The Simulacrum

Chapter 28

"So, are we all done?" I inquired using my most diplomatic voice as my eyes swept over the usual suspects crowding around the single table in my living room. At the moment, due to the limited number of comfortable real-estate where three people could sit side by side at the same time, I was seated on my couch instead of my usual comfy chair, with one girlfriend on each side. My question thankfully made the rest finally stop gossiping in the open, so I let out a long breath and continued with, "I didn't think we would be having this gathering so early in the morning, but since we are all here already, I suppose we might as well talk about the most pressing issues we are facing at the moment. Are you fine with that?"

I took the momentary silence as a form of agreement, and I was just about to outline said issues when the class rep abruptly harrumphed while adjusting her glasses.

"Give it up, Leo," she declared with a sullen expression on her face. "You can't just try to sweep this elephant under the rug and expect us to ignore it."

"Seconded," Angie chimed in with a raised hand.

"Thirded," came the next blow from Josh. I glanced at Snowy by his side, actually expecting her to go 'fourthed' or the like, but instead she just shrunk back and refused to meet my eyes. Unfortunately, that still meant it was three against one, so I couldn't just ignore them.

"Could you please tell me what you mean by 'this elephant'?" I asked as I turned back to the class rep again, and she actually began to menacingly adjust her glasses in return, much to my sincerest bafflement. I mean how did one even do that? I would be damned if I knew, but she did it, and I certainly felt menaced as she pointed at my side.

"This! We mean this! What else could we mean?"

I followed her pointed finger with my eyes, which led me to a certain blonde dragon girl blissfully hugging my left arm with a giant smile plastered on her face, apparently completely unaware of the fact that she was in the center of attention.

"First off, calling her an elephant is just plain rude, so shame on you," came my answer with the most innocent expression I could manage under the circumstances. "Secondly, I don't see the problem; she has been like that ever since we started going out."

Ammy seemed to be on the verge of exploding with a mixture of irritation and incomprehension, but before she could do so, Josh cleared his throat and interjected with the words, "Leo, you told us you are going out with her and Judy. Both. At the same time. You cannot just expect us to accept that without an explanation."

"But there is nothing to explain!" I voiced my own irritation maybe just a wee bit too loudly, so I toned it back and continued, "We are going out. It's like when you date one girl, except it's two. It's very simple, really."

"You don't simply go out with two girls at once," Josh countered immediately.

"Yeah, I'm totally with Josh on this one!" Angie seemingly agreed with him, but then she added, "It's actually really impressive! Leo, you are a real player!" She even gave me a giant thumbs up at the end, stopping not only me but the rest of the group on their tracks too. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that I would find an ally in the group like that, but I decided it wasn't proper to look the gift horse in the mouth, so I returned the gesture with a 'Thanks!', which earned me a giggle from her.

Unfortunately, this peace didn't last long, as a moment later Ammy slammed her palm on the coffee table, startling all of us and making me a little uncomfortable, considering she was staring daggers at me.

"Leo," she began, then she took a deep breath, apparently to collect herself, before she sat straight again, and then she continued in a calmer but no less thorny voice. "When I told you to make up your mind and stop leading Judy and Elly by the nose, this wasn't what I was talking about."

"Right," Josh agreed with a nod. "How did you even get them to agree to something like this?"

"Yeah, tell us!" Angie rejoined the fray with her trademark enthusiasm, and by this point I was feeling like I was getting backed into a corner, so I did the most reasonable thing and hastily deflected the question.

"You guys are blowing this way out of proportion, right Judy?" I glanced to my other girlfriend sitting on my right, with her fingers clasped around my hand and, to my surprise, I found her spacing out with the index finger of her free hand placed on her lips and her cheeks flushed with just a hint of red. Since she didn't respond, I squeezed her hand a little, which finally earned me a small shudder and a couple of surprised blinks.

For a moment I was afraid I did it too hard and I hurt her, but after blinking a few more times she squeezed back while simultaneously clearing her throat, then she said, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What were we talking about?"

"Your relationship with Leo," Snowy quickly interjected, apparently waiting for the right moment to enter the conversation, but then she shrank back just as fast without saying anything else.

"Oh, that?" She looked up at me, and I could see the glint in her eyes that meant she was going to cause me trouble. "We had little choice. While the Chief has numerous outstanding qualities, unfortunately being a born womanizer is one of them. Because of this, at least two of us are needed to keep his impulses under control. It's for the good of all the girls in the school."

"Hey!" I protested as I lightly poked her in the side with my elbow. "Could you please not paint your boyfriend as some sort of predator?"

She gave me a flat look before she poked me back, then she stated, "Hush, Chief. I'm doing a thing here."

"I don't care; you are making me look bad!"

"That's the point," she insisted. "I'm in the process of lowering your perceived fitness as a potential mate. It's to prevent the foundation of a harem."

"I told you, I don't want one!"

"Then you shouldn't mind," she spoke like it was the most logical thing in the world.

"But I do mind because it's slander!"

"Right!" To my greatest surprise, the one coming to my rescue was the girl clinging to my other arm. "Leo already promised he won't flirt anymore. Why don't you trust him?"

