Seventh Ammo: Time to Get Ready!

Ah, I feel awful. I don't think I got any sleep last night. I guess I was pretty affected by what Little Louise said yesterday. Everyone's world, everyone's entire universe could be wiped out if we screw up. That's really hard to just pack up and say "Well, I'll deal with it tomorrow."

I suppose I should get up though. We need to get back to the academy and start… doing something, I guess. I get up and head out, only to find everyone waiting in the lobby.

"Once again, the last one to show up," Fuka says. "You should work on that."

"Thank you for your input."

"Okay, okay, is everyone here?" Little Louise asks. "Um… Looks like it. Okay, everyone, it has been a pleasure working with you all, and I'm very sad to see you go."

"You don't seem like it," Kinji says.

"Pfft," Little Louise blows a raspberry in his direction. "No need to ruin the moment. Okay, I'll be in town for a while so feel free to stop by if you need more healing or just want some advice. We're always open! I'll even offer a discount, just for you guys!"

"This is a business now?" Ryuji asks.

"… Do you want it to be?" Little Louise asks. "I can do that if you wa-"

"Denied," our group voices out in singular unity.

"I need money too you know," Little Louise pouts. "I can't buy food with cuteness."

"Good luck with that," Taiga tells her.

"Do you think you could maybe… Send us to the academy already?" Louise asks. "I kind of miss that place."

"Right, right," Little Louise says. "Okay, close your eyes everyone, you might get a little disoriented and that helps out a bit. Understand?"

We all nod our heads and close our eyes.

"Okay, good bye everyone, see you all around!" Little Louise says.

A sudden feeling of dizziness overcomes me, and then disappears just as quickly. I open up my eyes, and I see that we're back at the academy. God, I wish that Louise was able to use that teleportation spell properly, it would have been so useful.

"Saito."

"Yes, Louise?"

"You better not be thinking about how I can't use that teleportation spell," Louise warns me. "I'll warn you only that once."

"Yes ma'am," I say, dropping any such thoughts out of my head.

"Just wondering, feel free to ignore me, but is anyone here as suspicious of that girl as I am?" Taiga asks.

"The Little Louise? What do you mean?" our Louise asks. "She seems nice enough. She helped us out, didn't she?"

"I would have thought you of all people would have noticed," Shana says. "She healed us and teleported us here."

"... Oh!" Louise seems to get it. "She did, and she didn't use a wand for any of that. That is a bit suspicious. No mage in Halkegnia can use magic without a wand or staff or something of that nature. Except the elves, but she doesn't seem like an elf. She doesn't have pointy ears, that's for sure. Even then I'm pretty sure the elves need to chant at least a little to cast a spell, they just don't use wands. She just sort of snapped and we were here, weren't we?"

"So she's not from around here?" Aria asks. "Then where's she from?"

"She could be an Angel like Ariana," Nagi theorizes. "She did seem to know a lot about the system and how it works."

"Wouldn't Ariana recognize her though?" Kinji asks. "If they're both Angels and there is the organization like Louise seemed to imply with her talk of 'them,' so shouldn't she and Ariana have met at some point?"

"Not necessarily," Shana says. "They may work for the same people, but that doesn't mean they've worked together."

"I don't think she's an Angel," Eve adds. "She doesn't give off the same feel like Ariana."

"What do you mean by feel?" I ask.

"I don't quite know," Eve admits. "They just feel different."

"I get it," Fuka says. "She'd got a different way of handling herself around others. I get what you're talking about."

I'm glad someone does. God knows I have no idea what they mean.

"I don't know, I'm just not too sure about her," Taiga says. "I feel like she's the type of person who's got some kind of shady reason for helping us. Like she's planning something now that we're gone.

*Little Louise POV*

"Sister."

I feel something on my shoulder slightly shake me, so I roll over and ignore it.

"Sister?"

"Seven more minutes," I complain, stirring slightly.

