Land of the Blades

17. Separation

By the time I got back to the school, with Cinnabar reluctantly following me, the morning assembly had already started. Sensei was talking to everyone about what had happened when they were sleeping.

—Due to their injuries, Shirou and Antarc were out of commission for several days. In the meantime, the winter duty was taken solely by Phosphophyllite.

—HUH??!! —Everyone said.

Sensei asked me to explain to them about the strategy the Lunarians had used, and I tried to do so to the best of my capabilities, using the elasticity and malleability of my arms to create visual aids.

—We encountered a new type of enemy that looked like one of us. He called himself Lancer, and carried a spear as a weapon. I was... incapacitated during this encounter, so Shirou and Antarc engaged in combat against him. Shortly after that, a sun spot appeared near where I was, so Antarc returned to help me. He defeated the regular Lunarians with ease, but the statue in the middle had a trap of several hooks made with pink fluorite's shards that started chipping pieces of Antarc and tangling him on its rope. Antarc managed to destroy it, but just after that, another unit appeared and attacked by surprise. It was small, but it was a type that was not in Alexi's reports.

I made a very basic representation of their configuration with my alloy, but when my eyes went back to my brothers, I could see them with faces of confusion and fear. Everyone was either trying to put some distance between us, or was hiding behind Bort, the only one standing without flinching.

—Phos, are those... your arms?

—And your face... and legs, are you cracked right now?

—Ah, about that... the reason why I was incapacitated during that attack was because this weird gold and platinum alloy started seeping into my cracked body. I'm more sturdy now, and at the same time, more flexible. It isn't dangerous at all... probably.

I tried to convince them by making the alloy take the shape of flowers, and with the pieces of my original body floating on it, it looked pretty nice. However, this had the opposite reaction to what I wanted and everyone ran away and hide, except Bort, of course.

—Are my arms really that weird? —I asked Shirou in a whisper.

—I'm the worst person you could ask that —he replied, turning his finger into a flower. His looked nicer and more realistic than mine.

I felt a bit betrayed, but before I could come up with any clever comeback I felt a stick pocking my arm. Dia was holding it with a big grin on his face, while the rest watched in awe.

—COOL! —Amethyst eighty four said.

—Hey! Do that thing from before, show us again! —Yellow said.

—I can't see, move aside! —Alexi said.

—Don't push me! —Red beryl said.

—HUH? —was the only reply I could muster.

I looked at Shirou again, who had this obnoxious grin on his face.

—That somehow makes me nostalgic —he said.

—HUH?!!

—Hey, you! —Red Beryl approached me stomping his feet, and shaking me vigorously by the shoulders once he caught me— What have you been doing? Your winter uniform is all beat up and you are way too tall! I need to remake your summer uniform!

Everyone was giving me his undivided attention, even the normally quiet and timid Obsidian was all about how I could hide blades within my alloy. While that sounded cool, being the focus of everyone was very tiresome.

When Rutile appeared carrying all his "medical instruments" I knew it was time to flee. The fake me I left behind only distracted them by a moment, but the second one managed to send them on a wild goose chase while I hid hanging from a pillar. Even then, Bort was able to find me, and for a moment I thought he was sensible enough to not get any weird ideas about my new body. I was wrong.

—Let's see if I can cut through that new body of yours! —he screamed while leaping against me, his sword unsheathed.

I managed to block him with my fluid shield and threw him away, hiding behind Sensei before he could come back. By that time, however, everyone has already returned.

—Sensei, I'm begging you...

—You have become so popular.

—That's the problem, please make them stop!!

—Hmm. Everyone who wants to mess with Phos, please get in line.

—Yes sir!

I ran away when I still had the chance, even after I heard Sensei said that it was a joke. For the rest of the Lustrous it surely wasn't. I ended up walking all over the island for quite some time, not feeling too comfortable to return to the school yet. Around three hours before the sunset, I found the Amethyst twins about to fight a Lunarian's vessel.

—Please allow me, I kind of want to show off for you two —I said, and started approaching the Lunarians, with the same strategy that I had been using all winter.

Except Sensei wasn't there to cover me, and the twins were there, I couldn't mess up now. I cut the statue, but it was empty. Once again, a Lunarian shoot at me mid vanishing, but I was expecting it, and managed to keep my balance and return to the ground safely. The Amethyst hugged and congratulated me.

—You are entirely different from the Phos from before the winter —Thirty three said, making me blush a bit.

—There you are, I have been looking all day for you —Bort said, after appearing from my blind spot.

—The last time I saw you, you tried to cut me, it is only natural for me to avoid you!

—That's that and this is this, Sensei went to sleep, so we need to go on patrolling, quit slacking.

—Eh... what about Shirou?

Bort turned around dramatically, his hair waving with the wind.

—That guy isn't going to be patrolling with us anymore.

—...huh?