The Goddess of Love’s Divine Domain, Eliza’s House (Eliza POV)

The sound of slurping drowned out Reina’s panicked cries as I sipped the last of my fruit juice through my straw before tossing the empty cup to my side. The straw fell out as the cup rolled around on the floor next to the sofa where I was currently lying down on my side while watching Reina flail her arms around in a panic.

“W-What do I do now, Lady Eliza!?” (Reina)

“Calm down, Reina. You definitely poked your aunt with the arrow, right?” (Eliza)

“Y-Yeah, I went straight to her office after you gave me the arrow and poked her in the arm with it as soon as my professor left the room.” (Reina)

“Did she fall asleep right after?” (Eliza)

“S-She did. I just left her there after I poked her too, just like you said.” (Reina)

“It’ll be fine then. She fell asleep right after you poked her, which means the arrow’s working. It might take a bit to get through her system, but once she wakes up, the arrow should be in full effect within ten minutes.” (Eliza)

“W-What do I tell my aunt though!? To her, it just looked like I came into her office and stabbed her with an arrow the moment we were alone!” (Reina)

“Eh, you’ll be fine. Being the absolute genius that I am, I already anticipated that problem with the arrows when I made them, so I had them enchanted with a spell to erase any memories before getting stabbed. All the arrow will do is amplify her innermost feelings, there aren’t even any side effects.” (Eliza)

“R-Really? That’s great then...” (Reina)

Eliza held her hand up to her chest and let out a relieved sigh before holding out an arrow in her hands as she stared at me like a cute puppy.

“What do I do with this arrow now though?” (Reina)

The simple looking arrow in her hands was on the smaller side, about a foot and a half long, and the original pinkish luster that coated the surface of the arrow was now faint and beginning to dull.

“Here, just give it to me.” (Eliza)

I snatched the arrow out of Reina’s hands and threw it behind the sofa into a small wooden box full of dozens of similar looking arrows as I let out a yawn.

Now, I bet you’re wondering what these arrows are. Well, they were the result of a failed plan to get some new believers a few hundred years back when I was running a little low on faith energy. The arrows were imbued with the natural law of love by yours truly, along with a number of additional smaller effects, and the basic idea was that anyone who got poked with one would have the natural law of love injected into them.

You see, the natural law of love is one of the milder natural laws, and since people who have good mana control or the ability to manipulate natural laws would be able to sense the injection and expel it, I enchanted the arrows with a spell to erase any memory of getting injected, along with a high-level sleep spell so anyone who got poked would immediately fall asleep to help ease the assimilation of the natural laws of love into their system. The end result was the one time use arrow that Reina just handed back to me.

By the time the victim wakes up, the injection of natural laws would’ve melded in to the point of being virtually undetectable, and the deepest feelings in their heart towards the first person they see would be amplified for the next 24 hours. Even after the effects of the arrows end, most of them end up with more feelings while trying to chase that after that high again. The level of amplification varies depending on how strong the person getting poked was, but on an average person, it should be around a hundred times.

And so, you’re probably thinking that this arrow sounds great, why am I not using it more? Well, you see, that’s what I thought too, and I spent a lot of time and effort making the few dozen arrows in the box behind me, but the moment I proudly showed off my creation to Olivia for her ok, she got angry and started ranting about my complete and utter violation of personal rights or some nonsense like that so I just threw them in a box that’s been sitting in storage ever since. I mean, I admit the arrows did kind of force things a little... but Ky told me that if we wanted to get new believers, some more severe measures would have to be taken, and I believe that in times of crisis, petty things like personal rights can be partially ignored.

