Hey, DxD fandom. This chapter was... Hard to pull out, I had several ideals about how to end this arc, but none of them could work properly without too pretentious, having no weight in the overall finale and being hard to articulate. Yeah, maybe having too many characters running around in a single spot was kinda verbing. but at lçeast the chapter came out before a month could hit. hahaha... I hope you all enjoy it.
As always. DxD doesn't belong to me~.
"It's because of my fight yesterday?" I expeculated in front of my home room teacher, Nanami-sensei, on her desk on the teachers' office.
A day has passed since the last incident between me and Ren, and while no one made a ruckus about it, for some reason, during lunch break, I was summoned to the teachers' office. Nemesis-san was understandable enough to call mom about yesterday's incident, since I don't want my old lady to get mad or worried about me fighting like a delinquent, but apparently I can't escape the aftermath regarding the school staff. The young, dark-haired teacher, however shook her head negatively, and picked a bunch of paper that was resting on her desk...
"No, Headmistress Morimoto said that she would handle things for herself, so I guess I shouldn't bother about your condition, although I was kinda worried about you." She said, as I sighed in awkwardness and tapped the bandage on the bridge of my nose, courtesy from kaichou. Wait, she will not scold me for the other day? So why was I called? "You're probably wondering why I called you here. Well, I'm here to talk about your English test..."
"My English test..." Oh right, completely forgot that I have those in here. Huh, despite the title, sometimes I even forget that I'm still a high-schooler. "Midterms... Am I... Am I in trouble?"
"Not from me, you're not. But there's something about your vocabulary that's making me kinda nervous." What? I know I'm not that good in English sometimes, but I think I did a decent job. After all, doing push-ups with a ~80kg Chinese girl on top of you making you do math problems can practically mark your brain with formulas. She took a quick pick into the paper in her hand and made an awkward face. "For example... When the question asked for you to translate 'Jack has a pumpkin with a candle inside for a head' from the text, everybody wrote 'Candle' in either in katakana(キャンドル) or furigana(ろうそく). You wrote it completely in kanji."
"Oh, that question..." I'm remembering it now, that was tricky one, but I guess I answered it correctly, I dunno, verbs are not my thing in English. "Did I do wrong?"
"Tsukino-kun... You wrote 'candle' in Kanji(蝋燭), that's too many strokes even for a teacher. I don't think a highschool boy such as yourself should be knowing this kind of stuff." She said with trembling lips and pointing at the sentence in question. Oh, she's talking about that. Huh... I think I've learned a few things in poetry classes. She turned again to the test, drying some drops of sweat. "Not even I know that much, you're making me embarrassed... Another thing about it is how you wrote 'Mole'(As in, the animal): it got the 'earth' kanji, but this... I didn't know that you could write 'Mole' like that. Everybody just uses the usual kanji for dragon(竜)Any reason for you to use this one?"
"This one...?" I asked, as she pointed again at the words on the test. Oh, she means this kanji(龍). I guess that, when you hear 'Sekiryuutei'(赤龍帝) this, 'sekiryuutei' that all the time, you're bound to get use to write dragon like that. Not to mention, 'Hong Long'. I can't say that out loud, so my only answer for this is: "Ah... Ahahahah... It's because... It's cool, right? I mean, it's different, and old and stuff, so it's cool, right...?"
"Tsukino-kun..."
"Am I... Am I in trouble?" I said nervously. Oh crap, this is so embarrassing, I'll get a low grade because I was too pretentious! I'm not the best student in Kuoh, but to have a red one on my score will be bad! In the end, Nanami-sensei pouted and sighed, putting the paper down and scratching her left cheek, blushing a little.
"No, that's not it. Since you actually wrote them correctly, I had no choice but to give you a proper score. I just ask that... Please have mercy on your sensei~, sometimes she can be pretty dumb and not-married~." She pouted and mourned about her own single self, dropping a little on her desk, making me kind of uncomfortable. Huh, maybe hanging around the poetry classes and people who speaks in rather old-style ways(Ryuubi and Yoko) can have it's downsides. She passed me my test, and I saw the score in it...
I got an 81...
...
...
...
