MASS POST WARNING. GO BACK TO CHAPTER 33. THIS IS CHAPTER 34. THE OMAKE WAS BEFORE THIS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. The song for this chapter is "Me and My Broken Heart" and the first set of lines can be sung to it.

So the secrets of her power will spill forth towards Kokubunji and the others like a torrential flood!

Every time I need help in my life

Why do I keep falling apart?

I just need a little love in my life,

To soothe this broken heart,

Even though I brought you into my life,

Why is it we're always so far?

I thought I needed you and your love,

To mend this damaged heart

Chapter 34: Me and My Broken Heart

A devilish angel stood over him. Holding her bloodstained weapon, the girl smiled in satisfaction. Although he had made her miss her original target, this was enough.

Lightning coiled through the sky in a flash of brilliant white, and a clap of thunder boomed across the sky.

That was the day that Ichirou Mihara died.

...

Creeping up behind me was a shadow.

I was ignorant of that fact.

Instead, I was walking with my beloved. Admiring the light shower of rain, I tried to grasp the raindrops. He laughed at my silliness and cupped his hands to help me.

The shadow continued to advance, but I was still unaware.

I and My Dearest were now splashing in the puddles.

The shadow followed us, slipping around on the ground like a freakishly nimble slug.

We laughed. We were prancing around carefree. Until the shadow appeared in front of us, we had been blissful.

The shadow looked at us, though it had no eyes to see.

Within an instant the shadow morphed into a beautiful girl with light blue hair and golden eyes.

Her smile was so kind and inviting that I reached out my hand towards her. She reached out her own hand to meet mine.

But in her other hand was a blade.

It had been a trick.

In one quick motion she stabbed me right through the heart.

I fell backwards into a puddle, and she followed me. The puddle became a dark ocean. I could taste the saltiness of it, yet it wasn't stinging my eyes.

The beautiful girl continued to plunge her blade into my chest. She never stopped smiling. Not when my blood blossomed from my wound…not when my breath escaped and water rushed into my lungs…not even when we began to sink.

She smiled and smiled.

I drowned in that ocean of my tears—that ocean of my despair.

Amber woke up from her dream gasping. Even when sleeping she couldn't escape her fate.

With a quiet, bitter sob, she wiped her eyes and lay on her pillow, longing for someone to hug.

On the other side of the room, sitting in a chair, was Garrett, watching over her. During his charging cycle he watched as she closed her eyes and tried once more to sleep.

His tortured love tried once more to sleep.

The ever-vigilant knight who kept watch over the princess—Garrett refused to take his eyes off her.

He was the one who longed for her more than anyone else in this wretched game.

...

So the whole incident at ComiFest had been worrying to the others, which was more than putting it lightly. It had been almost a week later, and everyone could tell that everyone else was still worried.

However, as crazy at is seemed, there were only eight names left active in the S-registry.

There were only two they had to worry about:

Victoria Lucrezia Hawley

Kamijou Rin Miki

Angel and her partner were the only ones left. Glowing in a bright white font, the names remained on the page, no hope of them turning grey or red any time soon.

Therefore, Minoru took it upon himself to call an Emergency Meeting. Even though he was quite young, the others respected his unusual wisdom, so organizing such a thing was not unheard of. They all shuffled their schedules to have everyone attend. In total, there where the money he twelve people who were attending officially, which included: Minako, Junji, Amber, Garrett, Yuzuki, Minoru, Chii, Hideki, Amu, Sumomo, Anthy, and Yuki.

Two unofficial attendees included Zima and Dita, who were well out of the range for the wards to shock them, but well within range for Garrett to snort in indignation at their presence. Thanks to the wards, they wouldn't be able to catch much of anything because of their heightened senses. Thanks to the security on the private network within the manor, they had no way of hacking into anyone's OS, either. They left no sooner than they realized how efficiently they had been locked out.

"Okay," began Minako, who had suddenly become the unofficial leader of this gathering. "You need to tell us everything about what happened." Her arms were folded within one another and she was slightly cross. "The Council is really riding us about you all, especially since that little stunt at ComiFest."

"All that paperwork was just misery," added Junji. If he didn't have Minako, then he would have still been swimming helplessly under a sea of papers. Even though it was the digital age, The Council insisted on physical copies for the sheer purpose of annoying everyone. If the paperwork wasn't turned in on time, then the consequences would be the inevitable mountain of lateness forms and even more tree-wasting papers.

Amber was feeling slightly offended however. It wasn't as if she wanted to destroy so much property, but it was the only thing she could think of at that moment. Moreover, The Council was being ridiculous. They always had been in the past. Even when she was still calling herself Yuuko, they had charged her with several unfounded crimes. Surprising, actually, how she actively thought of herself as Yuuko, instead of considering the woman as a separate entity. Lately, Amber felt more like 'Yuuko'. It was only previously that she considered the woman as simply a 'past life'.

"H-Hey!" the heiress said testily, wagging her index finger, "I probably saved us. Angel and her partner are complete monsters, you know."

"Okay, calm down." Junji cut in before his wife, who looked ready to dress down the somewhat touchy young woman, could speak. "We aren't saying that you did anything wrong, but considering the property damage and the extent of the memory spells that had been used that day, I think we need to be clued in a little more."

Amber tried to avoid answering their inquiries by asking, "You do know that I paid for all of that damage, right?"

"Still..." Junji's eyes avoided the piercing glares of his wife and the young heiress. "It was a pretty reckless act, that attack you used."

"I've never even heard of such a spell," said Minako, her bright eyes flashing with streaks of milky white. She raised an eyebrow. "Gungir, was it?"

Obviously that was an allusion to an element of mythology. Odin's spear was called 'Gungir' from what the spell archives stated. However, the appearance of the 'spear of light' was much different from what the records described. From slowing down the footage Garrett had sent, it clearly wasn't the same as the eyewitness reports engraved in the archives. Yes, the incantation was similar. However, the language and intent behind them seemed completely different.

