Azure Archive (BlazBlue x Blue Archive)

[Omniwhatever]

Crimes of him in that world don't matter in this one.

Click to shrink...

They may not and Hazama knows it, but not gonna stop him from having a laugh to himself about it since he knows Ragna's history quite well. Including the thing Ragna might not wanna talk about that much.

I hope there would be comedic moments for them too to balance out the sadistic features they originally had

Click to shrink...

A lot of that is gag reel stuff. Hazama comedic value, at least for me, mainly came from the sheer charisma he had fucking with everyone, how hilariously condescending and over the top he was. In Blazblue tradition, I have given a thought about maybe doing a one off gag reel like thing and roll with the absurdity, it'd actually fit pretty well with BA's tone, but if I do it'd probably be something like an end of volume thing since I don't wanna get bogged down doing side content so much it stalls the main story. But might see stuff like that down the road at some point as I have given some thought to it and how over the top Blazblue's gag reel stories get and half the time Kivotos may as well be an extended gag reel Ragna is living through.

Except Hazama's crippling allergy to cats. That's very canon and he's going to hate all the cat girls BA has. If just being around Tao is enough to make him screw off, Abydos will always be safe while Serika keeps breathing.

 

[Lovnag]

Heeeeey it's Hazzy and Relius, let's go.

Except Hazama's crippling allergy to cats.

Click to shrink...

Man I still remember the catnip shampoo gag reel. It was so awesome.

 

[Omniwhatever]

Spoiler: AUTHOR'S NOTES

I'M NOT DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I am really, really sorry to everyone for such a delay in updates after being left on such a cliff hanger. I wasn't intending to leave things like that but had to deal with two big personal emergencies across the past 3 months that caused a lot of problems. But, I'M BACK. Still may be a little slower for a bit. Was actually going to originally make this one really long chapter after the long and unplanned hiatus, but another little thing came up that's put a damper on my time to write for another week or two despite being close to done and originally planned to have it all finished this weekend. So since this had a good place for a break 6k+ words in decided to just split the chapter for an update now and should have another in a week or two.

Hope to not keep people waiting so long in the future! Missed my story's 1 year anniversary by exactly 2 months because of it all!

On that note of anniversaries, I got some artwork done by this great person for it that's now in the first post of the thread. The full resolution is a ridiculous over 9000x14000 so resized to not clog up everyone's screens so it's kind of small here . To see the full res, without the added logo, can view it here.

---

Volume 1 Chapter 1: Building Tensions (XI)​

The day had already begun, and Ayane knew it was going to be a long one. Out of concern for Serika's well being, Ayane had thought to send her a message late last night, just to confirm they'd gotten home safely. To the 1st​ year's relief, her friend was fine, but had run into some trouble. Ayane had wanted to know, but Serika had mentioned she'd explain it at school today since she was too tired for a long story, which the young elf could respect. And so, Ayane had arrived at the school slightly earlier than typical on the weekend, basking in the hot, clear morning sky and sun of Abydos. She might've normally slept in just a little, it was a bad weekend habit of her's when the situation permitted, but there was too much going on to be sleeping around.

As she approached the school gate, the sounds of Ragna practicing came to Ayane's ears once more. It was a little bit of an adjustment to get used to the man becoming a regular part of the school, Ayane wasn't going to complain. His presence was always reassuring to the 1st​ year, a reminder her optimism asking for help wasn't wasted.

"I wonder how much we could get for this."

"Who in the world would we even sell this too?"

… Was that Serika and Shiroko? What were they doing here this early? Selling something? Had they found something valuable?

With growing excitement, Ayane quickened her pace to reach the front gate of the school. "Did you fi-"

The girl froze dead in her tracks, jaw hanging open as she saw a tank with a flak gun mounted onto it in the middle of the courtyard, Serika and Shiroko both inspecting various parts of it.

"W-W-Where in the world did THAT come from!?"

The attention of her classmates was drawn from the tank over toward Ayane. "Nn, Morning, Ayane. We stole this from the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang after the attack last night."

"The what?! Stole!?" Throwing open the school gate to rush up toward the two, Ayane shouted, trying to parse the numerous mental images that conjured up. She knew there was a possibility of something happening, it was what caused her to message Serika, but Ayane couldn't have possibly expected artillery being part of it! Not only that, everyone managed to grab it in near perfect condition!? Something like this had to be worth a lot of money!

"Hey," Ragna's sharp voice interjected from behind the tank, his body coming into view from around the side soon after. "that makes it sound like we're the ones who did something wrong. I told you, no way in hell we were gonna just leave it there."

"Can somebody please explain what happened last night?!" Ayane's gaze darted between everyone present, and briefly over to Hoshino napping under the sun on the school roof, in desperate search of some kind of answer.

There truly was never a dull day at Abydos…

---

All things considered, things were going pretty well for Ragna. He'd managed to avoid Serika getting kidnapped and come out way ahead with nabbing the tank and some combat vests. That'd definitely be useful getting some more evidence and go toward lightening the debt a bit on Abydos. The man had no idea how much any of that was worth, but the tank at least had to be worth something. The girls could figure it.

Getting shot at by the girls also hurt a hell of a lot less than he remembered too. Must've been somebody he had yet to meet again who hurt a damn lot that left a strong impression to make him worried as he was on his first day.

Whatever, that was all stuff to sort later. Time had moved to late morning and to yet another quick meeting for Abydos after catching up Ayane and Nonomi on last night's events. With Ayane having had a little time to do some research and look over the recovered gun, she really was pretty handy with machines, alongside the message Ragna had gotten from Rin earlier, there were a couple of things to talk about with everyone now in the Foreclosure Task Force club room.

"I did some research on the tank you managed to get last night." Ayane began in a lecturing tone, commanding the attention of the room with a stern face.

"Think we'll be able to get a lot for it?" Shiroko abruptly interjected, ears flicking up hopefully.

The 1st​ year let out a sharp exhale, recomposing herself after a second. "No, Shiroko-senpai. I don't think we even could sell the tank as is. That model is illegal within Kivotos. I'll have to dig a little more for all the details, but whoever's been supplying the Helmet Gang is connected enough to get contraband like this to them."

"Should we even keep that thing here then?" Serika spoke up, looking uncertain.

In a world where tanks were only slightly rarer than cars, one could buy explosives and rockets right next to a bag of chips, and even helicopters weren't uncommon, Ragna wasn't sure why the line was drawn at a flak gun. However, from what he remembered of the first go around apparently it wasn't so much the flak gun in general being illegal but more so this variant had some mods which made it pack a lot more punch and were outlawed.

"I think we're waaaaaaaay past worrying about that, Serika." With a shrug of his shoulders, Ragna added. "Don't exactly see Valkyrie or the GSC rushing in to help, so what they don't know won't hurt em. Besides, if you're not gonna keep it, I'm sure you can sell at least part of it if you rip out whatever's illegal. Worst case, I cut the thing into scrap metal for that vendor the school's working with to get something out of it."

"That's something to consider once this is all over, but for now it's evidence in this case, so there shouldn't be a problem. There's a lot we can do with a solid lead like this." Ayane answered confidently.

Nonomi raised her hand to draw focus, a determined look on her face. "Like if we analyze the distribution channels for those, we can find out who they answer to!"

"Bingo." Ayane nodded with an approving smile toward Nonomi. "Considering this, I doubt it could be something like another school and it's more likely to be a larger organization that already has some degree of criminal involvement, which would fit with what sensei was saying…"

The room fell tensely quiet, the unspoken implication hanging thickly in the air like an oppressive cloud.

Hoshino let out an exaggerated yawn, resting her cheek in her palm. "Let's just proceed with a little caution and see where this leads before getting too worried about. No use getting bent out of shape over the unknown. We might find out a lot before this is over. We should be happy we got a good lead now."

"Hoshino's right." Ragna said, leaning against the glass door over the bookshelves beside the whiteboard. Last thing he needed was everyone getting stressed when he knew it'd be fine in the end. "Told you guys we'd get something and we did, so let's just follow that."

And this time he wasn't going to start a fight with Kaiser before that happened. He had to trust his students could be resourceful enough to figure that out.

Thankfully, the calming words worked and the atmosphere relaxed, everyone's expressions rising slightly.

"Well, I guess I'll get to wo-"

"Hold on," Ragna abruptly cut off Ayane, raising his hand to command attention. "I got one more thing to bring up."

Shiroko tilted her head curiously. "Nn, did you think of something else again, sensei?"

