[Blue Archive] Substitute

Spectrum

"I said I was sorry for the last time." I could only sigh when my words only got a huff. Looking at the spiky halo, I see it is a fierce red instead of its usual orange. "Come on, Little Star, don't be like this."  She doesn't even respond to that remark. Well, I guess I have no choice. "And here I thought you wanted this strawberry milk." I watched her halo turn into an exclamation mark, so I knew she wavered even though she didn't turn. "I even bought two so we could drink them together." Her halo kept swapping between a heart and the angry spikes from earlier.  I walk over to where she's sitting and place one carton next to her. She doesn't move until I sit next to her in another chair. "Can you please forgive me, Little Star?"  I watch her hand take the carton.

"Why should I? You said I wouldn't be alone again, then you left me alone for three days. You even got badly hurt." I can't argue with her; she's entirely correct.

"You're right, so what would you like me to do then? I would like you to forgive me after all." She finally looks at me.

"I don't want you to leave me in Schale again. If I were with you, maybe I could've prevented you from getting hurt."  I gently rub her hair.

"I don't think you could've prevented the wounds. Besides, I'd rather you not see some horrible things out there." She turns to me with a pout on her face.

"I've seen plenty of people fighting." I can only sigh at her words.

"People died, Little Star." She is silent for a moment, looking at me with fear and sadness in her eyes. "You're used to people scuffling, not fighting. In a fight, people die, and let's just say a lot of people died." The silence was deafening.

"Why would they kill them?" Oh, this sweet summer child.

"That's what happens sometimes in conflicts. I'm not saying it's right, but it happens." Her mood is rather dour now. "Hey, look at the small bright side of it; at least I got back safely and Serika, right."

"Yeah! At least both of you are ok." While there was sadness in her voice still, at least she looked a little brighter. "So, will you promise to take me with you from now on?" She held a pinky out.

"Sure, I promise." I wrap my pinky around hers.

"Good! Our promise is made, meaning you can't back out S.Sensei." I ruffle her hair after she speaks. Honestly, this little one is something else.

"You're right I can't. So besides that, do you want to do anything? I still have five minutes until my break ends." Her eyes sparkle as her halo turns into a heart.

"You'll stay with me until your break ends!" I nod my head at her words of excitement. Suddenly, a whiteboard appeared in front of us both. On it is a childish drawing of each Abydos girl with the heart symbol again. Then, each heart number spins like a lottery machine; Kitty Cat is at a four, Little Jackal is at a three, Ayane and Nonomi are both one, and finally, Pinky is at zero. "As you can see, your students have even more trust in you now! Especially Serika!" Little Star taps the whiteboard with a ruler. Then, it moves on over to Pinky precisely. "Although you and Hoshino have a very rocky relationship. She fell to minus one earlier, then shot up to zero after yesterday." I watched her spin the whiteboard around; this time, it showed how I felt about them.  "Your relationship towards all students, however, is a big fat zero!" Based on her voice, she wasn't happy about how I felt towards them.

"Well, yeah, I'm supposed to be their teacher, not their friend." I watched her frown deepen.

"I get that! But you can at least like them a little!" I mull it over a little

"Nope, I'm gonna remain indifferent towards them." I notice her halo go back to orange spikes again. 

"You know the actual Sensei wouldn't say that." Was that the best she could say?