SYOL (Take 2)

“Man, that sounds like one crazy day!”

Orange looked down at his leg, which looked as though it had never been shot at by a giant panty-defending robot. Even his new pants were entirely repaired, which he hadn’t been expecting. He knew that healing was a pretty strange magic to begin with, but not so strange that he could predict the pink-haired healer being able to heal pants. But pants being healed was far from the strangest thing to have had happened today.

After having been attacked by a huge mech covered in bows that called itself The Protector of All Naughty Tailorings Beneath Outerwear and subsequently chased by an enraged girl-turned-monster thanks to being an unwilling part of a failed panty raid conducted by one of the overlord’s closest advisors, Flann had helped Orange over to the hospital to get his damaged prosthetic fixed. He was very quickly escorted to a room, bandaged, and told to wait momentarily. Momentarily had been a poor word choice: Orange had waited for at least half an hour, bleeding out and all. Granted, he wasn’t sure if bleeding out whatever the hell was in his prosthetic could kill him, but he hadn’t been very willing to find out.

Bizzarely, when the healer returned, she asked him to lie down so she could administer an anesthetic. It didn’t make much sense to him. First and foremost, the room he had been left in was presumably a room for check-ups and little else, certainly not surgery or anything else he could have possibly needed to be unconscious for. Second, why did he need to be unconscious in the first place? Admittedly he knew very little about the medical and magical sciences (he was more of a social studies and history sort of person), but it seemed a little odd to him that he needed to be unconscious to get things patched back up, maybe get a little more glittery black stuff put back in there.

The more he thought about it, the less sense his logic made. Why would anyone want to be conscious for that? Sure, he couldn’t feel pain in his leg, but it’s not like he wanted to watch anyone perform a transfusion on it and stitch it back up. Not to mention he could mess everything up just by moving his leg a little. A muscle relaxant could be used, but what was the point? Just putting him under was considerably less of a hassle.

Still, that didn’t explain why he was left alone for so long in a room he was pretty sure wasn’t equipped for surgical procedures. Even stranger was that when he woke up he met yet another Representative – though at least this one he had interacted with at some point before.

LeFleuris de Floraize lived up to his unbelievably fancy name. He was tall and elegant with flawless features and an aura that radiated superiority and decadence. His hair was long and flowing, his eyes piercing and cold. Everything he wore was luxurious and stylish and every word he spoke was laced with allure. To be in his presence was incredibly intimidating, especially given that every time they had met Orange had been in a particularly vulnerable state. The way he looked at him wasn’t particularly unlike a predator eying its prey, which wasn’t a very pleasant way to be looked at, in Orange’s humble opinion. Orange couldn’t help but wonder if that’s why he seemed to have such a presence in the medical department – for someone with his personality type, assuming Orange had it right, this was probably a wonderful place to be.

The first time the two had met was immediately after the incident that cost Orange all but one of his limbs. From what Orange could tell, LeFleuris was a personal advisor to Hadris, much closer than the other Representatives. He was the sort of obviously shifty advisor Orange expected to go for Hadris’ throat any day now, but nonetheless he was at Hadris’ side a number of the times Orange saw the overlord while he was in recovery. Everything about him managing to unnerve Orange aside, he seemed pleasant enough, however that worked. He had been nice enough to talk to him when he didn’t have anyone else to talk to, though he was sure his actions weren’t without ulterior motives. Orange preferred not to think of it like that. Ignorance was bliss.

This time around, LeFleuris had informed Orange that he was in charge of keeping an eye on his medical affairs. Orange didn’t bother trying to get any more information out of him; aside from his “ignorance is bliss” philosophy, he didn’t think LeFleuris was the type to give out any more information than absolutely necessary unless he was trying to bother someone with it. Plus, his language was remarkably possessive, causing Orange to want to leave his sight as quickly as possible. Just thinking about being around him made his heart pound in a manner he wasn’t quite comfortable with.

