Chapter Text
It was a perfectly normal train car. A long, brown coloured seat under each wall stretching from door to door. A clean, grey floor. It was a beautiful sunset just outside the windows, the sky bleeding seamlessly from blue to pink to yellow, with occasional, picturesque clouds dotting the expense. The only real sound inside the train car was the rhythmic clickety-clack of the wheels against the tracks. An almost idyllic scene for the two men occupying one side of the car.
One of them was of average build, not too broad, not too thin, without much visible fat. His vividly blue hair was cropped short. What drew gaze, however, was the almost chalk white complexion of his pale skin. That and the dull, tired eyes the colour of matte gold.
His seat buddy , on the other hand, was definitely too-thin from just a glance at the limbs sticking out from underneath his midnight-black longcoat. Even seated, his long, lanky limbs betrayed his height. His black hair was just as long and straight, although the man hid a portion of it underneath the coat instead of letting it flow over the clothing like a normal person might. A cave-dweller’s pallid, almost grey, complexion put any notions of normality to bed even before one noticed the eyes hidden in the curtain of hair. They were so dark it was impossible to tell where the pupil ended and the iris began, just pitch black disks staring right on ahead.
On the bench opposite of them, with her face obscured by the glare of the setting sun, sat a young woman. A teenage girl, really. Clothed in an all white school uniform with an almost officer-style jacket over it. Two golden stars adored the collar, with another, bigger one over her right breast, with a simple medal over the left. Her long, pastel blue and pink hair flowed down her back and shoulders and further obscured her face. She sat in her seat with quiet dignity, back straight and bruised hands intertwined on her lap.
The most striking detail, however, and the one which immediately drew the attention of both men was a massive splash of brown-red covering the girl’s entire left side, running down from somewhere on her upper ribs. Yet, despite this, despite the blood slowly dripping to her feet, she kept a small smile on her face and her breathing steady, almost as if the wound wasn’t there.
Nostrils flared, sharp intakes of air ringing in perfect sync as the men registered the damage.
The blue haired man jerked in his seat as if he tried to stand up, or reach out, only to be held back by something. His compatriot was little different, a bony hand shaking and fighting for every inch it lifted from his knee only to finally snap back in place like metal to a magnet, his entire body sagging with exhaustion. Still, their actions earned them the smile on the student’s face growing slightly bigger.
“Thank you for your concern.” The girl began, voice warm and high pitched even as her breath hitched slightly. “It means more to me than you can realize. Still…” She opened her fingers nervously before taking a deep breath and leaning slightly forward, her bow almost apologetic.
“The burden of fault lies with me. My decisions, and their consequences… It had to come to this for me to realise that he was… that you were right all along… haaaaaa … ” She exhaled slowly as she leaned back, looking them in the face. “So, please, if you would forgive my bold-faced arrogance… I need your help, Sensei.”
There was no hesitation, hell there was no thought , the black haired man simply nodded sharply the moment the words ‘I need your help’ reached his ears. It had been long, long years since he was the child who sat next to a hobo and hugged him with no care for stink or stains, purely because he had looked lonely. But even with two decades of weariness and wariness separating him from that moment, that part of him still lived on.
The blue-haired man returned her smile with a nervous, shaky one of his own, his golden eyes leaving her wound to focus on her face, as much as he could with the glare of the sun outlining the girl’s head with a golden halo.
“The words said here, this place , won’t be remembered,” she warned the two of them as her voice raised a bit as emotion - Hope? Relief? - crept into her plea, “but that doesn’t matter. I am sure that even if you are not quite like him… You are still who you are. I am sure even without your memories, you will make similar enough decisions. Because what matters the most are the choices we make, not the experiences, and there are choices only people like you can make.”
Her words were met with a slight confusion, but given the situation, given the injuries, perhaps the need to philosophise to deal with the stress of… whatever it was that caused her situation was only natural. Even if the bit about the eventual amnesia was worrying. Never-you-mind the emphasis on their role in the events.
“I have spoken of responsibility before. Back then, I didn’t truly understand. Adulthood, responsibility, obligations… and the choices made which extend beyond these ideals. Their implications.” The girl paused her fervent words, tinged with an undercurrent of resigned bitterness, for a breath, her hand straying from her lap to subconsciously touch upon her wounded side.
“He… you taught me about hope, about the bonds between people. You may not be the exact same, but you are still Sensei. Therefore, I choose to believe in you, unquestionably.” She whispered fervently, with a calm passion bordering on a zeal. The taller of the two couldn’t help but straighten up with a jolt, a complex and inescrutable knot of emotions in his chest tugging him upright, “Only you can help us free ourselves from this twisted, distorted fate and find the choices that will lead to a new path. So, Sensei, please…”
Whatever her words were next, they were drowned by the long, loud honk of the train’s horn. Yet, she didn’t show any annoyance on her face. Instead, a hand went to her lips as if she were fighting a fit of giggles.
