The Simulacrum

"It's been a while," I whispered under my breath and stretched my back under the sunny, if not particularly warm, autumn sky.

"What's been a while?" Judy inquired without looking up from the lunchbox she was unpacking at the moment, so I told her:

"Since the last time we had lunch on the school rooftop like this."

"That's true. You've been on sick leave a lot lately." There was just a tiny bit of edge to her words, but I decided to ignore it, and instead I sidled closer to her on the bench.

Even though the weather was just a touch wintry at the moment (which also resulted in the placeholders avoiding the place like the plague, hence why we had the whole place for ourselves), Josh and company already picked the cafeteria in the morning. That meant we could either eat in the classroom, or here, and Judy voted on the latter, probably so that we could spend some quality time together for a change. As for why we decided to separate ourselves from the rest of the group in the first place, it was so that they could have their strategic discussions about how to capture Labcoat Guy without my unwitting interference.

I mean, the whole point was to make Josh a bit more independent and protagonist-y, and subconsciously seeking validation from me all the time got in the way of that. Although it pained to me to admit it, I was legitimately guilty when it came to him developing this bad habit in the first place, so I figured I might as well help him course-correct.

I mean, Angie had a legitimate point; I've been acting too much like a 'leader-type' character as of late, so I couldn't blame them for mistaking me for one. Hopefully I would have the time and opportunity to change that impression, or failing that, to become a shadowy mastermind character instead; the kind that stayed in the background and manipulated events for the main characters' favor without taking the lead themselves. Nevertheless, that was a fairly distant goal, and I had much more important things on my mind at the moment. Such as lunch.

"What are we going to have today?"

"Sandwiches," Judy answered as she handed a wrapper-covered packet over to me.

"We are back to our roots, huh?" I muttered as I unwrapped my package and checked the contents between the buns. "Fried chicken. A classic."

"Indeed," my girlfriend nodded and reached behind the lunchbox. "You should also have this."

I was just about to take a bite out of my food when I laid my eyes upon the thing in Judy's hand and I immediately rolled them. My eyes, I mean, not Judy's hands. That would've been just plain weird.

"Are you serious, Dormouse? It's the lunch-break. How am I supposed to enjoy the tasty sandwiches my lovely girlfriend prepared for me like this?"

"Don't even try to butter me up," my dearest assistant scolded me and placed the open history textbook onto my lap. "You've been missing a lot of lessons lately. If you don't catch up, your grades are going to suffer."

"I know, but can't I catch up later?"

"That's something a slacker would say," Judy suddenly declared with a voice more wooden than an entire Viking longship. "Are you a slacker?"

"… Where did that come from?" I asked, mildly bewildered.

"What do you mean?" she responded innocently, but by this point I was proficient enough when it came to reading her to tell that she was embarrassed by her previous words.

"That sounded like something you rehearsed ahead of time," I pressed on, and after a few short seconds of silence she finally gave in.

"It's from a self-help book. For motivation."

I continued to scrutinize her for a moment, but it appeared she was entirely sincere, so I stated, "Okay, I bite. Why did you read a book like that?"

"To motivate you to study, obviously," she answered as if it was entirely self-evident. "Recent studies have shown that school performance and financial success scale linearly, and financial stability is one of the key requirements of a conflict-free and relaxed family life. To ensure our future happiness, I decided it was necessary to motivate you."

"Just for the record, you do know that I'm rich, right?"

"That's not an excuse to slack off," she countered as she unwrapped one of her own sandwiches. "You're going to have to provide for exactly two wives, and at least four kids."

"At least?" I asked back absent-mindedly between two bites, and she gave me a firm nod in response.

"Yes. I want at least three, and Elly said she wants one for sure."

"I think you two are thinking just a smidgen too far ahead. Also, it's not like I really have to 'provide' for you two. Elly is silly rich, and with your grades, I'm pretty sure you are going to do great."

"You're still going to provide for me," she countered with a huff. "You have to pay for my assistant's fees, and my contract lasts for a lifetime."

"If you insist," I told her with a chuckle.

"I do, so you better start studying."

My chuckles immediately turned into a stifled groan as I rolled my eyes and pleaded, "Come on Dormouse. Think of the situation. Winter is coming, and soon we won't be able to have lunches together up here. Do you really want me to waste what very well might be my last opportunity to have a rooftop rendezvous with my girlfriend by ignoring her and studying instead?"

"If you put it like that…" she finally relented, and so I quickly picked up the history book and put it aside before she could change her mind.

"There you go. I promise I'll look over the parts I missed later. For now, how about we just relax a little."

"Fine," she spoke with just a hint of sulkiness in her voice, and for a few short minutes we silently consumed our required dose of calories for the afternoon.

"Chief?"

"Hm?" I turned to Judy, and I admit I was a little surprised by the way she called out to me out of the blue.

"This feels nostalgic," she stated with a vaguely wistful look in her eyes.

"Now that you mention it, it kind of does," I agreed with her after considering it for a moment. "This roof is where we first met."

"Yes," she stated, with a nod. "It's also the place where you hired me to become your assistant."

"I believe we are talking about the same event," I muttered a little uncertainly, but then I added, "That said, it really feels like it's been ages since that day."

"A lot of things happened. Back then, you even thought this was just a school life harem setting." She waited for a beat, probably to see if I would add anything, then she flatly added, "You were wrong."

"I wasn't wrong; I just didn't see the whole picture. Just because Newton didn't know about relativity, it doesn't make Newtonian Physics wrong. Just incomplete."

"I'll now graciously skim over the fact that you likened yourself to Sir Isaac Newton and I won't make fun of you for it."

"Thank you for your small mercies. You are truly kind."

"You're welcome."

"That said," I began as I nimbly unwrapped my next sandwich, "It feels like we've come far, yet at the same time we are still standing by the start-line."

"Mmmm," Judy… agreed, I think? It was hard to tell, because her mouth was currently so full she reminded me of a chipmunk, but once she swallowed, she properly agreed by telling me, "True. We have discovered many things, but just as many things are shrouded in mystery."

"Let's hope that once we weather the coming flustercuck with the knights, we're finally going to have some downtime and can get some research done for a change. For example, I'm itching to experiment with the supernatural stratum through enchantments, but as long as there's uncertain danger afoot that could require my urgent attention, the way it knocks me out for half a week every single time is too much of a liability."

"I don't want to rain on your parade, Chief, but I think the main reason why we are having a hard time with the arrival of the Knights is exactly because of your meddling. With the narrative, I mean."

This comment made me pause for a moment and give my assistant a wry look, but since she didn't back down, I decided to just outright tell her, "I thought we were over this. Not every single thing that happens to us has to be because of the narrative jerking everyone's strings. There might be perfectly reasonable explanations for the sudden appearance of the Knights."

"Really? Do you have a sensible Watsonian explanation then?"

"Maybe," I countered with a frown. "Do you have a sensible Doylist one?"

"I do," Judy stated with perfect confidence, but then she continued to chew on her food without actually saying it.

"So?" I prompted her, just a tiny bit impatiently, and after she finished up the last bite she finally turned to me and began to explain herself.

"I believe we've already discussed this, but let's reiterate our theory regarding the main plot so far: by saving Joshua from Noire, you ended the first arc."

