“Nya-ha-ha! How is everybody?!”
“Oh no, Ernesta! Quiet down, please! You’re embarrassing us.”
The next group to arrive was from Allekant, and its members were as lively as ever.
Among them were Ernesta Kühne, Camilla Pareto, and the autonomous puppets Ardy, Rimcy, and Lenaty.
“Saya! Let’s play! Come on, let’s play!”
As soon as she saw her face, Lenaty jumped for joy like an excited puppy.
“Not here,” Saya complained, trying in vain to push Lenaty away. “Besides, I don’t have any working Luxes left. It’ll probably take me a full week to fix them all.”
The young puppet remained particularly fond of Saya.
“Ha-ha-ha! Our little sister is lovely as always!”
“Yes indeed. If the incompetent tinhead standing beside me was even one millionth as cute, my days would be so much more peaceful.”
This kind of exchange between Ardy and Rimcy was also business as usual.
“My sister told me you were both a great help during the incident. Thank you,” Ayato said.
He had heard directly from Haruka about how the two puppets had given their all to help defend the airship landing during the attack.
“Don’t mention it! We were just following our master’s orders!”
“That’s right. There’s no need for thanks. If you really want to show your gratitude, it’s our master who deserves it.”
If that was how they saw it, he wouldn’t argue.
Ayato turned to Ernesta. Camilla was holding her in place by the scruff of the neck like she was a stray cat.
“Ah, don’t worry about it, really,” she said, waving her hands. “I just did it to protect myself.”
Yep, leave it to Ernesta to come right out with her hidden agenda. Come to think of it, she had been this way from the moment they met.
“That’s right. The fact that she can even show herself in public like this is thanks to her desperate efforts to protect herself.”
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Though it hasn’t put her above criticism, it would seem,” Claudia remarked.
Indeed, even now, people all around the room were watching Ardy with disquieting looks.
That was inevitable, of course, seeing as he looked exactly like the puppets that had rampaged throughout the city during the Golden Noontide incident. No matter how hard the integrated enterprise foundations fought to suppress the details, they couldn’t hide that. The precise connection hadn’t been made public, but both Ernesta and Allekant had been the subject of intense criticism. There could be no doubting that Allekant was taking the majority of the heat this time around.
“It’s all right. I knew this would happen,” Ernesta stated.
“…What do you mean?” Saya, still clinging to Lenaty, looked up at her probingly.
“Nya-ha-ha! That’s…a secret! All I’ll say is I’m taking a long-term view!”
Ernesta was ever bright and cheerful, yet never hesitated to launch into a new scheme. That was a core part of her personality.
“Oh, right, Saya,” Camilla cut in. “Won’t you drop by my lab at Allekant sometime? Your S-Module…it inspired me. I’ve been working on something interesting myself. It’s not even at the prototype stage yet, but…”
“Oh. That sounds interesting.”
Once Camilla and Saya promised to meet up again soon, the Allekant party took their leave.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ho-ho-ho. What a lively gathering. So many guests and visitors.”
“…!”
The next to arrive was a group of Jie Long’s fierce fighters, led by the Ban’yuu Tenra Xinglou Fan.
Among them were the members of Team Yellow Dragon, which had fought so well during the Gryps—Xiaohui Wu, Hufeng Zhao, Cecily Wong and the twins Shenyun Li and Shenhua Li, who had also done so well during the Phoenix.
“Dear me, it’s rare for Your Highness to drop by a place like this.”
“Indeed. I’m a little surprised.”
Both Sylvia and Claudia, acquainted with Xinglou Fan as student council presidents, wore looks of mild astonishment.
“Oh? This Lindvolus was special. And it gave my students from the Liangshan a good workout,” the figure with the face of a young girl answered with a laugh.
The Liangshan was where Xinglou had given students from other schools special training to prepare them to fight in the Lindvolus. Among these students, the most noteworthy was—
“Especially Julis. You showed me a better fight than I was expecting in the final match. You’ve truly reached new heights.”
“…It’s all thanks to you. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve such good results by myself, no matter how much I trained. Thank you,” Julis answered, extending her hand.
With a grin, Xinglou reached out to give it a firm shake—but then her expression clouded over. “Hmm… I thought it might be. It seems I was right.”
“There’s no fooling you, is there?” Julis answered, lowering her gaze as a forlorn smile spread across her face. “Well, that’s how it is. Apologies, but I don’t think I can keep my promise. Of course, if you don’t mind facing me as I am now, I’d be happy to oblige…”
“No, you are released.” Xinglou let out a deep sigh, giving her head a small shake. “I saw quite a lot in the match. That should be enough.”
…What on earth are they talking about?
Ayato, unsure what was going on between the two of them, was about to speak up, when—
“U-um, Sylvia!” Hufeng called out, unable to contain his excitement any longer. He was a huge fan of Sylvia’s. “Those new songs you performed during the Lindvolus, they were wonderful! Especially the ones from the quarterfinals! That one about friendship was amazing…! Are you going to perform them live sometime?!”
“Really, Hufeng…?” Cecily’s gaze was warm, as though she was watching over a younger brother, but at the same time sulky, with a hint of something more.
“Kirin Toudou. As I told you before, I owe you a debt. If possible, I would like to face you again at some point.”
Xiaohui, on the other hand, was hoping to get Kirin to commit to a rematch.
“I—I’d like to…but I wonder if I can give you what you want right now…”
Kirin had exhausted the stored energy of her Orga Lux, the Fudaraku. If Xiaohui would be satisfied with a contest of pure ability, she might be able to give him that, but what he really wanted was to fight her at her full strength.
“I don’t mean now. It can wait until we’re both in top form.” Xiaohui must have realized her predicament, too.
“First the Claíomh Solais, now the Celestial Warrior. You sure are popular, Kirin,” Saya teased.
“I-it isn’t like that…!” Kirin blushed, turning to look up at Ayato.
Yes. Now that everything was over, Ayato had to give his answer. Not just to Kirin, but to everyone.
“Really, you guys?”
“Why are you two acting like such good pals all of a sudden?”
A short distance away, the twins were looking on, their displeasure evident as they helped themselves to small plates of food. Ayato was relieved to see that they, at least, hadn’t changed at all. He couldn’t imagine them any other way.