The st few days disappeared into the past like a whirlwind of normalcy, and before I knew it, the Blue Cherry High Athletics Festival was upon us.

  I'm not going to lie, the distinct ck of anything significant happening was still rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe I was just overly cautious, or maybe the Simucrum had done too good a job instilling the idea that a 'calm before the storm' explicitly implied that a storm was on the way, but I just couldn't stop being antsy.

  There was also the issue of the 'rescue operation' still hanging in the air. My deal with Fidèle Shamash somehow turned into one of those historical milestone treaties between the Abyss and the rest of the World of Mystics, and while we mutually agreed that I would rescue Ollie, it was technically a different arrangement than the one Tracas Ashur tried to make with me, to the point it came off as me doing a deal behind his back. Because of that, the Ashur envoys have been quietly passive-aggressive in their diplomatic correspondence.

  The Nergals, represented by the weird cat-burgr dy, were oddly silent on the matter, though that part made some sense. From what I could gather, their primary goal was to somehow drag me (and by extension, everyone involved with me) into the Abyssal civil war, and since I officially threw my lot in with them, they were probably already satisfied with this outcome. Their diplomatic messages were more well-mannered and only politely asked me to mount the rescue mission at my earliest convenience. No pressure.

  By the way, how weird was it that I somehow graduated from 'cndestine meetings' to 'responding to consur correspondence'? I was truly becoming another cog in the machine, wasn't I? I didn't like that. Not one bit.

  Not that I could do much about it at this point, so I continued to do the bare minimum, and at least in the case of said Abyssals and their messages, I have so far managed to deflect them by saying that an exfiltration job like this required lots of pre-pnning, and they grudgingly accepted my word on it. It didn't stop the Ashurs from sending me even more mail every other day, but it was pointless, because the whole operation was out of my hands. Figuratively speaking.

  The person holding the reins was future-me, and he still staunchly refused to provide me with a proper timetable, so I couldn't carelessly move either. In particur, rescuing the kid at the bottom of the dungeon was crucial in kicking off the grand finale of our scenario, so I didn't dare to start it until I got the green light from him. The st thing I needed right now was a time paradox to deal with on top of all the other organic pains-in-the-neck the Simucrum loved to home-grow at my expense.

  "…"

  Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and temporarily put all of those concerns out of my mind. When I opened them again, the gre of the sun made me squint.

  In one word, the weather was perfect. Sunny and warm, yet with a pleasantly cool breeze. In front of me, rows of canopy tents with colourful party fgs attached to the thin ropes stretched between them. Under those, a veritable crowd idling, chatting, and having a merry time in general. The whole pce was teeming with people, both Blue Cherry High students in their PE shirts and shorts, and just as many parents and Timaeus residents from the neighbourhood. The area around the tents was cordoned off so that nobody could wander off and accidentally interrupt a race on the field, and that's where most of the guests were congregating, while the various csses were clustered together on the turf inside the ring of the running tracks.

  I was part of the tter group, though at the moment I was at the far end of the track field and standing on the freshly assembled portable stage. It was the same one we borrowed from the concert department of the Dracis's record business during the cultural festival, though this time there was no need for the pyrotechnics and the lighting, so there was no scaffolding involved. There was music though, and the rge speakers that came with the set were now pying an old pop song with a catchy beat and a refrain talking about winning a battle of love with pincer manoeuvres. It made sense in context.

  "Is it done?" a strained voice inquired from below, trying to be heard over the loud music.

  Lord Taika was standing next to the stage on the ground, her expectant eyes glued to me. I skipped over to the edge and hopped off so that I would be standing next to her and we wouldn't need to yell.

  "Everything's in order," I told her with a slightly raised voice, and she exhaled with visible relief.

  "Thank you, Leonard. I know I shouldn't have bothered you with something minuscule like this, but I'm sincere when I say that you're a lifesaver."

  "Don't even mention it. I already had experience with assembling these things," I responded glibly and used a thumb over my shoulder to point at the stage. "It was no big deal."

  "Thank you anyway." She gestured towards the crowd. "Don't let me hold you up. Please, go and enjoy the rest of the festival with your css."

  "That's the pn."

  I waved her goodbye with a smirk in tow and headed towards the center of the track field, only to come to a stop after just a couple of steps. My gaze nded on the scoreboard set up at the edge of the tracks; a retively rge construction made of wooden beams and plywood. It was supposed to be old and battered after years of reuse, but as with everything else, it was actually in pristine condition. More importantly, its painted white surface was used as an enormous pinboard, where the students in charge would pin up the current scores of each css.

