Luciform

by TheRoseShadow21

This is a year that, for Kawaakari Academy, should be brighter than most. But the threads of change have been woven in the background for a long time, and the tapestry is almost complete. Here is the story of some of the students caught up in it, and how they face the resulting darkness. Fic combining various KACB entries. AU, rated M for difficult themes. Cross-posted to AO3.

6. 1-5

Edits made 31/08/2022, primarily in the first and third scenes. These were mostly slight word/sentence structure changes for better flow, with a teensy bit of extra narration.

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Even before everything happened, Quiet had a feeling that the lesson wasn't going to go well.

Headmaster Cher was already impatient, tapping his foot and huffing as Quiet and the others streamed out of the changing room and went to sit down at the other end of the hall while others dragged mats out and placed them in the arrangement they'd all become familiar with. There was a small buzz of chatter, like there usually was, but all the same there was something off and it didn't take long for a clearer sign of that to show itself.

"What's taking you so long?" Headmaster Cher demanded. "Come on, hurry up, get into pairs already."

The chatter quietened slightly as they all stared at Headmaster Cher, who seemed oblivious to the reaction he was generating. Usually, at the beginning of Mixed Melee Combat there was at least a recap of something from before, if not a demonstration or short lecture. Other students exchanged looks, and Quiet sensed different flares of confusion coming from here and there. But all the same he got up and walked over to a mat, with Will choosing to be his partner.

"Come on, why are you dragging your feet like that-oh, good some people have ….Koda and Niwa, you're pairing together? Again? Oh, never mind."

Quiet saw Headmaster Cher run a hand through his hair and then tug at the collar of his shirt, and mutter something semi-inaudible about it being hot.

"U-um, Headmaster?"

This came from Jae, and Headmaster Cher's eyes flashed as he whipped around to look at the boy, piercing him with an unflinching glare.

"What?"

"There's not enough of us to pair up…" Jae said, voice and intent equally trembly.

Headmaster Cher stared unblinkingly at Jae, who flinched and then looked worriedly over at Yara, who was standing next to him, her eyes wide and…unseeing? Quiet rubbed his own and studied the girl closely, feeling something was off but not quite being able to figure out what it was. It was moments like this he wished he could clearly understand facial expressions.

"Sir, it's because Hibi's disappeared." Howl eventually spoke up, his forehead creased deeply.

"Now isn't the time to talk about that! We've told you, the police are doing what they can and so are we!"

Quiet saw most of the class flinch, and any lingering chatter cut off abruptly. The intent curled and curdled in a way that even Quiet recognised. It had been three days since Hibi and her friends had disappeared without a trace apart from Hibi's purse left lying on the forest path out of the school. A number of students had attested to seeing the five emerging from the forest path with shopping bags, and apparently one girl had stopped to chat to them and make plans to join them the next day at lunchtime. All this had emerged on the very first day, after the scene that Kyouki had caused had alerted the school to the disappearance. The local police had arrived and had managed to ask questions of anyone who knew the girls or at least had classes with them, but only on that day. After that, they hadn't come back, and nothing had been in the newspapers.

The teachers hadn't wanted to answer questions either, even though they all said that anyone could approach them with worries. But none of them had been angry, not the way Headmaster Cher clearly was. Many of them exchanged looks with each other, but at first nobody dared to speak up. The headmaster continued to glower at them, and to tug at his shirt more, fanning himself. Eventually though, Will stepped forward.

"Headmaster, we just mean that because one of us is…um…absent, there aren't enough people for everyone to partner up. Somebody will be left out."

"What did I say?" Headmaster Cher almost growled. "Why are the lot of you so noisy? Just quieten down!"

As Headmaster Cher groaned, Quiet almost instinctively looked first to Howl, and then to Tricker. Was it really noisy? They'd all stopped chatting, after all. But if anyone would know if it was really noisy, it'd be Howl and Tricker, both of whom knew how to make it clear to Quiet what they were thinking if he needed to understand it. But both of them just blinked back, clearly radiating confusion. Tricker in particular seemed very calm, for although he had not paired with Sasi, she was standing at the next mat over. Neither of them were looking at each other, but even so, Quiet knew full well that was the effect they seemed to have on each other, despite both being very turbulent. Alright, so sneaking out constantly at night wasn't the best thing to do, as Tricker had been doing every night for the last two weeks since dancing with Sasi at the party, but it was better than the nightmares he used to have. As far as Quiet had seen, those nightmares hadn't quite gotten as close to Kyouki's breakdown as they potentially could have, but they'd been worrying enough.

"What are you waiting for? I told you all to pair up-"

Just as Quiet shook away his thoughts on Tricker and Sasi, the headmaster's words abruptly stopped, and his expression appeared frozen, looking somewhere in the distance. Somehow, the silence in the room dropped even quieter, becoming thicker before he started to sway slightly. Headmaster Cher undid a couple of buttons on his shirt and tugged at the collar, unbuttoned his cloak and let it fall and looked around distractedly before abruptly, his legs seemed to give out from underneath him and he collapsed.

Screams rang out almost instantaneously, and Howl, Sado, Lucy and Hiraga all jumped forward to grab Headmaster Cher before he crumpled to the ground and potentially hit his head. Hiraga's and Lucy's knees buckled with the strain but all the same they did their best to help Howl and Sado keep him up.

"Take him to a mat!" Jae suggested.

"Yes, that's a good idea!" Will agreed. "Let me help."

Will went to help them take the weight of Headmaster Cher and between the five of them, they managed to drag him onto a mat and lay him down. The rest of the class drifted closer, though not too close, many of them exclaiming and whimpering.

"Is he dead?"

"What just….what just happened?"

"Oh no, oh no."

"He's not dead!" Will exclaimed. "He's breathing but…he's really warm. I think he's got a fever."

Will pressed a hand to Headmaster Cher's forehead, and his concern radiated clearly to Quiet who stepped closer to take a look. His eyes were closed and now his face was flushed and scrunched up, and Quiet could see the sweat clearly, making the light pink hair stick to his forehead in clumps.

"Should we go to the infirmary?" Quiet suggested, already half turning to look for Tricker. "To get the nurse or the two work-study students?"

"No, maybe we should take him over?" Jae asked.

"It already took five of us just to make sure he didn't smash his head open," Howl pointed out. "I don't think we'll manage the infirmary. It'll be better if someone goes. You two are fast, aren't you?"

With this, Howl pointed to Quiet and then to Tricker, who was now standing on his own.

"We can go." Tricker said simply.

Tricker looked over at Quiet, a thread of uncertainty weaving itself in amongst his intent. But though that uncertainty was there, with dread overlaying it, there was still the calm and Quiet was all too glad of it. He gulped as he looked down at Headmaster Cher, whose colour seemed to be draining and then nodded. The two of them began to walk to the doors, and the others started to talk about what they should do in the meantime when abruptly, the doors opened.

"Cher?"

The name came out deeply whispered, more a breath than a word, as Headmistress Hades came storming in, an expression on her face like one Quiet was sure that he'd never, ever seen before. Seemingly oblivious to Quiet and Tricker, she shoved past them and strode straight to the mat, dropping to her knees and leaning over Cher, placing a hand on his forehead and then, after a fleeting frown, surprising everyone by leaning forward and lightly pressing her lips to his forehead.

At any other time, this would have caused a flurry of reaction, but the hush had fallen over the room again and so all of them were rooted in place. Even from where he now was, Quiet could see the same unusual, contorted expression crease Hade's face as briefly, she closed her eyes and murmured something he couldn't discern. For the longest moment, it seemed like she wasn't even aware that any of them were there. Then, slowly, she straightened up and stretched, setting her mouth in a thin line before she tucked her arms under Headmaster Cher's prone form and got up in slow, careful motions. For all that she was larger than life, he was too, and so she shouldn't have been strong enough to carry him like that, not on her own. Yet she didn't even wince as she got up fully and looked at them all, her silver eyes carrying an expression a lot colder. She was as closed off in her thoughts as Headmaster Cher was, yet somehow Quiet found himself thinking of the scent of mint that he hated so much. Cold, and hollow, like grief.

It was a thought that pushed Quiet off balance for a moment, wondering where he'd managed to pull that thought from but almost immediately the headmistress spoke up, voice brisk as aways.

"Class is cancelled. Put all of this away and get changed, then consider yourselves done for the day."

Almost as soon as these words were uttered, she disappeared with Headmaster Cher in her arms, with only a few sparkles of magic lingering in the air to show that they had been there. The hush remained for a while, then slowly, Jae spoke up.

"Has anything like this ever happened before?"

"You mean last year?" Will asked. "No, not like this. Professor Snow in admin can be a little forgetful sometimes, but nothing like this."

"Little forgetful is a bit of an understatement, Will." Hiraga said.

"Yeah, I know," Will sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But still."

