Technically Sango was meant to have blindfolded the Sirens before leading them towards the meeting place. Protocol insisted that since neither of them had been properly ordained into the Order, they were to be assumed as potential spies and treated accordingly. The White Pearl was a small enough society already - it wasn't willing to take risks being doublecrossed by its own members on top of everything else.

But besides the obvious difficulty she'd have in guiding two blindfolded teenagers through the busy city streets, there was the still passed-out Cirno they had to carry around. So far the girls had shown themselves to be good-hearted, so Sango was willing to trust them with a secret or two.

No-one seemed to pay much attention to Koishi and Mokou as they carried Cirno along, helping her down the street like friends seeing to a drunken classmate. Sango led the way, retracing the path the trio had taken before. Mokou looked down on the fallen Fairy, not even noticing Eientei as they passed it. It was probably better that way.

"Uh, Sango-san?"

Koishi piped up with a question as she examined the buildings around her.

"Phwee?"

"Doesn't this street lead back to school?" Koishi asked.

Sango seemed confused by the question, shrugging.

"Koishi-san, the Sirens are all gonna be girls around your age. Where do you think is the best place to set up shop?"

Koishi nodded slowly as she took understood what Sango was trying to suggest. Apart from the occasional home-schooled student, every teenager in Gensouto would visit that one high school, at predictable times, on predictable days. It was the perfect place to be on the lookout for the Sirens, not to mention listening out for the rumours that the Black Claw were so fond of spreading.

The busy crowds started to dissipate as they continued down the path. Gensouto High loomed over them, eerily deserted as the sun began to set. Any of the students who had stayed behind for clubs were long gone now, and the gate had been locked shut some time ago. Entry was strictly prohibited at these hours, but the ominous chain gate usually did enough to convince wannabe thieves that it wasn't worth the effort.

Sango reached into her bag again, rummaging around. Koishi watched her hand intently, waiting to see what sort of magical gizmo she pulled out next. An enchanted key that could open any lock? A bottle of acid that would melt away the metal bar? She hated to admit it, but she was starting to really get into this whole magic business, and there was a feeling of genuine curiosity as she watched the dolphin pull out her latest gadget.

She was disappointed to see Sango pull out an ordinary key. No glitter, no sparkle, nothing. Sango caught a sight of her downbeat face, and gave her an awkward look.

"I'm not gonna steal anything, I promise."

"No, I just thought it'd be...flashier."

Sango saw that Koishi was looking at the key in her hand, then sighed.

"Koishi-san, let me get this straight. You humans have invented a system that lets you cut spare keys to any door. No fuss, no pizazz, no evidence. You're telling me that you'd rather I had to go through a lockpicking charm every time I wanted to get in here after hours? Jeez, and you say that I'm crazy."

She couldn't argue with that one, but Koishi still felt like it was a little too mundane compared to everything else she'd been exposed to in the last few days. Had it only been that long? Already it felt like she'd been doing this for months, but maybe that was she could only remember the same dreary school days repeating ad infinitum. Mokou seemed shell-shocked by today's ordeal - understandable, in all fairness - and was relieved to see Sango resorting to methods that were relatively sane in order to open the gate.

Clearly the school board had put a lot of faith in that gate, because there was nothing in terms of security as they continued to carry Cirno along the grounds. The classrooms were supposed to be locked up by teachers at the end of the day, but it was a job that no-one really saw a point in actually doing. When was the last time anyone had broken into this place, anyway?

And even in spite of all that, there were more measures that should have served to keep intruders out. Every now and then, at the end of a corridor, a camera would glare down on Koishi. No doubt there would be evidence on the security tapes of the breakin and there would be all sorts of trouble in the morning, she thought. It was only later that she found out that the Pearl had thought ahead, and that the cameras between the entrance and the meeting place had their tapes 'conveniently misplaced' by a member of staff.

As a final result of all of this preparation, Sango led Koishi and Mokou through the school unseen by the guard on duty. The path twisted and turned, like she was trying to lose a pursuer, but eventually came to a stop in front of a familiar classroom.

