KämpferX: squared!

by Salvatore the Supine

The rogue Kämpfers face their wildest trials yet! When a long-forgotten chamber in an ancient Greek temple is discovered, it unleashes a never before seen prophecy upon the world, changing lives, and Humanity, forever.

8. Hoppla! Right Answer, Wrong Formula!

A/N: Right, so... no excuses this time for this chapter taking a while. Well... maybe, one. Honestly, this chapter was pissing me off while I wrote it. I hit 30k words pretty quickly, and ended up hating about two-thirds of it. Deleted it, and wrote the majority from scratch. Read it over... hated about half of it. Same deal, deleted it and rewrote the end half. This past week has been me removing the last few sections and constantly rewriting it, and this is the end result... which I'm not still entirely happy with, but I need to move on from the chapter and get things rolling in the story before I move on to chapter 9, and my other project that I haven't released yet. Hopefully this is acceptable, but I can't spend anymore time on chapter 8, or I'm gonna scream and vanish for a month.

---

"Yeah, okay, whatever!" Hitomi laughed, sitting back in her seat as she smiled, shaking her head. Looking out at the rebel Kämpfer before her, she noticed Natsuru shyly scratching at his cheek as the other three glared at her, looking as if they swallowed something sour. "Hang on a tick…" Hitomi sat up, looking blown away as she stared at them "You're completely serious?!"

"You're actually just… willingly handing Natsuru over to us?" Sayaka asked, staring at them in suspicion before narrowing her eyes even further as she turned to Natsuru. "And you're actually just going to go with this?"

"Don't misunderstand us." Shizuku spoke in a dangerous tone, looking at all four White Kämpfers that had joined them in the party room at the Pizza Parlor. "This is only a temporary arrangement to keep Natsuru's double life a secret from the Military. This is not a surrender."

"Yeah, right! Just like Natsuru wasn't surrendering her mouth to Kaede a few days ago, right?" Hitomi snarked, smiling cruelly as Akane snarled at her.

"Bitch, you miss the part where he shoved her away?" she asked her with a growl, Akane's attitude causing the four Whites to recoil with surprise.

"Wow, what the heck? You're rude even when not transformed, now?" Rika asked her, suddenly leaning towards her, filled with intense curiosity.

"Just speaking my mind from here on, what's it to you, runt?" Akane snapped at the younger Kämpfer, causing her to scowl and return to her seat, crossing her arms and sulking.

"I thought we were trying to be polite, here…" she pouted.

"Anyways, would Kaede be willing to house Natsuru, or not?" Shizuku asked, clearly annoyed as she was gritting her teeth.

"Are you serious? Natsuru could be a walking source of nuclear radiation, and Kaede would still ask her how soon she could get to her apartment." Hitomi scoffed, shaking her head again as she looked at the four of them with incredulity.

"'Her'?" Natsuru finally spoke up, cocking an eyebrow as Hitomi looked at him in disbelief.

"Yes, 'her'! What, you think Kaede is gonna let a boy wander around in her home?" Hitomi asked him, sarcasm dripping from her words. Looking around at all of them and gesturing, she continued. "What the hell is with you people, tonight? Have you gone stupid?"

"Says the girl who punched something until her knuckles were messed up, and then transformed in the middle of an anti-Kämpfer zone, right after being warned not to." Akane retorted smoothly, causing the other three Whites to look at their leader in shock, as she waved her hands at them.

"You told us that was Mishima!" Sayaka yelled at her, frowning.

"I-I swear it wasn't me! I j-just guessed! I dunno, maybe it was Kondou!" she frantically pointed at Mikoto, and when the girl in question was looked at, she slowly shook her head with a smirk.

"In other news, we also learned that you've been harboring a crush on Natsuru that you've been busy denying. Is that why you destroyed a poor first year's locker?" Shizuku brought up, looking innocently at her as Hitomi's jaw dropped and she began to blush violently, at a loss for words. "I mean, you're aware we have cameras in the school… right? It caught you punching it repeatedly, shouting 'I don't have a crush on you, you cute, Amazonian bitch!'"

"I never said that! I screamed about her in my head!" Hitomi blurted out, panting as fury raged through her veins and embarrassment plastered all over her face. After the gears in her head managed to get a chance to turn, she quickly blanched while still maintaining her blush (which was an impressive feat), once she realized that she had inadvertently admitted to having feelings for Natsuru in her Kämpfer form.

The room remained silent, the only things that occurred was Sayaka and Rika sharing a pair of shit-eating grins.

"Hee hee heeeee! You totally just blurted out to Natsuru that you like her." Sayaka teased her, as Hitomi's face went dark as the girl seems to have locked up, her blush seemingly glowing.

"Hey, maybe if she's lucky, Natsuru will let her shower with her~!" Rika ribbed Hitomi, nudging Sayaka as the pair openly laughed, Ryouka giving them reproachful looks as she reached out to Hitomi. Without warning, there was a flash of white light, and Hitomi's hands crackled with a bright, white electricity as she lunged at the two panicking girls, whom had also transformed in response.

"No, stop—!" Shizuku had shouted at the three of them, having spied the door opening right before a loud 'boom!' filled the room as Hitomi's swings struck home on Sayaka and Rika, their chairs exploding into a rain of splinters due to the energy as they had spasms from the electricity. As the dust settled, everyone else in the room were on their feet, transformed, save Natsuru.

"A-a-h… haaah… a-a-ahh… w-wha-a…" their waitress froze up, scared out of her wits at what she just witnessed. Looking between Hitomi, who was sighing cathartically, and the two girls who were twitching on the floor, their hair sticking out at strange angles, she leaned against the door frame as she began to shake like a leaf.

"Hm? Aw, shit..." Hitomi sighed, noticing the waitress, who was now looking at her in fear. "Right, com'ere…" Hitomi grumbled, turning around and walking calmly towards her as the waitress fell down, attempting to crawl away backwards as she stared at Hitomi in utter terror.

"Hitomi, no! She's not involved, leave her be!" Natsuru shouted at her, having run over and grabbed her wrist. Yanking her wrist from his grip, she looked at him with a smirk.

"Relaaax, you're acting as if I'm gonna kill her!"

"Y-y-you're not?" the waitress stammered, still afraid but looking somewhat relieved. Hitomi shook her head and sighed.

"Naw, not my style… nor am I even allowed to kill civilians, unless they get in the way. I'm juuuust gonna alter your memory a bit…" she said, reaching out and placing a finger to the waitress's right temple, before discharging a current right into it, causing the woman's eyes to roll up into her head as she fell over.

"No!" Natsuru shouted, shoving Hitomi aside as he scooped the waitress up, pressing a pair of fingers against her throat as he checked for a pulse.

"Jesus, Natsuru, are you satisfied?" Hitomi growled in annoyance as she picked herself up from the floor, watching as Natsuru sighed in relief when he realized the waitress was alive. "I told you I wasn't gonna kill her. The process to alter memory isn't exactly pleasant, you know. It's either this," she explained, gesturing to the unconscious waitress, "or she's a gibbering, drooling mess on the floor for the next fifteen minutes as her brain tries to figure out where the hell up and down is."

"I'm sorry, it's just… I thought…"

"Look, we're not monsters, you know! No matter how much you all seem to think we are." Hitomi grumbled, adjusting her shirt as she observed him gently prop her up against the wall in the hallway.

"'We're not monsters!' says the leader of a group of girls trying to force a guy into being a girl, all the while attempting to murder his friends…" Akane mumbled in the background, playing around with her empty cup as Mikoto snorted.

"Right, well… Ryouka, you go make sure to have the rest of the customers leave, I've got to round up the rest of the staff and wipe their memories before yanking the security tapes." Hitomi instructed her remaining conscious team member. Nodding with a sigh, Ryouka stood up from beside her two friends and made her way out of the room, heading out to the front dining room.

"It feels like you've all done this before…" Shizuku commented, eyeing Hitomi warily as the track star looked back at her and winked, moving on out of the room herself.

---

True to their word, the Whites managed to peacefully empty the restaurant of any remaining customers, though they remained mum on how they did it. Hitomi had also knocked out the remaining staff, replacing their memories are required before she wiped the security footage of the entire day's operation.

"Right, Ryouka, you mind sweeping the area and looking for any of those god damn agents or whatever they are? Last thing we need is anyone following us." Hitomi asked her, as she munched on a fresh pizza that she found in the kitchen.

"S-sure… um, please wait…" Ryouka nodded, nervously skirting by Shizuku as she left the building, walking down the street.

"You're going to pay for that food… right?" Shizuku asked Hitomi, who stopped mid-bite to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

"What if I don't? You gonna call the Police?" Hitomi sneered, mocking her.

"Minagawa…" Natsuru growled, his tone sounding annoyed, causing the track team captain to raise her nose at him.

"No, for obvious reasons, I can't. But I can cancel all future track events until further notice under the guise of 'safety concerns'." Shizuku informed her, returning her smug look from earlier.

"You wouldn't. Those girls on the track team don't have anything to do with this!" Hitomi hissed, slamming her hands on the counter. When Shizuku didn't budge, Hitomi shouted in anger, pulling her wallet out. "So stupid, making me pay for a pizza they wouldn't even be able to sell anyways…" she grumbled, looking at a menu for the price as she counted out the bills. Stopping as she got to the last bill. "Uh…"

"Oh, goodness, not enough, hm? Maybe we shouldn't have had such sticky fingers?" Shizuku asked her, as Hitomi looked up in anger, gritting her teeth again. "Such a shame, that I have to cancel those track events. But what can I do? We have two teams of Kämpfer going wild and fighting at the school—"

"Or I could just kill you, instead!" Hitomi threatened her, shaking in anger as Shizuku began getting under her skin.

"Really? You, in a one-against-four, since you knocked two of your team mates out and sent the third on a recon screen?" Shizuku ask her, her mocking smirk growing in size as Hitomi began to shiver in anger, white electricity beginning to arc off her body to the counter.

"How much do you need?" Natsuru suddenly cut in, surprising everyone. "No, really, what's the difference you need to make up? I've got plenty here—"

"Natsuru, what gives?! Why're you defending her?" Akane asked him angrily, having spun him around to face her. Getting his bearings, he frowned at her, before looking at Mikoto, as well as Shizuku.

"As much as I don't like it, I technically owe her and her team a favor. They decided to come and listen to my request and are going out on a limb for so I can get to safety… somehow… however that's going to work out…?" he paused, looking at Hitomi questioningly, before continuing. "Either way, egging her on into a fight seems like a bad way to start this, and a terrible way for me to show my thanks." He finished, turning his gaze directly to Shizuku. "So, just getting the money for the pizza is enough for you, right?"

"…I said it to you when you first incapacitated me, and I'll say it again: you are too nice for your own good." Shizuku lectured him in a stern tone, sighing as he gave her an intense look. "Yes, go ahead, pull her out of the hole she dug for herself."

"I don't need your damn charity…" Hitomi, still grumbling, glared at him as he placed the difference onto the pile Hitomi left on the counter next to the pizza. Rolling his eyes, he sighed.

"I'm sorry I'm not who you would like me to be, but it's still not safe to transform, right now." He snapped back, starting to wonder if the effort to be nice was worth the resulting outcome at this point. Hitomi's poor attitude was really beginning to grate on him.

"Ah, shit, that's right, we need to get you kitted out!" Hitomi snapped her fingers, digging around in her pockets before switching to a bag she had on a chair beside her. "It's gotta be here, somewhere…"

"…What? What's got to be where?" Natsuru asked her, confused and a bit leery as he watched her rummage through her bag. Mikoto and Akane were put on edge as she continued to rummage for a bit, until she pulled something small out.

"… This! Yeah!" Hitomi announced, holding a small, grey ring between her finger and thumb as she showed it off.

"… A ring?" Natsuru deadpanned, looking a bit deflated. He had expected something a little more impressive.

"What, are you proposing to Natsuru, or something?" Mikoto asked her, still on edge as if she expected the ring to attack them.

"No—! Ugh, Christ, just put it on! I'm wearing one, see?" Hitomi showed them, after thrusting the thing to Natsuru. Sure enough, on her pinky was a ring of similar design. "Latest development in Kämpfer tech! It hides the aural signature that Kämpfer emit, so we can't be tracked."

"How do we know it works, and isn't some kind of brainwashing device…?" Akane asked her, quickly grabbing Natsuru's hand to stop him as he went to slip it on, her comment causing him to think twice on it.

"Have you seen the Military swarming around here since I transformed?" Hitomi asked her, looking at her in annoyance as it seemed obvious to Hitomi the answer.

"Sure, with your ring, maybe. But that doesn't make this ring safe." Mikoto pointed out, carefully taking the ring from Natsuru and holding it to the light as she examined it closely. Groaning in exasperation, Hitomi snatched the ring from her and slipped it onto her other hand, showing it off.

"See? It's perfectly…" she trailed off, suddenly looking glazed and mindless.

"Fuck, I knew it! This is a trap! Natsuru, get… back?" Akane began to yell, becoming confused as Hitomi laughed in her face, tears rolling off her face as she pointed a finger at Akane.

"Jesus Christ, you people are too easy!" Hitomi laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes as Akane used every last ounce of self-control not to transform and shoot her in the face. "Right, see? No trap. Heck, I'll do you one more." Hitomi demonstrated, pulling off her original ring as she handed it to Natsuru. Looking towards the others, Natsuru watched as they all looked to another with worry. Shrugging, Natsuru held the ring above his left pinky.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained…" he said, audibly gulping as he slid the ring on, cringing.

"Oh… my… God…" he heard Hitomi whisper, causing Natsuru to panic.

"What?! What's happened?!" he asked, still cringing as Hitomi snorted.

"Absolutely nothing. Fuck, you four sure are on edge lately. Makes tricking you almost too easy, and that's no fun." She sighed, clearly bored. Opening his eyes, Natsuru looked at the ring in confusion, moving his hand around to look at it in various angles, the girls all gathering around him and also looking at it.

"Well, that's… actually really anticlimactic." He commented, Hitomi opting to just roll her eyes.

"What, did you want to get brainwashed? Sorry to tell you, then, but Kaede has sworn off of ever doing it to you again. Not that it ever works all that well a second time..." She claimed, causing the rebels to look at her in curiosity. Before anything else could be asked, however, the five of them heard coughing and groaning coming from the private room they had been using.

"Hitomi, you're a huge bitch, you know that!?" Sayaka was heard commenting from the hallway. "Have you even the slightest idea how long my hair is going to take to fix!?" she complained, nearly tripping over the waitress on her way out.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke…" a younger voice announced behind her, indicating that Rika had woken up as well.

"Right, with those two idiots standing upright again, we should be just about ready to leave. Ryouka should be just about done with whoever she's knocking out and wiping their memory." Hitomi advised the rebels, looking directly at Natsuru. "Well, come on! Transform, already!"

"Wait, now?! Why can't we just go with me like this? I still haven't even managed to stay like this for a full 24 hours since my bracelet stopped malfunctioning!" Natsuru complained, Hitomi simply sporting a baleful smile.

"Don't care. You know Kaede is gonna need you to be transformed if you want to stay the night, and I'm not looking to attract the attention or questions of any of our schoolmates if they saw male you wandering around with us instead of these three."

"And what's gonna happen when female me is seen leaving a building she never entered in the first place?" he asked her, groaning internally when she waved off his concerns.

"Not an issue, remember? Ryouka is busy going around and giving anyone watching the building a little nap with about 300 cc's each of Chlorpromazine."

"Ch…chloropo…" Mikoto tried to recite, looking utterly confused.

"She's knocking 'em out with drugs, Mikoto, leave it at that…" Akane sighed, patting Mikoto's shoulder as she pouted angrily over being defeated by a word.

"Injecting people randomly with drugs is incredibly dangerous. What are you four even thinking?" Shizuku asked her, frowning further as Hitomi shrugged.

"Not a question for me, ask Ryouka. She's the one sourcing it and utilizing it."

"Is she some sort of ninja, or something?" Mikoto asked, jumping when a hand grasped her forearm.

"Y-yeah… sorta fancies herself as one, I mean… she th-thought Natsuru might find it cool..." Rika suddenly groaned from her side, looking green as she steadied herself using Mikoto's arm. "S-sorry… I always get sick when Hitomi zaps me… I'd take f-frizzy hair over this any day..."

"Brr! That rain is cold…!" Ryouka's voice exclaimed from the entrance, pushing the door closed as she shook the rain off herself and accidentally dropped a strange, handgun-like object to the floor. "A-ahhh! My drug launcher…" she worried, rushing to it and picking it up before examining it.

"Ryouka, you have an audience…" Hitomi groaned, slapping her face with her palm. Ryouka gasped, looking up as she hid the device behind her back. "You know what? Whatever. Rika, come here for a sec." Hitomi ordered the sick girl. Rika walked over quickly in anticipation, closing her eyes as Hitomi placed a pair of fingers from each hand on both of her temples. There was a quick, slight hum, and Rika sighed in relief, no longer appearing sick. Hitomi pulled her fingers from her, placing one of them close to some brass on the counter, as a resounding 'crack!' echoed through the parlor and a flash of electricity arced from her finger.

"Oh, thank you… I hate it when you zap me!" Rika started to thank her, only to yell as she regained her bearings.

"Hey, come on, we're running late, hurry and transform." Hitomi ignored Rika and instead urged Natsuru to get a move on, who sighed before turning to his friends.

"Girls, you stay safe. I don't care if it's something small, give me a call if you need anything, even if you just want to check up on me." He asked them, to which they nodded, all concerned, Mikoto rushing up and hugging him. Hugging her tightly in return and patting her head, he let her go before turning to face Hitomi, pointing directly into her face. "If anything happens to them that I can trace back to your team..." He trailed off, the implication causing Hitomi to take a step back as everyone in the room looked on in surprise.

"Natsuru, relax! We're still in a cease-fire, remember?" She growled, glaring in return as Natsuru held the same hard gaze for a moment, until he rolled his eyes and stepped off towards the front door of the parlor, Mikoto, Akane, and Shizuku following him. As the four of them spoke to one another quietly, the Whites grouped up as Hitomi clutched at her heart.

"Are… are you okay, Hitomi?" Ryouka asked her quietly, a look of concern on her face as Hitomi's heart continued to race.

"Damn, that was intense suddenly! I thought I was looking into the heart of the sun!" Hitomi chuckled humorlessly, shaking her head as she watched Natsuru and his friends discuss something quietly and intensely. "I wonder if that's part of the reason why Kaede wants her. I think Natsuru might actually be ridiculously overpowered."

"Natsuru, I swear to God, if I don't call you, you had better text us all tonight, or the next time I see you, I'll blow you away." Akane growled, shoving her finger painfully into his chest.

"Relax, you know I will, jeez... besides, didn't I just ask you the same thing?" Natsuru grumbled, looking down at his bracelet. The girls all watched him closely as he hesitated, seeming to be completely unwilling to transform but attempting to work himself towards it. Suddenly holding his right wrist before himself, he grunted, looking ill right before a wind swept through the parlor and a bright, blue light flashed, leaving Natsuru behind in her Kämpfer form.

"Hoooo..." she sighed, shaking herself out and cracking her neck before she double-checked that the ring was still on her pinky. "Right, well... that wasn't too bad. I really don't know why I keep getting myself all worked up over that..."

"Because you don't like it... remember?" Shizuku pointed out, as Natsuru shrugged and began brushing any dirt off of her clothes she could find.

"This is whole thing is a ridiculously horrible idea waiting to backfire..." Mikoto sighed in defeat, Natsuru reaching out and giving her another hug.

"Relax, Mikoto! It's only for now. Please, have faith that I'll pull through this wanting to be a guy all the same. Because I will, okay?" Natsuru promised, Mikoto nodding though still looking troubled. Chancing a glance towards the Whites, Natsuru leaned into a quick huddle with the girls. "Just remember that the silver lining in all of this is I might be able to collect some intel on what they are planning about the artifact. With any luck, we can figure out when they are planning on making a move and get it before them. Then, maybe we can create a new status quo by keeping our heads down… at least until the agreement between us and the Whites falls through, or the heat dies down."

"I'll be sure to try and get some more information out of Hiaburi Raion, maybe he can let us know if there's anything else we might be interested in that Kaede has laying around."

"Honestly, though... you think it's wise for me to go poking around alone?" Natsuru asked her, grimacing as Shizuku hesitated.