"It's not about trust, it's about this world's" Judy began, but then she noticed the disapproving look I was directing her way, so she quickly cut her previous sentence short, and instead she told my other girlfriend, "This is not about flirting, and I don't expect you to understand yet. If you have nothing to add, please go back to daydreaming."

Well, I wanted her to change the subject, but I didn't think she would be this blunt about it. Fortunately, Elly only chuckled in response, then she gave a huge grin to my assistant. "Are you jealous because I got the first kiss twice?"

"No, I'm not," Judy told her in a flat voice, though the tiny twitch in the corner of her mouth told me she wasn't nearly as calm as she wanted to appear. "You got the first kiss, but that just means I will be getting the next of his firsts."

"Wait, what?" I tried to cut in, but I was ignored by the suddenly beet-red blonde girl.

"Ho-Hold on! That's not how this works! It's also too early! And even when appropriate, we should at least have another round of rock-paper-scissors to decide that!"

"Objection!" Judy, well, objected with a frown. "You cannot decide important things like that on the outcome of a game."

"Then what? Do you have anything better?" Elly responded, at this point completely ignoring not only the original subject, but everyone else in the room as well.

In the end, I returned the favor by ignoring the two of them, then I cleared my throat and told Ammy, "Could we please stop talking about my love life? As you can see, it tends to derail things."

She gave me a contemplative look, and ultimately she slackened her shoulders and muttered a flat 'Fine.'

"Wait!" Angie interjected with a raised hand. "At least tell us how you convinced them! Pretty please?"

I gave her a critical look, but her expression seemed earnest enough, so in the end I simply sighed and asked her, "Why do you want to know?"

"For future reference."

"What is that supposed to mean?" came the very good question from Josh, accompanied by one of those curiously raised single eyebrows he was so good at.

"Donn warry aboot eet," Angie answered with a weird fake accent. I had no idea what that was supposed to be, but Josh simply rolled his eyes with a stifled snicker, so I figured it was probably another one of their weird childhood friend inside jokes.

Anyways, since there was no need for any kind of complicated cover story here, I simply told her, "As I said, I didn't convince them. I told them it was an option, and they agreed. Simple as that."

"Seriously? Just like that?"

I gave her a nod, which made the Celestial girl fall deep in thought. Josh, on the other hand, still appeared more than just a little skeptical.

"Listen Leo, I am not saying you are lying," she spoke while implying that I was, "but do you really think we are just going to accept that Judy and Elly would agree to something so weird so easily?"

I was just about to answer, but then the princess suddenly declared, "We are in agreement!"

I tried to imitate Josh's eyebrow thing, but since she didn't seem to get the clue, I voiced the question even though I was sure the answer was going to be tiresome.

"What are you talking about?"

"Weren't you paying attention, Chief?" came another question in place of an answer, this time from Judy. "We agreed that rock-paper-scissors is not an adequate way to decide on 'first times', so we are going to compete in collecting femininity points. The one who gathers more will be the one who gets the next 'first time'."

"That's right!" Elly agreed with a nod as she stood up, dragging me halfway along as she was still holding my hand. "The first challenge is making the best breakfast!"

In the meantime Judy also stood up, completely pulling me out of my seat in the process, then she said "Let's go!", her usual deadpan colored by just a hint of fighting spirit. As for me, I simply rolled my eyes, then I proceeded to sit back down, pulling my unsuspecting girlfriends along with a firm tug. After all three of us have landed back on the couch with a soft thud, I squeezed their hands hard to get their attention.

"We are in the middle of a meeting, and at this rate we are never going to get to the actual point! You can do whatever contest you want later, but for now, please behave yourselves," I chided them, then I turned back to Josh with a rueful smile. "As for your question, I rest my case."

Josh opened and closed his mouth several times, apparently looking for, and failing to find, the right words, but at last he simply mumbled something along the lines of 'Point taken.'

"Fine," the princess also agreed at my side, albeit reluctantly. "We are going to make breakfast after it's over then."

"At this rate, it will be lunch, but whatever" I mumbled before I let out a dry cough. "Now then!" I raised my voice to get everyone's attention, and I even wanted to clap once for emphasis, but the two girls were holding onto my hands like vices, so I had to settle with just a verbal demarcation. "So, now that we have finally put my new relationship behind us, can we please focus for a while and talk about the actual matters of importance?"

The gang shared some strange looks between each other, and at the end of the day, it was Ammy who spoke up first.

"I still have a lot of questions, but I grant it to you that we have more pressing problems to talk about at the moment."

"Finally!" I exclaimed with a slightly exaggerated sigh towards the heavens, then I quickly put on my business face as a looked at each member of the gang in turn. "So, before we start in earnest, let's make one thing clear: what we are about to discuss here is super confidential. We all have our circumstances, but as far as trouble is concerned, Josh is in the deepest, and I don't want to make things worse by a leak."

"Well, gosh! That's reassuring!" Joshua complained on the side, but I ignored him, as the class rep also spoke almost at the same time.

"Is it that serious?"

"Yes," I told her. "I trust you guys, and I don't think any of you would tattle, but we are talking about actual, status-quo shaking things here, so we cannot be careful enough."

