PART 1

"Thank you, Brother Leonard, and I must apologize."

Naoren's words were soft yet clear, crisply audible over the hustle and bustle of the city night stretching out under the penthouse suite's balcony. The girls were inside, helping Rinne change out of her muddied and stained clothes, and Zihao left after realizing that they wouldn't be doing any more martial arts practice today, and since it was just the two of us, Naoren took the opportunity to pull me aside for some male bonding. Or so I figured.

"Apologize for what exactly?" I asked back without taking my eyes off the landscape of Timaeus, and he fell into a pensive silence.

That kind of response was normally just rhetorical, meant as a roundabout way to say 'Nah, don't even mention it', but not this time. I meant it, because he absolutely messed it up and was in dire need for introspection. Case in point:

"For failing to properly communicate with Lady Rinne, despite your repeated insistence."

"That's a start," I spoke light-heartedly and gestured for him to continue.

"Also… I feel I should apologize for allowing the heat of the moment to rob me of my rationality. If you weren't there as a voice of reason, I might've made a grand mistake."

"Yes, that was also quite silly," I noted before falling silent again. I was planning to let him wrack his head over whether there was anything else he could recall, but it never came to that.

"Chief, don't be vindictive, or people will start disliking you," my dear assistant said as she walked outside.

"I'm not vindictive, I'm just helping Naoren self-reflect."

"It is quite all right," the young patriarch came to my support with a soft smile and an even softer sigh. "This misunderstanding certainly rested on my shoulders."

"You see, Dormouse? Even he agrees."

"Don't be silly Chief." She walked over to me and linked our arms. "This development was following the template, so it wasn't his fault."

"Hm? What do you mean by 'template'?" Naoren uttered in a low voice, mildly confused by our exchange.

"Don't worry about it. It's just our lingo."

"Yes, but what does it mean?"

Before I could respond, Judy tugged on my arm and answered in my stead, even as she was unsubtly trying to pull me back inside.

"It means that once certain misunderstandings take root, the following developments become inevitable." She purposefully glanced up at me. "At least that's the case unless an external factor forcefully intervenes."

"And I'm truly thankful for Brother Leonard serving as such an 'external factor'," the young patriarch told us with an accompaniment of air-quotes, a clear and unmistakable indicator that he had been spending too much time around Sebastian over the past couple of weeks. But I digress, especially since he soon let his hands down and added, "You have intervened for my sake not once, but twice. I will not forget this debt."

"I wasn't doing it for your sake per se, or anything."

"Chief, stop being tsundere and come inside already. We need help."

"Then say so instead of just tugging at my arm." Judy gave me a flat stare that said I should've been able to realize what she wanted already. Putting her on hold for a moment, I turned back to Naoren first. "Are you also coming inside?"

"No, I think I'll need more fresh air to… calm my nerves before I face Lady Rinne again."

"Hah. I never pictured you as the nervous type," I jested, and a mildly annoyed frown settled on his brows.

"Not everyone can be as decisive and confident in the matters of the heart as you are, Brother," he stated solemnly, and while I pointedly wasn't looking at Judy, I could totally feel her eyes boring into my forehead and transmitting the words 'If only he knew…' to me. Meanwhile, he let out another long breath and added, in a near-whisper, "As I have already said inside, before anything else, I'm a man, and I have my own… weaknesses."

The words 'I could tell' were on the tip of my tongue, but Judy pulled on my arm again, so I didn't dally any longer and the two of us headed inside. As soon as I closed the sliding glass door behind us, I stopped and locked eyes with my girlfriend.

"So? What do you need me for in such a hurry?"

"We need a nominally unbiased third party's opinion on Ms. Yamako's outfit."

"Just that? For a moment, I thought it was something serious."

"It is a serious matter, Chief. We're aiming for the trope where the girl captures the male lead's heart by dressing up and making him conscious about her looks. If everything works out, we'll get to see the calm and refined Mr Feilong blush to the tips of his ears and stumble over his words. It's a romance story staple."

"He's certainly not calm today though. Also, didn't she dress up for the banquet already?"

"That was completely different. Please, get on with the program. This is important."

I eyed my dear assistant for a while, but she remained completely stone-faces. More so than usual.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem disproportionately invested in this."

"Why shouldn't I be?" she admitted without any reservations. "I prefer the kinds of trope-governed situations where nobody is getting hurt, nobody is scheming any nefarious plans, and nobody is traveling through time."

"… Are you still on about that?"

"Hush."

To be fair, I didn't want to get into another argument about that topic either, so I acquiesced with a shrug, and the two of us leisurely headed towards the side room where Elly was still in the process of treating Mountain Girl like a life-sized dress-up doll. Or so I imagined, at any rate.

The distance was short, but just enough for another brief discussion, so I shot one more question at her.

"You mentioned a template on the balcony. Which one were you referring to?"

"The development between Mr Feilong and Ms Yamako," she answered readily and even slowed her pace for the sake of a full explanation. "Originally we had an arranged marriage plot tied to a villainess sub-plot, but since you forcefully cleared up the female lead's misconception, it changed the template."

"By 'female lead, you're referring to Mountain Girl, right?"

"Of course I do. Who else could I mean?"

"I don't know, but it never hurts to ask, especially when things are this volatile." She clicked her tongue, apparently unable to argue with that. "So? What was the template?"

"Class difference romance."

"… That's a thing?"

Judy stopped and gave me a skeptical look.

"Of course it is. It's one of the oldest romance plot templates, where two lovers are separated from each other by their societal statuses, and it's resolved either by the reveal that the lower-class character had a secret legacy, or sometimes by the higher-class character forsaking their wealth and status for love and personal fulfilment. You should know this."

"Well, excuse me, but my research was more focused on genres that were directly relevant to our well-being," I huffed, but Judy didn't relent.

"If Emese and Abram weren't so doting, you would've had a class-difference romance with Elly," she pointed out, followed by a thoughtful hum. "You even fulfilled the secret legacy part, though only in retrospect."

"There's nothing new under the sun." Following that thought-terminating cliché, we continued to walk, and walk, and... "Was that why Naoren was ready and willing to step down as the patriarch?"

"Probably."

"Uh… this just once again proves that carelessly mixing the genres is just a recipe for disaster. If Yseult dropping out of the Draconic Federation would've been bad enough for future-me to resort to including it in a retcon, just imagine the kind of hell Naoren abandoning his position would've sparked."

"And it's why you have to be more up-to-date with the tropes of genres other than shounen harem battle stories."

"Why do I have a feeling this is a preamble of you giving me even more homework in the form of romance novels?"

