Following our newest top suspect, professor Jethro, into his office, Kevin was all but terrified of getting expelled. Makes sense though, if we don't play this off correctly as nothing major, we might actually get expelled for real. Normal students like us shouldn't have access to the storeroom, meaning we were essentially trespassing. Getting expelled prematurely would only end up being a waste, though, so let's try and avoid that.

"You boys really screwed up." The professor glanced back at us, "Shit, I was supposed to go to sleep by now, but thanks to you dipshits I now have to conduct a stupid interrogation too..."

"Sir, we have nothing to hide." I spoke softly enough to anger him any further, "I can assure you that this will be over before you know it."

"Save it for my office, Deram." He scoffed, "Trust me, you don't want anyone overhearing this. I'm taking you to the office to talk for your safety, because I'm rather fond of you."

"Overhear?" I muttered back, but hushed up as per his advice.

The three of us silently walked through the University's corridors, and since we were on the second floor, we actually managed to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. It was quite amazing, and after learning from the Fighting God that Ouroboras really does exist and that he's watching over me, I only found the Sun even more alluring. Kevin noticed me getting distracted, so he nudged me a bit to jolt some focus into me. I didn't look away though, because there was one other thing that caught my interest.

"There is a person there." I whispered to Kevin.

"Probably just another professor working the nightshift." Kevin then grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me away to the professor, "Come on, we're already in deep shit as is with Jethro, so don't screw this up even more!"

"You boys coming?" He turned around.

"Y-Yes, sir!" Kevin nodded, "Right behind you."

"Hm. Good." Jethro was surprisingly glad about this, "Here we are, come in."

Opening the door to his office, we were greeted with a nice little room with walls made out of filled bookshelves and nothing inside apart from a lone office table and chair that looked away from the window behind it. The window was slightly creaked open, most probably because the professor wanted to make sure he actually heard the mademoiselle. That, or he just felt the rooms temperature to be too hot. It is that time of year, after all.

"Shit, just how many pesky mosquitoes entered while I was gone?" The professor closed the window tightly shut, "Boys, be weary of mosquitoes. The ones in this University can prove deadly."

"Oh, mosquitoes do not go for me most times." I replied, only to get talked over by the scholar sitting next to me.

"D-Deadly bugs!?" Kevin got all fidgety in his chair, "T-That's a really bad problem! I-I have a huge trauma-induced phobia from bugs!"

"You do?" I tilted my head at him, "I am sorry. I never took you for the type to fear them."

"Well, I didn't initially, but then..." He sort of looked away before remembering where we were, "A-Ah, screw that! Sir, please don't misunderstand! We were given permission to look through this place by-mnf!"

"I will take it from here." I put my palm over his mouth.

That was close. Lemmy specifically told us not to get caught, as all three of us would get into massive trouble if that were to happen. Obviously, this means that we definitely shouldn't tell Jethro about him giving us the keys to the storeroom. We'd just needlessly be pulling more people under the transport wagon with us.

"We overheard the Student Council mention they couldn't find mademoiselle Archambeau, so we took it upon ourselves to come find her." I came up with a pretty believable lie.

"Right... And how did you open the door?" His Eyes shone a bright Blue as he waved the keys to the storeroom in front of us, "With these keys, perhaps?"

"H-Huh?!" I patted my empty pockets, "Hold on a second, let me test something."

Focusing my all into my right hand, my Eyes flashed from White to Blue just long enough for me to create the hand sign for Materialize. Touching my pinkie with my thumb so as to create a ring that most resembled a wormhole, I had used the remaining three fingers to steal the keys from his hands. As my Eyes returned to the White they had ultimately settled for, I had held the keys in my hands, now waving them back at his face just like he did now.

"Cheh. You're a flashy one." The professor chuckled, putting his hand in his pocket, "Showing off what you Took to your enemy is a ballsy move very much unlike you. Someone much crazier than you must've taught you how to do it."

"You are indeed correct. It was my friend and mentor, Lune Grimheart." I agreed as I noticed the keys' ringing stopped, "Hm?"

"See? This is how you do it." The professor smirked as he took the Materialized keys out of his pocket, "I call this ability "Take", pretty nifty, right?"

"I prefer "Materialize", as that is what Lune called it." I chuckled, "Though it is interesting that a professor knows of this Iro Ability. Tell me, you did not happen to teach any of your students this?"

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Deram." He tossed the keys back to me, "If I did that, this whole University would be gone by next week."

He... handed me our keys back? So wait, are we not in trouble? Is that what's going on here? Well, he does seem to favor me above the other students, so maybe he'll look past this? Though still, we're not out of the clear just yet. We still don't know why "Praise Jethro" was written in the notebook...

"Uhh, anyone gonna explain what just happened!?" Kevin probably meant the continuous key Materialization.