Amelia kept frowning at me for a while, as if she was weighing her options, but at last she abruptly stood up, and after some virtually inaudible whispering and a wave of her hand, she procured a familiar silver staff topped by a green gem the size of my fist right out of thin air.

Seeing how everyone was startled out of their skin, I forcefully cleared my throat and asked, "Ammy, what exactly are you doing?" before things would escalate.

She placed the end of the staff on the floor with a small, metallic 'tink' and gave me a look like I just asked something supremely silly.

"I'm going to search the house for surveillance. Angie, Neige, you help too. I'm going to start with"

"Wait!" I raised my voice to stop her before she could gather momentum. "I already did that!"

My words incidentally stopped her right in the middle of striking some kind of weird pose. She blinked at me, then she straightened her posture with a questioning expression.

"You probably misunderstood me," she began while gesturing with her free hand as if she was holding a small ball. "When I said 'surveillance' I didn't mean mundane ones but spells like recorder orbs and"

"Yes, yes, I know," I interrupted her again. "I already got rid of all of them."

"You did?" she asked one more time, and after I nodded, the large staff suddenly disappeared like it was never in her hands to begin with. After a few short moments of fidgeting she finally sat down and said, in a low voice, "Right, I should've known. You wouldn't bring Neige here if the place was" She began, then she paused and gave me another inquisitive look, "Are you sure you got them all?"

"Positive," I told her, and for some inexplicable reason that made her slump her shoulders and let out a gigantic sigh, so I added, "Relax, class rep. You are being so high-strung you are making the piano wires jealous."

"And whose fault is?" She began, but then she took a deep breath, and a quick shake of the head later she continued with, "You know what? It doesn't matter. If you say the house is clean, I believe you. So, what are we going to talk about that requires secrecy?"

"I'm glad you asked," I spoke with a small smile. Things were finally moving along. "First things first, let's talk about prophecies."

"Prophecies?" Ammy repeated after me with a strange expression.

"Yeah. Do you have any? I mean, not you in particular, but the Magi?"

" We do not," she answered in an almost mechanical fashion. "Prophecies are for the small-minded and those who do not understand the laws of magic, nature, and causality."

"That's kinda rude to the others in the room, but not really what I wanted to know," I stated, but then I paused as Judy began fiddling with something by my side. As I glanced over, I noticed that she took out her phone and at the moment she was holding it in her free hand while using a single extended finger on her other hand to poke at it. Now, since said other hand was still holding onto mine, this resulted in her dragging my arm left and right. After a very long moment, I closed my eyes and simply asked, "Really, Dormouse? Really?"

She gave me a conflicted look, but then she moved her hand over so that now she was holding onto the phone with two fingers on her 'occupied' hand instead.

"Is this better?" She asked in such a natural, matter-of-factly manner that I was momentarily tempted to believe she wasn't doing it just for attention.

"Fine, whatever," I conceded, then I turned back to the class rep, who was once again adjusting her glasses at me in an implausibly menacing fashion, so I quickly cleared my throat and said, "Sorry for the intermezzo. Where were we? Oh, right, the prophecies. Or lack thereof. Anyways, I wanted to ask if anything comes to mind about a theoretical individual who may or may not fulfill a very specific role to may or may not provide some sort of crucial benefit to the magi in a way that may or may not remind you of some kind of larger than life prophesized hero?"

Based on her facial expression, Ammy really wanted to give me a piece of her mind, but after a while she just closed her eyes for a moment and then explained, "As I just said, we do not have 'prophecies' on principle, but if we are talking about someone special, there is always the Conduit of the Grimoire."

"Really now?" I asked while taking a sneak peek at Judy, and I noted with reassurance that she was actually properly taking notes even though she had to do so in an uncomfortable position. Well, it was her fault for being stubborn and refusing to let go of my hand, so I didn't feel even a smidgen of pity for her. I also moved my hand a little, but only because it was getting a little uncomfortable, and I definitely didn't put it in her lap so she would have an easier time. No sire. But back to the discussion at hand: "Could you tell me about this Conduit guy?"

"I really don't see how any of this has anything to do with anything."

"Trust me, it's relevant," I told her with my most mysterious smile.

She gave me another critical look, but at the end of the day she told us, "Fine. The Conduit of the Grimoire is an unofficial position that's been vacant in the Assembly for close to a thousand years. The Grimoire of the Last Truth is an ancient recorder crystal that grants its user knowledge of the grand magicks from before the Fall. Grandfather once told me that if we could find someone with the aptitude to draw the power and knowledge from the Grimoire, the Magi could easily banish the three Winged Races and safeguard humanity for the rest of time."

"I see" I whispered while nodding to myself. I already looked into Ammy's background (only a little though, nothing invasive), so I knew that her grandfather was a famous scholar and authority figure in Magi circles. If that was to be believed, it meant he was most likely the sagely wizard mentor type, which in turn meant it was probably fine to take his words at face value. Anyways, after just a moment of thinking I flashed another smile at her and declared, "Well, it's Josh."

"What's Josh?" she asked back almost reflexively as her brows furrowed.

"Your conduit or whatever. Right, Josh?"

My friend gave me a harrowed look and simply dropped his shoulders in resignation.