“I’m afraid, Sensei, that this is my stop. Goodbye, and may you be happy.” Wobbily standing up, the girl in white smarted her skirt before bowing. Then, she turned towards the door, each step echoing in the suddenly silent car with the weight of finality.
Before they even noticed, consciousness left the two men as, with a sharp pull, the train picked off again.
“…-sei! Sensei! ” A firm arm shook their forms as a tightly controlled, authoritative voice called to them from the edge of… not unconsciousness, no. They fell asleep, that much they were sure of, asleep on their way to… a new place of employment, they recalled vaguely. Not much else though. Rather anxiety-inducing for a prospective new hire.
“ Mammon-Sensei! Rahim-Sensei! ” The voice repeated, much sharper and demanding this time.
The blue-haired man, Rahim, snapped awake with the trained precision of a man well used to waking up on demand without a clock and with the efficiency of someone whose livelihood depended on coming to attention fast. Golden eyes immediately lost the haze of confusion as he focused on the speaker.
The woman in front of them was… alright, so Rahim was always absolute dogshit at eyeballing the heights. She, at the very least, gave the impression of height. Long, pantyhose clad legs, white sleeveless dress with a long coat thrown on top of it and a blue cravat over her – very generous, he noted with idle appreciation – chest. Black hair loosely falling all the way to her heels – good lord, he shuddered to think about the amount of work she put into the necessary haircare – and piercing, vibrantly blue eyes hid behind thin, round glasses. Her lips were pursed into a thin line, and her face betrayed none of her thoughts.
Of course, one couldn’t discount the thin, azure halo with three vertical lines crossing it in an approximation of stars hovering slightly above her head.
Oh, and there was a customised, white Deagle on her hip.
Rahim still recognised the subtle signs. Hair slightly disheveled around the face, eyebags hidden under skillful application of make-up and eye shadow, that particular paleness accompanying lack of sleep. At least their host was still fine enough not to tremble.
So angels could still get stressed and exhausted. Good to know. Or not, Rahim supposed, given something stressed out an angel.
“Apologies.” A voice rasped behind and above him, sounding like a whisper forcefully brought to normal speaking volume. Sparing a quick glance, Rahim beheld one of the tallest persons he had ever seen. Even he could tell the other man was tall , lanky and all black (save for skin rivalling in paleness even his). Didn’t really help him placing their host’s measurements… that came out wrong.
Well, she was about… a head shorter than him? So that was, what, about five feet five? If he remembered his conversion tables properly.
“Same.” He spoke next, raising his hands in apology. “I’m afraid public transit has never agreed with me.”
The woman… or perhaps older teen, sighed as she corrected her glasses. “No, no, I guess it was a bit hasty of me to call the two of you here immediately upon your arrival. My name is Nanagami Rin, Chief Administrative Officer of the General Student Council.” Swiping her hand, Rin beaconed the two of them to approach a massive, floor-to-ceiling window taking up the entire wall. Rahid and Mammon approached it slowly, circumventing a lone oaken desk to the side.
Behind the window, stretching so far beyond the horizon as to render the stupendous height of the office meaningless, sprawled a massive cityscape. A cityscape so colossal that the patches of greenery spreading the developed area open had to be so massive enough to count as small forests, similar with rivers cutting through and vanishing either beyond the horizon or into lakes massive enough the beachfronts were recognisable even from up here.
“Well, that’s… that’s definitely impressive.” Rahim muttered weakly as he struggled to internalise the size of the city he was confronted with. How many millions of people lived here?
Mammon was preoccupied with something else entirely, “Are those tanks I see rolling around the streets? And how many missile racks and anti-air machineguns does that building there need ?”
An attack helicopter shooting a barrage of its own rockets before getting blown up in turn succinctly answered that question before either of them could.
“Nevermind.” The man built like an obelisk on stilts muttered.
Miss Nanagami looked downright embarrassed. “Ah… yes. I’m afraid your arrival, Sensei, coincided with a bit of a turbulent time. Things are rowdier than usual, I’ll admit. If you would come along? I will explain further on the way.”
“Do you think it’s the tanks roaming the streets more carelessly than in June 1989 or the vehicular assault with aircraft that counts as ‘rowdier than usual’?” Rahim muttered to his compatriot as they both followed Rin into an elevator.
“The latter. Falling aircraft are a lot messier.” Mammon replied without hesitation, in that very particular tone of someone so out of their depth they had stopped trying to swim and were just going with the flow.
