"S-sorry, did I make you wait?"

"No, not really. Come on, let's get going. Yuki and Kurumi said they'd join us later."

Celis had just met up with Basara, who had been waiting for her. They were both in their casual clothes and were ready to start touring the city. This was much like a date, though Celis would surely blush if that was voiced out.

What was actually happening is that Celis said she wanted to take a look at the city. Since they are her childhood friends, Basara, Yuki and Kurumi volunteered. Today was the day they were supposed to take her around, but the Nonaka sisters asked Basara to keep Celis busy for a while, so for now it would be just Basara and Celis.

"I see. Should we wait for them?"

"No, we're going to meet up with them soon enough. Let's just walk around a bit."

Celis innocently nodded. She didn't suspect a thing.

To follow the sisters' plans, Basara needed to guide Celis to a certain store. However, they send him a message saying they weren't ready yet, so Basara just had to keep Celis busy for a little bit.

As soon as they started walking, Basara remembered something he had yet to say.

"Oh yeah. Celis, those clothes look great on you."

"T-thanks…"

Celis blushed and looked at the ground to avoid Basara seeing her face. She tried to make herself think he said that because her clothes were so tight fitting, but she couldn't convince herself of that. She normally would have thought Basara was trying to hit on her, but considering how well she knew him and how his relationship with the opposite sex was, she quickly took that idea out of her mind.

But Celis knew she shouldn't lie to herself. Although she wasn't sure it was love, she knew Basara was a special person to her. In fact, before she arrived at the Toujou household and saw how "intimate" her childhood friends had become, she even considered using that as an opportunity to make sure just what her feelings were.

But, after learning how their relationship worked, Celis wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't going to say it was impure or anything, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to be a part of it. For now, Celis figured it was best to just stick with recovering their friendship.

For now, going back to the matter of Celis' clothes, she was wearing a light blue skirt with a white shirt and a pink jacket on top. She was also wearing a purse and sandals.

Overall, it was a very nice outfit and it really showed Celis' beauty. Although there was one thing that did bother Basara. Maybe Celis had put the jacket in order to hide a bit more of her curves, but she must have grown a bit since she had last put it on, because it was such a close fit that it mostly accentuated the parts she was trying to hide.

Well, that was actually a problem Celis was having with a lot of her clothes. Since she took her job as a hero seriously, she usually wore her hero uniform, and now that was backfiring on her. The casual clothes she had now were a bit on the small side for her. But that's something best left to another time.

"… Oh."

Celis was looking at something and ended up letting out her voice. Basara saw what she was looking at.

"You want one?"

"I-I was just thinking that it's been a while since I've had one."

"Perfect. I can also go for one, so let's get some."

What Celis saw was a crepe store. Since she looked like she wanted some and Basara figured it couldn't hurt, he decided to buy them some.

Celis happily accepted and for a few minutes they enjoyed their sweets. At that moment, Celis didn't look much different from a normal girl, so no one would have imagined that she was from the hero clan.

"Hhmm~ thanks for that, Basara."

Celis thanked him with a genuine happy smile, though there was still some cream on her nose.

"No problem. Also, here."

Basara cleaned the cream with his finger and then licked it. Although it wasn't his favorite thing, Basara liked sweets just as much as anyone else, so there was no need to let that cream go to waste. Even so, Celis' face turned bright red, though Basara pretended to not know the reason for it.

By this point, there was no way Basara could be this dense, so he was really just playing with her. But there was no way Celis could have known about it. Even after seeing Basara fill Yuki's mouth, Celis was still somewhat stuck under the impression she had when she was a kid.

After that, they kept going. Basara was leading them in Yuki and Kurumi's direction.

But they had to make one more stop. Celis' phone started ringing, so they made a stop so she could answer it.

"Hello."

"…"

Basara silently waited for Celis to finish, though it looked like she was having some trouble since she just kept repeating "hello?" It's hard to believe bad connection would be an issue in the middle of the city like this, so maybe it was something else?

After a little bit, Celis came back to Basara. She wasn't able to talk with whoever had called her.

"Was it a wrong number or something?"

"No, it couldn't be. This phone is the one I use to talk with the higher ups in the hero clan or when we need to share some urgent information with each other, so no normal people should have access to this number. Although it is strange, there's nothing I can do about it except maybe wait for whoever it was to try again."

They couldn't imagine the real reason why whoever had called couldn't speak a word, but they would soon taste something similar for themselves.

But for now, they simply headed to meet Yuki and Kurumi. The sisters were waiting for them at a clothing store and, as soon as they saw Celis and Basara, they locked arms with Celis so she couldn't escape.

"Celis, we're going to give you a few presents."

"We already picked out a few, so let's see what looks good on your, Celis onee-chan."

Everyone at the Toujou household had already noticed Celis' clothing problem, so this worked as a perfect way to get her some new clothes. Besides, Basara and the Nonaka sisters were already planning to take Celis to a certain place, so this would also work to make sure she was wearing proper clothes if she hadn't picked them by chance.

