Listeria Academy - Habiki's Room
"I refuse."
The first words Habiki said when Naki stepped in with the request to spy on West Allura's camp with the gold owl.
"Huh? Wait! What do you mean you refuse?" Naki asked, baffled.
Habiki folded her arms and averted Naki's eyes, pouting.
"I'm not saying," she said.
"Huhhh!!!?" Naki was further perplexed.
He had no idea why Habiki turned down his request so suddenly. He thought they had a decent partnership going.
"(Why is she...is it because I acted alone by going along with Bisky's demand?)"
Random thoughts were all Naki could muster. He could find no concrete evidence of Habiki's behavior.
So, he resorted to shooting in the dark for some kind of clue.
"Ummm...whatever it is I did, I promise we'll go about it together next time?" he said, half unsure of his own words.
However, they appeared to have worked as Habiki's frown smoothed out to curious anticipation
"You-you mean it?" she asked
"Umm... yeah?" Naki replied, still unconvinced of what he'd just agreed to.
"Heheh, That's cool." Habiki claps her hands and leapt to his side with a delighted smile.
"I won't let that vixen take you away from me, got it!"
Finally, the hint Naki wanted to unearth dropped.
His eyes widened. Was Habiki unhappy that he set out with Bisky alone, or was she jealous of what they might've done?
"(of course there's no way she would know if we tried something...unless...)"
Naki recalled Emile's action of taking out a target by the monastery's rundown roof.
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--- [Emile] 'Why don't we get rid of the prying eyes?'
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"(Back then I thought was destroyed looked familiar...could it be she was monitoring us all along? or at least up till that point?)"
Naki stared at Habiki, who tilted her head.
"Hm? Is there something on my face?" she asked.
"...No, it's nothing. Just curious, that's all."
"About what?"
"(She was spying on me, perhaps out of concern. That'll explain the jealousy, but she would have to be careful otherwise it'd expose our plans in the future)" Naki thought.
"Naki? what's wrong?" she stepped back and asked again.
Naki was taking a while to offer a response, so she felt concerned.
"About your owl, do you have more than one that reacts to the owl wooden carvings?"
Habiki fell silent, understanding Naki had fit in the pieces.
She looked at her palm and tried to create the owl, but only a small gold egg manifested.
"So you knew...Haha," she chuckled, "I must appear like an awful person right now, spying on my partner and all," she said.
Naki noticed her depressed look.
"How long till she's revived, if at all?" he asked, not making a big deal out of it.
"Mistress Keifa is working on it. It'll take a while, but it won't be until after the magic competition." She said and called off the egg.
"So I'm sorry, even if I wanted to, I really can't help with the spying mission at this time."
She sighed and took a seat on her bed, "Truth be told, I was way ahead of ya for this competition. I had my owl carvings positioned on various corners of each party's camp."
"Whoa haha, aren't you a sneaky girl?" Naki remarked with a chuckle.
"You'd be ill advised to think there's such a thing as a perfectly righteous individual in this world, Naki. We all have our vices."
Habiki smiled and proudly added, "Mine just so happens to be curiosity and an inability to keep my eyes off everything."
"Well, knowledge is power, they say. I don't judge. After all, I'm the same, and will likely do worse in the future," Naki said, walking to the windows.
"Hm? What do you mean?" she asked, concerned.
"You saw the battle against the giant girl, it took a heavy toll." Naki removed his gloves, revealing the beeping sigil to Habiki.
She jumped off the bed and grabbed Naki's wrist to examine the sigil closely.
"...What are the numbers?" she asked
"676. I'm 24 shy of being absorbed as it stands," he replied.
Habiki released his hand and chewed on her fingers.
"Not good...Sure, during the event tomorrow, you won't be required to act or anything, but we can't risk it. Remember, whether you do something or not, Lucille doesn't appreciate his time being wasted," she reminded Naki.
"Which means at any time, I could hit 700. Yeah, I'm aware," Naki replied and stared outside.
He wasn't just looking for the motions.
He was genuinely seeking out potential targets in order to preserve his soul.
"Unless we get so fortunate once again, I'm afraid I may have to resort to desperate methods," Naki said softly.