"Technically 'we' saved him, and Snowy too, kinda, but otherwise you're correct."

"In conclusion, the first arc existed to set things up and then expose Joshua to the supernatural elements of the setting in a dramatic fashion. Are we in agreement on that?"

"More or less," I granted her with some minor reservations.

"If that is the case, then the second arc would be about an introductory villain, and the main characters learning how to work together in order to overcome them."

"That would be Labcoat Guy."

"Precisely," she declared quite firmly, for some reason.

"And if that's the main plot, then Mountain Girl and the stray Chimera are just side-plots."

"Not only that," my assistant raised her voice while also extending an index finger in front of her, "That side-plot has nothing to do with Joshua. This tells us that the Narrative created it just for you, either as an acknowledgment of your impact on the original plot, or as a way to keep you busy and away from the main plot."

"U-huh," I grunted in what could be best described as 'skeptical agreement'. "So, in your interpretation of the situation, where do the Knights fit into the arc?"

"They don't," she told me with just the barest hint of smugness permeating her tone. "The Knights were most definitely supposed to be the focus of the next arc. If we follow genre conventions, the first couple of arcs would each focus on a different harem member. However, since you've disrupted the current arc by sabotaging the sentai elements and revealing Doctor Robatto's connection to the Arch-mage of the island, it upset the natural progression of the plot and led to the next arc bleeding into the current one."

"… You're talking awfully confidently, considering you have little evidence for any of this," I grumbled while reaching for the thermos by the lunch box. "For a start, I'm not entirely sure about your 'arc' hypothesis. It's just as likely that the original scenario had a branching route structure."

"Would that mean that, since the Dracis and the Knights are coming into focus, we are entering Eleanor's route?" After saying so, she thought for a moment and then added, "Also, if we presume we are in a route-based Narrative, can we even be sure we are out of the common route yet?"

"I don't know, and I don't dare to guess just yet," I answered as I unscrewed the beverage holder and took a whiff of its contents. "Huh. That's new."

"Sebastian gifted me some of his tea blends when I visited the Dracis Library the last time," Judy stated off-handedly, yet she couldn't hide how attentively she was looking at my reaction. "He said you'd like it."

"I very much do so," I answered with a smile, and then I poured a portion into my plastic travel cup. "Thanks for the treat."

"You're welcome."

I took a cautious sip from my cup, and even though it couldn't exactly match up to the brew the old man made himself, it was still really, really good.

"So, where were we?" I asked after savoring the taste for a moment, and Judy told me right away.

"We were at the part where you poked holes into my theory without providing a reasonable Watsonian alternative."

"Well then, I suppose I better do that right away." I flashed her my perfected roguish smile, and once it achieved the desired effect, I moved on by stating, "According to how I view it, while the narrative scaffoldings of a pre-planned plot almost certainly exist around us, the current events are best explained by the consequences of our individual actions, and there is no guiding intelligence that constantly tries to maintain said pre-planned plot."

"Does that make you a Narrative Deist?" my dear assistant leveled an unexpected question at me, and after a moment of thinking, I answered with a tentative nod.

"I suppose?" I granted her, but then I quickly returned to the main topic by telling her, "So, let's take the elements of your 'arcs' into consideration for a second: Labcoat Guy, while certainly fits the role of a mostly harmless starting villain, is technically just Lord Grandpa's flunky. On the same note, it turns out that while he covered his tracks a little better with Rinne, he still used my student ID photograph to prime her to look for me, and I'm fairly sure that he is behind the appearance of the Chimera as well. I've talked with Brang and Snowy about it, and those creatures are really, really dumb. Without someone giving them direct orders, they would even forget to eat and starve to death."

"Really?"

"It was an extreme example, but Snowy said so, so it must be true. She said it's some kind of failsafe mechanic so that they wouldn't go out of control and start hunting anything that moved. Anyhow, since it's sending out its spawns to forage and keeps moving around the city, it means that someone must've given it the orders to do so."

"And you still think that's Lord Amadeus."

"It's not like we have a huge list of suspects," I gave a firm answer, though I would've been the first to admit my reasoning was based on way more conjecture than I would've preferred. "There are no more Abyssals on the island, the Dracis have nothing to do with it, we would know if the Celestials had a hand in it because of the Hub, it doesn't fit the Knights' MO, and as for Labcoat Guy, I figure he would've slipped up during the time I was observing him if it was him. Oh, by the way, he's already moving out to ambush Josh after school today. Please remind me to tell them, in case I forget."

"Noted," she replied, and then she filled her own mug with tea. I waited for her to finish, and only then did I continue.

"The point I was trying to get at is that the events of this entire 'arc' you are talking about are the handiwork of Lord Grandpa, no ubiquitous narrative involvement required. Not only that, but your theory doesn't explain why we almost had a genre shift, which would've made your proposed next arc about the Knights and Elly's family moot, because then this wouldn't be a battle harem narrative anymore."

"If so, then how do you explain the sudden appearance of the Knights?"

"Thank you for asking," I said with a not at all cheeky smile. "For a start, remember how I handed over a lot of sensitive intelligence to Sebastian about them? According to Moose, a lot of their bases were hit by what I presume to be other Draconians, which would explain why they would speed up whatever operation they had in mind on the island."

"You said that the man on the phone told you that the attack would proceed as planned," Judy countered. "Wouldn't that mean that the date was fixed well ahead of time?"

"I… suppose, yes…"

"If so, then that means they didn't bring any of their plans ahead."

The two of us locked eyes for a few seconds, but since I couldn't come up with a snappy comeback, I was forced to grudgingly admit, "Fine, my theory doesn't explain everything either."

"Mine explains this one though," my girlfriend told me with a triumphant smirk (which, for the uninitiated, probably looked nothing more than the corner of her lips twitching a little). "Since the day of the attack was information that everyone was unaware of, it was the equivalent of a Schrödinger's plot device. In other words, the Narrative could've retroactively changed the date in order to fit the pace of the plot."

"I find that impossible to refute on account of it being a black box."

"Which also means that it's impossible for me to prove it as well," she concluded, earning her a nod.

"Almost everything we discuss about the Narrative boils down to this. To be honest though, I'm starting to think that the truth lies somewhere between the two extremes of our interpretations."

"Possibly. It's sad but true that until we learn more about the underlying principles of the world, the best we can do is post hoc rationalizations of events and the occasional prediction based on genre conventions."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me," I snapped my finger and then pointed at her. "In your opinion, how will Josh's attempt at catching Labcoat Guy turn out?"

"Depends," Judy answered a little absent-mindedly, no doubt because she was too busy unpacking the desserts she brought.

"What are those?" I asked while redirecting my finger at the round pastries in her lap.

"Jaffa cakes. Angeline's recommendation," she answered and handed one over to me, which I graciously accepted.

"Thank you very much. On a separate note, what do you mean by 'depends'?"

"It depends on whether or not Robatto operates on Battle Harem or Sentai tropes," she explained as she picked a cake for herself and began nibbling on it. "If he stays within the Battle Harem framework, then it's likely that once he's captured, he would turn into a tertiary character, possibly a comic relief one."

"I can kind of see that happening," I answered while sneakily snatching another cake from Judy's lap.