"Nah." Ragna waved his hand dismissively alongside a matching shake of his head. "Gonna be heading back for a day since I got some important shit to talk about the GSC with tomorrow morning and takes a bit to get from here to Sanctum Tower or back. Leaving early tomorrow and should be back late afternoon or so. Got a few things to get ready before then so I'll be taking off after this meeting. Might be able to get something done for Abydos while I'm at all this."

Ayane's lips pursed into a pensive frown. "Are you sure about that after what just happened, sensei? Now might be the best time to start investigating and if this is the kind of scale to expect from future attacks, we're going to need to be extra careful. I think it'd be more reassuring to have you around. And... What do you mean by something for us?"

"It'll be fine." The man answered with casual words and a shrug of his shoulders. Ragna was really starting to appreciate the confidence his knowledge of the future gave his plans, as ordinarily he'd have agreed with Ayane and stayed put. "I won't be gone for even 12 hours. Should be back before the evening and given how you all said things have gone, I bet we'll have at least 2, maybe 3, days before another attack. Maybe more if they're still trying to figure things out after the last few attempts went like shit. Besides, while I'm taking care of that, gonna see if I can talk talk about getting the whole 'unofficial club' problem out of the way."

And maybe he could get more information about the missing GSC President from the organization. That issue was on the backburner till the current crisis resolved, but didn't mean Ragna couldn't be frustrated about his lack of progress on figuring out the time loops.

The room fell silent at the man's words. Several pairs of eyes widening in realization.

"… Nonomi, you did tell everyone what we talked about a few days ago, right?" Ragna flatly stated as he met everyone's gaze.

"I did~." With a smile returning to her face and positive cheer in her voice, Nonomi answered. "But, I didn't think you'd do something about it this soon. That'd be great if you could bring it up!"

Serika let out a frustrated groan, crossing her arms. "The whole thing still doesn't make any sense, we're the only students left in the whole school and we're handling the debt! Why bother including our information if we're still 'unofficial'!?"

"Politics and bureaucracy are bullshit, that's why, Serika." Ragna answered with a scowl. He didn't even want to imagine how bad trying to navigate this stuff would've been without experience from the future. There was absolutely no way he would've figured out any of these details and how to navigate them so soon without it. Ragna liked to think he was fairly smart, even if no genius, but anyone could sure as shit appear way brighter than they actually were by simply knowing a lot and how to apply the knowledge decently.

The man continued, casually gesturing toward Hoshino, who looked at the rest of the room now focusing on her with one eye closed and meeting Ragna's gaze with her own piercing one. "So long as the vice president over there is still here, everything's fine since she can sign off on it. But better to sort that now in case anything happens and makes less of a headache for the rest of you trying to deal with things. I don't expect this to get solved in a day but I might as well get it moving while I'm taking care of everything else."

Hoshino let out a long sigh, slowly waving her hands in front of her defensively. "Aw, you say that as if ojisan's suddenly gonna skip town to leave everyone high and dry like a beached whale."

"Not saying you will. Just be easier to avoid any issues later if it comes up." Ragna answered. If things went well enough, there wouldn't even be a certain issue down the road, but like hell was he leaving it up to chance if he could help it.

Hoshino stretched her arms before leaning forward onto the table, staring directly at Ragna. Knowing Hoshino's opinion of him, the man would've gone as far to say the posture was aggressive. And if that wasn't enough, her slightly lower voice said plenty, burying the true emotions beneath an air of casualness. "That's true, but sensei... What's so important you have to leave right now and can't just call them? SCHALE sounds like they got special treatment with a direct line instead of all the boring channels and paperwork everyone else has~."

"Something the acting president specifically wanted to talk about in person." Ragna answered with a huff. Yeah, he expected this from Hoshino. Good thing he'd already given some thought of what to say. "I'm guessing you all already know what SRT is. That school's kind of in limbo right now too since the president went missing and nobody else is willing to take charge, some people wanna get rid of it. Promised those girls I'd try to help save their school too. Lot harder to ignore me in person."

"W-Wait, are you saying they're in danger of being shut down too?" Straightening up with a hand over her mouth, Nonomi interjected.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Politics are a goddamn nightmare." Ragna said with a low grumble, almost a growl. As much as it was the easy route, some problems you couldn't just hit with a big enough stick. "So trying to prevent 2 schools from getting shut down at once here. Figure you girls understand what that looming over you is like and can sympathize. I'll still be coming right back so don't worry about it."

Hoshino's posture relaxed, leaning back more in her chair, eyes still contemplative.

"You've already done a lot for us, sensei. I'm sure whatever you have to do there will work out." A subdued, yet reassuring, smile spreading over her face, Shiroko added.

Ayane made a few quick notes on the tablet in her hand. Her expression was lighter, but the pensive worry was still clear in her frown. "When you put it like that, it makes a bit more sense. I've never gotten any messages back from them, so I hope you'll be able to get their ear. It would certainly make things easier for us long term. But, please, don't take too long. We're clearly dealing with someone powerful and they might see an opportunity with you gone."

"It's just an afternoon. We can take care of ourselves for a day. I think there was a spare round or two with the flak gun. We'll just use that if we need it!"" Serika responded, looking mildly indignant with her arms crossed, yet the fire she'd usually shot back with the last few days tempered with understanding. Her expression even softened slightly as she turned to address Ragna. "But you better not leave us waiting and get back here as fast as you can!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to say you'll miss me."

Serika slammed her hands on the table, bolting upright from her chair with a face that was quickly becoming red. "T-That's not what I said!

"C-Calm down, Serika-chan. Our meetings isn't over yet." Ayane stated in a nervous attempt to re-rail the conversation. "If that's all you have to bring up, then there's one more matter I'd like to address."

"Yeah? What is it? Thought we were ready to end things a minute ago." Ragna asked, ignoring the girl glaring at him while slowly taking her seat again.

"We were," Ayane began, not looking up from her tablet. "but if you're going to be gone tomorrow, then I was thinking we could move up our normal meeting about the school's debt to today, if nobody has objections. I don't think anyone here has any work to get to till later so we should have time for some discussion. I know we've already addressed a lot recently with current events, but I'd like you to see how the Foreclosure Task Force normally operates with matters like handling our debt, sensei."

"I'd love it if he stayed~. It'd make us feel like a proper club! Maybe a new perspective will help us find a good idea too~." Nonomi said with a radiant grin, yet there was something hiding in that smile and those words which loudly signaled to Ragna exactly what kind of plan she had in mind.

Shiroko silently nodded her head a few times in agreement.

Serika took a deep sigh, trying to recompose herself. "Well, there was a lead I was going to follow up on later today so I don't have much to present right now... But if nobody else cares, I guess it wouldn't be bad for sensei to see a normal meeting."

"Would you mind staying a little longer then, sensei?" Ayane's optimistic eyes suddenly flicked over to the rest of the group, expression and words turning sharp, briefly taking on that kind of tranquil fury somebody just wanting to 'talk' while holding a weapon had. "I hope that everyone will continue to treat this with some more professionalism while he's here. We've been having a rather good streak so far..."

Ragna barely managed restraining a groan. Right, that happened about this time didn't it? What was it the first time again? There'd been so many of these damn things and ideas tossed around in the many meetings that remembering all the little details was a pain in the ass.

Except for Shiroko obsession with robbery and Nonomi's being idols. Even if not every time, those came up quite often. And Serika brought in some kind of obvious scam where the only question was what did she fall for that time. It was all ridiculous, a perpetual source of exasperation for both himself and Ayane, while half the time nothing productive even got done.

And yet… It wasn't causing as much of a pounding in his skull as he expected. The more Ragna thought of it, he was almost nostalgic over anything else, sort of like how he'd felt looking forward to the meet up at Shiba Seki. There was so much serious shit happening recently he'd hardly had time to actually just relax and get to befriend the girls again. It'd be good to have some normalcy, well what qualified as it in Kivotos, and letting dumb kids be dumb kids without worrying about a shadow conspiracy for just a short time.

"Alright, I'll stick around then. Might as well get this over with."

That still didn't mean he had to love all of it.

