Chapter 289: ~Chapter 91~ Part 2

"We'll be right back, don't go anywhere."

"I wasn't planning to. Now, hurry up. It's already half-past four."

Judy nodded, and followed after the princess, leaving me alone on the roof of the school. Relatively speaking, of course, as the place was already crowded with students in anticipation of the upcoming fireworks display. Because of this, I was volunteered by the girls to hold a spot while they changed into something warmer, lest we would miss our chance to view the show from the best possible vantage point.

Now, to be fair, I wasn't exactly dressed like an arctic explorer myself, but at least I had the advantage of trousers, so I wasn't quite frozen just yet. Only half, which still made me feel a touch uncomfortable, but on the flip-side, at least my minor indigestion was getting lost in the white noise. How's that for a silver lining?

In any case, since the girls asked for the best possible view, it was my boyfriendly duty to give it to them, so I picked the corner of the roof directly overlooking the track field. I expected that I would have to eke out my spot by force, yet the people around me gave me a large berth, almost as if I'd marked my territory with placeholder-repellent or something.

So, there I was. Mostly alone in the cold, without anyone to keep me company, and there was still nearly half an hour before the school festival would go out with a bang. Or several. Yet, I didn't even mind. In fact, I was kind of itching to get some me-time, and I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity than this.

After all, this long-awaited school festival was practically designed to be the pivotal turning point in a bunch of budding relationships, something I was eager to observe. For science, of course.

I obviously couldn't do that with the girls around, and even if I tried to take a few sneaky Far Glances, I was sure Judy would notice it right away, so I held back the urge until now. Such considerations were no more, and since I didn't even have to exert any effort to keep the students idling on the roof away from our reserved spot, I now had the chance to 'scientifically observe' my targets to my heart's content

For a start, I did a round of bad-guy-check. It was a force of habit I cultivated, just to be on top of any sudden developments.  So, Crowey was in a meeting back in the Abyss. Something about budgets and funding and eternal vengeance on the Celestials and whatnot. It didn't have anything to do with us, so I moved on. Lord Grandpa was, in fact, at the school grounds as well, playing his cover role as the principal, and he was currently mingling with some parents. There was nothing to see there, so I moved on to Naoren next, and I found him doing some kind of tai-chi-type exercises with a group of identically dressed martial artists, likely instructing them in the process. Probably about how dragonfire-bending came from the breath, not the muscles, or something. I had no idea, as I still couldn't speak Chinese.

The grand elder was next, and at first, I thought I finally found something interesting, as he was having a clandestine meeting with one of the Eastern Draconian clan heads. It was easy to tell, because he was doing the exact same dragon-masks-and-bodyguards-routine that he played with the Knights. My excitement only lasted for a second though, as to my dismay, I found them speaking another Asian language. I was pretty sure it wasn't Japanese, but it had honorifics, so… possibly Korean? Needless to say, I couldn't speak either of those, so I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Again.

Oh well. Let's look on the bright side. At least now I knew he was still scheming in the background, and it involved the other Eastern Draconian clans in some shape or form. Unfortunately, that was all I could gather, so I quickly moved on to the meat of today's observations.

After some consideration, I decided to start with Sahi, and I found her still inside her fortune teller booth. We had visited it with the girls, and it was probably one of the more unique attractions this time around. They called it 'Dr. Sahi's totally scientific psychic quantum divination service', and as the titular 'doctor', she had the whole classroom rebuilt around her show. It was mixing traditional fortune teller garbs and decor with random lab equipment, beakers, and she even used one of those glowing plasma-ball lamps instead of a crystal one.

As for what it was all about, she used some old séance theatrics and stage magician tricks to build the atmosphere, and combined it with positively ridiculous 'quantum science' gobbledygook that sounded like it came from some online quote generator. Stuff like 'Your chakra's frequencies are interfering with your aura's ability to affect higher dimensional wavelength externalities'.

She was unexpectedly popular, and the girls, in particular, found her show so amusing Elly wanted to go for another round. As for me... let's just say I did my best to not interfere with their fun, and leave it at that.

Anyhow, at the moment she was still busy telling a couple how 'Qualia is only possible in sub-empirical boundaries' and 'Transcendence is inextricably connected to formless external reality', whatever the heck that even meant. I'd already heard more than enough of that, and since I couldn't see Armband Guy anywhere, I crossed them off the 'potential sources of shenanigans' list and moved on to look for greener pastures.

