Stepping in, a little yellow-haired girl with mismatched eyes of red and green; also clutching a suspiciously familiar bunny doll looked around, “Mama…?” she called out in a small voice.
“Vivio!” Nanoha exclaimed, quickly rushing towards the young girl.
Seeing her, the child perked up and ran up for a hug, “Nanoha-Mama!”
“Nanoha… Mama…?” the blue-haired man repeated slowly, turning a bemused gaze towards Fate.
“Aha… Aurion-san, this is…” Fate started to explain.
“!!!” As if realizing something, Aurion turned away from her and looked at the Ace of Aces who was holding the girl in her arms. He covered the right half of his face with his hand, an expression of blank astonishment on his face. “Nanoha… And here I thought you were one of the densest girls I’ve ever met…” his eyes were hollow, “To think that you would have a kid this big at such a young age is…”
“E-eh?”
“W-wait! Don’t misunderstand, Oji-chan!” Nanoha cried out hurriedly as she turned to face him. “Vivio is-”
“Ah, Fate-Mama!” the little girl cried out in delight as she spotted the blond Ace.
As if somebody just pushed a mute button, an unsettling silence permeated throughout the meeting room…
“…”
“……”
“………”
“W-we can expla-”
“Oh, no need, no need.” Aurion interjected, waving a hand. “I see now…” He turned to face Fate this time, his eyes wide and lips in an awkward lopsided smile, “Fate, I had my suspicions. But who knew it would turn out to be true? Who thought that you would resort to the use of advanced technology…?”
“Advanced technology? What do you mean-AH!!!” Fate’s face instantly flushed red as she caught on to his implication, “N-n-no! T-that’s not-”
“So, who bore the child?” he cut in again, unheeding her words. He dropped his fist onto his palm as if realizing something, “It couldn’t have been one of you since you were too young… was it?”
“I told you! Its-”
“Mama, what are you talking about?” Vivio piped in this time from Nanoha’s arms.
“Err, uhm, it’s something that only adults should talk about!” Nanoha answered frantically. She let Vivio down on the ground and patted her head, “We need to talk about it for a bit longer, so can you go out and play for a bit?”
“No!” the kid whined with surprising force, grabbing Nanoha around the neck again, “Vivio wants to play with Mama right now!”
“Mou, Vivio~!” Nanoha groaned weakly in exasperation.
Suddenly, another voice echoed from outside the room, “Are you guys still there?!”
“Oh.”
As if being chased by a pack of wolves, Keroko dashed into the room in a rush. Skidding to a halt beside the table, she held onto it with one hand and held the stitch in her chest with the other, gasping for breath. She raised her eyes and looked at Aurion happily, “Looks like… I made it… in time… Aurion-san!” she managed to blurt out in between gasps of air.
“Keroko.” the older man smiled back and nodded. He reached over and patted her head.
Vivio perked up again, “Keroko-Mama!”
“Hi Vivio!” greeted Keroko cheerfully with a small wave.
“…………” Aurion froze from his patting.
“E-err…”
The blue-haired man removed his hand from Keroko’s head and took a tentative step back, “A third one…?” he muttered in amazement, taking another step. “Three DNA samples? Are you people trying to make an ultimate mage? What’s next, Hayate donated her DNA too?!” he looked at each of them, his expression openly disturbed, “Let me tell you now, that won’t work. Haphazard genetic combination is as ineffective as-Oi…” he paused at the simultaneous sound of two similar groans.
With a defeated moan, Nanoha sank down to her legs, looking as if she had just had all her energy sucked out of her and leaned completely against Vivio. At the same time and with a similar moan, Fate slumped over the table, her face buried in her arms.
“Mama…?” the heterochromatic girl asked curiously, holding up her limp mother-figure.
“What’s wrong with you two?” Keroko asked the both of them, her head tilted in confusion.
“… Hahaha…” soft laughter can be heard from the other side of the table.
“Hmph… Hmhmhm.” a small suppressed chortle suddenly came from Aurion as he faced away, his hand over his mouth.
“Hahaha-HAHAHAHA!!!”
