Wendsday, September 28th 2095. 6:00 AM.

Doctor Yoshiko Nishina's residence.

The pair of young women bowed to their guardian one last time before they left the house on their way to their first official day at school. Tanya cast a look at Visha as the former adjutant started to drop behind her, and with a sheepish grin Visha moved forward to match her pace with Tanya's. It had been a matter that had required some amount of convincing on Tanya's part to get Visha to abandon her usual spot, and walk beside her as a partner and equal.

To be exact, it had required a fair amount of emotional support, and a certain promise. One that Tanya executed as per her agreement with her taller girlfriend. Tanya reached out gently, almost hesitantly, and slipped her hand into Visha's and gave her hand a gentle squeeze and let it sit there for a bit before they reluctantly let their hands separate once more. All in all, it was a mutually beneficial proposal, and could in no way be considered a form of coercion. Most certainly not.

At a silent signal, the two former Imperial mages initiated a magic formula and started to skate along the ground in quick, precise movements. It was the most optimal way to cover the distance, since the long skirts really did not allow for a full range of motion, not like the uniforms that the pair had grown accustomed to over the years. Honestly, Tanya still had nightmares about The Dress, and if it hadn't been for both her sense of duty, and the presence of Visha, would not have consented to the experience.

As the pair neared the school, they could see their targets ahead of them as the siblings parted ways to head to their separate classes. When it was time for Tanya and Visha to part ways, they shared a shy smile and held hands for a brief moment, an act that a few of the students witnessed. The pair had agreed with Doctor Nishina on not hiding their relationship, but neither was so brazen as to flaunt it in public. Even if the gentle affection and care was blatantly obvious to anyone who actually watched their parting.

The pair made their way to their separate classes, as they each prepared themselves in their own way for the day ahead of them. Tanya ran over the story that they had all prepared, in case it was needed even as she reviewed the file that they had on the pair of siblings, and the accomplishments that they had under their belts so far. The fact that some, or perhaps all, of it was fabricated had to be taken into consideration along with the fact that there was the possibility that one or both could be refugees from Tanya's and Visha's world, and thus might recognize the names of two of the more notorious mages to come out of the Imperial Mage Corps. It had been discussed, and they had decided to use their real names, since even recognition could possibly prove useful. It was true that on the chance that the pair were somehow connected to the world that they had come from it would be another way to reveal the truth

A calculated risk.

Honestly, it was a complicated mess and Tanya enjoyed the possibility of the game that would be involved if that was the case.

Visha ran over the story in her head again as she walked towards the classroom, and self-consciously smoothed her uniform once again. She had not been apart from Tanya for very long in years, if you didn't count her hospital stay of course. But even then, Tanya had been present as much as she could. Visha missed the unwavering presence of the former Ace of Aces, but she knew that this was a vital part of their mission, and one that Tanya needed her to accomplish on her own. The fact that she felt that she could do this without the support of her former superior really did point to how much she had grown over the years, since when she had started out she had often questioned just what she would be capable of.

Ever since that intense training mission, Visha had changed and grown immensely in a relatively short period of time. She had gone from a raw recruit and untested Mage, to the Devil's Handmaid, a Named mage in her own right. It was that confidence she needed now, as she looked at the door and took a deep breath.

Visha waited for the teacher to invite her in, and she walked with a confident, precise stride that was just a step below a military step to stand before the class and bowed politely at just the proper angle, as she had been taught. She stood back up straight and smiled that megawatt smile of hers before she introduced herself.

"Thank you for having me, and I look forward to learning with all of you. My name is Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov, but please, just call me Visha." She said and bowed once more, then at the silent prompt from the teacher she stood back up and looked to the teacher for direction.

'Why don't you sit next to… Yes. Miss Shiba? Yes, that will work." The teacher said, and when Miyuki raised her hand, Visha bobbed another polite bow before she walked over and exchanged smiles with the younger of the Shiba's before she sat down.

Vishal didn't know if it was another aspect of Doctor Nishina's extensive network, or just luck, but you never questioned a good break. Not unless you had good reason to believe that it was a trap.

Even if it was a trap, working with Tanya for so long had taught her how to turn the tables in most situations. You didn't survive on the battlefield of the Great war without the ability to improvise. And you certainly did not make it through Tanya's idea of basic training without the fortitude to always seek to turn everything to your advantage.

And that was what she fully intended to do.

Tanya walked into her classroom and let her eyes sweep the room quickly. As she had expected, it was just the Course Two students present. She recognized several of them from the files that they had been given, and sitting near a few of them was their primary target. She hesitated for a moment before she bowed and introduced herself as the eyes of the other students fixed on this new presence.

"I will be joining you from today onwards. My name is Tanya Degurecheff, and I am in your care." She said before she stood back up and took in the looks from the others. A transfer at this time of year was odd enough, much less a foreigner joining the Course Two student body. it was unusual enough to draw attention, and no sooner had she sat down than a pair of girls approached her. She recognized them from the files she had been given, and made sure that her smile was pleasant as they approached her.

Erica Chiba was one of those that she knew she had to watch, since she was the black sheep of one of the Ten Clans. The other one could prove to be an issue, since generally speaking no one usually needed glasses for the reasons that they had in either of the worlds she had lived in before, so that meant they were an accessory or were meant to compensate for something else. That made Mizuki Shibata a potential problem regarding Visha, depending on why, exactly, she had to wear them. Still, that was something that they would tackle later, if it came to it.

Erika exchanged a quick look at Mizuki, then turned back to Tanya and smiled as she cocked a hip and looked the shorter girl over. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Erika Chiba, and the quiet girl is Mizuki Shibata. I hope you don't mind, but we wanted to get to know you a bit better. Which of the other schools did you say you transferred from?" The smile that she had given Tanya didn't seem to really be hiding anything, it was open and honest.

