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Following Nyssa's own agreement, everyone in the office hammered out some more details before dismissing her. Unwilling to go, she trudged out after having no argument against "You must value your education, you're about to miss more classes, anyway."
Those in the office stayed and chatted for another half-an-hour, negotiating pay, exposure, and a number of other details. Once done, they packed their bags and headed over to the Class Zero building. Kaiser, leading the way, felt his eyes mist over as he traced the same steps he took on the first day of school.
The day Nyssa started attending the Institute...
Snapping out of it after a second, he held open the door for Roxanne, Slade, and the two Association Executives. Once they all stepped in, they walked in silence towards the Class Zero homeroom. They came to a stop by the door, and Roxanne, with an eager smile pasted all over her face, slid the door open with a clatter.
Everyone looked up, Angelica, in the middle of a sentence, furrowed her eyebrows. Roxanne rushed in ahead of everyone. Turning to the students and giving them a wink, she swooped Angelica up into a princess carry before walking back towards the door. "Sorry, I'm going to have to relieve you all of your teacher. I'm here to collect my wife~"
"Hey! I'm still in the middle of a lesson, let me finish!" Angelica complained, trying—and failing—to flip out of Roxanne's embrace.
"It's all on the slides anyway, let Kaiser take over," Roxanne laughed, throwing her head back as she pushed through the other four by the door. "I'm kidnapping you. See you all!"
Everyone else in the room fell into silence. Celeste, after a moment, leaned over to Nyssa and asked the question burning on everyone's minds. "Are they married?"
"I'm pretty sure they're just engaged..." Nyssa tapped her chin. "I'm not sure though. Their relationship changed a lot during these past few months where they lived alone out of the public eye and away from work. In a better way for sure, but Roxanne just stopped updating the rest of us about it..."
"She's lost in the sauce, huh," Conrad sighed, leaning onto one hand. "... Wish that was me. This protagonist has no female lead in his life anymore..."
Before the conversation could continue though, the other four walked in. Slade, dressed in a casual dress shirt and dress pants, waved and gave everyone a nod. "I'm just here to say hi, nice to see you all again. Keep working hard."
Following Slade's departure, Kaiser and the two Association Executives stood at the front of the room. Seeing a panel of confused faces, Kaiser motioned for the executives to introduce themselves—while also proposing the mission to everyone.
---
After the bulk of their explanation, they ended it off by pointing to Nyssa. "Of course, because you all are still students, participation in this mission is not mandatory; however, we would appreciate your presence. We come to you because Nyssa has already agreed, as you know, she has an important role, and we feel she'd perform better in the comfort of having those she knows work around her."
Celeste, not a second later, shrugged, looking from those at the front of the room to Nyssa. "I'll do it. Seems like a good experience regardless."
The others, one-by-one, agreed. Ryker, crossing his arms, leaned back into his chair and cited his role as the pseudo-class leader. Electra, in a similar vein, mentioned the same reason as well as practically being in the workforce. "We're less than a year out from graduating, and even if we go into the graduate division, we'd still be mandated, plus, being part of the strike force would be a good thing to put on my work experience."
Albion, Titus, and Conrad, with less prefrontal cortex than probably recommended, also gave their agreement within moments.
Following everyone's agreement, the Association Executives let out a sigh of relief. Both their shoulders relaxed as they broke out into smiles. A faint smile of satisfaction, meanwhile, tugged at the edges of Kaiser's mouth. Dismissing the students for a break to escort the Association executives back to the front gate, he waved them off. "I'll continue where Angelica left off once I'm back. You all can have a little free time, eat some food. The mission will start next week, as a head's up. So start packing sooner rather than later. The mission itself should not take more than half a week."
---
"Wait... I wonder if we could invite Olivia," Electra turned to Ryker. Having crossed her arms and propped her feet up after Kaiser and the executives left. "Would it be too late to catch up to them right now to ask."
"You sure Olivia wants to do it?" Ryker scratched his chin. "I haven't chatted with her recently. She's been too busy spending all her time with Alecto."
"I was chatting with her the other day, and," Electra leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. "She wants prestige to feel more worthy of Alecto, and wants money to buy a ring."
"... Damn, doesn't she have enough money? And isn't it a little early?" Ryker shook his head. Baffled, he just scratched the back of his head. "This would fit those goals though, but like, we should talk her out of proposing so early..."
"Well, I assume their situation is different from most, since Olivia has known Alecto her whole life. They probably know each other better than most married couples anyway..." Electra shrugged. "Thoughts? She wants the money because her family, though accepting of the relationship, well... are a little against her marrying so early."
"Might as well propose it, I don't think she'd say no, she's reckless enough to come along. Plus, she gets along well with Nyssa," Ryker nodded after a moment.
"Alright, you text her, I'll be right back," Electra hopped up from her chair. A second later, a loud BANG filled the room as the door was thrown open when she disappeared in a purple flash.
"... Ryker..." Titus looked over after having jumped into the air. "You or Electra really gotta warn us when something like that is about to happen."
Everyone else, like a group of ducklings, nodded along in agreement.
"Ah, my bad," Ryker coughed. Scratching the back of his head, he put down his phone. "I'll keep that in mind..."
---
Angelica, meanwhile, sulked in the car as Roxanne drove them home. Roxanne, with a smile dancing across her lips, hummed along to a pop song as she drove through the final few streets to their destination, and as the song came to a close, she stopped the car. "Come on, babe, let me carry you back up."
"I can do it myself," Angelica huffed, pushing herself upright. Looking away from Roxanne, she began hobbling from the car to the elevator.
Roxanne jogged over to Angelica, catching up in just a few steps. Wrapping her arms around Angelica's waist from behind, she squeezed Angelica. "I'm sorry, okay, don't be mad. Let me carry you, you've already walked too much today."
Angelica looked away. "... I'm not mad..."
Roxanne, after seeing Angelica bit the corner of her lip, couldn't help but laugh. "Sure. Regardless, though, I'm sorry for pulling you out of the classroom immediately. I was wrong, okay? I know how much you enjoy teaching and I shouldn't have just forced you to not wrap up."
"... Mhm..." Angelica looked down. "Thank you..."
"So, will you forgive me?" Roxanne smiled, reaching up with a hand and poking Angelica on the cheek. "Please?"
"... Fine," Angelica relented, only to have Roxanne cheer and to begin peppering her face with kisses. Pushing Roxanne off of her, she couldn't hide the blush climbing her cheeks. "Hey! We're in public!"
"Nobody's around though~ and who cares if they realize I love my wife~" Roxanne laughed, spinning on one of her heels.
"Still! Not in public!" Angelica huffed, ready to walk off again, only to get picked up by Roxanne. "... Thanks."
"Of course." Roxanne, bringing her over to the elevator, called it by hitting the button with her hip. She, then, leaned down and whispered into Angelica's ear while lowering her voice to a teasing, husky tone. "I understand though, 'not in public,' we can continue, and go further in private, hmm~? That's what you meant, yeah?"
"... You really need to be more proper, what happened..." Angelica flicked Roxanne on the forehead. She, however, couldn't hide the reddening of her ears as Roxanne stepped into the elevator.