PART 1

"Would someone be gracious enough to explain to me what exactly happened on the grounds of my school, without my consent?"

The air in Lord Grandpa's familiar study was positively crackling with ambient mana reacting to its owner's foul mood. More importantly though, it's been quite a while since the last time I've been here, hasn't it? The room was solemn yet fancy, as always, and the elderly arch-mage had even done some re-decorating by adding a few more wooden cabinets and a small table with padded chairs around it. Probably for the convenience of the other arch-mages.

Speaking of which, Lord Taika and Lord Barnabas were flanking Endymonion, standing beside him behind his large desk, and looked… Well, maybe not furious, but at the very least quite irate. As for why I could remain so easy-going despite their piercing stares, the answer was quite prosaic: they weren't directed at me.

"See? I told you this would happen," Lord Gulliver, looking none the worse for wear and rather nonchalant, whispered to the stubborn man by his side, and Lord Ambrose let out a rumbling, dismissive grunt in return.

"Like, I don't see what the big deal is," Sahi protested, much to the undisguised trepidation of the guy standing by her side.

"The rest of you, I can understand, but Pascal?" Lord Grandpa continued to gripe and levelled a disparaging gaze upon his… What was their official relationship, anyway? Unofficially, I was pretty sure Armband Guy was the end result of the same homunculus program that gave us the class rep, and I was about eighty percent sure that he was a clone of the old man, or at the very least in the same ballpark, but I never got around to properly confirm that, mainly because it wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. So… protégé? Let's go with protégé for now, and ask Ammy later. I was planning to have a chat with her later anyway.

In any case, Pascal was definitely being stared at. Veeery disapprovingly. As in, the kind of look a stereotypical Asian parent would give to their kid before reaching for the slipper. Dreadfully scary.

"I am disappointed," Lord Grandpa emphasized in a low, grave voice, and he swept his gaze across the rest of the group. "In all of your conduct."

Oddly enough, even though I just said 'the rest of the group', he avoided meeting my eyes. That was slightly weird but not entirely unexpected either. After all, I technically wasn't being scolded with the rest of them and only accompanied everyone out of a tiny little kernel of solidarity.

"You're making a mountain out of a molehill." Lord Ambrose crossed his arms defiantly and met his glare, tit for tat. "It was just a friendly sparring match. Nothing less, nothing more."

"On my land," the old man behind the desk hissed through clenched teeth. "Without my permission, and after we have unanimously agreed upon sparing no effort to preclude any and all potential sources of friction with our Celestial guests and their…" He paused to send me a glance, and concluded with a profoundly unenthusiastic, "… leadership."

"Bah! You sound like a naggy old mare!" Ambrose argued back, his eyes thundering and his nostrils flaring. "There was no 'friction'. As a matter of fact, it was an educational and entertaining experience, wasn't it?"

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize he was talking to me.

"Sure. Let's go with that," I responded half-heartedly, but it made Ambrose repeatedly nod all the same.

"Absolutely. Our young friend here was a sporting opponent, keeping escalation to a minimum and avoiding vital strikes in a very gentlemanly manner." He paused and let out a hearty laugh, which I once again found uncharacteristic. Why was he only in high spirits when he was talking about combat? Maybe I pegged his character wrong, and he was more hotblooded than I thought. Anyhow, he patted his beard down and added, "It was refreshing, all things considered."

"That is not the issue here," Lord Barnabas commented from behind the desk with a finger on his temple, but Lord Ambrose completely ignored him and turned to me instead.

"So, Leonard? Now that you have ample hands-on experience, what's your opinion on Invocation's obvious superiority over Conjuration?"

"I… can see how it would have a clear advantage when fighting against certain opponents," I granted him, and the old guy let out a satisfied grunt.

"See, Amadeus! He gets it!"

The other old man in the room, sitting behind the desk, buried his face in his hands, and after taking a deep breath, he looked up and focused his attention on Sahi, seemingly ignoring his smug colleague.

"And you."

"Like, what did I do?" the brown girl responded demurely, fluttering her eyelashes and trying to act all innocent.

Before Lord Grandpa could respond, Lord Barnabas cleared his throat and said, "From what I've heard, instead of reporting the incident, you not only remained silent but provided popcorn to the onlookers."

"H-Hey! Uncle Barnabas! Like, on whose side are you on?" Sahi whined and pointed at the lanky redhead by her side, who was acting like none of this was any of his business. "And, like, the popcorn was totally Gulliver's idea, you know?"

"That's Lord Gulliver to you," Ambrose complained with a huff.

"I don't mind, really," the subject of the conversation noted, causing his bearded colleague to glare at him.

"Silence, you clown! Can't you see I'm standing up for your dignity!?"

In the meantime, Lord Taika put a finger on her chin and asked, "But speaking of onlookers, what about the rest of them?"

"They are not under our direct jurisdiction," Lord Grandpa answered morosely. "At most, I can only file a formal complaint to their direct superior."

"I promise I'll at least read it," I quipped with a not-at-all cheeky smile, eliciting a groan from the old man behind the desk.

"And, like, what's this? Why is Leonard getting off totally scot-free? This is so bogus!"

Endymonion levelled a flat stare at the rejuvenated arch-mage, as if to see if she was serious or only pulling his leg, but when she returned a defiant glare, he softly closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I am of the opinion that only an utter imbecile would attempt to remonstrate a natural disaster for the damage left in their wake."

"Why, thank you!" I responded in a chipper and still not-at-all cheeky smirk.

"Leonard," Barnabas cut in with a frown. "That obviously wasn't meant as a compliment."

"I know."

I followed it up with a wink, and the dark-skinned man soon buried his face in his palm while muttering something about diplomatic training. In the meantime, Lord Grandpa tapped his fingers on his desk, and soon the large doors leading into the study swung open.

"This discussion will remain unproductive as long as you keep venturing into irrelevant tangents. Sahi and Pascal, you two stay here. The rest of you, please wait outside."

"What! Gag me with a spoon!" Sahi complained, and Ambrose wasn't far behind her.

"Are you ordering me around now, Amadeus!? Who gave you the right!?"

