This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.

4/14 Sunday

Afternoon

"Hey", Aiko called her friend over to the next hallway junction in the massive spire at the heart of the false world that bore the name 'Mira's Land'. "Over here. Looks like we've finally found it."

Joining her there, Pelagio's eyes scanned the next area with a raptor's keen precision. After coming this far up the spire, another ambush was the last thing they needed. None of the patrolling Shadows they had encountered in the machine-laden corridors on the way to the top of the spire compared to the bronze titan whom Pelagio had recently awakened to his Persona, Galahad, in order to defeat.

Those fights had proved an all-too-accurate reminder that no amount of healing magic from Aiko could get them both back to perfect condition after taking such a brutal beating. The only thing that would do that is a good night's rest, if not several, for both of them.

After this is over, she promised herself. After we've saved Senpai.

"I detect no enemies present", he concluded. "Shall we go?"

"I don't see Senpai either", Aiko observed more irritably. "Where could she be?"

The outer courtyard they beheld, which did indeed appear to be the spire's very top floor, was another study in sharp contrasts between the rustic and the technological. It took the form of a large tribal village with dozens of small thatched houses positioned in a double-layer circle around a large campfire. Evidence of other, smaller fires could be seen outside the circle along with racks of hanging food, both fruit and meat. Aiko might have wanted to snag a bite to eat if everything on the roof hadn't also been composed of the same stainless metal and circuitry as the rest of the central spire.

Mirambela was nowhere to be seen, but there were people of the same skin tone as her there who greeted them, including many happily playing children. All of them were clad in more normal, less-extravagant shirts and shorts than the ones living outside the spire. One of the only adults, an older man with a wide face and chest, waved to them as he spoke in a broad, easygoing accent. "Oh, hello there! Are you princess Mira's guests?"

"Yes", Aiko pounced on the offer without considering, smiling at the gift they had been handed. "We're here to visit princess Mira. Would you happen to know where she is?"

Instead of replying to them, the man smiled merrily and cupped his mouth in his hands. "Mira-meisie! Your friends are here!"

Within moments, the Land's ruler emerged from one of the huts, standing apart from the others in fashion if nothing else, wearing as she did a gown more similar to some of the women Aiko had seen outside the spire which shimmered as she walked. Her hair was similarly extravagant, braided up into a tall knot like she truly was royalty.

When they locked eyes, it felt like nothing at all had passed between them in the last couple of days, and that they were back in their dorm room instead of a mile-high metal tower. Mira smiled, lunging forward to embrace Aiko. "Oh, Tsuruga-san! I didn't think I'd see you here! Welcome! I see you've already met my father."

Even in the short time they had been together, Pelagio had already found Aiko to be one of the most positive-minded humans he had ever seen. Here, her distress was obvious, as was its source. Mirambela Sorano was not greeting them in the way that a pair of rescuers ought to be.

"Yes, senpai", Aiko carried on patiently, trying to play along with her for now. "Once I learned where you were, how could I not come here? I had to apologise to you about what happened before."

Pulling back, Mira shook her head. "Oh no. It's water under the bridge. I know now, that you were just trying to help me. You just didn't realise that at Koashimizu academy, I was beyond help."

"Er... yes. At Koashimizu." Straightening up, the shorter girl ran one hand down her greatcoat to emphasise that they weren't in the dorms anymore. "Mira-senpai... I know that you're having a lot of fun in this other world. I saw your dancing earlier, and it was gorgeous."

"Our Mira-meisie is the number one dancer in the village!", her father- or rather the cognition of her father- affirmed proudly. "And a technological genius as well! Sometimes, I find it hard to believe that I raised such a gifted young lady in a family of eight!"

Mira flushed at the praise, but didn't take her eyes away from Aiko. "Thank you."

Surrendering to need and knowing that there was no real way to break this gently, Aiko put her hat to her chest. "Mira-senpai... we need to go. You need to get out of here now. This world, this Land... it isn't the paradise that you think it is." She spread her hands helplessly, trying to make her friend understand. "All of this was created to fulfil your dreams, to keep you here. But it's a lie."