"Well, no, but... out of the four of us, if you were to get caught by Kaede, the worst that would happen is she would likely simply be upset and yell at you. If she saw either of us three, she would slaughter us on the spot." Shizuku pointed out, nodding once as Natsuru appeared to understand, though Natsuru still didn't look too pleased. "Besides, Akane and you won't be the only one doing something solo this week." She mentioned offhand, and though Natsuru wanted to ask for more details, they were interrupted when Hitomi cleared her throat loudly. The group of them turning to glare at her only got her frowning and tapping at a wristwatch.

"Hey, those rings really do work, huh? I can't pick up on Natsuru being transformed at all." Akane suddenly commented in an effort to distract from their huddle. "Any, uh... any chance we might get our hands on some?"

"They're on back order. Only reason we got five was because Natsuru is a high-value asset." Hitomi explained, frowning as they glared at her. "Fine, don't believe me, but they are on back order. We don't need you morons getting caught any more than you wantto." she simpered, shrugging as she started to get ready to step off.

"Right, well, it's getting late, and this storm doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. I'd rather not catch a cold, so... please stay safe, Natsuru. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" Shizuku said to her sternly, Natsuru nodding before reaching over and pulling Shizuku into a hug, surprising her senior. Before Shizuku could do anything else, Natsuru let her go and looked at Akane, leaving Shizuku numbly standing there, finding Natsuru's behavior slightly worrisome.

"Let me guess, you want one, too?"

"Ha! As if! I'll pass, I'm not normally one for the mushy shit, you know that." Akane chuckled, pausing for a moment when her phone buzzed. Checking it, she groaned. "I'd better hurry back; my old man is having a shitfit. If I stay out much longer, they're gonna have a second nuclear blast in this city."

"Take is easy on him, won't you? He's your father, he's only acting like this because he loves you." Natsuru urged her, watching as she waved goodbye and walked off, into the rain.

"Um, I should go with her, since I'm on the way… but before I go…" Mikoto trailed off, suddenly hugging Natsuru tightly and catching her by surprise. "Listen… I'm really sorry about being so mean at the hotel. You know, about the letter I got? A-as well as being so rude when you getting me back good when I was making fun of you when Nakazawa showed up..."

"Ah, well… I wouldn't call it 'getting back at you, good', when I was just trying to be as malicious as possible. So, I'm sorry, too." Natsuru returned the hug, leaning in a little closer. "Remind me later, I owe you a curry dinner, okay?"

"Wait, you? Making curry? This I have to see!" Mikoto laughed, pushing away from Natsuru gently. "Alright then, I won't say no to free meals, so I'll take you up on that offer! Maybe tomorrow!" Mikoto exclaimed happily, before turning and running into the rain, stopping when she crossed the street. "Please, text me when you're there, alright?!" Mikoto demanded, not waiting for an answer before taking off and calling after Akane, who had already made it a good distance down the street. Natsuru turned her attention back to Shizuku, who had collected herself in the meantime.

"Right, now… in case you come across him, remember what Colonel Smith said to us today, and that this you shouldn't be totally apprised of every little detail. Just the basics, such as him needing to speak to our lawyer first. Alright?" Shizuku reminded him, tilting her head down as Natsuru nodded quickly. "Ideally, he won't talk to this you at all, but… we'll see." She paused, glancing over at the Whites before focusing on Natsuru again. "I hope you understand that I do hate leaving you alone with them, with every fiber of my being..."

"I know, Shizuku… I'm not happy, either, but it's my only choice unless I throw caution to the wind, or spend the foreseeable future homeless." Natsuru sighed, glaring at Hitomi as the teal-haired girl tapped her wristwatch again impatiently. "You get home safe, okay?" Natsuru asked her, watching as Shizuku opened and closed her mouth a few times, looking as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't quite find the words for a moment. Taking a deep breath, Shizuku sighed as she leaned in to whisper into Natsuru's ear.

"Listen... I know we went over some ideas for you gathering intelligence for us all, but... don't do anything crazy, alright? I don't care which you I get to see tomorrow; I just want to see you. Promise me that you'll use your head and back off if things get too close for comfort for as long as you're there?"

"You know I will, Shizuku." Natsuru whispered back, giving her another quick hug before Shizuku stepped off into the rain, running as she attempted to get to a nearby bus stop before she became too wet.

"Right, let's haul ass out of here ourselves, these people are gonna be waking up soon, and tagging 'em twice in a row tends to cause all sorts of problems, and I don't feel like smelling pee for the rest of the night." Hitomi instructed the group, Natsuru nodding as she glanced out at the rain, her thin school uniform failing to do much against the chill.

"This is going to suck…" she complained quietly, biting the bullet and stepping out into the rain. Cringing as the cool rain immediately began to soak her, Hitomi slapped her hand on Natsuru's shoulder.

"Good news, is, the apartment is pretty close. I may not like her, but even I'll admit Sangou has a good habit to meticulously plan this shit out ahead of time." She commented, walking ahead as she glanced around the area, idly looking for threats.

"Come on, let's get you out of the rain…" Ryouka said quietly, her voice slightly muffled as she pulled a thin scarf up over her nose as Natsuru immediately began to shiver, hugging herself.

"Wow, you really do sort of look like a ninja when you do that…" Natsuru mumbled, looking at her in curiosity as they walked forward, Ryouka blushing as she waved her off.

"N-no… I'm not, r-really…" she replied bashfully, looking away as Natsuru smiled.

"Still, though! I always thought that Ninjas were only in stories and movies, I never thought someone could practically make them real."

"Really? You transform into a beautiful magical girl who can control fire on a whim, but Ninjas is where you draw the line?" Sayaka asked, squinting as Natsuru scratched her cheek shyly and looked down at the wet pavement.

"W-well, when you put it like that…"

"Hey, leave Natsuru alone, Sayaka! Don't bully her!" Rika exclaimed, suddenly grabbing Natsuru's right hand and hanging on tightly. "Maybe I should make fun of you for making googly eyes at pictures on your phone of Seitetsu's baseball captain?"

"Eh? So what? He's hot, sue me." Sayaka shrugged, brushing Rika's comments off as Natsuru recalled something from last night.

"If you like him, you should talk to him, soon, or he might find himself a girlfriend. Akane was telling me last night that he was trying to flirt with her on the beach right after she finished with Nishino, yesterday."

"She… said what…?" Sayaka responded, her dangerous as she glared at Natsuru darkly. "If that bitch so much as lays a finger on him, I will cut her in half, starting—what is it, Rika?!" Sayaka had begun to fume and threaten, only to rage against her younger team mate as the girl had begun to tug on her sleeve frantically. Wordlessly, Rika pointed to Natsuru, and when Sayaka looked up at her, she couldn't help but cower at the withering glare she was receiving, the very air around Natsuru feeling heavy, hot and thick.

"W-wait, I mean, th-that wouldn't happen, r-right? I mean, she h-has a crush on the male you, a-after all!" Sayaka stammered, beginning to shake as Natsuru frowned, her gaze feeling like it was boring a hole through her until she broke it off and moved ahead to catch up with Hitomi as the tense atmosphere relaxed. "O-oh, my God, I… that w-was something..." Sayaka said quietly, panting as she caught her breath, unaware that she had been holding it.

"That was scary… it reminded me of how she looked when I nearly cut up Kondou a few weeks ago…" Rika whispered to her, clinging to her arm.

"Y-yeah, it did, didn't it…?" Sayaka agreed, recalling the look of rage on Natsuru's face before nearly killing Rika with ease. "Maybe we should warn Kaede, but… I get the feeling she already knows about this dangerous side in Natsuru."

---

"Kaede? We're here!" Hitomi called out, shaking the rain off of herself as they all heard something slam in the kitchen. As Natsuru nervously shivered by the door, thoroughly soaked, Hitomi motioned for her to stay as Kaede began shouting at the Whites.

"Why are you four so late?! I gave you a specific time to be here, and I even promised to cook dinner! Now it's all cold, and I'm hungry!" Kaede raged from the kitchen area of the sprawling apartment as Hitomi walked in, having removed her shoes.

"Kaede…" Hitomi could be heard trying to get her bosses attention, as Kaede continued to rage.

"Do you have any idea how rude this is? I even made you your favorite dish, and—is that a God damn pizza?!" Kaede shrieked, sounding absolutely livid.

"It was, but it's an empty box now, since Natsuru ate most of it." Hitomi explained, her voice making it perfectly clear that she was smiling widely. "She owes me now, I only had one slice, and I paid for most of it…" she grumbled, afterwards.

"… What?" was all Kaede could be heard asking, breathlessly as Hitomi chuckled.

"Sorry we're late, Kaede, but we picked up someone special on the way…" Hitomi said quietly, and seconds later Natsuru heard someone running towards the front door.

"N-Natsuru…?" Kaede gasped, catching a glimpse of Natsuru shivering like mad as Rika tried to warm her up with her body heat, looking confused as to why Natsuru was so cold.

"H-h-hi, K-K-Kaede…" Natsuru struggled, her teeth chattering as she continued to hug herself. Rushing over, Kaede practically trampled Rika as she grabbed a hold of Natsuru and hugged her tightly.

"Oh my gosh, you are soaking wet! And your skin feels like ice! We need to get you out of these clothes and warmed up! Come along, I'll get the shower running for you!" Kaede urged her, Natsuru lacking the energy to fight against her pull as she removed her shoes, her thigh-socks making wet, sloshing noises as they came out. "Rika, do you mind fetching some towels and placing them in the dryer so they are nice and warm?" Kaede asked her as Rika finished collecting herself. Nodding, Rika carefully made her way into the nearby hallway as Kaede guided Natsuru into the bathroom.

As Ryouka and Sayaka joined Hitomi in a side room to change into dry clothes, they heard Natsuru shriek, causing them to rush to the shared wall, placing their ears to it and listening in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! K-K-Kaede, w-what are you doing?!" they heard her stammer in embarrassment through the wall.

"Come on, Natsuru, I'm not trying anything funny. I just want to help you get out of those wet clothes!" Kaede could be heard admonishing her, though a playful edge could be heard in her voice.

"I can ch-change myself, you know! And could I g-get some privacy?" Natsuru cried out, clearly still struggling against Kaede.

"Please, Natsuru, after having seen you in the public baths, it's not like I don't know what you're trying to hide.~" Kaede teased her, giggling as Natsuru could be heard still struggling.

"Haaaah! Kaede, please! I didn't come here just to get harassed!" Natsuru groaned, clearly quite irritated at this point.

"Actually, what did prompt this? You'd never just willingly come here, unless… have you come to accept your true self?" Kaede asked Natsuru, her tone hopeful.

"If by accept you mean just accepting how annoying being a Kämpfer is…" Natsuru could be heard grumbling, mumbling something else that the Whites couldn't hear.

"Well, if you didn't come here because you necessarily wanted to, then someone or something has forced you to... does someone need to die?" Kaede asked her, a deadly sharp tone in her voice. The three girls, suddenly joined by a confused Rika, continued pressing their ears to the wall. Natsuru and her friends never took the time to perfectly explain why Natsuru wanted to visit Kaede so badly, only that she needed to stay away from the military.

"No! No one is getting killed, okay?! I asked to come here, b-because, w-well…" Natsuru went quiet, mumbling something very faintly.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that, Natsuru."

"I… I'm s-scared, okay?! The Military is watching m-my house, they know this me didn't exist until about six months ago, and—" she stopped mid-sentence, her teeth chattering again as she shivered.

"…Let's get you out of those clothes and into the shower, okay? It'll make you feel better." Kaede urged her, sounding legitimately serious and caring as she prepared Natsuru for a shower. "If you'd like, I could ask the girls to get to your house and fetch a few things? I take it you meant to stay for at least a few days."

"Um… y-yeah, okay, I guess…" Natsuru could be heard mumbling. Before anything else could be heard, someone had turned the shower on, drowning out the conversation.

"Well, no point in changing, then…" Sayaka grumbled, picking at her clothes as they clung to her uncomfortably. As the girls grumbled, Kaede exited the bathroom, gently closing the door behind her before joining her team in the other room.

"Hitomi, I'd like you and Ryouka to head to Natsuru's home and pick up a few things for her, including her Messenger. She seemed very concerned about what he was getting up to, so he is a priority." She instructed them, handing Hitomi a key chain, holding a specific key out. "She says her home is still being scrutinized, so you'll have to be careful with getting in."

"Gotcha. Anything else?" Hitomi asked her, making a mental note of which key was the house key before slipping it into her pocket.

"Yes, actually. First, get into some dry clothes, you fools. I do have some umbrellas you can use." She deadpanned, shaking her head in annoyance as all four girls began to change, Sayaka and Rika with more gusto. "Secondly, I want you to take down anyone watching her home with extremeprejudice. Death is off the table, since it would bother Natsuru, and likely get her into some serious trouble, but broken bones are perfectly acceptable. If Natsuru came here because she feels unsafe in her own home… needless to say, no one gets to frighten my Natsuru and get away with it." Kaede hissed, her tone unbelievably dangerous as all four girls felt the hairs on the back of their neck stand upright. "And last but not least, I want you to see if you can find something for me. It's not one particular thing, exactly, but since we have this chance, we need to take it…"

---

Akane shivered for a moment, walking up to her front door as she did her best to mentally prepare for the impending argument with her Dad. She was already dreading the interaction, since the last few she had, her filter had still been there… mostly. But now…

Now she had to hope she could keep her cool to the best of her ability. Which wasn't much, since her temper easily flared up, so she could only hope.

Swallowing audibly, she allowed herself a moment to worry about Natsuru, who hadn't yet texted her, before focusing on her current problem. Opening the front door, she stepped in quickly and quietly closed it. Not hearing anything, she began discreetly walking into the home, making sure to slip her shoes off as water dripped off of her clothes. As she moved deeper into the home, she felt her stomach drop when she saw her father reading in a chair out of the corner of her eye, and attempted to quietly hurry past the room.

"Akane, come here please." Kumeaki suddenly called to her, causing Akane to cringe, doing her absolute best to maintain a modicum of her previous personality, and put on a shy face. Turning around and walking into the room, she looked at her father, noticing that he looked absolutely exhausted. He gestured to a seat, and Akane was already biting her lip, since she would have preferred to stand.

"Can I ask you why you hung up on me, tonight?" he asked her, calmly closing his book and placing it on a table beside him.

"Because you were yelling. I was in front of my friends, and they could hear you." Akane answered, partially truthful since though she hid it at the time, she was embarrassed by it.

"That's because you had completely disregarded my instruction that you were to stay home until these psychotic girls are caught." Kumeaki snapped, his comment on what was actually his own daughter's and her friend's sanity causing her to grit her teeth.

"I get the feeling you don't actually understand anything about them, Dad. Calling them psychotic is unfair, since they were forced into this." Akane argued, doing her best to maintain her temper and keep a level head. As much as her filter could be a pain, she found herself wishing, in this circumstance, that it hadn't just up and disappeared on her.

"No, you're right, I don't! And you know what? Neither do you! Everything that crazy young woman said in that article, and what she yelled at the police? All of it could be a fabrication, for all we know!" Kumeaki shouted at her, again questioning her sanity, and again causing Akane to grit her teeth, this time she was absolutely certain she chipped a tooth.

"And yet it could also be the truth, couldn't it?!" she yelled back, slamming her fist on the arm of the chair she was in.

"I have had it with your poor attitude! Have you forgotten that I am your father!?" Kumeaki fumed, getting to his feet as he glared at her.

"How could I, when you're constantly being a pain in my—whoa!?" Akane finally broke, unable to hold her temper back, attempting to jump to her feet as well. The moment was short lived, however, when she found herself propelled forward at a greater speed than she had intended and accidentally ran into the coffee table with her knees, falling over it. A pair of angry, stinging bruises formed on her knees and joined the one on her stomach covered by her school uniform. Hardly concerned about the pain in her knees, Akane was staring at the floor as her mind raced, trying to figure out how she had just moved so quickly, with so much force, in her human form.

"Akane, are you alright?" Kumeaki asked her, gently helping her up as his anger slipped away, replaced by concern. Standing up, Akane hissed as she prodded at the bruises, growing an angry black and purple. "Wait in the chair, honey, I'll get you some ice."

"God dammit… this is going about as well as I thought it would…" Akane mumbled to herself, hearing her father in the kitchen rummaging around the freezer as she moved into his chair. 'Why did I fly out of the chair like that? My personality changing and transforming in my sleep are one thing... but now I'm transforming without the flash of light, I've lost my filter, and now being able to launch myself like I was transformed...?'

"Here, this should reduce the swelling." Kumeaki returned a moment later, having wrapped a bunch of ice with a pair of cloths. Taking them, Akane applied them to her knees and groaned as the pressure caused them to ache for a moment, but quickly soothed her pain when the chill from the ice hit.

"Thanks..." she said quietly, unable to meet Kumeaki's gaze as he watched in worry.

"Akane..." he spoke softly, Akane finally meeting his eyes and noticing that he looked scared. "I know you have good friends at Seitetsu Gakuin, but... I think it's safest if I have you transferred to your Brother's old school."

"How did I know you were going to say something like that..." Akane muttered, looking back at her knees as she adjusted the ice packs, sucking in air as she felt the stinging pain again for a moment. As she did so, a horrible realization began to fester in her stomach, causing her to become a little panicked when she understood what had to be done to avoid the danger of being singled out.

"You need to understand, Akane: this is for your own safety. That school clearly can't get a handle on this situation, nor can the Police or the Military. Perhaps you're right, and those girls really don't mean any harm to ordinary people. But if you're wrong, and they end up snapping... or if they get attacked and you accidentally get caught in a crossfire..." Kumeaki began to explain himself, sighing as Akane's shoulders drooped and she slowly shook her head while failing to meet his eyes. "You are my little girl, and I want you to be happy, but I want you to be safe as well."

The pair of them sat in silence, Akane unwilling to break the silence as she felt the enormity of what she had to reveal to him weigh on her heavily. Kumeaki stayed silent as he wanted Akane to be able to process everything at her own pace. Swallowing audibly, Akane took a deep breath and sat up, though still not meeting her Father's gaze.

"Transferring me to another school isn't... w-well, it isn't going to change anything." Akane declared, catching Kumeaki off guard as she became tense. "I'm still going to be in danger either way. Possibly more so, even."

"Akane, why wouldn't it keep you out of danger?" Kumeaki asked, a sense of dread filling his entire body when she continued to stare across the room, seeing Akane clench her jaw as she grew pale. An intense nausea rocked her body as Akane panicked over what his reaction would be to the truth. Seeing all of this, Kumeaki slid the coffee table back and sat on it, gently gripping Akane's shoulder. "Akane... are you... involved in this?" he finally asked her, Akane chuckling humorlessly.

"Heh... am I involved; he asks. Really?" Akane smiled, though her eyes betrayed her. "Of course, I'm involved, Dad..." She sighed, placing her ice packs down as she gently removed her fake glasses and beloved headband, confusing Kumeaki right as a bright blue flash filled the room, blinding him. Once the light died down, Kumeaki blinked away the retina burn as a red-headed Akane continued. "... I'm the one you keep calling a psychopath."

"A-Akane..." Kumeaki spoke breathlessly as his sight returned, seeing her beautiful, well-kept auburn hair turned bright red and wild, her uniform having dried and changed itself to give her better maneuverability and freedom in combat, and the beautiful, soft, green of her eyes having been replaced by a ferocious, piercing, red. As he looked down, Kumeaki quickly noticed the 1911 in her hand, causing him to recoil slightly and remove his grip on her shoulder.

"Oh... I guess I should have expected that kind of reaction, huh?" Akane chuckled again, misunderstanding his reaction as she dismissed her weapon and stood up. Looking back at her face, Kumeaki was panicked to see that while she had a smirk on her face, her eyes betrayed how upset she was, made worse when a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"No, Akane, wait, it wasn't you—" he had begun to correct the misunderstanding, stopping when Akane raised a hand to silence him.

"No, Dad, stop... I get it." Akane sighed, looking away from him. "It's scary, seeing this, but... I swear, I'm not some monster that stole your Daughter's body or anything. This really is me."

"It wasn't you I flinched from; it was your gun!" he shouted after her as she walked into the hallway.

"Right, well... this, uh, 'gun' is going to bed now, so..." Akane sighed, not believing a word he had said. "If you could not call the Police, I'd really appreciate it, but... well, I won't stop you." she sighed, slinking her way up the stairs as the front door swung open, revealing a young man in his late teens. Looking back, Akane recognized her brother Haruto in an instant as he stared at her with wide eyes. Sighing dejectedly once again, Akane silently continued up the staircase as Kumeaki and Haruto watched her, the pair of them only moving once they heard her bedroom door click shut in the distance.

