Kozune's smile turns bittersweet. "I thought you looked familiar, Manami." she says and glances in Mary/Mana's direction. "Or…that blue eye all of a sudden…" Kozune frowns. "Could it be…is that you, Mary?" she wonders.

Mary grits her teeth. "Don't speak to me and don't speak to Mana like we're friends." she snaps. "I made the mistake of trusting Calypso Aurelia at her word. I won't make the same mistake again. If you don't want a bullet in your head, start talking."

"Kozune Novel…" Myling frowns, glaring at the doctor. "Tell me, what's the daughter of a Revenant Beasts Dark Mage doing playing doctor in Honeywell?"


Episode 32: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Kozune frowns, turning to Myling. "I am the daughter of a Dark Mage and that's all, I assure you." she says. "And I'm not - I'm not playing doctor, I am a doctor."

Mary scoffs and cocks the gun. "Yeah right, so was your mother and look what she did to us." she sneers.

"Maybe think twice before you use Mana's body to take a life." Akane suggests carefully, slowly walking up to Mary. "Are you really going to get blood on her hands without even giving her a say?" she asks, trying to calm her down.

Mary grits her teeth and doesn't respond.

Kozune turns to Mary again. "And are you really going to punish the daughter for the sins of her mother? I was around your age when my mother died and when I left." she says. "I have nothing to do with Revenant Beasts anymore - nothing connects me to them. I don't even have any Magic so I can't even be a Dark Mage!" Kozune insists. "My mother is at fault for what she did to you two-"

"Wait," Emile speaks up, looking between Akane and Mary. "You remember what happened to them?" he asks.

Akane's eyes widen when she realizes what he's getting at.

Mary only tightens her hold on the gun. "Why should we believe anything she has to say?" she snaps. "She's the daughter of the woman who worked directly under Yut - under her."

At this point, Kozune is starting to get a bit annoyed that Mary isn't listening to her. Fortunately, Myling is willing to hear her out.

"Mary, put down the gun." Myling says, looking at Kozune calmly but still distrustfully. "Like she said, she doesn't have any Magic. She can't do anything." she says.

In the same second it looks like Mary isn't going to listen to Myling, she flinches and clutches her head, squeezing her eyes shut and dropping the gun. Just as the gun is about to hit the floor, it dissipates out of existence and when Mary opens her eyes, she's back to Mana.

Mana locks eyes with Kozune's dull pink ones - the same ones as her mother.


Yutsuko smiles down at a trembling, crying Mana, gagged and bound to the table between her and the doctor. "Now now, Manami. Rovari isn't going to do anything painful to you this time - she's only doing a check up." she says and her smile drops from her face. "Stop moving or you can spend the night with the rats again."

Rovari Novel looks down at Mana with malicious dull pink eyes. "As your Master said, I'm not going to do anything painful to you…on purpose."

Mana flinches when Rovari brings the pliers up to her face and she sees a young girl hiding under a table, a girl around the same age as Mary - and the spitting image of the woman standing above her.

And the girl turns away, crawling out from the far side of the table and quietly running off out of sight.


"Manami-"

"Don't." Mana says, stepping back until she has Akane and Emile between her and Kozune. "I don't - I don't remember everything that happened and neither does Mary, but," she sits down and takes a deep breath in before letting it out slowly. "You remember." Mana says and looks back at Kozune. "You're going to write it down. All of it. After you fix Myling and tell us why you're here."

Kozune gives everyone in the room an unsure look.

"Well?" Akane crosses her arms. "You heard her, chop chop."


According to Kozune, she left Revenant Beasts not long after her mother's, Rovari's, death. She died when one of her other human experiments backfired on her.

Since Kozune doesn't possess any Magic and she didn't have the same medical knowledge as Rovari at the time, Revenant Beasts let her go without a fight. Yutsuko tried to persuade her to stay and learn under wing but Kozune had zero desire to be anywhere near the woman and her mother's old friend, a mysterious man known as the Mad Science Mage.

Kozune was wandering the world alone for a while until she met Lady Ariana - of whom was apparently looking for people to come live in the town she was building. After that, the rest is history.

Nobody in the room could shake the feeling that while it seemed like Kozune was telling the truth, she was also hiding a particular detail about that conversation.

"So, what," Akane frowns. "Are the pastel colors a requirement for Honeywell citizenship or something?" she asks.

"Ah," Kozune blinks as she finishes tying off the wrapping around Myling's ankle. "Well, Lady Ariana suggested I dye my hair to hide from people who may recognize me as my mother's daughter." she says, twirling a lock of her pastel green hair around her finger. "It's worked well so far, but…" Kozune turns to Mana. "Someone who knew my mother's face as well as you two do isn't going to be fooled." she says and turns back to Myling with a thoughtful frown. "But I don't understand how you recognized me."

