...
A few days after my little watch-along with Izuna, I got a text from Ako in the morning.
*sigh* I can't put up with this.
...The fuck?
Ako?
It just keeps going in circles...!
What does?
Are you okay?
Sensei, I have something important to do.
Anyway, it's urgent, so you have to come right away.
I do?
Yes, you do!
Don't think of running away.
That girl sure is feisty, huh...? I guess I'm going to Gehenna... Not like I had anything planned to do anyways.
Aside from more goddamn work, that is.
—————
I went to the cafe we agreed to meet up at. It was a quiet little place in a quiet little corner of Gehenna.
As I entered the building-
"Ugh."
-,I found Ako with half-dead fish eyes.
"The fuck happened to you?" I ask, sitting down next to the blue haired girl. "You've got half-dead fish eyes."
"Ah. You're here, Sensei." She says, not hiding her exhaustion.
"Did, uh... something happen?" I ask, slowly, a bit worried about her.
"Yes." She says, eerily calmly. "Something did happen. A lot of somethings, in fact." She pauses, sighing. "Seriously..."
"Well, lemme hear what's got ya so down." I say.
"Ugh. It all started during attendance yesterday morning." Ako begins. "As soon as I enter the Prefect Team's club room, I discovered something unbelievable. Of all things... the elevator was broken!"
I stay staring at her for a long moment. "The elevator." I say, coming to a realization. The Prefect Team's building is round tower and is very, very tall. Taller than the Academy itself, if only by a little bit. "Ah, I can see the problem there."
"Yes!" She exclaims. "So I spent the whole morning going up and down the stairs! Believe it or not, I'm an extremely busy person. I have people to meet and places to be! I must have climbed at least a hundred flights yesterday alone!"
"Christ... I can see the problem." I muse.
"And that's not all! At lunch, I was the only one to get a burned croquette." She continues. "Then, it started raining during my patrol. The bread I had left in the fridge to eat later was expired. The path I normally take was under construction, so I had to take the long way around. My entire day was like this! Can't you sense the malice in the air?!" As she finishes, she has crazed eyes, now no longer tired.
"I don't think it was malice, Ako." I deadpan. "You just had a bad day, all ya can do when that happens is keep on going."
"No, this was clearly the malice of some jealous troublemaker who's trying to undermine me, the manager of the Prefect Team!" Ako declares, completely ignoring me and any common sense. "I-If not, then why don't we make a bet? If I'm right, you have to dance right here in the nude!"
"O-ho!" I say, teasingly. "You wanna see your Sensei naked, huh? I mean, I know I'm handsome, but..."
"Wha?!" She squeaks. "Th-That's not...!" She stops speaking and lets out a sigh, her red face betraying her. "O-On top of all of that, I ended up receiving a document from the Pandemonium Society that was totally indecipherable."
"It can't be that bad." I scoff.
Ako looks at me deadpan. "They want us to investigate and report on the correlation between the shoe sizes of every member of the Prefect Team and the amount of rainfall over the last ten years. What does that even mean?!"
"Oh God, it IS that bad." I realize.
"How am I supposed to know how much rain there's been in the past ten years?! And what does that have to do with shoe sizes?" She asks, dumbfounded.
"I'm sure someone's kept track of rainfall." I point out. "I definitely sense the malice in that, but... They're really living up to the name of Pandemonium Society, huh?" They seem chaotic as all hell, except for Ibuki. She's a cute chaotic, so she's forgiven. Iroha is lazy chaotic, and seems to not mind pushing my buttons.
"And that's not all. What happened after that was-"
"Oh, fuck me, there's more?!" I ask, eyes wide as I cut her off.
Ako continued to complain more and more.
—————
"Hmm... right." Ako says, rather calmly, which is almost unsettling to hear after her rage-filled tirade about her bad luck recently. "Was that everything that happened yesterday?"
"...You need a fucking break, Ako." I say after a long moment, staring at the blue haired girl in disbelief. "That or a way to dispel evil spirits. That shit goes beyond just bad luck."
She pauses, looking at the small watch on her wrist. "Oh, looks like my time's almost up. We'll have to disband for today." Disband? Wait was the reason she called me here...?
"Ako."
"Yes?" She asks.
"Next time you wanna vent, just say so instead of saying it's something urgent." I chide. "You had me worried, ya know?"
Ako, thankfully, has the decency to look a bit ashamed of herself.
"Still, if you need someone to talk to like this again, don't hesitate to ask." I say, smiling.
"I... Thank you, Sensei." Ako says, honestly.
"Just doin' my job." I shrug.
As she got up and left, I noticed her face seemed refreshed.
—————
After my strange get-together with Ako, I decided to go for a walk around Gehenna. Despite Ako venting to me for hours, it was only the afternoon.
I also ordered some food at the cafe where Ako and I talked. It was rather awkward explaining everything to the staff.