Instead of an incantation in ancient Greek, the activation key was in German. While the original Gungir spell never failed to pierce the heart of its target when thrown, this was a wide-range spell that could not easily be evaded. That being said, though, Angel and Kamijou probably avoided being too damaged by it. They were high-level mages, and it wouldn't be surprising if they exited by way of personal teleportation magic.

Anyway, the spell Amber had used, unlike the one listed, wasn't made of wind and lightning, but lightning and some other element. From the appearance and quality of the mana dispersed at the 'crime scene', the residue left behind held the hints of actual divinity imbued within the affected artifacts.

These facts would never be directly addressed by the secretive young woman.

"It's an order-made spell from my younger days," said Amber flippantly. "Would you believe I helped to formulate it?"

"It isn't impossible, but…" Junji scratched the back of his head and looked aside. 'It's pretty darned difficult to do…'

"Have you ever heard of the archives of magic?" asked Amber, looking warily at the spectators watching them converse. Hideki and Chii seemed a little distracted, but Kotoko and Kojima were far more engaged, most likely taking down mental notes.

"Legends, maybe," said Minako, making use of her Internet connection once more, "Nothing substantial, really. Most of the magical community wouldn't delve so deeply into The Art to know of anything relating to that." She pulled up several files she had already stored. As Minako followed the cross references of 'archives' and 'magic, she came across a most interesting entry. "In fact, when Junji was still in middle school, he was cited for trying to read a book from the Forbidden Section of the school's library."

As she spoke, Junji started to lose color. She wasn't mad at him for cutting in before, was she? Otherwise, why else would Minako bring up such a thing?

In any case…back then, but especially now, it was forbidden for young students to study such deep arts. However, Junji and Minako, since meeting with Chii and the others, had been granted high enough clearance to examine such documents. The Council was somewhat permissive about access to forbidden knowledge if it benefitted them in any way. It was simply a matter of Minako looking up the information and using it to help them with their assignment. However, the members of The Council were not stupid. Limited access to the materials was granted to most field agents, like Minako and Junji, for example. In this case, parts of this book that were meant only for people who had Level Four clearance were blocked out. There were black bars spanning across several paragraphs, some even across several pages, at times.

"Wasn't that specific book called 'Magia Ereba', Junji?" Minako nodded significantly, looking a bit pleased with herself as her husband fidgeted. "Its contents mention something about archives of magic, but there are still parts of it that are rendered unreadable, by order of The Eastern Council of Magic."

Garrett raised a hand and leaned back in his seat. "It isn't any surprise that The Council in the east would censor such dangerous materials. Nonetheless, there are ancient tomes in the Grand Library in Egypt that describe what we're talking about." Nudging his partner with his elbow, the Persocom looked around the room. "I can connect to the MagiNet, if you'd like to avoid explaining, Amber."

Amber nudged him back and forced down a smile. "No need, Garrett. I prefer to tell them myself."

"There's a magical internet?" said Kojima, his eyes lighting up like a string of Christmas ornaments.

Minako giggled, observing his enthusiasm with little nibblets of curiosity. "Yes. Garrett and Amber never told you?"

"Are there adult sites?" interjected Hideki. From the look on his face, it appeared that his mind had just exploded. If he wasn't trying to keep himself contained, the man most likely would have been foaming at the mouth. He had, upon arriving in Tokyo for the first time, shouted about wanting a Persocom to search for porn, so this was not abnormal at all.

The older man failed to suppress his laughter. Guffawing loudly while leaning forward, Junji wiped a tear away from his eyes as he nodded in the positive and held his stomach. Hideki was quite lively, wasn't he? "Adult?" Junji said, catching his breath. "Yeah, there's a ton. They're even better than the normal ones, actually, and you can even..." Mr. Takeda abruptly noticed his wife's furious look, and quickly added, "so I've heard."

Kojima was still hung up on the fact that there was a magical internet filled with unexplored mysteries. "Forget about that. Think of what I could research!"

Everyone looked at Kojima a little oddly. Even Kotoko had sense enough to give the young man an incredulous raise of the eyebrows. Why, Kojima was getting just as worked up as Hideki, for much less thrilling reasons. And yet, here he was, expecting Minako and Junji to quickly tell him the secret to the MagiNet so he could fulfill his perverse longing for knowledge. One would wonder when Kojima had made the jump from strange Persocom fanatic-slash-hacker to Persocom fanatic-slash-mage-slash-knowledge enthusiast. For the answer to that, it probably was around chapter twelve or so, but everyone in the room was probably unaware of the medium, and thus unable to point it out.

In any case, Minoru took this opportunity to clear his throat and try his best to look like a mysterious old (only in mindset) wizard. His boyish looks did not help with this, but the authority in his voice certainly did. Apparently, it was starting to change, and lucky for Minoru, it was not cracking or squeaking at odd moments, like for other teenaged boys going through such a time.

"Ahem." Looking over the rim of his glasses, Minoru scanned the room. "I believe Tsundere-chan was about to explain about these archives of magic?"

Yuzuki smiled warmly. "Please continue your explanation, Miss Lee-Young."

Even though she was a little disappointed that Yuzuki still refused to call her by her first name, the heiress did as she was instructed. Amber folded her hands into her lap rather daintily and tried to simplify it as much as she could. Amber closed her eyes and reorganized her thoughts. "To attempt to explain things, here is an example: There are seven archives of magic. About the name of my theme 'Obsidere,' it comes from the 'Luxuria' archive." As she explained, she could see fleeting images play back inside of her eyelids. There was a group of seven children. Among these children were only two boys. One of the boys had pure white hair and was standing in between a girl with pink hair and another girl with long black hair.

Upon seeing these things, Amber swallowed and opened her eyes. The memories were getting clearer every day. However, despite the recollection catching her off-guard she continued to explain. "Luxuria is Lust, and beneath that…is Obsession. As it hints, I tend to take things too far." Affirming this terrible fact for herself, Amber squeezed her folded hands, and the blood began to drain from her face, as indiscernible as it seemed. A bit of shakiness found itself rolling around in her voice. "My theme stems for my c-constant obsession. It's actually one of the more powerful themes."

