Hi! This took way too long to make, so I decided to apologize here rather than later.

So, two reviews and a PM brought up some critical advice that I hope this chapter manages to fix some of the irregularity that was brought to my attention.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I thank all favorites and followers (even those that left.)

"How is it?"

Phillip pulled his chopsticks from his mouth, savoring the first bite of his meal. Mei's question seemed rather quick but considering Phillip has been her test subject for almost a school-week now, it was par the course at this point.

For the meal, almost everything was perfect. The texture was phenomenal, the flavor was great, and the food even looked good. However, the smell told the underlying threat and the burning in Phillip's mouth almost cut air circulation. Reaching down for his milk carton that Mei brought with the food, Phillip downed a quarter to quell the flames.

"Well, I can tell you went for spicy today," Phillip said, causing Mei to give him a worried look.

"It wasn't too much, was it?"

"A little." Seeing Mei reach for her bag, Phillip stopped her. "Don't. It's not a bad recipe, just not my taste." Mei nodded, but still took her notebook from her bag to write down somethings.

The meal tests started the day after the two agreed to be friends. In the beginning, Mei gave him a piece of her own lunches to test. That lasted two days before Mei wasn't willing to buy Phillip's excuse any longer that she started to bring a second lunch for him. Phillip tried to dissuade her from doing it but relented at her insistence.

"What would you say is your 'taste', exactly?"

Phillip mulled it over. "Well, I have a sort of sweet tooth. Beyond that, salty and tangy are my go-to types of food."

Mei kept her face pointed into her notebook, pencil tapping away at the side of the book. She seemed to be thinking hard on something, so Phillip let her sit there as he began to think.

Phillip needed to take a step forward at this point. His chakra was steadily coming back, but his knowledge of this world was limited to the basic laws, history books, and rumors and two of those things can be unreliable. Whatever step he took, it needed to be sooner rather than later, and today gave him just enough to start his plan.

"You know," Phillip looked back to Mei as she spoke, her indigo eyes locked onto his brown, "I think I have a way to make you a spicy meal that you could stomach."

Phillip laughed at that. "Mei, with the way that you've been improving, I wouldn't be surprised if I began asking for the table scraps within a month."

Mei went wide-eyed at this. "Y-You don't really mean that, right?" A flat stare and a smirk was her answer. A faded pink colored her cheeks and she turned away, scratching the area with a finger.

"Anyways," Phillip said, clapping his hands to pull Mei out of her embarrassment. "You said you have something you're going to do today."

"Oh!" Mei smiled at the mention of her event. "I have training with Swordmaster HOMU at home. I was hoping you could come with me." The way Mei smiled and tilted her head when delivering the invite almost made him pick it up instantly. However, ...

"Sorry, Mei. I'd love to, but I have to work." Mei became sullen, looking down at her lap.

"Oh."

Phillip leaned forward and poked her forehead, causing her to look back up to him. "Don't worry. Even if I can't go, we'll still meet here tomorrow. Then, you can tell me all about it." Mei smiled brightly and nodded. "Good. Now, let's finish up here. Next is English, and we both need some help on that."

Mei hurriedly rummaged through her bag at this. As Phillip dug into the last few bites of his lunch (and thus the rest of his milk), she had pulled out three books of varying sizes. From the titles alone, Phillip could tell they were based on the subject at hand.

"I found these books when I was going through my family's bookcase," Mei said before she pointed to each one to describe the contents. "The small one is pronunciation, the large one is spelling and grammar rules, and the medium is for the basics."

"Alright, which one do you need?" Phillip asked. He wanted to know her needs before he started grabbing one

"I... kind of need all of them," Mei said with a shy smile. Phillip pushed the medium one to her.

"Then it's best to start with the basics. My problems are what the big book goes through." Phillip then brought said book towards him and opened it to the first page that actually held information. Mei opened hers at the same time and the two began studying.

However, Phillip's brain went back through their previous conversation, and the urge to ask overpowered his will to avoid it.

"Hold on. Before we start, can you answer one thing first?"

Mei peered over the top of her book. "Hm?"

"What is a Homu?"

"Ah, Phillip," Sho said as the boy walked through the door. Sho walked up to Phillip, grabbed him by the shoulders, and pushed him roughly towards one of the booths. "I have a difficult customer I think you can help me with."

It was no surprise who it was. There was only one person Sho ever needed Phillip to directly participate with. As Phillip was shoved into the seat across from the customer, Sho gave the blonde woman a short bow before rushing back to the kitchen. Phillip looked over to her, who just gave a wide smile in his direction, and deemed it his job to start a conversation.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Cocolia."

"Just 'Cocolia', dear. You should know that at this point."

Phillip sighed. "This is going to go like all the other times."

Cocolia giggled at this. "Well, I tried getting you to call me 'Matushka', but you refused when I told you the meaning."

"Can we just meet in the middle of formal and familiar?"

"Oh, dear, the middle is never any fun," Cocolia said as Sho brought her a cup of tea, pushing it away as the man ran back. "Walking the middle road is a balancing act where the spectators are waiting to know which side you fall off from."

"I'll start calling you just 'Cocolia' when you tell me why you keep pushing things away."

Cocolia's eyes narrowed, but she never lost her smile. "I'm not that thirsty."

"The middle isn't all that fun, is it?" Phillip said sharply, arms crossed against his chest.

Her smile changed into a smirk. "Snarky today, aren't we? I see your backbone grew stronger than the last time I was here. Well, the real reason I'm here is to tell you we won't be able to talk like this for a while."

Phillip rose an eyebrow at this. "Oh?"

"Yep," Cocolia said with a pop. "Work is piling on, so I'm going to have to focus on that for now."

"Ah. I'm sorry to hear that."

