Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Day 1 / Red

• Ship: Redjacketshipping | Rei/Serena
• Universe: Arc V
• Word Count: 1,219
• Rating: T
• Tags: Canon Compliant, GX/Arc V Fusion, Fluff with a Sad Ending

Day 2 / Violet

• Ship: Danceshipping | Anzu/Mai
• Universe: Duel Monsters
• Word Count: 805
• Rating: T
• Tags: Not Canon Compliant, Battle City Arc, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Day 3 / Water

• Ship: not applicable | Merag/Rio
• Universe: ZeXal
• Word Count: 1,069
• Rating: T
• Tags: Not Canon Compliant, Post Canon, Selfcest

Day 4 / Silver

• Ship: not applicable | Asana/Ranze
• Universe: Sevens
• Word Count: 1,080
• Rating: T
• Tags: Not Canon Compliant, Consent Issues, Kidnapping, Out of Character

Day 5 / Orange

• Ship: not applicable | Aki/Carly
• Universe: 5D’s
• Word Count: 1,574
• Rating: T
• Tags: Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, Slight Age Gap

Day 6 / Mermaid AU

• Ship: not applicable | Aoi/Kiku/Miyu
• Universe: Alternate - H2O: Just Add Water
• Word Count: 6,655
• Rating: T
• Tags: Developing Relationship, Teen Drama, Fantasy Elements

Day 7 / Hair

• Ship: Growlshipping | Romin/Tiger
• Universe: Sevens
• Word Count: 915
• Rating: G
• Tags: Fluff

Day 8 / Heart

• Ship: Sapphireshipping | Masumi/Ruri
• Universe: Arc V
• Word Count: 1,627
• Rating: T
• Tags: Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe Elements, Surreal Elements, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Trauma

Day 9 / Sunflower

• Ship: Resurrectshipping | Catherine/Cyndia 
• Universe: Duel Monsters
• Word Count: 1,548
• Rating: T
• Tags: Pre-Canon, Adultery, Internalised Homophobia, Questioning, Missed Connections, Alcohol & Cigarettes

Day 10 / Electric

• Ship: not applicable | Kyoko/Hayami
• Universe: Vrains
• Word Count: 1,580
• Rating: T
• Tags: Post Canon, Meet Cute, Fluff, Implied Redemption Arc

Day 11 / Yellow

• Ship: Cosplayshipping | Dark Magician Girl/Tome
• Universe: GX
• Word Count: 1,051
• Rating: T
• Tags: Fluff, Food, Age Gap

Day 12 / Shame

• Ship: Isolationshipping | Aki/Misty
• Universe: Alternate - Gods & Goddesses
• Word Count: 1,654
• Rating: M
• Tags: Inspired by Eros & Psyche, Nudity, Sexual References, Toxic Relationship, Tragedy

Day 13 / Green

• Ship: Snowanimalshipping | Cathy/Kotori/Rio
• Universe: ZeXal
• Word Count: 1,122
• Rating: G
• Tags: Fluff, Established Relationship

Day 14 / Feather

• Ship: Harpyshipping | Grace/Ruri
• Universe: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tales
• Word Count: 1,420
• Rating: T
• Tags: Major Character Death, Suicide (by Drowning), Inspired by Swan Lake, No Dialogue, Fluff with a Sad Ending

Day 15 / Hands

• Ship: not applicable | Miho/Rebecca
• Universe: Duel Monsters
• Word Count: 950
• Rating: G
• Tags: Artistic License, Fluff

Day 16 / Indigo

• Ship: not applicable | Aoi/Pandor
• Universe: VRAINS
• Word Count: 1,659
• Rating: T
• Tags: Canon Compliant, Post Canon, Past/Referenced Character Death, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Grief

Day 17 / Honour

• Ship: Catshipping | Cathy/Rio
• Universe: Alternate - She-ra and the Princesses of Power
• Word Count: 8,556
• Rating: T
• Tags: Fluff, Angst, Fantasy, Drama, Action

Day 18 / Paranormal

• Ship: Controlshipping | Asuka/Camilla
• Universe: Alternate - Medieval Fantasy
• Word Count: 2,595
• Rating: M
• Tags: Vampires, Blood Drinking, Sexual References, Character Death, Light Necrophilia (?),Inspired by Castlevania (?)

Day 19 / Lily

• Ship: Flowershipping | Aki/Mikage
• Universe: 5D’s
• Word Count: 827
• Rating: T
• Tags: Post Canon, Developing Relationship

Day 20 / Cherry

• Ship: not applicable | Nico/Ranze
• Universe: Sevens
• Word Count: 1,193
• Rating: G
• Tags: Fluff, Developing Relationship

Day 21 / Skill

• Ship: Choirshipping | Aoi/Yuzu
• Universe: Alternate - Classical Musicians
• Word Count: 1,928
• Rating: T
• Tags: Arc V/Vrains Crossover/Fusion, Meet Cute, Angst with a Happy Ending

Day 22 / Weary

• Ship: Ambitionshipping | Anzu/Ishizu/Mai
• Universe: Duel Monsters
• Word Count: 1,086
• Rating: G
• Tags: Fluff, No Dialogue/Minimal Dialogue

Day 23 / Flare

• Ship: not applicable | Carly/Sherry
• Universe: Alternate - Serial Killers
• Word Count: 1,085
• Rating: M
• Tags: Inspired by The Silence of the Lambs, Off Screen Murder/Suicide, Off-Screen Cannibalism, Abuse

Day 24 / Daisy

• Ship: Toughshipping | Anna/Rio
• Universe: Alternate - The Dressmaker
• Word Count: 1,043
• Rating: T
• Tags: Major Character Death, Angst, Hurt/No Comfort

Day 25 / Buttercream

• Ship: Marsbarshipping | Romin/Sorako
• Universe: SEVENS
• Word Count: 1,414
• Rating: T
• Tags: Cakeverse Elements, Food, First Kiss, Humour, Interspecies Relationships, Xenobiology, Joking Discussions of Cannibalism

Day 26 / Lips

• Ship: Lassieshipping | Asuka/Junko/Momoe/Rei
• Universe: GX
• Word Count: 1,347
• Rating: T
• Tags: Secret Relationships, Polyamory, Misunderstandings

Day 27 / Rose

• Ship: not applicable | Mieru/Ruri
• Universe: Arc V
• Word Count: 1,509
• Rating: T
• Tags: Canon Divergent, Implied PTSD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort

Day 28 / Castle

• Ship: not applicable | Asana/Tiger
• Universe: Sevens
• Word Count: 912
• Rating: G
• Tags: Fluff, Dialogue Heavy

Chapter Text

   Serena felt like her life was missing something. Like there was something which was just out of place with it even though there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. It was content. Ideal. Even the weather of Duel Academia Island seemed beautiful all year around. There was a volcano which every other day, Serena begged for it to explode because she thought that would be pretty cool but that was about it. No other natural disasters to speak of, even though it was all a small island, they never got huge waves, no, it was massively flat on the beach so there weren’t any tidal waves and there were never any cyclones either.

   Well, most of the time, at least. 

   Serena watched from underneath the stone hallway as it poured torrentially. She had never seen anything like it all her life and she had lived on Duel Academia literally all her life. It was a shame that both Professor Leo and Barret had assured her that there wouldn’t be any tidal waves, cyclones, or floods despite how it rained but they all agreed, it was a most biblical rain.

   Still, Serena watched with the utmost fascination how the rain poured down on the Island, sending rivers in the gutters and becoming sheets on the roof. It mesmerised her and whilst all the other students had gone to run and hide from the cold, Serena hadn’t. Not even as her skin prickled. She just wanted to stand and watch.

   And she thought she would be the only one but one of the older kids, a girl slightly taller and older than her, maybe by a year or two, approached. 

   “You’re gonna catch a cold out here if you keep that up.” she said.

   “Rack off, I can do what I want.” Serena retorted.

   The girl laughed. “Only some friendly advice from a senior.”

   Serena rolled her eyes, she didn’t want to hear that from someone in a red jacket. A red jacket meant red dorm and everyone knew that red dorm was the dorm for losers, whiners, and complainers. The sort that no one wanted to associate with lest the rot touched them and they were ruined too with such dreadful initiative and other vestments of sloth.

   And Serena had big ambitions. She didn’t want to be the bird in the cage anymore. She wanted to prove her stripes, go out and strike it big but for some reason, she kept getting benched and if she started hanging out with slackers like the ones from the Osiris Red Dorm, she may as well kiss those big ambitions a big goodbye.

   “I doubt it.” Serena scoffed at her.

   “Hey, I’m serious.” the girl pouted. “I’m a good duellist, all things considered.” 

   “Yeah, right.” Serena sarcastically agreed with her.

   “I got my foot in the door at nine years old, I’ll have you know. I had all the markings of a child prodigy, just wasn’t raised right, you know?” she said. “Anyway, m’name’s Rei and its good to meet you.”

   “Can’t say the feelings’re mutual.” Serena said.

   Even though all she wanted was to watch the rain, Serena told a glance at this Rei girl. She actually seemed kind of similar to her. Rough around the edges, tomboyish, that sort of thing but getting that second look at her, Serena noticed something was amiss with her. She was nursing her arm in a bandage and sling, she seemed a bit downtrodden.

   “How’d you do that?” Serena asked.

   “Stuff and things.” Rei defensively replied. “Fell out of a tree.”

   Serena snorted with laughter. Okay, maybe she was a little charmed by that. After all, she had gotten into many scrapes and the like back in the day from climbing trees and falling out of them. Maybe she and this Rei chick were a little bit similar. Maybe Serena was being quick to judge based purely on that red jacket of hers.

   Rei turned dejected though. “Not much of a funny story though, I was trying to hide from… ah, forget, you wouldn’t understand unless you’ve been out on those frontlines.”

   The conversation turned quiet. Great, Serena found herself thinking, even the broken armed Osiris Red girl had gone out and seen the glorious hunts for herself and she hadn’t.

   “You sure you should be out hangin’ around in just a skort and a shirt?” Rei asked.

   “It’s fine.” Serena said.

   “No, it ain’t, you’ll catch your death out here or even worse.” Rei nervously laughed. “Here, take my jacket, I don’t think I’ll be needing it much longer.”

   Serena tried to wave Rei off, she most certainly did not want a used Osiris Red jacket but the girl was determined. Serena couldn’t say no when Rei had finally gone through all that effort to take off her jacket with just one arm and one hand, not even disturbing her broken arm on the way. 

   “Here, let me help.” Rei said.

   Serena stiffened but only because she blushed. She felt her temperature rise until she was red hot, just like the jacket. She wasn’t used to getting much affection, let alone from near strangers. So, she let Rei put on that jacket for her. It was snug and had a satiny in-line. It was nice, Serena found herself thinking once she was all wrapped up in it. It smelt nicer than expecting, too, which she really liked. The faintness of Rei’s scent was there but it was sweet, almost woody but nice.

   “Well, see ya round, kitty cat, I mean, everyone knows who you are, Serena.” Rei said.

   She felt rude now because she hadn’t introduced herself but Serena felt rude and brusque every other day because that’s the kind of person she was so she tried not to let this little infraction bother her. So, she let her red face sour to Rei’s bemusement. She shrugged, tried to laugh but it was a pitiful attempt.

    “Yeah, let’s face it, I probably won’t be seeing you around.” Rei said. “Anyways, I’ll let you enjoy the tropical storm in peace now.”

   Serena blinked. She hadn’t realised her reputation preceded her so much so she waved Rei off too.

   “Yeah, see ya round, Red.” Serena mumbled.

   Serena watched as Rei wandered off. She wondered what Rei had meant by that. Thunder crashed and lightning sparked in the sky, briefly catching Serena’s attention with how spectacular it was but it didn’t hold her fascination. Not quite like before. Instead, she started fidgeting with the jacket, with how it did up on its zip and its pockets. It was cosy. Comfy. 

   But that dawdling confusion that Serena had had in that moment was palpable in hindsight. Staring, watching the rain, enjoying the sensation of a new jacket because hindsight was something else. As Serena never saw Rei again after that and she worked out why pretty quickly and her heart broke.

   Rei was a dissenter. She was a traitor who had been hiding out from the very same forces that she was supposed to be allied with. She had been brought back by force and she had been carded as her punishment. So now all Serena had left of that moment in time, bittersweet and docile, was her very same favourite, red jacket of Rei’s and a rather confused infatuation. 

Chapter Text

   After the tournament and the chaos that it had brought with it was at least tided over, Mai was desperate to find Anzu and when she did, she stood still and let Mai hold onto her.

   First, her arms. Mai clamped onto them so she could pace herself, get her breath back. Her heart raced and there were beads of sweat on her brow. Anzu stiffened. She just looked on and even out of place, she was sympathetic, but worried. She had never seen so much as a hair out of place amid all of Mai’s golden, wavy locks so to see her stressed and askew, it was more than a bit concerning but when Mai lifted her head, her eyes weren’t fierce like she was expecting. She bore a wavering expression that harrowed Anzu.

   Her violet eyes shone with tears and with fears. She swallowed hard as she tried to suppress her nerves and those tears but she was shaking. She was terribly and viscerally afraid, guilty with all the events that had transpired beyond her reach. She had lost and that loss hit her harder than anything else because of the effects of the Shadow Game.

   “Are you alright?” Anzu asked with concern etched on her face.

   “No, I’m not.” Mai managed to admit through her pride and through her panting.

   “O-Oh…” Anzu murmured.

   Mai took a deep breath and she felt a bit better. She became aware of just how viscerally hard she was holding onto Anzu and she became sheepish. She tucked a curl of her long hair back into place to distract herself.

   “I’m sorry you had to see me like this but it was urgent.” Mai said.

   “It’s okay, you can be honest around me, I promise.” Anzu said.

   Mai flashed her a smile. Anzu was sweeter than she would ever know, like the first peach of spring.

   “Thank you dearest.” Mai smiled. “Like I said, it was urgent. I - I had to apologise.”

   “Apologise for what?” Anzu blinked.

   Her stunned quietness, it was almost silence but not quite, hurt Mai more than anger. That coy facade she had managed to cobble together, to bring her back from that erratic brink, crumbled. Mai’s lower lip quivered and her breathing turned ragged. It reminded her all too much of how she feared to recall Anzu during her duel with Marik. How she could see the silhouette of Anzu but not Anzu herself. It was terrifyingly passive.

   To see her like this in her own arms, all limpid and confused, was somehow worse. So easily worse.  Mai couldn’t remember Anzu cheering her on but she knew it had happened. Seeing her sympathetic and compassionate in her arms and in the throes of her guilt and fears was so, so much worse than the air around Anzu turning frigid as it had during her duel. 

   Mai breathed heavily. “Apologise for forgetting you,” Mai said and she composed herself against all that which haunted her, she caressed Anzu’s face, she was so warm on her palm, smooth and soft too, Mai stroked her thumb backwards over Anzu’s cheek and hoped she wasn’t ruining the foundation that she wore, “and for forgetting you first.”

   Mai didn’t know how to convey how horrid it had been to walk that darkness and for Anzu to have been the one to have started her on that aimless journey through loneliness. She didn’t want that to be her first recovered memory of Anzu but it had been. But ever determined, Mai took that pain and had funneled it into this closure. Into making sure that her first encounter with Anzu after duelling in the top eight of Battle City and everything else that had entailed, as bizarre and strange as it had been, was something sweet.

   “It's okay.” Anzu replied. Her tone was soft and she was attempting to be soothing but she wasn’t sure if it was assuring Mai and all her fears. “I saw how distraught you were when you were duelling…” Her voice trailed off as she was unable to bring herself to mention how distraught Mai was now presently.

   Mai sighed and she hugged Anzu as tightly as she could. Anzu smiled slightly and she hugged back, even if it was gingerly but Mai was comforted by the movements of Anzu’s arms wrapping around her in reciprocation. Mai breathed in deep and inhaled the scent of Anzu’s perfume. She was almost flattered that it was, by coincidence, one of her favourite fragrances. A celebrity endorsed perfume with notes of peaches and cherries. It made Mai hazard out a laugh because she had a good nose, she had a good memory, she would make sure that she would remember Anzu. Now and forever. 

   She would always remember Anzu, Mai promised herself that above all else.

Chapter Text

   Rio hadn’t been feeling like herself as of late.

   She couldn’t describe it. It was just an emptiness. Like she was missing something, like she was the proverbial glass of water now half empty. 

   Logically, Rio knew that because a lot had happened as of late, she was going to need some time to replenish. After her stay in the hospital after her loss to IV, she knew that very well but she was stubborn. She liked to be in control and on top of things, busy and hands on and lately, she had been anything but. She felt dragged through the mud. Lethargic.

   Even just getting out of bed was a pain but she was dying of thirst.

   The halls of her childhood had always been lonesome, ever since the accident, but it somehow felt worse as of late as Ryouga wasn’t even the same. He didn’t feel the same emptiness that she felt ever since the crescendo of the war between the Barians and the Astral Beings that they had become embroiled into as the crown jewels.

   She just wanted to be her own person again. Like before she had found out about Merag and her previous life and whatever her connection to that girl Iris was. It was all so confusing. She just wanted to feel at home with her own self, her own heart, and her own soul again but instead, she was in a fugue state. Trying to understand where she began and if her previous lives had ever truly ended.

   At least the process of walking down the hallway, going to the kitchen, and pouring out ice cold water into a glass so that she had something to drink was easy. In theory at least. At least easier than trying to unravel the mysteries of time and space and how they intersected with her.

   But that didn’t stop her from dropping her glass of water at her door. 

   So close but so far, it appeared. She sucked in a breath of air and frustration vented through her body in her veins with the fresh breath. She scolded herself for being clumsy and the searing self-loathing was the most she had felt in what seemed like weeks.

   Rio reached out and she turned on a light. She felt the water pool at her feet and it was too cold, even through the buffer of her bed socks and slippers. She looked down at the mess she had made. The pooling water seeped through shards of glass and over her floorboards. It wouldn’t be that hard to mop up, she looked around and stepped aside from the puddle. She had a spare face cloth somewhere, that would work and she knew that should be a dustpan and brush somewhere.

   As she put her mind to cleaning up her mess, she felt that emptiness from before recede. It was as though Rio were welling up with something. She didn’t feel akin to how she felt before the accident that left her with burns nor before learning of the Barian World but she was starting to feel whole again.

   Rio got to her knees and she started to pick out glass from the puddle. Wanting to be rid of it before she started mopping up the puddle itself. She felt relatively lucky that her glass had split into big chunks, there weren’t many small shards or anything else. When she fished out what appeared to be the last of the glass, she put down her cloth only to stop. To blink.

   She saw herself in the puddle. Well, not herself. Her reflection. And not truly her reflection either. She saw her Other Self in the puddle and it mystified her. She stared.

   “Merag…?” Rio murmured.

   The name of her Barian self felt wrong and clunky on her tongue. In her mouth. It was weird and wrong to address herself like she was someone else but this was someone else whom she was staring into the eyes of.

   Merag’s mouthless face was sharp and angular, like the facets of a perfectly cut jewel. Her eyes glowed magenta. 

   “Rio…”

   She blinked. She was harrowed surely not. This was ridiculous. This couldn’t be-

   Rio laughed. How dare she deny the gravity of the situation when she was living proof of far more absurd things.

   Merag’s eyes softened and she spoke, “Oh, Rio, I’ve waited so long to see you.”

   The dribbling trails of the pooled water began to quiver. Began to rise off the floorboards in tendrils and solidified. Turned to ice. And a sculpture of Merag appeared before Rio. 

   Rio watched intently as such peculiar things happened. Oh, it was like a dream but it was nothing like a dream as well as she stared down the Barian whom she used to be. Whom she was. But only sort of for she was all ice. She wasn’t the magical, spatial energy which Barians were made of. She was incomplete in this opaque, icy state.

   Still, it fascinated Rio to see herself from someone else’s perspective: her own. She admired all the angles of Merag’s body and wanted to get to know her more from this perspective, both familiar and alien.

   “How are you…?” Rio tried to ask.

   “A side effect of being released from Vector, perhaps?” Merag shrugged. “I’m just so happy to see you, Rio, oh I’m so sorry. If it weren’t for me-”

   “Sh, shh, its fine.” Rio murmured. “I don’t blame you for what happened.”

   “Thank you, you are too kind.” Merag could have sobbed but she remained strong, if only for Rio.

   “Is there something I can…?” Rio’s voice trailed off.

   “To help me?” Merag finished her question for her.

   Rio nodded and hummed. 

   “There is.” Merag replied.

   She leaned in and elucidated Rio without wasting a second. She kissed where Rio’s mouth should have been and where hers should have been. Merag closed her eyes, thanking Rio profusely. Rio kept her eyes open in shock: both physical, Merag was ice cold, but mental too because how strange it was to kiss one’s self without a mirror. But with that kiss, like a fairy tale, Merag was brought to life completely. 

   She became her own self separate from Rio, like water from a pitcher shared between two glasses, though their souls. Their souls still connected but not with reincarnation but something else. Something like love.

Chapter Text

   Ranze woke up confused but the first thing she did, roused from her sleep, was call for Rinnosuke and Gakuto, in vain of course, as he fumbled with her surroundings.

   She was in a room. A very sweet, a very girlish room. The walls were a pastel pink with white trims that were ornate. The furniture was practical, of thick wood and the like although painted white. The bed that she was kneeling in was made to perfection, with feather soft pillows and bedding of the highest thread count. The knick-knacks of the room were, perhaps, a touch childish: ducklings, bunny rabbits, but also toy cars and similar construction toys. 

   The impression that Ranze got of this room, in utter bewilderment, was that it was a room belonging to a not exactly spoiled young girl but similar. 

   The door opened and the clunk of the lock broke Ranze from her reveries. She glared towards the door and her hackles raised. She was ready to be mad and furious with her captor but instead, she was greeted far more placidly than she felt - and likely by the young lady it was who owned this room.

   “Good morning.” this mystery girl began with a smile like a cup of earl grey tea brewed to perfection.

   Ranze didn’t want to be but she was charmed so she reacted accordingly, “Good morning…” she hesitantly replied. She glanced out the window; it was barred but beyond those poles of gleaming silver, she saw the morning sun, it was about the same time she would have gotten up on any other, more normal morning.

   “My apologies if your guest room isn’t up to snuff,” the mystery girl said, she began to meander closer, she lingered by the desk and toyed with the arch of the desk chair’s back, “I don’t have many female friends my own age.” She sounded as though she were lamenting it. 

   “It is contentable.” Ranze replied.

   Pleased that she had elicited some reply from Ranze, the girl looked up and she bore a most friendly expression. “I do hope we are able to get along, that would be splendid.”

   Uncertain if this girl of silver hair was friend or foe, Ranze swallowed and replied, her voice a whimper, “Likewise.”

   “Wonderful.” the girl chirped. “You know, I was never the type to play with dolls when I was younger either,” she continued before her eyes, such a bright and acrid ultramarine blue lit up with an epiphany, “my apologies, what a habit I’m forming, just talking without thought to introducing myself. My name is Mutsuba Asana and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ranze, may I call you just Ranze, dear?”

   Ranze prickled, “How do you know my name?” she hissed through gritted teeth, she clutched her chest.

   Asana giggled. “I know many things. It is important to have all the information before going forward. That is what I have been taught at least.”

   Ranze’s glare became more and more precise with unbridled suspicion and such but Asana made a pitiful expression because of it. It appeared she disliked being held in such staunch opposition, it made her soften.

   “Where was I before being side tracked?” she mused. “That’s right, I was telling you about my childhood. I never played with dolls. Did you, Ranze?”

   “Sometimes…” Ranze chewed on her reply.

   That answer seemed to have pleased Asana, she beamed and clasped her hands together in muted jubilation, “How wonderful, and you have a twin brother, yes? My dear companion Chevelle is entertaining young Rinnosuke. It must be wonderful having a brother. I think having a brother, older or younger, would make things more lively, do you find that true, Ranze?”

   Ranze was quiet.

   Asana sighed. “I think it would.” she said. “That’s why I’m glad I also have my dear Galient.”

   “Him.” Ranze gasped, her eyes widening. “He’s the boy that duelled my brother and I… A-And our loss to him…”

   “Do not think of it as a loss,” Asana interrupted Ranze’s despair, uppity, she even wagged her finger, putting her nose in the air, “because if you learned something, then it was not a failure but a success and what you have learned, or will learn as I am about to teach you, is that anarchy leads nowhere. Do not fix that which is not broken, as they say. Rush Duelling and other unnecessary modifications of a perfectly functional system are aberrations, my dear Ranze.”

   “No.” Ranze replied. “Rush Duelling is fun. The Sougestu style duels which my brother and I use to support Gakuto-sama, are fun as well and I will not let you mock my friends’ efforts in front of me.”

   “At least we have that in common.” Asana said. “We like to have fun.”

   Ranze shivered. There was a frigid coldness to Asana as the gleam in her eyes hardened. Asana continued to saunter around the room and her movements seemed sharp and icy. She crouched down to the second bottom level of the drawer and whilst she amused herself, pulling it out, looking for clothes inside of it, she continued to speak. Her voice was poignant and precise.

   “I’ll have you know,” Asana continued as she picked out the bottom and top halves of a dreary looking uniform, “that Goha Sixth Elementary is an esteemed place of education and I will personally teach you to better value traditional cores. We can only go forward if the foundation is firm.”

   Asana rose back to her full height and pivoted on her heel. For some reason, unbeknownst to even her, Ranze flinched and Asana got up on the bed with her. Ranze’s heart began to pound, she should have gotten off the bed whilst Asana’s back was turned, she should have woken up from her kidnapping quicker, she kept blaming herself for not getting away as Asana got closer. She put one hand beside Ranze and another on the wall, entrapping her between the corners of the room and the wooden headboard of the bed. Their faces were so close, Ranze could feel Asana’s breath and smell the rose perfume which she wafted with. 

   “I’ve never played with dolls very much, I preferred boys’ toys, so do forgive me if I’m a bit too rough.” Asana whispered.

   She drew back and she brandished the overcoat of the charcoal blue jumpsuit, opened it up with a zippered rip before forcing it onto Ranze who was kicking and screaming. 

Chapter Text

   Carly wasn’t all that close to Aki which is why she was surprised that Aki would go so far as to not only invite her over but chauffeur her around, as well. Carly met the limousine at the corner of her favourite cheapo department store and was then on her way. The inside of it was plush and velour, mostly maroon but there were other decals as well, like the bucket of ice with some sort of fancy bottle of tonic water sticking out of it but looking through the other beverages, Carly decided that she preferred regular old water.

   Arriving at the Izayoi estate, or at least the off-shoot secondary location of it which Aki had been permitted to live in, took Aki’s breath away. The estate was bigger than the entire block that her apartment was on, the very same one she was ashamed of and the house itself was probably taller than the complex too. And definitely wider, as well.

   Ornate, golden gates opened at the cue of an automation and Carly was taken further into this strange, gilded world of money and affluence. It was mind boggling. And it made Carly squirm in her seat, like she wanted to be eaten up by the upholstery but as the limousine followed through the curve of the road, past the circular garden in the quay, she glimpsed Aki.

   Aki, with her hands fidgeting in front of her, was waiting politely in her casual clothes; a corduroy, orange skirt that went over her knees paired with a pale blue peasant shirt that was off her shoulders. She greeted Carly and the limousine with a smile. She waved at them both until the limousine slowed down in front of her.

   Carly tried to open the door for herself but the driver swooped in first, for some reason it stung but Carly got out regardless. Aki beamed at her.

   “Thank you for making it today, Carly, it means a lot to me.” she said with a nice, even voice.

   “Y-Yeah, no worries, glad to be, um, out of the house - and not ‘cause I’m doin’ groceries.” Carly laughed awkwardly but Aki had a genuine, good-natured giggle at her joke. Carly smiled.

   “I hope you don’t mind but I thought that we would just hang out in the garden, the house feels very… stiff, I feel more at home out here but if you’d prefer-”

   “No, no, that sounds perfectly good. I need more Vitamin D and stuff.” Carly replied.

   “Thank you.” Aki said. “Well then, this way.”

   Carly nodded and Aki led her through the gardens. The lawns of this place were immaculate but the garden itself may as well have been Wonderlandian. The transition from the neat clippings with no level of variance to the hedging and bushes of the inner garden was seamless. The garden was beautiful, if a little eccentric, with all the roses and sculptures. 

   But Carly noticed something else aside from the scenery the further in that they got, the more natural Aki seemed. Like she was less nervous. Carly wished she could say the same about herself, she just felt more and more nervous. After all, they weren’t really close friends. More friends of mutual friends or acquaintances. It felt weird to be all alone without any of the boys, or even the twins, around with them.

   At the centre of the garden, there was an ivory white gazebo for them to perch under. It was furnished with an outdoor seating set coloured similar, the table of which was furnished again with a pitcher of water, glasses, and a complimentary charcuterie board. Aki slid along gracefully on the stone seating provided but Carly was a little bit more awkward as she sat down. Especially because the seating was kind of hard and she was the type of gal who liked to lounge in not exactly luxury but at least in soft comforters, like on her three seater in her crummy apartment or even the front seat of her car.

   “Thank you again,” Aki said after the moment of silence between them became seconds, “for coming out here. I just. Wanted to talk with you.”

   “Oh, um, okay, why?” Carly said.

   Aki blushed. “Sorry, did that make it sound like I was cross with you?”

   “Only a little.” Carly said and she pinched her fingers together for emphasis.

   “I just wanted, you know, a little girl-talk as they say.” Aki explained with an unusually terse voice.

   Carly’s eyes went wide and she nodded vehement, “Oh, I get you, I get you, yeah, cool, sounds good.” 

   “And, well, Runa is just a bit too young for me to burden her with all the trials and tribulations of high school, besides… she fits in with her peers really well despite her psychic powers but me on the other hand… Well, not so much but you seemed like you would know a thing or two about that…” Aki rambled.

   Carly didn’t say anything but she did stare. She was fairly certain she ought to be insulted or offended by the implication that she had been the ugly duckling at school but honestly, Aki was so pretty she could say whatever she wanted forever. Not to mention she was right and Carly was still, pretty much, the ugly duckling but better that than the unwitting hummingbird...

   Aki continued to ramble since Carly was quiet, “And you’ve already graduated high school, haven’t you? I thought maybe you might have some advice.”

   “Oh yeah, I have advice, I can totally give you the declassifieds and the four-one-one and on how to survive the most brutal years of anyone’s life.” Carly bragged like she was more than two years out of high school herself and that she hadn’t done her university course entirely online.