"Technically, it's his School, so it's his rules," Gulliver pointed out, followed by a lazy yawn, and then he grabbed the still protesting stout arch-mage by the back of his robe and started dragging him outside.

"Take your hands off me, lout!" Ambrose yelled, yet didn't try to stop the gangly arch-mage.

I watched their show for a bit, and only belatedly noticed that Lord Grandpa was staring at me.

"Oh? You meant me too?" I asked, and when he curtly nodded, I shrugged. "Oh well. Have fun."

"This is sooo bogus!" Sahi cried after me, while Armband Guy remained stoic.

In any case, I didn't have much of an opportunity to respond, as the moment I stepped over the threshold, the wings of the door practically slammed shut behind me, startling the arch-mages squabbling in the hallway. It didn't last long though, as Ambrose soon shook off his colleague's hand and turned to me with an eager look in his eye.

"So, Leonard!" He addressed me like we were old friends, which sent a shiver down my spine, and then he rubbed his hands together with a friendly, if currently somewhat unnerving, grin. "Now that you have seen the basic principles of Invocation, and as the resident Chimera expert, I would like to hear your opinion on the potential efficacy of my spells against the creatures."

Suddenly getting put on the spot like that, especially after what just happened, gave me a bit of a whiplash. On second thought, I could kind of see where it came from. When I told him it was more effective on 'certain opponents' back in the study, I was obviously referring to myself. Yet, because of the context, it wasn't surprising he thought I would be speaking about a Chimera. Or a Colossus? I was pretty sure those were also supposed to be magic-resistant, but then again, the only one I fought was a bit of a jobber, so I kind of wrote them off in my mind.

My internal ramblings aside, I raised a finger while I contemplated Lord Ambrose's question.

"The laser beams, or heat rays as you called them, would probably inconvenience a Chimera, but they lack the penetrating power to sever limbs, and it can regenerate the burns. As for the rail-gun thingie, sustained fire could probably suppress it for a while, but it didn't have the raw firepower to put one down. I guess the two combined would work well enough, at least until it developed a carapace to protect itself or something, but you would still need something big to deliver the killing blow. Something with a huge impact, or dealing more damage in quick succession than it can regenerate."

"You're ignoring my fusion spell," Ambrose pointed out, and that made my brows descend into a glare at once.

"No. That's just a big, fat no," I declared on no uncertain terms. "Molecular fusion and radiation are not toys. Unless you can fully contain it, you're just going to kill everything and everyone in a mile."

"See, I told you," Lord Gulliver spoke with a chuckle, and poked the other man with his elbow, much to Ambrose's annoyance.

"You've told me nothing but meaningless conjecture, ruffian, so stay out of this!" After his angry outburst, the bearded arch-mage turned back to me, and his demeanour turned on a dime once again. "I have to admit, the fusion Incantation is still in its early stages of development, but as for the rest, I naturally have bigger and more powerful versions of them!"

"Do you now?" I responded with a brow raised high.

"Of course! Among many other powerful Incantations!"

"… Then why didn't you use them?"

Lord Ambrose paused for a second and looked at me as if I asked a silly question.

"Isn't it only natural that I wouldn't lay all my cards on the table in the first round? I have to leave some surprises for our next encounter!"

"Oh dear. Here we go again," Lord Gulliver uttered some very familiar words, but he was summarily ignored by the increasingly enthusiastic older mage.

"You haven't brought everything you had to bear either, right? The lass kept complaining that you didn't fly, and you refrained from using your famous illusions as well. You're a man after my own heart, aren't you, Leonard?"

Before I could protest, or even just ask for clarification, Lord Ambrose roughly patted me on the back.

"Next time, I'll show you something good!"

Looking at the excited, wolfish grin hidden under his bushy facial hair, combined with the expectant and almost affable look in his eyes, finally made me recognize what was going on here. I just gained my first rival! And he was… a battle-maniac old arch-mage. Yay?

Seriously though, rivals were a pretty common trope (heck, I had a bit of a rivalry with Josh, though only confined to the basketball court) in shounen narratives, of which battle harem stories were kind of a sub-genre, so the fact that one appeared wasn't that surprisingly… but Lord Ambrose of all people? The grouchy, antagonistic old man in a slapstick relationship with a laidback collegue, of all people?

"Just humor him," the aforementioned Lord Gulliver noted on the side, drawing my attention to him. "Ambrose here has a bit of a reputation, you see, so he's just happy to have a new sparring partner."

"Reputation, you say!?" the stout arch-mage burst out indignantly and raised his damaged cane threateningly. "I'll show you reputation, you good-for-nothing! Just wait until I get my hands on you!"

Despite that, the red-headed man only chuckled, as if looking at the embarrassed tantrum of a kid. In any case, while watching these two wasn't exactly boring, I felt like I had more than adequately fulfilled my obligations, at least as far as showing solidarity was concerned.

"Gentlemen," I spoke up to get the attention of the bickering pair. "I wish you the best of luck when dealing with Enydmonion, but I'm afraid I have prior obligations to attend to." I tried to sound fancy, but they just looked at me funny, so I reiterated with, "In other words, I've got stuff to do, so I'm leaving. Bye."

Normally this would've been the point where I did the whole 'I was an illusion all along' gambit, but that was getting a bit old, so after waving my hand, I simply turned on my heel and marched down the corridor, not even waiting for their responses. Luckily, the elevator leading to the surface was on this floor already, so I only had to hop inside… and then Phase away while it was going up.

Not right away though. Not before I took a couple of breaths to decompress, sorted my priority list again, and enjoyed the muzak playing from the speakers. Well, maybe not the last one, but the first two were definitely necessities.

As such, once I've got my head on straight, I summarized the effects of this magical intermezzo: Lord Ambrose was, despite his initial impressions, a bit of a battle junkie and was angling for a, by the looks of it, mostly friendly rivalry with me. His power-set was seemingly designed to counter my usual tactics, but I sincerely doubted the Narrative tinkered with that just to mess with me. If anything, his last question sounded almost too much like a clue to his true calling in our 'plot' by any other name: to counter Chimeras and Colossi. Now, since Crowey and his ilk weren't exactly on the brink of invading the island at the moment, I could probably scratch off the former from the list, which meant Ambrose and his Invocation spells were supposed to counter-balance the alleged anti-magic properties Celestial Colossi, which in turn meant those were going to make a comeback in the future.

