From doubts to worries.

"..-san ...kaga-san ... Ashikaga-san ! You need to get up Ashikaga-san !"

"Hm ? .. Tanabe-san right ? Do you need anything from me ?"

"So you really did not hear the announcement made through that loud thingy did you ?

"Apparently not, so would you mind telling me why we are in such a hurry ?"

"Ah yes sorry shoulda started from there ! Everyone has to leave the dormitories by 11AM and all classes are cancelled today and tomorrow because they want to try a new cleaning tactic or somethin'."

If it wasn't for my awareness regarding his communication skills, I might have considered the government had sent hitmen to rampage throughout the academy. Good grief..

"Alright then I'll be off in a minute. And thank you for going out of your way to reach out to me."

"No need to thank me for this much tehe.. "

"By the way, did they say anything about the dorms being available tonight anyway ?"

"I dunno 'cuz after the first announcement they went on super complicated stuff 'bout the cleaning plan and honestly I couldn't follow any of it so I gave up.."

"It's fine don't worry, they should have sent us a notice by mail."

" Mail..? Ah ! I have to hurry too, I heard boss is scary if you miss out on the first day. I'll be off senpai see ya around ! "

Boss ? I guess he decided to work part-time somewhere to save up.
Still this was a rather unexpected situation, and now I have to make plans for the next 48 hours. However, I should prioritize returning to the bookstore from yesterday and hopefully grab those manuals for good before classes resume.

That reminds me, I should read the notice they sent us to have the full details on what that "cleaning plan" is all about. 
"In regards to all of the students within the Academy. Between this day from 12PM onwards and tomorrow at 19PM no student must remain on school grounds, which includes dormitories.
The government allowed our Academy to be the first place where they would put these revolutionary and autonomous cleaning robots to test. You will find the full detail on this brand new technology in the attachment. Lastly thanks to our partnership with "Com-fy Hotel", student are allowed to book a room for free, tonight only. That is all. Remember you are all proud students of the Stella Academy which implies you have to behave as such even outside of its walls. Long live the Minamoto dynasty ! "

So what do we have here.. 5'0 feet tall robots capable of levitating and programmed to work in a definite area after scanning its layout, facial recognition system.. and there are two more pages about them, this is crazy. Makes sense they would avoid having this many people moving around them. Ah, I can see my destination.                                                   
Hm ? Why is there a jet black limousine parked in front of the bookstore ? I hope this doesn't mean the people working in here are in danger. At any rate I think it would be best not to enter directly and to take a peek through the window first.

"Listen here m'am we won't hurt you or do anything nasty to your shop as long as you tell us where that young man with the .. huh "Kimono" was it ? was headed." 

"Please spare him ! This brave kid is a regular to our shop and mostly ever comes here to study, I am sure he would never be dealing with the kind of organization you are talking
about !"

"I hear ya on that but we still need to have his take on the information we were given. So for his sake as well you've got to cooperat-"
 
"Are you perhaps looking for me ?"

"Oh if it isn't Haruka ! How long has it been ? A year was it ? Do you like to see me in a suit so much that you only ever show up when I am working or what ?"

"You certainly do look good in it but surely you are the one looking for me this time."

"Hearing that with such a straight face every time truly gives me the creeps, have you never felt a burst of emotion in your life ? or maybe you are one of those test subjects the government is gathe- .. Woah I really should refrain from speaking too much. Anyway you will have to come with me today because you seem to be involved in some shaddy business and I bet you are far from aware of any of that, so this will require quite the in-depth explanation."

"Thank you as always for treating me like an emotionless doll. Anyway I think I know where you are coming from regarding the business in question, so for now I am willing to comply with your plans." 

"Yeah ? I wonder about that. And by the way I would have found you and had you "comply with my plan" by will or by force anyway. Now hop in the car we're heading to my headquarters."

I keep on running into people playing a role it feels like lately..
This young woman playing the Yakuza in a black suit, is the head of the Ashikaga family. Her name is Hanami and she inherited her family business 2 years ago when both her parents died in a car accident while they were on their way to visit the head of the Minamoto clan, namely Minamoto Hideyoshi. In her house the elders are meant to raise their off-spring to become maids and butlers to serve in the Minamoto household. However if there happens to be a child doing particularily well in school, he or she earns the right to pursue special lessons in a wider spectrum of fields in order to become the next heir of the Ashikaga household.
However in Hanami's case, her parents did something taboo in leaving a note about making their daughter the next heir regardless of her will and capabilities.

"We've arrived, get off Haruka."

                                                                              ------

"Wait for me in this room I'll be back in a minute. You can order tea, coffee or whatever."

"Got it, thank you very much."

I have to say, it truly does feel like a Yakuza basement you would read about in books from decades ago. The whole building is in a dark blue metal with very few windows espcially on the lower floors while having no more than seven floors total. All doors are equipped with either fingerprint recognition or facial recognition, and nothing seems to be made out of wood or brick anymore. It truly is the cybernetics era. What a far cry from where I lived with my parents back in the country side.

"I'm back, so let's get into the problem at hand right away. But first I want to hear what you meant when you told me you had a hunch about what might be going on."

"Yes so yesterday I attempted to go to the bookstore from earlier, however as I was about to enter I heard what sounded like a quarrel between two delinquents. Instead of ignoring it I decided to head towards the noise because the more I heard of it, the more I felt like something was unfitting of the image I pictured in my mind the first time around. Then when I reached their location I witnessed someone with rather unique cloths being bullied and-"

"Like you are one to talk with your kimono in this day and age, but whatever get straight to the point I did not bring you here to chat over a cup of tea."

"R-right.. patience never fitted her. So it turned out a newcomer to the city was being bullied because he asked the wrong person for directions. I heard later that the bandit tried to steal his smartphone."

"And that's it ?" 

"No, in fact when I decided to barge in, that bandit told me several disturbing things before daring me to cross his path again. He talked about the security being lenient on purpose to encourage people into outdoing eachother for a chance to be chosen by the government with something along the lines of : "as long as you've got brains you might have a future here", more or less. And I have to admit, I have no idea what he was going on about"

"I see.. and have you ever used what I allowed you to use the last time we met ?"

"Not in that situation, however I did use your name when Tanabe-san asked me what my name was."

"Tanabe-san you say ? Is that the name of the guy you helped out ?"

"Yes, turns out he came here to enter the academy just like me. But if you need him next It might prove difficult for him to be free right away since he is working part-time somewhere by the third district."

"Sounds like trouble.. Alright thank you for your testimony. By the way I don't know what your reason was for using my name in such a stupid situation when it was meant to be a trump card in case you had your back against the wall, but you may have done well to do it anyway. With that said I'm off to meet that Tanabe guy, you stay here until i'm back. It might not be safe for you to be outside right now ." 

This is beyond me, it feels like nothing makes sense anymore this year. Nothing seems to be falling apart yet but I get the sense that not only my school life but my life in a more global way is slowly moving in a direction I didn't anticipate.