Tomorrow morning, I woke up alone in the house. I never did notice it before, but this giant mansion of a house is actually quite scary when you're all alone inside. I got out of bed and tried to ignore the eerie vibes by taking a shower, brushing my teeth, et cetera - but even still, the feeling that "someone was right around the corner" never left my mind. I braced myself for the worst before psyching myself up and running full speed through the hallway, down the stairs, through the main foyer and into the kitchen.

"Huh, there really is no one here." I realized, "Meil, how is it that when you were here, the house always felt so bustling...?"

Sighing as I realized how stupid it looked for a girl like me to be talking to myself, I shook off the gloomy feeling in favor of opening the fridge to grab a bite to eat before the group came to pick me up so we could go visit Meil at the station. As I spread some jam over the piece of bread, the only thoughts occupying my mind were those of query.

"How?" I thought, "How did things get like this? Everything was fine just yesterday - I was supposed to be preparing for my exams with Kevin, then we found out about Meil and Waitress girl, then Kevin tried taking me home before..."

The memories of that horrible incident flooding my mind, I couldn't help but wince at the thought of seeing the bloodied face of someone I finally felt I could call a true friend. Kevin, they said he'd be fine as long as he rests up enough in the infirmary, and judging by Meil's mysterious wealth, I wouldn't be surprised if he paid for Kevin's hospital bills as well. Yeah, it's just like the case with Lem - Meil might say Kevin's his enemy, but surely he's just not thinking straight thanks to not taking those medications Waitress girl was talking about.

"Ah, out of jam." I got up to check the fridge again, "Wasn't there some margarine from before still left?"

"You mean this?" A teasing voice applied a freezing cold container on my nape.

"Eeeeep!" I turned around before shouting, "L-Lem!? What the hell, when'd you get in here!?"

"Ah, the door was unlocked." He shrugged before handing me the cold item he previously used to jolt me, "By the way, here's your margarine. I just took it out of the fridge while you were eating to prank you a bit. Come on, dad and the others are waiting outside."

"Wuh, but...? I could've sworn I locked it..." I tried making sense of everything, "No wait! They're already here!?"

Couldn't these guys have found a better way to inform me of their presence? What kind of a friend group sends out one of their guys to sneak in and surprise a girl like that? Seriously, they're all just going way too far for a prank...

"Hey, cute jammies." He pointed at my attire, "Though I don't think it's appropriate to go out like that."

"Well, I didn't really expect you all to come so soon." I frowned, "Actually, it's super early, even for my standards. Did you guys eat anything?"

"I'm sure they did, but I wasn't hungry. Just get dressed and..."

"You didn't eat!?" I grabbed his wrist as he tried leaving with an empty stomach, "Oh no you don't! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

"Ugh, I didn't say it isn't, I'm just saying I'm not hungry right now." He turned his face away from me, "Let go. I'll eat the most important meal of the day later."

"Hmph!" I pouted, refusing to let go of his wrist as I guided him to the table, "Then I'm not going until you eat! Come on, just a single slice!"

"Ugh, why you gotta be so difficult, dammit?" He started frowning as well, "Everyone's waiting, so just get dressed while I eat here, okay?"

"No! You're just gonna lie that you ate!" I saw right through him in an instant.

"Urk, dammit..." He reluctantly grabbed the butterknife before spreading the margarine on the slice of bread next to him, "There, I'm eating, you can go now."

"I'll sit here with you until you finish eating." I smiled as I took the butterknife and continued eating as well, "Well, since you interrupted my breakfast as well, I might as well eat some too."

"T-This is..." His mouth remained frowning, though his eyes gave away that he was happy, "This feels nice."

"Ah, to be married." A rugged voice made both of us jump out of our seats, "Maybe I was a bit too forward yesterday with the grandkids and everything. I should've let you two take things slow, it seems!"

