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.

15. 2-6

This chapter was revised on 28/09/2022, tweaking the second scene to foreshadow stuff in part 3, as well as some tweaks in narration etc. across the whole chapter.

---

Eugenia, my Eugenia. I journeyed alone all this time
That I might meet you again.
And I tell you this:
That days of shivering in a long-ago dawn
Also end today.
From here on we will be together, forever.
The song that rises to my lips,
The insects of the woods crushed beneath my shoes in the morning,
And this tiny heart of mine ceaselessly pumping blood,
All this, I offer to you.

-The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda

We are not mad.
We are human.
We want to love,
and someone must forgive us
for the paths we take to love,
for the paths are many and dark,
and we are ardent and cruel
in our journey

- Leonard Cohen: Poems and Songs by Leonard Cohen

Robyn looked up, startled, as someone practically crashed their way into the infirmary. She was even more surprised to see that it was Will. Luckily, apart from her, the only people in the room were the comatose students. And Yoyo's dolls, if one counted them as people (Yoyo did, in a manner of speaking, but that was Yoyo). Even so, the shock of it had her dropping the sprigs of wintergreen she had been grinding, rising from her chair as he staggered in and then straightened, looking almost apologetic. She noticed that he was still dressed in the clothes he usually used for Night Patrol and that the trousers were wet and muddy. He was also holding a large bottle of clear, almost glimmering water. This, he held up, something apologetic in the gestures.

"Hi, I'm sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to bring some of the water from the Portal. You know, for them…"

"That's kind of you, but we've been giving them Portal water already though," Robyn said gently. "Sometimes plain, sometimes steeped with various herbs and flowers."

She decided not to add that Will should have known this, considering he was the one who helped most of the time. There was something helplessly ravaged about him that pushed her slightly off kilter. Will, for his part, sighed heavily.

"I know, but I wondered if it may make a difference if the water came straight from the pool to them, because all the water you've been using has been in various stores for a while, hasn't it? I…may I give them a little? Just to see?"

"I…"

Robyn bent down to pick up the wintergreen and placed it back on the table before she then went to find the small bottles they had been using to feed the comatose students.

"We'll need to use these, since of course they can't swallow. Perhaps you can help me hold them up."

"I…you're sure?"

"Sure," she said, aiming for easy. "I do not see the harm in it."

Will stared at her, a question in his eyes she couldn't quite discern. Perhaps it was simply because she had not seen him like this before. Yes, he was obviously distraught over what had happened to his friends and sorrowful for the other students, but he was always the one to do the reassuring. The comforting, the supporting. He seemed unflappable, most of the time, but he was anything but unflappable in this precise moment.

It was for that reason she initially decided to not say anything beyond giving him the instructions he needed to that they could go from comatose student to comatose student, carefully tipping a small amount of water into their mouths, making sure it didn't spill and wiping away any drops that did. And as they did that, she watched him. Watched his hands tremble, his eyes flash and flicker, the way he bit his lip in between every one of his friends' names that he murmured, over and over like a mantra. Watched as he gave Katherine's and Niwa's and Rael's and the other students' sleeping forms regretful looks.

She also noticed the smell.

So, when she had put the remaining Portal water away and returned to her table, and when Will had gone to sit by his friends' beds-specifically between Gin's and Tate's, right in the middle of the row that those six were in, she asked:

"What potent? What is that you're looking for?"

Will's head jerked up and he stared at her.

"I can smell it," she said, before he could deny it. "I don't know the potents by smell or taste, but I do know their inherent properties, what they're meant to do. So. Yours."

Will hesitated but then nodded slowly, the admission coming out as little more than a whisper:

"Courage."

"So, vodka then."

"Mhm."

"Do your friends know that you're struggling like this?" she asked.

"I love them, though. They love me."

Will looked over at his friends, meaning that for a long moment she couldn't see his expression. She sensed it was not the right moment to say anything, and waited for him to look back at her.

"Do you think it's a hospital that they need?" he asked eventually.

"I do, yeah," Robyn answered. "But when I asked Professor Rynacel about it she said no, that this place was the best for them given the specifics of the situation. She didn't say what she meant, though. I think the day staff-the other school nurses-disagree and that's why they're not around so much anymore. And perhaps the Professors would know better-I mean, I'm not even a proper medical student yet, technically so I wouldn't be able to say for sure. It does feel like a hospital would be better. But despite that, I'm doing my best, as is Yoyo-sempai."

She wished Yoyo was here to help her, but the older girl needed a break. She'd not been as sunny as she usually was, and the few breaks she had she went out walking, usually coming back with more supplies but always evasive about how and where exactly on the grounds she'd gotten them. She didn't think Yoyo had much in the way of friends, either.

"I know," Will said, sounding more like normal when he said it. "I am grateful to the two of you, truly. You work so hard and you do such a good job. Is it the healing side that's your speciality?"

"No, no," Robyn shook her head. "But all the same, this feels more like my calling than the…other stuff."

It did not seem right to talk about communicating with the dead, not when so many students were suspended horrifically between life and death. And it certainly didn't seem right when she hadn't been able to use that ability to help. Her head knew that Jun was right, that it wasn't really her fault, that the blame only laid with whoever it was that had killed Lunar. But her heart told her different, all the time.

"Say, kouhai?" Will asked after a pause.

"Hmmm…"

"Do you think…do you think that the Professors are scared?"

Robyn blinked, not quite sure how to answer the question. Once again, Will had the unusually wild look about him which persisted for a good few seconds before he slumped, cradling his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said, voice raw. "I don't know what came over me."

"No…it's okay…"

Robyn looked over at the packets of plants that she had around her, all of them labelled with their names, as well as both their inherent and their symbolic properties. The poultices she had been making while talking with Will were for the comatose students but there was…pushing aside the wintergreen and earth smoke packets she'd been working from, she quickly squirreled out packets of cedar, germander speedwell, tea leaves, carnations, vetiver, wallflower, a vial of citrus oil and finally her own favourite flowers, the violets. She then began the process of crushing and mixing them before smiling gently and asking:

"Why don't you tell me about them? Your friends, that is. How you became friends and what they're like. That kind of thing. I only really know them from Night Patrol."

"Yes, that's true, isn't it?"

Will brightened slightly as he thought a moment, before then beginning.

"So, Tate. Tate was the very first of them all that I met, you know? I mean, we'd all become friends by the end of that first day, all twelve of us. But Tate was the first of them-we arrived at the school gates at the exact same and something just clicked. I had no sense of what we'd end up being a part of but right from that moment I knew at the very least we'd be mates. Met Gin and Getsu in the registration line and then we ended up sitting next to Lidia and Lucy during the entrance ceremony. And then the rest of the day it was tutor groups or lessons that we me-ah, not quite. Hiraga was my room-mate last year, so I met him just before the entrance ceremony too and we sat together with the others and then it went from there. And we went exploring after school that first day, but it wasn't until the second day we found Room 777. The rest, as some people say, was history."

He took a breath and then continued on, describing Tate as serious and logical with a head for numbers and a tendency to keep paper copies of everything, and moments of unexpected, unintentional silliness. In contrast, Wren and Kureha were apparently more deliberately goofy, with Wren being a bit of a gossip and Kureha a chronic snacker with a taste for unusual flavour pairings. He told her about how Gin and Getsu were more laid back in contrast to Mica's hot temper, but how one brother was a little more awkward than the other. He went into more detail about their first day of school together and how that had led to the friendship they now all shared, the pride over what the twelve of them had built together clear. After a while though, the words seemed to run out and he sat there, looking down at his hands. Robyn waited, hands busy as she watched him carefully.

"Do you…" Will looked up. "Do you want to hear about the girls? The first four, I mean?"

Robyn considered this. Now that she was helping Julka and Cookie (or rather, trying to), she had naturally found herself finding out more about the four girls. But most of it had specific purposes-for example, the flowers that they used in their magic, which along with their year group had been one of the few things that they'd all had in common. Inevitably, bits and pieces of story slipped themselves into the facts, but it occurred to her that she didn't really know that much about them. Had never heard anything about them simply as them, as people. Expecting Frost to share anything about the one she knew was probably a bit of a stretch when basic conversation was like pulling teeth, but she knew that Julka had been friends with both Lunar and Amuri and even from her, Robyn had not learnt that much. Mist was similar, it was clear that talking about Negi pained her, just as it was clear that Negi had been desperately important to her.

Plus, in this very moment here and now the act of describing seemed to be helping. The words seemed to have slowly begun to pull him back together, so even if the information wasn't anything that she could take back to the investigation, they would still be worth it. So she simply nodded.

Will didn't quite smile, but he nodded back and then, after gazing at his friends for a moment, began:

"Lunar was shy-that's probably the main thing you noticed first. Polite, sweet-but really shy. She didn't talk to very many people outside of Julka and Yew. Actually, I think those two made friends because of their full first names-Yew and Lunar, that is. Neither of them liked their names very much if I'm remembering correctly. But anyway, because Julka and Amuri were basically joined at the hip, I suppose Lunar would have talked to her too, but I never saw the two of them do anything when Julka wasn't around.

