My eyes shot open before my alarm could go off, something wasn't right…

Wait a second… I forgot to put my pajamas on before I went to sleep!

I couldn't believe it, had yesterday's events really affected me this much? So much that I had forgotten one of the integral parts of my strict pre-sleeptime routine? Well, it was already morning, so it was too late to fix it.

This was bound to be the worst day of my life.

I groaned at my own foolishness as I got up out of bed and walked over to my closet. I let out a thankful sigh as I opened it, at least my clothes were in order. Inside, several plain white shirts were hung along the rack and numerous pairs of blissfully ordinary black pants were neatly folded on the shelf atop. This was the only outfit I ever wore, and the only outfit I would ever need.

As I went to grab my uniform, something caught my attention. I heard the distinct sound of talking coming from the kitchen. I immediately recognized my dad's voice, but there was another, feminine-sounding voice occasionally interjecting as well.

I froze, my artifact-ridden heart began to beat rapidly and then slowed as I realized the voice was much too high-pitched to be my mother's. Then, it instantly began to beat fast again, as I realized that there was someone else in my house, a stranger. This sort of unprecedented event would no doubt interrupt and possibly ruin my entire morning routine, how could Dad do this to me?

I quickly put on my clothes, grabbed my bag, then rushed out the door to the kitchen, before quickly realizing that suddenly running into the kitchen would no doubt arouse suspicion. I settled for a quick walk instead, doing my best to seem as casual as possible as I entered the kitchen. I quickly noticed Dad sitting at the dining table, his usual cup of coffee replaced with what looked like green tea.

But that wasn't the only thing that was off about this morning, because in the kitchen, circling around the air, was the unmistakable form of a certain doll. A doll that I had heard about, that I had seen before.

"Hey, sport! Look who came to visit!" Dad exclaimed happily as he gestured over to the chair opposite to him.

Why? Why God, must I be punished like this?

"Hello, Adam. It's been a while hasn't it?" Alice Margatroid, Chess Club member and my next door neighbor, greeted me.

"Can you believe it? I was so shocked to see her standing at the door that I nearly forgot to invite her in!" Dad guffawed and took a sip of his tea. "She was even nice enough to make us some tea with her little helper, ain't that something?"

Dad wasn't the only one shocked, I was completely dumbfounded. Alice hadn't visited our house in over a decade, and that time it was only to introduce herself when she first moved in. Sure I saw her a few times as I left for school, but I always made sure to avoid her because of how strange she was. Now, though, she was in my house, sitting across from my dad and making tea for us as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Alice smiled and nodded. "It was my pleasure."

"Well, what're you waiting for, sport? Grab a mug and sit down," Dad said.

The doll that had been flying around earlier suddenly appeared, holding out a glass of tea that was carefully perched in its tiny hands towards me, which finally managed to raise me out of my shocked stupor.

"Th-thanks, but I think I'll just grab a cup of coffee like I usually do," I said as I turned my back to the doll and went over to the coffee maker.

Dad frowned. "Bah, always with 'the usual', huh?" He looked into his cup of tea, a pensive look on his face. "You know, son, a little change once in a while isn't all that bad."

I rolled my eyes, I definitely didn't want to have this talk again. "Dad, could we not do this in front of Alice?"

"I know, I know. Your old man sounds like a broken record, doesn't he?" Dad looked up from his tea and grinned at me. "Well, I suppose it's just the way you are, I won't fault you for always sticking to your guns. I love you no matter what, son."

I blushed. "D-Dad! I told you, not in front of Alice!" I yelled, shyly.

Alice giggled. "You seem to be quite the loving family," she commented.

"You got that right! I don't care who's listening, I'll tell my son I love him to the whole world if I have to!" Dad laughed heartily as I finally finished preparing my coffee and went over to the table, hiding my face in embarrassment all the while.

I sat in between Alice and Dad and quickly began drinking my coffee, hoping to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

Dad looked at the doll busying itself in the kitchen with a wide smile on his face. "She's really something, Alice. I remember you had the same doll when you were little, right? What was her name again? Something Asian, right?" Dad asked before taking another sip of his tea. Truth be told, I had forgotten the name of the doll too, but I didn't really care enough to ask.

"Shanghai," Alice answered.

Dad snapped his fingers in realization. "Right, Shanghai! All she could do back then was move her head around to look at people, how'd you learn to make her move like this?"

