The Simulacrum

It was a little after midnight. The only light in my room came from the monitor of my PC, and my face probably looked pretty spooky in its light as I frowned at it in dissatisfaction.

Ugh, fine. I might as well be honest here and admit that I wasn't really frowning at the screen; I'd been doing that for a while even before I turned on the PC. The reason behind my sour mood was actually quite simple, and it was related to a certain lovely yet decidedly naggy girlfriend of mine. She was pretty angry at me when I returned covered in blood, but after I cleaned up and I let her confirm that I was unharmed (or at the very least I had no more injuries than before I left) she calmed down a little.

That calm before the storm naturally lasted precisely until the moment I explained to her that I would be accompanying the weird huntress and her even weirder sword on starlit strolls through the most scenic and romantic parts of the city every night from now on. Her words, not mine, and from that it was easy to understand why I was currently feeling more than a little down. Some might say it was our first outright lover's quarrel, but the way she left, it felt more like a lover's cold war, which was not nearly as benign or amusing.

Anyhow, I shook my head and put the topic aside for the moment. I was sure I'd have to come back to it when I tried to convince Judy that my interest in Rinne was about far from romantic as Proxima Centaury, but for the time being, I had more important things to do. Such as replying to the message right in front of me.

"Admin: Are you serious? No Research Society activity whatsoever?"

After I typed that into the chatbox, it took less than three seconds for someone to respond.

"Morosemoose: I was surprised too."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: THEY MUST BE AFRAID OF THE ARCHMAGE OF THE ISLAND TOO! ＼(º □ º l|l)/"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WOULD KNOW, I LIVE HERE! HE IS SCAAAAARY!!! ( ≧Д≦)"

"Morosemoose: Yeah, I know. The man has a reputation for not tolerating anyone else on his territory."

"Admin: Are you sure we are talking about the same guy?"

"Morosemoose: Pretty sure? The post of the arch-mage is one for life."

"Admin: That still makes no sense. His 'territory' has a mansion full of Draconians in it, and he was making sneaky deals with the Abyssals."

"Admin: Plus, I've heard from a first-hand source that the Research Society was not only on the island, but he's in contact with them."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: WUT MATE!? SERIOUSLY!!!??? ∑(O_O')"

"Morosemoose: I'm a little skeptical too. I've never read anything about that on the forums."

"Admin: You must've heard of the incident at the School a few weeks ago."

"Morosemoose: … Yes?"

"Admin: Did you think the Abyssals causing a ruckus materialized out of nowhere?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HE GOT YOU THERE! (─‿‿─)"

"Morosemoose: To be fair, the mages clamped down on the island pretty hard after the incident, so it's obvious I would be out of the loop. I'm not even on Critias."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BUT I AM! I AM RIGHT HERE! (Oω<>

"Admin: And you didn't provide a single report to the database about what happened."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: SOWWWY…

⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄"

"Morosemoose: Actually, how do YOU know about what happened over there?"

"Admin: I just told you, I have an informant with first-hand information on the events."

"Morosemoose: One of ours?"

"Morosemoose: I've read there was an asset involved in what happened."

"Admin: No, not her. Let's just say it's a third party not directly affiliated with us."

"Morosemoose: ... Is that safe?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YEAH!! BE CAREFUL, ADMIN!!!!!!!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: THE HIGHER UPS ARE ALLERGIC TO OUTSIDERS! (ó﹏ò｡)"

"Admin: Don't worry; my source of information is about as reliable and confidential as I am."

"Morosemoose: Then why didn't you add the info you got from them to the database yet?"

"Admin: Because first I have to come up with a reasonable explanation for how I received the intel in the first place."

"Admin: I don't want to appear compromised to the higher-ups either."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: DON'T WORRY BOSS-MAN!!!!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: IF YOU GET BUSTED, I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR ASSISTANT FOR YOU!!! (❤ω❤)"

"Admin: I won't be, but even if I somehow was busted, you better not."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: (｡T ω T｡)"

I let out a small sigh and readjusted my posture in my seat, and after some hesitation, I also patted down and lightly massaged my injured side. It didn't really hurt per se, but it was itching like crazy, and I didn't dare to actually scratch it lest I would accidentally tear off some scabs and ruin all of Snowy's hard work. The kneading didn't help a lot, so I diverted my attention back to the screen instead.

"Admin: That aside, have you guys found anything related to my other query?"

"Morosemoose: About the woman with the Japanese sword?"

"Morosemoose: I tried to PM some guys I know, but they didn't answer yet. Nothing on my end, sorry."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: OH! OH! I ACTUALLY HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU!!! (´｡• ω •｡`)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I FOUND THIS IN THE ARCHIVED POSTS! I’M SENDING IT OVER!!!! ⊂( ･∀･) 彡=͟͟͞͞ ⌧ "

A few seconds after he wrote that, there was a new notification about a message in my PM box. I opened it, and it contained a single link pointing at one of the archived forum threads of the Hub's slightly more public section, where the average Celestial users, plus some of the more socially active agents, congregated.

I quickly skimmed what was written there, and it turned out to be a fairly straightforward back-and-forth discussion between a handful of users about an encounter one of them had in the past. It was in that user's posts where the keyword 'Onikiri' appeared in relation to… wait for it… a secret clan of demon-hunting ninjas. Yes, I'm dead serious.

From what little information the posts provided, it appeared that they were an off-shoot of some kind of minor, neutral supernatural faction based in the Far East. There was no mention of sentient swords in the discussion, but Onikiri was mentioned as some kind of sacred weapon used for hunting demons, youkai, and whatever other supernatural nasties they came across. If we are at that, apparently the 'clan' mainly consisted of a handful of individuals centered around the current generation's wielder of Onikiri, and when they ran out of monsters to slay in the area they currently occupied, the entire clan would move on to greener pastures.

In conclusion, they were nomadic, monster-exterminating, highly visible ninjas. At least that was new. It would also explain what Rinne was doing here. Or rather, it would clarify some of her motivations, as I already knew she was here to hunt the stray Chimera. Speaking of which, I made a mental note to ask her about where she learned about the Chimera in the first place, as unless this clan of hers had some pretty amazing intelligence network, she showed up too fast for my liking. My bet was on the Arch-mage once again, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and ask anyway. Not that he deserved it.

Anyhow, since it was just a short discussion with some dead links strewn in for good measure, I didn't learn a lot, but it was still better than nothing.

