2/28

Lights shone from the stage, reflecting off of the clouds like a beacon, inviting all in Gensokyo to come and partake in the concert which they advertised. Hundreds, maybe a thousand, individuals gathered in one place, for what was surely the biggest event I had witnessed since coming here.

As I made my way to the front of the queue, I ran across Kana, who was with an older woman who, presumably, was her mother. After I paid for entry, I made sure to closely follow them and grab a seat near them.

"Hello," I said, smiling.

"Oh, hi!" Kana said back. "I wasn't expecting to see you here!"

Kana's mother peaked around. "Oh, this must be the gentleman you've been telling us about?"

"Indeed," she said. "This is Akechi-san."

"Hello there," I said. "My name is Goro Akechi."

"Ohoho, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Akechi-san. I am Shinon Samaon. I am Kana's mother. She tells me that you two have become friends recently."

"Indeed we have," I said. "I of course came from Outside recently."

"I trust you're adapting quite well to life here," Shinon said. "Kana even tells me you've already made friends with Hakurei and Kirisame."

"And trying to keep both of them in line," I joked. "They're quite the characters."

Shinon chuckled. "Well, I suppose if anyone is up to the challenge, it would have to be you. A charming young gentleman such as yourself, that's a rare breed here in Gensokyo."

"Well, Outside I was a rather popular celebrity detective," I said. "I suppose it's only natural that I'd carry some of that here too."

"Outside girls seem really shallow," Kana said. "That Sumireko girl, for instance. Always taking pictures with that small device of hers… a 'phone' she called it? And even then, the way she talks about some of the other girls at her school, it sounds like even she kind of thinks the same way. It makes me actually feel sort of proud to be a farmer girl who still goes out there in the blistering sun and works the muddy rice paddies, tends to the stock, loads everything up and hauls it back to town." She looked toward the mountains. "I've always wanted to go out on all sorts of adventures, and see all kinds of different things, but I know it'd be dangerous too, and everyone in the Village says not to venture out into the wilderness, so I just stay at home with my parents and do my part to keep everyone happy."

"Do you have any siblings?" I asked.

Kana shook her head. "No. It's only me, mother and father at home. That and our cows, chickens, ducks, and our dog."

"It still sounds like you have quite the 'family,'" I smiled. "Perhaps I could come over to visit sometime?"

"That would be wonderful," Shinon said.

Kana pouted. "Mom, don't give the wrong idea…"

People kept arriving at the venue as the concert's start time approached. I kept a lookout for our mark, while also trying to avoid looking suspicious in front of Kana and her mother. Everyone else was back at the hideout, waiting for me to give the signal. The operation was hinging on things going just right.

At last, Megumu flew in alongside Hanae, among the last people to arrive before the concert started. Unsurprisingly, she took one of the "V.I.P." seats which were elevated above the others. Satisfied that she was now here, all I had to do was sit back, relax, and partake in the concert, knowing that the operation would automatically unfold from here. The lights dimmed, everyone settled into their seats, before the spotlights lights began blasting the stage, heavy metal started playing, and two silhouettes, Kyouko and Mystia in punk-rock outfits, materialized onstage, their forms revealed by the lights, and they began "shouting it out loud."

I have to admit, their vocal range was quite impressive. Kyouko's in particular. I never would have imagined that someone who looked like a young girl and had a speaking voice to match was capable of rowdy, tomboyish and mature singing, while Mystia's singing voice was refined, elegant and could be molded to fit the mood of the song, in contrast to her somewhat rough manner of speaking when she was running the eel cart. Behind them, an ensemble of backup musicians provided the ground-tremoring instrumentals: a blonde girl with an electric guitar, a brown-haired one working a synthesizer keyboard, a lilac-haired one seamlessly switching between electric wind clarinets and other wind instruments as needed, and a red-haired one on the drums. Clearly, this band was highly experienced, and the crowd was absolutely eating it up.

The concert lasted two hours, with a short break in between. When the break came, one of the musicians came up to the front of the stage to give an announcement.

"Thanks for coming out tonight!" she said. "We'll be taking a short break, then we'll be back to bring you even more! And don't forget to look under your seats; we've hidden free tickets to our next concert under one of them!"

At that moment, all of us reached under our chairs, hoping to claim those free tickets she had mentioned. When Kana sat back up, she beamed.

"Look!" She waved two tickets in the air. "I got the tickets!"

"Impressive," I smiled. "I'm almost jealous, and I'm sure everyone else here is jealous as well."

