PART 1

It was late in the afternoon when I returned home, and as I sat down on the corner of my bed, I couldn't help but sigh in mild melancholy. It was hard to quantify just how efficient my life was compared to the average person's. Granted, the 'Average Joe' didn't have to contend with magical shenanigans and extra-dimensional entities weaving fiction into a literal reality, but let's put all of that aside and look at things from a more practical perspective.

I didn't need to sleep. Considering that a normal person would spend about seven or eight hours sleeping, that already meant I was about thirty percent more 'efficient' than the norm. Then, I could Phase around, which cut down on the time usually wasted on travelling from point A to point B. I never had to take care of common household chores because of the invisible ninja maids, nor did I even have to worry about groceries or running out of common household items, like toothpaste or toilet paper.

And now, on top of all that, I had a family of sorts, with my sisters and 'mother' being enthusiastic about cooking (or in some cases, learning how to cook anything more complex than boiled eggs), so lately I didn't even have to worry about food preparation and/or ordering takeouts.

All of that combined meant that I was, on paper, incredibly time-efficient, yet there just never seemed to be an end to things for me to do. Or things I had to postpone. Or things I could no longer postpone.

It was that last bit that was relevant to the current situation, but before I'd get to it, let me say this: Holy crap, just how bloody impossible would my life be if it wasn't so time-efficient? Freaking hell in a handbasket, just imagining it gave me shivers!

Now, about that 'postponing' bit…

As much as I hated to admit it, I had an ever-so-slight procrastination problem. It had already manifested a few times when it came to dealing with stuff I really, really didn't want to do (such as deciding Percival's fate before he made the choice for me), and even though I was aware of the issue, habits were hard to change. It required mental discipline, and between all my other obligations, there were still some things I was secretly happy to let slip through the cracks. Unfortunately, there was only so long until I could delay the inevitable no longer, and today was one of those days.

Heaving a sigh again, I stood up and used one of my many phantom limbs to activate my Leoformer. By the way, weird as that might've sounded, I had no idea how many of them I had. Phantom limbs, I meant, not Leoformers. Since they were invisible, it was hard to keep track of them, and after counting to around fifteen, I always messed up, and… This was not important.

"I'm just stalling again, aren't I?" I muttered as my outfit flashed and got replaced by my Polemos gear.

First off, I circled my shoulders a bit so that the breastplate settled on me, and then shook my legs to get the greaves in place. I designed this outfit in a hurry during my first encounter with Teeny and the whole memory implant hubbub, and so it never fit me one hundred percent perfectly the same way as my Lion Knight armour or my Bel tailcoat did. I should've adjusted it ages ago, but I'd been planning to make some minor changes to the Leoformer's enhancement arrays one of these days, and I figured I would take care of both of those things at the same time. Then, because I never got around to doing the latter, I kept postponing the former and… I guess I could add this one onto the 'things I procrastinated about' pile.

Sweeping that thought under a mental rug for now, I considered leaving right away, but then I checked the time. With a click of my tongue, I headed downstairs instead.

"Hey, Snowy?" I called out towards the kitchen, but the one showing up was Penny instead.

"Yes, Brooo…?!" For the record, she wasn't trying to be hip; she was just startled by my appearance and forgot to finish the word. "Why are you dressed like that? Is there a problem?"

"No, I'm just planning to visit the Elysium, and I don't think I'll be back by dinner." I peeked into the kitchen, but there wasn't anyone else inside. "Where's Snowy and Tajana?"

"In her room." By that, she probably meant the guest room, and she followed it up with a pout. "They said they had something to discuss in private."

Tempted, I Far Glanced at them, but the two of them were having a perfectly normal discussion about clothes and accessories. Girly stuff, with maybe some slightly racier remarks about whether bare backs or showing butts was more tantalizing. So… Seducer stuff? In any case, I kind of understood why they left Penny out now; my knightly sister was admittedly a bit of a kid when it came to stuff like this.

"Oh well," I shrugged. "Tell them I might be late, so you can have dinner without me."

"Okay." Seeing that she was still a little sullen, I reached out and rubbed the top of her head. "H-Hauu! B-Brother!"

"Nobody's watching, so it's fine," I told her with a cheeky grin. "Brothers are obligated to headpat their little sisters when they are down, so cheer up, kiddo."

"I'm not little!" she fumed with her cheeks puffed up, only to shudder and freeze when there was a strange sound coming from the kitchen. "Oh no! The water's going to get burned!"

With that, she escaped through the door. For the record, I had no idea if what she said was a joke, an exaggeration, or even scientifically possible. I concluded that maybe not eating dinner at home today was for the best and I turned to the teleport closet. It was best to be consistent, so lately I've been using it a lot, whether I could technically get away with Phasing from somewhere else or not.

A few moments later, I walked out of the Archon Chambers, as it was colloquially called nowadays. It was the suite smack dab in the middle of Migdál Glaukós, the place where I was staying during my 'kidnapping' and where I had Angie and Josh hole up whenever they were in the Elysium, so it wasn't surprising the name stuck. The place always had at least one Seraphic Safeguard member idling around on guard duty, even when none of us was officially present, precisely for times like this.

"Lord Archon!" the middle-aged woman with a boyishly short hairdo greeted me the moment I stepped through the door and gave me a salute. She was wearing the Seraphic Safeguard's crimson uniform, differentiating them from the usual ancient Greco-Roman aesthetics of the Celestial military, but as for the person herself, I was pretty sure I had never met her before.

"At ease," I told her in a calm but stern tone, slipping into my Polemos persona without much trouble.

"How may I serve you?"

"I'm going to pay a visit to Director…" I trailed off and vacillated over where to start. "Tsephanyah. I'm going to visit him first."

"Understood! I shall lead the way!"

With slightly disconcerting enthusiasm, she led me to the nearest lift, and after humming at it for a while, the elevator cabin arrived and we boarded it. Despite being at least two decades older than me, she was stealing glances at me like a teenager meeting their favourite pop star for the first time, and while I would've been lying if I said it didn't make me feel a bit uncomfortable, I was already used to this. Well, at least as used as one could get to being idolized for no discernible reason.

Seriously though, uprooting the borderline zealous religious attitude the average Celestial had for the Archons was going to be a long uphill battle I wasn't even sure was worth fighting. It was certainly a convenient tool for the moment, so I didn't feel too bad about kicking this can down the road for once. Let future me figure it out later. Right now, I had other things to think about.

Not for long though, as the elevator ride only lasted for about a minute before it stopped near the top of the building, where the chief directors were currently under rather comfortable house arrest. It's been almost a week since I demoted them, using the chaos they caused as a… I wanted to say 'excuse', but it's not like they didn't have it coming.

