jolted and looked like a frightened rabbit, before seeming to bolster up a frankly disturbing smile, twitching eye and all, "P-p-pleased to have you along, Sensei!" Halfway through she sunk back into herself, mumbling the past few words into her chest.

Was she shy? Also what was with those disturbing expressions?

Ichika was the one to speak next, "Are? The new Sensei everyone has been talking about? Lucky~!"

Mashiro just nodded, stoic faced, "If Hasumi-senpai says so, I have no problems."

Hasumi, breezing past all their reactions merely picked up her rifle, "Now that that is settled, lets go teach those troublemakers some manners!"

---ARARAR---

"I see what everyone was talking about now."

Was all I said as I looked through the binoculars, my vantage point on one of the tall buildings overlooking the fight allowing me a good view of the battle.

Although, the term 'Massacre' could probably be used with more accuracy.

President Tsurugi tore through both lines, sending students, cars and even tanks flying in all directions, a one woman breaching team. Indeed, she was doing all of this with just her own body, including even bursting through walls. Hasumi expertly covered her, taking out any heavy weapons that had an angle on the tornado of destruction, while Mashiro next to me fired her monster of a weapon to take out any enemy snipers.

Ichika, with the rest of the JTF junior members were little more than clean up, moving through the wake of destruction capturing and cuffing all the gang members, or knocking the fight out of the shell shocked pockets of remaining resistance.

"What do you mean, Sensei?" Was the calm question from the girl next to me, before the rooftop was rocked by her next shot.

Once my ears stopped ringing, I answered, "President Tsurugi has a reputation as a terrifying person, a human Demon."

"That's not..."

Before Mashiro could finish defending her President, I continued, "That's just the people watching without understanding though. She puts herself in the front line like that to keep the rest of you safe, right? Its why she's so loud and over the top, she's trying to draw all the aggression to herself."

The roof top was silent, before the sniper responded, "You're the first non-JTF member to realise that Sensei."

She fired once more, before looking at me from the corner of her eye, "I think I see a bit now why Hasumi-senpai views you so highly."

I smiled, "It's nice to hear that she thinks that of me, I'll do my best to deserve it. You seem to have some high views of Hasumi of your own, though."

The sniper merely turned her focus back to the scope, not answering.

Three shots later, she finally spoke, "I want to be like Hasumi-senpai. I want to be able to embody Justice just like she does."

"An admirable dream. Reaching for role models is a great motivation to have." She didn't reply to that, but I continued regardless, "I would say you are well on your way, though."

"Why do you say that, Sensei?" Was her flat question in response.

"Well, she trusts you enough to have her back like this, doesn't she? She once told me that she prides herself on being a great judge of character, she wouldn't trust just anyone like this."

Mashiro murmured something, but didn't reply otherwise. In my peripheral vision, I could see that her face was a deep red.

Smiling to myself, I turned my attention back to the binoculars, focusing more on trying to learn how the JTF operates, occasionally offering updates into the radio that Hasumi left me.

---ARARAR---

"Thank you for the help, Sensei."

"I barely did anything." I responded to Hasumi, "It was all you girls. You were amazing out there."

I noticed Tsurugi fidgeting and twitching, looking at me from the corners of her eyes.

"Tsurugi," I spoke, ignoring the 'gwak' of surprise I got from her, "Good work out there. You did great."

Her face exploded, but she stammered out a response, "Ah, that is, uhm... Thank you... Sensei."

Hasumi, looking at her friend in fond exasperation, shook her head, "Are you leaving already Sensei?"

"Yes," I turned on the Chest and looked at the time, "I have some paperwork back at SCAHLE that I need to attend to. I look forward to working with the JTF in the future though."

"So do we!" Tsurugi shouted, before spinning on her heel and running back into the JTF building.

"Sorry about that, Sensei."

"No need to apologise Hasumi, I understand that I'm strange and frightening to you all." I winked at her, causing her to giggle.

