When the light faded, the entire landscape had shifted. Gone were the titanic roots, stretching as far as the eye could see. No more was the giant tree, towering over everything before it, instead replaced by a swath of significantly more normal ones dotting the landscape. The world had changed its appearance to that of a rather unassuming and typical suburban landscape, with the group's current location being on a nearby hill overlooking the town. For all intents and purposes, the land looked normal and if a battle had never happened.

However, looks could be, and often were, quite deceiving. While the world may have looked normal, Negi and Fate's magical senses were detecting another story. Despite being visibly gone, the energy of the colossal tree still permeated the area thickly, covering it, almost as if it were protecting the landscape like a great wall. And then there was the horizon in the distance, resting past an immense bridge. Being as far as they were, it was difficult to tell exact details, but it felt… off. The already existing list of questions was constantly expanding by the second.

The sensations would have been ones Negi thought to pursue, but more immediate matters pushed such questions to the back of his mind. Sumi, Sonoko, and Gin - especially Gin - needed their wounds attended to. The group's outfits had changed from the battle oriented ones of before, into that of a school uniform. The outfit was largely a dark brown at the torso, a thin muted blue ribbon resting at the top of the chest, and skirt, a deeper brown, which had a pale line running across the bottom hem. Contrasting the darker colors, the sleeves of the outfit were a dull white, with the cuffs matching the shade of the torso. Resting at top was a similarly colored collar that nearly extended to the shoulders, possessing brown highlights.

"I have a lot to ask, but let's get to work patching up your injuries first. Have a seat next to Nogi-san, it'll be easier if you're grouped together." Negi instructed, gesturing for Gin and Sumi to lie down, as he had earlier instructed.

Following his instructions, the two took a position next to Sonoko, waiting.

Moving to flank the three girls on each side, Negi and Fate stretched out their hands above the trio, a soft green glow appearing within their palms, while blanketing the three in a similarly colored aura of healing magic.

It didn't take long for each of the girls to feel an immediate effect from the restorative magic. The blood that was oozing from the cuts and gashes sustained during the battle paused, before the wounds knit themselves back together. With the visibility of their injuries vanishing, so too did the pain pulsating from them, instead replaced with a foreign tingling sensation caused by the healing magic working its effects. Slowly but surely, the severe injuries from the previous fight were starting to become nothing more than a bad memory.

"This will probably take a few minutes to finish." Breaking the silence, Negi began. "I'd like to get back to questions in the meantime, if you don't mind."

"Not like we're gonna be going anywhere." Gin replied

"To start with, what were you doing there? You were trying to defend that tree. I believe Minowa-san called it the Shinju, correct? What is it?" Negi asked. It was a simple question, the first of many in his mind. Though more pressing questions were in his mind, the child figured why not start off with a few basics. The Shinju seemed to be important, so in learning about it, perhaps he could obtain the answers to a few other inquiries while at it.

However, the 'simple' question proved itself to be anything but, as judging by the looks given to him by the girls he was healing, Negi may have well sprouted an extra head suddenly. This had been a bad idea.

Near silence, only interrupted by the low hum of the mages healing magic, fell over the area

"You… Don't know about the Shinju-sama?" Sumi, her voice barely containing the complete and utter disbelief within it, asked.

A sinking feeling was growing within Negi's being at these reactions. The Shinju was clearly important, yes, he could gather that much from the apparent fact it seemed to be the one responsible for the change in landscape and the trio were protecting it. However, this kind of reaction indicated it likely held extreme social importance, especially with the 'sama' honorific. With the reactions from the girls, he may as well have asked what air was. Negi was quite knowledgeable in the magical world and the various beings of extreme power that inhabited it, but he had never heard of this. The area seemed like a normal city and the girls were speaking Japanese, so where could he be? Only one way to find out, being honest.

"Sorry, I can't say I have."

"But-" Sumi began, attempting to quickly push herself upright with her hands, but paused mid-sentence with a grimace of pain. The healing magic being performed by Negi and Fate was improving things, sure, but it still hurt somewhat when moving so suddenly.

