Dark, who had no idea his mind had drifted, jerked his head up — and found Senior Pandora's face right there, close enough to touch.
A faint sweetness drifted into his nose and pulled him back to himself. He took a half step back on reflex. "Senior, is the experiment finished?"
Pandora shook her head, a trace of regret in it. "Not yet. I'll go back and think it over for a couple of days... let's do this again on Friday. Will you have time?"
Dark considered it briefly, then nodded. "Friday it is."
The two of them cleared away the leftovers of the experiment, packed the bottles and jars back into her bag, and left the laboratory.
The moon hung high, its light spilling everywhere, and the Castle's corridors held a soft, almost phosphorescent haze.
Walking shoulder to shoulder, the pair looked like a golden boy and jade girl stepped straight out of a fairy tale. Every passerby who saw them sighed over it.
At the fork where the paths split toward the Magic House tower and the Noble House tower, both of them stopped at once.
Dark spoke first. "Well, Senior, this is where we part."
Pandora smiled. "You won't walk me to my tower?"
Dark shrugged. "I'd like someone to walk me back to mine, too."
Pandora laughed out loud. "I'm teasing. Good night."
Dark raised a hand and waved. "Good night."
…
Back in the dormitory, Dark didn't keep chewing over his senior's secret, but the fusion experiment they'd run that day had him thoroughly hooked.
Investigating the difference between Magic Guide Spirits that could serve as fusion material and those that could not.
If she truly succeeded and extracted that "difference," could one then forge a Magic Guide Spirit usable as fusion material on purpose, by design?
Dark had managed to forge a Gatomon usable as fusion material, but that rested on the peculiar nature of Digimon — and on a little luck.
Much like Senior Pandora's own fusible Magic Guide Spirit, which had broadly speaking been forged by luck as well.
And in cases like that, you were very likely to end up with exactly one Magic Guide Spirit that qualified as fusion material, while the other components meant to pair with it could never be assembled no matter what you tried.
In short, an extremely awkward position.
If Senior Pandora wasn't doing this purely for academic research, then odds were she'd run into precisely that awkward position herself.
Which was why she wanted to solve it through study.
Dark turned it over for a while, then shook his head.
The techniques Pandora had displayed in the laboratory were simply too refined. He wanted to learn them, but he had no idea where to even begin.
"Maybe once my ladder of knowledge is built high enough, it'll all click at once?"
Dark smiled to himself and threw himself back into his own studies.
…
Quiet days always pass quickly.
Before he knew it, it was Friday afternoon.
Dark went to the Library again to meet his senior, and together they returned to the same laboratory to continue the unfinished experiment.
Once Pandora had summoned the Runescript Lizard, she called him over to help lay out the Barrosnangel Array Diagram.
He'd barely started before he noticed that this Barrosnangel Array Diagram was completely different from the last one, and he asked about it.
Pandora explained with a smile that the Barrosnangel Array Diagram was actually a variable diagram, calculated according to a specific set of rules from factors such as time, the stars, and geography — so it came out different every single time.
Dark smacked his forehead and kept the questions coming.
Pandora answered every one.
The result was that laying out the diagram ate up far more time than before.
It took them a good forty minutes to finish.
Then, following Pandora's instructions, Dark summoned Bastemon on the spot once more.
That gave Pandora a fresh batch of information, and she immediately plunged into her cycle: compare and analyze, mix a potion, record the diagrams and script, compare and analyze again.
Dark had come prepared. This time, once he'd set the Trash Slime and Ditto to work, he pulled out a book and settled in to read with real enjoyment.
But the experiment ran longer than he'd expected.
Maybe because it was Friday, Pandora didn't stop even when the night grew deep.
The hour hand on the wall clock swung from nine to ten, then eleven, then twelve. Curfew came and went, and Pandora carried on with her experiment, methodical as ever.
Now and then Dark looked up at the busy line of her profile, and at last he began to understand how she had become the top student of the fourth year.
Then again, in the eyes of his own year-mates, wasn't this exactly why Dark Demon stood head and shoulders above the rest of the first year?
Nobody's success is a castle built in the air.
One rung, one footprint at a time — that's how it actually works.