"...Do you intend to?" Habiki asked, secretly terrified of the answer she might be receiving.
Naki turned to her.
His eyes were not those of a compassionate person; they were the eyes of someone who was resolved to willingly commit a vice.
The eyes of an evil predator.
"Naki! I will not allow it!" she immediately protested, putting herself in front of the path between Naki and the door.
"I have to do something!" said Naki.
"Yes! But I will not allow you to take a life! I will not!" she insisted
"The-then how will stopping me help? Won't my life just be traded for another's? Would you risk our ambition, our purpose for saving the world, for a single stranger's life?"
"Naki!!" she strongly called him out as her eyes glowed Amber for a brief moment.
This shook Naki as he involuntarily took a step back. The reproach was strong.
"Ha...Habiki..."
She closed her eyes to calm down the pressure and sighed.
"Naki, I know you are desperate, I get it. But there's no such thing as a fair trade when it comes to taking a life."
Naki looked away and gritted his teeth, "You just told me, there's no perfectly righteous individual. If it is the way of the world, why must I be condemned against acting to preserve my own existence?" Naki argued.
Habiki walked to him and grabbed his hand gently.
"There's no perfectly righteous individual, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to be better."
She softly pressed her forehead against Naki's chest in an attempt to calm him down.
"And the Naki I know intends to defy fate, surely he won't let this simple hurdle decide his fate for him, would he?"
Her words reminded Naki of his purpose, reaching to his very soul.
He was so close to losing himself, a brush off with lingering death had unsettled him so much, he needed Habiki's voice of reason to regain his self, his ego.
"(Huh...So this is what the hero Emile is fighting for.)"
"(A hero that doesn't fight because he was ordered...but to prove a point. A solitary point that could prove to be of utmost importance.)"
Naki smiled and held Habiki's hand gently.
She pulled away and looked up at him. Her eyes met with his, and she could tell straightaway, he had abandoned the grim idea he was nursing.
"Thanks, Habiki," he said with a charming smile.
Habiki blushed and looked away, her hand close to her chest to calm her pounding heart.
"Uh, umm...I'm glad you have come to your senses...idiot," she muttered in embarrassment.
Naki chuckled and stared at his sigil.
"Still, there must be something we can do to buy more mercy, without being too careless in our approach."
Habiki nodded and gave it some thought.
"A vice...hmmm, I have an idea."
"Hoh?"
"Hahaha, and it's a win-win idea. Are you aware of a concoction called Spirit Juice?"
Habiki said, walking to her desk.
"I've heard about it. Bisky also used it to nurse my injured arm back to health."
Habiki frowned, "Did she now?" she murmured.
"Ah! Ca-calm Habiki! That was all she did, I assure you!" Naki tried to diffuse the growing envy, nipping it in the bud before it caused disaster.
"Humph! Fine, I'll take your word for it this time."
She grabbed a small map from the drawers and opened it up, directing Naki's attention to the Academy's storehouse.
"During the magic competition, the spirit juice storehouse is restocked to account for the event and its activities."
"It's also given to winners as part of their reward for participation and victories. So, I'm thinking what if we..." Habiki left the phrase hanging, pending Naki's addition.
"Help ourselves with a couple. Heh, another heist it is then."
"Yup. Naturally, it'd be more secure after the events of ...a shadow demon intrusion?" Habiki raised a brow, suspecting Naki's involvement in the headmaster's office incident.
"I had to pull that off. The headmaster was on to me," he countered in his defense.
"I figured you were involved in all that." Habiki sighed.
"Anyways, this is our priority, and our best bet is during the main events of the competition, which means you've only got until the team battles to pilfer a spirit juice."
Habiki said, closing the map.
"What do you mean?"
"Each instructor needs to show up to represent their student party. For the team battles, you have to be present, Naruki," she stressed to Naruki to tease him.
Naki smiled and put on his gloves once again.
"I see. All good, now that we have a course of action."
"Yup", Habiki nodded, "what would you do without me, eh?" she said.
Naki smiled.
He knew he was relying once again on Habiki, a little bit too much for his liking. But with time running out, he had no choice. His control of fate left at the mercy of a bottle of spirit, he had no choice but to prepare for the occasion as if his very life depended on it because it did.