Chapter 7 – Lee's Little Sister
Lance, who Nanoha had asked to come to school with her, said that it would be better if he didn't. He said at least one of them should be on the lookout for any trouble, and besides given what he knew, Earth-level middle school seemed absolutely mundane to him. Nanoha had said it before, but Lance was apparently some sort of super genius, though he didn't like to make a point of it. The others though had picked up on this as Lance had multiple times gone off on very complicated and sophisticated sounding tangents when trying to explain things to them, with most of it going over his head. In any case Nanoha was disappointed at this but went along with it. She fit in with everybody really well surprisingly. She already had some very basic knowledge of Earth. In terms of school, she seemed to be perfect at most of the classes, except for one. Unlike what they expected after seeing her fight, Nanoha was NOT an athlete. It turned out that while transformed, she used her magic to increase her physical traits as to not wear herself out. She decided to do the same here and after the first lap when she collapsed, she put some of her magic into her abilities and she became full of energy. She had to keep an eye on how much she used as to not do something insanely impossible by normal standards and draw attention to her.
A few days passed and Nanoha became accustomed to her school life. She seemed to be very smart for being from a different world. This was due to two reasons. The first was that this was actually not Nanoha's first time to Earth, she revealed that she had some distant relatives who lived on Earth, somewhere in Europe she remembered, though due to Lance's Father's request, they were trying to stay on the down low and so she hadn't even tried to contact them to tell them she was on Earth.
Sakura, "Wait, there are other magic people on Earth?" Chrono, "If that's the case, you would think we'd have heard of them before, or at least a rumor of it or something." Lee, "You think it's a government conspiracy or something to keep it quiet?" Lance stopped that line of thinking in its tracks before they got too conspiratorial, "Don't worry, in these cases its almost never like that. Truthfully on other planets that are like Earth in cases of only having a very few magic users in the population, most people tend to pass it off as either fake and so most people don't generally believe anyone who thinks or states otherwise even in the face of overwhelming evidence, herd mentality and all that. At best it generally makes its way into local folklore and myth sometimes and is dismissed just a quickly once a planet's technology and science overtake other belief and faith systems as the core of a civilization. Thus, for any active magic users that may be on Earth, as long as they're somewhat careful about it, there's very little risk of being discovered." Lee, "I get that, but still, that means that there are other people in the world who know that there is more to the universe. Just a bit wild to think about, especially if they even have family that lives on a different planet. I can't even imagine what that would be like."
In any case, the other reason for their familiarity with Earth was that both Nanoha and Lance had studied up on Earth before coming and used some of Lance's search magic to remember it all super quick. The side effect for Nanoha though was that it made here seem like bit of a braincase initially. This at first got her labeled as a nerdy genius until the class got to know her better. Then they saw her as a normal classmate. Lance had told them that Nanoha had a thing for making friends with people very quickly. It was very hard to not like her. She had a friendly aura that affected everyone around her and made them happy.
Over the next week, they encountered and were able to capture 2 more Saren stones, numbers 23 and 21 without too much difficulty with some good teamwork. Sakura, being very linear wondered why it went from 23 to 21 without 22 anywhere in there. Lance explained that there was no inherent numerical sense when it came to magic, and that the fact that they had been in order before then was sheer coincidence. In any case, Lance thought that they were making good progress. Luckily, these two stones hadn't been as strong as the last one so it also proved to be a good amount of training for the new mages. They were also able to spend some time outside of all the magic stuff together to get to know more about the others, and were becoming fast friends. Sakura and Nanoha hit it off from day one, and Chrono and Lee found Lance to be a pretty awesome person. Neither one of them generally liked the super academic stereotype, but Lance pretty much defied it since while it was obvious he was super smart, he didn't flaunt it, and also clearly enjoyed many more normal things outside of academia, making him very easy to like. Thus Friday they found themselves chatting it up on their ways' home. Actually they were walking to Lee's house to discuss their battle plans as to be more efficient. When they got there though, Lee noticed an extra pair of shoes, but the style of them told Lee's whose they were immediately. Chrono and Sakura hadn't noticed so he kept quiet as if he didn't notice anything as to surprise them.
