The Simulacrum

~Chapter 155~ Part 3

"Victory is ours! Let our children, and our children's children, know that this is the day upon which we successfully fought emerged in triumph! Our hard work and tireless preparations weren't in vain! In the words of the great Julius Caesar, we veni, we vidi, and then we… um…"

It was at this point that the Celestial girl, brandishing a small pastry fork like it was a royal sceptre, faltered and hurriedly whispered to the guy on her left.

"Josh, support!"

"What?" Joshua looked up from his cake with a confused expression. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"Boo! How can you not pay attention at a time like this!?"

"Vici," Judy supplied the answer from my side. "The word you're looking for is 'vici'."

"Right, that one!" Angie flashed a grin and raised her fork into the air again, only to then freeze and let it back down with a disappointed moan. "Mou… What's the point? The heat of the moment is all gone."

"For the record, it wasn't terrible for an impromptu speech," I commented even as I was wiping some whipped cream off my princess's nose. How she always managed to get something on there was a mystery, but it was cute, so I didn't mind. Once I balled up the napkin and threw it into a nearby bin, I turned to Angie again. "Just make sure you don't flub the end of it when you'll have to do it in front of a real crowd."

"Don't worry. Grandpa Deus said he'll take care of those things," she replied with a grin.

Meanwhile, my sisters finished browsing the menu and Snowy let out a troubled sound.

"Should we buy something for Amelia too? It feels wrong to do this without her."

"Good thinking." I raised a hand to get the attention of the gang. "Does anyone know what the class rep's favourite dessert is?"

"Cheesecake"/"Strawberry shortcake."

The childhood friend couple responded at once, and after a long beat, they frowned at each other in unison.

"What are you talking about? Ammy always liked cheesecake."

"What? No!" Angie protested with altogether too much outrage. "She always eats strawberry shortcakes!"

"When's that 'always'?"

"Whenever we eat sweets, duh?"

"Then how come I've never seen her eat any, but she always eats cheesecake in the school cafeteria?"

"Nonsense! She loves strawberries, I tell you!"

While the two of them descended into another of their little spats, I couldn't help but smile. I liked it when the atmosphere was relaxed like this, and even though we were in public, I didn't bother to put an end to the unfolding argument. In a way, that was also part of why this situation felt so nostalgic, so it would've been a shame to interrupt it.

It was Friday afternoon. The last school day before the spring break and the end of the week-long exam period, and it showed on everyone's faces around the table. We were currently sitting inside one of Angie's many 'favourite confectioneries' in the fancy old-town part of Timaeus. The shop was decorated to look like a 50s diner, complete with the checker-board floor, retro red-and-white furniture, and it even had a jukebox next to the counter. It was only there for decoration though, unfortunately.

Despite the old-fashioned ambience, this was a pretty upscale establishment, with prices to match. I couldn't argue with the quality of the food though, and since this was a special occasion to 'celebrate', I figured it was fine to spend an extra Jen or fifty for the novelty every once in a while. Not only that, but for once I wasn't the one paying the bill, since the Celestial girl graciously volunteered to take care of it.

I was occupying one side of the large square table side with Elly, Josh and Angie were sitting opposite to me, while my sisters were occupying the right side. By process of elimination, Judy was on my left, having that whole side for herself, and I had to admit that the vacant seat next to her did feel a bit too empty. Let's just hope that once the class rep's floaty orb business was resolved, we'd have the opportunity to sit down like this once again.

Not that our little gang wouldn't have lots of opportunities to spend time together in the coming days, but this was one thing, and that was another one entirely. Sharing a table with everyone and eating sweets like this was a tradition, and one I was hoping to keep alive as long as possible.

"Strawberry cheesecake!"

"… Excuse me?" I blurted out in surprise, my eyes automatically moving back to the childhood friend couple.

"Grandpa Deus told me that squabbling about something so insignificant is unbecoming of me, so we came to a compromise," Angie explained with a perfect poker face. "Like responsible adults."