This time I picked the childhood friend duo, and was happy to see that I finally found something worthy of note. The two of them sat on one of the benches near the tennis courts by the far end of the sports field, apparently deciding to watch the fireworks from there. They were in a minority, as most people picked either the roof, or idled around on the edge of the track field, where the launchers were set up.

We were already knee-deep in winter, and the skies were overcast to boot, so nightfall came really early. That much was expected, as it was the reason the school scheduled the finale of the festival to start as early as five in the afternoon. On the flip-side, since none of the lamps in the vicinity of the tennis courts were lit, the darkness surrounding the two took me aback for a moment.

"Are you sure we can see the fireworks from here?"

"Trust me; this is prime fireworks-viewing estate!" Angie proclaimed with a proud grin. "I scouted this place last year, so I can guarantee it! In fact, I watched the whole thing from here!"

"So this is where you were back then!" the guy blurted out in surprise. "No wonder I couldn't find you…"

The Celestial girl's mood turned awkward on a dime and she lowered her gaze.

"Ah… yeah. That was kinda my fault last year." Josh raised a baffled brow at her confession, so she hastily clarified, "I mean, I tried my best to invite you during the previous school festival, but I kinda messed up."

"I don't remember you mentioning anything about either the fireworks or this place that back then," Josh muttered, his words prompting Angie to slump her shoulders. It only lasted for a moment, as she straightened her back and looked him in the eye.

"I'm going to tell you what happened, but you're not allowed to laugh. Got it?"

"... Is it something that would make me laugh?" Seeing the glare forming on Angie's face, Josh quickly backpedaled. "I won't laugh. I'll be stoic as a stone cliff."

She eyed the guy with undisguised suspicion for a while, but at last, she let out a shallow breath and began her explanation from an unexpected angle.

"It was our first year here, and we ended up in the same class, so I was pretty stoked. Especially after I've heard all kinds of things about the school festival of Blue Cherry High from the other girls. You know? About romance and stuff?" She paused and waited for Josh to clumsily nod along. "So, I figured it was one of those 'now or never' kind of deals, and I wrote a letter."

"You mean, one of those letters?"

"Yep," she admitted with unusually rosy cheeks visible even in the dim light.

"I don't remember getting any."

"I told you, that's because I messed up," she told him with a small wince. "I was so nervous, I kinda-sorta accidentally threw the letter into my own shoe-locker by accident, and I didn't realize it happened until the next Monday."

There was a long beat of silence while Josh's brain furiously connected the dots, and then his eyes opened wide.

"So the reason why you were grumpy all evening during the Christmas ball was because you thought I'd stood you up?"

"I wasn't grumpy," she denied with a huff, earning her a skeptical look from her childhood pal.

"You barely talked to me, beyond passive-aggressive jabs, and stomped on my foot something like a hundred times during the dance!"

"No, I didn't! I did it twice at most!" she objected while simultaneously confessing to the crime. "The rest were just accidents!"

"... Does that mean you're a terrible dancer?"

"No, I'm not, and I'll show you tomorrow, and then you'll be sorry!" the Celestial girl fumed, drawing out a chuckle from the guy.

"Wouldn't I be sorrier if you kept stepping on my feet?"

"Ah, you're right. I backed myself into a corner, didn't I?" Angie mused, sounding completely normal, as if her previous sulkiness had completely evaporated. Then her eyes gleamed and she pointed at the guy. "Waaait a moment! I didn't! You did! This way, you'll be sorry if I'm right, and even sorrier if I'm wrong! That means it's you who's in a corner!"

"Aw shucks, you're right. I better wear my steel toed boots tomorrow, just in case," Josh responded with a provocative smirk, stopping the excited girl in her tracks.

"Boo! Also, the mental image of you showing up to the ball in a pair of bright yellow boots is hilarious, but still, boo!"

"Hey! I meant military boots, not rubber ones! I don't even have any of those!"

"Don't worry; I'm sure Leo will let you borrow his!" Angie declared with a toothy grin, only to then contemplatively add, "I mean, I'm sure he has some. He has everything."