But that was neither here nor there, and soon I was standing in front of the suite of one Acacius Tsephanyah. I would've liked to pause and give the moment some gravitas, but honestly, what was the point? It was best to just get this over with, so I did my usual bit where I let out a short whistle and used my phantom limb to flip the magitech switch of the door mechanism.

I thought I would find him startled on the other side, but instead, he was sitting by a coffee table in the middle of the room, casually reading a book in his fancy purple toga with a kettle and some cups in front of him. When he noticed me, the blonde director's face lit up and he politely nodded in my direction.

Stifling a groan, I turned to my guide.

"Please escort Savir and Mensah to this room as well."

"As you command!"

She waited for me to enter Tsephanyah's room, and the moment the door closed behind me, I could hear her dash away. I had no idea why she was in such a hurry, considering that the other two were both on the same floor, but I digress.

"Welcome, Lord Archon. I was expecting you."

Eyeing the amicably smiling man, I uttered a skeptical, "… Were you?"

"I judged that you would visit Elysium in the weekend, and I was proven correct." He paused, and hummed a solemn tone towards the kettle in the middle, at which point it lit up and started making gurgling noises. "I have prepared some tea for the occasion."

I continued to scrutinize him, and after a long and pregnant silence, I crossed my arms.

"So if I get this straight, you have been sitting here, all weekend, with a tea kettle at the ready, just in case I would show up."

"I was told you prefer the beverage," he responded calmly and put his book down onto the table. "And as for sitting around, I had little else to do in the past days, so I opted to prepare for your inevitable visit in a way that would result in a good impression." He picked up the magitech teapot and poured its contents into the cups. "I hope I was successful."

Doing my best not to show my true feelings on my face, I morosely walked over and sat down in one of the free chairs arranged around the coffee table.

"You know, Acacius, I don't like you, but I have a hard time hating you."

He blinked at me, trying to untangle my sentence. Meanwhile, I picked up the cup on my side and took a whiff. While it was reheated, it was certainly black tea. Some English Breakfast blend, I surmised. While I would've thought twice if Savir or Mensah offered me a drink, when it came to this man, I was fairly sure he wasn't stupid enough to spike it. As such, I took a sip, and after confirming that it was indeed a cup of English Breakfast, I exhaled softly and locked eyes with Tsephanyah.

"You get a point for the tea. You lose a point for being manipulative with it, but you also get a point for not even trying to hide it. Overall, you're on my good side now." I took another sip to punctuate my thought, and added, "Somehow, you're still the least worst."

"Thank you for the compliment." He responded with a thin-lipped smile, apparently missing my point, and picked up his cup, only to put it down and start throwing sugar cubes into it. This was already a bit too sweet for me, so I had no idea what his problem was. Different tastes, I figured.

"So, since you predicted that it would take me until today to show up here, care to guess what I want to talk about?"

This was my best attempt at small-talk, while we waited for the others to arrive, but he was more than receptive.

"I imagine it's about our role in the new order you're imposing on Elysium," he posited and took another sip from his tea, this time appearing rather pleased by the experience. "You're planning to revive the rule of the Archons."

"In a sense, yes," I admitted with a squint.

"I gathered as much. All of your reforms and Her Grace Deus's declarations point in that direction."

"And pray tell, how did you learn of them while under house arrest?"

He treated my question like it was a rhetorical one and lightly shrugged.

"I kept my ears open. Everyone is thrilled to talk about the changes shaping Elysium in these days."

"Are you?"

"Am I thrilled?" he asked back, and after putting down his half-empty cup, he spread his hands in front of him in a hard-to-read gesture. "I wouldn't use that word, but I am indeed rather interested in the topic."

Since the other two directors still weren't here yet, I prompted him to keep talking, even though it was a question I meant to ask when all of them were present.

"You claim to be well-informed despite your seclusion. In that case, care to tell me what you think of the direction in which Elysium is heading?"

It was a purposefully vague question, yet he answered right away, as if expecting it.

"I'm cautiously optimistic," he stated frankly and entwined his fingers in his lap. "Her Grace Deus's plans to recant the traditions binding the Malakim and openly disseminate the fruits of human technological development amongst the population was something I have always hoped to witness in my lifetime. Granting them political power is something I'm more cautious about; I doubt they could appreciate the value of their franchise right away, but I'm certain the Lord Archon already took that into consideration. As for opening diplomatic channels with the Assembly and this newfangled Draconian Federation…" He paused, seemingly looking for the right words, and finally settling on, "I'm skeptical. As always, I advocate that Elysium's safety and prosperity should come first, and I believe getting needlessly involved in the matters of the outside world is not conducive to such efforts… but I also understand that the Lord Archon is personally involved in these affairs already, so maybe it was inevitable from the beginning."

"… You must have already put a lot of thought into this," I noted a touch absently, and Tsephanyah nodded.

"I had time to do so." There was another pause, and when I had nothing to add, he concluded with, "As I said, while I have my personal reservations about certain developments, I am confident that the Lord Archon knows what he's doing."

That made one of us, but I obviously wasn't going to say that out loud. I also had a hard time deciding if he was telling the truth, or if he was just trying to butter me up while peppering in some mild complaints to make himself sound more sincere. Whatever the case might've been, this short exchange once again cemented his image as the sanest individual out of the three big Celestial politicians.

But speaking of them, just as I was about to give a response to Tsephanyah, there was a knock on the door, followed by a muffled, "Lord Archon! I have completed the order!"

Glancing over, I reached out a phantom limb and flicked the door open. On the other side, there was the flustered Seraphic Safeguard member, but I could only catch a fleeting glance of her before she was practically shoved out of the way by a man in a green toga.

"Lord Polemos! Finally, you're back!" Mensah stormed into the room, looking weirdly hyped up by my presence. "Have the Colossi been successfully recovered? What about the combat records? Are they safe? Have they already been analysed?"

"Dolion, please mind your manners." Tsephanyah somehow sounded more annoyed than how I felt, though I quickly overtook him when I noticed the last person to enter the room. He did too, and nodded in her direction. "Eris."

"Good day, Acacius and…" The woman in the doorway paused and glanced at me, her eyes a mixture of apprehension, resentment, and just a hint of expectation. Savir was wearing red, as usual, but instead of her fancy ceremonial togas, she opted for something that resembled an evening dress that showed off her curves, and it even had a diamond-shaped 'window' on her chest to show off a bit of cleavage. "… Polemos. Long time no see."