"Obsession over what?" Minoru said immediately. His glasses seemed to glint ominously at her as he continued to scrutinize her face, anticipating an answer.

'My friends. My family. Anything I love, I obsess over to the point of sickness. To the point of an unhealthy derangement.' Amber thought this to herself. She was far too afraid to admit it, but her self-consciousness was what actually prevented her from actually saying it aloud. In fact, she knew not of how they would react to something so insane. Amber knew she had the propensity for eccentric behavior, and often had to reign herself in on more than one occasion. Garrett though, was a more consistent restraining bolt for her, so she was glad to have him by her side.

The heiress shut her eyes again and shook her head from side to side sharply, in tiny nods of disapproval. She was biting on her lips, pressing them together as if in pain. When she spoke again, her voice was loud enough to be heard, but it sounded like she was going to faint.

"That, I can't tell you," Amber admitted. She took a breath and opened her eyes again. "Hideki and Chii also most likely heard when Yui, our attacker from before, also used a 'theme'."

Minoru, who was still peering at her with dagger-like eyes, looked confused. "If you had a power like that all this time, why didn't you use it before? Like with that guy Kupari or…?" He trailed off, waiting for a more satisfying explanation.

"I cannot quite explain it myself. At that time, I had not used that skill with this body. The knowledge had been locked away deep into my soul. However, some memories were unlocked after I was kidnapped at Meroko's concert." When Minako looked startled by the revelation, Amber gave a knowing smile that barely made the rest of her face move. "That aside, it was only after meeting Yui and Arata, I began to remember Yuuko's—or rather, my combat skills. At that point of desperation during ComiFest I remembered those words, and what happened then is self-explanatory."

With much displeasure, she listed each archive of magic aloud:

Superbia (Pride)

Ira (Wrath)

Avaritia (Greed)

Invidia (Envy)

Acedia (Sloth)

Luxuria (Lust)

Gula (Glottony)

"Most magic-users today don't realize…their powers actually are derived from these seven branches…these seven deadly sins. In all of mankind's history, everything started with these seven. In schools for magic, they don't even teach you about the basis of mana's generation. It stems from emotion, mostly, and we use both feelings and logic to give it form. These schools only teach you how to craft your magic, and not how to truly generate it."

Everyone was attentive, so she continued to speak. The words were getting easier to say now, and she felt her soul tremble with each sentence. The load seemed lighter now. This, however, was more like transferring her worry to another part of her brain. Eventually, she would have to unload it somewhere else. Shifting her concerns around like a pack of cards was not the answer.

"I…or, rather, Yuuko, went past their teachings. Like in those days when magic roamed free, she researched her own mana. She delved into the origin of her own magic. And from it, she tapped into her own 'sin'." Filled with self-loathing, she lowered her voice. Amber refused to cry about it. There was nothing she could do about the past. Still, her voice croaked bitterly as if she were still that same person she once was. The pronouns were getting a little harder to sort out: whether she was Yuuko, or if Yuuko was a separate entity, or if Yuuko just existed as a set of memories. "That is probably why, I don't know, maybe I deserve this fate."

Such a long explanation gave rise to a long moment of silence.

The silence, however, was broken by the light shuffle of footsteps.

It had been Kotoko who had risen from her seat and marched over to Amber. She stared blankly at the inane human for a few seconds before she frowned. As she frowned, Kotoko brought the back of her hand crashing against Amber's cheek.

The girl's head whipped to the side, the wet-sounding slap resonating throughout the mansion.

"I deserve that," mumbled Amber acerbically.

Another loud crack echoed in the room, shattering the quiet for a third time.

"I deserve that, too," Amber said, her head now wrenched the opposite direction from before.

From the way this girl was talking, Kotoko had decided that slapping her seemed appropriate. She just couldn't help it—the only thing Kotoko gathered from that trifling speech was that Amber was ready to give up.

"What do you mean, 'I deserve this fate'?! Are you stupid?" Kotoko's hands were balled up at her sides and trembling. The anger seemed to ripple across all her processors, making her feel ready to explode. Her CPU may have been working at twenty percent above normal, but Kotoko knew she was thinking quite clearly when she slapped Amber. When the heiress didn't say anything more, and refused to lift her head, Kotoko continued to rant. "What, do you think that becoming a martyr will atone for whatever you've done in some past life? Unbelievable. You're twisted. Sick. I don't know why Garrett even bothers with you! Why does Chii, Hideki, or Minoru? Yuzuki? Even the Takedas? What about Koji, or... or even me? You think we want you to die?"

"But I—," Amber had barely even murmured those words before Mt. Kotoko exploded, grabbing her by the collar and shook her.

"I don't care what you think about yourself. YOU'RE OUR FRIEND! Does that mean anything? 'Boo-hoo, poor me, I'll just give up like an idiot.' Is that what you want us to believe?"

"Hey now, that's a little harsh...I mean, yeah!" In the middle of his thought, Kojima had been struck with a severe glance from Kotoko and decided to change his mind.

Minoru cleared his throat again. "Sorry to interrupt, but..." Everyone's eyes swiveled to look at the young genius sitting at his desk. "Could you possibly…teach me how to do that?"

"What, that thema stuff?" said Kojima. Folding his arms and agreeing with him for once, Dragonfly nodded. "It sounds pretty cool to me. I'd like to give it a try, too."

Minoru nodded. "It does seem like it would be useful in the future."

Nonetheless, instead of agreeing, there was only the cold, almost indignant, utterance of "No."

Startled, Kotoko let go of Amber's collar and backed up.

"But what if—," began Kokubunji, trying his patented 'negotiation tone'.

