Blue Archive - Story of Joshua Sensei

Chapter 7 - Catgirl Rescue Mission

"...Back to the matter at hand." Hoshino draws our attention. "Our school owes quite a bit of money to a loan company. It's a challenge, but not exactly an uncommon problem either." She explains, causing my concerns to grow. "The real issue is..." She begins, hesitantly. "That it's over nine hundred-million yen."

I can practically feel my eyes bulge out of my skull. "And they expect fucking students to pay that much back?!" I shout in outrage. "Most businesses couldn't pay that much back!" That's gotta be near seven million dollars, if I remember the conversion!

"It's nine hundred and sixty two million, three hundred and fifty thousand, to be exact." Ayane says. "That's the amount that Abydos-no. That's the amount that the Foreclosure Task Force has taken upon itself to pay back. The loan company will foreclose the school and shutter it permanently if we don't pay them."

I sit back in realization at their situation. "Fuck." I say with an exhale. "Which company is it?"

"Hm? Oh it's Kaiser Loans. Why?" Ayane says.

"Info to shelve for later." I shut her down. "And this is why the other students left?" I guess.

"Yes, the odds of paying back the debt are practically zero, after all. That's why they left." The elf girl explains.

"All except us, that is." Shiroko adds. To the side, I see Nonomi looking down and Serika clenching her fists.

"The debt is the source of everything that's wrong. It's why the school is on the brink of closure, why the students left, and why the town is so desolate..." Ayane says.

"And why ya'll simply couldn't go out and buy more ammo to deal with those goons." I conclude, to which Ayane nods. "And y'all can't just leave or it'll be the death of the school... Still, how could the school rack up such a debt?"

"Several years ago, there was a sandstorm in the desert around the school. Sandstorms are common in the Abydos region, but that particular storm was devastating." She stresses the last word. "Some areas were completely buried in sand, and it just kept piling up. The school had to raise a lot of funds for disaster relief, but there wasn't a single bank that would give such a large loan."

"The GSC couldn't help?" I ask.

Ayane shakes her head. "Unless it affects all of Kivotos, or multiple districts, individual schools have to deal with their own problems themselves."

"The fuck? They just left y'all on your own?" I ask, upset.

"Abydos was the biggest and most powerful school, but the cost of fixing everything was way too high." Hoshino explains. "And none of the other schools helped, either. Why would they?"

"So they stood to benefit from having their biggest competitor fall... It always wraps back around to politics. " I groan, rubbing my temples. "So you guys had to go to loan sharks?" I summarize.

"Exactly. They were looking to take the easy way out and pay the money back quickly, but the sandstorms only worsened as the years went on. Despite the school's best intentions, the situation just kept getting worse. Today, more than half of Abydos is under sand, and the debt keeps increasing." Ayane continues.

Everyone remains silent. Looking to the side, I notice Hoshino seems to be more upset than others. She's a third year, maybe she was there...

"We're barely able to pay back the interest every month, and now we're all out of ammunition and supplies." Ayane says.

"I can sympathize with Serika's frustrations." Shiroko adds. "No one has ever cared enough to ask about our situation before, let alone reach out to help."