"Professor Nyamai was a little disoriented a while ago," Quiet spoke up. "She missed our class and when the two of us went to look for her, she was a little odd, said a few things that didn't make sense and then just cancelled our class for the day. Right, Tricker?"

Tricker simply nodded.

"Right, I remember that." Howl agreed. "You three do as well, right, Rael, Sado, Koda?"

"Yeah, we remember." Sado said gravely.

"Mhm, and Professor Kenta walked out of class all of a sudden just like, he was in the middle of explaining something and then he got this look on his face and just….left. He didn't come back either." Rael added with a yawn. "Which was weird, but then we all left anyway, so yeah."

"I've seen some of the teachers whispering things and then going all quiet when they think we can hear." Michii contributed hesitantly.

"Professor Cinnabuns isn't as chatty as he used to be, though he always shrugs it off." Will said.

"Come to think of it, I'm sure Professor Keno was going to faint yesterday, he looked kinda pale and sick, like, but he battled through the lesson anyway." Koda said.

"Oh, and Professor Yanovi's really over-protective over the cuttings she's been making us take from the Angel Tree, but she never explains why she needs them." Jae added.

The discussion went on for a little while, with most of them having stories about the teachers and their absences from class, distracted demeanours or unusual snappiness, secretive behaviour or other unexplained things. As they did, and their faces creased in a way Quiet understood to mean fear, it occurred to him that Headmistress Hades' face had been the same, it had creased and crumpled in the exact same way.

So, she'd been scared.

It wasn't something he'd ever thought possible of Headmistress Hades, as imposing and magnificent as she seemed to him. Then again, he hadn't imagined the equally imposing and magnificent Headmaster Cher to be so easily felled. What's going on here, Quiet wondered. What does it mean for us?

"We can't trust them," Asuka declared vehemently, in conclusion. "Whatever the hell's going on, we can't trust them."

"You're right." Sado agreed, nodding gravely at the girl. "We need to do something."

There was a brief pause, and they all looked at each other hesitantly.

"Something?" Lucy asked. "Like what?"

"Something to protect all of us, right?" Yara piped up. "Because…you all think the teachers can't do it."

"Won't do it, more like." Yuu said, her lip curling.

But Headmistress Hades was scared, when she saw Headmaster Cher. With this thought in mind as he looked over at Yara, he then found himself remembering that there was something off about her. For a moment, it looked like she had something else to say on the matter, but then when she opened her mouth:

"If poison goes bad, do you think it's more poisonous or less poisonous?"

"Huh?"

Every single person gawped at her, but Yara seemed oblivious.

"What the actual hell has that got to do with anything?" Asuka demanded, making Yara flinch.

"Hey, have you got a fever too?"

This concern came from Jae, who reached out as if he was going to feel her forehead but Yara abruptly stepped back and blinked once. It was then Quiet realised what it was-he couldn't read Yara's intent. There was a blankness there instead, an active prevention of her thoughts being read, but instead of it being careful and deliberate the way that the Headmaster and Headmistress had, the blankness was trembling, shaking, unsteady. Yara was straining to keep the shields up, and yet she was doing it anyway. Quiet frowned slightly, trying to think of if he'd ever come across anything like that before when Rael snorted:

"Oh, forget her. The point is, that whether it's can't or won't, the teachers aren't doing anything and so we need to step up instead. We need to protect each other."

"What do you propose we do?" Will asked curiously. "Us, we're up for anything, right?"

Hiraga, Lucy and Tate all nodded soberly at this. Quiet glanced over at Hiraga, who seemed to sense this happening and looked over, catching his eye and smiling. Waves of reassurance buffeted Quiet and he gave a quick smile back before turning to look at Sado and Rael, who were apparently leading the conversation.

"I'm not too sure yet, but think it'll require more than us, though." Sado said. "We'll need to get as many people on board as possible-this is a big school, after all."

"Are you thinking something like keeping watch over everyone?" Jae asked.

Sado nodded at that.

"Something like that, potentially."

"We'll help."

This came from Asuka, apparently speaking on behalf of all of her friends. The six girls stared back grimly, not impressed by everyone's surprise. Niwa in particular squawked and shoved Koda in reaction to his bug-eyed stare, causing both of them to tussle briefly. Since they were all used to such antics though, it was easy to ignore the two of them as they discussed the idea.

"Yeah, we'll try and help too." Jae agreed. "Though, I'm not much of a fighter."

"You'll become one." Sado said simply.

"So…how're we getting everyone on board, then?" Howl asked. "Most everyone's still in lessons, probably."

"Will knows everyone, he can send people a message and get the word out." Tate said.

"I don't know everyone but yeah, I can do that."

"We can ask our friends too, and anyone else we know." Jae offered.

The other students in the room all offered to try and reach out to various people with, of course, the exception of Asuka, Sasi and that little group. It was agreed that they had to try and be discreet, to make sure that none of the teachers caught wind of what was going on as far as they could. It was also agreed that while they waited for the school day to properly end for everyone else, Sado, Howl and Rael would look for somewhere for them to convene later that evening. In the meantime, there was really nothing else they could do apart from tidy up and just leave, and so that was what they did.

…

When Sasi reached the small alcove half hidden by trees, she fished her phone out of her pocket, and speed-dialled Asuka.

"I'm here." She said simply when her friend picked up.

"Good. We'll see you…"

"Soon."

Sasi's lips curled up ever so slightly, as she leant against the tree and looked into the alcove, where Tricker was already waiting, watching her unflinchingly.

"Stay safe, then."

"Always."

Sasi hung up and put her phone away before going to join Tricker, slipping in across from him. Although she wanted nothing more to grab out immediately and completely lose herself without waiting, she nonetheless waited as they sized each other up. In such a small space, there was really only a few centimetres between them and it made the space feel warm. Warmer than she'd ever, ever felt before. And the way Tricker looked at her…

"You always do that." He said, suddenly.

"What?"

"The call."

"Well, of course I do." Sasi snapped. "It's what I always do."

Tricker tipped his head to the side in question before then leaning in, carefully and slowly brushing her hair behind her shoulders before then cupping her face with his hands and kissing her. His hands should have felt unnatural, clunky, awkward but though they were metal and cooling against the heat of her face, the feel of them was far from unnatural. If anything, they were perfect, and even as Sasi kissed him back she found herself marvelling at it, still.

"Why do you do that?" Tricker asked in-between kisses. "Call like that?"

"We're not here to talk." Sasi murmured, trying to pull him closer to her.

A few more kisses, and then Tricker pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers and looking directly into her eyes, his own bright and intense.

"I call so that if anything happens to me, they'll know where to start looking. Who to start looking at."

She tipped her head up slightly, taunting him with what she was implying. If you do something to me, something to hurt me, you won't get away with it even if the world conspires to help you. But he didn't seem fazed at all as he continued to study her.

"So they can tell the police?"

Police? Are you stupid? What have the police ever done to help a mirror sister, unless they were ones adopted as babies and therefore 'freed' of the taint?

"Don't be stupid," she hissed. "They're the only ones who'd care to look in the first place, so they're the only ones who'd ever need to know."

Tricker blinked at that, and straightaway Sasi knew that she'd said too much. How was she meant to answer if he asked why nobody else would care to look for her? It was possible he'd assume that it was down to the fact she was a Ward but she knew that even with such a pitiful basic history, to expect to be ignored was a step too far. That he'd be sure there was something more to it. Trying to blot out both the questions and the fear she wrapped her legs around him and kept kissing him and kissing him. They clung to each other as if this could be the last time that they'd ever have this chance, and to Sasi it easily could be.

After all, she was a mirror sister. She was cursed, according to the eyes of the world. Even if this wasn't a relationship, not one of those romantic fluffy liaisons that Yuu so loved reading about and still tried to believe in, she knew that it'd be over the moment he knew. Why would anyone want to be with a mirror sister and risk being sucked into the darkness? Risk being destroyed? She'd never wanted to be wanted before, and had never known what it was to be wanted like this just because of interest, just because. She was used to being used as an object to satisfy needs, an object that couldn't fight back, to be a doll rather than a person. She was used to considering it a duty, in order shield her friends from being used the same way (especially Niwa, whose body couldn't handle such rough handling, for all she tried to be so strong).

Yet here and now, and ever since the party and that stupid idiotic non-magical boy practically pushing Tricker and her together on the dancefloor, she'd felt like a person while being touched like this. Not disgusting, not scum of the earth, not any of the horrible things the care workers liked to tell them that they were. But a person, living and breathing and alive and desired. Special.

But she knew it couldn't last. There was no way anything like this could last, not for her. Even though it was all carnal, and she wasn't even expecting a happily-ever-after, she knew that for a mirror sister it could never last. That was why she had to savour it, savour every last little moment, even if they didn't manage to go all the way before he inevitably found out.