"Easy, Washio-san." Negi said, trying to gently ease Sumi back onto the ground with his hands. "We're not quite finished, so don't make any sudden movements that might disrupt things or aggravate your injuries."

Though clearly a touch reluctant, her facial expressions didn't do a good job at hiding her distrust and confusion, Sumi relented after a moment, lying back down.

"Now." Negi quickly interjected, just as Gin opened her mouth for a question. "I know that response has left you quite confused. However, I have one more question, one which might be able to answer much of the mysteries on both our ends."

Closing her mouth, Gin waited with baited breath, with Sumi and Sonoko likewise extremely curious as to what kind of question the other child would ask that could possibly explain his lack of knowledge on the god known as the Shinju.

"I know this is going to sound a bit odd, not any more than my last question perhaps, but…" Negi paused for a moment, the idea formulating in his head if the others answered as he expected giving him brief hesitation. "… Could you tell me where exactly we are and what year it is?"

"…. Kagawa Prefecture, Sakaide, Shikoku, Japan. Divine Era, Year 298." Sumi, after a moment of starring at Negi, perplexed, answered as if it were the most obvious question in the world, disbelief dripping from her voice.

Negi and Fate exchanged a glance. "I believe that explains quite a bit." The first mage stated with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" Gin asked, a thoroughly perplexed expression on her face.

"Well, we're from Japan, but our calendar is at 2004-"

"The Christian Era?!" Sumi, shooting to her feet, interrupted, eyes wide and voice dripping with utter shock. Taking a very brief moment to recover from the initial surprise, the girl continued, her voice turning accusatory and face narrowing in suspicion. "But, that's not possible." People didn't just time travel. This whole thing was ridiculous, with each new bit of information coming from the two just raising Sumi's suspicion of them, but this was one step too far. Something wasn't right about the pair.

"Washio-san-" Negi began, attempting to take control of the conversation again

But the other was having none of it. "You suddenly appear out of nowhere during Forestization, when the Taisha didn't tell us anything about aid coming, have no idea about Shinju-sama, wielding strange powers-"

"If-" Once more, the 11 year old mage tried to interject.

"-and now you're not only claiming to be from over 300 years in the past, but that you're from Japan and with a western last name?" Sumi, who's growing suspicions had finally reach a breaking point after a continuous stream of absurd facts assaulted her sensibility, refused to allow Negi in a word edge wise.

"That's enough." Fate's monotone voice rang out, the white-haired boy making a quick and precise horizontal swipe with his finger.

"Wha-" The words Sumi wanted to continue firing at Negi never came, her mouth closing itself of its own accord in the middle of her sentence. Caught by surprise at the sudden turn of events, Sumi's confusion briefly overriding her frustration at Negi, giving her pause.

Quickly taking advantage of the break in dialog, Fate continued, lowing his hand. "If you will cease you disruptive ranting for a moment, Negi-kun will answer your questions. As he was attempting to do before you interrupted him." The Averruncus let a subtle edge of annoyance into his voice. He too, was curious to whatever theories Negi crafted and ways to explain their present predicament, as the other child quite often could make accurate guesses from even the smallest details.

The target of Fate's insults turned her attention toward him, expression softening slightly, yet suspicion still clear within it. Trying to fire back a reply, confusion quickly overtook her face when Sumi found herself unable to say anything, save a few muffled noises. Her mouth refused to open.

"Wasshi?" Sonoko, propping herself up, continued healing magic having made any further painful wounds disappear, asked. Her usual, carefree tone replaced instead with concern for her friend.

Again, Sumi attempted to answer, this time trying to physically pry her mouth her open with her hands, but once more, nothing but muffled sounds of frustration were heard. Fear was slowly creeping its way onto her features.

"Hey, what'd you do to Sumi?!" Gin, rising at a slightly slower pace, her more extensive injuries not fully mended yet, aggressively shot at Fate, reaching for her phone. She might have trusted Negi enough, the other kid had directly saved her life, along with having such a kind demeanor that made him hard to dislike. But, his companion? While they had helped with the Vertex, their demeanor was nothing like Negi's; distant, cold, unfriendly. And now, they had put some kind of spell on Sumi that prevented her from talking.

