I was sitting in the cssroom, just after the bell signalling the lunch break rang and Mrs Applebottom left the cssroom. Tradition dictated that this should've been the point where I started waxing lyrical about the comforting mundanity of everyday school life and how it provided a sense of solid grounding in our hectic lives that never, ever changed. Except that it kind of did.

  "You've got such a nice tan!"

  "Thanks, I guess…" Judy responded a touch awkwardly, but it didn't seem to bother the cssmates clustered around her desk.

  "Hey, hey? Did you really go to a Mediterranean isnd for vacation?" One of the girls, a short one with simple pigtails leaned over with her hands pnted on the desk, her eyes practically shining with excitement. "Did you?"

  "That's… technically correct," my dear assistant confirmed in an unusually mousy voice, and the group erupted with 'Oooh!'-s and 'Aaah!'-s.

  "Lucky! I wanna have a rich girlfriend too!" one of the guys (I think his name was Steve) groused, much to the amusement and agreement of the rest of the group.

  "I'm sooo jelly!" a girl with long, dark green hair whined, and one of her friends patted her on the back to reassure her.

  "Boyfriend," Judy betedly corrected the previous guy, and another one (I think he was also Steve) cocked his head to the side in confusion.

  "But aren't you going out with Eleanor?"

  "No, we're both going out with Leonard," she corrected this one too, only for a third guy (I was fairly sure he wasn't Steve, but don't quote me on that) to let out a confused noise.

  "Eeeh? But if you're all together, then doesn't that mean she's also your girlfriend?"

  "That's not how Type 8 Triang Retionships work," Judy stated ftly, and I nearly ughed out loud, not expecting that old term to unexpectedly pop up here of all pces.

  All that aside, it was moments like this that really drove home the fact that the rate at which pceholders developed had been steadily accelerating over time, and by this point it felt subtly wrong to refer to them with that term anymore. They had their own personalities, interests, and retionships now, and could no longer be called entirely two-dimensional extras poputing the background of our lives. I wasn't too surprised though, as once we discovered the underlying mechanics, their steady development was inevitable and—

  "Emergency meeting!" a familiar voice rang out from the corner of the cssroom, drawing my attention to it and stopping me in my tracks just as I was about to get up from my seat. "I have confirmation! Repeat, I have confirmation!"

  "Impossible!" Mr Bedhair excimed while holding his spiky-haired comrade by the colr and dramatically shaking him. "You lie!"

  "I'm sorry comrade, but our source is beyond question," Mr Bowl Cut stated with a heavy voice and pced a hand on Mr Spiky's shoulder. "We have asked Goddess Angeline herself, and she confirmed the rumors."

  "No! Don't say it!" the spiky-haired boy finally let go of his bed-haired fellow and his face twisted in an anguished grimace, as if his whole world was colpsing.

  "It's true," the fourth amigo, Mr Crew Cut, spoke with a heavy voice and pced his hand on the guy's other shoulder.

  "Our Goddess, Ms Yamako…" Mr Bowl Cut swallowed hard, as if barely able to contain his grief, but then he steeled his expression. "She's getting married."

  "Nooo!" With an anguished cry, Mr Spiky fell to his knees and threw his hands into the air. "It's unfair! It should've been me! It should've been meee!"

  …

  Okay, on second thought, maybe pceholder character development was quite evitable after all. Or at the very least, some people were wholly immune to it. Go figure.

  "Where should we have lunch today?"

  My attention was drawn away from the four amigos' antics by a, in retrospect rather obvious, question from my lovely princess, stopping me in my tracks for the second time. She was already holding one of her multi-yered, homemade lunch boxes, no doubt lovingly handcrafted by her (and maybe Melinda).

  "The weather's great, and we have the cherry blossoms for scenery, so let's eat outside."

  "My thoughts exactly!"

  She beamed at me and was waiting for me to lead the way, but I had to disappoint her.

  "I have to make the rounds first, so you go pick a nice spot, and I'll catch up with you afterwards. First thing first thought…"

  I pointedly gnced at Judy's desk at the front.

  "No. A threesome and a triang retionship are not the same."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Of course I'm sure. I'm in one."

  "A threesome?"

  "Yes. No. Sometimes. It's two different things, okay?"

