Tsumi had just finished his lunch. A corned beef sandwich that Lemon had prepacked the night before that was ready to take for today. He was eating in a teacher's lounge. It was not small like ones Tsumi has seen, it was spacious, and had soft foam cushions for its plastic sofa chairs. The window showed out to the city and there was a television quietly showing a local news network.
No expense spared, not even for the staff, eh?
Tsumi had spent the better part of the morning in a long boring meeting with a few other investors who pitched the brand new arena built for the Polaratus and the earnings from their investments. Apparently he is expected to receive hundreds of thousands from it. Apparently it gets televised to the world and is awfully popular. Not that that money has any use beyond this world.
Only have one scanner to drop off. Likely need to find a way to the roof after hours.
Tsumi finished his lunch. He still had one more meeting, that of which with the principal himself. Tsumi was still confident he isn't the faceless but he still needs to be wary not to be seen as suspicious of other things such as a spy or villain as the people of this world call those who do not align with society.
A dangerous word. No doubt this world is one wrong person born with the wrong power to shake the foundations of their culture. Maybe that's why they elect by merit and not by gift.
Once finished he stood to leave the room; as he does though, he is met with a middle aged woman in formal attire who has been the one who has guided Tsumi through the school this morning.
"Mr. Novitin, Principal Daltis is ready for you now." she said formally.
"Thank you Ms. Branei." Tsumi thanked.
He follows Branei to the elevator and she glides her hands over the seven buttons. Zero, one, two, three, hold open, hold close, emergency. She pushed the button with the number three and the lift began to move up a floor where it then opened and the two walked out. Tsumi noticed down the hall was the Highlight's class.
Hopefully the kid's okay with her first day in school and on the job.
Along the way, Tsumi took notice at the stairs they passed by. The students use them whereas the faculty uses the elevators, but that isn't what Tsumi takes note of. What he does take note of is the fact that the stairs go up another floor, likely to the roof.
The two reached a wood panel double door where Branei knocked.
"Come in!" called a voice from within as a click is heard from the door itself.
Walking in, the office was bigger than a normal one with a series of modern bookshelves lining the walls. The back of the room, behind the desk, chair and monitor in the centre, was a large glass window that took up the whole wall. Out of it, Tsumi could see the track, as well as a small group that he assumes to be Dahlia's class.
Hope the change in climate isn't too much.
Sitting on the cushioned desk chair was a tall dark man with a white suit and a golden tie. The man was in his early fifties, bald and despite the suit it was clear that under was the physique of an olympian by how much it failed to hide his physique. As he reached out and shook Tsumi's hand, the messy haired man could see that the other towered over him by at least two heads.
"Hello Mr. Novitin! Please sit down." he directed Tsumi to a few sofas at the side of the room with a small table between them. "It is so good to see you again. I hadn't known at the time that you were the ones at the docks yesterday."
Tsumi sat down on the sofa whilst Daybreak, or Principal Litis as he currently is, sits opposite of him. "Yes it was a surprise to have such a run in before my first day had even begun."
"Well it's a good thing I was there wasn't I? Tell me, is your daughter alright?" he said, his voice laden with concern.
"Oh yes. Thank you for your concern Mr. Daltis."
"Oh no, please call me Litis, we are friends here at the moment." he insisted.
Litis was a man who radiated charisma as much as he did light. Tsumi had only done some surface level research on him but as far as he can tell, Litis was a genuine man with genuine goals and a real care for the children at this school if his reputation is anything to go by.
Branei had left the office and closed the door after the two had sat down, leaving them in the room alone together.
"Tell me," asks Tsumi, "can I ask why you've called me to your office?"
Despite the fact he is currently face to face with the strongest creature in this world, currently Tsumi was an investor and he, the invested, so he knew he didn't have to act formally before someone was technically an employee in a roundabout way.
"Oh nothing serious, I just like to meet with every parent whose child is enrolled in the Highlights. They are the school's top students and the best chance of being the next big heroes after yours truly." he grinned.