Gradually, they started to tire and they untangled, though they remained pressed close together, soaking up a little more of each other's warmth before they had to turn back for the day, head towards the meeting where they'd be planning how to protect the school. For her to protect everyone else when she was sure none of them, not a single one of them, would look for her if anything was to happen. Still, what choice do I have? It was still something that would help her to look after her friends, for them to look after her. And this was a chance for them to prove that they were on the side of the light, that they were not the darkness.

"We should go." She said, eventually, not wanting too.

"Mhm."

Tricker stepped back the centimetre he could, letting Sasi step out first before coming out behind her. At this point, the two of them should have split ways without looking back as they headed back to their own rooms. But even she admitted that didn't make a lot of sense if they were going to the same place this time.

"There's an old common room on the ground floor of the south corridor in the North Wing."

Sasi blinked, and it took her a few moments to realise Tricker already had his phone out and had checked for messages. She nodded at him and then decided to just go on anyway. If he wanted to head there in the same direction as her then he could, if not then well, he'd be in the same room anyway. But as she began to stride, she was stilled by him calling:

"Sasi?"

"What?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

"I'd look for you, too."

Sasi turned around properly, and gawped. Tricker stood there, his hands in his pockets and his face…gentler, somehow, though his eyes still pierced.

"Huh?"

"If anything happened. Your friends wouldn't be the only ones looking."

Sasi opened her mouth to respond, and then found she couldn't. Snapping it shut, she narrowed her eyes at him. No way. There's no way you mean that. And besides, you'd take that back if you knew, wouldn't you? Of course he would-why would she expect any different? Giving a derisive snort in response, she turned back again and strode off, making a point of blocking off any responses. As she did so, she took out her phone and dialled Asuka to let her know she was finished and arriving, the way she had been doing all the other nights. She put her phone to her ear, had the same brief conversation that had played out so far, and then tucked it back in her pocket and kept walking. It was the way she had to do things, the only way.

And yet…

I'd look for you, too.

Though she couldn't let herself believe in those words, she savoured them all the same.

…

Howl recognised most of the people who were coming into the room. He and Rael and Sado were already waiting, and Hiraga and Quiet had arrived together soon after alongside Lidia, Wren, Mica, Tate and Lucy. As they all flopped down in the seats that Howl and Sado had arranged around the tables that they'd pushed together, Asuka and all her group save for Sasi arrived, followed by Jae, Seraph, Jenna and Yara.

"Jun and Kyouki will be on their way," Jae explained. "He's gone to get her from the infirmary, since she's alright to come back now.

"Is she alright?" Howl asked, remembering that horrible, horrible sight.

Jae frowned slightly.

"Yeah, she is. I think she's kind of embarrassed."

"Why? It could have been any of us." Rael snorted.

Jae stared at her, clearly doubting that, and Howl couldn't blame him. It was hard to imagine someone as nonchalantly hard-as-nails as Rael could ever be so wracked by hysteria, then again in the few classes that Howl shared with Kyouki he'd assumed her to be fairly solid herself, too. So I suppose it makes no difference, huh? After a moment, Jae gave a one-shouldered shrug and said:

"Well, yeah, but…she's scared for Juu in particular, too."

Will and the rest of his friend group were the next to come in, bearing snacks and photocopies of a map of the school, which Howl helped to lay out across the pushed-together tables, holding it down with any object he could get. It reminded him vaguely of Kura's increasingly weird antics, and Howl was relieved that he and his friends were not going to be amongst those of them gathered here right at this moment. He knew that for all their silliness, they would have been eager to help, but they weren't skilled in combat at all, and they didn't have proper magic to make up for that. Being able to make the contents of a pencil case float in the air and dance to the tune of the blimming' Sugar Plum Fairy of all things wasn't exactly going to save the day any time soon.

Soon after, Sasi and Tricker came in, not together but within seconds of each other, barely looking at each other as Sasi went to sit with her friends and Tricker sat on Quiet's other side. Howl wondered why they bothered, when he was sure pretty much everyone knew that they were…well, that they were something, in any case. Almost soon after, Jun and Kyouki came in, with another girl, gentle featured with long dark hair and green eyes.

"Robyn!" Jenna called out. "You're coming to help us?"

"Yes, Jun told me that you were going to try and find a way of keeping us all safe and figuring out what was going on, and while I'm not sure if I'll be much use anyway I still wanted to see if there was something I could do. Yoyo-sempai wants to join too, but it's her late session at the infirmary today and she already missed one last week when she sprained her ankle."

"She did ask Professor Rynacel if she could, but it might mess up her work-study programme credits or something." Jun added.

"Professor Rynacel?" Rael said sharply. "You told her?"

Jun's eyes widened briefly, and Robyn quietly stepped forward so she was slightly shielding him as she regarded the tiger-striped girl, wary but still not backing down.

"No, Jun said it was a study group, that seniors were going to give us advice for the end-of-terms."

"That's smart!" Will said. "Great thinking!"

"It was Jun's idea, after all."

Robyn turned and gave Jun a dazzling smile which made him blush.

"Oh, stop being so cute over there you two, come in properly!" Jenna called, laughing.

Now Robyn blushed as the two of them did indeed come in, with Kyouki following quietly. She looked wide-eyed and lost, but Jenna and Seraph quickly went over and shepherded her to where they were all sitting, plying her with snacks. For a little while, they all chatted quietly, and Howl noticed not just that Quiet and Hiraga were constantly side-eyeing each other while Sasi and Tricker continued being inexplicably apart yet somehow intertwined, but that Jun and Robyn sat close to each other, hands deliberately blushing.

"Wow, there's a lot of freshman romance, huh?" Sado murmured to him, clearly having noticed this.

"You can talk." Howl retorted snarkily, knowing full well that Sado was the darling of a good portion of the senior girls, and some boys too. Though he supposed that was idolisation rather than romance, but even so.

A few more people came in-a serious, elegant second year girl who introduced herself as Mist and four freshman that Howl knew vaguely, mostly via Kura-Theodore, Ezrael, Haze and A. Will checked his messages, and reported that while the Lolita Tea Party Club did not want to be a part of the main group, they were happy to provide sustenance and charms for any more involved endeavours.

"The VYPERS should be coming too-oh, here they are." Will added.

Sure enough, the group of students who were all known for having serpent magic flowed in, all of them part morphed. Their scales glittered magnificently under the moon-orb lights that currently lit the common room and the table lamps that had been arranged around the map. But there was one of them missing, Howl realised as some went to sit down.

"What happened to Ruby-sempai?" Lidia asked. "I thought it was all of you."

"It was meant to be. She was so damn excited at the idea when Will texted…"

Pausing, Aerin's mouth twisted and her eyes flashed as she wiped at them roughly. Asu and Ani, both of them immediately next to her, gave her arms a comforting squeeze.

"Clouds," Ani supplied. "She got affected by the clouds…and badly, too. She was…crazy, like. Shaking all over, crying…like a panic attack but ten times worse and she couldn't even understand why. We couldn't get her to calm. And we tried, didn't we, Aerin-sempai?"

"We did." Aerin agreed.

The rest of them all instantly looked at Kyouki, who reddened and immediately cringed, before straightening. Still, at least it's better that she isn't the only one, right? Howl thought.

"Did…um…did anything happen? To trigger it?"

"Why?" Aerin snarled, eyes flashing again.

Woah, Howl thought, that's a bit uncalled for. He supposed it wasn't surprising. It was well known that Ruby Reiko and her gang, were fierce thanks to their serpent side. Especially when it came to matters of their own. It vaguely occurred to him that Asuka's crew were much the same, minus the popularity. He wasn't too sure what to make of that.

Kyouki wasn't particularly perturbed by this though, or at least not enough to pierce through the pensiveness in her manner as she answered:

"A couple of days ago…when Juu and her friends disappeared, when I woke up and saw her bed wasn't made…I was worried, yes, but also…the clouds. The clouds came too, and got mixed up in it and…well, I just left the infirmary today…."

Kyouki winced, and looked down slightly, meaning that she didn't notice that Aerin's expression had softened ever so slightly, though she was still frowning.

"It did, actually…this was literally just moments ago…she wanted to find some old designs, leave them out to make it easier for an assignment she had to do when we were finished here and one of them fell out of the folder and she picked it up and looked at them…and then she just dropped it like it'd burnt her and then, like Ani said, it was like a panic attack."

"Were the designs that bad?" Rael asked.

Aerin just gave Rael a look, and then sighed.

"No, they weren't bad." She gritted out. "I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant because they were old, and because people's skills grow and all that jazz, okay, freshman girl? But anyway, they weren't bad. They were actually really good. Sort of like a …formal uniform? I only saw like half the page but there were some pretty cool jackets with tassels on the shoulders and things…all black and gold…like I said, really cool, kind of polished. The type of thing you'd look pretty badass in, but yeah, moment Ruby saw them she just turned into a wreck. "

Aerin sighed and rubbed her face, her expression twisting in pain, but Howl's sympathy was interrupted by a realisation.