"You tell me."

"Right, and that's what I'm telling you."

"But," Snowy spoke up again, and at first she seemed like she wanted to shrink back once more, but after our eyes met, she nervously continued with, "Wasn't Josh the Herald of the Emperor?"

"The what now?" came the next question from the confused Celestial in the middle of the group. "I thought he was a candidate for being the reincarnated Deus?"

"Indeed," I told them with a small chuckle. "Let me introduce you to Joshua Bernstein, the reviver of the dragon bloodlines, the usherer of emperors, the reincarnation of dear leaders, the puller of magical swords, and as we just learned, the conduit of crystal books."

Honestly speaking, I wanted to count on my fingers while I said all that, for added effect, but my hands were still occupied, so I had to do with words alone. After a long beat of silence following my explanation, it was Snowy who ultimately asked the obvious question.

"All at the same time?"

"Yup," I answered with a grin, but before I could continue, I was interrupted by the class rep, her ferocious eyes all but boring into my skull.

"Leo, are actually you serious?"

"Um, yeah?" I answered uncertainly, slightly taken aback by her intense stare.

"You aren't joking?"

"Of course it's not a joke," I told her with mild exasperation.

"I wish it was," Josh added on with an equally exhausted look.

Ammy looked at each of us in turn, and after she finally seemed certain we weren't pulling her leg, she leaned back in her seat, took off her glasses, and began massaging her eyes.

"I think I get it why you said we had to keep this confidential," she concluded as she put her glasses back on. "Can you tell me the details?"

"Oh, can I?" Elly suddenly asked, earning a curious look from me in the process. "Come on, let me participate!"

I pondered for a moment, but then I figured I had already given a lot of expositions lately, so it was only fair to let someone else take a gander at it from time to time, so I gave my girlfriend a nod.

"All right!" The princess puffed up her already generous chest, then she started with, "So, as far as I could follow Leo's explanation yesterday, each of the Old Blooded Races, plus the accursed Knights, have a prophecy. Josh has a special ability that allows him to absorb the essences of the Old Blooded and temporarily gain their powers. The prophecies are kind of contradictory, but he can fulfill any of them because of his power, and Leo thought that if there were already four of them about him, the Magi should have something similar too, which is what you just described." She paused for a moment, then glanced up at me with an uncertain expression and asked, "Did I say it right?"

"Um" I hesitated for a moment, but then I nodded. "Yes. It was a very concise, but mostly accurate explanation. Thanks."

Elly giggled at my response and immediately proceeded to hug my arm again with a grin that reminded me of a well-fed cat. To be honest, my arm was getting a little numb by this point, but I didn't have the heart to ask her to let go.

Anyway, I cleared my throat and told Ammy, "That's it in a nutshell."

"Really?" This time the question came from Snowy. "Brother said Joshua was the Herald, but I didn't think he was all those other things too"

"I know, right?" Angie added on with a flabbergasted expression. "And that bit about essences was that how he turned Draconian for a while when we confronted Neige's brother?"

"Exactly!" Elly declared with a satisfied smile. "It's quite obvious in retrospect, really."

"Leo," Ammy called out to me in particular, and when our eyes met, she asked, "Are you certain about this?"

"About ninety-five percent sure."

"Seriously?" she spoke in a low voice as she glanced over to Josh, her eyes momentarily softening in concern, but then she quickly became deadly serious again as she faced me once more. "I have a hard time believing this. Since when did you know about it? And how did you even find out about it?"

"A bit of knowledge, lots of legwork, and just a hint of outside-the-box thinking," I answered very modestly.

She still looked skeptical, but then Angie said, "Leo is an information broker," in a really helpful tone. Well, at least she might have thought she was helping, but as for me, I wanted to immediately palm my face when she spoke up.

"Wait, what?" Amelia looked back and forth between the celestial girl and yours truly so fast I was afraid she would stain her neck. "Are you really?"

"Something like that," I answered non-committedly, earning me some strange looks from the whole gang well, except for my girlfriends, who were too busy taking notes and giggling to themselves, respectively.

"I shouldn't even be surprised anymore" Ammy grumbled as she massaged her temples, then after doing that for a couple of breath's time she looked back at me with a determined expression. "Let's say I grant you all of your points about Josh. I won't even question your sources or how you figured all of it out on your own. I have only one question: what does it actually mean for us?"

I took a deep breath and began my explanation.

"It means that Josh has a giant bullseye on his back and it will put us all in danger if we don't deal with it ASAP."

"Hey!" The bullseye protested, but I dismissed him with a wave of my... well, I wanted to say 'hand', but since both of those were occupied at the moment, it ended up as something like a shrug.

"Listen, Josh. As much as I don't like it either, it's true. You are vitally important for each and every supernatural power bloc to reach its ultimate goal. In the best-case scenario, they will try to use you to fulfill their prophecies, like Crowey attempted last week. In the worst-case scenario, they will try to get rid of you so that you wouldn't fulfill someone else's prophecy."

"Great," my friend grumbled with a mentally exhausted voice. "This whole supernatural shit just keeps getting worse by the minute."

