The next few days, Lyra had come to some interesting news. It was one day when Lyra came to train on her own. She saw that Naruki was there with Layfon. It was moreso, Naruki was on her way out as Lyra left. She waved hello to Lyra, as she left. Lyra watched her walk down the path, before turning around and entering the gym.

"Captain is thinking of recruiting Naruki to the platoon," Layfon explained after Lyra had changed and the two began training. It was a simple "game" so to say. They had two rubber balls that they were hitting back and forth. Today was the day before the match. "She wanted to discuss the idea after the match."

Lyra nodded her head, hitting one of the balls towards Layfon and then moving to hit the other.

Nina had mentioned the idea once before. It was two months back when the group had just finished training and they saw Naruki approach Layfon for some help. Lyra saw the gears turning then and their lunch together following that was Nina trying to get her to formulate a plan to try and find a way to convince Naruki of joining their team.

It amused Lyra to see how Nina was always thinking of ways to help better the team. From what Lyra had initially noticed, there was not much unity in the group. No one was taking Nina seriously, especially Sharnid and Felli. However, Lyra wasn't sure if it was the filth monster attack, the outside mission, or just the fact that they had been spending time together, but the last few training sessions were very productive. Not only that, but Nina would always leave satisfied.

Soon, they heard the door open. Glancing in the direction, she saw Nina entering.

"Hiya Captain," Lyra greeted, catching the ball so that they could stop to talk.

Nina nodded to the two, "glad to see you all already training. Felli said she would be late in coming. Apparently Sharnid is on his way. Hopefully they won't be too long. I have some things to discuss."

Lyra nodded, "Layfon was telling me about your decision to get Naruki to join.

Nina's face brightened, "yes! I do wish for her to join. Now, she won't be partaking in the next match, but it's never too late to start training."

"Huh, part of me feels like it's so you can be more involved in the investigations," Lyra teased. She knew the truth and didn't feel like pretending since she was still annoyed by how they hid it.

"Ack!" Nina was obviously taken aback. She went on to speak up to obviously say else wise. But Lyra raised a brow.

Luckily, Sharnid's laugh was then heard. "Don't bother hiding it, she knows the truth," he remarked, entering. He entered the sight of Nina in the process of saying something and Lyra standing there with her arms crossed, one brow raised, and smirking, obviously not buying it and Layfon in the back uncomfortable. One glance towards Sharnid and he was laughing.

Nina looked over at Sharnid, obviously not amused, "What?"

"How could I just keep poor Lyra out of the loop," he remarked, "besides, she was helpful for when I was following them to get some proof."

"Unintentionally," Lyra added quickly, "I'm not going to get involved unless you say so, captain. However, considering the match is tomorrow, please let me know if the plan is changing. Am I still going after the Vice-Captain?"

She had already decided that and told Sharnid who had explained to her more while at dinner. Sharnid told her that with what they were planning, she may need to be involved, but she would let Nina decide that. Well, according to Sharnid, she may be needed due to what was to come, but Lyra wasn't going to make that assumption, especially when it was purposefully hidden from her.

Lyra still did not understand the reasoning behind her not knowing, especially since everyone else knew, but then she thought of Dinn. The way he threatened her...

Nina nodded, "this is only because it would be suspicious to the police force. If the Academy Alliance were to get word about this, then we could lose all funding and support."

Lyra nodded her head. So the decision was made to incapacitate the two main members of the team so that the tenth platoon would be forced to disband.

"You two continue the training. I'm going to go change and then join you," Nina decided.

Sharnid waved to the group, heading back towards the locker rooms as well.

Lyra was still thinking. She wondered if that meant she had to as well or if Layfon dealing with Dinn would be enough. According to Shanrid, Dalsienna worked based off of Dinn. So there was a possibility that even if she would not continue, but according to the president, the only way to make sure it worked was to make the team unable to work with what they had.

After all, the videos she watched, Dalsienna was pretty powerful. Nina told her to just think of it as if they were fighting those masked men back in Minerva.

The problem was, it wasn't that easy. She couldn't just flip the switch in her head like Layfon did. She had to actually be in the situation. It was more of an adrenaline rush in combination of her memories of Noemi really that unleashed that rage. Maybe that's what she should have been working on all this time? From what Nina said, Lyra could easily take out the Vice Captain and even maybe the captain with that power. Lyra didn't believe she could take out the captain, but should she work on unleashing that power in a more controlled sense? It really was all or nothing for Lyra.

"Um.. Lyra?" Lyra jumped, remembering Layfon was there.

