I suppose I should be listing copyrights here, but if I said that I didn't own any of the original source and cameo characters that appear in this work of fiction, and that they belong to their respective owners, the Onmyou Bond scenario belongs to Kidzexion, The One Mind, One Heart arc belongs to White Hunter, The A Destined Friendship arc belongs to Zaix-fukutaicho, and others many of which belong to sunrise or whatever company owns Onmyou Taisenki, I suppose that would be enough, right?

The group was surrounded by Youkai. They were almost reaching their limits after spending more than a few hours exterminating said Youkai. Rikari was quickly approaching exhaustion, too.

"Crap. My eyesight is getting bad..."

Rikari started to stagger, attempting to stay on his feet.

"Hey, Riku!"
"What?"
"I'm probably about to pass out. Would you mind moving my body to a safe place when Sentsa and Kibachiyo dematerialize?"
"Now really isn't a good time! Are you sure you're about to collapse?"
"Urgh..."

Rikari was on the ground. Riku facepalmed.

INITIALIZING PROGRAMS...

"I swear, you're hopeless without me, aren't you?"

FUNCTION - SYNCHRONIZE: ACTIVATED...

"I don't know what you're talking about."

GRANTING ACCESS TO MABOROSHI DRIVE MEDAL...

Rikari had managed to force himself up. Something was different though. Everybody in the group could feel it, but nobody wanted to comment on it.

INITIALIZATION COMPLETE.

Rikari quietly recited the In as he quickly swung his drive, a medal shooting out of his Style Ranker and into his drive in the process. Sentsa and Kibachiyo immediately gained blue flame-like auras upon it's completion.

"Hissatsu!"
"Hissatsu!"

Kibachiyo and Sentsa jump into the air.

"Maboroshi!"
"No Danmaku!"
"Matsuri!"

And then there were bullets everywhere. All of the Youkai had seemingly vanished after the magical smoke had cleared, and Rikari was back on the ground, looking quite asleep.

The next day...

~At the beginning, the bell echos to let you know~

~That it's just a matter of change from a terrible yesterday~

~It's all right, since you're here next to me~

~I'm not alone, and that's what'll awaken my courage~

Rikari groped around for his Drive. Upon finding it he turned off the alarm.

"Ugh... What happened last night?"

Deciding it wasn't worth the effort to get out of bed, he tried to go back to sleep, only to be woken up again by Riku ten minutes later.

"We still have school, you know. Just because some idiot decided to bust open a Grand Kimon doesn't mean we get breaks."
"What happened last night?"
"Erm... You don't remember?"
"I remember basically telling you that I was at my limit, and then falling to the ground, but after that, nothing."
"You flat out destroyed the swarm of Youkai with a single In."
"Oh wow."

Rikari tried to get up, only to find that he was practically pinned to the futon by blankets.

"Oh. Sorry about that. You felt really cold on the way back, so I figured I'd just make sure you were warm. The fun part was getting you changed. That was pretty tricky."
"You have nice choice in underwear print though."
"Erm... Thanks." 'And now Kogenta has fallen into creeper territory. Note to self: Never wear Yin-Yang print underwear or Fundoshi when he's present again at risk of molestation.' "Anyway... It seems like I'm getting better with my Chi restoring. I shouldn't be collapsing nearly as often."

Rikari sneezed.

"But it seems like I've gotten sick this time. I'll get ready for school now, though."

Riku got up, and was on his way out the door, when he paused.

"Oh, by the way. Zaen asked if he could move in with us stating it would probably be for the best if he did. I said it was fine, I hope you don't mind."
"Not really. It's your house, after all."

And then Riku was out of the room. Rikari proceeded to get changed, packing his things for the upcoming school day.

On the way to school they met up with Zaen, who said that he wouldn't be able to move in until the weekend due to the amount of things he had at his house.

At school...

Rikari could feel Sai staring at him all day, but he didn't do anything about it. Zaen and Riku both made comments about it, with Rikari basically saying he would look into it later.

After class...

"Alright, you've been staring at me all day. What is it, Sai?"

Sai flinched. Rikari hadn't even turned around once and he still knew that he was being stared at. What was with this kid?

