"Right, what's all this then?" Danate calls down. "It was a good idea to make a hole in the dirt and cover it with leaves but someone was bound to fall in, y'know?" he says tauntingly. "Even if I was the one to fall in, I still would've ended up finding you."

Veiss sends Nelio a death glare. "I told you."

Nelio shrugs.

Kyza looks up at Danate desperately. "Can you please get us out? I fell on my keys and it hurts really bad..." he pouts, cradling his backside.

Veiss rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

Danate gives Veiss a look.

"Ugh. Fine. I got us in, I can get us out, relax. Black Arms!"

Episode 17 (Part 2): For Glory and S-Class Missions

Myling, Calypso, Cooley, Marcus, Nelio, and Veiss. Six down...how many to go? It was those three pairs and…

Akane and Emile,

Acro and Rina,

Madelaine and Alistair,

and Mana and Ken.

Hmmm…

"So how goes the whole 'trust issues' issue? Have any sleepovers with Mana yet?"

"I'll kill you."

"Duly noted."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I know Danate and Emile like the back of my hand, this is definitely something he'd do. Just look at him! He's not looking at the art, he's investigating!" Rina hisses quietly. "Now sit still."

Acro pouts. "It feels...icky." he grumbles as he holds his hair back. "How do you wear this all day?"

Rina rolls her eyes as she dabs the concealer onto Acro's forehead. "How is it any different than being covered in clay and paint? Not to mention your feet being covered in dirt all the time…" she grumbles.

Acro beams. "I like the way clay and paint feel!"

"Right…" Rina sighs. "...aaaand there. Your mark is all covered up. Jeez, of all the times and places to have your guild mark on your forehead…" she trails off, glancing behind them.

The blond boy from yesterday - Akito, Rina thinks - is still very obviously investigating the art museum instead of admiring the art.

Then again, Rina and Acro aren't admiring the art either.

"We never spoke to him yesterday so we should be good like this, right?" Acro asks.

Rina nods as she tugs the legs of her romper down, trying to hide the Phoenix Fire mark on her thigh. "Hopefully." she says. Rina briefly considers asking Acro to cover up her mark too but then she remembers just how awful he is at painting. She shakes her and turns back to her partner. "How do you think he came up with the idea of coming here?"

"Danate gave us all brief summaries of your personalities and histories." a voice that is very much not Acro's answers. "An artist and a model. I thought an art museum was obvious."

Rina and Acro whip around, panicked looks on their faces.

Akito yawns and stretches. "Found you." he says with all the enthusiasm of a child on bingo night.

"Y-Yeah," Acro stutters, pointing a finger at Akito. "but it doesn't count unless Danate sees us! Take that!"

"I know." Akito says. "That's why I'm bringing you to him." he says as if it were obvious.

Rina and Acro exchange a look.

Akito raises his hand. "Dark Pr-"

"Acro!"

"Got it!"

Quicker than an unentertained Akito can move, Acro moves behind the Silver Sabelum Mage, restraining his arms. "Really, man!? I know you can do the same thing you were about to do with Ice Magic, what'd we do to get the Darkness Magic treatment!?" Acro whines.

"I didn't want the ice to scratch any of the artwork." Akito deadpans.

Acro looks around, wincing when he sees all of the expensive looking decor. "...Fair enough." he sighs.

Rina draws Akito's attention back to her, her lips now colored gray. "Pucker up, blondie." Rina says, cupping Akito's face with both of her hands.

Akito's eyes widen. "What are you doing?" he asks quickly, finally showing some kind of emotion to the pair.

"It's just a little Sleep Magic." Rina says. "Now say goodnight!"

"W-Wait-"

…

…

…

Acro lets go of Akito and the boy slumps to the ground, fast asleep. He blushes, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Wow, Rina." Acro says and clears his throat.

Rina raises an eyebrow as she wipes the lipstick off of her lips. "What?" she asks.

"I thought you liked Danate." Acro says shyly, glancing between Akito and Rina.

"Wh-What!?"

"I thought you liked Da-"

"I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID!"

Madelaine frowns as a bored Calypso flicks packets of sugar across her table. A steady pile is growing on the floor and it's all Madelaine can do to keep herself from picking them up.

"I'm bored." Calypso whines, dropping her head against the table.

"I know, Calypso." Madelaine sighs.

"He's making me stay here so he can watch me."

"I know, Calypso."

"He thinks my stalker is going to come out of hiding if someone isn't watching me."

