“Thank you so much for coming, dear,” Grandma Fuuji hugged Narias, saying goodbye.

“Thank you for having me, Grandma Fuuji,” Narias hugged her back. It’s been a long stay for Narias, considering he came over only for lunch, but Narias was happy that he did. He certainly gained more than just a delicious home-cooked food, but now he was saying goodbyes, because it was time for him to go back to the academy.

“Make sure to keep up with your training, grandson. I would want to see your improvement the next time I see you,” Grandpa Yojee was unusually serious right now.

“Yes, Grandpa Yojee,” Narias bowed his head respectfully.

“Good, good,” Grandpa Yojee said, nodding his head before raising an eyebrow. “Alright, we’ll leave the two of you now, so you can say proper goodbye to each other. Take your time.” Grandpa Yojee waved his hand, walking away, his wife walking by his side.

“Grandpa...” Estella had a slightly confused facial expression on her face.

“Is something wrong, Estella?” Narias saw her eyes not leave her grandparents until they were gone.

“Ah? No, I... Sigh...” Estella shook her head. “With how my grandfather acts all the time I suppose I’ve gotten into a habit to always keep my guard up.”

“Yes, your grandfather has a way with words,” Narias agreed, adding a smile.

“Look who’s talking, humph,” Estella smirked at Narias.

“But I’m just being honest,” Narias smiled, scratching his cheek with one finger.

“Of course you are,” Estella threw one hand to the side before crossing her arms in front of her before glancing towards the doors that her grandparents had disappeared through.

“Hey,” Narias came closer to hug her, which made Estella almost jump. “Wow, you’re really tense, aren’t you?”

“I... huh?” Estella clearly did not expect him to do that. She flushed before averting her face away. “Of course, I am. I told you it’s all because of my grandfather.”

“I’ll miss you too, Estella,” Narias said, forcing her turn her head to face him.

“Ah? Y... you...” she gazed into his eyes. “You really know what to say at the right moment, don’t you?”

“It is also thanks to your grandparents that you are who you are, you know,” Narias added with a smile.

“Keep talking and I won’t let you leave,” Estella placed her hands on his shoulders, a cheeky smirk entering her lips.

“I’ll come visit you again,” Narias said, acting as if Estella has said something else.

“You better,” Estella said, finally leaning closer to Narias to give him a kiss. It was the sweetest goodbye kiss that Narias had ever received and Estella honestly didn’t want to let go of him, also having her tail playfully wrap around Narias’s waist.

{an hour or two later back at the academy}

Wow, it feels like I hadn’t been at the academy for so long. Well, it’s been almost two weeks after all. I wonder how everyone is doing? Maybe I should go check our club to see if anyone is there? Narias spoke to himself, pausing before going through the campus’ gates.

The campus park was unusually empty. One reason could’ve been because the day was Saturday. Another reason, and it could’ve been the main reason for the park being so empty, was that the Magic Power Games were to start next week, so everyone was really busy getting ready for it.

Huh? Is it me or our club building looks... different? Narias stopped in front of the building to take a better look. He tried to see something, but couldn’t put a finger on what was different about it. Must be because I hadn’t been here for such a long time. Ah, well, let’s go inside and see if anyone is in.

To Narias’s biggest surprise, the club building was locked, which also meant it was empty too. Fortunately, Narias had the key, so he let himself in. He noticed right away that the corridor looked different. It felt to be wider and Narias could swear the current light-green color paint on the walls used to be dark yellow before. The gym room looked to be more or less the same, but the main room they used to gather struck him to be bigger than it used to be, or so it seemed at least. The thing was, the room didn’t magically grow in size, it simply had less furniture and clutter in it, so it felt more spacious. In addition to the room being emptier, there was also a whiteboard hanging on the wall that wasn’t there before, multiple notes being written on one side with several paper notes being clipped on the other side of it.