She pouted at Phillip's flat tone. "Geez, don't sound too sad. You're getting less cute by the minute." She then sighed as she looked up at the ceiling. "I guess that's the way with most boys." Cocolia sat there for a few seconds before dropping her head and stood. As she was about to pass Phillip, who had turned his head to watch her leave, she leaned down to his level and placed a kiss on his forehead. Phillip turned away from her, cheeks flooded with a faint pink

Cocolia giggled. "There's your cute side." Getting the last laugh, she walked away with a backhand wave of goodbye to Phillip.

When she left the building and passed by, Phillip looked down at the cup, picked it up, and gave it a whiff. Jolting back, Phillip glared at the kitchen, where Sho seemed to call him from.

"Come to the back, if you will."

Phillip stood and walked over to the trashcan, dumping the poisoned drink into the bag, before he headed for Sho.

Said man stopped him just outside of the kitchen. "I overheard that the woman won't be coming back for a while."

"Yes sir."

"I see," Sho said, with a frown. "Very well, then. In better news," he continued with a smile, a smile that told Phillip everything. "I'm going home now. You can handle the place without me, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Excellent!" Sho exclaimed with probably more chipper than he actually meant. "I leave the place in your capable hands." With that, Sho made for the door.

With Sho now gone, Phillip couldn't stop his eyes from rolling. How tired and hungry was he- actually, how stupid did he have to be to have missed the signs? The job was a barely masqueraded slave labor farm, and he fell for it like a mouse to cheese.

Pulling his palm from his face, Phillip walked to the bathroom. Without a window, it was vastly more secretive than the rest of the building. However, to be sure, Phillip made a hand sign and sent out a pulse of chakra. The pulse revealed the lights, the cabinet, something behind the cabinet, and two hidden microphones within the stalls. Phillip went into the stalls, placed his hands on the microphones, and discharged enough electricity to disable them. After that, Phillip pulled out a piece of paper that had a seal on it and pushed it against the door of the bathroom. Sticking to the door on its own accord, the seal sent a blue light through the walls of the room, before fading. Phillip now knew the room was soundproof.

With all of this out of the way, Phillip started his plan by making a cross with the middle and index fingers on both hands. With this, the bathroom filled with smoke. As the smoke cleared, 4 copies, minus the backpack, stood around him. Phillip then started handing out tasks to them.

"You, clean." A disheartened whimper was his response.

"You, go to a library, or any place that can give us info." A nod.

"You, hunt."

"Didn't the last party say-"

"Look, that's nice and all, but I didn't ask."

"Rude."

"Whatever!" Phillip waved off the third clone and pointed to the fourth. "You-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Phillip pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, I'm surrounded by myself." Phillip pulled himself together to address the two clones that were leaving. "Keep transparency on. We don't need people wondering how three copies of the exact same person are going in and out of three separate places." Phillip then pointed to one of the clones staying. "You too. Do what you're going to do secretly."

"Roger."

One of the clones leaving spoke up. "Wait, three? Where are you going?"

Phillip looked at the clone. "I'm going to go get a shower. Then I'm coming back to sleep."

_Character_Change_

Cocolia was walking down the street towards the ME Corp central building. Big plans were waiting for her there, but those scientists never failed to remind her that the machine would take a long time before it was ready. She was on her way there to provide her form of "incentive" to hurry the process.

She was a few steps away when her earpiece buzzed. Not wanting too much attention, Cocolia hurried her steps. At the door, security waved her in, and she walked through the doors. It was only when she cleared the entrance hallway and entered an elevator that she finally picked up the call.

"Bronya, what's wrong?"

"Matushka, anomaly detected with Subject Phillip."

Cocolia narrowed her eyes at this. "Explain."

"Subject Phillip has begun maintenance of the restaurant. However, thermal scans suggest 3 similar heat signatures have left the vicinity a few minutes after. Visual scans prove contrary."

Cocolia was surprised at this. She didn't think anything special about the boy, just a kid who found himself in the worst place at the worst time. This, however, was a new detail about the kid.

It was official. The boy has piqued her interest.

"Track one of them, Bronya. See what you can find out about them."

"The Bronya has already attempted tracking. Target's speed is vastly superior."

Cocolia sighed. "Very well. Return to your original position, and resume reconnaissance."

"Affirmative."

"Oh, could you grab another gift for him please?"

"...Affirmative."

Cocolia pulled her hand from her ear at this. She looked over at the elevator buttons, pressed in her destination, and leaned on the wall nearby. After a while, her smile turned into a smirk, and her eyes gleamed with the thoughts of an unknown plan.

Today has become far more interesting for her.

_Revert_

"Okay, so the charade is over, right? I mean, that's not a thing anymore?"

Well, I don't know. I might still say or do something stupid every once and a while.

Phillip sat cross-legged on a stone beneath a wide but short waterfall that sat north of Nagazora. Due to being outside of the city and hidden deep in a forest, he need not worry about passersby. His clothes, seal included, hung on a branch of one of the nearby trees while his backpack sat at the trunk.

"Well, yes. That seems to be natural for you."

Hm.

Normally, such a situation would call him to sleep. The waters were cold enough to keep any standard human from its grip, but it wasn't working for Phillip's benefit. Thus, he had Gabriel talk with him, keep his mind stimulated, to ward off the oncoming slumber.

Drowning was not an option he could afford, after all.

"So, what's your plan? Just gather information and play the faithful slave?"

Well, we can do that, but that wouldn't fix things, now would it?

"Are you planning to trap Sho, or is there more?"

Trap? Yes. More? Possibly.

"...You know, you're still not good at this conversation thing."

Well-

Phillip's yawn broke through his retort.

Damn it. This still isn't working.

"I suggest that, instead of sleeping immediately when you go back, you exercise."

Phillip stared down at himself. While Mei's lunches did wonders, especially with how healthy she tries to make them, they weren't miracle workers. Without the transformation, his muscle mass was nearly non-existent, and bone could be seen through his skin.