"Sister, you fell asleep upside down again."

I open my eyes and stare right into my little sisters face. Yep, she's upside down. Or I am. I should fix tha- whoa!

*THUD*

"Owww," I complain as I sit up and rub my head. "The floor hurts. I need to stop falling asleep in that chair."

"It is a comfy chair though," my little sister says. "It's not hard to fall asleep in it."

"Definitely," I agree as I stand up and face my little sis. "So what's up? You don't visit anymore! Why not?"

It's always weird talking to my little sis. It's weird because she looks exactly like me, so it's like looking in a mirror and I get all weirded out. To be fair to her, we don't look exactly alike. Her hair's black, her eyes are red, and her skin's darker than mine. Still, it's weird talking to someone that has your face. It's this weird, mental thing. It's like "Woah, my reflection shouldn't be talking to me! Wait, that's my sister. Oops."

"You've been really busy lately," my little sister says. "I didn't want to disrupt you. You did kind of talk up how important this all was. As such, it was unsurprising finding you asleep."

"My adorable little sister! Are you perhaps saying that I'm a lazy bum?" I ask, point my finger at her face. She gets all flustered, and her face turns red.

"N-No! Of course not!" she tries to defend herself. "T-that doesn't matter. What exactly are you doing? I'm curious."

"At the moment I have some free time," I say, the relief that fact gives me incredibly obvious. "At the moment I just sit around and wait for either the Snake or that group to make a move against the other. See sis? That's the beauty of playing two people against each other! It takes a lot of work in the beginning, but then once that first steps done, they do all the work for you! Now I can finally start catching up on that sleep I've been missing out on."

"All right," she doesn't seem all that convinced. "Just don't overdo it. Don't overexert yourself, alright? Remember to take enough time to rest and-"

"Little sister! I get it!" I tell her. "You don't need to worry, I know exactly what I'm doing, we've got nothing to worry about. Got it?"

She nods her head. … I kind of wanna mess with her. That thought in mind, I blow a little bit of air in her face. Her nose twitches a little and she sneezes, causing her cat ears and tail to pop out.

"Got it little sis?" I ask again.

"I g-g-got it!" my little sister trips over her words as she tries to cover her cat ears with her hands. "I got it! I was just a bit concerned is all."

"Don't be. And stop hiding the cat ears, they help you stand out!"

"That's the exact opposite of what I want," my little sister complains. "I guess I'll let you get back to work. For given definition of the word. Remember what I said, don't overwork yourself."

"I got it, I got it!" I promise her. "I'll call you if I need any help with anything."

"Okay then," she says, seemingly finally satisfied. "See you around then."

My little sister walks off, forgetting to hide her cat parts. I sit back down in my chair and start pondering. Alright, so how long should it take? The Snake's probably talking with that King Joseph guy, so he's probably getting his own plans and things ready. I wonder what Shana and her group are doing right now? I might need to check up on them later, just to see what they're up too. Make sure that everything is still on track and all that good stuff. Maybe I can stop by some of the other places I needed to in the meantime. Before that, I definitely need to check on the Snake. I don't want to leave him unattended for too long.

"… I wish I had cat ears. Why is my little sister the lucky one?"

*Saito POV*

"Okay, I think the first thing we should do is start training!" Nagi declared once we had gotten reacquainted with the academy. "This way we'll be ready for everything and actually know what we're doing!"

"I agree," Aria says. "What's the point of having these weapons if none of us know how to properly use them?"

"Agreed," Shana says. "We should probably split into smaller groups though. I doubt Nagi could learn much about her gun from watching someone like Eve."

"I don't know anything about guns," Eve adds. "I wouldn't be very helpful."

"Fair point. So who goes with who?" Kinji asks.

"Aria and Kinji with Nagi," Eve says. "That way they can teach her how to use her gun properly."

"Pistols are quite a bit different from a machine gun," Kinji points out.