None of the villagers understood what she spoke of. Except Mirambela. She frowned, leading Aiko out of the main village square, away from the others.

"Good", Aiko tried. "There'll be Shadows, but they serve you, so you can call them off, right? Then we can get out of-"

"No."

She turned back, refusing to believe what she had heard. "Senpai, please. You can't stay here. It's dangerous."

But now Mirambela had gone back to the furious stare she had drilled her roommate with on Friday. One that brooked no argument or persuasion. "You say it's dangerous, Tsuruga-san. I've seen no danger here. All of the robots that I've built here do exactly as I tell them, and I tell them to help people live and work in happiness."

Sensing Aiko's turmoil, Pelagio stepped in as well. "My apologies, miss Mirambela Sorano. I am Sir Pelagio, a companion of your friend. I am somewhat more versed in all matters related to this dimension than any human, and I can verify that she speaks the full truth. You are in great danger here. If you do not return to your world soon... then you will be unable to leave."

Mira was momentarily thrown now that she could see Pelagio's beaked appearance in detail, but it was his appearance that truly fascinated her, not his words.

"So?", she asked boldly, as if daring one of them to challenge her claims. "This world is my home now, the one that I've always wanted. Here, I'm a technology savant. A genius. I can build wonderful machines and computers, works of art with my own hands, without even trying hard. Everyone here appreciates me, and there is no JCAP."

"This world is not real, Mira-senpai!", Aiko burst out at last. "Furusato-san's body washed up on the coast, dead! You'll be next, if you don't leave!"

Mira slumped, and for a moment Aiko dared believe they had gotten through to her.

"I know", her roommate whispered to the artificial breeze, her heavy eyelids shut. "I know that this world is not ours. It called out to me... I walked through the gate, and I wound up here, in a home I didn't even know I wanted until I found it. I know that this is not normal. But... I'm sorry, Tsuruga-san... I don't care. I'm not going to back to that place. Remember what we talked about before, when we first met? I've been given the choice between hell or heaven... and I choose heaven."

"As near as I can tell in the matters of human religion", Pelagio said waspishly, "heaven doesn't have cleanses of 'filth'. Or do you not know about that? Surely, your loyal robot servants that you built with your own hands will gladly tell you, yes?"

"Filth detected!"

The disgustingly familiar words brought three pairs of eyes to bear on the main entryway to the roof. Mira's Shadow towered over them all, her mechanical red lens and laser cannon arm moving to focus on each in turn, though Aiko noticed over her shoulder that the cognitions in the village behind them didn't seem to care.

"Princess Mira", the Shadow spoke loudly to its opposite in the same hybrid of Microsoft Mary and her own voice, though both sides harboured a quiet fury. "This is a severe security breach. Have the filth harmed you in any way?"

Mira- the real Mira- shook her head. "No, it's quite alright. These are my friends."

That information put an immediate stop to what Aiko was fairly sure was about to turn into a brawl- one that they were unlikely to win if Mira's Shadow was in the same range of power as the bronze giant they had toppled earlier. The 'other' Mira scanned both of them again with her lens eye, and neither could entirely stop themselves from tensing up as she did.

"They were spotted in the dark woods, among the filth", the huge Shadow protested.

"They're my friends", Mira repeated more sternly. "I'll be adding them to the database, so that they can visit me at any time. Do you understand, sentry?"

The sense of stymied rage in the Shadow's poise and expression was obvious, but she relented after a moment, suddenly speaking more dull and robotic than earlier. "Understood, princess Mira. These two will be allowed into the central spire whenever they wish to visit you."

Satisfied, the true Mira nodded. "After this, report to me downstairs for maintenance. Your programming needs some adjustments."

"I'm glad she listens to you", Aiko said once the hulking sentry was gone. "She's the worst of the bunch, going on and on about 'stupid filth'. I wouldn't trust her not to attack us when you're not looking, senpai."