When our eyes met, she forced an unconvincing smile onto her face, and I couldn't help but wonder what her deal was. I sincerely doubted that she was planning to seduce anyone, let alone me, so… maybe she was trying to change her impression. An image-overhaul? This late into the game?

Whatever the case might've been, I stilled my face and glanced at the Seraphic Safeguard still outside.

"Thank you for your work. Please, stand guard for the time being, and make sure we aren't interrupted." She gave me an enthusiastic salute, and with a hum, she closed the door, leaving me with the three Celestial bigwigs. Facing Savir and Mensah, I gestured at the free chairs. "Take a seat, you two. We have a lot to discuss."

PART 2

This situation was calling for one of those similes. Stuff like 'the tension of the room felt like a whole piano's worth of wires just before the big concert', or 'the silence lingered like a wafting stink in an overcrowded elevator no one wanted to own up to', or maybe even 'everyone's gazes were filled with the anxiety of a conventionally attractive female horror movie protagonist hearing the slowly mounting violins of the soundtrack'. Stuff like that.

I wasn't having any of it today.

"I said sit down," I echoed myself, this time a bit more forcefully, and pointed at the free seats. "I'm already annoyed that I have to waste my evening on you, so don't test my patience any further."

Surprisingly enough, Mensah and Savir didn't object, and just obediently settled down around the table. That was a start.

"Lor Po—?"

"Yes, the Colossi are fine. Shut up." After cutting Mensah off before he could get started again, I glanced around, and mentally prepared myself by once again adopting my 'disappointed principal' act. "I'm sure you already know why I had all of you come here, so let's not beat around the bush. I'm going to explain to you what's going to happen, you'll listen carefully, and once I'm done, you can ask your questions. In moderation. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Tsephanyah responded with a hint of a smirk, apparently enjoying the fact that he was one step ahead of his apprehensive colleagues.

"Good. Let's not drag this out then. First off, I'm getting rid of the Directorate as a governmental body. That means, starting next month, your demotions are going to be effectively permanent due to the role of 'Director' no longer existing." I could see that Savir wanted to interject, but a quick glare in her direction made her reconsider. "Bearing in mind your disastrous recent performance, I'm sure you aren't surprised by this, but I wanted to make sure we have an understanding. Unfortunately, incompetence isn't a crime, and I have neither the time nor the patience to make it one, so I can't just lock you up forever. It would be a bit of a waste anyway, so here's what we're going to do. You three." I paused for effect and glanced at each of them in turn. "You are going to be 'promoted' into official honorary advisors for life, providing your so-called 'wisdom' to Deus and I. What that means in practice is that you'll have a nice office, a pension, and the admiration of the public. What you won't have is any legislative or executive power, direct influence over the workings of the government, or much privacy, lest you start working yourself into a frenzy over your idiotic conspiracies again. You'll simply stand by our side whenever we're in public, smile, and give advice that we'll summarily ignore unless it's one of those 'even a broken clock is right twice a day' situations. Any questions?"

"That's too excessive!" Savir objected right away, more or less as expected.

"That wasn't a question," I pointed out, trying to sound as flat and detached as possible, followed by a theatrical sigh. "No, Eris. Do you know what's excessive? Sending a CIEL squad into an open combat theatre without proper instructions and nearly sparking a war with the Assembly when they attack the arch-mage on the scene. That's what I call excessive."

I expected her to argue back, but she just bit her lip and averted her gaze. What's that? Did she maybe reflect on her idiotic behaviour during her house arrest? Was that maybe a hint of a smidgen of a dash of remorse I was seeing?

Nah. Don't give her the benefit of the doubt. That's how you get disappointed. At most, she was probably feeling vulnerable for the first time in ages, and so she was holding back. Probably. I was no psychologist, but I had seen enough of her to get a gist of how the hamsters in her head were spinning her gears.

"What about Bel of the Abyss?" Mensah interrupted the momentary lull, sounding about as grave as he could be under the circumstances.

"You see, Eris? That's what a question sounds like," I heckled her a bit more and then turned to the bespectacled ex-director. "As for the answer to it, I'll say the same thing I told you the last time we all talked like this: he's not someone you should concern yourself with."

"Meaning, the Lord Archon is planning to take care of him," Tsephanyah noted, and after some consideration, I weakly nodded.

"That's the plan, yes."

I wasn't lying per se. Accidental it might have been or not, I had invoked Bel and set him up as the enigmatic grand villain of our so-called 'scenario'. There was no way to stuff that cat back into the bag, especially after I broke the original Plot and Angie/Deus officially recognized him as the second coming of the Abyssal Emperor.

Granted, I had no idea exactly how I was going to spin his villainy. Not yet, in any case. I was too busy putting out fires as they flared up and stomping out embers at the moment, so figuring out the exact mechanics and logic of our new Plot and its villain was for another day.

"Good! We can't let this ancient menace to Elysium run free, when we are—!"

"Dolion, can you please shut up?" Savir hissed with a hand on her forehead. "We can talk about that after we finished discussing the repercussions of our promotions."

"Repercussions," I repeated after her in a monotonous voice, and she looked me in the eye, her expression firm and her gaze frosty.

"Listen, Polemos. I understand that you're… displeased with our conduct, but I implore you to reconsider this course of action."

"I see you still have a hard time applying question marks to your sentences. Oh well." Shrugging, I assumed my patented Mastermind Pose™ by making a tent with my fingers in front of my chest. "Fine. I bite. Speak your mind."

Feeling emboldened by my allowance, Savir defiantly crossed her arms and let out a soft huff.

"We are both keenly aware that you're highly averse to minor problems that may distract you from your ongoing designs and commitments."

"Ah, yes," Tsephanyah interjected in a disinterested voice as he reached for the tea kettle again and refilled his cup. "Such as how you attempted to blackmail Lord Polemos in the past by threatening to…" He took a sip, probably just for the sake of the dramatic beat, but then his face scrunched up and he put down the cup. "… inconvenience him, I believe."

After that, he proceeded to pile half a dozen sugar cubes into his cup, and… seriously? At that point, it was no longer tea, but liquid diabetes!

Ignoring my internal outrage, Savir let out a harrumph and pointed at the blonde ex-director.

"I told you; I wasn't blackmailing Polemos! It was a mutually beneficial agreement!"

"Is that how you decided to frame it after the fact?" I inquired, making her twitch and turn her attention back to me.

"The past is in the past, so let it stay there, and focus on the future," she proclaimed, trying her best to sweep the topic under the rug. "Please, hear me out. We can all agree that Bel of the Tenebrous Flames is currently the greatest threat to Elysium, right?"

