The Simulacrum

"... and then...!" Mike's voice reached a crescendo, only to come to a sudden halt as he barely managed to stifle a chortling laugh. He raised his hand into the air, asking me to wait for a moment, and after a few measured breaths he yelled out, "And then he said, 'You fool! That's dihydrogen monoxide'!"

There was a long beat for effect, and then my merry guest burst into frenetic laughter that saw him almost falling off my couch. I also laughed, though mine was considerably less over the top. I mean, his story was funny, but it wasn't exactly a knee slapper. Maybe it was one of those 'you had to be there' kind of jokes?

Anyhow, once he finally collected himself, Mike softly cleared his throat and stated, "And that's how I passed the entrance exam."

"Very educational," I responded with a profound nod, which earned me a satisfied grin in return. I had a feeling he was about to get started on another anecdote, but time was just about up, so I raised a hand to stop the conversation. "Hold on for a moment, please."

He was looking at me attentively; I figured he probably thought it was my turn to share a story. I wasn't about to do that though, and instead I turned towards the kitchen and called out, "Snowy? How's the fake tea coming along?"

"It's just about done," came the chirping reply from the inside.

"Great." Saying so, I rose to my feet while simultaneously gesturing for my guest to remain seated.

A brief, muscle-pain-induced groan later I headed over to the front door. I stood in attention, waited for the right moment, and then I threw it open and welcomed my new guest with an enormous grin and an unnecessarily chipper, "Hi, Class Rep! What a surprise!"

Ammy stayed stock still for a while, but then she slowly un-balled the fist she raised in preparation for knocking and used the same hand to adjust her glasses instead.

"It obviously wasn't," she emphatically stated and, after a momentary pause, she asked, "This wasn't the first time you did this. Did you put trackers on us?"

"What? Me?" I showed her a suitably wounded expression before I looked just past her right shoulder and said, "I have to say, only a complete asshole would put surveillance on someone without their knowledge."

I accentuated my words with a small wink. Ammy was reasonably confused by my actions, and she even glanced over her shoulder.

"... Who were you talking to?"

"Don't worry about it; it's just a bit of hypocritical humor on my end." Saying so, I extended my hand in a gentlemanly gesture to welcome her in, a motion which may or may not have been accompanied by my phantom limb cutting through a tiny little floating eyeball that may or may not has been gently floating behind her.

The class rep was still looking at me like she thought I was weird, but she followed my lead all the same, only to come to a sudden halt the moment she noticed the unfamiliar boots and coat in the entryway. In the end, I had to push her a little so that I could close the door.

"Do you have guests?"

"Just a single guy and he should be leaving soon. He has a train to catch."

My second guest glanced back and forth between me and Mike's boots before ultimately settling on me.

"How soon? I have something very important to discuss."

"I figured you would." She looked like she was in the process of reading something into my stray comment, so I hastily clarified, "I mean, you showed up at my house this late and in your lonesome, so it's pretty obvious something must've happened."

"I see."

After that verbal equivalent of a shrug we both fell silent, yet Amelia still looked like she really, really wanted to tell me something. I couldn't beat to watch, so I decided to give her a way out.

"How about you give me the footnotes version while you take off your coat?"

She seemed doubtful of the idea at first, but then after mulling it over for a while she nodded anyway and told me, "Very well. In short, I've caught grandfather red-handed."

"You have?"

She nodded in the affirmative while she took off her outerwear and explained, "I wanted to know whether he really had anything to do with the attacks, so when I saw him secretly discussing things with Pascal, I hid around the corner and overheard their conversation about contacting Doctor Robatto."

"That's... unexpected," I muttered under my breath. I wasn't talking about the fact that he would use Armband Guy to contact our resident mad scientist; I already knew that he was their little messenger. No, the surprising part was that the old man would be this sloppy. "When did this happen?"

"Right after I got home from visiting you in the afternoon. I came here so late because I waited until grandfather returned to the School before I left."

I was curious about what exactly she overheard, and I had my doubts already, but it was too early to draw any conclusions, so I told Ammy, "That's indeed worth a discussion. Come on in."

I gestured for her to follow after me, and we entered the living room at once.

"Um… Hello?" my already present guest greeted Ammy with an awkward smile and an equally clumsy wave of his hand.

I wanted to get ahead of any unnecessary pauses, so I stepped forward and introduced the two of them to each other.

"Ammy, this is Michael. He is here to do business with me."

"What… kind of business?" she interjected, and to my surprise, she wasn't only forgetting to do her menacing thing with the glasses, but she sounded downright bashful compared to her usual tone with me. Actually, was it just my imagination, or was she really hiding behind me too?

Anyhow, it was rude to keep her waiting, so I told her, "It's nothing important, I'll explain later. But back to the original topic: Michael, this is my classmate, Amelia."

"Nice to meet you?"

For some reason, the guy's greeting came out as a question. Odd.

"I'm equally pleased to make your acquaintance."

And now the class rep was getting super-polite and reserved. I mean, the latter part wasn't that surprising, as she used to be pretty awkward when I first met her, but I didn't expect her to revert to her introverted self out of the blue.

"The pleasure is mine."

Aaaaand now the usually hapless Celestial agent was trying to give her a charming smile. What is this I don't even…

Anyways, I rubbed my face for a moment to get my thoughts in order and ultimately addressed the guy on my couch.

"Ammy is here to discuss something personal. What did you say, when does your train leave the station?"

"It's…" he started, only to stop, glance at his wristwatch, and then finish with, "It's still a little more than three-quarters of an hour."

"I see. And how long would it take for you to get to the train station?"

"With a taxi? About fifteen minutes, twenty at worst. … Why? Do you… want me to leave early?"

That was kind of the thing I was getting at, but before I could state it in no uncertain terms, Ammy suddenly wedged herself into the conversation.

"I don't want to inconvenience you two. I'll wait."

Oh well, there went my plan to get rid of Mike early. I mean, I didn't hate the guy or anything, but being constantly mindful of my comments and even word choices, lest he would somehow draw a connection between me and Admin, was mentally exhausting, and I was tired enough already, thank you very much. But alas, the class rep already sealed off my opportunity to send him home, so I had to work with what I had.

"If you say so." I shrugged my shoulders in an open display of disinterests and gestured towards the couch. "Please take a seat."

Ammy glanced between me and the empty spot I was pointing at, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she nodded and warily walked over to sit down. Normally this would've been the point where I also took a seat and maybe engaged in some of my patented brand of small talk, but I had something else in mind at the moment, so I called out to the kitchen again.

"Snowy! Ammy is here!"

"I'm coming!" my dear sister responded in a fairly upbeat voice, and a blink of an eye later she also entered the living room with a small, round tray in hand. On top of it stood one of our spare cups filled to the brim with that unholy brew that the class rep for some ungodly reason preferred over proper tea. But then again, it was her choice, even if she was objectively wrong, so I wasn't going to judge her absolute heresy too harshly.

I watched as Snowy placed the beverage onto the table, next to the already present drinks and snacks, and then she instantly assumed her attentive maid posture. The class rep looked at the hot drink on the table as if it was a white raven covered in black wool, but before she could ask any more uncomfortable questions about how I knew she was coming over ahead of time, I pointedly cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"Please excuse me, but I have to take my cold medicine. I will be back in a couple of minutes. Snowy, please see to it that our guests have all their needs met."

"Understood!"

I couldn't help but smile in the face of her unusually enthusiastic reply. Was she really so happy about her maid role-play, or did she think I was depending on her? Whichever was the reason behind her good mood, it made the cold cockles of my heart tremble with just a tinge of warmth.

Anatomically inaccurate analogies aside, I directed a polite smile towards my guests, after which I quickly turned on my heels and headed up the stairs with unhurried, measured steps. It was only when I reached the first floor and entered my room that I let out a pent-up breath and hastily sat down on the corner of my bed.

To be honest, I was just a teensy bit rattled by the class rep's declaration of catching Lord Grandpa 'red-handed'. As far as my understanding of the current events was concerned, practically every single thing messing with our peaceful days tied back to him in one way or another. More importantly, if not for my out-of-context ability to observe people from afar, we should've had no reason to suspect, let alone know for a fact, that he was behind both the sentai attacks and Rinne's involvement. The only thing I couldn't tie to him yet was the appearance of the mini-Chimeras (and the alleged big Chimera), but with his track record, I was pretty sure he also had a hand in that as well.

