30 minutes ago, it should have been fine. All they had to do was wait. Just wait, as the train slowly crawled to a stop. Otogi hid upon the roof of the station, observing carefully on which train cabin that potentially could have been.

A bullet train was, if anything, meticulous, although a two floor bullet train looked out of place for someone like Miharu.

There shouldn't really be an incentive for that kind of thing, right?

But when she noticed the steady increase of passengers on the station, she began to realize that a second floor was indeed a necessity.

Considering how the train simultaneously also carried cargo on a one way trip to Gehenna from D.U, then it should make sense that they would naturally be attracted to what they shouldn't.

She still was against a two floor train.

Blending into the crowd, Miharu followed the waves surging into the open doors, both from students and workers alike. Body odor galore, the one thing she actively, slowly breathed in, then force out of her lungs. Chatter naturally oozed out of them, few giving her curious looks as to wonder who or what she could be.

A human who looked too ordinary must have had a reason, right?

A crackle into her earpiece.

"SCHALE-C, you're in the passenger area, aren't you?" Otogi called out. Miharu's lack of response was her indicator of agreement.

"Fox-4 noticed cargo being unloaded from the fifth cabin. Basically, three cabins behind you, SCHALE-C."

"Why does it have to look the same with all the train cars though..." Kurumi complained through the comms.

"So it wouldn't look out of place. His operation hinges on inconspicuous cargo, isn't it?" Yukino chimed in.

"Yeah, but then how did the GSC knew about the cargo being sus?" Niko brought up.

And then, the possibility of a trap floated in their collective minds. One that caused Miharu to audibly click her tongue.

"I forgot that this was heading to Gehenna," Miharu commented. This was, naturally, a diversion so that the chatting crowd didn't think to try and listen to what she'd say. Soon enough, and with much difficulty and apologies, she slipped out of them crowd.

A crackle came from the loudspeakers.

"Hello heyo~!" A cheerful voice wrecked her ears. She assumed it must be a student of Highlander Railway Academy. Specifically, the train conductor.

"This is Tachibana Nozomi speaking and we're heading to Gehenna in ten seconds. Everyone ready your tickets to be clipped."

Miharu was glad she bought one pre-emptively, despite FOX Platoon's consternation. Not like it was hard, anyway.

"Which cabin color?" She questioned. To outsiders, it could easily mean nothing, considering how samey the train cars were.

"Right above yours," replied Yukino. Miharu looked up, but not a single thud of boots.

Meticulous.

Miharu quickly went into another train car, making a mental note that she had two left. And just like the previous one, this one was just as crowded, even when everyone had already taken a seat.

It was crowded because everyone seemed like they couldn't sit still.

"Hey, when the hell's the train going to move?!"

"What do they even do here anyway, stand around here and look pretty?"

"Yeah, this isn't doing much for my non-existent sanity."

It didn't help that they were all students of Gehenna. And then all eyes were on her.

"Hey, are you the train assistant or something?" One of them called out.

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm in the wrong train cabin."

"Oh. So you're gonna complain?"

"Maybe I will."

"... Man, you're not gonna be the first one, you're not gonna be the last."

Miharu scoffed.

"Then I'll make sure my complaints get heard the most."

"....... Oh damn. I think we should let her pass."

"Pfeh, looks like she more than earned it too."

With that response, they sat back down, giving Miharu a clearer pathway towards the back. With her hands in her pockets, she moved to the other train cabin.

'One more,' she thought, only to realize that the next cabin... Was empty.

Well, empty was an understatement with how this particular cabin seemed like it had seen better days.

There was no blood, clearly. But a firefight must have happened with how several windows had bullet holes piercing through them. The seats had been ripped, thrown apart, in disarray, or all of them, with not a single one left in even a smidge of good condition.

The only good thing she could see was that they still had some common decency to not deface the walls.

The chatter of the students were all but muffled, a reminder of their existence lying right behind her. An existence even she had to acknowledge, exists.

If he had been here before, it was a miracle Kize could handle them so well.

"SCHALE-C, this is Fox-1. Where are you?" Yukino questioned. Miharu slowly pressed a finger to her comms. A rather mundane tech given to her by Sensei.

And yet she still can't help but find that the technology here is so much better than the outside.

"Fox-1, this is SCHALE-C. Fourth cabin..." She heaved out a sigh. "It's a mess, even with no students."

"You're there, huh..."