The situation had been going reasonably well, at least Negi would've liked to believe, until Sumi's little outburst. However, Fate had gone and made it worse by silencing the girl with magic. Negi knew the mage was a good person at heart, but their people skills tended to be more than a bit lacking in some circumstances. He had to take back control of this, and quick, before the already rapidly deteriorating conversation got even worse. Mirroring the motion Fate had earlier done, Negi removed the spell place on Sumi by his friend, electing a gasp from the girl at her formerly robbed motor functions returning.

"Stop! Everyone, please calm down!" Negi quickly said, raising his voice to sound more authoritative and command a greater presence, before anyone else could get a further word in. "I apologize for what Fate did, but he is right. I was getting to an explanation earlier. So, if you'll kindly give me just a minute to explain, I promise I'll answer any remaining questions afterwards. Alright?" Lowering back to his customary polite tone, the child finished toward Sumi.

Sumi answered Negi with a cautious stare. His friend having just completely removed her ability to speak without any difficulty didn't do any favors to gain her trust. Still, Negi was acting far friendlier and understanding than the other. He was offering answers to the questions that had been the cause for her outburst, which had been what she wanted in the first place. After considering it for a moment, Sumi's features moderately relaxed before replying, bowing slightly as she spoke. "I apologize for interrupting you. Please continue, Negi-san." Gazing expectedly at Negi, alongside Sonoko and Gin, Sumi waited.

"Thank you." Negi said with a smile. Simultaneously, he shot another telepathic message to Fate. [Fate, keep up healing Minowa-san while I explain. She doesn't seem fully healed yet.]

Receiving a mental affirmation from his companion, Negi focused back toward his current theories. "Now then. I understand this will be hard to accept, but just bear with me for a bit. As I said earlier, I have good reason to believe that Fate and I have somehow traveled from the past to here." The truth of the matter was far more complicated. Negi knew the odds of this being his future were unlikely. It just didn't line up with what he'd learned of the future from Chao, but he wasn't going to rule out the possibility entirely, given the radically different events in the timelines. Still trying to explain that in the same breath, when Sumi already had a negative reaction to his earlier information, didn't seem like a good idea. Best give them at least a few moments to process this first. "I know that seems impossible, but believe me, this isn't my first experience with time travel. How else would you explain the powers we wield, our sudden appearance, us being from far in the past, and my complete lack of knowledge about the Shinju-sama?"

Each of the girl's remained in silence, processing the logic behind Negi's words. As ridiculous as the idea sounded, it did explain many of the questions bouncing around within their heads. The pair very obviously weren't Heroes, like they were. Yet, it was still too farfetched to just accept so easily without further questions.

"But if you're from the Christian Era, then how has no one heard about these abilities you have?" Sumi asked with a furrowed brow. It didn't make sense for why something as useful as this would've been kept secret.

This was exactly the question he'd been hoping to get. "I'm glad you asked." Negi began, slipping into his teacher voice, practiced so well from the time spent with his students. "Given what I know about my world and have seen thus far, I think the most likely possibility is that we are from the past, just not this world's past."

"…. Huh?" Gin, face blank, deadpanned. Time travel had been one thing, but the idea of time travel and alternate universes, in addition to everything else, was too much for the girl to process at once.

"Like another reality? That explains it~" Sonoko spoke up, looking interested at the idea and the only one of the group who seemed to be taking the facts in stride.

"Correct." Negi cheerily said with an approving smile toward the blonde.

"But, that's-" Sumi began, exasperated and just managing to keep herself in check from causing another outburst like earlier. As outlandish as it sounded, it did make some sense and neatly explained it. If not for the fact they had evidently helped Gin when she went to fight 3 Vertex on her own, along with having demonstrated those unusual powers, she would've immediately dismissed it as crazy. Still it all just seemed too convenient and there were some key pieces of the puzzle which were missing. "Even if that's true, how, why did you appear here?" Sumi managed to get out after finding her voice again.