"Was that...?" Haruto asked him, slowly closing the door behind him as he dripped water in the entrance of the house.

"Yes, that was Akane..." Kumeaki replied quietly, moving to the staircase and sitting on the steps, running his fingers through his hair out of stress.

"My little sister is one of those Kämpfers?" He whispered, unmoving from his spot as Kumeaki groaned.

"I'm a damn fool. The sudden personality shift, the change in taste, the red hairs in the lint traps… all of that, and all I came to was that she was sheltering 'Red'." Kumeaki sighed, resting on a bench inside the front entrance as he dropped his head into his hands and chuckling humorlessly. "Honestly, 'Red'? With a name lacking so heavily in imagination, it's a wonder no one has put two-and-two together. Yet here I was, running my mouth and casually calling my own daughter a psychotic monster..."

"Dad…?" Haruto asked him quietly, the young man looking out towards the second floor after his sister, who had long since vanished from sight.

"It's easy enough for me to say this, but... could you maybe go and check on her? I know she's been at odds with you for the past week or so, but I've already burned those bridges and she didn't want to listen..." Kumeaki asked Haruto weakly, his son nodding before he shimmied his way out of his wet hoodie.

"I'll go get some dry clothes on and then check on her, okay Dad?" Haruto said quietly, giving his Father's shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he went past him, and up the stairs. Sighing as he heard a door open and close in the distance, Kumeaki had a million-and-one thoughts racing through his head, each one more terrifying than the last as he fully came to realize his little Akane was one of the young women being forced to fight to the death. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts, that he hadn't even noticed when someone had walked into the front door of the house and called out to him.

"Kumeaki? Kumeaki!" a woman's voice shouted at him, suddenly dragging him back to the present. Looking up, he realized that it was Sana, his wife. "Why was the front door sitting wide open? Why are you sitting on the stairs?" she asked him, her auburn hair twinkling with drops of water. "I saw Haruto earlier, but where's Akane?"

"Sana, I... you should sit down." Kumeaki said quietly, causing Sana's thoughts to race to the worst possible outcome.

"Where is my daughter, Kumeaki?" she whispered, looking utterly terrified.

---

"Hmm... I think I just saw someone break into a house." Ryouka suddenly announced over the radio she took with her as Hitomi waited just inside the entrance of the tunnels near Natsuru's house. Rolling her eyes Hitomi put the radio near her mouth and whispered.

"What, did you want to stop and chat with them? Maybe have some tea and share techniques? Hurry up and clear the area, it stinks in here!" she snapped at her, letting go of the transmitter button as she peeked out of the metal doors, carefully looking around as she waited.

"Um, okay, so... I knocked some people out, and there were a few cameras that I took care of, but..." Ryouka piped up over the radio a little while later, her hesitation grating on Hitomi's nerves.

"But what?"

"Um... Nakazawa is... outside of Natsuru's home... with flowers."

"OH, for fuck sake!" Hitomi snarled, slamming the doors open as she stomped down the alleyway, and into the street. Making her way to the T intersection and hanging a left, Hitomi spotted Nakazawa's vehicle idling in front of Natsuru's home, the odd, faint ringing of a doorbell could be heard. As Hitomi made her way towards the gate, fuming, she heard Nakazawa sigh. Deciding to see how this would play out for a bit, she hid around the corner of the wall that surrounded Natsuru's home.

"I guess she isn't home after all... I wonder if I can just leave these here? Maybe hang them out of her mailbox?" she heard him talking to himself, followed by the sounds of sheet metal scraping. "There, perfect!" he sounded satisfied. "Well, actually... perfect would have been being able to see her while I hand her the flowers, but..." Hitomi heard him sigh again, almost feeling bad for him.

Almost.

"Whatever, I'll just leave these here and think of something else. There's got to be some way to catch her eye, there has to! Even if I have to listen to Sakura's friends and drop the creep angle!" he declared, Hitomi rolling her eyes as he walked away from Natsuru's house and closed the gate behind him, quickly stepping into his vehicle. Keeping herself hidden, Hitomi watched his car roll down the street and into the night before she got out of her hiding spot.

"Nice hiding spot, but it's still a bit exposed." Ryouka suddenly declared from behind Hitomi, causing her leader to shout and jump in surprise.

"Don't. Do that!" Hitomi growled as Ryouka shied away slightly. Shaking her head, Hitomi pulled the keys out from her pocket as rain continued to drop onto her umbrella while they moved to the front door. "Right, let's get in here and find her furball. Gotta get him into a bag before we can snoop around a bit. Don't need him catching us and tattling on us to Natsuru, cause then she's gonna raise hell."

"Um... why don't I just get him to help me pack, and you can go looking for something that will work for Kaede? I can just tell him that you're keeping watch if he asks." Ryouka suggested, recoiling slightly again when Hitomi turned and pointed a finger at her.

"That... is a fantastic idea. I like it. Let's do it." Hitomi agreed, looking back to the door and slipping the key into the lock and turning it before pulling it back out. Moving to the handle, Hitomi twisted it and pushed the door inward, flashlight on as she looked for a light switch. Finding one, she flicked it and flooded the entrance of the house with light before removing her shoes. "Where's her room again?"

"Upstairs, I think it's across from the bathroom. It's hard to tell, she closes her door a lot even if she isn't in her room." Ryouka recalled, slipping her shoes off as Hitomi wandered towards the staircase, making her way up.

"Holy cow, Natsuru, you were out late! What gives, did you get yourself a job at that café aga—ooooh, that's not good..." Tora trailed off, having waltzed into the hallway expecting to see his Kämpfer and instead catching sight of her enemies staring up at him. The three of them watched one another for a few moments, until he bolted back into Natsuru's room with Hitomi giving chase.

"Com'ere, you little runt! I still have a bone to pick with you supercharging those friggen traitors a few months ago until they practically stripped us naked!" Hitomi snarled, sliding on the wood floor in the hallway as she moved into Natsuru's room. Tora was in the middle of dialing a number on a phone Natsuru had left him when he spotted Hitomi almost on top of him.

"Ack! Stay away from me, you small-chested Natsuru wannabe!"

"What?! You little shit!" Hitomi shrieked, calling electricity into her left hand as she went to strike the entrails animal. As she swung, Tora cringed, and Ryouka gripped her wrist and stopped her, giving her a look. "Fuck it, whatever, you talk to the little bastard! I'll go take point!" Hitomi snarled, relaxing her fist and storming off as Tora looked on in confusion. "Small-chested... I'm at least as big as Mishima... I had the ponytail first, as well..." Hitomi grumbled, leaving the room as Ryouka smiled gently to Tora.

"Sorry about her, she's sensitive about her chest. I promise, we're here because Natsuru asked us to pick up a few things for her. She's staying at Kaede's, for now." Ryouka explained to Tora, causing him to go wide-eyed.

"Wait... Natsuru's going full-time girl, now?!" Tora exclaimed, plopping onto his rear in shock. "Wow, never thought he'd do it... she... whatever."

"Not... exactly. She's still very adamant about being a boy, just that I guess the Military is getting too close for comfort in determining that she's both Natsurus, and it scares her. So, her only safe option for somewhere to stay was at Kaede's." Ryouka explained after correcting Tora, watching as he sighed and threw his paws up.

"Jeez, that kid needs to make a choice. That's pretty much teasing the Moderator."

"Yeah... I don't think it's exactly fair to Kaede, either, but she wouldn't ever turn Natsuru away." Ryouka admitted, frowning slightly as she watched Tora.

"Look, don't blame me. I already told Natsuru life would be on easy mode and a hell of a lot more relaxed if he just jumped ship, became a girl full time, and hitched with the Moderator already. Honestly, I think his Mother would be excited, since it sounds like she's always dreamed of having a daughter. Can't say much about the Dad, though... guy's actually a bit of a douche."

"Really? That's... interesting." Ryouka commented, filing that information away for later. "Anyways, like I said, we're here to get some clothes and whatnot for Natsuru. Could you help me find a bag and what she might need for at least a few days?"

"Hmm... I don't know if I can trust you, though..." Tora leaned away from her, suddenly leery again as Ryouka smiled. She pulled up her phone and dialed a number, pressing the speaker function on it.

"Yes, Ryouka? Is everything alright?" Kaede's voice asked her, emanating from the speaker on her phone.

"Yes, ma'am. I just need Natsuru to calm her messenger down a bit, since Hitomi was a bit of a bully to him."

"Don't worry about him, he's tougher than he looks." Natsuru's voice suddenly filled the air, her comment causing Tora to deadpan.

"Yup, that's her alright."

"Oi, maybe if you weren't a huge jerk or such a massive pervert, I'd treat you better." Natsuru rebutted, as Tora seemed to roll his eyes.

"Whatever. I was willing to slip a few of your toys in for you when they weren't looking, but now you'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way." Tora snarked, causing Natsuru to gasped as Ryouka blushed violently.

"You have toys?" Kaede asked her, a lecherous edge to her tone as Natsuru shrieked.

"I do not have toys! You little pervert! What if I just asked Yamagawa to toss you off a bridge into the channels, instead?!" Natsuru shouted at him, her blush almost audible as Kaede could be heard giggling.

"Right, well, I think that Tora got what he needed, right?" Kaede cut in, Ryouka looking at the messenger as he shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm satisfied, I guess."

"Alright, then. I'll see you in a little while, Ryouka. Stay safe." Kaede said pleasantly, ending the call.

"Right, so..." Tora hopped down off of the table beside Natsuru's bed, moving towards it. "She doesn't have much since you all keep ruining her clothes... she's actually pretty bitter about that, by the way." Tora warned her, causing Ryouka to frown sadly. "But yeah, let's get packing!"

Meanwhile, Hitomi had raided Natsuru's fridge, snagging a pair of apples in the process of searching for an office. Having searched the lower parts of the house already, Hitomi had moved back upstairs as the phone call had ended, quietly slipping past the bedroom as she continued down the hallway. After admiring the destroyed door and door frame of the bathroom that she hadn't noticed before, she checked the next available door and found Natsuru's parent's bedroom, which about half of it was absolutely coated in dust, whereas what must have been his mother's parts of the room were fairly clean, and only a mild buildup of dust was found.

As she was about to move on, Hitomi noticed a box partially obscured by the comforter on the bed. Intrigued, she pulled it out and took a look at it. Finding a label on it that said 'Natsuru', she opted to take some of the precious little time she had to search to dig through it, hoping to get something for Kaede. Finding mostly only junk, such as a lock of blue hair in a baggy, or old toys, she quickly noticed an old, fabric covered album that had a large buildup of dust, Natsuru's name in a heart-shaped label on it.

Inside was mostly photographs of Natsuru, at various stages of his life while growing up, many of the earlier ones featuring Mikoto accompanying him with her parents, the earliest ones also showing her mother. Hitomi noted begrudgingly that Kondou's mother was a fairly pretty lady with her blonde hair in a long, braided ponytail that reached the small of her back. Taking a moment to imagine Natsuru with such a long ponytail, Hitomi shook her head and refocused on her mission, not spending any extra time on her enemy's mother.

Flipping further in, she found something that blew her mind.

"What? No friggen way! Natsuru plays electric guitar?!" Hitomi exclaimed, startling herself and covering her mouth as she listened through the closed door to see if she alerted Natsuru's messenger. Hearing nothing, she went back to the image and chuckled. There, what could have only been a few years ago, was Natsuru seemingly rocking out on a guitar in his bedroom. It was hard to tell if he was any good from an image, but he seemed to know what he was doing in the still. The find had pumped her up, since she knew a thing or two about guitars thanks to a family member owning such a store.

"I wonder if those are still around the house somewhere..." Hitomi pondered aloud as she eyeballed the bone-white guitar, and the amp it was connected to. Shrugging it off, she continued leafing through the album, not expecting much, until she reached the final page, which had many loose items. Digging through them, she noticed that they were a mix of things throughout the years, the first sheet detailing important dates and information from when Natsuru was a baby, such as first word, and so on. Getting to the last few sheets after spending a moment to glance at everything, Hitomi was greeted with a very dark image on a mostly black sheet of paper. Pulling out her flashlight again, Hitomi took one glance at what she was holding and was immediately convinced she'd found what she was looking for.

Moving on to the information on the right side of the mostly black image, as she read along, she stopped on one line before she gasped, dropping her flashlight. Only a moment later, she grinned and looked as if she had won the lottery, wanting to cheer and shout.

"Perfect... Kaede will love this. Now..." she trailed off, carefully rolling the document and sliding it into a small cardboard tube in her jacket pocket. "Where is that guitar and amp?"

---

"Good… to… hear… see… you… tomorrow… aaaaand, send!" Mikoto thought aloud, smiling as Natsuru had just sent her a text letting her know everything was okay, and included a selfie for confirmation.

Sighing as she put her phone down, Mikoto turned back to the task before her: making tomorrow's lunch.

She was somewhat troubled by it, since she was making extra to share with Natsuru tomorrow, in return for the dinner he had promised to make her. She hadn't shown it, but the offer had flattered her immensely, and once she had split off from Akane when they got to her house, Mikoto has spent the following twenty minutes gushing over it.

"I know it's just a dinner between friends, but I'm so excited! Just Natsuru n' me! Nothing can ruin this!" Mikoto exclaimed, squealing excitedly as she hopped about, before coming to a dead stop as a swarm of ideas about what could interrupt their private dinner came to the forefront of her mind. Shaking her head, Mikoto beamed. "Naw, you know what? I won't let anything get in the way!"

Just then, the phone in the hallway began to ring, catching her by surprise. Curious as to who could be calling so late, Mikoto quickly made her way to the phone and looked at the caller display. Smiling as she read the name, she answered the call.

"Hi, Daddy!"

"Hey, sweetie, how's it going? I hope I didn't wake you!" Ryuusei's voice came through the phone, sounding quite a bit less stressed than he did the last time he had called.

"Nuh-uh, I was just making a lunch for tomorrow before going to bed." Mikoto explained, thankful to have a normal sounding conversation with him. It made everything feel like how it was before she received Norainu from Kaede.

"Jeez, a little late to be doing that, don't you think? I probably would have just gone to bed by now and woken up earlier to make one, instead." Ryuusei chuckled, causing Mikoto to roll her eyes as he laughed.

"I was out late with my friends, it's not like I was being lazy!"

"Oh? What did you do? You didn't go anywhere dangerous, right? I've heard about everything going on there, you know." he asked her, his tone becoming very serious as Mikoto scowled.

"I only went to a pizza parlor! And I was with Shizuku, Akane, and Natsuki! And Natsuki knows martial arts, so we were fine!" she declared defiantly, growing more annoyed as Ryuusei began to laugh again.

"Alright, alright Mikoto, calm down…" he laughed as Mikoto frowned, growing quiet for a moment. "Hmm… so, it sounds like Natsuru's Mother met Natsuki... she described her as a 'blue-haired vixen with enchanting eyes.' Would you agree?"

"That… I mean, that doesn't sound like an inaccurate description of her…" Mikoto begrudgingly admitted, suddenly reminded of how jealous she was of how unfairly pretty Natsuru was as a Kämpfer.

"Right? I know you sent me an image a ways back, but Natsuru's Mother sent me a clip she had taken of their video conversation and, beyond seeming like a shy girl, she looks and sounds like some serious competition for you when it comes to him." He mentioned, Mikoto nodding silently before catching on to his joke.

"Hey!" she shouted at him as he laughed on the other end. "For your information, Natsuki and Natsuru are not going out! Her own words were that she can't help but feel like he's a brother!" Mikoto lied through her teeth, considering her Dad needn't know that 'Natsuki' and Natsuru were the same person.

"Oh, well then, that works out for you, then, right?" he asked her, sounding a little pensive. "It would be nice, almost like a movie! Two childhood friends getting married, having kids and making their parents so proud…"

"Dad, come on! Stop bullying me! Natsuru's just a f-friend to me!" Mikoto blushed, stammering as Ryuusei snorted on the other end.

"Ah. Right. Yes. That's why you were blushing and curling your hair around your finger when you wrote him those last few postcards, and then kissed them before mailing them out. Because you think of him as a really good friend."

"Why did you phone so late?!" Mikoto shrieked at him, embarrassed beyond belief that she had been caught acting like that, by her Father no less.

"Oh, that's right! I'm sorry with how last minute this is, Mikoto, but will you be able to meet me at the airport tomorrow evening, instead? The original plan was for me to return sometime mid-next week, along with this artifact, but the Greek government approached us and offered to fully fund the transport of what we found to Japan ahead of schedule. They even supplied us with a security team to watch over it all." Ryuusei explained, catching Mikoto off guard as she felt her stomach tense up. "They seemed awfully intent on getting the artifact out of Greece as quickly as possible, actually..."

"U-um, what… what time, tomorrow evening?" she asked, biting her lip as he seemed to be figuring out the time difference.

"Looks like… I'd be landing around 5:30 to 6:00." Ryuusei advised her, causing Mikoto's heart to sink.

"O-oh…" she sighed quietly, feeling like a fool for having gotten so excited over dinner tomorrow. Of course, there was going to be something coming up to ruin her personal time with Natsuru.

"'Oh'? What's wrong, Mikoto? You sound disappointed."

"W-well… Natsuru was going to come over and make dinner for me tomorrow, and I was really…" Mikoto trailed off, her voice very quiet as Ryuusei listened.

"Well, you know, it's not like I'm going to be at the front of the airport right at 6:00. It's going to take some time getting through customs, as well as managing the paperwork. I might not even be done by 8:00, so there isn't any rush for you to be there when I land."

"Wait, really?!" she exclaimed, her heart soaring sky-high as she realized her dinner was back on.

"Yeah, really! I was going to suggest you wait, anyways, otherwise you were going to be standing around a while." He chuckled as Mikoto squealed in happiness.

"Yes! I'll get to try Natsuru's curry, for sure!"

"Just promise me one thing, though, Mikoto." Ryuusei suddenly became serious, reeling Mikoto back in as she listened carefully. "No funny business with Natsuru, you hear? You two are still in school."

"D-DAD!" Mikoto gasped, her face going completely red as Ryuusei guffawed in the background.

---

It had been fairly late when Natsuru had gone to bed, having stayed up to receive her belongings that Hitomi and Ryouka had stepped off to fetch for her. The phone call with Tora hadn't helped matters, making her more anxious than she already was for being there in the first place, and she was now also irritated thanks to his comment causing Kaede to wander around with a knowing smirk, even though Natsuru was honest about not having anything like... that.

Initially, since the rain had made her uniform quite filthy, when she had finished in the shower, Natsuru had unfortunately been forced to wear that ridiculous set of entrails animals themed onesie for a second time, since none of the girl's clothes would fit her properly. Sayaka's came close, but Natsuru's bust caused her to have the issue of the shirts not fitting her properly and showing off her midriff, since Sayaka's was a bit more modest. She refused to wear them, even more-so after Kaede assured her that none of them were upset with her wandering around the apartment with her stomach showing.

It was a mixed blessing when Hitomi and Ryouka returned, since she was able to change into something less ludicrous, but she had the unfortunate luck of Hitomi having found a piece of her history she'd rather have stayed buried. Groaning quietly as she laid in bed, Natsuru recalled the entire conversation.

"I still can't believe you went digging through my house... that's so rude..." Natsuru had pouted, in her tried-and-true comfortable PJs: baggy t-shirt and sweatpants.

"I can't believe you are fine letting something like this go to waste! These are pretty expensive, you know! Neither one of them are your everyday entry level garbage." Hitomi ignored Natsuru's objection, admiring the bone-white guitar as Rika was enamored with the amplifier for a reason that escaped Natsuru. The guitar had been lucky enough to be stored in a case, which made transporting it in the rain quite easy, whereas the amp hadn't, and they had wrapped it in garbage bags. "You should totally jam something out for us sometime!"

"Oh, uh… well, honestly, it's been so long since I've last touched a guitar, that I don't think I even really properly play it…" Natsuru had admitted, smiling apologetically as Hitomi looked on in disappointment. "I mean, it's not like I meant to let it slip me by. I did intend to practice once in a while, just… I set it down in the office around the end of grade nine and never got around to picking it up again."