While I might've been overthinking this, I had a hunch that I was on the right track, and our inevitable end-of-Angie-route-clash would involve them somehow. That would've meant the Celestial Directorate would have to come to Timaeus to cause havoc, as I couldn't see a scenario where I would take Lord Ambrose in particular into the Elysium to have a scrap with some living magical statue monsters.

The true question was; did this information imply that I should push the 'do something about the Celestial leadership' up or down on my priority list? Both had good arguments for them. On one hand, if I acted swiftly, I could get ahead and potentially even prevent any big, dramatic final battles from breaking out in our neighbourhood, which was not only safer, but a nice, fat middle finger to the Narrative. On the other hand, it was also a bit of a 'the devil you know' situation, and since I now had a solid hunch about what was coming my way, I could prep not only myself but also everyone else to swiftly deal with it. That essentially allowed me to take the Narrative's cake while technically letting it eat it too, potentially avoiding any further unforeseen complications.

I also had to decide what to do with Percival before that… but I was still dragging my feet on that one due to many very nuanced and entirely rational reasons, and we're going to leave it at that. However, before I could get to the end of my contemplations, the elevator cabin reached the ground floor, so I put everything else on hold and Phased away before the doors could open, to deal with the current top item on my priority list.

A moment later, I reappeared inside the teleport closet of the underground base, and when I stepped out, I was startled to see that the class rep was already waiting for me in the reception room, sitting attentively on one of the padded benches, her eyes trained on me like a bird of prey noticing a movement in the underbrush.

"Hi," I greeted her reflexively and closed the door behind me. "I didn't expect you to be here so early."

That wasn't just idle talk; it's been only a little more than an hour since I'd last seen her at school, and I wasn't expecting her to the point I didn't even bother to check where her mark was before Phasing in.

"I didn't wait long," she told me and stood up.

On closer look, I noticed that she was still wearing her school uniform (the normal one, not her Magiformer), and had her bag hanging from her shoulder, meaning she probably came here right after we last talked. That was a bit suspicious, and so was the unusually tense look in her eyes.

"Let's head to the lounge, and I'll—"

"That wouldn't be wise," she cut me off, sounding just a little stiff. "I already locked and secured the door here, so we can talk in private."

That… certainly raised a couple of red flags in my head, so I forced a harmless smile onto my face and asked, "For the records, am I about to be scolded?"

"No, I don't think so," she answered listlessly and reached into her bag. "Not unless you try to play dumb."

"Play dumb about what?" I blurted out, only to suck in a deep breath when my eyes landed on the item she pulled out.

There was a torturously long beat of silence hanging in the air as I started at the worn-out spiral notebook in her hand, my mind racing to connect the dots until I felt like I would soon start giving off steam. Before I could ask anything more, she held the notebook out to me.

"I've found this inside the box of research notes I entrusted to you," she said in a low, almost droning voice. "This is your handwriting, right?"

"Yes," I admitted, lacking any other option. "Did you… read it?"

She silently nodded, and suddenly her recent odd mannerisms started to make a lot of sense. I really, really wanted to beat myself up for forgetting about something so important, but in my defence, I was kinda-sorta insanely busy in the past couple of weeks. It was a weak excuse at best, but there was no point crying over spilt milk, so I proceeded to take my old notes from her hand and exhaled a long breath.

"Let's settle down," I proposed and pointed at the nearest bench. "This will take a while."

PART 2

"You know, I seriously wasn't expecting to have this conversation today," I said softly as we sat down.

It was followed by a lengthy stretch of silence (or at the very least, it certainly felt long), during which I thought hard about how to approach this whole mess. How much of my notes did she read? How much did she understand? How should I open the conversation without giving away the game too early? If she only skimmed my early notes on the nature of the Simulacrum (heck, back then, I didn't even know it was called that), and I carelessly tried to explain things to her, I might accidentally drop her in the existential deep and make things worse.

While I was still lost in thought, the class rep was also fidgeting nervously. Unable to cope with the silence, she went ahead and broke it herself.

"If you're exhausted after your duel with Lord Ambrose, we can do this later."

"Nah, I'm fine," I responded offhandedly. "I mean, sure, I'm a bit tired, but it's not really an issue."

"I see."

The awkward silence was threatening to return with a vengeance, so I pushed on, using the small talk to ease into the main topic.

"Aren't you curious who won?"

"I know you did," she told me and flashed me her phone in her uniform's pocket. "I've got a text from Angie. She was very upset that you didn't fly."

"Yes, she told me about it a couple hundred times already," I said with just the tiniest hint of trepidation.

Ammy nodded, looking rather absent-minded at the moment, and she clumsily readjusted her glasses.

"Grandfather often told me about how he occasionally dueled Lord Ambrose, and that he was very deliberate about escalation and avoiding injuries." She overtly looked me over from head to toe and added, "I didn't expect you would get hurt, but it's good to see that you're fine."

"Careful about escalation, you say," I grumbled with a finger on my forehead. "He tried to throw a miniature fusion bomb at me at the end, you know?"

Ammy blinked, seemingly uncomprehendingly, and even tilted her head to the side a little in confusion.

"By fusion, do you mean… nuclear fusion?"

"Based on the description? Most likely. Can't be sure though, as I put an end to it before he could irradiate us or something."

"Oh. That's… unexpected," she noted with a look of mild skepticism. "I was told Lord Ambrose had a temper, but I didn't think he would do something like that."

"People are complicated beasts," I concluded the side tangents with a classic thought-terminating-cliché and took a deep breath. "Okay, I think we are comfortable enough. Let's tackle the elephant in the room."

When I raised the notebook to signify what I was talking about, Ammy immediately looked at me attentively.

"So then, as I already said once, I seriously wasn't expecting to have this conversation today. Or ever, for that matter."

"You were planning to keep this a secret from everyone," she noted, and I nodded without the slightest hesitation.

"Correct."

Apparently not expecting such a straightforward confirmation, the class rep was visibly taken aback, and then she averted her eyes.

