December 18th, 7:00 am,
Phillip's eyes fluttered open as he woke, trying to erase the groggy feeling that still lingered. His nights of sleep were relatively common to be dreamless, primarily thanks to Gabriel's assistance. If it wasn't, he was either training with the angel or had to witness the more problematic aspects of dreaming. He thanked Gabriel for the minor blessing in his head while the sleepy feeling slowly faded.
Once the feeling cleared enough for his senses to be less obstructed, Phillip became acutely aware of limbs wrapped around him: two around his legs and one crossing over his chest while a hand rested on his right shoulder. He deduced their source from their placement and turned his head to the left to find a mop of red hair.
"The hell are you doing in my bed?!" Phillip yelled loud enough to cause Himeko to jump back and fall off the bed, dragging the white bedsheet with her. Phillip looked down at his legs and noted that his pajama pants were undisturbed, so he set his sights on the fallen woman.
Himeko laid hunched over, one hand rubbing her head while another tended to her back. The bed sheet covered most of her body, but enough skin was seen to know that she was completely naked underneath it.
"Why did you do that?" Himeko asked before hissing and leaning her head further into her hand. "Goddamn hangover."
Phillip gave a flat glare at the fallen major. "Why are you in my room?"
"Mine is too cold," Himeko replied. "I got shot down again last night, so I wanted a warm body to cuddle with."
Phillip pinched the bridge of his nose once more. "This better not be a recurring thing." He looked at the redhead with the same flat stare as before. "Take the bedsheet and head to your room. Once you're done, bring it back here folded and place it on my bed."
Himeko twisted onto her side without losing the bedsheet and gave Phillip a raised brow. "What makes you think you can command me in my own-" A sudden chill went down her spine when Phillip lost the flat expression, and a death glare replaced it. It took her only a couple of seconds to get to her feet, and she rushed for the door on the other end of the room on the left side, the bedsheet trailing behind her.
Phillip sighed before sliding his legs to the edge of the bed and standing up, his feet pressed against the cold wooden floor. He pressed his right hand against his neck and rotated it. Several pops sounded at the action as Phillip walked over to the dark oak dresser at his right. He opened it with a light pull and got ready for the day.
Hallway of the bedrooms,
"Time to wake up, Kiana. I'm gonna make breakfast."
Phillip rapped several times on the wooden door of one bedroom of several in a long hallway. After a thud was heard from inside the room, Phillip backed away and moved to the stairs around the corner. He moved down them at a quick pace, turned into the two-floor apartment's living room, and dived into the kitchen.
Phillip quickly searched through the cupboards for anything that was quick and easy to make. After a few minutes of searching the ones along the outer wall, he found some pancake mix that hadn't been opened, so he pulled that out. Nothing was found in the cupboards facing the living room, so Phillip simply opened the door to the standard white refrigerator and pulled the necessary items for pancakes.
The task took only a few minutes to complete the mix, but Phillip's focus quickly sharpened to the minor job. Soon, he was utterly, unintentionally, enraptured by the process that, by the time he started baking the pancakes in the pan, he never noticed the person behind him at least, until they poked his shoulder.
Phillip jumped violently, sending the pancake to the ceiling, and spun around with the burning cast-iron pan set to strike. He slowed down mid-swing, realizing that no one close by should be dangerous, and stopped the pan just before impact with the perpetrator's cheek.
"… Da Bronya has counted approximately 40 minutes have passed since breakfast operations had begun," Bronya said with the same monotonous voice as she usually had, as if not fazed by the sudden action. " Pancake production has reached critical levels." Bronya looked past Phillip to a plate of already cooked pancakes stacked into a tower, dead set on touching the ceiling.
Phillip blinked twice at the tower, bringing the pan back into position just before the flying pancake could hit the stove, before bringing a fist to his forehead, realizing what had just happened.
I did it again, didn't I?