Myling glares at Kozune a bit less heatedly than she did before. Then, she sighs. "...It doesn't matter. It's like you said, the daughter shouldn't be punished for the sins of the mother…especially an innocent daughter." Myling says and looks at Mana. "I know it's hard but please keep Mary in line as best you can." she says.

Mana nods wordlessly, a stressed look still on her face.

"Anyways, I put some magical medical cream on your ankle and other wounds so you should heal slightly faster and be out of here within two to three days at the most." Kozune says. "I-Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asks earnestly. "Other than writing down…everything…" she glances at Mana. "Oh, your clothes! I'll bring you a change of clothes and get someone to wash yours for you!"

Emile perks up. "Yeah, and, would you mind getting an extra set for me? One that looks about my size and another set that's a bit smaller?" he asks sweetly, batting his eyes at Kozune.

"For the guy hiding in the other room? Sure. I'll make sure his old clothes get washed too."

"...Yeah." Emile sighs.

Well there goes the plant idea.


A freshly showered Mana, Akane, Veiss, and Emile look at each other in their new, very bright pastel pajamas (of which Kozune was also kind enough to retrieve): all white, red, green, and blue respectively, just like the everyday clothes Kozune brought.

Myling sits on her bed, also freshly showered, in pastel purple pajamas.

"These are fucking ugly."

"I like it."

"Really? It's showing off your ches - OW!"

"STOP LOOKING!"

Myling sighs as Akane and Emile get into a heated argument about who was looking first (to which the former vehemently denies ever looking in the first place) and while Veiss and Mana calmly and contently talk about the odd clothing.

"...I wish I were back home."


The next day…

Honeywell | Honeybun Square

"I still don't understand why I didn't get an outfit." Novem pouts.

Emile frowns. "Why do you care? You're always naked." he points out.

"Because you've never given me any clothes!"

Emile shushes the baby Nine-Tails and shoves him down the front of his shirt, leaving his head poking out of the neck. "You can share mine." Emile says. "Now shush, the adults are working."

"You're not even-"

"Shush."

Veiss rolls his eyes as the four of them sit down on the fountain in the middle of town. "Well, it looks like you all were right to be paranoid about standing out." he says dryly.

Akane shifts uncomfortably and grumbles, "I hate it here."

"Let's just figure out what they're hiding and we'll be out of here - that's all Myling wants us to do, right?" Mana asks, looking around at the people staring and obviously whispering about the quartet.

"Right."

"I'll take the hospital…I wanna ask Kozune some stuff anyways." Mana says.

"I'll take the grocery store." Emile says.

"I'll stay here." Akane nods.

"And I'll head back to the tavern and keep an eye on everything there with Myling." Veiss says.

The four of them exchange a look.

"If this really turns out to be a cult and I die here, please find my siblings and tell them I love them."

"If you die here I'll bring you back from the dead and kill you myself."

"Aww, friendship."

"You're all gross."


Honeywell | Honeysuckle Hospital

Mana cautiously enters the rather small looking hospital, looking around nervously.

The hospital seems more…'normal' than everything else in the town. Normal colors, that is - bar the pastel uniforms and coats of the hospital staff.

Mana walks up to the front desk, wincing when the secretary seems to do a double-take at the sight of her dark colored hair. "Um, do you know where I can find Kozune Novel?" she asks.

The secretary tilts his head to the side. "Oh? Are you here for a hair dye appointment? Dr. Novel doesn't do those." he says. "You're looking for-"

Mana frowns. The hospital does hair dye appointments…?

"Right, um, no," Mana says. "My appointment isn't until…" she discreetly covers the hand bearing her Phoenix Fire mark with her other hand. "...later today." she lies. "I'm just looking for Kozune."

"Oh, okay." the secretary nods and smiles. "Dr. Novel is actually at town hall with Lady Ariana at the moment, but you're more than welcome to wait in her office, she shouldn't be long. Here, let me show you the way."


Honeywell | Honeydew Grocer

Emile frowns as he enters the grocery store.

"What? Never seen a guy with blue hair and an animal in his shirt before?" Emile snaps. "Screw off and mind your business!"

And everyone goes back to their daily tasks.

Emile huffs.

"Getting a little stressed there, Em?" Novem asks.

Emile grits his teeth and protectively puts his arms around himself and Novem. "Last time a bunch of people were staring at us, you got hurt. I'm just trying to be more vigilant." he says and looks down at Novem. "You keep a look out too, okay? You and that supposed super sniffer." Emile says and boops Novem's nose.

"Right." Novem nods and gets comfortable in his position.