"Recommended research material, Chief. Please mind your terminology."

"Sure, sure. Also, I couldn't help but notice that we've circled the living room something like four times already."

"Five and a half."

"Even more reason to feel silly. Let's get on with it; I'm already running a bit late on my meeting with Yseult."

Late in a 'theoretical' sense, of course. If push came to shove I could just Phase over directly, so I wasn't in a huge hurry just yet. I also had a few other things I wanted to discuss, such as whether or not a random stray thought of mine caused Rinne to turn into a catgirl, but that was for later, when we had more time and privacy.

By the by, I sincerely doubted that's what happened, not only because it would've introduced a terrifyingly unpredictable variable into our already complicated lives, but because I had circumstantial evidence to the contrary. It was why I went out of my way to question Rinne about her relation to cats and other related topics, and everything pointed to the conclusion that her Japanese-cat-yokai-creature-or-whatever ancestry was always a thing and it just never came up in conversation beforehand. And no, I wasn't just trying to rationalize away the possibility of my reality-warping narrative powers going haywire. Or at least I hoped I wasn't.

For the moment, we finally entered the side room (it wasn't quite a 'guest room', considering this was a hotel suite), where Elly was in the process of playing with Rinne's cat ears.

"Ah! Here you are! I just finished combing Ms Yamako's hair!" she greeted us in a hurry, and it took some effort not to smirk at her.

Sure, princess. Sure. That was the only thing you were doing. Not that I couldn't understand her; while I was fairly lukewarm on cats as pets, and downright arctic when it came to catgirls as a thing, I had to admit that the twitching triangular ears on top of my personal ninja's head were at least a little intriguing. In a scientific sense, of course, and nothing more.

"Chief? What is your opinion on nekomimi maids?"

"That you really should stop trying to give me weird new fetishes," I answered flatly and turned my full attention to Rinne.

She was garbed in a Chinese-syty dress, similar to the one she wore during the banquet just a few days ago. The red and white outfit could be best described as a modernized and simplified version of those fancy ancient robes heroines would be wearing on the covers of Chinese martial arts fantasy novels. On one hand it was kind of loose, with fancy tassels, detached sleeves, and decorative folds, yet at the same time it also hugged her figure and had slits to show off her legs. She also had some proper makeup on her face this time around, and even more importantly, she was acting the part of the fidgety maiden with a crush.

Okay, so maybe that last bit wasn't entirely accurate, but was still acting more natural than her completely wooden performance during the announcement of her engagement, so it was a step in the right direction. Also, the way her cat ears were shifting between lying flat on her head and suddenly perking up in response to the slightest noise was rather amusing.

"How does she look?" Elly levelled the pivotal question at me, presenting Rinne like a piece of art, and so I felt obliged to slip my arm out of Judy's grasp and adopt a thoughtful art-critic pose, with one arm crossed in front of my chest and pinching my chin with my other hand.

"Hmmm… It's a rather novel mixture of traditional styles and modern sensibilities, harkening back to the…"

"Chief, take this seriously," Judy scolded me, so I let out a breath and started over.

"Eight out of ten. She's fine."

"Is that good enough?" came the uncertain question from Elly, and my other girlfriend was just as stumped.

"We forgot to calibrate the Chief." She tugged on my sleeve, and directly asked, "What's a ten on your scale?"

"A ten? The two of you on stage during the concert at the cultural festival," I answered without any shame or hesitation.

My girlfriends shared a complex look and spoke up at once.

"Sound good to me!"/"Good enough."

"Rinne doesn't quite understand what's going on, but does Leonard-dono really think that Rinne is pretty?"

Oh, that was a dangerous question to ask of a guy with his girlfriend in the room, let alone two of them, but I had a stock phrase ready.

"Pretty enough to stun the guy on the balcony."

"Rinne can do that by delivering a decisive blow with the sheathe of Onikiri already."

…

Ah, right. She was one of those 'A beauty so long as they keep their mouth shut' character types, wasn't she? How could I forget? Anyhow, with my approval secured, the girls were ready to get their shipping operation underway (though, in my opinion, it had already sailed). That was my cue to move on to my appointment.

"I'll try to talk some sense into Yseult, and then I'll come back to pick you up afterwards. Be good guests and try to make sure things don't go horrifically and inexplicably wrong."

"That's my line," Judy pointed out, but I shrugged her off and got ready to Phase away.

"I love you too, Dormouse. Now, if you excuse me, I'm already late and…" My words trailed off into silence as I focused down on my mark, turning into a stumped, "Huh."

"What? What happened?" Elly skipped over to my side in a hurry. Maybe she thought I wasn't feeling well. In any case, I raised a palm to stop her, and it only made her more confused. "Did something go wrong already?"

"Maybe." I Far Glanced over, and it only made my frown deepen. "Stay here, and don't come outside." I pointed at Rinne, and she looked unusually startled by my finger. "I'll call you when the coast is clear."

With those words of warning, I turned on my heel, left the side chamber, marched through the large living room, and stopped in front of the glass door leading to the balcony.

"… is uncalled for!" Naoren complained with a stony expression and a finger on his glasses.

"This was the only way to be sure," a different yet familiar voice declared, and while her upper body was hidden from my vision due to her spread-out alabaster wings, it didn't take a mystery novel detective to deduce the identity of the new 'guest'. "It was impossible to talk to you in person when Dunning and his men were hovering around us during the Council meeting, so I took my chance."

"I'm telling you, this is inappropriate, not to mention entirely unnecessary. Brother Leonard was planning to meet you today to clear up the misunderstandings in private."

"Yes, I know, but I don't want to hear anything from him." She scoffed and flapped her wings, finally allowing me a chance to take a proper look at her.

She was, to my mild astonishment, wearing black biker leathers. The kind Morgana would have on her when taking a joyride with Arnwald around the neighbourhood, except they were cut to accommodate her draconic features. She even had an aviator cap and googles custom designed with holes for her horns. But that wasn't the weirdest part.

"UFO?"

Startled, I turned to my left and found Judy peeking at the scene while hiding behind my back.

"Didn't I tell you to stay put?" I whispered a touch animatedly, only to stop when I was bumped by a butt from the other side.

"No, you told Ms Yamako to stay in the room," the princess answered in her stead, trying to squeeze by me and squinting to take a better look. "What is that?"

"A UFO," Judy insisted with a straight face.

"No, it's Yseult Albion wearing an artifact of some sorts that projects a disguise of some kind or something. I think."

If I sounded unsure, it was only because I was.

