A Different Kind of Spark

by Fifteen1413

Shizuki Hitomi is a normal thirteen year old girl living in Mitakihara city in Japan. Her world is ordered, constant, and simple; everything she could want from life. So when a visitor from another world shows up without warning and offers to take her away from all that she knew, Hitomi couldn't have been more surprised - except, perhaps, at the fact that she said yes.

6. Chapter the Sixth

Chapter the Sixth, in which our heroes recover from their battle, and the plot otherwise fails to advance.

May 21, 12:14 AM – Fifty-three days, twenty-three hours, forty-six minutes remaining.

Hitomi slowly lifted her head, blinking in the harsh florescent light of her room, her vision unfocused from the sudden change. She turned over quietly, surprised for a second to see an unconscious girl dressed in all black sleeping on the floor next to her bed. Dimly, her mind registered that she was not in her room at home, but rather in her room in Eve's forest fortress. There was a dull ache in her right leg; she remembered that too, after a little thought. Her mind was uncharacteristically fuzzy, even given that she had just woken up. Hitomi attributed that to Silvia's drugs.

Alice stirred on the floor, and Hitomi realized that she was still holding her hand. She let it fall from her side, and Alice curled into what looked to be a much more comfortable position. She watched her friend for a moment, letting herself wake up slowly before figuring out what to do next.

Carefully, Hitomi sat up, taking a look at her leg. She nearly fainted. It was a ghastly yellow-brown, and swollen to nearly double normal size. It looked dead, rotten, like the flesh of a cadaver that had been grafted onto the body of an otherwise healthy person. Hitomi was afraid to touch it. At least it didn't hurt much, nothing beyond a soft aching pain that let her know that some of the nerves in the mess that had at one time been her right leg were still alive.

Hitomi laid back down on her cot. There wasn't much she could do, she supposed. With her leg like that, there was no way that she was going to be moving any time soon. As much as she hated it, this really was her best option. Three days laying on a bed, and she would be able walk again on a crushed leg. Magic really was wonderful. In any other situation, she would likely have lost use of the leg forever.

Hitomi had the strangest sense that this information was useful in another application, but she couldn't place where, dismissing it after a moment. If it came to her again, she'd chase it then.

Hitomi let herself rest, though she found herself no longer tired enough to sleep, her thoughts active. Her mind kept playing parts of the battle over in her head, searching through them for some kind of meaning. As hard as she tried, she found it difficult to find any point where she had any emotion beyond fear and the occasional burst of anger. She'd just killed fifteen, maybe twenty people. They weren't human, sure, but they didn't seem to be lifeless constructs either. There should have been at least a little hesitation, a little remorse. She thought back to what Derick had said, and she felt her heart go cold. She wasn't like that, right? She was Shizuki Hitomi. Something like this couldn't change her that quickly, could it?

The more she thought about it, the less the battle made sense to Hitomi. How had they known about the attack in time to set up a trap? It seemed impossible for them to have gotten intelligence so quickly, yet their set up was too shoddy to be pre-planed. This wasn't a 'just in case' preparation, it had to have been thrown together at the last minute. And, if she was being honest with herself, she had to admit that there was no way that she, a normal second year middle-school student from Mitakihara, could have manged to do as well against trained magical shadow warriors as she had. She had the distinct impression that they were being played with, somehow.

Eve had said she'd figured out part of the spy problem. Hitomi hoped that she was right. As decisive as their victory had seemed, Hitomi couldn't shake the feeling that they were still catching up from behind. She didn't like it, not one little bit.

There was a knock on the door, and Hitomi opened her eyes, looking out of the room at Eve who stood in the doorway. "Hey." Eve said softly. "Are you awake in there?"

"Yeah." Hitomi said quietly. "But Alice is asleep now, so still be quiet."

"Don't tell her, but she's been asleep for about three hours." Eve said. "She wanted to stay with you real bad, but she was exhausted from the battle. I'm honestly surprised she made it as long as she did."

"What time is it, anyway?" Hitomi queried of Eve, trying to get her time-line back in order.

"It's about a quarter past eleven in the morning." Eve said, and Hitomi coughed.

"What?" she said incredulously. "You're telling me I've been asleep for nineteen hours?"

"What? No, you barely slept for seven and a half." Eve said, confused. Hitomi sighed.

"Timezones, right. You run about eleven hours ahead of me." she looked at her wrist, touching the bare skin. "I should get myself a watch. Two watches even."

An awkward silence began to fill the space between the two of them. Hitomi noted that Eve was purposefully avoiding her direct gaze, her eyes flitting away quickly when she noticed Hitomi examining her. She seemed almost wary of Hitomi for some reason, like she was unwilling or unsure how to hold a conversation with her. When it seemed very clear that Eve was not going to say anything more, Hitomi spoke again.

"You know, it's going to get very boring laying here for the next two and a half or three and a half days." Hitomi prompted. "And I believe we do have a library. Is there any chance you could bring me a book or two to read?"

"Of course. That sounds... good." Eve said. Hitomi was unsure as to why she was so skittish, but she didn't say anything. There was another lengthy pause. "I'll, uh, go do that." Eve said awkwardly, turned, and left. Hitomi shook her head. Perhaps it was the stress? Whatever it was, Hitomi was sure Eve would handle it. She couldn't imagine her staying like that for very long.

A few minutes passed, and Hitomi spent the time looking up at the ceiling, not moving. There was another knock on her door, and Hitomi turned, expecting Eve. She was nowhere to be seen, though Silvia and Derick were there, smiling awkwardly in at her. Hitomi sighed, letting them through the barrier with a quick thought. Luckily barrier control was simple enough that she'd managed to master it before she'd fallen asleep. Internally, she was a bit miffed at Alice for not having taken the two minutes they would have needed for her to master barrier control instead of forcing her barrier open. Hitomi let her anger fade. She knew Alice hadn't meant any harm by it. Under the circumstances, she could see how the thought to teach the highly injured girl how to work magic was not at the forefront of her mind. Still, two minutes. Hitomi shuddered at the memory of the emptiness she had felt when Alice disrupted her barrier. In some ways it had hurt her deeper then the bite, if less severely.

Silvia and Derick entered, Silvia carrying a few potions with her, Derick holding a paperback book. Silvia gave Hitomi a smile as she walked up to her.

"Now, how's my little patient doing?" Slivia asked, taking out one of her bottles and peering up at the light through it. "Feeling any better after your rest?"

"The pain is mostly gone." Hitomi said. "But my leg looks horrible, and I don't think I can move it."

"That's good." Silvia said, leaning over and examining Hitomi's leg carefully. "That's about where you should be now." she tutted, poking Hitomi's leg a few times to get a better look. "Does that hurt?" she asked.

"A bit." Hitomi said. "But not too badly."

"Well, you're coming along faster than I thought." Slivia said. "If you can feel that, the nerves are already growing back. You seem to be healing a good fifty percent faster than I would have guessed. You might be out of here by tomorrow night, instead of the day after."

Hitomi sighed. Another thirty-six hours wasn't ideal, but it was better than another sixty, she supposed. "Are you going to make me drink another one of those potions?" she asked wearily, and Silvia cackled.

"Well, of course!" she handed one to Hitomi. "It's that purple one that you said made you feel like your stomach was trying to crawl out your mouth."

"Great." Hitomi sighed, taking the vial and drinking it as quickly as she could. She gagged, but managed not to spit out half of the potion this time, swallowing it down with a force of will. "My favorite." she said dryly.

"It's two weeks off of your recovery time each one you take." Silvia said. "On average, anyway. Think of it like that and it'll taste better."

"I doubt that." Hitomi said. "Do you have any water?"

"Here you go." Silvia handed her a bulb filled with water, and Hitomi drank from it greedily. "You're taking this a lot better than Alice does. With her, it's a fight to get every single potion down."

"There's no use refusing medicine." Hitomi said. "The way I see it, the sooner I take it, the less I'm likely to need in the long run."

"Now that's the spirit!" Silvia said, clasping Hitomi on the shoulder. Alice stirred on the floor, and Hitomi shushed her.

"Please, Alice is sleeping!" she hissed.

"Eh, she can take a few nights of bad rest. She's young." Silvia said, kicking Alice lightly. "Up, you little lazybones!"

"My head..." Alice murmured, slowly blinking awake. "Does anyone have some water?" she asked, her voice coming out scratchy.

