THIS IS THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE SECOND MASS POST. YOU MAY PROCEED.

I have a lot of fears. One of them was that I wouldn't be able to finish this story. Sorry for worrying you all, but sometimes I felt like giving up writing this. But I'll continue, because it's already been written in my head, and I want you all to feel the warmth of my message. The song to set the tone for this chapter is "Sanctuary," by Utada Hikaru from Kingdom Hearts II. Both poems belong to me.

One…two…three…four

Do you love me anymore?

Eight...six….nine...ten…start again…

What will happen to you, then?

Oh, no, what's in your heart?

Oh, no? You changed from the start…

Three…two…one…zero…

Stop

Chapter 29: Forget About My Existence

With solidarity in her heart, the girl closed her eyes and slipped into the darkness. She was ready for this final moment. All Hope had been lost. Not even her Very Best Friend could help her, now.

"I'm going to die," she said with a steady, certain finality.

...

As the delivery girl trotted away, Hideki stared at the cream-white envelope within his hands. This was a highly unusual event.

"Mail?" Hideki was surprised to actually receive a physical letter. He hadn't gotten much physical letters since he left the farm. Nowadays most people used their Persocoms, so physical mail was almost extinct, aside from packages from online retailers and the like.

Inside was a card lettered in elegant silver script, embossed by a butterfly seal:

Hideki Motosuwa

You are cordially invited to:

The 24th annual Moonlight Gala,

Hosted by Gala Computers Incorporated

According to the invitation, he was allowed to bring two guests with him.

...

"You guys really suck at this," droned Garrett's mocking voice through the monitor.

Staring at the screen in frustration, Kotoko looked like she could chew through steel garters. In front of her was a video game, and beside her was Kojima, who had a nearly identical expression. For the past hour they'd been competing, more like losing, against Minoru and his insufferable friend Garrett.

A strange looking item floated onscreen. It was technically a gun, but the structure of it was far too unorthodox for it to be considered a 'gun' in all actuality. Three prongs were on the visible end of the item, and between the prongs an visible electric current was constantly flowing.

Apparently Kojima and his high-tech gaming pad was no match for Minoru and his retro-style keyboard.

Dragonfly had a little bit of inkling that the reason Minoru was winning had something to do with Garrett running the game on his side. But that was only speculation. Near Kojima's game pad, a little Persocom with a loose ponytail of pink hair lay on her side, watching the screen. Amu, apparently; the little mobile unit that Minoru had gifted to Amber when she first came to Japan. Of course, she was a Reishinka model. She had specs similar to Kotoko's when she was still a laptop. Amber should have been a bit upset at the time, considering he had bought and given them a competitor's brand. However, as Sumomo's recent body transfer had shown, she didn't need to be given a Persocom from her own company.

Just theother day Amber had been chatting with the little 'com and along the way the story of meeting Kojima and Kotoko popped up. Almost immediately she wanted to meet Kotoko, and last week Amu finally met with her.

Chii, Hideki, and Sumomo were out shopping somewhere, so they weren't joining in on all the fun. The last time he and Chii had tried to play a game, it hadn't been very fun, considering she had been missing for a good portion of the time.

And Amber was fluttering about somewhere, hopefully out of danger.

Meanwhile, Kojima was being destroyed by Minoru in this game. It was a little shameful. This was a puzzle game, despite the first-person-shooter setup, so it should have been easy. At least, that's what Kojima had thought. Not to mention, the Persocom who was running the software was actually taunting him much more than the human playing behind the monitor. Minoru was unusually silent the entire time. So much so that Kojima began to suspect Minoru of cheating, and perhaps the boy genius was just giving Garrett free reign of the game.

However, as Koji-kun was to find out, Minoru's skills were just as fearsome as he thought.

"Oh," intoned a robotic voice from Kojima's monitor, "it's not like you're even trying. In fact, instead of working hard, you're hardly working."

For the fifth time he wanted to strangle the machine behind that pre-recorded voice. Even though it had been in English, he understood what she had meant, due to the subtitles. Learning English fluently enough to speak with the Americans had been on his list. No one was going to one-up him on being a brainiac. Minoru already was able to understand half of the puns they muttered to each other about, despite his young age. Kojima wanted to understand their silliness, too, even if it was just a little. Why was Kokubunji besting him at everything?

