"Aw, man! This is going to be much harder than I thought…"

While the unusually lethargic Celestial girl at the other end of the cafeteria's table made it sound like she was talking to herself, she was obviously angling for someone to address her. That someone was my draconic girlfriend.

"What? Tennis practice?" Elly inquired, looking genuinely intrigued.

It was lunch-break-o-clock, and our entire group was sitting around one of the larger tables in the corner of Blue Cherry High's needlessly fancy cafeteria. The seats on my sides were occupied by Judy and Elly, as usual, while the other end of the table had Josh and Angie side-by-side. The rest of the spaces were filled by the silent class rep and my clamouring sisters, arguing about who should eat the last slice of apple pie. They both wanted the other to have it, which was just cute enough that I decided to buy a bonus slice for whoever 'won' the argument.

Strangely enough, their disagreement didn't make them stick out of the crowd at all. Our environment might've been high-class, but the students romping around the place were just like what you would see in any other school's dining hall. Which was, of course, pleasantly surprising. The atmosphere was much more, for lack of better words, 'natural' than how it used to be in the beginning, when all the placeholders were just mechanically eating their standard menu dishes and were rote discussing ten common topics ad infinitum.

By this point, they developed by leaps and bounds, and their dialogue reached brand new heights of… discussing about fifteen different common topics. So, baby steps? To be fair though, that was a solid fifty percent increase, so maybe I shouldn't have complained at all. More interestingly though, their interactions also grew in complexity, and now we had friends horsing around, girls huddling together to gossip, and one guy even got into hot water for hitting on another girl while his girlfriend was within earshot. Let's just say that their argument made the back-and-forth between my sisters look like nothing at all.

All in all, it was heartening to see how much everyone's agency progressed since the first day I came here… except maybe for the four creepy amigos.

Did it have something to do with their character archetypes, or them just being really stubborn about refusing to gain another dimension? Even now, they were following Sahi, who was using them as her minions, making them perform silly, superficial tasks and whatnot. I wondered how Pascal felt about all that, but before I could find him in the crowd, my attention was pulled back to my tablemates as Angie let out a lung-rattling sigh.

"I wanna play in the regionals, but I don't know how to make the time!" she grumbled before picking up a piece of deep-fried broccoli, dipping it in a whiteish sauce, and then eating it in one bite. It was today's C-menu, if I wasn't mistaken. After she swallowed, she let out another sigh and drooped her shoulders. "I need all the time to study, because I need better grades! Getting into university is gonna be a paaain!"

"Can't you just get a sports scholarship?"

The idea came from Judy, but it was shot down by my other girlfriend before Angie could even respond.

"There's nothing like that on Critias," she said, sounding remarkably disappointed. "I looked into it."

"You did?" Judy asked between two bites, and while she wasn't confrontational at all, the princess still ended up sounding startled, and even a bit defensive.

"What do you mean? I just… you know, since we no longer have to be worried about the Knights, I thought I might try joining a tennis tournament or two, and asked around a bit." Despite neither of us responding in any way whatsoever, she turned redder by the second and blurted out. "D-Don't take me wrong! It's not because I want to make mom happy or anything…"

"Tsundere."/"Tsun-tsun."

Judy and I spoke at the same time, and after a long beat, I let out a low chuckle and turned to my pouting princess.

"If I remember right, you said you started playing tennis because Emese used to do so before her injury, right?"

"Yes," she responded tentatively, as if expecting that I was about to make fun of her. That hurt a bit, but I moved on all the same.

"But then you stopped after middle school, because of the Knight threat." This time, she only nodded. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but since both of those issues are resolved, can't mom-in-law just resume her Tennis career herself? I mean, you can keep playing if you like it, but I think the incentive behind the whole thing was already resolved."

"That's… Hmm…"

While Elly contemplated what I said, Angie rolled her eyes and grumbled, "How does any of that help me?"

"Ah, right. We were talking about your grades stopping you from playing tennis," I said while cutting my steak, but then I raised a brow and asked. "Wait. How are those two related again?"

"Thank you!" Josh suddenly burst out and even threw his hands into the air. "I've been telling her the same thing all morning, but she refuses to listen to reason!"

"No, you don't get it," Angie fired back with a glare aimed at her boyfriend. "I asked Mrs. Applebottom about it, and if I want to get into a good university, I have to start studying for the entrance exams right now! I can't divide my attention now!"