"Even if he does, I'm not wearing them," Josh declared on no uncertain terms.

"You won't? Awww… That's a shame."

"Do you seriously want me to dance with you in a pair of rubber boots?"

"Of course…" Angie began, and after a long beat, she exclaimed, "noooot!" in a strange accent, which resulted in Josh failing to stifle a laugh. I didn't think it was funny, so it must have been another one of their 'childhood friend things'.

Anyhow, the lively Celestial followed suit, and after a series of giggles, she took a deep breath and told him, "I’m just teasing ya, you silly-goose!" before she… wait…

Did Angie just give Josh a peck on the cheek? And the guy only smiled at her without devolving into a stuttering mess? In fact, I didn't notice this at first because of the poor lighting, but were these two holding hands the whole time? Please don't tell me I actually missed a major relationship development…

"This is still so weird!" Angie suddenly exclaimed between giggles, and she snuggled closer to the guy. "I never, in a million years, would've imagined you would be the one to ask me out!"

"I just… kinda went with the flow and… you know?"

Instead of answering, she let out another giggle and rested her head against Josh's shoulder and… and…

Father-honking son of a suburban goat-merchant! I did miss it! These two have successfully crossed the UST threshold and reached the finish line, and I missed it! Argh!

That got me kind of miffed, so I decided to move along to cool my head a little. Sure, I missed one major development, but it wasn't the end of the world, right? The night was young, and there were still plenty of opportunities to catch a glimpse of something interesting. With that in mind, I switched targets and focused on the red dot of the class rep, and even before my point of view fully arrived, I was sure she was in the company of Mike. So far so good.

Once my vision cleared, I found myself staring down at the two of them seated at a table in a desolate corner of the cafeteria. The fact that it was deserted might've been a little unexpected, but it made sense in context. Considering the number of food stalls and restaurants the classes opened for the day, there was no need for it to operate, which made it a surprisingly good spot for a private conversation.

Ammy had a half-eaten crepe and a paper cup in each of her hands, while the hapless Celestial agent fumbled with what looked like a half-eaten burger wrapped in a ghost-print napkin, meaning it probably came from Armband Guy's haunted restaurant. More importantly, this place was considerably better lit than the sidelines of the tennis courts, and I was relieved that I couldn't see any starry-eyed handholding. That meant I probably didn't miss anything significant.

Now then, let's stop beating around the bush and listen in a little closer, shall we?

"I originally didn't want to do it," Ammy commented, apparently following up on something they were talking about, "I'm not much of a singer, and I couldn't dance well, but..."

"Nonsense! You looked incredible!" Michael interrupted her with his mouth full. He quickly chewed his food and added, "I mean that!"

"I know, I just..." the class rep's voice trailed off into a shallow sigh. "Normally I would've never done something like this, but... I think I wanted to change. Or at least try. To push my limits."

"You don't need to change though," Mike noted with a shy smile. "If you ask me, you're already wonderful."

Wow. That might've worked if he delivered it properly, but it just sounded awkward when it came from his mouth. Contrary to my expectations though, Ammy reacted positively and her lips curled up into a small but honest smile. Maybe clumsy guys were her type? It would certainly explain a thing or two.

"I'm glad you think that. To tell you the truth, I had my heart in my throat the whole time, because I was really afraid I would mess up while you were watching."

"Even if you did, you would still be wonderful!"

Whoa, dude. You're trying waaay too hard…

"I would've cheered you on no matter what!" Mike doubled down, going as far as to pound on his chest for some entirely inexplicable reason.

"I know that too." Ammy let out a small chuckle, followed by a pause and a small tweaking of her glasses. "Or rather, I would've known, if you had told me you would be coming to the concert. Do you have any idea how surprised I was when I noticed you in the front row?"

Was he there, I pondered? I didn't remember seeing the guy in the crowd, though considering its size, maybe that's not so surprising. He was probably on the other side of the four stalker amigos.

"I wanted to surprise you," the Celestial agent admitted while nervously scratching the back of his head. "Also, I tried to avoid making contact with your grandfather. I think he doesn't like me."

"Grandfather is just under a lot of stress right now. He's normally very nice," the class rep lied through her teeth without batting an eye. Or at least I presumed she did so, as I could not imagine a scenario where the words 'Lord Grandpa' and 'nice' could be used together without industrial-strength sarcasm slathered all over it.

