The first thing that greeted us in the main hall was the sound of something crashing against a hard and metallic surface. Although just before I reacted to that, my sight caught on to what happened.
The source of that noise was Mr Owada attacking the vault door with a chair.
…
…
…
…Mr Owada attacking the vault door with a chair.
Attacking the vault door…
The vault door that had mounted weapons along with cameras watching it…
…
...With a chair...
...
Well, he was still breathing, so…maybe he had already tested it at a distance to make sure it was safe?
Glancing around, I could see that apart from him, Ogami and Hina were with him. At least those two are less impulsive than Owada, Ogami much less than Hina, and the gang leader combined, so it was possible they did indeed took the necessary precautions.
Still…that guy was living it to the limit, wasn't he? As expected of the Ultimate Gang Leader, I suppose.
"Haah…this…this fucking…haah…piece of shit…doesn't budge, fuck!" Owada exhaustedly cursed before giving the vault one last kick out of frustration.
Enoshima took that as our queue to make ourselves known "Geez, if a freaking chair didn't do crap to it, I don't believe screaming and kicking will do any better, you know that, right?"
"What are ya…Oh, it's you guys…" The gang leader said, seemingly calming down, then he looked at Mrs Enoshima before turning to me with the barest hints of approval, even if the crackling of his knuckles made it hard to notice "The chick seems fine, so you kept your word. Good, it seems I won't need to have a chat with ya…"
"A chat? My dear fellow, I would never do such a thing to one such as her." I gave my usual happy tone to Mr Owada. I don't know why anyone would think that I'd bother to do something like that so early in our play.
"Ah! It's you, Junko!" That seemed to be enough to bring the attention of Mrs Hina and Sakura to us. The swimmer was obviously happy to see the fashionista, though when she noticed my presence... "And… Voyager too…" Well, her tone was filled with less-than-stellar enthusiasm. Not that I minded.
I didn't particularly care, nor did it truly affect me, but it was beginning to get repetitively annoying when they reacted like that so many times in such a short span of time.
Sakura, for her part, didn't bother to check if Enoshima was fine or not. Firstly, she had already sensed our approach. Secondly, she knew I wouldn't so much as put a finger on the blonde. She gave a simple nod before speaking up, "Greetings, you two."
"Hey, guys! How's it's it goin'?" Whether ignorant of the mood or not being interested in meddling with it, the Fashionista acted as if the reactions of those three were irrelevant. Getting a soft chuckle out of me. "Did ya make any progress with that thing over there?"
Turning to the vault door with some grimacing, Sakura spoke up, "Unfortunately, that is not the case. We have been trying to damage it for hours, but we have nothing to present for it."
Hours? Surely not right? We can't have all been at our tasks for hours?
"Yeah, this metal door is fuckin' tough. We have tried with all kinds of shit this place has, and it has not even a fuckin' dent on it… fuckin' great," Mr Owada spat with suppressed fury.
"I see… It couldn't be that easy, huh? Should've figured." Mrs Enoshima said solemnly.
While they got busy in their own conversation, I approached the vault door.
"H-Huh? Um… Voyager?" Though it seemed Mrs Hina noticed where I was going, "What are you doing?" She asked with that typical confused look that's nearly always on her face.
Can't say I am surprised, considering I am not putting any effort into hiding my presence like I did with the rich kid.
Hearing the Swimming Pro's voice, Mr Owada noticed me too "Hm? You wanna give it a try too? You don't look like you pack a punch like me or Ogami, but hey, maybe you have something like an assassin trick or some shit like that…"
…
"…I am... aware that I don't have that much raw power, but I'm not going to try an attack on it, I just want to take a closer look at it, that is all." I just indirectly added him in that comment, so I didn't hurt his ego. Am I saying I could beat him in a fight? Most likely yes, though that's simply from the difference in actual fighting technique. In strength, I don't doubt that he outclasses me. It seemed that Sakura noticed it, though if the look she was giving the gang leader was any indication.
But leaving that aside, once I was at a close distance of the vault door, I inspected it carefully, taking a look at it and touching it. I also began to put my mind to work, trying to think of something that I could relate to this vault door.
There had to be something, They didn't make me travel all around the world just for the sights. Go through all those classes just for me to fail at something like this.
For a 'grand purpose' they said as more and more scars were carved onto my body. All that "greater good" nonsense. Like I care about that! No kind of greater good could be justified by what they did to me!
