It was just another morning like any other. As Chigusa cleaned up in the kitchen, Yuji and Hecate sat together at the table, their meals already done. Both of them were already in their uniforms.

"Do you still sense them?"Yuji asked Hecate. Since that morning, he felt the very familiar presence of a Crimson Denizen somewhere in the vicinity. Hecate had made no move to track them down, so the boy assumed that it was not too much cause for alarm just yet.

Hecate nodded once. "They are very close."

Just a few minutes later, they heard a knock on their door. Hecate, alert since she first felt them, got up and strode to the door ahead of anyone else. Yuji followed after her, just after telling his mother, "It's for us mom, we'll get it."

When the Priestess opened the door, she found a pair of elegantly dressed blondes, one male and one female, standing at the doorway. As Yuji came up behind her, Hecate raised her arm slightly to bar the gap between him and the twins.

"WOW! It's the Supreme Throne! That's why she felt so powerful! To think we'd run into her of all people," the boy exclaimed with an expression of childish awe.

The girl clenched her fist tightly and smirked, gritting her teeth behind her lips. She was obviously hiding a fury boiling inside her. "Indeed, quite a curious coincidence," she said. "This is He-Who-Loves-Himself, and I'm the One-Indulged-in-Love-of-Others, we're also known as Sorath and Tiriel."

A Gaze of Green Eyes

"…and so, since Thousand Changes canceled our agreement at the last minute, we had to deal with pesky Flame Hazes by ourselves while we tracked down the one who has a sword my brother really wants," Tiriel explained. The four sat in the living room, each pair across a coffee table from the other.

"The Nietono no Shana!" Sorath said excitedly.

"Come to think of it, it's not like Sydonay to do that," Tiriel said. "You're one of the Trinity like he is, is something big happening?"

Hecate just stared at her coldly and silently, not intending to give an answer. Tiriel shrugged.

"In any case, we currently have another Flame Haze on our tail," she continued. "But she's a little different from the others we've faced. As far as those brutes go, she's a pretty dangerous one."

With no idea what was going on, and treating the twins as if they were simply friends of Hecate, Chigusa came into the living room with four cups of tea. "You'd better get going to school soon Yu-chan. You don't want to be late; I could entertain your friends while you're away."

"Oh, don't worry about us," Tiriel said, faking sincerity. "We have things to do around town."

Chigusa smiled. "Well, you're welcome to visit anytime," she said. Before leaving, she added, "A friend of Hecate-chan is a friend of mine."

"Mom…" Yuji sighed softly. She truly had no idea about the dangerous world that existed right under her nose.

Sorath watched as the housewife left the room. He turned to Tiriel. "Can I-?"

"No dear brother," Tiriel instantly replied before he could finish. She eyed the Mystes as she spoke. "We don't want to make unnecessary enemies."

"So, what are you two doing here?" Yuji asked.

"We chose this city to prepare our trap for the Flame Haze pursuing us, although we'd need someone to help guard this for us," Tiriel answered as she produced a little music box for a brief moment of demonstration before withdrawing it. "The hundreds of Torches would confuse her long enough until the trap is ready."

"You realize there's another Flame Haze here too though, right?" Yuji said.

Tiriel turned to Hecate. "Oh, you never told him?" she said, more as a statement than a question. "Those barbarians very rarely team up. Everyone knows that Flame Hazes have trouble working together. I wouldn't be surprised if the Flame Haze already here would get pretty hostile towards the newcomer."

Meanwhile, the maid with magenta hair walked through the streets of the city unfamiliar to her. She looked up at the sky. Dark clouds loomed overhead, it was going to rain soon.

She continued on. Flame Hazes did not need to be bothered by the weather, no matter how horrible it would be. By chance, as she roamed, she sensed a strong presence nearby.

"The other Flame Haze is close ~de arimasu."

"Watch and wait," her contractor, manifested as the headband atop her hair, advised.

"Normally we would avoid a struggle with another Flame Haze, but we cannot afford for those two to escape. The best course of action would be to arrive at an agreement with this Flame Haze, or at least take a preemptive strike, so that there would not be any conflict in the near future ~de arimasu."

