Ever since Nova came back from Mirrodin, she's been constantly forced to work on various projects, because her long absence was discovered by no one else but one member of the Terra family: Leonard Terra. For some reason, Nova has been under the eye of Leo for a long time, and she didn't even notice until he confronted her with it. Most of the work Leo is forcing Nova to do is under the table and some involve political assassination.

It was a week before the ceremony of Monika's promotion, a few days before Monika discovered that she has a brother that she does not remember. Nova is in her office reviewing some documents, suddenly she hears a knock on her door. She's surprised because normally her secretary will notify her through telephone if there's any potential visitor. And the secretary table is outside of the door, so there's almost no reason anyone would knock on the door.

Nova drops her pen and checks the pistol under her table. Then she said: Come in. She tried to use her ability to feel what's behind the door, but that knock is like a ghost there's no trace of any sort of energy to be found.

The person who came in has medium-length white silverish hair and light green eyes. He wears a set of imperial inquisitor armor. He is no other than Leonard Terra himself. The one who trained Nova and was called the true pride of the Terra family. He gently closed the door behind him and waved to Nova across the room:" Hello, sister."

"I knew it… you don't have to wave; we are in the same room." Nova doesn't sound annoyed or something, but surely, she's not excited to see her brother in a time like this, especially since Leo is holding on to Nova's career at this point. Leo's ability is to let people not notice him. He at some point wipes the memory of the individual whoever sees him or something like that. But Nova has never seen him using his full potential anywhere even in combat.

He holds on to the top of the sofa and moves it in front of Nova's desk, the sofa has a metal base, it would take two fully grown men to lift, and Leo just picked it up as if it has no weight. He sits on the sofa and uses his right arm to support the right side of his face. The room is silent and full of tension. Apparently, Nova doesn't like Leo.

"What do you want?" Nova just wants to get rid of this problem as soon as possible.

"How are you doing?" his voice doesn't sound old, but surely it has some sort of taunting tone in it.

"Fine, how are you, brother?" Nova puts both of her hands on the table while looking at him in an unusual way. A way that somewhat reflects…. Fear?

"I am here because I have a new task for you." He throws a piece of file on the table.

Nova frowns, before she opens it, she asks: " Can I say no to this task?"

"What answer do you expect?" Leo chuckles.

Nova shakes her head and opens up the file, it has a picture of a teenage girl that she never met. She has white silverfish hair with piercing blue eyes, apparently from the mugshot, she doesn't look happy: " What is this about?" She asks.

"She's our new special project, and your task is to train her for combat," Leo explains.

"Aren't you better at training people?" Nova refers to his job at the ghost headquarters.

He points at his armor: " I don't work there anymore; I am now an inquisitor. Besides, you know full well that it was not a fun time for you while you were my trainee." He smiles in an intimidating way that makes Nova feel a bit cold on her back.

"And you expect me to have fun with her? Fine, where is she?" Nova has always been a good soldier.

Leo hands in a little restaurant card to Nova: " You will meet her there, just make sure that she's combat-ready then your task is fine."

Nova reviews the card, it is somewhere not far away from here, the moment she tries to ask more questions. Leo is already gone, and Sofa is still in front of Nova's desk. Nova lifts her finger and uses telekinesis to put the chair where it was supposed to be. Then she changes into some casual clothes and starts heading towards the restaurant.

On her way there, she isn't really thinking more about the mission, this is how she deals with the constant stress in her job. The more you think the harder it gets, so why bother to think about it at all? Sounds like a stupid solution but it's working marvelously well.

The moment she enters the restaurant she sees the girl sitting on the bench near the window, she's drinking some tea. Nova can tell that she's some kind of spoiled kid that Leo doesn't want to deal with. She shakes her head and approaches the girl.

"Hey there." Nova beams with energy and smiles. It is her common approach to the girls.

The girl glances at her with the side of her eyes and refocuses on the drink. Either she's too arrogant or Nova is making her feel uncomfortable, either way, Nova didn't really give her a first good impression. Nova feels the awkwardness in the air, but she quickly changes her approach: "May I sit here? I am here because a friend of mine asks me to take care of you." She puts her hands on the back of the chair which is across the girl.

The girl looks at Nova from up and down then nods, seems like she doesn't like to talk.

Nova ordered the same drink as the girl then she asked her in a polite tone: "Can I ask what your name is?"

"Elaria." She doesn't sound happy at all.

"Do you have a family name?" Nova asks patiently.

The girl shakes her head, then she asks: " Who the hell are you?"

Rude, this is the first thing Nova read from this girl. Which is something Nova does not appreciate. Probably the only person she would tolerate is Monika but that's another story. She clears her throat and replies: " My name is Nova; I am a Major in the Imperial Navy force. I was assigned to train you for the incoming combat mission. So, I thought it would be good if I meet you outside of the training area to get to know each other better." As usual, Nova is being extremely polite.

