Miki and Zanderfon made eye contact.

Miki was pushing a bloodied rag onto Casa's shoulder, though the latter seemed fine. Miki's eyes were red and wet with tears. There were tears in Casa's eyes, too—and yet, she seemed happy.

There was little to be understood with just this information alone. All Zanderfon knew was that there was no immediate danger. Whether or not he should let his guard down, however, he couldn't decide.

"Make way."

Lockefeldt pushed the shocked Zanderfon aside with the side of his hand, finally coming to kneel beside Miki and Casa.

"Miss Ley, I will be healing you. On the other hand, I expect an explanation from you both—ah?"

Casa put herself between Miki and Lockefeldt. Don't pin this on her, her eyes said.

For a moment, Miki fumbled the rag, and blood came out of Casa's wound again. She hurried to press it back on. Casa winced, but it only came off as a twitch in her eye.

As I suspected, this Casa Ley is an interesting student.

"Very well," Lockefeldt said, speaking in a low voice, "Then, rest your back on Miss Zotelo and allow me to make you close to presentable."

Seeing that Lockefeldt's sternness laxed away, Casa obeyed, coming to rest her back against Miki, who wrapped her arms around Casa with an apologetic softness. Lockefeldt held his hand up, and a white glow transferred from his palm to her wound, sealing it seamlessly.

"I see. I understand," Lockefeldt muttered.

Regeneration Magics came in two flavors: one that rewound time, and another that accelerated natural healing. Lockefeldt used the earlier. Thanks to some neat hacks, in the process of rewinding the time of a wound, he could also directly peer into its history, including its causes and progression of degradation.

That's how he knew Casa had been cut with a magic sword.

And not just any magic sword, but one with residues of Miki's magic.

Oh, how beautiful is youth! Fighting and reconciliation! Indeed, indeed, these two have learned lessons that only a labyrinth could teach them!

The guy was once betrayed in a labyrinth, so please forgive him for sounding a bit strange.

"Now that we are satisfied with our detour, let us continue to our original goal."

Lockefeldt marched on, his Tactical Emergency Cart steadily following him.

Something like attempted murder impeding his class's schedule? There will be no such thing!

Meanwhile, the rest of the class slugged themselves ever onwards. They had been worn down by the insane number of untriggered landmines that Casa left behind, and were in various states of grumpy and want-to-eat, want-to-go-home.

"C-C'mon, tell me what happened. Please."

Zanderfon was walking alongside Miki, who was clinging to Casa.

"… Girls' secret…" Miki replied, burying her head in Casa's arm.

Zanderfon looked to Casa for enlightenment. Instead of an answer, however, he received a death glare. Cold sweat dripped from his chin.

"I! Don't! Understand!" he said, slamming his head into a nearby wall with each word.

"Casaaaa," Larissa said this time, pouting, "C'mooon, tell meee~"

"How about no."

"How about yes?"

Larissa showed her an empty jar.

"R-Right away!"

And so she explained.

Miki had not yet come out with the full truth of the matter, but when Casa said "Probably some sort of weird history between her and Zanderfon" and they looked to Miki, Miki shrank away, confirming a general truth.

What did Larissa feel about attempted murder between two of her friends? She wasn't sure. She liked Casa a lot, but she also had a unique fondness for Miki. That Miki had been hiding some concerning details of her life the whole time was the least of her worries. If Miki kept such a secret, there was nothing to assure her that the others weren't as well.

—What if there was something wrong with Zanderfon? With Casa? Hey, wait, why's Casa so powerful anyway?

It was for the best, however, not to pursue this matter until after they've left the labyrinth. They were just darned straight-up tired.

"Everyone! Let's rest here."

They stopped in a chamber at the center of many intersecting paths, like spokes in a wheel, but the spokes were wet spaghetti.

Not even 5 minutes had passed, however, when Lockefeldt roused them all with a summary "Alright, go get your books," causing the students to stir.

They each got out their respective Index Cards and set off in different directions. Larissa helpfully dragged Zanderfon away, leaving Casa and Miki to recuperate under the watchful eye of Lord Lockefeldt.

He hovered over them—not literally. He was just imposingly standing nearby, feet on the ground.

"For the sake of regulation, I must state this clearly. Unsanctioned violence by a student carries harsh penalties, including expulsion upon third violation."

Miki gulped. Casa's eyes sharpened.

"…That said, this is a labyrinth with mind-bending powers. It will be easy for me to report this as labyrinth-caused."

Casa and Miki breathed a sigh of relief.

"However."

The two sharply inhaled.

"I must hear your feelings on this matter."

"…Feelings? Sir?" Casa tilted her said.

"You two fought on a personal basis, correct? It is clear to me that you have made up now, but I seek to be assured that the root cause of this issue cannot have an effect again."

The root cause is probably Zanderfon and some kind of dramatic history, but I can't say that—Casa thought, before replying, "A-Ah, heeh, you see, it was just a little bit of jealou—"

"…my fault, my problem…"

"I see." "Huh? Miki?"

