Sad news for everyone reading Helios Daycare, but from now on releases for Helios Daycare will be irregular so there may or may not be another chapter next month depends on my mood since I've been slacking on my fictionpress stories in favor of Unknown Entity and Helios Daycare. So sorry, but I want to work on my fictionpress stories more since I haven't been able to keep up with them.

Chapter 10: The Prequel to Disaster

This was the absolute worst. For Shicmuon of all people to see him like this, this was practically the worst day of his life.

Silence~

...

The air of silence was killing Rood. He wondered why Shicmuon was awfully quiet for a while. Was he in that much of a shock? Well, that'd probably be the normal reaction, but this was Shicmuon. The word normal doesn't exactly apply to him.

So far, all Shicmuon was doing was scanning Rood from head to toe as if observing some kind of rare animal.

"How long do you plan to wear that?" was the first thing that came out of Shicmuon's mouth.

As if, Rood could just casually change with Shicmuon around. And how much longer was he going to be staring at him?!

"You sure have changed tastes. Probably because you're too short to be a guy that you dressed up like this."

Hold it in. Hold it in. I'll kill him later... and Master too. Ah, how badly Rood wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look on Shicmuon's face. He really wanted to slug him but knew better than to do something that would start a fight with Shicmuon especially in Opion.

Leaning in closer slightly bending, Shicmuon has his face just a few inches from Rood's. His words like honey so smooth and velveteen. However they were far from sweet as honey.

"Though it's befitting for you to be like this, exactly how long are you going to stay like this?"

Why this... Rood really wanted to hit him so badly.

"Why don't you say something you—"

As Shicmuon leaned in closer to Rood with each word that came out of his mouth, the two were abruptly separated. Van held Shicmuon back while Kielnode kept his precious child away from the crazy Association magician.

"Shic, I can understand your feels, but as cute as he is, he's still a boy." Lanoste wonders where on earth did he go wrong in raising him.

"I should have known it wasn't a good idea to bring those Association dogs here!" Kielnode cried at how his precious child was almost devoured by a hungry wolf pup. "That mutt nearly tainted my Rood!

Like a reflex, Rood smacks his Master in the head for his stupidity. The fatigue started getting to him as he let out a sigh. The main source of his fatigue was the embarrassing outfit in question that he was wearing. The sooner he got out of that thing the better.

Though, a problem soon arose. A problem in the name of Shicmuon.

"Uhm..." How should he put this delicately... "I have to go and... you know change..."

"And?"

Was he being serious... "You know I can't exactly change if you're going to be following me..."

"?"

This was bad. He wasn't getting it. What should he do? Now this slightly worried Rood.

Luckily, Rood wasn't the only one who disapproved of the situation as Van came to his aid and picked up Shicmuon.

"You can't, Shic." Van told the younger. Shicmuon with Rood was definitely not a good combination for more reasons than one.

Finding the how scene amusing, Lanoste lightly chuckles to himself before clapping his hands together. "Alright, Shic. That's enough fun for one day. You've had your fill so now be a good guest and let's return back. As much as I enjoyed our time at Opion, we should get going. You can play with that little boy the next time we come."

Never! Both Kielnode and Ren internally screamed in their heads. As if, they'd let Shicmuon anywhere near their headquarters again.

"No." Naturally, Shicmuon expressed his immediate disdain at his guardian's orders.

"Now, now, Shic. Nobody likes a persistent man."

"No."

"It's not good to overstay our welcome. There will always be a next time."

"No."

"Shic..." Lanoste's tone slightly changes to a more serious one. His eyes narrowing on his rebellious magician.

"F*ck off!"

*BOOM*

A massive wave of heat filled the air followed by the pollution of the smoke. The magical explosion had left the room in quite the state of disarray. Rubble littered on the ground. Ash scattered everywhere. The now broken table between the two parties was left in pieces. The worst part was the huge crater in the wall leading to the outside. The only good thing about the situation was that no one was hurt.

*cough* *cough*

Having inhaled small bits of the smoke, Van began hacking and coughing. His hair slightly messed up from the explosion. Of all the crazy stunts, this sure tops them all, at least, the one's today.

"Why you little punk..." Van began to curse under his breath. "Shic, when I get my hands on you, I'm gonna..."

Van pauses midway of his sentence when the sight of said unruly brat did not enter his vision.

Come to think of it, he doesn't see the object of Shicmuon's obsession, Rood Chrishi, around either.

Thankfully, Rood managed to escape in the middle of the commotion while Shicmuon was rampaging the office. For someone who only had destruction and violence on his mind, Rood doubts Shicmuon would have noticed that Rood escaped in the middle of his wild rampage. Since Kielnode was there, Rood didn't worry too much about Dio and Lidusis's safety. They'd be in more danger if he stayed. The best thing to do would be to put some distance between them for awhile until the Association takes Shicmuon back with them. More importantly, he just wanted to get out of that dress already.