"You most likely still know more about guns then the rest of us," Eve counters. "You two would still be the best ones to go to for that information."

"That makes sense, I suppose," Aria says, nodding her head.

"Then who does Hayate go with?" Nagi asks. "Who's he get to work with?"

"Hayate can start working with Taiga and Ryuji," Eve tells her. "That way they can all work on their swordplay together, since they're not the most experienced."

"I suppose that sounds okay," Hayate says. "Is that alright with you two?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't," Ryuji says.

"I have nothing to complain about," Taiga adds.

"Saito, Louise and Shana can work together, since they know each other best, and I'll train with Fuka," Even finishes. "Is that alright?"

"It makes sense to me," Louise says.

"Me too, though I must ask. Have you been thinking about this for a while?" I ask. "It seems like this was rather well thought out."

"I put some thought into it during our vacation," Eve replies. "I didn't have much to read, so I had little else to do."

"I didn't notice a library there, so I suppose you would have been bored," Taiga says.

"So do we start now?" Kinji asks. "We just got up, so it seems like a good idea to set a day out for training."

"I haven't done any level grinding for a while, so I'm cool with starting now," Fuka says.

"I want to get started as soon as possible!" Nagi says, brandishing her gun. "Me and Maria need to get as well-acquainted as possible."

"Milady, you named your gun Maria?" Hayate asks.

"Of course! Since she's not with us at the moment, I thought that she might like to be here in spirit."

"I'm sure she's proud to be your gun," Hayate says, using what appears to be sarcasm.

"Are the any objections to starting as soon as possible?" Eve asks. No one says anything against it, so she nods her head. "Alright then. Good luck everyone."

*Little Louise POV*

"My, what a rare honor," the Snake says. "What do I owe the honor of a visit from my handler?"

"You've been quiet for a bit," I respond. "I mean, after that thing you did where you nearly killed the entire group you just kind of went silent. I just wanted to see what was up."

"Before I say that, would you perhaps answer a question of mine?" the Snake asks. "What, pray tell, happened to them after I left? I imagine they're still alive otherwise you likely would have told me."

"They received some help from a nearby medic," I tell him. "Magic is pretty potent in this world, so they're pretty much healed up now."

"And where are they now?" the Snake asks.

"They're back at the academy now, though I don't know what they're doing," I admit. "Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason," the Snake assures me. "I simply wished to send them a bit of a get well present. Joseph's familiar has a few option to chose from, and I was just thinking about which one to send and where I would send it."

"It sounds really sinister when you're the one saying it," I let him know. "Like you're planning on some really evil thing."

"Is that not why you called on me to deal with them?" the Snake asks me. "Though I do question why you can't do anything. Why not simply deal with them yourself."

*thwip*

"Did you just flick me?" the Snake asks as he puts a hand to his forehead.

"Stupid," I tell him. "If I could do something I would. The only reason you're alive is because I needed you, so it'd be best if you not try to question my as much as you seem to want to."

"I understand," the Snake replies. "I'll try not to invoke the wrath of a seven year old."

"I'm glad you're not as stupid as I thought you'd be," I say with a smile. "So. I take it you'll get your 'get-well-soon gift' ready?"

"Indeed," he says with a wry smile. "Excuse me as I got and have a chat with my partner."

"Okay then. I'll let you get to that," I tell him. "Just don't do anything directly. You're not quite ready for it. Don't forget that you nearly faded right after that last encounter."

"I won't, you don't need to worry. I'm strictly hands-off this time," the Snake of the Festival tells me. "I simply watch this time."

"You better keep it that way," I warn him. "At least for a little while longer."

"Now if you'll excuse me," the Snake says as he warps off.

I lie down and look up at the sky. Jeez, what's up with that guy? Would it kill him to be a bit more specific? Get well present. Honestly. I wonder what he's got planned though. IT doesn't matter really. Whatever it is I'm sure they can handle it.