Kize's reappearance in the fire room was met with the usual fanfare. A glance, and then back to tending the fire. A few fell asleep, wrapped in blankets while huddled together in a merriment of warmth and solidarity.

A sight that, clearly, meant the validation of their struggles.

"Sensei has an idea!" Nodoka chimed.

This time, their eyes latched onto the fixer properly. An idea? For them?

"What have you all been doing throughout your days here?" Kize inquired, Shittim Chest in hand. For one full second, his brain almost rewired it into a burner tablet. The same one he discarded right after Arius's reconstruction, before he blinked. It was the Shittim Chest again.

No one should hold onto that burner tablet.

"Well, foraging is a start. Did you know you can eat lichen?"

"We also hunt moose. We have a designated moose hunter in our group. Oh, and we also collectively like... Store our own food in an ice house underground. Makes things easier to store and preserve, y'know? Fur's cool and all, but we tend to make blankets than fur coats. Practicality and all."

"We forage for berries. Always nice to have cranberries every now and then. Shigure also makes some nice cocktails."

Shigure waved her flask while raising it. Everyone could hear the vodka rattling within it.

"Bath wise, we take the cold river. Careful, bears tend to crop up here and there."

"Perverts, the lot of them."

"Oh, and the boards. Yeah, we scrounge up anything we can. The federal academy has a dedicated logging tools shack, but we can't access that. Typical, right?"

"...."

Hunting. Foraging. Scavenging. Cocktailing.

Add in their brief stint against Gehenna and that's a cause for an outsider trading.

It was officially solidified. The plan can be set in motion.

"Then use it to your advantage."

"... Wait what?"

"Leverage. You've forced yourself to survive. Why not ask Cherino to put that to good use?"

"... Well..."

"I don't think any one of us would like to work under her. It's exhausting. Tiring, really. We'd rather just stay here..."

"And besides, why'd she even visit this dump, when she dumped us here? And yes, a few of us tried to visit her. Their punishment got extended."

"......" So it came down to that. Accounted.

"Not thinking about exporting?"

"Pardon?"

"You're your own club," Kize stated. "No one else in Kivotos would ever think about trying moose meat. Only in Red Winter can you hunt them."

He looked at every single one of them, wide eyed interest ever so clearly.

"So monopolize it."

"Okay, that's a good idea, but consider the logistics of it," Shigure began. "We need to find a way to transport them. And we can't exactly build sleds..."

Her expression lit up, before she looked at Kize. "Unless you go to the federal academy and get the means!"

"Wait, Shigure." Spoke one up. "We don't have sled dogs in Red Winter, so we still have a logi-- wait a minute..."

"No. Please, don't tell me we're taming bears."

"You did wrestle with one."

"AND I LOST!!"

"Then we go as a group!" Nodoka exclaimed.

"Are you nuts?!"

"Nuts enough to wanna make this work!!"

The cold wind became the only sound crumbling through the building. Despite her short stature, she slowly heaved a sigh, letting out her tinge of outburst to simmer, tempered further by Shigure heading beside her good friend and gently rubbing her on her back.

"Go. You can let it out," she assured. Nodoka slowly breathed in, and let out a shaky breath.

"Aren't we just tired... Tired of everything that ever happened? Why we're all here out of the pettiest reasons possible from the President? Tired of being cold? Tired of starving? Tired of surviving?"

Another shaky breath.

"Tired of living like this?"

"..... We do..."

"Then why don't we take our chances? The only thing we lose here is the fact that they extend our stay here. So we may as well make sure we stay here as long as possible so we can get comfortable again!!"

Their eyes looked at Nodoka with the same eyes as those that stared at people that dared to lead. To rally.

A symbol.

But Nodoka was a living girl. They couldn't project that.

"And it starts here. With Arius's Fixer, no," she looked towards Kize, whose icy blue eyes moved to look at her, yet otherwise did nothing.

"With Sensei."

Kize's eyes immediately looked away. No, his whole body did.

"......."

They weren't the first ones to claim him. Not a whole lot of them even do.

Arius claimed him as their ghost.

Hyakkiyako forced him to come to life.

Shanhaijing brought him uncomfortable warmth.

Abydos treated him like a debt to be repaid.

RABBIT Platoon had him commandeer them.

What did Millennium call him?

What did Trinity call him?

He closed his eyes.

"I'll keep watch."

