"I can't believe it's already this time of the year..."

Laura nodded mutely at Rean's comment. Even if he didn't specify exactly what he meant it was impossible for her to guess at his words. One only needed to raise their head a little to see the answer being hoisted up on a banner by two diligent students.

'128th Military Academy Festival'

"I like this one better." Fie commented, " We're second years now. Nothing to setup. No practice needed." She gave a little shudder, "...No slave-driver Elliot."

"He wasn't that bad." Laura's defense of their friend earned her two skeptical looks. That even Rean seemed so dubious caused her to think back to those times when their timid classmate would glare her down whenever she missed a beat during practice, or that time when he scolded Machias for trying to change up their routine, o-or that time when- "W-Well... Are either of your clubs doing anything this year?"

Fie gave a lazy yawn, "We turned our garden into an outdoor break area for people. Moved some benches over, added a couple umbrellas for shade, and even placed a table that we'll keep stocked with snacks and drinks. Was a pain to setup."

The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes, "That doesn't sound like much of a pain to me. To me it sounds more like an excuse to enhance your nap area. Are you even going to do any work during the festival?"

The silver-haired menace glared back, but before she could counter Rean chose to chime in awkwardly, "The Fishing Club isn't doing much. Kenneth thought it'd be a waste of time to do something elaborate when we could be fishing, and that was before he found out Annabelle would be visiting to spend time with him with him. Instead we just set up a bunch of displays showing all the fish species we've caught in Erebonia this past year."

With both her companions having stated their club activities both sets of eyes focused on her. Laura gulped as she realized she might've erred in calling out Fie, "...Class III requested permission to use the gymnasium for their class so I elected to not have the Swimming Club do anything."

"Woooooow." Fie drawled with a very expected flat look on her face, "And I'm the lazy one. Why didn't I think of having my club do all that work? Maybe I should call Vivi up right now and tell her that she's a slacker and we should copy your club instead."

"Alright, alright." Laura held up her hands in surrender while doing her best to ignore Rean's poorly muffled laughter, "I apologize. It kind of... slipped out of my mouth? A force of habit?"

"Really? Your first instinct is to assume I'm gonna be lazy?" As wrong as she had been prior the Arseid held firm on this one, merely smirking and nodding. Fie let out a scoff, "You really suck."

"I mean she has a point-" Rean's attempt at agreeing with her died on his lips as Fie turned her withering glare towards the swordsman.

Wanting to draw the conversation away from her past folly and the irate girl it created Laura cleared her throat, "Any ideas on what the classes are doing?" As they had discovered the previous year the bulk of the attractions were carried out by the first year classes. This meant that the three of them were almost completely excluded from the planning and setting up.

"The Class II first years came to us for advice so I have a vague understanding of what they're planning, but I don't really know enough to comment further." Rean supplied.

"Same. Linde offered to help the Class IV juniors out so she'd probably know, but I'm pretty clueless."

"Hmm..." Their answers didn't really surprise her as her own was much the same, "Surprises can be welcome too?"

Fie scoffed, "You mean like the surprises we suffered through last festival? No thanks."

Laura couldn't help but give a nervous laugh. Between the Awakener trial at the bottom of the Old Schoolhouse and the news that Garrelia Fortress had been vaporized... "W-Well, I'm certain nothing like that will happen again."

"If you just jinxed us I'll never forgive you."

"Alright, you two..." Rean got out as he once again tried and failed to stifle his mirth, "Perhaps we should get going? Us standing around here isn't doing those setting up the festival any favors."

"Two days with no classes to worry about? Hip, hip, hurraaaaay."

With Fie's deadpan cry of celebration inspiring them onward the three of them began the trek home, thoughts of the upcoming festival predominant in their minds. Just what would be waiting for them the next two days?

"Wanna check out the garden?" Fie asked as the three young adults stood at the now very busy gates to Thors just after the student council president announced the opening of the festival.

"Didn't you say your club turned it into an outdoor break area?" Rean asked as he adjusted the fake glasses on his face. As annoying as it was for her to see on him it did make sense with all the guests running about.

Shaking off her irritation the silver-haired girl bobbed her head, "Yep. Should be fun."

"Er... I'm not sure about that. Shouldn't we save it for when we could use a break?"

Fie shook her head at Rean's stupid comment, "A break sounds good right about now."

