Loki made good on his promise.

The following days, for the first time, all was silent. The god of fire stayed true to his word, backing off the older Kusanagi sister for a brief time. Also true to his word, he eventually resumed his activities, although far less severe. Yui was inclined to step in again, but ultimately decided there was little point. In fact, she could almost dare say that their new agreement was… a good thing.

Their previous back and forth had been an endless malicious war taking down each other, themselves, and almost everything in between. Now, they were far less often, and any pranks that did occur between them were more controlled. They were careful to keep their skirmishes to themselves, meticulously avoiding innocent bystanders, much to their classmates' relief. Nearly all hostility had vanished, now more of a mutual friendly rivalry. A rivalry that over the course of the following weeks managed to: tie Loki's braid to his own coat strings and freeze the music room entrance with a door jam, trapping Nari inside.

This resulted in retaliation in which Nari tampered with his textbooks. Replaced with laminated versions, the turn of every page creating an irritating peeling sound which promptly pressed Thoth to remove him from the classroom. In response, Loki beat the other student to her usual music room and switched around the keys of her piano putting the entire thing out of tune. In return, she then sabotaged one of Loki's candies, turning the entire inside of his mouth a bright neon green. That was not to mention the theft his enchanted pen which promptly drew upon his face, or the altered rice ball that painted her fingers and chin periwinkle.

For the most part, their antics went largely ignored so long as they remained relatively harmless. And they had. In fact, over time, they actually had the opposite effect. Their playful skirmishes, ironically, had managed to bring them closer; the fire god religiously attended class, showing up at each and every lesson. He would often find himself curious to see what trap she would spring next, even if the end result did sometimes result in the discoloration of his hair. Loki had come to enjoy their little games and, eventually, started to look forward to them. It had been nearly 100 years since he had met such a worthy adversary. One who could challenge him on his own level. In the interim, he would take the time to harass his fellow other students while he waited.

Which was precisely how he had found himself in a rather unfortunate situation.

"Get over here, you bastard! I'm gonna kill you!"

"Oh nooo, so scary! You'll have to catch me first!"

"Stop it, both of you!"

Class had been left unattended today. All too often, the Egyptian god of knowledge couldn't be bothered to deal with his unruly students. On such days, instruction fell to the human representative students which, naturally, meant it fell to Yui. Nari had not appeared to class that morning, leaving her to manage the troublesome gods. And it hadn't taken long for things to get out of hand.

With Nari missing in action, Loki had decided to test his most recent purchase on another target. A target with a much more violent temper. Now, Takeru was chasing him around the room, leaping over chairs and knocking over books as the Norse god gave him the run of a lifetime. Off to the side, the other gods watched with mixed faces of amusement and irritation. The exception was Tsukito and Thor, who both wore blank expressions. As for Yui, she was bouncing back and forth like a ping-pong ball, trying desperately to get the pair of them to cease their shenanigans.

"This is exactly why nobody likes you!" Takeru shouted. He hopped over a desk, reaching for his trailing braid as he spun around the podium.

"A-fool-on likes me!"

"Apollon likes everyone! He's got sun for brains!"

"I do not!"

"Debatable…" Dionysus muttered, earning a look of genuine offense from his brother beside him.

"Wha — Di-Di, that's mean!" The other god gave a playful smirk and a shrug of his shoulders.

"If you two would just —"

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Finally, their missing student arrived. Appearing in the doorway, looking uncharacteristically disheveled, was Nari. Her eyes swept over the disrupted state of the room, taking in the uneven desks and toppled furniture. Then, they suddenly widened as she realized another student moving very quickly toward her. Reflexively, she stepped back to allow Loki to woosh passed, waving at her as he went.

"Morning, Puppy!"

"Loki, I swear to —"

"Come here!" The god of fire didn't get much farther, stumbling back with a yank of his braid. His moment of distraction had allowed the water got to catch up to him, wrapping his fingers around the red rope. Loki had barely had a chance to duck from a throwing punch.

"Hey!" In a surprising turn of events, Nari came to his aid. Before his second fist could connect, his second challenger intervened, grabbing his arm, and wrenching the braid from his grasp. "What the hell is your problem?!"

Takeru, far too angry to reason, rounded on her too, forcing her to take a step back as he spun around. "What, you're on his side now?!"

It took only a moment for her to match his irritation, bunching her hands into fists. "I'm not on anyone's side, there's no fighting in the classroom!"

"Oh, that's real rich, coming from you!"

