Chapter 16 (1/2)

Part 1

The relief was palpable in my sigh when the last bell of the day sounded. Normally I was all over PE classes, but on this particular day I was way too out of it to perform at my best, and the exercise only served as a distraction, interrupting my concentration and preventing me from thinking clearly.

Once the teacher gave us the go, I immediately followed after my placeholder classmates and headed towards the changing rooms. The weather had turned for the worse since noon; the sky was covered in thick grey clouds, and I really wanted to get inside and change into something warmer than the gym clothes on my back.

”Why the long face?” Angie sidled up to me after only a couple of steps, torpedoing my plans with nigh-precognitive timing. Not only that, but if the impish smile plastered on her face was any indication, her opening question was only a foot in the door.

”Nothing,” I grunted as I stopped beside her and started looking for my assistant. She was still in the middle of a group of girls leaving the tennis courts, and I almost waved to her, but I changed my mind at the last second. The girl at my side, completely unaware of my considerations, let her smile creep even wider.

”Oh, don't be a sore loser!” She chuckled like she just said something funny. ”You can let him win every once in a blue moon, you know?”

I reflexively blinked at her, and it took me a few seconds to realize what she was talking about, but when I did, I could barely stop myself from letting out a snort. Yeah, because losing to Josh at basketball was obviously the biggest of my problems right now.

No, the reason why I was in my current sour mood was due to Judy running out of information to give me. After her last conversation with the class rep, she told her that she should know enough to confront me and ask me about the rest. Trying to squeeze more out of her after that would've been way too suspicious, so my assistant wisely went along with her ‘advice' and abandoned direct questions, but it ultimately meant that the class rep was no longer a free fountain of info to us.

That was, frankly, annoying. We were still only beginning to find our sea legs, and losing our crutch was a big blow. Still, there were other sources...

I looked down at the short girl still grinning expectantly at me, and after a brief moment of vacillation I made up my mind.

”Are you free this afternoon?”

The mischievous smirk on Angie's face withered in slow motion, but then she caught herself and it was replaced by an awkward grimace.

”Wow, that was... A little sudden, don't you think?”

”Yes, but we need to talk.”

”About what exactly? I'm a little busy right now, and while I would love to hang out, I already have some plans and--”

My hesitation lasted only a moment. It was a stab in the dark, but it was a necessary one. I needed more info, and she was the next on my list anyway. I took a deep breath and leaned closer for a whisper.

”Is it Celestial business?”

Her eyes opened wide as saucers and she glanced left and right like she was expecting a candid camera crew to jump out of a nearby bush. After a few long seconds her eyes snapped back to me and her hand lashed out. I twitched, almost expecting a slap to the face, but instead she covered up my mouth with an uncharacteristic frown and whispered, ”Not here.”

This time I actually let loose a snort through my nose, half in amusement and half in irritation, before I proceeded to remove her hand.

”That's why I asked if you were free this afternoon. Are you still busy?”

She was visibly torn over the question, but she ultimately nodded with a thin-lipped smile. ”I will make time for you.”

”Thanks.”

There was a threat of an awkward silence hanging in the air around us, but before it could materialize it was dispelled by a jaunty whistle. It seemed somewhat familiar, but I couldn't recall where I've heard it before.

”What's with the long face?” Josh asked playfully as he came up to us.

”Was that the victory tune from Final Fantasy?” Angie inquired back without bothering to answer his question.

”Indeed it was,” my friend answered with a shit-eating grin.

”Nice!” She exclaimed and the two high-fived without further prompting. It might've been a childhood friend thing or something.

”So?” I addressed Josh with well-veiled irritation. ”Did you just come over to brag?”

”Mostly,” he admitted with the same grin. ”Hey, if you are allowed to rub your victories in my face, so am I!”

”When did I ever do that?”

”All the time?”

”I can't remember.”

”You are getting old then.”

”Or maybe he is amnesiac?” Angie chimed it with the perfect timing of the completely oblivious. ”Did you hit your head?”

I could see that Josh was starting to fidget suspiciously, so I punched him in the shoulder with an exaggerated groan.

”Yeah, like that would happen.”

”Uh, yeah,” Josh agreed with a nod.

”So, if that was what you were ‘mostly' here for, what's the other reason?”

He looked at me blankly for a moment, but then he finally remembered our previous conversation and the smile crept back onto his face.

