Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ghost in the Walls

Kenos watched as Asta and Yami entered Finral's portal, the solar mage sighed as he sat down and got comfortable.

"Damn, yesterday was really tough, Licht and the Third Eye are no joke," he said.

Noelle walked past him. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to take a shower, that snow really gave me chills," she said as she disappeared into the hallway.

Kenos looked up at the ceiling before he took out his grimoire, looking intently at it. "What was Licht talking about when he said a sacred one aligns with me? What even is a sacred one, does it have to do with the fifth leaf on my grimoire? Well, regardless of what a sacred one is, it's a clue, I am surprised that Licht knows something that Julius doesn't," he thought.

The solar mage then stood up. "Well, I can worry about that later, right now, there's something important I need to do," he thought as he walked over to Vanessa.

The scarlet-clad mage was enjoying a cup of wine when she noticed the black-haired teen standing next to her, his face, however, showed that he was a little nervous. "Something the matter, Kenos?"

Kenos scratched the back of his head. "Y-Yeah, I was wondering, if you could...bring me to the Black Market?" he asked nervously.

Vanessa was a bit confused. "The Black Market, why do you want to go there?"

"I wanted to look for something to buy, but I forgot how to get there," Kenos replied. "And since Captain Yami hasn't assigned me a mission, I thought this would be a nice time to go,"

"Um, okay then, just let me get dressed," Vanessa said back as she got up and walked into the hallway, ten minutes passed before she came out in her public attire. "Alright, let's be off,"

The two grabbed their brooms and walked outside, mounting them as they soared into the sky.

Vanessa turned and looked at her young squadmate. "I wonder what he wants at the Black Market, could he be after a new Magic Item for himself?" she thought before quickly turning her head straight.

Some time passed and the town of Kikka was below the two. "We're here," Vanessa stated as they landed on the ground, the thread mage began navigating her way to the mysterious market, with Kenos beside her.

"So tell me Kenos, what exactly do you plan on buying?" she asked.

"Well, it's kind of a secret, it's something I've never really looked for before," Kenos replied.

"I see," she said before making it to the entrance. "We're here,"

"Thanks a lot, Vanessa, you don't have to worry, from here, I'll be fine on my own," the solar mage said gratefully.

"Alright then, but let me just ask one more question," Vanessa said as she brought her face close to Kenos', a small smirk on her face. "You're buying something for someone else, aren't you?"

The solar mage turned his head away. "Maybe...I'll see you back at the hideout," he replied quickly before walking through the camouflage spell and into the market. Due to already visiting the place once, he was used to the eerie and mysterious feeling that came with it.

"Okay, let's see if any of these merchants have what I'm looking for," he mumbled to himself as he walked by stand after stand, seeing if the object he was looking for was present.

"Hey, it's you, the Black Bull," a voice said, Kenos turned to his left, and saw a middle-aged man with dark gray hair.

A small smile appeared on the solar mage's face as he walked to the man's stand. "Hey, I remember you, you're the merchant who sold me my ring,"

"That's me, how's the ring treating you?" the merchant asked.

"Great, it's gotten me out of some tough predicaments," Kenos replied.

"That's good, so, what're you looking for today?"

"Um, by any chance, do you have any products along the lines of...jewelry?" the solar mage replied with some reluctance.

"Jewelry you say, I got a good amount of that," he said as he turned around and grabbed a box, turning back around, he placed it in front of Kenos, within the box was a neat array of different types of jewelry. "See if anything appeals to you,"

"Wow, there's a lot to pick from," Kenos muttered as he scanned the pieces of jewelry before his eyes fell on one in particular, it was a necklace, the base color of it was silver, intricate designs adorned it, and in the center of it was a gorgeous emerald green crystal.

Kenos picked it up. "This necklace, it's beautiful,"

The merchant nodded. "You have a good eye, I got that last week, a great thing to give to women, however, it isn't cheap, at best, that'll cost you 370 yul,"

"Deal," the solar mage quickly said, pulling his bag of money out of a compartment in his satchel, he opened it and placed the cost on the counter of the stand.

"Wow, you agreed to that quickly," the merchant said as he scooped up the coins and put them into a bag beside him before smirking. "Is that a gift for your girlfriend?"