She motioned with one of her arms, "Would you permit me to walk you back to the train, Sensei?"

I bowed, "After you, milady."

Shaking her head but smiling, she started to walk besides me towards the train station while we made small talk.

During our walk, she stretched and groaned, emphasizing her bountiful chest. Catching me looking, as any healthy male would, a troubled look came over her face. I hurriedly changed the subject, but it clearly remained on her mind.

Eventually she broached the topic, "Sensei, something has been bothering me for some time. Can I ask you for advice, as an adult?"

Sensing the topic was serious, I nodded immediately, "My door is always open for my students. What is troubling you, Hasumi?"

She looked more embarrassed than I have ever seen her, before she haltingly asked, "Do you think, that maybe, they are... too big?"

Ah, body confidence issues. Well, I suppose that a staple for students everywhere, isn't it? Even Kivotos is no different, it seems. Still, I need to make sure that we are on the same page here.

"Hasumi," My serious voice caused her eyes to instantly lock on to me, "Before we talk about this, I need to make sure. Are you talking about your breasts?"

Her eyes goggled at me, before a blush overtook her face as she exclaimed, "Of- Of course I was! What are you trying to make me say? What else could I be talking about?"

"I needed to make sure before I answered, to make sure my advice was accurate. Your wings are pretty big too, after all." My reply was slightly teasing, but still honest.

"My... wings?" She flapped said appendages, before slumping slightly, "I see. So they are big."

"Well yes." I confirmed, "But it's not necessarily a bad thing."

"It's not?" Was the listless response.

"Well no. There are two things I could tell you, What most people from where I came from told people who had similar issues, or what I think."

"I'm listening Sensei." Indeed, she seemed to have mastered her emotions and was listening intently.

"The standard advice is to not care about how you look, so long as you are happy with it. If you think that your body looks good, that's all that counts. Everyone else's opinion doesn't matter."

She nodded, a troubled expression on her face, and I smiled wryly, "Doesn't help much, does it?"

She sighed, "Sorry Sensei. If it was that easy, I wouldn't be worried about it."

"True. People have to consider how others view them, it's just our nature. That's why I think you should only worry about how certain people see you." Seeing I had her attention, I continued, "Who do you want to impress? Why are you worried about your looks? Does the person you're trying to attract like how you look or not? Those are the questions that are more relevant to answer before worrying about trying to change yourself."

Seeing she was considering the advice, I finished off, "Forgive me if this is overstepping Hasumi, especially as a teacher. But you are a very attractive young woman." This brought a massive blush to her face, as I ended with, "In my opinion, you have nothing to be worried about, from what I can see."

"Thank you Sensei." She mumbled, "You've given me a lot to think about."

"You're welcome Hasumi." The rest of the walk was in silence, but it was not uncomfortable. I noticed that she was walking with more confidence too, making me feel glad I could help her, even if only slightly.

---ARARAR---

As I got back to SCHALE, I was spoken to by Arona from the Chest, "Sensei, You have two messages for you, one from a club and one from Rin."

"Thank you Arona, I'll look through them now." I brought out the Chest and navigated over to the email client.

Looking at Rin's message first, it was a report on the battle that took place at SCHALE a week ago, along with who the culprits were. Opening up the dossier of the ring leader, I was greeted by the fax eared student that I met in the office.

Kosaka Wakamo, the Fox of Calamity.

According to Rin, she was highly dangerous and psychopathic, and I needed to avoid her at all costs. I took her advice in to consideration, but if Wakamo was such a terror why did she run away from me like that? It's not like I'm threatening. Something didn't add up.

Making a note to look over the report in more depth later, I replied to Rin thanking her for the message. Moving on to the other message, I was greeted by a call for help from a club in Abydos, one of the schools that seemed to be in decline. The name of the club was interesting, though:

The Foreclosure Task Force.

It seemed, with a name like that, they were in a quite a lot of trouble.