The Simulacrum

Part 1

Being in prison sucked.

I meant that in general, of course. In my case it wasn't that bad… so long as we ignored the stale air. And the rather archaic plumbing situation. And being isolated from all my friends and loves ones, of course. Couldn't forget about that.

On the flip side though, it wasn't all bad. The food was decent, even if most of it was frozen ready-meals, and I wasn't short on entertainment. My future self left me with a bookcase stuffed full of novels, comics, and other media I encountered during my long nights of trope research. I shelved them all for a hypothetical 'later', when I'd have more free time to peruse them in peace, so I was good on the diversion front. I even had pleasant company, though not always completely trouble-free.

"No, Ollie. I told you; you can't eat ice cream for lunch."

My words were met with a pair of indignant eyes peeking out from behind a mop of a dark-blue hairdo, and their owner puffed out his cheeks so hard his face was turning red.

"But Uncle Polemos! You said I can eat whatever I could find in the freezer!"

"No, I said you can pick a meal, and I'll heat it up. Do you want me to heat up your ice cream?"

The little Abyssal boy's eyes opened wide, and he hurriedly shook his head.

"N-No! I changed my mind!" He turned on his heel and rushed out of his cell.

One of the first things I'd done after getting stuck down here was to use my Phantom-limbs to temporarily-retcon our cell doors off their hinges and then throw them into a corner, so we could move in and out without any hassle. I followed after the kid, and by the time I caught up with him, he was already standing on his tip-toes on top of a stool next to the freezer box in one of the unoccupied cells.

Future-me brought something like six of these down here, all stocked to the brim, and I still couldn't fathom how he managed to get electricity all the way down here. But then again, looking at the absolute mess of tangled extension cords snaking on the floor and leading towards the main stairwell, I had a feeling it was going to be an absolute pain in the neck in my not-so-distant future.

Meanwhile, Éolienne returned to my side, holding two white plastic boxed meals. Despite the young Ashur heir's current predicament, he was as hale and hearty as it got, with the kind of rosy chubby cheeks one would normally see on the cherubs populating those old-school Christmas postcards. Between his striped pyjamas, fluffy blue house coat, and fuzzy mouse slippers, he didn't look anything like a prisoner, let alone one trapped in an otherwise quite medieval underground dungeon.

But then again, neither did I, as I used one of my outfit slots in my Leoformer to give myself some comfy indoors clothes in the form of some loose beach pants, a sweatshirt, and a terry cloth bathrobe that matched Ollie's.

"These ones!" the little boy declared with gusto, so I took the frozen meals from him and gave them a close look. Based on the packaging, these weren't store-bought, but from one of those home-delivery companies. I was unfamiliar with the branding, but since I was going to be the one to get them in the past which is my future, I figured I would have to look into this one too.

"Macaroni and cheese," I read the label closely and was a touch surprised when I found that the second container was identical to the first one. "For both of us?"

"Yes!" Ollie declared with the kind of toothy grin that would've normally made me rub his noggin, but since my hands were occupied, I just gestured for him to follow me into my own cell. That's where the microwave oven was.

I put both packs into it and set it to defrost mode. According to the manual (which future-me helpfully left right on top of the device), it had some fancy-shmancy internal sensor system that let it optimally cycle its power use for maximum defrosting performance… but I still set up a timer, just to be sure.

"Okay, that'll take a while. What now?"

I flashed a smirk at the little kid, and he immediately threw his hands in the air with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Super Mareo Kart!"

"Again?" I asked, pretending to be reluctant. "Aren't you bored with that?"

"No! This time, I'll beat Uncle Polemos!"

"Then I'll better bring my A-game."

I winked at Ollie and headed to his cell, and he hurriedly followed behind me. Our target was the TV, or rather the retro cartridge console sitting in front of it on the ground. It was the same model that Angie had back at her place, with a whole lot of extra games piled up next to it. Ollie's favourite, the colourful racing game with the same characters as Super Bash Siblings, was already in the machine, and as soon as he pressed the power button, the title screen showed up on the TV.

"Come on, Uncle Polemos!"

Ollie sat cross-legged on the fuzzy carpet strategically placed in front of the television set and patted the spot next to him. I followed suit and picked up the small controller attached to the system. It only had a D-pad, four buttons, and two shoulder buttons. No fancy thumbsticks here.

"Remember, no cheating," the little boy warned me with a stern wagging of his forefinger, and I could barely stop myself from chuckling at the display.

"Turquoise Shells aren't cheating." My reasonable response got me a childish glare in return, so I soon amended, "But I won't use them anyway. Consider it a handicap."

"Deal!" he yelped, as if afraid that I would go back on my word if he didn't reply right away, and we entered the character select screen.

Looking at him like this, it was hard to believe that this was the heir of one of the Abyssal Noble Houses, raised in a treacherous aristocratic environment until just a few months ago. He was just like any other kid his age; all he cared about were sweets, cartoons, and video games. It wasn't hard to see why future-me developed a soft spot for him… which led to me developing a soft spot for him, so was this another time-loop thing?

I shook my head to get the unpleasant question out of my mind and focused on the game. At least until my previous train of thought returned, and I started to ponder again. Due to everything that happened to him and his family as of late, Ollie was completely thrown off his life's trajectory, but… what if he wasn't?

When it came to the ages-old nature-versus-nurture question, I was mostly on the side of the latter. Take my Abyssal sister as an example: despite being a Seducer, whose power set revolved around manipulating people's emotions and making them fall head over heels for them, she was the sweetest, clumsiest cinnamon roll of a little sister one could ever ask for. However, if she remained with Crowy, would she have turned out differently? The answer was most likely yes.

So what about Ollie? If his Noble House wasn't destroyed and he lived out his life as an aristocrat of House Ashur, how would he have turned out in the future? Would he have ended up like Tracas otherwise? Would he now?

"Uh…"

Ollie was too immersed in the race and didn't notice my soft grunt, but just his name made me recall the moment the Ashur nobleman's lifeless body hit the ground, and it made me feel… not quite ill, but somewhat disturbed.

I understood future-me's explanation on a logical level. I also understood that every single person, even the worst serial killers and war criminals, were at one point nothing but innocent little kids. Maybe it was irrational, but I deep down wanted to believe that there was a sliver of innocence in every single one of us. I wasn't just trying to avoid any and all deaths under my watch because of something as meta as maintaining a certain tone (though it certainly was a major consideration), but because I also genuinely believed that every human (or human-adjacent) life was priceless, and every death was a tragedy. Even the death of a backstabbing snake.

