[ARC 17: HERE'S THE WEATHER]
Serena Kunst was no philosopher in the literal sense: a lover of knowledge. Life to her was essentially a series of globs in a lava lamp, with no pattern she could construct or even know there was a pattern between. Yes, she distrusted men and hated how she could tell the difference between a stare that despised her or was fetishizing her, but she was a rather emotionally-driven creature, and one Naomi was beginning to feel a little irritated with.
"Wait, you already read it?" said Serena at her & Yuruko's house.
Naomi was sitting on the couch and nodded. "Yeah. They said we had to read through the textbook before January 4th -- tomorrow -- so I did it after they assigned it."
"Nerd." said Yuruko.
"…ummm… okay. Did you take notes?"
"Yes."
"Um, okay. Read some so I can check."
"Okay." Naomi used her phone, that Serena had recently bought for her, for notes. She read:
- Urasaria students initially required to arrest suspects like civilian cops do.
- March 1988: Los Angeles is destroyed/3mil people die when 2 students try to arrest a host who can create nukes
- Fallout leads to legal immunity/lethal force protocols
- Host reappears in Moscow in 2013 and killed by American professionals
- Surviving family sues the US government, fails
- *Only USA and Russia allow lethal force
"Yeah, Japan doesn't let students kill people." said Yuruko. "Cringe."
"We still should find some excuse to go to Japan, though." said Serena.
This was how the couple reacted whenever the topic of travel was brought up, ever since the Elite 4's trip, and this beget another reaction from Naomi where she wondered why they truly wanted to do so. She had no desire to travel, not because she thought it would not be good but because she simply had none of the knowledge needed to grasp the history of such places, and impress themselves upon her. As both thought Japan a country of anime & videogames, Naomi felt little reason their mind's image of it should need further dimensionalizing of it through physical sensation.
Serena had forgotten to notify Naomi of her midsemester exam, and so when Naomi woke up the next Friday she read a note on her fridge.
'Come to room 187 in the first-year building, or become a sleeping slave to your fate! - Miasma.'
She shrugged and set off, hoping it'd make sense on the way there. Once she arrived at the sideroom, the sight inside was no help.
"…uh." She blinked at Serena's outfit, tight purple sweater, pink ponytail & studded jeans, frog on her shoulder. "Are you dressed up as an anime?"
"…uh." Serena tapped her frog. "Yeah."
The two blinked. Serena decided not to run the routine, having practiced her Japanese.
"I - hang on." she winced, yanking her sweater off -
- and revealing a mesh shirt underneath, ponytail unfurling to pink mane, temporary arm tattoos.
"Uh, that was Doppio - and now, Diavolo." chimed Serena, relevantly.
"Okay." blinked Naomi.
Serena blinked.
Naomi blinked.
Serena blinked.
Naomi blinked.
"…uh." Serena shrugged. "Anyway, we're supposed to duel, and - you have to apprehend me nonlethally. For an exam."
"Okay." blinked Naomi.
A confused blinking shrouded Naomi's eyes as she rushed forward. The floor started to rumble beside Serena, and in the next instant -
" - KING CRIMSON!" shouted Serena, relevantly -
- and the chemist-turned-crimson-king popped up beside her; Naomi stopped -
" - uh, what -"
" - KEKKA DAKE DA!" shouted Yuruko, extra face sculpted on her forehead, garish pink mesh shirt&pants, fists covered in steel -
" - KONO YOU NI WA KEKKA DAKE GA - NOKURU!" shouted Serena; the otaku couple burst in to laughter -
- and Avalanche's arm was on Serena's neck a second later.
"...shit." sighed King Crimson. "Should've used Epitaph."
"…uh. Good job." chimed Diavolo. "You passed."
"Sweet. That was… fun." chimed Naomi, utterly clueless.
++++++
Kate White was not the type of woman most men would go for, and not because she lacked looks, but because she had the look that lends a woman to be called a *bitch*. When you picture Kate, it should primarily be her eyes which impinge upon everything that intrudes her sight, radiating severeness and austerity.
Take it from the words of her protege Jake: "This bitch seriously must have a dick three feet long if she expects anyone to do this shit."
This had been uttered after their first month of training, shortly around the time he asked if they could slow their training down and Kate had told him: "If you're expecting sympathy from me, you can find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary."
She was later shocked that he dropped out, and upon being notified this by President Matoi, shook her head and wondered why Urasaria's men always were softer than its women. It rightfully disproved the stereotype of women caring deeper than men, for she thought: how had men become so sensitive and not be able to take a bit of harshness?