In metanarrative terms, all of this made me consider him as our current 'antagonist'. Furthermore, since he was a 'The Man Behind the Man' type, I took it for granted that until Labcoat Guy got caught, he would stay in the back, and only swoop in to reveal his involvement and the nitty-gritty details of his motivations in the very last second. Because of this, I was under the impression I still had a lot of time to prepare for his sudden but inevitable betrayal, but if he really slipped up in front of Amelia, then things might've been moving along faster than I expected.

Therefore, using what little time I had at the moment, I figured it was imperative that I quickly checked on the two most important players in this tempest of excrement. I closed my eyes, and a quick Far Sight leap later I was already inside observing Labcoat Guy… in an elevator. A familiar elevator, if I might add.

Let me paint a picture for a moment: Labcoat Guy was standing right in the middle of the metal box, still clad in his baffling outfit (including the exceedingly unwieldy shoulder guard), and he was fidgeting like crazy. This time he didn't have his souped-up welder's mask over his face, and while on a cursory glance it looked like he was calm, his smaller gestures told me he was either on the brink of a mental meltdown or he really, really needed to use the toilet.

His hypothetical biological needs aside, he wasn't the only person in the elevator; the android woman and, surprisingly enough, the school nurse were standing right behind him, and they looked considerably calmer than the guy in the front.

"Master?" the funkily dressed android spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to her, only to stay silent right until Labcoat Guy began to gesture exaggeratedly for her to continue, at which point she declared, "My analysis is complete. The results are negative."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she reaffirmed with a small nod, which made Labcoat Guy start fidgeting again. It thankfully didn't stop her from elaborating, so that I would at least know what they were talking about. "After re-analyzing my sensory data regarding both his biometric and manametric readings, I concluded that none of them show any sign of tampering."

"Damn." Labcoat Guy did that thing where it looked like he was biting onto the fingernail of his left thumb while he cursed under his breath. "No one told me he was an expert illusionist!"

"Correction: An expert illusionist wouldn't have been able to fool my sensors."

"Then a master illusionist! I don't care about semantics right now!"

"Calm down, Friedrich," Peabody chided his maybe-nephew while theatrically wiping his forehead with a handkerchief.

"I'm perfectly calm!" he exclaimed while stomping his feet, a picture-perfect image of a composed and unruffled person if I've ever seen one.

"I'm detecting elevated heart rate," the androidess interjected while scrutinizing the man in front of her. "Conclusion: master is not perfectly calm."

"Thank you, Galatea, but I already noticed," the old nurse stated with an unexpectedly deadpan voice.

"I tell you, I'm—!"

Without any prior warning, the fembot let out an odd beeping noise, and the glassy parts of her built-in earphones or what have you on her head also flashed with a green light, prompting Labcoat Guy to abruptly close his mouth with an audible clatter of teeth.

"Master, I have something to report. After reviewing my auxiliary sensor data, I believe I have detected a minute disturbance in the fabric of space-time upon the target's departure. It could indicate long-range teleportation instead of the use of perception-altering magic."

"… Galatea…" The panda-eyed mad scientist much less said than groaned her name while simultaneously rubbing his forehead. "Did you see any building-sized magic array on his back?"

"Parsing memory… Negative. No record indicating such structure was detected by my sensors."

"Then how exactly do you think he teleported away!?"

It was at this very moment that the whole elevator shuddered as the cabin came to a halt and the automatic doors opened in the company of a stereotypical little 'ping' noise, revealing a stoic Pascal, better known as Armband Guy in certain circles, on the other side.

"Who teleported?"

There was an uncertain glance shared between Labcoat Guy and the old nurse following the straight-laced question coming from the bespectacled connoisseur of upper-arm fashion (seriously, the guy was wearing his student council band even now), and at the end of the day, it was Peabody who let out an embarrassed noise as he stepped forth to answer.

"Oh-ho-ho… Don't mind us, my nephew and his aide were only discussing hypotheticals."

Armband Guy gave the man a sidelong glance but didn't comment. Instead, he turned on his heel and wordlessly gestured for the three to follow after him. I'm not going to lie; if I had lungs at the moment, I would've probably let out a content little chuckle, as I apparently choose to use Far Sight at just the right time to catch a rare opportunity.

Anyhow, after about a minute of following my targets down the corridors of the underground School facility, I found myself inside a familiar study.

The Arch-mage's place, which looked exactly the same as the time when we visited it in person (except for the different doors, of course) was still completely silent even though there were five people inside. Well, four people and an android, to be exact, but let's not get bogged down by semantics.

Lord Endymonion, anachronistically dressed (including the silly Panama-hat) and inexplicably infuriating as always, was sitting behind his desk and was in the process of reading through the contents of a thin manilla folder, the kind you would see in a spy drama with TOP SECRET stamped on it in bold, red letters. On said desk, there were stacks of various documents, a few magical trinkets, and an open liqueur bottle with an already half-filled glass in tow. Or maybe it was half empty. I was never any good with these philosophical litmus tests.

While I observed that, Pascal closed the doors, and I'm not going to lie; the eclectic group of a student in uniform, a mad scientist type wearing oversized shoulder pads, a portly old man, and a fembot in a skin-tight suit matched the overall aesthetic of the place about as well as the Dalai Lama wearing a Wehrmacht helmet. Once the group more or less lined up, the owner of the room lazily folded his reading material and placed it onto his desk, his brows already in the process of furrowing into a troubled frown.

"I have to say, I most definitely did not expect to meet you again so soon."

"And we didn't expect that you would withhold vital information from us," Labcoat Guy quipped back, which made Peabody take a sharp breath and nervously glance around for a moment.

"Not one for small talk, as usual," the Arch-mage noted with a troubled smile partially hidden by his beard. "But let us put your lack of etiquette aside for a moment. Would you elaborate on the reason behind your previous statement?"

"I meant—!" The resident mad scientist raised his voice, only to halt when the school nurse let out a strained cough by his side, and after locking eyes for a moment, he also cleared his throat and spoke up again, this time in a decidedly more subdued fashion. "We've engaged Leonard Dunning, as we agreed before."

"Have you now?" the old man responded with a curiously raised brow in tow. "Did he finally reveal some of his depth?"

"He didn't," Labcoat Guy spat out the words in a huff. "He wasn't even there."

Hearing that, Lord Grandpa slowly straightened his posture in his seat and stated, "I am afraid I have to ask you to further elaborate on that statement."

"He wasn't there," the mad-ish scientist repeated his words once more. "It was an illusion the whole time! Why didn't you tell us he was an expert illusionist?!"

"A master illusionist," the android corrected, but no one seemed to care the least bit.

"I find your statement quite unlikely." The old coot fell silent for a second as he stroked his beard, then asked, "May I ask you if you have any proof of your assertion?"

"Well, he disappeared right in front of my eyes. Not only that, but Galatea was with me as well, and she didn't notice anything until he was gone. He has to be at least an expert to fool her sensors," Labcoat Guy declared as he pointed at his android companion.

"Can I trust the senses of your creation?"

"Can you trust his senses?" Labcoat Guy jabbed back, this time while pointing at Armband Guy.

Lord Grandpa fell silent once again, and then he shook his head, seemingly in defeat, and said, "I shall concede the point. However, even if I were to grant you the possibility of the young mister Dunning having access to high-level illusions, I fail to see how it would be more than yet another entry in his impressively diverse lists of capabilities."

"Are you serious?" Labcoat Guy all but glowered as he glared at the old man on the other side of the desk. "Expert illusionists don't grow on trees! Are you telling me that you, the freaking Arch-mage of the island, didn't know he was one!?"

"Friedrich, please…" Peabody muttered under his breath, but his words bounced off their target like a BB pellet off the popemobile.

"Your accusation hurts me," the old mage stated with a wounded expression, which only lasted for a moment before he took a carefree sip from the liqueur on his desk and stated, "I believe we both swore to perfect transparency in our contract. I staked my name and station as a guarantee upon the signing of it. Why do you take my word so lightly?"