The girl tilts her head to the side, she's impressed that the girl who's almost the same age as her is already a Major. "So, Major. What are we going to do?" Her tone still sounds aggressive.

"You can call me Nova from now on. I was thinking that today we can just talk with each other about a lot of things then I will show you your room in the HQ. I have a question for you: What are you good at?" Nova asks.

Elaria pulls out a dagger on the side of her boots and stabs it on her arm. Blood splashes on Nova's face but she didn't flinch. Then the wound on Elaria is healing at a speed that is observable from the naked eyes. Nova already knows what she's going to do with this girl and what she is capable of achieving.

"Anything else?" Nova cleans her face with a tissue.

"Have people ever said that your face is soooo beatable?" Elaria puts her knife on the boots and crosses her arm.

Nova suddenly grabs Elaria by the neck and slams her on the ground. Since she's almost unkillable then Nova can get really harsh on the training, starting now.

After a cracking noise, Nova snaps her neck, but after a few seconds, Elaria stands up and her neck is back to normal. She pulls out the dagger from her boot and starts slashing towards Nova. But it was futile, Nova puts her hands on the back and dodges each attack with ease. Then when Nova sees an opening, she hits Elaria by the gut with her knee.

Despite Elaria's strong regenerative ability, she still feels pain, and the attack from Nova can easily put an Ork on the ground with ease. Elaria puts both of her hands on her stomach and tries to overcome the pain.

Nova takes her drink from the shocked waiter and organizes her hair bang with the reflection of the glass. This little fight at some point got her mood better: " So… Are you ready to head out?" She asks while finishing her drink, it tastes sweet, maybe Monika would like it.

Elaria stands up while frowning, despite being regenerative towards knife damage, blunt trauma does seem like a viable choice. Nova walks up hands over a mint: " This might help with the pain." She smiles like the first time they talked.

Elaria slaps away the mint and starts walking out. Nova picks the mint up from the ground and puts it in her mouth. If Monika has a thing for rose cake, then a piece of mint is like heaven for Nova.

Nova and Elaria walk on the same line, apparently, Elaria isn't happy about meeting Nova, maybe because of her fake smile. Nova can read her mind and knows what she's thinking but she chooses not to. Nova always likes a good old guessing game about people's minds and thus understands them better through actions.

"Where did you grow up?" Nova asks.

Elaria couldn't hold her anger anymore: "STOP ASKING ME THOSE QUESTIONS! I DON'T LIKE YOU AND I WILL NEVER LIKE YOU. YOU ACT FAMILIAR AND I HATE IT!" she shouts and causes a lot of people to look at them.

Nova isn't really bothered by what she said, it is her job to teach her stuff not to make friends: " Well… What are we going to eat later? The night is coming soon."

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID?" Elaria sounds hysterical. She's scared.

Nova blinks, she doesn't really care: " Hm... Why don't we calm down a bit? A lot of people are looking at us."

Elaria points her finger at Nova's face: "I WILL NOT GO ANYWHERE WITH YOU, WHY ARE YOU EVEN SMILING?" She refers to Nova's signature grin.

Nova pulls Elaria's arm and slams her on the ground while putting her knee on Elaria's back: " Listen, I am your superior officer from now on and you will do what I ask. I will make you a great fighter then you will leave forever from me. So be my guest, either you learn as fast as you can so you can leave earlier, or you can be a little brat and I will put you down over and over again." She whispers. Then Nova pulls her up from the ground.

Again, they are walking towards the HQ but this time Elaria starts sobbing while looking down on the ground, tears running down from her face. Nova noticed and gave her a hand towel which she stole from Monika. It has a little pink bear on top of it. Elaria wipes her face and gives it back to Nova.

"It's fine, you can keep it." Nova said without looking at Elaria: " I took it from someone else anyway."

"From whom?" Elaria asks, she sounds a bit better now.

"I have a little sister."

"What is she like?"

Nova turns her head and looks at Elaria: " Everything that I cannot be. If you behave well, I can let you guys meet up from time to time." Nova is telling the truth; Monika is indeed everything that Nova can never be. That's why Nova is constantly teasing Monika to try to get close to her, maybe this is how Nova shows love.

"I never had any relatives…. I grew up in a lab where they told me that I have a special ability and I would become important and relevant." Elaria looks down avoiding Nova's gaze.

"Did you have friends?" Nova asks.

"No… you are kind of the first person I met who isn't an asshole towards me. The rest they always tried to do tests on me and said it would benefit humankind." Her face is full of hatred.

"I am sorry for hurting you earlier." Nova at some point sees herself from Elaria, she also had to undergo tests as well to become what she is today.