Kana still waved the tickets in the air, when murmurs began echoing through the crowd. Kana wondered what the cause was, before realizing she had a third object in her hand.

"Hm?" She put the tickets away and looked at the mystery card. She saw that others around her were looking at identical cards, looking at each other and wondering what these were. She decided to turn the card over and read it aloud.

"To Megumu Iizunamaru, a great, repulsive sinner of Envy. Your fascist grip and suppression of Tengu society, crushing the hopes and aspirations of countless many, has been allowed to persist for far too long. We have deemed your crimes selfish and unacceptable. Thus, tonight we will take your distorted desires. Signed, the Day Breakers."

She looked over at me. "It's the Day Breakers, Goro. The people everyone's been talking about recently…"

Then, as if on cue, a crumpled piece of paper was angrily flung from the V.I.P. seats. "What's the meaning of this?!" Megumu shouted. "What a joke! Me? A Fascist? Like Hell I am! I'm the praetor of the Tengu, dammit! I work to keep us bound together!" She got up, donned her cape and spread her wings. "This concert is bullshit! I'm never coming back!" She then angrily zoomed off, but just before she did so, reality flickered and distorted from my perspective, and I could see her shadow.

"That feathered, trashy whore… this is her doing, isn't it? Well then, if she wants to usurp me while hiding behind her feeble friends, she sure as shit can try!"

I smirked. Things were going exactly as I wanted them to.

"Is something the matter?" Kana asked.

I shook my head. "Oh, no, it's nothing. She was just being a diva, was all."

Kana chuckled. "I mean, Tengu, really. You ruffle their feathers, and they create a big show."

"Indeed."

After some debating among themselves, the band decided to continue the concert, despite the incident with the calling cards, and were able to wrap up without incident. Once the concert was over, I politely saw Kana and her mother off, before messaging the others with the go signal. I rushed to the Geyser Center, where all of them were already there. We wasted no time entering the fortress from there, ascending the elevators, and arriving in Megumu's office.

"Hell yeah!" Marisa said. "Time to fire up some fried chicken!"

"Another fortress shall fall before my might!" Mamiko declared.

"Just another incident to record in the history of the Hakureis," Reimu said.

Byakuren pounded her fists together. "Another's sin shall be broken, just as you all did to my own!"

I turned toward the elevators, then back at the group. "Once we get to the top, Megumu's shadow will surely be ready to confront us. Are you all ready?"

Aya nodded. "Yes. This will be a day long remembered. The day when the tyranny and miasma shrouding Tengu society will finally be shattered. And I, Aya Shameimaru, 'Raven,' shall be the one which strikes it down!"

"That's the spirit," I said. "Now, let's finish this!" We took the elevators up, made our way through the penthouse, beat through the shadow guards posted there to slow us down, then climbed up to the helicopter landing pad, where Shadow Megumu stood, alone on the far edge.

We stopped in the center of the pad, with Aya slowly walking toward Shadow Megumu with her spear drawn.

Shadow Megumu chuckled. "Welcome, Day Breakers. Thanks for coming in."

"Megumu!" Aya shouted. "So, we meet here at last. I'm here to strike down your corruption once and for all!"

Shadow Megumu shook her head. "Tsk tsk. Always so cavalier and high on your justice kick. Tell me, where was that attitude back in the day, when you saw me getting bullied and forlorn?"

Aya shook her head. "That was then. And I do admit I was too weak and spineless for the longest time to admit the truth. That your past mistreatment led to your present state of mind, how envious you were of me, and how I did nothing to help. But I've overcome that! I'm here to settle matters right here and now!"

"Too little, too late, I'm afraid," Shadow Megumu said simply. "Besides, no one objects to the caste system. It is for the best interests of Tengu society that everyone have a place, that there be structure, so that we don't devolve into the infighting barbarians we were in the past."

"So you're saying…" Reimu said.

"Indeed. The caste system was completely my idea. Not only that, absolutely everything that happens on Youkai Mountain occurs according to my design alone. Lord Tenma? Psh, nothing more than my puppet. A convenient face and shroud to my plans. Never has he objected to any of my suggestions… nay, orders. I can have him take the heat, all the while my vision continues to develop uninterrupted."

We gasped.

"Unbelievable… this crazy bitch's pride and arrogance runs deep," Nitori commented.