"Are you trying to tell me you really didn't know?" Labcoat Guy asked back, his tone just a smidgen less combative than before."

"I believe we have already established beyond any reasonable doubt that our young friend is a box of mysteries, to say it mildly. While I personally still find it hard to believe that he could be a practitioner of the Arts, it would not be the first time he surprised me." For some reason the old man let out an amused chuckle and added, "For example, did you know that he already established a romantic relationship with the scion of the Dracises? Not only that, but they accepted him with open arms! Most peculiar, I must say!"

For some odd reason, it was the school nurse who let out a surprised noise and said, "O-ho-ho? Doesn't that mean he already allied himself with the Winged Ones?" Seeing that he was suddenly in the center of attention, he paused to theatrically wipe his sweaty forehead, after which he added, "To be honest, it's not an unexpected development."

"True, yet potentially troubling nonetheless." After saying his piece, Lord Grandpa fell silent for a few long moments, his fingers quietly yet irritatingly drumming on the wooden top of his desk.

Likely seeing this as an opportunity to interject, Pascal made a small noise to draw his attention before he suggested, "I believe that conclusion might be somewhat hasty."

"You truly think so?" the head of the School spoke with a surprisingly attentive look in his eyes.

"Yes. Based on my assessment, he is the fiercely independent type, the kind who would not subordinate himself so easily."

"Hmm..." the arch-mage mused aloud while theatrically stroking his beard, completely ignoring the other people in the room. "That is true. He also gave me an impression most similar to what you described, especially in the form of his dogged determination to foil my every attempt to keep track of the well-being of him and his cohorts." For some curious reason, the old man absent-mindedly rubbed his left eye as he said that, but then he noticed what he was doing and subsequently he closed his eyes. "That said, while he is definitely a young man of numerous talents, I would think he should be already aware of the dangers of pioneering a new path for himself. After all, knowing the limits of oneself is also a talent in and of itself."

"O-ho-ho. True, but just because he has other talents, it doesn't mean he has that particular one," Peabody elbowed his way back into the conversation, earning him another thoughtful sound from the old mage and a disapproving glare from yours truly. Or at least he would've if I had eyes at the moment, but I think everyone gets that by now.

"A perceptive observation, exactly the kind I expected from you, old friend." After saying so, Lord Grandpa reached over to the shot glass on the corner of his desk and took another sip from the brown liqueur in it. "It is always prudent to listen to multiple points of view before reaching a conclusion." Saying so, the annoying old man pushed the manila folder on the desk back and forth for a moment while thinking, and at last he inquired, "Speaking of points of view; since you are already here, would you care to discuss what we have learned so far? It is a rare opportunity, after all."

"Only if you swear you won't hold back any information from us," Labcoat Guy stated without a moment of thinking, earning him yet another disapproving look from his uncle.

"I believe I have already made such an agreement, but very well. If it puts your heart at ease, I once again swear that we shall be transparent in our dealings. That said, Pascal?"

"Yes, sir?"

"For a start, would you care to recount your assessment of the young man in question?"

"Understood," Armband Guy responded as he stepped forth, put his hands behind his back, and continued with a tone reminiscent of a foot soldier giving a report to his superior. "My evaluation of the target is as follows: in our daily interactions over the span of the current school year, Leonard Dunning had shown consistent awareness of my presence, yet avoided direct contact."

"What about that one time?" Labcoat Guy cut in with a frown. "Didn't you complain about how he suddenly walked up to you the other day and demanded to shake your hand?"

Pascal gave him a flat look and amended, "He avoided direct contact, except for that one time he demanded to shake my hand. I believe it was some sort of power-play, but he did not engage in any further discourse and left right away."

"How curious," Lord Grandpa mused, his eyes alight with poorly concealed interest. "Please, continue."

"Yes, sir." After a solid nod and a short but intensely aggravated glance sent at the mad scientist, Armband Guy took a huge breath and continued. "Over the same time period, he made contact with the representatives of each member of the Winged Races on campus while maintaining his cover as a mundane student, including the Celestial sleeper agent even we were unaware of. He also does not seem to discriminate against the denizens of the Abyss. At the same time, he recently clashed with—"

"For the love of Sophia, Pascal… I asked for your assessment, not his entire history," the old man grumbled, and Armband Guy immediately nodded like a good little soldier.

"Understood. To avoid further redundancy, I will now strive to share my conclusions regarding the subject. He shows outstanding awareness, and he either possesses superb intuition, or he truly has access to a source of up-to-date intelligence. He doesn't discriminate based on racial origins, yet at the same time his hostility towards personages with political power shows that he is not willing to work with any of the currently established authorities. As such, I find it reasonable to conclude that he is unlikely to subordinate himself; I believe he is aiming to create his own, separate power base."

"So your independent judgment parallels mine." After saying that, the Arch-mage glanced at the rest of the group. "How about yours?"

Labcoat Guy and Peabody glanced at each other, and after a momentary beat of silence, it was the portly school nurse who stepped forth to speak.

"O-ho-ho. Academically speaking, the young man is not particularly outstanding, yet firmly above average. As for his capabilities, due to our approach, we, unfortunately, weren't able to collect any observations besides the one my nephew already shared with you."

"I see." the Arch-mage whispered, followed by a chuckle. "Very well. I believe it is not unreasonable to adopt a patient approach for the time being. Even if the young man truly desires to create his own path, it does not mean that we will not be able to make use of him. As for his capabilities…"

"If I may speak," Armband guy raised his voice and looked at the resident mad scientist. "I believe last time we talked, I emphasized the need for direct engagement, and I was promised a swift and upfront resolution."

"And we have done so, just as we promised," Labcoat Guy countered just a smidgen defensively.

"Speaking of which," Lord Grandpa spoke up again, his bushy eyebrows already drawn into a small frown. "How exactly did you attempt to test his capabilities?"

"Well," Labcoat Guy began a little awkwardly, but he quickly firmed up his voice and stated, "We had enough trouble with the rest of the group, so we tried to make contact with him when he was alone."

"I thought the contract explicitly stated that you cannot engage the targets individually," Armband Guy commented in yet another obvious attempt at heckling.

"Yes, but he's the big Chimera-slayer, right? Not to mention, considering we still have no idea about his capabilities, I thought I can cut myself some slack and make sure that we had the advantage without any other variables present. You know? So that we could see how he reacts without the chance of being slain in the process."

"Oh? And how did he react?" Lord Grandpa inquired with an amicable expression hiding his intrigued eyes.

"I already told you: he disappeared. Poof. Just like that."

"Is that so? Would that not mean that, were we to consider it a given that you ambushed an illusionary body double, he knew about your actions ahead of time and prepared accordingly?"

"Erm… I suppose it does?" the scientist with the panda eyes nodded, if just a wee bit hesitantly, and the old man's eyes all but sparkled with mirth.

"Truly curious, is it not?"

Honestly, this part of the conversation made me curious as well. Apparently the ambush was not only an unsanctioned one, but Labcoat Guy didn't mention a single thing about his offer to me in front of Lord Grandpa. Could it be that he really planned on stabbing the Arch-mage in the back? Based on the discussion I currently observed, they didn't seem to be on the best of terms, so it was a possibility. On the other hand, I've never seen anything hinting at any kind of foul play during the previous times I used Far Sight on him; not a single mention of rebellion or playing the old man behind his back.

In fact, for a moment I even entertained the thought that they might've been putting up a play in front of me, but I quickly dismissed the idea. Now, I admit I might've been a little too careless with the information I gained through Far Sight, but even if they figured out I had access to inside knowledge, their first guess should've been a leak, not that I could listen in on their conversation while inside the Arch-mage's sealed off study. Either way, I figured I should try and be just a tiny bit more conservative with the way I used the intel I gained like this, just in case.

That said, there was another thing that roused my interest in the discussion so far: the mention of a contract of some sort. Now, I couldn't be sure if it was a written one, or one of those fancy-pants, swear-upon-a-golden-chalice-filled-with-virgin-blood-mixed-with-the-petals-of-blue-roses kinds of contracts (which was actually a thing, if the entry about it on the Celestial Hub was to be believed), but just in case it was, it gave me yet another reason to find an opportunity to snoop around in the old man's office.

