"-dou-kun. Hyoudou-kun."
Still half asleep, Hyoudou Issei rubbed his eyes as he was woken up. In front of him was... his teacher?
"Honestly Hyoudou-kun. The class is not a place to sleep, you know? Did you sleep late? That is not good for your still developing body, Hyoudou-kun. Go wash your face in the restroom."
The entire class laughed at him except for Miyu who wasn't asleep but definitely had bags under her eyes. Embarrassed by the laugh, Issei excused himself and go towards the restroom.
On the way there, he reflected about this morning when he woke up in Miyu's bed being cuddled by both Miyu and Sona. That was really embarrassing, but fun. Being laughed at was also embarrassing but not fun.
The three of them had to endure the teasing of his mother and father, but somehow between the three, he was the only one being embarrassed about that. Miyu's face was flat while Sona kept her calm perfectly. Huh, he realized. Between the three of them, he, the only boy, was the more emotional.
On the way to school, Sona relayed what happened after he fired the Excalibur, which basically just her collecting the Class Card, Kaleidostick, and his and Miyu's unconscious body and flew back home. Nobody except him believed Sona when she said the blast destroyed the Mirror World and forced them out back to the real world, at least not without the perfect evidence, which was none of the Kaleidostick sisters remembered ever bringing them home.
So yeah. Apparently what he Traced, as he remembered it was the term the nameless Heroic Spirit inside the Archer Class Card used when he created a sword, was a Noble Phantasm. Specifically, it was the sword of King Arthur from the British Isle myth. Although Miyu had to remind him that it was an Excalibur from another world.
When they arrived at school, it turned out that Sona was one year older than Miyu and him, so she was placed in the sixth grade, a grade above them. After promising that they would meet at lunch, homeroom came and Issei fell into deep slumber.
Issei arrived at the restroom and used the sink to wash his face. He took a look on the mirror. His face was bad. Although the bruises that Sona said he had had almost diminished into nothing, when one took a good look they could spot it.
After the bad encounter last night, Miyu got off the best, her bruises were not much and placed somewhere she could cover with her clothes. He remembered Sona got four major injuries, but due to her condition as a Devil, her regeneration power was better than a normal human. Suffice to say that his condition was the worst between the three of them.
Oh shit, what did he have to say to Serafall when she asked if there was something? 'I'm sorry your little sister got hurt under my command'? She would freeze him like she froze the Heroic Spirit!
[Get a hold of yourself, Partner. You did well last night.]
"...Ddraig-san? Can anyone else hear your voice?" Issei whispered. He didn't want anyone to see he talked to the thin air.
[No. I'm speaking in your mind. But unfortunately, if you want to reply, you need to say it out loud instead of just thinking it. When God stuffed me inside the Boosted Gear, he locked up the mechanism for me to access your thought. It's like a one-way road. I can get my thoughts inside you, but I cannot access what's inside. Don't worry, only you heard what I'm saying now.]
"...Damn," Issei cursed. "Of all the things that had to make sense, why this one?" he moaned his misfortune.
[At least this one is not that important in the long run. Plenty of my past users got so strong they developed a mind strong enough to connect to the Boosted Gear anyway. I don't see why you can't.]
"Anyway. Last night, did something happen inside the Boosted Gear when I Install?" Issei asked the dragon.
[Nothing too important. The not-Hero is there again, but this time instead of just appearing and be silent, he was watching you through my connection. He seemed surprised when you used that 'Trace On' aria and made that holy sword, and that was it.]
Just what he expected from that old man. He bet the old man consciously holding himself back from pouring too much knowledge and skills directly inside him. He was sure of that. It would explain why he could make swords and bows and arrows without saying any magic words before last night. He also didn't know the name of the spell to create swords. No. Rather than pouring all his knowledge, the nameless Heroic Spirit just sorted it into books and wait until Issei needed the knowledge and skills he had, before offering the book to his brain.
[Oh yeah, Partner. At the end of your battle, he left one last message for you. 'Good job', he said.]
