Author's Note: Hope you've been enjoying this odd little series. Chapters will be about as frequent as I can reasonably make them, and will depend heavily on how many ideas my friend and I pitch back and forth. The fic is going to take a slightly new approach to telling time; you'll notice that chapters as a whole take place on multiples of seven with regards to the day (because I can't be arsed to use "Week"). Individual events of marked importance (or hilarity) will receive amusing little asides in the form of a recall to a particular day within the week (like Day 3 for example.) In addition, I've introduced something in hopes of turning this entire fanfic into a metaphysical nightmare. Gag endings to stories that are already not true and non-canonical fiction within themselves. I apologize to everyone ever for it.

Ragna's Apartment: Day 7

Ragna awoke late in the morning, as we becoming normal for him; it wasn't that he stayed up late, but rather that he went to bed drained every night, provided of course, that Nu felt like letting him sleep. He feared that as time passed, Lambda and Noel would begin to lose the inhibitions they felt towards making love. Perhaps it wasn't inhibition though; perhaps they were just polite and wanted to let Ragna sleep. Perhaps they wanted to sleep. Nu, by nature, was rather loud in bed, and her groans and shouts of pleasure made sleep remarkably difficult. It also typically had the effect of turning on Lambda, Noel or both, and so for two days straight Ragna got very little sleep. Were it not for the near limitless reserve of energy he had readily available in his Azure Grimoire, he would have collapsed into a near catatonic state. He got sleepily to his feet and trudged heavily to his closet; with a yawn, he pulled on his jacket and pants and weaved blearily out of the room to the breakfast table. Nu was busy trying to peel and orange; and despite having nails, she was failing spectacularly. Try as she might, her nails seemed to keep slipping off the peel. Noel and Lambda were watching with a strange mixture of pity and condescending glee. "Morning," he yawned. Ragna walked by the three and gave a sudden jump on his way to the fridge. His eyes half-closed and dark circles prominently lining his eyes he asked sleepily, "The hell? Who pinched my ass?" Noel pointed immediately at Lambda. Lambda pointed immediately at Noel. Ragna shook his head and turned back to the fridge. "Whatever," he yawned. From the fridge, he extracted orange juice and eggs. A few minutes later, he was unenthusiastically eating scrambled eggs and drinking orange juice. He turned to look at Nu, who was still spectacularly failing to peel her orange. Ragna rubbed his face and reached for the orange. Nu shook her head and twisted her body and orange away.

"Nu can do it!" she said huffily.

"Nu, how long have you been trying to open that orange?" he asked.

Nu stopped trying to peel the orange and stared meaningfully at nothing in particular. "Um…only a few minutes Ragna," she said after a pause. She continued to try to open the orange, growing increasingly red-faced and undoubtedly more self-conscious of everyone watching her. With a screech of frustration, she threw the orange bodily towards the wall. "LEGACY EDGE!" she shouted. When the dust the interdimensional swords she summoned cleared (leaving numerous holes in the wall) a small pile of perfectly cut orange lay on the floor in a neat pile, unmarred by dust or debris; with a cry of joy she hurriedly picked up the orange and began to eat.

Lambda watched Nu eat, a peculiar look on her face. "Query," she droned.

"Hm?" responded Nu, her cheeks full of orange.

"Did you really have to resort to such desperate measures for an orange?" she asked.

Nu swallowed and smiled cheekily. "Superior!" she proclaimed. Lambda raised an eyebrow.

Ragna sighed. "Eh, you did somehow cut the orange and not get dust on it. But now we need to get that wall repaired," he said, annoyed. He heaved himself up and made for the front door. "And I need to get to work," he called back.

"You work?" asked Noel incredulously. Ragna nodded.

"I have other things to do besides be an SS-Class criminal, Noel," he said. "Like pay off that massive tab Tao left me in…" he added in undertone. He stopped for a second at the front door and turned to look at them. Noel and Lambda gave rather awkward waves of good-bye while Nu continued to eat her orange.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Noel.

Off-put, and perhaps even a little disappointed, Ragna said quickly, "Uh, nothing." He opened the door and suddenly felt someone tap him on the shoulder. It was Nu. She grabbed his head and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Have a nice day, Ragna," she said. With a contented look on her face, she turned about, her hands on her hips and pointed at the other two girls. "Superior."