She hated combat, especially Mixed Melee Combat. I think she was a little intimidated by sharing a lesson with older students. Tate and I were there, so we looked out for her, but she had Julka there too so that helped, I think. But that's where you'd really notice her shyness. But you know, I think she'd have been alright if she'd had the chance. I know that she suddenly retreated in the couple weeks before she disappeared-I remember that, and Lidia and Starri going with Julka to try and find out what was going on. But before that…before that, I think she was getting more confident. I really do. "

Will seemed to need to pause to take a breath, and Robyn found herself needing to do so too. Just the thought of it, of Lunar slowly blossoming in life only for it to be snatched away. The thought of it.

Oh, Lunar, I'm so sorry.

"In any case…she liked origami, did you know that? You know in elementary school, ever Crane Moon you'd make chains and chains of cranes to hang up in the classroom and stuff? Even at the very beginning of the year, I saw her a few times making cranes. Fancy designs as well, not just the basic ones, with scissors to do things like…there was one called 'dream path' or something? Two cranes …they looked like they were reflections of each other, like in a pond? Anyway, she'd save any scrap paper she could to cut into squares for it, and I'm pretty sure she spent any money that she didn't need for essential stuff on packets of the nice paper…and you know, Julka used to buy some for her too? In fact, that day…that day when we realised that Lunar was gone, Julka had gone shopping after school with Amuri and she had a new packet that she'd wanted to give to her-I know this because we bumped into each other in the corridor that day, just before we discovered what had happened. Julka was pretty happy about it, was looking forward to giving it to her. Except, of course, she never got the chance."

Now this, Robyn hadn't known.

"You know…I'm sure Julka convinces herself that she was a terrible friend because she didn't spend as much time with Lunar as she did Amuri, because she didn't notice whatever it is she thinks she should have noticed. But that's not true at all, not from what I saw. There's nothing wrong in having different levels of friendship for different people, you know? And Julka and Amuri were best friends-as I said, joined at the hip. It was kinda funny to see, they were very different people. Amuri, you've seen in the pictures that she looked positively angelic, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. In truth she was a lot like Wren-cheeky, a jokester. Completely unrepentant about it. A bit of a class clown, if you will. I think she often helped Ruby-sempai out as well, modelling for collections and whatnot-she liked to show off about the dresses she ended up acquiring as a result. She liked clothes a lot, from what I remember."

"But anyway, there's little I can say about Mona, unfortunately. She's also someone who didn't really talk to people all that much, but it was more out of choice for her. Not in a rude way, though she could be a little brisk and impatient sometimes, but just that she was more…self-possessed, I guess? She was very driven, worked hard in lessons and in kendo club-weaponry was her strength, alongside her actual magical speciality. She did come to Room 777 once, but all the same I can't say that I knew her that well. And then, there's Negi. Negi was…sharp, snappy, chatty. Ridiculously smart, always ready with a retort. Very curious, always wanted to know things, always asking questions over and over and never settling until she was satisfied with the answer."

Will paused again, but this time it was because his eyes had lit up as he tilted his head curiously:

"I don't suppose that reminds you of anyone?"

"Cookie." Robyn said immediately.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Will said, shaking his head in amusement. "They're not exactly the same-Negi wasn't much for studying, or school-work. A bit…not shy, exactly, but definitely more cautious, more measured, than our Cookie. A little anxious too, maybe, but good at hiding it. Oh, and she had a prayer that she particularly liked, something about circles-but I can't imagine Cookie-kouhai having a favourite prayer. But it's funny, thinking about it, all the similarities…I think they might have liked each other."

"Knowing Cookie, it's just as likely they would have clashed."

"That's true," Will acknowledged, shaking his head. "That is very true. Hopefully we'll get a chance to know though."

Silence returned, and Robyn took a few moments to finish up the poultice she had been working on, tying it up tightly before then getting up and going over to stand right in front of Will's chair. He looked up at her, blinking.

"Take this," she told him. "It's best against the skin, but if you put it in your blazer pocket, against your little flask so that you feel the poultice against your shirt instead, it'll have a similar effect."

"Poultice?"

"We're experimenting with them to help the students…not just in terms of waking them up, but keeping them healthy while they're still with us, alongside the Portal water and the other potions. But this one's for you."

Will gave her a long look, and she waited. For protests, questions about what the poultices involved-she was prepared for both. Indeed, she was practically primed to rattle off the inherent and symbolic properties of all the plants they were using, they were that engraved on her mind. But he didn't say anything at all. He just sat there, gaze flickering from her to the poultice, and then around the room and settling on his friends for a moment before going back again. It was only after a few times of this, when his gaze had returned to rest on his friends that Robyn decided to say something:

"You know, they won't love you any less for this."

Will startled and looked up at her. Something flashed in his eyes briefly before they clouded over again, tired and sorrowful.

"But I love them."

"Don't you think that's more reason to tell them, and let them help you for a change?"

"That's, they're not-"

"Then why not tell them?"

"I told you that already!"

Will sucked in a breath and then let it out, rubbing his face for a moment before blinking at her.

"Sorry."

"No, no," Robyn shook her head. "Don't be. Just…take this and try. It has to be better than what you're doing now."

Will nodded and took it. He turned it over and over in his hands a few times before unbuttoning his jacket and slipping it into the pocket and then re-buttoning.

"Well, I should get going then."

"Sure, of course." Robyn nodded and went back to the desk. "Please come by again if you need anything else."

But as Will smiled at her, stood up and then left the infirmary much more quietly than he had come in, she suspected that he wouldn't be coming in for himself any time soon. Only for the others, only ever for them.

I wonder, is there something else that I could do?, she wondered as she returned her attention back to her poultices. None of this felt like the sort of thing that a work experience student should have been doing. She knew that she'd do her best, and that that best would be good in most circumstances. But this was a situation like no other, even if she didn't know what it was, exactly. Do you think…do you think that the Professors are scared? She hadn't been able to answer that question for Will, and she couldn't answer it for herself. What they were thinking, what they really wanted from all of them…she couldn't say. Cookie, from the sounds of it, had been convinced all along that the school had a significant and deliberate role and she was starting to think that the younger girl may have been onto something.

How else, she wondered, would I explain all of this?

She continued working on the poultices, and then once they were mixed and bound together she gathered them up in a box and went around to each of the students, laying each one against their chest-over their clothes for now, since the infirmary was warm and so they'd been dressed in relatively thin night-clothes. She and Yoyo and Professor Rynacel were meant to monitor to see if direct skin contact was needed, but for now she in particular didn't want to erode their dignity more than she needed to. Hence, putting them over the night clothes. When she was done, she went to write it up in the book they were using to make records of everything relating to the comatose students, and it was at that moment she heard someone else approaching the door. She put down her pen and turned around, prepared to either be greeting another bereft friend or someone presenting with another ailment. But when the door opened, it turned out to be Jun.

The feeling that swept over her would have probably knocked her off her feet if she'd been standing. Despite that though, she found herself propelled up, walking over to him and then barely giving him a moment to say hello before she kissed him. A few moments passed and then she stepped back and looked at him, just looked.

"Hey," Jun asked softly, eyes searching her face thoughtfully. "What was that for?"

"I'm glad that it's not you in one of those beds."

Jun nodded, still looking at her and she sighed.

"But at the same time I feel guilty for that…because all these people…they're others' loved ones too."

He didn't say anything to that, and she was glad that he didn't. It was enough that he was here, even despite the guilt that swirled around with the sense of that happiness. Holding hands, they stood by the door in silence for a moment before eventually, Jun cleared his throat and asked:

"Maybe we could go for a walk before breakfast? Check on all the new Angel Trees."

"That'd be nice-we need to wait for Yoyo-sempai first, but she'll be here soon."

"Yeah, sure. Let's wait inside, though."

"Sure."

…

A had just hung up her school uniform when Ezra's voice rung out in her head.

=Hey, hey, hey, you guys are all free now, right?I know Theo is, obvs, cos he's standing right next to me.=

=Yes= A responded. =Why?=

=It's Robyn's birthday, apparently. The plant crew are doing a thing for her. Just a picnic. Kura texted me about it. Shall we go?=

=I mean sure, why not? Also, Ezra did you seriously just say 'obvs'?= Haze asked.

=Yeah, so?=

=You dork. Okay, we'll meet by your room then, since you apparently know where it is.=

=Yes, I'll be by in a moment too=

The boys continued to chatter on in her head while A looked out of the window. It was still sunny out, but there was quite a wind outside. After considering for a moment she grabbed a jacket and then checked the pocket for gloves before heading over to Theo's and Ezra's room, arriving just as Haze did. A couple of seconds later, Ezra opened the door and grinned at them.

