School of The Sky

 “Tomorrow’s assignment is a research essay on the service industry and which is the most effective way of business for it. It could be restaurants, hotels, as long as it’s in the industry. That will be all, class.”

The bell rings signaling for lunch, and Juusaki hastily approaches the teacher and asks something. Once the teacher nods, Juusaki rushes to enter the elevators first. Denji calls out to him but fails to reach him. After reaching the school cafeteria’s floor, Juusaki enters the kitchen room and asks the supervising employee, “May I work here?”

“What? No of course not. And also, how are you here? This is a perso—”

“This is for a research essay.”

“Do you have permission from the teacher?”

“Yes, you could ask the teacher at economics class.”

“I’ll take your word for it, but next time I need a signature,” the employee tells him and Juusaki nods. “Here,” the employee hands a uniform and a hairnet, “wear this. Do you know how to cook?”

“I could observe and cook it.”

“Nope, unacceptable. I’ll have you as a waiter instead. That will be enough for your research anyway.”

“I understand.”

The students start to flood in and take their chosen tables in the absurdly spacious cafeteria. It has the setting of a luxury restaurant. Complete with comfortable chairs, large round tables, large windows overlooking the city, and lighted by chandeliers with artificial candles. And to top it off, the ceiling is a dome of glass with an artificial sky to set the mood. Overall an extravagant cafeteria for a school.

“May I take your order, sir?” Juusaki asks in a polite tone while he holds up a small notepad. A student looks over the menu and points at an item and looks up at him, “I would like— Juusaki!?”

“Yes, I’m your waiter serving your table for today. Juusaki is the name.”

Denji’s friends also gasp in surprise.

“Yes, I can see that, but what are you doing as a waiter?”

“I’m doing my research currently.”

“Your research? Oh, you mean for the essay? But why this method?”

“I find it more efficient if I’d be able to get a hands-on, front-row seat on the industry. And this is the closest result I can get.”

“I—I understand. Your dedication is sure of the roof today!”

“Thank you, sir. Now, I’d like to be able to take your orders.”

“Why, yes of course! Ah this one, please…”

Juusaki does the role of a waiter consuming almost all of his lunchtime.

“Alright, it’s cutoff. Time for you to head back to class.”

“Wait, sir, I have to finish this first,” Juusaki sorts some plates nearby.

“I like your dedication to the work, but your real work is a student. And you haven’t eaten your lunch yet. Here, take this,” the supervisor gives him some kind of sweet bread. “Now go back to your class.”

“Sir, we have a guest,” a fellow employee points out.

“Now? At this time?”

“Yes, and he seems to be an important person.”

“Why, yes, every student is important.”

“He isn’t a student.”

“But, it’s cutoff. Please kindly tell him that we won’t be able to serve him at this time.”

“Sir,” Juusaki interrupts, “I will wait on him. Please take his orders.”

“B—but, kid, you have school.”

“He is an important person, isn’t he? It would be a shame if we turn him away.”

The supervisor hesitates for a moment, “Fine, but this is on you when you skip your classes.”

“Thank you, sir,” Juusaki bows.

“Alright! We are going overtime! Prepare the ingredients!”

“Yes!” The cooks respond.

Juusaki stands by the man’s side and bows respectfully toward him. “Good afternoon, sir. I am your waiter for your table. Hachiko is the name. May I please take your order?”

“Hm,” the mysterious man puts a hand on his face as he looks at the menu, “So you are the student being discussed?”

“Pardon me, sir?”

“Nuh-uh, you never say pardon as a waiter.”

“Sorry, sir. Please excuse my rudeness.”

“Anyway, I’d like you to leave my school.”

“Sir, I don’t understand.”

“You’d take my order, right? Please leave the school.”

“Sir, I’d be unable to deliver your request, and that item isn’t on the menu with all due respect—”

“Oh? I see. That’s true. It isn’t on the menu. Then, I’ll just have this gelatin cake.”

Juusaki gently bows, “Is there anything else, sir?”

“No, that’d be all.”