”Ah, right! Since you refused my invitation during lunch break, I thought I would ask you if you wanted to hang out after school. It's been a while since we did that, just the two of us.”

I drew in an awkward breath through my teeth and shook my head.

”Sorry, I already have plans.”

”Again!?” He slumped his shoulders in disappointment. ”Is it with Elly or Judy? Or are you two-timing?”

”No and no.” I pointed at the girl out our side. ”I need to discuss some things with Angie.”

His eyes opened wide as he stared at Angie.

”You are three-timing!? Man, you are crazy!”

I glanced at Angie and there was an unspoken unison between the two of us as we both raised our hands and punched the guy in the opposite shoulders. He staggered back with a surprised yelp and began rubbing his upper arms.

”Ow-ow-ow! Hey, I'm joking!”

”It wasn't funny,” Angie pouted with an exaggerated sulk.

”Fine, I get it,” he grumbled in defeat, but only to change gears a moment later. ”So, can I tag along?”

”Nope,” I told him bluntly.

”Oh come on! We barely hang out lately! If this keeps going on, I'm going to become a total shut-in!”

”So you want to go into town just for that?”

”Is keeping my social life alive not a good enough reason for you?”

I shrugged. If that's all he wanted, I could help him. I looked around the field, and once I found her I waved for the princess. She looked at me questioningly as she stepped out of her ring of followers (the placeholder girls really took a liking to her as of late) and after some more urgent waving on my end she apologized to them and strode over to us. She had her hair done up as usual and she was a little disheveled after the class, but she somehow made even that look good.

Anyways, she stopped just outside of arm's reach and looked over each one of us in turn before finally settling on me.

”Yes? Is there a problem?”

”Nah, nothing of the sort.” While I said so I extended a hand a pushed my friend to the front. ”Josh was just feeling down because we couldn't hang out with him today. Could you stand in for us and spend some time with him? As friends?”

Her eyes immediately narrowed in discontent. I guessed she didn't like my meddling so soon after we both agreed to be vague on our relationship status, but at least she didn't say no right away.

”Don't I have a say in this?” Josh protested more out of habit than actual displeasure.

”Oh shut up,” I quipped while patting him on the back. ”Stop acting like hanging out with pretty girls is new to you.”

After the obligatory blush from the two pretty girls at our side (to her credit, the princess only flushed slightly harder than Angie, probably due to my extensive immunization efforts) Josh finally relented.

”Fine, fine... Geez.” He turned to the princess and tried to smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. ”So Elly... are you free this afternoon?”

”I don't have any plans, if that's what you are asking.”

I left the two awkward teenagers to their devices and covertly pulled Angie to the side with a few short gestures.

”Let's get changed and meet at the lockers.”

”Where are we going to talk? The roof?”

I shook my head. I had way too many serious conversations on the roof already. I could do with a change of scenery.

”I was thinking more along the lines of...” I paused and frowned at no one in particular. Just what other places did I even know where we could discuss things? Should I invite her over to my place, I pondered? Nah, that would've been a bit too forward. But then, what else was there? ”... the park?”

She nodded as if my awkward suggestion was just what she was thinking of. I also couldn't help but notice the disapproval in her eyes. She probably didn't like me setting Josh up with the princess, but then again, sometimes we had to make compromises. Not to mention, things between the princess and I were somewhat troublesome at the moment, and I needed some time apart from her to impartially coalesce my long-term plans.

Anyways, we patiently waited for the two to agree on their afternoon activities. It included karaoke, which made me really conflicted. I would've absolutely loved to be there when the princess sang. It was guaranteed to be absolutely hilarious. Oh well, maybe next time.

Either way, we headed for the changing rooms. By the time I got into my uniform, Judy was already outside, waiting for me with a pair of soda cans. I smiled at her and accepted one of them.

”Thanks.”

She didn't say anything, only nodded once before we headed for the classroom to get our bags, and I shared my plans for the afternoon with her on the way. She carefully listened to me while she emptied her can and finally asked, ”Isn't this too early?”

I shrugged noncommittally.

”We'll see. We need to get info out of them, and she is the only one who doesn't already think I know everything.” I paused for a moment as I had a sudden idea. ”Say, do you want to come along?”