"Got history?" Miharu took a long stride to the other side of the cabin, just as the train began to move. A gradual acceleration that Miharu could outright hear the whistling from all the holes formed.

High pitched. Annoying. Frankly, ear bleeding inducing.

"Yep. Never a full moment when you're in Highlander Railway Academy's trains. Sometimes you think you're in a normal train, and then an engineer snaps from how rude people are."

Miharu scoffed, opening the door, to only take notice of the other door that would lead her to the intended cabin.

A keypad.

Makes sense. No sane person should be able to access the cargo cabin easily.

"Locked. Passcode and all."

"Yeah, we getcha. We're trying to get in too before this thing speeds up. Got any ideas?"

"...."

Miharu glanced back at the students of Gehenna.

What would be the chances...

She strode back towards the Gehenna cabin.

"Hey!"

Her exclaim got their attention.

"Anyone got C4?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm making sure I'm getting to where I'm going and a stupid door is locking me out."

"Oh, that door. Eugh, the cargo door, I get how that feels."

"Wait, what's in it for us if we do give--"

"Then I'm making sure I'm paying the damages and you get off scot free."

"Oh damn, let's go!"

That didn't take long. Soon enough, several Gehenna students rushed past her, straight towards the door that held the passcode. No sooner did she went back to observe did she notice at least three C4s strapped to the door.

"SCHALE-C, this is Fox-1, we're accessing the train cabin via the windows, what's your status?" Yukino questioned.

"Fox-1..." She glanced at the Gehenna students, clearing a path. Just in case.

Miharu sighed.

"Prepare for blowback."

She wasn't sure if that was the right term or she was just spouting bullshit.

Either way, a flick of the remote, and the explosion blared through the ruined cabin.

The sound was deafening, a ringing overtaking her senses as she was thrown back from the sheer force, her body slamming against the seats behind her as a cushion.

It ached.

It ached so much, she thought she fractured bone.

But she could still move her arms to cover her ears to let the ringing slowly die down.

Another crackle of the loudspeakers.

"Goddamnit, not again! Why do you always have to take over?!" It was another voice. A different one that Miharu couldn't hear as she grit her teeth.

Loud.

"We got it ope--" they looked at Miharu, and immediately grimaced.

They clearly did not account for her to just take it.

"Ooooookay, we gotta uh... Do something about that."

"She'll get better."

"Anywho--" the train conductor cleared her throat. "Gehenna, I know you did that!! Stop bombing the cabins, please! I know you want to test the reinforced walls but that's not cool!!"

Their sole response was to glance at each other, and then stifle their own laughter. Miharu, for her part, rolled her eyes as the ringing died down. As she stood up, she fell immediately after, her legs groggy from sudden impact of the explosion.

She could only curse under her breath for this.

She quickly got to her feet, speed walking past them while limping, favoring one leg than the other. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to let herself know that it'll get better.

"Stay put."

"Who are you to tell us what to do?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe it's because I'm heading to my cabin and you all aren't?"

"... Oh yeah."

And then they went off.

"SCHALE-C, positive on explosives, entering now."

Seconds later, some glass panels unlatched itself from its hinges, with Otogi and Kurumi pushing themselves in at the left and Yukino and Niko at the right. Behind them was a rappelling tope, tied somewhere on the train cabin to allow them safe entry in the first place. A tug, and the rope seemed to unlatch itself from the original spot, return immediately to their back like a zipline.

"You were kinda brash for applying explosives, Miharu," Niko worryingly calls out.

"And may I know how exactly you four managed to defy physics to break into glass?"

"We kicked it while latching onto the bulked up hinges. Simple as that."

"......"

Miharu concluded that children with halos were primed with insanity in their core.

"Alright." She hissed in a breath. "Let's find those bullets."

FOX Platoon nodded, their flashlights flashing through the darkness and went to work. Miharu herself glanced through the various supplies within the cabin, ignoring the gaping windows blowing and threatening to pull them back out at any moment they weren't careful.

"........."

Technological parts. Motherboards, solder, monitors, keyboards. This felt awfully ordinary for a bullet train to carry things with it.

Smell was non-existent, what with how the damn window panes raged on in sheer anger at their violation against the train.

"Hey, over here!"

Niko called out, only for a perplexed expression came upon her face as her squad and Miharu arrived. They all stared at her, wondering why she called them, until they saw what she carried.

An ammo box. Something out of place in a supply of technology.