"So, not a UFO."

I sent a sideways glance at my dear assistant.

"Why are you sounding disappointed?"

"You have to admit, after all the supernatural beings we've seen in the Simulacrum, space aliens are the next logical step."

"We're two weeks early for April Fools', so cut it out and let me listen."

"If you want to listen to them, why don't you use Far Sight?" came an entirely reasonable question from Elly, and I had no choice but to be truthful.

"Because that way, I can't dramatically interrupt them to reveal my presence at the right moment."

"Oh."/"Makes sense."

Momentarily disregarding my girlfriends, I tuned my ears to the outside, where Naoren and Yseult were already in the process of building up to a heated argument.

"… we've left too many things in his hands, and he's manipulating you!"

"I told you already, you gravely misjudge Brother Leonard's character!"

"Do I? Or are you so attached to your 'grand draconic unification plan' you're willing to look the other way? What happened to your principles?"

"My principles? What about yours? Purposefully tricking someone like that is—!"

"Dishonorable? Puh-lease! At most, I stood Dunning up for an evening! It's hardly the end of the world, and it was the only way to ensure that he wouldn't interfere! By knowing where he is, I can be sure where he isn't!"

"What am I, a cruise missile?" I muttered in mild annoyance.

"I don't get it," Elly quickly admitted, while Judy patted me on the back.

"Don't worry, Chief. I got it."

"Is it a trope, or…? No wait. It must be one of those 'meme' things, right?"

In her hurry not to be left out, the princess raised her voice just a bit too much, and when I looked back, both Naoren and Yseult were staring at us. Took them long enough, though maybe it was the fault of the glare caused by her disguise reflecting off the glass of the door.

Whatever the case might've been, we were discovered, so there was no reason to hide anymore. I walked over and theatrically pushed the door open.

"Yseult! Good evening. I see you were so eager to talk, you couldn't wait for me to get to your mansion. How nice of you to drop by." Letting the silence linger for a beat, I stepped aside and politely gestured for her to get inside. "Come. Take a seat and let's have a chat, shall we?"

PART 2

"Sit down and make yourself comfortable."

Despite our host's generous words, Yseult only let out a huff and continued to glare at me from the other end of the table. It was only when I took a seat along with my girlfriends that she grudgingly followed suit. Of course, by this point her Draconian transformation was undone (because her wings wouldn't have fit through the balcony door) and I couldn't help but wonder about some useless things.

Such as why she had a custom-made flying suit. Did she fly around in her draconic form so often she needed one? And if it had holes for her wings and tail, then wouldn't that mean that there were big holes in the back of her outfit? I was especially bothered by the latter one; I knew from exploring Elly's 'anatomy, so to say, that Draconian tails sprouted from the base of the spine, meaning the corresponding opening for it had to be there. But if so, couldn't we see her butt-crack if she turned around right now? Not that I wanted to, but I was still a little bit curious about it.

Maybe I should sneakily check through Far Sight later, I concluded. For science. In the meantime, everyone got seated around the table, which also included…

"W-What is this preposterous appearance?"

"Rinne doesn't take it kindly to be called proboscis when Rinne could see Albion-san's bare butt when Rinne walked in."

Yeah, her. Also, did my previous query just get answered? Nice going, Mountain Girl.

"Shameless!" Yseult huffed, and so did Rinne.

"Says the one with her botox in the open."

I wasn't expecting a catfight right off the bat. I should've, considering the cat-ears and all, but with how twisty and turny my life had been, I learned not to rely on the face-value of such things.

"Please, settle down," I raised my voice, and it worked surprisingly well, as they both focused on me instead of each other. "Let's discuss theoretically uncovered posteriors later." Judy let out a pointed cough on my right, so I hastily amended, "Or maybe not. In any case, since we're all gathered here like this, we might as well lay this whole stupid misunderstanding in the grave together. Right, Naoren?"

I got no response, so I looked away from Yseult and found our host staring unblinkingly at a pair of triangular animal ears on a certain ninja's head.

"I said, we should sit down and talk things out. Right, Naoren?"

"Ah, hm?" My second attempt finally got through to him, and he hurriedly cleared his throat. "Yes. It would be best."

Yseult eyed him suspiciously, then her gaze landed on my girlfriends, who were huddled together on my right. Judy's fingers were rapidly skipping and dancing on her phone's screen, while Elly was busy whispering something directly into her ear, and their brazenly laidback attitude didn't sit well with the leather-clad Draconian matriarch.

"Why are they here?"

"Why can't they be?" I asked back, raising a provocative brow for emphasis. I've got glared at for my trouble, but that was to be expected.

"We're just here to document the proceedings. Please don't mind us," Judy commented on the side, and the princess flashed a reassuring smile at Yseult that did nothing to mollify her.

"Then what about her and those… those unnatural things on her head?"

In response, Rinne's cat-ears folded back. While I wasn't a catologist or anything, basic common sense told me it was a response that could either mean she was frightened, or about to fight. And since it was Mountain Girl we were talking about…

"Care to repeat that?"

Yep, it was the second half of 'flight or fight' all right. Just as I was about to tell her to keep her cool, Naoren interjected with an unusually fervent expression.

"Lady Yseult, please take those words back. There is nothing unnatural about Lady Rinne."

"But…"

She tried to gesture at the ears again, so I politely pointed out, "May I remind you that you showed up disguised as a UFO?"

"What are you even blabbering about?"

While she snapped at me, Judy let out a vindicated hum and typed with even greater vigour. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but notice that we were going nowhere fast. It was time to get the ball rolling by myself.

"How about we put this topic aside for the moment and we start clearing up the misunderstandings and misconstructions poisoning this conversation." A purposefully draw-out beat later I levelled a dispassionate gaze at Yseult again. "Such as that you're labouring under the misconception that this entire situation is somehow my fault."

"Isn't it?"

The way she asked already implied that she was one hundred percent convinced that I was behind everything, which… wasn't entirely off the mark. I mean, technically all of this was my ill-defined narrative-related reality-warping ability's fault, but I wasn't taking responsibility for it. Beyond clearing up the mess, I mean.

"Not in any shape or form you suspect."

My overly specific answer made her glare deepen, but I had no time for this, so I raised and hand and launched into a monologue.

"So, just to make sure we're all on the same page: you suspect that I have set up Rinne and Naoren here in some sort of political ploy to tie him closer to me or somesuch. Am I in the right ball-park?" I didn't wait for her to respond. Instead, I immediately slapped the table with my palm, startling everyone in the process. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but your entire theory is wrong from the get-go, because until very recently, I was completely uninvolved with the relationship between these two."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"How recently?"

