It had been quite a roller coaster experience for Touma once the 25th Inter-Middle Tournament finally arrived.

For starters, his intense training over the following three weeks since he received his device had been helpful in allowing him to make it through the first three rounds of the preliminaries. He had been happy to see signs of progress. The fact that it made his mother proud of him was icing on the cake. But his performance simply bumped him from the Super Novice Division to the Elite Division and that meant going head to head against more experienced opponents.

Touma tried to look on the positive side being that he would be able to get a true test of his skills and get a better idea of his current limits. In the end though, his mind kept lingering on a few key facts:

First, he was up against the reigning champion Sieglinde Jeremiah who had won multiple titles in the years that she had entered these tournaments. That meant his defeat would be guaranteed and likely to be painful.

Second, said defeat would get extensive media coverage and every man, woman and child on the planet would be able to view it.

Finally, in regards to said media coverage mentioned above, they were more heavily focused on him rather than the returning champion due to the fact that male entrants in the tournament were quite rare. That meant they would be analyzing and dissecting every move he made this match and he would have to put up with reporters following him closely for some time for post-match interviews. Hopefully, he would only have to put up with the media for a few days since he was certain that they would eventually move on when the tournament progressed to further stages.

'No, don't focus on that now.' His match was about to start and he had to be mentally prepared. If he kept in mind some of the last minute tips he received from his mom, he could at least demonstrate to his opponent that regardless of the gap in ability, he wouldn't simply hand over the win to her.

"And let the fourth round prime match for Preliminary Group 1 begin!"

The first thirty seconds had been a bit of a blur for Touma. He had exchanged a few blows and had managed to soften the impact of some of Sieg's attacks thanks to his mother's advice so instead of being at a colossal life disadvantage, he had only lost about half of his total life points. There was some moderate bruising on his left arm thanks to the effects of the crash emulation system but he could work around that injury.

"The combat style that you are using now… who taught those techniques to you?"

His thoughts were interrupted by his opponent speaking up all of a sudden. "What are you doing?"

Sieg's serious face then turned a bit flustered. "Ah, I'm sorry. Did I come off as too rude?"

The boy blinked in confusion. 'The heck…? Is she trying to lower my guard? On second thought, that's a dumb question. With the difference in strength, she wouldn't even need to resort to such a tactic. This must be her genuine self.' And to be honest, she is much nicer than what he had expected.

"Er, how should I say it? It's just the fact that some of those moves you've made and the way you position your stance… something about you has really caught my eye, Touma-kun."

"I caught your eye?" Touma thought about this for a bit. "So that means I have to take you out on a date after the match?"

"WHAT?! Wawawawa?!" Media crews were having a ball getting pictures of Sieg's embarrassed and blushing face along with her frantic movements. "W-where did you get that from?"

"That's what Kyrie-sempai told me. If I ever caught a girl's eye, I would have to treat them extra nice and take them out on dates and stuff like that."

"Well, you're misunderstanding what I said! I was referring to your martial arts! It's your combat style that has my interest! Geez!"

Touma laughed a little. "So that's it. Sorry about that. Back to your original question, my mom's the one who has been training me."

"Is that so?" Sieg took a moment to look back into her memories. She could only count a few people outside the family who learned a few techniques from the Black Jeremiah style. And she was sure none of them had the surname Avenir. Maybe one of those students married into another family and took a different surname? "Maybe…Victor's style?"

"Is this really the time to be talking to yourself?"

A sheepish laugh came from the DSAA champion. "Sorry about that! How about we chat some more after the match? You can tell me more about your teacher and in return, I'll give you some pointers on how you can further develop your style!"

"You really want to…?" He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"I'm actually looking forward to it! After all, developing a new combat style and not knowing how it'll end up… there's something exciting about it!" Sieg seemed lost in her own little world before snapping back to reality. "So how about it?"

"I'm okay with that. I gotta check with my mom first though."

"Fair enough. In the meantime, let's finish this." Touma got back into his defensive stance as Sieg launched a barrage of projectiles at him. "Gewehr Kugel."

