A Blue Archive Manga About Sensei Dying is a fan-made comic created by Jam-To-Cham.
In this What If? story, SCHALE'S Sensei, who is depicted as a tall, young man, is killed during an ambush. Sorasaki Hina of Gehenna's Prefect Team, goes on a solo campaign bent on avenging his death.
Link to part 1.
Link to Part 2.Link to Part 3.
Examples:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
- A very decisive moment is when Sensei pats Izuna's head as thanks for always protecting him. The ninja girl is very happy and enjoying herself; however, this made Izuna lower her guard, allowing Gematria to get him. It happens again in the second loop, where Sensei again pats Izuna's head, but she suddenly feels anxious and takes Sensei to a safer place. Unfortunately it was useless, becasue Sensei was shot anyway.
- Subverted in part 4 where In the final loop, Izuna stops Sensei from patting her, since that was not the more appropiate moment, and is determined to protect her lord until the very end.
- Apocalypse How: Sense's death brings a Class II to Kivotos, since this event finally allowed to Ancient gods to descent and, in the words of Black Suit himself, tun the world into a hellescape. Only Hina could save herself from this by escaping inside the Shittim Chest..
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Right at the start, Izuna comes just in time to rescue Sensei from an ambush in SCHALE.
- In Part 3, Hoshino arrives just in time to stop Makoto, who was threatening Hina with the Mystery.
- Part 4 is mostly composed of this. Kayoko, who has studied every loop and every possible iteration, has prepared a rigorous plan where various students of Kivotos appear in the perfect moment to protect Sensei, all while allowing Izuna to escort him to a safe place.
- When Kayoko fails to execute the final straw of her plan (To non-fatally wound Sensei with a gunshot), things seems hopeless... until a well-known figure appears to take her place... It's Shiroko, of all people, who finishes the job.
- Break the Cutie: Over and over again. Whether it's Hina, who witnessed Sensei's death up front and desperately pleaded him to hang in there, and later when Hoshino destroyed her own halo in front of her eyes; Izuna, who, completely heartbroken because she couldn't protect Sensei, was forced to Mercy Kill him; Hoshino, who was already completely devastated after finding herself the last survivor of Abydos, and then when the new's of Sensei's death came to her... in general, the author goes to great length to show every student in Kivotos crossing the Despair Event Horizon.
- Breaking the Fellowship: In Part 2, after Sensei’s death, Hina resigns as president of the Prefect Team and goes in a solo quest to take revenge.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After protecting Sensei from an attack by Binah, Young Hoshino slaps him and calls him out on being an irresponsible adult, and for not relying on his students when he really should.
- Cathartic Crying: Hina in the Epilogue. She meets Sensei again in the Abydos district, and up until that point, the events unfold normally like in the game, but then, Hina is visibly upset and trying to hold back her tears. When Sensei embraces her and thanks her for all her hard work, Hina finally can't hold it any longer and let's it all out on Sensei's chest.
- Chekhov's Gun: Kayoko's pocket watch, which is later revealed to have belonged to the General Student Council President. She has been recording all the outcomes and multiple resets in the now broken watch, allowing her to come up with the plan to finish the cycle and save Sensei.
- Crazy Enough to Work: The last stretch of Kayoko’s plan: Since Sensei always dies from a gunshot, the key to end the loop for good is non-fatally wound him. And it worked!
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Kayoko in the last reset proves to be this, since she has studied all previous loops and know exactly where the attacks will come from. The final phase is notable, as it involves to shoot Sensei to end the loop and restore the world.
- It is also implied that Shiroko is this, since she was waiting for Sensei in the final reset to shoot him, not with the intention to kill him, but rather, to non-fatally wound him and put a stop to the loop once and for all.
- Darkest Hour: There are two moments where the story touches rock bottom:
- The 1st one is during Part 3; since Sensei is not around anymore, there are no obstacles for the Ancient Gods to descend and cause destruction across Kivotos. Millennium had to be evacuated when Arisu fully awoke, and only Neru stayed behind to try and stop her. She didn't survive the battle. Trinity’s Justice Task Force fights Ambrosius, but the battle ends with the death of Tsurugi; Binah appears out of nowhere to attack the Abydos district, and it is implied that it killed Most of the Foreclosure Task Force, except for Hoshino. To make things worse, Makoto appears to confront Hina for her desertion, for letting Gehenna collapse, but most of all, to make her responsible for Ibuki’s implied death.
- Later, on Part 4, Arona convinces Hina to stop trying to save Sensei, showing her the futility in trying to do so. Hina then prepares to bid farewell to Sensei, until Kayoko appears in the last moment and pleads her to do one last reset.
- Decoy Protagonist: At first it seems Sensei will be the protagonist, since the story begins with him during an invasion to SCHALE. However, after being shot dead, the story focuses on Hina.
- Dope Slap:
- A flashback of one of the resets shows that Neru has a habit of flicking Arisu’s forehead whenever she calls her “That tiny but scary maid”, and Neru justifies it by saying she just felt like doing it.
- Young Hoshino does this to Serika, when the latter uttered that she liked this more serious version better than her usual oji-san persona. She gained a bop on top of her head for that comment.
- Driven to Suicide:
- It is implied that Izuna did this after finishing Sensei's suffering, asking him to wait for her, wherever he goes.
- Subverted with Hina: In Part 2, since Sensei is a goner, she decided that life has no meaning anymore, and aimed for her own halo using the Mystery, but in the end couldn't find the courage to pull the trigger.
- In Part 3, Serina is attending Hina's wound in the eye and, after sending her her way, the next panel shows that she has prepared a rope, clealy with all the intention to hang herself up.