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Both Hayate and Aurion erupted into fits of laughter. As it turned out, Hayate had no choice but to hide behind her chair at the table all this time in an effort to hold back her mirth which had been building up for a few minutes already. She couldn’t hold it any longer and was now giggling uncontrollably, grabbing onto her chair for support. The odd thing was Aurion laughing along with her.
“Ungh…?” Fate moaned weakly, raising her head to look at them, her face in a deep shade of red.
“W-what…?” Nanoha murmured just as weakly as she stared at them, still leaning on Vivio, her expression as if she was on the verge of fainting.
The other two only kept on laughing.
“……?” and Keroko… could only look at all of them in bewilderment.
“Keroko-Mama?” Vivio asked her red-haired guardian, “Why are they laughing?”
“That’s what I want to know.” she answered, giving a helpless shrug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end, the two who were laughing revealed that the entire scenario was expertly premeditated by Hayate; surreptitiously staging the act with the timing of Vivio’s entrance to even Keroko’s late arrival (Neither of the two who arrived knew of the plan). Aurion turned out to be in connivance with the plot, and had played out his part spectacularly.
Keroko obviously found the joke funny, since she had spent her own little moment laughing almost as much as Hayate. On the flip side, Nanoha and Fate were naturally not amused. They sat beside each other at one side of the table, their faces red with embarrassment and simultaneously directing indignant glares at the other three.
Only Vivio remained relatively clueless about the matter, as she spent the entire time directing questioning gazes at the five older people in the room while sitting on Nanoha’s lap.
“Hahahaha! That was
brilliant!” the red-haired Ace exclaimed with all smiles, still fighting back her giggles as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Haah… I laughed my heart out…” Hayate sighed with obvious satisfaction, looking as if she just won the grand price in a lottery.
“Hehehe… Now I remember why I missed the four of you so much.” Aurion finished, grinning widely.
“You’re cruel, all of you…” Fate mumbled quietly, looking betrayed.
“Taking advantage of me and Fate-chan just like that…” Nanoha followed in a huff.
“Now, now…” the elderly man stood up from his seat and leaned across the table, “You two should lighten up a bit more and learn to laugh along with these kinds of jokes.” he simultaneously laid his hands lightly on both their heads, “Being too high-strung will cause you to grow old early.”
“Haha… hahaha…” Nanoha replied with a hollow laugh, one that carried as much enthusiasm as being treated to a feast of exclusively Shamal’s cooking.
“That’s easy for you to say…” Fate followed sulkily.
“Hah.” Aurion sighed, “At least you two should have realized that I’m nowhere near stupid enough to think that this child was actually a product of you girls.” a smile crept up his face as he shrugged, “Well, it’s not my fault that I’m good at acting.” He sat down again.
“Well~, Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan are still too innocent after all.” Hayate said cheerfully; her chin on her hands.
“Mou! Fine, I give up!” the Ace of Aces declared, her cheeks puffed out, “I’ll just have to be more alert later.”
“That’s the spirit, Onee-chan!” Keroko commented. She turned to the other one, “And Fate-chan?”
The blond girl sighed and forced a smile, “Okay, I surrender too.”
“Alright!”
“Okay… Since the issue is more or less fixed,” Aurion turned his gaze towards the girl in Nanoha’s arms, “your name is Vivio, correct?” he asked the child kindly.
“Yes.” she replied. Straightening herself on Nanoha’s lap, she smiled and gave the man a small bow, “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. (Pleased to meet you.)”
“Hmm.” the blue-haired man nodded. He turned to her mother-figure, “It’s good to see you’ve been teaching your daughter good manners despite your busy schedule.”
“That’s only natural.” Nanoha said, finally smiling. “The one who’s forgetting his manners right now is you, Oji-chan.” She added lightheartedly.
“Oh.” Aurion blinked then smiled wryly, “Ah yes, how rude of me.” He turned his gaze back to the little girl, “My name is Aurion Dauer. You could say that I’m an old friend of your mother.”
“Aurion-san…?” she asked, her head tilted.
“Yep. That should be-”
“Ne, Vivio, you could call him Ojii-chan if his name is too hard to say.” Nanoha cut in suddenly.
“The-” the man paused.
“Ojii-chan?” Vivio asked her mother-figure, craning her head back to look up at the latter.
