"...What a noisy bunch," Pyrínas said. "...I knew they would cause a commotion, so bringing the children to this part of the city was the right choice. ...There was no chance they would come this way when they had a clear goal."

"Are you sure you should be saying something like that?" asked Shingai from where she stood next to him.

"...I am," he said back. "...I have enough standing at this point that I can safely ruin that branch office in any way I want, and they will have no power to do anything to me."

That was pushing it, but Pyrínas could feel the emotions of two different people mixing around in his core. The memories he had gained from them swirled together while creating new emotions in him that he had never thought were possible.

This had all been a result of his actions as of late.

In the end of each fight he had been in, he had devoured a new core that had mixed strangely well with his body. All of the new information that came to him had been confusing, but he had allowed himself to organize and categorize the information as he went about his day.

So he would not be left to his own devices, he had picked up the three children he would normally watch over so that they could all go out to the city while Akasora was having his test.

"Um, excuse me, but what do you mean by that?"

Pyrínas and Shingai looked over to see a nervous girl looking down at her phone, as if ready to write down what he had said. They looked at each other before turning back to her.

"Pyrínas-san has a good amount of power. In particular, he is able to deal with that branch you failed to handle yesterday. What is more, he is the one most trusted in Mikado City to take care of children. Watch."

To prove her point, Shingai called over the children, who were looking at something in the window of one of the nearby stores.

They all ran over when it seemed like they were needed for Pyrínas.

"What you need, Py!?"

"You seriously forgot a word there, Micchan!"

"She is still not fully used to Japanese, Mitsubachi. Please go easy on her."

"You are seriously being too nice, Stepney! Oh, but I don't really dislike it! It makes you really cute!"

"Now children, what do you all think of Pyrínas-san here?" asked Shingai while clapping her hands to get their attention.

There had been no hesitation in their response.

"We love him!"

Pyrínas nodded down at each of them and allowed them to start climbing up his body. To make sure none of them fell off, he steadied his body and changed parts of it to give them better places to put their feet or hands.

The three of them laughed while using him as a ladder.

"As you can see, these children adore him. As such, he holds power over many people because of his position with these children."

"I-I see... Then, um, what about you?"

"I am only here to make sure these children are fine. I am aware that I can trust this man, from what my teammate has said. However, when there are so many degenerates around, there is no such thing as having too much protection."

"But, um, aren't a lot of those degenerates from Border...?"

Pyrínas and Shingai turned their heads away.

"Um..."

They turned their heads further until it looked like it hurt to do so.

.

What are these two doing!? Why won't they answer my question!?

Emily could not help the panic that started to build up when the two in front of her turned their heads away.

The Border girl seemed to want to not think about her question while the man had done it more out of a joke than anything.

Border has a lot of weirdos...

When she thought about it, her own workplace had a few people with some screws loose. Their antics were always brushed aside since they got their work done, but Emily found it hard to think of them as normal people either.

It said a lot when these people got more done and were even crazier.

Does the amount of work you get done equate to how crazy you are?

If so, she was worried about how much work she was doing.

"There, there," one of the children said.

Emily had seen the heterochromatic girl looking at her for a while now, but she figured it had just been childish curiosity.

Then why was she patting her leg as if to comfort her?

"...Michelle, sometimes it hurts more to be comforted like that. ...At least, that is what I can get from Yuki's past."

"That is true. There are many times when I have seen Senshi attempt to comfort Kurauchi-san, only for the latter to turn away and bury his face into his hands."

"Oh, I've seen that too! Especially when Ken-chan comes over and Mom seriously tries to tell him something!"

There was some whispering around them. Apparently the other girl had strange connections that brought attention to her.

Emily chose to think that it was really her mother she was speaking about and not just some weirdo who liked being called that.

Anyways, she thought listlessly. This is a good chance to get some assistance.

Clearing her throat, she turned to the large man standing there and built up her courage.

.

"Excuse me, sir. There was something I was wondering about."

The way Emily spoke caught Pyrínas's attention. He gave her his full attention while letting the children hang off of his body.

Each one of them seemed to be fully aware of what he was doing to keep them from falling, so they held nothing back when moving.

"...Yes? ...What do you need from me?"

...Oh, who exactly was that from?

The memories of Yuki that he had gotten from taking in a core played every now and then. The feelings Yuki had during that time and the way he thought about things would sometimes bleed into Pyrínas and his everyday life.

Then he took in a second one.

Earlier in the day, he had been a part of a fight against what could be considered a relative. Once it had finished, he had taken in the core that had been tampered with, removed anything that seemed suspicious, and put off looking through everything for later.