  While there were no prizes, the sports festival had an underlying competitive element to it, where all the csses would earn points based on their performance during the day. First, we had the individual athletics tests, where students from each css would do high jumps, javelin throwing, sprint races, hammer throwing, and all the rest of the comparatively more 'boring' competitions. Most of those were already done, and everyone was waiting for the quirkier contests, like the tug-of-war, the three-legged race, and the mock cavalry battle.

  The majority of them (especially the st one) required the venue to be prepared first, something the sports clubs would take care of, and by the state of the scoreboard, I could tell that they weren't ready yet. As such, I decided to take a little detour to pass the time and aimed at the rows of tents nearby.

  Maybe it was because of the competitive spirit in the air, or maybe it was just the music, but everyone present was unusually lively. The students idling in the crowd were a given, but the same applied to the average pceholder as well. Everyone was chatting and goofing around and eating street food, and…

  "Howdy! I figured you'd show up sooner or ter!"

  It took me a second to realize that I was the one being addressed, but then I felt silly for not noticing the familiar scent in the air right away.

  "Pipe down, Jones!" a certain ex-delinquent grumbled and turned to face me as well.

  The leader of the good ol' Goldfish Poop Gang underwent an astonishing change since the st time I'd seen him. Well, fine; he was still heavy-set, and his face was as thuggish as ever, but he ditched the pompadour! It was his main character trait, and it was gone, repced by a tidy, short-cropped hairdo!

  In retrospect, that made a lot of sense; I was pretty sure his previous haircut wasn't appropriate for handling fresh street food. Speaking of which, they had the whole portable gyros setup from the Valentine's fair, and the shortest of the trio was blissfully turning the skewer and cutting the meat even as we spoke. He was even humming along with the background music.

  "We keep running into each other," the big guy, 'Tony' if my memory served right, crossed his arms and locked eyes with me, and he might've even looked surface-level intimidating if not for the sad tongs sticking out from under his armpit and the apron saying 'Kiss the chef' over his gut. "So? What can I get you this time?"

  "I wasn't pnning to eat anything, thank you."

  I didn't say that just out of modesty. We still had the team competitions ahead of us in the afternoon, and as much as I wanted to let Josh flex his protagonist chops and collect some accodes, he wasn't going to let me sck off. While I admit that I did feel a little peckish at the moment, I imagined that eating a gyros would be just asking to get an upset stomach.

  "Oh, come on! Don't be like that!" the tall guy behind the counter whined.

  "No, I'm serious. I was just passing by. Also…" I paused to gesture at my PE outfit. "I don't have my wallet on me."

  "In that case…" The big dude searched his pockets, and after finding a few crumpled notes and a couple of coins, he threw them next to the cash register and then immediately tossed a can of coke my way. "Here. It's on the house."

  I caught the beverage, and after a long beat, responded with a slightly sheepish, "Thanks?"

  "You're welcome!"

  "Aye, boss? Are ya gonna ask him 'bout tha' thin' now?" the short guy asked on the side, betedly realizing my presence.

  "What thing?" the tall one blurted out even as he was stuffing the spare change into the till machine, and the other guy rolled his eyes.

  "Ya know? 'e's with hot chicks all th' time, so th' boss said 'e should introduce us to—"

  "Ignore him!" Tony bellowed and grabbed the small guy in a chokehold before looking at me. "He's just joking! Go and enjoy the sports day!"

  "… Your friend is turning purple."

  "It's just a trick of the light! Have fun! Please?"

  I was kind of curious how this skit would end, but the short member of the trio looked really uncomfortable with his mouth covered up, so I nodded along.

  "All right then. You have fun too, and thanks for the drink."

  With that, I turned on my heel and started wandering among the various tents. Most of them were just pces where people could sit and chat, but some of them had other purposes, such as the one erected by a local retirement club attending the event, or the one by the city's 'traditionalist society' (read: a bunch of medieval reenactors) dispying curios and talking about local folk customs. Those tents were retively calm, while a little further down the line…

  "Kyaa! Let me take a photo with them too!"

  There was a veritable throng of people, almost entirely girls and young women, clustered around the first aid tent set up by Jaakobah. It was meant as a pce where students could rest in case they got dizzy or injured during the competition, but thanks to a pair of Celestial children, I wasn't sure the people in need of care could even fit in the tent at this point.

  "Don't shove! Don't shove! Everyone will get the chance to take a picture!"

