The Priestesses' Regeneration Song that Connects the Worlds

by aquagon

Two months later, Inuyasha's group welcomes back Miko and Yasha together with their friends from the alternate Earth. Now, they must fulfill the mission they were given by destiny: become the Seirei to save the world the Dragonia. While many hardships await them, they will also receive the help from a world called Ar Ciel... Sequel to Entwining of Destinies.

10. A School Day

A School Day

Might we play

Might we learn

As all knowledge here we lay

Wisdom shall we earn

{Opening: Eien no Toshie e – Haruka Shimotsuki}

- "So in other words, the world you borrowed power from is called Ar Ciel, and they have far more restrictive ways to use magic from their singing than we have?" – asked the king with interest as they were dining. They were all sitting at the long table in the dining hall and the dishes it had on it this time were sandwiches made from reddish bread that contained something similar to ham and mozzarella cheese, and they also had several kinds of condiments and sausages over the table.

- "Yes, that's correct, Your Majesty" – replied Gerardo as he nodded smiling. Around half an hour had gone by after Miko, Kagome and Gabriela sang the Song of Proof, and Gabriela sang METHOD_METAFALICA/. They were left alone with the monarchs, and the king had applied the anti-espionage spell on the hall so they would be able to talk freely without having to feign – "The Dragon Gods themselves bestowed me with the tools and knowledge necessary to make use of the songs from that world in order to help save Dragonia" –

- "Quite an interesting decision on their part…" – said the queen in a pensive voice as she put some crimson sauce in her sandwich – "And if I might be allowed to ask, what effects does that Song bring about?" –

- "Well… in its native world, that Song is half of a duet whose effect is uniting the minds of all the people who will help the singer and connecting their feelings with the goal of gathering them as energy for the creation of a floating continent" – said Gerardo as he gave his sandwich a bite.

- "They have Songs capable of such feats!?" – said the king as his eyes widened, reaction his wife shared.

- "Yes, but it's subject to many restrictions and conditions" – said Miguel as he drank a glass of aquamarine-colored juice – "If the people who're supposed to help the singer refuse to do so, the Song will lose its effect and the other half will instead kill off the singer by draining her life force" –

- "That sounds terrible…" – said the queen looking downward – "We also had Songs with dreadful effects at several periods of our history, but to hear other worlds also have undergone such terrible experiences…" –

- "Yes, and the first time it was sung it failed, with all that means…" – said Gabriela looking sad before perking up a little – "But at the least they managed to sing it successfully and create a beautiful land with it! That's the place you could see in the dimensional rift that showed up!" –

- "That is good to hear" – said the king smiling relieved – "Considering what you told us previously about the land there being currently non-existent and that the people reside nowadays upon a floating metal plate with barely any cultivable or inhabitable land…" –

- "Well, that's also why they were so desperate to create it that they even got themselves in multiple political conflicts and civil wars due to not knowing how to actually make that Song's singing a success" – said Henry crossing his arms, as he had already finished eating.

- "And if I may be so bold as to ask, what are your plans for tomorrow?" – asked the queen with a smile – "We have already given you the directions of where to go, and the Song of Proof was successfully sung by our current Priestesses tonight, but I think you still have business you wish to carry out here at Soleila, correct?" –

- "Ah, that's right, Your Majesty…" – said Miko as her face got a bit redder and she got up from the table – "We wanted to show them around Soleila a little more, and also to show them the school we attend so they could see how schooling is here" –

- "Ah, I guess it would help them to know our style of life in order so their feelings for our world grow stronger" – said the king as he wiped his mouth with a napkin – "But you must be careful to not show that you are unfamiliar with how schooling works here, Gabriela, Gerardo" –

- "We know, Your Majesty" – said Gabriela nodding - "Gerar's supposed to have finished schooling already, and I'm still in school too…" –

- "Well, we can pass off your visit there as an official inspection of sorts: you will "inspect" the class your friends were in, and we'll send inspectors for the other classes and the school itself" – said the queen with a gentle smile – "Just mind your behavior and what you say while you are there" –

- "And leave the questions and all that to us!" – said Yasha smiling as he placed his hands on the table – "If there's anything you'd like us to ask, just tell us!" –

- "Yeah! We wanna make sure you all get what our school life was like here!" – said Miko nodding with energy.

- "I can also ask anything I don't understand about, if that helps in some way" – said Kagome smiling.

- "Meh… How boring…" – said Inuyasha scoffing.

- "But what about me, Roger, Kember, Carlos, Henry or Tiffany?" – asked Miguel with an eyebrow raised.

- "Ah, sorry about it, but you six would be better off refraining from asking anything" – said the queen with an apologetic smile – "Some of the former Seirei and their friends were exactly identical to you in appearance, so making questions about topics you are supposed to know about already would also raise suspicions" –

- "Yeah, we can see that" – said Henry sighing in defeat.

- "But in any case, I really wanna see how schools are here!" – said Gabriela with a smile.

- "Yeah, me too!" – said Tiffany with enthusiasm.

- "I wanted to go check the shops in the area though…" – said Carlos crossing his arms.

- "Yeah, same here" – said Kember sighing.

- "We can check them out once we've left the school. And in any case, we'll make sure to be careful out there" – said Gerardo nodding. The monarchs nodded in agreement.

- "Additionally, please leave your dragons in our care for tomorrow. Dragons are not allowed within schools for safety and hygiene reasons, so you mustn't take them with you" – said the queen. All the dragons the party had with them growled with sadness and looked crestfallen.

- "Don't worry. We'll come pick you up once we're done!" - said Gerardo to cheer up his Iadla.

- "Yeah! And make sure to not cause a disaster while we're away!" – said Gabriela to admonish her Drago. The other party members did the same for their partners, and while the dragons didn't look too happy about it, they decided just to accept it.

Once everyone had finished their dinner, they all bid their farewells to the monarchs before leaving the dining hall and going to their respective lodging places: Gerardo, Gabriela and Miguel to the rooms they had in the castle; Miko, Yasha, Inuyasha and Kagome went back to Elaer and Fileia's house, while the others all went to the inn.