"Zone out?" Gabriel asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Oh, absolutely. You're also subconsciously channeling fire chakra to your hands to cook quicker."
Phillip scowled and placed the rubber spatula, the handle now melted into a barely recognizable mess, into the silver sink nearby and the pan black on the stove. He then grabbed a paper towel from a holder on the wooden countertop and scrubbed off the muck on his hand as he cut off the floor of chairs to his hand.
"Sorry," Phillip apologized once he had finished cleaning up and stuffed the towel into his pocket for now. "It's a bad habit of mine that I'm trying to kick."
Bronya nodded at this. "Da Bronya was simply trying to prevent the flood of Kiana Idiotka's drool."
Phillip looked up from Bronya and noted Kiana seated at the white wooden table in the small dining room. She had both a knife and fork in hand, stars for eyes, and a waterfall of saliva coming out of her mouth. Phillip also noticed that the table was perfectly set, with silverware and white plates placed for the group of five.
"Goddamn it, I zoned out hard," Phillip grumbled. After a couple of seconds of sulking over his lapse in judgment, he then decided to address the single missing thing there and spoke loud enough for the two to hear him. "Have either of you two seen Mei?"
"Da Bronya detected no activity from Mei-neesama's room," Bronya stated, with some worry in her eyes. "Scans suggested natural sleep, however."
"I'll go wake her up!" As was typical, Kiana snapped out of her food lust when Mei was mentioned.
"You can sit tight," Phillip demanded as he walked past Bronya and dodged past the island in the kitchen. "I'll see how Mei's doing. You two can-" Phillip paused as he stepped past the table. He looked sideways at the tower of pancakes and cringed at the sight. "J-Just give me a second. I'll be right back."
With that rushed sentence, Phillip exited the kitchen and headed up the nearby stairs.
Phillip walked down the corridor to the back, stopping at the last door on the right. He raised his right hand and knocked his middle knuckle against the dark wood.
"Mei, are you awake?" There was no answer to the question, causing Phillip's hand to drift down to the golden knob immediately. Before he pushed it open, however, Phillip took a breath and extended his senses to determine if the girl was still inside.
Like Bronya stated, the girl was lying still on the bed as if asleep. Her breath was steady, indicating no stress for the young lady. However, she would have woken up before any of them if she was okay.
With this in mind, Phillip opened the door and walked in.
The room was a carbon copy of his own, which was a given since none of them had any time to customize their bedroom. At the far end of the room, against the outer wall, was Mei's bed.
Phillip walked over to the bed and looked down at the peaceful of the sleeping beauty. From that one glance, he almost wanted to let the girl sleep. However, Phillip knew that there was some kind of event that might need her attention. Due to this, he sat down beside the girl and gave her a soft push.
"Mei, it's time to wake up." There was no response, not even slight movement, to his action. Phillip made to give another, stronger, push but stopped when Gabriel spoke up.
"Oh, I know what's going on. Thought they would have overcome this by now."
Phillip retracted his hand as an annoyed expression adjusted on his face. Excuse me?
"Sorry about this, but could you play tie-breaker for a quick second," Gabriel asked as a snap sounded out from Phillip's head. "It should go by quicker with you there."
Phillip couldn't react to this question as he lost consciousness almost immediately. He slumped over and landed on something that cushioned his fall before the unconscious realm consumed him.
Unconscious Realm
"You ruined my life!"
"Your life was already in taters long before I appeared."
Phillip started up as these two voices entered his ears. One was enraged and yelled out to express this, while the other remained calm and carried a rather smug tone. He blinked a couple of times to restore his vision and turned his head to the left, where the voices came from.
Two Mei's stood in a clearing of the subconscious realm's pillar forest, facing each other. One had a leg back, as if ready to pounce at the other, while the second floated with crossed legs and her head laid on her right fist.
