"It's getting late." Simonne swept the curtains to the side and peered through the window. It was already growing dark. The moon hung up above the horizon, being surrounded by the countless glittering stars. "I should probably sleep now."

He loosened his grip from the curtain and turned back to his bed.

*Knock* *Knock*

Simonne's gaze shifted towards the door. 'Is it Kaiji?'
  
  
He walked in front of door and pulled it open.
 
  
   
"...Simonne."
 
  
Simonne widened his eyes in surprise and immediately lowered his head. "Master Morth...!"

The person in front of him wore a white robe garb that cascaded all the way down to his feet. In contrast to his outfit, a dark X-shaped symbol was embedded upon the upper left torso of his robe that was particularly striking to look at considering the color of his clothes. Simonne instantly recognized it as the Institute's insignia.

The old man smiled at him and said. "I just have something to ask you. I'll immediately leave after this."

"Of course." Simonne smiled as well and entered back inside his room as he hurriedly pulled out a wooden stool for him. "Here, master."

Old Morth nodded as he slowly sat down the given stool.

"What is it that you want to ask?" Simonne asked with puzzlement.

"...It's..." Old Morth made a hesitant expression for a moment before he continued. "...It's about you friend... Kaiji."

Simonne raised his brows. "Is there's something wrong about him?"

"No." Old Morth shook his head. "You misunderstood my question." He paused. "...It's just... that I feel something strange about him."

"..." Simonne stayed silent for a while before speaking up. "I also feel the same way. But, in a good way at least."

"What do you mean?"

Simonne pursed his lips and said. "I somehow found him with a lot of potential.... oddly tons of potential, at plenty of things. I remember back then when we were still within the Congregation, the him that time doesn't know even a thing about blades and bows. However, in less than a week of us being together, he'd began to start showing signs of proficiency. Something that takes an ordinary person a couple of months, or even years to achieve."

"..."

"...Aside from that... there's also something that happened recently that even I found strange."

"...What is it?"

"His... Sigil." Simonne furrowed his brows and placed his chin over his hand. "He said that it only barely took him a half day to complete the ceremony of the Sigil's merging process with the soul."

"..."

"What do you think, Master?"

"..." Old Morth didn't respond. He just stood up from his seat and turned towards the door. After a moment, he said, "I finally got what I wanted, so I'll leave now. And... as for your question... Let's... just watch him for the time being."

After leaving out that somewhat ambiguous words, he immediately left, as he said he would earlier.

Simonne blankly stared at the door, various thoughts swarming inside his mind.

But he shook his head after that and smiled to himself. 'At least I'm certain that Kaiji wouldn't do anything bad.'

He looked at his bed and thought, "I should sleep..."

However...

*Knock* *Knock*

'...Who is it again this time?' Simonne yawned.

After pulling open the door.

"Simonne, p-please help me..." Saki stood outside with his both hands clasped. His face looked a bit red.

'...Saki?' Simonne creased his eyebrows. "Help you?"

Saki strongly nodded.

"I-it's about Kaiji..."