“Expect enough firefights on a calm day you would think you’re in American school, got it.” Rahim nodded to no one in particular with a wry, shaky grin. Although, if their hostess was an angel, who knew if all that lethal ordnance was actually… lethal.
“Since you’ve just arrived here, and the person who did invite you and notified us of your arrival is not present, I will give you a brief introduction to Kivotos.” Rin spoke calmly as they filled into the small, external lift. With a push of a gloved finger, the door closed and they went smoothly down at a comfortable pace. “Kivotos is a home to thousands of academies of varying sizes, most of which are generally autonomous on matters of internal governance. Your job, as we understand it, involves interacting with these governing bodies and their students. It might be overwhelming at first, especially with just two people, but I am sure you will find your footing in no time. Our President chose you, after all.”
“Interact how, exactly?” Mammon asked, slouching to eye-level with Rin in a way that only made the towering man seem even larger. A pitch black eye peeked out from the curtain of equally dark hair as he tilted his head quizzically, and Rahim couldn’t for the life of him tell where the pupil ended and the iris began. It was just a flat disk of blackness boring unblinkingly into Rin’s azure. “Are we essentially an international policing force who steps in to cut through the red tape and politics of overlapping jurisdictions? Or closer to inspectors who can drop by apropos of nothing to ensure everything is up to code and twist the local authorities’ arm about any corruption or negligence?”
Before Rin could answer the question, the lift came to a stop at the ground level and a chime rang before the door opened, revealing a crowded atrium where multiple other teenagers in predominately white uniforms held back a crowd of visitors talking animatedly. Curiously enough, a group of them was allowed behind the cordon.
“There you’re, Acting President! Get the actual President here already, will you?!” A short, twintailed purplette with what looked like a solid metallic halo and a pair of submachine guns holstered under her arms and partially hidden by the folds of her coat. “Our district’s power generation is slowly shutting down, this is unacceptable!”
“I’ve been waiting, Chief Officer.” A (relatively) taller woman greeted Rin next. Her halo was red, with four daggers surrounding it and a four-pointed star residing within its ring. Her features would normally fall under the definition of classic Japanese beauty, with the exception of her red eyes, if not for her massive pair of… wings. Yes, definitely wings. Eyes did not stray towards the rather dangerously high hip-cut of her skirt, nor to the white ‘Justice’ emblazoned upon the left breast of her straining shirt. The tastefully engraved, black and gold bolt action rifle swung over her shoulder was given an appreciative nod. Whomever was responsible for decorating that gun was as skilled as they were tasteful. Yes.
“I would like to speak with the General Student Council President on behalf of the Head Prefect, if possible.” Another young lady , this one with shoulder length pigtails and bright amber eyes behind rectangular spectacles. She wore a puffy, white shirt and short, black skirt, with a mauser pistol holstered in an under-arm open carry. Her most visually distinct feature, however (besides red halo with crosshair shaped points) were her sharp, elf-like ears. “We have heard rumours of several students breaking out of the Correction Bureau's custody.”
“There has been a sharp increase in the numbers of thugs assaulting students on their way to classes.” Another student interjected. This one, red eyed with waist long white hair - with a singular wing just growing out from the left side of her head - had another crosshair-like halo. Unlike the elf girl’s, however, hers was pale purple, and the arms’ resembled outward facing arrows instead. More pointedly, unlike all others, she held her gun - a monochrome rifle with some sort of scratched out motto on the side of it - loosely in her right hand, with a belt over her grey skirt weighted down by entirely too many flashbang grenades. Frowning, the epileptic hater continued. “Public safety is not being properly enforced.”
“ Suzumi… ” The curvaceous, black haired beauty sighed tiredly, a hand reaching to her temple to massage it. A moment later, she shook her head and focused on Rin. “I suppose since my classmate breached the topic, the Justice Task Force may as well voice their concerns as well. The recent meteoric rise in illegal distribution of tanks, choppers and special ordnance presents us with a strain serious enough there are concerns about our students’ ability to continue with their ordinary school lives.”
“ Ah, I understand now. ” He heard Mammon mutter behind him before the massive man straightened up to his commandeering height with a wince-inducing popple-crackle of his spine, idly adjusting his tie as he walked forward to face the group properly. All eyes were on him instantly, hard not to when even girls five rows deep in the crowd-crush held back by the cordon could see the obelisk on stilts clearly, “Hello. I am Mr Mammon, deputized by the GSC President alongside my fellow there to resolve cross-academy matters. Please, direct your queries to us, as the President is currently absent.”
In the ensuing silence, they could both hear Rin sigh tiredly. “We were about to announce that, at least to the students gathered here.” The woman complained.