Phillip groaned slightly as he pushed himself off his pillar pillow and moved toward the girls. They didn't hear him, insisting on continuing the argument from before. So, when he was close enough, he spoke loud enough to drown down the yells.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
The agitated Mei jumped at his voice and spun towards Phillip quickly. "P-Phillip-kun?! What are you-?"
"I thought so," the floating Mei said, giving him only a side glance before allowing her feet to touch the ground. "I knew that so-called 'angel' would eventually interfere." A strong wind blew through, sending a dust cloud covering the group. A minute later, it dispersed to show that only this Mei to entirely covered in dust while the other two were untouched.
"Word to the wise," Phillip stated, now seeing the big picture of the current situation. "Gabriel likes instant retribution against aggressors." He took a couple of glances between the two before speaking his thoughts. "So, I'm guessing Gabriel asked you two to talk everything out?"
The Mei facing him spoke, ignoring the rapid shaking her twin was doing. "Gabriel-san wanted us to try to fix our relationship, but… I just can't…."
Phillip walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I get it. It's hard to accept something like that." Phillip then looked over to the other Mei, who had finished dusting herself off. "On the other side of things, I thank you for trying to protect Mei, even if it was in your way."
The Herrscher gave him a miffed expression as if offended by the idea. "I would never protect a coward like her. You're a lunatic if you think I'd do something so degrading."
Mei opened her mouth, possibly to snap back at her Herrscher counterpart, but Phillip paused her with a raised hand.
"I apologize, then, for misreading you," Phillip said with a knowing smile on his face. "Regardless, Mei and I need to return to the other side for now for breakfast."
Mei's eyes widened in surprise at this revelation. "Oh, I didn't realize so much time had passed! I'm sorry for keeping everyone waiting," She shot the Herrscher a nasty glance, who waved the offense away.
"Yes, fine, go feed the friends of the failure," the Herrscher suggested before walking up to Phillip. "Before you leave, however, I want to give you something."
Phillip tilted his head in confusion but nodded nonetheless. "Alright. What do you need?"
"Nothing much," the Herrscher admitted with a smirk, latching onto Phillip's collar with a single hand. "Just something for you to remember me by." With a yank, the Herrscher pulled Phillip closer to interlock her lips with his.
Phillip's eyes widened for a split second before he pulled back for the kiss to deepen any farther. With a blush, Phillip took Mei, who had a blank look on her face at the situation, by the hand and dragged her off deeper into the pillar forest, where they would fade out of the realm.
In the haste of his retreat, Phillip missed a rather odd reaction from the Herrscher. She traced her lips with a finger as a sultry expression graced her face. She stared at the retreating humans in excitement and a hint of lust.
"Oh, I'm going to need more of that."
In Mei's bedroom, no time has passed.
Phillip woke up with a start and found himself lying sideways on the bed, a massive lump of the bed pressed against his stomach. Pressing his hands against the mattress beside his head, Phillip pushed himself up and looked over his situation.
Apparently, when Gabriel caused him to go unconscious, Phillip fell sideways, landing stomach-to-stomach with Mei. When the girl let out a sudden groan, he scrambled away from her body, afraid she might get the wrong idea. She opened her eyes to find him standing next to her bed, eyes averted away from her.
"Oh, Phillip-kun," Mei yawned as she sat up, the white sheet dropping to reveal the black tank top she wore to sleep. "I'm sorry I slept in. I just had this weird dream."
"I get it," Phillip said, turning his back to her. "We should hurry, though. Kiana might take all the pancakes if we don't." After a few minutes, he didn't hear any movement from Mei. So, Phillip turned around to see what was going on.
Mei was still sitting there, eyes containing a far-away look as a blush grew more apparent on her face. Phillip reached over and tapped her shoulder, causing the girl to jump back as the blush instantly flooded her face.
"I-I'm sorry," Mei nearly screamed as she tried to fight down the blush. "The, um, Herrscher in me is trying to make me do something... inappropriate." Somehow, the blush seemed to increase at that moment. "D-Don't worry about too much."