"Isn't supposed to be just like riding a bicycle? You'd be rusty at first, but like, you'd get it back or something." Sayaka added her two cents, clearly having dropped her transformation since her speech became a lot less formal. Natsuru simply shrugged, eyeballing the guitar as Hitomi plucked at a few of the strings in a manner that bothered something distant in her.

"I don't know… I'm not even sure I should bother, since I only learned in the first place because I thought… well, never mind, it's old history, anyways." Natsuru quickly attempted to redirect the conversation, only for Hitomi to smirk and bring it back.

"Hang on there, it sounded like you were about to say that you learned only to impress a certain someone." Hitomi teased her, thumbing towards Kaede and laughing when Natsuru stammered and began to refute the claim. "Bahahaha! I knew it!"

"Did you really, Natsuru?" Kaede asked her curiously, Natsuru blushing for a moment before nodding shyly. "How come? Did you think I'd like a person who could play guitar?"

"W-well… I remember hearing you listen to some rock music the last day of sixth grade, and you told whoever it was that you were with that you liked the song, so I begged my parents for some lessons and a guitar and amp." She explained, as Hitomi poked at the tuning knobs, unsettling something in her again.

"Why such an expensive guitar for a newbie, though? I mean, I don't know how to play 'em, but my uncle loves them and I spent a lot of time with him when I was younger, so I know good stuff when I see it." Hitomi asked her, Natsuru feeling relieved when she stopped fiddling with it and opted to remove some of the dust instead.

"From what I understand, my Father wasn't sure what to get, so the shop owner ended up kind of taking him for a ride. When Mom found out how much he spent, she was furious. We didn't have a lot of money at the time." Natsuru explained, watching as Hitomi pursed her lips and frowned.

"You... wouldn't happen to know which store he bought this from, would you?"

"No, sorry. He did it as a surprise for me."

"Wow, your Dad must really love you to be willing to get into trouble like that just to make you happy…" Ryouka commented, smiling as Hitomi glared at the guitar, muttering.

"'Father', not 'Dad'." Natsuru corrected her, grumbling as she glared at the guitar for a moment. "As for him loving me... he sure used to, I'll say that much…" Natsuru muttered, looking upset as she glared at the coffee table. Ryouka became very nervous upon realizing she had stumbled upon a sensitive topic, beginning to silently fret as she looked to the others for help.

"O-oh, uh, by the way… what's with all the ratty clothes in that bin by your laundry room? We found them when we tried to find you some decent clothes besides the, like, two outfits you have." Hitomi cut in, hoping to steer the conversation to a more neutral area as Ryouka gasped and cringed, recalling Tora's comments from earlier.

"Why don't you ask yourselves." Natsuru had spit out in irritation, still quite angry as she surprised everyone with a withering glare at Hitomi. "I actually liked some of those outfits, you know. Some of them cost a lot of money."

"A-ah, uh..." Hitomi then stammered, looking towards Kaede when she realized quickly what Natsuru was getting on about.

"Sorry, Natsuru, it's a cost of this business we've caused between each other. The simple solution for you would be to just join me, but If you'd like, we can go shopping tomorrow before school to replace them?" Kaede had quickly offered, giggling when Natsuru's stomach suddenly growled quietly, preventing her from responding immediately.

"Why aren't you ever satisfied...?" Natsuru grumbled, having blushed as she looked down at her stomach. Reaching out to grab a delicious biscuit from a tray that Kaede had placed on the coffee table earlier, Natsuru had shook her head in response.

"I can't, I'm going to be busy with student council work, so I need to get to school as soon as possible."

"Student council work? Seriously? Sangou is making you her lap dog, now?" Sayaka joked, causing Natsuru to give her a baleful smile.

"No, it has to do with trying to keep the student body and their parents calm over the uproar from yesterday. Shizuku texted me when I was in the shower, as it seems word got out about some sort of Moderator agents threateningNishino with her life if she didn't change her story slightly." She had explained sarcastically, causing Sayaka to frown and call her a smartass. "Speaking of today, Kaede." Natsuru then turned her attention to beside her, narrowing her eyes as Kaede had smiled. "What the hell is this about guys being killed by the bracelets? I know that's what you were talking about when you whispered in my ear. We both know that isn't true, and don't go thinking I haven't picked up on what you're planning by pulling this stunt." She asked her curtly, Kaede having gone from happy to confused like the flick of a switch.

"Stunt? What stunt? I wasn't lying about that; your messenger was lied to, and males are killed by the transformation process." Kaede then insisted, causing Natsuru to roll her eyes.

"The stunt was preparing the student body to accept that the other me and this me are the same person, and I tooootally had to be a girl the entire time, because boys get killed by the bracelets. And that this would come about once you ousted me as a Kämpfer, thereby forcing me to stay as a girl, because why bother otherwise since everyone is going to assume I am no matter which form I'm in." Natsuru growled, glaring at Kaede again until Hitomi snorted.

"Why the hell would Kaede want everyone to find out you're a Kämpfer? The whole point of bringing you here and giving you that ring was so people wouldn't, you moron."

"... Wait, what?" Natsuru recalled asking, having let go of her knees and setting her feet on the floor as the whites chuckled, shaking their heads.

"Do you really think I'm capable of doing something like that to you...?" Kaede asked her quietly, looking hurt as Natsuru stammered, unsure of what to say or do. Lying in bed as the conversation replayed itself in her mind, she could recall the look on Kaede's face, the memory stinging a little as her heart told her she made Kaede sad needlessly, while her mind told her to be cautious.

"W-well... I mean... y-you've brainwashed me before, so... yeah, I thought it might be... possible." Natsuru finally admitted, feeling guilty as Kaede looked towards the coffee table, sighing.

"Well... I guess I can't blame you for thinking that... it certainly does seem like something I'd do, doesn't it?" she spoke sadly, fidgeting with her hands as Natsuru looked away out of guilt. "Listen, I'm sorry about what this has set you up for, but I'm not lying to you about it. Bracelets of Oath kill male hosts when their magic is invoked to trigger a transformation." Kaede promised her, reaching out and placing a hand on Natsuru's arm. "I do have video evidence from the last experiments run about five years ago. It's very... violent, and horrific, so I'd rather spare you..."

"They why can I do it? What makes me so damn special?" Natsuru had asked her, still not convinced about it, but deciding to just roll with the conversation.

"I don't know, but... I've got a hunch, and some leads I'm following right now. I'm hoping to get an answer sooner, rather than later." Kaede answered her cryptically, patting Natsuru's arm while she smiled gently. "We should all get to bed, though. It's rather late and I suspect we have a big day tomorrow."

"Follow me, Natsuru! I made a bed up for you!" Rika announced, hopping over to Natsuru as she bounced excitedly, the older girl a little taken aback by the sudden change in overall attitude amongst the group. Being dragged along by Rika, Natsuru had waved Kaede goodnight as Kaede smiled and returned the gesture, opting to remain in the living room with the others for an unknown length of time.

And that eventually lead to her laying here in bed, after what had to be a few hours later, with Rika having nestled herself in the crook of Natsuru's arm, fast asleep. It was awkward enough as it was, but Rika had sent it over the edge when she asked if she could start calling Natsuru her older sister.

When she had pointed out that it might not be appropriate, since she already had an actual older sister, Rika had shrugged and simply told her that 'nothing says I can't have two!'.

Truth be told, Natsuru was still carrying around an immense amount of guilt over nearly killing the poor girl a few weeks ago. So as a compromise, and a begrudgingly added promise to revisit the idea of becoming 'sisters', Natsuru relented and allowed Rika to spend the night in her bed with her. If nothing else, Natsuru reasoned it might actually keep Kaede away for the time being, since she doubted the Moderator had any desire to explain to the girl what she would likely be doing to Natsuru right about now. Blushing as she let her mind wander for a bit before shaking her head, Natsuru Looked down at Rika, unable to help but smile as she felt her heart melt a little, admitting to herself that Rika was every bit a cute little girl while she slept.

'If you ignore the fact that she's trying to shred my friends limb from limb, that is.' Natsuru reminded herself, rolling her eyes and being generally disgruntled again. 'What the hell am I doing? This entire evening's been a bust because of Rika! I'm here to gather intel on what they're planning for that stupid artifact!' she growled quietly, looking back down at the young girl. 'I wouldn't put it past them for Rika to have been sicked on me to keep me from sneaking around. Kaede might be willing to let me get away with a lot, but she isn't stupid.'

Sighing, Natsuru mentally shrugged and closed her eyes, deciding that she might as well try and get what little sleep she could before she had to wake up for school. Only a moment went by before she drifted off to sleep, the rise and fall of her chest slowing and deepening being an indicator of relaxation.

While she began to dream pleasant dreams, Natsuru was unaware of Rika slowly sitting up from her position in the bed, doing her best not to wake Natsuru. Looking down at the older girl, Rika smirked and narrowed her eyes conspiratorially, watching Natsuru sleep for a moment before gently sliding off of the bed. Giving her one last look, Rika quietly opened the bedroom door and slipped into the hallway.

Tip-toeing towards another room down the hall, Rika quietly opened it as well, peeking into the room to find Hitomi, Ryouka, and Sayaka wide awake, though looking incredibly tired.

"Took you long enough! Did you fall asleep in her arms or something?" Sayaka sneered, clearly upset over having to wait for the younger girl before she could sleep.

"Sayaka would... you... ah..." Hitomi trailed off, yawning widely and rubbing her eyes before continuing. "Would you knock it off?"

"It's not my fault, Natsuru just wouldn't fall asleep! She kept grumbling about something on her mind, and wouldn't stop jumping at the slightest creak in the floor from the hallway." Rika complained, shaking her head and shrugging. "I think she expects Kaede to try and jump her bones. I don't know why Natsuru's so against just letting her heart take control for once and just sleeping with Kaede like she wants to."

"It's because she wants to boink Kaede as a guy, not as a chick. I thought that much was obvious, by now." Hitomi rolled her eyes, patting an empty spot beside her on her bed invitingly, prompting Rika to sit beside her. "Anyways, we went over this a few hours ago, but turns out Kaede's mole in the archaeology team over in Greece had an update for us. It sounds like the tablet is now being shipped into Japan tomorrow, and it'll be landing at the Hiroshima Airport sometime around eighteen hundred hours."

"Oooh, so they're bringing it right to us!" Rika whispered excitedly, Hitomi nodding while holding a finger to her lips to get her to quiet down.

"Yeah, it would make it pretty simple to do a smash-and-grab, since it's practically only half an hour out of the city. Except for a number of problems, one of them actually being huge." Hitomi explained, the other two grimacing as Rika titled her head in curiosity. "The mole claims that 'The Traitor' was spotted with the archaeology team in the last few days. It wasn't immediately brought to everyone's attention because the mole was terrified of being discovered."

"...what?" was all Rika could get out, the blood in her veins growing ice-cold when her friends all became extremely nervous. "Who's 'The Traitor'? Why are we afraid of them?"

"I don't know. But it was basically all Kaede said, and she looked scared when she mentioned them. She also refused to give me any defining details about them, except that she might be outright canceling the mission just because they were spotted, and to expect her to order us to avoid both the tablet and Natsuru's friends like the plague." Hitomi explained, speaking quietly as she wrapped her arms around herself, frowning. "Kaede did say that we don't even know if The Traitor was only there in passing, or if they've become involved directly, since they apparently haven't been seen in the area since. But for her to be so worried from hearing that they were just spotted, going as far as outright ordering us to stay away from those three... I can only imagine what sort of horrifying monster this person is."

"I, um... I couldn't help but get the feeling that Kaede doesn't know who they are, either..." Ryouka added, the idea weighing heavily on the four of them since it made sense. Kaede wouldn't willingly withhold information that could spare them their lives, she had promised them as much when they all swore an oath of allegiance to her.

"But... what about Natsuru? Isn't she technically in danger? And what about her parents? Aren't they coming back to Japan, too?" Rika asked them, looking around as they all shrugged before glancing at the door nervously, due to Natsuru being left asleep and alone.

"When it comes to Natsuru, Kaede was very adamant about that, since she was assured that Natsuru was perfectly safe from The Traitor. Reason being, Natsuru and her friends are aligned with nearly the same goal as The Traitor, and they've been shown in the past leaving Kämpfer that were rioting well enough alone." Hitomi assured her, Rika sighing in relief and felt comfortable having left Natsuru alone again. "As for her parents... we actually don't know anymore. Ticket sales records show that they bought tickets to fly here on the 11th, the same day of Seitetsu's fall festival, not tomorrow or even the originally scheduled flight that the tablet was going to take." Hitomi did her best to answer her question, similarly shrugging. "Only issue is the reservations haven't been fully confirmed yet. The organization doesn't seem all that worried about them, it sounds like, because they didn't have much for Kaede, or us by extension."

"Then, maybe Natsuru knows?" Rika suggested, to which Sayaka chuckled and shook her head.

"As if. If she got all pissy about her 'Father', as she insists on calling him, then I doubt they, like, talk often, if at all." Sayaka pointed out, causing Rika to pout slightly. "Besides, I fail to see how they factor into this at all? Beyond having insight into the nature of the tablet, since they research esoteric history and folklore, they'd hardly have an impact."

Sighing and sidling up her bed, Hitomi pulled her comforter up before looking back at Rika. "Well, us getting information on Natsuru's parents isn't important right now. That being said, we'll still have to be gentle with them, considering their son is going to suddenly become their daughter." Hitomi pointed out, pausing to stretch. "What is important right now is that we wait and see if who all shows up in Japan. If we're lucky, we can get away with just scrubbing the mission, and snatching the tablet a little later than we wanted." Hitomi finished, yawning widely as she began to lay down. "You'd better get back to Natsuru, Rika. You never know when she'll wake up and start poking her nose into stuff once she realizes you're not there."

---

"Haaaaah... I'm so tired..." Natsuru complained, trudging his way through the crowd of students after getting off at a bus stop a distance away from the school. He hardly got any sleep last night, since he had been too worried sick for a good portion of it that Kaede might actually just disregard Rika's presence and sneak in while he had been sleeping and try something, from brainwashing him, to outright sexual harassment. Shaking his head, he had watched Kaede, Hitomi, Sayaka, and Ryouka round a street corner ahead of him. He had insisted that they go on ahead, since he needed to do his best to keep up appearances of not being involved with them while he was male.

Worse still, he learned, as it turned out, that the bus Kaede actually took from her apartment ended up stopping a few streets over. Every time she took the same bus as him, she had gone out of her way bypass the school and end up waiting for his bus. Thinking back, this had actually been something she'd been doing years ago, since they had entered junior high, which told him that she'd been a moderator from a young age, and was likely watching him for a very long time, possibly since they had met as little children.

"Just how long, exactly, has she been watching me, I wonder..." he pondered quietly, yawning again as he finally caught sight of the school, though it was the girl's entrance. Part of him questioned using the security card he received as an official member of the Student Council, and while he initially brushed it off and was prepared to walk to the boy's entrance, he recalled all the damage that had been inflicted on the entrance of the girl's side.

Deciding it was a better sell to wander over and use some of his free time in the morning to examine the damage and write down details for Shizuku and the rest of the council, Natsuru sighed as he wandered up to the gate, pulling his id card from under his shirt as it hung on a lanyard and holding it up to the security system. A beep told him it was okay to cross, prompting him to wander towards the entrance as some of the girls whispered and pointed at him, leading him to roll his eyes.

'What the hell is so interesting? You never seen a guy over here? I know there's other guys on the council...' he complained in his mind, coming up to the first bit of damage at the entrance. Pulling out his phone to begin making notes and take pictures, he was reminded to check his messages when a text from Mikoto came in. Holding off on reading it, he looked at his conversation with Akane and found that all she had done was read his message from last night, telling her he was still sane.

Frowning, he fired off a quick text to her asking if she was alright, before returning to Mikoto's message.

"Hey, you're at school, right? Where are you?" her message asked. Wondering what was going on, he texted her back.

"Yeah, sorry, I was trying to get a hold of Akane. She never replied to me last night."

"What? I was gonna ask if YOU knew anything! Now, where are you!?" she demanded, irritating him as he typed in a response.

"I'm just inside the front doors of the girl's campus."

"Wait, you came transformed today?" she asked, causing him to roll his eyes before taking a quick selfie and sending it.

"Do I look like a girl to you? I'm in here getting photos and details of the damages for Shizuku."

"Right, fine, keep your panties on! Sheesh! I'm on my way, don't leave!"

'Like I could, dummy. I'm here now, I have to look like I have a reason for even coming in through here.' he growled, thinking to himself of how rude Mikoto could be as he took a few pictures of some damage security equipment.

"FYI, Shizuku is right behind you." a text from Mikoto popped up, Natsuru squinting at it for a moment until he turned around, catching Shizuku as she was about to tap on his shoulder.

"Ah, good morning, Senou. I see you're taking the initiative to try and help." Shizuku commented politely, smiling as she was accompanied by a stern-looking girl with long, brown hair, with equally long bangs covering the right side of her face, and appeared to be a first year. The girl was holding a clipboard and pen as she glared at Natsuru, tapping the pen impatiently against the clipboard.

"Oh, good morning, President." Natsuru greeted Shizuku in turn, looking towards the girl he didn't recognize, her long bangs partially covering the right side of her face. "I don't believe we've met, yet. My name is—"

"You don't need to do that now, the President and I have already gone over the damages with the school board." the girl interrupted him, being very curt as Natsuru leaned back slightly out of surprise. "If you had wanted to help, you should have been in sooner. I expected better from the President's personal assistant."

"Kuzuhara..." Shizuku warned her in a stern voice, causing the younger girl to look at her in surprise, looking like she wanted to argue with her. "The reason he was in later was because I had him looking into other matters in the neighborhood. I also never explained to him that I would already be down here early to have a preliminary inspection done, hence why he didn't head directly for the office."

"I see... I'm sorry for questioning it, Madam President." Kuzuhara said with some humility, bowing her head slightly as Shizuku sighed, rubbing a temple.

"I'm not the one who you should be apologizing to, Kuzuhara."

"Mm..." she groaned quietly, looking back to Natsuru with a glare that seemed to be held specifically for him. "...Sorry." she growled, not sounding the least bit sincere as she turned around and left the area, looking back to her clipboard as she began doing what appeared to be some math equations.

"Sorry about her, Natsuru. She's quite bitter about you working so closely with me." Shizuku sighed, as Natsuru stared after her in curiosity.

"Who is she, exactly? I'm not sure I recognize her, so I'm wondering if I might have insulted her somehow..."

"Her name is Midori Kuzuhara, she's the student council's newest Treasurer. She just received the position this morning, since our previous treasurer is one of the students transferring out." Shizuku began to explain, as Natsuru watched Midori cast one last withering glare at him while walking up the nearest staircase to the next floor. "Prior to that, she was the class representative for class 1-3, but I have it on good authority that she was pushing hard to become my assistant up until I had you assigned."

"Oh... so she hates me because I got the job she wanted." Natsuru groaned, slouching as he foresaw an impending battle of attrition with Midori. Shizuku chuckled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not just that, exactly." she said, smiling as Natsuru turned and looked at her in confusion. "The last seven Student Council Presidents became assistants to the previous President prior to gaining the position themselves, and I was no exception. I have it on good authority that Kuzuhara had strong aspirations to become the student council president herself, and with you gaining the position of my assistant, you've become a threat in her eyes."

"But... that makes no sense. When I'm in my third year, she'll still only be in her second, so if I somehow became Student Council President through some divine prank, it's not like she'd lose out on the chance since only third years can be President..."

"... The other part of it is she has a crush on me." Shizuku added, causing Natsuru to do a double take.

"A crush on you? How do you know?" he asked, scratching at his head.

"Because she told me as much."

"Oh... wait, why does that bother her, then?!" Natsuru exclaimed, getting frustrated the more he heard about this girl.

"Because she's bought into the rumors surrounding us." Shizuku explained as she gestured for them to walk.

"Oh, Mikoto said she wanted to meet up, do you mind if we wait?" Natsuru asked her, Shizuku shaking her head and then pointed to a bench nearby. "Also, uh... rumors?"

"Well, yes. Suddenly making you my assistant without you having been a member of the council before that, and the pair of us spending a lot of time together tends to generate rumors of a secret romance." Shizuku chuckled as Natsuru sighed, the pair of them sitting down on the bench by a window, giving them full view of the entrance. "It also doesn't help that students have heard you and I refer to each other on a first name basis."