"I know - wait, what?" Madelaine gasps, her eyes widening. "Your stalker?" she repeats.

Calypso smirks. "Finally I got your attention." she says, relieved. "Can we finally have a conversation now? I'm bored out of my mind - it won't blow your cover if I'm seen talking to somebody, right? My only friends don't have to be in Phoenix Fire."

Madelaine glances outside of 8-Island's windows, at Alistair, and looks back at Calypso. "I suppose not…" she says and nods. "Okay, fine. Talk to me." she says and closes her book.

"Nope." Calypso shakes her head and moves to sit across from Madelaine. She reaches across the table and takes Madelaine's hands in hers. "You talk to me." she says with a bright smile. "I'm gonna be hanging around the guild more often-" Calypso's smile falters for a second. "- I think I should get some more training in before I try going out on another mission, you know how it is, and Mana and her friends are the only ones I've really gotten to know. You seem fun! Tell me about you, the Venom Witch." she says eagerly and wiggles her eyebrows at her last comment.

Madelaine blushes, caught off guard by the switch from bored Calypso to this. "Uh…"

Calypso smiles awkwardly. "Ah, sorry. Too much too fast?" she asks.

Madelaine quickly shakes her head. "N-No! You're fine. I just, um, only Mana and Emile have really approached me like you just did." she says with a small frown. "I'm not used to people being so…" Madelaine trails off.

Calypso stares at Madelaine with a frown, an unreadable look on her face.

"E-Everyone's still very nice to me, of course!" Madelaine adds when she sees Calypso's expression. "It's just - um, Mana and Emile are the nicer ones, I guess. A lot of them have their own problems to deal with, like Akane and Nelio. And Alistair." she adds, glancing at her partner.

Calypso puts her smile back on and Madelaine lets out a mental sigh of relief. "Good. What kind of things do you like?" she asks, changing the subject, and glances pointedly at the book beside Madelaine's arms. "I assume reading is one of them."

Madelaine nods and gives Calypso a small smile. "My favorites are theory books and fantasy books."

"Theory books?"

"Well you see…"

Meanwhile, Alistair is still standing at attention by the register. His eyes are getting a bit tired from constantly moving from window to window to Calypso to window, but hey, this is what he signed up for.

Well, this is what Nelio signed him up for.

There's been nothing out of the ordinary aside from Koz wandering in and demanding the whereabouts of himself and his comrades.

Hm…

Thanks to the particular placement of 8-Island and this particular register, Alistair has seen the three Silver Sabelum Mages wandering around Zaflior quite actively.

If Koz was in here asking about Phoenix Fire…

Alistair sucks his teeth. "Damn you, Danate." he grumbles under his breath.

That means he recruited the trio of boys to his cause.

"I need that S-Class mission." Alistair whispers to himself. "Maddox, Mason…" he clenches his fist.

And Fafnir…

Alistair grits his teeth.

Veiss, Mana, Calypso...after this stupid game, he can't let any of them out of his sight.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up…" Veiss chants under his breath, clutching his head.

Danate, a few feet behind his junior, frowns, but doesn't say anything.

"What about this top with this shirt? It's quite similar to what you're already wearing and with this, there's one less layer and the sleeves are more breathable!" Ken beams. "Isn't this more suited for Zaflior weather?"

"Says the man wearing a full suit…" Mana mumbles under her breath, not even sparing a look at what Ken is presenting to her. She just got rid of the twenty pound pile of clothes, she's not eager to start another one. Mana tugs at her long sleeves. "Thank you, but no. I picked these long sleeves for a reason." she says. "Can't we be done here? We're supposed to be hiding, not shopping."

They both go silent.

"Miss Mana," Ken starts again, a gentler, less excited tone to his voice. "Just take a look, hm?"

Mana sighs and turns to Ken.

"See?" Ken says with a soft smile, presenting the outer garment to her. "With the stitching attaching the shoulder to the arm sleeves, your arms are still completely covered - there's just this small space in between the stitching here where your shoulders would be visible. Plus, the sleeves are much more loose than what you're wearing now." he says and holds up the red undershirt. "This may not have sleeves but it is an undershirt. No one would be seeing this unless you wanted them to." Ken says helpfully.

"...Are you trying to make me feel better about myself with clothes?"

"...Yes?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...We fight for a living, Miss Mana, everyone of us has scars-"

"FINE, I'll take the clothes." Mana groans, covering her face with her hands. "Just don't try to talk to me about that anymore. Please."

