[Video: Naoya's permasmile carried a sort of listlessness today - or perhaps boredom. He didn't particularly care who might've bothered to watch this. Pretty much he was ready to call it quits for the rest of the night.]

How grateful I am that familial duty spurs my aunt and uncle to continue e-mailing me birthday wishes. My brother too... Well. I'm quite done with that now.

IT support will be unavailable as I'll be going out for a drink. While I don't expect anyone to join me solely for my sake, if you happen to require a excuse to go out, then perhaps our paths will cross at the bar.

Don't make a mess of the network while I'm out, hm?

[Gordon flicks on the camera, looking generally tired and irritated towards the screen. The scenery behind him reminiscent of Dr. Frankenstein's labs--Or his own, for those who are familiar with it and take his class. In the background, the lights flicker slightly. One of the bulbous silhouettes shift a little--]

Hate to do this, but class tomorrow is canceled due to, ah--

[There's an enormous BZZZAP and a yelp, a white flash, and a crackle of static on the screen. When Gordon returns to the camera, he's in a different location, namely the hallway just OUTSIDE his labs, considerably more ruffled and slightly singed.]

[...was that a cackle audible beyond the wall? No, of course not. Probably just microphone static.]

An uppity Tesla coil. I'd be able to fix it, if the damn thing would stop floating, and no amount of grounding seems to change the fact that it prefers living targets now. If anyone has any insight as to what could be causing it, I'd really... REALLY like to hear it.

[You'd think he'd sound more alarmed at the whole thing, but one gets the impression he was alarmed an hour ago. Now he's just getting pissed off.]

[On the feed currently is one nun in full-blown battle armor. Her face looks a bit on the stern side, but she seems happy, more or less. At least she's wearing a good-natured smiled.]

Some of you may already know me, but to those of you who don't, hello! My name is Sister Helga Wilhelmina, but you all may call me "Sister Hel" or just "Sister" if you prefer. In addition to donating some of my time to helping Rhys in the infirmary, I will also be teaching Physical Education! I hope all of you are ready to work hard, because we don't accept slackers in my class. Sloth is a sin!

[At the word sin, Sister Hel's expression turns a bit more serious. Her smile is gone, replaced with a cold sternness. The kind of sternness that always means LECTURE TIME.]

Ah! And speaking of sin, that brings me to the next thing I wanted to discuss! I'm sure you've all noticed the doughnuts that have begone to run...er...float rampant around our lovely school! Most of you no doubt are enjoying them, but need I remind you all that gluttony is a sin? Besides! If you eat to much you will get sick, and as one of the school nurses I'm afraid I simply cannot let that happen! Your health is my top priority as a teacher, a nurse, and a nun. As such, any doughnut I find floating will be reduced to ash within seconds! It shouldn't take long at all for things to return back to normal, hahahahaha!

[And just to prove it, she points her mace in the direction of one floating doughnut near her and blasts it with a laser, thus...reducing it to ash instantly. Just like she said.

Wow.

The feed ends shortly after that, but Sister Hel can indeed be found around the school, blasting rogue doughnuts to oblivion. Feel free to contact her before or after that happens via the network, or just stumble across it actually happening.]

TD- 01 is so roomy! I feel kinda like royalty in here. This dorm must hold so much history... I wonder what kind of nonsense my fellow faculty have gotten up to in here over the years... ?

I also understand that my neighbor is a fire- type. No need to worry, pal. I'll keep the rain under control...

Oh! Green's Charizard. Haha. How interesting.

[There's a malicious AI in your computer lab again, Smash Academy.

She's not actually being actively malicious right now though, just testing out the functions of this eerily convenient android chassis she happened to find in your walls (including, but not limited to: how to walk, make condescending facial expressions, access the school network... and this strange email with the header "Congratulations on your new job!").

If you also happen to be in or near the computer lab, you might catch her in the act before she notices you and subsequently glares daggers into your very soul for the rest of time.]


[Later, once she's as settled in as it's possible to be, she makes a campus-wide text post:]

Hello, Smash Academy. What a ridiculous name. It has come to my attention that I have somehow been roped into becoming your Computer Science professor for the upcoming semester, so allow me to make several things extremely clear: I am not here to babysit you, and I will not be teaching you variables, functions, or how to format your charming personal websites. If you choose to attend this class, you must have a modicum of coding skill already; if you decide to show up anyway, I will grade you appropriately, and you will fail.

