Laure opened his eyes, with a mixture in shock and amazement, as he watched the fight from the bars protecting them from the mess outside.

He inched closer towards the gate.

Serena took notice of his unusual actions. "What's wrong, Laure?"

"The flow of shinsu." Laure spoke, eyes still captivated by the shinsu flow of the room. "It's changed. Subtly, but it's definitely happening. It's because of... the music?"

His eyes then fell on a small and beautiful girl. Her eyes were closed, and she looked carefree and peacefully as she continued to play the flute. Although her eyes were shut, she was still able to doge attacks that were aimed at her with scary precision.

He could also see how she was helping her teammates, by allowing them to move through the shinsu faster. She also boosted their attacks.

She doesn't eve look like she's struggling. What a monster. Thank goodness we're not going against her.

For a wave controller, they must be able to manipulate shinsu well. Getting someone like her would definitely screw with his role.

"How scary." Laure said. "I don't even think she's going all out yet."

What a monster.

...

"I'm flying!" Endorsi screamed as leapt through the air to smack other regulars. "Hahaha!!"

Somehow, she was able to faster, better, compared to before. Her attacks were hitting harder, and it was easier to swing her sword through the shinsu.

'Is this her doing?' Endorsi thought. 'That is scary, but whatever.'

The rest of the fight became super easy.

However, Endorsi's heels broke. Eran tried to support her by manipulating the shinsu around her, but all Endorsi could do was deflect her attack.

Somehow, Michelle knew the boy that was sitting on the throne. When the stray attack from the battle between Endorsi and a masked person hit Michelle, part of her hood was lifted. The boy sitting on the throne then leaped off the throne to protect her.

Somehow, shinsu itself attacked the masked person, injuring her. With that, both teams got eliminated, and we were the only team left.

Eran stopped playing my flute. "Endorsi..." she started.

"Leave it." Endorsi said, while trying to balance on her broken heels.

"Okay." Eran meekly replied. She made no move to collect the crown.

With that, the crown game ended without a victor.

...

After that, three days of break was given to all the regulars.

"... And that was what happened brother." Eran explained to Eduan. Currently, she was in her own room, that was assigned to every regular. "It's pretty interesting, but I have a feeling... Wait! Is Jahad next to you?"

"... No-" Eduan was about to speak but Jahad cut in.

"Yes. What's wrong?" Jahad asked, concerned.

"Are you still... Mad about... Arlene and V?" Eran asked nervously. She felt that that was a touchy topic. She was always afraid to bring it up, because they would always remember how she helped them escape. Eran was constantly afraid that she might ruin what's left of their estranged relationships with each other, and with herself.

"No, I'm sorry for being that up. I'll stop-" Eran immediately apologised. She wanted to stop that conversation entirely.

"No, it's fine..." Jahad immediately said. "We got over that... a long time ago. Because now, we found something much more important than that."

I brightened up immediately.

"I think that, the boy might be Arlene's child." I stated. "Because, I have seen no one else but Arlene use shinsu like that."

There was silence from the other end of the pocket.

"... I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't bring it up again!" Eran squeaked, panicked. She was planning on blabbering about some other things, when Jahad started speaking again.

"I see." Jahad said. "Any questions... you want to ask? We can help."

Ah, he's not angry.

Eran let out a small smile. She had thought that Jahad would be most affected by the news, but it seemed like as though he didn't care about it all.

"I do have a question actually." Eran suddenly remembered. "I heard that there were a lot of Jahad's princesses in this tower. So tell me, Jahad..."

"How many women did you screw over while I was gone?" Eran asked innocently.

"... Pff... HAHAHAHA!" Eduan's thunderous laughter could be heard through the pocket. "I better tell the rest about this!"

It seems like it was only Jahad and Eduan together. Maybe the rest of her friends went back to do their own work.

"Don't laugh brother! I know you screwed over much more women that Jahad ever could!"

Eran didn't even have to look to know that Eduan was sulking now.

"Noooo! You can't say that to your brother!" Eduan whinned.

"... You deserve it." Jahad snorted. "And no, I did not... Screw over anyone... While you're away. I simply gave them some of my blood. That's all."

"That's fine." Eran said. "At least I don't have to see a trail of broken hearts behind you."

"Heh. Of course."

The three of them chatted for a long long time. It ranged from silly, mundane matters, to things that Eran found important.

Then, they endeqqd their talk with Eran playing a song.

"Sleep well, Eran." Jahad said

"Yeah, sweet dreams sister." Eduan echoed after him.

"You too!" Eran wished them a good night as well, then she slept.

...

Eudan looked at Jahad in the face, seriously. The moment the call ended, his happy self was gone.

"What did you mean when you said you found something more important then Arlene?" Eduan sharply questioned. "You were prepared to kill Arlene since she rejected you. And you're telling me that you found something, or someone more important than her?"

Jahad merely nodded.

"... Do you like my sister?" Eduan glared at Jahad as he asked that. He was adamant on keeping his lovely sister from being attacked by hungry wolves! Even his former leader wasn't exempted from this rule.

But Jahad was unfazed.

"... Maybe a little." Jahad whispered quietly. "But Eran would... Only remember me as someone who loves Arlene. The thought of anyone loving her seems far-fetched."

Somewhere deep in Eduan's heart, he pitied Jahad a little. He knew how his sister suffered from low self esteem, due to being with monsters like them. When she was loosing her powers, her self-esteem sunk even lower.

Although it's gotten better, the thought of her being important to others never occured to her.

"... Good luck with that." Eduan said. "It won't be easy for you."

Jahad said nothing as Eduan left.

...

Eran spent the next two days chatting with her other friends.

...

She was in a room, three days later. All of the other regulars were also gathered there, but some were still resting, recuperating from their injuries.

Ah, it's the positioning test. I was also a wave controller back then, albeit not the best one in the group.

As Eran predicted, she was also placed in the wave controller group.

Although Arie and Ari taught me some of their skills, I still feel most comfortable with manipulating shinsu.

"Ah, but for the wave controller class, your teacher would be coming three days late. So your lessons would only start three days later."

Oh. It it because of the boy? Well, whatever.

It didn't matter to Eran anyway.