“Oi-”
“Yes.” Fate suddenly joined in with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “Since Nanoha-Mama sometimes calls Aurion-san Oji-chan (Uncle), you can call him Ojii-chan (Grandpa).”
“Yes, that’s right! Since Nanoha-chan is Vivio-chan’s Mama!”
“That would only be natural, Vivio!”
“Even you two-” he directed critical stares at Hayate and Keroko.
“I see!” Vivio nodded enthusiastically. She turned to him and said, “I’ll call you Ojii-chan!”
“… too quick in the uptake…” Aurion’s voiced trailed off, eyebrow twitching. He sighed heavily and crossed his arms, leaning back on his chair and closing his eyes. “Well, I guess I can’t really complain. Tesla had been calling me ‘Ossan’ (‘Old man’) ever since eight years ago…” he muttered in a resigned tone, “I don’t really care about my age… And it’s not like you’re the first one refer to me as a grandparent.” he finished, referring to Reinforce Zwei. He opened one eye, “Very well. My pleasure, Vivio.”
“Hehe.” the little girl smiled widely.
The four Aces shared looks of victory.
“Alright,” the newly-promoted ‘Gramps’ said, “now that the introductions and jokes are all done and over with, I’ll be taking my leave for real.” standing up, he announced, “Let’s just hope I can visit here again some time later.” He glanced at Hayate, grinning, “This place has gotten me interested despite my reservations before. Make sure you keep this unit in one piece until then.”
“Roger!” the brown-haired Ace replied with a playful salute. She stood up as well, “We’ll escort you outside.”
He shook his head, “Contrary to what I said before the harassment of Nanoha and Fate, there should be no need for that. You girls are busy, right? Its better you all hurry back to your jobs. I won’t get lost, anyway.” Aurion stroked his chin, “Besides, I’d hate to delay the business here, no matter how appealing the idea of being escorted by four beautiful young women sounds like.” he finished, causing the Aces to giggle.
“Very well…” Hayate nodded, “I’ll be filing the report now. We can expect the reply around this evening if Admin replies quickly enough.” she started to walk towards the door, only slowing down to allow Aurion to pat her one last time on the head. As she reached the door, she looked back and waved once before leaving, “Bye, Oji-chan.”
“Seeya.” he responded. Turning back to the three remaining Aces, he asked, “Well?”
“I’ll prepare for the arrival of my squadmates.” Fate announced. She stood up as well.
“I guess I’ll keep Vivio company for a while since I just finished my report this morning.” Nanoha said next, drawing a delighted squeal from the little girl on her lap.
“I just came back, so I’m still a little tired.” Keroko said last, stretching languidly on her seat and soon after glancing disappointedly at the older man, “It’s too bad I didn’t come earlier…” She then smiled sweetly, “Ne, ne, would you mind at least one beautiful escort, Oji-chan? I still want to talk a bit.”
“One’s fine, I guess.” Aurion replied with a small nod. “Don’t worry, Keroko. I’ll make it up to you later if I can make some new inventions at the Research Lab and bring them here.” he added after some thought.
All traces of the red-haired girl’s sluggishness vanished faster than her own Hyperdrive movement spell upon the mention of
‘new inventions.’ “Really?!” she jumped off her seat, uncharacteristic childish excitement apparent in her tone and eyes twinkling. Her expression was similar to as if she was going to receive a long-awaited birthday present. “You’ll let me test the new equipment?”
“No, I was lying.” the blue-haired man declared flatly.
“Wha-?”
“I’ll be seeing you later, Nanoha, Fate and Vivio. Now please excuse me as I run away from a certain redheaded avatar of Murphy’s Law before she wastes several months’ worth of my research funds yet again after destroying my new inventions while testing them.” Aurion said rapidly in a single breath.
“E-eh?!” Keroko exclaimed.
“Saraba da. (Farewell.)” He said with a note of finality, suddenly standing right outside the door with his hand raised in a wave. He then quickly strode away with inhuman speed from the meeting room.
“Wait, what?” the redheaded Ace stared at the door in shock. “Aahhh!!!” Almost instantly regaining her composure, she dashed out of the room at the same speed as when she entered, “Wait up, Oji-chan~!!!” her voice echoed loudly from outside.
“Hahahaha!”
“Ahahaha!”
The two remaining Aces laughed at the speedy finale act.