Aya gritted her teeth. "So… this is the real Megumu Iizunamaru." She swept her arm. "Us Tengu are proud beings! You can't just play with us and pigeonhole us into an artificial hierarchy, all the while promoting whoever the hell you want, just to pay back some petty grudge against me from centuries ago! When are you going to move on?"

"You've always been a thorn in my side, Aya," Shadow Megumu said. "Taller, more beautiful, faster, always going 'Ayayaya' wherever you go…" She looked down, arms crossed, then looked back up with a glare and a smirk. "Still, it'd be a waste to see talent such as your group's go to waste."

At that moment, two attack helicopters rose up from below and shined their lights at us.

"This looks bad," I said. "Everyone, be on alert!"


Slowly, Shadow Megumu stepped back, arms spread, and the night sky lit up with stars and constellations.

"Now then, the time has come, for your final interview!" She stopped at the ledge, then fell back over it.

We rushed over to see where she had gone. We saw no trace of her. We looked around, trying to see where she could have gone, before a ghastly, metallic-sounding bird's screech echoed all around us. A fast-moving, silver object rose up, and flew fast, tight circles around the landing pad, kicking up a fierce hurricane which surrounded the arena.

"The Hell?!" Nitori exclaimed.

Once the hurricane reached full intensity, the object emerged from it, spreading its broad, metallic wings and letting out a distorted eagle's cry. This figure, a cyborg bird with Megumu's Cape, hair and tokin hat, was no doubt her distorted form, the evil bird from Buddhism, the vile Gurr.

"Geh!" Youmu grunted.

"I'll tell 'ya what, she knows how to make an entrance!" Marisa said.

The hurricane died down, and Shadow Megumu screeched one more. "I'm the great praetor of the Tengu! Make no mistake, imma tear y'all 'ta shreds!"

Mamiko swept her staff in defiance. "We won't allow a wicked figure such as yourself to corrupt a whole society any longer! An agent of Mara like you has no right to exist!"

"Izzat so?" Shadow Megumu taunted. "Well then, let's see how you handle this!" Six mechanical arms emerged from her back and combined into a glowing red shield. "C'mon, go ahead! Just try and hit me!"

Oh geez, this really was Metal Gear now. I could hear Red Sun starting to play in my head.

The two choppers opened up with machine gun fire, forcing us into acrobatic dodges to avoid getting it, while Shadow Megumu touched down onto the ground and inched toward us, daring us to try and hit her.

"I'm fuckin' invincible!" she bellowed.

"Is she?" Byakuren asked.

"I'm still working on the analysis," Nitori said, "but it looks like if we hit that shield with anything, it'll counter with an explosive blast. She's unprotected from behind, though, so maybe try and hit her that way." She turned toward the choppers. "And those things will mess us up if we don't deal with them, but she can summon more. We'll have to split up into two teams: one focusing on the choppers, and the other on Megumu herself."

Aya dodged another volley of bullets, and retaliated with a Garula attack. The wind blast, which hit the chopper's rotors, caused it to stagger in midair. She then took aim with her rifle, shooting the cognitive pilot in the head and causing the chopper to plummet down below.

"Bullseye!" she grinned. "Nobody can beat the mountain's guard captain!"

"Nice shooting, Raven!" I said.

A few moments later, another chopper came by to take its place. By then, Nitori finished the scan. "Looks like the choppers are weak to Wind and Gun attacks, as Raven demonstrated. Let's have her and Seraph go deal with them. Priest, you back them up. Fury and Bull should go after Megumu, with Starburst backing them up. Crow, you should be jumping to help both sides as needed."

"Affirmative," I nodded. "Everyone, it's showtime!"

We split up into two groups, as Nitori directed. Aya, Byakuren and Reimu worked to keep the choppers off of our backs, with me jumping in here and there to toss a Wind attack their way to help them out. Youmu, Mamiko and Marisa worked to try and find a weakness in Shadow Megumu's defenses. They found she could turn around quickly enough to deny them a from-behind attack, while she simply waltzed around boasting about her invincibility.

Shadow Megumu jumped back, then shouted, "I'm gonna send 'ya right off the edge!" before charging forward at high speed. Youmu and Marisa jumped aside, leaving Mamiko to bear the brunt of the attack. The explosive shield struck, while Mamiko resisted by pushing back against it, causing Megumu to come to a screeching halt and pushing Mamiko almost to the edge. Shadow Megumu chuckled while Mamiko tried to pry the shield open; eventually, though, she managed to push the panels open and knocked off a couple of the arms with her staff before Shadow Megumu could recombine them. It was just like how one would deal with Sundowner.

