Abydos District. Night time.

Hoshino was in the middle of her night patrol, making sure that there was nothing threatening the safety of Abydos and its ever dwindling population. She was also doing this to fulfill her responsibilities as the sole remaining member of the Abydos Student Council.

This routine patrol of hers did end up affecting her sleep schedule, which is why she's usually asleep in the day, much to Serika's consternation. Not that she could blame her as she never told her, nor any of her other juniors about her night activities. Their efforts towards paying off the debts of the school is enough.

There's no need to burden them with the Council's responsibilities, Hoshino thought.

"Though it really would be great if we had more helping hands…" She giggled a little as she recalled Shiroko's plan to kidnap students from other schools. "Looks like this area's clear too—"

"Still hard at work are we, Hoshino?"

Hoshino had to try really hard to reign in her instincts to shoot at the newcomer as she recognized the voice. And even after recognizing who it was, she still had her guard up. If it weren't for his position she would have never even allowed him to get so close to her, with how dangerous he was.

His latest stunt only proved her instincts correct if he had the ability to sneak past her perimeter without her noticing, which was worrying.

"Sensei…Don't you know it's good manners not to sneak up on this old timer?" Hoshino said in her usual lazy tone, reprimanding Sensei. "If I didn't recognize your voice you would have been pumped full of lead. While you're durable even without a halo, I would assume getting hit by a shotgun at point blank would still hurt."

Hoshino's own instincts honed from her many battles could never let her relax around Sensei, even as her own juniors accepted Sensei. His very presence carries a hint of death.

"Don't worry, I came prepared should that come to pass," Sensei said. "With that said, I wouldn't die even if you did kill me. Trust me, others have tried."

Hoshino didn't know whether to laugh at the joke or be concerned that others have tried to kill Sensei in the past.

"You're not a criminal, are you Sensei?" Hoshino asked.

"Before I came to Kivotos, I was framed as the mastermind for a war, so I guess I am by technicality," Sensei said like he was talking about the weather. "I made you some food. Let's go take a break."

"Wait wait wait!" Hoshino was now alarmed as she followed after Sensei, who was already walking to a nearby bench. "You can't just drop a bombshell like that and not expect me to ask questions!"

"Eat first, then I'll answer your questions."

"Fine…" Hoshino muttered in resignation.

…

The next few minutes were a blur. Hoshino remembered gulping as she saw and smelled the food after removing the cover from the container. Her memories blurred shortly after she took the first bite.

When she next remembered, the bento she was holding was already empty, with Sensei smirking as he nodded in satisfaction. Bits and pieces of what happened the past few minutes came to Hoshino's mind, causing her to blush as she remembered just what kind of expressions she had been making until just now.

"You finally let your guard down around me. It seems that courting your stomach really was the way."

"Y-You didn't put anything strange to my food just now, did you?" This is the only reasonable explanation in Hoshino's mind, because there's no way the food was THAT delicious.

"You wound me. I would never tamper with food like that!" Sensei said with a straight face. He went on a short rant as to how it is sacrilege to even tamper with food, and how it was a line he would never cross.

"..." Hoshino was speechless, as that would mean that she just ate food worthy of being served in a high class restaurant. No, it might even be worthy of serving it to royalty, or even the gods! And she got to eat all this for free? The only food she remembers that comes anywhere close would be Shiba Seki's ramen. That reminds her, Sensei and Master Shiba got along really well that one time.

And yes, she did ask whether Sensei would charge her for the food, to which he replied that he only wants her to share her thoughts about it in exchange.

And it seemed that Sensei hadn't forgotten about it.

"Well? How was it?" Hoshino could see the smug look on Sensei's face as he already knew the answer.

"...It was delicious," Hoshino said as she looked away in embarrassment. "Do you enjoy teasing this old timer, Sensei?"

"Whatever gave you that impression?" Sensei played dumb, causing Hoshino to pout. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Hoshino couldn't hold it anymore and laughed.

"Thanks, Sensei! It was the best-tasting food I've ever tasted in my life!" Hoshino said with a big smile.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Sensei said, returning the smile.

After that, Sensei and Hoshino talked about various things, starting with how Sensei was technically a criminal, to which he answered that he was used as a scapegoat during a war he participated in to help the people affected, to various other things such as how Sensei got be so good at cooking.

"I pretty much taught myself how to cook after my old man nearly burned the kitchen. It's nothing too special really."

"Sensei…" Hoshino stared at him. "Have people told you that you value yourself too little? You could have made your mark in the world with your cooking alone!"

"You really think so? Yuuka—she's a student from Millennium by the way—also said something to that effect."

"Yuuka…I think I've heard of that name before…" Hoshino tried to recall what she knew. "Oh! Is she the infamous treasurer of Seminar?"

Sensei nodded, expressing his surprise that Yuuka's reputation had reached other schools, before chalking it up to being a member of her school's Student Council. He offhandedly mentioned her making a plan to create a restaurant with Sensei's cooking.

"Gotta hand it to Millennium's Treasurer, she sure knows how to capitalize on potential profit…" Hoshino widened her eyes as she processed what she just said. "Wait, maybe if we use Sensei's cooking we can pay off the bulk of our debts!"

"I think you're overestimating my skill in cooking, Hoshino…"

"No no no! You don't understand Sensei!" Hoshino exclaimed with bright eyes. "Once we get the word out of how good your cooking is, then I'm sure people will attend the Sand Festival and we can earn ourselves a profit! Even Yume would—"

Hoshino's eyes slowly lost their luster as her smile faltered. "Right. We need an oasis for the Sand Festival to even be feasible…"

"Hoshino—"

"It's fine. You don't need to console me, Sensei," Hoshino said with a tired smile. "This old timer was just letting her imagination run wild….It would take a miracle for it to happen…"

For a while, the two remained silent, and only the occasional sound of the cold desert air was heard. Eventually, Hoshino broke the silence first.

"I had fun tonight, Sensei. See you to—"

"Would you like to see some magic, Hoshino?" Sensei asked.

"Come on, Sensei. I know I dampened the mood there but—" Hoshino's next words remained unsaid as she found herself staring at Sensei's steady gaze.

Sensei probably just wants to end this night on a good note. Hoshino thought.

Well…I guess it can't hurt to watch him perform.

Hoshino nodded. "I'd like that, Sensei."

"Keep this a secret from the others, okay?" Sensei made a cheeky smile. "Now could you show me the way to where the oasis was?"

…

…

…

The next morning, the other members of the Foreclosure Task Force were greeted by crystal clear water in what was supposed to be a desert outside their school. Surrounding it were different trees and shrubs, with some even bearing fruit.

"An oasis…" Ayane muttered in shock. "How?"

"Look! At the center of the water."

At the very center was a small island with a lustre sword planted on the ground. The sword was surrounded by floating curved, comma-shaped beads with holes that were bound to the sword by a string that passed through the holes of the beads and the sword's bow-shaped pommel. The flat of the blade had a peculiar design that glowed white and followed the shape of the blade. Close to the sword was a familiar figure.

That was when Serika realized that it was Hoshino standing next to the sword and alerted the others of her presence, taking them out of their awe as they rushed to their senior.

"Hoshino…What happened here?" Nonomi asked.

"A miracle."

That was all Hoshino said as she continued to gaze at the sword.