Before I could respond, Mensah cut in with some gusto.

"Precisely! He's a menace, and there's no doubt that once the news of his return spreads, he'll rally the forces of the Abyss against us!"

"Calm down, Dolion," Tsephanyah butted in while elegantly mixing his vaguely tea-flavoured sugary water with a tiny silver spoon. "Even if he does so, as long as they are sealed within their realm, they pose no threat to our people."

"You must never underestimate them, Acacious!" the youngest ex-director argued back maybe a tad too vehemently. "And we absolutely mustn't underestimate Bel of the Tenebrous Flames! There's no telling what the Houses of the Abyss could be capable of with their Emperor at the helm!"

"Let them have their Emperor. We have our Archons." Tsephanyah flashed an imperceptible smile, as if proud of this comeback, and took a sip, only to…

Wot, mate? Are you serious? Are you seriously putting more bloody sugar in that cup? What are you? Six!?

Just before I was about to blow my lid, Savir lost her patience first and raised her voice.

"And that's precisely why Polemos and…" She paused to swallow. "Her Grace Deus must not suffer any distractions. I believe we can all agree on that."

"Certainly," Mensah responded and turned back to the blonde man. "But back to what we just talked about, you know that defending the peace of Elysium is best achieved by eliminating its enemies abroad before they could—"

"No, let's not go back to that, and focus on the important topic," Savir interrupted him, and if looks could kill, the bespectacled man would've been dead three times over by now. "Namely, that completely dismantling the government would no doubt inconvenience Polemos, and by extension, Her Grace Deus."

I just noticed, but she was giving Angie the full honorific treatment, while I was 'just' Polemos. Was there a reason for that, I wondered even as she suddenly switched her demeanour and lowered her head.

"Once again, I implore you to reconsider your decision. By stripping us of our titles and positions, it will undoubtedly result in more distractions in the future."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"And pray tell, just what makes you think that?"

I tried to sound provocative, and it worked, because her brows immediately descended into a frown.

"For example, have you considered the power vacuum?" When I didn't respond right away, she must've felt vindicated, as she doubled down on the spot. "Without the three of us maintaining control, I can guarantee that subversive elements will see this as an opportunity to rise in the ranks. It will result in the kind of schemes and ploys you find so annoying. Defamation, kidnappings, assassinations… I can assure you, they will happen, and they will be very inconvenient for your efforts to consolidate your power."

I waited for her to finish, and when she had nothing else to say, I nodded.

"You're one hundred percent correct."

"Am I?"

She blinked at me in a mixture of surprise and apprehension, not in a million years expecting me to just agree with her like that. Of course, she was right to be suspicious, because that wasn't the whole picture.

"Yes. And that's why I'm not 'demoting' you, but 'promoting' you. I thought we were clear on that." She was eminently baffled by my statement, so I exhaled a long and audibly dissatisfied breath and shifted my demeanour back to 'disappointed principal' mode. "Listen, Eris. We both know there's no love lost between us, and I would like nothing more than to just lock you up somewhere out of sight and throw the keys into the ocean. Sadly, as you have expertly pointed out, doing so would result in more problems than it would solve, because even if I dissolve the Directorate, its entrenched culture of chronic backstabbing disorder won't change overnight."

"And as such, Lord Polemos intends to bestow this honorary position upon us to avoid creating a power vacuum," Tsephanyah interjected smugly the moment I took a breath. "Wise."

To punctuate the word, he took a sip from his cup and seemed rather pleased with himself. Or at least I hoped that was the case, and not that he was enjoying that thing in his cup. Oh, sweet mother of mercy, I can't ever let this man meet Sebastian. It would be a bloodbath…

Meanwhile, Savir's eyes were thundering as she turned to the man.

"Acacius! On whose side are you!?"

"The side of Elysium, as always," the blonde ex-director responded smugly. "Also, I believe I told you a while ago that I would recommend riding the high tide rather than sinking while struggling against the waves. Like it or not, the tide is here."

"You can't be serious," she muttered, but when he remained steadfast, her gaze soon turned to the other ex-director. "Dolion?"

"While I'm not happy about how things transpired, I think you're correct." For a second, Savir's expression eased up, thinking at least Mensah was on her side, only to wither once more when he continued. "The safety of Elysium is of the utmost importance, and we can't allow the Lord Archon and Her Grace to be distracted at this crucial juncture by the ambitions of our short-sighted brethren. All things considered, an advisory position from which we can keep them in line sounds reasonable."

"No, it categorically isn't," Savir hissed, holding her head. "Weren't you listening?! We'll be stripped of all our titles! All of our authorities! How is that in any way reasonable!?"

"Since that was technically a question…" I cut in before she could get any more worked up. "Let me answer you. Your central argument is that depriving you of your authority would lead to a situation where I would have to face unnecessary disruptions and annoyances in the future. In return, let me ask you this: how would that be any different than what happened while you were in power?"

"But…"

"When I said that the Directorate suffers from an entrenched case of chronic backstabbing disorder, it also applied to you. Yes, all three of you." I paused to let that sink in and swept my arm out in a lazy wave at them. "You're the kind of people who, when I tell you 'Don't concern yourself with this thing', would pinpoint focus on it because you would think it might give you some political advantage. Then, if I told you, 'You should focus on this thing instead of that other thing', you would think I'm trying to use reverse psychology on you and do the exact opposite of what I said, hoping to discover some kind of ploy you could use against me in the future. Am I correct, or not?"

"It's…" Tsephanyah paused, and after his eyes lingered on Savir for a few seconds, he let out a soft sigh. "It's as you say, Lord Polemos."

"What?!" she exclaimed with self-righteous indignation, realizing what just happened while Mensah let out a thoughtful hum.

"To be fair, Eris, isn't that more or less what happened when you suspected a connection between the Lord Archon and Bel of the Tenebrous Flames?"

Stifling a groan, I rubbed the corner of my forehead.

"Yes, Dolion. That was exactly what I was alluding to."

"Oh…"

Feeling awkward, the ex-director with the glasses shrunk back and fiddled with his toga, while Savir practically deflated after her shameful (if also recent) blunder was brought into the limelight again.

"Lord Polemos? Just one minor objection, if I may," Tsephanyah drew my attention back to him, and he cleared his throat. "I believe there is a small compromise that would potentially speed up these negotiations."

The words 'These aren't negotiations, I'm just stating my terms' were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them and waited to see where he was going with this. When I gestured for him to continue, the man sat up straight in his seat and took a deep breath.