Namely, Koishi's math class.

"...No."

She shook her head, mentally refusing to process the thought. She could have dealt with it being a janitor, a class rep, maybe even a teacher she'd never worked with. But not her. Please, please, PLEASE not her.

Sango didn't even need a key this time around, simply opening the door with a twist of the knob. It creaked audibly, in a way that added a dramatic flair to the discovery of what was waiting inside. It was clear that dramatic flair was exactly what their contact was aiming for, because she'd positioned her chair to be in the midst of the light from the setting sun, deliberately turned backwards so she could twirl around when the time called for it.

"Evening, girls."

Koishi's prayers went unanswered. Their contact saw her opening, and kicked on the floor with one high-heeled foot to spin her chair towards them.

"I assume you aren't here for tutoring?"

Sitting comfortably, still in the dress she'd been wearing earlier, was Professor Kawashiro.

Sango stepped forward without a hint of awkwardness, bowing towards the professor on the chair.

"Well, they're all here, and last I checked they were just about intact."

She walked over to the teacher, standing to her side like a bodyguard. It was to her that Sango's allegiances were truly aligned, after all. Koishi recovered just enough to offer some sort of verbal response to her discovery.

"K-K-Kawashiro-sensei? You mean you-"

Professor Kawashiro held a hand up, silencing Koishi mid-sentence.

"Please, Koishi-san, call me Nitori. We're all going to be needing to help each other out in the next few weeks, so we should put aside the student-teacher business for now."

"That's not the point! You were in on this?!"

Koishi raised her voice, enough to earn her a cautious glare from the two girls across the room. There was little to fear, though. No-one was hanging around the school at this hour, so the words harmlessly echoed through empty corridors.

"You've been here for years, haven't you?!" Koishi continued. "I was hearing the rumours about how you turned two and two into five by the end of my first week here!"

Nitori cringed slightly at that one. According to the story she'd forgotten to carry a one teaching her first class of calculus. It had become a lingering urban legend across the school.

"We've had a lot of time to prepare for this, Koishi-san," she said, recovering. "We needed to secure the school as a vantage point, and if we left it until the last minute we couldn't guarantee there'd be a space for us to put an agent. I figured deep cover was the best option, so I decided I could afford to spend a few years teaching teenagers how to put the Ohm in Ohmygawd."

The smile that rose onto her face suggested there was more to it than that. Given the magical prowess of the White Pearl, their leader seemed to be surprisingly scientific.

"Uh, guys? Hate to break up your discussion, but the kid here is pretty damn heavy."

Mokou, was focusing her attention on the teenage girl currently weighing down one of her arms. Cirno was still soundly unconscious, almost asleep. The rest of the room turned to look at her after Mokou's complaint, suddenly reminding Nitori of why she'd had to bring them here in the first place.

"...Ah. Yes. Sango, this is her?"

Sango nodded, looking uncertain. She didn't seem to believe herself, either. With a quick shuffle of her eyes, Nitori directed the Sirens to lay her over a pair of desks. She stepped calmly and simply towards the body, any sign of the drunkenness she'd displayed at Lorelei's now firmly gone. She had been there, watching while they ate dinner together, Koishi realised. She had put the teacher's presence down to sheer coincidence.

Coincidence, as a word, seemed to be losing meaning by the day.

Wait...didn't she...?

Her mind looked backwards, to the time she'd spent at school today. After the fight with Cirno, the professor had appeared and checked if they were okay. In particular, she'd gone up to Sango and ran a hand down her jacket to check for bruises. There was no way she would have been able to do that without feeling the fin underneath. In retrospect, it was blindingly obvious, but Koishi was too busy licking her own wounds to think about it at the time.

"Now, then. Let's see what injuries you've given this poor girl..."

Even as she joked, Nitori examined Cirno's unconscious body with a steady and experienced hand. Physically, she'd taken a bit of a beating, but nothing worse than some nasty bruises. She'd be up again in half an hour or so.

"Most importantly..."

