A4 Book Origin Story, Who Completes You? by Angel Lewis

The events of these books take place after all other A4 Art Stuff stories, including both season of A4 Panel Comics, the Halloween event and the Dark Void Halloween Story. This book in particular is set directly after the Dark Void story, so if you wish to catch up, you can find that here: https://www.deviantart.com/a4artstuff/art/A4-PanelComics-s2-Halloween-The-Dark-Void-Ch1-710753051 Not sure how that will work but you can type it in if all else fails! Anyway, Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all I wanted to say here! I have no idea how well this is written but I hope you still enjoy and look forward to the rest of these books!

For as long as I can remember… The Void has been my home. From day one, this empty white place was filled to the brim with nothingness. Always so bright, ever changeless. It was lonely… Until of course, it wasn’t, and I found my adorable little AICA! And then my best friend, Sami! Then came Captain Miyuki. Slowly more friends appeared and other things happened too! Grass and other plants began to grow, the cold of night, animal-like creatures. Thanks to my friends I was able to visit so many amazing worlds! As my family of friends grew, so did my own world! ...or so I thought… The Void. It’s my home. I live here. This empty place, it doesn’t change because of me. Turns out, I don’t actually know anything…

Prologue

Into the Void Chapter 1 “I still can’t believe that I’m seein’ you guys right now!” Orange exclaims. She takes a seat on a bench on the porch of her ranch house as she and her two sisters emerge from the inside. The house was large with two stories and a porch that walked around from the front to a second entrance on the side leading into the kitchen. It was in the middle of nowhere. A fresh lawn of opaque white grass surrounded the building with dark holes dug out waiting to be filled in with trees, a welcome addition to the small orchard beside the house. It had indeed been a very long time since she had last seen them. The last time Orange had seen her doppelgangers, all three of them looked exactly the same! Two, the first of the Orange clones who sat down next to her, cut her hair short and messy. She took to wearing dark tight clothing and a black collar around her neck. “It’s been WAY too long, girl!” When Two spoke, her voice was strong and filled with a draw that would put Foghorn to shame. Three, the second of the clones, was quite the opposite of Two, draped in a yellow sundress embroidered with pink flowers, and covered in a denim jacket accompanied by two gemstone earrings dangling from each ear. Her hair was reminiscent of Orange’s hair before she lost control of it, braided down to the small of her

back. She leans up against the porch railing, “Once we made it back home I told Mochi we absolutely need to come here to be with our favorite sister!” Her voice was soft and lightly twangy. “Favorite?” Orange starts. “Ya’ll mean there are more o’ me walkin’ around out there?” The three share a laugh for a short while before Three grows a stern look to her face. “Orange, sweety,” Three begins, “It was wonderful catchin’ up and all, but we actually came here to take you with us.” Orange looks up at Three with a smile. “I would love to come over for a good while,” Orange points out in front of the house where her friends are working. “But we’re not done with the new garden yet. Especially after all of that craziness that happened, there’s still so much more to do…” She feels Two’s hand rest on her shoulder. “That might have to wait.” “What are you guys talking about? Did something happen?” “Three and I found some pretty interestin’ stuff a while ago--” “Stuff that could shed some light on what the Void really is!” Three interrupts. “Really?” “Yeah,” confirms Two. “And with what ya’ll were tellin’ us about, what with that Beast and Deity, it might help explain some of that stuff Sambit was tellin’ ya.” Orange thinks back to the recent events of Sambit and the dark void, and all of the confusing information she was given there. She had no context for what she was told and couldn’t believe a single word of it. Though she can’t help but remember his face and how sad he looked. He seemed to truly know what he was talking about. It certainly wouldn’t hurt anything to check out what the girls have found, especially if she can learn more about what he was talking about. Orange is suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when Sami calls out to her from behind Three.

Sami.

“ORC, Irum kinda broke the tree we were planting…” “What should we do about that..?” Yami speaks up behind

Three stands up straight and claps her hands together gleefully. “I know what you’re going to do!” She opens her arms, “You’re all coming along with us!” Sami and Yami look at each other, confused, as the others all join them. “Road trip? I’m down.” quips Yami. “Where… are we going?” asks Sami. “Oooh no,” Two stands as she protests. “We came here to tell Orange about what we found--” “Whatcha find?” Sami cuts Two off. She and the rest of the group now looking up at her with curious looks in their eyes. Two is taken aback a moment before she clears her throat and continues. “What we found may teach us more about this place an’ what it is. How it got turned into what it is now.” She sighs. “‘Sides, there’s no way Lilly is going to carry all o’ y’all back home on her back.” “Well neither will Butch,” Three adds, “But, they could work together to pull a wagon you know!” She makes her way down the stairs and over to the two creatures the sisters rode in on. She unhitches one wearing a sun hat. The creatures were quite beastly in appearance. Reptilian, they looked like a small dinosaur, but with ears. They have fangs poking from their mouths and eerie yellow eyes. There are no arms but their legs are thick and muscular with large sharp talons and a thick, wide and long tail out the back. Seeing one dressed up in pink and doted over by Three was rather off putting. She rustles around inside of a saddlebag that was attached to the creature. “So, Princess,” starts Two, “are you gonna pull a wagon from under that dress er somethin’?”

“Not quite”, Three says as she turns around to show a miniature carriage. She places it down on the ground before digging around in her saddlebag again. “Ugh,” Two scoffs. “You and yer hocus pocus.” She steps down from the porch crossing her arms over her chest. “I keep tellin ya yer wastin’ yer time with that mumbo jumbo.” Three pulls what looks like some kind of small tree branch from the bag. It is thin and the end is warped and shaped into the form of a star. She turns and cocks her hip at her sister, “And yet, it's this hocus pocus, as you put it, that will let us all travel together!” Three wags her wand at Two teasingly, “Unless of course you were gonna carry us in those big strong arms o'yers.” She smirks and turns away from everyone proudly, facing the miniature carriage. She raises her arms into the air, her wrists give a tiny flick with her wand and she puffs out her chest. She closes her eyes gently and breathes in with her nose sharply, holds it in for a beat, then slowly exhales. As she does so, the yellow earring on her left ear begins to levitate and glow. With a few waves of her wand, the air around her heats up and after a final effort from Three, the carriage expands in size right before everyone’s eyes. They all stand mouth agape and astonished. “What in tarnation…” Orange lets out suddenly. She collects herself. “What… what was that? You actually know how to use magic?! REAL MAGIC?!?” Coming out of their flabbergastation, the others approach the carriage, inspecting with their ‘oos and ahs’. Three sighs after her display of magic before turning to face her sister. “Yup, I sure can!” She touches her left earring. “Well this right here was just a bit o’ bibbity bop magic. Nothing compared to some of the other things I’m practicing!” Two laughs and pats Orange on the shoulder. “Don’t let her modesty fool ya, sis.” Three puffs her cheeks at Two before

turning to prepare the carriage for transport. Two and Orange walk up to the others surrounding the magic wonder that is their soon to be ride. “So then, ah guess ya’ll’er comin’ with us. Be sure to pee if ya have to. It’ll be a bit of a ride.” “Two, my goodness.” Three chimes in as she walks her creature with the pink sun hat to the carriage. Two walks over to get her own creature. “What? I was just warnin’em.” Irum walks up to Two and Three as they hitch their creatures with Muri hiding behind her. “What these things?” Irum asks, her innocence as natural as ever. Two looks to Irum and grins. “These here are called Rexors.” She pets her rexor roughly between it’s ears. “This’un here’s Lillith...” she gestures toward Three and her rexor, “...and that there’s Butch. “Rexors?” ponders Yami as she walks up from behind Irum and Muri along with AICA. “That’s right,” answers Three. “We found them when they were just eggs, their nests abandoned!” “You mean there are more out there?” Yami continues. “Of course!” Two confirms. “Can I pet!?” Irum interjects. “Irum, no!” potests Muri. “It might bite you…” Two and Three laugh. “Butch here wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Three reassures as she nuzzles him. “It’ll be okay!” Irum reaches up and places her hand on Butch’s cheek. He responds by pushing into her hand a little bit and Irum gets a laugh out of it. Three then reaches her hand out for Muri’s with a smile. Reluctantly, Muri puts her hand in Three’s and is led to gently place it on Butch’s snout. She pulls away slightly but eventually Butch leans closer to her, putting his snout in her hand. Muri

stammers a bit at first but soon chuckles and pets the creature gently. “There see?” AICA begins to pet Lillith on her side, above her hip. “So they’re pretty gentle then?” The last of the group, Maggie and her spectre pal Manny join in the petting. Two finishes hitching Lillith to the carriage and turns to the group. “Gentler than a wisp's fart.” “Two! Goodness!” Two shrugs. Maggie speaks up, “So, where exactly are we all going anyway..?” “Yeah,” adds Sami. “Are there really other places out there?” Orange approaches the carriage slowly from between the crowd. She reaches for the handle of the door but stops. Her eyes are half closed and she seems lost in her thoughts. “O-ORC?” “Hm?” Orange looks to Sami with a smile. “There are lots of things and places out there. But I've only seen the town they live in.” “Town?” The group gasp together. “A whole town?” Sami inquires. Two and Three laugh and start to gather everyone together. “Alright, alright,” Three attempts to corral the gang to the carriage. “You'll get to see it when we get there.” One by one, everyone enters their ride. Orange, Sami, AICA and Yami, Muri and Irum, Maggie with Manny and Miyuki, followed up by Three. They all fit with enough leg room to move around a bit, but not too much. It helped that Manny didn't seem to have a physical body and AICA and Yami were both quite small. Two hops into the driver seat and takes the reins into her hands. With a light crack of them, she beckons the rexors to start pulling the cart.

Chapter 2

They travel for some time through the blinding white deserts of the Void. Giggles and cackles can be heard emanating from the transport. Two peers through to the group inside. “So I meant to ask ya, I couldn't help but notice some new faces.” She looks at Yami. “I didn't know you had a sister AICA!” Maggie giggles as Yami scowls and looks away from AICA. “Oh yes!” Exclaims Three. “While we're all here together like this, I think we should get some proper introductions! I'll start.” She sits up straight and places her hand to her chest as dainty as she could. “Fer all y'all new faces here in this wagon, my name is Three,” she looks to Two outside. “And that is my sister Two. We happen to be doppelgangers of Orange here after she had a… a little incident. Since then, my sister and I have traveled all over tryin’ to learn all we could about the Void!” “An’ we learned a whole lot after all these years.” Two adds. “So,” Three begins. “What do ya say we go 'round and get to know ya?” She reaches across and taps Yami on the knee. “Oh me?” Starts Yami. “I'm...Yami..you can call me that anyway…” She glances away. “Guess I'm a doppelganger too…”

Immediately she is squeezed up next to AICA when Orange wraps her arms around the both of them. “Awww, they're just my two precious girls! Don't you let her fool you, Yami is a sweetheart and her cookin's ta die for.” Orange points her hand out to Miyuki. “And this is captain Miyuki. I met her out in space!” “Space!?” The twins gasp. “Oh,” Miyuki forces up an introduction of her own. “Yes, I met Orange on my Arks ship. She was interested in becoming an Arks and so I got her, AICA and Yami situated and brought them aboard my team. They were quick learners and we've been together ever since.” Three chuckles, “Oh my, now that sounds like it was quite the adventure for sure!” “It really was!” Orange continues. “If it weren't for Miyuki, then it never would have happened!” “You'll have to tell us all about it then,” Two demands as she cracks the reins again. The carriage gently picks up speed before the beat of silence is broken when Two speaks up once more. “What about you Sami? I'm sure you two had a whole lot o’ adventures to tell us about.” “O-oh, yeah!” Stammered Sami. “Well, it wasn't really much…” “She was just the leader of an army of dragons,” Orange interjects. “She showed me a whole new world! With cat people, elves, robots, demons, and birds! I even had one of my own!” Three chuckles. “You’ll have to tell us all about those adventures too then!” “Yeah,” Two concurs, turning back around to face forward in her seat again. “Ah can’t wait to hear all ‘bout them there birds o’ yers.”

Everyone else begins to laugh. Orange laughs as well, albeit softly and sheepishly. She then clears her throat lightly, “A-actually, yeah. I’ll have to give ya all the details…” Orange continues to smile sweetly through her teeth, and Sami watches Orange and attempts to do the same. The carriage continues on its way, with more laughs and stories from the others, as it disappears into the white empty space. Slowly getting ever closer to its destination.

The white void begins to darken as the journey comes to its end. Two shouts back to everyone inside. With their attention called they all look out the window to see they have arrived in a town of sorts. No people, no lights, most of the structures dilapidated or overgrown with white moss and shrubbery. “This wasn’t quite what I was expecting…” Maggie speaks up. As they made their way deeper into the town they found themselves near some kind of meeting plaza for the area. The stone brick roads they were on giving way to a large step up surrounded by a roundabout that featured what appeared to be a fountain that was dried up. A large building boasting to be a city hall overlooked this plaza. It too was run down and falling apart. It appeared to be getting some kind of renovation, with some scaffolding built up in some points that were falling apart the most. The group turns a corner and sees a building that stands out from the rest of the town. “Alright gang!” Two announces, “Home sweet home!” She parks the carriage out front. They’re home looks like all of the other buildings in town, a prominent front, two stories, probably three bedrooms with two baths. However it has been fully repaired and appeared to be full of color. A sight that is rare in

the void, only seen before in Orange’s ranch house. The building next door had been torn down to make way for a large yard that had something resembling housing. The perfect size for the two rexors that provided the ride here. Two hops down from her seat and unhitched the reptilian pets from their reins and makes her way to the yard beside their home. Three and the others exit the carriage one by one. Once empty, Three holds out her hand to the wagon and emits a yellow glow. The air around them heats up and a moment later it explodes in a poof of smoke before revealing to have shrunk back down to its original size. Miyuki steps forward and picks up the toy and examines it. “That is pretty impressive magic.” She hands it to Three. “I’ve seen my share but nothing that did anything like that.” “Ah, well I’m happy to have impressed you upon our meetin’ Miss.” Three smiles and curtsies. She takes a deep breath as she looks at the sky becoming more and more dark. “It’s gettin’ late. Why don’t we all head inside. I can make us up somethin’ good to eat and we can get a fresh start in the morn--” “--Stuff that, Princess!” Two interrupts. She emerges from the rexor yard with a large stick, the dino pets circling her excitedly. She hurls the stick quite far and they both run after it. She then looks at the group. “We got ‘em all here now, so there’s no point in makin’ supper and goin’ ta bed.” She grins wide. “You grab those slabs we were savin’ and we’ll have a firepit party tonight!” Three sighs with a smile. “Now she’s happy I brought you all along.”

A calm darkness envelopes the bright white void. Everything in the world seemingly turned off for the night, the only source of light being the laughter emanating from next to the twin’s home. The firepit the group surrounds blankets them and the area in a warm orange glow. The two rexors cuddled together in their stalls. Another burst of laughter sounds from the group. “Then Orange-Lady go BOOM again!!” Irum excitedly recites. Everyone laughs. Two and Three lean on each other in their laughter. Maggie quietly snorts to herself behind her hand as Manni sleeps in her lap. “You seem to explode quite often Ms. Orange.” Muri chuckles. Next to her Yami holds her sides together in her laughter and AICA quietly smiles at Orange. “It’s not that funny y’know…” Orange mumbles. “It’s funnier the third time though!” Two manages between her breaths. “It makes me real happy we split off of you when we did, right, Princess?” Three nods her head still unable to speak through her own laughter. “Does anyone else have their own stories of Orange on the business end of some kind of explosion?” Miyuki asks under her own chuckles. “Maybe we can find something else to talk about?” Orange suggests. Though not even a few seconds after, AICA speaks up. “I think I have one.” Orange gasps and reaches for her but Two pulls her in first. “Go on lil’un. Let’s hear it!” As AICA begins her story, Three looks around at everyone and sees that Sami is missing. She scans the area and sees her standing outside of the yard.

Sami sighs as she looks up to the dark night sky. “Not much to see up there.” Three sneaks up on Sami. “Oh OR--uh Oran-- Th-Three…” She attempts to quickly compose herself. Three giggles and places a hand on Sami’s shoulder. “You doin’ alright dearie?” Sami takes a deep breath and stays silent for a beat. “I’m just… feeling like I don’t… belong over there… right now.” “What about all that stuff with the birds?” Sami inhales again and holds it before heavily sighing. “I mean.. She was there. We were there together!” Three looks at her with a smile. Sami looks at her beside her before blushing and looking away. Her face was HER face, smiling at her so closely. “Everyone over there has these stories of them doing all sorts of things with her. Stories of adventures they got into with her…” “Many explosions,” Three adds matter-of-factly. “Well.. I don’t have any explosions!” She steps away from Three before turning back to her. “And then she left! She told the others to take care of Kevin and then, poof! Probably went back to Miyuki… or someone else that we haven’t met…” Sami rubs at her arms and glances over at the group at the firepit. “I had her there but… She probably hated me…” Three takes Sami’s hands into her own. She looked up into Three’s eyes. “Well I know that isn’t true.” she says smiling. Sami blushes again. “H-how do you know..?” Three giggles. “You forget who you’re talkin’ to?” She brings her hand up to her chest. “Mochi and I may not be a part of her anymore, but we know how she is.” She looks over at the blustering group. “We could never hate you. That’s impossible. And I know that she must care for you so much more than I can imagine she does.”

“Why?” Three looks back to Sami. “‘Cause when I look at you…” She pauses and giggles. “Well, let’s just say that she’s spent more time with you than I have.” Sami blushes yet again and turns away from Three, looking over at the original. After a moment she smiles and looks back to Three to thank her but is interrupted by her instead. “You have to sweep her off her feet!” Sami stares at her blankly. “Huh?” “Your flirting from the old days won’t cut it.” She continues as she looks over to the others, Two specifically. “She may not act it, especially when ya look at Mochi, but Orange is a girly girl.” She smiles softly. “She’s likes stuffin’er face with chocolate, loves to laugh…” She brings her hand to her lips and chuckles a little. “And she’s a real sucker for romance. Even though she says it’s too much, she secretly likes it.” She smiles back at Sami. “We can’t really hide the way we feel from each other, y’know?” Sami stares at Three, unsure of herself. Three closes in on Sami and embraces her in a tight hug, filling her face with red at the squeeze. She looks down at Sami, “Trust me, I have had a whole lot o’years to learn the nuance of my heart and fine tune what it is that makes the blood rush into her cheeks.” Sami stares at her and blinks. Three stammers and takes a step back. “W-what I meant is.. Uh.. Well…” She brings a finger to her chin and thinks for a moment. “Try this, if you ever get a chance to sit next to her, be sure to sit as closely as you can, and just give her a glance! That moment you share will be important. I promise.” Sami smiles and nods as Three begins to guide her back to the group. “Oh, and catch her off guard.” “Off guard?” “You know! When she’s least expecting something, just kinda… do it!”

Sami blushes again but this time with a smile as they rejoin the group. With Orange sandwiched between Yami and Irum, Sami can only sit next to Muri. She watches Three take her seat next to Two. She places herself down hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder with Two as she converses with everyone. She then peaks to her side at Two until she notices. Her eyes widen and blush fills her face before she smirks and looks away. Three winks at Samiâ&#x20AC;Ś

Chapter 3

The next day rises, Token Town fills with the warm familiar glow of nothingness. The white sky slowly begins to blend the world together. As empty and eerie it can seem, there was an air of tranquility and peace as well. Everything was quiet outside. The rexors, Lilith and Butch, cutely cuddle together in their housing, seeming to choose to sleep in on such a peaceful morning. Inside the doppelganger residence however, the large group awakes one by one, mostly to the smells of a tasty breakfast. Orange enters the kitchen to see Three preparing a hearty meal with Yami helping out. AICA sits at the table along with Sami, Muri and Miyuki. “That smells amazing!” Orange exclaims as she takes a seat next to Sami, causing her to jump. Sami’s eye dart around, first to Orange, then to a window, then down to AICA, finally to her hands which were fidgeting in her lap. She stammers and stutters for just a bit before quickly taking a deep breath and looking over to Orange with a smile. “Good morning, ORC!” Orange smiles brightly back and greets her and the rest of the room. Three chuckles and takes a seat at the table. “Yer gonna have ta let me keep this one.” She gestures at Yami who is

currently filling several plates with a mix of ground meats and scrambled eggs spiced to perfection accompanied by short stacks of french toast lightly sprinkled with a fine powdered sugar. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a better chef than her!” Yami smiles ear to ear over a poorly hidden chuckle before turning to face the others, plates in hand ready to serve. “Oh this is really nothing at all! Besides, AICA can’t have ALL of the praise and skills, right?” She says as she places a plate down in front of everyone before setting the other plates around for everyone that isn’t there yet. Muri takes a bite of the food and her eyes glow. “This tastes so good!” As the others chow down they too send praise Yami’s way. As the wonderful breakfast is eaten, they are soon joined in the kitchen by Two, still half asleep, with a very old looking book in her hand. “Hey, Princess,” Two calls out. “Ya left this in the bed.” Two tossed the book onto the table in front of Three. “Goodness Mochi!” Three yelps. “You have to be careful with these things. You know how old it is!” “I'm sure it ain't gonna disintegrate,” Two says as she takes a seat in front of a plate and spoons some of the breakfast into her mouth. After a couple of chews her eyes brighten up, waking her up. “Wow,” she exclaimed. “This is good! Ya do somethin’ new Three?” “It was Yami.” Two stuffs more into her cheeks and savors the taste. She smiles and looks to Orange. “Yer gonna have to let us keep this one!” “I said that too!” Concurs Three. “So what is that book anyway?” Orange asks. Three opens the book and flips through its pages. “This is a journal.” She closes it gently and places her hand over the

cover. “It belonged to a young boy who moved to this town with his uncle who acquired a farm nearby. And this is one of the reasons yer all here.” “You wanted to tell us about a farm boy?” Miyuki interjects. Three chuckles, “Actually, yes!” She holds the journal up for everyone to see. “This boy kept a journal of his life on that farm. How hard the work was, the interesting animals he tended to, the cooking lessons his uncle gave him and even the young local gal he tried to impress with them!” Three sits up straight and begins to smile. “This young boy, Emitt, talked all about his normal day to day right here! What life was like for people before it became what we now call ‘'The Void.’” “I can see why that would be so interesting!” says AICA. “Right!” Three giggles. “This book was found right next door! I think that maybe he left that farm when he got older and moved into town. Maybe he even married that local sweetheart o'his!” Two sits back and lets out a satisfied sigh with an empty plate. “We found plenty of books, diaries, logs. There's a library on the other side of town too. Kept up pretty well!” “And there's one thing many of those logs and diaries have in common; none of them go past a certain date.” “Great,” Yami says. “So if we knew how the calendar worked in this place we'd know how long ago things went blank.” “True,” responds Three. “I'm no expert on this sorta thing, but from what we've seen, many of the books and even the buildings appear to be hundreds of years old. Maybe even closer to a thousand!” She looks to AICA and Yami. “Don't suppose either of you can figure it out.” “Not my specialty.” Answers Yami.

“Not anymore I'm afraid.” Says AICA. “But that may not be a bad assessment.” “So,” starts Orange. “The Void has only been the void for a thousand years. That's a lot less than always.” “Oh that ain't the half of it, sister.” Two says as she stands up and leaves the room. A moment later she returns carrying a short sword and some type of wooden staff. “Have a look!” She hands the sword to Orange. “Notice anything?” Orange examines the sword over for a moment. It appears to be a short curved blade, similar to a katana. The hilt is ornate and there are engravings etched into the back of the blade. Finally the pommel holds a red crystal. She then looks up at Two. “Well… it looks neat?” The room sighs together. “It looks relatively new.” Answers Miyuki. She then takes the sword from Orange, examining it herself. “I have no idea what material it's made out of, but it was made well. There's no way the blade is close to even a century old. Let alone a thousand years.” “Exactly!” Shouts Three. “Compared to everything around us, these weapons are definitely brand new!” “Does that mean that there are still people here?” asked Sami. “Almost certainly.” answers AICA. Muri, with a cleaned plate, stands and begins to collect other plates that have been finished. “Have you all not seen other people around here before?” The room looks to Orange as she's called this place her home for so long. She straightens herself, “I haven't.” She responds. “The only person I've ever met that knew anything about the Void was Sambit,” she scrunches her face in thought. “And he wasn't even here in the Void with us.”