"I actually transferred from one of the German schools, both myself and my friend did, to be exact." Tanya answered honestly and smiled at the pair.

Another quick look was exchanged before the more social of the pair pressed onward. "That's more than a little odd, to be honest. I've heard of exchanges, but I haven't really seen any mages from another country actually just transfer to another one. And where is your friend? Did they end up in one of the other classes? Or are they missing their first day of classes?"

Tanya smiled and blushed a little, a fact that both of the others caught onto pretty quickly. "Actually, she made it into Course One, a fact that surprised her a great deal, but I wasn't terribly surprised by it. We are both a bit of an odd case, to be honest."

Erika and Mizuki shared a look before they both sat down with Tanya. "You don't mind, do you?" Mizuki asked for the first time as she looked nervous about the answer.

"No, you are fine, both of you. Even if I do feel like I am about to be interrogated." Tanya said with a wry turn of her lip.

Even as Mizuki started to backpedal, Erika laughed and smiled. "I like you, Tanya. You remind me of another certain blunt person. And probably just a bit." Erika said with a toothy grin.

"At least you are being honest about it." Tanya said with a grin. "So, what did you want to know?"

"How did you end up here, if you are from Germany? And who is your friend?" Mizuki asked with a shy smile.

"I guess you could say we are part of an experiment. We are both natural mages, not part of any of the big families or bloodlines, you see. We grew up in the same orphanage, and when they found out that we were mages, we both were sent to one of the schools. Well…. We were caught up in an accident, and when we got out of the hospital…. Neither of us could function like we had before…." Tanya said as she looked down, then looked up when she felt Erika rest a hand on her shoulder.

"At least you both seemed to have recovered somewhat, if you were able to make it into First High." Erika said with a supportive smile on her face.

"How did you make it into the school? Usually, if you lose the ability to use magic in that manner, that…. It's the end of it." Mizuki said with an apologetic look on her face.

"That would be why this is an experiment. Our guardian is Doctor Yoriko Nishina, a Japanese-born researcher who had lived in Germany for years. She decided that the two of us were good subjects for a project of hers, and…. Here we are. Reformed mages, doing our best to return to magical society." Tanya laughed a little. "Visha seems to have done a better job of recovering, in some ways… But we both bear our own scars from what happened."

Mizuki smiled shyly and nodded as she looked Tanya over, then relaxed a little. "Hopefully we get to meet your friend as well, Degurecheff-san." She said before Tanya shook her head.

"Tanya, please. I know that my last name is a mouthful for anyone that wasn't raised speaking German." Tanya said with a wry smile.

"Tanya, then…" Mizuki said, then smiled softly. "I guess you should just call me Mizuki, then. I hope we can be friends." She said, before Erika laughed and looked at Tanya and held out her hand.

"I look forward to working with you, Tanya." Erika said and Tanya smiled before she firmly gripped Erika's hand as well.

"I'm looking forward to it as well, Erika." Tanya answered.

A short time later, Erika parted from the other two as they kept chatting while they looked over the assignments, and Mizuki offered to help Tanya get caught up to where the rest of the class was. Erika walked over and sat next to Tatsuya and the others of his group.

"I think I like her, even if she seems a bit stiff. It's strange to have someone new join our class, but I get the feeling she will be a fun one to spar with. I'm curious how good she is, since she has a good set of calluses on her hands." Erika said as she flipped through her book on her terminal.

"She seems to be getting along well with Mizuki." Tatsuya noted as he glanced briefly in that direction.

"Yeah… They seem to be getting along well, so that says something about her, I guess. I am curious about this friend of hers." Erika said and stretched.

Tatsuya set down his terminal as he looked at Erika. "A friend of hers? They ended up in another class, then?"

"Course One, actually. She had been involved in an accident of some sort, but I didn't feel like it was my place to ask her about it." The outgoing half-German mage said with a shrug.

Tatsuya nodded as he looked over the new classmate for a moment before he turned his attention back to his terminal. He would see if Miyuki had encountered the new person, and have his contacts look into both of them. He did not like unknown elements being injected into Miyuki's life.

Miyuki glanced over at Visha, and smiled. There was something so very open and honest about the foreign mage that it made it hard not to be drawn to her. She was forthright and eager to learn and hung on each word from the teacher like her life depended on it. Her Japanese had a bit of an accent, but that was hardly surprising since she was not a native speaker. She took notes on everything with meticulous precision. Honestly, she found that she wished that some of her fellow classmates seemed as dedicated to their studies as Visha was.

Miyuki knew that she would have to relay whatever details she could to her brother, since the sudden appearance of a foreign mage in their class was more than a little unusual, especially since it didn't seem like she had transferred as part of an exchange program.

Still, it was good to get to know your classmates. Tatsuya always pointed out to her that she needed to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those around her. Honestly, she was more concerned with earning her brother's praise over anything else.

It might be a bit selfish and childish, but there was only one person in the world that truly mattered to her. And she would do anything to make their life better. To continue to walk at his side, regardless of what the rest of the world desired.

Miyuki glanced aside at Vishal as the foreign mage glanced at her terminal with a very particular smile on her face. One that she had seen in the mirror before. A smile that lit up her face, and how her eyes traced every word, every character, of the message like she wanted to burn it into her very being. Like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Miyuki waited until Vishal had slipped her terminal back into her pocket before she leaned a little closer and said quietly. "I hope that we can be good friends, Visha. I have the feeling that we might share more in common than what is immediately obvious."

Visha smiled and nodded. "I hope that we can, as well."

*A/N*

I wasn't completely happy with this chapter, but no amount of rewrites seemed to make it fit any better. There are a lot of complex charaters added to the mix, now. Enjoy!