---

Next morning, everyone gathered again at the Seirei Plaza after having breakfast. After exchanging the greetings:

- "So, where's your school?" – asked Tiffany with interest.

- "Well, Soleila has several schools, and while you can choose any of them, you get priority for enrolling in those located in the same district you live in" – said Miko with a smile.

- "That was the Tiarrashe District for you two, right?" – asked Kagome.

- "Yup. Our school is about two streets away from Fileia-san's and Elaer-san's house. It's called the Enterial School" – said Yasha jumping up and down.

- "Well, I guess that means we'll have to take the monorail again to get there" – said Roger crossing his arms.

- "Yup, unless you'd rather walk all the way there!" – said Yasha laughing. Everyone else just smiled, knowing it would take too long to get there by foot.

- "Well, at the least we can pay for our tickets now" – said Gerardo wiping out his wallet, which had now several Drack bills inside – "The queen and king have given us some funds for our quest, so we won't have to keep leeching off anyone" –

- "We wouldn't have minded helping you again, but…" – said Miko with a smile.

- "He's right. We can't just keep dependin' on someone else" – said Inuyasha with a serious face – "Even less on kids like you two" –

- "Well, I can't argue with that, but…" – said Gabriela a bit crestfallen.

- "What I'm always telling you about saying things in a nicer way, Inuyasha?" – said Kagome in irritation.

- "Egh… Sorry…" – said Inuyasha crossing his arms and putting on a sulky expression.

- "Well, shall we get going?" – asked Kember amused – "The day's going to end if we just keep standing around like this" –

They retraced their steps from two days ago to reach the monorail station and used it to go to the Tiarrashe District, with Gerardo, Gabriela and Miguel greeting back anyone who greeted them or Gabriela, Miko and Kagome giving thanks to anyone who congratulated them for their performance the previous night, even though it felt quite awkward to them.

After they reached the Tiarrashe District, they greeted Elaer and Fileia in the way, and they continued walking for two more streets afterward until they finally reached their destination: it was a large white and blue building that had a very curvy design, and had a large garden in its front. The laughter and cheers of the children could be heard coming from inside.

- "We're here!" – say Yasha in a joyful voice – "This is the Enterial School" –

- "Interesting architecture" – said Kember observing the building – "Looks like a pretty inviting and relaxing place, kind of like a museum or something" –

- "Is that because the people here think that would help students with their learning?" – asked Gerardo with interest.

- "Yup!" – said Miko with her hands behind her back – "It's 'coz they say that keeps students from getting anxious and it brings to mind images from nature" –

They then saw a young woman that was in her late twenties, wearing a green and white shouf with books embroidered upon it, and having an emerald hairband with a ribbon on her long hazel hair leaving the building through the doors, who greeted everyone upon seeing.

- "Ah, Prince Gerardo, Princess Gabriela!" – said her with a smile as she walked to the party – "We were expecting you! And welcome back to your school, Miko, Yasha!" –

- "Ah, greetings" – said Gerardo a bit awkwardly – "We have come to carry out an inspection of the… facilities and the teaching methods, as we haven't done so in over half a year" –

- "Yup..." – said Gabriela smiling as she blushed.

- "Oh, I know! We already have the inspectors taking notes in most of our classes at the moment" – said Tiela with a happy voice as she nodded.

- "Hi, Tiela-sensei!" – said Miko and Yasha at the same time.

- "Was she your teacher during your time here?" – asked Kagome in a gentle voice.

- "Yeah, I was" – said Tiela as she nodded - "And from what I heard last night, you are Miko's older sister, right? Pleased to meet you!" –

- "Pleased to meet you too! I'm Kagome! And I guess it must've been a real hard time teaching them, as they came here not knowing anything about Dragonia. I'm sorry about that" – said Kagome bowing before her.

- "Hehe, you're acting just like mom, onee-san!" – giggled Miko.

- "Yeah, but it was a really interesting experience for me and also, for all the students that came in contact with them, so I don't mind it" – said Tiela smiling.

- "Keh… How can someone be so… upbeat and happy 'bout this teachin' stuff…?" – scoffed Inuyasha as he crossed his arms.

- "Hehe, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't want to be a teacher, you know?" – said Tiela – "And from your appearance, I guess you are Yasha's older brother, right? Pleased to meet you too!" –

- "S-Same here… I'm Inuyasha" – said Inuyasha as he was left stunned while Tiela offered her hand to him for a handshake.

- "Nii-san, give her a handshake. It's rude if you just leave her hanging" – said Yasha as his eyes widened and he started blushing. Inuyasha shook her hand as softly as he could, and Tiela replied by laughing, much to his chagrin and the party's amusement.

- "Hehe, you are quite interesting people" – said her as she stopped laughing – "Anyway, may we get started with the inspection? And I can explain our schooling system to our two guests here as we do" –

- "Yes please, as we also have other matters to attend to" – said Gerardo in a serious voice while his eyes darted around himself, as he was wondering if he hadn't started channeling his predecessor already by how he was acting. Gabriela giggled from seeing his demeanor.

- "In that case, please follow me" – said Tiela as she joined her hands, bowed slightly before them, and turned around to re-enter the school. The party then followed her inside.

What they encountered beyond the sliding glass doors was a curved hallway that had what seemed to be some wooden closets tucked into them, and also some circular wooden doors with plaques written next to them. The walls were also painted with images of a forest and rivers, and some also had billboards that had pinned to them sheets of paper with childish drawings, several notices and writings.

- "Interesting design" – said Kember under his breath.

- "Um, Miko told me that the architecture takes images from nature to allow students to relax and that it also helps them to learn. Is that true?" – asked Kagome a bit puzzled.

