I'd been texting Murasaki a lot since she'd given me her number. Tris kept physically going out to hang out with Ryona in person, for obvious reasons, but I just stayed home. After all, it seemed like Murasaki was such a huge homebody, that she would much rather stay in bed and text her friends than be in their physical presence. In fact, she kinda bordered on agoraphobic. I gathered that she spent almost all her time in her room, in her bed, in the dark, with a movie or video game, and only Bebe-tan to keep her company. And apparently up until recently she was completely truant from school, and not even willing to communicate with people over long distance at all. The fact that she now got out of bed for school and was willing to text anyone had apparently been a marked improvement over how she'd been before.

"How'd you not get kicked out of school if you kept just not showing up?" I asked her once.

"same reason i got into school," she typed back. "i have an extremely strong power thats considered really useful, so they want me to be a student so if they ever need my power they have it... they did try to make me go to school at first but i threatened to use it on them so they left me alone... tbh i feel pretty guilty for having it. my sister is a way better shinobi than me so it would have been better use if she got the power... but i had to get it instead..."

"I dunno. I think you should be proud of whatever you have, and use it as best as you can, to accomplish whatever's important to you. What kind of power is it?"

"i dont want to talk about it" was her response. So I let it go. And we went back to texting about the video games she'd been playing lately, and the comics I'd been reading lately, and other stuff to get our minds off of anything serious.

But there was something serious we did have to talk about every now and then.

"Do you mind talking about your classmates sometimes?" I'd asked her.

"i dont mind, most of them are ok. you met half of us. the other half is my sister, my sister's 'friend' she has a really obvious crush on, and a kinda new transfer student."

"What's the transfer student like?" Hopefully I'd finally get the information I needed, but if she wasn't willing to volunteer anything, I didn't want to push her.

"idk, tbh she is a little scary. she talks weird and has freaky eyes."
"Like how?"

"she sounds like an adult trying too hard to be cool with teens? even though she is one... shes always misusing or overusing slang and stuff. and the eyes idk. theyre just freaky. they dont look how eyes are supposed to look."

"That's weird," I typed back, while trying to decide how much else I wanted to say.

Saying that I have a series of persistent and oddly specific and consistent dreams, that feel like past lives, that center around the repeated reincarnation of me and this other girl trying to keep a godlike power away from this other crazy evil overlord? Possibly too much. Mentioning the fact that my transferring to a shinobi school here being almost completely synchronized with two other transfer students, one to another good school and one to an evil school, felt suspiciously like the start of conflict in one of those reincarnation cycles? Probably too much. Telling her I suspect her new classmate is a reincarnation of the evil overlord from my dreams, and judging by what she said about her talking weird for a teen girl, it's possible she might have full memory of all her past lives while I only have faint memories of mine? Definitely too much.

So I settled with something else.

"I kind of want to meet her one day, because she sounds like she's someone I might know, and I want to see if she is that person. But I don't want her to know about me yet, and I don't want to interact with her directly, because if she's the person I know, then we didn't get along before, and things will go badly again now."

"oh. ok. i wont tell her anything about u then. she already knows u exist because i think all 3 of u transfer students are general knowledge between the shinobi schools. but will try to make sure she doesnt know anything else about u. until u are ready or if u want me to ask her something let me know."

So that was good for the time being, I guessed. Maybe the next thing I should focus on would be to meet up with Shiki and her friends at Gessen, and meet the other transfer student there, the one that would be on my side if it turned out all this weird crap came true.

But before I could do that...

One night, I got a text from Murasaki that freaked me out for some reason. It was late, and I'd been sleeping when my phone went off. She'd been known to stay up all night playing video games, and would send me texts then too, but this time... even just from before I looked at it, something felt wrong.
"i really need to talk to you about something weird. i dont want to type it into the phone in case someone sees it. please come to the abandoned playground where you first met ryobi and ryona so we can talk. tonight if you can."

How'd she know where I first met Ryobi and Ryona? I had a gut feeling this was something really bad. I decided to trust my gut feeling, which ironically told me I had to go. What if Murasaki was in danger? I had to help her.

"I'll leave right now," I texted back, before putting on jeans and shoes, making sure I had my scroll with me, and heading out.

Somehow, I managed to find the place. I guessed I was gradually getting better at directions. I'd passed the noodle place, and I'd passed the abandoned building where I saw the things I really never needed to see, so I knew I was close. I felt proud I could recognize landmarks, even though I still wasn't sure how to put together where they were in relation to each other.