Three stands and makes her way around the table to Orange. “I know what y'all'er thinkin’. Mochi and I have a theory runnin’ about that.” “We think that 'The Void’ as we know it is more like a dead zone of some kind.” Two begins to explain. “Whatever this Beast of Destruction and Ruin did may not have affected everywhere. Maybe it's just this large area where we live, or maybe it was everywhere but one corner of the world.” “Whichever the case may be,” continues Three. “There must be people out there, surviving, and exploring out into the Void like Mochi and I are.” She takes the wooden staff from Two. “And they have these weapons to protect themselves from the many dangers that are out there.” Miyuki hands the blade back over to Two. “The gemstone is a bit tacky though.” “I have theories on that too,” starts Three. “But that's not the last thing I need y'all to see!” They all glance at each other. “We think we found information about the Deity of Creation, Sambit told you about.”

Orange steps outside into the Rexor pen. The two raptorlike creatures could be seen in their housing. It looked a bit like a chicken coop, though much larger and much more open to the air. There were troughs on either side, one filled with water and the other with what seemed to be a mix of various meat scraps and seeds. The beasts themselves, Butch and Lilith appeared quite content. Lilith was sitting inside while Butch sat outside at the entrance, seemingly standing guard for her. As Orange approached, Butch stands, his tail swaying slowly behind him.

Orange smiles and reaches her hands out on either side of his head and begins her pampering. “You happy to see me Butchy?” He lets out a quiet hiss from his nose and closes his eyes as he leans into her pets. A moment later, Two exits the house, joining Orange. “There ya are. They're almost done cleanin’,” she informs as she makes her way to her sister. “We'll be headin’ out pretty soon.” “Alright.” Orange looks at her with a distant smile. Two places her hand or Orange's shoulder. “I know we kinda dumped a lot on ya all of the sudden.” “It's a bit to take in,” Orange says. “The Void may not be a void after all, and there could be who knows how many people living who knows how far away from here. Maybe those places are full of color!" She pauses for a moment before standing and taking a deep breath. "It's exciting after so many years to think there could actually be something to this empty place, y'know?" "C'mon, let's get ready to head out. We're goin' down the street to the city hall. Seems like somethin' went down over there before the world turned to this."

Chapter 4

The group collected together and made their way over to what had to once be the town hall of this area. The building was large with a big dome ceiling. A wide set of steps led them up to the entrance which had statues of a man and a woman riding some kind of creature resembling a llama on either side of the doors. As they make their way inside they find the interior, while grand, was decrepit and falling apart. The still rampant lack of color only made this space feel more dead. Save for the center of the main hall where what looked to be a reception desk was located. A round counter encircling filing systems and other old equipment. What really stood out was the brown of the wooden counter and the deep green color of the counter top. "Color!" Shouts Irum. "So what's making this spot so special?" Yami ponders. She and Irum jump over the counter to take a closer look while the others investigate the rest of the room. The rest of the hall, still desaturated, was covered in debris from upper floors. Desks, chairs and bookshelves litter the floor as if a struggle or tornado passed through. Two picks up a book within the debris. "I've been spending a lot of time in this place looking through all these books. Lookin' for any

information I could find on what the world was like before all this." As she flips through the pages she smiles softly. "They're all public records of all the happenings here in Token Town. Like those logs and journals I told you about." Two calls out to everyone to gather around the receptionist counter. "Alright y'all, those dusty ol' books are nothing to what's over here." "Guys!" Yami shouts. "Irum found some kinda passage here. Goes down pretty deep!" The group congregates around the counter. They find a stairwell under the counter. One by one, they make their way down under the building. Down and down, the stairwell opens to a hallway lit up by strange orbs of light. At the end of this hall is a large stone door which is cracked open. The door has 'exitium quiescit, quiescat creaturae' engraved on it. "Is that Latin?" asks Sami. "Does that mean Latin actually exists here?" Maggie comments. "It essentially saysâ&#x20AC;Ś" AICA begins, "'Destruction and Creation rest here'." "Ah-ha!!" Shouts Three. "So that must confirm what we thought, Mochi!" "Confirm what now?" Miyuki asks. Two chuckles at Three before answering. "Take a look inside!" The group single files through the large stone door. One by one they enter and are each struck with awe at what they see. The room was large, lit with more magical light orbs. A shrine, or a tomb, it had a stone casket laying open in the center of the space, and at the far back wall stood a statue. The form was of a young woman with long flowing hair and a peaceful look about her face. Although made of stone, the sculpture was so well done it appeared to be flesh, every strand of hair, every wrinkle in her

dress, even the pores of her skin appeared lifelike. At her midsection, between her hands, hovered a strange looking egg. “Then that’s her!” Three exclaims. “She must be the Deity of Creation, just as we thought!” “She’s beautiful,” comments Maggie. Orange stands before the statue, examining its details. “What do you think this weird floating egg thing is?” Off to one of the far sides of the room, Miyuki kneels down in front of a stone tablet. “Hey,” she calls out to everyone. “There’s something written here.” Here lies the end of destruction. Here rests creation. When destruction returns, give creation physical form, relinquish thine own. If creation returns, ruin shall begin anew. “Yeah,” Two speaks up. “We had a few ideas on that too…” She takes a seat on the stone casket. “From what we found and the looks o’ this place, we think there was some kinda battle, and the Deity won out in the end, but maybe gave up her life to do so.” “Or,” Three continues. “She couldn’t win, and ended up sealing herself and the Beast of Destruction and Ruin in that egg-” Three’s comments are cut short by the very sudden sounds of crackling lightning and cries coming from Orange, who has her hand stuck on the floating egg. “ORC!!” Sami calls out to her and rushes to her side. She takes hold of Orange’s arm in an attempt to pull her from the egg but it holds fast. She takes her other hand on the egg to try and pry it away from Orange’s and cries out in pain herself. “It’s hot!!” A crack appears on the surface of the egg, releasing an eerie black and green smoke into the room before a blinding light shines

through the crack to stop it. A moment later, the two are able to separate their hands from the egg and all of the noise subsides. Catching her breath, Sami looks to Orange. “Are you alright? Did you get burned?” Orange holds her hand, “I’m fine…. I feel like I just ran a mile though…” Sami looks down at her own hand, red from the intense heat from the egg. “What was that about?” Two shouts. “You actually touched it?” Three adds. Orange chuckles to herself. “I guess I couldn’t resist.” The room sighs before Miyuki speaks up. “This kinda looked like a warning, Orange,” she says pointing at the stone tablet. “Well,” Orange retorts. “Instead of all of that fancy talk, they shoulda just said ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ at the top!” “Well if you had let us finish...” begins Two as Three finishes her statement. “...We think we can bring the Deity of Creation back to life, but requires a sacrifice.” “And touching the egg breaks that seal…” Orange looks at the egg and then to Sami. “Well it looks okay to me…” She notices Sami holding onto her hand and reaches out for it. “You okay?” “Y-yeah, thanks!--” Sami smiles. “-- uhh, guys?” Yami interrupts. She points to the ceiling where a thick cloud of black and green smoke swirls ominously overhead. Small flashes of light rumble about inside as if a small thunderstorm were happening within. “That’s not the beast is it?” “It looks scary enough to me.” says Maggie.

“Did I let it out??” Orange wonders. Before anyone can react any further, the cloud begins to swirl faster before shooting out the door. “Oh no!!” “It’s getting away!” Three shouts. She and Two chase after it followed by AICA and Miyuki. “What about the egg?” asks Sami. “Leave it!” Two answers as she exits. The group rushed down the hall and up the stairwell to find the cloud leaving through the entrance of the building. They rush to the entrance but are stopped when the cloud seemingly takes a swipe at them. “We can’t let that thing out!” “I’m on it!” calls out Three. She throws her arms out in front of her and summons forth a gust of wind that whirls around her. The yellow earing on her left ear glows brightly and with an effort, the winds swirling around her body blast forth to surround the cloud. At first it seems to keep the cloud contained, however just as soon as it is captured, it manages to slip through the wind streams and gets outside. “S-sorry, I’m still practicing elemental things…” “Don’t worry about it, honey,” says Two as she and the others rush past her exiting the building. The cloud hangs in the air over them. It looks around at the area, at the destruction and emptiness. After a moment the cloud begins to slowly expand. The group looks on. “What… is it doing?” asks Maggie. “I don’t think we should wait to find out,” answers Miyuki. “How do you expect us to fight a cloud, Captain?” Yami quips. Lightning rattles around within the cloud as it continues to expand. Finally, it quickly contracts and shoots a smokey tendril into the sky, slashing at the air with it and ripping a dark

hole open. As it opens, a vacuum pressure begins sucking everything toward it. The cloud is the first to enter. The group all try to grab onto something as they too lose footing and get pulled into the air. Yami isn’t able to grab onto anything stable and rises up to the sky falling into the hole. Miyuki jumps up after her in an attempt to take a hold of her but also is sucked in. Three slips and begins to fall up into the portal but Two catches a hold of her hand. Soon after, Muri also lifts up and flies away toward the hole in the sky. “Muri!” Irum shouts before quickly leaping into the air after her. She reaches her, grabbing her by the waist. “Catch!” Irum yells out before she launches Muri down to the ground with enough force to reach Two who frees and hand from Three to catch her. Irum cheers out loudly as she’s sucked into the hole. The pole that Sami happened to find to hold onto slips out of the ground. As she begins to float away, Orange rushes in to get a hold of her. “I gotcha!” She pulls her closer and Sami wraps her arms around her, holding on tightly. Orange slowly makes her way to AICA, as everyone else works their way back into the building. However, AICA slips and begins to float away. “AICA!!” “No!” Sami shouts. “What do we do?” she asks looking up at Orange. “Hang on,” they can hear from the rest of the group. “We’re gonna getcha!” Two yells out to them. Orange sees them, then looks down to Sami and smiles weakly. “We’ll be okay!” she assures before letting go of her hold, sending them both up to the hole in the sky. Shortly after Sami and Orange pass through the hole, it closes up and everything calms again. The remaining girls exit the town hall looking into the sky for any signs of their friends or… anything.

“This is awful,” says Muri. “Irum, and Ms. Orange. Everyone else!” “It might be for the best that Orange is with them…” Two mentions. “What do you mean?” asks Maggie. Three holds onto Two’s arm. “You felt it too right? Something familiar about that darkness?”

“Yeah…”

Algameen

Chapter 1 “Your research has been going well a presume?” An old man asks as he and his colleague watch a setting sun over a vast ocean. The old man sported a long scraggly beard complete with a set of bushy eyebrows and mustache, however his dome was quite bare. He stands with his arms behind his back draped in a white robe. "I can't be sure to be honest." The man who answered was middle aged. No more than 30 years. His skin was darker than the old man and his head was covered with light blue hair, short and pulled into a wolf's tail at the back of his head. The eyes behind his slim framed glasses were sharp and a deep blue to match his top. "Maybe I should just give it up…" he adds as he reaches into his jacket pocket. He was wearing a casual unbuttoned blazer with khakis. The jacket was white and had long coattails and was adorned with a crest on the breast pocket that read, ‘Algameen Aloha ‘Āina Academy’. The man pulls his hand from his pocket holding a lemon candy and promptly unwraps it and pops it into his mouth. "We're capable of a lot but I don't think even the Gods are up to that."

"Oh don't be so dramatic." The old man patted him on his back, causing him to choke on his candy for a moment. "Why not take over as Headmaster instead! I could use the vacation!" The man smiles and laughs. "You know I can't do that. Besides, no one could take your place. Not really." The old man laughs in turn and prepares to speak up before he cuts himself off. A sudden sharp and serious look replaces his smile as he looks into the sky over the ocean. "What is--" before the man could finish asking, a loud crack of thunder shakes the sky. He looks up to see a strange portal open up in the air before spewing out an ominous cloud of green and black. The cloud is large and foreboding, though as quickly as it appeared, it vanished into the town behind them. Dissipating and dissolving to seemingly nothing. "There's more," says the old man. His friend looks over to him. "It would seem that something interesting is happening to our little island." He glances back with a smile before walking away. "I'm going to get some tea. You can handle whatever happens next." "Headmaster!" The sky rumbles with thunder again. Sighing at the old man, he turns and heads off to the beach the crack in the sky hovers over. As he arrives, the hole in the sky roars up and spews people out to be caught by gravity. Yami, Miyuki, Irum, AICA, Sami and Orange all pop out one by one and plummet to the sand below. While the group screams to their sudden doom, a voice shouts out. "Avec FĂŤng: Cessavit Tumultus Vocatis Turbinis Vasti!" With that a surge of wind rushes up, strong enough to slow the descent of the girls to a gentle float to the ground. They all lie there collecting themselves as the man rushes over to them. "Are you all okay?" He shouts.

The man holds his hand out to Orange to help her to her feet. "Yup!" Orange confirms warily. "Never wanted to fall to my death, but I guess I can cross that off of the--" Orange is cut off when she looks up at the man helping her. The two lock eyes and remain silent for a good while. "Bal…" the man whispers under his breath finally. He blinks and is snapped out of his stupor by a shout. "Hey!" Miyuki snaps. "If you two are finished gawking at each other…" The man stammers in response while Orange quickly stumbles to her feet. "I was asking if you were the one that did that… With the wind." "Ah, yes!" He answers. The man walks over to AICA to help her to her feet as well. "A fairly standard spell, but with much more power behind it." "A spell?" AICA questions as she takes the man's hand. She freezes too when she looks at him. He looks down at her, puzzled. "Are you alright little one?" Yami glances at him for a moment and rolls her eyes with a sigh. She takes AICA's other arm and helps her to her feet. "Yeah she's alright. She must have landed on her head to make her face so red." "So you can do magic?" Orange asks excitedly. He looks at Orange. "Well of course I can! That shouldn't be a shock though Balbis…" He notices the confused look on Orange's face and stammers to himself for a moment. "Sorry, I-I was thinking of someone else...perhaps." He takes a moment to compose himself. "Oh! Speaking of names, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Sano. Sano Keawe," he bows his head in greeting.

Orange sets her hair behind her ear, showing her face more. "I'm Orange Reator! It's a right pleasure to meetcha- memeet you…" She chuckles to herself a bit before she's nudged in the arm by Sami and a loud cough is heard from Miyuki. "Oh! Uhm, sorry." She motions her arms in a presenting fashion toward Sami. "This is my best friend Sami. She's good people." She points behind Sano. "Those are my little girls, AICA and Yami." "Not..actually related," Yami interjects before turning to AICA. "Is she always going to call us that?" "You get used to it," responds AICA. Orange looks behind herself. "This is captain Miyuki, don't let her stern face fool you, she's a big softy." "I'm sure we don't need these false descriptions with your introductions, ORC," Miyuki retorts. "And this is Irum!" Says Orange. "She's… strong!" Irum flexes proudly hearing this. "I see!" Sano replies. "Quite the ragtag group it would seem." He takes a moment before speaking up again. "I have a question to ask you all. What relation do you have with that being that came here through that portal before you?" They all look at each other and then explain the events that led them to where they are now. "Beast of Destruction and Ruin, eh? That doesn't exactly sound good." He looks at Orange. "And you say it was potentially sealed away within that stone egg you touched, correct?" She nods her head. Sano brings his hand to his chin and ponders a moment. "That could be why it went so silent so quickly. Normally breaking out of a seal, with or without help, will take a tremendous amount of energy. It must be laying low to regain strength and shouldn't cause any trouble, at least not until it’s fully ready to." "I didn't think it worked that way…" Sami questions.

Sano looks up at her from his thoughts. "You must be thinking about comics and movies. Where the big bad guy has been sealed away for a long time, only to wait and gain strength to break out some time later." The others look around at each other and nod in agreement. "That can be dramatic for sure, but anyone really worth their salt with sealing magics knows that a cage needs a strong lock. Simply having the power to break out wouldn't be enough, and the act of attempting could, as an example, siphon something from the sealed to strengthen such a lock." "I was a might winded after touching that egg thing." Orange concurs. "The next question is," Sano says to himself. "What to do with all of you." After another silent moment of thought, he speaks up. "Alright! I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very well leave you all here to fend for yourselves. So you'll all be coming to stay with me." "Will that not be any trouble?" Miyuki chimes in. "There are quite a few of us." "We wouldn't want to intrude." Sami continues. "Not to worry," reassures Sano. "There will be more than enough space for all of you." He begins to take his leave and the group follows along with him. "So," starts Yami. "Where are we anyway?" "Well," Sano begins to reply. "I wouldn't know what to call our dimension. Until now we believed that the concept of other parallel worlds or dimensions was basically impossible. But, I can welcome you to the secret magical hub of planet Earth, the quaint little town of Algameen." "Are there hubs on different worlds or do you normally welcome newcomers to the planet?" asks Orange. "Better to be safe. I don't know what you call your world, or if you come from an alternate version of ours for that matter.

Plus I guess I've gotten used to it. You'd be surprised how many of the students are actually off-world aliens." "Aliens?!" Exclaimed Orange. "Students?" Asked Miyuki. "Yes," confirmed Sano. "I thought I mentioned that I was a teacher." He points toward a large tower in the distance. "You can see it there, Algameen Academy. Our student body is made up of quite a range of people. From humans, aliens, robots, and I have a genetic experiment escapee hailing from Japan in my class. She doesn't look too unlike Irum actually." "What a cast!" Yami says sarcastically. The group continues to make their way through the town. It is small and quaint. Rarely seeing a building reaching over 3 stories, save for the academy Sano was just telling the girls about. It was a very large campus made up of 5 main buildings, the one in the center and most prominent boasting a tall spire and bell that rang out over the town below striking the hour with it’s tone. Surrounding the campus were residence housing. Homes built in a blend of modern American and Japanese architecture. Mixed in with these homes were shops of all kinds, many of which were old and rustic looking. Potion shops, fortune tellers, general magic stores, there were all kinds and straight out of a fantasy story. The group soon find themselves in front of a large four leveled apartment complex. It looked new and modern. “Well here we are,” says Sano. “Wow!” Irum exclaims. “Big house!” “He just lives in one of those, Irum,” Miyuki corrects as the others chuckle. They all follow Sano inside. “It sure would be something to have this place to yourself though,” says Orange. “Well,” Sano starts. “You’re not far off.” Sano explains as they make their way to the top floor. “I do have this place to

myself for the time being. This building was built to be student housing for the academy. There was… an incident a few years ago, and now this is my home!” They make it to Sano’s door and he begins to open it. “Basically I’m helping to make sure the utilities are working before it’s opened to the students.” Sano welcomes the others inside. His apartment was rather spacious, opening up to a large living room area with a connected dining room space. Simple furnishings one would expect from student housing, a comfortable sofa, television, etc. There was a decorative mantelpiece that held what appeared to be a large blade that was missing its hilt, unfinished and missing a part of itself. There was also something else sitting next to it, a photo. “You can all make yourselves at home here for the time being,” Sano says as he makes his way to the mantel. He looks down at the photo for a moment before laying it face down as the others enter the room. “If you’re hungry then you can feel free to make yourselves anything you find tasty in the kitchen. I just went shopping so there’s plenty. We’ll figure out which rooms you’ll all take after I come back.” “You’re leaving already?” Sami asks. “Where are you going?” adds Orange. Sano takes a few steps towards the door. “I have to head back to the Academy,” he starts. “I’ll inform the Headmaster of what you’ve told me and we’ll go from there.” “Now that I think about it,” Miyuki ponders. “You took that whole story pretty well, considering.” Sano lets out an exasperated sigh. “Well, when that portal first opened and we saw that creature, the Beast, come through it, I was pretty shaken. But, the Headmaster, he just walked off to have a cup of tea, leaving me to handle whatever happened next.” “He just walked away?” probed Sami.

“Yes!” Sano answers. “I’ve learned to base my level of worry on him…” “He sound super strong!” Irum says. “As well as wise!” Sano turns to the door. “I won’t be too long.” “You sure you wanna leave your home to a bunch of interdimensional strangers?” Yami teases before he leaves. Sano thinks for a moment before turning to AICA standing beside him. “Think you can be in charge of these strangers while I’m gone?” he asks as he pats her head. AICA straightens her spine as her face flushes. “Y-Yes D-Doc Doc-Fa-S-s-Sir!” Orange chimes in loudly, “I’ll hold down the fort for ya!” Sano chuckles and waves as he leaves through the door. Once the door closes, she palms her face with a loud sigh. “Very smooth.” Yami jokes. Sami rolls her eyes. “So what are we supposed to do now? “Magic man say eat?” Irum suggests. “No, I mean. We released a beast of destroying entire dimensions into a fresh one ready for destroying!” “Not only that,” Miyuki adds. “But we’re in an unknown dimension with no known way of returning.” “You’re right,” Orange interjects. “We can’t let that thing hurt this place. We have to find out where it is.” “We fight?” Irum asks. “Fight?” says Miyuki. “We’d have to find it first.” “It destroys DIMENSIONS” Sami reinforms. “How are we supposed to fight something like that?” “Well,” Orange shrugs. “Sano said that Headmaster guy didn’t seem phased. Maybe he can show us how.” “Then we fight!” Irum cheers.

“Irum, no,” says Sami. “We don’t even know what it actually is!” “You could always just have that Headmaster fight it if he’s not scared.” Yami suggests. Orange walks over and hugs Yami. “Oh sweety, I gotta claim responsibility for this since it was sorta my fault.” “You’re still not my mother” Yami claims with her face muffled by Orange’s stomach. “Oh ORC,” Sami begins. “It’s not your fault…” Yami manages to pull herself away a little bit from Orange’s embrace. “No, just her curiosity.” “Okay” interrupts AICA. They all look at her as she rubs her cheeks uncharacteristically. “We have all been through a lot in a very short amount of time. We won’t have all of the answers to our questions right now. We should take our minds off of everything for now and rest.” She walks toward the kitchen. “Dr. Sano welcomed us into his home and to relax. Yami, what would I be able to help you with in here?” Everyone looks at each other as AICA leaves the room. “Did she say Doctor?” asks Miyuki. “Long story,” Yami answers. “But she’s right. This back and forth isn’t going to help us. We should wait until Dr. Sano gets back. We’ll be able to figure this out in the morning.” With that she exits the room to join her sister in the kitchen. Sami follows soon after with a sigh and quiet affirmation. “We EAT!” Irum cheers again as she too leaves to the kitchen. “Then we fight!” Orange and Miyuki follow after. However Orange pauses for a moment. She turns her head as if hearing something to find herself looking at the strange blade resting atop the mantelpiece. She gets closer, closer, a silent whisper pulling at her. She reaches

her hand toward it, but is stopped by something landing on her shoulder. It’s Miyuki’s hand. Orange turns toward her. “What have we learned?” Miyuki lectures. Orange nervously chuckles to herself. “I-I just… thought I heard something.” “I’m sure.” They exit the room together to join the others in the kitchen.

Chapter 2 "Sami…" "Wake up Sami…" Sami feels constant poking pressure on her cheek. Her eyes flutter open lazily. In her daze she manages to mumble something about needing ten more felines before being able to see in her blurry vision. Orange smiles at her. "Good morning, sleepy head." She greets. She swirls her finger on Sami's face and continues to gently poke at her. "Come on, get out of bed. Yami's making us breakfast!" "What time is it…?" "A little after five-thirty." Sami grabs Orange's hand to stop her from poking her but is too tired to actually do anything about it. She squeezes Orange's hand tight as she inhaled a deep breath and stretches. "Why did you wake me up so early?" She asks while smiling back at her. "Breakfast can wait a little, right?" Orange chuckles softly. "We're going to school remember?" "School?" Asked Sami, still raspy and groggy.

"We're meeting the Headmaster soon. I'll wait for you in Sano's room." Sami blinks her eyes open sharply as Orange turns to leave her to wake up, her hand softly slips from her grasp. She watches, arm still out stretched, as Orange exits the bedroom. Sami collapses over the edge of the top bunk of her bed, her arm dangling. "Oh yeahâ&#x20AC;Ś" she says muffled by the mattress.