Right, they’ve been discussing strategies and tactics on how to win the Field Battle Competition here. I’ll need to catch up with whatever they were working on. Narias came closer to read what was written on the board. He then turned to look around again, remembering the piles of books and other stuff being kept in the room. But... where did all the stuff go? Hold on, the place had a major renovation planned to be done. Does that mean the rooms upstairs are now usable and that’s where all the stuff that used to be kept in here was put?

Narias was right. He went to check upstairs and it was evident that the works had been done and finished already. He started going in and out of the rooms to see how they looked. The first room on the second floor that he entered looked like a decent size office room. That’s where all the books from downstairs were put at too. The room was clean and tidy, and had all the necessary furniture that an office would have. Narias could tell Ileena had added her touch to make the room look the way it was right now. Everything was well organized and had been put in their rightful place.

The room on the opposite side of the office room was basically empty, with only an empty closet and a few chairs that most probably were brought from downstairs to make extra space. The view inside the room at the far end of the corridor had surprised Narias, however. First, it was really big in size, maybe twenty by twenty five feet in size. Not only it had the furniture that a normal room in any house would have, but it also had two beds inside it that were also big enough to easily sleep two, maybe even three people each. In addition, there was a wide, large closet in the room that was going almost through the entire wall, two night tables next to the beds on each side and a single dresser table with a chair that also had a big mirror attached to the wall in front of it. The room looked to be a bedroom more than any other room only that it was meant to sleep more than one or two people in it. However, apart from the furniture, the room was rather empty and it didn’t look like anyone was actually living in it... yet.

Ok... Narias closed the doors to the room, feeling rather confused about what he saw inside. What about the third floor? Narias spoke in his head, closing the doors to the large bedroom.

After what he had seen, Narias now had some doubts about checking what was on the third floor. Still, he decided to go and see what was up there anyway. There were two more rooms on the third floor, with one of them being a bedroom again, but the room’s size and the minimal furniture in it indicated it was meant to sleep one or maybe two people in it. The last room Narias had visited was completely empty with no furniture in it at all, so there was nothing to see there. The two bedrooms aside, the whole place looked to be renovated to the highest standards, with the smell of the fresh paint still lingering in the air. Some rooms were lacking furniture and decorations that the normal rooms in any house would have, but the place looked impeccable.

I understand we’d have an office room and this empty room could be used as a study room too, but what’s the deal with the bedrooms? Narias couldn’t wrap his head around that part. I guess... people could take a nap in one of the bedrooms when they’re tired, but...

Before Narias could figure out the reasoning behind the bedrooms he had seen, he suddenly heard a commotion coming from downstairs. Narias couldn’t hear very well who it was, because he was still on the third floor, but it was clear somebody else had entered the building. Narias left the empty room to go see who it was.

“I am telling you that I have locked it before leaving last night,” Ileena said, feeling confident that she did.

“Oh, yeah? Then why were the doors unlocked?” Flamiris stated in a condescending tone of her voice.

“I don’t know,” Ileena answered, staying calm.

“Maybe you forgot to lock it and simply don’t remember that you didn’t?” Flavia chipped in.

“I don’t think you can accuse Ileena of forgetting to lock the doors,” Nicky added with a chuckle.

“Someone else came in?” Growly suggested, tilting his head the side.

“But we all came here together just now,” Flavia argued.

“Maybe Growly meant someone else came here yesterday after everyone had left?” Nicky speculated.

“Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t have the key, remember?” Flamiris scoffed when she felt someone’s eyes on her.

“I certainly didn’t come back here yesterday,” Flavia raised her hands in front of her defensively.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“I have... witnesses that I hadn’t left my room after I came back home,” Nicky added, a cheeky smile entering her lips, with the other girls catching a hint who the ‘witness’ she was talking about was.

“Could it be Emilia?” Flavia wondered.

“I doubt it. Besides, Emilia said she’ll be busy with something and that’s why she hasn’t shown up at the club for the last couple of days,” Ileena said.