The response was just as unyielding as before. Refusing to look at her young protégé, Amber stared at the floor. "No, Minoru. I will never teach you how to do that. Do you honestly want to lose your mind?!"She shouted the last sentence so forcefully that everyone felt themselves take a step back, mentally. Kotoko was more literal, though, as she actually took another step backwards.

"L-Lose my mind?" inquired Minoru softly to the hushed room.

Amber nodded gravely and sighed. "The further you study your thema, the greater chance you have of…" she dug her fingernails into her knees, "of going insane. Your mind could break. I'd never wish that upon anyone. Not even an enemy."

"But you'll use it for yourself, right?" said Hideki, feeling himself also fill with indignation. "You'd risk your sanity to save us, is that right?"

"Don't paint me as some righteous person, but yes, I would." Amber refused to meet Hideki's incredulous glare. "Like I said, I deserve this fate. But what does it matter? Garrett and I barge into your lives, bringing along this awful game with us, and somehow you become our friends? It sounds like the plot of some terribly contrived story. Either I die or I go insane; any way you slice it, my life will become worthless."

"Impossible! It's like you're already insane!" said Kotoko, throwing her hands into the air. "If you're such a genius, why don't you use that big brain and think your way out of this mess?"

Kojima stamped his foot and forced his hands into fists. "Kotoko, that's enough. Calm down or you'll crash again."

"Again?" questioned Chii, looking over at the purple-haired 'com with a perplexed look. "Did Kotoko crash again after Chii's present?"

Kotoko had not acknowledged Chii's inquiry, though. She was still upset with Kojima's interference. "Calm down, Kojima? Calm down? She's the one with the 'oh-poor-me hero complex' and you want me to calm down?"

Folding his arms, he refused to back down from this argument. Usually, she was right, and in this instance she was still right, but getting upset over it wasn't getting anywhere.

"I'll shut you down like River Tam in a bar fight," threatened Kojima, wagging a finger, "so stop it, okay? I'm sure she feels bad enough already. We're not perfect, either." He swept a hand in the direction of Hideki and his girlfriend. "I kidnapped Chii, once. I helped those guys kidnap Amber, once. So if anything, people should be yelling at me."

"He has been acquitted too easily, hasn't he?" Minako said icily, her eyes scanning over the somewhat skeevy young man.

Blushing, now, Kojima now found himself looking around to several upset Persocom women. Yuki and Anthy were part of this crowd, as well as Chii and Yuzuki. Minako was the most terrifying, though. This was the first she had heard of these kidnappings.

"Hey now, I was just saying that to make a point," Kojima burst out frantically. "No need to stop the pity-party and persecute me!"

Garrett held up his hands. "Alright. Alright. If I could cut in for a moment? Come on, everyone, there's no way around a prophecy." He addressed the still-furious 'com with glowing purple eyes. "Look, Kotoko, I've been scouring everywhere for any case where prophecies dealing with death turned out for the better. Not much luck. I mean, undead mages and soul jars aside, there hasn't been anything truly promising."

"Wait." Hideki was having an expression that only a person who had swallowed two live frogs would have. "You mean to tell me there are no cases where a prophecy like yours has turned out well?"

"I just mentioned one," said Garrett dryly, rolling his eyes, "but if we're being realistic, not really. It's like, a million to one chance. Things don't play out like in books and movies."

Minoru's interest was piqued. "Please tell us about this exceptional case. Soul jars? An undead mage?"

As much as he dreaded the explanation, Garrett decided to go ahead with it anyway. He ran a hand over his face and sighed.

"You see there was this really evil guy who wanted to take over the world, and he was so afraid of dying that he went on a murder spree. This murder spree gave him the sacrifices needed to activate dark magic that made him basically immortal. Pieces of his soul were placed into objects. Then he decided to kill this one baby and—,"

Right in the middle of the rant Hideki's voice busted out with unrestrained glee.

"I KNEW IT. I SO KNEW IT!" shouted Hideki, his face completely pink. He was swinging his fists up and down like an expectant child. A wide smile was painted onto his face.

"Motosuwa, what's going on?" said Minoru, a little alarmed by this outburst.

"Is Hideki ok?" Chii lay her hands on his nearby shoulder, looking confused.

"At the resort," said Hideki, still beaming as if he had won a pot of leprechaun gold, "I heard they accepted Galleons, and my brain went crazy. I started thinking. It really is true isn't it? He's real?"

"Who?" said Minoru, now unduly curious. Hideki was worked up for something other than bare breasts so this was a special event.

"Ha—,"

A sudden noise like a foghorn reverberated throughout the room. It shook the coffee table with such force that the glasses sitting on it rattled. Standing in the middle of the commotion as the source of the sound was Kotoko. Her arms were folded and she was looking the most upset out of the entire lot.

"Back on topic people!" Kotoko shouted, her eyes glowing bright lavender. "We need to come up with some sort of a plan."

"Kotoko's right," said Hideki, scratching his head. "We can't just wait until Angel comes to off you, right?"

"In the event that she does try to, we need to have a counter strategy," Junji said firmly.

"Easier said than done," Minako thought over the file on Angel she had read earlier. Combining that with the footage of their opponent from Comifest, they were certainly dealing with someone very terrifying, saying the least. "We'd have to coordinate our attacks precisely. From what I heard, Garrett and Chii and Yuzuki have been working on that using a private wireless network."

From what Amber provided in terms of information about Chobits, Angel's specs were very impressive. The strangely cruel woman had the same processor as Garrett, a whopping two-hundred petaflops. Unlike his positronic pathways, however, Angel had an elegant combination of nanotransistors and neurologic processors. Her cooling system was much more efficient, too, thus her calculations were monstrously fast.

It was scary, even comparing it to the power of Chii and Elda, respectively. The twins each had been built with a one-hundred and eighty petaflop processor. Combining them together, however, greatly improved their performance.

Minako had been quite startled at that at first. Her original processor had been only sixty. Only lately she had decided to treat herself and upgrade to eighty-five. Most 'coms usually didn't have over one hundred these days, and only governmental projects, research labs, and the extra rich had access to such good hardware. Considering that Dr. Mihara and Dr. Lee-Young had two of those backing them, it wasn't implausible at all.