Phillip nodded at this and took a couple of steps towards the door. Before he got far, however, something latched itself to him. He turned around and found Mei, a pair of white shorts covering her, with a hand on his sleeve, and her blush receded to her cheeks.
"Could I ask something?" Phillip nodded, not sure as to what Mei's request would be. "What happened when I was asleep, that happened, right?"
"Yes," Phillip responded, his own blush appearing in remembrance. "Why do you ask?"
Mei looked down in contemplation and then pulled herself closer to him. "Do you mind if I... try something?" Seeing the girl grow steadily closer, Phillip felt the need to step back. Instead, he tempered this feeling and gave a nod, allowing Mei to get even closer. "Could you... close your eyes, please?"
Phillip begrudgingly allowed this, hoping whatever Mei wanted was quick. A moment had passed before anything happened, and when it did, Phillip nearly jolted back when something soft touched his lips. He opened his eyes and found Mei right in front of him, eyes closed as she kissed him.
Phillip kept calm for the first couple of minutes of the action. He guessed she wanted to counter what the Herrscher did prior, so he would allow the girl to accomplish what she wanted without rejecting her immediately. However, once Mei started licking at his lips, and an odd feeling of dread flowed through him, Phillip pulled away with a slight blush on his face.
"Okay, I think that's going too far," Phillip stated, trying to keep a neutral expression as he gave her a quick look-over. "Come on, let's-" He stopped prematurely when he noticed something off about Mei.
Mei's eyes held a far-off look while she took ragged, heavy pants for air. Phillip doubted a simple kiss would have this effect, so he tried to source the feeling of dread. After a moment, he realized what had happened that caused it.
While the Herrscher interaction had been relatively short, there was a small instance where Phillip had felt a slight pull from within directed towards the being. Thankfully, he pulled away before it grew too big of a problem, but now it was different. He allowed several minutes to pass by this time, so the draw was far more discreet and flowed out. It didn't take long for him to understand what was pulled from him.
It was chakra, and this was the effect it had on Herrschers. Rather than warping the body to compensate for the new energy, it seemed to produce some kind of intoxication, blinding the mind as they subconsciously tried to drain more of it. Phillip wasn't willing to find out how much they could take before the effects became more monstrous.
"Mei, snap out of it," Phillip said sternly, preparing his body for the worst. Sure enough, Mei didn't respond with kindness. Instead, she lunged at him with wild desire and lust. Phillip ducked under the pounce, getting behind the girl quickly, and grabbed the back of her shirt. He then landed a hand chop to the side of her neck. This sent her unconscious, and she would have hit the floor if Phillip wasn't holding her by the shirt.
Phillip laid her against the floor and tried to determine the best course of action. Using chakra healing was out, as the Honkai energy would probably siphon from the healing to both empower itself and make Mei worse for it. However, if he tried the other method, the entire campus would have to handle him in a similar situation.
Just before he settled on a choice, Gabriel made his presence known. "I'll purify her this time. Make sure you remember today and help her contain her Herrscher side."
Yeah, yeah, Phillip thought back. A second later, Mei glowed an ethereal white for a brief moment and was awoken by the time the light faded. She slowly sat up and shook her head, staring disbelievingly at her feet. When Mei picked her head up and looked at him, she quickly scampered to her feet and fled the room.
Phillip groaned at this and pressed his right hand over his right eye. I just make things worse, don't I?
"Eh, it will be fine."
10:00 am, Western Side of the Island
It didn't get better.
Phillip thought this as Himeko guided the group to a helipad along the western side of the campus. Mei kept to the front of them, ensuring she looked forward and not glancing back at him. Phillip sighed and recalled the memories of the last remnants of that morning.
Once Phillip had come down from the bedroom hallway, he had found Mei in the kitchen using what was left of the pancake batter to replace the ones lost to Kiana's appetite (the tower then decimated down to only a few). When Phillip tried to patch things up, Mei sent a searing pancake at him, with only a half-hearted apology for the action as she continued her work.