Emile hums as he walks around the store. "I don't know what I could possibly find here but there's only so many places here…" he mumbles to himself. Turning into one aisle, he finds a friendly enough looking old man. "Excuse me sir," Emile calls and smiles in relief when the old man turns to him with a smile. "Can I ask you a few questions?"


Honeywell | Honeybun Square

Akane swings her legs, bored. She's positive something is off about this 'peaceful' town, but…

"Hey Tsun, how was the career seminar yesterday?"

"Eh, nothing really called to me. I'm just gonna have to find something else to do while waiting for these newborns and toddlers to grow up, huh?"

Akane frowns, pausing to listen in on the conversation.

"Maybe. I mean, surely not everyone here has an education? Especially from the line of work we all come from, there's bound to be a handful or two of some unfortunate uneducated folks hanging around here. You don't have to teach just kids, you know."

Akane's frown deepens.

'The line of work we all come from'?

And…there's no kids in this town? Just babies and toddlers that are too young for an education?

The conversation turns to the first person suggesting that 'Tsun' post an advertisement to the bulletin board with Tsun countering that if there's uneducated folks here, they most likely don't know how to read and so on and so forth and Akane becomes uninterested in the conversation.

"Bulletin board…" Akane mumbles to herself, scanning the town square. Her eyes land on a big house at the top of a hill overlooking Honeywell. "City hall, maybe?" she wonders and stands up. Akane dusts her shorts off and starts making her way towards the house.

There's only one way to find out.


Honeywell | Honeycomb Tavern

"Aaand…there." Veiss grunts, setting Myling down on one of the benches. "Good?"

Myling nods, tentatively placing her injured ankle down on the floor. "Y-Yes…thank you, Veiss."

Veiss nods back and sits down across from her. "Back to what I was saying," he says lowly. "This place gives off the appearance of a normal town but none of us can shake the feeling that something's off." Veiss says. "And like we were talking about last night, Kozune is definitely hiding something."

Myling frowns. "I don't want to leave until we make sure what everyone's hiding isn't something evil." she says. "Maybe…maybe everyone's like Kozune and nobody has Magic here?"

Veiss shakes his head. "No, we passed some chick with Fire Magic on our way to the town square," he says. "Akane practically jumped into Emile's arms trying to get away." Veiss snorts.

Myling sighs. She opens her mouth to speak again but abruptly closes it, following the scene behind Veiss.

"Myling?"

"Shush." Myling says, narrowing her eyes. "Don't turn around."

Myling watches as someone in worn and torn dark colored clothing shakily approaches the barkeep.

The barkeep looks the traveler up and down. "What can I get for you?"

"G-Good - Good day," the traveler coughs, their voice hoarse. "I have…I have traveled a long road. M-May I have a room, pl-please?"

The barkeep nods. "Our Lady is busy right now but I'll send word for you." he says and looks over the traveler again. "You look like you've seen better days. Have a seat, I'll get you a meal on the house." he says and gestures towards the tables.

The traveler nods and whispers a hoarse thank you before trudging over to an empty table and plopping down at it, laying their head down.

Myling's eyes widen. "Veiss."

"What's wrong?"

"I know what their secret is."


Somewhere in or around Honeywell…

"Master, there's no sign of them-lero."

"..."

"What are your orders-lero?"

"...Keep an eye on the town with the others. If you encounter them, take care of them. I will keep an eye on her house personally."

"Hmm, 'take care of them-lero'?"

"If they raise a hand against you, make sure it's the last hand they raise. Anyone who comes for her or her people will be shown no mercy."

"...Roger that-lero."


Honeywell | Honeysuckle Hospital

The secretary smiles as Mana sits down in the chair across from Kozune's desk. "As soon as Dr. Novel gets back to the hospital, I'll let her know you're waiting for her." he says.

"Do you know how long she'll be?" Mana asks before the door is shut. "I mean, I don't have anything else going on today - o-other than my appointment, of course, but I'm curious." she says.

The secretary shakes his head. "No, I'm sorry. It's been a while since they left - and they seemed to be in a rush while they were leaving - so I'm sure Dr. Novel will be back soon." he says reassuringly.

Mana nods and smiles back and the secretary closes the door.

Immediately, Mana stands back up and peers over Kozune's desk.

When the secretary opened the door, Mana spotted a paper on her desk with her name written on it.

Dear Manami,

You mentioned something about amnesia and you said to write everything down, so that's what I'll do.

Your name is Manami - but obviously you know that much already. Do you remember your family name? Where you came from? What happened to you for you and your family to end up in Revenant Beasts' hands in the first place? I read some of your information on one of my mother's documents before and she's spoke about you and your family freely in front of me many times.