"Even though my daughter's only here temporarily?" Tsumi queried.
"Well you never know Tsumi, I can call you Tsumi right?" he asked.
"Sure."
"Fantastic. You never know if you might decide to stay." Litis seemed slightly confident in that. Whether or not there was anything deeper was yet to be determined.
"I can confidently say that that is impossible, no offence to the paradise you built here." Tsumi shot down.
"None taken."
Tsumi had taken out the pamphlet and looked at an image of the island as he spoke, "Speaking of, this academy was built on a beautiful hill, is it natural?"
"Oh no. Early on we had this hill built by one of our first teachers to set the school on to make it stand as the heart of the island." Litis explained.
"Is that teacher still here?" Tsumi asked curiously.
"Not in the academy no, Dr. Gias is retired but still lives on the island and occasionally helps organise events." Litis replied.
"I see. Must get a pretty good view from up here, why'd you have it facing the track instead of the front of the school." Tsumi noted.
"Well I wanted to see the students' growth for myself, speaking of, I believe the Highlight's would be training right now. Would you like to watch from here?" he asked.
"Sure."
Litis and Tsumi both stood up and went over behind the desk to look out of the window to see down at the track. There they can see that the students are currently running around doing laps. Tsumi leans on the desk as he looks out and edges his hand to the computer with a small device in palm.
"Your daughter seems to have an unusual power, Tsumi." the tall man commented.
"Yes. She has always shown herself to be a handful because of it, despite how polite and well mannered she is." Tsumi agreed.
"I was told by Professor Suzuki that it is unlikely that she will take part in the Polaratus, am I right?" he said, his voice laid with more concern.
"Yes, we just think our Dahlia will be too busy with school work and adjusting to participate." Tsumi elaborated.
"Oh I'm sure I can arrange for Dahlia to have some extra help. The Polaratus is a big event and can do wonders for her future if she wins her matches." Litis says, still facing out to the track, his eyes tracking the students.
As Tsumi attached the device, small wires sprout out and slink into the cracks of the computer and begin to prod the inside of the machine. Tsumi then steps towards the window.
"I'd have to consult Dahlia and my wife, I can't make any decisions without her." he relents, if only to keep the conversation going.
"I understand. It is still a good opportunity and though she seems to need some work on her stamina, I can easily see her growing up to be a fine hero." he professed almost like he really could.
The students outside had finished running and were now preparing to spar each other, moving towards the benches.
"If I may ask a personal question, Litis but why did you create this school?" Tsumi questioned, again to try and drag out the conversation whilst the machine did its work.
Litis thought for a moment before replying to Tsumi's question with a gentle smile on his face.
"I built this school for the purpose of acting as a beacon against villainy. A way for the weak to become strong and for the strong to become the strongest and to guide these powerful people to dedicate their lives to protecting those who are too weak to grow at all." he recited like a speech.
"Is that so? Aren't you scared that separating the students by merit isn't going to make that difficult?" prodded Tsumi.
"Oh not at all. The privileges I find are meant to encourage those to try and push past their limits and for those on top to feel proud of their achievements. I don't think there is any issue there." he assured.
"So those performance enhancing drugs I saw get pulled from that guys bag yesterday were just for the thrill?"
Tsumi wasn't sure if it was performance enhancing or drugs at that fact but he has a hunch and is taking it as they were rarely wrong. Litis stopped and Tsumi studied his face. It was hard to tell as he kept his face consistent with only the slightest of tells in the corner of the eyes where his crows feet crinkled.
Right on the head.
"That was merely a one and off circumstance, nothing to worry about. The Polaratus will be a clean event and there will be no doping as long as I am around." he promised.
"We'll see." said Tsumi.
"I see you are a careful man, Tsumi- Ah!"
On the track, Tsumi could see one of the students just stroke another of the student's hard in the face causing the teachers to run up.
"Zannos…" muttered Daltis.
"A problem child?" guessed Tsumi.
"Yes. If it wasn't for his skill and the admission committee's insistence I would've had him removed from the Highlights before he even stepped foot in this academy." Litis bemoaned. The distant student was then escorted by the coach towards the school.