With each country also meaning a new type of mission. Sometimes, the objective was to make sure some cult or organisation got disbanded, either by taking care of those in charge of it, or even in some cases, straight-up neutralising all of its members or taking them in. Despite the fact that I'm the SHSL Priest, my skills at indoct- I mean, recruitment aren't as good as Her's. But that's just the kind of failure I am and always will be.
Sigh.
Where was I? Ah, yes.
There were a few times that it wasn't.... killing per se, but capturing someone, either for the extraction of any intel and delivering it to a client. Either because of some political, military, or economic value they had. I don't know why they'd send a kid to do their work instead of a preacher or actual assassins, but whatever. Regardless of variety, there was always the occasional contract to get rid of someone who knew too much, especially when they'd try to reveal who I was…
…
Political value…
Information…
Knew too much…
Ah.
That was it…
There was this European country, can't remember its name, whose government system was, even till this day, a monarchy in its purest sense. With a royal family, nobles, and all the other stuff you'd probably see in a generic Isekai anime. Heck, I think I remember they even had knights who did an oath of loyalty. You know, like in the old days and quite a spectacle, I must add.
I think their princess had attended Hope's Peak.
Anyway, the point was, one day, a noble of an opposite faction from the royal family had enough influence, resources, and 'friends' to rival said family. Apparently, that made him get too cocky and ambitious, to the point of using said influence and resources to get information on some incriminating files that he was planning on using as blackmail material against the royals.
It wasn't that the current rulers were bad. They did a decent job with their nation from what I could see in my stay, 'That place had a LOT of strange customs, though…', rather, the value of such files came from pointing out that the royal family was, apparently, not as "royal" as they claimed. And, well, we humans are emotional before being rational most of the time. Even if they did a spectacular job for generations, if the public became aware of such detail…more likely than not, they would've felt betrayed and angry at being tricked in such a way, and undoubtedly it would have led to chaos.
And blood spilling, that always comes included in such situations… Whether intentional or not.
The royal family eventually became aware of this, and seeing that a direct and public confrontation with this person would only make things worse, they acted as if they slowly and surely conceded to the demands of the noble, while in the shadows…
The royals recurred to Them… And... to me. Their good little puppet.
Long story short, while my 'objective' never knew it was the royal family who put a bounty on him, he had some self-awareness and decided to bunker himself. To some degree, it worked for some time, as the only access to the place where my 'objective' hid was a vault door.
Similar to the one in front of me…
…
"So, you've been looking and touching that thing for a while, did ya find anything doin' all that?" Mr Owada asked with some annoyance clear in his voice. Not that I can truly blame him in such a situation.
Is there a risk in sharing this? I thought absentmindedly.
Well, in some way, there was, but it was manageable if I was cautious with my words, 'Even with taking Celeste into consideration…', while at the same time, sharing this will create a more positive image of myself, and I certainly could use some of that.
"I have…" I admitted.
"Well, at least you... Wait! Really!?" Mrs Hina exclaimed with enthusiasm.
Sakura, however, had her feet on the ground. "Is it good or bad news?"
…
"…"
"Shit, dude, don't make it dramatic, just spill it!"
Letting a far-from-faked sigh, I spoke up with my left hand covering my head. "…Terrible news unfortunately."
Even if it wasn't intentional, that seemed enough to bust Hina's mood "H-Huh?"
"W-What? Is it, like, really that bad?" Mrs Enoshima cautiously asked with an apprehensive look to her, "Wait, actually, what did you discover that makes it so bad?"
Nodding in affirmation at the Fashionista, Sakura turned to me, "Indeed, an explanation would be appreciated."
Seeing no reason not to elaborate… at least to a minimal degree, I conceded to their requests. "The reason why I said that, was because I have seen a vault door similar to this one here." I motion to the door, now behind me, with my left hand. "That vault door could resist anything that was thrown against it. I'm not exaggerating when I say that an entire army could bomb it, and it would only leave a scratch if they were lucky…"
"…And you said that it was similar to this piece of garbage over here, right? Fuck! Even I can see that it looks like it could resist any shit done at it, dammit…"
I just nodded at the biker. I didn't feel like it was necessary to add that the vault door in front of us looks way more modern than the one I had seen on the mission, not to mention the one protecting... oh wait, I probably shouldn't mention that place.