“Bye, bye!” Vivio waved merrily at the door where the two exited.
“It’s never dull with Oji-chan, around, ne, Fate-chan.” Nanoha asked cheerfully, helping Vivio hop of her legs and land on the floor.
“Yes.” Fate answered, smiling softly. “Aurion-san knows how to keep everybody around him constantly on their toes.” She approached Vivio and patted her head, “Vivio, you weren’t scared of him?”
“Nope.” the child shook her head and smiled vibrantly, “Mamas were having fun with Ojii-chan, so Ojii-chan isn't scary!”
“I see.” The blond Ace looked at Nanoha, who only nodded, smiling brightly at the two.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The game was on. The rules were simple, walking as quickly as possible away form a certain red-haired girl in a white and blue uniform while greeting any acquaintance to come across along the way. Bonus points are gained per person greeted. The finish line is the outside grounds of RF6. No continues are allowed. Current Hi-score: 0.
“Hi Rein. Bye Rein.”
“Wah! Hai desu~!”
“Wait!”
“Be seeing you later Vita.”
“Shut up, and don’t come back!”
“Wait~!”
“Till next time, Shamal, Zafira.”
“Be careful on the way, Aurion-san.”
“…
*nods*”
“Wait up~!”
“I’ll be evaluating your level of expertise with devices later, Shario.”
“Yes. Thank you, Professor.”
“I said wait!!!”
“Nakajima, Lanster. Good work yesterday.”
“Ah, yes!”
“Thank you, sir!”
“I. SAID. WAIT. UP!!!” Keroko finally yelled in exasperation. She swiftly sprinted the remaining distance and lunged like a cat, catching the taller man from behind in a loose choke hold.
“Hugyak!” Aurion choked.
Whoops.
Game Over
“Why do you have to be so mean? Crushing the hopes of an innocent maiden like me?!” the redheaded Ace whined much like a child as she tightened her hold on his neck.
“What do you mean-Urk!-innocent maiden?!” Aurion retorted with difficulty. “Tell that to my financial-
*gasp*-account that you’ve caused much grief over several years!” He somehow managed to continue walking while the smaller girl tried to hold him back with little success.
“I’m telling you, I’ll be more careful this time!”
“Seven hundred and fifty thousand Mid-credits say otherwise-Garkh!”
…………
From a viewer’s standpoint, it would appear like getting Game Over would entail the penalty of being physically accosted by one of the Aces of the TSAB; in this case, Keroko.
“Oh, come on! It’s not like I’m the only one who ever caused you trouble, why are you singling me out?!”
“
‘Zenryoku Zenkai’ ('Maximum Firepower') may be Nanoha’s catchphrase, but her ability in causing disasters compared to yours is like comparing Starlight Breaker to the Arc-en-Ciel!”
“Mou~~~!!!”
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, let us take a look at the opinions of two of the audience…
“This is… a little weird, ne, Tea…?” Subaru asked her partner, smiling uneasily.
“………. Y-yeah…” Teana, on the other hand, could only stare at her idol Ace in silent shock, her hand over her mouth.
“Hahaha!” a brown-haired girl sporting glasses approached them, “Well, let’s just say Aurion-hakase has a fair bit of history with the four Aces.”
“Shari-san?”
“History…?” the orange-haired girl asked, looking at the new arrival.
“Yep.” Shario nodded, “Aurion-hakase and the Aces have been acquaintances for eight years already, so it’s to be expected that they know each other quite well. They were assigned under the research division he was in once for advanced device research and the Neo-Belka magic style development.” she tapped her chin, “Though I heard that he met Commander Yagami even before that…”
“I see.” the blue-haired forward nodded.
“But why do they act so… differently around him…?” Teana asked another question.
“You’ll know the answer to that soon enough.” the bespectacled girl said mysteriously, pushing up her glasses for effect. She then returned to watching, just as Aurion and Keroko were now walking normally, though apparently still arguing.
“…?” the two Stars Squad Forwards only looked at each other in wonder.
A few minutes later, the man can be seen exchanging words with the red-haired Ace at the gates, no longer bickering. He was making a few gestures, pointing to the main building while Keroko nodded. With one final pat on her head, he waved goodbye and finally left.
