I was able to return to the Academy sometime after lunch, Mylene insisting on having a meal with me before I left her office. She showed none of the awkwardness that I felt as several servants set a table for us to eat. The meal itself was pretty nice and she seemed pretty happy about everything. Mylene also made sure to give me one last deep kiss before I departed, telling me to visit again soon. I shifted my shoulders as I felt the itchiness from the fresh scratch marks on my back courtesy of the woman. She was aggressive in a completely different manner from Livia, in ways that I would probably be executed for if I talked about it in public.
I went up to my dorm room and was greeted with a pretty surprising sight. Kyle and Yumeria were both asleep on my bed, with the boy wrapped around his reunited mother's arms. That was good. I hope that they were able to reconcile.
Welcome back, Leon. I trust that your meeting with the Queen was fruitful. Julius stopped by to inform us that Marie will be freed soon but also that you were staying there longer to discuss other things with Queen Mylene.
"Yeah, it took a bit. Did Livia come by to look for me?" I asked, quickly changing the subject from Mylene. I took a seat on the nearby couch so as to not disturb the mother and son.
Yes. She asked that I inform you to look for her once you returned. I should warn you that she seemed to look rather thoughtful when I mentioned that you and Julius were with the Queen.
"Well, that can only be good. Did she say where I can find her?" If it was Livia, then the discussion could probably go in wildly different directions. The mention of her did remind me of something though. I made my way to a locked desk drawer even as Control answered my question.
She said that she would be at your usual Tea room.
"Got it." I said, unlocking the drawer and taking the Saint's Necklace inside. Good thing I didn't bring it with me when we went to meet Mylene considering what happened. I placed the necklace inside my pocket and turned back to Control. "Did you find anything in your investigation? Marie's going to be fine, but anything that can lead us to the ones who did this to her would be great."
Unfortunately, due to the brevity of their presence in the Academy, I was unable to follow a trail that led farther than the general area outside the campus grounds. I can only confirm that Marie was escorted by five heavily armored knights.
"That's pretty hardcore for one girl." I pointed out. Were they worried that someone else was with her last night? I grimaced, not wanting to think about what my sister would have been up to at that hour with someone else. I definitely didn't want to think that it would have probably been with one of the boys either.
It may be possible that they were expecting resistance from her or other sources during the arrest.
"Well, looks like we'll need to trust in Mylene's investigation on this then. Thanks a lot, Control." I knew that she was plenty busy already, but this was my sister we were talking about. I made a mental note to make it up to her in some way later on.
Of course. I would also like to inform you that I was able to find a few designs that would be viable ranged options for Black Getter F. They will be ready for testing in the simulator so I can construct whichever ones you would like to use in the Lab.
Oh, fantastic! That should help a lot with not having to waste energy on using Getter Beams on smaller monsters that I couldn't hit with anything else. In fact, the talk of the simulator actually reminded me of something else.
"Speaking of, do you think we can have Deirdre have a go in the simulator at some point? She seemed pretty happy when I let her move the levers around inside Black Getter's cockpit." I asked as I knew for sure that she would have the time of her life in there even in a non-combat scenario.
I see nothing wrong with it. I can accommodate her with the tutorial course once you arrange it with her.
"That'd be great. I'm sure she'll have a great time." I said with a smile.
Likely so. It would also be good to have a secondary pilot for Black Getter F should you be unavailable for whatever reason.
"Deirdre would probably bounce off the walls if she heard you say that. I'll come back once Livia is done with me. Wish me luck." I joked as I made my way to the door. I wonder if we could build a second Getter Robo for Deirdre if she ended up being good enough to pilot Black Getter?
Please make sure not to make a mess of the Tea room. It would be a challenge to remove any stains from the carpeting there.
The sass on that one.
I made it to the Tea room and heard voices coming from inside. I knocked on the door and the conversation went silent. Ominous. I was about to open the door when someone beat me to it.
"Leon, you're back!" Livia happily said even as she pulled me into the room and into a kiss, barely giving me the time to close the door behind me. She eventually let me breathe and I was able to see who she was talking to. I gulped as Angie and Clarice looked at me from a table with unreadable expressions. Livia took advantage of it by pulling me to the table and sitting me down right between the two girls while she sat across from me.
Ah, was this what it felt like for someone who was about to be executed? It felt even more stressful than my thesis defense back in University.
"Now then, I'm glad that all four of us can be here to–" Livia's smile suddenly twisted into an angry scowl. She turned to me and looked downwards. "Leon, dear. Did you bring the necklace with you?"
I blinked and immediately understood what the issue was, "Is Anne yelling at you again?"
"Wait, is that the haunted necklace she was talking about? Is it actually real?" Clarice asked in complete disbelief even as I pulled out the accessory and handed it to Livia.
"She told you about the Saint's Necklace?" I asked Angie even as Clarice looked between me and Livia in confusion.
"She said that there is a spirit there that wants to take over her bod–" Her response was cut off when Livia put on the necklace and started speaking in that weird accent again.
"How dare you keep me locked up while you enjoyed Lea over and over aga–stop doing that and listen to me you little piece off–" Livia managed to get control and stomped off to the far corner of the room while she talked to Anne. She looked really angry.
"Yeah, that was pretty much how I reacted the first time I saw it too." I said with a chuckle when I saw Angie's and Clarice's faces.
"Who is Lea?" Angie asked with narrowed eyes.
I rubbed the back of my neck as I explained what we thought was going on. "The spirit inside the necklace, Anne, seems to be mistaking me for someone that she knew."