"I… feel I should apologize first," she said, her voice low and hesitant. I waited for her to continue, and at last, she took a deep breath and looked me in the eye again. "I should've returned it right away, after I found it in the bottom of the box. I immediately recognized your handwriting, and I know I shouldn’t have looked, but… I was curious why it was mixed up with grandfather's research notes, and I couldn't help myself."

In other words, she figured it was a secret, and considering how much grief she gave me over keeping too many of those, she immediately jumped at the opportunity to uncover one. I couldn't exactly blame her; I didn't have the greatest track record when it came to respecting people's privacy either.

"I hid the notebook there when Percival came to live with us, because I thought it would be safe there."

"Sorry."

Hearing her reflexively apologize made me shake my head.

"No, no. That wasn't meant as a dig at you; if anything, I'm beating myself up over completely forgetting about it altogether and handing it over to Peabody along with the rest of the box. If anyone's to blame for this situation, it's me." Ammy acknowledged my response, but didn't say a word, so I decided to stop beating around the bush and breach the main sticking point of this entire conversation. "How much of it did you read?"

"All of it." She was a touch hesitant, and after a momentary beat she amended, "Twice."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Oh boy," the words slipped through my lips, followed by a stifled groan.

There went my last hope for smoothing the whole incident over. If she only skimmed my notes, I was confident I could talk around the core secrets, especially considering these were old and incomplete observations and speculations, but if she read all of them twice over, the cat was already out of the bag. Now, I had to ascertain the extent of the 'damage'.

"Did you ask or tell anyone else about this? Anyone at all?"

"Not directly, no," Ammy answered in a mousy voice.

My grave tone might've been a bit of an overkill in retrospect, but at the moment, it felt entirely warranted.

"What about indirectly then?" I pressed her.

"I did ask Angie if she knew anything about this," she admitted, and that made my brows climb my forehead in record time.

"Angie of all people?"

"I thought if I asked Judy or Eleanor, they would tell you right away, and… ever since you came back from Elysium, whenever something unusual happened, she would say that 'destiny is acting up'. She didn't use to say things like that before, so I thought she might know something."

"And? What did she tell you?"

Ammy paused to tweak her glasses again and swept her tiny braid behind her ear. It was probably a small ritual to steel herself.

"She said that you are… 'fighting destiny', and that I should ask you about the details."

"Go figure," I whispered under my breath and rubbed my face. That girl was even worse with secrets than Elly.

"Are you?" she asked directly, and I shrugged by reflex.

"Very figuratively speaking."

"I surmised as much," Ammy spoke softly and kept looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to explain everything to her. I wasn't going to do that though; at least not until I was clear on exactly how much she knew already. I didn't want to throw her into the deep waters if she was only familiar with the shallows, after all.

"What are your thoughts after reading my notes?" I levelled the question at her, and she looked completely stumped, evidently not expecting the turnaround.

Nevertheless, she gave my inquiry some serious thought before coming up with an answer. Maybe even too much, as I couldn't shake off the impression that she looked like a nervous, sleep-deprived university student at an oral exam who just got handed a trick question.

She opened with, "It makes… a lot of sense, actually." It was followed by a beat of silence, and then she clarified, "It didn't at the beginning, but the more I read, the more sense it made. A lot of it fit what you told us before as well. About Joshua's status, and the prophecies, and this… 'entourage' thing, as you called it. The more I thought about it, the more it added up, but what finally convinced me was the section about the 'placeholders'."

"The same went for Elly," I said, and for some reason, Ammy immediately looked relieved.

"So she does know..." she whispered under her breath, but when she noticed I was looking at her funny, she quickly tweaked her glasses again and pressed on. "I mean, when I first read your observations, they sounded far-fetched at best, but when I paid more attention to others it.. it was all true. I couldn't believe I didn't notice it before, so I read the whole notebook again, and I think you called it a 'perception filter'? Is that right?"

I nodded, and couldn't help but notice that her reaction was a little… off. Sure, Elly wasn't hit very hard by the existential dread of the situation either (or she was just very good at ignoring it and giving it an optimistic spin), but the class rep didn't look like she was bothered by it at all. If anything, ever since I told her I wasn't blaming her for reading the notebook and that leaving it in the box was my mistake, she acted like that was the big issue and quickly became rather… excited?

"I'm also really interested in your theory about the nature of this world. Your line of thought seems to closely mirror Bertrand Arthur William Russell's 'Five-minute Hypothesis' to me. Do you truly think that the world was sprung into existence recently, and all of our memories were fabricated to make everyone believe we've been here all along? If so, how old is this universe?"

"That's… one possibility, but we kind of moved past that hypothesis a while ago."

"Really? What is the current working hypothesis?"

The class rep's eyes were practically sparkling with interest, and I couldn't help but feel a touch unbalanced by this development.

"It's that the world is a running framework, with localized narratives of their own plots and actors happening in isolated environments, such as this island."

"Actors. Right," she nodded, and put a finger on her glasses again. "I have so many things I want to ask, but since you mentioned it… Is that why you always insisted that me being a homunculus doesn't matter?"

"… Sorry, I'm not following you."

"I mean…" She faltered and pointed at herself. "Since I'm a homunculus, I'm not a real human, but if nobody is real, then it doesn't make a difference, right?"

She made that sound sensible, but I had to put my feet down before she could develop a major misunderstanding.

"Okay, full stop. You are real, and so is everyone else. Whether the universe was poofed into existence five minutes ago or fourteen billion years ago doesn't change that."

"Then what about the placeholders?"

"They are real too," I pointed out with a frown. "They just need time and attention to develop, but once they do, they are perfectly normal people. Nobody's fake, and being a homunculus or not absolutely doesn't factor into this conversation at all."

"But they aren't," she argued back, acting unusually stubborn.

"If you think about it, from a 'normal' person's perspective, wouldn't we be the abnormal ones?" She was about to open her mouth, but I cut her short. "I don't mean the magical races and all that, but just our daily existence. If you think about it, we live strange and idealized lives. I have two girlfriends, Josh had his harem protagonist stint culminating in a childhood friend romance, and our daily and school lives are way more eventful and tropey than what most people would consider 'real life'. We are weird, it's just that placeholders are even weirder."