However that would have to wait.

*BOOM*

"Come out. Come out wherever you are..."

Since there was a very annoying cockroach creeping around.

"Is it your new hobby to run away now?"

Now that comment just pissed Rood off.

Why that little... Rood was very tempted to awaken and finally rid himself of that nuisance once and for all.

It wasn't until the wall behind Rood started to crack and then burst open. A hand emerging through the wall as it crumbled grabbed Rood by his collar.

"Found you..." The fiery colored perpetrator behind the wall's destruction said haughtily through his smirk. "... you damn Blackie."

Tch. Rood blamed Kielnode for this. If only he hadn't arranged that [play date] he wouldn't have been in this mess.

Prior to Rood and Shicmuon's [play date], the Association was facing a terrible crisis. One that had been going on for some time. However no matter what they could do they could never find the solution to it. And every time did find one, it would always end in failure.

"Gyyyyyyaaaaaaaaa!"

"Uwwwaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

"Eeeyyyyyaaaaa!"

Screams like this vibrating throughout the whole building were a common occurrence.

So much that it was a daily activity for the magicians to be complaining to their chairman about the root source of the screams and their problems.

"Chairman, how much longer must we deal with this?!"

"Please we're begging you do something about Shicmuon-nim!"

"He may be the strongest magician here and a first class one too, but he's getting way out of hand!"

"He's way too stuck up for a kid his age! It's getting annoying!"

"You're his guardian do something about him!"

Really now, things were getting out of hand for Lanoste. Raising a rebellious child like Shicmuon and handling an organization as big as the Association were not easy tasks for the chairman/ guardian. The child he was raising in particular was one that wouldn't just sit still and quietly do something like read a book.

Shicmuon was getting so out of hand these days that it would be a daily activity for his magicians to come to his office and complain about said redhead. He would listen his magicians complain like music as he worked on some documents.

Sigh~

The long haired auburn man lets out a deep sigh.

"Really, what am I going to do with you, Shic..."

Now this had the group of Association magicians frozen with terror when they heard the name come out of their superior's mouth. A terrible feeling of dread overcame them. They didn't need to turn back to notice the immense killing intent behind them. Thinking about it, they were so focused and engrossed over their matters that they didn't bother to take notice of any of the other occupants in the room particularly the moody redhead in the room.

Survival instincts kick in. No sooner did all terrified magicians flee the room to escape the wrath of the super scary monster child who was currently in the middle of his 'rebellious phase.'

"Look your bad attitude even scared away my magicians."

I'm pretty sure it was more than that... Van wanted to say out loud but chose not to.

"You really should learn to get along better with others especially kids your age."

That was a rather tall order in Van's opinion.

"How about trying to be more friendly? A smile wouldn't be bad either."

Okay, now that was just asking for the impossible.

It wasn't easy for the chairman to deal with his monster of a child who currently going through his rebellious phase at least he thinks he is. As his gaze fell upon his desk, Lanoste noticed a sheet of paper on his desk which wouldn't be unusual since paperwork was a daily part of his work as the chairman of a big organization like the Association. However this particular sheet of paper wasn't like the usual documents Lanoste worked on. It was a flyer and one to a magician organization.

"Now what's this doing here?"

"Oh, that must have been me." Van informed his superior. "A kid carrying a bunch of those flyers ran past me in town. He didn't notice that he accidentally dropped one that I picked up."

Van clearly remembered a young blond child around Shic's age running around town as if in some kind of hurry carrying a large stack of those flyers. One thing that had caught Van's attention was the dark aura the child was emitting. It reminded him of Shicmuon whenever the kid was in a bad mood which was pretty much most of the time.

"Opion, huh?" Lanoste read the name on the flyer. If memory serves, Opion was the name of a new magician organization. Lanoste did remember the new organization at the meeting for all magician organization. "Alright, Van..."

Somehow, the brown haired man doesn't like the tone his superior was using. He had a really bad feeling about this.

"Why don't we go on a little stroll to Opion..."

Yeah, Van really didn't like where this was going. If he knew Lanoste as well as he did, then that suspicious smile plastered on his superior's face definitely wasn't good news.

Meanwhile, at Opion's headquarters, Opion's star magician in his unawakened form had finished up his mission and was now on his way to report back to his Master.

The sound of the door creaking open had made the chairman stop in his paperwork and snap his head in the direction of the sound. The instant his eyes spotted his beloved child delight flowed into Kielnode's heart.

"Ah, welcome back Roo—" Part way of his sentence, a small bag filled with some kind of material was violently thrown right into Kielnode's face.

"Welcome back, my foot!" Rood barked back his Master. "How much longer will you keep on assigning me these pointless missions?!"

"Now Rood, those missions aren't pointless! Do you not know how happy you make your clients whenever you complete them?"