   “Really?” Aki exclaimed. “Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you so much.”

   “Oh, don’t get too excited, I’m gonna sound like a greeting card here, totally couldn’t even do a blog post on the subject but honestly? Keep doing what you're doing. Who cares? But at the same time, the consequences of high school aren’t real and I should have attacked that one girl who harassed me like a wild animal. Gee, if I had your powers, well, I would’ve been more like the protagonist of that one horror movie, you know, the one where the girl wins Homecoming Queen and ends up in pig’s blood and glitter. Yeah.” Carly rambled.

   Aki laughed. “You’re really funny, Carly, but thank you. It helped just a little bit.”

   “Huh,” Carly thought to herself, “maybe I could do a blog post on it. Or even a news article. Thanks for the career advice, high school girl.” 

   “Thank you,” Aki said, “and please, eat up, I want you to feel at home here…”

   “Like you do?” Carly pointed out. “You don’t even need glasses to see that you’re clearly not all that comfortable here.”

   “It’s that obvious?” Aki asked as she took an orange from the charcuterie board laid out in front of them.

   “Blindingly.” Carly said. “But here’s some more advice from a high school leaver, getting your own place, even if its just your car that you’re living out of, is so much better than your parents’ place.”

   “I’ll bear that in mind.” Aki replied.

   Carly took the other orange. She was surprised that it wasn’t peeled; she glanced up at Aki and darn, too late. 

   “You know,” Carly said, “I’m a bit superstitious.”

   “I have heard that, actually, you use - and divine from - a Fortune Lady deck, correct?” Aki recalled with a blink of her pretty, maroon eyes.

   “Correct-a-mundo.” Carly replied with a snap of her fingers. “Anyways, did you know you can do love fortune telling from the rinds of fruit skins?”

   “No, I didn’t know that.” Aki said and she put her orange’s rind, which was in pieces, on the table.

   “Yeah, lemme show you.” Carly said.

   She continued to dig out the rind of her orange, making sure that it was all on one continuous ream. This was easier with apples, Carly thought to herself, even sticking out her tongue until she had done to completion. Her fingers were sticky with the juices but honestly, Carly preferred oranges to apples anyway.

   “Once you have the rind, you toss it over your shoulder,” Carly said and she did exactly as she preached, she tossed the rind of her orange over her shoulder, it sailed past her similarly coloured puffer vest, “then you get up and look at how the rind’s fallen. If you're lucky, it’ll make the letters of your soulmate’s initials.”

   “My, spooky.” Aki cooed.

   Carly got up and she looked at what she had done. Her eyes traced the netting and rind and she was certain. A-I. or maybe I-A. Depends. Either way she seemed to be in big trouble but she glanced back to Aki, Izayoi Aki or Aki Izayoi depending on if her name was read family first or not, and Carly blushed.

   “Aw, darn, my luck’s super bad today,” Carly said and she forced a barky, fake laugh as she got down to pick up the pieces of the rind, “I didn’t get anything. Oh well but now you know.”

   “I’ve learned many things today, thank you, Carly.” Aki replied.

   And to her cute bewilderment, Aki watched as Carly’s face got redder and redder. She wondered why.

Chapter Text

   Kiku held the stopwatch whilst she watched Miyu swim. It almost made her jealous but not quite, it certainly made her thoughtful whilst she watched Miyu speed through the water. She was like a dolphin, kicking and flipping around, so graceful but so, so swift.

   Kiku wasn’t that talented and she hated water so she was okay with that. Cheering on Miyu was more than enough as Miyu came back to tag the steep step that Kiku was waiting on and click. Kiku stopped the timer and with a proud and hopeful grin on her face, and Kiku bent down. She showed Miyu the timer.

   “Wow,” Miyu gasped, “that’s 0.02 seconds off my personal best.”

   “Yes, you should be very proud.” Kiku told her.

   Miyu laughed, competitive and industrious, “Just you wait, with regional finals in a fortnight, I’m gonna blow everyone and my personal best out of water.” She sounded almost, if not fully, devious.

   “Yes, good luck with it.” Kiku said.

   “I’m gonna do some free practise and cooling down,” Miyu said, kicking her legs, “so if you wanna go home or somethin’, Kiku, ya can.”

   “Are you sure? I’m happy to keep timing you.” Kiku said.

   “No, really, it's fine.” Miyu said.

   “Okay then, since you insist, meet up with you later, though, yes?” Kiku asked.

   “Totes.” Miyu chirped. 

   “Well, see you then.” Kiku replied.

   Miyu pushed off against the tiled wall and into a backstroke. Kiku laughed as she got caught in the splash. It probably was on purpose but who knew with Miyu. Still, Kiku toddled off and she fluffed Miyu’s towel on the way, stashing her stopwatching, now turned off, with her bags and such before farewelling her friend once more. Not that Miyu could hear her but the ladies at the canteen certainly did and they appreciated Kiku’s goodbyes just as much Miyu would have.

   The way home took Kiku along the pier which she didn’t mind. It was always interesting seeing the various people, locals and tourists, congregate along the board walk and the seaside restaurants and such. It was nice to see that even a small town like her own could get busy too but as luck would have it, she ran into someone she wasn’t overly fond of.

   “Kiku! Hey, Kiku.”

   Kiku sighed. She knew that voice anywhere but she hesitantly turned to face where the voice was coming to and she pointed at herself. Naoki huffed.

   “Yes, you, Kiku, any other Kikus around, prolly not.” Naoki complained but he beckoned her closer. “Hey, Kiku, I just need a hand.”

   Kiku cringed and despite the warning bells, she came closer. “And what exactly did you need?”

   “My little speedboat here, Nature, won’t start.” Naoki told her, knee to the decking as he played and toyed with the bits and bobs of his bright orange little buzzbox of a boat.

   “Oh, I’m not good with fixing things, you should wait for someone else, like Yusaku might be around-” Kiku replied.

   Naoki rolled his eyes. “I know what’s wrong with it. Some bugger stole my spark plug. No spark, no ignition, no nothin’.” Naoki slapped the side of his speedboat. “But anyways, all I need is someone t’ hand me my tools whilst I improvise a spark plug.

   “Is that safe?” Kiku inquired.

   “Totally.” Naoki said and he got up. “Here, just step aboard and I’ll show you. You hold the cap up and I’ll do the tinkering, it’ll be easy.”

   “If you say so…” Kiku murmured.

   With extreme caution and extreme uncertainty, Kiku stepped over onto the speedboat. It bobbed up and down with her weight and it made her feel queasy. She looked back over to Naoki.

   “So, what now?” Kiku asked.

   “Dunno, but bon voyage, dearest Kamishirakawa Kiku, enjoy the trip.” Naoki said.

   “Huh? What- no, wait!” Kiku cried out as Naoki pushed the speedboat off the brink of the pier.

   Kiku stood, bewildered, on the ting speedboat as it bobbed out to the waters, past the big flash boats the like. She stared at Naoki, crossly, as he laughed.

   “Oh, Kiku, man you crack me up. Chicks really don’t know anything about machines. If ain’t got a spark plug, no matter what you do, it ain’t goin’ nowhere.” Naoki laughed. “Nowhere except out to sea!”

   “Hey! That’s not funny!” Kiku barked at Naoki, scolding him.

   “You’re right! It’s hilarious!” Naoki howled.

   “Naoki!” Kiku yelled.

   “Aw, take a joke, Kamishirakawa, it’s not a big deal. All you gotta do is jump and swim back here. Not even that far.” Naoki teased her.

   Kiku fumed. Her fists balled by her sides. It was stupid but she couldn’t. She couldn’t swim. The water terrified her. There was no way she was going to jump off and swim back. There was absolutely way that it was going to happen.

   “Don’t you need the boat back?” Kiku yelled in vain.

   “Naw, it’s fine, I was gettin’ bored of it anyhow. My dad’ll buy me a new one.” Naoki said. “If you can get it workin’ by some miracle, you can keep it.”

   Kiku continued to fume at Naoki as she continued to float out. The pier and all its docks were so distant now, even Naoki and his heckling were too. She looked around and felt nauseous whenever she glimpsed over the meagre railing of the speedboat.

   And just as she passed an outcrop of rocks close to the shoreline, someone leapt out. Her movements were more delicate than expected, even as the boat rocked. Kiku bunkered down, shrieking, whilst Naoki looked on in disbelief. Clutching onto the railing, Kiku looked up and the sun was in her eyes but that fluffy brown bob cut was unmistakable.

   “Aoi?” Kiku exclaimed.

   Aoi made a snarly expression at having been recognised but didn’t say anything as she moved closer to the engine and its trigger.

   “If this is supposed to be a rescue, some good that will do us. Now we’re both stranded.” Kiku huffed.

   “Not really.” Aoi murmured.

   She lifted her fist and then let her fingers unfurl. Kiku gasped.

   “You stole the thingy.” Kiku exclaimed. “The spark plug.”

   Under her seemingly shy demeanour, and her long fringe, Aoi smiled. “Yep.” she grunted. “Naoki kept hitting on me even when I told him no so I decided to hit back against him.”

   “I see.” Kiku murmured.

   Aoi stuck the spark plug back in place and pulled the cover back over the engine. With it secured, Aoi managed to get the speedboat going. It whirred back to life and Kiku cheered it on. Aoi took control of the speedboat and Kiku smiled. Naoki looked on blankly as Aoi stole his speedboat. Aoi skidded it back up close to Naoki, he was sprayed with water before she dashed the other way.

   She took Kiku out a little closer to the coast. Away from all the buoys and the boats. As apprehensive as Kiku was regarding water, she was having fun. The wind was in her hair and in her face, Aoi was good at navigating too. They were speeding around, laughing and Kiku had never seen Aoi like this before. Happy and smiling, that is.

   “Sorry I haven’t said hello to you at school,” Kiku began, apologetic and looking into the wind, “I’ve been meaning to but your kind of intimidating.”

   “I am?” Aoi murmured, her voice mostly getting lost in the wind.

   Kiku nodded, murmuring in affirmation of what she had said. She didn’t have the heart to tell Aoi it was because she was all sour and downtrodden. She didn’t have a friendly aura which was a shame because she was cute.

   As the conversation was slowing down, Aoi decided to slow the vehicle down too. They rounded a bend where they could just see over the rocky outcrop, there was a path some green grass growing up too. A bridge arched over the top as this walkway they passed by bent down closer to them and it was good timing.

   “Oh, Miyu, down here!” Kiku called out.

   Miyu stopped in her tracks, holding onto her blue tote bag and she looked around for Kiku. Her hair flipped and flopped about, still soggy from her swim and then she found Kiku - and Aoi too. She raced to the edge and leaned hard over the slim railing that was there.

   “Oi!” Miyu called back, dragging out her vowels.

   Kiku glanced at Aoi, “Is it okay for her to join us?”

   “I don’t care…” Aoi mumbled back.

   “Aoi says you can come aboard, if you like!” Kiku shouted back to her.

   Miyu grinned. She didn’t have to be told twice. She scaled the fence and leapt down, her bag flailing as she sailed down. Kiku and Aoi bunkered down as the boat rocked when Miyu landed square in the middle of it. She beamed as she looked around.

   “So?” she pestered them. “Where’re we going?”

   “Just around.” Aoi replied, a little muddled.

   Miyu relaxed in the back with Kiku whilst Aoi steered the speedboat. They sped along the marina, waving at the tourists and laughing amongst themselves, having a blast. The water was pristine this fine afternoon. The sun was placid and the breeze was warm. The ocean below them was a deep blue that glittered on the surface; the spray of the waves they carved lapped at the sides of the boat turning silver before the foam disintegrated. 

   It was all too much fun until it wasn’t. At least a little bit.

   They had lapped the area of the marina two, maybe three times, and it appeared that it was time to head back to dry land but Aoi put it to a vote.

   “Are we ready to go back?” she asked.

   “What, no way?” Miyu snapped back. “Let’s go further out.”

   “That sounds sort of dangerous, especially on such a small boat…” Aoi murmured.

   “Ugh, you're always like this.” Miyu complained. “What are you? My mother?”

   “I don’t know, it could be fun but Aoi’s right, it could also be dangerous.” Kiku whimpered, she squirmed in her seat as she began to sense the sparking of an argument. She also sensed that the sparks had been there for a while but she didn’t know how to ask, especially if she was imagining it. She was probably imagining it.

   “Kiku wants to go.” Miyu said, all but twisting Kiku’s words. “Just push over and I’ll drive if you're tired.”

   “Fine.” Aoi snarled.

   The two girls traded places, swapping around Kiku who tried her best to avoid being in the crossfire. Miyu plopped down in the driver’s seat with a big grin as she gorged her eyes on all the new fun doohickeys in front of her whilst Aoi was, quite predictably, more sullen in the back seat. Aoi glared at the back of Miyu’s head with her arms crossed.

   With a jerk and a jump, Miyu managed to get the speedboat moving. She grinned as she swerved and took them out to sea. Where Aoi’s technique had been a smooth glide, Miyu’s was more like skipping. It was fun too. Chasing the waves way, way out to where they came from, bopping along as far as the speedboat could go. Even Aoi was having a good time with it, leaning back into it as they sped along.

   It was actually quite breathtaking to watch their little hometown get littler and littler on the horizon as they zipped away from it. It was even more amazing to watch the big ocean in front of them get bigger and bigger as they zipped into it. It was all just blue: sea and sky melding with one exception. There was a distant island but it seemed so small, just a blot to separate the awe-inducing visual of the sea and sky turning into layers upon layers of blue.

   Until suddenly that island seemed a lot closer, all rocky and laden with foliage and the mainland seemed impossible to get back to. Especially with every spit and sputter of the speedboat. The fun had all but come to its complete and utter stop, it all just hinged on how they floated on the water.

   Aoi cast a glare to Miyu and was quick to blame her, “We should never have come out this far, we’re stranded now and it’s all your fault.” she sniped at Miyu.

   “It’s fine, just chill.” Miyu sighed but no matter how she pulled the trigger, the ignition just wasn’t happening, she made a dejected expression. “I think it's out of fuel…”

   “I think anyone could have told you that.” Aoi muttered.

   “Look, look, its fine, I’m sure someone’ll find us.” Kiku said, trying to quell whatever it was that was happening between them; she still got the impression that their bickering went deeper than she was seeing.

   “It's just the next part of our adventure,” Miyu said, uppity, and she took out one of the oars from where it was stowed, “so who's up for a bit of rowing, eh? We’ll anchor there.”

   With her free hand, she pointed out the island.

   “But that’s Mako Island,” Kiku hissed, “it has all sorts of ghost stories attached to it. Not to mention sharks. And reefs. And mangroves.”

   “We;ll be fine.” Miyu brushed her off. “I’d rather chill in the shallows with the sharks in the shade than cook out here, what do you two say?”

   “Fine. Hand me an oar. Let’s go to this Mako Island place.” Aoi seethed.

   Miyu smiled but Aoi didn’t return the sentiment, even as she grabbed an oar to help them to paddle forwards to Mako Island. And despite her reservations, of which Kiku had many as she was rather keen on urban legends and ghost stories, Kiku was excited and she very happily demonstrated that by keeping the girls occupied, but not necessarily sane, by relaying all those myths that she knew of regarding Mako Island. None of which seemed to hold water nor have any sense of correlation, each was as random as the last, using Mako Island’s name and that alone.

   At least Kiku shut up when they arrived and despite being girls of the water, in one form or another, both Aoi and Miyu were happy to have reached the shore. Together, all three dragged the tiny speedboat up a bit further so it wouldn’t be dragged off by the shore and they took stock of their situation.

   Kiku and Miyu both discovered their phones were flat or nearly flat, making them just about useless but Aoi’s was still in good battery condition. She just wasn’t getting any bars. 

   “So, who votes for staying and waiting for help? And who votes for finding higher ground?” Miyu asked. “I’m voting for finding higher ground.”

   “What? No, you should always stay put when you're lost.” Aoi insisted.

   Kiku sighed. She was the tie-breaker because of course she was. She glanced between them and shuffled closer to Miyu, unthinkingly taking her hand. She chose to decide with her loyalty and longstanding friendship than with Aoi.

   “I think we should find higher ground.” Kiku mumbled.

   Aoi glared but then spat at Miyu, “You're always like this.”

   “Ha! Yeah, I know and I don’t care.” Miyu showboated. “C’mon, girls, let’s get going.”

   Kiku sighed again and exchanged a look with Aoi, they were both wondering where Miyu got her boundless sense of energy from. She should have been plumb tuckered out, just like the speedboat, but instead she was anything but as she led the march deeper into the Island.

   For all its eerie mystique, Mako Island was really beautiful. It was also dangerous. For every breathtaking vista of lush foliage, there were potentially dangerous spiders lurking on their webs on the branches and other such hidden dangers in the beauty. Still, the girls did well to navigate it, just going up and onwards, hoping for the best as they avoided loose rocks underfoot and other tripholds. It really didn’t feel like anyone had ever been on Mako Island before them.

   They walked in relative quiet until Kiku wanted to ask them both a question. She considered herself Miyu’s best friend and they had been good friends since they were in elementary school but she obviously didn’t know everything there was about Miyu. That was a given. She had her secrets and she was entitled to them, as open a book as she was given her bubbly nature. But Kiku wanted to know, did they know each other from somewhere else, from before Aoi had transferred into their school? 

   But before Kiku could work up the courage to talk about anything off topic to their current situation, they arrived at a different predicament. They had been walking for maybe half an hour when they found themselves at a plateau of some sort. Their strategy, as vague as it was, had to have been working because there was a small waterfall, less than two metres wide, trickling down into a rushing river below. If they strained their ears, they could hear a more powerful waterfall nearby, further and higher up which was where they wanted to go. It was just that two metre gap between where they were and where they wanted to go which was holding them up.

   Ever a go-getter, Miyu didn’t need to be prompted. She went on ahead, jumping over the water. She spun on her heel and laughed.

   “Come on, you two, don’t be slowpokes.” she teased them from the other side. She even poked her tongue out at them, ever cheeky.

   Aoi, annoyed, didn’t want to be left behind nor taunted so she followed through. She jumped over the edge. She sailed over it gracefully, like a bird, and she preened for Miyu as well when she did so.

   “See, you can do anything if you put your mind to it, I always told you that.” Miyu snickered.

   Aoi rolled her eyes and then turned back to Kiku, hoping to prompt her but Kiku stood there, fidgeting.

   “I- um, I don’t think I can do this.” Kiku called out from the other side of the ledge.

   Miyu groaned, “Come on, you can do anything you put your mind to it, as well.” she insisted.

   “It's safe, trust me.” Aoi added.

   Kiku glanced at the ledge. Moss grew in the cracks of the ledge, where the water rushed by and she hesitated, “I don’t know, it looks pretty slippery.”

   “It’s okay, we’ll be right here, won’t we, Aoi?” Miyu said and she nudged Aoi who flinched. “We’ll stick our hands out for you.”

   Kiku smiled. She felt better hearing that and she watched her friends stick their hands out for her. She braced backwards and then tried to go forwards. She failed spectacularly. She screamed as she slipped and lost her way upon jumping.

   Kiku tumbled down an unseen hole. She landed out the other side, sandy and dizzy, whinging and whining as she picked herself up, only to flinch and flounce back down in her mild, stinging pain. Her ankle felt jarred and she seethed. She looked around and she had found herself in a rather good oubliette, looking up into the few sunbeams the hole afforded her.

   “Miyu! Aoi!” Kiku called out to her.

   She waited a moment and heard the tap, tap, tapping of shoes on stone. The girls must have jumped over and sure enough, she saw Miyu poking her head down the dank hole.

   “Are you okay?” she asked. “D’you think ya can get up?”

   Kiku scanned the entryway to the underground cave and shook her head to herself, “No,” she cried out, having made her judgements, “its too steep.”

   “Can you try?” Aoi asked, her head flashing briefly in front of the hole and Kiku glimpsed her.

   “I think I sprained my ankle.” Kiku replied.

   Aoi turned to Miyu, “Stay here, I’ll go down to get Kiku.”

   She didn’t even wait lest she argued with Miyu before slipping down the hole. It wasn’t the smoothest ride down but she got there alright. She grizzled as she hobbled closer to Kiku. She touched the side of Kiku’s face and whilst she winced from the unexpected touch, as kind and as gentle as it was, it was relieving for Aoi to see that Kiku didn’t have any unreported head injuries. She then moved down to her ankle, poking her finger down Kiku’s sock but it didn’t look too bad.

   “You’ll be right, if I help, you should be-”

   “Wheee!” 

   Aoi paled and in a second flat, both she and Kiku were bowled over. Sand and dust splashed up as Miyu giggled through the groaning. Aoi shot Miyu a dirty glare but she pouted in response. Kiku held her head, gurgling as she shook out her jitters.

   “What the…?” Kiku murmured.

   “I told you. To stay. Put.” Aoi hissed through her teeth.

   “And do what? Keep going? Do nothing? It was awful. ‘Sides how’re you s’posed to come back with a potentially wounded girl so down I went.”

   “I want to strangle you so bad.” Aoi snapped.

   “Yeah, I can tell, and you think I’ve never felt the same?” Miyu snapped back in retaliation.

   “Girls, what the heck is your problem with each other?” Kiku shouted over them both.

   Her voice echoed through the darkness. Aoi and Miyu didn’t exactly seem proud of themselves but Aoi spoke first.

   “We used to be the best of friends, like, before kindergarten but I-”

   “Did something very stupid. When that’s my job.” Miyu retorted, interrupting her.

   “I did what I thought was best. I was protecting you.” Aoi insisted, her shoulders square and staunch.

   Kiku was bewildered and concerned, her gaze bounced between them both as the truth and their story slowly puzzled out.

   “I stole my mother’s ring because I wanted to play with it with Aoi. I wanted her to see pretty things as well since Aoi wasn’t as lucky as I was, you know, with the whole traditional family thing.” Miyu said. “But my mother was, as you would imagine, not very happy when I took the ring and then also lost the ring, dropping it down a drainpipe on accident. Aoi lied, saying she told me to take it and that she lost it even though it was my fault. A-And then we never saw each other again and now…”

   “We’re both annoyed that things didn’t go nicely or differently, my brother and I had to go somewhere else for his work so I couldn’t play with Miyu anymore in the park…” Aoi explained.

   “I just want to say… I’m sorry.” Miyu said. “I should have stood up to you to my mother and- and yeah… You still would have had to go but maybe that way, we didn’t have to be crying and screaming the last time we saw each other.”

   “I… don’t want to be mad at you but it feels like you learned nothing from that lesson.” Aoi spoke quietly.

   “Guess I’m a dunderhead like that…” Miyu hazarded out a laugh.

   “I’m sorry too.” Aoi replied. “For treating you poorly over something that happened ten years ago.”

   Kiku smiled. She was rather heartwarmed by the two working out their differences. Even if she had to be in the middle of it, with a sprained ankle, and in a cave. With no way out. And it seemed that they both picked up on it as well in the darkness, kind of laughing but Kiku heard something beneath that defeated resonance of their laughter.

   “Do you girls hear that?” Kiku asked, whisper quiet.

   The two girls stopped their laughter, sucked their breaths and sure enough, they heard it as well.

   “That’s… fresh water. There’s water trickling down but it's not wet here so there has to be somewhere else.” Aoi said.

   “Yeah, exactly.” Miyu excitedly agreed, eyes wide.

   “Can you two help me up? We can search together?” Kiku suggested.

   Aoi and Miyu nodded decisively and worked together, like a wonderful, ice solid team. Their arms interlinked and Kiku was brought to her feet, together they hobbled on through the cave and the oubliette. It wasn’t a long path but they found one through a tight spot, they had to go single file through it but they stumbled out into something much bigger and much better.

   Starlight streamed in through and there was even luminous moss on the walls. Looking up, they were in the cone of a dormant volcano and looking down, they had found the most wonderful rock pool. Neat, flat rocks circled a pool which was deep and aquamarine, glittering with shards of starlight, lapping gently at the almost paver-like rocks. The sand here was fine and sugar white, it was amazing.

   Miyu got onto her knees and stuck her head out, she squinted into the darkness but she was certain she heard it. The gurgling of refreshed salt water. She glanced back to Kiku, and Miyu then pointed out a hole in the far wall of where the volcano’s cone came back down to skirt the calm surface of the pool.

   “There.” she said, eyes bright. “That’s our way out. I’m certain.”

   “I believe you.” Aoi said. 

   “But I’ll have to check, to see if the gap’s big enough, you know, like person sized.” Miyu added.

   “If anyone can do that, it's you.” Kiku encouraged her. “Aoi and I will wait here for you.”

   “Got it.” Miyu nodded.

   Miyu popped back up and she limbered up. She kicked off her shoes whilst stretching out her muscles. She took off her shirt, revealing her sports swimsuit underneath then dived into the water. She looked so graceful, aweing both Kiku and Aoi as she disappeared into the water. It must have been deep for her to do that.

   Aoi and Kiku didn’t talk much whilst they waited but the anticipation, and praying for Miyu’s safety, was palpable. All they could do in the meantime was watch the moon and stars on the water. They didn’t want to break the serenity of the silence; the only remarks they could make were too romantic, anyway. This volcano had been dormant for tens of thousands of years and it had become so beautiful in its sleep, they could hardly believe it but they kept wanting to rush Miyu. 

   It felt like she was gone for ages but eventually, she resurfaced. She broke the tension with a huge gasp for air and her eyes glittered.

   “You wouldn’t believe what it's like down here,” she panted, “it's so beautiful.”

   “But is it safe?” Aoi asked, her brows furrowing with gentle concern.

   “Totally.” Miyu replied, beaming.

   “But how long is the swim…? You know I’m not exactly a fish in the water…” Kiku murmured.

   “Twenty seconds, probably? Then it's just a doggy paddle to the closest sand bar which ain’t that far.” Miyu said.

   Miyu crawled over the edge to collect her stuff. She double checked that her bag was waterproofed before popping right back into the water. Aoi and Kiku laughed as they got caught in her splash and she couldn’t help but show off. Twisting and turning, flicking through the water like she was born in it.

   “C’mon, the water’s fine.” Miyu teased them.

   Aoi got up and then extended her hand to Kiku. She was greatly uncertain but she wanted to get out of here. Even if here was really pretty and even a little bit surreal. Aoi pulled her to her feet but Kiku was hesitant to put her weight on both feet. She did feel better though for resting.

   Kiku watched as Aoi entered the water. Just a fearless pindrop down, fully clothed and all, and she went down, down, down. The water plumed around her before she rose back up and she smiled. 

   “Miyu’s right,” she added, “the water’s really nice.”

   The coaxing didn’t help much. The queasy nervousness in her stomach but knowing her two friends with her, did quell at least some of what Kiku was feeling so she cautiously stepped into the water. She came down, skirt pluming down and around and the water wasn’t warm but it wasn’t cold either. It felt nice. Temperate. Kiku smiled as she waded with one arm whilst Aoi helped to keep her afloat. Miyu was too powerful a swimmer for that role.

   “Let’s rock and-” Miyu cut her own enthusiasm off as something peculiar happened.

   The water began to stir and bubble. It was bizarre. The girls looked up and they were blinded by the stark, white light of the full moon. It was perfectly haloed by the rim of the volcano’s mouth which looked so black in contrast to how bright the light was. It was though it were in position and the pool appeared to agree. Those bubbles, spheres of dewy light, rose up into the air. Going upwards and upwards, taking their breath away. None of the girls had ever seen something like this before. It was extraordinary and they watched the entire few minutes in which the moon was overhead. 

   When it moved away, even just slightly, the bubbles stopped. The water of the pool calmed and the girls decided it was time for them to move on, as difficult as it was. The experience left them with tingles but they all took big gulps of breath and they went under.

   Miyu paraded through first, showing Kiku and Aoi the way. She was like a dolphin, easily swimming through the water. The combination of Kiku and Aoi was far more awkward than that but they did it. They made it through to the otherside, past a forest of kelp and other plants, even schools of fish, in the water.

   Kiku was all too excited to breach, immediately gasping with complaining words tumbling out, “That was so much longer than twenty seconds!” 

   Miyu giggled but before she could say anything, fog lights cut through the dark of the night. A boat had found them and that ship belonged to the water police. They were instructed to the rear boat and were assured they weren’t in any trouble but they also simultaneously were, at least with their parents and guardians, not so much their rescuers. Upon boarding, they were wrapped up in blankets and then shipped out.

   Come morning, the experience already felt faraway.

   Faraway for everyone except one Shima Naoki. He was not too impressed by the shenanigans the girls had gotten up to and he took it out on Kiku and Miyu the first chance he got.

   After all, training for the upcoming inter-high swimming tournament didn’t stop for anyone so Miyu was on her way to the beach for some more rugged deep sea training. She had really liked the swimming she had gotten up to yesterday and as per usual, Kiku wanted to assist her by holding her things and checking her stopwatch. But as soon as Naoki caught a glimpse of the two of them on their way, he just had to hassle them.

   “Hey, you two sea hags,” Naoki yelled, cutting a ragged path through the park trail they were on, “my dad was really pissed last night that you took my speedboat Nature for that little joyride to bloody Mako Island of all places.”

   Kiku jutted her chin out as Naoki stood in her and Miyu’s path, “You said, if I got it working, we could have it and, well. We got it working.”

   “Ha-ha, very funny.” Naoki snarled with a sarcastic laugh.

   “Now, if you would excuse us.” Kiku said.

   “No way.” Naoki snapped.

   “Yes way.” Miyu insisted and she stepped out in front of Kiku protectively.

   Naoki rolled his eyes. “You two think your so strong when your together but one of these days-”

   Kiku simpered behind Miyu’s shoulder and she glared straight ahead at Naoki with her hands just about to slip into a fist in frustration. It was true. So long as they were together, she and Kiku thought they were a big enough school of fish to be unbothered by annoyances like Naoki but he was right. If he were to get them alone and Miyu hated the idea that they would have to be together all the time just to make bullies like Naoki buzz off. She stamped her foot and unthinkingly, still staring at the fire hydrant, which was now quivering, Kiku flinched. She glanced at the fire hydrant and Miyu’s hand twisted in with that final bout of frustration,

   The water spouted from the fire hydrant in a brilliant wave. Naoki was blasted off, he screamed as he was thrown back to the hills. Kiku and Miyu stared. That was. A bit unexpected. A bit out of the blue so they hurried off.

   But they were certainly giggling about it later on the beach with their towels. Neither could believe what had happened - nor the gobsmacked look on Naoki’s face. What a bizarre coincidence that just as Miyu got upset, the fire hydrant would explode like that. It was honestly a little too bizarre, Miyu felt but she couldn’t help but feel there was something more to it.