"Dammit!" Shadow Megumu grunted, staggering back, before regaining her composure and resuming her waltz around the arena with her four remaining shield panels.

"Looks like we can sever the arms to neutralize the shield," I said. "Focus on doing that!"

"Gotcha," Marisa said, tipping her hat, before the three charged her again. Marisa launched a Freila attack, which impacted the shield and caused the panels to explode, launching her back and making her flip over in the air onto her feet.

"You can't lay a finger on me!" Shadow Megumu declared. As if to taunt us some more, she jumped right in front of Youmu. "You're puny sword can't break through this!"

Youmu paused for a moment, seemingly examining the panels, before whipping her sword out and slicing right along the shield's weak point: the seams where the panels came together. This caused the bottom two panels to come undone and Shadow Megumu to stagger. Youmu then capitalized on this by summoning her Persona to use Rising Slash, slicing the two arms off in one swift motion.

"Seems your shield isn't as unbreakable as you claim," she quipped, sheathing her sword.

Shadow Megumu stood back up. "Grr, damn brat!"

"Keep going," I cheered. "Just a little more, and-"

A missile exploded behind me, throwing me into the air and causing me to roll on the ground before getting back up.

"They just keep coming!" Aya said, pointing at the three helicopters which were now raining rockets and bullets upon us. One of the choppers approached the pad, getting into position for a devastating attack.

"Fuck this," Reimu said, spreading her wings and using them to jump up into the air. She then used her grappling hook to latch onto the chopper, pulling her towards it and allowing her to jump into the chopper's cockpit. There, she kicked the pilot out of his seat; I could hear another Wilhelm Scream as he tumbled down below. Reimu then took the controls, taking a moment to figure out how to fly it and operate the weapons before turning it around and firing a missile at one of the other choppers, causing it to crash into the building.

"This is no spell card duel," she said, "but I can fight them on their level now!" She kicked the chopper into high gear, firing another missile into the other chopper, then turned it to the landing pad and fired yet another at Shadow Megumu's position, launching her into the air right toward Marisa, who bore her claws and sliced the remaining two panels off of her back.

"Nicely done, Seraph!" I said.

Byakuren jumped up into the chopper alongside Reimu. "Let me help," she said. She took out her gun and assumed the shotgun position, mounting her minigun like a turret and keeping it trained on Shadow Megumu; all Reimu had to do was fly the chopper and make sure Byakuren had a clear shot.

With her shield gone, Shadow Megumu shuddered, before straightening herself, holding out her arms, and taking flight. "Fine. You wanna do it the hard way? I can take y'all by myself!"

"Bring it," Aya dared, challenging her to a duel.

Shadow Megumu charged Aya, locking her wings together and spinning to try and slice her in two. Aya jumped overhead, striking her with her spear as she did so. Then Shadow Megumu jumped back into the air, demonstrating her other special attack: a plasma beam fired from her mouth which cut across the landing pad. She was immune to Aya's Wind attacks but weak to her rifle shots while airborne, so Aya retaliated with gunshots, hitting Shadow Megumu each time she stopped to fire her plasma beam.

Eventually, Shadow Megumu figured out it would be best to engage Aya hand-to-hand, so she landed by punching the ground so hard, columns of fire erupted in a line toward Aya, forcing her to jump aside.

"Why won't you die?!" Shadow Megumu shouted.

"I'm the captain of the guard," Aya said. "You should know that, you gave me the position. I get a lot of fighting experience as a result! Meanwhile, all you do is wander around and bark orders at everyone!"

"I'm not some powerless bureaucrat with all bark and no bite," Shadow Megumu retorted. "I can manipulate the starry sky. If you don't believe me, just look up!"

Aya looked up, and saw the middle finger shape that the stars had been arranged into.

"...really?" Aya said, deadpan, before narrowly dodging a wing slash. The two once again clashed, Aya's spear against Shadow Megumu's wings and claws. Aya's weapon locked against Shadow Megumu's wing, the two struggling to overcome the other. Aya used the chance to kick Shadow Megumu in the gut, causing her to flinch and allowing Aya to strike her in the chest with her spear.

Shadow Megumu staggered back. "Sonofa… bitch! You… you got me!" She then tumbled over the edge.

We went over to the edge once again, with Reimu and Byakuren hovering overhead, and looked down below.

"Did we do it?" Reimu asked.

Nitori's sensor dish came out of her back. "...I'm sensing movement!"

