A New Step

Beep, beep—beep, beep—

A communicator suddenly rang in a classroom at the Academy that no one could detect.

Students lingering in a classroom was nothing unusual.

What was unusual was the strange assortment of things on the desks.

They looked utterly out of place at Star Torch Academy.

A vivid red gourd, a small bottle of unidentified Black Mud, and an Otherworldly Flower glowing red and pulsing with musical notes.

Tap, tap, tap.

"I hear the plan failed?"

A petite girl with long gray twin tails paced the classroom as she answered the call.

The tone she used sent a chill down the spine.

She sounded nothing like a student in the prime of youth.

She sounded more like a cunning old fox.

Only now, that fox wore the skin of a docile sheep.

"Society President, you know how quickly Mo Bai has grown stronger. Naturally, I was no match for him."

The man on the other end spoke with an ingratiating laugh. Mo Bai or Rover would have recognized his voice at once.

It was Christopher, the Playwright who was elegant and mad in equal measure.

And since he called the person on the other end President, she was naturally another "old friend" Mo Bai and Rover knew.

"Oh? I think you let him go because you wanted to keep drawing material and inspiration from him."

The President of the Remnant Star Society, currently in disguise, shook her head helplessly.

Her Society Overseers were generally obedient, but they always had their own little interests and whims.

Well, as their elder who had lived for countless years, she supposed she had to indulge her underlings.

"Haha, you must be joking, President."

Christopher's voice remained respectful on the other end.

"Never mind. That little fellow may be a visitor from another