"If I may, I would recommend you to allow Eris to maintain her position as the Matriarch of the Cult of Deus." The woman on the left blinked when she heard that, but Tsephanyah's eyes were locked onto mine, so he probably didn't see it. "It was technically never a position within the Directorate's hierarchy, to begin with. More of a ceremonial post, with no true authority, but I believe Eris is particularly attached to it."

"I'm not particularly attached! It is my rightful station for life!"

While she was complaining, I couldn't help but hear a hint of hesitation in her voice. Maybe she really was partial to that title. Or maybe all she wanted was a small concession, to nurse her injured ego.

"If I permitted that, would you stop complaining?"

"These aren't complaints but rightful objections!" she barked back, but as they say, the dog that barks rarely bites. While that phrase didn't make much sense to me, I had to admit, it described the current situation very well, as after the first outburst, she added, "However, I would find this particular promotion less painful, yes."

"I object." All eyes turned to Mensah, and he stood his ground, even in front of Savir's venomous glare. "If Eris is receiving preferential treatment after being the chief instigator behind Monday's events, it will undermine the prestige and authority of the Lord Archon. As such, I propose that we all get to keep at least one relevant title or none at all."

"Dolion, please," Tsephanyah groaned with fingers on his forehead. "You know well that neither of us holds any ceremonial positions like Eris does."

"I object to that too." Apparently, he decided this hill was worth dying for, so I just let him finish. "While the head of the Cult of Deus possesses no direct policymaking power, it's a position of influence bar none. From the lectern, Eris could easily sway public opinion."

"I would never!" Savir denied it, but she must've realized I put little weight on her words, because she turned to me and pleaded. "I would never use the holy mass to instigate against your divinity, Polemos."

"In point of fact, feel free to do so," I blurted out without much meaning behind it, but when I saw her expression, I immediately pointed at her. "Don't move a muscle!" Then, I hastily turned to the other two. "Look at her. See that look in her eyes? This is precisely what I was talking about. You can clearly see that she's already contemplating whether I'm trying to use reverse psychology on her and if she should spite me by exalting me in front of the masses, or do the opposite to see how I would react and if she could get away with it. I tell you, this is endemic, and it's the reason why your whole government and society needs to change."

Savir opened and closed her mouth a couple of times like a fish out of water, but it was Mensah who spoke up next, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in the process.

"I… shall not argue with the Lord Archon, but it does not change our conundrum. If Eris is allowed to retain the position, then it will lead to a perceived inequality that will damage the Lord Archon's reputation."

I didn't really give a damn about that, and I was also getting tired of this argument, so on a whim, I simply told them, "In that case, all of you can have that position."

"But…"

Before Mensah could object, I held up a hand.

"I don't care. At one point, there were three Archons, so there's no reason why there couldn't be three heads of this Cult of Deus. This way, there won't be any talks of favouritism, and you can keep an eye on each other if you want." I paused and looked them over with a lazily drifting gaze. "Not that you need to. I'll be keeping a close eye on you, and if you don't behave yourselves and cause more trouble than it's worth to keep you around…"

I purposefully didn't finish that sentence. Not only because I really didn't have much else other than 'more house arrest' in mind at the moment, but because I was sure that if I let their imaginations run wild, they would be much more effective at coming up with potential punishments. I hoped that would keep them in line at least until I could sort out the majority of our problems.

"I… admit I am not cut out of the clergy, but if Lord Polemos requires it, I'm willing to follow your command."

Tsephanyah followed that up with a shallow bow without getting up from his seat, while Mensah only nodded. I turned my attention to Savir for last, and after a brief stalemate, she let out an oddly juvenile huff and threw her hair back.

"These terms are… acceptable."

I would've once again liked to point out that whether she accepted it or not had little effect on the proceedings, but I decided against it. The whole point of this solution was to ease her bruised ego so that she wouldn't get up to some braindead mischief when I was looking elsewhere, so there was no reason to antagonize her any more. At least until she inevitably did something stupid again, but I'd let future me worry about that. Now she got her carrot; the stick had to wait.

"Your new stations should be announced early next week, after which you'll be officially free to give advice to me and Deus whenever we are in the Elysium. Otherwise, you'll just hang around, show your face in public to make sure the aspiring ladder climbers stay put, and don't get up to any idiotic stunts. Understood?"

"Yes, Lord Archon," Mensah answered before his peers, and just as I considered this conversation concluded, he threw me a curveball by asking, "So if I understand this right, you are currently reforming the government?"

"Indeed. The elections should be held before the end of spring."

"I see, I see. In that case, does that mean that the Directorate's authority is nullified?" I nodded. "Which, I presume, also extends to any and all matters previously handled by the Directorate's governing body, right?" I nodded again, this time I little more hesitantly. I was sure he was leading me somewhere, but I had no idea what he had in mind. At least, until he outright said it. "If so, the new government would need to draft a brand new yearly budget! Lord Archon, I strongly advise you that, in light of our inevitable conflict with the Abyss led by Bel of the Tenebrous flames, we set aside the necessary funds to unify and modernise our fragmented military branches and start a rearmament program!"

"Now, hold on for a moment…" I interjected, only to be overshadowed by Savir raising her voice.

"Yes, hold your horses, Dolion! At this moment, the most vital thing is to reform the Celestial Intelligence Network! We not only need our eyes and ears out there, but we must also ensure to gather intel and leverage on the relevant third parties to ensure their support in case of an armed conflict."

"With all due respect, I think you're putting the cart before the horse," Tsephanyah interjected with a deadpan sentence and slowly shook his head. "Soon, voting rights will be granted to all of our Celestial brethren. Before worrying about any external threats, we should make sure to properly educate and prepare them for the changes in governance, for the internal stability of Elysium is pivotal for our future."

"Nonsense!" Mensah scoffed and crossed his arms. "We can worry about all that once we have won the war!"

"I'm telling you, there's no need for us to wage war, to begin with! We must prioritize our intelligence agencies and form a diplomatic corps as soon as possible! We must give the dragonblooded and the wingless ones the impression, at the very least, that we are willfully cooperating with them. That way, we can let them bear the brunt of the conflict while we prepare."

"Please, stop this," Tsephanyah raised a palm, sounding especially stern, followed by an exasperated groan. "We are forgetting the most important element of this discussion." I was waiting for him to say it, but instead, he just looked at me.

"That's right," Savir nodded with a hint of approval and also stared at me. "What is your opinion on the distribution of the realm's budget, Polemos?"

…

Oh god, what did I get myself into…?

PART 3

"… and that's your new job," I said into the phone while waiting for my sisters by the front door. "Congratulations on your promotion."

