She wasn't visibly bothered by it in the least, even flaunting it a bit, which she found to be... quite endearing.
Pulling out her phone and opening a particular app, she saw the tracker she had planted on Lillian, which was moving farther and farther away from her, turning left and right a few times.
After following her a couple of times, which was every time, she found that Lillian was indeed heading off to the library. At the beginning, she assumed it was to prepare for the upcoming exam, but...
"She could just come to me for that..." Her grip on her phone unconsciously tightened before eventually relaxing a second later.
"I'm too paranoid." She shook her head, "I suppose, she just wants to study alone. No reason to chase after her for that."
Just as she was about to take a step forward, she felt a hand land on her shoulder.
"Yo! I see ya and Lil' ain't together. What's up with that this week?"
Marionette's face twitched as she looked to the side, finding Millis staring at her with a curious expression. She also found the woman to be holding a piece of paper in her hand.
The Assassin let out a hum to her question, "I'm not sure. I believe she is studying for the exam."
Millis blinked at her before smirking. "Eh~? Is that so? Wouldn't she do that with you, though? I feel like that would be a lot better than studying on her own."
Marionette shrugged off her hand, folding her arms, "If her choice of studying is by herself, then there is nothing I can do." She then turned her face slightly to the side, "I can only wait for her to ask for my help."
"Hm... Okay."
Millis held out the piece of paper to the Assassin. Marionette scrutinised it curiously before glancing at her face, finding the Heroine urging her to take it.
Popping out her hand from her folded arms, she pinched it with her fingers. She began reading it.
What she found were place names outside the Academy Realm. Some were recognisable to her, while some weren't. She raised an eyebrow at the woman.
Millis, noticing her inquisitive look, rolled her eyes at her, "I listed down some places you could take Lillian date on your birthday. Consider this my present for you, Red-eyes."
Marionette widened her eyes, clutching the piece of paper. She then gave the Heroine a smile, which was something she rarely does.
"Thank you, gremlin. I appreciate your efforts."
"G-gremlin!?" Millis yelled, offended, before laughing, "Yeah, yeah... So, about Lillian..."
Seeing that Marionette's full attention was now on her, she said:
"Do ya think that she's seeing someone else? You know~... To study with~?"
At her words, Marionette shook a bit—her stoic face cracking a bit before fixing itself. She unconsciously flexed and straightened the lapels of her blazer before asking:
"Do you perhaps have an interest in instigating?"
"Meh. Maybe. But now the thought is inside your head now."
Millis patted her back, "Try not to lose that gal. She's a good one, no doubt." She then laughed, "Heh. If she wasn't yours, I would have went after her myself—"
But stopped herself once she felt the air around Marionette shift a bit. She felt an imaginary sweat drip down her cheek as her laugh turned shaky and anxious.
"O-of course... I am just joking. I don't go after taken people, ya see..."
She pulled her collar, walking backwards, and after reaching a certain distance, she ran.
"I'll be off now! Later!"
While Millis was running away, Marionette's eyes were glowing a subtle red.
The Heroine was right. The thought of Lillian being with someone other than her was now stuck in her head.
"Tch... How vexing..."
She'll return to the dorm for now. She was sure Lillian wasn't doing anything that could threaten their relationship. She can trust her that much... Right?
***
CLANG!
"W-woah!" Lillian stumbled back, wielding a basic odachi in her hand.
She and Marionette were currently in Virtual Reality for their usual spar. This time inside an open area in a quaint forest.
They had opted to use basic weapons instead of their usual ones. But that wasn't the only change...
Lillian watched as the Assassin dashed towards her with sickles in her hands. She hurriedly raised her weapon—a task that was a lot easier than doing it with her usual weapon.
Marionette raised the sickle in her right hand, hooking under the blade of the sword and yanking it to the side, causing Lillian to be wide open.
Instead of going for the killing blow, Marionette turned her body to the side and kicked out her leg.
Her foot slammed against the Carapace Chestplate wrapped over Lillian's chest and shot her back, knocking her into a roll.
Lillian winced as the side of her body crashed into the ground, rolling before pushing herself up into a crouch. She let out a few rapid breaths and quickly got up from the ground.
The Rabbit then held a hand over her chestplate, finding it without damage, fortunately. But she was still confused about why Marionette hadn't gone on and beheaded her in that moment.
Now that she thought about it...
She squinted at the Assassin's face, finding it much colder compared to how it usually was when around her. Was... Marionette irritated or something?
Since last night and this morning, the Assassin was... A lot less responsive compared to before. Well... A lot less than she usually was.
Had she upset her somehow? Wait... Had she even done anything that could possibly upset her?
Just before Marionette went in for another dash, Lillian held up her arms in a surrendering manner.
"L-let's take a break, Mari!"
Marionette froze before straightening her back. She tossed the sickles to the ground before walking away towards a random tree.
Lillian raised an eyebrow, 'What's up with her?' She internally asked, stabbing her sword into the ground. She began to steadily make her way over to the woman.
Marionette, who was leaning up against a tree, watched as Lillian did the same. She then also heard her ask:
"Are you... Alright? You've been acting a bit off."
Marionette huffed and responded with, "It's..."