Ken grins, pleased. "Perfect! I'll buy you ten copies of each."

"You don't have to, I actually just got over two million-"

"Nonsense! Consider it a gift for all the trouble I've put you through today."

"If you tell anyone about this, I'll kill you."

"You've been saying that since we got in here." Emile pouts. "Can't we talk about something else?" he asks.

Akane continues staring at Emile like he's one of the Black Wizard's legendary Etherious but doesn't shoot him down.

Emile beams. "Good. Cool. Nice. So, meet any hotties recently?" he asks with a smirk.

Akane groans and rolls her eyes. "Why is romance the only constant thing on your mind?" she asks. "And no, the newest people I've met are the newest people you've met."

Emile hums. "So you don't think any of them are hot?"

"No."

"Are you saying they're ugly?"

"Wh-? No, I just don't find them 'hot'." Akane says, looking at Emile suspiciously. "Why are you pressing me about this?"

Emile ignores the question, humming. "Soooo…..you're not attracted to any of them in any way, shape, or form?" he asks.

Akane barely has the room to facepalm. "No." she repeats. "I ask you again, why are you pressing me about this?"

Emile grins. "I've just been hearing some things, Kanny." he says, sing-song.

"Don't call me that." Akane deadpans. "What things?"

"About you and a certain amnesiac-"

"You're going to have to be more specific." Akane says, rolling her eyes again. "We have like, twelve. And you're one of them."

Emile groans, throwing his head back against the locker. "I just - never mind." he sighs. "I don't even have enough evidence anyways."

Akane frowns. "What the hell are you talking about?" she asks, confused.

Novem burrows his way out of Emile's kimono and jumps onto Akane's head. "She hasn't had enough time to accept it yet." he says and makes himself comfortable on top of Akane's head, ready for his ninth nap of the day. "Give her time." Novem says wisely.

"Accept what!?"

"There." Acro huffs when he successfully manages to stuff all of Akito's limbs in the closet. "If he stays asleep long enough, nobody should find him until closing." he says.

Rina smiles and gives him a high five. "Nice. And trust me, he'll be knocked out until then for sure. The effects of the lipstick are strengthened the longer I kiss-"

"Oh? Who's the lucky one you got to showcase your Magic on?"

Acro groans and starts banging his head against the door he just locked a sleeping Akito behind.

Rina whips around, blushing furiously. "D-Danate!" she stutters. "H-How - how d-did you-?"

Danate hums, slinging an arm around Rina's neck. "You know, I remember when we first met and you were explaining what kind of Magic you had." he says. "Little Danate didn't understand so Little Rina decided to show him - Little Rina knocked him out for the rest of the day." Danate says with a fond smile.

Acro slowly shuffles away. He gets the feeling that he's not supposed to be hearing this.

"Wh-Whatever." Rina stammers, looking anywhere but Danate. "Tell me we're not the first pair you found, at least."

Danate smiles and shakes his head. "Nah. That was Myling and Calypso, of course." he says and holds up his free hand, counting. "Myling brought them to her house. I knew she would do that, of course. She's a very smart woman but when it comes to games like this, Myl's kind of hopeless. Anyways, then it was Marcus and Cooley - the old man thought I wouldn't find them in a bar of all places - and then it was Veiss and Nelio and the little dude from Silver Sabelum."

"'And the little dude from Silver Sabelum'?" Rina repeats, confused. "I thought you recruited the Silver Sabelum Mages to work for you."

"It's...a long story."

"...and after that, Nelio, Veiss, and Kyza all split off." Danate finishes as he, Rina, and Acro approach the building. "I'm not sure where Nelio went but I walked Veiss back to the guild, he looked a little...sick, or something." Danate says with a frown. "And Kyza said he was going to go back to investigating after he found Koz, he's worried about the guy getting lost." he says, putting his smile back on.

"Is that so...well, I'm glad Akito is the one that found us." Rina says. "Koz doesn't seem very friendly."

Acro shrugs. "I think he'd be nicer once you get to know him," he says. "Koz doesn't seem like a bad guy, just a little closed off."

Rina sighs, "You don't think anyone seems like a bad guy." she says to Acro.

Danate just shakes his head and opens the front door of the building for Rina and Acro. "Maybe we'll find out one day." he says. "After you two."

…

…

…

…

Danate bursts out laughing.

Alistair's eye twitches.