Kenos waved his hand in a denying manner. "Oh no, I don't have a girlfriend, this is just a gift for a friend, I hope she likes this, thanks a lot, bye,"

"See you around," the merchant waved back.

Exiting the Black Market and appearing back in the open town, Kenos mounted his broom and flew into the sky. "Okay, I have a gift, now to go deliver it," he said as a few minutes passed by, he looked down and smiled as he saw that he arrived at his destination.

"There we go, Aqua Deer HQ," he said as he landed. "I already came here with Asta not too long ago, but not a lot of people were around, so we practically went in and out undetected,"

As the solar walked into the base of the squad, it was obvious that there were more people present today as a notable crowd began looking at him, he could hear a bit of what they were saying.

"Hey, isn't that a Black Bull?"

"Yeah, it is, what's he doing here?"

"Wait a minute, look at his face, isn't he a Rossiu?"

"What, a Rossiu, no way,"

"It's true, look at the pendant he's wearing, that's the Rossiu family crest,"

"So the rumor is true, a Rossiu really joined the Black Bulls,"

Kenos ignored their words as he passed by them and made a right into a hallway, it was nearly vacant, with only three people there, but he recognized who those three people were, a large smile appeared on his face. "Hey!"

The three people turned around, and those people were Shauna, Oliver, and Zuka, the wood and illusion mages smiled and waved. "Kenos!"

As for Zuka, however, once her eyes fell on the solar mage, she backed up, not wanting the others to see the blush forming on her face. "My face feels warm again, why is this happening to me?"

Kenos walked over to them. "It's been a while, Oliver, Shauna, how have you been?"

"We're doing just fine, what are you doing here at Aqua Deer HQ?" Oliver replied before asking.

"Well, I came here to formally thank Shauna, Zuka brought me to the meadow she was talking about, it made me feel a lot better," the solar mage replied.

"No problem, I know we're not too close to each other, but I'm glad I could still help you," Shauna said.

Kenos nodded before walking up to the sparkle mage. "And for you Zuka, I got you a gift,"

The red on Zuka's face began to disappear. "You did?"

"Yeah," he replied before revealing the necklace. "I've never bought something like this for someone before, so I'm not too sure if you'll like it, it's to thank you for not giving up on me,"

"Oh wow, it's beautiful, where did you get that?" Shauna asked.

"Um, from a friend," the solar mage lied in response before walking to Zuka. "Well, do you like it?"

"Are you kidding me, it looks incredible, can...you put it on for me," Zuka replied with a bit of a shy tone as she turned around.

"Of course," Kenos walked over to his friend and put the necklace on for her, not noticing that her face was becoming red again, but she was able to calm down as she turned around.

"So, what do you think?" Zuka asked openly.

"It looks great on you, the crystal in the center really brings out your eyes," Kenos simply replied.

"Oh, what a nice thing to say, I owe you one," the sparkle mage said.

Kenos shook his head. "No you don't, the only one who owes anyone anything is me, thanks again,"

Zuka gave him a thumbs up. "No problem, you're my friend, and I'll take what you told me to heart again,"

Kenos smiled, knowing what she was talking about. "Good, it's nice to know you'll lean on me when you feel troubled," he thought before turning around. "Well, I better go, cya around,"

"Bye Kenos!" Oliver and Shauna called.

Zuka on the other hand, turned around and started running. "I'll be back, I forgot something in my room!" she exclaimed, however, that was a lie to keep the other two from seeing the huge blush on her face and a smile just as large.

"I'm so happy, my face is really red, and my heart is beating really fast, I guess this means what I think it means...I like Kenos," she thought as she kept running.

"I'm so glad Zuka liked the necklace, I wonder if the merchant would give me a refund if she didn't like it," Kenos said to himself as he landed near the base, he dismounted before stretching as he walked inside, everything seemed the same from when he left.

"Asta and Captain Yami aren't back yet?" he asked.

"Nope, they're still at the capital," Magna replied.

"I see, I wonder what they're doing there anyways?" the solar mage wondered aloud.

"So Kenos, how did your gift searching go? What did you buy? Who did you give it to? Did they like it?" Vanessa asked quickly.

Kenos cracked a small grin in her direction. "Like I'd ever talk, but if you must know, they liked it a lot,"

"That's good to hear," she said back.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a hot bath, that snow from Nean gave me chills too," Kenos said as he was making his way to the hallway, but suddenly, he hit his face against a pillar. "What the hell, I've walked down this hallway a bunch of times, why is this pillar here, how is a pillar here?"

