*Author's Note: STARS ABOVE now has cover art, thanks to the amazing Hikari-Luv! Check it out here (remove spaces): fav .me / d4w1y0y *

CHAPTER 14: You're in Love, Aren't You?

Hiiragi Household, Takanomiya

It had been ten minutes now.

Ten minutes since she'd seen that.

Kagami knew on some level that she was being ridiculous. Tsukasa was almost seventeen, and Miyuki just a few months younger. Both were well past old enough to make their own decisions. Why shouldn't they have a relationship? Why shouldn't they do that with-

Her skin crawled, and she rubbed her arms frantically. Because the very image was so desperately wrong, that was why; it was out of place with her entire universe. Her twin sister was the goofball who put off her homework during breaks until the night before, the one who constantly broke or misplaced her cell phone, the one who slept until one in the afternoon and still felt tired. And Miyuki was the perfect young lady, what Konata called the "embodiment of moe": a walking encyclopedia, slightly klutzy, deathly afraid of dentists and things being put in her eyes, always speaking formally even among friends. Kagami had never given thought to either of them having someone special… the possibility was so remote as to not matter at all.

Now everything she thought she knew about Tsukasa and Miyuki was thrown into disarray. She felt more than ashamed, she felt somehow unclean… and though she knew it was stupid to even think it, she felt betrayed. That was what hurt the most… Tsukasa, who always trusted her with everything and couldn't lie to save her life, had somehow kept a secret from her, a huge, terrifying secret.

Knock, knock, knock. "Onee-chan?"

Kagami gave a start. She was slumped against the door again, her back to it. She had only moved to grab her faithful old Bonta-kun plushie from her bed, so she would have something familiar to hug while she tried to make sense of it all… then she had gone right back to the same spot where she had collapsed.

"Onee-chan? P-Please talk to me. Yuki-chan's gone now, we're not-"

Yuki-chan. Another sting of betrayal pierced Kagami's heart. How could she not have realized that something like this was happening? The evidence was right there all along: she and "Yuki-chan" talking late into the night, studying together, riding the train home together. Tsukasa had even been more prone to daydreaming lately… Kagami had written it off as her usual airheadedness. Stupid. I'm so stupid… I should have known. "Just go away," she said, clutching Bonta-kun tighter.

"Onee-chan, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have found out like that. We were gonna tell you, really, we were! We just… at first Yuki-chan didn't want you to get angry, and then things got… more serious, and the more we, well… the harder it got to come out and say it."

"'More serious?'" Kagami spat out in disbelief. That was the understatement of the year, if not the decade. "Tsukasa, you and Miyuki were… were…!"

"… having sex."

Having sex. Kagami reeled. There it was, out in the open, straight from Tsukasa's mouth. Whatever slim hope she had of this being some kind of wild misunderstanding, now it was gone. How could her Tsukasa possibly say it so frankly? It was as if her sister had become a complete stranger… those words didn't fit at all with her voice. "Oh God, Tsukasa…" she moaned, despairing.

"Onee-chan, try to understand. We care about each other, you know? We both wanted to, it's not like she for-"

"Stop, just stop." Kagami's stomach did a backflip. "Whatever you were about to say, don't say it."

"S-Sorry…"

"How long? How long has… has this been going on?" The question sounded hollow to her ears. It was hard to believe she was even talking about this, when all she really wanted to do was cry some more.

There was a pause on the other side of the door. "… It's been a little over five weeks since we… got together."

Kagami thought back. "Five weeks…" Her head rose, just slightly. "Don't tell me that was-"

"… the day you and Kusakabe and Minegeshi fainted on the roof," Tsukasa finished. "That's right."

Homura. Kagami thought her name with such bitterness that she saw Kyubey's ears perk up across the room out of the corner of her eye. Of course, that was her second day at school. Everything's been going crazy since she came here… Her hands curled into fists.

Should I intervene? said Kyubey in that infuriatingly calm voice of his. That thought was highly charged with emotion.

Can it! she thought savagely at him.

If I'm reading the situation correctly… Kyubey paused to sort his thoughts. You are upset because you saw Tsukasa and her friend trying to procreate, correct?