Issei faked wiping a tear off his face. "That shitty old man. Slowly he's growing on me."
[He's surprisingly a good conversationalist.]
"Anyway, thanks for the heads up, Ddraig-san. I need to go back to class now. Let's talk more in the afternoon, together with Miyu and the rest."
Ddraig didn't say anything, so Issei took it as a yes and went back to his classroom to continue the lesson.
However, once he was inside and all freshened up, he couldn't concentrate on the lesson. Why? Because on the desk beside him, Miyu's attempt to not get asleep was painfully and obviously going to fail. He fretted over her, looking around to see if anyone noticed Miyu's unsubtle body language.
So far, nobody noticed it. Good.
He wouldn't trust his classmates who laughed at him to not laugh if Miyu were found out.
Also why the heck was Miyu sleepy?! She was unconscious for almost half the fight! That was good enough rest for her, wasn't it?!
Apparently not because Miyu's head was about to fall to the table.
Shit. There was only one thing he could do now. He needed to make a distraction that will also wake Miyu up. So he kicked the leg of his table, intending to make noise.
But it hit his shin instead, and precisely on one of his bruises. Jolted by the pain, Issei screamed out loud.
"Gyaaa! Ouch! It hurts! It hurts!" Issei softly rubbed the painful place on his shin using his hand to alleviate the pain.
His teacher just sighed as the class laughed at his predicament. Still, the important thing was that woke Miyu up. Mission accomplished. Although he could do without the pain. He didn't intend to hit the bruise but it did anyway.
"Sensei," suddenly Miyu stood up. "Ise actually has a bruise on his shin. I think he unintentionally hitting the bruise. Can I take him to the infirmary?"
The teacher was taken by surprise at that. "Bruise? Hyoudou-kun, I hope nothing bad happened to you."
Before Issei could reply, Miyu interjected. "Thankfully it's nothing bad, Sensei. It's just Ise being an idiot."
And then the class including the teacher laughed at him.
"Come on, Issei."
He and Miyu were walking towards the infirmary at a slow pace. Issei thought he could kill time until the lunch break came in the infirmary. Wow, he was such an adaptable person, using his disadvantage to gain an advantage.
When they arrived at the infirmary, Miyu took a cloth and rinsed it in cold water.
"Show me your bruise, Issei."
"Eh?" Issei actually thought Miyu was using the excuse to sleep in the infirmary. He didn't expect Miyu to try to nurse his bruise. He should have known that Miyu wasn't as tricky as him, and a rather straightforward person.
He voiced his opinion but got a kick towards the bruise and a reply of 'I'm not you' instead. Ouch, Miyu, that was painful!
Miyu forced Issei to sit on the bedside and handled his bruised leg. Slowly, Miyu put the cold cloth and pressed it towards the bruise. The cool sensation made Issei shivered. Yes. That was definitely the cold cloth and not Miyu's tender touch. Not that. She then got ice and wrapped it using the cloth and put it on Issei's bruise.
Anyway, after five minutes, Miyu finished compressing the bruise and to Issei the pain receded.
"Thanks, Miyu."
Miyu shook her head. "I should be the one saying thank you to you."
Oh, did Miyu realize Issei's well-intentioned self-harm in the class back then?
"If it weren't for you last night, who knows what will happen to us?" Oh, Issei realized. Miyu was talking about the Class Card hunting gone wrong. "I feel like I have a hand in making your bodies bruised like this. It was lucky that Mother and Father didn't notice anything."
Suddenly the door to the infirmary was opened. "Pardon me. I need some ice to- Oh, Ise-san, Miyu-san. What are you doing here?"
"Sona-san, or is it Sona-senpai now?" Issei shook his head. "Anyway, Miyu here was just treating my bruises."
"Perfect timing. While my cracked ribs are almost healed, because I got P.E. before this, I think I strained myself too much, it's a little painful now. Can you help me, Miyu-san?"