Anyway, about two hours ago, Reina came over crying about how she was afraid her aunt was going to kill her professor or something like that, and since Olivia wasn’t here when she came by, it fell onto me, the beautiful and kind Goddess of Love, Eliza Strateous, to help my loyal subordinate. So after rummaging around the closet for a bit, the old box of arrows caught my eye and I bestowed upon my loyal subordinate another divine artifact to aid her in her plight. Judging by what Reina told me about her aunt, she’s a pretty strong magician who’s already on the level of manipulating natural laws, so the arrow’s effect should be largely diluted, but I’m estimating that it’ll still be around ten times amplification. Well, anyway, if she really, truly hates Reina’s professor deep on the inside, there’s not much I can do there, but from what I heard, even when Reina’s professor really pissed her off, he still got out of it relatively unscathed, so my divine intuition as the Goddess of Love is telling me that she kinda likes him on the inside and she’s just too embarrassed to openly express her feelings. As long as Reina’s aunt has even the tiniest bit of goodwill in her innermost feelings, all the arrow’s gonna do is help mend the rift between them. So by giving Reina the arrow, not only am I solving her problem, but I’m also doing my job as a goddess properly and speeding up the development of a possible new relationship. Everything will turn out fine.

Hmm, I should probably send Reina back now. Her problem is solved already and honestly, I’m feeling kinda sleepy too.

“So, is there anything else you need help with?” (Eliza)

“No, this is more than enough. Thank you, Lady Eliza!” (Reina)

Reina gave me a flustered bow as I stretched my arms out a little on the couch.

“Alright, then I’ll send you back down. By the way, you said that your professor was going to be alone in the office with your aunt for a while right?” (Eliza)

“Yeah, I think so.” (Reina)

“Perfect. All you have to do is make sure that your professor is the first person your aunt sees when she wakes up and everything will be fine, so don’t let anyone else get in or else this whole plan might go down the gutter.” (Eliza)

“Got it! No one else will get into that office without going through me first!” (Reina)

Reina gave me a salute with a determined look in her eyes as I slowly got up off the couch and started making my way outside. She followed behind me and once we got to the ritual grounds, I quickly sent her back down to the main plane.

After going back into the house, I walked by the sofa and stared at the empty cup and straw on the ground for a moment before turning and walking over to my room.

Well, I should pick up after myself, but I’m pretty tired and Olivia will be back soon anyway, so it’s all good.

I jumped into my bed and pulled the blanket over myself as its warmth slowly enveloped me. I began to drift off into sleep when suddenly, I remembered something really important that I forgot to mention to Reina about the arrow earlier.

Ah, wait. Now I remember why I didn’t just ignore Olivia and use the arrows anyway. The person who gets poked will have the natural law of love build up in their body over the course of the day and they need to interact with the first person they see as an outlet or else it might result in permanent brain damage… Eh, Reina’s aunt and professor are co-workers aren’t they? They’ll be in the same place for work tomorrow anyway, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Royal Academy, Room 207 (Mari POV)

W-What do I do now? Should I just go in and act like nothing happened?... But what do I say to Ky!? Argh!

I held my head in my hands and furiously shook it back and forth as I hid in the empty hallway near the open door to room 207. My hair was slightly disheveled from the almost sleepless night yesterday hugging my pillow and rolling around in bed for hours while desperately trying to get the fuzzy feelings about Ky out of my head, and I barely even made it to work by noon today.

I quickly popped my head past the door frame slightly and peeked inside to see Ky leaning back in his chair with a relaxing smile on his face and a book in his hand as the sunlight pouring in through the window illuminated the peaceful scene in the room. I shyly stared at him in silence for another moment as memories of yesterday evening came flooding back into my head again and a slight blush began to form on my face. I immediately ducked back around the corner and leaned against the wall as I held my hand against my chest and closed my eyes while feeling my heart beat rapidly.

I stood there in silence for a few more minutes as my heartbeat calmed down and I took a deep breath before peeking around the corner again while preemptively plastering an annoyed expression on my face and glaring intensely at Ky, who was starting class again after lunch ended. I saw him freeze up for a moment once I glared at him, and my eyes shone as I saw my opportunity to enter like nothing ever happened.