"I think I have an explanation for that too. I see two possibilities." Negi, not skipping a beat, answered. "The first, and far more simple answer, is something went wrong on our end and we arrived at the right place and time to help with a dire situation. The second explanation is a bit more complicated and involves the Shinju-sama. From my perspective, the battle was in rather dire circumstances when we arrived. Two of you-" He gestured to Sumi and Sonoko. "-were too injured to fight. That left Minowa-san, all on her own, to deal with three enemies simultaneously. The Shinju-sama, perhaps worried about the outcome of the fight in those circumstances, decided to bring in help. Why or how it specifically chose Fate and I, I'm unable to say for certain. We were using some high scale magic to travel somewhere, so perhaps it saw an easy opportunity at the time and somehow changed our destination?"

"Then, what now? You guys helped me out, thanks for that, so are you just gonna go home?" Gin asked.

"Ah, about that." Negi started with a frown. "Right now, we can't. And it doesn't appear whatever brought us here is sending us back yet, so we might be stuck here for the time being."

Silence fell over the group, everyone pondering what to do next.

"Maybe the Taisha can help?" Sonoko suggested, breaking the pause that had taken hold.

"Hey, yeah! They know more about the Shinju-sama than anyone. If you guys are gonna be staying here, they'll want to hear about this." Gin agreed.

"I'll let em know~" Sonoko said, pulling out her phone and texting a message. There was a good chance the Taisha might've already been coming to pick them up, but checking to make sure didn't hurt. She could let the group know about this while they were at it anyway. Sonoko normally might've called, but the discussion still seemed to be going and she didn't want to miss any of it.

"We appreciate any assistance you can give us, thank you." Negi warmly said. Now, things started to be getting somewhere. Perhaps the Taisha would be able to provide some assistance or additional information to validate his theories. Given the way the others spoke of them, the group likely had at least some measure of power in this land. In the meantime, the child had two things he needed to take care of. "But, one more thing. Minowa-san."

"Hm?"

"We should probably get your outfit cleaned up. I don't think that's going to wash out so easily." The young mage gestured to the dried blood that covered several areas of Gin's school uniform. The other two Hero's injuries, while still severe, weren't quite to the same degree or freshness as Gin's and most of the blood had already dried. Some of Gin's wounds had still been bleeding before the healing magic was applied, which meant the blood loss carried over to her detransformed state.

Gin looked down at her school uniform, eyes immediately growing wide and panic infecting her voice. "Ah! My clothes!" There was no way this could get cleaned in time for school. Between everything that had happened, with one bombshell after the other being dropped, the state of her uniform had been pushed to the back of Gin's mind, especially with her injuries being healed as quickly as they were by Negi and Fate.

"Please, hold still for just a moment. I'll take care of it." Hand glowing faintly with magic, Negi held the limb in front of Gin. In the span of a few moments, the dark spots staining her shirt evaporated. Afterwards, the child moved onto the spots of her blood that had stained his outfit while carrying her, those too vanishing in short order. "There we go."

Gin blinked, impressed. Her outfit had, just moments ago, been stained to the point of looking almost unsalvageable, yet in front of her very eyes, her uniform had been repaired to a perfectly fine condition. "You gotta show me how to do that sometime."

"If we end up staying here for any major amount of time, perhaps I can teach you a bit of magic. There's a lot you can do with it."

Sonoko looked up from her texting at Negi mentioning the idea of learning magic. "Ooooooh, that sounds fun~!" Her eyes, along with Gin's, and voice were glowing with excitement and curiosity at the prospect.

Sumi eyed the idea with some skepticism, though she seemed at least mildly interested.

"Later, for now-"

"Negi-kun." Fate, speaking for the first time in a while, interjected. "We need to talk." The white-haired boy started walking away from the group, motioning for Negi to follow him.

It seemed Fate had already anticipated the second matter Negi felt needed to be attended to. He still had to discuss plans with the other on where to go from here. There was telepathy, but standing there silently and occasionally making an expression in reaction to a mute conversation would likely look weird and raise more questions, and there had been enough of that for one night.

"Be right there, Fate." Negi briefly turned back to the three girls. "Excuse us for a minute."