It's still amazing to me that this 'city' can hold different districts that are completely different from one another in architecture, culture and many other things, yet live together in relative harmony. Keyword being relative.
Each district's architecture has stood out to me in different ways. From the sprawling cityscape of DU, the almost too clean and futuristic look of Millennium, the eerily ruined Aybdos, the almost overly-Japanese look of Hyakkiyako, the Chinese stuff in Shanhaijing, the USSR-style buildings and statues of Red Winter, the Vatican-esque look of Trinity and even the gothic look of Gehenna, each area in Kivotos is quite beautiful in their own ways.
Even though I was running the whole time, in hindsight it was fun to explore the world these past five years. I gained an appreciation for other cultures and the like, so Kivotos has truly appealed to me.
While walking down the streets of Gehenna, I can't help but stare at every little thing, admiring the buildings and how each is designed. Some are fancier than others, some are more gothic than others, each would be damn good inspiration for architects back on Earth.
However, something grabs my attention as I walk, and it isn't the buildings.
I hear laughing voices, those of students most likely and odd, thumping sounds.
My hearing has gotten pretty damn good, to a super-human degree, so I can hear things from quite a distance. If I focus, I can pinpoint where things are easily.
My curiosity wins and I investigate the sounds, soon finding myself walking down a small, darkened alleyway, the sun unable to reach anything here.
The voices become louder and clearer, the two voices filled with joy I hadn't identified before.
Then, a third voice pops up, making only small whimpers.
The thuds increase in speed and volume. I know what those thuds are...
An impact to the flesh. And considering how often they're happening...
I quicken my pace.
Gehenna has been a rather nice-looking area, very beautiful, but every place in the world has it's dark sides. This is obvious by the Black Market district as a whole. I never forget this fact.
So, when I round the corner and come upon the source of those sounds...
What I see reminds me of that fact.
What I see makes my blood fucking boil.
—————
Bullying is nothing new to Haruka. For a long time, it was just life to her. If she was lucky, a day would go by without incident.
That was middle school for Haruka. Day in and day out.
High School was looking to be the same, but then... she met her.
Rikuhachima Aru.
Someone who had been bullied long ago, but decided to stand up for herself and, instead of conforming, wanted to rebel- to become an outlaw.
Haruka remembers that day clearly.
It was just another day of bullying, like any other. But her attackers were stopped by a girl who dressed like a businesswoman. She offered the poor, timid girl her hand and invited her to join her company.
Haruka then met Kayoko and Mutsuki, who had joined prior.
The three girls did not bully her like everyone else, they didn't ridicule her, they sympathized with her. They wanted to rebel, to go against the commonplace, for one reason or another.
The four girls soon became fast friends, but Haruka couldn't help but look up to Aru, who she saw as an idol.
Haruka would gladly give her life to help Aru.
Then, they met Sensei.
He fought like a madman, with enough ferocity to cause a grown man to pee his pants in fear.
But when he first came to their office, he patted her on the head to ease her worries. He was kind to her and has been the same way ever since. Even when she messed up, Sensei was kind and helpful.
And oh, did she mess up often.
It certainly didn't help that she was shy and self-deprecating to a fault, something Sensei wanted to help remedy for her.
She had friends. The ones who used to bully her feared her friends and what they might do to them if they were caught bullying the shy, purple haired girl. She even had a compassionate Sensei who she came to idolize almost as much as her dear Aru.
Why, her face burned just by thinking of the kind man.
But things never go as planned.
Never.
"Hey, look who it is!" A vile, feminine voice says as Haruka stiffens, her legs stopping her from continuing down the Gehenna sidewalk from pure fear.
"Oh, wow! It's the little loser herself!" Another voice chirps, sounding like poison in audible form.
Sure enough, Haruka turns around rigidly to see the last two people who she EVER wanted to see again.
Zankoku Huro and Meinu Maemi, the two cruelest girls in all of Kivotos, at least to Haruka. Many others would actually agree with her sentiment.
Both girls look at Haruka with smiles on their faces, but Haruka knew better. Those were the most cruel and sadistic smiles anyone could muster.
"How've you been little loser?" Maemi, the red haired one asks, flashing her crooked teeth as she smiles cruelly. Still toting her massive shotgun that she got from Red Winter.
"We haven't heard from ya in a while. Been hanging out with some friends, hmm?" Huro, the blonde one asks, venom in her voice. On her back is her shotgun, most of it's barrel still sawn off, something that isn't illegal to do in Gehenna.
"W-W-Well..." Haruka stammers, unable to respond. Whether it's due to her usual shyness or the overwhelming fear coursing through her, she doesn't know.
"You're probably right, Huro." The redhead adds. "We still haven't forgotten what that bitch did to us, have we?" She asks, looking at her friend.
Haruka's rage spikes at hearing them talk bad about her Lady Aru, but her fear wins in the end.