Silence lingered on the line, long enough so that I had time to peek back into the living room and check the time. The clock on the far wall quietly ticked away the seconds of the morning with complete indifference. Though again, that's what clocks were supposed to do, so I had no idea what I was expecting. Maybe I should buy one of those novelty cuckoo clocks and nail it up there, just so that I could give more flowery descriptions of it in the future.

While my mind wandered, and my sisters were still nowhere in sight, the other side of the line finally came alive with a stifled groan.

"You can't be serious," Moose protested a tad limply. "Listen, Admin. I know that I made fun of you because of that whole instant-takeover incident. I admit, I may have gotten it a little carried away, but getting back at me like this is beneath you."

"What are you talking about? I'm not holding a grudge."

"You do! You totally do!" he cried so loudly I had to move the phone away from my ear.

"You act like it's a prank, but I'm seriously promoting you, you know?" All I got in response was an indignant huff, so I further emphasized, "It's not that bad. You just have to listen to what our ex-directors say, give it a sanity check, and then hand me the streamlined version later. It's easy."

"If it's so easy, then why are you trying to pass it to me like it's a ticking hot potato?!"

"I think you're kind of mixing your metaphors here, but to answer your question: it's because I'm busy with other things, while now that the Archonists no longer need organizing, you have free time."

"But my brother is—!"

"Oh, my sisters are here. I have to go. Good luck with your promotion Chief Communications Officer Raziel."

With that, I cut the line and muted my phone with well-practiced motions, just in time for Penny to show up in the vestibule.

"Sorry! We can get going now!" Today was a bit windy, so she was wearing a sporty jacket over her school uniform. She also had her hair done into a thick braid (the handiwork of Snowy), and she overall had a 'fresh' impression. In the meantime, I put away my phone, but it didn't stop her from craning her neck to try and take a look at the screen. "Who were you talking to?"

"Just delegating some Celestial business."

"Oooh? You mean, the thing that Eleanor is always pestering you about?"

"One and the same." Seeing the smirk on her face made me want to tease her a bit, so I pretended I was planning to pinch her cheek. She deftly hopped back and out of reach… only to then bump into Snowy, who just entered the entranceway. "Whoa. Careful there, kiddo."

"H-Hauu! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I was just startled," Snowy said with a smile, eliciting a relieved sight from my fussier sister.

I belatedly noticed that they were wearing matching jackets. Not only that, on closer look, I had to realize I'd never seen them wearing these before. Did they buy them when they took Tajana out for shopping, I wondered.

"Stay safe, My Lady!"

Speak of the devil. The ill-starred spymaster called out to us before I could ask my sisters about their new outerwear, and then the topic naturally slipped my mind as we headed outside and began our routine ritual necessary to gain access to humanity's accumulated knowledge base. It was also colloquially known as 'commuting to school', but I liked my description better.

As far as Mondays were concerned, this was fine. A little on the windy side, as I had noted previously, but by this point we were firmly in springtime, even if the leaves and flowers were still firmly tucked away in their buds. But speaking of flowers, I had to admit one thing: I was a bit curious about what colour the trees in front of Blue Cherry High will be in a couple of weeks' time. If those cherry trees will be dressed in the usual whites and pinks instead of blue hues, I was planning a file an official complaint at Lord Grandpa's desk about false advertising. It's going to be the biggest scandal in the history of this island, I say.

…

By the way, I was kinda-sorta totally mentally exhausted to the point of near brain-death by my meeting with the ex-directors yesterday. Was it still showing? Who was I even asking?

While pondering about these, and many other equally profound topics within my mind's currently rather decrepit palace, we rounded a few corners. I was fully expecting that Penny would start discussing something girly with Snowy, like swords and video games, as usual. To my mild surprise and amusement, I found her acting unusually flustered (or rather, she was usually flustered, but not at times like this), and the way she was sneaking glances at me as if waiting for the right moment for something piqued my interest.

"What's on your mind?"

She was clearly angling for my prompting, as by the time the last syllable left my mouth, she was already responding.

"You know, I've been thinking."

"Uh-oh. That's already starting bad."

For extra theatrics, I glanced at Snowy, and she stifled a giggle, though it felt more out of politeness than actual amusement. As for my other sister, she immediately puffed up her cheeks and hit me with her bag.

"I'm serious!"

"Easy there, kiddo. I'm just messing with you." Once she finally stopped trying to clobber me with her textbooks, I straightened my clothes and asked, "So? What's the problem?"

"It's not a problem, just…" She hesitated, as if afraid that she was overstepping a boundary, but she eventually steeled her resolve. "Why are we going to school?"

"… Do you mean that in a literal, or metaphysical sense?" She looked at me funny, so I tried again, "You know? In that navel-gazing, 'Why are we going anywhere? Is it the destination that's important, or the journey? Is there even a destination?' kind of way."

"Nonono! Literally! I meant it very literally!" She interrupted me, and this time, Snowy in the back giggled without having to force herself. "It's… I'm just asking what's the point?"

"The point," I echoed her, maybe a bit too flatly.

"Yes. I mean, it made sense when we were still the Brotherhood and we were, you know? Infiltrating and stuff. But now…" She paused for a bit while looking for words, but they still didn't come easily to her. "It's like… you know? Everyone knows who you are, or… erm… who we are, so there's no reason to blend into society, and it's not like we need to go to school. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Blinking, I had to gather my wits for a moment, so in the meantime I squeezed out a rather bemused, "Wow. I'm having the mother of all déjà vus right now."

"W-What does that mean?"

"That I had already had this conversation before," I said off-handedly, and since we were getting close to Judy's home, I tried my best to explain myself as expediently as possible. "It wasn't with you, but to put it simply…"

While I might've started confidently like that, I soon fell silent and my brain tried its best to hammer together a suitably convincing answer. Unfortunately, that lead to a completely different tangent about why I needed it to be 'convincing'. That implied that I needed to convince someone, but Penny didn't need that. She wasn't calling me out, she was just curious, so… was I trying to convince myself? Maybe.

After all, from an entirely rational standpoint, it would've made a lot of sense to just completely drop the school altogether. If I wanted to, I could easily set up a cover about us being home-schooled… Heck, there wasn't even a need for a cover, now that I thought about it.

Elly told me a while back that she had been tutored at home for most of her life. If not for her insistence on transferring to Blue Cherry High in order to 'catch' Josh back in September, things would've stayed that way until she got old enough to inherit the family business. Considering her standing, homeschooling made infinitely more sense for her, and considering our standings, the same applied to us. It wouldn't even have been hard to arrange.

