Amount of Hugs needed: 11,217
Amount of Hugs found: 6,389
Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.
He woke up to sunlight and something nudging his face, unpleasant things that he'd rather not have been bothered by.
Blinking his eyes open, he found himself face down in the grass, an odd irritation bubbling up that he'd fallen asleep before he managed to finish tinkering on his 'combat' arm, all that was left was some fine-tuning to the connections to his nerves, and the actual component that would separate from his current arm. That didn't matter though as he got up, immediately squinting and covering his eyes from the harsh sunlight, a lilting giggle making his head turn and, as the glare lessened, let him see who decided to wake him up.
"You certainly seem to enjoy sleeping out here, Chrono-san." Miyuki, with her always-present, gentle smile was there to greet him, one of her sheathed swords in her hand, the other nowhere in sight, was there to greet him warmly. His irritation lessened considerably the moment he spotted her, seeing as it wasn't Mother that decided to wake him up with a 'scolding', and Miyuki was a lot nicer than any of the others that were willing to wake him.
Picking himself up off the ground, he let out a yawn before proceeding to try and figure out what he had been doing, eventually giving a reply after Miyuki passed by his little work area and headed into the Dojo. "I was finishing up something, lost track of time and passed out." Another giggle was the immediate response to his words, making him stop for a moment before moving back to the incomplete arm, asking a question as he went about checking it over. "What time is it?"
"About eight in the morning." … Four hours… maybe even three... not as bad as mother's sleep schedule, but it was terrible for a normal human raised on Mid-Childa, he'd have to make up for it tonight, but that didn't matter right now. He didn't pause once while that thought processed slowly, body running on auto-pilot as he put the last finishing touches on the connection.
With that finished, at least until he could get the last few parts, he set the limb off to the side and brought out S2U, switching her over to her active state and setting her on the table. There wasn't much that he was going to do with her, no ideas popped into his head on how to improve on her on top of his reluctance to even try such when he had no idea how her A.I. would handle it, which just left basic maintenance.
There was no reason he had to do it himself, at least, the finding of any potential issues, S2U could do that herself, the only reason he did was because it was something he enjoyed doing and it would help lessen the irritation and slight anger towards the Admiral for last night's conversation. Sure, it had been his fault partially since he was the one that pressed, but it still didn't give her the right to remind him of then. "You are a good blacksmith, Chrono-san."
He stopped in his work the moment she said that, a sigh leaving his lips as he 'corrected' her for what felt like the fiftieth time since he'd started, "I'm a Tinkerer, not a Blacksmith. Blacksmiths don't work with processing equipment." Yet again, he received the exact same response from Miyuki, a nod from her position at the building's porch before she went inside without another word.
Another sigh left his mouth, this one instead being one of relief that he no longer had to spar with Miyuki, though he still did it on occasion just to keep what little ability he had, and could just focus on his tinkering. While he could safely say the time spent wasn't wasted, and would probably come in handy at some point, the process had him sore throughout the entire time he spent in her care with little time to devote to his projects.
That said… he was somewhat confused why Miyuki would just watch him work after doing a few routines, it wasn't like he was lighting the forge, so whatever she found attractive about fire wasn't the reason for her watching him. On top of that, barely anyone outside himself, that he knew of personally, had ever been interested in forging and putting things together, and he had come to expect most other to be the same.
Whatever the case was, it didn't matter much, seeing as she didn't interrupt him in his work, and was content to just watch with her smile in place and curiosity written on her face. Miyuki probably would be around a bit later, after she was done with her daily exercise.
Until then, he had a few adjustments to make, S2U chirping in his ear as she normally did during these little reprieves, she couldn't speak, not unless it was pre-programmed into her, so he got used to what the chirps meant, for the most part. The current set was her displaying either annoyance or preening at the attention he was giving her, he assumed it would be the latter.
She didn't leave her room like she did every other morning, instead staying inside on her bed staring at Okaa-sama's sword with a blank look. She tried to smile, she tried to keep Okaa-sama's promise, but anger and sadness clouded her thoughts and made it hard to attempt to keep the promise. Razing Heart said nothing to her as she 'sulked' and the whispers were gone when she woke up.
There was a knock on the door, she didn't say anything nor move to open it, ignoring it to focus solely on Okaa-sama's blade. Another, more forceful knock on the door, caused her to look up at the door and softly mutter, "Come in."