"Ready?"

"Yeah-did you know that her birthday was coming up? I can't remember if I did or not."

"Ah, I'm sure it's fine," Theodore said. "From what I've gleaned it's a casual thing her friends set up so just turning up will be more than enough."

"Next birthday though, we'll have to get something." A said as they set off.

"My birthdays coming up soon!" Ezra declared.

"We know that!" Haze said. "Stop fishing for presents!"

"Ah, it's okay Haze, really." A said.

"But still…."

They kept chatting as they headed outside, Ezra leading the way in both the actual route and the chatter. But then he stopped and looked up at the sky, and when A followed suit she could see why. Black tendrils unfurled and re-furled across the sky, something almost agonised about the motions. For a moment, all four of them stood in horror, struggling to comprehend it, but then the tendrils abruptly curled back in on themselves and disappeared, and for some reason this was prompted them to run.

So they did. They ran and ran, until they were on one side of the South Wing building, largely sheltered from the wind but not enough to prevent it from making the leaves in the tree sway and flutter and fall. It was easy to see where the birthday celebrations were occurring, as blankets had been spread out and a number of students were sitting-Jenna, Seraph, Yara, Jae and Kyouki, Ariadne's friends and of course Jun and Robyn, who were sitting directly in front of one of the Angel Tree cuttings.

All of them looked up at their frantic arrival.

"Did you all see the sky?" Ezra exclaimed immediately.

"Wait, you saw it too?" Seraph exclaimed. "I thought I was like, hallucinating it!"

"In that case, we all hallucinated it, Raffy." Jenna said drily.

"Yes, we saw it." Jae said. "But it's gone now."

"That's true, but that's….it was…." A stammered.

She tried a few more times to get the words out, but she couldn't quite find the right ones to use.

"Scary, right?" Wendy asked sympathetically.

Though Theo, Haze and Ezra all agreed with this assessment, A could not. It had been scary, yes, but the movements of those tendrils had somehow seemed agonised. Whatever it was, she felt almost sorry for it. But there was no sign of it now, it was almost as if it'd never happened. Still, it left her with a strange after-feeling, and she tried her best to ignore it. She watched Ezra start interrogating Jun and Robyn about the Angel Tree cutting-which really did not look as though it was a recent cutting-and Theodore set down the blanket and eventually she turned to Kay and said:

"Oh, I like your hair!"

Rather than leaving it down as she usually did, Kay had gathered it all up into an impressive bun atop her head, showing off some of the bright orange highlights to striking effect. Kay reached up to pat the hairdo and grinned.

"Thanks-I'm experimenting."

When Mikelz and Kura sniggered at this, Kay immediately glared at them:

"Oh shut up, you lemon armpits!"

L-lemon armpits? A could only stare in absolute confusion as everyone immediately cracked up-even Kay started to laugh after a moment or so of impressive pouting. Eventually though, they all calmed down and Jenna clapped her hands to gain their attention:

"Now there's enough of us here we can sing 'Happy Birthday'."

A noticed that at this Robyn immediately started blushing and gave her a friendly smile as she and the boys sat down, making sure there was enough space for them to sit how they liked-with A on Theo's right side, Haze on his left and Ezra before him.

"Oh, is nobody else coming?" A asked once they were settled.

"Weeeeeelll," Jenna said. "It's kinda a casual thing we helped Jun throw together-so we figured solidly invite a few people, then later on if anyone else wanders by then we can ask them to join us-or at least give them a piece of cake. Look at this thing!"

The cake was indeed enormous, some kind of chocolate tray cake absolutely slathered with icing. A figured it was shop-bought, although the purple icing that spelt out 'Happy Birthday Robyn' was clearly something that'd been added on afterwards by hand. It appeared to have been pre-sliced by the shop too.

"Yeah, that could feed a lot of people, huh?" A said.

=If that was my cake I'd only be able to eat half of it= Ezra commented in her head.

=That's actually impressive of you and I'm disturbed by that realisation=Haze said. =Also, I hope that Cookie isn't one of the ones who comes over. I'm still a bit pissed off about the other day=

=Ah, come on, it wasn't all that bad. And Cookie's a good person. Just…not good at being a person, I think. Right, Ada?= Theodore said.

=I guess…still, we've not really been talking since that day. But she's not been looking well, so I doubt she'll come outside unless she feels she needs to. But let's not think about that for now, okay?=

"Yeah, it was a find! But let me tell you, it's been hard just going to buy things in general!" Jae was saying when A started to pay attention again. "Have any of you tried to go out after school? Off campus, I mean?"

There was a beat, and A looked at Theo and Ezrael and Haze, and they looked back at her.

"N-no?" Theo asked.

"I mean, usually you just sign out, make sure you're back on time, whatever, right?" Jae asked. "But last couple of days, it feels like we're getting properly interrogated by the faculty. You know, Professor Mshrupo, Rynacel, them lot. Even some of the teachers!"

"Yeah, it's all been, do you really need to go and are you sure that's necessary and oh we can see what we have here. They don't want us going out!" Mikelz said.

"Could it be because of those weird sky things?" A asked, hesitantly.

"Maybe," Mikelz admitted. "But they only happened just now! And it was for such a short time! Even if they were….scary."

He frowned for a moment, before dramatically gesturing and insisting:

"Anyway, yeah! They definitely don't want us leaving!"

"Well now," Kyouki added reasonably. "It's not as if they've banned it outright."

=A lockdown?= A asked in her mind.

=It could be they're working up to one,= Theo agreed. =It'd make a certain amount of sense under the circumstances.=

=…well then.= Haze commented. =That's a thing. Or a probable thing.=

"No, but it's possible that things are leaning that way." Rena said. "That's what I'm thinking anyway. Or, well, trying to not think about really."

"Yes, exactly!" Seraph exclaimed. "This is a party, let's not think about that weird stuff now! We managed to get quite a spread together anyway-plus, we still need to sing to Robyn!"

"Oh no…."

Robyn went even redder as they all sang, apparently aiming for loudness rather than actually being even vaguely in tune. Once or twice she even hid her face in her hands but she was clearly enjoying herself.

"Okay," Jenna said once they were done. "Sadly, no candles because they'd just blow out before you got a chance to in this weather, but hey, that means we can get to the eating!"

This met with cheers from almost everyone and Robyn laughed, pausing to adjust the flower crown that she was wearing before busily setting about putting slices of cake onto plates with napkins and handing them out. At the same time, everyone helped themselves to some of the snacks that were laid out-some again clearly from the shops, but a few others clearly identifiable as being from the Tea Party Club's café.

"Hey, how come we're out here anyway, rather than inside like your games room or something?" Haze asked, directing this question more towards Kura.

"Ah, well, we thought about it-we all do just about fit, but Jun here said that something more picnicky was Robyn's style."

Jun nodded vigorously at this, but didn't say anything as he was already busily eating cake. Kyouki spoke up instead:

"It is nice out today, wind aside. No rain or snow or even clouds."

"Plus, I have to admit we've got a fondness for the tree, Jun and I. But even asides from that, I think the Angel Tree likes it when there are people around, and when they get to see happy things. "

Robyn paused to look up into the branches of the tree with a soft smile on her face. The jumper she was wearing was a similar sort of shimmery white to the leaves of the tree, with a similar rainbow-sheen to it as well, and it made her deep brown hair, tied as it was in a loose ponytail, stand out. The overall effect was somewhat ethereal. The flower crown only added to the effect. A felt a bit inadequate until she remembered that this wasn't a proper party anyway, and everyone else was dressed reasonably casually.

"What do you mean, the tree likes it?" Haze asked as he reached to take a handful of crisps.

Robyn looked over.

"I'm not too sure…the tree seems to have feelings, things that it likes-like music. And things it dislikes…"

She trailed off and looked at Jun, who laughed, shaking her head.

"The tree hates being pruned."

"And you two would know about that," Jenna said, a teasing glint in her eye. "Wouldn't you?"

Jun rolled his eyes at her, but Jenna grinned unrepentantly. Robyn blushed, but said:

"Oh yes, you were there, weren't you? But yeah…it's almost like maybe the tree was a person at some point."

A opened her mouth to ask what she meant by that, only to be interrupted by a sudden loud choking. They all stared at Kura, coughing violently. Angela slapped him on the back and Wendy handed him a bottle of juice which he drank quite violently from before eventually calming down. A also noticed that for some reason, Sera was glaring at him but she did know that Sera could be grouchy at times and simply assumed that was why.

"What was that for?" Jae asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Did you just say that the tree was a person? How'd you know that?" Kura asked.

"We don't really," Jun said. "But when you die, you become a part of nature, don't you? Part of the earth and whatnot. It's not so strange to imagine that people's wills and feelings might actually live on in the plants that grow from it, the rain that falls from the sky. Not that I've heard of that happening."