But now...

...There are aspects of that core that are also starting to come through to me.

Was this a byproduct of being a broken off piece of the Pyrínas System?

The original system was a collective of different thought patterns implemented into a single being. Each different pattern could feel like a multitude of people, but it would always be a single being that processed everything put into it from multiple angles.

The parallel processing of the Pyrínas System was just that advanced.

So, when a new and foreign pattern was put in, it would be able to look at it, analyze it, make a decision on what to do with it, and then promptly shift it into place so that it could fit well within the system. If anything seemed strange with it, the system would isolate it before purging anything harmful from it before finishing the process.

But he was not part of that system.

Pyrínas was a single being that had only one thought pattern.

He could not purge anything harmful until he spent an extensive amount of time doing so.

...I should get to that soon. ...With this morning's addition, I have a lot of work to do on myself. Besides organizing the new information from the core, I need to make sure all of my systems will function smoothly after taking in that much trion. ...Then I need to begin a new cycle of trion restoration. ...But above all of that...

Pyrínas made an immediate head turn to look at the girl who had settled onto his shoulders.

Her heterochromatic gaze was set on his face.

"...Michelle, I have asked before that you don't read my mind. ...I know that there is no real way to control it, but you should try to move on to something else once you realize you're doing it."

"Eep!"

Having been caught, Michelle moved back. She was starting to lose her balance, so he moved his arm out to the side, making sure to get a good hold on her.

"Micchan was reading Pie-chan's mind again! That's seriously against the rules!"

"It was accident!"

"Mitsubachi, she did not do it on purpose, I am sure! Pyrínas, I am very sorry about her! Michelle, please do not do that!"

"Stepney! You're being seriously formal again!"

"S-sorry!"

"Mitsu, you're making Step worry again!"

"But he said he would stop talking like that!"

The subject had suddenly changed, and Pyrínas found himself interested in it.

Children could do this on a whim, while adults seemed to only do so when they felt like they were in danger.

And now that the subject had changed, he knew it would be hard for him to speak with Michelle.

So instead, he turned back to the nervous girl.

"...So what did you need?"

.

This man was the perfect example.

Emily just knew it.

"Can you please teach me how to take care of children!?"

"...I'm pretty bad at that."

"What!?" came the collective shout from everyone.

Emily had shouted that herself, but hearing it from everyone around them made her jump.

"...You see, I'm a child myself, so I can't really say that I'm good at taking care of children. ...Besides that, I have recently found myself a family, so there is a lot I need to focus on now."

That was a strange thing for her to hear, but the stranger thing was what everyone else began saying.

"Oh, my. So Pyrínas-kun believes that he is still too young for children. Yet he takes care of those children like that..."

"To think that he is so humble that he thinks he isn't fit to take care of children."

"That's a real man right there! He's admitting his faults and still continues on like that!"

"Pyri-chan, it's okay! We all have your back here!"

"Yeah! Keep up the good work! All us dads understand how you feel!"

Everyone began shouting "Pyrínas banzai!" while throwing beans into the air. Some of the older store owners walked out with sweets for the children or to give the tall man something. Soon there were bags all around his feet.

Even with children literally hanging off of him, the man managed to pick up everything in his arms as if it were nothing.

What kind of person is this guy!?

She was not the only one to think something like that.

"He's so strong! Can Kizaki even hold that much!?"

"Please marry me! You're just my type, Pyrínas!"

"No! I was already going to have my daughter marry him!"

"I already called dibs on having him marry my daughter!"

"First come, first served," almost everyone shouted.

It was all too overwhelming for Emily.

Things could get hectic at the office building, but these people seemed to have no stopping point.

Throughout the entire ordeal, only one person remained neutral.

The girl standing next to the tall man.

"These people never change. Well, I am sure that he will never accept any of those invitations."

"Wh-why do you say that?" Emily found herself asking.

The girl raised a brow and shrugged.

"Because he has no reason to accept them." She turned back to the tall man and looked at the children. "He has people he cares for at this point, but those children will remain his top priority. That much I have come to realize."

So...

"Unless those children say something, he will likely never think of accepting those kinds of invitations."

If that were so, then this man was far different from what Emily had expected.

Initially, it appeared that he understood the children and could regard them with dignity and respect. That much would have been enough in her eyes.

Now she was being told that they were simply a priority to him. People who were so important to him that they were at the top of his list no matter what else was there.

I'm in charge of Madam's son for the foreseeable future. Does that mean I also need to make sure he is the very top priority?

Would that place her on the same level as this man?

