October, 28, 7:45 am,

"So, where would you like to go?"

Phillip looked over to Mei as this question flew from his lips while they walked down the street.

It was the final weekend of October that the group of three was able to find some time together after-school. It wasn't easy, considering Mei's usually packed schedule. So, that day was a rare occasion, but one Mei was exceedingly pleased about, thanks to the school's atmosphere.

There wasn't any plan for it, however, so Phillip made sure to place the question down before they got too far into the day. Kiana was too far away in front of them, checking every shop and restaurant for holiday-based treats, to concern herself with the question. So, naturally, it fell to Mei to answer.

Mei pondered the question for a moment, her hands covering her mouth, before looking at Phillip inquisitively. "Do you have any place you wish to visit?"

Phillip shook his head. He had no desired destination nor hungered for any of the pumpkin-themed foods shops were selling. Right now, the only reason he was on this walk was for sanity's sake, both his and Mei's.

"Alright then," Mei started, eyes back to staring at Kiana's back as the white-hairs girl drooled on the glass panel of a pastry shop. "Then, should we follow Kiana-san's idea and grab something to eat before we determine plans."

Phillip contemplated the thought as they continued the stroll. While the first time they chose to ditch school was a good idea – nay, a great idea – there were some selective problems with it. It was first met with resistance from police, who were quickly "persuaded" with genjutsu. The second struggle came with finding a place that remained neutral on Mei's situation.

Those that believed the media made it well known that the girl was unwanted. Several counts of harassment were made against the trio, with, surprisingly, Mei being the least affected by it all. She still received many inappropriate gestures, like a couple of groping attempts where the assailants walked home with a broken wrist. Kiana and Phillip, on the other hand, took the brunt of the offenses, mainly to prevent anything from hurting Mei.

On the opposite side, those that agreed with Mei were… odd, to be generous. They worshipped the ground Mei trotted, often attempting to separate the three in the belief the other two "didn't deserve her." Fortunately, none of those attempts succeeded, mostly with Mei's complete control of her simp party. They did have benefits, with free samples from some of the quieter bakeries and standing reservations should Mei want a place of solitude. However, those benefits were tied to Mei and her only. Phillip and Kiana still had to pay their part, which meant Mei only used the samples benefit, as she could share that easily.

The only place they could find that remained neutral was the arcade, and they lacked a food stall. So, they would need to scavenge another area for something or dare another encounter with Mei's more deranged fan base.

Phillip slowly reached back before pulling his left hand back to the front, gripping a muffin. "We can split this for now. Afterward, the arcade remains the best option."

Mei looked down at the muffin in confusion. "Where did you get this?" Phillip shrugged his left shoulder heavily, gesturing to his backpack. Mei nodded at this but frowned not a moment later. "Does it have to be the arcade? Surely there are other places we can try."

"It's the only place we know at the moment," Phillip countered before bringing the muffin closer to Mei. "We can explore a bit longer, try to find some places, and get to the arcade if we find none."

Mei nodded before taking and tearing the muffin apart into three equal pieces. As this happened, Phillip turned his head to glare at the lone man behind them, who stood at the open door of his bakery. The man scampered back inside upon seeing Phillip's glare, and the realization that the thrown muffin failed to stroke home finally sunk in. Phillip turned around just in time to avoid Mei's suspicion as she passed him his piece before running forward to give Kiana hers. Phillip bit into the piece and lamented the taste.

Of course. Pumpkin bread.

October 29, 12:15 pm

Kiana stared up at the book in her hands, irritation radiating from her as she laid on her back on the cement bench. After only a few moments, she dropped the book and made sure to voice her displeasure.

"Ugh!"

Phillip, seated on the ground next to her, rose his right hand and jabbed her in the side with the index finger. She grunted at this and glared at him, something he ignored in favor of the book in his other hand.

Mei let out a sigh before closing her own book. "Maybe we should stop for now. Kiana-san doesn't seem to be grasping the lessons from this."

"She won't grasp them at all if we give up too easily," Phillip started before putting the book down despite his words. "Though, I will agree on the fact that I'm growing bored on this."

Kana sat up immediately, sparkles in her eyes. "Does this mean we're going to start eating now?" From Phillip's sigh and Mei's nod, Kiana started salivating. "Yes! Mei's cooking is the bestest in the world!"

Phillip contained a slight smirk before looking over at Kiana with mocked hurt in his eyes. "Oh, so you're giving up your portion of my food? Good to know."

"Wha-?! No!"

