n

n

n

"Ehehe...! Thank you, sir Zoemi! As things are now, I would love to say that we will be up and running tomorrow, but honestly, I imagine that we will be fully operational only the day after that. Sorry to impose on you, but could you watch over my dear helpless prin... our master, until that point?

"

nVeo gratefully took the tray off of his hands and asked, lowering her head – although she did stutter while mentioning Horeo.

n

"Oh? Look at you, acting like a proper attendant already! Of course, you can count on me with the first prince!

"

nZoemi couldn't help but smile and even though Veo was older than him, he felt like an older brother seeing her younger sister finally becoming responsible, so he ended up reaching out and patting her head affectionately.

n

"AH...!

"

n

"...!

"

n

"...?

"

nA sudden call from inside the room made both Zoemi and Veo turn around, just to see messy-haired Teo staring at them from the bed.

n

"AH!

"

nThe younger twin gasped and got bright red from the embarrassment and hurriedly hid under the blanket.

n

"Sorry for her, sir Zoemi, and once again. Thank you.

"

nVeo turned back to the black-haired boy and bowed her head again before stepping back into the room.

n

"No, no. It was my fault from the beginning. Get well soon don't worry about a thing – oh, I'll close it for you – oh, and make sure to have a taste of those cookies! Patishi made them so you two would cheer up!

"

nZoemi waved his hand dismissively before he reached out and closed the door for Veo, so that the girl didn't have to worry about it while carrying the tray – only to gasp and add before Veo could walk away from the door.

n

"Indeed. If you an, please pass Patishi our thanks!

"

nVeo laughed and bowed her hand before Zoemi closed the door

n|Oh, hey, that went surprisingly well! Patishi might have a talent for mediation, her advice worked out perfectly!|

nThe black-haired boy thought to himself happily, before picking up the small package he put on the ground before handing the tray to Veo.

n|Now the other one.|

nZoemi weighed the small bag in his hand before walking a few steps and turning to the door of the blue-haired girl he scared the previous night.

n

"...whew...

"

nZoemi stared at the cute wrapping and took a deep breath.

nWill it work?

nHe didn't think that the girl will suddenly become his ally or anything, but as long as her opinion will return to neutral, things will work out somehow!

nHe thought to himself and lightly knocked on the door.

n

"…

"

nHe knocked again...

n

"…?

"

nThere was no still no response.

n

"Miss? Are you there? I came to apologize for being noisy yesterday - and for scaring you. That honestly wasn't my intention and I am genuinely sorry.

"

nThe black-haired boy said after knocking again.

n

"...

"

nBut the answer still didn't come.

n|Maybe she is still sleeping or already left her room...?|

nZoemi thought after taking out his pocket watch and checking the time.

nIt was early, sure, but there were plenty of things students could be doing at such an hour.

nFor example, training or meeting up with their friends – or - if they didn't have an attendant, going to the cafeteria in order to grab themselves an early breakfast before the facility will fill out with other noisy students.

n|Ah! That makes sense – she doesn't have a middle name and I never seen anyone who looked like an attendant around her... I should check out the cafeteria!|

nZoemi decided to check the last option.

nHe wanted to resolve the problem as soon as possible, after all, and he was ready to check every place that would come to his mind.

nTherefore, with some time to spare on his hands, he went on a blue-haired Sifra's search.

n

"...

"

nHe walked inside and scouted the facility while frowning slightly, trying to remember how the girl actually looked like...

nBut, unfortunately, that place turned out to be a miss.

nAlthough there was a couple of blue-haired girls in the cafeteria enjoying the early breakfast in peace just as the black-haired boy predicted, neither of them was the blue-haired girl he was looking for.

nThe few students in the cafeteria glared at him with rather annoyed or even angry glares, but the black-haired boy shrugged it off as them being grumpy because of hunger or because someone was interrupting their peaceful meal they got up early to enjoy.

n

"Hmmm...

"

nZoemi furrowed his brows deep in thoughts before checking the time on his pocket-watch and sighed.

nHe still had some time but not that much.

nWho knows when did Mireitte returned to her room and if she properly dried up her hair after taking a bath before she went to sleep – if she even remembered to take a bath in the first place.

nYes, dealing with her hair might pose an additional challenge, he definitely can't spare more than just a few minutes on the search...

nEither way, the black-haired boy grabbed the cookies securely and rushed to training ground – the second most likely spot for a student to be – in his opinion that is.

n

"Ah, Zoemi! Hello!

"

n

"Did you come here to get some early exercise? Do you think you could help me out a bit – I keep losing balance when I go for a stab.

"

nTwo students – a light-brown-haired one and a pale-red-haired one - whom he recognized from their joined training waved and greeted him cheerfully.

n

"Hello! I love to train together, but I am very busy – how about in the evening? A for the poor balance – the best I can say without seeing anything is you are overextending – try taking a shorter step and you should be fine – if not, come to my evening training and we'll figure something out!

"

nZoemi responded with a smile while looking around, but unfortunately, there was not a single blue-haired girl on the raining ground – there were a few green-haired ones though, and each one of them has glared at the black-haired boy as if he was a pile of filth.

n

"Sorry to leave you, but my duty call – like actual duty, not the toilet. See you!

"

nThe black-haired boy was too busy checking the time to actually look at the expressions of the girls who weren't the ones who he was looking for, so he only waved goodbye to his acquaintances and went back to the dormitory.

nIt was almost time to get his master breakfast so she could start preparing for the day.

n|I'll just have to try and catch Sifra before the class starts.|

nZoemi thought and shrugged his shoulders.

nThe cookies would be the most delicious while still warm but if that girl will eat them with a cup of warm milk they will still be superb.

n---------

n

"Hey, you two – you shouldn't hang out with that guy.

"

nAs Zoemi disappeared in the dormitory building, one of the green-haired girls approached the two boy's that talked with the scarred attendant before and declared.

n

"Why...?

"

nThey both lowered their training swords and glanced at each other in confusion, after all, they both knew that the black-haired boy wasn't nearly as bad as his looks suggested.

n