Moon Cell Irregular

By psychored1911

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/EXTRA or Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Chapter 10

"Hmm, so she's here with you too," Leonardo commented, giving Ruler a quick once-over, not even acknowledging the rest of his friends at all. "Your hair looks better when it's down."

Laeticia- Ruler, raised a brow in alarm, putting herself in between Leonardo and her Master. "Excuse me?"

"It was nothing more than a compliment; I must admit, it looks better than your old hairstyle." Leonardo mused, his eyes returning towards Hakuno as Ruler checked her ponytail confoundedly. "It's been a while hasn't it, Hakuno? I feel like I haven't seen you in years."

"I suppose it has been," Hakuno said hesitantly, trying his hardest to ignore the prying eyes of his friends. "How's Julius? Is he alright?"

"Oh, he is doing just fine, thank you for asking. Our relationship has been much smoother since we last met." Leonardo said with a smile before digging his bleeding-edge phone out of his pocket. "Do you mind if we exchange phone numbers? I've been quite embarrassed to say that I hadn't remembered it from our last meeting."

"A-ah, sure." Hakuno brought his phone out. After a couple of minutes, the two managed to successfully exchange phone numbers.

Leonardo looked at his phone with a subtly elated glint in his eyes. "Thank you, old friend. Pardon the intrusion, but I have other matters to attend to. Good day to you."

And just as quickly as he arrived, Leonardo left the recreation room, leaving the group to their own devices.

"Uh, Kishinami?"

Leaving Hakuno to finally address his perplexed friends.

And all he could do was shrug his shoulders. "What? He's an old friend of mine."

Two hours passed.

Hakuno didn't see Leonardo after his rather brief introduction and exit, though Ruler stayed on high alert regardless, briefly leaving to call and alert Caster just in case. He appreciated their concern, but he doubted Leonardo and Gawain would try anything so brazen.

Julius and Li Shuwen, on the other hand… that's more of a hard maybe than a definitive yes or no. Hopefully, Julius still thinks of them as friends as he did.

Eventually, Leonardo's sudden appearance seemed to disappear from his friends' minds. Not even Tatsuya, the one person among his circle who'd probably badger him to no end over his connections to some random stranger who owned the hospital, seemed to cease asking about it roughly thirty minutes into their visiting hours.

It helped that even Miyuki, for all her brocon-ness, eventually got sick of his pestering and asked her older brother to stop. Thank goodness she had him wrapped around her finger, or else he'd be hearing the elder Shiba him all day long.

"What do you think school will be like once we finally get out of here?" Mizuki asked.

Leonhart shrugged. "Probably less bullshit but the same amount of boring. Hopefully, everything will be better with the whole curricular overhaul they're planning."

"Yeah, Maybe now we'll see actual teachers in our classrooms for once." Hakuno noted, "I also heard rumors that they're going to rework the student council from the ground up and dial down their vast powers."

Miyuki blinked. For someone who is in the student council, this was certainly news to her. "Really? This is the first time I've heard of it."

"It's all rumors. I doubt they'd go that far." Tatsuya said, though he didn't sound as confident in it as he could be.

Laeticia shrugged skeptically. "I don't know. From what I heard in the news, your school could really use the overhaul."

"I wonder how it's going to change the Nine Schools Competition," Mizuki uttered with uncertainty.

Erika lit up. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that! That's gonna be so much fun! Guys, just say the word, and my brother can get us in-"

Laeticia looked at them all funnily. "What's the Nine Schools Competition?"

"It's basically this televised high school sports competition between all nine Magic High Schools across Japan." Tatsuya explained. "The Nine Magic High Schools gather once a year to have their students compete in a specialized competition for the glory of their schools. It's usually followed by the Thesis Competition a couple of months afterward."

Miyuki seemed a bit less enthusiastic. "Still, with all of the bad publicity, I wonder if they'll go through with the Nine Schools Competition at all."

"It's practically a national tradition, Miyuki. I doubt they'll cancel it over some bad press." Tatsuya suggested.

"I dunno, the protestors really want it shut down this year." Mizuki added worriedly.

"It does seem to be a bit tone-deaf if they do go through with it." Leonhart nodded in agreement.

Erika glanced at Hakuno, who seemed quite disinterested in the topic, "What about you, Hakuno? Aren't you excited about it?"

Hakuno just shrugged, "Oh, I stopped caring about it a long time ago."

Mizuki blinked, "You stopped caring about it? Why?"