She turned to Sango, and the dolphin quickly started rummaging around her boss's desk. She pulled out a contraption similar to a penlight, the sort that doctors used to check for consciousness. Given the pale green glow emanating from Nitori turned it on Cirno's eye, though, it was designed for something a little more mystical. Nitori's eyes grew wider with every second, not because she saw anything unusual in Cirno's eye, but because she saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

"...It's gone. Not even a trace."

A hint of awe rose to her face, as she realised what this discovery was worth. She went from surprise to amazement to relief in the space of a few seconds. Placing the penlight to the side, she looked to Koishi and offered her a small round of applause.

"Thank you, Koishi-san. You saved this young girl's life, and for that I'm almost as thankful as she is."

Nitori's shoulders relaxed slightly. She'd just been given one less thing to worry about. This was a feeling that Koishi hadn't quite expected - a look of utter thanks and respect. She blushed in response, twiddling her thumbs as she took a new interest in her feet. When was the last time anyone had said something like that to her? She couldn't even remember.

"Uh, well...you're welcome, I guess. I can't really say I knew what I was doing but...I guess it worked?"

Nitori turned to Koishi, examining her form more closely. She took a glance at the closed third eye upon her chest, intrigued.

"I was wondering, actually. How did you manage to close it? From what I've read on your ancestry, you aren't supposed to be able to turn off your ability like that."

Now it was Koishi's turn to look confused. She looked down on herself for good measure, confirming that the eye was as dormant as it had always been.

"I'm...not sure where you've been reading. As far as I know, it's always been like this."

Nitori's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, before she descended into thought. She leaned downwards, placing her head right next to the third eye and giving it a quick examination.

"Well...that isn't supposed to happen. Not at all."

She frowned, poking at one of the tendrils that emerged from the eye. Immediately Koishi yelped, as a feeling akin to a cold weight pressed against her chest. She slapped away Nitori's hand violently, and the teacher's frown deepened.

"Ah, sorry. I was checking to see if it responded to touch. I forgot it was that sensitive..."

Koishi needed a moment to catch her breath. She could touch the veins fine enough, but apparently they didn't react well to the hands of others. The feeling passed, and she looked to Nitori with another question.

"How do you know all this, exactly? And what do you mean, ancestry?"

"Oh, after Sango saw you on the beach that morning and told me she sensed you were a Siren, I did some reading into your bloodline. Magic isn't completely original to everyone, after all - more often than not, it's inherited in the blood, so when I went to look up families possessing third eyes like yours the Komeiji family was easily the most prominent in Gensouto."

Nitori stepped backwards, looking at the blackboard behind her. Another equation had been drawn up earlier, and as usual with Nitori it was totally incorrect.

"As for how...it might be better for you to see that in person."

She took a piece of chalk from the side, and began to draw on the corner of the board. It was a simple picture, drawn with a series of strong, practiced strokes. The symbol meant nothing to Koishi - a circle inside a square, touching its outer edges - but it was a symbol that the machine behind the blackboard took in with perfect clarity.

"It's our symbol," Nitori said. "A pearl within an oyster. It stands for sanctuary."

The room rumbled as the blackboard shuffled across the wall, moving a few feet to the side. Where it had been positioned, an ominous-looking doorway was built into the wall, through which Koishi could make out a poorly lit room. She blinked incredulously - the room next door had long since been abandoned due to some sort of health and safety scare, to the point where they'd built a wall over the door inside to stop meddling kids from peeking inside. They'd never given a straight explanation, though - she'd heard jokes about how it was all a coverup and there was some sort of deep dark secret behind that door, but she never expected them to be right.

Sango hung behind to watch in case Cirno came to her senses, while Nitori led the Sirens into her den. Immediately their eyes fell on the largest object in the room - a computer, almost as large as the blackboard in the room behind it, with a pair of extra screens attached to the sides. Mokou gasped slightly.

"...Damn. Didn't know I had that sort of fan."