  I was just about to move along, but the unexpected voice made me pause and take a second look. Inside the tent, I found Ichiko and Xiao ordering people around, making them form an orderly line so that they could take photos. Last I checked, only the two Celestial kids in their little nurse outfits were in the center of attention, but now that the little miko and Odango Girl were here as well (in their shrine maiden outfit a Chinese qipao respectively), I could see why so many girls would gather here. Everyone liked cute things, but girls were allowed to freely express it like this without coming off as creeps.

  There was something profound about societal views on what different sexes could and ought to get away with in public, but before I could touch on it…

  "Right now, I'd say she's an eight," a different familiar voice drew my attention, and when I looked to my left, I found the four amigos standing there, posing like art critics as they observed the children from a distance. "Once she grows up, she'll undoubtedly become a goddess, but as of now, only an eight."

  "What about the other one?" the bed-haired amigo questioned his bowl-cut fellow.

  After a series of thoughtful hums, the guy pretended to push his nonexistent gsses up the bridge of his nose, struck an over-the-top pose, and decred, "I have observed them closely, and I have to disappoint you: he's a boy!"

  "No way!" the spiky-haired guy in the back excimed in horror. "That can't be! It's impossible!"

  "Sorry, comrade, but it's the truth!"

  "I don't see the problem," the Mr Crew Cut stated bndly, and when the rest turned questioning gazes at him, he conically decred, "Looks female enough."

  "Oh, for the love of…!" I burst out, and the four amigos all turned to me in unison, visibly startled by my presence. "Can't you guys do something normal for a change? Get a different bloody hobby!"

  "How dare you, Leonard S. Dunning?" Mr Bowl Cut scoffed, and he struck another weird pose, with one hand over his head and the other sticking out at ninety degrees. "This is no mere hobby, but our solemn duty as the foremost followers of the goddesses!"

  "Yeah!" the rest of them agreed and joined him in his posturing, and now they looked like some kind of budget sentai team posing for the camera.

  I would've liked to kick their asses just for that alone, but before I could get to it, I was intercepted by a certain foxy miko weaving through the crowd.

  "Ue-sama! Welcome!" She came to a stop in front of me and beamed at me with sparkly eyes. "Is Ue-sama also here to take photos with Kóre-chan and Pais-kun?"

  "No, I was just passing by, and…" In the meantime, the four annoying amigos chose this opportunity to slink away from the argument, so I stifled a shallow groan and shook my head. "Never mind. What are you doing here?"

  Ichiko put her hands on her hips, puffed up her chest, and excimed, "Our best!"

  That cheeky answer would've normally deserved a light forehead-poke, but her performance drew a lot of chuckles and affectionate noises from the girls behind her, so I let it slide this time.

  "I see that Xiao is here. Does that mean Naoren came to visit?"

  "Yes! He's being lovey-dovey with Rinne-san over there!" She pointed at the other end of the row of tents, and it made me raise a brow.

  "Really?"

  The little miko nodded, and after a long beat, I rubbed her head and gently pushed her back towards the tent.

  "I'll go say hi to them. Don't cause too much of a ruckus, you hear?"

  "Haaai!"

  She weaved between the legs of the crowd and soon reappeared next to the Celestial twins, much to everyone's delight. Or at least mostly everyone's. I could see Jaakobah sitting at a makeshift desk in the back and looking particurly unenthused by the situation, yet he didn't try to put a stop to it and let the kids py around while looking over them from a distance. I had my initial reservations about this arrangement, but maybe he actually made a good dad?

  He gave me a deferential nod when our eyes met, which I returned with a wave of my hand before turning on my heels and taking a swig from my drink, then I leisurely headed towards the spot Ichiko indicated. On the way, I encountered a few more curious signs. Sahi and Pascal, both wearing the disciplinary committee armbands, were giving out directions to the guests. The rejuvenated arch-mage in particur was really popur with the elderly. Go figure.

  A bit further back, I caught a glimpse of Abram, Arnwald, and Crke hanging out. Ever since the fishing trips in the Elysium, the 'dad group' had more or less solidified, and they'd been occasionally hanging out together in their free time. If the three of them were here though, it also meant the moms had to be nearby as well, but I couldn't find them in the crowd. Far Sight was an option, but that was tricky to use in this situation, and it wasn't important enough to risk bumping into someone and wasting my free coke.

  At st, I discovered Naoren amongst the sea of guests and students, and in the middle of a small cluster not dissimir to the one at the medical tent.

  "Mr Feilong, Mr Feilong! How did you meet teacher?"

  "It was during a… business meeting," the young patriarch responded as smoothly as he could.

  "Since when are you dating?" a different girl asked in high spirits.

  "Who confessed first?" another girl chimed in, shouting over the previous one.