Madelaine sighs.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is great!" Danate laughs, pointing at a uniformed Alistair. "I only came here to pay for Rina's and Acro's meals!"

Alistair glares daggers at the two behind the S-Class Mage.

"Where's Maddy? Is she working in the back?"

"No," Madelaine speaks up, pulling her wig off. "with my Magic, they didn't want me anywhere near the food." she says with a sigh.

Danate turns around to see Madelaine and Calypso sitting at a table together. "Maddy! Calypso! Nice to see you." he says tauntingly.

Madelaine sticks her tongue out at him and Calypso flips him off.

Danate sighs happily, turning back to Alistair. "Wow. Good times. And I still have another two hours to find the last two pairs." he says, wiping the happy tears from his eyes. "Anyways, Al, can I get two-?"

"No." Alistair deadpans, pulling his hat and apron off in one swift motion. He hops the counter and heads towards the door. "Come on, Calypso." Alistair says, beckoning the young woman towards him.

Calypso sighs. "Yeah, yeah." she says. "Later, Maddy." Calypso says, giving her a small wave before she runs off to catch up with Alistair.

Madelaine gives her a small smile and picks her book back up.

Danate stands in the middle of the restaurant, a clueless look on his face. "...Who do we order food from!?"

Mana frowns disappointedly when their search turns up nothing. "That's so weird." she says. "Who would just take someone's clothes? There weren't any tags on them so a worker wouldn't have taken them…"

Ken shrugs and shakes his head. "Alas, I suppose they're truly gone forever," he says. "I apologize, I didn't think someone would take them either."

Mana sighs. "No, it's fine. I was hoping to change into them when winter comes, but…" her frown deepens. "Rina gave them to me. Those clothes were the first gift I'd gotten in a long time."

"So how's the search for Valerie Elford?"

Emile shakes his head. "Nothing. It's like she just brought me to Arkcester, raised me for a couple of years, and then disappeared off the face of the planet." he says.

Akane frowns, thinking. "...Hm. You said your earliest memory was waking up on top of that mountain, right?"

Emile nods.

"I mean, I have absolutely nothing to base this on other than our less than concrete knowledge about our heavenly neighbors, but what if your theory from way back when is right?" Akane guesses. "Let's say that this Valerie woman is your human mother and, uh, interspecies or interracial or whatever kind of relationships are fround upon." she says. "I'm not...I'm not saying she's dead, but what if something happened to Valerie and your exalted dad tried to intervene? I can't say what happened in between that hypothetical and you waking up on that mountain but it seems unlikely that Valerie would've done that to you on purpose if she'd raised you for as long as she did, right?" Akane says.

"...You're probably right." Emile says, a thoughtful look on his face. "She did raise me until I was eight years old...she wouldn't just stop." he agrees. "Nothing in her file said anything about her being a bad mother."

"I agree, too!" Novem says suddenly. "Mama Solflare wouldn't just abandon someone as stupid as Emile, everyone knows he needs guidance in his life."

Akane scoffs. "She would be Mama Elford." she corrects. "Emile came up with that stupid last name of his himself."

"Hey!"

After a couple of more minutes of arguing, Emile somehow directs the conversation back to Akane, pestering her with questions about how exactly she feels about each and every new person they've met over the last month or two.

"It was Rina's idea!" Acro grumbles as he scrubs the remaining concealer off of his forehead. "I mean, it did work until that Akito guy heard us talking, but still." he pouts.

Madelaine smiles and shakes her head. "Oh, Acro-"

The two of them jump when they hear the sound of breaking porcelain. They whip around to find Rina standing in the middle of the 8-Island restaurant, frozen in place and shards of their now broken plates and leftover food at her feet.

"R-Rina? Rina, what's wrong?" Madelaine asks, rushing over with Acro to check on their guildmate.

There's a petrified look on Rina's face. "H-He's - h-h-he's here." she stammers, tears welling up in her eyes. "I know it. I know he's here." Rina says, shaking from head to toe.

Acro frowns, exchanging a worried look with Madelaine. "Who, Rina?"

Rina's mind starts racing. She knows he's here. But where? Where would he go if not her exact location…?

Meanwhile…

"Here you are, sir."

The unsettling man takes the offered item from his lackey's hand. It's a black, customized kosode. He brings it up to his face, inhaling its scent with a lecherous smile on his face. "My dear...even though that other woman was wearing it, I can still smell you perfectly." he sighs. "Just a bit longer, my sweet Rina. We'll be reunited soon." he says. His smile drops suddenly, a possessive, angry look on his face. "I'll get that boy from the museum for daring to kiss what's mine, too..."