"Ah, that." We both looked at him before smiling and giving him a playful shushing gesticulation, "Keep it a secret, will you?"

***

"Now then, let's keep this brief. I wanna get some shut-eye." The professor sat back in his chair, "You were looking into source of the Glitch, weren't you?"

"So you do know-!" I yelled, but got interrupted.

"Shhh! My head's about to bust open, can't ya' keep it down, Deram?" He grabbed tightly onto his head, "How wouldn't I know? I'm a professor here. Literally countless foreign students over the years went to ask me for a lead, hoping they'd be the ones to crack the case."

"And they failed?" Kevin asked.

"As you can see by the fact newcomers like you two are still investigating it, I guess they did." He reasoned, "Now listen, take it from a guy who's tried to personally uncover it and failed - Quit while you still can."

"Is it really that dangerous?" I inquired.

"Very much so." He shook his head, "The System is a pretty new thing, actually, only dating back to around 30 years or so ago. Back then, we used the same currency as Entropa does now, when suddenly, as if overnight, everyone transitioned to this newer currency - bytes. Even I don't remember why or how, it was just that natural of a change for us."

"So who gave them to you?" I pressed for answers, "Anyone's name coming to mind? It can be anything, just give us something."

"Deram, you'll get yourselves killed." He pleaded, "You're a smart youth, I have no doubt you'll find boundless success in this University. The rank of Onum is all but assured for you, and believe me, if it's the money you're afraid of, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that higher ranks tend to get a lot of freebies here. Please give up on the investigation."

"It is not about the money." I smiled, "I am Meil Deram. Author of over a hundred books, Oden's Savior, The Winner of the Mobius Awards. The One Who Spoke Up in Prison. The Hero That Slayed the King of Carmen. Money or fame, I do not care for such trivialities."

"Then why?" He asked, "Why tempt misfortune like this?"

"Why..." I thought for a moment, "Even I am not so sure myself. I was tasked to welcome someone who will be joining me here in two years, so I would like to shield her from this phenomenon. Apart from that..."

"Apart from that...?" Kevin also seemed eager to hear my other reason.

"I guess I am just bored." I chuckled.

"Dude, what!" Kevin fell off of his chair.

"Heh, makes sense for a guy like you." The professor chuckled, "You did all those exciting things, and now this boring school life is proving far too little for you."

"One could say that. Besides..." I agreed as my Eyes went Gray, time stopping just long enough for me to move behind him, "...I know a bit more than just Materialize, you know."

"Wuh-! Meil, when'd you get there!?" Kevin jumped out of his seat, "Duuuude, you GOTTA teach me how you did that!"

"Hmph." The professor chuckled, "Then I guess I shouldn't hold you up either, eh? Listen here, and listen well, boys - Go to the Library of a Thousand Secrets and look for a Brown Book without any inscriptions on it."

"Right, because THAT'S easy to find..." Kevin rolled his Eyes.

"You'd be surprised, pipsqueak." The professor glared back, "Actually, every book in the library needs to have a name, otherwise we won't accept it. This one is special, because it was taken in before that rule came to be. You get what I'm trying to say here, right?"

"I do, however I do not see why we should trust you." I was still a bit on edge, "Before anything, does "Praise Jethro" ring a bell?"

Looking at me with his Eyes wide open in astonishment, he seemed to have gotten a gloomy look on his face. The man was in his fifties, surely, however he looked quite weak right now. Breathing a long and melancholic sigh, he murmured.

"My father, I presume." He said.

"Your father?"

"Rex Jethro, the Lead Developer of the System. It was a long running gag amongst the people who worked on it to chant this whenever he would solve a major issue or achieve a breakthrough. Heh, so the old man still haunts me even after his death?"

"What kind of a man was your father, if I may ask?" I noticed Kevin was getting drowsy, "Did he have any enemies? And by Ouroboras, can you keep it short? I do not want to have to carry Kevin all the way to the dorm."

"Heh, I guess he would be an issue for a shorty like you." The professor teased, "He was a genius, to say the least, but not like you. Unlike you, who seems to be an all-rounder in a way, he was only ever good at this one thing. Everything else in his life, it was considered a failure. Even... his famil-."

"Okay, no need for flashbacks." I got up from my chair and slapped Kevin awake, "We will be leaving now, thank you for everything."

"Huh? Don't you want to hear more about my father?"

"I do not have the time, and frankly, I do not have an interest in it either." I turned around as I reached for the doorknob, "I get the gist of it - He was a failure all his life, but he found this one thing he was good at and neglected everything else. He was a tech wizard who helped set the System up, earning the praise of his peers. And since we now know what "Praise Jethro" means, we can assume the person behind the Glitch is someone closely related to your father. Am I correct in my assessment?"

"Scarily so." The professor gulped, "Now I'm honestly more scared of you than I am of the perp you're looking for."

"Good." I said before slamming the door, "Those were my intentions from the start!"