---

Well, the meeting had gone about as Nonomi expected, but she always had fun with how lively the regular ones were. Everyone always had such fun ideas on how to pay off the debt, namely the 8 million yen a month that barely covered the monthly interest. Shiroko attempted to bring up bank robbery and she'd picked a different bank than the one Ragna lectured her on, only to get shutdown so fast Nonomi almost felt bad with how cute the color coordinated masks were. Serika getting saved, for once, from a scam she planned on attending a seminar for later in the afternoon, but there'd certainly be another one within days at most. Hoshino suggesting the best way to repopulate the school was kidnapping a bus of other students. And, of course, Nonomi herself had tried to push for forming an idol group, but unfortunately she hadn't managed to get Ragna's support to tip the tide on that one. What a shame the man couldn't understand the genius of her plan and how much fun it'd be! Maybe it was because she'd not gotten the extra day to find the perfect pose for the Mizugi Girl Gang she wanted to spend the evening on. That must've been it.

Oh, well. There'd be more chances to win everyone over once she ironed out the details!

It was all quite the welcome break in tension after all the emergency meetings had such a shadow hanging over them from recent revelations, especially that still lingering doubt about who it was at the back of her head… It was good to forget that for a little, even if it'd ended in Ayane almost exploding into a shouting lecture. But Ragna had averted that by interjecting the second her furious hands touched the table, as if he knew a blowup was coming. She wouldn't complain about not having to reset the table, for once!

Nothing had been accomplished in the end though and everyone had dispersed to take care of the daily tasks of school life in Abydos, but not before trying to cheer up Ayane a little as everyone else departed. That hadn't gone well, so Nonomi had stuck around for longer than usual to try making it up to the girl, with some sliiiiiightly better results before she'd eventually taken off to attend to her own chores and let Ayane do more investigating.

Nonomi hummed to herself as she strolled through the second floor of Abydos, some of her footsteps muffled by the patches of sand, a thing she really had to take care of. However, that was for later since she had to get a broom and check the front gate as that sometimes needed to get cleaned out twice a day with all the sand that blew in.

"Yeah, guess that's about what I should've expected. So, we're back to that huh?"

Nonomi froze as she heard Ragna's voice once she reached the stairs. Who was he talking to? He sounded a touch more exasperated than usual. Pondering the source of the trouble in the ensuring silence prevented Nonomi from trying to jump in immediately. Would it be better if she left and tried to talk later? If it wasn't that serious, the girl would've felt bad eavesdropping but would've hated to leave to leave anyone important to Abydos hanging if some conflict resolution was needed.

"Hoshino, if you're that distrustful of me, then I know it doesn't matter what I say now, so I'll be back tomorrow and see what kind of news I can bring to Abydos after dealing with the General Student Council, actions'll speak louder than words." Ragna's voice rapidly grew more distant with every word he said, till Nonomi barely heard the last few he let out, almost like it were from outside the building. "Don't do anything stupid by yourself while I'm gone."

"S-Sensei, if you wanna be that direct, l-let's talk about this later...! Ah..."

What in the world? She knew Hoshino had some suspicions about the new teacher, Nonomi herself still found a little bit 'strange' about him and saw the little hints from Hoshino she felt similar, but Ragna knew it too? Did he pick up on it just like he had somehow known Nonomi was a little skeptical? Oh, not good, really not good. Nonomi knew better than anyone that Hoshino had some deep rooted problems, but she didn't expect it to lead to something like this! No wonder Nonomi often got a sense of uneasy tension in the air around her senpai and Ragna. Somebody had to address this before it became an even bigger problem!

"Hold on a minute, sensei, Hoshino-senpai!" Nonomi called out, footsteps rapidly echoing in the empty halls as she rushed down the stairs. But to her dismay, Nonomi found only Hoshino, looking at her like a deer in headlights. Ragna was nowhere to be seen, having already left the small campus impressively quick.

"Uhhh… I, um… Guess you heard some of that, huh Nonomi-chan?" Hoshino's tone was like that of a young kid caught doing something forbidden. Resigned to their fate, yet still holding onto the delusional hope of somehow being able to talk their way out of it.

Nonomi set her minigun beside the staircase, frowning as she stepped toward Hoshino. "Hoshino-senpai… are you really that suspicious of sensei?"

Knowing she was caught red handed, Hoshino's shoulders slumped into a slouch with a sigh. It was only momentary, however, as Hoshino soon perked up and waved her hand with a dismissive, awkward smile. "W-Well, I thought it's kind of strange how fast he got to figuring everything out for somebody so new to Kivotos. But sensei's still helping us out, especially after last night. We talked about it once before, but Ojisan might've come on just a little too strong this time… But you know what I mean about things being kind of weird, right Nonomi-chan?"

"I do…" Nonomi answered carefully. Hoshino's reasoning sounded innocent enough on the surface, after all Nonomi herself had a feeling the man wasn't being entirely honest, but the girl knew her senpai well and she wasn't being truthful as she could either. With a reaction like Ragna had, Hoshino was way more skeptical than she let on. "But you're worried about a lot more than just things being a little weird, aren't you? I didn't think it was so bad sensei tried confronting you about it too."

"Ah… Guess you heard a lo-" Hoshino abruptly paused, her eyes narrowing curiously. "Eh? He talked to you too?"

"Well, not… Exactly. I tried asking sensei a little more about how he knew Ayane-chan's number and so much about Abydos. I guess he thought I was a lot more cautious of him than I was. Knowing you already talked about it explains that, though, I guess he thought I felt the same way." Nonomi finished her words with an awkward smile.

"Ah, so that's why you told everyone what sensei said earlier…" Hoshino trailed off, letting a tense silence hang in the air.

Almost like a switch had been flipped, Hoshino put on a smile and turned away, starting to head down the hall. "Well, sounds like we just had some co-"

"Hooooooooold it~!" Nonomi wrapped both her arms around Hoshino from behind, pulling the girl half a head shorter than her to her chest, bringing them to an abrupt halt. Speaking, Nonomi kept her words a touch light, yet sincere. "Trying to keep everything to yourself is bad for you. It's not good seeing you and sensei fight."

Hoshino went slack in Nonomi's grip, leaning against her body and placing her hands against Nonomi's own. "Nonomi-chan, you'll get grey hairs worrying about everyone so much."

"If there's something bothering you, you don't have to worry about it by yourself." Nonomi's voice turned stern and her grip firm as Hoshino tried to gingerly remove her hands.

Hoshino lightly tugged at Nonomi's hands, but made no serious attempt to remove them. "Iyaa, that's this ojisan's job though~. Gotta make sure the youngsters aren't getting into any trouble."

"Hoshino-senpai, you're not alone anymore."

Hoshino froze dead mid motion.

Though Nonomi couldn't see her face from behind, that reaction said plenty about how her words had stuck the girl. Nonomi wasn't going to let this go without a fight, and she knew Hoshino knew that.

"Hey, Nonomi-chan…" Hoshino's voice was lower than usual as she leaned against Nonomi. "What exactly did Ragna-sensei say about how he knew how to call Ayane-chan?"

"Hrm? He said some notes were left because of the times she asked for help in the past and that included how to reach her. He thought maybe somebody felt bad about Abydos getting ignored for so long." Nonomi answered, unable to keep the slightly uncertainty out of her voice. It was somewhat of a stretch, given Abydos's history, but it wasn't impossible and perfectly explained how Ragna knew what he did, because how else would he?

Hoshino went quiet, quiet for an uncomfortably long time as if choosing her next actions carefully. The relaxed body leaning against Nonomi's chest started to grow tenser with each second that passed.

"Nonomi-chan… You know we can't trust someone whose story about everything doesn't add up."

Nonomi frowned. She'd been expecting something like this with everything she'd heard. She didn't think it was all bad to be a little skeptical, blind trust was how Serika adorably fell for a new scam on a weekly basis. But there was more to it this time. It came from a place Nonomi couldn't help worrying over.

"I know it's kind of weird, he could pass for somebody who's been here before if I didn't know better, but it's not unbelievable since how else would they be so prepared?"
The girl applied a gentle, comforting squeeze to her grip on Hoshino.

"It's not just that. Doesn't it feel like he already knows what's going on?" Hoshino turned her head enough to let Nonomi see the corner of her orange eye, doubt within it. "He knew somebody hired the Helmet Gang the second he saw them, he already knew his way around Abydos enough to walk through the desert and find the school, and sent Shiroko-chan with Serika-chan, like he knew it was coming… And then, sensei leaves right afterwards..."

A tightness gripped Nonomi's heart as the implications of Hoshino's words sank in. Nonomi strongly hoped she was worrying just a bit much, but this was way worse than she imagined if Hoshino was implying what she thought she was. "Hoshino-senpai..."