After a somewhat awkward breakfast, Himeko (who was dressed in the same outfit as yesterday) alerted them that there was something needed of her and Theresa. Thus, they all went to the same place to start the day. Kiana insisted that Mei, Phillip, and her all stuck together for the walk, but Mei forced that plan down with the idea of her leading the group. When Kiana tried to fight back, she was quickly shot down with a single glance. Thus, the group moved to their location with Mei in the front, Kiana and Bronya chatting/arguing in the middle, and Phillip taking the rear.
Honestly, Phillip wasn't sure if Mei was angry at him, herself, or the Herrscher. Either way, she wouldn't let Phillip fix the situation, and it was annoying him something fierce. He promised himself to get closer to her once they had stopped.
Luckily, it wouldn't take long before the group reached the helipad. Several other students, apparently coming back for a day for whatever reason, had come, including that purple-haired girl from before. The group settled into the middle of them, where just enough space was given to them. With a sweeping glance, Phillip noted Theresa and Himeko coming up from the right side of the students and took their places before the students and the gray, metal helipad. Before anything came, they all stood and stared out at the blue waters of the lake the campus was on.
Seeing the opportunity, Phillip prodded both Kiana's and Bronya's shoulders. When the two turned to him, he pointed past them and at Mei. Bronya immediately knew what he wanted and stepped aside. Kiana, however, stared at Mei with confusion and concern. After a couple of minutes, Kiana mimicked Bronya's action and allowed Phillip through.
Phillip quietly got behind Mei and tapped her on the shoulder. When she spun wildly to face him, Phillip brought a finger to his lips to keep her silent. He positioned himself at her right side and settled into a lax standing position. Mei simply faced the waters in wait, allowing the whispers of the other students to disappear between them.
"…Are you mad at me?" Phillip asked after a few more minutes of silence. A few more minutes passed before Mei responded with a shake of her head. "Alright then, are you mad at yourself?"
Mei looked at him with utter horror etched on her face as tears started to pool in the corner of her eyes. "I... I almost-"
Phillip wasted little time moving close and wrapping the girl into a tight hug. The two stayed together for a brief moment, only for Mei to start shuffling with the intent to escape his hold.
"N-No!" Mei exclaimed, earning the attention of the closer students as she started pounding her fists into Phillip's chest. "I can't be near you, or I'll-"
"Mei." The calm and stern tone Phillip gave as he whispered paused Mei and forced her to lock eyes with him. He leaned forward and touched his forehead with hers before continuing. "I'm going to help you to control it. So, don't block me out until then."
"B-But-"
"Hey!" They parted at the whispered exclamation at their side. They turned to it and found Kiana standing there with a pout on her face. "Are you two making up for whatever happened this morning?"
Phillip gave Mei a brief side-glance before responding. " We're... we're working on it."
"Well, can you do it soon?" Kiana asked- no, demanded - as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. "If you two are gonna be my husband and wife, you're gonna have to be nicer to each other."
Mei gawked at this as a blush appeared across her cheeks and tried to convince Kiana to drop the idea through her stutters. However, Phillip decided a bolder action was necessary and brought a hand chop down hard onto Kiana's dense skull.
"Owie!"
"Stay with Bronya for now, Kiana," Phillip suggested to Kiana, who rubbed her head with a whimper. "Mei and I still have things to talk about."
Kiana begrudgingly returned to Bronya's side to receive the younger girl's taunts. Phillip and Mei watched as the two delved into their linguistical war and let out a sigh together. The two turned to look at each other and shared a smile before turning back towards the helipad center.
Phillip decided to speak again once another few minutes passed. "I'll do whatever's in my power to ensure that what happened before doesn't happen again, so don't worry about it too much. You can still rely on me if you want."