Regrettably enough, there was a single obstacle in my way: I couldn't tag him yet. I have, after being reminded by Judy, placed a mark on Armband Guy, and if the mad science team wasn't having this meeting here, I would've probably used his mark to see if I could take a look at the old man. However, while Armband Guy had seemingly free rein over going back and forth in the School facilities, I never found the right opportunity to teleport over without anyone else being present. Or rather, I had that one opportunity, but I didn't take it because I was enchantment-sick.

Putting that aside, I made a mental note about the contract and focused my attention back on the scene at hand, just in time to catch Lord Grandpa refilling his glass.

"Putting such matters aside, I believe we still have to discuss the capabilities of the rest of the younglings. I am particularly curious about the discovery regarding young Joshua Bernstein." After he said that, the arch-mage gingerly picked up the folder on the desk and opened it up right in the middle. "It appears this ordinary young man might be in the possession of an unexpectedly impressive heritage."

"I have also seen it with my own eyes," the guy with the fancy armband interjected. "It might have been just a glance before the rest of his group hid him from my sight, but I can definitely confirm that he must be the descendant of a strong Abyssal bloodline, possibly even a bastard of one of the Lords."

"Ki-hi-hi." Labcoat Guy, for maybe the first time since he entered the room, let out one of his grating chuckles and then stated, "I don't know about bloodlines, but as much as it pains me, Galatea's scans agree with mister 'collect the information we want or I' ll break your arms' here."

Lord Grandpa's eyes narrowed in annoyance and he glanced over to the alleged arm-breaker in question.

"Pascal? Did you really threaten our collaborator with physical violence?"

"Certainly," he responded without a shred of guilt or self-awareness.

"… Well, at the very least you are honest," the arch-mage stated a little dourly after somehow stifling a groan and taking another sip of his drink. "Sometimes I wonder where I have gone wrong in your education. Nevertheless, see to it that you apologize later."

"Why can't he apologize now?" Labcoat Guy interjected, only to be dismissed with a single, disinterested glance.

"Now, back to the issue of the youth in question," Lord Grandpa mused while absent-mindedly leafing back and forth between a few pages. "If your intuition and your 'scans' are correct, it would definitely explain why the Lord of Inanna would be willing to sacrifice what little goodwill I had remaining towards his House. A Winged One of the Abyss with a strong yet unknown bloodline would definitely serve as a powerful pawn in his hands… yet I can not help but feel that we are missing something."

There was a long pause in the conversation here while Armband Guy and company patiently waited for his… boss, I suppose? Now that I think about it, just how were these two related anyway? And how were the rest related? Apparently, Peabody was his old friend, and Labcoat Guy was that guy's nephew, but then… ugh, these were questions for later, I supposed, as the old man all of a sudden stood up and walked over to the cabinet in the corner.

"Once again, it is made obvious that we must observe them further. Speaking of observations, I believe we were talking about the individual prowess of the group centered around the young mister Bernstein."

I continued to watch for a minute longer, but aside from being able to take a better look at the eclectic contents of the old arch-mage's liquor cabinet, I didn't learn anything new after this point. I mean, if there was one person on this island who knew the ins and outs of the abilities of every single member of our group down to the tiniest details… it was probably Judy, but I was a close second!

Anyhow, since listening to them any further was pointless, I ultimately returned to my room. After taking a moment to collect myself, I had to conclude that, while this Far Sight session raised about as many questions as it answered, it still provided me with yet another solid, indisputable piece of evidence about the collaboration between Lord Grandpa and Labcoat Guy. Furthermore, based on the content of their discussion, it was hinted that he was trying to find out about our capabilities and it somehow tied into him trying to make use of us. Or was it just me? Either way, while his methods weren't particularly dangerous, they weren't completely harmless either, so as far as I was concerned, he was still firmly in the 'antagonist' category.

That said, I checked the time on my phone, and to my shock, I realized that I've spent a bit more time spying than I thought. I pocketed the phone, jumped to my feet, and immediately headed downstairs, only to stop a moment after I exited my room. I held my breath for a moment to better focus on my hearing and… was that laughter just now? I expected a lot of things after leaving those three alone for a while, but merriment wasn't among the options.

Now granted, it would've taken me zero effort to just use Far Sight to look at what was going on, but I figured I might as well snoop around the proper way every once in a while, so I continued to hold my breath and slowly inched towards the stairs until I could finally overhear the discussion downstairs.

"I can soooo understand!" This exclamation was the first sliver of the conversation I could understand, and as I came closer, I could also hear a soft sound that I could identify as Ammy giggling. "My father always told me 'Son, you have to be the best amongst the best amongst the best!' I seriously grew sick and tired of that line!"

"I can imagine," the class rep agreed in an unexpectedly friendly voice. "Grandfather once told me that the military and academia are not so different once you get high enough in the hierarchy. His favorite line is a little different though, it's 'Publish or perish'."

"Uh… right. I admit that sounds a little less overbearing, but 'perish' in the military is sliiiigtly more literal than in the academic circles, so I think I will stick to my father's line after all."

Amelia honest to goodness giggled in response to that. Was that supposed to be funny?

Anyhow, this whole situation felt really fishy, so I decided to show myself by simply walking down the stairs. The two in the living room fell dead silent the moment I came into view… which begged a certain question right out of the gate.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had something to take care of." With the lead-up done, I stopped at the foot of the stairs and exaggeratedly looked around. "Where did Snowy go?"

"She said she had to go to the toilet," Ammy responded with a modest smile, the kind I haven't seen on her face for ages. "Didn't you meet on the way?"

"I can't say I have," I spoke softly as I walked over to their side and pointedly glanced at the clock on the wall. "So, Mike? I'm sorry to interrupt your talk, but weren't you supposed to catch a cab right around now?"

The unlikely Celestial followed my gaze and he quickly jumped to his feet.

"Oh snap, you're right! My ride should be here at any moment now!"

"Then I suppose I better see you out so you won't miss your train."

"I… I suppose you better do?" he mumbled a little awkwardly before catching himself. He was still dragging his feet though, so I was just about to egg him on a little when he sneaked a glance at the class rep and, after a conspicuously long beat he told her, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Amelia."

"I assure you, the pleasure was mine," she responded with the same demure expression, and a choice of words that sounded like it came out of her old man's mouth. Things were getting fishier by the moment, I say.

It was around this time that I had enough of their little interplay, so I simply stood behind Michael and began to forcefully push him out of the room.

"All right, let's get going. I'll be back in a moment."

With that, I successfully removed the guy from my living room, and I patiently watched over him as he put on his coat before I politely opened the front door for him. However, despite my best efforts to expedite his departure, he turned around in the doorway and looked me in the eye.

"Hey, can I bother you for one second longer?"

I honestly wanted to tell him 'No, go away.', but by the time the words left my mouth they somehow morphed into, "Feel free to do so."

My answer made the Celestial field agent oddly fidgety for a moment. He glanced behind me, and then he leaned closer for a conspiratorial huddle.

"You see, I couldn't help but wonder if you and Amelia were a..." His words trailed off by the end with an implicit, 'You know? Like that?' tagged on in a whisper.

I raised a slightly baffled bow and asked, "... Are you trying to ask me if we are a couple?"

"Um... more or less?"

Mike flashed me the perfect image of a harmless smile, and I couldn't help but groan in return.

"No, we are not," I stated on no uncertain terms. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just a little curious," he hastily stated while still maintaining his impeccable smile, and at this point I was fairly certain it was much less innocent than it appeared on the surface. The suspicion might've shown on my face, as he abruptly declared, "Never mind. I'm going to get in touch with some old acquaintances and gather as many artifacts as possible and then... Errr... how should I contact you?"

"You don't have to; I'll contact you in time," I responded in my most enigmatic voice.

"Oh. Okay then." He stared me in the eye for a couple of seconds, but when he saw I didn't have anything else to say, he awkwardly added, "Should I... give you my phone number or something?"

"No need," I responded while employing an inscrutable smile of my own. I wasn't kidding either, I literally had the guy's mobile number already in the Hub's contact list, and I imagined acting like I knew everything would help to solidify my image as an information broker.

I figured we were done, so before I forgot it, I peeled off my gloves and offered my hand to the Celestial in the doorway. He quickly mirrored my gesture by taking off his own glove and he firmly shook my hand.

