There I sat, watching a pack of Beowolves through the lens of my binoculars, recording their mannerisms. When I felt my red twintails drape over my chest, I put the binoculars down and pushed the hair behind my back before picking them back up. Good, I didn't miss anything. So those Beowolves do operate in a pack, but... apparently not in an "alpha-beta-gamma" kind of way? Like sure, there's an Alpha Beowolf, but it looks like it's delegating some of its duties to its own kind. One Beowolf is watching for enemies, two others are looking for prey, and there's the Alpha Beowolf overseeing it all.

I'll have to observe further before I can confirm for myself, but it sure doesn't look like the Beowolves are fighting to the supposed "top."

So I wrote that all down.

Meanwhile, I continued to work on my Atlesian AR-150, making sure I hadn't installed an important spring incorrectly. A few days ago, Professor Mulberry had us disassemble AR-150s. Each one had its own unique set of failed parts, and it wasn't as easy as he made it on the first day of school, but then again, this is the middle of the semester. Things were bound to get harder anyway.

Okay, the spring is secure and firm the way the gun likes it, so I started to install the handle for the Dust cartridge release.

...

Wait, it's the middle of the semester? Already? Man, time flew pretty fast. One moment, I'm getting into trouble in a forest and playing soccer with fellow students, and the next I'm learning how to build guns. I'm getting better at acting and I'm finally socializing with other people. (I didn't even get called a weirdo, which is nice!) Even four classes at once isn't as tiring as it once was!

Amazing what a little settling in can do, huh?

Anyways, where was I... Oh yeah, sooner or later Ash will probably invite me somewhere with her team, and in that case, I won't complain. I mean, come on, she's energetic, athletic, and classy-looking! I mean, she has her issues, alright? Like, for example, she can be a bit-

"Yo," wh—uhh, Ash whispered, tapping my—Emi's shoulder–"check this shit out over there"–then pointing towards a particular part of the forest.

"Eh?"

Emi raised the binoculars back to her eyes, this time focusing on where Ash had pointed. Indeed, she saw her partner's point of interest: a Boarbatusk squaring off against a grizzly bear who—oooooh—just slammed it into an unlucky tree.

"Aw, sweet!" Emi smiled, getting out a hidden small bag of snacks from inside her jacket before delving right into it, her eyes still fixed on the fighting animals.

Of course, it didn't take long for Ash to notice the bag. "May I have some?"

Emi looked insi–wait, it's already done?! Damn... were the snacks not that much, or did I seriously just eat that fast?

"Man, really?" Ash leaned in, palms together as she mock-frowned with puppy eyes. "Y'er just gonna let this little match girl starve?"

Emi silently handed her the bag.

"Thanks, bud."

As the grizzly bear and Boarbatusk wrestled on, Emi heard the... crumpling and crackling of a bag to her right? She lowered her binoculars and saw Ash chewing on the snack bag itself. I repeat, the damn snack bag! Well, I shouldn't have been surprised, anyway; she just doesn't give a shit (well, most of the time), so to her, something to chew on is something to chew on, nothing more, nothing less.

Whatever.

. . .

"Hey, y'all don't look one step away from bedtime for once!"

Wait, really? Huh, she's not wrong. I still feel the urge to rub one set of eyes since there's a bit of brain cloudy... cloudiness, fogginess? Fog, but nothing as extreme as being ready to pass out in the hallway after class, like the first few weeks here.

Well, better late than never.

"Say, why don't I give y'all a room tour?" And there it is. "Well not right now cuz, ya'know, tests."

"Sure!" Paz nodded.

The rest of Team PLET nodded as well.

"Great!" Ash started speeding down the hallway in her dress shoe heelies. I swear, she pulls off "fun in business" every time.

Right, tests. Livio should be coming to help Calfuray study down in the library while the rest of the team studies for their—and each other's (obviously)—tests. So, I started heading down to the library while I also headed back to my room. As I did, I pulled out my Scroll and started texting Calfuray.

. . .

"Good late afternoon, Mr. Pinto."