"I dunno, it just never interested me." Hakuno lied. He watched it once, with his dad… whose commentary on the entire event all but ruined the entire NSC for him. The NSC certainly wasn't catered to non-magicians, no matter how hard their marketing department tried. Still, he wasn't going to ruin it for his friends, that was for sure.

"The NSC aside, there are still two months of the curriculum we need to catch up on." Tatsuya reminded them, "If the administration is feeling particularly cruel, they might have to cancel Summer Vacation-"

"Aw, what?!" Leonhart groaned. "Come on, haven't we all suffered enough already?! It's bad enough we've all been stuck in the hospital; now we have to deal with that bullshit right out the gate?!"

"Again, we don't know what will happen." Tatsuya interjected, "Perhaps if all goes well, we might be able to enjoy ourselves this summer after all."

"You all have my condolences." Laeticia offered. "It seems like nothing will ever be the same anymore."

Hakuno shook his head, "You can say that again..."

Before they realized it, visiting hours were over. After bidding their friends farewell for the night, the four began to exit the hospital, just after Tatsuya collected his and Miyuki's CADs from the Security Office.

"Say… Kishinami." Tatsuya began once he handed Miyuki back her CAD. "That Harwey kid-"

Laeticia groaned in annoyance. "Not this again. I thought we all asked you to drop it, Mr. Shiba."

Tatsuya shook his head and pointed at Hakuno's Command Spells on his left hand. "No, that's not it. I saw a mark on his right hand. It was similar to the one on Kishinami's."

Hakuno frowned and looked at the three Command Spells in all their glory, unconsciously covering them up with his other hand, "What are you getting at?"

"What I'm getting at is whatever affected you during the entrance exams probably affected him as well." Tatsuya argued. "Perhaps he knows something else about your condition."

"Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't." Hakuno mentions offhandedly, "Why do you care about it? I honestly thought you forgot all about it."

"Kishinami, you were knocked unconscious during the entrance exams and magically branded by unknown means." Miyuki said concernedly, "That's not exactly hard to forget."

*ring*

That wasn't his phone ringing.

Tatsuya fished his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the caller with a resigned sigh. "...It's Oba-san…"

He answered the phone while Miyuki looked down, biting her lip and clenching her fists. He only made terse, short responses to his aunt, and shortly hung up afterward, uttering a silent curse under his breath the moment it was over.

"We have to go. It seems our aunt is still cashing in on what I owe her." Tatsuya told them, taking Miyuki by the hand. "I guess we'll see you later then."

"Alright, see ya."

"Take care."

The two siblings left, with the Master and Servant waving them goodbye. With those two gone, Laeticia- Ruler- turned to Hakuno and latched onto his arm protectively, her amethyst eyes darting in every direction for any possible threat.

Hakuno, while appreciative of her immediate attention, couldn't help but raise a brow. "I don't think we have anything to worry about Leonardo or Julius."

"No, but there's no harm in being so ." Ruler replied, inching herself closer to her Master. "Caster should be picking us up any minute now-"

A car, a bright blue jeep, skidded right next to them, parking parallel to the edge of the sidewalk. Once the jeep came to a complete stop, the window rolled down, revealing a beautiful pink-haired woman with sunglasses peering at them with a smirk.

The woman, Caster, tilted her eyeglasses down, her amber eyes glinting arrogantly. "Are you just gonna stand there all day, or are you gonna get in?"

Ruler's jaw dropped, her amethyst eyes wide as plates. "What the f-"

Hakuno whistled, admiring Caster's new ride. "I call shotgun."

Tamamo's jeep had that new car smell, yet it was an utter mess in the back. Ruler barely had a seat to herself, with the passenger seats and trunk crammed to the brim with stuff. Much of the items occupying the Jeep were basic everyday household items and decorations, clothes, documents, and stuff like that. However, there was other paraphernalia that had no immediately discernable purpose, such as-

"Where did you get the car?!"

Tamamo pursed her lips, her amber eyes darting towards the rear-view window. "I doubt you need to know that."

"I think I do." Jeanne challenged, trying to stare daggers into the back of Tamamo's skull. "The last thing I want is to be deported for riding around in a stolen vehicle."

Tamamo pouted, offended by the implications. "Do you really think that little of me? You have my word as a Servant that I obtained this car legally. I just… persuaded the dealer to sell it to me at a major discount."

"How?"

"Let's just say the Ministry of Finance wouldn't like his tax returns and leave it at that." Tamamo chuckled nonchalantly, with Jeanne uttering something about how she could afford it in the first place. "But enough about that. What happened with that Leonardo kid?"