"A… few days," Naoren endeavoured to add something to the conversation, but it only resulted in him getting glared at for a change.

"And I'm just supposed to accept your words at face value, ignoring all the flagrant evidence to the contrary?"

"I…"

Naoren was about to formulate an answer, but I cut him off by tapping the table again, this time a bit gentler.

"Pardon? You have 'evidence'?"

"Of course I do."

Her scoff had lots of bravado, but even I could see that there was little substance.

"Such as?"

My egging made her fold her arms with a petulant look that didn't suit her age. Though again, I wasn't entirely sure about how old she was, but since her backstory now involved a youthful promise of alliance and/or marriage to a young Naoren, I figured they were in the same age group. Since I knew the guy wasn't secretly fifty, and more or less looked his age, it meant she must've been…

"… with Bel of the Abyss!"

Blinking, I blurted out, "Excuse me, could you repeat the first half of that? I zoned out for a moment."

Yseult glared at me, but in my defence, Naoren and Rinne looked just as spaced out while awkwardly staring at each other. Meanwhile.

"… an advanced negotiation tactic, where you unbalance your opponent first. Just like that," Elly whispered on the side.

"Are you sure? To me, it looked like the Chief was just not paying attention."

"No no. This is a textbook example of how you raise the pressure during negotiations. Leo's good at this."

Was I? Elly was reading way too much into this single exchange, but I couldn't even signal her to tone things down, because Yseult started again. This time I couldn't afford to miss her reasoning.

"In that case, let me elaborate: This is all too convenient. You've been consolidating power in the World of Mystics on an unprecedented scale. You're not only the dictator of all Celestials, but you also hold an implicit majority within the Draconic Federation through the political support of the Dracis family and the Western bloodlines under their influence, combined with your rule over the Ordo Draconis. Your only stumbling block in your path of holding absolute control are the Eastern bloodlines led by clan Feilong. Conveniently enough, just as you have solidified your position and started enacting your will in the Draconic Council, he announced his engagement to your direct subordinate, and my attempt to bring attention to this farce was immediately interrupted by Bel of the Abyss, who is known to have supported you in the past."

She finished her monologue with a huff, and her expression looked like she had a flush at the Poker table and could already see herself winning this round. Of course, in reality, she had more like a pair of low cards because she completely mixed up the suits, but I digress.

"Okay, so where's the evidence?" I asked in a calm, level voice. "Because all I've heard was a lot of conjecture."

"Are you denying the facts?"

"What facts? You just listed a lot of circumstantial details and projected your preconceived notions onto them. Listen, Yseult…"

"Since when are we close enough for first name basis?" she interrupted me with a harrumph, but I barrelled on.

"If we're close enough to share silly conspiracy theories around the table, we're close enough for me to call you by your given name. Pray that I don't give you a nickname." I paused for a beat and started again. "Listen, Yseult. There are three core misunderstandings you're labouring under, so let's dismantle them one by one. First off, you think I'm some kind of power-hungry dictator who wants absolute control over the Draconic Federation. All the while conveniently ignoring the fact that I've spent the last few weeks trying to delegate as much of my work to others as possible, all so that I could focus on more important matters."

I said that, but to be fair, my attempts to delegate were far from successful, but I wasn't going to undermine my point by mentioning that. Instead, I paused for the sake of drama before moving on.

"Important matters such as my second point, which is your idea that I somehow conspired with Bel to disrupt your big 'Gotcha!' moment, which is just preposterous. While it's true that his actions have sometimes benefited us, he's a chaotic entity whose actions cannot be predicted or controlled, not even by me," I stated, for once sounding entirely sincere. Mainly because I was. "And finally, the third point: Do you seriously think that I somehow forced this guy…" For emphasis, I pointed at Naoren. "This esteemed sworn brother of mine, to engage in a farce, despite the fact that we're already staunch allies and the strong-arming him into a asinine fake contract marriage plot would only serves to undermine our relationship?"

My lampshade hanging finally jolted the Feilong patriarch out of his cat-ears-induced stupor (seriously, I had no idea why else he could be acting so weird), and he turned a disapproving frown at me.

"That was uncalled for, Brother Leonard."

"But not untrue," I responded glibly and flashed a grin before returning my attention to the fuming Draconian woman. "In short, you don't have any evidence of anything. You just have a lot of baseless conjecture and disparate data points to reinforce your preconceived notions. Also known as a conspiracy theory."

If I had a microphone, this would've been the perfect moment to drop it. Yseult ground her teeth and, after glancing between Naoren and Rinne, she finally took a metaphorical step back and hissed, "So you're saying that the engagement between Naoren and your… retainer have nothing to do with you."

"Precisely."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Yes." Flippantly nodding, I vaguely gestured in their direction. "Look at them. They make a cute couple, and they have a lot in common."

"L-Leonard-dono thinks so?" Rinne muttered under her breath, looking distinctly awkward and maybe even a little shy, in stark contrast of her usual mannerisms.

"A lot in common?" Yseult scoffed, but I could hear just a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "What are you even talking about?"

"They both like cats," I pointed out with a smirk, and it made Mountain Girl's expression lighten at once.

"Is that true? Does Naoren-san like cats?"

Suddenly put in the limelight with a question like that, the bespectacled patriarch glanced at her, then her ears, and then conspicuously averted his eyes and even tugged at his collar as he answered.

"I… have to admit that I have discovered a certain fondness in me as of late, yes."

"That's great! Rinne can introduce Naoren-san to many cats in the city. Rinne had spent many nights building up Rinne's information network, and all the cat-sans are really friendly."

"I'm sure that Lady Rinne's furry friends must be lovely company," the usually calm and collected man responded with an uncharacteristically dopey smile, and the two of them continued their conversation in the background even as I returned to mine with Yseult.

"They are also both fans of classic Chinese literature, and like to restaurant-hop around town." Plus they were extra-attractive single young adults with presumably a lot of pent-up hormones, but that went without saying. "There are lots of reasons for them to like each other without any kind of fundamentally idiotic contract marriage malarkey, don't you agree?"

She didn't respond and looked at the subjects of our conversation with a difficult expression, the reality finally sinking in with her. She just needed one final push, so it was time to dial things back and soothe her wounded ego a bit.