"And I'm telling you that you can do both! Do you know how long I've been dragged along to your tennis club activities?"

"Since the beginning?"

"Yes, since the freaking beginning!" Josh declared with a huff. "I know exactly how long they take, so I know for a fact that you have plenty of time to study. You can do both."

"It's not about that! You know that prepping for a tournament takes extra time and effort, and I need that to read and do mock tests and stuff!"

"Argh! I can't with you anymore!" The guy threw his hands into the air again and then turned to me. "Leo! Gimme some support, would you?"

Startled by being called out like that, I quickly swallowed the food in my mouth and said, "What does this have to do with me?"

They both looked at me like I was asking a rhetorical question, so after collecting my thoughts a bit, I drank some water to clear my throat and put my utensils down.

"Angie."

"Yes?"

"You can do both."

"Thank you, again!" Josh exclaimed in triumph, but since his girlfriend looked less than enthused by my response, I proceeded to elaborate.

"Have you tried playing tennis since we came back?"

"N-No?"

Her reply sounded anything but confident. Why was everyone so jumpy today, I wondered as I shook my head.

"Think about it a bit. During yesterday's PE class, you handily demolished all the girls in our class in dodgeball." Pausing, I reached out to pat my blonde girlfriend on the head, and she gave me her best 'startled rabbit' impression. "Well, most of them. You put up a good fight, princess."

"I was caught off-guard, okay?" she grumbled, as if I just opened up a fresh wound again.

"You also beat the school's record for long jumping, didn't you?" I continued, and based on her expression, Angie still had no idea what I was getting at, so I slowly shook my head and pointed at her. "Listen, Angie. Even at this moment, you are stuck in your Deus-enhanced Celestial mode, aren't you? It obviously comes with higher physical specs, so as long as you aren't completely slacking off, it should compensate for missing a couple of tennis practices here and there. You'll be fine."

"If what you say is true," the class rep interjected, speaking up for the first time in a while, "then wouldn't that give her an unfair advantage? It should be against the rules?"

"A fair point, but I would like to remind you that Elly won a tennis championship already, so the whole 'is it fair for supernatural folks to compete in sports' thing has already sailed."

"It doesn't make it any less unfair," she pointed out, and I couldn't help but shrug.

"Then once everything calms down, let's organize a separate tennis league for mystic folk or whatever. I'm sure the Eastern Draconians will be all over the concept."

"Oh? I like that idea," the princess agreed with me on the spot, suddenly sounding enthusiastic about the prospect.

"But my grades!" Angie whined, drawing my attention back to her. "What about my grades?!"

"Get a tutor," I said casually as I cut my steak again before it went completely cold. "A proper one. I'm sure there are some university students or private teachers out there who would be happy to stuff your head full of everything you need."

"Erm… I'm not sure I can afford one," Angie muttered, and before I could tell her how silly that was, Josh more or less did it for me.

"What do you mean you 'can't afford it', dumdum? You're the messianic leader of an entire civilization! Just ask for money from them!"

"I'm not a dumdum! You're the dumdum!" she fought back, but it was hard to call that a 'counter-argument'.

Ignoring his girlfriend's protests (and her kicks under the table), Josh seemed to be deep in thought as he turned to me again.

"Hey, Leo? Do we get paid? For being Polemos and Deus and the Justicar and all that?"

"I… never really even considered that, but it's a good question," I confessed, sounding a little sheepish even to myself. "The next time I'm in the Elysium, I'll ask around."

That seemed to satisfy Josh for the time being, so I returned to my meal, only to suddenly remember something and turn to the class rep next.

"Hey, Ammy?"

"Hm? Yes?"

She looked a bit absent-minded, and I had a feeling that what I was about to say was at least half the reason.

"I already told Mike on the phone, but I have something to take care of after school, so we'll set out around five, if that's okay with you."

"Mm. Sure," she answered, but her eyes betrayed her apprehension. I had no idea why; she was going to be a state guest.

I promised that I would set up a meeting between Michael and his father (plus, presumably, his hitherto-unseen mother) in the Elysium, with the class rep also tagging along for good measure. With how much I had on my plate at the moment, I found it necessary to knock as many outstanding obligations off my priority list as possible and decided to start with this one. It might've been a bit too soon for her, but since Mike was really enthusiastic about the idea, she didn't want to disappoint him. I was sure they would work it out between the two of them, so once I received her acknowledgement, I immediately shifted my focus elsewhere.