"It does happen," Robyn confirmed. "I can usually sense it, though it's never quite this strong-it's not as if a person's whole soul becomes part of one specific plant, it's not such a concentrated process. But that's the theory I'm working with, that someone may have been buried in soil from which the tree grew."

"I…do you know who?" Kura asked, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"Why're you so curious all of a sudden?" Angela asked him, frowning sceptically.

Kura pulled a face at her:

"Don't you want to know if there's a skeleton buried in the South Wing or not?"

"I doubt that at this point the person's still a skeleton, especially not if they've become part of the tree." Robyn said.

"Yeah, exactly," Seraph agreed. "I mean, it's not as if I know but Robyn's the necromancer so she would know! You're my favourite necromancer, by the way…not that I know any others."

"There is Yoyo-sempai too." Jun pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't know her." Seraph retorted. "But anyway, Robyn, you're actually the nicest necromancer, I can't be creeped out by them anymore thanks to you. Unless the next necromancer I meet happens to be a skeleton just casually shambling towards me-in which case I will literally run away screaming."

"How do you casually shamble?" Mikelz wondered.

"You ask that as if it's possible for someone to shamble formally." Haze fired back.

Throughout all of this, Robyn was shaking her head in amusement and giggling.

"Well, I promise that it's highly unlikely any skeleton will shamble towards you," she said. "But I appreciate the sentiment anyway. Ah, could someone pass me the sausage rolls?"

Kyouki did indeed pass over the sausage rolls, and for a while there was no more talk of dead-tree people or of potential restrictions on shopping. Instead, they talked about other things, like the festival. Most of them were looking forward to it, but Ariadne's friends had a certain amount of trepidation considering that it was a very Kawaakari-specific thing and they had no way to have prepared for that. Rena, Wendy and Kay in particular lamented the fact that they didn't have any suitable clothes to wear-the only festival type clothes that they did have were for Winterlight and the end-of-year rites, including the various mourning ceremonies. However, the others managed to reassure them that typical formal clothes would do just as well, the way that people often simply wore formal clothes as stand-in for festival clothes for all but the most auspicious of the various festivals in the year.

It occurred to A as they cheerily discussed the finer points of the upcoming festival that if they hadn't gathered here today for Robyn's birthday then they would not have had anything to look forward to until then. And with everything that had happened, the stretch of time would have looked so much bleaker. Even for her, knowing that she had Theodore and Ezrael and Haze by her side and that she had not lost them in any way, the time would have been too bleak.

"Um, Yara, why have you been feeding your pocket all this time?"

All festival talk stopped abruptly as everyone gawped at Haze, who simply pointed the cheese stick he'd been eating at Yara, who did indeed look like she had been busily feeding the large pocket on the front of her scarlet pinafore dress. She blinked back at him for a moment before unexpectedly giggling and then reaching into the pocket and lifting out a small hedgehog wearing a tiny scarf made out of a scrap of bright green fabric.

"This is Shruthi." She informed him. "She's the Gardening Club's hedgehog, but I look after her most of the time."

"We found her a while back when we were sleeping leaves," Seraph said. "She was injured and Yara and Robyn both took care of her until she was healed-but we think she was born funny. See how one leg's a bit shorter than the others and missing some toes? Anyway, little thing can't survive out in the wild like that and it's taken a liking to Yara so yeah, we have a hedgehog now. I did want to call her Pickle, though."

"Seraph, you want to name everything Pickle." Jenna said mock-wearily.

Seraph's response to this was to stick her tongue out at Jenna before then grabbing an oversized cookie and chewing quite determinedly on it.

"Do you carry her around everywhere like Cookie does with that cat?" A asked.

"No, no, we have a little hedgehog house set up near the shed," Yara said, smiling beatifically. "But today's a treat. Right, Shruthi?"

She held the hedgehog up to her face and beamed at her, squidging it gently and affectionately before putting the little creature back in her pocket, where she immediately attempted to peer over the top. A wondered whether it was Shruthi who'd taken to Yara or the other way around. Though she did admit the deformed leg probably would be a problem for an abandoned baby hedgehog in the wild.

"Ahh, she's so cute, Yara!" Rena exclaimed. "You must make her little hats and gloves too, for when it is colder."

"I'll think about it." Yara said.

"We'll help if you want!" Wendy exclaimed. "I've got old handkerchiefs I never use anymore. Or maybe we could get scrap fabrics from one of the crafting classrooms, or from Ruby-sempai….oh, hi there! Heyyyy!"

Wendy immediately started to wave, and A twisted around to see that Professors Yanovi, Shippa and Cinnabuns were walking across the grounds together. From this distance they appeared to be very deep in discussion, but there was something else too.

=Do you feel that?= A asked in her head.

=Yeah, like a mental shield, right? Except it's not because we wouldn't be able to notice that about them.= Haze answered.

=It's more on the outside of them rather than inside…like a containment barrier, but it's obviously not that either….=

Theodore trailed off, and looked so visibly deep in thought that Haze had to shove him, especially as now a lot of the others had started to wave and call out and gain the Professors' attention. All three of them came over, smiling. As soon as they arrived, A noticed that whatever strange thing they'd sensed had disappeared. She wondered if they'd seen the strange things in the sky.

"Hello, hello, what's this?" Professor Yanovi asked. "Seems like you're having fun."

"We are!" Kura said.

"It's Robyn's birthday today," Jun explained. "We organised a picnic to celebrate. Nothing fancy."

"No, no, this looks like a lot of fun! And it's surprisingly good picnic weather for this time of year, don't you think, Shippa?" Professor Cinnabuns said. "In any case, happy birthday, Robyn. I hope it's been a good day?"

"Thank you. I've been busy in the infirmary most of the day, but I'm enjoying what Jun and the others did for me." Robyn said.

"Ah, did you wanna stay for a bit? We've got plenty to go around!" Jenna exclaimed.

"Take something, even if you don't stay." Robyn added, quickly.

The three professors exchanged looks and then Yanovi smiled at them.

"Well, if you're sure, we'll take some cake."

"Of course. Ah, Jun, help me?"

Jun and Robyn put cake slices and napkins on paper plates, as well as an assortment of snacks while the professors chatted with some of Ariadne's friends, who clearly liked the three teachers. Theodore also made a point of talking with Professor Shippa, clearly trying to not blush as Ezra and Haze elbowed him and pulled faces. A interjected occasionally, but mostly just watched until the paper plates had been handed over.

"Well," Professor Cinnabuns said. "We won't waste any more of your time. Enjoy the rest of your picnic, alright? Treasure it."

"Yes, indeed, you must." Shippa agreed. "And remember, whatever happens, you'll always have these moments. So make the most of them, and remember them."

A and the others simply stared at them, and Professor Yanovi laughed:

"Come on, if we're leaving them to it we should be leaving them to it, not confusing them more out of class hours. Have fun, okay!"

Ariadne's friends perked up and waved the three professors off as they turned and walked away. There was something oddly heavy in their steps, A thought, and with a sudden gust of wind a single anguished snipped of conversation blew back to them:

"…. the sight of them, Shippa, with the knowledge we have-it's enough to make me want to weep."

Whatever Professor Shippa's reply to this was couldn't be heard, because the strange sensation that A and the others had thought felt like a mental shield or a containment barrier crept up once again, and then in a few steps the three professors had turned a corner and were now out of sight anyway, But the words lingered in the wind, unsettling.

=Did you hear that?= A asked.

=I did= Theodore said.=It seems like the others heard it too.=

And indeed, they were all staring at each other, wide eyed. No doubt wondering what it was about them that made Professor Cinnabuns want to weep, reminded that despite the fun they were having this was not just an ordinary gathering on an ordinary afternoon on the boundary between autumn and winter. The weight of the year so far, having been held at bay, suddenly felt heavy on A's shoulders. Suddenly, she, too, wanted to weep.

"So, um, Jun," Mikelz said, clearing his throat a little too heavily. "So you masterminded all this for Robyn, but when's Robyn gonna mastermind something for you?"

"My birthday's right near the beginning of the year-this year it was on the first day of school." Jun explained.

"Aw man, so we missed it?" Mikelz asked.

"Yeah."

"We've probably missed a bunch of birthdays," Angela said. "Right? Mine was just before midsummer and I mean, we as a group did stuff for us but that's because we've already known each other. But the rest of you, we're still new friends, right?"

"That's a good point," Robyn said. "But now I think we're pretty good friends so we could always start arrangements for the birthdays that are coming next."

"Like mine!" Ezra exclaimed.

Haze immediately poked Ezra's side, making him flail and then pout impressively.

"Yeah, mine's coming up too-the weekend after the Water Nymphs festival." Kyouki said.

"HAH, I'm three whole days older than you!" Ezra crowed.

"My birthday is next month, and so's Sera's." Rena said.

