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Note: From now on,I will be adding a new section to each new arc called 'Eternity so Far' in order to help readers keep track with this long term story.

Eternity so far (spoken in Yuji's point of view):

"None of us had expected the sister of Friagne to come to Misaki City, but for Hecate to return, wishing to become a human, was even more surprising. During the summer break, not only did we battle a Crimson Denizen capable of using negative Power of Existence and her group, but we also tried to figure out what to with the former Priestess of Bal Masque. No one, not even myself, had found it easy to accept her, but when she had proven herself by helping us defeat Neftier, even Shana took her in.

"At one point in the battle, I met the two beings living within the Reiji Maigo, Johan and the mysterious Silver. Since then, my powers seemed to have significantly increased, and my flame had become not only silver, but black as well. I'm not sure what's happening to me exactly, but I know it will only make things more complicated."

Chapter 14: The Return of Konoe Fumina

Yuji jogged laps around his neighborhood as he always did when no one would train him. Behind him, a weary Satou tried to catch up. Around the human boy's neck was the vessel of Alastor urging him onward. Yuji chuckled as he remembered this old scenario.

"Pick up the pace," Alastor told Satou. "Don't stop until we reach the end."

"Man, you're worse than my gym coach," the boy replied.

"Do you want the training or not?"

Satou sighed. "Yes, I want the training."

"Then stop complaining and keep jogging."

"Yeah, yeah."

"A single 'yes' will do."

"What's so funny?" Satou said when he saw Yuji stifle a laugh.

"It's nothing," Yuji replied.

"By the way, what is Shana-chan doing, making us jog on our own?" Satou asked.

"That's something Alastor and I have been wondering ever since the first time she did the same to me," Yuji said. "Come on, we're almost there."

YSAYSAYSA

"Wilhelmina?! What are you doing?" Shana yelled as the Specialist of Everything accidentally (and ironically) caused a simple and basic dish to erupt in flames.

"I'm sorry," Wilhelmina said, "I did not expect this kind of result."

"It's alright Carmel-san," Chigusa said kindly as she put out the fire, "you've actually improved since you first began your lessons."

"What happened here?" Hecate – or rather, Konoe Fumina asked as she entered the kitchen. Her appearance was now completely alike to the faux vessel she had used before, with her skin tone not so pale and her hair pine green. She coughed when she breathed in a bit of the black cloud of smoke fogging the room.

"Did something burn?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it Fumina-chan," Chigusa said. "This happens every week."

"What were you doing?" Konoe inquired, fanning away smoke.

"Cooking lessons," Wilhelmina answered as she activated the mechanical chimney above the stove, venting the troublesome black fog outside.

"Could I try?" Konoe asked.

"I don't see why you can't," Chigusa said. "Let me just get you an apron."

She picked out a white apron with a floral design and helped Konoe put it on.

"Will this be your first time cooking?" the kindly mother asked.

"Yes," Konoe replied.

Since she's always fed on Power of Existence in Sereiden, I doubt she can be any better than me or Wilhelmina, Shana thought.

"Since it's your first time, we'll start off with an omlette," Chigusa said.

To everyone's great surprise, Konoe Fumina had not only followed Chigusa's teaching properly, but had made a perfect omlette. It was, in fact, so well made, it sparkled.

"What the hell?" Shana mumbled. "How could she have been able to do that when all she did before was lock herself away in Sereiden."

"I'm amazed Fumina-chan!" Chigusa said excitedly. "I thought this was your first time."

"It is," Konoe replied. "I just have a good teacher."

"You flatter me, I'm not that good," Chigusa said. "You, however, are a natural."

She turned to Shana and Wilhelmina. "Don't be discouraged, you're also both very good," she said cheerfully when they saw their expressions change. "Let's continue today's lesson, shall we?"

Suddenly, Konoe fell into a slight trance. "Yuji's just a block away from here, he's almost back," she said.

"How do you know that?" Wilhelmina asked.

"I'm not sure," Konoe answered, "I just do."

"Maybe you have some kind of special link to my son," Chigusa said. "In any case, we wouldn't want him catching us doing this, so let's play it safe and follow Fumina-chan's prediction."

SCWFSCWFSCWF

"I'm back," Yuji said as he entered his home, supporting an exhausted Satou on his shoulder.

"Welcome home," Chigusa greeted her son from the kitchen. Sitting on the couch in the den were Shana and Konoe. Wilhelmina helped clean up the usual mess in the kitchen discreetly.

Yuji and Satou slumped down on the couch beside the girls. As the latter returned Alastor to Shana, the Flame of Heaven spoke.

"This human is quite extraordinary," he said. "He had managed to keep up with Yuji, despite the fact that they were going for more than a mile without stopping. He may not be able to reinforce himself or use Power of Existence like you could, but his determination fuels his strength. He collapsed a few minutes before we arrived back here, however."

"Where's all that drive coming from anyway?" Yuji asked.

"I don't see why I have to answer that," Satou replied dryly. Then, he fell asleep instantly.

"Hey Hecate, how were you able to tell where Yuji was exactly?" Shana said. "I could sense his presence like any Flame Haze could, even without Alastor, but only to a certain extent."

"I told you, I'm not Hecate anymore. Call me Konoe Fumina," Konoe remarked.