Your name is Manami Thorne. You're from the country of M

Mana's blood is roaring in her ears. The reveal of her family name, the fact that she's not from Valiance, and the fact that what is very clearly blood spatter covering the name of whatever country Kozune wrote down…

Mana snatches the letter and hightails it out of Kozune's office.

Mana-

Shut it.


Honeywell | Honeydew Grocer

"Thank you very much, have a nice day, sir!" Emile smiles and walks away from the man.

Novem looks up at Emile as he walks out of the store with a grim look on his face. "That man said he heard gossip that Kozune was in trouble with Ariana," he says. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know, Novem. But we're sure as hell going to find out." Emile says, marching towards the big house on the hill overlooking Honeywell.


Honeywell

Outside of the big house…

Akane creeps around the outside of the house, peeking in through every window she sees.

Her initial guess of the big house being town hall doesn't seem to be quite right, but-

"Kozune?" Akane blinks, looking at the doctor in confusion. She spotted the mint haired doctor through a basement window.

The good doctor is bleeding from her cheek and tied to the metal wall pipes with rope.

What the hell?

"What are you doing?" a deep, unfamiliar voice asks from behind Akane.

Akane jumps, startled, and scrambles onto her feet as she turns around.

It's an older but still attractive man. His light blue eyed gaze is harsh and his short black hair is slicked back with a few strands sticking out and dangling over his lightly tanned face.

More importantly…

Akane eyes the mark on his neck - a rose torn in two.

"I'm not here for you." the man says. "You and your friends are Guild Mages. You don't mean to cause her any harm. So why are you snooping around Bella's house?" he asks.

Akane frowns. "Who's Bella?"

The man doesn't answer.

Akane grits her teeth. "There's something going on in this town and my superior said we're not going to leave until we figure out what." she snaps and points to the basement window. "And clearly whatever's going on isn't good!"

"It's none of your concern." the man says. "Leave."

Akane scoffs. "And why should I listen to-?"

"My name is Donatello Rose, Guild Master of Forsaken Roses. Honeywell doesn't know it but they are under the protection of Forsaken Roses." the man, Donatello says. "Leave."

"Yeah? And what's gonna stop me from telling them they're 'under the protection' of a Dark Guild?" Akane sneers.

"They won't believe you." Donatello says calmly. "Especially her. So leave. She has granted you her hospitality - take it, recover, and leave."

Akane refuses to budge. "You said you're not here for us. Your 'protectees' don't know you're here. So why-" Akane stops, her eyes widening as she recalls what Mana told them on the train when they woke up.


"Only three Dark Mages?" Emile scoffs. "Where's the danger in that? It's us five - sorry, six - against three." he says when Novem shoots him a look. "Plus, we have Myling!" Emile says cheerfully.

Mana shakes her head. "That woman said only Myling would be able to match one of the Mages in their group. The second one should be around our level but she didn't have any information about the third member." she says, passing her journal to Akane to read over.

"And the entirety of Forsaken Roses going missing…" Akane frowns. "That's going to be a problem eventually."


They didn't go missing. Donatello assembled them here in Honeywell.

Akane gawks at him. "You…You're waiting for that trio of Dark Mages." she says.

Donatello narrows his eyes.

Akane clenches her fists. "I'll leave. For now." she says and points at the basement door. "But I'm not letting that go. My friends and I will be back for her." Akane warns and turns on her heel, leaving the premises of the big house.

She grabs an approaching Emile by his collar, dragging him behind her. "Come on, Em."

Emile blinks wildly, confused. "B-But-!"

"Come on."


Honeywell | Honeycomb Tavern

Veiss crashes into Mana on his way out of the tavern.

"Mana?" Veiss blinks.

Mana stares at Veiss with wide, panicked eyes and pale cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

Mana shakes her head and spotting Myling's confused face in her peripheral vision, grabs his wrist and drags him over to her. She sits down across from Myling and slides her the letter. "I found - I found this in Kozune's office." Mana says quietly as Veiss sits down next to her. "That's - That's blood, right?"

Myling reads the letter and nods slowly, grimacing.

Mana worries at her lower lip. "The secretary who took me to her office said Kozune left with Ariana in a hurry." she whispers. "Do you think..?"

"Oh, definitely." Akane says, approaching the table with Emile trailing behind her. "That bitch is psycho." she says.

Emile rubs his temples as he sits beside Veiss and Akane sits next to Myling. "Akane told me what she found out on our way over here." he says. "We…have a lot to talk about." Emile says and looks pointedly at Myling. "And you need to get better. Quickly."

PF x AH x SS

A/N i'm back again bby

ariana sus let's vote her out

another update soon i'm in the groove ykykyk