Minako was brilliant, yes, but in terms of an advantage, she only had her personal life experiences.

Back to the conversation, though, Garrett was standing there looking troubled.

"But it needs more tweaking," he still seemed to be juggling several possibilities in his mind. "If we add more of us, then the network might lag." Any milliseconds they spent trying to coordinate, Angel would kill them without hesitation. "We also can't add humans, so that's also a drawback."

"If we use the contracts to connect all of our minds," said Amber, "then that will take up a lot of mana." They would run out of power to fuel their magic too soon, and end up slaughtered.

"Why don't we combine them, then?" said Minoru, taking off his spectacles and tapping them on the end of his free hand.

"Eh?" Garrett and Amber said in unison, both looking Gobsmacked.

How could they have overlooked that? Combining the networks should balance everything out!

"Kokubunji has something going on there," said Junji, although putting it into practice would be challenging. "Minako and I had tried experimenting with that in the past, but we have been too busy to try and finish our research."

"Good idea, Junji," Minako said, giving her husband gold stars for being so darn smart. "We'd be willing to try and help with that, if that's okay?"

Before anyone could agree, there was a disturbance. Standing in the far corner of the room, in the middle of the open door, was a pair of people. A man and woman, and from the looks of it, a married couple.

"Oh my, what's with this little party?" asked the woman, holding her cheek.

"Now isn't this a lively little meeting?" said the man, looking around at all the people present.

Minoru stared straight ahead with his mouth hanging open. "Mother? Father? What are you doing home?"

The young man looked as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice and water, and this certainly wasn't a charity event.

...

Shintarou and Mami Kokubunji were truly something. Every single part of them looked the part of Chaebol* heirs: luxurious clothes, everything brand name, beautiful features... even their hair was impeccable, with not a strand out of place. The two just oozed rich. Money flowed through their veins, as if little Yen pieces made up their blood cells.

Honey-dipped hair and stunning yellow eyes, Mrs. Kokubunji looked upon the assemblage of people and sighed, wondering just what she and her husband had stumbled into. She had ignored the texts from Sayaka for a reason, and her other friends had overloaded her phone so fast that Mami had to block the numbers and delete everything. After years of silence, they had decided out of the blue to contact her? Mami didn't want to believe it at first, but maybe they had something important to tell her after all.

Not soon after the death of one of her friends, Mami had decided not to involve her children in her magical world. However, Kaede had found out somehow, and they certainly couldn't keep her away from Mahoukari Academy after that. The defiant little thing had even applied to the school herself. Great Uncle Chamo had been involved in that a little. Setting that aside, her daughter didn't have a good ending. After Kaede's death, Mami had been determined to keep Minoru away, but now...

Mrs. Kokubunji looked at the visitors once more. She could sense a heavy presence of magic in the room pressing upon her. However, to be completely sure, she glanced to her husband. Through the Permanent Pactio created when they were married, she spoke to him using her thoughts.

'Shintarou, what can you tell me about these new faces?'

Mr. Kokubunji shrugged, glancing at his wife from his peripheral vision.

'I'll see what I can do, dear,' he joked lightly, a slight smirk forming on his lips.

Mami refused to scowl at that terrible Dad Joke. Keeping her face straight she stared ahead, looking at her son.

Mr. Kokubunji blinked. Slowly, deliberately, he shut his eyes. When he opened them again, his irises were now bright blood red. This ability, 'Magic Detection', was unique to his family, although Minoru was not aware of it yet. Shintarou's cousin Kyousuke was no exception, save for the fact that he could hear the magic as well as see it.

First, Shintarou noticed his son's Persocoms, whom of which the young boy seemed to have contacted with. Four bright blue strands of blue thread connected them. Yuzuki had the thickest wire of light, which meant two things:

1) She was the first contracted.

2) Minoru sent the most mana to her, which probably meant he cared for her safety the most.

The other two were connected to one another and then to Minoru. What was most likely going on with that was that Minoru had them both as doll contracts, and not a full Pactio.

Next was the green-haired beauty with elf ears and the dandy older man beside her. If he weren't paying attention, then Shintarou would have assumed she really was an elf. However the magic flowing from her was a totally different quality than those of the elven race. As a whole theirs had the purest quality, and this was one grade inferior. For that reason, he could only conclude that she was a Persocom. The man next to her was familiar, though. He and Shintarou couldn't have been too far apart in age, actually. Maybe he had seen him before, but Shintarou couldn't be absolutely sure of that.

The magic flowing between them was entirely new to his eyes. It was like a winding mass of vines entwining around each other. Parts of it were ropelike, and other parts reminded him of a net. A very strong contract, from the looks of it. Although the pair was not especially powerful, from glancing at thier magic, Shintarou was sure of their skill.

A blonde girl with knee-length hair sat next to a somewhat average man who looked like he needed a complete change of wardrobe. The two were contracted, of course, but the girl was the mage, unusually enough. Considering the fact she was a Persocom, it was as usually the other way around. These two were likely the pair Minoru had mentioned in his brief email a few months ago. Hideki Motosuwa and Chii, as Shintarou remembered.

Lastly, there was one familiar face. Amber was definitely known by their family. Shintarou had met with her father because of a deal they wanted to make with Gala Inc. The Lee-Youngs were, not friends, but more than aquaintences. Their children had gotten along well enough for them to stay in touch over the years. In any case, Amber had obviously contracted with the lanky brunet beside her. From examining the body language between them, Shintarou could infer that the two were into one another. They were sitting unusually far away for a couple, however, which probably meant they were repressing their feelings.

This quick inspection only lasted a few seconds in real time.

'Shintarou,' said Mami, looking on discreetly as his eyes faded back to brown. 'What did you see?'

'Nothing of concern,' he replied, 'they're okay.'

'And?'

'Everyone here has a contract.'

