There was only silence for almost a full minute.
It was finally broken by Shamal. "But that can't possibly be true..!"
"Are you implying I'm lying, Shamal?" Naruko asked, tilting her head to the side.
"I… err, mistress, I didn't mean—"
"But you did," Naruko said, her eyes narrowing. "Are you asking for another punishment?"
"Oh, this is golden," Jiraiya mentioned, as he pulled out a notebook and a pen from… somewhere… and began writing at an incredibly quick pace. "Would you elaborate on that, Naruko?"
"I haven't decided," Naruko said, shrugging with one arm, while the other held onto the book in front of her. "I am not lying, Shamal."
"But mistress… I checked, I saw your Linker Core. There was nothing attached to it… the Defense Program wasn't there a week ago, so why would it be there now?" Shamal wondered, frowning. "We got a… very good look at your Core, mistress…"
"Then you didn't notice it," Naruko said. "Which means you probably need more training, then," she added.
Lindy slumped on her chair. "Well, this situation just got a whole lot more difficult," she muttered, bringing a hand to her face to massage the bridge of her nose. It was a vain attempt at trying to ward off the incoming headache that she just knew would be bothering her for a while. "We can't go with the original plan now. Even if we can seal the Defense Program… How do we even remove it from within her safely..?"
"You won't," Naruko said. "It's a part of me… It's a part of my book. It belongs to me. I won't allow you to take it away from me."
"But, Naruko-chan, the Defense Program is corrupted!" Nanoha protested.
"Yes, it's dangerous," Fate added.
"I don't care," Naruko said, frowning. "If it's corrupted or whatever, I'll just straighten it out myself! It's my duty as its master."
"It's… not that simple," Yuuno said, raising himself up a little. "You'd need to redesign the program from scratch… we don't have any of the tools used to create it in the first place, nor do we have the slightest knowledge on how to go about procuring them. And you can't use the book itself to do it, if it's not attached to the book… As of right now, it appears to be dormant still… but we don't even know if it will activate soon, or at all…"
"Yes, this situation is quite a bit more complicated than it was before," Signum said, turning to Lindy, who nodded at the meaningful look directed her way.
"We will have to start back from scratch, to find a way to solve this…" Lindy agreed, knowing the hidden meaning behind Signum's gesture. "To be honest, we haven't dealt with something like this before, so this is new territory…"
"But not for me," Jiraiya began, nodding his head. "This is not so new to me. Naruko is essentially no different from any of the other eight Jinchuuriki that live in this world."
"Uh… What's a Jinchuuriki?" Nanoha asked, tilting her head.
"To put it in the simplest way I can, living containers for beings of incredible power," Jiraiya said, waving his hand as if trying to explain there was much more to it than that. "Anyway, the point is, their ability to contain their beasts tends to depend on two things. Their seal, and their willpower. Most Jinchuuriki lose their ability to hold the beast back when the requirements for their seal to function correctly fail to be met. For most, this usually means serious damage to the container, willingness to keep the beast held back or someone tampering with the seal in any way."
"Sounds… Bad," Nanoha said, freely. "They're sacrifices, aren't they?"
"In a sense," Jiraiya admitted, nodding gravely. "The nine Tailed Beasts that Jinchuuriki contain are engines of destruction with virtually unlimited power. Either we hold them in check, or they'd raze the world. It's unfortunate, but sacrifices have to be mad—"
"Are they sentient?" Nanoha asked, frowning.
"… I don't understand your question," Jiraiya said, blinking.
"Are they sentient? Do they think? Can they communicate? Can you talk to them?" Nanoha clarified, looking at Jiraiya right in the eye. "Are they… people?"
"I… don't really know for sure. I know that one of them, at least, can and does talk with his host," Jiraiya confirmed.
"Have you even tried to reason with them?" Nanoha pressed. "Has anyone, ever?"
"Actually, yes, we have tried to in the past. And it's never worked," Jiraiya said, shaking his head. "But that's not what we're here to discuss, miss."
"So… We have nothing to discuss, then? There's nothing I need your help for," Naruko said, smiling widely. "I am the Master of the Book of Darkness—"
"Its name is the Tome of the Night Sky," Yuuno cut off. "And… regardless of everything else, I urge you to listen to me. We don't know how this situation could've come by, or how to solve it, but… you need help. We have never had something like this happen, and you could be in extreme danger… you must listen—"
"It's name is whatever I say it is," Naruko said, frowning with her eyes closed. "This is my responsibility to deal with. It's something I will fix myself! I won't… I won't allow you to take it from me! I won't allow you to take my knights! They're mine, mine and no one else's!"
"We're not trying to do anything like that," Fate pleaded, leaning a bit forward. "Believe me, I—"
"are a liar," Naruko cut off, frowning. "You said you're my friend… but you're leaving, too… Just like everyone else… I don't care to have friends who leave me, so you're not my friend anymore."
"That's not right, Naruko-chan," Nanoha tried. "We're your friends, I—"
Naruko shook her head, pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly ignoring everyone else.
"Hm… Perhaps we might continue our… discussions over dinner again?" Lindy asked.
Naruko shrugged. "Sure," she said.
"Very well then… It's getting very late. Would you mind setting a date for when we may meet ag—"
"Anytime's fine," Naruko said. "Even tomorrow," she said.
"I see…" Lindy said, nodding, clearly only slightly bemused by being cut off. "Very well then, tomorrow it is. You wouldn't mind if I brought along a couple more guests, right?"
"The more the merrier," Naruko said, giving Lindy a smile.
"Thank you," Lindy said, smiling widely. "Thank you for offering us this chance," she said, bowing slightly towards Naruko.
Naruko shrugged. "See you guys tomorrow, then."
"Very well. Let us accompany you out… Mistress, are you going to head to bed?" Signum asked.
Naruko nodded. "I don't feel sleepy at all, though, so…"
"I see. I understand," the de facto leader of the Wolkenritter said, nodding. "We shall be up shortly."
"Great! You'll all have to help me think up a punishment for Shamal, so you better don't forget!"
"… This is kinda surreal," Jiraiya said, grinning widely, "but I'm loving every second!"