A few more of them had birthdays closer to the end of the year as well, as it turned out, with Kura turning out to be amongst the youngest of them all with his birthday right near the end of Crow Moon.

"And as for those we've already missed," Robyn said. "We can do something next year, right?"

"Next year…" Yara murmured.

She was holding the hedgehog a little tightly, looking up and blinking as if she'd just woken up. Robyn gave her a concerned look while Kyouki reached over to put a hand on her shoulder. A watched as Yara blinked a few more times and looked over at her, wondering what was happening. None of the Gardening Club members seemed particularly surprised, just concerned. But after a few moments Yara returned her attention to the group at large and smiled.

"We can celebrate Shruthi's birthday too." She said, almost childlike. "I mean, we don't know when that is, but we can estimate!"

"I mean, I am always down for more excuses to hang out and eat food and do fun stuff so sure, we can include the hedgehog!" Kura said. "Right, guys? Addie'd like that too."

"Oh, she would! Oh, and her birthday will have to be the very first one we all do, all of us together. I mean, in her case it will be a few days late because she was born on New Year's Day but yeah. Ariadne's birthday is first, okay?" Angela said.

The girl grinned as the others agreed, and Jenna got her phone out to make a note of everyone's birthdays, hedgehog included. They continued to laugh and eat and drink and make plans for the next years. Plans that assumed that Ariadne and Howl and even the other missing girls would be back by the next year. Plans that assumed strange things would no longer be happening next year, and that their lives would go back to being only as unusual as one would expect the life of eccentric and (mostly) magically adept teenagers in a well-known magic-ability school to be. A happily contributed, more than happy to imagine a life where she, as part of their precious circle of four, were included in a wider circle of friendship and cheer. But because of those words- oh, the sight of them, it enough to make me want to weep-she knew deep down that the ideas that they were coming up with, they could not be called something as solid as plans.

No, A knew that when it came down to it, these weren't plans at all.

They were prayers.

…

Delilah looked down morosely at the glass of water that she was holding before sighing and putting it down on the table.

"Why isn't there any food around here?" she groaned. "I want to eat something!"

"The answer is the same as the last six times you've asked that," Eve responded. "I don't know."

"Awwww."

The whining was more for the sake for it than because she wanted Eve to give her an answer. But now she was thinking about it again, she was wanting food more and more:

"I mean, I'm not even hungry, which is weird but if we had food around there'd be something to do for a while."

"You can't cook." Cain said bluntly.

Delilah pouted at him, making a show of it. After everything, she was determined to not let him get to her. He was just bored, just trying to needle her, that's what she needed to think. She wouldn't let it work. She couldn't.

"Even if it was just chucking stuff on a plate and then bringing it over and eating it, it would be something. Oh, I wish we had cake! Puddings! Ice-cream sundaes! I miss the things Memora and her friends used to make. Do you remember those dear little sugar cookies they did once? I'm pretty sure it was for your birthday, Judas, because I would have mentioned it to them."

"Yeah," Judas nodded when she glanced over at him. "Yeah, I remember those."

"Oh, all the little rabbits and kittens and the mascot things." Maria exclaimed. "Those were very nice. Almost professional."

"They were great," Delilah said dreamily. "I miss their food. I miss them."

And strangely enough, she realised that she really did miss them. Looking back now it felt like those days had been so sunny and bright. She would never admit it, but keeping up with the other five was sometimes so hard. She didn't fit, not really, not despite the fact Eve was meant to be her closest and oldest friend. If it wasn't for her, Delilah probably would never have joined in the first place, she thought. She wasn't sure of that, not really. But what she did remember now was Memora and Ririsa and Tiro and Stella. They'd never talked all that much, not asides from when she asked them to make things for the club or with the types of small talk that typically arose from sharing the few classes that they had. She couldn't say that she had known them, not really. But she'd liked them. Those light and easy moments, they had, well, been light. And easy.

"I miss them."

After she repeated this, the room went silent for a while, and they all avoided each other's gazes, looking down at the table or at the floor, or a glass of water. After a few moments, Abel began to write in his notebook and then he held it out. Judas was the one who took it, for some reason getting up to do so.

"We haven't been hungry at all, here, but we have been thirsty. I wonder why?" Judas frowned and then looked up. "Yeah, now I'm thinking about it, you're right? That's weird, that is."

"I hadn't even thought of that myself but yes," Maria said as she stood up and began to pace. "Delilah said it herself, she doesn't want food because she's hungry, it's because she misses food, which is a very different feeling. I'm sure you've noticed it too."

"It would suggest then that Oura doesn't want us to die, right?" Delilah said.

Eve snorted.

"Well, they've a funny way of showing that."

"They want us to die," Cain said slowly. "But they want something else out of it, so they need us around. Starving to death before we can achieve that, well that's no fun, is it? No, I think this is some kind of charm to keep us going while we're stuck here."

"Okay, but just how long have we been here anyway? We've kept looping back over and over, haven't we?"

To this, Abel wrote something else:

"But is it the time that has been looped," Maria read out this time. "Or just our lives?"

"Now there's a question." Cain remarked.

"Well, maybe we should test it."

Evie, no. Of course, Delilah couldn't discern anything from her face but there was something in her voice, as if someone had ground glass and mixed it into her words. Something in the way she stood up, pushing the chair away from the table, it made Delilah tense up. If she could see her friend's eyes, she thought that quite possibly they'd have the gleam that they got sometimes, when Eve had a new thrill she wanted to chase. When she wanted to try or do something new.

"Evie…" she murmured.

"What do you mean?" Judas asked.

"I mean, why don't we test it?" Eve gestured to the sack high up on the shelf behind the counter. "Why don't we get something, and test it right now? A proper match this time though."

"No, there's no way, we're not doing that." Maria said. "Someone's coming, remember?"

"Yeah, you've said. But how do you know it's the truth, hmmm?" Eve asked.

"I sensed it. And Abel has, too." Maria said stoutly. "Regardless, I'm not going to let you do that. I'm not letting us all hack each other to death again. No, no way. It was wrong the first time and the second and all the times. It was wrong."

"Back in school, you gutted Delilah because you thought she was manipulating me. You must have felt so righteous then, right?" Eve tilted her head.

Maria's face contorted and she glanced over at Delilah who had to look away for a moment. Wrapping her arms around herself she remembered the hurt, the hurt, the hurt. The wanting and the longing and that brief hope that had abruptly flared away as she herself had faded. I wonder, did it look as bad as it looks here, that first time I died? Delilah forced herself to breathe, to look around her at all the blood. All their blood, mingled and long dried, layered and layered and mixed. Where did her deaths begin and end in all this? Where did Eve's? It hit her that she couldn't allow herself to be horrified by it, not anymore. Not after the time she'd picked up a gun and crept behind Judas to shoot him in the head before he could do the same to Evie. Not when she'd pushed a table against Abel, tussled with Cain, rolling around and around on the floor until she'd managed to grab a dagger and end it all.

I didn't want this, she thought. I didn't want to become a killer. But I'm not, I can't be. I don't want to be. I didn't like it, I never liked it, I…I…I want to go back. I want Evie to be safe. I want to try and become friends with Memora and the others. I…I…

She felt something thicken in her throat, the start of tears and she was all too prepared to just let them spill. She hadn't for so long now, so many times over. Just dying and living and dying and living and hurting and hurting and hurting all over again, relentlessly. There'd barely been the time to breathe, let alone cry until Maria had decided that enough was enough, until that crack had resounded across the room. Tears started to drop onto her lap but then she heard a yell and looked up wildly to see that Eve and Maria were fighting. Maria was attempting to block the way around the counters and Eve was pushing against her, trying to make her move.

"Let me through," Eve was yelling. "Let me through!"

"No, I'm not doing it. I'm not having the carnage starting all over again! You're right, okay? I'm not an innocent! I know that, but that doesn't mean I'm happy with this!"

"Happy? Whoever said anything about happy?"

"Well, you seem pretty eager to get the chance to take us all down again? Even Delilah, and she's supposed to be your best friend!"

"Shut up, Maria, shut up!" Eve said. "This is a game, don't you know that? A game, and it needs to be won. Acting all virtuous isn't going to get you that prize, I-"

Her voice broke, and Eve sagged for a moment.

"Evie…."

Delilah's voice felt strangled, and spurred on, she got up, began to stumble her way over. But suddenly, Eve straightened and squared her shoulders.

"Call yourself a chess player."

"Evie!"

Louder, this time, but before she could get closer all of a sudden Judas had burst between them, facing Eve and glaring down at her.

"You need to stop," he told her. "You need to stop. All you're doing is making yourself look worse, you do realise that?"

"Oh, yeah?" Eve's voice attempted taunting, but Delilah recognised the wobble of it. "And how's that?"