*GRIIIIIIIIIN~!*
"T-Tsukino-kun...? You're scaring me..." Nanami-sensei said rolling away on her chair, trembling a little, while my own cheeks were hurting a lot because of the big dumb smile on them. I can't believe it! I got an 81 on a test! Holy shit, this is the highest I've ever got! I feel like screaming! "Tsukino-kun...?"
"A-Ah sorry, Nanami-sensei, I... Lost control a little. Sorry about it." I said covering my mouth and biting my lips real hard. The happiness is almost palpable! Before I could finally snap, I bowed her a goodbye, left the test on her table and walked away from the teachers' office.
Once I was out and I was sure that was no one around, I bend myself and shoot both my arms to the skies, screaming a mute one out of euphoria! I can't believe I actually scored that high in a test! Man, that's a first! But of course, this can only mean that something terribly horrible will happen to me today, I can almost feel it... Bah! Whatever, I'll at least enjoy this happiness a bit more before things go to hell, no point in doing the opposite, anyway.
"Well, someone seems to be in a good mood." I heard from somewhere near, and before I could turn around and see what is was, someone came closer and pointed a finger at my neck. This presence, I know very well who is. "Too bad, dragon. It'd be too easy to kill yo like that, wouldn't be?"
"Ren, why only my friends can ruin a perfect day for me." I said punching his hand again, and for a quick second, he removed his murder finger from my neck. I turned around, and there he was my albino ninja friend, a few bandages across his face and body, wearing his typical gakuran with arms crossed. We shared a state with each other, and shook hands. "Hey there, idiot. How's going?"
"A few bruises and cuts around after a spar with a certain jackass, but I'm good, thanks for asking." He grinned, walking with me around the corridors, hands in pockets. Seriously, even if he's all like that, I'm not sorry, but I'm glad we're friends again. Even if it does kill me, I'm glad for this. Since we're back to normality and he's with me during lunch, I think this can only mean one thing: "So, are you ready to find a the last Mystery of Kuoh, mr. Lady-killer?"
"Ugh..." You might be wondering why is that, calling me mr. Lady Killer out of nowhere, even though we know each other for a while now. The truth is, this is indeed the last mystery of Kuoh academy: apparently, there's someone or a group of someones who are bullying and attacking all the males in Kuoh academy and making them go away. That's the reason why there are no more pretty boys around Kuoh nowadays, and I'm one of the few males here. Freaky stuff. "What? Are you gonna use me as bait? I have you know, I'm pretty unpopular. I'm not like Sanada-senpai."
"Eh~, then why you transferred here in Kuoh if it was not for the girls? Truly, Sanada Hideyoshi has a pretty loyal fanbase, but since he's a devil, I think those stay away from him." Ren said, picking from his hammerspace a small wooden board with the names of the few guys around Kuoh and their 'level' of attractiveness and popular vote. Wow, is he looking for a boyfriend? "But, get this, did you know you're pretty popular with the girls as well?"
"W-Wait, really?" Wow; now that's a first. Since I was in grade school, both girls and boys used to avoid me since I was pretty girly back then, not to mention I still lacked a backbone to talk back against my sisters, so I was just the shy and awkward Ikkun. So that means I'm a popular guy now?
'Ugh, so much melodrama, Izuki...'
Shut up, Mizuki-san...
"Me? Popular? With the girls?!"
"Yep, you're pretty popular... With your upperclassmen!" He stuck his tongue out and laughed sarcastically. Wait, what? "According to this poll, no first or second year is interested in you, but a good portion of the third-years and college section, even some teachers, said you're the cutest thing ever."
"Eeeeeh...?!" Wait, I'm cute now?! I know that being popular in highschool is a once-in-a-lifetime-experience, but this?! The cutest?!
"Uh-huh. Look, they said you're fluffy, awkward, have this cuddly aura and a vibe of 'Hug me, I'm scared' all around you! You're pretty much this whole 'Cutesy little brother' material!" He continued to say those in a making face all over my face, and I snapped that carton board off his hands and began to read it to make sure he wasn't trolling me. 'Cute', 'fluffy', 'cuddly-face', 'lil'bro'... What the hell! He wasn't lying, all of my upperclassmen and some of my teachers think I'm really a cute little brother! "Hyarahahah! What do you know?! Instead of the pretty boy, you're the cute little brother! At least it's a thing, right? Hahahahah...!"