"D-Dad!" Lem choked on his bread as he fixed himself up, "S-She said she wouldn't leave until I grabbed a slice, that's all! I swear I wasn't slacking off!"

"Well, they say the stomach is the fastest way to a man's heart." His dad looked over at me, "So, whaddya say, kid? Fancy being my daughter-in-law?"

"Not in a million years." I immediately replied, "I hate it when adults joke about love like that. First it was goff Adam, now you as well? Can't I just have male friends?"

"Male friends..." Lem seemed a bit dejected before noticing an unfamiliar word, "Wait, the fuck's a goff?"

"Short for godfather." It then finally dawned on me how embarrassing that sounds, so I hastily tried to explain before they started laughing, "A-Ah! I-It's just something I call my godparents! Godfather Adam and godmother Elaine, yep yep!"

"..." They both looked on.

"...W-What?"

"Godfather Adam...?" Lem repeated.

"...and godmother Elaine?" His dad added, "H-Heh, sorry. It's just such a coincidence that your godparents have the same name as the royal family of Cardina is all, ha-ha..."

"Hm..." Now it was time for me to remain silent.

"You're kidding." Both their eyes shot wide open, "Y-Your godparents are... the royal family?"

"Is it such a big deal?" I tilted my head.

"Ugh, come on already!" Green girl stormed into the room, "What the hell is taking you guys so long!? We gotta go see Kevin!"

"Oh right." Lem turned around, "I completely forgot about that."

"You idiots!" She then berated us some more before storming off.

Looks like she's quite on-edge over Kevin's condition. Makes sense, he's her childhood friend, not to mention her whole situation...

***

After that, I got dressed and we went to our first stop - the hospital where Kevin was being treated. Yesterday, while he was getting taken away by the paramedics, we were told that he should make a pretty hasty recovery without any long-term scars or the like. In any case, we were told not to worry to much and to just focus on restraining Meil until the police had arrived, nothing else. Still, it seems Green girl really wasn't happy when we told her that, since she mostly just wanted to go see how he was doing for herself.

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She flailed around a bit, making it quite the debacle for Lem and his dad when they tried to desperately calm her down, yet to no avail. In the end, she got tired before they did, and we had Waitress girl take her to her dorm room. I can imagine this is also the reason why everyone got up so early to go see Kevin - she probably forced Waitress girl to round everyone up.

"Come on, guys! Stop slouching already!" Green girl raced in front of us, not at all showing any regard for her wrinkled clothes as she spoke, "Kevin could be in a critical condition and we're leaving him all alone!"

"The paramedics said he'll be fine, so why are you so worried?" Waitress girl clicked her tongue.

"What's the worry?" Green girl stopped to lash out at our seemingly nonchalant behavior, "Kevin is my first ever friend in life! Back when we were kids, I was the outcast of our neighborhood, made fun of for being a chubby child. Out of everyone there, Kevin was the first to approach me, even if it meant he'd start to get ridiculed too! Even when I told him time and time again to stop hanging out with me and go back to his friends, you know what he said to me?"

"Kiria..." Lem uttered.

"He told me that those aren't real friends! He told me that he'll have my back, even when no one else believes in me! Hell, without him, I wouldn't even be here! And you have the GALL to ask why I'm so worried!?"

And with that, the conversation came to an abrupt end. For the remainder of the walk to the hospital, the conversation remained completely dead. Entering and checking into Kevin's room though was a different story...

"Yo." He smiled.

"You're alive!" Green girl immediately ran up to hug him, "You're okay! Oh my God, I was so worried, what the hell happened!? I-I mean, I know what happened, since the others told me and all, b-but I wanna hear it from you! Actually, I don't want to have you relive your trauma or anything, but just hearing your voice is enough. Sorry, am I being a bother!?"

"...You talk too much." He chuckled before returning the hug, "I'm alright. You can calm down now."