"That's why we are going to do something about it," I tried to reassure him, to little apparent effect. "First, we have to make sure people won't find out how important you are before we set some counter-measures. Elly?"

"Hm? Yes?"

My girlfriend glanced up at me with the equivalent of a giant question mark over her head, and she even tilted her head to the side for added effect. I promptly ignored how cute she looked like that and cleared my throat.

"Your family knew that Josh was special, right? That's why they allowed you to come here."

"Ummm... My dad obviously didn't know he was this special, but yes."

"Do you have an idea of how much they know?"

"Um, well..." She hesitated for a moment, probably weighing whether she should say it in public, especially in front of the subject of the discussion, but then she gave me a determined look and continued, "My family puts a lot of importance on the purity of our bloodline. The two main ways of preserving it are by either marrying into the mainline of another draconic family or by finding a human with no supernatural heritage." She must've noticed my curiosity, as she quickly clarified, "If one of us mates with a pure human, the child is almost guaranteed to be a pure Draconian and maintain the purity of the bloodline."

"Apparently genetics work differently for giant lizards," my other girlfriend grumbled on my other side, but I let her words go and instead focused on the actual topic.

"Let me guess: Josh is a 'pure human'?"

"Um," she nodded while pointedly avoiding looking his way. "Father tested him when we were young. He said he was more than just suitable as a mate, so when I asked him to let me meet him again, he allowed it. We only figured he might be more important and related to the prophecy after Neige"

"Now wait just a moment!" Josh interrupted us with a frankly scary look on him. "You can't just skim over this! What was that about 'mates'? And being tested when we were young? Could you please explain this right now before I freak out again?"

"Easy there," I soothed him. "There is absolutely no need to freak out, it's not even that big a deal. Well, not anymore, at least."

"Then you should have no trouble explaining it," my friend grumbled with a look that told me he was already sick and tired of this whole situation. I didn't blame him.

I peeked at Elly, and after a few seconds of conflict clearly visible on her face, she gave me a nod. I took a deep breath, and after exhaling it I turned back to my friend.

"Very well. In a nutshell: you and the princess met as kids and played together for a short while. During that time, her family checked you for compatibility, and since you qualified, they allowed her to come here and meet you again."

"Wait, hold on!" Josh stopped me with a raised palm. "We played together as kids? When?" He paused for a moment while squinting at the blonde girl at my side, then his eyes suddenly lit up with recognition. "You were... Elly, are you Milady?!"

My girlfriend twitched and gave him a faint smile.

"Wow... I mean... Wow!" Josh muttered while seemingly lost in thought.

"At least he finally recognizes you," I told Elly, accompanied by a reassuring squeeze of the hand, but then our moment was interrupted by my friend's sudden outburst.

"How was I supposed to recognize her without you guys saying anything?! She looks completely different now!"

"Really?" I asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yes," Josh answered with a peeved huff while crossing his arms. "She was a total tomboy. She had pigtails, she was always wearing shorts, and every day she would drag me around the park until I thought I was going to die! Hell, I still have a hard time believing they are the same person! Why didn't you just tell me?" He suddenly fell silent, then he narrowed his eyes again as he looked at us. "Was it because of that whole 'mate' business?"

"Kinda," I answered. "Do you remember anything significant related to the 'Milady' in your memories?"

"Significant? We were kids, what kind of significant..." He began to grumble, but then his voice trailed off at the exact same pace as his eyes opened wider and wider, then he timidly asked, "Was it the promise?"

"Yep, it was the promise," I told him in a chipper voice in place of my girlfriend.

"Uh, crap..." Josh muttered while massaging his forehead. "Now I feel like a jerk. This day just keeps getting better and better."

"What are you talking about? What promise?" Ammy inquired with a suspicious glint in her eyes.

"Seconded," Angie chimed in as loudly as usual. "You can't just say that and don't explain it! It's against the rules!"

My first reaction was to ask just what kind of rules she was talking about, but I refrained and instead I stated, "Josh and Elly made a childhood promise that they would get married when they grow up."

"Seriously?" the Celestial girl asked with eyes wide open, but before I could respond, the princess nodded in the affirmative. Angie's eyes opened even wider, then she let out a sharp whistle and turned her attention back to me. "Wow, Leo. You are not only dating two girls at once, you even seduced Josh's fianc! I can't decide if I'm more appalled or impressed!"

"I did not seduce anyone!" I objected.

"She is not my fianc!" came an equally vehement protest from my friend. "We were like six years old! You can't make life decisions at that age! I mean, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you and all, but how was I supposed to remember you, let alone a promise like that, when you deliberately didn't tell me we already knew each other!?"

"I'm... it's fine. Water under the bridge," Elly spoke with a strained smile, but then she glanced up at me, and said smile immediately turned into a genuine one as she threw herself at my shoulder and hugged my arm even tighter. "It all turned out fine in the end, so I'm good."

I sneakily rolled my eyes at her before I let out a dry cough to get everyone's attention.

"Why don't you two have a good long talk about this, but later? We somehow ended up talking about my relationship again, so how about we return to the actually important topic instead?"

"Fine by me," Josh honest to goodness pouted, followed by a string of barely audible pg-13 curses interspersed with the words 'supernatural', 'marriage' and 'fianc'. I, naturally, completely ignored him and continued where we left off.