"Yeah, like finding someone's lost cat or getting a book aren't pointless missions." Rood sarcastically remarked. "And the clients were so happy with my performance that my previous client even gave me that bag of candy."

Just remembering that embarrassing moment in his life irritated him to no end. Apparently, Kielnode found it 'appropriate' to have Rood pick a basket full of flowers for his client as Rood's next mission. And if that wasn't enough, the client was so happy with the flowers and found it 'cute' how Rood was working so hard that she even gave Rood a small bag of candy as a bonus to his reward.

"That's great. Maybe I should have Ren bring in some tea."

"Like hell it is?!" As if this was time for tea. When will his Master understand that Rood was displeased with his Master giving him simple missions and having his clients treat him like some kid on an errand.

"Hahaha... Come on, Rood. Lighten up a little."

"Then how about you try giving me a real mission this time?!"

"You know I can't do that. I can't just send a child out to exterminate a pack of middle class demons." Even if he was a first class magician despite his looks. "The clients wouldn't think that we were taking their earnest request seriously. It's not a problem with your ability. The issue lies in your appearance. As strong as you are, you're still a child in the client's eyes. And they'd seriously doubt a child your age would be a first class magician."

Although the child comments irked him, he knew Kielnode had a good point. Not everyone could be a magician let alone a first class magician like Rood. Sometimes, Rood found his appearance to be a nuisance.

"And more importantly, I'd have a heart attack if there was even as much as scratch on your cute little face!"

Breathing in some fresh air once in a while wasn't bad for the body. Looking at the building himself, for a new organization, it was much nicer than Lanoste originally thought.

"So this is Opion, huh?" Van commented on the pristine building. Though he was slightly peeved that his superior had forcefully dragged him along with him to see the new organization. But the part that irked him the most was that it was under the pretense of going for a walk. It always annoyed him how his superior used dog references with him mainly because of his alias as [Lanoste's Dog.]

Van's thoughts were interrupted at the sound of glass breaking.

Van's original thoughts of the sound of glass breaking was that some random kid must have thrown a ball at one of the windows by mistake. That happens a lot with kids these days. Always playing catch and never paying attention to their surroundings until some random civilian's window gets broken. Though in the Association's case, there's a certain unruly brat that goes around breaking everything not just windows in the Association. Honestly, Van would have preferred it if it was just some random kid playing catch instead of their cataclysmic brat.

However his thoughts were quickly proven wrong when a flying figure came out of the window and was currently plummeting down towards the hard earth.

And he wasn't the only startled by the sight as it was visible that Lanoste was surprised to see some random man flying out of a window that didn't belong to the Association though not as much as Van.

Fast forward a bit into Kielnode's office.

"My apologizes. It seems that you caught me at an embarrassing time. If I had known that the chairman of the Association was coming, I would have prepared some snacks and tea. Hahaha— Ow!" Kielnode was cut off by a book thrown at his head.

In Rood's opinion, if the older man was trying to fix that terrible first impression he left on his guests, he should be doing a better job.

"No need for apologizes. If anything, I should be the one to apologize for my sudden visit. Honestly, I was quite surprised to see the chairman of Opion flying out of a window."

That's an understatement! I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that! Van internally retorted at his superior's lightheartedness.

"I'm curious how did it came to that the chairman of Opion would fly out a window all of a sudden." Lanoste inquired. "And it's highly unlikely that you simply wanted a fresh breath of air."

"Hahaha..." Kielnode chuckled. "I just had a really bad fall and what a bad coincidence that it happened near the window. I do apologize for troubling you with my clumsy act."

If Van hadn't been doubtful of the sandy blond man, he might've believed Kielnode's smooth lie. That kind of scenario was too surreal and was unlikely to actually happen unless the man was cursed by the god of misfortune. It was obvious hearing how ridiculous his story was even if he didn't sound like he was lying. If Van wouldn't buy Kielnode's lie, there was no way in heck that Lanoste would've.

"That certainly is the coincidence. For you to fall and right next to a window no less. If I wasn't mistaken, it looked more like you were hurled out of the room." The auburn haired man slightly narrowed his eyes as he spoke. Certainly, he smelled something fishy from Kielnode's story.

"Yeah, it was. I was kind of in a rush and didn't notice something on the ground until I tripped over it and the next thing I knew I was flying out the window. Hahaha..."

"That's quite the story."

It plain obvious to see that both men saw through each other's mask yet still kept up airs. The mood was getting rather too tense for Van.

I wanna leave...

Then something caught Van's eye. Or rather someone.

He saw a small blond child hiding behind the couch Kielnode was sitting at not so subtly peeking out from the side Kielnode sat at with an uneasy look on his face

Van wasn't the only one to notice this as the child also caught Lanoste's attention too.

"Oh my, why who's this?"