    Like she had done it. She couldn’t explain it but when her hand had twisted like that but no, surely not, she was too old to play such daydream games.

   Miyu wanted it out of her head and she couldn’t think of a better way to purge herself of those weird thoughts was to swim them off.

   She abandoned her things with Kiku and immediately raced off into the water. She dove into the waves and she was feeling good. She started to formulate a plan on how she would train. She would go out so many metres this way and then so many metres that way but something strange happened. Her movements changed. 

   Right down to a molecular level, Miyu felt this peculiarity so she brought herself down under the water and opened her eyes. The salt didn’t sting. She could breathe. She had a tail. A fish’s tail: scales and fins and all. A bright blue tail with mesmerising dark blue patterns that were circular and ring-like, some more squashed like droplets of water. Miyu could have screamed but her voice turned to the squeaking of a dolphin.

   She breached and in an instant, she swam back to the shoreline. She dragged herself up into the waves and called out, “Kiku! Kiku! Something’s wrong!”

   Kiku looked up from the novel she had been reading and paled. She dropped everything and raced for the water. As soon as her toes and then her ankles hit the water, so did the rest of her. In just a few seconds, she face planted and now had a fiery red tail to match.

   “Uh oh.” Miyu said. She bent her tail upwards and the droopy fins trailed on her lower back. “You two, huh? But red’s always been your colour so I’m glad whatever magic gods decided this knew that.”

   “Miyu, you are acting way too calm in this situation.” Kiku snapped, eyes wide as she tried to get used to how heavy she was with that metres long tail she now had.

   “I can make this worse, I think.” Miyu said. She lifted a hand, balancing all her weight on her other hand and she made the same twisting motions from before. Just like with the fire hydrant, she manipulated the water.

   Kiku watched as this tentacle of water shimmied and swayed with Miyu’s hand gestures. 

   “Y-You can. You did it. You made it worse.” Kiku stuttered out. “Aoi. We need to tell Aoi.”

   Miyu nodded in agreement. They then dragged themselves up through the sand, leaving a wake but once they had dried off, their tails disappeared. Kiku was stunned as she was the first to change back and she was quick to get onto the phone whilst Miyu still tried to dry herself off with her sandy towel.

   “Hey, Aoi, um, this is going to sound strange but-”

   “Yep.” Aoi said, guessing the conversation. “Looking at it right now. Dark blue with light blue markings.”

   “Where are you, oh my gosh?” Kiku asked.

   “The bathtub, thank goodness, and my brother’s nowhere to be seen so I’m home alone right now.” Aoi said.

   “Reckon you can come to the south-east beach? I think it's best to regroup.” Kiku suggested.

   “I’ll be there when I can… just, um, how do the tails go away?” Aoi asked.

   Kiku glanced at Miyu who was beaming that her hard work had paid off. “When you're dry. Simple as that.” Kiku told her.

   “Okay, see you as soon as I can be.” Aoi replied.

   Whilst they waited for Aoi to arrive, Miyu played around more with her newfound superpowers. She was all but itching to get back into the water. Kiku wasn’t so eager but she had to admit. There was a great big world out there and through some sort of peculiar happenstance, she was going to see more of it.

   Aoi arrived on the beach about half an hour later and Miyu leapt to her feet seeing her. Aoi was rather sheepish about it as well, she kept furtively glancing around and from what it seemed, it was completely empty save for them.

   “You need to see this.” Miyu yapped.

   “The tail? I already have.” Aoi said.

   “There’s more to it than that.” Miyu told her excitedly.

   In that mere half an hour of practice, Miyu had gotten really good at using her power. Aoi watched with awe as the water tentacle just got longer and thicker the more Miyu used it. She was even able to cut it into sections and at least juggle three of them.

   “Oh.” Aoi exclaimed. “There is more than just the tail. For you at least.”

   “No, no, I bet you two can do it too.” she said but all it took was that for her to lose concentration.

   Buckets upon buckets of water fell forward. Kiku shrieked and Aoi tried to protect herself from the oncoming onslaught of this artificial rain but in doing so, she lifted her hand with her palm out. The water froze. Miyu cooed and Aoi gingerly looked up.

   “Oh. You’re right. I have. I can freeze things.” she said and immediately, she tried again.

   She looked around and saw a puddle in the ground. She brandished her palm to it and froze.

   “How do you unfreeze it?” Kiku asked. “It looks really weird. Or maybe, um, Miyu, can you unfreeze it?”

   Miyu and Aoi both tried their hand gestures but neither worked. Kiku stepped forward and she tried various things. And just when it seemed hopeless, clawing in her fingers to a fist, slow but sure, the water unfroze and not just that. It turned to steam. It evaporated it.

   “We have superpowers.” Kiku commented in a stupor.

   “We do.” Miyu said. “Its exciting.” She inserted herself between Kiku and Aoi.

   “We have to keep this a secret.” Aoi worried. “If people found out, we would be dissected or put in freak shows.”

   “Both sound fun but bad. Fun but bad.” Miyu said.

   “Secrets. Yay. Lots of fun.” Kiku said. “We’re not, like, married now, are we?”

   “Only if you want to be.” Miyu said and she looped her arms around her friends’.

   “Great.” Aoi said but she gingerly smiled.

   Both girls let Miyu parade them closer to the water. They stood at the very edge together and were weirdly nervous and weirdly excited. The water kept coming closer and closer. 

   “Let’s get to the bottom of this.” Aoi said.

   “But let’s have fun first.” Miyu added.

   “Agreed.” Kiku sighed. “To both.”

   The water crashed down over them and they squealed on the way down. They were no longer ordinary girls but rather something extraordinary from a deep blue underworld.

Chapter Text

   She sings in the shower, Tiger observed as she chewed on a twizzler, waiting for Romin to finish up in the shower. Even though Romin described herself as tone deaf - and she was - Tiger didn’t necessarily dislike what she could make out from beneath the roar of the shower and encased in the bouncing acoustics of the bathroom. She was having fun, listening to Romin’s singing. 

   If Tiger had to make an educated guess as to what Romin was singing, she would estimate a mixture of RoaRomin songs as well as older music, belonging to the hair metal genre and similarly glamorous music with a hard, rock and roll core. But she couldn’t be certain unless she asked Romin which Tiger was thinking she wouldn’t do because she preferred classical music but musing on the topic made Tiger realise that she was already missing Romin’s company as it was just them on this pool party-pyjama party combination.

   The Kamijo estate had a pool on its grounds and whilst Tiger had recommended to Romin that she wore a swimming cap, just like her, she hadn’t taken the recommendation but now, she was regretting it since she had so much chlorine in her hair now. 

   Before she knew it, the singing abruptly stopped and so did the water. A few minutes later, Romin came out in her pyjamas. Tiger smiled. It was a wide, cat-like smile and Romin greeted her.

   “I wasn’t too long, was I?” she asked.

   “No, not at all.” Tiger replied.

   “That’s good.” Romin hummed.

   She fluffed out her hair some more with her towel; there were damp rings on the neck of her shirt as well as on the underarms of her shirt, Tiger couldn’t help but notice. She always saw things with a close eye, she couldn’t help it and she especially couldn’t help that Romin was very fun to closely observe.

   “Would you like some assistance, at all?” Tiger asked.

   Romin blinked and she looked away, blushing. “If you don’t mind. I do prefer to drip dry but… It could be fun.”

   “Yes, it could be.” Tiger agreed.

   Romin shuffled closer and Tiger straightened her skirt. Romin sat down at Tiger’s feet where she sat on her bed and she picked out different implements to play with Romin’s hair using from her bedside table. She plugged in her hair dryer and she picked out a clean brush. Romin sighed as Tiger began on her hair. She was gentle.

   To start with at least. Tiger being Tiger soon showed her truer stripes but Romin did her best to endure her increasingly vigorous techniques. Romin gritted her teeth when Tiger got too rough but she all but she sighed, all but melting, when Tiger was gentle with her. Honestly, Romin adored it both ways. Having her scalp massaged by Tiger was divine and even her wringing out her hair, whilst rough, had merit to it as well.

   “Enjoy yourself?” Tiger asked.

   “Yeah. A lot.” Romin said and she smiled shyly. 

   “Glad to hear it, pride in one’s presentation is pride in one’s self, after all.” Tiger boasted.

   Romin giggled. 

   “But have you ever thought of doing anything with your hair?” Tiger asked. “It's so long and thick, it would be a shame not to…”

   “Oh, um, not really, I tried a couple times with Duelstagram techniques but they’re all lost on me and my mother isn’t around to show me anything so just down is fine but sometimes the stylist puts it up in twin tails.” Romin rambled.

   “I see.” Tiger replied, most thoughtfully. “Do you mind if I tried something with it?”

   Romin felt - and heard - some sort of bell ring in her head. “Yes, yes, please.”

   Her excitement was adorable to Tiger who set to work immediately. Romin melted some more whilst Tiger parted her hair, straight as an arrow down the middle and did other things too. Tiger also thought that was very adorable. And though she took her time, which Romin greatly appreciated, when she was finished, Tiger passed back a mirror to Romin and finished.

   Romin put the mirror in her face and her eyes lit up. She smiled and laughed.

   “I look just like you, I had no idea you were so vain.” Romin laughed.

   “Incorrect.” Tiger told her, carrying that strong sense of black and white with her reply. “I gave you space-buns.”

   “I like it though.” Romin replied. “No, incorrect also. I love it.”

   “And you’re calling me vain.” Tiger teased her, poking her cheeks but Romin kept admiring herself in the mirror. 

   The twin bun look did complement Romin greatly, she felt, admiring how spherical they were. If she were to attempt it, it would be a disaster, she was certain so she smiled.

   “Thank you, though, I really do mean it when I say that I love it.” Romin said.

   “I can tell, I’m not daft,” Tiger replied and she leaned down and Romin looked up, “but I do like to hear it.” 

   She pecked the middle of Romin’s forehead and Romin’s eyes went wide. She blushed. Her heart hammered and now she was wondering what exactly those feelings were, she thought she was just enjoying the pampering and being spoilt but maybe it was something else as well.

   And Tiger seemed to smugly enjoy inducing such bewilderment on Romin, smiling with tightly pursed lips and then making sure there was not a strand out of place in Romin’s newly done up hairstyle. 

Chapter Text

   Were it not for the fact that Masumi had seen such a gruesome thing with her own two eyes, she would have laughed. Scoffed at the thought of someone confusing a viscous tale with reality but she had seen it. And now she was the one who was the protagonist of what should only have been an urban legend.

   That XYZ Duellist - Kurosaki Shun - had eaten his own heart in front of them, just before the duel had started. Masumi watched in horror as the most peculiar thing happened. He made his speech, he declared his vows, and he clutched his chest. His fingers dug into his body, phasing through his coat and then with a sudden jerk, he ripped something from inside of himself.

   His still beating heart.

   He held it in his hand, slowly rising, like it was a skull in a shakespearean play but the only theatre of it was a theatre of pain, and then he brought it to his mouth. It throbbed in the cage of his fingers so unlike, but maybe eerily too close, the cage of his ribs. It bled. His fingers turned slick with red blood that looked so bright and acrid against the ensuing darkness that besieged the alley with the putrid, orange dusk.

   He breathed heavily and Masumi watched all too closely from afar as his lips trembled. He put his mouth to his own organ and he licked it. He closed his eyes and he relished this moment which was all but him alone as Masumi and her friends watched as gentle movements became voracity. He ate his heart. It burst with yet more blood and it smeared on his face, dripped down his fingers and he ate it to messy completion. The bits he didn’t eat, veins and calcific flecks of flesh, he returned to where it had come. His chest.

   His hunger was satiated but none of the LDS Trio quite knew what that hunger was but with it satiated, the grotesque ceremony ended and then the duel began. For real this time. No fake-outs, not taunts, just with cold, sharp eyes and a mouth smeared with blood. With soiled hands, Kurosaki duelled and with soiled hands, he won and his cruelty knew no bounds. Not unto himself and not unto his opponents either.

   In the stasis of being carded, Masumi was left with the horrifying impact of that duel. Of having seen a man eat his own heart as a bet and ritual to win and it stayed with her long after the duel ended. And long after she was returned to her own body and sense of personhood, too.

   The experience left Masumi harrowed to say the least. Traumatised if she was being more emotionally vulnerable or truthful. Blood had never made her squeamish until she was helping her mother chop vegetables for dinner and she nicked herself with a knife, across the tip of her finger on an accident and she could have cried. Instead, she only sank to her knees, crouching, trembling, sucking the wound to clean it. And that was somehow much, much worse than if she had started to bawl.

   The way her mother looked at her that evening was another dusk that Masumi would never forget and she wanted them both purged. Desiring such ends, Masumi would weaponize any means so she embraced the seeming fact that she was the sceptical protagonist of this urban legend.

   She sought out the source of her anguish but not quite. She couldn’t bring herself to interrogate or otherwise investigate Kurosaki Shun, with his eyes like a hawk and a mouth so readily primed for blood. Instead, she sought the truth and the mystery from another XYZ Duellist of Heartland, the little sister of Shun, Ruri.

   Ruri was something of an enigma at the best of times to Masumi.

   She looked so eerily similar to Yuzu and by their powers combined with another two girls, they became yet another person entirely. Her eyes were a lot like her brother’s. Avian and sharp. She had a survivor’s instinct, as well. But there was something inherently soft about how hard she actually was. She was someone who had to be taken kicking and screaming, after all but she didn’t dismiss Masumi when she came forward with questions about what Heartland was like before the war. About Shun and how he had eaten his own heart before that duel. 

   She wasn’t exactly open or direct with Masumi but she agreed to answer Masumi’s questions nonetheless but her eyes shone with such melancholy when Masumi had even asked so already, Masumi was tinged with regret as she searched to ruin herself once more on that gore. Together, they endeavoured to create another evening that would serve to nauseate Masumi.

   They cuddled up in Masumi’s room, on her bed, notebooks and pens at their side. Masumi’s parents would be home late and she had put a plastic gauze down so as to not create too much mess. She didn’t turn the light on; the last vestiges of the day, disappearing behind the city skyline was just enough to illuminate them both. Ruri looked so wrong dyed in orange but Masumi looked so right in such vivid light.

   “This is the power of Heartland,” Ruri whispered to Masumi, their gaze catching on one another at mismatched intervals, “and why it is the land of hearts at all.”

   Masumi blushed as Ruri put her hand to her chest. With a strained expression, she detached her heart from her body. Her fingers phased through her chest and through her clothes; they all became metaphysical slurry before she could finally draw out her organ with all the respect and grace due. 

   Masumi could have been sick as she watched Ruri hold her own heart in her ivory fingers. She smiled gingerly even as the blood seeped; the plastic gauze beneath them crinkling, strangely innocent, as Masumi kneaded it. She swallowed as she couldn’t help but watch everything that Ruri’s heart did. Every drip of blood; every throbbing motion that it made. It was every bit as perfect and precise as it should have been if it were an illustration in a medical textbook.

   “H-How?” Masumi asked. “How in the world is this possible?”

   Ruri shrugged, humming to herself, “It's a mystery,” she murmured, “but its not real either.”

   “I don’t understand. Explain.” Masumi demanded of her, her own heart beating quicker as blood pooled between them both, staining the plastic, staining their clothes. It was wet and sticky.

   “Come closer, put your head to my chest.” Ruri murmured.

   Masumi blushed but she obeyed. Her head brushed up against Ruri’s breast and she stilled her breathing. She waited and she heard it. Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. Masumi gawked, throwing her gaze towards the still beating heart in Ruri’s hand. The one in her chest still beat - and it beat out of pace to how the manifestation of her heart.

   Masumi tried to say something but in her confusion, confusion which made her irate, she was unable to say a thing. She ripped herself from Ruri’s side, even though she was soft and perfumed with the pleasant scents of plumeria petals and other floral notes that glistened on the senses.

   “To eat someone’s heart is the greatest insult; to eat your own is a promise of victory, but to entrust it to someone else… Even stranger things happen.” Ruri murmured. “Do you want to try?”

   “Y-You want to entrust me with your heart?” Masumi asked her with a stutter.

   “I do.” Ruri replied, affirming. “I really, truly do.”

   “Okay then, if it's alright…” Masumi worriedly told her.

   Masumi cupped her hands and Ruri placed her heart gently inside Masumi’s palms. The organ was warm and wet. It was Ruri’s and it was Ruri’s blood which dribbled down Masumi’s arms, on her sleeves and the like. It felt bizarre. And terrible and even worse when it quivered between the steady beating of Ruri’s actual breath.

   “I trust you, Masumi, with my heart, I do.” Ruri murmured but Masumi didn’t feel spoken to.

   She felt as though Ruri’s words were for her own heart. She leaned in and she kissed the tips of Masumi’s fingers stained with blood. The feeling of her lips was chaste but oddly disgusting. But the sense of trust was true. It permeated the room and it permeated the precious heart that Masumi held.

   And in her hands, it turned to sapphire and obsidian. Masumi didn’t even know if those minerals could coexist in the same foundation but here they were, doing just that in her hands as the most precious jewel she could ever be beholden to: Ruri’s heart. Blue and black but it still bled. The veins turned to mineralised canals; the convex angles became the sharp faucets of an uncut jewel. Masumi began to panic but she dared not drop this still pulsing jewel in the shape of a human heart, no matter how impossibly coloured and impossibly shining.

   “Wh-What now?” Masumi stammered. “What’s happening now?”

   Ruri giggled evasively. “I told you. Stranger things happen still to those who entrust their heart to someone else.” When she spoke, Masumi finally noticed the blood on her lips; on her pearly teeth.

   “That’s not a good enough answer,” Masumi argued back, “I want concrete data. Facts. Not myths and legends and impossible things.”

   “Then I would be flattered to be your science experiment, Masumi.” Ruri told her and she kissed Masumi’s the back of Masumi’s fingers again, even kissing on the inner of her fingers where she was most sensitive, this time feeling the cold of the jewel on her lips rather than the warmth of her own bleeding heart.

Chapter Text

   The show had been fantastic. A vivacious shower of glitter and sparkly lights. It had completely and utterly taken Cyndia’s breath away. She couldn’t believe it. She was the sole person in the crowd who stood on both her feet, both her little kitty cat high heels, giving the magician and his stagehand a standing ovation.

   “Darling,” Pegasus hissed, “people are staring.” He leaned in hard to his lover.

   Cyndia huffed and she shook off his pet name for her as well as his sudden and unusual care for his - their or maybe just her - image. He had never cared for people staring so why was it an issue now?

   “Let them.” Cyndia told him, firm but under her breath.

   Pegasus shook out the ruffles of his own malcontent and Cyndia continued to applaud the end of the show. She was breathless as the thick, velvet curtains fell close with a swank and a swish. She grinned and she stood still where people were already perhaps a little too quick to leave.

   “We should see if they would let us backstage.” Cyndia excitedly suggested.

   “I do not believe that Pandora man is worth the time.” Pegasus sighed and shrugged.

   Cyndia groaned. “Oh, please, what do we have to lose?” she insisted and she knew damn well it wasn’t the magician man himself whom she was enamoured with. 

   He would never spill the secrets of his magic but there was a possibility someone else would. Someone with long, slender legs and silky, golden hair and luscious lips and wore fishnets and a bunny suit without the ears. Oh, Cyndia was blushing a rose pink just thinking about her. And how she could never tell her fiance about her feelings, as sudden and effervescent as they were. They were too out there but she wouldn't exactly say that she felt paid attention to by Pegasus right now.

   He rolled his eyes. “Anything for my wife to be, I am nothing but a slave to my passion for you, Cyndia.” he declared in his whimsical, airy voice. It seemed contradictory and it was but Cyndia let him be.

   Wearily, Pegasus got up and Cyndia began to sashay out the side of the seating. They trekked down the velour handled steps and with a flash of his cash, Pegasus got Cyndia the little present which she was after. She was so excited to be backstage of the casino with the magician and his assistant. 

   The walls were neater than they thought, a pastel orange with noticeable yellow hues, maybe a sepia. The trims were cream and looked just as frothy in their architecture. The doors were studded with buzzing lights and the like. Coming inside, it was an olfactory attack of chintzy perfumes and hair spray.

   “I’m always happy to meet my fans.” Pandora boasted.

   “How wonderful.” Cyndia said through gritted teeth. She flashed Catherine a look but Catherine looked away from her.

   She tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear; the glitzy jewel in the stud of her earring caught the fluorescent light and dazzled Cyndia all over again. She wanted to get a little bit closer and to do that, she put her hands on Pegasus’s arm.

   “Say, dearest,” she began saccharine, “I’d love to get some make-up tips from Miss Catherine there, why don’t you and Pandora go take a light outside, hm?”

   Pandora laughed. “Does it really shine through my being that I’m a smoker?” he asked.

   “You reek, darling, of smoke. Anyone could make an educated guess about your bad habits.” Catherine giggled.

   “That I do, that I do. But I didn’t peg you for a smoking man, Crawford.” Pandora said, all too loudly.

   “Only cigars, of which I have a few and some, I’m even happy to share if you feel so inclined.” Pegasus said.

   “I’ll take the ones you don’t like out of your case, if you would be so kind.” Pandora offered.

   With that, the men were conveniently shuffled out of the backroom and now it was just the women and it wasn’t exactly the quiz show live connection that Cyndia had been hoping for it. It was actually a little bit awkward. A terse atmosphere of stolen glances and listening to tinny casino music emanate down from the main of the building. But Cyndia didn’t want to waste her chance with such a beautiful woman.

   She inched closer but Catherine played the role of a fortune teller. She stood tall, in her high heels with red soles, and held onto a chair, keeping her back straight and her diaphragm as tight as a drum.

   “Having relationship problems?” she asked.

   “Only a little.” Cyndia confessed. “You?”

   “Me too.” Catherine professed in equal admittance. “I can’t solve mine so don’t go hoping I can solve yours.”

   “Is it that obvious?” asked Cyndia, cringing at her own naivete. 

   “Like you wouldn’t believe.” Catherine lamented. Her expression, particularly in her eyes which were a honey brown colour and they looked melancholic yet snide. “I just wish he would stop spendin’ money we don’t have on his darts.”

   “I just wish that Pegasus would look at me and see a person. Sometimes, I swear, he looks right past me.” Cyndia said.

   Catherine sighed. She searched the vanity but quickly found what she wanted. A bottle of purebred Tennessee whiskey. It had sunflowers on the label and looping typography for its brand. Catherine didn’t pop the cap on it but she let the drink inside, a gorgeous amber, swirl against the glass.

   “Cheers to terrible men.” Catherine said.

   “And cheers to the women who put up with them.” Cyndia added and Catherine smirked. “I just think your really pretty.” Cyndia kept talking and now she was sounding like she was a child;; she chastised herself for it. “I’ve never felt that way about a girl before, you know?”

   “Mm, it is a bit confusing.” Catherine agreed.

   Finally, she did pop the cap on that whiskey and she turned it over. It would make a fine tumble glass. She’d take a drink and then Cyndia would take a drink. That would be all, or at least that’s what Catherine thought.

   Only, Cyndia came closer. She had such a peculiar way of walking. It was almost like she was floating, like a bubble, like a ghost. She laced her fingers over the bottle of whiskey, over Catherine’s hands and Catherine’s heart did something unexpected. It skipped a beat. She let Cyndia steal a sip straight from the lips. The taste of it singed her mouth, she winced and Catherine hiccupped as a laugh.

   But it wasn’t just the whiskey that Cyndia sampled - and Catherine let her taste it as well. The taste of her own kiss and it was everything that Cyndia had hoped for. It was plasticine and rosy. The only shame was how the taste of that whiskey burned her but she liked it. It was something different and it was something intoxicating. It smudged her nude pink lipstick on the way back. On the not quite retreat because Cyndia wanted to kiss Catherine more but it didn’t seem appropriate. She wanted a taste, a sampling, not to be drunk and especially not drunk with things she couldn’t have forever.

   “Thank you.” Cyndia whispered.

   “No worries.” Catherine replied, taking a swig of whiskey from the rim of the whiskey, unbothered but she thought it sweeter than when she had been drinking with her boyfriend. 

   The moment lingered somewhere far away from saccharine, thank goodness, Catherine thought. She drank a little bit more; Cyndia declined, happy to watch and even envy the whiskey droplets on the cupid’s bow of Catherine’s sublime lips.

   The men respective to their lives returned sooner than they thought. Neither of them noticed how their leading ladies had smudged lipstick. Both lied too expertly, like starlet actresses with a script, about what they had talked about. Already concealing their feelings.and going back to how they had been before. Before they had been imperfect strangers. Stealing glances; barely acknowledging one another save for the indirect.

   But gosh did Catherine savour that whiskey one last time as she and Pandora said goodbye to their impromptu guests. She was chided as rude but Cyndia wanted to disagree. She didn’t. But she did steal one last look and finally, their gazes met and for a moment, it was like starlight. 

   What exactly was stopping them from running away, they could go and join a circus together, it couldn’t be that hard. Catherine was already halfway there as a stagehand to a second rate magician and as a toy company aficionado's human toy, Cyndia wasn’t all that faraway either but they didn’t.

   They just bid each other their ados with the sour knowledge this was it and all they it would be. And they felt like sunflowers trying not to wither. Cyndia had to look at Pegasus; Catherine had to look at Pandora; they were just sunflowers following the suns that their lives already presently revolved around. Because that’s all that sunflowers could do. Stop and stare; steal glances and other longing gazes. But that wouldn’t stop them from being wistful for other stars and flames they might have been able to have kindled in another life. 

Chapter Text

   Hayami wasn’t good at meeting new co-workers. Not for lack of trying though, more like because of trying too much. She wanted to make a good impression. Even if it was a good impression on people who really got into the nitty-gritty of Sol Tech’s shadier dealings.

   So, she put on a big smile and she did what she did best: played the gopher.

   Not to brag or anything but she had gotten really good at making coffee these days. She made a mean dirty chai, in her opinion. She brought out five throwaway cups on a cluttered, wooden tray into the office chambers where they were having their meeting, as well as milk, cream, sugar, any topping they could really want: Hayami was doing her best to make their guests feel at home. Maybe even so much at home that they would drop the facade and use their real names. Akira told her not to be so hopeful but Hayami thought that a little bit of hospitality would go a long way.

   Regardless, she was the last one to walk into the room and Akira closed the door behind her, completing the soundproofing of the room. She smiled, big and gawky, as she set down the tray. And as she did so, she did a head count: their boss wasn’t here but the main entourage of this upper echelon on were, the only one missing aside from Revolver was his little assistant who had duelled Blue Angel.

   “Help yourselves.” Hayami said.

   “Don’t mind if I do.” nattered the man closed to her, he was about mid-thirties to early forties, glasses, and green hair.

   Hayami smiled. She then flicked her gaze to the other two, the other man and the only other woman aside from her,  made sure they were welcome to have some coffee as well. In the meantime, she took her own drink and sugared it to oblivion and beyond. The woman - with sharp cheekbones and devilish red hair - hid a giggle as she did that.

   “Are we all comfortable yet?” Akira asked.

   He sounded a little testy so Hayami made sure that he got his coffee promptly as well: he took it almost black, one sugar and a teaspoon of milk. He thanked Hayami with just his eyebrows before he took stock of the rest of the situation. It seemed so and thus, Akira began the meeting.

   And what a dull meeting it was, Hayami thought. It was dark inside the room and Akira’s voice droned; Hayami could have gone straight to sleep in her chair. Thank goodness she had the coffee. She wouldn’t have been able to keep her eyes open through it, and her mouth closed, too. It was all hypotheticals on top of hypotheticals; action plans for future action plans. Very ambiguous and open ended, she mostly just nodded and hummed in agreement whenever Akira said something she thought made sense or sounded good or if he just needed someone in his corner to back him up. 

   So yes, the meeting couldn’t end quick enough but when it did, there was time to linger. To get up, stand around, stretch their legs. The Knights of Hanoi mostly kept to themselves so Hayami took the chance to clean afterwards. She collected up the mostly empty throwaway cups and all the foodstuffs she had brought over in the first place but that Baira woman couldn’t let fine enough be. 

   Hayami was perfectly capable of doing it all by herself but she insisted. She glared, with pursed lips, and she tried to help Hayami when she did not want the help. The outcome was about what was expected. Hayami attempted to trod off with all of it in her arms; Baira tried to cut in and take some of her burden but Hayami refused with a smile and a mildly annoyed, furrowed brow.

   The two ladies engaged in an exceedingly polite warfare of push and pull and it ended with milk and cream going everywhere. Though, mostly it went all over Baira and that nice white jacket of hers.

   Hayami was stunned with her error and it was, mostly, her error. “I am so sorry.” she said. “I can pay for dry cleaning for you, if you like.”

   Baira laughed. “It's fine, I’ve been covered in worse.” Her laughter was coarse, barky, but jolly and good natured. “How about you just show me to the nearest restroom, huh, sweetie?”

   “Oh, yeah, totally.” Hayami chirped, stiffening up, she loved pet names and didn’t mind if they were used by near or virtual strangers.

   Hayami gathered up what was dropped and with Baira, they dawdled off. The nearest restroom was on the corner of the floor and they got cleaned up there. Hayami helped dab off stains on Baira’s coat, both thankful that it hadn’t been actual coffee that they had dropped on her.

   It felt odd for Hayami to pick up and bundle Baira’s coat but she seemed content to watch, observing Hayami with a sharp eye. Hayami blushed. She didn’t actually think she was that interesting but maybe she was.

   “There we go,” Hayami said, “all done.”

   “You’re good at this.” Baira said and she shrugged. “I’ll be the first to admit, cleaning, housekeeping, cooking: never been my forte, you?”

   “Love all of the above.” Hayami admitted, a little bit embarrassed.

   “You’d be a cute housewife, feeding the OL to wife pipeline, it's an important job.” Baira teased her.

   “Oh shut up.” Hayami playfully replied with a giggle but she toyed with her hair. “Its always been my dream to be a June bride, a bit old fashioned nowadays but I can’t help it.”

   “Better than my dream.” Baira shrugged. “But, like, no, really, if you go and get hitched, I think I’d miss you. Gets so dull being around men all the time. Like they just go on and on, like get to the point, mister or you're as bad as us misses.” 

   “I was thinking the same thing the entire time - and I like Akira.” Hayami laughed.

   Baira smirked. She was really taking a liking to this little lady - and not just because it felt good to be tall around one someone shorter than her.

