Bond

Excellen continued snooping around the Sejren residence, almost like a ninja. She waited until the maids and butlers had diverted their attention in order to move forward.

Still, even though they said that the Magic Council cut off the trade routes from Luin to other countries, how were they so advanced and could get food?

Maybe it had something to do with crops...or they used some sort of materialization magic.

She wasn't really certain.

She also wondered where Tsuruko was—she hadn't been back for four hours, and Excellen was getting a bit worried.

"Hey, Excellen,"

The blonde-haired Esper felt a light tap on her shoulder. Something about it was warm to the touch. As she swirled around, she noticed a certain purple-haired youth; she looked rather tired, though no worse for wear.

"Where have you been?" Excellen queried, her tone infused with worry; Tsuruko was still Tsuruko, her dear friend.

"Well, just saw my granddad." Tsuruko's left arm was behind her back, hiding something from Excellen; Tsuruko gave her friend an enthusiastic thumbs up. "I feel like a lot of weight's gone from my mind...I think."

Without missing a beat, Excellen drew her close friend into a big hug. "I was so worried! What happened, anyway?!"

"Eh, I came to a bit of a realization," Sheepishly stating as such, Tsuruko Sejren quickly held out that bouquet of roses she'd bought earlier. "Here ya go. For you."

Excellen's normally pale-white skin flushed over with a fervent scarlet- her eyes became starry as a smile formed upon her quiet face. "Sejjey, really?"

"Yeah." Brushing off her extreme gratitude, Tsuruko offhandedly remarked, "Thanks for snapping me out of my funk, Excellen. I..." Tsuruko felt a bit uncomfortable saying anything else; she felt like a mouse had crawled down her throat, though instead of what she was about to say, she told her closest confident, "...I really appreciate everything you've done for me—" Tsuruko felt a slight tug on her skirt; looking down, she noticed an azure-haired little girl with her cheeks puffed out looking at her. "Oh, hey, Hikari."

Tsuruko's younger sister simply scowled at her. "You didn't rescue me like you said you would!"

"A-Ah, sorry about that..." A cool sweat formed upon Tsuruko's brow- she still wasn't sure how even though her body was cybernetic, she still exhibited very human traits such as hunger, exhaustion, and could properly emote. Maybe Dzerve was some genius programmer. "I'll make it up to you."

Excellen thought that Dzerve wasn't as shady as she seemed, especially because she gave Tsuruko the ability to taste and convert food to bio-fuel so she could still eat despite being entirely mechanical in nature.

A young woman long grayish purple hair pinned up at the back with a purple bow with side braids and rose eyes approached the three. "Hey, Ethel, Excellen, I've got a question."

"Ehhhh?"

Excellen twirled a lock of her long, blonde hair. "Yes, Marisa?"

"I think it's unavoidable," Marisa let out a deep sigh. "Given that recent negotiations with that stupid-hat woman fell through, I really think that she's going to send troops here."

Tsuruko glanced at Hikari, whose eyes were trembling. "...Hold on." She asked Marisa dramatically, "Can you put me on the phone with whoever's running the council? I have a few things to say."

"She hung up like ten minutes ago."

"Darn." At that moment, Tsuruko's chance to give the head of the Magic Council an incredible tongue-lashing vanished.

"Now, I've got a question." Marisa tented her fingers as she asked, "If there is indeed a war," She sounded so completely and utterly serious now. "Will you two help us push them back?"

"Define 'push back'," Excellen's sapphire eyes sharpened. "There isn't anything called a victor in war."

"I just want to make sure that they never bother us again. No deaths, just want their troopers and whatnot knowing not to screw with my country. I'm fine with trading goods, tourists, and immigrants," Marisa's pupils seemed to have a certain glow to them. "But we don't want those council bastards near our country."

Tsuruko herself wasn't sure what to say; she had no problem beating up some council goons, but she didn't want to fight Deen. "...I'll think about it."