"Right, yeah, that would do it..." Natsuru groaned, suddenly aware of the odd group of girls giddily gossiping as they walked past the pair of them. "Come on, Mikoto, where are you...?" he complained, jumping when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Fishing it out, he noticed that he had a text come in from Akane.

"Listen, I'm sorry for not responding. I had a really rough night at home, and, well... whatever, I'm just not coming in to school today. Please, stay safe. And text me if that where Sakura tries to pull anything!"

"That doesn't sound good..." Natsuru whispered, showing Shizuku the text when she became curious.

"... Her family knows." she stated with finality, Natsuru looking at her with wide eyes as she pursed her lips and nodded. "It's the only logical explanation for her to behave this way. If she simply had a fight with them, then she'd be more likely be angry than despondent, like her message implies. With her being this way, then I fear some things were said and she snapped."

"Who snapped?" Mikoto asked them, Natsuru and Shizuku startled when they noticed here standing in front of them, holding her school bag and a large bento box in her hands. Shizuku showed her Natsuru's phone, holding it up for her since her hands were full. "Oh no, Akane! Do you think we're in danger of being found out?" Mikoto whispered frantically, pacing in front of them as she fretted.

"I can't see Akane letting our identities out, but... it would be wise to just assume her parents suspect us, since we all spend so much time with her."

"Why are we even bothering to hide it anymore? I swear, it feels like everyone but our classmates and the school faculty know." Mikoto sighed, sitting down beside Natsuru and placing her bag and bento box down as her mood spiraled downwards.

"Well, look at it this way, Mikoto. The Military and Akane's parents both have vested interest in not letting our identities leak, to prevent panic as much as possible, and to stop ordinary people from trying to be vigilantes and take us out. So, the only thing we have to worry about is Kaede and the Whites getting their hands on that relic."

"Yeah, woopie... I get to steal from my Dad..." Mikoto sighed, looking down for a moment before she snapped her fingers. "Oh, that's right! My Dad is coming home tonight, you two! The artifact as well, in fact."

"Wait, tonight? I guess we'll have to put off dinner, then..." Natsuru mumbled, not noticing the look Shizuku was giving him, or the smirk Mikoto flashed Shizuku before she clapped her hands together.

"Nope! Daddy told me he was going to be a while in customs, and that we should show up around eight, since he'll probably be walking out to the luggage carousels then." Mikoto exclaimed happily, Natsuru smiling since she had been successfully distracted from her gloomy thoughts on the current situation.

"Alright. If you don't mind, though, I'd like to stop in at Akane's place before we go. I want to make sure she's okay." Natsuru asked the pair of them, Mikoto agreeing as Shizuku looked away.

"Well, I'm fine with that either way, since I'm not going to be there. If they are moving up the timetable, I will need to prepare sooner." Shizuku explained, Mikoto and Natsuru sharing a look with each other before turning back to her.

"What do you mean? What are you getting ready for?" Mikoto asked her. Looking around to make sure none of the other students were trying to listen in.

"I've decided that if anyone is going to attempt stealing the artifact, it should be me, and me alone." she whispered to them, the pair of them looking at her with concern as she smirked.

"Are you sure? Surely two would be better than one...?" Natsuru whispered back, frowning with worry as Shizuku waved him off.

"No, while I'd normally agree with you, out of the four of us, Akane's appearance is completely known to authorities, your Kämpfer form is known, and Mikoto will be watched very closely since she is highly suspected to be a Kämpfer while also being related to the man in charge of the team who found the artifact. I am also being suspected, but they have absolutely no information on my appearance while transformed, so while in a strong disguise, they should have difficulty determining who I am."

"But isn't that still leaving you open to being detected? You don't have a ring to mask your presence." Mikoto pointed out, leading Shizuku to gesturing to Natsuru's ring.

"True, but Natsuru won't need one assuming he doesn't transform. So, when I'm comfortable making a move, I can borrow his ring, and he can stick close to you or Akane, or better yet the pair of you until I'm done with it, and then he can head back to Kaede's apartment." Shizuku ran them through her idea quickly, the pair of them looking to one another and shrugging, agreeing that it was a sound concept.

"That should also keep us out of trouble, if the three of us stay at Mikoto's place and her Dad ends up being there as well. Gives us plausible deniability." Natsuru surmised, with Shizuku nodding along as he spoke. "But what about you? Even if you can come up with an alibi, you not being with us might be seen as suspicious." he pointed out, Mikoto looking over his shoulder at Shizuku.

"Well, that's true, but... our only other option would be to come forward and warn them about what the tablet is going to potentially do, and that it's being targeted for abuse, all of which would also reveal us being Kämpfer." Shizuku rebutted, causing Natsuru to think of something to argue in return. "Besides, like I said, while my Kämpfer form changes are subtle, I can hide most of my natural hair color by tucking my hair up into a tight bun, and then top it off with a hood to hide the rest of it. Finish it off with a full disguise, and I should be able to wander around without my identity being discovered. Ideally, that is."

"But, it's still not perfect..." Mikoto trailed off, with Shizuku shaking her head.

"No, it's not. But it's never going to be, and I don't get to ask Akane to practically ruin her life by poking around this school after hours, and then not step up myself when the time comes." Shizuku stated with finality, Natsuru and Mikoto wanting to argue against her doing it alone, but she wouldn't hear it.

"Fine then... whenever we do this, bring the artifact to my house. Not only do I have something we should be able to use to hide it and maybe keep it from affecting us, but out of the four of us, I obviously have the most training with handling artifacts. It might be bad for us, but it's still an artifact, and a valuable piece of history." Mikoto relented, leaving Shizuku one last demand for her to be on board.

"What sort of disguise are you going to use?" Natsuru asked her, quickly glancing at his phone for the time. Smirking, Shizuku tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"I don't have anything but an idea yet. You know of the costume shop nearby, correct?" Shizuku asked them, Natsuru nodding, but Mikoto shook her head. "It's only a few streets over from the school, to the east. I was hoping to step out of the school during our lunch hour and take a look, since it's supposed to have plenty of higher quality costumes and film-tier makeup."

"A-aww... I went and made a lunch to share with Natsuru, though..." Mikoto whined, surprising Natsuru with the news as Shizuku smiled and shook her head again.

"Then bring it with you! There is a park on the way, so we can enjoy a meal together outside of the confines of the school. The three of us getting out won't be an issue once you transform, Natsuru, and I can simply explain that I've had this you step out to visit a nearby security company to inquire about repair costs."

"Wait, what? Why do I have to go transformed?" Natsuru groaned as Shizuku smiled.

"Because I want to get us all a set of disguises, since it might not go well during my attempt. At least that way, we have a backup team, right?"

"Alright, I guess... where specifically is it, though?" Mikoto asked them, glancing between the pair of them as Natsuru groaned and hung his head.

"Here, let me pull it up on my phone..." Natsuru mumbled, sliding his phone back out and bringing up a map application. Typing in the name, he showed Mikoto where it was in relation to the school.

"Oh, that's not far at all! It'll give us plenty of time to eat!" Mikoto exclaimed happily, clinging to Natsuru's arm with a smile. "As much as I'd prefer sharing it with you as you are now, I'm okay if you're a girl! I made all sorts of yummy food, and most of it isn't curry!"

Just as the trio came to an agreement, the school's warning bell sounded, letting them know that there were only a few minutes left until class started. Waving each other farewell, Natsuru ran at top speed as he still had to pass through a checkpoint. Practically wheezing as he got near it, Natsuru clenched his eyes shut as he poured on some more speed. Turning a corner, Natsuru didn't notice he was sprinting directly towards a female student, who was with a pair of girls.

"Hey, look out!" one of them shouted, prompting Natsuru's eyes to shoot wide open, catching sight of a terrified looking first year with neon pink hair cringing right before he collided with her. His lack of breath already making his voice slightly higher pitched, the collision caused Natsuru to squeak loudly as the pair of them went sprawling across the floor, a few of his belongings skittering across the tiles as the younger girl fell onto her rear.

"Hey, Tremblay, are you okay?!" one of the girls asked, as the dazed girl sat up and collected herself, looking over at Natsuru in confusion.

"I-I told you to call me Ameliaaaaa..." the girl commented, now worried about the person who had accidentally run into her, sprawled out across the floor a short distance beside her. "Ahhh… ça m'a surpris."

"Oi, Senou, what the hell was that?!" the other girl, her voice familiar to him, nudged his side with a foot. "Are you a man? What kind of sound was that? You sounded like a girl!"

"Agh...my head..." he groaned, placing a hand to his head and gritting his teeth as he sat up. Looking over, he took stock of the condition of the girl, who was looking at him with concern as she continued sitting on the floor, her legs out to her sides. "I'm really, really sorry... I didn't hurt you, too badly, did I?"

"N-no... I'm okaaaaay… I think." she said, her voice clearly harboring an accent as Natsuru realized that she wasn't Japanese. Without warning, the girl suddenly appeared very interesting in the hand he was using to rub his head. "I know this seems weird and sudden, but that's a reeeeeeally pretty bracelet...~" she commented, pointing at it his right wrist as Natsuru suddenly became very conscious of it, chuckling nervously as he stood up.

"Yeah, pretty girly, isn't it?" the same girl who shouted at him then sneered, her voice now finally causing Natsuru to recognize her. Groaning he look beside him to see Hitomi smirking as she watched him, holding his phone.

"Hello, Minagawa..." he grumbled picking his bag up off the floor, making sure to collect his few belongings that had scattered, keeping an eye on the two girls he didn't recognized as the pink-haired one was helped up.

"Dang, Senou. Girly squeaks, girly bracelet, and searching up makeup shops. You sure you're not leading a double life, here?" she snickered while flashing his phone at him, the map application having been the last program open on it whilst showing the costume shop under a pin.

"Give me that!" Natsuru snapped, snatching it out of her grasp as the other two girls gave him weird looks. "Oh, come on! It obviously wasn't for me! Give me a break!" he groaned, a slight blush on his cheeks as the two girls looked at one another. "My friend, Mikoto Kondou, she's a second year? She can confirm that it was for her, if you ask her."

"O-oh, well, she's in my class, so it'll be easy to ask her... I guess it's not so weird, after all, Minagawa." the older girl finally said something, smiling faintly as Natsuru sighed in relief.

"Yeah, whatever. I still say he's hiding something..." She replied, squinting and hiding hiding her smirk from the other two while making it fully visible to Natsuru. Ignoring her, Natsuru slipped his phone away before continuing to speak.

"Anyways, what are you three doing out of class so close to start? That's not a good thing for me to come across, you know."

"Oh, I'm new here, and these two were assigned to show me around the schoooool~! See, we have hall passes!" The pink-haired first year exclaimed excitedly, showing off the small card hanging from a lanyard that was around her neck. "Are you running late for class, or something?" She asked, before becoming very confused. "Wait, girls and boys are split apart, how are you over here?"

"I'm a member of the student council, and the personal assistant to the President. I was on this side this morning before class, examining the damage done to the security systems." Natsuru explained, holding up his security pass in his own lanyard. As the girl got closer, she suddenly snapped her hand out and grabbed his wrist, admiring his bracelet again as the bell signifying class starting rung out.

"Woooow~! This is sooo pretty and sparkly! I'd love one, toooo~! Where did you get it?!" she exclaimed excitedly, only to gasp in surprise when Hitomi and the other second year pried her off of Natsuru, much to his relief. "Aw..."

"Come on now, Tremblay! I know we went over this. Canada might be different, but here in Japan, people don't like it when you suddenly grab them." The second-year girl admonished her, leading Amelia to pout as they walked away down the hall.

"I can see about getting you one, I think I know where he got that thing..." Hitomi commented, giving Natsuru a sidelong smirk as he choked back a shout, glaring at her as she let go of the transfer student. "I'll catch up in a minute, just have to let our Student Council member know… some stuff." she waved them off as they nodded, looking back down the hallway as the older girl began pointing some stuff out.

"You leave her out of this!" Natsuru hissed, balling up his fists, Hitomi chuckling and holding up her hands placatingly.

"Relax, relax, I was just kidding! Already enough Kämpfer in this area as it is, and I can't do it myself, anyways." She said, smiling as Natsuru calmed down slightly, though maintained his glare. "You're aware that once you pull your head out of your ass and choose Kaede, and your friends get taken down, Kaede is gonna have to pick out new Kämpfer, anyways, right? It's her job."

"Then I'm never going to make that choice, not until she understands that what she's doing is wrong and gives it up!" Natsuru shot back still angry as Hitomi sighed, looking out the window beside the pair of them, a pensive look on her face.

"Can I ask you a quick question?"

"... Depends on what the question is, I suppose." he grumbled, still watching her like a hawk as she walked up to the window, and leaned against the sill.

"... How would you react if… something happened that took your male form completely away from you?" she asked, Natsuru remaining silent as he was taken aback from the bluntness of her question. Looking back over to him and noticing his confusion, Hitomi smiled gently. "Kind of a broad question, huh? I guess what I'm mostly interested in is; would you continue to push Kaede back, even if you somehow couldn't be a guy again? Or... is the fact that you can return to the gender you are used to the only thing causing you to ignore your own heart?"

"... I... what? What are you five planning...?" Natsuru whispered, growing pale as he became quite nervous. Regardless of the fact that he already knew what this was about, that Hitomi was asking him such a bold question, all the while dropping her trademark cocky attitude with it being replaced with a much more serene, seemingly gentle one set the hairs on his neck on end.

"Ah, forget I asked. You'd never give me an honest answer, anyways." Hitomi waved it off, standing up from her perch by the window before moving closer to him. "Listen, my team and I are kind of in hot water with our parents, so none of us are gonna be able to bring you to Kaede's tonight. You'll be on your own, so keep your head on a swivel."

"I'm not going to be there until later, myself. I have plans." Natsuru grumbled, still unnerved by her behavior. "And none that concern you, either, so don't ask." he growled, seeing her curiosity peak. Instead, Hitomi laughed and smirked darkly, settings his nerves straining again.

"Alright then, be dark and mysterious! She's gonna be all sorts of sad, though, just so you know. You might have to give her a little sugar to get her to come around, if you know what I mean." Hitomi said sensually with a wink, sending Natsuru's mind swimming with mixed thoughts of Kaede, both of arousal and revulsion, since it would undoubtedly be in his Kämpfer form. Seeing the look on his face, Hitomi laughed and began walking away. "You're gonna have to get over that, and soon, you goof! She really doesn't want to try and force you, but she's getting impatient. You experienced that in the science lab, remember?"

"Ugh... damn you, Minagawa!" Natsuru growled, turning away from her and storming past the security gates. Deciding that there was no longer any point in attempting to get to class in a hurry since he was already late, Natsuru wandered into the nearest bathroom, and proceeded to splash water onto his face. Wiping the water that collected on the bottom of his chin off in an effort to keep his shirt dry, Natsuru stared at himself in the mirror, taking a good, long look, occasionally prodding at areas of his own face.

'Why have I felt so exhausted for the past few days? Last night not withstanding, I've been getting plenty of sleep.' he wondered, sighing as his appearance suddenly appeared quite haggard and exhausted. Staring at himself, Natsuru couldn't help but have a rogue though come to the forefront of his mind, wondering if anything he was doing as even making a difference. Splashing his face again, Natsuru quickly gave his cheeks gentle slaps and took a deep breath. Letting his breath go, he stood up straight and adjusted his uniform, straightening it out.

"Right, I've kept up a strong image for the girls until now, all I have to do is keep it up until we get that stupid artifact... and get rid of it." He mumbled to himself, adjusting his hair slightly as he thought about where he was going to hide the thing. "Maybe in the mountains? I still remember where we went camping with Mikoto's family and it was pretty remote, so maybe that would work..."

---

"Oh, I understand perfectly why I should come along..." Natsuru muttered quietly as Mikoto, Shizuku, and herself all walked down the street En-route to the location they all agreed on. "I just don't get why I need to be transformed...!"

"Shizuku already explained, didn't she? To get us both a costume as well!" Mikoto exclaimed, looking forward to the idea of trying on disguises.

"I don't see the sense behind it, though. I mean, sure, like you said, we can try getting that damn thing ourselves if you fail," Natsuru grumbled, pointing towards Shizuku, "But if you do fail and get caught, we're screwed either way. Security on it will become impossible, and if you haven't noticed, you're kind of a kingpin, so Mikoto, Akane, and I will all be flailing around in the dark."

"I'll agree with you: if I fail, our team will have some very, very serious problems staring us in the face." Shizuku admitted, smiling gently as she looked up at her. "But you sell yourself and the other two short. I have full confidence that you'd still be able to function decently enough without me."

"Oh, come on, can you two not talk like that? I feel like my life is coming to an end when you do..." Mikoto pouted, moving closer to Natsuru as her large bento box pressed into her, reminding her that it was lunch time. It had reminded her stomach as well, since it had chosen to growl at that moment. "Heh heh! Someone's hungry!"

"S-sorry... I didn't eat much at Kaede's since, well... since I'm super paranoid the entire time I'm there." Natsuru admitted, Shizuku directing the pair of them towards a park bench that was nearby.

"That's perfectly understandable, Natsuru. You're in the Lion's den, so to speak." Shizuku pointed out, fishing her own lunch from her bag as Mikoto excitedly began to dismantle the containers holding the meal she prepared for Natsuru and herself. "Speaking of," she started again, having quickly popped a piece of her food into her mouth and swallowing, "Did you find anything out? We didn't discuss that this morning."

"No, they're being careful, I think. When I was getting up to sleep, Ueda insisted on showing me to my room, and then wouldn't take no for an answer when she wanted to spend the night with me instead of with the rest of her team." she answered bitterly, accepting a little cookie from Mikoto.

"Well, that makes sense. She can keep an eye on you, while you lower your guard a bit." Mikoto added, before chowing down on hot dog octopi.

"What do you mean, 'lower my guard'? I spent most of the night awake and jumping at the smallest noise in the hallway outside my room..." Natsuru sighed, feeling her fatigue weigh on her again.

"Hey, open up..." Mikoto asked her, quickly thrusting a hot dog octopus into her mouth as she blushed and coughed. "And yeah, Ueda causes you to lower your guard. I've seen it a few times. You also always tended to pull your punches with her, but it sounds even more apparent, now."

"What are you talking about? I nearly knocked her clean out on Monday with a single hit!" Natsuru rebutted, looking insulted as Mikoto pointed at her.

"Yeah, nearly. You usually do knock her out when you two fight, but since you almost burned her to death a while back, you sound like you've been gentler with her, if your recounting of your last fight was true. I'd be surprised if the White's didn't notice that change in you, and decided to have her tag along with you while you stay there, since you probably wouldn't dare hurt a hair on her head." Mikoto explained her logic, holding another hot dog octopus out. Instead, Natsuru blushed slightly and simply grabbed it with her fingers and pried it from Mikoto's grasp, causing her to pout slightly.

"I suppose that makes sense... damn, that means tonight is my best chance to get intel!" Natsuru slapped her forehead, groaning as Mikoto's expression changed slightly, from pleased to a form that looked hollow, and dead inside. "I ran into Hitomi this morning on my way to class, and she told me that her and the rest of the Whites were in trouble with their parents, so they wouldn't be there."

"I see..." Mikoto replied quietly, pursing her lips into a tight smile.

"Crud, that means I won't be able to stay long once your Dad gets home. I'll probably have to leave right from the airport, if I want to make use of the time..." she mumbled, missing the look of pure ecstasy from Mikoto. Looking over, Shizuku snorted with laughter when she caught a glimpse of Mikoto's expression. "Hm? Is everything okay, Shizuku?" Natsuru asked her, causing Shizuku to quickly collect herself before using her chopsticks to grab hold of something from her bento.

"Hey, Natsuru, say 'ah'..." she instructed her, causing Natsuru to roll his eyes and open her mouth. As Shizuku deposited some sort of seasoned meat into her mouth, Mikoto glared death a Shizuku, who returned the look with a smirk.

"Oh wow, Shizuku, this tastes amazing!" Natsuru exclaimed, munching away happily on the meat as Mikoto gawked at her for a moment. Pouting angrily, Mikoto yanked out another container, popping it open to reveal a set of strange, jiggly cylinders that appeared to be mostly egg.

"Open up, Natsuru! I made this especially for you!"

"Wha—URK!" Natsuru began to ask her, finding the food being suddenly forced into her mouth again. As she went to berate Mikoto for being so forceful, her irritated expression suddenly melted into bliss as she chewed. "Oh, what... what is this...?"

"Heh, it's my secret weapon!" Mikoto bragged, sneering at Shizuku as the Student Council President looked on in interest.