The door opened without any noise, and there standing at the doorframe was Otou-sama, his eyes focused on her, taking in her face before immediately flicking to Okaa-sama's sword, letting a soft smile adorn his face as he walked forward. Without another word, he made his way to just in front of her and knelt down, quietly taking her into an embrace, that she wordlessly returned. It felt strange to be hugged, she only ever got hugs from Arisa and Suzuka.
The hug barely lasted a few seconds after she returned it, Otou-sama pulling back and standing back up, a soft smile replacing his normal expressionless face, she briefly wondered why. There was a long period of silence before she stood up, placing what remained of Okaa-sama's blade back into its sheathe before she did, and waited for whatever Otou-sama had to say. "Your sword arrived twenty minutes ago. It's waiting for you to come and get it."
Her sword? It wasn't due to arrive for another week at least, that was what Otou-sama had last said, unless something came up and allowed for it to arrive well before it was supposed to be here. Otou-sama wouldn't lie to her about this though, he wouldn't lie to her at all, withhold the truth until she asked about it specifically yes, but never lie. Which meant he was telling her the truth.
With that thought firmly placed, she watched Otou-sama exit her room before walking out after him, taking Okaa-sama's blade and sheathe with her and placing them by her side. The walk seemed longer than every other time, whether due to her downcast attitude or from something else, but eventually they got there.
Chrono, Yuuno and Onee-sama were immediately found upon entering the 'living room' and 'kitchen' of the house, her guest flexing his left hand slowly and deliberately while Onee-sama watched with interest, Yuuno reading something at the table, seemingly entranced with whatever he was reading. Onee-sama must have enjoyed Chrono's presence if she was near or with him as much as she had been, she barely was around anyone specific unless she was supposed to be somewhere.
Aside from them two and Otou-sama, no one else was in the room, which immediately drew her eye to the only thing that was out of place, a single wrapped package… far smaller than she expected, sitting on the table. Making her way towards it, and drawing attention from Chrono and Onee-sama in the process, she found her somber mood shift to plain confusion. Her blade was supposed to be an odachi, something just above a meter in total length with the handle included, not something barely reaching half of one.
Shortly after reaching the table, she reached out and took hold of the package silently, mostly to not startle Yuuno and cause him to accidently ruin the scroll, the thing was heavier than expected of the size, but nothing that would be a problem. Like everything sent by Takamachi, it was the bare basics of a package, brown wrappings covering the item and enough space in it to not have the shape of the object show, not that she expected any different.
Quickly she peeled away the wrapping, removing layer after layer until the item inside was revealed. A weapon of some kind that looked like it was made in the style of Japanese blades… only, it had the hilt length of an Odachi, and barely a fourth of the blade length necessary. There was no sheathe with it, which was strange since swords normally were paired with a sheathe, and the blade didn't have a point… also strange.
Taking hold of it, she calmly walked outside onto the grass, her prior mood permanently gone as she puzzled over what exactly the smiths of Hogo-sha had crafted for her. Its blade was too wide for a normal sword as well, though there were little… How did they get this thing to even work without falling apart?
"Not to be rude or anything..." Harlaown-sama was up it seemed, and judging by the fact that she said that, she was either talking to her or Chrono-san. That said she didn't pay the words much mind, she needed to figure out how to make this thing do what it was meant to… maybe a flick would work? "… but that thing doesn't look very pract-"
With more force than what was probably necessary, she flicked the blade out to the side, watching as the blade shot out to its proper length and listening as Harlaown-sama's words trailed off.
… Her sword was bigger than her at the moment, probably a decimeter or two taller just from a cursory look, with four metal segments forming the metal blade, each progressively thinner the last. How the smiths had managed to make a telescopic blade, using only forging techniques, and maybe some other honed technique, would be a mystery that would be solved another time. She had more pressing matters to attend to right now.
She felt her smile come back to life as she inspected the blade, aside from it being collapsible, there was nothing about it that was purely decorational, it was a plain grey metal without a single decoration to the blade, the hilt had no tsuba, and the handle itself was wrapped in grey cloth. Nothing special aside from the blade itself, and that was completely fine.