"Admin: It's second-hand information, but it seems trustworthy enough to act as a starting point."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HE-HE-HE! DON'T WORRY ADMIN! I ALREADY HAVE ANOTHER LEAD!! (￣ω￣)"

"Morosemoose: You do?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YUP! I KNOW A GUY WHO KNOWS A GAL WHO KNOWS A GUY WHO SHOULD KNOW AAAAAAALL ABOUT THEM!!!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WILL ASK MY CONTACT TO INTRODUCE ME, AND THEN I WILL INTERROGATE HIM ALL SECRET AGENT LIKE! COOL, HUH? o(>ω

"Admin: Yes, yes, very cool. Good luck with that, and thank you for your hard work."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WAS PRAISED!! YAY!!!! ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧"

I let out a shallow sigh and stretched my back. Maybe it was because of my superficial injuries that were not a big deal at all in any way, but I was already feeling uncomfortably numb in my seat even though it's been less than an hour since I sat down. Because of that, and since it didn't seem like they could show me anything new, I typed:

"Admin: I suppose that's it for today. Thanks for the help, guys."

"Morosemoose: You're welcome, though I couldn't help much."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YOU ARE WELCOME, ADMIN!!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WILL GO TO BED NOW. I HAVE LECTURES IN THE MORNING. BYE-BYE!!! (￣ρ￣)..zzZZ "

"Admin: Sleep well."

"Morosemoose: Goodnight. I should also hit the sack. I had a long day at work."

"Admin: Do that. Admin, out."

"Morosemoose: Bye."

With that brief exchange of farewells over, I closed the Celestial Hub and immediately stood up. It only took a few seconds for my vertical orientation to get my blood to flow all nice and proper, and once my joints were no longer stiff, I decided I might as well go for the whole mile and do some light exercises.

I did just that, starting with a few pushups, but I was always an avid advocate of multitasking, so I didn't let my minds stay idle while my body was moving. For a start, I decided to check on Rinne. I went through a lot of trouble to mark her, so I figured it was about time I capitalized on my efforts. I used my Far Sight without any further delay, but much to my disappointment, I found her quietly sleeping under a pile of blankets in what looked like a modest motel bedroom.

In retrospect I don't even know what I was expecting; it was well after midnight after all. Nonetheless, being cautious was my current motto, so I observed her for a short while, just to be sure before I moved on to the others on my roll call list. The members of our merry little gang were also all in dreamland, so there was nothing to see or say on that front either.

As such, I moved on to our irritating antagonists, starting with everyone's favorite(sic!) asshole Abyssal lord… who was still laying in his bed doing his best dead herring impression. Every time I looked at him like this, I was tempted to hop over and liven up his life a little. I wasn't thinking of anything major, just some silly little pranks to get him to stop staring at the ceiling with those glassy eyes; like replacing all of his medicine with industrial-strength laxatives, or releasing a herd of feral skunks into his bed-chamber, or a pipe bomb filled with sneezing powder. And shrapnel. But mostly sneezing powder.

Unfortunately, my recent agreement with Judy prohibited me from engaging in such activities, as traveling into the heart of the Abyss for 'silly' reasons like that was deemed unsafe, so I had no choice but to cancel my order for a pack of skunks from the local animal shelter. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to order even the weirdest things over the internet…

But I'm kidding, of course. I wasn't so evil to trap those poor skunks in the same room as Crowey; it would be just straight-up animal abuse! Anyways, since the pranks were off the table, I proceeded to observe him for a few minutes, just on the off-chance that some of his minions would conveniently show up to give him a report. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort happened, so I switched over to doing situps and then promptly moved on to my next target.

Said target was, of course, no one else but Dr. Labcoat Guy! I've actually observed his activities over the whole evening, and I had a good grasp on his plans and affiliations, but I figured it never hurt to take one more look, just in case.

Once my vision settled, I immediately tried to close my eyes because of the sudden, sharp light coming from the workbench right in front of me. That was, of course, quite impossible considering that there were no eyes or eyelids involved in the process of observing the scenery, but biological habits die hard.

Once I overcame the first surprise, I took a closer look at my unfamiliar environment. It was similar to the underground room where I marked Mr. Labcoat, except about half the size, and most of the space was taken up by various metalworking tools and equipment. In fact, the place was so cramped with them I wondered how anyone could even safely work there.

"Ki-hi-hi! Almost done!" the person actually working there exclaimed in a voice muffled by the large welder's mask in front of his face. At the moment, Labcoat Guy was standing in front of a large vice attached to one of the workbenches with a welding torch in one hand and a metal brush in the other. In the aforementioned vice, there was a weirdly shaped angular piece of metal with a large hole in the middle, and the man was apparently putting the finishing touches on it.

"My assessment remains unchanged," a second voice chimed in, and when I swiveled my point of view in its direction, I noticed the ridiculously dressed fembot sitting on her heels while facing the corner.

"Silence, Galatea! You are in the timeout corner until you reflect on your behavior," the guy retorted after raising his welding mask, but since she didn't reply, he turned back to the thing in the vice, let his mask back down and then he continued to weld… well, something on it. To be honest, I still had no idea what it was supposed to be. Maybe a post-modern sculpture?

Anyhow, after a few short seconds he raised the mask again, then he used the metal brush in his other hand to quickly clean off the slag from the welding area before he let out a satisfied grunt. He placed his tools onto the bench, and after struggling with the crank for a moment, he successfully removed the object he produced from the grasp of the vice.

"Ki-hi-hi-hi! Look Galatea! It's finished!" he called out in an excited voice while raising the thing over his head like a certain elven purveyor of master swords and green tunics.

"Negative. Master told me to sit in the corner until I've done reflecting. According to the progress bar, I'm only 68% done," the fembot answered with an understandably mechanical shaking of her head.

"Stop being obstinate and look over here already!" Saying so, Labcoat Guy swiftly stuck his head through the hole in the object in his hands, and only then did I realized what it was…!

Well, okay, I admit I still didn't know what the actual name of the thing was supposed to be, but in practice, it looked like a rigid combination of a pair of shoulder pads, a literal chest plate that didn't even reach down to the guy's abdomen, and a tall neck guard that was more like an oversized shirt collar made of metal. All of that was a single piece, with no articulation or any moving parts, and on the surface it appeared it was made of a collection of welded together metal triangles, kind of like a low-polygon model from an old video game.

Once he had it over his shoulders, the guy let out a satisfied chuckle and called out, "You don't have to reflect on things anymore, so turn around already!"

The fembot in the corner let out a series of audible mechanical noises (though I was about ninety percent sure she was making them with her mouth) and then she ultimately replied, "Negative. I believe it's for my own good that I continue to run reflection.exe to completion."

"Stop being obstinate!" Labcoat Guy griped as he walked over with a weird gait, probably because of the extra weight on his shoulders, and he gingerly nudged the android with his feet. "Come on already!"

