Gearbox 7: Second Phase

Chapter 1: A New Day

(8:00 A.M., Streets of Fukushima, Fukushima, Japan)

Joseph Aleister walked through the city streets with his school bag in hand. With the morning sun shining amidst a clear blue sky, the surrounding sound of birds chirping and the wind calmly blowing by could be heard alongside the sounds of normal day to day life. With the date being halfway through January, winter continued to bring a cold breeze with it even if there wasn't much snow to find at the time.

Wearing his school uniform, Joseph hummed to himself while continuing his morning walk. He found a peaceful sense of enjoyment in being able to see the early day activity taking place around him, for other people from the young to the old commuted to their respective destinations throughout the city. Upon reaching a traffic light, Joseph came to a stop while waiting for it to give him, as well as another small handful of people that had gathered around him, the right to cross. Once it did, he made it to the other side of the street before continuing on his way beside a small river which flowed parallel to the road leading through a small residential area.

It was at that point, however, that Joseph had his attention taken by a familiar figure who had also continued to walk in that direction after forming part of the small group he had crossed the road with.

"Oh, Shirogane-san, good morning!" He greeted his fellow classmate and representative of class 3-B, Kanae Shirogane.

Recognizing Joseph's voice, Kanae was quick to turn around as her chocolate-brown hair swung around in unison before having to lift her glance a couple of centimeters in order to make eye contact.

"Aleister-san! Good morning." She said as her initial surprise didn't take long to shift into a friendly smile. "I believe we don't normally get to meet like this."

"I guess not. Though to be honest I hadn't even noticed we were so close when walking just now."

"I can't say you're wrong about that." The two shared a giggle as Joseph caught up to Kanae, allowing the two to continue walking alongside one another as the school building became visible a couple blocks ahead towards the end of the residential area. "Although now that we did get the chance, there's something I have been meaning to ask you about, Aleister-san."

"Yes?" Joseph grew curious as he turned towards Kanae.

"It's just that, as I am sure that you are well aware, we have reached the point of being only around two months away from reaching final exams before graduation. And, as class representative, there's an idea I have been working on in order to try and increase the chances of class 3-B and the others being able to ensure as good a result as possible."

"Right, as expected of our local school tutor. I'm guessing you'll be aiming for something along the lines of an extension of your usual study sessions like the ones you tend to have with Yamato?"

"You could say that's the general idea. I'm thinking of going into the details later once everyone is gathered, but for the time being I just wanted to verify something. As far as I know, I believe your strongest subjects are English and Physics, right?"

"Yeah, my grades have been generally good across all subjects, but those two in particular would be the ones where I've consistently gotten the highest."

"Alright, that's perfect then." Kanae gave Joseph a thumbs up as the two approached their school's entrance gate. "I will tell you once I have organized for everyone I have had in mind to meet, so long as you don't mind of course."

"Sounds good to me. Least I can do is hear what you have in mind after all you've done for us as class representative."

"I'll be counting on you then."