"So what was that all about?" Audrey poses to Hiromi since the brunette haired girl starts to act strange ever since they arrive at their location.

"I know I'm not crazy…" Hiromi mutters to herself as she grasps her forehead and runs her finger through her brown locks.

Audrey shrugs her shoulders up and down since Hiromi did not respond directly to her question of concern.

'I'm certain that there was an old woman there that warned me about that man who was about to take her money.'

"Wow!" Audrey exclaims which breaks Hiromi out of her own thoughts to see the blonde haired girl with her right hand over her eyebrows.

"Just how big is this place!" she shouts to no one in particular while she squint her eyes as she takes in the sights.

"The gate that we just crossed through is known as the Meridian Gates or the main entrance to the Forbidden Kingdom." Hiromi explains to the ecstatic blonde while she adjusts her duffle bag.

"The walls are so tall!" Audrey exclaims once she turns her sights on to the large walls that surrounds them.

"There's a moat on the other side too." Hiromi mentions to her when Audrey stop to observe her new surroundings.

"That's so awesome!" Audrey shrieks from excitement, which causes Hiromi to smile at the blonde's reaction to being in the Forbidden City.

'I forgot that this is her first time in a new country.' Hiromi suddenly recalls the reason behind Audrey's excitement.

She chuckles at her when the sight of the older woman from earlier catches her sights.

'There she is!' 'I should at least thank her for being so nice.'

"Excuse me, hey!" Hiromi shouts as the older woman pauses for a minute, peers over her shoulder, and what happens next catches her off guard.

The elderly woman breaks out in to a full blown sprint as it causes her to be in shock before she entails in a chase.

"Hiromi?" Audrey calls out her companion's name only to discover that she was no longer by her side.

She switches her sights from left to right until she catches a glimpse of the brunette chasing after someone.

"Hiromi, wait up!" Audrey screams as she attempts to catch up to her companion.

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Grandpa pokes his head inside of the living room, scans the familiar faces and thinks to himself, 'I guess Takao hasn't come out of his room yet.'

'Even Kai couldn't break him out of his slump.' He gloomily notes to himself as he pads back over to the sink.

'I mean I thought she saw us as family…' Grandpa weighs to himself as he twists the knob on the sink and allows the water to cascade over the vegetables that rest inside of the sink.

The sound of a girlish giggle ceases the silence in the kitchen, which prompts Grandpa to peer over his right shoulder only to spot Hiromi with an apron around her waist.

"The boys have been working extremely hard today, haven't they?" Hiromi inquires as she runs the sharp blade underneath a piece of fish's skin.

"They wouldn't be the Bladebreakers that we know if they did not stick to a rigorous regime." He replies as he lifts a head of cabbage closer to the hot water.

"I think they just might repeat with a back to back to back championship. What do you think about that Grandpa?" She ponders to the older Kinoyama as she lays out the thin pieces against a white sheet of paper.

"I don't think they'll repeat…" He says which earns an expression of confusion from the brunette haired woman.

Hiromi was about to voice her question of "Why not?" only to overhear Grandpa interjects with "I know that they will since they're bonds make them completely unbeatable."

"Bonds, huh?" Hiromi questions to herself as she resumes slicing the fish right before she pauses and rotates her head back in his direction.

"I like the sound of that." She happily admits with her eyes closed and a wide smile on her face before she returns to her activity.

"Oh and Hiromi…" he speaks up once he turns his head to the right but no longer saw the brunette female there in the kitchen alongwith him.

Grandpa raises his right arm toward his face, rubs the dry portion of his forearm across his tear stained eyes and cries silent sniffles.

'I guess my grandson has it worse than what I do.' He surmises as he attempts to focus on the task at hand.

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Takao remains in his previous position as it seems to somewhat ebb the feeling of remorse from his weary body.

He naturally exchanged his feelings and thoughts with Dragoon as the bey spirit responded to its owner sorrow with a woeful roar of its own.

Takao recalls Kai's brief visit with him, which left him peeved because he did not mention how he felt about Hiromi's suddenly departure from the group.

'How can he even sound so calm when he knows what happened?'

'Everything can't go back to normal…not without Hiromi.'

His mind reels back through his memories to the first time he had met the Wicked Witch of the Eight Tachibana, Hiromi.

"Everybody's in a good mood today." Kenny, aka the Chief, states as he studies his classmates' face that display excitement as they chatter amongst each other.

Takao pops open one of his eyes, direct his gaze toward his brunette haired friend, lean on the back legs of his chair, and position his intertwined hands behind the nape of his neck.

"They must have seen my latest victory on T.V!" He proudly boasts while he maintains his balance when he rocks back and forth until he finds a comfortable position.

"Still full of yourself as I see," a feminine voice interjects, which prompts the two friends to locate the source of the voice.

Kenny overhears Takao mutter to himself, "Not the Wicked Witch of the Eighth Grade…" before he counters with, "Well when you're the World Champion…"

"Alright class, settle down," Ms. Kincaid broadcasts as she clasps her hands together to capture her eighth grade students attention.