We turned around and saw Shadow Megumu fly back over the other side of the landing pad, seemingly not affected by the hole in her chest. "Playtime's over, nerds!" She raised her hand, causing the stars above to align into a circle, each shooting lasers which converged into a center point from which a massive beam shot down, striking the center of the landing pad and causing it to explode, us to scream, and throwing us all off and tumbling toward the streets down below.

I looked around as I fell, shards of glass flying everywhere around me. "Goddamnit," I said as I continued to rocket down below.

Shadow Megumu swooped down beside me. "This is the end for you!" She lunged toward me.

"...maybe not!" I took out my dagger, stuck it into the building's facade, and used it to slow my fall, leaving behind a huge gash in my wake. Shadow Megumu charged me again; I used my grappling hook on her, grabbing hold of her and jumping onto her back.

"Wha- GET OFF ME!" she squealed as she tried to shake me off. I slugged her in the head to get her to stop, then steered her body toward the ground. I could see Reimu flying down to pick up the others in the chopper; as Aya was about to get on, I shouted to her, "Raven! Toss your spear, now!"

Aya looked over at me as I stood up and kicked Shadow Megumu down, before I hooked onto the back of the chopper. Seeing a clear shot, she chucked her spear right into Shadow Megumu's heart. The chopper touched down onto the ground safely, while Shadow Megumu rocketed into the burning wreckage of the other choppers, landing with a loud crash and scattering debris everywhere.


Emerging from the chopper and walking toward the flames, we could hear sirens blare in the distance, and the light from the fire drowned out the stars above, leaving only a pitch-black sky.

"Megumu!" Aya shouted, rushing toward the flames. Me and Youmu used Ice attacks to put them out, revealing Shadow Megumu, clothes tattered and Aya's spear on the ground beside her.

Aya reclaimed her spear, before kneeling down to Shadow Megumu's level. Shadow Megumu knelt on the ground, and it was clear she was on the verge of tears.

"I don't want to hurt you," Aya said. "But you need to end this unjust system you've created."

"Shut up!" Shadow Megumu cried out. "What would you know? You were the most popular kid while I was just some freak no one wanted to hang out with! You have no right to tell me to do anything!"

"I keep trying to tell you," Aya said. "What I did was wrong. I could have helped you, should have helped you. I could have been your friend, and supported you so that you could be happy. But I didn't, because I was too weak. I thought trying to pity you would only make things worse. And I was too ignorant to see your pain. That's why I never helped you before, not out of arrogance but out of fear and weakness. By the time I started to realize it, you were already far too along in creating the caste system, too high-ranking politically for me to touch you. I know a millenia seems very, very late for me to finally act on it and try to fix things, but I still eventually did it, thanks to my friends over here."

Shadow Megumu sniffled. "Aya-san… you don't understand. You're better than me in every way. You're smarter. Taller. More beautiful and more talented. You have everything I can't ever have. If I show weakness now, everyone would shun me and run to you instead!"

I shook my head. "Nonsense. You are better than Aya in your own ways, after all."

"...?!"

"He's got a point," Marisa said. "You managed to claw your way up the Tengu political ladder. 'Ya gotta have tons of charisma to do that!"

"And you managed to lead the Tengu into prosperity," Reimu said. "Yukari told me stories of what the Tengu were like before the past few centuries: arrogant, squabbling over everything and socially darwinistic. You saw that, you saw the suffering it bred, and you wanted to fix it. Your caste system was not ideal, especially after you started giving preferential treatment towards other Tengu you liked and after it caused many of them to look down on others and treat them like garbage… but it was a structured system, made so that the Tengu could have a society."

"Looking out for one's own people sometimes means having to shield them from their own sins and temptations," Byakuren added. "You recognized that early from your mistreatment at their hands. Unfortunately, you gave into those temptations yourself, acting out of rage and jealousy towards those who oppressed you, or who you perceived as oppressing you."

"No one is useless," Youmu said. "Everyone has talents that set them apart from others. Your talents are political. You can lead others and create order where none exists. Very few people can do that."

Aya turned back over to Shadow Megumu. "You see? You can do things I can't. We're the masters of our own domains. And we need your leadership skills, as long as you don't use them for selfish reasons."