“I’m so jealous!” Aedi continued with an exaggerated sigh. “All the cool stuff happens to you, and you just got here! And for the longest time I just thought I misplaced some panties or something the day after I moved in… I’m friends with Flann, though, and she’s pretty cool as long as Lausac isn’t around! And you got to hang out with LeFleuris! I’ve been trying to do that for, like, ever! Ohh, the things I would do to that man…”

Orange narrowed his eyes a little. “Uhh…”

“Anyway!” Aedi quickly changed the subject, “You sure you’re not skipping out on a job or something?”

Orange looked down at his buzzer, confirming that he had no new requests. Flann had returned the buzzer to him right as he was about to leave the hospital, not giving him any details on how she got it back from Lausac. Which was probably for the best. Upon receiving his buzzer he discovered a text from Aedi asking him to meet her here whenever he was free. So here they were, on a pleasant stroll through a surprisingly lush indoor park on a date on the calendar.

“Nope, I’m still clear.”

“Good! That’s probably illegal, you know!” Aedi winked.

“Says the girl who doesn’t do anything all day.” Orange teased.

“Hey! That’s not true!” Aedi huffed. “I provide moral support to anyone who needs it! And sometimes I do odd jobs too if I feel like it! Which I usually don’t. Being an ambassador is a rough life, my friend.”

“Sounds like it.” He smiled.

They continued their small talk before happening upon a large tree in the center of the park – and, according to the map on his buzzer, the center of the entire dimension. The bark was made out of some sort of crystalline material and filled with some sort of liquid that Orange could only determine existed by watching bubbles float up through it. Its branches ended in bunches of brilliant luminescent leaves and flowers, leaving the ground around the tree covered in petals.

Aedi gazed up at the tree, admiring it. “It’s really pretty, isn’t it? I wish we had stuff like this back home.”

“It’s amazing.” Orange agreed, looking up as well. “This whole place is amazing, honestly. I can hardly believe I’m really here.”

“Same.” Aedi nodded, looking back toward him. “Hey, y’know, this tree kind of looks like the overlord! See, here,”

Aedi stood up in the tips of her toes, pointing at things she didn’t really need to stretch to reach.

“The crystal stuff is kinda like his horns, right? Then you’ve got the weird aquarium kind of thing going on like in his eyes, and the flowers and stuff…”

Folding her arms, she realized the foliage didn’t work with her vision. “Well, maybe he bleeds shiny rainbow flowers or something. Man, that would’ve been perfect if they were just on fire…”

“You still have a point. Maybe it’s like his power source or something? Or it’s the tree he planted in his backyard when he was little?” he shrugged.

“Dude, you really think Drew was a kid at some point? That’s the weirdest mental image I’ve had all week.”

Orange tried to imagine Hadris as a kid, but the subject very quickly baffled him.

“Well, we were all kids once, right? I mean, I figure he probably had to come from somewhere. I don’t think I can imagine him as a baby either, though… so maybe he just popped out of nowhere one day and decided to move on with his life.”

“Wait a second, what if he came from this tree?” Aedi gasped loudly, “Holy shit! What if this tree is the overlord’s mother?! Oh my God, this is screwing with my head, Orange. Dude. Whoa.”

Before Orange could fully process her theory, his buzzer buzzed.

“Hello, Orange here! How may I help you?” Orange asked as he picked up, relieved to hear that the voice on the other end sounded pleasant and absent of troublemaking intent.

“Good day, Mr. Orange! I’m having a bit of a problem, and I would really appreciate some extra help! I hope you aren’t in the middle of something!” the voice on the other end humbly requested.

“Oh, no, it’s no problem at all! What can I help you with?”

“Well, you see, I was supposed to pick up some doughnuts for a meeting, but I took a little too long getting ready and I don’t think I can get there and back fast enough. I can’t move very fast, you see, and the meeting is in half an hour. But I think anyone else could definitely handle it in time! I’ve already called in and placed an order, so all you have to do is pick up the doughnuts and deliver them!” the voice continued.

“Sure, absolutely! I can definitely do that for you, sir!” Orange agreed enthusiastically. After his first job request, he was incredibly excited to tackle an extraordinarily mundane task.

“Wow, thank you so much! Okay, just tell them that Merah Muda sent you, all right? I’ll put the doughnut shop and the meeting room on your map. If you have any problems, just call me back! See you soon, and thank you again!”