"If he follows Sentai tropes, it's a little harder to tell."

"I guess. For a start, Sentai villains are not supposed to be defeated before the end of the season," I mused as I quickly devoured the surprisingly delicious confectionery in my hand.

"Not unless they are a bait-and-switch paving the way for another antagonist or, in rare cases, an eeeeeevil organization of—"

"Bfff!"

Oh my god, I almost choked! What was that completely wooden 'eeeeevil' just now?! And why was it so gosh darn adorable?! Dammit Dormouse, do you want to assassinate me with cuteness!? Because at this rate, it might actually work…

"Chief? Are you all right?"

"Um… Yes, perfectly fine. I just need to drink a little," I mumbled as I reached for my mug and downed the remaining tea in it with a single gulp. "So, you were saying something about bait-and-switch antagonists, right?"

My dear assistant was eyeing me through suspiciously squinted eyes, but at last she continued with, "I think that the Knights are supposed to be the antagonists to swoop in and one-up Robatto by posing a more competent threat."

"Is that part of your hypothesis about arcs, or is this a separate one?"

"No, but the two are not entirely incompatible."

"Fair enough. It does feel like you're really pushing the idea that the coming of the Knights is going to completely change the status quo once again."

"Do you think it wouldn't?"

"Well, maybe if it happened before I healed Emese…" I mused aloud, and Judy gave me such an intrigued look that I couldn't help but explain to her my previous idea of how things might've gone down if I didn't mess around with Emese's curse, and how it related to the two 'plot-devices' I've found so far.

She listened to me attentively, and once I reached the end of my tale, she let out an unsubtle sigh and told me, "Chief, if you keep this up, you might trigger the third arc before we even start the second one."

"What would that be about?" I wondered as I picked out the last piece of cake, broke it in half, and handed the slightly larger piece over to Judy.

"Considering that we already had Noire, Robatto, possibly Lord Endymonion, and the Knights for antagonists, I would guess it would be the Celestials' turn.

"It's okay then; we already have a leg the size of Italy up on those guys, so I doubt they would cause too much trouble."

"… I can't decide if I should scold you for jinxing it, or for proactively ruining the third arc as well."

"How about neither?"

"That's not an option," she stated quite resolutely, but I could see a small glint in the corner of her eye, so I pressed on anyway.

"Okay, then what can I do to make it an option?"

"Chief, I can't believe you'd try to bribe me," she exclaimed in mock horror. "I want you to know that I'm an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, and I most certainly won't look the other way for any less than ten kisses."

"That was refreshingly direct for an 'upstanding citizen'," I commented, and tried as I might, I failed to stop the corners of my lips from turning up in a smile. "Can I make my payment in installments?"

"Yes, but then I'll have to charge an interest."

"Whoever heard of charging interest on bribes?" I playfully scoffed, and in response, Judy sidled even closer to me on the bench until our tights touched.

"It's not a bribe, it's a direct form of lobbying."

"If you say so," I said under my breath as I leaned in for a kiss, yet our lips barely touched for a second when we were interrupted by the opening of the roof access door.

"Look at the lovebirds getting along!" Josh called out with an irreverent grin, and I couldn't help but jab back at him on the spot.

"Is that jealously I hear in those words?" I inquired with a provocative smirk, which immediately made him pause in his tracks.

"Well, excuse me. Not all of us than be as popular as you are."

My smirk slowly wilted off my face to be replaced by an incredulous grimace, but since he seemed to be perfectly serious, I could only groan and tell him, "You know, Josh, if lack of self-awareness hurt, I'm afraid you'd be screaming twenty-four-seven."

"What's that even supposed to mean?" my friend blurted out with invisible question marks over his head, but ultimately I decided it was more trouble than it was worth to explain myself, so I dismissed the topic with a wave of my hand.

"Never mind. More importantly, what are you doing up here?"

"Ammy said someone should warn you that lunch break is almost over, so I volunteered to come outside, into the cold, and tell you to come in."

"Uh-huh," I responded with a single and not-at-all convinced eyebrow raised high. "Let me guess; you actually lost a bet or something and had to come. Am I right?"

The only answer I got to my question was a decidedly sheepish, "Lili is surprisingly good at rock-paper-scissors," and to be fair, it was good enough.

I stood up, turned to my slightly miffed girlfriend, and then I told her, "You've heard it Dormouse. I guess we better head back to the classroom before Ammy scolds us."

She only responded with a fairly noncommittal 'Mm,' but she began to pack the empty lunchbox away, so I figured she agreed with me. In the meantime, I noticed that Josh was unsubtly gesturing for me to come closer, so I stood up and did just that.

"Hey, so, since I'm here already and stuff, can I ask a favor?"

"Unless it's something silly, then sure," I responded fairly nonchalantly, yet it seemed to take a huge weight off my friend's shoulders.

"You see, we kinda finalized our plan to take down Robatto, but before we do it, I wanted to run it by you before we give it a go. Are you free after school?"

"Chief." Hearing Judy's call, I turned to her, but she only said, "Be reminded."

It took me a long moment to realize what she was getting at, but then I let out a silent 'Oh, right,' and turned back to Josh at once.

"I don't think that's going to work. Labcoat guy is already setting up an ambush for after school."

I could see it in Joshua's eyes that he really wanted to know how I knew about that, but he held back the urge, and instead he asked, "In that case, how about during the next class?"

I momentarily wondered what he meant by that, but then I realized that we were about to have PE, and that I was going to sit on the sidelines because I was still recovering, and once I connected the dots, I immediately agreed with him.

"Sure, let's do that. What's going to be your excuse for sticking to me?"

"I'll think of something while we change," he answered just as Judy finished packing and walked up to us.

"Let's go," she urged us on as she gestured towards the door with her chin, only to pause and look me in the eye. "I'm still going to collect the installments, plus interest."

After saying that she walked past us, leaving Josh visibly flummoxed.

"What was that about?"

"Oh, you know," I responded with a shrug. "Lovebird stuff…"

"I must disagree with the assessment of my esteemed colleague," stated a certain annoying placeholder by my side. "The chart says that Mrs. Applebottom's stocks among the male populace show a steady increase regardless of outside factors."

"Humbug!" Mr. Spiky dismissed his bowl-cut-haired… friend? Were they friends? Did I even care?

"As we are all aware, the maximum amount of popularity among the eligible boys within our school is a finite resource," Mr. Bedhair added while completely disregarding the basketball that was heading towards his face. While watching the impact would've been admittedly pretty amusing, my better judgment still made me reach out and pull him out of the way, so that the ball harmlessly bounced off the wall and back into the hand of one of the players. I knew better than to expect thanks, but the way Mr. Bedhair continued to speak without even acknowledging what happened made me just a tad miffed anyway. "Since that is the case, it logically follows that an increase in the popularity of one of the Goddesses would necessarily mean a decrease of overall popularity the other Goddesses receive."

"Yes, that makes perfect sense," the fourth amigo, whom I dubbed Mr. Crew Cut, agreed with exactly four measured nods, and I could barely stifle the groan that attempted to escape my throat.

At the moment we were right around the middle of the PE class. Once I cleared things up with Mrs. Applebottom, I was told to sit by the sidelines in the indoor gymnasium while the rest of the boys formed three teams and started playing streetball on one side of the court. The girls, unusually enough, were doing the same thing on the other side.