But then again, that's where rationality kicked in. Sure, every single tiger used to be an adorable little cub at one point, but when a giant grown-ass cat was trying to eat your face, it didn't really matter, now did it? I still wished things could've been resolved differently, but…

"Haha!"

… my cart was hit by a homing projectile, and I had to focus on the race again.

"A Turquoise Shell? Really?"

"Uncle said it wasn't cheating," Ollie responded between giggles, and while his self-satisfied grin was a bit annoying, I just couldn't get angry with him. Maybe the others were right and I really did have a soft spot for kids…

But where was I? Yeah, Tracas's death. It still left a bad aftertaste in my mouth, and I wished things could've gone differently, but there was no point crying over spilt milk. I just had to do my best with what I had. Which, in this case, meant babysitting Ollie and keeping tabs on everyone. Not at the same time, of course. Paying attention to more than one thing at a time was usually a recipe for making a silly blunder that should've been entirely avoidable if I wasn't distracted.

"Woohoo!" Meanwhile, the race was over, and the little boy by my side was practically hopping with excitement. "I won!"

"You sure did, Beansprout."

I rubbed his head, and he accepted it with a silly grin. Of course, I totally let him win, because I was the (sorta) adult here, so it was completely natural to not take a silly video game too seriously. I was also playing with a handicap. And even if I wasn't, those Turquoise Shells are bollocks, anyway.

"Best out of three?" Ollie proposed, but I shook my head.

"Maybe after lunch." I rose to my feet and pointed a thumb at my cell at the other end of the hallway. "I'll go check the food. I'll call you when it's ready."

"Ooo-kaaay…"

True to my words, I headed back to my temporary lodging, though not before picking up a bottle of mineral water from the multiple literal pallets' worth of six-packs piled up in yet another otherwise empty prison cell. Future-me had us well-stocked, that's for sure.

First off, I checked the microwave oven and switched the containers around so that their contents would get defrosted evenly. I reckoned it would still take a while for them to be ready for proper reheating; maybe instead of picking our meals in the morning, we should take the next day's servings out of the freezer the evening before, so they could thaw overnight. Of course, the concepts of 'morning' and 'evening' were pretty nebulous here; we had no access to natural sunlight, so the only way to tell the time was through the wall clock in Ollie's room. I mean, cell.

I imagined I would get used to living here after a few days, but for now, I was feeling a bit restless. Maybe because I couldn't meet the girls since the day before. I figured they would be worried by now, since I promised that I would visit them as soon as I had the opportunity. That is unless future-me had already informed them about the change of plans. He could connect to Judy's communicator artifact, so he didn't even need to tell them in person.

That reminded me of something else, and I walked over to the desk in the corner of my cell. It was originally completely bare, but now it had Cal and Teeny lying on it, and based on the occasional gleams of light they let off, they were probably talking to each other even now. Or more likely, bickering, but I digress.

They weren't the reason why I walked over though. Sitting next to them was a simple metal disk one could mistake for a medallion or an oversized coin. It was, in fact, my storage artifact patterned after Raven Boy's sabretache which I normally carried inside my Leoformer's belt buckle. I took it out not only because I wasn't using it at the moment, with my weapons staying in the open for the foreseeable future, but because it was the only other piece of enchanted gear I had on me, and I couldn't mess with either my Leoformer's or my swords' enchantments.

As for why I was trying to do with it… let's just say that I wasn't planning to sit still just because future-me said so. It was… not quite a contingency plan per se, but something I was working on 'just in case'. I mean, future-me was me, and so he knew what I would do in this situation, and he didn't explicitly tell me not to do this, therefore it was as good as giving me the green light.

That was only half the reason though; the other half being that I found enchanting to be rather therapeutic. It was tricky to do it here, due to the mana-syphoning effect of this whole underground dungeon complex making all magics a bit unstable, but it was but a small hurdle to overcome in exchange for some peace and quiet. Speaking of which, I plunged a phantom limb into the metal disk, and a long yet short moment later I was inside the topsy-turvy enchantment space, surrounded by abstract representations of the various arrays, their functions ordered into neat three-dimensional rows that could be individually pulled out like a series of long drawers.

What could I say? When it was about enchanting, I was a stickler for elegant simplicity. I spent some time tinkering, and while not all of my ideas could be implemented yet, I figured that with some time and elbow grease, I could work out the kinks. Or maybe I should use some references, I mused as another segment of the enchantment unfolded like a river of linked stars and I began to rearrange them.

It wasn't until a peculiar sensation made me withdraw from enchantment space that I realized I spent way more time in there than planned, and the timer on the microwave finished its countdown. I checked the food, but while it wasn't frozen, it wasn't exactly warm either, so I shook the containers a little before sticking them back in, this time on high power.

"Ollie! Lunch's ready in five minutes!"

"Okay!"

While saying that I 'set the table' would've been an overstatement, I prepared some clean forks and filled a pair of disposable plastic cups in preparation, and as soon as the ping of the timer sounded again, my little flatmate (dungeon-mate?) was already on his chair and waiting. I served (again, by a very generous definition of the term) our mac and cheese and we dug in. It didn't take Ollie long to break the silence.

"Uncle Polemos? Did Uncle Antonio get this food from outside?"

"Do you mean the dungeon or the Abyss?"

The kid gave me a deadpan look that would've made Judy proud and poked his pasta with his fork.

"The Abyss, of course!"

"Why do you think that? Does it taste funny?"

"… A little?" he admitted, but it didn't stop him from scarfing down his share, only stopping to talk. "It's spicy!"

That wouldn't have been the word I'd have chosen to describe the taste, but considering the Abyss' situation, it wasn't that surprising. What they could grow here was limited, and they couldn't just send someone out for grocery shopping into the outside world, so I figured even the chefs of the Noble Houses would've had to be economical with their use of spices. It would've also explained why Snowy was so enamoured with simple apple pies.

"When's Uncle Antonio coming back?" came the next question, and that was one I couldn't readily answer.

"I don't know. Are you missing him?"

"A little," he admitted in a mousy voice that made me realize something I should've thought of much earlier.