"I almost forgot to ask," said Minoru from the other side. "Did you plan on going to the rally this afternoon?"

"We are," replied Kotoko.

Onscreen, the avatar fell into acid, and the screen turned bright green. Back to the starting point for Kojima, it seemed.

Meanwhile, Minoru and Garrett were already clearing their fifth puzzle.

"Apparently we are," Kojima said, clicking away at the screen. He tried not to let this failure get to him, especially when the A.I. in the game gave Minoru an insulting word of praise for completing the fourth stage.

Feeling relived that he had not objected, Kotoko smiled. Her eyes were positively glowing with satisfaction. "I already scheduled it on your calendar and packed a snack in case you run low on energy. It's in the fridge."

"Thanks," said Kojima, feeling more and more like a certain pattern was emerging in his life. Kotoko had been acting a little strange lately, since the resort, but his scans of her system showed nothing anomalous. Therefore, there was nothing he could do about it.

"It's an important thing," said Garrett. "Amber and Minako were chatting about it earlier this morning, and you know how those two are about Persocom rights. I'm up for it. We'll be in the third row, marching."

"Not the first?" said Kojima, feeling triumphant after launching his avatar halfway across the level's chasm of acid.

Garrett fiddled with the connector cable sticking out from his head. He looked to the ceiling. "Well, we would, but there's a chance that Amber's father might recognize us."

"Wait, pause for a moment," Kojima clicked the pause button. "So that would be bad?"

Clicking the same button, Minoru stared at the frozen screen before him and blinked repeatedly, gradually coming back into the real world. He had been so immersed this time, that the lines between his body and his avatar had blurred somewhat. Speaking to his opponents while playing was one thing, but putting the game on pause was another story.

"Oh. Well, he's a pretty protective of her…and we weren't exactly truthful about why we were here," said Garrett, shrugging. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the monitor, looking up. Today he wore an all-black t-shirt that read 'The Cake is a Lie' in white block letters, with a picture of a slice of cake with a tiny candle sticking out of the top. His stonewashed jeans had several holes, but they were intentionally placed there by the manufacturer.

This didn't sound too good to Kojima. Holding his head, he leaned forward and thought about this situation. It probably wouldn't end well if they weren't careful. "So he has no idea you two aren't attending Tokyo U right now?"

Garrett thought for a moment. All the reassurances they had given him through email…most of them were written to be intentionally misleading. The more that he thought about it, the power of omission was truly a fearsome and powerful thing. A little guilty about their deception, Garrett's smile weakened. "About that…we did plan on that, but we didn't say when we'd go. Just that we'd be going. Soon."

Just from glancing at Minoru's disappointed, withering look made Garrett smirk deviously once again.

"How soon is soon?" asked Minoru, wondering why he was even friends-by-proxy with this Persocom. Their first meeting hadn't been all that amicable, but now they were conversing as if they'd been friends for years.

Garrett mused for a reasonable about of time before saying, "Just after this whole magical business is done with. It shouldn't take long. There's not many names left in the S-registry, the last I checked."

Minoru nodded. "I did notice that. Over the last few weeks, the names were either greyed out or outlined in red."

"So what's that mean?" asked Kojima, still trying to sort out this magical business.

"Grey is for forfeit. Red is for death," explained Garrett idly.

"There's a lot more red than grey," Minoru added.

'So that means it's almost over,' thought Dragonfly, feeling a little more confident.

Kojima, practicing his English, muttered rather darkly, "They're dropping like insects."

"I believe the expression is 'like flies'," said Minoru, in perfect, unaccented English.

Sighing, Kojima sank into his seat.

Of course it was.

…

A chiming of bells went off in Yuzuki's mind. Ever since Garrett had keyed her into the security wards around the manor, she felt more at ease with leaving Minoru by himself. They were much more reliable than the normal security system. With practice, she could handle her artefact more easily than her initial attempts, and at this point, she had already learned some spells. Garrett had even showed her how to gather mana, which had been useful for spellwork, as their little vacation had shown. After the 'tentacle incident', she and Minoru more or less forced themselves into Kojima's research. Nonetheless, Amber supervised them, to ensure they weren't doing anything dumb, and Garrett hung out with Chii and Hideki, checking out the sights.

