"Shintaro..." The voice was distant, but he knew exactly who it was.

"Ayano." He smiled, a smile full of compassion and love. He was finally home.

"Don't give in so quickly, Shintaro!" Ayano had that pose she'd always do when she was passionate about something, pointing to him, legs spread wide like her finger could shoot webs or something. He had no idea why that came to mind. "I'll wait for you as long as it takes!"

"Please don't say things like that, as if you've passed away." Shintaro's voice cracked, almost as if-

"You know the truth, Shintaro," She was fading away, dissolving to ashes, and didn't even react to it. "Fight for me, Shintaro. I need you."

/

Shintaro awoke screaming her name. Then that changed to simply wordless yelling because why was there someone he didn't know in his home and how was she floating and her skin translucently blue-

"Can you make any more of a racket!? You'll wake up the entire neighborhood!"

She was right, but, more importantly- "Who the hell are you, get out of my house!"

"I'm a ghost!"

"Wh-what!?" Shintaro scrambled to the back of his bed, groping the wall as if it'd allow him to run away. "Haunt Konoha instead! Or- am I dead? I'm...pretty sure I died back there..."

"Aren't you a letdown, I heard the wannabe prince was a smart guy!" The ghost, who wore (he didn't get it either) steel blue armor that covered her torso and shoulders, and seemingly only had a third of her legs, dashed to him so their faces were centimeters apart. Shintaro tried to push her away, to no avail. "You can't even touch me! See, you're not dead yet! You only passed out back there, boy, I was shocked you even woke up! Looks like you have more mage's blood in you than I thought!"

On reflex, he shushed her while trying to process all this. He didn't have any mages in the family. There weren't many mages anymore, if there were, they could hide well. "Do you mind explaining what is happening right now?"

"For a price!"

Shintaro groaned. He received this response a lot when with royals from other nations - a drawback of becoming a prince (he never became one, as if he wanted to). "What's that?"

"You have to get that guy," The ghost glanced over to the sleeping Konoha before looking at Shintaro again, "and help me out with a liiiiittle task!"

/

Momo had finally reached her destination, a home on the richer side of town, a high class neighborhood, save for the royal family, of course. She had to sing for a young boy's birthday party, she was honestly surprised she was asked, but with such a high price she couldn't say no. The minstrel felt out of place, but as one of the only musicians who people felt was higher-class and genuine, she definitely was accepted.

Walking up to the entrance of the house, she was surprised when a little boy tugged on the hem of her dress. "Momo, Momo, you really did come!"

Momo couldn't hold back a grin from spreading across her face. Fans like these made the strange looks, the rumors...everything bad associated with her class vanished. She bent down to get on eye level with the child and pat his head. "I sure did! You're the birthday boy, yeah?"

He nodded vigorously. "Mhmm! My name is Shiro, and I'm turning seven!"

"I'm Momo, and I'm sixteen! It's nice to meet you!" She bowed slightly to Shiro before standing up. "We should go to the party, can you lead me to where it is?"

The boy's eyes were sparkling as he went to the backyard, unlike anything Momo had ever seen - it was like a water park but in your own home! How much money do these people have?! Momo wanted to ask, but knew it would get her kicked out immediately. So, instead, she watched Shiro go play with his friends, then went to go find Shiro's parents.

Instead, she slammed right into a girl about her age... "Ah, my bad! I should pay more attention..." wait, was that the King's daughter? Shintaro had told Momo about Ayano's siblings back when he was in the puppy love stage (he was for their entire relationship), so Momo mostly tuned it out. A girl with dark brown hair, is really quiet she's almost invisible... "...Tsubomi!" They hadn't spoken much, spare a few instances of small talk, but that was as far as it went. Nonetheless, Tsubomi seemed shocked at the declaration of her name.

"Eh, it...don't worry about it," She waved a hand dismissively, before a boy behind her popped up.

"Yup, we actually came to see you!"

A mischievous looking boy with blond hair and shady clothing... that was... "Hello, Shuuya!"

"N-no, we didn't-" Tsubomi attempted to cough out, seeming really confused at Shuuya's words, before another boy noticed and ran up to them.