   The two ladies finished up shortly after. And Hayami had to admit, she had really taken a liking to Baira as well. As mean as a woman Queen was, Hayami did miss having another woman about the office, especially one with sharp wit and the like. She was so socially awkward, having someone more extraverted and graceful about, whilst anxiety inducing, was the good sort.

   And the connection didn’t just stop there, oh no, it started and Hayami was having a hard time puzzling out Baira’s intentions. They seemed a little bit more than just friendly. She was a gift giver, it seemed. Only small things here and there and Hayami was making the point to return the tiny favours but some of the things Baira couldn’t help but unload were a bit odd. And none of them were her actual, literal name and whilst that information was out there on the big, bad internet, Hayami wanted to be entrusted with it on Baira’s terms and consent so she would wait.

   Wait whilst holding onto all those bits and bobs that Baira told Hayami reminded her of Hayami.

   Like hand sanitiser in a pink bottle. Cute, cleanly, and convenient. Hayami liked it but she thought it was a little strange. But not as strange as the extravagantly handled coffee mug that Baira had gotten her. The squirrel motif was a bit too on the nose for Hayami, she thought and the pun wasn’t all that great either. And then when Baira handed her the electric toothbrush, Hayami thought she had gotten the picture. 

   Hayami stared at the offending implement rather than the beautiful cityscape view in front of them, “You know,” she said, “if I didn’t know any better, I would say this was an invitation to move in with you. Or at the very least come over.”

   “I was wondering when you would get the picture.” Baira said with a laugh, happily gazing out to said cityscape in front of them but her eyes kept wandering back to Hayami. She was too cute and a lot more fun than the soiree they were both ignoring.

   “Oh.” Hayami murmured.

   “Oh, indeed.” Baira said. “But, well?”

   “Well, what?” Hayami said.

   “I have a key to an apartment I used to own, would you be interested in visiting?” Baira asked.

   “A little, yeah…” Hayami replied, a bit embarrassed and trying to play it coy.

   “Here, another gift then.” Baira said.

   Hayami looked up at Baira, still holding that darn electric toothbrush with one hand and extending out the other, and Baira dropped something in her palm. Her fingers swirled against the skin of Hayami’s palm flirtatiously and Baira gifted her a key complete with a keyring: one of those cow tag-like keyrings and it had writing on it.

   “Thank you.” Hayami mumbled.

   Baira smirked and Hayami had a closer look at the keyring. She blinked. Taki Kyoko. 103, 3F. Hayami’s heart fluttered.

   “I should give you directions there, yeah?” Kyoko asked. “So you don’t get lost, I mean, this party’s pretty boring and I was the bookworm in uni who never went anywhere but even this shindig’s boring me.”

   “I’d like that, thank you.” Hayami replied with a blush in her cheeks.

Chapter Text

   Tome wasn’t getting that old; the students, and other ragamuffins who somehow made it to her cafe and shop, couldn’t pull the wool over her eyes just yet but she liked to play along. She knew it made these miscreants feel good if they felt smart or cool so she would definitely buy that this stranger was just a new student.

   “I want this one please,” she said, “and this one, oh and this one too - and I’m going to need something to drink, so I’d like that, that, and that.”

   Tome laughed. “It’s like your ordering for a small army.” she joked.

   “May as well be. I need all the strength I can get, I swear.” the girl said.

   Tome smiled. It was good to be appreciated. There was nothing quite like having someone come in and love her food: friend or foe, familiar or stranger but she had to admit. There was something about this girl which was familiar. Like they had met before, or at least glimpsed each other somewhere. 

   She was a real sweetpea this girl, Tome would swear. She had long, yellow blonde hair and cheeks with too much blush on them - and she had even dabbled it on the tip of her nose, Tome wondered if that was going to be the new trend sweeping the girls of her cafeteria. She would have to keep an eye out. And she looked a little bit sloppy in her Ra Yellow get-up. It looked a few sizes too big on her and unsurprising given that she was a twig of a thing but that wasn’t stopping her. She had more energy than a power station, it felt. 

   Bobbing up and down to the beat of some teeny bopper music that Tome couldn’t hear, bouncing along the glass cabinet as she chose out everything that she was. To say nothing of that smile. So big and wide and most important of all, eager. In turn, Tome couldn’t help but to smile as she plated up everything that the girl wanted and more.

   Sandwiches, cheesecakes, omelettes, and brownies. Tome put everything that this girl wanted on a tray and she was ecstatic. She just couldn’t wait to dig and Tome smiled fondly. She came out from behind the counter - she wasn’t even going to bother ringing it up, she knew that this girl wouldn’t be able to pay but Tome didn’t mind, she had never done it for the money, anyway - and came around. She set down the tray on the end of the closet table and sat down.

   “Here you go, enjoy.” Tome said and then adjusted her glasses. “You don’t mind the company, do you?”

   “Not at all.” the girl replied. “I would be thrilled if you join me.” Her happy expression diminished for a moment, only for a moment of cute befuddlement. “Though, am I gonna be good company? I’m about to stuff my face with food after all.”

   Tome laughed. “I don’t mind at all, so long as you keep your elbows off the table and chew with your mouth closed.”

   “I can totally do that.” the girl replied. “Well, two-four-six-eight, dig in don’t wait.”

   Tome rolled her eyes but her crinkly lipped smiled betrayed her. Not the politest of graces but it was enthusiastic so she couldn’t fault this young bird for it.

   Oh, and she dug in alright. It was like she was ravenous, had never eaten a day in her life. Tome watched in amazement as she ate it all, not caring at all for the palette, mixing savoury across sweet. Taking a bite of one of Tome’s famous egg sandwiches one minute and then chowing down on some apple pie the next. But she did it all with glee and watching someone eat with such passion, Tome’s heart was as pleased as punch.

   And there was not a scrap of it left. The girl had all but licked the bowls and plates clean as Tome set away her crockery for her as she was too lost in the bliss of finishing eating to move a finger. Tome didn’t mind and she glanced at her.

   “Enjoy your meal?” Tome asked with a chortle.

   “You…” the girl began. “Are the best chef ever. In the whole wide world - in all of the big, wide worlds, really.”

   “Oh, stop.” Tome waved her off as she tried to take this first set of crockery back to her industrial dishwasher.

   “No, really.” the girl said and all that lethargy dissipated.

   She bounced to her feet and if Tome’s eyes weren’t deceiving her, then she was floating in the air at the end of her little hop, floating closer, legs going all but up and over her head as she got closer to Tome in a messy, incomplete somersault. Her blue eyes were huge with admiration.

   “I’d know so.” she said.

   And it was like the bubble had popped. The girl dropped back down to her feet; her yellow striped jacket all but falling off her shoulders and she did little to fix it. She spun on her heel.

   “You really are the bestest, I love coming here - and I’ll come back again to eat, promise.” the girl said.

   “I’ll look forward to it. I love a big and healthy eater.” Tome said.

   “Fantastic. It’s a promise then.” she said.

   She skipped closer and got up onto her tip-toes. She put a hand on Tome’s shoulder and leaned in, pecking her cheek. Tome blushed.

   “Oh, you flirt.” she scolded her playfully.

   The girl just giggled. “See you next time, Tome.”

   “Yes, see you next time.” Tome replied.

   She looked away but kept the girl in her peripheries. She didn’t check her own and with a hop, skip, and jump, the girl disappeared and her Ra Yellow uniform fell to the ground. Tome laughed and then hurried on, she had a lot of cleaning up to do. Easily one of the less strange things that she had seen happen on Duel Academy Island but it did make her realise where she knew that girl from. She had seen her once or twice in a magazine; touring with that Mutou Yugi boy and the like but only as a hologram that he sometimes was pictured with during a duel.

Chapter Text

   Once upon a time, in a certain dominion, ruled by a certain king and a certain queen, was a princess born to them who was rumoured to have more admirers than the God of Love himself. It was said that peasants, bards, and soldiers would all gather in the pavilions and the parades that she would grace, to swoon and proclaim love for her. Oh, the dominion adored this princess endlessly in favour of neglecting proper worship of the God of Love, Divine.

   The one and lovely Princess Aki was rumoured to have dewy skin and lips like rose petals; the sweetest smile and eyes of umber; hair that shone like blood yet a temper that was mild and agreeable. She spoke with a kind voice with a delicate timbre; her songs and hymns heard from miles and miles away and the God of Love saw it for himself.

   How she tended to the sick; how she tended to the poor; how she paid her dues and did her curtsies. It was enough to drive any immortal to madness. 

   Thus, from the heavens, Divine watched with a wrathful as eye this mortal girl accrued all the acclaim that was so rightfully his in this kingdom of foolish and lustful mortals. Enraged with the chastity and the courtesy, Divine decided to do something about this wretched maiden who had incurred his envy and ire. Neither a good look for a supernatural power such as he. So, he fetched a deity minor that was part of his entourage, who at least knew her place in the grand scheme. The one whom he sought was the sullen cupidic goddess, Misty Lola, a woman who was the physical manifestation of Lust and Desire. 

   “Take this bow and arrow, my good daughter,” Divine snarled, “and make it so that this Princess Aki falls in love with a heinous beast.”

   “Yes, of course, sir, as you have said, it as it shall be done.” Misty said with a bow of her head.

   She accepted the weapon and it felt light in her hands. As though it had been carved just for her; she slung the quiver over her naked back and she nocked the string to the bow just for practice. She looked down the straightness of her finger and she pretended to fire an arrow. Her approach, methodical and tactful, was exactly what the God of Love wished to see from her.

   “Good, now understand. The silver tipped arrows are coated in a poison that creates hate in the pricked; the gold tipped arrows are coated in a nectar that creates love in the pricked.” Divine told her.

   “Yes, sir, I understand. I will ensure that Princess Aki falls in love with the first boar whom she sees.” Misty assured him.

   Divine flicked his hand at Misty and she was gone with the winds.

   In winds dashed through the rolling hills and acadian forests of the mortal realm that belonged to the dominion of Princess Aki’s parents. There, on the palace grounds, in the gardens that were bordered by the woods, Misty found the maiden who had incurred the wrath of the gods and she was immediately struck by Princess Aki’s obliviousness.

   Her ignorance was to be both her bliss and her curse, Misty thought to herself as she readied her bow and arrow. 

   Misty breathed and she exhaled the unique zephyr of the divine. She took her aim and at the point of her finger, she became entranced by her prey. How she moved so gracefully through the grounds, taking care of the garden. Adoring every petal on every rose, how she watered them and fed them scraps from the royal kitchen. It was pure love. And to a minion of the God of Love, whose love only knew genitals and eroticism, there was nothing more disgusting that pure love and innocence.

   All opinions Misty had the wondrous Princess Aki were swayed and became contrary to her orders belonging to Divine.

   Misty had to look away. Her heart hammered in her chest and she felt the leather of the quiver’s strap between her breasts become raw and sore on her skin.

   She returned the arrow that she had initially poised. She returned gold for silver. Misty would not ensure that Divine’s cruelty would be enacted. But she also did not ensure that the cruelty of fate and coincidence would not be enacted either.

   The very same arrow she intended to replace in her quiver pricked her. She immediately felt the golden blush of aphrodisiac nectar in the ichor of her blood. Her moonstone cheeks hued the faintest pink as her eyes still remained upon her prey: Princess Aki. And it became love at first sight.

   Misty was harrowed by the experience. She had never known love in the emotional sense, only the carnal. And she hated it. She couldn’t bear how her heart pounded nor how dazed her mind became.

   In her haste, she grabbed that second arrow - silver tipped - and she fired it at Princess Aki.

   Right in her heart, liked a stuck fawn, Princess Aki felt the arrow. She looked up, towards where it was fired, and she saw the most peculiar sight in the gardens: a naked woman with hair like ebony and skin like ivory. And it filled her with rage.

   Misty had to retreat at the sight of her love calling for guards to hunt her. So, she vanished in the winds once more, leaving behind the glitter of moonstones in her wake. She returned to the heavens and Divine was quick to greet her.

   “Hail, Misty, how goes thy mission?” he inquired sharply.

   Misty stood, ashamed of herself, but she nodded. “She has been struck with an arrow that will have cursed her life, believe me, it is done.”

   Divine eyed her curiously but he dropped the subject. His whims had been placated and so, he moved onto the next mirror and the next desire which ate his attention. Leaving Misty be with her guilt. 

   She had to get closer to the object of her affections. She had to.

   And sensing foul play, a naked woman in the gardens, never a good omen and the surest sign of snakes and treachery, the King, Princess Aki’s Father, sought the word of an oracle.

   In a prophecy, the oracle informed the King that his daughter’s marriage was imminent and the bridegroom would be a horrid monster: a lizard-like creature that harassed the world with floods and ice, was feared even by the gods. The King was horrified to hear this but was told that there was no way to reverse this prophecy and defying it would lead to worse and greater doom than simply letting the monster takes it bride in his darling Princess Aki.

   The prophecy, however, was unbeknownst to Misty who simply offered the invitation with anonymity. She desired to know her love, even if it was by deceit. She was surprised when the King and Queen permitted her marriage to Princess Aki but Princess Aki was horrified by it.

   She was given all the rites of a bride and a corpse. Taken to a secluded location by the cliffs, where the ocean raged below and when all the mortals left, she was then accepted by the supernatural powers that were.

   The winds stole her up and delivered her to her new house. She wandered it cautiously and was awed by the decadence and splendour. Misty watched from other rooms, letting Princess Aki wander the halls: gorgeous forest scenes were painted on the walls, the ceilings were done in citrus woods and she was entertained most grandly by the dining hall. The food was served by invisible phantasms and there was a lyre that played itself.

   Even from afar, Misty was content in knowing her bride was happy. Glad that the horrid monster who lurked at least had her best interests in mind and she willingly entered their marital chambers which were darker than the darkest night. It was then and only then that Misty entered the same room as her bride and Princess Aki cowered in the covers.

   “Who goes there?” Princess Aki shouted.

   Her fear was palpable. Misty found it adorable and so she spoke in turn, serene. “Peace, my lady, only wish to lie beside you in sleep.”

   Princess Aki was put off by the disarmingly quiet voice. Feminine and melodic.

   “You do not wish to devour me, do you?” Princess Aki asked.

   Misty could have laughed but she did not. “No, my lady, I only desire simple coexistence with you and then, at dawn, I will be gone, not to return again until the nighttime.”

   “Very well.” Princess Aki replied.

   She settled in her bed and Misty came beside her. Princess Aki was harrowed as she felt the sheets move around her, felt the bed bow and yet, it did not do so with much effort. She slept but she slept fitfully; Misty, however, could not sleep a wink. This was all she would ever be permitted of her love, so she spent her night observing her lover in agony because when the morning came, and it would inevitably, she would have to take her leave.

   It agonised Misty to remove herself from the master bedroom come morning and she did see the bittersweet confusion of Princess Aki when she found her marital bedroom empty in the light of dawn but this was the dynamic that Misty had brought upon herself. She had fallen for the maiden who had unknowingly incurred the wrath of the god, Divine and Misty did not want to bring knowing wrath upon either herself or her bride if their union were to come to Divine’s knowledge - or even the knowledge of any mortal or immortal.

   But she could dream. She could have shameful dreams of domestic, wedded bliss between herself and her bride.

Chapter Text

   “Look at these,” Kotori said, “aren’t they perfect?”

   Both Cathy and Rio leaned over either of her shoulders as she selected an unopened packet of seeds from her parents’ gardening cupboard on the back veranda of her house. Kotori smiled as she waited for approval from Cathy and Rio. The seeds packet displayed an image of a tall, slender tree in flower with all this cream-white fluff and then a close-up of said flowers. They were seedy and densely packed with black eyes.

   “They kind of look like snow, for you Rio, but they’re called the cat’s eye for you, Cathy.” Kotori said.

   “I think they’re purrfect.” Cathy said, she put both her hands, tiny like kitten paws, on Kotori’s shoulder and pecked her cheek.

   “Highkey seconded.” Rio agreed and she did the same. She put both her hands, overlaid like XYZ material, on Kotori’s shoulder before pecking her cheek.

   “Aw, gee, thanks.” Kotori blushed. She shrugged both girls off her, bringing in her shoulders, heart doing flips in her chest, as she clutched onto the seeds. “Now come on, don’t forget to wear sunscreen, let’s get these seeds planted already.”

   “Okay.” Rio chirped.

   Kotori smiled excitedly to herself as she got ready. She put on her sunscreen - though both Cathy and Rio did their best to help her, and each other - and then her other gardening gear: her gloves, her big straw hat. Her girlfriends thought she looked adorable and were nowhere near as half as prepared for getting amongst it like she was. Cathy put on an apron to cover up her dress and that was about it; her hair just entirely disagreeable with a hat that Kotori wanted to lend her and Rio was about the same too. She had dolled up just a little bit too much in her capris and a tank but at least she had brought a hat along.

   Regardless, Kotori hoped that they wouldn’t spend too long down in the bottom of the garden. She had already picked out a spot to dig up with her trowel; Rio and Cathy just had to watch and hand her the seeds, maybe even bury over the seeds once Kotori was done but things could never be so simple as that.

   Rio had never done a day’s work in the garden to say her life and Cathy refused to even bend down lest she got too much of a smidgen of dirt on her skirt; Kotori couldn’t blame her but she would have appreciated it if Cathy at least pretended to have some care. Rio, meanwhile, had far too much zeal for it, for better or worse. 

   She took the trowel from Kotori with a smile and assured her that she would do her utmost best to dig a nice cosy little hole in the ground for the seeds to go. Her technique was, colloquially speaking, not good. It was very childish and inefficient but Kotori couldn’t fault the enthusiasm as Rio butchered the soil that Kotori’s father had tilled for them the day before.

   “Here, it’s more like this…” Kotori whispered to her.

   She reached over to Rio’s hand cupped it. Rio released her grip on the trowel and allowed Kotori to supplement it but she glanced at Kotori, she looked so happy and relaxed in her element. Rio smiled a small smile to herself and she let Kotori guide her through more effective movements. Cathy rolled her eyes; secretly jealous that Kotori was holding Rio’s hand and not hers.

   “Thank you so much, this is a lot better. I’ll be a pro at gardening in no time with your advice, Kotori.” Rio bragged as she finished up digging a hole to the packet’s instructions.

   Kotori laughed awkwardly, “I don’t doubt that.” she replied thinking about how Rio dominated with her various skills in academics and athletics. She certainly wouldn’t be surprised if Rio could master skills in gardening, as well.

   At least Kotori got the honours of doing this alone. She poured the seeds into the ground and said a small prayer for them all. She wasn’t sure if she could brag and call herself a green thumb, but she did enjoy keeping flowers and the like. Trying to grow a tree from scratch was going to be hard work but she was looking forward to it. She crumpled up the packet once she was done; it was sort of foiled on the inside and was reflective, scaring the birds away in the process.

   “Cathy, are you sure you don’t want to help?” Rio asked, piping up as Kotori prepared to do the last bit of planting her new seeds.

   Cathy winced, petulant and sullen, folding her hands, “I’m right.” she said. “But do hurry up, I’m so pale, I’m sure to burn if we don’t go inside soon.”

   “True, true,” Kotori said, and she wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her gardening glove, where it was still clean, thankfully, “going back inside would be nice - and we have iced tea in the fridge, that’d be nice to drink after a little bit of hard work.” They had barely been outside for that long but summer was undoubtedly in full swing; the sun was so hot but in an agreeable way that lifted their spirits rather than making them unbearable.

   “It would.” Cathy agreed.

   “Its black lemon, too, your favourite.” Kotori added, making idle conversation as she finished up.

   Rio watched intently - and Cathy kept a demure eye on it as well - as Kotori covered up the spot in the ground they had dug up. She swept the moved mound of dirt back into place and lovingly packed it down.

   “Phew,” she said, “all done.” She rose back up to her feet and kept her eyes going further upward, into the blue sky. Already Kotori was imagining the majesty of the new tree, how it would one day flower with white fluff flowers and she smiled. “Let’s go back inside.”

   “That would be nice.” Cathy said. “As would one day coming back here to have a picnic under the new tree, yes?”

   “Aw,” Rio said and she nudged Cathy in the ribs, riling her up like the fussy cat she was, “you have your cute moments too.”

   “Oh shut up.” Cathy hissed.

   “I think Cathy’s right. It would be nice. Let’s make a promise, yeah? To having drinks in the shade of our new tree one day.” Kotori agreed with an airy, pleasant voice, she turned on her heel to see Rio and Cathy.

   Their faces were just as pleasantly excited as hers and in those smiles, hope for future greenery and related plans were sealed with an unspoken but unanimous vow.

Chapter Text

   How darling and peculiar, Grace thought to herself as she explored this lakeside all by her lonesome. Every step on her tip-toe, careful not to crackle the grass or snap twigs. She was a huntress. She was meant to be stealth incarnate and yet, she had always been the one to fumble. The one to drop the bow and arrow when it was least convenient; to be far too minding of the passing beauty in the very things that she was meant to hunt and bring back dead.

   Her elder sister was everything she wasn’t and she would be coming soon.

   Fireflies hung in the sky with emerald delight. The lights upon their bodies trailing with a fading glimmer all leading back to the middle of the forest, where the lake was. Overhead, the evening starlight sank through the thick canopy of ever lush foliage and ancient, grandiose trees. The forest here was thick. Endless. Filled with trepidation and elegance. Grace’s heart hammered as she approached the lake: the centre of the forest and what beauty it was.

   It was perfectly flat. Like a discus mirror. From one shore to the other, its entirety could be viewed. It was breath-taking. 

   But from this vantage point, where the shore did not lap at her ankles whilst Grace stood in slowly sinking sand, she watched the most peculiar thing. A quartet of dancers out on the lake. She was entranced by them. They were beautiful. 

   All of them danced in a uniform outfit. They wore leotards of a lovely silver white with intricate, lace bodices. Stiff tule fanned off their waists in the form of their tutus. Their wrists glittered with jewelled bracelets. Slung across their necks and shoulders were scarves and shawls that were feathered and quilled. Yet despite such extraneous on their lithe, toned bodies, their dance remained unfettered and immaculate. 

   They danced delicately enough that their toes in their ballet slippers, ribboned up tight, did not cause ribbons. Their arms interlinked like intricate daisy chains. Their expressions sorrowful and concise as they danced to unheard music that made Grace’s heart throb with emotions she could not fully identify beyond morose. All their movements were precise and synchronised, to the left with skittish movements and then back to the right, harder this time. Their dance was enchanting.

   From left to right, they were like an array of the seasons: indigo for the winter, pink in the spring, green in the summer, and purple for the fall. And it was that fourth girl that caught Grace’s eye like none other. She was incomparable. A true diamond, even among her equally polished kin with such similar faces.

   Grace couldn’t help but applaud them when they finished. Their arms arched out in every way, one to the left, one to the right, to the back and one to the front: the girl of autumn to the front and her almost avian gaze met Grace’s. She smiled with a funeral giggle.

   The other three girls noticed Grace clapping and acknowledged her but there wasn’t that prismatic spark of a connection like she had with that autumnally complexioned girl. With languidly spiralling movements and lucid pierrettes, the girls came off the surface of the lake; their dancefloor. Still, there was not a nary ripple to be seen as they drew in closer and Grace was enraptured.

   Grace didn’t reveal herself as a huntress, she didn’t want to scare away this girl who seemed so flightful like a bird herself so she introduced herself as an ordinary adventurer who found this place by luck rather than calculation. Saying she had found her next big adventure here at this gorgeous lake with her. Not knowing she was being misled, in good faith, the girl revealed herself as Ruri, the one whom Grace was mutually enamoured with. Everything about her; to the cut of her cheeks to the plumpness of her lips to the elegance of her movements made Grace want to know more about her and all her strangeness. 

   They could have spent the whole of the coolly lit night dancing. Grace was no primadonna by any natural talent but with Ruri, she felt like she could have been. Flirtation and infiltration came so naturally to them both. It felt like it was just them alone in the grass.

   Ruri bestowed her feathered shawl upon Grace who guiltily took it. She promised to return it by dawn given that it had such a treasured aura about it. Yet by the same token, Grace also guiltily hoped that dawn would never come. She wanted to keep dancing and playing with Ruri. 

   Set to silent melodies, Ruri showed Grace around and every inch of this place awed her. Easily and endlessly. But it was the lake’s shoreline that they continued to return to no matter which knot or whorl of trees that they visited. The way it shimmered placid yet entirely unmoving. 

   Grace wet her boots in the outskirt mire of it where Ruri tiptoed atop its surface. Grace smiled, dejected, as Ruri tugged on her hands, urging her to go out and play and dance and make merry in the very centre of it but Grace couldn’t. She wanted to because of how Ruri’s face lit up with urging joy but she couldn’t. She wasn’t of brittle bones and hallowed elegance quite like Ruri was - or even quite like her sister Gloria was. Instead, she sank into the slurried sand below but she was happy. She did it, holding onto Ruri’s hands, with a smile.

   It truly did just feel like them alone in the grass. On the lakeside. In the forest. In the big, wide world. Just them and the flitting insects until the serenity, just before dawn, was discordantly struck.

   The shrill screams of birds and the flurried flutter of wings filled the air. Grace glanced towards these noises and she counted: one, two three. Three swans. And something glittered on their necks. Jewels which seemed so familiar and in her reverie, she was warned. The echo of an arrow shot. Grace paled. She turned around but rather than feel Ruri’s hands slip from her own, they tightened. She felt the echo of nails like talons on her skin as she craned her head away and her heart dropped.

   From the glade she watched as her sister approached like a confident, gloating soldier.

   Her posture was perfect. Her bow and arrow, nocked, and she released. Her finger triggered and the arrow shot forth with blinding speed. It whizzed past the side of Grace and Ruri’s head; their long hair fluttering it the breeze that it caused. Grace was harrowed, she frozen, but Ruri wanted to fight.

   She tugged on Grace’s hand with a silent beg. Let’s go; we have to go. But Grace stood still as she let Gloria, like a tigress, approach, elegantly retrieving another arrow from the quiver.

    Ruri’s eyes watered and she had the frigid realisation. Gloria and Grace were one in the same. Twins. Huntresses. The type of women who hunted for supernatural trophies and animals to eat. And yet, she begged Grace again. Tugging her hand, trying to pull her out to the lake, wanting to take her and flee. And for that hope, that they could flee, together, she was felled.

   Gloria released the trigger on her next arrow.

   Ruri’s eyes grew so wide. The wound was to her heart. Her white leotard was ruined with the sanguine scarlet of blood pulsating out of the wound. Grace caught her and she wept. She screamed as Ruri felt so faint and light in her arms. 

   Gloria, snide that she had caught one of the four swan princesses, began to encroach on Grace who clung to the corpse of her infatuated. But Grace wouldn’t let her and so, finally, moments too late, Grace took Ruri’s invitation and she entered the cold waters of the lake.

   Ripples ringed Grace as she waded through the water. The shawl of feathers trailed behind her as she went further out into these depths. She wouldn’t let Gloria have Ruri, not at all. And maybe Grace wouldn’t let Gloria have her either as she kept going, crying into Ruri’s breast, her face brushing up against the very same arrow of alder that had caused her death. 

   And soon enough, the glimmer of feathers, still pure with their swan white colouring, on the surface of the lake was all that could be seen of either Grace and Ruri.

Chapter Text

   Miho was the needy type.

   Rebecca was the more detached type.

   Logically or emotionally, either way, they were both aware of their own personalities and how they meshed and how they clashed. 

   That was okay. 

   Acceptable even. 

   But Miho still felt a little neglected.

   And Rebecca felt overwhelmed.

   All because Miho stared and stared and stared.

   Rebecca’s brow twitched as she was stared and stared and stared at.

   Miho sighed dreamily; watching from afar, wriggling around in the lounge adjacent to Rebecca and her desk; posed so lazily as though she were some languid and spoilt housecat - which, for all intents and purposes, she was.

   “Am I truly so interesting?” Rebecca asked, mildly annoyed.

   With a huff, she pushed up her spectacles which had begun to slide down her nose and she kept at pounding on the computer keys of the device in front of her, all hunched down and hunkered over it, up to her furrowed brows in work and coding.

   “Yes.” Miho swooned. “Yes, you are.”

   Rebecca harrumphed.

   Miho lifted herself up into a yoga-like cobra position on the lounge, her eyes gone wide, “It's true!”

   “It is not.” Rebecca snorted.

   “You look so cute when you're busy, you are completely fascinating, darling, even when I have no idea what it is you're up to your eyeballs in doing.” Miho gasped.

   Rebecca’s heart fluttered and yet, she rolled her eyes.

   “So, don’t mind me, I just want to watch you.” Miho offered.

   “Do you have to do it so intensely?” asked Rebecca.

   “Yes.” Miho replied with a decisive nod that made her high ponytail bob up and down with her reply.

   “Okay then.” Rebecca murmured, tempted to roll her eyes the other way but she didn’t.

   She just kept them glued to the screen in front of her.

   Akin to how Miho was keeping her eyes glued to Rebecca.

   She truly was fascinating.

   Her hands were beautiful.

   So small and dainty but with precision that Miho could never be able to imitate nor fathom.

   Rebecca’s fingers were so precise in how she struck each key without ever looking down, keeping her eyes on the prize as she wrote out line upon line of code, cross referencing it all with whatever information she kept within reach on her internet browsers.

   Oh, it was mesmerising.

   She couldn’t get enough of how elegant Rebecca was when she was so thoroughly immersed in her element like she was presently.

   Miho sighed.

   And Rebecca hunkered down again, the slightest hue of pink in her cheeks.

   She was so adorable.

   “And you’re certain you have to watch me?” Rebecca asked.

   “Yes, I am beyond certain.” Miho gushed.

   Now it was Rebecca’s turn to sigh - and she did most heartily.

   “I’m not going to get any work done like this.” she admitted, dejectedly, her hands receding back to the edge of her desk.

   “What, no? Why?” Miho exclaimed, most upset that her fabulous entertainment had been turned off.

   “I just can’t focus with you staring at me,” Rebecca said, “but, if you like, do you want me to teach you some basic coding? HTML and maybe even teach to make a Flippy Bird simulator if you can get the basics of up, down, left and right down.”

   Miho gasped again. “I would love that!” she exclaimed. “It never even occurred to me to ask you, you seem so serious, I didn’t want to distract you-”

   “You’ve distracted me either way.” Rebecca interrupted Miho’s ecstatic rambling, barely amused, but she smiled a small smile.

   She was honoured that Miho regarded her so highly - though she could be dumb and daft, the sincerity was there so Rebecca couldn’t begrudge her that.