"And she keeps trying to take over Livia's body?" I sighed at Clarice's question even as we all looked at Livia literally having an argument with herself. She was even making angry hand gestures as both her and Anne fought for control.
"Seems to be like it. We haven't really learned anything about her since she keeps doing that whenever Livia wears the necklace. If she doesn't, then she's the only one who can hear Anne's voice in her head." The three of us looked on worriedly as Livia looked like she was about ready to start punching herself just to hurt the ghost.
"His name is Leon and he belongs to me, Angie, and Clarice!" She angrily yelled, making the three of us at the table blush. She hesitated before continuing. "Maybe one other woman, but definitely not you!"
"But he looks just like him! And you look just like how I did! It must be destiny that I be reborn as you! Just accept me so we can be one! We can have him together!" Anne countered with logic as weird as the way she talked.
"We can talk about that some other time! Right now, I want to talk to my lovers about apologizing to each other and making up!" My eyes widened at that and I looked at the other two girls. They conveniently started looking at literally anything else.
"Lovers?" I had to ask and the two of them blushed bright red. Livia, what did you do to Angie and Clarice last night?
"Livia was very insistent with us last night." Clarice vaguely answered after coughing.
"Very insistent." Angie repeated with a happy sigh while looking like she was recalling a memory. Oh wow, she totally got them both.
"Ah, so you two have been introduced to her insatiability then?" I asked with a laugh. Finally, there are others who can relate to how relentless Livia could be in those kinds of things.
"Yes, imagine our surprise when Livia told us what has been happening between you two while on your trip." I tensed in worry at what Angie said, only to be surprised when she and Clarice took hold of one of my hands each. "But she also told us about what else happened there as well."
"Are you okay, Leon?" Clarice asked and my shoulders just slumped. Was I really in that bad of a shape that everyone could tell what a mess I was?
"No. Livia has been helping, but there are just so many problems that keep piling up." I saw them look down at the table sadly and I quickly gave their hands a squeeze. "You two aren't one of those problems."
"Aren't we? After what we did to you. We didn't even give you enough of a chance to explain and just lashed out." Livia walked back to us before Angie could continue talking.
"Which is why we are all here." She started before tossing the necklace back to me. "She'll be quiet, at least until we're done."
She took her seat and reached out to hold Angie and Clarice's other hands. "So how about we start with the big issue, Leon. You and Queen Mylene. Explain."
That was definitely something I had been rolling around in my head ever since the situation had gone out of hand. So, I started telling the three girls I loved my side of the whole thing. They stayed silent as I explained the original intent of my interactions with Mylene. Then I got a bit embarrassed at how the two of us basically roleplayed as a student and a transfer student to obfuscate what our interactions would look like from the outside. I then told them about what she seemed to have been dealing with on a daily basis and what I offered her. Then everything went from grounded to all the way to the moon when I used a tradition from her homeland to demonstrate how I wanted to protect and care for her.
"And that's pretty much how everything with Mylene started." Angie and Clarice didn't look surprised, which made sense as Mylene probably already told them about most of what I talked about. Livia looked at me intently and smiled.
"So when were you planning on telling us that the two of you have already made love?"
"How–"
"Oh, Leon. I've pretty much figured out how tired you get whenever we finish. It looks like she really was pent up." Livia's smile turned into something pretty scary even as Angie and Clarice let go of my hands.
"Leon!" Angie yelled at me.
"I'm sorry!" I said.
"No you're not." Clarice flatly stated.
"No I'm not." I admitted in shame.
"Any other world shattering revelations you'd like to share with us, Leon?" Livia asked with a tired sigh. It looked like even her patience had a hard limit.
"Well, there is one thing." I stood up and backed away from three glares. "Okay! To preface, the situation was already crazy to begin with."
"Just get it over with and tell us." Clarice growled at me. I nodded and explained everything that happened this morning. From Kyle and Julius telling me what happened, to going to Mylene, to my solution to Marie's situation.
"Every time, Leon. Every time." Livia tiredly muttered while rubbing her forehead.
"Out of literally anyone else in Holfort, you picked Marie Fou Lafan to adopt as your sister?" Clarice made a disgusted face while asking me that. Rude.
"Well, technically it's Marie Fou Bartfort now–" I immediately shut up when Angie pointed a finger at me.
"Don't remind me how she managed to get your name before the three of us did!" I lowered my head in shame. I couldn't even begin to comprehend what it must have felt for them.
"What were you thinking, Leon?" Livia asked in a gentler tone. What was I thinking? I was trying to save my sister!
"I…you don't know what it was like for Marie growing up. What she went through to even get to the Academy." I let slip in a bit of frustration. I looked up and saw the three of them with expressions of worry and surprise.
"Why would she tell you all of that? Why would you go so far for a girl that hurt us so much?" Angie voiced what they were all probably thinking. I couldn't just tell them that the reason why I adopted Marie was so I could protect my sister and have her as family again, now could I?
Wait.
Couldn't I?
I looked at the hurt in the eyes of the three girls that I loved. Their pain borne from me being unable to tell them about what my motivations really were. It was the same damn thing that happened with Mylene. I didn't even think about telling them about mine and Marie's situations because I thought that they didn't need to know.
Didn't need to know? That was the core of the problem in the first place. Until I could get rid of that thinking, until I was finally honest with the three of them, then it would never end.
No, not again. I won't lose them because I couldn't imagine that they would believe me.
Communication, Trust, and Understanding. That's what Livia said, and that would be what I'd abide from now on.
"What do the three of you know about alternate worlds and reincarnation?"