The Day Before - 2

Out of the many academies that dotted the Academy City, the one Soleil was in attendance of was Senba Academy. It was a classic, sordid tale as it happened. A school that had formerly been all girls, but some years back due to realizing such a constriction was both horribly old fashioned and inefficient, went about opening itself to being a co-ed campus. While the general male student body was still on the smaller side, it was evening out with time.

But aside from that little tidbit it was perhaps as normal of a high school as one could get.

In line with that, Senba's courses were perhaps the most straightforward and average. Not being some specialty academy, its curriculum was aimed much more towards general education for those seeking to specialize at the college level instead.

And right now, Soleil found himself seated in second year history class. Not exactly a dull subject for him. But one where he certainly, at least this day, perhaps wasn't paying the most attention during the instructor's lecture.

"Ahem, Vollerei-kun?" A sharp word from the instructor made Soleil glance away from the window and forward. The teacher shook his head at Soleil's placid look, then gesturing with a hand to the holographic board behind him with the topic and notes scrawled on it, which were summarily reflected on the screens of the classroom desks. "How about it? Can you give us a refresher summary on the first Honkai Impact, hmm? And no checking notes."

Soleil let out a sigh, the teacher's brow cricking.

"Sure," but the boy stood either way, pocketing his hands before he spoke. "Occurring in 1952 in Berlin, the first of what have so far been two massive Honkai catastrophes occurred. Also called an Eruption, the Impact event got its name due to the widespread destruction and chaos caused by the mass explosion of Honkai Energy that occurred there. Said Impact, alongside the damage caused by the Second Impact in 2009, is also the reason why to this day most of Eurasia east of the Berlin Exclusion Zone remains either uninhabitable or home to mercenary groups that operate in the ruins of the nations the Impacts most heavily affected."

"… thank you," the teacher didn't seem that satisfied with Soleil's clearly attentive answer but resumed as the boy sat back down. "To continue from where Vollerei-kun left off, the Impacts are also the cause of why there is a large degree of European diaspora scattered across the world sourced from the refugees who had fled the Impact, primarily in the Americas. Now, as for what this led to in the affected regions for the country's that were not as heavily effected…"

It was around there where Soleil started tuning out. Not out of disinterest, but because, even taking this being a review lesson into account, it was all information he'd long had drilled into his skull.

Their world may have been one of technological progress and beacons of prosperity, but peaceful isn't a word the boy would have elected to use for it. And it could all be traced to a single source: Honkai Energy.

A kind of ambient "force", or in some cases more so a sort of radiation. Whatever it was, this energy was known to be the source of many a thing. From a "spark" that could set off events like catastrophic natural disasters or plagues, or turn animals—and often unsaid, people—into vicious monsters like those out of myths. Or rather, it was those monsters that had inspired the stories to begin with.

It was a constant, unceasing threat in the world, something humanity had long since fought against and adapted to live with. Perhaps not in an easy way, but in a way where some places could at least be regarded as comfortable… for a time at least. There was always that hanging dread, that Sword of Damocles that anywhere could be the next place an Impact occurred in.

But for the average person, this was usually out of their mind enough to not be a concern. After all, the two Impacts everyone knew about had occurred within an over fifty-year gap of each other, and while the effects had certainly been catastrophic… well, for those who lived in the parts of the world that weren't as affected, 54 or 14 years on, most people were moving on from such disasters.

It certainly helped how much technology had been advancing during those times, only getting more advanced and offering more safety with time. But not that it stopped any of the stories and rumors either.

Sometimes things eked out and got abnormal. Animals being far too aggressive, some showing odd mutations due to Honkai corruption. Or perhaps seemingly stable weather patterns took a sudden turn with no forewarning to it. Unpleasant facts for some, wild oddities for others.

But outside of that? Most people could live normal lives devoid of that kind of worry, knowing that some system or another was keeping them shielded from the worst of it. Be it the very city they lived in or something else, most people in the world only had the basic inklings of what Honkai was and its influence in the world's history, but not much more than that.

When he was sure the teacher was too occupied with his lecture to notice, Soleil fiddled with his pocket and sneakily drew his phone out, a character strap he'd tied to the case lightly smacking into his hand as he flipped the device over. With a few flicks, he brought up a certain app, ensuring at the same time he didn't look like he was checking it.

When the app he'd opened finished running, it read such:

[Rise in ambient Honkai radiation detected. Levels remain at safe degrees for human populations. No danger at current.]

"Probably nothing…" Soleil kept his mutter as quiet as possible, pocketing his phone just in time to avoid being spotted by the teacher.

Barely.