"Shall we continue?" he had his dite restored again, holding one of the two balls they were playing with. Lyra had the other one. She tossed the ball into the air and grunt, as she struck it towards Layfon, who instantly moved to strike it.

"You know, this doesn't have to just do with the situation at hand," Layfon started, as he struck the ball back, "she has no idea that we're the ones who discussed this with the President."

"Really now?" Lyra raised a brow, now curious, but her expression quickly changed to focus as she hit the ball back to him.

"It was random, but Nina suddenly decided to officially have Naruki come in yesterday," Layfon went on, as he hit the ball towards her, "she was saying that our time limit was coming to an end," he explained.

"Limit?"

"The Military Arts Competition. The fight between cities. We still haven't received notice?"

"Right. I forgot that was a thing." The ball came towards Lyra, but she stepped away, allowing it to bounce off the wall. With that, she then struck the ball towards Layfon again.

Although the Academy City Alliance set down and managed the rules for the fights between Academy Cities, humans didn't get to decide on when a Competition was to be held. The City's consciousness made that decision. Until the day of the fight, no one was able to predict just when it would happen.

"The referee from the Alliance hasn't yet showed up, but there are many cases of cities holding competitions without a referee. I think it's about time," Layfon remarked.

"Why?"

"Because of the selenium mines. If we lost after the competition, we couldn't even resupply, so isn't this the best time to have a match?" He went on.

"That's true. If we're to fight, it would be best to do so in our best condition," Lyra remarked.

"Exactly. For cities to meet each other, they must move from their territories. That means resupplying is necessary."

Having listened to him, Lyra now truly felt the harsh reality of the Military Arts Competition. If they lost in this Competition, Zuellni would have lost its one and only selenium mine. The city didn't have much time remaining if things were to go wrong. While Lyra would end up moving, she knew she had to do all she could to save Zuellini. After all, there was a reason she was sent here. Of all the places that she was thinking of going, Zuellini had not been one of them, but she was greatly encouraged to come here.

Not only that, having met the seventeenth platoon, her roommates, and everyone in her class, Lyra realized that she actually did not want to have to end her time with them. Yes, eventually everyone moves on after graduating, but to have to suddenly leave everyone due to the city dying, Lyra did not want that, especially when she was part of the department that was supposed to help protect it.

"Even with a new person, our team still has a gap in strength. Let's just leave the question of whether our strength can catch up or not. It's too late to start training for our own particular positions in the match."

The conversation returned to Naruki. Lyra missed the ball again. The ball rebounded off the wall and flew underneath her armpit in a direction that Layfon's sword couldn't reach.

"Hey!"

The ball flew straight for Sharnid's face. He had just opened the door to the room.

"Uh-oh!" he just managed to dodge it. The ball bounced off the wall in the corridor.

"This game again? You two are enthusiastic," he said, grabbed hold of the ball jumping back and forth in the narrow corridor and brought it back into the room.

"Come join us," Lyra offered.

"Loser buys dinner," Nina added.

Surprised at Nina's unusual provocation, Sharnid joined in.

"Pretty good."

He restored two of the three Dites from his weapon harness. They were guns made in black alloys and they looked quite heavy. One glance showed they were made for close combat. Although Sharnid was a sniper, he had had training in close quarters gun combat. His participation in the game made the bouncing of balls more intense.

The rules were simple. One would get a black mark against him for failing to hit back a ball or hitting a ball with a large margin of error in terms of direction. The person accumulating the most number of points in the time limit lost. The time limit was the time till training hour ended.

It wasn't as simple as hitting a ball. Because everyone included feints in their actions, this made the timing of the hit difficult. Lyra didn't realize how it was going to become even more difficult with Sharnid, who enjoyed targeting her. Because Lyra wasn't expecting him to instantly target her, Sharnid managed to get a few hits in, but Lyra made sure to strike back. The difficult part was that Sharnid was very good at striking his target and so dodging him was difficult.

Felli had decided to take a defensive stance, specifically using Layfon as her shield for majority attacks. She would move herself behind him so that he was forced to strike back. While Layfon could easily have moved so the attack would hit Felli, Lyra noticed she didn't bother to.

Soon enough, training came to an end. It was a tie between Nina and order to break the tie, the two were supposed to target their last shot at Layfon, but Nina decided that she would use money from the teams fund to pay for lunch. So in the end, no one was actually paying out of pocket. In fact, this was what had happened last time as well, now that Lyra thought about it.

Nina seemed to do that every time so that it wasn't a financial burden to everyone. However, Sharnid made the comment that if this continued, people would lose motivation due to not having the fear of needing to protect their wallet. However, even though everyone in the group was catching on, it didn't stop them from getting discouraged. If anything, at this point, Lyra noticed the competitive side coming out in everyone, even Felli.