I hoped I got the message across, but to my dismay, Ammy brushed me off and barrelled on with the discussion.

"Is all of that because of this 'destiny' that Angie mentioned? I gathered it's meant to be some kind of person or force that manipulates everyone. Is that real?"

"Yes," I responded in the company of a shallow groan. "We call it the 'Narrative', but I didn't explain the nitty-gritty details of it to Josh and Angie, so they call it 'fate' and 'destiny'. It's close enough."

I wasn't sure she was listening to the second half of my explanation, as was clearly lost in her own thoughts.

"So if it manipulates everyone, that means no one has free will, right?"

"What? No, of course people have free will!" I denied her rather vehemently. "At least as much as normal people do, ignoring all the speculation about a deterministic universe and whatnot."

"But if at any moment your thoughts and minds can be subverted by this thing you speak of, then can you really say free will exists?"

"Of course it does! The Celestials have magic to control people's minds, but it doesn't mean its existence invalidates free will as a concept. We aren't puppets on strings. When narrative influence isn't in work, everyone is acting of their own volition and judgement, like normal."

"You keep saying that," Ammy cut in with a customary tweak of her glasses, "but what is normal?"

"Pardon?"

"I'm serious. You keep saying the word, but what does it even mean for us? According to your notes, we are actors playing characters in this 'destiny's' story, while the placeholders are blank slates that only exist to fill out the space around us. Who, then, are these 'normal' people you speak of?"

She sounded entirely serious, and to be honest, I was a bit stumped by her insistence.

"You know, class rep, when we started this conversation, I seriously wasn't expecting this direction. You're weird." She kept frowning at me, expecting an answer, so I let out a shallow breath and told her, "Listen. I understand you are kind of worked up after learning about the Simulacrum under far from ideal circumstances, but—"

"Simulacrum? Is that what it's called?"

"Yes, but as I was saying, the thing you have to consider is that—"

"How do you know that?" she cut me off again, and I would've been lying if I said I wasn't getting at least a tiny bit irritated.

"I just know, okay? Let's say I have insider information."

"What does that even mean?"

"It's… complicated."

"You're dodging the question."

"No, I just have no good way to explain it," I retorted. "Seriously, class rep. You need to calm down."

She gave me a withering look and insisted, "I'm perfectly calm."

"No, you're not. You read my early, incomplete notes, and you're jumping to wild conclusions based on them about things like free will and the extent of narrative influence, stuff even I'm not one hundred percent clear about. Please take a deep breath, and relax a bit."

She eyed me without hiding her displeasure, but eventually did as I said, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply.

"Okay, done. I presume now you can explain to me why I'm wrong in my assessment in detail?"

Now it was my turn to direct an irritated frown at her.

"Listen. The Simulacrum, this world around us, is mind-bogglingly complex. While yes, everyone in our social circle did seem to have been moulded to fit into certain archetypes designed to accommodate a certain genre, literally everyone grew out of those initial confines since then, because they, we, are real. Or at least as real as people can be."

"But if free will is—"

"I'm not finished," I interrupted her with a palm raised. "What we call 'narrative influence' is something we are aware of specifically because it's out of the ordinary. We aren't following a script, and so when events are being forcefully steered in some direction, it's pretty obvious in retrospect." I paused for a second and allowed myself a thin-lipped smirk. "Also, even if the plot tries to assert itself, it's far from impossible to go off the rails. We've traded quite a few blows so far, and I'd say we're mostly even."

"Traded blows… with 'destiny'?"

"The Narrative, and I'm speaking figuratively," I responded off-handedly and crossed my arms. "You know, I feel like I'm a broken record, but I seriously wasn't expecting to have this conversation. I thought you would be freaking out over the existential implication of the Simulacrum and whatnot, not for you to try and convince me that nobody is real and free will is an illusion."

"That doesn't bother me," she stated flatly, followed by a shrug. "I'm already used to that, considering that I'm a hom—"

"Oh, for the love of god, Ammy!" I interrupted her and grabbed her shoulders, much to her shock. "Don't you dare say 'Because I'm a homunculus'! I said I was feeling like a broken record, but you really, really need to get over this already."

"I can't exactly get over what I am."

"Then stop focusing on that and think about who you are instead! Seriously, you're starting to flanderize yourself."

"What does that mean? Is that another of those 'tropes' you wrote about?"

"Yes, and it's a—"

Before I could finish that thought, there was a creaking sound coming from the locked door of the reception room, followed by three knocks.

"Blackcloak? You, in there?"

Even though it was muffled, I immediately recognized Brang's voice.

"Yes. We're discussing something in here," I answered with my voice raised. "Is there a problem."

"No. Wanted to give report. Can wait."

I looked at the door, then back at the class rep, then at the door again.

"Hold that thought. We're going to the lounge in a minute, and then we can talk."

"We are?" Ammy asked incredulously, and I nodded. Then I noticed that I was still holding onto her shoulders, and let her go.

"Yes. As I repeatedly said, you caught me flat-footed here, so let me collect my thoughts a little." I stood up and gestured towards the entrance leading into the main hall. "I'll call the girls over to have a proper discussion, and in the meantime, we sit down, I listen to Brang, and we have a nice drink and calm down a bit."

"I'm calm," she insisted, but followed my example and rose to her feet as well.

In the meantime, I picked up the notebook I set aside and gave the source of my recent headache a good, hard look. In retrospect, I should've destroyed it way back when, considering all of its contents were already in our digital notes, but I got sentimental. If I hadn't, I could've avoided this whole situation, but as always, hindsight was my mortal enemy, and now that this hand was already dealt to me, I just had to work with it. Who knew? Maybe it would turn out to be a blessing in disguise in the long run.

"But wait. How do we know that you aren't thinking free will is real and not subject to destiny because destiny is making you think so? But what if destiny is making me think this right now? Am I objecting because I genuinely think this, or am I being influenced to think so? And if I am, how am I supposed to…?"

… On second thought, maybe not.