But back to the bells. It was a light jingling of melodious notes. That meant that they had visitors—friendly ones. After they rang out, the true doorbell rang.

Yuzuki looked upwards. She didn't stop cutting up the vegetables for the salad until she tapped into the normal security system. At the front door, she could see Junji and Minako waving at her through the cameras.

At that moment, she received a message.

Hey. What's up, Yuzuki? Mind letting us in?

On screen, Minako smiled straight at the camera.

Hello, Takeda-san. I'm a bit busy and I'm on the other side of the house, but I think Anthy is closest to the door. I'll send her a message.

Minako gave the 'ok' sign.

Sure thing. We'll be waiting.

Yuzuki sent a request at the same instant. After a moment, Anthy replied that she would be happy to let them inside.

Five minutes later, the Takedas were strolling into Minoru's living room. And just a few seconds later, they were admitting to something very strange.

"Actually, we want you to go with us for a slightly different purpose," said Junji, looking apologetic. His wife, on the other hand, seemed irritated when he said that, folding her arms and looking indignant beyond belief.

About an hour earlier, Kotoko and Koji had arrived at Kokubunji's. In great contrast, Amber would later on meet them all at the event. Likewise, Chii, Hideki, and Sumomo were still out and about, ignorant of these plans. Everyone else had decided to meet here because, as Minako had pointed out once, it was like their 'base of operations', and it also had the best security. Aside from Dr. Lestat, the wards had proved very useful.

Everyone present was sitting around a modern, eggshell-white U-sectional couch. Yuzuki had prepared a set of mixed tea of Pomegranate, Acai and Roobios. Sweet and fragrant, with no bitter aftertaste, the beverage was exceptional. A small spread of snacks was also spread on the coffee table before the small crowd. However, these items did not distract the everyone much. They were just flabbergasted that they had been, more or less, duped by the magical couple before them.

"What?" said Garrett and Kojima in an eerie monotone; hints of irritation lay beneath the surface of their current feelings of confusion. Both of them had heard a brief outline of the plan from the Takedas, but they were still trying to figure out what kind of switcheroo this was. Sighing, Minako tried not to sound too exasperated. "We know about your two artefacts, and we think it could help us out a lot."

"Us?" chorused Kojima and Garrett cheerlessly.

Minako was really hesitant to mention it, but the truth was the truth, so…glancing at Kojima, she nodded curtly. "Yes, I hear that you can locate any person that you've seen before; you've even used it on Junji, once."

Taking this in, Kojima scratched his head and tried to sort out his thoughts. Learning the full capabilities of his artefact hadn't taken long. Other than that, it wasn't that special. "That may be true, but it only works from a distance. I can know where they are if I look on a map, but pinpointing them directly is hard if they're moving a lot. The only reason I caught you was because you were in your classroom. I had Kotoko bring up a schematic of the school, and pinpointed your location, hoping you were alone. She transmitted the image to the exact spot where she saw you in the social camera in the classroom."

"So that's how you did it," remarked Junji, a little awestruck. It had taken so much involvement to find him, huh? It didn't help that in the past he had to privatize his number, because of the sheer number of death threats he had received.

Shrugging, Kojima continued to explain, albeit nervously. "Yeah, I call it the 'Soul Stalker', since, now, I can stalk you whenever I want, Takeda-san."

It even worked on Persocoms, which was very reassuring for Dragonfly, hence the name 'Soul Stalker'. If Kotoko ever went missing and couldn't contact him, it would indeed come in handy.

Junji chuckled. "Nice to know if I'm ever kidnapped."

"Anyway," said Minako, making a noise that sounded like a throat clearing. "We also know that what looks like a sword isn't just a sword."

Feeling a little proud of himself, Garrett smirked like a criminal who had just been caught selling perfectly legal items. "So you know it, huh? My other secret?"

"Other secret?" said Yuzuki, looking at the young man with suspicion. She knew he was able to hack into any OS he desired, and then there was the magical business, but what else did he have up that sleeve other than his sword?

Suddenly shy, Garrett fiddled with his thumbs, blushing like an embarrassed maiden.

"I'm able to copy any artefact I choose, and modify it slightly to suit me," stated the Chobit quickly.

