It was a little after midnight that I returned to my room with a damp towel over my head. I still felt a little bit sickly, but the hot shower managed to wash away most of my fatigue, so I was feeling pretty good overall, especially considering the long day I had.

After our brief yet in-depth discussion about the big ball monsters of Labcoat Guy, I managed to convince Ammy that it was getting a little too late for any further discussions, and since I was against letting a girl (even if she was a mage with a golem for a bodyguard) wander the night streets alone, so I did the usual thing and called a cab for her.

This probably wasn't a surprise anymore, but it was the usual cab guy who showed up to take her home. Not only that, but after sharing a few words with him, it turned out that he was also the one who took Mike to the station, so yeah, apparently this man was the only taxi driver in the entire city. I wasn't even surprised anymore.

Anyhow, once the class rep left, I made sure that my sister was asleep, and then I quickly came to my room and put all the things I've learned today to electronic paper, and only after that did I take a shower.

As it often happens, the running water also managed to get my thoughts flowing, and so I quickly took a seat in front of my computer to capitalize upon the inspiration while it lasted. I moved my mouse a little to wake the machine from standby mode, but before I could get started, my attention was drawn to the exclamation mark on one of my browser tabs.

At first, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to know what it was about, but curiosity won the tug of war against caution, and I maximized the Hub's tab and clicked on the highlighted PM box.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HEY, ADMIN? ARE YOU ONLINE? (￣▽￣)ノ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO!? (・_・)ノ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: IF YOU ARE ONLINE, ANSWER ME BACK! I HAVE A BIG LEAD! HUGE SCOOP! (≧▽≦)ノ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO!? YOUR PROFILE SAYS YOU ARE ONLINE! WHY AREN'T YOU ONLINE WHEN YOU ARE ONLINE!? (￣～￣')"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! (＠_＠)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO!? PLEASE ANSWER IF YOU ARE THERE! IT'S WAY LATE OVER HERE AND I SHOULD BE IN BED ALREADY, BUT I REALLY WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT I FOUND! IT'S SUPER HUGE! (✧ω✧)"

I was getting a mild headache from just looking at that message history, and I admit that for a moment I was tempted to just close the window and be on my merry way, but I figured there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. As such, I let out a slight groan under my breath and began to type.

"Admin: I'm here."

"Admin: Also, I have already warned you about spamming, haven't I?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: SORRY, BUT THIS IS SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT!!! (⌒‿⌒)"

I took a deep breath to brace myself and responded by typing:

"Admin: I'm listening."

There was no answer for a long while, but then all of a sudden my screen was flooded by messages.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: SO LISTEN! I TOLD YOU I KNEW A GUY WHO KNEW A GAL WHO KNEW A GUY RIGHT!?

ヽ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )ﾉ "

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HE IS THIS HARD-CORE INFORMATION BROKER LIVING IN TIMAEUS, SO I WENT TO HIS PLACE AND MADE AN AWESOME DEAL WITH HIM! (･ω< )~☆"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! HE HAD A TOTALLY CUTE LITTLE SISTER WHO WAS DRESSED LIKE A MAID, AND SHE WAS SUPER CUTE! LIKE, SO CUTE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE!! TOO BAD HER BROTHER IS SUPER SCARY! (((＞＜)))"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BUT THEN I MENTIONED MY FATHER AND I MENTIONED YOU AND I WAS TOTALLY SUAVE AND ALL, LIKE A PROPER SECRET AGENT MAN, AND I CONVINCED HIM TO GIVE US SOME INFO ON THAT MONSTER HUNTER GAL YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT! (* ^ ω ^)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WILL WRITE A PROPER REPORT LATER, BUT HE INDEPENDENTLY CONFIRMED MY OLD SOURCE, SO YOU CAN TOTALLY BELIEVE THAT NOW!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HE ALSO CALLED HER A PIZZA CUTTER, BUT I DID'T REALLY GET THAT… (-_-')・・・"

The torrent of messages stopped at this point, and as he didn't seem to be writing anything either, I guessed he might have been waiting for me to respond.

"Admin: A pizza cutter?"

