Blue Archive - Story of Joshua Sensei

Chapter 69 - A Student's Heart V: Haruka

...
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."