- "Yes, that's right. Our schools used to have more angled architecture and somewhat of a more severe atmosphere centuries ago, but we discovered with the passage of time that it actually was counterproductive to their learning because it made students stressed out" – replied Tiela over her shoulder as they kept walking – "That's why our doors and student closets are all round, and why you can see so many curves in the architecture" –

- "But you are a teacher at this school, correct?" – asked Kagome a bit confused.

- "Yup. Tiela-sensei was our teacher during our time here, as we've already told you" – said Yasha raising an eyebrow, not getting what Kagome was getting at.

- "In that case, shouldn't the principal or headmaster be the one leading us around?" – asked Gerardo, making Yasha open his mouth in realization for what Kagome meant – "After all, we are supposed to be here for official business" –

- "Under normal conditions, that is. However, the headmaster is right now at the Royal Museum helping with the research that is being conducted there, reason why I was asked to take her place during this inspection" – said Tiela looking backwards for a moment while they continued walking. Yasha came back to his senses, closing his mouth to then speed up his pace to not be left behind by the others.

- "But what are the students doing then?" – asked Gabriela covering her mouth with her hands.

- "Well, they're right now in Free Study time" – said Tiela giggling. Miko and Yasha looked at each other and laughed – "You'll understand once we get to the classroom and I explain how classes are actually conducted" –

- "And what're ya two laughing 'bout?" – asked Inuyasha gritting his teeth at the two children, while Kagome looked at them confused at what they were finding funny.

- "It's nothing, it's nothing!" – said Miko as they both stopped laughing – "It's just… Anyone who's used to how school is on Earth wouldn't think of Free Study as an actual class" –

- "You'll get what we mean very soon" – said Yasha with a coy smile.

- "And soon it'll be indeed. The classroom I lead is that door over there" – said Tiela pointing them to a blue wooden door.

- "The classroom you "lead"?" – asked Kagome wondering about the way she expressed it.

- "Yes, as we teachers aren't here to impose anything upon our students, but to lead them along in the way to learning" – said Tiela – "That's the basis of our educational philosophy" –

- "Yeah, that does sound very different from how most teachers treat students over in our world" – said Kagome as she put her hand on her chin.

- 'Completely different in most cases, actually' – thought Gerardo in an ironic way to himself – 'As several teachers I had were better described as classroom dictators…' –

- "Anyway, let's take a look at my class. I'm sure you'll understand once you see" – say Tiela amused – "Okay, Your Highnesses, please go in" –

- "Okay, if you insist…" – said Gerardo nervous about what he would find inside.

- "Got it…" – said Gabriela gulping down. Gerardo grabbed the doorknob and spun it to open the door. They then saw what was beyond the door: a large room decorated like a house's living, with a large acrylic blackboard at the back that had a few Dragonian glyphs written on it (Fuzesa koste solfas, Baprou, tast mitsuceahlia milla tast dsiale paf), a small desk in front of it, and a billboard at the back with several notes and announcements. It also had a bookshelf in a corner of the room filled with multiple books. Finally, they saw the students: it was about fifteen kids, seven boys and eight girls, all of which were doing all sorts of things.

Some of the kids were playing with dolls, others were running around the room, a couple were reading books, others were writing or drawing in their notebooks, two seemed to be chanting under their breaths, and one was in a corner looking at the wall, as if the laughter, talking and the like weren't taking place around him.

- "Ah, everyone! Efs Tiela has come back!" – said a girl in a happy voice when they noticed their teacher's return.

- "Yeah, and she's come with Prince Gerardo and Gaby like she told us she would!" – said a boy jumping in the air. All the kids instantly left what they were doing and turned to look at the party.

- 'Gaby?' – thought Gabriela as her eyes widened - 'My predecessor was that close with the kids here!? ' –

- "And look! Miko and Yasha're back here too!" – said a girl.

- "Yay! Welcome back!" – said a boy.

- "Hi everyone! Nice to see you all again!" – said Miko waving with her hand and smiling – "I was missing you, Telae, Fillya, Uliar!" –

- "Heya, guys! We're back here, and we brought some people with us!" – said Yasha puffing his chest with pride.

A lite blonde girl with long hair and blue eyes, about the same height as Miko, wearing a white shouf with light-blue borders walked to them after the party had entered the classroom:

- "Welcome back, we really missed playing with you!" – said her as she hugged Miko, to which she responded in kind – "We got so worried when we heard you disappeared!" –

- "Same here, Fillya!" – said Miko as they separated – "But we had to go back to our world! After all, Kagome-nee and Inuyasha-nii needed us!" –

- "Ah, so those are your big sis and Yasha's big bro?" – asked a boy with spiky brown hair and black eyes, that wore a red shouf with yellow borders.

- "These were your friends during your time here?" – asked Kagome with a pleased smile. Inuyasha also had a small smile on his face, but he hid it as soon as Kagome looked at him and giggled.

- "Yup! We were always helping them and cheering them up when they got sad!" – said the boy – "It was kinda hard 'coz we couldn't really talk with them at first, but we kept on teaching and playing with them!" –

- "Yeah, we never gave up on them!" – said a boy with blonde and straight hair, blue eyes and that wore a light-green shouf with light-blue borders.

- "And we thank you for that!" – said Kagome clapping her hands together – "I'm so glad they had friends during the time we were separated!" –

- "By the way, Gaby, where've you been?" – asked a black-haired girl with brown eyes who wore a green shouf that walked to her – "You and His Highness were away for lotsa time, and we didn't hear anything about you until you suddenly appeared last night for the Song of Proof!" –

- "Hehe… It's just we had to keep doing adventures and dangerous things to protect our world, you know?" – said Gabriela laughing in a nervous way – "We also fell into a trap and that's why I lost my priestess powers until a little ago and why we disappeared for so long, but now we're back!" –

She tried to perk up a little at the end, but apparently it kind of fell flat: the girl just looked at her with suspicion.

- "If you say so…" – said the girl.

- "Well, we were with her all this time, so we can say it's the truth" – said Henry to support her.