"We've only been here for five minutes! Stop being lazy!" Came the indignant cry of their third member. Heh. Setting Laura off was never not fun.

"How about we walk around for a bit? Check out what's available and maybe we'll spot some familiar faces. We can relax after that." Came Rean's ever sensible but boring suggestion.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Laura agreed after shooting one final glare towards Fie.

With Rean's expectant gaze on her Fie merely shrugged, "Sure, why not? Were you able to get in contact with the others?"

Rean – who had been tasked with contacting their two classmates in the capital – shook his head with a sigh, "Machias said he wouldn't be able to make it. Said he needed to prepare for a major exam next week. Elliot thinks there's a chance he might be able to make it tomorrow, but he wasn't optimistic. Seems like all the schools in Heimdallr are busy this week as even Elise said neither she nor Princess Alfin would be making it."

"That's unfortunate, but it cannot be helped. The others have their own lives to live." Despite her words the disappointment in Laura's voice was obvious.

As the crowd parted something tiny made itself visible, causing Fie to grin knowingly, "I'm sure we'll find someone we know. Like Towa."

"Towa?" Rean questioned, "Last I heard she was out of contact as she toured various non-governmental organizations around the country. What makes you think she might make it?"

"'Cause she's standing over there." Was her succinct response. The others followed her outstretched finger straight to their diminutive former president.

Either she heard them talking about her or simply chose that moment to look their way, but regardless the end result was the older girl smiling brightly as she noticed the trio, "Rean! Laura! Fie!"

"Towa!" Unsurprisingly given his closeness it was Rean who reacted most enthusiastically to the approaching girl, "It's been too long!"

"It has!" The tiny girl replied with just as much enthusiasm, "I've been wanting to visit for a while but haven't had the chance before. When I heard the festival was coming up I made sure I had the day available."

"Understandable." Laura responded, "Your NGO work must be quite fulfilling. Would you like to explore the festival with us?"

Towa hummed unsurely, "I'm not sure that's a good idea... Isn't the term for that me being a third wheel? Or fourth wheel, in this case."

"Can't drive a car without four wheels."

Fie's declaration was met with a trio of confused stares, but Rean seemed to recover the quickest, "I think what Fie's trying to say is that we would be glad to have you. We live together so it's not like spending a few hours having a reunion with a friend will affect our time to be together."

"I told Vivi I'd hang out with her once I was done with you guys, but I'd much rather be spending time with you."

"And for my part I am quite curious to hear about the different companies you've been working with this past half year."

"W-Well, alright." Towa seemed to shrink a little under all the attention – a feat for someone as short as she was – but that didn't stop a grateful smile from blossoming on her face, "But in return I want to hear about everything you've been doing in return! Both as students and as bracers!"

"Deal."

Decision made the Thor's graduate and three second year students began walking around as they took in the sights. Most of the actual activities were in the school or the gym, but at the very least they could take a peak at all the food stalls and other outdoor things that had been setup – Fie was pleased to see a few people already relaxing in her garden as they passed. They at least understood the value of kicking back and taking it easy.

But more importantly it gave them time to chat away without interruption, "...Even though the Empire has mostly recovered from the war it hasn't been the most balanced recovery. A lot of people lost their homes or other possessions during the fighting and the company I'm currently interning at is doing what it can to help them out."

Fie listened silently as Towa explained the place she was currently working at. In what surprised absolutely none of them their former president had been extremely busy over the past year as she hopped from organization to organization. Made sense considering the girl had a hell of a resume between her work at Thors, her time spent assisting the prince at the trade conference in Crossbell, and her stint as captain of the Courageous. Even the RMP had been trying to recruit the diminutive overachiever.

"Is this something you plan on doing full time?" Rean asked.

Surprisingly Towa seemed to think on it for a moment, "...I'm not sure, It's rewarding work to be sure, but I can't help but feel I could be doing more. Sometimes it feels like pointless work trying to help others rebuild from war while the root of those wars is still in power." She gave a helpless shrug, "Maybe that's just a selfish thought. I don't think I should be thinking like that when I'm not a fighter like you guys or the rest of Class VII."

"I wouldn't say that." Rean was the first to reply, "Even if you aren't fighting on the front lines your help has always been invaluable to us."

"Yeah. Captain Towa was a source of inspiration to us all. Still waiting for Prince Olivert to deliver on that line of merchandise he promised." Fie wasn't sure if she was offering support or teasing the older girl with that last comment, but it was too easy to pass up on.