"What?" Shigure looked his way.

"You all need your sleep. I don't."

"Then I volunteer to overwatch with you."

"No."

"I deny your no."

"......." He decidedly walked out of the room. Away from the warmth. Away from the chatter of it all, anticipating the next day, yet also wondering.

The paradox of Ghost Sensei.

As he took the last steps out of the building, he couldn't help but think...

How was Rio doing?

——

Tsukatsuki Rio didn't fall asleep.

She laid there, on the infirmary bed of SCHALE's very own infirmary, one hand clutching the wound on her stomach that bore a singular bullet that violated every rationale conceived in Kivotos.

Millennium may have been the most technologically advanced among the districts, but SCHALE provided the unequivocal means of treatment necessary for a full physical recovery for Rio. And yet, not even SCHALE could anticipate bullets that could bypass halos.

Her eyes were dazed, staring up to the ceiling at a loss. A paradigm shift not just to herself, but of Kivotos.

Everyone in that scene promised to keep quiet. In the ruins where Kize would leave everyone in haste. Indeed, it could be he was out hunting.

Or the very incident shook his core. A failure of his role to protect children.

Strange. Adults always hold the power. But it's always the Senseis that pull through. Both Kize... And Sensei.

Her wound festered. A slight tinge and tingle, as if reminding her that she wasn't safe.

Why?

Why did this happened?

Was it the fault of Kize? He couldn't have anticipated the bullet.

So why did she take it?

"......"

Because the halos would only allow damage in a way that wouldn't severely harm her.

Kize was innocent. He was just trying to help her goals. By all accounts, he even restored her standing with Seminar. With Millennium.

She was still Seminar's President despite everything. They still wish her back when she recovered.

She wanted to thank him. But all she could do was apologize to empty air.

How pitiful.

"Rio," Rin's voice called out from an intercom. She didn't look away.

"You have two guests."

"........"

The door slid open.

"How are you, Rio?"

Every single muscle in her body immediately contracted. For a moment, she didn't know how to blink.

That voice. His voice.

Sensei.

Gradually, she turned her head towards the door, and a long, extended gasp left her throat.

There he was. The man himself, in his gray suit, black tie and SCHALE lanyard kept in his pocket. His messy black hair and dark brown eyes never concealed the kindness he had for his students, and the smile.

That smile could capture hearts if it meant to.

"Sensei--!! Kuh--!!"

The burning sensation grew suddenly when she sat up. She gritted her teeth, slowly pushing herself to lean against the wall, while taking deep breaths to soothe the pain as much as she could.

Only then did she notice another figure pushing Sensei in. A woman who wore a lab coat, a pair of glasses with a dark blue frame, black eyes and a long, flowing black hair. Her scarf was prominent, covering her chin and her mouth quite well.

Who was she?

"Calm down, Rio. You haven't recovered just yet," Sensei stated, with the woman slowly pushing forward the wheelchair.

"Sensei..." Rio trailed off for a second. "I thought you wouldn't wake up."

"He's a strong old fart. You don't have to worry," the woman stated. Sensei chuckled.

"Miharu, do treat me with more decency than with Kize when you meet him."

"Eh. He can go shit on a cat. Also, it's Katashi. I told you that for the seventh time, already."

"We're keeping tabs now?"

"I am. You don't?"

"You really wanna settle the score with him, aren't you?"

... What was going on? The woman's name was Miharu, and... She knew both Sensei and Kize?

"I'm... Sorry. Who is..." Rio began.

"Miharu. Yoshikawa Miharu. I'm Kize, or in a more correct name, Katashi's fiancée."

The whole world stopped for Rio. She stared at the woman who proclaimed to be Arius's Ghost's fiance. The sheer disbelief on her face had to be seen to be believed, and Sensei and Miharu were the first and only witness to it.

"I... I... Uh... C-con..." Rio couldn't finish her sentence, her cheeks dusted pink at the mere thought of Kize, the detached, ghostly apparel of a man, could actually find someone to tie himself down with.

And here she thought he was already engaged with Shun.

"Con... Gratulations? I'm sorry, t-this is too much to take in."

"Well, I expected that much." Miharu dusted her hands. "Okay, I lied. I'm not his fiancée."

"What?"

"But I may as well be, considering how that rat bastard keeps running away everywhere."

Rio was getting a lot of mixed messages and she wasn't entirely sure what it all meant.