"Oh... oh my God, thish ish so gud..." Natsuru groaned, her accolades now beginning to embarrass Mikoto.

"I... I know it is, um..."

"You... you need to make that for me for the rest of my life. I could die a happy girl getting to eat your cooking if it could taste like this all the time..." she sighed, looking down at the container holding the rest of the eggs. Yanking the chopsticks out of her hand, Natsuru began to go to town on the eggs, with Mikoto shouting and pouting that she was going to eat all of them and not leave her any.

Giggling, Shizuku turned away from the pair as she looked out at the park, taking a deep breath of the autumn air, the smells of the fall filling her. As the two beside her wrestled, Shizuku caught a flash of blue fabric near a tree not far from them. Staring at it intently, her eyes narrowed as she determined the height to be about equal with where the skirts tended to cut off at on first year students.

Looking at the other two for a moment, Shizuku, gently placed her meal down and casually walked towards the tree where she had seen the skirt. Looking back, Mikoto and Natsuru hadn't noticed she had left them, and continued towards the tree quietly. Moving quickly, Shizuku jumped out and around the tree, expecting to find a student tailing them, but finding nothing but open air. Quickly circling the tree, she looked up into the canopy, trying to spy someone attempting to hide from her. Not finding anything, Shizuku narrowed her eyes as she looked around the area, finding nothing but an odd, faint sensation, as if static electricity were nipping at her extremities.

Casting the area with one last look of suspicion, Shizuku shook her head as she moved on, heading back to her friends, who were now bickering over the last of Mikoto's eggs. Unbeknownst to her, however, she had a pair of eyes on her from a neighboring tree, watching as she returned to the trio. As the owner of the eyes watched them, a faint voice crackled in her ear, which only she could hear.

"Bluebell, come in, Bluebell. This is Nevada 1-1, how copy, over?" the voice of an older man called out to her, a tone of worry evident.

"Esti de tabarnak, Nevada 1-1, this is Bluebell, loud and clear, over." she whispered back snootily, shivering slightly as the autumn breeze brushed over her bare legs.

"Bluebell, your prior message was cut off. What's your status? Are you compromised? Over." the voice asked her, causing the person spying from the tree to roll her eyes.

"Ugh, negative, Nevada 1-1. Like, nothing more than a close call with the Student Council President. Cover is intact, do you really think that little of me?"

"Bluebell, Nevada 1-1 warned you about that one. Do your best to remain undetected, and do try to reign in the attitude. I know it's a unique situation for us all, but ideally we'd like our first Kämpfer-agent operation to conclude without everyone wanting to throttle one another." another man's voice piped up, sounding disappointed.

"Yes, sir..." Bluebell grumbled in response, pulling a miniature telescope out to keep an eye on her targets from a distance.

"Bluebell, have you any intel to report?" Nevada 1-1 immediately asked, sounding impatient as Bluebell put her telescope away, and hopped down from her perch in the tree while remaining in the shadows.

"Yes, Nevada 1-1. I actually got close to suspect NSM by luck this morning and managed to quickly examine his bracelet. It feels like it's the right material, but I couldn't sense any magic. I totally think the local moderator slapped one on him for shiggles, also maybe to mark him for easy termination."

"...Shiggles?" Nevada 1-1 asked, though the unknown voice from earlier could be heard groaning and explaining it to him. "...Riiiight, of course. Bluebell, any signs of suspect NSF?"

"Yessir, Nevada 1-1. She's, like, practically in front of me. Where the hell she came from, beats me." Bluebell reported. She stepped out into the sun as she pulled a leaf from her pink twin-tails, her blue eyes shining in the afternoon light as she began making her way towards the costume shop, adjusting the elbow length fingerless glove on her right arm, and the oversize green, plastic bracelet that had come with it.

"Keep your eyes onher, Bluebell. The JSDF has had their men knocked out and drugged left, right, and center last night and this morning all over town, and the ones that were watching the Senou household last night are in the local ER for surgery due to multiple fractures. There are concerns from above that subject NSF may be the one orchestrating the operations in this area, and these recent developments are not helping her case."

"Esti de câlice, I'm telling you again, Nevada 1-1, if she has a bracelet, she's a victim." Amelia hissed into her communicator. She heard one of her classmates call out to her from the other side of the park, waving as she jogged towards Amelia. "Just tell those d'épais à merde you call bosses to, like, let me do my friggen job. Now, I'm entering radio silence! Bluebell, out!"

"I think I like this one." She heard one last, unknown voice chuckle as she switched off her earpiece, likely belonging to one of the JSDF officers they were working jointly with. Settling back into her cover, Amelia slipped into a laid-back expression as she friend jogged up beside her.

"Tremblay, where are you going?" her classmate asked her, huffing slightly from the jog across the park.

"I tooootally found out about a cool makeup store nearby from some second-year guy and I wanted to look at it! Wanna come with me?!" Amelia exclaimed in excitement, her classmate giggling at her foreign friend's antics. Nodding, they looped arms together and made their way in the same direction that Natsuru, Mikoto, and Shizuku had, with Amelia welcoming the excuse to watch them from the open, since she suspected that there wouldn't be any decent vantage points to watch from the street.

"Hey, I know you just got here and it's your first day and all, but, I totally have an idea for our class's activity for the fall festival! Can I run it by you? I don't wanna seem like a dummy in class…"

"J'm'en calice de ton festival…" Amelia muttered, her classmate looking innocently confused as she bit her cheek discreetly. "Ah, soooorry! I've never had a school festival, so I don't know if I'm going to be helpful, but go ahead~!"

---

"That... really doesn't look comfortable." Natsuru commented, peeking her head in the change room as Shizuku grimaced, fighting with the strange costume that looked like a cross between an old-timey demon hunter and some sort of vampiress.

"It's... not." Shizuku admitted, the shirt portion squeezing her tightly as it worked to try and bring attention to her bust. "Ugh, I have to admit, I was hoping that there would be some reasonable costumes, here."

"Well, there's... I mean... well, let me look for you. Let's not give up, yet." Natsuru smiled nervously as she took the costume back from Shizuku, who was looking at the clock on her phone with pursed lips. Stepping back out, Natsuru sighed, walking back to the front and handed the clerk helping them the costume.

"Not this either, hm?" she asked, clicking her tongue as she slipped the costume back into its plastic sleeve. "Does she have anything particular in mind, exactly?"

"Um, hmm... well, maybe something a little more practical, and less...skimpy?" Natsuru asked her, hoping she wasn't being offensive. The clerk thought about it for a moment, tapping her fingers on the counter as she seemed to come up with an idea.

"Well, I should have a few that fit that criteria, but they're sort of... cliché? They aren't very popular, since most girls want sexy costumes these days, so it's going to take me a bit to dig them up from the back. Do you have the time to wait?" she asked, with Natsuru nodding. Looking around the store, Natsuru wandered about as she waited and eventually ended up finding herself in the special effects and cosmetic makeup area. She noticed some of the more expensive brands of makeup being present that she had recalled from the few times she went with the girls while transformed.

Finding herself alone, since Mikoto had gone exploring on her own, Natsuru continued deeper into the special effects portion, and came upon what looked like a sort of peachy-colored body sleeve for around the torso, with realistic looking pecs. Prodding the pecs and picking at the label in curiosity, Natsuru glanced up when she heard the front door jingle, seeing a brown-haired girl she didn't know walk in with curiosity in her eyes, talking to someone behind her. Opting to ignore her, Natsuru went back to examining the item in her hands, discovering it was used for movie scenes where nudity was used to allow the actor or actress to maintain a sense of decency, though this particular one seemed geared towards males.

"Dang, I bet that thing could squish even your boobs down, Nat." Mikoto suddenly announced from behind Natsuru, causing her to shout in surprise. The clerk, having come from the back to greet her newest customers, gave Mikoto and Natsuru a look of disapproval. "S-sorry, she gets startled easily..." Mikoto chuckled, tapping on Natsuru's arm. Turning back to her, Mikoto began to whisper. "Anyways, you might be able to use that instead of bandages if, well... you know... things go south."

"Now it's my turn to ask you not to talk like that." Natsuru shivered, not wanting to imagine having to slip into this strange sleeve every day for the rest of her life.

"Oooooooooh my gosh~! Kobayashi, look! It's Senou-chaaaan~!" a voice familiar to Natsuru called out excitedly. Looking behind her while still holding the body sleeve, Natsuru recognized the bubblegum pink twin-tails of Amelia Tremblay in an instant. "Wow, she's so much prettier in perrrrsoooon~!" she exclaimed, scratching at her left ear. "Why are you holding a body sleeve? Ooooh, are you into acting?"

"Ah, er...!" Natsuru struggled, turning around and quickly hanging the body sleeve back up and chuckling nervously. "N-no, of course not! I was just curious as to what it was! Hahaha!"

"Hmm...? Oh, you have such a pretty bracelet, tooooo~!" Amelia announced, excitedly reaching and grasping at Natsuru's right wrist as she placed her fingers on the bracelet of oath, seemingly stuttering for a moment as if something alarmed her before continuing to ogle. "The boy Senou has one just like thiiiiis...! Are you two daaaating~?"

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Mikoto asked her sternly, yanking Amelia's hands off of Natsuru as she glared at her, Amelia looking surprised and distressed as she winced and gasped in pain.

"Esti de tabarnak de câlice!" Amelia squeaked quietly, shaking her hand as she sucked in air through her teeth.

"Ohmigosh, I'm so, so sorry!" the brown-haired first year that had entered with her ran over, apologizing and bowing to Mikoto and Natsuru. "Tremblay-san is still really new to Japanese culture. Where she came from in Canada, I guess they are really hands-on, so she's still learning..."

"Oh, er, it's okay, I was just surprised, is all..." Natsuru brushed off the first-years apologies, looking at Amelia with concern she rubbed the top of her left hand tearfully.

"Ah, you're scary! That really hurrrrt!" she complained, wincing as a purple and black bruise quickly formed on her hand.

"Aw, jeez, Mikoto! She was just excited; did you have to crush her hand?" Natsuru admonished her, as Mikoto gawked, glancing between the bruise Amelia now sported that Natsuru was looking over, and her own hand in shock.

"I didn't even squeeze that hard, though..." she whispered, as Natsuru pulled a one-time use ice pack from her bag, popping it and shaking it vigorously before placing it on Amelia's hand, the first-year sniffling as Natsuru quickly wrapped the pack to her hand with some gauze so as to keep the ice pack in place.

"Do you have a first-aid kit in your bag or somethiiiing?" Amelia asked her, causing Natsuru to smile gently.

"Mhm! I figured a while back that you never know when you might need some first-aid, and our bags are big enough that I can carry one in here without missing out on school supplies." she explained, tying the ends of the gauze into a neat, snug knot. "There, that should help for now, but you might still want to get checked out by the nurse at school."

"Thaaaanks! You're really nice, Senou-chaaaan~!" Amelia beamed happily as her friend chuckled nervously beside her. Smiling and scratching the back of her head, Natsuru kept silent.

"U-um, I'm really sorry about hurting you, I didn't mean to grab you so hard..." Mikoto stammered, looking fairly guilty as Amelia, looked at her for a moment, before smiling again.

"It's okay! You were protecting your friend, and I need to learn to respect the culture of the place I moved to~!"

"Ah, Tremblay, we need to go, or we're going to be late!" her friend announced, glancing at her watch. As the two girls waved Natsuru and Mikoto goodbye, the pair of them looked immediately down at Mikoto's hands.

"Jesus, what gives? First Akane's starting to stealth transform, and now my strength is going crazy!?" Mikoto whispered frantically, as Natsuru gestured to her own hand and got Mikoto to give it a squeeze.

"Yeah, that's got to be above normal strength..." Natsuru whispered, grimacing as a thought entered her mind. "With everything that's going on, and Akane's personality permanently switching to her Kämpfer form's... do you think maybe our Human forms and Kämpfer forms are mixing together?"

"I hope not... I like either Akane, either way, but I don't think an effeminate male Natsuru is a very attractive idea..." Mikoto whispered hoarsely, the pair of them wincing at the mental image.

"Right, well, there's something weird about Tremblay, anyways." Natsuru mumbled, looking pensive as she cradled her chin with a thumb and finger.

"Oh? What's strange about her? Beyond being a super friendly foreigner, I mean." Mikoto asked, flexing her fingers again.

"When she was near me, I felt a strange buzz in the air, almost like static electricity..." Natsuru recounted, closing her eyes for a moment. "She also looked really startled about something to do with my bracelet, unlike when she grabbed it when I saw her this morning as a guy."

"So, shall we go?" Shizuku asked them from the till, the pair of them so enamored with their discussion that they hadn't noticed her return to the front in her uniform.

"Uh, hey, we never tried anything on… what did you get?" Mikoto asked her, as Shizuku sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Just about the most cliché thing one could imagine for breaking into somewhere quietly." She sighed, sliding the costume's plastic sleeve out from her shopping bag. "It's a Ninja costume. I picked up four, since they should fit all of us... Natsuru's might need a bit of modification, though, otherwise she'll just look like a Sexy Ninja." she chuckled, Natsuru sighing and looking to the ceiling as Mikoto snorted.

---

Having debated with Shizuku over returning to his male form once she had recounted her and Mikoto's encounter with Amelia, Natsuru had begrudgingly hurried back to the school with Mikoto and Shizuku as a girl after they had stowed away the costumes in their bags, Natsuru opting to take Akane's costume since she had the space to spare. The three of them had gone their separate ways, with Mikoto having made Natsuru promise to wait by the girl's gate when school had finished.

Which is where she was, currently, and feeling incredibly uncomfortable as many of the soldiers present gave her very wary expressions. Natsuru watched nervously as they manned the hardware that had been shipped in during lunch, to replace what the girls had destroyed during the riot. She couldn't help but imagine what sorts of things they had on either version of herself, though she had to hope that they only had her male self pegged as an insider on the whole situation, and not that they knew she could change genders on the fly.

Mostly considering the looks she was getting were curious and cautious, and not disgusted, she leaned towards the former, which, although she still wasn't pleased with the current predicament, she'd certainly take that over being treated as some kind of freak.

As she waited for Mikoto, Natsuru sighed and decided to simply glance around the area, to see what she could see. As she listened to the general din of some of the soldiers talking amongst one another, she heard a van door slam shut, and the frustrated growl of a girl a bit off to the side. Garnering her attention, she peeked over to see the back of Amelia as she stormed off, going around a corner as she did so. Looking at her phone's clock, Natsuru shrugged when she realized that Mikoto was already over five minutes late, and so made her way in Amelia's direction.

As she moved went around the corner, Natsuru could hear Amelia grumbling ahead of her, and saw her leaning over, seemingly pouting. Pursing her lips, she decided to reach out to see if the Military had suddenly begun harassing the poor girl on her first day of school, since it almost looked like she might be crying.

"Stupid, annoying pricks... stupide comme de la merde…" she grumbled, a series of clicks could be heard, followed by an inhale, and then a sigh as some smoke rose up from in front of her.

"Tremblay...? Are you okay?" Natsuru asked quietly, gently touching her shoulder.

"Ugh, Christ, like, what do you want N—aaaAAHH!" she began to yell at her, turning around and jumping easily a foot into the air when she realized it was Natsuru. She stared at her, wide-eyed and gawking, as Natsuru's gaze landed on the burning cigarette in one hand, and the lighter in the other. "Eheheheh... h-hi again, Senou-chan." she stammered nervously as her expression hardened. Following her glare, Amelia realized Natsuru was staring at the cigarette smoldering away in her hand. "... I promise this isn't what it looks like~?"

"Then please, explain. Because it looks like one of my peers is smoking just outside of school property." she spoke sternly, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"... Yeah, okay, there's no covering this one up." Amelia admitted, looking irritated as she used her thumb to scratch at her forehead. As she was about to talk, Amelia was shocked when Natsuru yanked the offending object from her hand, throwing it to the ground and crushing it with her shoe.

"Something like this, I'd normally be required to report this to the Morals committee, you know. As a transfer student, it would cause you an unimaginable number of problems." Natsuru started, watching as Amelia initially looked flabbergasted, which turned into her staring at Natsuru in disbelief, before finally ending with her wilting and dropping to her knees.

"Mon Dieu! Pleeeeease, Senou-chan! Don't tell anyone! My Dad will kiiillll me!" she pleaded with her, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she stared up at Natsuru, who had become a bit flustered.

"Uh, er, c-cut that out, would you? I'm not going to report this to them... since it'd be really hypocritical if I did." she stated in a whisper, looking away from Amelia as she cheered and suddenly hugged her tightly, surprising her.

"Thank you, thank you, thaaaaaaaank youuuu~!" she shouted, wrapping herself around her midsection tightly.

"Hey now, relax! I'm still getting you to come in and speak with the Student Council President about this!" she shouted back, blushing as Amelia loosened her grip and looked up at her.

"Eh?"

"It's still a huge problem, and it would cause a lot of trouble for the school if you were caught, and goodness knows Seitetsu is suffering a lot lately..." Natsuru explained, trailing off before shaking her head and continuing. "Shizuku is very protective of the school and its students, so while she's undoubtedly going to give you an earful," Natsuru gave her a stern look, softening it as she paused. "She's likely going to keep it quiet and try to help you find ways to kick the habit."

"Eh?" Was all Amelia could offer, as Natsuru gently got her to let go, and carefully took her lighter away. Amelia stared after her, still holding the same expression as Natsuru put the lighter into her schoolbag, stepping back.

"Remember, first thing tomorrow, before class! I'll even keep this to myself, so you can make it look like you went to her for help yourself." Natsuru smiled, turning away and walking back towards the front of the school, leaving Amelia alone with her thoughts.

"... Eh?" she uttered, breaking the silence around her as her mind raced. 'How did I escape being found out? Is she an idiot?' she pondered, snapping out of her daze. Shaking her head over what she now had to do in the morning to maintain her cover, she grumbled as she pulled a cigarette carton out from her bag. Pulling another cigarette out, she moved to grab her lighter before remembering that she had let Natsuru take it from her.

"M-my lighter..." she pouted, her lower lip trembling as she stared at her cigarette, her shoulders sagging.

---

"No way, really?! Who was it?" Mikoto asked Natsuru about what had held her up, stepping into her home as she held the door open for Mikoto. Sighing, Natsuru shook her head.

"I won't name any names, she's probably embarrassed enough as it is, and she is probably already struggling with a lot of stress with transferring in while the school is in the middle of this mess without her talking to Shizuku tomorrow."

"Aww, come on!" She pouted, slipping her shoes off and waiting for Natsuru as she did the same. Watching her as Mikoto looked at her, she became a little uncertain when Mikoto began to tap her chin in thought. "You know… I can't help but feel like you're giving this girl special treatment. Don't we normally have to report this to a guidance counselor or something?"

"I… technically, yes, but I felt like it would be hypocritical if I did that after Shizuku kept my beer thing between us." Natsuru admitted, a little red as Mikoto smirked and coughed.

"Right, well, I guess that's fair… who was it?" she asked innocently, pouting when Natsuru gave her a look.

"Well, make yourself comfortable. You know where everything is, so if you get thirsty, help yourself."

"Okaaaay!" she exclaimed, happily prancing along towards the living room. Chuckling and shaking her head, Natsuru quickly transformed back into her male form and made his way into the kitchen, immediately digging through everything to find what he needed.

Before long, he found himself thinking about the events of the day, recalling the unnerving conversation he had with Hitomi, and the discovery of Mikoto's strength suddenly rising. His stomach also ached when he had recalled the strange egg dish that Mikoto had carefully prepared for them for lunch, and the delicious seasoned meat that Shizuku had offered him.

Out of it all, one thing stood out like a misplaced item: that Akane had been missing throughout everything.

'And here we are, Mikoto and I, having dinner before checking on her. And without inviting her.' He sighed, placing his hands on the counter. They had invited Shizuku, but she had declined the offer, citing the need to modify their costumes. Looking out the window in his kitchen, Natsuru glanced in the direction of Akane's home, frowning.

"… Natsuru?" Mikoto called out to him, Natsuru turning and finding her leaning against the wall opposite the entrance of the kitchen. She looked very conflicted as they stared at one another.

"... is it about Akane?" he asked her, tapping his fingers against the counter as she nodded, looking guiltily towards the floor. "Yeah, me too, actually. Did you want to maybe make something quick and dirty, and take it with us?"

