Basara was in a shopping mall, he was waiting for someone.

"Sorry, I'm late. Did you wait too much?"

"No, I'm the one that's sorry for making you skip class."

"Don't worry about it."

The one that Basara had just met up with was Nanao. She had just arrived and was panting hard, probably because she ran a little too much. She was wearing a light blue blouse and a blue skirt. She didn't seem to have a purse.

Let me give a quick explanation of what is happening.

Earlier today, Basara went to the shopping mall just to pass time. While walking around, he saw some sort of lottery, which he decided to enter for no real reason.

Basara didn't win the main prize, but he did get something. He won two tickets for a movie theater. Since he hadn't met her in a long time, Basara called Nanao.

There was one problem though. The tickets were dated for that afternoon, and Basara's school was supposed to have classes then. He only remembered that after he called her, but Nanao's response was.

"I'll go! J-just give a little while and I'll be there."

The rest is not hard to imagine. Nanao pretended to feel sick so that she could leave early. Although she wasn't sure, Chisato might have caught on to her true intentions. Nanao then ran home, dressed up as best as she could in the little time she was given, and then ran to the shopping mall.

"We have some time before the movie starts, so you want to walk around?"

"Yes!"

Basara and Nanao started walking around the mall. They passed by an ice cream stand, so they decided to get some. Nanao got the chocolate flavor and Basara got mint.

"Nanao, you want a bite?"

"S-sure."

But, just as Nanao was about to take a bite of the ice cream, Basara retracted his hand just a little. Nanao bit into the air and Basara had a smile on his face.

"You're a bit too tense. Nanao, don't worry. You don't have to think of this as anything special, you can just act like you usually do."

As he said that, Basara offered the ice cream once again. This time, he let Nanao take a bite.

Basara had already noticed Nanao's tension from the moment he called her. Once he considered Nanao's personality, Basara wasn't really surprised that she was trying to act as if she was meeting with the president or someone like that. But that is also why he wanted to quickly tell her that there's no need to act any different from normal.

"Thanks, it's really good. You want a bite of mine as well?"

"Sure."

When Basara was going to eat it, Nanao paid him with his own trick. Basara bit the air when Nanao pulled her hand back just a bit.

Nanao laughed and Basara soon did the same. It seems she won't act timid from now on.

"Then, let's go on."

After finishing the ice cream, they continued to walk around. To make it in time for the movie, they started walking in the theaters direction, but they still had enough time to stop and look at a few stores.

One in particular caught Nanao's attention.

"Uuwwaa…"

They were in a clothing store. There isn't anything special with the store, nor with the dress Nanao is looking at, but she seems to like it. Since she just stood there, Basara called the shop attendant.

"How much is this dress?"

"Let me see…"

The shop attendant looked at the price tag. The price, just like the dress itself, was nothing to talk about. Basara then called Nanao.

"You want to try it out?"

"E-eh? But I don't think I'll buy it…"

"Just try it out. If you like it, then you decide if you'll buy it or not."

"Yes. Let me go get one of your size and you can try it out."

The shop attendant said. Not a minute after, she came back with a smaller version of the dress Nanao was looking at. Nanao went to the changing room and, a few minutes after, came out wearing the dress.

"H-how is it?"

"Looks really good. So, have you decided?"

"Uuhh, I want to buy it, but I forgot my purse. I guess I'll come back some other time."

Nanao said as she went back into the changing room. Meanwhile, Basara called the shop attendant. He asked her to hold the dress Nanao had taken to the changing room for a while. The shop attendant agreed.

Time was now running short, but they were able to reach the theaters before the movie started. Nanao and Basara sat down and enjoyed the movie.

Meanwhile…

"Aahh, my body hurts a bit."

"That's probably due to PE class today."

Mio and Yuki were coming back to the house. She was already much better, but Yuki still hadn't fully recovered from the battle against Anna, so PE must have had some big effect on her.

The two were walking around like normal. They were chatting and walking. A woman wearing a coat passed them on an otherwise deserted street. Yuki's and the woman's eyes met for a second.

"!"

Suddenly, Yuki's body stood still. Mio wondered what was wrong, but Yuki soon continued walking. Then she picked up speed. Before long, Yuki had started sprinting in the direction of their house.

"Hey, Yuki! What's wron-"

Mio never finished her words. That woman that had passed them turned around and gave a chop to Mio's nape. Mio fell unconscious, but the woman grabbed her body. The woman normally wouldn't have had any trouble holding Mio's body, but there were special circumstances right now.

"Guh! Tch, damn. So the wound isn't going to heal until the lance is destroyed, I should have figured as much."

The woman had a wound on the side of her waist. The coat was being used to hide the bloody bandages on her side.

I didn't want to do this, but it can't be helped. I'll have to make Basara come to me.

And so the woman carried Mio to an unknown place.

At the same time, Basara finished watching the movie with Nanao. They walked out of the theaters and Basara was about to take Nanao to her house, but he separated from her as he said.

"Sorry, I forgot something in a shop. I'll go get it and come back quickly."

Basara disappeared, he came back shortly after. In his hands was a bag from a certain store.

"Basara, that's…"

"You said you wanted it, but forgot to bring money, so I went ahead and bought it for you. Think of it as a gift."

"B-but I can't just accept this."

"Then, how about a deal?"

Nanao's head moved lightly to the side in a cute manner, showing she hadn't understood. Basara then continued.

"I'll give this to you, but you have to show me you wearing before going out with it. How about it?"

"I-I accept. T-Then, you want to come to my house now?"

"Sure." As soon as Basara said that, his phone played a tone, it was a message. It was rude, but Basara had some sort of feeling that he should look at this message immediately. Basara apologized and looked at the message.

After seeing it, Basara's expression changed. He put his phone away and turned around.

"Sorry Nanao. I'll go to your house some other time. Right now, I have somewhere to be."

Basara didn't have time to wait, so he started walking. Even without him telling her, Nanao could guess that something serious had happened just by Basara's expression. Basara continued walking to where the message told him to go.

The message contained two things. One was an address, to where Basara was headed right now. And the other was a picture of an unconscious Mio.