Magna walked up to the young mage. "Didn't Asta tell you, the hideout has been known to randomly shift around from time to time, I'm actually surprised this is the first time it's happened since you joined us," he explained.

"Randomly shift around? As in parts of the hideout appearing in different places?"

The flame mage nodded. "That's right, but it's more than that, the chaos that is our squad has gotten this place nearly destroyed a few times, but somehow, it just fixes itself the next day as if nothing happened. This might be our hideout, but Captain Yami only found it, meaning there's stuff about this place we don't know,"

"Interesting, almost like another presence is doing it, that or a mage's magic, but I know nearly everyone's attribute, so that's a no," Kenos said as he pointed a finger into the air. "Since Captain Yami has yet to assign me a mission, I will take this chance to find out the mystery of our base,"

Magna grinned. "Sounds exciting, count me in,"

Luck landed next to Magna. "I'll come too, if it turns out to be a person responsible, I want to fight them,"

"Cool, hey Vanessa, you wanna join us?" Kenos asked.

"Nah, I'm fine, mysteries aren't my thing, I'd rather sit here and enjoy my wine and booze," she replied.

"Alright then, what about you, Finral?" he then asked, turning to the spatial mage.

"I'm going to have to pass too, I don't know when Asta and Captain Yami will be done at the capital, they'll need me to open a portal for them," he replied.

"Okay, that's fine, you two can't do it, Gauche is in his room, Noelle's taking a shower, Gordon and Grey are doing whatever Gordon and Grey do, and I don't even know where's Charmy and Nero, so it seems it's just the three of us," Kenos said, turning to Magna and Luck.

"Alright," the two said back with grins of excitement on their faces.

"Now we need to know where to start looking," the solar mage said. "You two have been in the base longer than I have, is there any place you don't know much about, or just generally avoid?"

"Nothing that I can think of on the top of my head," Luck replied.

Magna, however, raised his hand up halfway. "I know a spot, follow me," he said as he walked into the hallway, the other two mages behind him.

"Be careful you three, make sure not to get lost, I won't be able to find you," Finral warned them.

"Don't worry about them Finral, they won't get lost, I just wonder if they'll find what they're looking for," Vanessa reassured him.

"Here we are," Magna said, after a few turns, the flame mage led Luck and Kenos to a turn in the hallway. "We're just a few feet past Captain Yami's room, but once you walk here and make a left, you're entering a hallway no Black Bull has ever gone through before,"

"Is there any exact reason nobody goes through it?" Kenos asked curiously.

Magna shook his head. "Not really, I remember some years back when Finral and I came here to wake Captain Yami up for a meeting, I noticed it and asked what it was, FInral just told me nobody has ever gone there before. It's really the only part of the hideout that doesn't shift around, so if anything, or anyone, is responsible for our mystery, there's the best place to look," he replied.

Kenos' eyes slightly tensed as he looked at the turn. "Spooky, but we have to check it out, you two with me?"

"Of course we are, you think we'd come here just to leave," Magna replied.

"He's right, let's get moving," Luck added.

"Here we go then," the solar said as the three made the turn and began walking down the mysterious hallway, but as they did, one thing was clear to see.

"I can't see a thing!" Magna complained. "What the hell happened, why is it so dark in here, the other hallway was well lit?!"

"I don't know, are there no windows near here to emit light," Kenos said, trying to feel his way around.

"This reminds me of that time we went to the dungeon, once we entered we couldn't see a thing," Luck said from behind them.

A lightbulb flashed in the solar mage's head. "Of course, let's do what we did at the dungeon and make our own light," he said as he made an orange ball of light, fire came out of Magna's hand, and lightning out of Luck's

"How did we not think of this sooner, it seemed like a no brainer?" Magna suddenly asked.

"I don't know, but that isn't important right now, we have our light source, so let's start moving," Kenos said as they did so, walking down the hallway.

Some time passed as the group kept walking, Luck groaned. "Uh, I'm bored, how long have we been walking down this one hallway?"

"Beats me, I didn't even know a hallway could get this long, but all we can do is just keep walking," Magna replied with a sigh.