He dodged to the side and caught a glance of Sieg dashing towards him. With her speed, there was no way he could escape her grab range so the best he could do was try an attack of his own and mess up her timing. "Leuchtender Knöchel!"

His device engulfed itself in magic before he threw the punch but as he expected, Sieg easily caught it. "Werfen Erschlagen." With a small grunt, she tightened her grip and took them both to the air so she could execute a powerful aerial slam attack.

"Dammit…!"

"You have nothing to regret. You came this far, right?" He hadn't been expecting that last bit of telepathic encouragement from Sieg.

"… when you say stuff like that, there's no way I can hate you for beating me." That was all he could get out before darkness claimed him from the impact of the attack.

"And there's the knockout, folks! As expected of the current Inter-Dimensional Tournament Champion!"

As she saw the medical staff come out to take Touma away on a stretcher, Sieg hoped she didn't overdo things since the last time that happened, it took quite some time for Micaiah to recover. It was then that she noticed a young woman with blonde hair following the team and from what she could tell; the other woman had been in the boy's corner. She probably had been acting as his second and if that's the case…

"Um, are you Touma-kun's mother and teacher?" From the way the other woman paused in her steps, Sieg's assumption was correct. "I know that you want to check up on his condition but I was hoping you can indulge my curiosity about the combat style you are teaching him."

"Perhaps another time."

"I see." The fourteen year old wasn't surprised by that answer. "In any case, I hope that your son found this a very enjoyable experience!"

"… I wonder if the same can be said for you. For one who possesses generations of memories and experience, a battlefield like this is simply child's play."

A startled chill ran through Sieg's body upon hearing those words as the blonde woman turned around, a look of mild disappointment on her face. It wasn't just the words that had an impact on her but the look on the other woman's face triggered a sense of familiarity and recognition. Her facial structure reminded her of a dear friend of her ancestor about a hundred years ago. 'W-what is this?'

"I would have thought that as a Jeremiah, you would have more integrity and not rely on your ancestor's experiences and memories to build your strength. But after finding out that you have been winning the championships every year that you entered, I'm not sure what to believe."

"W-wait…!" She wanted to say something else, to explain her intentions but it felt like the words wouldn't come out.

"Excuse me." With that, the blonde haired woman left the arena to go check on her son, leaving Sieglinde behind.

Touma groaned once as he slowly regained consciousness. His eyes opened up to see a grey ceiling with dim lighting placed at certain spaces. "This is…?"

"It's a ward where defeated tournament contestants go to recover," answered a female voice to his left. He managed to turn his head and spotted a girl with long red hair in a recovery gown sitting on the edge of her bed. By the doorway further down, he could also see his mother talking with a doctor. She should be coming by to see him soon.

"I see." He was certain that he saw the girl's face somewhere before but couldn't quite remember.

"So who ended up being the one to send you here?"

"It was that black haired girl. Jeremiah, I think."

The other girl laughed a bit. "Then let's get along well as fellow victims to the DSAA champ! How did she finish you off?"

That particular fact he could clearly remember. "A long aerial drop. To be honest, I think it's the reason why I can't really move my muscles properly. Everything feels so stiff right now. You?"

"Got judo thrown until my life points reached zero," came the blunt reply. "The fact that I lost to the champ takes the sting off a bit but I was hoping to get a chance to throw down against the Samurai Girl who beat me last year."

"So you're a returning participant?" asked the boy.

"That's right! The name's Harry. Harry Tribeca. I would shake hands with ya but we're both a bit too busted up for that."

"My name's Touma Avenir. And now I remember where I saw your face before! You were featured on the tournament pamphlet!" He paused for a moment. "My mom actually complained about your barrier jacket being so revealing."

"Hey, it's actually quite comfortable!" protested Harry. "And considering how much heat Red Hawk generates, wearing a top like that is actually necessary so that I don't drown in my own sweat!"

"Red Hawk? That's the name of your device?"

The girl gave a wide grin. "Yep! She's my baby! We've been working together for over a year and a half! Your device was that red gauntlet, right?"