"Nothing really. We just exchanged phone numbers and then he left." Hakuno told her. "He doesn't seem to hold a grudge."

"Then what did he want?" Tamamo asked, turning her head towards him, not keeping her eye on the road but somehow not turning all of them (mostly him; they could probably take the hit) into the head of a twenty-car pile-up.

"Eyes on the road!" Jeanne leaned forward and turned Tamamo's head forward, getting jerked back into her seat via the seatbelt the moment she did so for her trouble, "And if you must know, he did not seem to want anything. He didn't have Gawain with him. For all we know, it really was a chance encounter."

Tamamo's eyes darted towards Hakuno. "So how do you wanna play this, Goshujin-sama?"

Hakuno cupped his chin and gave it some thought, "Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. If he doesn't want to hurt us, then so be it. But if you guys want to play it safe, then I'm open to it."

Jeanne nodded her head. "That sounds like a reasonable idea."

Tamamo shrugged. "Yeah, I can dig that. I'll cover you when Lady Saberface over here can't."

"Ah, a rare moment of agree-" Jeanne blinked and whipped her head back to Caster, "Wait, what did you just call me?"

Tamamo parked… at one house to the left of his own.

"Uhh… Caster, this isn't the right house." Hakuno noted, pointing at his house, "Our house is right over there."

Tamamo just flashed him a grin, turning off the engine and twirling the keys on her finger, "Of course, it isn't. It's mine."

Jeanne visibly paled. "Oh, no…"

Tamamo's grin turned devilish as she tossed the two spare keys to her new home, "Oh, yes. Come on and help me move in."

Two weeks passed.

First High was finally open again, though the sense of excitement and wonder that once filled the air was long gone, replaced by a tense feeling of dread and resentment.

"Tch. Leave it to some stupid Weeds to ruin things for everyone else."

"I can't believe my parents didn't pull me out of this hellhole."

"First day out of the hospital and they drag me back to this train wreck again."

It wasn't just him. There weren't as many students in attendance, and the ones that were didn't seem like they wanted to be there. They all just seemed… angry… really, really angry. It was to be expected, but it didn't make it any less uncomfortable. Hakuno had to make sure he didn't accidentally knock into anyone and set them off by accident.

Good thing there weren't any proper classes today. For now, they were just gonna have another long assembly and then they would all be free to go home… for some information that could have been easily obtained from a Zoom call or even an email.

…It took him thirty minutes to commute here, and he knew a few people in his class had even longer commutes. This stupid assembly better be worth it.

Parting ways with the Shiba siblings, Hakuno entered the auditorium and took one of the balcony seats. After only ten minutes, students stopped arriving, yet there were still many vacancies in the auditorium, just patches of empty spots all throughout.

"Yo, Kishinami."

Hakuno turned around, finding Leonhart, Mizuki, and Erika taking seats right beside him. They weren't bound with either wheelchairs, crutches, or casts, and had no physical deformities to be seen. Had he not known better, he would've assumed they weren't injured in the first place. Despite this, they did seem a tad skinnier than they had before, and Leonhart and Erika's musculature were much less pronounced than they had been when he first met them.

"Hey, guys." Hakuno complimented, giving the three a fistbump. "Did you guys just come out of the hospital?"

"Yeah, they let us out the other day," Mizuki told him. "We made such a rapid recovery over there, it almost felt like a blink of an eye."

"Unfortunately, we had to come back here as soon as we were able." Erika groaned. "They better have some administrative changes or else. Where are the Shibas? Don't you and Laeticia live right next to them?"

"Miyuki said she had Student Council work to do and Tatsuya had the Public Morals Committee to deal with." Hakuno explained, "We'll meet back up with them after the assembly."

The assembly started a few minutes afterward, with Vice Principal Yaosaka, Student Council President Mayumi Saegusa, Miyuki, and a bunch of other adults he didn't recognize who were in military dress uniforms, entering stage left, with the Vice Principal taking center stage and approaching the podium. Were the military personnel really necessary? Probably; there were rumors that there were enough staff fired that they needed the vacant roles to be filled in on incredibly short notice. Were the dress uniforms required? Probably not, unless they were trying to impress (or maybe even intimidate?) the students.

"Students, please rise for Acting Principal Yaosaka-sensei."

Despite the order only a few students (Mostly Blooms and a few Weeds) bothered to stand in respect, with Hakuno included until Leonhart stopped him, shaking his head in the negative and silently easing him back down.