  Her usually deadpan voice was tinted with just a hint of exasperation, but since it was Judy we were talking about, that was the equivalent of being on the verge of blowing a fuse, so I inclined my head towards her.

  "Please rescue her at your earliest convenience."

  "On it!" Elly decred and strode over, lunch boxes in hand.

  With that situation sorted, I finally managed to be on my way as well (the third time's the charm), and I left the cssroom while staunchly ignoring the bawling creeps huddled together in the corner of the cssroom. The lunch breaks of Blue Cherry High were long, but if I wanted to visit everyone on my list and still have a leisurely meal with my girlfriends, I needed to pick up the pace.

  My first target was the nurse's office on the ground floor, and after skipping down the stairs and navigating the flow of students in the hallways, I soon stood in front of the familiar door. There was no need to have any reservations, so I walked in without knocking, and Jaakobah immediately turned in his office chair to face me. He naturally resumed his cover work as the school nurse with the end of spring break, and the white coat on his back and the stray stethoscope around his neck were starting to feel as normal as his Celestial hoplite outfit.

  What wasn't normal were the other occupants of the office.

  "Lord Polemos!"

  "W-We greet the Second True Archon!"

  As soon as they noticed me, a pair of familiar faces scampered over to my side, looking unexpectedly excited to see me. Pais and Kóre, my hastily promoted Chief Reminders, were dressed in old-timey light blue nurse outfits, complete with those folded vintage caps on top of their little heads.

  I would've said I was surprised by their presence, but I would've been lying. I've already seen them through Far Sight, and they were, in fact, the reason why I decided to pay a visit to Jaakobah.

  Speaking of him, my Praetorian Prefect got up from his seat and gave me a solemn salute with a pin "Lord Archon?" in tow. It was easy to see that he didn't expect that I would be visiting out of the blue, and while he wasn't exactly annoyed by my presence, his tone said he wanted to hear why I dropped by all the same.

  "At ease, all of you," I started, followed by a long beat and a pointed gnce at the kids. "I did not expect to see the two of you so soon."

  The children averted their gazes and shuffled their feet as if I just caught them with their collective hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Surprisingly, Jaakobah quickly came to their rescue.

  "As I've mentioned during our st meeting in Elysium, I took it upon myself to oversee your Chief Reminders' education."

  "I get that part, but why are they here? In the school?"

  "I work here," he answered ftly, as if I just asked something silly.

  "No, I mean, couldn't you leave them with someone else while you're here? Like the rest of the Praetorian Guards."

  Unexpectedly enough, it was Kóre who responded to that question.

  "Mister Jaakobah said it would be better for us to remain close to him and learn by his example."

  Seeing that I only raised a curious brow at her made the boy also gather his courage, and in a mousy voice he added, "A-Also, he says they're a bad influence, so…"

  I could see storm clouds gathering over Jaakobah's brow, so I waved for the kids to stay quiet and nudged the conversation along.

  "Fine, fine. So you're teaching them even while you're on the job?"

  "Yes. That is the gist of it."

  "Does Lord Grandpa know that they're here with you?" He gave me an uncomprehending look, so I amended, "The principal, I mean."

  "Yes, I've already cleared them with him," Jaakobah nodded firmly, and I had nothing else to say. Well, except maybe one thing.

  "… Why nurse costumes thought?"

  "They are for blending into the environment," the phlegmatic Celestial stated, making me raise a brow at that.

  Though again, this was the man whose concept of 'low-key disguise' was a brown trench coat over a cocktail suit and a fedora that screamed 'I'm an agent from a paperback spy-thriller', so I probably shouldn't have been so surprised.

  While I was considering that, I might've been staring at Pais in particur, because Jaakobah soon added, "They are also technically unisex."

  "That… wasn't a question, but if you say so, then fine." I paused and focused on the kids again. "So? What are you learning?"

  "Anatomy!" Kóre excimed as if waiting to show off. "I already memorized all the major bones of the body!"

  "Good job?" I blurted out, and the boy once again felt encouraged by my reaction and joined in.

  "We… are also learning healing arias. I-I'm not that good at them yet, but I promise I'll do better."

  "Don't stress too much over it," I said, and my hand automatically nded on his head and tousled his hair. "Jaakobah probably has high standards, but you're still kids, so don't overwork yourselves."

