“It’s quite a simple expedition…just kill every single one of these,” Yue explained and handed everyone pieces of paper with a drawing of a strange hybrid monster.

“Uh…we shouldn't try to capture some or anything?” Marianne asked, a bit confused.

“Nope, they’re like man-made invasive species but they do harm in every environment they’re placed in. The scientists and mages who let them loose here have been arrested by the mage association for this, and having all of their work destroyed is part of their punishment .” Viktor explained.

“I don’t know how easy they’ll be to kill…” Yue murmured looking at the slightly worried expressions of his classmates.

“How About we go find one right now and see how difficult it is to kill?” Mai suggested, “Everyone else can set up the tents in the meantime.” 

Yue and Viktor agreed to the idea and they brought out the tent and other materials from their storage items before going into the forest with Mai.

They ended up running into one of the monsters pretty quickly. Mai took the lead and gave the first few strikes and just as Yue was going to join in he paused and laughed a little.

“It’s already dead.” Viktor murmured, “I guess everyone will be fine on their own.”

“That’s good, we’ll probably get done quickly.” Yue grinned and patted Mai on the back as she stared at her sword, a little surprised by how easy it had been.

“I…was kind of hoping we’d have another exciting expedition…” Mai sighed, she had gotten too used to the craziness of the expeditions from earlier in the year.

“Honestly…me too,” Yue murmured, if the expedition was short then he’d have a lot more idle waiting time before graduation. Viktor didn’t seem upset and Yue could tell why. Viktor knew that he’d definitely come to him if he got really bored.

Yue huffed a little and walked quickly back to where the others were.

--

“We shouldn’t have put up tents,” Viktor said as he returned to the camp area after a while. Yue had stayed behind in the camp while he and the other students went off to kill the hybrids.

“Hmm? Why not?” Yue asked as he put a plate of food in front of Viktor. 

“We’re going to finish this very quickly. I think I’ve found and killed like 50 of them already.” Viktor murmured.

“Oh, I thought they’d be harder to find…. If they’re so easy then yeah we might finish before the end of the day… Maybe we should stay an extra day just to give the tents some use.” Yue chuckled.

Viktor chuckled a bit as well, “Mai is probably going to come back soon, we can go scout the area before sunset to see if we got them all.”

—-

Yue and Viktor split up to search the forest. They had asked the others roughly how many they’d killed and they ended up with a number that seemed to line up with the estimate they were given in the mission brief. They did expect to find some more out there somewhere but that wouldn’t be a problem for them.

Yue went around for a while but he only found a few of them. He was going to start heading back when he stumbled upon a little hidden area in the forest. There was a small abandoned-looking house hidden in the trees. It was built right into the side of a small hill.

It wasn’t super abandoned and creepy looking but you could tell no one had been there for a while.

Yue did not recall seeing this on a map or anything so he walked toward it. He knocked on the door and it almost immediately opened. The attachments on the door had gotten old so the slightest force was enough to break it.

‘I thought this was from the breeders and scientists….but it’s too old…’ Yue thought as he looked around the house. It was pretty barren but looked pretty normal. It was only one floor: a kitchen, dining table, wooden chairs, and a bedroom all in one general area. The wind could easily be felt through the walls and the roof was full of holes as well.

Yue walked through the rooms in the house, a bit suspicious. The kitchen was the room farthest from the entrance and it looked normal but as he stared at the back wall he could feel mana around it.

“Hmm…” Yue walked closer and ran his hand over the wall until he felt what seemed like a hollow spot. He didn’t want to take the time to find the mechanism that opened the space so he just double-checked a little before winding his fist back and punching the hollow space with a controlled amount of strength. He only wanted to destroy the fall, he didn’t want it to go flying into the room he assumed was behind it and break something. He didn’t want to risk destroying anything Important.

The wall fell apart and Yue looked around. It was a cave full of crates and barrels. 

Yue looked through everything carefully, all he found were ores. None of them were very valuable but there they were. He got to the last crate and he almost didn’t want to look at it, it wasn’t some sort of hidden crate or anything so he figured it’d probably be the same as everything else.

When he opened the crate he found that he was wrong. The crate was almost empty, save for a few little red balls. Yue picked one up and recognized it after inspecting it for a second. 

“This is one of the beads that the werewolves used in Wolfsstadt... The one that Viktor and Mai got pulled into…” Yue murmured to himself.  

These beads didn’t have any official name but they were quite common. They were banned in a lot of places but usually, no one used them for the reason they were banned. People used them as a way to get information or dirt on someone and in the middle of fights to get away and that’s why they got banned. But most people just used them to feel closer to their lovers. The beads sent you to the memories of the person you were most curious about so they weren’t hard to misuse. Some cultures found them romantic, seeing the fond memories of the one you love…

Yue stared at it for some time. He was curious. Very very curious.

“...I mean he and Mai entered my memories before…” 

Mai let it slip that she and Viktor had seen Yue when he was younger in his memories because of the bead. He was surprised to hear this but when he heard what kind of memory they saw he just laughed a little, at least it wasn’t a memory of him killing someone…

Yue thought it over for a while before he came to his decision. He inserted mana into it and smiled sheepishly as the bead activated. 