Hoshino had… Some deep rooted problems, having gone through loss few people in all of Kivotos had. It'd made it hard when Nonomi first encountered the oldest student in Abydos, when Nonomi herself was fresh out of middle school, but Nonomi had thought that after some time with a few students to help share some of the burden, maybe it would help some of Hoshino's pain. But if she'd kept this to herself and even Ragna somehow saw the distrust of him…

Maybe her senpai wasn't as well off as Nonomi thought.

"Hoshino-senpai, even if sensei isn't being entirely honest, that doesn't mean you have to be this cautious about him." Nonomi kept her tone supportive, yet slightly scolding. "I know it hasn't been long, but he's already done a lot for us to figure out why the school's being attacked and saving Serika-chan from getting kidnapped. It's not bad to be a little careful, but you know somebody isn't bad just because they don't want to talk about something. He'd made it a lot harder for whoever's after Abydos instead of easier."

Hoshino stiffened, like a child caught in the act of misbehaving, before letting herself go limp and hanging her head with a resigned sound. "Uhee… That's cheating, Nonomi-chan."

Nonomi lightly hugged Hoshino closer to her. "Sensei said he'd be back tomorrow and talk to the General Student Council about Abydos's situation. You might feel pretty bad thinking sensei's planning something naughty if he does."

"I guess I don't have any choice but to wait till tomorrow then." Hoshino's tone rose slightly to match Nonomi's, much more like her usual self. Yet it was still there, that shadow of doubt. "All this heavy talking is bad for ojisan's heart. If we're done, I could use a nap to rel-"

"Noooooo you dooooooooon't~." In a playful gesture, Nonomi twirled in place once with Hoshino to stop her from pushing out of Nonomi's grip, lifting the shorter girl off the ground like a lifesized toy till Nonomi set Hoshino back down after a spin. "We still got a few things that need doing around the school and sulking by yourself isn't good either~."

Now wasn't the time to leave Hoshino by herself.

"Ah… I see you're in a persistent mood today." Hoshino sighed, the cheer that'd returned to her voice already starting to deflate again.

Giggling a little, Nonomi finally released her hold on the other, stepping back. The tension wasn't all gone, but at least for now the atmosphere wasn't suffocating, so she could lighten up on Hoshino for now, but some of her returning energy felt overly forced. Maybe it'd help to do something simpler to take Hoshino's mind off her current troubles for even a short time. "You can use me for a pillow when we're done, alright?"

"Uhee~, when you make a tempting offer like that…"

Knowing this was… Definitely going to complicate things and Nonomi was going to have to spend the time Ragna was away from Abydos deciding if she wanted to talk to him about this too, but at least she'd managed to calm things down for now. She couldn't deny Hoshino had a point that at times things felt a little too coincidental, but the man at least had somewhat reasonable explanations for most of his story. Whatever he didn't want to say, Nonomi was at least willing to give them some space. He'd proven himself so far and with his strength would've had ample chance to cause issues if some of his caginess were bad intentions. Hopefully, it'd do Hoshino good to see him return with positive news and now that she had another person to support her.

---

Going through the streets of Abydos in the late afternoon, Ragna had an annoyed scowl on his face, the warmth of the Sun doing little to help his mood.

Maybe Ragna had been too optimistic in his assessment of things 'going well'. Matters with the rest of Abydos were fine and things were starting to fall into place to get some more solid leads toward pointing the finger at Kaiser. Hoshino though… Goddamn was she a handful. He couldn't decide if she was just too paranoid or too smart for her own good. Probably both. Maybe attacking Kaiser early the first time had done a lot more for her opinion of him than he'd given credit for. Or maybe knowing how deep her problems ran made all the little things stand out more that Ragna had missed the first go around.

Ragna had thought he was making some slow, if steady, progress with her since that initial night meeting and coming along with her patrols to further chat. But the stunt he'd pulled last night had set her on edge. He could tell from the tone in her voice when she'd started talking about being 'lucky' how perfectly everything worked out and he'd sent Shiroko with Serika. Leaving right now sure as hell didn't help his case, even he could see that, but he couldn't ignore the girls in SRT and if everything worked out he might avoid a significant headache later in case he couldn't get Hoshino to trust him enough by the end of this.

Once again, he had to do all this roundabout bullshit with the headaches a timeloop caused. It was lucky he felt Nonomi's presence in a floor above, but sure felt shady directly bringing up Hoshino's problems hoping she'd hear it discretely.

Did he feel bad indirectly roping Nonomi into this and hoping she could solve things? Yes.

Did he feel bad pushing Hoshino so much? Also yes.

Could he just pretend like nothing was the matter? Shit no.

Hopefully he didn't end up becoming part of the reason Hoshino did something dumb at this rate. Nonomi was always good at talking to the rest of Abydos so hopefully she could temper Hoshino's concerns a bit since she knew Hoshino's problems and Hoshino knew that too.

With luck, some of this crap could be over with once he got back tomorrow, but having Nonomi around just in case with how rotten his usual luck was put his mind at ease. That meeting itself was not something he was looking forward to, despite its importance. Damn politics...

"Senseeeeeeeeeeei, you've been pretty quiet for a while." Arona's worried words brought Ragna back to the present.

"I'm fine." Ragna said with a deep huff. Nobody was around, so no harm saying a few words to Arona. "Just giving myself a headache trying to plan around everything coming up. Knowing what's coming makes me have to think about it even more."

"It'll be okay! You've managed everything so far so I'm sure the rest will be easy! Hoshino-san will come around eventually." Ever a source of reassurance and optimism, Arona quickly answered so supportively Ragna could imagine the smile on her face. "Are you worried about tomorrow? It's your first 'official' meeting outside crisis time."

Ragna paused, leaning against the side of a building, looking up at the sky slowly beginning to turn orange with the late afternoon. "Yeah, that's a coming pain in my ass too, but I'll deal with that later. Got one more thing to setup before leaving Abydos."

"Hrm? Is it about the next thing Kasier's doing?"

"Yep, you're catching on fast. If things haven't gone off the rails yet, should be hiring Problem Solver 68 next. Never learned exactly when they got hired, but it's only been a day so might not have been called up yet. If I can run into one of them today, maybe I can start things off a little more friendly and have a better chance of getting some information later. Those four usually have a lot of freedom with jobs since they don't take money till it's over and Kaiser's probably making backup plans, so should be fine for a few days." Ragna said, already tossing thoughts through his head on how to handle the upcoming situation.

Probably best if he could find Aru or Kayoko. Those two were more level headed than Mutsuki and Haruka were, even if Aru tended to get a bit swept up in her persona. He didn't wanna risk waiting any longer to set this up if he could help it. He'd been too busy the last few days dealing with the more immediate issues to do this, but now he finally had some time. If he remembered right, Aru's group had gotten hired directly by the PMC Director, so between Ayane researching the tank and talking to the girls things could get moving fast. He didn't expect it to be easy, but well, wasn't going to stop Ragna from trying with the leads he had. Faster this got solved the better because Kaiser was already reacting to things being different. Best to try getting an edge while he could count on mostly knowing what to expect.

Now, to see if he could find one of them around Abydos in the next few hours...

 

[veekie]

Just need to rob Kaiser with an idol group and they'd love you

 

[Omniwhatever]

Spoiler: AUTHOR'S NOTES

Ugh I really know how to curse myself. Yeah so kind of in the middle of dealing with a bunch more stuff which cropped up since turned out those problems weren't as over as I'd have hoped. Don't really want to go into it. Not even gonna pretend I'll be able to update as fast as I used to while this is going on, but I hope I can try to aim for monthlyish updates or so. However long it lasts till I can get back to something more regular. I really do still like doing this but I don't have as much time or energy of late. Sorry. Life is just life, I guess.

---

Volume 1 Chapter 1: No Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy (XII)​

The sand dusted streets which only had a few people walking around them, empty buildings mixed with the few still operating businesses clinging to life, the bright but just beginning to shift toward the horizon sun, Abydos was a quiet place compared to Gehenna. Although, that would've described most of Kivotos next to the state of perpetual chaos in that school not even the loudest headphones could drown out. Onikata Kayoko wasn't going to complain about having some peace in the downtime between Problem Solver 68's work though. The low population made it easy to see the occasional stray cat or avoid being bothered on her way back to her group's office. The four had to do some more planning for their newest job, but had split up for a break and Kayoko had elected to enjoy some quiet, picking up a new CD before she headed back to the office.

