*one week later*
{HIKARI'S POV}
Lady Satoko finally gave Jun permission to put weight on his left leg. He grabbed the cane and pretty much took off running, never looking back. His bones have all set, and he doesn't even need to come back for pain medicine. Lady Satoko ascribes his quick recovery to his youth and physical fitness.

Even though Jun no longer needs care all day, I'm still helping out in the pharmacy, or in the kitchen. Mostly because the pharmacists and Bertia treat me like normal. These are my safe spaces.

I'm cleaning dishes with the latter when I hear a boom outside, and the dust falls from the ceiling from the tremor that follows. Bertia and I glance at each other, similar thoughts flying through our heads: did something just hit the fortress? Is this a revenge strike—are we under attack again?

We use towels to wipe the water from our hands as we race towards the sound of the blast.

Several knights join our parade, swords drawn to protect me from whatever threat is outside. We run out into the courtyard, the one between the gate and the fortress, where a rather funny sight greets us.

Lord Kirigawa has Jun by the ear and appears to be lecturing him angrily. Of course it was one of Jun's experiments gone awry. I shake my head, amused.

A few others of Jun's entourage of children are also present, such as Ebisu and Clara and Clarisse, and well as Ania and Jonas and Umi and Minato.

All of them have black soot on their hands and faces, like something just exploded in their faces. They're all grinning ear to ear, even Jun as he gets scolded.

There are several chemicals lying around, each one labeled with a name and a color. I can see white, red, blue, green, purple, yellow. There's also grey spark powder and thick paper that has been rolled into multi-sized cylindrical shapes.

It appears the chemicals have been poured into these paper cylinders with a bit of spark powder, then set on fire and violently exploded.

"Did you see that?!" Ebisu says excitedly.

"Yeah!" Clarisse agrees, squealing. "That was the most brightest purple yet!"

"And the biggest boom!" Jonas snickers. "Can we add more spark powder next time? Pretty please?"

"There won't be a next time!" Lord Kirigawa snaps, tugging on his son's ear. "For goodness' sake, Jun, you've only just recovered and you're already setting things on fire! What in the lack of common sense came over you to think that setting off an explosion was a good idea?! So close to the fortress no less! Do you not think about your actions? Some of the knights are convinced that we're under attack again!"

Jun hisses in pain, his expression contorting only slightly before he manages to reset it. His hand flutters to his ribs, but he quickly lowers it.

"Let him go so he can tell me what's going on." I say.

Lord Kirigawa obliges, crossing his arms, and Jun discreetly nods gratefully at me.

"Well, I think everyone here knows the war had officially ended." Jun says dramatically, using the cane in his right hand to not put as much weight his bad left leg as he walks forward.

Dad forced Menad and Cojaca to surrender, and he managed to do so without anymore bloodshed, remarkably. During negotiations, he left the other side no room for argument or complaint. Now we'll be receiving resources and monetary compensation from Cojaca and Menad for years to come.

Jun smirks, gesturing to cohort behind him. "Well, all of us wanted to make our own contribution to celebrate Clarines's victory!"

"By setting the fortress ablaze?" Lord Kirigawa deadpans with straight face.

I snort, but quickly covered up with a cough, and hide my smile with a hand. Must stay composed.

Jun grins at me. "While that would probably look really cool, I have a more replicatable proposal in mind. Behold, the decorative bomb experiment!"

"Decorative... bomb?" Lord Kirigawa rubs the bridge of his nose, like he has a headache. "Mercy help me, isn't the bomb one of your previous inventions?"

"I remember!" I gasp.

Jun developed bombs early on during the war, by filling a hollow ceramic ball with spark powder. A small string would be inserted before sealing the ceramic ball shut. When lit on fire, said string would burn down until it hit the spark powder inside, then the powder would ignite and the ball would explode, sending sharp ceramic pieces flying out as shrapnel.

I tilt my head. "I thought you stopped researching bombs because you thought they would make future wars way more deadly if they became popular."

"So did I. Pray tell, son, where did you get the impression that such a deadly experiment could be decorative?" Lord Kirigawa asks, exasperated.

"By making it colorful, taking out the deadly shrapnel bit and replacing it with paper that will burn away, and by launching them high into the air." Jun explains, his enthusiasm growing with each word. "With this test, I think the basic prototype is complete! I might make some minor tweaks to the ratio of chemicals and try again—"

"Just, maybe not so close to the fortress next time." Clara amends sheepishly. Minato and Umi nod.

"No. I'm putting my foot down. No more decorative bomb experiments." Lord Kirigawa says firmly. "Now, clean all this up before someone else has another brilliant idea for what they can set on fire."

"Fine." Jun says morosely. I'm pretty sure that behind his back, his fingers are crossed. I know Jun. He'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

His back to his dad, Jun winks at his entourage of kids. "You heard my old man, guys. Pack it up."

The kids make a huge show of groaning and complaining as they carefully pack the explosives away. I don't think they're fooling anyone.

It takes a lot of time to calm down all of the knights. Some are utterly convinced that Menad and Cojaca are attacking again. We assure them that the war is over, and Jun apologizes for the lack of warning.

I thought that was the end of it. As always, Jun loves to blow my expectations out of the water.