Said captain pouted at the reminder, "Fie! Don't remind me! That's almost as embarrassing as the concert outfit I wore here two years ago! Still... thanks, guys. I'm still not sure what role I'll be able to play in the future, but at the very least your support means everything to me."

"That's good. We all have our limits, but at the same time there are things only you can accomplish that fit within those limits. I am certain once you figure that out your course of action will be clear."

"I hope so! I wonder if Angie and George are having the same thoughts right now..."

Conversation continued along those veins with her and Laura passing on what info they had heard about those two on their trips from Alisa. Eventually their own journey around the campus concluded and they made their way indoors to check out the first year classrooms and the activities available.

"This seems familiar..."

In what appeared to be a bout of complete unoriginality it seemed that Class III had recreated their Gate of Avalon event from last year. Sure the decor was different, but the actual setup was the same. Different people were at different tables playing-

Wait a second.

"Huh?" Rean muttered in confusion, "What kind of cards are those?"

Oh crap! Fie was pretty sure they were looking at games of Vantage Masters being played! She shared a panicked look with Laura. With everything that had happened after they had completely forgotten to tell Rean about Vantage Masters and the death of Blade!

Frantically her mind raced to find a solution. Rean adored Blade. They needed to break the news to him gently. Sadly her brain chose that moment to fail her. Hopefully Laura would have a little more success-

"That's Vantage Master, Rean. The newest card game to replace Blade."

Both second year girls groaned in unison. Why did Towa pick now of all times to open her mouth thoughtlessly?

"...Replace Blade?" Rean muttered quietly, "What do you mean?"

"Oh!" Towa's eyes widened as she realized her folly. The girl sent them both a pleading look, but Fie had no mercy for her, "W-What I meant to say was..."

"T-They can't replace Blade... I-I mean we just got Blade II! Surely that was enough to revitalize the game, right?"

As entertaining as it was watching Rean slowly break down they were starting to make a scene. Walking up to the pitiful hero she placed a comforting hand on his head, "There, there." Her attempts at providing comfort probably didn't land given how deadpan her voice was, but it wasn't as if she actually cared much regardless, "It'll be okay. Why don't you go have a seat and we can try out this new game. I bet it'll be even better than Blade was."

"B-But... I thought you guys loved Blade as much as I did?"

"Playing Blade against friends was quite enjoyable, I agree..." The swordsman began to smile at Laura's agreement, "...however I believe that had less to do with the games in question and more to do with the friends involved. Perhaps we'll come to love this new game just as much?"

"F-Fine. Let's grab a table and play a few games." He agreed at last with all the enthusiasm of someone attending a funeral.

Not that Fie cared what he thought. Alisa had had a lot of praise for this new game and she was excited to try it for herself. With Rean being a big baby that left her free to completely dominate her friends.

"I don't get it. How do you always win at these stupid games?!"

Rean gave a small chuckle, "I suppose I'm just lucky?"

Fie – who had asked the previous question – hissed, "I refuse to believe that's it. You were a moping wreck an hour ago and yet you still crushed us all! It's not fair!"

He scratched his cheek nervously. The four of them had just concluded a hastily setup Vantage Masters tournament between them and the results spoke for themselves. Now he could've admitted that he found VM to be surprisingly fun and thus he dedicated his full focus to understanding the game and prevailing over the competition, but what fun was that?

Plus the swordsman couldn't help but feel the Blade II deck in his jacket weighed heavy under that perceived betrayal.

Instead he decided to take a page from Fie's book and shift the topic away, "I thought your victory against Laura was more impressive, personally. I hope you enjoy your reward.

Instantly Fie's mood did a complete turn as she beamed happily. He did his best to ignore the way Laura pouted at the reminder, both of the outcome of their match and the stakes the two girls attached to it with the loser forced to buy the winner a treat from one of the stalls later.

Naturally Rean planned on paying for all four of them when the time came.

Towa let out a giggle, "Well I for one had a lot of fun. Still, it's clear I need a lot of practice at VM." After saying that the tiny girl gained a fire in her eyes, "But just you wait, Rean! Once I've trained up I'll come back and challenge you to a rematch!"

He couldn't help but laugh at that. Towa was the hardest worker he knew so if she promised to train he'd best be prepared to face a formidable opponent in the future, "I'm looking forward to it, but don't expect me to rest on my laurels either."