"Hello, Momo! I'm super glad this party is open to all guests," Upper-class guests, Momo wanted to add, "Good luck today! We're excited to see you perform live!"

A boy with really dark hair and eyes, his attire always bright green with a hint of navy or black, kind of like a frog, Shintaro had said. And by process of elimination, she'd realized his name already. "Thanks, Kousuke! I've been busy so I haven't had time to come over...or pay proper respects...so I hope I can put a smile on your faces in the meantime."

They went quiet, faces unreadable, but somehow it didn't look like too bad of a response. Shuuya spoke up first. "You better blow us away, then, we hear your voice can do amazing things!" He winked, nudging Tsubomi, whose body language showed her quickly rising fury ever since Shuuya had opened his mouth. "C'mon, guys, we have things to do other than harass the entertainment, right?"

Tsubomi glanced at Momo, almost as if she was sizing her up. Before anyone could comment, though, Kousuke put a hand to Momo's shoulder and smiled brightly. "Hey, I think those kids over there are jealous of us hogging all the attention. We'll see you at the performance, Miss Kisaragi!"

Momo glanced back to the children, who were in fact staring at her in awe, but when she looked to wave a proper goodbye to the Tateyama siblings, they were gone, as if they were never there in the first place.

/

Shintaro was never one for physical activity, and they had been on this path long enough that he wished Konoha would carry him. It was hot, it was humid, and he had no idea what this favor consisted of or whether he'd actually benefit. However, he felt a strange pre-established trust between them, and Shintaro needed answers from the girl anyway.

"At least tell me your name."

"Nope!"

Shintaro groaned. "Then how do you know me? How do you know I'm going to help you?"

"I lived here before I died, obviously! Who doesn't know about...eh, let's not talk about sad stuff..." The blue ghost had a distant look in her eye as she spoke. "...anyway, I just know, alright? Something is happening now that the Princess would never approve of."

Shintaro stopped, and a now concerned Konoha followed suit. "What's happening? Ayano didn't tell me-"

"-these matters are hush-hush, and since you never married her, no one told you."

Seeing the horribly distraught expression Shintaro wore, Konoha shouted out of the blue, "How do you know? Are you lying? Shintaro's already hurt enough...!"

Shintaro was taken aback by his friend's(?) sudden fervor, and for him of all people... "It's alright. I'll go with you."

"I knew you would!" The girl smiled, pumping her fist in the air. "That's great, because we're almost to our destina-"

She stopped, staring at a flash of light in the horizon. "-th- that's closeby! It...it couldn't be...! Ahh, we gotta go now!" She zipped forward in a quick pace that Shintaro couldn't possibly keep up with. Konoha saw his overwhelmed face, and without any notice at all, picked up the would-be prince and ran after her.

The scene Shintaro saw was yet another he wanted to erase from his mind.

A young boy gripping onto a girl no older than 15, crying as she bled from an arrow to her chest. She appeared to have burn marks on her arms. The ghost was cursing, and Konoha seemed to have realized something, but he didn't mention anything.

Shintaro got right into action, shooing away the boy to check the girl's pulse. "Kid, do you know her name?"

He coughed away a sob before replying, "H- Hiyori. Uh... Asahina..."

The ghost girl cursed once more. "I knew it."

Shintaro blocked her out, however, as he couldn't find a pulse. And with the huge intrusion it made... "I... I think she was gone before we got here. I'm... ah, wh-..." He cut himself off, the figure of what Ayano must have looked like before she died in his mind.

Konoha was kneeled next to the boy. "Do you know what happened?"

"M- my dad got evicted, and Hiyori said something about p- protecting me and... and then all these guards came and said they found us out... I- I didn't do anything wrong! And... and she... her hands... fire came from her hands...! She hit an officer, and that's when she was-..."

"-wait, what?" Shintaro stopped the conversation there. He was sure he misheard something. "She... did what?"

"...it was like...a fireball, I guess...from her hand."

"A mage," he muttered, coming to a conclusion that baffled him more. "Hey, is this why you brought me here?"

The ghost nodded.

"You knew she was a mage?"

She nodded again, confirming his fear.

He didn't understand what was happening, but Shintaro knew one thing for certain. "Kid, we need you out of here right now. They'll come for you next."