Scattered
"Sorry. I'm homeless now. Oh — you lot too."
"I'm not."
The kids stared at Abigail, who had answered Rai as if it were nothing at all.
"Uh... me neither?"
"If you're raising it, raise it. If you're not, put it down for real."
Diana spoke up as she lifted her own hand. Zeroa hesitated, reading the room, until Rai snapped at him and he timidly raised his as well. Mia followed suit, and the group split into those who had a place to stay and those who did not.
"...Guess we all need to find somewhere to sleep, then."
"Don't you have any money saved up? There are plenty of places for rent around here."
"You think I've got money? My back's been breaking just keeping you lot fed."
"If you hadn't blown the money you gave me, we'd be fine!"
"Hey, dammit! I lost that investing so I could buy you guys something good to eat!"
While Aslan and Rai went at it again, Philia sighed and looked over at Abigail.
"I'm not putting you up, so quit staring."
"Wasn't even thinking about it."
"I'm not putting anyone up either. Except maybe Raikkang."
Diana cut in with a sweet smile. Philia smiled back just as sweetly — and drew her sword.
On one side, Rai and Aslan were shouting themselves hoarse. On the other, Diana and Philia had gone at each other with blades. The whole scene descended into chaos. Zeroa, long since used to this, paid it no mind and turned to Agnes.
"I'll take Sena with me until we find a new house. She's close with Kara, so it should be all right."
"...Thank you."
Agnes bit down on her lip, her face drawn with sadness, and had no choice but to nod.
"What about you, Miss Agnes? Our house is too small to keep Tora as well."
"I can live in the city sewers."
"Ah... that doesn't seem right, does it? Please stay at my house. It's close to the Academy, and no light reaches the basement, so you shouldn't be uncomfortable there."
Mia stepped forward to offer. Agnes hesitated, then nodded.
"If you ever want to see Sena, just say the word. I'll bring her over to Miss Mia's."
"Thank you... all of you."
Agnes dismounted from Tora and bowed her head deeply.
At the news that Zeroa would be coming, Mia's chest swelled with anticipation. She felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
By then the commotion had died down, and the three who'd been wrecked in the fighting were gasping for breath. Rai, the only one who still looked presentable, swept his gaze over the kids, then at the house with a hole punched clean through it, and sighed.
"You've all got somewhere to sleep, right? Grab your things and go."
"Where are we training now?"
Rai shrugged at Abigail, who was clearly more bothered by the loss of the training ground than the house itself.
"You can train anywhere. You think the Academy doesn't have a place for it?"
"Shouldn't we set a time to meet?"
They had never scheduled training. The kids had simply shown up at Rai's house. Do that long enough and heading straight there after lectures became the rhythm of the day — but the house was gone now.
"That's a good idea. However things turn out, we should gather at least once a day."
"Yeah, yeah. We need a place to meet."
Philia agreed, and Diana — her hair still a wreck from their fight — chimed in. They both knew that if they didn't pin him down in advance, they'd waste hours just trying to track down free-spirited Rai.
Rai considered it for a moment, then a wicked smile spread across his face.
"Then let's meet in front of the Headmaster's office after lectures."
"...We're training in front of the Headmaster's office?"
No matter how Zeroa turned it over, that was not a training ground, and the suggestion left him flustered.
"Training doesn't have to mean using your body. And a hallway doesn't belong to anyone. They can't throw us out, either. The man loves his regulations — so let's do it by the book."
"Nyahaha. So it's a protest. I like it, Raikkang."
"Do you really think that'll work?"
"I don't think it'll work at all. I just want to be a pain. It's fun, isn't it?"
Philia watched him with worried eyes — he was only doing this to mess with Jerome. He showed no sign of changing his mind.
They packed their things, and once evening fell and Agnes could move about, the people who had gathered at the house began to leave.
"It was cramped, but I'd gotten attached to the place."
"Don't romanticize it. You were a freeloader."
"You gave me money. If you hadn't pissed it all away, we'd have a decent place rented by now."
Rai and Aslan grumbled as they gathered their bags. Philia would be staying at Cesset's; Aslan figured he'd stay with Seiban or Delen.
"Where are you staying, Raikkang? We've got plenty of empty rooms."
Diana clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at Rai. A trace of shyness still lingered, but she'd adapted over the break, and her old self was coming back. Philia hated that even more.
"I've got plenty of places to sleep. I've got connections, in my own way."
Diana and Philia both wondered who those connections were. Philia thought of Selma and Clay. Diana pictured the fellow instructors and staff he was friendly with.
"Ah! Rai! Over here, over here!"
"I'm heading out first. See you at the Academy."
Rai walked off toward Michelle and Sierra, who were waving from a distance.
"Oh, come on. Those two again?"
Aslan, who had gone to the Adventurer's Guild with him and knew exactly what kind of relationship the three of them had fallen into, watched with a look that was half envy and half jealousy — then jumped at the killing intent that slammed into him from the side.
Diana and Philia, smiling as they poured out murderous aura, each planted a hand on his shoulder and glared at Rai's receding back.
"This is pissing me off. We've got perfectly springy young girls right here and he picks those old hags? Look at those saggy tits."
"Agreed."
The two of them seethed, locked eyes, then let out a simultaneous Hmph! and turned their heads away, each setting off down her own road.
Zeroa offered an awkward smile, said his goodbyes to Aslan and Mia, and headed home with Sena.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Senior Aslan."
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
Agnes, who had once made the city's people tremble in fear, could not wander the streets freely, so she would join Mia at her house later. Riding Tora, a unicorn capable of spatial jumps, she might already have arrived. Mia had given her household staff advance notice, but there was bound to be some confusion, so she hurried home.