I said can it, furball.

Well, said Kyubey matter-of-factly, I can certainly understand why that would upset you. The actions you saw were in error, weren't they? I admit I don't entirely understand human biological processes, but I know that Tsukasa and Miyuki are both females, and that it requires male semen in order to-

SHUT UP! Kagami hurled Bonta-kun at him, hoping she could hit him, just this once… no such luck. He phased through the window long before the stuffed animal hit the glass.

Tsukasa must have heard the thump. "Onee-chan, what was that? Are you okay?"

"It was nothing," she said aloud, with more venom than she intended.

"R-Right." There was another pause, longer than the first. "You're… you're not gonna tell Mom and Dad, are you?"

Kagami wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. Right now, she thought the only thing that would truly make her feel better was her parents reading Tsukasa the riot act. But… "No," she said with a resigned sigh, pressing a hand against her forehead. "You can tell them yourself. I don't want any part of this."

A relieved sigh filtered through the door. "Thank you, onee-chan. I will tell them, I promise. I just…" The next sentence came out all in a rush. "I wish you could understand. I thought for sure you would, since you and Akemi-san…"

Her cheeks flushed. "What about me and Akemi? There's nothing like that between us. Nothing."

"Onee-chan." Her voice was so gentle, soft as an old flannel blanket. "You're in love, aren't you?"

Somewhere in Satte, Saitama

Homura was beginning to grow annoyed. Even without using a Puella Magi's enhanced senses, she heard the footsteps clearly. They matched her pace well, and stopped whenever she did, but she could still hear them. Every so often, she would come to a halt and glare back over her shoulder, only to find no one there. Then she would start walking again, and she would hear the footsteps… and the chuckle. At first, it was almost amusing, but after several kilometers of the same thing, over and over again… She stopped again and flipped her hair back with a scowl. "Izumi-san, enough," she said. "I detest being followed."

Footsteps padded up behind her, but she wasn't going to look. "Damn, you're good!" said Konata. "I thought was being all sneaky, shinobi-style and stuff! Do you have super-hearing like Asuna from Negima or something?"

"No," said Homura, not even bothering to ask what "Negima" was. "Why are you here?"

Konata fell into step next to her, keeping pace with her long strides surprisingly easily. "What do you mean?" she said innocently. "My dad and I live in Satte."

"You've been following me ever since we got off the train. That includes when I walked all the way through Shiraoka just to lose you."

"Fu fu fu~,"chuckled Konata, crossing her arms and nodding. "You won't shake me that easily, Akemi-san."

"Don't you have somewhere to be? It's getting late. Your mother will worry."

"I'm sure she would, if I had one. It's just me and Dad."

"I'm sorry," said Homura flatly, feeling anything but at the moment.

"Nah, it's fine." Konata waved a hand nonchalantly. "You didn't know."

"Please, go home," Homura made an effort to say it as politely but firmly as she could. "If you're trying to be friends, you're wasting your time."

"Nope." The blue-haired girl's lips curled upward into her trademark smile. "That's not why I'm here."

"Why, then?"

"Simple, Akemi-san." She pointed upward at her. "I want to know your secret."

Homura remained firmly staring straight ahead as she pressed on. She wasn't even walking anywhere in particular, she was just trying to get away. "I don't have any secrets."

"Ooooh, you are good. I could almost believe you… but no. A girl like you has to have a secret. I've seen it in hundreds of anime: the mysterious transfer student who never smiles! Nobody acts like you do without a reason."

Homura gritted her teeth. "Izumi-san, has it ever occurred to you that life is not like anime?"

"Nope," she said cheerfully. "Not even once."

"Of course."

"See, just look at my life," said Konata, shouldering her school bag and counting on her fingers. "There's Kagamin, who's a tsundere. There's Tsukasa, the dojikko, and Miyuki-san, who's totally moe, and Kuroi-sensei, the urenokori. My dad's ecchi, and my cousin Yu-chan is the cute little ill girl. Then there's you, the Rei Ayanami/Yuki Nagato clone. Too much adds up for it to be a coincidence… and the Rei or Yuki type always has some deep, dark secret. So what's yours?"