  "A-As you command!" the boy excimed, sounding unusually happy.

  In the meantime, the man by the chair pointedly cleared his throat, so I turned my attention back to him.

  "Do you have anything else to report?"

  "As a matter of fact, there is a subject I wish to discuss with the Lord Archon."

  "I'm listening."

  "During my visit at the orphanage, when I adopted these two, I—"

  "Hold it!" I cut him off with a palm raised. "You adopted them?"

  "Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Jaakobah asked back, and for a second, I didn't know how to respond.

  "No. It was just… unexpected. Please, continue."

  He nodded and proceeded like my interruption never happened.

  "The orphanage is primarily dedicated to the children of agents and officials who perished in the line of duty, but they provide little guidance to them beyond ensuring they are well fed and they read their scriptures. Seeing such waste of potential, I was considering the establishment of a youth branch of the Praetorian Guards, and I wished to ask for your approval."

  "A youth group?" I echoed him, but he remained stoic and only stared at me dispassionately. "It sounds a little vague. Give me a proper proposal in writing, and I'll give it fair consideration."

  "As you command."

  He gave me a quick salute, and the kids clumsily mimicked him.

  "Is there anything else to report?"

  "Nothing urgent."

  I nodded and reached for the doorknob.

  "In that case, keep up the good work."

  "Yes, Lord Archon!"/"We will! We will!" the children excimed, while Jaakobah only gave me a solemn nod.

  With my curiosity about the presence of the kids sated, it was time to head to the next location, which was the faculty office. It was also on the ground floor, though at the other end of the building, and it didn't take long to get there. This time, I did knock first, and after getting an unenthusiastic response from the other side, I walked in.

  Blue Cherry High's faculty office was pretty typical, all things considered. A bunch of rge desks arranged in a U-shape, a couple of PCs with old-school CRT monitors fnked by piles and piles of books and paperwork, and a rge photo-copier printer in the corner, along with a few potted pnts. The only people inside were Mrs Applebottom and Lord Barnabas, though the tter was currently hidden behind a whole mountain of test papers. From the looks of it, they were already preparing for the end-of-the-year exams coming up.

  My destination wasn't with either of them, and I headed to the counsellor's office in the back instead. It was called that, but in reality it was just Lord Ambrose's little hidey-hole where he spent most of the day while pretending to do his undercover job as a Board of Education consultant. I walked over and lightly knocked on the door, and a few seconds ter it opened, revealing the bearded arch-mage on the other side.

  "Hello. I've heard—"

  Before I could finish the sentence, he grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me in before smming the door shut behind us.

  "Finally! I've been waiting for you since morning!" he decred loudly and crossed his arms with a huff.

  "Pascal didn't say it was urgent," I held while unsubtly scanning the messy room, full of barely disguised magitech equipment, scrawled research notes, and a whole bunch of empty pizza boxes.

  …

  Why did I suddenly have a feeling that Ambrose and Fred might get along surprisingly well?

  "Never mind," I muttered with a shake of my head and faced the robed man. "So? Do you need my help with something?"

  "Potentially!" He decred loudly, with no indoor voice at all, and suddenly I also had a feeling he might be birds of a feather with Dad-in-w too. Anyhow, he raised a finger and added, "Just a moment!"

  He turned around and started chanting some faux-Latin words while making vague gestures towards the door and the only window of the room. The spell soon took effect and formed a thin bubble that expanded and covered the entire room in a transparent, colourless film. Then, for good measure, he also walked over to said window and closed the bckout curtains.

  "Why the secrecy?"

  My question made him let out a soft huff and he folded his arms again.

  "Just in case the others tried to listen in," he responded openly and looked me in the eye. "We need to talk about Lord Marzanna."

  It took me a second to recognize that name, mainly because I'd only ever heard it in passing.

  "The arch-mage with the st Grimoire Key?"

  "Yes, her!" Ambrose growled. "Listen, the rest are trying to keep this secret, because they don't want a 'potential diplomatic incident' just as we're finally starting to make peace with the Celestials, but she's almost certainly reted to the assassination plot against the Deus girl."

  "… Okay, so if the Assembly wants to keep this under wraps, then why are you telling me this?"