Namely, my lovely assistant by my side.

"Chief? How much money do you think we can make by starting a superhuman sports franchise?"

Blinking, I turned to face her.

"Are you already expanding the tennis tourney idea?"

"Yes. I'm planning to invest in it."

"Your allowance?"

Shaking her head, she pointed at me.

"I'll ask for a loan from a venture capitalist I know, and then I'll pay it back once the organization makes it big."

"… I was called many things, but a 'venture capitalist'… That's a new one…" After those grumbles, I narrowed my eyes and asked, "Since when are you worried about making money, anyway?"

"It's a necessary evil. According to a recent study I read, financial disparity and dependency are strongly correlated with failed long-term romantic relationships. I'm going to get ahead of the problem."

"But wouldn't borrowing money from me make you 'financially dependent' on me, as you put it?"

"I have no other choice, because I have no savings. You are only paying me in sandwiches and kisses, and I can't put those into a savings account or trade them on the open market."

"To be fair, you were the one who insisted on those."

"It was ages ago. Since then, you have saturated the market, driving down the prices."

"It's been only half a year," I pointed out.

"Yes. Ages ago. Just like I said," she answered with a straight face, and then added, "Speaking of which, since inflation hit the value of kisses, I demand a raise to compensate for the state of the economy."

"Hm. Well, I'm not following these things too closely. Please ask my assistant about it."

"Chief. I'm your assistant."

"Then I'm sure you can work something out with yourself," I told her with a cheeky smile, and we would have probably continued our skit, if not for an unexpected interruption.

"Brother! We need help!"

Glancing over, I found my sisters pushing the plate with the last slice of apple pie on it towards me.

"Uuu… Could you… cut it in half?"

Oh. So that was their solution to their dilemma. Very fair, as expected. Yet, before I could do as they asked, Penny followed my Abyssal sister up with a hasty, "It doesn't matter if it's not perfectly half-and-half! Snowy can get the bigger portion."

"That defeats the point," my other sister commented with a rare, deadpan stare. "Aren't we asking Leo to make sure it's fair?"

"Y-Yes, but this way, he won't have to stress over it! And you getting the bigger part would be fairer anyway! We bought the pie with your allowance!"

"But we agreed to share properly," Snowy argued back. "One of the slices I ate was bigger, so if it ends up uneven, you should be the one getting the bigger piece."

"That's not how fairness works!"

Looking at them, I couldn't help but feel my big brotherly instinct getting tickled, and after some consideration, I put the knife down and stood up.

"Stay put, you two. I'll be right back."

With those words, I headed to the cafeteria's counter and got in line. While I waited, I had time to look around, and to my surprise, I found two familiar faces in the distance, standing by the entrance at the other end of the dining hall. Duncan and armour-guy were, presumably, on duty, and they were surrounded by a whole gaggle of students. Most of them girls. While Duncan was making bodybuilder poses, armour-guy was flexing a double-biceps pose, with two giggling first-year students hanging on his arms.

"What the heck, what the heck…?" I muttered under my breath, trying to figure out what exactly was going on over there, and I was so distracted by that whole thing that I very nearly bumped into another familiar face when the line started moving again.

"Oh. Careful, Mr. Dunning."

"Oops, my bad," I responded reflexively, and the red-haired arch-mage flashed a pearly white smile at me.

"No harm done." He paused and glanced over at the table where I came from. "Are you here for seconds?"

"Sort of," I told him with a shrug. "Are you?"

"I have to admit, I have something of a sweet tooth," Lord Gulliver told me in the company of a good-natured chuckle. "Amadeus didn't spare any expenses when it came to this refectory. You know, I lost some weight recently, but by the time I finish sampling the menu, I think I might run into the opposite problem."

Despite our first meeting ending on rather ambivalent terms, the lanky man was unexpectedly friendly and talked to me as if we had known each other for ages. I figured he was just naturally affable, so I humoured him for the moment.

"You lost weight?"

"Ah, yes! All the stress, you see. First with the Keys reacting, then Saahira passing away, and then we had to come here, expecting a big conflict to break out at any moment. It was just one thing after the other." He let out an overdramatic sigh, raising and dropping his shoulders in the process, but then he shook his upper body and added, "You know, on second thought, I might not gain any weight after all, considering how hectic this teaching position turned out to be."