"MANA!"

Mana and Ken nearly jump out of their skin at the sound of Rina's shrill, terrified scream.

Mana doesn't even have time to turn around before arms are being wrapped around her from behind and she's the one feeling terrified.

Ken smiles reassuringly at Mana the second he sees the color leave her face. "It's only Miss Rina," he says. "there's nothing to fear."

Mana lets out a shaky breath, frowning when she feels just how bad Rina is shaking. "Ri...na?"

"Where...where is...your other shirt…?" Rina asks breathlessly.

Mana frowns. "I was trying on this top and someone took it from my dressing room when I went to the mirror." she says. "I'm sorry."

Much to Mana's and Ken's horror, Rina starts sobbing against Mana's back.

Between Rina's sobbing and a handful of the game's other participants (plus a wild Kyza) wandering into the store and immediately bombarding Mana and Ken with questions, nobody notices the store employee approaching them with a frightened look. Akane and Emile, to the surprise of the competing pair, are among the small group.

Akane bristles when she sees the very loud situation before her. "Rina - what - what the hell are you doing?" she stammers, a mixture of emotions on her face as she stares at Rina bawling her eyes out against Mana's back, all while still restraining her teammate with a very uncomfortable looking back hug.

Emile, for his part, is feeling a number of things as well (Akane's reaction, Mana's very uncomfortable expression, and Rina's distress are all things he'd very much like to address. He chooses to deal with the latter first.) but quickly springs into action, moving to pry Rina away from Mana and try his best to comfort her.

Danate has a very dark look on his face.

Kyza, the young kid he is, doesn't know what to do - especially because he's not familiar with Rina - and just stands there awkwardly.

"Ri - please stop crying - Rina what's wrong?" Emile asks worriedly as he pries Rina's arms from Mana.

Rina, in response, turns to latch onto and cry against Emile.

Unfortunately for Mana, people don't seem intent on stopping sneaking up on her from behind. She jumps when a rough hand suddenly drops on her shoulder.

Danate lightens his expression when he sees the panic on Mana's face. "S-Sorry." he apologizes with a half-hearted smile. "Can we talk?"

"Ah, sorry to interrupt," Ken says, approaching everyone. "but it seems as though our volume is scaring the other customers." he says. Behind him, an employee quickly moves to hide behind a rack of clothing. "...And the employees." Ken adds with a small laugh. "Might we reconvene back at the guild?"

During their walk towards the guild, a very grumpy Akane grabs Mana's hand and her attention. "What was all that about?" she asks. "Why was Rina losing her fucking mind?"

(Rina, much calmer now, is walking a couple of feet ahead of them with Danate and Ken.)

Beside them, Emile narrows his eyes, watching Akane's every move.

Mana fills them in on the issue of her stolen shirt and sighs. "Obviously I haven't known her as long as you two have but I don't think Rina's the type of person to get all emotional over something like that - do you?"

Akane frowns. "No, she's not." she agrees and glances at Emile. "Em?"

Emile shakes his head. "No. Let's leave all of that talk for the guild so we're not repeating ourselves twice." he says and resists the urge to put on a teasing smile. "So, Mana, I noticed a little something-something."

"What's that?" Mana asks.

"You don't seem to like it very much when people touch you but whenever Akane holds your hand-"

"Emile I will find your mother before you do and make sure you never meet-"

"I don't like it when it comes as a surprise." Mana says, tapping her chin with her free hand. She smiles, "Akane is the only one that holds my hand so I always know it's her." Mana says cheerfully. "I don't have anything to be afraid of!"

…

Emile bursts out laughing at the look on Akane's face.

"A-Akane? What's wrong? Why is your face red? Did I say something wrong? Are you sick? Wh-?"

"Sh-Shut UP!" Akane stutters, looking anywhere but Mana's panicked face and Emile's smug face. "Andthankyou." she mumbles under her breath.

(...You're both hopeless. Mary sighs.

I don't even know what's happening right now, please-)

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you, Kane." Emile drawls.

Akane responds by sticking her foot out to the side and tripping the bane of her existence.

Upon entering Phoenix Fire's building, the group is met with the remainder of the game's participants: Myling, Calypso, Cooley, Marcus, Nelio, Veiss, Acro, Madelaine, and Alistair (including a still unconscious Akito being carried around by a grumbling Koz).