"No, we haven't." The blonde confirms, her smile extending across her cheeks, seeming to almost distort her entire face.
"Well, whaddya say we hang out? Y'know, like the old times." Maemi says, wrapping her arm around Haruka's neck.
"That's a great idea!" Huro adds, doing the same.
The two girls forcefully lead the purple haired girl down a darkened alley, making sure to go as deep within as possible to get out of sight.
Haruka can only whimper as they move farther and farther away from the safety of the sidewalk.
The light is gone from this place, the dark creeping up all around them.
Just like Haruka's fear.
The poor girl then finds herself being pushed forward and slamming headfirst into a thick, metal dumpster as the two girls let out rage-filled growls in unison with their powerful push.
The first-year's purple shotgun clatters to the ground as Haruka slumps to the ground, her hat having fallen off when she was pushed.
"Well, you won't be needing this piece of shit, huh?" Maemi scoffs, kicking the purple shotgun to the side, the weapon scraping against the concrete and stopping against a wall. She stares at Haruka with her usual crooked smile.
Before she can register anything else-
BAM thud
-Huro swings her shotgun like a bat, striking Haruka straight in the side head, causing the other side of her head to impact the cold concrete.
Haruka staggers from the skull-rattling shot and subsequent impact with the concrete, before slowly and fearfully looking up at the two girls, their eyes seeming to glow menacingly in the darkness.
"That friend of yours with the horns was really tough, y'know? Kept us both in the hospital for a few days." Huro says, sadistically.
"Yeah, she was real tough." Maemi adds. "And considerin' how much damage she did to us, I feel like it's fair we even up the score."
Haruka doesn't even get the time to think before a boot slams into her stomach, courtesy of the blonde.
"Ghak!" The timid girl lets out a pained sound.
Then, another kick from the redhead, her face sporting a sadistic smile all the while.
The purple haired girl can do nothing but close her eyes as the kicks increase in speed. Kick after kick, each blow sending pain coursing through her small body.
Even though it hasn't happened in a long time, she's used to it. This is nothing new, all she has to do is close her eyes and wait for the bullies to get bored with their punishment.
The kicks come to a stop suddenly, prompting the timid girl to creak open one of her eyes, afraid something else will impact her.
This, however, turned out to be a mistake, as the first thing she sees is not the bullies, but the butt of a shotgun, right in front of her vision.
BAM
"GAAH!"
Haruka lets out a shrill, pained cry after Maemi swung her shotgun like a golf club directly into the poor girl's face. She holds her face with both hands, writhing around in great pain.
Hot tears drip out from her eyes, now closed with renewed terror.
The smell of iron hits her nose. She would realize she was bleeding if the pain was not so great.
There is a reason why these two are the most feared delinquents in Gehenna, if not most of Kivotos.
Not because of their strength, no. There are stronger delinquents in Kivotos, such as those Seven Prisoners. But these two?
They're easily the cruelest.
"Kyahahahaha!" "Shihihihihihi!" The bullies cackle madly, gaining great joy from seeing their prey in such agony. But to Haruka, these aren't the sounds of laughter...
They're the sounds of pure evil.
"That hurt did it?" One of them asks. Haruka can barely tell who is speaking. "This is just a taste of what your pal did to us." She growls out.
The pain is overwhelming. She tries her usual method of dealing with these two, distracting herself.
She thinks of better things. Her Sensei. Her friends. Aru.
Aru...
What would she do?
She wouldn't back down. Aru is a true rebel, someone Haruka can't help but look up to.
She wouldn't bow to these two. She would've fought them off, just like she did when she met Haruka.
Oh, how Haruka desperately wanted to be like her.
And Sensei... He would fight back- return the pain dealt a thousand times over.
With tears in her eyes and the pain subsiding, her pulls her hands away from her face and looks at the two bullies, still cackling away.
Then, Maemi's laughter stops. "What's with that look?" She asks.
Haruka is completely confused by the girl's words. What look?
Huro stops and look at the downed girl as well, a flash of anger shows on her face.
Maemi's crooked teeth grind together, her face twisting into a scowl. "That look... pisses me off!"
A boot is once again driven into the poor girl's side, causing her to squeak out in pain, the air being forced from her lungs.
"That fucking look!" Maemi growls out. "You look like you know you're better than us. That your friend is going to save you. Well tough shit!"
Another boot slams into her side. Then one from Huro. Then another and another.
The cycle repeats, endlessly.
Time slows as the impacts continue.
"Don't fucking think your better than us!" Huro shouts. "You're nothing, you goddamn loser! You're worthless!"
"Worthless!" Maemi echoes.
""FUCKING WORTHLESS!!!""
Somehow, their words cause more pain than anything they could hope to inflict physically.
'They're right.' Haruka thinks to herself. 'I... I really am worthless.'
To this day, she does not know what Aru saw in her.
Nor does she know what her Sensei sees in her.