The screen was still displaying the last information Nitori had been looking up - the history of a Mokou Fujiwara, one of the most recent descendants of the family of the Phoenix. The computer only offered trifling details about her - her age, her school record, but no photographs or pictures - but on one of the side-screens she could see a family tree spanning backwards at least five generations. On the other, an encyclopaedic entry on the magical traits of the family had been half-read, stopped midway. Nitori must have been reading this before she went to trail the trio at Lorelei's. On the bottom, in much larger text than the rest, the words "RANK: A" stood out far in front of the rest of the entry.

"We have operatives working at the hospitals around here, before you ask how I got hold of this. Know thy enemy, as they say, and every girl here could be both our best friend and our worst nightmare."

There was a tone of smugness in Nitori's voice as she spoke about her masterpiece. There was no chair for her to sit on - she'd taken it outside in order to perform her little introduction. She settled for standing as she reached down to the keyboard in front of the screen, typing faster than Koishi's eyes could follow.

"And as for you..."

After a few seconds, the screens flashed, and Koishi saw her own name on the screen. It was an even stranger experience seeing her own name, her own history recorded by a woman who she barely knew. Her family tree, listing great-grandparents she'd never heard of, let alone met. And on the last screen, a full explanation of the powers that she didn't know she had a week ago.

Or so she thought, before she started reading.

"Take a look yourself, Koishi-san. Doesn't add up, does it?"

The whole entry was far too long for her to read now, but mercifully there was a summary at the top that cut the whole thing down into one tidy paragraph.

"The bloodline of the Eye is potentially one of the most powerful in Gensouto, if correctly trained. Members of this family are likely to be very sensitive to the opinions of others, and highly skilled at guessing their emotions and thoughts. Upon discovering and accepting their abilities, this premonition evolves into outright knowledge, as they gain the ability to read the minds of nearby creatures at will. However, the power comes at a price - once it is activated, it cannot be turned off, and there is history of family members being driven insane by the unending onslaught of thoughts the world forces into their minds. The family name is very simply derived from the manifestation of their power - a third never-closing eye, balanced around the chest, held up by a series of bright red tendrils."

It seemed half right. It was definitely close, that was for sure, but it didn't fit Koishi. For one, all she could do was pass on thoughts telepathically, and only with youkai. Humans were a step beyond her, and probably always would be.

And besides that...

Koishi looked down again at herself. The tendrils connecting her to the third eye were purple, not red. And the eye they were holding up was firmly closed, refusing to open unless Koishi reached down and pulled away the eyelid. Given what had happened the last time she did that, she decided against repeating the process.

"You're definitely part of the family, Koishi-san, but at the same time there's never been one quite like you before. You may not have the same powers as, say, your mother did, but it must be built from the same route."

Nitori grew tired of standing, moving the keyboard to the side and sitting on the desk it had been placed on. She looked at Koishi with the interest of a child at a zoo exhibit, only looking at the interesting parts and ignoring everything else. In this case, it was the eye that caught her attention, and Nitori continued speaking without giving her eye-contact (at least, not in the usual sense).

"I've only got one theory as to how this could have come about. There's only one way for your family to close your third eyes, and that's in death. I heard from Sango that you had a bit of an accident when you were young, and they had to bring you back after your heart stopped."

The eye gave no response despite Nitori's relentless glare. It hung in place as always, cold and lifeless. Koishi realised what Nitori was trying to suggest, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Looks like you came a lot closer to dying than you thought, Koishi-san. In fact, it's probably not far off to say you're half-dead already."

"H-Half dead? Are you saying I'm a zombie or something?" Koishi felt a cold sweat on her forehead.

"No, no, nothing that dramatic. Consider it that your third eye is comatose - not quite awake, but still working to some degree. You can still read the minds of youkai, right?"

Koishi nodded. Sango had been 'borrowing' answers from her in class so it wouldn't be totally obvious, but...wait.

"Yeah, but it goes the other way too. I can get Sango-san to hear what I'm thinking as well."

Nitori nodded, working frantically at the keyboard. She began to add a note at the bottom of Koishi's file, keeping track of all these new abilities that were popping up.

