Location: Evergreen Academy, ATC Detention Room
Time: 5:15 PM, January 16th 2108
“This is unfair, criminal! I demand justice! I thought this was a free country! Lincoln didn’t fight the revolution so my rights could be stripped away like this!”
One of my fellow students in detention, Emily Evret Evans, was causing a scene. She was standing with one foot placed firmly on the desk in front of her. Fortunately, she was still wearing her training uniform rather than the standard Evergreen Academy uniform.
“Um, Emily, that’s not right. I know you’re from the United States, but we’re in Velstand right now, one of the Free Cities.” Miss Norfolk answered her: one of the staff members Karen brought from the ARA. From what I could tell Miss Norfolk mostly served as administrative personnel, so she was perhaps the only ARA staff member that was actually qualified to work with the ATC.
“Hmm. America? Oh, that’s right. I’m from America. Definitely. . .” Emily crossed her arms and looked to the side.
“And, it’s, it was, Lincoln was the president for the American Civil War. Probably, I think, it was probably Washington that you meant.”
“Oh! Instructor Norfolk, are you some kind of genius? In that case, can you save me? I’m in need of dire assistance!” Emily thrust a math workbook out toward the front of the room. “This needs to be finished by the end of the year!”
“Um, isn’t there a lot of time left then? I’m, I’m sure if you work hard you can get it done.”
“The end of last year! I’m going to be stuck in detention until I finish this whole book!”
“Ah, how, how far have you made it?”
“About halfway! I’ve been trying really hard to not say that word after touching it. Look at this.”
Emily started to rapidly flip through the pages of the workbook. At first, I thought they were completely empty, but then I noticed a chubby penguin slowly walking across the top of the pages. About halfway through the book the penguin disappeared.
“I’m thinking that at the end he’ll slip and fall over. Cute, right?”
“I, I think, probably, um, you should go to your math teacher. I’ve, I’m, I’ve got other work to do, so I can’t help much probably. I think, it’s best for you to get more help.”
“Oh! Another great idea. You really are a genius, no more than that! You must be some kind of genius saint! I’ll go find the math teacher right now. I didn’t understand this trigonometry stuff anyway!”
“No, that, that is a calculus workbook. . .”
Emily had already left the room, completely missing Miss Norfolk’s final piece of advice.
Considering we were supposed to be in detention, I don’t think it was appropriate for Emily to leave like that. In theory, it would be acceptable if she actually went to her math teacher, but I find that rather hard to believe. At least the room will quiet down with her gone. The silence would make it easier for me to reflect on my actions.
“Curious. What are you doing here?”
At least, it was supposed to. Now that Emily was gone, the only other student sharing this detention room with me had approached my desk and was asking a pointless question. I looked toward Miss Norfolk, but she had already collapsed onto her desk, happily sleeping.
“Serving my detention. What business is it of yours?”
Even I can admit I was being rather curt, but that was intentional. Hana was a Number, a monster. She wasn’t human. I had no reason to treat her like one. The fact that everyone else acted like she was more than a tool was the strange thing.
“Doubtful. That’s not right. You aren’t the type to get detention. Certain. You’re boring and easily predictable. No record of detention.”
Her emotionless eyes were staring through me. Why did she care? Was she just passing time with a meaningless question, or was there something more I was missing?
“I struck at Henry’s back after our duel ended. Our instructor did not see it fit to punish me, but I acted inappropriately. I’m serving this detention at my own discretion.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I didn’t have any reason to withold the truth.
“Disappointed. How boring. I was hoping for a more interesting reason. Proud. I’m here for taking things too far and almost disintegrating Cynth. Confident. I wouldn’t have actually done it.”
“Wait, weren’t you paired up with Olivia?”
“Condescending. Yes. But Cynth was paired with Mistress Oakley. Prideful. I was merely doing my job as a bodyguard.”
“Is that so?”
“Certain. Yes. Jealous. Then I needed to blast Nol because he was using the duel to get close to Emelia. Speculative. He was probably going to do that.”
“I think detention is not punishment enough for someone like you.”
“Prideful. They say fortune favors the delicate.”
“That’s off for more reasons than I care to explain.”
“Curt. No more small talk. It’s time to move on to the main conversation.”
That was supposed to be small talk?
“Unconcerned. I’m going to connect to the information dimension. Remove any electronic devices from the area.”
Despite giving a warning, Hana released a few stray sparks of electricity before I could store any electronics somewhere safe. Not that I had any on me anyway. Phones were banned in the detention room.