Phillip let out a brief chuckle at this before grabbing his backpack, which was leaning off to his left, and pulling out a clear container with a red lid. The second Phillip moved it close to Kiana, she snagged it from him and started munching down.

Mei shook her head at this, a hint of worry for the Kaslana. "Honestly, Kiana, you should really learn some take manners. It's impolite." Mei pulled out two bento boxes, causing Kiana to increase her already rapid pace only to show when Mei spoke once more. "I've added several vegetables to your meal. It's not healthy to only eat meats."

"But… Mei-senpai-" Kiana started, food still stuffed in her mouth. She was stopped when Mei got closer and flicked her forehead, causing Kana to flinch at the sudden action.

"No 'buts,' and don't talk with your mouth full." With this out of the way, Mei placed the blue bento box next to Kiana and held the red one out to Phillip, who accepted it graciously. The aroma alone would be enough to drive anyone hungry, much less Phillip, thanks to his enhanced senses.

Mei had grown incredibly as a chief, quickly replacing Phillip as the main cook. From the girl who needed maids for the simple things to one of the best in the city, if not the entire world. Everything she cooked seemed to come out perfectly, from simple vegetables to gourmet meals; she perfected the craft of cooking.

The only thing that ruined the moment would be Kiana's attempts at taking the food away.

"Thank you, Mei-san," Phillip said as he moved the food out of Kiana's reach, prompting her to move and try again. They played this little cat-and-mouse game for several minutes, causing Phillip to miss the flash of disappointment in Mei's eyes.

Once Phillip grew fed up with Kiana's action, he stood up and walked over to Mei's bench. Before opening the bento box, he sat down beside Mei, causing her to brighten considerably. Taking up the chopsticks, he broke them apart and made a small prayer before digging in. The rice was perfect, the side vegetables were perfect, everything about the dish was perfect.

It was as going for a second onigiri that he heard it.

"Phillip-senpai~"

He looked up and found himself assaulted by a wide-eyed Kiana, where small tears formed at the edge of her eyes. Her lip trembled ever so slightly, something that would cause many others to fold immediately. It was evident that she was going for the signature puppy-eyed look.

However, after years of traveling and schooling his emotions, Phillip had become resistant to the effects. He stared blankly into Kiana's eyes while she clasped both hands in front of her chest. What did break through, though, was what the girl said next.

"Pwease?"

Phillip let out a sigh at this before handing over one of his four onigiris, while putting down a law. "Only one. You understand that, right?" Kiana nodded frantically before taking the food and munched on it happily. With that, the lunch resumed peacefully.

October 29, 7:50 pm

"How goes the searching?"

Guess.

Phillip sat on the floor of his bedroom, meditating in the attempt to fine-tune his new sensor ability. The reasoning for this was simple, at least for him.

He wanted to know why Mei could generate an electric storm on her own; needed to know, really. The Honkai energy she generated was odd, and he seemed to lack critical information on how it worked. He hoped to find something to sate his curiosity by training this new power. After all, it was his only power that was based on Honkai at the moment.

"I don't think you'll figure anything out by just meditating."

Any tips would help.

"Later. You have a guest to entertain."

Phillip let out a sigh and opened his eyes just as the hammering thuds of someone knocking at his door reached his ears. Standing tall, he grabbed his shift from the couch arm and put it on before starting for the door. Pulling his coat from the knob, he clothed himself with that as well before finally opening the door.

Kiana stood there, practically vibrating from excitement. "Come on, come on! It's time to get going!"

Phillip barely opened his mouth to respond when Kiana grabbed his wrist and dragged him down to the stairs. She stopped doing so at the top to fly down the stairs by herself. Rotating his wrist a little to relieve some stress, Phillip followed at a much slower pace. By the time he reached the bottom, Kiana was already outside by the black limo of Mei's chauffeur.

"Hey, have you ever thought to, I don't know, ask the man for his name?"

… I'll try at some point in the future.

Phillip walked outside to join them, catching Kiana chatting up Mei outside the limo about costumes and what they would wear. The chauffeur - "I'm telling you; you need to learn his sooner rather than later" - stayed seated in the limo and took looks at his watch on occasion. Mei waved him over upon seeing him, so Phillip moved towards the two, stopping on Kiana's left.

"Are you two ready?"

Mei nodded. "I'm just glad we found that place yesterday. Finding costumes would have been impossible otherwise."