PART 3

A familiar sight. A clean yet simultaneously lived-in and comfortable lounge. A countertop polished to a mirror shine, and behind it, a large and burly ram-man casually cleaning a tall glass with some custom-made tool holding a washcloth. An extraordinary scene, yet at the same time, nothing out of the ordinary.

"[They art the cautious sort, and hideth their tracks with effort of the most meticulous kind. Their work fills me with pride and frustration in equal measure.]"

"[This, my eyes can perceive when gazing upon your countenance, general,]" I answered in Faunish, and his lips bent into an amused smirk. "[Can your men-at-arms not stalk the trail of these cohorts of the foolish master of subterfuge with a manner of truth?]"

"[Not yet, Blackcloak, but it shall be done in due time.]"

I let out a shallow sigh and took a sip from my drink. I wasn't sitting, because I was planning to move soon, as I had a meeting planned with Mike and Moose in the evening. I wasn't in the mood for it, after the impromptu duel, and especially after the whole kerfuffle with the class rep, but I made a promise, and I was going to keep it.

But speaking of the class rep, she was currently sitting with my girlfriends at the other end of the counter, and they were engaged in a heated discussion about the Simulacrum and all of its foibles. I tapped out to get some time to think, while Judy was holding the fort. In truth, she was mostly there to mediate, as the discussion soon devolved into a heated argument between Ammy and Elly, their unbridled optimist and unexpected nihilism clashing like a pair of angry buffalos on an intellectual prairie.

"But if we came into existence on the first of last September," Ammy argued, her arms crossed and the light glinting off her glasses giving her a fierce atmosphere, "then that means your childhood memories were all inserted into your head at that time, and none of them actually happened."

"It doesn't matter," the princess fought back, also folding her arms and her brows down in a glare. "Everyone remembers it the same, so whether it really happened or not is a meaningless question. The important thing is that we remember the events, and they inform who we are."

"And I'm saying you can't be sure your memories are reliable either."

"For the record," Judy butted in, sounding especially exasperated. "We have no documented evidence of people's memories being retroactively tampered with by the Narrative."

Even though I wasn't part of the conversation, I reflexively nodded along. Or rather, I approved of the qualifier tagged at the end, because by retconning my mug, I have technically done that, but it wasn't the Narrative that did it, so it technically didn't count.

"I grant you that, but how can you know that your memories of your memories being altered aren't altered themselves?"

"Argh! We're going in circles!" the princess exclaimed in frustration and threw her hands into the air, and they soon launched into another argument.

In the meantime, I finished up my drink and placed the empty glass onto the counter with a long sigh. Honestly, I needed this whole situation with the class rep about as bad as an ingrown toenail, but it came about because of my forgetfulness, so I had to deal with it. And just when I finally started striking issues off my priority list. Maybe that was why Brang's report annoyed me so much as well.

Long story short, Tajana's Faun retinue was caught following Snowy around at a distance on more than one occasion, but Brang and our Fauns had a hard time tracking them down, ironically because of our own security measures around the school. While Roland and Arnwald practically read my mind and made sure the Praetorian Guards would only operate within the school and Angie's neighbourhood, with the rest of the precinct remaining under Ordo Draconis and Kage responsibility, it still imposed serious restrictions on our Fauns.

If they learned we had a squad of them, and it got back to the Elysium, it would just serve as more ammunition for the Directorate against me. Hell, even if we ignored the political angle, if the Celestials ran into any of them, they would not only be unable to tell them apart from other Fauns, but they most likely wouldn't care either and attack them on principle. While the Kage ninjas were decent trackers, they weren't able to take down multiple Fauns unless they seriously outnumbered them, and our biggest assets in the hunt (read: Mountain Girl and Ichiko) were currently bogged down in some silly interpersonal malarkey involving Naoren I didn't want to touch, lest it would end up added to my priority list as well.

As such, Tajana's Fauns remained a thorn in our side, and I really wanted to cross them off my list already. The fact they shifted their focus to Snowy also bothered me, but lately, she was glued to Penny twenty-four-seven (at least whenever she wasn't out interrogating Percival) and between the two of them, I doubted they posed any danger at all.

Ack! And I just reminded myself of that old bastard again!

While I fumed, trying to think of a way to quickly resolve at least some of my annoyances, I was approached by Judy, and she unceremoniously rested her forehead against my chest.

"I owe you an apology, Chief."

"For what?"

While Brang took the empty glass I placed on the counter, my dear assistant let out a long sigh.

"Back when we first started, I secretly thought your aversion to disseminating information about the nature of the universe and the existence of the Narrative was overly cautious and silly. I stand proven wrong."

"Hear, hear," I jested, only to stop when she reached out with her right hand, without looking up, and pinched my cheek.

"Take responsibility."

"I will, I will, but I told you I have other arrangements for today. Please take care of her for me, just for today?"

Sighing, she let go of my face and finally looked me in the eye.

"I understand that everyone responds differently to learning about the underlying nature of the world, but her reaction is…"

Her words trailed off as we glanced back at Ammy and the princess, still locked in an argument.

"I'm telling you, it's not like that! I don't like Leo because 'destiny says so'!"

"But how can you be sure?"

"Because I was supposed to like Josh! That's what this Narrative thing wanted, but I don't like him that way anymore!"

"A-ha! So you admit that your feelings for Josh were because you were pre-programmed by destiny."

"That's not the point!"

Judy and I let out a sigh, pretty much in unison.

"It's draining," my lovely assistant concluded her previous thought, and I couldn't not agree with her. "She seems to be hell-bent on interpreting everything in the worst way possible. It feels like a mixture of philosophical skepticism and nihilism rolled into one."

"It probably has something to do with the shock and her unique circumstances. Be patient with her."

Just as I said that…

"… but destiny set up those archetypes, didn't it?" Ammy argued with a hand on her glasses. "Think about it. If Leo is this 'idiot friend' he wrote about, then all of his actions make a lot of sense."

"..." I could feel my face slowly harden, and I whispered. "Dormouse, hold me back. I've run out of patience and got a strong urge to bonk her over the head."

"No, Chief. Bad Chief," Judy chided me with a hand on my chest. "Violence is bad."

"Then what about Judy?" the princess continued the argument in the back, and the class rep let out a derisive scoff, causing my lovely assistant to stiffen up and turn a pair of narrowed eyes at her.