"Do you remember the black and gold people?"

The black and gold people. People who wore black and gold clothes, clothes that obviously had to have come from somewhere, that had to have been made by someone. That was of course, assuming they had existed in the first place. Even though Howl believed Ariadne, Mikelz and Char it was more that he believed that they believed, rather than that there had been actual truth in their words.

"She'll be alright," Robyn murmured softly. "Yoyo-sempai and Professor Rynacel will help her. She will have to rest for a couple of days, yes, and she might feel a little shaky for a while but I promise you she will be okay."

Letting out a shuddery breath, Aerin lifted her head and gave Robyn a coolly assessing gaze before her shoulders slumped and she nodded.

"I'll trust you then-"

"Robyn," Robyn said. "I'm a freshman work-study student at the infirmary."

"Aerin. Thanks."

Aerin, Asu and Ani all went to sit down, and Will checked to make sure nobody else was on their way.

"I…what? Ariadne, you know what we're on about, right?" Char asked her.

Ariadne nodded earnestly at this.

"Yeah, the black and gold people." She glanced at Howl. "They didn't wear the school uniform, but rather than just wearing their own clothes like you do, they sorta had their own uniform. It was black and gold, with tassels on the shoulders and things…it looked a little military and it suited them. "

"Right. So black and gold people. I'd think I'd remember that."

"But you don't." Ariadne said softly.

As Sado got up to close the door, Howl wondered if he should say something. But what would he say? That the clothing designs that had apparently triggered an episode of the clouds had been made for people who had been murdered or that had committed suicide but also somehow didn't actually exist? And that the only reason he knew of them was because the only people in the school with no powers vehemently insisted they did exist? Or rather, had existed? It was enough to make his head spin, and indeed it would have started if Will had not mercifully stood up and cleared his throat to get things started.

"So, let's begin this," Will said once he had their attention. "Essentially what happened was that Headmaster Cher fainted in our Mixed Melee Combat lesson…he was already acting strange, but it also looked like he was feverish. Headmistress Hades came to take him away, but we stayed behind anyway and realised that well, there's been a lot of things going on, and for those of us who were around last year and already saw some incidences there's been a definite escalation and no sense that anything is being done. That's the conclusion we came to, right, kouhais?"

"Basically, yes." Sado nodded.

"I mean, aren't you guys doing something? With the drinks and all?" Asu asked Will.

"Yes, that's true. But that's…a temporary fix, at best, and if someone experiences the clouds multiple times then they need stronger drinks. More potent ones, and at that point, it would need to be alcoholic for sure. And that's a slippery slope."

As he had been saying this, Will had been slowly reaching for the pocket inside of his school blazer but when he finished speaking he seemed to realise, flinching slightly. As he placed his hands deliberately against the surface of the table his eyes seemed to darken for a moment before he then sighed and shook his head. Howl couldn't tell if he was aware of being looked at, but he certainly didn't acknowledge it, didn't hurry to give some sort of reassuring look the way he would have before.

"So that can't be the only solution and in any case, it's not fixing the cause, is it?" Tate jumped in, before the silence could get too heavy.

"We don't know what the cause is, though." Chiara pointed out.

"No, we don't, but…" Lucy let out a breath. "If we're keeping watch over things, then perhaps we'll see something that leads us to the answer."

"When and how are we going to keep watch, though?" Theodore asked. "We have classes."

"It'll have to be at night, then, won't it?" Aerin murmured thoughtfully.

"At night?" Samu asked, slightly anxiously.

"Of course it'd be at night," Yuu scoffed. "The night is dark, even with all the lights we put in place. Anyone who's up to something can exploit that."

"And you'd know, would you?" Rael asked sardonically.

"Do you want to ask that again?" Michii growled.

"Hey, hey, come on!" Will said, back in peace-keeping mode. "Yuu has a point-the night is overall a quieter time, it's when things happen that wouldn't happen otherwise. It's hardly likely the cause of our problems is something that'd easily be seen in daytime, right?"

"Yes, exactly, so shut your mouth, tiger girl." Sasi hissed.

"Right, so night time it is."

While there were times that Howl envied Sado's bulk and the authority that his heroic history afforded him, this time Howl was glad of it since it so easily stopped the potential argument. Rael glared at Asuka and the others, but none of them said anything else.

"That's going to be tough. Should we do it in rotas?" Seraph asked. "And where are we covering anyway? Even for us, it would be difficult to cover the whole place, right? It's freaking huge."

"Let's take a look at the map, then and see what we can do." Will suggested.

Most people got up from their chairs to lean over and have a look at the map, Howl included. Sado picked up a pencil.

"So, the five girls probably disappeared near the forest, right?" Sado asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Howl said, remembering.

"I saw them, coming out and we were going to have lunch together the next day, with Robyn too, I think." A said quietly.

"They'd already asked me about it, yeah. Girl time, that's what Hibi called it." Robyn said, sounding almost wistful.

"So, Aeternum is definitely a danger point, right?" Jun asked. "But I don't think going into the forest might be the best idea, especially not at night."

"No, there's no sense in unnecessary danger, even if there is going to be some amount of risk anyway." Sado said. "But we can have a group on the outskirts, that should suffice."

"If we hear anything, then we'd have to go in there anyway." Asuka pointed out.

"Well, of course, but we're trying to protect all of us from further danger, not have more disappearances." Howl pointed out.

Asuka narrowed her eyes, but nodded slowly at this.

"In that case, the forest group should be larger, just in case some of us do need to go. That way, there'll be someone left to know what went on."

"That makes sense to me," Sado said. "So, let's say…six to eight by the forest outskirts for now, and we can adjust that once we have figured out the rest of the places we need to cover."

Sado carefully marked a cross by the forest and then wrote 'six to eight people' before then considering the map again. Howl leaned in, wanting to contribute, and he sensed the others also peering.

"What about the section of the grounds that borders onto Kouki-san?" Aerin asked eventually.

She had taken out a pencil of her own and now leaned forward, some hair escaping from the bun that it had been captured in and falling over her face even as her two thin ponytails remained in place. She put a faint cross on the south-western area of the map where a large mountain range was indicated.

Howl frowned at it.

"Is that even part of the school?" he asked.

"Yeah, why's a mountain on school grounds?" Seraph asked.

"No, it's not on school grounds exactly," Aerin huffed. "It's technically outside the bounds of the school, but it's still on land that the school owns."

"Wait, so Kawaakari Academy owns a mountain?" Ezrael's face scrunched up in confusion

"Why is that the thing you're worried about in all of this?" Haze asked with a raised eyebrow. "But also, do they?"

"What, no-oh. Right, of course." Aerin face-palmed lightly and then shook her head. "I forget that a bunch of you are freshmen. But Chiara, you guys, you're probably at the point where Kouki-san is starting to be mentioned, right?"

"Yeah, vaguely. Dragon items, right?" Elias asked.

"Scales, blood and tears, yeah." Aerin said. "People try to go and harvest them a lot, because they're pretty in-demand items to use for various spells and tools but…well, people don't always come back."

"Why?" Theodore asked curiously.

"Look, the history lesson's interesting and all but what does this have to do with us?" Sado asked, slightly impatiently.

Aerin clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes at him.

"There's a spirit around the mountain, apparently, a trickster spirit. There's no name for him and it's possible he may have been a Lesser God or one of their creatures at one point but again, no knowing which one. The point is that he can't be trusted, he's whimsical and shifty…quite literally, shape-shifting…and he usually leads people astray. Deliberately gets them lost. And it's supposedly really hard to find your way back from that."

"Huh. That sounds familiar, actually, like I've read about it…"Theodore mused, apparently mostly to himself.

Nobody else initially responded, but then hesitantly Samu tapped Aerin on the shoulder, getting her attention before slowly asking:

"Um…Aerin-sempai, does the spirit stay in the mountain?"

Aerin looked over at Samu, fondly ruffled his hair for a moment, and then returned to staring at the map.

"That's what we've been taught." She murmured eventually.

Before that could really sink in, they were all startled by the door opening suddenly. Late arrivals? Howl wondered, before looking at who had opened it and realising from the three curious faces that this was clearly not the case.

"Oh!" the bespectacled girl said. "I didn't realise that…uh…other people used this room."

"It is a common room, Julka," someone said from outside the view of the ajar door.

"I-I know that, Reo!" Julka spluttered. "But it's old."

"Ah, so this is the meeting for the 'doing something' then?"

This came from Cookie, the only one of the three (or four, really) that Howl recognised.

"Are you going to join us?" Will asked. "Also, Julka, you didn't get my message?"

"N-no, I don't think so…."

"Maybe, it could be a good way of gathering information." Cookie said, interrupting Julka's confused stammer with a cheeky smile.

"This isn't some kind of little middle-grade novel detective gathering, you realise."

