“So when you said you were busy, you were just pying video games?” Scale pinched her brow. Her wistful eyes felt hollow; their blue colors deadened to near bck.

  Sarah squirmed under the questioning. Her face turned bright red and she couldn't meet anyone’s eyes. “Umm,” she tried to respond but ended up just making filler sounds.

  “Yup,” said Alyssa, chiming in. “She ignored over 100 calls. 100 Calls. From. Me.”

  “Ah.” Scale looked at the mousey girl and sighed. “Sorry, but I can’t save you from this. Deal with the consequences of your actions.”

  “P-please!” Sarah begged.

  “Scale has her own consequences she needs to deal with, Sarah.” Alyssa’s smile was terrifying. She looked like a horror movie monster. This time it was Scale whose shoulders shrank back.

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” said Scale, trying to dismiss the changed aggro.

  “Not that big of a deal?” Alyssa’s voice spiked at the end. She smmed a paper down on the table. “You’re facing a css action wsuit and it’s not a big deal?”

  “I mean, technically they’re suing the Association, not me.”

  “Wait wait wait,” Sarah stood up. “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t—”

  “She opened a Gate in a cssroom full of children and made them fight monsters.”

  “Scale what the hell!”

  “It’s not like they were in any danger! I don’t see the problem here. With my magic all their injuries healed in seconds.”

  “Fourteen kids have, and I am quoting a professional shrink here, extreme PTSD.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Seven others suffered delusions of grandeur and injured themselves in subsequent practical lessons, acting as if they were invincible.”

  “C-conjecture. They could just be lying to excuse poor performance.”

  “Three students are literally missing.”

  “Ah.” Scale looked to the side. “Those three were confirmed to be outside the auditorium during the lesson. Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

  The room cooled off for a moment as the conversation died. The three women were sitting on the edge of the bed in various levels of disarray.

  “Alyssa,” said Sarah with a pleading tone. “Can we stop fighting since a bigger fuckup has appeared?”

  “No.” Alyssa shook her head with a grim smile. “I’m not done with you yet, either. Do you have any idea how worried—”

  The long rant started, but the two other people in the room weren’t listening to it. Instead they had a different idea. Their brainwaves synced. Scale turned to look at Sarah. Sarah turned to look at Scale. Both of them nodded simultaneously.

  “Truce?”

  “Truce.”

  Two portals appeared underneath their feet and they vanished from the apartment, leaving a red-faced Alyssa behind. Despite the soundproof barrier, her scream could be heard throughout the entire building. A flock of pigeons were startled from the roof.

  Sarah and Scale arrived in front of a small house on the north side of the city. The brick siding was fake and looked tacky. The building’s rectangur shape made it look like a coke machine and the boarded windows only added to the “majesty”.

  “Where is this?” Asked Scale.

  “One of my hideouts. You should y low for a while,” said Sarah. “You can stay here. Despite the exterior, the inside is quite cozy. It’s also fully stocked.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m going to the Association. The Corp representing the suit against you is Green Stone Securities. They’re not someone we can handle lightly. Theo is going to be in a rage.”

  For a moment Scale thought that Sarah looked kind of cool. Unfortunately, she ruined that cool image a second ter when she said, “I’m going to pretend to work and py games in my office at headquarters. Alyssa will cool off in a few hours, I’m sure of it—”

  “What?” Scale coughed. “A few hours? Aren’t you married to her?”

  “?” Sarah tilted her head in confusion.

  “Ah, have you never seen her when she’s really pissed off before?”

  “I’ve seen Alyssa mad plenty of times.”

  “I don’t mean mad. I mean genuinely pissed off. She is going to be blowing steam for at least a week.”

  “R-really?”

  “Listen, Sarah, here’s what you need to do.” Scale waved Sarah closer as she started to rey the perfect pn to make up with her sister. It was in both of their best interests if Alyssa cooled off. “Sign in at the Association and pretend to work. While pretending to work, buy some tickets to the next Modern Orange Concert—front row or something almost as good—and then get her some orchids. Do not get roses. Hey, look at me.”

  Scale grabbed Sarah’s head and made her make eye contact. The gravitas of the moment weighed heavily on both of them.

  “Do not get her roses. Do you understand?” Scale repeated the instruction.

  Sarah nodded. Her cheeks were puffy but her eyes were serious.

  “Good girl.” Scale gently pet Sarah’s cheek. “You might want to get her some peanut butter fudge, too, if you can find it homemade. Don’t get the processed shit.”