One tear. Nay, two tears. Scratch that, a whole bunch of tears. Before long, Green girl's cheeks were riddled with them, not stopping for even a split second as she wept into his arms. It was a touching sight, though I imagine some of us didn't enjoy witnessing it quite as much as the others.

"Ahem." Lem cleared his throat, thus interrupting the two of them, "Dad told me about what happened. Good to hear you're alright, man."

"Yeah man, Meil is the last guy who's capable of taking me down." Kevin dapped him up familiarly, "I take it y'all aren't here just to see how I'm doing though. If everyone's here, that means this is an emergency meeting."

"Really now, they don't give you enough credit for how smart you actually are, boy." Lem's dad joked, "From the way my boy described you, I always thought you were one of those dunces with a heart of gold."

"Wow, glad to hear I'm being so earnestly praised." Kevin gave Lem a disappointed stare, "I AM a student at Dimitri Uni, y'know? They don't just let anyone in. Ah, no offense, Nelly."

"Nah, it's not like I failed the real test." I smiled, "But hey, if you're capable of joking like this, then there's probably nothing to worry about."

"Yep, these bad boys were trained to protect!" He flexed his muscles so hard the IV bag puffed up, "Ah, that can't be good. Point is, I'm not the one you should be worrying about right now."

"Right, Meil is the whole reason you're in here to begin with." Waitress girl sighed, "And it's also partially because I wasn't dutifully checking if he was taking his meds."

"Meds?" The others gasped.

She took the time to get everyone updated on Meil's situation. Ending it off with her showing us the meds in question which she had taken from his room the evening prior, her throat started to clog up from all the pent up emotions of regret. Before long, the facade of her cold yet paradoxically friendly character had completely melted as her face devolved into a teary mess.

"A-And so... T-The reason all this is... happening is because... Because I...!"

"Hey now, I don't remember you being the one that punched me." Kevin interrupted her, "Then again, I don't think I could ever live getting beated up by a girl so badly down."

"I agree with Kevin." Green girl consoled Waitress girl, "Jelena, it's not your fault. You mentioned that Meil even told you to hide this from everyone, which means you really had no choice but to burden yourself with him. It's not your fault."

"B-But then, what do we do?" She rubbed her eyes.

"Ain't it simple, though?" Lem's dad figured, "Visit him at the station, toss in some of those meds and chew him out for being a lunatic. Correct me if I'm wrong cause I ain't no doctor, but he's pretty normal when he takes those, isn't he?"

"Well, he is..." Waitress girl explained, "But the pills take time to fully take effect, and visiting time is reserved for 10 minutes per prisoner. Not enough time for us to get him back before we get ushered out."

"Isn't that where I come in?" Lem inquired, pointing at his right eye that glew faintly, "Can't I extend the visiting time for as long as I can hold out without blinking with Command?"

"Huh? Command?" I turned to him, "Uncle told me about that... You're an Iro Wielder?"

"Right, Meil didn't tell you?" He started staring deep into my eyes, "My Ability's pretty OP, no biggie. Slap Kevin for me, would ya'?"

"What!? I would never do...!"

...That, is what I wanted to say, but the sound of me slapping an injured person cut off my sentence. Huh? What the...? It's like my body moved on its own?

"So with that, what do you have to say about my Iro Ability? Pretty cool, right?" He smiled.

"Gross." I backed away, "No boy in the apex of puberty should wield such tremendous power."

"H-Hey! I don't use it for such unsavory goals!" He hurried to defend himself, "Besides, just be happy I'm willing to use it for your guys' sake! If I was your enemy...!"

"If you use that to brainwash me again, you WILL be an enemy." I hid behind Kevin's bed as he still rubbed the sore slap mark I gave him.

"Urk..." Lem couldn't answer properly, "U-Understood."

"Huh? She managed to boss Shortie around so easily?" Waitress girl admired, "They really are made for one another."

"Right?" Lem's dad whispered back, "Grandkids, Jelena, grandkids."

Adults are the biggest and most annoying perverts in the world...