“I hope nothing bad happened to her. I heard she hasn’t been attending her classes too,” Flavia added with a worried expression on her face.

“She better show up for the Field Battle competition or else, humph,” Flamiris frowned.

“Anyway, back to the issue at hand. If neither of us came back here last night, then...” Ileena went back to the unlocked doors question.

“Could it be that someone broke in?” Flavia exclaimed, grabbing onto her ears before pulling them down.

“What?! Someone dared to break into our club to steal? I’ll burn them to ashes,” Flamiris flared up.

“Calm down. We don’t have anything of high value at our student club. Still, we better investigate to see if anything is missing. I’ll go check upstairs,” Ileena said, turning to leave the room.

“Good idea, I’ll check the kitchen,” Flavia sprung to her feet.

“I’ll check the gym room,” Growly offered.

“I’ll stay and look around this room,” Nicky added.

“Hey, what about me?” Flamiris stated, feeling left out.

“You can check the bathroom,” Flavia suggested.

“What?!” Flamiris frowned. “Why would anyone want to steal anything from the bathroom?” She complained, but nobody answered her question. “Tch... fine.”

“Did I really forget to lock the doors before leaving last night?” Ileena dropped her head with a sigh, walking upstairs. She went to check the office room first, but when she got there, Ileena couldn’t see anything missing from it. She closed the office doors and was about to turn to go check one of the other rooms when Narias stepped out from around the corner where the stairs leading to the third floor were, both of them almost bumping into each other.

“Oh, hi, Ileena,” Narias wasn’t exactly surprised to see Ileena being there, because he had heard voices coming from downstairs earlier. He just didn’t know who it would be until he saw her.

“N... Narias? Narias!” Ileena jumped on his neck, her lips passionately sticking to his.

“Mhmm?” Narias definitely didn’t expect to receive such passionate greeting from her, but then embraced his girlfriend in his arms, helping Ileena relax a little, but she did not release or stop kissing him.

“Narias...” Ileena finally spoke after their lips separated.

“Hi, Ileena. I missed you too,” he knew what the look in her eyes meant.

“Welcome back,” she said after pulling away to look in his eyes before leaning to kiss him again, being less aggressive this time but not less passionate. “Sorry... I...” She said, lowering her gaze to hide her flushed face right after.

“It’s ok. I’m sorry for disappearing like that,” Narias knew he’ll have to make up for it.

“No, I understand. Miss Alifur told us that you’ll be training with her grandfather and I know how serious you are about your training,” Ileena almost chuckled when she said that.

“Ah, yeah,” Narias smiled, but then asked. “How is everyone doing?”

“They’re fine. They are downstairs checking if... Sigh... I should’ve known. You have the key to the club building, don’t you?” Ileena said, dropping her head.

“Yes. Is something the matter, Ileena?” Narias wanted to know.

“No, nothing,” Ileena smiled. “We have found the outside door being unlocked and thought that someone had broken in, so now everyone is checking if something was stolen.”

“Oh, right...” Narias smiled sillily. “We should go tell them it was me then.”

“W... wait,” Ileena stopped him by gripping his hand tighter. “How... how about I show you around first? We had... renovations done to the building and... have a few extra rooms to use.”

“Yes, I noticed. I have already checked the...” Narias’s words were cut off when he noticed Ileena looking directly into his eyes, her cheeks dressed with a red glow. “Ah, right... Yes, sure. Why don’t you show me... around?” He quickly got the hint.

{downstairs}

“Hey, I couldn’t see anything missing in the kitchen,” Flavia informed after coming back from the kitchen.

“No missing weights,” Growly told everyone.

“I don’t think anything has been taken from this room either,” Nicky added.

“Nobody would ever take anything from the bathroom anyway,” Flamiris pouted her cheeks, clearly feeling agitated because she had to check it.

“Where’s Ileena?” Flavia looked around.

“She’s still upstairs,” said Nicky.