"Where?" Josh asked, raising his hand over his eyes and looking around, causing his girlfriend's expression to crack.

"Oh, that's it, mister! You're sooo getting shot in the butt during the training trip!"

"S-Speaking of which," Snow interjected to change the topic before the two could get into another argument and raised a hand over her head. "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, at two sharp," Judy responded in my stead between bites from her fancy chocolate cake.

"Yes! I'm so pumped!" Penny chimed in next, and true to her words, she looked pretty enthusiastic. Maybe too much, even. "It's been ages since the last time we had a training camp! And this time, it's not just the Squires, but the whole family!"

"Um… Right…" Snowy nodded a tad uncertainly and subtly glanced my way. That told me she was unsure about something.

"Speak your mind, sis."

"I… um… We're going to leave the city for more than a week, right?"

"That's the plan."

"I know we talked about this, but I'm worried about Tajana, and…"

"Sorry, but I have to stop you there," I cut her off with a raised palm. "The number of people coming to this trip has already ballooned way beyond my original plans, so we can't take her too." Snowy looked down, so I quickly added, "Don't worry too much. We bought her that DVD box set to keep her busy, didn't we? And I told the Fauns and Roland to keep an eye on her, so nothing should happen to her."

"I know, just…"

"If it's Uncle Roland, then it's fine!" Penny tried to reassure her by rubbing her back. "If Brother says so, then everything's going to be okay. He's usually always right."

That was a bit of a contradiction, but before I could point it out, Elly let out an amused giggle, causing my knightly sister to double down, as if she just said something profound. I didn't argue with her, mainly because my attention was drawn to Josh.

"Now that you mention it, how many of us are going on this training trip, anyway?"

"There's us, which makes…" Angie quickly pointed at us one by one. "Eight, including Ammy."

"Then there's our… um… parents."

Snowy was still a bit hesitant about calling Morgana and Arnwald that, but just the fact that she could do so in public meant our little family project was proceeding rather smoothly. In retrospect, it was a shame I wasn't the one who came up with the idea, and instead, it was forced onto us by Savir's machinations, but what can you do? In fact, should I thank her for it the next time we meet?

…

Nah. If I did that, she would just get emboldened by it, and that was the last thing I wanted, now that she finally settled down and started conspiring all the time. As a matter of fact, it was probably best I kept her as far away from our little group as possible to make sure she wouldn't get up to any aggravating shenanigans.

"That's ten," Angie continued to count, showing off all her fingers. Seeing that, Elly also raised her hand.

"My mom and dad are coming too."

"Okay, twelve then," the Celestial girl muttered, and bumped her boyfriend with her shoulder. The two of them locked eyes, and after a few vague gestures and brow-wriggles, he let out a resigned sigh and put two fingers next to Angie's ten. "Yes, twelve!"

"My parents are also coming," Judy chimed in next, followed by a wide yawn she was a bit late to cover up. "Sorry. I haven't slept much in the past few days."

"Yeah, the exam season is the worst."

Angie's voice was full of sympathy, and while at first it seemed like Judy was going to correct her mistaken assumption, she ultimately didn't do so. Maybe because in the meantime Josh's brows descended into a frown.

"Okay, time out. I get why Dame Morgana and Sir Arnwald are coming along. We'll need them to help us train and whatever. I guess Elly's parents could help too, but what are Judy's mom and dad going to do?"

"You'll see," I answered mysteriously, and while he obviously wasn't satisfied with my answer, he soon relented.

Though not before sending me a look that said 'I know that you're up to something, and you know I know you're up to something, and now I know you know I know you're up to something, so watch it.', or something to that effect. It was quite astonishing how much a few simple looks could communicate between friends, wasn't it?

It didn't last long though, as he was once again bumped by Angie, and so he had to extend four fingers with just a hint of exasperation.

"I also arranged for Mr Walker to come with us," I added, and while the guy automatically extended one more finger, he also cocked his head to the side.