Or wait… did I even need to get tutored? It's not like I would need qualifications in the future. Considering all my titles and positions of power in the underground world of mystical folk, I sure as hell wasn't going to work a nine-to-five job. Also, while it hurt to admit it, I kind of lacked Angie's drive to get a diploma just for the sake of self-improvement (and self-justification for all the worship, I imagined).

None of that had anything to do with why I was still walking to school even as I pondered all this though. There certainly were reasons against it, and also reasons for it; both of the Doylist and the Watsonian variety. I could've brought up narrative uniformity, maintaining our school life romantic dramedy core to keep things steady and mostly predictable, or mentioned the child protective services and their digging into our backgrounds, and that was only scratching the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but… Well, it wasn't that complicated.

"There's no deep reason." Penny was looking at me sideways, probably thinking that I was trying to dodge the question. "It's all about consistency. It's expected, it's convenient because the school is right on top of the Magi headquarters, and it's good for our social lives."

"So… it's just a habit?"

"In a way," I said with a shrug. "It's just what we do. We don't discriminate, we don't kill, and we don't miss school unless necessary. We kept ourselves to these rules until now, and I don't see a reason why we should change them in the home stretch."

"I… don't understand," Snowy cut in from behind us, awkwardly wedging herself between me and Penny. "That implies that there's some kind of goal or… um… destination? Something we are heading towards? What's that?"

"Don't wrack your pretty head over that, sis." I punctuated that by playfully rubbing her noggin and adding, "It's just a metaphor."

"I… see."

She obviously wasn't convinced, and neither was Penny, so after some thinking, I gave her one of the many random excuses that popped into my head the first time she brought up the topic.

"Also, Angie, Josh, and Ammy would keep attending school anyway. Judy too, I guess. It would be weird if only half of us quit overnight."

"Ah! That's a good point."

My knightly sister looked almost relieved, as if I just answered one of those great questions about life, the universe, and everything. Thankfully, this one didn't involve mice, or the number forty-two. She looked like there were still some doubts on her mind, but before she could voice them, we were surprised by Judy and the Princess flagging us down even before we reached the usual intersection.

"Morning, girls," I greeted the two of them once we got closer, and raised a curious brow at the awkwardly fidgeting princess. "I don't remember agreeing to meet up here."

"Elly had a small problem, and she came to me for advice," my dear assistant explained in a voice that was a strange mixture of deadpan, affectionate, and just a smidge amused.

"It's not a small problem," my other girlfriend fumed.

Seeing her reaction, Snowy made a few subtle gestures with her fingers, signalling that they would go ahead, and when I nodded, she pulled Penny along and started walking. For the record, my other sister was still lost in thought about the whole 'Are there really no nefarious motives behind our school attendance?' topic, but it only made it easier to be led along, as she was paying less attention to my girlfriends.

Speaking of whom…

"So, what is this big problem?" I prompted the princess, and even as I did, the three of us naturally formed a line and started walking a couple of steps behind my sisters.

"It's not a big problem either, it's just… It's so weird…"

I waited patiently for my draconic girlfriend to collect her wits, but when she only continued to awkwardly glare at thin air, Judy came to the rescue.

"Elly's chambermaid made some unexpected remarks, and now she's all confused."

"Oh? You mean Melinda?"

The princess nodded, her golden ringlets buffeted by the wind in a surprisingly picturesque scene she naturally didn't appreciate as much as I did. She swept a few strands of stray hair from her face and let out something between a huff and a groan, closer to the latter than the former.

"Last evening, she said she wanted to help me bathe. We used to do that a lot when I was younger, you know? There's nothing strange about it."

"It must be a maid thing," Judy noted, and deadpan as she might've been on the surface, she couldn't hide the hint of expectation in her voice. I'm not going to lie, that alone made me also feel a bit anticipant about the punchline of this story.

"I guess. We could ask Snowy, to be sure?" I proposed, but Elly shot me down with a flushed face.

"No! I tell you, it's normal! We also took baths with Judy when she was staying with us, and there was nothing strange about it!"

"Chief. I'm being implicated in this love-dodecahedron."

"Hush, Dormouse. You're spoiling the punchline," I whispered with a playful wink my other girlfriend didn't appreciate.

"You two! This is serious! Melinda… she was acting odd, and she kept talking about… um… things! Weird things!"

"Please be a bit more specific."

"It was complicated! For example… she said that you're the one who's marrying into the Dracis family, and we're the ones who are okay with polygamy. Then she said that instead of Judy and I being engaged to you, I should think of it as you and Judy being engaged to me, and that meant I could have more partners, and then she talked about how since I already had Judy, I should have more girls, and that was the point where I completely lost the thread of the conversation, and I don't know what to think about all this!"

Blinking, I glanced at Judy to see if the princess was only pretending to be dense, but when she shook her head, couldn't help but vocalize the mother of all baffled hums.

"Huh. I didn't expect her to go on the offensive so soon."

"What do you mean? Wait, no." The princess shook her head so hard, it made her hair cascade around, only for it to get caught in the wind again. She really needed a cap. Or maybe a beret. I was sure she would look cute in a beret. More importantly, once the wind died down, she grabbed hold of my hand. "There's some kind of misunderstanding! I think Melinda thinks I'm attracted to girls!"

"Are you?" I asked, and she squeezed my hand so hard it almost hurt.

"No! I don't like girls!"

"Not even me?" Judy teased her, and for a moment, she was completely stumped.

"I… I mean, I like you, but not like that! Come on, I know you know what I'm talking about!"

"For the record, there is nothing wrong with liking girls. For the record."

I had no idea why Judy said that twice. Probably for emphasis? In any case, my draconic girlfriend squinted at her in return, an expression that was about as silly as it was oddly adorable.

"Do you like girls?"

"No," my beloved assistant responded promptly, without any hesitation, and then grabbed my other hand. "I'm certified Leosexual."

"Certified?" I asked with a curiously raised brow.

"Yes. I made it myself," she declared with a surface-level seriousness that was hiding an impish smirk. "I'm also planning to make my own flag. I still have to figure out the color combination though."

"Oh, come on!" Elly whined and pulled on my hand. "This is serious! What if Melinda thinks that I like girls… you know? Romantically? Maybe she thought that I was… uuu… trying to s-seduce her when we bathed together again after such a long time?"

Once again, I could only blink and then whistle as I looked at Judy.

"Wow. She really doesn't get it."

"I know. It's funny." She responded in her usual deadpan tone. "I didn't tell her what's going on because I wanted you to see it yourself."

"What are you two talking about?"