"She's a placeholder, right? That means she just developed in a way to fit into destiny's plan."

"… Chief, hold me back. I'm going to slap her if you don't."

"Easy there. Violence is bad," I echoed her with a hand on the top of her head and tousled her hair. "That said, I really need to set down some ground rules here," I added in a low, almost growly voice, and was ready to walk over when I recalled something and turned my head to the left.

"[Yes?]" Brang responded the moment our eyes met.

"[Yours truly feels the paramount magnitude to instruct your mind to cease etching any of our words into stones of remembrance.]"

The old Faun swivelled his ears and gave me a solemn nod.

"[Aye. Thy faithful retainer, I shalt implement the utmost of confidentiality. What enters one of mine own ears shalt leaveth the other, without as much as leaving a trace behind.]"

"[Hearing your words fill the void of my chest with warm waters of respite.]"

I'll be honest, I didn't even understand my last response. It was probably some kind of Faunish idiom, as Brang seemed to have no problem deciphering it, and flashed an appreciative smile.

In any case, I resolved myself to not delay the inevitable any longer, and we took the couple of short yet long steps necessary to enter into Elly's and the class rep's little bubble.

"No, the whole point is that—" the princess was about to deny yet another one of Ammy's insistent insinuations, but fell silent when I stopped by their side.

"Are you back? Good. I have many questions about the nature of—"

"Hush," I interjected, trying to sound soft but ending up rather unyielding even to my ears. "Before anything else, we need to discuss your attitude. We can't get anywhere until we do something about that."

"My attitude?" Ammy responded and pushed his glasses up the bridge of her nose. "That's unexpected. After keeping all of this a secret for so long, I thought you would've developed a thicker skin about the obvious implications of your hypotheses."

"No. These implications are far from obvious." My words were followed by a soft 'Yeah, you tell her!' from the princess, but when I signalled her to keep low, she did so with a pout. "I'm not holding anything against you, because learning all of this at once clearly shocked you—"

"I'm not shocked. I'm quite calm," she interjected, but I ignored her.

"— even if you do your best to hide it. As much as I appreciate your new perspective on the Simulacrum, your negative spiral isn't helping anyone."

"I'm only saying what I honestly think."

"I understand that, and I'm telling you that you need to change the way you think, or you're only going to get lost in doubting everything and everyone."

"But it's the only rational thing to do."

Seeing her stonewall me made Judy poke my side, wordlessly telling me to take a different approach. Well, I did have something in mind, though it was more of a last resort that could either work fine, or blow up in my face big time. Still, I figured it might serve as shock therapy, so I gestured for the princess to hand me my notebook, lying at the very end of the counter. While she was reaching out, I focused my attention back on Ammy, and laid the groundwork with a tired groan.

"So, in your opinion, doubting everything is rational."

"Yes," she nodded, her expression determined and maybe even a little pleased, as if she managed to get through to me.

"And since anything and everything could be changed and manipulated by 'destiny', as you like to insist—"

"Only because 'the narrative' is a nonsensical term, wholly inadequate to describe a force of this power and magnitude," she tried to correct me, and while I listened to her as I accepted the notebook from Elly, I ignored the words in favour of pressing on with my argument.

"Would you agree then that our current existence is meaningless, since it could be changed at any moment, without our knowledge or consent?"

"It's… not an irrational conclusion to draw from—"

This time, it was my turn to cut her short.

"Is that how you want to live the rest of your life?"

"What do you even mean by that? Is there even a choice? I can't un-know this!"

While I was fishing for a slightly more generic response, she gave me the perfect segue, and I couldn't waste it. The moment she finished speaking, I slammed the notebook against the countertop, startling everyone around me, including the Faun in the back.

"I can give you that choice." With some theatrical flair, I raised the notebook by its corner and held it up in front of her. "This is the source of all of your troubles, isn't it? The half-baked knowledge of these old observations of mine. What if I tell you I can erase them?"

"Chief, that's…"

"Hush," I whispered. "I'm doing a thing here." Then, I looked Ammy in the eye again. "I have the power, you know? I can erase this notebook from time, so it never even existed."

"Wait, hold on!" Ammy exclaimed, suddenly flustered. "W-What do you mean you can…? I mean, can you really…?"

"Of course," I told her with a calm smile. "I would need to be able to do at least that much to fight 'destiny', wouldn't I?"

"T-That makes sense, but—"

"I can retroactively erase this notebook. It wouldn't affect us too much, I think. The butterfly effect is a bitch, but just because I didn't write my thoughts down, it wouldn't change past events significantly. As for you though…" I purposefully paused and shook the notebook a little. "The current you, the one aware of the Simulacrum and all of its annoying quirks, would cease to exist. It's not that big of a deal though, is it? I mean, our existence is meaningless, so whether you remain you or get erased and replaced by a class rep blissfully unaware of all of these troubling existential concerns should make no difference."

"That wasn't what I meant when I said that."

"It doesn't sound so different in principle," I shrugged and held out the notes again. "So? What will it be? I have to say, retconning this whole awkward conversation out of existence would be the most convenient for me, but since it concerns your current existence, I figured I would ask you first. Of course, since everything's meaningless, I know your answer is a foregone conclusion, so please hurry it up. I have places to be."

"Wait! You can't just drop something like this on—"

"Tick-tock, class rep." Saying so, I poised my free hand to snap my fingers. "Tick-tock."

"I said wait!" she yelled out and looked at Judy. "Can he really do that?"

"Yes," my dear assistant answered morosely, looking rather displeased by my act. "He shouldn't even have let you know about it though."

"Desperate times, desperate measures," I answered with a devil-may-care smirk, then belatedly added, "Also, tick-tock."

"You know, I'm not sure this is a good idea," Elly chimed in, looking more baffled by this development than anything else.

"Don't worry, princess. Once I'm done retconning this, you won't even remember any of it, so it's not like it matters. Or anything else, really. Right, class rep."

"Leo, listen. This is—"

"Oh, time's up! Bye!"

