Two weeks went by.
During that time, it was just a loop of doing the same things.
Go to school, train and try to look for Cocolia.
Bronya was very helpful with the third objective due to her hacking skills. She did some wonky coordinates tracking that led us to attack the places that she found.
Unfortunately, it seemed like those were all bases that the crazy woman had abandoned as we basically found nobody there when we arrived.
Other than that? I couldn't think of anything too interesting that happened-
Hmm…
Thinking about it again…
There actually was something.
—---------------------------------
"Hey Gojo. Wake up."
A soft voice made me stir from my sleep as my eyes hazily opened.
"W-wha? Iz tat u Kiana?" I slurred.
My half open eyes locked onto a hazy purple-ish figure in front of me, making me slowly realise that it probably wasn't Kiana.
I rubbed my eyes with both hands and blinked hard as I tried to get them to focus.
"Mei? Is that you?"
There was a moment of silence…
And then…
"Boo!"
My expression was a deadpan as I looked at the girl in front of me.
Her hot pink pupils were the indication that I was dealing with the other Mei now.
"Are you serious?"
"You don't seem to be frightened? I remember Kiana telling the crybaby how you were hugging her and going, 'Please Kiana, protect me! I'm sho shcared' in a haunted house."
I raised an eyebrow.
"So you're calling her Kiana now? Not my pet anymore?"
"I could if you were into that?"
She smiled cheekily as she awaited my reply.
I just shrugged.
"I'm sorry Mei, but I don't share your love for all these weird kinks that you have." I sat up from the bed.
Mei shook her head in disappointment. "I was expecting a new punchline. That joke is getting somewhat old." Her expression sharpened. "But when did the two of you go out together without my knowledge?"
"Your knowledge?"
"That coward's knowledge." She corrected without flinching in the slightest. "Was it the time when she asked you for the group to go out for a movie?"
Oh wow, she's sharp about that.
A woman's intuition is pretty scary.
"Maybe. Maybe it was before we even met. Who knows?" I played around with the answer, trying to cheekily get a rise out of her
Unfortunately, she was not very amused so I just carried on.
"What are you doing here anyways?"
"Trying to exert psychological pressure." Mei said casually. "Is it working?"
"No."
She shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try. Are you not concerned that I could have killed you in your sleep though?"
"Nah. You seem like a tsundere to me."
A question mark appeared on her head.
"Tsundere?"
"Yeah. The way you speak is a bit cute too."
"So you like it that way? Should I try to make my voice higher pitch as well for you?"
"That'd be very unsettling honestly…"
"I think that dropping another EMP bomb in your house would be more unsettling."
"Ah, please don't! We need to save our recordings of your Homu Rider poses to blackmail you…" I paused and then quickly cleared my throat. "Anyways, would you like some tea?"
Mei's face was fully cold at this time.
"No, no. I do want to hear about those recordings you were talking about."
"They were… research?"
"And what do you mean by 'We'?"
I looked away.
"Ermm, the recording might have been a joint effort?"
"... I'm not dealing with this. Goodbye."
She disappeared in a crackle of thunder, clearly meant to annoy me with the noise.
Hehe…
It was a bit cute.
—-------------------------------------
And there ended the flashback.
"Gojo. Operation has been completed."
Ah, there was Bronya.
She floated down slowly with Project Bunny behind her. As she reached almost even level with me, she kept her feet slightly above the ground.
"Did you get any info?" I asked.
Bronya shook her head. "Matushka has wiped the computers clean. Traces of weapons and items being removed recently have been detected from Honkai energy readings."
"Another bust then?"
"Correct."
I slumped in place when hearing that, but Bronya suddenly said something that made me perk up.
"The Bronya has found something of interest however."
"Oh?"
"Does Gojo remember Matushka's video stopping abruptly that day?"
"I thought that was just her doing a bad video cut or something."
Bronya deadpanned, looking at me as if she couldn't believe if I was serious. She just rolled her eyes at my joke as she continued.
"A third party may be involved in that situation."
I narrowed my eyes.
"Is it Schicksal?"
"If the Bronya's information is correct."
I put a hand on my chin as I mulled through the idea for a moment, but a cheeky smile came soon after.
"It's not Schicksal the way you described to me last time right?"
"Gojo. The Bronya requests that you remain silent for the time being."
"Ok. Sorry."
She handles my distractions like a secretary would… What a great position I gave to her…
"The Bronya does not know the extent of Schicksal's involvement in the situation." A glitter appeared in her eyes. "However, the Bronya will attempt to hack into Schicksal's database for more information."
"You can do that?"
"The Bronya has many talents."
"I guess lying wasn't one of them."
"..."
"I'll just blow up the building now."
"Recommended."
Pulling out both guns of Shamash, I burnt the base down.
It was pretty outskirts, so I wasn't worried about the fire spreading anywhere.
I watched as the building in front of me, which was once one of Cocolia's bases, burnt down. Shamash in gun form was a really good flamethrower honestly.
After my recent training(read making burnt pizza toast), my control over Shamash had improved.
At least I didn't have to worry about making a firework show now.
Before we headed back however, Bronya suddenly pulled on my sleeve.
"Gojo. When should we inform Mei about the true situation of her father?"
I was surprised at that, but I didn't say anything for a while.
After a period of thought, I answered.
"Let's tell her tomorrow night then. It'll be Friday then and she'll have the whole weekend to process the facts. She won't need to think about other students as well."
Bronya nodded.
"Understood."
The gray haired girl held my arm as I prepared for a teleport.
And just as the building completely burnt down, I clapped.
Then there was merely a smoking wreckage where one of Cocolia's bases once stood.
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give powerstones and comment if you liked it. Please review as well if possible)