"Listen, Yseult. I get it. You have your own circumstances. You wanted to marry Naoren to escape them, and when those plans fell through, you started looking for a way to salvage the situation and found a scapegoat in the process. I'm not going to hold a grudge over that; let he who has never engaged in motivated reasoning cast the first stone and all that. You jumped to a conclusion that fit your needs, but now you can see that you were mistaken. It happens. Water under the bridge. So, why don't we put all of that aside, and start over from the very beginning, and see if we can work something out that everyone can agree upon?"

My proposal was once again met with silence, which would've been tense if not for Elly's background commentary about my negotiation tactics and Judy diligently putting them all to electronic paper. That kind of thing had a way to dissipate tension.

After a short yet long while, Yseult flinched first and she buried her face in her palm.

"Goddamit. That stupid Scottish knucklehead was right all along. Now I look like a jackass."

"Now, now. As I said, we all make mistakes in the heat of the moment."

While I tried to sound as genial as possible, I secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing her suddenly acting so casual (by a certain definition of the word) meant that the biggest hurdle in resolving this situation was already behind us.

"Lady Yseult." Naoren finally managed to tear his attention away from Rinne for five seconds and faced the Albion matriarch with a solemn yet gentle expression. "I'm afraid I cannot uphold the promise I made to you so many years ago. I will make sure to compensate you adequately."

"Oh, shut up, you," she scoffed, though her voice didn't have any venom in it anymore. "I don't need your pity, and I feel bad enough about this already, so let's just forget it. Let's forget it all."

Naoren slowly nodded, and there was a bubble of a kind of wistful, almost nostalgic atmosphere around them that I promptly popped.

"So, are we good now?"

"Yes. Yes, we're good," Yseult growled. Despite what she just said, her eyes told me she was still holding some antipathy towards me, but I wasn't going to call her out on it. Especially when she followed it up with a crestfallen sigh. "I guess I'll just have to take the hit to my reputation."

"You did make a scene at a public venue, so that's to be expected," I noted, but she shook her head.

"That's not what I'm talking about." She let out a soft groan and pointed at Rinne. "I challenged her to a duel in public. It might've been interrupted, but everyone saw my intent."

"Rinne isn't afraid to fight," Mountain Girl chimed in, saying the least helpful thing possible under the circumstances, but thankfully Yseult shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. There is no reason for us to duel now, so one of us has to officially declare that they withdrew from it. Since all of this happened because of me, I'll take the fall."

"Isn't that a bit overdramatic?" I asked absently, and Naoren looked at me like I just asked an idiotic question, so I amended, "Ah, right. Duels among Draconians are serious business, aren't they?"

"I believe duels are considered a serious matter no matter the people, but yes, they most certainly are."

"Rinne can just fight Yseult-san then," the dense monster huntress insisted, giving me a headache.

"Do you seriously want to do this?" In response to my question, she let out a grunt and nodded sharply, so I exhaled a sigh and turned to the others. "Fine. Hear me out. How about a tournament?"

There was a long, pregnant silence in the air, followed by my dear assistant rising to her feet with a clatter of her chair and putting a hand on my forehead.

"Chief, are you all right? Do you have a fever?"

"Do you need to lie down?" Elly played along, looking genuinely concerned.

"Oh, ha, ha." I gently removed Judy's hand from my head and pushed her back into her seat. "Very funny, but I'm serious. Listen, the guys in the Draconic Council have been talking my ears off about holding another bloody tournament to 'foster understanding among the clans' and 'unify the younger generation in the pursuit of martial arts' and other balderdash like that. Let's hit two birds with one stone." I pointed a thumb at myself. "I'm planning to put together a special training camp during the upcoming spring break for my friends and allies, so I'll be busy with that. In the meantime, you…" This time, I pointed an index and Naoren, "… will organize a tournament somewhere out of my sight, where you two…" Now it was a pair of finger-guns aimed at Rinne and Yseult, "… can have a public exhibition match, and no matter who wins, the grudge will be settled. Everybody wins. How does that sound?"

"It… is somewhat sudden, but I think it should be a wise course of action," Naoren gave his tacit approval to my ad-hoc plan, and Yseult looked receptive as well.

"That… would at least blunt the majority of the gossip, and…" She glanced at our resident cat-girl, and let out a soft hum. "I admit, I was looking forward to a match against you."

"Rinne is the same."

The two of them were suddenly surging with fighting spirit. As in, if we were in a manga or anime, this would've been the point where the two of them would get a two-page spread or still-frame with harsh shading and the image of a stylized tiger and dragon behind them, which… Holy crap! It actually fit the feline and draconic theme, didn't it? Anyhow, this wasn't the right time for this, so I loudly cleared my throat.

"Leave that for the day of the exhibition match, would you?"

"Ah, yes, Leonard-dono," Rinne apologized and withdrew her fighting spirit, though her cat ears were still twisted to the side which meant… aggression? Probably. As I said, I wasn't a catologist, so I couldn't read these things well.

"You're right. I should focus my energies elsewhere, for the time being." Yseult let out a tired sigh and leaned back on her chair. "I guess I'll have to start shopping for a man soon."

"Why?" Rinne blurted out, head cocked to the side, and the Draconian lady sent her a disparaging look in return.

"Because if I'm not marrying Naoren, it means I need to find a different husband."

"Can't you just make a contract with—?"

"Mountain Girl!" I called out in a hurry, startling everyone at the table. "One more word, and I'm cutting your free snack budget, understood?"

"… Yes, Leonard-dono…"

Her ears drooped, and she clearly didn't understand why I exploded at her like that, but I didn't care to elaborate. I faced Yseult, asking the first thing that came to mind to move the conversation away from any more potential contract marriage plots.

"Aren't you a bit too blasé about this whole thing?"

She let out a strange sound, something between a scoff and a stifled laugh.

"Being one of the Speakers of the Council and interacting with our kind, I figured you would've already realized that when it comes to relationships, the Dracis are an exception among the Draconian families, not the rule." She folded her arms and continued in a hushed voice. "The blood of Albion is not as thick as the blood of Dracis, and our prosperity has been on the decline for centuries. As the current matriarch of the family, it's my duty to find a partner who would strengthen our bloodline or provide economic and political ties to other families. Such is the norm when it comes to marriage amongst our kin; love and affection have little to do with it." She abruptly paused, and levelled a confounded gaze at Rinne's ears again, as if she just connected the dots. "Wait. She has some phantasmal heritage, doesn't she?"

"Rinne is one-fifth Neko," she insisted, but Yseult didn't go into the logistics of that and turned to Naoren instead.

"We have already found a solution," he reassured her with a smile, and quickly explained the plan to raise Xiao as the next Feilong clan head, allowing him not to care about the whole silly blood-purity thing.