"I do not recommend following in his footsteps for this."

"Huh? Why is that?"

The girl did not shrug, but she did give a nod.

"Because his situation is far different from your own. If you were to try and copy him, you would not longer be human."

.

From the corner of her eyes, Shingai could see the woman is a suit gulp.

She did not know of the entire situation, but she understood enough from the way the younger Awdry brother spoke. This woman was here to watch over him while his parents were not around. It would also explain the suit she was wearing.

She does not seem like a bad person.

Since that seemed to be the case, she was fine with giving some words of advice.

"If you wish to make living here easy, I suggest that you lose the suit and allow the younger Awdry brother to wear whatever he likes. Also, do not restrict him from seeing those two girls or two other boys that may frequent the Yagura Branch."

"What will happen if things stay like this?"

"Your clothing will get you the attention of a group of cannibals. They will strike at you without any hesitation, tearing down your entire world. From there, they will likely drag you along with their antics until you are tired out."

I have seen it many times. I am safe due to Senshi lowering the threat level for me.

There had been times when she was in the crossfire, but most of the damage would tend to go to the people around her.

"As for the latter portion of that, well, he has a connection with the Yagura Branch. That alone should explain more than enough."

And it did.

The woman in a suit shuddered violently with a distant look in her eyes.

I see that she has already met some of them.

That made things easier.

.

"...That is correct. ...I had forgotten to check on Lilith and Sthénos after this morning. ...Shingai, would you happen to know how things are going on that front?"

Shingai looked at Pyrínas with an unimpressed look, opened her phone next to her, and opened her messages. All of this was done without looking away from him.

It was impressive that she had done so while yells erupted all around them.

"Sthénos had made it back to us soon after everything had happened. As for the other girl..."

"...Yes?"

"I have no idea. All that I had been told was that some strange boy had picked her up, taken her out of the room, strained himself, then tried to walk off. Sthénos ended up having to take the two of them away while she had the chance."

"...I should speak with Xeno about overdoing it."

Asking Futoyuki would get a better result, but messing with Xeno would be much more fun for him.

That would be the only reason he would need it.

"Besides that, I have no idea how they are right now. It would seem that Sthénos plans on doing something about them, but that may be difficult for her."

"...Because the others will already be discussing it."

"Correct," said Shingai with another shrug.

That would mean that Xeno and Lilith would likely need to be around for that.

"...That certainly is troubling. ...Because I am not a Border agent, it makes my job more difficult."

"What!?"

The next shout was loud and clear, coming directly from them.

Emily had turned to them with a clear look of shock on her face.

Neither one of them blinked at her response.

"Disregarding the woman, who knows very little."

"Hey!"

"That really does seem to be an issue. While I am a Border member, I really have no reason to get involved. The only way I would be able to do anything would be if Senshi brought me into it." And knowing him, "He would refuse to do so unless directly instructed to do so."

Pyrínas and Shingai gave simultaneous sighs.

Then...

White Fox: "Hey, Pyrínas. You there?"

Something unexpected came in.

.

RB07: "...Yes, I am here."

White Fox: "I heard you took in another core earlier in the day. Is that true?"

RB07: "...That is true. ...What about it?"

White Fox: "I was wondering if you ever get a stomachache from eating those things."

RB07: "...I would first need a stomach to get a stomachache."

White Fox: "That's true, that's true. Well, then, that makes things easier."

RB07: "...How so?"

White Fox: "It would be too much trouble for me to explain it right now, so go visit the branch office and talk with Take and Toby. I have things I need to do today."

RB07: "...Would any of those things involve what to do about Xeno and Lilith?"

White Fox: "That also sounds like trouble... But no. There are things I need to take care of that need to be settled by the end of the day. That at least seems like it can be done by the end of the week."

RB07: "...I see. ...Very well. ...I will go to the Yagura Branch. ...I would have thought that I would need to speak with Akasora, though."

White Fox: "I wanted to use this as a good chance for those two, seeing as how they are now Yagura Branch members and all. Besides, this has something to do with them, so they should be able to explain the situation just as well as I can."

RB07: "...That bar is rather low, isn't it?"

White Fox: "I can really feel like I'm talking to myself here... Anyways. I'll be going now. If something really does come up, feel free to let me know."

.

...And that is the person whose past I currently have inside of my core...

It was very worrying to remember that.

At least there would always be someone who could help him if he had any questions concerning that past.

As for the other core he had taken in...

...I can feel a bit of Giev moving around. ...The memories and emotions inside him are trying to burst out. ...It is a very good thing that I am such a high grade trion soldier; otherwise, this would be a problem for me.