"Class I seems busy..." Laura pointed out as they approached the first year noble's room, which had a rather large line formed outside their door, "I wonder what they came up with?"

Curiously the four approached the room. Navigating around the crowd of people revealed a sign. And that sign caused Rean to pale considerably.

'Ashen Chevalier Battle Simulator'

"W-W-What is-"

"Well this looks interesting." Laura commented, oblivious to his horror. Or at least that was what he thought until he noticed the hint of amusement in the Arseid's eyes, "Shall we check it out?"

B-But-"

Fie stepped forward, "Yep. Let's do it."

Even Towa seemed to find his panic entertaining as the three girls approached the line forcing the petrified Chevalier to move his feet lest he fall behind. He had no chance to recover either as his presence caused a few of the other students to start whispering excitedly with the amused Class I girl at the door even waving them past the line and into the room.

"Wow. This is amazing." Laura gasped in awe as they stepped into a room that had been transformed. The walls were painted to look like a battleground, a large projector was setup in the front with instructions for the player, and in the middle was what appeared to be a makeshift cockpit.

"Huh. This definitely seems like something Ferris would come up with. Her and Patrick both." With all eyes on her Fie shrugged lazily before elaborating, "What better way to take a sneaky shot at your former rival than with a crazy elaborate setup like this?"

"That makes sense, although I get the feeling Class I went over budget with something like this." Towa mused as she curiously approached the cockpit, "So this is a simulated battle between Valimar and whatever opponents appear on the screen?"

Laura, who had been reading the writing on the wall, nodded her head, "Indeed. The instructions say to sit in Valimar's cockpit-"

"That's a soldat cockpit. Valimar is a lot different."

"...And when the simulation begins to engage the monsters, archaisms, tanks, Magic Knights, and soldats that appear on screen-"

"I mostly only fought soldats inside Valimar." There was that one time he fought a magic knight, yes, but Class I didn't know about that.

"...And to defeat them with Valimar's sword and laser eyes."

"Valimar doesn't have any laser eyes! Who came up with this absurd idea!?"

Rean wasn't sure what was worse: Class I making a mockery of his partner, or the fact all three girls were completely ignoring him in favor of checking out the 'game'.

"So it's kinda like the horror coaster in Mishelam? Neat. So who's going first?" Fie asked.

"Is it alright if I try it?" Towa asked, earning twin nods from the others. The diminutive girl approached the pale mockery of Valimar's cockpit before stopping short, "Actually, there's one thing I want to do before I start..."

The Ashen Chevalier resisted the urge to groan. As much as he respected his former upperclassman he really wanted them to speed this up. This was already as humiliating as it could possibly get.

Towa inhaled deeply. As she exhaled she appeared to stand a little taller. The girl raised her arm into the air.

Wait. She wasn't about to do what he thought, was she?

"Heed my call..." Her powerful cry was almost offset by the burning blush on her cheeks, "Valimar, the Ashen Knight!"

It was like the world had frozen as he gaped at the girl while trying to ignore the snickers and giggles from the other occupants of the room. He'd come to accept that Fie was a merciless tease and that even Laura could be pretty brutal when she was up to it, but... "Even you, Towa?"

"I'm sorry!" The short girl cried, "But you always look so excited when you call for Valimar like that! It's an integral part of the experience! It's your catchphrase!"

"I don't get excited and it's not my catchphrase!" The mortified boy exclaimed, "It's just something I have to do to summon Valimar to my location!" He panted a little after yelling out that exclamation, but it was worth it. Now the others could simply forget this entire humiliating spectacle had occurred and-

"What about the other times?" Laura questioned. Upon seeing his confusion she continued, "I recall a couple of instances where you summoned Valimar, either with a shorter variation of that phrase or with no words at all."

The question might have sounded innocent, but the impish grin on the Arseid's face was telling.

Kind and noble Laura was delighting in his misery. How far had he fallen?

"W-Well, that's because my connection with Valimar has grown enough that I don't need to anymore." He answered hastily.

Too hastily, unfortunately, "So you can summon him without the phrase, but still sometimes do it regardless?" The blue-haired girl smiled victoriously, "Sounds like a catchphrase to me."

Fie once again walked up and patted him on the head, "There, there. It's alright. We'll endure your silly catchphrase 'cause it beats us having to fight a bunch of soldats or other scary giant enemies on foot."