I'll try that after a few more meals.

"Then eat dinner before bed. It will hurt more than help to skip it."

Phillip sighed at this. "Yeah, yeah." Just then, a fish slammed into his head, making him recoil. Recovering quick, Phillip snagged the offender by the tail before it could escape into the river below. With the fish in hand, a growl from Phillip's stomach gave him a plan for the thrashing water-dweller.

"Grilled fish it is, then."

Flipping through hand seals, Phillip released a torrent of flames from his mouth that ended only a few feet in front of him. After a minute, the flames dissipated, and the fish was steamed through. Channeling chakra into his hand, a blue blade-like aura surrounded it and he swiped his hand over the fish, effectively skinning it. Once the head and tail were removed, Phillip gobbled up the fish, spitting out the bones as he went.

However, the sound of heavy footsteps stopped him from relaxing. Looking over to his right, Phillip noticed a large frame lugging itself through the trees, a frame that was nothing human. Standing now, Phillip glared down at the creature that pulled itself from the forest.

It was a bear, or at least had the general appearance of one. The key difference was that most bears don't have insectoid legs coming out of their forelegs, two for both: one in the front and one at the back. The eyes were blank, only pure white.

The roar it let out as it saw Phillip also wasn't normal. It sounded more like the wails of millions rather than the low, guttural cry from normal bears. It stood, showing a white patch of fur that traveled from its chest towards its neck that showed against the black fur.

Not waiting for a response, Phillip extended his hand, covered in blue electricity, and gave a small thrust. The electricity extended quickly, forming a spear, and pierced through the bear's neck. A small twitch from Phillip and the bear was punctured with multiple other spears that stemmed from the original. A moment later, the spears retreated to Phillip before disappearing and he sat back down.

"Well, we know what the wildlife looks like now."

You probably knew already, just didn't tell me.

"Need I remind you these are your trials?"

Phillip sighed.

Phillip, now dry, dressed, and transparent, sped over the buildings of the night-time city. He was thankful that large-scale cities like this kept their buildings close to each other. This made navigating and travel via rooftop much easier than if this was a small town. Why he was transparent is that while most people won't lift their heads skyward, he didn't need that one person that was the exception to see him and then have Phillip plastered all over the news.

Coming up to the restaurant, Phillip jumped over it, landing on the building behind, which was a story taller. Walking down the wall parallel to his room, Phillip walked down to the second story and looked up. His window was open. With a small leap, Phillip cleared the gap and landed safely into his room, kicking up some dust in the process.

Phillip shut his window and dropped the blinds. He pulsed his chakra out to find any devices. Sensing none, Phillip began to survey the room. Just as he thought, a few more gifts were set out. Placing another silencing seal, he finally relaxed.

Dropping out of transparency, Phillip moved the muffin basket off his bed to sit down and picked up one of the two new shirts from the sets of clothing. Phillip unfolded the blue shirt to see its back and front.

The only thing that kept it from being just a pure, blue shirt was a small design in the front. It was a picture of a yellow bunny-like character with no fur that had large white eyes with a black dot for pupils and a wide smile full of sharp teeth. The design was placed at the center of the chest. From his talk with Mei, Phillip knew what this character was.

"So, this is Homu," Phillip muttered before his arms moved back to his side, the shirt now in one hand as the other pinched the bridge of Phillip's nose. Talking about it was different from seeing it. In all honesty, it reminded Phillip of a movie about a walking, killer doll. No appeal to him in any way.

…

Did the air get cooler for some reason?

Phillip looked over at his window. Blinds were still closed, and the angle his bed gave him told Phillip that the window was still down. It settled his nerves, and he looked through the clothes to see if anything would actually fit.

I guess I should be happy I don't have an earnest stalker on me, Phillip thought, as he scanned everything. Both shirts, the other being red with the exact same design as the blue, and one pair of pants were a size too high, while the other pants were too small. He patted them down and checked all pockets. Nothing extra was found. Every second, his eyes looked towards the window, which remained shut.

Taking his backpack off, Phillip pulled a notebook out and yanked a piece of paper out of it. He folded the paper twice and scribbled a storage seal onto it. When he was done, he placed the clothes onto the seal, which disappeared with a puff of smoke.

Phillip gave a side glance. The window was still down.

With that out of the way, Phillip pulled a chocolate-chip muffin from the basket and smelled. He couldn't smell any poisons. Breaking it apart, nothing fell out except crumbs.

Gab?

"I scanned the entire basket when you moved it. No poisons or foreign objects."

Phillip didn't waste time devouring all the muffins.

"Just for the record: that isn't a dinner, despite what those belly brains would tell you."

Well, it might just be mine for tonight.

With the food gone, Phillip stood and stretched his arms up, receiving several pops as a result. He sighed as his arms swung back down to his side. He stored the wooden basket under his bed, hidden by the low-hanging sheets. He then moved to pull his shirt off.

A breeze stopped him short.

Hurriedly, he looked back over to the window and noticed that the window was wide open, the wind lightly tossing the lowered blinds. He rushed over there to close it, getting only a short glance outside to determine no one was there.

It didn't stop his senses from telling him that he was being watched from outside the room. A sensation that came up as he both left and returned to, the restaurant.

"We have a problem."

I noticed.

Snapping his fingers, one of the clones appeared beside Phillip.

"Stay here while I sleep. Wake me if something happens," Phillip commanded in a whisper, eyes locked onto the window.

"Well, you're sacrificing time, but, hey, I'm sure we have enough of that around."

Phillip's glare told the clone his snark was unappreciated. The clone went transparent again, and Phillip laid in the bed and went to sleep.

Once in the class the next day, Phillip made a beeline towards Mei. Ever since the two became friends, Phillip transferred himself to a seat next to Mei. Most people were compliant, with only the homeroom teacher throwing a stink about it. A conversation between the two set the record straight.