"She is my most powerful sentry", Mira admitted apologetically. "And you're right, she is far too overprotective. I'll try to get that out of her systems later. If she really bothers you, I'll shut her down whenever you want to visit."

Remembering why they had come, Aiko shook her head. "That shouldn't be an issue because you shouldn't be here. That awful lady is your Shadow, Mira-senpai. She's the very worst parts of your psyche. Why do you think she looks so much like you?"

But her pleas seemed to be having even less of an effect than before, and Mira waved them away as if they were mere insects. "I don't see the resemblance. If you came here to make up with me, then we've done that already. If you want to stay, stay as long as you like. But I'm not leaving here. Don't you understand, Tsuruga-san? This is my home now. This is everything I've ever wanted."

"And what about your father? Your real father?"

Mira gave out an amused sort of sigh and gestured back to the village where her father was organising some kind of social event for everyone, cheerily waving for her 'guests' to join in. "Don't let this other version of my father fool you. The real one, my real father... he will be glad to have me gone."

It felt like a finishing blow, and so it was. Aiko could think of nothing she had not already said that would convince her friend to come back with them, and a quick check of Pelagio's worried face confirmed that he had no more ideas to give either.

"I will be back, Mira-senpai", was all she could manage, pulling her dirty captain's hat back on. "I will save you. Even from yourself. No matter what."

The trip back to the gate was painstakingly quiet.

Dream of butterfly, or is life a dream?

Don't wanna wake up

'Cause I'm happier here

4/14 Sunday

Evening

Aiko leaped through the gate into the Yume Bay's waters in a huff, its waves licking at her student uniform. Pelagio followed, his falcon form gliding through before landing beside her on the sand despite being able to sense her wrath without looking.

"That sucked!", she announced to no one in particular, throwing her hands up in surrender. "This SUCKS! How are we ever going to save Mira if she won't even... ARGH!"

"I share your frustrations, my lady", Pelagio seconded more calmly from his spot on the sand. "I had briefly entertained the possibility of taking her by force, but... then the Shadows would converge upon us as they did the previous day, including miss Sorano's own Shadow. Thus encumbered, we would never have made it out alive."

Aiko kicked a rock along the sand, absently turning around to see how the waves had already begun to subside compared to yesterday. "The longer it takes, the calmer the waves... damn it!"

Pelagio took flight then, making sure to glide past her vision so that his wings would catch her eye as he perched on the nearest rock. "Please. We must compose ourselves, and think things over carefully. Screaming out here in the darkness helps no one, and it may even attract unwanted company. For now, we must settle our minds and prepare a new plan for success. You have school tomorrow, yes?"

Her anger properly vented, Aiko stopped, remembering where she was, and when.

"Ah... I'm so sorry, Pela-tori. I didn't mean to take it out on you. You're right. Even if Mira-senpai has welcomed us as guests, we need a good plan if we want to convince her to leave that world. Blasting in there and kidnapping her won't solve anything. It might even make things worse. Thank you."

He bobbed his round feathered chest as if bowing. "Hmph. Think nothing of it, my lady. I assume you plan to continue attending school while also seeking to save your friend?"

"Of course", came the automatic reply. "People would notice if I was missing, especially now. There's not much I can do to help Mira-senpai except when the gate opens up later in the day anyway. Until then, I'll play it like everything is normal."

"That would be wise", Pelagio acknowledged with a head bob. "Then you should get to sleep at once. I am feeling the effects of fatigue after such a battle as well. It seems as though awakening to a Persona is a tiring ordeal, ironically."

"No kidding", she seconded, cheered up a bit at the brighter memory of seeing Galahad emerge from her guardian. She had no doubt that it had been a serious mental ordeal for him, just as waking up to Anne Bonny's reckless power had been for her yesterday. Unlike he, he'd been a capable fighter even before awakening to his Persona. "Great job there, by the way. You really kicked that Shadow's shiny metal butt."