"Silvia!" Hitomi said sternly. "No kicking people in my room." she leaned down, handing Alice her bulb of water. "Here you go, some water."

"Thanks." Alice said, putting the bulb to her lips and draining it quickly. Hitomi smiled at her in spite of herself. Suddenly, beyond the fight, beyond saving the world, Hitomi couldn't wait the fifty-four days until she could introduce Alice to Sayaka and Madoka. She was certain the four of them would become the best of friends. She could almost see it. Sayaka and Alice quibbling over who would lead the days adventures while she and Madoka desperately tried to keep them grounded in reality. The cool summer breeze played at their clothes, lighting up their faces as they turned to her, Sayaka and Alice with their nearly twined grins, Madoka with her kind little smile...

Hitomi shook her head, clearing her sudden drowsiness and concentrating on the people around her. She rolled her eyes at Silvia tiredly.

"You put a sedative in it, didn't you?" she asked, her words coming out partly slurred. "Great. Just as I was wakening up, too."

"You're plenty injured, Hitomi. You need more then seven and a half hours." Slivia said. "Get some rest. We'll be back to see you later."

"Eve told me to give this to you." Derick said, placing the book he was holding next to Hitomi's cot, within her reach. He hesitated, as if he was unsure he should say more. "She's really worried about you, you know. I think she feels a bit responsible for what happened." he said softly.

"Yeah, I could tell." Hitomi said drowsily. "Tell her... I don't mind it. I'm just... glad... that I could help..." Hitomi shook her head again, but it didn't really clear this time. "I think I'm going now."

"Sweet dreams." Derick said. "We'll talk later."

Hitomi didn't say anything, giving in to the sedative and drifting off to sleep.

-*%*-

"Oh, good, she's waking up." Silvia said.

"Finally." Derick said dryly. "I really need to use the bathroom."

"Oh, shut up. It was only about four and a half hours." Silvia said, and Hitomi managed to open her eyes, looking at the two of them sitting in the corner of the room.

"What are you still here for?" she asked, still shaking the sleep from her eyes.

"Well, with you asleep and all, we couldn't get through the barrier." Silvia said. "I probably should have thought that one through, but it all turned out okay in the end."

"Why didn't you just get Alice to let you through?" Hitomi asked, letting a relieved Derick through her barrier and out into the hall.

"I refused." Alice said, stepping into the room with a smile on her face. "I wasn't going to put you through that again unless someone was in serious danger. If they didn't have the forethought to get out while you were awake, they could deal with it."

"My bladder was is serious danger!" Derick called from down the hall.

"Whatever!" Alice giggled. "You're fine, you big baby."

"Well, I'll let you two be alone." Silvia said, getting up and giving Hitomi a wink. "I'm a bit behind on making you some potions anyway, so I have to be getting on."

"Don't rush." Hitomi said dryly.

Silvia laughed and left the room. Alice sat down next to Hitomi, her face dropping from cheer to worry. "Are you feeling alright?" Alice asked. "Your leg looks really bad."

"It doesn't hurt." Hitomi said. "And Silvia said I'm recovering faster than expected. Not nearly soon enough to go to school in four hours, though..."

"Why do you like school so much?" Alice said, scrunching her face. "It always seemed so boring to me. Sitting in a room for hours, having people tell you things."

"It's not boring." Hitomi said, shocked. "The stuff they tell us isn't just random information. We learn things about the world, and how to live in it. What could be more important, more exciting than that?"

"I don't know, having fun?" Alice giggled. "I mean, wouldn't you rather spend the time adventuring in the forest, or playing in the fields, or talking with friends..." she trailed off.

"Well, I guess for you it would be pretty boring." Hitomi said. "They don't tend to cover magic in our classes, so I'm not sure how well it would apply to you. But for me, school teaches exactly what I need to know to have a successful future, so of course I care about it!"

"I guess." Alice said. "It still sounds boring. Useful, maybe, but boring."

"Have you never gone to school?" Hitomi asked, curious.

"I attended a witches school for about three years." Alice said. "It was terrible." she grinned. "So I ran away."

"You ran away from school?" Hitomi asked, confused.

"No, I ran away from home." Alice said. "School was just one of the reasons."

"You're worse then Sayaka." Hitomi shook her head. "No one runs away from home so they don't have to go to school, at least not at, what, nine? Ten?"

"Ten." Alice said. "But, then again, most of them don't go to witches school." Alice smiled darkly. "I only learned five useful things at that place, and the one that came in handy the most was the erase scars spell."

"Oh." Hitomi said. She saw Alice reflexively touch her shoulder, a sad look in her eyes. Hitomi didn't know what to say to that.

"Though, I guess I'm rather glad I went, in the end." Alice said after a moment of silence. "After all, I wouldn't have met Jaxx otherwise."

"Where is he, anyway?" Hitomi asked, glad for the opportunity to change the subject. "I haven't seen him around for a while. I would have thought he'd have been anxious to be with you."

"I sent him away. He's visiting the otherlands. It's basically training for familiars." Alice said. "Besides, he's happy there from what he says, and..."

"You didn't want him to get caught up in the battle." Hitomi finished softly. Alice nodded.

"He's a really good familiar." Alice said. "But, like me, he doesn't specialize in combat. He's just a cat when it comes down to it. If I'd let him stay, he would have taken a blade for me and died. I'm sure he'd be happy to do it, but there's no way I could let him."

"How do you get familiars, anyway?" Hitomi asked. "Can I get one?"

"I don't see why not." Alice said. "Jaxx is technically already your familiar because you're part of my spectrum, but you don't have one of your own yet. It's not that complicated to get one, but you're in no state to do it now. Also, they'd be kind of hard to hide. Familiars tend to be either clingy or very standoffish when you first get them, so you'd have to deal with them in your day-to-day life all the time for at least the first few weeks. Given your situation, I think you might want to hold off until after we save the world."

"Fair enough." Hitomi sighed. "All this stuff is so new to me, I don't know what to worry about first."

"You're handling it really well." Alice said, nudging her. "I'm really glad I met you, Hitomi. You're so calm and reasonable, but not too uptight to have fun when you can. You're kind, and selfless, and caring, and you have a bad-ass magical power to boot." Alice sighed, laying her head on Hitomi's chest. "I wish I was more like you."

"What?" Hitomi said, drawing her fingers through Alice's hair slowly. "Says the girl who stayed up all night after fighting a battle just so that someone would be there if her injured friend woke up? You're already kind and caring, Alice. I admire your boundless energy, your always positive attitude, your matter-of-fact worldview. You might be the nicest girl I know."

"You're just saying that." Alice said.

Hitomi continued playing with Alice's hair. It felt silky beneath her fingers, the long black strands warm and soft on her skin.

"Hitomi, after we've finished this quest, promise me you'll still visit." Alice said quietly.

"Of course I'll still visit." Hitomi said. "How could I not?"

"I just..." Alice hesitated. "I don't want you to leave, Hitomi. I want to be with you always."

Hitomi felt a chill pass down her spine, and the magic inside of her tugged at the corners of her mind. She tried to ignore it as best as she could. She could tell Alice was hurt. She didn't think she'd seen Alice get this serious before, though she supposed that could be an artifact of them only having known each other for three days. Hitomi was very aware that she was Alice's only really close friend. She had Eve, sure, but their relationship seemed close in a different way, more like they were sisters. It must be scary for her, having finally made a friend but being so sure that it wouldn't last.

"I want that too." she said softly. "When we finish, I want to show you Mitakihara city, and take you shopping in the little stores by the river. You'll meet Sayaka and Madoka and we'll all be the best of friends. I'll take you to a little café and get you some sweet-cakes, and then we'll all go to the park and relax in the sun. Maybe Eve will let you stay with me for a while; I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind. We'll sit and talk about boys and manga and do each others hair. You could get to be a normal girl for a little while." Hitomi sighed as she imagined it. "I'd like that."

"Hitomi..." Alice said. "Will you tell me about your world?"

"Of course." Hitomi said. "What do you want to know?"

-*%*-

Hitomi sighed, putting down her book and looking at her bare walls tiredly. She had no idea what time it was anymore. Alice had left hours ago, and they had spent hours talking, so she figured it must be getting late again. She could really use a wall clock. That, and perhaps some decoration.

