Junko found her teacher waiting for her outside of the girl's dormitory. Her teacher was sitting on a bench, along with his cat.

They had spent the last week practicing the whole "partner" thing after Junko's club meetings. So far, she hadn't been able to summon the sword pictured on her card, but she had gotten the hang of the heightened reflexes and strength aspects of the whole partnership. Anastasia had found them a field to practice in during the days on the edge of Mahora's campus. She sat on a tree stump and meowed her orders at them. Marten was mostly there to activate the contract and occasionally cast a few spells so that Junko would know what was going on during an actual fight.

Overall, the cat was a great instructor, but the girl thought she was getting frustrated with Junko's inability to call out her artifact.

She jogged forward, her equipment bag bumping up against her back, and stopped in front of them. Caruthers-Sensei stood as she approached and smoothed out his coat. Usually, they just met her at the field after she dropped her things off at the dormitory.

"Sensei… you waiting for me or something?"

Marten dug in his coat pocket as she spoke. "Ah… Uhm…" He fumbled with something and pulled out a piece of paper. Marten held it out to Junko.

"Evangeline gave me her test after class today…" He stated flatly. "It's not what we were… expecting."

Junko opened the paper.

"Meet me at the end of the newly discovered section of the library. You have until midnight tonight." Junko read aloud. "Evangeline."

Marten fidgeted with his tie.

"Wow. That's… some hell of a test." Junko muttered. "When do we go?"

"As soon as possible, but there's a slight… problem." Marten rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know how to get there."

Junko let out a small "Oh!" before she furrowed her brow. "That would be a problem, wouldn't it?"

Marten nodded. "From what I've heard, the under-workings of the library are a maze of rooms and corridors. We'd be lost for ages down there."

Junko frowned. "I'd like to not get lost in the library for the rest of my- hold on."

Her frown morphed into a grin.

"I know where we can get a map." Junko grinned.

Five minutes later, Junko was leading a nervous Marten through the girl's dorm. The teacher carried Anastasia in his arms, despite Junko's pleads to carry the cat herself. The cat had shot down each and every request.

"I'm not exactly sure I should be here." Marten said for the seventh time. The boy kept swiveling his head to and fro, as if he would be shot for being up here.

"Relax, would you?" Junko sighed. "No one but Yoshida would think about reporting you for being up here."

They took a corner and Junko picked up the pace. "I'm more worried about Masamura finding you and dragging you into her room to-"

"Let's not talk about that." Marten interrupted.

"Yeah. Okay." Junko stopped at her door and reached for her key. "We're here anyway." She placed her hand on the doorknob and the door swung inward.

"Oh. It's unlocked." Junko muttered and pushed the door open completely.

Rin looked up from her book at the edge of her bed.

And Chieko Yoshida herself was sitting at Junko's desk.

Both of them looked at Junko and then their eyes travelled to Marten standing behind her.

"Sensei?" Chieko looked confused.

Rin shot up and pointed at Junko. "AH HA!"

Junko groaned.

"Caruthers-Sensei." Chieko stood and gave him a short, stiff bow. "What are you doing here?" She gave Junko a hard look. "In the girl's dormitory."

Junko opened her mouth to explain, but Rin was quicker.

"Liar!" She shrieked in joy.

"I haven't said anything!" Junko shouted back.

"Girls, please." Marten squeaked. "As much as I love waiting outside…"

Junko let him past her inside and followed. She shut the door behind them. Chieko was right there, hands on her hips. Marten could practically see the steam coming from her ears. Her mouth was set in a grimace, teeth bared. The boy finally noticed the funny metal things on her teeth she sported.

What were they called again?

"Why is Sensei in your room?"

"He wanted to see Rin, Tin-teeth. Move it." Junko pushed the girl out of the way.

"Sato-san, I understand you're in the Library Exploration Club?"

Rin nodded. "Ah. Yes, Sensei. I am."

"We both are, Sensei." Chieko added.

"Yes. Sorry, Yoshida-san." Marten gave her a small nod of his head. "Did either if you happen to work on a map of the newly discovered levels of the library?"

Rin nodded. "I did, Sensei."

Marten smiled. "Ah. Wonderful. D… Do you think I could borrow a copy?"

"What for, if you don't mind me asking, Sensei?" Chieko crossed her arms over her chest.

"Rin, just…" Junko sighed. "Can you just give Sensei a copy of the map, please?"

"We can't just hand out a map to whoever asks, Arai. It's not allowed!" Chieko grumbled.

"Oh, will you just butt out Yoshida? Why are you even here?" Junko got out through her teeth.

"The library is closed and Sato invited me to work with her up here." Chieko jabbed Junko in the chest with a finger.

Junko shoved Chieko back and growled. "Well, it's my room too and I want you out."

"Why don't you shut your fat mouth before I shut it for you, Arai?"

"I'd like to see you try, Yoshida."

"Girls, please." Marten smiled as best he could. "There's no need to fight like this. I'm sure we can come to some sort of compro-"

Junko and Chieko both turned on him.