"Acknowledged."

Following her sixth sense, she tracked the presence to a store. Just as she neared, a bespectacled woman with long blonde hair and a purple suit emerged with a bag of wine bottles in hand. She was the Flame Haze, alright, but she spared her little more than a glance before indifferently continuing on her way.

"The Chanter of Elegies and Claw and Fangs of Violation," the headband said.

The maid-like Flame Haze followed after Margery at a cautious pace. "It is unusual, you would not even acknowledge my presence here ~de arimasuka?" she asked.

Margery peeked over her shoulder as she replied. "Go ahead and do as you like, I won't get in your way."

The other Flame Haze stopped walking, half from surprise, although she did not express it well, and half from the fact that she had no reason to come after her anymore.

"Unexpected outcome," said her contractor.

"Indeed, but it will make things easier for us. She may have a different agenda of her own here, probably involving the powerful Denizen in the city ~de arimasu."

With that out of the way, she turned around and started walking the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Marcosias spoke to the Chanter of Elegies.

"Oi, you'd really let her go just like that?"

"As long as the Manipulator of Objects and the Crown and Sash of Fantasies don't touch the mute and her Mystes, I don't mind them going after their own prey."

On the field of a certain high school, a class played dodgeball. Hecate was one of the first to be take out, although it was not from lack of ability, but from lack of motivation as well as an understanding of the rules. Yuji followed soon after.

From atop the roof of the school building, Sorath and Tiriel watched them.

"To play such dirty human games, she's really fallen so low," Tiriel said.

"If that were a fight though, she'd wipe them all out for sure," Sorath said innocently.

Tiriel suddenly gave him a furious look and grabbed him by the neck with both hands, forcing his back against the rails. The boy Denizen could barely resist, his mouth wide open and his hands writhing from the pain as the girl Denizen strangled him.

"It took all my patience when we were at that house to stop doing this, but I don't ever want you talking about any other woman but me!" she screamed at his face as she crushed his neck to the point that Sorath began to make croaking sounds. "You already have me by your side; you need nothing more, and nothing less. I will be the one to protect you and make you happy, only I will impress you, ONLY ME!"

When Sorath's eyes began rolling over and foam began spilling from his mouth, she let go of him, and the boy fell to the floor limply. He gasped for breath, tears fell from his eyes, and his whole body trembled.

"S-sorry Tiriel," he barely managed to say as he struggled to his knees.

"Don't ever forget it, dear brother," Tiriel said as she leaned over the rails again. Behind her, Sorath crawled away, still shaking.

Down below, on the field, Hecate had watched the twins the entire time. They never changed since the last time she had met them, as far as she remembered.

"Th-the ball hit your face pretty hard," a female voice said close by.

When Hecate turned back to Yuji, she found that Kazumi Yoshida was sitting right next to him, and in her hand was a handkerchief.

"Yeah, ducking like that was probably a bad idea," Yuji replied sheepishly.

Kazumi's next action surprised him, the girl raised her handkerchief to wipe his dirty cheek. Although she was shy about it, and blushing like mad, she still did it. Yuji blushed a bit as well.

Hecate watched them with an icy stare. As the pair felt an odd chill down their spine, Kazumi withdrew her hand but continued to sit close to the boy. Yuji just scratched the back of his head and averted his eyes from the girls on either side of him.

Hecate, however, eyed Kazumi a little while longer before staring ahead. She did not like the idea of any girl other than herself being close to Yuji. After all, she and he were already in each other's world, and while he did not let her feel alone, no one could protect him better than her. They had a special bond.

When she felt the chill in her spine leave, Kazumi glanced across Yuji towards Hecate. Just what sort of relationship did she and Sakai have? The girl she knew as Konoe Fumina always seemed so indifferent about everything except Yuji, as if he was the only thing that mattered. She never seems to leave his side. They always seemed so close that it was painful. But she won't accept it, she would not lose, she could not lose to anyone to be with the one she had fallen hard for.