Cruel as they are, those two are right.
She cannot even muster the courage to fight back.
She cannot even muster the courage to even look at her attackers.
All she can do is close her eyes tightly and wait for it all to be over.
The two girls begin to growl with rage as the kicks increase in strength and ferocity, the bullies beginning to sound and act like rabid, wild animals.
"Worthless! Piece of! SHIT!" Maemi curses with each kick to the purplette's ribs.
Haruka just lays back and ignores the pain.
But, something unexpected happens.
Another voice speaks.
"Hey."
A male voice.
"Huh?" "Who's...?"
The bullies call out in confusion.
Haruka slowly opens her tear-filled eyes and finds the last person she thought she'd see here.
Sensei.
But not the strong, kind Sensei.
This is the Sensei who fought Binah without fear, without hesitation.
This is the Sensei who spat at the Kaiser PMC's Director for betraying his student.
His face isn't the usual one, no.
His face...
...is one of pure wrath.
—————
There are few times when my rage overtakes all common sense. Usually it's due to seeing people betraying my friends or myself.
This is another one of them. Seeing someone I care about hurt.
Two girls stand in the dark alleyway, not noticing me at all.
The girl with red hair is holding a shotgun and is wearing a grey uniform that's tattered and shredded a bit. The blonde carries a sawn-off shotgun and wears a similar outfit.
All in all, they look like delinquents. But their appearances don't matter to me in the slightest, not now.
Why? Because Haruka's state is much more concerning.
The timid Gehenna student lays on the ground, curled up and clutching her stomach. Her face is covered in tears and blood from what appears to be an impact wound to the middle of her face. Hopefully her nose isn't broken.
Her purple shotgun and her hat lay on the ground alongside her.
But what's most important her is that these two bitches are kicking my precious student in the stomach over and over again, growling with each hit like fucking animals.
I need to hold myself back.
I wouldn't want to hurt them too bad.
"Hey." I call out, not bothering to hide my rage.
The girls stop their assault immediately, tensing up and readying their guns.
"Huh?" "Who's...?" They ask, whipping around to face me.
Haruka... The poor girl cracks her purple eyes open slowly. When they settle on me, they widen in surprise. But there's something else in those eyes of hers.
Hope.
"What-" I seethe, taking a step forward. "-do you think you two are doing here exactly?" As I ask this, I let out a bit of killing intent. Just enough to scare the fuck outta them.
"Oh, well, y'know..." The blonde stammers, her instincts likely kicking in, before her friend picks up the slack.
"We're just having fun with our dear friend." The redhead says, smiling and showing off her crooked teeth before bending down and placing a hand on Haruka. "Ain't that right, friend-o?"
The purplette just whimpers in fear.
"All right, then. Here's how this is gonna go." I say, walking closer to the duo, prompting the crouching one to stand back up, both of them tended. "You two have ten seconds to tell me the truth."
"Or what?" The redhead sneers.
"Or I'm gonna fuck YOUR teeth up worse than they already are." I say simply, not intimidated in the slightest, before turning to the blonde. "And I'm gonna smash YOUR face in like a soda can."
"What makes you think you can?" The blonde follows up, attempting to intimidate me like her friend, and failing. They look like goddamn chihuahuas to me.
With a sigh, I move, grabbing the redhead to my right and pushing her forward, causing the two girls heads to smack into each other.
""Oww!"" They both shout as they headbutt one another.
The redhead with the fucked teeth whips back around angrily. "What the fu-"
But before another word can be uttered, my fist has impacted her face. Not at full force, mind you, but enough to fucking hurt her.
"What the-" the blonde attempts to exclaim something, shocked by my sudden punch to her friend, but it's too late, I've already spun on my heel clockwise as the heel of my right foot slams into her face with a sickening crack, sending the bitch flying backwards. She slams into the wall of the alley before slumping down.
As I bring my foot back down, I observe the idiots. Both are down and knocked out, as evidenced by their halos disappearing and their chests still inhaling and exhaling. The blonde landed sitting, but slides over onto her side. Both girls have an impact on the center of their faces, just like Haruka, and just like her, their faces have begun to bleed.
Oh, there's a jagged tooth next to the redhead. Guess I kept my word about fucking her teeth up.
And considering I kicked the other one like that, I kept my word to her as well.
Their shotguns have also clattered to the ground next to them.
Normally, I don't think I'd be this brutal with students, but after what they've done, I think it's deserved.
Turning around, I look at the poor purplette on the ground, staring at me with wide eyes. "S... Sensei...?" She asks me, awestruck.
I crouch down and get closer to the poor girl, causing her to recoil slightly. "Are you okay, Haruka?" I ask her softly.
"Ah... Y-Yes, I'm fine, Se-Sensei." She says, using her arm to push herself up and sit upright. "This i-isn't anything out of the usual." She adds, averting her gaze from me.