This time, I could almost see the question marks floating over Elly's head, so I figured it was best not to tease her too much and let the cat out of the bad.

"Princess. I don't want you to be alarmed, but I think you have it backwards. She's the one who's trying to seduce you with the subtlety of a… hmm… what would be a good simile?"

"A drunk kabuki actor at a late-night talk show?" Judy proposed.

"That's… oddly specific, but yeah, let's go with that," I concluded with a shrug, and it took until this moment for the princess to digest what I just said.

"W-Wait! Slow down! Are you saying that Melinda… likes girls?"

"Or maybe she's Ellysexual," Judy spoke offhandedly.

"Hush, Dormouse. Don't confuse her any further." After lightly chiding her, I waited for a beat before adding, "Also, please stop coming up with new sexualities on the fly."

"Why? I already have a good idea for the flag for it. Something with red and gold."

Ignoring her for a moment, my attention was drawn back to Elly.

"Leo! Since when did you know about this?"

"Since about the time I first met dad-in-law," I answered nonchalantly, which only confused her more.

"And you're… approving of it?"

"Eh, 'approving' is a strong word. I'd go with something like 'not openly opposing' instead." She was still looking at me like I was speaking gibberish, so I clarified. "Let me put it this way: Back then, she asked me if I would be okay if you decided to have more love interests. This was just after we started going out; when our relationship was still a bit vague between the family-approved polyamory and the anti-harem countermeasures. She put me on the spot, and since I felt indebted to you two for accommodating our arrangement, it would've felt wrong to say I wouldn't do the same if you wanted to expand our triang relationship. Tit for tat and all that, you know? And since I told her that, going back on it now would make me feel like a hypocrite, so I just told her to do whatever she wanted."

To be fair though, part of the reason why I was so laissez-faire about the topic was because I figured Elly would turn her down anyway, but I didn't need to say that part out loud.

"Uuu… Then, what am I supposed to do now?" Elly whined as she nuzzled up to my shoulder, so embarrassed she wanted to completely hide her face.

While my initial reaction was to just shrug and tell her to figure it out, I bit back those words and gave the situation a bit more thought. Since she had known the blonde chambermaid since they were kids, they were closer to childhood friends than employer and employee. Bouncing her off would probably result in lots of awkwardness, especially since they would still routinely meet each other. That could lead to discomfort, and in the worst-case scenario, Melinda could leave the employ of the Dracis family to escape the daily emotional friction, which would end up hurting Elly.

Recognizing that the situation was trickier than I first thought, I was about to give her some advice, but Judy beat me to the punch by letting go of my hand and grabbing the princess's instead.

"Calm down. I don't think the Chief can advise you on this one."

"Why not?" I blurted out, and she gave me a sideways look.

"Face it; you're terrible at friend-zoning people and letting them down gently. If Elly listens to you, we might end up in a harem after all."

"What was that about harems?"

I was so startled by the sudden appearance of Ammy that I literally jumped, nearly dragging my girlfriends along.

"Whoa! Class rep! You seriously need to stop doing this!"

"Doing what?"

She looked at me like I was an idiot, and in response to my previous act, my girlfriends let go of me and moved a bit to our left to have a more 'private' chat about Elly's interpersonal problems. At least as much as that word could even apply to strategy meetings held in the middle of the sidewalk, but I digress. Back to the class rep.

"This whole 'appearing out of my blind spot' thing," I complained and rubbed the back of my neck. "I think I pulled a tendon just now. That means you've caused more damage to me than the French sniper guy and his gaggle of assassins combined. Congrats."

The class rep, wrapped in a pretty thick white winter coat over her uniform and wearing a grey ushanka of all things (seriously, how the heck did she manage to sneak up on me while looking like that?) menacingly adjusted her glasses at me. Her mouth was set in a thin line and her brows swung between an annoyed glare and a garden-variety frown like a pendulum.

"Stop clowning around. I wanted to talk with you." I stopped massaging my neck and gave her the go. "I managed to convince Grandfather to let me touch his Grimoire Key. Can you come with me when the time comes to test it? I would feel much safer if you were around, just in case destiny would need a nudge in the right direction."

"Sure, sure. Let's discuss the details during lunch break." That was more or less the end of the topic, but then I remembered something, but waited until we reached the crossing right before the hill leading up to the school gates to ask, "Can I borrow your notes again? On last week's lessons?"

"Of course." After a long beat, we continued on our way, until she let out a strange sound. "Ah. That request was so normal, it's feeling out of place."

"I had similar sentiments in the past, yes," I muttered while nodding sagely, and we might've started a philosophical discussion about the nature of normalcy, if not for Josh and Angie catching up to us, finally rounding out our group.

"You see? I told you we would make it!" Angie declared with gusto as she came to a screeching halt next to it. "Hi, Leo! Hi, Ammy!"

"Morning, guys," I greeted the childhood friend couple. Or rather, only the girl side of it, as Josh was about ten meters behind, doing his best to catch up.

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" the Celestial girl called out to him, and the guy yelled back something along the lines of, "I told you to stop running ahead! What if there's another…?"

It was only when then that he realized we were in public, so instead of shouting across the street, he quickly power-walked over to our side and finished the sentence in the form of a low hiss.

"What if there's another assassin out there? You have to be more aware of your surroundings."

"It's going to be fiiine!" she argued back, and then stuck out her tongue before catching up with my sisters, leaving Josh behind in my company.

"Man… She's an extra-handful today. Must be those darned chocolate-chip corn flakes we ate for breakfast," he grumbled, sounding more like a tired father looking after his rambunctious kid rather than a boyfriend complaining about his girlfriend. At last, he greeted us with a lazy wave of his free hand (his other arm was still in a sling), and said, "And here we are, off to school again. Did I miss anything?"

"Eh, not really." I jerked my head to indicate the clusters of our segmented group one by one. "My sisters are discussing the necessity of formal education, my girlfriends are working on anti-harem countermeasures, and the class rep here is eager to discover her destiny and learn how to throw fireballs."

"Among other things," Ammy noted, conspicuously not denying my allegation.

"In other words, everything's back to normal," Josh noted a tad wistfully, only to pause and give me a skeptical look a second later. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Instead of answering right away, I pointedly glanced at our little gaggle of friends and family, then back at the guy recuperating from a bullet wound, and ultimately let my shoulders droop in resignation.

"It's nothing. I'm just thinking that having a philosophical debate about the nature of normalcy might be warranted after all…"

And with those slightly confounding words in tow, we finally passed through the gates of Blue Cherry High, ready to begin yet another allegedly normal school day.