“It looks like Keroko-san is no longer upset.” Subaru said as she saw the Ace walking back towards them with a smile on her face and a skip in her step.
“Oi~, Teana, Subaru!” Keroko called out cheerily as she approached them, “Off to train?”
“Yes.” Teana replied promptly. She hesitated for a second before asking, “Uhm, Keroko-san?”
“Hmm?”
“About your argument with Professor Dauer just now…”
“Oh that,” the red-haired girl mentioned flippantly, “Don’t worry, I managed to get a good deal.”
“You mean he told you too?” Shario asked; her eyes wide.
“You too, Shari?” Keroko blinked, “If that’s the case, yes.” She nodded, smiling mischievously.
“Huh?” Subaru looked at the both of them.
“We’ll tell you later.” the brown-haired girl winked at Subaru and Teana. “But for now, it’s…” she looked at Keroko.
“Classified Information.” the red-haired Ace finished, winking and placing her finger on her chin.
“Okay…” Teana answered falteringly.
“Anyway.” Keroko pranced around them and grabbed the two Forwards in a friendly one-armed headlock each.
“Awawa!” Subaru cried out in surprise.
“K-keroko-san!” the orange-haired girl exclaimed, her cheeks instantly glowing red.
“How about I join your training before lunch? I’m in the mood for some exercise.”
“Oh, alright!”
“Y-yes!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Mmn… Ungh~…” Hayate groaned softly as she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and stretched. A quick look at the clock beside her showed that it was still 4:17 AM, meaning that she woke up ahead of time yet again. A large part of herself still longed for the warmth of her bed, but she shook her head and willed herself to swing her legs onto the ground and stand up. She stretched a few more times before leaning over the bed to look fondly at Reinforce Zwei, who was still snoozing silently on the pillow next to hers. After gently stroking the tiny girl’s sky-blue hair so as not to wake her, Hayate straightened up and headed out of the room as quietly as she could. A quick shower and a cup of coffee were in order to fight off the remaining sleepiness.
Waking up earlier than usual wasn’t an exactly new occurrence for Yagami Hayate. Since the recent weeks, higher activity of the forward members of Riot Force 6 also came alongside with just as much and sometimes even more administrative matters to attend to. She didn’t show it, but the stress of running RF6 was at the least very tough and tiring. However, in her case, high amounts of stress tend to wind her up into sleeping less in an unconscious effort to gain more work time in order to finish quicker. She fought back a giggle as she imagined what Shamal’s predictable expression would be when she finds out that her Mistress is not having enough sleep on frequent intervals.
…………
The shower proved to be effective in washing off her drowsiness, as she was feeling wide awake when she strode towards the cafeteria to make herself some coffee.
“Oh, Commander Yagami.”
“Good morning, Commander.”
“Good morning!” she greeted the few people who were also up earlier than usual. A twinge of pride swelled inside her chest as she looked at the others who were already working at such an early time. Indeed, her Unit’s members were really dependable. And as such, she needs to be a very dependable leader for them as well.
“Commander, I’m sorry for the delay, but the report for incoming personnel reassignments would take until at least a few hours later.”
“No, it’s alright. The delay won’t be trouble as long as it’s submitted before 8:00. Good work.”
“That would be more than enough time. Thank you, Ma’am!”
Hayate nodded appreciatively at the Human Resource staff member, continuing to walk towards her destination.
“…Hmm…”
She may have only imagined it, but was the HR person smiling a bit more cheerfully than usual? It’s as if something really good happened… Well, it’s not like the matter was too weird to dwell upon. She decided to just attribute it personal matters.
“…?”
She heard faint voices as she approached the kitchen.
“Wait, so I have to put some more sugar in it?” a strangely familiar male voice echoed.
“Yes. And then a ¼ cup of creamer…” a young girl’s voice this time.
“Vivio?” Hayate muttered in confusion. She quickened her pace towards her goal. That’s strange, why was Vivio up so early? Did she sneak off from the three other Aces’ room?
As she finally reached the entrance, she instantly caught sight of Vivio. The heterochromatic girl was speaking to an older man, pointing her little finger one at the time at the several containers near the coffee brewer and narrating a cappuccino recipe as if she had been assigned to memorize it and later recite at school.
