"Booo," Nebula announced in a pout, slumped against the living room's carpeted floor, cladded in her usual home attire of wearing nothing but her and Solus' futon bedsheet as a cloak. Having finally resumed her existence in her usual spirit state, the space-aligned spirit was a ball of mixed and conflicting emotions. The feelings welling up in her, albeit not entirely the same thing, were like the guilty sensation you'd feel when having no choice but to choose the mean dialogue option in a video game, which drew out a meek whimper from the spirit.

  Breaking through the gloomy atmosphere plaguing the open room, Lumios emerged from the long reaches of the hallway, having detected the unusually tense energy from the usually close pair.

  "What's up with her... or should I ask what is up with the both of you?" Lumios asked, a puzzled look evident on his face when graced by the dark bags underlining Solus' eyes like a physical manifestation of his exhaustion and abundant lack of sleep. Letting out a long, drawn-out yawn as he pressed his forehead against the cold surface of the kitchen's marble countertop, Solus murmured, "I didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

  "I can see that much."

  "Then why'd you even ask?"

  "Because finding you in such a state is a rare sight, so I wanted some insight on what caused it."

  "Gramps and Granny thought it was the right time to remove Nebi's seal."

  Nodding his head, seemingly getting the full picture from that line alone, Lumios stated, "...and because of that, Nebula's yorusization occurred last night, and she was less willing to hold back her feelings?"

  "... no... It's not that, she's just pouting that she lost our RTS battle," Solus uttered in a half-truth, gritting his teeth as he refused to let the main reason for his tiredness be known to Lumios of all people, especially given the kinds of questions the guy would ask without a breath of hesitation.

  "So that was what all those tiny explosions I heard last night were, and here I thought it was you and Tsarina trying to make a spirit weapon. Hmph, but I suppose you aren't as headstrong as that girl to try something so obnoxious from day to dusk nonstop." Lumios remarked aloud, leading Solus' eyes to shoot open as the alchemy studier returned to the confines of his room.

  Left to stew on both the embarrassment of the guy getting one of the two actual reasons for his tiredness, and also from the unintentional hint, a thought crossed its way through Solus' mind.

  "Hmmm... I wonder if that's what that look-alike meant by other spirits aren't like Nebi."

  A little later, Solus and Tsarina were once again in the flat-tiled sparring area right outside Solus and Nebula's bedroom window, from which a still pouting Nebula watched the duo. She was prone on her belly with a wrapping of her spirit energy around her bedsheet like a second layer of covering, anticipating a repeat of the duo's last attempt. A gentle fall of snowflakes descended from the sparse clouds above, creating a small pile-up of snow around the premises that was just the perfect blend of softness and firmness for snowboarding without needing to fear having a hard fall.

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  "Haha, I knew something as minor as getting knocked on your behind wouldn't detour you, Solus," Tsarina stated boldly, clasping the sides of her waist tightly while fluttering above the snowless tiles of the sparring grounds.

  With a light exhale through his nose, Solus jestfully uttered, "Seems that blunder from before hasn't dulled your enthusiasm either."

  Puffing up her cheeks indignantly, Tsarina barked back with her chest, "Hey, if Nebster is making strides in improving herself, then I can't let her leave me buried in the snow to freeze like a popsicle. Besides, my design for the spirit weapon is way too good for me to just give up now anyway."

  "Good to hear, so I'll leave maintaining the form of the weapon to you this time while I follow your lead as I maintain the thing's stability."

  For a moment, Tsarina happily nodded along to the idea; having not processed a word the guy had said to her, she simply assumed he had repeated what he said when they tried creating their spirit weapon the other day. But when her brain slowly caught up, her cherubic face gained an excitedly concerned glint to it as she found the role reversal slightly imposing.

  "Huh? But aren't you the one who does the form part with Nebula? She said that part is harder to do... even if I'd prefer doing that over the tediousness of stability control."

  Seeing her headstrongness making a small display, Solus lightly rubbed the rim around the side of his right eye, noting how he'd have to employ some of his family's signature tomfoolery and teasing if he was going to get Tsarina in the right mindset.

  "Are you saying it's too complicated for you, then?" Solus teased, hoping the shadow spirit would fall for his simple provocation. Which she did, perhaps too much in fact, as she angrily clenched her fist, tightly squeezing her fingertips into her palms with enough force they would've bruised purple or even bleed had she been an organic creature.

  "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but don't think it'll work just cuz I'm mad now, totally not because your teasing's working on me or anything!" Tsarina exclaimed in defensive defiance, swiping her arms downwards with enough aggression and force to push her floating form slightly further up from the ground barely below her feet. Knowing any further words could ruin her focus, Solus elected to silently raise a hand and gesture for her to be his guest and proceed.

  With an annoyed, if a little playful, pout, Tsarina raised a reserved hand before pointing out a finger at Solus and started drawing out an outline of the soon-to-be weapon. Leaving a trail of her purple/magenta spirit energy with her trained swiftness and precision, Tsarina left Solus in a state of unexpected respect as he considered that the shadow spirit could potentially do it on her first try.

  From the bedroom window, Nebula solemnly watched the melding of qi and spirit energy as she lay on the windowsill, still a little embarrassed from her loss and now from the unexpected praise from Tsarina. Left to sulk, moan, and mull over her actions immediately following her loss against Solus, Nebula turned increasingly red with shameful glee as she reluctantly relished how bashful she had been towards Solus.

  But with her acceptance of her actions, the chaotic, glowing swirls that originally signified her shift in reservation made their grand return with a second wind. Accompanied by the same depraved giggle, Nebula's eyes shone a glowing dark pink, the last embers of her restraint fissling out as neon pink galaxy-shaped swirls formed in her eyes like manic desires made manifest. "Let's see... if a surprise ambush can help Solzi and Rina progress to the first stage of a spirit weapon, maybe even that arm-aztsu if Nebula is lucky."

  Watching from the open bedroom door with an obnoxiously large bucket of chicken in hand, Inaka watched the cutely-sounding cackling bedsheet bobble up and down, reminding the hero-class spirit of a jolly little slime she encountered after it stumbled across a fresh strawberry.

  Under her breath, Inaka remarks in jest, "Sounds like someone's planning on some mischief and didn't think or have the inkling of inviting me first."