"I know what we can do to kill some time, why don't we talk about something," Kenos suggested.

"Talk about what though?" Magna asked.

The solar mage shrugged. "I don't know, anything really,"

"I know," Luck spoke up. "Why don't you go into detail about how strong those people you fought from the Eye of The Midnight Sun were?"

Kenos gave him a deadpan look. "Scratch what I said earlier, anything but that,"

"Ah, you're no fun," the lightning mage pouted.

"I think I got one, why don't we talk about what we like the most about being a part of the Black Bulls?" Magna then suggested.

This time, Kenos nodded his approval. "Now that sounds like a good idea, do you wanna start, Magna?"

"Sure, if there's something I really like about being in this squad, it's how you don't have to worry about where you come from," Magna replied. "No offense to you or Noelle, but a lot of nobles and royals are weary of commoners like me, they think they're leagues better than us at everything, and it doesn't help that most of the Magic Knight Captains are nobles and royals,"

"I don't think all the captains are that bad," Kenos pointed out. "If you ever get to meet Captain Fuegeoleon of the Crimson Lion Kings, you'll see how he's a very respectable man who doesn't really care about status when it comes to being a Magic Knight, and Captain Rill of the Aqua Deer is just a really cool person to talk to,"

"You may be right about them, but it's not just the captains, their squads will consist of nobles, and in the case of a few squads, royals. They all look down at us, they don't care about us, despite the fact that we have lives too, but here, with the Black Bulls, none of that matters, I'm from the Forsaken Realm, but that doesn't change how any of you see me," the flame mage said before turning to Kenos. "Look at you, you're a noble, and Noelle's a royal, but we don't care, I just really like that about this squad,"

"You're right, nobody cares where you're from here, because we're all different in one way or another," Kenos said. "Though I must say, I never knew you could speak so emotionally, you usually talk and act so straightforward, it's something I don't see from you often," a smirk creased his face.

"Whatever, just don't go telling the others," he said as he turned his head to the side.

"You won't have to worry about him telling the others, because I'll do that myself!" Luck laughed.

"Luck, you bastard, you better not tell anybody, or else you're dead ya hear!" Magna exclaimed as he turned to him. "It's your turn now, start talking,"

"Well, the thing I like the best about this squad is the freedom I have," Luck said.

"Freedom?" the other two asked, confused.

"Yeah, the freedom to fight who I want most of the time, those other squads run by the nobles and royals can be so uptight, but I just want to have fun," the lightning mage elaborated. "It sort of reminds me of something Letoile told me, how like lightning, I'm wild and have no clear direction, the Black Bulls is the best place for my attitude and I like it, and just like with what Magna said, you all don't mind how I am,"

"She said that, damn, was she spot on or what," Kenos said with an impressed tone.

"Letoile? Oh, you mean that girl from the Golden Dawn who you went on that mission with a little while back?" Magna asked, confused by the name Luck gave before remembering who it was. "I didn't know the two of you were friends,"

"Yeah, we hit it off just fine, and the best part is she's easy to prank, just like you, might I say even easier," Luck grinned. "That's another thing I like about being on this squad, pranking you is so much fun,"

"You damn maniac, it's not supposed to be fun!" Magna exclaimed, turning to the lightning mage as the fire in his hand grew in intensity.

"It is for me!" Luck laughed before turning his attention to the solar mage. "Alright Kenos, it's your turn,"

"My turn aye, well, I really like everything there is about this squad and the people that comprise it," he began before stopping, he then started again. "I've never really told this to any Black Bull but Asta, but joining this squad wasn't really my initial choice,"

"We know," Luck spoke up. "After you got back from that trip to your house, Asta and Noelle told us about everything that happened at the capital and at your home,"

Magna nodded. "He's right, although I don't know too much about your choice of squad, Asta didn't really go into depth with that one,"

"Well, to be completely honest with you, I was completely fine joining whatever squad wanted me, as long as my siblings weren't a part of it, in the end, only the Silver Eagles, Crimson Lion Kings, and Black Bulls wanted me, and you all know which one I picked," Kenos explained. "The first night I came here, I was excited, but the next day, I started feeling guilty because who you were individually didn't matter to me, as long as you weren't my siblings,"

"So that's why you seemed down that one time?" Magna asked.