He could not smile through a beak. He did it with his eyes, wings and other bird body language radiating his pride. "Ah. Thank you. I live but to serve, my lady."

"Yeah, and that Shadow just got served."

It was impossible for her to head straight to bed from the coast, however. She spotted two police cars parked near the girls' dorm, and the door to room 22 was already hanging wide open when she got there.

Inside, three officers in the distinctive uniform of the Tosashimizu deputy police had transformed her room into an investigation scene. A warning label had been slapped over the door, and it was clear that several items in the room had already been taken away as evidence, mostly from Mirambela's side. One of the officers, a young woman with chocolate brown hair tied into a conservative bun and sharp ruby red eyes turned to face her.

"There you are. You're Aiko Tsuruga, correct? The roommate of Mirambela Sorano?"

Aiko had never had a serious run-in with the police, but something in the briskness of their manner had her on edge before speaking. "Y-yes."

"You submitted the missing persons report, correct?"

"Y-yes?" What is this? Are they going to arrest me as a suspect now? Please God, no...

Then the red eyed officer's resolute lips softened into a more compassionate expression, breaking the tension. "Well done. That was very responsible of you, reporting the disappearance so quickly. I'm junior detective Nijima, and your roommate has indeed been missing for two days now. No one on campus has seen her."

Breathing out her momentary terror, Aiko relaxed. This particular officer seemed to truly understand just how scared she was for Mira, though she did notice a different, smaller type of badge on her outfit from the others. "Junior detective?"

Nijima smiled deprecatingly. "I only joined the force this year. This is part of my on-the-job training, going on patrol in an area of Japan I'm unfamiliar with, to make sure I can still do my job properly outside of my comfort zone. Don't worry about it, miss Tsuruga. We will do our very utmost to locate your friend. You have my word."

Something in her voice inspired trust despite her relative youth compared to the other two officers, and Aiko took her offered hand. "T-thank you, detective Nijima-san. I'm glad to see the police are taking this seriously after... after Ayano-san."

"Two disappeared girls from Koashimizu academy in two weeks", detective Nijima acknowledged grimly. "One of whom is now dead, or nearly so. This is not a matter that the police can simply brush off, particularly in a close-knit community like Tosashimizu."

Releasing her hand, Aiko surveyed the room in dismay. The officers had been very careful not to manipulate any part of the room, but they showed no signs of wrapping it up either. "I'm tired. Will I have to change rooms, Nijima-san?"

"No", Nijima promised with a shy smile. "We're nearly done. We only ask you not to disturb miss Sorano's side of the room for the next few days in case more evidence is required." Sure enough, one of the other officers was already stretching the familiar yellow tape across one side of the room, blocking it off. "Will you be alright sleeping here for tonight?"

Aiko nearly melted in thanks. Changing rooms now would be an incredible hassle after an unbearably hassle-prone day. She wouldn't have even known where to begin.

"That said, I only ask that you answer a few questions for us before we depart. That's why we were waiting for you to arrive."

Aiko answered the officer's questions nearly on autopilot, finding most of the answers to be a flat negative and resisting the urge to point the blame at Ms. Mattora. "We sincerely appreciate your cooperation", Nijima assured her as the others returned to the cars.

Then they were gone, leaving the room feeling emptier than Aiko would have thought possible. It was deathly quiet, and sleep beckoned... but Aiko couldn't do that just yet. She had one more thing to do first, and nothing was going to stop her this time.

Settling down into her own bed and trying not to look across the room at the web of yellow tape, she activated her phone, slowly bringing it up to her lips as she entered the number.

"...Hello, mom."

4/15 Monday

Morning

Aside from the matter of the tape cordoning off one side of the room and the fact that Mira was nowhere to be seen, Aiko's opening classes that week were disturbingly normal. Some of the teachers were concerned, others simply weren't aware of the disappearance. Student absences happened, and they were used to it. It took every bit of reserve Aiko had not to snap at Ms. Mattora during her class, but she managed it somehow.

