Twisted Tonelico

Phase 04-Book 02: Dius Deggeez Bister elle Heath Dor (pt. 3)

Previously: Together they get up from the bench and head towards the light. With every step, some of the woes and Noise that flooded her mind faded away. Though they knew it was only going to be that way for a short time.

Ace and Meryu look back to Mirg who floated at the base of the platform. "See ya later, furball."

"Good riddance to you, too!" That got a small laugh out of the Reyvateil before the couple vanished into the light.

~Twisted Tonelico~

"100%" Baby!! Woooohooo!!"

"Well done, Trappola." Marmalade applauded him. They were quite impressed with the tag team efforts of Trappola and Spade. In their former line of work, two people tackling the same Reyvateil was unfounded and usually led to them and said Mage not being on the same playing field of Growth. Hence why one Guardian per Reyavteil was the better option for those in single pairs. They brought less confusion and more balance to Diving Procedures. Granted, there were cases where one Guardian would apparently have a harem of Reyvateil(words from their mother and father, not them), and those were...a doozy to put it delicately.

That aside, seeing and having data of her inner potential awakened made them tear up a little. Taking a deep breath to ease their excited nerves, Marmalade went to check up on the now conscious girl. "How do you feel, Melenas?"

"I feel a bit different. In a good way." She answered honestly. "It's a little nerve wracking, to tell you the truth."

"Really?"

"Mmm. No one's ever dived into me back home, not even my-" Best Friend. "- trusted Knight."

The sound of a record scratch made Adeuce and Grim turn their heads to her so fast, she swore they broke their necks. "KNIGHT?!"

"DID YOU JUST SAY 'KNIGHT'?!"

Meryu looked at them owlishly. "Yes. Why are you so surprised?"

"You said you were the kid of an ambassador!"

"Administrator."

"Same thing!"

"No it's not."

"ANYWAY!! And now you said you had a Knight?!"

"Why does that surprise you three more than my magic?!"

"Cause you never mentioned anything about Knights! You're practically royalty!!"

"AHEM!" Marmalade loudly cleared their throat, ending the screaming match. "You boys done acting surprised?"

"Y-yes doctor..."

"Good." They placed their hands on their hips once Meryu had gotten out of her Dive Pod. Heavy, mechanical footsteps alerted them of Gamma finally arriving back to the RTG. And it appears he brought the spoils they were waiting on.

As soon as he was near the others, he showcased the box and sung a victory jingle. "Dadada dada dadadadaaa~~~!"

Ace and Deuce looked at the amount of Magestones. "Wow! That's a lot, Gamma-sensei!" Spade exclaimed.

"Yeah! You weren't kidding when you mentioned you'd get them from the Mines!" Ace added.

Puffing his chest out, Gamma added onto his ego. "No Stone can hide from my Geode Sensor! Ha ha ha!"

Meryu clapped enthusiastically. "I'm so happy! This means we're one step closer to forging a Hymn Crystal!"

Grim chimed with a "Me neither!" as well.

There was however one question that sort of nagged the Heartslabyul boys. "By the way, Doctor, how exactly is Meryu-san supposed to learn the song from the Crystal?"

"A Download."

"Download..."

"I'm starting to think Meryu-san is being treated more like a robot..."

The girl in question was wondering if she should tell them she technically could be considered one. But, she didn't wanna traumatize her friends nor give another reason to lose their voices so she decided not to.

"However, this download process is different than what you'd think one would be from, say, your smartphones."

"What's the difference?"

~Night Raven: Main Hall~

After the successful completion of Meryu's Diving Protocol, the group was free to head to lunch and their last classes for the day. Grim and Ace were bickering about who deserves to handle the Download while Deuce walked beside Meryu.

Both of them were nervous about the Procedure, but for different reasons. Meryu was nervous since it meant that she would essentially have something that could benefit the school for however long she remains there, whereas Deuce was nervous because he wondered if the procedure would be the same as that night's. The bluenette secretly hoped it wasn't was so if he were picked to do it, he already knows to be gentle with her.

"Mr. Deuce."

"O-oh? Uh, yes Meryu-san?"

"Are you ok? What Dr. Marmalade said, it didn't confuse you, did it?"

"No, it didn't. I'm more surprised by how, ya know," he gestured with his hand. "You didn't seem all that nervous."

She could only laugh at his honesty. "Contrary to how serious I looked back there, I'm actually kind of nervous." She blushed.

Their thoughts and conversations continued on their way closer to the Mess Hall, and getting in line to get their meals, with Grim being the loudest as always. Despite being careful to avoid bumping into some students, Meryu accidentally bumped into one. "Oh. I'm sor-" But the person was gone before she could apologize, they were gone in a hurry. They seemed to be in such a rush. Wonder why?

"Anyway, I say I should be the one to do it!"

"Pfft. Yeah right, Grim. with your nubby little hands, you'll break it before we even start!"

"Oh yeah! Well, uh," Grim tried to come up with a rebuttal. "You keep taking all the fun stuff!"

Ace was offended. "I do not!"

Deuce shook his head before turning his eyes to see Meryu sharing the same disappointed expression as him. From his peripheral he noticed something...different about her uniform. "Ne, Meryu-san?"

"Hmm?"

"You wore your broach today, right?"

"Yes, I did. Why-" That got her to touch her necktie, where she had it clipped all day. "Huh? It's gone!"

The panic in her voice halted the duo's bickering. "Huh? What's gone?"

"My Magestone! It's gone!"

"EH?!"

~Meanwhile, Outside the Mess Hall:~

"Shishishi. That was too easy." A sinister Ruggie said away from the Mess Hall, leaning on the hallway walls. In his hands, he held Meryu's Magestone Broach. Tossing it up a few times as if it were a ball. "Selling this baby would be more fun. Then again, that would muck up some things."

He looked at the powdery pink gem shimmering in the afternoon light. "Better get moving to the next step for Plan B."

~Phase 04-Book 02: Dius Deggeez Bister elle Heath Dor-Tes Biron~