- "Okay, but you gotta get studying really hard!" – said another girl laughing. This one was identical to Tiffany, which was like a shock to her – "And whoa! I didn't know I had a double and she was traveling with you!" –

- "Agh… Yeah… 'Coz I'm the candidate to Seirei of Fire…" – said Tiffany through her teeth.

- "Yeah, well… we happened to meet her during our trips and the Nucleus of Fire responded to her" – interjected Miguel as fast as he could – "You all know the Seirei are essential to save this world, right?" –

- "Hehe, it's just I found it funny!" – said the girl laughing to then stretch her hand out to Tiffany – "My name's Tifani! Nice to meetcha!" –

Everyone's mouth dropped to the ground, but Gabriela had to close hers as quickly as she could to not raise suspicions.

- "But anyway, last night's singing was so amazing!" – said Fillya clapping as she jumped up and down – "The Song of Proof was beautiful! And that weird song after it was amazing too, even making appear a land and a blue sky while it was still night!" –

- "Yeah, Gaby and Miko and her big sis were amazing!" – said the red shouf boy, Uliar, and all the class excepting for the boy standing next to the wall started clapping at them, with the result that they blushed and accepted the congratulations in silence.

- "Thanks! And thanks for singing for us after the Song of Proof too!" – said Miko placing her hands behind her back and leaning before them.

- "Hehe, but we weren't the only kids who did that! All kids in Soleila, and around the world sang to show we accepted you as our Priestesses!" – said the light-green shouf boy, Telae, with a pleased smile.

- "Hehe, looks like the kids are getting the better of you" – said Tiela amused by the events – "And in any case, please let me congratulate you as well for yesterday's excellent performance!" -

- "Thanks! And well… Can you please explain us how classes are here?" – asked Kagome to change the topic and draw the attention to herself – "Some of the children seemed to be working on their books and notebooks, but most of them seemed to just be playing around…" –

- "Hehe, that's what Free Studying is! Playing around is the best way for children to be learning new things after all" – said Tiela amused.

- "Yup, and that's why coming to school is so fun!" – said Fillya skipping on one leg – "You get to learn so many new things and play around with your friends while doing that!" –

- "That's so… different from how we do it…" – said Kagome as she blinked several times.

- "I know, Kagome-nee…" – said Miko as she patted her sister's arm – "I've seen… I mean, I know from my time in the school at Earth that classes there are really boring, just writing down stuff and following everything the teachers say" –

- "Yeah, that's boring as hell!" – said Yasha with a repulsed face. While both Yasha and Miko had never actually stepped into an Earth school, Miko had already seen Kagome's memories of going to class and had talked to Yasha about them, as well as Yasha himself having seen the few memories Inuyasha had of watching over Kagome as she was at school.

- "That's precisely why our method for teaching is so different in this world" – said Tiela – "At the end of each week, before we dismiss the class, we all come together and decide through consensus what classes we'll be seeing next week. That also includes Free Studying, in which students just do whatever they want until the period ends" –

- "That's kinda like recess inside the classroom. Nice!" – said Gabriela in a whisper.

- "It's really different from our world…" – said Kagome as she looked around at the kids that had gone back to playing – "And how is it for things like technology, outdoor classes or tests?" –

- "Hmm, well… Technology is strictly forbidden inside the school for the children" – said Tiela with a stern voice they hadn't heard until that point – "While they can use their Dragtemns for emergencies, all their applications and access to the Draglimnt remain non-functional and password blocked by us teachers until they leave school, as it doesn't benefit them in anything to have them glued to the holo-screen the whole day instead of playing like they should" –

- "But in which way is that different from having them read books?" – asked Henry confused, which prompted everyone to look at him confused.

- "Hmm, it's strange to have a fellow Dragonian ask that" – said Tiela raising an eyebrow, which made Henry pale – "But it must be because you've forgotten it during your time in the road, so I'll explain: with the access to the Draglimnt sealed, kids will read the books and share their impressions with each other personally, and that also is less harmful to their eyes. In the other hand, if they had access to the Draglimnt they would just be doing anything but actually playing games that benefit their development. These are the reasons why Dragtemns aren't allowed to work here until they have at least completed the Elementary level, but why they can play with any other toys and read any other books they like" –

- "We could call that advanced children development and psychology then…" – said Roger to Miguel between whispers.

- "I see. And again, what about the other things I asked?" – said Kagome with a smile.

- "Ah, Miss Kagome! We have outdoor classes here too, and they're really fun!" – said the black-haired girl that talked to Gabriela previously.

- "Umm, your name was?" – asked Kagome.

- "Entie! And I also played a lot with Miko and Yasha in these classes!" – said the girl jumping up and down.

- "Thanks, Entie!" – said Tiela going to pat her on the head – "Well, as she said, we have outdoor classes for things like magic practice, flight practice and sports. There's no way we could have them practice magic or try flying inside a classroom, right?" –

- "Yeah, I guess so…" – said Inuyasha seeing how the ceiling wouldn't have let them even take off and how casting any spells could be dangerous to anyone in such an enclosed space.

- "And about tests… We don't have those here" – said Tiela closing her eyes with satisfaction. Everyone looked at each other shocked – "Hehe, I don't see what's so shocking about it! Our children only learn the basics of arithmetics, so testing them on that would be pointless when the rest of the education is based on art! Teaching them to play an instrument, to make music, to draw and paint, or how to handle our language! Oh, and about science, we're always carrying out some experiments in class to teach them about the world's phenomena! They can then try to explain what they saw in their own words, and we teachers take care of explaining it more deeply and connecting the experiments with things they see every day of their lives" –

- "I see… And I guess you also teach them about respect and manners, right?" – said Kagome. Gerardo just was taking down notes in his Dragtemn to at least make it seem like he was actually carrying out the supposed inspection.

- "A bit, but it's only when our students start fighting with each other over something or mistreating each other, though that's a rarity. Almost all of them come already well taught about respect from their homes" – said Tiela with a pleased and proud smile.