The absurdly dressed mechanical woman let out a deep sigh and finally stood up and turned around.

"Analyzing new equipment," she stated in a mechanical voice while looking over her master, after which she added, "Impractical to the highest degree," in a truly authoritative tone that managed to bleed through even her synthesized voice.

"It's not impractical!" Labcoat Guy denied with unusual vehemence. "Look! It has neck protection for any future sneak attacks!"

"Error. No sneak attacks necessitating such protection have been found," the fembot countered.

"I told you already! Someone hit me in the back of the neck!" Hilariously enough, he tried to point at the affected area, but because of the construction of his 'protective gear', he couldn't raise his arm high enough, so after some struggling, he simply crossed his arms in front of his chest… which was also foiled by the points and edges on the chest-plate segment, so at last he let out a defeated sigh and whispered, "MkI suffers from some design flaws, I should work them out in MkII…"

In the meantime, the android looked over her master one more time and ultimately asked him, "Master?"

"Hm? Yes?"

"Do you intend to wear this tomorrow?"

Labcoat Guy didn't answer right away, instead he glanced over to the large clock on the wall.

"It's getting late, so I won't be able to make the MkII version today, which means I'll have to."

"Understood," she nodded and extended her hands towards him. "Please hand over the protective equipment. I will perform the final adjustment so that master can go to bed."

"You want to do that?" he inquired with a faint hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Affirmative. Sleep deprivation may negatively affect tomorrow's operation."

"You're not wrong about that…" he muttered as he awkwardly lifted the completely impractical spaulder/neck guard hybrid over his head. "Can I really leave this to you?"

"Affirmative," she repeated with a firm nod, and after just a bit more hesitation he handed it over to her.

"All right. To be honest, I'm feeling a little drowsy, and I have to be in my best condition for tomorrow!" As he said that, the corners of Labcoat Guy's lips quickly curled into an eager smile and he simultaneously began to rub his palms together in a very dastardly display. "Tomorrow Endymonion's granddaughter will be there as well! Ki-hi-hi! I should make sure to leave an impression!"

"I'm sure master will leave a very deep one," she encouraged him, though I could, probably due to spending so much time with my own deadpan companion, detect a distinct sarcastic edge in her words.

"Very well! I'm going to bed now! See you in the morning!"

"Good night, master," the fembot replied with a small nod, and the moment her master turned around and headed towards the exit, she immediately walked over to the cabinet in the corner filled with various, brightly colored painting cans.

I had a good idea of what she was planning, but since Labcoat Guy was steadily getting out of 'range', I decided to cut my strategic observation of them for the day. As it happened, this also coincided with the moment I finished with my light workout routine for the day. I actually felt strangely refreshed, and even my wounds didn't itch so much anymore.

I looked over myself, and after a brief moment of hesitation, I decided that, while it meant I would have to change some of my bandages, it was best I cleaned myself up a little. After that… well, today was incredibly long and hectic, so I figured I would try to relax a little, at least as much as I could. Not being able to sleep had its downsides from time to time…

"Good morning!" I was greeted by a sunny smile as I approached the gates of the Dracis mansion in the silent company of Judy and Snowy. The princess skipped over to me and gave me a ribcage-creaking bear hug made only marginally more bearable by her unreservedly pressing her squishier bits against me, completely disregarding the fact that the entire household was watching her. I'm not going to lie, the whole 'being greeted by a small crowd in front of the gates during our morning commute' thing gave me a serious case of déja vu, but I ignored the sentiment and just smiled at my unusually eager girlfriend.

"Good morning," I responded to her, then turned to the entire extended family and asked, "Is there a problem?"

Mama and Papa Dracis glanced at each other very meaningfully, but it was the annoying butler standing by their side that eventually spoke up and gave me an answer.

"The young lady told us she had a rather peculiar encounter yesterday," he told me while making honest to goodness air quotes around the world 'peculiar'. "We were curious if you wanted to comment on the events."

I rewarded Sebastian's forthcoming attitude with a curiously raised brow, and after a moment of consideration, I gently separated myself from the girl still hugging my waist and told him, "You mean the guy in the lab coat and the stupid robots, right? Don't worry, I already got them in my palm."

"You do?" Elly blurted out in surprise.

"Yup," I told her with a combination of a wink and a totally charming smile, if I do say myself. She must've appreciated the effort (not that I practiced it in the mirror this morning or anything), as her cheeks actually became a bit flushed, but this time they were more 'rosy' than her usual beet redness. It was a pretty cute reaction, all things considered.

"Are they a threat?" Mama Dracis interrupted in a stern voice, which kind of ruined our moment, but I didn't really blame her.

"Do you want me to be frank?" It was a rhetorical question, but she gave me a pretty intense nod, so I immediately told her, "They probably pose more threat to themselves than to us. For the time being, they can be safely left alone. If they become an actual hazard to any of us, including you, I'll contact you and we can just smash their base at our convenience."

Lady Emese blinked in surprise, then stated, "So they really are in the palm of your hands."

"Would I lie about this?" I responded with a tiny little smirk.

"What about the swordswoman?" she continued her impromptu interrogation right away.

"Oh, I've got her under control too," I told her maybe a smidgen too cheekily, as my silent assistant let out an irritated huff behind me. I continued to ignore her for the time being, and instead I said, "I made contact with her yesterday, and now I'm sure she is not affiliated with the knights. She is more of a nomadic monster slayer ninja or something. I'm still working on the particulars, but the important thing is that I'm keeping her under close surveillance and that she doesn't seem to pose a threat to any of you."

The lady of the household gave me a long, hard look as if she was trying to determine whether she can trust my word, but she eventually let out a long breath and told me, "I see you've been working hard."

"Of course he has!" Papa Dracis suddenly cut in, accompanied by a hearty chuckle. "I told you there's nothing to worry about!"

"I believe you should actually worry a bit more about this young man's motives and capabilities," Sebastian chimed in while pointedly shaking his head.

"Oh Sebastian, don't be so negative!" the Dracis patriarch exclaimed while patting the old butler hard on the back. In fact, he did it so hard that I was pretty sure a normal person would've probably fallen on their face from the impact, but the old butler endured it without moving at all, like an annoying, snooty mountain. "If you cannot trust your own family, then who can you trust!?"

"He is not part of our family yet," Mama Dracis countered with a frown, but her husband completely ignored her and he turned to me instead.

"Speaking of which! Son, when are you coming over for dinner? I had my top men put together one of those fancy-pants website things you proposed, and I want to see what you think about it before we make it live!" He stopped here for a very meaningful pause, and then coyly added, "It's your project after all!"