With training coming to a conclusion, everyone headed to the showers. Layfon was one of the first to head out with Felli behind him. Lyra was sitting on the bench, combing her hair when she noticed a colored sheet of paper lying in front of Layfon's locker.

Lyra squinted her eyes, trying to make out what it was and then decided to just put on her glasses and that's when she noticed it was an envelope.

Curious, Lyra decided to pick it up. She didn't even have to turn it over to see who it was from as she recognized the handwriting instantly.

It was a letter from Leerin.

"Gosh, Layfon... how could you be so careless with a letter as important as this," she ended up grumbling out loud, as she turned around to place the letter in her bag. She would give it to him the next time she saw him.

However, as she went to place the envelope in her bag, she heard a cough and was slightly surprised to see Nina standing before her.

"Hiya, Captain," she greeted him.

"Hey... that letter...any chance you could give it to me?" the captain asked. It was very strange with how she was asking for it. Lyra wasn't sure what to say to it right away.

"I mean, I know it's for Layfon and it's from a girl - not that that's the problem - but, I just found it, and so..." she trailed off, as Lyra raised a brow, trying to understand what Nina was saying.

Her face then brightened, "ah, yes. It's from our good friend, Leerin, back at home. It would be good to give him the letter as quickly as possible," Lyra remarked.

That's when she noticed a spark in Nina's eyes, "oh, a good friend from Grendan, is it?" she asked, "I mean, I can give it to Layfon since we have work together?" Nina offered.

Lyra didn't respond right away. She could tell there were gears turning in Nina's head. Suddenly it hit her. Was the captain curious to know who this girl was that was writing Layfon? Was it wise to tell Nina that Leerin and Layfon were more than just good friends? It was an amusing thought, but either way, she knew Nina would not be disrespectful and open the letter.

Lyra gave her the letter, "alrighty, Layfon will be happy to see Leerin replied. Thank you for passing it on to him."

Nina nodded her head, "of course!" The two continued to pack up. Nina waved goodbye and was off while Lyra took her time. Thankfully she had the rest of the day free. Lyra was debating what she would do next.

She couldn't help but think of how Nina was acting. Lyra wasn't sure why Nina was like that. Was it possible the Captain was interested in Layfon? Lyra hadn't noticed anything happen between them. Then again, Lyra wasn't the best at noticing these types of gestures. After all, how long had it taken for her to learn that there was actually something going on between Layfon and Leerin? Lyra had only found out around the time Layfon was departing.

With a sigh, Lyra zipped up her bag and stood straight to lift her bag. That's when she felt the heaviness in her head. It was that feeling back again. Lyra noticed it typically happened after training. She wasn't sure what it could have been. Maybe she was coming down with something? Luckily she didn't have anything else planned today so she was planning to head home. Maybe she should rest for the remainder of the day. After all, at this point, training more would just tire her. She should reserve her energy now, especially with the match tomorrow. With that, she headed out of the locker room. She was a few steps out the door when she heard someone let out a grunt.

"Jeez, about time that you came out."

Lyra ended up letting out a small squeal, jumping at the sudden sound of Sharnid's voice appearing to her right. He had been leaning against the wall right next to the door to the locker rooms.

"Man, I didn't realize you could squawk like that," he managed to say while catching his breath, before laughing again. Lyra was frowning, obviously angry at his joke.

"Aw, don't be mad Lyra, I was waiting for you," he finally replied when he noticed her angry.

That fixed her expression, "you were waiting?"

"Of course!" Sharnid nodded, "I remember you saying that you didn't have anything going on after this, so I figured we could hang out."

She was honestly happy that he was inviting her out, especially with how they had been prior to this. It was as if the fact that now she knew what they were all discussing, turned everything back to normal. Although Lyra still didn't like that they kept her out of the loop for so long.

"What were you thinking we should do?" Lyra asked.

Sharnid seemed to think for a minute, "well, I feel we're always out getting food. We should do something different."

Lyra raised a brow at that statement, "so did you have anything in mind?"

Sharnid suddenly snapped his fingers, "what about the arcade?"

"Arcade?" Lyra asked, slightly taken aback.

Sharnid nodded, "yeah! We always get food together, I figured why not for once actually do something fun too?"

Lyra thought for a few seconds, "I honestly never thought that you would be interested in something like that... or just the fact that there would be places like that," she confessed which made Sharnid chuckle.

"Of course you're not going to know, considering all you've done since coming here is either go to class, train, eat, or work," he replied, "you do realize there is more to life than just those four things."