"I'm… glad to hear that you've worked things out, but as I said, it's not an option for me. We don't have any true dragon ancestors in our midst to reinvigorate our bloodline. If only there was a way…"

Ah, dammit. That was way too good of a segue to ignore, but I was saving this revelation for another day. What to do, what to do?

…

Oh, screw it! I already had a hard time keeping this to myself, so I might as well just get it out of my system.

"Actually," I interjected, assuming my patented mastermind pose by tenting my fingers and adopting a harmless but unfathomable smile. "There is a way."

"A way to… reinvigorate bloodlines?" Naoren asked back, making sure he didn't mishear or misunderstand what I just said.

"Exactly. My Research Division, using the data acquired from a certain individual with unique properties, has developed a way to permanently strengthen and refine Draconian characteristics."

Needless to say, that individual was Josh. The whole premise was based on the idea that, as the universal 'chosen one', he had the capability to fulfil the Draconians' prophecy about restoring their bloodlines and bringing them closer to true dragons. We just had to reverse-engineer it, and while that sounded simple on paper, it was anything but that. Thankfully, it was none of my problem, because I had people for these kinds of things.

"Since when?" Elly blurted out in surprise, and I flashed a grin at her.

"It's a recent breakthrough. Did you think I was funding the Applied Biology Workshop of our Research Division just to look pretty and make mini-shoggoths?"

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?"

Yseult sounded as stumped as expected, so I obliged.

"Mini-shoggoth. His name is Pudding-kun, and if you get past his appearance, he's a pretty smart and affectionate guy."

"No, I don't think Lady Yseult meant that part," Naoren chimed in, a hand fervently adjusting his glasses. "You say you've developed a way to bolster fading Draconian bloodlines?"

"Not just the fading ones. It should be universally applicable, though clinical trials have yet to be started. My researchers are confident it would work though."

"If that's true then… All Draconian clans would be indebted to you for the rest of time," Yseult muttered in a daze, drawing a chuckle out of me.

"I'm just balancing the scales," I said with my best mysterious mastermind impression, and I wasn't lying.

Between the Celestials getting Deus back, and the Magi having their Conduit of the Grimoire, it was only fair that the Draconians would get their prophecy fulfilled in a fashion as well.

"But more importantly, this means that you really don't have to stress so much about the whole blood-purity thing. It's already a bit of an iffy tradition if you ask me, so it's best we get rid of it as soon as possible."

"If what you're saying is true then… you're probably right," Yseult agreed on autopilot, her eyes glazed over as she was still digesting the information.

I thought that was the end of it, but then Elly suddenly startled us all by exclaiming, "And that was the clinch! You see? I told you Leo is great at negotiating!"

"Are you sure it was a negotiation tactic and not just the Chief's penchant for dropping big reveals at the last second for the sake of drama?"

"No, listen. It was too well-timed for that. I tell you, Leo's a natural!"

Thus, one grand misunderstanding was cleared up today, and a new one was already taking root right under my nose. Just an average day in the life of Leonard S. Dunning.

PART 3

Standing under the extended roof over the main entrance of the pagoda-hotel, I pointed a finger at the woman in front of me, standing by the side of our host, who felt obligated to send us off personally.

"You've got the day off." After stressing that, I paused for a long beat and soon changed my mind. "No, actually, you've got the rest of the week off."

"But Leonard-dono…"

"Don't even try to argue," I cut Mountain Girl's protests short and pointed at the man standing next to her. "And you. Make sure you properly sit down and properly discuss they state of your relationship. Properly."

Naoren stared back at me with a pair of unenthused eyes, but I didn't relent until he gave me a nod.

Yseult has already left the way she came to 'make some last-minute calls', as she put it. There was a non-insignificant chance that she already put some kind of clichéd villainess ploy into motion, like setting some other Draconian ladies up to heckle Mountain Girl or something. Hopefully that whole thing was now fully nipped in the bud.

"No more misunderstandings. Got it?" Naoren morosely nodded again, and Rinne also followed his example, though looking more stumped than anything. "Good. Now, off you go, and off we go."

With those final words in tow, we waved our farewells and we headed back to the cover of the same alley where we had come from, the girls taking one of my arms each. While the cat was mostly out of the bag about my teleporting ability, I didn't need to advertise that I could do it all willy-nilly, now did I?

We were just about to round a corner, between the weirdly out-of-place sushi restaurant and the traditional Chinese food place, when Judy unsubtly tugged at my sleeve, followed by a dramatic sigh.

"Why can't you resolve every situation diplomatically like that?"

"Because most situations aren't so low-stakes," I responded reflexively. "In terms of it being just a whole bunch of trope-driven misunderstandings, I mean. There was no kidnapping, no betrayal, no assault and battery, and definitely no military action. When it's something simple like that, it's easy to resolve things with just words."

"And Miss Yseult was reasonable as well," Elly pointed out and I hummed in agreement.

"That, too. If she was more obstinate or strongly married to her conspiracy theories…" 'Like some Celestials better left unmentioned,' I whispered under my breath. "Anyhow, it was just fortunate that she could be reasoned with."

"We should try doing that more," Judy insisted.

"I've been doing that since the beginning, but the results are spotty at best."

"Also, we need conflict for the drama," Elly added with considerable enthusiasm. "By the way, are we really going to have another tournament?"

"Not 'we', 'they'. We'll let Naoren sort that out. That'll keep them and the whole sub-plot busy while we do our own thing."

"And what is that?"

Debating whether I should tell Elly now or later, I ultimately opted for the latter.

"I have plans."

"Should we be worried?" my other girlfriend asked, sounding extra-deadpan.

"No. What I meant to say is that I'm still working on the details, and I don't want to overhype it."

"Overhype?" Judy echoed me, her eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. "So it's something we would be excited about."

"Hopefully," I granted to her, and the princess let out a tinkling giggle.

"Now I can't wait to find out!"

"No, please stop being excited," I told her half seriously, just as we reached the same spot in the alley where we had Phased in. After a quick Far Sight check (or considering the situation, Near Sight check) in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle, to make sure nobody was watching, we promptly disappeared from the backstreet and arrived back to the base's reception room. "By the by, I just got reminded, but can you ask your Dad-in-law if they can free up their schedule for spring break?"

"Sure!"

Elly responded with unbridled enthusiasm, so I turned to Judy next.

"My family too?" When I nodded, she squinted so hard I wasn't sure she could see me anymore. "Chief, this plan of yours is getting more suspicious by the second."

"It's not though. It's just a surprise, I promise."