It wasn't until after that class that she was greeted with reminders that, in the middle of everything else that was going on, she and Mira were being targeted by Benihime Kujou. Heading to her locker after 3rd period, she saw black marker kanji in the same style as the slur that had adorned Mira's locker last week. It wasn't an instruction, merely a label: 'SKANK'.

She deliberately slid her eyes away from it. The janitor would clean it off tonight.

RH: heard the news. Any sign?

AT: ...No. I reported it yesterday. Police came to my room last night looking for clues. I'm scared.

RH: That bitch Kujou's gone too far this time. I bet she had something to do with it. Maybe she locked her up somewhere. I'll look around.

Despite everything she had seen and heard, Aiko considered that too much even for the most ruthless of bullies. But would I still think that, if I didn't know the truth about what happened to Mira-senpai?

For a moment she was tempted, sorely tempted, to ask for a meeting after school with Reiha and tell her everything. She was the only one here who might believe the truth, but what would happen then? She would be just as helpless as Aiko, more so since bringing her to Faraway Lands was too great a risk.

AT: thx. I'll keep in touch.

RH: you're a good friend, Tsuruga. Don't let anyone ever tell you different.

"Tsuruga-san?", a voice called to her after leaving fifth period, a second-year boy she didn't know. "You've been asked to report to the guidance office. Would you mind coming with me now?"

Aiko assumed that it was another enquiry into Mira's whereabouts until she looked through the office's glass window and saw the statuesque shape of Kujou among several people gathered there. While a hostile glare from her was expected, the guidance counsellor looked like he was taking great pains to look friendly, like he was on Aiko's side. He had dark hair streaked with gray, a businesslike white dress shirt and a wrinkled olive face that bulged out slightly, but that face held tranquil blue eyes that put her somewhat at ease.

The office was painfully quiet. The boy who had brought her pulled out a seat for her, taking the one next to it along the desk in the middle of the room.

"Miss Tsuruga", the counsellor began neutrally. "You've been asked to come here under the accusation of violence towards miss Kujou at school last Wednesday."

Fighting back the urge to speak directly to Kujou, Aiko turned to the counsellor, who she hadn't seen before now. He looked more like a teacher at his age than a counsellor. "I'm sorry, Mr...?"

"Ideka Ishinagi, at your service."

"Mr. Ishinagi. I was never violent towards anyone here."

She had thought that alone would get Kujou shouting, but apparently she had learned when to hold her tongue. Instead she kept one arm clutching the bandaged one tightly as if it had been severed completely.

"Miss Kujou claims that you pushed her directly into the flight path of a wild bird, who then scratched her arm severely", Mr. Ishinagi maintained accusingly. "Several other students confirmed this."

Several other students who she told to back her up, Aiko thought viciously, still refusing to look back at the older girl. Reiha is absolutely right. You really are awful. I don't want to hold grudges against anyone. I don't want to hate, but you...

"We had... a confrontation that day", Aiko admitted, placing both palms on the desk's stale wood. "Lots of students saw it. They also saw that the reason we had it is because she was tormenting Mira-senpai."

"Mira-san was there", Kujou piped up, unable to stay silent any longer, defiantly displaying her bandages like they were a trophy. "There was no torment. She's lying, counsellor. She ran up to me and shoved me, and she did this to me."

The counsellor shook his head and adjusted his glasses, signalling for the other boy to leave them. "I'm sorry, miss Tsuruga, but this is the word of a first-year student against a large number of senior students with clean records. However, what I believe happened is that you misinterpreted the situation and shoved miss Kujou aside, not aware that there was a bird nearby. Your intent was to save your friend, not to cause any serious injury to miss Kujou."

It took a moment for Aiko to recognise the scenario as what it was- a plea bargain. Confession to a lesser crime to be spared from the penalty for the original accusation. The smart thing to do would have been to agree with Mr. Ishinagi and say that she merely accidentally shoved the older girl aside, casting her into the path of an unusually hostile bird in the courtyard.