Alright! Calm down, Mari. You’re gonna walk into the room and make your way over to Reina like nothing happened at all yesterday, so whatever you do, don’t let anyone know about what happened yesterday night, especially not Ky. Remember, you’re just here to make sure Reina is ok, not for Ky.

I took another deep breath and nodded to myself in reassurance before straightening my back and proudly walking into the room with a sense of resolve. The sound of my exaggerated footsteps interrupted the class and everyone stared at me walk into the room as I took a quick glance around to take in my surroundings. My legs went into autopilot as my line of sight scanned over the three boys in Ky’s class sitting together on one side of the room before making its way over to Reina sitting together with her friend on the other side of the room, and finally, it came to a stop on the person standing right in front of me, Ky, who was staring at me with a nervous smile on his face. My entire body froze up and I stopped in my tracks as my previous facade of confidence melted away instantly like an ice cube in a fire while sweat poured down my back as I struggled to keep the fake expression plastered on my face.

Argh! Mari, you idiot, why did you just mindlessly walk towards him!

I just stared back awkwardly at Ky without a word as my internal screams echoed around in my mind before Ky’s voice brought me back to reality.

“Uh… hey Mari, what’s up?” (Kyle)

Royal Academy, Room 207 (Kyle POV)

It was a beautiful sunny day in the capital city and I was sitting in my chair waiting to start class again as I passed the remainder of the lunch period reading another cheesy romance novel. The sound of chattering permeated the room and I had a relaxed smile on my face as I basked in the warm sunshine blanketing me. The last few dregs of the lunch period passed by while I relished this rare peaceful moment before I moved my line of sight from my book over to the clock where I saw that it was about time to start class up again. I put my book down before getting up and glancing around the room to see that everyone was ready. For some reason, Mari wasn’t here today, but she probably just had something more important to do.

“Alright guys, it’s about time to resume cla-” (Kyle)

The classroom quieted down and I was about to finish my sentence when suddenly I felt an intense glare from behind the door focus on me. I froze up. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw the top of Mari’s head peeking past the door frame as she glared at me ferally like a predator stalking its prey.

Hey! What did I do this time!? I taught class normally today!

Her eyes flashed with a sharp glint and she revealed herself from behind the door frame before entering with slightly disheveled hair, messy clothes, and an irritated expression on her face. There was silence as everyone watched her glance around the room and mechanically walk up to me before stopping in her tracks. She stared at me for a moment with blank eyes and cold sweat rolled down my back as my originally relaxed smile started wavering.

“Uh… hey Mari, what’s up?” (Kyle)

We stood there in awkward silence for another moment before Mari grabbed my arm with an empty look on her face while I stared back with a mixture of nervousness and confusion.

“Um… do you need something?” (Kyle)

“K-Ky, gimme the budgeting book, I need to double check it.” (Mari)

Crap! Is she onto me!? Did she finally find out about the budget I stole from the weapons department to fix the room!? Or was it the custom-made mithril spatula I used the magic department budget to buy!? Maybe it was even that time last week I used the cafeteria budget to buy groceries! A-Anyway, no matter what it is, I definitely can’t let her have the budgeting book back!

“Sorry, I, uh, left it at home today. You know what, I’ll give it back to you first thing tomorrow.” (Kyle)

I could feel my heart rate rising as I gave Mari a panicked smile, but she just tilted her head down so that her hair obscured her face and stared at the ground in silence while still holding onto my arm. I stood there desperately pleading in my head for Mari to just let it go and sit down as even more cold sweat ran down my back.

After a moment she slowly let go of my arm and walked over to my desk in a hurry, then proceeded to open my satchel and rummage through my belongings before pulling out the budgeting book. She turned around and began to walk over to her usual seat next to Reina when I ran over and grabbed her shoulder to stop her as I used my other hand to snatch the budgeting book out of her hands before giving Mari a nervous laugh.