"Apology…...not accepted, because I will start kicking your ass tomorrow." Elaria looks relieved. Apparently, Nova starts to gain her trust.

"Looking forward to it. Anyways what do you want to eat?" Nova asks.

Elaria shakes her head: "I don't know, I am new in town, why don't you surprise me with something?"

"Have you tried pancakes? I can make some very nice pancakes." Nova smiles, she's proud of her pancake skill, after all she managed to get a boyfriend almost because of that.

"No… Do you have something more solid; I feel hungry." Elaria acts as if nothing happened 30 mins ago.

"Well… I do know a restaurant that has something called: Fish ball. I always wanted to try it but never had the time." Nova is glad that they are getting along with each other. This would make the job way easier.

"Sounds like a plan!" Elaria sounds happy.

When they got in there, they picked a seat that is far away from people. Nova doesn't really want to be recognized by people. She's a military legend but like Monika, she isn't really into having a loud crowd.

When Elaria is checking on the menu, Nova starts spacing out for some reason. She's somehow worried about Monika, probably she should be checking out on her before the promotion. Because last time she skipped it and the superior of Nova was not happy about it. But Nova covered it afterward.

"What's bothering you?" Elaria asks, she already finished ordering the food, apparently when Nova is spacing out nothing will distract her until she finishes her thought process.

Nova sighs, normally she doesn't really share her problems with people but since it helps with bonding with Elaria, she decides to talk about it: "My sister has been feeling down for a while. Because her boyfriend left."

"Oh, sorry to hear that. I never really had any sister, so I don't know how to deal with it…" Elaria feels Nova is more human than she looks.

"Monika and the guy have been dating for a while and apparently Monika was really into him. But I know the guy isn't a good person. And guess what? Monika would never listen to me as long it is against her." Nova chuckles in a self-deprecating way and starts staring at the glass of water.

"Sounds like your sister is stubborn… Or because you are not really likable as a person." Elaria speaks straight.

Nova nods lightly then finishes the glass of water: " Maybe… What is it on me that people don't like?" She asks.

"Your smirk." That's the first thing that Elaria noticed when she met with Nova: " It makes me feel like you are an arrogant person, and it is not likable in any way."

"Ouch, what else you don't like about me?" Nova looks at her patiently.

"I don't know yet, this is the first day we met." Elaria sounds like some judgmental brat. But Nova does appreciate the feedback, because no one in her life, not even Maverick will tell her these things.

The food in the restaurant was bad, both of them didn't really like it, so Nova brought Elaria to the military canteen which is for the high-ranking officers. Both of them enjoyed it then Nova led Elaria to her bunk bed.

Nova holds a checklist and starts checking on the items in the room while Elaria is bouncing herself on the bed. When Nova makes sure there are all the essentials, she tells Elaria to stand up in front of her. Nova's expression suddenly becomes serious: " From now on, you will be under my command. I will make you a great soldier or I will break you then you will move on to your old miserable life. Either way, you will do what I tell you about every single day until the end of the program. If you have any complaints then you can report to me, but surely, I will ignore it because you are not here on your vacation or a summer camp. You are here to achieve greatness and serve the immortal emperor himself. Do we have an agreement?" Nova stands straight like the well-trained soldier she is.

"Ready." Surprisingly Elaria didn't really look annoyed or trying to defy Nova. Maybe those little chats did help after all.

"Great, rest well for the day. We are going to start the morning training at 5 am." Then Nova leaves the room. On her way back, she called Maverick to prepare a hot bathtub for her. She had a long day, and she needs her relaxation.

"Honey, you want something to drink?" Maverick made some lemon tea while Nova is taking a bath.

"Yes, thanks." Nova drinks the tea, but the sourness always made her bite her tongue. "Gosh, these tastes refreshing." Maverick probably is the few people she can really show her true self to, instead of soldier Nova is really nothing but a young girl who's in a decently healthy relationship.

"You want me to add a bit of honey in there?" He takes a bench and sits next to the bathtub.

"Not really, I kinda like it. You know…. I am now signed up to a training program..." Nova starts washing her hair.

"Oh ? Didn't you say that you hate teaching people?"

"I did... But I have no choice but to accept it."

"Is it family-related again?" Maverick knows that the Terra family has some really sophisticated family issues.

"Yes…. and I hate it. Tell me, what do you do when you have to teach some brat who knows nothing about manners? Moreover, she has some kind of regenerative ability that makes half of my program become useless." For about the next five minutes, it was all about Nova ranting at Elaria while Maverick is sitting there helping Nova to clean her back.

"But you know… you gonna do what you gonna do. You love your family, don't you?" Maverick brushes Nova's hair.

"My family wouldn't even exist anymore if it isn't because of me holding on to it." Nova is mad, her repressed emotions are usually released when she's talking in the bath: " My brother is a jerk who cares not about us and Monika…" She suddenly pauses.