But the memories of everything she'd seen and done in the past seven days flashed back the moment she tried opening her mouth to agree, and after several uncomfortable moments, she knew that she could not.

She wasn't the Aiko Tsuruga who had arrived at Koashimizu without a clue about how it worked, who could stomach lies for the greater good if that meant she could be safe. A Persona had been awakened within her mind, and its confidence was a part of her. As was its instinctive dislike for liars.

"Mr. Ishinagi, do you know where Mira-senpai is now?"

He seemed surprised by the vehemence in her tone, but not its content. "No. I heard about the disappearance. It's indeed a tragedy, and I understand how you might be on edge during such a trial, miss Tsuruga. But violence is not tolerated here at Koashimizu academy, particularly towards an honorary member of the student disciplinary committee."

"Why do you think she ran away?", Aiko asked, feeling as if she was slowly rising up out of the chair against her will. "Did any student tell you about that? Did any student ever tell you the kinds of things that get written on her locker every day? Well? Did they?"

"Miss Tsuruga", Mr. Ishinagi countered with more steel in his words than she would have expected for such a laid back-looking man. "I understand that you are upset, but the things you're speaking of have no relevance to your own actions. The fact is that you did shove miss Kujou in a violent way, and that indirectly led to her being injured. The same as if you had shoved her onto concrete and accidentally caused her to scrape her arm. Your outburst just now confirms a temperament that matches this accusation."

Instinct said to cool off, and Aiko forced herself to do so no matter how horribly smug the expression on Kujou's black-framed face was. It was mortifying to her, just how similar their faces looked, though they would never exactly be mistaken for twins. Kujou was older and more attractive. I will never be like you. Never.

Never.

"I must confess a certain curiosity about the timing of the bird", Ishinagi mused more gently, leaning back in his seat once she had returned to her own. "The local seagulls are normally too frightened of large crowds to be so aggressive, even when faced with the chance to steal food from them. Perhaps the sudden change in the waves had them agitated."

"It was a falcon", Aiko corrected him, having no idea why she was. It was clear that her judge's mind was already made up, the fix was in, and disputing the verdict would only make her sentence worse. "A saker falcon, not a seagull."

The counsellor blinked in surprise. "Hm? An odd detail to remember. Are you by chance interested in ornithology, miss Tsuruga?"

She shrugged. "No, no. I just remember, that's all. Beach seagulls are way slower."

"That's true", Mr. Ishinagi acknowledged with a sudden thoughtfulness, putting a thin finger to his temple. "And the cuts I have seen on miss Kujou's arm would have been nearly impossible for a gull's weaker talons to create, even at their top flight speed."

"It was a bird", Benihime scowled at their dialogue, holding her injured arm tighter still. "A dirty winged rat that she pushed me into. Are you going to punish her or what?"

Mr. Ishinagi actually smiled at that, though it was impossible to tell which of them it was aimed for. "I suppose I must. Detention after class for the next three days in my classroom. Room 3-B, third floor."

Aiko had just begun to process that when Kujou sat up in her chair, their positions reversed in a flash. "WHAT?! Just three days? Look at my arm, Sensei! Look at this blood! She did this to me!"

But the counsellor had clearly run out of patience with her now, and he shook his head.

"As we have discussed, it was an accident. A misunderstanding. Simple bad luck that such an ill-tempered bird would come to visit us at that time. Perhaps if she were a more experienced student, or a repeat offender, the penalty would be harsher... but I believe in giving people a chance to learn from their mistakes." Leaning forward sternly, he gazed into Aiko. "It was a mistake, correct, miss Tsuruga?"

Knowing that arguing would only make things worse, Aiko slowly nodded in compliance. "Yes, Mr. Ishinagi. It won't happen again, I promise." Have to warn Pelagio to lay off her now. He means well, but a falcon attacking people and following me around as a bodyguard is going to draw too much attention.