"Project?"

"What project?"

Elly and her mother both blurted out in surprise at once. Since Abram was too busy chuckling to himself to answer, I decided to do it in his stead.

"After your father complained about how the record company's sales are down, I offered him a business proposal and invested some of my money into an online music distribution service."

"You invested in our business?" Lady Emese inquired with a somewhat dazed expression.

"Yes. It was the majority of my savings, but I think it's better to invest my money rather than to just let it collect dust in my account." Now it was my turn to pause meaningfully here, during which I flashed a confident smile at Papa Dracis and finished with, "And what better place is there to invest in but the family business?"

It was at this point that my self-proclaimed father-in-law stopped chuckling and began straight up hooting with laughter as he walked back to his wife's wheelchair and placed one large hand onto her shoulder.

"I told you, honey! Our daughter has an amazing eye for men! She must have inherited it from you!"

"I don't know about that," Lady Emese grumbled as she pointedly looked the other way, but at the same time she gently placed her own hand on top of her husband's. Why do I have a feeling these two used to be one of those absurdly adorable clumsy couples when they were younger?

Anyhow, I lightly shrugged my shoulders and told Abram, "I'll be busy after school, but I think I should be able to come over tonight."

"Great!" he exclaimed with a toothy grin. "Sebastian? Tell the staff to prepare a feast!"

I left the Dracis family to their impromptu dinner preparations and said my goodbyes, following which our little group turned around and happily continued on our merry way to school… for about half a minute, until the princess unsubtly tugged on my sleeve.

"Hey, Leo? Why's Judy mad at you?" she inquired with all the innocence of a baby driving a pick-up truck through a china shop.

"What makes you think she is mad at me?" I asked back without giving anything away yet.

"She looks like it," she answered seriously. "She also doesn't talk to you. Did you do something to make her angry?"

"Maybe?" I replied a little sheepishly as I theatrically scratched the back of my neck.

"Not maybe, definitely," Judy, walking a couple of paces ahead of us with Snowy, finally spoke up without looking our way, her voice about as icy as it was the day before. "Why don't you tell her what happened yesterday?"

"I might as well," I told her with a cheery grin, even though she couldn't see it. "Listen, princess, I actually found the base of the guys who attacked you yesterday on the way home."

"Don't forget to mention that you got severely injured in the process," my assistant chimed in again while still looking the other way.

"You were?" Elly's voice rose a pitch in alarm as she looked me over and took note of the scuffs on my face.

"Yes, but not severely," I objected. "They are just scrapes. I'll have Angie cast a healing spell on me and I'll be as good as new."

"Oh, that's good," the princess deflated with a sigh of relief. "But then why is she angry with you?"

"It's because of the next part," Judy fumed, urging me to continue.

"Right. After that, I made contact with the huntress we talked about before."

"And?" Judy prompted me.

"And I resolved our differences," I responded.

"And then?" Judy prompted me, again.

I let out an exasperated sigh and finally admitted, "And then I agreed to hunt the stray Chimera with her," in a morose voice.

"And that is why I'm mad," my dear assistant concluded before she glanced over to Elly and added, "And you should be too."

"Why? You don't want him to hunt the Chimera?" she asked back, genuinely confused, before she looked at me. "Is it going to be dangerous? Do you need help?"

"That's not the problem," Judy grumbled as she finally slowed down and fell in line next to the two of us, and then she grabbed the princess and told her, "The Chief arranged to have clandestine meetings with the hunter woman from now on."

"Wouldn't just the fact that I told you about it mean that they are not clandestine?" I asked while showing off my slowly advancing mastery of raising only a single incredulous eyebrow.

"Hush Chief, I'm incriminating you," Judy retorted with a hint of impatience in her voice.

"I noticed, that's why I'm interrupting you."

She finally looked at me, and when I told her I wasn't going to budge on the issue by wiggling my brows a bit more, she ultimately relented and told Elly, "Fine. The Chief is having non-clandestine dates with the hunter woman from now on."

"They are not dates either," I protested once again.

"A man and a woman setting an appointment for going into town together. What do you call that?"

"By our recently developed standards, that would be an 'outing', but in this particular case, it's closer to a hunting trip," I told her straight away.

"You're just playing with words now," my assistant huffed before she turned to my other girlfriend. "What do you think? It's a date, no matter how we look at it."

"Don't answer your own question," I chided her, but in the meantime, Elly actually put some thought into her reply.

"Are you attracted to her?" she leveled the question at me, and I immediately shook my head.

"No. There is a slight chance that she is interested in me, but I mainly find her annoying and want her gone. That's why I try to help her hunt down the Chimera, so she would go away."

"And you're not going to do anything… um… lewd with her, right?" she asked the next question, this time a little more hesitantly.

"Definitely not," I told her forcefully. "Even we haven't done any lewding, why would I even think about doing it with someone else?"

"That's still not a word," Judy whispered beside us, but she was summarily ignored by the dragon girl in our midst.

"It's okay then," Elly stated with a relieved smile.

"It's okay?" my assistant repeated after her with an extra wooden voice.

"Yes," she gave a huge nod and explained, "Leo already promised that he is not interested in anyone else, and he is not physically attracted to her either. I trust his words, so I'm certain he won't cheat on us."

I gave the beaming blonde girl a surprised look, and after I overcame it I turned to the other girl and told her, "You see, Judy? Elly actually trusts me. Why can't you do the same?"

"Because…" she began to answer, but her words, probably due to the crossfire of our gazes, got lost somewhere along the way and they came out as a heavy sigh instead.

I decided to capitalize on the moment, hence I carefully pulled Elly away so that I could wedge myself between the two of them and I grabbed hold of Judy's hand.

"Come on Dormouse. I already told you I don't care about other girls. We are going to hunt some Chimera spawn, and once we are done, she'll be out of our collective hair for good. There's absolutely nothing romantic or adulterous in our arrangement. Please stop being jealous for no reason and just give me the benefit of the doubt already."

"That's right," Elly unexpectedly backed me up. "You have to trust your partner. Mother always said that a stable relationship is built upon mutual trust, so you have to trust your partner even if he is a good-for-nothing oaf who cannot read the mood even if it killed him!"

"Wait a sec, she actually said that?" I muttered in surprise, and she responded with a huge nod.

"Yes, word for word!" the princess declared rather proudly for some reason. "She also told me that for skirt chasers, it is best to give them boundless trust no matter the situation until the point they would feel too guilty to even look at other women, let alone marry them using their family's stupid customs for justification."

"Wow," I exhaled with a mix of awe and dread. "Your mother is a formidable woman."