The woman's eyes narrowed slightly at that. 'Interesting.'

Mami's expression lightened significantly as she cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"We were worried about you, Minoru."

With his hand on his wife's shoulder, Shintarou nodded and forced the sincerity as much as he could.

"What your mother says is true. We came to check on you since our last business trip ran a little long."

Although Shintarou had been perfectly Truthful about why they were back, his wife was not going to let go the specifics, even if they had guests in front of them.

"To be more accurate, though," Mami cast a disappointed glance towards her son, "we got a bill from the hospital. We were in New York at the time, but it was already snowing there, would you believe."

Since Mami had most obviously taken the 'bad cop' role, Shintarou was only left with 'good cop'.

"Yes, your mother and I would have been here earlier if not for the snow. When we heard about your incident, we called the hospital, but they said you had been discharged already." Shintarou squeezed lightly on Mami's shoulder to keep her quiet. He had sensed that she wanted to make an even bigger deal of the matter, but they had plenty of time to address that later. Now looking around the room in mock curiosity, Shintarou cleared his throat. "But it looks like you're alright now. Care to introduce us to your friends, son?"

"Ah. Well. It's a bit of a long story, Father," said Minoru, who, upon seeing his parents, had reverted to speaking in an ultra-polite set of words.

Since it seemed they were, although that was debatable, the oldest of the guests, Junji and Minako decided to introduce themselves first. They stepped forward slightly, bowed as deeply as one would call respectful, and gave a formal introduction.

"Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Kokubunji," said Junji, using the same level of formality as he would to a senior professor at work, "My name is Junji Takeda, and this is my wife, Minako."

"It's a pleasure," said Minako, extending a hand.

"Likewise," declared Mami dispassionately. She shook the offered hand without much of an expression. Her eyes were more concerned with Minako, however. Calculating and cold behind that false warmth, Mami's eyes dug into Minako as if she were trying to rip apart her secrets.

Of course, Minako observed this very clearly. After her years of life experience, Mrs. Takeda was astute in analyzing the behaviors of Persocoms and Humans alike, so the subtle malince undereath Mami's mask appeared more defined than anything else.

"Is there something wrong?" said Minako.

Mami broke into a kind smile. It was quite convincing on many occasions, but face to face with Minako, it was simply what it was: a façade.

"I apologize for staring so intensely." The blonde woman tucked a lock of her bangs behind one ear and tilted her head to the side slightly. "I was simply wondering if I've ever met you before, Mrs. Takeda. You look familiar."

That wasn't entirely Truthful, but the keen woman wasn't trying to start a war. For now Minako was going to play nice and keep controversy from stirring up within the Kokubunji household.

"I don't have any recollection of such an event," Minako said amiably, "therefore I cannot confirm that you actually did meet me. However, in the past, my husband and I had a stint where we had been elevated to an unwanted celebrity status."

Before anyone else could step forward, Minoru spoke. His head was slightly bowed, and his eyes were downcast, but his voice was cold and sterile. It seemed he was already tired of the fake formalities. Still seated at his desk, the middle schooler opened the can of worms and began fishing for answers.

"If you were wondering, Mother," the young man folded his hands into one another, "they're section chiefs in Tokyo."

Fear thrilled Mami's heart for a moment, but she calmed it down as quickly as it had risen. It didn't show outwardly, of course.

"Section Chiefs? Minoru, whatever do you mean? Are they policemen or something?" Still smiling, she kept her voice as sunny and bright as possible.

Conversely, in preportion with how warm Mami was pretending to be, Minoru's voice dropped several more degrees in temperature. It was so frosty that everyone could feel the room's air become frigid.

"Don't patronize me, Mother. I know. I've been thoroughly informed by Uncle Kami and Auntie Saya."

Mrs. Kokubunji's face fell. Her son seemed so different than he had been only a few months earlier. The look of venomous anger in his eyes was so unlike him. Just what had happened since they were gone?

Her husband cleared his throat, glancing around the room modestly. "Mami. It's no use playing dumb now. He's obviously sorted it all out."

Displeased that the charade could no longer go on, Mami sighed. "I thought you were smarter than this, Minoru."

His mother had taken the same, chilly tone of voice.

Confused by this response, Minoru's brow furrowed.

"Smarter than...I don't understand."

"You clearly know about magic, Minoru. Isn't that right?" Mami's fake smile emerged once again, only to fade away just as quickly.

"That's correct," said Minoru, unknowing where this conversation was going. He had imagined this confrontation going much differently in his mind.

"Do you remember when Kaede died?" Mrs. Kokubunji had to keep herself from raising her voice. The memories weren't very old, and the thought of the incident was one of the most painful things she had ever experienced. "It was because we failed to heed the prophecy we had been given. Now you've figured it all out, how are we to protect you?" Mami shook her head slowly. "Ignorance is most definitely bliss, because now you're seeking revenge—I can already sense it."

"So I was left in the dark for my 'protection', right? Well maybe you could have tried harder." The emotions bursting out of him, now, Minoru's fist slammed against his desk with a BAM!, startling Chii. He was often very controlled, but in this moment he felt so wronged, that he could not help but speak his mind.

"I am a mage. I always have been, and always will be," Minoru asserted. His eyes were shining with pride, now that he could freely admit it. "Even before I learned of the family secret, I was already knee-deep in magic. I was never searching for revenge! Kamijou was the one who found us."

"He what?" Mami's eyes went wide at this new information. She was so shocked that the breath was knocked out of her. Kamijou had met her son? She had warned his parents about that boy, but Sayaka and Kyousuke were unable to control him at all, especially now that he was grown up.

"Minoru, what are you talking about?" His father could tell that the encounter had not gone well at all. If his memory served him right, then how did Minoru escape his cousin without being injured too badly? Unless...was that why Minoru had been in the hospital?

"Surely you've heard of the incident at ComiFest? That was no 'electrical accident'," Minoru explained, regaining his composure. "It was us, trying to escape from Kamijou and his partners."