The solar mage nodded. "But Asta told me how I shouldn't feel bad, and how I should turn my choice into an opportunity, he told me I should get to know all of you so you'd feel like family to me, and you already know how my normal family life is like," he let out a short chuckle. "Well, over time, I've gotten to learn things about you, and even then I get to see a different side of you,"

Kenos looked at Magna as he said that, the flame turned his head away in embarrassment. "What I'm saying is that I like everyone here, I like every thing here, I get a really good feeling when I'm with the Black Bulls, I can't really explain it right now, but I just do,"

Magna and Luck were silent as they continued walking down the hallway, Magna was the first to speak up. "Same here, we all get a good feeling when we're with each other,"

Kenos smiled, but that smile quickly faded as he bumped into something. "What the hell?" he said as he brought his ball of light in front of him and saw a wall. "I guess we've made it to the end of the hallway,"

"It's about time," Magna said. "Now we have to find where the other hallway is, and hopefully, it will be a short one," he sighed.

But just then, as the mage finished sighing, a sound was heard, it echoed around, bouncing on the stone walls, the three of them noticed that it wasn't just a sound.

But words.

"Heeeeellllllooooo, myyyyyyy frrrriiieeennnddd,"

"What the hell was that, did you just hear someone say 'hello, my friend'?" Kenos asked.

Magna nodded. "That's what I heard, where do you think it came from?" he asked back, but didn't wait for a response. "Well, regardless of where it came from, we should have our guard up, right, Luck?"

The flame mage heard no answer, turning around, he saw that the lightning Luck protruded to light his path was gone too. "Luck! Where are you?!"

"You don't think something happened to him?" Kenos asked with some worry.

"Not likely, nothing could've happened to him that we couldn't hear," the flame mage replied.

"Maaggnnaa, oh Maaggnnaa," a voice said.

Magna froze in fear. "It knows who I am, and it knows that we're here,"

"I'm gooiinngg to...get you!" the voice said slowly, before increasing its speed as a hand rested on Magna's shoulder.

"Shit!" Magna exclaimed as his grimoire came out. "Die, whatever or whoever you are, Flame Magic: Explosive-,"

He was about to fire the spell behind him, but then a spark of lightning appeared at that spot, and Luck emerged. "I got you!" he exclaimed before he began laughing.

The flame mage was fuming. "Damn it, Luck, you almost gave me a heart attack," he said. "So you're the one who said 'hello my friend' earlier?"

Surprisingly, the lightning mage shook his head. "That wasn't me, I just heard a voice say that, so I decided to imitate it to get a chance to scare you, and it worked,"

"Yeah right, no way I'm believing that," Magna said with crossed arms.

"Believe what you want Magna, but I'm telling it wasn't-," Luck began before he was interrupted.

"Ittt'sss reeaally goooddd tooooo seeeee yooouuuu agggaaiinnn,"

"There it is again, so it wasn't Luck," Kenos said.

"Then who was it?" Magna asked.

"I know," Luck spoke up. "What if it was...a ghost?"

"A g-ghost?" Kenos and Magna stuttered as their faces darkened with comedic fear.

"By ghost, you mean by the soul of a dead person that haunts buildings, like the ones in story books?" Kenos asked.

The lightning mage nodded with a grin on his face. "Exactly, after all, this is a building, and we don't know where it came from, or who built it, this place could have some dark past,"

"D-Don't be ridiculous, there's n-no way that can be true," Magna said with a stutter.

"We've reached the end of the hallway, let's see if there's another path," the solar mage said as he began searching around before his hand grabbed onto something. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Magna and Luck asked together.

"I just grabbed onto...a knob, that means there's a door here," Kenos replied as he twisted the knob and opened the door, but once he did, light came in and illuminated a portion of the darkness of the hallway.

"Damn it," Luck and Kenos said in pain as they covered their eyes, their light sources disappearing as they did so.

"It's good to have shades," Magna said proudly as he extinguished his flame.

The lightning and solar mages slowly opened their eyes as it began adjusting to the light, and once they did, their eyes widened. Before them was another hallway, but it was well lit, letting them see the end of the hall, which had another left turn.

"How come the last hall was dark as hell, but this hall isn't?" Kenos wondered aloud.

"Your guess is as good as mine, let's get moving, this part will be a lot easier," Magna responded as they walked down the hallway.