She shook her head. No, she didn't need that. She wasn't planing on making a habit of staying in this room for very long, though if she kept getting injured like this, she might reconsider her stance. After all, it had only been three days. There were still fifty-three left. Plenty of time to get injured again.

Hitomi shook her head. There was no use pretending things weren't bad, but there was equally little use worrying over them or making them seem worse then they really were. She had been injured, but she was recovering. She flexed the toes on her right leg and they moved when she wanted them to. Hitomi had to give her credit, Silvia's potions were doing a wonderful job. Her leg no longer looked like a zombie, she was beginning to regain feeling in her foot, and the swelling was going away slowly but steadily. All this, and it had taken less than a day and never hurt more than a bruise.

She looked down at the book she was reading. It wasn't very good, to be honest. She was pretty sure it was about a demoness living in modern day New York, but she hadn't really payed much attention to the plot. Still, Eve had apparently thought she would like it, and she didn't have anything better to do. She opened it, reading the text slowly, trying to let herself escape into the world of the page. The obvious inexperience of the author wasn't helping.

Was it that, though? Or had she just found a better world to escape into? After all, that was what she had done, in its most basic essence. She'd left her world for one of fantasy by choice, after being given as many chances to turn back as was reasonable. Perhaps she couldn't enjoy this book, or any other work of fiction, for all the lies it told. Being a hero was much harder, and much slower, then they made it seem. She wouldn't imagine a book would give fifty pages to her adventure up to now, fifty pages to capture the hours and hours of wonder, of boredom, of friendship, of pain. It wouldn't even mention a time like this, or delegate it a few paragraphs at most; it was boring to read about a character laying in a bed for hours. "Hitomi slept through most of the three days, her leg healing slowly. Her friends came to visit her from time to time, but she spent most of her time awake staring at the ceiling contemplating the ridiculous nature of fictional narratives." Something like that. That was why heroes never got colds or the flu, why they never were 'just a little off that day'. Fiction was neater than real life, and now that she was living a fantasy for real, she couldn't see past the obvious falseness of it all. It felt almost mocking.

Hitomi put the novel down, staring up at the ceiling. She wondered briefly where Silvia was, but let it slide from her mind. It most likely hadn't been as long as it felt like. She was sure she'd be here soon enough with more potions for her to drink.

She tried to think of something interesting to occupy her time, but ended up just staring skywards listlessly for about eight minutes. Eventually, she heard a knock on the side of her door. Derick was standing there, holding a vial filled with purple liquid and a bulb of water, a look of smug but caring mirth on his face. Hitomi sighed.

"Come on in." she said, letting Derick through the barrier. "I see you've brought me presents."

"Silvia told me not to let you complain too much." Derick warned, handing Hitomi the vial.

"And what did you say?" Hitomi asked, steeling herself to drink the fluid as quickly as she could.

"I said Hitomi is much to grown up to complain, and that she was being crotchety." Derick said, and Hitomi nearly coughed up the liquid in surprise.

"Really?" Hitomi asked after swallowing the liquid with a final disgusted shake of her head. "I wouldn't have expected..." Hitomi coughed violently for a second. "have expected..." she coughed loudly again, this time for nearly ten seconds. "Water." she said flatly. "Need water."

Derick handed her the bulb, and Hitomi cleared her throat with a few strong gulps. While she drank, he spoke to her. "I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot yesterday. I was understandably under a bit of stress, with a battle happening in only a few hours and all, and I took a little bit of that out on you. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry." he paused. "I am only seventeen, after all. Barely four years older than you. I was... scared, really, and I tried to compensate by acting tough. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"No, it's okay." Hitomi said. "I get it."

Silence fell between the two of them. Derick shifted uncomfortably on his feet for a moment, before settling down and giving Hitomi a level look. "Hitomi, do you like soft-drinks?" he asked suddenly.

"Um... yes." Hitomi said. "Though I doubt I'd recognize anything your civilization puts out."

"Here." he handed a can to Hitomi, who took it, popping the top and taking a sip. It tasted sort of like root beer, but not quite as strong and a little sweeter. She thought it was generally okay. "Sorry. I'm bad at this conversation thing." Derick said, taking a can for himself, seeming to enjoy it greatly.

"Well..." Hitomi looked around, thinking. "You seem to have a knack for doing fire magic. Or is it fire technology?" she shook her head. "Never mind. You're basically a pyromancer one way or another. Any reason why?"

"Uh... It seemed cool?" Derick said, laughing softly. "I always thought being able to control fire was a fun concept. I guess I just like doing it. As a bonus, it's pretty flashy on it's own, so it's more efficient in terms of joules of energy in to impressive display out." he tapped his spell book. "Fusion power is great and all, but it's not unlimited."

"Technology so advanced it seems like magic." Hitomi mused. "You must have an interesting life. I'd imagine you have everything you could ever want at your fingertips."

"In a way, yes. But, again, the technology is so advanced it's basically magic. I can't hope to understand it, nor can most of the people I know. My civilization is in a slow decline as things break and no one can fix them." he sighed. "We all understand that. It's not like we're not fully aware that all of our stuff works off of scientific principles, it's just that they're simply too complex for us to grasp. Still, we're type II. It takes a long time for a type II to decline, on the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of years. I still hold out hope that we'll figure things out again before the fusion cores give out."

"Oh." Hitomi said. "That's kind of sad, actually."

"In a way." Derick said. "But in a way, it gives us something to reach for. If we did it once, we can do it again." he sighed. "But I guess that's part of the reason I'm here. I mean, my life was a comfortable world that I knew was decaying slowly and couldn't do a thing about. I take my tests and a computer tells me what I'm going to be happiest doing for the rest of my life, and that's what I do. Everything is preplanned and perfect, and if you just keep your head down and don't think too hard about the fact that each time you use one of the devices you bring civilization one step closer to losing use of it forever, everything goes fine. Party hard and enjoy the fruits of a type II without doing any of the work for as long as it lasts. Then, suddenly, this hot girl with wings and a killer sword shows up and tells me I can help save her world. Some dark evil that I can help beat up? Now, that's a problem I can deal with. A very clear, immediate goal I can work towards." he laughed. "I was basically a god of my own domain, and yet I needed to step down and get my hands dirty to actually have any real agency in my life. Funny, isn't it?"

"No, not really. That sounds reasonable to me, actually." Hitomi said. "Some people simply can't be happy unless they're forging their own way. That's why we have explorers, inventors, leaders." Hitomi gave him a smile. "You were a frustrated hero without anything to fight. Of course you leaped at the opportunity to save a world."

"I guess you're right." Derick said. "If only all problems could be solved through killing a villain. It's so much simpler when your demons don't require advanced mathematics and a millennium of research to defeat." he paused. "But enough about me. Why are you here? You have to have some reason, right? From what I've seen and heard, your civilization is poised to hit type I sometime in the next one to two hundred years. There's plenty of adventure to be had on a world just advanced enough to begin to understand the big questions but too primitive to control them, so it's not that."

"My reason?" Hitomi said questioningly. "Well, this girl with wings started talking in my head, and I found out very quickly that the world I thought I knew wasn't quite as secure as I believed. If there are friendly magical girls, there are magical evils too; it only took them about another fifteen minutes to show up. Someone has to be able to fight the creatures of the night so that the rest of the world can keep on existing in the light, and right now, I'm the only candidate that I know of. I couldn't just ignore it, and this seemed like the best way for me to get a crash course in protecting the world."

"Here to protect those you care about." Derick nodded. "A far nobler goal than being here to feel useful, if I do say so myself."

"Hey, I think Fox is here just because he likes fighting." Hitomi said. "You're not in last place, that's for sure."

"Heh, fair enough." Derick sighed, finishing his drink. "Besides, it's not a contest. And motives change. I would have left here plenty of times before now if it weren't for Eve and Max. Now, those two I could see myself dying for. Max especially."

"Yeah." Hitomi closed her eyes briefly, Alice's face flashing in her mind for a moment before she opened them again. "I understand that, believe me."

"So, are you liking the book?" Derick said, pointing to the novel by Hitomi's bed after a sufficiently long silence had passed between them. She made a face.

"Not really. It's not bad, I guess, but it's kind of hard to get into a fantasy novel when your life has basically become one. It just sort of feels... shallow, in a way."