"What's wrong with the little redhead?" This is the nickname Maverick has for Monika.

"She's not really doing well… I've heard that she's been constantly drinking but her mission success rate is astonishingly high. I am worried about her." Nova still has emotion, but it is mainly suppressed because of her image of being a perfect soldier.

"Well, red has always been trying to get away from you. But every time when she really needs you, you gotta be there for her. In my family no matter how much work we have, we always celebrate each other's birthday." Maverick loves the drama between Monika and Nova.

"Sounds childish but...gosh, I am jealous of your guys…" Nova smiles, then she leaps up a bit and kisses Maverick on the lip. "You think I should go and pay Monika a visit?"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I wouldn't think red will appreciate the gesture but at least it will ease your mind. But whatever you do, do not insult her in any way. Quit your banter, will you?" Maverick stands up from the bench and wipes away the water on his clothes.

Nova appreciates the talks with Maverick, he always gives nice advice about family problems and he's like the calming presence in her life. No matter how much of a hard day she might have, a little bathtub chat with Maverick will always calm her down. Who knows that the invincible Nova Terra can be so vulnerable?

On the next day, Nova barges into Elaria's room at exactly 5 am in morning. Elaria is still sleeping on the bed, not even noticing that Nova is already in the room. Seeing this, Nova pours a glass of water for herself and splashes another cup on Elaria's face. It worked like a charm that Elaria woke up due to the sudden splash of cold water.

"Morning soldier, I see you already dressed up." Nova refers to the t-shirt and the shorts Elaria is wearing. "Now let's go for the morning exercise."

"Wait… are you going to let me dress up or not."

"It is already time, and we don't have a single minute to waste. Now leave the room with what you are currently wearing." Nova makes a way to the door.

"But… Can I at least wear my shoes?" Elaria feels like Nova isn't joking at all. It is winter and it's really cold outside.

Seeing this, Nova drags Elaria's arm and forces her out to the open field. It is the middle of the winter and outside it's near freezing point. Elaria is hugging her body with her arms while shivering due to the cold. She couldn't wear shoes as well, so she's constantly moving around. Despite having regenerative properties, she's still suffering from the weather.

On the field, there are other groups who're doing morning exercise as well. They all look at Elaria with a concerning gaze. While Nova stares them back so they wouldn't dare look in this direction again.

"First we are going to run five kilometers to warm up," Nova said without any emotion.

Elaria is shivering, her teeth are constantly grinding against each other. It is cold and freezing to her bone, but she has no choice but to comply. Because it is her fault that she's being lazy now she needs to pay for the consequences.

Elaria starts running on the runway, with every movement, it is painful, but she keeps going. After around 40 mins she finishes her run, but Nova isn't done with it yet.

"You are too slow, run again. This time reaches till 30 minutes, or you will not stop until you reach that time." Nova points at her stopwatch.

The second time, it is 36 minutes, there's a bit of improvement but not even close to what Nova asked for. Finally, Elaria breaks down in front of Nova: " I can't…. It is too painful… " Her feet are dark purple due to the frostbite. Even if she can still regenerate back, it will still take some time to do so.

Nova's expression is still as cold as a glacier: " I said… we will stop until 30. If my stopwatch isn't showing thirty or less, I will not stop it. Now get up."

Elaria knows arguing wouldn't change anything. Instead, she wipes away her tears and starts running as fast as she could. Nova is a bit surprised at how fast Elaria accepts reality. While she's running, Nova quickly goes back to Elaria's room and grabs some clothes and waiting for her at the finishing line.

Suddenly it starts snowing, with each second the snow is getting harder. Nova is a bit worried about Elaria, because the timer is already on 27 minutes, and she can't even see Elaria anywhere near the finishing line. But just as Nova tries to find her on the way, she sees Elaria is running towards the finishing line. Then just about 3 seconds till the 30 minutes mark, Elaria reached the destination.

When she reaches her destination, Elaria falls to the ground due to the cold. Nova quickly picks her up and carries her to the building not far away from the runway. This did remind Nova about the time when she was in the ghost program. She had to undergo similar things, but she didn't have regenerative properties. She couldn't walk straight a few days after that, it was under the teaching of Leonard Terra.

Nova puts the clothes on for Elaria and has her laying on her lap. She at some point feels bad about Elaria but she can't stop right now. It is too late to stop if they have already gone this far.

Suddenly Elaria wakes up, the first thing she did isn't complain but ask whether she did it in time or not. Nova nods and Elaria is happy about the efforts and result.

Then Nova and Elaria did various preparations. After that, they went to the military canteen. Elaria took a nice hot soup because of the cold while Nova took some toasts and some boiled eggs.