She was visibly hesitating for a moment (‘visibly' in this case meaning that anyone could have realized it after intensely studying her for a few weeks under a microscope, but I digress), but in the end, she slowly shook her head.

”No. If I were to do that, she might get suspicious. Not to mention, I have other plans.”

”You do?” I might've sounded a little too surprised, as she gave me a hurt look. Maybe she thought I considered her unable to have plans of her own? However, before I could correct the misconception, she beat me to the punch.

”Yes. I wanted to talk to Neige.”

”Oh...” It made sense in retrospect. If I talked to Angie, and the class rep was out of the question, it naturally only left her. Though again, there was always the princess, but the two of them didn't really get along at the moment, so I doubted she could've gotten any extra info out of her by asking nicely.

We reached the first floor, and after a single glance, I gestured for Judy to slow down. She obediently halted and then followed the direction of my gaze, which led to Neige.

”Speak of the devil?” I whispered jovially, though I was actually more curious than anything. It was rare to see her around these parts. First years had their classrooms on the ground floor. She sometimes came up to the second floor, where our classrooms were, but unless she was looking for someone else around here, she should've had no business on the first floor. It didn't look like she did though. In fact, she was leaning out an open window (a safety hazard if I have ever seen one) and tapping her fingers against the windowsill with a difficult expression. For a moment I entertained the thought of sneaking up on her and scaring her a little, but I quickly discarded the idea and called out to her from afar. While she wasn't as clumsy as the princess, I didn't want to risk her falling out the window by accident.

”Snowy!”

She twitched as she looked up with a panicked expression, but when she realized it was only the two of us she quickly calmed down. She was especially jumpy as of late. I wondered why that was, but I decided to leave the question for a later date.

We walked up to her and she smiled at us. It seemed somewhat strained though.

”What were you looking at?” Judy asked while poking her head through the open window.

”N-Nothing in particular,” she answered just a tad nervously. There was something fishy about her behavior, and while normally I would've drilled her until I found out what bothered her, right now I had an appointment to catch. Still, there was just something weird going on.

I stared at Snowy and then I looked out the open window as well. As I did the latter, my eyes caught something peculiar and my brows began to furrow without my consent. I caught it early though and turned to the girl with what I hoped was a natural-looking smile.

”You know, we were just talking about you,” I told her as I ushered her towards the stairwell.

”You were?” she asked back dubiously, as if she was expecting a trick.

”Yeah. Judy wanted to talk to you. Speaking of which...” I turned to my assistant and said, ”Could you two get my bag too? I have to go to the washroom.”

My assistant wanted to object, but I wiggled my eyebrows at her and she got the message. She nodded and grabbed Snowy by the elbow, gently pulling her towards the classroom without a word. To my surprise, she didn't even protest.

I waited until they reached the stairs before I walked over to the window and poked my head through one more time. There was nothing strange going on outside. Most of the placeholders were already on their way home, with only a few slowpokes still idling around. All things considered, the scenery looked perfectly normal.

What wasn't normal, however, was the weird purple glow coming from the outside of the windowsill. I leaned closer to take a better look, but it looked nothing more than an indistinct blotch of luminescence stuck to the wooden frame. If I strained my eyes I could make out a few faint lines in the middle of it, but they were rapidly dissolving by the time I started observing them, and within a few seconds they completely disappeared alongside the glow.

”Well, that was strange,” I mused to myself as I headed for the stairs myself. I had no idea what that was, so I decided to ask Snowy the next time the opportunity presented itself. It probably wasn't anything important, but one could never know.

I met up with the girls just as they were leaving our classroom, and Judy handed me my bag without a word. We left the second floor and greeted Angie, Josh, and the princess as we passed by each other on the way down. Once we reached the ground floor, Snowy broke off from us to get her bag, and by the time she returned, the aforementioned trio also caught up with us.

We went through the usual routine: our group separated at the shoe lockers and we regrouped at the entrance once everyone retrieved their outdoor footwear. I finished first, as usual, since I had a pair of really comfy sneakers I could simply jump into without messing around with shoelaces, so I had time to think about a weird sensation I was getting. There was a person missing from the picture. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was.

The last time I saw her, the class rep was heading towards the changing rooms behind the rest of us, yet we didn't see her since then. I wondered how we could've missed her on our way back, and before long I found myself slipping into Far Sight. It was a little disturbing how naturally it came to me, but I shooed such concerns away and concentrated on finding her.