Miki placed her finger on Casa's lips and shook her head. Once Casa's voice was subjugated, she took a deep breath, continuing, and closing her eyes:

Long time, Zanderfon protected me. Grateful, but life has only been Zanderfon. Until Larissa. Until Casa. Casa was nice. Casa was gentle. But Casa was strong. Casa was strong with an Index Card. But me wasn't. 'Have to be special for Zanderfon,' me thought, so made Index Magic. But can't use Index Cards. Am terrible at my best. Casa better than my best. Then Casa nice and gentle with Zanderfon. 'Zanderfon is being taken,' me thought. Casa was strong, but am not. She might replace me. Away from Zanderfon. I wanted Casa away. I trapped Casa. 'What am I doing,' me thought. Already did hurt Casa. Already here. Have to make it go all the way. But Casa saw through me. I just wanted a friend. I didn't want to… am terrible.

Miki opened her eyes. Lockefeldt was crying solemn tears, while Casa was in shock.

"What a beautiful life…" "You can speak paragraphs?!"

Disregarding that, Casa went and squeezed Miki in a bear hug.

"…air…" "Huh?" "…need…" "AH?!"

—What an enjoyable sight! Oh youth! Miss Zotelo's introspection is also unexpectedly sharp! Hmm, yes, if she might cease being such a confidence-lacking sadbag, I can expect great developments from her… Ah, but what's this of her story? Being unable to use Index Cards? Isn't that…

"Miss Zotelo."

Miki tilted her head.

"I would like to make a diagnosis. Please use this."

Lockefeldt showed her an Index Card. She winced. Casa, who was still wrapped around her, felt her body jerk back. She lightly squeezed Miki.

"Don't worry, Miki. The lord is kind."

"…I'm not that kind of lord."

Lockefeldt sighed. He presented the Index Card again. With Casa's support, Miki summoned the courage to receive it.

"Please use it as you first did."

Miki looked to Casa. She nodded.

A trickle of magic poured into the Index Card, but as with the first time, nothing happened. Miki's frustration showed in the way her muscles tensed up, prompting Casa to cuddle the pain away once more.

"I see," Lockefeldt remarked.

"…terrible…" quietly escaped from Miki's lips.

"That is not quite the case," Lockefeldt replied, drawing the curiosity of the two.

"Interested?"

The two nodded.

"Very well. Simply put, Miss Zotelo's Index Magic is too refined for the Index Cards."

"…what…"

"What she said! Aren't Index Cards supposed to take in any kind of magic?"

"I am afraid that this is an advanced topic—but I must trust in the two of you to understand, since you yearn to know. I will try my best to explain it in rougher terms, as well."

Miki and Casa braced themselves for the incoming nerdsplanation.

"Magic is made of Mana, correct?"

"Mhmm." "Uh-huh."

"Mana is useless on its own, correct?"

"…okay…" "That's new, but okay."

"Mana is also called 'the basic unit of the world's information', correct?"

"…huh…" "Ohh I heard that once."

"Then, the reason why Mana is useless on its own is because a collection of it is essentially 'unstructured information', follow?"

""…hmmm…""

"Then, in order to make Mana useful, we must string them together into Akashic Chains to structure the information, and this requires Magical Impetus on the part of the caster."

""…huh…""

"…Just think of Akashic Chains as 'spells' for now."

""…ahh…""

"Index Cards function by breaking down spells and recovering the Impetus for its own use."

"…mhmm…" "Okay, that was easier to sorta-kinda understand."

"Now, if I may, but it appears that Miss Zotelo's Index Magic relies on creating nigh-indestructible Akashic Chains, enabling her to create a personal Index of prodigious capacity and which simply cannot collapse. Those Chains are possibly the most stable ones I have ever seen in my long years, I must thank you for allowing me to observe them."

Casa clapped her hands in a lightbulb moment.

"So that's why that time… Miki, you're scary, you know that?"

"…huh…?"

"When I tried hijacking your Relays, it felt like finally infiltrating the enemy base, but finding out that even the light switches needed a key to unlock!"

"…sorry…"

"Are you kidding, it was pretty fun! Let's do it again! Oh, don't stab me next time, though."

Casa froze, then covered her mouth. Her and Miki's necks ratcheted to turn towards Lockefeldt. Miki hadn't openly admitted to cutting Casa at this point, and Casa had been trying hard to cover for her. Perhaps the gavel would come down.

Seeing the concern in their stilted movements…

"Hm? I was already aware."

They just looked at this unbelievable guy, nonchalanty brushing off the fact that his students went around trying to kill each other. Happens all the time, his face seemed to say.

"Anyway. Miss Zotelo, I assume you are satisfied by my explanation?"

"…I'm… power…"

"Yes. You are power. Believe in yourself!"

Casa shook her back and forth as she said that.

A slight smile formed in the corner of Miki's mouth.