A little ways to the side, Yukari had been watching Kazumi the whole time. Despite her shyness, she approached him by herself, she was growing in her own way. She was very brave as she saw it. She glanced at Ike, across the dodgeball game from where Yuji was. Yukari herself, on the other hand, while it was easy for her to be cheerful and talk to anyone, could not bring herself to face Ike.

The girl with pigtails turned back to Kazumi, Hecate, and Yuji. While she had been supporting Kazumi the whole time, suddenly, as she thought of her friend being together with the boy, and leaving her by herself, she cringed. It surprised her, she had never expected to think of such a thing, or to even feel the way she did about it, and she turned her eyes away from it all.

None of this escaped Tiriel's gaze. The One-Indulged-in-Love-of-Others smirked mischievously and licked her lips as if she had smelled something delicious.

The rain soon poured hard, and the dodgeball game was canceled. While Hecate, Kazumi and Yukari were in the showers, the boys got changed in a separate locker room.

"If only the rain came sooner, huh?" Ike teased Yuji as he noted the, although clean, bruise on his face.

"It's not like I was trained to dodge things," Yuji retorted. Hell, he was being trained to be something like a support mage instead.

Ike sat down on the same bench as Yuji and suddenly became serious.

"Hey Sakai, do you have any feelings for Konoe-san?"

Yuji blinked and stared at his friend. "Feelings?"

"Well, you're always together, like you're inseparable. And it's not just her being clingy either, you seem to have no intention of leaving her alone. I just need a yes or no."

Yuji took a while to think wordlessly. He was right, he realized, but at the same time, he recalled how little everyone else knew compared to him, and how little he knew about the mysterious Hecate. But how could he answer when he was not sure whether he really did have feelings for Hecate, or if it was just something else? After all, she was not even the same as he was, like Yoshida or even Hirai.

"I feel it's not really a question with a straight answer," was Yuji's reply.

Ike stared at him curiously, then shrugged. "A question without a straight answer, huh?" he said. He allowed himself to be less serious. "You're one lucky bastard Sakai. Just how do you do it you damn playboy?" he said with a grin and a slap on the back.

"H-hey, cut that out! What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, you Cassanova, you can't hide it with that humble act of yours."

"Come on Ike!"

In reality, however, his joking was but a mask to hide the conflicting feelings within him. In spite of Yuji's answer, there was definitely something deep going on between Yuji and Hecate, and yet he still seemed to accept the girl, letting her get close to him as well, whether he was aware of her apparent feelings or not.

When school ended, Yukari decided she wanted to go home by herself. There was something else weighing heavily on her mind, between her trouble with approaching Ike and her friend Kazumi moving forward ahead of her, step by step.

On the way down, she passed through a corridor devoid of activity, it was still the middle of class for others so it was not unusual. The only person she could see, however was a single girl standing by the window. She wore the same uniform as she did, but her hair was long and blonde, and curly too. Her complexion was very fair, and her posture was like that of an elegant princess.

The simple sight of her was enough to make Yukari stop and look at her curiously. From appearances, she was probably a foreign exchange student.

"You seemed quite troubled until now my dear," Tiriel said, ignoring the way the girl eyed her. She was used to such a look, considering how everyone would stare at her and Sorath wherever they went, although she could not fully understand why they always drew so much attention. She put the blame, to no shame, on her own beauty.

Yukari blinked. "Troubled?"

"Seems like you can't bring yourself to express your feelings towards a certain someone," Tiriel continued. "Are you sure you really want to be the one to please him?"

Yukari backed away, astonished and frightened at how much the blonde girl knew. "Who… who are you?"

Tiriel made a pondering gesture with her index finger touching her chin as she looked up. "Humm, how about you just call me Cupid," she said.

But Cupid is a boy, Yukari thought.

"And just like Cupid, I'm here to help you out a little," Tiriel said. She winked. "Just listen to me."

It wouldn't hurt, Yukari thought. It's not like she could hide anything at this point, and she seemed to be taking the trouble for her sake already.

"Ask yourself, little girl, why are you so scared to express how you feel?"