Yaosaka-sensei nodded nervously, almost like he anticipated the discontent he was receiving. "Ah, I would like to start by thanking all of the students present for returning safely. Now, I know it has been a chaotic first few months-"

"Boooooooooooo!"

Acting Principal Yaosaka flinched at the sudden expletive, but continued. "-but I know that we can finally get things back on track-"

"On track?! We're several months behind the curriculum!"

"I had to make the commute for this bullshit?!"

"I still have to go back to the hospital, you old fogey!"

"You couldn't have just done this shit online?!"

The students were getting more riled up, and more disgruntled students were speaking out.

"Please settle down," Yaosaka-sensei requested nervously, "I know there is some discontent among the student body over-"

"You're damn right we're discontent!"

"Why are some of the fucking Blooms still here?!"

"Fuck you, Weed! It's because of you shits that this happened in the first place!"

"Are you kidding me, you old fuckwad!? We went from the hospital to this bullshit!? What's next, you're going to talk about our pride and accomplishment?!"

The collective rage was reaching a fever pitch. There were students up on the balcony and down in the auditorium proper who were filling the air with all sorts of snarls and angry screaming from all over the place. And not all of it was directed directly at the staff.

Hakuno could only facepalm, surreptitiously rising from his seat, "Yeah, I'm gonna bail. I don't wanna see how this plays out. Just... tell me how it goes.

Hakuno made a beeline to the nearby bathroom right afterward, washing his hands clean after taking off his gloves. "Well, that was hard to watch."

Caster materialized by the door, locking the bathroom closed with a click. "Which part, the weak-ass speech itself or the fact that half the auditorium looked ready to riot?"

"Both, really." Hakuno uttered, drying his hands and redonning his gloves. "Everyone was in a lot of pain, and it felt like a powder keg in there."

Tamamo shrugged, approaching him and leaning on a nearby sink. "Do you think the staff is gonna make things right this time or will it be more of the same?"

"They probably should've gotten it right the first time, or at least a few years after realizing how screwed up the system was." Hakuno noted, "If it were up to me, I would've noticed the problem earlier and intervened sooner before it got out of hand."

He could almost see a lightbulb flash over Caster's head. "Why don't you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You literally hold the reality-warping power of the Moon Cell in your fingertips," Caster told him, intimately holding his hands in her own, "And what was the last time you actually used it?"

He smirked and pulled her closer, kissing her cheek the moment he could. "I managed to summon you back, didn't I?"

Caster somehow managed to return his smirk with her own while her cheeks flushed red. "Yeah, you did. What else?"

Hakuno hesitated for a moment, pondering over his use of his 'prize'. "Not much. I've really only used it to collect more information or as a GPS. Outside of a few reality marbles, I haven't found much use for it. And right now, we only have a theory on how I got you back."

"So what's stopping you from expanding your horizons?" Tamamo urged. "You have me and the Saberface stopping you from falling off the deep end, so feel free to make the world your own! We'll support you every step of the way!"

Hakuno snorted. "And what should I do now? Change the world with a snap of my fingers?"

"How about you start small and work your way up from there." Caster suggested. "You said there was a ton of things wrong with this country and its relationship with magicians, so let's start here and work our way up. We begin with something small like this school, take on small problems, and then make small steps forward."

Hakuno cupped his chin. "Yeah, that could work, but even with the Regalia, I don't think I can do it alone." Hakuno glanced at his phone. "But maybe I don't have to-"

*Slam*

*sniff, sniff*

"Serves you right, you Master Clan bitch!"

"W-Wait, President-!"

"You think we're idiots?! Go fuck yourself!"

The auditorium exploded.

Caster dematerialized, and Hakuno unlocked the bathroom door, swinging it open to find Mayumi Saegusa running away in tears.

Hakuno's gaze followed the fleeing student council president quizically, "What was that all about?" He then whipped his head back to the auditorium doors, which were being blocked by military personnel as the students inside went into a frenzy.

Suddenly, his decision to bail from the assembly felt like a good call.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he turned towards the exit. If he wanted to, he could just leave the school now and get on with his day. He wouldn't have to deal with whatever chaos is engulfing the student body, and nobody would blame him. Heck, with the few staff running around, he doubted if anybody else was going to notice him being gone.

But, as he reached the main entrance, he stopped in his tracks as the image of Mayumi running off in tears echoed in his mind. Her reputation preceded her, she was probably the most popular girl in school. Practically nobody had anything bad to say about her. So what caused her to run out of the auditorium in tears?

