I will save you in this 5th Life

Nozomu quickly closed the door and left for the academy in order to stop her mom from quipping back at her

She took a look at her watch and realised she still had plenty of time to make it to the office and also to the school, so she took her time and fiddled with her Device while on the way to the office

First, she read the messages that she exchanged with Mizuki last night and saw that she had left one message unreplied while falling asleep from the fatigue

The message read

"Would you like to go to a CD store with me this coming Sunday?

I found a new store near the school, and it seemed to be quite hidden, so we might find something interesting to listen to while we are there

Are you up for it

Of course only if you are free on that day?"

Nozomu thought to herself and said

"This was sent and seen last night, but I did not reply, hopefully, she doesn't think I am ignoring her"

She immediately got to replying to her since she did not want Mizuki to wait too long for the reply

"Sorry for replying so late, I fell asleep last night after reading your message so I could not reply in time

But of course, I will be glad to, and I am free on Sundays, so you don't have to worry about my schedule on those days 

What time do you want to meet on Sunday?"

As she sent the mail, she wanted anxiously as she continued her way to the office where her mother was working

After two minutes, she got back a response, and it read

"It's fine I was worried that I was disturbing you too late at night as well

Let's discuss the time when we meet at school

Hopefully, we can find something that can suit our tastes at the store I was talking about"

She ended that message with a smiling emoji that caused Nozomu to squeal internally and slightly skip on her way to her first destination

But before she moved, she replied immediately after receiving the message

She wrote

"Btw are you already heading to school since I am already halfway there, do you want to meet up before class and talk about our plans then?"

As she sent the mail, she was worried if she was too forward with her request and returned to her anxious mode as she made her way to the security office

But she did not have to be anxious for too long since almost instantaneously the reply came and what was written on their made Nozomu giddy once again

"Sure!

I am also on my way to school so we can talk when we meet

See you then"

Nozomu sent back an emoji that showed a person saying the word ok with their face and hands

After a while she made it to the office which seemed to be very busy, Nozomu assumed that it could be because of the incidents that her mother was researching and busy about

She walked in through the door and waved hello to the person manning the reception

The person recognized her and immediately yelled

"Captain, your daughter is here!!!!!"

The loud voice shocked the other people working in the vicinity, which lead the receptionist to apologetically bow to the people who were disturbed 

Nozomu also felt that it was slightly her fault so she bowed and apologized as well

A door on the far left, opened after that person working at the reception yelled loudly, and a person Nozomu was very familiar with opened the door and came out 

"You don't have to yell that loud to call me out, and why are you not using your intercom

The next time you do this, I am sending you to sweep the area where we found traces of the perpetrator alone, and I am not going to care whether or not you make it out alive

And morning Nozomu, what brings you here"

The captain switched tone so skillfully and fast that it gave the other people who were here for the first time whiplash due to the difference in attitude, but the other members of the office who were used to how their captain was did not bat an eye

Except for the receptionist who was still living in fear about what the captain just said

Nozomu took a look at the receptionist and apologized in her mind even though it was not her fault and started talking to her mother for the reason why she was here

"She raised her hand and showed it to her mother who was curious as to why she was there

And Nozomu said

"You forgot your lunch at home when you left in the morning so I bought it here since I will be passing by anyway

Now that you have received it, I will hand on out 

See ya later mother"

"Alright, thanks for this

I left in quite a hurry this morning but I would not want to miss my wife's lunch for any reason"

Nozomu smiled as she praised her wife

Nozomu suddenly remembered and beckoned Mayumi closer

Mayumi seemed confused but went to her daughter's side

Nozomu leaned closer to her ear and said

"Be sure not to be late tonight, since mom did seem very excited as well and you do not want to disappoint her do you?"

Mayumi looked surprised but also nodded and leaned to Nozomu's ear to say

"Of course, I would rather fight everyone here than make her sad

The same goes for you too

I will be sure to make it back in time

Have a safe trip to school and be careful of meeting the thing that is loose right now and don't try to fight it head-on even though you might think you are strong enough for it

You know how you are"

After she finished, gave her a pat on the head and waved her bye

Nozomu got one last word in before leaving for school

"Don't forget to message me if you want me to get home late, don't want to stumble on something you would regret showing me"

After taking one last look at her mother she left the station, Mayumi seemed to really be thinking as Nozomu left the area

Nozomu thought to herself as she went to the school 

"That look makes me think she is going to message me later on, I guess I should be looking for a place to spend time in for tonight"

She continued her way to school and arrived at the school gate

It was relatively empty due to the fact that it was still early for school and most of the people had not arrived for the classes this early

She walked past some of the instructors and studious seniors and gave her greeting as she made it to their classroom

In the classroom, it was empty except for a familiar that was listing to something while looking outside the window

Although Nozomu was thinking of scaring her, she suddenly remembered what happened the day before and called off the idea since she did not want it to happen again

She was lucky that nothing broke last night, now that thought about it she gave herself a face palm in front of the class door and walked into the room to greet the sitting girl

Mizuki noticed a shadow moving while she was staring at the window and turned to look at the incoming person to see who it was that was arriving

And it was a familiar face, and she gave her a smile, which Nozomu also reciprocated as she walked closer and sat at the table in front of her

Mizuki took off her earphones and said 

"Good morning, anything interesting happened today?"