"I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Erm... Yes, the feeling is mutual," he stated after a momentary stutter.

With that, I now had another mark. Sometimes I wondered if I had a limit to the number of people I could tag like this, and considering how absurdly useful this particular ability of mine has proved to be so far, I sincerely hoped I didn't.

Anyhow, it was just around this time that I noticed a familiar taxi turning the corner into our street. I pointed at it, and after following my finger, Michael hurriedly said his goodbyes and rushed over to the roadside.

I was a little curious to see if it was the usual cab driver this time as well, but not curious enough to go out into the cold, so I waved to him and closed the door without further ado. It was only then that I let out a tired sigh, put my gloves back on, and headed back to the living room and to what promised to be a fairly heavy conversation.

"I'm back," I announced my return to the living room with those half-hearted words, and I found the class rep exactly where I left her. On a slightly more interesting note, my little maidster came back while I was in the entryway, and now she was happily discussing something with her. Said discussion immediately stopped the moment a set foot within the room, with the tag-end I could barely catch being something about how someone was 'really goofy'. I guess they must have meant the recently departed Celestial, so I put it out of mind and walked over to their side.

"It's getting a little late, so let's not waste any time," I proposed the moment I stopped, earning me a small nod from Ammy, and she was just about to say something. However, just then I remembered something, so I raised an open palm to stall her before she could get started. "However, there's one last thing before that." Saying so, I turned to Snowy and unsubtly pointed at the clock. "Could you glance over there for a moment?"

She followed my pointing finger and after reading the time she turned back to me and said, "It's still before curfew."

"Yes, but you still have to pack your bag and put away your uniform don't you?"

"Uuu… That's right," she quickly relented in the face of my insistence and her shoulders drooped in resignation. "I'll clean up the table."

"You don't have to; I'll clean up after Ammy leaves. Just go and prepare for tomorrow. I also want to see you in bed by ten; you're still growing, so proper sleep is very important."

"Understood," my sister said with just a tinge of sulking in her voice, so I immediately stepped closer to her and placed my hand on top of her head as step one in my anti-pouting countermeasures.

"You did well today, so go and rest up. You don't want to show up in school with circles under your eyes, right? What would your fans think?"

"Oww!" She hurriedly escaped from my vigorous head pats and sent me a peeved glance. "I don't want any fans!"

"I've heard you already have some though," I teased her with the appropriately brotherly grin on my face. "I was actually thinking about joining as well. What do you think, are they going to accept me?"

"Don't you dare," my sister threatened me with her angry puppy look, and I couldn't help but chuckle at her expense.

"But why not? It's my duty as a big brother to promote my cute little sister and simultaneously let the little moths know how much trouble they would be if they tried to get closer to this particular flame."

"Uuuu… You really don't have to do that though."

"Well, I could be convinced otherwise, but only by good little sisters who keep the curfew. Are you one of them?"

"You are a meanie," Snowy suddenly burst out and turned on her heel. She dashed up to the stairs, only stopping to turn back and stick out her tongue at me, earning her yet another hearty chuckle from me, before she made her way up to the first floor.

I watched her go, and once she was out of sight I let out another soft chuckle and turned to my remaining guest. The moment our eyes met, she immediately asked a question I was pretty sure qualified for being rhetorical.

"She became a lot more expressive lately, hasn't she?"

"She sure has," I answered as I walked over to my usual spot and took a seat. "I'd personally like to take credit, but it's probably because of everyone's efforts to make her feel accepted."

"You say that now, but just a few seconds ago you were teasing her quite mercilessly," Ammy sent a verbal jab my way and, oh look, the menacing glasses-tweakery was back. I was almost missing it. Except not really.

Anyhow, I shrugged my shoulders and responded by saying, "It's every big brother's privilege, nay, duty, to tease their little sister."

There was an odd look on the class rep's face, and after a short while she let her glasses-tweaking hand down and she dryly stated, "You aren't really brother and sister though."

The moment she uttered that, the corner of my mouth involuntarily twitched twice. Once I got that under control, I took a deep breath and stated, "I say so, and if anyone else tries to dare say otherwise, they are going to be in a world of pain before they know it." I saw my conversational partner twitch in apprehension, so I hastily added, "Present company excluded, of course. For the first offense, at least."

"Very gracious of you," Ammy commented, only to ponder for a moment and add, "But what about when Noire comes back?"

"Oh, trust me, he is going to be in for a rude awakening," I answered with what in retrospect felt like a vicious grin. I quickly wiped it off my face and then loudly cleared my throat for good measure. "Not to mention, he has bigger problems at the moment, being bed-ridden after some handsome devil poisoned him and all."

"He was poisoned?" Ammy's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "And what was that about handsome devils?"

"Don't concern yourself with that," I dismissed the topic with a shake of my head. "The important bit is that he's incapacitated at the moment, and his faction has bigger problems than to come looking for trouble over here."

"How would you even know that?"

"Information-broker," I stated just a tad smugly as I pointed at myself. The class rep didn't really appreciate my answer, as she immediately rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of which, was that why Michael was here?"

Her question made me raise a single curious brow. Not because of the part where she figured out that Mike was here to exchange information (since I told her he was here for business, anyone could put two and two together, let alone her), but because they were already on first-name basis. Could there actually be some chemistry between those two? Wouldn't that break the harem? Though again, I guess I already kind of did that when I accidentally snatched the princess out of Josh's nefarious clutches, so who knew? Maybe it was open season already.

Not that it was any of my business, so after a suitably long beat of silence, I returned to the conversation at hand by stating, "Yeah, he was looking for info."

"About what?"

"It's confidential," I stated on no uncertain terms. I mean, apparently my information broker cover story ended up making me into one, so I figured it was for the best that I acted the part, at least on the surface, and I was pretty sure info-traders who tattled on their clients didn't make it far in the industry. Speaking of which, was this an industry? Did information brokers have a union? I supposed I would look into that later.

In the meantime, Ammy took my rejection fairly well, as she only spent a few seconds adjusting her glasses while glaring at me. Nevertheless, I figured we've dragged things out long enough, especially considering my previous declaration about not dragging things out, so I expertly dodged her scowl and decided to get started with the real discussion.

"So," I opened by assuming my traditional 'mastermind' pose in my seat. "You wanted to discuss something you discovered about your grandfather, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," she told me with just a hint of huffiness in her voice.

"Then please start at the beginning."

"All right. As I said before, I noticed grandfather and Pascal were discussing something at home. I think they didn't know I was home yet, since they left the door to the conference room a little ajar."

"You have a conference room?"

That was the question that slipped out of my mouth, though in retrospect there was another one I should've asked. It was naturally about why she was living with her grandfather. I actually observed her enough that the fact that I have never seen her parents became suspicious. I mean, I have yet to meet with Angie's adoptive parents in person, and somehow I never met with Josh's parents either, but I at least knew they existed through my Far Sight observations of them. As for the class rep, however, she might as well have been living all alone for all I knew. It was just a little bit suspicious, but I didn't have the opportunity to ask this time either, as the conversation moved along before I could bring it up. Oh well, there's always the next time.

"Yes, we have one for when grandfather doesn't want to take someone down to the School. It's mostly for meeting with city officials and other mundanes. More importantly, I have overheard him telling Pascal that he should contact Doctor Robatto."

"Oh? Did he actually refer to him by name?"

"No, not directly," Ammy stated, suddenly sounding much less assured than just a second ago. "However, he talked about giving an order to their 'collaborator', and he mentioned making sure that they would confront you in particular." Suddenly the class rep's brows descended into a frown and she looked me in the eye before declaring, "That's the main reason why I wanted to talk as soon as possible. You need to be careful."

"Thanks for the warning, I suppose, though it's a little late." Her brows went a full one-eighty and ascended as high as they could in surprise, so I elaborated by saying, "Do you remember that I had plans for this evening?"

"The ones Judy was really angry about? Yes, I remember. Why?"

"Well, they involved going outside, and in the process, I was already caught in an ambush by our resident mad scientist. Oh, and before you ask, yes, I’m fine."

"I wasn't worried about you," she suddenly stated while pointedly looking away.

