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Takeshi Route - Chapter 3 - Act 1: Idol

Takeshi leaned back in his chair, stretching his chest and arms up towards the tan ceiling of the science lab. Every day, after he finished his lab work, he went through the same process. He would deliver then attendence to the office for Mr. Mutou, then he would read ahead in the class work files.The rotating cast of lab partners usually appreciated his expedient work and quick thinking, as well as his unusual aptitude for chemistry.

Takeshi looked around his class, noticing how many of his classmates were still bent over their stations. An aging man with tall, slim features, Mr. Mutou wore a long, slightly shimmering white over coat that went down to his knees. A zipper ran from the collar to the right pectoral, then down to the bottom.

These coats were standard issue for all teaching staff, although they were often customized by the teachers themselves. Mutou had small black beakers going up his sleeves, while his buttons were small metal element blocks. Hopefully, nobody forgets he is the science director. He wore white pants similar to the coat, which made him look like a hospital wall.

Mr. Mutou looked up from the student he was helping to meet Takeshi’s eyes across the room. He smiled softly, then motioned Takeshi over.

“Sorry Zeruda. Mr. Mutou wants to meet me.” The blonde haired girl looked up at him with sleepy eyes, the lab sheets they had been working on in her hands. Takeshi had finished most of his, and had been calmly explaining them to her. Despite his efforts, she had only finished half her paper. She lazily scanned both papers and began copying answers as Takeshi departed.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Takeshi’s words came from just below Mutou’s shoulders, but Mutou refused to lower himself to be face-to-face with Takeshi. He tapped the desk next to him, and a stool slid out from the bottom.

“I’d like you to help out this student for a while. Her name is Duria, and she’s struggling a bit with some of the concepts in this lesson.” He motioned towards the new stool and Duria, who had moved to accommodate his seating. Her lab partner had moved further down the table and seemed to be very interested in whatever beaker he was holding.

Takeshi sat down, and glanced at Duria’s paper. “I don’t quite understand question #5. Could you explain it to me?” A quick scan told him that she had the correct answer so he chose to work from there.

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Duria straightened her back, and yawned. “Thanks for the help, Takeshi. You know, have you thought about joining a club?I think you’d really enjoy it.” She began to pack her bag, as the bell had rung a few seconds ago.

She shouldered the pack quickly, waving goodbye to Takeshi. He looked around, and noticed Duria’s lab partner was still there. He turned around, and looked Takeshi in the eye. “Good luck dealing with that girl. You’ll need it.” He passed Takeshi by, practically sprinting out the door.

Takeshi stared momentarily out the door, analyzing the new information. She must need a lot of help to succeed in this class. He looked towards Mr. Mutou, who was silently sorting papers on his desk. “Thanks for teaching us today, Sir.” He tipped his head in thanks, and Mr. Mutou looked up from his grading and smiled widely.

“You’re welcome. You know, if you like this class, you should join my science club. Most of the students in this class who are at your level are in it, and you’ll find it interesting.” He brought out a small leaflet from his coat pocket, holding it in the air. Takeshi picked it out of his hand, then walked out the door.

Leaning against the doorway, he read the leaflet. “Meets every tuesday and thursday. Be prepared for extra curricular field trips.” Takeshi briefly analyzed the club, then pocketed it. He walked away from the classroom, heading down the hall to the library.

Duria Route - Chapter 3 - Act 1: Sun

A small light creeped out from under the student council room’s door. Duria was leaning against the door, and six other students were in the room. Two leaned against the walls, while the other three, who had arrived early, sat in chairs. The last, a third year was sitting in a large office chair. His uniform had a small badge on each shoulder, inscribed with the school crest and the year, 2027-2028. He was shuffling papers a little bit, eyeing each of the students in the room. He cleared his throat, then stopped shuffling papers.

“As you already know, I was student council president Kaz Endo, although my papers read Kazuo. You’re all here to become a student council member, right?” He grinned and leaned back in his chair, raising his only arm above his head. He exuded an aura of confidence, and his eyes seemed to dance across the room. One of the students in the room look confused for a moment, then continued to stare at Kazuo. He frowned slightly, putting his feet up on the desk.

“No time for jokes, eh? That’s too bad. People enjoy a comedian.” He tapped the desk with his feet, letting an image come up on a large screen behind him. It was divided into four sections, each one a different color. The first, prerequisites, was a deep red and showed four bullet points. Duria quickly scanned them, noting that she would have to keep her grades up in order to maintain candidacy. Another student got up and left. Must’ve thought you could hold a position as a first year.

The second box, positions, was a royal purple, and showed treasurer, secretary, event organizer, and vice president. There was a small bullet at the bottom, mentioning that, “If you want to be president, you must hold one of these positions the previous year.”

The third and fourth box dealt with the various intricacies of student council, such as how one must be elected, speech dates, and position takeovers. However, Duria had noticed something, and seemed engaged by it. Kazuo was looking at each of the students, and seemed to linger on each one less and less, before finally coming to rest on one. He smiled a little, then began to look through his papers. He wrote something down on one, then looked up.

“You will need to fill out these forums before you can run for any positions. Each includes a pledge to do your best to hold the position for the entire year, as well as a petition sheet. You will need twenty signatures as well as a sign-off from your guardians to run.” He tapped a pile of papers with his heel, and then sat up.

He grabbed the sheets, then stood up from his chair. He tucked them under his arm, and did his best to hand each student one. He gave a specific one from the bottom of the stack to a student leaning against the wall, trying his best to make sure no-one noticed. He smiled at the student for a moment, then walked back to his desk.