"Really?" Derick said. "I always liked them for that reason. They're simpler than real life. Even the most complex and thought provoking stories need to follow the conservation of detail, so they always let you look at an event in it's entirety, from start to finish. They're little toys that have the added bonus of being able to bring people to life if they're done right."

"I guess." Hitomi said. "Well, it's not very well written either."

"Hey, if you don't like it, you don't like it." he took the book back. "I'll tell Eve. We'll find you something else to read." he paused. "In the meantime, do you want to watch a video?"

"You have videos?" Hitomi said. "I would have thought you'd have passed that a long time ago."

"We still have graphite pencils, Hitomi. Just because something new comes along don't mean everything that came before it is lost, not if you do it right." Derick winked. "Do you like action-adventure? I pretty much only have action-adventure."

"Um..." Hitomi thought for a moment. "Anything with strong character focus?"

"A character-focused action-adventure story?" he scratched his chin for a moment. "There aren't too many of those, but I think I might have a couple. Let me see..."

-*%*-

"Yeah!" Hitomi cheered, watching the hero slowly get back onto his feet, despite the wounds he had. Derick had introduced her to a four movie series which she was really getting into. It was very shallow, yes, but it was fun, and it took her mind off of the otherwise empty day she would have faced. She'd watched the first one with Derick, and then caught the second one on her own before falling to sleep with the help of another one of Silvia's potions. Now she was two-thirds through the fourth, and she almost didn't want it to end.

"You can't stop the truth, Arcor!" The hero yelled, and Hitomi giggled. "You think you've won, but you just can't see it, can you? Every time you use-"

The dialog cut out suddenly, and for a second Hitomi was afraid that Derick's device might have busted. It flickered back on, paused. Hitomi looked around, seeing Eve at the door with a small silver controller in her hand.

"I see you're having fun." Eve said. Her tone was casual, but Hitomi still noticed her tapping her fingers slowly on the door-frame, fidgeting. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better now." Hitomi said. "I have full movement in my foot, and my leg's gone back to the right size finally. Silvia says that I'll be up and about in another twenty-four hours, give or take a few." she smiled softly at Eve. "I'm going to be fine, Eve. You don't need to be so worried."

"I know." Eve said, sighing. "You're a tough little girl, Hitomi. But I see you laying there, and all I can think is how I ripped you from your comfortable life and got you so hurt that you managed to black out for a few seconds during combat from only the pain, within sixty hours of meeting you to boot. It's just not reasonable to drag a thirteen year old into this. The only reason I let Alice take part is I can't get rid of her, and I've done my best to keep her as far from the conflict as I can, though you saw how well that worked. I should have turned away as soon as I figured out how young you were."

"No." Hitomi shook her head. "Eve, it's unreasonable for an eighteen year old to have to lead a group of adventurers as the last chance to save a world. You're the one who got the impossible responsibilities trusted on you." Hitomi gave her a smile. "You give yourself too much credit. You didn't rip me from my comfortable life, Eve. I came here because I wanted to. Sure, you might have caused the inciting incident for it, but you never forced me to do anything. I chose this. Stop feeling personally responsible for getting me into this."

"It's not just that." Eve said, beginning to pace. "I'm the leader. It's my responsibility to keep my team safe. And I clearly failed to do that." Hitomi shook her head. For whatever reason, Eve seemed to want to think ill of her self. Internally, Hitomi sighed. Eve wasn't the type to do well with kind words of encouragement, so she'd have to take a harsher route to snap her out.

"No, as a leader, it's your responsibility to use your resources to achieve the goal of your group, which you managed without a hitch." Hitomi said flatly. "We got that scroll thing that will point us to our next target. We won. If you want to feel bad about this so strongly, feel bad because your friend got hurt, not because you messed up. Self pity will get you nowhere."

Eve looked at Hitomi for a moment, a smile slowly crossing her lips. "You know, you're really a very intelligent little girl, Hitomi. You're right. I knew you were right already, but self pity is just too easy until someone else points it out. I think I needed that." she gave Hitomi a kind look. "Get well, Hitomi."

"I will." Hitomi said. Eve walked off, her footsteps more regular now, her movements more natural. Hitomi watched her go, sighing happily as she disappeared down the hall. Thirty seconds passed, and her soft smile slowly turned into a frown.

"She forgot to turn the movie back on." Hitomi said flatly, sighing and laying down on the cot. "Great."

-*%*-

"Just another few hours, Hitomi." Silvia said, shaking her head as Hitomi pouted at her. "Two, three at most. You're almost done. It would be stupid to mess something up now."

"Yeah, but school starts in twenty-five minutes!" Hitomi said, pleading. "And you said that I don't need any more of the potions. Can't I just get crutches or something?" Hitomi put her hands together, giving Silvia the saddest look she could manage. "I've already missed two days, and everyone is probably worried about me."

Silvia shook her head slowly, rolling her eyes. "Fine. You can go back, but be careful! Don't do anything strenuous today no matter what, do you hear?" she sighed. "You'll be fine, most likely, but I'm still concerned at how quickly you recovered. Did Alice drop some kind of healing magic on you too?"

"No, though I think she said something about the room healing me earlier. That might have been it." Hitomi mused, sitting up and stretching her right leg back and forth slowly. It was still obvious that she had injured it, but it was working fine now, and it seemed to hold her weight as Hitomi carefully tested it.

"Well, if you can stand, you can walk, I guess." Silvia said. "Just make sure not to put too much strain on it. The bones should be set by now, but any little fracture you put in it while it's still healing could end up causing you problems later."

"I know." Hitomi said. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"Fine, fine." Silvia waved her off. "Just get, before I change my mind."

"Thank you very much!" Hitomi said, bowing to Silvia briefly before running out of the room.

"Hey! That's not being careful!" Silvia yelled. "And let me out of the damn room before you leave!"

Hitomi dropped her barrier with a flick of her wrist, holding it open for twenty seconds as she ran down the stairs and into the main hallway, turning quickly to the far door and entering the foyer. She took four quick steps and slammed into Eve, who was suitably startled by her.

"What-" she started, then shook her head as she made out the detail of Hitomi's face in the dim light. "Hitomi? I thought you'd still be in bed."

"Sorry for running into you." Hitomi said quickly, giving her a smile. "Silvia said it was okay for me to go to school now." Hitomi said. "I've only got about twenty-three minutes to get there before I'm late, so I'm in a rush."

"Hey, I'll walk you there." Alice said, stepping forward from the darkness. Hitomi blinked.

"Oh, have I interrupted something?" she asked quietly. "I'm sorry."

"No, nothing important." Eve assured her. "Alice and I were just talking." she smiled at Hitomi. "You two get to class now, okay? Alice, I'm counting on you to get Hitomi there on time."

"Will do!" Alice said, grinning and taking Hitomi's arm. "We'll make it there for sure."

"Don't hurt yourselves!" Eve said as the two girls giggled out of the castle, running to the wooden platforms.

"Are you okay to run?" Alice said, grinning.

"As far as I know." Hitomi said.

Alice let go of Hitomi's hand, laughing and running circles around her as they ascended. Hitomi shook her head. "Is that some kind of witch power I can learn?" she asked, out of breath. "Because you always seem to have so much more energy then I do."

"Nah, I just run a lot. You get used to it." Alice said. "Now, that gate-stone was around here somewhere..."

Alice looked around the edge of the woods for a minute, finding the gate-stone with little trouble. "Hey." she said to Hitomi. "You know, I'm really glad-"

There was a brief flash of light and a slight feeling of the ground shifting below them, and the two girls found themselves back in the cityscape.

"-you're okay." Alice finished. "I like seeing you smile again."

"Of course I'm okay!" Hitomi said. "It was just an injury."

"Yeah, but you've been injured half the time I've know you for now." Alice said. "With my hospital visit, nearly three quarters of all the time we've spent together has been in and out of medical care."

"I'm sure we'll have time for things now." Hitomi said. "Eve says we're two weeks ahead of schedule, right? That has to count for something."

"Yeah..." Alice said quietly, then shook her head, gasping. "Oh, time limit, right! Off we go!" she pulled Hitomi's hand, leading her through the streets. "Let's see... two minutes from the castle to the gate-stone, six from the gate-stone to the world gate, five to your house, two to grab your stuff, and five back to the school..." Alice grinned. "It's a close margin, but I think we'll make it."