As the person on the other end hung up and the map of the building featuring two glowing dots pulled itself up, the name of the caller sunk in. Merah Muda was the name of yet another one of the Representatives. Maybe it was entirely a coincidence that some other random Representative decided to call him, a random intern, for some doughnuts, but Orange couldn’t help but feel like he was going to end up meeting every Representative in very quick succession like this.

As with the other Representatives, Orange knew very little about Merah. He remembered his photo as being one of the odder ones, but couldn’t remember all of the details. There were certainly a number of them: he was a very pink younger boy, probably younger than Orange but likely actually 1,000 years old or something along those lines, and he had a number of parts that didn’t go very well together. The one-line description that had accompanied his photo was “he’s a pretty nice guy”, which was a description that filled Orange with optimism.

“Damn, you got a job?” Aedi asked, pouting a little.

“Yeah, looks like it, sorry.” Orange apologized as their mutually enjoyable date on the calendar came to a close. He looked back down at the map again and quickly looked back up.

“Wait! Actually, it looks like the doughnut shop is right next to this plaza. So, I mean, if you wanted to come with or anything…”

Aedi jumped on his suggestion. “Sure! Hell yeah! Let’s do it! I love doughnuts!”

Not allowing him any time to potentially change his mind, Aedi grabbed his arm and ran off in a random direction.

“Wait, wait! Other direction!”

Aedi rolled her eyes as she screeched to a halt and turned the other way. “I was close enough!”


The Steel Doughnut, the shop was called. The duo stood before it, amazed by how intense the entrance made doughnuts look. The entrance was lined with steel donuts that had been lit ablaze, never ceasing their eternal burning. The doughnut-shaped windows were lined with skulls, tinted so as to not let innocent bystanders witness the horrors that awaited them inside. Orange swore he could hear an ethereal metal guitar shredding from a plane high above their own, but maybe he was just going crazy. Giving the day he was having, it was entirely possible.

“Whoa. This place… is totally metal.” Aedi thought out loud in awe.

“Made of 100% Pure Donut Steel,” Orange read off of a sign near the door, lost in his thoughts. “So is it doughnut or donut…?”

“Who cares?”

“Good point. Doughnuts or donuts, we should probably hurry up and finish the job.” He nodded, opening the door and holding it for Aedi.

“I can’t tell if you’re being polite or letting me be your meatshield.”

“Probably a little of both, subconsciously.”

“Fair enough!”

Aedi waltzed inside and promptly stopped mid-stride. Orange followed, hearing the little bell above the doorway jingle as the door closed behind the two. The inside of the shop greatly resembled the outside: tough, ominous, and almost absurdly over-the-top. There were a few patrons sitting here and there (mostly collected in a bar area), all of whom turned to stare at the two. Despite the loud rock music blaring over the speakers, it felt utterly silent as Orange prodded Aedi and walked up to the counter.

“What do you want?” growled the man in front of the cashier. His outfit looked like the unholy spawn of a ninja and a motorcycle gang member, finished off with a red armband with two Japanese characters in it and a nametag that read “Seiten”. More immediately noticeable were his blue skin and  single red eye, and perhaps above those was his two-toned pompadour. Orange tried not to stare, instead glancing down at the doughnut case (where Aedi had quickly attached herself). It clashed severely with the rest of the store, glowing with a soft pink light and filled with every doughnut imaginable.

Hesitantly making eye contact, Orange remembered he had a time limit. “I’m here to pick up an order for Merah Muda?”

Seiten – assuming that was his real name and he hadn’t just stolen his nametag off of some poor, unprepared intern – narrowed his eye at him.

“That a question or a demand?”

“A… A demand, sir?”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you over all that cowardice!”

“That’s… that’s a demand, sir!” Orange reiterated, puffing out his chest.

“Then say it like one!”

“I’m here to pick up an order for Merah Muda!”

“And you won’t take no for an answer!” Seiten coached.

“I’m here to pick up an order for Merah Muda and I won’t take no for an answer!” Orange tried again, feeling the blood rushing throughout his body.