"Haruka..."
That just makes me more worried about you.
Wordlessly, I reach into my jacket and pull out a handkerchief from within the Shittim Chest's storage. She flinches away as I bring the cloth to her face, but she stays still after, allowing me to wipe the blood off her face.
These girls are tough, but it's still common knowledge that they can be harmed. Haruka's tougher than this, isn't she? Perhaps a student's durability is affected by their mental state... She seemed to submit to those two's punishment rather than fight back.
I finish off by wiping off the blood that's dribbled down onto her lips. Putting the cloth back into my jacket, or rather the tablet within, I speak again. "Haruka. Are you okay?" I ask, more forcefully.
"I..." She starts, once again unable to meet my gaze. "No... I'm not... I th-thought when I joined Problem Solver that I w-would become stronger, bu-bu-but... I'm still just a loser." She says, pitifully, tears welling up in her eyes once more.
Her hat catches my eye, laid on the ground, fueled up and wrinkled. With ease, I pick the object up, flicking my wrist to unfurl it before placing it on her head.
"You ARE strong, Haruka." I say, looking her in the eye. "Not just physically, but emotionally. I told you before, just like your weeds, you persevere despite the hardships you face... just like me."
"Like... you?" Haruka asks, slowly. "Tha-That's impossible. You're so strong, Sensei. There's no way you've ever had any troubles like I have." As soon as she finishes, she seems to realize her words as her face becomes aghast. She holds her hands up, placatingly. "Th-That's not to say that I'm doubting your words or anything, but... I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
"Haruka..." I say, softly, placing my hand on her trembling shoulder. The girl stills, looking at me with surprise. "I haven't always been as strong as I am now. I had to fight through hell and back, day in and day out to get where I am today."
"R-Really...?" Haruka asks, her purple eyes wide in awe.
"Yeah. Even from day one. I was born an orphan in a god-awful city." I begin to explain. "Bullies, not just kids but also teenagers and adults, were everywhere. I had two choices: either stay weak and helpless, or get strong. I chose the latter. At your age, I don't think I could've taken the beating you just got. You are plenty strong, Haruka."
Tears begin to well up in her eyes again. I softly chuckle as she speaks.
"Th-Thank you, Sensei." She says, her voice quivering.
I smile as I stand up, holding out my hand. "C'mon. Time to get up."
She stares at my hand for a moment, before taking it and standing up. She winces a bit, a hand shooting to her stomach, but she shrugs it off before walking over and bending down to grab her shotgun.
"I-I think I'm okay now, Sensei." Haruka says, hugging the gun to her body.
"Glad to hear it." I say.
Haruka fidgets in place, almost as through where want to say something. Eventually, she does. "...S-Sensei?"
"Yeah?"
"I want t-to show you something, Sensei." She says, nervously. "Bu-But it's not here."
"Lead the way, then." I say. Haruka smiles a bit before walking, only to stop and cast one last wary glance at the two bullies.
"Forget about those cunts. They're weak idiots, just like all bullies." I say. "They never seem to learn that there's always a bigger fish."
She nods and continues to walk, with me next to her.
—————
After about an hour of walking alongside Haruka, we eventually reach the outskirts of Gehenna. The entire place is somehow even more abandoned than Abydos, yet instead of sand there is grime, dirt and other nasty things covering everything.
This place is a fucking slum. Even delinquents wouldn't come to this shithole.
The fact that the skies have clouded over certainly doesn't help the look of this place, it just makes it more dreary.
"Nice place out here. Almost reminds me of being a kid." I comment.
"Really?" Haruka quietly asks.
"Yup." I say, popping the p. "Only difference is the lack of people."
We continue along for a short while before she stops in front of a crumbling building.
"This it?" I ask.
"Y-Yes, it's in here." She confirms, before walking inside. What could she have in here...?
I follow the first-year into the decrepit building. There are holes letting in sunlight, or what passes for sunlight once it comes through those clouds, everywhere. Bits of the stone and brick walls have disintegrated and chipped in places. Some of the windows are broken, cracked or missing. I follow her through a doorway, or what remains of one seeing as how the wall to this room and all but collapsed.
Soon we reach the back of the building. On the wall is a cracked window, only small pieces of glass left and vines and the like have grown along the back corner.
One thing stands out: a few standing shelves, on them are an assortment of pots, each filled with dirt that have thin, green plants growing from.
"S-So this is... the place where I can grow my weeds." Haruka explains. "They look hideous, don't they? I-I know... I wanted to show you them, but I really shouldn't have... They're so ugly, just like me... I wanna die I wanna die I wanna die I wanna die-"
"Haruka!" I shout, cutting the girl off from continuing her self-deprecating rambling. "You grew these yourself?"
"Y-Yeah..." She admits, her face still panicked. "Thi-This is a completely worthless place, but... I don't know if you remember the weeds I gave you that one time, but... I-I grow stuff like that here..."