Ahem, for all I know, you could throw a nuclear bomb at this thing and it would be fine, but that didn't make a difference for any of us.
It didn't actually matter if I was right or not in the doors being similar. Only one being more modern than the other, then I might know of to open this thing… but that was useless information too, there was just no way our captor didn't have that area covered.
I wouldn't have put it past them to have gotten the help of the best of the best in all fields in order to have concocted this plan.
"Don't be so sad, guys! I'm sure that if we can't get out through here, there must be another place we can use as a way to escape!" Hina commented with some, unfounded renewed energy.
The Gang Leader blinked at the brunette's declaration for a moment before he himself got pumped up. "Damn right! I'm not gonna let that piece of shit of a bear beat me!"
Ogami nodded with a smile, "You are correct, Hina. We can't allow ourselves to give up this early."
"Heck yeah, girl! There's no way that Monokuma would block everything, we just have to keep looking!" The Fashionista followed up with her trademark mischievous grin.
Heh, so this is how Ultimates act like huh? My... I wish I could have such a hopeful outlook on life... Unfortunately, such things were not meant for one such as myself.
While they were patting themselves on the back, I just stood there, thinking of one thing. With everything I have seen so far, and finally stopping to put it together, I came to one conclusion.
This was definitely not Hope's Peak.
I know I should've been aware of that some hours ago, but I had been busy with no time to myself to actually ponder about it. Now I can see that there was no way for this place to be that school. Not only because before getting knocked out, I hadn't seen the vault door, but there were also the metal plates and mounted guns to take into consideration.
Such impressive and advanced technology can't be installed in a single day, heck, the gate alone would need weeks to be put together as properly as it is now.
We can also add that they couldn't have kept us unconscious that long. One day, sure, two, maybe. A week if you stretch it, and that was still within the realm of possibility. But more than that? Impossible, the time just doesn't add up…
The only way was if we were put in stasis or something along those lines. Which isn't really feasible as of right now.
Just as I was done with my thoughts, Mrs Asahina spoke up, "Maybe we should stop here, it's almost time for that meeting Taka talked about…"
"I guess," Mr Owada conceded, "Not in the mood to hear the barking of that guy for being late… So, you guys comin' or what?" The Gang Leader added as he turned to me and Mrs Enoshima.
"Uh, about that… Voyager and I wanted to see one last place before going back. I don't think we will be late for the dining hall junk, but, yeah…" Mrs Enoshima trailed off.
"I see, then I will wish for your good luck," Sakura said, responding with a nod of confirmation and a steeled look into my eyes.
I knew what that look meant, I've seen it far too many times. Not just from her, but from others with just as much will.
"Yep! See you guys! C'mon Sakura! Let's go!" Mrs Asahina said while sprinting out of the hall without a care in the world. How can one flip so flippantly between emotions like that?
"Aye," Was all the Martial Artist as she nodded at us once more and began to follow the Swimming Pro down the hall she dashed through.
"Geez, that girl has a lot of energy… Oi! Wait for us!" Mr Owada exclaimed while sprinting too.
Once they were gone, Mrs Enoshima turned to me "…Y'know, I'm kind of glad that group has Sakura with them, the other two seem too… passionate? Yeah, that's the word, a cool head to keep them, like, grounded and junk."
That was... certainly a way to put it. "I see what you mean, having someone as level-headed as her probably prevented them from going around doing more reckless things."
"I know! I was like, totally shocked when I saw the biker attack the metal hatch with those freaking things mounted up!" The Fashionista exclaimed while pointing at the Gatling guns with a bit more anger than I would have thought her capable of. No, the right phrasing would be, with more anger at Mr Owada than what was expected. As if it was personal or something. "What the heck was he thinking, doing that crap?"
"Mhm, while it's not written in the rules if those weapons had proximity or pressure sensors… And well, if they did, nothing good would've come of that." I shrugged my shoulders as I looked towards a different pathway. "Anyway, we should go see one of the classrooms and then go to the dining hall" The sooner we get that done, the better.
While I wasn't worried about it, I would certainly prefer to avoid an earful from the Moral Compass.
"Yep, and finally! Don't get me wrong, it really, really, really sucks that there isn't more to explore, but all this walking around and doing some kind of detective stuff, is giving me a headache… So yeah, let's get this over with," Junko commented with a sigh.
Nodding in agreement, the both of us made our way out of the main hall.