He probably wasn't missing future-me, but his family. Except… most of them were killed by Crowy right at the beginning of the civil war. Sure, it happened 'off-screen' from my perspective, unlike what happened with Tracas (who was technically also Ollie's family), but the fact remained the same: people were dying here, and this was a situation that future-me fostered. Meaning, it was my fault. Maybe it was all necessary, but it still made me feel like crap.

My mood must've shown on my face, because Ollie hurriedly wiped his mouth and gave me a big smile. "But Uncle Polemos is here, so I'm not lonely."

"… You're a good kid, Beansprout."

I reached out to tousle his hair and then we continued our lunch in a slightly more sombre tone. Neither of them lasted long, and once I cleaned up the dishes, it was time for Ollie's afternoon nap. It wasn't just because he was a growing boy, but because the little rascal had stayed up late last night and he'd been a bundle of energy all morning. Despite that, it took only a minute for him to fall asleep after I tucked him in. Little kids were weird and fascinating creatures, weren't they?

Once I was sure he was sleeping like a log, I quietly slipped out of the cell and returned to mine, then I threw myself onto my bed and closed my eyes. Not to sleep, of course, just to think. This was my life for the foreseeable future; rest, read, play with a cute kid, and occasionally work on my theoretical contingency plans. It wasn't half as bad as I feared, but it wasn't a quarter as exciting as I hoped.

Maybe I could've been satisfied with this break from the usual routine, put everything out of my mind, and let future-me take care of everything. That wasn't my style though, and if there was nothing interesting to see here… well, my eyes weren't exactly confined here, now were they?

And so I whispered, "Let's see what everyone else's up to," as I closed my eyes again and cast my viewpoint across the Simulacrum…

Part 2

My capture caused much bigger waves than when I disappeared the last time, during the whole 'got blindsided by the Polemos business' incident back in January. Part of it was due to the Draconic Federation being less of a coherent faction back then, with much looser connections to the rest of the big factions of the World of Mystics. The other part was that at that time I didn't announce my departure in advance, so there were less eyes on me.

All in all, it led to a whole lot of emergency meetings all over the place. Emergency meetings in the Dracis mansion, emergency meetings under the school, more emergency meetings in Elysium, and heck, there were even some in the Abyss, where Crowy and his lackeys were busy discussing how to counter-respond to whatever response the rest of the world would give to my imprisonment.

It was all very exciting and interesting for the first couple of times, but when all of them ultimately boiled down to a back and forth of 'Should we do something?', followed by 'We should do something!', countered by 'But should we do something?', and concluded by 'There's something we should do!' before someone asked 'But what should we do? Something?' and then the whole thing starting over from the beginning. Riveting stuff.

In light of that, I tried my damnedest to avoid watching more meetings, but there was at least one gathering I couldn't help but feel curious about. Amidst all the exigency councils discussing the appointment of special committees to deliberate the potential contingency measures that may or may not be implemented in response to the current emergency, there was one group that had some slightly lower-stakes matters on their mind.

"I can't believe we're doing this while Brother's missing…"

Okay, so maybe only most of them had other things in mind, but it was still a breath of fresh air.

The 'extended gang', as I occasionally called it, all gathered together in living room of Josh's house. It included him, obviously, Angie, my girlfriends, my sisters, the class rep, and both Sahi and Pascal. I had no idea when the last two had wedged themselves into our group, but at this point they've been around enough to make their presence feel warranted.

They were all sitting around a familiar table from the kitchen, with piles and piles of notes and textbooks on display, plus the customary snacks in the middle. Forming a study group at this time of year wasn't all that surprising, considering that they were in the middle of exam season. In a little over a week, the academic year would be over and it was time for the summer break.

That should've been something to look forward to, but the atmosphere in the room was gloomier than usual, and it wasn't just because of the mountains of study materials looming over them.

"We can't do anything about that," the class rep responded to Penny's previous words. She let her notebook down onto the table and adjusted her glasses. "Not yet, in any case."

"Right. We can't skip the exams," Angie spoke a tad wearily and picked up a small bundle of salty crackers from the middle. "I need to get at least decent results if I want to apply to a good college next year."

"The adults also haven't decided what to do yet," Josh commented a touch dourly without looking up from his textbook.

"Yes, I get that, but…" Penny rubbed her face, clearly looking for words. Not for long though. "I mean, can't we just do it ourselves?"

That question caused Ammy to tweak her glasses again. Now that she no longer had the floaty orbs around, she was back to her usual self, which also meant she was doing her best to act as the common sense of the group.

"I don't know what you mean by 'it', but we can't act out of line now."

"Yeah, like…" Sahi chimed in while twirling a pencil around one of her fingers. "We need to, like, wait until we totally understand the whole situation, and then, like, there are still negotiations, and we also totally need the cooperation of the Abyssals to, like, get in there. You know? Like, lame stuff that takes time."

"I understand that, but… Brother never had to worry about these things!"

That outburst made Pascal raise a brow and say, "I do not believe that using Dunning as an example of how to deal with complex political matters is a wise idea."

"You heard him," Ammy backed him up in a heartbeat and pointed at Penny with her eraser. "We're all used to Leo just cutting through all the red tape and doing whatever he wanted because nobody could stop him, but since he's not around, we have to get used to playing things by the book. It's as simple as that."

Penny continued to pout, while Angie let out a wistful sigh and whispered, "We never knew how good we had it, huh?"

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't what Ammy was hinting at," her boyfriend chimed in from the side, but he was summarily ignored.

"Everyone seems to be distracted," my Abyssal sister spoke up next while placing her notes onto the table. "Why don't we take a short break?"

"We already took a break not too long ago," came the objection from the class rep right away. "We shouldn't lose our focus now."

"Oh?" Sahi's lips curved into a smirk and she reached out to poke her with the blunt end of her pencil. "Like, is Miss Honor Student worried about her grades, I wonder?"

"Of course I am!" she snapped back at her and let out an indignant huff. "I missed over a month's worth of classes, not counting the spring break! I need to catch up!"

After saying her piece, she picked up her notebook and purposefully raised it up to cover her face, effectively signalling how serious she was about the subject.

"That reminds me…" Penny spoke up again, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I wonder what's going to happen to Brother's exam results. Is he going to have to repeat a year?"

"Oh, that's, like, not gonna happen." The rejuvenated arch-mage's words caused a lot of eyebrows to rise around the table, so she hastily gestured at the class rep. "Like, didn't she tell you?"

"Tell us what?"

Josh's question prompted Ammy to let out a soft groan and let her notebook-shield down.