Speaking of which, I originally wanted to move over to their side, as both Judy and Elly ended up in the same team and so I wanted to cheer for my girlfriends. Josh was playing in both the first and second rounds, meaning that for the time being I couldn't talk strategy with him even if I wanted to, yet misfortune struck my plans down before I could even get up from my seat, and it came in the form of the four woodenly enthusiastic bozos surrounding me.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with being wooden, considering they were placeholders and all, but for Pete's sake, they could at least talk about something other than torrents of exposition about terribly inconsequential popularity politics!

"Tell us, Leo. What's your opinion on the matter?"

I was momentarily startled by Mr. Spiky suddenly addressing me, but before I could form a coherent response, I was cut off by Mr. Bowl Cut letting out a melodramatic huff.

"As we are all aware, Leonard is too deeply invested with the Five Goddesses to provide us with an unbiased opinion." I wanted to ask if it was so, then why they even talked to me in the first place, but then Mr. Bowl Cut faced me directly and began to vomit out yet another torrent of words by telling me, "You're a transfer student who lives alone. As we all know, you're currently dating Eleanor and you're the brother of Neige. It is well known that you're also friends with both Angeline and Amelia, and it is no secret that—"

"Argh! Stop, stop!" I burst out as I could no longer hold back my indignation and I shared my most witheringest glare between the four scarcely animate annoyances. "Do you plan to drive me crazy by reciting exposition at me, or do you guys have something actually useful to say?"

The four of them froze up in a familiar display, which only lasted for a second and a half before they shared an uncertain glance between the four of them. At the end of the day, it was Mr. Bedhair who cleared his throat and, after a short beat, got around to explain himself.

"I believe this is common knowledge," he began and immediately earned another scowl for his trouble. He paused again, and then he tentatively continued with, "On the other hand, considering Leo's circumstances, it's very understandable that he may have never heard of TheGathering."

There was a short spell of meaningful silence, as if the word itself had some kind of power to it.

"Ah, yes… The Gathering," Mr. Crew Cut echoed him in a slow, ever so slightly overdramatic voice, which was quite an achievement considering these guys were still talking like community theater actors.

"Indeed… The Gathering!" Mr. Spiky followed up with even more gusto, and it was around this point that I had enough of them.

"Okay, I got it. It's a thing. Would any of you care to explain what it actually is and what it has to do with me?" I pressed on even though I was fairly sure it couldn't be anything good. Or sensible. Or sane…

"The Gathering is a quarterly event dedicated to the Five Goddesses," Mr. Bedhair enlightened me, and I let out another involuntary groan in response.

"Of course it is…" I whispered under my breath, and the four of them nodded in unison as if it was a statement rather than a plea for mercy.

"Naturally," Mr. Spiky spoke up with mild enthusiasm. "As we're all… I mean, as most of us are aware, it's when the most dedicated followers of the Goddesses come together in secret to share their love for their idols. Therefore, it's called the 'The Gathering'."

"So… it's like a tiny underground expo for…" I almost said 'stalkers', but I decided to soften it to, "… fans."

"Precisely," Mr. Spiky confirmed with a series of nods.

"It's also the time when the representatives of the Statistics and Journalism clubs share the quarterly rankings," Mr. Crew Cut added.

"Uh-huh… For the record, how many 'fans' are we talking about?"

"The numbers differ from session to session, but generally speaking, just enough people to fit into the empty social sciences classroom," Mr. Bedhair informed me. "The meetings are held there after school."

"And as we all know, the next meeting is going to be tomorrow!" Mr. Spiky chimed in. "Since we've already said this much, I believe it is time to invite Leonard to The Gathering!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Mr. Bowl Cut cut in, and contrary to his harsh words, his tone was disturbingly mild. "Leo is already in a relationship, and with one of the Goddesses to boot! As we're all acutely aware, only single men who wish to adore the Goddesses from afar may be permitted entrance to The Gathering!"

"That's correct," Mr. Bedhair doubled down. "The only exception is Joshua Bernstein, who had been banned in advance from all of the The Gatherings due to his monopolization of the Goddesses."

"You're correct. I'm ashamed," Mr. Spiky stated in a not at all ashamed tone, though at this point it would've been weirder if any of their stated emotions matched their tone. "I simply hoped that by bringing Leonard along, he could vouch for the authenticity of the displayed artifacts of Neige."

"Oh, that's a highly valid reason, yet the rules are the rules," Mr. Bedhair stated, yet before he could continue, I quickly cut in.

"Did you just say 'artifacts'?"

"Yes indeed," Mr. Spiky declared while he puffed out his chest for some inexplicable reason.

"What kind of artifacts are we talking about?" I pressed on as I latched onto the unexpected keyword, and after sharing a glance between each other, it was Mr. Bowl Cut who came forward to give me an answer.

"As everyone here already knows, during the The Gathering, there is the much-anticipated auction, where the admirers of the Goddesses can acquire their artifacts, collected by the tireless efforts of the collaboration between the Photography Club and the groundkeepers. They are all treasures, and we all get a chance to get our hands on one of them. Why, during the last The Gathering, I successfully managed to gain the ownership of a well-timed photo of Mrs. Applebottom showing no less than two square centimeters' worth of panties. They were black."

"A truly mature color," Mr. Crew Cut agreed with the kind of gravitas one would reserve for inspecting fine art.

"It's the centerpiece of my collection," Mr. Bowl Cut proudly declared, and it was only at this point that my brain finally managed to digest the insanity unfolding in front of me, so I tentatively asked them:

"Just for the records, are all of these 'artifacts' voyeur photos like that?"

"Naturally not," Mr. Bedhair told me just a smidgen smugly. "There are also material artifacts, such as successfully recovered plastic utensils used by the Goddesses, used tissues, or various lost articles recovered by the groundkeepers."

"Oh, great…" I groaned under my breath as I closed my eyes and began to massage my temple.

This whole conversation was a little creepy to begin with, then the whole 'The Gathering' thing brought it up a notch to 'pretty damn creepy', but this? This was straight-up 'Stop! Abort! Creeper-county ahead!' territory. And yet, there was one more thing I had to ask…

"Does that mean that all of the 'goddesses' would have 'artifacts' on display during 'TheGathering'," I inquired with judicious use of air quotes, and for a change, I found their usage entirely justified.

"Naturally," Mr. Bedhair confirmed with the obliviousness of a deer in front of a speeding rocket-sled. "If the previous The Gatherings are an indication, we can affirm that the auction will have artifacts from all five of them with an exceedingly small margin of error. Why? Are you interested?"

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), it was at this very moment that the sharp sound of a whistle cut our conversation short, and my placeholder companions immediately stood up and walked onto the court without even sparing a single word. It was probably for the best, as I was getting just a wee bit worked up over the sheer amount of 'what is this I don't even' I was bombarded with. It wasn't long after that when Josh finally came off the field and made his way over to my side.

"The other guys are getting better," he stated absently as he sat down beside me. "Now I almost have to try even when you're not on the field."

"That's just rude," I responded just as vaguely as I sent one last glare in the direction of the four amigos lining up for the next round of streetball.