"Thanks," said Ragna awkwardly. The gesture was cute, but her ulterior motives shone through rather obviously following that final comment. He set off for work; the Chinese restaurant in Orient Town.

He came through the back door and pulled on a white apron to replace his usual jacket. "Hey, clean up table six," called out a co-worker, "It's a mess. I've never seen so many dishes on it."

Ragna sighed. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. He set off towards the table. His co-worker wasn't joking: there we a ton of dishes on the table, and they seemed to only be increasing in number. Amidst the pile, he caught a hood with cat ears. "Tao? What the hell are you doing?" he asked the dishes.

Tao grinning face emerged from behind a stack of plates. "Yay! It's Good Guy!" she said happily. She slurped up some soup happily and roughly wiped her mouth. "What are you doing here Good Guy?" she chimed. A look of surprised crossed her face. "Are you looking for Rawrgnya?" she asked.

Ragna, to keep descriptions quick and to the point, facepalmed. "Yes, I'm totally looking for him, that's why I'm wearing an apron and clearing tables," he muttered.

"That makes sense Good Guy!" she said. She began to punch the air excitedly, "It's like undercover work!" Ragna rubbed his face and sighed.

"Tao, this food isn't free, can you even pay for it?" asked Ragna in a hushed tone, "I can't exactly let you dine and dash, since I work here."

Tao's face lit up with excitement. "Good Guy works here!" she cried ecstatically, "Then you can give Tao free food! Yay!"

"What? No no no no, Tao, I can't give you free food!" retorted Ragna angrily, "I'll lose my job! Or worse, I'll work up an even bigger tab! You know, the tab you left me with?"

Tao made a cute face. "Aw, Good Guy, please?" she begged.

"No!" said Ragna with finality, "I can't work up my tab any higher, especially when it's already threatening to overtake the actual bounty on my head!" Tao seemed to have not heard this, because she continued to pester him about it.

At last, she resigned and said with gusto, "Alright then Good Guy! Tao will just do what you did that one time we ate here!" She jumped out of her booth and sprinted at the door, breaking through it and shouting behind her, "Thanks for the idea good guy!"

Ragna stared at the catgirl as she vanished from view. He would walk away, he thought, he would walk away and just clear the table and say that they dined and dashed. He had no part in it. None whatsoever. Unfortunately for him, his boss didn't take to kindly to letting a customer leave without paying, and she told him he'd have to work off what he let slip through his fingers in addition to his own tab. Ragna accepted the fine with a curt nod, internally wondering if his tab would be erased with a well placed Inferno Divider. He decided against killing the owner of the restaurant; the tab he owed may have only grown, but at least he was guaranteed work (and respite from the girls at his apartment) for the duration he had to pay it off.

When the day ended, Ragna set off for his apartment, using alleyways to avoid the eyes of several individuals he'd rather not run into. As he was nearing his destination, a trashcan nearby shuddered and the lid flew off; it was Tao, shouting happy greetings. "Good Guy!" she yelled joyously, "Tao was waiting for you to show up!" She jumped on his back. "Tao needed to thank you for letting her have all that food!"

"What! I didn't let you have any of it Tao! You just ran off without paying! And now I have to pay for that food for you!" he said angrily.

"Good Guy's gonna pay for Tao? You're the best!" She purred contentedly. "Tao should give you something in return!"

"Like all the money you owe the restaurant," he muttered.

"Tao will give you something better than money!" she said. She jumped in front of him to halt his progress. "Tao will give you a tongue bath!" she chimed.

Ragna's eyes went wide. "Uh, Tao, let's not and say we did, okay?" he said hastily, "I'd rather not have a tongue bath." Perverted images were flying through his head at a mile a minute. He'd been fucking Nu too much recently. And Lambda. And Noel. In his mind's eye, he saw himself falling on all fours miserably, 'This is what I've become,' he thought morbidly, 'Black Beast my left foot. More like Horny Beast…'

Tao frowned a bit. "Come on Good Guy, it'll feel really good! All of the Kaka clan loves tongue baths!" she pressed. She grabbed hold of Ragna's face and began licking his cheeks. The action was devoid of sexuality; it was indeed like a cat licking itself clean, right down to the sandpaper like tongue. The feeling made Ragna shiver; it was incredibly unusual, at not at all sexual as he had envisioned. With a sigh of relief, he pressed Tao off him.