Lyra's face reddened, realizing that was very true. Come to think of it, she really didn't do much aside from those four things. Even when she did have free time, it was usually spent with her teammates, or by herself, but that was always at the dojo, training. She really didn't have much of a life outside of that.

Lyra heard his tongue clock and he was shaking his head with disapproval.

"Oh come on! It's not like I had much opportunity to relax considering all that's been going on," she protested.

Shanrid pretended to think before shaking his head, "I'm sure you've had plenty of time, especially on weekends."

Lyra pouted, before turning to head out of the training dojo. Sharnid laughed and followed behind her. "Come on, what do you say?" he asked.

Lyra shrugged, "Well I get a feeling that even if I said no, you wouldn't accept that answer." Who knows, maybe this strange feeling she was getting in her body was nerve based? Even though it was headache based, Lyra wasn't too sure, but seeing how he was actually looking forwards to this, she felt bad saying no.

Sharnid snapped, pointing at her, "too right you are. Now come on, it's this way," he pulled her by the sleeve to get her to follow him. Lyra shook her head in amusement as she hurried to keep up. He was obviously excited, which was strange. She didn't think she had seen him this excited the past few days. Then again, considering they're investigating his former teammates, she could understand why.

Perhaps this was something that he needed to get his mind off of the situation at hand. Sharnid had obviously let go of her sleeve. Though, Lyra realized the struggle, "hey! Please be considerate of the height difference now," she protested, attempting to keep up with him.

"Sorry," Sharnid laughed, slowly down.

They were on the main road now, heading deeper into the city. Lyra couldn't help but look around. A lot of people were out on the street. Then again, it was the time that classes were changing, or considering what day it was, many of the classes were cancelled in preparation for tomorrow.

The thought of tomorrow brought butterflies in her stomach. Yet, Lyra couldn't help but think of the headache she was having. Hopefully it wasn't anything bad. At least she

"Hey, you okay?" Sharnid suddenly asked, making Lyra jump.

"Sorry, what?"

"You got quiet all of a sudden," Sharnid replied.

"Sorry, I got distracted by everything going on on the street," she confessed.

"Sure about that? Don't think people haven't noticed you feeling off," Sharnid suddenly brought up.

Lyra tensed, "how did you..."

"Your friend that almost ran you over had stopped by to mention it to Nina, hence why we didn't do anything major today," Sharnid explained.

"I mean yeah, it's just a headache, but it's nothing major. It'll pass," Lyra replied. However, as they continued to walk, Lyra could feel the throbbing increasing. She didn't understand why this was happening. After all, it was like Sharnid said, it's not like training was extreme today.

"Don't pull a Nina now," Sharnid warned. While he seemed to say it in a carefree way, Lyra could tell he was being serious. Lyra couldn't help but feel annoyed. Reina had noticed Lyra sleeping in, especially since she had to wake up the younger student numerous times. Of course Reina would go to Nina to express her concerns. However, why didn't Nina say anything, that confused Lyra.

It was while she was thinking of her headache that she realized a familiar bald military arts captain walking by.

"Look, there's your secret admirer," Lyra remarked, nudging Sharnid.

He responded with a smirk. "...He's still the same octopus as always," Sharnid said to Dinn's back.

Lyra smiled at the comment, but her expression straightened, as she watched Dinn head off. She couldn't help but feel off with his comments. It was very obvious he still held a deep grudge against Sharnid. Lyra knew why, but she felt there was more to their history together.

Lyra wasn't planning on prying. As long as she knew enough to figure out how to fight Dalsienna, that's all that mattered.

They were suddenly surrounded by pink petals. "Aw, Felli, if you're finding us, that means there's something important," Sharnid pretended to whine, though he was obviously disappointed.

"Please, if anything I'm saving Lyra from your reckless antics," Fellia's voice came through the petals.

"Reckless? I was actually taking Lyra to the arcade," Sharnid protested, now pretending to be offended.

"It appears I have to save her from childish antics as well,"The way Felli said it, she was obviously disappointed with Lyra's decision to tag along to the arcade, but it's not like that was a wrong thing, right? Lyra didn't get it, but she decided to step in before Felli got too annoyed.

"Did you need me, Felli?"

"Layfon needs to speak with you," She replied, "he said he would be waiting by the benches near your apartment." With that last part, the pink petals were gone. Lyra watched as the petals disappeared in the distance. She couldn't help but find it strange.

"Well, it seems Layfon has decided to steal you from me," Sharnid sighed.

Lyra jumped at his words, trying to understand what he meant to which Sharnid laughed.