"You're wrong," said Homura, as bluntly as she could. "I don't-" Then she paused in mid-step. Something felt wrong… she could feel a very faint tingle traveling up and down her spine like a weak electric shock. Not strong enough to be a Demon or Spawn, barely even worth notice… but it was there.

"You keep saying that, Akemi-san, but I'll never believe it," Konata blathered on. "So I'm just gonna have to- Akemi-san? What's up?"

"Quiet," she said, holding out a hand. She needed to check her Soul Gem to be sure, but how to do that when the other girl was watching her so closely? She could summon her shield and stop time, but that would doubtless only invite further questions, questions she didn't have the time or patience to answer.

With a slithering sound of cloth on concrete, six figures emerged out of the alleyway just ahead of them. They were tall, thin, wearing very long hooded robes of blood-red, which concealed their bodies entirely within their folds. No flesh could be seen at all; even their faces were obscured in the shadows of their hoods. Each one wore a string of beads around their necks… rosaries.

"Whoa, who are these guys?" whispered Konata behind her. "Are they monks or something?"

"I don't know. Don't worry, Izumi-san, I'll handle this," she said. Raising her voice, she glared at the nearest of the six. "Please, let us pass."

The red-cloaked figure spoke in a horrible, asthmatic rasp. "You…" it wheezed, "You come… with us."

Hiiragi Household

Kagami's cheeks had been smoldering, but now she felt her whole face start to burn. "Wh-what? Tsukasa, you're crazy! There's no way I'm in-"

"Come on, onee-chan," said Tsukasa patiently, from the other side of the door. "Even I could see it. The way you look at her, ever since that day…"

"No…" Kagami shook her head frantically. "I-It's not true! It can't be true, dammit!"

"You think about her all the time," said Tsukasa, almost whispering. "She keeps coming into your head when you're doing other things, distracting you from what you should be doing. She makes you feel all warm inside when she's around you, and colder when she's not. Every time you touch her, you get this… this tingle, that goes down your back, all the way to your toes and up again to the top of your head. She's there in your dreams, and when you close your eyes… and you know it doesn't make sense, but still…"

Swallowing heavily, Kagami hugged herself tight. Tsukasa's description was uncannily accurate; how on earth did she know…?

"Am I right, onee-chan?" There was none of her usual playfulness in her voice.

"I-"

"Well?" This was all wrong, she was supposed to be the mature one, not Tsukasa…

She stood up, rubbed her eyes, and swallowed again. Taking a deep breath, Kagami opened the door…

… and Tsukasa fell inside, wrapped in a faded blue bathrobe, and threw her arms around her. "It's okay, onee-chan. Really, it's okay."

Kagami embraced her sister, squeezing her eyes shut tight. "God, Tsukasa… I just don't know what's been wrong with me…"

"Ssssh," she said, patting her back. "Nothing's wrong, nothing at all."

"I…" She sniffled, then went on. "I don't think… We're not there yet. I… I think I l-like her, but she's just so…"

A hint of a smile appeared on Tsukasa's face. "Cold?"

"Y-Yeah," Kagami laughed shakily. "Tsukasa, she's… She pretends to be strong, all the time, but I can see how much she's hurting deep down… She's been through so much pain, like you wouldn't believe, and I want to help her, but-"

"It's gonna be okay, onee-chan." When she spoke that way, Kagami could almost believe it. "We'll figure it out, somehow."

"Th-thanks, Tsukasa, really." Kagami smiled through the tears threatening to form in her eyes. "I appreciate your help, but you just can't imagine how weird her life has been…"

Again, that hint of amusement tugged at Tsukasa's lips. "I think I have a guess… Does it have anything to do with that little white thing that's been following us?"

Somewhere in Satte

Homura's pulse quickened. The lead monk was speaking in Japanese, not Demon speech… that was a good sign, at least. But then, if these were just normal monks, why were her senses reacting? Why were her instincts telling her to summon her Soul Gem and transform, damn the consequences?

Apparently, Konata hadn't picked up the danger. "Come with you? Why should we?" she asked, coming forward to stand by Homura's side.