But, one thing was certain.

"You... Know Kize?"

"Sekai Katashi. Stupid name, I know. Who names their child 'firm'?"

"... Miharu, I hope you know what you're saying," Sensei interjected.

"I do. I'm calling Katashi's parents stupid. And they're very lovely parents."

"......." Rio shook her head. There's too much information being thrown around here.

"Are you here for Kiz--" she took a deep breath, quickly attempting to rectify her mistake. "Katashi-sensei?"

"Yep. I wanna confront his ass and tell him to stop running away, and what does he do?"

".... He runs away--"

"He runs away! What a pussy!"

She threw her hands up in exasperation, before sighing.

"But who can blame him but himself for letting you be in the crossfire?"

"... Where is he?"

"Not sure. What, think we have eyes behind our heads? No. We don't."

A frustrated sigh left Miharu's lips.

"That guy is good at running away, I'll give him that."

"....."

Sensei sighed, bringing back the attention.

"We're here to check on you, primarily. But the bullet that struck you. Can you tell me, us, anything?"

Rio blinked slowly.

"For starters... It came from the Stranger's drone."

".............."

Miharu's shaky breath was not one of fear. It was something so inherently tranquil, yet one so held against the notion.

An expression of tranquil fury.

"Kuzaka Haruto."

"... You know him?"

"How could I not? He's one of the most technologically sound man I know..."

She squinted.

"He's a man I hate the most for what he's done and what he's doing here. Malicious compliance, sabotage... False allegations...."

An explicit confirmation that she knows Kuzaka. Or was it Haruto now? Miharu's hands balled into fists, a scowl forming upon her face.

"Attempted murder on students..."

Rio flinched. A venom that she was more intimately familiar coming from someone like Yuuka. Even then, her venom was because of the budget suggestion coming from the Engineering Department, and it was way more subdued compared to this.

Adults can be scary, after all.

"He's a criminal," Rio concluded.

"He's a psychopath," Miharu added. "Worse. An incel."

"So that confirms our suspicion," Sensei interjected, a hand cupped under his chin. "He made those bullets. But how did he? From the reports, he only came about one week after Kize's tenure, and two months is too short a time for him to know how halos work in order to manufacture them."

"... Do you think you have suspicions, Sensei?" Rio questioned.

"Can't say I do. But, once you get better, let's get to the bottom of this. Together."

—

The District of Utnapishtim was once again in peace.

RABBIT Platoon rested in their station, as another day of suppressing another dogfight between delinquents and helmet gang. All stemming from the former insulting Kize.

"He cleared our debts! That's more than what you can ever do in Kivotos!"

As much as helmet gang were provisional allies, in due part to their connection with Kize, they were still fugitives that broke the simple rule of DU.

No gunshots. No threats. A safe zone fully intended to allow students anywhere, everywhere, a place of purpose.

They watched as Valkyrie Police collapsed on the park field, collecting their bearings, yet laughing earnestly. A purpose was given to them, and they executed flawlessly.

RABBIT Platoon should be proud.

"........."

But they didn't.

The ghost still lingered in their mind. The echoing gunshot of Rio's pistol, followed by the sight of their commander cradling a bleeding Rio. The coldness in his tone to open fire at a vending machine. The sight of a drone, shot and destroyed. And then, them immediately sprinting out of the ruins for emergency medical aid.

They made it. Whether Rio could fully recover or not was a different story.

Their collective discussion after Kize's walk away was palpable.

Abydos didn't know what to do with the information. A bullet that bypassed halos. The one thing Kize and Shiroko Terror stole from the Kaiser military base. Were they the same?

Millennium, namely the Engineering Department, were both fascinated and horrified by such advanced technology. Especially with how Kize had already provided them with one bullet to investigate its purpose when he visited.

Both bullets were almost the same. Their velocity was different. Kize's was subsonic. The other one had the equivalent speed of a 7.62mm.

Arius... They seemed shaken. Like they went through it before.

"We did."

They did. But unlike here, the 'halo-destroying bomb' never worked as intended.

It was a bomb. It did blow up. It just didn't destroy halos. And it was Beatrice's work, as it was.

The fact of the matter was that the bomb was too primitive to even work.

Kize didn't tell them who the perpetrator even was. Too shocked. Too wrapped up in his own guilt to. The only thing RABBIT Platoon knew was the perpetrator had to have been the owner of the drone that was shot down.