"I'm only teasing you. Besides, it must be important, if he's asking Felli to find you," he echoed Lyra's thoughts, especially since Felli wasn't a fan of using her abilities. For Layfon to ask her, meant that it couldn't wait.

Sharnid then let out a yawn, lifting his arms up to stretch, "well, you better get going. I guess I'll just find something else to do," he sighed.

Lyra couldn't help but feel bad. He really did seem to look forwards to it, but then again, Lyra wasn't sure just how accurate that was. She still couldn't understand him asking her to the arcade, especially since never once before had he mentioned the arcade. Then again... She thought of what Gorneo had said. Businesses were constantly changing with students leaving every year and new students coming in, so it's quite possible someone decided to open one.

"Hey! We'll go after the match! It'll be our way to celebrate," she decided.

Sharnid smirked at that, "sounds like a plan. Well you better hurry off now."

"See ya," Lyra waved as soon started out of the city towards her apartment. Thankfully the walk wasn't a long one. She was on the main path towards the complex. That was when she saw Layfon sitting on the benches. He stood up when he saw her coming.

"Hey there," Lyra greeted him, "I thought you were supposed to be helping with the investigation."

"I was," Layfon nodded, "but I realized there was something I needed to say to you," he explained.

Lyra tilted her head, "really? What's that?"

The two were standing between two benches now, Lyra was partially leaning against one of the benches now and Layfon began to speak.

"Well, I really wanted to say sorry for all the secrets. Sharnid did say how you weren't happy about that," he started.

Lyra nodded, "it's still weird, but I guess I can see why you didn't want it to seem like everyone was involved, even though they were."

"It was supposed to be just me, and then of course Nina ended up involving herself along with Sharnid, who knew for a while and of course being the president's sister, Fell-" He was cut off by Lyra shaking her head.

"Hey, it's fine. No need to justify. Now why was it that you were asking for me, and where's Felli?" She asked, expecting the psychokinesis to be in the area, but she wasn't. Not even her petals.

"Felli is back at her place," Layfon explained, "I needed to talk to you about the situation, but before I do, I need to ask. Is everything okay?"

Lyra was not expecting the question and she was about to ask when Layfon continued, "we know that you haven't been feeling well. It's because of Reina, but I needed to ask, you're not overworking yourself, are you?"

She was annoyed that people were asking this question now and it was all because Reina had to be concerned. Lyra leaned back against the benches, her hands resting on the edge to balance her, "look. Yes, I haven't been feeling well lately, and it does happen a lot more when I've trained, but I promise you. I haven't been overworking myself. If anything, I feel I haven't trained that much to begin with," she confessed.

"I know, I know," Layfon put his hands out in defense. He then waited a bit before standing straight again with his hands at his side, "I ask because this isn't just a platoon match anymore," he explained.

Lyra blinked, "what do you mean?"

"Actually there may be more trouble now," Layfon remarked.

Lyra crossed her arms. "That is..."

"The Salinvan Guidance Mercenary Gang," was all Layfon said.

Lyra jumped hearing the name, "what are they doing here?"

Layfon shrugged, "apparently it has something to do with the Haikizouku."

Lyra blinked. Now she was beginning to understand things.

"Captain gave me permission to be fully involved in this investigation when she learned the mercenary group was here rather than training," Layfon explained. "It was also for this reason that I had asked Captain not to say anything to you, especially due to the questions you have."

That made Lyra angry, "and why would you do that?"

Lyra frowned, "that's not for you to decide! Just because I'm not feeling well, you decide to keep this entire situation a secret from me?"

Her voice rising caused Layfon to flinch, "Lyra, wait. Please try to understand. It was so you could recover properly," Layfon tried to insist.

"But what about the captain then, huh?" Lyra demanded, "she was in the same explosion as me?"

"Lyra, please try to listen," Layfon insisted, "I only met them two days ago. Unfortunately their leader had other interests."

Lyra decides to calm down, knowing what Layfon was thinking. While she didn't appreciate the secrecies, now they knew and so she would forgive them this time.

"I'm sorry, Lyra," Lyra shook her head, "don't worry about it. I appreciate the concerns you all have, but I'll be fine."

Layfon nodded his head, slowly.

"But, on that note, I think I'm going to go eat something and then rest a bit."

Layfon nodded his head, "that's a good idea. I'm going to go back to help the dispatch crew. See you tomorrow," Layfon waved and stood up straight. Lyra watched as he started to head down the path and then soon she stood straight and headed inside as well. She really did want to rest now since a headache had started while out, talking to Layfon.

Lyra couldn't help but think about what Layfon said to her.

The Salinvan Guidance Mercenaries were there... Just what did that mean for tomorrow?