Finally stopping once sure they were out of earshot and using magic to further muffle the conversation as an extra precaution, Fate started talking once more, sounding a touch annoyed. "We cannot stay here."

"I'm aware of that, Fate." Negi calmly replied.

"Then you must know why we shouldn't focus too much on befriending the locals. I understand being concerned, but their safety has been ensured and we need to devote all the time we have toward finding a method to return home. I should not have to remind you of the significance of the Blue Mars Project and how your lack of presence will impede it." Fate shot back, his voice sounding somehow even more serious than his usual tone.

Negi sighed. Fate did have him when it came to that. The Blue Mars Project was the name of the work Negi had taken upon himself to do in order to prevent the total collapse and destruction of the Magical World within his homeland. If it failed, it was an absolute certainty than the alternate world inscribed upon Mars would cease to exist. He was the brains behind the majority of the operation, from gaining the funding as the face of the project and being a part of designing the technology associated with implementing it, as well as managing the entire thing. However, Negi knew better than to put his eggs all in one basket. "I am aware of how profoundly important the project is and how precarious the situation surrounding it is. That's why I've left many notes regarding the project direction and how to proceed, in the event anything happened to me. It will hurt the project, you and I not being present, but I believe the project will be able to continue, albeit slower."

Fate tilted his head, starring at Negi with a neutral face and dull eyes, unimpressed by the other's reasoning. "While this is true, what I said remains a fact. The sooner we return, the less risk will be posed to the project and fewer setbacks we will suffer. The project is still in its infancy and even a minor setback can easily spiral into a crippling one. Assuming your theories are correct, we would need to develop trans-universal or time travel, perhaps both. Perfecting it could take a large investment of time."

"Once more, I am aware. But, my descendent invented both of those things, and I figured how to master her time machine almost immediately during the Mahora Festival. If she managed to come up with something, I'm sure I can." Negi fired back with confidence. Time travel seem to be unable to leave him and his family alone. First, it had been his descendent, Chao Lingshen, traveling back to the past in order to prevent a tragedy in the future, the same one Negi was now attempting to stop with the Blue Mars Project. Then it had been one of his students traveling back to the past, once again in part due to Chao, for a normal life after waking up 115 years in the future, and now it was this.

"And how long do your suspect that will take?" Fate returned with an accusatory tone.

Negi's smile faltered ever so slightly. "I'm not sure, unfortunately." His voice was doubtful, worried. Chao had taken a while to create hers, so Fate had a point in respect to the issue of time. But, that wasn't going to make him concede the argument. Strength and hope returning to his tone, Negi continued. "However, that is precisely why I don't believe befriending the people here is a bad thing. If we do end up having to stay here for any amount of time, I would personally rather have friends to rely on and make our stay here more pleasant, than try to solve things just with you and I. Besides, perhaps the people here do have something we can make use of to speed things along. If they do have anything, they're more likely to help if we're friendly. I'm not trying to diminish the importance of the Blue Mars Project, it's every bit as important to me as it is to you. However, we may as well make the best of a bad situation. There's also two of us and you know how I'm used to multitasking. I can easily balance relations with the people here and investigating how to get home, especially if I can rely on you to continue theory crafting and testing while I'm busy with everyone else."

Silence briefly fell between the two, Fate considering Negi's words. The Averruncus was quite familiar with how the other had a virtually inhuman talent when it came to balancing multiple objectives and helping others without breaking himself. They had somehow managed to find time to secretly run tests on how to save the Magical World, in-between some of the most rigorous training one could undertake, and maintaining the relationships with his students on top of that. Fate himself was also no slouch when it came to magical talent. Though Negi still exceeded him in regard to creating new magic and ingenuity with existing ones, in terms of magical power, Fate was just a few hairs shy of being his equal. Then there was also the fact he had some knowledge in the mystical arts almost none other did, due to the circumstances of his creation and origin of powers. Together, maybe there was a chance of pulling this off. "Very well, Negi-kun." Fate finally broke the silence, speaking sternly. "However, do not forget what your true priority should be."

"I promise that I won't." Negi said with a satisfied smile. "Come on, let's go check on the others."