Mei didn't respond verbally, pressing her left hand over her heart instead. Deciding it was best to comfort her just a little more, Phillip took her right hand into his left and gave a light squeeze. Mei's eyes widened in surprise for a moment but calmed a second later into the most relieved Phillip had seen her since earlier this morning. With the tension finally gone, the group waited silently for the coming aircraft.
10:25 am,
"Finally," Himeko muttered in relief as a gray steel helicopter appeared over the horizon. Over twenty minutes had passed since everyone had gotten there. Kiana and Mei started talking with the surrounding students to give the time while the purple-haired girl simply pulled out a book to read. Bronya sat down on the sidewalk of the closest building (a few feet away from the group) and simply hugged her HOMU plush tightly, leaving Phillip and the teachers to stare off at the coming helicopter.
With the awaited arrival of the helicopter imminent, Theresa waved the students to silence their conversations and gathered those that wandered off. When everyone was back in place, everyone watched as the copter crossed the lake and settled down parallel to them onto the helipad, releasing a powerful gust of wind against the group.
Once the helicopter blades slowed to a crawl and the wind died down, Himeko ran swiftly over to the rear seat door and yanked it open. An occupant stepped out, and Phillip's heart dropped into his stomach once he saw who it was.
It was him, the man that walked into ME Corp so many nights ago, back before Nagazora was reduced to ash. The man greeted Himeko with a slight gesture, something she responded to with a straight back and salute, and stretched his arms out wide to hug Theresa. Soon, as Theresa struggled vainly against the man's hold, the fear Phillip felt suddenly shifted into blinding rage that boiled over almost immediately.
Before Phillip could act on this feeling, he found himself back in the pillar forest of the subconscious realm. Typically, this would be when he would rage out and destroy the environment to subdue his anger. This time, however, the anger was well beyond salvaging. Thus, Phillip sat down on the ground cross-legged and stared off into the starry sky as he waited for the angel's return.
Outside of the subconscious realm,
"That man seems nice," Mei stated, smiling at how lovingly the blonde man hugged Theresa and how joyously he exclaimed about his "precious granddaughter".
"Yes. Quite."
Mei's eyes narrowed in suspicion as these words flowed from Phillip's mouth. She looked at the boy and noticed how he shook ever so slightly as if a nasty chill flew past him just now. The boy's eyes showed silver rather than the original's brown.
"You're not Phillip-kun."
Gabriel let out a "shhh" at this statement. "Don't say that out loud!" He glanced around to see if anyone had heard Mei before addressing the situation. "Phillip is on time-out before he attacks the Overseer."
Mei's eyes widened in surprise and looked back at Theresa and the Overseer, the latter having dropped his hug and pulled out a list to go over with the principal. "Why? Is there something wrong with the Overseer?"
"We may have seen him go to ME Corp after your father fled the country," Gabriel said, crossing Phillip's arm as he watched the scene with interest. "And I might have seen him make a deal with Cocolia."
Mei took a step away from the helipad, fear replacing her surprise, as she ducked behind Gabriel to avoid any notice of the man next to Theresa. "W-What did he want? Why did he..."
"He wasn't interested in you, actually," Gabriel admitted, eyes never wavering from the Overseer's form as the man pointed out several key things on his list that seemed to embarrass Theresa. "The Overseer seemed keener on learning about Phillip instead, so he offered to help Cocolia for some samples of Phillip's DNA."
"Why?"
Gabriel shrugged in Bronya's direction when Mei asked this. "Ask Bronya. She was the one to get the samples to begin with." As Mei contemplated the idea, Gabriel motioned toward the helicopter door, as the other passenger slowly climbed out. "Besides, you should have more concern for our other guest."
Mei looked back at the helipad and, with even more terror than before, saw that the pink-haired woman from Nagazora stepped out clumsily, almost tripping over as she did. The woman seemed somewhat dizzy from the flight, possibly experiencing some motion sickness, as she leaned against the helicopter for some support.