Josh followed my line of sight, and once he figured out what I was looking at he said, "I don't want to pry, but what exactly were you talking about with those guys?"

"Tiresome, infuriating, and mostly inconsequential stuff. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, okay. Then I won't," he stated. When he saw that I wasn't reacting, he glanced around to see if there was anyone in earshot, but then he decided to lean closer into a conspiratorial huddle anyway, probably just to be on the safe side. "So… Can I run the plan by you?"

I took a deep breath to get my temper under control, and only then did I give him the green light.

"I already promised, so sure, go ahead."

My friend audibly gulped and looked about as nervous as is he was taking an oral exam, and I was just getting impatient enough to try and prompt him to get on with it.

"So, your task was to solve an equation where you plus the girls plus a tactic equals one captured Labcoat Guy. Now please make your case and show your work."

"You're not making this any easier with that. You know that, right?" my friend inquired with an annoyed frown, but since he no longer looked nervous, I still considered it mission accomplished, so I only showed him a perfectly friendly smile in response. He breathed out a shallow sigh and, at last, began to explain his plan. "Okay, so here's what I've got: the strategy that we came up with consists of three steps, and it will require all of us, save for you and Judy."

"The last part's a given," I murmured under my nose. Judy was a non-combatant, so she couldn't help much anyway, while I already told them I'd have my attention elsewhere.

"In the first step, Elly, Lily, and I would act as a diversion. The idea is that we make a big show and draw all the Sprockets' attention to us. While this is happening, Angie will scout the Restricted Space for its primary anchor point."

An 'anchor point', as the name implied, was the place where the Purple Zone was tied onto boring old reality, kind of like the stakes of a giant circus tent. Purple Zones, contrary to what one would expect, couldn't be called down all willy-nilly; small ones, like the one that covered the school during the kidnapping incident, would require at least one anchor, while the large-scale stuff that covered multiple blocks, the kind that Labcoat Guy and his mechanical cronies were pulling off, would require several. Once it's set up, anyone who knows the location of the anchor can slip in and out of the Purple Zone without having to rely on complicated spells or brute force.

However, if one actually managed to get into direct contact with the anchor, they can do all sorts of zany stuff with it, like changing the size of the area mimicked by the Purple Zone, closing it and forcefully ejecting everyone inside, or…

"Are you planning to lock down the place so that Labcoat Guy can't escape?"

"Yes, that's the plan," Josh confirmed my educated guess with a nod. "Ammy said that it usually takes a while to gain control over an anchor set up by someone else, but she knows a trick that would give her temporary control."

"Temporary, you say? Are you setting yourself up for a time limit?" I asked, suddenly feeling a little skeptical of this idea.

"More or less," my friend responded a little uncertainly. "Ammy is our expert, and she said that getting control over the anchor the normal way would take too long and Robatto would realize what we were doing and escape."

"Is there a chance that Labcoat Guy will realize what you are doing anyway?"

"Ammy sounded really confident about doing it her way, so I don't think it's likely."

"Plan for it anyway," I told him, and seeing how reluctant he looked, I let out a sigh and explained myself. "Listen up, Josh. When it comes to these things, 'unlikely' is the same as 'pretty damn likely'. If it's a 'one in a million chance', then I can guarantee you that it's going to happen for sure. The best way to work around this is to plan for the worst, and in the best-case scenario, you are only going to be pleasantly surprised by how smoothly everything worked out."

"I… will take that to heart."

"Good," I stated as I directed an appreciative smile at him. "So, part one was the three of you serving as a diversion, part two was about Angie and Ammy finding the anchor and temporarily locking Labcoat Guy in his own trap… what's part three?"

"That's the tricky part," Josh admitted a little dryly, but then he took a deep breath and he clarified things by telling me, "The third stage of the plan is to use Pascal to pin Doctor Robatto down long enough for us to regroup and then capture him. The only problem is that we don't know how to draw him out to do that."

"Can't the class rep just ask him to follow her and have her lead him to the ambush point?" I posited, but Josh immediately shook his head.

"That was my first idea as well, but Ammy says that he doesn't seem to trust her the way he used to. It has something to do with her failing a test or something. I honestly didn't get it."

"It's a long story. Anyhow, that means that using her to draw him in might not work."

"Which, if I follow your advice, means that it definitely won't work," Josh chimed it, and while I could detect a well-concealed jab under his words, I nodded in the affirmative all the same.

"In other words, you need a good reason for him to follow you. A kind of bait, if you will."

"Yes. We couldn't think of one yet so, for the time being, we figured Ammy would give a distress call to him and hope that he would show up in time."

"That's way too vague," I voiced my criticism as I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "So vague I would be normally tempted to say you shouldn't rely on him and go back to the drawing board."

"… I can sense a 'but' coming," Josh stated, and he mimicked my posture by crossing his arms as well.

"And you'd be correct, except now I can't do it anymore, because it would be grammatically incorrect."

"When did that ever stop you?"

"A valid question, but kind of irrelevant at the moment," I dismissed him on the spot, and after a deep breath I added, "You're not planning on putting the plan into action today, right?"

"No, of course not. It's nowhere near complete enough, as you graciously pointed out already."

"You're welcome. On a different yet related note, Armband Guy is in the student council, right?"

"In the Disciplinary Committee, but yes, he is," my friend answered a touch apprehensively, obviously uncertain about where I was going with that question.

"Disciplinary Committee, you say? That's even better," I mused as I dramatically rubbed my chin. "Would that mean he would be extra touchy about students breaking regulations?"

"I guess…"

"In that case," I further mused as a wide grin settled onto my face. "Do you want to crash a meeting of such students?"

"Depends. Please elaborate," Josh prompted me.

"It's a gathering of fanboys who trade for upskirt photos of the girls."

"By 'the girls', do you mean 'our' girls?" he inquired with a sudden sense of ferocity in his eyes.

"Yep."

"Where do I sign up?"

"The better question is, do you think Armband Guy would like to sign up too?"

"It's guaranteed," Josh muttered, but then a second of pause later he quickly added, "Or rather, the chances of that are… one in a million!"

For a moment I couldn't decide whether I should let out a groan or applaud him, so in the end I settled on awarding him a high-five, and then I spent the rest of the PE lesson hatching a new plan with him which would, with some luck, kill two birds (read: annoyances) with one stone (read: unwitting arm-band connoisseur).

I had to admit that the info about this whole 'The Gathering' balderdash showing up on my doorstep right now was just a wee bit too convenient, but as they say, when life gives you stalker lemons, you make creepy lemonade.

"We arrived," the class rep solemnly declared as she stopped in front of the familiar basement entrance by the side of the main school building. Classes were already over for a while, and most of the placeholders left the school grounds a while ago, save for the ones having their club meetings, like the sports club members hyping themselves up on the nearby tennis court. They couldn't see the two of us due to the picket fence between the main grounds and the sports field, but I could still hear their chanting all the same.

Anyhow, once we arrived, Ammy turned on her heels and locked eyes with me for a few long, silent seconds, and then she eventually stated, "I think I should go with you after all."

"No, you shouldn't," I replied on no uncertain terms, which earned me an increasingly rare yet still somewhat menacing glasses-tweaking from her.

"I'd feel considerably more at ease. I'm too afraid to leave you alone with grandfather."