"Leo made a deal with Grandfather." Her voice was unusually glum, and she punctuated her sentence with another grunt. "I knew that he got an exemption for missing too many days on his attendance, but they went as far as to fake his exam results in advance."

"Meaning, he knew that he would be stuck down there before he ever set foot in the Abyss," Angie proclaimed as if she was revealing some universal truth, and slowly shook her head. "As Grandpa Deus would say it, it's such a Polemos thing to do." She paused and cocked her head to the side. "Though it's also a very Leo kinda thing to do too."

"Is there, like, even a difference?"

Sahi's question made the Celestial girl fall into deep consideration, but before she could come up with a response, Snowy raised her hand again.

"We're all being distracted right now. I really think we should take a short break."

"… Oh, fine," the class rep relented at last and put down her book.

"Good," Josh followed her example right away and put his hands on the table. "Since we're already talking about this, let me make sure we're all on the same page. Do we all agree that Leo got himself into this whole mess on purpose as part of one of his multi-step gambits?"

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Duh," Angie agreed with a cracker sticking out of her mouth.

"Then what are we going to do about it?"

Ammy turned to face him, her brows furrowed and her hand ready to reach for her glasses at any second.

"Didn't you hear Sahi? We can't do anything until the Draconic Federation, Elysium, and the Assembly reach a common ground. Not to mention, we need someone in the Abyss to even get inside, and arranging that will also take time, so…"

"I disagree." Ammy clearly didn't expect Josh to argue back, and he capitalized on her surprise to push on. "I don't mean I wanna invade the Abyss overnight. I get that we can't do that, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything."

"Ah! I agree!" Penny backed him up, and so he pushed even harder.

"Listen, guys. Before Leo left, he said I should take charge in his absence, and knowing him, this is precisely the kind of thing he was thinking about. We can't just sit back and let the adults argue it out between each other; we'll go nowhere like that!"

"Yeah! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I still agree!" my knightly sister was getting more hyped up by the second. In a way, they were steadily amplifying each other.

"Totally!"

Okay, make that three, with Sahi in tow. Seeing her enthusiastically raised fist, armband guy let out a shallow sigh and turned to Josh.

"I understand your sentiment, Bernstein, but you have to be more deliberate. If you act without a plan, then it would only sow more chaos and cause the decision-making process of the leadership to suffer even more setbacks."

"We already have a plan," he argued back and pointed at the class rep. "Right, Ammy?"

"W-What are you talking about?"

"You know? That thing you said in front of the Council and the rest," Josh insisted, sounding unusually forceful.

"That was just a theoretical idea." Seeing that he wouldn't relent, the class rep let out a sigh and readjusted her glasses. "Listen, I asked the Grimoire, and it should be possible, but to do it, I would need to go into the Abyss in person. I can't do that while being investigated."

She also tagged a quiet 'Not to mention, the exam season,' at the end of it, but Josh completely ignored it and kept pushing.

"That's right! In other words, once that's done with, then you can do it, and we can get things rolling." He pointedly glanced at Pascal and flashed a daredevil grin. "There. We've got the first stage of our plan: we need to get Ammy to be officially accepted as the Conduit's Grimoire."

"The Conduit of the Grimoire of the Last Truth," he corrected him, but before he could get another word in, he was overtaken by his enthusiastic… what was his relationship with Sahi again?

"But, like, Marzanna's totally not going to just accept that without a fight!"

"Lord Marzanna," armband-guy insisted, and his… companion let out a soft huff and rolled her eyes at him. He didn't take it to heart, probably because most of his attention was still on Josh.

"Then we'll take the fight to her!" he declared, making everyone around the table fall silent. "What? Guys, we've been fighting all kinds of stuff! Friedrich's giant robots and Draconians and assassins and those Celestial statue monsters and Bel of the freaking Abyss! A single arch-mage is not that big of a deal anymore."

"Stop that!" Ammy not only snapped at him, but she rose to her feet and planted her hands onto the table for extra oomph. "You can't resolve everything with brute violence! And even if you could, and beating up Lord Marzanna would somehow result in her turning a new leaf, dropping the charges, and I would get officially designated as the Conduit of the Grimoire, I still couldn't just leave for the Abyss whenever I wanted!"

"Why?" came the oblivious question from Penny, and when all eyes turned to her, she sputtered. "I-I mean, a-aren't the Conduit something like the legendary leaders of the Magi?"

"There was even a prophecy about it," Snowy added to support my knightly sister, and she repeatedly nodded for further emphasis.

"Right, that!"

Now all eyes were focused on Ammy, waiting for her reaction, and it was her turn to get flustered by the attention.

"E-Even if that's true, such positions come with great responsibility! Making a reckless and one-sided decision like that is just impossible, 'legendary leader' or not!"

There was a long beat of silence hanging over the table, soon broken when Josh leisurely pushed his chair back, rose to his feet, and then took half a step back, but only so that he could descend to one knee and present his girlfriend like an especially dramatic quiz show host showing off the big prize. Angie, currently in the process of stuffing her cheeks full of cheese puffs, was startled for a second, but then she quickly downed her half-finished can of coke and turned in her seat so that she could lightly kick at her boyfriend.

"Stop it! You're embarrassing me!"

"He's not wrong though," Snowy pointed out, followed by Penny nodding along a couple dozen times like the world's most agreeable bobblehead.

"That's, like, totally a precedent," Sahi agreed, and most of the group nodded along.

"Even if it is, you can't expect me to just demand the Assembly to do what I want!"

"Why not?" Josh fired the armour-piercing question as soon as he sat down again.

"Because…" The class rep tried her best to come up with a snappy answer, but before she could do so, she got interrupted by Angie's voice.

"Listen, girl," she spoke, though considering her golden eyes, it was Deus talking. "In times of peace, power and authority are restrained by the rules of society to ensure everyone's prosperity. In times of turmoil, power and authority exist to be wielded like a blade to cut through fear and indecision and reach directly for the heart of matters. This was a lesson Polemos taught me a long, long time ago, and one he lived by even in his second life. I recommend you also learn by his example."

Deus's world-weary words were followed by a spell of silence, unceremoniously dispelled by her pointing at the center of the table.

"Boy. Get me another bag of onion chips."

"Sure, sure…" Josh didn't argue and leaned forward to grab a pack, but then he immediately turned to the class rep again. "You heard the word. Let's do this."

The two of them locked eyes for a while, and for once, it was Ammy who flinched first.