On her way back, Kayoko noticed the occasional person glancing her away, most usually avoiding eye contact after one look at her and then hurriedly trying to get past her while giving some space. It was a reaction Kayoko had gotten somewhat used to.

For better or worse, that people tended to avoid her. It wasn't her clothes, a pleated short skirt with a small bat like wing from under it, with most of the skirt covered by her black hoodie with "Born.To.Kill." written under a stylize white animal like skull. It wasn't the small demon horns, even if they were uncommon outside Gehenna or Hyakkiyako, on the back of her head with a short black pony tail coming from between them. What it was, apparently, was her face that made people anxious. Kayoko never understood exactly what came together which made her face look bad, maybe it was the red eyes, maybe it was that combined with the white hair that had a black stripe down the middle. Whatever the case, while it let her avoid some unnecessary talking, even if it sometimes felt isolating. It was a mixed bag that also got Kayoko in some annoying trouble from having the wrong 'look'.

"Hey, you there."

… So that usually made the few times somebody new approached her at random a red flag for things to come. Especially when so few people wandered this section of Abydos.

Wordlessly, Kayoko turned around, keeping her expression neutral while making a quick appraisal of the owner of the deep voice that'd called to her. Tall, wearing a red coat with the right side not put on, giant sword on their ba-

Kayoko's eyes went wide.

Bad. This was really bad.

Ragna the Bloodedge, the new teacher with SCHALE and one of the targets of Problem Solver 68's new contract, was staring her down with his single green eye, not even a few meters away and certainly within reach of his large weapon.

Kayoko removed her hands from her hoodie's side pockets, not making any aggressive motions toward the pistol on the strap of her backpack, slung over her right shoulder, but still keeping her hands ready. Normally, Kayoko would not have immediately become so guarded, but whoever their employer was had explicitly warned of a good chance Ragna would somehow know of the arrangement and was highly dangerous.

The timing was just too coincidental. A literal day after being hired, the same person singled her out like this? The question of how in the world Ragna knew was secondary. Right now, he almost certainly was-

"Guess that's how it is already, huh." Ragna stated with a tired sigh. "Kid, calm down. You're looking at me like I'm about to attack you any second. Not here to start a fight."

… Just here to talk?

She'd have to see how long that lasted if the discussion went south. There was no sense in trying to play ignorant or wave things off. Too many coincidences for this to of been anything but him looking for her.

"You already know who I am, don't you?"

"And from how tense you are, guess you already heard of me. Should've guessed that'd happen with all the noise I've made." Ragna grumbled, putting a hand on his hip. "Wasn't exactly planning on starting things off so tense, Kayoko."

Kayoko raised an eyebrow, turning over the sentence's implications. If he'd been hoping Kayoko hadn't heard of him and just wanted to talk, what was the point of coming to her? It couldn't simply be being friendly if he wasn't trying to fight her. She didn't know the man, sure, but from what little Kayoko heard or saw, Ragna didn't strike her as the kind to take a casual 'nothing personal' approach like Mutsuki would.

"If you already know what Problem Solver 68 was hired for, why are you here?" Kayoko asked tensely. Even if the man said he didn't want to fight, Kayoko couldn't rule out the possibility of things devolving into one with how many times she'd heard that not long before things escalated.

The man paused, his stern face masking whatever emotions were turning in his head besides some frustration. "You're sure as hell not going to believe me if I said I wanted to just talk without the first meeting being trying to kill each other, are you."

Ragna didn't even attempt to phrase his words like a question. It was a flat statement.

"… No, I don't think I would." Kayoko answered dryly, body still stiff.

"Figures." Ragna groaned, throwing his hand up in resignation. The man then fell silent, almost like he were trying to think of a better sounding reason if Kayoko had to guess.

"To hell with it, might as well go for broke." Ragna finally stated with a huff. "If you already know who I am, no point in wasting both our time talking about it here. I'll just go right to your office and talk to everyone at once. You on your way back there?"

Kayoko wordlessly blinked at the man, trying to process the situation for a good few seconds. Just what… Kind of a plan was this? He already knew who Problem Solver 68 were and where they setup? How in the world did he figure all that out so quickly? If he was seriously going to walk right up to her friends and give her better conditions for if a fight broke out she wouldn't complain, but Kayoko couldn't get the lingering 'why' out of her head. "I was, but… What's your point? If you already know so much, why bother trying to talk to us?"

"Couple reasons." The man answered dismissively and without hesitation. "Nobody's started shooting at each other yet, so I wanted to see if I could prevent that and learn more about the bastard who hired you before they get you and Abydos wrapped up in some bad trouble. Annoying asshole made it pretty difficult to find anything about him."

Well… That made some more sense, not that it was going to do him any good with how little Kayoko herself knew about their mysterious client other than he was supposedly a powerful person. But something was also strange here. If Ragna already knew Problem Solver 68 was hired, he must've had somebody giving him information from inside… Somehow. But if that was the case what could her group possibly give him? Something was off here, but Kayoko was hesitant to directly call it out without backup.

"And I'm gonna assume none of you are stupid enough to start a fight by your office and ruin it, so as long as nobody shoots me first, we don't have any trouble to worry about. So, I say we stop wasting time, because I know you're not going to stop me." Ragna continued, dragging Kayoko out of her thoughts before she could ruminate on the idea for long. In an impressive display of confidence, Ragna didn't bother waiting for a reply and continued walking straight past Kayoko, making the girl take a step back as a precaution, but it was entirely unneeded as not one move was made toward her.

"You sound really confident about that… Suit yourself, I guess." Kayoko answered with a dry frown, starting to fall in line next to Ragna around his bad right side.

What in the world was today? Kayoko had seen or been directly involved in some weird jobs and circumstances, even before she started working with her current friends. But this job was off to an extra bizarre start. There were too many questions she didn't have answers for, but well… Whatever. She may as well see where this took her, maybe it'd answer a few of her questions before she spent too much time thinking about it. If something were to happen, it'd be better if she was with allies. Trying to fight the man who could physically throw a tank down the street one handed on her own was not a smart idea. If Ragna was going to let her get back to her friends, she wouldn't complain.

The man wasn't even wrong in his assessment, however. Well, provided somebody kept a close eye on Haruka. The neurotic girl could often be a little over eager to start shooting, or exploding, any signs of trouble, but was still fiercely committed to everyone and could sometimes show a smidgen of restraint when it came to putting her friends in serious trouble.

Keeping a few paces beside Ragna, Kayoko remained silent, gaze occasionally flicking up and down him curiously. She knew her client would have a biased opinion, but on first impressions the man wasn't exactly what she expected from the little Problem Solver 68 had been told. Fortunate for her, given the lack of trouble now.

The title he had sounded kind of cool, whatever it meant, though...

Neither party said a word during the walk, a mild tension hanging in the air all the while but it never felt dangerous to Kayoko. She was more worried what would happen after he got back to the office, but for now she may as well bask in a bit of the calm before the storm, not that she expected it to last long. Ragna moved through the district like he'd been in it for years and already knew the way to the office. The man didn't even check his phone for a map, not that Abydos's was the most up to date, and only rarely glanced at the street signs as he silently walked with Kayoko. Wasn't Ragna supposed to be new to Kivotos in general? Did he have a photographic memory too or something?

Kayoko didn't have long to ponder the thought as the pair soon came upon Problem Solver 68's office. It was rather unassuming, standard looking multi-floored building from the outside. Kayoko and her friends may have not technically owned the whole building as part of the lease, but they still had the place to themselves with nobody else renting the space, such was the dwindling situation of Abydos.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Ragna said to himself, not even bothering to stop as he made his way inside the building and to the front entrance of Problem Solver 68's room, trailed along by Kayoko, still watching his every move carefully.

Stopping in front of the door, Ragna turned toward Kayoko. "Mind going in first so I don't get shot on sight or cause a big problem?"

... Probably a good idea.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever disaster happened, Kayoko opened the door and stepped inside, throwing up her hand in a casual gesture to the three inside. "Hey, I'm back."

The room was much the same as it always was. Two black, small couches in the middle of the room with a similarly sized table between them, and her three friends at various parts of the room. On the right was Asagi Mutsuki, the shortest member of Problem Solver 68 but easily the most mischievous. She was dressed in her usual clothes of a black and red blazer with gold button and Problem Solver 68's logo on the right sleeve over a dark red dress with a frilly plaid patterned skirt. The girl was kicking her legs as if bored while fiddling with a large black bag almost her size, long white hair done up in a side tail occasionally shifting with the movement of her legs, a red halo made of two circles with four spikes in a crosshair pattern and four petal flower in the center above it all.

