Isabelle was panting by the time she forced out how she and Gaius first met, her face flushed. But whether it was with fatigue, embarrassment or some other emotion, Gaius wasn’t too sure, but the point was that she finally made it clear to her elder sister that she was serving him of her own volition.

Or something like that. Half the conversation had been carried out in whispers, the two exchanging words that Gaius blotted out from his sensitive hearing. The boy wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear them, so he didn’t block Nakama’s hearing. He believed that the little girl would tell him if anything that disturbed her was said out loud, and the rest would be information that girls would share with other girls only.

It was the best compromise he could think up of. Fortunately, the explanation had been condensed, or else being late for class was going to be a reality. After making a few promises to meet up for lunch, Gaius and company left the red carpet they were walking on and sped up their pace.

“That wasn’t so bad,” said Gaius. “From how you described her, I had thought that she was a genuinely horrible person. But she seems decent.”

“I’m surprised too,” said Isabelle. “I’m not sure what circumstances would warrant such a change, but she wasn’t as prickly and rude as before.”

“Maybe running away to the North with her husband did wonders to mellow her out,” said Gaius.

“Sister’s husband is a good guy?” Nakama asked.

It took a moment for Isabelle to parse that sentence. “We’ll know soon enough. I wonder why her husband’s brother still reminds me of her old self, though.”

“Maybe it’s because she’s a Knight too,” Nexus cut in.

“True,” Isabelle mused out loud. “If she— hold up. She’s a Knight?”

“She tried to hide it,” said Nexus, “but the only things that can hide from me are aberrations and abnormalities. In that regard, you can rest assured that she is as normal as everyone else.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” she said. “But that is somewhat reassuring. Speaking of which, today’s lessons might be of extreme interest to you, Gaius.”

“To me?”

“Yes. Today, Mrs. Clara is going to talk about the process of becoming a Knight, to lay down the foundations for formation building. You shouldn’t space out during this class, at least,” said Isabelle. “Nakama, you should pay attention too. You keep falling asleep every so often.”

Nakama flashed a brilliant grin in response, before hugging Isabelle’s arm. Gaius glanced at her enviously, and then said, “Why do I not know that?”

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“You were spacing out when she was rattling off the school curriculum,” Isabelle replied. “Obviously. Although, and hear me out, if you’re paying for school, at least make it a note to actually pay attention to the teacher.”

“Got it. Anything on the exams?” Gaius asked. “I don’t recall much about that either. Are we supposed to beat people up and then finish some exam papers?”

Isabelle sighed. “I wonder if you actually got it or not. As to the question, surprisingly, that’s what we’re supposed to do. In fact, what those term-end exams do is to just rank students. To graduate, you just need to defeat one of the teachers.”

“That’s it?” Gaius asked. “In that case, should I beat one up right now?”

“You could, but I don’t think that’s why you’re here.” Isabelle played with Nakama’s hair. “Right?”

“Yeah.”

The three continued to chatter as they walked towards Class 1-S’ homeroom, where two people were rolling out a red carpet for Countess Reinford to walk into. Gaius was stricken with a sense of déjà vu at the sight, and for a moment, wondered how such things were tolerated out loud.

“Oh,” Isabelle replied. “It’s probably the benefits of being nobility or having a lot of money.”

“So much money just to humiliate themselves,” Gaius muttered. “Imagine the tubs of ice-cream I could buy with that. I could keep you guys happy and full for like months on end.”

“True.”

“We ran out of chocolate ice-cream yesterday,” Nakama chimed in. “Can we get some when we go home? Please?”

Gaius wanted to refuse, but his heart melted at the sight of her wide, pleading eyes. In what was the most irresponsible display of spoiling children — in Gaius’ opinion, anyway — he shoved the responsibility over to Isabelle by saying, “Isabelle has the wallet for household expenditures. Gotta convince her.”

He ignored the glare coming from the Knight, but after some wheedling gazes from Nakama, the looks directed at him weakened, and Isabelle also gave in. After making a couple of promises to drop by Dai-Yukimono after school, Isabelle reached over and pulled at Gaius’ ear, who took it silently.

In hindsight, he had it coming. No one wanted to be the bad guy. Isabelle also didn’t like saying no to Nakama, like he did, but Gaius had shoved all the responsibility over to her in such a haphazard manner. Resigned to his fate, he walked into the classroom, his ears stinging somewhat after a good, solid pinch from Isabelle.

Tens of eyes fell onto Gaius as he walked inside. The chatter had died away the moment he had stepped into it, making him feel that he had been their topic of discussion for some reason. Considering that he had just beaten down Countess Reinford, who was officially the strongest in the entrance exams, it wasn’t all that odd, however.

Was this how it felt like to be famous? Gaius wasn’t too sure, but the stares coming from the others were scaring him for some reason. His mind churned, and within moments, he had come up with a solution. Waving his hands at the others, he walked over to his own seat, showing nothing on his face. The silence persisted for a few more seconds, and then chatter returned to the classroom.

“Nicely done,” Isabelle turned back and said. “I was thinking that your entrance was going to be a bit more destructive, though.”

“Just what do I look like to you?” Gaius asked. “A walking person of mass destruction?”

Before she could reply, Mrs. Clara had stalked into the classroom. Rapping her table twice, she started doing a roll call.