"Why-"
A clap interrupted the question Mei had, drawing attention to the source. Theresa had finally pulled away from her doting grandfather and was set to address the reasons for such a visit. "Alright, students. The Overseer of Schicksal would like to explain why he had made such an impromptu visit."
"I see you wish to get to the point, my dear Theresa," the Overseer said with a tone between disappointment and sadness as he rolled up his list. "I will do so, however, if not to get the stage set for my esteemed guest." He cleared his throat and raised his voice in order to be heard by all before him.
"To those that don't know me, my name is Otto Apocalypse, current overseer of the Schicksal Forces," Otto stated, gazing over all the students, his gaze changing slightly from stoic to interest when glancing over Phillip and his group. "As my granddaughter has explained, my visit was an unscheduled action, so I'll say my piece and head back to HQ."
"First, I wish to address the newest students to the campus." Otto locked his eyes on Phillip's group. Gabriel uncrossed his arms and returned the gaze with a glare while Mei stayed behind Phillip to evade detection. Kiana stepped closer and puffed out her chest, confidence brimming off of her, while Bronya simply gave a salute to the man.
"On normal occasions, males worthy enough to become Knights would be sent to HQ to receive their training. However, due to the circumstance my dear Theresa has alerted me of, I will allow the one named Phillip to stay here for his." Gabriel started to analyze the situation, wondering what the words of the Overseer meant. Regardless of this, he relaxed his stance and recrossed his arms.
"Along with this, there's something I wish to speak about to one Raiden Mei." Mei flinched at this but still stepped out from behind her protector, despite the sudden surge of wishes spreading amongst the students. "I had the resources in Schicksal to investigate the accusations made against your father. All of the have come up false, and the evidence was brought to courts." Otto sent the girl a calm and caring smile. "You'd be happy to know that your father is now a free man."
Mei froze at this; the words spoken seemingly stunned her. Even when Kiana tackle-hugged her and Gabriel placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort, she didn't move as tears started to stream down her face.
"Now, on to the second reason as to why I'm here." Otto gestured to the pink-haired lady, who cleared out her sickness and walked stably over to him. "This young lady is Yae Sakura, a friend of mine and a survivor of the Nagazora incident. I have added her to the school as a teacher assistant, so please treat her respectfully."
The students gave brief applause at the announcement, leading to Otto sending Sakura over to Himeko, who began explaining the course of action to her.
"Well, now, I believe that is everything," Otto said, placing his arms behind his back and heading back to the helicopter. "Keep your faith strong, and remember: we will defeat the Honkai."
All the students, excluding Phillip's group, all saluted at this and held it even when Otto entered the helicopter and it began to take off; the teachers already have fled to safer places. Only when the aircraft was long gone, back over the horizon, did the saluting stop and the students swarm the newer group.
"Mei! If your dad is out, could we get a mansion tour?"
"A Knight! An honest-to-god Knight!"
"Get a touch in! See how he feels!"
Before any of the students could get handsy (Gabriel fleeing and forcing Phillip to take the blow instead), a whistle pierced the air and paused them all. They all turned back to the helipad to find Himeko standing there, clipboard in hand, and an expression that could terrify most people.
"I see we have some returnees today," Himeko stated, causing some students to gulp. "Good. I know most of you need a kick in the ass regarding training, so you can come with the newbies and me."
"Training?!" Kiana yelled back, excitement shining through. "Awesome! Time to show my Kaslana power!"
Himeko smirked evilly at this. "Easy, Pixie. You might not find it as fun as you make it out to be." The redhead stepped off the higher platform and landed with a slight thud before walking back to the square.
"Follow me quickly. Those that are late will face hell."
Well, this took far too long to get out.
Sorry for not making the two-week mark before. I hit a spot of writer's block coming through this, and all my ideas disappeared when I started writing them.
Hopefully, the next one comes out with fewer hiccups.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Have a good day, and I'll see you in the next one.