   “I know,” Miho blushed, she spoke in a small voice, “but good intentions and all that.”

   “I know that too.” Rebecca told her in an equally quiet voice.

   “So, let’s get started.” Miho chirped, voice already rising in volume again to Rebecca’s bemusement.

   “Let’s get another chair or,” Rebecca was quiet, she poked the corner of her chin, looking away from her girlfriend with a little bit of embarrassment to her body language, “or if you would prefer, you can get up nice and close to see what I’m doing.”

   Miho squealed.

   And she did so at a volume which all made Rebecca’s eardrums bleed; she cringed but smiled since it was rather heart-warming to see Miho so enthusiastic about learning more about her own passion.

   Miho got up and Rebecca did the same.

   Standing up, chest to chest, it was hard not to become hyper-aware of just how tall Miho was, at least compared to how short Rebecca was stacked against anyone.

   Miho sat down in Rebecca’s spot and giggled at how warm her plush chair was.

   Rebecca then lowered herself down into Miho’s lap and she had a few reservations about doing so.

   Most of them were proven correct because Miho’s hands lunged forward and she clutched onto Rebecca like she was a seatbelt.

   Miho nuzzled Rebecca’s back and Rebecca groaned.

   “We’re going to get even less work done like this.” Rebecca grizzled but in a playful, even mild way. 

   “No, no, I promise, once I get the cuddles out of my system, we can put all the codes into my system.” Miho said and she laughed at her own joke and her word play.

   Rebecca exhaled from her nose, not quite a snort and it definitely wasn’t a bit of laughter but it was fondness regardless.

   She readied her hands atop the keyboard again, “If you don’t quit hugging me, you’re gonna miss your first lesson, missy.” Rebecca warned her as she picked out a new web document for Miho to learn from.

Chapter Text

   Having been hurt before by deceiving facades and untrue appearances, Aoi knew better than to wear her heart on a sleeve but with such an abomination on her wrist, the own barricade that Aoi had put up around her heart had begun to crumble because of the inherent wrongness of it.

   Aqua was her partner. The only Ignis - or other Ignis-like creature - which should make a home in her Duel Disc was Aqua. Not Pandor. 

   But to protect herself, not only did Aoi adopt personas and other duplicitous facades of her own, adapting her enemies’ strengths into her own, she knew better than to voice her heightened disagreement with this plan of Revolver’s. So, she accepted this program named Pandor into her Duel Disc even as her grieving heart screeched not to.

   So, she collaborated with this program who seemed amiss. 

   There was something eerie about Pandor’s eyes. They gleamed a bloodlet magenta that was all too knowing. Implying that maybe, just maybe, she knew that Aoi did not approve of her. Or maybe Aoi was imagining such hostility as Pandor went to length after length to assist Aoi how she could in her part of the crusade against the Ai: the last Ignis remaining. 

   What Aoi did not expect was that Pandor would still be by her side when she awoke from the misfortune that had been wreaked upon her when she and Akira had lost their duel to Ai.

   When Playmaker had won against Ai, she and Akira were returned to their apartment. Almost like nothing had even happened but there was a bitter, hollow feeling and neither of them spoke. Even though they had slept for hours - days, even - Aoi was just so, so tired so she retreated into her bedroom to sleep because not thinking was so much easier than thinking.

   There had been so much to sort out - mentally, emotionally, physically - that when Aoi saw that miniature hologram of Pandor rise out of her Duel Disc, that Aoi was just completely and totally exhausted by her appearance. She tore off her Duel Disc and she threw it at the wall.

   She wasn’t Aqua - and she never would be Aqua.

   Her Duel Disc didn’t break when it smashed against her bedroom wall but Pandor’s expression did. She knew when she was not welcome so she disappeared, even when her programming, tailored to the whims and sensitivities of humans, told her not to. That Aoi needed companionship or the space to talk through her feelings but again. She knew when she was not welcome; she had been given that internal warning before around her very own creator, Revolver, after all.

   Aoi wept with her knees to her face in her bed after she had thrown her Duel Disc away. She just needed to get it all out, as wet and ugly as it were.

  Aoi spent a few days trying to readjust to life without Aqua before making the leap to reaching out to Miyu and seeing if they could reconnect. And despite all the fears and tragedies that crushed Aoi’s heart and soul, Miyu was ecstatic to see her. She welcomed her with open arms, as out of the blue seeming as it was.

   Miyu listened readily, if tersely, about Aqua once all the hugging and crying was done and the questions about why and how began bubbling to the surface. Pandor listened in, too. Not recording for the sake of privacy but listening in for the sake of better understanding Aoi. Aoi didn’t even know she was there, lurking beneath the surface with a sorrowful look. 

   Aoi could have spent hours at the hospital with her friend, it felt good to reconnect with Miyu. She wasn’t the exact same person that she was ten years ago but she was still so bright and bubbly and heart-warming. It was relieving for Aoi to know and see that despite her hardships, Miyu was going well. And she felt that knowing why she was taken as a child for that cruel experiment gave her closure she never realised she needed. It was just a shame about Aqua.

   Miyu wished, desperate and forlorn, that she could have met the Water Ignis - and Aoi felt the same. She bit her lip, refraining from mentioning Pandor and how inherently wrong it felt to have a second artificial intelligence inhabit her Duel Disc. Pandor noted the silence but she didn’t mind it. 

   Unfortunately hospital visitor hours came to an end but Aoi felt a lot better about the events of the past few months having finally been able to talk with Miyu about it.

   Aoi returned home via Cafe Nagi, she was feeling a little bit thirsty and a little bit peckish. It was a little bit concerning to hear from Kusanagi that Yusaku was still in the shadows, hiding but she had faith. She hadn’t before meeting up with Miyu but knowing she was doing fine, she wanted to believe that Yusaku was as well. Taking her snack and her drink, Aoi kept going.

   When she got home, it was later than she thought it would be. No wonder she had been feeling hungry earlier, it was basically time for dinner, even if it wasn’t all that dark out because of summer and daylight savings, her body clock hadn’t changed with the digital numbers. 

   Akira wasn’t home either, Aoi was mutably unsurprised to figure out so she retreated into her bedroom, thinking she would get a text saying to program the maid-bot to put dinner on later or, if she was beyond lucky, a text saying he would be home at an hour acceptable eat. So, until then, Aoi figured she wouldn’t do much except unwind. She’d had a big day and it was going to get bigger still.

   Aoi reached out for her phone charger to plug it in to play on and as she did so, Pandor made her presence known. She rose out of the surface of Aoi’s Duel Disc, glitchy and holographic, intangible, and she put a hand on her breast then bowed. Aoi glared.

   “I thought you disappeared.” she spat. “For good.”

   “I was unable to help myself.” Pandor spoke in soothing tones that made Aoi feel prickly and patronised. “I wanted to observe you, if I have done something wrong, I desire to amend it.”

   Aoi wanted to bark at Pandor, telling her she hadn’t done anything wrong but amends didn’t mean much but she didn’t. Instead she huffed and she puffed, holding back tears.

   Pandor tilted her head. “I was hoping having an open dialogue would-”

   “Stop trying to psychoanalyse me!” Aoi snapped. “I’m sick of being poked and prodded, treated like I’m made of glass. I’m fine.”

   “O-oh, my apologies, Blue Maiden, I did not mean to underestimate you.” Pandor murmured.

   “Look, y-your not Aqua and it feels like your trying to force yourself into where she was for me.” Aoi shakily explained.

   “That was not my intention either,” Pandor replied, “is there some way I can prove to you that’s not my intention?”

   Aoi harrumphed, sad and bitter, uncertain what to say.

   Pandor nodded and then she expanded. She drew herself completely out of the Duel Disc and Aoi’s eyes went wide. She was afraid, uncertain as to what to do, and let Pandor project herself outwards to Aoi. Sketchy beams of light projected from the Duel Disc and Pandor knelt in front of her, haloed by this whitish glow. 

   She looked calm; her eyes had a melancholy ache to them and then she spoke, “I know nothing of humans,” she confessed, “my own creator does not trust me because of my predecessors to say nothing of his own, his father. You gave me a glimpse of an outside world I cannot begin to comprehend, I desire you companionship and forgiveness. I just want to understand humanity and be close with these people; form true connections with them. With you. I - I want this because this is all I am programmed to be permitted to want.” 

   Pandor’s speech fell on crestfallen ears. Aoi hiccupped. She clawed at her face, pushing tears out of her eyes. She couldn’t believe it. She was empathising with some automation which only had a fraction of the life and free will that she had. She saw herself and her relationship to Miyu - and even the other Lost Incident Victims such as Yusaku and Takeru - reflected in that. 

   For a robot, she was heartbreakingly earnest and Aoi responded to that. It pierced her heart, as guarded as she was because it was so simple and innocent. She could recall too many people who had tried to get close to her purely because she was connected to SOL Tech, so many people were under the misguided notion she was some princess who had everything. She barely had anything: she felt as though she came from rags, barely seeing any of the riches that had put her in her present position.

   She smiled. “Thank you, Pandor,” she murmured, “I understand you better now. I-I’m sorry for pushing you away. For putting words in your mouth.”

   “You are very kind, Aoi.” Pandor told her. Assured her.

   Aoi smiled a very painful smile and she flung herself forward. She hugged Pandor who raised her hands tentatively, unable to touch Aoi as her arms phased through the hologram. So, she hugged herself, warm and tight, and buried her face in the pixels of Pandor’s neck and shoulders.

   Pandor patted Aoi’s back and she felt it. Aoi could swear she could feel the motion of Pandor’s kindness: her metal hands, her best efforts.

   She wasn’t Aqua. She wasn’t trying to be Aqua but she was trying to be there for Aoi and at the very least, Aoi could appreciate that. It was like the colour indigo as an emotion. Tearful and trying and full of grief, not quite blue but its own thing. 

Chapter Text

   “Hey, Rio.”

   Rio groaned as Cathy giggled, elegantly half sprawled over the top bunk, hair flopping down, and her voice prim and flirtatious. Rio smiled. She couldn’t imagine waking up any other way though.

   “Big day today, huh?” Rio replied with a yawn.

   “Yep, you’re gonna get Force Captain.” Cathy purred.

   Rio scratched behind her head, looking sheepish. She didn’t want to set it in stone. All their friends were so talented; it was entirely possible that she wasn’t going to get Force Captain but at the same time. Rio was kind of a rising star. It would be weirder if she didn’t get the position of Force Captain. She smiled.

   “With some luck and all my hard work, yeah, hopefully.” Rio finally agreed.

   Cathy elegantly got off the bed and landed gracefully in front of Rio. She stretched twice left and once right. Then glanced back to Rio.

   “C’mon, your more of a sleepy-head than me - and I’m a cat, I’m supposed to get sixteen hours of sleep.” Cathy joked. “Let’s head to training.”

   Rio agreed and she was quick to get changed out of her generic, white-grey pyjamas and into her favourite pair of jackets and jeans. They tumbled through some exercises together, going through the rigamarole with the punching bag and the like. They enjoyed getting their blood pumping and before they knew it, the sirens began and there was a voice over the telecom asking for their unit to response. Together, with much excitement, they reported to the main bay where the training simulations began.

   Their training gear was passed around and they were all strapped up. Their instructor watched and he liked the energy here this morning. It was focused, calm, serious.

   Their instructor was a reptile of a man and he eyed them, and their peers, carefully. He then explained the parameters of the simulations. It was the middle of the Whispering Woods, right on the edge of the rebellion’s focal point, Heartland, and they were going to liberate it and get rid of the Queen and her legion of evil Princesses. Rio was psyched.

   In front of them, the door opened and they all entered. And from the get go, it was a flurry of movements. Droids bedecked in pink-magenta holograms of nasty, scowling girls with flowing ballgowns and their hair done in buns swarmed the labyrinth of metal beams slanted haphazardly through the space in a metallic imitation of an actual forest. Lasers cut through the space between the metal beams, aimed for the unit.

   They scattered and blood began to race. It wasn’t exactly everyone for themself but it was a bit close for comfort to it by virtue. Only because they were thrown in with no preparation. Just instinct and as they regrouped, someone threw a grenade and it hit one of the robotic princesses fair in the holographic chest, exploding the metallic base of it.

   “Yes!” Rio called out. “Good going!”

   She glanced at her teammates, smiling between them but just in her peripheries. She caught a glimpse of another enemy robot preparing a laser. She got out of the way in time but one of her teammates wasn’t so lucky. He was knocked to the ground and sent spinning on his back like a beetle. The red glowing screen on his chest, indicating his status as alive in this game, turned grey. He groaned and now, for all intents and purposes, he was dead to them and ergo, unable to help.

   But, despite this set back, Rio, Cathy, and their teammates rallied. Rio, in particular, took charge. She ripped a short-staff from her utility belt and expanded it out. Then, she tore forward with a sprint, as though completely out of blood. Deftly wielding her short-staff, Rio was ploughing through the Princesses. Plunging it through their chests, disabling all their abilities at their core and charging through the metal labyrinth. Her peers could hardly keep up with her but even she had her limits.

   She got to the edge and she could hear dull, played tones from underfoot. Hopping away, she watched the flooring disintegrate in large, four by four squares whenever she lingered too long and then there was the other problem. From the depths of where the floor was giving way, the boss of the Princesses was rising through. The Queen.

   The Queen was huge. The orb-shaped robot behind the pink-magenta hologram of the Queen, winged and horned fiercely, was huge. Decked out with all the capabilities of the princess bots and more and Rio was facing it down like no problem at all.

   Rio charged at the robot, hacking and slashing across its caboose whilst narrowly avoiding the laser beams. Compared to the piddly lasers of the princesses, the Queen was a behemoth of power. Multiple lasers from multi-cannons implanted beneath the curved expanse of beige metal and its huge claws that it teetered around on top of. Despite the odds, Rio was backing down.

   All but single-handedly, she was taking down the Queen. She was light, nimble on her feet, never lingering in the same spot too long lest she fell down. The longer she fought, the less room she was given down below. The floor kept giving way; the grey-silver turning to red before crumbling with jarring but dull tone sounds.

   Still, one last beat down and Rio had cracked the chassis. She ripped it off and use it as leverage to go upwards as the robot began to malfunction. She heard the whooping and hollering of her peers - all but one of them - as she ascended to the top. She planted the short-staff into the top of the robot and it whirred. It screeched and it completely powered down. Clumping into the hole of the room’s creation but not quite.

   Rio glanced back and she saw Cathy at the foot of the robot. She looked forward and jumped back. Without having said a word, Cathy knew to catch her and she did. Bridal style. She grunted, pivoted on her heel, and even gave the robot a kick for good measure.

   The robot slumped again only to plummet down. Completely defeated and swallowed up by the ground below. An alarm sounded and the training program was over. Rio looked into Cathy’s eyes, still held by her dearest friend, and giggled. Cathy smiled back and let Rio down.

   The whole squadron was court martialed again and then dismissed. They disappeared into the nearest, unisex locker rooms together, pleased and proud with themselves.

   “We did really well out there.” Rio grinned.

   “But you were the star of the show.” Cathy coyly agreed, fluttering her eyelashes. 

   Cathy sounded as though she were purring and when Rio stole a glance, she could swear that Cathy was within an inch of going up onto her tiptoes and nuzzling into the side of Rio’s face. She wanted that; they both did but it didn’t happen. Just became an awkward, in-between linger that killed the mood of celebration between them.

   Though, quite possibly,  it was good timing.

   Gorgonic Guardian had approached them.

   Both girls stiffened as they watched the matriarch of the Horde approach them. Her body was long, elegant, and whipped with snakes. Her eyes were watchful: disdaining of Cathy but grotesque with pride when her gaze cascaded unto Rio. She smiled on thin lips.

   “It’s good to see you, Rio,” Gorgonic Guardian greeted her and then cast that cruel look back to Cathy but did not speak her name nor address her, “might I borrow you for a moment?”

   Rio hesitated; she glanced to her friend, even though she was worried that Gorgeonic Guardian would think it rude.

   Cathy shrugged. “Do as you please.”

   “I would love to, ma’am.” Rio smiled.

   “Good girl…” Gorgonic Guardian murmured with a voice that sounded like reptile leather.

   Rio smiled pleasantly and Gorgonic Guardian took her hand. She was escorted out of the locker room and they walked down the halls together. Goronic Guardian’s posture was immaculate: straight and stiff. Rio attempted to follow suit, not wanting to fall short of Gorgonic Guardian’s expectations of her when she finally spoke.

   “Congratulations.” she began. “You passed the test, we have elected to make you Force Captain.”

   Rio stopped in her tracks to gasp. Her eyes went wide with fantastic gratitude and thankfulness. Gorgonic Guardian couldn’t be prouder, her slither coming to a halt and she tilted herself to Rio. She produced something from her shawl and smiled salaciously, handing it to Rio.

   “M-My very own-”

   “Force Captain badge, yes, and with it comes great responsibility I know I can entrust to you. Lord Abyss Splash has his eyes on you. As do I, from the very moment I found you as an abandoned baby, I sensed great potential. Potential I hope to see expounded upon in the upcoming inquisition against Thaymor, a heavily fortified rebel fortress. I have picked out a team for you to lead, one you will find most enriched compared to the useless squadron you are used to cosigning with. I want to see that I have rightfully invested in you, my dear.” Gorgonic Guardian explained.

   She caressed Rio’s face and she nodded, blushing slightly. She accepted the badge from Gorgonic Guardian’s hand. Then, with a breath of relief and gratitude, Rio was dismissed.

   And she was all but giddy about her new leadership position and her badge. Gosh, it was beautiful. Rio headed out the opposite way that Gorgonic Guardian had gone; she lingered along the catwalk so she could think and admire her new badge. She had always felt a little bit better up in high places, but mostly because Cathy loved them.

   Looking out to the technological feat that was the Horde, Rio couldn’t help but swell with pride. The sky was smoky and crimson; the base was built up and up, clanky and cranky, it was impossible to see the dirt or ground below. This was what progress looked like. Old rust and old metal giving way to yet more being built up over it and now, Rio was going to have her chance to help aid the expanse of this technology. Bringing order and justice to Zexal, where the Princesses wrought agony and anarchy. 

   This badge as Force Captain was proof of it but not proof of her dreams. Not all of them at least and that was causing a most bittersweet taste in Rio’s mouth.

   “Hey, Rio.” a slinky voice purred.

   Rio could have jumped out of her skin - and she could have dropped the Force Captain badge as well but thankfully she didn’t. She welded her fingers over the smooth, dark blue surface of it and held onto it tightly. She looked up, pouty, at Cathy who was skulking around.

   She got up on the railing and her tail flicked about, stroking Rio’s arm, and she looked out into the distance.

   “So, look at you.” Cathy murmured.

   “Yeah, look at me.” Rio murmured back.

   Cathy blinked. “You don’t look all that excited.”

   Rio sighed. “You’re not coming.”

   “What do you mean?” Cathy asked, the light fur on her skin prickling.

   “Given that Gorgonic Guardian didn’t even give me a second to debate her, it’s non-negotiable.” Rio sighed. “I’m going to lead an invasion in Thaymor soon but you won’t be coming. This isn’t what we were dreaming of at all.”

   “Well, don’t let me stop you, Gorgonic Guardian’s always had it out for me. Makes sense, cats eat lizards, after all.” Cathy shrugged. She hopped back down off the railing, her skirt fluttering. “But she’s always had her eye on you, Rio, so,” she took the Force Captain badge from Rio and attached it to her shirt, just above her breast, “do her proud for my sake and then, once you’re kicking tail and taking names, you can promote me and then it’ll be us running this joint.”

   Rio smiled as Cathy made sure the badge was sparkling on her chest. “Thanks, Cathy,” she murmured, “but, why wait? We can do some of that now.”

   Cathy was coy looking up. Surely that didn’t mean- and it absolutely did. 

   She had never seen this wild side to Rio before but she was loving it.

   The vehicle that they were using was called a Skriff; it was an arrow-shaped thing of blue with yellow stripes, no sail, all electricity. Rio was a good driver for it, navigating precisely and with good heed towards the fuel supply. In driving simulations, she was best in their group and certainly better than Cathy. Together, with Rio at the helm, Cathy could lean out in front over the bow and feel the wind in her face as they swiftly skimmed over the hinterlands that surrounded the Horde.

   Everything was going so far. Sand underneath them flitted up and showered back down, the occasional pebble hitting the side of the Skriff but it was fun. Fun for them both until Rio was ready to turn tail.

   They had seen everything to be seen out this way. The ochre skies and the beige sand; maybe the occasional, bent out of shape, magenta cactus. Now, they were veering too close to where the biomes shifted. Where plants, once rare, now grew thick and burly and tall. 

   “No, we have to keep going.” Cathy shouted, jubilant at breaking the rules, she wrestled the controls from Rio.

   “But our fuel sup-” Rio attempted to murmur back before Cathy yanked the helm her way and they bolted quicker into the forest.

   “Is a problem for future us.” Cathy quipped.

   “Oh no, oh no, oh noooo.” Rio muttered to herself before clearing her throat as she got a better look around. “Cathy,” she scolded her, “these are the Whispering Woods, I think.”

   “Yeah, and?” Cathy prompted her, nonchalant, as she navigated through the dense, blue forestry the way a blunt machete would.

   “They say no one who enters the Whispering Woods returns alive.” Rio quibbled. “And that is to say nothing of the monsters said to lurk in here!”

   Cathy rolled her eyes. “That’s just ‘cause they haven’t met us before.”

   And, for better or worse, she kept going. And she kept going faster on the Skriff.

   The rush of wind was powerful as Cathy cut a rough wake through the forest. The engine whirred as they zipped past knotted, twisted whorls of trees and shrubbery. The foliage was dense, even dark. Rio held on tight as the Skriff jumped and jerked through the forest at Cathy’s free wheeling control.

   “Cathy!” Rio shrieked. “Slow down!”

   Cathy just sped up, wanting to holler about freedom and the like but by speeding up, she minimised her ability to dodge. The turbulence that the Skriff produced was unbearable. Shaky and mad. Losing herself to the speed, Cathy hit a tree when she was unable to turn at the last moment to avoid it. The Skriff went one way and Rio went the other. Cathy spun out and Rio plummeted down. 

   Rio screamed Cathy’s name as she dropped through cluster of foliage after cluster of foliage before landing on giant, glowing mushrooms. Her head spun, she was nicked all over but she was alive. Alive and separated from Cathy. Rio grappled with the padding of the mushroom below as she tried to tell this way from that. Her left and her right seemed all the same, she couldn’t even hear the engine of the Skriff from here. 

   But she couldn’t wait around for Cathy to find her because Cathy might be in trouble. Rio scrambled down off the mushroom and she forced herself onwards. Rio was cautious as she ventured out on a trail of her own choosing. She kept calling out for Cathy but she didn’t hear anything in reply. Just the eerie buzzing sound of unseen insects; maybe the occasional squawk of an unseen bird. It creeped Rio out as she made good progress, all things considered, from her starting point.

   She pushed aside overhanging vines and foliage, stumbling into a clearing and it dumbfounded her. She heard the flutter of birds disappearing into the sky and her breath was taken away by how hallowed this clearing felt. Not quite a meadow but close; there was a centrepiece to it, just beyond where she stood, surrounded by tall rocks that had a mellow, blue-white glow to them and were inscribed with a language Rio had never seen before.

   For some reason, she felt compelled to come closer. So, she did. Rio trod lightly and carefully as she drew in closer to that centrepiece. She saw something metallic glint beneath the lengths of vines that had grown over it, blossoming with white flowers. They could have been irises, Rio thought to herself as she tried to clear them off.

   She gasped. It was a sword, she realised as she cleared away the overgrowth. Rio hastened in how she grabbed at the vines and flowers until she saw this sword in its gleaming entirety. It was beautiful. Majestic. Embedded in the ground and she took the silver hilt. Rio swallowed and then she pulled it from the earth with a muted grunt.

   It was heavier than she expected but it freed itself so easily. The blade hit the highest arc as she pulled it back with all the might she possessed and she was possessed by the blade. Her vision was consumed by bright lights and scenes of places - of worlds - that she didn’t recognise. Places with crystalline skies and long, pinkish red grass with bristled thistleheads and somewhere else too. Temples and buildings that were dark as the night and just as glowing with stars.

   A woman appeared before her, glitching and sketchy, like a hologram, but she seemed so serene and inhuman, “Balance must be restored,” she told Rio, “Zexal must seek a hero.”

   Rio’s head pounded and she blacked out. It was all too much. So overwhelming.

   “Rio, Rio, hey Rio, wake up?”

   “H-huh?” Rio murmured.

   She was being shaken and jostled about. Her world was groggy and spinning as she came to. She blinked wearily and was so relieved to see that Cathy had found her first. She smiled a broken up smile and wore it with gratitude. There were pinpricks of tears in Cathy’s eyes as she held Rio up.

   “You were right,” Cathy admitted sheepishly, “we should have gone home.”

   Rio nodded and Cathy helped her to her feet. Rio secured her hand against Cathy’s paw and she was pulled up. Still, in a daze, Rio searched her surroundings.

   “Where is it…?” she mumbled with increasing desperation as all she saw was grass and leaves lying about; not even a single white flower like the ones she had pulled from the vines.

   “Where’s what?” Cathy asked, a touch confounded as Rio got antsy about whatever it was that she had lost.

  “The sword.” Rio replied, making eye contact with Rio. “It was right here. A sword.”

   Cathy sighed. “You hit your head too hard, it was probably just a dream.”

   Rio held her breath, biting on her lower lip, too. She thought about those visions. They had definitely been dreams. That much was true but the sword… the sword had felt real. She yawned.

   “Yes, probably.” she agreed.

   “C’mon, let’s go home.” Cathy told her, nudging her as well.

   “That’d be nice.” Rio murmured and she coiled her arms around Cathy’s propped out elbow, surprising her slightly but she sunk into it.

   Cathy led Rio back to the Skriff and even though she was all roughed up, she let Rio drive. It was a good thing that the Skriff wasn’t too banged up, all its homing signals were fine and so the pair became the first two Horde soldiers, at least according to legend, to leave the Whispering Woods alive.

   The drive home was long and silent, tediously so on both matters, but that didn’t stop them from being rather cuddly that night. As far as either of them could tell, none of their peers they had to share the barracks with knew - or cared - that they had been gone for a few hours. Rio slept on her bottom bunk as per usual, the lights on just to taunt everyone, and Cathy slept with her down there as well. At her feet like a house cat.

   But sleep was an awful thing. Maybe it's because she had blacked out earlier but Rio found it horrid and terse. She was haunted by the gauzy sight of that sword again. Of those alien planets, so warm and alive, she swore she was there, as well as the sights of that woman. Her cold, metallic face and her stern, icy demeanour yet her voice had been so welcoming. She kept informing Rio, over and over, that Zexal was longing for a hero and was that hero-?

   Rio woke with a gasp. She couldn’t take it anymore. She felt frazzled down to the wire and she glanced at Cathy. She looked so at peace so Rio tried not to disturb her. She managed to get ten paces down the hall before she heard footsteps.

   “Hey Rio,” Cathy began, a sleepy purr, “where are you going?”

   Rio bore an imploring glare unto Cathy as she resolutely replied, with a fist by her side, “To the Whispering Woods. I have to find that sword. I can’t get it out of my head.”

   Cathy whistled as she admired her claws. “Dang, give her a Force Badge and she’s all kinds of a daredevil.” She huffed. “Fine. but I’m coming with.

   “No.” Rio told her. “It has to be done alone, I just know it. Please, pretty please, will you cover for me whilst I’m gone, I - I shouldn’t be too long but just in case I miss morning announcements, or breakfast.”

   “Fine.” Cathy replied, sour. “I’ll cover for you. Go get ‘em, frostbite.” 

   “Thank you.” Rio beamed as she was quick on her feet to leave - and get back to the transportation bay where the various vehicles of the Horde were kept.

   She took the exact same path that she and Cathy had taken the first time around - or, at least she thought she was. She could swear the trees could shift and change. She felt eyes on her as she left her Skriff at the edge of the Whispering Woods as she travelled deeper and deeper inside its labyrinth of this forest. Barely any light penetrated through, the stars and moon were meagre tonight, but what did come, came through a filter of leaves and dyed violet.

   Rio was one edge as she tried to find that mushroom cluster and that clearing again. Everything looked the same and completely unfamiliar both at once. She didn’t feel like she was going around in circles but she felt very harrowed. She felt as though she were getting closer, seeing strange lights, but that did little to assure her. 

   Then she began to hear voices. 

   They were distinct. One male, one female. It sounded like they were arguing but Rio couldn’t tell from faraway. 

   Getting skittish, Rio hurried up but just as she pulled back a low hanging branch barring entry to an animal’s trail to the clearing ahead, she felt the presence of other people. And they must have seen or heard her too. They looked at each other like they were wild animals and then to the clearing.

   It was undeniable. They both saw the sword in the clearing - glowing, stuck in the earth - and they both knew exactly why the other was here.

   Rio glared but the girl of the pair spoke first, “How do you know about the First Ones’ Tech?”

   “The what?” Rio replied, aghast. “D-Do you mean the sword? Because that’s my sword.”

   With that much of an exchange, it became a race to see who could get to the sword first. Rio had the advantage of speed. She launched from where she hovered behind the protective copse of trees into the meadow and she went for it. But the other two were weaponised. A pair of arrows flew out, aimed for Rio, and she did her best to dodge. They struck - and flagged - in trees and Rio’s heart pounded. That could have been here.

   She glanced back towards the archer - the boy accompanying the girl, both of them about her age, if a little shorter than her - and he was already reaching for his quiver again. Rio bolted again and she made a dive for the sword.

   “Oh no you don’t!” the girl shrieked.

   Rio’s fingers grazed the hilt of the sword; she cringed as she prepared to make her belly flop but at the very least, she was going to take the sword. And just as she tried to claim it, feeling good about the fact that her rivals for the sword were on the other side of the clearing, the girl appeared before her.

   From thin air. As though she had evaporated out of it, leaving a cloud of green sparkles around her. She was magic. She was a princess, Rio had the terrible realisation as she saw these things with her own two eyes.

   The girl grabbed the sword and yanked it from the earth. Rio gasped, a horrified expression, and the girl stuck her tongue out at her. She clutched onto the sword with a viciously ecstatic expression. Rio, meanwhile, thudded on the ground heavily, hitting her chin and groaning.