After another of Yami's hearty breakfasts, the group all head out for Algameen Academy. "You are quite the chef, Yami." Compliments Sano." And at such a young age. You would make it very far as a culinary major at the academy." Yami elbows AICA walking beside her and snickers. "He doesn't know," she whispers. AICA rolls her eyes. "What kind of person is the Headmaster?" She asks. "Ummâ&#x20AC;Ś" Sano thinks for a moment. "Looney." "Well that's reassuring," Miyuki chimes. "Perhaps that was a bit strong." Sano thinks a bit more. "He's very carefree. There aren't many things that seem to bother him, as far as I've seen. And he always seems to know what's going on. Like he's hiding a secret of some kind. His abilities with magic are unmatched and that along with his wisdom surely come from his age." "That's usually the case," Sami agrees. Sano laughs to himself. "Balbis and I had a theory that he is at least in his mid hundreds by now." "Do people normally live that long around here?" Miyuki asks.

"Oh no no. That's certainly about twice our normal life expectancy." He scoffs to himself. "I'd be lucky to make it even a quarter of that myself." "You look like you already made it that far to me." Miyuki remarks. "Yes," Sano laughs. "A ripe old age of 32." “Sensei!!” A girl cries out from behind. The group turns around to see two young girls running toward them. They’re both wearing green blazers with coattails, similar to the one Sano wears. One wore brown pants while the other, a knee length skirt. Each also had a purple askot around their necks. “Good to see you girls,” greets Sano. “Especially this early!” The girls casually bow to him as they pass and hurry on their way ahead of the group. “Students of yours?” Sami asks. They all continue walking toward the academy. “Yes, in my middle school home room. Their normal teacher is on leave so I’m filling in for her. I’m normally teaching advanced magic and casting in one of the high schools.” They begin to make their way out of the town and into the academy campus proper. Their surroundings change from a peaceful rural setting to something much more regal looking. Smooth cobble walkways and fancy corinthian stone pillars. There are more shops and stores on their path. Food and cakes, cafes, general stores and even some specializing with magical items. The campus was a town all on it’s own. The further they go, the more students they see. Some wearing the same green blazers the girls from before were wearing, some young children wearing blue. One student appears from around the corner ahead of them and notices Sano and greets him. “Hey there Mr. Sano!” He was wearing the same uniform as everyone else, but his blazer was a beige color. He too had a

purple askot splashing color on his wardrobe. His blazer was unbuttoned and he held his bag over his shoulder like a delinquent. “Hello, Johnny!” Sano greets. “Got yourself quite the entourage today! I knew you had it in ya!” “I hope all of you aren’t missing me too much.” Johnny bows. “Honestly, sir, our assignments are way easier now.” “Well as long as you’re still getting the theory behind the mana usage then you’ll be okay when I return I’m sure.” “That was easier back when we had --,” Johnny cuts himself off when he notices Orange. “Y-you..” Orange looks at everyone else around her before pointing to herself. “I know, Johnny.” Sano interrupts. “I’ll be sure to pay the class a visit to give you all an extra assignment later today.” He begins walking and the group follows behind, leaving Johnny stuttering. “W-wait!! What do you mean extra assignment!?” He shouts. “I just said it was easier, she still gives us a ton of homework!” “See you in class Johnny!” Sano shouts behind him. “And be sure to button your blazer!” The group continued on their way with the wails of Johnny behind them. They find themselves now in what appears to be the main plaza of the campus. In front of them is the bell tower building holding the office of the Headmaster. There are pathways that lead to other large buildings surrounding the plaza, separated by water channels and connected by bridges. “Those buildings out there are the different schools.” Sano points out as he points to his left. “That there is the middle school where I’m subbing in for a colleague during her maternity leave.

In case you ever need to find me during the day. Up ahead is where we’re heading.” “Pretty fancy school.” Miyuki comments. “I feel like we’re in some kind of anime,” Sami adds. “That can be a draw for some of the students from the city, actually,” says Sano. As they walk through the building, the air becomes heavy, and heavier still as they go up floor by floor. The fur on Irum’s tail begins to stand on end and she grows a tense looking face. “Hey,” Miyuki speaks up again. “You sure there isn’t anything else we should know about this place?” Her tone, stern as she side eyes Sano. He glances at her and thinks. “His assistant can be a little.. Overbearing…” Sano admits. “But she shouldn’t cause you any trouble.” He laughs to himself as they make it to a grand looking door at the center of a hallway. “Well this is it.” He knocks on the door. “Headmaster, we’re coming in.” After his announcement, he takes hold of the handles of the two heavy looking doors and pushes them both open. The light of the morning sun fills everyone’s vision. As their eyes adjust, they can see a large office room. To one side is a wall of shelves holding many books. The other side is occupied by tables and other contraptions. One appears to be some kind of globe, though it doesn’t depict anything resembling a planet. The table holds a very fancy tea set, the kettle piping hot with steam rising from it’s spout. In front of them is a large desk with papers stacked up high and books strewn about, possibly from the shelf next to it. A woman stands next to the desk. She’s tall with a head of long straight black hair and dressed in a white ao dai with white pants, trimmed in red. Her silhouette is completed by two small horns coming out from the sides of her head. Behind the desk stands a short old man wearing a formal looking robe, also white in color adorned with red patterns. He

was stroking his beard as he watched out over the campus through the window. “I can’t believe you,” the woman abruptly speaks up. Her voice was cold and stern. She points at the group. “What were you thinking, Sano!? What did we talk about all those years ago?” Sano raises his hands in defense. “W-what did I do?” “Don’t give me any of that--” “Now now, settle down, Langsat.” The old man interrupts. He turns to face everyone with a smile. “You’re much too scary to be the first thing these new people hear.” She growls to herself. “Fiiine.” “Besides,” he continues. “I'm sure Sano had nothing to do with them all appearing here so suddenly." The old man walks around to the front of his desk. "Now, allow me to formally welcome you all to Algameen. And more specifically, the Algameen Aloha ‘Āina Academy, of which I am the Headmaster. You can call me Master Ragolia!" "Honestly, Phillip," starts Langsat. "Don't you think that's a bit much?" "Aw, but my name doesn't have a great ring to it!" He takes a few steps closer. "Anyway, let's get a look at you all." He points his finger out. "You with the horns, you must be Miyuki. And, since you're wearing glasses, that would make you Sami, and the other one with ears Irum!" "Y-yes," confirms Sami. Irum stays quiet, keeping a serious look on her face. Ragolia steps even closer, leaning down to look at the twins standing side by side. He looks at them both and they look puzzled at him. After a moment he points to Yami. "You are Yami, and then that makes you AICA, correct?" He guesses as he switches his point to the other young robot.

Yami grins and proudly places her hands on her hips. "I like this guy!" Finally he leans up in front of Orange. "And that just leaves you. Your name is Orange, yes?" Orange smiles brightly. "Yup! Pleasure to make your acquaintance!" She reaches her hand out. Ragolia laughs and reciprocates her handshake. "My oh my, the pleasure's all mine! Sano you really weren't kidding!" He walks back to his desk. "So now, you all come from another dimension you call, ‘The Void,’ yes? No doubt named so due to the destructive events of this Beast of Destruction and Ruin. We know that this beast was sealed away and, uh, accidentally released from said seal recently. About how long was it sealed away anyway?” “According to some research done by others of our group that weren’t pulled into that portal,” Miyuki starts. “We estimated that this event took place close to a thousand years ago.” “Your own research?” Langsat interjects. “You’d think after all of that time it would have already been well documented.” “But there are no people.” says Sami. “None that we've seen yet anyway,” AICA adds. “Right,” Sami continues. “The whole place is a barren sea of white and what seems like the ruins of whatever was left after.” “That sounds awful,” says Ragoli. “To have been born in such conditions.” They look around at each other. “Well actually,” AICA begins. “We’re not actually all from there, originally.” “Seems we were all drawn to that dimension due to our connections to Orange, one way or another,” Miyuki agrees. “I, just like I assume everyone, just managed to be there for her.

Even though none of us has the ability to travel between dimensions.” Irum nods in agreement, still holding her gaze at the old man. “Yes, that right.” Sami looks at Orange, who now looks a bit unsure. “ORC is the only one of us who has always been there.” “I see,” Ragolia contemplates. “That’s very interesting. Like a fated friendship that forced you all together. But surely there are some people around there.” He looks to Orange. “A community, or family.” Everyone looks at Orange as she rubs at her arm and glances down to her feet. “A-actually,” she starts. “I, uh. I don’t exactly, have a family. Or a mom, or dad.. or parents.” “What do you mean--” Langsat begins to ask but is cut off by Ragolia holding up his hand as he stares at Orange. “No family you say,” he says. “Orange, what are your earliest memories?” She laughs lightly at herself and looks away from him. “You’re going to think I make no sense.” “Try us,” Ragolia reassures her. “You’re in a town of witches, robots and demons, all kept secret from the rest of the world, including the city connected to us! We’ve seen and heard plenty.” Sano, Langsat and Ragolia stare at Orange intently. She nervously looks at Sano before releasing a deep sigh. She holds her arms up in front of her body and begins fidgeting with her hands. “The first thing that I can remember,” Orange begins. “Is darkness. Like, nothing. Other than myself, I couldn’t see anything around, I didn’t know if there was even anything around to see in the first place.” She looks up at everyone. “And then, just like that, I remember just being in the Void. By myself. Alone.

First nothing but endless darkness, then nothing but endless blinding white.” “Is there anything else that you remember?” asks Ragolia. “Yeah.. well, the only other thing that I remembered, or more like knew, was my name--” “Your name…” Sano says in tandem with her. Orange looks at Sano with a soft smile mixed with confusion. “Y-yeah…” “Intriguing,” Ragolia strokes his beard. He makes his way to the corner of the room where the strange orb was displayed. “This may seem out of nowhere, Ms. Orange, but I’d like to try something if you don’t mind.” He lifts the orb out of its cradle and brings it to Orange. Upon closer inspection it appears to be a glass ball containing some swirling energy. He holds it out to Orange, offering her to take hold of it. “Wha-what is it?” Orange asks as she takes the orb from the old man. “We call this the Genesis Squall.” Langsat informs. “It took ten mages with an incredibly powerful level of mana control to contain a mana storm within that orb. What you hold in your hands now is Mana in its most raw form concentrated down to a point.” The group oohs and aahs at the information. “Fancy names aside,” Ragolia continues. “It’s a handy tool in helping to discover one’s mana nature. Essentially, what element of magic you are most connected to. Or if not at all!” “Me? Mana nature..?” “Look into the storm,” Ragolia instructs. “Concentrate.” Orange stares into the orb intently. A small light reflects back into her eyes from the center of the storm. “Imagine being in that storm. Feel it whirling around you.” The small light within the orb begins to grow and the storm starts to rage. The light burns brightly and soon a ball of flame is swirling around the orb.

Sano’s eyes light up and Langsat looks shocked. “Intriguing indeed!" “So what does that mean?” Orange asks excitedly. “It means that you have an affinity for fire based magic.” answers Langsat. Ragolia laughs. “Anyone else wish to give it a try?” Orange looks over to Sami and hands the orb over to her. “Sami, you should totally try it!” “O-oh!” She stammers a little bit excitedly. “Alright!” As she takes the orb into her own hands, Ragolia instructs her just as he had for Orange. “Alright now, Sami, do just as I told Orange a moment ago. You don’t have to put any effort into it. Simply concentrate on the storm in your hands. Let it connect with you.” She closes her eyes and a moment later another light begins to shine within the storm of the orb. However, this light shines much brighter, and continues to grow in both size and intensity, until Sami is essentially holding a huge ball light in her hands. “Ooh, that’s a good one.” “A light mana nature,” Sano informs. “They say that speaks for a nurturing personality type.” “So I’m a healer then…” Sami quips, however just as soon as she starts, the light in her hands grows a dark spot within it. It grows larger still, swirling and mixing with the light in her hands. “What’s happening..?” “No way!” Sano shouts. “I’ve never seen this before.” “Is this bad?” asks Sami. “What he said sounded bad.” “You have two mana natures.” Langsat answers. Ragolia steps closer to Sami. “Certainly not a bad thing. And also not exactly uncommon. Why, Langsat here has a multinature of earth, air and fire!” He smiles at Sami. “What isn’t common is to see the natures of both light and dark coexist in a

single person!” He gently takes the orb from Sami. “This is quite exciting! Who’s next?” “Ahem!” Langsat clears her throat loudly. “If we can get to the pressing matters at hand, sir?” “Ah, yes, right. The world ending stuff.” He walks the orb back to its corner. “For now, we know for a fact that this beast is still here in Algameen. It can’t have gone into the city or we at least would have felt another disturbance like when it broke in here in the first place.” “That’s right,” continues Langsat. “We’ve also deduced that it must expend a lot of energy when it does it’s destruction, rather than absorb whatever it destroys for itself. Otherwise it would have started wreaking havoc the moment it arrived.” Ragolia returns to the window behind his desk and looks out over the campus. “It’s hiding out there in our town somewhere, and we don’t know how much time we have to find it before it’s ‘ollie ollie oxen free.’” He pauses for a moment before turning back to the group. “Langsat, can I have you speak to the High Priesthood in the temple about all of this? Have them focus their energies on finding a way to locate that monster.” “Of course, sir.” “But keep this quiet. I only want the high members of the temple on this.” “Are… you sure, sir?” “The new semester started recently. Many of our students have many other things to worry about that don’t mean the end of the world.” “Understood,” she says as she bows her head. Orange steps forward. “What about us?” “You?” Ragolia asks. “Headmaster, this is all happening because of me,” Orange says. “Y’all have been very hospitable so far to us and I

appreciate that. But I can’t stand by and let you all fix a mistake that I made.” Sami glances to Orange by her side and sees her shaking. She places a hand on her shoulder. “My curiosity is about to get an entire dimension destroyed.” She looks up at the Headmaster. “Let me stop it.” A long moment of silence passes. “How?” Langsat speaks up. “You only just learned that you have the capacity for wielding magic.” “Langsat,” Ragolia sighs. “Always so brutishly sharp.” He walked around to the front of his desk again. “She’s right. However, that shouldn't stop you from trying, of course. This mistake, as you put it, can be seen as a blessing! Fate even. I rather enjoyed seeing that face of yours, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. You and your friend, Sami, have learned something new about yourselves here as well.” He steps up to Orange and places his hand on her other shoulder. “Calling something at the scale of traveling to a new dimension and brightening an old man’s day a mistake takes some of the fun out of it don’t you think?” “I...I guess so.” “Don’t lose heart,” Ragolia encourages. “You should let us handle the search for this beast. Use your time here to learn more about magic, see some sights you might otherwise miss out on where you come from. But most importantly, your group should prioritize finding a way to return to your own dimension. Because even with my many years of experience, I haven’t the foggiest idea of how you’ll be able to do it!” He laughs at himself loudly. “He’s right,” Sami concurrs. “We’ll be able to help fix all this another way.” Ragolia steps back. “Now you all be on your way. Sano, I believe you have homeroom to begin. As for the rest of you, I want you to have these.” Langsat presents each of the group with a card with a drawing of the Headmaster’s face on it. “These passes will grant you access to all of our facilities here on campus.

Stores, our various libraries, just please don’t walk into classes in session.” “Libraries?” AICA asks. “Yes, each of the four schools have their own vast libraries. And we also have another main library on campus. The knowledge in that building is accumulated over centuries and from countless worlds. Surely there will be something there to help you all in your return trip home.” “Thanks,” says Miyuki. “That’ll come in really handy.” With that, everyone leaves the Headmaster’s office. With the room quiet, he watches them leave the building from his window. “Well, that was rather interesting, wasn’t it, Langsat?” “She could use a haircut.” “I can’t wait to see what she does next.” Ragolia chuckles.

“Alright!” Sano exclaims. “I have to get to my classroom.” He points to a large building in the distance. “That over there is the main library that the Headmaster was speaking of. Feel free to check out any books you see there. And that would be the elementary school,” he points out just next to the library. “Other than that, feel free to explore the town, just, don’t go into the city.” Sano reaches into his pocket and pulls out a couple lemon candies, unwraps one and pops it into his mouth. He stares at the other for a moment and sighs and looks at Orange. “You know, something you said back there reminded me of something someone I knew once said. She was researching something about mana, which led to experimentation, which led to a large fire in our middle school.” He laughs a little. “She was so upset. Said her need to know nearly killed a whole building.” Orange frowns at him with an unsure look. “What she didn’t realize at the time was

that her experiment would go on to become staple magical practice in many of our advanced classes today. With some refinement of course.” He hands her the other lemon candy. “If you want, I can spend the time you’re here teaching you to control the magic abilities that you two possess.” “Really!?” Orange asks excitedly. “It’s no trouble?” Sami adds, also excitedly. Sano laughs. “No, no, of course it’s no trouble. Just let me know at the end of the school day.” He begins to walk away to get to his class. “Yes!” Orange shouts back at him as he leaves. “A thousand times yes!” She cheerfully unwraps the candy he gave her and pops it in her mouth. She bounces a little. “Magic.” Sami watches Orange softly laugh to herself for a moment before looking away.

CLAP!

“Welp!” starts Yami, her hands still together. “Guess we should get going!” “Go where?” asks Sami. Yami points her thumbs behind her at the other girls. “Well, we are going to check out those libraries and do a bit of research. I think you two should get a lay of the land for us.” “We’re splitting up?” asks Orange. “Command and conquer,” answers Miyuki. “If you get lost just come back to the school.” The four of them walk toward the library, leaving Orange and Sami to themselves.

“Good luck you two,” Yami shouts back to them. The girls look at each other for a moment. They chuckle a little. Finally Orange speaks up. "Well then, what should we do now?" she asks as she places her hands at her hips. She looks at Sami with a ponderous look. Sami looks at her and begins to blush slightly. She smiles and glances away. "Well, we have the whole day together," she starts. "And Yami did say we should get the lay of the land. Sooo, maybe we should … go out..?" She blinks. "A-and you know--" Sami stammers. "Walk around together… see the sights… do...an activity..?" Orange laughs. "Yeah, we SHOULD see the sights." She surveys the area. "We should probably stick to staying on campus first. The question would be; where do we start?" She looked back at Sami. Sami notices a small flush in Orange's cheeks and smiles. Seeing this fills her heart with a bit of strength. "Let's circle around the bell tower and see what catches our attention!" "Lead the way!" Orange says cheerfully. The two girls make their way around the tower. The ornate building would be a sight to see in and of itself. However upon reaching the backside of the building they are greeted with a large topiary garden. It's filled with hedge bushes and vibrant red roses. As they get through the entrance they see two rows of statues on either side of a pathway, leading to two more statues where the path splits around more of the garden. The girls walk along the path looking at the statues as they go. The first statue to their left appears to be of a woman cloaked in a large hood. Although it was a bright sunny morning, the face of the woman is still hard to make out. She is crouched down on her podium holding a rather large dagger. On the other side stands the statue of a very large man in heavy looking armor. In his hands he holds

a lance which points high into the air accompanied by a huge shield. As they continue their walk, the next statue to their left is of a man with pointy ears. He looks proud and wields a bow. By his side on the podium was a dog. They appear to be a team of sorts. They look to the figure to the right. It is a woman dressed in a robe. Her eyes are closed and she has a calm stoic look on her face. Her hands are together and making a strange symbol. Standing next to her is a fancy looking staff. Finally, at the end of the path, where it forks around the rest of the garden, are two more statues standing side-by-side. The statue to the right is a man. He wears light armor and holds a broadsword in his hands. He stands with it pointed down in front of him. He has a stern look to him. By his side, is a woman. Her face is calm with a smile. She wears something similar to a shrine maiden outfit, atop her head sits a pair of fox ears and a bushy tail completes her in the back. The girls continue through the garden back onto the campus grounds. As they walk they see one of the four schools that make up the academy to their left. It seems that each of the schools is surrounded by a small moat with a couple of bridges connecting them to the main island of the academy. They cross one of the main bridges out of the school and into the academy town where shops and residences are. They pass by a bookstore with a sale sign depicting textbooks are currently half off, a diner that appears to sell free breakfast for students, and a clothing store simply called ‘Uniforms’. The road intersects with many side streets and reaching one corner crosses their path with an old woman with a broom. “Oh deary me!” The old woman cries out. “Sorry sweeties, I didn’t see you there!” “It’s okay,” says Sami. “What’s going on here?” She and Orange look down the street and see it covered in confetti and other party debris. Further down the street is another man with a

staff casting some kind of water magic. A small wave of water fills the street and sidewalk. “The clothing store down the road had some kind of celebration this morning for it’s new wares,” the old woman explains. “Apparently it’s pretty special, but they made quite a mess as well. Sorry if we’re blocking your path with all of this.” “Oh no,” Sami reassures. “You’re not causing any trouble!” “Wanna check it out?” asks Orange. “The store is right down the street,” directs the old woman. “Though you may wish you go around the block the long way…” Orange hops onto a short wall in front of them. “Nah, this’ll be okay.” She turns and reaches her hand down to Sami. Sami looks up at Orange and blushes. Then leans to the side to see around her. She sees that the wall will indeed take them all the way to the other end of the block without stepping into the water. She looks back at Orange to see her smiling down at her, still holding her hand out. Sami slowly reaches her hand out and places it in Orange’s. She’s then pulled up onto the wall as well. “Are ya ready?” asks Orange. Sami nods and Orange smiles with a chuckle before turning and beginning their trek down the block along the small wall. The wall wasn’t incredibly thin at all, plenty of surface for them both to plant their feet comfortably without losing their balance. However something about the situation seemed to make both of their legs a little wobbly. They quickly and carefully make their way down the length of the wall, Orange looking back occasionally any time there is a gap they need to step over. They pass the old man who has stopped what he was doing to watch and greet the girls with a good morning and smile as they playfully make their way over the mess of the sidewalk, giggling

and laughing to themselves and each other. Hand in hand, they finally reach the end of their journey over the wall. They each step down onto solid ground totally dry. They take just a moment to catch their breath when Orange points out ahead of them. “That must be it there!” A moment later and Orange is walking again, and Sami gets pulled along behind her by the hand. They cross over the street at the crosswalk. As they reach the store, Sami’s hand slips out of Orange’s as she reaches for the door. She pulls it open and holds it for Sami. “After you M’lady.” She says with a laugh and a smile. Sami bows slightly with a chuckle. “Why thank you sweetheart!” As they enter the store they see banners strewn up announcing a grand reopening with new specialty clothing made in-house. The store itself appear to be a rather typical department store. It had a lot of space with lots of racks of clothing in all kinds of styles and options. “They make their own clothes here?” wonders Sami. “Not all of them!” a voice says from behind a clothing rack. A young lady who seemed to work in the store spread open a rack and emerged from the clothings hanging on it. “Welcome! Are you ladies looking for anything in particular?” “Oh no,” Orange said. “We were just looking around.” The lady tilts her head. “Are you new students by chance?” she asks. “You don’t really look like you’re from around here.” “Really Gabrielle,” another voice calls out from behind a counter. “You really could have found a better way to say that.” She was an older woman, perhaps the store owner. She comes out from behind the counter and approaches the girls. “If you aren’t students however, I’m afraid we won’t really be able to serve you. This store is still on campus grounds.”

“Oh, sorry,” Sami apologized. “I guess we were just thinking of window shopping…” Orange pulls the card given to her by the Headmaster out of her pocket. “The Headmaster Ragoli gave us these cards. Maybe we’re only allowed in the libraries?” She hands the card to Gabrielle. “Uh, this looks like a child drew this up…” The older woman sighs. “That’s because it WAS drawn by a child.” She scratches the back of her head. “I guess something might be going on. I haven’t seen one of those in quite a while.” “Is it...serious?” The old woman begins walking away. “Get them whatever they need. Within reason, this is still a business of course.” “Wait,” Sami starts. “We can just have whatever? Money isn’t an object?” “Within reason, Sami.” Orange parrots playfully. “That card,” the old woman explains from her counter. “It doesn’t just let you in, it’s supposed to be used to help you with information and gear, things like that. Whatever trouble he’s helping you with, that thing’s supposed to help you with whatever else you need.” “So then,” Gabrielle asks. “What kind of gear do you need?” Orange and Sami looked at each other in confusion. “Well,” says Sami. “We don’t know how long we’re going to be here. It would be nice to not wear the same thing every day.” “Maybe we can get magic training robes!” adds Orange. “Robes?” Gabrielle asks with a bit of disgust. “That is way too old fashioned. I got just what you need!” She walks off beckoning them to follow. As they walk through the store Sami and Orange notice a lot of signs advertising a new line of clothing. “So for now, since you said you don’t know how long you’ll be

here, we’ll start with some nice outfits for you two before we get to my new line!” “Your new line?” Orange asks. “So all of these signs,” says Sami. “You’re the one that made the clothes they’re talking about?” Gabrielle stops by a rack of shirts and begins sifting through them. “That’s right! Mrs. Claire gave me a chance to put my work out there! It’s so exciting! You mentioned that you’re going to be doing magic training? Is the Headmaster training you?” “Uh, no,” Orange answers. “Sano said he’d give us lessons! He’s a teacher at the academy.” “Oohh, Sano Senpai-Sensei?” Gabrielle asked happily. “How is he? I haven’t seen him in so long!" "Senpai...sensei?" Questions Sami. "Oh yeah," Gabrielle responds. "We were in the same high school together. The upperclassmen that got perfect scores in everything dealing with magic. He was so cool and calm all the time too. It was always so weird that he hung around that rambunctious girl." She pulls a shirt from the rack and holds it out in front of Sami. "So you went to school together," Sami asks. "Pretty small world." Gabrielle shakes her head and puts the shirt back only to pull a similar one out and hold that one out in front of Sami. "Small town really." Corrects Gabrielle. "A lot of us girls would swoon over him, though thinking back it was really only because of how cool he made magic look." She smiles with a nod and drapes the shirt over Sami's shoulder before looking at more shirts. "When he graduated we were all so sad to see him go. Then one vacation later and who's being introduced as a new Magic teacher at the opening ceremony?" She turns back to Sami with another shirt.