But the weird part was that my scroll basically led me to where I needed to be. I'd kept it... where I keep it... and yet still managed to notice a faint glow emanating from that area when I got close to the noodle place. It felt like it was resonating with some type of energy, leading me to the right place. Because I realized after that the closer I got to the playground, the more intense that resonating felt.

Weird.

And even weirder was Murasaki standing there, by herself, without Bebe-tan by her side. She wasn't wearing her school uniform, or even pajamas. She had on a long, full skirted, elegant dress. Was that... her shinobi battle costume?

Uh... judging by the fact that her hair contained some giant shurikens, probably.
I wanted to call out to her and ask if everything was okay, but words were failing me, like they did almost all the time. She looked up at me. At least she'd noticed I was there to help with whatever she needed? I was about to pull out my phone to text her, but before I could even reach for it, one of those shurikens came flying at my face. I barely had time to react. I hopped out of the way, but the sharp edge of the shuriken grazed my cheek, causing it to bleed.

She was literally controlling her weapon with her hair? Wait, why was she attacking me in the first place? It's probably a bad thing that was my second thought and not my first. But as I hopped out of the way of another flying shuriken tangled in deep purple hair, I realized I had to transform too. Even if I didn't want to hurt her, even if I needed to deescalate whatever was happening... I had to be ready to fight, for my own safety.

Even after I did, the scroll was still resonating with some bizarre power. One that felt different than it had ever felt before.

She charged at me at that point, her shurikens spinning madly in midair as they were stretched out in front of her. They were at the level that if they hit me, they'd either get me in the face, or in the throat. I could only dodge. I ducked down and rolled myself out of the way before pulling out my shield and ducking behind that.

I chanced looking up at her face as she came at me again. Her eyes looked... deader than usual. Like a doll's. What was happening?

I held my sword up at her, trying to... threaten her into stopping? But she came at me again anyway, the shurikens grinding up against my sword blade as they spun, cutting at my gloves and shredding them to a leathery pulp. If I hadn't been in a transformed state, both my hands would be bloody messes.

I swung my sword at her, but missed "accidentally." For some reason, I just couldn't hurt her. She was... a friend, or at least I thought she was. Even if she was a student at Hebijo, and they were supposedly evil. I still didn't understand why she was doing this. She wasn't saying anything. I couldn't say anything. How could I incapacitate her long enough to figure out what was going on? Something that wouldn't hurt her...

Then I got it.

I started running away from her, as fast as my legs could go, sheathing my sword and putting back my shield as I ran. I had to get as far away from her as I could if this was going to work. I needed to get on the grass of the playground, too. So I did a running jump over the fence, rolling as I landed, to not hurt myself. And I ran toward the open field part of the playground, mentally daring Murasaki to follow me.

She did, her shurikens still out front, spinning wildly.

I glanced at the playground equipment as I dashed past it. Did I see movement up toward the top of the covered slide? It didn't matter right now. I had to get distance between Murasaki and me, on the field, the soft soil and grass beneath the both of us.

Then I pulled out my bow and arrow, not one of the crossbows, but the one with nicely sharp and pointy arrows. And I aimed at Murasaki. Right at her, as she charged at me.

Then I aimed a bit lower, and let the arrow fly, into the thickness of her skirt.

She stumbled. I quickly fired another, and another. I kept firing arrows into her skirt, causing them to stick through the fabric, and lodge themselves in the earthy ground. She was pinned to the field itself. She kept trying to come at me, and took her awhile before she seemed to think of trying to pull the arrows out of her skirt. And then she didn't need to. She came at me with such a burst of energy that her skirt tore almost all the way off. I could see her purple panties, and had to try not to look at them while she kept on charging my way.

I hated having to do this, but I waited until she was right close to me, and... just straight up decked her in the face. Hopefully that wouldn't do any lasting damage. It did what it needed to do, and she crumpled to the ground. I cautiously dragged her over to a bench, and propped her onto it, so she'd be sitting nicely when she finally came to.

Then I turned back over toward the top of the covered slide, where I thought I'd seen movement before. Someone was kneeling there. A girl in a Hebijo uniform, but not one I knew. Her long hair was fiery red.

She jumped down from the platform leading into the slide, taking a fall that felt like anyone else would end up with their legs crumpled beneath them afterward. But as she reached the ground, she was able to transform her fall into a levitate, and she landed neatly on her feet before staring me down.

With her gleaming golden eyes, and their freaky pupils shaped almost like flowers. Freaky eyes. Where had I seen someone else with freaky eyes like that before?