"Sure," Miyu nodded and moved the curtains to cover the bed. There were two beds in the infirmary separated by the curtains. Issei took the one closer to the door, while Miyu and Sona moved towards the other bed closer to the window. With the curtain covering them, Issei couldn't see what Miyu was doing to treat Sona.
But wait!
Because this was almost lunch break, the sun shone from the window. It illuminated the room and act as a backlight on the curtain. Issei couldn't believe his eyes. Could this be the infamous silhouette scene?! He could see the outline of Miyu and Sona forming a silhouette if viewed from his side.
Sona was opening her clothes, and Miyu was upon her and... t-t-t-touching Sona's boobs! Issei really-really wanted to avert his eyes, but his inner flame demanded him to see this through.
In reality, it probably wasn't as suggestive as Issei thought. However, because there was nothing but the silhouette, to Issei's eyes it seemed very suggestive.
In the end, his conscience won. He looked away from the curtain. Although he had imprinted the image of Miyu advancing on Sona inside his brain. He would never erase that image for the rest of his life.
After the tempting ten minutes, the sound of the curtain being moved graced Issei's ears and he let out a sigh of relief that they had finished.
"Are you okay, Sona-senpai? Aside from the ribs, does anything else hurts?"
Sona winced. "Please don't call me senpai, Ise-san. While it is true that we are in the learning environment and by calling me senpai you are learning to be more respectful towards your elder, I think we are close enough already for me to be comfortable with you using '-san'. Battle of life and death tends to do that to you and your friends, or so my sister said."
Issei stared hard at Sona. "That is a quote from Magical Myonri."
Sona's face went beet red from her previous serious expression. "I-I-I... Onee-sama! How do you keep embarrassing me even without you here?! B-But, the point still stands. No need for you to call me senpai."
"Okay, okay, Sona-san. Also, why don't we continue to talk now?"
That was apparently a cue for Ruby and Sapphire to come out of their master's hair. How they hid there, Issei still didn't know.
"So let's continue from where we left off. Excalibur. While what Miyu-san said about it being Excalibur from another world is correct, that Excalibur still holds holy property. As a Devil, I can sense how dangerous that sword is," Sona started.
"I wonder what will happen if Little So-tan touched the Traced Excalibur. Would she be able to handle it?"
The three of them exchanged glances. "Let's not try that soon, okay, Ruby?"
"Geez, I was just joking, joking!" Ruby angrily stomped the air. "Why are you taking me seriously?"
Issei just looked at Ruby flatly.
"So how do we divide the Class Card main users?" Issei moved the conversation back on track. "I think Archer is obviously for me."
"Hold on, Ise-san. We're jumping to that already?" Sona interjected.
"I want to use Lancer. Everything else is fair game," Miyu piped in.
"Now wait just a minute, Miyu-san. Do we even know who is what?"
Issei put his hand on his chin, thinking about that. "I don't think so. I don't even know who is Archer considering that he considered himself not a hero. He's someone who can replicate many kinds of sword including legendary swords like the Excalibur."
"Lancer is Cu Chulainn. At least, the Cu Chulainn from another world. I don't know about him this world, but that red spear? That's Gae Bolg. His Noble Phantasm," Miyu explained the Lancer Class Card. "Also, when I Install him I feel like I can run faster than the wind and know how to use the spear."
"...Knowledge and skill, huh?" Sona highlighted the important part that she remembered from the conversation that she didn't quite understand yesterday. "Is it the same thing for you, Ise-san?"
"...No. I realized it last night. But when I first Install and make the swords, I don't understand how. I just know that when I want a sword that can do something, it will appear, and I know it is the correct sword. You didn't see it Miyu, but I'm sure you've seen it right, Sona-san. When I first faced Saber, I wanted a sword to fight against her. But just wanting the sword to appear is wrong. I knew there has to be a process. It was then that I gained knowledge of the process. It was like instead of being poured all the knowledge from the start, the Heroic Spirit fed parts of his knowledge and skills to my head."
"That's different from me, Ise. I instantly get everything that I need and more. I think I got the history of my world's Cu Chulainn all from his birth to his death inside my brain," Miyu pointed out.