"Look, I appreciate the gesture Tao, but I need to get going home," he explained, "How about you not give me a tongue bath and instead swear to me that you won't dine and dash anymore?"

Tao considered him for a moment and then smiled. "Alright then Good Guy," she said, "Tao promises!"

Ragna was about to leave, but a thought suddenly popped into his head. "Can I see your face Tao?" he asked suddenly.

Tao frowned a bit. "This is my face Good Guy," she said softly.

"No it's not," said Ragna dismissively, "Your real face."

"No," she said shortly, pulling her hood down over her eyes, "Tao is ugly and self-conscious about her face."

Ragna cocked an eyebrow. "What the hell? Really? Look at what you're wearing!" he said with annoyance, indicating Tao's short, panty-shot-tastic jacket. "It's not like you wear a bra or anything either!"

Tao smiled mischievously and said proudly, "Tao knows Tao has a nice body!" Her smiled faded somewhat, "But Tao's face is ugly."

Ragna reached forward and tried to pull her hood down. "Just show me your face already!" he said.

Somewhere, in another part of Kagutsuchi, Hakumen was sitting on his couch, idly reading the paper. He suddenly sneezed and gripped his Ookami instinctively. He scanned the room and then shrugged. "Odd," he said aloud.

Nirvana trudged idly up behind him, holding a tray laden with tea and cookies. "What is it dear?" she asked inquisitively.

Hakumen sniffed and turned the page of his paper. "Nothing Ada," he said, somewhat unsure, "Just had a…weird feeling. Like someone was talking about me. Must've been nothing. Ooh! Are those lemon cookies?"

Ada smiled (at least, Hakumen interpreted her blank face as such), "Yes, they are. I hope you like them. I iced them differently this time."

Ragna kept trying to tug Tao's hood down. "Come on! Just a peek!" he said.

Tao struggled to keep her hood up while trying to punch Ragna away. "No! Good Guy! This is really bad foreplay!" she said.

Ragna stopped trying to pull her hood down and facepalmed. "What? That doesn't even make sense!" he said incredulously.

Tao let go of her hood. "Of course it does!" she said defensively.

"AN OPENING!" shouted Ragna. He tugged Tao's hood down and stared, mouth agape. Tao's skin was the same tone as the rest of her body. Her eyes were the same as anyone else's, but had bright, inviting red irises. Her hair was somewhat wilted and ruffled (and the same color as her braids, obviously), no doubt owing to the hood she constantly wore; fluffy cat ears protruded from her unkempt hair, the same color as her tail. Her mouth gave the aura of usually being twisted into a mischievous smile, but now was set in a thoroughly shocked expression. "Tao, you're adorable," said Ragna, somewhat off-put by this revelation.

Tao covered her face and made a soft mewing noise, "Nooo, Tao's ugly. Tao's so ugly, she made Ragna's eyes break! They don't know what's adorable anymore!"

"That doesn't even remotely make sense!" he said angrily. Ragna sighed and pulled her hood back up. "Fine, believe your own delusions," he said huffily, "I won't tell anyone what you look like. But like I said, you have to promise not to dine and dash at my restaurant again. Got it?"

Tao nodded. "Tao got it Good Guy! And now, Tao has to get back to the village. Bye Good Guy!" she said quickly, before taking off back to the Kaka Village.

Ragna shook his head and made for his apartment again. He was assaulted by Nu and Lambda as soon as he entered, both of shouting greetings at him and hugging him tightly. After a light struggle over who would kiss him first (to Ragna's great amusement) he sat down on the couch. Nu was sitting next to him, head resting on his shoulder and smiling contentedly. Lambda was sitting at a desk nearby, feeding her slugs. Ragna reached into the pocket in his jacket and removed list entitled, "Prime Field Devices To Fuck List". The list simply read: λ-11, μ-12 (in bright red next to this was "Noel") and ν-13. Lambda's name had two check marks next to it, Nu's had three and Noel's only had one. Ragna looked about. "Nu? Where's Noel?" he asked.

Nu looked up at him, her eyes widening innocently. "She's at work," she said simply.

"What? She doesn't work with the NOL anymore!" he said, confused.

Nu shook her head vigorously. "Nope! She's doing undercover work!" she said, nodding.