"Fuck this!" And in a smooth move I just kneeled that fucking board and broke it in half out of pure rage! Isn't that just great, I'm the cute little brother of Kuoh! No, this isn't... What the... This... Isn't fair. Uuuuugh~! After that little display of wrath, I kneed on the floor and masked my face with my hands in order to contain the tears. Shit~! "Fuuuuuuck~, what the heeeeeeeell~!"
"Hey, Ichijou. Cheer up. At least you're popular. Isn't that the highest of a highschooler's romance?"
"Uuuuuugh~..." I don't feel the romance in this, not at all. I'm in one of those moments when I wish I could use my status as the red dragon emperor and badass gauntlet to at least show-off a little for people to leave me alone, and now I'm the cute little brother... Again. I just hope none of them wants to be my big sister, I only have about 201 bones in my body. I took a deep breath, and stood up to clean up the sweat on my face. "Shit, why Am I the forever fragile one? Not even my mom thinks I'm cool enough to be... Non-cute. This suuuuuuuucks~..."
"You can bawl about this for the day, or we can use this at our advantage: whoever is crushing away all the pretty and handsome guys around Kuoh is looking for someone with a big fanbase around here. And you, my friend, is one of those, if not for... Completely different reasons." Is he trying to cheer me up? Is he trying to be an ass again? Actually, now I couldn't care less about it, my spirit was already annihilated by those news, and seriously, I feel like throwing up. The taste of my smashed pride is already filling my mouth, what difference a good amount of bile will make? "Cheer up, Ichijou. You already faced worse,at least no one calls you the Oppai dragon here in Kuoh."
"Oooh, Rapture. What a cruel mistress, destiny is. Is there anything, anything, that I can offer thou in order to break free from thy chains of oppression?"
"Stopping the poetry classes might be a good start." He offered me a hand, and since I'm already down, I took it to stand up. Eh, no. I won't stop with my poetry classes, those are the only way to deal with Minatsu-nee, and to be fair, they have their share of pretty girls. I'm not thinking in that way, but I dunno, being surrounded by pretty girls now make me feel more at ease. We resumed our walk around Kuoh back to my class, as I yawned a little due to my lack of sleep last night. "But I have this feeling that you might be the next target. After all, all the handsome men around here were already hospitalized, that male-burster might now be looking for the cute ones, such as yourself."
"Ugh, your choice of words only make my depression go deeper." I said with a sigh. This now, what the hell? What kind of person or people would be doing something like that? Maybe it's a bunch of biker guys jealous because they can't get a girlfriend, maybe it's a bunch of extremists who don't want men around this formed alliances-girl school. Whatever it is, maybe I'll have to deal with them the old-fashioned way, and if I do, Nemesis-san will probably lecture me about it. A student from her school, a delinquent, she'll definitely pull my ear all the way to Africa for that. "Do you have any Idea who or what this male-burster might be?"
"No clue. The attacks are usually swift and isolated. Besides, there are rumors that several male students are being challenged around campus for a fight, and all of them ended up in the hospital unconscious. The only thing we can do is to wait." He crossed his arms, and pouted with deepening his own thoughts. Wait for an attack, isn't that the best thing in the world? Now I'm nervous, waiting for something pop up from the ground and apparently try to swallow me whole. So much for my good score on English. "I'll stay at bay and see what I can find. You stay and have your dinner with your girlfriend."
"Shiori-san is not my girlfriend!"
"Uh... I was referring to the redhead and that fox girl." That one made me gasp in surprise and step back a few ones, as he also blinked in surprise. Oh... Uh, this is awkward. He just sighed and turned around, but not before turning his head SHAFT style and give me this final warning. "I would be careful if I were you. And I'm not just talking about the last mystery."
"I know." I sighed, putting my hands in my pockets and turning around to go back to my class.
Wasn't that kinda awkward. Whatever, I have bigger fishes to catch, and while sparring with him wasn't good enough, soon or later someone will be asking me for a fight. Well, if it's a bunch of humans I think... I think I can do it without attracting much attention. I just need to concentrate and remember to stay in the game. Hey, Mizuki-san, if you're hearing me, can you hear or see anything?
'I was just thinking about you, y'know. I can't hear anything abnormal around here, but you better come to the locker rooms and take a look at it yourself.'