"Fine!"

"All right!"

Before he could celebrate, she suddenly pointed a finger at him.

"However, only after we're done with the exams!"

"… Really?"

"I kinda agree," Angie, now back to her usual self, tore the bag of chips open and used one to gesture at Joshua. "I told you, I wanna get good grades this year."

"Fine, fine," the guy grumbled with his palms raised in surrender. "So first we finish the school year, then we force that Canadian arch-mage lady to drop her charges, and then we follow Ammy's suggestion. I dunno what you think, but that almost sounds like a plan to me."

"Half a plan, at most," armband guy quipped on the side, while my sisters looked rather crestfallen.

"But… But that's two more weeks!" Penny cried out in abject horror. "We can't leave Brother suffering for that long!"

"Please, do not be so over-dramatic," Pascal turned to her next, but the only thing that achieved was making him her primary target.

"I'm not! Don't you know? The Chasm of Desolation is a terrible place, filled with the worst criminals of the Abyss! Right, Snowy?"

My other sister, not expecting to be addressed like that out of the blue, could only muster a weak, "Y-Yes, sure…"

"You hear?" Penny barrelled on, practically swooning. "Imagine being trapped down there, without anyone to talk to or anything to do, and at the complete mercy of your enemies! We can't let him down like that!"

"I… agree with you, but the exams…" Ammy, caught between a rock and a hard place, was trying to reason herself out of this situation, but it was Snowy who managed to hit up a compromise first.

"H-How about this? We can do both at once? I-I mean, we don't really need to have good grades, just to pass the end-of-the-year exams, so we study with that in mind while also working on the arch-mage and the Conduit of the Grimoire position?"

"That sounds kinda iffy, but I don't think we have any other option," Josh concluded and swept his eyes over the whole group. "Does anyone have any objections?" There was none, so he let out a relieved breath and sat up straight in his seat, only to freeze up for a moment when he saw Sahi provocatively eyeing him. "Yes? Is there something else?"

"Like, I know you're totally stoked, but like, do you really think you can take on an arch-mage?"

Josh eyed her back and defiantly crossed his arms.

"I'm sure we can manage."

"Like, you couldn't beat me."

"Sahi…"

Armband guy's hiss of a warning went in one ear and out the other. Meanwhile, Josh raised a single eyebrow at her provocation and responded with a daredevil smirk.

"Oh? Is that a challenge?" He unfurled one hand and lazily pointed at her. "You do realize that I'm not the same as I was back then."

"Like, big words, tough guy."

While those two continued to bicker, Ammy shook her head and gestured at Angie.

"Let's get back to studying."

"Aye, aye, capt'n!"

The class rep subtly rolled her eyes at the cheeky response and muttered, "Why can't everyone be serious about the exams like…"

Her words ended up trailing off into silence and she aimed a suspicious squint at my girlfriends. Judy and Elly, sitting at the other end of the table, were completely immersed in some math exercises as if the previous conversation had nothing to do with them. She ended up addressing them directly after but a second of hesitation.

"You two have been quiet for a while now."

"Ah, sorry. We're kind of caught up in this geometry problem," the princess responded glibly and showed off her worksheet. "Judy says this isn't the right answer, but she's refusing to tell me where I made a mistake."

"Because realizing it on your own is a learning experience," my other girlfriend noted with mild disinterest, her eyes moving back and forth between her phone's screen and her textbook.

Meanwhile, Ammy continued to scrutinize them, and after about half a minute, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"You don't seem too worried about what's going on with Leo."

"Erm…" Elly put her pen down and scratched her chin. "It's Leo, so… you know?"

"What she's trying to say," Judy interjected without looking up, "Is that we trust that the Chief is all right and that he'll come back in one piece, so we try not to stress over it."

In reality, we kind of agreed in advance that trying to act constantly concerned about my fate in public was too much of a hassle, so I told them not to even bother with it and just act natural. With our track record, I doubted anyone would really drill them about getting desensitised to these kinds of situations, and it was better to appear consistently unfazed than inconsistently distressed.

In the back, Angie had been listening in on the three and she cupped her cheeks with her hands, framing a silly grin.

"Oooh? Is this the power of love?"

Caught off-guard by the question, Elly only giggled, while Judy finally looked up and responded with an extra deadpan, "More like the power of patience."

Uh-oh. Nobody else in the room realized, but that was extraordinarily sulky by Judy's standards. Did that mean that future-me didn't notify them about the sudden change of plans?

…

Note to self: put some extra elbow grease into my contingency plan, before Judy would get genuinely mad at me for once.

Part 3

After a couple of tumultuous days, order has slowly returned to the underground base as routine reasserted itself and everyone got busy dealing with their duties on the daily. There was still a sense of tension though. The trainings grounds were booked from morning till curfew, and the Fauns conspicuously shifted their attention from renovation projects and were always seen around the armoury.

The Research Division was also abuzz, though it was more with excitement, and in my absence, Fred somehow managed to convince everyone that we needed giant robots, just to be safe. If I could, I would've Phased over to whack him over the top of his head, but sadly I could only fume and watch as he diverted funds to his pet project. Once all of this was over, it was high time I kicked his ass. And the collective asses of the Research Society guys. Plus the people who failed to notice all of this.

Damn, I had lots of asses to kick. Maybe I should start making a list.

That thought aside, there was one particular group in the base that drew my attention, and so I focused on them, if only to take my mind off the other annoyances.

"This way, Brother Naoren!"

"Yes! Come this way, quick!"

The dragon/miko duo was full of energy as always and they were practically dragging the Feilong patriarch down the corridors of the second floor. It's where the second barracks were built to house the influx of new personnel after the Knights got integrated into our group, and while most of them were bunk lodgings, the executives had their personal quarters in the same area.

"Please, slow down." The kids ignored his pleas, so Naoren did his best to keep up with them, his expression showing signs of anxiety. "Has Lady Rinne truly requested for me?"

His question made the girls twitch and Ichiko turned on her heel and started walking backwards while explaining, "N-No, not directly, but Naoren-san is the only one who can help Rinne-san right now!"

"Help with what exactly?"

"Sister Rinne thinks she failed Brother Leonard," Xiao told him, her small hands still clasped around his forearm and pulling. "Brother Naoren must do something before it's too late!"

"Too late?"