"How are you feeling now?" Nova asks, after the talks with Maverick, Nova thought it might be good if she cares more about this little girl.

"Much better." Elaria is on her second soup "What are we going to do later?"

"Combat training, mainly CQC (close quarter combat) at this point." Nova spreads the butter on the toasts evenly.

"Are you going to fight me?" Elaria sounds a bit scared, thinking back from yesterday.

Nova stops spreading and looks up: " I have someone else for you."

"Who?"

"Ever heard of Noel Vermillion? She's going to take you on today. I need to do something this afternoon." Nova then sends a message to Noel.

"Is she like you?" Elaria asks in a concerning tone.

Nova scoffs: " You have no idea."

Then it is the story we all knew, Nova met up with the half- presumably dead drunk Monika. But Monika insults Nova. So, Nova tells Kira to pour the bucket of water on Monika, at first Kira was against this idea but Nova assures her she will be there if there's any potential danger, she will take Monika on. That's why Kira had no fear while facing a pissed-off Monika.

For the rest of the day, Nova spent chasing Monika, she witnessed the deal Monika made with Lucifer that's why she didn't insult Monika about it. Because she knows the details about it, and she will do anything that would get Monika better from the dark. Nova cares about Monika but Monika's stubborn personality makes it almost impossible to help her. So, she has to do it from the dark, and supporting her ideas is the least she can do to make Monika feel better. That night, Nova was actually surprised that Monika knew about Leonard Terra. If it's before, Nova will deny every bit of his existence but seeing Monika's persistent eyes, Nova decides to tell Monika about Leonard and thus making sure that Monika will not do any favor to him. Because it surely isn't a good idea.

Noel has been working under Nova for ages. Despite being in the same school when they were young, they didn't really meet with each other mainly because of Monika's opinion on Nova. This is true, Nova was a bully in the school even to her own sister, this might be one of the reasons that Nova started taking care of Monika. Out of guilt perhaps.

Noel has been a good friend with Monika ever since that time as well, they were in the same class and are always close to each other. But that changed when Noel and Monika joined the Imperial Navy. For some reason, Noel was 'transferred' to the special force under Nova's command and this situation has been the same for years. At first, Noel tried to transfer herself to Monika's regiment multiple times, but it was all rejected due to 'logistic' reasons. From time to time Noel and Monika lost touch with each other, but they are still friends regardless. Is just that they can only meet secretly due to the non-interference rule among the army regulations.

During work, Noel has always been a 'work pet' for Nova. She's the one that needs to do all the legwork and the other boring tasks. Noel used to have an intimate relationship with Maverick but ever since Nova and Maverick have been dating each other, Noel has quitted herself from that relationship ever since. But Noel was never unhappy about her work, she has friends and people who care about her. Even at this point, she's still trying to be friends with both Nova and Monika. She might not be the brightest tool in the shed but surely, she isn't remotely linked to the word 'weak'.

Noel is specialized in a technique called 'chain revolver'. Instead of using her dual wield revolver for mid/long-range combat, Noel has specialized it in close-quarter combat. Making her fit for almost all combat situations. Her weapon: Bolverk, was given by the Vermillion family themselves, a weapon in rumor harbors a demon in it. The weapon can undergo various modifications making it an extremely powerful yet sophisticated weapon. Noel's combat ability has been ranged into category 6, meaning proficient and able to take on a well-trained squad of imperium soldiers by herself. Monika is in category 8.5 while Nova is on 9.5.

Noel received a message from Nova when she's with Kira during lunch, she was planning to visit Monika, but it had to be pushed due to the task that was given by Nova. After reading the message that was sent by Nova, Noel couldn't help but leave out a long sigh.

"What's wrong?" Kira asks.

"Work… I guess you are the one that's going to see Monika... Ahhh." She puts her face on the table. Normally she wouldn't complain about work but when it comes to meeting up with friends, she's really not into work at this moment.

Kira moves next to Noel and starts petting her head: " Aww.. that's too bad, but I'm sure Monika will understand your struggle. After all, it's not easy to work under the legendary Nova Terra. May I ask what the new work is about?"

"It's about training a new soldier… She said that my 'skill' is needed for this special task so I will be in command of all of the training exercises this afternoon…" She emphasizes the word 'skill'. Apparently, Noel also noticed the unfair treatment she has in the force, but she can do nothing about it.

"When is it starting?" Kira asks.

"After lunch… I don't even have time to spend with you... " Noel hugs Kira by her waist and buries her head on her lap and starts crying. Noel has always been the most emotional person in this group.

Kira brushes Noel's hair with her hand like petting a big golden puppy. Out of all people, Noel is probably the closest to Kira. Monika is friends with Kira as well, but she's been really busy recently and Kira feels like Monika has a problem talking about her own issues thus making her unapproachable. Needless to say, Nova, which is like a hero to Kira.