"Years of practice," Alice replied. "Along with many, many magic rituals, I wouldn't want to bore you with the details, Mr. Coates," she said. It was weird to hear someone else get called "Mr. Coates".

"Nah, I could listen to you talk about magic all day! If it means I can have a little maid that does all the housework who I don't have to pay, haha!" Dad laughed again, he seemed to be in extra high spirits today.

"Well, like I said, it takes a lot of practice. By the way, if I may ask, where is Mrs. Coates?" Alice asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

"Ah, she's on a business trip," Dad answered. "She travels a lot. Work's for this big corporation, so she has to do that pretty often. I couldn't be more proud of her though, I love my wife as much as I love my son!"

"Okay! We are done here!" I quickly sat up from my chair. "I do not need to hear about how much you love Mom. I'm going to school, bye!" I grabbed my things and bolted for the front door, doing my best to ignore Dad and Alice laughing behind me.

I was halfway down the street when I heard Alice call out to me.

"Adam, wait!"

I turned around to see Alice running down the street to catch up to me, Shanghai following closely behind. In response, I proceeded to follow the only logical course of action…

I turned back around and sprinted away as fast as I could.

"Adam?!" Alice shouted in surprise. "What are you…?! Shanghai, stop him!"

I screeched to a halt as Shanghai whizzed past me and flew in my way. She had an adorably serious look on her face and had somehow acquired a tiny lance and shield as well.

I snorted. "Alright, I have to admit, that's kind of cute." I pointed to the lance in Shanghai's hand. "And what exactly are you planning to do with that little-?"

I yelped in surprise and drew my finger back as Shanghai suddenly slashed her lance in the air in front of her, narrowly missing my hand in the process.

"Now then," I froze as I heard Alice's voice behind me. "How about we have a nice, peaceful walk to school, Adam?" she asked with barely hidden menace.

I begrudgingly turned back around to face Alice, thoroughly done with this whole situation by this point. "What the hell is your problem?! Why did you come to my house out of nowhere today?!" I yelled angrily.

Alice pouted. "First of all, I don't appreciate your tone. Second of all, I went to your house because Patchouli informed us of what happened yesterday." Alice gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry for what happened, I understand that your life has been turned upside down, but like it or not, you need to have someone experienced in magic around to be ready in case you… you know."

"In case I explode? Yeah, I get the picture." I sighed. "Still, I don't understand why you had to come inside my home and make tea for my dad, that's kind of weird, dude."

Alice shrugged. "All I did was knock, your father was the one who invited me in, I figured it would be nice to have Shanghai prepare some tea while we got caught up and waited for you to wake up," she explained. "Speaking of which… are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what? That my insane, perverted former homeroom teacher with teleporting powers, who's dead now, put a magic artifact in my heart and that I could explode at any moment and I have no way to take it out or stop it from going off if it decides to blow up? Yeah, what a great idea," I said, sarcastically.

"Well, I would probably say it with more tact," Alice said, annoyed. "Look, it's up to you if you want to tell him or not. But if I were you, I would, it's clear that he loves you, and he deserves to know."

I frowned, I knew she was right, but I also knew that I couldn't bear to burden my father with the knowledge that his one and only son could die, and in such a gruesome manner too.

I moved past Shanghai without a word and started walking down the street. "I get that you need to stick close to me, but I don't want people thinking that we're friends. So could you lag behind me a little as we walk?"

"Ah, Patchouli told me about this as well."

"About what?" I asked.

"About your obsession with being seen as 'normal'."

We didn't talk for a while after that, I mostly kept an eye out for other students while we walked. Alice kept her distance behind me as we walked to school, but it seemed like Shanghai was still on guard, no doubt ready to catch me in case I ran away again. Eventually, we were about a block away from the school when I asked Alice to fly ahead of me so we could avoid being seen together.

"Alright, I suppose we're close enough to the school now. Still, if anything happens, make sure to inform your teachers. Oh, right! I hear Yukari has a new schedule ready for you, so you should go see her as well," Alice instructed as if she was a teacher herself.

Finally, after double checking that I knew what I needed to do, Alice floated up into the air, Shanghai following close behind, and flew the rest of the way to school. At last, I was free and, with some semblance of peace regained, I made my way to school as well.