Juusaki returns to the kitchen, and the supervisor asks him, “So, what was his order?” “Gelatin cake.”

“But that isn’t on the menu.”

Suddenly, a fire alarm blares echoing throughout the spacious cafeteria.

“Sir, we have to leave!” An employee exclaims.

“Alright, evacuate! Make a line!” The supervisor commands. All the personnel inside the kitchen leaves, while Juusaki remains frozen with his notepad in hand.

“Gelatin cake, but I have to make the order.” Out of touch with the situation, Juusaki attempts to make a gelatin cake.

Meanwhile, the mysterious man who ordered the cake stays relaxed on the chair. The glass dome above him breaks, and shards of glass fall from the ceiling, but the man doesn’t flinch or move. Ropes fall from the ceiling and armed men in black military suits descend from it. Once they land, they lift their rifles pointing in every direction. “Sir, you called?”

“Yes, indeed. Take out the boy.”

“Roger, that. Charlie Team, move out!” The soldiers move towards the kitchen door.

Juusaki hears the glass from the dome ceiling break followed by a different alarm different from the ongoing fire alarm. Hearing this, Juusaki rushes to open the kitchen door toward the school cafeteria. He sees the dark soldiers descend and point their rifles in every direction. “Warning, multiple hostiles in the vicinity,” his AI tells him, and Juusaki quickly locks the door and places a metal cabinet in front of it. Soon, loud thuds against the door are heard. “Door integrity: 95%”

Another thud followed by another. And it stops as someone shouts, “Battering ram!” And a louder thud is heard.

“Door integrity: 75%”

Juusaki quickly finds a fire extinguisher and takes it with him. He goes over to the kitchen stoves where he was previously attempting to cook a gelatin cake. He finds the pot with water in it boiling, and a pan that is frying an overcooked fish that was left to burn by one of the careless cooks. Juusaki gets a bottle of oil and pours it in the pan making a huge fire appear. A loud thud is heard.

“Door integrity: 60%”

Juusaki abandons the pan and heads over to the fire exit door and attempts to open it, but it’s locked. Another thud is heard.

“Door integrity: 45%”

He goes back to the pan with the raging fire. Looking up to the ceiling, he finds a smoke detector and he takes the pan below it. The fire exit door audibly unlocks as it swings open. Another thud is heard.

“Door integrity: 20%”

Juusaki places the pan back on the stove and pours the boiling water on it causing the fire to grow larger. Some of the boiling hot water splashes to him, and he jerks backward. “Pain Ignorance Protocol,” Juusaki says in a low voice and rushes to the fire exit before another thud is heard.

“Door integrity: 0%”

The door to the kitchen swings opens causing the metal cabinet to crash backward. The soldiers invaded the space and aim the exiting Juusaki. But before that soldier shoots, Juusaki slams the fire exit door shut, and he ducks behind the door. The bullets pass through the metal door where his head would have been. Juusaki finds himself in a fire stairwell and starts running down.

A soldier radios in, “This is Bravo. Firing in the hole!” An entire floor in the school tower gets consumed with fire, and the water starts spraying as a countermeasure, but it makes it worse, and the fire instead spreads higher.

Juusaki continues running down and stops at a platform next to a door. Suddenly the door explodes revealing the floor burning. Juusaki has no choice but to run up the stairs. He reaches the floor where he came from, and its door opens. The soldier lifts his rifle, but Juusaki uses the firing extinguisher on him causing him to lose vision. Juusaki kicks the soldier back inside the kitchen and runs further up while the soldiers, albeit delayed, start their pursuit. “Mask up!” The soldiers yell as they wear some kind of specialized gas masks. They run up the seemingly endless floors, and the soldiers slow in their pace. “How fast is that kid?”