His parents could not find any words to console their child. All of this was just sprung upon them all at once, and it was taking some time to process. One thing, though, bothered Mr. Kokubunji.

"So if you didn't know about the family, how did you find out about magic?"

"Um...sorry. That's our fault," said Garrett, pointing to himself and Amber.

"Isn't your father powerless?" Mami said, her focus now entirely on Amber. The heiress was sitting comfortably, with one leg crossed over the other casually.

"That doesn't mean I am, Tomoe-san." Amber smiled slightly, showing part of the upper row of her teeth. "There's a lot of things you don't know about my family."

It wasn't just the way Amber had addressed Mami. It wasn't just the tone of her voice. It wasn't simply the way she sat, nor the way she smiled. But Mami couldn't ignore that the way all of these mannerisms combined was all too familiar.

Mrs. Kokubunji stepped forward, her fury fully unleashed. In a single moment, a ribbon of gold had sprouted from her hand and formed into a large, old-fashioned stock riffle. It was a beautiful instrument of gold and silver, twimmed with dark wood. The girl sitting on the other end of this gun was a threat, one that Mami most likely had met before. Using this rifle to do the job, it would be so easy to just make it all disappear right now.

"Explain yourself." Mami had her finger primed on the trigger. "Were you the one who told Minoru about magic!?"

Shintarou rubbed his hands together, his face suddenly coated in sweat. "Mami. Wait...don't do anything rash! Just put the gun down, honey!" She wasn't responding, and continued to point her gun in Amber's direction. "I understand you're upset. But isn't this a little excessive, dear?"

Even Minoru was pleading for his friend. "Mother, please stop! She hasn't done anything wrong!"

Amidst all this, Amber was unusually calm. She had sat there without moving an inch, as if she had expected Mami to react in such a manner.

She rose to her feet fluidly, walking toward the engaged mother bear ready to defend her last remaining cub. The gun was now aimed directly at her head, and the barrel was only a yard away.

"Yes. It was I. I needed his help. Kamijou Miki has been aiming to kill me from the beginning. He and his partner Angel have been targeting me for a while. So far, he has been very useful." She smirked. "And he's not bad looking either."

Mami was aghast. This girl had serious nerve to even ask her son to do such a dangerous thing. Kamijou had quite literally gotten away with murder the first time. Mami would rather kill herself than let him claim another one of her children.

This girl. She had probably enticed Minoru just so she could use him as a shield.

"Why you...You're a rude little bitch aren't you?! Wagging your tail in front of my son...luring him into the darkness...I should pump you full of holes!"**

Several more rifles materialized, hovering in the air around her.

Something was wrong, here. Very wrong.

"Honey!" Shintarou cried.

"Mom!"

Several things happened at once.

Minoru leapt over his desk and landed in front of Amber. Amber tilted her head to the side. Mami fired her rifle and grabbed two more from the air, firing them as quickly as she had created them.

Minoru was too late to deflect the first two shots, which zoomed past Amber's head harmlessly and made the wall behind her explode. However, the unincanted spell Minoru put up served its purpose and reflected thr attack back to his mother. Of course, she was used to high speed battles in the past, so dodging her own shots was nothing. She pushed her husband out of the way in time for the wall behind him to become pockmarked and explode as well.

"That was a close one, wasn't it?" quipped Amber, narrowing her eyes.

Leaping to his feet, Garrett shouted "Stop it, Yuuko!", thinking she had reverted to that cruel person she had become at ComiFest. That wasn't entirely wrong, as many of her past memories would emerge at the worst times. But so many of her memories had already been recovered that the line between her current self and Yuuko was smudged beyond recognition.

"Quiet, Garrett," responded Amber sharply, ignoring his order.

"You're the one making things worse!" said Garrett, trying to make her listen to reason. Making snide remarks to a woman with a gun never ends well. Amber wasn't really thinking about that, though. Garrett could tell.

"Yuuko?" said Shintarou quizzically.

His wife gritted her teeth.

"Who are you really?" asked Mami.

Amber would have thrown her head back to laugh, but that was too dramatic. However, she did settle for chuckling dryly and shrugging. "Don't act ignorant; everyone knows who I am: Yuuko, the Thief of Elysium. The Black Butterfly."

"You're a liar," said Mami. Half of her was disbelieving. The other half was not. Unfortunately, the half that believed was unusually upset about it.

"Do I look like I am?"

Although Mami didn't care for this girl's tone, she could tell that Amber wasn't kidding.

Begrudgingly, the blonde gunner shook her head. "...no."

"What's the matter, Mami?" In spite of herself, Amber was smiling now. "Feeling guilty? Maybe if you were there, she wouldn't have died."

Although the veracity of that statement was debatable, Mami still looked mortified, nonetheless. Even if that little comment fully assured her of this girl's identity, this was neither the place or time to be quibbling about these matters. What Mrs. Kokubunji was truly interested in, was Amber's reasons for being here.

"What do you want?"

Amber continued to smile innocently. "Nothing. I don't want a thing from you...except for your son."

"Never," replied Mami instantly.

The fake smile on Amber's face melted away the very next second. "We're going to have a problem, then."

Feeling the amount of ambient magic spike dangerously, Minoru was about to jump in again to push them apart. Nevertheless, Amber held up a hand and stared ahead, looking unflinchingly at the irate mother.

"No! Stay away. This is our fight."

There were more shots fired. Fortunately, the others had enough sense to either get out the way or erect some shields. Amber saw the barrage of magical bullets clrearly. Dodging them was easier than she thought it would be, as her brain seemed to already know Mami's pattern of attack. She wasn't going to physically retaliate, though. For a reason she was unable to explain, Amber just couldn't bring herself to fight the older woman.

Why she hadn't remembered any of their shared past earlier definitely had to do with that earlier seal on her power and memories. But now that the volatile feelings were pouring out, Amber did not even try to stop them. Maybe in her fit of rage, Mrs. Kokubunji would successfully kill Amber, and the whole thing would finally be over.