Taking his seat, he noticed that Mei was even worse today than before. Her eyes were puffy and red, a clear indicator that she cried. Her hair was messy, and she kept her gaze in front and low, not even looking up at him when he sat down.

Phillip noticed something out of the corner of his eye and aimed his aura at a group of students in the back. They immediately deposited the straws back into their pockets.

Phillip turned his attention back to Mei. "Mei?" The girl shook her head, not speaking a word. "Mei." She scooted her desk to the left, leaving a widened gap between the two.

Phillip didn't push to close the gap. He put his attention to the teacher, who just came in. Mei obviously wanted some time alone, and he was willing to allow it for now. So, he listened to the lectures.

Time seemed to move forward for Phillip. Teachers came swiftly and left just as quickly. The lectures became a blur of words and chalk scratches. Students were called to answer questions, and the words of the books danced in and out of Phillip's head.

As the last of the morning classes came to an end and lunch began, Phillip packed everything away, stood up, and made his way to Mei. Once there, Phillip sat on the balls of his feet in front of her, gazing up at her lowered stare. She moved her gaze, and he would follow her, intent on keeping contact with her. He may look like an absolute clown to the others, but he didn't really care. A few more times and a glow did come back to her dull eyes, but it wasn't the type he wanted.

"Mei, there's nothing you can do right now that's going to keep me away. So just talk to me."

The sigh she released was shaky, and the first word she spoke to him were hoarse.

"The roof."

Phillip stood straight at this, letting Mei pick up her bag, and the two made their way to the roof.

"Mei, what's wrong?"

The two sat across from each other. As they walked, Phillip decided not to embarrass her at the roof, so he didn't try keeping eye contact with her when she started looking down again. Mei herself was silent the entire time.

Mei leaned down to her bag, which looked overstuffed by a large round object. The object came out, which was shown to be a large Homu helmet with floppy ears. Phillip tried piecing the puzzle together as Mei recited her story, trembling.

"I-I was at home, w-waiting for S-S-Swordmaster H-HOMU-" she swallowed before continuing. "W-When I thought he wasn't coming, I-I saw-" she began to choke as tears began to roll down her face. "Dad..."

Phillip closed the gap at this point. Wrapping his arms around her body, he brought the crying girl to his shoulder while he rested his head on hers. There was a brief stop in her tears at first before the cascade began again with full force as she hugged him back, trembling uncontrollably.

The two sat there, Phillip rubbing her back to comfort her, for a few minutes before Mei pushed herself out of his grip. She was sniffing while rubbing her eyes to rid any remaining tears.

She was the first to speak. "I'm sorry."

"Nonsense," Phillip responded, cupping both of her cheeks. "You have nothing to be sorry about." She gave him a small smile. Phillip smiled back as he dropped his arms and sat down beside her. "Mei, I'm here for you if you need me, so don't lock me out next time, okay?" He got a "hm" as a response. Deeming it better than none, he sat quietly and closed his eyes, turning away as she cleared the remaining tears from hers.

It wasn't hard to piece the story together after the few hints the distraught girl gave. She waited for the master for longer than needed, noticed the costume somewhere close, and deemed Swordmaster HOMU was her father in disguised.

The first time thinking it through, Phillip didn't really get it. A father who seemed to never be around happened to be almost a constant in her life. What was the problem? The more he analyzed the idea, it clicked: that was the problem. Learning that a seemingly distant father was always close didn't close the gap, just made the wound when he left all the deeper.

He was jolted from his thoughts when Mei leaned onto him, resting her head onto his shoulder. Turning his head towards her, he noticed she was sleeping. He sighed and smiled at the exhausted girl, resigning himself to his fate for today. His expression didn't last long, as his brow furrowed back into thoughts and planning.

A new mission was now laid before him.

"What do we have on the ME Corp court case?"

The clone gazed up at him inquisitively. "You asked me to go to the library, not the national archive."

"Hm."

The school ended rather uneventfully. Once lunch was over, Phillip woke Mei and they went back to class. Mei apologized profusely for soaking the back of his shirt, forgetting lunches, and sleeping on him. Phillip waved all of this away, stating he was fine with it all. Afterward, as Mei didn't want to return home immediately, they ended up at Sho's restaurant. Thankfully, Phillip convinced Mei to stay out of sight until Sho had left the vicinity.

Right now, Mei was being waited by one of Phillip's clones. The clone was given only one order: protect. That one order was prioritized above all others. Thankfully, today was a slow one, so there weren't many people coming in, but it was best to be cautious.

The real Phillip was up in his room with another clone, more specifically, the one that went to the library yesterday. He brought back a lot of info, but Phillip wanted someone to bounce ideas with that wasn't stuck in his head. Thus, the reason why the clone hadn't poofed at this point and was sitting on the floor.

The clone leaned back, propping himself up with his hands. "Maybe it might be better if I popped and then you make another clone to handle that mess."

"Later," Phillip groaned. "I don't want to arouse suspicion sending out another clone."

"Yeah, and a guy doing handstand pushups on the ceiling doesn't 'arouse suspicion', or would those be called pullups."

Phillip stopped mid-rep to glare down at the clone who just smirked at him. Placing his feet onto the ceiling, Phillip stood up and walked to the wall where his bed was placed against and walked down that. He soon stood on top of his bed for a second to stare down at his clone, before slowly sitting down.

"Stopping already? You haven't broken a sweat yet."

"Problems with acclimation. I've spent too long either wearing weights or dealing with intense gravity for a normal workout to be effective."

The clone nodded at Phillip's explanation and dispersed into smoke. A rampant flood of information assaulted Phillip's brain, giving him a minor headache that he healed from quickly. He started sorting through the information, before groaning.