   But she forced herself to get up, even as the archer launched another arrow against her. Rio tried to drag herself on her feet to the girl but the arrow got to her first. She squealed as she felt its arrowhead plunge against her, suctioning in her shirt, before exploding into a net, catching her.

   “Yes!” the archer cheered. “Alright!”

   Rio groaned as she tried to tear the netting off her. She kept her eyes, fierce as daggers of ice, on the prize. On the sword that the girl awkwardly clutched. It looked totally unnatural in her arms and it infuriated Rio as she tore through the netting. Clawing at it, trying to throw it off her.

   “Yuma!” the girl yelled. “The Horde soldier is trying to escape!”

   “Huh? Oh what?” the archer confusedly replied, still celebrating his apparent win.

   Rio finally managed to free herself from the netting. She threw herself at the girl and it was like trying to catch fog. She kept zipping about - teleporting - and making Rio miss. At least in doing so, she was making it difficult for the archer to get her. Gosh darn princesses, always playing dirty, two against one. That just roused Rio’s wrath more and she decided to give up with the magic user.

   Rio reefed herself from her old pattern of trying to catch the princess and threw herself at the archer. He was a spindly little thing so Rio found it easier to subjugate him with a tackle but new problem. He yelped as he lost his bow as Rio sideswiped against him, shoulder to shoulder, in a scrum. Together, they were both knocked down with a thud but at least he was disarmed.

   Only the princess didn’t take it having her friend being knocked down all that kindly.

   She teleported back to Rio and him. Although, she mustn’t have thought that through either because she landed directly on top of Rio who was already on top of her friend the archer. They all groaned as they took more damage from her teleportation magic but at least she, too, was a spritely little thing; insect-like wings of a graceful, pale green twitching on her back.

   Against this girl’s weight, Rio reached up and she tried to snatch the sword. She pulled it down by the blade - it was so strange that the sword didn’t seem built to be cut - and she pulled it from the princess.

   “The sword is mine,” Rio snarled, “you don’t understand.”

   Protectively hugging the sword, Rio started to wriggle around. Worming out of being sandwiched by her two assailants. The girl collapsed again atop her friend with a thud. He moaned, sounding more than a bit winded, as Rio managed to get to her feet. 

   Rio panted as she tried to get away. She knew it would only be a matter of time before the princess or the archer got to their feet but it happened again. The jewel embedded at the hilt of the sword began to glow and all sorts of visions were foisted upon her. Swirling and crystalline, showing her alien places and strangely familiar faces.

   She saw that woman again. Inside the temple. She looked magnificent in her stern clothing and with her avian face. Rio stared. Unable to speak as she felt so suppressed, like she was underneath all the weight and gravity of the bottom of the ocean, before this woman.

   “Call me Zerofyne, Rio, we have been waiting for you.” she said.

   Rio gawked. Every inch of her body and soul told her she was in danger right now but she couldn’t do a thing. She couldn’t lift a finger as she was frozen in place. The woman’s eyes were darker and more cutting than faceted sapphires.

   “Will you fight for the honour of Iris?” Zerofyne asked.

   Rio didn’t know what the right answer was and she had blacked out again.

   When she blinked, coming too, sharper than before when she had first encountered Zerofyne, but still surreal. Disturbed. But as she looked around, standing as still as a statue, she saw that the sword had been secreted away from her and her wrists bound in rope.

   “What are you doing…?” the Princess inquired, sharply confused.

   Rio huffed. She glanced at the girl again, she was holding the sword, the tip of its blade to the ground, like it was too heavy for her to wield and Rio was infumed. She was the one having the weird psychic visions, not the princess - and she was going to prove it.

   After spending minutes standing stock still, in a daze, Rio was moving again. She shoulder-barged the archer again and sent him flying. She was a little perturbed that worked a second time - and he was similar. Groaning as he got back up again, disappointed in himself and then she focused on getting the sword back. Again.

   Rio’s eyes hardened and the Princess tried to reply with an equally fearsome expression but failed. She looked more cute than intimidating but either way, Rio was determined to be unfazed as she attempted to bull-rush the princess again. And just as Rio squared herself to draw out her full potential, she saw that she wasn’t the only one ready for a brawl.

   The trees around them began to quiver and quake as something approached. It roared. Mandibles, long and arched, with jagged spines bucked through the trees. Snapping them like twigs as many legs scuttled with inelegance closer and closer. It roared when it finally appeared.

   Right behind the princess.

   Terrified, she turned her head back slightly and she dropped the sword. The monster was huge. White and armoured with many legs and many spikes across the rippling outer shell of it. All its eyes gleamed a greenish-blue as it thrashed about, ready to rip through the piddly little princess standing at the foot of it.

   Rio’s heart hammered in her chest; she felt the graze of a growl in the bottom of her throat and she knew, instantly, what the right thing to do was. She had to save the princess, looking all scared and pathetic in her glitzy pink dress and the like. So, even with her hands bound together at the wrists, Rio pushed herself forward. She sprinted at the princess and the monster, knocking and nudging the princess one way, keeping a sly eye on the ground where the sword glinted in the grass, and somehow keeping another eye on the monster.

   She was terrified and terrified worse when the monster’s elongated jaw came slashing through. Rio squealed and yelped as she barely got out of the way. Her skin prickled when she felt the gusting wake that the monster left in its bulky trail as it so inelegantly attacked at them. In her fright, Rio shuffled further and further away from the sword.

   She glanced back at it, longingly, and caught a glimpse of the princess. She huffed and they both knew. Rio mouthed something at the princess but neither truly knew what it was she said. Just that it was assurance.

   The monster roared again and Rio took her chance. She rolled herself low through the grass. Back towards the sword; back towards the monster. She fidgeted as she tried to take the hilt. With her palms outward, it was hard but she managed to clutch the hilt of the sword between her forearms. She propped herself up to get out but the monster lunged at her with one of its front legs.

   The archer screamed and began firing off arrows. He didn’t want to see Rio get hurt as much as Rio didn’t want to see Rio get hurt. The monster clashed back, scattering the arrows but the distraction gave Rio time to run and get out from under there.

   She panted as she tried to manoeuvre the sword that she had in her awkward grip. She gnawed and tugged and chewed on the rope until she could finally move her hands so her palms were inwards again. Everything felt so slow as blood rushed to her head with coursing adrenaline. She repressed a frustrated sob as she wished that she could move as fast - if not faster-  than she could think.

   But finally, she did it. She exhaled a sigh of relief as she held onto the sword. Her stance was uneasy and she wobbled but she did it. She smiled as she held up the sword. It nearly tipped her over on the slightest breeze but something was wrong. Rio stumbled a pace or two backwards before re-balancing herself. The sword tipped her over the other way, back in front of her. She grunted. Her eyebrows knitted together as she tried to work out what was wrong and then she heard Zerofyne’s voice.

   Rio tried again. As powerfully as she could and from the bottom of her diaphragm, she yelled: “For the honour… of Iris!”

   And in a split second, that’s all it took, she felt rejuvenated. Regenerated. She felt magic flow through her veins and she became someone else. Someone not quite her but similar. Bigger, taller, more muscular: longer, more flowing hair and she donned a tiara across her brow.

   Stranger still, her sword felt so right and natural in her hand. And she tasted something in her mouth. The ichor of a name.

   “I… am Merag.” she declared, trying not to cede to uncertainty as she kept her shoulders back.

   The princess and her archer were astounded. Their jaws dropped and Rio heard them whisper that name - Merag - with starstruck awe. She couldn’t believe it.

   But the monster still roared. Still posed a threat even if she was now on eye-level with at least some of its compound eyes. So, Rio sucked in a big breath and she attacked the monster back.

   She backhanded the sword and struck at the underside of the monster’s face. It screeched in pain and Rio withstood it, her hair flailing in the rancid breath of it but she had hit it good enough to scare it. It whipped and thrashed about, more intent on fleeing than fighting. As it scrabbled back to where it came, Rio stood tall and watched the trees quiver and quake again.

   When it seemed calm again, she let go of her breath and she de-transformed. She became Rio again. The orphanage Horde soldier with her wrists bound together in rope. 

   The princess and the archer rushed to her side. They clamoured at her, bewildered and astounded, but she was just. Exhausted. And even though she had saved them, neither of them let her go from her bondage but they were determined to bring her back with them.

   And they were a strange pair, Rio soon realised. The archer introduced himself as Yuma to her, he was overly amicable. Bright, bubbly, cheerful. It was unsettling, Rio thought. He also introduced the princess to Rio as Kotori and she seemed to have more self preservation skills than him. 

   He kept trying to make conversation with Rio. She didn’t really get it as it was disconcerting. She thought princesses and their consorts were supposed to be cruel and nasty. They were actually anything but. These two at least but they also seemed to have taken a shine to her the likes she had never seen before.

   As lost as they were getting in the Whispering Woods, Rio was learning a thing or two. They seemed to know who Merag was when she didn’t even know herself. And she was Merag. But their lore and mythos seemed a little confused. There was no way that Rio was magic; she wasn’t a princess either. The whole idea of it skeeved her out but at least they were being nice about it.

   Even if their nice felt like the occasional slap to her face. Like how the princess confiscated the sword from Rio even though it was undeniably hers and like how they kept trying to convince her of the evils of the Horde. They were trying to bring law and order to the subjugation and peril that the princesses presented to Zexal. The Horde was her family. There was no way they would do such things like wreak havoc and pillage the homes of innocent people.

   But the evidence was strewn on the ground, unfortunately. They passed shrapnel that was once the walls of homes. Of evidence of a settlement, kind and homely, that had been obliterated. As heartbreaking as it was, Rio couldn’t deny what she could see and touch with her own hands, even if she wanted to believe that it wasn’t the Horde which had done such horrible things.

   As a trio, they walked through the forest all night and by morning, they found themselves at a village. A village where they were welcomed with exuberant and open arms. Rio couldn’t believe that such a vivacious place filled with such pleasant people could exist at all.

   She, Kotori, and Yuma were so tired but the people plied them with food and drinks, perking them right up. They were free to eat as much as they wanted. Today, they were told, was a day of great celebration for the people of this village. They were of a non-human species; taking the shape of bipedal caribou and deer. And from them, Rio learned much.

   Even though she was, technically, Kotori and Yuma’s prisoner, Rio was free to wander. Granted, Yuma was sticking close to her as they meandered the various fields of the village. Kotori also observed them both, just more stuck up and from afar. More or less together, they listened to stories of the past with the children, told only in interpretative dance and they played games which involved inducing blunt force trauma on fruit. Rio had a lot of fun smashing open various, hard-rinded fruits to the glee of the fawns around them.

   Amid all the fun, Rio felt like she could call Kotori and Yuma her friends. Not her captors. She beamed, she had never felt so bright and happy before. It was official. This was the best day ever. She almost didn’t want it to end. She just wished that she could share it with Cathy-

   Someone screamed. 

   A shrill, horrified scream that was completely unlike the good natured squealing and shrieking of the festivities. This was someone in fear of their life.

   Rio’s blood ran cold and then she smelt it. Smoke. Faint. Getting closer and her eyes widened when she saw the flickers of flames just over the outer copse of trees that surrounded the village. She heard the heavy trundle of tracked wheels and the sound of guns firing. She couldn’t believe it but she couldn’t let herself freeze even when she saw that the people in uniforms were wearing the same uniforms and insignias as she.

   The trident.

   This had to be a mistake. She was certain this was a mistake - and one that could be rectified. And she could be the one to do so.

   Rio cut through the terrified crowd and those who were out for bloodlust. She marched up to the nearest tank and it came to a rolling stop. Rio swallowed as she watched the bayonet-like snout of the tank come to a point underneath her chin. It gave a shudder and then a door somewhere on its naval blue outer carcas opened. 

   Cathy emerged from within and Rio felt herself inflate with hope. She filled herself up on a new, big, deep breath of air as Cathy sauntered closer, way too happy with herself. She laid up against the tank and smiled.

   “Hey, Rio.” Cathy purred.

   Rio beamed. “Cathy, it's so good to see you, please I need-”

   “You said you’d only be gone the morning.” she teased, interrupting Rio. She grinned, fangs in the corner of her mouth and all. “But anyways, now that I’ve found you, we can go out there and kick some tail.”

   “No, Cathy, you don’t understand. This is Thaymor.” Rio said with insistent, heavy breaths.

   “Well, yes, it couldn’t be more obvious.” Cathy replied, unimpressed with her.

   “We were lied to. Thaymor was supposed to be a heavily fortified rebel fortress.” Rio said. “This is a civilian village.”

   Cathy shrugged. “Your point being…?”

   “We have to stop the invasion. These people don’t deserve this.” Rio said. “But we can stop this. Together. Just help me.”

   Cathy made a pained expression. “Orders are orders, Rio, who cares?” she reluctantly tried to explain her position. “Gorgonic Guardian doesn’t care about me, I’m out here by the skin of my teeth. I don’t want to give her further ammunition against me. You’re really sweet, Rio, but you're so naive.”

   “B-But we can stop this.” Rio said.

   “Just come home with us, Rio, once we’re done here, we can keep going. Lord Abyss is the one who’s got the fire power, let’s not get in the way.” Cathy said.

   “No!” Rio snapped. “It’s wrong. I - I refuse. I’ve made friends here.”

   Cathy’s ears flattened atop the crown of her head. “You’ve known these people for a couple of hours.” she hissed. “Are you really going to abandon everything we’ve - you’ve - worked for… for a useless ideal?” Her eyes watered. “You're picking the enemy over me?”

   Rio swallowed a sob. “Yes.” she managed to whimper. Because she was the enemy. She was the princess to end all princesses: Merag.

   She didn’t know how to respond. She wanted both. She sorely wanted both but the best she could do was to fade into the background. To help children and the elderly evacuate. To let Kotori and Yuma swoop in and let Cathy go against all that.

   In combination, Rio would say that Kotori and Yuma were on par as herself and Cathy as a pair. They complemented each other well. Kotori fought up close and Yuma kept his distance as an archer. He distracted their enemies - Rio’s allies - with barrages of arrows and Kotori would swoop in to pound them with her sparkly, sparkly fists.

   The Horde soldiers had a more calculated affect to their movements, squeaky clean and prim. Made that way in the crucible of training for years and years. Yuma and Kotori both lacked that well oiled machine-like finess to their movements but honestly, it was working in their favour. Rio saw how predictable it made the Horde soldiers look to see such raw, unworked talent out on the field do as they pleased between bows and arrows and magic.

   Rio could only watch helplessly as her new friends were attacked by and attack back at her old friends. Worse still, she had no idea who was under those helmets. Sure, it protected the head and face from vital blows but at what cost? They looked so inhuman as they forced their way through the village. Lightning fires, rounding up people, destroying buildings.

   Rio’s chest felt so heavy. Unable to muster a word against the atrocity that she was bearing witness to and there were only so many ways to fight back. Yuma pulled his last arrow from his quiver and Kotori’s magic was failing her. She clamped her fists in and out but the magic just wasn’t happening. The sparkles on her hands fizzling out as Yuma helped keep soldiers at bay.

   But it wasn’t enough and Rio knew it wasn’t, not with how badgered and bruised and battered Kotori looked just from dispensing all her magic. So, Rio took a look at her options and she picked the best choice. She ran in there and she acted as cover for Kotori so they could both evacuate this more dangerous areas. Together, with Yuma just behind them, they dove for cover behind an outcrop of rocks: a house demolished to a pile off rubble.

   Rio panted as she kept a hand on Kotori’s shoulders. She nervously scanned around whilst Yuma tried to attempt makeshift weapons from broken tree branches and the like. Kotori, in the meanwhile, collapsed plumb-tuckered out with her magic but she was surprised that Rio was being so protective of them. She was a princess. The enemy. She didn’t get it and it frustrated her. She wanted to throw herself back into the action so she could defend Thaymor.

   Kotori’s expression changed as she tried to use her magic again. Anything. Just a little sign she had something left in her whilst Rio kept look out. Her hands balled into fists and she tried and tried and oh how she wished tried but she failed. Her powers of teleportation had been expended. The sword on her back felt heavy and wrong. Panic began to rise as she scanned her surroundings. It was all smoky and fiery but then someone pulled her aside.

   “Unhand me!” Kotori yelled.

   “It’s me.” Rio whispered. “It’s only me.”

   Kotori squinted then sighed. She let herself collapse against what was once the wall of a hut. Of a home. Her headache was terrible. With her magic depleted, she felt sluggish and exhausted. Rio came to her knee and Kotori looked so crestfallen.

   “I’m sorry.” she said. “I - I shouldn’t have gotten us lost in the first place.”

   “No, no, don’t blame yourself, I think it's good that we’re here. We can do something. We can still do something.” Rio told her, stroking the side of her face.

   Kotori giggled despondently. “You’re right, we can.” she said. “We can call upon the power of Merag.”

   Rio’s eyes widened.

   Kotori grunted as she wriggled about. She struggled but she did it. She untied the knot and she slung the sword back to her front. She gave it back to Rio. Entrusted it to her.

   “Now go.” Kotori said. “Go and make with the heroism, I’ll be fine, I know I will be with you protecting us.”

   “Thank you for trusting me, Kotori.” Rio replied.

   Rio smiled. There was a hint of a tear in her eyes but she had to be brave. Even though she was dirty and raggedy, out of breath, even. She had to be brave. She looked around and she took a few steps forward through the rubble. She had to protect everybody and so, she took a swing of her sword and she filled her lungs with a determined inhale.

   “For the honour of Iris!” Rio yelled.

   Magic swelled. Rio’s heart throbbed in her chest whilst her vision was consumed by the light that was pouring out of the aquamarine gem embedded in her sword. It became so weightless as her own body was changed into the image of a princess who emanated power. She became faster. Stronger. And when she was released from it, she was someone else entirely. She was Merag.

   And Merag was someone who was almost impossibly tall and muscular. With hair of violet and eyes of magenta. She was someone who wielded the sword of Iris with grace and strength.

   Merag strode through the battlefield as the epitome of warlike majesty. People stopped to stare. She smiled at them and with that smile, she became all the more blinding. She projected an aura - a literal glow - of a serene, pale blue. Merag whipped her sword about and the earth crackled below. It quaked. Upturning the tanks and the Horde soldiers who had come to ravage this town. Blue lightning rippled through the quarts of upturned rock and earth, all centring from around Merag. It all happened so swiftly but so beautifully. 

   The glow stopped and Merag brought down her sword. She wedged it into the ground. Signifying that the land was protected and Merag glared. She watched as the last of the Horde soldiers scrambled elsewhere in retreat. The people of Thaymor cautiously came out of hiding and they cheered her on. Merag smiled but the magic could not be sustained too much longer. She was unused to using it and as such, she de-transformed. Returned to herself as Rio.

   And Rio could hardly stand the exhaustion even as she was celebrated so. She came down to her knees, panting, holding her side, smoke plumed everywhere, she could hardly breathe. It was violet and toxic, clouding on the grounds as she held herself up with the Sword lodged in the ground. People screamed and clamoured and yet there was one still, silent silhouette that Rio fixated on in the dust and the debris.

   “Cathy!” she hopelessly called out, vainly hoping that her dearest friend would rush to her aid but instead.

   Cathy took a step back. She looked terrified and in a whisper that barely made it across the battlefield, Rio heard it.

   “Bye, Rio.”

   “Cathy!” Rio screamed again but it was too late.

   Cathy was gone and she could have wept.

   Kotori and Yuma approached; Yuma tackled her with a hug and Kotori looked so relieved. She smiled tearfully.

   “You did it.” she said. “You saved everyone.”

   And that’s when the levee broke. Rio sobbed. She didn’t do that. She hadn’t saved everyone because everyone would include Cathy. Kotori and Yuma could only watch with pity as their so-called heroine broke down into tears, sobbing hard.

   Cathy’s voice had been so broken up and Rio’s heart was following suit. She couldn’t believe it. This day had begun so normal, with the love of her life, of agape and eros, had ended like this. So thoroughly destroyed. And Rio’s eyes widened. There were bigger, more important things to be worrying about but Cathy was so dear to her, so precious, that she overruled all the things like war, that Rio choked on how she would never wake up in the morning again and hear Cathy greet her with that promiscuous hey ever again and that her last words, in the smoke and in the fire, was a whispered goodbye. 

Chapter Text

   She wanted knowledge, so she sought knowledge from the one who had been there when history was not history but the present day.

   On the edge of a certain township, nestled in the range of certain mountains streaked with volcanic glass and obsidian, there was a manor. No one ever came to it and no one ever left it but every night torches would be lit and there would be a gentle candlelight glow coming from the inside of it and it had been like that, unchanging but steady in rhythm, for centuries.

   It was ill advised to make the pilgrimage but one Tenjoin Asuka, with that unquenchable desire to learn and learn, she went against such warnings and ascended along the path. And when she arrived, she would have been that manor’s first visitor in many, many years. Eons, even. But the manor was just as it was rumoured. Black and dark with crystal-eyed gargoyles watching the front door but she was unafraid.

   With the back of her hands, she rapped on the front door, “Hello?” she sang out. “Is anybody home?”

   Her eyes darted up and about. She saw that there was light inside the manor. It wasn’t blindingly so, given how gargantuan this place was, but they were there. It was homely. Asuka’s eyes searched the door again and she felt foolish but she noticed the bronze doorknocker - a horrible faced boar - and reached for it. It was situated a good head or so taller than her so she had to get up on her tiptoes. And just as her fingertips grazed the smooth ring of its plaque, the door opened. Swinging wards and she gave a startled noise.

   From inside the doorway, she heard a demure chuckle. She blushed.

   Asuka saw the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in the doorway. Rather taller than her; voluptuous and wearing only the thinnest clothes on such a cold night that had just pressed past a frigid twilight. Her eyes were sharp and her lips were sharper as she studied the most unlikely guest whom she had.

   Asuka was starstruck as she tried to muster herself to speech. Her sudden shyness amused the woman but somehow, she bustled through her own social impediment.

   “I desire what you have. Your library, I hear, is the stuff of legends. I want to enrich myself on those tomes and I will not be taking no for an answer.” Asuka said.

   The woman’s grin grew wider.

   “My name is Asuka and to whom do I owe the pleasure?”

   “Camula.” she replied. “Thy name is Camula and I am impressed with ye, come in, come in.”

   Asuka was mutably pleased with herself as she was invited inside. And the inside of this manor was just as grand as the outside. The decor was rich and decadent but brutal. Tapestries of the most brutal deaths in history adorned the walls which were seemingly endless. The manor was a maze within but this woman - Camula - navigated them so well compared to Asuka, who just kept track of where they were going mentally, was already quite confused.

   The doors opened by themselves at the threshold of the library. Asuka was stunned. She had never seen such automations before. From what she could observe, the only living souls in this manor was herself and her madam, Camula. She had not spied a servant or any quarters which would pertain to such.

   Camula kept sashaying forth and Asuka kept pace. She stole glances around. It smelt old and musty but there were rows upon rows of bookcases which were taller than trees and all of them crammed tight with tomes and grimoires and all sorts of treasure troves of history. Merely being in their presence, Asuka felt blessed and eager. 

   Camula sat down in a plush armchair by a central, brick fireplace in the middle of the library. There was a twin to the set so Asuka did the same. She kept her knees and ankles together but Camula was more languid in her body language. Asuka glanced down and she noticed the fire had not been lit. 

   Camula noticed and Asuka stiffened. She worried if she had committed some faux pas but Camula merely giggled with a smirk, she lifted a hand and snapped her fingers. The fire ignited.

   “H-How did you do that?” Asuka stuttered out the question.

   “Dominion over fire is one benefit of my longevity,” Camula said and she spoke with sloth, bringing attention to her crimson lips and Asuka was entranced, even as she saw those unnatural canines in the corners, she chose to believe they were carved or natural disfigurements, “counteracts the loneliness and starvation. Almost. You come to Camula, yes, for her knowledge and her library. That must mean you are familiar with the not quite truths of my power and my resources, yes?”

   Asuka frowned. “I heard you were a vampire, yes, if that is what you are asking but I do not believe in such monsters.”

   “A shame.” Camula said. “Because such monsters believe in you.”

   Asuka shivered. “What do you mean?”

   Camula leaned over the armrests of the armchairs, just so she could touch Asuka’s face. She winced. Camula’s fingers were ice cold and her nails were more like the talons of a vulture.

   “I am vampire. That is no lie nor no rumour. The exactness of vampirism, yes, it is murky to those unaware but I am a vampire.” Camula whispered. “And if you desire all of this, all of thy library to study, then I wish to feed from you, dearest Asuka.”

   Asuka had come here for knowledge. Including and especially that which had been forbidden to her. Her furrowed brows were cute and she lifted her arm to Camula, flexing the muscle and making a vein in the pale of her arm more noticeable, even in the fireside dim of the library.

   “I want to see more of the effects of your vampirism, and what would you recommend? Reading forward or reading backward? Beginning at the beginning of time or at what you have most recent?” Asuka asked, withholding a tremble in her arm as Camula caressed her there.

   Her fingers slid sensually along the flat of Asuka’s forearm. Her heart pounded. Camula looked up to her and her eyes glowed in the dark like a bat’s. There was a droop of hunger to her demeanour. Forlorn and agonised with what she had been denied for so long.

   “Whatever you desire, dearest Asuka.” Camula replied.

   “Very well.” Asuka said. “You have my consent to feed from me.”

   Asuka steeled herself but there was very little need to. Camula was gentle. She kissed the inner of Asuka’s wrist before sliding her face, soft as velvet, down Asuka’s forearm before stopping at the crook of her elbow. She held on a little tighter and there was dual pinch. Asuka flinched but she didn’t let that turn into hesitation or suspicion as Camula fed from her.

   The taste of Asuka’s blood was divine. She was sweet as a noblewoman should be; having grown up on buttered, honey toast and game grown on verdant pastures. Camula taste it all and what a feast Asuka provided her with. She was succulent.

   Asuka watched, intrigued, as this vampire drank her blood. After losing what felt like a quart of blood, she withdrew her arm and Camula sighed. She let Asuka go but Asuka felt her nails trail on her skin and Camula held her hand. She looked up, in a daze, blood on her lips. Tasteful trails, not messy. She licked idly at them and Asuka was fascinated.

   “You should eat too, dear,” Camula told her, “not good to lose too much blood at once, yes?”

   Asuka nodded but Camula laughed. There was a mirth in her eyes which surprised Asuka.

   “But let me guess, you would like it brought out here so you may read simultaneous to tending to your own health and hungers?” Camula asked.

   “How did you know?” Asuka asked, a little sheepish.

   “I just know these things.” Camula told her.

   Asuka smiled with a hint of a blush. Camula excused herself and left Asuka alone. She was giddy but it was a quiet sort of giddy. She couldn’t tell if it was from blood loss or the gain of something else. She looked around the hallowed room once more - such a gargantuan library - and she was just filled with wonder. She just knew this would be a most beneficial relationship between herself and Camula.

   And oh what a true prophecy that was.

   From Camula, Asuka feeded and from Asuka, Camula feeded. Soon, not just in the library or along Asuka’s arms, but elsewhere too. Asuka permitted Camula’s lips to all parts of her body. Underneath her clothes and deep between her legs, upon her breasts and in sessions long and sweet for them both. In turn, Asuka found many reading nooks in the various places of the castle - including and especially what would become her favour, Camula’s royal bedchambers. 

   They spent months together in this bliss of satiating all their various hungers: of the body, of the mind, and even of the soul. From the dead of winter all the way to the brink where summer surrenders to an already pervading autumn. But it was at that fall of summer and that rise of autumn that they experienced a fall of a different kind.

   Asuka’s older brother, concerned for his younger sister’s welfare had come searching for her. Though she had disowned herself when he had tried to stifle her curiosity and tenacity, he had come looking and upon that mountainside, streaked with vermillion leaves and harsh outcroppings of rock, he found her.

   In the ballroom and in the arms of her lover.

   The ballroom was huge. Of marble tiles and tall marble spires.  It was wall to wall with mirrors that only Asuka could see herself in. Dress sashaying about but there were two sounds of high heels on the crisp, clean flooring. A place where instruments played themselves: a harp, a lure, a violin. All of Camula’s favourites and more playing songs that Asuka knew from before the first century that humans recorded and recognised.

   It had been such a wonderful night for them both. Camula was always one ready for a dance and at the end of what had been harvest time for the human peons down off the mountainside was a perfect time. Asuka had agreed. One last time to don their summer dresses of brilliant scarlet and sepia. They could have danced the night away and that had been their intention with their dancing eventually leading to something else but then the door opened unexpectedly. 

   Banging and clanging and they were both terrified, holding onto each other, a mess of arms and scars, and Asuka saw him.

   “Fubuki.” she gasped and she gasped again when he acted first and thought second.

   He shot a crossbow with an arrow meant for Camula.

   Camula screamed as Asuka slumped in her arms. Asuka had never lost blood quite like this before. It always felt like a kiss of passion from Camula. This was passion too. Just not quite so sensuous. More wrathful than that. And when she died, fearing for her own life and safety, Camula abandoned Asuka, even though that caused her to screech in anguish than if she had been the one to have had a stake launched against her.

   Her eerily beautiful human body gave way to fur and she transformed into a bat. She escaped and Fubuki cursed her name. Blaming her for his sister’s death than his own hands but at least she was back. She was no longer with monsters. Not realising his own monstrousness as he took back his sister and buried her six feet under. Caressing her arms, covered in bite marks from repeated sessions of bleeding, seeing something vile where Asuka once saw love.

   But Camula would not rescind her lover quite so easily.

   Asuka wanted knowledge for knowledge’s sake. She did not want immortality or vampirism. She still saw good in humans, even when Camula relayed stories of all the times she had to hide for her own safety. If only tonight had been one of those nights in the crypt where she begged for humans to leave her alone but she was alive as she was dead and she wanted to celebrate every minute she had with Asuka as human lives were so finite.

   Completely unlike the dirt they buried themselves in after they lived. Dirt, Camula thought, was endless as she sifted through the soil that Asuka - her Asuka - was buried beneath. She scraped through it with an expression born of ferity. Not caring remotely for how it sullied and tarnished the silk dress and ermine coat that she adorned herself in. Not even as how the dirt became slurry and mud as rain poured overhead, stingingly cold and cruel. Not until she felt her whole body quake when her claws raked against wood. Not even fine, mahogany wood. Just pine. Asuka deserved better, Camula cursed her brother and her pitiful family.

   She had not been stolen away and seduced. She had journeyed and been loved for her inquisitive nature. Her accursed stone gravestone was wrong and Camula would ensure it was. 