"I'm still not used to that," Shana said. "We just defeated Neftier at midnight today, and I'm still tired from that battle, but you and Yuji were recharged by the Reiji Maigo, and repairing the city didn't even take half of your capacities since Margery was helping."

"Wait a minute," Yuji said, "you can tell exactly where I am?"

"And also, what you are doing and seeing," Konoe said. "I think this connection is a result of using our power together while we were Synchronized at midnight."

"You think it works both ways?" Yuji asked.

"I'm not sure," Konoe replied. "I was only aware of it an hour ago."

"I hope that connection isn't permanent," Shana muttered.

"What was that Shana?" Yuji asked.

"What? I didn't say anything," Shana denied.

"But I'm sure--"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

At that moment, Shana's cellphone rang. She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi! How's it goin'?" a cheerful female voice was clearly heard.

"Ogata-san?"

"Yep, it's me. You know, tomorrow's our last day of summer break and we didn't really gather together even once."

Some of us did, though it was only to fight against a new enemy, Shana thought. "So, why did you call?" she asked bluntly.

"Well, it just so happens that Ike scored us a free trip to a beach just outside the city. We'll be going tomorrow, but I'm sure you don't have anything planned. Oh, and there's more than enough room for our circle, so maybe you could bring an extra friend or two. You think you could make it Shana-chan?"

Shana looked at Yuji, who nodded in agreement. "I think it's a good idea. Where are we meeting?"

"At the bus station near our school," Ogata replied. "Be there at 7:00. Oh, and don't forget to pick out a great swimsuit." She had spoken the last word so softly that even Yuji did not hear it. "See ya!"

Shana hung up her phone. She snatched Konoe by the arm and handed Alastor to Yuji.

"The two of us are going out for a while," she said. "So you and Satou-kun will have to train by yourselves again."

"Where are you going?" Yuji asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Well, I have to know if—."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! We're leaving!"

"Man, Sakai, you're really dense when it comes to this sort of thing, aren't you?" Satou remarked weakly when the two had left.

"Mmm hmm," Alastor said in agreement.

SYHAOSYHAO

"Where are we going?" Konoe asked Shana as the latter still dragged her by the arm, walking briskly.

"To a department store," Shana replied, "to buy swimsuits."

"Swimsuits?" Konoe repeated.

"I bet you've never worn one before," Shana said. She, however, had rarely worn one out of school herself.

"There's also something that's been disturbing me," Shana said as she relaxed her grip on Konoe's arm, "how the hell were you able to make such a perfect omlette on your first try?"

"Well, since the day the Konoe Fumina and Hecate parts of me joined together, I stopped my praying habits to study a lot of human books, especially the ones on cooking," Konoe answered. "And one of the special abilities of a Priestess of Bal Masque is to absorb a great amount of information and skill from texts alone."

"Lucky you," Shana said with an annoyed tone. The two continued moving and were quickly nearing the store Shana had decided on.

Konoe spoke. "But I still can't compare to someone who cooks with so much feeling and love as--."

"Kazumi?" Shana said as she met the said girl at the door of the department store. "What are you doing here?"

"Ogata-san insisted that I come," Yoshida replied.

"Hi Yoshida! Shana-chan!" a female voice called out. In a moment a dark haired girl joined them.

"Speak of the devil," Shana said.

"I didn't expect to see you here, especially since I just gave you the invitation a moment ago," Ogata said. "You sure move fast." She looked at Konoe and gasped.

"Konoe-san!" Ogata exclaimed as she embraced the green haired girl. "It's been such a long time! How have you been?"

The three other girls gaped widely. They had never expected anyone besides themselves to remember Konoe Fumina.

"Y-you remember me?" Konoe asked.

"Of course! We had so much fun together!" Ogata replied. "But you stopped going to school so suddenly. We've been wondering what might have happened to you. Even the authorities couldn't find any trace of your whereabouts. But I'm glad you've come back, our prodigal sister!"

Ogata put her hand on Konoe's shoulder and led her into the swimsuit section. As she chatted with the reformed Crimson Lord, Shana and Yoshida held a whispered conference.

"She remembered," Yoshida said. "And the authorities were searching for her. How could that happen?"

"Hecate reestablished her existence as Konoe Fumina, so everything must have adjusted to her return, as if her vanishment was only physical," Shana explained.

"In either case, I'm glad everyone remembers now," Yoshida said.

Ogata picked out a two piece swimsuit for Konoe to try on. Suddenly remembering the Crimson Lord's new connection with Yuji, Shana came beside her and gave her one command.

"Don't look into the mirror!" she whispered.

SHYOSHYOSHYO

"You pervert! Take this!"

A two-inch tall, pink haired girl in a black cloak screamed out as she waved her wand and caused a teenage boy in a blue jacket to become the victim of a violent explosion.

"What is this program called again?" Alastor asked Yuji as he watched the television with his vessel on the Mystes' palm. Beside them, Satou was sound asleep.

"Zero-tan no Tsukaima," Yuji answered. "The female lead seems a lot like Shana, don't you think?"

"I can agree to that."

"That's weird," Yuji said as his cheeks suddenly flushed. "Why am I suddenly blushing?"

Note: Sorry it took so long, but I had a lot of stuff to do. This chapter was also somewhat of a challenge because it was mostly about girls (I'm a boy).

Note: I got the idea of Hecate becoming a genius from reading a lot of books from the anime Clannad. Guess who was the inspiration.