“Mari, please don’t invade my privacy like that. This is my... lesson planning notebook. Like I told you I left the budgeting book at home today, so just wait a little bit, and I’ll give it back to you tomorrow.” (Kyle)

A few seconds passed as I slowly let go of her, but the moment my arm completely let go of her, I caught a glimpse of her shaky smile as she twirled around and jumped for the budgeting book in my hand. I immediately threw the book behind her towards the boys where Halbert accidentally caught it in a panic.

Damn it, looks like she won’t just let this one go. Sorry kids, but I guess class is postponed today. I’ll have to get Mari as far away as possible and keep her busy for a while until I can find a chance to sneak back and hide the book somewhere!

“Halbert, take that book and run for your life! It doesn’t matter what you do with it, just keep it away from the headmistress!” (Kyle)

“Eh!? What!?” (Halbert)

He fumbled around with it in his hands as I hugged Mari tightly to hold her back before a few light green magic circles appeared between me and Mari. A large blast of air separated me from her and I helplessly flew backward into the wall as Mari ran up to Halbert, quickly snatching the budgeting book from his hands before making her way over to Reina’s side, sitting down, and opening the book.

Crap! I’m done for! She’ll kill me after she finds out what I actually did with the budget!

I slammed my fists against the floor in reluctant defeat for a few seconds before letting out a depressed sigh as I slowly got up off the floor under the confused looks of my students and restarted class for what could very well be my last day teaching.

Royal Academy, Room 207 (Mari POV)

I gave Reina a shaky goodbye as all the students in Ky’s class began to leave the room. It was well into the afternoon now and Ky was sitting dejectedly at his desk while I stayed in my seat. I slightly lowered the budgeting notebook that I was using to shield my red face before sneaking another glance at Ky as memories of his sudden hug from earlier ran through my head.

In my panic, I tried to ask for the budgeting book as a cover, but Ky wouldn’t give it to me for some reason so I ended up having to take it by force. After that, Ky just went over a few low-level alchemy circles and I jittered around in my seat pretending to go over the budgeting book while secretly watching him.

S-So now what do I do?... Class is over. Should I head back to my office?

I held the book up to cover my face again as I stared down at the table in front of me. I shook my head a little to calm myself down. It rubbed against the pages of the budgeting notebook as I contemplated whether or not I should just take the rest of the day off when suddenly the sound of Ky’s voice made my heart skip a beat.

“... Alright Mari, now I know you’re probably really angry about my blatant abuse of the budget, but I’m genuinely sorry this time. You can fire me if you want to and I’m even fine with paying back the money I embezzled from the budget, but whatever you do please don’t make me give up Neo-Excalibur! I’m not gonna lose another one, not after the terrible fate that Excalibur the First met!” (Kyle)

I let out a small, surprised yelp and lifted my head up to see Ky bowing down in front of me with tears in his eyes. I desperately tried to contain the raging blush on my face as my heart rate immediately sped up and everything Ky said flew straight out of my head. A moment passed by as I stared at him in silence while the blush on my face reddened even more, but eventually, Ky realized I wasn’t saying anything and raised his head.

“Come on, at least say something, Mari! Just tell me, what’s my punishment!?” (Kyle)

We made eye contact for a split second before I immediately averted my eyes and the budgeting book in my hands shot back up to conceal my face again.

P-Punishment? W-What is he talking about?

“W-Why would I punish you?” (Mari)

For some reason, there was complete silence after I finished speaking, and I sat there awkwardly for a moment, hiding behind the budgeting book before Ky suddenly grabbed it out of my hands. I immediately scrambled to try and get it back, but he held it up high out of my reach and I raised my head to find Ky’s concerned face just inches away from my own.

“Mari, are you ok?” (Kyle)

I froze up as he stared intensely at me. The blush on my face frantically spread to the tips of my ears as I desperately thought about how to get away and after a moment, I tried to tell him that I was fine, but the only sound that came out of my mouth was a whimper as I felt my brain slowly melting into mush.

