Chapter One hundred sixty-five – <⊐⊐⊐≺ (\_/) <⊐⊐⊐≺

At lunch, Professor Beeswick called a pause to the interviews, and explained that he remembered each of the students he’d called as having become seriously ill at some point during their time at Falconet.

“It seems reasonable to speak to as many as possible, not only to throw off anyone paying attention to who has been called in, but also to make sure we don’t miss anything.”

Augustus nodded. “An excellent point. You have the attendance records for all three schools, I assume?”

The librarian offered a small smile, raising the book he was holding. “Of course. I’ll call up a few more students from Kestrel and Falconet after lunch.”

Pandy looked from one to the other. They didn’t really need her for this, and she really wanted to check back in with Thaniel. She missed him, and she knew he would be missing her. This time she remembered to hop down off the table before changing back to Ms. Wellington, and gave them an awkward smile as she popped up between the two men. Yes, so, off the table was good, but maybe remember she also needed to move out of other people’s personal space, too. Yep.

Edging away around the table, Pandy said, “I’m going to lunch. Um, are you…?” She looked from one to the other, but both men shook their heads.

“I’m going to put together a list of students and a schedule,” Professor Beeswick said, his attention already focused on his book.

Augustus sighed deeply. “And Mistress Rose insists that I avoid the general populace for at least a few days, in case any symptoms recur. She doesn’t trust my speedy recovery, especially after my, ah, rather dramatic statements upon my return.”

Oh, yes, that made complete sense. Honestly, Pandy was surprised the doctor had allowed Augustus out of his rooms, much less around students. He must have called on some higher authority, which would definitely have irritated the already irritable healer. She was actually glad she’d been able to flee the scene without dealing with the other woman, though she did feel the tiniest twinge of guilt at abandoning Augustus to her.

Pandy nodded and headed for the door, but paused with her hand on the knob. “That reminds me, though…what will you do with my things?”

The corners of Augustus’s eyes crinkled. “I wondered when you’d get to that. For now, I’ve told everyone that you – Ms. Wellington – has ‘decided to look elsewhere for a position’. That means your rooms will be kept as is until it’s time to forward the contents to you. And somehow in all of the chaos, I forgot to change the locks, so you should still be able to enter and exit as you please.”

Pandy felt her shoulders slump in relief. She was really, really looking forward to wearing all of her pretty new clothes, but they definitely wouldn’t fit under Thaniel’s bed or in her inventory. Though it was about time to try to improve that situation, especially now that Keros had nerfed her bag-in-a-bag cheat.

With a nod, Pandy twisted the handle, opening the door even as she thought, <Cancel Shifting Faces.> Everything grew up as she dropped down, but before she could hop out into the hall, a gray blur flashed past her. Miss Cupcakes didn’t even spare Pandy a backwards glance as she vanished around the corner, heading for the murmur of voices and footsteps that would be the dining hall.

Lunch was some kind of fish with a cream sauce, and Pandy was happy enough with her salad for once. She hadn’t had many opportunities to try fish that wasn’t out of a can or fried, so seeing blank, piscean eyes staring at her from the serving platters wasn’t exactly appetizing.

Thaniel seemed to be about as enthusiastic about his meal as Pandy would have been, but everyone else ate it readily enough. Geraldine and Eleanor used cute little forks to pick at it, while Isidor and Abbington just ate with looks of grim determination on their faces. Even Miss Cupcakes got her own serving of fish, though hers came without the rich cream sauce the children were offered. Was that why the kitten had been so enthusiastic about getting to lunch? Had she smelled a feline feast from the library?

Pandy laid her head on her paws as she watched the bottom halves of the children and listened to their chatter. Their class had chosen a theme for the festival, and while Pandy couldn’t tell exactly what it was, she definitely heard something about costumes and…potatoes? Why potatoes?

Overhead, someone burped, and all of the children cracked up. Thaniel curled forward, cackling, and must have landed right in his plate, because he reared back again, sauce running down his shirt. Snatching his napkin from his lap, he rubbed at the thick white sauce, fighting a futile battle against the stain that was already settling in. As he scrubbed, his hand flinched away from the center left of his chest, and the damp white cloth clung momentarily to the small stone embedded in his flesh.

Pandy sat up, watching as he tugged his jacket closed, securing the buttons across the stain and the telltale dark spot. No one who didn’t already know the heartstone existed would have thought twice about it, and Thaniel obviously didn’t even really think about it. He’d been hiding the stone for so long now that it was only natural to do so.

<Kappa?> Pandy asked. He didn’t answer, and Pandy considered letting it be. Usually, she waited until he spoke to her, but there was a question that had been bothering her for a while now, and she knew she’d forget it again if she let the moment pass. <Kappa!>

WHAT?

Can’t a god get a little privacy?

Pandy rolled her eyes. It probably wasn’t the best idea, given that he was still a god, but Keros felt more and more like a particularly irritating friend who was living in her head rent-free. <Are you doing pushups or chugging peanut-butter protein shakes?>

I do other things.

I’m…reading.

<Reading?> Pandy asked, ears perking up. <What are you reading? Programming books?>

Um, yeah.

Programming.

So, what do you want?

He was absolutely lying, and Pandy really wanted to press further, but at least for now she had more important things to talk about. <You know about Thaniel’s heartstone, right?>

Yes.

He’s truly one of the most fortunate and unfortunate children I have ever known.

Some of my fellow gods would find him very interesting.

Pandy’s fur puffed up. <Well, don’t tell them about him!>

I wasn’t going to.

