Raphtalia, however, would not get an answer to her question as Sadeena was already snoozing, completely oblivious to her concerns.

But, did she have a point?

One, when was she going to break the news to Naofumi?

Secondly, about the whole 'being a celebrity' thing... was she right about that?

Raphtalia had been aiming for fame for a reason separate from wealth, but was it worth it risking her future with what was her first love?

She squirmed, unsure of what to do further.

By this point, I was sure that there was something really wrong.

One week- it had been one week since Melty had gone 'missing' and hadn't come back to college.

I even asked the student's office as to what was wrong with her- though they said that they couldn't tell me.

Since she hadn't replied to any of my texts or calls, or shown up in a week, I could only assume that she had been kidnapped by aliens or something along those lines.

But, I figured there was one other person I could reach out to.

"Hello, Raphtalia?"

"Ah, Mister Naofumi...?"

We hadn't spoken to each other since she had dragged Atla away, and I wasn't sure how things had worked out for her, but she seemed okay.

Things had sort of been awkward between us though, and neither of us had made the first move when it came to communicating with each other. I was a bit annoyed at her for that, though at the same time you could say that I very well could've done the same thing and reached out to her first.

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask you- have you heard from Melty recently?"

"Ah, no... why what happened?"

"She hasn't been to college recently," I told her. "And I was kind of getting worried... has Eclaire spoken with you?"

"We were still planning on going out next week, but I have to call her back on that- I don't know, she hasn't mentioned anything about Melty. Did you try reaching out to Filo?"

"As if that would work- I don't have her number, and when I try Fitoria's, it just tells me that's an invalid number. I guess that might not be her actual number though," I said.

"Ah, then let me see if I can reach out to Fitoria," Raphtalia said. "But... Mr. Naofumi, I wanted to ask about someth-"

She didn't get any further as I swore.

Loudly.

"Eh?"

"Sorry, Raphtalia- Atla is here," I said with a sigh.

I had been expecting her to show up- to drop out of the shadows like a ninja, but here she was out in broad daylight, near the gate of the college. I could turn around and run... but this was the closest route to the bus stop, and she had already seen me.

"W-What is she doing there?"

"Ah, let me call you back later," I said, disconnecting the call.

To my surprise, Fohl was there with her this time.

"Ah, we uh, wanted to ask you something," Fohl said when I walked out and approached him.

"Please marry me!"

"Not that right now- Atla!" Fohl said. He looked askance, as if he was somewhat embarrassed to be here. "I actually needed your advice on something. You're a lawyer right?"

"I'm in law school- big difference," I told him.

"Well, my sister and I are kind of... in a mess so to speak. I don't know if you can help us, but we can't really get anyone else so..." he trailed off.

I sighed. I really didn't want to be dragged into this. "What is this about?"

"It's... personal," Fohl said. "I- don't want to talk about it in public."

"Aight- let's fine a nearby café," I said.

"I said I didn't want to talk about it in public- is there anywhere else we can go?" Fohl asked.

I did not want to take them to my apartment, so we made do with a small bench outside of my apartment complex. There wasn't anyone around save for some gossiping aunties a ways away, and I doubted they could hear us.

"Aight, what is this?" I asked.

Fohl kicked his feet before reaching into his bag and handing me a massive pile of documents- I mean that this thing was almost bigger than some of my textbooks-which given that I was going to law school, really was saying something.

"So... it goes like this, the short version at least," Fohl said. "It has to do with my mother... she was the heir to a large law firm, alongside my uncle- her brother. But, she did something that her family didn't approve of- she married our father, who was from a rival firm. Her family really didn't like that and cut her off, never speaking to her again afterwards. Right now... both of them are dead. My father's family cut us off completely, but it turns out that my mother's family never formally disowned her from inheriting anything. I really wouldn't care about all of that- but with Atla's illness and all, it required a lot of money. Like, the kind I probably wouldn't be able to pay off later. My uncle though- he's trying everything he can from us getting anything- and he's with a powerful law firm. Anyone I've went to before said that they couldn't take the case."

"They just said 'no?'" I asked him.

"No, not directly, but I can tell that's what's been going on," Fohl said.

"Well, it sounds like some really complicated family drama here," I said. "Wait- once your parents died, wouldn't you have been placed under guardianship of someone?"

"That's the issue, without us knowing, our uncle took us under our wing since he was the closest living relative apparently, and that's how he's been trying to orchestrate all of this," Fohl said.

I looked through the papers- it was the details of a will and inheritance. Man, this was going to take forever to go through! "You guys do know that I'm not a licensed lawyer, yet, right?"