There was no wind. Yet also there was no heat. The morning air carried only the sense of reluctance.
It alarmed Aegis to notice such a feeling in an otherwise vibrant settlement. At first the bluecoat thought it may just be the absence of bustle as there still seemed to be an epidemic that kept people inside. He paced the streets and alleys of the city as he would before, keeping his mind off of that worrisome feeling. But the stone-laid roads felt somehow resonatingly cold to him. The trees, still naked from winter seemed not just bare, but menacing, their crooked boughs a caricature of the sheepishness of coming spring. Overnight, all the buildings became something less than the fruit of human endeavour that they were meant to be; now their jagged stone seemed austere. Corners seemed sharper. The now-occasional sight of a smoking chimney bore memories of loneliness where once it would invoke the quaint thought of warmth. With each subsequent footfall, the azure man sensed a crushing shadow bloom over the city, like some malefic stalker looming over his shoulder. Aegis was tall, yet he felt dwarfed by the crippling dread this inevitability brought on him. What was it? His instincts were constantly pulling his attention away from the sights before him. Remember, his gut seemed to say. Beware.
He listened. Face dressed in determination, the azure man quelled his unease with intent. Though it wasn't quite danger that caused the hairs on his arms to stand, a large portion of his survival in the wilderness was owed to the trust he had for intuition. It did not lie. Unfortunately, it was never descriptive, either.
His paces became strides. If there was no apparent clue to the source of the oppressive feeling he'd just have to rely on his sixth sense instead, even if it meant having to scour the streets of the whole city.  Doubtlessly a time consuming endeavour, "but it can't be helped, huh." Aegis sighed, shaking his head.
For the first few hours the violet-eyed militia man could hardly keep his mind focused. The ominous feeling was still there -- if anything it grew! -- but there was just nothing noteworthy to see. Having spent several days in Magnolia already, Aegis was quite used to its architecture and size, and with the absence of the usual pedestrian swarm the city was hardly more imposing to him than a rock formation. Every once in a while he'd stop the rare passerby and inquire about the looming threat, but to no avail. Then he would continue, his soft leather boots making gentle clicks against the hard ground. With the usual sublime air of beauty gone, everything just looked bland. This made walking the perimeters of the districts particularly monotonous, to the point where Aegis completely lost himself to idle thought. Thought, yet rarely memories.
That was a peculiar aspect to his daydreaming, the pale man esteemed. It was not very rare for him to drift off into his mind; however, when he would inevitably return to focus, Aegis would suddenly realize that he's veritably lost. A while ago there had been a book into his possession that spoke of 'sleep walkers', people whose bodies would remain awake while their minds slept. Could his absent-minded wandering be the same thing? And then, if that is so what is to say he does not tread the world in his sleep also, yet always return to bed before waking? It could provide an explanation with the strange bruises he would same times get up to. "Life seems a mystery to me."
"Ah, could you by our new assistant lecturer?"
"Eh?" An unfamiliar voice snapped Aegis' mind back to reality. Darting hasty glances widthwise, the first thing he realized was that he was in some kind of yard. A small, mostly decorative stone fence walled it off from three sides whie the fourth was connected to a large building adorned with very plain decoration. Though not much taller than most surrounding structures, it stood out with its breadth, probably equalling that of multiple large houses.
There was no one else in that yard except for the source of the voice, a short brown-haired woman standing to the side. Where had she come from? As a matter of fact, where had Aegis come from? As far as he could tell, there were no normal entrances to the area, the only legal way in would have to be through the building itself. He hadn't vaulted over the fence, had he?
"Ah, um... but... what is a 'lecturer'?" Suddenly the woman's eyes lit up as if she saw a bowl of candies.
"Oh my. Oh my! I didn't know they would be sending over a fellow philosopher! I knew those clothes weren't just for flare!"

Say what now?

The woman eagerly grabbed Aegis' sleeve and started tugging him towards the building whilst fervently talking about how long it had been since she had last met another intellectual. "The children would be so thrilled," she insisted, meanwhile her dismayed victim recalled the literal bitter outcome that came out of the last time someone decided to drag him off to somewhere. The thought gave him shivers.
"Wait, please, you must be misunderstanding! What is this 'school' you speak of? I do not understand!"
"Yes, yes! That is exactly what I had told them, too! The very idea of the 'school' is one so foreign to the child psyche that it may as well be synonymous with 'prison'. No, we must develop more modern, holistic approaches to teaching; to pedagogy, even!" The self-proclaimed "teacher" would throw glances at Aegis while barraging him with her thoughts, presumably seeing in him some kind of compatriot.
All he could see in her, however, was confusion. Perhaps there really was truth to the saying "look unto others to see one's self". The azure man really was getting doubts whether he liked the process, though.

"Ah...  Wait, no!  Stop doing that, you annoying kids!  WAIT, NO, DON'T PUSH THAT OVER!"  Kaiei had been trying to keep a group of kids in order for the past ten minutes now, since they were on a "break" period.  This was after she had been working with a teacher in a place called 'school' in an attempt to educate these kids.  Seriously...  what even was this place?  The concept of something like this was so foreign and odd that she almost couldn't blame the kids for acting up during their down time.  Still, that didn't give them an excuse to poke her and run around bumping into things and knocking down very expensive vases!

Now, how did she end up here you might ask?  Well, it's quite simple really.  After the church Kaiei had resumed her business in walking around town, getting accustomed to it and whatnot, but of course, as always she will help the ones who request assistance from her...  and that's exactly what happened.  I personally won't go into the details of what transpired, just know that it involved people (obviously), food, and lots of alcohol.  So here she is now, receiving more than she had bargained for with all of these kids.  The surprising part about this all is that while they're in their lessons, they're quite pleasant, but not when they have free will of their own.