So, for a while, Celis was forced to be the sisters' dress-up doll while Basara just sat somewhere and waited. Well, Kurumi was the one mostly picking the clothes, but Yuki helped out every now and then.

After some time, Celis came out wearing something completely different from what she entered with. She was holding three bags of clothes, the ones she had entered with where likely somewhere in one of them. Yuki and Kurumi came out not long after.

Celis was now wearing a sleeveless shirt with shorts, she still had the same purse and sandals though. Although Basara didn't comment on anything, he nodded as soon as he saw Celis' new outfit, and that already served to show what he thought.

"Now that everyone's ready, we should get going."

Everyone except Celis nodded to what Kurumi said. Celis asked "to where?" but no one answered her.

But it didn't take long for her to find out. That's because they soon arrived to the place.

"We were thinking about reliving some memories from when we were children and we found this place. Want to go back to bring kids for a little bit?"

Yuki introduced the place they took Celis. It was a park a bit outside the city.

The scenery was really beautiful and there were a few things for the kids to play with when they came here. Although it wasn't like the village, it's the type of place that brought back memories from when one was a kid.

"Yeah" was Celis' answer to Yuki's question.

The girls were about to go play, but then they came back for Basara. He was a bit embarrassed, but gave in when they asked him to come along.

Although it didn't last for long and it was really embarrassing for them at their age to be playing like kids, they still enjoyed it. They ran around, swung on the swings, and even played on a trampoline.

Thankfully, Celis had changed out of her skirt or the trampoline might have been a problem. Well, Kurumi was wearing a shirt, unlike Yuki who was wearing pants, but she had some shorts underneath, though it kinda defeated the purpose of a skirt from Basara's perspective.

In the end, they played around for a good while. It was strange to see someone at their age paying like kids, but they felt happy, so they didn't care. It reminded them of other times, but it also went to show that they could still be friends even now.

"Haah, I'm tired. Let's go home."

"Haha, it was fun though."

And so Basara and the girls headed home.

/

Once they were getting close to the Toujou household, they saw two figures standing in front of their house. Then, Basara's got a call. It was from Mio.

"Basara, these two, they have been standing out here for a while."

Basara had put the phone on speakerphone so everyone could hear.

"Any of you tried asking them to leave?"

"No. Maria says that they don't feel like normal people, so we thought it would be best to avoid problems."

"You all did great. I'll handle it."

Celis was the one to answer that time. As a reminder, Celis was here to keep an eye on Basara and the others. It would be one thing if they were normal people and were just asked to leave, but if they're heroes or something, this could become a fight. Depending on how it went, even Celis might not have been able to cover for them.

But it would be another thing if Celis herself went to talk with whoever this was. Even if this somehow became a fight, Mio and the others could help her without getting into trouble, so they did make the smart move by waiting.

"Hey, do you have any business here? If not, then can you please leave?"

""… Main target isn't here. However there are secondary targets present. In that case… Yes, it might be worth going after them.""

The two boys talked at the same time, their voices combining into one. They both had very similar features and even their grey hair looked like it came from the same person, from their appearance they seemed to be about the same age as Kurumi and Maria. They also had a black mantle covering half of their bodies, though one had his left side covered while the other had the right side.

If there was any suspicious they weren't normal people, now it was basically confirmed. Celis decided it would be best to finish this quickly.

Before Celis could reach them, the twins attacked her. It was hard to say if it was magic or something else, but something slashed through were Celis was just standing. Celis was able to avoid the attack, but just barely since she wasn't expecting it. Her new clothes were ruined and even her underwear could be seen because of the cuts, but now was not the time to mind that. If she hadn't dodged when she did, it wouldn't be parts of her underwear, but rather her guts that would be in full view.

Basara summoned Brynhildr and Yuki summoned Sakuya, Kurumi also started preparing herself. Celis jumped back to where the three where. There was no need to ask, it was best if they worked together here.

"Yuki, you come with me. Kurumi, give us some cover."

"Alright."

"Got it."

Basara and Yuki headed straight towards the twins. If that attack was magical, Kurumi should be able to do something about it, and if it was physical, Basara trusted he and Yuki would be able to dodge at least as well as Celis did.

Celis herself had an important job, so she headed to it. Basara hadn't told her, but she knew what she had to do in a situation like this.

""!""

The twins attacked again, but they didn't aim for either Basara or Yuki, but rather they aimed at Kurumi. Kurumi was able to dodge in time, but the ground she had been standing a minute ago was clearly scarred.

Basara and Yuki took one of the twins each. Their attacks were blocked by whatever was under the mantle, but just from this it seemed that the twins weren't as good in close quarters combat as they were with those mysterious attacks.

"Kurumi, focus on helping Yuki."

