“…that’s about what happened,” Nexus concluded.

“I see,” said Isabelle, a frown on her face. “But from how you two are behaving, I don’t think you trust Scorpio to actually remove whatever he did to Nakama and the other children at Kishi Gakuen.”

“An astute observation.” Gaius nodded his head. “I’m not saying that I distrust Scorpio, but it’s better to be reliant on one’s efforts than the promises of another. Life has a nasty habit of making people break their promises, whether they like it or not.”

“You’re the one with experience in noble society,” said Nexus. “What do you think of this conversation?”

“My opinion?” Isabelle blinked. “Before last year, I’d have said that promises made in private are usually more trustworthy, as opposed to public proclamations. But now…I’m not so sure.”

Nakama reached out and patted Isabelle’s shoulder, the highest part of Isabelle’s body that the little girl could reach. “Don’t be sad.”

Isabelle muttered something, before reaching out to tweak Nakama’s nose. After making some odd noises that Gaius couldn’t recognise, a semblance of what looked like awareness returned to Isabelle, and the girl flushed a bright red. Gaius wisely chose to look away at that very moment, turning his attention to the plate in front of him…which was already half empty due to the cunning machinations of the sculpture sitting beside it.

Gaius sighed. “Do all artificial intelligences have an appetite like yours, or is it just you?”

“The livelier ones, probably,” Nexus replied, its voice somewhat muffled.

Rolling his eyes, Gaius picked up a serving spoon and ladled some stew onto his plate. “Let’s see you try to eat this.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Boys, boys.” Isabelle rapped the table. “Don’t play around at dinnertime. Especially you, Nexus. Didn’t I tell you not to fool around at the table before? Or do you want me to do that again?”

“Erk.” The sculpture shivered, and then turned its attention to the small plate laid out in front of itself. Gaius watched, intrigued, as Nexus busied itself with eating from its own plate, an action which somehow made the boy want to pummel that wooden face for a few minutes or so. It was probably linked with the fact that Nexus had stolen his food, despite having its own plate laid out, but after taking a look at Isabelle’s disapproving face, the desire subsided.

Still, if Nexus is that obedient…what did Isabelle do to it the previous time it fooled around? Gaius rubbed his nose, his eyes fixed on the inordinately still sculpture. His vision traversed over to Nakama, who was behaving as equally oddly as Nexus, and blinked. Isabelle got to Nakama too? What exactly did she do?

For a moment, the boy really wanted to ask about what she did, but his gut instincts, which usually activated at important junctures, suddenly told him that it was a very good idea to NOT ask, lest something happened to him. Lowering his eyes, Gaius returned to the now-stew laden plate in front of him, and drank from it quietly.

It was heavenly.

After another few minutes of eating sounds, Gaius finally worked up enough courage to continue speaking from where he’d left off. “Ahem. Isabelle, what’s the chances of Constellation Scorpio keeping his word, in your opinion?”

The girl looked at the plate on the table. “My opinion? I’d say it’s quite high, if we went solely by the conversation you relayed to us. But there are always unforeseen circumstances that occur to the best of us.”

Her words sounded very familiar to the ones that Gaius had said earlier on, and the boy shook his head. Clearly, the aftermath of what happened to the now-fallen House Lorenze still featured prominently in her mindset, judging from the entire conversation that had transpired thus far.

Before he could offer any words of support, however, silver flashed across the air. Something that looked like a silver dagger was rubbing itself on Isabelle’s cheek, in a way that somehow reminded the boy of a kitten, and something blew up in Gaius’ mind.

“What the hell’s that?” Gaius asked.

Nexus looked up from its plate. “Oh, it’s the Terminus-wannabe that Nakama has. Remember? The one that Nakama showed to you before you left for Eo-Seu months ago.”

“I know that much. I’m referring to the fact that it’s…moving? And rubbing itself on Isabelle’s cheek?” Gaius leaned forward, disbelief forcing itself onto his face. “What the heck?”

“Did I not tell you about sentient artefacts? Like a sentient knife some time ago?”

“Wasn’t that a joke?”

The sculpture gestured at the knife, which was happily rubbing its hilt against Isabelle’s right cheek now. “Does that look like a joke?”

The boy felt light-headed for a moment. “Putting that aside for a moment, isn’t a bladed weapon rubbing itself on someone’s face somewhat…dangerous? Isabelle could be scarred or something if accidents happen.”

“Eh, it’s well trained.”

Gaius opened his mouth, and then snapped it shut. He wasn’t too sure about what to say, and besides, Isabelle didn’t seem to mind the knife at all. In fact, from the way she tried to gently nudge it aside, Isabelle was treating it…like a pet?

“Alright, I’m done,” said Gaius. “This world is too odd for me to take in any further. How do I go back to Earth?”

“You’ve seen so many odd things, but a sentient knife is too much for you?” Nexus tutted, and then turned back to its small plate, which was nearly emptied. “The fact that it’s capable of cultivating will blow your mind, then.”

“It’s capable of what now?”

“Cultivating.” Nexus picked up its empty plate, licked it clean, and placed it back down. “It’s a Soldier right now, after half a month’s worth of isolated training.”

The boy massaged his temples, before turning to his sister. “What did you do to your knife?”

Nakama looked up, her cheeks stuffed. After spending a few seconds to chew and swallow the food in her mouth, she said, “I just talked to Stone.”

Her innocent eyes blinked. “Did I…do something wrong?”

It has a name too? Well, I’ll be. A pet knife… Gaius kneaded his temples and turned back to his food, too tired to carry on any more conversations. “No, nothing’s wrong. I’m…just confused. In a good way. In a good way.”

Picking up the empty plate, Gaius got up from the table and headed off to the sink to wash it.

And as for the knife named Stone, it had zipped off a dark corner of the living room, whirling and spinning around in what looked like a set of practice strikes. Gaius regarded the self-training knife thoughtfully, and then went to his room.