The Amusement Club weren't the only ones in Tokisadame. The Student Council had arrived a day before to see if the high school was worth attending. President Rise had insisted that the rest of the council come along. Or that's what Dr. Nishigaki had told them, at least. The group had split up in the early afternoon once they heard the Amusement Club was here, leaving Ayano alone with the Ikeda sisters.

"Kyoko Toshino!" Ayano shouted, "Where are you?"

Right behind her, Chitose took off her glasses. In the pink, bubble-filled recesses of her mind, a new scene was starting to play out.

Ayano and Kyoko reunited in the middle of the road, wrapping their arms around each other. Their faces were in close proximity to each other. So close that it looked like they could kiss at any moment.

"Kyoko Toshino. I've missed you. It doesn't matter where we are. I always want you by my side," she whispered.

"Ayano," said Kyoko, "You look radiant."

Chitose felt the warm sensation of blood surging out of her nose, spilling down onto her cheeks. "Oh, my," Chitose laughed, putting her glasses back on. "Ayano, you're being so dishonest with yourself."

"I-it's nothing like that!" Ayano said, handing Chitose a handkerchief from her bag.

Chizuru Ikeda removed her glasses. The sound of chimes blowing in the wind echoed in her head as a saucy scene came to mind.

Ayano finished wiping the blood off Chitose's mouth. She leaned in close to check that all of it was gone. Her lips came close to Chitose's cheeks, making brief contact before Ayano pulled back.

"Chitose, where would I be without you?" asked Ayano.

"Do it a little stronger," said Chitose.

Chizuru's mouth hung open. Drool was sliding down her cheeks and staining the collar of her shirt. She held her sleeve to her mouth, absorbing most of it before putting her glasses back on. Her face returned to its stoic look. She accelerated her pace, getting ahead of her older twin sister and the president, taking the lead as they walked into the suburbs.

"If they're sightseeing, they're probably at the shrine near the center of the city," said Chizuru. "We don't have time to waste."

"If Kyoko Toshino starts running loose out there, we're all going to have to pay a fine Irvine," said Kyoko. "Why do I care about you so much, Kyoko Toshino? She really..."

"Gets your goat?" asked Chitose.

"It's not like I hate her or anything," said Ayano, crossing her arms and pouting.

"No, that poor man up ahead," said Chitose, "Someone needs to get his goat!"

Kojiro the Goat had been startled by a loud scream from down the river. The man with a frilly ascot and glasses, also named Kojiro, had started running after him. Chizuru, her expression changing to fierce determination, grabbed onto the goat's collar as it ran past her. The creature's hooves kicked up against the dirt, bringing it to a halt.

The man in an ascot stopped in front of them, standing politely. "The Sasahara family thanks you, fair maidens. I am its eldest son, Kojiro. Is there anything that can be done to repay your kindness?"

Ayano and Chitose were left silent in disbelief. The goat, now idly munching on some grass, was not just any goat. He was a royal goat. Stories of meeting people from the upper class were only supposed to happen in fairy tales.

His butler, dressed in an old fashioned powdered wig, came to his side and helped him get situated on Kojiro the Goat. The two Kojiros turned around. Sasahara pointed his finger towards the suburbs, and with his other hand gestured for Ayano and the twins to follow him into the war zone.

This is because a large explosion, visible and audible even from this distance, had appeared on the grounds of a nearby shrine.

"Art is an explosion, isn't it? Thus, is not an explosion the purest expression of art?" asked Sasahara, speaking with great profundity as everyone except Chitose walked behind him with a blank stare. "To have this moment captured before our eyes does great justice to our town's name.

"Do you know how it's spelled, fair maidens? Toki! Sadame! The Law of Time! It extends further back than the human mind can comprehend, and it extends further into the future than we can imagine, as far as the distant reaches of the universe itself. Time can spend an eternity building itself up, and yet, in a moment, it can tear it all down, like that magnificent combustion of gunpowder and nitroglycerin we see of in the distance.

"The moment has passed, but of the things I have seen, it is but the minimum. Now, cast off your glasses," he did so, "and come with me as I show you around. I can promise it will be better than anything you can imagine."

Chitose, bleeding profusely from her nose, doubted that.