“That’s right. And then two teaspoons of that vanilla extract…” the little girl continued enthusiastically, not noticing the Unit Commander’s arrival.
“Okay then, here we go-Oh…” the other person became aware of Hayate’s arrival, pausing from making the coffee to look at her.
“Ah, Commander Yagami. Good morning!” Vivio finally took notice and gave the brown-haired Ace a bright smile and a wave, her other hand grasping Vita’s old rabbit doll.
“………” Hayate was speechless, eyes wide.
“Looks like you do wake up earlier than most. Good morning, Hayate.” the man greeted her this time; his voice only confirming to Hayate that she wasn’t hallucinating.
“What…” the Unit Commander started,
“What is the meaning of this?!” she finished loudly.
“Wah-!” Vivio flinched in surprise and retreated, clutching her doll fearfully.
“Oi, oi… You’ll scare the kid.” Aurion reprimanded her mildly.
“Oh, s-sorry, Vivio-chan!” Hayate quickly apologized. She then directed a stare at the other person, “W-why are you here?”
As if on cue, Nanoha’s voice suddenly resounded from a several meters away, “Vivio~! Where are you?”
“Mama!” the small girl cried out, dashing towards the door just as the Ace of Aces rounded the corner. Vivio immediately embraced Nanoha around her legs.
“Ah!” Nanoha wobbled a little as her legs were pinned together, “V-Vivio?” she exclaimed as she regained her balance. She kneeled down and took the kid in her arms, the latter grabbing onto her neck tightly. “Hayate-chan, why did you shout-Eh?!” she stopped mid-sentence as she saw the other person in the room.
“Nanoha!” Fate’s worried tone came this time. She appeared right behind Nanoha, looking positively upset. “Oh, there you are, Vivio. Thank goodness…” she sighed out in relief.
“Fate-Mama!”
“Hmm.” Fate patted Vivio on her head, “What were you doing here-Huh?” she paused as well.
“Onee-chan! Fate-chan!” Keroko appeared this time, “Have you found-Wha?” She sounded surprised, covering her mouth. However, none of the other girls knew that she was hiding a victorious smirk behind her hand.
“Seriously…” Aurion spoke as he shook his head and poured hot water into his mug. “You girls all look like you’ve seen a ghost.” he then stirred the contents of the mug with a spoon. “It’s just me.” He finally took a sip, eyes instantly widening at the flavor. “Mm! The taste is great!” He looked at Nanoha, “I’ve got to hand it to your daughter; she actually memorized the Midoriya-style Vanilla Cappuccino recipe just from supposedly watching you make it.”
“E-eh?” Nanoha only replied perplexedly.
“Mou! Just answer my question, Oji-chan!!!” Hayate finally demanded in frustration.
“Just a sec.” Aurion raised his other hand as he looked at Hayate. He then turned his sight back to Nanoha, “But really, you should tell Vivio to not just teach the recipe to other people. It’s bad for business.” And, finally turning to the Commander, he said, “You should have met one of the Human Resource people along the way here. I’m also one of the reassigned personnel in the report to be filed later this day.”
“What?” the brown-haired girl sputtered in disbelief. “How could that happen? Any transfers of high-ranking personnel are directly notified to the handler of a unit for at least a day before!”
“As you can see, I happen to be one of those cases where the transfer was a little to sudden to effectively communicate to the leader beforehand.” he replied calmly, taking another sip.
“T-that’s still…” Fate murmured in incredulity, “Getting a transfer in such short notice is…”
“Yup, you guessed right.” Aurion smirked, “You could say I’ve got a hand in this case. Since I’ve got a lot of favors that I managed to gather over the years, getting a temporary unit transfer shouldn’t be so hard.” He cast a surreptitious wink towards Keroko, “And that means I’ll be under the care of you Riot Force Six people for at most a week. We’ll discuss the details later.” another sip of coffee.
“What’s going on…?” Hayate faintly asked no one in particular, planting her face on her palm. She could already feel a sizable migraine coming.
“Hahaha…” the blue-haired man chortled. He pointed his mug of coffee at them as if holding them at gunpoint, “Let’s just say I got sufficiently interested this time to actually take sudden action again. So for now, gentlewomen of RF6…” He smiled widely, “Yoroshiku.”