"I see. So you came over in a hurry to warn me about a possible ambush because you weren't worried," I teased her a little, earning me yet another frown.

"Leo, don't be a jerk. I meant I was sure you could handle yourself."

"I know, I know," I soothed her for a moment before adding, "Though again, if you wanted to warn me ahead of time, you could've just called me on the phone. At least it wouldn't have been a surprise."

"I couldn't," she asserted quite emphatically. "I was afraid grandfather would notice and then he would know I overheard them talking."

"Errr… Listen, class rep. I don't want to dishearten you or anything, but I'm fairly sure he knew you overheard anyway."

"Why do you think that?" she asked in a provocative voice, and I answered, but not before I let out a small sigh.

"To put it bluntly, I've been fighting a surveillance cold war with your grandfather since even before I first met him in person, and not only is your home filled with these creepy floating eyeball-things, he also has a habit of putting them on people. Such as you."

"Eyeball thi— Do you mean recorder orbs?" All of a sudden she visibly paled and asked, "Do I have one attached to me?"

"Not anymore, you're not," I responded as I waved my finger in front of me. "I told you how I can disrupt magic, right? I tend to break any of those damn things the moment I see them, on principle."

"So grandfather knows that I came here. He most likely also knows I overheard them." Ammy fell silent in a moment, her face scrunched up as she thought hard, and then she glanced up at me and asked, "Do you think I was set up?"

"Possibly," I granted her without much ado. I mean, that was the first idea that came to my mind as well when she told me why she came over, but hearing it from her mouth made things much easier for me. As such, I donned my mastermind pose once more and added, "Let's assume for a moment that he really set things up for you to overhear him. Can you venture a guess as to why he'd do that?"

"It's obviously because he wanted to leak information," she asserted without much thinking, once again mirroring my thoughts. "It might have also been a test of character, to see if I would tell you about it."

"I wouldn't call it a 'test of character' per see," I rebuffed her words while once again shaking my head for emphasis. "If I had to guess, he might've thought that there was a traitor in his organization and wanted to see if you were the one."

"You somehow made it sound even worse," she grumbled, but I only grinned at her in response, so she quickly calmed down. "Does that mean that he no longer trusts me?"

"I can hardly comment on that," I admitted freely. "We still don't have enough info on his motivations to say for sure. It might've been a test of loyalty, or just a practical joke."

"Grandfather doesn't do jokes."

"If you say so," I shrugged and moved along. "So, what else have they talked about? In particular, have they mentioned anything specific that could be traced back to that particular conversation?"

"Let me think for a moment," Ammy asked for some breathing space, and I naturally granted it to her. After about half a minute later she took a huge breath and began by saying, "As I mentioned, they talked about ambushing you in particular. Aside from that, they talked about administrative issues regarding the School, setting aside a part of the budget for a special grant, and… that's about it." She paused here for a moment, and after noticing that I wasn't exactly riveted by what she said, she added, "If there was one thing that was somewhat peculiar, it was when grandfather warned Pascal not to threaten their collaborator."

"How is that peculiar?"

Amelia gave me a flat look and emphatically stated, "Pascal is not the type to threaten anyone, so it was something that really surprised me."

"Are you sure he isn't?"

"Of course I am," she huffed quite indignantly at my question. "I've known Pascal since we were little. He is a gentle boy."

"Really now?" I mused under my breath, and after a moment of deliberation, I decided to tell her, "That 'gentle boy' just recently told Labcoat… I mean, Robatto, that he was going to break his arms if he would not play along."

"Pascal would never say that!" she denied quite vehemently, so I pushed right back.

"He sure as hell admitted it, and right in front of both your grandpa and Labcoat Guy."

Ammy looked like she wanted to retort again, only to instead fall silent for a good three seconds before she asked, in a deceptively quiet voice, "Leo?"

"Yes?"

"How would you even know that?"

"It's a trade se—"

"Don't say it's a secret!" she interrupted me with a genuinely angry look on her face. It was surprising, to say the least, so I decided to wisely shut up for the moment. Seeing that I didn't say anything, the class rep let out a pent-up breath and in a low voice she told me, "Leo, you're holding too many secrets."

"Well, it's kind of my thing," I tried to excuse myself with a jokey tone, but she didn't have any of it.

"I'm serious. I told you before, and so I tell you again: you are being too secretive with us. Do you really mistrust us that much?"

Seeing how serious she was, I couldn't help but abandon the mastermind-pose and instead face her with the same gravitas.

"It's not about trust, really," I explained a little more awkwardly than I originally intended. "There are some things that I just can't talk about."

"Why? Can you actually give me a reason? Or at least a good enough excuse?"

"Well…" I began, only to fall silent right away. I could have given her an excuse, maybe a few little white lies or technical truths, but I had a feeling that it would be just me digging myself even deeper, so after exhaling hard I ultimately told her, "You're right. I am keeping a lot of secrets, but there are a lot of different reasons why I can't just share them with everyone."

"Do you share them with anyone at all?" she pressed on, but I had an answer ready.

"Actually, I do. Judy knows practically all my secrets already."

"What about Eleanor?" she continued her offense, and this time I was actually stumped for a moment.

"She knows… erm… some of my secrets?"

"She is your girlfriend, and even that isn't enough to confide in her?"

"I told you, it's complicated," I mumbled as I found myself on the defensive, and she didn't let me catch my breath either.

"What about Neige. You adopted her, and you're always vehement about how she is your little sister no matter what anyone says. Does that mean she knows all of your secrets?"

"Well… not really. I mean, she knows different secrets than Elly, but…"

Seeing how disappointed Ammy looked made me feel just a tiny bit ashamed, so I soon fell silent again. Seeing that I was done, my guest let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

"Leo, you need to understand something," she began by looking me in the eye and talking in a level voice. "Neige trusts you. So do Eleanor, Angie, and Josh. So do I, even though you make it really hard sometimes."

"Thanks, I guess?"

She gave me a small nod in response, though the look in her eyes told me to stay quiet just a while longer.

"You also have to understand something else: Trust is a two-way street, and it really looks and feels like you don't trust us at all. You don't tell us anything ahead of time, keep pulling resources and abilities out of thin air, and act like all of that is completely self-evident. I mean, you have a secret underground base full of Fauns, and it might be the most normal thing about you."

"Now, that's just a hyperbole if I've even heard one," I grumbled, but got dismissed on the spot.

"It's true. And it makes it hard to continue trusting you, especially when you keep all of us in the dark about these things right until they are convenient to be revealed. For example, if I knew you already have an informant in the School, and let's put aside how crazy that is for a moment, I wouldn't have rushed over her to try and warn you about something you already knew about ahead of time."

I wanted to note that I didn't actually know about the ambush ahead of time, but I didn't have a good opportunity to interject, as she immediately continued.

"Things like these might not mean much to you, but by keeping us in the dark, your secrecy had and will lead to us being worried and afraid for your safety and ours. How are we supposed to work together and watch each other's backs when you can't be bothered to tell us anything ahead of time and prefer to lord over your 'secrets' instead?"

At last, there was a momentary pause in her scolding, so I exhaled sharply through my nose and began my verbal counter-offensive.

"Very well. For the record, I want you to know that I understand your point of view and your arguments. However," I paused for a beat and raised a finger for emphasis before I continued with, "I'm not keeping secrets just for the sake of keeping them. I'm not even keeping them for the sake of some hackneyed reason, like protecting myself or you guys. The truth of the matter is, everything I try to keep for you is because failing to do so would lead to unexpected consequences for the entire world."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I'm talking about reality-warping, existential-crisis inducing, literal world-shattering shenanigans."

For a moment we were both silent, with the class rep obviously scrutinizing my face to see if I was serious, and once she seemed to be convinced enough she whispered, "That's… considerably more grave than I thought."

"Tell me about it," I grumbled with a huff, then added, "It's also important to note that, even when it comes to the less cataclysmic secrets of mine, I keep them a secret because of tactical reasons."

"Tactical?" she repeated after me, brows once again arched high.

"Yes," I nodded and elaborated by telling her, "Let me give you an example: let's say I had the ability to turn Abyssals into stone by touching their heads."

"You can do that?"