"Great. So, in conclusion, while Elly's family knows Josh is special, they don't know the details, and they only vaguely suspect that he might be important in the grand scheme of things. Snowy?"

"Y-Yes?" the resident Abyssal yelped like I pinched her, but I disregarded her reaction, lest we would get derailed again.

"I know that you and Crowey know about Josh, but what about the other Abyssals?"

"They shouldn't know?" she replied a tad uncertainly. "I-I mean, we only found him because... Uuuu... You know?"

"The kiss?"

Instead of answering, she awkwardly nodded her head. Hilariously enough, Josh immediately turned red to the tip of his ears at the mere mention of said kiss, but we didn't have the time to tease him, so I overlooked his reaction.

"So it's safe to assume that the other Abyssals don't know about it. Well, unless Crowey tells them," I corrected myself, but Snowy immediately shook her head.

"Brother won't tell anyone."

"Are you sure?"

She gave me an emphatic nod.

"I think she's right," Ammy interjected with a solemn expression. "Lords of the Abyss love their intrigue and keeping their little secrets for political gains. Everyone knows that."

"That's right," Snowy agreed with unusual eagerness. "After what happened last weekend, brother lost a lot of prestige. He will need time to reaffirm his position and keep the vassals in line. He won't have the chance to come over here, and he'll never spread the news about the Herald until he can. It would be as good as asking the other lords to steal Josh from under his nose." Snowy abruptly paused as she glanced at my still flushed friend, and then she hastily added, "No-Not that you are under his nose anymore! I will we will make sure you are protected, right?" She paused again as she looked around, and in a mousy voice she repeated the word, "R-Right?"

"Huh," I mused for a moment while the others all told Josh they would make sure he would be okay, which would have been pretty heartwarming, except it was getting in the way of actually discussing how we would do so, so I cleared my throat and asked, "In your opinion, how long would it take for him to move again?"

Snowy fell silent for a couple of seconds before answering my question.

"He was injured, I'm no longer under his control, and he lost a Chimera. Considering all that, I would say, at least two months, possibly more depending on the vassals' reaction."

"That's good to know. Thanks, Snowy."

"You are welcome," she replied with a demure smile.

"Okay, so just to recap," I raised my voice again to gain everyone's attention. "The Dracis family only knows something is up with Josh because of Snowy and Crowey showing interest in him. Crowey knows Josh is a big deal, but he won't tell anyone. As for the Magi"

I deliberately fell silent while sending a suggestive look towards Ammy, and after a shallow sigh she followed up my words with, "We also knew that an Abyssal showing interest in Joshua wasn't coincidental, but it wasn't until the kidnapping that grandfather started paying attention to him."

"Do you think he can figure out how important he is?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I don't know how much he knows, but once he shows interest in someone, grandfather is usually very meticulous."

"Well, that might be a problem," I mused, and for a short time, the living room fell silent. I was actually pretty deep in thought as I tried to put together a rudimentary action plan in my head, but then my concentration was interrupted by a certain hyperactive girl going 'Uuuuuu' while staring at me.

"Yes, Angie?"

"Aren't you going to ask me?"

"About what?" I replied back with my brows furrowed.

"About how much the Celestials know about Josh!"

" No," I told her, then after a beat I added, "It's not like you could tell me anything new."

"Come on, Leo!" she continued her protests in a childish voice. "I'm no longer the secretive gal I used to be! Now that my cover is blown, I will tell you whatever you want!"

"Really?" I queried with a curiously raised brow, and to my surprise, I felt like I did it really well. Who knows? Maybe one of these days I will catch up to Josh and usurp his position of the group's number one single-eyebrow-raiser!

Jokes aside, Angie gave me a determined nod and repeated, "Whatever you want!"

"Okay," I spoke, her words accidentally triggering my slightly more mischievous side, "What are your three sizes?"

She gave me a weird look, then her cheeks flushed and she stated, "Whatever you want, with some exceptions"

I shook my head and said, "You see, that's what IOuch?" I blinked for a moment, then I looked at my side, where Judy was pinching my arm. "Dormouse, what exactly are you doing?"

She looked me in the eye and responded with an ever so slightly petulant, "No flirting."

"I'm not flirting!" I objected with the righteous indignation of the mostly innocent. "I only teased her a little! Am I not even allowed to do that?!"

My girlfriend seemed to honest to goodness ponder on my entirely rhetorical question for a good five seconds before she concluded, "In moderation, and not in front of us."

"Oh, how gracious of you."

"You are welcome," she answered before she returned to her phone, apparently considering the discussion over.

I shook my head and resumed the previous conversation by saying, "Okay, since I'm apparently no longer allowed to pester you girls while my girlfriends are around, I'll be blunt: Angie, when I said you cannot tell me anything, I meant about Celestial intelligence in particular." Since both Angie and Ammy seemed less than satisfied by my words, I hastily clarified. "I looked into this, you know? There are hundreds of people the Celestials are keeping an eye on because they could be, theoretically, the second coming of their dear leader. If anything, after the recent events, Josh would be lower on the priority list than before because of his involvement with the supernatural powers that be."