"You've been calling us the cowards, calling us weak, but what are you? Hmmm. You've been throwing around accusations and acting as though you are somehow superior for being suspicious of us, as if that makes you stronger-"

"Judas, don't-"

Evie, Evie, Evie. Delilah cursed her inability to be louder, to make them stop. Couldn't they see it, that her Evie was scared? Eve was scared and she'd never been good at being scared and she'd known that all her life, hadn't she? And yet she hadn't seen it, she had allowed herself to be scared by Eve and…

I can't move. I can't breathe. I can't breathe, I can't breathe. Delilah tried to force herself forward, but all she could do was stare as Judas continued his confrontation:

"But this place has been made to look like your casino, Eve. You're the one who's been eager to play the 'game' that Oura's trapped us in. You're the one who's started the cycle of death ever since we got here. Every. Single. Time. It's been you. You're the weak one, Eve. You-"

Eve slapped Judas around the face, the resulting crack almost as loud as the one that had led them to this point. It echoed, lingering for one horrible, horrible moment before Judas threw a punch back. Eve managed to stagger away, but then she returned the blow, kicking and hitting and punching over and over.

"Evie! Evie, stop! Judas, leave her alone!"

Spurred forward, finally, Delilah managed to get herself over as Judas attempted to block the blows, but then, although she didn't manage to discern how it had happened, Eve was knocked off balance and she wobbled. She managed to regain her footing and she stood there, breathing heavily as she looked at a shocked Judas. But then, her mask slipped off, the ribbon apparently snapped, and it fell to the floor. Eve flinched, lifting her hands to her face as if she couldn't quite believe it was exposed. Delilah was frozen to the spot once again as she watched her dear friend feel her face, then look at the ground before abruptly dropping to her knees. Picking up the mask and holding it, Eve knelt there, oblivious to the thick layering of blood she had landed on and stared at it.

Moments passed as all of them just watched her. Judas backed away warily, as did Maria. Delilah had no idea what Cain or Abel were doing, but she herself stood there and gazed at Eve, trying to make herself move, do something or say something. But then she noticed that Eve's shoulders were shaking and she realised.

Oh. Evie's crying.

This pushed Delilah to move, finally, and she unsteadily walked over, emotion making her stumble and drop to her knees behind Eve. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around Eve and leant her face against her hair.

"It's okay, Evie. It's okay."

"Del?" Eve's voice was choked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you, Evie. From behind because my legs got kinda wobbly and I couldn't make myself move around to hug you the proper way. Though, now I'm thinking about it, perhaps that's better. These aren't my clothes but I do like them and it'd be a shame to get them tear-stained, huh?"

"Oh, Del."

The sound Eve made was strangled, halfway between a laugh and a sob. Delilah sighed softly, closing her eyes.

"You're alright, Evie. It's okay."

"Del, just how stupid are you?" Eve said pitifully. "What about any of this situation do you think is okay?"

"I don't mean the situation, I mean now. This moment, right here. This little moment. It's okay, this moment. It's okay, Evie."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Of course it does."

"Goddess, you can be so oblivious sometimes. You've been here, right? You heard what Judas and the others said? They're right really, you know. And you should be just as scared. It is not as if I was any kinder to you."

"I know," Delilah murmured. "I know all this. I died first, at the beginning. Remember? But…let's worry about that later, okay? Right now, I need you to be okay. That's all I've ever needed, and I know right now that you're not. You're terrible at being scared, you know that?"

Another strangled laugh-sob came in response, and then:

"But why? How the hell can you be so forgiving?"

Delilah didn't know how to respond to that initially, so she didn't. She just held Eve tightly, not wanting to let go. She tried to think of the right words to say, to explain the thoughts that had been scattering in her mind, piling up like leaves in autumn or blossom petals in spring.

Ah, I wonder, what season is it now? Just how long is it that we've been gone for?

"You always say, 'it is better to go all the way', right?"

"…."

"You're my Evie, and I'm your Del. And there are other things I want to do if we get to make it back, but even with those things…I will love you completely. That's what I've decided to do, so I'll go all the way with it."

"I…that's not what I meant, you know."

"Yeah, so? I want it to mean this, so it's gonna. So there."

"Oh, Del."

"Let's just sit here for a moment, okay?" Delilah sighed. "Here, like this. So that this moment can be okay. And then afterwards…well, we can figure it out then, right?"

"Sure, I guess."

Eve sounded more exhausted than Delilah had ever heard her sound, but it was so much better than the way she had been all this time. So, so much better. Still, as she knelt there and continued to hold Eve as she quietly sobbed, she couldn't help but worry. If Oura had been telling the truth, if they had been forgotten, that meant everyone, didn't it? It meant Memora and the others, too. Or what if they hadn't forgotten but infact they knew everything, every little thing? What would she do then?

No, no. It's okay. I have Evie. I have decided to love her completely and I've decided to try and start afresh. Sensing Eve calming down a little, Delilah loosened her grip.

"You okay now?"

Eve wriggled away from Delilah's loosened grasp and twisted to look at her, still holding her mask.

"I suppose so…"

"Good, good. Well, I guess we should, um…I don't know, actually. Something. What do you think we should do, Evie?"

Eve laughed at that, though the sound was still a little watery:

"Del, that's so like you."

Eve sighed and looked away in the distance. At first, she blinked blearily as if coming out of a dream but then she stopped and stared.

"What is it?" Delilah asked, instantly worried. "Are you okay?"

And in response, Eve silently pointed at the girl who was now pushing through the wall.

…

Ariadne felt the wall pulse and shimmer around her as she stepped through it, feeling it solidify just as she entered the area fully. When she looked behind her, no longer did she see the steps to the shrine, the once-grand entranceway. Rather, she was now quite solidly standing within a room of what looked like a casino of some kind, with a bar. Stone archways, wood panelling, lots of red. And not just from the décor itself, she realised, but blood, everywhere. Splashed against the walls, the counters, the floor. Congealed pools around table legs and the bar. A toppled chair soaking it in. And the smell of it, the smell of it-

With effort she tore her eyes away from the sight and to the people that were staring at her. At the girl holding a mask in one hand and pointing with the other, to the pretty one kneeling just behind her looking no less flabbergasted. To the large boy who made her think of Howl, the other boy perched on a table. The fox boy standing by a table, warily and then finally, the short haired girl with a determined expression who stepped forward to break the silence:

"Who are you, and how did you get here?"

"I'm Ariadne. Ariadne Mitsuko and…and I came here, looking for you. I know you who all are. I…I remember you."

She pointed to the two girls kneeling on the ground.

"You're Delilah-sempai, and Eve-sempai. You…" she pointed to the two boys. "Judas-sempai, Cain-sempai. "

She gulped and her hand shook, but she finished:

"You…you're Abel-sempai, and you are Maria-sempai."

"Since you're using those honorifics, then I assume you're a freshman at Kawaakari?" Judas asked. "Maria, is this your 'someone'?"

"I…" Maria still stared at her, poised for battle. "I believe so. You said you remember us? As in, you remember us being at Kawaakari Academy?"

"And I remember what happened to you, yes." Ariadne nodded. "I remember being told in assembly that the three of you had been killed and then the rest…I saw…I saw you. I saw you, Abel-sempai, when you died."

She paused at that, had to take a breath. Clutching at her scarf, she looked around at all of them. The clothes they wore were not the black and gold ones that she had been picturing for so long, but different outfits, red and black and somehow a little less frecht but no less good-looking for it. They still looked as they had always looked in her mind, as if they could have been one of the Goddess Akari's first humans, ones that had a little more stardust and charcoal swirling around in them than the rest. They seemed a little more haggard than she remembered them to be-Eve had clearly been crying, Judas had a hand-print on his face, and Abel looked statue-carved while the others seemed exhausted beyond limit. None of them had the trademark weapons she remembered them carrying around. But as far as she could tell, despite the blood none of them were hurt. They were alive.

"But you didn't die really, did you? Otherwise you wouldn't be here, right?" she concluded.

"No, we wouldn't." Eve spoke up, voice subdued.

"But we have died. We've died many, many times. Maybe we would have died again if you hadn't come for us. Does anyone else remember us?"

Ariadne shook her head.

"My friends do, and I believe Cookie does too. She knows of you, at any case, that the school tried to make you forgotten. And there are people who know that we remember you. But apart from that."

"Hold on, hold on, I know who you are!"

Suddenly, Cain had leapt off the table, pointing at her and smiling.

"You're one of those students, the ones without powers who turned up by mistake. And you're the ones who remember us?"

Ariadne just nodded, and Cain shook his head in amazement, starting to laugh.

"So despite you being the weakest of them all, somehow you've managed to evade what must have been some very powerful magic, and you've made your way up to here. Are those friends of yours somewhere beyond there, too?"

As Cain calmed down and gestured to the wall behind her, Ariadne shook her head, pain swelling in her chest.