"Kayaoko-chan's finally back! What took you so long? We were about to leave you out of the fun planning what to do for the new job." Zipping up the bag. Mutsuki greeted Kayoko from the right side couch, grinning at her with pale purple eyes that briefly flicked over to the door.

"Section Chief Kayoko, who's voice was that outside the door? Did you bring a potential client?" From behind the desk opposite Kayoko's side of the room, the voice of the group's leader, Rikuhachima Aru, called out curiously, gaze shifting between Kayoko and the exit. The 2nd year wore a white dress shirt with matching gloves and a red ribbon above her chest. Covering most of the shirt though, was the bulky faded red coat with golden accents and straps that Aru perpetually wore over her shoulders, not even bothering to properly wear it since she thought it looked 'cool' and like an outlaw. The fur collar around her chest length reddish pink hair only served to make the coat and Aru's body seem even bigger. Like Kayoko, she also had horns, though in a different style, one on each side of her head colored dark with and gold, with a halo similar colored to her hair, two lines jutting out the side with a circle that had a slight gap on one side with a smaller circle within, four curved lines around the corners of the larger circle. "We're already on a major job, so now's not the best time..."

Kayoko let out a weary sigh. "Not.... Exactly. They weren't taking no for an answer. Just... don't cause any trouble." Kayoko's gaze briefly shot over to the girl on the couch across Mutsuki, Igusa Haruka.

The girl in question had a nervous frown on her face, clutching her purple shotgun like it was a source of safety while eyeing the door suspiciously. She had on a violet coat over her short dark skirt that went down past her waist and matched both her eyes and past the shoulder hair. Atop her head was a purple navy style hat and deep purple halo composed of three lines shaped like an incomplete triangle, with needles coming out the sides like thorns on a branch.

As if cued, the door behind Kayoko opened once more and in stepped Ragna right behind her. "Hey."

Aru and Haruka's reactions were confusion, eye's flicking up and down the man curiously. But Mutsuki, her gaze widened in recognition before settling into a curious grin, yet still a hint of caution in her eyes. The kind of look she got whenever something chaotic was on the horizon she was also going to become a victim to.

"So, Problem Solver 68, right?" Ragna said, stepping past Kayoko and toward the center of the room. "Got some business to talk about with you."

Aru, foolishly expecting Ragna to be another potential client, immediately straightened up and threw on the best mask of professionalism she could manage, keeping a sly and confident grin, yet with a hint of inviting warmth in her words. "Ah, a potential client? Well, you've come to the right place. As our company saying goes, we'll do the crime if you've got the dime. We currently have a backlog, but if you came all the way here we can discuss the details of your job to fit in at our first availability."

"Yeaaaaaaaaah, sure you must have a bunch of people coming to you with your reputation."

If Ragna's sarcasm had flown any higher over Aru's head it would've gone through the ceiling.

Shifting to the adjacent cushion on her couch closer to Kayoko, Mutsuki made a few subtle gestures with her head beckoning the girl over toward her.

Already resigned to whatever was going to happen, Kayoko stepped beside her smiling friend and leaned over toward her while Aru and Ragna exchanged a few words in front of her desk.

"Hey, hey, Kayoko-chan. Isn't that one of the people we were hired to deal with? The one to be eeeeextra careful with?" Mutsuki said in a low whisper, holding a hand over the side of her mouth to help further hide her words.

"He is..."

Mutsuki let out a hushed snicker. "Wow, leading such a dangerous person right to our office, that's unlike you~."

"I didn't lead him here... He already knew where we were." Kayoko replied with a deep sigh.

"S-Should I get ready to shoot?" Haruka's voice, having made her way over to the whispering duo, asked shakily, half pointing her shotgun in Ragna's direction.

"Do that and you'll give Aru-chan a heart attack wrecking the new office. We sure can't afford that." Without an ounce of shame, Mutsuki whispered back with a smile.

The color started draining from Haruka's already pale face and her voice suddenly shot way past a simple whisper. "I-I'm sorry! Somebody like me should just die for even thinking of causing Aru-sama trouble..."

"Alright, I guess I should cut to the chase before somebody hurts themselves." Ragna stated, looking over his shoulder with resignation for a few seconds before turning back toward Aru. "I'm Ragna the Bloodedge and I'm here about your newest job that's about me and Abydos."

"Eh?"

Aru's face froze into a confused smile. Blinking once, twice, then flicking her eyes over to Kayoko and back to Ragna.

Kayoko swore she could hear Aru's internal screaming as the girl visibly was trying to keep her expression straight while the room descended into chaos.

"Kufufu, I guess the huge sword wasn't enough of a giveaway for Aru-chan. Too bad, I was starting to like this place~."

"L-Let's not rush into anything while we're still inside."

"I-If he dares to attack Aru-sama anyway, then...!"

Kayoko wordlessly raised her hand in an attempt to not so gently push Haruka's raised weapon down.

"Oh god, should've expected this..." The guttural groan came from the very depths of Ragna's soul as he turned, taking a step back to ensure everyone was in the view of his squinting eye at once. "Everyone, just shut up and let me talk. I'm not here to pick a fight, so don't start one I have to finish and put the gun down. I know you don't want this place wrecked and if I did it'd already be rubble."

Somewhat reluctantly, after a quick look toward Aru, Haruka lowered her weapon, though still kept it held tightly.

"Great, let's cut to the chase then. I want you to tell me who the hell hired you to harass the Abydos school. And I know you're not going to say it that easily, so let me tell you exactly how this is going to go if you don't." Ragna started plainly explaining, leaning against the office wall.

Aru opened her mouth-

"And that's not going to include me breaking the building apart, so stop sweating bullets.."

-And immediately closed it.

Sure, that was easy to say, but Kayoko knew how this worked and kept her hand close to her pistol's holster because of it. As long as one agreed to whatever demands were made, nobody had to get hurt, But something like this? There was an implied threat lurking in the background because Ragna knew where the girls operated. Even if the four of them could win there was no way it'd be possible right now without the whole building as collateral from what she'd been briefed on the man and he could show up at any time. He was peaceful now, but people always were until they didn't get what they wanted and Kayoko already knew this wouldn't end how he desired. Who was to say his attitude wouldn't suddenly change once that became clear?

"You should be worrying more about your client after you get your ass kicked trying to take the school. Because then you're going to be stuck with everything spent and a pissed off client with no way to do the job. And then you're gonna be the example of failure for whoever they hire next. Just like the Helmet Gang was for you four I bet."

The room went momentarily quiet, Kaoyo turning Ragna's words over in her head. He was right, Problem Solver 68 was scheduled to crush one of the Helmet Gang's strongholds tonight as a message they were being replaced. Once again, the depth of Ragna's knowledge and how fast he knew it was... Unsettling. But there was something else, the way he talked about their employer, that didn't sit right with Kayoko.

Aru's expression shifted toward defiance. "Well, you might've heard of us before, but clearly don't know us enough if you think we'll go down as easily as those amateurs. Problem Solver 68's motto is to expect the unexpected. So we're always prepared no matter the target!"

"This is the first time I'm hearing about a motto." Kayoko dryly commented.

"Pretty sure she just made that up on the spot to try and sound cool after a threat like that." Mutsuki added with a grin, denting Aru's confident expression with unease as she read the girl like a book.

"Oh, I know that." Ragna answered with all the care of somebody being growled at by a puppy. "But did your boss tell you we took the flak gun he gave the helmet gang and have that to use now?"

Aru's face froze.

The lack of reaction only encouraged the man to keep going. "I've dealt with way bigger people than your employer and plan on getting him kicked out of here before the month's over and then you'll be out of a job and money. I'm trying to help you girls not get tangled up with somebody real dangerous here, much worse than whatever jobs you've done before."

"Hang on." Kayoko cut in with an edge, narrowing her eyes cautiously at Ragna and leaning toward the man aggressively. She'd gone along with it so far, but if the man was somehow getting information from the inside, she couldn't think of any other way with how he got it this fast, there was no point in going through this whole charade when he already knew and now with her friends, Kayoko was prepared to call it out. "You're trying to get us to tell who hired us, but you talk like you already know who it is and you're familiar with the person. There's something you're not telling us."

"I already got a real good hunch of who it is I'm trying to confirm because there's hardly anyone else who'd have enough resources and black market connections that'd give a damn about Abydos to go through this proxy war bullshit. You should be able to guess that much." Ragna fired back immediately. "This place isn't exactly paradise."