“Now swear at least twice! With meaning!”

“I’m here to pick up a motherfucking order for Merah Muda and I won’t take no for a goddamn answer!” Orange demanded loudly, slamming one hand on the counter and pointing his thumb at his chest with the other.

“Whoa, Orange! You’re looking kinda cool!” Aedi cheered.

“Thanks!” Orange beamed, his coolness rapidly fading away with his smile.

“That’s more like it.” Seiten nodded. “I don’t give doughnuts to just anybody. You know how doughnuts have holes in them? Y’know, most of ‘em? That’s because they’re incomplete.”

The cashier poked him in the chest, looking him square in the eye. “And we gotta complete ‘em. With our hearts, man. Can’t give someone without confidence these top-tier doughnuts, bro. They’d be incomplete forever, you feel me?”

“I do. I understand completely.” Orange answered firmly. Never before had a concept been so clear to him.

“Good. Now take your fucking doughnuts and get the hell outta my store.” Seiten concluded, thrusting a large box of donuts into Orange’s arms.

“I will!” Orange announced intensely, turning around and strutting through the door as Aedi opened it for him with complete confidence in its purest form.

“I have no idea what the hell just happened.” Aedi said as they stepped back outside.

“Something beautiful, I think.” Orange shrugged. “Anyway, looks like the meeting room is at least a 15-minute walk away, so I should probably get moving.”

“Hey! Don’t say that like you’re gonna get rid of me!” Aedi huffed. “I wanna see if I can snag a donut or two for all our hard work! Can’t just abandon a mission right in the middle of it! That’s not what an ambassador does!”

Accepting Aedi’s continued companionship, the duo continued along through the building as quickly as they could without dropping the box of doughnuts to make up for the time they lost to Orange being coached in the art of confidence. They reached the meeting room with five minutes to spare, hoping that was good enough. Orange knocked on the rather imposing set of double doors, not wanting to barge in and interrupt a meeting that had started early and doughnutless.

The doors opened so quickly that Orange stumbled, requiring Aedi’s assistance to keep the doughnuts from falling to their doom. Standing there was a dark-skinned girl with blue hair piled on top of her head in a half-shaved hairstyle that was almost reminiscent of the fins on her limbs and head. Orange immediately recognized her as Loligo Anuwau, yet another Representative. Her description was nothing more than “she’s kind of a jerk”.

“It’s about goddamn time!” she exclaimed, sounding a little more excited than angry. “Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Haul ass, get in!”

Loligo walked back inside, Orange and Aedi following. Orange’s eyes widened as he looked around the room. Its most prominent feature was the large, round table with a hologram projector in the middle, but he was more interested in the people sitting there. Gathered around the table, staring impatiently at his doughnuts were all of the Representatives.

Looked like he was right about meeting them all in very quick succession.

Going clockwise, next to the empty chair directly across from where he was standing was Valence Polixe. Valence was a tall elderly woman, incredibly fit for a woman her age. She wore high-tech spectacles that she stared the duo down in, leaving Orange not wanting to let his gaze linger on her for long. As he had been advised in the introductory course, that giant robot arm of hers seemed like something he didn’t want to be on the other side of.

Next to her sat Lausac, who grinned and waved at him like an old friend. He wasn’t particularly sure how to feel about that, so he moved on to the hulking figure next to him. He was cloaked in purple and surrounded by glowing runes, so Orange couldn’t see much of him aside from a number of eyes shining from beneath his hood. Unmistakably this was Elemon Ohod, who had only been identified as not talking much. Orange was pretty sure that was only scratching the surface.

Merah was sitting next to Elemon with a huge smile on his face. No longer just a face from his memories, Orange could get a closer look at who his client was. He was even pinker than he remembered, looking like he was made out of some sort of translucent gooey substance. He had one eye too many, along with a pair of wings, a pair of horns, a pair of antennae, and some sort of suit that was made out of whatever he was made out of. It was an odd sight to be sure, but he seemed so pleasant that Orange couldn’t bring him to think of him much differently for his bizarre appearance.