Surely those halo breaker bullets had to be in there...

"Open it," Yukino stated, weapons armed and ready. Niko sighed, acknowledging that a trap would be primed in this situation. Gently, she opened the lid--

Click.

For a split second, Niko saw a metallic string connected to the lid. And then, a pin.

A gasp, followed by her slamming the lid shut.

"GRENADE!!!"

Niko was quickly to react to the exclamation, running and then immediately throwing the ammo box out.

Two seconds later, the cabin shook, a loud explosion uncompressed for the world to hear. Miharu grit her teeth, falling on one knee from the impact.

Her knees or her body were not built against this.

And what the hell, she was supposed to be a chemistry teacher, not some grown adult who went through wars.

This was some bull shit conspiracy she got herself into.

"Was... That the only one?" Miharu managed out, hissing out a breath. And then...

A soft hue of red intruded upon the cargo cabin. Shutters slammed down onto the windows and doors, containing them all in only the colors of red and darkness. FOX Platoon, ever vigilant, raised their weapons, while Otogi continued in searching through the cabin for any other ammo boxes.

A split second later, a crackle came from the announcement.

"Hey, this is Highlander Railway Academy conductor speaking, it seems like we lost control of the train. We're... Not sure how that happened--"

Another crackle, and then...

His voice.

"Well well well, what do we have here?"

A voice. One that was clearly going through synthesizers.

But Miharu and FOX Platoon knew best who it was.

"Haruto, come on out you fucking bitch!!" Miharu screamed out, to no avail.

"Five intruders on a train trying to steal cargo that doesn't belong to them. And what's this, they're trying to steal bullets. Seriously, Highlander, you can do better than this."

"We should have known this was a trap," Niko mumbled under her breath.

"Don't be such a baby," the voice called out, before they heard a throat being cleared out.

"I've come to make an announcement. All of you better try not to escape. The train's rigged with explosives, among other different things, and you have no one to contact in, or out. So what do I suggest you do?"

A scoff.

"Just stay put and wait for the end. After all, your Sensei isn't ever waking back up."

"He's bullshitting," Miharu uttered under her breath.

"Just in case he's hearing this. Hello, Sensei. The train passengers and conductors are on a limited amount of air. Better hurry."

"........."

Just how low can that asshole go? To dare hurt children, and now likely killing children and adults in a cabin.

Why was he being a terrorist at a time like this?

Why was he a monster now?

Miharu gritted her teeth. Comms were out, FOX Platoon looked at her with worry and anxiety, a rare sight, and it was more than likely that the other passengers were in a panicked frenzy--

The train rumbled, causing Miharu to immediately go down on one knee, with FOX Platoon following suit.

Gehenna's rebelling.

"The shutter's reinforced!!" Niko stated, slamming her fist against one, before taking aim towards it. Her finger was on the trigger, but then, gradually, she moved it away.

There's too many variables that could happen if she pulled the trigger. Slowly, she curled it back to her grip.

"Manual breathing. Deep breaths," Miharu suggested. Sliding her pocketwatch into her hand, a ticking noise clicking in the air, Miharu watched the seconds go by.

15 minutes from now, and they'll arrive in Gehenna Station.

Somewhere in Gehenna, bullets were being distributed. And no one knew the wiser...

--

The train sped through.

The white frigid winter slowly dimmed like a past long forgotten, while his grip on the Shittim Chest was strong. almost too strong.

Steady.

Steady.

Pay attention.

SCHALE collaborator. How? GSC doesn't have authoritative power to grant another provisional authority. Unless they suspect he was corrupt. Unless they think that what he was doing or did crossed a line.

Whichever the case was, he was more than certain they couldn't even do that in the first place.

"Get Rin."

A simple order, with his face no longer to the empty screen. The Shittim Chest lit up soon after.

"Are you... Angry, Sensei?" Arona asked.

"Elevated heartbeat. Breathing inconsistent. Cortisol levels increased. Observation: Possibility," Plana pointed.

"Just get me Rin. Right now."

The AIs glanced at each other, before slowly conceding. A soft, ringing hue soon echoed in the cabin. The sole, lonely cabin that would take him immediately to Gehenna.

He feared the worst. The bullets already being spread far and wide through Gehenna.

A bloodbath.

Just the thought of bodies on the ground... And the thought of the students witnessing actual casualties by their hands.

The immense guilt...

Why was he concerned by this?

"Sensei."