   Camula broke through the wood and she saw Asuka’s face. Pale, tinged green and blue but still so, so beautiful. Like a saint. Camula helped Asuka out of it. Her body like the poppets that Camula was so fond of making for herself.

   With a heaving breath, desperate and wrong, Camula kissed Asuka. They had done so much together but never this for a vampire’s kiss was all that it took. Took to return life to a corpse and to cause an undeath in a human. But Camula kissed Asuka hard, even when she tasted for the chemicals they used to embalm her body and it sickened Camula. Things were meant to die and become putrid. She knew that all too well as an immortal. 

   But at least Asuka woke up from her death like she had woken up from a nap. She was confused, her brown eyes wide, and then she realised. Thunder crashed and boomed; lightning was quick to follow like a snivelling dog. And Asuka’s heart broke: with that realisation, yes, but with the grief she saw on Camula, like mud and rain and death.

   “What have you done?” Asuka asked, tears in her eyes but Camula was praying they were raindrops.

   “I couldn’t,” Camula sobbed, “I could not face eternity after knowing you and your love, please, dearest Asuka, forgive me and mine own selfishness. I am no different to your brother and murderer.”

   Asuka took Camula’s hand. She didn’t know how to console her. She didn’t know if she ought to but she at the very least took Camula’s hand and marvelled at the fact it was still cold. Just like hers now, she supposed, and she kissed Camula. Camula kissed back and she snivelled into it. Scurrying and terrified but Asuka didn’t mind as there was a dominance to her own kiss. A pierce of the lips as she tried to grapple with the feeling of having fangs in her own mouth. Camula whimpered and she bled with the sludge that vampires carried in their own veins in the place of blood. It was foul. Putrid. But she kept kissing back to Asuka’s forceful kiss in her very own grave.

Chapter Text

   “Sagiri-san, long time, no see.” Aki gasped.

   She smiled pleasantly whilst Mikage stood awkwardly in the doorframe. The receptionist from the front counter let them be and Mikage came in. Still, she didn’t know where to stand - or if she ought to sit. Aki’s office wasn’t overly small but it wasn’t exactly large: a skinny bed to the side, where Aki was sitting now at her desk, and then two chairs across from her to discuss things with patients. Unsurprisingly, it was all very clinical and Mikage didn’t know where her friendliness ought to exist in such a sanitary space.

   Still, Aki welcomed her - and the bouquet of flowers in her huddled in her arms. Aki beckoned Mikage to sit down, so she did. 

   “What brings you to my office?” Aki asked. “Seems more like a courtesy call than a check up.”

   “Y-Yes,” Mikage stuttered out, “I heard that you had been taken on board here in your first role as a physician, I thought I would bring you flowers as congratulations. I know you worked really hard to get here... so. From one acquaintance to another, congratulations.”

   “Thank you, Sagiri-san, that means a lot to me.” Aki said.

   Mikage nodded and she handed over the flowers. Aki was gentle with them as she received them from the exchange. She nursed them with a glowing look on her face. They looked good in her arm; the pale pink petals of the lilies complimented the dark magenta of Aki’s hair. Mikage praised herself for such a good colour choice before wondering if it hadn’t been too obvious of a choice for Aki. She glanced around the room. It appeared she had been the first of their company to bring flowers, unless Aki had moved them elsewhere or, more dourly, if she had been the last to come to congratulate her on her first job out of medical school.

   Mikage’s lips twitched. “Please, don’t be too formal with me, I don’t mind.” she said. “Mikage is fine, you know.”

   “Thank you, that would be nice.” Aki replied. “I didn’t realise that we were so close, my apologies. I always felt a touch distant from you…”

   “I, the same, but…” Mikage averted her gaze as her cheeks reddened slightly, “but you inspired me to re-evaluate myself.”

   Aki blinked. “I did?” she murmured, a touch perplexed by such an admission. 

   “Yes, you did,” Mikage affirmed, “I thought we were alike, just two different ends of the spectrum. I, for no good reason, and you for too many. A little bit meek, always one step from doing the wrong thing - or maybe too many steps already in that direction. Seeing you try to change yourself for the better, getting a grapple on your powers, not letting Divine or your parents keep you down. If someone worse off than me could do that, what was stopping me? Why was I letting my bosses trample over me and why was I saying socially awkward things in ways that made people feel bad?”

   “O-oh.” Aki murmured.

   Mikage shrank in on herself. “And I’ve gone and done it again, haven’t I? Old habits die hard.”

   “N-No, it's not like that.” Aki stuttered, blushing. “I just didn’t realise that I’d had quite such a ripple effect. It’s flattering.”

   “Bold but do no harm.” Mikage stated. “That’s what I saw in your resolve and I wanted to imitate that.”

   “I’m glad I could do such a thing for you.” Aki replied.

   “You did.” Mikage said. “I finally rejected Tetsuo’s advances; I was flattered but uninterested. In doing so, that helped prepare me for when Jack inevitably said the same thing unto me. I haven’t had much interest in anyone lately but… but I’m hoping the inspiration and catalyst could be the start of something else. If you would have me? My treat, that is, we could go out for dinner.”

   Aki’s heart fluttered. “I, um, that’s so sudden, Mikage.”

   “You can wait on it.” Mikage said. “Or turn me down. I’m happy just to have said my piece.”

   Aki took a deep breath. She looked so at ease in her white doctor’s jacket as she kept holding onto the bouquet; it nestled against her breast and her eyes softened.

   “I’d like that.” Aki said on her exhale. “It’s sudden, yes, but where is the harm in it? It could be fun and, perhaps, it could be my turn to take inspiration or the like from you.”

   Mikage’s heart skipped a beat. She didn’t realise how romantic of a line she had used until it had come out of Aki’s mouth but she smiled, resisting the urge to hide behind her hands or otherwise succumb to the social awkwardness that she had spent years trying to amend all, more or less, for this moment right now.

   “So, should I pick the venue?” Mikage asked.

   “I’d like that.” Aki said. “I like being surprised.”

   “Perfect.” Mikage smiled, thrilled and flattered.

Chapter Text

   Ranze hummed the school’s anthem as she went about her chores. She was the type to be at her most bright and perky when she had something to do. As such, cleaning up and other similar things ranked high on her favourite things to do. Even practicing etiquette and the like, she found it vastly enjoyable and she shouldn’t neglect that either. Especially not when Rinnosuke had been such a dear and gone and gathered up some fresh flowers and the like to use for her flower arrangement.

   Still, as she bopped along to the anthem under her breath, pushing a mop around, she was already formulating a few ideas as to what to do with the fresh flowers and the vase that Gakuto had brought in from the Sougetsu household. Even though Ranze still considered herself something of an apprentice when it came to those kinds of disciplines, she was still reasonably certain that the end result would greatly brighten up the already rather lively student council room.

   Whilst the boys were off galavanting around the school being boys, with Romin in tow, Ranze amused herself back at the classroom with her vase and her flowers. She was thinking something classic and elegant this afternoon. Not that she was ever all that adventurous outside of her aesthetics but she thought it would be nice.

   The centrepiece of her arrangement, of course, being the freshly snapped cherry blossom branches. They were so thin and fragile, she thought they were a lot like a girl’s first love in that way and she was having a lot of fun trying to build a story around that. Keeping arrangements she had seen previously in her head, Ranze managed to create something she thought, for better or worse, was uniquely hers. As amateurish as it was until she heard a gasp. An exclamation.

   “So… beautiful!”

   Ranze was a bit startled. She could feel the ends of the hair on her head stiffen in stifled shock as she turned to see who had spoken. To her surprise, it was Nico. Looking happy with a slack jaw as she clutched onto her camera, as per usual.

   “O-oh, hello, Nico, I didn’t realise you were there.” Ranze awkwardly greeted Nico, very worried that Nico had been there a long time and she had been blissfully oblivious.

   “S’okay, I like blending in. Helps keep subject and photographer separate and more natural.” Nico replied.

   Ranze hesitated, she didn’t know if she should let Nico in or not. They weren’t overly close and Nico was a bit eccentric, Ranze wasn’t quite sure how to handle her or not but it seemed Nico wanted the decision made.

   “D’you mind if I come in and take some photos of your arrangements?” Nico asked. “Bad thing about flowers is that they wilt. The good thing about photos of flowers, is that they never do.” She laughed impishly to herself.

   Ranze sighed. “Not at all, help yourself.”

   “Oh, I will, thank you very much.” Nico cackled as she came in.

   She was all too quick to start bouncing and hopping around, trying to get Ranze’s flower arrangement from every angle and then some too. Zooming in, zooming out. Ranze wished she could be half as nimble as Nico, that would be very helpful to her stagehand duties and the like. So, her hesitation gave way to an awkward sort of awe as Nico helped her fill of snapping shots of various photos.

   She beamed proudly, wiping sweat off her brow as she finished up. Ranze smiled.

   “Were you able to take some good shots?” Ranze asked, flattered that Nico had been able to take so many of her flower arrangement at all.

   “Oh boy was I.” Nico energetically replied, her fluffy hair bouncing as she rocked on the heel of her foot. “And I still have much to take.”

   “Y-You do?” Ranze exclaimed, shocked and Nico took a surprise photo there.

   “You’re very expressive, it's very good.” Nico snickered. “But yeah, I was hoping to get some action shots of you do your arrangement - or jus’ pretending to since you seem all done and stuff.”

   “No, no, no, I am not meant to be seen, I’m meant to just be the help.” Ranze said.

   “Nonsense, you’re really pretty, you should get in the photos too. Pretty please? You can’t just turn me away hungry for more, that’s just cruel.” Nico replied.

   Ranze tucked a curl of her straw brown hair behind her ear, she blushed slightly. She didn’t really consider herself pretty but someone like Nico wouldn’t lie. She was overly earnest, that girl. Throwing herself into her passions like that and so, Ranze sighed.

   “Fine.” she said. “Just a few photos. Until you’ve eaten your fill, as you say.” she relented.

   “Thank you very much.” Nico sniggered, her glasses shining. “Oh, and do you have any kimonos or the like to change into? I think that would look better than your school uniform.”

   “I - I do, funnily enough, so, um if you would excuse me.” Ranze replied.

   Nico was all too eager to see more of her vision for her photographs come to life. It mightn’t be newsworthy but it might be award worthy and there was that junior competition coming up. She happily tapped her foot as she waited for Ranze to return and when she did, she looked stunning.

   Blue was probably Ranze’s favourite colour since her glasses’ frames were blue but pale pink looked even better on her. She was even wearing a subtle cherry blossom motif which complemented her arrangement to a stupendous angle, Nico couldn’t have been more excited to see Ranze shuffle out in her getta and the like.

   Ranze blushed a deeper colour as Nico helped to pose her. With the last of the afternoon sun streaming in, competing with the early twilight and the gorgeous orange colours it came with, Nico couldn’t be happier with the colour composition as she ready her camera, snapping up some fun in betweens before the more serious shoot.

   Ranze was a little stiff in her poses as she was unused to being the subject of art rather than the mere helper but it was fun. Being the centre of attention was highly flattering, Ranze realised as she listened to the click, click, click of Nico’s camera over and over again, to say nothing of the ensuing flashes either. 

   “That was great guns,” Nico said, “thank you very much.” She bowed deeply to Ranze and then popped up again. “You were just as beautiful as your arrangements, now, if you would excuse me, I have a club meeting I was on my way to.” Her happy-go-lucky chatter gave way to more cackling and she did as she said she would.

   Leaving Ranze feeling like she was in a whirlwind. She hugged herself tight and tried to still her pounding heart. The silk of her kimono felt smooth on her skin as she smiled a pursed lip smile. She could feel herself burn up - cherry red - with infatuation unto Nico. It really did feel nice to be at the centre of such fawning attention.

Chapter Text

   Aoi’s mouth was sour. I was thinking of quitting, she thought to herself. Rehearsed, really, but she was unable to say it at the dinner table. She had a rare night with Akira and as silent as it was, she didn’t want to ruin it with unpleasant news so she shared only insignificant small talk and other lies with him. He returned the platitudes with similar notions. They truly were siblings in that regard, as strained as their relationship had become because of the increasingly difficult demands of Akira’s work.

   But, after dinner, with the whirr of the dishwasher turned on and in the background as she hid away in her room, Aoi was almost thankful that she hadn’t said what she was thinking. Therefore, it wasn’t manifested and using that almost oceanic roar of machinery as the basis of a melody, she tried her hand at practice.

   Her cello produced the most morose sounds as Aoi tried to retrace what she heard when she strained her ears. It was fitting. Echoed how she felt. So melancholic and rueful, not a notice of joy in any of the notes as she stroked the strings back and forth with her bow. It caused her expression to bend, as she sat at her desk, well, her back was to it as she sat in her chair, keeping her cello propped up against her as she worked it back and forth. 

   Once upon a time, her music, her cello, produced music of wonder. Joy and happiness. Now it only weighed heavy against her as she went through the motions of making music but she detested the noise. She missed how it had once been such a grand source of love and vibrancy in her life but somewhere in growing up, in realising she would never be a virtuoso or the like, it had lost some of its luster. So, she gave up for the night. A shame, Akira would later tell her in the morning, he thought it sounded fine and that she should have practiced a little longer. That also left a sour taste in her mouth but she abided by his pleasantries.

   Even when she loathed them. Going along with the tide, Akira was a proud older brother and he wanted to show off his sister - a not quite prodigy - to his peers at work so there was to be a recital, next month. Aoi practiced every night, losing herself in the rhythm as a means of procrastinating other things. Her school work, her lack of social life, the very fact she wanted to quit at all.

   She kept telling herself, after the recital, after the recital she would work up the courage to let Akira know that she desired to quit cello and music but she was a mousy little girl. She knew that.

   The day of the recital that she had been dreading couldn’t have come soon enough. Every day leading up to it had been an eternity and a half. Especially those abhorrent sessions of practice, she only put herself through such tortuous hours because she didn’t want to embarrass either herself or Akira at the recital. So, she had picked out a few scores to do. Nothing fancy, nothing too special, something everyone had heard before by the likes of Mozart and Chopin and Schubert. A medley of three; nothing which should last longer than an hour. If she was lucky, she would be home in bed by nine as the recital started at seven.

   Or at least that was her vain hope.

   Akira had other plans. Aoi had wanted to arrive at six, or maybe five-thirty at the earliest but he wanted her well, well before, at two and at three. After a hearty lunch with no cheese, soft drink, or chocolate. He wouldn’t want her to get a bubble in her throat as she introduced the music that she would be playing tonight.

   At least he didn’t mother hen her completely. He had a whole company to do that too but Aoi abided by his expectations regardless. She had a cafe lunch at one and she was leaving by two and hoped to arrive at the auditorium SOL Tech had rented out by two-thirty, made three if traffic was bad. 

   Unfortunately that meant a little bit of walking around with something as awkward as a cello. It was almost as tall as her but when she was younger and more passionate about her craft, Aoi had gotten very used to walking with it and keeping it guarded.

   Hobbling past, she passed a street performer and she knew she shouldn’t gawk but she liked the music. She was busy but maybe she could spare a moment. For the first time in a long, long time, in the middle of the city, Aoi felt the spark of music that had attracted to her to music in the first place. 

   As a little girl, she had chosen the cello because her biological father had played it. He played first string at the opera and Aoi’s mother had taken her a few times to those performances but she never cared for the singers on the stage. She was only taken with one of the men in the darkened pit providing the accompaniment, her father the cellist. And at home, the magical joy of a cello’s music never stopped. Aoi had spent many nights in her father’s lap, so tiny next to his full 4/4 cello, learning the beginning chords, begging for her own. Those memories were bittersweet for many, many reasons now and as Aoi listened to this girl play her tune, they lost that bitter touch. Became pure and sweet nostalgia.

   So, she stopped to stare. Her eyes lit up as she drew in closer to the street performer and the little crowd she had drawn in. She played with a grin on her face and with a toe that tapped below. It was fast paced and jaunty and it could have been anything, aoi thought. Classical music or a reconstructed rock song but she stopped and stared at this girl. She was awe-inspiring, big, blue eyes and cute pink hair in a short skirt as she played her violin.

   And she saw Aoi and she smiled, “Do you play professionally?” she asked. “I probably look like a hobbyist to you.”

   Aoi blushed. “N-no, no, not at all.” she stammered. “I’m not a professional. I’m a hobbyist too.”

   “Then do you have the time? Let’s have a concert together, but I’ll take all the tips, I need ‘em to keep my music school alive, You Show.” she said.

   Aoi had never heard of You Show before but she erred. She really wasn’t supposed to. Akira would be so furious with her if he knew she was fraternizing with strangers on the street, dirtying her good cello but honestly. That just made her want to do it more so she shuffled through the crowd, unzipping her cello and the girl gasped when she saw her honey rich instrument.

   “Your music is better than mine,” Aoi admitted, “but thank you for the invitation. I have a recital tonight and I’m a little nervous.”

   “You’ll do fine,” the girl told her, “here and at that recital later. Go on, you lead, I’ll follow.”

   Aoi swallowed hard. She highly doubted that but she tried anyway. Normally, violins followed cellos but the reverse was strangely fun. So, she tried one of her practise sets. Her scales and then just going from there. She thought it was pretty bad - terrible - her demeanour was awkward but the girl beside her acclimitased so naturally and transmuted Aoi’s hesitance into actual music.

   In turn, wanting to honour her energy and enthusiasm, Aoi tried to keep pace and pep. And she more than managed to. As she played her cello, sitting down on the edge of the pavers, Aoi smiled. She hadn’t smiled whilst playing her cello in months and her heart fluttered with elation over it.

   Over the movements of her bow, she kept stealing glances at that girl. Sometimes, she was oblivious but other times she noticed, smiling as they played songs that didn’t make sense but still got loose change tossed into her violin’s case at her light feet. 

   Their concert together was quirky and inopportune but it was wonderful. Aoi could swear that her breathing and the beating of her heart was in perfect synchronicity to this girl: a perfect stranger and so, she yearned. Yearned for her name and for the hope that this wouldn’t be their only concert.

   It was a shame that such things had to come to an end. When the girl stopped, so did Yuzu. Somehow, their roles had reversed by the end of it as Aoi had started and she was meant to follow but violins went first and cellos went later. That was the natural, orchestral course of things.

   “Thank you, thank you.” she said as she took bows. She was a bouncy as a juggler, this girl. More like a circus star than someone meant to sit around in first and second strings in a darkened pit.

   Aoi bowed her head, murmuring her thanks to the crowd as well. She heard coins clink against one another, hitting velvet in the violin case. She looked up again and the girl smiled. She was a little bit tired but happy tired in the cascading of the afternoon sun that felt so good on them both after their session of such ecclesiastic making of music. Aoi was envious, she was just tired but she stuck out her hand to her.

   “The name’s Hiiragi Yuzu of You Show Music Club, and you?” she asked.

   Aoi smiled. “Zaizen Aoi.” she replied.

   “You’re very good, Aoi, how long have you been playing?” Yuzu asked as she sat down with Aoi but she was still toe tapping at the like, bubbly.

   “Since I was six.” she said.

   “Oh! Same!” Yuzu exclaimed.

   Aoi grimaced. “It’s not really like that… I was thinking of quitting music after tonight’s recital. My one and only solo…”

   “Oh… That’s a shame…” Yuzu murmured.

   “You’re not going to stop me?” Aoi asked.

   Yuzu shrugged. “We only just met, wouldn’t be right to walk in and just make choices for you.”

   “I was kind of hoping you would because, um, I don’t really want to quit anymore.” Aoi murmured. 

   “Huh? Why’s that?” Yuzu asked, blinking, her long eyelashes fluttering.

   “You showed me how to love music again.” Aoi replied. “So, um, your music club - You Show - are you taking new applicants?”

   Yuzu beamed. “Of course we are, my dad would be thrilled to have you.” She then whipped down and got a pen out of her handbag behind her. She grabbed Aoi’s hand and scrawled her name and number on it.

   Aoi smiled shyly. She had never been so happy to be written on before but she wanted to make more music with Yuzu. She wanted to love music again and she wanted to start to love Yuzu and her music for the very first time. Her perfect stranger who signed her name and number with a leafed orange, apparently, Aoi noticed as she glanced down at her hand and then to Yuzu’s happy face. 

   It made Aoi giggled but through it, she managed to ask, “Excuse me, Yuzu, but would you like to come to my recital tonight? There’s still seats, definitely enough for you and your dad to come along.”

   “I’d love that.” Yuzu replied.

Chapter Text

   It was Anzu’s idea but Mai’s treat. 

   Anzu wanted them to all go out for a couple days on a vacation but Mai was the one who conjured up the means to be able to. Ishizu was just happy to be spoiled since she was the one at the crux of their plans.

   Every time Ishizu came in and out of the country, it was always to the inner city type locales and it was always for business. So it was time for her to try something a bit easier in the countryside and purely for leisure. With Mai having won some tickets to a hot springs hostel which was way, way out and away from the city, it seemed like the time was right.

   Though, only their accommodation was paid and taken care of with the tickets Mai had won. Transportation was another story but with all their bags piled in high and tight, as none of them knew how to pack light, even Ishizu, in the back of the rental car, they drove out by themselves. 

   They stopped every so often, enjoying the journey and wanting to explore every tourist trap that they came across. It was so rare for both Mai and Anzu to get out of suburbia as well so they wanted photos with all the cool and interesting things that they found along the way to the hot springs hostel. They took photos in front of tourist traps and bought things to eat, like cakes and sandwiches, at various rural cafes.

   It was a lot of fun but very tiring too. Especially for Mai since Anzu didn’t have her license and Ishizu’s wasn’t valid overseas. But that tiredness was overturned by the sight of the hot springs hostel.

   It mightn’t have been five stars but the three ladies were excited to see it, nonetheless. The hostel was nestled in elevated green pastures, blending in with terraced hills and similar, rugged terrain. It stood within the gentle shadow of a small mountain.

   At the wooden doors of it, Anzu, Ishizu, and Mai were welcomed whole-heartedly by the hostess, an older woman with a placid smile, and her husband. They were all too excited to have such young girls in their company for the night; girls trips, as it were, were quite rare for them to have but that just made them awkwardly laugh. This old couple didn’t even know the half of it but they weren’t in the mood to explain but they absolutely in the mood to sample some of the food that the hostel offered.

   The three ladies were shown to their room and they dropped off their stuff. It was more than a little embarrassing that they were only here for two nights and had probably packed enough between them to last two months. To say nothing of the fact they were offered clothes more suited to lounging around the rims of the hot springs and in the hostel itself. 

   And naturally it was those that they wore over anything else to dinner.

   Ishizu smiled as Anzu straightened up her obi from behind and as Mai straightened up her collar from in front. Her heart fluttered to have so much fuss over her but she was excited too. This was her first time wearing a yukata and even though it was a little thin and plain, she was very happy to wear it, nonetheless.

   Once they were all dolled up, they headed out to dinner together. They joined other guests in the dining hall, on the low tables and were offered complimentary drinks from the staff and menus too. They had already eaten so much today just on the way but ogling at all the delicious sounding items on the menu at the hostel just reinvigorated their hunger.

   They ordered a small feast from the banquet options on the back of the menu. A nice sampler of everything and there truly wasn’t a wrong thing to order. Every plate that had come out to them was sent back to the kitchen all but licked clean. And they even had dessert too. It just felt good to guiltlessly gorge themselves and the staff, seeing their food so thoroughly enjoyed, made them happy as well.

   And the only thing better than going to bed on a full stomach was going to have a bath.

   The hot springs were empty at this hour after dinner, when the other guests had already had their fill of the hot water which was nice. 

   Ishizu beamed as she soaked in the water, illuminated by the stars. She submerged herself at the deepest parts so she could better see the moon. It was so lovely and round tonight, in full. Anzu and Mai were more at the shallows, to better keep their hair dry which made Ishizu giggle. Despite having had all day together, they were still coming up with things to talk about, make jokes about, and even share some deeper thoughts and conversation.

   They probably could have spent all night out there. The weather was good and clear enough for it, not to mention how relaxing it was, watching the steam steep up into the night sky but their light-headedness and yawning were convincing them otherwise. It was time to go to bed so, with a little bit of reluctance, they dragged themselves from the water and dried off.

   Inside their rooms, they took turns using the ensuite to brush their teeth and get into their pyjamas. Anzu dragged out the futons and she overlapped them. Mai, in her teeny tiny purple pyjamas, hovered by the light switch and Ishizu got down on her bed. She pulled up her sheets and Mai turned off the lights.

   Either side of Ishizu, Anzu and Mai snuggled in. Holding her hands and resting their heads on her shoulders. She liked being held from both sides, taking in their warmth and smiling to herself.

   “Good night, my loves…” Ishizu murmured to them both or maybe she had only thought it. Either way, she was so tired but in a floaty, happy way. She was fairly certain they had both drifted off to sleep. Closing her eyes, she wasn’t too far off either, looking forward to being fully rested so she can enjoy more time with them both tomorrow. She was really glad that Anzu had planned the trip and that Mai had won the tickets for them to do so. She was so lucky to have them both. 

Chapter Text

   She never stopped being one of the most - if not, the most - beautiful women that Carly had never seen. Not even when her imprisonment gave her pallor, made her hair, once blonde like soft sunshine, stringy and otherwise dulled the elegance that she had once been the embodiment of.

   “I’m flattered,” Carly spoke as she came into the den, “that you only wish to speak with me.”

   “I’m old news.” Sherry LeBlanc murmured. “I should be of no interest to anyone.”

   Carly could have clamoured at the bars of Sherry LeBlanc’s prison cell to tell her she was wrong, that she was obsessed, romantically and platonically, with her, that she would pull down all the stars in the sky for her but she didn’t. She had to have restraint. Even as her heart begged her to budge, Carly had to show the security cameras, at the very least, that she could be a big girl who could be trusted alone with the French Ripper. 

   “I disagree.” Carly murmured. “People…” She wanted to use a first person pronoun but she refused. “People find you fascinating.”

   “I don’t find very many people fascinating,” Sherry LeBlanc murmured, “but you, dear Carly, you fascinate me.”

   Carly’s heart fluttered. She gripped her pen and notepad a bit tighter and she stepped closer to the den and she sat down. As always, Sherry had requested some courtesy for her favourite guest, nothing extravagant. Just one of those university chairs with a half-desk attached but it still looked good. Of rich, mahogany wood and a plush inline for comfortable sitting. Yet, Carly didn’t feel comfortable as she sat down, back straight, as Sherry LeBlanc prowled her cage like a big cat. A cougar.

   “Individuals fascinate me but they are few and far between.” Sherry LeBlanc monologued to Carly who listened intently, batting her eyes which were wide and full like moons beneath the thick glass of her trifocals. “I enjoy the company of individuals with beauty. Those who have worthwhile talents, crafted and honed. I see that in you, my dear.”

   “Thank you, Mz LeBlanc.” Carly replied. She felt a rosy hue bloom in her cheeks, warm and flushed. Her voice was melodic, annotated with the romance of her French native tongue.

   Sherry LeBlanc chortled to herself. “Please, Carly, I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times. Call me Sherry, you are a dear companion, I crave you when you are gone. Your sweet smell and the sound of your voice, tis exquisite, dear.”

   “Thank you, you are too much.” Carly replied, diplomatic. “But, um, if I may inquire. What compelled your recent outburst? They say you tried to bite off a nurse’s face.”

   Carly’s expression was empathetic. Upturned brows and she was ready to take quick notes.

   “They mistreat me, my dear.” Sherry LeBlanc lamented. “I am told I fascinate the outside world! Bah! Humbug! What a load of crock. Inside I am treated as no more than a wild animal to be sedated and hung out on a wall like a trophy. To be beheaded would be kinder than this idle fate of slowly wilting, rotting…”

   “My apologies.” Carly offered, slightly harrowed, as she wrote down Sherry LeBlanc’s confession. It was borne of the agony of monotony, it appeared. Mistreatment and malcontent until her hunger, it appeared, could only be satiated in wrongfully provoked rage. That was her understanding, at least, for Sherry LeBlanc was, for the most part, slow to anger. One of her victims, she had merely suggested that he kill himself, not because of ill will but because of boredom.  “I will speak with the warden about proper duty of care.”

   Sherry LeBlanc turned her head as she ceased her pacing. There was a flare of fondness in her hard, blue eyes. Her smile was soft.

   “You are too good, too kind, Carly, that is why I like you.” Sherry LeBlanc said. “Carly Nagisa…” she mused. “Nagisa is written like the shoreline, correct?”

   “Yes…” Carly murmured. “Inlet, bank… all synonyms for one another, I suppose.”

   “It is a suitable name for one such as you, my poor dear…” Sherry LeBlanc lamented.

   “It is? How?” Carly asked, not to write down on paper but to etch it on the beating flesh of her heart.

   “What would you rather be, my dear?” Sherry LeBlanc asked. “The shoreline or the waters?”

   “Pardon?” Carly piped up in a small voice but Sherry LeBlanc steamrolled over her, her gaze somewhere else. Somewhere by the ocean, perhaps, and far, far away from the tiny little cell that she had given on a floor all to herself below the prefecture’s prison.

   “The water who abuses the shoreline or the shoreline who takes that abuse? Perpetually drowned and sunken down, or counting every grain of sand that you possess, fighting to keep what you have even when it is taken.” Sherry LeBlanc murmured.

   Carly inhaled sharply. She - She didn’t know- Flashbacks of her childhood of being bullied came to mind; flashbacks of her very own workplace where she was told her writing was juvenile and her questions were ridiculous came to mind; flashbacks of the very last year when she had been in Professor Sherry LeBlanc’s office and she was being put through therapy but for what?

   For this very moment? 

   When she still sat in a nice chair, being lectured on her niceties and how to prevent them.

   This was a woman who ate people alive metaphorically and preferred them just under blue dead. Carly’s heart stopped and oh how she wished she could offer it to Sherry LeBlanc, the French Ripper, the cannibal and killer, on a plate because she truly wanted to keep her worth paid in flesh and blood to Sherry LeBlanc. She wanted, dearly, to be eaten by her: dead or alive, it mattered not to Carly as she hung onto every word that she spoke in her gorgeous demeanour and brilliant voice.

   “I think I want to remain the shoreline.” Carly spoke in a small voice.   

   Sherry LeBlanc smiled but whether it was pity or whether it was something else remained to be seen but Carly had her news story. French Ripper attacks Nurse Out of Boredom. The people she despised was going to adore her for it.

   “Thank you… Sherry.” Carly murmured.

   “Any time, my dear, any time, I shall pine for you until I am of interest again.” Sherry LeBlanc replied in a dulcet voice.