"Everyone, please!" Yui shouted. With their pursuit at an end, the younger sister caught up to them, sliding to a stop with an exasperated huff. Beside her, Nari quickly took to her side, crossing her arms and glaring at the two gods.

"What exactly is going on here…?" she asked.

"This is what's going on!" Takeru shouted, pointing to the bright purple hair clip bunching together his hair.

"Whaaat? It looks good on you!" Loki taunted, sticking his tongue out.

"You —"

"Really…?" Nari nearly rolled her eyes in frustration. A hair clip. The of them were coming to blows over a hair clip? He had done far worse to her just yesterday afternoon. Granted, she had wanted to punch him herself not that long ago. Shaking her head, she gave up. There was little sense in making the argument. Instead, she stepped forward. "Takeru, calm down. It's just a clip, all you have to do is —"

"Don't touch me!" Takeru snarled at her, knocking away her hand with an audible slap. "This is all your fault!"

Glaring forward, he stepped toward her… and the smile vanished from Loki's face. Before she could appropriately react, a flash of red appeared at her side. Nari and Yui both couldn't help but balk at the shift in atmosphere. Even the other gods grew tense at the sudden change. The tricker's typical playfulness was gone, replaced with a look the sisters couldn't quite place. "Don't you dare," he growled.

"Uh…" Nari wasn't certain what to say. The last person she would have expected to defend her was her primary antagonist himself. The entire situation had shocked the fury right out of her, leaving her staring up at the other god with a blank stare. But within moments, it was reignited.

"Piss off, half-breed."

A tense silence fell over the room. Nari's eyes grew wide and Yui's mouth fell open. The older sister stood frozen, her mind trying to process the words that had just left his mouth. Half-breed? Half of what, exactly? She hadn't the slightest clue what that was supposed to mean. But if the look on Balder's face was any indication, it wasn't a good thing. The look on Loki's face was indescribable. She had never seen such an expression from him before. If she were being honest… it frightened her. What concerned her even more was the strange heat slowly rising to her side. Until that moment, she it had never fully considered just what it really meant to be a god of fire.

"What did you say…?" he hissed.

Nari shook her head. "Takeru, that was uncalled for —"

"You too, Human," he spat.

"Fuck you, half-pint!" she snapped back.

"You —"

"Enough!" A deep rumble cut suddenly through the room, its volume startling everyone into silence. Nari specifically was extremely surprised. Having never heard anything higher than a mumble from him, to hear Hades raise his voice was more than alarming. Before she could say anything further however, she found herself in motion. A second head of hair had appeared; this one of deep maroon. Dionysus stood before her, pressing her back from the other two gods with a worried frown. A quick glance to her side showed Apollon with her sister doing much the same.

The Greek gods moved the two women to a safer distance from the raging opponents. In the center of the ring, their own counterparts had stepped in; Tsukito with a stern blank stare before his brother and Thor with a hand on Loki's shoulder. With that, the battle came to an end. Though the two glared daggers at one another, the sea and fire gods made no further move at the other. Loki, in particular, looked ready to literally combust. But it wasn't his twisted frown nor his pointed teeth that concerned her; it was his eyes. Having worn a similar expression so often herself, she could tell that Takeru's words had cut deep.

Stepping around Dionysus, she called softly to him. The gentleness of her voice surprised even herself. "Loki… are you alright?"

"Tch." Loki scoffed and turned away. Throwing Thor's hand from his shoulder, she stormed out of the room leaving the rest of them in silence.

"Loki —"

"Fotia." A large hand on her own shoulder held her back, pulling her gaze sideways. It followed the fingers up to the wrist, over the forearm and bicep, finally landing on a pair of emerald eyes. Dionysus shook his head. "Don't."

She frowned at him but said nothing further, instead turning her gaze toward the open door.

. . .

It was late in the evening when Nari finally found him.

After cooling down, the students of Class A came to some small resolution. After a harsh — as harsh as possible from someone with no emotion — scolding from his older brother, Takeru was able to recollect himself. Though there was no way they were going to get an apology for the god of fire, at the very least, they were able to get a grudging one for the older sister. Accepting his forced remorse, she removed the clip carefully from his hair before going her separate ways from her other classmates. Needless to say, class for the rest of the day was cancelled.

Once free from her obligations, Nari spent the rest of her day moving around the school building. Playing the — carefully retuned — piano in the music room, eating ramen noodles with her sister, and reading through the Story of Seasons were different ways that she passed the time, finally ending her school day with a walk across the grounds. The stars were out. They were beautiful.

