“Truly,” Gaius mused, “getting the help of Xanadu really got my mind off things. Rather good advice from Nexus, eh?”

A muffled, inaudible reply came from his left hand, with the last syllable drawing itself out as Gaius continued to toss the item from his left hand to his right, and then vice-versa. He had been doing that for the past ten minutes, using the little activity to keep himself occupied as he checked in on the others working in the kitchen.

After shaking Nexus around a few more times, he tossed the sculpture into the air, before catching it with a pocket of qi. Being able to use the mystical powers that Orb had was nothing short of a delight after going essentially cold turkey for an entire year. His Abilities had all returned too — every single one he’d collected were shaking in line with his emotions, as if they were welcoming Gaius back.

Nexus tottered around in a daze after Gaius lowered the artificial intelligence onto the ground gently, making a few sounds that also made Gaius himself nauseous. Fortunately, the retching sounds were too faint to carry into the kitchen, or else Nexus would have been on the end of a solid beating.

Patting the little sculpture’s head, Gaius placed it on his shoulder. “So, what’s with this new sleek form of yours?”

“Urgh. Oh, this form? Nakama saw something on television and wanted to replicate it. Mecham, a show that focuses on giant robots fighting wars in outer space and what not. It’s quite an interesting take; it reimagined events like the First Extermination and the Invasion of Waves with giant robots.”

“Invasion of Waves?” Gaius asked.

“The uprising by Demigod Xie Baole, the one that resulted in the formation of Feng-Lang. There’s a museum called the Rise and Times of Xie Baole that’s dedicated to it, if you’re so interested.” Nexus cleared its throat. “Anyway, she created a whole bunch of Mechams, and the later ones actually have combat capability.

“I’m sorry, but did you just say combat capability?”

“Yes, Master Gaius. I suppose it’ll be faster if I show you.” The sculpture hopped off Gaius’ shoulder and began to fly. It was nothing much of note, if not for the fact that a sculpture was flying with as much style as a Paragon. A small compartment popped out from its thigh, and Nexus retrieved something that looked very much like a mini-Straight Shot from it.

After firing at a nearby curtain — which simply stirred it around a few times — Nexus lowered the Straight Shot, struck a few poses, and stowed the weapon away.

“I wonder if it’s possible to scale it up,” Gaius muttered. “Would be a great instrument for war.”

“Scale it up? Well, at least you siblings are quite alike,” Nexus replied. “Let me show you something.”

Nexus flew over to an unused room, and with some effort, turned the doorknob to reveal something like a workplace. Unlike Gaius’ own back in Cybral, however, the main material used here was actually metal. At the very centre of the room was a figure the size of an adult man, whose skin shimmered with a silvery shimmer.

“Is this…”

“Nakama wanted to make something for me, something that could fight,” said the artificial intelligence. Emotion laced Nexus’ words as he flew around the incomplete artefact, an act that Gaius could empathise with.

“I should consider bringing you along to the Great Divide, then.” Gaius grinned. “You’ve taught her well.”

“You know as well as I do that she has a talent for this,” Nexus replied. “I look forward to her future creations. Right now, from what I can tell, this little baby has a composite combat strength of a Knight. Lords and beyond have a very irritating Fief and what not, however.”

“Are there sigils or artefacts that can emulate the effect of a Fief?” Gaius asked. “We could go in that direction.”

“If there were, we haven’t discovered them yet,” Nexus replied. “And researching new sigils is far, far harder just simply drawing them. There’s no grand unified theory for sigils yet, so—”

“Breakfast is ready!” Isabelle’s voice echoed around the house.

Nexus bobbed over to the door. “Best not to keep my future mist—wait, wait, stop! This is abuse!”

“One more word from you,” Gaius hissed, “and I’ll let you experience the fastest Ferris wheel in existence.”

“Alright, alright. Sheesh. Can’t tease the Master of the Library nowadays,” Nexus replied.

“Should I lock you up here?” Gaius asked. “I have a feeling that you’re planning something nasty, and I don’t like it. You can have breakfast later, I’m sure you won’t mind.”

The little sculpture squirmed in his fist. Strength gushed out from the tiny frame, pushing his fist open, and the two locked eyes. From this display of staunch determination, Gaius could sense…a desperate plea to eat a hot breakfast. It was a silent plea, but that didn’t diminish Nexus’ determination whatsoever.

Inwardly, Gaius found it impressive that such grit was being displayed for the sake of breakfast, but again, it was a composite work between Nakama and Isabelle. He could somewhat empathise with Nexus’ desire to eat.

“You promise not to say anything funny and I’ll let you eat with us,” Gaius muttered.

“Done.”