Mutsuki reclined back against the couch cushion, her smile not fading but becoming slightly more subdued. "He's not wrong, Abydos is one big ball of desert with the most interesting thing being all the other criminals here. Real great place to hide from any trouble~."

"As long as we're being treated and paid fairly, it's not our job to question the client's motives. As our company slogan goes, if you have the dime we'll do the crime." Aru added, trying to regain some of her confident demeanor back.

The answer wasn't enough for Kayoko. There was a slowly burning curiosity within her, as even Problem Solver 68 didn't have detailed info on the client, only some broad ideas with how secretive they were. She didn't normally fuss over the details of who wanted what, but if they had any setbacks in this job and the client was that powerful... It wouldn't hurt being prepared. "What's the point of this? If you know we got hired, then somebody must have told you more than we could."

"Are you saying you don't know who the hell you've gotten tangled up with?"

... Damn, maybe she'd kind of let that slip, but Kayoko remained silent and merely matched Ragna's gaze. Maybe she could coax some kind of answer out of him to learn more about what was going on here. This job was quickly looking to be bigger than expected.

"O-Of course we know who we're working with. But that's privileged information! Client confidentiality is vital in this business." Aru abruptly interjected, failing at holding onto the composure she'd tried getting back earlier.

Ragna closed his single working eye, letting out an absolutely guttural groan. "Goddammit, you really don't know who it is, do you? Guess I should've seen that coming when the other kids knew nothing."

"Hah, guess he saw right through us."

"M-Mutsuki!" Aru was visibly growing more distressed with the declaration.

"Whaaaaaat? You two already gave it away. This guy already knows and isn't falling for it. No point in trying to hide it." Mutsuki answered with a frown. "Aren't you curious about who they are too? Not like knowing stops us from doing our job."

The silent answer was everyone turning to look at Ragna with baited breath.

The man put an annoyed hand on his hip, looking up at the ceiling in thought as the silence grew tenser with every passing second. By the time he finally spoke and turned his focus back to the four, the pause was almost suffocating. "You gonna tell me anything if I say who I think it is?"

"Er," Aru paused for only a second, just enough to betray her own curiosity. "I already told you it's company policy not to say. Problem Solver 68 won't be tricked that easily!"

"Yeah, should've expected that. Real stubborn brats…" Ragna grumbled, a deep sigh following his words. "Alright, so clearly just trying to talk about it isn't working, so here's how this is going to work."

Was this finally where negotiations broke down? This was around the time bullets started flying normally.

As if reading Kayoko's mind and already preparing for conflict, Haruka started pointing her gun in Ragna's direction again.

"How many times do I have to say it's not gonna be me threatening you, so will you stop doing that?"

Haruka slightly lowered her gun with an uncertain frown.

"Right, so." The man began with a huff. "If that bastard's already told you about me, then I must've either really pissed him off or made him really nervous. And I know he's got eyes all over the place, so he's probably watching you four too and saw me come here. And I bet he'll be real interested about that."

Kayoko stiffened, fingers digging harder into the couch's armrest. If Ragna was right about Problem Solver 68's employer, then it shouldn't have been a surprise and this whole visit might've… Put them in an awkward spot when she came here with Ragna. Had this been his plan all along? Normally, she might've considered the possibility, but the man's demeanor almost felt like he was making things up on the spot and how ridiculous the whole situation was had completely side tracked her. Was that his plan? Mentally disarm her by acting stupid?

"So, I'd say once I walk out of here he'll wanna know what we just talked about and why I was here without any problems, hell bet the bastard might call soon as I'm gone and prove what I'm saying. I know I was right about dealing with the helmet gang first, so you won't be coming after Abydos right away. So, think about what I said and I'll be back in a few days to talk again." Without any sense he felt in danger what so ever, the man stated, approaching the door to the office. casually waving his hand in an almost dismissive manner.

For a moment, Kayoko considered trying to stop the man. Partially wanting to ask more, partially just to stop him and avoid causing issues with their new hire. Kayoko wasn't sure what he expected to change in a few days, but ultimately kept silent as Ragna opened the door to leave. The sooner he was gone, the more time everyone would have time discuss this... Whole ordeal. And if he was right in how Problem Solver 68's client would react, that'd confirm some of what he said.

Except the man paused, halfway through the door. A contemplative expression was on his face, but Kayoko could only guess as whatever thoughts were turning in his head, tension starting to build. Was he having seconds thoughts about a temporary peace?

"One more thing."

Kayoko's body remained rigid, cautious.

"If you wanna go talk somewhere or need somewhere cheap to go, there's a ramen place called Shiba Seki a few streets down." Without another word, Ragna closed the door after his statement, leaving the four girls in silence to process what had happened.

What was he trying to say with that...?

"Sooooo," Mutsuki began, kicking her boots lightly against the couch a few times. "What do you think we should do about that?"

"I'm not sure..." Kayoko let out a weary sigh, the tension finally leaving her body as she moved to crash down on the couch beside Mutsuki. "I can't tell if he just made this whole thing up on the spot or is an amazing actor..." She'd been thinking it was the former, but after that warning about the way Problem Solver's newest client would react, Kayoko wasn't sure. Maybe he was just really good at improvising.

Aru stood up and made a dramatic motion with one arm, the coat she wore loosely fluttering with the gesture in an obviously planned move to try and look cool. "Is it even a question? No matter what the circumstances or client, Problem Solver 68 always com-"

A blaring ringing cut off the girl mid sentence.

Everyone's gaze was immediately drawn to the vibrating, old timey looking phone on Aru's desk.

The bravado on Aru's face collapsed like a house of cards, the confident smirk she wore replaced by uncertain and wide eyes.

Ragna had been... Completely right on a level that was unsettling, precognizant even. If he was right on that, then it wasn't a leap that the other statements were true.

"Uuuh, Aru-chan, probably wanna answer that." Mutsuki stated with rare caution, knowing who was on the other end without need to pick up.

Visibly recomposing herself with a deep breath, Aru stiffly sat back down and picked up the phone, keeping her voice steadier than her body language was. "Hello, Problem Solver 68? ... Err, yes he was just here..."

Curiosity, alongside a growing sense of unease, getting the better of her, Kayoko leaned closer toward the discussion, trying to hear some of what came through the phone, just missing what was said before Aru began speaking again.

"He..." Aru paused momentarily, eyes flicking between the three others that'd gathered around her as if it would give her some kind of clue on what to do. "Asked us about the job and tried to talk us out of it."

"And you didn't let him convince you of such a foolish idea, did he?" A robotic, masculine voice said on the other end, phone now slightly tilted toward the group to allow everyone to hear it, like it were an implied threat.

"Of course not!" Aru answered quickly. "Problem Solver 68 would never break a contract once a job's taken!

"And yet, you let one of the targets of the job, one of the most dangerous ones, walk out of your building without so much as a scratch on him when it was four vs one in your own territory."

Aru mouth froze, hanging open as the color started draining from her face.

Kayoko's hand slammed directly into her face. They'd just... Gotten completely outplayed hadn't they?

"Guess I should get our old tent ready." Mutsuki whispered lowly, eyes glancing around the rest of her friends.

"That's...." Aru's mouth made a few motions without sound as the gears were visibly turning within her head to form a proper response, the security of their job and office potentially hanging in the balance. "... Because we can make an even better opportunity!"

Oh, Kayoko didn't like the sound of this.

"Oh?"

Some of the confidence slowly began returning to Aru's voice with each word. "That's right. He agreed to leave in peace, but said he'd try and talk to us again in a few days. Which means we have plenty of time for the perfect plan without worrying about any interruptions. And then we can catch the target by surprise instead of him getting the drop on us."

"Hah... Not bad, using someone's good will against them. I knew I hired you for a reason."

Mutsuki let out a soft snicker. "Aru-chan's a real villain."

Though the eyes of the group leader were trying to come across as proud, the slight twitch of her lips gave away the trace of guilt in Aru at the implications of her statement sinking in.

"But I have one more question."

Everyone immediately stared at the phone.

"Did he say anything else about what he knew about the job. Did you tell him anything?"

The room suddenly felt a few degrees colder. The tone on the other end was different than before. Before, there was that sense of implied menace, calm and completely in control from someone who knew they held all the cards. But this, it was like a few cracks were starting to show, some of the true anger beneath the mask beginning to leak through and infect the tone.