"Sano?" Answered Sami. "And thus," Gabrielle concludes. "Sano Senpai-Sensei." She continues to pick out clothing for Orange and Sami. They move from rack to rack, picking out items to build outfits that match their own styles the best she could. She leads them deeper into the store. Signs hang up in the area labeled Gab's Fabs. "So did you take that orb test to see what your nature is?" "Yeah!" Orange called out. "It said that I was fire!" "Ooo, simple but powerful!" "And Sami here actually had two of them!" "Two?" Gabrielle pauses. "That's a little rare. What were your natures?" "Light and dark?" Answers Sami. Gabrielle pauses again. "Wow, that...I never knew that one was possible." She begins to walk again. "With something THAT rare, Sano will be able to teach you easy! He really knows his stuff." "That's pretty impressive of him," Orange starts. "To be teaching right after he graduated." "Oh yeah," concurs Gabrielle. "You see that a lot with them actually. From what I've seen in a couple friends of mine, they usually end up getting really determined at around the age of 7 to 10 or so. They pick up a goal and chase it hard so they can enjoy the time they have! In fact, seeing how passionate Sano was about magic back in middle school really put some pep in my step to go after it too!" She enters a doorway that says employees only. And after just a moment she emerges holding two boxes. One smaller one atop a larger one. "Then of course I drop it after graduation and get into fashion. Though not completely!" She puts the boxes down and opens the smaller of the two. Inside are a pair of fingerless gloves. They look sturdy and cover the forearm. "Try these on for size." She says as she hands them to

Sami. "I saw that you were already wearing a pair of these and wanted to make sure you could keep that in your style." Sami removes the gloves she has and gives them to Orange before sliding her hands through the new ones. They were loose at first, as her hand passes through the forearm portion she feels something pulling at her hand. Her fingers slide into their finger holes and the end of the glove takes hold of her hand. She pulls at the forearm strap to secure the fit. "It's a little tightâ&#x20AC;Ś" Sami says. "You'll get used to that." Gabrielle assures. "It forms itself around your hand based on your mana. I made these to help with mana focus! When your friend here said you have two natures I just knew I should let you have these." Sami holds her hand up and examines the glove. "They constantly pull at the mana within you and pool it in your palms. It's not much, just enough for you to eventually feel the difference." "Ooohh," Orange starts as she begins to understand. "To help with the mana control we were told about." "Exactly!" Gabrielle concurs. "That's what my Gab's Fabs are all about!" "So you made these yourself?" Asks Sami. Gabrielle nods her head. "My line of clothing can sort of be viewed as magic tools." She picks up and opens the larger box she brought out. Inside are a pair of brown boots. "These are for you." She hands the box to Orange. "Make sure they're the right size. These won't do the same as those gloves and fit for you." Orange takes a seat on a bench nearby excitedly. She removes her shoes and slides her feet into the big boots she was given. After lacing them, she stands and walks around in a circle before spinning on the spot. "I think these are perfect! What do you think, Sami?" She asks as she hops about and breaks the boots in.

Sami smiles at Orange. "They look cool on you." "They'll look even cooler when she has everything on!" Gabrielle adds. "Those boots will enhance your fire spells a little bit, so once you have your mana control down you'll be able to do some neat stuff!" The girls finish their shopping and make their way to the exit. Claire, the manager, waits at the door for them. Her arms are crossed and she appears to be holding something. When they finally reach her, she hands some kind of charm to Orange. "What's this?" "It's clear you're not from around here." Claire states. "And home isn't a place that a simple plane ride can reach, right?" Sami and Orange look at each other. "It's nothing special, more of a good luck charm. Think of it as a token to commemorate your meeting all of us, and the help you'll no doubt get on your journey." Orange looks closely at the charm. Attached to a key ring is a spiral cage holding a dark crystal. It looks similar to the orb they used to learn of their mana natures with the Headmaster. "Ooh, it's made from a shard of an old Genesis Squall!" Gabrielle informs. "Even though it has no power, it's considered lucky because of the potential it once had. It's meant to say that we all have that same potential!" She walks over to hug Claire. "Awww, I didn't think you would give them anything!" Claire keeps her arms folded and rolls her eyes. "We're a close nit little town here. And we take care of anyone here. I hope you two find your way home soon." Orange and Sami exit the store, bags in tow. They smile at each other and walk off, continuing their site seeing. As the sun begins its journey toward the horizon, the girls take a break on one of the bridges that separates the school from the rest of Algameen. They put their bags down and watch over the water.

"This place is so nice!" Orange says. "I kinda wish we all just lived here!" "If you had to choose between an empty white void and a beautiful beach town," Sami debates. "I would pick the beach too!" The wind blows over the bridge, bringing the salty sea air over the fresh river water. Orange closes her eyes and faces into the wind, letting it comb through her mane, showing off her face. Sami watches her enjoy the breeze with a small but genuine smile on her face. Standing next to her, she remembers something that Three told her about Orange. She slowly and nervously inches closer to her. Inch. Inch. Inch. Until their hips touch. At that moment, Orange looks down to Sami only to be greeted by the sight of her looking up cutely at her. Blush slowly fills her cheeks before her eyes widen and she quickly turns away from Sami, hiding behind her shoulder. Sami chuckles softly to herself for a moment. However her soft smile soon turns to melancholy. "I'm sorry." She says quietly. Orange looks back to her. "We didn't have anyâ&#x20AC;Ś big stories that we could share." Orange chuckles. "What do you mean?" "When Two and Three were taking us to Token Town. I don't know, everyone just seemed to have so many stories, and you all were laughing so muchâ&#x20AC;Ś I just didn't think I was able to contribute." "I saw that you stepped away that night." Orange furrows her brow. Her eyes trail from Sami to the water below. "Y'know," Orange starts. "For so many years now, I've been wondering who I was and where I came from. But, no matter what I did or where I went, nothing changed. Until you came along. All of a sudden I started meeting new people from other places, and things got exciting!" She rests her elbows on the bridge's railing and turns toward Sami. "We had that scary time in that mansion during

Halloween, and brought so many people together. And then later, we met Sambit in that dark….void..place." She turns again to look out over the river. "I probably would've never snapped out of it if you hadn't shown up when you did…" "Of course I was going to find you." Sami said. "Especially after what the girls told me…" "I didn't understand anything he was saying to me, but I couldn't help but think I was closer than ever to understanding where I came from or who I am. ...That room… so familiar…" "Like the darkness in your first memory?" Sami recalls. Orange nods. "And then after that, my sisters show up with news about the Void! And boy did we learn a lot about what could be out there! I thought, 'This is it! My sisters learned about our past and they're here to tell me all about it!' And then we ended up here… So I guess that's a set back..." She turns again to look at Sami. "Through all of it though, you were right there by my side!" Sami blushes. "There may have been a little less action, but you've always been a big part of all of my more important adventures." She says with a small smile. Sami smiles back. "We'll get back to the Void and finally get those answers. And I'll still be there after." "Thanks Sami." Orange spins around and leans back onto the railing. "You know, I'm feeling a bit better about all of this now. Crazy bombastic adventures sound fun but, I much more prefer a nice, calm, relaxing adventure with you. I mean, look at us! We just went shopping on an actual magical tropical island and watched the sunset together." Orange giggles. "It's kinda like we're on a date or something." Sami blinks nervously. "Y-yeah! I uh, I guess you could call this a..d-date. We should have seen a movie or gotten something to eat or…" Sami continues to nervously ramble about other things they could have done on a date. She thinks to herself

that she should really stop talking but she couldn't quite control her brain. Orange just suggested that the two of them were on a date this whole time! Suddenly, however, she notices something that does make her quiet down. She doesn't understand exactly what is happening, but Orange's face appears to be getting closer. She wasn't sure if Orange was leaning into her, or if she was moving closer to Orange. It didn't matter either way as the panic set in in her brain. Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute as the two got closer and closer. Inch by inch, the distance between them shrinks. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Sami's heart pumps faster and faster. She could swear she can hear her heartbeat as if it were sitting on her shoulder. Another inch. The two are even closer. She can almost feel Orange's lips on hers. She has no idea how this began but it didn't matter. Finally, finally, Orange was going to DING DONG DONG DINGâ&#x20AC;Ś ...DONG-DONG-DINGDONGâ&#x20AC;Ś The Academy bell rings out over the town. Sami blinks her eyes open to see Orange in front of her holding her shopping bags. She stands there cutely smiling and nowhere as close as they seemed to be a bit ago. "Hey, you coming?" Orange seems unaffected by what was just about to happen. Was it all in her mind? Orange giggles and takes a few steps back. "If this is a date, you have to make sure you walk me home, right?" Sami snaps herself out of her daze and grabs her own bags before joining Orange's side as they make their way toward Sano's apartment. As the sun sets the girls see their destination just down the street they wandered onto. They point it out to each other and continue on their way. Soon after, something bumps into Sami from the side, nearly knocking her over but is caught by Orange. They look down at what ran into her to see a young girl with pink hair. She looks to be old enough to be in middle school, however

her uniform was not the same as the academy uniforms. Instead it seemed to be a typical sailor style uniform. The young girl looks up at Sami and smile pleasantly. “Sorry Miss…” “Maho!” Another girl emerges from a shop nearby. She has long black hair and is wearing the same uniform. “I tell you not to run out of storefronts without looking all the time.” “It’s okay,” says Orange. “No harm done, right?” She looks down to Sami with a smile. “Yeah,” Sami answers. “Are you alright? “Yup!” the girl bounces back happily. “I was just too excited to see where I was going!” Maho throws her arms out to her side and slowly draws a circle with her hands before striking a dynamic pose. “The Shockingly Amazing Magical Girl, MahoMana-Mana, at your service!” “That’s pretty embarrassing to watch y’know,” says another girl standing in the doorway of the store. She’s much younger than the other two. She has light blue hair and matching eyes. “Are you really a magical girl?” asks Sami. The girl with black hair giggles as she steps forward. “Una here says that nothing like that is real, so that would be a no.” “Not a magical girl yet, Kako’o,” Maho corrects. “Not yet!” “Well no becoming an anime trope in front of the shop.” demanded Una. “You’ll see, Una!” Maho announced. “I’ll practice tonight at home and show you how much better I got tomorrow!” She waves and runs off. “See you in school tomorrow.” Kako’o waves to everyone before rushing to catch up to her friend. Una sighs to herself. “Sorry about them. They can be a little rambunctious for middle schoolers. Did Maho hurt you at all?”

Mr. Ken sits back on the sofa and runs his hand through his hair, brushing it back to reveal his unshaven face. He reaches into his large sleeve and pulls out a pair of glasses and puts them on before looking up at Orange and Sami. "I'm sorry about Una, she's never really been much for theatrics." He took another drag from his cigarette. "So tell me a little about yourselves. What are your names?" The girls look at each other for a moment before Orange speaks up. "My name is Orange Reator. And this is my best friend Sami!" She pauses. "And you are Mr. Ken?" "Indeed, madam. I am quite adept at ordaning possible futures and fortunes. In the ocean of reality, I am able to parse out certain details. Follow specific water molecules to our own individual rivers and streams. I can make out every bend and turn these rivers make and help people plot their courses to reach the bountiful ponds and lakes at the end, or…" "...Or?" Ponders Sami. "Herald warnings of waterfalls and dams." Mr. Ken finishes. Orange and Sami glance at each other nervously for a moment. Orange swallows. "W-what," Orange stutters. "What do you see when you look at us…?" He stares at the girls intently for a moment before putting his cigarette into his mouth again. “It’s hard to tell really.” He leans back in his seat. "I haven't gotten too good a look at you, but we have been watching since you arrived. Isn't that right little Una?" The young girl enters the room as if on queue holding a tray with four small cups of tea. She offers two of the cups to Orange and Sami before placing the tray down on a table in front of Mr. Ken. "It's true," Una starts. "Ever since you showed up, Mr. Ken and I, and I'm sure many others have been trying to keep

tabs on what's happening so far. But, he isn't actually able to see your future like that." "Una!" Mr. Ken sighs before taking a long drag from his cigarette. As he does, a magic circle appears at the burning end of the cigarette. As it glows the circle does the same. When he's done, he blows his smoke through the circle. It expands rapidly and encircles Orange and Sami together. As if it had a mind of its own, it coils around and between them before pooling in the center of the room. A dark ominous cloud, not too unlike that of the Beast of Destruction and Ruin when it first escaped the egg shaped seal in the Void. "This creature that you brought with you. It looms over your head. It may be a thorn in your backsides for a while yet." The smoke begins to dissipate, but lingers in the room like a thick fog over their heads. "Is that all?" Asks Sami. "Does that mean we'll be in this town for a long time?" "Doesn't mean that at all," Mr. Ken answered. "You may be here for years, or you may find your way home tomorrow. Whichever it is, that thing will be with you every step of the way." "Can you see anything else?" Ponders Orange. Mr. Ken smiles. "I can see just by looking that both of you seem incomplete." "Incomplete?" "Yes," Mr. Ken swirls his cigarette around in the smoke above. It forms two figures out of itself. "Incomplete, as in there is something very important missing from the two of you." The two smoke figures combine into one. "But I think the two of you will acquire what completes you soon, right here while you're in Algameen no less." "What could we be missing though," Orange wonders. "That we would find in Algameen?"

"Maybe," Una begins. "It's something that's been right in front of you but you didn't notice?" The two look at each other again. "Maybe?" Sami agrees as she smiles. Orange chuckles and smiles back at her. Mr. Ken waves the smoke away and the single smoke figure splits into three before the smoke dissipates entirely. "This was all I had to tell," says Mr. Ken. "I hope it was helpful to you. I can't say for certain you will find a way back home, but know that I too will lend you whatever aid I can. With myself, the Headmaster and Sano helping you I'm sure we can get you home." "Thanks." Sami thanked. "The people here really are helpful to newcomers,” says Orange. Una then leads them to the entrance. As they walk through the door, she bows. “Thank you for stopping by.” thanks Una as the others exit the building. “Good luck fighting that monster. If you can’t handle it yourself I’m fine with taking care of it for you!” The girls chuckle as they wave goodbye.

Chapter 3

“We’re home!” exclaims Orange as they enter Sano’s apartment. “Welcome back,” Sano greets. He was standing by the mantle with the strange blade. “Oh, it’s just the two of you?” “The others aren’t back yet?” asks Sami. “We split up,” answered Orange. “Yami took the others to the libraries at school, and Sami and I were exploring the town together!” “And when shopping I see.” Sano laughs. “I’m glad you were able to see some of what we in Algameen have to offer.” “Everyone was so kind,” Sami said. “It was kinda refreshing.” “This is a wonderful place.” Orange concurred. “Well thank you, we do our best here I think.” He steps away from the mantle. "So, have you made your decision about you learning to control your Mana?" Sami and Orange glance at each other with a smile. "Yes!" Confirms Sami. "With everyone helping us," says Orange. "We should do everything that we can do too!"

"That's an answer I was hoping to hear." Says Sano. He sits down on the floor in front of the mantle and motions for the others to join him. They each plant down in front of him. Once everyone is settled, Sano holds his hands out in front of him. He takes a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. As he does, a large magic circle appears between his hands. He looks as though he is holding up a plate of magic. "I will start with a brief explanation of what Mana really is and how it relates to us." The plate of Mana he holds in his hands changes into a sphere with particles within it. “Mana, isn’t really an energy as you might think it is. And actually, it wasn’t really all that long ago that we thought exactly that. However,” Sano looks at Orange. “A close friend of mine brilliantly discovered that Mana, not unlike something like gravity, is a force. It exists here in Algameen, and it connects to what seems to be an untapped part of all living things. By coming into contact with the Genesis Squall earlier today, you were connected to the Mana around you, unlocking your potential to perform your dormant skills. Or in other words, Magic." The sphere of mana in Sano's hands condenses to a point before exploding into a flurry of small lights around everyone. "Wait," questions Sami. "So Mana isn't used to actually perform magic?" Sano smiles, "In a sense, no. The spells that we can perform can be seen more like a skill that anyone else has, like a craftsman or sports star. They all have a talent to do their respective activities, but that doesn't mean anyone else would be barred from giving it a shot or even becoming skilled as well. Mana simply lets us know we can do magic in the first place, and in a way aids in boosting our magical output." "Like an exercise bike that teaches the world that normal bicycles exist." Says Orange.

"An interesting analogy," Sano agrees. "But yes. If not for the Mana in Algameen, magic would not exist, or at least need to be learned about the much harder way.” He looks intently at both of them. “The takeaway here is that your magic and other abilities are your own, and exist within you. They’ve always been there, you simply now have access to them. And they don’t rely on the Mana around you.” Sami and Orange nod in acknowledgment. “And that is where your lesson starts.” Orange and Sami ready themselves. "Alright, hold out your hands, just like mine." They all hold their hands out in front of themselves. "Remember, your magic is yours, it isn't done by manipulating the mana around you, but rather the mana within yourself." The girls focus on their hands. After a moment, a faint yellow glow forms as mana begins to center between Oranges hands. She smiles widely. Sano reacts, "Fascinating, Orange. I didn't think you would pick it up quite so quickly." Sami sees this and focuses harder on her own magics. "Sami, you may have a bit more trouble with this." "No, no," Sami insists. "I got this!" She strains her hands more and a small light begins to form between them. She smiles but it is quickly replaced with shock as the light flickers wildly. Soon after it exploded in her hands. "Are you okay?" Asked Orange. "Yeah…" Sami answered, shaking her hand in pain. "I had a feeling that might happen." Said Sano. "Having two mana natures is not easy to learn to control for someone who learned of the existence of Mana the same day. Let alone those natures being as rare and powerful … and as opposite as Light and Darkness." "Guess I have my work cut out for me, eh?" Sami laughed sheepishly.

"You do," agreed Sano. "But just because you have four times as much effort to put in as Orange, doesn't mean you'll have to put in four times as much time." "What do you mean?" "Well first," he explains. "I noticed those gloves, they're not the ones you had on this morning." "Oh, yeah. The lady that helped us pick these clothes out said they'll help me focus my mana?" "I'd know Gabrielle's work anywhere. She makes great magic tools. I'm sure they feel a little tight in the hands?" Sami nods. "That isn't the fabric, but your mana. I could feel it the moment you came in. It's faint but there is a lot pooling up around your hands. Don't try to do what Orange is doing, focus more on that feeling in your palms." She looks down at her hands and lets out a determined sigh. "Good, now let's just focus on one element. Orange and I have it easy, as we only need to think about magic in general for the most part. You however need a little more thought. Whichever you choose, set your mind on how that element should feel to you. Let that be all you think about." Sami closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Sano and Orange, still with her magic flame in her hands, watch her intently. She feels their eyes, waiting for something to happen. It's so hard to focus with you two staring at me, She thought to herself, only to think now that she was thinking about all kinds of things that were not focusing. Suddenly her thoughts go silent. She thought she heard something. "Come on, Sami." It was Orange's voice. "You can do it!" She was whispering to her. Encouraging her. Right there by her side. Then she hears something else. Oooohs and chuckling. Wondering what was going on, she opened her eyes to see that there was a sizable bright orb of light in her hands. She smiles widely and shows the

orb off to the others. They all laugh and Sano congratulates her. At that moment, the door to the apartment begins to open. “We’re back!” It was Yami. She swings the door open AICA comes in behind her. They stand at the doorway staring down at Sami and Orange sitting on the floor with their magic in their hands. Orange scoots herself around to show them. “Girls, look!” She holds her hands up. “Magic!!” “Way to go, Orange.” AICA humors. “How would any of you like to join us?” asks Sano. AICA and Yami glance at each other, the latter smirking. Yami holds her arms up and quickly transforms them into canons. “We’re robots!” Yami declares. “We have guns for hands!” Sano gasps in astonishment which gets a giggle out of Yami. She nudges AICA in the arm as she changes her hands back to normal. Her sister rolls her eyes a little and turns to leave the room. “Thank you Mr. Sano,” AICA starts before leaving. “But I’ll have to pass on magic lessons for now.” As she leaves the room she calls out to Irum. “Irum, bring those books over this way.” As Irum walks by the doorway, carrying a tall stack of books, Miyuki enters the apartment. “How about you, Miyuki,” asks Sano. “Up for a quick magic lesson?” Miyuki looks down at Orange and Sami holding their orbs of magic. “I’ve tried magic-like activities before. I’ll stick with swords.” “Oh!” Sami calls out. “We went shopping and got you all some clothes! In that bag.” Miyuki looks down at the bag near her feet and picks it up. “Hey, Irum!” Miyuki shouts. “Since you’re carrying those books, can you take this bag to our room?”

Irum appears in the doorway again, her face distressed. “Irum hungry!!” “Then open up.” Miyuki orders. Irum opens her mouth happily and Miyuki places the bag inside. Irum cries her way down the hallway. “Don’t worry, Irum,” Yami announces. “I’ll be cooking again today.” She holds up a bag of different food things before making her way to the kitchen followed by Miyuki. Sano stands up. “Hold on, I should lend you a hand…” He turns back to Sami, still holding her ball of light. “I guess we’re ending the first lesson here. You both did very well. I’m surprised you actually got as far as you did so quickly. To be honest, as of now, you simply need to practice what you learned today.” Orange stands up as well. “Gotcha! Sami and I will have our powers down in no time flat!” Sano laughs. “I have a strong feeling you will. Sami, you did excellent work. Try to remember how you felt when you tapped into your light mana when you practice. As for darkness, perhaps an opposite feeling could do the trick, or something entirely new. It may be easier now that you at least know the feeling of making use of your mana.” Sami nods with a smile. “Thanks Sano! I’ll get it figured out in no time, just like ORC said!” Sano nods back to her. “Well alright,” he turns to the kitchen. “I’d better try and be a proper host now…” He leaves to join the others in the kitchen. Orange follows close behind him. Sami continues to sit on the floor by the mantlepiece holding her light orb. She watches the two of them walk away, Orange talking and giggling to him before they disappear into the kitchen. As she watches, the orb of light begins to darken by her hands. The darkness slowly infects the light like a disease. It suddenly pops

like a balloon, shocking Sami as Irum walks into the room crying about wanting food and dying from starvation. Sami points in the direction of the kitchen and chuckles. “Irum I think they’re just getting started in there.” Irum’s eyes glowed happily and she rushes into the room, again leaving Sami alone sitting on the floor. She sighed and looked to the bags of clothes she and Orange bought for everyone and stood up, walking over to them and scooping them into her hands before walking out of the room. She walks a ways down the hall until she reaches a door with a slip of paper taped on it labled AICA/Yami. She knocks on the door and calls out to AICA. After a moment, the door opens and she looks down to see AICA there looking up at her. “The door was open,” AICA said with a smile. “Mind if I come in?” Sami chuckles. AICA invites her in and she closes the door again. The living room area was very similar to Sano’s. It was fully furnished and ready for students to move in. It also looked as though that was already what happened with all of the books stacked about. “You know they started cooking over there. Did you want to join Yami and the others?” AICA takes a seat on the couch and opens a book. It appeared as though it was where she was before Sami knocked on the door. It was clearly an AICA sized spot. “Oh, that’s alright,” she starts. “I’m quite used to hiding myself away in my room. Though I do miss having the girls pull me away from my work to do something fun.” She chuckles quietly. “You mean back in your world?” Sami asked. “Sounds like you have a good time there.” “Well,” AICA said while she turned a page in the book. “I certainly never found time to be bored. Besides, I wanted to get an early start on my Inter-Universal Travel research.”