"Well?" Marcus pipes up and crosses his arms. "The sun's down. Who won?" he asks.

"Heh, I don't really care who won. Veiss is out so I'm happy." Calypso says smugly, sticking her tongue out at Veiss when he flips her off.

Cooley yawns, "As long as Danate didn't win I don't really care either. I can't have him indirectly ordering Mary around if they were the last pair…"

Myling gives them a very low bow, "I-I don't have any in-interest either b-but congratulations to the winner!" she stammers.

Nelio merely shrugs, silently waiting to hear the news.

Veiss narrows his eyes, observing the group. He stays silent for another minute before: "Mana and Ken won." Veiss states bluntly.

Alistair crosses his arms. "Is that so?" he says. He's not exactly questioning Veiss, more so asking for confirmation.

Mana and Ken exchange a confused look.

Akane and Emile look at Mana in disbelief. "You're joking...right?" Akane says. "Didn't you see how dark it was outside when we left the store?"

Emile smirks. "No, she was too busy paying attention to you holding her hand." he says mockingly.

Akane rolls her eyes. "Sh-"

"Exactly!" Mana beams.

"..."

"..."

Oh dear. Mary sighs.

Madelaine steps up, smiling awkwardly at the quartet. "Maybe we should start from the beginning so everyone is up to speed...is that alright, Rina?"

Rina nods wordlessly, her eyes still puffy from crying.

Madelaine nods and continues. "Come on, we can talk in my room."

Everyone sans Myling, Nelio, Marcus, and Cooley gather in Madelaine's room to hear what they missed.

To make a long story short, after Rina's freakout at 8-Island, she ran out of the cafe. Madelaine and Acro didn't really have any choice but to follow (seeing as how Rina did freak out about someone and she's not the best at defending herself solo).

The three of them eventually ran into Danate - of whom Rina babbled some nonsensical explanation to - before she went off running again. Needless to say, Danate started following too.

Kyza is the one who found Akane and Emile; it was completely by accident.

The two of them started arguing so loudly that little Kyza followed the sound of their very familiar voices. When he opened the closet door, Kyza was very proud of himself for finding a pair but that feeling immediately went out the window when they quickly caught on to what he was up to and Akane threatened to shove his Celestial Spirit keys down his throat.

The two of them started chasing Kyza around Zaflior - Akane threatening poor Kyza's life and Emile just trying to prevent Kyza from snitching on them to Danate.

Of course, that eventually led to them running into Danate and losing them the competition.

The group spent the rest of the daytime searching for Mana and Ken and of course, the sun eventually set.

Rina was about to go into panic mode again because the last pair were nowhere to be found and they weren't making their presence known even though the sun had set.

They started brainstorming about where they could've possibly hidden until Akane reminded them that despite being a member of Phoenix Fire for about two months now, Mana hasn't spent very much time exploring the town herself. That means it would've fallen to Ken to pick somewhere and knowing what kind of person Ken is…

"...and that's how Rina came to scream bloody murder in the store." Madelaine finishes. "Somewhere in between that, Danate sent Acro and I to check over Rina's room for any security breaches. We met up again and they still hadn't found you."

"I...see…" Mana says, giving Rina an apologetic and sympathetic look. "So...you think…" she trails off, looking unsurely at the rest of the room's occupants.

Rina sighs and shakes her head. "Thank you, Mana, but...it's fine." she sighs again. "He's here. I know he's here. I used to feel safe here - on literally the other side of the continent - but even though I haven't seen him yet, I feel like I'm being violated again…"

Mana, Danate, and Emile nod encouragingly at Rina.

"Take your time, Rina." Danate says with a gentle smile. "We can put the competition aside for now. Our main priority is making sure we can make you feel safe in your own home again."

Everyone voices their agreement, including the two conscious Silver Sabelum Mages.

Rina lets out a third sigh, steadying herself, and nods. "Okay...so, you all know I was born and raised in Fiore, right?"

PF x AH x SS

A/N phew chile

a big warm happy birthday to the fifteenth anime boy , my big bro , father of akane, akito, kenji, hibiki, etc etc (i'd be here all night trying to name all 100 characters)

i tried to sprinkle in a little extra gay panic from akane for you my dear shiro i hope you enjoyed

this was not proof read at all so excuse any mistakes pls gn i'll see you in july hopefully