Two superpowers were in play here: Schicksal and its splinter group Anti-Entropy. They are constantly battling each other, and some otherworldly creatures known as the Honkai. Schicksal controlled Eurasia and used human warriors, while Anti-Entropy set base in the Americas with mechs. The real problem was that all of this could be found in the history textbook at school.

The only thing that he found that really caught his attention was the fact diseases seemed to follow the Honkai. If any Honkai beasts were close, any nearby cities were bound to collapse from the disease influx that came with it.

Phillip sighed, before creating two more clones.

He addressed the one on his right. "Go back to the library. Find whatever you can about these 'Honkai' things. Access restricted areas at your discretion. When you're done, find someplace that's hidden and poof there." The clone nodded.

Phillip then addressed the other. "Find the National Reserve. Get anything you can on the court case against ME Corp."

"I can do you one better."

All three jumped at Gabriel's interjection. The real Phillip was the one to respond to Gab.

How?

"Hold out your hand, palm up."

Phillip did, and a condensed ball of light appeared in his palm. It faded, and a light purple flash drive with a small, dark purple N with rounded sides in the middle dropped into his hand.

"The Nep-Hack?"

"Go to the ME Corp central building, find the terminals, and pull out the files."

"Great plan, but we don't exactly have a computer."

One of the clones butted in. "The library does, though. We could print out the files there."

The other jumped in. "Yeah, but that costs money, and I don't remember having enough for one print, let alone an entire company's file structure."

They were back to square one.

The window slid open, and everyone looked towards it. A moment later showed another clone, which closed the window and dropped the blinds before dropping transparency. It had a few scrapes and cuts but looked no worse for wear. This told Phillip that it was the clone he sent out to hunt yesterday.

"I'm kinda glad you made me sturdier than the others, but, damn, does it sting."

Phillip nodded at the complaint, before eagerly asking, "Did you manage to capture something?"

"Well, nothing clean." Noticing Phillip's questioning gaze, the clone explained. "I caught some mutated boar with tusks that reached four feet in front of it and spikes on its back. The thing came at me with the force of a truck." The last part the clone mumbled to itself.

"It's food," Phillip said with a clap. "Let's eat!"

"Hold it, Goku Jr.," the clone said, pulling out a piece of paper. "I haven't even cooked the thing yet. Let me unseal it first." The clone placed the paper down and reached out to touch it, but stopped wide-eyed.

The Enclosing seal on the paper had a problem. Violet lines spilled out from the center, covering the entire paper. From the feeling of it, it was some kind of energy.

Everyone stared at it silently, until the hunting clone spoke. "Just for the record, that wasn't there when I sealed the boar away."

Phillip reached out to touch the paper, only to jolt it away in pain. Phillip noticed the lines were now on his index finger and spreading quickly.

"Interesting."

Gab?

"Oh, nothing." The lines reached Phillip's wrist before stopping. "Now, if I do this..." The lines began to recede just as rapidly as they spread, disappearing at the tip of his index finger.

A clone spoke up as Phillip inspected his hand. "You think that had something to do with that 'Honkai' thing?"

"Probably," Phillip muttered, before looking down at the seal. "But that also means dinner's off the menu."

"Not essentially."

The hunter clone started to glow an ethereal white. The clone was confused for only a second before reaching out to touch the paper. With no reaction to the violet lines, the clone pushed some chakra into the seal to undo it. Smoke filled the room, and once it dissipated...

A normal-looking, brown-furred boar sat next to the paper, which slowly burned away as if on fire. The only thing off about it was that its head was completely flat. Phillip and his clones stared at the boar, looking for any abnormalities.

One of the clones spoke to the hunter clone. "Uh, were you tired when you hunted this thing? It looks nothing like what you said."

"I was perfectly fine when hunting this thing. What makes you think that?"

"Well, you have been out since yesterday, and it looks like you hunted it by caving its head in."

"I was saving up on chakra!"

Phillip clapped to put a stop to the squabble. "Enough!" He then addressed the hunter clone. "Find a way to get that thing to the kitchen unseen. Make something, and then bring it up."

"Oh, yes, my liege," the clone said sarcastically, complete with a bow. "Anything specific you'd like, your majesty?"

"If you're gonna be a douche about it, cook the entire damn thing." The clone gave a mock salute at Phillip's retort and made for the door... only for said door to open and the clone that was cleaning looked in.

"Just a heads up, but Mei left."

Phillip, ever calm and with no urgency, stood from the bed and walked over to said clone. Once close, Phillip grabbed the clone by the shirt, yanked him into the room, and closed the door swiftly, but quietly. Only then, with everything secure, did Phillip look back at the other clone.

"And you stayed behind?!"

The clone flinched, put both hands up in defense, and exclaimed, "I offered to escort her back, but she left when my back was turned!"

Phillip gave a "tsk" at this, before grabbing his coat. "You guys better have made something good when I get back!" With this, he made for the door himself... only for his legs to lock up once outside the room, causing him to fall on his face.

"Yeah, hi, we're not doing this today."

Gabriel!

"Security Team Alpha, send two to search and protect Raiden Mei."

Alpha team was created after the window incident yesterday. Comprised of 10 clones, they scanned the outside of the building using chakra-enhanced senses while remaining transparent. Dropping 2 made a slight hole in the plan, but Gabriel's orders were next to Phillip's own to the clones.

Let me go!

"No. In case you haven't noticed, you're still recovering strength. So, cool your jets, eat your meal and go to sleep. Two clones can handle protecting your girlfriend."

She's not my girlfriend.

"Semantics."

Phillip grumbled incoherently as two of the clones inside his room pulled him back in and placed him on his bed. The hunter clone and cleaning clone went down to the main floor, taking the boar with them. The other two clones went out through the window: one to the library and the other towards the ME building, hacking tool in hand.

Phillip's thoughts rested on one thing. I hate you, Gabriel.

"Well then, be happy I'm going to do this once in the dimension: today."

