Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nagisa was distracted this morning, well more than she was typically distracted. Her hand, her palm, her soulmark was bothering her. It was itching horribly. Well, it wasn’t exactly an itch, but it was a similar sort of nagging sensation on her skin. It was like her soulmark was begging for her attention. She massaged her palm though the glove she wore to conceal it as she met up with Shiho and Rina on the way to school. Rina seemed to recognize something was up right away.

“Something happening with your soulmark? She asked.

“It’s just sort of well- it’s uncomfortable,” Nagisa responded. “Like it’s itchy or something?”

“Well, Well? Have you checked it?” Shiho asked her hopping on her toes, “I’ve heard that when someone has a mark like yours, it can mean that you met your soulmate and it wants you to check!”

“No, it’s the same way it always looks, and anyways I haven’t met anyone new,” Nagisa said.

Rina hummed and threw her bag behind her head as she thought

“Maybe it’s a sign that you’ll meet them today,” she half-teased. 

“Oh, quit it! Don’t make her nervous like that!” Shiho said, and after a short pause followed up with, “are you sure it hasn’t changed? Really, really sure?”

Nagisa sighed and pulled the glove off of her left hand.

Soulmarks were a private thing for most people, but she’d known her friends long enough to not be too shy about it. Shiho’s was under a bracelet and Nagisa’s was under a glove on her left hand. Nagisa lifted up her glove to show off the large black mark that covered almost her entire palm, and a bit of the back where her soulmate’s fingers would touch. It had been apparent for a long time that it was the shape someone else’s hand would make over her own.

“Aw it’s the same,” Rina said with a little disappointment, but quickly recovered, “say, your soulmate must be a pretty romantic guy, huh?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I wish my mark was something as romantic as hand holding,” Shiho said, practically swooning.

“Well, what’s your mark Rina?” Nagisa asked, desperate to get her mark out of the spotlight.

“Oh, I don’t have one, I must have a different way of telling,” she shrugged.

“Oh yeah, I think it would be cool to have an identifier like that! I only have my little counter, and it’s hard to tell what it even means!” Shiho sighed.

“Wait you only have a mark?” Nagisa questioned, raising an eyebrow as she tugged her glove back on.

At this, both her friends leaned over each other to look at her.

“Um—I just mean that—” the redhead stuttered, “The mark is the only thing that stays the same! It’s different basically every day! So, like, I only really have two at a time! Sometimes I hum a song that I don’t know, or sometimes I’ll get a burn without having touched anything hot, or I’ll hear a voice in my head that doesn’t sound much like mine, or sometimes…” ‘I’ll feel lonely for no reason’ she thought about saying.

“You have that many?” Rina asked, apparently impressed.

“That’s rare, isn’t it?” Shiho gasped.

“Is it?” Nagisa asked.

“Most people only have one or two identifiers so…” Rina trailed off.

“I’ve heard that when someone has a lot it can mean that they have an extra special bond with their soulmate!” Shiho yelled, giddy with excitement, “oh you’re so lucky Nagisa!”

“I don’t believe this… can we talk about something else?” Nagisa asked, a little embarrassed. Soulmate stuff made her feel funny.

“Sure, sure, so, did you hear about the meteor shower?” Shiho responded, walking backward to face her two friends

Many things in this world were mysterious, but Honoka found that she could look for answers, reasons the things in this world were the way that they were. Largely, she was successful in this. psychological and neurological answers to the way people thought and behaved, chemical and physical answers to the floor beneath her feet and the air she breathed, astronomical answers to the stars she looked up at, and yet something still eluded her. In fact, it eluded many scientists in this world.

Most laws of science made exceptions for soulmate bonds, as many of them did things that would otherwise be impossible. Honoka had spent many hours looking into soulmate theory, or rather the numerous soulmate theories; She had an encyclopedia of them back home. She would hold her right hand out and look at the bright white stain that covered it when she flipped through the pages. The most consistent parts were that everyone in the world had some kind of bond, though it may not be romantic. Honoka had narrowed her bond down fairly far. It was referred to as a myriad bond- a bond that shows multiple soulmate identifiers, both physical and non-physical. She had yet to determine if that meant that she had multiple soulmates or if she had a particularly strong bond with one person, those were the most common reasons, it seemed. In any case, she would be thrilled for them just to like her.

There were, in fact cases, where bonded people did not like each other. It was a fascinating, if taboo, idea: two people could be bonded on a level that denied the laws of nature, destroyed boundaries of every known science, and yet—could still not get along. There were cases, rare ones, in which a bonded people did not form a relationship. They could even hate each other. As interesting as the subject was, it was one that she didn’t look into very often. It worried her sometimes.

Honoka’s train of thought was interrupted hearing a conversation between some girls, “ –Heard that shooting stars are ominous signs that something bad will happen.”

“Is that true?” Another girl responded.

“That’s not true,” Honoka responded before she could even think to stop herself.

“Yukishiro-san…” The tallest girl said.

As Honoka looked up, she noticed what group of girls she was talking to. It was the girls from the lacrosse team, and in the middle, was the only other girl in school that wore a glove. It wasn’t improbable that Misumi-san was her soulmate. Honoka sometimes got scratches on her legs after the lacrosse team’s games, an injury transfer type bond, but still, it could be unrelated.

She shook off her thought and continued, “Shooting stars are little pieces of debris from space that drift through the universe. They’re pulled down by the earth’s gravity, and at about sixty-two miles in the sky, they emit light from the atmospheric friction,” She explained, “When people in the past saw that strange sight, they began to wish upon them.” For a moment, she tensed and was reminded of her earlier train of thought. What would happen if her soulmark was a bad omen like the tall girl thought the stars were? She pushed the idea out of mind as she finished her explanation, after an unintentional pause, “Is-Isn’t it better than thinking that they bring something bad? Something good is sure to happen!” She resolved.