Juusaki reaches the final door and kicks it open, and he hears a helicopter flying nearby. He peeks to the left and sees the soldiers that are ready to fire their machine guns. The soldiers discharge their rifles, but Juusaki rushes back inside with the door left open. Using the fire extinguisher, he makes a tactical smoke on the roof and throws the extinguisher along with it. The soldiers shoot and randomly hits the fire extinguisher, emptying its contents to smoke. “Dang! I can’t see anything!” Juusaki starts to go in the smoke and turns right where there is protection. The roof is relatively empty except for the door that provides entry. “Just shoot! Just shoot at random!” A soldier yells to another. And that another shoots his machine gun into the roof. Juusaki scans around for another cover and another exit but finds none. He quickly reaches for his glasses and wears them as he starts to run to the edge of the roof intending to jump off.

“Save this to blueprint,” Juusaki tells his AI, and he starts running to the edge of the roof.

“I see him!” The soldier starts aiming at Juusaki as he jumps off the roof. Fortunately, no bullets hit Juusaki before he jumps.

“Six hundred feet,” his AI informs him with a slight panic in his voice. “Five hundred!”

Juusaki rotates himself to face the school tower. “Just a little more…

“Four hundred!”

Juusaki then spreads his arms with his school coat uniform and he uses it to glide. “Airplane Mode,” Juusaki says.

“Three hundred and fifty!”

Juusaki spots a large window and glides toward it. Before he crashes through the large window, he flips himself so that his feet crash through the window. And so he does and fortunately lands into the pool.

“Three hundred feet…” the AI seemingly sighs in relief, and Juusaki swims to the other end of the pool away from the window.

The rope in the pool hasn’t been removed, and Juusaki unhooked the rope that is attached to the pool. Then he swims to the other side of the pool while holding the rope. After doing that, he gets out of the pool and starts tying knots intending to use the rope to descend from the building. Suddenly, the pool’s door swings open.

“Hachiko!” Nana yells and runs toward him.

“No running in the pool!” Juusaki yells back.

Nana slows her pace to a jog and reaches Juusaki, “I finally found you!”

“Is there something wrong?”

“I was worried. I felt something off this morning, and I knew this has to be what’s wrong.”

“Look, I don’t have time for your gut feelings,” Juusaki says as he starts to break the glass.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Nana scans the rope that is attached to Juusaki, “are you planning to rappel the building?”

“Yes.”

“Why? We could just use the elevators!” Nana points to the pool door and she hears sounds of heavy footsteps.

A radio echoes in the hallway, “Delta Team, Alpha Team approaching the target. Standby.”

Juusaki pulls Nana into his arms and immediately jumps and starts rappelling on the school’s tower.

“290 feet,” his AI informs him.

“What are you doing, Hachi!!?” Nana screams.

“Hold on to me,” Juusaki orders, “I’ll tie you.”

Nana grips Juusaki’s body so tightly that his breathing is reduced. “Hachi…”

“Y—you can release me now,” Juusaki says, and Nana loosens her grip.

“I—I’m too scared… Is it secure?”

“It’s secure. Don’t worry,” Juusaki descends carefully and reaches the two hundred feet mark when he hears an approaching helicopter. He looks behind and holds the right handle of his glasses, “Telescopic Zoom.” The glasses show him a magnified view of the helicopter and see a sniper aiming at him. “Laplace Protocol!” He quickly swings to the right, and the sniper misses.Nana lets out another scream, “Is there someone shooting us!?”

“Stay calm! I’ll get you down!” Juusaki anticipates another shot and rapidly descends with his rope.

“150 feet.”

Another bullet sings close to Juusaki’s head, and Juusaki sees the bullet hole close to him. “Nana, brace yourself! We are going to go down faster!”

“W—what!?”

“We are going to go down faster!!” He shouts louder and unties Nana’s and his knot causing them to fall.

“Laplace Auto-Protocol,” his AI prompts him.

Using the protocol, Juusaki sees the bullet going for his leg. He sees the future where dodges it by flipping himself over, but when he does, Nana takes the fall and possibly dies. Then he sees another future when he doesn’t dodge, and the bullet does hit his leg.

“Chances of survival: 29%. Recommended action: Dodge. Success rate: 98%”

“No! I can’t!” Juusaki lets the bullet hit his left leg and he gasps in pain before he falls to the ground with a thump.