"I-I don't know," Yukari replied. Tiriel wagged a finger at her.

"It just means you're afraid that he'd reject you," she said. "But if you truly want to be the one to make him happy, you should not be afraid of such a petty little thing. Just don't let anyone or anything stand between you two, do your best that he would love only you, express your love with all of your heart and body."

"Th-that… seems a bit intense," Yukari said.

"You can never go too far when it comes to love, and I should know. Have you ever thought that while you're hesitating, someone else could take his heart instead?"

Yukari's eyes widened. She certainly had never thought of that, but it was a possibility. Ike was a cool and intelligent guy after all, at least, as she saw him. She didn't seem to like the idea of someone else being with him.

"I can see it, those green eyes of yours," Tiriel said. "Don't let it happen, and take his heart yourself with all your power. Don't let anything stand in the way of your love for him."

Yukari took a moment to take in Tiriel's words and nodded. Before any more words were said, she heard a number of people coming around the corner behind her, and glanced in that direction. When she faced forward again, the female "Cupid" had vanished as if she did not exist, and Yukari believed it was all just her imagination.

But the feelings Tiriel had triggered were still there within her.

The noon sun began to set, painting the sky a citrus orange. It was Hecate's turn to tidy the classroom along with a couple other classmates. Although she did not want to be apart from the Mystes, Yuji had promised her he would wait by the gate.

Just outside, close to the gate, he found a blonde-haired boy in princely garb sitting in a fetal position. Students and other passersby walked past him, but could not resist staring at him. Yuji dropped to one knee beside the Denizen.

"You seem shaken Sorath-san," Yuji said. "Did something happen? Where's Tiriel-san?"

The mere mention of her name was enough to make him flinch with wide eyes. He hugged his legs and began barely audibly mumbling something repeatedly.

"She makes me happy," was all that Yuji was able to catch from him from those repetitions.

"Yuji," a soft, monotone voice called behind him. The Mystes turned around.

"Oh, done already Hecate?" Yuji said as he got up. Hecate nodded and led the way home. Yuji turned back to Sorath, hesitant to leave him alone in that state, when he noticed Tiriel coming towards them in the distance from the opposite direction.

"Yuji, they will follow us anyway, whether we want them to or not," Hecate said as she came by Yuji's side.

As the Mystes, glancing behind himself once more, walked home with the Priestess, Tiriel knelt before Sorath and held him gently by his cheeks.

"Oh, I couldn't stay mad at you forever, dear brother," she said as she stared into his eyes closely. They were almost mesmerizing, as Sorath's fear soon turned to comfort as he gazed into her gentle, sultry eyes. The girl Denizen locked lips with him, wrestling with their tongues, before parting for air, leaving a trail of spit hanging between their lips. The few students that were still leaving the school stared at them with a mix of awkward emotions, before hastily continuing on their way.

"Come now dear brother, I've already set up most of the trap, now we just have to hide the Orgel," Tiriel said as she picked Sorath up from the ground. She turned in the direction Yuji and Hecate had left them. "I know just the place."

"Onee-san, you've gotta listen to this!" Eita said as he burst into her room. Keisaku followed at a somewhat more casual pace.

"What's the news?" Marcosias asked.

"Did the Supreme Throne make her move already?" said Margery as she rose from her drunken stupor.

"No, we saw Sakai talking to a pretty shaken blonde kid," Keisaku said. "A blonde girl came later. They both looked pretty rich to the point that it seemed unusual."

"Were the two Frenching on sight?" Marcosias said.

"Like no tomorrow," Keisaku replied. "It was pretty disgusting."

"Are they Denizens too?" Eita asked.

"Yup, Sorath and Tiriel, He-Who-Loves-Himself, and I'm the One-Indulged-in-Love-of-Others, they're the prey of that other Flame Haze," Margery explained.

"Aren't you going to beat her to them? Or at least chase out the other Flame Haze?" Eita said. "You said you didn't want any other Flame Hazes to mess things up while you waited for any sign of the Silver."