When they all took their shoes off, they headed to Lee's room. When they finally got there however, a short, brown hair and brown-eyed girl ran to, hugged and almost knocked over Lee, "Where have you been, I have been waiting forever Lee." Lee, "Hey Sarah. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be attending that fancy boarding school in England?" Sarah, "I was but I transferred back because it got too lonely in England, and frankly it wasn't like I was being challenged there anymore than I would be here. I wasn't making many friends either and I hate tea and its all tea, tea and tea with them and I thought we had it bad back here in Japan. It all drove me nuts so I decided to come back, and given the school time starting difference it works, since all I basically need to do is go in this semester for some placement tests. Didn't mom tell you that I was coming back today? I called over a month ago!" Lee, "Not at all. I bet she thought it would be funny to surprise me." Sarah then turned to Sakura "Hey Sakura, long time no see." Sarah always liked it when Sakura came over. They would always do each other's hair and stuff. They were pretty much as good of friends as Sakura was with Lee. Then she said hi to Chrono who used to lend her some of his toys that she liked.
Then at last she turned to Nanoha. As Nanoha had only been there for about three weeks now, Sarah obviously didn't know anything about her at all. This was also in part to the fact that Sarah didn't call home or write much. It was kind of weird when you think about it, her being homesick and all and yet not calling or writing, but Sarah just said that doing stuff like that wasn't her style. Sarah was looking at Nanoha inquiringly. Sarah was not the type of person who judged people on first impressions or looks. This meant that she didn't have an opinion of a person until she got to know them better. This didn't stop Nanoha even though she noticed it. She introduced herself "Hi, I'm Nanoha. I uh just transferred here from England myself actually, from the Bristol area." Sarah then introduced herself, though this time in English, to which Nanoha, to most of their surprises, answered back in English so natural sounding that it sounded like her primary language. In any case, any doubt that Sarah wouldn't have even had at Nanoha's story evaporated right there.
Nanoha then looked at Lee and asked why she had never met Sarah before or had even heard Lee mention her before as Nanoha had been to the house several times before. Lee explained that due to her very highly exceptional grades and academic achievements and a bit of their Father's influence, his 11-year-old sister Sarah was given a scholarship to a private boarding school in London as part of an exchange program through the Japanese Ministry of Education. Nanoha, "Well that doesn't explain why you didn't mention you had a little sister." Lee replied defensively, "Well, I forgot to tell you." Sarah, "SO am I just chopped liver to you." Lee, "No, its not that, its just–," he stopped there as everyone started to laugh. Lee felt a little embarrassed over his little emotional outburst. Nanoha, "So Lee, any other hidden siblings I should know about?" Lee, "Well I have an older brother as well actually, but he's off at college right now." Sarah though suddenly noticed Lance who was a ferret right now on Nanoha's shoulder. She went and moved to pet it. Lee to Lance telepathically "Sorry about this. I will make up for this later." Lance, "It's alright, I promise you this isn't the first time."
Finally after all the introductions were done. Lee asked Sarah for her to wait for her in her bedroom, which now was technically one of the guest rooms right now. Everyone else went into Lee's room. They talked about their strategy for when the next Saren Stone appeared. As they had figured out during their last encounters, it turned out that neither Chrono nor Sakura could actually seal a Saren stone. Lance (who could speak normally in his ferret form) told them that it did not surprise him. Not all mages could use what Lance called innate sealing magic, a supposed trait inherent to a mage. He went on to say that while all mages could use many forms sealing magic, without the ability to use innate sealing, it had to be done through other complicated spells, and there were some things, like the Saren Stones, that generally had to be sealed using innate sealing magic when in the field since it worked on a different principle. It was just a randomness of magic that depicted who could use innate sealing and who could not. He said only about one in three mages could use innate sealing magic naturally. It wasn't rare but it was also not a majority so it also did not surprise Lance that Lee could use it either. Lance could also use innate sealing magic but wasn't very good at it, since it was a very difficult piece of magic to do, and even more so without a staff so he usually didn't do it. They decided that the best tactic would be for Nanoha/Lee (whoever got there first) and or Chrono would go first and weaken it. Sakura would be battle support by sniping it from long range. Then Lee or Nanoha would seal it. That person would be the one who came later. Lance during the entire battle would focus on a barrier and healing someone if they got hurt. He was also responsible for protecting them why they were healing. He also took care of clean up so no one would notice what had happened. This seemed to satisfy everyone so it was decided that this would be their strategy.