  "Because that infuriating bint is stonewalling all our attempts to get the third grimoire key from her!" he burst out, throwing his hands in the air in the process. "She put the whole Assembly into a gridlock, and she even has the gall to say that we're compromised because we're working with you! We're this close!" He extended two fingers, as if trying to pinch the air between us. "This close to unlocking the Grimoire! We're on the precipice of history! Just trying to imagine all the wondrous knowledge in there! The knowledge that will no doubt finally make the Mysticism Schools realize their ways are misguided, and yet we can't take that st crucial step because that fool is being obstinate!"

  "So she doesn't like Celestials," I whispered, but because we were isoted from the outside world by his spell, Ambrose easily overheard me.

  "She sure doesn't. She's probably jealous that you have better healers or something."

  "Sounds as reasonable as anything." I shrugged and voiced the pivotal question. "So? What exactly do you expect me to do? Send more official requests to Gsgow? If the Assembly is already in a bureaucratic deadlock, it won't do much good."

  "Don't be daft, Leonard!" the arch-mage scoffed and fshed a grin. "I'm saying that we should go to Lord Marzanna's pce, pick up her Key, and bring it to Amadeus's kid. Once she has all three, it's going to be a done deal, so the rest of those old bastards will just have to accept that it was done."

  It took me a while to fully digest what he just proposed.

  "Are you telling me to go all the way to Ottawa and steal their Grimoire Key?"

  "No, no. It will be for safekeeping. The same way you kept mine and Amadeus's Keys out of Bel's reach," he said, winking, but I couldn't help but stare ftly at him in return.

  "I can't do that," I stated categorically, channelling my inner Judy, much to the bearded arch-mage's outrage.

  "What? Why?"

  Well, primarily because I had no marks for Phasing in freaking Ottawa, but I couldn't say that out loud, so I focused on the other obstacles.

  "I'm currently representing both the Draconic Federation and the Elysium. Even if I could just gallivant over to another continent and nab the st Grimoire Key like that, it would become an international scandal at best, or a complete diplomatic meltdown at worst."

  "In the short term, yes, but once the Grimoire is open, nobody will care!" Ambrose argued back, but I was firm on this one.

  "We already have a bit of a situation brewing with the Abyssals and Bel. I can't afford to leave the isnd right now."

  Lord Ambrose gred at me, but then he closed his eyes, raised his hands, and massaged both of his temples at the same time. After a few short seconds he exhaled a sharp breath and pointed at me.

  "Okay then, change of pns. How about this: Since you can't leave Critias for long, I'll do it. I'll go to Ottawa, and one way or another, I'll get Lord Marzanna to hand over her Key. One way or another."

  "You're repeating yourself. Also, you could do that without me," I pointed out, but he scoffed at me again.

  "No, I need you to back me up. They aren't letting me do it, so if they raise a fuss, tell Amadeus and Gulliver that we have a pn and you've got my back, okay?"

  "I… guess I could do that much…" I agreed tentatively, thinking that this would be the point where he expined what that pn was, but Lord Ambrose just rubbed his palms with a wolfish grin instead.

  "All right! This works too!" Without further ado, he turned on his heels and muttered a few muffled words that made the isotion spell covering the room pop like a bubble, and then he grabbed hold of the doorknob and only turned back long enough to say, "Don't forget: If Gulliver asks, everything is under control, and you've got my back. Got it?"

  He didn't wait for my response. A moment ter he was gone, and I could even hear him storming out of the faculty office in turn. As for me, I had a feeling that this was going to lead to some trouble down the road, but if Ambrose managed to get the st Key, this Lord Marzanna, or both onto the isnd, I felt like I could work with that. Not to mention, future-me's notes did mention resolving the whole Grimoire situation before the Abyss plot, so if the boisterous arch-mage wanted to kickstart it for me, I figured I might as well let him.

  With all of that concluded, I took out my phone and checked the time, accentuated by a click of my tongue.

  "Well, crap. I guess the third stop has to wait until after school hours," I whispered as I put away the device and also left the faculty office.

  Call me shallow, but when it came to priorities, a picnic lunch under the cherry blossoms with my girlfriends would naturally take the top spot. The clearly suspicious woman in a bck catsuit, perched on a nearby rooftop and observing the campus with a pair of comically rge binocurs, could wait.