The next Representative’s hair and cape billowed around him dramatically in a wind that didn’t seem to affect anyone else. His over-the-top villainous appearance made him easily identifiable as Amelano Vilifonz, who had been described as “achingly gothic” and nothing more. His only interest lied with the doughnuts; though Orange was no mind reader, he could feel that Amelano wasn’t willing to sacrifice stooping to such an inferior level to gaze upon him for even a second. It was different than the condescending feeling LeFleuris gave off in that while in LeFleuris’ eyes he felt like he was an adorable pet to be played with and probably dissected in the basement while no one was watching, to Amelano he was likely little more than a speck of dust in the wind. He wasn’t sure which way he preferred to be looked at.

At his side was a brunette woman dressed elegantly and poised more perfectly than a statue. Her eyes were lightly freckled and her eyes were narrow, focused and intense. The only oddity in particular about her he could see at a glance was the fact that she had a pair of prominent antlers perched on her head. They only served to enhance her grace, twisting and curling in precisely the right places. All he had learned about her, Venith Tobette, was that she was great with interior design.

Flann was sitting next to her, and promptly smiled and waved at Orange. She didn’t seem to hold any hard feelings against him for earlier, not that she had shown any signs of doing so since she had returned to normal. Leaning on her shoulder was a black-haired girl with dice in her hair and wide, black eyes that showed off her multiple pupils. Orange thought she might be Septicemia, but his course had described her as being “completely batshit crazy”; she seemed perfectly calm and normal right now, but he supposed that didn’t mean much considering the company. If Flann could transform into a hideous beast whenever she got angry, he didn’t want to know what Septicemia could do.

Loligo was next, staring at Orange impatiently as though she had been waiting her entire life for these doughnuts. Maybe she was. For all Orange knew, these were some strange fate-changing doughnuts that many a war had been waged over. Thousands could have fallen for the sake of these doughnuts, and here he was glancing around the room like they were little more than convenience store doughnuts. Or maybe she was just really hungry.

Beside her was a man dressed up like a character out of a superhero tokusatsu series. His outfit was predominately gray, featuring a very shiny helmet and a long, flowing scarf. Due to the area of coverage his helmet had, all Orange could really see of him was the huge grin on his face. His full title was The Hero, Chiro Shiroiro; he was a famous superhero from another dimension who somehow wound up joining up with the greatest villain ever known (though Orange found the word “villain” to be very subjective). Orange had been surprised to see him in particular: Chiro was the star of a popular Saturday morning cartoon back on Terre even before Hadris arrived. He wondered if it was a bizarre coincidence or if there was something more to it. Given his experiences thus far, Orange was sure he’d be able to talk to him about it someday.

Next to Chiro was a woman- well, no that wasn’t quite right. She resembled a bee or wasp (Orange liked neither and made an effort to avoid them) more than she did a woman, but she was unmistakably humanoid. Her name was Mariellu, and Orange had been informed that she didn’t have much of a sense of humor. This didn’t come as much of a surprise to him; maybe it was wrong to make assumptions so quickly, but he couldn’t imagine an insect person cracking jokes or even laughing.

LeFleuris occupied the final seat, looking incredibly amused to see him here. Suddenly feeling time slow down, Orange placed the box of doughnuts on the table and adjusted his tie, trying to keep his focus on Merah.

“Oh, you’re just in time! Thank you very much!” Merah thanked. “If I had gone to get them myself, I’d probably still be 10 minutes away!”

Orange took a brief moment to glance at the floor before resuming eye contact. Merah’s legs just sort of melted into a puddle on the floor. He couldn’t imagine he could move very quickly like that.

“You’re welcome! Anything to help out! That’s my job. And it’s really an honor to meet you all!” He answered with a smile, suddenly feeling like he was in another imagined smile-off.

“So, hey, what’s the deal here?” Aedi asked with a twinge of anxiety, taking some time to look around the room herself. “If all of you are in one place then that can’t possibly good news, right? Like, we’re waging war on someone or something…”

“Nah, that’s not true.” Loligo replied, a doughnut around nearly every finger. “We meet up pretty much every day to talk about junk and shit. No biggie.”

