❝ 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚊𝚕. ❞
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"Rayne is late for the meeting," Ryoh comments, resting his chin on his palm.

Currently, the divine visionaries are having an emergency meeting. Innocent Zero showed up in the divine visionary competition, and he brought bad news.

Who would've thought Mash is his son?

(Name) slumps into her seat lazily as she stares up to the ceiling. Why is Rayne so late? That's unusual of him.

"(Name)," her (eye colour) eyes glance to the side to look into Ryoh's blue ones. "You always get paired with Rayne for missions, right?" She nods in response as she waits for him to continue. "Did you know about his obsession with rabbits?"

The crimson cane almost jumps out of her seat excitedly. "I know! I know!" She exclaims as Ryoh's grin widens. "Mind share with me so I can tease him?"

"Of course," (name) smirks. "It's funny how I found out about it almost the same as how Mash found out about it. After our third mission, I found a rabbit keychain on the floor so I thought it might be the citizens'. And then he said the keychain is his," she giggles, recalling the event. "You don't know how much I laughed that night."

"Oh, knowing you, I can imagine it." Ryoh chuckles. "And is it true that you made his rabbits traumatised?"

(Name)'s shoulder slump as she looks down. "I almost lost his trust because of that-" she deadpans. "We should give him rabbit merchs for his birthday, don't you think?" She suggests, which Ryoh nods his head in agreement.

Finally, the sword cane enters the room, silencing both (name) and Ryoh as he takes a seat. Sophina closes her book and looks at him, "You're unusually late, Rayne. Where were you?" She asks, frowning slightly.

Rayne takes a seat between Ryoh and Kaldo. "I was with my brother," he mutters, eyes on the ground. "He was participating in the competition when Innocent Zero came."

(Name) feels the corners of her lips lift upward. "Is he okay?" She asks, resting her chin on her palm as Rayne nods his head. "He's fine. It's a relief that nothing much happened to him."

Ryoh raises an eyebrow at the sword cane before glancing at the smiling (name). He lets out a chuckle as he shakes his head.

This girl really knows what she's doing.

Then, the light cane's eyes drift at the person who sits in the opposite of (name). A hint of amusement sparks in his eyes as he watches the desert cane stares at the girl beside him.

Sensing the eyes on him, Orter averts his eyes, only to lock with Ryoh's blue ones. He raises an eyebrow when the light cane smirks and wiggles his eyebrows at him before looking away with a sigh.

Ryoh finds this amusing. It was (name) who picks a seat in front of Orter so she can steal a glance at him from time to time, but the latter is the one who stares at her in the meeting while she focuses on listening and giving her opinion.

To Ryoh, it is obvious that (name) has a crush on Orter. The way she always has a book in her coat just to start a conversation with him always catches Ryoh's eyes. He finds it cute, but Orter is way too oblivious.

He lets out another sigh before starting the meeting about their nemesis.

Ryoh takes it back.

A few minutes ago, he came to the conclusion that (name) and Orter might like each other, or at least enjoy each other's company.

But now he doubts that.

"I disagree." (Name) says sternly. "You can't take Mash into your test. You'll sabotage him, Orter."

"I'm offended that you made that kind of assumption, (name). What makes you think I would sabotage him?" He adjusts his glasses, acting all innocent.

(Name) frowns as she argues. "Your hatred for him makes me assume that," she points out.

"I don't hate him,"

"That's the biggest lie that ever comes out of your mouth."

"Now, now... (Name), Orter, don't fight." Ryoh interrupts.

"We're not fighting." They say simultaneously, not even sparing a glance at him.

"Listen, Orter," (name) sighs. "Mash is needed to defeat Innocent Zero. Mr Wahlberg made it clear that he's the one who can do that," she mentions. "A proper training is needed, not some kind of grudge-like test. Just let me take him into my test."

Orter crosses his arms to his chest as he closes his eyes. "I refuse," he murmurs.

"I refuse your refusal." (Name) copies his act, crossing her arms to her chest firmly.

"..." Orter stares at her, frowning at her stubborn attitude. "Then I refuse your refusal as well."

Ryoh swears he can see an imaginary tick mark on (name)'s head as she takes a deep breath.

"Listen here you four eyes-"

The other divine visionaries are flabbergasted to see (name) like that. They never really spent enough time to know how she behaves, so it's a shock to them to see her all aggressive. Rayne just pinches the bridge of his nose as he shakes his head, refusing to interrupt the argument when Ryoh asks him to since he knows better not to tick (name) off even more.

He has seen (name) got mad before, in their fifth mission together. The enemy called her shortie, and damn, she was furious because of that.

In the end, (name) loses the argument. Why? Because it's Orter. She huffs in dissatisfaction as she leans back into her seat. "If you cross the line, I won't hesitate to step in." She mutters, eyes closing.

"Feel free to do that. The moment you arrive, he's already dead."

"So you do have a bad intention!" She exclaims, slamming her hand against the poor table as she points her finger at him aggressively. "Ryoh! Change it! He really wants to sabotage Mash!" She turns to the light cane beside her who raises both of his hands in surrender.

He smiles nervously at her. "How about you join Orter in his test for Mash?" He suggests. "That way, you can always step in whenever he wants to do something bad."

The (hair colour) haired girl hums, hand under her chin as she thinks. Orter's frown darkens, "I didn't agree with any of these-"

"That will do." (Name) cut him off before turning to the desert cane. "I'll be there when you test Mash. Your opinion is not important in this argument, Orter." She concludes.

The visionaries all let out a sigh. Finally they come to a conclusion. However, Orter is not quite finished yet.

"I'll lock the door so you can't come in."

"You bastard-"

Orter is about to leave when Ryoh stops him. He raises an eyebrow as he waits for the light cane to speak.

"Why don't you just let (name) take him?" He asks, tilting his head to the side as the desert cane stares at him, his eyes bored into his.

"It's nothing particular," he pushes his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "I just want to see what that Mash is capable of." He reasons as Ryoh hums.

"There's more, isn't it?"

"...." Orter stays silent before sighing. "She'll overuse her magic if she was to test Mash. She'll lose more blood than she already is." He mutters, frowning slightly. "She might die even before Mash can become a divine visionary."

A smile tugs on his lips as he puts his hand under his chin. "So you're worried about her, hm?" He teases, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nonsense," the desert cane sighs. "If she dies, the chance of defeating Innocent Zero will decrease. That's all, nothing more." He says in annoyance as he starts walking away.

Ryoh lets out a soft chuckle, knowing that the desert cane is still in denial. Hearing a familiar voice, he turns around to see (name) walking beside Rayne, talking about something that he can't figure out.

Ryoh has met (name) a year longer than others. No, he didn't meet her through Wahlberg. He smiles as he recalls that moment when she was just a small teenager. Right now, she has grown up into a beautiful lady.

He watches as she giggles because of something that Rayne told her, his eyes soften at the precious sight.

"You must be proud of her, Fabian."