“Still upstairs? But the rooms upstairs are basically empty, except for the office room of course,” Flavia couldn’t understand why it would take Ileena so long to check all the rooms upstairs.

“You know how thorough Ileena can be,” Nicky stood up for her friend.

“That’s for sure,” Flavia had to agree with Nicky on that one, rolling her eyes. But after a bit more waiting, and Ileena still not coming back, Flavia started becoming impatient. “She’s definitely taking a long time to check a few empty rooms.”

“Maybe the thief is upstairs?” Growly offered a suggestion that made some of the girls jump.

“Don’t say that, Growly,” Nicky exclaimed, covering her mouth with both hands.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? We need to go see right away. Maybe Ileena is in danger,” Flavia was about to run out of the room.

“I’m gonna burn their asses no matter who they are,” Flamiris declared, her eyes catching a fiery glow.

“Ileena! Ilee- Woah!” Flavia was about to dart out of the room, but then Ileena showed up in the doorway, forcing Flavia stumble and almost bump into her. “Hey, don’t scare me like that!”

“I’m sorry,” Ileena said, still staying in the doorway.

“Did something happen? You stayed upstairs for much longer than we expected you would, so we became worried about you,” Nicky spoke to her friend.

“Yeah, we thought the person who broke into the club might’ve still been upstairs and we were about to go save you,” Flavia added.

“Save me? Oh, thanks, but I don’t need saving. I feel very fine,” Ileena sounded very happy when she said that.

“Huh? What’s with the smirk?” Flamiris asked, squinting her eyes when she noticed Ileena acting somewhat strange.

“Nothing. I feel good, that’s all,” Ileena said, brushing her hair with one hand.

“Oh? Hey, what are you holding in your hand there, Ileena?” Nicky became curious when she noticed Ileena’s right hand was hidden behind the wall on the other side.

“My hand? It’s nothing. I’m just...” Ileena had finally stepped inside the room, pulling Narias by his hand with her. “I’m just handholding with my boyfriend.”

“NARIAS!” Flavia exclaimed loudly before rushing to hug him.

“YOU!” Flamiris shouted, but it was more of a protest against Flavia being the next one to get to Narias.

“Welcome back, Narias,” Flavia was all over him, forcing Ileena to let go of his hand too.

“H... hi,” Narias’s only option was to submit.

“You have a lot of guts to leave and not come back without explaining anything,” Flamiris complained next, pressing her finger at Narias chest and sticking her face so close to his, their noses almost touched. “Humph...” But then she simply hugged and kissed him before Narias could say anything back. “You owe me big time, you, Mister Mastermind... Pervert.”

“Ah, sorry about that. It just so happened that Estella’s grandfather offered to train me, but the condition was I had to start right away and couldn’t leave until I was done,” Narias explained himself.

“Still, you could’ve... said something,” Flamiris wasn’t happy with his answer, but was happy about the kiss.

“Wait, does that mean it was you who unlocked the doors and entered the building before we came here, Narias?” Nicky asked, remembering the ruckus happening not that long ago.

“Yeah, I guess,” Narias admitted.

“Someone else,” Growly said, feeling happy he was right the first time he said it.

“Of course you were right, Growly,” Nicky giggled, catching on what her boyfriend meant.

“Phew... and here we thought a thief had broken into our student club,” Flavia let out a sigh of relief.

“A thief?” Narias turned to Flavia.

“Yes. All of us went to check the place if anything was missing. Turns out, it was you, partner,” Flavia said.

“Hold on, if Narias was upstairs all this time, why did it take you two so long to come back downstairs?” Flamiris suddenly remembered the two of them stayed there longer than they needed to.

“Huh? That’s right. I thought it was suspicious why you were taking so long to check empty rooms upstairs. What took you so long, Ileena?” Flavia joined in.

“Nothing. I was just... showing Narias around,” Ileena said, adjusting her glasses.

“Showing around? But there’s almost nothing to- Hey, wait! You two were making out, weren’t you?!” Flavia finally got it, pointing her finger at Ileena.

