Okuda was unsure if time was really passing…It felt like it wasn't. Staring blankly into the bathroom mirror she tried searching for answers in her reflection, to no avail... Akari was so very dear to her and she's known her for a very long time now…but something didn't bode… Koro killed Aguri? The thought alone baffled her and from the look of things it must have baffled Nagisa to.

Granted she may not have known a lot about Koro…But Nagisa seems to have a history with him…Speaking of Nagisa…Okuda felt like she was slowly piecing everything together about her friend's odd behavior. Akari was always a very kind warm person, to see her acting so bitterly and malevolent towards Nagisa was startling and just plain wrong….But she was at a loss. She wanted to believe Akari, but…

She should probably consulate Nagisa about the matter after the ceremony.

She recalls going up on stage, but after that everything sort of blurred. She was there when the council president gave their opening and ending speech, she was there to hear the guest speaker, and she stood up like all the others did as they sang their class anthem. But, at the same time she was so far, far away. It was too evident to Rio that something was on the young witch's mind. She felt the need to ask what it could be, but Akari answered in Okuda's steed. Saying something along the line that Okuda just had a lot on her mind…

Rio doesn't know what's happened to her two friends, but she desperately hopes that whatever is going on can resolve itself quickly because her friends are starting to look more and more like strangers every passing minute. It was so very weird to think, that in the beginning of spring they had started out as friends but now as they meet up once again during summer at their graduation they were saying their goodbyes and parting as nothing more than strangers. Rio hopes that perhaps down the line they could rekindle their friendship once Okuda and Akari sort out their problems.

"H-hey A-Akari…"

"What is it Manami?"

"Um…I was…I was thinking c-could you and K-karma head up to my room…you know s-since we need to talk a-about what to do next….w-with things like tracking down Koro…"

"A strategy meeting?"

"Uhh Y-yes…that!"

"Well then no time to waste let's get going."

"Um…w-w-wait! I actually need to do something real quick…." Okuda exclaimed as she tried her best to think of a good enough excuse so she could stay and talk with Nagisa.

"Can't it wait?" Akari asked with a pout.

She wanted to get her revenge as soon as possible.

"Umm…well…It's just…I…" She couldn't do this….

She wasn't good at lying. Perhaps she should just be straight forward…that seemed like the best option…

"I need to talk to…Nagisa…"

"…"

Akari didn't say anything.

"P-privately…" Manami continued nervously…

Once again Akari failed to reply, but Akari couldn't refuse Okuda's selfish request. She owed Manami that much at least…but she also didn't want to leave Manami alone with that demon….

"You get five minutes and if anything happens you come get me okay…" Akari instructed.

Suddenly all the anxiety that had been building up inside Manami's petit body seemed to crumple away as she let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Akari." She stated happily with a smile before she went up to talk to Nagisa….

Akari cautiously watched them go…her stomach forming knots…

"Want to go spy on them?" A velvety voiced inquired.

She turned to see the mischievous red head smiling down at her…She bit her lip in thought….As much as it pained her to say it….he was attractive in his human form and she cursed him for that….Having such a handsome face made him more annoying.

"No. Let's go they'll join us shortly." She replied as she made her way to Okuda's dorm room already regretting her decision.

"Hey Okuda, so what do you need?" Nagisa asked with a nervous smile.

"Oh um…First I would like to apologize." She said apologetically bowing.

"H-huh!? No, you don't need to! You didn't do anything..."

"I mean I want to apologize on Akari's behalf." She clarified.

"Oh…you…don't need to…" Nagisa said softly but he will admit that her apologizing at the very least made him feel more welcomed….more cared for…

"Um...I…Do you think Koro really did it!" Okuda exclaimed as she tightly gripped onto the cloth of her skirt her eyes determined to find answers in his…

"Well…." He hesitated only because she was rather close to him now; looking for the answers in his eyes…His pulse started to quicken.

"No. I don't think he did it." He responded honestly.

"I knew it…!" She proclaimed a small rush of relief washing over her as she placed a tentative hand on her fast beating heart.

"Was that…umm…all you wanted to hear?" Nagisa inquired a little disappointed that the conversation was so short.

"Oh uhh…y-yeah…but umm…just so you know Akari is usually really nice…it's just…she's confused and angry right now…" Okuda explained with pleading eyes hoping Nagisa believed her.

"Y-Yeah well I'm sure things will get better..." Nagisa said as if to convince himself.

"No they won't." Okuda stated bluntly.

"H-huh…? Well that's not really reassuring." Nagisa remarked with a small grimace…

"Things aren't going to get better unless we can prove Koro wasn't the killer!" She elaborated with fiery conviction.

"You want to prove his innocence…?" Nagisa questioned his eyes growing in slight surprise.

"Yes, s-so please help me prove his innocence!" She pleaded as she bowed her head in desperation…

"M-Ms. Okuda you r-really don't have to bow." Nagisa insisted as he flushed with embarrassment.

"…Does…that mean you won't help me…" She lamented softly her eyes filling with despair as her shoulders slouched in sorrow.

"No!" He proclaimed loudly before flinching at his volume. "No I'll help! I want to help you and prove that Koro is innocent!"

A grateful smile graced Manami's soft features her lavender eyes sparkling with joy. The sight of such innocence, of such honest blunt joy made Nagisa's heart jump….He wasn't used to this kind of cuteness.

"Thank you so much Nagisa!"

"N-No problem…" He stuttered as just the sound of his name falling from her lips made him feel warm…

"B-but we need to keep this a secret…." Okuda whispered.

Her eyes were still filled with that purple fire of determination but it seemed like that flame was being smoldered by a rainy cloud of worry.