Howl blinked as Mist got up and glared at the three girls. Cookie glared back, Julka seemed to shrink slightly while the third girl with her long snow-blue hair just blinked, looking slightly confused.

"You, running around doing 'research' and trying to find the 'truth' whatever that is, like this is all some kind of game. I'm tired of games, don't you know that?"

"I wasn't…I wasn't going to ask." Julka stammered.

"Oh, weren't you?" Mist taunted. "That's all you do, try to get me to go back to chasing ghosts with you."

"Mist, Julka, come on-"

Howl watched as Will got up, starting to go over to try and more physically intervene, but then Mist walked around and got into Julka's face. Of course, Howl couldn't see how Mist looked now, but from the way Julka's eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around herself he could guess.

"You claim that you're trying to help, but what's happening, really? Have they been found? Do you have any information that's getting you any closer?"

"If you'd help us-" Julka tried.

"No, don't you get it? They're not waiting for us to rescue them and bring them back, there's no happily ever after, they're dead. They're dead and that's not going to change, is it? And there are five more girls missing, Julka, five, did you know that? Four of them were room-mates with each other, but that means that now there's another girl who woke up one…who woke up one morning and…and…"

Mist's voice broke, for a moment, and she sucked in a breath. Julka's face creased and she reached out in what Howl assumed was an attempt at comfort, but Mist flinched violently.

"This," Mist turned back, gestured at the rest of them, all struck silent. "This is actually doing something. Something to try and prevent the danger again, prevent more of us from losing friends. This is what helping means, not your…whatever the hell you're doing."

"That's….I…" Julka stammered.

"How, exactly, are you claiming to be able to do more than us if you don't know what you're protecting the school from in the first place?"

Howl internally groaned at Cookie's interjection. Did that girl not know how to read a room? Mist didn't take it so well either as she glared viciously and prepared to round on the smaller girl when Will tried again, crossing the crowded room and getting between them.

"Look, I think you should leave, alright?" Will said. "Unless you want to join us? We'd be grateful for more people, and our goals could potentially align, in the end."

"No, it's okay," Julka said in a wobbly tone. "I know when we're not wanted. Let's go, Cookie, Frost."

Cookie narrowed her eyes at them all and then followed Julka and Frost away. Mist turned back and stared at the partially opened door, her only motion her shoulders heaving from heavy breathing. Eventually, Will had to close the door instead, and lightly touch her shoulder and remind her to sit down. He did not try to steer her, though, instead going back to his own seat and watching her carefully the way everyone else was. Thankfully though, only another few moments passed before Mist slowly returned to her seat, frowning heavily.

"Mist-sempai?" Kyouki whispered.

"What?" Mist grumbled, staring across the table.

Kyouki blushed, but didn't flinch.

"I'm sorry. About your roommate."

Though she did not actually cry, Mist's face crumpled as though she was about to.

"You, too." Mist replied, brusquely.

"Right, so, Kouki-san." Aerin said a little too loudly, clapping her hands together to get their attention back to the map. "Are we agreed that we need people there?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." Hiraga agreed.

"I agree too." Howl said, glad to be back on track.

When a few others chimed in with agreement, Aerin tapped with her pencil.

"So, Sado, since you're the apparent mastermind of all this, what do you say to six to eight people in this general area too?"

"Sure."

Cheeky so and so, Howl thought, knowing that Sado was all too pleased by being called a mastermind, even if it was by one of the few senior girls who didn't seem interested in him. Aerin nodded and wrote the number down by the cross she had marked. After a little more back-and-forth, they eventually settled upon 6 students to patrol around the school's front entrance, and then six more each for the dorm corridors of the South and West Wings and 10 for the North Wing's dorm corridors.

"That leaves…five of us in Reserve?" Sado checked.

"It'd be six when Yoyo-sempai comes back though, right?" Robyn pointed out.

"Yes, it would-and I suppose until Ruby-sempai comes back it's technically only four at the moment." Sado said. "Still, if we make a point of rotating our positions nightly it'll make sure the burden's not too heavy."

"We'll make things, with help from Ririsa and the others." Will said. "Potions, charmed syrups and extracts."

"Hold on, I thought you said that was dangerous?" Howl checked.

Will nodded soberly.

"For drinks, yes. And anything that we make more potent with alcohol. But with non-potents-especially if they're potions, syrups or oils that you can just add to water or juice or whatever it should be alright."

"Realistically, we will need them, doing this night after night." Tate said. "Energy, courage, mental clarity…to say nothing of protection spells and those to reveal illusions."

"We'll need a lot of those." Gin spoke up.

"Yes, we certainly will." Will said. "And we…I, at least, can get started on those as soon as we're done here."

"Will, you silly goose, of course it's always going to be we." Lily told him staunchly.

Will simply smiled, but his hand once again fluttered briefly towards his blazer pocket.

"Alright then, we'll go with that."

"Are we gonna decide the rota for tonight now, then? And what about the others? Should we do that in advance, or each night?"

"Why don't we do each night for now, and then if we manage to settle into a particular rhythm we could make it weekly or something?" Robyn suggested. "Especially since I'm not sure if we're all sure that these will definitely be the places we're continuing at."

"Huh, you're more than a pretty face." Rael said appraisingly. "I agree. Do you all?"

As poor Robyn's cheeks heated up, a few others piped up with agreement, and Tate and Theodore both agreed to create a document with the rotas-Theodore did it on his phone, while Tate did it in his notebook:

"Don't worry," he said by way of explanation. "It'll be stored somewhere only the twelve of us can access regularly."

"Your Room 777 place, right?" Samu asked.

"Right." Tate nodded.

Some discussion then ensued about where they'd all be placed. Howl volunteered himself for the watch by the front entrance, Tricker by Kouki-san, Koda by the forest and then Sado, Rael and Quiet at different dorms. It was also agreed that Will and his friends would make sure to spread out evenly across all the different groups to make sure they could distribute the appropriate potions to the relevant groups.

"We need to stay together, though."

This, unexpectedly, came from A, one of the few who'd been quiet during the entire proceedings thus far.

"What?" Sado blinked in a rare instance of bafflement.

"We need…" A gestured to her, Theodore, Haze and Ezrael. "The four of us, to be in the same place. Together…"

"You realise this isn't a sweet little bonding session, don't you?" Asuka spat. "This isn't time to spend with your friends on socialising."

"Yes, you've got to be prepared to split up, we can't have similar abilities and skills in the same place, which no doubt you four probably have-"

"Please."

Theodore's whisper cut through Aerin's half-huffed admonishment, shutting the third year girl up completely. She blinked rapidly and then seemed to realise her bun had come undone and reached up to re-do it, still staring at Theodore all the while. He, A and the other two had shrunk together, expressions drawn.

"For tonight, maybe?" Quiet suggested. "Since it's the first night. And we do have large enough groups to accommodate it. Or at the least…the same dorm building, if not the same corridors. It'd be impossible for you all to be on the same corridor with our current set-up but same building should be something."

Everyone gawped at Quiet, and he stared back unblinkingly for a moment before specifically turning to Sado and then to Will.

"What do you think? Is that reasonable."

"How do you fight?" Sado asked the four freshmen after a moment.

"Theo and I use swords, though his is more a straightforward sword while mine's part tree-I can extend branches from it if need be. At least, I'm learning to." Ezra murmured. "Haze has a screwdriver and knows some bare-handed combat too…or bare leg, I guess I should say. His kicks are evil."

Ezra gave a watery smile at that while Haze attempted a mock glare.

"As for our Ada, well…I guess you could say sort of closer-range. A?"

Biting her lip hesitantly, A held up her hand, showing her nails to the group. At first, they just looked like her normal nails, but in barely a blink blackness had crept up them, morphing into a brilliant electric blue as they expanded and tapered off to a sharp point, almost claw like. A blue sigil glowed against the black of the nails and faint streams of light sparked off the points.

"Right angle and intensity, they can slash anything, right, A?" Haze boasted.

"Ah, that is…" A blushed, folding her hand away as the nails returned to normal. "More or less, yes. I'm more adept at using the magic to immobilise."

"That's not bad…but still, you're freshmen." Aerin said. "A group with just freshmen is going to be handicap if anything does happen."

"Even so, we're Kawaakari students, are we not? The sky's our limit, or it's meant to be." Sado pointed out.

"But even the sky has boundaries, right?"

Everyone stared at an unblinking Tricker, and naturally he gave no reaction back, nothing to help gauge how, exactly, they should respond to his statement. In the end, it was Will who broke the silence.

"Tonight, you can stay together…it is the first night we're doing this, and we're all scared, I'm sure. But the others are right, I think. If it ends up hampering things, you will have to split up."

"But that's-" Ezra protested.

"It's okay," A said, not sounding like she agreed at all. "That's okay…thanks."

"You're fine, A." Will said.