“Anyway,” Sami began. “I brought you these clothes. Orange and I went shopping.” She holds up the bag. AICA looks up and smiles before standing up again. “Oh thank you!” AICA takes the bag and looks inside. “That was a good idea. We’re not sure how long we’ll be here.” She finds an empty spot on the floor and places the bag down and begins digging through it, pulling out a piece of clothing and holding it up to herself and checking it out. Afterward she folds it neatly and places it down, making two piles. “Looks like they’re all our size as well.” “I tried my best.” “I’m glad Mr. Sano gave us these rooms to live in while we’re here.” AICA said. “You may not have thought so, but Yami and I also need a bath at times. And the new clothing helps too.” “Really?” asked Sami. “It’s okay for you to be in the water like that?” “Yes,” AICA answered matter-of-factly. “Our bodies were built very similarly to how humans are built. We shouldn’t have to worry about anything shorting out.” She folds a pair of pants and pauses for a moment in thought. “We shouldn’t anyway…” She finishes folding the clothes and separating them into piles clearly meant for herself and Yami to wear. She sighs and grabs a new book and looks inside. “I should probably ask Mr. Sano if he might have anything that could help with this.” “Speaking of him,” Sami stammered out. “What uh, what do you think of him anyway?” AICA sits up straight and places her hands over the pages of the book in her lap. She took a deep breath and sighed. “I suppose it was pretty obvious…” Sami looked at AICA and noticed a slight blush to her cheek, which was very uncommon for her. And this was beside the unsure look on her face. “Oh no, not you too…”

AICA blinks and looks at Sami. “Too?” Sami sighs and looks away rubbing her neck. “S-sorry. I guess I meant Orange and Sano…” She chuckles to herself nervously. “I-I shouldn’t be talking to you about this…” “No it’s okay.” AICA reassured her. “I too have noticed Orange acting very familiar with him. Though more so, Mr. Sano, and many others for that matter, seemed like they already knew Orange somehow.” “Yeah,” agreed Sami. “She stays so close to him for some reason…” She rubs her arm. “Do you think that she really does care fo-- know him?” “I think she would have told us if that were the case.” AICA states. She brings her hand to her chin. “Maybe she met him before?” “What,” thinks Sami. “Like, this is where she’s actually from?” “Well, no,” AICA corrects. “More like, she met someone like him before. Or perhaps some part of her has a connection to him that she didn’t realize before.” Sami looks unsure. “I only started my research but the theories about multiverses and quantum mechanics have been suggesting interesting things so far.” She looks at Sami and sees what looks like worry on her face. She sighs a little and clenches the book on her lap tightly. “However,” she starts. “I do have my own theories on this particular event.” She blushes slightly. “Yami teases me about this a lot, but I too… have a connection to him.” “You actually do?” asked Sami. “When I see him, I see, Dr. Casa…” answered AICA. “Who’s… Dr. Casa..?” AICA looks Sami in the eyes with a bit of sadness. “He’s my father.” Sami gasps. “He created me,” she says and shrugs. “I um… I don’t get to see him anymore, so when I saw Mr. Sano I…”

She pauses as if looking for words. “I don’t know, I malfunctioned. He’s clearly not him, much too young, and yet whenever I see him...It makes me happy.” AICA smiles at Sami with another shrug. “Aw, AICA,” Sami cooed. “I didn’t know you were going through that.” Seeing AICA flustered seemed cute somehow. “Anyway,” AICA continued. “Whatever is happening with Orange, I feel it may be the same as me in a way. Perhaps she hasn’t actually met a person that he reminds her of, perhaps she has. Either way, there must be some part of her that draws her to him. It may have something to do with why everyone here seems so familiar with her, even though she’s never been here before.” Sami smiles. “Yeah, maybe you’re right! Like you said, all of this multi-inter-universe stuff is weird and could be making some of us act weird.” “We’ll figure out what connections she has with this place eventually.” AICA declared. Sami continues muttering to herself. “Traveling to a new dimension, all of this magic stuff.. And she’s not the type for the whole love at first sight stuff right?” “Oh!” AICA shouts. “That reminds me…” She shuffles around some of the other books around her for a moment and pulls one out of a stack. “I checked this one out for you!” She hands the book to Sami. “‘That Silly Little Thing Called Mana Control: Mana Natures and you, and what to do when you want to Learn Other Mana Natures.’” Sami reads the title slightly confused. “It was written by someone named, Balbis,” said AICA. “And the librarian told me that this person was an expert on all kinds of magic related subjects. I figured, since you have two mana natures, that it could help you if you needed it.”

“Thanks, AICA,” Sami thanked. “I’m sure it will.” She turns toward the door. “I should take my own clothes to my room and take a look at this book. Good luck finding our way back to the Void.” “Thank you,” said AICA. “Thank you… for talking to me. About Mr. Sano.” She stuttered a little. “Yeah,” Sami turns back to her with a smile. “Thank you.” AICA tilts her head in confusion as Sami exits her room.

Chapter 4 The sun fills the bedroom with its new morning light. This light begins to reach into and illuminate the bottom of a set of bunk beds, enticing a form to move about under the blankets. It fumbles about looking for its way out into the open. Finally it sits up and the blankets slide off to reveal a messy mane of silvery grey hair. As that wig turns away from the wall it reveals the face of AICA underneath it, her eyes finding trouble to stay open. She yawns a long gaping chasm of a yawn, adding to her uncharacteristic behavior. She slinks out of her bed and stands by the window, letting the morning sunlight pour over her. AICA stretches and lets out a heavy sigh. She raises her hands up to either side of her face, and after a moment’s pause, she smacks her hands into her cheeks. “Okay,” she calls out. AICA enters the bathroom for a moment, and soon exits with a toothbrush in her mouth and a mug in her hand. As she tends to her morning ablutions in front of a window, Orange and Sami, in their own room, sit on the floor in front of each other. They each hold their arms out in front of themselves practicing controlling their mana. Orange has a good sized flame between her hands. It was much larger than it was the previous night.

Sami also holds her mana between her hands. A ball of light, just as impressively sized as before. “What I read was just like what Sano told us,” Sami informs. “We have to know that our magic is ours. We’re not manipulating the Mana around us, but the mana within ourselves.” “Like MP,” The two say in unison. Sami giggles. “This is getting kinda easy,” Orange says. She cupped her hands under her flame. Then sat it in a single hand. “This flame is my flame. It comes from me, not from the air, right?” “That’s right,” Sami confirms. “When you think of it like that, it’s like a simple skill, like juggling or sleight of hand.” The ball of light in her hands slowly fades away. Once gone, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She readies her hands, exhaling in a steely concentration. She feels the pull of her Mana between her palms. It pools and grows. She feels it generating before her. Sami opens her eyes to see a ball of bright light in her hands again. "Aw come on already!" She drops her magic and leans back on her hands. “You’re getting pretty quick at using your mana, Sami.” Orange reassures. “Yeah, but I’m trying to use the dark magic…” Orange closes her flame within her hands before it vanishes. She leans on her knees and thinks for a moment, staring intently at Sami until she notices. “W-what is it?” Sami stutters. “What about thinking of the opposite of whatever you do for light magic?” suggests Orange. Sami looks at her, frowns and looks away. “I-I can’t do that.” Orange tilts her head. “Why not?”

“Because,” Sami pauses. “I don’t… want to…” She gets quiet. Orange stares at her puzzled for a moment. “Well,” she says as an idea pops into her head. She stands up and begins walking toward the door. “I know who we should talk to about this--” “--No…” Sami interrupts. “Wha…?” Sami turns her side to Orange and looks at her hands. “I just don’t think we need to talk to him right now.” She begins forcing her mana through her hands and a small ball of light begins to form again. “But he’s our teacher,” Orange chuckles a little. “It’s the weekend, he might be grading papers or something…” “I’m sure he’ll be happy to take a moment.” “We shouldn’t bother him…” The orb of light in Sami’s hands grows. “It would only be a second.” “I can do this on my own!” The orb of light swirls, darkness finding its way in. “Although I suppose he also said thinking the opposite will help.” “I said I can’t!” Her magic orb darkens more before it pops out of existence. Sami sits there, hiding behind her shoulder. It remains silent for a long while. “I’m sorry…” Orange looks down at her for a moment, upset and perplexed. She then walks over and squats down next to Sami, tilting her head around to see her face. She silently gives her a soft smile before reaching for her hand. Sami looks at their hands together and glances up at Orange still smiling at her. Orange interlaces her fingers with Sami’s before standing up and pulling her up to her feet and leading her to the door.

“ORC…” Sami calls out weakly. “Come on,” Orange giggles back to her. They make their way through the door and a little bit across the hall. They stop at a door and Sami looks up, surprised to see a slip of paper attached that says, AICA/Yami. She looks to Orange as she knocks on the door. Silence. After a moment she knocks again. “Just a moment….” can be heard from the other side of the door along with several other noises of rustling and the distinct sound of a stack of books falling over. Orange and Sami glance concerned looks at each other. After another moment and a few other rattlings and gachunks, the door opens enough to see AICA standing there in full. Her eyes were half opened and her hair was still dishuffled. She was wearing a t-shirt that was crooked and shorts that looked like they were picked out for Yami rather than herself. She smiles at the corners of her mouth and greets the two. “Oh hi you two. How is your morning?” “AICA?” questioned Orange. “Are you alright?” “I’m okay,” she answers with a long slog to her voice. “Just getting a little bit of reading in.” AICA blinks slowly, still only managing to keep her eyes open about half way. She leans against the door, holding herself up the best she can with a content smile. “Would you like to come in perhaps?” Sami and Orange chuckle quietly to each other. “Uh sure!” Orange responds. AICA slowly nods and smiles. She takes a deep breath while looking up at the two of them. After a bit of time she speaks. “Oh! What did you want?” Orange and Sami chuckle again. “Are you sure you’re alright, AICA?” Sami asks. “I’m okay,” she answers with a long slog to her voice. “Just getting a little bit of reading in.” AICA blinks slowly, this

time not able to open her eyes again. She’s still smiling however. “Was there something that I could help you with?” “Well,” Orange laughs. “We’ve been working on our magic all morning, and I figured we could both use a little break.” Sami smiles at Orange and looks down to see their hands still locked together. “Ooooh?” AICA responds with a sleepy curiosity. “Taking a break is a good idea.” She silently smiles at them for a while. “You can take your break in here with me if you want. I was just doing some reading, so I don’t mind.” “That would be great,” Orange accepts. “Looks like you could use some company too.” “What were you reading, AICA?” asked Sami. AICA slowly turns her head to Sami, still with her eyes closed. She’s still silent for a bit. “I don’t remember.” She opens the door all the way revealing a freshly fallen over pile of books next to one still intact stack of books, taller than her. “I remember I had a hypothesis about the effects on light particles traveling through a Mana field.” She turns and enters the room, inviting the others in as well. She looks at the stack of books as though looking for something specific. “I haven’t quite gotten through all of these but I remember seeing something about Mana not having an effect on other natural forces, but I know that’s not true…” She pulls a book out of a spot near the bottom of the stack and the whole thing topples onto her burying her in literature as she lets out a cute and very out of character scream. “AICA!” Sami rushes over to her. “Are you alright??” Sami beings removing books from the new pile. “I’m okay,” AICA answers, muffled under the books with a long slog to her voice. “I was just getting a bit of--” “--AICA this isn’t the time!” Sami interrupts as she pulls more books off of her.

Meanwhile, Orange was distracted, staring down the hall toward Sano’s room. With an intrigued look she slowly walks toward the door. She knocks on the door. “Sano..?” She waits a moment but he doesn’t answer. She shakes her head and turns away from the door but stops in her tracks. She turns her head back to the door, confused. Later after a moment of thought she takes hold of the doorknob. “I’m coming in…” She turns the knob and it opens. Orange enters the apartment and looks around. Everything is quiet, no one is home. She sighs, but suddenly hears a voice behind her. “So you CAN hear me.” Orange quickly turns around and sees nothing. “Hello?” Again, nothing. “But I guess you still can’t see me…” the voice says from behind her again. Orange turns back toward the room and still sees nothing. “Who are you?” “Honestly, since you can’t see me, there really isn’t a reason answering that right now.” The voice sounded feminine, familiar and currently very sarcastic. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Exactly how it sounds.” Orange grimuses. “Why did you bring me to Sano’s room? What do you want with me?” There is a moment of silence. “Sano’s room?” the voice finally responds. “Foolish! You mean MY room! I want that silly man out of here and you’re going to do my bidding to make that happen!! Mwahahahaha!!!” Orange is taken aback, standing defensively and ready to exit the apartment if something happens. A long silent pause passes. The disembodied voice says nothing for a long time.

“OH come on!!” she shouts out suddenly. “I’m just messing with ya! This whole building didn’t even exist while I was alive! I don’t wanna drive Sano out of his new home, silly.” Orange sighs and rolls her eyes. “So you’re a ghost?” “Sure am!” “And you’re haunting Sano’s apartment..?” “Haunting? Uhh.. I… guess so? But not on purpose or anything.” “And you want my help to move on?” “Oh heavens no! Why would I want you to help me do that? I just needed to talk to you.” Orange catches her head in her palms. “You’re just being confusing…” “It’d be even more confusing if you could see me.” “Well I can’t, now can I?” Orange says aggressively. “Gosh I’m sorry, I’m probably just annoying you at this point. Let’s just start over.” She goes silent for a moment. “You can’t tell but I’m bowing…” “I’m leaving…” Orange turns toward the door. “Okay wait wait wait! I’m sorry. Look, I’m still trying to figure this out too, alright? Ghosts aren’t uncommon around Algameen. I had one as a student when I was alive actually. And seeing and hearing a ghost isn’t hard to do. It helps to be connected to the Mana around here but, you don’t have to be in order to at least sense a ghost.” “Okay…” Orange wonders. “So then what does that have to do with me?” “Well, you are able to hear me! You weren’t at first, but you sensed me when you first arrived here. And now that you’re practicing your mana control we can talk to each other.” “According to you that’s nothing out of the ordinary…”

“What IS out of the ordinary is you are the only person in the world that knows I’m here. I have been here with Sano since the day he moved in here, and he hasn’t so much as wondered if maybe he possibly noticed something strange around him… And he’s one of the greatest magic users that I know!” “Oh… That is kinda strange…” “Yeah, you’re telling me. Sorry to call you out preemptively. But it looks like the more connected to your mana you are the more we can interact so… keep practicing I guess. In the meantime I’ll keep hypothesising and figuring this all out with us…” “Us?” asks Orange. “What do you mean? Because I’m the only one that can hear you?” “Like I said, it’ll make more sense what I mean when you can see me.” “Oh, right…” Orange pauses. “Was that all then?” “Actually, there was another thing. I think I might know how to find that Beast thing.. And maybe return you all to where you came from.” “Seriously?” “Yeah… guess I should have led with that. But I think it’s kind of moot if your mana control is still lacking.” Orange sighs exasperatedly. “Don’t worry. You shouldn’t have to worry about that for a while. We have time, just practice. From what I’ve seen you pretty much have it down.” “Thanks I guess.” Orange turns to leave the apartment. “I’ll keep it up.” “Oh one more thing!” She stops her at the door. “That friend of yours, Sami?” Orange turns back toward the room, presumably at the ghostly voice she was talking to. “She has a lot of potential. I could feel it when you two got back from your date.”

“H-hey!” The ghost giggles a familiar giggle. “Give her a message for me. She shouldn’t think of her Dark mana nature as the opposite of her Light. This usually works well for people but I can see it’s not going to for her.” Orange brings her hand to her chin. “She did seem pretty upset about doing that… but I don’t know why.” There is silence for a long time. “Oh right, you can’t see me.. I was shaking my head in disappointment.” Orange attempts to shoot her a frown, hoping she’s looking in the ghost’s direction. “Trust me, just watching you two I could tell right away. The last thing that is going to work for her is thinking anything opposed to what got her using her magic in the first place. Instead, tell her that she should imagine protecting her light magic. I bet you she’ll get it first try after that.” “Protecting…” Orange ponders. “It’s worth a try at least.” She turns to the door. “Oh! One more thing!!” Orange turns toward the room yet again. “What is it this ti--” She’s cut off by a cold feeling rushing toward her. “Stay away from Sano,” the ghost demanded coldly. “I don’t need you confusing him any more than he already is.” The apartment falls silent after that. Orange slowly backs out of the room and closes the door. She turns back down the hall and sees Sami with AICA right behind her standing in AICA’s doorway. “Oooh, there you are, Orange,” AICA managed to say in her tired state. “I was beginning to think there were two of you here. I could have sworn you were inside reading a book already.” Orange makes her way down the all toward them and smiles. “Sorry about all that.”

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Sami looks away from her silently and goes back into AICA’s apartment. “Come on,” AICA calls. “We were making tea, and Sami helped me organize the books so I don’t hurt myself anymore.” They enter the room and the books are now stacked along the floor side by side with their spines sticking up. Sami sits on the couch looking at her hands, occasionally creating a ball of light and dropping it in disappointment only to try it again. Orange sits down on the couch next to Sami with AICA between them. Orange watches Sami and AICA sways slowly from side to side, her eyes still closed. “Sami?” Orange calls. Sami lifts her head in silent acknowledgment. “About your dark magic, maybe try… thinking about protecting the thoughts you linked to light magic…” Sami sits up and looks at Orange. “Protecting?” “Yeah… not the opposite…” Sami smiles and looks back to her hands. “I would like that. If you think it will work.” “Give it a try!” “Okay.” Sami takes a deep breath and concentrates. She brings her hands together and thinks for a moment. Not too much longer later, a ball begins to form before her. It starts off small. It pulls at her hands as more small dark orbs appear and combine with it until it reaches the size of what her orbs of light typically are. A bright smile grows over Sami and Orange’s faces. “I did it!” “You did it!” They both laugh together for a little while. When they calm down, Sami looks to Orange, unsure. “So did Sano give you that advice for me?” Orange glances away. “No.. he wasn’t... home…” Sami becomes puzzled, and is about to question her but is interrupted by AICA leaning her head on her shoulder.

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“Hey guys, I think I’m going to go to sleep right now. Do you think I’ll dream about something?” Sami and Orange smile at each other. “I do. I hope it’s about why I’m having trouble absorbing photons. I can’t seem to…” She yawns. “Think correctly for some reason…” The girls chuckle to themselves as AICA falls asleep peacefully in Sami’s lap.

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Chapter 5 The box of mini dumplings steamed and wafted their delicious odor through the air. The box was small enough to fit in the palm and was sectioned and split into twelve compartments. It fits easily in Irum’s hand as she pulls a dumpling out by the toothpick it was skewered with and pops it in her mouth with a happy squee. “Are they really that good?” Yami asks. Irum answers by munching down another. “Alright then…” she says plainly. Yami reaches up and grabs one for herself and pops it in her mouth, mimicking Irum’s noises. Miyuki looks down at her a bit concerned. “Is it really okay for you to be… eating that?” Miyuki asks. “Sure,” Yami answered, still chewing. “Not like I can be allergic to anything.” “That’s… not what I meant,” corrected Miyuki. The three of them walk their way down the block. It was midday and they were surrounded by shops on a lovely weekend. Many people were out and about, some of them are students enjoying their time away from school. Miyuki watched as young children ran past them, a teen couple nervously walked by, hand in hand, and a middle schooler shouts out in front of a diner

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drawing in customers as the smell of good home cooking fills the air around them as they pass by. “This island really isn’t half bad,” Miyuki mentioned. “If I had the power to travel between universes I’d probably vacation here.” “Captain Miyuki on vacation?” Yami retorts. “You should be careful of how soft you’re getting. One more jelly donut and you--” She’s cut off when she notices Miyuki glaring daggers at her. She coughs and hacks to stop her comment. “Oh, I.. ack ack… seem to be choking on that dumpling. I said nothing.” “You have a point though.” Miyuki says. “I haven’t been in battle in a long time. Maybe I’m itching for them to find that Beast of Destruction and Ruin.” “Really wanna fight that thing, huh?” asks Yami. “We beat that thing easy!” Irum announces with her mouth stuffed. “Your confidence is reassuring, Irum.” Miyuki states. “It would have been nice if I hadn’t left my sword in the Void.” They continue walking. Yami takes the last dumpling from Irum. “Yeah,” Yami agrees. “We had no idea we’d be taken to a different universe while exploring an abandoned town. Think you’ll do okay with a…” Yami looks to her side to see Miyuki is missing. The two stop and turn around to see her looking through a window of a shop. Irum and Yami join up with Miyuki again and see what stopped her in her tracks. It was a craft shop. There were sculptures in the window made of wood, stone, metal and other materials. In the far back there seemed to be a blacksmith and metalworker. Upon closer inspection you could see a couple of swords and axes back there with him. They look at Miyuki as she enters the shop. The front of the shop was small. The walls and shelves displayed a variety of craft works from wooden fence posts to

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elegant metal frames. There were knick knacks and other accessories on a counter where a young girl stood greeting the group into the store. "Welcome, Welcome! How are you doing today? How can we help you?" Miyuki looks at the items on the counter. “We have a variety of items for selection and we also take on-site jobs and repair!” “Did you make these?” asks Miyuki. The young girl puffs out her chest proudly. “I sure did!” She presents a small workstation and mini kiln behind her. “I have my own cute little anvil and everything! I use this to make all of my accessories and jewelry.” Yami and Irum admire the craftwork of the items in front of them. "Can I interest you in anything? I got some more right under the counter! I even have something that will look great on your horns!" "Actually," Miyuki started. "I'd like to talk to the guy in the back about a sword." The girl puffs her cheeks. "A sword..?" She stares at Miyuki disapprovingly for a moment. "Fine," she says as she walks out from behind the counter. She walks to the entrance leading to the back of the shop. "Hey Dad! We got a couple of customers!" "Bring them back here!" He shouts back. "No need for all the yelling." The girl leads them all to the back of the shop. The heat of the big stone furnace envelopes them. The man quenches a metal rod into a tub of water. The steam this creates expands and fills the room. "Geez Dad, it's like a freaking sauna in here!" "What about it?" the man says. "I'm trying to relax back here." He looked and sounded a bit gruff. He was tall and covered in muscles and hairy arms. His thick apron covered his topless body.

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"Relaxing," the young girl starts. "While you make your poor young daughter slave away at the counter? For shame." She marches over to him and kicked him in the shin. "Jerk." “For crying out loud!” he cries out as he hops about tending to his leg. “You definitely get all that from your mother’s side!” When if finally settles down he looks at his three new customers. “So then, what might I be able to do for you all?” “Just me actually.” Miyuki speaks up. The man eyes her up and down and smiles. “A strong, commanding type, eh?” He walks around her. “Tall, stoic and straight to the point.” “You forgot, ‘stick in the mud.’” Yami adds. Miyuki stares daggers at her again as Yami chuckles and moves to one of the walls to look at the weapons on the display. “I’ve got just the thing for you,” the man says as he disappears behind some shelves. He emerges with a large broadsword. “Now this will command some respect from any foe in hands like yours no doubt.” He hands her the blade and it clangs down to the floor. “It’s a bit… heavy… for my tastes.” The man thinks for a moment before excitement fills his face. “Oh oh, wait right here, I think I got it now.” He goes back behind the shelves and returns with a trident. It is elegant in design. “Long reach, impressive look to go along with your features, eh?” He hands the weapon to Miyuki. “You’ll regain the regal look you’re surely looking for. What do you think of that, eh?” “I think,” the young girl speaks up. “You should quit flirting with your customers, old man.” “What?” her father shouts. “Who’s flirting? You’re losing your mind girly!” His daughter glares at him.