"No. I…I came by myself. My other friends, I think they might fear that it makes them dark to be able to remember you. But Howl, he came with me but we were separated just as we reached the volcano. He doesn't remember you, but he came with me…"

"Volcano?" Maria echoed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Abel reach for something, and turned slightly to see that he was scribbling in a notebook, holding the pen between both his paws before then loping over and handing the book to her.

"Does that mean we are somewhere on Kouki-san?" she read out before looking up. "Yes. And specifically, you're inside the Forgotten Goddess's shrine."

"We're what?" Maria demanded.

"Yeah," Ariadne sighed as she handed over the notebook. "You are. And I think…maybe we should try to get out of here. I'm not sure how, though?"

"You got in here, which means you must be able to get out. Let's see if we can figure this out."

A spark had come into Eve's eyes and she got up, brushing herself off. Delilah followed suit, though she just looked confused. Judas frowned, and Cain was still smirking, but the two of them and Abel went to join the girls until they were more or less standing in a group. But just as Ariadne was about to try and turn to the wall and see if she could get through again, peals of laughter rang out.

All of them gasped and whipped around, and Ariadne's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the so-called seventh of them.

"Oura," she breathed. "Or…or rather, Oura-san."

"Oura-san?" Delilah echoed.

Oura laughed, shaking their head in amusement.

"Well, this is a fun day for me, isn't it? Coming here to see that despite the fact the game has stopped, none of you have actually died. I was fully expecting to come here and see you all as corpses for the last time. I'm actually kind of disappointed!"

"Yes, well, sorry about that." Eve snarked.

"And you!" Oura pointed dramatically at Ariadne. "You, insignificant one! What are you doing here?"

"I've come to rescue them." Ariadne said, trying not to let the insult sting.

"Ohhhh?" Oura tilted their head. "Well, now that's amusing. First those four end up stopping the game and now you turn up. How did you turn up? I thought that the school made everyone forget they'd ever existed. Well, admittedly, I helped that along a little since you know, all that ruckus. Bu-"

"The school tried to erase us from memory?" Delilah asked. "Not you? I thought it was you!"

"Oh dear little Delilah, did I actually ever say that?" Oura taunted.

"Well, I-"

"Okay, more to the point, you said the game was ended. How, and who?" Maria demanded.

"Oh, not one of this one's lot," Oura flapped their hands at Ariadne. "But another interesting little group. So very different from you. The sweet one, the spark, the warmth and the heart…that's what they are. Pure in a way that none of you could ever hope to be. They broke the flute, you know. They broke it and that meant I wouldn't be able to bring you back when you killed yourselves again, so I had to leave it be."

"Ahh, so that was…" Maria murmured thoughtfully.

"But who? One of her friends?"

Judas pointed at Ariadne as he asked this, and so she shook her head.

"I don't know what Oura-san is talking about, none of us had anything to do with any flute."

"It doesn't matter really, does it?" Cain said. "It's clearly over now. Somehow, we've won and you've lost."

"Oh have you, have you really?" Oura asked. "I mean, you're still here, aren't you? And do you know where you are?"

"At the Forgotten Shrine, on Kouki-san, beyond the dragon's heart." Ariadne said immediately. "And you…you're the spirit of the mountain, aren't you? So yes, it's over now, you have to let them go."

Oura pursed their lips, tapping their chin with their fingers in an exaggerated gesture of thoughtfulness.

"Oh, do I now? You know what these people are, don't you? How very sinful they are? It is why I chose them, after all, to play this game. They were supposed to be so very, very perfect and in a way they started out that way and well…perhaps they were a little too perfect. So predictable, these savage creatures, don't you think? I really am surprised they've managed to hold back at all."

This didn't answer the question, but it didn't matter really. Ariadne tried not to show her fear as she stared up at Oura's face, meeting their cold gaze head-on.

"I've found them now. I remember them, and they're alive. You've failed. You've said as much, though I doubt any of us really know what's happened here. Let us go, now."

"You heard her!" Maria demanded. "The game's up, so let us go, Oura!"

"Ohhh, but what am I supposed to do then?" Oura pouted. "There's a game that's supposed to be played and I was having such fun with it, but you had to turn up and ruin it? And now before I can figure out what to do with the pieces you want to take them for me? That's so rude you know, little one. Honestly, kids these days are so rude. Wanting something without giving anything in exchange and not showing the proper respect for deities!"

"Hey, how were we supposed to know that you were a deity?" Delilah protested.

"You couldn't see through them?" Ariadne asked, confused.

"You what-"

"Do you mean that literally, or metaphorically?" Judas interrupted.

"Literally." Ariadne said.

Delilah's frown deepened, while Judas just nodded slowly:

"Huh."

"Oh, you see what I mean about kids these days? No wonder you lot were chosen in the first place" Oura huffed impatiently. "In any case, what have you got for me, little one?"

This, Ariadne had prepared for. The offering he would accept is never constant and depends on his whims but it was said that he was attracted to crystals and things that reflect light. Although, it still depends on him if he'll like it or not. She'd made sure to remember that, and though she hadn't had any actual crystals in her possession, she had plenty of shiny things. Even if there was no way to know if Oura was actually the spirit of the mountain, they were very clearly a deity so it was worth a try. And so she shrugged off her backpack and knelt down, unzipping it and taking out the things she had bought with her.

One of her decorated notebooks, this one adorned with sparkly purple and pink stars and strips of shimmery pearl-coloured ribbon.

A silver necklace and a pair of matching earrings.

A scattering of coins from her purse.

A handheld mirror surrounded by rhinestones.

A holographic phone cover with a Poursuu sticker on the inside.

A shimmery blue tulle skirt, which she unfolded carefully, smoothed out on the ground and then picked up the other things and laid them down on top of the skirt. Then, she continued:

A pair of neon-pink deely boppers that Kura had made her wear for his last birthday.

A light up ornament of a little ballerina.

A glass bird, wings aloft as if it would fly away at any moment.

A sheet of foil stickers.

A cluster of glitter gel-pens

A bottle of red sparkly nail polish she'd borrowed from Angela and never given back.

Packets of sequins, stick-on gems, craft glitter.

But with every single item that she pulled out, Oura simply sighed and tapped their feet, shook their head. Boring, they were saying with every huffy gesture, this is boring. She laid out her food and drink provisions, the map she had drawn. She laid out her phone, took off her shoes. She took off the charm bracelet and the watch she had been wearing. She dug out the small wrapped bundle of dragon tears that she had been carrying for Howl-because surely he'd forgive her this loss, if she was able to save them. But all these things too, Oura sneered at.

"What is it you want, Oura-san?" Ariadne pleaded. "Please, just let me take them back! Please stop hurting them!"

"Why would you want to do that? You know what they've done, don't you? You know that technically, I didn't lay a hand on them. It was all their doing. All their deaths, they inflicted on themselves! Don't you think they deserve such punishment as this?"

Ariadne just shook her head, the frantic panic blocking the words she wanted to say: that Oura should not be the one to decide that. But her mind was reeling and reeling, trying to think of something, anything that she had that could possibly, possibly interest him. Nothing else she had was that shiny, and if he didn't like her skirt then why should he like her scarf? And she needed that, didn't she? It was her only protection in this place. Perhaps she could give that, but then she herself may as well be lost here herself if she did-

"Look," Maria started to say uncertainly. "Maybe you should just-"

"What about me?"

The questions spilled out of her, almost beyond her control but the moment she asked it, she knew that she had hit upon something. For rather than pout or puff their cheeks out or roll their eyes, they smiled. That mocking, lopsided, frecht smirk.

"Oh? Tell me more?"

"If I…if I stay here, then will you let them go? And properly. Let them go safely back to Kawaakari Academy and let the Headmaster and Headmistress decide what must be done with them."

"Ohhhh?"

Oura tilted their head, making a show of thinking about it.

"You would really do that? Really just…give up your life, to the mercy of these savage mountains with nothing to protect you-oh, I know you have your charms and your amulets and your oils. But you are powerless! Insignificant! I was barely even able to see the stitches you and your friends' lives made on the tapestry and yet here we are! I've been blindsided once again!"

Give up your life…Ariadne felt her eyes fill with tears, and she tried to not let them spill. Kura…Angela, Sera, Kay…Wendy…Char…Mikelz, Rena…and Howl, oh Howl. If she really followed through with this, then she would never see any of them again. She'd never see her mothers again. She'd never get to play another Poursuu game again, never get to play any game with her friends again. She'd never get to eat pizza or cookies or have pillow fights or watch movies or anything. She would never graduate from high school, get a job, get married, have kids. She'd never get the chance to apologise.

But yet…

She twisted around and stared at the six of them. Cain and Abel, Maria and Judas, Eve and Delilah. Some of them looked horrified, and some of them were unreadable. Those glorious faces, those stardust and charcoal forms. She'd dreamed of them for so long, been near enough possessed by them. She'd been working towards this for so long. She couldn't let it be for nothing in the end, could she? If she turned and walked away then all of this would have been rendered pointless. She had come to save them.