"Women have to be formidable themselves to hold onto a formidable man," she told me with that smug little smirk of hers.

"You see, Judy? You should follow Elly's mother's example and trust me."

My dear assistant turned to me with conflicted eyes, but at last she squeezed my hand and said, "No flirting during the dates."

"They are not dates, and no, I won't be flirting at all. I won't even buy her a snack this time."

"This time?" Elly suddenly cut in, her brows already in a surprised frown. "You bought her snacks?"

"Yeah. It was to distract her so that I could get away from her when I first met her."

"Oh, I see," she muttered in relief. Hey, weren't you the one who said you would trust me no matter what? Why do you sound like you doubted me right away?

"You are only going to track the Chimera," Judy wrestled my attention back by making another statement.

"Yes. No dilly-dallying around the city, just tracking some monsters. All business, no fun whatsoever."

"And you are going to stay safe."

"Yes, perfectly. I'll let the creepy woman and her stupid crazy sword do all the dirty work, and I'll stay completely out of the fighting. Scout's honor."

It was blindingly obvious that Judy wasn't one hundred percent satisfied with my heartfelt promises, but after a long moment of silence she actually sidled closer to me and even entwined her arm with mine.

"Fine," she said with just a tiny hint of sulking still infused in her voice. "I decided I'll trust you one last time."

"You say that like I've ever betrayed your trust before…"

"You told me you would be careful, and yet you came back home covered in blood," she retorted, and I couldn't help but conspicuously glance away.

"Um… Yeah. I really should've thought that through before I entered the room like that. I'm sorry for scaring you guys… but on the other hand, I wasn't actually hurt, so does it actually count?"

"Yes, it does," Judy stressed while squeezing my hand even harder.

"Okay, then I'll make sure not to get bloodied and come back home looking like a horror show either."

"You better," she still grumbled, but I had a hunch that we were over the roughest part of our quarrel. I momentarily considered using the opportunity to tease her a little, but then my attention was quite literally grabbed by the princess taking hold of my free arm.

"Today I have the right side," she declared with a smile, which actually made me wonder. Did they even ration out who would grab which of my arms? Wasn't that going a little too far?

I didn't really have the opportunity to ponder that either though, as once she noticed we were huddled together, Snowy also slowed her pace and let us catch up to her.

"Is everything all right now?" she timidly asked as she looked over us.

"Did you go ahead to give us some space to talk?" I ventured an educated guess, and she nodded without hesitation.

"I shouldn't have?"

"No, you did good," I reassured her with my brotherliest smile. "Remind me to give you a head pat once my hands aren't occupied."

"Y-You don't have to…" she protested, though a little feebly, prompting me to turn my single-eyebrow-raising technique on her.

"You don't like it?"

"It's not that… it's just embarrassing…" she muttered while refusing to meet my eyes.

I let out a merry little chuckle and told her, "Okay, then you will get a private head pat for being such a good little sister."

"You are spoiling her," Judy told me in a flat, almost disinterested voice that told me she was probably picking a fight just to get my attention.

"I told you, little sisters exist to be spoiled," I responded to her in the company of an irreverent smirk. "You should know, you are probably giving her more head pats than I do."

"Should I give it a try too?" the princess wondered aloud with an uncertain expression, bringing our developing rapport to a screeching halt. When she noticed we were giving her blank looks, she hastily clarified, "I mean, she is going to be my sister-in-law soon, right? If Judy is already petting her all the time, shouldn't I do it too? Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair."

"So you want to pet my sister?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"… Weren't you the one who repeatedly tried to tackle her and chase her away just a few months ago?" I teased her, and my draconic girlfriend's face immediately flushed in a familiar shade of crimson.

"That was a long time ago, and it doesn't matter! We are family now, so the situation is completely different!"

"We are technically not a family yet," Judy objected using a familiar set of words, probably out of habit.

"But we're almost, and that makes building skinship even more important."

"Kinship," I corrected her.

"That too," she nodded without getting a clue. I let out a shallow breath and addressed my sister.

"What do you say?"

"Uuuu…" Snowy hesitated at first, but after looking eye to eye with Elly for a few seconds, she ultimately said, "I… I think it's going be really awkward, but I don't mind."

"Good!" the princess declared with gusto and she immediately tried to reach out for my sister's head, but she skillfully dodged her hand and immediately backpedaled.

"N-Not in public!" she cried out, but as she did so, my overly enthusiastic draconic girlfriend let go of me and chased after her.

I stifled my chuckles and, along with my other girlfriend muttering something along the lines of 'So noisy so early in the morning', I continued onwards towards yet another day that promised to be just as eventful as the day before, but with one crucial difference: this time, I was prepared for... well, maybe not anything, but close enough.

"Morning," I greeted Josh when I reached my desk.

"Hi," he returned the greeting with a lazy wave of his hand, not even bothering to change his slacker posture in his seat. "You're late."

"I had to pick up the girls on the way, and we kind of lost track of time," I explained myself as I put my bag down onto the desk.

"Go ahead and explode, you normie," he told with an annoying grin plastered on his face, and I automatically rolled my eyes.

"That was not only a tired old meme, but it also isn't even applicable to me. F minus, see me after class."

My friend let out a mild, noncommittal chuckle and deflected by asking me, "Speaking of your girlfriends," he said while putting an obnoxious amount of emphasis on the 's' at the end of the word, "where are they? I didn't see them come in."

"Judy said she had to go to the toilet. As for Elly, she is probably still pestering my sister."

"Pestering?" He raised a rather elegant skeptical brow, as if just to mock my own efforts in the field of eyebrow-raisoligy, but I refused to let it bother me. "Are they fighting again?"

"Nah. If anything, they are too friendly." Josh still looked skeptical, so I dismissed him with a quiet 'you will get it when you see it' whispered under my breath as I sat down. "What about Angie and the class rep? I'm not seeing them anywhere," I inquired while deliberately glancing around.

"They left to get some papers for the teacher," he said as he slouched even lower in his chair. "Something about a questionnaire about the cultural festival before Christmas I think."

"Wait, we have cultural festivals?" I blurted out a surprised question the moment it surfaced in my mind, and Josh responded with a firm nod.

"Yeah, it's before winter break," he clarified while finally returning into a more sensible sitting position. "If it goes like last year, then first we'll have an open day on Thursday, where the parents sit in during classes, then the actual cultural festival happens on Friday, where every class has to set up a stall or an attraction, and then on Saturday evening we are going to have the Christmas ball."

"Really? Sounds like it will be a busy weekend."

