While I do agree with my dear friend Black Heart that hard work is important, I believe she overemphasises that side of the coin. Good rest and enjoyment are just as important to a fulfilling life.

-Green Heart

The temperatures began to rise again in February. Their team was going strong, carving through Dogoos, Boxbirds, Wolves, and other such things with no real trouble. They had a good routine going by this point, while also getting along well enough.

"Foundation Day is coming up already, isn't it?" Alexis slowly ran a whetstone over her daggers as she spoke, with IF doing the same opposite to her. The only other person at the table was Nepgear, with the men still poking through their lockers. IF nodded lightly at her fellow brunette, the motions so used that she needed little focus on her hands. "Yeah, it's the tenth already. Just two more weeks."

She had to admit that she liked the atmosphere in the Guild; it was much more relaxed than IF initially expected, but not bad in the slightest. She diligently worked away while eyeing Nepgear, who was reading something on her tablet.

That was when André took the seat next to her with a curious look. "Speaking of, do you have any plans for the holidays?"

With most institutions except the essentials like the police and the fire department being off-work on those days, IF had free time. She could join the volunteers who kept patrolling, but doubted that her team would go along with it. "Nothing yet," Nepgear replied while the younger brunette was still thinking. Her free admission made IF give up and offer the same response.

It was at this point that Gabriel sat down next to Alexis and thus opposite to Nepgear. "I'm planning to hit the arcade so far, but nothing yet for the second day."

Alexis was next, putting down the whetstone and offering them all a bright smile. "I've got two whole days for myself, so I'm going to stay at home all day watching TV, eating sweets, and tending to my flowers." She appeared genuinely happy saying it, so IF swallowed the remark she had thought of. Once Alexis returned to her work, this time on the other dagger, the younger brunette turned to André. "What about you?"

"Taking my girl out, though I'm still thinking about where to go." He did not really pay much attention to them at the moment, carefully checking his club for any cracks it might have acquired in the field. His answer made the other adults roll their eyes for some reason.

After some time spent quietly, someone else spoke up: "Hey Nepgear, you up for a round?" When the younger girls turned their attention to Gabriel, they found him holding three blue spheres in the air. Their semi-transparent hue made it easy to identify them as pure magic, its neutral and also natural state. Nepgear looked over the other people at their table for a moment, then cast a lost look at her challenger. "Goodness, right now? Is that safe?"

The invitation was obvious, the game known to all of them without any explanation. Gabriel just shrugged. "Bonus rule: if either of us hits one of the others, that's a loss." Nepgear mulled that over for a moment, then created three orbs of her own. "Okay, I guess? Do you mind?" There were affirmative noises from all of them, with IF already back at her work.

Spellball was as interesting as it was basic, but she could not play it. Her fine control was that bad.

"O-Okay, goodness..." Nepgear quickly schooled her face into an expression of calm, making her spheres rotate in a triangle-pattern before zipping off; Gabriel's bounced into them halfway, pushing two into each other and the third back. Once his orbs neared Nepgear however, three tongues of fire lashed out from her forearms; they caught two and popped them with their heat while the third escaped.

Then Nepgear's orbs were with Gabriel, the first hitting a thin spike of light and breaking apart. However, the second came right after it and pushed through his defense before slapping against his collarbone.

Both combatants stared at each other for a moment, the girl starting to blush over her quick victory while the man's expression remained unreadable as he rubbed the lightly reddened skin. Then he sighed and made his remaining sphere dissolve. "Okay, you're out of my league." Nepgear did not respond, choosing to remain in flustered silence.

IF had still paid attention of course, even if she could not play the game; she tried after hearing about how magic students used it to practice their control and multitasking. Unfortunately, it was already much too late at that point; with much of her free time spent on physical exercises, she had too little of it to make any meaningful difference to her own fine control as schoolwork picked up.

She finished with her second katar and put the whetstone back into her kit, then produced a half full bottle of oil and a clean piece of cloth. Alexis did the same, though the older brunette brought up another topic when no one else was forthcoming. "So, did you hear the full story about Foundation Day before?"

IF shook her head while Nepgear tilted hers slightly, neither of them knowing what Alexis was talking about. Their companion grinned. "Okay, so, you know how the official dates are the twenty-third for Planeptune and Lowee, and the twenty-fourth for Lastation and Leanbox? From what I read, the actual dates were really different from each other." She paused for a moment and stared off into space, then sighed. "Can't remember which days it was, but they're scattered throughout the year.

