Yari couldn't have known the reason why Solomon wanted to know such a thing.
Just the same, Solomon couldn't have known how his request would set Yari off.
This lapse in prior knowledge complicated the situation dramatically.
"…Who sent you?"
Solomon looked up, perplexed. "What-"
Yari grabbed Solomon by his skull and applied a force beyond her strength and frame.
Her grip was as firm and unbending as steel.
"I will not repeat myself. Who has sent you here?!"
Yari hurled Solomon across the room before he could answer.
His body slammed into the wall forcefully, shaking the entire room from the shock.
Solomon recovered quickly and got to his feet.
But before he could summon a weapon to defend himself, Yari was in his face again, grabbing him by the neck.
"Tell me who has sent you here! Now, boy!"
Solomon clenched his fist, and his sword appeared in his hand.
He stepped forward, his teeth clenched so tight that they cracked under the pressure.
"You crazy fucking-"
"You dare... call me crazy...?"
Large barbed projectiles of water pierced Solomon's arms and nailed him to the wall.
As a roar was rested from his throat, Yari approaches him again with a woman made of water behind her.
"I gave you the chance to tell me what you knew. My patience has already worn out."
Solomon roared as he slowly ripped his arms off their barbs. Yari was stunned.
Before he could get free, she tapped on his forehead a single time, and instantly pacified him.
Solomon's eyes rolled into the back of his head. His body went limp and hung on the wall like a decoration.
Water began to flow from Solomon's eyes. More than any human or titan-blood could realistically produce.
Within the waters flowing from Solomon's eyes, there were a series of moving images.
The first image Yari saw was a burst of flight. It was immediately accompanied by a desperate weeping.
The perspective shifted.
Yari saw… something that she could not explain.
It looked like a woman, but not any race of being that she had ever come across.
Just looking at it for too long sent a chill down her spine like nothing she had ever known.
Even Nereid was petrified at the sight of the vision. She fled shortly after the figure came into view and did not return, no matter how often Yari called for her.
This had never happened to her before. Her companion was usually so obedient.
"Nereid! You-"
More visions streamed through the water, flowing around Yari so fast she could barely process all that she witnessed.
But as the waters raced by, she learned firsthand that the strange woman she had seen would not be the most outlandish thing she learned about her student that day.
-
"Don't you dare. I'm not fucking around with you!"
Bansha sat defiantly in Raizel's helmet.
The rest of his armor pointed at the flaming hound with a cautionary finger.
"I know you understand me, creature! This is not amusing under any circumstances!"
Bansha growled and lifted it's back leg.
"Cretin!"
Raizel dove for his helmet and flung Bansha out of it.
The cerberus sailed across the room and landed on Solomon's bed.
"Oh, thank fuck..."
Raizel reattached his helmet to his body and sighed in relief.
He looked toward Bansha, who sat atop the bed wagging it's tail as if it hadn't done a thing wrong.
"We've been over this! When I'm watching you, you do your business in the tub like a civilized pup!"
There was a knock at the door that drew the attention of both inhabitants.
Bansha barked at the foreign sound and, with some difficulty due to it's small frame, jumped off Solomon's bed to run at the door.
Raizel only groaned as he followed behind.
"...I hope it's the dean. And I hope he needs a new fur pelt, because I will happily offer you as a bribe so that Solomon can get good grades."
Raizel trudged forward to open the door, but his expectation was completely different from the reality.
"Oh... kind greetings, noble spirit."
Raizel nearly lost control of his armor when Nila arrived at the door without warning.
She looked down at the flaming dog baring it's teeth at her and backed away. Her hand naturally went for her sword. "Why is there a Cerberus here!?!"
Raizel snatched up the creature just as it started to charge at the love of his life.
"I-It's Solomon's little pet... I'm afraid that it isn't entirely housebroken."
Evidence of his claim came when Bansha began biting on the metal spikes of his armor. Raizel was forced to ignore it.
Nila raised her brow at the notion of someone like Solomon keeping a pet. Judging by everything she had seen, he hardly struck her as a pet person.
But then again, a Cerberus was not exactly something cute and cuddly.
"...I see. And, where is your... brother now, by chance?" Nila said the word as if she were still having trouble understanding the dynamic between the two.
"Is he not with you, my lady?"
"Indeed not. It was his insistence that we participate in late afternoon training, but he has yet to show up."
Raizel felt a surge of worry, but he stuffed it down.
He placed Bansha back on the floor and stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind him.
"I believe he was last attending his magical lessons with Instructor Yari. I will see what has been keeping him and send him to you."
Nila momentarily looked as if she were going to say something, but eventually decided against it.
"Good then. He knows where to meet us."
Nila turned on her heels and went back the way she came.
Raizel watched her go for an awkward amount of time before his worry returned.
He moved in the opposite direction from Nila, traveling deeper into the school.
He told himself that he was only being paranoid. That Solomon had merely lost track of time.
It was a loose narrative from the very beginning. He believed it less and less the closer he got to the class.
Once he reached it, he didn't bother knocking and threw open the door with a bang.
"Solomon!"
The first thing Raizel saw was his brother, unconscious and lying on the floor.
Yari stood above him, a troubled expression on her face.
"What have you done to him?!"
Roaring, Raizel lunged across the room with his armored fists raised high.
Yari looked up suddenly, still wearing her shocked expression. The fact that she was being attacked barely seemed to register.
As Raizel brought his fists down on top of her head, Yari held up one arm.
A small shockwave rippled through the room as the metal giant was stopped in his tracks.
Raizel tried to break free of the witch's grip, but to no avail.
"…Your brother is fine, Raizel."
The metal giant's eyes betrayed his shock. "You know my name?"
Yari grimaced.
"Oh… I know far more than that."