"Could it be the influence of the Boosted Gear?" Issei wondered out loud and brought up his left arm.
[Probably, Partner. You should try Installing other Class Card and see the effect. If it's the same to you, then it's because of me that your Install is a bit different from others.]
"Speaking of which, Ise-san. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that you're the Red Dragon Emperor," Sona confessed to him honestly.
"The red what now? Emperor?"
"Red Dragon Emperor. I think Serafall-san may have mentioned it before but she didn't explain anything," Miyu helped Issei remembered.
[Simply put, Red Dragon Emperor is titled bestowed upon my wielder because they have me,] Ddraig explained simply.
"I see... well, to answer your question, Sona-san. It never came up in the conversation with you."
"Is that so? Thank you for the explanation." Truthfully Sona wanted to offer a spot in her peerage for him. The Red Dragon Emperor would be a valuable ally. But she held herself back. No need to appear desperate. She had eternity to know about him. Building a rapport was the important thing to do.
"We stray from the topic. So how will the Class Card divided? Since Miyu claimed Lancer and I Archer, there's only Rider, Caster, and Saber left for you to take, Sona-san."
While fixing the position of her glasses, Sona confidently picked her choice.
"Caster. After last night, I definitely want Caster."
Issei nodded in understanding. "Make sense, make sense. Considering you conjured a nine-headed water dragon out of nowhere to attack Saber, and then defying physics, chemistry, logic, made the water explode, Caster is the most sensible choice for you, Sona-san. I should've foreseen it."
"...Nine-headed dragon?" Miyu asked in confusion. "It seems that I missed so much while I was unconscious. Please forgive me."
"Th-That's simply because I had excess energy courtesy of your transfer, Issei-san. I didn't intend to make it nine-headed. Water Dragon is currently my strongest spell."
"And therein lies the problem, Little So-tan! It's a nine-headed water dragon! Why do you call the spell just Water Dragon?! It should be Kaleido Water Nine Dragon!" Ruby went in front of Sona's face.
"...That sounds like a Yu Gi Oh monster name."
"You come up with a better name or shut up!"
"I dunno, ditch the Kaleido maybe? It doesn't rhyme with the skill like Kaleidoshield," Issei pointed out.
"Why is the name important? I probably won't be able to use it again unless you transferred your boost again, Ise-san."
"It is the staple of the magical girl genre!"
"How can you call yourself a magical girl if you don't shout cute name for your spell?!"
Sona was instantly hounded by the two magical girl fans on the group.
"Sigh, okay okay I'll think of a name. Since the nine-headed water dragon flies up to the sky before it strikes, while my usual water dragon strikes forward, why don't we name it Water Dragon Fall?" Sona offered her thoughts on the matter.
"And where's my part in this spell? If there's no Kaleido in the name then you're not acknowledging me as a help in that spell?! How cruel, Little So-tan!"
Sona wanted to complain but Issei beat her to it. "I know! Kaleidragon Water Burst: Nine-head variant!"
Wasn't that too long for a spell name? Sona thought to herself.
"Hey, that's awesome, Ise-san! Ruby approves!"
Seriously?!
"You looked so surprised there, Sona-san," Miyu asked her with a small smile. "Just let the two do their talk."
Sona sighed, "If that's what you suggest then I'll do that."
"I know right?! Combining Kaleido with Dragon to form Kaleidragon is a pure genius move!" Issei continued his talk with Ruby. "I'm such a genius!"
"And with the Nine-head variant, it implies that there are more variants than just the nine-head dragon. Maybe we can make more heads!"
"If my sixteen-times boost gave Sona-san the power to make nine heads, then maybe one hundred and twenty eight-times boosts will make her be able to make a hundred heads!"
Issei's head was suddenly knocked by Sapphire. "Don't get carried around, Issei-sama. In the first place, can your body handle being boosted one hundred and twenty-eight times? Form what can we gather from your stories, too much boost will be dangerous for you. Isn't that why you transfer the boost to Sona-sama in the first place?"