"Yeah," Josh spoke with a tired sigh. "Last year we had a haunted house in the classroom. It was okay. I only had to move the sets with the other guys," he reminisced with a nostalgic smile, but then his expression quickly clouded over and he added, "but then I had sore muscles all over and could barely move the next morning, and then Angie got mad at me because I couldn't accompany her to the Christmas ball."

"So it's like a prom?"

"Something like that," Josh shrugged.

"And Angie invited you to it?"

"Yeah. She said something about how she couldn't bear the thought of her childhood friend being a wallflower at the ball, so she would sacrifice herself and accompany me even if it would completely mess up her plans for the evening. Then, when I couldn't go because I could barely walk, she refused to talk to me for a week. Girls can be weird sometimes."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," I wrote off my friend's denseness-induced misconceptions with a slow shake of my head, but then I fell silent for a moment as I ruminated on an idea. "Say, Josh? Now that we are speaking about girls being angry at us and whatnot, can I actually ask you for a bit of advice?" I asked him in the end after long and arduous consideration.

Granted, asking him of all people in regards of women-troubles might have sounded monumentally dumb, probably because it was, but I had to consider my options, and since my only other male 'friends', by a loose definition of the word, were a giant half-ram muscleman and the father of one of my girlfriends, said options were rather limited for this kind of discussion. As such, I decided to bite the bullet and ask Joshua, sink or swim. I mean, even a dense clock is right twice a day, so it was at least worth a shot.

"Sure," he answered without hesitation. "If I can help, I will." He momentarily paused here and then hastily added, "However, I cannot promise I won't make fun of you in the process."

"How gracious of you to warn me ahead of time," I grumbled aloud, yet my friend only gave me a toothy smile in return. I let out a small sigh and ultimately said, "So, here's the deal: yesterday I went out and tracked down the guys who ambushed you in the afternoon, during which I got a tiny bit injured. Nothing major."

"Oh," Josh responded by once again raising a supremely executed, curiously raised eyebrow. "I was meaning to ask about the band-aid on your face."

"Yeah, I'll have Angie take care of that…" I muttered, then after a momentary pause I added, in a tired whisper, "Geez, just how many times have a repeated this explanation already…?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nah, I'm just grumbling," I told Josh while shaking my head. "Where were we?"

"The point where you got injured," he clarified.

"Right, there. Okay, so here's the thing: After I came back home, Judy got really mad at me. As in, genuinely angry. We already made up, I think, but it still bothers me." Josh gave me a look that told me he still didn't get my point, so I decided to be blunt. "To put it simply, I get her reasons. She doesn't want me to get hurt. I can see her point, as I don't want me to get hurt either. I mean, duh, right?"

"Right," Josh nodded, though he still seemed a little lost.

"So now that we are clear on that, I also get why she was mad at me. I think it's something called 'anger born of worry' or somesuch; you might've heard about it? Anyhow, I really don't want Judy to be angry with me, but I already know that I'll inevitably have to take risks in the future, which means she will get angry over it. However, if I don't take such risks, then we might get blind-sided by even bigger threats, and if I get hurt then, she will be just as angry with me, made even worse by the fact that others can also get hurt on top of that. It's a total Catch 22, I tell you."

"And how exactly can I help you with this?" Josh finally cut in, and based on his still confounded expression, my explanation of the problem was less than stellar.

I took a deep breath, tried to reiterate my point, but in the end I just deflated with a sigh and told him, "Honestly, I don't know. I'm open to any and all suggestions."

"Hm," Josh let out a low noise and he pondered for a couple of seconds. "You said that you'll inevitably have to take risks. Are you sure about that?"

"Let's just say that there are things only I can do, meaning I must do them myself," I told him a tad bit cryptically.

"Okay, then why don't you try to keep it a secret from her?"

I gave my friend a cutting glare and replied, "That's just a recipe for a disaster. Don't even joke about it."

"Fine, fine! No need to bite my head off, geez..." Josh had an annoyed grimace on his face, but it only lasted for a second or two, soon to be replaced by a contemplative expression more fitting our discussion. "So you can't hide it and you can't avoid it. Can't you at least lessen the risk of whatever this thing is that only you can do?" I gestured for him to continue this train of thought, and after taking in a shallow breath he leaned closer and told me in a whisper, "For example, when we were ambushed yesterday, the girls told me to stay safe, but I couldn't just sit still while they fought those Sprocket robots. I didn't want to get in their way, since they are obviously way more experienced in this kind of situation than I am, so in the end I stayed back and only used the wind blast spell that Lili taught me to support them as much as I could."

"And how exactly is that applicable to my situation?" I asked the million Jen question.

"I can't put it into words well," he muttered on while scratching the back of his neck. "What I'm trying to say, I think, is that if you already know that you'll be in danger, and others want to keep you out of it, but you can't afford to do so, then you should show her that you are trying to lessen it with your actions. Like, if you know you are going to be in a situation where you might get injured, then get some padded clothes or armor or something to show that you are aware of the danger and you are doing your best to mitigate it. That way Judy will be less worried, and even if you do get injured, you can point at it to prove that you tried your best to avoid it."

"That's... actually some really good advice," I mumbled as I digested his words.

"Is it?" he asked back a little sheepishly. "I still don't think I managed to put my ideas into words properly."

"No, I understand your point perfectly," I reassured him with a genuine smile. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it," he replied with an honest smile of his own, but then it immediately turned mischievous when he added, "But if you really want to thank me, you could always treat me to some foie gras."

That was the point where my smile vanished faster than a toupee in a hurricane.

"Don't tell me we actually have that in the cafeteria..."

"We sure do!" he told me with a toothy grin. "How about we have lunch there for a change?"

"We can't," a new voice denied his suggestion, and quite harshly at that, making Josh jump in his seat in surprise.

"Hi, class rep," I casually greeted the sneaky newcomer. "Are you sure you are a mage and not a ninja?"

The class rep hastily glanced around and then reprimanded me with a low, "We are in public."

"Nobody is paying attention to us. Also, let's backtrack a bit first. Why can't we eat in the cafeteria again?"

"It's not about food," she told me firmly. "We need to meet on the rooftop during lunch break. I have important things to discuss."

"Such as?" Josh asked back with a glint of curiosity in his eyes, but he was quickly shut down by Ammy.

"Not here. Too many onlookers," she told us in a hushed voice. "Let me repeat this, just to be clear: don't go to the cafeteria, we must all meet up on the roof."

Her insistence was a little suspicious, but at the same time she sounded sincere enough, so after a moment of hesitation (which she obviously noticed) I gave her a big nod.

"All right. Lunch on the roof then," I confirmed, and only then did she stop frowning at me.