"Huh. So it's like your own private botanical garden." I muse.
"What?! N-No! No, it's nothing as grand as that at all!" She vehemently denies.
"You did a pretty good job of raisin' these, huh?" I observe, looking at the weeds. "I didn't know you liked doing this stuff."
"...What? I-I don't..." The purplette stammers. "S-Sensei, did you just compliment me?"
"Yes." I answer simply. "Have you shown this to anyone else?"
"What? N-No way!" She shouts, her eyes wide and panicked. "I-I would never do such a thing! S-Such a filthy, unsettling and gloomy place like this! Nobody would like a place like this! I couldn't trouble anyone by bringing them here! The-There's no reason for me to even bring it up... And I'm sure nobody would be interested in a place like this!"
I can only smile. "Haruka?"
"Y-Yes?" She asks, stiffening.
"Thanks for bringing me here. It means a lot."
"Huh?" She asks, taken aback. "Why would you thank me for bringing you to a place like this...? If anything, I-I shouldn't have bothered. This is just a garbage place where worthless little me and my worthless weeds reside."
"That's a lie." I cut her off, sternly. "You aren't worthless, Haruka and neither are your flowers."
"Flowers?!" Haruka shouts. "N-No! If you call them flowers, then even the moss that grows from the sidewalk is a flower! All these are is just weeds!"
"...They may be weeds, but they're weeds you cared for, weeds you nurtured, weeds you cared for. They're important to you, that makes them important to me too." I say.
"S-Sensei..." She says, averting her gaze from me once again. "Why are you so kind to me?"
"Because I'm tired of you thinking you're worthless." I say, sternly. "I hate when someone cannot see their own self-worth. You matter to this world, to your friends and to me. You're one of my precious students, after all."
Her head whips up quickly as she meets me gaze with hers, tears welling up again.
Silently, I walk over and hug the purple haired girl holding her tightly as my chest begins to feel a bit wet. Small, sniveling sounds come from the girl as she cries softly into my chest.
After long minutes, her cries slow to a stop. "...Are you okay now?" I ask softly.
"Y-Yes... I'm..." Haruka says, pulling away from me, before her eyes widen with fear. "Ah! No, I ruined your shirt! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
"It's fine, Haruka." I say, placatingly. "I'm just glad your okay."
"No, I'm not, I..." She begins, her face and eyes red. "I just... I... Sensei, I-I... you're a really great person and I... would you be fine with me sta-staying with you?"
"Staying with...?" I ask. "Sure."
"N-No! I mean..." She trails off, before hugging me once more. "I don't know if you'd accept someone as terrible as me, but... I want to stay with you forever! I just... I... I... I lo-lo-lo-love you..."
"H-Haruka...!" I gasp.
"I know you see some worth in a loser like me, just like Lady Aru does, bu-but... You're so kind and warm and, and...!" She trails off, crying again.
This girl...
She really needs someone to care for her...
To show her how much she matters...
...
I'll be that person, then.
I just smile and bend down, not letting her let go of me. "I love you too, Haruka." I finally say.
"...!" Haruka softly gasps, before lunging forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and downright bawling her eyes out.
Slowly, the two of us fall down, sitting on the concrete as she hugs me and cries. I can only pat the girl's back lovingly.
"I know... I know..." I say, softly, hugging her back.
—————
She continued to cry for long minutes. Jeez, I'll have to get her some water so she doesn't get dehydrated after crying THIS much.
I told her the shortened version of my story with that cunt Rick and about how I'm also dating others.
Haruka stayed silent during the whole thing, letting me speak. She didn't ask any questions or anything, just listened.
After the two of us had been sitting on the floor for quite a while, and I had finished my stories, I spoke. "You ready to get back up?"
"Y-Yeah..." She mumbles, prompting me to stand back up. Once again, I hold my hand out for her, which she takes, and I help her up.
Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, but her wound from earlier has disappeared. Halos are pretty helpful things, huh?
"Tr-Truth be told... I can't believe you would accept someone like me..." The purplette muses.
"Well, believe it, then." I say, smiling. " 'Cause you've become someone precious to me too."
Thankfully, this manages to cause the timid girl to smile a bright, happy smile.
"People do nice things for those who are precious to them... right?" She asks, more to herself, before a creepy smile appears on her face. Huh, haven't seen that one in a while. "The-Then, I'll do my best to get rid of a-anything that could be a nuisance to you... Especially those two... Ehehehehehe..."
"Haruka."
"Ye-Yes?" She asks, snapping out of her yandere trance.
"Jane already got her karma, seeing as how she's in a coma." I begin, before taking on a lower tone of voice. "As for Rick, he's mine... If I ever see him again, that is. I wouldn't mind staying in this city and never seeing the bastard again. So don't worry about that."
"Oh... I-I see..." She says, a bit downtrodden.