With a puffed out chest and a new sense of satisfaction, Pyrínas gave a dry laugh.

"Isn't that kind of creepy?"

"You would do well to keep your voice down when saying things like that."

"Eep! Everyone's glaring at me!"

Pyrínas felt bad for the woman in a suit, but there was no helping someone who dug their own grave like that.

"...In any case," he said nonchalantly. "...I will be needing to go to the Yagura Branch soon to meet with their members for a certain matter. ...Michelle, I know that you will be having dinner with your parents, so do you want to go see them now?"

Michelle gave three nods while Mitsubachi and Stepney deflated.

If one of the children had no time to play, then the other two would naturally get sad.

The way they always looked forward to being around each other stirred something in Pyrínas.

...I will need to ask about what that is later.

It was more likely that it came from Yuki's past than anything Giev managed to give him.

"It would seem that the broken off piece has some things that it intends to get away with. From what we can tell, it is growing in a different way than our own. The thought patterns it is using cannot be found in our memory. Since that is the case, we will do what he can to put a stop to it."

"And why would you need to do that?"

"Because, even if it is a broken off piece, it is still something created by our system. If we cannot be gentle with these lesser trion soldiers, we must be even harsher with those who stem directly from us. That would only be fair, would it not?"

"To me, it sounds like you all are jealous of the way it has been able to advance like this."

The closest thing to sputtering could be heard coming from a white rhinoceros beetle as it flew in the air.

The height it flew at suddenly shifted with its sputtering, but it managed to regain its altitude after a moment.

A quiet laugh came soon after. It was hidden behind a book.

"Please do not say things like that. We respect your position, so we would like it if you could respect ours."

"Oh? My apologizes. I had only thought that this reminded me of something akin to an older sibling getting jealous over their younger sibling's success."

"We are very successful! Actually, we are much more successful than that broken off piece! As a matter of fact, we were able to isolate any problems we had found in that pathetic Autonomous Trion Soldier, delete them, and successfully take it upon ourselves! Meanwhile, that broken off piece has been unable to do so for the insignificant trion soldier core he has taken in! Much too busy speaking with these Miden people and their children to bother doing so!"

"Is that so? But I think what it is doing is very lovely. It is nice to see someone like that interacting with the people."

"Pah! There is nothing good about what he is doing! Nothing at all!"

The man holding the black book started to frown.

There was something in those words that made him start to worry.

"What exactly do you mean?"

The white rhinoceros beetle gave something akin to a huff and shifted from left to right.

After a moment like this, a sound came from it, sounding something like a voice.

"You had been busy with that test you were helping with, so we do not expect that you would have noticed it. Even more so since you have no connection to that broken off piece of our system in general." There would have been no way for the man to know, so the white rhinoceros beetle held nothing over him for that. "You see, our system is built for optimization in every aspect. That includes the isolation and deletion of any harmful data that is put into us. With that being said, that broken off piece, having its own ego now, is choosing to wait to go through that process. For our system, that is not an issue, since another part of us would simply get to the job while the other parts would be busy with something else. But that broken off piece is a singular unit, so there is nothing inside of it to start that process while it goes about speaking with the Miden dwellers."

The process sounded like it would take a long time if a single unit was in charge, so being connected to that system made it get done within a couple of hours.

But that was with an entire system backing up the process.

With only a single unit that was a broken off piece, the process would likely take longer than a single unit from the system proper.

The man holding the black book understood this, and his frown deepened.

"That does sound troubling. But if that is the issue, why not inform it of that problem now? That way, it would at least begin the process soon."

"We have no real connection with that broken off piece anymore. There is no reason for us to get involved with it. Besides, we doubt that it would listen to us. It likely knows exactly what it is doing by not starting that process immediately."

"Then would you think that your creator would be able to get it to start that process?"

"In all honesty, we are not certain he would even attempt to say something about it. Especially when...it seems that he begun to think that that broken off piece is better than us."

The man with a black book turned his head.

He muttered something under his breath, but made sure that he was not heard.

"In any case," he began. "The ones to speak to would be those children he is with, correct?"

"So you have been keeping track of it. Also, do not think we did not realize what you were doing."

"Oh, my. Did I let that slip?"

The white rhinoceros beetle gave another huff and started to fly forward.

There was no dealing with this man.

"Sensei! The Udon Kingdom just about refused us entry thanks to you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I ended up destroying several of their punching udon machines."

They heard their teacher laugh over the transmission and they also heard someone yelling "Senpai! Senpai! They're catching up!", but they decided to ignore that part.