And so, save them she would.

Slowly, she got up, dusting down her knees.

"Yes. Yes. Keep me here, and let them go!"

"Oh, how disgustingly self-sacrificing of you!" Oura laughed. "But that…now that is an offer I cannot refuse! Very well!"

Suddenly, Oura lifted their hand up. For a moment, nothing happened, but then there was a fizzing sound, and the walls around them started to fade, as did the tables, the chairs, the archways, the blood. She watched as the bodies of the six began to glow, and as they did she felt a heaviness on her, pressing at her shoulders, weighing down on her chest, making her feet feel wooden. And then slowly, Oura brought their arm down back by their side and the glowing faded, revealing themselves to be in a room that resembled the inside of a shrine. The carved obsidian altar was completely stripped of statues or any kind of adornment, the walls were plain and dusty, as were the tatami mats on the floor and the sliding doors. Hazy, wintery light streamed in through the small, thin windows.

Her possessions as she laid them out were still on the floor by her feet, and now she could see there was also a sack tossed in the corner, as well as a large sheet of paper with a chess board sketched on it, bullets scattered around. Experimentally, she lifted a hand to her hair and found she could still move. Bending her legs, she found she could move those too.

"You can walk around and sit and so on, but you won't be able to get further than the stairs," Oura informed her. "You're my new plaything now, after all. And they will surely love you. But since I'm so nice and you clearly love these sinful onesso much, I'll leave you time to say goodbye. Then you six can take your chances out there and well…you…I'll come back for you."

And in a cloud of laughter, Oura disappeared.

There was a silence for a moment, none of them able to move. Ariadne noticed that their clothes had returned to normal, those polished, feral uniforms that she remembered so vividly and when she noticed that she realised that there were a cluster of weapons chucked in a pile in another corner of the room. A spear, a scythe, a whip, some strange hammer thing and swords. The weapons that had been each of the Elite Chess Club's trademarks. Hearing a strangled sound, Ariadne turned just in time for Delilah to rush at her and gather her up in an odd, spiky hug, almost squeezing the breath out of her.

"Oura-san…no, Oura. Oura's wrong, you know. It's not disgusting at all, you're kind. You're kind, you are. This love is kind. Thank you." Delilah babbled. "Thank you."

"I…I…"

"Do you really love us that much?" Cain asked quietly. "Did you love the idea of us so much that you would sacrifice your life for it?"

"N-no. No, I didn't love you!"

Ariadne couldn't hold back any longer, and as a startled Delilah let go and stumbled back, Ariadne sobbed and sobbed, her entire body shaking with the effort.

"I didn't love you, I didn't even know you. But I could have. I could have loved you, or maybe I wouldn't have and maybe you could have learnt to love each other if you hadn't before. Or maybe it'd be someone else that you'd go onto love. I…if none of this had ever happened, there's so much that could have happened and still could have and I still thought…whatever you had done, you were not that dark to deserve this. Maybe you are horrible people, and all that blood from before probably proves that true but…I…"

She broke off as waves and waves of feeling crashed into her and robbed her of her speech. Gasping, she managed to gather up some breath after a few moments and then continued:

"You shouldn't get away with being able to so easily hurt each other. There should be consequences for any damage you did, back in the world. But I…after that. After that, there could be love. And hope. And happiness and chocolate and other good things. A-a…and even with everything, you didn't deserve this. So no, I didn't love you. I didn't have the chance to. But if someone else gets the chance to, then…well….well…"

Ariadne sniffed loudly, roughly wiped her eyes. She noticed that Cain had been watching her as she'd said this, face impassive but gaze very firmly trained on her. She gazed back, trying to glean something from his expression but then Maria stepped towards her, pulling a white handkerchief edged with gold, her full name stitched on it. Ariadne blinked at it a moment, then gratefully took it and wiped her face with it.

"Keep it," Maria said, a little roughly. "Ariadne-kouhai, is there anything we can do for you in exchange for this?"

"Howl. You have to find Howl on your way back. He came with me to try and help me, but he didn't give himself up so he shouldn't stay lost. I don't want him to be lost here forever, too. And he also has friends who love him so…"

"What does he look like?" Maria asked.

"He's kind of big, strong like you, Judas-sempai. And his hair is in a long, thin, low ponytail like yours, Cain-sempai. But it's purple, and shaggier. He's got a resting annoyed face, and he thinks that me and my friends are weird, but he's kind really. And he's got a brown backpack and a dark green travelling cloak and…he knows what you all look like, from me. So he'll recognise you. I…can I ask you for two more things?"

"Of course." Maria said. "If we can do it, we will."

"I…will you take, some of these things? Give them back to my friends when you get back to school, and tell them from me…tell them that I loved them, so much. Still will while I breathe. And that I'm sorry, and I won't forget them. And then…and then the last thing. The last thing. Will you remember me, please?"

Remember me. Even if it's not by my name or face, but just the fact that this happened. That there was a person who did not love you but let you go because she could have. Just, remember me, that's all.

"I remembered you, after all," she murmured instead. "And I will remember you always."

"Of course we'll remember you. Of course." Maria said.

"Yes, we will." Judas said stiffly.

The others nodded, Cain last of all as he continued to look at her with that odd and indecipherable expression. Then, they started to gather up their weapons, including the guns that turned out to be inside the sack, which they then put all the bullets in. Or some of them, though she wasn't sure why. She didn't go over to investigate in particular way, just stood where she was and watched. Maria gathered up all of her things and tried to give back the food, drink and what remained of the bag, but Ariadne insisted that they take the food and drinks at least. After all, she knew that Oura would hardly let her starve if they wanted her as a plaything or whatever it was. Once Maria had bundled up the possessions that she'd be taking back to her friends, Delilah came over and gave her another hug, and Abel a ripped out page from his notebook that simply said thank you.

Through all these preparations, Cain kept watching her. Sometimes she'd had to look away, finding something just a touch too searching in that gaze, but more often than not, she'd looked back. And then finally, when it seemed like all six of them were done and ready to go, he crossed the room so that he was standing in front of her. He put his hand to her chin and tilted it back so that she was looking up at him, fingers brushing at her jaw. Probing, but not harsh. She looked him right in the eye, refusing to flinch. A few moments passed as the two of them stood like that and then before she could react or really comprehend it, Cain kissed her.

It was brief, barely more than his lips brushing against hers, but something shimmered at the edges of the motion and when he stepped back, completely letting go of her she finally thought she understood what it was that he had been conveying.

It was his way of fulfilling her final request. His way of making sure he remembered her.

The others, however, didn't seem to see it that way, most of them spluttering in surprise. Maria in particular looked appalled and Delilah utterly scandalised, but it was Eve who had the strongest reaction. Tipping her head back and laughing shrill-bright, she said:

"Cain, there is actually something wrong with you."

Cain didn't immediately react to this, holding Ariadne's gaze for a moment longer before nodding once at her and turning away.

"Are you ready, then?" he asked all of them.

"Sure, I guess." Judas shrugged.

"Then let's go."

Eve huffed and shook her head, and rather than immediately follow, she jogged to Ariadne and held out the mask that she had been holding.

"It's just the ribbons that are snapped. But you could use this more than I can, now."

The way Eve almost immediately spun on her heel and strode off as soon as the mask had been pressed into Ariadne's hands told her that the girl didn't want any thanks or other response. Quietly, Ariadne followed them out into the cold, standing by the door to the shrine as they clattered across the stone courtyard, towards the stairs and then down them, towards the bridge. Just as she remembered them at the beginning of the year, they moved as a tight and risky unit, striding together and getting further and further until they were gone.

Not once did they look back.

When she no longer could see them, Ariadne let out a heavy sigh, looking down at the mask in her hands. She weighed it up for a few moments, shivering, and then she lifted it to her face, attempted to fit it against her and tie it up. Eve's face was a different shape to hers, so the mask itself did not fit perfectly on her, but she was just about able to tie the ribbons around her head, and used some of the hairclips that she'd used to pin back the flyaway strands of her hair to keep the mask ribbon secure in case the knot came apart. When she was done, it had started to snow, and she held her hand out, letting the large drops fall onto her hand, little sharp shocks of coldness that made her blink behind her mask.

Already, things look so different. I wonder, is it snowing back in the world? I hope it is.

She stood there a little while longer staring at the snow. Cain's fleeting, shimmering kiss. Delilah's hug still imprinted against her torso, Abel's note in her pocket. Maria's determination, Judas's quiet conviction. Eve's mask chafing against her face. All these things, she gave them a moment to settle in her the way the snow settled on the ground and the railings of the bridge. With the breeze playing with her hair and tangling snowflakes into it, she silently prayed for their safe return, for them to find Howl, for her friends to find a way to be okay despite the choice she had made. She prayed, and she let the new reality settle deep in her bones.

And then, she walked back into the shrine.