"STAY OUT OF IT!" The girls shouted in unison, stopping him mid-sentence.

Marten took a step back, a bit frightened, and the girls turned on each other. Junko managed to reach up and fish-hook the corner of Chieko's mouth and trying to shove her face away with one hand. The class representative had started pulling on Junko's hair and was punching her in the shoulder with the other hand. Each grunted and yelped as the upperhand travelled quickly between the two of them, back and forth.

Then the insults started.

"Stupid!"

"Control freak!"

"Half-breed!"

"Bitch!"

"Barbarian!"

"Metal mouth!"

It dawned on Marten that they were the two girls he had seen fighting on his first day. Rin, sitting at the edge of her bed, seemed totally at ease with the whole thing. She was even petting Anastasia, who had slipped out of Marten's grasp earlier.

Their fights had to be a common occurrence.

"I'll lend you a map, Sensei." Rin suddenly piped up.

Junko and Chieko suddenly lost interest in their fight and turned to Rin. Anastasia had made herself comfortable in the girl's lap, purring loudly.

"T-Thank you, Sato-san." Marten dipped his head in respect.

"On the condition that you let me go down there with you." Rin added with a smile.

"Wha…" Marten trailed off, staring at the girl wide-eyed.

Junko smirked. She figured this would happen. She and Chieko untangled themselves from each other. The class representative strode forward, standing between Marten and Rin.

"Sato, you can't be serious." Chieko objected, completely dumbstruck. "That… you know that's not allowed. He's not part of the Exploration club."

"He's a member of the faculty." Junko sniped.

"I think that hardly matters considering he can't grow facial hair yet." Chieko shot back.

"No, Sato. I'm not going down there. We just need to see a map for research." Marten fibbed. He wasn't very good at lying.

"Then why didn't you just ask one of the Club Supervisors for a map?" Rin grinned.

"Drop it, Sensei. She's smarter than she looks." Junko sighed.

Rin's grin only grew wider."

"Sato, as your class representative, I just can't allow you to do this. You know we're not permitted access to the lower levels of the library!" Chieko stamped her foot. "You could get yourself thrown out of the club or even expelled for this sort of thing!"

"Yoshida. Shut up for once." Junko muttered. "This is really important."

"Besides, the ruins under the library are filled with traps. You'll need someone who can spot them and keep you safe. And I know what every single trap they've got down there looks like. I've been studying them since I joined the club."

Marten looked to Junko, wanting some sort of answer from her. She knew Sato-san better than he did after all. Junko finally met his gaze and just gave him a shrug.

"She's got a point."

Chieko's head swiveled to each of them in disbelief. "Are any of you listening to me? Not only does this go against dozens of school rules and club policies, but it's incredibly dangerous! You could be killed!" Chieko pointed at Junko. "I mean, I'd expect this from Ghengis Khan here, but from you Sato?"

Her gaze suddenly narrowed at Marten. "And you, Sensei. How could you drag your students with you into a death trap like this?"

Junko groaned. Chieko never let up. "Shut. Up. Yoshida. He's part of the faculty. He's our teacher. I'm sure that makes everything alright."

"HE'S FOURTEEN!" Chieko shouted. The girl threw her arms out at Marten. "That's younger than a few girls in the class!"

"Just stow it already, Yoshida. This is important." Junko threw her bag onto the floor. "Don't try to stop us or I'll tell everyone about why you couldn't go to the overnight trip to Kyoto last year."

Chieko opened her mouth as if to object, but Junko gave her the best evil glare she could manage. Chieko's mouth clamped shut and she began to hastily gather her things and shove them into her book bag.

"I can't believe you two." She huffed, slamming the last book into her bag. Without another word, Chieko stormed out of the room. Junko pushed the door shut with her foot.

"Good riddance." She muttered.

"So when are you going?" Rin goaded Anastasia off her lap with a gentle tap before she stood.

Marten gave Junko another apprehensive glance.

She shrugged again.

"T-Tonight, Sato-san. We need to depart as soon as possible." Marten picked up Anastasia as she got back to him.

Rin let out a low whistle. "Woah. Okay. That's… pretty soon." She tapped her chin with a finger as she looked around the room, apparently lost in thought.

She suddenly brightened and nodded a few time. "Okay. Okay. Yeah. That's fine. I'll need to change and gather a few things and make sure that everything's accurate on the map before we go."

Junko nodded. "I'd like to change too."

Marten glanced between the two of them before nodding. "Alright. I need some time to gather some equipment and I suppose I should change as well."

Junko opened the door for him. "We'll meet at the bridge to the library in two hours, alright? It should be dark enough to sneak in then."

Marten nodded and backed out of the room. "Two hours? Is… Is there any way you can be there sooner?"

Junko blinked. "No."

Rin smiled. "We're teenage girls, Sensei. We take forever to get ready."

Junko shut the door on Marten's helpless look. She stretched and yawned. "Wish we had time for me to take a nap first. I'm beat."

Rin giggled.

"What's so funny?" Junko asked.

Rin covered her mouth with one hand.

"And I was worried this year would be boring."