They were at a riverside restaurant on Mikado City's central road. They were seated at the table Kitazoe had reserved on the stepped terrace continuing down toward the river.

"Sumiharu, what is a punching...whatever that was?" asked Oshiro.

"Right. It is a game where the amount of udon you get to eat is based on the cumulative amount of force after three hits to a punching machine! It is very popular with the muscleheads in this city."

Demon Child: "This Gunner is trying to show off by regurgitating what he read on the tourism site."

Artist: "Ohhh, you're showing incredible restraint, Hitomi. You would normally give him that look to his face."

Inu: "A-a little more restraint than that would be nice!"

Anyway, it sounded like their former teacher was enjoying the rest of the day too.

"Okay," said Kimura while facing the others. "Did you all receive your tentative report cards?"

Those came as displays and she held up her own while it was only displaying the cover. The others nodded in response.

They opened theirs and showed them off to the people they were comfortable doing so with.

"Ho ho. Exactly the excellent grades we all expected of me," said Kon. "Jinsei, is that that supposed to be your ranking? And here I thought the people at the top were supposed to have good grades."

"D-dammit! What is wrong with you!? A double digits ranking is pretty good!"

"Jinsei, you did above average in the subjects you came to us for help in, so I don't think you need to worry."

"Then Jinsei is on the borderline between idiot and average," said Arafune.

Everyone froze.

Kitazoe and Inukai immediately moved their eyes or head to keep an eye on their surroundings, Kon and Suzaku remained calm, Senshi raised his hand to go ahead and announce his ranking, and the former 3-C class representative watched it all play out with narrowed eyes. The various reactions were pretty amusing. But...

"Heh heh," laughed the Tachikawa Squad Operator. "I challenge you, Ji-chan! Let's see who has the better 'teacher's comment'! Mine is, 'I guess this'll have to do. It's a little late to expect you to start doing much after school has ended.' How about that!?"

"Incredible, Yuu! All I got was 'make sure to build up your stamina before the next season or you'll regret it later'!"

Suzaku spat out the water he was drinking and Kon raised her right hand.

"I am the candid type," she said. "And I think the standard thing here would be to have a big emotional scene before the final battle – in this case, before anything else happens in the city. So I was thinking I could give everyone what they wanted there."

"Hey," said Jinsei. "So you're willing to do that, but you aren't willing to let me touch your boobs for reference?"

"This is very different from having my boobs touched. In what world are they the same, Jinsei?"

After a pause, the girls (even those at other tables at the restaurant) applauded Kon's comment.

After she raised her hands toward them all and bowed, Kitazoe hesitantly raised a hand.

"Bringing up something like that out of the blue is a lot like you, Kon-chan, but is that really something you want to do?"

"It seems like a good idea," readily replied Kon. Because, "I am the kind of person who will join in just because I am excited with how you have made breakfast. In fact, I feel like I must join in to prove myself. And on top of that..."

She tapped on the idiot's head a few times.

"I am also trying to become a new me. This allows me to do both at once. So, well..."

She gave Suzaku and Murakami a nod and then looked to everyone else.

"I am aware that it would be best if we could deepen our relationship through shared experiences. They might be intangible, they might crumble if you try to touch them, and they might be lost if you are not careful, but if there are indeed things that you can gain through death, contradictory thought that may seem..."

Then...

"I will try to seek out the forms of happiness that extend beyond just myself. I have recently come to think such things may be where true happiness is found."

.

Kimura listened to Kon.

"Jinsei has shown me such things, brought me to them, and given them to me as a part of my world, so I am truly thank- gweh!"

"Kon! Don't bite your tongue quite yet! Try to get at least this much out first, okay!?"

"Calm down," said Kon while holding out a hand to stop Murakami.

Then she tapped on the idiot's head again.

"How about you, Jinsei?"

"Me? Hmm." He looked up into the sky. "I would love to do some sexy things with some people, but there are times I need to hold back, right?"

Kimura tilted her head at that.

"Just a second, idiot."

"H-hey, only idiots call people idiots! Heh heh, so you're an idiot! Bet you hate being called that!"

"Shut up, idiot. Now, are you listening?"

"Don't tell me to shut up and then ask me a question!"

He really needed to shut up. But there was something she had to check on.

"The other night, we decided that Yuki wouldn't be allowed to hold anything back with us all. Isn't that right, Murakami? In other words, he isn't allowed to keep things to himself when it comes to something we can deal with."

"Yes, that is what we decided on," said Murakami.

"Then," said Kimura. "Make sure you aren't holding back when it comes to things that matter."