"Thanks for looking out for me, though." I say, smiling. "It means a lot."
"...!" She gasps, looking up at me, before making a big 'ol smile again and giggling. "Ehehehe~!"
As I happily watch the usually shy and timid girl openly smile and giggle, an idea comes to mind. "Say, why don't we get you a real greenhouse?"
"A... Wh-What?" Haruka asks, stammering from being taken aback, rather than her usual shyness.
"Well you shouldn't have to come out all this way for your plants. Maybe we can get you a greenhouse built at Schale or something." I offer. "Heck, maybe you can try growing stuff other than weeds... If you want, that is."
"I-I've tried growing flowers before..." She admits, sadly. "The-They all died... The only thing I can grow i-is weeds..."
"How? These weeds look pretty taken care of..." I ask, more to myself. All of the weeds in all of the pots look rather healthy, and-
Hang on, each pot has weeds in them.
"Haruka, did you try growing weeds and flowers in the same pot?" I ask.
"Y-Yes... Is that wrong?" She asks, shyly.
"Weeds are greedy little bastards, they suck up all the nearby nutrients, not leaving any for anything else. Flowers will die pretty quick if weeds sprout up nearby." I explain.
"O-Oh!" Haruka says, her eyes wide in realization. "I-I'm such an idiot! I wanna die I wanna die I wanna die..."
"Haruka." I call out to her, hoping to stop her mumbling.
"I wanna die I wanna die I wanna die I wanna die..."
"Haruka!" I shout, but she continues.
"I wanna die I wanna die I wanna die I wanna-"
I cut her self-deprecating mumbling off by bending down and kissing her. As I do, she stiffens.
It's a chaste kiss, but as I pull away, I find that it did the trick. Her face is so red, it looks like a tomato. Her purple eyes are the size of pinpricks now.
"S-Se-Se-Sensei... You ju-just..." She breathes, unable to comprehend what just happened.
"Well... I couldn't snap ya out of your trance, and... I suppose I wanted to kiss my girlfriend, so why not kill two birds with one stone?" I ask, a bit awkward.
"Se... Sensei!" She squeaks, her face red.
"Ehehe~" I chuckle at her reaction. "And you don't hafta call me that when it's just us. Call me Josh."
"...!" She gasps in surprise. "All right, the-then... Jo-Josh..." She shyly says my name, her face red with a giddy smile upon it. "Ehehe~ Jo-Josh is my boyfriend...!"
I smile back, happy that she's so happy right now. She was so pitiful looking and desperate when I found her earlier today...
I'm glad I can brighten someone's day to this degree.
I just hope I can keep doing it.
—————
Haruka and I spoke at her hideout for a while, before we parted ways. The timid girl boldly kissed my cheek before literally sprinting away.
Hoshino texted me that evening, and I explained what happened.
Guess what she said...
—————
Geez, that's 5 now? You work fast, Sensei.
Oh, shush.
Still, someone as timid as Haruka...
Yeah, I think I'll skip the interrogation with this one.
I let out a chuckle at her text.
How's Shiroko doing?
She smiled all day after you two got together.
All. Day.
That's good.
Right?
Damn right it is. The girl is stoic to a fault, seeing her smile so brightly all day...
Seriously, thanks for helping her, Josh.
I didn't do anything.
Still, I'm happy so long as y'all are happy.
...Geez. How's a girl supposed to respond to that?
You can be really unfair sometimes, Josh.
—————
Also, Ako texted me that evening.
—————
Sensei.
Thank you for today.
I'll be relying on you again next time.
Just give me a heads up about wanting to vent, Ako.
—————
Honestly, that girl. I feel like I'm saying that a lot nowadays.
Though, I am flattered she trusts me enough to tell me about all this stuff.
Oh, and I also got some workers to make an addition to Problem Solver's office nearby. It now has a fair sized greenhouse next to it, connected via a side door. They worked fast, too. They got the whole thing done in about three days.
Haruka's smile was so big that day. Almost as big as when I accepted her confession.
After those conversations, I didn't hear much from Hoshino for a few days, until she sent me a Momo Talk invite. One to a private chat group.
Didn't know Momo Talk had those.
And... what's with this name?
'Sensei's Harem Chat Group'
What the fuck is this...? Reluctantly, I join the group.
Sensei: Okay, what the fuck is this?
Hoshino: Hey, you made it!
Yuuka: Hello, Sensei. Er, I suppose I should say Josh.
Chinatsu: This is a chat group for you and all of your... girlfriends.
Shiroko: Nn. Sen- Josh and his girlfriends only.
Sensei: Honestly, I'm not even surprised at this point.
Sensei: Thanks for having me, I guess. Is everyone here?
Hoshino: Yup! Right, Haruka?
Haruka: I-I'm here, too!
Yuuka: I'll admit, this wasn't a bad idea. This will make it easier for us to communicate together.
Sensei: I didn't even know this function existed, truth be told.
