On Monday, the returned protege was sitting on the couch with her returned mentor.
"…Serena to mōshimasu." muttered Serena to her phone.
Mia looked over from the history book she was reading: the type Serena wouldn't have touched if it paid her by the word. "Are you learning another language?"
"Yeah, um. Japanese."
Mia nodded, thinking it was good her protege was culturing herself. Her phone vibrated, and she smiled as she took it. "Aimee has a contract for us. Er, she says Yuruko finished your cup, also."
Serena nodded as they stood. Yuruko was the lab-coated, blue-haired woman who had helped make Mia's previous swords, and had an obsession with science that would've been a detriment to her social life if she had one. When they stepped inside the Council of Four's office, she was sitting with Aimee & Samuel.
She handed Serena a cup with a switch on the lid, fiery font that read 'BLACKBURN'. "Here. Uh, hopefully this one doesn't explode like the last three. I was up all night reading articles about disposal methods for it."
"And playing videogames, I'm sure." chimed Mia as they sat down. "Go ahead and test it, Serena."
A little self-consciously, Serena nodded. Streams of fog filled it with dirt, and Yuruko showed her that when she flicked the cup's switch, it would disintegrate anything inside. Her hands moved stiffly whenever she talked: a cute trait, and one Serena felt guilty for noticing.
Eventually, Jeanne came inside, her eyes having lost their bags & her smell better. She smiled as she sat down across from Mia.
"Alright." said Aimee. "So, uh - figure you've probably heard already, but I'm not gonna be on campus much this year. Finished up a few professional contracts a month ago, trying to get funding to start my own agency, having to beg millionaires for money, and…" She pulled her eyes down and the six laughed.
"How's that going?" said Samuel.
"Starting to reconsider if communism was all that bad." she said. "Still, this'll probably be the last time I'll be on campus in a while, so. Figured I'd go with you guys for this one."
Showing her tablet, she explained that a local museum was paying $3,000 to escort a priceless artifact to California, where it would be sold for $300,000. Nuiko would shrink it in to her pouch & give it to them, staying a city behind in Shrink & Swell's range, and a few third-years would mentor their proteges in the meantime: excepting Mia's.