"Like I said before, as long as she goes after her own prey, she can do what she wants as long as she doesn't disturb the ones I'm stalking."

Keisaku scoffed. "Aren't we the ones keeping an eye on them most of the time?"

"Quiet you," Margery said, annoyed, mostly from these new circumstances. "But if they're that near each other when the Manipulator of Objects finds them, it might get pretty complicated soon."

"Things have certainly changed huh, my one-tracked huntress, Margery Daw. Normally you would have beaten a rival Flame Haze to a pulp on sight just to chase after any Denizen within your reach, even if they called dibs first."

"I'm convinced Marco, I only need revenge on that one Denizen, the Silver. At this point, nothing else matters. But we might have to fight her anyway, it seems."

Marcosias suddenly threw her a simple question.

"What'll you do after that, my hungering avenger, Margery Daw?

Simple as though it was, Margery could not arrive at an answer.

That night, as always, Yuji transferred his Power of Existence to Hecate. He had begun to grow more accustomed to feeling the flow of the energy, and controlling the rate of his channeling. When they had finished, they heard the familiar voice of a girl coming from the open window.

"Such a boring way to exchange Power of Existence," said Tiriel. Just as she said that, she turned to Sorath and sucked on his lips, letting the same warm fire pour into her mouth from the male Denizen's. Yuji flushed and couldn't bear to see more.

Tiriel giggled. "Such a child," she said.

When Yuji turned back to them now that they had stopped, he noticed that the two were standing on a thick vine that had sprung from the ground. Fortunately, it was midnight, so no one was likely to see it.

"What do you want?" Hecate said coldly as the staff Trigon materialized in her hand. She had expected them to stay nearby, for the sake of their own protection, but that did not mean she would lower her guard.

"I just want to talk to you," Tiriel said as she made a beckoning gesture. "You can stay with the Mystes, dear brother."

"Okay," Sorath obeyed, much like a child, and hopped off the vine and through the window.

Tiriel beckoned to Hecate again and raised the vine higher before stepping off on the rooftop. Hecate glanced at Yuji.

"Wouldn't hurt to find out what she wants," he said. Hecate nodded and floated outside and onto the roof after the other female Denizen, landing right in front of her with barely a sound.

"Have you decided?" Tiriel asked the Priestess. "You'd be a good enough bodyguard."

"No," Hecate answered simply.

"Oh, is that your answer? How boring, but I guess I can relate," Tiriel said. "All you really care about is protecting that Mystes, but not because of what he has inside of him."

Hecate frowned slightly. It was a very small reaction, but it was a reaction Tiriel did not miss. The blonde Denizen began to circle around the Priestess as she continued.

"I don't know what sort of quality of his draws you to him, but it appears that you and I are no different. You hang onto him, never letting him out of your sight. And I see the look in your eyes whenever another woman comes close to him, it's the look of someone who would murder to protect her love. You want to be the only one to be there by his side. You just can't let him go."

Tiriel noticed that Hecate had kept her eyes on her the whole time she spoke. The Priestess was still listening.

"Jealousy runs in all of us my dear, we all want to be the only one by a certain person's side."

Meanwhile, beneath the roof, Sorath roamed around Yuji's room, curiously scanning it. He had turned on the lights, but there was no real problem with that other than Yuji's eyes, which had gotten used to the darkness, suffering a momentary strain.

"This is a really boring place to stay in," Sorath concluded.

'It's not exactly a palace, but it's home," Yuji replied, showing no sign of feeling insulted.

"Tiriel and I usually stay at fancy pink hotels!" Sorath said childishly. It took Yuji a while to realize what he meant, and when he did, he flushed and shuddered.

"You seem a little happier than when I saw you this afternoon," the Mystes noted.

Sorath turned to him and tilted his head in puzzlement. "Hm?"

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Of course I am," Sorath replied, tilting his head the other way. "Hey, I want ice cream, do you have any?"

Yuji blinked. "Um, not right now?" he replied, slightly confused at the Denizen's behavior.