Before he could've gotten a straight answer, the three of them came to a halt in front of a metal door with Mountain Girl's name engraved on a plate at eye level. The two girls stood at the sides of the entrance and gestured for the Feilong patriarch to enter straight away. He didn't do so and continued to eye them for a while, but he eventually resigned himself to playing along all the same. He adjusted his sleeves, then his lapels, and finally his glasses before he inhaled deeply and reached for the doorknob.

The room on the other side was like a yawning maw of darkness, and he uttered an uneasy, "Lady Rinne?"

"N-Naoren-san? Don't come in! Rinne is…" It was at this point that the man found the light switch on the wall, and as soon as he flipped it over, Mountain Girl let out a shrill "Eeep!"

Honestly, when I first heard that she was freaking out over what happened to me, I was genuinely afraid that she would do something stupid. Like that dumb seppuku stuff, because of the whole honour-bound ninja retainer thing she was all about. Luckily even she wasn't that irrational, but the way she dealt with the situation was still pretty silly.

"Go, Naoren-san! You can do it!"

Hearing Ichiko's carefree urging made the bespectacled man's expression cloud over. It only lasted for but a blink of an eye, and then he slowly approached the bed at the far end of the rather eclectic room filled with a combinator of utilitarian ready-to-assemble furniture hidden under a mountain of Japanese paraphernalia, from bright Daruma dolls and those maneki neko cat statuettes to hanging scrolls and way too many brightly coloured instant noodle cups piled into a small pyramid.

In the center of it all, Rinne was hidden under multiple layers of blankets with only her face showing. She was a bit unkempt, but in that 'still pretty attractive' kind of way you would expect from an important character in the scenario.

"Lady Rinne… is everything all right?"

She didn't respond right away, so Naoren slowly inched closer and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Rinne is not all right. Rinne is a failure."

"What? Don't say that." He tried to reach under the blanket to hold her hand, but he must've touched something else, because she let out another startled 'Eeep!', much to his embarrassment and the little girls' amusement. He sent them a stern glance, and he must have found her hand at last, as he sucked in a deep breath and spoke up again. "Please don't blame yourself for what happened to Brother Leonard."

Mountain Girl blinked in surprise and then gave the man one of those looks that screamed 'What is this weirdo talking about?', though this time made slightly more nebulous by her flushed face and droopy eyelids.

"Rinne doesn't."

"… You don't?" She shook her head, and I could almost see the question marks circling over Naoren's head. "Then… why have you secluded yourself here?"

"Because Rinne is a failure."

"Yes, you already said that," the Feilong patriarch responded with the patience of a saint. If it was me, she would've already gotten a bonk on the head, but I digress. "But if it's not about his capture, then what could you possibly mean?"

She shuddered and averted her eyes.

"Leonard-dono didn't tell Rinne about Leonard-dono's plans."

"Alleged plans," Naoren interjected, but she continued on without any reaction.

"That means Rinne wasn't trustworthy enough. Rinne is a failure as a retainer."

"Erm… I mean no offense, Lady Rinne, but Brother Leonard didn't tell anyone about his plans. Not me, not Sir Arnwald, not even his fiancées."

"But Rinne already knows things that others don't, so Rinne should've been told what to do…"

"You can't blame yourself for that. If anything, it's Brother Leonard's fault."

Ouch.

"Rinne knows, but blaming one's daimyo is unbefitting of a retained, even if Leonard-dono was clearly at fault."

Double-ouch.

"As a trusted retainer, Lady Rinne must also be honest. Let's tell Brother Leonard together once this is all over."

"Tell what?"

"That he should trust you more." He must've squeezed her hand under the blanket again, as she flushed bett red once more. "I'll be by your side, and together we'll make him understand his error."

"Rinne… would like that."

That was followed by a long spell of silence that, were this a soap-opera, would've been accompanied by the sappiest romantic music possible… followed by a record-scratch when Xiao let out a happy-go-lucky "Yay!" in the doorway. Followed by Ichiko giving them a thumbs up. And the other ninjas doing the same.

Oh, did I mention that there were other Kage ninjas clustered around the entrance? Because they were. I had no idea when they got there, since my attention was on the duo inside the room, but in my defence, they were ninjas. Highly visible or not, being sneaky was part of the job description.

Displeased, Naoren stood up and walked over to the door to unceremoniously shut it, and then he returned to Rinne's side.

"I can understand the children, but to think even the other retainers would engage in such tomfoolery." He shook his head and gently pulled the blankets off Mountain Girl's head. "You see, Lady Rinne? Your presence is needed to maintain order."

"Rinne understands, but…" She had a hard time meeting the bespectacled man's eyes, and she mumbled something along the lines of, "Now Rinne is ashamed that Naoren-san had to see Rinne like this…"

"You need not worry. I'm willing to support you any time."

"But Rinne can't just inconvenience Naoren-san like that…" She finally managed to look him in the eye and, after another long beat, firmly declared, "Rinne will replay Naoren-san!"

"Do you mean 'repay'?" She tilted her head in confusion, so the young patriarch hastily waved his hand, as if chasing a fly. "Never mind. You really don't have to."

"No. Rinne must. Naoren-san may ask anything, and Rinne will do it!"

"There's no need… But…" Naoren must've only just realized that they were alone in the room, because his expression grew tense, maybe even a little flushed. He hastily cleared his throat. "I mean… if Lady Rinne insists, then… may I make a request?"

She responded with a determined nod that felt a bit comical, considering that she was still cocooned in a pile of blankets from the neck down.

"Yes! Anything!"

"In that case… can I see them again?" She only blinked in confusion at Naoren's question, so the man cleared his throat for a second time. "I mean… Lady Rinne's cat ears."

"… H-Hentai."

"No, Lady Rinne, please don't misunderstand! I have no ulterior motives, I just wish to admire them aesthetically and…"

Okay, that was enough of that. I thought there was going to be something important discussed here, but it turned out to be just Rinne overreacting and then Naoren overreaching in some weird rom-com shenanigans. I thought they would've been over the UST stage, considering they were officially engaged (and not in the 'contract marriage' kind of way), but I figured it would take a bit longer. Anyhow, I left them to their private life and moved on.

But speaking of UST, the next pair I found in the base also had some of that going on, and I found them bickering in my own office of all places.

"… does this have to happen now of all times, when I finally decided to support My Lady!?"