In my previous experiments, I already determined that I could sense the general direction of the people I was observing, at least in relation to me, so I was a little confused when this internal compass told me the class rep was under our feet by at least several floors. The confusion quickly faded as my vision snapped into place and I found her standing in a familiar room talking to an equally familiar old man.

”... cannot trace them. At first I thought they were just fluctuations, but they happen only during school hours,” came the class rep's voice as if through a badly tuned radio, but by the time the other person started talking the sound became crystal clear.

It was the same white-bearded old man I saw in the morning, and in the very same room to boot. He looked to be at least eighty, if not more, and his voice sounded exactly what you would expect from an old wizard, if a little dull and monotonous.

”So you say someone is using magic under our very noses? How fascinating. We should—”

”Hey, Leo!” I was pulled out of my Far Seeing by a hand shaking me by the shoulder. I opened my eyes and blinked at the girl at my side. Angie gave me an apprehensive look and stood back. ”You were zoning out.”

”Uh, sorry,” I apologized hastily while looking for a plausible excuse. ”I... didn't sleep much last night.”

”Really? You should. Sleep deprivation is bad for your health.”

”I know.”

Well, considering I haven't slept for over a month, I was holding up pretty well. It wasn't something I could tell her though, so instead I just agreed with whatever she said. However, as I was nodding away, I finally noticed how there were only the two of us by the entrance.

”Where are the others?” I let the innocent question slip, and Angie's usually carefree eyes were immediately set into suspicious squints again.

”Did you really fall asleep? They left just a few moments ago.”

As she said that I looked up and I could just catch Snowy's unmistakable white ponytails disappear behind the school gates.

”Sorry, I'm a little out of it,” I continued with the excuses while I threw my bag over my shoulders and began striding. ”A stroll in the park should get me fresh and awake in no time.”

”If you say so...” the girl at my side answered while still eyeing me skeptically, but she followed after me all the same.

Part 2

During our walk to the park, the atmosphere was unusually tense. I was tempted to break the silence several times, but I didn't have any good topics. Or rather, I had a few, but they all concerned either the supernatural or my love-life, neither of which was exactly the right material for a light-hearted chat. Yet, just as I was about to give up and tried coming up with a good lead-in into my questions once we arrived, I noticed something peculiar.

Angie was humming at my side. It wasn't a complex tune, more like a nursery rhyme. What really freaked me out for a moment though, was that she was glowing in the rhythm of her humming.

”What are you doing?” I asked her in a whisper that seemed to jolt her out of it and the glow surrounding her dispersed like a thin fog.

She blinked at me in surprise and told me, ”I'm humming because I'm bored.”

With that, she averted her face with an exaggerated ‘Hmpf' and returned to her humming. I paid closer attention to her this time, and as the glowing started, I noticed a couple of thin lines extending from her. They looked like strands of spider silk in the wind, but they were way too weird to be anything so ordinary. My first instinct was to try and find out what they were connected to, but they were instead passing through objects. In fact, they seemed completely intangible.

After some further observations, I noticed something even more troubling: I couldn't see it at first because we were standing so close together, but there was a string pointed right at my chest. Not only that, it was much thicker than the ones randomly floating around her and it seemed to glow in unison with her weird aura. Speaking of which, how come no one found it strange that she was lighting up like she was bitten by a radioactive fluorescent light bulb? Was it something only I could see?

Those were questions for later, as I was more interested in the line connected to me at the moment. Angie's humming was getting a little erratic, as if she couldn't quite remember the exact tune of a song, and it also made the strand wiggle like it was alive. It was pretty squicky, to be honest.

I reached out a finger and tucked at the string. It was insubstantial, and when I touched it, it felt like there was a mild electric current running through my skin. It wasn't painful, but it was decidedly unpleasant. It was about this point I got really fed up with the entire situation and I pinched Angie in the side. She literally jumped with a high-pitched yelp and sent me a look of injured pride that only she could manage. I stopped and faced her head-on.

”What are you doing!?” she exclaimed with a scowl that made me realize why Josh was so afraid of her wrath. In this case though, I matched her scowl with one of my own and pointed at the still attached strand between us.

”A better question is this: what are you doing?”