"Oh, please. I know he agreed to this meeting a little too readily, but you don't have to worry about me. Even if he tries something underhanded, I have multiple exit strategies up my sleeve."

"No, I'm not worried about you," Ammy denied my words in a clearly exasperated tone. "I'm worried that if none of us are around to keep you on a short leash, you're just going to escalate the situation and make things even more complicated."

I wanted to ask 'When did I ever do that?', but she wasn't in the mood for hypocritical humor, so instead I told her, "Don't fret about what-if scenarios; they are only going to give you wrinkles." She didn't seem to appreciate that comment either, so I quickly added, before she could launch into a lecture, "Not to mention, the others are waiting for you, aren't they?"

"That's true…"

She was still reluctant to leave, but before I could push her just a little bit more, her brows abruptly descended into a frown and she asked, "Speaking of waiting, you still haven't told me where you and Josh disappeared to after the end of classes. We agreed that we would meet by the lockers, and I had to wait for almost twenty minutes for you!"

"We had something to discuss with the Disciplinary Committee," I told her a half-truth I've prepared in advance, yet it only made her narrow her eyes even further.

"Are you two in trouble?"

"No, it's some other guys." My answer still didn't satisfy her, but my lips remained sealed. There were some things that she was better off not knowing about…

We locked eyes for a few long seconds, and once she realized I wasn't going to elaborate, she let out a tiny little sigh and raised a hand to poke me in the chest.

"Fine, I'll go with the others. Don't escalate things with grandfather."

"I promise I'll make an attempt to try."

That earned me another frown, but at the end of the day she gave up all the same and told me, "You should know the way to the elevator. I arranged a guide for you to take you to grandfather's office. And once more, for emphasis," she paused as she poked my chest again, this time a little harder, "Don’t. Escalate. The. Situation."

"I get it, I get it. Geez."

I gently pushed her finger aside, and after one final huff, she turned on her heels and walked away, though not without sparing me one last glance as she rounded the corner of the school building. I had to wonder; was this the 'sisterly type' thing that the four creepy amigos claimed was her main claim to popularity? Did people like to be pestered like this? Though on second thought, someone being worried for me and trying to look after me was oddly nice, even if the unneeded nature of it all made it just a teensy bit annoying.

Anyhow, putting all that aside, I decided to enter the den of the lion without any further ado. As embarrassing it was to admit it, when we came here as a group, I was mainly just following after the class rep and I didn’t pay much attention to where the lift door was. Because of that, it took me a few really embarrassing minutes to find it in the basement.

After a short ride down, surrounded by the familiar and slightly unnerving stock elevator music from the last time, the automatic doors opened and revealed a stocky, middle-aged man standing in the middle of the well-lit stony corridor. He was wearing semi-formal apparel under a thick, brown leather apron, had a bushy beard with a few white strands here and there, a balding head, and one of those jewelers' eyepieces on his forehead. In other words, he looked exactly like an artificer (specifically the type that I had already seen talking with Ammy through Far Sight), and the moment our eyes met he immediately stepped up to me with a broad smile.

"Leonard Dunning, I presume?"

He offered a stubby hand ending in thick fingers, and I had no reason not to take it.

"Yes, that's me. Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," he squeezed my hand, not too hard yet tight enough to show that he could turn his grasp into a vice if so he chose, and then shook it. On a closer listen, he had some kind of accent, but it was refreshingly subtle. Irish? Maybe Scottish? Some kind of Celtic influence, of that I was fairly sure. Anyhow, he let go of my hand and continued with, "The little miss told me you'd be visiting the Lord today, so I volunteered myself to be your guide."

That explained a few things. I had no idea why Ammy arranged a guide for me, considering the Arch-Mage's office was at the end of the same corridor where the lift arrived, but looking at the eager man in front of me, I had a feeling it might not have been her idea after all.

"I presume you had a reason for that," I mused aloud, and the man, who conspicuously avoided properly introducing himself, nodded in confirmation.

"Certainly! You see, I'm an artificer."

"I've gathered as much, yes."

"What gave it away?" Since he was tugging at his leather apron, I figured it was a rhetorical question, and so I didn't bother answering. After a short while he added, "Not too long ago, the little miss asked us to fabricate a few artifacts for her. I was in charge of the project, and suffice to say I was quite shocked when she showed me the modifications you made to her device. Since the opportunity presented itself, I decided I would use it to introduce myself and maybe discuss matters of the craft with you. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was quite entranced by your work and was curious about its maker."

"Thank you for the compliment, but could we do that after I talked with Lord Gra— I mean, Endymonion?"

"You're right. Please excuse me; I'm just somewhat excited at the moment." He gestured for me to follow after him, and it didn't take us more than two steps before he continued anyway. "I must say, the changes you made to the suit stored in the artifact were absolutely marvelous. I naturally couldn't inspect them too closely, due to the security measures you implemented, but even at a cursory glance, it appears you took our prototypes and turned them into some of the most sophisticated enchantments I've seen in my career! The fidelity of the warding array alone was astounding! Is it true that you made it without the aid of any instruments?"

"I didn't have any on hand, so I had to improvise," I responded off-handedly, as at the moment I was preoccupied with memorizing the locations of the magical surveillance balls in the hallways.

"Is that so?" my guide perked up even more than before and he even leaned closer to me while we walked. "Can you show me how it's done? I was told ever since I was an apprentice that the techniques to directly interact with the inscriptions of a magical array were a lost art! Where did you learn them? Can you teach them to me?"

"Can we discuss this later? I think we are almost at our destination."

"Ah… Please forgive me; I let excitement get the better of me again."

"No problem," I said a little vaguely, and once we arrived at the large double-door leading to Lord Grandpa's place, I decided to throw the man a bone and amended, "That said, while my technique is not something I could teach to others, I'm not against exchanging some pointers once things calmed down a little."

"In that case, can I ask you to attend the symposium on the weekend?"

"Symposium?" I repeated after him, the word accompanied by a curiously raised brow.

"It's a regular conference where us artificers gather to discuss new findings and exchange ideas. We didn't have a guest speaker for two years, and I'm afraid my colleagues would flay me alive if they learned I kept you all for myself."

"Being a guest speaker might be a bit too much, but as long as you can bring along some interesting artifacts, I can probably open up some time in my schedule."

"Trust me, friend; if there's one thing you won't find wanting, it's the number of odd and exotic artifacts on display."

"In that case, you can count me in," I told the friendly artificer with a smile, then exhaled and pointed at the door in front of us. "Let's discuss the details later; I want to get this over with."

"I understand. Give me a second, I'll knock."

"No need, I'll let myself in," I told him with the smallest of smirks and I placed my hand on the door… at which point there was a blood-curdlingly melodramatic 'Noooooooo!' on the other side, and before I could even start pushing, the surface of the door lit up with a web of circuitry-like patterns and it slowly opened up without any effort on my part.

That made me curious. I'm not talking about the blood-curdling bit, but the light show that followed after it. It was evident that there was some kind of magic involved with the door, so was it a spell laid on top of it, or was the whole thing a single artifact? I was never one to let an opportunity to sate my curiosity go by, so I quickly extended my Phantom Limb and plunged it into the retreating door wings.