"Taika seemed to take to it like a duck to the water," I pointed out, and the redhead arch-mage let out an amused chortle.

"Already on a first-name basis, I see! Unfortunately, not all of us are so naturally adaptable. Ahhh… I should've taken Ambrose's advice and adopted a consultant role, or something similar instead. Oh well, can't do anything about it now, except lose weight to stress. What do you think I should do?"

"Get double portions?" I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and he blinked at me in surprise before breaking into a hearty laugh.

"Ahaha! Great minds think alike, aren't they? I love it!"

As we talked, the line kept moving, and we soon reached the counter.

"Yes?" the lady on the other side asked Lord Gulliver, but he shook his head.

"Sorry, I'm still browsing." He gestured to me. "You go ahead."

"In that case, a whole apple pie, please."

The cafeteria lady nodded and disappeared in the back. While she did that, I took out my wallet, and when I opened it up, the man by my side let out an impressed whistle.

"Do you always carry so much cash with you?"

"A bad habit," I admitted as I pulled out a banknote. "Did you make your pick yet?"

"I'm still not sure…" he said as he rubbed his chin. "Maybe I should get a little bit of everything, and then share the leftovers with Ambrose. I'm sure he's getting lonely without me."

"Without a doubt," I responded on autopilot, since the cafeteria lady showed up with a piping hot pie still in its circular pan in the meantime.

"Would you like me to cut it up for you?"

"Eight equal pieces, please."

She nodded and reached for a knife. In the meantime, the leggy arch-mage continued to rub his chin, and when he finally had my attention again, he let out a thoughtful hum.

"You know, Leonard… Can I call you Leonard?"

"You're a teacher now. It would be weirder if you called me Mr. Dunning," I pointed out, and his hum turned into a stifled chuckle.

"Agreed. So, you know, I was told you are pretty scary, but aren't you actually a pretty nice guy?"

"Depends on the circumstances," I answered half-heartedly. "My reputation has a life of its own, but I don't like to take myself too seriously. Otherwise, I would miss out on too many nice things."

"Like buying sweets for your girlfriends?"

"It's my sisters, but potayto, potahto, I suppose."

The guy let out an amused chuckle and watched me as I received my perfectly cut apple pie, with fresh whipped cream on top.

"I wish more people thought like you. Everyone takes themselves too seriously nowadays."

"That, we can agree upon," I said without much meaning, and after a nod, I left him at the counter and headed back to our table.

On my way back, I glanced at the entrance again, where Duncan and armour-guy were… leaning towards each other, with their hands clenched and pushing on one another. … Wasn't that one of those weird traditions that wrestlers did before a match? I mean, the ones on TV, not the ones at the Olympics? What the heck were those two up to?

As much as I was curious, I had no time to check them out, as I was already back at the table. I placed the tray with the pie on it in the middle and flashed a big smile at my flabbergasted sisters.

"Let's trade. You give me that apple pie, and I give you this apple pie. One for one. Perfectly fair trade."

"I… don't know about that…" Snowy mumbled, eyes glued to the pie.

In the meantime, I sat down, pulled the plate with the lonely slice in front of me, and raised a questioning brow at my sisters.

"So? Are you going to eat it, or what?"

"No! It's too much! Do you want to give us a heartburn?" Penny exclaimed and waved her finger around. "We should share it with everyone!"

"It's your pie. You do whatever you want with it."

Once she received my approval, my knightly sister immediately pulled it in front of her… only to get bogged down as she kept turning it, apparently looking for the biggest slice to give to Snowy. Seriously, these two…

Meanwhile, just as I was about to reach for my utensils again, something landed on my shoulder, and when I looked over, I found the princess resting her head on it.

"I was missing this so much…" she whispered, and my dear assistant leaned forward just so that she could send her a puzzled glance.

"The Chief spoiling others?"

"No, not that," Elly responded with a soft whine. "I'm talking about everything. I like it when it's peaceful, and everyone's happy, and our biggest problem is having too much apple pie!"

"I… can't argue with that," Judy relented rather fast, and the girl on my shoulder let out a satisfied giggle.

"I wish every day would be like this."

"So do I, princess. So do I."

Whispering, I finished up my lukewarm steak, even though I was sure we all knew we would never be so lucky. Still, it didn't hurt to be just a tiny bit positive every once in a while, and enjoy the moment. It was the small things that made life worth living, after all.