Gaius peered at the little fellow, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Fine. One funny word, however…”

“I don’t break my word,” Nexus said. “Can we go now? I’m starving.”

“There’s so much I want to point out about that bit, but this is Orb.” Gaius shook his head and walked out of the room. “I’m past commenting about anything odd now…mm, sausage and bacon. Nice.”

“Some eggs too. Do I smell chicken?” Nexus added.

“How on—right. Orb.” Gaius rolled his eyes and made his way to the table, where a feast fit for a Pinnacle was already laid out. Nodding at the others, Gaius said, “Thanks for the food, guys. I’ll cook when I get better.”

“When you get taller,” Isabelle replied. “Not just better.”

Gaius didn’t know how to respond to that, so he chose to dig in instead.

For some reason, time seemed to fly by whenever good food was involved. To his chagrin, after what felt like three minutes, the plates were empty, but his appetite wasn’t sated.

Pouting, Gaius resisted the urge to burp ten or so times in rapid succession, but that restraint clearly didn’t apply to Nakama, who was burping and making other little sounds merrily. Reaching out for a sweet drink Isabelle called bandung, Gaius sniffed at the rose-scented beverage and a sense of calm seep into his mind.

There were many things to settle, now that he was back. For one, he had skipped school for a grand total of three years. Most of his fellow classmates would have forgotten about his existence by now…or rather, whether or not he was still enrolled in the Phrontistery of Scientific Reasoning was very much in the air.

“Isabelle,” said Gaius, “am I still a student in the phrontistery?”

“On paper, yes. You’re going to raise eyebrows if you show up tomorrow, though,” Isabelle replied.

“Huh. Can’t be helped, I guess. How have you been? And Nakama too?”

Isabelle reached out to squish Nakama’s cheek. “Well, she’s actually quite popular. Other than doing well in school” —her eyes flickered over to Nexus— “Nakama’s quite recognised as one of the impossible-to-date girls.”

“She’s like thirteen or something,” Gaius responded. “I don’t expect anyone that young to enter a relationship…much less in being given such an honour. What’s the story behind that?”

“I rejected around five boys,” Nakama replied, blinking her eyes.

“Five boys?” Gaius repeated. “Who are they? As I remember it, our class isn’t homogenous in age. Most of the boys there are older by a few years — they’re definitely harbouring ill intentions.”

“They’re from the junior classes,” Isabelle hastily answered. “So you can put down that knife.”

Gaius glanced at his hand, which was clutching a knife in the way a drowning person might hold on to any floating stick, and then coughed twice. Placing the knife back down, he took a deep breath. “If you want to know what it’s like to date, be at least like, uh, sixteen years old or something. But don’t do anything funny.”

“Okay!”

It was Gaius’ turn to poke her other cheek, and after squishing it a few times, Gaius looked at her hair. “The violet in your hair seems to be getting brighter and brighter by the day.”

“Really?” Nakama asked.

“Really.” Gaius turned to La-Ti, who was nibbling away at an apple quietly while examining his left arm curiously. “What do you think?”

“It’s really getting brighter,” La-Ti replied.

“Now that you mention it, I also feel that it’s getting brighter and brighter,” Isabelle chimed in, before glancing at Xanadu’s chair. The Phantom Blade had returned to her bed after breakfast — Gaius could tell that she couldn’t sit upright for too long.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Gaius said. “How about you, Isabelle? The past three years…”

“Just studying,” she replied. “Going back as soon as possible and avoiding as much social interactions as possible helps me avoid awkward situations.”

What am I supposed to say to that? Racking his brain, Gaius cast around for an answer madly, before hitting on the best line he could come up with.

“Thank you.”

A small smile appeared on Isabelle’s face. “For?”

Gaius felt his face cramp up. At the same time, heat rushed to his face. His thoughts seemed to go blank for a moment, and when his awareness returned, all he could see was the table.

“It’s unfair to press me on this,” Gaius muttered.

“I know.”

Gaius looked up at Isabelle, who had a small smile on her face. Nakama was busy looking at some food, but from how she had hurriedly looked away when his gaze fell on her, Gaius knew that she had been watching…and was probably aware of what just transpired between him and Isabelle.

Bringing himself up to his full height, Gaius looked directly at Isabelle. “Give me some time. I’ll tell you everything.”

“I’ll be waiting.” The sight of her smile made it hard for Gaius to breathe. He didn’t know how to describe her appearance right now, nor did he have the words to express his feelings.

Gaius got up slowly, but even the pain he felt from doing so had no effect on his expression. With some empty plates in his hands, he headed over to the sink, and then looked back at her.

“Isabelle, can you give me a hand?”

“Yes. Gladly.”

Her smile as she replied was the brightest Gaius had ever seen, in both his past life and in this one.