"Also, stop talking about things you should not talk about in public, while in public," she warned me, and then she turned around and headed for her desk. I followed her with my eyes for a few seconds, then I let out a deep breath and glanced over my shoulder back at Josh.

"… What are you doing?" I inquired after taking in the sight of my friend looking into the invisible distance with a look of sorrow in his eyes.

"I really wanted to try foie gras," he answered with a despondent voice, prompting me to let out a groan in response.

"I'm happy to see you are back to normal after all that happened recently, but I didn't miss your obsessions with using me to pay for your overpriced food."

"It's not overpriced!" Josh denied my words with such vehemence it even startled me. "Authentic foie gras is made from the livers of French Mullard ducks specifically bred from this purpose and fattened up by gavage! It's one of the world's foremost delicacies!"

"Just one question," I interrupted as I pointed my palms towards him to keep Josh at bay. "What the hell is a 'gavage'?"

"Oh, that's just the French word for force-feeding the ducks with a feeding tube," he explained as matter-of-factly as if it was common trivia.

"Isn't that animal abuse?"

"I suppose," he admitted, albeit a little reluctantly. "I've heard it's illegal to make it at most places, and that's why it costs so much to import foie gras."

"In other words, its supply is low, so it's overpriced," I concluded, and Josh gave me such a hurt look in return that I couldn't help but shake my head and add, "Fine, I will buy you some artificially fattened Mallard liver or something. Are you happy now?"

"It's Mullard, but yes," he told me with a shit-eating grin.

I let out an only ever so slightly exasperated sigh and then turned away from Josh. As they say, the more things change, the more they remain the same…

"The weather is surprisingly mild today," I noted to no one in particular as we walked under the metal doorframe of the rooftop access and into the open.

"I'm still a little cold," Judy told me as she very deliberately shortened the distance between the two of us while we still kept walking side by side. I already knew what that meant, so I stifled a low chuckle and gently wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her even closer. She let me do so without any complaints, and she might've even breathed out a comfortably little sigh in the process as well.

"Does this mean you are officially no longer angry with me?" I playfully asked her, and my dearest assistant let out a huff in return.

"It just means I'm colder than I'm angry right now," she retorted and pointedly turned her face away from me.

"Dooooormooouse…?" I cajoled her for a second, but since she only huffed in indignation made entirely transparent by the fact she was still sticking to me like my shadow, I continued with, "I already promised I'll be a good boy. Can you forgive me please?"

My girlfriend glanced up at me and was immediately taken (or shocked, one or the other) by my best puppy-eyes impression and, at last, she relented by saying, "Fine. You are on probation until further notice; just stop giving me the bedroom eyes."

"What? These are not bedroom eyes!" I protested with all the righteous indignation of the falsely accused.

"So you are telling me you are not interested in me? Probation extended."

"Aw, come on. Not this again…"

Fortunately it was around this time that Angie and Elly also exited the roof access and so I quickly greeted them before my dear probation officer could find more reasons to roast me. However, before I could get a word in, the princess suddenly pointed a familiar (and lately rather rare) accusatory finger at the girl clinging to me.

"Hey! We agreed that today's my turn!" she exclaimed as she made her way over to me and grabbed hold of my free hand, a process which was made slightly more complicated than necessary by the large, multi-layered lunchbox she had in her other hand.

"The early bird catches the Chief," my assistant stated with the verbal equivalent of a disinterested shrug.

"But I couldn't get here earlier because I had to bring our lunch!" My draconic girlfriend's protests were further emphasized by her waving the large box around like it was weightless.

"Oh, right. In that case, I suppose you are entitled to your share of cuddling," Judy declared as if it was obvious.

"So? Why aren't you letting go of Leo's right side yet?"

"It's cold," she stated again as she nuzzled even closer to me.

"It's not! It's actually…" Elly began, but then a moment later her eyes lit up and he declared in high spirits, "I mean, yes, it's obviously cold! Brrr! Leo, warm me up too!"

Before I could respond in any shape or form, she practically flung herself at my chest, almost throwing all of us off-balance. Thankfully my well-honed girl-catching reflexes didn't let me down, and I managed to grab hold of her and pull her into a one-handed embrace.

"Careful there. If you want to snuggle, just say so. I'm big enough for two."

It was at this point that my ears picked up a series of snickers coming from nearby and I glanced up towards their source.

"Awww… You guys are so cute together!" Angie teased us with her usual wild abandon that knew not the face of mercy, her sharp words cutting into my fragile emotions like not particularly sharp things cutting into not particular solid stuff, and a long story short, my face might or might not have gotten a tiny little bit flushed. Thankfully there was no photographic evidence, so I could easily deny it to my grave.

Anyhow, I glanced around the empty rooftop, with only our slowly swelling group on it, and I couldn't help but wonder aloud.

"Where is the class rep? Wasn't she the one who really wanted us to come here?"

"Last I saw her, she was going down to the basement," the princess told me with her head still buried in my chest. "I saw her through the first-floor window," she hastily clarified, though she didn't really need to.

"And what about the others?"

"Josh went down the stairs to get Neige. They should be here any moment," Angie answered my question while glancing over her shoulder, and lo and behold, it was the moment when the two missing sheep have returned to the flock.

"Hi guys," Josh greeted us as if we haven't seen each other in a while. "Hey, Leo? Did you know that the cafeteria offers packaged meals that we can take home? Even for premium menus? Just sayin'."

He accentuated his last sentence by a frankly cheesy wink, and I couldn't help but let out a soft groan at the sight.

"You will get your stupid up-marked duck liver, okay? Stop pestering me already!"

"It's not stupid." Josh's retort was lacking in impact, and for the better, I'd say, as I really didn't want to get into another argument about his culinary tastes at the moment. Afterwards he also glanced around and asked, "Where's Ammy?"

"Good question," I replied under my breath.

In the meantime, Elly finally slipped out of my embrace and she, along with Snowy, began to unpack her lunchboxes onto a nearby bench. The morning bonding session apparently worked unexpectedly well, as the two of them were getting along swimmingly.

We spent the next couple of minutes with inconsequential small talk about schoolwork and other mundane things, carefully avoiding anything related to the supernatural zaniness suffusing our lives as of late. I'm not going to lie; it felt really nice to just chat about random stuff instead of any heavy topics. But then, of course, such a nice, cozy atmosphere couldn't have lasted long, as just around the time when we were about to sit down and start snacking from the lunchboxes (they were big, but not big enough for six meals for six people), the access door abruptly opened, revealing an entirely expected face in the process.