"Yeah... I don't like the idea of leaving her alone like this..." Mikoto sighed, entering the kitchen as Natsuru began to replace his spices in the cabinet. They quietly took stock of what Natsuru had in his fridge, with him noting in annoyance that two of his three apples were missing.

"You have any ideas?" he asked Mikoto, opting to forget about the apples. Looking over at her, she began nodding.

"Yeah... Yeah, I think I do!"

---

"Man, I'm nervous..." Natsuru whispered, adjusting her long sleeve shirt as she held onto a sealed platter of food. Looking around, Mikoto pursed her lips and tucked her arms into herself.

"You and me both. What exactly did she say to her family...? Do they know about all of us, or just her?" Mikoto whispered back, as they stood at the front door of Akane's house. Mumbling nervously, they stared at it, trying to find the courage to ring the doorbell, only to be startled when it opened up to reveal a somewhat amused lady.

"So, were you two going to just stand there all night, or did you plan on ringing the doorbell?"

"Mrs. Mishima..." Mikoto trailed off, the name clicking in Natsuru's mind as she recalled the picture she had seen before. Looking only mildly older, she still looked quite similarly to an older pre-Kämpfer Akane.

"Little Kondou... though, not so little anymore, hm?" she responded in kind, smiling at her gently as Mikoto blushed a little and averted her gaze. Taking this chance to look at Natsuru, she went wide eyed and became very curious, squinting her eyes and leaning in towards her. "And who are you?"

"A-ah... m-my name is Natsuru... Senou." she answered quietly as Mrs. Mishima became even more curious.

"Goodness, how peculiar... your Mother, is her name Celeste?" she asked, something clearly working away in her mind as Natsuru grew very nervous, now regretting the idea of attempting to visit Akane. Swallowing audibly, Natsuru nodded. She hadn't wanted to admit it, but since she had accidentally let slip to Kumeaki who her father was, not doing so would have raised a red flag. "Of course, you are! Why did I even bother asking? If it wasn't for the obvious bits that came from your Father, I'd have asked if she had come home and dyed her hair!" she laughed, looking at Natsuru with a sense of nostalgia. "You look so much like her, it's uncanny... even your hairstyle is similar to how she wore hers in high school. Though you I think you're a bit taller than she is."

"She has the same hairstyle?" Mikoto asked, looking up at Natsuru while squinting, trying to make the visual connection. "I don't see it... but I guess that's because she never had that hairstyle from what I remember."

"Indeed, I..." Mrs. Mishima trailed off, now looking troubled as she regarded Natsuru again. "Hmm... that's so strange, though... I recall her telling me the last time we spoke shortly after you were born that she had a little boy..."

"N-Nope! Natsuru's definitely a girl!" Mikoto suddenly interjected, since Natsuru had completely locked up in shock and went completely white. Shrugging, Mrs. Mishima waved them into the home.

"I must have misremembered, then. Please, come in!" she pleasantly welcomed them, closing the door as they slipped their shoes off. "I... take it that you've come to see Akane...?" she suddenly asked them quietly, pursing her lips as they nodded carefully. As she looked at them, Mrs. Mishima had not so casually stared at their right forearms, Mikoto's wrist carefully covered with her jacket, and Natsuru's blocked from view by the food tray. "R-right, of course you have, um... would you like me to take that, for you?" she offered, gesturing to it.

"N-No!" Natsuru suddenly shouted, looking immediately mortified afterwards as Mrs. Mishima sighed and nodded, as if confirming something. "I-I mean... no, thank you. I-it's for Akane." she tried to backpedal, though immediately knowing she had failed when Mrs. Mishima looked at her in pity and what appeared to be guilt.

"Smooth, Natsuru..." Mikoto mumbled quietly, placing a hand over her own bracelet.

"The both of you, too..." Mrs. Mishima began to murmur quietly, looking heartbroken as she stepped further into the home. "What are your colors...? Akane had explained that there were more of you, but she refused to say much beyond that, though her Father had somewhat suspected the pair of you..."

"I'm... red." Mikoto admitted quietly, looking towards the floor in defeat since she knew there wasn't any point in trying to hide it from Akane's family. Natsuru found herself unable to speak, looking away nervously as she shifted the tray to her left arm and flashed her bracelet. "I know you said Akane explained a few things, b-but please don't think I'm here to cause any trouble... I'd sooner let Akane shoot me than try and hurt her."

"No, no, Akane said she was in an agreement with 'the other team'. Her Father and I wanted to ship her away, to hide her, but..." Mrs. Mishima trailed off, sighing as she looked to the floor.

"The safest place is here, with us, since the Moderators labeled her a traitor for refusing to fight me, or... our other friend." Mikoto finished for her, sighing as well as the mood in the foyer plummeted to match what the rest of the home felt like.

"And neither of you, nor your remaining friend, are willing to seek help from the Police either, I assume?" she asked, looking like she had already known the answer when they nodded.

"Can you blame us? They shot at Akane! We were worried how they would react before, but now we absolutely can't trust them!" Mikoto argued, Mrs. Mishima nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Akane said the same thing..." she offered, gesturing to the staircase. "She's been uncharacteristically quiet since she fought with her Father last night, so hopefully she'll open up a bit if she sees you two..." she added hopefully, watching as the pair of them climbed the staircase quietly.

As they walked down the hallway towards her room, they passed an open door, and Natsuru glanced into the room to see a young man with black hair researching something on his bedroom computer, looking upset as he sighed and sat back in his chair. Hearing them in the hall, he looked back and locked eyes with Natsuru, him looking surprised, and her realizing that he must have been Haruto.

Mentally shrugging, she looked forward again as they began to come up on Akane's door, only to turn back in mild surprise when Haruto called out to them.

"Uh, hey, you two are here to see Akane, right?" he asked the pair of them, appearing a bit awkward as he tried to seem cool after running out into the hallway. Natsuru looked to Mikoto for guidance, since she wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but Mikoto looked a bit annoyed, so she opted to just listen.

"What do you want, Haruto?" she sighed him, sounding irritated as she regarded him.

"Relax, Mikoto, relax! I'm just uh, curious... are you both... you know..." he whispered, thumbing towards Akane's room. "... Kämpfers?"

"Um... yes?" Natsuru piped up, surprised when Haruto gently took her free hand.

"I know Mikoto here, but what's your name?" he asked her, the timbre of his voice growing soft and gentle as his eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Uh..." Natsuru quickly glanced to Mikoto in confusion, as she had slapped her forehead with a palm. "Natsuru Senou...?" she answered him, her confusion over his advances throwing him off balance for a moment, though Haruto quickly recovered.

"R-right, Senou-san... once you are done doing your best to cheer up my little sister, would you perhaps... be willing to help me with my research? I want to find out how to help Akane as best I can, and perhaps a fellow Kämpfer could fill in the gaps for me…?" he requested, his eyes sparkling again as he seemed to grow suave, gently rubbing a thumb over the top of her hand. Just as Natsuru understood what he was after and her face contorted into disgust, Akane's door slammed open and she had her gun directed towards Haruto's head.

"If you don't fuck off in the next five seconds, I'll give you some insight into what it's like to piss off a Kämpfer. How's that for 'research'?" Akane growled, Haruto jumping back with his hands up.

"Akane, damn it! I'm trying to help you!" Haruto snapped at her, causing Akane to snort in disgust.

"Riiiight, by trying to convince my friends to jump in the sack with you? Makes toooootal sense, you fucking creep!" she snarled, pulling back on the slide of her 1911 and chambering a round. "Here's a ground rule: Leave me and my friends alone, or die! Got it?"

"Christ, alright!" Haruto gave in, stepping back further as he looked back at Natsuru. "Senou, I promise you I'm not as classless as Akane is implying. I really actually would like your help with some questions I have, so if you're interested... well, I'll be next door." he thumbed to his room, stepping back into it and closing the door behind him.

"Don't even think about going in there, Natsuru." Mikoto sighed, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into Akane's room, Natsuru blushing angrily in embarrassment as she followed them.

"I-is your brother for real? Research? Honestly? Who would fall for that?!" Natsuru exclaimed angrily as Akane rubbed her temple, grumbling.

"You'd be surprised, Natsuru. My brother is a womanizer, and a skilled one at that." Akane intoned, gesturing for them to sit on her bed. "I mean, there's honestly a good chance he's actually trying to research Kämpfer, but... let's get real."

"I don't think he's ever encountered someone like me, though." she shook her head, beginning to unwrap the tray of food as Akane scratched at the back of her head.

"Yeah, definitely not, but while you've never budged around guys who flirt with you, Haruto... he's something else." Akane groaned, watching as Natsuru removed the plastic wrap around the opaque lid of her food tray. Pausing as she became confused, Natsuru glanced between Mikoto and Akane.

"Nat, I'm honestly a bit surprised that you hadn't heard of him while you were on the girl's side of our school. He's supposedly slept with hundreds of girls, and I know for a fact he even managed to get a few girls who didn't like boys into his bed. One of them even swore off girls and started exclusively chasing boys after. Mostly Haruto." Mikoto explained, Akane pointing to her with a frown, shaking her head.

"I'm not surprised. Not once have the girls in our class talked about him, even in passing. They've been busy trying to convince her to sleep with them, themselves, as are most of the girls in our school, period. They're probably worried that mentioning my brother to Natsuru might give her ideas of 'defeating' him or something equally as stupid, and then promptly being defeated herself and becoming another notch on his tally." Akane countered, causing rogue images to assault Natsuru's mind and lock her up. "While I'm actually pretty sure he would meet his match in you and get some humility knocked into him, part of me is worried that he'd still manage to get into your head somehow and you'll end up in his bed... especially if you end up in the same position as you were just a few days ago, with your body being flooded with female hormones." Akane paused, reaching over and taking the tray from Natsuru, who was still frozen. "So, when he says research? After the way he acted around you, I can probably correctly assume he's after the kind that a guy and a girl get up to after hours." she finished, lifting the lid off the tray as she watched Natsuru quickly look ill.

"Have some faith in me, jeez! I would never... everlet a guy near me like that...!" Natsuru gagged, the mental images of Haruto and her still busily pummeling her mind and causing her to blush and cringe.

"Look, I'm gonna be honest, here. Being real, Haruto isn't normally that bad of a guy, and I'm convinced you'd never let him get to you if he did let his hormones take over, but seriously... don't tempt fate. Last thing any of us need, you included, is for you to go in there and walk out and hour or two later suddenly deciding being a girl is all sunshine and daisies, and only wanting to be with boys." Akane shrugged, looking down at the food that Mikoto and Natsuru brought. "Aw, fruit sandwiches, awesome! I love these!"

"We thought you might like something, since, well..." Mikoto gestured to Akane's red hair, Natsuru finally managing to shake her distressing thoughts as she looked on in concern. "We also kind of figured from your text that your family found out..."

"Uh, yeah... look, I..." Akane trailed off, looking absolutely guilt-ridden over the turn of events that had quickly spiraled out of control. "I'm so, so sorry, you two... I kind of lost it last night when my Dad started saying we were all psychotic... without realizing he was talking about us." She sighed, dejectedly playing around with the sandwich she had picked up. "I'd ask if they pegged you two as Kämpfer, but if he did, then..." she trailed off, looking up as Natsuru reached over and gave her knee a gentle squeeze, smiling softly as Mikoto and her gave Akane looks of compassion.

"Yeah, well..." Mikoto scuffed the rug below her with her feet as she sighed. "I'm beginning to wonder if it's in our best interest for us to tell our parents, anyways. I mean, assuming Shizuku does get away with stealing the artifact and we can hide it where it'll never be a problem for us again, it's still going to become really hard keeping our identities as Kämpfer from them." Mikoto argued, gesturing to Natsuru. "Nat's parents might be gone most of the time, but I'm sure they'll be coming home at some point. It'll be outright impossible when that happens, since they know him as Natsuki when he's transformed, as does my Dad, but your parents know him as his parent's daughter Natsuru. And since it seems like your Mom knows his Mom personally... this might come back to bite us in the butt sooner, rather than later."

"Oh God, I don't want to think of that...!" Natsuru groaned, standing up and pacing nervously as she began to wring her hands. "I can't stand the thought of them finding out! My Mom would probably freak out, and my Father would just outright kick me out of the house out of disgust...!" she began to fret, her voice becoming more and more strained, before she was surprised when a fruit sandwich was forced into her mouth, the whipped cream squishing out the sides and dribbling down her cheek slightly.

"Just stop worrying about that! It's not happening yet, right? So just relax, okay?" Akane spoke gently, her and Natsuru quickly looking down at Mikoto who had begun snorting and began giggling, pointing at Natsuru. "Oh, uh, here." Akane murmured, dragging her finger across Natsuru's cheek and sweeping off the whipped cream and licking it off her finger. The act made all three of them freeze and blush slightly as Akane coughed and looked away. "Well. That's never happening again."

---

"Right, so... you want me to come with you to greet your Dad?" Akane asked her, having transformed back to normal. "Alright, I'm game. Maybe we'll get eyes on this damn thing that's caused all of our problems lately."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should stay home, honey…" her father asked her, standing beside her mother as they appeared nervous.

"No offense, Dad, but I need to get out of the house. Staying home from school let me settle some things up here," Akane pointed at her head, "but I wanna be with the girls." She strained to finish, Natsuru feeling a strange sensation when she did.

"You mentioned that whatever caused worldwide transformations is coming back to Japan with Ryuusei?" Mrs. Mishima asked, appearing very curious. Nodding, Mikoto answered for them.

"Yeah, it's an ancient tablet of sorts, and it was within a hidden chamber that was discovered in Greece earlier this week. When they broke the seal on the chamber, the tablet sent out that wave of energy that washed over the planet. The Kämpfer in Greece had no warning, being forced to transform suddenly, and outin the open. We got lucky here, though, and our bracelets started acting out before forcing the transformation, giving us time to hide." she explained, grimacing as Akane's parents looked at one another in worry.

"So, why are you going looking for this thing? Isn't that just asking for trouble?" Mrs. Mishima asked, looking between the three of them as they shared looks.

"Leaving it alone is a helluva lot more dangerous, the Moderator's agents are looking to take it for themselves, and use it to force Natsuru to... uh..." Akane trailed off, shooting a quick look to Natsuru before opting to stare at the ceiling.

"They want to use it against Senou here?" Kumeaki asked them, looking at her as Natsuru scratched at her arm. "How? I thought all it did force you all to transform?"

"Y-yes… it does, but…" Mikoto trailed off nervously, looking at Natsuru in worry.

"They can use it to force me to be something I'm not, which will lead to Akane, Mikoto and our other friend being immediately hunted and killed by the Moderators... not like they're not already trying to do that, though, but for some reason they are being a lot more cautious about it with me around." Natsuru murmured, shaking her head before continuing. "This time, though, I'm afraid they might even go after others, like Masumi Nishino, or… possibly even yourselves, since you know extremely compromising information." Natsuru cut in, her tone deadly serious as Mrs. Mishima gasped in horror, while Kumeaki's knuckles turned white and he became angry.

"That's only half of it. The local Moderator wants Natsuru for a few reasons, one of them a little… personal, to the two of them." Akane grimaced as Natsuru sighed and looked away. "The other is that Natsuru is crazy powerful. I mean, we don't know exactly how powerful, since she refuses to use anything more than what she needs to knock her enemies out." Akane explained, looking at her for a moment. "But we had a little taste just the other day. She thought we were Military goons sneaking up on her, and she accidentally effortlessly vaporized her the top half of her bathroom door and doorframe while just trying to stun us."

"S-sorry…" Natsuru mumbled, appearing a little upset as Akane's parents looked at her warily.

"So, we know Akane uses a pistol—" Kumeaki began, being cut off as Akane coughed. "Er, right, a… 1911A1. Anyways, what weapons do you two use?"

"Kumeaki!" Mrs. Mishima admonished him, cause Kumeaki to give her a look.

"Sana, knowing that they use isn't going to make them any more or less safe!" he snapped, the room becoming a little awkward as it went silent. After a moment, Mikoto coughed, Motioning to the front door. "We should actually get going…" She pointed towards the clock, noting that it was approaching 7:10, and they still had a distance to travel until they arrived at the airport.

"Yeah, probably for the best we don't show off, anyways. As I said, Natsuru has a tendency to accidentally blow shit up, violently." Akane admitted, Natsuru growing uncomfortable as Akane's parents gave her another wary look. "Hey, it's not her fault! Things have been going weird with us ever since they found that damn relic. Although, Natsuru, if you do decide to show them sometime, and lose control of it, then…" she took a moment, looking at the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen, eventually pointing to a specific spot. "Let 'er fly right there. That's the creeps room."

"Akane!" Sana admonished her, frowning harder when her daughter smirked and shrugged.

"Hey, what can I say? Karma's gonna be a bitch if he tries a second time to get Natsuru in the sack."

"He did what?" Sana suddenly hissed, startling Mikoto and Natsuru as she fumed. "He's pulling that shit again? This time as a grown man, flirting with a school girl?"

"Oops, did I say that out loud~?" Akane exaggerated her response, snickering as her mother continued to utter threats.

"I'll ram my boot so far up his ass, he'll taste leather for weeks!" Sana snarled as Akane laughed, clearly amused while her father was mortified.

"S-Sana?! Your temper!"

"Fuck my temper! No son of mine is going to college as a little pervert who preys on vulnerable school girls!" she raged, storming away. Mikoto and Natsuru shied away as she walked past them, watching her general direction as they could hear her stomping up the staircase through the walls and ceiling. The next thing they heard was a door slam open, and Haruto yelping as Sana yelled incomprehensibly.

"I guess you come by your own temper honestly, Akane…" Mikoto stated as Akane's laughter filled the kitchen.

"I hate to say it, since it's fairly safe here, but you girls should probably get going if you're to meet Ryuusei on time…" Kumeaki sighed, wincing when he heard Haruto shout in pain as something slammed into the floor above them.

"Um, if you don't mind me saying… you and Mrs. Mishima seem awfully accepting of this all… how come you haven't tried calling anyone for help?" Natsuru asked him quietly, wilting as he looked at her and appeared like he had suddenly aged decades.

"Trust me when I say, we wanted to. But... who could we even turn to? Our daughter was essentially turned into an alien super soldier against her will, and was promptly shot at by the Military when she showed herself and asked for peace." He pointed out, shaking his head. "To top it off, my own initial impression of you all was that you were a bunch of psychotic and dangerous young women, before I knew better. If that was my opinion, then I can only imagine that the public in general will be terrified of you, as well, so we can't expect revealing her to the public again will go any better." He continued, his voice beginning to shake slightly.

"Dad…?" Akane whispered as she listened to him, clutching at her heart.

"The only hope we have as her parents for her to live another day is to trust in you, her friends, as well as Akane herself. She's been forced to grow up before her time, and as her Father, I hate that I can't do anything to help her with every fiber of my being. I feel like a failure as a Father, being unable to protect her from harm…" he said quietly, though found himself slightly winded when Akane suddenly jumped him, hugging him tightly.

"Shut up, old man… you're the best Dad I could have asked for." She whispered to him, shifting slightly so she could speak into his ear. "If you tried anything and got hurt, I'd kick your ass myself." She growled, hugging him even tighter.

"Ack… okay, Akane… point made… you crushing me…!" Kumeaki grunted, causing her to gasp and let go of him.

"Okay, what gives? I wasn't trying to hurt you…" she murmured, looking at her hands and arms.

"I did that earlier today, as well, to a first year. I accidentally bruised her hand." Mikoto interjected, looking up at the clock again. "Look, guys, we need to get going if we're gonna be there when my Dad shows up."

"Right… sorry Dad, gotta go." Akane said to him quickly, following the girls as they moved towards the door. "Hey, mind telling Mom once she's done slaughtering Haruto what I told you?"

"About?" he asked her, watching as she slipped on her shoes.

"Not to blame herself for not being able to help. I'm not kidding, if either of you got yourselves hurt trying to do something outside of your league, I'd be pissed." She reiterated, slipping on a jacket and pulling out her glasses and hairband before similarly putting them on.

"Akane?" Kumeaki called to her as she was stepping out the door, Natsuru and Mikoto already outside. "Please stay safe… your Mother and I wouldn't be able to move on if we lost you." Kumeaki teared up, Akane looking out the door for a moment and looked like she had wanted to say something. After a few false starts, she looked back and smiled.

"You bet. Just you watch, we'll take care of this threat, and everything will calm down." Akane beamed, giving him a thumbs up as she left.