So Dark didn't remind her of the hour. He simply stayed in the laboratory, silently keeping her company as she worked.
At twenty-three minutes past two in the morning, Pandora poured a freshly mixed potion over the Runescript Lizard's disc, drew a new set of diagram-and-script information from it — and after comparing the results, snapped abruptly to full alertness.
Her face lit up, and her hands moved a notch faster as she blended the next batch.
In no time at all she had reproduced a potion identical to the previous one, poured it over the Runescript Lizard's disc again, obtained another set of information, and analyzed it back and forth against the first.
When that analysis was done, she repeated the whole thing once more, her expression brightening further.
It was nearly three before she mixed two more identical bottles, wrote the formula down by hand, and finally let her hands come to rest.
"Not bad luck at all. I never thought it'd take barely over a month to get a result!"
Pandora turned around and stretched her arms wide across her chest, thoroughly exhilarated.
Dark felt the same rush. "So the experiment succeeded?"
Pandora shook her head again. "I wouldn't call it success. Only a first-stage result."
Then she lifted a bottle and gave it a little shake, smiling. "I found one particular oscillation buried in there, and I've blended a potion whose oscillation closely matches it. If this pans out, I'm going to name it the 'Fusion Factor.'"
Dark's curiosity sparked. "Can this 'Fusion Factor' let you deliberately forge a Magic Guide Spirit usable as fusion material?"
Pandora shrugged. "Probably not. But all I'm after is nudging the odds up a little. Here — this bottle's yours. And the formula."
Dark looked at the potion, and didn't bother pretending to refuse. "Could I even brew something like this at my level?"
Pandora blinked. "The technique isn't the hard part. The materials might get expensive, though."
"Fair enough." Dark accepted the bottle. "Then let's call this my payment."
"A down payment," Pandora said. "If I get the chance to refine it further, you'll get the real payment then."
"I feel like I'm making out like a bandit here," Dark said.
Pandora laughed. "I'm the one making out like a bandit. Plenty of people own a fusion spirit, sure, but hardly any of them are as stable as yours. Even mine isn't that stable."
"Without you, Senior, there's no way I'd have produced something like this," Dark said. "The 'Fusion Factor'... it might just bring me some luck."
That piqued her interest. "You already know how you're going to use it?"
Dark gave a small smile. "I've worked it out, yes, but I'm still one material short. If I can't gather it before the end of term, I'll probably wait until I'm home to use it."
Pandora thought for a second and made a guess at what he was planning. She asked outright, "What material are you missing?"
"A light-attribute material of sufficient purity," Dark said.
Pandora considered, then turned and started rummaging through her bag. "Hold on."
Dark's eyes narrowed.
The moment the words had left his mouth, he'd realized he was very likely about to be kept by a woman.
Was being a kept man shameful?
…It was.
So Dark picked his discarded dignity back up, fitted it neatly into place, and watched as Senior Pandora dug a white bead out of her bag.
At a glance the bead was utterly ordinary — no carvings on its surface, not even translucent. But if you reached out with your senses, you could catch the faintest breath of light inside it.
"What is this?" Dark asked.
Pandora simply tossed it to him.
Dark caught it and, out of pure habit, fed a thread of magic power into it.
In that instant the dust-dulled pearl blazed with white light so piercing it turned the entire laboratory snow-blind white.
Dark shut his eyes fast, and only opened them again once the bead settled — just in time to catch his senior's stifled snicker.
His face darkened. "So what exactly is this bead?"
"A White Dragon Pearl," Pandora explained. "The smallest one in my stock, admittedly. But if you want it, it'll cost you at least this much."
She held up three fingers.
Dark's eyebrow rose. "Three hundred thousand?"
Pandora froze for a beat. "I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with your sense of value."
Dark stared. "What? Don't tell me it's three million credits?"
Pandora rolled her eyes. "Thirty thousand. I'm only charging you thirty thousand. I know you've got that much. Right?"
"I've got it," Dark said. "But this is a White Dragon Pearl. Really, only thirty thousand?"
"Do you even know what a White Dragon Pearl is?" Pandora shot back.