"… Never mind then. Seems you have that figured out." Looking back at Harlaown-sama as she finished speaking let her see the woman give a large yawn, she must have just woken up if she was tired. Once the yawn passed, Harlaown-sama walked off the porch and onto the grass, rubbing at one of her eyes before drowsily taking a drink of her tea.
Passing by with only another sip of tea, Harlaown-sama took several more steps before turning around and looking at her with a light smile in place. "Want to try it out Nanoha-chan?" She gave a nod in return without any words given, walking behind Harlaown-sama as they went over to their spot, while Chrono-san and Onee-sama followed after them, Chrono-san looking a bit… 'sour' for some reason. Whatever the reason was, probably didn't concern her… unless it was because of the Knight from last night.
Then it did concern her.
She stopped that thought before it could fester and turn her back to her somber mood, Okaa-sama wouldn't want that, not when she'd wasted five hours of the day already just sulking. Caught up in her thoughts as she had, she only heard the end of what Harlaown-sama asked her, "-ar or magic?" Since she didn't know what the first, or other options if there were any, were, she chose the only thing she clearly heard.
"Magic." Harlaown-sama didn't give any verbal response to that, just turning on the spot and forming her Device in hand, a few moments later seeing herself socket Razing Heart into her new blade."Neue Waffe, Integrationsverarbeitung. Entlüftungsfähigkeit gefunden, Verarbeitung. Verstärkung, Komplett. Integration erfolgreich."
Surprise worked its way onto her face the moment Razing Heart spoke, she wasn't expecting her to say anything, especially since she hadn't said anything at any other practices, or even when she first got her. Nothing until she became a Seraph, nothing unless it was history or fighting for real. Shortly after that her sword changed, the blade turning white like Okaa-sama's had, while the wrapping turned pink and underneath gold was found.
Harlaown-sama let her compose herself before they started the day's exercise, apparently a continuation of what she'd been trying to learn, elemental change. Unlike before where she'd been taking the training somewhat leisurely, she defaulted to how she'd been back when she first learned magic. The first task, how to change her mana to an element.
The process was ready for the spell that would use it, mana along the blade igniting and producing flame, not a normal one as she wanted to use this in an area without oxygen or another similar gas should she find herself in one like that. She even had the mana ready to be able to accompany the spell… the only issue she had was the simple, yet complex process of changing her mana to something different.
Aside from the basics of trying to make her mana change, Harlaown-sama didn't give her any help and a single bit of advice, which amounted to just 'It's less thinking and more instinct.", not that advice had helped her much. And as her mana coursed along her new blade and covered it in a pink sheen, Razing Heart spoke up again, this time in her head and speaking English. "You require something so simple as changing your mana to an element? I shall handle that for you my Seraph, as compensation for a wonderful time last night. It is only fair."
… She only had a moment to try and process that before failing and feeling something… strange inside her. It felt like she was burning from the inside out, smoke filling her throat and lungs, and yet at the same time encompassed in a gentle warmth, as if being embraced by someone cherished and feeling safe. And without any warning whatsoever, her blade ignited in a burst of flame and sound.
Harlaown-sama jumped from relaxed to fully alert at the noise before relaxing again, Onee-sama didn't move, and proceeded to watch her blade with glazed eyes and gentle smile, Chrono-san jumped to his feet startled, immediately reaching for his Device at the noise, and finally came Yuuno-san, rushing out of the house and looking around for the noise before settling his gaze on her before giving a sigh of some kind.
"Well. Looks like you got it under control now, though next time I'd suggest not having mana out until you get better with it." The Admiral's words caused Chrono-san to relax slightly, sitting back down by Onee-sama, tense and ready to spring up again should something else unexpected happen, hopefully that wouldn't be the case. With her actual task done and Harlaown-sama acknowledging she had finished, she let the flames flicker and die away, leaving her blade untouched by anything but Razing Heart.
"Now that you have the actual element conversion down…" Without much pause, Harlaown-sama continued with the lesson, brushing off the sudden surprise with practiced ease, letting her Device form into its active state before finishing her sentence. "… let's move on to what you wanted to learn in the first place."
"To start, focus your mana to your weapon, wherever it is you normally hit something, and let it build up." That was simple enough, far simpler than the previous training since she was already used to doing it without the element added. Barely a few seconds later her blade was again coated in pink flames, little embers falling from the blade before gathering at her side as little motes, Harlaown-sama giving a humming sound before shaking her head and continuing. "Now the second and last step, hit something, and let out every bit of mana gathered in that sword. I'll be your target, try and break through the shield is all."