"I can see that you're slightly confused. If you really want to know what's up, come to the Tachibana Shrine in a few hours. You might want to bring some snacks too, because I'm not sharing mine."

Turning around, Rikari handed a memo to Sai.

"Now then, I must be on my way for now."

Turning towards the door, Rikari sung a little bit of Sousei no Aquarion to himself.

~For ten thousand years and two thousand more~

~Aishiteru~

Outside, at the gates of the school...

"Oi! Riku! Zaen! I thought I told you guys to wait up!"
"Oh, right. Sorry, we ended up talking on the way out, and ended up here. You're lucky we didn't accidentally leave you here completely. Not that it would have mattered though."
"'Not that it would have mattered' my ass. You knew I was delivering a memo."

Zaen let out a laugh. Rikari looked at him with a confused look.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing, but you two fight like an old married couple sometimes."

Riku blushed slightly, with Rikari blushing a bit more visibly.

"Good news Rikari! We found somebody to replace Masaomi in the shipping department!"

Rikari's blushing intensified as he turned around to find Sentsa and Kibachiyo chuckling, as if they were having a conversation between themselves just prior.

"Good god you people, I swear!"

After getting home, Rikari had changed into his casual clothing, his entire outfit having received a few changes. Fubari had redone the vest, adding purple flames to the front and back. He'd even redone the hood with the purple flame motif, to boot! His pants had recieved the same treatment. And he even had fingerless gloves now! Rikari took a little bit of time to look at his new outfit in the mirror in his room.

"You flatter me, Fuba-tan. You really do. These purple flames are a really nice touch."

Rikari shuffled through his vest pockets for toujinfu.

"Now then... Ah! There were still a few in here!"

Pulling out the Toujinfu, Rikari held a few of them up, various characters appearing all around him as he re-imbued his outfit with defensive enchants.

"Alright, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I have an appointment up at the shrine!"

Putting in his earbuds after plugging them into his Drive, he headed out the door, telling Riku and Zaen that he'd be back as he walked past their study session.

Heading to the store, Rikari picked up a few snacks, since he anticipated that Sai probably didn't take the snack part oh his memo seriously. On the way to the shrine, he sung a bit to himself and Sentsa.

~ANSWER MUST BE SOMEWHERE~ ~Someone knows about me more than anyone else~ ~Because I believe~ ~I cannot move an inch with these piano strings covering the entire world~ ~They cut frigidly into my skin~ ~Like setting a trap somewhere and then removing it~ ~If you reach out you'll find the tomorrow you longed for~ ~Touch it with your fingertips~ ~ANOTHER DAY TOMORROW~ ~Don't stop pressing on from yesterday~ ~Close your eyes and run~ ~That's the future~ ~ANSWER MUST BE SOMEWHERE~ ~Someone knows about me more than anyone else~ ~Because I believe~

"Another song I rarely hear you sing."
"2006 song. STREAM opening, Be Somewhere. The singer was BuZy."
"Somebody's being awfully upfront."
"Gee. Thanks."

Meanwhile, at the shrine...

"Rikari sure is taking a while to get here. I wonder what he's going to talk to me about. It better not be something wierd..."

And then Rikari arrived at the shrine.

"Sorry I'm late. I'm hoping you brought snacks, because magical things are about to happen."
"I brought a few... Although what you just said makes next to no sense. In fact, it makes even less sense than this memo."
"Oh, right. I keep forgetting normal people exist."
"...Normal?"
"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. QUICKLY, INTO THE SHRINE BEFORE THE ALIENS COME TO TAKE US AWAY~"

And with that Rikari shoved Sai into the Shrine, entering the door moments after and invoking a travel seal from his Drive. The space inside was a void full of gates.

"Wha- What's this?!"
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~"

And then it came into view. The sky above the field Rikari was looking into dragging Sai into to explain stuff.

TO BE CONTINUED

Wow, it's been a while since I submitted a chapter, huh? This one's been sitting on my computer for a whole two months, actually! I was trying to figure out a way to progress it for the longest while, but I couldn't ever figure it out. Well, UNTIL I talked with Zaix on skype, then I decided to end the chapter on a cliffhanger, and as much as I hate doing that, it had to be done to make my fic not a dead fic or an orphaned fic.