Many a time Kate had seen women's cruelty outstrip men, for with physical strength equalized between the sexes at Urasaria it is often the women bickering & bullying another; any Urasaria man who harasses a Urasaria lesbian has his ass summarily beat into next Tuesday. (Had this novel been about Urasaria's men it scarcely would've been written, for with nary sympathetic protagonists but perhaps Samuel it would only have infected you with the ardency of a Gorgon.)
Earlier last year Kate had overheard two women mocking Serena after class, once Serena was out of earshot. Usually Kate was professional, but lately the rumors were growing more vicious, sontoday she felt it right to breach it. She went up to the duo and told them to knock it off about Serena.
"You were listening in on us? What the fuck?"
"Just consider it a friendly warning." said Kate.
One of the women snorted. "What's your deal? You know he's a man, right? He's a fucking creep who dresses up like a woman 'cuz it makes his shriveled little dick hard."
"I don't give a damn if she's a transvestite or a transsexual or whatever. She acts professionally and she's a hard worker, something you clearly haven't done a goddamn day of in your life. God, I'll never understand why dumbass creeps like you latch on to this meaningless shit. And if I ever hear you talking shit about her again, I'm not gonna confront you nicely like this. I'll just drop your ass when nobody's looking."
"Haha, are you fucking serious? What, with your hair-" She shrieked as Split's hair needles shot into her arm and broke off inside, then felt them wriggling around, bulging against her taut flesh. "O-Okay okay, f-fuck, just chill out, s-sure!"
Violence was not only enjoyable for Kate, but a tool: not only a judicial agent but a professor of philosophy. She had done good by her friend Serena, and wished she could brag about it to her, yet she felt it would be offensive to do so: in some manner.
On January 18th 2021, Kate was called up to President Matoi's office. Matoi had been discussing something with Samuel, who was also there, and like usual in the past weeks it was Kirihara. Lately Kirihara had threatened to shove a metal baseball bat up another few students' vaginas, and her hatred towards the world had only intensified after the earlier amputation Matoi had inflicted upon her. Kirihara's lizard brain understood consequences, but not well; it was no surprise given how little she liked thinking.
Second to this was that Kirihara was a very effective student, as despite the Elite 4's advantage, she had managed to keep up with Mia for the entire semester, and even Matoi sent her out sometimes on difficult contracts the E4 were too busy to handle. She knew Kirihara saw these contracts as taunts and sought to answer them, and if the little shit was killed as part of it, that was alright by Matoi.
Here is how Matoi viewed things with Kirihara: she needed to calculate how many civilians Kirihara killed/month, subtracted by civilians saved by Kirihara murdering hosts, then throw in additional calculations about if a student died to a rogue host & how many rogue hosts that student would have been able to kill.
Thus the dilemma.
She would have enjoyed killing Kirihara if it saved more civilians, but the specific numbers needed for this calculation were beyond Matoi's ken. There was no cowardice, merely hesitation. Kirihara's constant aggression was as much a boon to society as it was a detriment to anyone who encountered her for more than 10 minutes.
But that is all irrelevant for now: merely a treat for you, readers, as Kirihara has certainly been the most malformed character detailed within these pages.
For now, Matoi decided she would think over it later and assigned a contract to Kate. In recent months there had been a particular city Wilcook quite problematic for students, as six already had died in the area. The Elite Four had their own investigation elsewhere, and with Kirihara out, Matoi had decided to assign it to the best second-years.
"I'll be assigning you with Serena, and her protege Naomi."
Kate looked around. "May I ask why you didn't call them in?"
Matoi shrugged. "It's 9AM. From what Mia's told me about her, I doubt Serena's even woken up yet."
Kate mentally noted either herself or Serena would need to adjust their sleep schedule: most likely it would be Serena. Matoi advised them to both be careful and report back as they could, for Kate had always been her favorite student; and Serena, well, Serena was Mia's protege.
"Regardless, it's uncertain whether it's one host with a particularly powerful Revenant, or a group. I want to make it clear to you, and I'm sure you'll make it clear to Serena: students' lives are worth more than civilians. Don't hesitate to run if needed."
"I understand."
Serena thought it sucked they had no private flight and thus needed to drive, but Kate did not think so. Many students found a hypnotism to these long drives; all one needed to do was follow the man-made repulsions of light. She felt an affinity with this type of deep country, for life seemed realer in such places, untouched by the fingers of man yet still populated by strange shapes she would see contained in their dark, and wonder at these beasts that soared through the wilds.