Problems Arise

A few days later, things had calmed down even further, the students were starting their lessons again but the wounds of the attack hadn't been fully healed.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Shihata had finally woken up. A week after the incident.

Her parents held and overly squeezed her hand, she smiled at the sight of them. They were relieved that she was awake.

They spent a few minutes asking what exactly happened when the order attacked the school. Shihata told them everything, up to and including the point where she was stabbed.

Shortly after that conversation, and to their surprise, Ichisuda and Izume knocked and walked into the room.

Izume spoke first, speaking in a hushed tone "Pardon the intrusion Mr and Mrs Saki, we just came to check on Shihata again "

Sternly, Mishi said, "It's a good thing you teachers are here. There's something we need to discuss."

Shihata tried to sit up but struggled to do so, and the teachers poised themselves for the worst.

"Both I and my husband have decided we do not want our daughter attending the horizon Academy any longer"

Shihata was shocked by this, as she was about to say the first thing that came to her mind, she was interrupted by her father before she could say anything.

"be quiet, hata. Your mother is speaking " He said, shutting Shihata up instantly as she realised he was extremely serious.

Mishi started tearing up as she continued,

"it hasn't even been a year and our daughter has already been in a miniature coma. Right under your watch. No one should have to go through that we just went through, as parents. What if the blade hit her heart?"

Her husband held her as she began to cry "I appreciate your concern for her wellbeing but I'm afraid we'll be removing her from the school."

Izume didn't know what to say, she kept her head down and apologised.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Shihata angrily struggled to say. "It's my life too"

"That's enough Shihata" Ichisuda said, "your parents should be the one who makes these decisions for you while you're still a child "

Shihata was surprised that Ichisuda wasn't trying to persuade her parents. Izume had a very confused look on her face, she had no idea what Ichisuda was doing.

He continued speaking, "that being said," He bowed his head as he said this, his hands down by his side and his head low in front of him. "I ask that you reconsider. There's no excuse for what happened. All I can say is that even if it comes at an expense to my life, nothing of the sort will happen at the Academy again. I can assure you I'm not the only member of staff who feels this way. We care deeply for all our students and we recognise that this was a failure of tremendous proportions. I ask that you let us restore your faith in the Academy, and teach your daughter everything she needs to learn."

Izume, who was also now bowing her head the same way Ichisuda was, took over.

"Since she started at the Academy, Shihata has established several relationships with both the students, and the teachers. Myself included.

I think it would be detrimental to her growth to remove her from the Academy at this stage. We as teachers recognise our weakness during that attack but please, let us continue to take care of your daughter, help her on the journey down her chosen pathway and help her become a brilliant police officer".

There was silence for a few moments, the teachers still had their heads bowed.

Mishi had stopped crying and walked out of the room, Shihata looked like she was about to cry. Her father sighed, and finally spoke on the matter.

"It wouldn't be fair to you both to lay all the blame on you, seeing as you were both unconscious, and Shihata made the decision to go in there herself. It still doesn't change the fact that our daughter got hurt." He looked over at Shihata, who had tears in her eyes, and then back at the teachers.

"Our daughter is our entire world which is why understandably, my wife is quite upset. Shihata speaks highly of you all at the Academy. I will persuade my wife to reconsider but i must say, instead of planning on laying your life down for her, teach her to not be reckless instead." Ichisuda clenched his fist after Yujiro said this. He continued,

"She's my daughter, I know in another situation similar to the attack at the Academy, she'll still do the same thing. I used to be like that myself, during my days as a detective" He said, laughing a little, realising he played a huge part in her decision to go along the public service pathway. He continued,

"As long as you can promise that you'll invest all your energy into making sure the children never have to go through anything like this again, the trust we once had in the Academy could maybe be restored. Please, raise your heads. Seeing such passionate teachers, I feel reassured my child will be in good hands. Just give my wife some time."

Ichisuda and Izume smiled and thanked him for listening. They said goodbye to Shihata and Izume hugged her before they returned to the Academy.

"thanks dad" Shihata said, after her teachers left. He smiled, "It's still up to your mother. It's best we give her some time"

Shortly after, her mum walked in. She had wiped the tears off her face and immediately tried to change the subject. The mood was lifted as they talked about things that had made them laugh in past. A particular topic came up where as a young child, Shihata and her parents were watching a movie where a girl was being bullied and Shihata attempted to climb into the television to help but broke it in the process.

As they laughed about that, much to Shihata's embarrassment, Mishi realised that her daughter hadn't changed from then, and pulling her out of her current Academy wasn't going to change that part of her either. How ever upset she was, she couldn't help the fact that she was proud.

Ichisuda and Izume returned to the Academy just in time for a mandatory staff meeting. All the other teachers who went out to speak to and apologise to parents were already back so they were the last ones there.

Fujimoto explained the situation to them.

"We've officially been given a warning, seeing as this is the first time something of the sort has happened at the Academy. However, due to the severity of the incident and ms Shihata's injury, the higher ups in the government aren't happy. If anything of the sorts were to happen again, the Academy will close. We'd all be out of a job I'm afraid."

The entire room was silent after they heard that. Some of the teachers, especially Takari thought the Academy was going to close without a warning, based on the fact that Shihata nearly lost her life. So hearing this gave him some short lived relief.

Fujimoto resumed, "unfortunately, I believe some changes have to be made. To them it may seem unfair, but sanctions as well as protocols have to be put in place. Firstly, if a situation like this were to ever occur again, the students are not to engage otherwise, they may be expelled.

Secondly, the campus security needs to be bolstered. I spoke with an engineer in one of our city's precincts, Kaneda Hotomo. He's working on installing some automated turrets and special ID cards and identification systems. That will be discussed at a later date.

Finally, the members of staff and maybe the students sometimes need to have more attack and defence scenarios just in case of another freak attack. If there aren't any questions, that will be all for now.

Also, Tokiho and Hirowa set up an assembly and inform the kids about the protocols."

They nodded, and as the other teachers left the room, they all realised there were going to be a lot of changes in the coming weeks

As 11 hammered away on the computer, the rest of the gang sat around a table and discussed their current situation. They were making backup plans incase the student plan failed. While that was happening, 3 felt the need to bring up a particular subject.

"Now that 11 is here, shouldn't we focus our attention on getting 4, 8 and 10 out? If that's the end goal, why don't we just skip ahead to it? We don't have to get children involved in this."

1 shook his head before responding, "We've been over this. The end goal is us retrieving the fragment. Even if we break those three out, we still have that hurdle to climb. If at least one kid is taken, it'll force the hand of the government, then we can get both our teammates and the fragment in one go."

In an attempt to change the subject, 2 asked, "speaking of, is 11 gonna be part of the team again?"

"That freak?" 5 asked in response. "That thing in him caused a lot of trouble for us all last time. If 1 hadn't intervened, I might have killed him."

7 laughed, "you were laying on the floor with ur hand broken, you weren't killing anything" This comment made most of the team laugh.

1 finally answered, "it all depends on how well he can control that thing in him. He's a brilliant hacker, and his skills are clearly needed."

As 11 typed away, attempting to hack into the Academy, Riot began speaking to him again, "Numerous enemies in the room. Let me out. Start a riot"

"Shut the fuck up" 11 said, slapping the side of his head. Afterwards, his eyes widened, and he yelled to the rest of the group, "Guys, I'm in"

1 smiled, and addressing the people at the table, he said, "ladies and gents, let's begin".