Oh, she was, but I had shown signs of fatigue prior from my earlier escapades in the Metaverse. It was easy for her to believe we were ill, and we'd all recently been in contact with each other. And what sort of student council president would she be if she let her fellow students fall behind?

[Pew, pew. He takes some more shots, calm, relaxed, and even rolling his shoulders back.]

'At first.' Interesting choice of words there.

[It suggests there's a story behind it, but he doesn't want to press too hard.]