Besides, the furious look on Kujou's round face was almost worth a concession like that. "This is ludicrous. She cuts my arm open and gets off with three days of detention. You're far, far too soft to be a guidance counsellor, Ishinagi-sensei. I will be informing my parents. I trust you're familiar with my father?"

Ishinagi smiled and shrugged helplessly. "I believe all the staff here are familiar with Mr. Daisuke Kujou. If he feels the need to take time out of his busy schedule with JCAP to come and visit us, then we shall welcome him with open arms."

4/15 Monday

After School

"So that's the whole story", Aiko finished. No one had followed her out to the area of tall grass west of the unfinished pool which she had come to refer to as 'the cliff', and even Pelagio had taken a moment to make himself known, gliding in on the afternoon breeze to hear her tale.

Naturally, he sounded disgusted, head tilting side to side as he spoke, showing her both eyes. "I do not understand this human concept of 'detention', my lady. What does the school gain by forcing you to remain behind for extra time after your classes are complete? You could just as easily complete your homework in the dorm room or at the library."

Aiko shrugged. "I guess the big difference is that outside detention, you have a choice to do whatever you want. There, you can't. It's to punish me for pushing Kujou into you last Wednesday."

"Hmph. You did no such thing", Pelagio reminded her stubbornly, ruffling up his feathers in disdain. "You were too busy fending off those wretched harpies sent by her to threaten your modesty. I was there."

"So was I", she said a bit more impatiently. "But nobody except me can understand you, and Kujou had a bunch of other students backing her up. You can't really do anything about it now... just promise me you'll only attack someone if I'm actually in serious danger from them, like if they pull out a gun or a knife."

Despite her situation, it was kind of comforting know that she would have special insurance against that remote possibility. While Tosashimizu city didn't have much of a crime rate worth mentioning in the news, anything was possible.

His hushed silence after that made her worry, though. "No... don't tell me you...?"

"Not humans, my lady", her guardian explained to her infinite relief. "There was a small flock of rather vocal seagulls on the coast who felt that I was in their way, and decided to attack me. Rest assured... they were taught the error of their ways."

Aiko could only giggle at that particular mental image. "Glad to see you're fitting in here... sort of. Any word about the investigation?"

"That man you call 'Principal Yumika' was on a lengthy phone call in his office on the third floor this morning", Pelagio offered humbly. "I could not get close enough to hear his exact words, but it was clearly a spirited conversation."

"Probably just negotiating his pay raise", Aiko commented in disgust, revulsion at so much of the injustice she witnessed at the school still lingering in her. Truly a hive of scum and villainy... but also home to some people still willing to try to make school fun, or at least comfortable. People like Reiha and Kotone and Mr. Takao, and even Mr. Ishinagi wasn't as bad as she had originally thought, even if he'd given her that detention.

"My... Aiko?"

Blinking, she turned back to him. "Yes?"

"If I may ask... why do you seek to save your friend with such vigour?"

The words 'stupid' and 'question' were on the tip of her tongue, but the feeling she got from his cautious words was more than that, and she didn't want to yell at him again after last time. He means well. He's just... not that experienced in the human world yet. Give him time.

"Because she's my friend", she said after a moment's arrangement. "Because no one, not even Kujou, deserves to be locked up in that other world. Because... because I'm partly responsible for her being there." I helped break her. I promised her things would get better and they only got worse.

"You are most kind", Pelagio stated, for once watching the clouds instead of her. "I have seen many your age at this school who call others their 'friends'... but I doubt that they would be willing to go to such lengths for them. That being said... if this 'detention' you've been forced into was the length of all of our remaining days, would you defy the counsellor to save her?"

That took a lot more consideration. Far from troubled, she gave a tiny smile. He's smarter than I thought. I like this. Not just a blindly loyal guard dog anymore... or blindly loyal guard bird, rather.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a beeping noise carrying on the sea breeze. It led her down to the coast where the Fiddler's Green was missing for once, but behind a rock she saw the source, amazed at her luck as she raised it out of the sand that had gotten into its cracks without appearing have damaged it.

