It was about evening when they had arrived at the alleged location of Arius Satellite School. He expected several leaks and broken windows, with graffiti sprayed and painted all over walls.

What he didn't expect was anarchy from the get go.

Arius students with combat knives in hand, already resorting to metaphorically cannibalize each other, asserting their poor, skewed ideals of dominance against those weak and forced into subservience. Gunshots rang in other places of the school. Chatter of lamentation and their unfortunate luck felt as natural as birds chirping in the morning.

The school building, or at least, what resembled a building meant to uphold, educate and protect, was no better than any derelict building left to abandon and rot, with windows shattered and shards of glass haphazardly stepped on by anyone and everyone who lost their sense of purpose. Pipes were utterly shattered or missing, most likely used as a last resort weapon to protect themselves. Before their very eyes, a desk was thrown out from within, bending and breaking away the entire aluminum frame of the window. The desk slammed against the ground, breaking apart into mere batons of aluminum and a slab of wood right at the foot of Arius Squad. The frame was not spared, falling and upon impact, bent in all manners of wrong. Knife marks strewn across the walls truly show its history. A history of dark implications.

These sights alone made Kize's stomach churn, leaning against the rusty, cannibalized gate that should have been the entrance and exit of this so called Satellite School.

He was slow on the uptake, but there was a lingering question he was certain never to be answered right now, considering how all eyes are on them, now that their existence has been noticed.

It was soft at first.

"Traitor."

It grew.

"Traitor!"

And then it became a frenzy.

"TRAITOR!! THE TRAITOR IS HERE!!!"

Saori immediately raised her assault rifle, preparing to shoot down their aggressors who approached them. She can't let Arius Squad get hurt, gesturing them to stick behind her.

"Stop this! I'm trying to save our school!"

"AFTER YOU BETRAYED US?!!"

"AFTER YOU RAN AWAY FROM YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?!!"

"AFTER YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO LEAVE US?!!!!"

Kize noticed Saori faltering, Hiyori shrinking further at the accusations thrown at her. Misaki... She still looked dead, but maybe even deader. He can't tell what face Atsuko was making with her mask, but with how her head hung low, it was clear that their words impacted her.

His eyes widened slightly, realizing their conundrum.

The closer they approached, the more steps backwards Arius Squad took. If they pounce, it was over.

So Kize finally side stepped.

"Knives down," he said, very quietly.

"SHUT UP!!"

"THIS IS BETWEEN US AND THEM!!!"

"WHO EVEN THE HELL ARE YOU?!!"

"The adult in the room." Kize's voice didn't rise. "Arius Squad asked Schale for help. You want to rebuild? This is your shot."

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

Hushed whispers came from the Arius students. Small arguments bubbled in, but soon, three questions lingered upon them, with one representing them as a whole.

"Did you come here because of Arius Squad telling you about us?"

"Correct."

"What if it wasn't Arius Squad? What if it was one of us?"

"I'd still come here."

"Then..." Hesitation stuttered in her. And then she asked. "Why did you come here?"

A question that Kize didn't even hesitate to answer.

"Because someone has to be."

Their eyes collectively widened, and as much as Saori didn't want to admit it... That was cool of him to say. Even her scowl wavered.

But did he mean what he said? That doubt stuck with her, but for now, she felt like she can ease herself ever so slightly around him.

Saori watched Kize's back as he addressed the mob. His shirt clung to his shoulders with sweat, but his hands stayed steady.

A lie.

It had to be. No one walked into hell without a reason. Not even Sensei had been that selfless—he'd smiled too much, touched too freely, like he knew something they didn't.

But this man?

This man looked at Arius and flinched.

She ignored the way her own fingers trembled around the rifle stock. The way Hiyori's breath hitched when a sophomore flashed Beatrice's old hand signs. The way Atsuko's mask tilted, just slightly, toward the one intact window, where a shadow moved.

—————

The ruined cafeteria was the most ideal location for them to have their dinner. But it didn't mean there was no strife or struggle. Tiled walls from pillars had fallen out, breaking into pieces of insignificant degree. More knife marks marred the walls. Light was barely available, only within select spots. Spots that they were able to barely squeeze into.

Tables and chairs were sprawled all across the room that it took Kize's measured authority to set them up in a half decent order. And rations? With what they were able to scrounge up, it was barely enough to feed them for a few days, at best. He was certain that this kind of thing was borderline barbaric, considering how these rations... Aren't appetizing to look at. Apparently so.

But this was life. And he wondered why they had to live like this.

Equal measured, he ensured that each and every student, fair and square, had their share. Kize? He didn't eat. Daring not even a single lick. Just a simple bottled water that was at the very least plentiful for them to survive off of. For at least a while longer.

He dared not sit close to the Arius Students. Arius Squad didn't dare, either. And neither did the students to each other. Hostilities were certainly... Most definitely hung in the air.