"Him too? Why?"

"To look after Amelia," Judy answered just as she finished up her cake, and after pondering for a few seconds (whether it was about the topic at hand, or to order seconds, I couldn't tell), she amended, "Also, he's going to be there in case there's a diplomatic incident."

"Judy!" the princess hissed. "Now you're the one jinxing it!"

"Wait, why would there be a diplomatic incident," Josh blurted out as if any other kind of incident was much more reasonable and narrowed his eyes at me. "Where exactly are we going?"

"It's a surprise," I told him with a not-at-all cheeky grin.

Before he could grill me any further though, Angie clapped and declared, "So, fifteen in total! That's almost as many as we had during the trip to the hot springs!" Her eyes lit up (not literally; I felt like it was important to point that out) with realization and she clapped again. "Wait! Are we going there again? That would explain the…"

I hurriedly put a finger in front of my lips, and she just as quickly covered hers.

"Explain the what?" Josh levelled a suspicious gaze at his girlfriend, and then at me. "Seriously, what are you not telling us?"

"Don't worry, pal. It's nothing nefarious," I reassured him, but it somehow had the opposite effect.

"Is this another one of those 'Plan E' situations?"

"Nah, it's not that complicated. I just really want to make this a surprise," I answered honestly. "I've been working on this for a while, you know? I don't want to ruin everything at the last second."

In no particular order, Josh harrumphed, Angie giggled, Judy subtly rolled her eyes, while my sisters remained wholly confused. As for Elly, she was tuned out of the conversation because she was busy browsing the menu. Bless her heart.

"Fine, let's just skim over the topic then," Josh grumbled and crossed his arms. "So, just to summarize: Tomorrow, at two in the afternoon, at New Camelot."

"Haven," Penny interjected, but the guy summarily dismissed her.

"Whatever. The base. Do we need to bring anything?"

"Just yourself," I answered flippantly. "I already took care of the lodgings, the equipment, as well as the clothes, so just bring your toiletry and whatever else you want."

"Game console?" Angie asked right away, and my Knightly sister perked up at once.

"Portable?"

"Yeah," she nodded, and they both turned inquisitive eyes at me.

"Charging the batteries might be a bit tricky," I admitted, and it made Josh click his tongue.

"Okay, so it's not the hot springs. They had proper electrical outlets." After saying that, he mused for a while before proposing, "Five Jens on us going to some remote rainforest in the middle of Peru or something."

"Why Peru?"

Hearing Agnie's question, the guy shrugged.

"It sounds like something Leo would do."

"My money is on an uninhabited island," the Celestial girl proposed. "It makes perfect sense, and there's circumstantial evidence for it."

"But if it's uninhabited, then how could there be a diplomatic incident?" Snowy commented, and it caused the childhood friend couple to re-evaluate their options.

I just chuckled meaningfully and enjoyed the company. I couldn't wait to see their expressions tomorrow, but first…

"Leo? Hey, Leo?" Elly called out to me and pulled me over to take a look at the menu. "What's a key lime pie."

"Don't know, never had it."

"It's a meme," Judy chimed in on the side.

"What's it about?"

"I'm… not entirely sure," she admitted, and my draconic girlfriend let out a soft hum.

"In that case…" She raised a hand over her head and flagged down a waiter. "Three servings of key lime pie, please!"

"Wait, for me too?" my other girlfriend spoke in alarm and pointed at her plate. "This is already my second serving."

"Don't worry. I have on good authority that girls have a second stomach for sweets," I jested, but Judy responded one hundred percent seriously.

"Sorry Chief, but mine only works for sandwiches."

"We'll make it work!" Elly declared with gusto, and I couldn't help but lean back in my seat and drink in the atmosphere.

I wished my life could be peaceful like this all the time… but it couldn't be, because we needed 'drama'. Not today though, so I felt content with just hanging out, relaxing, and getting to the bottom of this whole 'key lime pie' mystery.