- "But then, what's up with that kid in the corner?" – asked Inuyasha having a bad feeling. The kid in the corner, who had brown hair, gray eyes and was wearing a black shouf with violet borders turned around for a second to look at them but then returned to looking at the corner. Tiela just sighed.

- "Umm, that's Robert. That kid used to be from Earth like Miko, Yasha and you two are, but looks like he somehow got sent here" – said a blonde-haired boy with brown eyes that wore a blue shouf with red borders– "He said he was the son of some rich people or something and that we had to treat him like royalty, but he's been acting really spoiled ever since he started coming here" –

- "Yeah! He's always trying to take away my toys from me!" – said a girl with brown hair and black eyes that wore a yellow shouf.

- "And he pushed me to the ground the other day!" – said a boy with black hair and black eyes who wore a violet shouf.

- "As you can see, he's a problematic boy" – said Tiela with a sad look in her face – "We have made the best we could to make him feel at ease while he is with us, but the first day he came he caused a tremendous tumult. It was particularly difficult to deal with him because he still hadn't gotten used to living in Dragonia, not to say anything of our culture and language" –

- "He came around the same time as you, Miko, Yasha?" – asked Kagome worried.

- "Nuh-uh. He was here from about a month before they came here" – said Fillya shaking her head to then look at him with pity and worry.

- "But we still were bullied by him too" – said Miko sighing annoyed – "That's why he spent almost all classes grounded. We couldn't communicate with him either until we three learned Dragonian properly because he doesn't speak Japanese, and we don't speak whatever language he speaks" –

- "Does he speak English, by any chance?" – asked Gerardo as he stopped taking notes and looked at them with curiosity.

- "Uh, Your Highness… I know you are quite interested in learning languages, but I didn't know you were so well-versed in the languages from other worlds" – said Tiela putting her hands over her mouth and looking at him. Gerardo's eyes widened: he realized he had screwed up badly by asking that and made everyone look alarmed at him.

- "Hehe, my brother is always like this. That's why I could sing that special song last night!" – said Gabriela giggling.

- "Whoa! Prince Gerardo is amazing!" – said Uliar with wide-eyed admiration.

- "Yeah, he knows so many things!" – said Entie. Everyone just started praising him for his knowledge, which made him just smile in relief at that bomb getting defused.

- "Anyway, going back to the topic of respect and punishment, bullying is punished by isolation" – said Tiela with a more severe voice – "Children who bully others are made to sit down in a corner and won't be allowed to speak or interact with anyone else for the rest of the day" –

- "Well, it's not like I don't get the logic behind it, but it still seems somewhat harsh" – said Kagome as she eyed Inuyasha. He just snorted as he closed his eyes and looked upward, causing her, Miko and Yasha to sigh.

- "Yes… Unfortunately, that's the only way in which we can get them to reflect on their actions" – said Tiela as she looked downward.

- "But even so, kids here seem pretty close…" – said Inuyasha seeing how most of them were friendly with each other despite some doing activities that were so different.

- "Actually, that's one of the benefits of our schooling method" – said Tiela smiling again – "As children play so much with each other during their time here, they come to think of their classmates as if they were part of their family. Of course, there are some occasional fights about silly things, but we can break them up and they tend to reconcile pretty quickly. Well, that's about it for the explanations. Now please, allow me to demonstrate it: sit down in the chairs we prepared for you in the back and allow me to show you how I conduct my classes" –

- "Yay! A class with Tiela-sensei again!" – said Miko jumping in joy as she ran to a table next to Fillya, while Yasha sat down next to Uliar, right behind Miko. The rest of the party sat down on white metallic chairs that were at the back of the classroom and focused on Tiela as she stood behind her desk to address the class.

- "Okay, everyone! As we decided last week, we'll be having now some arithmetics! We'll then hold the music class!" – said her with a happy voice.

- "Okay!" – said all the children. However, Miko raised her hand.

- "Yes, Miko?" – asked Tiela with a smile.

- "Umm, Yasha and I were still doing some magic studying and practicing our Dragonian grammar last time we were here…" – said Miko a bit unsure as she lowered her hand – "I was wondering…" –

- "Yes, don't worry! We'll have an outdoor magic class as soon as the music class is done!" – said Tiela smiling, which made all the children around cheer.

- "The schooling here is pretty interesting, huh? Gerar?" – asked Gabriela with a smile, trying to make sure no one else heard her.

- "Ah, Gaby, won't you be joining us today too?" – asked Tiela in a gentle voice seeing how their princess was still standing next to her brother.

- "M-Me!?"- asked Gabriela shocked from the change in the way Tiela referred to her – "But… I…" –

- "Hehe, it might have been half a year already, but you were part of my class too before you disappeared!" – said Tiela laughing – "I was thinking it'd be good for you to get reacquainted with everyone before you leave in a journey again…" –

- "Um… okay" – said Gabriela as she blushed. She left her chair and went to sit down on a table next to Tifani. This made Tiffany start seething with jealousy.

- "Urgh… That might be the me from this world, but… It's so irritating…" – said her under her breath.

- "Keep yourself under control. We can't be making a scene here, you know?" – said Gerardo in a stern voice. Tiffany just snorted and crossed her arms.

Tiela then started carrying out the arithmetics class, and to everyone's surprise, it seemed the kids here had already started learning divisions despite being equivalent to Earth second grade elementary students. Miko raised her hand a couple times to solve a few exercises, while Yasha did the same for a few sums and subtractions. Some of the other children also solved a few of them, and some of them even teamed up to solve a couple multiplication problems, with one reasoning the way the problem was to be tackled, another doing one part of the calculations and the last one telling the class the result, with the final result that everyone gave them an applause. Meanwhile the party just kept on watching and Gerardo taking notes.

For the music class, Tiela drew a music staff formed by six lines over the blackboard and started explaining them how to read it, as well as the time measures and accidents. Uliar didn't seem like he was getting it, so he asked multiple times several aspects about it, with Fillya also answering a few of Tiela's questions. Gabriela on the other hand was flabbergasted, as the musical notation in Dragonia was similar to the one used in Earth, yet had so many different symbols, which really confused her.