"You… are sinners," rasped the lead monk. "Sinners… must repent."

"'Repent?'" Konata raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no thanks. I like being the way I am. I'm a little bit underage to be playing eroge, but what does that matter? Age is just a number."

"Izumi-san," hissed Homura out of the corner of her mouth. "I don't think you should provoke them."

"Why? They're monks, monks have vows of non-violence and stuff like that. What are they gonna do, chant mantras at us?"

The red-clad figures shuffled forward as one. "Sinners… must repent," said the lead monk again.

"Although…" Konata crossed her arms again, tilting her head to the side. "I guess they could be kung-fu monks, like in the movies. Crap, that would be bad."

Fine hairs rose on the back of Homura's neck with every step the monks took towards them. Her mind raced… whatever these things were, human or Demon, she had to get Izumi out of here… "Izumi-san," she said as calmly as she could, "I think we're in trouble. When I say so, start running, and don't look back. I'll distract them somehow."

"Nuh-uh." The blue ahoge waved back and forth as its owner shook her head. "Sorry, Akemi-san, you're not getting rid of me that easily."

"What?" Homura stared down at her as the monks drew closer, forming a circle around them. "Izumi-san, this is no time to be stubborn!"

Incredibly, the tiny girl dropped her school bag, bent her knees, and assumed a martial arts stance. She beamed her cat-like smile up at Homura, all bluster and confidence. "This isn't being stubborn, this is me protecting you. I don't know what's going on with you and Kagamin, but I know she likes you a lot, so I gotta keep you safe, for her."

A faint pink tinge colored Homura's pale cheeks. She opened her mouth to protest, but no words could come out.

"Besides," Konata chuckled. "You said yourself that you're sickly, so protecting you is what an ally of justice would do!" Nodding her head at that sage wisdom, she clenched her fists and stared defiantly at the nearest monk.

"I-Izumi…!" That was all she could say; the idea of Konata protecting her was so ridiculous that she couldn't think of a proper argument against it.

"Just stay behind me, Akemi-san," said Konata. "Don't worry… I may be small, but I'm tougher than I look."

The circle of robes tightened around them. "You will… come with us," wheezed the leader again, raising a very long arm draped in red cloth. "Sinners… must-"

That was as far as he got; the rest of his horrible rasping voice was drowned out by Konata's high-pitched battle cry as she launched herself at the monk closest to her. Her tiny fists were a blur of motion as she pummeled the monk with a series of rapid strikes to the gut. "AAAATATATATATATATATA…"

There was nothing else for it, Homura decided. No matter how brave or skilled Konata thought she was, she wouldn't stand a chance against whatever these things were if they decided to attack her all at once. I have to finish this quickly… She thrust out her hand to summon her Soul Gem…

… and her arm was seized from behind in the iron grip of a monk's hand, jutting from beneath the folds of its sleeve. The hand was attached to an impossibly long arm, withered and skeletal and covered in thin grey skin, with huge, ugly calluses on its knuckles.

Shocked that they had anticipated her movement, she let out a short cry of denial and began pouring magic into her left arm, enhancing her strength. Homura's focus was so directed on tearing away, she never saw the rusted metal implement that the monk in front of her was drawing from its robe, until it was too late.

Firebursts exploded in her eyes as the monk struck a brutal overhanded blow to her skull. Her head split with agony… she knew she had to activate her "pain switch" to suppress it, but it was no good, it hurt far too much to concentrate... Homura's knees buckled; she dropped the enhancement on her arm and diverted what was left of her focus to healing the wound and staying awake. The effort lasted until the weapon struck her again, even harder this time, sending another searing, white-hot jolt through her body. A pipe… she thought as she went limp, crumpling to the pavement. It's using a pipe. That's… almost brilliant…

Though her vision was blurring rapidly, she could still make out Konata fighting on… that curtain of blue hair was unmistakably her. The red figure she was attacking stumbled backward, tripping and falling over its own long robes. She turned on her heel, saw Homura lying there bleeding, and screamed, "Akemi! You bastards, what did you do to her?"