Rin's voice sliced through his doubts, and immediately he looked down. There was her face again.

10 minutes ago, the train arrived in Gehenna. 5 minutes ago, he left 227.

Here he was.

"Where is that train?" Kize immediately began.

"Still in the station. It's a hostage situation, but we can't seem to identify if the Stranger is there or not. Highlander Railway Academy isn't even responding to our calls."

"FOX Platoon? The collaborator?"

"Still can't contact them. The jamming rig in the train must be that strong."

"..... This collaborator."

"..........." Kize watched as Rin slowly, patiently pulled in a breath.

"Indeed. We have no right to give provisional authority of SCHALE when you are already given it. But the truth is... We didn't."

"Excuse you?" It was an octave higher than he usually let out.

"We didn't give her the authority whatsoever..." She closed her eyes. "Sensei did."

Sensei. The comatose man. The man who he was brought in as his temporary replacement.

He was awake all this time?

He instinctively clenched his jaw, and exhaled shakily. A gulp, and then he inquired.

"When?"

"When you were at Shanhaijing to recover. Two days before the Abydos court case."

"........" That was a week ago. A fucking week. And she didn't tell him?!

"Why not now?"

"So you wouldn't leave."

"........." His expression, mixed with confusion, disgust and something else... More vague was seen.

"The hell?"

"Upon all practical necessities, he is physically unwell to continue his duties as Sensei. We would have informed you at a later point when he fully recovered."

"....... So why wouldn't you let me leave?"

"Because he said so."

"... He?"

"Sensei. He doesn't want you to."

"... Why?"

"..." Rin closed her eyes and leaned against her chair.

"He sees your pain. He knows what you've been through in Kivotos. Your actions, your loopholes. Your presence and your coldness..."

A beat passed.

"He thinks you're a reliable Sensei... And he wants to work alongside you instead of letting you go."

"..... That's it?"

Kize's voice was uncharacteristically quiet. His voice usually was quiet, sure. But not to this extent. The extent that it was borderline an indecipherable whisper.

"..... Not quite... He knows you'd run if you know he's awake, especially with how you've... Broken yourself. He thinks you... Could get better if... He goes outside of Kivotos."

Kize's eyes moved quick. A direct stare towards her in the sheer thought of Sensei somehow, somehow able to walk out so casually out of Kivotos like it was normal.

"He didn't go alone. And he was in a wheelchair. But the point is... He found her."

"Her."

"..... You know her, don't you?"

"... Who?"

"Miharu."

For ten seconds, Kize forgot how to breathe. A lump stuck in his throat. A scream held back by an intensity that could ruin him indefinitely. A desire, strong. Too strong, to just let it all go and burn it to the ground.

They dug his past. And they knew everything about him.

How much he failed as a teacher.

"..... And despite that..."

"We believe you, Sensei. We apologize if you feel hurt by this--"

"That is not the issue."

Rin was silenced. A beat passed. Two. Three.

"You brought an outsider and gave her the same authority as I do in the vaguest hopes that I'd just... Be better?"

A sigh.

"We thought that it was the best course of action."

"And look where that got you. A hostage situation, controlled solely by a man that knows everything about me."

"..... Sensei."

"No... I don't have that right anymore."

"Sensei, pleas--"

The call was hung up..And yet, his thumb wasn't even on the power button. He watched as Arona peeked her head, and then slowly came into frame, with Plana at the other side.

"Sensei... Please don't leave again."

"After all this revelation? What, did you know this, too?"

"Answer: We did not. Our database is updated to the latest metric hour. We do not record private audio logs unless permission is granted."

"....."

He closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to see their pleading faces. Plana, despite being the calculating and analytical of the two, with a facial expression similar to a statue, managed to still make such a face work.

"Give me ten reasons why I shouldn't..."

"......."

He expected silence. Perhaps he anticipated their ten reasons to be a compilation of his 'deeds' as the so-called 'Sensei'. His mind could've even muted out every--

"One."

Arona's voice brought him back to the screen.

"Arius."

"............ Duty."

A plausible deniability. The school's reconstruction, their development, the gardens, the collaborations and alliances. That was their role.

All he did was make sure that they got there without active interference. A mediator.

"Two." Plana spoke out. "SRT."

"Waste of resources. Better to use them."

Special Response Tactics, specifically RABBIT Platoon, being confined to a single park as they kept protesting against the now defunct Kaiser Construction. And then, they became peacekeepers, a role that ensured that, while they struggled, it would not reach an extremity.