"Yeah. I only recently got it."

Harry let out a small impressive whistle. "To make it this far with a device you only started using is pretty impressive!"

"To be honest, my wins were thanks due to the training my mom put me through. I didn't use my device much until I ran into that girl," admitted Touma.

"So you have a pretty well rounded fighting style, huh? Some sort of Strike Art variation?"

He took some time to think about the best way to put it into words. "I guess you can say it's a variation of my mom's family style. We're not blood related so I can't use the full version of it. That doesn't bug me though."

"You're saying that you could have done a lot better if you…?" Something else caught Harry's attention. "Wait, you're not her real son?"

"I'm adopted," answered Touma. "And aspects of her style are dependent on the magic capabilities found in her family blood."

"Damn, that sucks. But you were still able to do well, despite using that watered down version of her style!"

"That's true. Heck, that Jeremiah girl was interested in helping me further refine the style to something I can call my own. It really surprised me."

Another laugh came from Harry. "Won't argue with ya on that! She's seriously a nice gal. She even offered to help me out as well but I said no thanks. After all, if I relied on someone's help in the development of my art, I can't truly call it 'Ore-shiki' anymore."

"… 'Style of Me'?" He looked a bit mind boggled at that name.

"Everyone's gotta have pride in something. Some have pride in their devices or the power they were born with. I got nothing fancy like that so I'll take pride in my style!"

Touma managed to crack a small smile at that. "Heh, that's an interesting way of seeing things."

"How about this? Maybe we can spar with each other on a regular basis when we both recover! All this talk about your mom's family style has my blood pumping!" She reached for a short octohedral-tipped chain linked to a ring on her left middle finger and started fiddling around with it.

"Sure, I guess? My device's name is Drachenklaue, registration code EC996."

A few taps later and she was done. "Alright, I just sent you a friend request. Once you accept it, we can call each other on a regular basis and set up a schedule!"

"Sounds good." He then noticed that his mother was making her way over to where he was lying down. "So what now, Mom?"

"We go home and you rest up. The doctors say your condition is temporary and you'll be able to move normally by tomorrow morning."

"Good to hear. I can't wait to move normally again." He paused for a bit while the blonde haired young woman bent over to pick him up. "That means I'll be stuck in bed all day today."

"For the most part, yes. But I will be helping you with your hygiene needs for today."

Part of his mind froze upon hearing that as his mom started carrying him out of the room. "You mean you're going to have to bathe me? Can't I just skip today?"

"Absolutely not! The Church has strict rules about keeping a certain level of cleanliness! Now I know you're a growing young man and that you prefer to have your personal space and all that but you just have to bear it for today."

"MOM!"

While the mother and son bickered in the distance, a wistful smile crossed Harry's face. "Must be nice to have a mom who cares so much."

Tonight was going to be a treat for the little Vivio.

When she made her first trip to Earth and met Nanoha-mama's family, she also discovered the glory of onsens, those special baths that somehow made all the stresses of the day go away. That quickly rose to the top of her personal list of 'awesome things on Earth' right next to the pastries that her grandparents baked.

So when she heard that a new onsen had been opened in the city, she wanted to give it a try. Nanoha had also been curious about whether they managed to truly capture the onsen experience so they went together that evening to check it out. Once they got changed and headed to the women's bathing area with their own soaps and towels, they spotted a pair of familiar faces.

"Ollie-chan! Onii-chan!" Vivio immediately recognized her older counterpart, seated on one of those mini stools placed behind Touma. She only wore a towel on top of her head to keep her blonde hair tied tightly and was in the middle of scrubbing her son with some soap. As for the boy himself, he only had a small towel around his waist and had his eyes directly focused on the floor so that he wouldn't see anything inappropriate.

"Fancy meeting you here!" greeted Olivie.

"What's wrong with Touma-kun? He looks quite tired," noted Nanoha.