If you have any questions or comments, or complaints, feel free to submit them here, where I guarantee they may or may not ever be read. Thank you.

[Anyone around the school today might be graced with the odd sight of a young girl, a student judging by the uniform, crouched at varying points around the building, and very intently scratching little geometric triangle patterns into the walls. Every once in a while, she references a notebook she's carrying with her, and a map of the school with strategic points marked in pen.

In the places she's already gotten to, those weird triangle designs appear to be faintly glowing blue.]

---

[Later, the same girl appears in a new video post on the network, waving at the screen with a nervous smile.]

Hi, um. I'm Carter, I'm a new student?

Anyways, I'm sorry to anyone I might have run into or weirded out earlier? I know what it looks like, but I wasn't actually drawing on walls or anything. Well, I was, but it wasn't graffiti or anything, I was trying to put up wards! Er, protection. For the school. They're probably not as good as what my old school had, but the people who put those up were way better at magic than I am, heh. Anyway, if you could, just, try not to take them down? Please? It's really pretty important.

[She pauses, waiting for that to sink in before she starts talking again.]

Oh, and hey, can I ask someone what happened in this city? I'm not even talking about how messed up it seems right now, though if someone could tell me about that? I'd definitely want to know. It's just, this place is setting off so many pings, I think even the bees are getting confused. They're definitely making less sense than usual, and honestly? I didn't even think that was possible.

[A silver-haired boy sits in front of the webcam, his face illuminated by flood of light from the screen of his new laptop. He waves his hand slowly in a circle before looking around. Then, with that smiling face of his, looks directly at the webcam. Then back down to the screen.]

Did I get it? Hey, I think I got it to work. Hi! [He waves at the screen.] My name's Henry. Nice to meetcha~ I come from Plegia in Ylisse, which is waaay far away. "Over the rainbow" kind of far away, since I'm not even sure how I got here and I can't seem to get back. That's not so bad. Back home, things were getting pretty boring, now that the war's over with...

I guess I should talk about myself. I'm going to be a student here, so it's only right that we get to know each other. Hmm, where to start...? Oh, I've got it! I'm a sorcerer~ I practice dark magic, but I specialize in curses. Does anybody know what I mean by that? If you don't, I'm more than happy to give a demo sometime! We can make it a fun school activity, ahahaha! Oh, but my favorite kinds are death curses. If anybody needs me to deliver one curse of death, I'm always available, and for no charge! ...But I miiiiight need a sacrifice. An arm or something will do, hee hee!

Ahh, I'm getting pretty bored with this. [He laughs lightly, a hand coming up to cover his smile.] Do all of you talk to a light-up screen when you want to get in touch with each other? That sounds funny~! And anyway, why aren't the letters down here in alphabetical order? That's a mystery to me. Soooo, I'm done now. Then how do you...? [He leans forward, looking all over the computer and staring intently at the screen.] Turn it off...?

Hold on a sec. I'm gonna go get Naoya~! He knows bunches about computers. Hee hee, he even helped me get this thing started! But I forgot the rest of the instructions, so I'll go find him. Byyyyeeee~

[Basically, that is where this video ends. Henry just gets up and leaves his computer on the floor, unattended and with the feed rolling. His footsteps fade away as he runs off to find the IT tech.

...But if you're really willing to watch for that long, he does return, stares at the screen, and shuts it off with a smile.]

With the death of one of your former teachers, I'll be taking over for the computer programming course, as well as filling in for any IT difficulties that may arise in the absence of any proper technician employed at this place. Considering the level of technology available here, this seems to be a rather disasterous oversight, hm?

My name's Naoya. I don't intend to teach a novice class, nor will I be hand-holding you through the course. So, here's a simple test: I've put a rudimentary filter on this network post with the class schedule underneath. Anyone who'd like to enroll should, at the very least, be able to crack it. Remember, you won't gain anything by relying on others for the answer. Don't disappoint me.

( Hacking level: moderately easy )

One more thing... I'm curious. Rumour has it the this wave of nonhuman sentiment originally started at the school. I've read up on the recent news, but it'd be more useful to get a first hand perspective of events.