The group gasped, seemingly awed by what she’d told them. That was good, they saw her in a good light. Still, her conflicting thoughts urged her to make an exit.

“I’ll see you later,” Honoka said, and began to walk away, but as soon as she was out of sight, she pressed herself behind the lockers.  

She heard Misumi-san complain about all the letters in her locker being from girls, her friends laughing about her popularity. A lot of her peers didn’t have a visible mark, and some only made themselves seen after happening upon the person, so a lot of people tried to get the attention of people they thought, or hoped, might be their soulmate. Honoka was never that bold.

                The rest of Nagisa’s day had only gotten worse and weirder since the conversation with Shiho and Rina that morning. Somehow, wishing on a star had led to her walking down the street carrying a weird little cellphone alien, Mepple apparently, in her lacrosse stick that was making her find some sort of other animal. She’d already trespassed more than she should’ve in her life, and now she was at an amusement park that looked like it was closing for the day.

“Hurry – mepo!” The creature shouted

“This looks like the end,” Nagisa responded. She was not about trespass more than she had.

“But I’m sure it’s in this direction – mepo.”

Nagisa sighed and ran with the little creature into the amusement park entrance. A few seconds wouldn’t hurt things.

In a much different tone than she’d heard that whole night Mepple said, “something’s wrong – mepo… I can feel something different from Mipple – mepo.”

Nagisa slowed her run a little and quirked an eyebrow at the creature.

“What do you mean ‘something?’”

                A third voice cut in, much deeper than Mepple, and much more unnerving.

“This is the end of the line, young lady.” In a gust of wind, a strange man appeared, with skin that looked like it had never seen the light and eyes that were pale and piercing. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Who are you?” Nagisa shouted.

“My name is Pisard,” He responded calmly, and reached a hand out to her. “I came for him.”

“Run away – Mepo!”

“Sounds like a good idea!”

Nagisa broke into a sprint, but the moment she started running Pisard was in front of her again. She cried out, and stumbled trying to get away.

“Don’t give me a hard time,” He scolded.

Nagisa ducked under his hand again.

“W-wait!” She shouted, pivoting to avoid him. He was so much bigger, and impossibly fast. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for much longer, or maybe at all. She tripped on the uneven bricking of the ground, flinging Mepple from her lacrosse stick. He clattered to the ground and was in Pisard’s claws before she could even pick herself up.

“Where are the stones?” He demanded.

Maybe she wouldn’t stand a chance, but she had to do something. She readied herself to–

“Misumi-san!” a familiar voice called.

“Yukishiro-san?” she cried out in surprise.

Another creature that looked like Mepple shouted for him.

“Mipple!” He cried back.

“What’s going on, Yukishiro-san?” Nagisa said.

“She brought me here,” Yukishiro responded, indicating the creature held in her hand.

“You too?”

The pink creature shouted again, “give Mepple back – mipo!”

Pisard smirked and broke into laugher.

“Well, well… if it isn’t the other half?” he said, “saves me the trouble of looking for you.” He reached his claws out again. “Hand her over.”

Yukishiro recoiled and held Mipple away from him.

“No, Honoka! You mustn’t turn me over to him – mipo!”

Pisard continued to inch closer, and Yukishiro wouldn’t be able to defend herself, but his attention was entirely taken up. This was her opening! Nagisa swung her stick like she was going in for a shot, and put all her force into it. She was able to knock Mepple from his hands. The fairy went flying and Nagisa barely had the time to catch him, but she made it, and tossed him into her hand.

“Thank you – mepo,” he sighed in relief. Yukishiro rushed to them a moment later, a look of determination on her face that Nagisa wouldn’t have expected.

Pisard growled and threw out his arms “No more games!”

That was when things went from very bad, to impossibly worse. The benches and trashcans rose into the air, hovering above Pisard’s head.

“That’s impossible!” Nagisa shouted.

She ran as the objects crash down on her from the sky. She barely avoided some of them.

“I can’t do this anymore!” She found herself crying as a trashcan came down inches behind her.

Yukishiro cried out as well somewhere near her.

“Transform, both of you – mepo!”

“Transform?” Yukishiro whimpered.

“That’s not funny!” Nagisa scolded.

“Take out the pretty cure cards – mepo!”

“Cards...?” Nagisa questioned. That’s right! When he fell, he scattered cards everywhere. Nagisa shuffled around in her pockets until she found them, and dodged an incoming trashcan while she searched.

“There are a number of cards here,” Yukishiro said.

“Honoka, find the queen card – mipo!” The little pink fairy cried.

The two girls shuffled through their cards before coming to a yellow card with the image of royalty on it.

“Found it!” Nagisa shouted.

“What do I do with it?” Yukishiro questioned, holding the card uncertainly in her hands.

“Swipe the card here – mepo!” Mepple shouted.

“Like this?” Nagisa said, inserting the card into the slot on the Mepple’s shell.

The moment she swiped it; it was like her actions were no longer her own. In a moment, she was suddenly by Yukishiro’s side. Her arm reached up to the sky and she shouted words that she did not know. Without hesitation, she reached out, in a more confident way than she’d ever expect herself to, and wrapped Yukishiro’s hand in her own.

The feeling was electric, explosive, literally explosive. The second they touched hands the energy surrounding them grew and crackled. It swept them up in a storm of light, and before she could think, whatever happened was over.

Nagisa snapped back to reality, finding herself pointing at the Pisard.

“What am I saying?”