"For…who? Sector Seven?" asked Ragna.

Lambda answered. "Incorrect," she said flatly, "Noel is currently under the employ of…"

Noel was regretting taking this position more and more. "Alright little boy!" said Bang loudly, "Next we need to work on getting you a more ninja-like outfit! This one is too flowy and feminine for a young man like you." He handed Noel an outfit that was more or less identical to his subordinates outfits, but it was blue and white.

Noel held up the uniform, a look of distaste on her face. "For the last time, I'm a girl! And do I really have to wear this?" she said unhappily.

"Of course! How can you be a successful ninja without a ninja outfit!" he said enthusiastically. "You may be male, but I will respect your privacy and leave the room so may change."

Noel blushed with anger, her hands shaking violently; the suit she was holding began to tear slightly. "I'M A GIRL!" she shouted, "LOOK!" She grabbed her breasts and jiggled them up and down. Bang, unfortunately, had already left the room. Noel relieved her feelings by repeatedly shooting the outfit. "DAMN IT!"

Bang rushed back into the room, a look of worry on his face. "I heard gunfire! What's wrong?" he said, alarmed. Before him was a fatigued Noel, her two handgun's barrels smoking from the fire. "Where did you get such weaponry? Surely a young man such as you has no need for firearms?" he asked.

Noel had had enough. "I'M A GIRL!" she shouted angrily, firing her guns everywhere. Bang ducked out of the way and hid behind a pillar, sweating profusely. His subordinates were scrambling everywhere.

"What do I do?" he shouted to himself, "How do I calm this young man? He keeps saying he's a girl!"

One of his subordinates rushed next to him. "Boss Bang! What's going?"

"That young man thinks he's a young woman!" responded Bang.

The subordinate peeked out from cover and then looked back at Bang. He raised an eyebrow, "I don't see it," he said simply.

Bang laid a hand on his subordinates shoulder, his eyes closed and his eyebrows knit. "You know what we must do! Now GO!" he shouted, pushing his subordinate into the line of fire.

"Wait, what do I do Boss!" shouted the subordinate in fear.

Noel looked over at the subordinate, her head cocked, and her face twisted into an insane expression; it would have Terumi jealous. Smoke billowed from her mouth when she spoke, "Are you one of those deluded nuts that thinks I'm a boy?" She aimed her guns at him threateningly.

The subordinate cowered. "BOSS WHAT DO I DO!" he shouted in fear.

Bang stared at the subordinate and mimed running with his fingers; the subordinate immediately complied. Noel chased after him, screaming, "I'M A GIRL DAMN IT! COME BACK HERE!"

"WHY! WHY WON'T YOU ACCEPT YOUR MANHOOD!" shouted the subordinate in fear. Noel caught sight of Bang behind the pillar and immediately changed course.

"YOU!" she shouted menacingly. Bang gulped and began to run, but found himself at a dead end in the dojo before long. He turned around, sweating bullets and stared at Noel. "YOU WANT PROOF? EAT THIS!" She jumped at him, grabbing him with her thighs and swinging him violently around, throwing him half-way across the dojo in the other direction.

Bang got up, spluttering and shouted, "WHAT? WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, STOP!" He held up his hands and his face was red. "THAT WAS…Why don't…" His breathing began to even, and his composure began to return. "Young lady! You shouldn't be running about without underwear on! It's shameful!"

Noel pointed Bolverk at his face. "Too late, dumbass," she said angrily. She started firing.

Bang screamed in pain, "NOT THE FACE!" Noel stopped firing, standing over Bang's smoking body. He groaned and looked up at Noel; he had let her hair down and was wiping the sweat from her forehead; her hair was flowing out behind her. "What! Why didn't you just take your hat off, young lady!" he shouted. "That wouldn't have made me realize you were a young woman immediately!"

Noel stared at him with angry, narrowed eyes. "Somehow, I don't believe that one bit," she said angrily, "And I don't need this job that bad, especially if this is how I'm going to be treated."

Bang go to his feet and grabbed Noel's arm. "No wait! Let's work something out! We need help!" he said desperately. Noel stared at him coldly.

"I'm listening," she said.