With that out of the way, they discussed any other possible issues that they could think of and then slowly and gradually, people started to leave, with Will's group being amongst the first to leave in order to get the potions ready.

"It's strange, isn't it?" he heard one of Ruby's group say to Aerin. "That it's all girls who've gone missing."

Leaving with his own group, Howl did not hear what Aerin had to say on this, but he so badly wanted to turn back and say: Not just girls. Mostly, yes, but there are boys, too. Perhaps they didn't count because they weren't remembered but surely…surely that was better reason to count them, to counteract the forgetting. Then again, with a Forgotten Goddess in their own history, perhaps it was better that they were forgotten. Who knew? He certainly didn't.

Ah, stop thinking like that. There isn't anything you can do about that, so just focus on what you can do and do it will. Anything else will drive you crazy. Even that sort of thought didn't feel quite right to Howl, but he didn't know what else to do, really. So he went with it, and just hoped that it would be the right thing to do.

…

Cookie dragged her feet as she headed back to her dorm. Getting to the cafeteria for the very beginning of dinner time had done nothing for her mood whatsoever, and it hadn't done anything for Julka's and Frost's either, she was sure. Well, she was sure that Julka was still upset, as she'd been jittery and up-and-down the entire time they were in the library, constantly flitting back and forth looking for books and coming back with ones so disparate in topic that Cookie wasn't even sure that she was actually paying attention. And yet Julka had flicked desperately through each one, eyes straining to pick out something, anything that could mean something. Cookie wasn't heartless, she cared that this was hurting, but she found her own head churning with too much, and annoyed at Julka for being too trusting and letting Frost join them.

She was sure that though Julka was just like the rest of the world, a person who at the very least unquestioningly believed, she would have found the conversation with Frost weird. She supposed she could not judge, such a so-called aberration she was for not buying any of it, even as a tiny child. It was entirely possible that Frost thought that she was just as weird, was probably side-eying the entire conversation the way she was doing now. People did, after all. They couldn't comprehend that there could be someone in the world who just didn't believe.

But even with that taken into account, something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

But that's all I know really in the end, isn't it? Something's wrong, something's wrong. Going nowhere. Mist-sempai is right in a way, isn't she…Cookie curled her lip. Middle-grade novel, indeed. She knew how serious this was, that there was a risk that they were all in danger and the staff were more than willing to keep it that way. And what sort of best-case scenario could there be? That the staff were unwittingly allowing danger to sneak in, hands tied? Surely in a way that was worse than a deliberate conspiracy.

No wonder I don't trust anything, Julka, she yelled in her head. And you should too! Or at least, trust less!

Reaching her dorm room door Cookie let out a frustrated growl at around the same time that A opened the door to their room, dressed casually and clearly about to head down and get something to eat.

"So," Cookie said. "You're…fighting."

"I…um…"

A flicked her glance up and down the corridor, biting her lip, before nodding. And there's another thing I haven't figured out-what on earth is up with this one. Cookie supposed she could take the opportunity that A being out of the room all night would represent, and go through that notebook properly, and maybe some other things.

"I suppose so." A eventually said.

"Well, good luck with that, I guess. Can I get through?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry….oh, wait. There's something…something strange I noticed, that you might like to know…"

"Oh?"

Having pushed past A, Cookie now turned back and stared. A shuffled, again looking up and down the corridor before she then leaned in and whispered.

"Professor Shippa has a personal library."

"What?"

"He has a personal library…or, I'm sure he did. There was a door behind his desk before…his personal library, he said, with his own materials and records. "

"That's ridiculous, I would have noticed a door."

Even as she said it though, Cookie realised that it was strange that from the outside, the classroom seemed bigger than it actually was, and that the space between that room and the end of the corridor was a lot of space to just be wall. A shook her head, as if expecting that.

"That's the thing. Last time around, the door was there to be seen, and Professor Shippa explained it to us, what it was for and things. He said that he didn't typically let freshmen in, only seniors and even then guided since a lot was personal…but we were allowed to know it was there. That there was history related in there. But this time around now…the door's gone. And he didn't say a word about it at all…"

"And you're telling me this because?"

A shrugged, pulling a face.

"I thought…you're trying to help too, in your own way. Aren't you? I wouldn't know if this means something but…you're more likely to be able to do something with it."

"Well, thanks for that. I'll look into it." Cookie said as blithely as she could manage.

"Ah, no problem. Oh, I'd better go!"

A dashed off and Cookie blinked at how quickly she careened down the corridor, remembering too late that there was one more question. What did you mean by 'last time'? Remembering the notebook, and the assertions she had seen in it, on that particular night, she knew there was yet another connection waiting for her to see it. But once again, it was out of her reach.

Ah, dammit.

"A's right about the library thing."

Cookie swore and jumped as almost out of nowhere, three of the non-magical students appeared.

"Oh, great," She snarked. "Another unsolved mystery."

"Um…what?" Ariadne stammered, blinking.

"I think she means us, Addie."

Naturally, Kura followed this statement with a cheeky wink and Cookie just rolled her eyes at him. Alright so all nine of them could be defined as 'weird' but this guy really took the biscuit as far as she was concerned. And was that a face sticker? Honestly. Cookie sighed and rolled her eyes again.

"I know, he's an idiot."

This dry assessment came from the girl in the middle whom Cookie naturally had seen around but didn't actually know. She had a default grumpy face and messy black hair and was wearing a bright green hoodie printed with an image of a cute yet inexplicably terrifying rabbit. Actually, now she was paying attention, they'd all changed into casual clothes. Not that that's important, Cookie, focus for crying out loud!

"Anyway, you know of the door?" Cookie asked.

"We've seen the door." Ariadne said.

Cookie's jaw dropped open for a moment before she snapped it shut abruptly and just gawped at them.

"Are you sure none of you are actually magic?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be sure?"

Cookie wondered if this had anything to do with why they were all still here. She hadn't managed to get any sense out from the story of how they'd arrived here in the first place or why it was they couldn't just be transferred back again-mid-year transfers were a thing, were they not? Did the staff know that this was happening? Were they hoping for it? Was it part of their wider goals, whatever those could be? If anything, they were the embodiment of the very simple fact that something was very, very wrong, even if they were cheerfully oblivious to it.

"Have you asked anyone about it?"

"Well, it kinda got overshadowed with the maybe-dead people thing, but like we noticed it but nobody else seemed too, and like I would have asked but Sera and Ariadne said to wait," Kura gestured to the two girls. "So we waited, and then the others-who're together in a different class of his, also pointed out they'd noticed it but Angela thought like, maybe it's some kind of illusion and we're susceptible because we're powerless, or something? And we waited to see if anyone would mention it, or ask about it but….yeah."

"We've been given charms and things, too, and we use them regularly."

"If it's a particularly advanced illusion it's possible the charms you have may not work…but admittedly I'd expect you to not be able to see something we can all see rather than the other way around." Cookie said. "Anyway, thanks, I'll look into it."

"Awww, you're not taking us with you?" Kura pouted.

Cookie paused her closing of the door and opened it slowly to gawp.

"Yes, you should let us come with you," Sera said. "After all, we know what the six look like, and you'll probably look for information about them, right? We've got pictures of them."

"You can't see the door, either."

"No…but… wait, you, Sera, what did you mean about having pictures?"

Sera blinked.

"Well, not photographs, but Wendy and I, we had a go at drawing them, what they looked like. We were going to show it to like, Jae and Hibi and Howl and them but then all the stuff happened with those five girls disappearing and teachers getting sick and well…yeah."

"It's good to have the drawings though," Ariadne said. "Have the pictures outside our heads rather than in it."

Technically, Cookie had pictures of them already. But those were on the ID cards, half caked in dried blood. She could hardly clean them, not when they were evidence. I suppose it would be useful to know what they actually look like. She stared at the three of them looking so expectantly, caught between contempt and awe at the sight of them and everything they represented.

"Alright," she decided. "Show me the pictures."

"Gimme a mo, my room's not too far."

Sera disappeared and Cookie just stared at Kura and Ariadne, the former grinning and the latter giving nothing away as she snuffled into her thick scarf.

"Where are the rest of your gang anyway?" she asked them.

"Ah, hanging out with some of the other friends they've made," Kura said. "We do have them, you know."

"She never said we didn't," Ariadne pointed out. "Kay and Rena went to visit Ruby-sempai with cookies from Ririsa-sempai, that much I know."

"Kay," Cookie remembered. "Doesn't she have heterochromia?"

"Yeah, so?" Kura asked, scratching his head.

Before Cookie could answer, however, Sera had arrived back and was now brandishing a sketchpad, which she solemnly handed over.

"That one is specifically for sketches of them…based on what we could remember…we didn't all see the same things, after all."

"No, I know that."