They trusted Kize. He brought them to where they were now. And that was enough.

A knock to the door. Miyako loaded her drum mag back and aimed. Saki did the same. Moe watched in anticipation with wide eyes, her thumb toying with the pin of the grenade. Miyu... She used a cleared desk as an impromptu cover.

"It's us."

"......." RABBIT Platoon immediately set their guns down. It was Miyu that spoke, softly. But audibly.

"FOX Platoon...?"

The team that was considered their senior in SRT. The very team that conspired with Kaya in an effort to bring her to power as President and to reinstate SRT.

One succeeded. The other failed.

And when FOX Platoon was jailed, realized they were had, and Kaya had no intention of reinstating SRT, they were more than happy to expose Kaya of everything.

Naturally of course, there was more to it than them being loyal soldiers.

They became terrorists, sure. They were under Kaya after SRT was dissolved, who wasn't even likeable by many in the first place, even more so when she coup'd into being President of the GSC that not a single soul even liked. They treated themselves as weapons.

But they had feelings. And they all hated what they did.

But the question is... Why were they freed?

"Did you break out of jail?" Saki spoke behind the door, not daring to open it just yet.

"No. The GSC has given us an official pardon. Or rather... He did."

"... The ghost?"

"Who else?"

"..........."

So even Kize did something they never saw. As always, the ghost does something they didn't see coming.

"Why are you here?"

"Can you let us in first? It's cold out here," complained another voice from behind the door RABBIT Platoon glanced amongst each other. Should they trust them?

"....."

"What is the name of our platoon based off of?" Miyako inquired. Silence was at the other side for a few seconds.

"The Rabbit of Caerbannog."

"It's them."

With Miyako's hand signal of approval, Saki reluctantly opened the door. There they stood, FOX Platoon in their ragged ideals. They had seen better days, where their equipment outmatched RABBIT Platoon's.

Now, it was a more muddled mess.

The members of FOX Platoon entered soon after, with Saki closing the door soon after. With a click, FOX Platoon breathed out a sigh.

"Speak, now." Miyako's order was met with a glance from a girl in a sailor uniform, with long, dark brown hair with fox ears.

The leader, Shichido Yukino.

"... The ghost."

"He couldn't have sent you here."

"Yeah, well," a pink haired girl with fox ears walked forward soon after. A small badge on her breast pocket had her name: Niko.

But of course. Fox motifs had always been FOX Platoon's core. But theirs were genuine, biological ears. RABBIT Platoon's rabbit ears were mechanized.

Identity.

"This paper says otherwise."

RABBIT Platoon leaned into the piece of paper held out by Niko, immediately trying to see what it contained.

An official letter by the Ghost himself.

To: FOX Platoon (Shichido Yukino, Niko, Kurumi, Otogi)
From: Kize Seikato, SCHALE Liaison
Authority: GSC Emergency Clause 27-D (Reinstatement of Specialized Units)

FOX Platoon, formerly associated with SRT and interim GSC President Kaya's administration, is hereby pardoned of all charges related to the coup orchestrated by former GSC Head of Defense, Shiranui Kaya, contingent upon the following:

1. Immediate coordination with RABBIT Platoon for equipment reissuance and joint operations under SCHALE oversight.
2. Strict adherence to GSC mandates - any further acts of insubordination will result in re-arrest.

Your skills remain critical to Kivotos' security. This pardon is granted in recognition of your coerced involvement under Kaya's regime, and for the memory of SRT's legacy.

–K.S.

"....."

"Yeah. We all thought the same. Didn't think the ghost had feelings other than being a statue, dead eyed or just dea--"

"Kurumi." The blonde fox girl silenced herself upon Yukino's orders.

"... You nearly destroyed the GSC," Miyako stated. Her left hand twitched, even as her gun no longer aimed at the leader.

"And you defeated us. And you saved GSC, too..." Yukino sighed. "We're just like you. Given a second chance in the role we do best..."

"... Can you... Give us that?" Niko asked. Miyako looked dead on into her eyes, each and every one of them.

Right then and there, they wore no equipment. No headgear. No guns. Just students in sailor uniforms who were given another chance at proving their worth.

Just like what Kize did for them.

She slowly raised a hand.

"For SRT."

Yukino held her hand firmly in return.

"For SRT."