Calfuray carried a large backpack as she greeted Livio, opening the door for him.

Livio walked through the frame. "Afternoon, and thank you."

I had forgotten just how big the library is. Dozens of shelves of books awaited me, their tall presences towering over us students. There were ladders and fancy Dust-powered mobile loading platforms to help students reach books tens of feet above them. Windows and lights illuminated the area together, adding to the already huge presence of the library's interior. Of course, there's the obligatory tables and chairs that let students read and study on their own time.

But none of that would stop others from bringing in table games.

"Hello!" the head librarian said (quietly, of course.) "We hope you have a nice and relaxing time here."

"Why, thank you, ma'am." Calfuray smiled before carrying on.

The place was rather packed. I'm sure it wasn't always like this, but there were students with study materials sprawled across their spots at their tables, some trying to study tons of things in a scramble. It didn't take long to find a spot, though, but it was pretty far back.

Naturally, we got there as fast as we could without running.

And what do you know, it still was vacant! So we approached that spot and starte–

"Excuse me?"

I looked at the masculine voice saying that and saw a student standing there with white... platinum-blonde hair..? And brown eyes. Oh, I saw him in Signal too! What was his name again...

"May I sit here?" he asked politely.

I was looking for another spot when I saw another student get up and leave with her stuff... wait, was that Ozpi... nevermind, that's just a girl with short light-gray hair and the same glasses as him... "S–Sure." I gestured towards the now vacant seat.

"Thanks."

With that out of the way, we took our seats, got out our stuff, and started studying.

. . .

"My maidenly mother..." Calfuray raised her finger. "She's Queen of the family! Legend as it goes says that she has an absolutely abhorrent, forbidden eye that she keeps hidden, and my father is on the run from some dark, insidious oooh, mysterious society he used to work for."

As I studied, I saw that Calfuray was just sitting there with a pencil in her hand, already off into her own storytelling. Oh God, is she even here to study or—"But, those two parents are among the richest people in Vale!"—or what, dump all the supposed "lore" she thinks makes her—"They are the modern royalty of the land of Vale!" —Princess Sparkly Swan Charming III of the High... Order? Wait, why is her voice raising in the middle of a library? Shit, people are starting to look at her now...

I have to do something quick.

"Psst!" Livio whispered, snapping his fingers. "Whisper, please."

Luckily for him, Calfuray quickly realized that she was disrupting the students' study time, but... at what cost? She's fallen silent, and looked a little sad. I... didn't want to admit it, but maybe I fed her insecurities. As if she didn't have enough of those already!

"I'm not asking you to stop: I'm asking you to be a little quieter. Okay?"

At last, Calfuray understood, so she continued telling her story of constant twists and turns, this time with a thankfully softer voice.

"In continuance..."

As I watched on, I noticed that Calfuray was studying; her eyes would often briefly dart towards her textbooks and notebooks. Not only that, but she would scribble notes here and there, whether or not her eyes were on her textbooks. The notes are even somewhat legible, for crying out loud! Guess she's a bit of a studier and multitasker like me, huh? Telling insane stories while getting ready for her exams...

"So be it that—" Suddenly, Calfuray stopped as she looked down at her textbook, squinting. She swallowed, then looked back up to Livio, her act already dropping. Gone was the all-too-confident look on her face; now she looked afraid as she stared at her textbook, her hands clenching.

"Cal?" I asked.


D'ooooooooh, I can't understand this!

Matrices?! What even are they?! Okay, it's telling me something about scalars, entries, arrays. What the hell are these?! I ignored that and did as the book showed with different numbers, but none of this makes sense. Why do the numbers keep getting bigger? Am I getting something wrong?!

"I need help," I admitted.

Livio stared—I mean, looked—at me... patiently? "What do you need?" he asked me.

I gave him my notes and that stupid Math V textbook. "My numbers keep getting bigger and it just doesn't make sense!" I explained, but is he going to help? I don't know! So I... oh God, I dropped my act in front of him again, didn't I? I was doing sooo well as Princess Sparkly Swan Charming III of the High Order...