Of course Junji and Minako were now standing off the the side. In the midst of all this drama, they had created a shield to protect their younger friends. The reason for their lack of involvement with this fight was simple: there was some serious bad blood between these two women, and interrupting them while they were still heated would be foolish.

There was a swirling of activity, and the room was getting really damaged. Holes were being speckled everywhere, and despite Shintaro and Minoru's protests, the two women weren't backing down.

And yet...

Amidst the flurry of action was a gust of wind. It had started out gentle at first, at barely a zephyr. After a few seconds, this wind twisted in a winding mass of rappidly flowing loops of air, as if it were being sculpted as it moved. While the two women were scuffling with one another, the wind looped around their arms and legs and began to glow.

All at once the wind became solid, and drew up like a drawstring around their appendages. Within a moment, they were hanging from the ceiling, bound by luminescent restraints. Mami still held her rifles at this point, and was looking down in curiosity at the perpetrator of this trap. Across from her, Amber was incredulous to the point of silence.

"Enough!" ordered the young man who controlled the binding spell. "That's quite enough from you two."

Mami bristled at being addressed as part of 'you two', but said nothing.

"Wow," whispered Kotoko. Of all the experiments that she and Kojima conducted, he had never pulled off something so grand or flashy. It seems all his viable spells were either defensive, or related to tracking or running away. Nothing like binding or offence to speak of.

"Minoru, when did you...?" asked Amber, who was still highly surprised at the level of skill he had just displayed. That other spell the other day was already surprising, but this even more so. Earlier he had done wandless magic, but this was unincanted. Unincanted was just as hard, concentration-wise, but required much more power to will the spell forward without any outward indication of what your spell would be.

"Never mind that now. This has to stop. Mother, I don't know what past you have with Yuuko, but it doesn't matter now, because I am helping her." Minoru spoke in the clipped tones of a businessman as he explained, leaving no room for yielding or complaints. "And you," he rounded on Amber and his frown grew seven times more serious. "I have no idea why you're suddenly so bitter, but taunting my Mom over any past transgressions isn't going to help."

"That's right," said Shintarou, trying to bolster up support for his surprisingly mature son.

"No matter what you've both done in the past," continued Minoru, "we can all agree that Angel, as well as Kamijou, has to be stopped."

In the middle of this very stern message, a certain little blonde raised her hand.

"Ooooh! Chii has practiced bunches! Everyone want to see?"

Several Years Earlier...

In the height of her fearful flight, memories seemed to flood into her mind all at once.

Seeing that blade, especially when it moved, had triggered the memories that had been buried in the accident. Amber didn't know how, but she was really hustling on these new legs. Earlier, she had been barely shuffling along, but now...

Even in the light shower of rain from the heavens, the two girls were moving with an unusual grace.

Angel was slashing away at her target, grinning broadly. The only indication her weapon was there was the faint glint of the thin blades' edge. Somehow, though, Amber was able to track and keep up with the insane pace. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was the magic flowing through her, but in spite of her weakened constitution, Amber was still alive.

This game of slash-and-dodge could not be sustained for long.

As mentioned before, she was now in a weakened state. Even with the magic boosting her senses and reflexes, her stamina would eventually run out. Most likely, she would faint, if it got too strenuous. Amber was still wondering how she even had the energy to dodge that first attack, when Angel kicked at her from an odd angle.

Within seconds, the shower was now a downpour.

Angel's blade was dripping with water, and the storm had made her hair and clothes heavy. This had offset her calculations for the kick. Correcting her math, Angel swayed when she attacked Amber, but the blade in her hands slipped slightly from the water and missed .

Clutching her side, Amber fell to the ground once more. This time there was no time to dodge. Even if it had only grazed her side, the blade was coming for her heart, next.

However.

Amber had been unable to see how he had gotten there, but here he was anyway. Even though the fround was now laden with deep puddles, she had not even heard him even approach. Still, in the moment before Angel had nearly ran her through, this man blocked the blade with his own body.

Ichirou Mihara stood with his arms stretched out, and a blade sticking out of his abdomin. Red leeched across his white coat and ran in thin diluted streams, mixing with the water already saturating his clothes.

Even though he and Shawn had been unable to use magic for their entire lives, this tragic miracle had happened. Appearing in front of Angel to save this one girl-it would be the first and last time he ever lived up to his heritage.

A mouthful of blood spewed from the doctor's lips and onto the pavement.

By the time Amber's brain had begun to recover the shock, Angel had already withdrawn her blade from his trembling body and began to make her escape.

He crumpled to the ground almost instantly.

"Chairman Mihara?"

This happened to be the same instant someone noticed that things were amiss. Within moments, a small herd of security officers and fellow doctors had taken notice of this dangerous situation.

Killed by the hands of one of his 'daughters'.

"Chairman Mihara!"

The rumor of the nature of his death had been one huge cover-up.

T/N: A Chaebol is a conglomerate of companies. Minoru's money comes from his mother's side, from the Tomoe Group, one of the largest business conglomerates in Japan.

Additionally, it doesn't show in the English, but in this scene Minoru addresses his parents in an extra polite (mixed with humble) way. This is different from how Junji addresses them, which is ultra formal. Minoru doesn't use formal speech with his parents, nor does he use informal speech, because they're, obviously, his parents. But he does respect them a great deal, and even calls his Father 'Chichiue', a lot like Death the Kid in Soul Eater does. When he got angry with his mother, however, he slips and mixes it with a 'blunt' way of talking, especially when he addresses Amber.

A/N: **Mami doesn't kid when it comes to her kids. And talk about ruuuude; who has a fight with their friend's parents at their friend's house? Uncool, Amber, uncool.

I hoped you liked this chapter, though. I'm really scraping the barrel these days to continue writing. I've been exhausted in trying to find a job. My dad is suing us again for some asinine reason, and we might lose our house. But I'll still press on!

Fighting!