The two girls made it to the world gate without trouble, stepping through and quickly arriving in the middle-school grounds. Hitomi could already see the early students beginning to show up.

"Wow, there's a whole swarm of you!" Alice said in awe. "Little anime schoolgirls and little anime schoolboys in their little uniforms. You even have the weird hair color and everything!"

"Weird..." Hitomi said, looking for a second at her smooth, jade green hair. What was weird about that?

"Speaking of which, you have to show me how to dye my hair like yours." Alice continued, starting to pull Hitomi towards the streets. "Maybe when you get out of school?"

"Dye?" Hitomi said, not really paying attention to Alice's words as she took the lead, hurriedly walking to her house. "No, I'm a natural green, actually, though you're not the first to say that. People don't tend to believe me. They say it's to vibrant for natural coloring, but..." she trailed off as she looked to Alice's shocked face. "What?"

"You're a... natural green?" Alice said, blinking slowly. "You're telling me that in your world, anime hair colors are natural?"

"Is this the time?" Hitomi said, pulling Alice across the street. She snapped out of her surprise and followed Hitomi quickly.

"Sorry. You're right, we don't have much time left." Alice said. "Actually... now that I think about it, how are we going to avoid your parents? If they catch us, there will be questions about your extended disappearance, I'm sure."

"It's Wednesday morning, about 8:10ish." Hitomi said. "They'll most likely be at work by now. We should be fine."

They rounded the corner of the street, walking quickly down past a row of luxurious modern buildings. Eventually, they stopped outside of a large six story building, ornately built on the edge of the lane. It was larger then the surrounding buildings, and more stately, in a quiet pleasing manor. Alice's eyes went wide again.

"You can't be serious." she said flatly as Hitomi took her house-key from her pocket and opened the door. "This can't possibly be your house."

"Of course not. It's my parents house." Hitomi said. "Well, one of them, anyway. I'm a minor, and can't own houses just yet."

Alice didn't say anything, hesitating briefly before following Hitomi inside. Hitomi heard her gasp as she entered the building, looking around at the elegant and affluent interior. She seemed stunned for a moment, her mouth hanging slightly open. Hitomi snapped her fingers, trying to get Alice's attention, but she didn't snap out of it.

"Oop!" there was a startled squeak, and Hitomi turned to see a young maid in the doorway, her basket of clothes dropping to the ground as she regarded Alice. "Who..." she started, then saw Hitomi, and squeaked again. "Young mistress Hitomi!" she said. "We've been worried sick since you've been gone! Where have you been?"

Alice turned to Hitomi slowly, a look somewhere between incredulous and exasperated clear on her features. "Young mistress?" she said, her pupils beginning to shrink.

"Not now." Hitomi said, turning to go up the stairs. "I'm going to school, and no one can stop me. I refuse to let monsters, magic, maids, misunderstandings or medical conditions get in my way. I'm doing this. Alice, I'm sorry, but you can no longer aid me on this quest." she looked fiercely at Alice. "Here is where we must part ways."

"Hitomi..." Alice murmured in a noncommittal, uncomprehending manor as Hitomi walked quickly to the stairs and up to her room. It was on the fifth floor, taking nearly half of her allotted time to simply reach. Fortunately, it seemed her normal fastidiousness had payed off, as she found her bag already packed. It was a shame that she wouldn't have time for breakfast, or to explain things to Alice, or prepare an excuse for the school, or... well, there were a lot of things she would have to cut. But somehow Hitomi knew that she needed this regardless, needed a little return to normalcy even if it was only for a couple hours. If she was going to be putting her life on the line for a magical world, she was damn well entitled to a coping mechanism.

She changed into her school uniform in seconds, barely managing to get the garment physically on in her hurry. Grabbing her bag, Hitomi slung it over her shoulder and rushed down the steps, quickly casting a feather-fall spell on herself and leaping down flight by flight. She sighed, exasperated to find Alice still in her foyer.

"Alice, you can't stay here without introduction, and you can't go to class with me. Come on. I'll show you around later, okay?" she grabbed Alice's hand, dragging her from the house. Alice resisted for a moment, then sighed and went with Hitomi.

"You didn't say that you were the richest girl in the world." Alice grumbled. Hitomi shook her head.

"That's because I'm not. Sure, we've got a few tens of billions of yen, but..." Hitomi trailed off, realizing the ridiculousness of her statement. She sighed. "I don't let it get to me. I don't consider it a very large part of who I am, so it usually just doesn't come up."

"Your house is bigger than our castle." Alice said flatly.

"Yeah, but your castle has magic." Hitomi countered.

"Why do you attend a normal public school?" Alice asked. "I would have thought you'd get personal tutors or something." she stiffened. "To go along with your maids and butler."

"My family is very new money." Hitomi said. "My father and his partners made their fortune on the electronics market in the late 90's and early 2000's, when the field was open enough for innovators to make a splash and full enough to make a ton of money in no time. The Shizuki fortune isn't quite twenty years old yet. Both of my parents got a public education and have a very high opinion of the Japanese public education system. Hence," she waved at her uniform, "I attend a public school."

"I... see." Alice said, obviously not comprehending. Hitomi sighed.

"Look, it's not important." Hitomi said as they drew into the school. "Alice, to avoid any trouble, I'd like it if Sayaka and Madoka didn't see you. We'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay, okay." Alice said. "You're just full of surprises, Hitomi. Anything else you want to tell me about yourself that you haven't said because 'no one asked'?"

"Well, I'm a half-cyborg from another planet..." Hitomi started, and Alice slapped her lightly on the back of the head.

"Seriously!" Alice said, but she was smiling again, so Hitomi figured she'd accomplished what she needed. "You've thrown everything off, again!" Alice shook her head. "First, I thought you were from a magical world anime, because, you know, the whole traveling to a magical world thing. Then you turn out to be badass, and so it changes to magical girl. Now, I find out you're the rich girl in a maid anime! I don't know what genre you fall into any more!"

"Real life is rarely neat enough to fall into a single category." Hitomi said. "For instance, I'm thirteen, and taking on the real world for the first time. So it's also slice of life, and coming of age, and possibly middle-school drama depending on where the focus is."

"Well, as long as we avoid harem, I think we can deal with it." Alice said, and Hitomi giggled. "But if it turns out you're also in love with a boy, who has other girls chasing him too, but everyone knows that you and him really have the strongest bond, I am going to kick you out of the spectrum."

"Can you do that?" Hitomi asked.

"Yes. I can do whatever I please with the contract, remember?" Alice said, and Hitomi felt a shiver pass over her. "Including to 'dissolve the contract without the consent of the contractee at any time for any reason'. I think that was in the first section."

"Please don't do that." Hitomi said meekly. For whatever reason, the fight had just gone out of her. As soon as Alice had begun to quote the contract, she'd felt a terrifying numbness overcome her senses, and she knew that she couldn't resist it without serious effort. "I want to stay in your spectrum, Alice. Don't kick me out." Hitomi felt another shudder pass through her. She knew that she shouldn't be so shaken by this, but fear was spreading through her and chilling her thoughts, clouding her mind and making it hard to think rationally. "I'll do anything. Just, please..." she said, even quieter.

"Hitomi?" Alice said, concerned. "Snap out of it. I was joking." she laughed awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. Hitomi felt the hold on her shatter, leaving behind no trace except the terrible memory of the experience. "I would never kick you from the spectrum. You know that."

Hitomi took a shuttering breath. "Yeah." she said quietly. "Yeah, I know."

There was a trill of a bell, and Hitomi's eyes went wide. "That's the warning bell!" she yelled. "I have to be in my classroom in three minutes! Sorry, Alice, I have to run!"

"Go!" Alice yelled after her, seemingly glad for the interruption to what would have otherwise been a very awkward situation. Hitomi ran to the doors of the school, throwing them open and entering the building as quickly as she could. She tried to force her mind away from the events of the past three minutes. For the next few hours, she could afford to just be a normal girl again.

-*%*-

"... so, with my leg as injured as it was, it took me longer to get to school then I thought it would. Still, I made it on time, technically, so I think it went well all things considered." Hitomi said, finishing her explanation of absence to Madoka and Sayaka. In a way, she was glad that she'd left before Silvia's potions had finished their work, otherwise she'd have no physical evidence to back up her story. She looked to the other two girls, examining their faces for any distrust. Her story was a bit far fetched, to say the least, so she was expecting at least some questions.