Hearing Tajana's complaints, Roland looked up from his paperwork and let out an overt sigh. He was sitting behind my desk and filing some documents in my absence, as usual. I often had him take care of things like that while I was busy elsewhere (or just couldn't be bothered), so he must've been doing them out of habit.

Meanwhile, the young spymaster kept pacing up and down in front of the desk. For a change, both of them were in business casual, which made sense; Roland wouldn't be doing office work in his Uniformer, while Tajana would've stuck out like a sore thumb in either her gothic dress or her indoor slacker outfit. She even had her hair done up into a tidy bun to look more professional, though her Neapolitan colours remained the same.

"Have you only switched sides because you thought she was on the winning side then?"

Roland's phlegmatic question made her stop in her tracks and glare at him.

"What? No! I mean, I didn't throw my lot in with My Lady for such shallow reasons… but that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to be on the winning side, too!"

"So you think we're now on the losing side."

"That's the problem! I have no idea!" she snapped and planted her hands on the desk, nearly toppling over some documents. "This is so vexing, and you're not helping!"

"Then why are you complaining to me?" the Knight asked with a brow raised, and after a short beat, Tajana stood straight and crossed her arms with a huff.

"I can't exactly bother My Lady with my worries. Penelope either. They're already anxious about Leonard's well-being, I can't expect them to shoulder my own doubts and fears."

"That still didn't answer the question of why you're bothering me," Roland insisted in a flat voice, and it made Tajana's expression twist into a red grimace.

"You know exactly why! It's because you're the only other person I can talk to about these things!" She must've realized what that implied, because she hastily folded her arms again and tried to look provocative. "A-And it's not like you have lots of people who would listen to your complaints either!"

"What does that have to do with…?"

Before he could finish, Tajana pointed a finger at him.

"Listen here! I know that bottling up everything and swallowing it down is the 'macho' thing you people like to do, but it's seriously unhealthy! And don't try to tell me you have nothing to complain about! Look at all this extra work you have to do now!"

"I'm used to it," Roland responded off-handedly and put down his pen. "Also, for the record, I'm not bottling up anything. I'm simply tallying my grievances, and I will let Leonard know them all as soon as he returns."

That… sent chills down my spine for some reason, but the conversation didn't stop, so I had no time to dwell on it.

"You think he will?"

"I'm positive."

"… You have a lot of faith in him."

"Just as much as you have in 'Your Lady'," he quipped back, and before she could react, he grabbed the finger still pointing at him.

"Eeek! What are you doing, you… you brute!"

Ignoring her outburst, Roland continued his previous train of thought without a hitch.

"Which reminds me: I understand why she's first on the list of people you trust here, but how come I'm the third?"

"W-What? Are you going to make fun of me because I don't have enough associates up here?"

"No… but it does bother me," he whispered and pulled her closer until her hips hit the other end of the desk. She didn't seem to mind and continued to argue with him instead.

"T-That's just because I haven't had time to establish myself here! I let you know, I'm quite popular in the Abyss! Even people who aren't part of House Inanna know of me!"

"… That also bothers me."

"A-And what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know yet," Roland responded with the same, stone-faced expression, but then was an unusual glint in his eyes. "Maybe I'll aim for the number two spot first?"

"W-What do you…?!"

Aaand cut. Seriously, did my absence cause one of those weird biological flight-or-fight reactions that made everyone extra flirty in a stressful situation? Or was that just a trope? In any case, there was nothing new to see there, so I decided to move on. In particular, all of this 'My Lady' this and 'Milady' that reminded me of Melinda, and by proxy the Princess, so I decided to check on them.

What would you know, they were actually in close proximity, and when I cast my Far Sight over, I saw the blonde chamber maid pushing a food trolley down the hallway leading to my girlfriend's room. She came to a halt in front of the door and politely yet firmly tapped on it three times.

"Come in!" came the familiar voice of my princess from the other side, and so Melinda deftly flicked the door open and pushed in the food card without making contact with anything or disturbing the cold cut plates and homemade lemonade on display. A professional maid was something else all right.

Once inside, she closed the door behind herself and did a simple curtsy.

"Milady, Lady Judy. I brought refreshments."

Elly wasn't alone in the room. Both of my girlfriends were sitting at the edge of the large queen-sized Victorian-style bed, surrounded by open textbooks and stationery.

"Thank you, Melinda. Very considerate," my dear assistant noted without looking up from her notepad.

"Ah, I was just getting thirsty!" my other girlfriend beamed at her and skipped over to the food trolley.

Meanwhile, the chamber-maid kept looking at Judy and the study materials around her and exhaled a short breath through her nose, eyes full of determination.

"How are the exam preparations proceeding, Lady Judy?"

"So-so," she responded in her usual deadpan voice, but Melinda didn't relent.

"The chef especially recommended the beef salad today. I think you will enjoy it."

"I'm sure I will, thank you."

She kept eyeing my girlfriend, then glanced at the happy-go-lucky princess before whispering directly to her.

"Milady. Lady Judy seems stressed. You should encourage her to take a break."

"I can hear you," my extra-deadpan assistant noted with feigned disinterest.

"She's not wrong thought," Elly backed Melinda up and pointed at the platter. "Let's take a snack break!"

"I'm sure it will help to take your mind off Master Leonard," the maid added, and goddamit… I thought I finally found a place that wasn't talking about my disappearance.

"I don't need to take my mind off anything," my secretly rather sulky Dormouse snapped at her, but she eventually put her book down and got off the bed anyway.

"Are you not worried then?"

That was a loaded question, and the princess was quick on the uptake.

"Melinda, please! Judy's just…"

"I'm more annoyed than anything," Judy admitted, much to Elly's surprise. She also picked up a large toothpick and poked the beef salad. "The Chief should've given us at least some sign of life by now."

"Knowing Master Leonard, I wouldn't be surprised if he walked through the door any moment now, as if nothing was out of the ordinary." Melinda's words made all three of them glance at the door in unison, but when nothing happened, she didn't break a sweat and added, "It was worth a try."

Wait… Was she aware of the comedic timing tropes, or was I just getting that predictable? Either way, she was off the mark this time, and the disappointment on my girlfriends' faces was subtle yet palpable.

"I'm sure Leo's fine," Elly insisted while picking up a toothpick of her own. "I bet he's looking at us right now." She skewered a piece of steamed meat and put it in her mouth, and only then did she notice the weird look Melinda was giving her and she hastily amended, "I-I mean, in his mind's eye… or something…"

"If he does, I hope he soon contacts us, or I will have no choice but to start hating him for an unspecified amount of time."