- Hoshino: After losing her classmates, presumably during an attack by Binah, and later when she learned about Sensei's death, she has crossed the Despair Event Horizon. After an argument with Hina, she decides that life has no meaning and uses The Mystery to destroy her own halo.
- Earn Your Happy Ending:
- The entire story is this for Hina, as she witnessed Sensei's death up-front and, after destroying the Gematria facility of robots, she learned that there is a chance to look for a perfect future where Sensei could be happy. And she succeded with help of Kayoko and... in the very last moment, Shiroko.
- In general, the characters make constant mentions of Jericho, the promised paradise where everyone has their happy endings. Sensei, in a flashback, mentions that this is the kind of world that he wants for all of his students.
- Failure-to-Save Murder:
- Hoshino, completely broken, accuses Hina of not doing everything in her power to save Sensei and letting him die.
- Later, when Hina meets Arona inside the Shittim Chest, the former calls out the latter on not warning Sensei as she was the closest person to him, Arona, in a rage, replies by saying she did try such a simple approach.
- Fantastic Firearms: The Mystery, a supernatural revolver loaded with bullets capable of destroying halos. After Sensei's death, there's no authority over this weapon anymore, so Black Suit takes advantage of this to hand it over to Hina, along with he Shittim Chest, and a subtle hint that It is possible to bring Sensei back. The Mystery was fired only once by Hoshino, who destroyed her own halo after crossing the Despair Event Horizon, indirectly allowing Hina to enter the Shittim Chest.
- Foreshadowing: In one of the reset worlds, Shiroko casually mentions that she had a dream where she shot Sensei. Turns out that Shiroko was the one who shot Sensei as part of the plan to save him.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: A variant: In Part 3, When Hina enters the Shittim Chest via Hoshino destroying her own halo, she learns this from Arona: As the AI of the Shittim Chest and the closest person to Sensei, she has tried to reset the world multiple times in a desperate attempt to save Sensei, but no matter how many times she does it, no matter how many times the world repeats itself, Sensei will always finds his fate one way or another. It isn't until Kayoko comes in with her Crazy-Prepared plan to find the perfect future where Sensei is finally saved.
- Hand Wave: The manga tries to explain why Hina has a habit of closing her left eye: This happened after destroying the Geamtria facility in part 2 where, during the battle, she was thrown head-first against a wall, and was left blind of her left eye.
- The Hero Dies:
- Sensei dies in the first part of the manga.
- When the Ancient Gods descend, there are various instances of this: Neru succumbed to her wounds when trying to stop an awakened Arisu; Tsurugi dies in Mashiro's arms during a battle with Ambrosius: it is implied that Binah killed most of Abydos' Foreclosure Task Force, minus Hoshino who saves Hina from an attack by Makoto.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Happens to Izuna after Mercy-Killing Sensei: she is left in a catatonic state, only breaking down in tears when Hina confronts her.o
- This also happens to Arona, who stopped caring after resetting the world multiple times, and failing to save Sensei.
- Hope Spot:
- After destroying the facility where the Gematria robots were manufactured, Hina trips and falls to the ground, in that exact moment, a pair of adult legs came her way. Hina is smiling with relief at first and raises he head to meet Sensei... only to find Black Suit instead.
- And an even crueler one right at te start, where Izuna has a Big Damn Heroes moment where she puts Sensei in a safe location; then, when Sensei pats her head and compliments her for a good job...BANG! a stray bullet hits him, leaving him in great agony. And then happens again in the second loop, where Izuna meets another student, who promptly shoots him apparently for no reason. Said student turned out to be Shiroko.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: Hina does this to herself: After Sensei's death, she resigns as the pesident of Gehenna's Prefect Team and, when going out of the office, she takes the Pefect Team band off her arm and throws it away.
- Mercy Kill: After being shot and left agonizing, Sensei asks this to Hina, but she's hesitant and instead, desperately plead him to hang in there. It is Izuna who, completely broken, finishes the job.
- One-Man Army: Part 2 shows Hina being this: She alone completely obliterated the facility where the robots that got Sensei were manufactured, athough in the process, she became blind of he left eye.
- Only a Flesh Wound: The final part of Kayoko's plan is to inflict this on Sensei, given that he always ends up dying from a gunshot, a non-fatal wound should be enough to break the cycle. And in the end, it worked thanks to Hina pushing him aside when Shiroko shot him.
- Ret-Gone: Hina resets the world to one where she doesn't exist, but even this proves to be futile, and Sensei ends up dying anyway.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Kayoko is the 1st one to suggest that they've been living in a dream and, when Hina ret-gones herself away, she sill has blurry memories of this student of Gehenna capable of taking on both Problem Solver and Abydos's Foreclosure Task Force at the same time. She is implied to remember every single reset of the world and it turns out that she has been recording every outcome whenever there is a reset. So, she takes advantage of this to enact her plan to save Sensei.
- Stopped Caring: Arona gave up trying to save Sensei after multiple resets. However, she begins trying again when Kayoko pleads Hina to stat a new reset and start her plan to save Sensei.
- Taking the Bullet: Hina attempts this when Shiroko shoots Sensei, however, although she doesn't arrive in time to take the bullet, she's fast enough to push Sensei aside, so he ends up being non-fatally hit on his left shoulder, finally ending the cycle and saving Sensei for good.
- Tears of Joy: After a long and painful journey where Hina did nothing but cry tears of remorse, grief, powerlessness, and even rage, she sheds these after finally breaking the cycle, finding the future where Sensei is saved, thus restoring th world.Hina: I have no regrets, because his happiness is my happpiness.