Can I at least wash up?

"You can use the sink in the restroom."

Phillip groaned as he felt the restriction on his legs lift. Instead of getting up immediately, Phillip laid on his bed to stare up at the ceiling. As he did, his thoughts jumbled around with everything that had happened that day, before landing squarely on Mei. He closed his eyes, breathed a deep breath, and sat up.

As he stood, he spoke once more to Gabriel, agitated. "She better get home safely."

"She'll be fine, I'm sure."

The next day, Phillip got the school exceptionally early. With his thoughts in a jumble, he sped through the halls and came upon his homeroom. He was hoping to find Mei sitting at her seat when he pulled open the door.

But no one was there. Phillip was the first one to the school. Deciding to calm his nerves, Phillip walked to Mei's desk and weaved through hands seals to spew a stream of water from his mouth to splash the front of it. He then unzipped his jacket to use his shirt as a towel, soaking up both the water and the crayon drawings and insults the students created on the desk.

Once finished and his jacket zipped up to hide the stain, Phillip sat back down at his seat and waited for the rest of the student body to come by. Accompanied only by the soft rumble of an air conditioner, however, slowly lulled him to sleep.

For him, it was only seconds, but a touch awoke him to see some students have taken to their seats. Mei herself sat beside him, gracing him with a soft smile as she prodded him once more.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Mei-"

Phillip started, groggily, before Mei shushed him. She then pointed upwards a few times. Phillip realized what she was indicating and nodded. With this, Mei return to her bag and pulled the items necessary for the first class. Phillip followed suit as the rest of the students and the homeroom teacher came in.

The classes once again weaved through the day quickly. With only reviews and the occasional pop quizzes, lunch came fast. Phillip was grateful for the release, for it allowed him to do something. After walking with Mei to the door of the roof, Phillip took a step back.

"Could you wait for a second? I need to go do something."

Mei looked back at him in surprise, before becoming sullen. "Oh, okay."

Phillip poked her in the forehead, causing her to wince. "Relax. I just need to go grab something. I'll be right back." She gave a slight nod before walking through the door. With that, he bounded back down the stairs and raced down the halls for a restroom. Sudden restroom needs were one of many things restored after eating.

That didn't stop Gabriel from remarking. "Told you she would be fine."

Phillip sighed in relief as he walked back up the stairs. He went to open the door when he heard something on the other side.

"My lunch! Kiana!"

Phillip stopped, pressed his ear to the door, and immediately channeled some chakra into his ear to listen in.

"This is soooooo good! Did you make it yourself?"

Phillip paused at this. The voice was still familiar to him.

Kaslana? Is she a friend, or...?

"Well, why not go introduce yourself?"

Seeing no real reason not to, Phillip pushed open the door onto the roof. At this, the conversation stopped, and both participants looked at him.

Mei stood up to greet him. "Phillip-kun! Welcome back!" Gesturing to the person in front of her, Mei introduced the girl. "This is Kiana-san."

"I see," Phillip said as Kiana finally turned towards him. He gave a smile to the wide-eyed girl. "Nice to meet you, my name is Phillip." He was expected any sort of response, from an equally friendly "Hello" back to a mutter of hatred.

The sudden flying drop kick was not one of those things.

"Pervert!" was the only thing she said as Phillip rolled back into the railing of the roof. Chakra helped dampen the blow but wasn't enough to prevent harm. Phillip's head now felt like someone threw a dictionary at the back of it.

"Kiana!" Mei shouted at the underclassman, before trying to rush to Phillip. Kiana blocked her way with an arm.

"Watch out, Mei-senpai! I'll protect you from this perv!"

"Phillip-kun isn't a pervert!... Right?"

"Oh, ye of so little faith," Phillip groaned back to the two. "For the record, I'm male. I just happen don't think about that constantly."

Mei seemed to calm down a little, but Kiana didn't.

"Then explain what you did when we first met!" Kiana shouted at him, white-eyed and pointing at him with exaggerated movement. Phillip sighed and looked at her, dropping his hand from the back of his head.

"Judging from your eyes, we met at night. We bumped into each other, and you fell back. The explanation is I used too much strength in pulling you up that you fell into me instead."

Mei looked confused at this and was going to ask something as Kiana spoke the next thing.

"Then, what about that time in front of the principals' office!? Huh?!"

Phillip's mind blanked at this and went for the only other source it could have been.

Gabriel?

"Nothing happened. Girl just can't take a bit of flirting."

Phillip groaned internally at this and leaned forward onto his hands. Then, Phillip bowed.

"Please forgive any transgression of mine that may have occurred at that moment."

"P-Phillip-kun! Please sit up!"

Phillip heard Mei's plea but refused. He was giving Kiana control here, to show earnestness and regret for any action he had taken. Even if he hadn't been in control, he preferred the girl on his side than against him.

After all, he still needed to speak with her. It wouldn't do if she stayed away from him forever.

"W-Well, I guess I could forgive you."

Phillip pushed up from the ground to look at the girl. She was looking off to the side, a finger scratching her cheek as she blushed a faint pink.

He sat up at this and grinned. "Thank you."

"Once! Just this once!" She was back to being white-eyed and pointing dramatically, but the blush offset the atmosphere.

With Mei's help, Phillip stood up and the three of them walked to the bench they were sitting on, with Kiana grumbling along the way.

Once seated, Phillip asked, "So, how did you two meet?"

"We met yesterday. Well, last night, really," Mei stated to Phillip.

Kiana nodded at this fervently. "Yep. She seemed really sad walking alone, so I decided to help her. And I, like the GOOD FRIEND I am, took it upon myself to protect Mei-senpai!"

Phillip noted the emphasis on the "Good friend" part of her conversation, but he dismissed it, slightly wondering why his clones never alerted him of this. That's also the point that he remembered he needed to talk to Mei about something.