“Does anyone have any questions? I’ll be happy to suggest campaigning methods that I and other candidates used last year.” His usual grin was on again, and he seemed content in his chair. Duria eyes shot to his, then she raised an eyebrow .

“If we are elected to class representative, can we bypass the petition?” Her face remained cold as stone while she asked this, and a couple of other students were taken aback by how quickly she asked the question.

“Its rare that someone can hold both positions, no. You will need to turn in the petition sheet no matter what.” With this, Kazuo chuckled a little at the girl, then leaned back.

Norman Route - Chapter 3 - Act 1: Bothach

The electronic clock above the teacher’s board buzzed softly. A fly hovered near the sweaty carcass of a student. Styli made their way across electronic screens in lazy movements, and the students were melting in their seats.

Unfortunately, the cooling unit for class 2-6 had gone out during the last period of the day, and the metal and plastics in the room only served to intensify the heat. With most students bent double over their desks, working on introduction slips for the teacher, who was stoically fanning herself with a brochure. Norman, sitting straight up in his desk chair, was looking at his paper with piercing eyes. While the teacher had requested a half-page of writing about their lives, Norman had only managed a few sentences, most of them simple dates and events. He read them over again, imagining how to split them apart or make them longer.

Finally, he had an idea. He began to write furiously, the sound of his stylus racing across the pad startling one student. The dancing electronic ink wrote of his first day, clearer in memory than the days in the orphanage that ran together. The teacher, stopping her fanning for a moment, eyed him suspiciously. She leaned back once she was satisfied he was not reading his phone, fanning herself more vigorously.

Once he finished, he tapped the “submit” button on his electronic desk, and leaned back, letting the sweat run down his back and onto the chair. A couple of students who had overheating issues had left earlier, so they could work in a cooler climate. However, those who could had to stay in the classroom.

Norman began probing the pad’s library, becoming bored with nothing to do. He found several books on languages spoken around the world, an overwhelming amount of technology manuals from speaker devices, and advice books for traveling. Of course, in a language class, the library was locked to subject matter approved by the teacher. However, one did catch his eye. A single book with a black first page entitled, “The Dialect of Games.”

After reading the first couple of pages, he was bored again. Apparently, it was about the way chess players spoke to each other during a game, and how experienced players often mumbled to themselves in their native language. The strategizing would be picked up by someone’s speaker tablet, who would then translate the misshapen sentences into pure gibberish.

Norman say back once again, looking around the class. Aside from a girl who had a few missing fingers, the disabilities in his class were not visible. He found it hard not to stare at the various students of Yamaku Academy, who had each adapted to their situation with seeming grace. He glanced behind him, at the one friend he had in the class. He had leaned back in his chair as well, and was playing a silent drum solo with his hands. He had a strong body, and a beautiful face that made him the envy of most 2nd years in his classes, but he was prone to occasional epileptic seizures when exposed to large amounts of sunlight. He managed to avoid this by wearing a white hood under his uniform, and he put it up whenever he needed to go outside. Complete with white gloves and a rare cappuccino skin tone, he stood out wherever he went.

Norman, on the other hand, had nothing physically remarkable aside from being rather muscular for his peer group. He was often chosen to help move desks or other furniture in the classroom, as well as opening the windows. One student, his lab partner in science, usually helped him move these by offering helpful advice from a safe distance away. Annoying as he was, the larger student kept him around to ensure his grade security.

Norman looked up at the clock one last time. Five minutes until he was able to leave. The clock seemed to slow down, and everything around him was moving at a snail’s speed. His head rolled back, and he drifted off to sleep in the middle of his classroom.

Nurse Yusa’s Log: Request for Stronger Meds

Recently, Nurse Ueda was asking me to clear antibiotic meds for one of her students. Apparently, an infection threatened them, although she said she could not specify where the infection was or who it was for.

This is the type of call I have to make every week as a nurse. Being one of the the only nurses directly below Kanasu, I have my own section of the staff to filter before they go to him. Had Ueda told me about this earlier, she could have asked the student for permission to tell me what’s going on. Now, I have to give her the meds without knowing which student she is treating or with how much. Maybe the kid faked it to get some medication! Maybe she is the one faking it!

I don’t know how to call on this one. We have some of the antibiotics, which have become mostly exhausted now, but we must be careful about who we give them to. The substances we dilute them with cause hallucinogenic effects in a minority of students, but its enough to warrant an occasional case of thievery or lying to a nurse. If I give her the meds, I suppose I can always say I made the best call I could, and blame it on her if it goes haywire. But if I don’t give her the meds, I’m completely secure unless she goes over my head to complain to Kanasu.

Head Nurse Kanasu enjoys my company, of this I am sure of. Although, he always seems distracted by his work. Supposedly, he manages all of the first year nurses’ requests once they go through a secondary, to make sure they are valid. However, he has expressed trust in me to make most of the calls on my own.

Either way, I have decided to send the meds over to Ueda. Being Kanasu’s secondary, I have access to which students each nurse is treating, and I found which student most likely requested it. Takeshi Degaro, an Icarus student of with already stellar grades, has a prosthetic leg. It’s not uncommon for an infection to sprout during times of high stress, and he seems to be doing well in all his classes. It always is those ones who get taken out by something silly like this….

It’s interesting, however. Although Takeshi, as reported by his teachers, shows interest in all academic subjects, a brief scan of his profile shows no career interest. Perhaps later this year the career class can help with that.