When Sakuya placed the main course onto the table, which possessed the form of something less appetizing than what her housemates usually expect as a dinner, it was only Sakuya who remained with a smile; "I decided to do something Western tonight," left this smile with a slightly vain tone.

Regrettably, Remilia's honesty was the sentence's first visitor. "Sakuya…what is this?"

Her sister, similar in honesty, could only gaze blankly at the charred mass imposingly placed before her.

"It's meatloaf, Remilia. It's been a while since I made it, but I think it's time to bring it back!"

"…have you ever made meatloaf before?"

"Of course I have," as she sat down. "What did I just say?" She turned her attention otherwise. "Patchouli."

Unaware of the monolithic slab before her, Patchouli was attended to yet another video game.

"Patchouli, how many times have I said 'No gaming at the dinner table' before?"

"Is dinner ready yet?"

"Well, yes; had you not been playing whatever game that is, you would have known that dinner is, in fact, ready."

"Okay, just let me save, and…" After becoming aware of the meatloaf, she developed a stare similar to the one born from Flandre's empty eyes. "Is this…what…what is this?"

"It's meatloaf, Patchouli." She moved on towards her announcement. "Now everybody, I know today was very busy for all of us, so I wanted to make something filling; we've got a big Friday ahead, so let's enjoy this and talk about our day."

Meiling didn't really care about the unappetizing food as long as she got to explain first, with her slightly childish vigor bearing witness. "Oh! Can I tell you about what I did?! It's so interesting!"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Well, I got a package, right? And I didn't fall asleep for the fourth day in a row…actually that's it; it didn't rain, so that was good also," she said, progressively realizing that her day truly wasn't all that exciting.

Sakuya didn't really seem to mind. "In any event, you should try to drink some coffee while you're by the gates; I really think that'll help. Please cut this meatloaf and pass some to everyone."

While Meiling happily did so, Sakuya's uncommon pairing of both enthusiasm and benevolence for their rather moronic gatekeeper halted Remilia from contributing her day's events right away. "…so Flandre, school was good, right?"

"Yeah! We did a lot of things today!"

"Well, reading; it seems as if Keine wants us to read more antiquated books; it's making the reading sections of the day feel more like nap time with each passing hour…" This slight rant was enough to distract her from the meatloaf's visceral appearance, as she was soon eating her piece of it. "This…is actually not that bad."

Sakuya decided to ignore her brutal honesty and advanced the same inquest towards Patchouli and Koakuma; Patchouli's reply carried remnants of frustration from being forced to quit her gaming: "…I played this MMO that's been really popular lately until about…noon, and then I played the game that you just told me to put away. Koakuma, what did you do?"

"Oh! I…what did I do…I think I…I just read a book."

Sakuya's smile was unwavering. "How wonderful, everyone!"

Remilia couldn't quite fathom Sakuya's happiness in the face of Meiling's frivolous attitude, Patchouli's thrilling tale of spending multiple daylit hours sitting in front of various screens, and Koakuma somehow finding it interesting to spend an entire day reading a book, especially when Remilia herself couldn't even bear an hour of such a boring endeavor; had she not been taken aback by the surprising flavor behind the meatloaf's visage, she would have gone on with more of her occurrences at school, or snidely adding to the above comments. She decided to eat more of Sakuya's meatloaf instead, which was progressively becoming more palatable; Flandre agreed similarly with this progression as written.

Patchouli was next to contribute in a manner of words and not chewing. "So Meiling, who's the package for? Did my copy of-"

Meiling interrupted her with a reading of the package's label. "It's actually for Sakuya."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah, and the box has some writing on it! About 'enhancing your life' with-"

Sakuya, as if the following action was to be executed within a span of time equating to about zero seconds (give or take), starkly snatched the package out of her hands; certainly, all were silent, and all eyes present were focused towards the snatcher, who stood before them futilely concealing something about which everyone else already knew. "Everyone, enjoy your dinner…I'll just put this in my room, and I'll be right back…"

As she sheepishly exited the dining room, Patchouli couldn't help but feel a small twinge of guilt; nonetheless, it easily departed on account of her being able to recall that Meiling was the one who chose to announce the package's contents that supposedly "enhance"; whether she was oblivious or deliberate in her announcement is something that will remain eternally unanswered, and similar to how a tide rises incrementally, they resumed their evening meal. "So, Remilia, do you have any homework for tonight?"

"Oh, we have some, but I already practiced, so I'm ready for it."

Patchouli then glanced towards Flandre, which gave the former a feeling of unease; this was based on all of the times she asked Remilia of her homework, and then all of the times she responded "I did it in advance," and then how the other Scarlet, without fail, knew nothing of the homework, which either resulted in tears or anger, and then a feverish cram session, all alike in origin from whenever Patchouli placed herself into a discussion of this topic. Fortunately, Flandre was too happy eating the tasty meatloaf to hear Remilia's response.