"I'm so sorry, Hitomi." Madoka said softly. "Are you sure you're alright now?"

"You know, I wish I had stories like that." Sayaka said. "Your life seems so interesting sometimes, Hitomi." she grinned. "Though that must have hurt. You should have told us sooner! I would have totally visited you."

"You don't think the story is suspicious?" Hitomi asked, before putting a hand over her mouth. Sayaka laughed.

"What, getting your leg smashed in a faulty elevator which did serious enough damage for you to miss two days but not serious enough to go to the hospital?" Sayaka said, shaking her head. "Quite frankly, if anyone else had said it, I'd have laughed at them." she looked Hitomi in the eyes, smiling. "But you're one of the most forward and honest people I know, Hitomi. If you say that's what happened, then that's what happened."

Madoka nodded. "We trust you, Hitomi. If no one else believes you, we will. That's what friends do."

Just fifty-one more days. Just fifty-one more days. Just fifty-one more days...

"Thank you." Hitomi said. "That really means a lot to me. I'd hope that we would never keep secrets from each other. I care about you two too much to lie to you." every word felt like poison in her mouth, and she nearly choked on her own carefully worded deceit.

"Of course." Sayaka said. "We're best friends! Nothing should be hidden between us." She gave Hitomi a pointed look, and Hitomi nearly blushed. Right. As far as she knows, the two of us are hiding Alice from Madoka.

"I don't know." Madoka said quietly. "I mean, if I knew something that could hurt you, I might try to keep you safe by not telling." she blushed. "I guess it would depend on the situation, mainly."

Hitomi felt her heart jump a beat, but she did her best to maintain her composure. "I mean... I guess, if it was dangerous enough..."

"I'd tell you all in a heartbeat." Sayaka said. "I know that you'd rather help if you could, and I also know that we're stronger together."

Hitomi felt like she had had a dagger of ice plunged through her heart. Sayaka paused, gave Hitomi a sidelong glance, then sighed. "But I wouldn't tell you something if it would hurt someone else for you to know. If there was someone else I needed to protect, I couldn't give them up just because we're all friends."

There was a pause, none of the girls seeming to have any further to say on the subject. An awkward silence began to spread between them, and Hitomi began to cast her eyes around in an attempt to find something to talk about.

"So..." Madoka said after while, trying to defuse the tension in the air that none of the girls fully understood the reason for. "Has anyone heard anything about the new transfer student?"

"New transfer student?" Hitomi asked, interested in spite of herself. "Have they arrived?"

"No, they'll be transferring in on the 25th." Madoka said, shaking her head. "She had a heart problem, apparently, so as the classes nurse's aid I was informed about her sooner then the rest of you."

"Well, that's cool." Sayaka said, putting her arms behind her head and ginning. "No, sorry, I haven't heard anything about that."

"These things are better left to class introductions anyway." Hitomi said. "I wonder what she'll be like?"

"Perhaps we can become friends!" Madoka said, and Sayaka laughed.

"That's what you say about nearly every new person you meet, Madoka." Sayaka said. "Not everyone in the world is going to become friends with you." she grinned at the other two girls. "Besides, I have the two best friends on earth anyway. Why do I need more?"

"That doesn't make it any less true." Madoka said, obviously embarrassed.

"I agree." Hitomi said, giving Madoka an encouraging look. "Though it's unreasonable to expect it every time, there's no reason not to want to make as many friends as you can."

"Well, -" Sayaka started, but the bell for classes rung, and she shook her head. "It's not important." she smiled at Hitomi and Madoka in turn. "Now that Hitomi's recovered, why don't we celebrate tonight? Get a nice snack after school, maybe take a look through some of the shops?"

"Why do I have the feeling I'll be paying for this?" Hitomi said, grinning back at the other two. As much as she hated to admit it, she really missed this. Sayaka just laughed, running back into the school as classes began again, Hitomi and Madoka following.

-*%*-

"Eve, we need to talk." Hitomi said, confronting a surprised Eve in the doorway to the main hall. She blinked twice, seemingly unable to formulate a response.

"What... about?" Eve asked hesitantly, looking at Hitomi with minor concern.

"You said that you'd 'taken care' of the spy problem. What happened there, and why hasn't anyone told me?"

"Oh." Eve said, shaking her head. "I could have sworn I already told you..." she trailed off. "Never mind. I'm so sorry about this, Hitomi. I didn't mean to keep you in the dark. It must have slipped my mind." she paused. "The spy thing? Well, there wasn't one. No one was spying for the enemy. One of us is, however, bugged. That's how they got instant responses. There was no way they could have prepared under such short notice unless they had a live stream."

"Is?" Hitomi said. "Wait, so we're..."

"Yeah." Eve said. "Based off some clever logic, I've figured out that it has to be either Silvia, Lilly, or Fox, but I can't determine who it is, or how exactly they've been bugged. Still, hey, at least we don't have to worry about people betraying us."

"I'm not sure that fills me with as much confidence as you seem to think it should." Hitomi said slowly.

"That's a little bit of what this time is about, in any case." Eve said. "We're taking another six days easy before we make our next move. I'm sure we'll find it by then."

"How do you bug a person?" Hitomi asked, then shook her head. "Wait, no, magic. Right."

"It makes the damn thing tricky to find, unfortunately." Eve says. "Though I'm pretty sure they only have audio, so that's something good. If push comes to shove, we'll use multimedia presentations." she patted Hitomi on the head. "But that's not for you to worry about. Go and have fun for the next week. You've been gifted with the opportunity to not need sleep without increasing your workload. I'm sure Alice will be delighted to spend the time with you."

"I'm sure she will..." Hitomi said, a little apprehension creeping into her tone subconsciously. Eve cocked her head, her eyes furrowing.

"Has something happened between you and Alice?" Eve said. "I can tell you're worried about something."

"No, nothing has happened, really." Hitomi said, hesitating. "It's just that... well... and I know she's not trying to, but..." Hitomi looked down. Eve's eyes widened.

"Has she been forcing you to do things?" she said sternly. "If she has, trust me, I'll get it to stop."

"No, no!" Hitomi said, grabbing Eve's arm. "Nothing like that. She just... makes me uncomfortable from time to time. She'll say something off the cuff, make some joke about the contract or my magic, and I'll feel a hole beginning to grow in my chest." Hitomi laughed darkly. "Things as simple as keeping my mouth shut when she asks me questions has become a terrible battle of will. And I know she's not trying to do it, but..." Hitomi sighed.

Eve paused, looking at Hitomi carefully, seemingly hesitant to speak again. She sighed after a while, shaking her head slowly. "I'm sorry, there really isn't anything I can do about that." Eve said. "Encounters with your spectrum leader are not encounters of equals, whether they try to exert their power or not. The only thing I can suggest is talking to Alice about it. If she knew how much it affected you, I'm sure she'd make as much of an effort to avoid those triggers as she could."

"Your probably right." Hitomi said. "I really just don't want her to feel bad about it."

"Do you think she'll feel worse if you tell her that she's been tormenting her friend for five days or when she finds out in five years on her own that she's been doing it the whole time?" Eve said.

Hitomi didn't say anything. Eve patted Hitomi's head again. "In either case, it's something that I'm fully confident that you can solve on your own. I've given you my bit, but I'm not your parent. Unless we're in combat, I'm not going to tell you what to do."

Hitomi nodded. "Thanks for your advice, Eve."

"Well, that's what friends are for." Eve said. "Helping each other when they need it, working together on things, and supporting each other no matter what." she gave Hitomi a raised eyebrow. "I consider you my friend, Hitomi, and that is a very small subset of people for me, small enough that I can count it on my fingers. Don't hesitate to ask me things. The worse that could happen is I say nothing."

Hitomi nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Except for homework." Eve said quickly. "I don't do homework."

Hitomi laughed softly. "I'll keep that in mind, too." she said, bowing lightly to Eve. "Sorry to have disturbed you, and thank you for the information!"

"You don't have to apologize!" Eve said, shaking her head as Hitomi ran out of the room.

-*%*-

Hitomi sighed, looking up to the blackboard to make sure she had copied her notes correctly. The topics they were going over today were very advanced, and Hitomi was having considerable difficulty keeping up. Somehow, she suspected that they had been forwarded the review for second-year highschoolers, not second-year middleschoolers, but she doubted the teacher would notice. She certainly wasn't talking about anything related to the class; as always, it seemed that some detail of her love life had managed to sneak its way into the classroom. Hitomi always did her best to ignore her when she went off on tangents like this. It gave her time to catch up on her notes.