"Oh, right. Mei," Phillip said, bringing Mei's attention to him. "Yesterday, when you went to leave, I said I'd walk you home but you left without me. Why?"

Besides seeing the wind be taken from Kiana's sails, Phillip also watched Mei try and formulate a response to his question.

"I... didn't want to be a burden to you."

Phillip poked the side of her head. "I'm going to keep doing this until you get that you're not a bother to me." Mei pouted at him for that, before sighing.

"Stop bothering Mei-senpai!" Kiana crossed over to him, leaning closely to Phillip. Phillip decided in only one course of action.

"Boop."

Kiana looked confused when he said that but recoiled back when Phillip lightly pushed her nose with his index finger. Both Mei and Phillip gave a short laugh where Kiana glared back at Phillip. At this, Mei finally brought out his lunch.

"Here's yours. I did my best at making this."

Phillip took the box from Mei, rose the box to prevent Kiana from snatching it, and opened the box, which held were several onigiris. Phillip took one and bit into it, before swallowing quick.

"... Mei?"

"Yes?" The slight fear in her voice hurt Phillip, but he had to say what he needed to say.

"Remember what I said the other day?"

The fear was changed to confusion. "A-a bit. Why?"

"Let's start today," Phillip stated as a matter-of-factly, bringing his food closer to avoid a Kaslana lunge. "I will literally start paying you for the scraps."

The onigiri was delicious. He knew many girls, and many of them would make great chefs, but Mei still managed to blow them out of the water. Honest to God, this was some of the best food he has eaten in a long time, if ever.

Mei was blushing heavily at this. "I-It couldn't have been that good."

"No, it's a million times better than 'that good'." Mei went completely scarlet, stuttering incoherently.

"THAT'S IT! I rescind what I said before!" Kiana's outburst turned all attention to her. "I don't forgive you at all!"

Phillip sighed. "Can I make you reconsider?"

"I want your food!"

"I'll give you half."

"Deal!"

And that ended the sudden hostility, with Kiana munching on four onigiris and Phillip munching through the remaining three.

"Mei's cooking is super yummy!" Kiana exclaimed through a stuffed mouth.

"Kiana-chan, please don't talk with your mouth full," Mei told her, like a mother of a child.

"Oh, dear God, she's a Goku 2.0," Gabriel grumbled in Phillip's head. This almost made Phillip snort, but he didn't allow it.

"So, Mei, tell me more about how you and Kiana met," Phillip asked as Kiana swallowed her food. "Kiana gave me a few details but, in case of exaggerations, let me hear your side."

Mei brought a finger to her cheek as she gave a thoughtful look. "Well, for the most part, she was right. I was walking home when we bumped into each other at a market district."

"Oh, so like how Kiana and I met."

Mei hummed at Phillip's assumption. "No, we didn't actually bump into each other. We just walked past each other." Seeing Phillip's nod of understanding, she continued. "Afterwards, Kiana-chan turned around and walked and talked with me up until we reached my house." At this, Mei tilted her head and smiled a small smile to her feet. "It was nice."

"That was nice of her," Phillip said. "I'm glad she kept you safe."

"Well, duh!" Kiana exclaimed, drawing attention to her. "Kaslanas have a duty to protect!" She sat there with her arms crossed, arms crossed over her chest, and smiled smugly. Phillip simply sat there amused.

"Oh, right!" Mei said suddenly, bringing the attention back to her. "I want to know exactly how you two met." Phillip looked back at Kiana, to find her leaning forward with a shit-eating grin.

"Yeah, go ahead! Tell her."

Phillip sighed as he brought his hand to his face. After a minute, he ended the facepalm to look back at the perplexed Mei.

"You already know how we met the first. I don't remember the second time."

"What do you mean 'you don't remember!?'" Kiana screamed at Phillip.

Phillip looked at her with a flat gaze. "Look, the only thing I remember after going to the principal's office was waking up with a concussion."

"Are you trying to imply something, buster?!"

"Kiana, please calm down," Mei said, desperate to defuse the situation. "Why don't you tell us what happened since Phillip can't?"

Kiana gave a "hmph" at Phillip before following Mei's suggestion. "We bumped into each other again outside of the principal's office. He caught me again, but in a stupid, perverted way. I repaid him the right way."

The prideful tone she took in saying the last part of her explanation was ruined by the light blush that coated her cheeks.

"I don't happen to remember when a double-handed bash to the side of head being the proper way to repay someone from stopping your fall."

Gabriel's comment made Phillip wince and rub the side of his head as phantom pains appeared. He was lucky that Mei's focus was locked on Kiana when she asked another question.

"How did he catch you exactly?"

Kiana became surprised at the question as her blush jumped up in intensity. She then looked away from them, shyly.

"Y-you know. The kind you'd find in a cheesy rom-com."

Mei seemed to catch what Kiana whispered, as she grew a slight blush herself. "A-ah, I see."

Phillip, looking for a way to break the awkward atmosphere, took note of the sun. "Do either of you have the time?"

Mei pulled out her phone from her bag to check. "Lunchtime should end soon." At this, the three began to finish up the last few bites of their lunches.

Granted, Kiana tried to stuff it in all at once.

"Kiana, you're going to choke doing that!" Mei scolded the rushing Kaslana, who obeyed Mei and slowed her pace down.

As the lunch began to wind down, Mei began packing everything away, along with promising Kiana she would bring her lunch.

This led to Kiana stating anything she wanted for lunch. "I want salmon onigiri, tamagoyaki, some juicy drumsticks, -"

"Please don't go overboard on Mei," Phillip suggested. "She is feeding for three here."

"No, no, it's alright," Mei stated with a wave from her hands. "I'm more than willing to help with this. It's the least I could do."

Phillip looked over at her. "If you need any help with this, just let me know."

"Trust me, it's fine," Mei responded, trying to dissuade him. "You've done a lot to help me already. I can handle a little more cooking."