Sumi watched the two walk away from the group, tense. What had started as a typical Vertex attack, had quickly spiraled into a mess apparently involving nearly dying, time travel, and alternate dimensions and timelines. No matter how many times she repeated Negi's reasoning in her head, as much as it did explain things, part of her couldn't come to terms with it. But now, she finally had a few moments of peace to talk with just Sonoko and Gin about this whole ordeal and collect her thoughts, safe from worrying about another twist to current events. "Sonocchi, Gin, what do you two think about this? Do youbelieve they're really from another world or that the Shinju-sama is involved?"

Both girls look up in thought for a moment. None of them doubted the powers of the Shinju in the slightest, it was capable of feats far beyond the realm of mortals and had been a guardian of humanity from the virus that had wiped out nearly the entire world 300 years ago. However, the idea of the deity's power being used for something like this wasn't a possibility that had ever been remotely considered. The fact was more than just a little to take in.

"I trust Negi-san. He seems like a nice guy." Gin admitted casually. "It sounds pretty crazy, but they really helped me out with the Vertex back there and I dunno how else they can do all this cool magic. Not sure about his friend…."

"What Mino-san said. Time travel, other worlds, and magic, it's just like a novel~" Sonoko agreed with her usual, carefree tone. Of everyone, the blonde girl was taking the recent revelation the best. Her eyes even had a glint to them at the mention of the outlandish concepts Negi had spoken of. She must've already been formulating idea for her next book.

Sumi shuddered slightly at Gin's mention of Fate. She could understand the other's reasoning for Negi, they were a polite, respectful child, despite the suspicious western last name. They had even been patient with her frustrations over how bizarre everything sounded and answered all her questions. The other, Fate Averruncus, they were a different story. He had completely removed her ability to speak without a care. The loss of one of her body's functions, especially one so important as speaking, had been terrifying to the girl. It wasn't something she ever wanted to repeat if it could be helped.

"Hey, speaking of magic, you girls really think they'll teach us how to use some?" Gin's face and voice bristled with excitement at the idea, body leaned forward slightly.

Before anyone could offer further conversations, Sonoko's phone let out a sound, indicating a message received.

Pulling out her phone again, Sonoko made a few motions with her fingers to access the message, a reply from the Taisha.

"The Taisha said they're on their way, and don't let Negi-san or Fate-san go anywhere. And they wanna talk with us tomorrow after we get some rest. They seemed a liiiiittle surprised to hear about them~." Sonoko said, childishly drawing out one of her words.

"I suppose that means the Taisha weren't involved." Sumi said with a sigh. This just added further mystery to the current problems. Part of her had been hoping they might have been able to confirm or deny Negi's theory. The Taisha were the servants of the Shinju, essentially the religious branch of it in the mortal world, and from where the Heroes received most of their information and direction in regards to their current task of national defense. If the Shinju was involved, they should have known, but even they appeared at a loss for once. Though, was still one possibility that might've explained it.

"But, if Negi-san was right and the Shinju-sama is what pulled them here, wouldn't the Taisha have gotten an oracle or something?" Gin asked with a shrug.

Sumi shook her head. "If what he said is true, perhaps the Shinju-sama made this decision at the last minute? Maybe there hasn't been enough time for the Miko to receive an oracle yet?" The Miko were the ones who received visions from the Shinju and then interpreted them for the Taisha. If the Shinju was behind this, perhaps they would get some kind of message soon, but until then, they would be frustratingly left in the dark on if Negi's theory was correct or not.

"Maybe, guess we'll find out soon, huh?" Sonoko agreed. Hearing footsteps, she glanced in the direction Negi and Fate had gone. "Hey, looks like they're coming back~."

"I apologize for the interruption, I had some important personal matters to discuss with Fate." Negi spoke apologetically, walking back toward the group with Fate in tow. "How did things go with the Taisha?"

"Just fine! They'll be here pretty soon~." Sonoko replied.

"Tell me when they get here, I'm exhausted." Gin lazily said, before collapsing into the grass on her back. Her injuries may have been healed, but that didn't mean the fatigue of dealing with them and the fight were gone.