There was a brief pause in the normal classroom chatter, and the teacher seemed to be startled out of her normal half-daze, turning to the class and addressing them in what Hitomi figured was likely the most direct and formal manor she had done so for at least a week.. "Now that that's out of the way, let's welcome our new transfer student!" Hitomi turned her head, looking out at the hallway beyond, watching the silhouette of a young girl pass to the door and pause briefly outside. "Please come in, Miss Akemi!"

The door swung open, and Hitomi gasped. The girl standing there had long black hair, with deep purple eyes and a completely neutral expression on her face. She looked very pretty, her steps stunningly graceful, and seemed to have an almost intangible air of cool, collected reason about her. But that wasn't why Hitomi gasped. She wasn't paying that much attention to her physical appearance at all. A dark aura of magic came off the girl in wisps, and Hitomi shivered. It was exactly the same signature that she had picked up in Alice's hospital room. Whatever this girl was, it was clearly not human.

Miss Akemi walked to the front of the classroom, turning to face the students. She began her introduction, but Hitomi wasn't really listening, still trying to process the essence she detected, unsure of what to do. Was it best to simply watch and see what happened? Just because a magic felt 'dark' did not mean that it was evil; Hitomi herself was a witch who used literal blood magic, and she was fairly certain that that would be considered 'dark' magic in most places. She could be friendly or helpful. There was no way to tell. And, supposing she wasn't nice, watching for what she did while undetected would give Hitomi the advantage if they came to blows. Of course, if she was malignant, the longer Hitomi left her alone the more she would be able to do without anything to stand in her way. There didn't seem to be a good option. Hitomi hadn't thought she'd need to come to a decision like this so soon. She needed time to think.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hitomi saw Madoka flinch suddenly. Her eyes darted quickly between miss Akemi and Madoka. A cold dread began to set in her stomach. Akemi's eyes never flickered from Madoka the entire time Hitomi watched. She seemed to be surveying her very intently.

Then, without warning, miss Akemi turned to the board and began to write carefully on it, breaking her gaze and turning her attention to her task. Hitomi continued to eye her suspiciously, but began to calm down. Madoka, with her bright pink hair and childlike features, was a person of interest in the group. There wasn't necessarily any intent behind the stare. She should give this person, whatever she was, the benefit of the doubt.

Eventually, the class settled down, and Akemi took her seat silently at the front of the room. From her position two desks behind, Hitomi had a hard time keeping track of her movements. Eventually, she gave up and went back to studying. If she hadn't done anything noticeable yet, she most likely wouldn't for a little while longer. There was not point in putting up an act if you only planed on keeping it for seven minutes, after all. Still, Hitomi found it very challenging to pay attention in light of her presence, though the saturation of her aura seemed to be declining with time.

Eventually, the class broke for lunch. Hitomi went over to Madoka's desk, Sayaka joining them quickly. Sayaka seemed excited, sitting down on the empty desk next to Madoka, grinning. Hitomi stood respectfully to the side, careful to keep Madoka and Sayaka in her peripheral vision at all times while pretending to be interested in examining miss Akemi. Their expressions would be much more informative for figuring out what was going on then staring at the back of Akemi's head, but she had to be careful not to seem too interested, or she might alert the girl on accident.

"She has a mysterious air to her, doesn't she?" Hitomi asked calmly, doing her best to seem appropriately engaged. A question that vague should, hopefully, not draw suspicion, but would open the door for the others to begin revealing their observations about her.

For a second, Hitomi felt almost dirty. These were her friends, she shouldn't be using them as unwitting informants! They deserved more then that from her. She began to waver, but with an effort of will Hitomi forced herself to stay clam inside. She was only doing this in order to protect them.

"Hey, Madoka, do you know that girl?" Sayaka said suddenly, and Hitomi listened in as well as she could while still seeming distracted. "Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like she was glaring at you earlier."

"Well... uh..." Madoka said, beginning to blush slightly. Hitomi nearly blinked in surprise. This was a highly unexpected response, to say the least. She was about to press her on this point when she noted Akemi standing up and tuning towards them.

"I'll ask the Nurse's Aid to take me." Akemi said, and Hitomi's full attention switched to her. She walked over to the three of them slowly, her attention locked on Madoka throughout her approach. Madoka gasped as she drew near, and Akemi paused about a meter and a half from their group, looking down at Madoka.

"Miss Kaname Madoka." Akemi said flatly, and Hitomi felt a shiver pass down her spine. "You are the Nurse's Aide for this class, are you not?"

Madoka seemed to be slightly stunned, but she recovered quickly. "Huh? Um, well..."

"May I ask you to accompany me?" Akemi asked, and Hitomi felt a panic rise in her chest. Something about the way she phrased that didn't sit with her well. She told herself she was just being paranoid. "To the nurse's office, that is." Akemi clarified.

Hitomi couldn't shake the feeling that there was something sinister about Akemi, even if her request was normal and perfectly valid. She really didn't want to leave Madoka alone with her, if she could help it. Unless she acted right now, it seemed, she wouldn't have much choice.

Hitomi sighed. She'd see how this played out. She had too little to go on right now. That said, she didn't intend to let them go unwatched.

Akemi and Madoka left the classroom, and Hitomi gave them fifteen seconds before peeking out and following them. It wasn't suspicious for her to be leaving the classroom during break. As long as their walk lasted less than fifteen minutes, everything would go fine.

Hitomi didn't get close enough to hear the conversation they had, keeping just barely close enough that they would be always visible to her but no more. From what she could see, Madoka was becoming increasingly tense as time wore on, beginning to wring her hands after only a few sentences had been exchanged. When Akemi took the lead, Hitomi's heart sank again. So, she already knew the way. Her suspicion had been, unfortunately, correct. This sudden sickness was only a pretense to converse with Madoka, for whatever reason.

The two of them paused out on the glass walkway, and Hitomi turned to one of the posters hung just before the entrance, keeping them in view as best she could. A moment passed, and then Akemi turned to face Madoka. She stared at her intently for a brief moment, then began to speak. Hitomi tried to listen in, but the words were too muffled. Suddenly, there was a drop off, and she caught a brief phrase.

"-treasure the life you currently live? Do you consider you friends and family precious?" Akemi said, and Hitomi felt her heart skip a beat. The conversation picked up again, and the rest of their words were lost to the crowd. The two exchanged a few more lines before the noise died down enough again for Hitomi to make out what was being said.

"-if you do, you will lose all of those things." Akemi said flatly, her tone serious and grave. Again, the noise picked back up, but Hitomi had heard more than enough. There was no question about it, this girl had an unhealthy fascination with Madoka. Hitomi clenched her fists.

The two broke apart, Akemi turning around and walking back towards the classroom. Hitomi took in a deep breath, and matched paces with her as she passed. She drew up close to Akemi, who seemed to not notice her until she was only a few decimeters from her. She turned her head to Hitomi slowly, her expression blank.

"You are Shizuki Hitomi, correct?" Akemi said without emotion.

"Yes, I am Shizuki." Hitomi said, smiling at her. "I suppose you felt better on your way over to the nurse?"

Akemi paused. "Yes, thank you." she seemed partly disinterested in Hitomi, turning her head away from her and walking in measured step.

"Well, I'm glad." Hitomi said. "It would be terrible to miss part of your first day here."

"I suppose." she said calmly.

Hitomi leaned in, a smile still on her lips, her voice still filled with cheer. "Hey, can I tell you something?"

"If you feel like it." Akemi said curtly. "I do not find your company annoying, you do not need to be so cautious."

Hitomi leaned in closer. "If you touch miss Kaname, I will kill you." she said sweetly, leaning out again quickly and walking quietly next to her.

At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, Akemi reacted slightly more intensely to the comment then Hitomi anticipated, stopping abruptly and staring at her in shock. "What do you -" she began, but Hitomi cut her off.

"I don't know who you are." Hitomi smiled coyly. "I don't know what you are. I have only the barest understanding of your ability, and no idea of your plan. But I do know two things, and they're really the only things that matter. The first is that you are far too interested in miss Kaname for your own good. The second is that miss Kaname is my best friend. And I will remove any and all threats to my best friend. As I said, if you touch miss Kaname, I will kill you. I'm not speaking metaphorically. Do I make myself clear?"