After a few more minutes of complaining, Noel feels way better. She decides to give Monika a quick visit before going to do the training task. But as soon she's walking towards Monika's office, they suddenly run into Nova.

"Good afternoon, Major!" Both of them salute at the same time because of the surprise.

"At ease," Nova said it calmly and she looked Noel in the eyes. Even though they are about the same height, Noel feels like Nova is a head taller than her due to the pressure.

" Lieutenant." Nova suddenly said.

"Yes, Major?" She's standing extremely straight like in a ceremony, she's terrified of Nova.

"When are you going to conduct the task, I just gave you during lunch?"

"I will do so as soon as I finish some personal stuff."

Nova raises up her right eyebrow: " Oh? What is it so important that you need to finish before doing your task?"

This is the question that Noel tried to avoid at all costs, but now she needs to deal with it: " I wanted to say hello to a friend of mine… which happens to be your sister..." Noel isn't capable of lying, she's too shy and too obvious about doing it.

Nova breathes deeply, because that's what she's going to do as well. She decides to utilize her rank to solve this issue: " Lieutenant, I care not about your visit to my sister. But you are conflicting your personal issue with the work of the imperium. What can I say? I am disappointed."

Noel feels like half of her world is collapsing: " Major, I am so sorry…. I will be doing my work as soon as possible!" She quickly said goodbye to Kira and ran off to the training area.

The training area is empty, except there's a girl who's wearing a black t-shirt and sports shorts waiting in there. Noel waves at her from the entrance: " Hi! My name is Noel. Are you Elaria? The new trooper that is assigned to me today?"

Elaria looks up, she thought Noel was going to be someone that's a fighter. But it seems like she's just another college student, hell, can she even lift a chair with those skinny arms? Elaria is a bit taller than Noel, so she looks down on her in a quite disrespectful way. "That's me, what are we going to do today?"

Noel looks up like a puppy looking up to his human owner: " Well, I thought we can do some basic sparring to get a hold of your level then I will adjust my ability to make sure to reach the level Major Terra set."

"Alright, let's do it." Elaria is about to sucker punch Noel in the face, it is the close range, so she decides to teach this little girl a lesson. But the next thing she knows is that she's already had her own fist hitter on her face and spinning away then eventually hitting the ground.

"I didn't really say to begin. So, let's try again." Noel talks as if nothing happened.

Elaria suddenly realizes that this little girl is not someone she should be careless too. She changes her stance and poses herself in a fighting position. Noel signs her to begin, Elaria quickly closes the distance between them and swings her first hit, Noel dash back a bit and continues to let Elaria attack her. But needless to say, Noel dodged all the attacks.

After minutes of constantly hitting air, Elaria stops her attack while breathing rapidly: " Why aren't you attacking?!" She said it loudly, she's exhausted.

"I was just trying to get a hold of your style so it would fit with the curriculum which is given by Nova. But… I have to say. We have a lot to work on… if I don't get a bit hard on you then it is impossible to do everything on the list." Noel points her finger at the list that is given by Nova and has a concerning face. "Do you have some special ability that we can utilize?"

Elaria pulls out the dagger and stabs herself on the thigh. Seeing this Noel quickly dash in and rips part of her skirt to bandage the wound: " WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she yells while holding the wound, her hands are red but suddenly she notices that the wound is going away at an unimaginable speed. Noel stops bandaging and stands back, apparently this is the first time Noel sees something like this: " What was that?" She asks.

"I am a person who's not being able to die. At Least not yet." Elaria is more shocked by the response of Noel. She never saw anyone bandage her when she got hurt.

"Does this mean that you are immortal?" Noel takes out a wet wipe to clean her hands. She always has those little useful gadgets in her handbag.

"Well… seemingly yes… and it looks like I can always stay the current age." Elaria knows that she's more like a freak than a human.

"That's… a lot of information... But it looks like I can go a bit hard on you and you won't have problems with it... How does it sound to you?" Noel kind of feels sorry for Elaria but she's not here to talk about feelings, she's here to do her job and visit her friend afterward.

"Ready when you are." Elaria is on her battle stance again.

For the whole afternoon. Elaria is falling on the ground over and over again. Every time Elaria falls, Noel tries to be a bit softer, but the curriculum isn't letting Noel do that. After fighting for the whole afternoon until the sky is getting dark. Elaria finally can get a hit on Noel's hand. It wasn't a lot of improvement, but it is a lot for a new trooper who's just got into the program for two days. Noel however is just glad that she can finish ticking all the boxes on the list so she can get going with her day.

That was before they set course to Lokar, the next major thing that happened was when Monika suddenly collapses in the middle of the prom. Noel was worried, like really worried. She actually tried to do CPR in the middle of the room with a bunch of people looking at her while Monika was perfectly breathing fine.

