Chapter One

Mai awoke in a panic. Scrambling in the dark, she groped at the covers instinctively, only relaxing slightly when she heard a groggy "Mai?" from beside her.

"Sorry, Mikoto," she said. "Bad dream." The room was dark, but Mai didn't mind the darkness. It was being alone that she feared. Once she realized Mikoto was in bed beside her, she calmed down and padded to the kitchen for a glass of water. It was the first week of classes of Mai's last year at Fuuka Academy, and although months had passed since the Carnival, she still couldn't shake the fear that it wasn't over.

From the hallway she could hear someone giggling into a cell phone and stumbling home. It was Nao, probably. Now that Akane had taken leave, Nao had a room to herself. Mai felt a sudden urge to talk to her brother then, but she couldn't remember what hour it was in America, and she knew better than to nag him several times a day.

She walked back to bed, and noticed Mikoto had already fallen back asleep. Everyone was trying to move on, she told herself. The Carnival was over, and everything was changed in its wake, but there was no choice but to move forward. Mai shook her head to clear it, steeled her nerves, and slid back into bed.

Natsuki woke up to her alarm buzzing and shut it off. She laid back in bed to allow herself five more minutes of rest before beginning another day at Fuuka Academy. Minutes turned to hours, and when she awoke again, she was startled to see she had missed the first three periods of classes.

No sense in going to school now, she thought, rolling out of bed. She pulled back the curtains that blocked most of the light from her room. It was a bright, sunny day in Fuuka, and she could see the sea glimmering enticingly in the distance. Not that Natsuki held any sort of sentimentality towards the sea.

She slipped on some athletic shorts and a t-shirt, and made herself breakfast, though it was late enough now to be eating lunch. Turning on her PC, she opened one of her favorite video games. While the updates were downloading, she browsed FuukaWN, a forum Yukino had put together for users to document strange happenings around Fuuka. These days it was mostly calm, except for Chie's weekly posts on relationship developments and Haruka's posts about petty school rule-breaking.

Today, though, something caught her eye. An anonymous user posted about how he or she was in bed last night, when suddenly their watch, resting on their nightstand, poofed out of existence. It was there, and then it was not there. The user updated the post that morning, claiming the watch had returned. Natsuki laughed a little at the bizarreness of the post.

These types of messages were humorous compared to the desperate tones of the posts last spring. Yukino had set up the forum as a means of communication when the media wouldn't report anything happening in Fuuka and students were confused and upset.

Natsuki closed the browser window and began her game.

Midori closed her laptop and leaned back in her chair. She stretched out her arms and yawned, then checked the clock. It was nearing six. School had ended hours ago, but that was when Midori's real work began. She had been tracking the seismic activity around Fuuka since the Carnival ended, and only today had she found anything slightly interesting. Though it didn't seem to be much, there was some sort of strange shifting occurring under the city.

She ought to get dinner, she thought, just then noticing her stomach grumbling. As she was leaving she passed Yukino and Haruka in the student council room, working avidly on some project. At least some other people share my focus on getting projects done she thought. Still, Haruka's enthusiasm was cause for concern, generally.

"Yoko, want to join me for dinner?" asked Midori, leaning on the doorway to the nurse's office. There was no reply. Of course she's already left by now, don't be silly, she thought. Midori walked down the drive that connected the Academy to the main road, glancing into the dark trees that lined the path. Although the Carnival was over, she was still vigilant. She didn't have her Child to help her now, after all.

Determining that she was safe for now, she walked quickly out to the main road, and stood at the bus stop waiting for a ride into town. Just as the bus was pulling up, Midori felt a strange jolt, yet she was certain the ground remained steady. You've just got seismic activity on the mind, she told herself. Her vision blurred for a moment, and she began to panic. Something was messing with her sight and proprioception.

The bus doors opened and Midori looked up in confusion and fear as Shizuru Fujino stepped down from the bus. Shizuru shouldn't be here, Midori knew. Shizuru is in Kyoto. More concerning than that, though, was what Midori saw. She saw Shizuru as she was, plain and powerless, and also saw her holding her naginata, Kiyohime lurking behind her. Midori felt as if she was going to throw up.

"Sugiura-san, is something the matter?" asked Shizuru. However, Midori saw something pass over Shizuru as she laid a hand on Midori's shoulder. Midori could tell she felt it too. "What is-"

Shizuru's words were cut off as she and Midori, like the watch the night before, ceased being.