Kurumi nodded. Then, she used her magic to trap the twin Yuki was fighting. It was like he had a rope made of wind around his neck. Kurumi pulled him to break his stance, giving Yuki a chance to attack.

When the second twin tried to help the first one, Basara got in his way. Yuki then managed to pierce Sakuya through the first twin's chest.

""Guh!""

Even the second twin seemed to feel pain, maybe that had to do with the nature of their power. Whatever the case, it was good to at least start learning about your enemies.

Of course Basara and the sisters weren't going at full power, but it seemed fair to say that even at full power these two wouldn't be exactly easy opponents. One of the reasons why they weren't going with all they had is because it would be stupid of them to show the enemy their cards before learning anything about the enemy itself.

The second twin swung his arm hidden by the mantle, he was going to try to cut Basara. Since she was focusing on helping Yuki, Kurumi couldn't help Basara in time and he was too close to dodge.

Even so, the twin's arm swung a bit to the side and missed Basara by a bit. It wasn't because of poor aim, but because Basara had received support.

"Basara, are you fine?"

"Yeah. Nice work, Mio."

Basara's adoptive little sister, Mio, arrived just in time to save him. While the twin was still stunned, Basara slashed his stomach with Brynhildr. He made sure the wound wouldn't kill him, but it would be hard to continue fighting, and since the twins shared pain, it went for both of them.

Even so, the twins still got up. It didn't look like they were going to give up.

Although, now that both Kurumi and Mio were backing Yuki and Basara, they didn't think they would lose, there was a better way to finish this. Why fight such a mysterious opponent when they can capture them?

"Got you."

Celis, who had disappeared a while ago, was behind the twins. She had her sword, Georgius, stabbing the ground. Suddenly, the same ground rose up and covered the twins. Soon enough, they were restrained by the asphalt.

That was thanks to Georgius' special attribute to let its user control the four elements. Compared to the landslide Celis had used against Basara in their fight, restraining someone was simple as long as she could concentrate on it.

"Now, how about you two start by saying why you were standing around like that?"

Mio tried to start questioning the twins, but instead of answering they just looked at each other.

""It seems this won't be as easy as expected. In that case, what were our orders? We should leave the message and escape, causing damage along the way so we aren't followed. Alright, let's do it.""

The twins somehow freed themselves. Everyone got back on guard, but the twins didn't try attacking again. Rather, one of them threw some kind of paper at the Toujou household. Whatever it was, Kurumi and Mio seemed to quickly recognize it and their expressions turned grim.

"Wait."

"That's-!"

Before anyone else could react, the Toujou household went up in flames. The paper the twins had thrown contained a magical spell, and now they used that distraction to escape.

"Basara, let's pursue them!"

Celis shouted, but Basara froze up for a moment. The house was in flames and Maria and Zest should still be inside. He didn't want to leave them, but Mio assured him.

"Basara, go. We'll handle this."

Basara nodded and followed Celis. She used Georgius' power to create some wind currents that allowed both of them to pursue the twins. Meanwhile, Mio, Yuki and Kurumi would try to do something about the fire.

The twins kept throwing out more papers, burning more of the city. For the common people, it looked like multiple fires just started at once. But Celis and Basara knew they couldn't let the twins escape.

""In that case…""

Quickly turning around, the twins launched one more attack each. Their target was clearly Basara and Celis.

Basara used his Banishing Shift to defend against the first attack, but he couldn't react to the second one in time. Celis defended them with Georgius, but the impact was strong and they were knocked off the air.

If the twins had really wanted to, that attack could have destroyed Georgius and killed Celis, but they had decided to escape, so most of their power wasn't focused on that, and that was the sole reason why Basara and Celis survived that.

"Guh!"

"Gah!"

Basara and Celis were hurt pretty hard when they fell from the skies, but it wasn't anything much. Although they cursed letting the twins escape, there wasn't much to be done other than to head back home.

In a few minutes, Basara and Celis came back. It seemed that Maria and Zest, who were inside the house when it was burning, were fine.

"Maria, Zest, are you two fine?"

"Basara-san *cough* yeah. Zest protected us with a stone barrier and we were able to make it out *cough*"

"*cough* But there wasn't much I could do about the smoke. Other than that, we're perfectly fine, Basara-sama."

Basara was happy that the two of them were fine. It seemed that Mio and the others were able to save some things, but the house really did burn down. Although it didn't bring physical damage, that was a huge hit for everyone. Even the newcomer, Celis, was hit pretty bad seeing the Toujou household painted black with burns.

While Basara was thinking about what to do, a message arrived in his phone, so he checked it out.

It was from Chisato, and it basically read: "I saw you and a girl chasing after two people in the skies. I'm guessing that has something to do with all the fires breaking out. I have something important to tell you, so please come to my apartment as soon as possible."

After reading the message, a lightbulb turned on inside Basara's head. Mio asked him:

"Basara? What is it?"

"Well… I guess we might have a place to stay tonight."