"What kind of a human are you, to not have ice cream?" Sorath said with a disappointed tone while pouting. Apparently, he had also forgotten that Yuji was a Mystes, not a human. "Tiriel always gets me what I want, but she's busy right now."

That brought up the other thing that had been on Yuji's mind since that afternoon.

"You mean everything you really want, Tiriel-san gets for you?"

Sorath's head bobbed up and down. "Yeah! Then I reward her."

"Reward?"

"I always give her my Power of Existence."

"You mean that kissing?" Yuji asked, his cheeks slightly pink.

Sorath blinked. "Kissing? Yeah, I guess," he said. "She seems to like it that way. Why don't you do it with Hecate too?"

Yuji's face turned red as a tomato. "W-well, it's not that easy," he said. "I-I mean, th-that would be too sudden…"

"Isn't it a nice way to share Power of Existence?"

When he said that, Yuji came to a sudden realization. "Sorath-san… what exactly do you think a kiss is anyway?"

"A way to reward my Tiriel with Power of Existence," Sorath answered so surely yet so innocently.

"There were at least a couple of others who seemed to have a similar feeling in them, although the children haven't recognized it as you and I have," said Tiriel, looking into Hecate's eyes sinisterly. "You know who I'm talking about."

Kazumi Yoshida and perhaps Yukari Hirai, they were the only other girls close to Yuji. Hecate's brow twitched once.

"Of course, I could easily get them out of the way for you, if you could accompany Sorath and me as we search for what he desires," Tiriel said. "Of course, the Mystes could come along too."

So that was her proposition… to erase what posed a threat between her and Yuji. She considered it for a brief moment, but in the end, she was disgusted with the idea. Yuji would never let that happen, she knew, and as for herself, somehow, she at least found herself comfortable with Yukari. She came to her decision.

"My answer is still no."

"Oh?" Tiriel stepped back with graceful footing. "Do you really think someone as isolated as you would stand a chance?"

"That does not matter, I will deal with whatever keeps me away from Yuji myself," Hecate declared.

"I see," Tiriel said as she studied the Priestess. After a while, she spoke again, her confident, wicked grin still on her lips. "He wouldn't like it if his friends suddenly disappeared, would he? It would displease him very much, wouldn't it? I'm sure you wouldn't want him to feel upset, or even angry, especially if you were to blame."

Hecate glared at her sharply. "You would dare blackmail the Supreme Throne?"

"Oh, I'm very much aware of how the entire Bal Masque fears you," Tiriel said. "But I know your weakness. Even now, you could not touch me, or else Sorath would destroy him."

Hecate tightened her grip on Trigon. She was right, she realized, she could not do anything while Yuji was, although oblivious to the fact, a hostage right now.

"As I see it, you are nothing more than a regular girl right now," Tiriel concluded. "So, your final answer?"

Hecate was cornered. Tiriel had presented her with very real threats that could take away the one comfort she had, but at the same time, she did not want to give up the mission she had received as the Priestess to follow some child's whims.

"One more day," Hecate told Tiriel. Then, to assert her statement, she added, "If you touch Yuji, or any of his friends, I will destroy both Sorath and you, so quickly you will not even realize it."

"You dare threaten my brother?" Tiriel said with an intense glare to match Hecate's icy gaze. She smirked. "See, you and I are really no different. Fine, out of sympathy I'll allow you one more day, then you give me your answer."

"Really? Just for that?"

"Is there more to it?" Sorath asked.

Yuji scratched the back of his head. "W-well… do you love Tiriel-san?"

"Yeah, she gets me everything I want!"

The more they talked, the more Yuji learned about the vast difference between him and his sister, although they seemed identical at first. There were so many questions the Mystes wanted to ask now, but Sorath went ahead of him.

"Aren't you and Hecate the same way?"

Yuji, still blushing, answered. "Well, not really. I do think she's very important to me now, but not really because of the things she's done. More of, I want to see her smile really."

"See her smile? But she never smiles, everyone knows that silly."