...For some odd reason her mocking attempts at making him feel better weren't working at all.

Luckily the conversation ended there as Towa – who had fled the teasing like a coward in order to climb into the cockpit – started the game. Despite himself it was kind of interesting to see Class I's hastily thrown together attempt at mimicking Valimar's fights, even if Rean personally thought the laser eyes were still a completely stupid idea.

"Huh. Towa's pretty good." Fie agreed from beside him, "Maybe she should be the Ashen Chevalier instead?"

Never mind. This event was the worst.

"Well, I would say this festival has been a successful one." Laura commented as the three remaining members of Class VII basked in the setting sun of the second evening.

"Surprising words from the only person to ever get banned from her own class's event."

Laura flushed at Fie's remark, "It was an accident! I have no idea why the simulator stopped working almost as soon as I sat down!"

"You have a gift." Fie's smile was too kind, "We should've snuck you on board the Pantagruel during the war. The war would've ended as soon as you touched something important and crashed the entire ship."

"Fie!" She cried, aghast. Seeing the unrepentant look on Fie's face caused her to abandon that hopeless girl in favor of other support, "Rean! Tell her she's being weird!"

"It's Fie." He answered with a tired shrug, "When isn't she being weird?"

The weird girl narrowed her eyes, annoyed, "That's rude. But if that's what you think then you have no problem with her going inside Valimar's cockpit, right?"

"W-Wait! I... I uh." The boy began to panic as he glanced towards her, "I-I'm sure it would be alright, but it would be a waste of Valimar's time, right? Best we leave things as they are."

The hesitation in Rean's words did not leave Laura feeling any better in the slightest, especially as Fie gave a victory sign with her hands while her face held the smuggest and most obnoxious expression imaginable.

"It's a shame the others couldn't make it today." He commented in a weak attempt at changing the subject.

Still, it wasn't as if his words lacked merit. Their hopes that Elliot or someone else might make it for the second day had been unfortunately dashed. With Towa having only been there for the first day it just left the three of them to spend time with other friends before meeting up early in the evening to witness a play put on by Class V.

"Bunch of workaholics." Fie groused.

"I think it's a good thing the others are working hard in their respective fields." Laura chided gently, "Still, it would be nice if one year we could all get together and enjoy something like this together. Maybe the Summer Festival? Or maybe..." Her eyes glowed with excitement, "We should take a trip to MWL as a class!"

"Not the worst idea." Rean agreed as both older teens ignored Fie's amused snort.

With night descending it was almost time for the school dance. With everything that had happened Laura had almost forgotten that was a thing, but now that she remembered it was an event she was quite looking forward to. The dance the previous year had been a memorable affair for more reasons than just the tragic news revealed at the end.

"So Rean..." Fie drawled and Laura couldn't help but exhale in relief. That look was one of teasing and this time she wasn't the victim, "Vivi was there when they were counting the votes for the best event and you know what she told me?"

"I don't want to know."

"That Class I won in a landslide! Everyone loved their Ashen Chevalier simulator!"

"I don't care."

Laura wanted to come to his aid. She really did. But doing that would place her back into Fie's cross-hairs and that girl was in fine form that day. At the very least she sent a silent prayer to the goddess to deliver him from evil.

"You're just mad that Towa was a better Ashen Chevalier than you, aren't you?"

"Sure. Let's go with that."

With the conversation at a standstill Laura finally saw fit to interject, "Shell we make our way over to the field?"

"It's still a little early," Rean pointed out, "but it isn't as if we have anything better-"

The way he cut himself off was concerning, especially with the way both his and Fie's gazes were locked onto something ahead of them. The one flaw of living with two people who were so keenly observant reared its head as she hurriedly followed their gazes. As for what had caught their attention...

It was the harbinger of bad times.

Major Lechter appearing unannounced had become an unfortunate reality of their lives, so he was no surprise. Nor was Altina who was curiously looking around at the festival. But Major Claire and Instructor Sara being with them too?

Deep in her heart Laura felt something terrible was about to happen. If she was a betting woman she'd assume it had something to do with the ongoing crisis with North Ambria.

And Rean was going to be involved somehow.

The next thing she felt was the baleful glare of Fie boring into the side of her head. There was no way she had jinxed things with her flippant comment the day before, right? T-This was simply a really poorly timed coincidence.

At the very least she knew one thing with painful certainty – They weren't going to be enjoying the dance that night.