Valence, not even taking her eyes off of Orange and Aedi for a second to look at the precious doughnuts, appeared irritated by Loligo’s response.

“The matters we attend to here are classified. We appreciate your help, but I must ask you kindly to leave at this time.” She ordered sternly.

“Is it really that classified?” LeFleuris spoke up, twirling his hair around his fingers. “I doubt Hadris would frown upon some simple small talk before his arrival, especially since the subject matter is probably nothing special.”

“That does not matter.” Valence asserted. “We could be having a picnic and it would still be classified information. Making our meetings public spectacles is a hazard to security.”

“Calm your tits, Grandma.” Lausac said as he grabbed more doughnuts than he could possibly need. “Drew’s not even here yet. You’re just making yourself look bad.”

“Rules are made to be followed whether the upholder of them is present or not.” She frowned, grabbing Lausac’s arm as he reached for another doughnut.

“You’re not very fun, y’know.” Septicemia said before suddenly bursting into tears. “It must be so hard for you! You poor thing!”

Having reached a new level of discomfort, Orange opened his frozen smile in hopes of ending the bickering. “My sincerest apologies, miss! We’ll leave right away!”

“Y-Yeah! We didn’t mean to start any trouble or anything like that! Just delivering doughnuts and stuff.” Aedi added on.

“Oh, I see! Well, thanks again! I’ll definitely call you more often!” Merah promised, his cheerfulness almost enough to lighten the mood.

Almost, because just as the two turned to leave, Hadris burst through the door.

“Good afternoon, everyone!” greeted the overlord before noticing the two definitely-not-Representatives in front of him.

“Unexpected visitors! How lovely!” he said without a hint of sarcasm as he dropped his hands on their shoulders. “What might the two of you be doing here?”

Though the overlord’s voice was absent of maliciousness and he wasn’t really in the midst of doing anything he could get in trouble for, Orange’s heart stopped. He felt incredibly guilty for reasons he couldn’t grasp.

“Doughnuts.” He managed to spit out. “We were just picking up some doughnuts.”

“And they did a great job!” Merah assured him with a thumbs up.

“Yeah, too bad these jerks have already eaten most of them, though…” Flann mumbled, glaring at Loligo and Lausac.

“Fuckin’ punks. Bet you think you’re better than me, huh?” Septicemia growled. “’Cause you are, yes you are~! You guys are awesome! I love you all!”

Orange was beginning to understand why Septicemia had been labeled as “batshit crazy”.

“Ah, I see! Good to see you’re adjusting to the job nicely!” Hadris congratulated warmly. “Why don’t the two of you join us?”

Valence nearly jumped out of her seat, more surprised than Orange and Aedi combined. “Sir, we cannot allow random interns to-“

“Ahh, Valence.” Hadris interrupted her, waggling his finger. “I appreciate your concern, but it’s not like we’ve never allowed others to sit in on our meetings before! Nothing top secret going on today, anyway. In fact, we could probably use their help!”

“Really?!” Aedi beamed, clapping her hands together. Orange glanced over at her, noting that her gaze was firmly locked on the box and its decreasing number of doughnuts. Honestly, Orange really wanted one himself. He felt as though it was his duty.

Valence’s face fell. “Sir, that’s…”

She hardened herself again, fingers pinched on the bridge of her nose. “Seldom have I been able to change your mind about such matters in the past. I doubt that will change today. If you’re sure no harm will come of them staying, I have no choice but to trust you.”

Orange swallowed hard. He understood where she was coming from and was surprised no one else seemed to. Now he felt even more out-of-place, ready to turn around and leave (doughnutless) the second anyone uttered the word “please”. Hell, he would have left even if someone rudely screamed it at him. Aedi, meanwhile, looked entirely oblivious to Valence’s distress.

“Whoa! I can’t believe this is really happening!” she squealed. “Thanks, Mr. Overlord, sir!”

“Don’t even think about it! Now, let’s get down to business already!”

Hadris snapped, causing two more chairs to rise out of the floor between Loligo and Chiro, almost straight across from Valence. Aedi sat down next to Loligo and grabbed one of the few remaining doughnuts like her life depended on it, leaving Orange to sit next to Chiro. As soon as he did, the gray-colored superhero held out his hand.