Before she could get an answer, she was jumping out of the way of the weird guy… and onto the roof of a building?

“Wow I flew all the way up here!” Cure White exclaimed.

“How did this happen?” Cure Black responded. (since when did she call herself that?)

“That’s the precure’s power–mepo!”

“He’s coming from above–mipo!”

As soon as she saw Pisard jumping for an attack, it was like her movements were instant. She flipped forward onto her hands and kicked. Something like muscle memory seemed to be carrying her, but it wasn’t perfect. Pisard landed a kick to Cure Black’s stomach, but white had her back, kicking at the opponent. She looked even more bewildered than Cure Black felt. Pisard retaliated by swinging Cure White, throwing her off the building.

Cure Black cried out in alarm, but Cure White landed perfectly.

“I’m okay!” the girl cried from the ground.

So, a fall wouldn’t hurt then? Cure Black smiled with a sudden confidence, like she suddenly saw a winning shot, and tackled Pisard, throwing the both of them off the building. A cloud of dust obscured her vision after hitting the ground, but she let her instincts take control, and she landed on the teacup ride, balancing on the side.

Pisard landed beside them, sneering, “Damn! You annoying little brats!”

He jumped up and landed with a clack on top of the metal framework of the pirate ship ride.

“Unleash your anger, Zakenna!” He announced, flinging his arms to the sky. “And with your sinister heart, show them how terrifying the power of darkness can be!”

Clouds swarmed the sky rapidly, swirling together before dispersing and hitting the ground. It seemed to glow, and very suddenly, a hulking dark creature rose from the ground and roared, “ZAKENNA!” The creature lurched and fell to the ground, no fell into the ground? No! It fell into the rollercoaster. The coaster started rolling on its own. It rocketed up the tracks, and at the peak of the tracks flew off them. It spun and then transformed, the metal becoming something strangely alive. It roared again, suddenly with teeth, “ZAKENNA!”

“Are you serious?” Cure Black yelled.

“Are we dreaming?” Cure White cried back.

There wasn’t much time to think on that as beams of light shot from the Zakenna’s eyes. The two girls jumped out of the way, and somehow perfectly landed. In the Zakenna’s wake, the ground exploded. Oh… oh no.

“Is this… real?” Nagisa asked.

The Zakenna’s eyes glowed again and it shot energy towards them. This time, Cure Black felt paralyzed and could only think to shield herself. She screamed and she was sure that Pisard was laughing.

“That was perfect Zakenna!” Pisard applauded.

The two cures got to standing again as the Zakenna dived and rolled through the air like Nagisa imagined a dragon might.

“He’s coming at us – mepo!” Mepple cried from a pouch that had appeared at Black’s waist.

“Run away – mipo!” the other creature yelled.

Cure Black found herself dodging and rolling into a hand spring before landing with a hand to the ground. The Zakkena didn’t give her a moment’s piece as it hurled its wheels at them. She ducked beneath it as it hurtled towards her face, but Cure White didn’t seem to be as fast. A wheel careened towards her, and Black darted in to deflect it. She hit it away with a punch and turned to the girl next to her.

“Are you okay? She asked.

Cure White nodded and thanked her, but in the moment she had taken to talk, the Zakenna moved above them, it’s giant sharp teeth were just feet from their heads.

“Join hands – mepo!” Mepple shouted.

“At a time like this?” Black asked.

“Just do it– mipo!” The fairy at Cure White’s waist urged.

She locked eyes with the other girl, and they clasped hands. Again, Nagisa found herself not entirely herself. She rose her hand to the sky and shouted as energy rushed into her body, coursing around her as electricity until it overflowed and shot from she and Cure White’s hands.

The second that the electricity made contact, the Zakenna was forced out of the roller-coaster. It cried as though in pain and then burst into thousands of tiny stars that seemed to be apologizing. Apologizing?

“What is this?” Cure black asked more on instinct than anything else.

They scattered and dispersed into nothingness.

“it’s over?” Cure White questioned.

“Looks like it…” Cure black responded.

“What happened to that strange man?” She asked, looking around to find the park repaired, and the man nowhere in sight.

“I don’t know…”

Yukishiro and Nagisa held Mipple and Mepple’s bags out in their hands. Nagisa carefully opened the bag, which resulted in the little alien flying out and cooing to the other one, transforming into a hamster-like animal.

“I have no idea what’s going on anymore,” Nagisa complained as the two little animals dropped to the ground.”

The two cuddled and cooed, and her mark seemed to ache, a bit like a bruise. Nagisa pulled up the bottom of her glove, just enough to check her mark, and found something different. She wrestled her glove entirely off in a flash. Things had already gotten really weird, and now her mark was swirled with white, like a yin-yang symbol. It put her at a loss for words, stuttering and marveling at it.

“Misumi-san” Yukishiro said breathlessly.

Nagisa tore her eyes away from her own mark to find the other girl holding her ungloved hand up, with a matching black and white swirl.

“you’re my…” Yukishiro trailed.

“soulmate,” Nagisa finished.

Chapter Text

Nagisa didn’t know what to say. She was hoping for Fuji-P. She was expecting a guy at least, but here she was walking to her family’s apartment with two little things and a girl who was apparently her soulmate.

She kept glancing at Yukishi—Honoka. Soulmates used first names. She didn’t want to look at her eyes, because… she just didn’t. Honoka looked the same as she always did. She was talking to Mipple, about something, but Nagisa was hardly listening. How was she so—so unbothered? This was a huge thing, wasn’t it?

Before she knew it, they were standing in front of her front door and Nagisa’s heart felt like it was going to explode. She bunched up her skirt in her hands, wrinkling the fabric.

