"Why doesn't Opal ever call me!?"

Illya blinked awake. Slowly she sat up and checked her clock.

It was a good hour before she ever wanted to be up on a Saturday.

Slowly, deliberately, she climbed out of bed and stumbled her way to the sliding glass door that separated her room from the balcony. She slid the door open just in time to hear Ruby speaking again.

"Every time she calls about her mission, she always calls you Sapphire. Why can't I be the one that little sister calls to talk to?"

Sapphire sighed. "Big sister, you never got along with Opal. She calls me about her mission in the Bet reality becuase I don't talk down to her."

Ruby perked. "Oh, that's it. She's jealous!"

"That wasn't what I meant-" Ruby cut Sapphire off.

"It's so obvious. She was searching for a master for years," Ruby said while staring up and to the right. "It's obvious that she must have just settled for the first girl with barely decent magic circuits, she probably lacks the grace and poise to be a proper magical girl. Not like my Illya, who even as she rapidly approaches eighteen has retained the perfect slight frame to pull off the luxurious pink dress I provide her with."

This was Ruby's way of saying that Illya had not inherited her mother's figure. Illya hadn't been happy when she'd learned that her nature as a second generation Homunculous meant she'd have... Issues, with aging, but at least she could still pass for her actual age. Could you imagine being eighteen years old and still looking ten? That would be an absolute nightmare.

"Ruby," Sapphire said, "Opal's master defeated a dragon twice."

"The same dragon twice," Ruby corrected. "She wasn't able to finish the job the first time, who says she did it the second time?" Ruby harrumphed. "My Master beat Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, after he absorbed the Holy Grail."

As neither Kaleidostick noticed Illya, she closed the door and left her bedroom for Shirou-Kuro's room. Shirou had moved out years ago but she still sometimes thought of the room as his.

Chloe had spent the night with Mimi and Suzuka, working on a school project. Illya would get her last hour of sleep in Chloe's bed, away from Ruby and Sapphire.

Ten minutes later, Illya was woken up for the second time by the banging of a fist on a door and her sister calling her name.

Once more, Illya climbed out of bed. She stumbled into the hallway to her own bedroom door and placed a hand on Kuro's shoulder.

"Ahh!" The darker twin exclaimed. Then she turned around. "Illya!? There. First, I need mana."

"Seriously?" Illya said incredulously, "I just gave you mana yesterday."

"Stuff happens!" Was Kuro's only response. "After that, we need to go back in time and stop Suzuka from introducing Mimi to BL."

"...You know Kuro, I'm starting to doubt your stories about weird Yaoi related magic stuff happening around Mimi. It only ever happens when you're alone with her." Illya sighed. "If you're doing stuff with her, just say it."

Kuro blushed. "We only dated for a week!"

Illya's eye twitched. Kuro was the last person in the world who got to blush from a question like that.

"But seriously," Kuro continued without waiting for Illya's response, "I do need you to top off my mana supply..."

Illya responded by leading Kuro back to her room. "Okay. I'm going to give you mana. I'm going to crash in your bed. You're not gonna do anything weird while I'm asleep, and in an hour or two you're gonna explain what happened."

Illya shook her head. It was too early in the day for this.