Issei punched the bed they were sitting on. "Damn it! Curse this weak body! Just you wait, Sapphire! I'll train my body until I can handle those boosts! You're with me, Ddraig-san?!"
[As long as you want to be stronger.]
"That would require Sona-san being able to hold those boosts from you, Ise," Miyu joined the conversation.
Issei looked horrified. "That's right! Sona-san! We should train our bodies together!" Issei grabbed Sona's hand. It was very overwhelming to her that she couldn't respond. She truly couldn't read the slightly younger boy.
"I..."
"You agree, right?! It's for the sake of a hundred head dragon! Like Hydra!"
"You're getting the myth wrong, Ise-san. The hundred head dragon is Ladon," Sona who got her bearing replied Issei.
"Don't know, don't care, but one hundred heads!"
Sona glanced at Miyu who just smiled a little at Issei's childishness. Well, technically the three of them were still children, but Sona felt like she had some mature quality and it included the common sense that children overlooked most of the time. "Fine, Ise-san. I can see how you get along with Onee-sama. I will train together with you."
"Yess! Goal number one! We'll make one hundred-headed water dragon! One that can explode!"
"We're straying from the topic again. I don't know what you discussed with Onee-sama yesterday. But from what I gathered, it involved the usage of Class Card. Could it be that you two are afraid of its drawback? Because that much power is of course accompanied by drawbacks," Sona brought them back to the matters.
"Yes... we were afraid that the Class Card would override our minds. We still don't know anything about it since Ruby and Sapphire aren't programmed to Install. The safe version of Install is Include, where you get a part of the Heroic Spirit's power instead of all the knowledge and skills. But the difference in power between Install and Include is very noticeable," Miyu explained. She then turned to Issei. "If at that time, I Installed the Rider Class Card, then maybe..."
"No need to beat yourself up about the Lancer incident, Miyu. Let's just look at the positives. If I wasn't about to die, then we won't know Install in the first place."
About to die?! Sona was surprised at Issei's casual admission. She wanted to know more about it but she held herself back. She had to remind herself that she was the newcomer in the group.
"But yeah. I think we should stick to Install if our next enemies are as ferocious as last night. Believe it or not, I had a nightmare about Caster's rain of pink beam hitting me point blank," Issei admitted sheepishly.
Miyu made a little gasp. "We dreamed the same, Ise. I dreamed you getting hit by Caster's pink beam."
"And why is it me in your dream?!"
"Your body getting evaporated right in front of my eyes."
"Too graphic, Miyu! Too graphic!"
Miyu just grinned at him. "I believe that is what you define as trolling."
Issei wanted to retort but was cut off.
"What about the possible drawback?" Sona suddenly interjected. "Do we just ignore it?"
Miyu and Issei looked at each other in a silent understanding.
"For now, we are," Miyu answered Sona without hesitation.
"And I'm pretty sure we will prevail from the Class Card's influence through the power of friendship. That's like the basic knowledge that all magical girls should have," Issei told the other two with a grin on his face.
The other two just sighed as Issei's fanboying over magical girls came out again. This time even more ridiculous than before.
"Hey, girls, believe me! We will use the power of friendship just like other veteran magical girls! Through our friendship, we will rise!"
"That's right, Little So-tan, Miyu-san. Even your sister used it on her show!"
That was just a television show! Sona wanted to shout. But she knew it was what Ruby wanted, so he held herself back from shouting what was on her mind.
"That was just a television show," Miyu flatly replied.
Thank you, Miyu! Sona thanked her from the bottom of her heart.
Suddenly the sound of the ringing bell could be heard echoing through the entire building, signaling the start of the lunch break. "Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry. We've finished our talk anyway. So after we get home, let's train, okay everyone?"
With a chorus of 'yes', the three plus two left the infirmary and went back to their own class.
A/N: I have a dedicated flamers now! I feel proud of myself for being able to bait them without wanting to! Anyway, this fic finally has its own fanart! you can see them at my ko fi page!