"What?" I gave an interrogation for that, diverting my way to the classroom to take the path to the lockers and see what was going on. Is there something wrong there?! Before she could answer me, I finally reached the first floor and searched for that specific point where I put my shoes and notes, right in the middle section of lockers, I looked at my own and, yes, it was broken, it's metal door smashed and vandalized with several written and carved words, and all of them were writing the word...
'Celebrate'
...
...
"What?" No joke here. My whole locker was marked with the word 'celebrate'. I mean, what? Seriously? What is this? Some kind of prank?! I know this might be a challenge to a fight, but... Celebrate what?!
'Your guess is actually good as mine, Izuki.' I heard that smooth voice inside my head, as I jumped on place and looked around to seek for everyone's favorite ESPer. After that quick scan, I saw a certain strawberry-blonde with her arms crossed under her big boo-whooooa, she can read my mind, slow down. Too late? She grinned, much to my dismay. 'Yep, mr. Boob-lover. Too bad you won't be touching those. Kah, kah...'
"Ugh..."
'But changing to the subject, this is the problem I wanted you to see. I can't feel any ghost recreation here, which is quite peculiar.' She said, lifting a hand and showing small particles of light taking the form of human figures, all passing around like they were changing their shoes. Strangely enough, no one other than myself were here to cause this mess, at least is what Mizuki-san is showing. 'Either the wind was taking some steroids, or the said male hunters are quite the particular figure.'
"I was already expecting that." Things can't ever be so simple with me. I tried to pick the broken door and remove it from the insides of my vandalized locker, only for it to break away from it's hinges and just doesn't smashing on the ground because Mizuki-san was faster and telepathically pick it for me. There they are, my ruined shoes, more and more of the words 'celebrate' written or carved for whatever reason and... Is this a letter? I put my hand inside the broken locker and picked from there a small ball of folded paper with my name, rather, my title as the sekiryuutei, written in hiragana.
'Oh, a letter? Think it's from the culprit?' Mizuki-san thought as she approached me from behind. Well, a love letter is not, I can assure you. I opened it without a second thought, and read the words that were there, again, all in hiragana with sloppy handwriting...
"L-o-o-k f-o-r m-e a-f-t-e-r c-l-a-s-s-e-s a-t t-h-e s-c-h-o-o-l r-o-o-f. W-e h-a-v-e b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s t-o t-a-k-e c-a-r-e o-f, sekiryuutei."
'Look for me after classes at the roof, sekiryuutei. We have business to deal with.'. Tch, no doubt about it, that's a challenge from the men Hunter. And I'm the next prey...
'Noooooo, are you sure?'
"Shut up, Mizuki-san..."
'I am.'
"H-Just shut you mouth... Mind... Ugh...!"
'Eheheheh...'
I just knew it that my day would turn it for the worse. Sigh, If looks like I got no choice...
'Wait, wait, Izuki. Are you thinking to really go there? I said this thing has no presence, so I can't see with that we're dealing with here.' Mizuki-san thought.
"I know it might sound stupid and stuff, but this... Thing knows I'm the Red Dragon Emperor, so there's no reason for me to hold back with my sacred gear." I said with a shrug. "Also, don't involve or tell anyone about this. From my fight from yesterday, I'm pretty sure to be scolded again. Besides, all of the other mysterious wonders of Kuoh have been quite harmless if not mischievous, and it wrote the word 'celebrate' in my shoe locker. The best it can it's... Stupid."
'Okaaaay, then. Just don't go crying when Gremory blows you again.'
"Fuck off!"
'Heheheheh...'
And here we go again...
.
~~x~~
.
So... Here I am, at the roof of Kuoh academy, wearing instead a red shirt with my uniform wrapped around my waist and Lady Akeno's ribbon wrapped on my left arm, in order to avoid trouble to Nemesis-san regarding Kuoh. I already fought in public yesterday, and for a nail the school didn't inform mum and the others. The least I can do is hide the fact that I'm a student from Kuoh and fight with all I got!
[Well. Aren't you a bit of a romantic? Looking all mighty and stuff like a Japanese delinquent?] The feminine voice inside my Sacred Gear said in my head, teasing me to no end. Yeah, this situation is kinda like an old delinquent movies my mum used to watch. I even skipped my duties as the vice-president of the Suggestion Box Club just to be here. They asked stuff, of course, but I just dismissed as just a small thing bugging me. Little did they know. [but also Kinda dumb too. You have no idea with what you're dealing with, yet you still headed head-first. Can't say anything since pops was also like that, but... Can't believe you'd be that reckless.]