Mike shared my sentiment, as he responded with a skeptical, "If you say so," followed by a slightly less skeptical, "To be honest, I'm more afraid that he would discover my secret."

The class rep scrunched up her brows, seemingly not understanding what he was going on about, prompting him to try and clarify what he said.

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"You know? My identity." She still looked at him uncomprehendingly, so the guy exhaled a low groan and spelled out, "I mean that I'm a Celestial."

"Oh, you meant that?" Ammy's face lit up with a relieved smile. "I think Grandfather already suspects that."

"He... He does?"

"I think so. He never said it outright, but in a roundabout way, he told me not to talk about any confidential information when you're around."

"Isn't that... really bad news?"

"So long as you are friends with Leo, I don't think you have anything to worry about."

I could totally see the question 'Are we friends?' written all over the guy's pale face, but Ammy didn't seem to notice. She took a long sip from her paper coffee cup and let out a content sigh.

"So you're saying that, as long as I remain on good terms with Leonard, your grandpa won't touch me even though I'm with the CIN?"

"I presume. Angie never got into any trouble either once Leo talked with him." A moment after she said that, the class rep winced and shook her head. "It was the first time I saw Grandfather that livid, but things got resolved smoothly afterward."

"Wow… I knew Leonard was influential, but to think even the arch-mage of the island has to yield to him…"

"I don't think that's the right word," Ammy whispered with the tiniest of frowns.

"Respects him?"

"I think it's different."

"… Is he intimidated by him then?"

The class rep raised a finger, probably to deny him on the spot, but then she stopped and used the same hand to tweak her glasses instead.

"Maybe? It's hard to tell."

"In your grandfather's defense, he is kind of scary. And that's coming from me, a CIN operative!"

"That's because you're a scaredy-cat," Ammy teased him out of the blue, and the guy honest to goodness flushed when faced with her surprise attack. "Don't look at me like that. You are. You called Grandfather scary, Leo scary, Pascal scary… You were even afraid of Neige after you learned she was from the Abyss."

"Hey, stop that! I'm not a coward, I just have a very well-developed survival instinct!" the guy insisted as he rapidly descended into a full-blown sulk. "It's not my fault that you're surrounded by scary people… But don't worry! It's still not going to stop me!"

"From doing what?"

"I… can't tell yet. I'm still waiting for the right moment," Mike told her a tad sheepishly, then he glanced at his fancy wristwatch and added, "The fireworks are about to start any minute now. Are you sure you don't want to view them?"

"No. I've been watching them every year since I was little. I'd much prefer staying indoors."

"Weeell… In that case, I suppose this is as good a time as any!" the not particularly secret agent declared before inhaling deeply, probably to hype himself up. It didn't work, as he soon deflated and added, "Can you give me a moment, please? I have to prepare myself."

Smooth, man. Real smooth.

The class rep didn't share my sentiment, mainly because she was obviously lost in thought, and before Mike could finish whatever preparations he needed to make, she called out to him.

"Before you say anything, I… think it's best I tell you something first. It's important."

Maybe it was the uncertain tone, or the fact she didn't look him in the eye, but the class rep's words made Mike outright flinch, and respond with an apprehensive, "I'm… listening?"

This time it was Ammy who needed time to prepare herself, and once she did, she told him, "I have a good idea about what you want to say, and I feel I have to tell you about this before you do. Mike, I… have a secret."

Oh? What's this? Is Ammy actually going to tell him that she's a…?

"I'm a homunculus."

Daaamn! She just came out and said it! That caught even me off-guard, and as for Mike, for the next couple of seconds he looked like he was doing some kind of stuffed fish impression.

"Ex… cuse me?"

"I said I'm a homunculus," Ammy repeated, this time a little less emphatically. "I was created by Grandfather and raised inside the School until the first year of middle school."

"… So that's what Leonard was warning me about," the clumsy Celestial muttered in a barely audible voice, but then he quickly shook his head. "Why are you—?"

"I just… felt that you should know," the class rep cut him off while predicting his question. "It's so that you wouldn't make a choice you would come to regret."

Mike blinked, and then, in a surprising turn of events, his brows descended into a rare, genuinely angry scowl and he exclaimed, "What are you even talking about?!"