In the meantime we arrived at the main hall, and as soon as we came into view, a certain Celestial girl beelined towards us like she wanted to tackle all three of us at once. She managed to come to a screeching halt just before we could collide, and she looked at me with a mixture of worry and excitement.

"What happened? Is everyone okay? Was it Bel?"

"Was what Bel?" I blurted out, but she wasn't the one who answered. On her heels, the rest of the gang also arrived, led by a rather out-of-it Josh.

"Ms Yamako showed up looking like she just tumbled down a mountain, and then you immediately left without telling anyone anything." He sounded dry yet exasperated at the same time and concluded it with a flat look in my direction. "We figured it was an emergency."

"Nah, nothing of the sort. Just some interpersonal drama."

"Oh, good." Angie let out a relieved breath, only to quickly catch herself and add, "I-I mean, it's not good good, but better than Bel causing chaos, mayhem and destruction again!"

"Does that mean there's no reason to be on alert?" the class rep asked in the back, and when I shook my head, she leaned on her staff and let the tension drain from her shoulders.

"So? Back to training?" Josh asked, but the girls shook their heads in unison.

"It's late! If there's no Bel to attack, let's go home!" Angie's response almost sounded like a whine and she theatrically stretched and yawned to show how exhausted she was. "How about we continue our monster movie marathon tonight?"

"Weren't we supposed to study for the upcoming exams?" he asked back, and it made his girlfriend twitch uncomfortably.

"Nah, it'll be fine! Let's skip it today. I'll be fine." She pointed at her head and added, "Did I tell you that Grandpa Deus is really good at math? I'll be fine."

"You just repeated yourself," Elly noted, and she doubled down.

"Because I'll be fine! Third time's the charm!"

Shaking my head at her conduct, I pulled Josh aside.

"The studying spree only lasted so long, huh?"

"Give her a break," my friend came to his lover's defence with a huff and crossed his arms. "She's still doing her best to read those academic books about statecraft and whatever. It's just that…" He trailed off, and let out a despondent sigh. "Nobody likes cramming for exams."

"Speaking of which, we'll have them starting next week, right?" He nodded with some trepidation. "And then, it's spring break." He nodded again, this time with slightly more energy. "Do you have any plans yet?"

"No, not really," he said, but his eyes instinctively moved to Angie. I figured he was planning to spend all his time with her. Oh, youth!

"Try not to make any either. In fact, it would be best if you could free up yourselves for the entire spring break."

"Hm?" He turned back to me, his eyes suddenly gaining an impassioned glint. "Are we finally going receive that special training you talked about?"

"Training?" Angie jumped back into the conversation and looked just as excited as his boyfriend. "What kind? Are we gonna sit under waterfalls and balance on poles and punch sand and stuff?"

"We aren't in a Hong Kong martial arts movie," Josh pointed out, only to receive a scoff for his trouble.

"It's still training, so they could work! You never tried them, so you can't just dismiss them like that, right, Leo?"

She was looking at me for support, but I had to disappoint her.

"Sorry, but that's not in the cards."

"Boo!"

Ignoring the girl sticking her tongue out at me, I addressed the class rep next.

"What about you, Ammy?"

"What about me?"

She was visibly stumped by the question, so I tried again.

"Are you free during spring break?"

"I had some plans with Mike, but…"

"Oh, that works out then," I interjected with a nod. "Try not to make any plans, and if Lord Grandpa wants to shunt some paperwork on you, tell him you're already reserved for the week."

"W-Wait!" She stood ramrod straight and tweaked her glasses at me. "This is too sudden! Am I also going to train with you?"

"Among other things, yes." She was waiting for me to elaborate, but I just put a finger in front of my mouth. "It's going to be a surprise."

"The suspiciousness levels are off the chart," Judy deadpanned at me, and even Elly agreed with her for once.

"Come on, girls. Give me some benefit of the doubt. It's going to be fun."

"So it's a scheme, there was a stray mention of a training camp, it will involve our parents, and it's going to be 'fun'…" my dear assistant recounted without her expression wavering for a moment. "Chief? Just what exactly are you plotting?"

"Not telling. It's a surprise." I added a playful wink at the end of it, but it did little to unfreeze her expression. As such, I did what I'd always done in situations like this, and changed the topic. "Anyhow, Josh brought up a good point. Should we make another study group before the exams, like last time?"

"Is that also part of the scheme?"

"Come on, Dormouse. Don't be so paranoid."

I patted her on the back, but she remained focused. Should I just tell her, I wondered.

Nah. There was still a solid chance that the whole thing wouldn't work out, so let's keep the cards close to my chest a while longer. Thinking so, I got reminded of something else, so I stepped away from the group.

"I'll go and check the Workshop. If you need me to Phase you home, you can find me downstairs."

My girlfriends acquiesced quickly, and soon beelined towards my sisters in the longue area, no doubt to brainstorm exactly what my not-at-all nefarious ploy was about (and this time, I wasn't even facetious about it; it truly was entirely benign). Josh only nodded in my general direction and returned to the conversation with Angie, who was trying her best to convince him to watch some martial arts movies. The previous discussion apparently shifted her preferences. Finally, the class rep…

"I don't think you've ever properly explained how this 'Phasing' ability of yours works," she started the moment she stepped up to me. As if in reaction to her reaching for her glasses, the orbs around her head started circling extra-fast, like a pair of excited small birds. "Oh, stop it!"

She lightly hit one of the marbles, and they both slowed down.

"Wow. I never figured you were the abusive type."

"You can't abuse an inanimate object," she retorted, and this time she did adjust her glasses. "So?"

"So what?" I replied off-handedly and started to walk, and she quickly caught up to me.

"How do you teleport like it's no big deal? Now everyone knows about it, so there's no point trying to be coy with the details."

"I'm not doing that. It's just something I do naturally, so it's hard to explain."

"But it works like your Far Sight, right?" She lowered her voice into a hush and moved even closer to me. "You said that costs you no mana or any catalysts, right?"

"Right…"

Meanwhile, we passed by a couple of Squires-in-training and remained silent until we reached the stairs.

"Angie said that it's a 'Polemos-thing', but she also said she saw you use it in the past, not long after Bel first appeared, so which is it? Or is it just another inexplicable ability that you have because you're 'destiny'?"

"It's kind of complicated, and I don't have the time to explain the nitty-gritty details right now, so how about we don't dig into this topic right now?" I proposed but got shot down immediately.

"Even if we don't talk about it, others will. The arch-mages, especially Lord Taika, are already planning to question you about it, and I'm sure the people in the Draconic Federation are also worried about it."