Kaiei couldn't help but sigh very deeply.  "I wonder...  Was I this annoying when I was a little girl?" she had muttered to herself.  Well, there wasn't much use dwelling over it at this point.  She already managed to calm down most of the kids to play at a reasonable level, but there were still a few that insisted on doing their crazy antics which she normally wouldn't mind, but she's being paid to not have the place destroyed.  There were two kids in particular that were causing a huge mess of things by casting some really, really gross magics in slime and mud; they were having a twisted version of a snowball fight, but with slime and mud.  It was making a mess everywhere!

"Alright you annoying runts...  Come here!" she yelled out at them and began chasing.  Meanwhile, they were laughing out loud, very clearly enjoying themselves and having the time of their lives.  They zoomed in and out of the hallways, making many sharp turns and going up and down multiple stairs.  With the use of their magics, the kids were surprisingly quick which made it difficult for Kaiei to catch them without harming them, which is obviously something she didn't want to do.  Her natural speed was eventually getting the better of them though, and she had almost caught up.

She just had to make one more sharp turn to the left and she'd be able to grab them and put a stop to this fiasco...  if only it were that simple.  As she made her sharp left turn, she saw the two kids already having been stopped by the person who hired her and another man, quite large, with platinum hair and lots of blue...  it was that weird man she met at the church!  Kaiei dug her boots onto the ground which normally would have stopped her, but the slime trail left by one of the kids caused her to continue sliding.

WHAM!

She crashed into the man head on, though, only she was knocked back by the crash and she fell backwards, hard.  She didn't land on her head but she hit it with quite the force, knocking her out almost immediately.  The teacher couldn't help but sigh.  "You two are going to have detention today!  I told you not to cause too many problems for our assistant teacher!"  She grabbed the two boys by the wrists and dragged them away to an office.  As she was walking, she called out to the man, "Do make sure to take that young lady to the nurses office.  I'll meet you there after taking these boys to the principle's office, and from there I'll take you to where you need to be."

Aegis could only raise his hands, spreading them slowly in a silent gesture of genuine "what the fuck?". The feeling, then the wandering, then the building, then the woman, then this talk of "teaching," then the maze-like place, then the kids, and the slime! And now a woman bounced off of him, presumably landing in the afterlife. The man had only one question.

"... Is that what female breasts are for?!" It all made sense now! The volume, the shape -- they are meant to repell unwanted closeness by way of bouncy deflection! Genius, Aegis exalted as he eyed the generous chest of the dead woman. Though, maybe not that great when it backfires...
The man kneeled beside the limp body and meticulously poked her, mostly in the breasts. The encounter developed in him a genuine curiosity about the exact mechanics at play that comprise the bizzare weapon women have. It wasn't as bouncy to the touch, though... it offered little resistance. The organ seemed to mostly just be soft.

...

Aegis snapped back a couple of meters, his face practically on fire. Just the simple act of touching caused his throat to go dry, and it gave him a sudden fever! Amazing! Breasts were even more powerful than he imagined, if they could cause such a strong psychological and physiological responce. Placing all the effort in the world to peel his eyes away from the blonde's topography, Aegis's face grew grim as it regained its normal colour.

"Breasts... are the deadliest weapon."
He nodded sharply to his own words. Avoiding contact with the female chest was a primary objective if he valued his life! Suddenly the blue man understood why that particular social norm was in place.
Though this remarkable discover did bring up another important question. Could male breasts contain such awesome power as well? He fondled his own while pondering. It would be good to meditate on the matter.

For the time being, Aegis had more pressing concerns. The unreasonable 'teacher' character asked him to bring the dead body to the office of a nurse... and that was supposed to be where, exactly? Aegis sighed under the weight of all the questions the short exchange had generated for him. Life truly was a mystery.

Careful not touch the girl's voluminous soul-draining devices, the bluecoat picked her up in his arms like a babe and started in a random direction. The simile he found unnerving, as picturing his cargo as a dead baby made things significantly less pleasant, but it couldn't be helped. She was surprisingly light, he noted. Maybe that was why even her boobs could not save her.

Boobs.

Aegis shook his head sharply to dispell the thought. Women were dangerous, he concluded. Even being close to one can begin meddling with a man's thoughts. Did they have a similar effect on each other, too?
Turning a corner, the clueless wanderer was met with a long hallway lined with doors and windows. The eastern exposure allowed for light to enter at a sharp angle at that particular time and it brought with it the lingering sense of tranquility common with lazy mornings. Sparse specks of dust glittered in the rays for some extra atmospheric flare, like a veil parting around the man as he walked on. Thought it felt decidedly unfitting, given the general anarchy the establishment, the quiet scenery suited the woman in his arms. Her hair glittered beautifully, framing a serene face. Memories of her eyes welled up; yes, the two had encountered each other once before. The thought made him sad. He did not like losing beauty, but the world would never again be able to see her enchanting eyes.
Idly Aegis wondered if civilization can only work thanks to people confining their warmongering nature to these "schools". It would explain a lot.

At the end of the hallway was a signed door, reading "infirmary". Taking a moment to figure out how to knock with occupied arms, Aegis tapped the wooden piece with his boot. When the door opened, a smiling face popped out, very quickly turning worried at the sight that greeted it.

"Forgive me, but this woman ran into me and died. I was told to leave her off here?"