"What can I said? It invited me for a fight, and like before, the girls wouldn't let me be maimed like yesterday, and you know what happened last time when I refused to fight." I sighed. I can't back down now, after all that happened yesterday. Besides, Ren is worse than I am, so bringing him here would only put his life in danger again, he'd become a deadweight for the situation. Not that I care that much about him, though. That's only me now. "It's more than honour, too. It knows I'm the sekiryuutei, so it not might be one of the mysteries of Kuoh, so dragging anyone here can not only be unnecessary, but dangerous too..."
[Carrying the problems on your shoulder so recklessly? So not you.]
"Maybe. But now, if the best it could do was to smash my shoe locker, what problem that thing could bring to m-...?"
*ZOOM!*
*PUNCH!*
*DOOOOOOON...!*
"Huh...?"
"Yeah, I'm not that stupid to let my guard down so easily! I've learned that much, asshole!" And I jumped away from harm's way using my [CHAOS BRINGER: CRIMSON QUEEN GEAR DRIVE], [FAIRY BLASTER PRINCESS] form to leave a shadow clone behind and escape by a nail. Even if I escaped, I can't believe I was so reckless! I didn't even feel a presence around me! But like Mizuki-san said, this one... Has no presence whatsoever. I summoned Rhogomiant and pointed at the cloud of smoke in front of me, where the hit landed instead of... On me. "Now, identify yourself!"
"Tch... This gauntlet, this color, and you're a male just like they said... So you're indeed the Red Dragon Emperor." I heard a single voice inside that curtain of dirt; as it slowly I began to see a silhouette inside of it. Wait... It was only a single voice, and by here, I can see... Only a small silhouette of a single person. Wait; what? "So I finally found thou... About time! Prepare yourself, Red Dragon Emperor!"
"Wait, what?" And then, the cloud vanished completely, revealing what was inside of it: like I was expecting, it wasn't a crowd of angry dateless punks, or a bunch of Amazonic extreme feminists, but a girl. Yep, a girl with black shirt shaggy hair(the sex hair), with a longer low tail, red eyes in a frown, blushing face and wearing a white Chinese tunic... And yes, what a surprise, she's well-endowed. Not as much as everyone, but she's bigger than Yoko's. She looked at me with that face that was just screaming 'murder' and removed her fists from the crater she just created. "What do you mean 'about time'? Are you the one hunting guys around?"
"Correction: I was searching for the Red Dragon Emperor, and with the lack of information I had at the time, I decided to attack every single person that follow this pattern: A male, with the possibility of a harem, from Japan, From Kuoh academy." She said with the straightest face ever, looking at a small note from her pocket of her black monk pants. Wait a minute! So this means the thing that was actually hunting down all the boys of Kuoh weren't a bunch of raging horny delinquents or a femi-amazons, but... This?! Suddenly she frowned at me again, and made a battle pose. "Now that I've finally found you, I'll finally have my revenge on the Gremor-...!"
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Stop! Just stop!" I lifted both my hands and halted the entire event. This is going too fast! I lowered Rhongomiant and looked back at her, trying to find whatever reason this situation is given me! "So... The one who has been targeting boys and hospitalizing them ... Were you... And Because you were targeting me?! Couldn't you just feel me, like everyone else?!"
"How Rude. I have you know, yours truly can't possibly feel the energy around her, that's the reason why I was powerless against the onis back in the Jade Palace..." And now she's turning bitter, while this explained pretty much everything: she can't feel anything, and we can't feel her either. Wait, I remember that from somewhere. Wasn't Rina talking about a monkey who was being bullied by onis back when they found Ryuubi-sensei? And really... I can't feel anything coming from her. "... And that Gremory harlot from that demon clan stole from us, from me, our precious warrior under our leader Sun Wukong! The great Liu Bei, she escaped from my hands when I rented myself useless to protect her, as my descendants was, the wielder of the...!"
"So the one who also wrote those words in my Shoe locker were you!"