“Um- don’t you want to tell your parents first?” Nagisa asked.

Honoka shook her head. “They’re abroad right now. I’ll call them when I get home. I can tell my grandmother, too.”

Nagisa swallowed and opened the door.

“I’m home…” she said.

“Welcome back,” her mother said, poking her head out of the kitchen, “Dinner will be- oh- who’s this?”

“She’s- it’s- well- um…” Nagisa trailed off. She gave up and took her glove off, showing her mark off to her mother, head turned towards the ground.

Her mother gasped, almost dropping her cooking on the ground. She hastily put it on the counter and untied her apron.

“Oh my! How exciting!” Her mother exclaimed, “and you, you’re the special little lady?”

Honoka nodded and showed off her own hand, swirled with black and white. She was smiling.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Her mother asked, to Nagisa’s horror. “I’d love to get to know you a little.”

“I don’t want to impose,” Honoka responded hesitantly.

“Oh, don’t worry so much! You’re not imposing at all!” Her mother assured her.

Nagisa felt like she might die right then and there. Way too fast. All of this was way too fast.

“Things will be out in just a moment. In the meantime, why don’t you show her around the house, Nagisa?”

“Sure,” she responded absentmindedly.

The apartment was small and there wasn’t much to show, and eventually Nagisa ended up shutting herself in her room with Honoka. She sat on her bed and put her head in her hands.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she groaned.

“It is kind of incredible, isn’t it?” Honoka said.

Nagisa peeled her head away from her hands. She stared at her mark.

“Do you think it’s romantic?” Honoka asked.

Nagisa raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t they… always?”

Honoka lit up as she started to explain, “Not at all. Many are romantic, that much is true, but not all are. There are lots of different types of Soul Bonds in the world. There are as many for as many different types of people there are in the world. According to census information, the most common type of bonded individuals are men and women, but there are men and men, women and women, relationships that involve three or more people, and lots of other things that I can’t even begin to explain! Although census may be somewhat skewed based on existing prejudice about what type of bonds are considered normal. In any case, within those, the nature of each bond differs. Many are romantic, like I said, but some are platonic, in multiple person bonds the relationship may differ between different members, and some remain undefined throughout the course of the bondeds’ lives. In fact, it’s currently believed by the sociolo—"

“But what does that mean? Like, how is school going to work? How are we supposed to talk about it? How are we supposed to—to—!” Nagisa interrupted stuttering in frustration. She hadn’t meant to. She relaxed slightly and amended, “sorry.”

Honoka stared at her with big eyes, and suddenly Nagisa felt very very stupid.

“I’m… not sure,” she said. There was something on her face, something distant that Nagisa couldn’t quite identify.

“I don’t mean to—”

Honoka shook her head and smiled. “We have some time to figure that out.”

“Can we… keep it a secret at school for now?” Nagisa asked, and pulled her glove over her hand.

Honoka was silent, but nodded, and took her glove from her own pocket and slipped it on.

A call from the kitchen caught the attention of both the girls.

Honoka sat uncomfortably at the dinner table. It was home cooked, which in all honestly was not the most common thing for her. With her parents out, and it being just her and her grandmother, they didn’t cook at home much, despite the ability to do so. On top of that, she had a bit of a preference for more western style dishes, perhaps formed from the aforementioned habit. What sat in front of her was Udon, which she generally would not choose, even on nights when she or her grandmother were cooking. Still, she ate it. She wanted to make a good impression and… it was nice to have a family meal. Even if the family wasn’t hers.

“So, Honoka,” Nagisa’s father began, “You go to Verone too, don’t you?

“What kind of question is that she’s wearing our uniform,” Nagisa muttered.

“That’s right,” Honoka confirmed.

“So how come you’re just meeting now?” Ryouta asked.

“Not everyone in school just knows each other,” Nagisa sighed.

“Well, I’m not really in the sports side of things at all,” Honoka explained, “I’m in the science club.”

“Oh? Do you want to be a scientist one day?” Nagisa’s mother asked. “Have you thought about a field?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’m interested in a lot of different things. Right now, I’m most interested in chemistry, but that might just be because that’s what we do in the clubroom the most. Lots of things are interesting: physics, electricity, engineering, astronomy, meteorology, anatomy, psychology, and well… soulmate theory.”

“Then you must have been waiting for this for a long time then!” Mr. Misumi joked, in a way that hit just too slightly close to Honoka’s heart.

“Well, it is fascinating,” she responded in an attempt to draw the conversation to some place a little less personal. “It’s a field that’s at an intersection of almost every other field because of how complex it is.”

“It’s useful too,” Mrs. Misumi added, “we went to a soulmate specialist when our bond first activated.”

Nagisa’s father nodded.

“How old were we do you remember?” He asked his wife.

“Oh, I would say about the same age as they are now,” Mrs. Misumi said thoughtfully.

“Seems about right.” He affirmed, “So we were young like you, and when our bond first became active we panicked because we had a bond that affected the physical side of things. Not like a mark, but the dangerous, functional side of things.”

“Our body temperatures dropped unnaturally low,” Nagisa’s mother continued, “So our parents took us to our local specialist, but by the time we got there it seemed like the problem disappeared completely. It was sort of embarrassing until the specialist figured it out by putting the two kids that had the same suddenly disappearing symptom together.” She paused. “Do you want to tell this part?”

Mr. Misumi shook his head. “I know it’s your favorite part.”

Mrs. Misumi continued with a nod. “We held hands and all of the sudden our hearts started glowing, literally glowing. They were radiating unnatural heat like they were on fire, but it didn’t hurt, not at all! Oh, it was so romantic.”

“Romantic, and overwhelming for a middle school boy,” Mr. Misumi added.