Not wanting to drag this out any longer, I raised my free hand and snapped my fingers. It was unexpectedly loud, but not as loud as Ammy's startled yelp as she immediately covered her head with her hands, as if afraid that the ceiling would fall on her head. Her voice drew a bit of attention from the other Fauns exercising at the other end of the main hall, but when Brang shook his head, they soon returned to whatever they were doing.

With a sigh, I placed the notebook back onto the counter and only then did the class rep peek up at me.

"Did… did anything happen?"

"No, of course not," Judy answered in an extra-deadpan voice.

"Was this… a prank?" Amelia muttered with her brows all scrunched up, but before she could say any more, I reached out and put a finger on her forehead. "W-What are you doing?"

Ignoring the question, I gently pushed her face up until our eyes met again.

"No, it wasn't a prank. I was making a point."

"That was still mean," the princess grumbled, and after pulling my finger back, I wagged it towards her.

"Hush, love. I'm still doing a thing." A beat later, I turned back to Amelia and tried to look and sound as serious as humanly possible. "Listen, class rep. As I said, I understand your point, and how you ended up thinking the way you did. However, getting lost in contemplating the meaning of our existence is, in and of itself, a meaningless thing. You exist right now, and you have meaning; to yourself, and those around you. That's all that matters until proven otherwise."

"But… if destiny really exists…"

"Then it's a lousy bastard really bad at its job, and you shouldn't give it more thought than you would give to a meteorite falling on our city all of a sudden."

"Chief."

"I'm not jinxing it," I retorted to Judy. "I refuse to live in a universe where I can't even use stupid hyperboles in fear of them coming true due to cosmic fiat, and that's final."

Ignoring our tiny squabble, the class rep's eyes finally came into focus, and she weakly readjusted her glasses.

"I understand the point you're trying to make, but… how can you be certain about that?"

"Screw certainty. I say so, therefore that's how it is."

"That's not how this works."

"Then make it work," I told her with a shrug. "You just have to trust me. Do you trust me?"

Ammy remained silent for a long time, and at long last, her expression turned resolute.

"Yes. Against my better judgement, but I do."

"Great. Then trust me when I tell you that you have your worth, and so does everyone else. Human, homunculus, placeholder… None of those things have anything to do with that. The Simulacrum has exactly as much meaning as we give it, and the Narrative is nothing more than a pesky annoyance you work around, not an insurmountable force you cower before. If you ever feel uncertain about any of these things, remember what I just told you, and remember that it's right, because I said it."

"I… wish I had just a fraction of your confidence."

"This isn't about confidence," I told her with a reassuring smile. "It's more of a self-suggestion. We don't have time for self-doubt when there's so much to do. Ah, speaking of which…" I turned on my heel and pointed at the reception room. "I really should be on my way. I don't want to keep those two waiting, so I leave the rest to you."

"Chief. You can't just drop a bombshell like that and expect us to pick up the pieces," Judy complained, though she didn't seem to have her heart in it.

"Sorry, but I really am late. Please pick up my slack, and I'll make it up for you later."

"Deal!" Elly agreed at once, much to my other girlfriend's trepidation.

"Fine. But I'm expecting more than just a massage this time," Judy griped, but then followed it up by rising to her tiptoes and giving me a peck on the cheek.

Mixed messages aside, I returned the gesture to the top of her head before turning to the class rep again.

"Do you have a message for Mike?"

She blinked, and the moment she heard the guy's name, some colour returned to her cheeks.

"Nothing. We'll talk on the phone in the evening, as usual, so…"

"But not about any of this, right?" She shook her head. "Good. Remember, this is a secret for a reason."

"Yes." I was ready to leave, but then she called after me again. "Leo?"

"Hm?"

"Can you really erase things from the past?"

"More like retcon, but it's a distinction without much difference," I told her with a light shrug.

"And if I reacted differently… would you have done it?"

"Nah. Way too dangerous and unpredictable." After a pause, I flashed a smile and added, "Also, I was pretty sure you would come to your senses if I just prodded you a little. You're smarter than to fall down the nihilism rabbit hole for good."

"I see, but… now what?"

"Now, you can start having a conversation on the topic without sounding like an emo teen."

"Emo?" the princess echoed me, and Judy came to the rescue.

"A musical subculture that doesn't actually exist," she explained. "The Chief insists it does, but we have yet to find any evidence."

"I tell you, it's a thing. They probably just haven't shown up in force on the internet yet, because we skipped around too much technologically and culturally," I argued back, and it caused Ammy to straighten her back and tweak her glasses again.

"Actually, Leo often talks about these things very authoritatively. Where is he getting all of his information?"

"If you mean things like that 'emo' thing, we don't know either," the princess commented on the side with a thoughtful tilt in her head. "As for the Simulacrum, he told those things to himself."

"… Come again?"

Sighing, Judy turned around to join the conversation, and to my relief, it seemed to proceed in a much less nihilistic and hyper-skeptical direction. That was good, and since I was seriously getting late, I quickly bid my goodbyes and headed for the teleport closet.

Once inside, I closed the door behind me, targeted Mike and Moose, and in a few moments, I reappeared in an empty apartment room in the center of Locri, the second biggest town on Critias. It wasn't the first time I visited this place, so I casually walked to the door leading to the balcony, and then unceremoniously Phased down to the balcony one floor under it before knocking on the window.

"Ah! A moment!" True to his words, the door opened only a second later and a sandy-blonde mug welcomed me in. "Lor— I mean, Leonard! We were getting worried!"

"Sorry, I got sidetracked," I told him as I walked into the room, and sent a nod to the heavy-set guy in the doorway leading into the living room. However, I didn't address him, but instead turned to face Mike again. "Listen."

"Yes?" he blurted out, so startled by my calling out to him again that he failed to close the door properly and had to try again. "I-I mean, I'm listening!"

"Just FYI: If your girlfriend suddenly starts talking about the meaning of life, our place in the universe, or destiny? Do not be alarmed."

The guy blinked at me uncomprehendingly, but after a few seconds, during which I swear I could totally see the internet browser loading icon on his forehead, he limply nodded.

"As you command. I… won't be alarmed."

"… Good enough," I concluded and took a deep breath as I turned to Moose again. "All right. Let's get down to business."