Unfortunately, Remilia was one to worry about her sister's academic planning abilities. "Flandre, are you ready? You practiced, right?" Remilia soon became aware of the horror she had just brought about, as she could see Flandre's happiness faltering.

"Practiced? For what?"

"You know, tomorrow's the clarinet test; we have to do a song."

"…what?"

"Keine wants us to play a song for her; we've been spending some time on it, but she told us to practice at home every night."

Patchouli's question this time resulted in tears; despite what one may think, this is the better of the two outcomes when dealing with someone who can destroy anything.

"But…I didn't…I forgot…"

"Flandre! You didn't practice?! Why not?! We have to play a song for Keine tomorrow! Don't you remember?"

"No! I practiced, but I left my clarinet at school today!"

"…you forgot your clarinet?"

"We have to go back and get it! So I can practice before bed!"

"…you…what? We can't go back to the school; they close it after we all leave! Just borrow mine."

"Eww! I don't want to use your clarinet! Gross!"

As Remilia couldn't decide whether or not to be insulted, she was visibly stunned before advancing with this obstacle in the argument. "…you don't want to use my clarinet?"

"No! I don't want to get sick!"

"…we share the same toothbrush, and you don't want to use my clarinet. Seriously?"

"That's different! You wash it before I use it! You can't wash a clarinet."

"You can't wash a clarinet."

"No! I thought you would know that! You're supposed to be the older sister!"

"…Keine taught us how to clean the clarinets; you have to do it once every week. If you have never cleaned it since we got them almost…a year ago, I think borrowing mine carries less of a risk of getting sick."

"But you can't get sick from your own mouth!"

"…you…you can't get…okay, so you're saying that even if I scrub my clarinet with soap and water, or with disinfectant, you still won't practice with mine?"

"Yes!"

"You would rather hike back to the school, inexplicably break into it, somehow find your clarinet, sneak out without getting caught, and practice with far less time to sleep than the amount you would have if you just borrowed mine?"

"Yes!"

She turned to her table. "Am I the only one who sees how stupid this would be?"

"I, for one, think it'll be fun!"

Remilia decided to listen to Meiling, holding back only due to the commonplace knowledge of the latter being incapable of submission to logical argumentation and an idiot.

"Don't you think it'll be fun? We'll be like secret agents on a mission! Like breaking into a museum to steal a diamond, or assassinating a mob boss! It'll be awesome!"

"Have you been watching spy movies again?" Remilia asked through her own sighing exhale.

"Think about it! This'll probably be the only time in our dull lives that we won't be ordinary, boring people!"

"Well, you seem to be forgetting about the fact that this is real life; we could get in trouble or injured. And we won't be able to sleep as long. And…am I forgetting something?"

Flandre was, unfortunately for her sister, in agreement with Meiling about this. "Remi, it'll be fun! Come on!"

"I think you're being too gullible; remember, you're listening to the person who thought that tomatoes were vegetables before Sakuya told her."

Meiling was next with the truth. "Actually, I still think they are! Why do they taste so bad, right?"

"Exactly!"

As her sister agreed with an opinion contrary to a fact rooted in established science, Remilia sat in disbelief as she watched the inane bond grow between the two of them. Furthermore, she remembered that once Meiling has her mind set on something, it will be completed absolutely without fail, regardless of the idea's value; this is why their mansion's entrance now has a gate akin to that of a railroad crossing's; this is why their clock tower permanently reads "12:00", because Meiling thought that the mansion should always be the "first thing that happens today", in her own words. Would it actually be a better option for Remilia to channel her intelligence into going with them? It was obvious that they would be retrieving Flandre's clarinet with complete disregard of Remilia's opinion on the matter; if she were to go with them, there just might be a lesser chance of anything going wrong.

Patchouli cared nothing of this emergent event, as Sakuya still had not returned, and if Sakuya is not around Patchouli, she cannot stop Patchouli from playing her game, which is a fact as obvious as the sky being blue.

As she was devoting her attention to it totally, Koakuma couldn't help but interrupt. "Patchouli."

"What?"

"Are you hearing this?"

"No. What?"

"Flandre forgot her clarinet at school."

"So? She can just borrow Remilia's."

"But…Meiling's going to take them to the school to get it back."

"…get out, they're not going to do that."

"But…they're leaving right now."

As Patchouli decided to humor her by a look to confirm, she could see them leaving their dining room; the fact that Koakuma was correct prevented Patchouli from speaking until their leave became final. "…do we tell Sakuya?"

"I…I don't know."

Patchouli felt a pressing weight: Sakuya would now have to be told that Hong Meiling had just taken her precious Scarlets to begin a dangerous adventure into the evening, and soon, the night; such a revelation would never leave her precious video game collection in any better condition than that of an obliterated and finely grained powder due to Sakuya's assured wrath.