“Who said I wasn’t overwhelmed?” Mrs. Misumi teased. “Anyways, after that we didn’t have the temperature problem anymore, but who knows what would have happened without the specialist? I think that’s a lovely thing to be interested in, Honoka.”

“Well, thank you,” she responded, and felt a little bit overwhelmed herself. She glanced at Nagisa and her brother, both of whom seemed totally checked out from the conversation. This must be a story that they were told all the time.

“But we shouldn’t keep you with our boring old stories,” Mrs. Misumi said, “you tell us, how did you two finally figure it out?”

Nagisa suddenly snapped back to reality shouting, “in a normal way!” She sheepishly scratched her head after realizing that she’d yelled.

“It was after school,” Honoka said, hit rather suddenly with the realization that they’d been advised to keep Mipple and Mepple secret.

“Right, and Yukishi—Honoka was uhm—" Nagisa struggled to explain.

“At the library,” She finished, thinking of an alibi that would work with her grandmother later, too.

“The library?” Mr. Misumi questioned, an edge of skepticism in his voice.

“Yeah, Nagisa would never go to the library!” Ryouta cried.

Nagisa looked like she had half a mind to push him off his chair but instead continued the lie, “Well, normally I don’t go to the library, but Shiho and Rina had wanted to go so I came with them.”

“And I was already there to research the next science club project.” Honoka said.

“So, I sat down next to her and we happened to brush hands and um, that was that.” Nagisa finished.

“Ah, that’s just like it is in those films, a romantic meeting by chance. How sweet,” Nagisa’s mother commented, seemingly content with that answer.

Honoka breathed a sigh of relief and continued on with dinner until it was time to leave. She found herself sort of not wanting to. Even if Nagisa seemed a bit... overwhelmed, it was still lovely. It had been an awfully long time since she’d gotten to sit down with a family and eat like this. Still, she went back home and told her grandmother the good news. As she went to sleep that night, she didn’t think anything could bring her down.

The moment Nagisa woke up, she felt her heart sink. Why was it already tomorrow? She slapped her alarm clock off, and looked lazily at her hand. Then she jolted out of bed and held her arm out. Her soulmark was bigger than it was when she’d gone to sleep. It wasn’t just on her hand anymore. It arched up her entire arm, and pulling back her pajama shirt a little, she saw that it was over a bit of her torso and neck. It looked less like a soulmark and more like a scar now. White and black lightning marks went up over so much of her body; There was no way that this was going to stay secret for very long. The part on her neck would probably peak out over her uniform too. She rubbed a hand over it and briefly considered if makeup would be an option, but then realized that it was a little too late in the morning to go covering up something like that.

She went through her routine in a haze, and at the whiny insistence of Mepple, took him to school as well. She was out the door and on her way to school quickly. More quickly than usual actually. Maybe she would be able to get to school without—

“Nagisa!” the familiar voice of Shiho called.

“Good morning!” Nagisa shouted too loudly in an attempt to pretend she was feeling normal.

“What’s got you so riled up?” Rina asked, suddenly appearing next to Nagisa.

Nagisa jumped and slapped a hand over where her mark.

“OooOhh you know, I’m—uh—I’m—" Nagisa fumbled, failing to land on a single coherent answer.

In response, Rina pulled the other girl’s hand off of her neck. Nagisa froze and stared at her friend.

Shiho squealed, hopping up and down before launching into a ramble. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! It finally happened didn’t it! We were just talking about how lucky you were with your bond and it happened! Oh! Oh! Oh! It must have happened during the meteor shower too! That’s so romantic like a wish come true! Did you wish on a—”

Rina shoved her hand over the other girl’s face turning her words into excited mumbles.

“Soooo who is it?” Rina asked.

This was very quickly getting out of hand. Nagisa struggled for a response. A lie would be nice, but they’d have to find out sooner or later wouldn’t they? She could just say it was Honoka and make them promise not to tell, but she already told Honoka to keep it a secret herself. Also... it felt weird to just go and say it. She just found out! Why did everyone else have to know?

Her mind ran wild, scrambling for a response. Eventually she found one. Her heart beat faster and she ran. It wasn't the best answer, but it was definitely a kind of answer. The others called after her but she was the fastest runner on the lacrosse team and that was not going to fail her now.

She was able to get to class in record time and Shiho and Rina came in soon after, though they didn’t say anything. Thank goodness. She probably shouldn’t have done that, but they’d forgive her. She was not ready for all of this. She slammed her head on her desk and sighed. This was unbelievable.

Nagisa let most of homeroom pass in a half-worried half-bored blur. Everything that happened yesterday replayed itself over and over again in her mind. How was it that she was even in a situation like this? Not even with the magical nonsense, but also with everyone else? She hardly even knew Honoka, and she was apparently bonded to her for life? That’s terrifying! Yeah, that’s the feeling she was looking for. This was terrifying. Everything was all upside down! It was—

A round of applause pulled her out of her thoughts as her teacher proudly announced, “According to the votes, the class representative for the second year Sakura group is Yukishiro-san.”

The girl in question bowed politely, humbly, and thanked everyone.

Nagisa clapped awkwardly. She hadn’t been the nicest to Honoka after everything either, had she? Maybe… maybe Honoka was scared too? She didn’t act like she was, but as Nagisa watched the other girl across the room she found it hard to tell what she was feeling. If Honoka was just as terrified as she was then… Nagisa had been mean, hadn’t she? She would apologize, but that could wait for later. For the time being, she let herself fall back into the rhythm of the school day all the way up to the literature lesson.

“Tami-san is like a chrysanthemum,” She read for the class, “I love chrysanthemums…”

“Oiiii! Oiiiii!”