Sarah could hear briefly what they were saying through the wall but not all of it. She just thought it was some type of new video game her brother got, not that she had ever seen Lee touch a computer before, since like everyone else in their family besides her and their older brother, their family was in Sarah's mind technologically illiterate. When everyone left, Lee went to her sister's room and asked to come in. She told him to enter. He did and when he sat down, Sarah asked, "So what were you talking about with your friends, some type of new video game?" Lee was unprepared for this question but tried not to lose face as to not make her suspicious. He decided to go not go with the video game theory because then she might want to try said imaginary video game. He decided on a different explanation. "It was actually a dodge ball tactic. Were in a small dodge ball tournament at school with the other 8th grade classes. We had to stop halfway through the game today and were the only ones who haven't gotten out yet." Sarah, "Then what is this sealing thing you kept mentioning?" Lee answered prepared for this question, "That just our way of saying going for the finisher to get the last of them out, as in 'seal the deal'. I can see the next question on your face as well and Lance is the name of Nanoha's ferret and he is the team Mascot." Sarah look surprised, " How did you know I was about to say that?" Lee had actually peeked into her mind quickly with his magic but told her that it was practically written all over her face. She still seemed in disbelief of how accurate he was so he changed the subject very quickly.
They started talking, as they hadn't seen each other in months. She asked how dad was. She hadn't heard from him. Their dad was a bodyguard whose only weapon were his katana and some throwing knives, which they both always thought was absolutely badass. Apart from the fact that he had an unusual arsenal, any person he had ever guarded never got a scratch on them, even when bombed one time. He was known as one of the best bodyguards and also best modern swordsmen in Japan. Because of his work however, he was gone from the house for sometimes months at a time. He even had a small dojo he built connected to the house so he could train. When he was away, Lee still had to keep it clean and that was a pain, and on top of it, his father expected him to keep up his training in kendo as well. Their father wasn't super pushy on it, but he very much wanted to pass along his sword skills to all of his children, not just the oldest, as it was both his life and his passion. It wasn't like Lee was adverse to it either, he did like it, but as more of a hobby than anything, though his dad had always told him when he could convince Lee to train with him that he had a ridiculous amount of untapped potential for swordplay if he ever bothered to apply himself.
That all said, for now, Lee told her that their father was guarding a Japanese government official on a trip to a foreign nation and that was all he knew, which was true. They also talked about what Sarah's plan was now that she was home. She was going to take a week off and then start school again, not that it would actually help her, since she was much too advanced to learn anything from an ordinary school, or even her boarding school for that matter, but it was a way to pass the time and there was more to school then classes. The next day was a weekend so Lee told her that tomorrow he had nothing to do so they could hang out. She decided that she wanted to go around seeing what had changed so they made a plan to hang out the next day.
After breakfast the next morning, they left the house saying they would be gone for a few hours. Their mother merely said that they needed to be home before dinner. First they went through the city to Sarah's favorite spots. Then they had lunch at her favorite café. The café's menu changed a little and it didn't have the type of latte that Sarah liked. This bummed her out a little until she tried one of their new latte's and then proclaimed that it was her new favorite latte. Next they went to the mall. They both knew that the mall hadn't changed at all but Lee knew that Sarah wanted to go shopping so he went along with it. They went to her favorite clothing store first. They were having a sale so it was pretty busy in there. While trying on new clothes and asking Lee what he thought of them, a lady trying to run to the other side of the stop knocked over a showcase and it started falling in the direction of Sarah. Lee having been training with his magic even more recently instinctively acted by stopping the bookcase with his magic. Sarah ran out of its range and he let it down. Sarah looked surprised, sure that she was going to get crushed, "I don't know what just happened but it sure was lucky." Lee smiled, "Yeah, it was." Lee though made a mental note to himself about what just happened. He really only had been using, or even knowing the existence of magic in general for a little less than two weeks, but it was starting to feel so integral to himself now that he was having trouble imagining himself without it at this point. That said, Lance had explained that his magic had really always been a part of him ever since he was born, it was just that he hadn't realized it. But he wasn't left to ponder this realization for long as he was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by Sarah who was waving her hand in front of his face, "Hello, earth to Lee, anyone there?" Lee suddenly came too, "Yeah." Sarah, "Good, since we have more stops to make." And with that, Sarah dragged Lee into yet another store.
After Sarah was done shopping, it was already 4:30. Lee, "Isn't it about time we headed home Sarah?" Sarah, "I think you're right Lee. Should we go by subway or walk." As they weren't that far away from home, they decided to save their money and walk home. Also they could walk through the park, which Sarah had wanted to do anyway. When they got to the park, Sarah went around looking at what had changed. She went over to the old play-sets that she used to play on when she was in elementary school, and to the large field where she had played football as well (soccer for you dumb Americans). But then, suddenly out of nowhere, they both heard a loud crash. They both went to see curious about what made the sound. When they arrived at the source of the sound though, they found a large, unnatural looking hole in the ground. They looked into the hole to see what the cause was, but all that met them was a glowing pair of blood red eyes.