She startled Ammy and she shrunk back in her seat, but he either didn't notice, or was too caught up in the heat of the moment to care, as he continued with, "Why would I regret anything? You are still you! You are Amelia! So what if you are a homunculus? It just means that you can't—!"

"Brother!"

"Wait, wha—?"

Without any prior warning, I suddenly found myself back on the rooftop, with a certain redhead shaking my shoulders.

"Hey, brother? Are you all right? Why are you zoning out like that?"

"P-Penny, stop shaking him! Leo's going to be angry…" My other sister tried her best to stop her, but with little success.

It took me a few moments to reorient myself, but then exasperation bubbled up from the pit of my stomach like a geyser as I shook Penny off me.

"Horse-tooting mother of a water fountain! I was this close! This freaking close!"

"Y-You see… I told you…" Snowy mumbled next to me, but I was too worked up to care. After quickly finding my anchor again, my vision returned to the empty corner of the cafeteria, but by this point Mike and Ammy stopped talking and were only giving starry-eyes looks to each other over the former's still half-eaten burger. They were also holding hands across the table, which meant the guy was probably successful.

That meant I not only missed the opportunity to organically learn why being a homunculus was such a persistently big deal, but I somehow failed to catch not one, but two fruitful confessions! What is this I don't even…

A soft groan later I returned to my body and directed a peeved glance at the girls squabbling by my side.

"I told you we should've just waited over there," Snowy stated, and my other sister firmly shook my head.

"And I told you that's no good! We need Leo to be around, otherwise people would get the wrong idea!"

"The wrong idea about what?"

"Us! It would be like when the squires were convinced I liked Leo because I trained with him a lot!"

"I'm confused… Are you saying you didn't like Leo, and that's why you were sparring with him?"

"No! I liked him, but not like that… Or at least I think I didn't… A-A-Anyway, I don't want others to think I hang out with you because we're like that, because then they start gossiping, and then it'll be weird and awkward, so we need Leo to be around so everyone will know we're watching the fireworks together because we're family!"

"… I still can't follow."

"Why? It's perfectly logical!"

"No, it's not," I cut in, followed by a tactical forehead flick. "Also, stop shouting. You're drawing attention."

"Ow! We wouldn't be drawing attention if you weren't spacing out…" Penny grumbled while rubbing her forehead. I ignored her and turned to Snowy, who also had her hands over her forehead even though I had no intention to flick it.

"Have you seen the others?"

"N-No? We thought they would be with you."

"They left to put on their coats aaand speak of the devil."

My sisters followed my line of sight where Judy and Elly just emerged from the roof access doorway, and after a few seconds of fumbling, during which their eyes were probably adjusting to the darkness, the two of them hastily made their way over to us.

"Phew! You see? I told you we wouldn't be late!" the princess triumphantly declared.

"But only because I kept telling you to hurry up," my dear assistant grumbled and sidled up to me. "Is there a problem, Chief?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You're frowning."

"Well, I did miss a few pivotal moments I was looking forward to, but nothing serious."

"Pivotal moments?" Elly repeated after me, and I mouthed a silent 'I'll explain later' to her.

"They are turning off the lights!" Penny exclaimed, and just as she said, the lamps around the yard and the sports field went out one section at a time.

"That means the fireworks are about to start," Judy noted, and as if by prior agreement, my two girlfriends took their customary spots by my sides as we gazed at the sky over the track field, and before long, I could hear the first projectile being launched high into the air, followed by a deafening, multicolored boom.

"Wow!" Elly exclaimed and grabbed onto me, sounding unexpectedly excited. Normally one would think a draconic girl who could breathe kaleidoscopic beams of destruction would find this kind of display mundane, but her eyes sparkled brighter than the explosions in the sky.

I glanced over to my other side and found Judy just as engrossed in the display, with a rare yet correspondingly lovely smile on her lips. Before long, my brows slowly but surely unknit themselves, and I put my arms around my girlfriends, pulling them into my embrace without any resistance.

Sure, I might've been too late to catch Mike's confession, or whatever happened between the childhood friend duo, but it mattered little. I raised my head, stared into the cloudy sky painted in the colors of the rainbow, and felt content in the knowledge that this was a moment I definitely didn't miss, and would remember for the rest of my life.

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