She heard the instructions, acknowledged them, and waited, the fire letting out a low echoing crackle as she let it build up slowly. There was no reason to rush right now, which meant she could figure out how much mana was necessary to use this properly, rather than just go over the limit and possibly blow herself up. After a minute of waiting, Harlaown-sama brought out the shield she was supposed to break, the green construct of mana lazily spinning around as she held her sword behind her, tip just above the grass and hilt at her side.
She didn't charge at Harlaown-sama, nor did she simply walk towards her, settling for a slow run that closed the distance quickly enough that her teacher would be prepared, and just before she would have rammed into the shield, she swung her sword. Her blade made contact with the shield, metal scraping along mana for a moment before she ignited the mana in the blade.
Both Harlaown-sama and herself weren't prepared for the outcome.
Just a bit earlier, her blade had ignited and let out a small explosion, one that had only surprised everyone around. That time she'd had only the minimum amount of mana coursing through her blade, just enough to keep the augment active. This time she'd built up quite a bit of mana, on top of the augment active.
The outcome of the two meeting was a deafening explosion of pink fire that sent both her and Harlaown-sama skidding away, landing on her back and rolling twice before coming to a stop. Almost everyone in the compound rushed out to see the what was going on, stopping short as they saw her on her back, Harlaown-sama crouched with her hammer brought up in a block, and Chrono-san and Yuuno-san ducking. Also, there was a patch of grass now on fire, but that was extinguished quickly, so that was barely worth mentioning.
Seeing that they weren't under attack, and that neither her nor Harlaown-sama were injured, the crew of the Arthra, relaxed slightly, while Chrono-san and Yuuno-san got back up, the latter visibly shocked at what just happened. Harlaown-sama summed up what just happened in three words, though, it probably wasn't the best way to put it.
"… That was unexpected."
Training didn't last long after that, mostly because Harlaown-sama didn't want anything else to explode without warning, especially when she had barely put a few drops of her mana reserves into the spell, on top of wanting both of them in good shape for a trip around the city later. There wasn't anything in particular they were going out and doing, mostly just walk around and do whatever Harlaown-sama, and technically Chrono-san, wanted to do as they came upon it.
It was surprising the sheer amount of things Harlaown-sama found interesting here, almost like she'd never seen some of these little comforts in her life. On top of that, with the interest was something else… what exactly she had no idea since it was Harlaown-sama.
Anyway, there was nothing for her do, her chores were finished by Otou-sama, something that made her feel a little guilty, she didn't want to train and make Harlaown-sama's trip short because she was tired. Nor did she have anything to keep her occupied… usually there was work, training, or some errand to run, but today was quiet, and while she could go into the forest… she knew that place like the back of her hand. There was nothing for her to do, and it made her uncomfortable.
"Aren't you forgetting something, little Seraph?" Razing Heart? Why was she talking, and why did a bit of amusement leak through her words?
She didn't spend much time on that thought, instead 'hurrying' to answer her Device before she was rude or something similar. "Sorry, I just thought you would like to not be disturbed today, and I already asked for help already from you." She felt a tinge of annoyance replace the amusement Razing Heart was feeling, immediately understanding that she'd said something wrong, though not particularly sure what.
"My Seraph. You can disturb me anytime, so long as you use me often enough in a fight. Though you are not worthy of my name, you are my user and I shall help and guide you until the day you fall from the sky." … Oh, both of the things she'd said had made Razing Heart annoyed… she'd at least file that away for later use, in the hope she'd not make the mistake again. "Perhaps when you reach the zenith of your flight, your accomplishments will be worthy of receiving my name."
She didn't understand what Razing Heart meant with the phrases she used, not fully anyway. The gist was somewhat easy to comprehend, but the words used didn't make sense, at least not yet they didn't.
Still, she consented that Razing Heart was right, and nodded her head, the annoyance in her head abating and leaving her alone for a while, letting her thoughts swirl about without interruption. There wasn't much on her mind really, just continuing to try and figure out what to actually do besides just talk with Razing Heart about, something that was productive in addition to wasting time. Unfortunately, she found nothing to do that satisfied that criteria and wouldn't end up with her not feeling good enough.