During their free time yesterday, they had found a costume store that wasn't exactly picky on their customers due to running from Mei's crazier haters. While the staff members did know of Mei's situation, they were, thankfully, neutral on the matter. While Mei did try to defend her father whenever any of the staff spoke, no one found interest in kicking them out to the hounds.

Thus, they found a new sanctum from the chaos.

"You can thank me now," Kiana said, pride printed on her face. "I take payment in cookies."

Phillip turned to her with a blank expression. "Kiana, the only reason we ran was because you enraged them by throwing a rock at them."

"They were saying some mean things about Mei-senpai! Besides, it didn't hit anyone."

Mei shook her head at this. "No, but you could have seriously hurt someone with that, Kiana-chan. You could have been arrested for assault then and..." Mei drifted off as if a terrible revelation overcame her. She took several breathes before focusing on Kiana with a stern expression. "Never do something like that again."

Kiana pouted at this but relented not soon later. "Fine. Because it's Mei-senpai, I'll agree."

Mei relaxed at this but tensed up again almost immediately when several thumps were heard on the other side of the limo. Phillip noticed a group of bikes roll past while laughing. Looking through the window, it was easy to see what had happened.

Eggs were now plastered on the opposite side of the limo. Yellow yolk dribbled down the windows to the ground with only small fragments of the brown eggshells remaining. Luckily, no one was hit, but the chauffeur seemed peeved.

The atmosphere dampened quickly at this. Mei was now staring down at the ground, muttering apologizes to the three, Kiana rounded the limo to scoop up whatever remains were on the ground and tossed them at the fleeing people, and the chauffeur was on the phone with the police.

Phillip remained next to Mei. "Mei, calm down. No one was hurt by them, and damage is cleanable."

"I know, but…." Mei trailed off, her eyes glued to the ground. "I should have known they were going to do this. If I'm involved with anything, they always-"

"It doesn't matter now." Phillip reached for the door on their side and opened it. "Let's get out of here before more morons show up."

Mei begrudgingly entered the vehicle, obviously still stressed over the current situation. Kiana entered on the street side, keeping Mei on one side as she took the middle. Thus, Phillip moved into the street to get to the remaining seat. Before entering, he shot a look to a nearby building, where a clone of his stood at the top of a close skyscraper. The clone nodded before bolting further into the city.

Once he was in, Kiana passed him a used napkin, stained yellow by the yolk on her hands. Phillip looked at her with a blank expression which she responded by sticking her tongue at him. Mei nudged her with the rim of a tissue box, to which Kiana flinched at, before passing Phillip a package of napkins.

Upon wiping his hands off, Phillip dropped the napkins into a waste bin that stood in the narrow space between him and the chauffeur's backseat. The group finally relaxed as the limo started down the road. After a while, though, they encountered an odd problem.

"Were there supposed to be any showers today?" Mei asked as drops of water started hammering against the limo.

"Forget about that! Why is it so heavy?!"

Kiana's question was left unanswered when the rain disappeared just as quickly as it came. The chauffeur pressed some buttons on the middle console and told them there were no damages. The only thing different was that the eggs were washed away.

While the others were wondering about the freak incident, Phillip sent a telepathic message to his clone.

Thank you.

Outside the store

The three now stood in front of the store, each with various expressions.

Kiana was ecstatic, rambunctious energy radiating out of her every pore. Mei was less happy, eyes growing sullen as she found new messages coming from her bullies written on the store's walls. Phillip… was just expressionless as before, though he felt exhausted from the idea alone.

Kiana wasted no time dragging Mei into the store, pushing the glass panels of the doors inward as she did. Phillip simply let out a sigh before following them far slower. He watched Kiana as she ducked behind two rows of costumes. By the time he got close, Kiana had already exited at the other end and headed towards the back for the changing booths. Phillip shook his head and started following.

He found Mei standing outside of one of the booths. Seeing his raised brow, she explained. "Kiana-san asked me to wait for her."

Phillip nodded at this before gesturing to the purple cloth in her arms. "I see you found a costume."

"We picked them out during our first visit," Mei started, shuffling slightly in mild embarrassment. "Though, Kiana-san was the one to pick this out for me."

"Well then, let's hope Kiana knows your preferences enough by now."

"Hey! I'll have you know I've got excellent taste."

Phillip and Mei turned to Kiana, who now wore a black onesie with feet and a hood with cat ears. She has gloves that were oversized cat paws, and her face was decorated with whiskers and a fake pink nose.

Phillip looked at her with a deadpan expression before turning back to Mei. "I suggest you find a different costume."

"HEY!"