"No, I said this was hypothetical. So, let's say I could do that, and there was no way to resist that ability. Let's say Crowey showed up and demanded that I handed Snowy back to him. If I kept my ability a secret until the last second, I could simply petrify him when his guard was down, and then I could put a pointy hat on him and we would have a brand new garden gnome. However, what would happen if I didn't keep it a secret?"

"He could come up with counter-measures," she muttered under her breath, but then she continued with a stronger voice, "I understand, but it sounds like a very specific scenario."

"Of course, it was an example to illustrate a point. However, if I wanted to go with something more down to earth…" At this point I fell silent for a while as I weighed my options, and after a few long seconds of deliberation, I decided on what to say. "Since you spent so much time dressing me down, I suppose I should show you that I understood what you tried to tell me with actions. Consider this a token of goodwill, if you like." The class rep's ears immediately perked up and she looked almost comically expectant, so after taking a quick breath I stopped delaying things and simply told her, "I have an ability called Far Sight."

"Far Sight," she repeated after me, a little surprised by the looks of it. "Isn't that a high-level mystic art?"

"It might share the name, but I assure you, it's probably not the same thing. To put it bluntly, I can mark people, and after that point, I can observe them from a bird's eye view at any time I want."

"… Are you serious?"

"Perfectly."

"What are its limitations?"

"I can only watch one person at a time," I answered honestly, yet she started scowling at me again.

"Leo, I'm serious."

"So am I," I retorted, I little hurt by her lack of trust, especially after she went on and on about it not too long ago.

"Okay, then how much mana does it—?"

"It doesn't," I answered her question before she even finished it.

"What about the maximum range?"

"I have no idea. How far is the Abyss?"

"You can watch people in the Abyss?"

Ammy sounded more incredulous by the second, so I nodded with the sincerest expression I could muster at the moment.

"I use it to keep tabs on Crowey, so yes, I can."

"What about the duration? Can you observe someone for more than a minute?"

"I think my record so far is about two hours." At this point she was staring daggers at me, so quickly added a supremely puzzled, "What?"

"Leo…" she began as she raised her left hand to her ear, but for a change, it wasn't so that she could adjust her glasses, but to massage her temple. "Are you trying to tell me you have a surveillance ability that doesn't have either cost, range, or duration limitations?"

"More or less," I answered truthfully, and she shook her head in denial.

"That makes no sense. Every mystic phenomena, from the simplest spells to the most complex rituals, have to obey the Rule of Threefold Balance."

"Could you refresh my memory about that?" I requested with a raised hand to get her attention. "What exactly is this 'rule of balance' thing again?"

For a moment she looked at me like she thought I was teasing her, but when I showed her my sincerest puppy-eyes, she quickly relented and explained, "It's the principle that states that any mystic phenomena have three attributes. They are the cost, the duration, and the magnitude. In the case of a surveillance spell, the cost usually refers to the mana required to cast or use an already deployed spell, the duration is the time until the phenomenon loses its coherence and fizzles out, and the magnitude is the maximum distance at which connecting to the spell and observation is still possible. If you want to increase one attribute, you must, without fail, have to sacrifice one or both of the other attributes in the process."

"Wait, that actually sounds a little familiar," I mused as I tried to recall where I've heard something like this before, and I snapped my finger the moment it came back to me. "Oh, I know! It's the magical version of the Scope Triangle!"

"The what triangle?" Ammy muttered with a deadpan expression, apparently a little confused after I jolted her out of her groove.

"It's a thing in business and project management. The three corners of the triangle are time, cost, and quality. If you want to increase, one you have to compromise with the other two. Say, you want something done fast, it will either cost more or it will have a shoddier end product, or if you want to have high quality, you either need to give it more time or put in more money. It's pretty similar to what you described."

"Yes, but… why do you even know about something like that?"

"Well… Let's just say that the internet is a vast place, and I have poor impulse control when it comes to following links to random wiki pages."

The class rep's expression said she still didn't understand what I was getting at, but she quickly gave up and announced, "Putting that aside, if what you say is true, then your Far Sight goes against all the known laws of mystic phenomena and should be flat out impossible."

"I suppose, and yet it's probably still the most harmless out of all of my common sense wrecking secrets," I responded with a knowing smirk. "It's also why other people wouldn't expect it, hence why it's so important to keep it under the lid."

"I suppose, but..." As she was looking for words, the class rep's expression slowly hardened, and she ultimately asked me, "I've been too surprised by its illogical nature to ask something that I should've in the beginning: Have you used that ability on me?"

"Yes, I have," I told her without an ounce of reservation.

"So you've been spying on me without my knowledge," she stated with just a hint of accusation in her otherwise level voice.

"Calling it 'spying' is a bit of an overstatement. I'm not a voyeur; I only check on you guys occasionally, to make sure you are all right."

"'You guys'? So you have marked all of us like that. How exactly is that any better than what grandfather is doing?"

"For a start, it's because I know for a fact that my intentions are benign, and I can't say the same about him." I could see it in her eyes that she was about to object, so I hastily raised my voice and amended, "Much more importantly though, the main difference is that for him, putting a magical bug on someone is a conscious action on which he has to actively spend effort and resources, while for me, it is just something I do. It's practically involuntary, and it would probably take more effort to avoid accidentally marking someone I'm in daily contact with than to actually do it, and once it happens, it would be a waste to just ignore it. Not to mention, it has other important uses."

"Such as?"

I sent a frown her way and flatly told her, "I already shared one of my big, magic-theory shaking secrets with you. Don't be greedy."

"In retrospect, I probably don't even want to know," she relented much easier than I expected. I took that as her way of dropping the topic, so I decided to move on right away by, ironically enough, moving backward.

"Aaaaanyway, we went on quite a tangent without even concluding how or why your grandpa would try to set you up." Ammy was only looking at me attentively, probably waiting for me to make that conclusion, so after a short while I continued with, "From what you said, it didn't seem like there was any marking information in their discussion that could be used to identify you as a leak. However, considering that you were under surveillance, there is a good chance that he wanted to know how you would react to the new information."

"And came over as soon as I could to warn you," she spoke in a dispirited voice. "So it might have been a test of character after all."

"If it was, then you have passed with flying colors by my standards, and let us be honest, that's the only standard that matters." She apparently didn't find my jest amusing, so I let out a shallow sigh and added, "Jokes aside, we should give you a plausible cover, just in case."

"For what?"

"So that if your grandfather asks about what you were doing out this late, you would have an explanation, giving you plausible deniability and hopefully preventing him from completely locking you of the loop."

"I'm listening."

I fell silent for a while as I considered the available options.

"How about this? The timeline roughly adds up, so why don't you tell him you came over in a hurry because I contacted you after being ambushed, and as the resident magical expert, I wanted to discuss the Biomechanical Gigant I encountered." I paused for a second as I thought it through again in search of obvious holes, and when nothing came to mind, I nodded to myself and said, "That sounds about right. What do you think?"

"If grandfather really spied on me, he will know I didn't talk with you on the phone," Ammy objected, but I dismissed her concern with a wave of my hand.

"Unless he literally kept an eye on you for the entire afternoon, he has no way to know we didn't have a few seconds long talk during one of his blind spots, and even if he did, he couldn't call you out on it without revealing that he bugged you, which he almost certainly wouldn't do. After that, you just have to take refuge in audacity and stick to your story, and he"ll have no choice but to go along with it."

"If you say so," she ultimately granted me the benefit of the doubt, which was honestly good enough for me at the moment. However, just a moment later, she slightly tilted her head to the side and inquired, "Did you actually see one of those giants?"

"From up close."

"Can you... describe it for me? Just in case grandfather asks about them."

"... If you are curious, just say so. There is no need for excuses between friends."

Ammy gave me a long, silent look, but then the corners of her lips rose ever so slightly and she stated, "You are right. So, are you going to tell me about them or not?"

Seeing her unrestrained curiosity on full display made me stifle a chuckle, and just like that, the storm clouds were gone and we continued our discussion in a considerably more light-hearted atmosphere. If only all my problems could be solved by a single good talk like this...

It was a little after midnight that I returned to my room with a damp towel over my head. I still felt a little bit sickly, but the hot shower managed to wash away most of my fatigue, so I was feeling pretty good overall, especially considering the long day I had.