"Other than seeing my mother yell at her subordinates? Nothing much but I am surprised you came to classes this early since I did not see you the days before"

"To be fair we only recently started classes, and I was busy for the prior days but I usually actually wake up early and reach school around this time barring some student urgent events"

Nozomu nodded and said

"That is true, but I am glad that we can talk this morning that is for sure"

"Same here, but do you also usually wake up around this time?"

Nozomu nodded and said

"Before I usually woke up early to train while I was still in middle school, but I haven't done that in a while since the last School Rumble ended

But I still wake up due to the influence of my parents, albeit with a little problem 

I will probably have to get back to training in the morning soon so that I do not get too rusty"

Mizuki nodded and said

"Same here, I have been skipping morning training for a while too, so I will get back to it soon

Do you want to meet up some time and train from time to time so that we can motivate each other"

Nozomu was surprised at first but in her head, she was like

"Yesssssssssss"

Nozomu nodded and said

"Sure let us make up some time once we are more used to our school's schedule"

And then Nozomu changed the topic when she saw Mizuki had bought her bow in her bag on the side of her table

"Since you bought your bow today anyway, do you wanna train after school tonight? 

If you don't mind since I also bought my katanas today as well even though we only have Applied Knowledge classes

Of course, if you don't have anything else to do after school today"

Nozomu reassured her twice that she only had to do it if she was free and wanted to do so, in order to avoid pressuring Mizuki

Mizuki looked at the pair of katanas that were hanging on the side of the bag Nozomu was carrying 

"Were you already planning on training today as well?"

Nozomu nodded and said

"Kinda, I was looking for something to pass the time after school since it is my parent's anniversary today and did not want to take up too much of their alone time at home

Or be susceptible to their lovey-dovey moment"

Nozomu said that last sentence with a hint of sarcasm but also seemed that it came out of her inner heart

Mizuki heard the second sentence and laughed 

"You are such a good child, then I will take their place in taking care of you, let's get some training after school since I am free anyways

The earlier we can get into a rhythm and schedule the better it is for us 

Don't you agree?"

Nozomu nodded 

After making their plans for later tonight, they started to make some small talk regarding music and other items as they waited for the other students to arrive in the classroom

Nozomu found out about her birthday and also realized she was actually a year older than her which kinda shocked her

She made a mental note of her birthday so that she can help her celebrate when the time comes

More and more students started to come into the classroom as the time for the homeroom slowly started to get closer

But it was already time for lessons when two people that were generally here were not there yet, the teacher was also confused by the same thing since there was no prior information regarding the fact that they would be late

She proceeded with the roll call when suddenly one of the missing people arrived

Yuuna seemed to be apologetic as she looked at the teacher and bowed as well in order to show she was sorry

The teacher said

"Do you know what time is it?

I better have a good reason for why you are late"

"Sorry ma'am, but we had our reasons for why we were late

Ah yes I meant we because Itsuki went to the doctor's office for the injury she sustained last night

Here's the letter that can hopefully get us out of trouble"

Yuuna handed in the letter, while Nozomu seemed to hear about Itsuki's injury and made a mental note to ask about it later

The teacher spend a few seconds reading the letter and nodded toward Yuuna 

"This is a good reason, hopefully, Itsuki is fine as well

You can take your seat now"

Yuuna nodded and bowed again before making her way to her seat

She passed by Nozomu and Nozomu looked at her curiously

Yuuna seemed to know about what she was planning on asking and mouthed 

"Later"

Hoping Nozomu would understand

Nozomu understood what she was mouthing and nodded as the classes resumed

After the first lesson ended the break started, Nozomu and the others gathered around Yuuna's desk to ask about the situation

Nozomu was the first one to ask the question about what happened to them last night

Yuuna answered by saying they encountered the creature last night

Nozomu seemed surprised and said

"Hopefully the security offices can catch them as soon as possible so that you don't run into the same problem at the same time"

Yuuna nodded and said

"You guys be careful as well since you will not know when you will run into it when you are relaxed

Oh and don't forget to carry and use items with light affinities so that you can fight it off at least 

Since it seems to be weak towards light affinity"

Everyone nodded

Time passed by as they finished the conversation and the teacher for the next session entered the room Nozomu went back to her seat and prepared herself to not fall asleep during the lessons