Kize sat still, as the cluttering of cutlery echoed silently. No words spoken, no stolen valor.

And then his eyes glanced up, hearing Hiyori's sulk.

"I can't believe Trinity would abandon this school. All that talk of 'liberation' when it's actually just colonization. Taking everything they want and leaving us..." She gestured silently to the students. "Them, with nothing. They were supposed to help. But instead they plundered."

"......." Kize was silent. Not for a lack of rebuttals, for he had plenty of those. But he listened.

"It's not really surprising, anyways. Trinity had always tried to get their hands on Arius. We've separated from them for too long. Maybe it's just desserts."

Misaki's commentary was beginning to paint a picture in Kize's mind, one that... Was starting to feel unpleasant. One that made him queasy.

"It's not any of our faults. Beatrice..."

Atsuko name dropping someone. That was already a red flag. And a name he will attach to himself as a reminder for a little while.

"Then you can blame me for that."

Saori spoke up. And Kize felt that. Guilt. Never a comfortable sensation when it lingers in your heart, never will you be the same once it festers.

"Saori, no. You did what you had to. You... Didn't know any better solution." Atsuko's assurance was nulled.

"I put Sensei out. And now we're stuck with a Replacement Sensei who isn't... Like him."

Kize's eyes flickered. Away from Arius Squad, away from their students. Focused instead to the outside, the moon peeking through the horizon as the shadows of darkness beckoned the light of the moon. His one hand, clutching the half empty water bottle, clutched it till a crumpling noise crackled. The other, his tablet, concealed under his coat as he simply pondered what bad luck got him into this mess.

"Kize-Sensei is helping us, isn't he? That's as good as it can get, Saori."

"Then it begs the question." She slowly focused on Kize.

"Why did you truly accept it?"

Kize blinked slowly, his eyes slowly turned towards Arius Squad.

"Let me set this straight. I came to you, and you brandished a knife against my throat. That isn't a good first impression. And yet you still brought me here, to observe the remnants of your school. A disaster. Its students, scavengers. Savages. This isn't a school. It's a battlefield."

"And what? You think you can fix us?"

Misaki's deadpan rhetoric was met with a serious response.

"No."

Silence hung in the air. The Arius students stopped eating, their eyes and ears now focused. Not just towards their beloathed Arius Squad. But to the Replacement Sensei.

Hiyori faltered. Saori flinched. Atsuko seemingly stared, a noise of curiosity followed. Misaki... A surprising shocking look on her face.

Kize nonetheless continued, setting aside his crumpled, yet half empty bottle.

"I'm not here to fix anything. I'm not here to pity you. And I'm certainly not here to pretend I understand what you've been through. All of you."

His eyes scanned not just to Arius Squad, but to Arius as a whole.

"But considering how I'm unwelcomed here and you all seem to have a propensity of wanting to rot here, you might as well rot on your own terms. So."

He crossed his arms, sitting at the edge of a table.

"Tell me what you need."

Silence. The drip of a leaky pipe echoed through the cafeteria, and even that felt like it was muted entirely.

"What...?"

Saori was the first to voice her disbelief.

"Tell me what you need."

Stunned. Hesitance. She... No. All of Arius found themselves staring at the man who they just called a Replacement Sensei. His expression seemed like it was a perpetual frown, his eyes half lidded from a circumstance past his years. It could have been dead eyes, like Misaki. But it wasn't. It was the eyes of an ember. A flame that refuses to die out. A flame that held out against all odds.

And it was here that not just Saori, but the entirety of Arius Satellite School began to realize the true difference between Sensei and this man.

He never claims things beyond his capacity.

Never once had he said he "will fix things." Never a "let me help." None of the likes Sensei could possibly have ever said, just to inspire a tinge of hope in their very hearts. He asked them for their needs.

Their needs.

One of the Arius students let out a hollow laugh.

"What we need? What we need?? We need walls that don't crumble when it rains. We need food that aren't just scraps. We need—" a crack in her voice. "We need people to stop pretending we don't exist."

Kize... Listened. He didn't try to sympathize. It'd have been too much for him to. Slipping the tablet behind his coat into his hands, he slid open the screen and began to take notes.

"Then we'll start with the walls."

Misaki blinked, her consciousness returning.

"...That's it? No 'I'll talk to the General Student Council'? No 'Let's form a committee'?"

"Do you want a committee?"

"No."

"Then we won't make one."

Shockingly brief, and yet his eyes never pried away to Misaki. Fortunate, too, considering how the nihilist's stunned look effectively broke her temporarily.

Finally... Hiyori spoke.

"Why are you doing this?"

His answer was just as brief, but this time, their eyes met.

"Because someone should have a long time ago."

No grand declarations. No fiery speeches. No tears, no sobs, no significant breakthroughs.

Only a start.