“...a-augh…” (Mari)

Ky put the budgeting notebook down on the table next to me and held his hand against my forehead as my face started burning up so much that I thought steam would start coming out of my ears. I felt my heart almost leap out of my chest as the anxiety and embarrassment mixed together with the fuzzy feelings to make all my blood rush to my face. We stood there in awkward silence for another moment before Ky walked around the desk and picked me up in a princess carry without a word.

W-W-What are you doing!? Stop it, Ky! My heart can’t take this much longer!

My brain was fried at this point as all I could do was barely cover my furiously blushing face with my hands while Ky carried me down the hallway. Faint warmth radiated from Ky’s body as I unconsciously snuggled closer and the only thing my brain was telling me at this point was that it hoped this moment would last forever, but after a few minutes I heard the sound of a door opening and we entered into a room as Ky called out in a serious voice.

“Excuse me, is the school nurse here?” (Kyle)

I opened the gaps between my fingers a little and looked around as I realized that we were in the nurse’s office before another voice answered Ky and a middle-aged lady, the school nurse, Miss Sirona, walked out from around the corner.

“Yes, that would be me, what’s the problem?” (Miss Sirona)

“Please take a look at the headmistress, there’s definitely something wrong with her!” (Kyle)

Ky walked over to an infirmary bed and gently placed me down before Miss Sirona walked over to me with a serious face. Both of them stared at me for a few seconds before she closed the curtain around the bed to speak to Ky, but I could still hear the sound of their voices even from behind the curtain.

“Looks like she had a good amount of blood rush to her head. It might have given her some pretty bad vertigo. Do you know when the symptoms first started showing up?” (Miss Sirona)

“I’m not sure when it started, but I brought her here immediately after seeing how red her face was. Her forehead was burning up and there was even a moment when it seemed like she couldn’t speak properly.” (Kyle)

“What did she do?” (Miss Sirona)

“I don’t know. She was just sitting and reading through a book for the last few hours.” (Kyle)

The sound of their voices droned on for a while as they discussed my symptoms while my heart rate finally began to return to normal. I took a deep breath before burying my face in the pillow to cool my head down as I rolled around on the cold sheets and let out a light squeal. The freshly made memory of Ky princess carrying me swirled around in my head, and I desperately tried to clear out of my mind when the sound of the curtains opening caught my attention. I looked up to see Miss Sirona holding an ice pack. She put it against my forehead and stared intently at my face again for a moment before the curtains were closed again.

“Hmm, it seems like she’s calmed down a little. Well, it’s probably not too serious if she was able to recover so fast. I would recommend just letting her rest quietly for a bit and checking up on her again in an hour or two.” (Miss Sirona)

“Alright.” (Kyle)

After that, I heard the sound of the door shutting and silence returned to the nurse’s office again.

***

About an hour has passed since Ky left the nurse’s office, and I think my heart has finally settled down, enough for me to face reality again at least. And I’ve been laying here in silence ever since. I’ve had a while to reorganize my thoughts, but no matter what I did, I just couldn’t get Ky out of my head. He was just sitting there in the back of my mind. I let out a depressed sigh and hugged the pillow a bit tighter before quietly muttering to myself as mixed feelings spun around in my heart whenever I thought about my relationship with Ky.

“... What am I doing?...” (Mari)

Why am I getting so flustered?... Let’s be real, a relationship between me and Ky would never work out. What have I actually done for him except take advantage of our positions to make him help me? To him, I’m probably just an annoying, abusive boss...

And without our connection from work, we have nothing. We’re from two different worlds.

I’m the Grand Mage of Wind, a pillar of the Raidion Empire and a high ranking noble, while he’s just a manaless commoner who has a bit of skill in activating rocks. We could never be together...