FOX Platoon was simply making sure SRT had their firepower.

"Three." Arona continued. "Hyakkiyako. Hyakkaryouran? The fire?"

"Emergency protocol. Already inherent with the district."

Nature's Beauty Club and their nihilistic desires were accounted for, with Hyakkryouran's revival basically only needing just the slightest push. Supernaturals notwithstanding.

"You nearly died in that ink, Sensei," Arona pointed out.

"I would've better off--"

"Four." Plana's timely interjection silenced Kize. "Abydos. Helmet Gang. They couldn't have cleared their debts without your input in the court case."

"They can handle it themselves better."

A lie, but was it a lie when it could've been a possible truth in the first place?

"They cannot handle systemic corruption. You exposed it by mere bureaucratic precision."

"Five." Arona again. "Shanhaijing."

"A thorn."

"Is Shun a thorn? Are the kindergartners in Plum Blossom Garden a thorn? Have the fact that they see you, always wanting to make sure you're okay... A thorn?"

'I'm not going anywhere, Sensei.' Shun's words echoed in his mind.

She should be anywhere else but in his headspace.

"Six." Plana. "The very fact you act, instead of speaking with speeches."

"Sensei could do both. He's better for that."

As far as he knew, Sensei was someone who manipulated him. Did he do the same to his students with his positive speeches?

He had to have been...

"Seven. Millennium. You brought their help for Arius and they were more than happy to help you. You carried Rio out and made sure she was safe from danger."

"And then I walked out."

Gnawing guilt came by. The fact Rio was shot by halo breaker bullets and in that moment, broke his own tenet of not shooting a gun.

Rio's gun, at that.

"You can't blame yourself over something you don't know or have control over."

"Eight. 227. You have given them newfound infrastructure. If Sensei had done this, his failure rate skyrockets."

"They just needed to be more conscious of their standing."

"Not a step back?"

Kize found himself unable to respond to that rebuttal. That was their statement. That was their motto.

That was the faith they threw at him in the hopes that he would keep moving forward.

He just... Sneered.

"Nine..." He noticed her tears began to fall. "Us. You could have left us. You could have just... Not let us do our work and do it yourself. But you didn't."

"Useful."

"Sensei." Arona's voice cracked. He flinched just by hearing it. He realized that it hurts her feelings.

"You know. You know it's not just that, and you know it! You cared about us! You always did!!"

He didn't say much after. His eyes just looked away. A denial that he couldn't bring himself to speak nor visualize.

It already pained him enough to think of the consequences.

He expected another one. He expected another reason. One more and they were done, right?

So why take so long?

Why, after constant back and forth between the AIs, do they suddenly start thinking?

"Ten."

Simultaneous. They all looked up at him.

"You."

Him?

'Me?'

"Irrelevant."

"Objection: Plana disagrees. Sensei had been a miracle for Kivotos."

"Miracle? A miracle?!"

He shook his head.

"No. I was here, cherry picked because I had the credentials to fit as a stopgap. There is nothing else to it. Sensei is awake. He can take--"

"Shut up."

Kize was instantly stunned. He looked at Arona, the girl that declared his silence. The AI that cried.

The AI that now looked at him, filled with newfound hope.

"You were a stopgap, sure. You did everything because you had to, sure. But that's your action, isn't it?"

"....."

He wanted to deny it. He wanted to push it away, refusing to believe that that was all there was to it. Words that were spoken like empty assurance.

But the truth of the matter was... That was the truth.

Everything he did was out of obligation.

But he did it. By his hands.

By his mind.

"Sensei."

Arona's hand reached out, unable to get to Kize. A desire, an innate wish to be able to take hold of his hand one more time.

"You're not a tool. You're a human, too. You're taking one step back, Sensei. You told us how you felt, didn't you?"

"..."

He did.

'I've... Been trying too hard, I guess.'

'Then relax, Sensei.'

That was the remnant of the conversation they had. On that tram to Red Winter, inside the Shittim Chest.

'If there's nothing you can do, then do what you can.'

And he did. He did everything he could.

'As long as you're true to yourself.'

"......"

His thumb twitched. And slowly, it moved, right onto Arona's hand. A deep, shaky breath inhaled, exhaled.

"Arona."

"Yes, Sensei?"

"Contact Rin again." He glanced outside. "We're going to need the information she got out of both of them."