"You..." She sounded almost afraid. "It can't be. You're..." She glanced down toward my chest. "You're... you don't..."

Oh, yeah. If she had full memory of all our past lives, she was used to me being a guy. But then again, she was probably used to being an older adult man herself. So, yeah. I jabbed a pointing finger in the general direction of her chest, equally as ample as mine if not more so. Like, see, this world is being cruel to all of us.

"Hmph. It is you, isn't it, kid?" The fiery redhead silently strode over to Murasaki as she spoke. "No one else would look at me with such defiance, even with me in... this state..." And then she put her hand on Murasaki's throat, gripping it tightly.

Shit.

"Worried about your little friend here, kid?" she asked. I glared at her, but said nothing. She smirked. "If you want me to make sure she awakens unharmed, there's something you can do for me..."

I tilted my head to the side in question, even though I kept the look of defiance blazing in my eyes. She'd know there was no way I was going to give her what she wanted, but I needed to at least know what it was.

"It's easy. Give me your secret ninja scroll."

It was hard for me not to instinctively clutch at the place I had my scroll hidden. I managed to jerk my arm to the side just in time to not reveal where it was. Instead, I pulled out my sword.

"Really? You think you're ready to fight me?" The fiery redhead laughed. But it wasn't the laugh of a high school girl, not even a particularly smug or even bitchy one. It was a grade A certified Saturday morning cartoon maniacal villain laugh. A laugh that sent a shiver from my repressed memories and down my spine.

Shit. Was I ready to fight her?

I couldn't give her the scroll. But I couldn't just flee, and leave Murasaki here alone with her. I didn't have a choice. I nodded at her, and charged at her with my sword brandished.

She effortlessly shot a ball of energy at me, sending me flying backward. I had to scramble to my feet and run back toward my assailant. The fact that the energy had split the whole front of my tunic open and it was only still being held on me by the belt... it barely registered. I did take a moment to glance at Murasaki as I ran toward her, though.

Her eyes fluttered open.

"Where am I―" she barely managed to ask, before fiery redhead tightened her grip on her throat, silencing her. I used that brief moment of distraction to swing my sword at the redhead, slicing open her school uniform top. Somehow she managed to be kinda muscular, while still having bigger boobs than me. I'd feel bad for her having to deal with those if she wasn't threatening Murasaki.

It seemed her grip on Murasaki's throat had lessened, because Murasaki was frantically asking questions again.

"Ganni, where's Bebe-tan? Where did you take her? Where is she?"

Ganni―that was definitely short for something I couldn't quite remember―exhaled sharply in amusement.

"Don't worry, she's safe at home. I had you leave her there. I was sure you wouldn't want to get dirt in her fur while you were busy serving me."

Suddenly, Murasaki had a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before, as she straight up glared at Ganni. Her anger was physically palpable as the earth beneath the playground began to shake. A dome of deep purple darkness began to form around her, enveloping both of them. Murasaki let loose the most intense scream I'd ever heard. And the dome of darkness burst like an explosion.

I clutched at my head. It took me a moment to shake off the dizziness. And I didn't know what I was about to see when the darkness cleared. Was that the power she hadn't wanted to talk about?

Murasaki was standing there, shaking, crying. Ganni was nowhere to be found.

"She got away," Murasaki whimpered through her tears. "S-she... tele... telep-p-ported..." She had to catch her breath. "I... wh-what did I do... while I was under her control... d-did I attack you?"

I nodded at her.

"I attacked you? I... I didn't mean to... it wasn't me... I... I'm so sorry..."

I nodded at her again and placed my hand on her shoulder. I wanted her to know it was okay.

"I... I need to get home to Bebe-tan... she's probably worrying about me..." She swallowed hard. "I... I'll see you later, and I'll think of a way t-to... make up for attacking you... I m-mean, y-y-you'll still talk to me, right?"

I nodded at her yet again, giving her a soft smile.

She wiped away her tears, then gave me a big hug... and a kiss on the cheek. And then she darted away like nobody's business.

Uh, shiiiiiiit. That was a friendship kiss, right? Right? Or was that a genuine hundred percent romantic interest kiss? Or maybe it was a weird kid's juice beverage equivalent of a kiss. Friendship kiss, made with real romantic interest, only contains twenty percent real romantic interest.

Either way, I wasn't sure what to make of it. It would definitely make this whole her-classmate-is-a-reincarnated-evil-overlord thing more complicated. But, uh... she was a good friend, and she was cute, and not someone I'd mind dating, if that was what she was getting at?

Anyway, I had to get home and sleep... I had a lot to think about.