She gave me a puzzled look, and my further gestures only made her look even more incredulous, so I just rolled my eyes, crooked my finger into a hook, and slashed at the line in irritation. I only intended that as a vague gesture, but somehow my finger actually caught the line, stretched it out, and then it snapped like a rubber band. Angie's eyes opened wide in surprise, completely wiping away her previous frown. To be honest, I would've probably had a similar expression, but I managed to stay in character and simply shook my head.

”Seriously, I have no idea what that was, but stop it.”

”I... Uh... Okay?” She nodded several times in a daze, but when I tried to start walking again she called out to me in a borderline panicky voice. ”Wait! How did you do that?”

”Which part?”

”How did you...” She paused for a moment to make sure no one was in earshot. ”How did you dispel my probe spell? Was that a somatic counterspell? But you are not an Abyssal, so that can't be it...”

I let her mumble to herself for a while. My brain, on the other hand, was already switching to a higher gear.

She said ‘somatic' just now, didn't she? That reminded me of a particular byline in one of Judy's first reports. It said there were three kinds of magic in practice: Vocal, somatic, and harmonic. According to the info collected from the class rep, magi like her were using vocal magic. Chants and the like. Somatic magic, at least by the dictionary definition, probably had something to do with the body. I figured it was movement, and according to what Angie just said, it had something to do with Abyssals. More on that later.

However, there was a third one, which made me furrow my brows: harmonics. I didn't really know what to think of it until a few minutes ago, but in retrospect, it seemed pretty obvious it had to do with music. Angie was humming, and there was weird glowy magicky stuff happening. Q.E.D., she was using harmonic magic.

It also raised an intriguing question: were these magic types unique to certain supernatural entities? Magi are vocal, Abyssals are somatic and Celestials are harmonic. It made a certain sense from a constructional standpoint, but at this point it was just a stab in the dark, so I filed it under ‘things to figure out later' and returned to the conversation.

I had no answer to Angie's question, and since I had no idea what happened either, bullshitting my way out of answering was too risky. That left only one avenue open for me: a blatant and shameless change of topic.

”What exactly were you probing for, if I may ask?”

Credit where credit's due, the girl had the decency to act properly self-conscious when faced with the question. She chuckled awkwardly, but when my stare made it obvious that I wasn't giving up on the question she let out a defeated breath and told me, ”Nothing intrusive, just checking if you are under the influence.”

”I'm not drinking.”

”Not that kind of influence, silly!” she exclaimed while she playfully swatted at me. She was obviously trying to lower my guard a little, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely against a less formal conversation, so I smiled at her as encouragement. She grinned back and continued, ”It's to see if you were bewitched.”

”Bewitched?”

”Charmed, controlled, having your free will ripped from you and stuffed in a tiny cage where you can only scream endlessly on the inside as your body is being controlled by malevolent magicks... That kind of thing.”

”... That was needlessly graphic.”

”Sorry,” she said, but according to her grin, she really wasn't.

”Whatever. But why would you think that in the first place? Isn't that a bit of a logical leap to make?”

Angie shrugged, which incidentally corresponded with the exact moment we arrived at the park. It was still in the early afternoon, but the skies were overcast and so it was a little darker than usual, and when you combined that with the autumn trees surrounding us, it created a somewhat eerie atmosphere. It didn't seem to get to my companion though, as she continued discussing the matter with her usual gusto.

”It wouldn't be the first time though. For some reason, the higher-ups have this creepy obsession with sending random mind-controlled dudes for correspondence. Once they even sent a nine years old girl just to tell me they had nothing new to say, can you believe that?! After I undid the spell on her I had to spend the entire day looking for the poor thing's parents.” She paused for a moment before she gave me another puzzled look. ”Speaking of dispelling, you still haven't told me how you did that.”

I suppressed a twitch and turned it into a tired sigh instead. It was mostly just to gain a moment to think, but it didn't actually help, so I put on my best mysterious smile and answered, ”We all have our little secrets, don't we?”

Angie nodded to herself like I just said something really profound, but then her brows knit again.

”Actually, now that you mention it... if it wasn't the higher-ups that sent you, then how did you know that I—?” Her face suddenly tensed and she looked around again, quickly spotting a deserted bench by a side path. ”Let's continue this conversation over there. We are in the open.”

I wanted to point out that we would be in the open even if we went there, but I wasn't entirely against the idea of sitting down, so I curtly nodded and we walked over to the bench without further ado.