- "Not like I blame Gaby for being this confused… I mean, I've also studied music and I still don't get what half of the symbols Tiela wrote in the staff are for or what they mean, not to mention the fact the staff has six lines instead of our five ones" – whispered Gerardo to Henry.

- "Yeah, bro. Roger and I were wondering that ourselves too. I mean, using a single Dragonian glyph for the key signature instead of multiple accidents?" – said he as he looked at the blackboard with a raised eyebrow.

- "Hey, try to lower your voices! You must keep anyone from listening to these things! Still, it's pretty interesting for a school to be like this" – said Kagome with a dreamy voice – "I'm sort of wishing I could have attended these classes with Miko and Yasha during the time they were here" –

- "Keh… How boring… All the day here…?" – scoffed Inuyasha.

- "Don't lie to me Inuyasha. I've seen the longing gaze you've been shooting Yasha ever since Tiela-san explained to us how the classes are here" – said Kagome in a severe voice – "I'm sure you're thinking you could've made friends like he did here if you had lived here instead of in our world" –

- "Think whatever you want, wench!" – said Inuyasha snorting and turning around.

- "She got him good" – said Kember smiling to Roger.

- "Yeah, never mess with Kagome, seriously!" – said Roger laughing.

- "And to think our predecessors went to school like this and had a childhood like this, huh?" – said Miguel to Gerardo.

- "You tell me, after all the damn bullying we had to stand during most of our lives" – said Gerardo frowning in frustration.

- "But it's still a weird feeling to know even the royalty send their kids to a normal school with all others, don'tcha think?" – asked Tiffany – "That's pretty unusual in Earth, as they get them private tutors and these things" –

- "I guess it's for the princes and princesses to grow with their people, and to know how their subjects feel and live" – reasoned Henry crossing his arms and nodding to himself – "After all, a ruler who doesn't understand their people isn't fit to rule anyone" –

- "Says who?" – asked Inuyasha with an unpleasant smile.

- "Says me!" – said Henry laughing. Inuyasha just facepalmed, which made everyone in the back laugh, though they had to muffle their laughter to not disrupt the class.

---

- "Okay, that's all for today's music class!" – announced Tiela out of nowhere, and a wave of excitation began to be felt from the children – "Now everyone, it's time for us to go to the patio! Let's get moving!" –

Instead of forming a line, the children started running between shouts of joy to the door and left the classroom. Tiela started walking after them with Gabriela and Robert trailing behind, though the boy didn't even look at Gabriela as he walked past her.

- "Ugh, what a jerk!" – said her as she pouted.

- "Okay, that was a real storm" – said Gerardo with a wide-eyed expression as he stopped looking at his Dragtmen and walked to catch up with his sister – "This sort of thing would've been unthinkable at home" –

- "You said it. Teachers in our world would have grounded them all for leaving the classroom like that" – said Kagome with a sweatdrop over her head.

- "But look: they didn't make a mess even though they left like that" – said Carlos pointing out to how the tables and the items on them didn't look disorganized at all – "Looks like the kids put them away in preparation for Tiela announcing it" –

- "Are we gonna keep talkin' here or are we gonna follow 'em?" – asked Inuyasha to cut off their chat – "That Tiela woman's gonna get suspicious if we just stay sitting on our asses here!" –

- "Yeah, you've a got a point there Inuyasha" – said Miguel nodding – "Let's go, guys!" –

Following the children's voices, they could find the way through the school hall until they reached the double doors that led to the patio. It was a large expanse covered in cut grass where children were already running around while shouting in joy.

- "Okay, everyone, our guests are here!" – said Tiela calling to them – "It's time to start our magic class!" –

- "Yay!" – shouted the children.

- "That said, shall we first see how you have been progressing?" – asked Tiela with a smile while looking at Miko and Yasha – "Fileia and Elaer told me you practiced quite a bit since our last class, and furthermore, that you were even involved in a battle a few days ago!" –

- "Whoa, a battle?" –

- "They helped the knights or something!?" –

- "How cool!" –

The patio burst into excitement with Tiela saying these words, making both children blush while Kagome and Inuyasha were radiant with pride. She then continued:

- "So that said, could you please show us the spells you used?" – asked Tiela with a gentle voice – "But don't use your unique powers for this please. You know that as they aren't considered Seirei Magic, they don't count for our class" –

- "Umm, but we didn't use anything but our unique powers for that battle… After all, the only spells we can use now are the same basic elemental spheres everyone in class can use too…" – said Miko as she played with her fingers embarrassed, which also caused the pride that had swelled in Inuyasha and Kagome to deflate as fast as it had come.

- "Hmm, it's disappointing to hear that, but it can't be helped. You'll surely learn more ways to use your spells and songs as you experience more things" – said Tiela with a sad smile to then address the rest of the class again – "So, has anyone learned any other spells beyond basic elemental manipulation or summoning elemental spheres?" –

- "Me, me!" – said Fillya jumping up and down.

- "Ah, Fillya!" - said Tiela – "Please, come to the front and show us what you can do!" –

- "Okay!" – replied the little girl as she skipped to the front to then face her classmates – "To everyone, including His Highness and his friends here, let me show you this!" –

Fillya clasped her hands and closed her eyes as she kept smiling, and then she started singing.

- "Alt tok ivali hydla xi ibelia hydrast, cefet'lia iolie ika yst mitsuceahalia briyat milla moundour ika! Cil fala mitsuceahalia cronacow ika!" – a light-blue elemental seal formed below her while the usual markings showed up over her forehead and hands, and then, a ball of ice formed over her. The ball moved to a position where the sunlight touched it, and it started cracking.

- "Icy Sunshine!" – said Fillya as the ball finally exploded into countless snowflakes, each of which formed small rainbows by acting like prisms to the sunlight they were in contact with. Everyone looked at the sight with wonder.