… These feelings inside me make me sick... They’re too warm… warm enough that I’m afraid I’ll lose myself to them one day. Like a special kind of sweet, the kind that you can’t help but crave, even when reason tells you not to. And deep down inside, I admit that there’s a part of me that wants nothing more than to drown in that sea of tenderness, to feel the euphoria for even just a moment, but even more than that, I’m afraid. I’m afraid of the pain that comes after that moment of happiness. I might feel this way, but Ky probably doesn’t, and then... what will I be left with?

Even if by some miracle he feels the same way too, even if by some miracle we can ignore our status, I’ve seen enough to know that there are some things that love just can’t conquer... After all, we can’t change fate. I’m an elf... and he’s a human. He might be young now, but how long will I really be able to feel his warmth? How long will I be able to feel that happiness? Eighty, maybe ninety years if he’s lucky? Maybe I’ll be holding his hand on his deathbed while still looking just like I do today. Then after those blissful days, all I’ll have to myself is painful memories and a broken heart.

I moved my hand to cover my chest and felt my now steady heartbeat as reality finally shattered my daydreams like fragile glass. It was like the world around me became colder all of a sudden, and the colors faded a bit as I laid there wallowing in my depressive episode. I turned myself over to my left as I saw the sunlight shining in through the windows project a hazy light onto the curtains and thoughts about how to lock away my feelings forever meandered their way through my head.

Then, I heard the door to the nurse’s office open again.

Faint footsteps sounded out before the curtain behind me was opened. My heart leaped out of my chest for a moment as Ky called out to me with a worried voice.

“How are you feeling, Mari? The nurse told me you were looking a lot better when she checked up on you again a little bit ago.” (Kyle)

I desperately suppressed the surge of emotions rocking my heart as I continued to face away from Ky while answering him with a wistful tone in my voice.

“Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better...” (Mari)

There was a moment of silence as Ky stood there before letting out a sigh and sitting down on the bed behind me before speaking to me softly.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” (Kyle)

“What do you mean?” (Mari)

“Do you think I’m an idiot?... Er, actually, let me rephrase that... I can tell from your tone, there’s obviously something wrong. Normally you would have nothing except absolute confidence in your voice, and admittedly it’s leaning slightly towards an arrogant kind of confidence, but still, it’s a familiar confidence. So maybe it's the borderline Stockholm syndrome in me speaking up, but even though I might complain all the time, I have to admit, you’re someone who can definitely back up that confidence. And the truth is… your voice is one that I‘ve come to kind of enjoy hearing every day. So just tell me what’s wrong... Tell me so I can help you... And, at least for me, I would consider us friends, so if you feel like it’s something you don’t want to tell your employee, Professor Kyle... well, then I hope you can at least tell your friend, Ky.” (Kyle)

A wave of emotion shook me as Ky’s tender voice made just a bit of the warmth and color come back, and after a moment, my quiet voice broke the silence.

“... Hey, Ky, what would you do if there was someone in your life that you loved, someone that you wished you could always stand next to, but it was that exact same person who you knew that you could never be with?” (Mari)

“Hmm, well, I do know a self-proclaimed expert in this subject, but in my experience with her, she’s always caused more trouble instead of helping, so I guess this time, I’ll let you know what I think.” (Kyle)

Then there was silence again before a voice tinged with a mixture of nostalgia and melancholy gently rang out.

“... Let me tell you an old story, Mari. Once upon a time, there was a fool who feared change more than anything. And one day, that fool fell in love... He held his love in his heart, hid it deep from the outside world, but eventually, the fool lost even that small joy he had kept to himself. The woman he loved died in his arms and the fool blamed himself... So perhaps he yearned to feel that feeble sense of happiness again, or perhaps it was his way of coping with his laments, but the fool set out to try and reverse the change that he feared so much. He did a lot of terrible things and drove away all but one person in his twisted attempt to change fate. But ultimately, there was nothing waiting for him at the end of his path. Nothing except a cold, desolate emptiness... And it was then that he turned around to see what he had done... the pain and suffering he had caused, the realization of what he had become, and finally, he saw the last person in the world who cared about him. The fool fell to his knees, a hollow shell of who he once was as he talked to that person one final time and saw that the fool himself was the one who changed. The fool told the other person to kill him, but... the other person spared the fool. He left the fool to atone for his own sins. And the two eventually went their separate ways again... Time passed, and the fool finally found happiness again. But he knew better than anyone that he didn’t deserve that warmth, that he could never be with them. And so, he became content with just staying next to the people he cared about. The fool finally understood that no matter how much he dreaded it, change would always come, so he decided that instead of trying to stop the change, he would just accept it. He would watch over the people he loved until the end... whether that be theirs or his...” (Kyle)