What the…? She was even looking vaguely in the direction of my point of view when she said that! Was I seriously getting so predictable?

"I hope that you're right," Melinda stated in a subdued voice and gave the girls a tidy bow. "Please, don't forget to rest well between your studies."

Elly waved her goodbye, and she soon left the room, leaving only my girlfriends and the cold-cut platters in her wake. That, and an odd silence, eventually broken by Elly drinking a glassful of lemonade and letting out a pleased sigh.

"Haaah, that was refreshing! Maybe Melinda's right and we need a break."

"Maybe," Judy agreed, if tentatively, and rubbed the back of her neck. "My shoulders are getting stiff."

"Oh, oh! Do you want a massage? I asked for some tips from our masseuse the other day and I'm itching to put them to practice!"

"You have a masseuse?"

"Of course we do," the princess answered as if the question was preposterous and gestured towards the bed. "Come on! It'll be fun!"

"Fine."

With that, my slightly morose assistant… threw off her clothes? And laid down onto the bed in just her under— Wait, Elly was undressing too? This really was just a massage, right? It looked like it, but when Elly hopped over to straddle Judy's back while only in her undies and bra…

Was this a prank? Did they expect that I was watching, and they did this just to tease me? Was I on the receiving end of some 5D chess move? Or was this just an extension of their massage practice from the other day?

Whatever the case might've been, I once again couldn't help but wonder how they could ever be surprised by the rumours about their physical relationship spreading in the Dracis mansion when they acted like that… and also couldn't help but have some unusually lewd urges when looking at them. It was probably because I already got primed by those previous scenes of UST.

Oh, but speaking of which, I decided to give those another quick glance. Just out of curiosity, to see if they went anywhere, and…

"N-Nya! N-Naoren-san, yamete kudasai! Rinne is s-sensitive!"

"Please forgive me, but… they're so soft. I can't contain myself."

… caught Naoren fondling Rinne's cat ears. What was this I didn't even…

Let's just ignore the two alleged adults engaging in some weird-ass foreplay and move on, shall we? Nothing to see here, nothing to…

"Ah! Nhh! You're being too rough!"

…

What the shit, Roland!?

"Do you want me to stop?" the man holding onto the Abyssal woman propped against the desk asked with an unusually mischievous smile, and…

"No, don't stop."

… they went right back at it! In my office, of all places! What are you, hormonal teenagers?! No, wait. Even our actually hormonal actual teenagers had more sense and impulse control than to do it in an office, let alone mine! I hoped they at least locked the door…

Ugh, that needed a palette cleanser. Quick; something nice and wholesome. Such as…

"Hey, Angie? Where's the lubricant?"

Fuuuuu…!

"Under the wrenches. Why?"

"The drive chain could use some oiling, and… Ah, there it is."

… No, wait. False alarm.

Looking more closely, Angie and Josh were in the garage of the latter's home. The Celestial girl was lounging on a stool next to a tool cabinet and playing some kind of match-three game or somesuch on her phone, while her boyfriend was kneeling next to his moped, his sleeves rolled up and arms smeared with grease and soot up to his elbows.

"Do we really have to do this today?" Angie enquired as she pointed at the bright blue sky visible through the open garage door. "We finally decided to take a break from studying, and we could be out there doing something fun, but instead we're just stuck in here. The weather is so nice."

"I know, but this is important," Josh argued back and grabbed a small wrench. "I need the old girl to be in top condition because you can never know when we could need it. In case of an emergency, I mean." He twirled the tool in his hand and pointed at the outside. "Imagine we get a call that the Abyssals are attacking, or that arch-mage lady is throwing a fit, and we're needed on the scene."

"Yeah, but…" She also gestured towards the open garage door, or rather the afternoon sky beyond it. "We can fly, dum-dum."

"Not during the daytime, we can't," he huffed and pointed at her with the wrench in turn. "Heck, we shouldn't be flying during the nighttime either. It's a small miracle nobody got busted, with everyone having a smartphone with a camera nowadays and all that jazz."

"I get that, but showing up to a battle on a moped isn't super-impressive."

"Beats taking the bus," he fired back, and she could only muster a shrug before returning to her game.

Meanwhile, Josh finished up whatever he was doing secured the casing onto the side of the moped and stood up.

"All right! Wanna go for a test ride?"

He reached out towards the Celestial girl, but she reeled back like a cat seeing a cucumber.

"Hey! Stay back! You're black and oily and smudgy!"

Josh was stumped for a moment and stared at his hands, but then his lips abruptly parted into an impish grin.

"Hey, Angie? Do you remember last year's field trip, when you drew whiskers on my face with permanent marker?"

"Uh… N-No?"

He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers.

"Let me jog your memory!"

He leapt at her, but she was one step faster.

"Hyaa! Help!"

"Kahaha! No one shall save you today!" Josh responded with a hammy Snidey Whiplash kind of voice and rushed after her until both of them disappeared through the side door connecting the garage to a room of the house (which, considering the layouts of our homes were roughly the same, was probably the kitchen).

Looking at them, I couldn't help but feel wistful. It was so nice to have a good friend to horse around with. Doubly so if it was a girlfriend. It was so nice and cosy and wholesome and…

"Kyaaaa!"

Let's ignore the blood-curdling screams of despair for the moment. Doing so, I returned to my body and let out a pent-up breath, followed by a solid minute of vacillation. Truth be told, I was planning to stay put a little longer, but after all I'd seen just today (and no, I didn't mean just the lewd stuff), I just couldn't put it off any longer.

"Ollie?"

"Yes, Uncle?" He responded just as I walked out of my cell, and he immediately backed away from the television and gave me a surprised yet intrigued look-over. "Wow! Why are you dressed up?"

I rolled my shoulders a bit to ease myself into the fancy aristocratic garbs that took up a slot in my Leoformer's memory. Once I was sure I looked presentable, I flashed a smile at my little cell-block-mate.

"Uncle has to step out for a bit. Be good while I'm away, okay?"

He nodded, though his expression was still unsure, so I tousled his hair a bit to reassure him. Once he stopped giggling, I turned on my heels and followed the tangled mess of extension cords towards the stairs leading up. I wasn't planning to start working on my contingency plan in earnest so soon, but the heart was a fickle mistress that was hard to ignore. Also, I couldn't exactly let Judy start hating me indefinitely, now could I?