"Why is the roof so high?" The first words coming out of the heaving class rep's mouth were somewhat baffling, but not as much as the large, matte silver briefcase she was carrying using both of her arms. It was the kind that you would see in one of those tacky TV game shows, the ones that would stand-in for money with big numbers written on them. Anyhow, it looked pretty heavy, and I was about to walk over and help her carry it, but Josh beat me to the punch.

She gave the guy a shy, appreciative smile in return. It was an expression she hadn't shown me for ages, and I was entirely happy about that. I could do with a little less scowling though. Anyhow, for some reason she took out a large key and she promptly locked the only door to the roof, which inevitably raised a few eyebrows, including mine.

"Everyone's here. Good." Her eyes swept across our group clustered around the bench, and it looked like she was about to continue when her gaze snapped back and she muttered a confused, "What are you doing?"

"… Are you talking to me?" Elly asked while using one hand to point at herself. Her other hand, at the moment, was quite occupied with petting a certain younger sister of mine.

"Of course I'm talking to you," Ammy stressed with an expression that hovered in the borderlands between baffled and exasperated and she ultimately squeezed out, "Why are you… why are you stroking her head?"

"Oh, that? It's for building kinship," she stated like it was the most natural thing in the world. "You should try it, it's amazing! When you do it, it's like all your worries in the world melt away!"

"Really?" Angie suddenly chimed in from the side, her eyes all but sparkling with interest. "Can I try it too?"

Elly sent me a questioning gaze, so I told them, "Don't look at me. Ask Snowy if she minds or not."

"Uuuaa…" My little sister was apparently in a tight spot for a moment, but at last she nodded, and without any further ado, the Celestial girl immediately trotted over to her side and began tousling her hair, prompting her to let out another soft sound.

"You have to be gentler," Elly chided her as she moved Angie's hand away and straightened Snowy's hair a little. "You have to do it like this," she instructed her, and after following her lead, the resident hyperactive girl let out a soft giggle.

"You are right, it's strangely calming."

"It's the magic of little sisters," I told them with a sagely nod.

"Hey, Josh! You have to try this!" Angie prompted her somewhat uncomfortable childhood friend, but before he could do or say anything, the class rep cleared her throat so loud I was afraid she hurt herself in the process.

"Please stop that and pay attention to me. This is important."

After she gained everyone's attention (with maybe the exception of Angie, who was for some reason still rubbing my sister's head), Ammy dramatically pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and stated, "Just yesterday, you were attacked by an unknown group!"

For a few seconds there was a kind of awkward silence hanging in the air, but since everyone seemed too confused to say anything, I decided to break the ice by a rather subdued, "So?"

Ammy glanced at me while doing that thing where she somehow managed to adjust her glasses in a way it felt more menacing than staring a Faun in the eye and she said, "How can you all be this carefree just a day after the fact?!"

"It wasn't that big a deal though," Elly muttered while casually plucking a piece of fried fish from one of the boxes on the impromptu table. "Not to mention, Leo already has them in his palm."

"Figuratively speaking," I hastily added, but I still received a withering frown from the class rep all the same.

"Stop joking around. Whoever these people are, they pose a real threat. Just the fact that they managed to operate on the island without our School's knowledge means they must be well-organized and dangerous, and they are probably after Joshua."

I had my objections on the tip of my tongue, but after some consideration, I ultimately swallowed them back down. I was curious about where she was going with this, so I subtly prompted her to continue. For some odd reason she kept eyeing me in a blatantly suspicious manner, but when I didn't say anything, she finally seemed to resolve herself to continue.

"So, as I was saying, we are facing an unknown threat that could strike us at any moment. I talked with grandfather about this, and while he said we cannot afford to spare any School personnel to guard you 24/7, he allowed me to use the resources of the artificer department."

"You mean those weird guys with the glowing orb?" Josh cut in, and for once his dreaded critical brow of skeptical incredulity was pointed at someone else other than myself.

Now as I thought about it, the last (and only) time we visited the School under the school, the rest of the gang took a guided tour of the facilities while I was having my discussion with a certain smug Arch-mage in his chambers. I had Judy describe the place, and the most vivid part of her report concerned the huge circular chamber with a giant floating orb of some blue material in the middle surrounded by concentric circles of workbenches. Her description actually sounded strangely sci-fi, and so it left a bit of an impression on me.

Anyhow, Ammy turned to Josh and countered his eyebrow with her patented adjustment of her glasses and she forcefully stated, "They are not weird. They are very nice people, and they are also very passionate about their work."

"Yes, but they talked weird and they wanted to take Lili's blood and even took all kinds of measurements," Josh continued his argument unabated.

"Indeed," the class rep nodded as if she was waiting for him to say that and she picked up the metal briefcase by her feet. "It was for this." Saying so, she clumsily undid the simple locks and opened up the lid of the case.

The inside was padded with a kind of spongy black material, and embedded in it were five small objects. At first glance, they looked like oversized toy wristwatches made of some cheap plastic, and each of them was colored differently and… and…

"Oh no…" I whispered under my breath, but no one heard me.

"We've already discussed the inconvenience that barriers pose when transforming in the past," the class rep spoke to the group, completely disregarding my probably quite shocked appearance.

"Exploding clothes?" Josh ventured a guess, and she nodded with approval.

"Precisely. Since we could be attacked at any moment, it's important that you'd be able to respond immediately without having to worry about your modesty being compromised."

"So you brought us watches?" Elly inquired as she leaned forward to inspect the items in question.

"They are not watches," Ammy denied while she walked over and set the whole briefcase onto the bench beside the lunch box. "They are minor artifacts enchanted by the best of our artificers."

"Really?" Angie peeked over her shoulders and let out a soft 'Ooooh!', as if what she was seeing was really impressive.

"What do they do?" Josh asked next and, following his lead, the rest of the group also crowded around the bench… well, except for me and Judy, that is.

"To put simply, they are specialized summoning tools. Upon activation, they remove all clothing items worn by the user and store them in a specialized pocket space. After that, they immediately summon a full suit of defensive gear tailor-made for the user and enchanted with various protective wards. It is similar to my own combat garment, except without any customization."

"What exactly does that mean?" came the next question from Angie, her body language clearly broadcasting that she really, really wanted to try out this new 'toy' in front of her.

"The artificers already had to work overtime to finish them so quickly, so right now they should look very simple. According to the description they gave me, it should be a form-fitting, one-piece body-suit with protective wards, and designed not to interfere with natural barriers, allowing the users to use their abilities without fully transforming. They also have handy helmets with face-masks, in case you are in public and you need to hide your identities."

"Oh nooo…" I once again whispered, but only Judy paid any attention to me, and even she only did so briefly.

In the meantime, the class rep took out one of the non-watches and handed it over to Elly.

"Be careful. Each and every suit w