Unexpectedness is always abrupt.

Without notice, they will shatter your routines, your plans.

Perhaps, it’s correct to call my life a series of unexpectedness. And out of them, it may also be correct to call my last week the most unexpected.

From being kicked out of the only place I called home to doing a crazy murder investigation with a Royal Guard — it was definitely a series of trouble that came abruptly.

But what I am facing at the moment wasn’t too far from unexpected, not to mention abrupt; this time, it wasn’t the abruptness that shattered my routines.

Rather, it was my own decision that led me to shatter my own routines.

“You said your name is Gray?”

After I separated from Ren, I waited. She made a promise that she would give me the reward for the investigation. More importantly, I wanted to just see Ren.

A day passed then another.

Eventually, a full week.

During that week, I continued to participate in classes. Trying to pick up an affinity to water. Never had I been so diligent in class.

Yet I grew tired of waiting. As soon as the weekend hit, I decided to go find Ren; to hear some reason why everything is being delayed so long.

Perhaps for the first time in my life, I acted on my own violation.

Getting the attention of Royal Guards at work wasn’t easy. It also didn’t help that no one actually knew where Ren was.

Eventually, I was guided here. The house of her supposed boyfriend that Ren was so excited about seeing.

And this man is one scary man.

The radiating presence of charisma that I saw only from a far was a lot larger. Unlike Ren, this man really gave off the force you would expect from a Royal Guard.

“Yes. I was looking for you. No, well, I was looking for you to look for someone else. I’m looking for Ren.”

Following a quick greeting, I get to the point as quickly as possible. I didn’t have much interest in talking to this man. Afterall, I have this slight hatred for this man who seems so close to Ren.

“Ren? I don’t—Are you talking about Florence Ladisva?”

..?

Ren wasn’t her real name? I guess I never really talked to her properly about her huh.

The best I can probably do here is to give a description of how she looks.

“I don’t really know her full name. She’s about this tall, brown, long hair. Really pretty. I had been working with her on a serial killing investigation last week, but she suddenly stopped contacting me. We hadn’t finished the investigation so I was wondering if she was transferred, or something?”
“I see. Why come to my place, though?”

Well that question is an easy one to answer; this guy was the last connection I had to Ren. No one knew her whereabouts so it’s probably likely that Ren was with him last when I met him on Saturday.

“Actually, the last time I saw her was when she left to talk to you on Saturday at the Royal Guard headquarters. So I thought I’d start with you.”
“Oh. We did have dinner that day. But after that, we parted ways. I haven’t seen her since then, actually. Been in and out of Alyona recently for work.”

Huh. It doesn’t seem as though he is lying. But something seems a little bit off. They seriously never contacted each other for a week? I thought they were dating? Maybe they had a fight.

“I see…”

As I slowly nod in agreement, I see that the man’s face starts to frown a little bit. He seems to be thinking something. Maybe I'm almost paranoid…

I guess they actually had a fight!

That’s good… now only if I can find Ren and cheer her up.

“Well, sorry for bothering you.”

After realizing that this man probably won’t help much, I reconfirm my goals to go find Ren.

There isn’t any time to be wasting here.

I turn around to leave the house as quickly as possible. The man’s frown was becoming larger as I stood still.

However, as I try to leave, his frown looses up. He then reaches towards my direction to stop me from leaving.

“Actually, now that I think about it— Florence told me that she was given an abrupt assignment in Nilter Town that’d take a few weeks. You mentioned some kind of investigation, right? Could you tell me a little more about it?”

Hm? Why didn’t he tell me this earlier? Maybe he was thinking whether or not it’s okay for me to know this information? That still doesn’t really explain the frown he had…

Well, this was better than nothing; any information is better than none. Maybe I’ll cooperate with this guy if it allows me to find Ren.

“Uh, sure. There were 3 serial killings in Chester Town. The two of us found the murderer in a cave, but we didn’t actually start the interrogation, yet.”
“You were investigating a series of serial killings? If I remember correctly, Academy students don’t take dangerous requests like that.”
“Ren took me up as a subordinate.”

Subordinate huh… didn’t think I’d be the one saying that myself.

“So you were just helping out a murder investigation… out of the goodness of your heart? Seeing as how you’ve been trembling this whole time, I find that a little hard to believe.”

…
I don’t think I was trembling…
Was I?

I can’t help it; the guy is clearly much stronger than me.

“...She said that I could keep all the rewards if I helped her with the investigation.”

I didn’t mean to be explaining my situation, but being caught off guard with my supposed trembling, I couldn’t help but ramble a little.

“That makes sense. Florence is actually my direct subordinate.”

Direct subordinate? How much stronger is this guy if he's stronger than Ren?

… And maybe he’s not her boyfriend?

“I can’t just let her job go unfinished, so I’ll finish what she started. You said that you already caught the suspect, and that just the interrogation is left?”
“What? Yes, but—”
“We can meet at headquarters in two days at 5, then. That okay?”
“...Okay.”
“Alright, I’ll see you then.”

***

“Oh! Gray! You look quite happy today! Did anything good happen?”

Yep. Something good did, in fact, happen.

After the sudden arrangement I made with the man, I returned to the Academy. Despite it being the weekend, I was still working hard to attain my affinity.

While I should be focusing on the large pot of water that was in front of me, I couldn’t help but be happy about the fact that I could help Ren with the investigation.

It was a little bit off putting. I had to work with the scary man that I met in the morning, but seeing as he was Ren’s directly higher-up, he probably is a nice person.

“Hm… not really?”

Of course, I wasn’t going to advertise my happiness to anyone else. Being the only one that knows about this murder mystery made me feel like an important person.

In front of me was the first year student — Eve. After my first interaction with her, Eve continued to find me throughout the school. Out of nowhere, she would pop up and ask me how I was doing like now.

With training my affinity being the main focus recently, Eve would always find me in this room where students train their water affinity.

While my response wasn’t anything too bright, Eve still responded back to me with a large smile on her face.

“Gray are you excited for the battle practice with the first year students happening on monday? Maybe I’ll even get matched up with you! Hehe”

…?

Battle practice? The hell is that?