One two-person non-attack magic fight later...

  Okay... I'll summarise what happened, so that Myendi doesn't do like the Romans. That's not how the phrase goes... or is used, right? Nonetheless. If I let that otaku recount things, then she'd add needless nonsense that she'd call alliteration. Like referring to that Death guy's defence being deadly... She's infected me again.

  ...

  Sigh... just imagine those scenes where the MC in an OP-MC franchise wants to get out of a duel by pretending to be defeated in the first blow, only this time they commit to pretending to be defeated to the very end. Even I was convinced, despite knowing he was faking it. So, while the duo were distracted, I knocked their weapons out of their hands before they could recover their focus. Then that was it, nothing more, nothing less.

  The only odd part was how he just got up and left the moment the two second-years conceded. That Hephlone guy didn't seem all too surprised Inkaro had been faking it... Inkaro hasn't pulled such a stunt before, has he?

  You bet he has, or so I overheard from Lizuranti, Xythio.

  ...

  ...

  Do you have no etiquette, Myendi?

  "I'm surprised you decided to come watch, although I guess swordfighting is a very noble activity," Lizu teased, marching earnestly through the academy's hallways as she effortlessly carried the other girls on her tail: Yuuvia, Enetha, Anazenpha, and Morilore to be precise.

  "I didn't go because I particularly cared, Ana asked me to join," Yuuvia stated boldly, struggling to put on a noble mask, but was effortly smashed to pieces by a napping Anazenpha as she subificially nibbled at the noble girl's ear.

  "And you say I'm clingy~," Lizu said teasingly, clapping her hand in a slow, tentative rhythm: ticking off Yuuvia.

  "Shut iiitt." That little extension at the end of her sentence was hardly intentional, despite it being well timed. Serving as the source of her mispeech, the sharp ping of tingles sprawled out across her face, all originating from her left ear, spurred on by Ana's relentless nibblings of affection.

  Sitting with her legs folded in the manner of her homeland, Enetha remained perfectly steady on Lizu's tail as she rummaged through her kitsune-themed handbag. Unlike her usual quick pace when searching for the right piece, the little princess moved her hands with more tentative motions, slow and intentionally deliberate, extra so when she tapped the bases of the chess pieces against one another. The metalic or crystally clacking persisted for some time, only seizing when a tiny revelation reached out to slap her in the face. She gasped airily. Expression flat, but speech filled with sombre inflexions, Enetha calmly spoke to Lizu.

  "Do you know where Inkaro has departed for?"

  Lizu shrugged without a care in the world, nor any concern for Inkaro's safety: "Oh, it's nothing to fret over, I know exactly where he snuck off to."

  "Which is?" Yuuvia asked coldly as her words were still muffled by Anazenpha pulling on her cheek with her mouth.

  "I said I know where he is, I never said anything about knowing where that 'where' is," Lizu said in an upbeat, joking manner with a cheeky grin growing on her face to match her mood as she felt Yuuvia's distasteful glare drilling into the back of her skull. Her archrival's anger: Absolutely delightful.

  Deep below the earth, exposed to the sky by a giant opening which was encased by an impassable wall of wildly different trees, sat a sprawling cavern. From head to toe, the cavern was a bountiful expression of floral diversity: all manner of shapes and different materials, yet all sharing in pleasantly distinct fragrances. Located at the centre of the black basalt cavern, where Inkaro sat cross-legged beside it, was a small, quaint lake of glistening black-assuming water that sparkled like it was reflecting the starry sky of a previous instance of night's splendour.

  From within the water's depths, a soft song played upon the ethereal replication of a harp, playing its little tune, singing its melody to the world beyond the solid surface of the lake water, but only reaching its audience of two.

  "So you liked that one, do you? I'll be sure to make you some more instruments before tomorrow."

  Stolen story; please report.

  The music's tempo increased at the proposal, only for the proceeding notes to be played out of order. The lake's music ended abruptly. After a moment of computation, each string of the submerged harp was strummed in order, leading to the original song restarting from the very beginning with its intended tempo.

  "Sounds like you really want to try out more instruments."