Aru slightly leaned back from the phone, sensing the same thing Kayoko had.

In the silence of hesitation, Kayoko silently shook her head trying to signal Aru to say no. There was something about this whole situation that felt wrong to her. Problem Solver 68 always respected the client. However, that was only if the client returned that respect. In the kind of work the agency did, one always had to be vigilant for any threats, many people in the underworld would stab you in the back if given the chance, it wouldn't be the first client that took Problem Solver 68 for a ride.

Aru swallowed once before speaking in a steady voice. "... No, we didn't."

"I see... In that case, I'll look forward to the results of your plan. I hope you can live up to your reputation and will be watching your task tonight with great interest."

With the click of the phone, it was as if a pressure valve released and tension left everyone's shoulders. Aru even reclined back in her chair, taking a deep breath as her body went limp.

"We've really gotten ourselves into something big, huh?" Mutsuki was the first one to speak up.

"S-Should I started setting up some bombs for a trap, l-like Aru-sama said?" Shakily, Haruka finally said something, looking over to Aru for approval.

Kayoko let out a long sigh. "Doesn't something seem wrong about this? It's almost like the client... Expected this to happen."

"Hrm..." Mutsuki rocked her head back and forth a few times from shoulder to shoulder as he sat on the couch. "Now that you mention it, he did say something about the new teacher at SCHALE might already know about us. Pretty suspicious if he's watching the office already and called that fast too, huh~?"

Aru straightened up, suddenly looking offended with narrowed eyed. "Do you mean he's using us?"

"I don't know." Kayoko said, crossing her arms with a huff and frown. "But he didn't tell us about the flak gun and was ready to call as soon as the target left... He knows a lot more than he's telling us too. If the client has an information leak, it would make sense to try and use someone to figure out where the leak could be coming from. I bet there's something big between him and our client..."

It was a tactic Kayoko had seen before and she knew Problem Solver 68 really did not want to get caught up in it. It was hard to know for certain at this point if that was the case though.

"H-How dare they trick us like that!" Volatile hostility coming into her words, Haruka added with a tight grip of her shotgun. "I'll make them pay for this..."

"What do you think we should do, Aru-chan?" Mutsuki's curious question drew everyone's focus over to their leader.

Aru shifted her chair to face everyone, putting her elbows onto her desk and leaning forward with her hands pressed together in front of her with clear uncertainty.

"We'll deal with the first task tonight with the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang and then decide what to do. We were offered a lot for this job dealing with Abydos, so it might just be this is a very important job for the client..." Aru finally said, parting and closing her fingertips a few tips. "We have a few days to think about this."

"Works for me~." Mutsuki said with a cheeky grin. "It's getting late, so we should stop wasting time and get ready for tonight. Maybe we can check out that place he said tomorrow after we get this easy job done. Taking care of those gangsters should be easy."

Right... They had the Helmet Gang to go intimidate a bit. Kayoko wouldn't complain about something easy right now, it'd give her some more time to think over this whole... Mess Problem Solver 68 had somehow gotten themselves into.

What a job this was turning into.

---

"I really hate time travel."

Under the cloudless night sky, in his little abandoned corner of Abydos with a small fire going, Ragna grumbled aloud as he looked up toward the stars, lying down on his back, hang behind his head.

"Sensei! You're too hard on yourself!" Arona, who had gotten quite used to Observing herself a body in these private moments with the lack of serious danger Ragna faced, pouted, crouched beside the fire with her hands held over it. "You got a couple of days and seems like it worked out in the end okay."

A sarcastic scoff left the man's mouth. "You have a really funny idea of 'worked out'. That was a shitshow which didn't go at all to plan. Had to buy myself time to think way too much."

An awkward silence quickly fell over the area till it was broken by a single, confused voice.

"Eh... Wait, did you make everything up as you went?"

"I don't know if I should be flattered you have that much faith in me or worried you're too dense to tell." Ragna answered with a deep sign. "Not sure how that could've gone much worse."

What the hell was Ragna supposed to do though? If he'd not taken the opportunity to talk after Kayoko already knew him, then the chances of getting Problem Solver 68 to not be a huge issue would've been even lower than they already were. Doing this, he had at least managed to get a foot in the door with them and hopefully bought himself a few days to figure out another plan, perhaps even set things in motion that'd help everyone get on the same side if Kaiser reacted as he expected. But... On the other hand he was building an increasingly tall and fragile house of cards which could've instantly collapsed at the wrong moment. If any of those four started talking with Abydos and the conversation today came up, it'd start bringing up too many questions. Questions he could likely wave off with some of them, but probably not Nonomi and definitely not Hoshino. At least he'd bought himself a few days to think of... Something and how to deal with this increasingly complex web being made, but goddammit trying to think about all of this stuff all the time was hell. If he could come back with good news tomorrow about getting the Foreclosure Task Force officially recognized though, that would have to improve his standing with the paranoid pink haired third year in case anything else happened. And pray Nonomi could keep her in check a bit.

Why the hell did Problem Solver 68 have to not know that PMC bastard and make this so much more difficult? He'd talked to them about it in the future-past, but maybe they'd just pieced it together after the fact. Guess it made sense in hindsight with how secretive the PMC Director was, but damn he would've expected SOMETHING. Back to square one on figuring out how to deal with that robotic asshole.

Arona shuffled around from the fire to Ragna's good side, now leaning over him and jabbing him a few times in the cheek with a finger. "Senseeeeeeei, you need to stop being so grumpy!"

"Ow, hey!" Ragna, forcefully shoved Arona's hand away, half sitting up to avoid further assault. "You're a real persistent brat, you know that?"

Arona stood up, face deepening to a pout. "I'm trying to make you feel better! You already got things to be much better from where it could have been from what you've said before!"

"Yeah, sure, I know I have. We're not past the hardest parts yet though and that's what worries me. Not gonna do me much good if shit falls apart there. I'll figure something out, but doesn't mean I have to be happy about it now." Ragna grumbled with a dismissive wave of his hand, looking away from Arona.

"That's what I'm here for it!" Arona abruptly spoke up, leaning closer to Ragna with a positive smile. "If you keep complaining all the time like this, that negativity will just make you worry even more! It's your great assistant's job to look after you!"

Yeah... Ragna wasn't going to deny he could be a sour person and maybe did it a bit excessively. At least he had somebody to talk with, annoyingly persistent as she could be. He still appreciated having Arona around.

"And even if you're worried about making the right choices... I know you'll make them, sensei."

Again with that... He didn't like how easily the President and that damn train came to mind whenever he talked to Arona. Definitely something to check out more when he had time. With any luck maybe he could learn more about the missing girl from Rin, they were close friends after all.

"Yeah, well, if you wanna help, then get to bed so you'll be here in the morning. We got a long day tomorrow meeting up with Rin and there's a few things I think you can help me look up before we go. Politics are a pain in the ass but don't have any way around it right now." Lying back down on his back with a huff, the man stated.

"You can count on the great Arona-chan's help!" The girl proudly declared with a puff of her chest. "I already have an idea that'll leave a great impression on Rin-san since you two argue so much!"

Oh, this would be good. "Alright... What's your great plan?"

"Since we probably won't be stopping at SCHALE again for a while, we should make a stop at your office so you can change into the uniform! It's your first official meeting after being hired and you promised you'd try it! Rin-san likes being professional!"

Motherfu-

Ragna's hand slammed down onto his head. Hard enough to make an audible echo. "Goddammit, you still remembered that. You're really not gonna let that go, are you?"

A few foot steps preceded Arona moving to stand almost directly over Ragna, leaning over on top of him with her hands on her hips. "Remember what you said, a promise is a promise, sensei!"

Ragna's single good eye peered through the gaps in his fingers at the childishly smug grin plastered across Arona's face. "Determined little... Sure, fine, whatever. Just go to bed. Faster you stop bothering me and get to sleep faster tomorrow comes."

"Deal!" In a flash and without another word, Arona vanished from view as her presence returned to the Shittim Chest.

On one hand, it'd be nice to worry about something other than Abydos for even a few hours. On the other hand, the upcoming matters were no vacation either... Well, Ragna could never say his life was boring at least.

Tomorrow... Was going to be a long day, he could feel it to the core of his being.

---

Spoiler: AUTHOR'S NOTES

Have I mentioned how much I like what the crossover aspect's allowed me to do with Ragna and Arona's interactions since she's able to vocally and physically prod at him regularly now? Hope they're as fun to read as they are to write.