"Worried?" I echoed the unexpected word, and she looked at me like I was missing the forest for the trees.

"Of course. Bel being able to teleport around at will is already bad enough, but he's an enigma that nobody can do anything about. You, on the other hand, are a public figure. You were already a powerful individual in their eyes, but now that they know you can also teleport, they're naturally worried about your limits and what you could do." She paused and, after shooing the circling orbs back again, massaged her temple. "Imagine how terrifying it is to know that someone who slayed a Chimera and routinely duels arch-mages could also just teleport behind you."

"And say 'Nothing personal, kid'?" I joked, but she only stared at me blankly. Judy would've got it.

"I don't know what that means, but you have to understand the problem."

"Yes, and that's why I was trying to keep it a secret." Until I got caught in the heat of the moment because I encountered future-me, but that was beside the point. "What am I supposed to do about it now?"

"Press conference," she stated bluntly, making me blink in surprise.

"What?"

"Hold a press conference, and tell the people about the limits of your ability. Or make up limits. Anything. The important thing is to give them some information, because the longer they remain uninformed, the more worked up they get over worst-case scenarios."

"That… sounds reasonable." We were just about to reach the main labs with the homunculus project and all, so I tried to come up with something that sounded reasonable before we got there. "How's this: I can teleport and carry things and people between locations I mark, but there's a cooldown period, and I can also use this power to interfere with Bel's ability to do the same and follow his tracks if necessary, but I have to be right next to him to do it. Sounds good?"

"It's a start." She thought for a moment, and added, "You might want to keep the part about being able to transport goods to yourself though."

"Why?"

I wasn't asking just to keep the conversation going, but because I was genuinely baffled by how she singled out this one detail out of everything. Ammy remained adamant.

"Because it's a game-changer. If the arch-mages and others learn about this aspect of your ability, they would absolutely want to take advantage of it. Being able to transport personnel, volatile materials, or other goods instantly and securely is an enormous deal, especially in the World of Mystics. Even if you only do it as a favor for a chosen few, you could end up viewed as a convenient errand boy."

"But it would make people less afraid of me."

"Certainly, but go too far, and they won't take you seriously, and that could prove disastrous in the long run. You are a prominent faction leader in the World of Mystics. You need to have some gravitas, and you can't do that when you run errands for others."

"Fine, fine. I get it." By this point we were standing in front of the entrance of the workshop, but I stopped before entering and turned to face Ammy. "I'll consider your advice, but to be perfectly honest with you, I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill."

"Leo, please take me seriously."

"I do. I really do, trust me. It's just that…" I scratched the back of my head. "I just don't think it's a concern worth fretting over."

"Your 'Phasing' ability is one of a kind, so yes, it's—"

"No, I'm specifically talking about the whole 'transportation' bit." She looked at me funny, so I had no choice but to elaborate. "I mean, the Celestials have been doing it for who knows how long, so it's not that special."

"… Excuse me? What do you mean… Celestials can teleport?"

"No, but they have their portals." Now she looked at me even funnier, so I stifled a groan and clarified, "You know, those holes they create to move in and out of Elysium? Sure, they take a professional brass-theremin-synthetizer-balalaika player to make them, but they can be opened anywhere, even remotely, and you can move anything through them as long as they're operational, no problem."

"But… you can only take things in and out of Elysium with those."

Actually, they had special one-use portals that allowed Celestial operatives to quickly move between locations outside Elysium, but they required expensive catalysts, and were kind of beside the point here.

"True, but then you just open another stable portal to the end destination right next to the first one, and haul stuff through there. I even had this idea for something like a train system with two portals, where you pack the containers on one side, go through the portal into Elysium, go through the other portal to the destination, and then unload." I scratched the back of my head, and added, "It seems so obvious, I wonder why no one else had thought of this before?"

"… Leo. You do remember that the Celestials were our sworn enemies until two months ago and any portal activity would be immediately investigated by the local School of Magi?"

"Oh, right. That was a thing," I noted with a shrug and opened the door to the workshop. "The point is, there are already existing and more convenient ways to transport goods instantaneously, so I'm not worried about getting turned into a pack mule any time soon."

"No, you should be worried about someone else also realizing that this could be done now and disrupting the World of Mystics all over again!" Ammy pushed her glasses up her nose with a soft groan. "No, something of this scale would disrupt even the mundane world as well."

"Then I guess I'll have to keep it under control."

Walking next to me, the class rep levelled a critical gaze at me and asked, "Is this related to that 'scheme' Judy was talking about?"

"Maybe. Tangentially." I remained silent for a long beat, then amended, "You'll see."

"I can't decide to look forward to it, or dread the day."

"Ah, hi guys!" Our discussion came to a close when we were greeted by Sahi, wearing her usual dishevelled white coat and her hair done up in a half-bun. "Have you, like, come to check our progress?"

"Yeah. I didn't have the time to take a look in the past couple of days." We stopped in front of the huge tube with the balled-up body floating in its amniotic fluid. "Is everything in order?"

"Totally!" the brown girl declared with a thumbs up. "Like, even when you weren't around, we totally did what you asked, and it worked out wicked well!"

"Hm? What I asked?"

"Yeah." She acted like it was a rhetorical question, and tapped on the glass tube. "Like, Ol' Archie wasn't sure about it, but we gave it a go, and like, it totally worked."

"Slow down. What note?"

She finally turned to me and cocked her head to the side.

"Like, the one you wrote, duh?" Seeing that I was still in the dark, she raised a hand. "Wait a sec. Like, I'll be right back."

With that, she skipped to the back of the workshop and soon returned with a single piece of white paper.

"You see? Like, I can totally recognize your handwriting, you know?" She presented the page to me, and on it, there was a hand-written message that was, without a doubt, in my handwriting. "Did you, like, forget about it? Or was this a prank? I'm totally not into that kind of cheezy stuff, you know?"

"No, it's…"

Before I could formulate an answer, I noticed something else at the bottom of the page. It was faint, but after staring at it for a while, I soon realized that it was Celestial Script. It wasn't written as much as it was scratched into the paper, and it read something along the lines of 'Don't worry about this, it's just part of the plan. I'll explain the next time we meet.'

Was this written by future-me? No, that much was obvious. The better question was this: did I sound this annoying to Judy when I was talking about my ploys?

"What is it? Is there something wrong?" Ammy asked, trying to steal a glance at the message in my hand.

"It's nothing," I muttered and handed the page back to Sahi. "I just suddenly feel like I should apologize to someone and do some self-reflection…"