  "Please, one question at a…" It was at this moment that he noticed me and he looked at me like a man in a desert who just stumbled upon an oasis. It only sted for a split second before he cleared his throat and fshed an amicable smile at the girls surrounding him. "Ah, please excuse me, everyone, but I have an important matter to attend to. Let's continue this conversation ter." He didn't wait for their response, raised a hand over his head, and broke his encirclement by briskly walking towards me. "Leonard! Can I have your attention for a moment?"

  "You already have it," I told him flippantly and gestured for him to follow after me. Like that, the two of us started walking away from the group of curious girls, much to their disappointment. "So? What was that about?"

  Naoren let out a shallow sigh.

  "You're my saviour, Brother Leonard. I came to visit Lady Rinne, but we could only talk briefly before her duties called her away." That part made sense. Mountain Girl was our only PE teacher, and since this was an athletics festival, she would be about as busy as it would get. "Right after that, I was accosted by a group of students curious about our retionship. I felt no ill intent from them, so I got careless, and before I knew it, I was surrounded and bombarded with personal questions from all angles."

  "Yeah, schoolgirls can be insistent like that, and you two make good gossip."

  "I can see that now," he admitted and looked around. "I can see Zihao from here, but where's Xiao Xiao?"

  "She's at the medical tent with Ichiko," I told him absently while trying to figure out where his younger brother was. It was only after a few seconds that I realized an answer like that might've made him worried, so I hastily added, "They're helping the nurse and his… kids, I guess?"

  "Oh, that's good." He heaved a sigh of relief. "I told her not to go far. I know the venue should be secure, but you can never know what could happen."

  To be fair, this pce was about as safe as it would get. Not only did the Magi deploy all kinds of surveilnce and boundary spells around the school as a precaution, but we had all of the Praetorian Guards, as well as the Squires (under their Constable LLC cover identity) patrolling the pce in an official capacity.

  "We have Entitled Knights, Draconian patriarchs, Celestial honour guards, and something like half a dozen arch-mages here. A tiny dragon barely even makes a difference at this point, so nobody would be stupid enough to make a move here."

  "You know, normally having all of these factions in one pce would've been the cause for concern," he pointed out, and I could only shrug and take another sip from my drink.

  "True, but that was in the past."

  "I can't argue with that…"

  In the meantime, I also found Zihao in the crowd, and…

  "Whoa? Is your brother actually popur with the dies?"

  Naoren followed my gaze and looked back at his brother again, then exhaled sharply in disapproval. As I just said, the younger Feilong brother was currently surrounded by five or six girls. It wasn't a group comparable to the ones crowded around the four children, or even the one that encircled Naoren until recently, but unlike those, this one had a distinctly different vibe to it.

  While he was too far away and the music too loud to hear the conversation, it was clear to see from just their expressions that the girls, mostly first and second years, were interested in the exotic redhead with the traditional Chinese martial arts outfit. He, on the other hand, only looked mildly irritated by their questions.

  "He would be, if he had a better attitude," the bespectacled patriarch spoke in a low voice that sounded unusually exasperated. "The way my brother pursues the matters of the heart is wholly counter-productive, approaching aggressively when a dy isn't interested, and turning cold and standoffish when she is. I sometimes fear that I've failed his education as an upright gentleman."

  "I don't know. Girls like the bad boy archetype too," I pointed out, and he looked at me like I spoke complete nonsense just now.

  "I'm not sure what you mean by that, but—"

  "Ah, here you are!"

  Naoren didn't have the opportunity to finish his response because of a loud cry near us, followed by my hand getting grabbed.

  "Whoa there!" I stood my ground at first, but then I recognized that it was Angie, and my initial resistance turned into confusion. "What's the matter?"

  "The matter?!" she thundered at me with a gre that was simultaneously cutting and yet hard to take seriously. "You completely missed the tug-of-war, and we lost it because you weren't there to act at the anchor!"

  "Wait, it's that time already?" I gnced at the scoreboard and let out and soft hum. "Huh. Sorry, I just got distracted, and—"

  "No time for this!" She didn't wait for me to finish and started pulling me again. "Josh needs you for the three-legged race! You're our golden team; if we lose another match when we have both of you in our css, we'll never gonna live it down!"

  "I get it, but… wait just a…!" In the end, I gave up and sent an apologetic gnce at the young patriarch. "Sorry about this. Let's continue this ter."

  He didn't compin, and so I let myself be dragged to the track field, where Josh and the girls were already waiting for me. Oh well. Let's go ahead and put some sports into this festival, shall we?