"Me too~" Sonoko quickly followed suit and relaxed on the cool grass.

Though Sumi didn't feel quite comfortable letting her guard down completely, she wasn't going to deny sharing the feelings of her friends in respect to her low energy. Compromising, Sumi lowered herself into a sitting position on the grass. This way, she could rest a bit, while still keeping an eye on things.

"I suppose we'll keep watch then. How will they be coming?" Negi asked, electing to remain standing.

"Black car…." Sonoko's already half-asleep voice answered the other child.

For the next several minutes, things passed in relative silence, until it was broken by footsteps heading toward Sumi.

Looking toward them, the girl saw Negi approaching her.

"Is it alright if I sit here?" The mage asked politely, offering a friendly smile.

Considering it for a moment, Sumi nodded, turning her head away to keep looking for any sign of the Taisha appearing, but still keeping Negi at the edge of her vision.

"Thank you." Negi replied, taking a seat next to the girl. "Are you doing alright? Your friends have already fallen asleep, so are you certain you don't want to get some rest yourself? Fate and I can keep a lookout." He continued with a concerned tone.

Briefly glancing toward the prone forms of Gin and Sonoko, Sumi could see that, yes, both of them indeed had already drifted off to sleep. The girl sighed to herself at the sight. Sonoko, she could understand somewhat. The prodigy of the Nogi household had a habit of falling asleep in both record timing and in the worst places, even in the middle of class, when she hadn't just gone through a horrific battle not even half an hour ago. Gin, on the other hand, was a bit more of a surprise. Though, thinking on it, she supposed it made sense. The girl had fought the hardest and sustained the worst injuries out of all of them. It was no wonder she was completely and utterly drained. Still, to just fall asleep so suddenly in this situation….

"I'll be fine. The Taisha will be here soon anyway." Sumi said dismissively.

Negi lightly frowned. "I understand why you're still skeptical of trusting us."

"You have to understand how unbelievable your story sounds, even if it explains everything." Sumi shot back. Negi's story seemed to explain the bizarre turn of events too well to her. This kind of stuff didn't just happen.

"I do. And if I wasn't experienced with circumstances like this myself, then I might be a bit cautious in your shoes as well." The child said casually, trying to keep the tension low. "Especially given what Fate did. Once more, I'm deeply sorry about that. They're not exactly the best with casual conversation with others, but he's dependable where it's important."

Sumi turned toward Negi, eying him and his statements with some skepticism.

"Really." Negi insisted. "I know all you have is my word right now, but during a war in my world, Fate rescued a lot of children who were orphaned from it."

"Eh?" Sumi's eyes widened slightly in surprise, attention briefly drifting to the Averruncus.

The white suited boy stoically remained standing, despite everyone having either taken a seat or fallen asleep by now. His eyes were trained onto the road, presumably keeping watch for the arrival of the Taisha.

Starring at the other, the Hero had some trouble picturing the other performing the action Negi credited him with. Though brief in knowing him, almost everything she had experienced from the other thus far, from their words, demeanor, and the action of robbing her ability to speak, didn't paint the best picture of Fate. Looks could be deceiving, but the rough first impression had not helped. Maybe she'd ask about it later.

"But anyway."

The words snapped Sumi's attention back toward the person beside her.

"I'm not sure how long we'll be here, but I'd much rather us be friends, than have this air of suspicion looming around during my stay. So, I hope you'll give me the chance to earn your trust sometime, Washio-san." The young mage finished, looking toward her with the kindest smile he could make.

Caught off guard by the sudden friendly and forwardness of the other, Sumi's face turned a deep red. "M-maybe." Of all the things Sumi had been expecting when Negi approached her, this sudden forwardness had not been one of them. Gin and Sonoko may have helped her ease up somewhat, and while she wouldn't say her demeanor was overall as tense as before befriending them, it had taken a while for her to fully relax around the pair. For another she just met, to say something so suddenly like that, with such a face too, was not an experience Sumi was used to.

"I'm happy to hear that." Smile only growing wider, Negi replied.