Shiroko: You can also speak with certain people privately if you want.
Hoshino: Nonomi showed us how to use every function of this app a while back.
Sensei: I guess I know who to ask about apps and stuff.
Yuuka: ...I'm almost offended. I know I'm not the most tech-savvy, but...
Sensei: Anyway, how have you girls been?
Hoshino: Same old, same old. Shiroko's still all smiles here.
Shiroko: Hush.
Hoshino: I wish you girls could see this, Shiroko's blushing so hard next to me!
Chinatsu: Well, I'm just glad we can all get along.
Chinatsu: As for me, I'm still swamped with paperwork. Whether it be Prefect Team duties, or preparation for the upcoming Treaty.
Yuuka: It's times like these I'm glad I attend Millennium. Things have been rather quiet over here, thankfully.
Yuuka: Except for Noa's usual teasing.
Sensei: Noa? Oh, right. That friend of yours I met when we went out that time.
Yuuka: Yes, that's her. She's a massive tease.
Yuuka: Ever since I admitted that we were together, she's been non-stop with teasing me.
Sensei: She's your friend, right? Just ask her to take it easy on you.
Hoshino: That's the best advice, really.
Yuuka: Okay, then.
Yuuka: Truth be told, I would be expecting her to show up at Schale one of these days, Josh.
Shiroko: What about you, Haruka?
Haruka: Huh? M-Me?
Haruka: Well, I've been fine.
Haruka: Lady Aru took our group out for lunch the other day.
Sensei: Well, I'm just glad you're doing okay. Same for all of you.
Haruka: I also haven't seen those two since the other day. Last I heard, they got arrested by the Prefect Team.
Yuuka: Those two?
Sensei: Found two bitches kicking the shit out of Haruka, I broke their noses.
Sensei: I think. I just punched one in the face and roundhouse kicked the other in the same spot.
Shiroko: Brutal.
Sensei: Wasn't brutal enough, honestly. How cruel does one have to be to hurt a cinnamon roll like Haruka?
Haruka: C-Cinnamon roll?
Yuuka: Pfft.
Chinatsu: Would they happen to be delinquents?
Sensei: Yeah. Haruka, what were their names?
Haruka: Huro and Maemi.
Chinatsu: Yeah, it's them.
Hoshino: Who're they?
Chinatsu: Well-known nuisances in Gehenna. I've lost count of how many times they've gotten in trouble for bullying or anything else they think they can get away with.
Chinatsu: This time, instead of just getting arrested, they got thrown into my department. They both were bleeding from the center of the face and one of them had a missing tooth.
Sensei: I hope it wasn't a baby tooth. If anything, they got off light for hurting one of my students.
Hoshino: Smooth, Josh. Smooth.
Hoshino: You'd better be careful saying something like that. You'd probably get tons of girls just from that line alone.
Sensei: I doubt it's that effective, but okay.
Sensei: Anyway, I'd better finish up here. I'll let y'all get back to gossiping.
Yuuka: We aren't gossiping!
Sensei: I wouldn't know~
Hoshino: Don't worry, we won't gossip about you.
Shiroko: Maybe we will a little.
Sensei: Haha. Well, have fun. Don't hesitate to text or something if ya need me.
Chinatsu: Will do Josh.
Haruka: G-Goodbye, Josh!
Yuuka: Bye.
Hoshino: See ya!
Shiroko: Later.
Chuckling, I put down my phone. Ten bucks says it's Hoshino who made that chat group.
Or not, it's a fool's bet.
—————
AN
Funny number chapter. lol 69.
Fun fact, I looked up uncommon Japanese names and picked the most ironic ones for the two bullies.
Huro apparently is usually associated with someone who takes away negativity. Funny, since she's a bully. Maemi is supposedly a 'child who has a smile of truth and happiness'. Ironic, since I gave her a cruel, twisted smile with crooked teeth. Their last names are much simpler. According to google translate: Zankoku means 'cruelty' and Meinu means 'bitch'. If I'm wrong with the translations, please correct me.
Also, Maemi's shotgun is a Soviet KS-23 12-Gauge, so she got it from Red Winter. Huro's shotgun is an American Ruger Red Label with the barrel sawn-off.
How was the chapter? Give me your thoughts. Tell me what you thought of the bullies, did you hate them? I hope so.
Did any of you like Haruka a bit more after this chapter? I like how she's a 1-star in the game, so everyone will get her pretty easily.
Also, I hope you all are fucking ready. I was gonna start it on Chapter 72, but...
Fuck waiting any longer.
Next time, it begins.
Though, we won't be jumping straight into the Make-Up Work Club's shenanigans. Instead, we'll have a bit of set-up. Nothing much, just a few chapters.
Also, prior to the release of this chapter, this story has gotten more views than my Date A Live story which I've all but abandoned. Amazing, I never thought it could be done!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next!