I’ve heard from others that Hana’s transformation into her more complete form can be frightening, but I felt nothing of the sort. That’s not to say she wasn’t intimidating. Rather, on an instinctual level I was frightened of her from the start. I’d never let my cowardice show; yet the truth remains the same. No matter how she looked or acted I could always see through her. Anyone who felt comfortable around her normal personality was only being deceived. She has never been anything other than a tool. That same was true for Acht and Nuen. Their eccentric personalities were only a cheap disguise.
“Hey, Rant, it seems like you had a busy night yesterday. Mind explaining what you were doing?”
Of course. She wanted to know about my meeting with Prince Eren. I shouldn’t be surprised that she heard I met with him. I’m the one that reported it after all. After leaving his hotel I immediately reported the encounter to the proper authorities, just like I said I would. The only thing I left out was the conversation I had with Kathrin after leaving.
“I made a report at the Ministry of Investigation and Defense. If there’s something that you haven’t heard then that only means the information isn’t for you to know.”
The desk I was sitting at exploded into a cloud of ash.
“I must have said that wrong. Tell me everything that happened.”
“Why should I? Trying to intimidate me with violence will get you nothing.”
We both already knew where we stood. If she wanted to, Hana could kill me without a second thought. I was confident in my abilities, but it’s important to know your limits. That knowledge made her threats pointless. There’s nothing she could do or say that would make me more cautious of her than I already was.
Besides, logically speaking it's not like she would actually murder me in our school's detention room.
Actually, she might. Still, that doesn’t change anything.
“Do you actually understand the situation you’re in? Do you realize how close I am to ending you right now? Did anyone ever tell you why your father died?”
“You killed him because you thought he was plotting against Oakley Oldridge.”
I didn’t reveal my source, but I didn’t want to lie about knowing the truth.
“Exactly. I figured someone would tell you at some point. And knowing that, don’t you see how I would be concerned after learning that you had a private meeting with the man that your father was working with?”
Until she said it, I actually hadn’t considered that. Still, that knowledge changed nothing.
“Those events are unrelated. I have no reason to justify anything to you.”
“Exactly! I knew you’d give me an answer like that. That’s why I wanted to kill you already. To be safe, I figure we should have culled your entire family. As long as you continue to draw breath, Mistress Oakley is at risk.”
“Then why am I still breathing?”
“That’s the thing I don’t understand. I know it’s only a matter of time until you become my enemy. That’s clear as dusk. Yet Mistress Oakley is adamant that I shouldn’t do anything without that bloodsucker’s approval, and she refuses to tell me anything. Something is happening, and she knows it. But for some reason, she’s just letting it happen. Even the Prime Minister is useless. Usually at times like this I could rely on Ren and Father to get something done, but with Ren currently suspended from MID she doesn’t know anything. That’s why I’m making an appeal directly to the source. I was hoping you’d admit to something that even the Princess couldn’t ignore.”
“Ridiculous. I’ve done nothing that I should be ashamed of. You are the one who needs to admit their crimes.”
“What? Upset about your father? He earned his death a thousand times over by conspiring against Mistress Oakley. Actually, considering how Olive got caught up in that whole mess he was lucky it was me who found him first.”
“And what proof did you have of any wrongdoing?”
“Proof? I heard it straight from Alli’s mouth.”
“And that’s all it took to kill a man that was willing to give everything to this city?”
“Of course. Alli is my best friend. I went about it in the wrong way, but I only did what was necessary of me. I will continue doing the same.”
I knew she wasn’t human, but she was completely unhinged. It was pointless to think I’d ever understand the reasoning of something like her.
Out of curiosity I tightened the grip on the hilt of my sword. I was still sitting down, but it was possible to draw my sword using a backhand grip. I felt the hairs on my arm stand up. Hana was already gathering electricity around her. I loosened my grip and felt the atmosphere return to normal. She picked up on my intention immediately. Like I thought, fighting her would be pointless.
“I’m tired of this. You won’t tell me anything. The Princess won’t tell me anything. Fine. I’ll just continue doing what I have to do. But let me tell you one more thing. And this isn’t a threat. Like you said earlier, I don’t think you’re the type to be intimidated by threats. This is just a simple message. Eventually you’ll be in a position where neither of those royals can protect you. When that happens, I’ll be the one to kill you. And considering that both Alli and Emi Emi were victims of your Prince’s schemes as well, I’ll make sure to kill you three times.”