"That's beside the point though. I also feel really grateful for the stuff she's done for me, like protecting me, saving Misaki City from Friagne, or protecting Lamies-san or even sparing Margery-san. At the same time, it makes me want to do things for her too you know, she has her own weaknesses too, and I want to be there for her, and protect her in my own way. I guess, that's how it is with us."

"Protecting each other?" Sorath now seemed very interested, these were new concepts he had not fully understood until now.

"Yeah, I think Tiriel-san has her own weaknesses too, don't you cover for that too?"

"Like with kissing?"

"Maybe, I have no idea really. But I guess it might be nice if you could try doing more for her than just that, if she's really important to you."

"Important to me?"

"Yeah, you know, like… you really don't want to lose that."

"Do I not want to lose Tiriel?"

"I guess…" Yuji said sheepishly. To be honest to himself, he hardly knew much about what he was talking about, and just went on with his own values.

"Brother, we're done here," Tiriel said as she descended on her vine to the window. "Let's go."

"But I wanna stay and talk with the Mystes more," Sorath protested.

Tiriel's eyes widened, of all the things that had happened, this was something she had never anticipated. She smiled gently in response.

"You can talk to him tomorrow, we'll be back," she said.

"Yayyy~!" Sorath said as he climbed onto the vine. As soon as he did, Tiriel stuck her tongue into his lips and the vine descended. When the twins were gone, Hecate hovered down into the room.

"That was unusual," she said.

"Tell me about it, it's like they're not embarrassed at all," Yuji said.

"Not that. You actually managed to hold a conversation with him, although I could not really hear what you were talking about."

"Is it really that strange?"

"He does not care for anything other than what he wants, but it seems you've managed to make him interested in you. That is a very special gift." Hecate smiled. It was that same gift that had drawn her so closely to him.

Since then, Sorath and Tiriel left Yuji and Hecate alone; even their presences felt faint, as though they had truly moved elsewhere in the city. Even so, Hecate was continuously bothered by what Tiriel said throughout the remainder of the night.

"You and I are no different."

No! That wasn't true, it couldn't be. The more Hecate thought about it, however, the more she realized that Tiriel was right. She was the same, possessive, green-eyed beast that clung to what satisfied her. And a new emotion emerged in her, a feeling of self disgust.

That feeling drove her towards a desire to change that.

The morning after the encounter, while Yuji bathed and dressed for school, Hecate approached his mother in the kitchen.

"Chigusa, is it really such a bad thing… to not want anyone else to get close to someone important to you?" she still spoke in the same monotone, but it carried a sort of timidity.

The housewife stopped what she was doing and turned to the Priestess. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"I know someone who would easily be disturbed if another girl came close to a person she's always with. It disgusts me. But, she said that I am the same as she is."

"I see, so you're worried that being jealous makes you a bad person?"

"Jealous?" Hecate knew what the word meant, and realized that that was indeed how she had come to feel. Actually, that word was an understatement. "It's a little more than that."

"You mean, it's as if the person can't ever leave his side or let anyone else be in that place at all?"

Hecate nodded. That was a good enough way to put it.

"Don't worry about that too much dear, it's quite natural for some people to be possessive," Chigusa said. It was not meant to relieve Hecate, however, nor did she feel completely at ease with it. Yuji's mother continued.

"However, you have to ask yourself, are you really that easy to be replaced? I'm sure Yu-chan wouldn't throw you aside regardless of who came closer to him. No matter what, you'd always be someone very important to him in some way, and that's a comforting thought."

Hecate's eyes widened slightly as she listened intently.

"As for always being by his side, what you have to understand is that you don't always have to physically be right next to the person you care about. In fact, if you really cherish them so deeply, you would believe in them no matter what, that they would come back to be with you. This way, you are still side by side, no matter how far the distance is between you two. I believe that if you have that kind of connection, then it means you two would have a special, unbreakable bond."

Hecate blinked as she understood what the housewife meant. "A special bond," she smiled as she repeated it. "Thank you."

Continuing her search from the depths of the night even unto daybreak, the Manipulator of Objects spoke to her contractor.

"They are close. We must eliminate them before they could reach the inexperienced one, she who wields the Nietono no Shana ~de arimasu."