"Okay, whatever said those words must be close," Kenos said.

"You mean the ghost," Luck then said.

"Luck, there is no ghost, they're just in stories, they don't-," the solar mage began saying, but stopped, the other two mages stopped too, Kenos turned to them. "Guys...did you feel that?"

The flame mage nodded. "Yeah, there's no doubt about it...that's mana,"

"Ghosts have mana?" Luck wondered aloud. "Then again, we don't really know what happens to a person's mana when they die, maybe it lingers?"

"How many times do we have to tell you, there isn't a ghost here, get that through your damn-," Magna began before Luck zoomed forward and snatched his shades.

"Don't feel like it," the lightning mage taunted as he put on the shades. "Wow, everything looks a lot darker, how do you wear these?"

"Give those back!" Magna exclaimed as he lunged at Luck, the blonde-haired teen quickly backed up, he then ran into the dark hallway.

"Come and get me," he laughed.

"Luck, you bastard, once I get my hands on you, you're so dead!" Magna exclaimed as he furiously ran into the dark hallway after him.

"What the hell, you two?!" Kenos exclaimed, unable to believe the two older mages left him by himself, the solar mage turned around and saw the turn at the end of the hallway, he took a deep breath. "Okay Kenos, you know there are no ghosts, just keep moving, you've come too far to go back,"

He kept walking forward, telling himself that there was nothing to worry about, once he made it to the end of the hallway, he turned left. "What the?" he muttered as he saw that there was a single door, and that door was open, and coming from that open door was a sound.

Kenos recognized that sound. "Chirping? There are birds in there," he thought before hearing another sound.

"Myyyyyyy frrriiiieeennnddd,"

"My friend? Whatever was saying that is in that room, I have to be careful," the solar mage muttered as he pressed his back against the wall and began slowly moving towards the door.

Once he was just about two inches from the opening, he peeked into the room, his eyes then widened, there was a person sitting up on a bed, it looked like a boy, he had massive white hair, it even covered his eyes from view, and perched on his hand was a bluebird.

"Holy shit, is that a person, what are they doing here, how did they-," Kenos began to wonder silently, but stopped midway the figure in question turned to look at him.

"Double shit, he saw me, I need to get-," he began saying, but was interrupted once more as he sank to his knees. "What the hell is going on, why do I feel so light-headed all of a sudden?" he thought as he grabbed onto his head.

The door was then shut, despite nobody pushing it, a few seconds then passed before Kenos could feel his head clearing up, he stood up. "What in the world just happened?" he wondered aloud as he opened the door, but this time, the room was empty.

"There's nobody here, now I'm really confused, who did I just see, how did the door close on its own, this is just too weird," the solar mage said. "Well, there's nothing else I can do now, luckily, I remember the path to get back to the main part of the base,"

Kenos turned around and began walking back where he came from, a good few minutes passed before he arrived at the main space, he saw Vanessa laying down on the couch, Magna had just gotten his shades back from Luck with Luck evading fireballs Magna sent his way, he also noticed that Noelle, Gauche, Charmy, Gordon, and Grey were present.

"Hey there, what are you all doing here?" Kenos asked.

"We heard Magna yelling and came to see what was going on," Noelle replied. "Where were you?"

"Magna, Luck, and I decided to do some exploring around the base to find out why it randomly shifts around, but then those two ditched me," Kenos replied.

"We didn't mean to leave you by yourself, Luck took my shades," Magna said as he walked to him. "Say, did you find anything significant?"

Kenos wanted to tell them about the man he saw, but he wasn't sure if he was even real, he was in the room one second, and gone the other, then there was the light-headedness he had shortly after seeing him. "No, I didn't see anything,"

"Oh, well that's too bad," the flame mage said.

Kenos walked over to Vanessa. "Where's Finral?"

"He went outside, I think someone was calling him," she replied as he sat up.

Just then, the entrance door opened and Finral walked in, with Yami and Asta behind him. "Hey everyone, we're back!"

"Hey there you two, how was your trip to the capital?" Kenos asked.

Yami blew smoke from his cigarette. "It was alright, but Julius assigned a special secret mission for the Black Bulls,"

"A special secret mission?" they all asked.

"That's right, in four days, we're heading to Raquey, that's where we'll find the Underwater Temple,"