"That sounds unlikely," Ammy told me skeptically.

"Well, Josh being the multi-messiah of several supernatural races is also unlikely, but here we are all the same," I answered in a tone that might've been just a tiny bit flippant, but they didn't seem to mind.

"I suppose," she conceded, followed by Angie doing the same.

Of course, there was a tiny little detail I didn't disclose, namely that I was so confident about this particular point because of my direct access to the Celestial Hub. In fact, I was the one who sneakily pushed Josh's name down the priority list of candidates, but then again, explaining that to the gang would've been possibly more annoying than the whole prophecy ordeal was.

"In conclusion," I began to re-rail the conversation, "we are not in dire straits just yet. The knights with the ridiculously long name might be a rogue element, but considering we haven't seen them skulking around yet, I think we are safe to assume they don't know about Josh either. However, that doesn't mean we can sit on our laurels. We need to prepare for the inevitable chaos when the powers that be figure out Josh's potential and start targeting him."

"Is it really inevitable?" Josh interjected with a conflicted expression. "I mean, can't I just I dunno, maybe hide? Change my identity, that kind of stuff?"

I gave my nave friend a measuring look. Poor, poor Josh. He had no idea. Being the chosen one, the hero, and most importantly, the protagonist, meant that the 'plot' was going to find him no matter what. Who has heard of a protagonist that decided he would exit the story and nothing happened to him afterwards? I mean, I get that the 'refusal of the call' was an integral part of the hero's journey, but I doubt any 'hero' has ever succeeded doing so in the history of ever. Of course I couldnt just tell him all this as directly as that, so I resorted to a more roundabout way to convince him.

"It's not so easy," I told him sternly, to get the point across. "Let's say you run away. What happens to your family? Do you think Crowey, or the others, wouldn't use them against you?"

"Then what if my parents also"

"How are you going to explain this to them? Hey mom, dad? I am a multi-prophesized chosen one sought after by all sorts of supernatural people, could you please change your names, leave your current lives behind and run away and hide somewhere with me?"

"Okay, I get it!" Josh yielded with a sour face. "It wouldn't work. You don't have to be a dick about it."

"I wasn't a dick about it. Well, okay, maybe a little bit, but you have to understand your situation is not something you could run away from."

"Then what?"

"I'm glad you asked!" I answered with my best Machiavellian smile. "We have to consider our priorities. First and foremost, we have to protect ourselves. I propose three things for that. One: we need to be more vigilant in the future and deal with potential threats ahead of time. Two: we need to set up a rapid response system so that we can, well, respond at the first sight of trouble. And finally, three: training. In particular, Josh needs training in self-defense and with his new powers."

"Do I have to?" my friend whined, but I shot a scowl his way, and he wisely fell silent.

"In relation to the last point," I continued, "We have to test Josh's powers. We have to work out all sorts of things, like his power levels, transformations, durations, et cetera. This will require a lot of experimentation and testing. I will prepare a place where we can do so in private, but for the 'essences', I will have to ask for your help."

"Actually," Ammy spoke up with a serious look, "You and Elly both mentioned 'essences'. What are those?"

"Well, that's another thing we have to find out, but so far it seems like they are like a trigger that makes Josh transform."

"Yes, but what are they?"

"Bodily fluids," my assistant chimed in after abstaining from the discussion for quite a while. "Blood works for sure. Saliva should as well. Other fluids are untested as of now."

"Ew," Angie added that bit of nothing to the conversation, so I refused to acknowledge her.

"When the time comes, I might ask you girls to provide some of the aforementioned essences during testing and training. It might be a bit annoying, but it's probably the most important part when it comes to keeping Josh safe and prepared. Does anyone have anything to add?"

"Actually," Ammy spoke up almost immediately, with one finger pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. "You are forgetting an option."

"Which is?"

"The Assembly," she replied solemnly. "You seem to be laboring under the impression that we have to keep Joshua safe on our own. Since he was nearly kidnapped by the Abyssals, our School is obligated by the laws of the Assembly, article seventeen to be exact, to provide shelter and support for him."

"Truuuue..." I agreed, if only tentatively. "However, doing so would immediately impose on Josh. I mean, at this rate you are pretty much just sneakily recruiting him."

"I'm not," Ammy retorted. "I just want him to be safe."

"So do I. That's why I think it is more important to keep a low profile right now. I mean, if it was about protection, then going to Elly's family would've been my first pick, but doing so would put us right on a collision course with the knights. I presume going to the Magi would lead to a similar conclusion, and to be frank with you, I don't want to trigger any kind of response from the less savory supernatural folks until I'm sure we are prepared to deal with them." I paused for a second as my gaze swept over the others, then stopped as it met Josh's conflicted expression, so I hastily added, "Don't take me wrong; if you decide you wanted to join Ammy's club, I won't stop you. I will even help you out to the best of my ability. However, I do not think you are informed enough to make that decision yet."

"Well..." My friend mumbled for a moment, then his voice became stronger as he stated, "I suppose you are right. I mean, Elly's place didn't exactly give me the best first impression either..."

"Sebastian?" I asked offhandedly, and Josh immediately agreed with a groan.