---

‘He’s still over there…’ Viktor thought as he glanced in the direction Yue had gone.  It was getting dark and he had already finished looking over one side of the forest but Yue’s presence was stationary, far into his side. 

“Is he fighting a lot of them?” Viktor murmured and then his eyes went wide. Yue’s presence completely disappeared!

He headed off in the direction he had last sensed Yue quickly.

--

‘This is….The Russian Manor. The one I’ve been to I think…’ Yue thought as he found himself in front of two large sets of stairs that met at one point. He could only tell that this was the Russian manor because of the large full family portrait at the top of the stairs. The other manors didn’t include the extended family as this one did.

‘I wonder what year it is?’ Yue walked up the stairs, trying to remember how to get to Viktor’s bedroom. He walked for a while and he was honestly convinced he was lost for a while, he hadn’t even seen any maids or anything. Then he stumbled into a hall that seemed familiar, he couldn’t tell which door was right though, that is until he saw a white-haired young man, not much taller than him, walking out of one of the rooms and in his direction. His hair length was around the same length as Viktor’s current hair, maybe a bit shorter. He was looking down as he walked so Yue couldn’t see his eyes.

Yue stopped in his tracks. Was this…?

The young man lifted his head a little and looked at Yue for a second as he walked past him, he might’ve been a little suspicious but not enough to stop and interrogate Yue. Yue was frozen for a second, those golden eyes… That was definitely Viktor.

‘Woah...he has a totally different vibe from his older self…’ Yue was sure he was blushing at least a little. He then realized he’d been ignored and then flipped around to look at Viktor.

“I thought you’d been in love with me for a long time?” Yue asked, loud enough for Viktor to hear.

Viktor turned around and looked at him like he was crazy, almost like he was offended.

“Ah… I guess I do look like a woman...and you didn’t recognize me at first either...” Yue murmured. 

‘He did say he’d known me for a long time but maybe not this long? He looks like he’s only  around 17 or something...’ Yue wasn’t sure how to act but nothing he did would affect the future so he decided to just not hold back.

Viktor was going to say something but Yue cut him off.

“I’m Azure Dragon,” Yue said without a second thought.

Viktor seemed angry, he reached for his sword and sneered a little, “Impossible, Azure Dragon is only 14.”

“I’m from the future,” Yue giggled and walked closer to Viktor.

Viktor seemed like he wanted to refute that but it was actually possible, especially for someone as powerful as Azure Dragon.

“You don’t seriously think these eyes can be faked right?” Yue asked with a grin, he wanted to get a little closer but Viktor was really on edge. He looked over Viktor’s body a little as he walked over, he was only a few inches taller than him at the moment and his clothes were neat but… slightly wrinkled? That was unlike him. 

He smiled as he noticed Viktor using insight on him but he was a bit surprised that he still looked just as tense. 

‘Does insight not show him that I’m Azure Dragon?’

“I-I apologize for my rudeness.” Viktor stammered.

“ B-But W-why are you here, you’re not supposed to be here… and do you know me…?”

Yue was incredibly amused, Viktor’s cheeks were just a little pink but his ears were bright red. He was suddenly acting so cute.

“I’m here because of a magic item.” Yue chuckled, “And I know you very well...”

Viktor’s face only turned redder and Yue finally felt like he understood why Viktor loved to tease him and make him blush.

“This teenage version of you is so cute.” Yue giggled and watched Viktor try to move away from him a little and hide his blush. 

Yue wanted to tease and talk to him some more but then the door to Viktor’s bedroom opened behind them and a younger version of someone who was very familiar came out. 

Yue gritted his teeth a little as he watched Mark exit Viktor’s room with a flushed face and messy clothes.

“Vitya, wait for me--who is this woman?” Mark asked as he noticed Yue who was standing very close to Viktor.

“I-I’m sorry, I’ll get rid of him.” Viktor quickly said and reached over to draw his sword as he noticed Yue’s annoyed expression as he looked at Mark. Yue looked over to him and his expression immediately softened.

‘He’s like a puppy.’ Yue thought to himself and hugged Viktor’s arm with a smile.

“It’s okay, It wouldn’t change the future anyway,” Yue giggled, “Plus, I don’t really care about an ex-fling, since we’re engaged and all.” 

Yue purposely said that last part in Russian so mark could understand and he pulled out a necklace with his engagement ring on it.

Viktor turned bright red and Mark just looked shocked. Yue wanted to mess around some more but he blinked and suddenly found himself back in the cave.

“Awww It’s over already? I was having fun.” Yue whined as he realized he was no longer in Viktor’s memory.

“I’m sure you were.” 

Yue jumped a little when he noticed Viktor standing right behind him. Yue couldn’t help but giggle as he looked at him.

“What were you up to in my memories?” Viktor asked, pinching Yue’s cheek, “Causing trouble?”

“Not at all,” Yue said with a cheeky smile and hugged Viktor.