"So then they agreed on these two days instead, to have the celebrations around the same time in every nation. I think I read that Histoire asked them to. Makes sense, too; things are already a little weird with just Planeptune celebrating Lady Purple Sister's birthday-" Nepgear twitched for some reason "- and only Lastation celebrates Lady Black Sister's."

"And we get two days off instead of just one if it was its own holiday for each nation," André noted with a wink, to which the brunettes snorted. By herself, IF wondered what those actual dates were, a moment before Alexis started to frown. "I just remembered, Planeptune's would be the third of June." She apparently tried to recall the others as well, but came up empty.

IF could not help but be amused that Planeptune's 'birthday' was just a day after Compa's. Which, she realised, was just another four months away again. About as long as she was already working for the Guild. Time passed rather fast.

. .

. .

With her friend's birthday over, their next holiday soon followed: the summer solstice. IF shook off the thought and focussed on her lesson; she had a bit of trouble concentrating. It became warm now, in the middle of June. Their teacher spent a lot of time talking instead of writing anything or asking questions, too. IF felt drowsy for some reason.

Once she got out of her last class for the day, IF made her way outside in quick strides. She overheard some students talking about the upcoming holidays, too; even if it was just three days, plans were already made. The brunette faintly wondered if her friends would be up to do something with her; Summer Solstice was more of a family thing than Winter Solstice, though much less so than the Day of Creation.

By herself, IF decided to take it a little easier for those few days and do something fun for a change. A new arcade had opened up in the neighbourhood, which she was curious about.

. .

. .

Another two months went by without much out of the ordinary. It was the middle of August, and the Day of Creation neared.

IF remained at home that day, helping mostly the younger children with decorating the hallways; she currently worked her way over the higher windows in the main hall, with some small mages attaching stickers and figures up above her head. The ladder she was standing on was not the most stable, but she could manage; one of her little helpers held on to it just in case.

More children were putting up decorations on ground-level, quickly making room when someone carrying bigger boxes or the fancy tableware came through. Everything went well ahead of schedule, so she knew they would be done by the end of the day.

The entire week surrounding this particular holiday was free for everyone, as it was Gamindustri's most important day; an incomparable atmosphere of cheer surrounded it, from the children hoping for nice presents to the adults finding time to indulge in their hobbies and spend with their loved ones.

IF still wondered if the nineteenth of August really was the specific day that Gamindustri had been created, but there was no way for her to find out. She knew that Histoire herself had entered this holiday into the calendar and stood to it for tens of thousands of years, though. There was no reason to doubt the Tome.

The brunette shook her head and went back to her task.

When two girls her age entered to find her however, IF was already busy playing with the children. She only noticed Compa and Nepgear watching them from the sidelines after a while, resulting in her quickly getting up and trying to force down her embarassment. Aside from a pink tinge going over all of her face and ears, she actually managed.

"Everyone is so lively," Compa noted as a way of greeting while Nepgear nodded along; if the purplette noticed the gaggle of children spying on her from behind the corner, she did not mention it. IF could understand them, though; Nepgear had grown a little bit more over the last ten months, in almost all regards. She was a beauty without even trying, as they found out over time. No cosmetics, no long baths, no nothing. She got out of bed in the morning, maybe brushed her hair a few minutes, got dressed, and headed out.

Neptune had even snuck them pictures of sleeping Nepgear and morning Nepgear, just to prove the point. IF did not take much longer for her own morning routine, but she still felt a little envious about it. Then again, Compa needed about twice as long as the other two together to be presentable, so she was not too upset.

Shaking off the thought, IF nodded at the children. "Of course, Day of Creation is only once a year after all. Don't tell me you weren't looking forward to presents as a child." Compa only giggled in response while IF smiled and herded her friends out of the room. "I'm a little surprised you're here and not with your families."

The other two shrugged back at her; Compa explained that her grandfather was meeting with this uncle of hers, Jiro. Nepgear noted that her sister headed out for business she did not specify, like every year around that time, and said nothing about her parents. Neither IF nor Compa asked.

"Actually," the peach-haired girl started a bit later, "my grandpa told me a story about the day, do you want to hear it?" She looked between them, receiving two nods and continuing happily: "Heh, so it's said that all the former CPUs at the Graveyard awaken during the Day of Creation. Just that one day, to look at Gamindustri and see what became of the world they used to protect. We celebrate and are our best that day, so they can rest assured that everything is good."

For some reason, the explanation sent a pang through IF's chest. It was a short yet touching story, even though no one could know if it was true. "That's nice to imagine. I'm sure they would be proud seeing us like this."

The other girls nodded along and a staff-member passing by them in the opposite direction could not help but smile.