“’Oiiii! Oiiii!’ Tami said,’” Nagisa repeated. The class responded with laughter.

“What was that?” Nagisa asked to no one in particular.

She heard the calling again and noticed Mepple throwing the little pouch he was in around with a strength that did not match how small he was.

“What’s wrong, Misumi-san?” Takenouchi questioned.

“I-it’s nothing!” She said. What in the world did that thing think he was doing? She glanced back towards Honoka who gave her a surprised look. Why wasn’t the other one causing problems?

She didn’t give it much thought as her teacher told her to continue. It could wait at least until after class.

“Oi! Oi! Oiiiiiii!” Mepple shouted, definitely audible to the rest of the class.

Apparently, he wouldn’t wait.

She fumbled through an excuse to leave the room and rushed out with her bag. She snatched Mepple from his bag and flipped open his shell.

“What did you want in the middle of class?” She demanded with half a mind to smack him against the brick wall.

“I’m hungry, Nagisa… Give me breakfast,” The little creature complained.

Seriously?

“I’m not your wife!” She shouted, dropping to the ground. “Also, you should show a little respect when you talk to me.” It’s because of him that she’s wrapped up in all this; he should at least give her that!

“Well then, Pleaaase Nagisa-sama,” Mepple responded his eyes growing wide and sparkly.

Was he doing this on purpose?

“Oh, dear sister Nagisa…” He continued to beg.

He was definitely trying to tick her off on purpose. He was even better at it than Ryouta was.

“Princess Nagisa—!”

She shook him up and down like a soda she was trying to get to explode. He cried for her to stop and she did, her posture still tense. She would do it again.

“If I don’t eat, I’ll die—mepo…” He said pitifully before his voice filled with all the anger something that looked like a hamster could muster, “If that happens, I’ll haunt you—mepo.”

“Stop it already.”

He agreed to stop and then immediately asked to be fed.

“I don’t have anything to eat,” She replied to him, a little more cooled down after shaking him a bit.

“Slash the card!”

“…Card?”

Mepple explained the role of the other cards that she had. She briefly wondered at how any of that worked and decided that was probably something that Honoka could answer better than her. She slashed the card she was told to and watched mystified at the little scene of a spoiled knight arguing about what he would eat. Bizarre. She didn’t linger on it. He would be quiet now, so she stuffed him back in her bag and made her way back to class.

Things continued from there without a hitch, thankfully. Classes came to a close and Nagisa went for the science room. That’s what Honoka had said, right? She was in the science club?

She entered the science room not to find Honoka, but a complex set of tubes and flasks set up over a burner. She was surprised that anyone in the school was allowed to do this kind of thing. It was amazing. It looked so complicated and maybe even a little dangerous. The person who set this up was leagues ahead of her, and probably ahead of most high school students. Who was...?

The door creaked and Honoka entered. That only made sense. Nagisa sent her a glace and asked, “Is this yours Honoka?”

She smiled at her and cheered, “Yes! It’s one of my best inventions!”

She approached the other side of the desk and looked at Nagisa past the swirls and bends in the tubes. She was all sorts of beyond her in smarts, wasn’t she? She meant to give a curious response, but she was pretty sure it came out as more of a groan.

Unfazed, Honoka demonstrated her experiment, pouring sugar water in the funnel at the top of everything. It bubbled and rushed quickly though the various container, hitting a point and whistling as it released steam closer to her face than she would like.

“Is that okay!?”

“Mhm!” Honoka responded cheerfully. “It’s almost ready!”

The whistling grew to a peak and then died down as a something dropped from a tube onto a Petri dish. It clattered and rolled around. Nagisa slammed her hands on the desk and bent down to see a barely pea-sized crystalline thing.

“See? The candy is done!” Honoka said cheerfully.

“All of that just for this?” Nagisa shouted.

“Nagisa, you might not think it’s much but—!”

The other girl was interrupted as her contraption whistled again and steam shot out of it, even louder than before. The glasses started to shake and tremble like they’d been hit with an earthquake, or like a pot that was boiling over.

“Duck!” Honoka shouted, but Nagisa was already ahead of her.

The glass suddenly fractured and fully exploded leaving a sharp wet mess everywhere.

“I’ll have to make it again…”

“Again?” Nagisa blinked.

After a bit of cleanup she took out Mepple and went to ask why Honoka hadn’t been having the same issue with her fairy. Before she could get much more than a name out, Mepple popped open with an excited shout.

“I can feel Mipple close by—mepo!” He shouted.

He changed forms and hopped around shouting a string of little “mepo mepo mepo” before Honoka said the other fairy was asleep. That would explain why she didn’t make noise. Mepple immediately lost interest and changed back, snapping shut decisively.

“He must have really wanted to see Mipple.” Honoka commented.

“I wonder if they’re bonded too?” Nagisa thought aloud, “He acts like he’s in love at least.”

“If I had to guess I’d say yes. They both have similar marks on their foreheads… but it is a little hard to say with such a limited scope of what their species is like.” Honoka tapped a finger to her chin, quickly becoming lost in her own theories.

“He’s kind of a problem though, talking during class,” Nagisa said.

“What about the sleeping card?” Honoka questioned as though she should have known what that meant.

“Sleeping card?”

Nagisa shuffled though her pockets for the cards and held them out so Honoka could see. The other girl pointed to one of them just as Mepple screamed in alarm. Nagisa grabbed him as he jumped into the air. He was not getting away that easy with everything he did earlier! He cried and jerked her hand around, but she swiped the card and he was snoring a second later.

“He really fell asleep,” she said in a mix of relief and disbelief.