"Yes, that is true. In order to weaken the dragon, I decided to put a curse on him." Her eyes suddenly turned darker; taking quick steps towards. Wait, so not only she's from the Jade Palace, she's also somehow related to Ryuubi, as a loyal... Servant? Friend? Maybe she's... Wait, did she just said she 'cursed' me? With those things? Don't tell me...! "The reason why my mistress left the Jade Palace is because she found a way for adventure and thrill in the red Dragon Emperor. If I can defeat him, maybe she'll see her wrongdoings and come back for us. As such, I put several curses in the place where I found the possible candidate for the dragon host, and when we were to fight, he'd be weakened enough by the spells. As such...!"
"Uh, You wrote 'celebrate'..."
"..."
"..."
...
"Excuse me...?"
"You wrote 'celebrate'(祝) instead of 'Curse'(呪), I'll just have you know." I said lifting my hand, as she suddenly stopped her speech and eyes looking pretty distant right now. Huuuuh... This is awkward. I just burst her bubble now, so I have no follow-up for this. I feel even a little sorry: To be shut up for such a small error. That girl lowered her eyes, and began to tremble. Oh, dear... She's an idiot, above all else. It's pretty sad too.
"Oh... Oh, by heavens... I did it again... Such simple error... Tainting my reputation as Lady Liu Bei's right hand woman. I feel ashamed."and now she's saying that with a crying voice. Oh, was that a bad time to bring that up? Did I ruined the mood? Man, no matter the situation or even for the fact she's trying to kill, make a girl cry is such a turn-off for me. Now tears are dropping from her face. Oh, shit. "What will my mistress think of me now? What will lord Sun Wukong think of me now? I walked all the way from the Jade Palace to here, and yet I showed this weakness of mine... Such shame..."
"Uuuh... Cheer up. That isn't such a bad error." I'm lying of course, that's the kind of error you just find from kindergarten kids, but better just comfort her a little. I guarded my sword and Sacred Gear away and tried to reach a hand for her. Maybe she's just as harmless as the other Mysterious wonders. Who knows? I think I already know who she is. "Hey, I know where Ryuubi-sensei is, so if you just calm down and follow m-...!"
*BAM!*
*ZING!*
*CLASH!*
"Tch... So you know where my mistress is!" It took me just a few seconds, a few seconds to react and for a nail escape her blade from cutting my head off! I instead summoned Ascalon, with my boosted Gear now changed to [and clashed edges with her! The impact alone was enough to make both of us jump away from each other. "Red Dragon Emperor, I shall defeat you and take my Mistress Liu Bei back! In the name of my ancestors, my masters and this blade, I shall take your head!"
"Well, too bad! Ryuubi-chan is also someone precious to me, and I'm not letting anyone go away anymore!" I said, gripping tighter on my sword, while looking at her own weapon: a giant guandao, with a long red handle and a golden sash hanging from the safe tip, while the other had a massive emerald blade, tainted with blood marks, yet shinning like the sun itself. I dunno why, but just by looking at that blade is making me shiver.
[PARTNER, WATCH OUT. YOU MIGHT'VE NOTICED BY NOW, BUT THAT IS A DRAGON-SLAYING WEAPON, AND A HIGH RANKED AT THAT!] The guttural and hoarse voice inside my Boosted Gear said, reassuring me from my doubts. No questions now, that's indeed a dragon-slaying blade, and I have no more doubts of who this I'm talking to is. The again stood herself in a battle stance with her Guandao, and sharpened her eyes.
"Nice eyes, the eyes of a warrior. However, those are nothing in a real fight, dragon emperor. I shall show you how my determination is greater than yours!" She said, tapping the tip of her weapon on the ground as I also prepared myself for the incoming clash. I know now who this girl is! It's clear as day now! "Let me show you the power..."
Of Guan Yu of the kingdom of Shu-han, the leader of the five tiger generals, and his trusted dragon-slaying qīng lóng yǎn yuè dāo!
...
I was going to say Kan'u Unchou of the kingdom of Shuu, leader of the five tiger generals and his Dragon-slaying Seiryuutou, but I got nothing now!
"Whatever! I'll show you the power of the Sekiryuutei Tsukino Ichijou!"
[WELSH DRAGON! ALTER BOOSTER!]
What a chapter... And another girl, which is so gay for Liu Bei. So... Any chances for the new girl to be the new haremette? Just kidding...
So... For now, tjhat's it. Stay tuned for the next chapter with the battle it'll will unfold between those two! Stay golden and until next chapter!