"Hm...interesting. You've found a way to not just tap into the minds of others, but form a psychic connection. Impressive."

The cursor shifted down to the large text at the bottom, currently listing Koishi as a Rank B adversary. The B was promptly removed, and replaced instead with XS+++. Presumably, this was Nitori's personal grading system, because it seemed too convoluted for anyone else to understand.

"Hm...is your power shifting inward, perhaps? Redirected so it can allow your thoughts out as well as letting other thoughts in? Yes, this is definitely worth looking into further-"

"Hey, teach. Sorry to interrupt, but I've got a few questions for you."

Mokou was leaning on the far wall, examining the other gadgets and gizmos lined around the room. There were various cupboards and drawers, filled with artifacts both scientific and supernatural. Most likely they'd have more glasses and rings so that the remaining Sirens could avoid mundane threats like insanity and drowning respectively. Besides the storage space, there were two large cylindrical tanks, filled to the brim with a green liquid unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Each had a computer in front of it, requesting input with regards to 'Subject Anatomy' - an experimental tank, maybe? Healing? Analysis? Koishi couldn't tell, and it was just one more question for Mokou to add to the mountain she'd managed to assemble in the last few hours.

"Hm? Oh, yes, they haven't had the chance to fill you in, have they? Apologies. When it comes to new discoveries, I can get...ahead of myself."

Nitori's attention was drawn away from the computer, leaving her note on Koishi unwritten. She seemed to suddenly remember that Mokou even existed, momentarily putting the entire situation to one side so she could further her own scientific curiosity. The phoenix glowered at her in suspicion.

"Well, sorry for not being interesting enough to examine. I'd just like someone to give me a clue about what the hell is going on here, because 20 minutes ago I'm pretty sure I died. And while I'm at it, how did everyone's hair go technicolor? Blue really doesn't suit you, Kawashiro-sensei."

Perhaps it was a sign of how far Koishi had managed to immerse herself in this new magical world that the mention of Nitori's hair did nothing surprise her. She'd seen signs of it before, so she was unsurprised to see that when her glasses came off the dark brown hair turned a much more dramatic shade. Mokou's first response to it was much more calm and dignified than Koishi's 'running through the streets in a panic'.

"Well, then. I suppose you've earned an explanation of what's going on. You too, Koishi-san."

"Um, Kawashiro-sensei, I already know-"

"I already said, I prefer Nitori. And if Sango has told you what I ordered her to tell you, you still have plenty to learn."

Nitori left the note on Koishi's file unfinished for the moment, though she'd undoubtedly finish it later with an eager hand. She led the Sirens backwards towards the far end of the room. Mokou and Koishi followed behind, still unable to make out any of the contents of these mysterious drawers and cupboards. Each of them had been locked securely, and given the jingle of keys coming from Nitori's pocket they wouldn't get their answers any time soon.

There was a desk here, with a much more mundane looking computer than the one she'd been working on earlier, and a projector screen had been set up behind it. Nitori took her place behind it, on another of those spinning chairs (maybe the one she'd been given to work on had rubbed off on her?) and without needing any guidance the pair of Sirens stood in front.

Nitori started to activate the computer. She tapped a finger against the desk as the hard drive sluggishly whirred to life.

"So, while we're waiting, Koishi-san. Mind telling me exactly what you know about this whole mess? So we can get your phoenix friend up to speed."

Koishi blinked. She was being asked to condense everything she'd been exposed to in the last few days and simplify it into a few easy paragraphs. That was sort of a big ask, but regardless she tried to come up with a synopsis.

She needed to take a deep breath first.

"OK, so. First off, everything you know about the world is wrong. Magic exists, everyone can use it, and hair colours spread across the whole rainbow now. Animals can walk and talk like humans do - you've seen Sango-san, right? She's an example. They call themselves youkai, and they basically know all this stuff we don't. There are some bad guys who are trying to bring magic back in the limelight, and there are good guys trying to stop them from getting their hands on these jewels of ours. They're called the Tidal Teardrops, there are 7 of them all around Gensouto inside other girls called Sirens, and they let us do all that magical stuff after we make a really really important wish. We're trying to get our hands on them before the Black Claw - that's the bad guys, for the record - kill them off and use those Teardrops to do all sorts of bad things."