“Truly a pleasure to meet you, homeslice!” he greeted. Not quite expecting a “homeslice” to be thrown at the end of that sentence, Orange blinked before shaking his hand. Though he didn’t have any sensation in his arms, he could tell that Chiro’s handshake was a bit overly enthusiastic.

“Nice to meet you, too.” Orange returned, directing his attention back toward Hadris as he sat in the unoccupied, only mildly fancier seat between LeFleuris and Valence.

“First and foremost, good morning, everyone!” he began.

“It’s 3:06 PM, you dumbass.” Loligo spoke up without even looking at a clock. Orange took a peek at his watch, confirming that she was right on the dot. Realizing he had never checked what time it had been when he got out of the hospital, he tried to form a timeline in his head. If Lausac had woken him up at 6:00 in the morning, he probably hadn’t gotten to the hospital until at least 7:00, maybe 7:30. Checking the time had been the least of his concerns. He had gotten Merah’s call half an hour before now, and his date (on the calendar) with Aedi had lasted about an hour. So operating under the assumption that he had underestimated how long he had been with Lausac and Flann, he had been at the hospital from approximately 7:30 until 1:30. He had waited in that room for around half an hour and had been asked to stay for an hour afterward to make sure nothing was imminently wrong – which was fine because that was when he was speaking to LeFleuris, anyway. That meant that he had been unconscious from 8:00 until 1:00, making for five hours of unaccounted time. Given the technology and magic involved, it couldn’t have taken them that long, could it have? Was he overestimating things again? It was certainly possible, but that gap just didn’t sit right with him.

Orange snapped back to reality as Hadris shrugged, not bothered at all by the way Loligo spoke to him. More likely than not this was an everyday event. “That’s morning somewhere, right? That’s also not important!”

Hadris snapped his fingers again, shutting off the lights and bringing the hologram projector in the center of the table to life. . The image of an unfamiliar planet appeared, which Orange found too difficult to focus on given the company. To keep his eyes from wandering around the room, trying to get a sense of what the Representatives were like, was a herculean task.

“What is important is Scarambo! As you know – well, not Orange and Aedi, I suppose – the whole scouting thing isn’t going so well. The research center there went offline recently, and a cursory investigation hasn’t given us any good news. So, naturally, I’d like to send a few of you over to check things out!”

“Ooh, ooh, pick me!” Septicemia called out, rocketing out of her seat.

“Nope!” Hadris shot her down quickly. “I’ve already got things all planned out!”

Septicemia’s face turned red and downcast as she slumped into her sleep. “Haha, yeah, well… not like I wanted to go on your dumb mission anyway, s-stupid…”

“Don’t worry, kid. I’ll let you go on the next one. But given the circumstances I’m sending LeFleuris, Mariellu, Loligo, and Venith. Pretty jungle-y kind of place, so it’s a pretty good combo, right?”

Orange looked at the four Representatives mentioned. None of them were particularly expressive about their assignment aside from a twinge of suspicion here or there.

“Sounds good to me. ‘Long as I get to punch something.” Loligo shrugged, finishing off a doughnut.

“I also have no qualms with the task. It would be my honor.” Mariellu spoke.

“Nor do I, but…” Venith delicately placed a finger on her lip, thinking. “Is it not a bit strange to send four of us at once for a single mission, especially one of this level?”

“I was about to ask the same thing.” LeFleuris agreed. “I suppose Scarambo isn’t the safest place, but it certainly doesn’t warrant sending all four of us, especially since it’s just an investigation. Unless you aren’t sending an investigation team with us or there’s something more to it, it seems a bit like overkill.”

“A little of both.” Hadris admitted. “You see, your ‘investigation team’ will be those two!”

The overlord pointed at Orange and Aedi, prompting everyone in the room to turn and stare at them. They both jumped. Was that what he meant when he said that they could use their help? Orange didn’t think he’d be particularly helpful in some sort of investigation on an evidently hazardous planet. Maybe as bait for a monster or something like that, but he was really hoping he never got an assignment like that.