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“This is nice,” Miyuki cuts in. “But I’m more in the market for a sword.” “A sword?” the man calls out. “Then you must go with the broadsword! It’s perfect for you!” “Dad no one wants your stupid broadsword! You try to push it off on everyone that comes in here!” “Do katanas exist in this universe?” sighs Miyuki. “They sure do!” Yami shouts out. “Take a look at this one!” Yami stands in front of a short katana on the wall. It has many elaborately made ornamental additions to its design, though none of which get in the way of its existence as a sword. Miyuki joins Yami at the wall. “Look! It’s so practical but awesome looking! This kashira is so sick, and check out the stitching of the tsukaito! Never seen it done like that before! And this tsuba~!” Miyuki watches as Yami geeks out over the blade. She then turns her attention to the young girl. “Did you make this?” The girl gasps. “Y-Yeah! How’d you know?” “Everything Yami is going crazy about is pretty intricate, like the jewelry you showed us.” “You got good taste,” the girl’s father exclaims. “She’s really improved her smithy skills. And now she’s started adding her signature designs into the weapons she forges. I couldn’t be more proud! The blade looks like it’s for show but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.” “My swords will cut down any bad guy easily!” The girl adds. “Then I’ll take it.” says Miyuki. Yami laughs. “Heh, well it’s really neat and all but this ō-wakizashi’s going to be too short for you right? “It’ll be alright,” reassures Miyuki. “At least until we get back to the Void.”

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“Wait!” the girl yells. “You’re really buying MY sword?” “Sort of…” Miyuki says while she pulls out the card given to her by Headmaster Ragolia. “What is that?” the girl asks. “Ooh, so you got one of those did you?” The man folds his arms. “I won’t ask for any details. If you think my daughter’s sword will be of use to you against that thing then by all means.” “By all means?” the daughter asks. “What is that supposed to mean? Against what thing? What’s with that card?” “It means they get your sword for free.” The man explained. “By order of the Headmaster.” The girl glares at them and then at the card. “Are you sure that thing’s not fake? Looks like a kid drew it…” Her father russells her hair roughly. “You sure that’s all you need?” “Yup,” Miyuki confirmed. “The rest of us will be fine I’m sure.” Miyuki, Yami and Irum exit the shop with Miyuki’s new sword in hand. “Hey,” the man calls out as they leave. “I don’t really know what that was that came here the other day, but it must be pretty dangerous for you to have those cards. Make sure that thing doesn’t hurt our little town, got it?” Miyuki smiles at them and bows. “I promise when it shows itself, we’ll have it handled quickly.” “We kill it easy!!” Irum adds excitedly. The father and daughter laugh and return to their shop and the others continue walking their way down the block. “I hungry…” “You just had dumplings, Irum.” said Yami. "Though I suppose we can find some campus food to bring back with us--" As she finished her thought, Yami and Irum are pulled to the side by Miyuki who has them hidden around the corner of a building with her. "What are you doing?"

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"Keep your voice down." Miyuki orders. "Okay?" Whispered Yami. "Why did you pull us into an alley..?" "No reason." Miyuki answered while peaking back into the street. "Well what are you looking at?" "No one." "No one?" Yami wondered as she peaked around the corner. When she does she sees Sano standing outside of a store front. He was dressed casually, very off from the sharp blazer he wore everyday for school. He seemed to be deep in thought. "Blue man!" Irum says loudly as she too peaked around the corner. Miyuki in response pulls the two back into the alley to hide. "I said voices down!" She demanded in as loud of a whisper she could muster. "Okay," Yami started. "So, Sano's out and about. Why are we hiding from Sano?" "You didn't notice the flowers in his hand?" asked Miyuki. Yami peeks around the corner again. "Flowers," she said. Yami watches Sano look around him at the different stores before seemingly moving on. "Who do you think they're for?" “Could be for a coworker.” Miyuki suggests. “He did tell us he was filling in for someone on leave.” “Or maybe a birthday?” Yami guesses. “Or…” “Or…” parrots Miyuki. The two of them glance at each other. “We should follow him,” says Miyuki. “Just to confirm.” “Yes,” Yami affirms. “Confirm.” The girls follow behind Sano, sneaking behind poles, buildings and even people if need be to stay hidden. They watch

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as he enters a candle shop. “Candle?” Irum calls out. Sano remains in the shop for a bit of time. “Candles can be romantic, right?” Yami asks. “Good for setting the mood.” Miyuki answers. “Good for burning things!” Irum adds. “Like the passionate flames of love!” Miyuki clasps her hands with determination. “You really think Sano has something like that for Orange?” Yami asked. As she does, Sano emerges from the shop with a bag. He looks in their direction and the girls all duck behind a wall again. Sano walks off in the opposite direction and the others follow close behind. On his way he picks up a pair of dumplings being sold by a vendor. At this point he begins traveling away from the hustle and bustle around the shops. Miyuki quietly leads her group to different stealthy positions on the way. “Where’s he going now?” Yami wondered out loud. “Certainly not back to the apartment.” Miyuki answered back as she hid behind a tree. “Unless Orange was supposed to meet him out here. This area looks pretty peaceful and quiet…” The area Sano was being followed though seemed to be a park of sorts. A stone brick path through a row of trees opened up to a cemetery. The path connected to a staircase that climbed up a hill. The hill was stepped and held a row of small tombstones on each level. Sano climbs to the fourth level and makes his way to the 10th tombstone in the row. He kneels down in front of it and pulls out a handkerchief and uses it to wipe the tombstone clean. First the top, then down each of the sides and the back. He then folds the handkerchief and wipes down the front, being sure to get into the crevasses where it was chiseled into. Miyuki and the others walk onto the level Sano was on as he was lighting an incense that he pulled out of the candle shop

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bag. He placed it into a small censer that sat in front of the tombstone on its left side. Sano sat on his heels and sighed before bringing his hands together in prayer. After a moment of silence he speaks up. “So the ‘Going-Home Club’ is out and about today.” He turns to them with a pleasant smile. “Did you have fun spying on me?” “He knew!!” Irum gasps. Miyuki and Yami gently bow, “Sorry for disturbing you.” Miyuki apologizes for the group. “Had we known…” Sano laughs. “No, don’t worry about it. You could have come up to me and asked. I would’ve liked the company today.” Miyuki glances at the grave and notices the name. The tombstone was engraved with; “Balbis Kosaten - Beloved friend, teacher, innovator and fiancé,” with a date underneath it; “__ 2031.” Sano takes one of the dumplings he purchased and places it on a small plate in front of the tombstone. “Balbis Kosaten?” Miyuki starts. “I think I’ve heard you say that name before.” Sano looks at Miyuki. “Balbis.. Yeah.” He stands and smiles sadly at them. “I was mistaken when we first met. I know that now. Perhaps she was just on my mind at the time.” “Who was she?” asks Yami. “She was my fiancé.” Sano answered. Yami pulls on Miyuki’s shirt. “His fiancé!” Yami calls. “I heard him!” Miyuki whisper shouts back. She bows again and pulls Irum’s head down as well. “We’re sorry for your loss.” Sano chuckles softly. “Thank you.” He reaches into his bag and pulls out more dumplings and hands them to the girls. Irum lights up with glee as she happily snatches the food from him. “You know, Kosaten wasn’t actually her last name. She didn't

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have one originally.” He looked down at her tombstone. “When we were just kids, she learned the Japanese word for intersection and took a liking to it. With her name being Balbis, she said it would be funny!” Sano laughs to himself again. “She was a pretty goofy kid. And that trait stuck with her as she grew up as well.” “She was a goof, eh?” said Yami. She handed her dumpling to Irum who was just finishing off her own. “Kinda sounds like someone I know.” “She was pretty silly, yes.” Sano recounted. “But she was also very intelligent. She worked hard on the knowledge she attained. Since she wasn’t able to use magic, she made it her goal to know as much as she could learn about everything. Mainly becoming the leading expert on theoretical Mana sciences. She was also a bit of a couch scientist in other areas.” “She couldn’t use magic?” Miyuki asks. “That seems strange somehow. I was thinking everyone around this school would be able to use at least some.” Sano laughs. “You might think so, but not everyone is even interested in it. She made up for her lack in Mana by training with that sword she always had. You’ve actually seen it, on my mantelpiece.” “She strong?” asked Irum with her mouth still stuffed. “She was!” Sano replied. “We made a perfect classical warrior and wizard partnership.” “How she die?” “Irum!” Miyuki snaps. “No, it’s okay,” reassures Sano. He takes a seat on top of the tombstone next to Balbis’. “It was my fault. There was a battle four years ago. Someone trying to cause harm to Algameen. Balbis and I… her plan was to seal this evil away, but I was the only one available to cast the spell. I just… I wasn’t able to cast it

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fast enough, and when danger struck, she...sacrificed herself to make sure the seal was set.” Miyuki places a hand on Sano’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t blame yourself-” “That good!” Irum cuts in. The others look at Irum, a bit shocked at her response. Irum finishes off her second dumpling and licks her fingers clean. “You say she strong! She probably could defeat bad man by herself! But she died to protect you. That means you being alive is more important than winning!” She smiles down at Sano happily. “I know! I strong too! Irum protect Muri with life! Even if Irum lose!” Sano stands up and chuckles. Irum looks him square in the eyes, still smiling brightly. “She just like me. She love you more than anything. Irum bet she do it again!” “Thank you, Irum,” Sano laughed. “It doesn’t make me feel better that she’s gone, but it helped for sure.” He steps past them and turns around. “I’ll be heading back home. Still have some papers to grade.” As Sano walks away the girls look at each other and follow behind. “We’re all done walking around anyway.” Yami says to Sano. As they leave, Miyuki glances down to the tombstone that Sano was sitting on. It’s engraved with: “Sano Keawe - 2003 __” Miyuki pauses in thought at that for a moment before joining the others on their walk home.

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Chapter 6 “That is quite the tale,” Sano says. “I would never have imagined. Is that why she wasn’t out with you all?” “Yeah,” Yami answers. “Since then she’s been a bit... fragile. “I didn’t realize either.” Miyuki adds. “Yup,” continues Yami. “So be sure to be extra sweet to her, Sano. I’m sure she’d appreciate that.” Yami smiles smugly. “Yes,” Sano agrees. “I think I’ll check on her once we get back. The group enter the apartment and make their way to their rooms on the top floor. The halls were quiet as they made their way to Yami and AICA’s room. They walk in to find Sami sitting on the couch holding a bright ball of light between her hands, AICA sleeping peacefully in her lap. She looks up and stutters. “It’s not what it looks like!” “Is she okay?” Sano calls out. They all enter the room and Sano kneels down in front of Sami. “Oh,” Sami replies. “Yeah she’s okay. She was pretty loopy this morning though. She said she was having trouble absorbing light or something…so she said she’d take a nap.” She looks down

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at AICA’s peaceful face. “I figured that maybe my light magic could help a little. So we’ve been like this since this afternoon.” Yami laughs. “Good thinking, she shouldn’t have much trouble with a light source that close to her.” “See?” Orange says as she comes around the corner. “You are a healer.” She walks out into the open and greets everyone holding a hand towel drying her hands. “Did you all have fun out there?” “Yeah, what did you all do?” Sami adds. Yami and Miyuki look at each other. “Oh you know,” starts Yami. “Did some shopping, ate some food.” “I got a sword.” Miyuki announced. AICA shone brightly under Sami’s magical ball of light. Her skin smooth as a mirror reflecting the light back into the room. Sano gently brushes the hair away from her face. She fidgets to his touch and slowly opens her eyes. There didn’t seem to be any trouble holding them open this time around, though her eyelids still hung a little more than half opened. The spiraling aperture in her right eye and the rings of her left adjusted themselves to the white light shining directly over her. The face looking back at her made her smile calmly with its familiarity. “I didn’t mean to wake you.” Sano apologized. “How are you feeling? Yami told me you weren’t doing so well today.” AICA smiled more. “It’s okay, Doctor. My battery is near full charge.” “That’s good to hear, little one. Try to rest a little more.” “Dr. Casa,” calls AICA softly. “Now that you’re here, I can give you my report.” She closes her eyes again. “Mission accomplished.” Sami and Sano look down at her with a confused smile. “Who’s Dr. Casa?” Sano asks. Yami and Orange laugh quietly. Yami’s hand lands on Sano’s shoulder.

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“It’s nothing important,” said Yami. They all laugh to themselves softly as to not disturb AICA’s slumber. Suddenly, however, Sano stops and turns his attention to the door, followed by Sami, though with more confusion. The other’s stop in turn. “What is it?” asked Orange. “You didn’t hear that?” Sami pondered. The room is silent for a moment longer before the others speak up confirming that they also didn’t hear anything. Irum holds her ears and shakes her head. Sano chuckles. “That’s because you didn’t hear anything either.” He looks back to her. “Something is disrupting the Mana in the area, similarly to when you all arrived. And what you just did was sense that disruption, albeit faintly.” He stands before her. “I knew you had some real potential.” Sami smiles. Sano exits the room with a rather serious look on his face. The others follow behind him, leaving AICA turning over on the couch and sighing to herself in her room alone. They see Sano standing outside of his own door. “Something’s here,” he announces to them. Miyuki draws her new sword and Yami transforms one of her arms into its canon weapon form. Orange grows unsure after just being in there. “Is it the Beast?” Miyuki asks. She trains her blade at the door. “I don’t think so,” answered Sano. “It feels different.” At that moment a crash can be heard from the other side of the door followed by a small voice. “Stay behind me and don’t let your guard down.” With that, Sano grips the handle to his door with determination and swings the door open as a quick rush of wind encircles his free hand. On the inside of the room was not a dangerous beast of destruction and ruin. Instead what lay on the floor before them with it’s butt in the air was a woman. She cried out quietly to herself in pain and did her best to sit up straight. A

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closet door was opened behind her as if it were the place she emerged from. “You can get off of me any day now Maggie.” A soothing man’s voice says muffled underneath the woman. She sits up straight and wearily bushes her brown hair to one side of her face. “Sorry about that Manny,” apologized Maggie. She looks up through her hair at Sano staring at her by the door holding a tornado in his hand. She stumbles back grabbing Manni, holding him in front of her chest. Manny was a spirit of some kind, an animalistic head similar to a canine with two horns jutting out from the side of his head surrounded by a swirling dark aura. “Wait wait!,” she shouts out. “I didn’t mean to intrude or break in, I’m not a burglar!” “Wait I think I know that voice.” Yami says from behind Sano. He lets her past and Miyuki follows her in. “Oh! Yami!” Maggie’s face lights up. “And Miyuki too!” “A friend of yours?” Sano asks, putting his magic away. Everyone else enters the room one by one and as each appears in the doorway, Maggie’s smile grows more and more. “You’re all here!” Maggie cries out. “You’re all okay!” She falls over Orange in a hugging and sobbing mess. When she finally settles down Orange introduces her to Sano and tells her about all of the things that have happened over the past few days. “You and Sami can use magic now? I wasn’t expecting that at all.” “So how exactly did you manage to make it here, Maggie?” questioned Sano. “Are you able to travel between universes?” “Whole universes?” Maggie ponders. “I.. don’t think so. It’s more like… planes of existence or.. Dimensions?” She stops for a moment and looks at Manni who manages to give her a shrug while lacking the shoulders required. “But I know I must

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have done something like that a few times before. It’s how I made it back to the Void a while ago.” “Back?” parroted Sano. “So you’ve left the Void at one point and returned?” Maggie nods and does her best to explain how she believes she travels to the different places she does. “Although I can’t really control it, I felt like I just might be able to get to where Orange and the others were if I just… tried hard enough…” “She was opening and closing doors all day today hoping it would eventually open a portal here.” Manny explains. “And it worked!” Maggie shouts out and quickly turtles herself into her shoulders. “I-I opened a door and this room was on the other side. But when I tried to walk through there was some kind of barrier stopping me. I knew it had to be where everyone was and I couldn’t just give up! So we pushed, and pushed until… I--” “--Until we stumbled into the room.” Maggie pouts at Manny. “I see.” said Sano. “That barrier you mentioned. It must have been our Mana barrier. The same one the rest of you managed to bypass when you arrived. Though I’m shocked you were able to simply push your way through it so easily.” “Maybe you need a new one.” Yami quips. “Either way,” Maggie says. “We got here, so I can bring you all back home now!” She walks over to the closet door and pulls on the handle. Beyond the door stood a waist high shelf with books and other knick knacks. There was also a coat and hat rack inside. She stares into the closet dumbfounded for a while before closing the door gently. A moment later she quickly pulls the door open again revealing the closet beyond. Everyone else watches on as Maggie stares into the closet in silence for a long while.

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“I can’t do it!” she cries turning back toward everyone else. The room sighs. “Hey,” Sami attempts to console her. “You did your best!” “They did say they were opening doors all day,” comments Orange. “Maybe she just needs to keep trying?” “Maybe not.” Sano says. “She doesn’t think she can travel to a whole new universe and that’s probably the case.” Sano turns toward Miyuki. “Did you once say that none of you are capable of something like that, but you all managed to find your way into the Void, like being drawn to your connection to Orange.” Miyuki places a hand to her chin. “Yeah, I did. So you’re thinking that Maggie’s here in the same way she came back to the Void. She’s here because Orange is here.” Sano nods. “If that’s the case, then her ability to travel universes would have to be limited to this strange connection you all share.” “Hang on,” Maggie interrupts. “What is all of that supposed to mean guys?” “Means you’re trapped here with us.” Yami states bluntly, breaking Maggie. “It’ll be okay, Maggie.” Sami reassures. “Can you tell us what’s been happening back home?” Maggie collects herself. “Oh, yes, well. Everyone is okay, but super worried about you guys. And I guess they’ll be worried about me too now. Three has been going crazy reading whatever books she can find to try and find a way to bring you back. And Two is doing her best to keep her sister calm.” “And Muri?” Irum asks. “Ms. Muri is okay. I can tell she’s worried too, but she was the one telling us that you’re okay and that you’ll come back eventually.” “Anything else happening over there?” Orange asked.

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“Oh!” Maggie starts. “Get this! Three has been learning a lot in those books she’s reading. Like how the Deity of Creation called Token Town her home!” “She lived in that town we were in?” asked Miyuki. “Yes, we found one of her diaries. It showed that she apparently wasn’t always the Deity of Creation.” “How would that work?” Sami asked. “I thought she was always around, right?” “Well,” began Maggie. “From what Three could make out, the diary belonged to a normal girl originally who later became the Deity. It looks like the Deity isn’t really immortal, but transfers her spirit or something into a new person after she dies to live on. There was apparently a whole ritual for this chosen girl.” “So,” wonders Orange. “Does she just take over the host’s body?” Maggie shakes her head. “I don’t think so. After the ritual the girl says in her diary that she doesn’t feel that different, but later starts to write about different things like mutant human traits and like, combining things together or something. There was even computer code written down!” “Fascinating,” said Sano. “Like a pseudo possession. She didn’t really take over the girl’s body, but the two eventually became one. Or maybe more like the host girl assimilated this Deity’s memories and personality into her own becoming a sort of hybrid of the two.” He looks up at everyone around the room as they stare at him. He laughs sheepishly at himself. “It’s.. just interesting is all.” “Other than that,” Maggie continues. “The egg seal thing was rumbling a little bit after you all disappeared but it’s been quiet since then.” “Wait.” Sano interjects. “The seal is still there?”

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“Y-yes?” answered Maggie. “What’s wrong, Sano?” Orange asks. Sano paces around for a moment in thought. “If the seal is still in place then it’s still holding something inside.” “Like the beast?” asks Sami. Sano nods. “And the Deity…” Maggie adds. “She sealed herself away too. “She must be what is holding the seal together now then,” a voice guesses from the doorway. Everyone turns around to see Langsat standing there. “Hey there, Sano. Your apartment is starting to look like a harem. Not sure she’d approve.” “Langsat,” Sano greeted. “When was the last time you’ve known a seal to crack and remain secure?” She takes just a moment to think before answering bluntly. “Never.” The girls gasp at the thought of the Beast of Destruction and Ruin breaking out and finishing what it started with their friends still there. A heavy pit grows in Irum’s stomach but is quickly snapped out of a potential rage by Orange’s hand on her shoulder. “Do you really think it could break?” Orange asked. “I do.” Sano replied. “But don’t lose heart.” “How do we do that?” asks Sami. “We don’t even know when the seal could break again.” “Think about it,” Langsat interjects. “What happened to that thing when you all first showed up here?” “It went into hiding.” Yami answered. “When that seal breaks, whatever’s left of that thing will be weakened as well. All we need to do is get you lot back there as soon as possible. It’s all we can do from here anyway.” The spirits in the room stay low, like the end of the world was just announced. Langsat sighs. “Who knows, maybe that thing will try

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and go back itself to become whole again and you’ll get your chance then.” "Maybe…" says Orange. The room grows silent again. "By the way Langsat," Sano began. "What brought you here anyway?" "I'm here to fetch you, Sano." She responded. "Phillip was called to a grand meeting. So all of the old fogies will be there." “Makes sense they’d want to get us together with how serious this seems to be…” Sano sighs. “Better not leave them waiting, right? "Wait," Orange called out. "We should go with you right?" The others all agree with her. "This meeting will deal with personal matters of the Magical Union." Langsat explains. "This won't concern you." "If it's about the Beast then it’s our business.” Miyuki informs. Langsat grimaces and takes a step into the room as if accepting a challenge. Sano steps in and turns Langsat around with a smile. “Don’t worry about it.” He says to the others. “This meeting will be pretty boring. They’ll probably talk about a lot of politics within the Union, not something I’d want to subject you all to.” He looks back as he pushes Langsat out of the door. “Orange, Sami, you should take this time to get plenty of rest. We’ll be training in the morning.” They nod as Sano leaves with Langsat.

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Chapter 7 The sun shines brightly through the window, filling the room with it’s light. The bunk beds in the corner were both empty and the sound of running water could be heard coming from another room. There were a few books strewn about the floor of the bedroom along with handwritten notes on a myriad of subjects from solar panel efficacy to time travel, many of them messily written. On a nightstand by the bed sat two black rings and a hair clip in the shape of the sun. The running water soon comes to an end and a while later yet, a door connected to the room opens. AICA walks out into the room pulling her head through a t-shirt, it was imprinted with a picture of a cute cartoon muffin and the words “Cool Girl” on it. She pushes her arms through the sleeves and pulls her hair out from the shirt. Her hair fell down her back, big and wavy. She grabs a brush from the nightstand and begins brushing her hair into place, taking the time to brush out the hair at either side of her face out so she could pull it under her ears and braid it up behind her head. As she finishes, she picks up the two black rings and slides her hands through them, twisting them to lock them into place. She finished

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off her ensemble by clipping her hair with the sun shaped hair clip over her right eye. She takes a deep breath and pauses at the sound of a ruckus outside. It sounds like shouting and strange bangs. As AICA exits her apartment room to investigate she notices that the halls are very quiet, and no one seems to be in their own rooms. She walks down the hall toward the noises. Around a corner she hadn’t explored before she could see a line of windows that appeared to let light in, but from the inside of the building rather than the outside. As she approached the windows she could see there was also a staircase that lead down on that side, and the wind outside sounded like it was picking up as well. AICA begins to jog to the staircase and stops at the balcony overlooking a spacious courtyard. The grass was lush and there were a few trees planted about. There were two staircases on either side, like the one AICA was standing at the top of, that connected to each of the three floors of the complex. At the bottom were pathways that connected to what seemed to be a cafeteria and snaked around the yard to seating areas. In the middle of this courtyard AICA could see three people in a scuffle. As she looked closer she could see Sano pushing Orange away hard with a wind spell while Sami stood farther back throwing what seemed like balls of darkness at him. She tries to call out to them but is stopped when she notices someone standing next to her. “Hey there, AICA,” Maggie greeted. She stood there smiling at her while Manny floated up from behind her. AICA stares at them blankly. “When did you two get here?” AICA asked. Before she could get a reply a powerful gust of wind blew up to them, catching them off guard.