What I found was quite surprising, yet at the same time it perfectly explained something that was bugging me for a while. I've been in the old man's office many times, mostly as an incorporeal observer, and it always struck me a little odd that, unlike the rest of the underground School, this place had a conspicuous lack of security. No magical cameras, no fancy mystic laser beams, no nothing. Now I knew why.

Contrary to my expectations, my Phantom Limb didn't interface with the doors, but the entire room, which was covered by a single, enormous security array. After proverbially leafing through its functions, I found that it was an interlinked system of multiple, layered wards that were a step above Snowy's handiwork, a full anti-surveillance system, a spatial relocation suppressing subsystem (read: anti-teleportation stuff), and a whole bundle of anti-tampering functions rolled into one. It was no wonder the old man freaked out when I broke his door; it was the linchpin of the whole structure.

Speaking of which, I really didn't want history to repeat itself, so after committing as much of the array in front of me to my memory as possible, I quickly retracted my extra appendage. To my silent relief, it seemed like the security system was no worse for wear.

I may have taken just a tad too long though, as by the time I finished my inspection, the door was already open, and I was face to face with a certain grandfatherly and yet still eminently punchable old man staring daggers at me. I took a quick breath to calm the rising tide of irritation in the pit of my stomach, and once I exhaled, I let my still raised palm down and addressed the owner of the room.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a moment."

The Arch-Mage was still only glaring at me in silence, which I naturally took as an invitation. I directed a grateful nod towards the enthusiastic artificer by my side, after which I promptly entered the room, and not a second later the wings closed shut behind me.

"Good afternoon. It's been a while," I casually greeted the old man and took a few steps towards the large mahogany desk with my hand extended, yet he remained seated without any apparent intent to return the gesture.

"I must say, your unexpected request to meet me was sudden, to say the least," he said in a steady, measured voice, still showing no sign of reciprocating my attempted handshake. I suppose it was to be expected. When was the last time anything went smoothly in my life? Anyhow, while I let my hand down and considered what alternative approaches I could try, he continued by asking me, "Pray tell, could it be that you are looking for assistance?"

"You wish," I responded with a smile that ended up a teensy bit more vicious than I originally intended. After I reined my emotions in, I quickly added, "As a matter of fact, I'm only here to give you an update on the 'tokens of your appreciation' that you dumped on me the last time I was here, and maybe a few questions besides that."

"An update, you say? How unusually courteous of you, and yet a pleasant surprise none the less," the old man stated with an inscrutable smile partially hidden under his beard. "What exactly have you found in your endeavors?"

"Many things, most of which don't make you look particularly reliable, or capable, if we are at that," I responded by employing an equally inscrutable smile of my own. I paused here for a long moment to let him stew in his own juice, then I continued while slowly walking up and down in front of his desk. "First and foremost, let's discuss the Chimera running around on your island."

"A Chimera, you say?"

For some reason the old man's eyes lit up with something resembling approval. I didn't like that, so I quickly threw some cold water on him by answering, "Yes, though I think you're focusing on the wrong part. I'm more worried about the fact that you let a literal monster prowl your island without doing anything about it."

"I have sent a renowned Chimera Slayer to find it, did I not?"

"That would only make sense if you knew that it was a Chimera from the beginning, and you hid that information from me," I countered, which finally made him stop smirking at me like an idiot. I decided to press on while the iron was still hot, so I told him, "On an unrelated note, you're also letting the idiot with the silly robots run amok as well without lifting a finger. Not only that, you even red-taped the Dracis from dealing with them."

"I naturally did. There are rules by which all who live on my island must abide by, and I will not make exceptions." After saying so, Lord Grandpa's eyes glittered with a hint of playfulness as he added, "Why does it matter to you? Could it be that you wished to employ the aid of the winged ones against the Research Society?"

"It is true that with their help we could've shut them down a while ago, but no. I only brought them up because it almost feels like you're trying to maintain the current chaotic situation by refusing to intervene and by holding any third parties at bay."

"Oh? And what exactly would I gain from doing so?" he asked me, and I couldn't help but notice how he was only asking questions and never giving a straight answer. Not that I minded, as I was still busy trying to figure out how to mark him, so firing blanks back and forth in this verbal duel suited me just right.

"How should I know? I'm not a mind-reader," I responded with a shrug, and I wanted to continue pressing him on Labcoat Guy, yet before I could he cut me off with another question.

"In that case, what can you tell me about the third lead I provided to you? Did you find out anything about the unknown swordswoman?"

"She likes cats," I blurted out off-handedly and forcibly returned to the previous conversation before the old man could react, "Anyhow, I still don't understand why you haven't taken any action against the Research Society. They are a constant menace that threatens your own granddaughter as well. Could it be… that you don't consider them as a threat?"

"It would be more accurate to say that after the recent events pertaining to the house of Inanna breaching the security of the School, we simply can not spare the manpower on a wild goose chase. If only we could locate their headquarters…"

"Oh, I can help you with that," I told him with a toothy grin, and for the first time since I entered the room, the old man appeared a little apprehensive.

"Could it be that you have pinpointed the location of their headquarters?"

That made me pause for a moment while I internally debated how I should respond to that, and in the end I decided to go with the safer choice and, after adopting a suitably miffed expression, I answered with, "Well, not yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"In that case, I am afraid there is little I can do about the rogue elements of the Research Society at the moment. With that said, let us return to something we have unfortunately skimmed over: could it be that you have learned something in regards to the unknown swordswoman?"

"Yes, I learned that her sword is really rude," I answered quickly and decisively before I once again grabbed the reins of the conversation back from the old man. "More importantly, based on what you said, wouldn't that mean that if I did find the hidey-hole of the Research Society, then you would actually get off your backside and do something about them?"

"It all depends on how reliable your information proves to be."

After hearing that wishy-washy answer, I couldn't help but scoff at the old man.

"And how am I supposed to prove the reliability of the information? Storm their base, capture them, and then say 'See, I told you so?'"

"On a second thought," Lord Grandpa interrupted me, his brows set so low in a frown they looked like two bushy caterpillars sitting on his eyelids. "I must advise you against such hasty actions. Even if you were to discover the hidden headquarters of these ne'er-do-wells, the Research Society possesses a long and well-documented history of employing mystical and mechanical traps of all shapes and forms. Assaulting their stronghold without the aid of the right experts could prove fatal."

Look at that. It seems like I touched a nerve there. Now, I didn't want to push the old man too hard, lest he would warn Labcoat Guy and muck up Josh's plans, but I figured giving up too readily could be just as suspicious at this point, so I made one last counter.

"And let me guess: only you have such experts?"

"I could hardly claim so, but it is true that you would be hard-pressed to find any such specialists on this island who do not already belong to my School." I remained silent on purpose for a while, and just like that, he barreled on and proposed, "Just in case you were to somehow discern the location of the stronghold belonging to the Research Society, I would like to advise you not to be reckless and inform me first."

"And then we all go there right away and get rid of them, right?"

"Well, maybe not right away. Such operations require careful planning, and assembling the required experts could take at least a day, if not more."

"But then we all go there and smash them down, right?"

The Arch-Mage let out a shallow sigh and ultimately said, "Yes, we do that."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" I muttered aloud, followed by an exaggerated roll of the eyes. "If that's the case, I'll focus on finding their hideout first. In fact, I think I should start right now, so if you don't mind, I would take my leave."