Ky ended his story with a slightly remorseful tone as silence returned to the nurse’s office. We sat there without a word before I spoke quietly again.

“... Ky, you-” (Mari)

But before I could ask, Ky cut me off.

“So you know what, Mari? I think that just being next to the people you care about is more than enough. If you truly can’t ever be together, then just stay by their side until the end... I'm sure they'll cherish your company.” (Kyle)

“... Yeah... Thanks, Ky.” (Mari)

A tenderness washed away the mixed feelings in my heart and after a few seconds I slowly sat up in the infirmary bed before turning to face Ky with a gentle smile on my face.

You’re right, if we truly can’t ever be together... then just staying by your side until the end is enough... But still, I can’t just forget about this fuzzy feeling in my heart so easily, so you know what? This time, I think I’ll be a little selfish and reach for just a bit more...

“Hey, Ky, I think I’m gonna take the rest of the day off, but I’m still feeling a bit dizzy from all the blood rushing to my head earlier, so... could you do me a favor and carry me back home again?” (Mari)

“Again!?” (Kyle)

Ky’s face quickly morphed from a bittersweet smile to a tired expression and he let out another sigh as I let out a few cute giggles.

“Yeah! Sorry, Ky.” (Mari)

Middle District, Irisveil Mansion (Kyle POV)

The sound of sizzling echoed throughout the kitchen as I poured a small amount of oil into the skillet on the stove in front of me while cheerfully humming a tune. I came home approximately two hours ago after piggybacking Mari back to her house again, and it was currently about time to start cooking dinner. I looked past the raw, handmade hamburger patties on the counter, through the entrance to the kitchen, and into the living room to see my bag on top of the coffee table right next to a certain budgeting notebook that I was able to ‘resecure’ from the classroom a while ago.

Sorry, Mari. I don’t know what happened to you today, but you were stuck in the nurse’s office and you obviously didn’t read the budgeting notebook, so how could I not take such a great chance to save my job. I’ll give the budgeting notebook right back to you tomorrow morning with some inconspicuous charges written down in lieu of my, ahem, questionable purchases.

Don’t worry my dear Neo-Excalibur, you’re not going anywhere! I’ll make sure you stay safe and sound! I’m sure it’s what Excalibur the First would have wanted.

I rubbed the shiny metal spatula, which gleamed with a slightly bluish tint, against my cheek with a blissful smile on my face when suddenly, I heard the sound of the door opening.

“Ky, I’m home!” (Aria)

Aria’s voice called out to me and I popped my head past the kitchen entrance to see her taking off her shoes by the door with a slightly worn out expression on her face.

“Welcome back, I’ll be finished with dinner in a few minutes. Tonight we’re gonna have some homemade hamburgers.” (Kyle)

“Ok. Oh, by the way, are you doing anything this weekend?” (Aria)

“This weekend? No, why?” (Kyle)

“I might need your help picking up some things from the blacksmith. I put in an order a while ago for some stuff we needed at the squad barracks, and I just got confirmation yesterday that everything would be ready by this weekend.” (Aria)

“Eh? Sure, no problem.” (Kyle)

“Thanks, Ky!” (Aria)

Aria flashed a cheerful smile at me before she walked over to the couch and sat down with a sigh of relief while I popped my head back into the kitchen and plopped the patties onto the skillet as a loud sizzle and the smell of hamburgers spread through the house.