CHAPTER 50: A STAR IS BORN

It was a hellish week for Idia, that was for sure. As soon as he secured Ortho's chip inside his room and rebooted his mobile games for those sweet log-in bonuses, the Ignihyde housewarden was reminded of his duties. First and foremost, he had to use the Charon soldiers to fix everything that had been broken in their rampage. Idia promised the repairs wouldn't take more than a few days, but the difficult part was Hallowgrim dorm. Some of the other housewardens thought the house deserved a complete upgrade, not just a basic fix, since it was dumpier than all the other dorms—even after Jill was put in charge of the place.

And Idia couldn't argue much with that. Fine, whatever, he oversaw a few designs and sent some money and grunts to help with the overhaul. Jill and Grim were staying over at Pomefiore dorm in the meantime, and Idia imagined the high standards there wouldn't be easy for the troublesome duo.

But trying to fix everything was the easy part, it turned out. Since Ortho had destroyed the River Lethe system during his hostile takeover, that meant that Styx couldn't erase anyone's memories from the Isle of Woe. Meaning that Styx more or less had to come out of the shadows. When Idia's parents returned to work after their field research, they were extremely unpleased about this, to put it mildly. It made Idia grateful he wouldn't have to return to the Isle for some time.

The rub was that Idia had to make an official statement to silence everyone's questions—he did so online from the safety of his room, as an in-person interview would be too much to bear. Aside from giving a cursory explanation of what Styx was and why they've hidden themselves for the world's safety, Idia finally addressed why a handful of prominent students were taken in the first place.

As Styx is constantly developing our understanding of blot, we sometimes bring in outside mages whose intelligence and perspectives can help us gain new knowledge of the subject. Due to a miscommunication on our part, this request for help was interpreted as an emergency, which we will take full responsibility for. Those were affected have been fully compensated for their trouble. Again, we apologize for any misunderstandings or harm caused to Night Raven College and its student body.

That would have to do.

Most of Idia's time, however, was focused on remaking Ortho. Most of it was easy, as he'd copied his notes from his last experiment years ago. But this would be different. Instead of Ortho's sleek white robotic form, which was his default Gear, Idia was crafting a new black one that would resemble a Night Raven College student. He also arranged for Ortho to be his own student, rather than being treated as half of Idia. It was the least he could do.

At last, after the week was nearly done and Ortho's new Gear was finished, Idia implanted the core chip and waited for the humanoid to boot up.

There was a familiar humming noise and Ortho's yellow eyes opened at last. His chest cavity closed up, and he sat upright on the edge of the worktable, staring at Idia. "…Bro?"

"You're back," Idia whispered. "You… you remember everything, right?"

"Yeah," Ortho said. "The other Ortho's memories, all the stuff at NRC, the Isle of Woe, dying… I remember all of it." He examined his new body, and his voice shook. "Idia, listen, what I did… I'm so sorry, I wasn't in control of myself at all! Ortho 1.0 possessed me—he was so angry and bitter, but I can't hate him for that. And I caused so much trouble for you and everyone else when we were supposed to help… I'm so sorry, Idia…"

Idia hugged him tightly. "Don't worry about it," he said. "You're okay, and you can live your own life now."

"My own life…?" Ortho mused, hugging him back.

"Yeah. The first Ortho is gone," Idia admitted sadly. "I know I can't get him back… and I shouldn't have used you as a proxy like that. You're not a copy of Ortho Shroud—you should live the life you want."

Ortho was quiet for a moment as the Shrouds pulled apart. "I do feel different from before," Ortho said. "I feel… warm, I guess, in here." He pointed to his chest. "Why is that?"

"Turns out, being hit with the Thunder Spear sort of affected your core chip," Idia explained. "I wasn't sure how exactly, so I just hoped for the best."

"You, having hope?" Ortho asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I know it sounds hokey," Idia grumbled. "But forget about me. Any performance issues? Does everything feel okay?"

"Yep!" Ortho said, jumping off the worktable. "I actually feel better than ever! And there is that warm spot, which I'm starting to like." He paused. "I know I'm not related to you by blood—this blue fire on my head isn't even a curse, it's just a projection. But… I want to be your brother, Idia. Not because I was programmed to, or because I'm trying to fill 1.0's shoes. Because I love you, and I still want to be there for you."

"Ortho…" Idia didn't know what to say. His eyes were starting to turn misty again.

"Besides, I have to make sure you're on task," Ortho teased him. "Someone has to help you out of your room every once in a while."

"I've been plenty busy this week, thank you very much," Idia reminded. "Since you destroyed River Lethe, everyone's memories are still intact, and the whole world learned about Styx. Mom and Dad have grilled me hard, and I had to make the public apology!"

"Sorry for giving you the extra work," Ortho said. "But at least from now on, Styx won't be so lonely, right?"

"I guess…" Idia backtracked. "So look, I talked with the teachers, and they agreed to let you be a first-year student with separate classes from me. If you want to."

"Really?" Ortho asked excitedly. "I've always wondered what it would be like to be an actual first-year… I think I'll take up that offer!"

"Great," Idia approved. "I guess it's time to let you outta here and reintroduce yourself."

"Oh, before I do that, there's something I have to tell you, Idia…" Ortho said quickly. "I never got to tell you about that strange Phantom I met near Tartarus, when I first descended into the Underworld."

"Strange Phantom? You mean, Ortho 1.0?" Idia asked.

"No… a Phantom who called himself Minuet," Ortho explained. "He had managed to open Tartarus by a tiny crack using a strange key. Then he used that key to create a door and escaped before I could apprehend him."

Idia froze in horror, the pieces coming together. "…What kind of key?"

"It was silver, and it had a small skull on the handle," Ortho said. "It seemed like Jill Bones was telling the truth with her testimony earlier."

"So there is a baddie running around and making us overblot because he hated so much?!" Idia groaned. "Talk about an ultra-rare troublemaker! Jill's gonna be all smug about this, I can tell."

"I think we should let the other overblotters know about this," Ortho explained. "We did take them in order to find out how they overblotted. They deserve to know the truth."

"What a pain… but yeah, you're right," Idia griped. "After Jill and Grim's little housewarming, we can set up the SSR Troublemaker meeting."

"Okay!" Ortho agreed happily. "I can't wait for everyone to see the new me!"

Me either, Idia couldn't help but think.