It was a mostly normal and rather boring day, that much was certain. Absolutely nothing interesting had happened. For most people, this would not be a concern. For a certain ex-teacher, however, it was a rather worrying concept. His days were not this peaceful. Most of the time, anyway. Still, he decided he might as well enjoy it while it lasted. Everyone knew that.
Chachamaru shared his sentiments. He'd sent her home earlier, told her that she was free to do as she pleased, because they both knew that Haru would not be tired when he got home. Sometimes, he wondered when his robotic partner had decided that the line between secretary and servant had blurred to this point. Regardless, he didn't dwell on it for long. She had found happiness, and, to an extent, so had he. He found his happiness in hers. The guilt that sometimes gnawed at the back of his mind was never present during those times.
Call him weak. He knew he was. He didn't care. Neither did the source of his weakness and strength, apparently.
Still, he looked at a picture framed and hanging against the wall of his office. Her face was as youthful, filled with energy and joy, as he remembered it being. She had truly been one of a kind. So much time had passed, yet so little. His eyes dwelt perhaps a second too long, and a smile drew itself on his face. He imagined the scolding she'd give him about it.
She'd probably call him a dumbass, tell him to stop worrying, man up and go through life with a smile. And to an extent, he did. He faced his days with a smile, and with his friends by his side. She'd approve of that, because he remembered her being angry when he tried to do everything on his own. He tried to suppress the voice that told him he still had the tendency to at least try, but hey, at least he recognized when he was overwhelmed these days. The fact that he'd practically begged Chachamaru to continue her job as his assistant after giving her just two days off proved it.
He couldn't say he was unused to paperwork. As a teacher, paperwork was plentiful. The problem was that no warnings were given that managing the International Solar System Development Agency would be such a hell of it. These days, he was glad for Evangeline's resort being available. Otherwise, he might have become a slouch. Kotaro had been dangerously close to kicking his ass the last time they'd gone at it, to the point that Haru had to use every ounce of his speed to win. Being forced to depend on the Perpetual Lightning Form to win that fight had been kind of humiliating.
Up until the moment that Kotaro pointed out that not only had he actually created the technique, it was only that and it was as such fair to use in a fight. Kotaro always had a way to punch his funk away. Most times, anyway.
Those that he couldn't punch away... Wounds that had never quite scarred, that continued bleeding to this day... those couldn't quite be ignored.
Still, he couldn't remain dwelling in the past for too long. Chachamaru certainly expected him at home soon, in any case. He ignored his cellphone ringing. If it were anything important, he'd be contacted through telepathy anyway. It was probably something that would require his attention soon, in either case. However, he had to admit that he was bored and didn't exactly want to deal with whatever it was at the moment.
Another teaching that had needed to be punched into that thick skull he called his. Rest is important. No matter how indestructible you might be, if you go insane due to stress, you'll only make everyone's lives that much harder. So he closed the drawer that was open, absent mindedly locked it, poked it to activate the magical security measures, and stood up to leave.
He hadn't quite expected the green portal where his door had once been. He blinked. He didn't know what it was. Regardless, he knew very few ways to get through his office's security, and most of these were only possible because of the sheer, raw power he possessed. Others involved his ministrae's artifacts. One in particular, came to mind, one that had been impressively useful in his quest to create the ISSDA in the first place. Ayaka had been a very useful, her artifact allowing her to bypass any and all security measures and meet with whoever she wanted to meet, regardless of prior appointments or circumstances.
Even if the person didn't wish to respond to the message, after a while it would simply force you to. The Artifact induced a Geass in the target. He didn't know what effect it had on magically potent beings, but since he had all of the magically potent rulers on his side to begin with (since the survival of the Magic World was in their best interests), they'd never had to use it. Although it was the first time he was on the receiving end.
He was a magically potent being. He wasn't certain if it'd work the same way on him. Regardless, he didn't think things through too many times. Or any, at all. If Ayaka was using her artifact to meet with him, it had to be damned important.
Only when it sucked him in did he hear that little voice that sounded like Evangeline calling him an idiot. It even called him Boya, despite Evangeline only using that when she was playfully berating him instead of genuinely doing so. And oddly enough, Rakan's voice congratulating him on learning the ways of the idiot and wandering into something without thinking it forty six times over. But by then, he was pretty damn busy following the light in the darkness...
Surprisingly, perhaps most of all to myself, he could not hear the narrator and the writer discussing whether or not this was an appropriate enough start for the story.