Shadow Megumu sniffled. "...you're right. Back then, when I was neglected like that, when nobody loved me or saw me for who I was… I saw everything that was wrong with how we Tengu conducted ourselves. I came to the conclusion that I had to be the one to fix it. But… you're right in that I never let go of my grudge against you. I mean, things that happen when you're a kid, they stay with you forever… and I knew my system wasn't perfect, but by then I felt it was too late to try and change it, since I thought it'd be met by rousing rejection. Then I got caught up in my own sins. Even I don't know how it happened; somewhere in me, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I just couldn't stop…"

"That's the power of Mara," Byakuren explained. "He sneaks up on you, and imprisons you within your sins and desires without you knowing. Trust me, I… I was once a victim of his miasma too…"

Shadow Megumu fell into Aya's chest and sobbed. "I just want to do right by our people! All of our people! But now… now I don't know if I can…"

Aya patted her back. "You can. Trust me that you can. And trust me to help you and be at your side, every step of the way. Great leaders don't lead alone. They work together with others, and together, we can lead Tengu society toward greatness."

I looked on at this heart-to-heart. Somehow, something about it resonated within me. Working together to lead a society to true greatness, one without prejudice or distortion… in many ways, me and Megumu weren't so different. Both of us had been fucked by the system, and both of us misused our talents to get revenge on our oppressors. I had woken up to the consequences of my actions, thanks to the Phantom Thieves, thanks to Ren, and now was striving to truly change the world for the better. We had just done for Megumu what they did for me. And I knew I wanted to continue the job, as though I had a personal stake in the outcome…

I stepped forward. "Me too. I pledge my support to both of you."

Shadow Megumu looked up at me. "You… an Outsider human. How could you help? Why would you want to help us Tengu?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," I said. "Seeing a society buckle under the weight of corruption and wickedness is the worst thing for me as a detective, as a Day Breaker. My capacity to assist you may be limited, but even so, know that you can call upon my aid whenever you require it."

Shadow Megumu paused, then smiled softly. "...thank you. Thank you all." She stood up, and dusted herself off. "You all passed the interview. The job is yours. To help Tengu society achieve even greater heights."

At that moment, the core, with its shield gone, floated down to the ground near us. With a snap of her fingers, Megumu used the same literal Death Star attack to obliterate it, scattering lights everywhere and enveloping the sinful city in holy light.


Exiting the Geyser Center, we emerged into a clear, cool night. It was dark, given the recent New Moon, but the stars and constellations still dotted the sky, drawing all sorts of different shapes.

"Wow… what a beautiful night," Aya said. "It looks like the kind of sky Megumu would create."

I looked up, seeing all the constellations in the sky. Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Orion, all of them. "Does she truly possess the ability to manipulate the stars?"

"Yep," Aya nodded. "Us Tengu have been using the stars to guide our flight and our calendar for thousands of years…"

Marisa looked up at the sky as well. "Y'know, all those stars, those little dots, are actually the suns of other solar systems like ours. And their light is prolly tens of thousands of years old, just because of how frickin' far away they are, it takes their light that long to reach us. One of those stars could have gone nova thousands of years ago, but the light from it is so slow that entire civilizations rise and fall without ever knowing that. Us magicians use the stars for all sorts of experiments, and astronomy is a core focus for understanding all sorts of mystical concepts."

"Most likely because ancient humans ascribed special, mythic properties to the stars, the moon and the sun, to explain why they existed and how they worked back before man had telescopes," I added.

"What about shooting stars?" Youmu asked.

"Those aren't stars at all, but small meteors burnin' through Earth's atmosphere as they fall through it," Marisa said. "Or comets, great balls of rock and ice flung Earth's way from the solar system's Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud. If that shit hit the Earth, we'd all be toast; a big-ass meteor the size of Mt. Everest was what killed the dinosaurs. But they're breathtaking to look at, and have inspired countless generations of magicians, like me. That night when I saw a meteor shower at Kourindou, that was the moment I knew I wanted to be a magician slingin' around star-themed magic."

"It's fascinating how our experiences as children affect us throughout our entire lives," I said.

"Yeah…" Aya looked down. "Certainly, Megumu's bad experiences influenced her current mindset."

"But her distortion is gone now," Mamiko said. "All we must do now is wait for the change in her to blossom."

"How long will that take?" Aya asked.

"It depends," I explained. "It is not unusual for a fortress owner to withdraw for a few days, taking in the weight of their past crimes and their resolve to better themselves, before they come out and publicly admit their wrongdoings. You should monitor her for us and let us know at the first sign that she will do exactly that."

"Understood," Aya nodded. After that, we all scattered for the night. It was late, so when I got home I went straight to bed, taking a brief moment to admire the stars outside before laying down and drifting off to sleep.