- "Excellent, Fillya!" – said Tiela applauding along with the party, while the other kids cheered her – "You have made a really beautiful performance with your song!" –

- "And I came up with the idea because I read the story about the princess who wanted to bring back the rainbows the world had lost and did so with a song!" – said Fillya blushing and giggling.

- "Ah, Princess Erfiela's tale?" – clapped Miko with a smile – "That's great! I like it a lot too!" –

- "Yeah, good job, Fillya!" – said Uliar jumping up and down. The girl just smiled and blushed.

- "Excellent, you've done a great job using the story as your focus point for your feelings!" – said Tiela clapping her hands – "Everyone, I want you all to always keep this in mind: your spells and songs are all formed from your feelings at their core, so if you base them from things you feel really strongly about, you'll surely get great results from it!" –

- "And believing in yourself is important too!" – said Miko with a smile – "If you don't believe in yourself, whatever your chant or sing won't work like you expect it!" –

- "That's right, thanks Miko!" – said Tiela nodding in approval – "Well now, I want everyone to try focusing your feelings about something you really like and try making a spell or song that does anything but creating elemental spheres. I don't mind it if you can't manage to do it right now, but I want to make sure you really understand how using magic works" –

The children nodded, some with smiles on their faces, some with uncertain expressions, with Robert being the only one who had an irate expression his face. In fact, he was the only one in the class who refused to try at all to do anything, while all the other children had closed their eyes and were clenching their fists, clasped their hands together or were in a praying pose. However…

- "This is stupid!" – shouted a voice in anger. This broke the concentration all the kids were trying to achieve, and everyone turned with wide eyes in direction of the voice. It was Robert.

- "Robert, what has gotten into you?" – asked Tiela with a scandalized face.

- "This whole thing is stupid!" – said Robert stomping his foot into the ground while he scowled at Tiela – "Why we gotta do these ridiculous things about concentration, feelings and all that!? Magic's no more than some cheap tricks, and you're just making them think they really can make incredible stuff happen with words and music!" –

- "Robert, I'm sorry, but it seems you have yet to understand that this world and your original world are different from each other" – said Tiela with a gentle and patient voice after she briefly sighed. On the other hand, the kids were looking at him either with anger or pity on their eyes. The party, on the other hand, was shocked the kid was talking to his teacher in such a tone – "That magic is impossible to cast or that it doesn't exist in your home world not necessarily makes it impossible for it to exist in other worlds. And furthermore, you had a proper demonstration of it from the ceremonial singing we witnessed last night" –

- "I don't care! You're just making excuses for that thingamajig you call magic! I won't join with the other stupid kids into that at all, and I'm sick of being forced to do it!" – he shouted as he took off the Seirei Crystal he had around his neck and threw it to the ground. This only enraged the other kids further, who gasped in shock and screamed at his actions, and Tiela just sighed with more intensity as she shook her head to the sides.

- "Robert, you will be heading to the Headmaster's office now and await her return" – said Tiela with a calm voice – "She will be deciding your punishment at that time" –

- "Whatever! I don't care for any stupid punishments that woman can do to me!" – shouted Robert stomping his foot again.

- "Ilea, please come and take Robert to the Headmaster's office" – said Tiela with a saddened expression. In answer to her calling, a large emerald-colored dragon with some white markings swooped in and grabbed Robert with its claws, taking him away to the school's other side as he screamed and cried. The other children just shook their heads, sighed or looked at the ground.

- "I apologize for you having to witness this, Your Highnesses, and our honored guests" – said Tiela with an apologetic expression as silence returned to the patio.

- "No, I understand very well it was necessary in this situation" – said Gerardo trying to put on a smile – "Please, continue the class" –

- "First, I want to ask a question. What will happen to that kid?" – asked Henry with an eyebrow raised.

- "Oh, nothing much. Ilea will just leave him in the entrance to the Headmaster's office and keep watch, so he doesn't try to escape. He will just take Robert back to the chair where he waits if he tries something" – said Tiela with a saddened smile.

- "Ah, understood. I never got grounded while I was in school, so I wasn't aware that's how it was" – said Henry blushing a little, and Tiela just accepted his excuse. The others sighed in relief that his question didn't blow their cover.

- "By the way, I've just remembered I actually made a new song shortly before we got back to our world. Can I sing it?" – asked Miko a bit nervous.

- "Ah, Miko! Yes, of course!" – said Tiela. The other children looked at her with interest, while Kagome, Inuyasha and Yasha were radiant with pride for her.

---

- "Looks like your newest song was a real hit, Miko!" – said Kagome as they were all sitting down around a table eating.

Several hours had passed since they had left the school, and since they still had some free time, Miko and Yasha had taken them to Kiols District to look around the largest mall in the city: the Dragjiug Shopping Center.

The place they were sitting at was a food court located at the very center of the mall, which had several large crystal windows that let the sunlight into the structure, two elevators next to the food court and two escalators on opposite sides of the place. Beyond the restaurants, they could also see several boutiques, shops of several kinds and even a cinema in the upper floors. However, they had left their dragons flying outside the mall like all other people, as dragons weren't allowed entry into the premises.

- "Hehe, I got the inspiration shortly before we went home, but I didn't actually sing it until I showed it to our family, Kagome-nee" – said Miko eating a hamburger with fried Bieltat sticks.

- "It was pretty good in any case. Also, thanks for showing us this place, Miko, Yasha" – said Gerardo as he and his friends divided among themselves two large dishes that seemed to have something similar to pizza: it was a hexagon-shaped baked bread that had a sauce that shone like rubies, and that had several green-colored grains and some cold meat slices.

- "It's nothing! We guessed you'd have liked to relax a little after everything and given we're gonna set out tomorrow" – said Yasha eating a hamburger.

- "But who's gonna pay all this?" – asked Inuyasha flabbergasted about all the food they had been eating: four hamburgers, and two family-size pizza-like dishes.