Akemi didn't say anything, her eyes searching Hitomi's face with greatly increased interest. After a short while, however, she regained her composure. "This is new." she said flatly. "This never happened before." there was a brief pause as the two girls sized each other up. Eventually, Akemi nodded lightly. "If you truly mean to protect Madoka, Shizuki Hitomi, you have nothing to fear from me. I have the same intention. If it will make you more comfortable, I will avoid unnecessary contact with her during the school day. However, there are things you can not see, things you do not know, which I will not allow to harm her simply because you may wish me to leave her alone. You shall have to trust that we have the same end goal in mind."

"If that's the case, why don't you explain yourself." Hitomi said. "Wouldn't that make you easier to believe?"

"No." Akemi said shortly. "It would not help." she paused, then began to continue back to the classroom. "I would rather not have to kill you, if possible. It would cause Madoka undue stress." she said. "But if you hinder me in protecting her, I will do what I need to to make sure she stays safe."

"I suppose we should both do our best to stay out of each others way, then." Hitomi said curtly. "Though, assuming you are telling the truth, I am glad to have another ally, as unnecessarily antagonistic as they might be."

Akemi didn't acknowledge Hitomi's words, walking silently the rest of the way back to class. Hitomi sighed internally. School just got a whole lot more complicated.

-*%*-

"And she just walked away?" Alice said, shaking her head. "You're right, everything about this person seems suspicious." she paused, then gave Hitomi a large grin. "Are you sure you don't want to take her on? I'd help you, of course. The two of us could totally take her, I'm sure."

The two of them were sitting on Hitomi's bed, Alice's eyes still periodically examining her room. Hitomi had rarely felt so self conscious about her fairly lavish decorations, giving the silk sheets, the expensive jewelery, and various other accouterments of wealth scattered around her room dirty looks. Alice still hadn't quite gotten over exactly how much money the Shizuki family had, and she'd been acting strangely for nearly an hour. Hitomi was glad she'd begun to calm down, even if it had taken the thought of a fight to do so.

"No, no, I don't think that's a good idea." Hitomi sighed. "She had a air of collected reason about her. Like she knew exactly what she was doing. I wouldn't want to confront her if I don't have to."

"Well, if you ever do have to, I'll be there with you." Alice said. She smiled at Hitomi. "This is why you wanted me to teach you how to place wards, isn't it."

Hitomi blushed. "Maybe." she sighed. "I just don't like the idea of this Akemi attacking Madoka or Sayaka while I'm not around. If I could put some protection on them, even just a light deterrent, it would make me feel better."

"Wards are horrifically complex. I'd expect even a basic ward might take you, say, a good week to learn at your level." Alice said, giving Hitomi a reassuring look as her face fell. "But there is something we can do, if you're willing to take a bit of risk."

"What?" Hitomi said. "I'll take anything you can give me."

"I can teach you some proximity spells." Alice said. "Put the spells on your friends and tag Akemi as a enemy. If she gets within a predetermined range of either of them, you'll be magically alerted to where they are. This way, if something does happen, you'll know instantly."

"That sounds like a good start, at least." Hitomi said. "At this point, I'll take what I can get."

"Proximity spells aren't hard to learn." Alice said. "Though you will have to, well, tag your targets. Madoka and Sayaka won't be hard, but if you want this warning system to work, you're going to have to tag Akemi too. From what you said of her, I wouldn't be surprised if she could remove the tag if she figures out it's there. You'll have to be careful."

"I'm sure I can come up with something." Hitomi said. "I'm not going to let her hurt them."

"Yeah!" Alice said. "If she's stupid enough to mess with them after you warned her, it's her own fault." she gave Hitomi a smile. "If she does start getting really active, I could always ward them for you. The only thing stopping me from suggesting this as a course of action immediately is that wards are really flashy and take about fifteen seconds to fully set. Seeing as you don't want them to know about magic yet, it's not really a good plan. There's just about no way they'd manage to not notice."

"Thank you for the offer." Hitomi said. "It's really nice of you to support me like this."

"We're friends." Alice said. "Your battles are my battles. If it turns out that Akemi is a dark all-powerful evil goddess bent on destroying the world, I'll still fight her with you."

Hitomi laughed. "I don't think we have to worry about that."

"Not yet." Jaxx said, stepping out of thin air in front of Hitomi. "Give it time."

"Jaxx! You're back!" Alice said, rubbing him gently. Jaxx looked around the room, shooting Hitomi a glance.

"I expect a very fancy cat bed from you." Jaxx said. "Or will princess Hitomi let me sleep on her bed?"

Hitomi blushed, and Alice laughed. "Oh, princess Hitomi is very kind to us peasants." Alice said in a mock-servile tone. "She has let me into her inner chambers, and treated me very well."

"Will the princess let me kiss her hand?" Jaxx said, padding up to Hitomi slowly and licking her hand briefly. Hitomi blushed brighter, and Alice laughed harder.

"That's really quite enough." Hitomi said.

"Oh, but, princess, I'm having so much fun!" Alice said. "You have to let me play a little bit."

Hitomi felt a wave of power surge through her briefly, and she turned to Alice. "Yes, I have to let you play a little bit. I can't stop you." she shook her head briefly. "But I'm still going to ask you to stop, please. There's something we need to talk about."

"Oh, but, princess!" Alice said, and Hitomi glared.

"It's about the contract." Hitomi said shortly, and Alice's smile dropped.

"Oh." she gave Hitomi a serious look. "What happened?"

"You have to let me play a little bit." Hitomi said, and Alice's eyes widened.

"Oh, oh, Hitomi." Alice put a hand on Hitomi's shoulder. "Thank you for letting me know so quickly. I didn't mean that." she snapped, and Hitomi flashed white momentarily. "That should clear the command."

"This isn't the first time." Hitomi said. "You really need to pay attention to your word choice, Alice. When you even jokingly try to get me to tell you something I'm hiding, it hurts me. If you tell me that I 'have to try' something, I literally have to try it. You don't do it too much, and you haven't done anything too bad yet, but it's uncomfortable, Alice. It really is. Every slip of your tongue punishes me."

"Hitomi..." Alice said, and Hitomi down at her.

"I can feel it tugging at my magic, burning at my will, my body chilled with fright. You accidentally play with my core, Alice. I'm filled with an unnatural fear, compelled to follow a will not my own and almost unable to stop it. Sometimes, your commands just overpower me, and I simply do what you say because I'm too weak at the time to fight against the consequences of resistance." Hitomi began to shake. "And I know it's only going to get worse as time goes on."

Alice leaned in, hugging Hitomi. "I don't want to hurt you, Hitomi. I only want to be your friend."

"I know." Hitomi said quietly. "I just want to be your friend too, Alice."

"No one should have to go through that." Alice said. "I promise, Hitomi. I'll be better about this. I'll make sure that you don't have to feel that again because I messed up." she held Hitomi at arms length, looking into her eyes. "You will never complain about this again, do you understand? I'll make sure of it."

Hitomi felt a wave of power surge through her briefly, and she turned to Alice. "I understand. I will never complain about this again." she said.

"I'll make it up to you, you'll see." Alice said. "Thank you for letting me know about this. I would never want to hurt you, Hitomi." she grinned. "But, hey, let's not let this keep us down!" she nodded at Hitomi. "If you don't want to play princess, what do you want to do? We are in your room, after all."

"I don't know." Hitomi said. "I have some games lying around we could play."

"Sounds good to me." Alice said, laying her head down on Hitomi. "Let's stay friends forever, Hitomi. I hope you always feel comfortable telling me your problems."

Inside her head, Hitomi screamed. She knew things were wrong, very, very wrong. But on her lips, a smile still sat. It was very hard to complain about the command forbidding complaint after all. Alice didn't mean it. She never meant it. And she was such a good friend, so kind and earnest. Hitomi laid her head down on Alice.

"Me too." Hitomi said. "I'm so happy I met you, Alice."

At that moment she almost meant it, too.

##########

End Chapter Report:

Shizuki Hitomi has unlocked the achievement 'Too Meta' for making fun of the author's style while in the story.

Shizuki Hitomi has unlocked the achievement 'Exact Words' for going through her fifth contract born command.