"No worries." Marisa gave her cousin a thumbs-up. "Take your time."

---

"So my family work like the mafia."

"I knew something was up!" Excellen she folded her right arm over her chest while propping her left elbow up on it and placing a hand on her chin. "I just knew it!" She took out an iPad like device—tapping a few screens, she managed to find a map. "Look here. It says that there's a few unidentified flying objects focusing around Luin."

Excellen also took a quick peek at the search history—she had nicked it from Kaguya's room before she left with Tsuruko.

ways i can do my hair

ways to ask a guy to prom

weird ways to burn calories

what is this lump on my butt?

window breaking gloves

winter dating ideas

wiping my butt with money isn't working right

wish people would like me

wrong way to eat a banana

Reading the second-last one, Excellen simply sighed. "Anyway, Sejjey, I've got some bad news."

"Ehh?"

"They couldn't cure Hikari. Marisa said that something's up with her soul and Hikari has something called an 'enhanced corrosion rate'."

"...Huh?" Tsuruko placed her fingers on her chin in thought. "What's gonna happen, then?"

"I don't know, but I don't want Hikari to be put in danger if anything happens—we'll stay here until we can think of a way to fix it."

"R-Really?" Tsuruko was surprised; why did Excellen want to stay with Tsuruko's family now?

"Of course." Excellen gave Tsuruko a thumbs up. "You enjoy being here, don't you?"

As soon as Tsuruko returned from the bathroom, she saw something that she wasn't prepared for.

"Sejjey..." Excellen patted the queen-sized bed; dressed in one of the bed-robes that the room had provided for the two, her face was filled with worry. "I can't hold it in much longer."

This, naturally, flew right over Tsuruko's head. "...Then go to the bathroom. Be careful though, that curry did something nasty to me so watch your—"

Sighing, Excellen applied her palm to her forehead in exasperation. "No, not that."

"...Eh?" Tsuruko was confused now. "What is it?"

"Sit down, firstly." Excellen patted the bed again—Tsuruko performed a flying leap and landed right next to her. "Look, Tsuruko, there's something I want to talk to you about."

Excellen sighed; she wasn't really sure how she'd explain it to her—especially since Tsuruko was, as she begrudgingly admitted, of minimal intelligence. "Okay, okay..." She took a deep breath- she seemed rather panicked. "How do I explain this...?" Excellen wrung her hands nervously.

"Just say what's on your mind." Tsuruko assured her friend, "You've listened to me so much, I'm really sorry for not returning the favour."

"Let's start from the beginning." Excellen placed her hands on Tsuruko's shoulders. "Ever since I came here, to this world...I knew that I was special. Everyone seemed to notice what exactly I could do. Add in...other things...and a lot of people put me on a high pedestal; I'm not sure if it's for my skills, I'm not sure it's because of the latter. But it...kinda separated me from others. Up until I met you, I had nobody who treated me as Excellen, not some super-human, hyper-competent saint. It was damn near impossible to really have any meaningful relationship with anyone—"

Tsuruko confidently interrupted her. "Excellen is Excellen. That's all there is to it, y'know? I don't care about what you can do. I like you, because, well, I like you- you're an amazing person! It's pretty easy to understand!"

A small smile formed from the corner of Excellen's lips. "That's why you're my most precious person...you're the only one in this world who sees me for me. No matter what others say...to me, Tsuruko Sejren isn't solely useful for smashing things. Being around you, makes me happier, I know that."

"And that won't change, not now, not ever!" Tsuruko gave her a thumbs up. "We'll be together forever, I promise."

Excellen's cheeks turned a soft rosy red. "...Sejjey. I'm in love with you."

Tsuruko immediately froze in her tracks. She...hadn't heard anyone say that to her before. And because of previous experiences, she was still a bit scared.

"...Excellen, I...don't know what to say..." Tsuruko felt like a mouse had crawled down her throat.

...Tsuruko Sejren immediately ran off, unable to properly decide what to do.