“Let’s put them to sleep while we’re at school,” Honoka said.

“Good idea,” Nagisa agreed, slipping the sleeping creature back into its bag.

After a beat of silence Honoka asked, “So what was it? You wanted to talk, didn’t you?”

Nagisa’s heart froze and she clutched on the Mepple tighter. She thought she would apologize and talk things out a little but now that she was actually here…

“I don’t think I want to do that anymore…”

“Is it about yesterday?” Honoka asked gently.

She hummed and gave the other girl an answer. “All of this soulmate stuff is kind of a lot. I figure that I wasn’t the nicest back at home… and here at school either. I mean all of this stuff is happening to you too. It’s happening to both of us, you know? We’re… soulmates, but also there’s all that other stuff too with the fighting and Mipple and Mepple. That stuff I’m pretty sure that other people wouldn’t get no matter what type of bond they had. It’s kind of…”

“Exciting,” Honoka said.

The other girl had walked behind her and was staring out a window.

“I think that it’s fate that all of this happened,” she said. That sounded a lot more like the stuff she’s heard about soulmates before. “I think that being warriors might be a part of our bond. It’s the only thing that I can think of that would explain everything that happened.”

“You think that the two of us are soul bonded to protect the earth?” Nagisa questioned in disbelief.

“Nothing as wild as that, exactly. I don’t think that we’re bonded to protect the earth, but it could be an aspect of our bond that could let us. It defies normal physics in a way that’s never been documented, so I think that we have a serious chance, especially with everything that happened yesterday. It’s interesting, isn’t it?” She smiled and tilted her head.

“You realize we could have both been killed? You think that a bond is meant to do that?”

“Maybe! That’s what makes it so interesting!” She replied and stared up at the ceiling dreamily.

That was hopeless. Honoka wasn’t worried at all! She was here apologizing for nothing. This is insane!

“I don’t know what’s going on!” She shouted to the sky while Honoka was lost in her mind. She turned her attention to the other girl and felt her temper boiling over again. “Bonds don’t do any of this!” She tugged down on her collar to expose more of the mark that had bloomed all over her skin. “This isn’t normal, not any of it! The monster was one thing but saying that our bond could deal with it is crazy! We managed to make it through somehow last time, but if some monster appears out of nowhere again and attacks us—”

Just as her voice had raised to a shout the window shattered and she found her heart beating like it was going to burst her chest open. She ducked for the second time that day and found herself thinking back to the monster that they’d fought yesterday. That is, until the sound of a ball bouncing around the room brought her back. She stood and caught it in her hands effortlessly.

“That’s probably from the boy’s division!” Honoka said.

“Ahhh! It’s those guys from the soccer team!” Nagisa said as she pulled the window open. “What are they thinking?”

She made her way hurriedly down the steps and flung open the metal gate to the field.

“What do you think that you’re—!” She shouted.

“Were you hurt?” Fuji-P asked.

It stopped her in her tracks and she felt a blush run up her cheeks. Another soccer boy came up behind him and said something, but she was hardly listening.

“I’m sorry. Are you ok?” He asked again.

All of the anger in her system left almost instantly. This was him! This was the most handsome guy at Verone! This was the best player on the boy’s side! This was Fujimura Shougo… but they weren’t bonded. They wouldn’t be because Honoka was her soulmate. After that thought she felt like she’d been extinguished. If she was a blazing flame a second ago, she was a pile of ash now. She handed the ball back to him and covered the spot where her mark climbed over her collar with her hand.

“Um… be more careful next time…” She said and began to walk away.

She didn’t return to the science room. She kept walking and walking and went all the way back to her family’s apartment. She didn’t say goodbye to Honoka and she didn’t bother trying to find Shiho and Rina. She especially didn’t stay and wait for the soccer team to end practice. She threw a half-hearted greeting Ryouta’s way and collapsed on her bed.

Everything was so messed up. She yanked her glove off of her hand and stared at her mark. It was so ugly now. It was still that handprint shape, but it arched and mixed with white lightning marks all the way up her arm. She could pull down her sleeve and be able to see staining pretty much her entire arm. She got away with today, barely, but she’d have to tell her friends soon and make up for running away and ignoring them the whole day. Everyone was going to find out eventually.

Then there was Honoka. She was impressive for sure, Nagisa could admit that. She could also say that Yukishiro was completely out of her mind! Exciting, she had called this. This wasn’t exciting it was scary, terrifying even. Knowing that her soulmate thought that this was all connected to their bond didn’t make her feel any better. It made her feel a lot worse. All of this was happening because of her stupid bond and it wasn’t even a little bit like how she’d thought it would be.

She grabbed a stuffed animal and rolled onto her bedroom floor.

“Why is all this happening,” she asked to the stuffed bear in her lap.

In her moment of contemplation Mepple jumped up and shouted, “Are you thinking about what we’re having for dinner—mepo?”

That was not even close to what she had said.

“I’m not you…” She groaned and buried her face in the plushie. “Just leave me alone.”

“I can’t—mepo!” He responded. “We’re in this for the long haul!”

Nagisa slammed her fist down next to him causing him to fly up in the air.

“It’s not up to you!”

She looked at her mark and slammed her fist a few more times against the table.

Mepple went on undisturbed. “Nagisa? Shall I tell you about my hometown—mepo?”

She threw her stuffed bear on top of him.

“I really don’t want to heart about it.”

Then Mepple started crying. She should be the one crying if anything! She took the bear off him and held him with her on the floor.

“Okay, fine. I’ll listen,” she told him and he perked up right away.