And it seemed she wasn't the only one out that night enjoying the autumn sky.

Nari said nothing as she approached him. Silently, she lowered herself on the bench at his side, leaving a comfortable distance between them. She didn't know how he was feeling at that point, and the last thing she wanted to do was further aggravate him further. Thankfully, she had done nothing of the sort. The tiny smirk forming on his face told her so. "Ohh… coming to visit me in the middle of the night? Careful. A guy might get the wrong idea."

Of course, he was being an ass… which truthfully, was probably a good thing.

"We're in public…"

"Alone."

"Shut up." Her words, though sharp, held little bite. Loki's smirk grew into a small chuckle and in a few moments, she joined him. In noticeably higher spirits, the pair sat quietly on the bench in comfortable silence. They remained such, watching the clouds float across the night sky. She had watched a particularly fluffy one finishing moving just beyond the tree line when he spoke again.

"So, what brings you here then, if not to keep me company?"

"I… I came to check on you," Nari admitted. "You were really upset back there. Just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Hmm? Worried about little old me? How sweet."

"I'm serious, Loki." Nari scowled. "You looked really hurt. Whatever he said —"

"Sticks and stones, Puppy. It'll take a lot more than Ta-Tan's words to hurt me." Nari sighed. She had spent enough of her time hiding her own sadness to recognize when another was doing the same. But it was clear that he didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't her place to argue about it. Deciding not to push the matter further, she nodded her head in silence. Taking her pause as an opportunity, he smiled. "Sooo… you really did come out here just to see me."

Nari rolled her eyes, hitting his arm with a playful slap. "No, stupid. I also came to give you this." Reaching into her jacket pocket, she carefully pulled out a familiar purple accessory. Loki smirked as she gingerly held the hair clip toward him, eyes watching it suspiciously as though it might explode at any moment. She was treating it like a miniature bomb. After a few moments, he couldn't help himself; he burst into laughter.

His mirth brought a scowl to her face. "Just take it already!" she snapped, pushing it toward him.

Loki brushed the laughter-induced tears from his eyes and smiled. "You can relax, Puppy. It's not going to hurt you."

"Sure, it won't."

"I'm serious, Puppy." Loki swiped the clip from her hands, smirking when she visibly flinched. Then, he slowly reached forward, carefully placing the clip into her hair, brushing her bangs from her face. When she relaxed, he let his hands fall. "See? Just a hair clip."

"I…" Nari was dumbfounded. Why on earth he had been carrying something like that around in the first place was mindboggling to her. So, it didn't take long for her to question it. "Why do you have something like this…?"

"For you, silly."

"What — me?!" her voice echoed through the area, startling even herself at the sudden volume. She couldn't help it. She was beyond stunned.

"You like purple, right?"

"That isn't the —" Nari had to stop herself, realizing quickly that bickering with Loki wasn't going to get her anywhere. "Loki, I don't get it. What is this really for?"

"I told you, it was for you. I only stuck it in Ta-Tan's hair to test it out. I was going to slip it in yours, but you didn't show up."

"But why?" she demanded.

"No reason."

"There is always a reason with you, Loki."

"Fine, fine. It's a thank you gift. For braiding my hair the other day."

"…Loki. I only braided it because I tangled it…"

"I know."

"Loki —"

"Look, just accept it, alright?" His words finally silenced her, with a look of confusion. "Listen… I appreciated the way you stood up for me. And these last few days… it's been fun."

Nari sighed. Turning her head, she finally looked at him and was surprised to find him looking back at her. The look on his face was surprisingly sincere. She could see no trickery in his expression. His gratitude was genuine. Carefully, she lifted her hand and brushed her fingertips along its surface. It was a shape she recognized, small and rectangular with a flower in the middle. A winter flower. Coincidentally, one of her favorites. She couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips.

"…Thanks."

Fire was a powerful force. One that — as she had very nearly seen earlier that morning — could cause destruction in its wake. But, when controlled, it could be gentle and warm, as he was showing her in that moment. It seemed the fiery trickster could be unexpectedly thoughtful when he wanted to, maybe even a little sweet…

"Eh, don't get too used to it, Puppy. Today, we are allies… but tomorrow, we war."

… when he wasn't being a colossal ass, of course.

"Heh… don't worry. Wasn't planning on it."

She didn't know what her classmate had in store for her. What he planned to do next to make her life difficult. For now, she would accept their momentary truce; and relax in their moment of peace.