The first page was a portrait of a girl with long pink hair and eyes framed by long eyelashes, pouting prettily. The next one showed a boy with wavy hair and a charming smile, and the one after that was the most distinctive, a fox boy. Delilah, Cain, Abel, Cookie quietly recited to herself as she looked at the portraits of Eve, Maria and Judas and then onto other pictures-different poses that looked vaguely candid-sitting in what Cookie assumed was meant to be the school canteen, walking down the corridor, hanging around in the courtyard. There was something clean-cut and smooth about the lines of Sera's drawings, sanitised. The colours were clean and bright, innocent almost in their cheerfulness. The drawings didn't capture any sense of the intrigue that seemed to surround them, the terror that had steamed off of A's rambles. Their attractiveness was there, but nothing of their frecht qualities. Still, as far as Cookie was aware the likenesses were good. Grudgingly, she figured that she should at least acknowledge this when she flipped the page and stopped.

This page was slightly different, with what looked like a bunch of false starts all over the page before two small sketches had been made in the corner. One a portrait and the other a side portrait of what could have been the same person walking, a cloak flowing behind them. The portrait showed a delicate featured person of indeterminate gender-snub nose, full lips that curved slightly. Derisive, or self-effacing? Cookie prided herself on being able to read people, but she couldn't get a sense of this person's expression. Indeed, though even in a picture the gold eyes blazed there was something indistinct and blurry that contrasted with the clarity of Sera's previous drawings. The word Oura flashed in Cookie's mind before retreating to a corner as she looked up at the three non-magical students staring so expectantly.

"What's with this?"

Sera sighed and rubbed her eyes briefly before looking cautiously at her two friends.

"Well…honestly, no matter how we tried to do it, none of us who'd even seen this person could really get a handle on them, you know?"

"Yeah, I think it was Addie who got the clearest view of him out of all of us but like…you know, some of us think these guys might be ghosts but I'm convinced that this one is." Kura said.

"Ghosts? Don't be stupid, ghosts aren't a thing."

Cookie bit down on the inside of her mouth before she could add, and neither do the Goddesses. She'd had enough of that type of conversation for today.

"I'm not sure if they really were or are one of them…" Ariadne added. "I never heard anything about them, it was only ever the six. But I saw them, and they're black and gold and frecht too, so…"

"It's suspicious, either way…"

Cookie's gaze lingered on the mysterious person's face, turned the pad this way and that in a futile attempt to get clarity. It seemed to her the more she looked at it, whichever way she turned the pad, the light seemed to change the expression. Humble, haunting, haughty. Evil, contemplative, innocent. And yet people are so hung up on light, as though there can never be anything wrong with it. Even as she scolded herself for such thoughts, she couldn't help but think them, hating that such questions caused such drama

"Ahem, well?"

"Well what?" Cookie rolled her eyes at Kura.

"Are you taking us with you?"

Cookie gave an exaggerated sigh and then looked at the time on her watch, making a point of pretending to think. In some ways, this lot were more suspicious than Frost and she didn't want to make the mistake of swelling their group with more suspicious figures. Plus, most of them were idiots.

"Please," Ariadne said softly when the silence dragged. "I want to know what happened to them. To the black and gold people."

Her expression was wide and pleading, and more expressive than Cookie had ever seen it, which gave her pause. Yes, they were idiots, but that idiocy was useful-and surely if things got too hairy, she could extract herself quickly.

And she had to admit there was something about them, they seemed to have an effect on people that turned all scenarios into silliness and cheer, whether that was forcing people to dance at the party or inviting everyone into their games room. Nothing that interested her, but she'd be a fool to not recognise the impact they had on other people and the fact that in some cases this was good.

That, and perhaps she was just a sucker for a look like Ariadne's, and the fact that she just wanted to know more or less echoes Cookie's sentiments on most of this mess. She, too, just wanted to know. And for all Cookie wasn't about to become all trusting and open, she could hardly resist that.

"Alright, fine," she sighed eventually, handing over Sera's notebook. "Put that back, let me get myself sorted, then we'll go together before nightfall and curfew begin. BUT, you follow my lead, got it? I'm not having you screw up my investigation."

…

It wasn't until they actually got to the classroom that Cookie realised it'd be a big problem if A, Professor Shippa was in the classroom itself and B, if he turned out to be in the secret room. To say nothing of if either room was locked.

Thankfully though, the classroom proved to be both unlocked and empty.

"It's there!" Kura hissed over-dramatically, pointing.

Cookie stared at the wall, blank and smooth with pale wooden panelling, a light fixture above casting a soft glow. Despite the fact she'd drunk a citrus oil charm along the lines of the ones she knew the non-magical ones took along with anointing her eyelids with a more advanced oil mixture of fennel, yarrow and thyme, she couldn't see anything.

I suppose it isn't so unbelievable that the professors could enact a charm that gets past any of the protections they themselves teach us to use…but damn it! Cookie blinked as with apparently no problems, Sera went straight to try the door, her hands curving around what Cookie assumed was where the door knob was and rattling it.

"It's locked." Sera announced dejectedly.

"Aha, time for me to step in!"

Of all things, Kura brandished a needle and knelt down, poking it in the lock. Hold on a minute. Cookie squinted and saw the outline of a door, just faintly, filtered in gold. She stared as Kura waggled the needle a few times, concentrating hard before abruptly there was a click, and he was able to get up, turn the knob and push the door back. The motion made the door fill in very gradually, as if someone was painting it. Pale wood, the same as the wall panelling surrounding it, simple and solid. There was a plain metal plaque on the door, saying simply Library but apart from that, it was unadorned. Cookie stared as the last colours came back in, then slowly walked forward to touch it. Rather than feeling solid wood, it wavered under her touch.

But it was there, and she couldn't deny it.

"Yesssss!" Kura hissed. "Check me out."

"Show off." Sera dead-panned. "Anyway, you believe us now, right?"

"Of course I do."

The three went ahead of her as she stared for a moment. Again, she poked the door, wondering how, and why. She'd have to look into that more. Perhaps some of her investigation could look into more advanced levels of magic, something to explain all of this…

Reminding herself to focus, she followed them, and closed the door behind her-though not before taking off her shoes and using them to wedge it slightly ajar. Somehow, under the circumstances, she didn't think it'd be a good idea if the door closed completely despite the fact it could expose their presence to anyone coming into the classroom. But now that she didn't have to worry about Professor Shippa there, she could concentrate on observing the room.

The first thing she noted now that she was standing in only sock-clad feet was the fact that the carpet was really, really soft. Luxurious and in the finest of conditions, in a shade of red that was as opulent as the carpet itself. She could tell it was a high-end brand and must have been expensive-her own home had a carpet like this, but in white. After all, nobody in that house could even contemplate the possibility of anything daring to mess up their perfection. Shaking that thought away Cookie then noted that the walls were a pale gold colour and largely unadorned, apart from the light fixtures (all either magical variety-turned on, or candles-blown out) and a few mahogany photo frames here and there which held a combination of photographs and paintings. The curtains were a similar colour to the carpet and currently drawn closed.

"Don't open them!" she snapped sharply as Sera went to do just that. "It's still busy around, someone could see!"

Sera turned and blinked, and then retreated.

"Sorry." She muttered.

Cookie sighed and looked around. The large rectangular table that dominated the room was kept neat, with a candelabra and a desk tidy which, oddly to Cookie's mind, was actually shaped like a tree carved out of silver metal. Different branches curved in such a way to allow pencils, pens and other small items of stationery to be held. There was a different desk tidy, this one just a simple wooden box with lotuses carved in it, that held sheets of paper. A pile of books were stacked relatively neatly at the end of the desk, and Cookie could tell where they'd come from by the gaps in the crammed bookshelves that lined the two walls of the room that didn't have the door or the window in them. These shelves looked to be a similar model to the ones in the school library, but somewhat older.

There were a couple of tables pushed up against the wall, next to the window. One had what looked like a bunch of metal storage boxes with drawers, each of them neatly labelled. There was also a laptop, plugged in and charging much to Cookie's surprise. She hadn't thought there'd be electricity in this room, but not only was there the laptop, but also a kettle and a microwave resting on the other table. Intrigued, she went straight over there and discovered that rather being plugged into an electrical outlet, the plug appeared to be embedded into a rock of some sort, a glittering green one that Cookie didn't recognise. She made a mental note to focus on identifying that when looking into the extent of the professor's staff.

"These books are hand-written."

Cookie whipped around to where Ariadne had already started to look through some of the books on Shippa's desk.

"They are?" Cookie asked.

Ariadne quietly turned the page to show that yes, the pages were indeed filled with neat handwriting that slanted heavily to the right, before she turned it back so she could concentrate.

"Alright," Cookie said. "Ariadne you can keep looking at the desk, Kura and Sera you take the bookshelves, I'll look around the rest of the room."

"What are we looking for in particular?" Sera asked.

"Anything referring to the Elite Chess Club, as well as the nine missing girls."