“You always get teary when you don’t get what you want…”

Still, she listened to the fairy explain where he came from. It seemed like a beautiful place, from what he was saying. At least, it was before they were attacked. There were other things about magic and stones and power that she listened to. The Dotsuku Zone was after all of that and that was why they were attacking. It was a lot like a fairy tale and it should have been unbelievable, but she was being told this story by a hamster that lived in a cell phone so she couldn’t really say much. If it was bad that her life was being interrupted by this whole soulmate thing, she couldn’t imagine having her whole home taken like he had. Despite everything it made her feel… better? It was nice, in a way to still have something stay the same even if everything else was flipping on it’s head.

He turned him so that he would face her.

“Are you doing that on purpose?”

“I don’t know what you mean—mepo,” he responded slyly.

He definitely was.

“Thanks…” She said.

“Well, we are in it for the long haul—mepo!”

She smiled at him and he huffed proudly before getting a worried far away look in his eyes.

“The Dotsuku Zone is about to attack again—mepo!”

She jolted up from the floor.

“I want you to fight together with us—mepo!”

“But—why me?” She asked and dreaded the answer.

“At this rate, this place will end up like the Field of Light!” He shouted in return.

Her fear shot into her as she thought about losing even more than she already had. It had her rushing out the door with barely an explanation to her brother. Cars were making a lot of noise in the city and she had a guess as to why, so she ran with Mepple as fast as she could towards the sound. She met Hokoka on the way and they ran together until they found the source of everything. It was a skyscraper and Shiho and Rina were trapped in an elevator inside.

She and Honoka rushed up the stairs to the roof where they found the man from yesterday standing on a monster that was a lot like the one from before. This time it looked like a vacuum cleaner. He turned to them dramatically.

“Well, well, I knew you would come.” He told them, smiling an unnerving smile.

“We don’t have the time to deal with you right now!” Nagisa shouted at him and began to run towards where the elevator.

“I wish you would,” he stated as if bored before commanding the Zakenna to attack.

The monster reared its nozzle head like a snake and stuck the two on them. They tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet from the force.

“What do you think that you’re doing!” Honoka demanded, pulling herself from the ground.

Nagisa pulled herself up too. Shiho and Rina didn’t have the time for this!

“Now you’ve made me mad!” She shouted.

“Transform—mepo!”

She nodded and grabbed Honoka’s hand. In a flash, there was that same feeling of flying and that same overwhelming light. She landed on the ground and found herself shouting those words that weren’t quite hers again.

Pisard wasted very little time and commanded, “Don’t hold back! Crush them to death!”

It reared back again and Cure Black found herself launching into the air. The roof beneath her crumbled as the Zakenna hit it with its full force. It didn’t give her a moment as it lashed at her in the air. She forced herself to dive and it turned its attention to Cure White. She dodged in the air and grabbed at the Zakenna from underneath. She put all of her force into her arms and sent the monster into a spin.

As White and the monster fell towards the ground Black saw her chance. She braced herself against the roof and shot into the air. She moved for a kick, but she slowed midair. The Zakenna blew a powerful stream of air at her. It switched its setting, drawing her towards its mouth. She screamed as she began to feel herself loose her balance and get sucked towards the monster. She threw her arms out and strained against the Zakenna’s mouth as it continued to try and suck her in. It shook her and released it’s suction suddenly, throwing her into a door. It crumpled beneath her.

She fell a long way, slamming against metal and feeling her momentum be stopped by wire. It burned as she came to a stop and she struggled off of whatever she had landed on. White followed with a more graceful landing a moment later.

A cackle rang through the elevator shaft. It was an elevator.

“A present for you!” Pisard laughed as the elevator wires snapped.

They began to plummet down the building the glass wall of the elevator showing just how fast they were moving as their surroundings blurred.

“We’ll be smashed with the elevator—mepo!” her fairy shouted.

White pulled the wire from around her and wrapped it around herself. She pulled Black to her feet and then the two of them into the air. Before she could even think the other cure had pushed her against the wall and straightened their bodies out to slow the fall. They were acting as a beam that supported the elevator themselves. Black could feel the heat from her boots griding against the concrete through her soles. As they plummeted it began to burn, but she just pushed her hands harder against the other girl’s and tried to keep her posture.

The elevator hit the ground hard, but they were fine. The people in the elevator were fine. Shiho and Rina were fine.

Black collapsed from the strain on her body and from the relief. She didn’t stay down for long as anger started bubbling up inside of her. She fought the wire off of her body and stood to meet her partner’s eyes.

“It’s unforgivable!” She shouted.

“Let’s return the favor!” White shouted in return.

Cure Black nodded as she felt not only anger but power fill her. She jumped from wall to wall, scaling the elevator while White followed suit. She rushed out towards Pisard. The Zakenna spewed electricity at them, but it wasn’t the only one that could do that.

She grabbed White’s hand decisively and the electricity began to bend around them. It crackled and swirled around them and then changed colors as they called out their attack. It flooded into them and their marks crackled with energy. That was the moment she noticed White’s mark, too, had extended up her body and was reaching over her neck. She didn’t dwell on it as she tightened her grip on the other cure’s hand and they released their energy.

The Zakenna took it full force and its nozzle burst off of it, flying into the air. It fell and nearly crushed Pisard, who jumped away in the last second.

Cure black jumped into the air and sent herself back down with all her force onto the main body of the Zakenna. Its body crumbled under her force. It rose as a shadow screaming before it exploded into thousands of tiny stars that all shouted little apologies. Good, she thought as she landed back with Cure White.

“We did it!” White exclaimed.

Black couldn’t help but smile as relief washed over her. Again, Pisard had disappeared and they were alone.

“See?” White said, “Look what our bond let us do this time! We really can do this!”

Black nodded. Maybe they could.