The moment she thought that, Razing Heart spoke again without her asking her anything, something that was gradually confusing her more and more.
"Would you like to use any other elements, little Seraph?" Razing Heart's question was unexpected, for several reasons, chief among them being before today, Razing Heart never did anything for her outside of a battle, and now twice she'd offered help. Still she found herself answering after a moment's pause. "No… Perhaps another time in the future, I'll ask then. Thank you, for helping and the offer."
A tittering laugh met her response, something she wasn't really expecting considering Razing Heart seemed like a person that would never get amused and show it through sound. "I require no thanks, my Seraph. Only provide more fights for the both of us, and all will be fine. It is nice, to feel the thrill of battle again." She only gave a nod in response, agreeing with the last part and acknowledging the other two, she could understand what Razing Heart's statements meant and felt.
Still, she'd voice her thanks to Razing Heart whenever she wanted to in the future, regardless of what Razing Heart said, she deserved it after everything she'd done for her.
It was only fair.
She didn't engage in any more conversation with Razing Heart, instead getting up and walking out of the house, pausing only to get a grindstone, and into the forest away from everyone else. The rest of the time until the trip was spent listening to the forest whistles and rustling as she sharpened her blade, it wasn't necessary, not yet at least, but it was the only thing that felt productive among the completed tasks of the day.
Eventually it came time for her to leave the serenity of the forest, reluctant as she was to leave the place and noises making her calm and forgetting the past night. It barely took a minute for her to emerge from the forest, having not gone too far into the trees in preparation for the coming trip, by then none of her guests were waiting on her to arrive. Good for her, she wasn't late by accident from not having any form of tracking time set up.
Another, maybe two minutes were spent waiting at the entrance before Harlaown-sama came up to the gate, dragging a reluctant Chrono-san behind her, stopping at the gate when she saw her. Only a single sentence was said, conveyed in the normal cheery voice Harlaown-sama had, "Shall we?" A nod was given gracefully, before they went off towards the city, still dragging the reluctant Chrono-san behind them.
The walk was long, and aside from the occasional rambling from Harlaown-sama or argument between mother and son about him being here, silent, not because they didn't want to talk, but more because there wasn't anything to talk about, the road was bordered by trees almost the entire way after all. After several more minutes they arrived at the outskirts of the city proper, Harlaown-sama immediately taking the lead and walking off in a random direction without a care where she was going.
There was no rhyme or reason to Harlaown-sama's path through the city, the sole exception being that they never stopped moving. She passed by stores that held almost all manner of objects, that were legal, and aside from looking through the windows on a few places, she paid them no attention whatsoever. They walked for an hour, then two, then three before Chrono-san started giving out before Harlaown-sama finally found a store to go in. Chrono-san thanked someone called the 'Saint-King' for their mercy, which was strange, it hadn't been that long a walk.
Both her and Chrono-san entered the store shortly after Harlaown-sama, her guest garnering a few glances of curiosity before people went back to their business, not unexpected considering Chrono-san was walking around in his Barrier Jacket, minus the spikes and having the metal gloves replaced with cloth. While it wasn't as bad as with her and Harlaown-sama, it was still noticeable that people took notice of him.
After passing by clothing stores, something she thought most other girls enjoyed shopping at, electronic stores, something Chrono-san looked interested in going into, 'toy' stores, which were plain strange, and all manner of other places, it came as a surprise that a jewelry store was where Harlaown-sama wanted to stop.
The store they were in wasn't big, maybe fitting ten customers comfortably along with two employees behind a counter, with only a few shelves with gems lining the walls and pieces of jewelry and the counter in the middle of the room. Aside from them three, there was only the two employees and two other people browsing the assorted items on the shelves, which was honestly a bit surprising given the time of day and the location. Near to the center of the city and nearing the sunset should have had a few more people than what was here… but apparently not.
They stayed for less than ten minutes, Harlaown-sama looking over each of shelves quickly while they followed behind, Chrono-san flexing 'his' fingers with a frown marring his face, before moving over to the counter. The clerk gave the customary 'How can I help you?' as Harlaown-sama walked up, her guest giving a smile before cheerily asking, "Do you have any whole gems?"