Wait. Princess Sparkly Swan Charming III of the High Order? That's... a mouthful. Why did I pick that name in the first place again? Oh, I didn't want to sound boring, that's why...

Great, now I can't help but wonder: should I continue being the Princess?

I have to admit, I do kind of miss that period where I was just... myself. Yeah, I was just Calfuray Fulton, dance-fighter of Signal. I made a crossbow, but I reserved that for emergencies because, well, finding new and inventive ways to hit someone in the face was usually enough for my own fighting. I've since started using my crossbow a lot more since, well... let's say Swan Lake didn't work out how I wanted.

Well, I guess this is what I get for trying to get into the fighting style I thought I wanted for only a month.

By myself.


"Matrices are grids of numbers," Livio began. "When you add to or subtract from a matrix, you add or subtract the corresponding numbers."

Livio started writing down an example problem. "For example: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right. Add them by 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively. What do you get?"

Calfuray blinked. "...6, 8, 10, and 12?"

"Correct." Livio wrote another problem. "Now, here's the same 1, 2, 3, and 4 from before, but now we subtract them by 8, 7, 6, and then 5. What would you get?"

"...-7, -5, -3, -1?"

"Correct." Livio smiled. "Next, multiplication and division. If you multiply a matrix by a number, or a number by a matrix, it works like adding and subtracting matrices."

"Uh-huh..."

Livio raised a finger for a bit. "Now listen closely: if you multiply a matrix by another matrix, that's another story."

"Uh, say wha?" Calfuray seemed caught off-guard, but I'm sure I can manage this, somehow.

"Listen. When you multiply a matrix by another, you start with the first row of the first matrix and the first column of the second matrix." As Livio explained, he wrote down the steps. "First number of the row times the first number of the column. There's your first product. Second number of the row times the second number of the column. You get your second product. Rinse and repeat for the third product."

"And then you multiply those products together?" Calfuray asked.

Ah, there's our problem.

"No." Livio raised his finger again before finishing the example problem. "You don't multiply the products by each other. Instead, you add them together to get the final matrix after multiplying for the products."

"Ohhhh..."

He then wrote another problem that he left unanswered and then passed the notebook to her. "Now, you try."

Calfuray nodded and started work on the problem. I have to admit, I myself don't know too much about matrices, plus, they apparently aren't as bad as what I've heard about systems of linear equations, but hey, this is more or less how I eventually got myself by in the past. Math is, of course, not my favorite subject, which is why I am taking Math V twice per day so I have double the time to ask my professor questions.

"How did I do?" Calfuray asked as she handed back her notebook.

Livio looked over her solution. Good, good... She got everything right! "That's correct," he said, then wrote down two more problems and passed the notebook back to Calfuray. "Now try these two."

And so he, well I sat back and watched as Calfuray did those problems by herself.

Y'know what? This isn't bad at all.

Funny to think that this and that soccer game were what I was worried about screwing up... Well, to be honest, that was from basically never being together together until I turned 17. Up until then, I'd gotten used to socializing using one body at a time, not with four bodies in the same area.

I still have my concerns, though. Am I sure I'm a good friend to people? Ash, Morley, Calfuray, Zaffree, Fion, Seraphina, Melati, etc.? Sure, I'm having fun with them. Sure, I'm going out with them. Sure, I'm making longer and longer calls, texting them... maybe sharing our first secrets? Oh, we even came up with our first inside jokes! They're kinda terrible when you really delve into them, but at least it's an innocent kind of terrible.

But... I don't think I have to do something really significant.

Not yet, at least. I don't know.

Maybe that's why I don't feel like a good friend yet; because there's not been a standout moment where I get to be a good friend beyond just games, fluff, etc.

Well then.

"You done?" Livio asked.

"Almost..!" Calfuray scribbled the last of her answer—"Done!"—and handed her notebook back to me.

I took a look and... she's correct on both answers! Well, onto matrix division and, hopefully, systems of linear equations.

That ought to be "fun."