It was starting to get quite difficult to maintain her current level of wariness for the other, in the face of everything. They were just being so nice. Just about every step of the way, Negi had been extremely polite and patient. He had answered all the questions raised by her, helped Gin when her friend had gone to battle three Vertex alone, healed their injuries, especially the severe ones Gin had taken, and was now even stating they wanted to be friends. Her friends even appeared to trust him, if not Fate, so perhaps she could give him a chance…?

Wait, no. Between everything and being so disarmed by the other's friendly behavior, she almost forgot about one of the main, still unaddressed reasons for her distrust. The western last name, that was still a large red flag and something she had to ask the other about. Perhaps it was just the misfortune of his parents being western and Negi was born in Japan, she could possibly overlook it then. Sumi couldn't think of how else he could've spoke Japanese so flawlessly.

"I sense many people approaching." Fate spoke up, interrupting Sumi's thoughts and drawing the attention of everyone still awake.

"Ah, I assume that's the Taisha." Negi said, standing up and walking over to join Fate.

Unfortunately for Sumi, this meant she'd have to pursue this line of thought later.

Moments later, many moving sets of lights appeared, rapidly making their ward toward the group.

Rising and taking a few steps toward the other two, Sumi squinted for a better look at the approaching lights. Something seemed a bit unusual. Normally, the Taisha only came with one car to pick them up. This time, at least from what the Hero could see right now, they had come in far excess of the norm, instead looking like a small convoy. It appeared the Taisha shared the healthy concern of current events that she did.

"They'll be here shortly. We should wake the other two." Fate commented.

"I think they should be allowed to rest. They must be exhausted if they fell asleep that fast." Negi returned, shaking his head

A short time later, the collection of vehicles parked at the roadside near the bottom of the hill. From them, emerged a large group of people, all of them looking virtually identical in the darkness. Their bulky, long and white Heian Era style kimonos, thin and narrow foot tall black hats, and white mask, adorned with the Shinju's symbol, obscuring any possible features that could identify them. Furthermore, all of them moved in almost perfect synch with each other, less like individuals, and more akin to a well-oiled machine. The two combined factors made it quite easy to believe there weren't people beneath the mask, but robots.

Some remained at the cars, which were kept running, while the remainder approached the group, several members further splintering off and moving toward Gin and Sonoko.

"Negi Springfield-san and Fate Averruncus-san?" One of the robed members stepped forward to address the two, their voice belonging to that of a male's.

"That's us. Pleased to meet you." Negi greeted, customarily bowing slightly.

The Taisha member returned the greeting. "Please, come with us. We have prepared lodgings for the night while we discuss your situation."

"Thank you, any assistance is appreciated." Negi replied. They then turned toward Sumi. "It was a pleasure talking with you, Washio-san. We'll see you later." The child added a bow.

"Farewell, Negi-san." Sumi mimicked the other.

Afterwards, the pair of mages were led by the majority of the group toward one of the parked cars and ushered inside. Once the car with them departed, almost all of the other ones followed suit behind it, leaving behind a number much more in line with how they usually picked up the Heroes.

With the other two gone, Sumi turned her attention back toward her friends. Both of them were still out cold and now being carried toward a remaining car by the Taisha, with Sumi joining the group in their walk toward the car.

Taking a seat in the car, Sumi could hear a mumbled "Five more minutes…" from Sonoko, as she and Gin were placed alongside her in the vehicle. Sonoko never changed.

A moment after the doors closed and the vehicle quickly began moving, traveling across the road in near silence, only the soft hum of the engine reverberating within the confines of the car.

With the ordeal seemingly behind her for now and finally feeling comfortable in relaxing, the raven-haired girl let out a yawn. The day had been a long one; a field trip with various exercise courses; an extreme struggle against three Vertex that had turned sour in short order, and then everything involving the two new arrivals. Frankly, it had all left her exhausted, but at least it was finally over now. She didn't want to fall asleep in the car, but with the distance to her home being unknown, the hypnotic hum of the vehicle, and both her friends asleep as her sides tempting her, the lure of sleep was too powerful to ignore. Her eyes slowly closing, Sumi joined her friends in slumber a short time into the drive home.