- "Gaby and I will be paying it. Remember we got some funds last night?" – said Gerardo as he drank a bit of soda from the plastic cup he was holding.

- "Though that doesn't mean we can go on a shopping spree, right?" – asked Miguel taking out a slice to start eating it.

- "Yeah. The two Kelfas were pretty expensive themselves at 25 Dracks each, not to mention the 3 Dracks for each drink" – said Henry totaling their expenses.

- "But at the least the four Selliafarle combos were pretty cheap at 5 Dracks each" – said Kember as he drank a bit from the juice he had.

- "Well, the Kelfas looked like a better way for us all to eat at once" – said Carlos shrugging as he took out a slice.

- "Besides, didn't we vote to decide what we wanted to eat? Looks like most of us were dying to eat a pizza" – laughed Roger as he wiped off his mouth with a napkin.

- "That much is true. But I'd have liked to go buy some accessories and clothes…" – sighed Tiffany, who had already finished eating.

- "After we've managed to land some jobs, we can think about it" – said Gerardo as he wiped his mouth and hands.

- "Yeah, we're not really at a point where we can buy anything we want now" – said Gabriela with a serious look.

- "But once we all start working, I'd like to buy some of the shoufs we saw at the boutiques, and I've seen some pendants and rings I'd like to buy for Mom" – said Kagome as she cleaned her hands.

- "Hey, I had that same idea too!" – said Miko in a burst of joy.

- "And wouldn't you want to buy some toys or videogames for Souta?" – asked Yasha as if it didn't concern him.

- "Haha, I see you want them too Yasha. But while the toys might be a good idea, I'm not sure if the videogames would work with the electricity from our world" – said Kagome bemused.

- "That could be an interesting experiment to try out" – said Gerardo smiling.

- "You say that because you love videogames, Gerar" – said Gabriela giggling.

- "Well, pretty much all among us love videogames!" – said Henry standing up out of nowhere – "Nothing better than immersing in another world or a deep story while killing monsters!" –

- "Though if you think about it, we're in an RPG-like world now" – said Roger laughing.

- "But it's not so fun being a level 1 noob, is it?" – said Miguel with a smug smile.

- "Hey, you're one of these noobs too!"- said Carlos – "We're all gonna have to grind a lot before we can start actually fighting well and using cool powers!" –

- "As long as you remember this isn't a game and that we have no save points or game resets if we die…" – said Gerardo with a serious face. This instantly killed off the atmosphere.

- "Ugh… Why you gotta be such a mood-killer?" – asked Inuyasha sighing.

- "Agh… sorry… I just didn't think it was good for us all to forget that…" – said Gerardo looking downcast.

- "But yeah, we know. We've gotta be as careful as we can while we're adventuring and fighting" – said Kember with a serious face.

- "So, do you wanna go browse the stores a little more before we all go back to the castle?" – asked Tiffany a bit confused. There were no objections, so they spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the mall and checking the stores: the boys going around the electronics and videogames stores, the children checking out the videogame and toy stores, and the girls also went to check out the boutiques and jewelries. But as they agreed, they didn't buy anything.

---

When the sun started setting down, they left the mall, reunited with their dragons and took the monorail back to the central district. They then went to the castle, where after greeting the monarchs, Gerardo proceeded to give them the report he had made at the school.

- "So far, Efs Tiela seemed to have a good command of her class and treat her students quite well, similarly to how a mother would do. The children have shown a great learning and adaptability ability, to the point some of them have managed to craft their first magical songs, and there is a great harmony in their group, to the point they even welcome lost migrants like Miko or Yasha as if they were part of their own family. However, there is still the problem of the child called Robert, who refuses to integrate himself with the rest of the class and instead only causes problems and bullies his classmates. Special caution should be taken with him. This concludes my report" – said Gerardo as he dismissed the holographic screen where his notes had been displayed.

- "Very well. There was no need to make the report for real, but I'm glad you decided to do it" – said the king nodding – "I also received the reports from the inspectors we sent, and from them, it seems the school is thriving like always" –

- "And so, how was your school experience, little Gabriela?" – asked the queen in a gentle voice.

- "Hehe… it was really nice, Your Majesty!" – said Gabriela jumping up and down. Drago was a little dizzy from all the moving around she was doing – "So much better than my old school in Earth!" –

- "Yeah! Learning's a lot more fun here, but it felt so weird going back to second grade!" – said Tiffany nodding, with Flameck growling pleased on her back.

- "What do you mean by that?" – asked the queen raising an eyebrow.

- "It's nothing significant, Your Majesty! Please don't take her statement in account!" – said Miguel laughing, which made Tiffany scowl at him. Eolia laughed behind him.

- "We also took the chance to go visit the Dragjiug Mall, Your Majesties! It was really magnificent, we ate really good at the food court, and we also browsed the stores in it! It was great!" – said Tiffany jumping up and down.

- "I see. It's a pleasure knowing you also took the time to relax and come to know another part of our world" – said the queen with a smile.

- "But I guess that now you have done what you wanted today, there are more no objections with departing tomorrow to Seleila, correct?" – asked the king in a more serious voice.

- "No, Your Majesty"- said Kagome bowing as she spoke with a humble voice. Shia emitted a melodious tone – "We have seen what Miko and Yasha wanted to show us, so we're ready to start our journey" –

- "And now we've seen how life is here for the children, and a piece of how people are here in general, we really want to protect them!" – said Roger pumping his fist while Daichi roared.

- "And that will lead to protecting our world too!" – said Henry clenching his fists and flexing his arms while Anryuujin let out a small darkness stream into the air.

- "And with this, we feel at ease entrusting you with the mission of protecting our world" – said the queen leaning her head toward them as she smiled.

- "Therefore, please do your best to fulfill your duty once you have read the Epitaph of Prophecy!" – said the king in an authoritarian but hopeful tone.

- "That's what we'll do!" – everyone shouted at the same time.

(Ending: Sakuramioka – Local Bus)