"Yeah, that guy! He keeps telling me he will hunt me! He was already scary before, but after I learned all this crap, I wouldn't want to be in the same postal code as him!"

"Tell me about it," I strongly agreed, earning me a classic frown from my related girlfriend, but before she could object, Josh continued, robbing her of the opportunity.

"I think Leo is right. I still don't know enough about this supernatural tangle to come to a decision."

"All the more reason for you to at least talk with grandfather," Ammy countered. After a second she looked at me and added, "Speaking of which, Leo?"

"Yes?"

"We need to tell grandfather about Neige," she told me in a tone that didn't give much room for arguments. I still tried though.

"Do we really have to?"

"Yes. I already told grandfather about her circumstances. If we go there together, we should be able to convince him of her innocence, or at the very least we could make sure she wouldn't be exiled, or worse. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that she will be treated like a fugitive."

I glanced over to Snowy to get her input, and after she finally realized I was waiting for her, she timidly said, "I think we should. I mean... I don't want to cause you any more trouble than I already have."

"It's all right," Josh attempted to reassure her. "Let's just go and talk to Ammy's grandpa, and while we are at it, I will see these mage guys for myself. Two birds with one stone. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Aaaand now you jinxed it," Angie suddenly spoke up while holding her head.

"What? I did what?"

"You jinxed it. You totally did," she repeated with her voice brimming with so much exasperation I was pretty sure she was acting.

"I'm just being optimistic! Since when is that a crime? Not to mention, it's not like this whole mess could get much worse."

"Argh! You are doing it again!"

I shook my head at the bickering childhood friends and focused my attention on the class rep, who was in the middle of giving the two of them a classic 'I'm too tired for this' expression.

"Hey, Ammy?" I waited for her to look my way, then I said, "How about we all go and visit your grandfather together?"

"When?" she asked back with an expression that wasn't nearly as relieved or pleased as I expected.

"After breakfast," I told her off-handedly.

"Does that mean the meeting is over?" Judy suddenly cut in with a question that seemed to be on the tip of her tongue for a while now.

"Is it?" the princess followed suit with Angie-like enthusiasm.

I subtly rolled my eyes at them and said, "We are going to talk while we eat as well, but sure, go ahead."

The moment I gave them the go they both released my (at this point a bit numb and considerably sweaty) palms and stood up, but instead of heading for the kitchen right away, they faced each other and theatrically shook their hands.

"Let the best girlfriend win!" Elly exclaimed, followed by an affirmative grunt from my assistant, and then they both marched out of the living room in pretty much lock-step.

I followed them with my eyes while making sure my mild amusement was hidden behind an expression of disapproval, but then when I turned back to the rest of the group, I found Ammy looking at me the exact same way.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I asked in an attempt to lighten her mood, but her frown only deepened.

"I think you are a bad influence on them," she told me about as bluntly as an anvil dropped from the third floor.

"Oh come on! They've always been like that! Not to mention, I think we agreed that we leave my relationship alone."

Ammy continued to give me a dissatisfied scowl, so I followed my usual modus operandi and looked for some way to change the topic, which I found in the form of the timid Abyssal girl sitting in the crossfire of the still bickering childhood friends (who, by the way, somehow went from jinxes to arguing about famous last lines in movies, go figure).

Anyways, now that my hands were finally freed, I gestured towards her to get her attention and softly asked, "Hey, Snowy? Are you all right?"

Her eyes were uncertain for a moment, but then she told me, "I'm just a little nervous. I mean, I know that you are going to be with me, but we are going to meet one of the Ach-mages of the Assembly. I know he is Amelia's grandfather, but I'm still a little worried."

"Wait, your grandfather is an Arch-mage?" The question pretty much involuntarily popped out of my mouth, earning me a critical look from Ammy.

"I thought you already knew. Didn't you say you were an 'information broker'?"

"Never mind that," I deflected like a pro as I quickly recalled what little I remembered about the Magi's power structure. 'Normal' mages were in Schools, doing research and stuff. Each of the schools was headed by an Arch-mage, and the oldest and most powerful Arch-mages formed The Assembly, the closest thing they had to a governing body. In retrospect, I should've expected this; the class rep was a 'main character', and I already knew that her grandfather was a big shot in the school, so I should've figured out that he wasn't just your run-of-the-mill mage. Hindsight, as always, was 20/20.

Nevertheless, I didn't let the embarrassment I felt over discovering another blind spot show on my face, instead I turned back to Snowy and told her, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure he isn't a bad guy. I mean, what's the worst thing that he could do to you?"

Snowy was about to reply, but then all of a sudden the arguing pair of childhood friends fell silent. As I looked over, I found Angie looking at me with a frankly comical expression, but then a moment later she turned back to Josh as yelled, "You see what you have done!? Now even Leo is doing it! We are soooo jinxed right now!"

We shared a glance with my friend and then we both rolled our eyes at the same time, following which I leaned back on the couch and exhaled a long breath, closed my eyes, and proceeded to ignore both the bickering of the hyperactive duo, the foreboding sounds of breakfast-preparations from the kitchen, and the ominous feeling that my day was probably going to get even more tiresome once we visit the School

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