Mei let out a giggle at this, her posture easing at Kiana's indignant cry. "Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll give it a try." With that, Mei walked past Kiana but gave Kiana a compliment of being "cute" before she entered the booth.

Kiana stuck her tongue at Phillip, a smug grin on her face, before settling on standing in Mei's original place. "Where's your costume?"

Phillip shot her a raised brow. "Didn't we settle this conversation yesterday?"

"Wait, you were serious?" She gained a look of eating sour fish. "Who doesn't do Halloween?"

"What do you care?"

Kiana blatantly ignored his dismissive comment and began looking him up and down. After a few sweeping scans, she said, "Hey, ditch the ugly jacket for a second."

"Um, no?"

Phillip took a couple of paces back, trying to avoid the intrusive gaze of the Kaslana. A moment later, Mei exited the booth, and Phillip found several problems with the costume.

The purple cloth from before was revealed to be a robe that fell to her ankles, matched with a purple witch hat. The robe, however, was extremely form-fitting, hugging her every curve while emphasizing her chest. Mei seemed to know this, as her face was utterly flushed as she tugged at places to get the cloth out from under certain areas.

Phillip spun on his heels to avoid staring while Kiana sent Mei a thumbs-up appraisal with blood dripping from her nose.

"Please!" Mei cried, eyes closed as her face flushed even more. "I'd like a different costume now!"

"What?! But this one's great!"

"Kiana-chan!"

"Wait, I've been upgraded to chan now?"

"Phillip-kun, please."

He turned and tossed her a similar costume that should be bigger. After her second attempt, Mei was wearing a more modest version of the costume at the same length.

Kiana let out a whine at this. "It was better looking when I picked it."

Phillip shook his head before looking entirely at Mei. "Are you good to go?"

Mei tilted her head, seemingly confused about something. "What about your costume? Should you not get one as well?"

"I don't participate in Halloween anymore."

"Oh," Mei said, her expression going gloomy at that moment. "I'm sorry."

"Now look what you've done," Kiana complained, a scowl on her face. "You gonna ruin a girl's night because you're being selfish."

Phillip pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing very well that Kiana was trying to guilt-trip him. With Mei acting as an unintentional aid, it was unsurprisingly effective.

"Fine. I'll do it this year."

"Great!" Kiana exclaimed, completely pumped up. "Now, get rid of the jacket."

"Denied. I'll find something that doesn't compromise my outfit."

Kiana slumped at this. "What? Come on, it's not like your hiding anything, Mister Flabs."

Phillip rolled his eyes and looked out into the store that he could see. Noting a crate, he walked over to see the content, finding a plethora of masks. Pulling a white one with a stretched-out mouth and black cloth for eyes, he returned to the girls and held it up to his face for judgment.

Kiana was evident in her opinion. "Cheapskate."

"It does seem rather cheap," Mei agreed before giving the mask another serious look. "Though, it does seem creepy against your all-black uniform."

"Mei-senpai, don't encourage this!"

Phillip dropped his arm to his side. "Well, I think I'm done here. Ready to head out?"

The two changed back into their original clothing, though Kiana did so with a big huff. They took their items to the counter and, despite Mei's insistence, Phillip covered the costs.

As they walked out of the store, Phillip spotted three bikes heading their way with cartons on their backs. When they started reaching back to the cartons, Phillip acted. He pulled three pebbles from his pockets and tossed them faster than anyone could see. Some popped tires later, the three came to a halt, confused as to why they were forced.

Mei was the first to notice, showing concern to the group that were still several feet down the street. "Should we help them?"

Phillip shook his head. "Nothing we can help them with, anyway. Unless the limo has spare tires for bikes."

Kiana squinted down to the group. "Hey, aren't they the idiots from before?"

Deciding to get out of the place before Kiana starts enough scene, Phillip took both girls by the wrist and dragged them to the limo. Kiana still fired a few rude gestures at the group before being pushed into the limo. Once Phillip had gotten in, they took off down the road.

While Mei and Kiana talked to each other about odds and ends, Phillip closed his eyes to sleep the ride through. However, there was one being who still desired to speak.

"I believe it's time for an offensive approach."

Where do I go? Phillip thought, keeping his excitement contained.

Phillip felt the smile Gabriel when he spoke. "Are you ready to go back to work?"

Gonna be honest, this is probably going to feel like filler.

It was taking way too long to get out due to not feeling good, but I can't let that stop me.

Hopefully, this will tide you over until the next chapter.

Until then, see ya.