"A White Dragon Pearl is obviously—" Dark stopped short. For the first time he realized that he genuinely had no idea what a White Dragon Pearl actually was.
Pandora stifled a small yawn. "I knew you'd be like this. The phrase 'dragon pearl' really is seductive. The average person hears it and assumes it's some kind of pearl a dragon grows inside its body — but ask them what kind of pearl, and they can't tell you.
"Of course they can't, because a dragon pearl isn't a crystallization from inside a dragon at all. It's an ore that occurs alongside dragons. The specimens with good form — the smooth, rounded portions of the deposit — those are what we call dragon pearls."
"Dragon pearls carry the breath of dragons. The high-grade ones are steeped in dragon blood over long ages, until the blood grants them a spirit of their own."
"The White Dragon Pearl I'm giving you counts as ordinary quality. No spirit, no special properties. But as a light-attribute supporting material, it's more than sufficient. Also..."
There she paused deliberately and looked straight into Dark's eyes.
"Also what?" Dark said.
Pandora's gaze turned odd. "Also, its affinity with that reverse scale I gave you is excellent."
Dark blinked once and understood at once that she had seen straight through every last one of his intentions.
Left with no other option, he peeled the dignity he'd just refitted right back off. "I want to forge a dragon!"
Pandora wasn't the least bit annoyed. "My Skyvault White Dragon was forged successfully using the highest grade of dragon pearl plus an enormous quantity of dragon scale and dragon blood. If you're hoping to imitate that... I'd be flattered, but it isn't going to work."
Dark smiled. "Of course not. I'm aiming at a different breed of dragon. If it works, you'll be the first to witness it, Senior."
Pandora put on a stern face. "I'll be looking forward to it."
Dark pulled his Academy Card from his card pouch and waved it. "Then let's settle up first."
…
Once the credits were paid, Dark set about helping Senior Pandora tidy the laboratory.
Under academy regulations, students were free to trade with one another, but every trade had to be an exchange of equal value.
Of course, "equal" came with a fuzzy margin.
And where things weren't equal, you could opt for a loan instead — though the limits on lending were written into the regulations too.
In short, every transaction made through an Academy Card was recorded clearly, cutting off unequal dealings as far as possible.
The academy didn't normally audit anyone, but at the end of each school year, in order to judge the Academy Cup, it tallied the credits of every student — and any grossly unfair transaction was dragged into the open.
Applying the principle of refunding the excess and making up the shortfall, some students suddenly found themselves saddled with enormous debts, while others had a fortune drop out of the sky.
It was around half past three when the two of them finally walked out of the laboratory.
But the dormitory tower doors stayed locked until five in the morning. There was no getting in at this hour no matter what.
"Since it's already this late, why don't we find somewhere to look at the stars?" Pandora suggested.
Dark stole a glance at a sky where not a single star remained visible, then said, "How about the roof?"
"Good spot." Pandora's eyes shifted slightly, touched with nostalgia.
She certainly hadn't forgotten that stretch of time spent grilling food with Dark on top of the Castle.
There was no barbecue now, but lying up there on the Castle roof for a while wasn't a bad idea at all.
"Right, you've got the Flying Charm now, haven't you? Let's just go straight up."
With that, Pandora hefted her bag, sprang onto the windowsill, and stepped out — treading empty air as though it were level ground.
Dark took out his Flying Charm and flew out of the Castle after her.
The two of them drifted slowly up to the Castle's roof and landed in their old spot.
Pandora produced a Magic Guide Card and summoned from it a wind that seemed to have a mind of its own, and in one breath it blew every speck of dust and scrap of debris off the roof.
Looking at the instantly spotless rooftop, Dark took out Trash Slime and Greed III, grinning. "Senior, I have something here that can carry you to Lust!"
Pandora's interest was well and truly caught. "Show me."
Dark smiled mysteriously, summoned Trash Slime right there, and evolved it into Greed Slime II.
Then he tipped himself backward and sank entirely into the body of Greed Slime II.
Pandora hesitated a moment, but seeing how blissful he looked, she followed suit and lay down beside him — and her whole body was promptly enveloped inside Greed Slime II as well.
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