"Oh yeah, what are all their full names again? We know the chess people, obviously, but the others?" Kura asked. "That might be useful to know."

"The most recent five are Juu Mariko, Jan Erika De Lowen, Hibi Marie Harukano, Rain Estelleschild and Risu Fridaschilde. Then last year's lot are Lunarveil Hannano known as Lunar, Montaro Van Liese known as Mona, Amuri Kaischilde and Negi Aidenschild. "

"I….well damn that's a lotta names."

"It's okay, Kura," Ariadne said quietly. "I'll be your brain for you."

"Oh tha-heyyy, wait a minute!"

Cookie smirked at Ariadne, who barely even looked up before going to inspect the photographs. The first one looked like a posed sepia photograph, a cutting from a newspaper that was clearly very old, simply showing all the staff members of the school-heads, professors and faculty alike posing outside what looked like Kawaakari. She could recognise the front of the building, but the courtyard itself looked somewhat different-rather than a central fountain as far as she could tell there were two smaller fountains flanking the path. Though some were sombre, others downright glaring while a few (like Yanovi , Nyamai and Reoni) were merry, they all had their chins lifted in that particular way, eyes gleaming as they stared right out, shoulders drawn back and chests puffed out. Proud, and defiant.

Their clothes were in a slightly different style that Cookie presumed was the in-thing of 300 years ago-and sure enough, she noticed that on the white card the picture had been stuck onto, the slanted handwriting had written the words 'Kawaakari opening' and the date that corresponded to that. Despite the dated look of the outfits though, she could see particular elements that the staff had retained over the years- such Professor Yanovi's aprons, Professor Nyamai's poofy skirts, and Headmistress Hades' low-cut dresses and cropped jackets. But their faces were uncannily the same as the ones she saw every day now.

Well, I guess that is what immortality does to you.

The next photograph showed Shippa in front of a class, reading something from a heavy tome to attentive students. This was a printed photograph in sepia, but also stuck to card before being framed. The caption simply indicated that this had been taken around 70 years ago in one of Professor Shippa's sophomore classes.

The next frame she looked at was one of the paintings, and a curious one indeed. It appeared to show a series of interconnected islands but not as part of a map, or in the ocean, but floating high up in the sky. The islands were jagged mounds of land, topped with smooth vivid green grass. A few islands were connected by rope bridges and quite a few had trees in full blossom on them, as well as a few free-standing doorframes with what looked like a light blue sigil floating within their bounds, glowing steadily. A transportation spell, Cookie wondered as she continued studying the painting and spotting other trees, small bright flowers too small to identify in the painting, rivers and what she thought was a tiny cottage on one of the higher islands. The rivers and waterfalls seemed to spill over the edges over the island and further into the sky below, which was the dark of night in contrast to the sunset pinks and oranges above it. The spilling water seemed to fade into dust when it reached the dark, sparkling blue just above the silver-white stars that dotted the sky proper.

Wait a damn moment…lifting her eyes to the ceiling and imagining the night sky, Cookie was hit with a realisation. Was this…was this where the strange glow in the night sky in the area came from? Is this an actual place? Cookie looked for a caption, but rather than anything that revealed when the painting had been done or what it showed, there was a small square of pale pink letter paper tucked inside the corner of the frame, filled edge to edge with tight rounded writing. Cookie tiptoed to read it better:

Here, the moon is always full and the sun is always somewhere in reach. It could be said, also, that the sky is our sea here instead, the stars simply particles of water. If the world had ended up like this instead, I wonder if things would have been different.

Ryn has done it justice in this painting, but that is still not enough, I know. We wish you could all see it for yourselves, because while we know Goddess Akari loved it here, she was still alone in the end, wasn't she?

"Well that's…useless?" Cookie grumbled to herself. "What even is that meant to mean?"

Even as she said this, looking over the words again, there was something about them that sent a tremble through her. Trying to conceal her wobbliness, even from herself, Cookie found herself getting her phone out to take two photographs-one of the entire frame, and then one of the note. She wondered which staff member had written it. She was sure she recognised the handwriting but at the moment apart from Professor Shippa's she wasn't sure who of the other professors' handwriting she'd seen enough to be able to make a comparison.

Cookie proceeded to move to the next photograph and then stopped cold.

Rather than a single photograph, this frame actually bore three separate small ones, all sepia and slightly faded. The first two were of young men, one in a kimono and facing the camera with an earnest expression, while the other man wore a hooded cloak and seemed to be sitting somewhere, a glass bottle in his hands as he turned to the camera seeming bewildered. But it was the third photograph that had Cookie reeling. A young woman a similar age to the two men, in a floaty white dress that spun around her as she appeared to be dancing, laughing merrily. Cookie knew that her name was probably Rielle, since that was what was underneath the picture (with the cloaked man being Eita and the earnest one being Lowen). That wasn't what mattered though. What mattered was that she looked exactly like Professor Arianna, almost down to the last physical feature. Not just a passing resemblance, either.

But alike enough for them to be twins.

There's no way. Cookie's mind reeled. There's just no way, whatsoever. Not however long ago these are from, and they have to be from a long ago if they are sepia and…the style of the clothes and, just…that doesn't happen. How could it happen like that when even in this day and age…Cookie tried to get her bearings again when suddenly Ariadne exclaimed in a voice louder than Cookie had ever used:

"Professor Arianna had a twin sister!"

"What?"

Even Sera and Kura looked over at Ariadne, who was holding a blue book in her hands.

"It's in here…sort of. It's in reference to the Angel Tree. It's apparently made from her ashes. Rielle's, that is. That was the twin sister's name, she was a plant and earth magician I think…the tree's a memorial to her."

"A memorial?" Kura said. "But I didn't even know that she had a twin sister. Then again, why would anyone want it to be known that they had a twin sister if they were a girl themselves, right?"

"I know, right?" Sera said. "What, is this something the professor found about after she died or something?"

"No, it seems like they grew up together…" Ariadne frowned. "This seems to be more about the tree than it is about them, specifically. But with the tree being made from her ashes she's mentioned a few times…"

"Does it say how she died?" Cookie asked, aware her voice was strained.

"Um…."

Ariadne flicked back a few pages and frowned.

"During the Great War. She didn't make it."

"Well duh, if the tree is made from her ashes," Kura snarked before screwing up his face. "Wait, how the hell is a tree made from ashes?"

"That's your problem?" Sera asked. "Surely it's a bigger problem that Professor Arianna had a twin sister and they knew each other!"

They don't even have magic, and yet they believe in that too. Cookie was cold now, so cold, but she couldn't let herself shiver. She did not trust herself to not blurt out the secret she'd managed to keep clamped down for the year since she'd discovered it. Not while knowing that somehow, in an era where the twin designated as a mirror sister would be more likely to be killed than to be given away, there had been a pair of twin sisters who had grown up knowing each other like any other sisters. How could something like that have happened? How? And if Rielle had made it, would she have ended up working at Kawaakari too? Could there really have been a pair of twin sisters walking around the halls together and showing people that their fears were complete nonsense? How differently things might have turned out if that was so.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. None of this is fair.

"Could that be something to do with why everything is happening?" Ariadne asked.

"Considering she died before the school even opened," Cookie cuttingly retorted. "I highly doubt that."

"I mean, she's still around in the form of a tree, right?" Kura asked. "Assuming that this Rielle is the dark one, then maybe she's causing it?"

"Why would be Professor Yanovi be taking cuttings of the tree though? And trying to grow them or whatever it is she's doing?" Sera asked.

"Huh?"

"Jun mentioned it, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"If…If Professor Arianna and Professor Rielle have something to do with this, then I doubt it is the explanation for everything." Cookie retorted.

"Professor Rielle? She's not a professor, she's dead." Sera corrected.

Cookie glowered at her, and Ariadne stepped in.

"I mean, it's strange to just use her first name when she's an adult." The quiet girl pointed out.

"I guess…" Sera pouted.

Before Cookie could give an appropriate retort, or a different set of orders, the chimes rang out to indicate it was half an hour until curfew, and all four of them jumped.

"Oh, dammit," Kura groaned. "That means we gotta go, right? Are we coming back another time?"

"I'm coming back another time." Cookie corrected.

"But-"

"I'm glad you helped, but it'll be easier on my own from now on."

"How're you going to open the door, though?" Ariadne asked.

Cookie groaned. Now she was thinking about it, they'd broken the charm, hadn't they? Professor Shippa would surely realise it that the next morning, but would he be able to tell who? She hoped not.

"I'll manage." She said, shortly.

With that, she chased them out and made to follow, but for a moment, she lingered. Twin sisters, who actually got the chance to know each other. Even if it turned out to be useless information in the end, she'd needed it all the same. And I don't want to forget again. Quickly, she whipped her phone out, darted across the room to where that photograph was, and quickly snapped a picture of her own.

Then, finally, she forced herself to leave.