Operation Synchronization: The Guardian’s Punishment
After their day at the amusement park, Shiori and Mochi woke up in a great mood and decided to make breakfast for Sora as thanks for taking them there.
However, the atmosphere felt... tense.
Shiori and Mochi were cooking, but each girl was working in opposite directions. Both wanted to prepare something very different for him.
"Hey... perverted Cleric," Shiori said while flashing a fake smile.
"What's up, husband-stealing knockoff Mage?" Mochi responded with the same fake smile Shiori had.
For a moment, everything seemed normal—but one missing ingredient was enough to spark chaos. Both girls needed it, and were ready to fight for it to finish Sora’s breakfast.
In an instant, both girls were fighting over the last ingredient. Both needed it, but there would only be one winner in this cooking duel.
However, the argument was so loud that even their shouts could be heard in Sora's room. Those shouts were enough to wake Sora up.
"Please let it not be those two..." Sora whispered with a worried face.
Upon hearing that there were no longer just shouts but also crashes, Sora decided to rush out to see what was happening.
"I'm telling you, I saw it first, perverted Cleric. It belongs to me!" Shiori exclaimed, gripping the special ingredient tightly.
"And I need it more than you. It's for my beloved's special dish, and I can't let it taste bad!" Mochi replied, pulling the ingredient with force.
"Hey, hey, don't you think it's too early to—" Sora said but couldn't finish the sentence because accidentally, the ingredient both girls were holding split in two, causing both girls' fists to collide directly with Sora's face, sending him temporarily unconscious to the floor.
Sora felt his head spin. All he could remember was a piece of chives splitting and two feminine fists approaching his face.
"Darling! Wake up, please! Use a potion, use something!" Mochi's desperate scream was what finally brought him back to reality.
"Tank... I detect a contusion on your head... My aiming system failed... I'm sorry," Shiori murmured while looking away, though her voice trembled despite trying to hide it.
Sora stood up slowly without saying a single word. He touched his cheek; it burned badly.
"Tank... allow me to apply a cold ice pack..." Shiori whispered, approaching with a bag of frozen peas.
"It's not necessary," Sora responded. His voice wasn't furious, but it had a rough tone. "Get ready. We're going to be late."
Mochi, who already had tears at the edge of her eyes, tried to hug him around the waist.
"Sora, we're so sorry! It was a calculation error! We didn't mean to reduce your HP!"
Sora gently moved away, avoiding the contact.
"Breakfast burned. I'll wait for you outside in five minutes. If you're not there, I'll go alone."
After several minutes, Sora left the house, closing the door.
The walk to Shinomiya Institute was the longest of their lives. Usually, the path was filled with Mochi's laughter and Shiori's technical comments, but today, the only sound was that of their shoes.
Sora walked three steps ahead, his gaze fixed on the horizon, ignoring the burning sensation on his face.
"Sora... please, say something," Mochi begged, walking beside him and timidly trying to touch his sleeve. "Punish me if you want. I can clean the whole house for a week! But don't treat us like this..."
"My system detects a 99% probability that the Tank is processing guild abandonment," Shiori murmured, her head down and her red glasses somewhat foggy. "Tank, if it's about the chives, I promise to optimize my shopping routes so it never happens again."
Sora didn't respond. Inside, he was dying of laughter and tenderness seeing them so desperate, but he knew that if he gave in now, tomorrow they would destroy the kitchen again.
"You have to hold out, Sora, just a little longer," he thought to himself. "If I can get them to work together today to cure my anger, we'll have leveled up as a team."
Just as they reached the entrance, they encountered the first obstacle of the day. Airi was at the gate, checking her watch with a grumpy face.
"Yamamoto! You're ten minutes late and—" Airi stopped instantly upon seeing the red mark on Sora's face and the depressing aura of the two girls following him like scolded puppies. "But... What happened to your face?"
Sora looked at Airi and then at his two guild companions. Mochi and Shiori stiffened, waiting for Sora to rat them out in front of Airi.
"Just a small morning accident..." Sora said, maintaining his mask of coldness. "A team communication error. It won't happen again."
Airi narrowed her eyes. She sensed something didn't fit, but before she could say anything, Sora approached her and said, "Please take them to their classroom. I need to go ahead."
Airi, though somewhat uncomfortable with the situation, simply nodded.
Mochi and Shiori stood there, watching their leader's back. For the first time, both shared the same thought without needing to fight. "We have to get our Guardian back, no matter what it takes."