"Is that so? Very well then. I also happen to be a busy man, and I have a meeting to attend soon, so I believe ending this discussion here is entirely reasonable."

"So we're in agreement for once. That's nice."

Saying so, I stepped even closer to the desk and offered my hand once more. At this point it wasn't exactly surprising, but the old man still didn't take it. Not only that, he didn't even move from his seat. Reaching over the desk would have been too forceful, and I couldn't 'accidentally' brush up against him either, which left me in a pickle as far as my original plan was concerned.

I was hoping that by keeping my arm outstretched, social anxiety would sooner or later make him take my hand, but instead he magnificently ignored me and commented, "It is fine to be enthusiastic, yet you must not lose sight of other matters. Such as the unknown swordswoman."

I had absolutely no idea about why Lord Grandpa was so fixated on Rinne, and I was already getting pretty annoyed by his staunch refusal to allow me to mark him, so after boring a hole into his forehead with my eyes, I let my hand down with a huff and uttered, "Annoying."

"Are you referring to me or her?"

My host was a little baffled by my outburst, but I couldn't say I cared, so I pocketed my hands and simply told him, "Yes," before I turned on my heel and took a step towards the entrance.

That was all I needed to do, as the Arch-Mage hurriedly tapped his fingertips on his desk, following which the door immediately swung open. He was most likely afraid there would be a repeat of what happened the last time or something; I didn't really care enough to speculate.

Once I was outside, I noticed that the friendly artificer was still around. He quickly stepped up to me and commented, "You finished sooner than I expected."

"It was only a courtesy call," I responded just a smidge dryly, then added, "You didn't need to wait for me, I know the way out."

As it turned out, I didn't even need to say the last bit. Before he could even offer to lead me outside, Lord Grandpa called out to the guy from his office.

"Gowan? May I have a moment of your time?"

"Sure, my Lord," the man responded before showing me an apologetic smile, then he whispered, "So, about the symposium…"

"I'll attend. Let's iron out the details through Amelia." I tilted my head towards the office and added, "Go ahead, don't make the old man wait too long."

The artificer gave me a tight-lipped smile and followed my advice without much further ado. In the meantime, I quickly walked over to the elevator and pushed the 'up' button. Luckily I didn't have to wait at all, as the car was still on this floor, so I dashed inside and pushed the button corresponding with the ground floor before I quickly entered into Far Sight. While I was tempted to use my newest mark right away, instead I focused on one of the few dots that still remained in the school building and I immediately Phased over.

"Oh," my dear assistant let out a small sound when I materialized in front of her desk, but she quickly collected herself. "Hi, Chief. I presume you're finished with your business?"

"Not yet, I'm afraid," I answered and then hurriedly walked over to my own desk. I reached inside, and I retrieved a small bag. It was slightly larger than the one for my gym clothes, and inside there was a set of a baggy, neon green tracksuit, a pair of black gloves, and a stereotypical yet effective ski mask. I stashed all of these away a while back, and now they were about to serve their purpose.

"Are you planning to infiltrate somewhere?" Judy inquired with a false façade of indifference.

"Yes. There might be an opportunity to sneak into Lord Grandpa's office now, and I don't want to miss it."

"Danger level?"

"I just had an opportunity to inspect his security system, so close to zero."

"What are the chances of something going wrong?"

I wanted to respond with a nonchalant 'one in a million', but I decided I really shouldn't temp fate, so instead I told her, "Don't worry, I'll be super-careful."

"You know what will happen if there is even a single scratch on you when you return?" she threatened me in the guise of a question, and I couldn't help but smile at her in return. Why was that when the class rep was nagging me to be cautious, I found that annoying, but when Judy did it… well, I still found it annoying, but also kind of nice and heartwarming? It was probably those pesky hormones again.

Anyhow, I pulled the tracksuit over my school uniform (there was a reason why it needed to be baggy), and at the same time I also engaged in a bit of multi-tasking by simultaneously keeping the eye on the situation inside the Arch-Mage's study through Far Sight.

"… perceptive." I caught the end of whatever the friendly artificer was saying.

"Both of them?" Lord Grandpa asked back just a touch incredulously.

"Yes, my Lord. Both the one by the elevator and the one above the entrance to your office."

With that, I had enough context to figure out that they were most likely talking about the surveillance spells in the hallway.

"Are you entirely certain he looked at them?"

"Artificer's eye, sir," the man responded by pointing at his face… which was apparently enough to convince the old man. Maybe it was a code, or possibly an inside joke? Who knows?

"That would certainly explain how he could always find my observer orbs… What about the hand-shake? Have you noticed anything unusual?"

"I can't say I did, my Lord."

"I am afraid that does not preclude the chance that he might have done something all the same." While he said that, Lord Grandpa walked over to his liqueur cabinet and grabbed one of the bottles without bothering to get a glass with it. "There had to be a reason why he was so insistent. Maybe some kind of mystic art, or a hidden artifact. Something that requires physical contact to operate?" The old man paused for a moment, but only to take a hard swing from his bottle, then he placed it onto his desk and let out a pent-up breath. "I could not even stand up until he left. Throughout our discussion, I always felt as if he was waiting for me to show an opening. I have yet to feel such a sinister pressure from a man so young."

"With all due respect, sir," the artificer interjected with a voice that was walking on hummingbird eggshells. "In my humble opinion, the young man felt anything but sinister. I could even say he was surprisingly cordial and forthcoming."

The owner of the room gave his guest a look-over, from head to toe, and then muttered something along the lines of, "Could it be that it is a form of mental interference designed to grant the user some influence over the target…?"

"My Lord… why are you looking at me like that?"

Before answering, Lord Grandpa took another swing from his bottle before he pointed at the artificer and declared, "Gowan, follow me."

"Yes, my Lord… but where?"

"To the isolation chamber," the Arch-Mage stated as he headed towards the entrance. "We must ascertain whether or not you are under the influence."

"Err… Sir, with all due respect, you're the one who was drinking, not me."

"Not that kind of influence, you…" he began, but then his words trailed into half-spoken murmurs of '…surrounded by…' and '…every day…' and '…good help nowadays…'.

I didn't have time to pay closer attention to what he was saying, as I haven't finished changing yet. I frantically tugged on the zipper on the tracksuit, and once it was up, I hastily pulled the ski mask over my head before I gave a thumbs up to my still wary girlfriend.

"Stay safe," she ordered me, and I only nodded as I checked the artificer's location one last time, and once I locked on, I immediately Phased over.

It was a close call. If I was just a second or two late, they would've been out of range. Granted, I could've still Phased over, theoretically, but the last thing I needed during a clandestine infiltration operation into the most secure chamber on the island was an extra dose of vertigo.

Speaking of which, I took account of the situation one more time before moving, just to be sure. Disguise, just in case I would be noticed? Check. Gloves, to hide my fingerprints? Check. An entire treasure-trove, full of documents and possibly incriminating information all around me? Check, check, and check.

Now there was only one question left to answer: was this how a fox felt when it was locked inside a chicken coop? In case anyone wondered, yes. The answer was definitely yes. Insert happy fox noises here.