"...You're gonna check up on her, aren't you?" Caster deadpanned.

Hakuno shook his head, recognizing his own impulses as he turned on his heels. "Yeah…"

With the powers of the Regalia, Hakuno tracked Mayumi back down to the student council room. He could hear sobbing from the other side, but when he tried to open the door, he found it to be locked.

"GO AWAY!" Mayumi shrieked between sobs.

Hakuno almost recoiled back from her sudden outburst, before steeling his resolve and trying again. "Senpai, it's Hakuno. Remember me? You met me on the second day of school-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" A psion bullet whizzed past his head and shattered against the opposite wall.

"...You know what? Just walk away, Goshujin-sama…" Caster growled, clearly incensed by Mayumi's attack. "She clearly doesn't want your help, so let's just leave her alone and let her wallow in her own misery."

Hakuno could see where she was coming from. Caster was already overprotective of him as is, so someone actively threatening him after he tried to help was already setting her off. But, even still, he couldn't help but try again.

He gulped, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, before knocking again, a bit more gently, and said, "Alright, I'll leave you alone for now. But when you want to talk about it, I'll be right outside."

Hakuno then slid down against the door and pulled out his phone. There was a video on social media that was currently trending, with Mayumi on the thumbnail and labeled 'Entitled Master Clan scion talks down to tragedy victims'. It was an alarmingly damning titled video, and when he watched it, well, it was an exaggeration, but not by much. She started off so gracefully, so calm, so dignified, speaking a true orator… Which was why her rhetoric was so disturbing. She clearly didn't mean anything wrong, but it seemed like her speech was meant for a completely different audience. She told her audience that there was a problem between Course One and Course Two students (obviously), that they needed to be more aware of the problem (...What?), that this situation wasn't entirely the Blooms' fault (What?) and that some fault lied with the Blooms (WHAT?!). And then she capped it all off with her solution being to open up Student Council positions to Course Two Students.

…Was that seriously all she could up with?!

[CODE_CAST:_{thesis_of_the_still_heart()}_READY]

"Is this chick for real?!" Caster snarled. "You know what, I take it back! If this is all she got, this moron had it coming!"

"Calm down." Hakuno breathed under his breath. He wanted to hear what Mayumi had to say before he completely cast his judgment on her.

Putting away his phone, he stood up and checked outside the window. The military personnel were escorting everyone off campus. It seemed like it was over. It was only a matter of time until someone was going to come over and escort them out-

"...Are they gone?"

The door slid open, and Mayumi walked past him, sadly glancing down at the crowd outside. She looked far worse than she had probably ever been. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot, her cheeks red from hot tears, her luxurious hair a mess. This wasn't Mayumi Saegusa the Student Council President. This is Mayumi Saegusa the wreck.

The two just stood there, watching the students escorted down the paved walkways over to the unwelcome streets of the city. It was almost therapeutic in a way, as if they were watching a river pour from one horizon to another.

Eventually, though, Hakuno turned to Mayumi, noticing the trembling in her hands and the betrayed look in her eyes. "...Are you ready to talk about it now?"

Mayumi hesitantly nodded, "I think so…"

Mayumi went back inside first, and Hakuno followed right after, closing the door behind him. She went to her chair at the head of the table and pulled up the chair to her right. At that part of the table was a vase of lilies and a nameplate, belonging to someone named Hattori Hanzo. Noticing his gaze, Mayumi quickly put that chair away and instead pulled up the one on her left, a seat that belonged to someone known as Azusa Nakajou.

Hakuno sat down and leaned forward, gently laying a hand over hers, before gesturing with his other hand for her to go on.

"I take it you saw the speech?" Mayumi hesitantly asked.

"Not directly. But someone just posted it on YouTube." Hakuno answered awkwardly, "It's already trending."

"Great…" Mayumi groaned weakly. "I didn't think they would react like that. I thought that-"

"They wouldn't be mad?" Hakuno raised a brow.

Mayumi flinched, "You don't sound pleased yourself."

"OH, YOU THINK?!" Caster roared.

Hakuno winced, "I don't wanna mince words; that was your 'Let them eat cake' moment-" he paused and tried to correct himself. "No, it wasn't just your 'Let them eat cake' moment; that was basically you, telling a group of angry, starving men, women, and children to eat cake while you're looking down on all of them from the balcony of a gated ivory tower and actually eating a piece of red velvet cake with a golden plate and a silver spoon, all within their field of view."