"Will this get him expelled?" the smaller man pondered.
"Unlikely, his father is on the punishment committee whose ideas for this academy clash with mine." said Litis frustrated.
"How's that?"
"I believe in using only the carrot to encourage my students; he on the other hand prefers the stick. He believes that every month we should expel the weakest performing students to push the rest to do better but that only makes them desperate not ambitious."
Tsumi stretched his hand back and began to feel the computer for where he put the device. He found it and could feel the slight vibration and could feel small stubs that indicated when felt over like braille that the backdoor was seventy five percent complete.
"Hopefully time will show how wrong he is." said Tsumi.
"Yes. But away from that it seems your daughter is about to fight herself." Litis said, steering the conversation away from before.
Tsumi watches as Dahlia begins her fight and loses due to the rules of the spar. He can't help but chuckle a little as she stands there obviously confused.
Tough luck kid.
"It seems she still needs to learn to prepare for the unexpected." Litis mused.
"Yes, she is still wet behind the ears at dealing with the unknown." and Tsumi chuckled a bit more.
"Her power though. I have never seen anything like it, such pure power handled with the precision of a boulder." Litis said, a noticeable glint in his eye that Tsumi realised was him analysing her like a book.
Whilst the two kept talking about Dahlia, the door was knocked on and it was Coach Letty with Zannos awaiting entry. As soon as Litis turned, Tsumi was quick to swipe the device and slide it into his sleeve. As he feels the bumps on it Litis calls the coach in and she and Zannos enter.
Damn, just a few seconds off.
As the two enter, Tsumi excuses himself and Litis thanks him for coming to see him before he steps out of the office. When he passes Zannos by he can feel his side eye before the doors to the office close and Tsumi is left in the hallway. Branei isn't here yet so Tsumi quickly takes the chance to head to the stairs and climb up them to find himself on the roof of the academy.
After unlocking a padlock on the door with a pick he keeps up his sleeve, he steps on the roof and hides the scanner in an air conditioner before he returns downstairs after relocking the padlock.
Tsumi loads into the elevator and prepares to go down but not before a black haired woman steps in too. She was plain but attractive wearing a white coat and a badge which showed that she was a part of the faculty.
Dr. Saeki. The academy's doc.
"Heading out to help one of the students?" Tsumi started up.
"Yes. One of them was hurt." she succinctly said.
"I saw that," he noted.
"The ones in the field?"
"Yes, my daughter is amongst them but she wasn't hurt."
"Are you Mr. Novitin?" she guessed.
"Yes I am." he affirmed.
"I see. My son is also in your daughter's class."
"What's his name?" he followed up on.
"Suto."
The elevator reached the ground floor and the two step out, Tsumi speaks out to her one last time before parting ways.
"Hope she's alright."
The doctor says nothing, obviously not wanting any more conversation as she quickly walks away.
Not very talkative huh? Doesn't matter, makes it easier for me.
Tsumi flicks out a small keycard he swiped from her pocket and quickly scans it with his phone. The keycard was unmarked and only had a series of colours and shapes that seem to indicate where it belongs.
"Wonder why a keycard without the school's ID was found in your pocket." Tsumi mumbled to himself. He then walked past reception where the second he was outside (and out of sight of the cameras) he dropped the keycard and continued walking, expecting it to be found.
Tsumi leaves the school and waits by the cafe at the steps ahead of the gate. About twenty minutes go by before the final bell rings and soon dozens of students rush down the steps of the academy and speed past the cafe and him.
Dahlia walks down, still a bit bewildered no doubt from her easy loss as Tsumi has to whistle to catch her attention. Dahlia sits at the table Tsumi was at and the two begin to speak.
"How was your first day kid?" Tsumi asks innocently.
"I.. enjoyed it, besides one part at the end." Dahlia mumbled slightly.
"Yeah I saw that. Kid shouldn't have gone that far on that girl." he sighed.
"No, I mean yes that was bad but.. I made a bad decision."