"The election for class president is now officially closed." She announces once the students were mute as their sights settle in on the brunette haired woman with glasses.

"We had elections today?" Takao questions to himself as he leans his chair forward until it was in its original upright position.

"Chief, why you didn't tell me that we were supposed to vote today?" He poses to Kenny with an expression of shock on his face.

"I told you that when we were on our way to school and at the start of homeroom." Kenny reminds his confused friend.

"I will now announce the winner of the elections." Ms. Kincaid claims as she separate her hands from against each other, drops them to the surface of the desk, and scoops up the piece of paper.

She clears her throat and begins to read off of the paper "Your new eighth grade class president is…."

"….Tachibana, Hiromi,"

"Oh no…" Takao grumbles to himself after he hears the result of the election while Hiromi proclaims "Oh yes!" as she pumps her fist in the air.

A small smirk stretches across his face after he recalls one of the numerous fond memories that he had shared with the brunette female.

'I just wished that you could have at least told me the reason why you left.' He inwardly weighs to himself before he returns Dragoon to its proper place.

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Audrey eyes' lock in on the brunette haired teen's back as she watches her weave in and out of the crowd while she manages to avoid colliding with bystanders.

"Hiromi!" She repeatedly proclaims in hopes that she would respond to her call and cease this meaningless chase after a stranger.

When Audrey feels her breathing begin to shorten, she knew she had to catch up to Hiromi now or risk losing her amongst the crowd.

"Slowdown wills you!" She bellows outward, which draws looks of confusion from the strangers that surround her.

It was at that moment did Hiromi draws to a halt in her chase once the elderly woman vanishes from her field of vision.

"Where is she?" Hiromi asks herself as she completes a panoramic scan of the area that she was in but to no avail there was no older woman.

Audrey canters up to her before she rests both of her hands on top of her knees as a gesture to regain her breathe.

"Whew!" she exclaims as she plops down on her butt in the middle of the busy street while the crowd seem to migrate around them.

"I don't see her." Hiromi mutters to herself as she rotates her head left and right while she speaks to no one in particular.

Audrey peers up at Hiromi and voices, "Well whoever it was, I would be scared too if someone starts to chase after me."

"There was something different about that woman…she's elderly yet she can run like a teenager." She expresses while she stares in one specific direction.

"…or she could be in good shape because she exercises on a daily basis." Audrey revels as she giggles to herself at the thought.

"If you say…here let me help you up." Hiromi consents while she extends a hand out for the blonde as a gesture to help her up.

"Thanks." She thanks her companion once she was up on her feet before she dusts herself off with her hands and inquires, "So where are we now?"

Hiromi peers upward to see that they were poise in front of a similar structure such as the Meridian Gate until she spots the sign for the building.

"We're at the second gate known as the Gate of Supreme Harmony." She informs Audrey, who starts to point at random objects and exclaims, "Wow! This is nice!"

Hiromi glances over to the blonde to see her genuine enthusiasm about visiting a new country for the first time.

'I guess I almost forgot to slow down and enjoy the sights.' She reminds herself of her unofficial job as Audrey's tour guide.

A tall slender woman approaches the two girls as they chat amongst each other about the sights before she interrupts the duo, "Excuse me,"

"…but you are Hiromi Tachibana and Audrey Steele?" she inquires once the brunette and the blonde haired girls turn their sights on to her.

Their sights land on a tall petite woman, who appears in her early twenties, with waist-length silver hair that had two braided strands of her hair to the back of her head that was held together by a purple bow. Her grey eyes contrast with her pale skin as her face resembles that of a heart. She was clad in a ankle length traditional cheongsam that was white with hints of azure blue swirls that resemble wind currents.

"Who are you?" Audrey asks for the woman's identity with an skeptical expression on her face.

"My name is Meifeng." The strange woman introduces herself to the girls after she executes a small bow at the waist.

"I'm here to show you where to go so that you can fulfill your purpose in life." The woman name Meifeng explains why she was in their presence at the moment.

A pout materializes on the blonde face when she grumbles to Hiromi, "Ah man, I was hoping to see some more sights before we start getting serious."

"Looks like we have no other choice but to follow…the letter or the invite didn't say what to do once we got here." Hiromi utters to her traveling companion with a shrug of her shoulders.

"It's only human nature to be suspicious about the unknown especially when a random stranger approaches you as a guide to your destination." Meifeng asserts in a calm tone with what appears to be a genuine smile on her face.

Her response was enough to earn a reaction from Audrey. She advances one step forward before Hiromi shoots her hand out until it grasps the blonde's arm to halt her in her steps while she mutters, "Wait a minute Audrey,"

She peers over her shoulder and studies the concern present on Hiromi's face which prompts her to imply, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know if it is my instincts or institution or ESP or whatever you may call it but anyway…I feel as if I can trust her." Hiromi whispers her opinion to her fellow companion.

"We won't know unless we go." Audrey simply retorts as it seems to slightly ebb the suspicious sense away from her thoughts.

"Alright then, let's do this!" Hiromi happily proclaims with a small grin on her face.