“Interns?” LeFleuris laughed, sending a chill up Orange’s spine. “You’re sending so many of us on a simple mission because you’d like us to take interns? My goodness, what are you up to?”

“Yes, what are your intentions?” Valence asked, even more skeptical than earlier. Orange looked at Hadris confusedly as the others did, eager to get an answer that hopefully didn’t involve bodily harm.

“Well, they’re right there, aren’t they? So, why not? It’ll be fun! Nothing like co-workers bonding over some potentially life-threatening investigating, right?”

“Hooray!” Merah cheered.

“Also, most of the investigation team is busy with…” Hadris looked over at Valence, “Something else. But this is really a pretty standard, open-and-shut deal as far as I’m aware, so why not take the opportunity to give some fresh blood some experience?”

“Guess that’s not the weirdest reasoning you’ve ever given for something.” Flann shrugged.

“Yeah, Flannie’s right. I went on one of these kinds of things when I first got here, too.” Lausac added.

“Don’t call me that…” Flann mumbled under her breath.

“Y-You really think we’re cut out for something like this?” Aedi asked nervously. “Like… I don’t have any cool powers or weapons or anything, and neither does Orange probably, so what if we, like, died or something?”

“That’s why I’m sending four people!” Hadris answered. “You really think someone of their rank would fail to protect two people on an easy mission? Well, maybe if you made them mad…”

Orange didn’t bother to check their expressions again. “I think we’ll try and avoid that…”

“Wonderful! Then it’s official! We’re having some issues with transportation, so you won’t be leaving for another two days, so don’t go making any plans. And that’s all I’ve got!”

Once again Hadris snapped, turning the lights back on and the hologram projector off. Orange’s face was once again frozen as his brain tried to register what just happened. He looked over at Aedi, who was wearing a similar expression. She probably hadn’t woken up this morning thinking she was going to sign up for some sort of wacky and potentially dangerous adventure with a bunch of people of a higher rank, either. Orange wasn’t sure what he had been expecting when he woke up this morning anymore, but it sure didn’t match up to the day he had had so far.

“…Well, that’s not entirely true. We’ve got another thing or two to discuss, but I’m afraid I have to ask our guests to leave before then! Hope that’s not too big a deal.” He concluded, making it sound as though Orange and Aedi had any sort of authority over him.

“No, that’s not a problem at all! It was an honor to be before any of you at all, really! We wouldn’t want to intrude on anything we’re not supposed to.” Orange replied, standing up.

“Yeah, it was really cool and stuff!” Aedi added on very professionally.

“Aww, you’re gonna make me blush!” Septicemia giggled, her hands on her face.

“You’re flattering me! But, really, feel free to drop in around here whenever you’d like. I don’t think a lot of people know this, but we’re pretty welcoming and don’t bite that often! Don’t be a stranger, hm?”

Snapping one more time, the doors opened behind them.

“Besides right now, I mean. But I’ll buzz you with the details of the mission soon, hm?”

“Of course! Thank you very much for having us!” Orange beamed as he bowed and exited, Aedi following suit. The doors slammed shut and a pair of guards who hadn’t been there when they first arrived quickly escorted them further down the hall, away from any point they could plausibly eavesdrop from.

Aedi rubbed the back of her neck. “Soo… that was pretty wacky, huh?”

“Yeah… can’t say I was really expecting that.” Orange nodded. Not that he had been expecting anything that had happened today.

After standing in an awkward silence for a while, Aedi spoke up again.

“Um, well, I should probably get going! Got important stuff and things to do.” She said, looking a bit distressed. Orange wanted to ask if she was okay, wondering if she was a little shaken from the idea of the mission as he was, but he got the feeling she didn’t want him to press the matter any further.

“Right, right, same here. But I’ll probably see you around tomorrow, right? And if not, then the next day for sure.”

“Yeah, definitely! So… see you later!” she smiled before running off again.

Orange walked back to his apartment, almost hesitantly. He wasn’t quite sure how much more craziness he could handle on this first day, but he had to admit he kind of liked it.