Despite the discomfort of last week's phone call, Bon continued calling Mai. Thankfully, she seemed to have forgotten about it as well.

It wasn't long before they finally left Kyoto and came back to the Academy. The random phone calls had turned to face-to-face chatting and, as her exams neared, they started spending more time together. Mostly because he kept running into her at the shooting range. She'd told him the first phase of the exams was shooting, so she was putting more effort into it now.

"At least you guys won't have to go through that crap." She'd said, chewing on her straw.

"Yeah, well," He started, "Not this year. The Grigori wants to have this business over and done with as soon as possible."

"Because of Rin?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah. To be fair though, he would have done good. He was studying like crazy."

"I know. Poor guy must've been scared for his life."

"Yeah, and now he'll go back to slacking until they suddenly say, 'hey exam's next week, doi!'" He grumbled. Maira laughed at his impersonation.

"Well, at least he might stand a chance then." She put the juice box down and her face got all serious.

"Leah thinks the mission's not gonna be easy."

"They probably wouldn't want you in it if it wasn't." Once again, he cursed himself for speaking before thinking. He'd been doing a lot of that lately. Actually, he always spoke his mind without paying much attention, but lately he was starting to care.

Maira, however, didn't seem to have heard him. She started playing with the hem of her skirt, biting her lip.

"I'll have to tell them..." She said quietly.

Bon relaxed as he assesed her carefully. She was a short thing, but far from frail. Even to someone who hadn't seen her fight, it was easy to see that she was strong in a way. Right now though, she seemed tiny and broken. Like when she had finally told them what had happened to her old friends.

"They can't really do much about it though, can they?" He wondered out loud. She glanced up at him, and he saw tears welling up.

"I mean," He chose his words carefully. "They can't just make you stop. You'll just announce to them something that's gonna happen no matter what." He scratched his head, wondering if that had sounded bad.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just...well, Leah's parents didn't take it very well when she told them. And I know my parents aren't the same, but they're not...they're not my parents. Sure, they brought me into this world, but...they were never there for me! Do you know how Logan found me? I was three and I had ran away from home. Sentinel tried to guide me, but will-o'-wisps are terrible guides and I got lost. Logan found me arguing with her and managed to get me back home. They hadn't noticed I was gone. I don't think they ever realized."

She had a white-knuckled grip on the edge of the bench they were sitting on, as if letting go meant death.

"Maybe they need it then." He said. "The truth, I mean. It may be too late to patch things up, but they deserve to know."

"Why would they deserve it? What have they done to deserve the truth?!" She sounded angry, though not at him. Still, he wasn't sure how to respond. Guess some tough love was required.

"Call Logan your dad all you want, it doesn't change the fact that they brought you up. They provided enough money for you to have a place to stay and even get you into this school. The least they deserve is one truth from you!" He didn't know why he was getting so worked up about this.

In the end, it was her call to make and it didn't affect Bon all that much. Then again, if things got really bad someone'd have to tell them their daughter died in combat. Which was something he'd rather not even think of.

Without saying a word, she got up and left. Her shoulders were stubbornly square as she walked away, but her head was lowered. To say she was pissed would be an understatement.

With a grimace, he left for his dorm room.

Great. Just fucking great.

She couldn't go back to the Academy because she wanted to avoid Bon and the others, and there was no way in hell she was going home. It was way too early in the day for all this bullshit.

Instead, all Maira could do was wander around aimlessly. Which of course brought out the paranoia in her, because last time she wandered around aimlessly she got kidnapped and almost lost a leg. Then again, those fanatics hadn't done anything notable since taking her, so the chances that they were still lurking about for her were pretty slim.

Which was rather disappointing. If they did jump her again, she would be more prepared. Namely, she'd just have Sentinel suffocate them while she shot them. That would ease her nerves somewhat. Maybe.

And of course, Leah was unavailable. Just like she always was when Maira needed her. But apparently the Paladin wasn't, since when he picked up his sister's cellphone earlier, he sounded like he had just woken up. Hell, she should probably start hanging out with him instead! She might even pick up some sword tricks too. But nope, no rest for the wicked. Or fun. No fun for the wicked. Because fuck the wicked.

And fuck everything else.

Maira groaned loud enough for a passing old lady to glare at her. She just needed to do something. Anything that made her sweat and fill her with adrenaline and give a chance to break something- or someone. She almost felt a light bulb go up when she found the solution; Rin. Sweet, gullible, indestructible (somewhat) Rin.

If Maira's squeal of temporary joy didn't scare the remaining passerby's, the smile definitely did.

"I don't get it." Rin admitted, holding his pillowed arms up. "How's this gonna help me?"

"What, you don't get punched?" Maira tried her best to joke with him, instead of getting down to business.

"I do. But usually I have a flaming sword with me."

"Humor me."

Without warning, she punched at him. To his credit, his reflexes were fast enough to block it with the pillows.

"Besides, it's not like you have anything better to do." She added and punched again.

Rin shrugged. First mistake. The force of her strike made his arms fly into his own stomach.

"Can you take it a little easier?" He asked, covering his belly with a grimace.

"Err, no. I'm not feeling very well right now."

"Like, sick?"

"No." She replied nonchalantly. "Now put those hands up!"

Rin was getting better at blocking. Sweeping kicks though, that was a different story all-together. Maira marveled at how he could use a sword and keep his lower half so still and passive. Hell, with the proficiency he'd showed with the Kurikara so far, Maira had thought he could pull off Brazillian dances. But no, he stubbornly kept his hips stiff.

As her frustration started wearing off, she found herself feeling more like Logan when he was showing her how to block in hand-to-hand. And she felt... peaceful.

Until Bon's words started creeping back into her conscience. Call Logan your dad all you want...They deserve it... Just who the did he think he was?! He didn't know half the crap she went through growing up with them, they didn't deserve anything! Maybe Felix wasn't as bad as Maira always thought, but that didn't excuse her parents.

Although... she wasn't angry. Not at him anyway. Maybe he did have the right idea after all, actually. All this time they had hurt her without even caring. Perhaps it was time she returned the favor, and finally have this chapter of her life over and done with. It was in her imaginary bucket-list and, since the chances of her surviving were questionable, she had best get started with fulfilling them.

Okay, so, if you think that the story development lately is really slow, then you don't know the half of it. I've been staring at the damn thing for a few precious hours now, trying to squeeze the next part in and I just can't. I can't even.

Also, I agree with Maira on this one. Fuck everything. Geometry sucks. Or rather, I suck at geometry. Either way, fuck it.