Run, mouthed Homura silently. Her voice wouldn't work right. Izumi, run…

Konata didn't run. She threw herself at the next monk, pounding at whatever part of its body she could reach. "How – dare – you! Get away from her, y-" Her voice devolved into a strangled choking noise as a pair of skeletal grey hands closed around her neck. Homura saw her feet kicking feebly at the air as it lifted her small body off the ground… four of the monks pounced on her, burying her in the folds of their robes. All Homura could see of her now was the vague outlines of her body, struggling underneath constricting layers of red cloth… The pipe slammed down on her a third time, and she could see no more.

Hiiragi Household

Kagami let go of Tsukasa, took a step back, and stared at her, flabbergasted. In the back of her mind, she wondered if now would be a good time to just give up and faint. Tsukasa and Miyuki together for the last five weeks was one thing, but this? "You knew?!"

Tsukasa looked down at her bare feet and wriggled her toes. "Not at first," she said, turning pink. "I was sure I was imagining it at first. I saw little glimpses here and there, just out of the corner of my eye… then I thought I must be going crazy, because I started seeing it more and more, and it was always watching me…" Staring back up at Kagami, she continued, "And then I started noticing things. You would glare at empty seats, or at high shelves, like there was something there that you didn't like. A couple of times, I thought I heard you talking out loud when I was sure you were alone…"

Kagami took a few steps back and dropped onto her bed. Standing up wasn't really an option at this point. "You knew. I can't believe you knew. Damn him, he was supposed to stay out of sight…!"

"So what's really going on, onee-chan?" The slightest bit of hurt wavered in Tsukasa's voice. "What aren't you telling me?"

Kagami's shoulders started to sag. She almost started to apologize, but then… "Wait a minute, hold on." Her eyes narrowed. "You don't get to be upset about keeping secrets, Tsukasa. Remember what I just walked in on?"

She should have backed down and let the matter drop then and there, conceding to Kagami's point. To her astonishment, however, she stood her ground, glaring at her sister with as much force as she could summon up. "That's not fair," she said quietly. "We were always going to tell you, we just didn't know the right time. You lied, onee-chan. You told me and Kona-chan in the nurse's office that day that there was nothing happening."

Kagami's mouth fell open. "I… that was…" Each argument she came up with to counter that seemed more stupid than the last. "We weren't…" This sudden display of nerve from Tsukasa was rattling her more than she would ever admit; she half-wondered if Miyuki had something to do with it. "Damn it," she sighed. "All right, you're right. That was wrong of me, and I'm sorry. I should have told you right away."

"It's okay, onee-chan," said Tsukasa, relaxing a bit. "Same here, I should have told you. We'll work it out later… for now, just tell me: what is that thing, and why is it watching us?"

"I'm not exactly sure what he is myself," she said, shaking her head. "As for why it's watching us, that's a long and very weird story. You're not gonna believe it… hell, I'm not sure I believe parts of it myself."

Clutching her robe tighter around herself, Tsukasa padded over to sit beside her on the bed. "So he does have something to do with Akemi-san. Am I right?"

"Yeah." Kagami sighed and kneaded her brow. "He's sort of-" Kagami was interrupted by a buzzing in her pocket. A voice singing in English filtered faintly through the fabric of her skirt: "Nobody knows who I really am…"

Tsukasa blinked. "Is that your ring tone? I thought yours was the opening from Full Metal Panic…"

"I changed it a week or so ago. Hold on a second…" Kagami growled in annoyance and fumbled in her pocket. "I've never felt this empty before," the phone sang as she checked the caller ID screen: UNKNOWN NUMBER. Puzzled, she flipped it open and put it to her ear. "H-Hello…?"

The voice on the other end was very weak, but recognizable. "Hi…Hiiragi-san…"

Her eyes widened. "Homura? H-How did you even know my-"

"Izumi," she interrupted. It sounded as if it was a strenuous effort for her to talk at all. "Hi-Hiiragi-san, it's… Izumi…"

Kagami's blood ran cold, and her face turned very pale. "K-Konata…?"

"Onee-chan, what's wrong?" Tsukasa put a hand on her knee in concern, but she couldn't feel it.

"They took her," Homura said thickly, barely holding back a sob.

END OF CHAPTER 14