Ragna sighed. "Alright then," he said. 'That means Noel's 6:30 boning session has been cancelled until further notice,' he thought, 'Guess I'll just finish off Lambda for the day. Nu's already had her fill. Well…she's hit her quota anyway.' Ragna, and perhaps anyone that knew Nu even a little bit, knew quite well that when it came to Ragna, Nu probably had her "fill" of him at some number not yet known to man. He shuddered a bit, Lambda was probably the same way. He shuddered, who was he kidding, if the world ended, and only he and the other three girls remained, he would be relegated to fucking them until the end of time in a world now totally devoid of distraction. 'I can't believe I actually have to schedule this stuff out,' he thought privately, 'But if I don't, then there just won't be enough hours in the day to get things done.' He got heavily to his feet and walked over to Lambda, tucking the paper into his jacket. He hugged her from behind, his mouth and nose buried in her hair. "What're you doing, Lambda?" he asked.

Lambda's response was steeped in embarrassed affection, and her voice was quivering slightly, "I'm…feeding my slugs." She idly poked one of her slugs; it squirmed contentedly.

"Huh," he said, "Reminds me of earlier this week." When it came to affairs concerning Lambda, Ragna had to be significantly more forward. Nu would jump him at a moment's notice, and Noel, as embarrassed and shy as she was about it still managed to segue rather naturally into sex. Lambda, on the other hand seemed to stumble; everything she did to Ragna when she was in mood was filled with apologies and hesitation. Ragna figured this was fitting, concerning everything that had happened to her. His train of thought was suddenly derailed when he arrived at this point; 'Wait,' he thought frantically, 'Lambda dissolved…and Nu was with her…was in her and now…' His eyes widened, 'HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY BOTH HERE RIGHT NO- Fuck it.' It was too much effort to think about how they managed to both exist unscathed at the moment: Lambda's hair smelled really nice and it was doing the job of an aphrodisiac while at the same time muddying his mind. "Well," he continued, shelving the device's existences in the recesses of his mind for a later date, "Noel's not back, which means a few things have opened up, and I figured I'd take advantage of them." He slid his hands up her stomach slowly and cupped her breasts gently.

Lambda made an indistinct gasping noise. "Ragna," she whispered. She reached up and cupped his hands with her own. Ragna began to gently massage her breasts. Lambda moaned softly, "Ragna, are you really going to do this here?"

Ragna laughed softly into her hair. "It's not like Nu minds or anything," he said simply.

Nu chose this moment to call out to the two, "Hey! Nu is trying to play Continuum Shift! Do that somewhere else or you'll distract Nu!"

"Distract you?" said Ragna, his mouth still in Lambda's hair, "With what? My dick?"

Unseen, Nu nodded vigorously, "Yep!"

Lambda and Ragna's expression became rather awkward. "Uh, alright then Nu…" said Ragna.

Lambda felt the cool touch of the sheets on her naked back. Ragna crawled over her and bent his face down to kiss her. Her face was flushed, and her hair was splayed about everywhere. She felt Ragna's fingers slid down her chest and stomach; they were cool to the touch and left goose bumps in their wake. His fingers slipped softly between her labia and into her vagina and began to slide slowly in and out. Lambda broke from the kiss and moaned into Ragna's ear; she gripped his back, her nails digging into his skin. He slipped his fingers out of her womanhood and softly rubbed her clitoris, tracing tiny circles on it. Lambda's moans rose steadily in volume, until she suddenly reached down and grabbed Ragna's hand; panting and her face flushed she pushed Ragna aside and pinned him to the bed. She kissed him softly and began to trail her head down his body, kissing him every few inches. Her head reached the tip of his member, and she slid her mouth down over it and began to suck on it softly. Slowly, her head bobbed lower and lower, until Ragna felt the end of his manhood hitting the back of her throat. With a sudden jerk upwards and a soft, "Pwah," noise, Lambda stopped sucking. She looked up at Ragna and blushed. Ragna smirked and nodded. Lambda mounted him and drew herself close to his chest, sliding up and down his turgid member. She felt her breasts brushing against his chest in rhythm to the sex. Without warning, Lambda's world flipped, and Ragna was on top of her, his thrusting quickening. Lambda reached out and pulled him close to her body and dug her nails into his back again; as Ragna's thrusts reached a fever pitch, she reactively dragged her nails down his back. The two shouted their orgasm in unison.