Surely, she's a friend everyone wants to have but she still has her own problems. For example, she feels the need to be loved at all times and she desperately needs companions no matter what the situation is. Despite having a shy personality, out of all the people Monika knew, Noel has dated the most people by far and Monika does know a lot of people. At some point, Monika had to make a song to remember all the guys' names.

When Noel and Kira leave the hospital, Noel feels the empty burning void again. It leads her to do stupid things. Monika told Kira about it before the trip, so Kira is obliged to help Noel not do anything stupid during the time when Monika isn't around for some reason.

"Oh gosh, I'm so upset…" Noel stands outside the hospital and looks at the city's light far away from her.

"Yea… I hope Monika can get better, she's our friend after all." Kira sits on the staircase outside of the hospital. It's near winter, the weather is getting cold. Kira has to wear something like long pants due to the weather, but Noel wears the same outfit every season, which is her battle skirt and uniform. Despite Noel being a stereotypical young girl who enjoys doing everything in her life, her closet is surprisingly similar to Monika. Which is full of clothes that have the same design and looks.

"Have you ever been to a bar?" Noel sits next to Kira. She takes off her jacket and puts it on Kira's shoulder.

"I am underage…" Despite Kira being a smart and mature person, she's still only 17 years old. Which is something that everyone around her forgets about constantly.

"But do you want to come?" Noel is in the mood of being naughty.

"If Monika finds out that you are taking me to a bar, she will get really mad…" The reason Kira is saying this is because she personally doesn't want to go, so she pulls out the M card.

"She wouldn't! I promise you that I will protect you if Monika gets mad from this." Noel looks at Kira full of confidence.

"I meant Monika would get mad at you…. you know? Being a bad influence." Kira looks away from Noel, she doesn't want to meet with Noel's gaze because Kira is a pushover as well and the way Noel looks at Kira always makes her do everything Noel proposes.

"Depends on who would tell her, are you gonna be a snitch?"

"No! But…" Kira turns her head, and she falls for Noel's trap, as their gaze meets, Kira suddenly stops talking and nods.

Noel stands up from the stairs and stretches her arms, "it is going to be a fun night!" she shouts to the open field.

In the bar, there's not a lot of people. One, because it's midnight. The second is because it's a workday. So, there's really not a lot of people who know what they are doing in the bar right now. Unlike the bar Monika always runs into, this is a classic bar that is for imperial citizens only. Lokar is a technology city, so there's not a lot of soldiers as well. Most of the customers are either students or adults that have something bothering them.

"Two blond beers please," Noel said it to the bartender.

"15 credits." The bartender said it blankly.

"That's expensive…" Kira whispers.

Noel doesn't really care about money because she's rich. But indeed, this beer is way more expensive than it should be. Noel looks at the bartender in a suspicious way: " Can I check on the menu please?"

"We are operating at midnight, so the price on the menu doesn't apply." He sounds really tired of his job.

"That doesn't sound right. I am an imperium officer, so I demand you to serve us at the right price!" Noel never backed down from unethical business practices.

But it got everyone in the bar laughing at her, but she still insists on paying the right price which is written on the menu. Suddenly a tall man yells at Noel across the bar: " Just leave if you don't wanna pay for the beer!"

Noel suddenly turns to the man and walks next to him: " I am sorry, but this is none of your business."

"It is if you are annoying me." He doesn't seem either drunk or tired. He wears a gray jacket with a tie and redshirt. He doesn't look like an officer, but he also doesn't look like a worker.

"How am I annoying you? You are also paying for overpriced beer." Noel puts both of her hands on the waist, it is her power move.

"Not really, they only charge higher when they see some stupid teenager enters the bar." He lays her back on the chair.

Noel takes out her ID and puts it on the table in a hard way: " I am an adult. So, I have my right to pay the normal price!"

The man chuckles: " I am not talking about you, sweetie. I was referring to your friend." He slightly points his finger at Kira.

Kira is so embarrassed about what's happening, she wants to leave but if she does this it would make Noel look bad. So, for the whole time, she's trying to distract herself from what's happening in the bar.

"Well…" Suddenly Noel lost her words, she knows what's she's doing is wrong and apparently, it's been found out already. Everyone is looking at her with a piercing stare, of course, they wouldn't like a person who would ruin their night.

"Oh. If it isn't the famous lieutenant Noel Vermillion. The most prominent fighter under the lead of Nova Terra." Suddenly a girl wearing a jacket and red shirt spoke in the bar while walking towards Noel. She's shining like a star which makes people wonder who she is or what she is. But apparently, she knows about Noel and her back story.

Everyone in the bar starts to sound impressed, they all know the name of the Vermillion family and the legendary Nova Terra. Whatever this girl said has helped Noel to get rid of her trouble of being a laughingstock. Even the man who was questioning Noel has gone back to drink.

