'Better put some distance between me and them," Ace thought while observing Emilia and her companion. 'That one, Victoria Windsor… she's got sharp senses.'

After having observed them discreetly for the past hour, Ace had noticed how Victoria had felt that someone was following them, though she couldn't pinpoint who exactly.

"Might as well give up for today. It doesn't seem like anything's going on for now," he muttered to himself as he simply walked away.

'Hmm?' Victoria looked back. 'That presence vanished. What did they want exactly?'

Completely unaware of everything, Emilia approached Victoria, handing her a bag. "Don't let me do all the work. You carry your share."

Victoria didn't respond as she was drowning in her own thoughts.

'It's been well over 8 years now. No way it's them, right? No, that's impossible. I saw the lab go up in smoke myself, so-"

"Big sis!" Emilia interrupted her thoughts.

"Wha?! What is it?" Victoria asked, completely startled.

"Geez. I've been calling out to you, but you didn't respond at all. Is everything okay?"

"Oh! I-it's nothing. I was just lost in thought for a moment," Victoria managed a forced smile.

"If you say so. Well then, I think we did enough shopping for today, so how about going back home for today?"

"G-good idea," Victoria answered as they exited the mall.

'Let's just investigate just in case. I never want to see such a sight again,' thought Victoria, memories of a crumbled facility, broken tubes, explosions and ice sculptures, flashing in her mind as she clenched her fist. 'Never again.'

---

---

---

As the days went by, Ace continued to enjoy his holidays with the Blakelords, he continued to observe Emilia every once in a while.

And one day, Emilia came back to do some shopping at the mall. But this time, she was alone.

After she was done with her shopping, Emilia saw a familiar silhouette in the crowd which had entered the arcade, and she then went after them.

As she entered the arcade, she looked around, noticing a person wearing headphones who drew all her attention and then approached them.

She recognized who it was instantly.

"Excuse me," she said as she grabbed their sleeve. "Ace?"

Ace turned to face her, his expression relaxed yet strangely guarded. Their eyes met, and in that moment, Ace had a certainty of something he suspected for a long time.

'Guess the time is ripe. I wonder what you will do.'

"Oh! Emi? What a coincidence to see you here," he said, his voice low and surprised yet carrying an undeniable weight of falsehood.

As she heard what he had said, Emilia was struck with a weird sense of something being wrong, yet she ignored it completely.

"Excuse me, but… could you let go? We're attracting unwanted attention," added Ace as some people around the arcade gazed intently at them.

After leaving the arcade, they went to a café where they talked.

"I didn't know you lived nearby," said Emilia, her voice carrying a mix of joy and surprise. "I wasn't expecting to meet you here."

Ace's demeanor softened slightly, though his caution and cold aloofness remained evident.

"Same here," he replied. "So? Grocery shopping?"

"Huh? Oh, yes."

"Guess even at home you're a master of shopping, huh?"

"I guess that's one way to look at it." Emilia chuckled slightly. "How about you? What were you doing?"

"Me? I was just going into the arcade after my first visit. I grew bored after a little snack. So I told myself… why not?"

"Pfft. Hehehe~" Emilia chuckled again.

"What is it?" asked Ace, curiosity at what he had said that was so funny.

"I-it's nothing," Emilia calmed down. "It's just that even though we've been together at the academy for an entire term, you always seemed very distant. I guess… even though me, Mira and Frank are close to you, there's this weird and unexplainable distance between you and us. But seeing you right now, maybe it was just my imagination."

'Ah. I didn't think anyone would notice.' Ace's thoughts raced as he re-evaluated Emilia with a hidden dark gaze in his eyes. 'Guess she's more perceptive than I thought. But that makes me even more curious. Is it something you unconsciously developed thanks to the bonds you have with others? Or…'

He raised his eyes, staring at her with cold, inquisitive and calculative eyes. 'Is it something related to that weird request I took? Guess it won't be long until I find out. That one seems to have grown impatient,' he thought, glancing outside the café with a cold and expectant gaze. 'Let's test him out, shall we?'

"By the way, seems like it's getting late. How about I help you with your bags?" Ace offered, his expression not betraying his real intentions.

"What?! I couldn't," Emilia was flustered, not wanting to impose.

"It's okay. Let me help. It'll be just like back at the academy," he extended a hand, hinting that she hand to him some of the bags.

"Uuhh. O-okay," she accepted, handing some of the bags she was carrying. "I-I appreciate it."

'Success. Now, what will you do?' he thought as he took the bags in hand, noticing their heaviness.

"And you intended to carry all these yourself?" he asked bluntly, making her blush.

Time flew by as the sun began to set in the distance. As they continued to walk, Ace and Emilia continued to chatter away, sharing their thoughts on the term they had just ended. And sometime later, they took a shortcut through a small street to make their way towards her house.

'Let's see how this will play out,' Ace momentarily side-glanced back before someone sneaked up on them in an instant.

They restrained Ace and Emilia and then pressed a cloth with sleeping drug on their faces. Emilia was in complete panic as her vision grew blurry, noticing the unresponsive and unconscious Ace before also falling in the same state.

As Emilia regained consciousness, she found herself in what seemed to be an old, abandoned warehouse. Her hands were bound, and she was surrounded by menacing figures while Ace lay on the other side of the place.

A man leered at her with a knife in hand, his words dripping with malice. "Well, don't you have the prettiest face."

"W-who are you?" Emilia managed to stammer, her voice trembling with fear.

"Who? Us? We're just nobodies," he taunted. "And don't even bother using your little magic, little missy. Those are magic nullifying cuffs you have on you. Basically, you can't do anything."

Emilia tried to call on upon her magic, but in vain. 'I can't use my magic. Wha-what do I do now?'

"I see she's awake," said Sirius who approached her, glaring at her with an intense gaze. "To think that person wants you. I don't really know what kind of test subject you were, but you must have really caught their eye, huh?"

'Huh? Test subject?'  Emilia's body froze as she slowly started to tremble while breathing fast and hard like she could no longer take in any air in her lungs.

Her grim and fearful expression, now carrying a mix of traumatizing dread and unsurmountable despair, slowly broke down in tears as her thoughts raced and were filled with flashing memories of liquid-filled clinical tubes, restrained children on experimental tables as they got injections, and piling corpses that no longer seemed humane.

'N-no. No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No…!'