Early the next morning, Loki, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth appeared in Ais's room.
All four of them stared at the girl lying stiffly in bed, unable to move an inch.
"Ais, what happened?"
Riveria was the first to speak, her sharp gaze locking onto Ais—who instantly looked away, guilt flickering in her golden eyes. Riveria didn't need an explanation to know what that meant. Clearly, Ais had done something again.
"My muscles… hurt."
"Uh-huh. You didn't go to the Dungeon yesterday, and you didn't do any heavy training. So explain to me—how exactly did you end up with sore muscles?"
Riveria hadn't had time to keep a close eye on Ais yesterday. With the Familia's next Dungeon expedition approaching, she'd been swamped with preparations. Still, Tiona and Tione had been with Ais all day. As far as Riveria remembered, the girl had been perfectly fine right up until dinner.
So what in the world had she done last night to end up like this?
"…"
Ais said nothing, her eyes darting nervously. If she told them the truth, Riveria's response would definitely be "not allowed." The tool had been something Tsuna gave her—and if she mentioned that, it might drag him into trouble too.
So Ais made up her mind: she wasn't saying a word.
There was definitely something going on here. Riveria didn't even need to press further to know that much. Judging by Ais's behavior, it probably had something to do with her endless pursuit of strength. But how exactly had she managed to do this to herself at night?
While Riveria was thinking, Loki's eyes flicked toward the two extra objects around Ais's wrists. The goddess's lips curved into a sly grin.
"Was it Tsuna?"
"!?"
Ais's normally expressionless face twitched in shock for just a second. Loki caught it instantly—and her grin widened into a full-blown smirk.
"So you went to him last night, huh? Since Riveria wouldn't let you go to the Dungeon and Finn had Tiona and Tione keeping an eye on you, you ran off to Tsuna for help. You probably asked him for a way to train without leaving the house. Those two bracelets, right?"
Loki pointed at the silver bands around Ais's wrists.
"Riveria, didn't you say her muscles were sore? Why don't you give her a little treatment? Maybe add in a memorable lesson while you're at it—so she understands that not every tool should be used recklessly."
"I know what to do."
Riveria turned to give Finn and Gareth a meaningful look. Both men immediately understood.
"Then Gareth and I will go ask Tiona and Tione what happened yesterday," Finn said calmly.
"Yeah, I'll go too," Gareth grunted. "Those two aren't as bad as Ais—they wouldn't be dumb enough to use some weird tool until their whole body's sore."
"!?"
"Gareth!" Ais's eyes went wide, glaring daggers at the dwarf as he and Finn walked out.
"Guess I'll head out too," Loki said, patting her backside as she stood, struggling not to laugh at Ais's despairing expression.
"I'll have a talk with Tsuna as well. He needs to stop agreeing to every ridiculous thing this little airhead asks for. Ais never knows when to quit."
Just as she reached the door, Loki paused and glanced back.
"Riveria, make sure to take those things off her hands. That idiot kept them active all night. If you just scold her like this, it might end up causing more trouble than it's worth."
"I understand."
"Good. Then go ahead and teach her properly. Don't worry too much about her body—if she can abuse herself with those things all night and still be alive, she's sturdier than she looks. I'll go see Tsuna. And, uh—whatever noises come from this room, I didn't hear a thing."
With that, Loki left the room and politely shut the door behind her.
She hadn't even taken three steps before a shriek ripped through the entire corridor.
"AAAAAAAHHH! Riveria, I'M SORRY!!!"
Yep. Riveria was really mad this time. Nothing Loki could do to help there. She chuckled, shaking her head. Poor Ais.
Still, she had to admit—Tsuna sure acted fast. Yesterday he'd just been told about the upcoming Dungeon expedition, and by the next morning, he'd already managed to put Ais out of commission.
In a way, he was capable of causing even more chaos than Ais. Loki couldn't help sighing at the thought.
With Ais's screams echoing through the entire manor, Loki strolled cheerfully toward Tsuna's room.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Tsuna, I'm here—wait, WHAT THE—?!"
The moment she opened the door, she froze. A white barrier was wrapped around Tsuna's left arm. Her breath caught in her throat, and she lunged forward on instinct, breaking the formation before it could activate.
The barrier dissipated with a soft flash, leaving Loki's heart pounding.
"Whew…"
That had scared the life out of her. If she'd been a second later—if that barrier had finished activating—who knew what would've happened? The thing symbolized sending something straight into an Alternate Dimension. Seeing it around Tsuna's arm nearly gave her a heart attack.
Once she was sure it was gone, Loki exhaled sharply, her expression snapping from relief to anger.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?! What were you thinking?! If I hadn't stopped you, were you seriously about to do something to your own arm?"
"I was just running a simple test," Tsuna said calmly. "I'd already taken precautions. I wouldn't have let my arm get hurt."
"If something had happened, I'd be bawling my eyes out right now!" Loki shot back, glaring.
She huffed, folding her arms, still shaken. This boy's experiments were going to kill her one of these days. If anything happened to Tsuna right now, she'd cry for real—he was way too important to risk.
And yet, here he was, not even waiting for the expedition to start, already experimenting on his own left hand. Unbelievable.
"I just came from Ais's room," Loki continued, pinching the bridge of her nose. "That kid already gave us one hell of a 'surprise' this morning, and the first person I thought of was you. Then I come here—and you hit me with a bigger one! You almost scared me straight back to Heaven!"
Ais had been shocking enough for one morning. Now Tsuna was testing dimensional barriers on himself before breakfast.
Loki sighed deeply. Somehow, she had the feeling that from now on, he was going to give her a lot more heart attacks than Ais ever could.