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Orange is tossed into the air and lands hard on the grass next to Sami who kneels down and uses her light magic to help her up. “Are you alright ORC!?” Orange stands up and wipes the sweat from her brow. She was covered in dirt and smudges. “Yeah, thanks.” She readies herself to pounce and grinds the two of her boot into the grass. “I’m gonna try again, see if you can catch him off guard with another of those shadow balls.” “Okay!” Orange rushes down Sano with a quick pace, her body low and her arm trailing behind her which soon bursts into a bright orange flame. Sano sighs unenthusiastically and puts his hands into his pockets. As Orange approached a ball of darkness appears from behind her, curving quickly around her body and landing with a shadowy explosion at Sano’s feet, causing him to jump out of the way. Orange seizes the opportunity to strike him with her flame, leaping into the air after him. As she gets close a powerful gust of wind blows from underneath her, sending her into the air once again and back and crashing into Sami. Sano lands gently onto his feet once again in front of the girls. “The two of you aren’t bad.” Sano critiqued. “But you’re not thinking outside of the box very much.” He bends at his hips and looks down on Orange. “I haven’t taught you a single spell or how to really cast one, yet Sami here is tossing them out like a infant natural.” He glances at Sami. “And you’re getting too cozy back here on the support lines.” He straightens himself and walks away, leaving a large magic circle underneath the girls. “Catch your breath quickly, I’m on the offensive again.” A moment later and the two of them are once again tossed away by a powerful gust of wind. The girls struggle back to their feet, short on breath. “Nothing we do is working!” says Orange.

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“He casts those powerful spells so effortlessly,” Sami add. “But he keeps his hands in his pockets.. How is he doing that?” The two manage to get to their feet finally. “We need a plan or something.” Suddenly a magic circle appears above their heads and quickly they are pushed down to their knees by another gust. They fight to get their balance back as Sano appears before them hovering on a small tornado preparing a strong kick. Barely enough time for them to notice before Sano swings his leg at them. He doesn’t connect of course, however yet another powerful gust of wind throws them back. Immediately he is already walking toward them, hands still in his pockets. “Okay,” Orange calls out to Sami. The two of them wobble to their feet again. “We need to work together and get in there.” “We need to do something else with our magic…” Sami suggested. She watching Sano take his time walking toward them. Calm and collected, and somehow menacing with his power. “What if we put our powers together?” “Is that even possible?” Sami smiles at Orange. “Have to think outside of the box right?” Orange smiles at Sami. “And have to be more on the offensive!” She quickly turns back to Sano, determined. Magic circles appear at her palms as she conjures balls of flame and throws them at him. He dodges some, others are blown away by wind that seemingly appears out of nowhere. Each fireball Orange throws does nothing to slow him down or deter his slow approach. “Here he comes!” As Sano reaches an arms length away from them, Orange is already in motion with another fiery punch. Sano tilts his head out of the way revealing a magic circle behind him that blows her flame out. Not to be deterred, she continues her assault, in vain unfortunately. “This still won’t work, Orange.” As he finishes that

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thought, she quickly ducks down low, giving Sami who was still standing right behind her a chance to use a blinding flash of her light magic. Sano takes a step back. He tried to look through the light and notices Orange is missing. He turns his head behind him too late to see Orange there to shove him to the side, pushing him off balance. Before he can react, Orange and Sami are below him, their fists together. Orange’s engulfed in flame and Sami’s swirling with darkness. A magic circle appears between Sano and the girls, a burst of wind directed at himself pushes him back to avoid their joint attack. Sami and Orange throw their fists into the air completely in sync, uppercutting past Sano. Sami’s dark magic merges with Orange’s flame, turning it black as it erupts into the air. The three of them stare up at it until it fizzles out high in the sky. Sano looks back down to them with a proud smile. “A black flame.” Sano comments. “That’s new. Very well done you two. With some more practice I think you’ll make a perfect team together.” They blush, laughing lightly to themselves. The clanging of a frying pan can be heard from the entryway of the cafeteria. “Lunch bell’s ringing guys!” Yami shouts. “That was really amazing you two!” Maggie compliments as she and AICA get to the bottom of the stairs. “I didn’t understand what was happening at first,” AICA starts. “But you really held your own against Mr. Sano.” Orange and Sami laugh sheepishly. "They impressed me for sure." Sano agreed. "Especially at the end. I wasn't expecting them to mix their mana so easily. And on their first try." "Well," Sami says. “We do make a pretty awesome team.." Orange smiles and giggles at Sami. “So how did that meeting go, Mr. Sano?” asked Maggie.

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“Meeting?” wondered AICA. “Boring as expected.” He replied. “Ragolia once again talked about me becoming the next Headmaster, I declined yet again, and all of the higher ups are letting their fear of this Beast issue make rash decisions.” “Like what?” Orange tilted her head. “Like, forming an army of sorts from other magical locations around the world to be sent here to Blue City. Which for a magical society known for keeping itself fairly secret, moving that many people to a small island…” “Not very smart…” Yami finishes. “However,” Sano continues. “The not so boring part was when we got home.” “What happened?” asked Sami. “The High Priesthood had news of potential whereabouts for the Beast of Destruction and Ruin.” The others gasp. “I was given word early this morning. I was going to head to the location I was given after your training.” “Well great!” Orange says excitedly. “We’ll get cleaned up and go with you!” Sano shakes his head. “No, that won’t be necessary. These tips are areas where they have sensed a faint increase in the Mana. Could be nothing, but still worth checking out of course. Besides, you two are tired, dirty and hungry I’m sure. This will give you a chance to eat and rest. If something does happen then you’ll be more prepared.” Yami smuggly side eye’s AICA and bumps into her, knocking her off balance into Sano. He catches her by the shoulders and asks if she’s alright. With her face turning red she can only respond with efforts and cute disgruntled whining until she turns her head and glares at Yami. Yami shrugs.

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“You know,” Yami begins. “It might be a good idea to have at least one of us with you. Just in case something does happen. Some back up is all.” AICA grits and shouts through her teeth at her sister meekly, but is startled when Sano responds. "Well alright, if it's alright with you of course, little AICA." He smiles down at her flushing AICA's face again. She stammers out a response of affirmation. "Good. And now none of you will have to miss out on Yami's great cooking." He looks back down to her. "Unless you wanted to eat lunch as well?" "N-n-no I…" AICA stutters. "I'm here to protect you Mr. Sano!" Yami turns her head and snickers to herself. "Have fun you two!" Sano and AICA make their way to the exit, AICA stiff as a board. "We won't be too long." Said Sano.

The two exit the building together. They walk silently in the afternoon sun. The distant sounds of a fair could be heard ahead of them. "So," AICA starts. "Where are we going anyway, Mr. Sano?" He looks down at her with a smile. "There's a park on the other side of town." He reaches into his pocket and pulls a lemon candy from it. He was about to open it up and eat it, however the sight of AICA looking up at him with her big eyes made him smile again and give the candy to her instead. She takes it from him with both hands and observes it closely. "The High Priest told me a monument at that park was holding onto a noticeable amount of Mana." "So could it be hiding inside of it?" AICA asked. "Could be," Sano responds. "But Mana collecting into an object isn't uncommon. Still worth a look of course."

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"Of course!" AICA parrots back. Sano glances back down at AICA. She was still closely examining the candy given to her. He smiles at her. "So you seem to be feeling better today." "Better?" "You didn't seem very awake yesterday." Sano mentions. "Pretty loopy and not all there." "Oh," AICA recalls. "I wasn't able to get a lot of photons for some reason." She gently unwrapped the candy and examined it some more. It was yellow of course and slightly transparent. She held it up to the sun, its light shining through the sugary morsel, tinting her face with its yellow color. "I'm still having trouble today as well actually." "So you're solar powered?" "I am." She answered. "I have skin cells just like you, but mine are photovoltaic. I read over a few of the science books I checked out of the library. There wasn’t anything about Mana interfering with light in any way. I knew that couldn’t be the case because of the state I was in.” She finally puts the lemon candy in her mouth. “Next thing I knew, I was reading Blue City medical books for answers.” Sano laughs. “You probably wouldn’t find your answers in something like that.” “I learned a little bit about your home, and strange medical conditions only found here. I wasn’t really sick though.” AICA looks around at her surroundings. The two of them were beginning to enter the area with all of the weekend activity. Townsfolk were milling about, visiting shops and enjoying the festivities. Diners and food shops had carts outside with samples for everyone to try. “Your version of Earth is rather fascinating, Mr. Sano.” “How so?”

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“Mainly the magic,” says AICA. “Mana was not a known force in the past or in my time. From what I read and how you describe it, perhaps it is there somewhere and we just don’t know it.” AICA notices a young boy around her age trying to get the attention of passers by to enter the pastry shop behind him. He was chipper and had light blue hair and matching eyes. As they pass by AICA looks back at him. Sano notices her falling behind. “AICA,” He calls out gently. “What about your world?” AICA snaps out of her backward gaze and catches up to him. “What is your home like?” “My Earth?” AICA looks up at Sano. “My Earth went through a planet wide incident known as the ‘New Dark Ages.’ I wasn’t around for it though, When I was made, it brought about our new calendar era known as Solar Era (SE). Dr. Casa managed to improve solar energy technologies enough to make it a highly viable energy source to bring humanity out of the new dark age. There were a few issues from time to time though.” “Yami told me some things as well.” Sano mentions. “You were quite the little hero in your world.” He compliments her with a rather impressed tone. AICA smiles and hides behind her shoulder with a bit of a giggle. “I-I wouldn’t really…” AICA stammered. “I just did what I was taught was right, and protected others. I don’t know if I ever did enough though.” She looked straight ahead, her eyes dull and melancholy. Sano sees this and pats her head gently. “I’m sure he would be proud of you,” Sano reassures. “I know I would be.” This makes AICA react by hiding behind her shoulder once again, however she quickly looks back up at him with a bright smile. “Thank you, Doctor.” AICA looks up at him for a moment, still smiling, when suddenly she gasps. “I-I mean!” she stutters.

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“You-you’re not Doct-- I mean…” She sighs. “Mr. Sano…” He laughs out loud and AICA smiles again shyly. She looks at him and attempts to say something but is cut off. “Hi there Sano,” the voice of a young girl calls out from behind them. They turn and see Una with her friends Maho and Kako’o. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.” AICA notices Una’s similar hair and eye color to Sano’s. They could have been related. “Oh, Una.” Sano greeted her cheerfully. “Good to see you. I could say the same for you. You’re not one for any festive activities.” “Una,” Kako’o calls out. “You’re so familiar with older men. I had no idea you were so aggressive!” Una stammers as the others all laugh. “So these must be those new friends I’ve heard about from Ken.” “Oh, yeah…” Una gestures behind herself at her friends. “This is Kako’o, and the pink haired anime girl back there is Maho. I told them about the festival today and they wanted to take part.” “It’s good to see you having fun these days, Una.” Sano begins to turn away. “I’m afraid we have important business to attend to, but I’ll be sure to pay another visit in a few days.” Una nods and wishes them well. “Look,” Maho shouts as she pulls her friends toward a store front nearby. “They have seaweed wrapped yogurt here!” AICA watches as they run into the store and then turns back to Sano. “Did.. you also want seaweed wrapped yogurt? I read it was supposed to be good for you.” He chuckles. “So you were reading those kinds of medical books. It would be great if prolonging our lives was so simple, but it’s just an old wivestale. In the few cases we have of those that

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lived longer than expected, actually liking those bizarre snacks wasn’t the only thing they had in common. There were other factors like eating healthy and a few were top athletes.” He smiles warmly. “Now don’t you go concerning yourself over that.” AICA lowers her shoulders and nods. Both of them continue to make their way through the streets, eventually coming up to a mass of people at the heart of the festivities. Sano looks down at AICA and reaches his hand out. “Come on, let’s make sure you don’t get lost in there.” AICA hesitates and stares at his hand, her own hand hovering around her chest. She looks up to him and sees Dr. Casa smiling back down to her, making her smile back and gingerly rest her hand in his as they enter the tightly packed crowd. Further behind them, hiding behind a festival stall, Miyuki shakes Yami back and forth with her eyes trained on Sano and AICA as they walk. “They’re holding hands!!!” Miyuki yells. “It’s like a father and daughter enjoying a carnival!!!” “Okay okay,” Yami says, still being shook. “I get it, you’re really really invested.” “Should we really be spying on them?” Maggie asks. Yami finally breaks loose from Miyuki’s grip. “Until we find the beast and a way back, there isn’t really much for us to do right now. Besides, why else would I have gotten her to go with him?” AICA holds onto his hand tightly as she is led through the sea of thighs, purses and the occasional buttocks. The crowd eventually thins out, allowing AICA to breath the fresh island air again. They continue on their way, not too much further to the park, their destination. Still hand in hand, AICA glances up at Sano again. “Mr. Sano?” He glances back at her. “Do I… remind you of anyone you know…?” Sano thought for a moment before responding.

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“I can’t say you do. You’re pretty unique.” AICA’s glance falls to her front. She kept silent in her disappointment. “This is about the existence of a multiverse isn’t it? That must mean I remind you somehow of this Dr. Casa?” AICA turns away and nods her head. “You don’t get to see him anymore, do you?” She remains silent and squeezes his hand a little. “How long has it been?” “For me…” AICA replies quietly. “...only a few years. It was just so sudden and I really wasn’t ready for something like that.” “I know how you feel, AICA. Dealing with that kind of loss isn’t easy, especially when you have someone nearby that reminds you so much of them. Ever since you all arrived here, I’ve been trying my best to convince myself that my Balbis, isn’t your Orange.” He smiles a sorry and sad smile at her. “But I guess you know how challenging that can be.” He sighs heavily as the two of them approach the entrance to the park. They walk in solemn silence until Sano gets AICA’s attention. “You know, Balbis would talk about wanting to have twins.” She looks up at him curiously. “After meeting you and Yami, I think I can envision what that might have been like. So maybe you aren’t reminding me of anyone I know, but instead of someone who didn’t get to exist.” AICA returns his smile. “Maybe…” Past the park’s entrance, they see a few people wearing secular looking robes who seemed to be standing in prayer. Further down the path they were greeted by a young man who was wearing similar robes. AICA noticed they also had light blue hair and eyes similar to Sano. “Sano-sensei! Glad you could make it!” The young man bows to him and leads them to the small monument. It was a stone statue of a fox. Nothing very remarkable about the statue itself other than it’s prominent

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position in the center of a crossroads in the park. Sano kneels down by the fox statue. “You’re right, there is some gathering of Mana here.” Sano turns to the young man. “Have there been any reports of strange events here?” “None, sir.” Sano grimaces at the fox statue. “Mr. Sano?” AICA calls out. He holds his hand out, telling her to stand back as he stands up himself. “I’m going to try to release this Mana.” He holds his hands out over the statue and a large magic circle builds itself around it. “If it’s here then stopping it’s recovery early will be better for us.” “Shouldn’t we wait on back up or something before we try this?” The youngman suggested. “If a fight does break out then the others will know where to come.” With that, the magic circle glows brightly and soon begins to emit what appears to be steam. The Mana in the area releases from the statue and the surrounding area into the air. It doesn’t take too much time and once complete, the magic circle dissipates. For a moment everything remains silent. “Maybe it’s not here?” The young man wonders. On cue the ground begins to shake. Ominous black and green smoke billows up from the fox statue. It swirls and spirals, condensing into a large arm that quickly swings down at Sano. In a flash the arm is split in two and Miyuki appears beside him sheathing her new sword. The severed part of the arm floats in the air for a moment before shooting toward AICA. Before it reaches her the arm explodes into the black and green smoke that it formed from and retreats back toward the statue. Yami runs up from behind AICA along with Irum and Maggie who is followed by Manny. Yami’s right arm is in it’s canon form.

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Yami.

“AICA!” Yami shouts. “Are you okay?” AICA turns to

“Yes, thank you.” She holds her left arm up and it transforms into a canon. “That caught me off guard.” “I got this sword on the right day it seems.” Miyuki remarks, standing up next to Sano. “Thanks for the help, Miyuki.” Sano stands tall and orders the young man. “Go and let the others know not to let anyone else into the area.” He nods and runs off. Sano’s hands glow before he swipes them through the air, before putting them into his pockets. “Be careful everyone. We don’t know exactly what this thing is able to do.” The beast fully forms into what appears to be a child. It places its hand on the fox statue and it turns pure white. The strange absorbing infection spreads down into the ground slowly. Irum steps up next to Sano, pounding her fists together. “Irum fight now!”

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Chapter 8 Sami sits on the couch of her apartment room. The sound of a shower can be heard down the hall. She was reading through the book that AICA gave her the other day. She held her hand up as she read. "Spells are cast through the manipulation of one's personal mana and in some cases, the Mana around them. While the simple use of Mana can allow for enhanced techniques, true spell casting requires mana control, at times, specified and meticulous. " "I see now." Sami mutters to herself. "That's why a lot of ORC's attacks didn't have magic circles. She was just using her raw manaâ&#x20AC;Ś" "Mana circles are a byproduct of such focus. It is still unknown why the designs of the various elemental circles appear as they do, it is theorized to have something to do with how those elements interact with Mana in general. However a circle can have a unique appearance based on the spell being used as well. This comes from the creator of the spell and aids in focusing the mana to perform that specific spell, not too unlike a blueprint."

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With her hand still held out in front of her, she concentrates and a Mana circle is formed in her palm. She puts the book in her lap and holds her finger out near the circle. "So let's see here. If I try to like maybe...put mana into the circle specifically?" She touches the circle in her palm and a small ball of light forms there. She pokes it two more times forming two more small balls of light in a triangular orientation. "Okay!" She says, satisfied with herself. "I have no idea what I'm doing!" "Well you look like a cool wizard to me!.” Sami jumps at the sudden appearance of Orange in the room. “Oh, you scared me!” laughs Sami. Orange stretches her arms behind her back, accentuating her profile. She was wearing a loose tank top and flannel pants. Sami gawked at her as she walked around and flopped down next to her on the couch with a delighted sigh. Her flop sends a woft of her freshly showered scent into the air to be picked up by Sami’s nose. Her eyes widened at the sight. “That shower felt great after all of that.” Orange sighs. She massages her shoulder and rolls her neck for a while until she notices Sami staring at her and stops. “W-what is it?” Sami continues to stare until she’s startled out of it as her small balls of light pop. “Yer hawt.” Orange chuckles with flushed cheeks. “You’re not so bad lookin’ yourself!” She scoots closer to her. “So what are you figuring out over here?” Their shoulders touch and Sami grows red in the face. While staring at her she manages to follow Orange’s eyes down to the book on her lap and is able to focus enough to have a conversation.

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“Just trying to figure out the spell casting stuff. Sano was pretty strong. His magic was coming from all over the place.” Orange moves away a little bit. “Yeah about that,” Orange says. “I had something important to ask you about when it comes to him.” Sami looked her in the eyes, she seemed upset. Orange turned her gaze to Sami. “What… do you…” She sighs. “How do you feel about him?” Sami cocks an eyebrow at her in confusion. “W-what is that supposed to mean?” Sami questioned. “As in, do I have feelings for him? Of course not…” She takes a moment to think, stunned that she actually asked her that. A pit grows in her stomach when she thinks to ask a question of her own. “Do you… have feelings for him?” Orange looks away and grabs her arm. Sami could read the answer in her expression. “I think I do.” Orange answered. “But why?” “I don’t know!” Orange shouts. “I don’t understand it. It’s way too weird and confusing and I really don’t understand what’s happening.” Sami notices her look of distress taking over her previous timid and unsure expression. “Wait, you’re confused? So you don’t actually have feelings for him?” Orange scratches her head. “I don’t… want to?” she sighs. “But my heart keeps telling me that he’s like, ‘the one.’ And AICA was acting strange around him too.” “You noticed that too then, huh?” Sami recalls her conversation with AICA the other day about this very subject. “AICA had a theory about this. She said it was because maybe Sano reminds you of someone you know. For her it was Dr. Casa, her… creator. So maybe Sano reminds you of someone you met before?”

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“Met before?” Orange thinks. “I don’t think so. The only person that would make me feel this way is--” She stops herself and blushes, looking at Sami. “It just doesn’t make sense is all.” She leans back in her seat with a hefty sigh. “I really wish I didn’t have these weird feelings!” She takes a moment and glances at Sami. “Remember when we were on the bridge?” Sami blushes beet red remembering nearly kissing her on the bridge that day. Her heart thumps loudly in her chest. Orange adjusts herself to be facing her. “That day was so good because nothing was complicated. It was just you and me spending the whole day together. It was nice.” Sami inches herself closer to Orange out of instinct. “So when he’s around you’re confused. But… with me…” “Everything just makes sense,” says Orange. Sami smiles shyly, her face red and flush. She thinks to say something quippy and romantic but is stopped before she can even open her mouth when something familiar happens. She wasn’t quite sure but it seemed like she was closer to Orange again. This time she had her intoxicating scent to aid her senses, although it could have been hindering them instead. The smell of Orange fresh out of the shower was getting stronger, which made sense because her eyes were seeing her get closer. Was it happening again? Were they about to kiss? Just like on the bridge? Is this just like it was on the bridge? Was the bridge event just a trick of her mind? They were definitely sitting very close to each other on the couch today. And Orange did bring up their time on the bridge herself. Was she talking about when they nearly kissed that day? Or something else? Sami’s brain spins its gears a mile a minute, fast enough for steam to billow from her ears if she had been a cartoon. Suddenly she comes to a realization that this was not like that time on the bridge at all. There was a very distinct difference this time;

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their noses were touching! ‘CODE RED CODE RED, IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING,’ her mind shouted out. However, just as quickly as this moment became real, Sami was startled out of it to the sound of Orange letting out a shout. Sami opens her eyes to see Orange with a concerned look pointed toward the door of their room. “I-I’m sorry! I should have asked if it was okay or--” Sami is cut off by Orange. “--N-no! It’s not you, it’s me!” Sami blinks for a moment. “Isn’t that line a little cliché?” “W-what?” Orange questioned. “You mean you don’t see her?” She points at the door. Sami turns her gaze to the door. There’s nothing there. She looks back and shakes her head. “Whoops!” the ghost said. “Guess I’m interrupting something!” She had a sarcastic tone to her voice. After a moment Orange gasps. “Wait, it’s you!” “Ding ding ding!!” cheered the ghost. “And you can finally see me!” The ghost bows. As she lifts her head, Orange’s face stares back at her. They were a near perfect copy of each other. The only difference between the two was the ghosts deep red hair not being so overgrown as Orange’s along with her silvery eyes. Orange stands quickly. “Why do you look like me?!” she shouted. “What’s wrong?” Sami wondered. “Who are you talking to, ORC?” She was a little scared at Orange’s sudden change in behavior. “Didn’t I tell you this would be more confusing? I should probably introduce myself to you now, shouldn’t I?” The ghost stands tall and places her hand to her chest with a smile.

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“My name is Balbis. Balbis Kosaten. It’s nice to finally meet face to face, Orange C. Reator.” “Balbis?” Orange parrots. “Balbis? Sami questioned. “As in the same Balbis that wrote this book? The magic expert?” “Aww, magic expert?” gushed Balbis. “Okay,” starts Orange. “So I can see you now. What did you want?” “I need you to come to Sano’s room.” Balbis motions for her to follow before walking through the door. Orange walks to the door and opens it. Sami, still confused jumps up and follows Orange out into the hall. They open Sano’s door, and Orange sees Balbis standing by the mantelpiece. She was fiddling with her clothing that seemed to be a white poncho with a high collar. “Oh good you’re here!” “Is she here?” asked Sami. Balbis points to Sami. “She’s uh.. She’s not going to ask.. you know what? Just translate for her. I thought maybe she’d be able to see me too since you’re both not from around here.. But I guess the connection’s only with us. Very weird.” “Is she saying something?” asked Sami. Balbis stares at Orange and gestured toward Sami. “Uh,” Orange stammered. “Y-Yeah, she wants me to tell you what she says and that she thought you’d be able to see her too.” “Ooh, And the two of you look alike?” “Like twins,” Orange confirms. “Okay good!” Balbis puts her hands on her hips. “Now that we have that figured out… tell Sami that she’s cute.” “What?!” “What happened?” Sami asks. “What did she say?” Orange stutters and fumbles over her words. She becomes flush

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when she looks at Sami causing her to stutter even more. Balbis breaks into a hardy laughter. Orange shouts back at her. “W-would you quit messing with me!” “Alright, alrighty I’m sorry.” Balbis says trying to calm herself. “Let Sami know if she wants to see me she can look at the picture here.” She presents the mantelpiece and the downturned picture frame. Orange walks over and picks it up to see it and gasps. Sami joins her and shares a similar reaction. The picture depicted Sano with Balbis hugging him from the side. They were on the beach and seemed very happy. “I can only assume he did that when he saw you. Maybe he didn’t want any confusion.” “Wow,” Sami exclaims. “She really does look just like you.” “Listen, Orange. Like I said before, I think I can help you all find this Beast of Destruction and Ruin, but I’ll need your help specifically.” Orange turns to Sami. “She says she can help us find the Beast of Destruction and Ruin but,” She turns back to Balbis. “What do you need me to do?” “It’s my Ripper.” Balbis points to the blade on the mantelpiece. “I can’t travel very far away from it. That’s why I’ve been stuck here. I have a 7 meter tether connecting me to it.” Orange steps up to the mantelpiece carefully. “This sword you mean?” “Yes. it’s the only possession I owned when I… I still don’t know how I got here really. But I knew it was called a Ripper. Just as sure as my name!” Orange looks at her, remembering her own first memories, or lack thereof, of how she came to exist in the Void or anything other than her own name. “Anyway, I need you to take this to a location for me so I can travel.” Orange reaches for it but stops short.