"Don't worry Okuda, I promise everything is going to be okay." Nagisa consoled as he held out his pinky finger to make his promise official.

"T-thank you." She said again as she wrapped her pinky around his in agreement.

The beginning was a bit of a rocky start but he hoped for the best…As long as he had Karma and Okuda as support then how bad could things get?

….

But if he was being true to himself he will admit that his growing envy of Karma only grew the more time he spent with Okuda…so he made another promise to himself that day that if Karma ever failed to protect her then he would gladly pick up the slack. Nothing was going to harm his pseudo-mistress. Not even Karma…

Akari gritted her teeth in irritation as her left leg shook involuntarily with impatience. She should have told Manami that she would only give her one minute to talk with Nagisa because right now Karma was being….annoying. He wasn't even doing anything! He was just grinning at her as if he knew something she didn't….as if he already did something and he's just waiting for his hard work to pay off.

"What are you looking!?" She finally asked as a blood vessel began to appear on her forehead from irritation.

That just made the redhead's grin grow because he already knew from looking at her what buttons to push to send her over the edge and her irritation was a delectable snack.

"Just the air in front of your chest; where your breast should be." He commented coolly.

That did it! She was going to murder this bastard!

"You son of a b-…"

"Akari I'm back sorry for taking so…long..." Manami's sentence slowly trailed off once she saw her best friend straddling her familiar in bed with her fist caught in mid-air as her other hand held his neck…

"Ah~ Manami-chan Cabbage head is being mean to me." Karma whined with a fake high pitch voice pretending to be scared.

And even though it was obvious from the demon's grin that he was acting Manami believed his lie.

"A-Akari d-don't hurt my familiar!" She cried as she rushed over to separate the two.

"W-What Manami! I didn't do anything! He's lying!" Akari cried trying to convince Manami that Karma was in the wrong not her.

"Why would he do that?" Okuda asked with genuine confusion on her face.

Akari glared at Karma.

"How dare you take advantage of poor gullible Manami?!" She exclaimed as she pointed an accusing finger.

Karma just stuck out his tongue and shrugged before diverting his attention to his best friend.

"So what were you two talking about?" He asked curiously

"Huh? Oh we…"

Nagisa briefly looked up to meet Manami's pleading eyes. She was obviously nervous he would go back on his word.

"She just wanted some advice on how to handle you as you can be a bit…unpredictable." Nagisa smoothly lied.

There was a second of silence before Karma replied with a strained grin.

"You're not lying to me now are you, Nagisa?"

"Why would a lie?" Nagisa asked with a curious smile as he titled his head innocently.

"Yeah…why would you?" Karma echoed his curiosity peaked.

There was a brief pause in between Karma's sentence hinting at the fact that whatever secret Nagisa was keeping from him wouldn't stay secret for long.

"Anyway first things first I doubt you two have any money or supplies do you?" Karma asked the two witches who sheepishly looked at their empty pockets.

"W-we have some money in our bank account b-but we were going to save it and only use it when we needed to until we got a q-quest…" Manami explained.

"Yeah I totally forgot about that…." Akari grimaced.

Both witches had gotten accepted by the EP Guild and where expected to come in two days from today for their first quest….The original plan was to stay with Aguri until they got their financial footing but with Aguri gone…

"GOD Koro screwed us over!" Akari bellowed as she clenched her fist in rage.

"I-I'm sure we can think up of something else…." Manami suggested trying to remain positive.

"Hmm…in this scenario renting a hotel would probably be the best course of action we can take as we are going to have to move from place to place to track down Koro." Nagsia stated thoughtfully.

"As much as I hate to admit it Nagisa has a point." Akari remarked resentfully.

"Oh! I just remembered I have a lot of potions and ingredients that I left in my room so we have that at the very least!" Okuda proclaimed with a smile feeling useful.

"What about your sister's house has it been cleaned out already?" Karma lazily inquired as he sat cross-legged on the bed resting his head on his hand.

"No not yet…We may be able to get some stuff before they confiscate everything…" Akari mumbled becoming gloomy at the thought of her sister.

"THE MIRROR!" Manami shouted causing everyone to flinch at her volume.

"The…what now?" Nagisa asked titling his head in confusion….was that like code for something…?

"Aguri's cove is a pocket dimeson accessible only through the mirror if it's still there that means that…." Okuda started.

"That means that all her stuff will be there to!" Akari finished.

"Oh wow that's amazing." Nagisa praised his affection for the purple witch only growing.

"Okay then! First thing we need to do is get to Aguri's house and get the mirror and from there we can just rent some house or apartment." Akari said happily as her revenge plan was finally starting to get into motion.

"Mister Oka please tell me you found something…" A female coworker pleaded her usual neat hair bun reduced to nothing more than a bird's nest from the stress she was under.

It's been weeks now and they still haven't found a trace of the demon known as Koro. The boss was growing impatient at their lack of results and she fears what may happen to her team and herself if they didn't find anything by the end of this month.

"Sorry Mrs. Yuki but it's like he vanished without a trace….but if I'm right...perhaps we've been looking at this all wrong..."

"Explain."

"Well Koro was very much enamored with his master. It stands to reason that perhaps to cope with his loss he is trying to keep the memory of her alive. What I mean to say is it is likely he is with Akari's relatives or staying at places the both of them often frequented."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard….but it's also the only thing I've heard so far….This lead is shaky at best but it's a lead none the less. Start looking for any living relatives of the late witch known as Aguri….Even a demon has trouble severing all ties with loved one it seems." She said with a tired sigh.

Normally she wouldn't conduct an investigation with such a shaky premise but she was desperate. Hopefully if they find someone who was close to Aguri then by extension they could find someone who was close to Koro.