Mayumi cringed, "Surely you're exaggerating."

"Mayumi, please think about your audience." Hakuno told her, "You, along with nearly everybody else in that auditorium, were in intensive care for months. They were in a lot of pain, and some people were even killed. Nobody knew what was going on, and everyone probably had to deal with Japan's lousy magician's insurance if they didn't want to be saddled with a terrible hospital bill. Now, they're all discharged, faced with a country where Blanche is on the warpath, and the first thing they're told to do is go back to campus, just so they could sit and watch the principal's piss-poor excuse of a speech about making things right after they got caught with their pants down, and then listen to you tell them all that there wasn't any awareness to the problems that were plaguing them, all before you told them that we should be more aware of the problems that caused this in the first place."

Mayumi winced, pulling her hand away from Hakuno's tearfully, "Why are you doing this?"

"Not to hurt you, if that's what you're thinking." Hakuno said gently, "I just want you to reflect on how things happened, and what you plan to do from this point onwards. Now, you have to admit, this school was a powder keg of discrimination, bullying, and elitism long before you were the Student Council President. Surely you came up with some plans to do something about it. After all, you have more clout and popularity than anyone in the school."

"I did, but…" Mayumi balled her hands into fists angrily, "I… I couldn't… Every time I wanted to bring reforms, the former principal shot me down. He kept saying that his system was perfect, and that it didn't need any changes… he even rejected my suggestion to put the stupid emblem back on all the uniforms, just so the students wouldn't have any reason to call each other Blooms and Weeds, calling it an unnecessary waste of resources… I thought that with Principal Momoyama gone, my initial reforms with the student council would be the first of many new ideas that would make First High, or maybe even all of the National Magic High Schools, a better place for the students, but even now they turned on me…"

Hakuno leaned back in his seat, seeing the big picture, at least, Mayumi's big picture. "I see. So, what will you do now? Are you going to give up?"

"No… I won't..." Mayumi declared hesitantly.

"Even after all they said? Even if they'll now criticize you for every single action you take?" Hakuno challenged.

"No, I won't." Mayumi declared, this time with a little more strength in her voice as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Will you still do right by the entire student body? Even after everything they will say and do to you from this point onward?" Hakuno demanded, challenging the Student Council President to rise to the occasion.

"You bet your sweet patootie I will!" Mayumi triumphantly declared, standing up and slamming her hands upon the table with a newly lit fire in her eyes. "I've never given up on my fellow students and I'm not about to start now! What's one failure to a future of triumph?! I'll uplift them all if it's the last thing I do!"

Hakuno did a double take. He certainly did not expect that to happen, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Instead, he sat back and enjoyed the newfound passion that swelled within her soul, "And now you have regained your resolve, Madame President. Congratulations. The new path you've set before yourself will be long and hard, but if you just remember that you are never alone, then you shall never falter. Good luck."

"Ah, Hakuno. I was hoping you would call." Leonardo said calmly.

"I was wondering why you approached me back at the hospital, and now I know." Hakuno replied, his grip on his phone tight as he eyed the Sovereign's Regalia gracing his left hand. "I have a proposition for you, and I think you might like it."

"Oh? And what is this great master plan from the great Lunar Sovereign?" Leonardo asked.

"It's more of an idea than a plan at the moment, but it's something you might be interested in." Hakuno said, "I won't force you or anything, but it's something I want some of my closest friends to be in on: Rin, Rani, you, and Julius."

"Well then, let's hear it." Leonardo declared sincerely, without any hint of hesitation. "How about you come over so we can talk it out properly."

[PROCEED_WITH_CAMELOT_PROTOCOL?]

[_]

[CAMELOT_PROTOCOL_IN_PROGRESS]

[ATARAXIA_PROTOCOL_IN_PROGRESS]

A/N: And I am done! Happy New Year to all! Wow, I'll tell you that first scene was a pain to write, but once I got it out of the way, the rest just flowed through. I'd like to thank my brother, who helped me get out of the parts I was stuck on and helped me plan a lot of this fic going forward. He certainly helped me out with that last scene with Mayumi. Seriously though, I really love Mayumi as a character, but that speech she gave in the auditorium really didn't click with me. No, seriously, go back and watch her speech in the anime; it was actually a bit off-putting. In fact, what I wrote was basically a gigantic deconstruction of her speech and how the other students would realistically react to it. Hopefully I got it right, and I hope I still managed to redeem Mayumi at the end as well.

That's all I got for now. As always, please review!