Harlaown-sama's question caused the clerk to blink once before the question registered, confusion painted on the young man's face before he replied. "I'll have to go check ma'am, I'll be back shortly." The man walked out from behind the counter towards the back of the store, going through a door that likely led to a storeroom. A few minutes passed by before he came back with nothing in his hands, revealing the answer well before he got back and spoke again. "I'm afraid we don't Ms. Is there anything else you need?"
"No that will be all, thank you." Harlaown-sama didn't seem the least bit disappointed that they were out, still smiling as saw the clerk bow his head, before turning and walking out of the store, Chrono-san giving a sigh before they followed her out. Once out however, Harlaown-sama's demeanor became a bit more dejected, a sigh let out as she shook her head slowly, before saying... something strange. "Mou… It's been too long since I tasted one of those…"
…What?
She had zero time to ponder over what that meant before her guest was walking away again towards somewhere, both her and a similarly dumbfounded Chrono-san shaking themselves before running after Harlaown-sama.
They continued on their trip through the city without much else happening, eventually ending up in one of the parks dotting the city just as sunset began. It was almost time to leave and go back home, until Suzuka-chan came into view sitting on a bench, surrounded by three others, Hayate-chan in her wheelchair, the pink-haired woman standing just behind Hayate-chan and a blonde-haired woman sitting as well. Instantly Suzuka-chan brightened as she caught sight of her, Hayate-chan and the blonde woman turning to look as well and finding the three of them.
Before any of them were so much as prepared, with Suzuka-chan about to call her over likely, Harlaown-sama beat everyone, having a delighted expression in place as she quickly picked up the pace and shouted two names out. "Shamal! Signum!" The only one not stunned into silence and place was the pink-haired woman, looking over her shoulder in their direction before focusing on the Admiral and turning fully to face her.
Shaking herself out of her stupor, she quickly made after Harlaown-sama, followed a few seconds later by Chrono-san, while giving a small wave at Suzuka-chan and Hayate-chan, who after a few seconds more shook themselves and waved back. The pink-haired woman walked out from behind Hayate-chan and towards Harlaown-sama, a small smile forming on the near-blank face she had before both women were in front of one another.
A quick embrace was given, something three of the five onlookers weren't expecting given their reactions, though why wouldn't make sense to her or to Suzuka-chan likely since they didn't know the two well. Both Lindy and the other woman separated, each looking over the other before Hayate-chan's 'caretaker' spoke in a blank, yet warm voice. "Lindy, you look well. I see you've grown a bit since we last saw one another."
A laugh was let out, happy and carefree as it normally was, before Harlaown-sama gave a reply after looking over the woman again. "You haven't aged a day Signum, hard to believe it's been so long." While her guest said that she went over and sat down next to Suzuka-chan, idly noticing she was a bit more subdued than normal, which was enough to make her curious. "Neither has Shamal too. Oh, where are my manners." Turning to Hayate-chan, she gave a sight bow and a bit of an… 'acceptable' flourish. "I'm Harlaown Lindy in your tongue. What's your name Kiddo?"
Hayate-chan looked worse up close, her skin was pale, her hands shaking and there was stutter to every word she said… something was very wrong if she was like that. "H-haya-te… Y-ya-gami Haya-te." Shortly after saying those words, Hayate-chan lapsed into a coughing fit, immediately making Shamal quickly move over to her and begin worriedly looking over her, while Signum stopped and looked over in something close to concern.
"Are you alright Yagami-san?" No answer was forthcoming, as the girl was still embroiled in a coughing fit, her entire body shaking as she tried and failed to contain the coughing fit before eventually it ended, still leaving her shaking in her wheelchair.
It took a while for Hayate-chan to speak again, entire body shaking before another set of weak and stuttered words were said. "I… I'm al-ri-gh-t… I… I jus-t ne-need res-rest. We-we've b-been ou-t t-oo lon-g an-any-wa-y." Harlaown-sama didn't seem to believe that, but let it slide, as she gave a nod of understanding, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and giving a sad smile.
"I see… may I talk with Signum for a short time before you all leave?" Hayate-chan gave a weak smile before trying to give a nod, not trusting her voice to not give out on her, Harlaown-sama about to turn away before catching sight of Suzuka-chan, a nervous laugh leaving her. "Sorry to ignore you Tsukimura-san, friends and new people come first, and then the sickness..." Suzuka-chan merely shook her head, muttering that she wasn't bothered before sidling closer to her with a faint scattering of pink on her cheeks, Harlaown-sama giving a nod before chatting with Signum. She didn't understand why that was there, that hadn't happened before.