"I didn't do much," Phillip stated.

"Anyways," Kiana exclaimed, getting the others' attention. "we probably get back to our classes."

Phillip saw a chance. "Actually, Kiana, do you mind if we talk privately for a second? I want to talk about what happened at the principal's office."

Kiana went wide-eyed at this. "Hell no!"

"Actually, I think this would be good for Phillip." Kiana looked at Mei as if she grew a second when she said this. "He seems to be missing a piece of memory, so it might be best if you filled him in, Kiana."

"B-but-"

"I promise you; I have no hidden intentions in this," Phillip told Kiana.

Kiana looked towards Mei for support, but Mei was cemented in her opinion. With no hope of escape, she gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright, I'll talk. But no perverted ideas got it?!"

"Promise."

At Phillip's statement, Mei picked up her bag and walked to the door. Once there, however, she turned back to them.

"Try not to be late to class."

Without waiting for a response, she opened the door and left.

Waiting a few more seconds, Phillip then spoke. "Okay, there are a few more things that I want to talk about than just the principal."

Kiana narrowed her eyes at him. "What?"

Phillip returned it in kind. "The first thing is this: what are your intentions with Mei?"

"What?!" She exclaimed, bewildered. "What the heck do you mean by that?!"

"Mei has suffered recently," Phillip explained. "I've only known her for a week, but I've learned she's still desperate for positive attention." He increased his glare at Kiana. "If you have any intentions of abusing that-"

"No!" She nearly shrieked at him. "I would never do that! I wasn't lying when I said Kaslanas have a duty to protect!"

"She isn't lying, so you can drop the suspicion."

Phillip let out a heavy breath through his nose at this, ending just in time to catch Kiana's other reason.

"Besides, she's too cute to do that to." Phillip's brow rose at this but fixed it when Kiana brought her finger to point at him. "You're more likely to do something like that, you perv!"

"I have nothing to gain in abusing her desperation," Phillip stated.

"Yeah, right," Kiana retorted, unconvinced. "Then why is she bringing you food, huh? Can't make yourself some?"

"Both aren't really in my control at the moment," Phillip responded with a small blush.

"Huh?"

"Anyway," Phillip said hurriedly, forcing the confused Kiana to drop the subject. "You've proven your innocence to me, so let me prove my own with some info."

"Oh, yeah? How?"

Phillip made sure to maintain eye contact as he spoke. "The old principal was planning on selling you as a slave once you got your graduation."

He was expecting anything natural. A sudden gasp, a shocked look, or maybe even a scream of unmanageable rage and cursing.

Not the flat look that stared back at him.

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm sorry, what?"

She smiled proudly, crossing her arms under her chest. "That stupid butler may know the limits of a normal Kaslana, but I'm a super Kaslana!"

"Really?" Phillip asked, slightly amused at this.

"Yep! I took what I hear to the station, threw in a few other witnesses, and BAM!" She yelled the "BAM" with extreme enthusiasm. "The pervs never knew what hit 'em!"

"Huh," Phillip muttered, staring at the ground. In all honesty, he wanted to warn her that some others might have gotten a tip to watch her. However, seeing as she was instrumental in taking down the principal, he had lost most of his reasoning for doing this.

"Here."

Phillip looked back up at Kiana, who pulled out a notebook. As she flipped through the pages, she stopped at one. On it was a map of Nagazora with several red circles littering it. One of the larger circles seemed to encompass Senba High.

"After that, the police had asked me in tracing down other parts of the slave ring," Kiana spoke as if she matured several years. "While the principal was a primary operator here, there's still a steady stream of girls and boys that disappear that attend this school. Either a teacher or an insider student could be the cause."

As she spoke, she used a capped pen to track and point at the circles. Starting with Senba high, she traced around the map to others. Phillip followed the pen, almost transfixed at the movement.

After a while, Kiana's pen landed on a place located in an alleyway. Noting several landmarks, Phillip realized where exactly Kiana was pointing to.

Looking up, he found the muzzle of a pistol sat in front of him, between his eyes.

"While we're on the subject, care to explain why you've been seen coming out of this area?"

Phillip didn't fear the pistol in any way. By the time the bullet got halfway down the muzzle, he'd already be safely away from the gun, he didn't need anyone knowing his differences right now, and his plan didn't need extra people that could ruin it.

He did have one question though.

"How'd you manage to smuggle that into the school?"

Kiana gave him a wink. "A girl has her secrets. Besides," she prodded his head with the gun, "you have a question to answer yourself."

"Look, I work and live in that alley. If I was part of the slave trade, I wouldn't give away a member."

"That only works when the member is still active."

"To be fair, I thought he still would be active."

Kiana kept her glare at him for a solid minute before she finally relented, dropping the gun from its position, and gave a sigh. "Well, that ruins that lead. That sucks."

"Honestly, I'm impressed," Phillip said as he picked up the notebook to stare it down. "Did you manage to do this by yourself?"

"Huh?" Kiana looked at him, slightly confused. "For the most part."

"The fact you managed to get this far by yourself is astonishing, to say the least," Phillip stated with a light smile.

Kiana's eyes widened at this, going slightly crimson, as she shouted, "F-Flattery isn't getting you into my pants!"

"That... wasn't my intention," Phillip responded, slightly bewildered. "I'm also being honest here. You have to be pretty smart to get this."

"O-oh," Kiana said shyly as she looked away from him. "T-thanks, I guess."

The two sat there a few seconds more before Kiana pulled her notebook away from him, saying that "Mei-senpai wanted us back in class quick," before running to the door.

Phillip followed her shortly after, amused at the new addition to Mei's small group. He was happy that Mei was getting more friends, and Kiana might bring a spice that was missing from her life.

Though, there was a question that lingered in his mind.

"Why need forgeries if she's that smart, I wonder."