After that Noel just stood there and didn't know what to do. She doesn't recognize this girl but she's thankful for the action she's done to her:" Hi… Thank you for your help…" Noel is a bit timid, she feels uneasy to be helped by others.

"Oh, don't worry about it. They are being an ass anyways." The girl grabs a pine of beer on the table and finishes it in one drink. "How are you?"

"I...a..I am fine, do I know you from anywhere?" Noel stutters.

"You do, in fact you know my name already. I am Justice. I'm cool with most of the stuff and I was the previous high prosecutor of hell." She looks Noel in the eyes, but it seems a bit off.

"Is there something wrong with your eyes?" Noel noticed that Justice's eyes aren't really focused on her.

"Oh, I am blind. But I can still tell where you are, it's just I can't really see you clearly." She smiles in a comfortable way, seems like she's used to it.

"Wait, the triple dog girls said you are a man. But you don't seem like one at all." Noel refers to Cerberus.

Justice suddenly grabs Noel by the wrist: " My form is uncertain; I am what you most desire."

Normally Noel will blast anyone away with her revolver if they dare to touch her, but this time Noel doesn't seem to be fighting back at all: " So... you're telling me that, what I want the most is a girl-"

Before Noel could finish, Kira suddenly appeared in front of both of them while sipping a glass of orange juice with a straw. She purposely made the sipping sound so it would knock Noel back to reality: "You don't look like a man to me." Kira said.

"Have you ever fallen in love before?" Justice smiles.

"No…" Kira replied while sounding like a mosquito's flying noise. She then automatically sits on a chair while looking at both of them. Apparently, she's not happy with the question.

Noel chuckles, she loves the way Justice talks to Kira, in her eyes, it's more like teasing rather than offending her. She moves closer to Justice so their arms touch with each other. Noel has dated a lot of people before, but with Justice, she feels something that she's never felt before, it might be love at first sight.

" Can I buy you a drink?" Justice asks.

" Yes…" Inside Noel's head, she's completely lost, for some reason everything about Justice just makes her feel 'in love. It needs no build up just love without reasoning.

Kira however isn't impressed with what's happening, she finishes her drink and takes out her book. She's reading a book about alchemy, which is something Kira takes as a fiction novel.

"That's an interesting book you got there." A girl with orangish hair stands behind Kira.

Kira hates people who interrupt her while reading, she closes the book in an annoyed way and turns back. It is a face she recognizes: " Lucie Morningstar?" She was on the same stage with Monika during the promotion ceremony.

Lucie bows: " In the flesh, you are into alchemy?" She grabs a chair and sits across from Kira. She's interested in this young girl who loves reading.

"Naaa, I am reading this as fiction rather than real chemistry. People like you know it better than me, right?" Kira is excited by this surprise encounter; Lucie Morning star is on her list of celebrities she needs to meet in her life.

Lucie leans back on the chair and puts her finger on her chin: " Hmmm, technically you are right, alchemy indeed is almost impossible to be achieved by normal methods."

"What do you mean by… almost?" Kira is interested because if anyone knows about alchemy it's definitely Lucie.

"I can tell you, but under one condition." She leans forward putting both of her hands on the table. "Be my friend."

"That's it?" Kira is really excited, not only she can get more knowledge, but she can also be friends with one of her idols. "Yes ! I am-" Suddenly, Kira stopped herself from talking. This is way too easy. She's smart enough to know that this might be a scam or something similar.

Lucie tilted her head a bit to the left: " Oh? What's going on? Something is wrong?"

"I think we can start as acquaintances first… it is too early to be friends with each other don't you think?" Unlike Noel, Kira is cautious about almost everything.

Lucie isn't really showing anything from her expression, she lightly scoffs and pulls out two bottles of potions and pours them into a restaurant bowl. Suddenly, the content in the bowl becomes some kind of black cakeish food. Lucie uses a knife and cuts out a piece from the bowl and starts to put it in her mouth.

"What's that?" Kira is confused, there's no way some liquid can instantly become cake.

"Ever heard of brownies? In the Holy Terra, it used to be considered as delicate, sadly it no longer exists." Lucie cuts a piece out and stabs it with a knife: " You want to try it?"

"How did you even get your hands on these things?" Kira is both confused and amazed by the wonder of chemistry.

"You ask too many questions, are you gonna give it a try or not?" Lucie sounds a bit impatient.

Kira takes over the knife and puts the brownie in her mouth, it tastes delicious and sugary, which is something that every teenage girl loves. She then quickly takes another cut and enjoys it like no one is watching.

"So… you wanna be friends now? I can make good brownies for you." Lucie smiles as if she enjoys watching people loving brownies.

"Absolutely." Kira just sold her dignity to a bowl of brownies.