Ragna pulled out, huffing. He felt Lambda's hands slide off his back; drops of blood dripped off her finger tips. "Wait, what the hell?" he asked, alarmed.

Lambda blushed. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I got…carried away." She looked away shamefully.

Ragna's expression softened. "Hey, don't worry? I'll be fine, alright? I've taken much worse than a few scratches," he said reassuringly. He softly grabbed Lambda's chin and turned her head to face him.

Lambda stared back at Ragna and blushed a deeper red. She averted her eyes when she said, "Affirmative." Ragna smirked. It would take time, but Lambda was getting better.

The door behind the two suddenly burst open; it was Noel, and a fire burned in her eyes that indicated two things: she had never been so angry in her life, and she'd never been more horny in her life. "You! Right now," she shouted, gesticulating forcefully, "Right. Now!" She tore her clothing off and tossed her hat aside.

Ragna stared wide-eyed at Noel. "What the hell?" he asked wildly. Noel rushed forward and grabbed Ragna, kissing him fiercely. He pulled away for a second. "What's going on?" he asked again. Noel stared at Ragna; the glare she gave him made his spine feel like it was dissolving. He quailed before her and mumbled, "Ok, ok, shit." Lambda quietly tiptoed out of the room and shut the door behind her. Noel dropped to her knees and grabbed Ragna's drooping member, a look of determination on her face. 'Here we go again,' thought Ragna.

Bonus! Gag Ending! "Save us, Ragna the Bloodedge!"

"Help!" screamed Noel. Arakune was upon her, thousands of insects closing in on her. Mild mannered laborer, Ragna Kent rushed to the scene to size up the situation. Thinking quickly, he ducked into a phone booth and removed his glasses, transforming himself into the SS-Class Heroic Criminal of Reluctant Bastard Justice: Ragna the Bloodedge! He jumped out of the booth and pointed importantly at Arakune.

"Stop right there criminal scum!" he declared. "With the aid of my Mexican Cyborg Samurai Sidekick, Haku-Meng, we shall crush you, bitch!"

Haku-Meng broke out of a nearby wall. "Aqui estoy!" he shouted at Arakune, "Soy Haku-Meng!"

Noel jumped for joy. "I'm saved!" she said happily.

Haku-Meng rushed Arakune and grabbed him. "I DON'T WANT IT!" squealed Arakune.

"Agarralo!" shouted Haku-Meng, throwing Arakune at Ragna.

Ragna caught him and smiled deviously. "This is why I'm an SS-Class Criminal, evildoer, bitch!" he proclaimed. He shoved Arakune into a blender. "BEHOLD! SECRET BLOOD KAIN ART! CARNAGE BLENDER!" Haku-Meng stared at Ragna pointedly. "Uh, I mean, uh, BITCH!"

Noel squirmed and rubbed her stomach. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick," she moaned; the sight of Arakune in a blender was not pretty.

"No need to thank us, bitch!" shouted Ragna, leaving the blender to bounce about, spilling Arakune everywhere, "It's our job! Now, Haku-Meng! Off we go to save those in need! Stay safe, bitch!" Haku-Meng pulled on a sombrero and bowed to Noel before setting off behind Ragna on his magical unicorn burro, leaving behind him a trail of rainbows and the scent of chicken burritos.

Ragna woke up panting. He looked about, confused and slightly aroused. Lambda and Nu seemed to have already woken up and were gone, but Noel remained sleeping next to him, her hair fluttering each time she exhaled. He shook her awake. "Noel, I just had the weirdest fucking dream ever," he said in a hurried whisper. Noel turned around and mumbled something indistinct. Ragna sighed and slumped back into his pillow. "Man, I was kind of horny too…" he mumbled. In an instant, Noel was on top of him, kissing him fiercely. Through the kiss, Ragna smirked; worked every time.

A/N: Sorry that took so long, I've been a bit busy. Hope you enjoyed it! Here's a question to ponder while the next chapter is in the works: What sort of fanfiction is this? (Hint: It's fan service. Unabashed, shameless, fan service. With words instead of pictures.) Also, my writing style has, as you can no doubt tell morphed somewhat; it flitters between a number of different techniques and arrangements; if it's too scatterbrained and you guys dislike it, let me know: I'll do my best to make it more uniform (i.e., in line more with the writing for chapters one and two).