"He was knocked out of the Inter-Middle earlier today. His body just needs time to recover which is why I'm helping him bathe today. Carim suggested I take him here so that the hot water would help him relax better." The young woman paused for a moment to apply some more soap against the brush before resuming scrubbing her son's back. "And lucky for me that Touma's still within the age limit where he can come into the women's section of the bath without anyone making a major fuss."

"I wish they did make a fuss though," grumbled the boy, causing Nanoha to laugh.

"Nyahaha! He reminds me of how Erio-kun reacted when Caro dragged him into our side of the bath last year!" She pulled up some stools for herself and her daughter to use while Vivio trotted over to the boy.

"You were in the Inter-Middle? How was it like?"

"Interesting, tiring, exhilarating and painful," answered Touma. "Right now, I feel like I went through a meat tenderizer. Every part of my body feels pretty sore."

"Really?" Vivio brought up her tiny index finger on her right hand and poked his shoulder.

"Ow. Quit it."

Poke.

"Ow! Quit it!"

"Vivio." Upon hearing her mother call her name in a stern tone, the smaller girl backed off.

"Sorry!" Before she went back to her mother, she addressed the boy again. "Onii-chan, can you tell me more about the Inter-Middle went for you a little later?"

"Sure, if you want." He winced a bit as his mother dumped water all over him to rinse the lather away.

"Now that you're cleaned up, it's time for a dip!" As Olivie picked up her son bridal style to carry him over to the hot springs water, he immediately closed his eyes and tried not to think about the sensation of her impressive bared bosom pressing into his left arm. A moment after he was inserted into the hot water, he felt some of the throbbing his body experienced melt away.

"Whoa… this is pretty good."

"I know, right?" replied his mother cheerfully as she took a spot right beside him. Five minutes later, the other mother and child duo joined them in the hot water. Vivio immediately made her way over and planted herself on the other side of Touma.

"So tell me about the tournament! Was there anyone really scary there?"

"Well, there was this lady who really had an interesting sword drawing style. In the blink of an eye, she could easily cut you down for a lot of damage-" He was cut off by hearing the sound of someone surfacing in front of the group. She had a basic blue bikini on. As for her hair colour, it was the same as her eyes which looked blue-green.

"Sister Sein!"

The reformed Number waved cheerfully at Vivio. "Yaho~! Sorry to disturb your evening but I have something here for Her Majesty… er, the big one to sign. Once we get her signature, we can begin the process right away."

A mini vid screen appeared before the blonde woman who reviewed it quickly before she signed off on it while the Ace of Aces was able to spot the header of the legal document from her position. "That's a deed to a house? You don't like living in the Church?"

"It's not that I don't like it but it seems overly formal at times and nothing like how we lived back on Vaizen. There's a lack of coziness there so that's why I asked Carim to look into getting a new home for us."

"Wait! I recognize that address! That's right next door to our house!" exclaimed Nanoha.

A huge smile appeared on Vivio's face upon hearing that. "So Ollie-chan and Onii-chan will be our neighbours! Yay!"

"Now that this is signed, we can go ahead with acquiring the furnishings. The vendors should be by the new house to drop everything off one week from now starting at noon," said Sein as she took back the signed document. "Also, Carim just finalized a meeting date for Her Big Majesty with the College of Cardinals. It will be four days from now, 2 PM at the Grand Cathedral's boardroom."

"I see. Thank you for letting me know."

"This is a first. Sister Sein's not acting very mischievous. She's being all serious," chirped Vivio, which got Touma curious.

"What type of mischief does she get in normally?"

"The kind that has no respect for personal space based on what Schach told me," came Nanoha's flat reply.

"Normally, I would have tried a grope on anyone else. Since it's you two here… let's say my sense of self preservation quashed any urges I may have had to grope anyone here," explained Sein with a grin. "I am very much alive and I would like to stay that way."

"Wise decision," said the older blonde woman calmly.

With her business now done, Sein bowed once again before triggering her Deep Diver to go back the way she came from while something else stayed with Nanoha for a bit, causing her to get lost in thought.

'That moving date… isn't that the same day when Fate-chan's shore leave begins?'