I began to feel the pressure of returning after yesterday's events as I drew nearer to the campus, but I carried on, knowing that at least most people at school were oblivious to what had happened.

"Look! It's him!" I heard an unfamiliar voice shout as I entered the courtyard.

Immediately, everyone around me turned to look in my direction, and within seconds I was swarmed by dozens of students, both human and youkai. "What the hell?! What's going on?!" I shouted out in surprise, I wasn't used to receiving this much attention, or any attention for that matter. Something had to be wrong.

"Hey, Adam! Is it true that Mr. Waka disappeared because of you?"

"Nevermind that! Hey Adam, you're friends with Patchouli right? Can you get me her number?"

"Hey! Hey! Get me into the Chess Club! Pretty please?"

I could barely tell what was going on, let alone who was even talking, and I was constantly getting thrown question after question. However, one thing was clear, somehow what happened yesterday had leaked to the rest of the school. I desperately looked for a way out through the sea of students, but there was no such exit, I was stuck in the middle of a mob. That is, until I felt someone reach under my arms and haul me into the air.

"All right that's enough, you gawkers!" I heard an unfamiliar voice shout out from above. Before I knew it, I was being carried by the unknown person and flying through the air, much to the protest of the clamoring students below.

"H-hey! Stop struggling or I'm going to drop you, you fool!" the person warned.

Of course I'm struggling, moron! I don't even want to be here!

Eventually, I was lifted up to the roof of the school, where we finally landed. That was when I at last saw who had been carrying me, it was none other than Remilia Scarlet.

"Finally, away from the rabble." Remilia wiped the sweat from her brow. "You know, you could stand to lose some weight, you're far too heavy to carry around," she complained unhelpfully.

"Good!" I shouted angrily. "Maybe I don't want to be carried like I'm prey caught by a bird!"

Remilia humphed. "That's an awfully rude thing to say to someone who just saved you. I assume you already know who I am?" she asked.

"Yeah, you're the president of the Pottery Club, right?" I replied, sarcastically.

Remilia huffed in annoyance. "No, idiot! I'm the president of the Chess Club, Remilia Scarlet!" she yelled, heatedly.

I rolled my eyes. "I was joking, idiot. Of course I know who you are!" I rubbed the bridge of my nose, still trying to process what was happening. "Look, can you just tell me what's going on, please?"

"Ugh, fine. Hold on… joking around at a time like this, you'd certainly get along with Marisa, that's for sure…" Remilia mumbled as she reached into her bag. After a while, she pulled out a newspaper and held it out towards me. "Here, this should explain everything."

I snatched the newspaper from Remilia's hands and immediately my heart sank. There, prominently displayed on the front of the school's newspaper, was an image of me and Patchouli standing before Mr. Waka, who was in the middle of a circle of fire. I quickly recognized the scene from yesterday, it was when Patchouli first confronted Mr. Waka, but how had this picture been taken? Hadn't Patchouli said there were no other students around?

Desperately searching for answers, I read the title of the paper:

Students Face Off Against Teacher in Huge Magical Battle! by Aya Shameimaru.

I didn't know much about Aya, but I knew that she was fast, incredibly so. But was she really fast enough that she could have gotten in and snapped a photo before Patchouli and I even had time to notice?

Regardless of what or how it happened, I was in complete shock. I wanted to scream, jump off the building and pass out all at the same time. My normal life that I had struggled to build for years was well and truly over. All that struggle to remain out of sight, to remain at peace, wasted, dust in the wind. Now I was the most popular person in school and at the center of a massive conspiracy, and it was the worst feeling in the world.

Remilia crossed her arms. "Well? Are you satisfied or- huh?!" her eyes widened as I heard a familiar sound behind me, I already knew who it was, but I didn't care.

"Oh, great," Remilia said, clearly annoyed by the interruption.

"Hello, Ms. Scarlet, and hello to you too, Mr. Coates," Mrs. Yakumo greeted us oddly calmly, considering the situation. "Could you both come with me to my office?"

Remilia took a step back. "Uh… actually, I'm a bit- eep!" she squeaked in surprise as a gap opened below her feet and sucked her in.

I, on the other hand, still couldn't feel anything but numbness as a result of what had happened. Not even as I felt another one of Mrs. Yakumo's gaps open under me, causing me to fall into a never-ending void of darkness.