Angie dusted the seat and sat down. I was about to do the same, but a small gust of wind made me reconsider. It wasn't too cold, but it was October already, and considering she only wore her school uniform with its short skirt, I was fairly certain she was feeling its bite more than I did. After a moment I shook my hand left and right to get Angie's attention.

”Hold my seat. I'm going to go and grab some warm drinks. I'll be right back.”

I left in a hurry, though not before flashing her a reassuring smile. It's been a while, but I knew there was a vending machine not too far from where we stood. It wasn't the same one I used when I met up with Snowy, but this one was closer. Or so I thought at least, but then it turned out I couldn't get to it, as part of the park was closed down. According to the sign next to the cordon, the police were searching for some kind of large goat or ram, and once I finished reading it, I had to shake my head in disapproval. Just how dangerous a goat could be to warrant locking up half the place? Maybe if it was a mountain lion or a cassowary. I could understand that, but a goat of all things?

Anyways, I still managed to get the hot cocoa, even if I had to go the long way for it. On the plus side, at least I got some extra time to think, so it wasn't all bad. It didn't take a genius to figure out that my approach with Angie was the wrong one. I did get her to talk to me, but she was extremely on guard, and while I already learned some tidbits just from observation, I managed to accidentally get her to think I was involved with their magic masquerade as much as the others. That didn't bode well for my plan of asking about the basics, but all I could do was to grit my teeth and carry on for now.

I was so lost in my thoughts that at first I didn't even notice the light-show down the path, but by the time I got within a stone's throw to the place where I left Angie, I had to squint my eyes or risk going blind. The glow surrounding her was way more intense than when we walked, so much so that it took my eyes a while to adjust enough to make out her shape under the bright, if oddly colorless, light.

The first thing that struck me was how many of those translucent strands surrounded her. They weren't attached to anything though, but instead they slowly undulated around her like the tendrils of a giant jellyfish, slithering around (and sometimes through) trees and other obstacles as if licking them. It was a little creepy, to be honest.

Some of those strands were waving in my direction, and for obvious reasons that needed no stating, I didn't really want them to touch me. As such I carefully weaved around the tendrils while making sure I wouldn't spill our drinks, which was getting harder and harder the closer I got to her, but I was always up for a little challenge.

I was practically next to Angie by the time I realized that she was humming again, though at such a low volume I could barely make out the tune. I was more interested in the glow surrounding her though.

To my surprise (though to be perfectly honest, at this point I shouldn't have been surprised by something like this) I found that the main source of the light was a ring floating over her head. It was as insubstantial as the strings, and it was slowly rotating in a horizontal plane parallel with the crown of her head. No matter how I looked at it, it was a halo, and not the medieval artwork kind that looked like someone had a stage-light behind their head. No, it was a stereotypical, ring-shaped halo you would find floating over the head of a chubby cherub on a valentine's card. Speaking of cherubs, she also had a set of similarly insubstantial wings on her back, clipping through the backrest of the bench even in their folded state. It looked weird and yet strangely fitting at the same time, which was also weird. In other words, it was double-weird.

For the next five or so seconds I silently waited for her to realize I was beside her, but all I got for my trouble was nearly spilling my drink as I had to continually dodge the tendrils. I soon lost my patience and loudly cleared my throat. Her reaction was several magnitudes more extreme than I expected, as she jumped onto her feet with a loud shriek and waved her hands around like she had an entire swarm of bees surrounding her. It took her a couple of seconds before she realized it was only me, and then she began gaping at me in shock.

The silence between us seemed to last for hours, and it was positively deafening.

”Leo...” she finally uttered, her legs still shaking. ”... you are freaking me out right now.”

”Why? You don't like cocoa? I can get you an espresso if you want?” Her eyes told me, in no uncertain terms, that I should stop joking, so I dropped my shoulders in resignation. ”Okay, okay. You are not in the mood, I get it. Sorry for startling you.”

”It's not about that!” she denied, but I could still see her legs trembling a little, so I gestured towards the bench with my chin and she promptly sat down. I followed suit, but I could barely rest my backside before she spoke again. ”How did you do that?”

”What exactly do you mean by ‘that'?” I asked innocently while sipping from my cup. ”Ah, it's hot!”

”Leo, stop messing around and answer me seriously.”