Hayate-chan noticed them together, a weak smile forming as she gave a giggle, one thankfully not interrupted by a coughing fit. After a few moments of comfortable silence, where Suzuka-chan leaned into her, Hayate-chan. "Y-you t-two… loo-k a-ador-able to-ge-geth-er." Suzuka-chan went a little redder in her cheeks but didn't move or say anything at all, so she didn't move either, and so they stayed like that.
Harlaown-sama stood back with Signum and Chrono-san, far enough away that she could barely hear them talk over Shamal fussing over Hayate-chan, but she still could hear them. "It's just like before, isn't it?" The question was addressed to the sole person who would understand probably, the answer being a simple nod of Signum's head. "I see… so it's terminal." Another nod, and a sadness descended on her, just as it did for Harlaown-sama, while Chrono-san just looked shocked for a moment before pity overcame his features.
Without any thought, Chrono-san walked over to Hayate-chan, drawing the frail girl's attention along with everyone but Suzuka-chan's, who was content to apparently start dozing off on her, not that she minded, attention on him. Standing in front of Hayate-chan, he showed not a trace of his earlier pity, only a cold, blank face that probably unnerved Hayate-chan and made Shamal tense. After a few moments of tense silence, Chrono-san reached forwards with 'his' hand, offering it out as a brief little smile flickered across his face. "Chrono Harlaown. A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Yagami, Ms. Shamal."
Hayate-chan tentatively reached a shaking hand out to grasp Chrono-san's, holding the grasp for a moment before letting go and nodding her head weakly, once more not saying anything as a coughing fit overtook her. Shamal inclined her head, and spoke for the both of them, voice holding only a semblance of courtesy as she worried over Hayate-chan, "Just Shamal, and Hayate would prefer being called Hayate-chan, so long as she can call you by your first name."
A nod was all that was given in response to that, her younger guest turning back to Hayate-chan and staring at her for a while, the younger girl staring back despite her ailment before Chrono-san asked her a simple question. "Would you like to hear a little about my home?"
A simple question, yet one that evoked an excited look from Hayate-chan, one that managed to ease the shaking and cause her to speak again, her voice a bit stronger, and less full of wavering stutters. "Y-yes. I'd l-lik-e tha-at. A-are you f-fr-om the sa-me pla-ce as Signum a-and Shamal?" A hesitant nod came as her answer, making her light up even more and Shamal to have a confused expression for a moment before it settled back to worried smile.
And then Chrono-san began to tell Hayate-chan about his home, something she tuned out, mostly having heard it from Yuuno-san before and having zero interest to hearing it again.
Not much else happened after that, Signum and Harlaown-sama talked for a while more about things that she couldn't understand, she let Suzuka-chan rest against her, and Chrono-san started telling Hayate-chan about a few things about the Bureau's worlds that left her hanging on each word in wonder. Soon though they had to leave, by then Suzuka-chan was lightly breathing and was near asleep, and she had no intention of waking up Suzuka-chan up, she activated Macht and picked her up gently and held her close to her, her friend curling up against her and letting out a contented noise.
There were a few goodbyes given, and then they were off to home with Hayate-chan and her caretakers leaving in the opposite direction, she'd have to let Suzuka-chan's Kaa-sama know she would be over at her home, so the woman didn't worry. She'd just have to find a place for Suzuka-chan to sleep, easier said than done… she could take her own bed, and save the hassle.
Yes, that would work well enough. Now all that was needed was to get home and tuck Suzuka-chan in… and find herself someplace to sleep, a tree branch would do well enough.
Today was the day he could get started, Auntie Lotte was going to help him in making his own Device, and after that he would be testing it out with the few spells he had been taught so far.
Before today, he'd been using a Device called Durandal, a… strange Device that called him 'Squire' for some reason, and for some reason it/he had decided to teach him a few things as well. Nothing too intensive, just a few elemental spells and some basic spells, alongside with Auntie's more specialized spells. Now though, he could probably give Durandal back to Grandpa, at least when his device was
"Chrono. Don't forget to add the vents." He only gave a nod, concentrating as he was making his Device, Auntie behind him peering at the half-way finished base, before moving off to go collect some other materials for him. Auntie was sweet and kind, always treating him as if he was her own rather than just her little nephew, it felt nice to feel that, when Mommy was out fighting bad guys and never got a chance to come home.
