"Tear." Kyle said aloud.
"Huh? Who's crying?" Evan looked puzzled.
"Wha? No, Tear is...she's...wait..." Kyle fumbled with his words.
"Tear's a person?" Asked Mihile.
"Well, yes-"
"So she's the Angelic Buster?" Asked Yuuki.
"No! Well, maybe, I think...no!"
"Perhaps you could come inside and collect your thoughts, sir Kaiser?"
Everyone turned to look at the new voice.
"Heya half-glasses!" Brighton cheerfully waved. "Aren't you here to relax with the rest of us? You're still fully dressed, though."
"The Empress did, in fact, order me to come here, yes. And as much as I would love to join you all..." Neinheart let out an exasperated sigh and used a handkerchief to wipe his monocle, which was fogging up. "...I prefer to take my baths alone."
"Leave it to Ninney to be the only person in the world who needs to be ordered to take a vacation." Hawkeye shrugged.
"...returning to the topic at hand...sir Kaiser? Perhaps you'd like to explain some things?"
A short while later, the group which had been relaxing in a hot spring was now strewn about a large room. Kyle sat cross-legged in front of a small table. Neinheart stood above him. After Kyle had spent several minutes explaining his relationship with Tear, what had happened the other day, his theory, and his plan, there was a long, awkward silence. It was broken only by another sigh from Neinheart.
"Sir Kaiser, I'm aware that although you fight at the front of the battle quite often, you don't actually make the battle plans, correct?"
"No, Edea makes the plans."
"Edea, the strategist, makes the plans, and you follow them, correct?"
"Yeah, that just about sums it up."
"Then I might suggest, sir Kaiser, that you continue to let Edea make the plans, and avoid making them yourself in the future."
"Okay the- wait, what's that supposed to mean?!"
Neinheart sighed again. "It means, sir Kaiser, that your plan suffers from several fatal flaws, and would have undoubtedly failed if you ever attempted it."
"How so?!"
"I'll explain..." Neinheart wiped his monocle with his handkerchief as he spoke. "Your plan was to create a situation in which the Angelic Buster would be needed. The method you chose was to fake you being captured by monsters. As you brought your friend on this trip, which is irresponsible I might add, if she was, in fact, the Angelic Buster, then she would be forced to reveal herself, because you never told the Angelic Buster that this vacation was ever going on."
Kyle nodded.
Neinheart put his monocle back on. "The first flaw, off the top of my head is that there aren't any powerful monsters anywhere near here. The most you might encounter is a Nightghost, which might be good for scaring you in your sleep, but could be dealt with bare-handed by any one of you..."
"Oh..." Kyle looked disappointed.
"I'm not finished. 'Bare-handed by any one of you' brings me to my second point: even if you could, successfully, fake being captured, you didn't let anyone in on your plan. Which means that even if your friend were the Angelic Buster, you would most likely find her majesty Mercedes, or lady Aran, or even sir Hawkeye coming to your aide. Unless everyone else was in on your plan, there would be no guarantee that the Angelic Buster would even need to help."
Kyle hung his head.
"The problem with your plan, sir Kaiser, is that it is far too vulnerable to outside influence. I will concede, the initial premise of bringing your friend here in order to test whether or not it's possible for the two girls to be in the same place, that part is quite solid. However, the way you're going about the plan is completely backwards. The concept is fine, the implementation is absolutely horrendous."
There was a long silence.
"So, what do we do?" Asked Hawkeye.
"Excuse me?" Neinheart stared at Hawkeye. "Why do I have to do anything?"
"Ninney, you might think you hide a lot behind that face of yours, but I know you." Hawkeye crossed his arms. "And I can tell that you thought up a way to make his plan work, haven't you?"
Neinheart tugged at his sleeves and gave the faintest of smiles. "I...may have considered something...I do like solving problems..."
"Yeah, besides, we always help our friends!" Cheered Evan.
"I'm in." Said Mihile.
"We'll help out!" Yuuki said.
Luminous gave a big sigh. "...fine. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it."
"It'll be fun." Remarked Shade.
Kyle looked around at everyone. "Thank you...really..."
"Anything for a friend!" Evan beamed.
"Indeed." Said Neinheart. "Now, if you want to catch your friend off-guard, we should make use of the surroundings. Here's what we'll do..."
And with that, Neinheart began describing his plan.