Koishi gasped again, tiring herself out. Mokou's expression didn't falter all the way through - she'd had her stage of being shocked and confused, and now she just simply took everything in her stride. It was impressive, if slightly disturbing.

"Excellent description, Koishi-san! Not very detailed, and missing a lot of important facts, but that's all you were meant to know anyway."

Nitori gave Koishi a condescending nod as she started to type in commands on the keyboard. Koishi frowned slightly, while Mokou took the initiative to ask a question that had never come to her companion.

"Teach, one thing I don't get. So, these Black Claw guys want to let the world know about magic again? What makes you so sure that's a bad thing?"

"Besides the fact they're willing to kill off innocents to bring it back? That they hypnotise unsuspecting humans and force them to do their bidding?"

"And what about you? You're asking seven clueless teenage girls to come do your fighting for you." She raised an eyebrow, examining Nitori with visible suspicion. "If you're so powerful and useful, why do you expect us to defend ourselves?"

Nitori's face darkened, but she offered no response.

"Don't think I'm scared about fighting these guys," Mokou continued, gritting her teeth. "Hell, if they're using kids like Cirno as playthings, I'll be more than eager to start cracking some skulls. But who says everyone else is gonna be that eager? What if they die? Why do we have to win your war for you?"

"Because we don't have a choice."

Nitori growled out a response, but her frustration wasn't pointed at Mokou. She seemed to be looking out into the distance as she started to speak, having been given a perfectly good opening to vent.

"You know what most youkai think of you human beings? They think you're a race of sniveling, cheating cowards. They've seen you kill yourselves in pointless wars, tear apart all the wildlife around you, pollute the skies and seas with your waste, and now you're on the verge of bringing the whole world down with you. Frankly, there's a large group of youkai that think the world would be better off if mankind happened to suddenly disappear."

Mokou's anger floundered. Nitori's words hit her hard, leaving no space to counter. Mankind had done all of that and more. Koishi could feel her own heart wavering, as if she'd just been stabbed in the chest.

"If magic comes out into the open, there's a good chance you humans will do the job yourselves. You were all so excited and threatened by nuclear weaponry, but magic will let you destroy on a scale greater than you've ever achieved. You'll be able to wipe entire continents off the face of the earth - and given your history of peace, there's a very good chance you will. It would just be a waiting game, and then the Claw would just pick up where you left off and take what they claim is rightfully theirs."

Nitori's typing at the keyboard grew more aggressive. Koishi could hear the violent staccato of key taps almost louder than her own words as she spoke.

"But some of us have promises to keep. For centuries it's been our job to protect you and your people from anything the Black Claw tries. But there aren't many of us, and in terms of combat we can't match the raw power of the Sirens. But we can give you what you need to fend for yourselves, and as long as we can do that the White Pearl has a use in the world."

Nitori finished entering the last command and smashed the return key as the computer burst to life. The act was cathartic, and her shoulders slumped a little as she came to the end of her rant.

"Is that a good enough answer for you, Mokou-san?"

Mokou didn't answer for a while. She gave a subdued nod after a long bout of hesitation. Koishi nodded along as well, trying not to focus on the crimes mankind was accused of. A week ago she'd have fallen into a pointless bout of guilt on hearing it. Not today.

"Anyway. Now that both of you are up to speed..."

Another series of hastily entered commands, and now the projector burst into life. For now, it displayed a simple black slide.

"It's time to let you both know exactly what we've had to drag you into."

The black slide was replaced with a white one, with text written across it. Nitori had been kind enough to offer a translation - the original had been scribed in a language no human would ever understand.

Koishi and Mokou both flinched as they read it.

"A History Of Humans And Magic: The War Of Cataclysm"