His device, it was tradition or something like it to not give a Device their name until they were 'awake' and complete from what Auntie said, was fairly simple as far as devices went. It was meant to be a stave, one with a head that could be used to hit people, and made from metal to ensure it wouldn't break easily. Grandpa had taught him that other, more basic devices were much fragiler than they looked, which was why he chose to make the active form and afterwards use mana to make the standby form.
His thinking didn't distract him, it never did when it came to making things for whatever reason, and already he was finishing slotting in the hardware necessary for the handle to take mana to the head of the stave. Once finished with that, he got up from his current table, walked four steps back, picked up the other half of the handle and went back to the beginning table. He'd already made or gathered everything he needed, with help from Auntie Lotte, so all that was left was to put everything together.
It didn't take long for him to finish the handle up, a light application of fire to weld the two was all that was needed for that part in particular, and that was something Auntie could do with ease when he asked her for help. The next part to work on was far, far harder, due to the compact space for all the equipment necessary for the device to function and where he'd have to figure out where the vents were going.
He… he had forgotten entirely about the vents while designing his device, and now he had to quickly come up with something, otherwise he'd be delayed for a day or two. Hmm…
Yet again he continued to work while he thought on the problem, stopping only when Auntie came over and tapped his shoulder, handing over the handle that he'd left for her at the other table with a smile. He gave a smile and "Thank you." in return before turning back to the head and stopping. What if he… yes, yes that would solve several small issues he found.
A little 'wing' added to the base where the handle and head met, for space to house some components he would be taking from the head and mark the back of the Device, and add a slot on the head, opposite to the 'wing', to act as his vent. Two simple solutions considering the head had yet to be assembled, and there was a lot of materials ready to be shaped into the proper form. So off he went to collect the pieces of metal somewhere in the room, while Auntie Lotte watched him run around with a smile still on her face.
The only thing that ruined Auntie's expression was the sadness in her eyes, she always had that though, except when she was extremely proud of him, like learning how to use elemental magic in a few days' time. Even Grandpa was impressed and proud of him for that, though he had no idea why, he was just happy to be praised and loved.
Soon enough he had everything he needed to make the final two pieces to his device, asking again for Auntie's help to weld the vent system and head together while he finished putting the electronics into the 'wing'. After that was done, he handed the 'wing' over to Auntie Lotte and took the head she gave over, taking the handle in hand as well and connecting the two without waiting for the 'wing' to be finished. Auntie would be welding it all when she finished the 'wing'.
She didn't take long to finish up the 'wing', and soon enough the device found itself complete and handed back to him before being placed on the table in front of him. Now all that was left to do was activate it and give them their name.
His device was not an Intelligent Device, not like Grandpa's or Durandal, it was a simple Storage Device with a trapping of intellect, not enough to speak, but enough to be aware and be able to 'think' for itself if he asked it something. With a sudden bout of hesitation filling him, he waited for several seconds before Auntie put a hand on his shoulder, surprise replacing the hesitation as he looked up at her. "Go on, wake them up."
With Auntie's reassurance, confidence flooded through him as he gave a nod and channeled a bit of mana through his Device, several seconds passing by in silence before several low-pitched chirps echoed through the room. Ecstatic joy showed in his posture as he barely forced himself to not jump into the air, another set of chirps drawing his attention, before he, as calmly as possible, began talking.
"Hello, I'm Chrono." Chirping, questioning it seemed like, though to what he had no idea. "I made you, so I'm your boss, alright?" More chirping, sounding a bit happier than the prior set, making him smile in return.
"S2U." Confused chirps, or at least ones that sounded confused followed the name he'd chosen, interrupting him before he had a chance to say what the word meant to his device. "That's your name." Several seemingly happy chirps told him his Device had heard him, and apparently approved of the name. A smile graced his face as he looked down at S2U, another series of chirps let out happily before he asked a question of his Device, curious to see if it actually would respond.
"Now, would you like to be used in training." A long series of seemingly excited chirps made him laugh without a care in the world, Auntie giving off both pride and joy towards him as he snatched S2U from the table and walked out just before she did.