  “Got it!”

  “If you succeed in this mission, soldier, both of us might just get out of this mess with our lives.”

  “Yes sir! I will complete this mission for the safety of our great house!”

  The conversation suddenly turned into a period drama set in a distant war. Both girls radiated immaturity and this only furthered their spiral into madness. Scale only stopped her nonsense when she sensed someone walking towards them.

  “Ah.” Scale’s sixth sense tingled. She had a terrible premonition. She tried to rush into the hideout but—

  “This is Hana the Gossip coming at you live!”

  A familiar voice raised Scale’s hackles. Goosebumps freckled her arms. She turned towards Sarah who was, unfortunately, too caught up in the previous delusions to notice the oncoming threat.

  “Sarah!” Scale realized an ugly truth. One of the two of them was going to have to face the music… And it wasn’t going to be her. “Godspeed, Sarah!”

  Scale disappeared into the safehouse, leaving her sister-in-w behind. She moved too fast to be seen by Hana or her camera as they turned the corner.

  “W-wait!” Sarah snapped out of her fugue state only to realize a camera was now being pushed into her face.

  “Hero Portal!” Hana’s voice sounded like a woodchipper. “Do you have some time for an interview?”

  “I-I—”

  “Excellent!” Sarah’s timid mumbling was quickly bowled over. She was about to be dragged away.

  Scale watched it happen through a crack in the doorframe. A single tear ran down her cheek. Her fists trembled. She closed her eyes and tried to let the moment pass, but she just couldn’t do it.

  Scale was many things, but she wasn’t someone who failed to see the bigger picture. Sarah had a mission to accomplish, and for the peace of both their houses, Sarah couldn’t be allowed to fall here! A date with the devil was a small price to pay to save a comrade in the doghouse.

  Scale opened the door and stepped outside.

  “Hana!” Scale’s voice sounded like the chime of a bell.

  “P-Princess!” Hana almost jumped out of her skin with joy at seeing Scale.

  “Portal has some important business at the Association. How about you and I have a chat instead?”

  Sarah’s mousey face turned towards Scale in genuine shock. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She was shaking like a fawn.

  “Sure,” said Hana as she started dancing in pce. Her feet pitter-pattered like a dog at feeding time. The drone camera following her turned towards Scale.

  Now out of view from the stream, at least for a brief moment, Sarah performed a military salute. She mouthed the words ‘I will not forget your sacrifice’ before she vanished into thin air.

  The stream’s chat went wild upon seeing Scale. The recent scandal about the attack at the Awakeners’ School was fresh on the minds of everyone, and now the named culprit was trembling live on air. The schadenfreude was delicious.

  —Is this for real?

  —Streamer caught her! Hug her thigh! Kiss her (Comment Deleted)

  —[Bald Emote][Fire Emote][Chibi Dragon Emote]

  “Wow! Chat is going crazy for you, Princess!” Hana’s obnoxious voice made Scale flinch.

  “Ah, hah,” Scale ughed sheepishly. She rubbed the back of her head.

  “What are you doing here near the tile factory?” Hana smelled a story. Her eyes narrowed and gleamed in the mid-morning light.

  “What are you doing here near the tile factory?” Scale turned the question back.

  Hana ughed. “Okay okay~ I know a nice cafe near here. Why don’t we go sit down and have a nice, girthy interview there?”

  “You could have used any other word.” Scale sighed. “So why did you pick girthy?”

  “Hey, who’s the professional interviewer here!?”

  “Ah.” Scale gave up. “Sure. Let’s go to the cafe. But you’re buying.”

  “Of course!" Hana turned to the side and frowned. She was staring at a holographic screen. "Hey, mods! Mods! Ban that guy who said our guest is built like a brick shit house!”

  “I’m literally petite!” Scale snapped.

  “Well, maybe in this form.”

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”

  After a short walk Scale wanted to pull her hair out. She knelt on the sidewalk in front of the ‘Cute Dragon Maid Cafe’ and felt like dying. Why were there chibi versions of her dragon form painted on the sign? Why were there cats everywhere? Why were the girls working inside dressed in maid outfits with hoods that folded over their heads to make a dragon-like head shape? How was this even legal? Who would even want to come here? Why were there tons of stuffed animal versions of Scale?

  “Just so you know, you don’t own the trademark on blue-eyed white dragons.” Hana chimed in at the perfect time to push the simmering Scale over the edge.

  ‘Maybe I should just blow it all away…’