“How dare you take advantage of us not knowing that Narias was back?!” Flamiris stated in an accusing tone of her voice.

“First come, first serve as someone likes to say,” Ileena shot back, feeling superior in every way right now.

“Ehhh?” Flamiris clenched her fist, her hair catching a fiery glow. “Why you...”

“Come, Narias, I want to show you the rooms upstairs,” Flavia used the moment of distraction to go on the offensive.

“Wait, what? Stop right there!” Flamiris ordered her.

“You heard what Ileena said. First come, first serve. It’s my turn now to... to show Narias around,” Flavia made a pause before finishing her sentence. She probably wanted to say something else entirely, but corrected herself at the last second.

“No way. I should be next!” Flamiris declared, ready to fight for her rights.

“No fighting among ourselves, remember?” Ileena reminded her.

“Eek!” Flamiris knew she couldn’t break that one rule. “Tss... you better not take too long, Flavia.” Flamiris stated, pouting her lips and crossing her arms in front of her.

“Heh,” Flavia’s grin showed anything but an agreement.

{after a short... or long while}

“I’m sorry again for not coming back or informing you about me staying at Estella’s house,” Narias apologized again after he and Flamiris had come back downstairs to join everyone in the kitchen.

“But you couldn’t have known if you were to stay, could you?” Ileena countered his apology, not feeling upset about it.

“Y... yeah,” Narias said, knowing she was right. “By the way, where’s Emilia? Oh, and Vivia too?”

“Vivia said she needs to rest after the intense training that we were doing the whole week and Emilia... she said something had come up in regards to her family, so she hasn’t shown up at our club for the last couple of days.” Ileena answered his question.

“Oh, is she ok?” Narias wanted to know.

“Probably,” Flavia wanted to sound optimistic.

“I had been to her dorm before. I could go check on her and tell her you are back,” Ileena offered.

“Well, I was thinking... Maybe you would like to go on a date with me?” Narias asked, not looking at any of his girlfriends in particular.

“On a date?” Ileena said.

“Hey, I want to go on a date with you, partner,” Flavia was quick to tell him that.

“No way. I’ll be going on a date with him first this time,” Flamiris protested.

“Hold on, hold on. I meant, maybe we could all go together? Like, all four of you together with me? I’d love to go on a date with each one of you separately, but unfortunately, we have only tomorrow left before the Magic Power Games start,” Narias explained his reasoning.

“Oh, yes. That’s true,” Ileena said.

“Humph, fine with me. As long as I get to go on date with you,” Flamiris agreed.

“Yeah, we could all go do something fun together,” Flavia was in favor of it too.

“Great,” Narias was glad his three girlfriends agreed to it. “But I’d like Emilia to come too.”

“I can let her know. I’m sure she’ll be happy to join us,” Ileena offered to help with the matter.

“Thank you, Ileena,” Narias smiled.

“My dad wants to talk to you, Narias,” Growly informed when everyone quieted down.

“Ok. We can visit your dad’s shop tomorrow, if everyone is ok with it that is?” Narias agreed but then wanted to confirm with his girlfriends.

“That is fine,” Ileena said.

“I have no problem with that,” Flamiris added.

“That’s cool with me,” Flavia showed a thumbs up sign. “By the way, where will you take us tomorrow, partner?”

“Where? Oh...” Narias hadn’t thought about that yet. “Ahm... I know, how about the Magic Dome? There are plenty activities to choose from and we hadn’t been there for a while.”

“Heck, yeah! I’m in!” Flavia declared excitedly, flexing her arm.

“Humph, I’ll definitely win the most prizes,” Flamiris grinned menacingly.

“We shall see about that,” Ileena stated calmly, adjusting her glasses.

At least they are in favor of going to the Magic Dome. Narias sighed.

“Can I and Nicky come too?” Growly asked.

“Yes, of course,” said Narias, his girlfriends nodding in agreement as well.