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“Why me?” Orange asks. “I mean I know that I’m the only one that can see and hear you, but why wait until i can see you? Why not ask for my help when we first met?” Sami ponders a moment. “That was when you snuck in here the other day. You weren’t trying to see Sano, you heard her calling you, right?” Orange nods. “She was the one that gave me that advice to give you.” “Yes, and back then you were still getting the hang of your mana. You see I’m the only one that can use my Ripper. He rejects anyone that tries. But I thought, since we seem to have this connection, maybe he’ll accept you.” “He?” “I named him Kevin.” Orange nods, “Good name.” “Okay so what’s happening?” asked Sami. “Well,” Orange begins. “Balbis wants me to take Kevin the Ripper somewhere so that she can go somewhere because she can’t move too far away from it.” “Kevin?” Orange and Balbis both point at the Ripper on the mantelpiece. “Of course…” Orange looks back at the Ripper her hand hesitant. The last time she touched something she unleashed an evil that wanted to destroy an entire universe. “It’ll be fine. If I trust you then I’m sure Kevin will.” Orange takes a deep breath and reaches for the blade. “I think.” Balbis adds before Orange puts her hand on it causing her to trip and quickly pick up the Ripper. Orange stands with the blade over her head. It fits perfectly in her hand as if it belongs there. “It’s light…” she says to spite its size. The Ripper was wide and flat, it’s edge was overtaken by the spine at the point. While still in Orange’s hand, seemingly from nothing, the hilt of the blade began to grow and

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form a proper grip and something of a cross-guard. The edge grew and extended down to be almost as long as the hilt. The blade seemed more complete now. “Now that’s really interesting.” Balbis says as she crosses her arms. “Okay, well you two will want to get dressed so we can get a move on!”

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Chapter 9 The afternoon light shone brightly over the clean white beach sand. The salty sea air blew in, carrying in the waves of the ocean as they crashed onto the shore. “It’s been so long since I’ve been outside!” “Are you able to feel the wind?” Orange asks. “Oh no,” Balbis replies. “Can’t feel or interact with a thing, but it still feels good to be out in the open again!” After a moment longer, Balbis has everyone stop. “Right here, Orange.” “Is this where we first arrived?” Sami wonders. There weren’t really any landmarks to tip them off to their location, but Orange agrees with her. “You’re basically right.” confirmed Balbis. “I can’t quite pinpoint the exact location but this is close enough.” She orders Orange to place the Ripper into the sand while she surveys the area. “Ever since I died, I’ve had this closer connection to the Mana around me. Having four years to meditate without distraction probably helped that a little too.” Orange kicked the toe of her new boot into the sand. “How did you die, anyway?” “The only way I would allow.” She smiled. “I won’t be long, I just need to concentrate a little bit.”

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Sami and Orange mull around in the sand for a little while in silence, with only the sounds of the ocean breaking in. They glance at each other sheepishly with shy smiles and blushes. Finally Sami gets the courage to speak up. “S-so…” “So…” Orange responds. “So…” Sami responds back. “Is she finding anything?” “Oh, uh…” Orange glances behind her at Balbis who was calmly sitting in the sand. “She’s.. figuring it out.” More silence passes between them while the distance between them shrinks. “So.” Started Sami. Balbis glances back at them smuggly. “That’s some riveting conversation back there.” “Today’s a pretty crazy day right?” Sami fiddles with her hands. “Magic training, a ghost that looks like you…” “What happened to Magic Expert?” “We even… almost… kissed?” Sami checkles to herself. “That really happened this time, right?” Orange laughs nervously. “Y-yeah, I guess we almost...did?” She takes another small step closer. “With how confusing things have been with me lately, I was happy to get to be alone with you when we could. I mean, between the magic practice and… Sano distractions.” She takes another step closer. “With him around I started to be afraid that I would lose how I felt. Like my feelings were being stolen from me.” Sami takes a step closer. Their hands, like magnets, were drawn to each other once they were so close. They look into each other’s eyes, cheeks full. Closer still, slowly, and suddenly the ground shakes and their foreheads collide with each other. They each reel back holding their now throbbing skulls. “What the heck was that!?” Sami cries. Balbis rushes over to them. “I didn’t want to interrupt you two this time but we NEED to move, now!”

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“What happened, Balbis?” Orange asks. “Was it the beast?” added Sami. A beam of light shoots into the sky in town grabbing everyone’s attention. “Yeah it is! It looks like your friends are already fighting part of it.” “Did you say part of it?” Orange questioned. “Part of what?” asked Sami. “Balbis says that Sano and the others are fighting in town.. But only... part of it?” “Then… where’s the rest of it?” The ground shifts again as she asks. “Orange! Grab Kevin and move! We’re standing on it right now!” The sand of the beach begins to turn a familiar white as it shifts and swirls around. Orange snatches Sami’s hand and pulls the Ripper from its standing point as she runs away from the affected area. The three watch as the sand itself forms a large hulking body missing a head. The sand and dust settle after a moment before it slowly turns toward the girls. Even without a head it was easy to tell where its attention was focused. “That doesn’t seem good.” “What should we do!?” asked Sami. “Should we go and get the others?” “That’s the thing that turned the Void into the Void?” Orange said to herself. “We can’t let that thing go into town. You two have to hold it off here until backup arrives.” “You’re right,” Orange agrees. “We have to fight it here.” “Are we ready for that?” worried Sami. “I think we have to be.” Orange squeezes Sami’s hand which she was still holding. Sami blushes and glances at her. The Beast takes a slow and heavy step toward them. Sami’s attention switches to the beast as she squeezes Orange’s hand back.

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“Then we are!” Sami reassures as they glance over at each other. They smile sweetly to each other before Orange lets go of her hand and rushes toward the beast. “Okay Sami, just remember what you read in Balbis’ book.” A Mana circle forms before her as she holds her hands out in front of herself. “Shadowball…” She whispered to herself. The circle tweaks itself to her command and a ball of darkness forms at its center. It grows much larger than anything she produced before, nearly half her height. As soon as it finishes growing, it shoots off, zooming past Orange who was charging in with the Ripper ready to strike, and slamming into the chest of the large sand beast which knocks it off balance. Orange ceases the opportunity to jump up to one of the arms of the beast and with one swipe slices it off at the elbow. The giant forearm crashes into the sand below. Orange and Sami cheer and their early start, however it quickly ends when the Beast attempts to stomp down on Orange. She evades and dives out of the way with some success but the Beast eventually manages to land a heavy kick on her, sending her through the sand. Sami and Balbis hurry to her aid. “Are you alright?” Balbis calls out. “Orange!” Sami drops to her knees and another Mana circle appears over her as Sami showers her with a soothing light. “Are you okay!?” Orange sits up. “Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry, its body is like a big wall of sand.” After a bit of time Orange stands and the Beast lets out a loud roar. A moment later, something flies in from the town and merges itself with the sandy monster. “What.. was that?” “It was the other half they were fighting in town.” Balbis answered. “It must be trying to reach full strength for you. Be careful.” The Beast grows a large head and points its stump of an arm out in front of it. It trembles and out shoots the rest of its

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arm, but instead of sand, it was flesh. The rest of the sand falls away from its body revealing its real self. The Beast opens its eyes, shining an ominous green glow from its sockets. It resumes walking toward the group. Each step sends waves through the sad at them, shaking the ground beneath them. “We’ll do it just like we did against Sano!” Orange commands. “That thing’s a little bit... bigger than Sano, Orange…” Sami corrects her. “We can do this! Just like before, combine our magic!” Sami smiles at her and agrees. They bring their hands together forming Mana circles for fire and darkness. Orange’s ball of flame ignites between them followed by Sami’s dark magic swirling around and mixing into it. Balbis watches them closely with intrigue. The bright flame soon darkens until it is jet black and grows to be as large as they are. The girls don’t hesitate to unleash their combined spell at the Beast. It flies through the air with an eerie howl, and connects with the Beast engulfing it with it’s darkness. Orange and Sami cheer and congratulate their attack as it burns. It writhes about from the flames and drops to one knee. A strong gust of wind blows in, bringing Sano and the others with it. They all land on the beach behind Orange and Sami. “It found itself a body!” Yami calls out. Shortly after, Langsat and Ragolia arrive as well. “Look,” Maggie shouts. “Orange and Sami are over there!” Sano notices the Ripper in Orange’s hand. “What is she doing with that?” he wondered. The Beast, still covered in black flames, pushes its arm into the sand turning it white and infecting a large area around it. As it pulls its arm back out, a large broken blade emerges from the sand. It raises it over its head and quickly slams it down on

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Sami and Orange. The sand of the beach explodes into the air with the shockwave from the impact. Their friends rush in to help them as the dust clears. Sami is struggling to her feet, coughing the dust and sand from her lungs. Orange on the other hand seemed down and out, a sight that fills Sami with panic. AICA and Miyuki help Sami to her feet and they all check on Orange. “Orange!!” Sami called out to her. “Is she okay?” “Don’t let us go through this again…” Langsat says silently. “She’s just unconscious…” Yami said after checking her vitals. Without giving them a chance to recover, the Beast resumes its approach on them. Irum readies herself for more battle with a grin and the others all ready themselves. Sano attempts to stand to join them but is stopped by Orange grabbing his hand. “Orange!” Sami cries. Orange opens her eyes but they were not their normal bright orange color, but instead were silver. She slowly sits up, as she does her hair changes to a deep red from the roots down to the ends. Her expression was that of shock while she tried to catch her breath from the impact of the attack. She examines her hands, as if she'd never used them before. She glances at Sano and smiles. He and Sami help her to her feet and the others all look back in delight to see her on her up again. “Orange…?” Sami says with concern in her voice. She smiles at her with a casual plea of her hand. “I don’t believe it,” Ragolia says. “Balbis?” Langsat said. She sighs with a smile to them. “It’s been a while, Langsat, Headmaster Ragolia.” Her speech pattern was different than Orange’s somehow. She seemed more articulate. “Balbis…” says Sano.

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“Not now dear,” she said calmly as she picked up her Ripper. “We’ll talk after I save the day one last time. Everyone, get behind me.” She walked out to meet the Beast. Step by step she closes the gap between them calmly. The Beast swings it’s blade down on her and Balbis swipes her Ripper over her head quickly, slicing completely through it. The now sliced broken blade slams into the sand in front of her, while the rest flies off behind her landing away from everyone else. She places a hand down on the big blade and holds her own out at her side. A mana circle forms inside of the Ripper at the top of the hilt and she swings the blade up sending a blade of fire through the Beast’s shoulder, cutting it clean off. “Did she just use a fire spell?” Langsat asks. “Is she using magic because of that body? Everyone looks on in astonishment. The Beast swings it’s other arm at her but is blocked by a powerful explosion, allowing its arm to follow through with its swing, missing its hand however. It tries to stomp her down but Balbis swiftly avoids the attack, leaping all the way back to the others. As she lands another Mana circle forms in front of her. She stands, reaching her arm out toward it. The standard fire Mana circle changes and adds to itself more and more, doubling its size. “Burning Laser,” Balbis calls out. A moment later, an intense beam of flame is expelled from the Mana circle at incredible speed, obliterating the Beast’s head. With that, it falls to its knees and flops to the ground. The body emits green and black smoke from its wounds. She sighs and turns back to everyone. “Is everyone alright?” Everyone surrounds her in a mix of happiness and confusion. “Orange?” AICA asks meekly. “Is that really you?” She gets a gentle pat on the head. “Don’t worry guys,” Balbis says. “She’ll be just fine.”

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“So you really are her…” said Sami. “Balbis!” Langsat and Ragolia call together. They embrace her and she shares some laughs with Langsat. “How is this even possible?” “Yes,” Ragolia continues. “This isn’t a normal possession, you are…. Well.. you’re you! Through and through!” “Possession?” Miyuki asked. “So Orange got possessed by Sano’s dead fiancé?” questioned Yami. Balbis chuckles. “It’s hard to explain. I really don’t know how it happened… But this is definitely not like a normal possession. It feels like I’m just, alive again. Back in my own body.” Sano steps forward, a bit wobbly, with tears in his eyes. “Balbis…” “Oh, Sano.” Balbis says with a lump in her throat. “You’re here, you’re actually back.” he says as he holds her close. He brushes her hair away from her face, her silver eyes shine back at him. She grabs his hand tenderly and holds it close to her cheek. “Sano, I’m not back. I never left you.” A tear slips from her eye and rolls down her cheek onto their hands. “I’ve been right by your side this whole time. Watching you be miserable and unable to help you.” She takes a step backward away from him and looks at Sami. “I told Orange that I could help find this Beast of Destruction and Ruin… and find a way back to where they come from.” “You really figured out how to travel between universes?” Ragolia ponders. “Well...no. I had a theory that we could get that thing to go back but, after fighting it, I think I understand it now.” She examines her Ripper. “That thing has a sword, an incomplete one at that. Just like Kevin was before Orange took hold of him.”

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“What are you saying?” Langsat asked. “I’ll show you.” Balbis says as she turns and lifts her Ripper over her head and slices down at the air behind her. A moment later a tearing sound is heard and a hole appears. A portal that looks just like the one the Beast arrived in but far less scary. “Just as I figured.” she chuckled to herself. “Fascinating,” Ragolia exclaims. “To think that your weapon was capable of something like this.” “I believe this is because of Orange." Balbis guessed. "Having her here seems to have made my Ripper whole. She gave him the part he was missing. Maybe the part we were both missing… I’m not sure, but I think this will take us back to where you all came from.” Balbis informed them. “Us…” said Sano. Balbis winces at this and steps closer to him. “Don’t make me say goodbye again, Balbis.” “Sano,” Balbis started. “I have to. This isn’t my body, I can’t keep it from her. I can’t keep her from them!” She looks at her Ripper. “Besides, it’s clear that Kevin is going to need both of us for some reason.” She holds onto his shoulders tightly. “I--” The smoke billowing out of the Beast’s body suddenly plumes out and rushes through the portal that Balbis sliced open. “It went through!” Miyuki shouts. “I hate to cut any goodbyes short but we should go after it.” With that she runs through the portal followed by Irum and Maggie with Manni in tow, after a polite goodbye of course. Yami gives a salute to everyone before rushing after them. “I have to go.” Balbis says to Sano as she watches everyone leave. She turns her attention to Langsat and Ragolia. “Take care of Sano for me, okay?” They nod solemnly. Balbis slides her arms around him, holding him in a tight embrace. “I love you so much Sano.”

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Sami watches them with conflicted feelings, knowing full well what is actually happening, but her eyes tell her something else. She becomes even more agitated and shocked when she sees them sharing a passionate kiss. As they kiss, the color drains from Balbis' hair, becoming the dingy grey belonging to Orange. Orange comes to and finds her lips pressed against Sano’s. Her face flushes with color and she pushes herself off of him filled with embarrassment. She stammers and stutters as she backs away. She looks at Sami and they share a look of bewilderment before Orange shakes it off and collects herself. “Thank you for everything.” She says to everyone, still red in the face. She grabs the Ripper and Sami’s hand and enters the portal. Only AICA remained behind. She gave Sano a tight hug. “I’m glad that I met you Mr. Sano. Please take care of yourself.” She looks up at him with her cute face. “We’ll take good care of Balbis so don’t worry.” AICA then leaves them on the beach and enters the portal as well before it closes up.

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Chapter 10 AICA lands from her exit of the portal. The familiar white ground rumbles and shakes. She looks up at everyone else in front of her. The portal opened them up to the town hall in Token town. Three and Muri were there, just about to go down under the main room into the tomb. "Ms. Three!" Muri calls out. "It's them! They're back!" Irum sprints to Muri and wraps her arms around her in a giggling mess. "Oh my gosh!" Three exclaimed. "You're back! We were so worried!" "What's happening?" Orange asked. "That smoke came back and went down into the tomb!" As Three explains, the pathway underneath them begins to glow. The building rumbles furiously. "Brace yourselves you two!" Two shouted up from the tomb. "The seal is breaking!" She quickly jumps out of the tunnel and tackles Three to the ground, shouting for Muri to get down. Immediately after, a rush of black and green smoke blows out of the tomb, quickly filling the room. The smoke swirls along the walls, grinding down arches and pillars. Rubble rains down around them as the Beast condenses itself into a physical form. It roars and writhes, arms stretching out of the smoke, sharp claws

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scraping at the air. It crawls its way out of the building through the roof while powerful legs form from the smoke underneath it. The monster dwarfed the town it invaded. Two stands up with Three in her arms. "Sorry," Two brushes her fingers through Three's bangs. "You okay?" "Yeah, thanks Mochi." Three chuckles. She shakes her head and points at the group. "But look look! They're back!" "Oh, thank goodness!" Two says relieved. "You're all okay. Good to have you back, sis." She tilts her head at the sight of the red headed version of herself standing behind Orange. "Beast free!" Irum shouts. "We beat up now!" She begins marching to the door. "Wait," Miyuki says. "That thing's way bigger than it was before. You can't just rush in there." "You had to fight it already?" Three asked. "Yeah," Yami responds. "But I don't know if it being that big is something we can take." "Can we put it back in the seal?" Wonder Maggie. They all bicker and comment about their situation. They give off a general air of hopelessness or recklessness. Orange watches them, not knowing what to do either when she feels a hand grab her shoulder from behind. "Calm down Orange." Balbis says. "It doesn't matter how big it is, I have faith in you and your friends." "I can't do the things you can." Orange retorts. "Neither could I until you showed up! Remember what you learned from Sano. It just now came out of that seal. It must be weak. Even though it's bigger and whole again, what we fought had time to regain its strength, and it was thoroughly defeated! You can do this! Tell them!" Orange sighs and forces determination into her mind. "Hey!" She shouts, getting everyone's attention. "I know you can't

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see her but, Balbis is right. If there's going to be any time we have the best chance to defeat it then it's right now after it broke out." She takes a step forward. "I know that all of us are capable. We can take it out!" Everyone remains silent for a moment. The sound of the Beast stomping around outside is the only sound ringing through what was left of the building. Miyuki starts to laugh. "Thanks for quieting them down ORC." She hands her sword to Yami. "This is yours." "What? Really?" "Yeah," Miyuki holds her hand up and a digital looking ring forms around it, summoning her original sword to her. "I have mine." Miyuki steps forward and turns to the group. She slams the end of her sword on the ground, taking charge of the situation. "Listen up, we don't have time to twiddle our thumbs on this. We don't know if that thing is going to vanish like it did in Algameen. Orange is right, our best bet is to strike it down now after it just woke up. After watching Balbis handle things before we'll be using a similar strategy." She steps into the middle of the group. "Irum, you run in and get its attention. Distract it." Irum punches her fists together with a toothy grin. Miyuki looks down at Yami. "Yami, you and I will work together to take out its legs and bring it down." Yami nods. "Got it," says Yami. Miyuki then turns her attention to Sami and Orange. "Once it's down, you two use that black fireball of yours. I saw it was covered in that when we made it to the beach, must have been effective." "I don't know what's going on," Three says. "But I can get you guys into a good position to do...that"

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"The rest of you will wait here," Miyuki ordered. "Two will keep you safe if anything happens." She turns toward the entrance. "Now, ready?" Irum charges ahead impatiently. The rest of them follow. Irum quickly runs through the city toward the Beast. She climbs over rubble it left behind on its path and hops from building top to building top. As she closes the gap between them, she leap at it, leaving a plume of debris and rubble of her own. She lands a bullet of a kick to the center of the Beast's back. It growls and swings its arms around behind itself. Irum, like a bug, buzzes around the body of the Beast, nipping at its face and landing blows powerful enough to annoy it. The Beast attempts to swat Irum away, all while Miyuki and Yami speed their way through the streets. They draw their swords as they close in on the Beast. "Which one do you want, Captain?" asked Yami. "I'm partial to the left to be honest." Miyuki splits away from Yami as they each begin their assaults on the Beast's legs. Each slash draws black and green smoke from every wound. The Beast stomps the ground where they are but Irum draws its attention again. The two of them find themselves back to back directly under the Beast, targeting each of the legs. They sheath their swords completely in sync with each other. "That's a long distance," Miyuki remarks. "Sure you can make it from here?" "I'll see you around the front." Yami answered with a smirk. In an instant, the two appear on the opposite sides of the Beast's ankles as they spew more smoke from them. The Beast falls backward onto its back while Yami and Miyuki clear the area, running around to the front of the body. They are joined by Irum, jumping down from on top of a building. High in the sky, a raft made from a large door and held aloft by a parachute crafted from a large banner in the town hall,

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floats over the Beast's now fallen body. Three uses her magic to keep air in their sail while Orange and Sami bring their hands together. They smile confidently to each other and begin their combined spell. The mana circle draws itself in the air over the Beast. A bright ball of fire forms and quickly grows to sizes larger than anything Orange has done yet. All the while, darkness swirls around the flame and combines itself with it. As the dark ball of fire reaches a size comparable to the Beast's head, Orange and Sami raise their hands together. "Go!" they say in unison as they swing their hands down to launch their attack. It connects with a loud kaboom and a strong shockwave. The roar of the Beast cries out once as it is engulfed in the black flames. Miyuki, Irum and Yami watch on as the dust clears. Three lands their raft behind them. "Did that do it?'' asked Miyuki. The Beast lays there, beaten, sliced and burning. Not a muscle twitching to indicate that battle was not over. Sami and Orange cheer and congratulate each other and the group for a job well done. "We actually did it!" Orange cheers. Her hand is grabbed by Sami. "Well you gave that inspiring speech to us." commented Sami. "You motivated this win!" "Wellâ&#x20AC;Ś" Orange started. "Balbis did most of the work there." "Oh hey, that was a great plan Miyuki. Way to go on taking command!" Miyuki said to herself. Yami pats Miyuki's back. "I thought you were cool out there, slick." Smoke suddenly billows violently from the Beast's body before being fully engulfed by the black flames. The smoke completely vacates the body and hangs over them in the air before condensing on itself.

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"Oh no," Three says. "Is it going to come back?" The smoke continues to collapse into itself further. Suddenly it explodes into six separate trails that lead off in all different directions, flying farther than the eye can see. As quickly as it started, all traces of the Beast were gone. "I don't think that's good…" Orange observes. "Come on," says Three. "Let's head back."

At the entrance to the town hall, Two and Maggie await the attack group's return. They're waved down and greeted as they approach. "Sounds like you did it!" Maggie says. "We did but," Orange starts. "I think it split up and got away…" "If we take what we learned about seals," Sami mentions. "Then maybe all of those parts will find a place to rest and regain their strength?" "Then that gives us time to prepare." Two said. "Is everything okay over here, Mochi?" asked Three. "Uhm," Maggie interjected. "Actually...while you were gone, we did find something…" "What did you find?" wondered Three. Muri walks out to the entrance to join the others. "It's more like, someone." She steps outside, in her arms in a young girl, seemingly a bit younger than AICA and Yami. She had bright red hair covering her head. Her face was reminiscent of Orange. "Five." Yami says. "Orange there are totally five of you now." Sami glances at Orange. She catches her glance back. Orange gives her a confused shrug. The young girl stretches lightly and lets out a tiny sigh.

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Credits As this story finds its own place of origin with the A4 Panel Comics, there are a few characters involved that do not belong to or are not affiliated with A4 Art Stuff. These characters are: Bioweapons: Irum and Muri Belonging to BioweaponIrum@twtich.tv @mixer.com (look him up!) Miyuki Belonging to Kumacuda somewhere online and on the road... Maggie and Manni Belonging to IafwStatic@twitch.tv (look him up!!)

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