The GATE Academy [Please read description]

Chapter 10: The Headmaster

It has been a week and two days since Mizu had asked me that fateful question... "Is it true that we are going to war with DH?"...

I couldn't give Mizu a straight answer then and I wouldn't be able to now, but I knew one thing for sure: The air around GATE was getting more tense as the days progressed. The word of Keita, Riku, and my victories spread within the first day of its happening and people started to expect us to all-of-sudden declare official war against the Dark Hearts Academy.

Additionally, I also noticed that other students began to hang out in larger groups, as if expecting a conflict and needed safety in numbers. I don't know if this was a conscious or unconscious happening amongst the student body, but this fear needed to be ended.

After school, I had made my way up to the office on my own and requested with the secretary to meet up with the Headmaster.

"He's not here, hun, sorry, you can try again tomorrow," she had told me, just like the day before, and the day before that, and returned to her paperwork.

I placed my right hand firmly onto her desk, "Listen, ma'am," she raised an eyebrow at me, "I need to speak with him now, not tomorrow or the day after, NOW. The situation with DH is getting out control and we need to resolve this before anything gets-"

"Well, good afternoon, Shizuo," a voice pleasantly said behind me.

I turned around to face the Headmaster. Nobody knows his real name, we all simply refer to him as Headmaster. Actually, now that I think of it, nobody knows much about him anyways, except for the fact that he likes chocolate and has an odd sense of humor. He can always be seen with a chocolate bar in hand and even claims that his long trips away from GATE's island is due to him restocking up on his extensive chocolate collection. "Chocolate is one of those few things that you simply cannot avoid in life" he would often say when somebody asked him about it.

The Headmaster himself always managed to look young, some even rumor him to be immortal. He claims to be in his mid-50s, but his appearance is that of a matured, well-kept man in his mid-30s. Nobody believes him. He has long, sandy blonde hair that is well kept and a pair of kind, golden eyes that, though kind, make you seem like you're looking into a lifetime of experiences, life, death, prosperity, suffering, etc, even through the aviator glasses that he usually wore. He was slightly taller than me, standing at 6'2", and was quite muscular, but not too bulky at all.

Despite his age, the Headmaster dressed in a modern fashion with slim suits, skinny jeans, plaid shirts, bracelets, etc. Many girls "fangirl" over him, but boy students listening to them will often remind them that he's supposed to be in his fifties.

The Headmaster smiled at me as he picked up an apple from a basket of community fruits that sat at the entrance of the office and walked past me into his office.

"Come, Shizuo, I want to talk to you about something," he said coolly as he opened the door and made his way into his office.

I turned to follow him and nodded at the secretary as I did so. I entered his office, which was a simply decorated 15'x25' room with a mahogany desk in the center and a bookshelf behind it that took up the whole space of the wall. There sits two fake trees in pots in corners on the left and ride sides of you as you first walk in. The white walls are bare, besides pictures of the previous 5 Headmasters, and matched well with the short, light brown carpeted floor.

The Headmaster gestured for me to sit down in a black, cushioned chair and sat down in his as well. I looked at the right hand corner of his desk that was closest to me and saw the golden apple.

The golden apple, like everything about the Headmaster, was shrouded in mystery and rumor. Many think that is an apple that grants eternal youth/immortality like in the stories from Greek mythology, one from the Garden of the Hesperides. But, some people just say that it is an apple made out of gold.

The Headmaster cleared his throat, apparently he said something to me.

"Shizuo, the door," he said commandingly.

I turned around and saw that the door was still open.

"Sorry, Headmaster," I got up, closed the door, and returned to the seat.

The Headmaster sat back in his chair and kicked up his feet into the desk, "What is your thought on accepting a request that does not offer a reward, Shizuo?"

I looked at the Headmaster, confused, "Sir?"

The Headmaster took his feet off of the desk and leaned over it, "I want to give you a request, and I believe that it is one that only you can do. But, I don't offer any compensation, just satisfaction, actually, not even that."

I was thoroughly confused.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked him.

"Ah... I like that, yes, let me just get to the point," he said.

"I want you to take a trip over to the Dark Hearts Academy."

He took off his glasses and set them onto the desk.

"What do you say, Shizuo?"

I looked intently into those golden eyes of the Headmaster.

"Yes, I would very much accept this request, sir. On what basis would you like me to visit the other Academy?" I replied.

"You can consider it spy work if you'd like, but I just want you to sit on their classes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week to observe the students and their opinions of GATE. I want you to confirm whether or not the student body is prepared or willing to war with us or not. I've already made arrangements with their Headmaster and your schedule will be the same."

It was a lot to take in, I wanted to try a diplomatic approach, but I didn't think of going this far.

"Just me?" I asked the Headmaster.

"No, you can choose as many friends as you would like to go with you, though, I wouldn't recommend a group larger than 5 bodies, though."

I nodded my head, "I understand, I will be taking Keita and Riku Samatori with me."

"Figures," the Headmaster grinned, "Feel free to take some more if you'd like, you have until the moment you leave to decide on anybody else that you'd like to take."

"With all due respect, I don't think that I'll need anybody else, sir," I added.

"Maybe..." he simply said.

"You may go, I wouldn't worry about packing up just yet. Get sleep, and prepare yourself mentally and physically, Shizuo."

I nodded my head and stood, "Yes sir."