After our brief yet in-depth discussion about the big ball monsters of Labcoat Guy, I managed to convince Ammy that it was getting a little too late for any further discussions, and since I was against letting a girl (even if she was a mage with a golem for a bodyguard) wander the night streets alone, so I did the usual thing and called a cab for her.

This probably wasn't a surprise anymore, but it was the usual cab guy who showed up to take her home. Not only that, but after sharing a few words with him, it turned out that he was also the one who took Mike to the station, so yeah, apparently this man was the only taxi driver in the entire city. I wasn't even surprised anymore.

Anyhow, once the class rep left, I made sure that my sister was asleep, and then I quickly came to my room and put all the things I've learned today to electronic paper, and only after that did I take a shower.

As it often happens, the running water also managed to get my thoughts flowing, and so I quickly took a seat in front of my computer to capitalize upon the inspiration while it lasted. I moved my mouse a little to wake the machine from standby mode, but before I could get started, my attention was drawn to the exclamation mark on one of my browser tabs.

At first, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to know what it was about, but curiosity won the tug of war against caution, and I maximized the Hub's tab and clicked on the highlighted PM box.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HEY, ADMIN? ARE YOU ONLINE? (￣▽￣)ノ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO!? (・_・)ノ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: IF YOU ARE ONLINE, ANSWER ME BACK! I HAVE A BIG LEAD! HUGE SCOOP! (≧▽≦)ノ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO!? YOUR PROFILE SAYS YOU ARE ONLINE! WHY AREN'T YOU ONLINE WHEN YOU ARE ONLINE!? (￣～￣')"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! (＠_＠)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO!? PLEASE ANSWER IF YOU ARE THERE! IT'S WAY LATE OVER HERE AND I SHOULD BE IN BED ALREADY, BUT I REALLY WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT I FOUND! IT'S SUPER HUGE! (✧ω✧)"

I was getting a mild headache from just looking at that message history, and I admit that for a moment I was tempted to just close the window and be on my merry way, but I figured there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. As such, I let out a slight groan under my breath and began to type.

"Admin: I'm here."

"Admin: Also, I have already warned you about spamming, haven't I?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: SORRY, BUT THIS IS SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT!!! (⌒‿⌒)"

I took a deep breath to brace myself and responded by typing:

"Admin: I'm listening."

There was no answer for a long while, but then all of a sudden my screen was flooded by messages.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: SO LISTEN! I TOLD YOU I KNEW A GUY WHO KNEW A GAL WHO KNEW A GUY RIGHT!?

ヽ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )ﾉ "

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HE IS THIS HARD-CORE INFORMATION BROKER LIVING IN TIMAEUS, SO I WENT TO HIS PLACE AND MADE AN AWESOME DEAL WITH HIM! (･ω<>

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! HE HAD A TOTALLY CUTE LITTLE SISTER WHO WAS DRESSED LIKE A MAID, AND SHE WAS SUPER CUTE! LIKE, SO CUTE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE!! TOO BAD HER BROTHER IS SUPER SCARY! (((＞＜)))"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BUT THEN I MENTIONED MY FATHER AND I MENTIONED YOU AND I WAS TOTALLY SUAVE AND ALL, LIKE A PROPER SECRET AGENT MAN, AND I CONVINCED HIM TO GIVE US SOME INFO ON THAT MONSTER HUNTER GAL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT! (* ^ ω ^)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WILL WRITE A PROPER REPORT LATER, BUT HE INDEPENDENTLY CONFIRMED MY OLD SOURCE, SO YOU CAN TOTALLY BELIEVE THAT NOW!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HE ALSO CALLED HER A PIZZA CUTTER, BUT I DID'T REALLY GET THAT… (-_-')・・・"

The torrent of messages stopped at this point, and as he didn't seem to be writing anything either, I guessed he might have been waiting for me to respond.

"Admin: A pizza cutter?"

"Admin: So all edge and no point?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID! GREAT MINDS MUST REALLY THINK ALIKE!!! (★ω★)/"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: … I STILL DON'T GET IT THOUGH… (-_-')・・・"

"Admin: Never mind that. Do you have anything else to report?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: AH, RIGHT, I DO! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, HE DIDN'T ASK FOR MONEY, OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, BUT ARTIFACTS!!! HE DIDN'T EVEN CARE WHAT KIND!"

"Admin: I see. Can you provide him with any?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: ACTUALLY, I WANTED TO ASK YOU IF YOU COULD… YOU KNOW… REQUISITION SOME FOR MY USE? PRETTY PLEASE? (´-ω-`)"

"Admin: I can't. I'm not even in the same continent as you."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: AW MAAAAAN!!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: THAT MEANS I REALLY HAVE TO ASK MY FATHER FOR HELP… ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: WISH ME LUCK! (((＞＜)))"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: OH, SPEAKING OF LUCK!!! YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT, BUT I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO MEET THE CUTEST GIRL EVER TODAY!!! o(>ω<>

"Admin: Was it the sister of the information broker?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: NOOOOO!!! SHE WAS CUTE TOO, BUT I TOLD YOU HER BROTHER IS SCARY! I DON'T WANNA DIE YOUNG!!! (×﹏×)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: THE ONE I MET WAS ALSO VISITING HIM, AND SHE IS CALLED AMELIA, AND SHE IS THIS SUPER-DUPER CUTE GLASSES GIRL! SHE IS HIS CLASSMATE AND THEY ARE JUST FRIENDS, AND SHE IS HYPER-SUPER-DUPER CUTE!!! (❤ω❤)"

"Admin: Yes, you already told me that she is cute, you don't have to repeat yourself so much."

"Admin: Also, just for the record: is this information broker of yours the rumored chimera slayer of Critias?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YUP, THAT'S HIM!!"

"Admin: I just read his files the other day. Isn't he in the second year of high school?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YES? SO?"

"Admin: Then correct me if I'm wrong, but if she is his classmate, isn't she about sixteen years old."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WOULD THINK SO, BUT I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING AT… (￣～￣')"

"Admin: How old are you again?"

There was another short pause on the line that lasted for almost half a minute, then…

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: COME ON BOSS-MAN! I WILL BE TWENTY IN THREE MONTHS! TECHNICALLY I AM STILL A TEENAGER! (＃`Д´)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: ALSO, IT'S JUST THREE YEARS!! IT'S NOTHING AT ALL!!"

It seemed like this approach didn't really achieve the desired effect, so I decided on a more circumspect yet hopefully more effective one.

"Admin: So this girl is part of the chimera slayer's social circle, right?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I'M PRETTY SURE SHE IS. WHY? (￢_￢)"

"Admin: Give me a second to look up something…"

After typing that, I fiddled with my thumbs for a minute or two while pretending to be browsing the database entries, and after I figured I had him wait long enough, I wrote:

"Admin: I found it."

"Admin: Leonard Dunning's closest circle includes Joshua Bernstein, Judy Sennoma, Eleanor Dracis, Angeline Dionne, and, most importantly, Amelia Rhearn, the granddaughter of Lord Amadeus Endymonion of Critias."

"Admin: What did you say, what was your crush called again?"

There was radio silence for several seconds, and then…

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BOSS, I THINK I HAVE TO LEAVE NOW AND THINK ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE. BYE. ( ╥ω╥ )"

And with that, he disconnected from the server. When he did that, I couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh. I mean, I had nothing against the guy, and he had been pretty helpful on the Hub, but him getting involved with Ammy without knowing about her background sounded like another incident in the making. Not to mention, trying to snatch a love interest out of the harem protagonist's group was pretty much the recipe for landing in the role of an NTR love rival, which was statistically the most hated type of antagonist in fiction, and I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemy, let alone poor N1nj4. Though on second thought, I might wish it on Crowey after all, but he's a special case.

Anyhow, now that I finally got that sorted out, I let out a pent-up breath, limbered up my fingers, and got ready to put to paper those shower-insights… except I found that dealing with Mike made me forget practically all of them.

"Well, damn," I whispered under my breath, and after some pondering, I decided to forget about the whole idea and just watch a video podcast where four guys talked about hilarious, dumb, or hilariously dumb product reviews on the internet.

It was pretty much as brainless as entertainment went, but considering I was incapable of sleeping, I figured it was the second-best thing.