As if I even could.

My Club Card has been revoked.

I can’t even order on Ambrosia Prime without it.

I’m down to my last box of ThunderThicc!

She rubbed a paw across her eyes. Somehow, every time she talked to Keros, she ended up with a headache. <Kappa?>

What?

<The heartstone. I was wondering if you have any idea what it might be, or if there’s a way to remove it without hurting Thaniel. There’s something about it that’s really bothering me. More than the obvious, I mean. Like…I’m missing something.> Pandy said, wishing she could explain better.

Well, I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but…I think you’re right.

There’s this huge, gaping plot hole in Gacha Love.

How does Killian-

<Corrupt his magic! Yes!> Pandy almost shouted. <We know he had Light magic, because he got his revelation here at Falconet, and it was clearly Light. Everyone has some anecdote about him using magic to heal them, or do something Light-related.>

But then he’s just suddenly Dark.

And that’s not how magic works!

But everyone talks about how, right after Thaniel’s death, Killian changed.

<Which makes sense, because that’s Killian’s turning point. Everybody agrees he was never exactly outgoing, but after that he just retreated into himself. But what does that have to do with the heartstone?> Pandy asked.

Think about it.

Thaniel had the heartstone for two years before he died.

This world and the game aren’t the same, but they also are.

To an almost suspicious extent.

My magic is supposed to be making your experience of this world match with your knowledge of Gacha Love, but outside of the gacha button and a few, mostly minor instances, it has had nothing to do.

<What happened to, ‘in an infinite universe, anything is possible’?> Pandy asked. The resultant pause was long enough for dessert to be served. The scent of rich chocolate cake reached Pandy’s nose, and she hopped forward a step, hoping Thaniel might realize that Bunny also deserved cake. When the answer did come, Pandy jumped, bopping her nose on Thaniel’s shin so he jumped in turn, dropping a bite of fluffy, rich goodness onto the floor by his feet. Win!

I may have exaggerated a little.

The universe is probably infinite.

But infinity is really, really big, and I’m just a Transitional God.

I was really only searching for ‘close enough’.

That’s why I left my magic in place to keep things like Gacha Love, at least until the end of the game, but I’ve barely had to do anything.

My point is, if there’s a heartstone here, there was probably a heartstone in the game.

And what would you do if you discovered a polished stone, like someone might wear in a necklace or on a pin, on the body of a child who died in a horrific accident?

You can’t return the body to the family, but-

<You can return the stone,> Pandy whispered, cake crumbs falling unheeded from her lips. <It was obviously something the child valued, for them to be carrying it around. So you pack it up and ship it to the next of kin. Lian.>

Exactly.

<You think the heartstone is what corrupted Killian,> Pandy said, working it through in her mind. <But how?>

You know how he is.

Imagine Lian receiving this mysterious stone with his brother’s things.

Would he just ignore it?

Especially if his Light magic told him there was something strange about it?

<No way.> Pandy shook her head, absently taking another bite of cake. <But this is a lot of ‘ifs’, Kappa.> This time, she managed to devour the rest of the small chunk of chocolate decadence before Keros answered, and even his font seemed reluctant.

Yes.

But you know, there really isn’t a lot for me to do while I’m waiting.

I was bored.

So I decided to do some research.

Research!

Pandy frowned, eyeing a few crumbs that had broken free from the largest part of the fallen feast. Was it worth it to- Something clicked in her brain, and her head jerked up. <You’ve been playing Gacha Love! That’s how you know what Edgar and the others say about Killian! Wait. Who did you pick on your first playthrough? Edgar? No!> Her jaw clenched. She knew. Before he said anything, she knew.

Dorian, of course.

Kaden is good, too.

And Bastian.

I’m leaving Edgar for last.

Do you know you have to read books in order for him to like you?

Yes, Pandy did know that. She knew that because she had played Edgar’s route at least a dozen times. The hard part was on one of her few, reluctant forays down Dorian’s path, when she couldn’t read books because he didn’t like them. Only one of many reasons not to-

No, focus. Focus. Fangirl with the god about the best game in the universe later. <You found something that backs up your theory.>

I did.

I’m going to try to show you.

I’m not sure how it will work.

Your interface is set up for text, not images, so I have to…

The crumbs of cake faded as letters filled her vision. Thousands of them, row after row, coming so fast that for a moment they were all she could see. And somehow, they formed a picture. <What is that?>

ASCII art.

Legit, right?

You just use plain-text characters, but arrange them so they make a picture.

And what a picture it was. There was no color, but Pandy’s mind filled that in easily enough, because this was a scene that appeared on every path in Gacha Love. There was Killian, standing in front of the rising form of Ascyra, the demon queen. She was surrounded by a rippling corona of darkness that made it difficult to make out any details about her, but Killian was stark in front of the mass of writhing magic.

<That’s amazing,> Pandy told Keros, genuinely admiring. <But why am I looking at it?> The picture faded as more words appeared, definitely frustrated this time.

Look around his neck!

Again, the image formed, and this time Pandy focused less on the way that image was formed, and more on what the image revealed. Killian was no longer wearing his school uniform. Instead, he had on a kind of classic ‘villain’ armor: gleaming black metal with a flowing cape. And there, where his cape came together at the base of his throat, was a black stone, barely visible among all the other black surrounding it. It was small, probably no more than an inch in diameter, a smooth oval of darkness made of backslashes, periods, and semi-colons.

<Thaniel’s heartstone,> Pandy whispered.

Thaniel’s heartstone.