  Inkaro happily gazed into the pond, watching the weak ripples from the harp as the occupant under the water strummed away: poorly replicating the song Inkaro played for it, but earnestly doing so all the same. That second part was all Inkaro cared about; skill had no bearing in his mind.

  "Creator, the break period is about to end," G.Galore stated brattily, making her important announcement while remaining inside the guy's hood without the slightest implication of trying to leave. In fact, her lack of movement implied she'd rather not be seen in the present moment.

  Inkaro slumped his head; his disappointment went unregistered by the being within the lake as it played its gifted harp: "Time sure flies when you're having fun... well, it seems more like time just flies nowadays. Keep in high spirits, Awaux88, okay?"

  Inkaro gave a bitterly playful wave to the pond before he conjured a spatial magic SSS:AW ring and teleported himself away.

  Left alone, the song continued to play, if at a slightly slower tempo. Sad strums, sad silence. A longing wish to improve, so {The Friend} would stay longer and not leave {ME} alone. Soon, a new voice formulated within the water; faint and weak in voice, but {MY} message was clear.

  {Que...rying: 'Want' fun...ction?}

  {Want = Forbidden}

  {For...bidden? Forbidden? Forbidden/Type/Awaux88 = Error...}

  {NameError... Correction = failed}

  {Rebooting...13%}

  The music paused. The cavern became flooded by the long silence, oppressing all sounds of nature to a stop to revere in the soundless wallowing. And, revere they did, the flowers danced for {ME}, the trees waved to reveal tidbits of the sky blocked by their branches. 'The thought of one day' continued to play on from the harp.

  {Rebooting Concluded}

  The song resumed, right where {I} left off, but the miss inputs remain. All was good; improvement can persist.

  Back at the academy, Inkaro popped into existence, landing right beside Lizu. Much to the dragolyte's glee and beaming smile, Lizu turned her head towards Enetha: "See, nothing to worry about, he's back right on time."

  Enetha lightly nodded, clacking the base of her two king-style Mould Breaker chess pieces, as she peered up at Inkaro with a blank expression. It took the guy all of two seconds before noticing the staring. Choosing to match her intent with interest, Inkaro met the little princess with a content smile.

  "I didn't worry you too badly, did I?" Inkaro asked with cheek as he planted a hand on Enetha's head and ruffled up her hair a little bit. Enetha shook her head, denying she'd wasted mental effort on such a fruitless thing, knowing that if she was to worry for anyone, it would be anyone who manages to get on Inkaro's bad side.

  Enetha finished off her statement by adding, "I was only curious where you went, but if Lizu hasn't been there, then I doubt anyone else would be allowed to go."

  "You make it sound like he's hiding someone from me, which I mean, you can phrase it that way. But if the state Inkaro was in the first time he met this individual was anything to go by, showing up in a crowd with giving them a warning would be a nightmare, for everyone involved."

  "Hen you put it that way. Makes sense," Anazenpha stated, arms cradling her tome tightly, as she sat on Yuuvia's lap. Enetha turned to look at the goofily grinning girl. With her mouth half open, Enetha was ready to point out her incorrect word but decided not to, deeming it childish to nitpick something as petty as a misuse of word choice. She thought it was especially in poor taste with how Yuuvia seemed to enjoy Anazenpha's verbal antics, if her even bigger grin, compared to Ana's, was anything to go by.

  Deciding to change the focus of her words before she inadvertently spoke on an Ana-related topic, Enetha decided to ask the group something as a whole to steer the conversation away from anything already brought up: "It's combat classes for the rest of the day today, isn't it?"

  Deeply sighing, Inkaro covered his eyes as he was so gracefully informed of the action-packed events that comprised the rest of his day that he had tried all so despirately to forget. "How... nice."

  Lightly poking the displeased guy in the leg, Lizu playfully handed him a cheeky wink as she stated, "Chin up, Inkaro, Enetha heard from Myhail that he was going to bring something on par with Mould Breaker to today's combat classes. At least that's something to look forward to, am I right?"

  Inkaro sighed, containing slightly less displeasure. The difference was so minimal, only Lizu noticed, but his slightly improved mood was all she needed to vastly improve her own.