As Brock scowled at Mikael, he felt someone standing close behind him.

"I swear, KB (Administrative), if this is another-"

A vise-like grip seized his chin, choking off the rest of his sentence. Whirring noises accompanied the tentacular device being thrust towards his nose.

"Gah!"

Suddenly panicked, Brock slapped away the intruding nostril-defiler.

"Please do not interfere with the calibration process," a disturbingly focused voice declared. The device once more engaged in a collision course with Brock's nasal cavity. Amidst his panic, he thought he saw alabaster skin and vivid purple hair. "I'm going to track down these temporal anomalies even if it kills you."

Brock wrestled with the device frantically, clusters of writhing metal inching closer to his face.

"I thought it was supposed to be 'I'll track this down even if it kills me,'" he whimpered. The woman quirked an eyebrow, her response puzzled even as she forced the device closer.

"Yes, quite. That's what I said. Now stop interfering with my test."

She's... so small... hnghhh... how is she... so strong...

Just as it seemed the questing tendrils were going to reach their goal, Mikael's hand smacked them firmly away.

"Doctor Yuriel," he said neutrally, "Brock is not scheduled for testing at this time. Kindly leave him alone."

"But I need to continue my tests," she replied in that same focused voice. "The subject's skills have not been classified properly." She brought her face down in front of Brock's, still holding his chin in that vice-grip, and tilted his head side to side, as if deciding which orifice she was going to try and invade next. "He should come to my lab." Intense gray eyes considered Brock with all the warmth of a lepidopterist readying the pin. "Now."

Brock gulped.

"I-" he stammered, "don't wanna."

"Doctor Yuriel," Mikael said in an annoyed tone, "Brock is already on a rigorous schedule for today. If you want to poke and prod him, I suggest you bring it up with the Director." He stood up from the table. "Come on, Brock. Lunch break is over."

Yuriel gave Brock one last dissecting glare, then let go of his chin. Whimpering gratefully, Brock lunged to his feet, moving to put Mikael between himself and the doctor, who he finally recognized from the testing arena. He rubbed at his jaw, trying to work some sensation back into the area. She kept her eyes on him the entire time, unblinking, like a snake tracking a mouse, then turned on her heel and strode out of the cafeteria. Brock shivered.

"She's... creepy," Brock muttered.

"Yes. She is," Mikael replied quietly. "There's something... off, about her. Always has been."

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"You don't like her either? But I thought you all worked together?"

"You don't have to like someone to work with them, Brock." Mikael grabbed their trays and deposited them at the recycling counter as he led their way out of the cafeteria. Almost everyone turned to watch them go. "Let's start the second part of your training. We're going to do some wellness checks, show you around the city a bit."

"-you know I know this is more 'use Brock as bait and see if something eats him,' right? Also, what are wellness checks?"

Mikael led them through the hallways to an empty elevator ant, which started rapidly moving sideways once they were inside.

"We check up on various Sekkies of note, make sure they're playing nice. Most are fine once the initial shock wears off, but there's always troublemakers in any group."

The elevator breached the outside of the Yggdrasil just below the clouds, and Brock was struck once again by the chaotic enormity of the city beneath them. As they descended the root through the warring advertisements layer, a sudden thought hit him.

"Hey, Mikael? What's the city called?"

Mikael sighed.

"...Neo Tokyo X Two."

"-whut?"

"Neo. Tokyo. X. Two."

Brock watched a dragon sky-train undulate past, and wondered if it was the same one from two days ago.

"Hmm. That's a weird name."

"Of course it's a weird name. It's a Sekkie one. Personally I think it's dumb as shit. We're not even on a fucking island."

"...why don't they change it then? Like Istanbul and Constantinople?"

Brock felt inordinately proud for remembering that bit of classwork, while Mikael slowly rubbed his forehead, grimacing as if in pain.

"You don't think we've tried? You saw the Council this morning, right?"

Brock thought back to the large chamber filled with school representatives claiming to be a world government.

"...oh. So, it's like, 'magic' or something?"

"...you don't need to make air quotes with your fingers when you say the word 'magic,' kid. Magic's real. And yes, it's another one of those idiotic Sekkie leftovers from our darker days. Changes every official piece of stationary no matter how many wards we try to put on them, so we have to live with it." Mikael rubbed his palm on his katana hilt. "I hope they threw whoever did it off the top of the Yggdrasil."

The elevator ant scuttled closer to street level, entering a thicket of skyscrapers that were as imposing as children's toys next to the vastness of the root. In some of the windows Brock could see tiny figures working at desks in what looked like cubicle farms from his Earth, while other floors appeared to be for housing, or various recreational activities.

"How many people live here? In, uhhh, Neo Tokyo X Two?"

"Just call it 'the city,'" Mikael replied wearily, "and it was a couple hundred million at last count. You can look it up on your magiphone if you want the exact number."

Brock considered interacting with Bindy, then shuddered.

"I'm good, thanks."

The crowds on the streets below grew closer and closer, a teeming yet orderly mass of mostly humanoid-adjacent figures, and some slightly more... esoteric.

"...why does that look like a giant fluorescent pink slug? And that guy has an alligator head! Is that a walking wolf?"

"Sure," Mikael shrugged. "They're all people, Brock. Unless they're pets. You should probably ask first so you don't embarrass yourself. Especially with the werewolves. They like to keep dogs, makes things confusing at times."

"You're joking, right?"

Mikael stared at him, stonefaced.

"...right, Mikael?"

The elevator door opened, letting in the bustling din from outside. Mikael stepped onto the walking path, leaving Brock no choice but to join him. As Brock stood there, feeling like an ant suddenly dropped in a turbulent ocean, buffeted on all sides by thousands of simultaneous conversations, Mikael leaned down next to him.

"It's easy, really. Just ask, 'can I pet you?' Make sure you say it real loud so they hear you clearly, and if they hit you, they're probably people."

Brock gulped, then noticed a slight twitch to Mikael's lips, as if he was fighting not to laugh.

"...you guys are the worst."

"Come on, kid, let's go do some wellness checks."

Grumbling, Brock followed the swordsman down the street.