So it is done

One

Neo loved her life.

She knew that after her schooling she would go to the Hunter Academy. Unlike many others who wondered what they should do in their adult lives, Neo was absolutely certain that she would become a Hunter. Though, she then would have to go into the army... still, as a matter of fact, why not? It might actually be fun!

She also liked that she didn't have to worry about money. The clothes that came in her sights? A restaurant visit for all her friends? A nighttime limo ride? Not a problem!

Except there might have been a concern with the latter if Jonathan had found out that she had gone to Trifa's house that night... But Pink had kept quiet! And Jonathan himself had stayed at work longer that day, so, all in all, it had ended positively.

All in all, Neo's life was good, both in general over the years, and in particular at the moment.

And at the moment, Neo was lying on Trifa's bed, lazily looking at the magazine in front of her. It was the very picture of a bored high school girl, with just one detail wrong.

"Neo," Trifa's voice distracted her from the magazine's contents, "I know you're weird, but tell me one thing. Why are you reading a weight lifting magazine?:

Neo didn't even dignify that silly question with a response, as far as she could respond with silence, just rolling her eyes. Now, would she tell Trifa about the fact that you wouldn't find figures like these hunks in any of those young adult magazines!

Trifa, after waiting a few more seconds and getting no answer, just rolled her eyes, "Look, couldn't you just buy them yourself? Or ask Cinder, or His Maj..."

After these words, and Neo's raised eyebrow, Trifa hesitated before continuing. "Jonathan."

When everyone around him calls him by his title, it can be difficult to change one's way to address him, even if he was the one to ask. Especially when he asks to be called that!

Neo still occasionally remembered how Trifa used to blush and then immediately turn pale when she first met Jonathan! Though the latter only happens when Jonathan was with Cinder.

"So, what do you think?" Trifa's voice reminded Neo that she had asked her a question, but Neo was too lazy to remember what she had asked. So, she just waved her hand in the air, hoping that the other person would interpret the gesture somehow to her liking.

"You just missed my question, didn't you?" Unfortunately for Neo, Trifa knew her friend's tricks. Neo replied by waving her hand in the air once more, not meaning anything in particular.

"I see," Trifa sighed, giving up on getting an answer to her question, "Do you want some pizza? We've got a couple more slices left, and I'm too lazy to put them in the fridge..."

Neo thought hard about that suggestion before she nodded. Trifa was about to respond to the gesture before she stopped when she heard the sound of the doorbell ring, "Hmm? Father was supposed to come home later..."

Neo tensed for a second, Mr. Neurath, Trifa's father, was certainly timid in front of her father, as a career soldier should be, but he was still a strict man, also as a career soldier should be. And Neo or Trifa hadn't exactly told him about Neo's unscheduled visits...

Besides, the magazine she'd taken earlier belonged to Mr. Neurath's own hobbies. Weightlifting, that is, not half-naked, oiled muscular men.

And Neo wasn't quite sure how he would react to her own actions toward his belongings.

So Neo, upon hearing these words, rushed urgently across the room, then the hallway, and into Mr. Neurath's office to put the magazine back where she had found it. And then to the leftover pizza and especially the box, trying to think of where to hide the large and unwieldy box. All this was done, of course, while Trifa approached the front door very slowly, giving Neo as much time as possible to conceal the evidence.