David was, in one word, bored. Louise had hidden his guitar case somewhere as punishment for getting swept up by Kirche, despite his explaining that he had no intention of going through with her plans, and there wasn't much to do but wait for the next plot point.

He was currently sitting cross-legged on the hay pile that served as his bed, arms crossed and eyes closed in concentration. Let's see...next up should be Louise buying me Derflinger, and once I've got a hold of him, I can start preparing for my game plan.

It was annoying, waiting between points, but he acknowledged that the anime skips much of the more boring days, so naturally there would be waiting involved. Events that took hours to watch would be months in the making here.

His face blanched at the realization. "Am I going to be stuck here for that long?" he asked aloud, lowering his head and shaking it in frustration. "I don't think I can handle this place for almost a year…"

He looked up and shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, I can do this! Once I get Henrietta involved, it should be a breeze to get to the end and get out of this place!

He hadn't quite yet fleshed out his plan, but he had a general idea of what he would do. All he had to do was play along with the series and wait for the Familiar Exhibition.

"What are you talking to yourself for?" came the irritated voice of the pink-haired de la Valliere mage, and he sighed, rolling his eyes to face her.

She had been so quiet, laying on her bed and reading a book, that he'd forgotten that she was even there. A rare occurrence for such a loud person.

He smiled at her, holding up two fingers in a V-sign. "Oh, nothing, just thinking about my world." he said. "Ignore me, you do it pretty often anyway."

One of her eyebrows lifted as she stared at him, and she let go of her book with one hand to point at him. "That hand signal." she said. "What does it mean? Is it some sort of hidden code in your world?"

David sweatdropped. Her tone wasn't exactly hostile, but it was clear that she still didn't quite trust him...and to be fair, even on Earth, there was a variety of meanings for the V-sign.

"Well...Where I'm from, it basically just means 'I'm fine'. Does your culture not use it?" When did that signal even come up anyway? I'll have to look it up when I get back home...if I both remember it and survive by then.

He blinked as Louise curled her fingers and stuck out her index and middle fingers, attempting to copy the hand signal. She seems...oddly curious. he thought. Was she like that in the anime?

"Anyway." Louise said, uncurling her fingers and setting her book down. "Today we're going out after class, so be ready."

David stared at her, before sighing. "Fine." he said, though internally, he was honestly excited. Finally, I can get Derf. I wonder what it's like actually having a talking sword instead of just watching someone else with it!

~~~After school~~~

As usual, after Louise had finished her last class, she found David with the other familiars. At some point, he'd fallen asleep, laying on Sylphid's side, with Verdandi resting on his lap. Flame evidently still felt a little bad for forcing him to go to Kirche the day before, as he sat a little farther away, curled up as he slept with his flank resting on the boy's shoe.

"Dog." she said, and David blinked, waking up quickly despite how calmly she'd said the nickname.

He blinked away sleep, looking at her, before he smiled. "Going out now, then?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Alright. Verdandi, could you get off?" he said, looking down and lightly patting the mole creature's head.

His black eyes opened and he stared at David, before his eyes closed in an expression of happy affirmation, and he slipped off of David's lap, burrowing a little into the ground so that only his head and large forearms stuck out.

David smiled at Guiche's familiar, patting his head again before standing. "Well, I'll be off. See you later, Sylphid, Flame."

Flame continued sleeping, while Sylphid just cracked an eye open to acknowledge that she's heard him. No need to disturb their sleep just to respond, after all.

As she often did, Louise grabbed David's arm and all but dragged him towards the entrance of the academy, forcing him to stumble behind her, their height difference and her speed making just a bit too difficult to catch up with her completely.

"Hey, Louise, you don't have to drag me everywhere!" he said as they started walking down the path away from the academy, and she glanced back at him, before finally letting go of his wrist.

He righted himself, finally able to walk normally, and she looked over at him. "Be honest." she said, and David's breath caught in his throat. Those two words were very dangerous for him, especially due to what he was planning.

"Uh...what is it?" he asked, trying to mask his nervousness.

She tilted her head, clearly confused as to why he was nervous. "What were you thinking when you fought Guiche?" she asked. "I mean...before you got the sword and started doing whatever it was that you were doing."

David blinked, looking up at the sky for a second before he looked back at her, choosing over his words carefully...before shrugging and just deciding to answer honestly.

"I was...surprised." he replied. "I already somewhat understood his magic...from asking around." he said, quickly making an excuse. "But I didn't realize he was so good with it. So it was a shock when he hit me so quickly, even though I normally don't have very good reflexes."

Louise nodded. "And yet you were very good with the sword, even I'm willing to admit that." she said. "So we're now going out to buy you one. You need to be able to defend yourself if you get challenged again."

David laughed. "Yeah, guess that's a good idea." For more reasons than just that one.

She nodded, and fell silent as they walked toward the small town near the academy that he knew housed the intelligent sword he was looking for.

~~~At the shop~~~

"How much is this?" Louise asked, immediately picking up the extremely fancy gold sword that she saw walking in, and it took all of David's concentration to stop himself from facepalming.

That piece of crap is obviously ornamental, why would you even think that's a good idea? he thought, his eyes glancing around the shop before resting on the junk bin, and he internally smiled, recognizing the hilt of the sword he was really here for.

The shopkeeper looked at her, tilting his head. "100,000 ecu." he said, and her face immediately paled at the number.

"...Is there anything cheaper?" she asked, the sword lowering in her grasp as the price made it seem suddenly much heavier.

"This one seems fine." David said, pulling out the sword from the junk pile and holding it up.

Louise and the shopkeeper both stared at him. "That piece of crap?" Louise asked, annoyance in her voice. "I'm not that broke! Look at it, it's all rusty!"

"Um...that one's on sale since nobody's willing to buy it." the shopkeeper said. "100 ecu."

"I'll take it!" Louise said immediately, abandoning her previous statement, and all but slammed the coins onto the desk.

The shopkeeper smiled awkwardly, laughing as he took the coins and counted them. "Thank you for your business, Miss Valliere."

She nodded, huffing as she walked out, clearly trying to make it seem like she was more haughty than she normally was...an appearance that David couldn't help but snicker at as he followed behind her.

He smiled, glancing at the sword, now set into a sheath the shopkeeper had given him along with it. "Nice to meet you, Derf. My name's David."