Left alone, Aslan watched the others go, then started walking.
He headed for Delen's first. He hadn't given anyone a heads-up, but Seiban and Delen were the kind of friends who'd help him anytime.
"It's fine. Stay as long as you want."
He'd shown up without a word and asked to stay on the spot, but Delen didn't even look surprised. He just nodded and welcomed Aslan in.
"Uh... let me think about it."
"Think?"
Delen tilted his head, but Aslan was already wilting under the axe-eyed glares of the maids standing behind him. Those were probably the ones who'd taken Delen's virginity. The maids in their short, deliberately provocative skirts were beautiful, but the looks they trained on Aslan could have killed a man. Their eyes were warning him not to interfere with their nights in the young master's bed.
"Mm... I'll try Seiban's."
"Why?"
The maids smiled sweetly the moment Aslan said it.
"Well... you rented a place that fits your people exactly. You don't even have a guest room."
"It's fine. You can stay in my room."
At Delen's words, the eyes of the maids behind him turned into Satan's. Sweat beading on his forehead, Aslan stretched a stiff smile as wide as it would go and said he was fine.
Driven out by the maids' pressure, he told a disappointed Delen they'd see each other at the Academy, then stepped back out onto the street.
"Ugh — those maids are scary as hell."
Alone on the street, the memory of their eyes still fresh, Aslan sighed and headed for Seiban's.
"The young master has not yet returned. Please, come in."
The butler minding the estate showed Aslan into the parlor and served him tea.
"The young master is not one to break an appointment, so he should arrive shortly."
In truth Aslan had come without a word of notice, but the butler, seeing a guest arrive so late in the evening, assumed they must have arranged to meet.
"No. We didn't have an appointment or anything..."
"Ah, it must have been urgent, then. Even so, the young master should arrive shortly."
The awkward minutes stretched on. By the time the tea in front of him had been refilled five times, Aslan was starting to get restless. The maid standing there serving it kept secretly bending and unbending her legs, as if they ached — and Aslan could feel every bit of it. He didn't want to ask for more tea, and he didn't want to watch her suffer, either.
"My apologies. It seems the young master will be delayed. If you have a message, I would be happy to pass it along."
The butler returned at last and offered a polite apology, but Aslan couldn't bring himself to speak. He'd come to ask for a place to sleep, and the owner of the house wasn't even here. How was he supposed to say that?
He was still sweating over whether to ask anyway when someone arrived.
"Hi, is Seiban in? Oh? Aslan's here too. Hey."
"It's been some time, Miss Jona. The young master has not yet returned."
Jona — Seiban's girlfriend, and a year their senior — listened to the butler, and the cute little curl at the corner of her mouth dropped away.
The atmosphere changed in an instant. The butler and Aslan both read the room.
Her lively blue hair rippled with the mana pouring off her body, and Jona's chilling eyes locked onto Aslan.
"All I heard from Seiban was that he had something at home and was heading back first. Aslan. Do you know anything?"
"No. Nothing."
Aslan shook his head fast, facing a Jona who had turned into a demon. When her gaze — her neck cocked at a bizarre angle — landed on the butler, the man flinched and went rigid.
"Seiban. Isn't. Here. Right?"
"Y-yes... perhaps the young master and Miss Jona simply crossed paths..."
"He isn't here, right?"
"No... he isn't."
Her fist clenched with an ominous crunch. Then Jona smiled, offered the two of them a polite bow, and turned on her heel.
Her short blue hair swayed and settled. Her skirt bloomed like a flower, and she was beautiful — but her voice sounded like it had clawed its way up from the pits of hell, twisting your guts on the way out.
It was a curse aimed at the master of the house, but not a soul inside moved to stop her as she left. The butler stood dazed for a moment in the cold she had left behind, then hesitated and bowed his head to Aslan.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. Given the atmosphere in this house, it would be best if you took your leave."
Looking at the apologizing butler, Aslan found it absolutely impossible to ask for a place to sleep. He offered the man a few words of comfort and stepped out of the estate — offering, while he was at it, a quiet prayer for the friend who might well turn up as a corpse in some back alley...
"I've got nowhere to go, do I?"
This was not the time to be praying for someone else.
Aslan sat down heavily with his enormous pack still on his back, staring into nothing. He'd thought he was on good terms with people, but he couldn't even go to the two he trusted most. One was off-limits thanks to a pack of maids. The other might or might not still be alive.
He was busy blaming himself for how narrow his circle really was when someone approached.
"Aslan? What are you doing?"
"H-huh? Zeroa? What are you doing here?"
"Kara told me to buy raspberry buns. They're a bit cheaper if I go now."
Zeroa scratched his head as he said it, then took in the pitiful sight of Aslan sitting there. He'd said he was going to Delen's, but the pack was still on his back, and here he was crouched on the steps. Zeroa didn't need to ask. He already knew Aslan had nowhere to go. He offered an awkward smile.
"Um... Aslan. Would you like to stay at our house?"
"Huh? No, that's a bit..."
Aslan knew Zeroa's family situation, and he hesitated. Zeroa had already taken Sena in. Adding himself on top of that would be a strain on the household. And there was no telling how long he'd be a freeloader. He didn't want to impose on a friend he actually cared about.
"It's fine. Kara likes you too. Come on. Mother's making stew, so if we go now we can have dinner."
The smile on Zeroa's face, caught in the glow of the streetlamp, was handsome enough that even Aslan — a man — could have fallen for it.
"Kh— Zeroa. Thanks."
"It's nothing. This is how people get by, isn't it? You've helped me plenty of times too."
"You're a really good guy."
"You are too, Aslan."
And Zeroa led him home, the way you'd soothe a child.