"Admin: So all edge and no point?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID! GREAT MINDS MUST REALLY THINK ALIKE!!! \(★ω★)/"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: … I STILL DON'T GET IT THOUGH… (-_-')・・・"

"Admin: Never mind that. Do you have anything else to report?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: AH, RIGHT, I DO! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, HE DIDN'T ASK FOR MONEY, OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, BUT ARTIFACTS!!! HE DIDN'T EVEN CARE WHAT KIND!"

"Admin: I see. Can you provide him with any?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: ACTUALLY, I WANTED TO ASK YOU IF YOU COULD… YOU KNOW… REQUISITION SOME FOR MY USE? PRETTY PLEASE? (´-ω-`)"

"Admin: I can't. I'm not even in the same continent as you."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: AW MAAAAAN!!"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: THAT MEANS I REALLY HAVE TO ASK MY FATHER FOR HELP… ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏< ) ･ﾟ｡"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: WISH ME LUCK! (((＞＜)))"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: OH, SPEAKING OF LUCK!!! YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT, BUT I WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO MEET THE CUTEST GIRL EVER TODAY!!! o(>ω< )o"

"Admin: Was it the sister of the information broker?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: NOOOOO!!! SHE WAS CUTE TOO, BUT I TOLD YOU HER BROTHER IS SCARY! I DON'T WANNA DIE YOUNG!!! (×﹏×)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: THE ONE I MET WAS ALSO VISITING HIM, AND SHE IS CALLED AMELIA, AND SHE IS THIS SUPER-DUPER CUTE GLASSES GIRL! SHE IS HIS CLASSMATE AND THEY ARE JUST FRIENDS, AND SHE IS HYPER-SUPER-DUPER CUTE!!! (❤ω❤)"

"Admin: Yes, you already told me that she is cute, you don't have to repeat yourself so much."

"Admin: Also, just for the record: is this information broker of yours the rumored chimera slayer of Critias?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YUP, THAT'S HIM!!"

"Admin: I just read his files the other day. Isn't he in the second year of high school?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: YES? SO?"

"Admin: Then correct me if I'm wrong, but if she is his classmate, isn't she about sixteen years old."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WOULD THINK SO, BUT I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING AT… (￣～￣')"

"Admin: How old are you again?"

There was another short pause on the line that lasted for almost half a minute, then…

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: COME ON BOSS-MAN! I WILL BE TWENTY IN THREE MONTHS! TECHNICALLY I AM STILL A TEENAGER! (＃`Д´)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: ALSO, IT'S JUST THREE YEARS!! IT'S NOTHING AT ALL!!"

It seemed like this approach didn't really achieve the desired effect, so I decided on a more circumspect yet hopefully more effective one.

"Admin: So this girl is part of the chimera slayer's social circle, right?"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I'M PRETTY SURE SHE IS. WHY? (￢_￢)"

"Admin: Give me a second to look up something…"

After typing that, I fiddled with my thumbs for a minute or two while pretending to be browsing the database entries, and after I figured I had him wait long enough, I wrote:

"Admin: I found it."

"Admin: Leonard Dunning's closest circle includes Joshua Bernstein, Judy Sennoma, Eleanor Dracis, Angeline Dionne, and, most importantly, Amelia Rhearn, the granddaughter of Lord Amadeus Endymonion of Critias."

"Admin: What did you say, what was your crush called again?"

There was radio silence for several seconds, and then…

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: BOSS, I THINK I HAVE TO LEAVE NOW AND THINK ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE. BYE. ( ╥ω╥ )"

And with that, he disconnected from the server. When he did that, I couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh. I mean, I had nothing against the guy, and he had been pretty helpful on the Hub, but him getting involved with Ammy without knowing about her background sounded like another incident in the making. Not to mention, trying to snatch a love interest out of the harem protagonist's group was pretty much the recipe for landing in the role of an NTR love rival, which was statistically the most hated type of antagonist in fiction, and I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemy, let alone poor N1nj4. Though on second thought, I might wish it on Crowey after all, but he's a special case.

Anyhow, now that I finally got that sorted out, I let out a pent-up breath, limbered up my fingers, and got ready to put to paper those shower-insights… except I found that dealing with Mike made me forget practically all of them.

"Well, damn," I whispered under my breath, and after some pondering, I decided to forget about the whole idea and just watch a video podcast where four guys talked about hilarious, dumb, or hilariously dumb product reviews on the internet.

It was pretty much as brainless as entertainment went, but considering I was incapable of sleeping, I figured it was the second-best thing.