   With that, Carly nodded and she excused herself.

Chapter Text

   “It’s safe as. I’ve done it once, I’ve done it a hundred times.” Anna bragged.

   “That sounds dangerous. I’m not going to be impressed either way.” Rio worried for Anna, reaching out to her and holding her forearm.

   “Jumping off the silos onto the ground is for kids.” Anna lectured Rio as serious as a heart attack. “Real idiots jump into ‘em. In the dark.”

  Rio had an ominous feeling. As nonchalant as Anna was, with bravado coming out of her ears, Rio didn’t think that it was advisable.

   Since coming home, Rio had made many enemies, fewer friends, and even fewer lovers. She had also made many, many dresses and very little progress towards the very quest that had brought her to this tiny town with such eternal memories for hostility. Even now, as an adult, when Rio closed her eyes, her earliest memory of this place was not picking flowers from the front yard of her house but rather, being thrown into the back of a rickety automobile with a hastily put-together suitcase. It was having putrid farewells sneered at her from the grown-ups around her. Not even a sweet goodbye from her parents. All because the golden boy of the town, her very own twin brother, Ryouga, had been killed and she was the presumed killer.

   But being cast aside was preferential to being kept forever. Exiled on her own, at least Rio had gotten to see a little of the world, but what she saw had her harrowed, she was by no means the poorest, most unfortunate souls out there and in fact, it tended to be those who loved her and were loved in return who were worse off. And they were worse off for loving her. Even now, she shivered to think their fates but at least they had left her still alive, if narrowly.

   Rio had also been given the opportunity to learn a trade in this world outside the tiny town she hailed from. She apprenticed to a tailor and had learned greatly from them. Now, after learning her needlework, she could return in glamour, in silks and chiffons, and for whomever there was here, if they would pay her, Rio would make dresses for them. She did not care if they spat in her face, so long as their spittle followed the clanging of coins, she minded not.

   Anna, of course, being the sole exception in the ugliest pair of trousers that Rio had ever seen. At least her britches were handsome but she was good-hearted through and through. She was like the sun in that regard  and being out in the starlight like this, atop the reserves, with Anna was breath-taking. Made all the grim circumstances worth them. Even for a moment with cheap wine and fresh fruit and cheeses to savour with them.

   “It’ll be fun.” Anna told her.

   “It’ll be dangerous.” Rio insisted. “What if there’s seed in there? Lucern and the like?”

   “Naw, we haven’t got anything in the stores, it’ll be sorghum, but not ‘til next week, promise.” Anna said.

   She wasn’t listening to Rio either way. She was a farm kid and this was just how farm kids were when they were smitten. She got to her feet and she scuttled around the side of the silo. She lifted the hatch - easy, one hand - and Rio inched closer. Anna flashed a smile at her.

   “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’m not afraid of anything.” Anna said. “I love you.” She chirped it so casually and she took the plunge.

   She didn’t even give Rio a second to say something - anything - in return but she smiled as Anna went down that drop. Straight as a pin but Rio never heard the drop. She waited and she waited and she felt the cold breeze of the night on her arms. She prickled. She couldn’t wait any longer.

   She was certain Anna was just playing a mean joke but - but what if?

   Rio grasped onto the rim of the hatch and she stuck her head through the wide hole. She strained her eyes but she was certain. The silo was not empty. It was full. Close to capacity levels of full. Her eyes widened as she felt tears bulge at the bottom of them. Her voice was raspy but she still yelled for Anna. 

   Anna didn’t respond. Rio couldn’t even see her but Rio yelled for her. Over and over. She yelled for help to come but they never did. Rio didn’t see Anna again until the morning. When the ruined harvest spilled from the bottom to find the farmgirl buried at the bottom of it.

   Rio knelt in the red sorghum with Anna’s lifeless body. She clutched onto her stained shirt and she wept. She had always feared that it would only be a matter of time until someone whom she loved and was loved in return by would die by her coincidence again. Just like Ryouga, she hazarded the thought as she sobbed at Anna’s lifeless body.

   She didn’t even let Allen - Anna’s brother - take Anna away from her for preparation. It was no different to making clothes for mannequins. In the shade of Anna’s favourite tree on her and her family’s farm, Rio wiped down her body with a cloth, removing the sorghum from her hair and from her skin. Dressing her up in the finest that she would have worn if they could have been betrothed. Trousers charcoal black; a white linen shirt; even a blazer to match. It’s what she would have wanted, Rio thought, as she sobbed but it would all be for naught.

   Rio surrendered Anna’s body to Allen only when she was prim and proper. When she looked like she was asleep, not suffocated and dead. Allen was the one to carry Anna to her funeral possession, like how an older brother should, cradling his little sister whilst those of the town who watched wept. He took her out to what would be her least favourite bonfire. Out in the blazing sunlight and in the dry, yellow grass where only hard daisies could grow to the cremation pyre that would be all hers and all eyes, accusatory, were on Rio as she grieved.

Chapter Text

   Sorako giggled to herself, “It’s good to see someone so voracious about eating food, beep boop.”

   “I can’t help myself…” Romin mumured in utter bliss. “Your ramen is so good. It really is out of this world.”

   Sorako giggled again. She could always appreciate a good alien pun but judging from how happy Romin looked - all pudgy cheeked and with her weapon of choice, a spoon firmly in hand - Sorako didn’t think it was intentional. 

   But Romin couldn’t help but think she was so lucky. She hadn’t seen Sorako in ages and that meant none of her really good Noodle Planet ramen and then bang, clang, crash. Here she was in the Kirishima family’s lounge room. She had flown through the window at pure chance but Romin took it well. Of course, now she had a lot of broken glass to explain but it was totally worth it meant that she had Sorako for company.

   “Thank you, beep boop.” Sorako said and then shrugged. “I can’t help but pity humans, beepo boop, you lot have it tough, beep boop.”

   “Huh? We do?” Romin said, perking up as she finished draining her bowl.

   “Beep, boop?!” Sorako exclaimed when she glanced at Romin’s bowl. It was completely empty, licked clean, and Sorako had only poured it out for her not too long ago.

   Yet Romin seemed totally oblivious to how Sorako’s eyes bugged and her antennae stiffened. She licked the spoon for remnants of flavour, “What do you mean?” she asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

   “Oh, um, well human tongues aren’t quite so advanced unlike us of the Noodle Planet, beep boop.” Sorako explained. 

   “Huh.” Romin blinked.

   “I have bazillions more taste buds than humans do, beep boop. Even you, beep boop.” Sorako said.

   “Aw, gee, thanks.” Romin said and she took that observation more like a poor compliment but Sorako was largely unaffected by her lack of enthusiasm to learning such a fun fact.

   “No, problem, beep boop.” she chirped with a smile.

   Romin sighed.

   But Sorako’s happy-go-lucky expression softened. Became pitiful or sympathetic unto Romin. She exhaled a small, almost melancholy breath.

   “It’s a shame, beep boop,” she lamented, “there are so many wonderful woods in the galaxies that humans may never get to sample because their sensory organs aren’t quite so specialised, beep boop.”

   “Yeah, that does suck…” Romin lamented in agreement to Sorako.

   “Even humans have complex flavours to them that other humans can’t detect, beep boop.” Sorako said. “That makes me very sad, beep boop.”

   Romin stiffened and she raised a hand to a barrier between herself and the very foreign life form sitting beside her at the breakfast bar. Her eyebrow twitched as her heart began to hammer in her chest.

   “Y-You’re not talking about cannibalism… are you?” Romin asked defensively. “Because cannibalism is a huuuuuge no-no here.”

   “I know that, beep boop.” Sorako blinked. “But that’s eating, not licking, or tasting.... Or kissing, beep boop.”

   “O-oh, oh, you meant. Kissing. That makes a little more sense, I guess.” Romin said.

   “We are made of the same ingredients as food though, beep boop.” Sorako pointed out.

   Romin waved her hand in front of Sorako, “Stop it!” she scolded Sorako, who laughed, blase, but that just worsened the morbid curiosity that Romin had now. She exhaled shallowly and took a breath of equal depth. Somehow the allure of breaking that taboo outweighed her maidenly desire to cherish her very first kiss. If this was going to be it, so be it: it may as well happen with an alien, of all people. That would make for quite a memory, too. Romin scratched her chin and looked away from the kitchen and from Sorako before speaking in a tiny voice. “But, um, what do humans taste like? Do you know?” She shuddered. “I hear, um, I hear that like pork or like fish are common answers.”

   “I don’t know, beep boop.” Sorako told her very plainly. “But even if I did know, beep boop, the answer would look vary from me to you, beep boop.”

   “So, like, um you’ve never had a first kiss or anything like that then?” Romin asked awkwardly.

   “Nope, beep boop!” Sorako chirped rather brightly and unfazed.

   “Me too…” Romin whispered.

   “Well then that settles it, doesn’t it, beep boop?” Sorako announced.

   “Huh? It settles what?” Romin asked, a touch alarmed and it showed in her stiff body language.

   Sorako was as happy and as flappy as a wet noodle though. “We should kiss, beep boop!” she chirped.

   “Wh-What, wait, no, it’s so sudden but,” Romin rambled as Sorako looked very waitingly at her, her malachite eyes shining, innocently, and Romin licked her lips, she was curious, she had never tasted Noodle alien before, “but if you insist. It’s for the good of bettering our knowledge of the known universe after all, mm-hmm.” She spoke decisively, punctuated with a few, sharp nods. She folded her arms.

   Sorako thought she was being silly but so be it.

   But she put her hand on the marble counter, it slid forward and with it, Sorako leaned in. Romin was a little bit scared. She couldn’t help it. She stressed about this sort of thing but Sorako was a beam of serenity, even as Romin winced in anticipation as something as chaste and gentle as a kiss on the lips. She closed her eyes tightly and she waited. And she waited. And she waited and then yuck!

   Romin’s skin crawled as she felt Sorako lick a stripe up the side of her face. 

   “Yum, beep boop,” Sorako chirped, “you taste just like buttercream frosting, beep boop.”

   “Wh-What?” Romin mumbled.

   She was entirely helpless as Sorako continued to lick stripes up and down the side of her face. All but lapping her up so she could get a better taste of the bizarre and apparent sweetness that Romin, a human, a species known to be made of meat, could taste. It just simply did not compute with Romin as she blushed.

   “Wh-What, how?” Romin stammered.

   With some reluctance, Sorako pulled back but Romin still felt icky for having been licked. She shuddered as Sorako hummed in thought. She tapped the side of her face in thought as she tried to come up with a way to explain Romin’s taste back to her.

   “Noodle People have a very advanced sense of taste and there are a lot of elements in humans, known to your primitive elemental table, that have sweet tastes, beep boop. As such, beep boop, you taste very delicious, beep boop. Like a nice, big buttercream cake, beep boop. With a nice, big berry compote taste underneath that vanilla, beep boop. So good, beep boop.” Sorako rambled dreamily.

   Romin blushed. She didn’t know if she ought to be flattered or not but she was. Sorako beamed at her. 

   “May I have one more taste, please, beep boop?” she asked. She was cute as she put her hands on her knees, leaning in, her head tilted slightly to the left and with her antenna bouncing as she batted her eyelashes.

   How could Romin ever say no to such an adorable face?

   She sighed, “Sure, go ahead.” Romin said, fully expecting more licks to her face, as uncomfortable as it.

   Instead, with her expectations subverted once again, Sorako kissed her right on the lips. She gently licked over the ridges of Romin’s lips before kissing her in full. Sorako savoured the berry taste of not only the lip balm that Romin used but also of the compote that she was compiled of. Whether or not her puny little human sensory organs could detect it or not.

   It really was a delicious kiss. Eyes wide open and Romin watched, she could have gotten lost in the stars of Sorako’s eyes as she hoped to give a very human, if awkward and stilted and girlish, first kiss back to her.

   “Thank you for that, beep boop, it was really good, beep boop.” Sorako whispered to Romin as she went red in the face; Sorako smacked her lips together, pleased, as well.

   “Y-Yeah, thanks.” Romin replied, stuttering.

   And now she was thinking of the taste that Sorako had given her. It was salty and savoury but it was super, duper delicious as well. She could only have envy for the aliens who experienced such out-of-this-world tastes and flavours as she let it settle on her lips kissed for the first time.

Chapter Text

    Loose lips sink ships, Rei reminded herself as she saw something that maybe she shouldn’t have seen.

   She pulled herself back behind the endless bookcases of the Obelisk Blue Dorm and she felt her heart race and her cheeks hue with warm pinkness. For someone so obsessed with love and romance, Rei was actually quite shy when it came to the minutiae of it. But only because in this instance, she thought she might have seen something salacious. Scandalous. Hilarious given it was only the chastest kiss between Asuka and Junko in the library.

   Oh, it had been so romantic, Rei could have swooned. Junko sitting at the table, quibbling with her pen as she tried to take notes. Asuka sashaying back towards her, putting her hands on the edge and then initiating a surprise kiss. They looked so good together in the dim, dust mite ridden light that came in shafted sunbeams through the library’s sky-lights in the ceiling. All secluded and to themselves but here’s the thing.

   Rei could have sworn that it was Junko and Momoe who were a thing. Her heart hammered in her chest as she saw what she thought was adultery. Momoe was so sweet, sweet as a peach, there was no way that her girlfriend and their mutual best friend would do something so harmful to her behind her back such as kiss on the lips together - and who knows what else.

   Rei waited a moment and then she stole another glance at them. She just knew this had to have been bad luck; Chronos giving her a free pass to the Library because he wanted to see her excel and join his ranks was too good to be true. This was clearly karma for accepting a nicetie from such a harsh teacher. 

   She saw that Momoe had returned and they were giggling amongst one another. It was as though the kiss between Asuka and Junko had never even so much as happened. She clearly did know. Oh, this was horrible. Rei had never known either Asuka nor Junko to be so cruel but apparently, even girls as nice as they were capable of horrible things too.

   Since they were clearly going to be there for a long while, Rei slunk out the way she had came. Sticking close to the bookcases and getting out there. Studying be damned. She didn’t need to pass biology anyway; this was a school for card games, why did they need to know punnett squares, anyway?

   But after witnessing such an event, Rei felt something awaken in her. A sense of duty and justice to her friend, Momoe, perhaps? A betrayal of her own eyes and what she saw; maybe they had just been talking and she had imagined or misunderstood what she had seen.

   Either way, Rei began to fixate on how Asuka, Junko, and Momoe behaved around one another.

   Junko and Momoe were always super-duper cuddly with one another. Sometimes even involving Asuka in their impromptu hand holding and arm linking. And Rei watched carefully how Asuka would stiffen before softening into whatever affection that Junko and Momoe were sharing between themselves and then inviting Asuka into it. She couldn’t help but wonder if that initial aversion from Asuka was an admission of guilt, that she knew she was doing some terrible to Momoe by having Junko in secret?

   Rei didn’t know and she kept having to look away, like a voyeur, because she didn’t want to get caught. She knew that this wasn’t her business but she was boiling up and over about it because she didn’t want Momoe to be hurt but she didn’t want Asuka and Junko to be either.

   All of it, seeming, to be the glisten on lips. 

   Because it had started with a glimpse of Rei seeing lips where they maybe shouldn't have been but she had begun to fixate on Asuka’s. And Junko’s. And Momoe’s too for good measure. They all seemed so soft and pretty, especially compared to her own. Rugged and chapped. She wondered what sort of lip balms that they used - and likely shared among each other.

   And just as Rei was on her way to the dining hall to hopefully score an egg sandwich, she saw Momoe and Asuka together. She wondered where Junko was and at first they were talking but as she walked by, she saw it in the corner of her eye.

   Another kiss. It was melancholic with the late afternoon sun filtering through the branches; it sort of seemed like a thank you kiss, sweet but with eyes open, shared in full, both girls standing up straight, not even holding hands.

   Rei stopped in her tracks so that she could gawk and unfortunately, Asuka and Momoe had noticed.

   Momoe giggled, “Rei, you pervert,” she teased, “get over here.”

   Rei’s face went red. She nodded and she very stiltedly walked over. Just as she arrived, so did Junko who had drinks for three and not four.

   “Oh, hey, Rei what’re you up to?” Junko asked as she handed out a water to Asuka, a peach iced tea to Momoe, and kept a diet cola for herself.

   “She was being a lookie-loo again.” Momoe told her.

   “It’s not like she meant either times…” Asuka offered as Momoe tilted her drink to Asuka so she could unscrew the lid.

   Momoe smiled at the small gesture that was otherwise unacknowledged.

   “I’m sorry!” Rei said. “I didn’t mean to, um, see either of that.”

   “Thank you for keeping it to yourself but, er, you still sort of gave it away in your body language. Everyone can tell you’ve been tense about something for the past few days.” Asuka said.

   “I’m sorry!” Rei said again. “For, um, thinking you were an adulterer, Asuka. And to you, Momoe, Junko, I knew that Junko would never go behind your back to kiss Asuka but I’m kind of confused. Who's dating who?”

   Junko laughed. “We all are, silly.”

   “O-oh, um, really… how?” Rei asked.

   “The same you would if you were only dating one person, I guess.” Momoe shrugged. “Works for us, we get a lot of crushes after all.”

   “True, true.” Junko said. “I have no idea how Asuka here puts up with us given she is very, very slow to develop any feelings for anyone.”

   Asuka blushed. “That’s not quite true.” In her flushedness, she was quick to change the topic of conversation. “But we like to keep it on the downlow since it is a bit unusual, you are right about that, Rei. It can be difficult to explain…”

   “I - I see.” Rei stammered out. Her eyes were all huge and starstruck - Junko and Momoe couldn’t help but notice.

   Junko leaned in and Rei’s heart jumped to her chest. She could smell the kind of tropical lip balm that Junko used.

   “But now you’re curious aren’t you, aren’t you, girlie?” Junko teased.

   Rei made a tiny hand gesture, “Only a little…” she murmured.

   “It’s natural to be curious about that sort of thing.” Asuka assured her.

   “Okay, well, I am…” Rei admitted. 

   “I think three’s just not big enough yet, you know.” Junko said, flicking her attention to Momoe.

   Momoe giggled, “Me too.” she agreed.

   Asuka sighed. There they went. Getting more crushes but she had to admit. If it was Rei, she wouldn’t mind. And poor Rei. She was standing there still, not quite sure what to do with herself as it was a bit above her head but she did look cute with her eyes all lit up like that and her own lips a little slack.

   Only to be kissed on the cheeks from both sides from Junko and Momoe. A sparkly, fizzy kiss on one side and a sweet, fruitier kiss on the other and it just made her go all red and smiley and her heart beating a million miles an hour because she was right to have a fixation. Junko and Momoe really did have nice lips. 

   Now it would just have to be Asuka’s turn next.

Chapter Text

   One for sorrow, Mieru thought to herself, as she found one of those birds all by her lonesome. 

   One of those birds who had pretty eyes of sanguine magenta and long hair of deep, amethyst purple.

   Funnily enough, even when she was alone and sobbing, she was still surrounded by birds. Just pretty little brown ones. Mieru hadn’t meant to stumble upon this thing but she was a finder of all sorts of things. Including sad things. 

   The starlings scattered as Mieru’s shoes tapped on the ground, upbeat and happy, she had just gone to stretch her legs, she was still immature when it came to parties and she wasn’t the only one. Or, maybe, it wasn’t immaturity at all. It was the worst kind of maturity.

   Ruri looked up at Mieru, through a facade of feathers as those starlings scattered and Mieru didn’t know what to say. She swallowed a hello in her throat. It didn’t seem appropriate. Ruri pawed at her face as she slowly let go of herself.

   “Sorry,” she murmured, “I just needed some space. I’m not used… I’m not used to the peacetimes anymore.”

   “May I sit here?” Mieru asked. She pointed at the ground beside Ruri as she clutched her crystal apple.

   “Y-Yes, that’s fine…” Ruri mumbled though she didn’t understand why. She, personally, saw no appeal in spending time with a stranger who was sobbing.

   Yet, Mieru dropped down beside her, dress flouncing and flapping as she sat beside Ruri, cross-legged. Yet, Mieru leaned into Ruri’s personal space, even though she stiffened. Held herself just that little bit tighter and felt awkward and assessed as Mieru looked up at her with those big, green eyes of her, all glassy and peridot-coloured and gleaming.

   “You have a lot of light in you, Mieru can see it, however do you sleep at night with such brightness inside?”

   Ruri squinted at Mieru, confused and confounded, tears just on the edge of her eyes but Mieru was entirely sincere in her question. Ruri giggled as she wiped away the evidence of her crying off her face.

   “You are very sweet, Mieru.” Ruri told her. “Even if it’s unexpected ways.”

   “Sleep well tonight and count the omens, I’m sure good things are on their way as the future comes for us all, one way or another. There’s no way to stop it but we can at least be prepared. Get a good night’s rest, a full eight hours at the very least, and don’t skip breakfast either, it’s the most important meal of the day, you know, or at least that’s what Mama says.” Mieru lectured Ruri.

   Ruri giggled again and Mieru pouted. “I’m trying to help you, you know, and you spurn the Mieru? You hurt her feelings. Insolent bird. All you Bracelet Girls are the same.” Mieru huffed. She crossed her little arms.

   “I’m sorry,” Ruri said, “you’re just so cute, I can’t take you seriously but thank you. I do appreciate it, truly.”

   “You’re welcome, and you should note, your lucky number is two, I believe. So do things in twos, I would recommend and perhaps skip the sushi on Thursday.” Mieru continued to advise her.

   “Thank you for your wisdom, little one, but how do you know these things?” Ruri asked. “How can you even begin to look into the future and not see anything but misery?”

   “Mieru sees all.” Mieru murmured. Might have been a lament, it might have been a requiem. “But Mieru has eyes and Mieru cannot avoid using them. So, she sees all, whether she likes it or not. The least I can do is use this power for good, even if I do see some bad. And I see things that you cannot begin to comprehend which is saying something given you are already a peculiarity of supernatural proportions I have only begun to understand.”

   Ruri hummed thoughtfully as Mieru rambled. She tucked a strand of her own hair behind her ear. Then, she did the same for Mieru and Mieru blushed.

   She very much did not want Ruri knowing that whilst Mieru was a coward, she had still seen a smidgen of things that left her harrowed and when she was touched, she saw some more. She saw Heartland reflected in the shadows inside her crystal apple that only she could scry. The horrors of how it fell and the sadism of the soldiers who invaded it. 

   Mieru hated it very much and though Ruri’s touch was kind, playing with her gingery coloured hair, Mieru was scared of that touch. She saw more than she wanted through it and through the illusions only she could scry from her crystal apple. So, she rocketed to her feet and Ruri was only very mildly perturbed by it. She blinked.

   “Mieru must be going,” Mieru announced, “see you later.”

   “Thank you, Mieru,” Ruri replied, murmuring softly, “see you later.”

   Mieru turned on her heel and then looked back, “And remember, two for mirth.” she said.

   Ruri nodded. “Two for mirth.” she echoed back.

   Mieru smiled like a cat - so different to an avian, down-to-earth girl like Ruri - and she pranced off with a skip in her step, rejoining the party on the You Show Academy roof as it was Ayu’s birthday today. 

   Mieru didn’t see Ruri upstairs again after that; she must have spent the rest of the afternoon and late evening downstairs, outside in the garden, recovering from her moment of fatigue. And Mieru didn’t see Ruri again until a couple days later, on Thursday, funnily enough. Mieru hadn’t been expecting to see Ruri at all but they ran into each other at one of the malls in Maiami. Such a bit city and they were still able to cross paths at random; it must have been fate, both girls thought.

   Ruri was with Shun but Shun wasn’t looking all that well. He was looking a little green around the cheeks, holding his stomach and Ruri was holding him even though she had stopped to chat with Mieru.

   “You were right,” Ruri very blithely informed Mieru who blinked curiously at what a way to start a conversation, “to skip the sushi.” she said. “This one did not heed your mambo-jumbo and now look at him. He’s got something of a bellyache, unlike me who had a salad from the kebab place across the food court.”

   “S’not a bellyache…” Shun grumbled. “It’s food poisoning.”

   “It is not.” Ruri scolded him. “You ate, like, ten plates. No one else got sick.”

   Mieru laughed. She was an only child but she wondered it what it would be like to be a little sister to someone.

   “Anyways, do you have any other predictions for me?” Ruri asked and her brother scolded her this time for believing such silly things.

   “No, not at the moment, I - I would need my cards for that.” Mieru told her, she had only brought her fortune-telling pencil to help her navigate the mall; she had come to buy school supplies for the upcoming semester.

   “Oh, fair enough,” Ruri replied, “but we’ll have to catch up sometime and oh! I almost forgot!”

   Mieru blinked again as Ruri let go of Shun. He looked fit to faint but he did his best to stand up on his own, as slouched as that was. Ruri dug through one of the cardboardy shopping backs she was bedecked with on either of her arms.

   “I saw this and it reminded me of you so I thought I would buy it, just in case I saw you and now look. We did. Maybe I’m a little bit psychic.” Ruri laughed as she gave Mieru her gift and now she was perfectly like a lyrebird, Mieru thought, if she had an aptitude for small, shiny sparkly things like this. “It’s a purple rose, you can wear it as a brooch, if you like, I thought it would look good on you, please, take it.”

   “Thank you…” Mieru replied softly.

   Her fingers were soft against Ruri’s palm as she accepted the gift. She was a little bit mystified. She had received gifts before as thanks for her powers and using them but this felt a little different. She couldn’t quite put it into words but it was somehow more special coming from Ruri. Her heart fluttered.

   “Anyways, I best be off.” Ruri said and she linked her arms with Shun’s again since he was like jelly. “But it would be nice to hang out again, just the two of us, yes?”

   “Yes, that would be wonderful.” Mieru replied.

   Ruri beamed. “After all, two for mirth, yes?”

   “Yes, two for mirth.” Mieru affirmed and Ruri was satisfied with that. 

   She hurried off and Mieru just watched with those huge eyes of hers. Green and awed. She smiled though, truly happy to see Ruri in a better mood compared to when they had encountered each other at You Show earlier. 

   Two for mirth indeed, Mieru found herself thinking very fondly with a scant of pink in her cheeks.

Chapter Text

   “Do you have interest in being the King of Games?” Asana asked as she moved forward a pawn on her opening turn.

   “Of course not.” Tiger replied as she listened for the click of the timer going down. She moved her own hand next, and went for a more brash, opening turn: beginning with a knight.

   “Truly?” Asana asked, blinking. This time, she heard the click of the timer being reset.

   “Yes, truly, I could not think of a bigger waste of time.” Tiger said as she watched Asana make her move.

   “Or, could it be, you do not want to triumph against your brother should he become the one last one standing against you if you were to decree yourself an entrant?” Asana asked. She then pressed down the button on the timer with a satisfying click.

   Tiger chuckled as she considered using the rook on her board as it was now her turn in this match of chess. She was playing black; Asana was playing white. Ultimately, Tiger elected not to though the temptation was quite real since they had mentioned her brother, Rook. She instead chose another pawn.

   “I want to see him grow up strong,” replied Tiger, “and I believe, with the road in his own heart that he is following, then he would defeat me if it meant that he would become the King of Games. This is a certainty.” She clicked the timer with a sense of purpose. Emphasis. It did not go unnoticed.

   “Interesting.” Asana chirped. Her expression was blithe. Her hand was even quicker as she managed to make the first kill of the game.

   “What do you think of him as a candidate?” Tiger asked as she hid a tut of irritation under her breath.

   “I have my eye on Yuga, of course.” Asana replied with a smile, she tilted her head slightly. She clicked the timer.

   She watched, dreamily, as Tiger continued. Asana, of course, had her own eye on Tiger but it was different to the competitiveness that she felt unto the boys who vied for the crown all the same as she did. It was a gentler feeling than that. 

   Tiger’s hand hovered near one of her rooks again but she decided not to again. She made another bold move: choosing her bishop. A shame. Asana would have picked the rook. And Tiger clicked the clicker.

   “And what of Kirishima Roa and Saionji Neil?” Tiger asked. “What are your thoughts on them?”

   Asana laughed. “They would be both tyrants, I believe,” replied Asana as she played with her hair, “Roa would make a bad king, I think. He’s self-absorbed; caring only for himself and his own game. He’s frivolous. Neil would be a cold, cruel rule. Do you agree with that assessment?” She then finished her turn, collecting another black piece. Click and all from the box beside them on their little table that they shared out in the garden; including another click from Tiger’s tongue.

   “I do, actually.” Tiger nodded. “My brother may be a fool but he has a good heart. He cares about the game, and it being fun for all participants.”

   “Same as Yuga.” Asana nodded.

   “I will be interested to see how that duel would play out.”  Tiger murmured. She was beginning to feel boxed in by Asana’s advancements on her field: knights, pawns, and bishops. She played a crafty game where Tiger was, perhaps, too hard-headed. So, she played a hasty move. One that involved moving her rook, of all pieces, after so long.

   “I think it would be a stupendous duel.” Asana agreed.

   Tiger flicked over the clicker on the timer. “And what of us?” she asked, eyes flicked up to Asana’s which were such an electric and acrylic blue.

   “What do you mean?” Asana asked. “I would hope that in either outcome, with either your beloved Rook or my beloved Yuga, we would be able to have fun either way.”

   “Correct, but what I was trying to say, is what if there were to be a Queen of Games, unrelated to the kingliness the boys are vying for.” Tiger said.

   “As much as I love you, Tiger,” Asana began adoringly, her eyes lit up, “but I would hope it would be me.” She giggled. “Checkmate.”

   Tiger flinched. It was bizarre how such a sweet thing could hide such steel in her demeanour. Tiger then checked the checkerboard and she sighed. She didn’t like losing but if she had to, then yes. She would prefer it to be to Asana. Both in chess and in card games. That, she found, some palpability to the odious act of losing. Tiger sighed. And to think it was because she had moved one of her precious Rooks and because Asana had, at long last, used her Queen.

   “I relent.” Tiger said, bowing her head. “You make an admirable adversary, my Asana.”

   “Thank you.” Asana replied. It felt good to be praised by Tiger. And to honour that feeling, Asana got up from her chair. She came down to her knee and she took Tiger’s hand.

   “You are a secret lecher, methinks.” Tiger admonished the chivalry, even as it made her heart flutter and her eyes, beneath such a stern countenance, soften.

   “You are too wary to be a princess, I digress.” Asana lovingly scolded Tiger as she thanked the game and good sportsmanship with a kiss upon Tiger’s knuckles like a King would leave a Queen.