---

"Jeez, there you are! Daddy is about to be here!" Mikoto growled, crossing her arms as Natsuru jogged up to Akane and her, panting as he caught his breath.

"S-Sorry, there was some homeless guys sporting some new bruises who wouldn't take no for an answer at the station, and then the train was late for some reason…" he gasped out, leaning on his knees.

"Man, Natsuru, you need to lay off the food so much, you're outta shape." Akane snickered, as he glared at her.

"Out of shape?! I just sprinted from the train station to here! The bus was going to take twenty minutes to show up!" he exclaimed, both Akane and Mikoto sharing a surprised expression.

"You mean, you sprinted from the train station all the way to here?"

"W-well, I started just jogging once I got to the terminal, but… yeah." He admitted, still breathing heavily.

"Okay, um…" Mikoto began to whisper, leaning towards him. "Maaaybe don't do that again? That's a really far ways to sprint at full speed…"

"Wait, seriously?" he asked, discreetly looking himself over as he managed to get his breathing under control. Akane and Mikoto looked at him with incredulity, opting to just ignore the question and watch the customs entrance for Mr. Kondou. Thankfully for Natsuru, he ended up having plenty of time to spare, as approximately ten minutes went by with no sign of Mikoto's father.

Finding himself thirsty, he excused himself as he made his way to a set of nearby vending machines. Fishing out his wallet, Natsuru eyeballed the selections he had, deciding he had better get a coffee-based drink if he was going to be sneaking around Kaede's home later. Feeding in the bills, he quickly punched in his choice as the machine quickly dropped his selection onto the slot, allowing him to retrieve his drink. Cracking it open, he took a large sip of it and felt the relaxing chill of a cold mocha wash down his throat, sighing in relief, savored the flavor as he took a moment to lean against the wall.

Stretching as he felt like the drink was reaching out to every inch of his body, Natsuru stood up from the wall as he took another sip, his eyes landing on Colonel Smith and Master Corporal Powers in casual, civilian clothing as they walked past him unawares. Immediately spit-taking, Natsuru began to hack a lung out as the pair of soldiers looked over to him in alarm, apparently not having noticed him.

"Mr. Senou? What are you doing here?" Adrian asked him, regarding Natsuru warily as he hadn't forgotten the legal threat that Shizuku had shoved into his face before dragging Natsuru away from him the other day.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Natsuru coughed out, clearing his throat as Rebecca glanced between the two of them, clearly uneasy.

"I was invited by Ryuusei. I had expected to come across Mikoto, and perhaps one of the other girls, but not you." The Colonel growled, still standoffish as if he had expected a lawyer to suddenly materialize out of thin air.

"Fair enough, but what's a Canadian Forces soldier doing with you?" Natsuru thumbed towards Rebecca, who looked indignant over being treated more like an object then a person, crossing her arms.

"If I don't get to ask you questions, I think it would be fair for me to extend you the same hospitality, don't you agree?" Adrian pursed his lips as Natsuru narrowed his eyes, the two of them locking gazes almost in a silent battle of wills. Scoffing a moment later, Natsuru turned and left the area, wandering back towards the girls as they continued to wait, whereas Adrian and Rebecca followed at a respectful distance, with Rebecca shyly waving towards the girls as they joined Natsuru in staring at them, though Mikoto discreetly waved back, looking torn as she wanted to talk to Adrian.

"Well, that was surprisingly informative." Adrian murmured as Rebecca nodded discreetly.

"Très vrai, Colonel Smith, but maybe let's ixnay the alkingtay until later? Their hearing might be enhanced…" Rebecca urged him quietly, looking at her watch as he nodded in turn.

"Agreed." He whispered back in English, smiling warmly at Mikoto as she looked at him with a sad smile. The two groups, staying a distance from one another, silently waited for Ryuusei Kondou to appear, the tense atmosphere between them practically palpable as ordinary people left the area out of discomfort. As Adrian and Rebecca sat down in some chairs on the other side of the waiting area, they witnessed Mikoto bickering silently with the other two, as they struggled to come to an agreement on something. A moment later, Mikoto seemed to have enough and stood up, making her way over towards the pair of them as her friends seemed frantic, loudly whispering her name after her before giving up and looking away nervously.

"U-um, hi, C-Colonel..." Mikoto spoke to him, in English, shyly, partially covering her mouth with her hand and occasionally glancing back at her friends.

"Hello again, Mikoto. How are you this evening?" he asked her, opting to go a gentler route, as opposed to being straight to the point.

"W-well... pretty good, I guess, since I get to see my Dad again after a few months, heh heh!" Mikoto exclaimed, going right back to being shy, though.

"How's your friend? The one who had the wardrobe malfunction, uh… Natsuru I think it was?" Rebecca cut in, Mikoto looking at her with caution as she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"She's doing fine, thanks." Mikoto eventually answered, pursing her lips ever-so slightly as she rapped her fingers against her bracelet in a pattern nervously. Rebecca looked on, squinting slightly as she watched.

"Well, that's good to hear." Adrian sighed, looking as if he wanted to say more, but found himself unable to. Silence reigned as the two of them went silent, Mikoto twiddling her thumbs as she occasionally glanced at Adrian.

"S-sooo, I guess you're here to see Dad, huh?"

"Yes, he explained to me that he was going to be in tonight, after hearing that I was relocated to the facility in Kure. So he invited me to see him in." Adrian quickly explained, finding the awkward silence between Mikoto and himself unbearable. "He is very worried about you, so he asked me to keep an eye on you. I made the natural connection that you'd come wait for him, so two birds with one stone and all."

"Haha, yeah, he's been acting strange over the phone. He's been worried about strange men following me around." Mikoto explained, giggling slightly as she looked away. Silence reigned Supreme once again, Mikoto and Adrian both looking wary and nervous as they regarded one-another.

"Mikoto, listen…" Adrian started whilst switching to Japanese, reaching forward and gently taking one of her hands in his. "If there is anything you need to tell me, and I mean anything… you will always be able to. You know that, right?" Adrian finished. Mikoto smiled sadly as she placed a hand over his, giving it a light squeeze before moving to go back to her friends. Shaking her head gently as Adrian tried to grab a hold of her hand once more, Mikoto turned and walked back to her friends, both of whom were waiting for her nervously.

"That good enough for you?" Rebecca discreetly asked him, leaning towards him as she slid her phone back into her jeans pocket and sighed.

"You seem to forget that I'm one of the few who suspected from the beginning they are being forced into this, Tremblay." Adrian thundered as she frowned angrily.

"I'd appreciate it if we stuck to my cover name while in public like this, Smith!" Amelia hissed, glancing towards the three high-schoolers, who appeared sick and tired of sitting around, with Natsuru glancing at his phone impatiently. "Nom de Dieu, I knew me coming along was a waste of time…"

"I apologize, I should have realized that she'd never come alone like I had hoped. Otherwise, you may have been indispensable in getting her to open up as a fellow Kämpfer." He whispered back, irritated that he had wasted an ally's time. Glancing at her, Adrian noticed that she was focusing on Natsuru very intently, only looking away when she suspected they were about to lock eyes. "Is something the matter?"

"I just noticed, that ring on Senou's pinky… when I got close to the female Natsuru today, she had the exact same kind of ring on, in the same position." Amelia murmured, not moving her gaze as Adrian shot a glance towards Natsuru's right hand, spying the ring as it caught a light and twinkled with a vivid green color.

"So, you suspect the two Natsuru's are close? I could have told you that." Adrian asked her, scratching his chin as Natsuru noticed he was being stared at, and nervously returned the gaze. Chuckling, Amelia nodded.

"Sure, they are, in a manner of speaking… Mon Dieu, is it reallythat simple? Honestly?" she thought aloud, looking at him what could only be described as awe and being thoroughly impressed. "I mean, sure, it could be anything, but if the pieces fit…"

"What are you—?" Adrian started to ask her, looking confused as turned to look at her, being interrupted when Mikoto shouted out ecstatically.

"Daddy!" she shouted with glee, rushing towards a set of doors as they swung open and revealed a very tired-looking Ryuusei Kondou as he stepped through the doors with an entourage flanking him.

"Heeeey, there's my little girl!" he exclaimed in return, hugging Mikoto tightly as she jumped up and looped her arms around the back of his neck. Spending a moment in this position, Ryuusei stood back up to full height once Mikoto let go, Ryuusei adjusting his jet-black comb-over and glasses since she had mussed them slightly.

"Uncle, it's been a while!" Natsuru beamed, coming up behind Mikoto as Ryuusei finished adjusting his glasses, focusing on Natsuru as his gaze narrowed slightly.

"Hrmm, Natsuru… have you been keeping my daughter out of trouble since she's been back?" Ryuusei grilled him, his tone severely stern as Natsuru sighed and shrugged.

"As best I could, but Mikoto is bound and determined to get herself into trouble all the time." He joked, Mikoto pouting and punching Natsuru's shoulder in retaliation, causing him to stumble and gasp in pain.

"Watch out, Natsuru, she's got a mean right hook!" Ryuusei laughed, turning to look at their silent friend. "My goodness, is that you, Akane? My, you've changed a lot! You always seemed meek and shy when you were younger, and now you exude a confident aura!"

"Ah, w-well, people change over a few years, don't they?" Akane cringed slightly, eyeing Adrian and Amelia and adjusting her glasses as Ryuusei's booming laughter filled the area.

"Too true! I'm happy to see you've been doing well!" he smiled, though the moment quickly found itself cut short as his stomach growled loudly. "S-say, Mikoto," he smiled sheepishly, "do you mind going with your friends and getting a table for us at Micky's over there? I could go for a few greasy American hamburgers right now."

"Sure, Dad! I'll order you some cheeseburgers!" she beamed, prancing off as Akane and Natsuru shared a shrug and joined her. Sighing, Ryuusei shifted his bags around and looked to his left, directly at Adrian and Amelia, as they had begun to approach him.

"So, what did you find out…?" he asked them straight, not wasting any time. Sharing a look with Amelia, Adrian sighed.

"Look, Ryuusei, maybe this isn't the best place—"

"No, no, absolutely not. You will tell me now if my baby girl is in trouble." He demanded calmly, his stern tone giving neither of them any room to argue. Biting her lip for a moment and silently confirming with Adrian, it was Amelia's turn to answer him.

"Monsieur, I'm sorry, but she is unmistakably a Kämpfer." She cut to the chase, feeling terribly when Ryuusei seemed to shrivel up in sorrow. "In fact, the only thing remaining unanswered is precisely which class she is."

"How? How are you so sure? Is it possible there is some sort of mistake?" Ryuusei begged her, wishing that this was some sort of nightmare. Sadly, Amelia shook her head, sliding her right sleeve down to reveal a red bracelet around her wrist.

"I'm afraid not. It's very difficult for a Kämpfer to miss one of their own, even if they've learned how to suppress their aura. And after having done this for the last thirteen years, you'd better believe I've gotten very good at picking up on other Kämpfer." She explained, watching as Ryuusei collapsed into the seat beside him and held his head in his hands.

"…and what of her friends? Akane, Shizuku, and Natsuki?"

"The first two are as well, but this Natsuki… who is that? Did you mean the female Natsuru?" Adrian asked him, very confused as Ryuusei gave him a look and shook his head.

"What? A female Natsuru? I'll admit, they look similar in a few ways, but you must be mistaken, Mikoto's newest friend is a girl with the name Natsuki… er, Saito, I think it was? Hang on, I have a photo somewhere she sent me of the four of them…" he trailed off, digging out a cellphone as Amelia and Adrian shared curious looks, looking up when Ryuusei shouted out. "Found it! That lovely young lady on the right is Natsuki!" he exclaimed, Adrian and Amelia sharing yet another look as the image of the female Natsuru gave them a genuine, laughing smile as she hung off the side of Mikoto while with her friends.

---

"Natsuki Saito, huh..." Adrian mumbled to himself, rapping his fingers against his arm as he sat with them crossed across his chest, boring a hole into the floor of the train car with his gaze.

"It... might bring what I suspect is the true identity of our mysterious blue-haired Kämpfer into question." Amelia admitted, sighing as she rocked her head back and forth. "Ugh, there was already a question of if I was even right in the first place, but still... assuming Natsuki Saito is her real name and not simply another misdirection."

"You don't think it is?" Adrian asked her, keeping an eye on the other sole occupant of the train car, who was keeping to the front end of it.

"Same initials in English, N and S. And the first name shares the first few characters, and if you translate both pairs of names into English, they have the exact same number of English characters if you don't use accents. So, if it isn't her real name, she either thought she was being cheeky, or she isn't very imaginative."

"That... makes sense. From my interactions with her, and our observations, she seems like a sweet girl, but… a bit slow-witted at times."

"Mm, I'd have to agree with you on that... but just remember, if I'm wrong about her being a Kämpfer, and she is the local Moderator, it could be all an act." she mumbled back, sighing as she wracked her brain for some sort of answer. Adrian cast her a look of surprise, having been the one she barked at over the radio earlier today for questioning her ability to know who was a Kämpfer.

"But you were so sure earlier, what's changed?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still fairly convinced she's a Kämpfer. But when I checked her bracelet today in that costume shop, it felt inert, just like the male Natsuru's bracelet felt when I had checked it in the beginning of the school day." Amelia explained, rubbing her temples as she recounted the discovery that had confused her to her very core and nearly caused her to drop character. "It was that find that is making me a bit less certain, but not by much."

"And your other theory? The one for her true identity?" Adrian asked her, causing her to chuckle and gentle shake her head.

"Has anyone brought up the idea that both Natsurus might be the same person?" she jumped right into it, causing Adrian to give her a look, before he mulled the idea over in his head. His expression changed to one of shock, and then incredulity as he thought over it more, finding all sorts of strange connections and inconsistencies that had begun to mend themselves. "Hah, apparently not!" Amelia scoffed, shaking her head.

"No, no, I do recall someone in my office suggesting it at the start of this mess, but admittedly it wasn't taken very seriously by myself or the Japanese Government. Doesn't help that it was at the very beginning of our investigation, so we knew nowhere near what we know about her now." he sighed, groaning as he couldn't shake the idea now that it had lodged itself in there. "The inherent lack of any sightings of them in the same space at any given moment... Mr. Senou's constant disappearances from school with excuses from the Student Council President as Ms. Senou slinked into class, or him being present and she's out with a flare-up of her 'chronic disease'."

"Not to mention the fact that he claims to have left the country for a sick family member without any paper trail proving he did, and Ms. Senou being seen living out of Mr. Senou's home." Amelia added, crossing her arms as she continued. "I did some digging around with my alter-ego's classmates, which I reported, mind you, and it turns out Ms. Senou claims that her mother is a British woman who taught her English from a young age, and that her parents are traveling the planet researching esoteric history and folklore. Sound like anyone you know?"

"Mr. And Ms. Senou... parents to one Mr. Senou, and our very own experts on Kämpfer history and activities... prior to you showing up." Adrian pointed out, Amelia nodding as she smirked.

"C'est vrai, Colonel. At first, when I heard it from them, I couldn't help but think she was just borrowing from Mr. Senou's life to flesh out her own, like building a character. But after realizing what I was seeing on his little finger a moment ago, it makes sense to think that she was actually speaking the truth."

"This is damning and all, but I think it's another misdirection." Adrian sighed, shaking his head as something from the other day clicked and dashed his hopes. As Amelia looked at him curiously, Adrian explained himself. "Just the other day, that school news article that a certain young journalist had printed showed us that males cannot use the bracelets, as it kills them." he recited, as Amelia chuckled again.

"True, true, plus in my time as a Kämpfer I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that I've never once seen a male Kämpfer. But that begs the question: why does Mr. Senou have a bracelet of oath?"

"Because it's being used to keep tabs on him? You said it yourself that it was inert." he growled, not appreciating being toyed with by the Master Corporal.

"True, I did. Buuuuut, Ms. Senou's did, as well... and, as I said in the airport, I noticed that they both had the same kind of ring on. What's to say that the ring wasn't something specifically designed to hide the aural signature given off by bracelets?"

"Okay, sure, let's assume the ring is what tricked you at first, where they got it being a whole different issue, and they are the same person. How has Mr. Senou not died from transforming?" Adrian groaned, still seeing the massive flaw in her theory, growing frustrated even further when she smirked and dropped her chin into her palm.

"Ah, mon cher Colonel, come on now! Don't tell me you can't see the answer?" Amelia teased him, snickering as the American officer glared at her. "Goodness, have you never heard of transgenderism?" she asked bluntly, watching as the Colonel seemed to freeze up before looking at her in disbelief.

"But he's clearly a boy!" Adrian exclaimed, frustrated, before noticing that the other occupant was giving them a worried look as he stepped off the train and into the darkness of the night, since it had stopped at a station.

"Do you know that for certain, Colonel? Or are you only going off of what your little friend Mikoto was telling you about 'him'?" Amelia cocked an eyebrow as she smirked, Adrian wanting to argue her point but found himself struggling, as it all made so much sense.

"Alright, fine, I'll play ball: what about medical records? Even his birth certificate states Natsuru as male!" he exclaimed as the train began to make its way further down the line.

"You and I both know that there is something else to her, something that we can't place our finger on, and it shows in the strength and reach of her aura. It's entirely likely her parents are in on this to a degree? And, since they were already aware of Kämpfer, perhaps they tried to make it seem like she was always a male, so that the Moderators wouldn't think to select her as one of their warriors in retribution for digging too deeply?" Amelia suggested, shrugging when Adrian groaned, rubbing his temples as he didn't want to admit just how much this tied up loose ends.

"Okay, but then explain how she's managed to avoid being caught, all this time? She's well endowed, so it would take some intense dedication to hide that from the boys in her school." Adrian argued, understanding that it was likely a weak counter-argument.

"You recall that I came across her in a costume and makeup store this afternoon?" Amelia asked him, continuing when he nodded "I caught her examining a high-quality male body sleeve very closely, and even overheard Ms. Kondou telling her that it would 'squish even her down'." Amelia recounted for him, watching as he shook his head slowly in disbelief. "Also, after I began examining Ms. Senou's bracelet while undercover, Ms. Kondou managed to crush my hand while yanking my hands off of her, and then Ms. Senou used an ice pack and copious amounts of gauze from her bag to patch me up. From that point on, she attended school as a girl for the remainder of the day while Mr. Senou was conveniently off suddenly running errands for Ms. Sangou."

"...Good grief, how did we miss this? We're smarter than this! Outwitted by teenagers, pah! I must be losing my touch..." Adrian groaned, running his hands over his face for a good while before sitting back up. Pulling out a notebook and pen, he began to write down everything that they had just discussed, leaving his mind to wander and think about what Natsuru was getting into, having left so suddenly while talking about running a late-night errand as he carried off a bag of multiple burgers. "If Senou's parents hid her gender to protect her… it makes me truly wonder how long they've known about Kämpfer and how, exactly, they learned of them."

---

"Fuckin' foreigners... always so fuckin' weird..." the man from earlier grumbled, tugging on his jacket as he flicked ash from a cigarette in his hand. Walking down a side street, he pulled out his phone and listened to a voice message, since he didn't want to risk the weird foreigners eavesdropping on him. Slowing to turn and flip off a security camera above and behind him that was watching the back ally doorway of a store, he was startled when he heard a strange, raspy voice call out his name from a dark corner of the alley.

"I-Itsuki… Itsukiiii…" it called out, as he stared in surprise, which was quickly being replaced by anger and bravado.

"Alright, fucker, who's bein' a wise guy, eh?! Only my Ma and my girl get to call me that!" he shouted into the dark corner, the sound of someone shifting around in the dark floating out to him.

"I… I-Itsuki…" the voice called him again, something scratching and clicking against the cement as they moved closer.

"You wanna fuckin' go, punk?! I'll kill you dead, fucker!" Itsuki screamed, pulling out a large switchblade as he stepped closer to the dark corner. As he watched and listened, the clicking sounds gave way to the sight of cloven hooves belonging to a deer-like body and an indescribable head of a deformed badger looming out from the darkness. Flashing it's single, unbroken tooth of sharp bone that followed the curvature of it's mouth, the creature seemed to chuckle as drool oozed out of it's mouth.

"W-what kinda fucked up dog are you…?!" Itsuki gasped, shaking as fear flooded his entire body.

"Itsuuuuukiiiiii!" the creature shrieked, lunging for the man with incredible speed as Itsuki offered the world one last blood-curdling scream of horror and anguish before falling silent.