It was Mira's discarded phone, she saw. The display number wasn't showing an associated name, but it was definitely a long-distance call by the number. Ducking into the rock arches so no one would see, she hit reply.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end began speaking a language Aiko couldn't fathom, accented in the same way as Mira's. When it stopped, Aiko tried again.

"I'm sorry, Mira isn't home. This is her roommate. Do you speak Japanese?"

The voice on the other end began to reply in that language, though in the least proficient way she had ever heard. Sometimes Noel and Julian had problems sounded broken and stilted when they spoke in that language they had already spent much time learning, but this man was barely legible. "This who is?"

"Aiko Tsuruga", she repeated slowly, to make sure he understood. "Mirambela's roommate."

"Mirambela where is?"

Aiko winced in familiar pain, remembering where she knew the voice from. It was her father. Her real father. "Mira-senpai disappeared two days ago. We're still looking, and so are the police."

A pause, and then; "Principal Yumika told me. Tried calling her. Her phone where did you find?"

"On the beach. I just picked it up when you called. She left it there." Must have discarded it behind a rock when she ran out to Yume Bay. Did she really not want anyone to find her where she was going?

Despite his inexperience with the language, his words reflected pain and dread at the news. "What happen?"

Aiko tensed up at the question. How much can I say? What will reduce the number of nightmares he has tonight about what might have happened to his daughter?

"Mira-senpai got angry about something and ran out to the beach. That... was the last anyone saw of her." Lying to Mira's parents was a new ordeal, and it made her words nearly as clumsy as the man she spoke to. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice.

"Aiko Tsuruga, you are? Mirambela's friend?"

"Always", Aiko promised without regret. "I... if anything happens..."

"If anything happens?"

Carefully moving her mouth away from the phone, Aiko whispered a curse better suited to Reiha into the sand. I just wanted to make a new home at Koashimizu. I didn't want any part of this insanity. But... "Mr. Sorano. If Mira was off somewhere, and she didn't want to come back... what would you say to her?"

Silence reigned, and for a moment Aiko feared she'd lost the call. Then- "I would tell her what I have always told her. That she is my pride, my Mira-meisie."

Resolute once more, she stared back out at the tide, watching the waves that were the lifeline of her friend's soul. "I can promise I will deliver that message. I can promise that we- I -will do everything humanly possible to get her back. You aren't the only one who's worried."

"I can tell that", the man acknowledged soberly. "Even across a thousand miles, I can tell. I cannot travel to Tosashimizu at this time, but I will be thinking of her every day. All I can do is ask that you pray for the police's success in locating her. God help us all."

The call ended, leaving Aiko wishing she felt more settled by it than she was. Pray for her return? That didn't help Furusato-san. Let the police sort it out? They don't know anything about Faraway Lands. No.

No, if anyone was going to help Mira, it was her. If anyone was going to answer Mr. Sorano's prayer, it was her. If anyone was going to figure out how to convince her friend to discard the world of her dreams and come home again...

Leaving the shadow of the arch, she stared up into the afternoon sun, then over at the Yume Bay where the gate to another world would soon be opening once more. If she went there now, Pelagio could join her, and they could sail the seas of Faraway Lands once more. Not tonight, though. Not tonight. We're not prepared. It would get us nowhere without a guaranteed way to persuade her. I have to find a way.

The detentions were a serious inconvenience, there was no doubt about that. But there was an upside to it all, she reasoned. There, she could get her schoolwork done.

Because once she got out, there was a different kind of homework to be taken care of. A much more important kind than the usual. If she slacked on this assignment, then the penalty would be a million, billion times worse than a bad grade.

"Come on, Pela-tori", she commanded, knowing that the avian guardian was watching her from some elevated perch without even looking, and would loyally follow her to the dorm even if he could not enter it through the front door. "We have some plans to make, and not much time left to make them."

o