"You what," said Minoru, almost dropping his teacup in irritation and surprise.

Garrett dryly added while eyeing Kokubunji's flabbergasted expression: "I'm pretty sure my Japanese was incredibly clear."

"Wait just a minute now, that's overdoing it," said Minoru, severely vexed. He looked ready to crush his cup into powder. What kind of sick joke was this Persocom playing?

"You could probably rule the world in a day," said Kojima, absolutely awestricken. He didn't know if he should bow or what. If Kojima had that kind of an ability, why, he'd use it to rule to world.

At these expressions, Garrett looked askance and tried to play it down. "Not really. It's pretty useless, actually. I mean, I could copy Hideki's sword, or Chii's flowers. But using them would be a hassle. I'd rather whip out my own sword. Amber's staff is just stupid to use, even for her, and her fan is also totally not my style." He reached into his pocket and took out his card. "Adeat!"

The card became his trusty sword.

"Minoru, hand me your artefact." Garrett waved the other boy over. Curious, the young man changed his card into a weapon and handed it to Garrett. It had been a book, a grimore from the looks of it, and on the front of it was a silver lock as well as several straps that encircled it.

After touching it for a moment, weighing it with his hand, and glancing over the object, Garrett nodded. He smirked, handing back the artefact. A few flashes of light danced within his eyes.

"Data analyzed." He lifted his sword and balanced it on his palm. "Now, watch as I change this into magic I can use!"

In a second, the sword he had been holding emitted golden light. A few moments later, Garrett was holding a perfect copy of Minoru's book. Within his memory, he archived the assemblage on magic for later use. Handing over the book to Junji, the section chief marveled at the artefact.

"Amazing. How do you do that?" said Junji, looking over the copy and running his fingers over the cover. Looking back and forth between them it was impossible to know which was the copy, and which was the original.

"I may have read a few forbidden tomes while in this body," admitted the Chobit breezily.

Launching to his feet and propping himself up with the coffee table, Junji pointed at Garrett, his mind reeling at just the thought. "You've read forbidden grimores?"

"Meh. It's not that bad. It could have damaged my brain when I was still human, but now? It only turned me into a living grimore, which is pretty cool, actually. I may not be able to use spells, but that's the next best thing."

Leaning back in his seat, Minoru was holding his head, wondering just what kind of reality he was living in. Here standing in front of him was a Persocom, and not just any Persocom, but a Chobit. And not just a Chobit, but a Chobit who used to be human. Not only that, but he could reshape magic and hack other Persocoms and who else knows what. "A LIVING GRIMO—you're not kidding."

Unimpressed by the reactions of the men, Kotoko tried to advance the conversation. "So you can copy Koji-kun's 'Soul Stalker', with no problems, then?"

Not even having to think about it, Garrett nodded. "Yeah. But I'd have to experiment a little first." Pointing into the air in front of him with his right index and middle fingers, he swiped downwards. A scond later, something strange popped into view. In front of him, seen by everyone else, was a visual display of light blue squares. On each square was a person's face. In front of him was Minoru's face, which he slid aside with a finger, and pressed his own image. While still in Junji's hands, the artefact began to glow and within a moment had changed back to Garrett's standard sword.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Kojima, Junji, and Minoru, gaping at the display in front of the young man.

Minako and Kotoko rolled their eyes.

"What?" said Garrett calmly, taking in their surprised faces.

Junji looked over the sword he was holding. It was heavy, and if not for the enchantments surrounding it, the sword probably would have weighed a great bit more. The professor shook his head in disbelief. "Garrett-kun, do you just get new powers as the plot demands, or—?"

Offended, Garrett crossed his arms. "Hey now! I always could do this! Even if this was a story, I'm sure the author planned this from the start!"

"Riiiiight, right," muttered Minoru skeptically, trying not to snicker at his expression.

"Then why didn't you use it before?" said Kojima, agreeing with Minoru for once.

Nervous once again, Garrett dropped his arms to his sides. "Er—that's…just like I said, it's weird to use another person's heart, you know? Sort of itches."

"What do you mean?" Minoru looked at his artefact with curiosity, then.

"Artefacts can change. They usually stay the same shape forever, but, when they're formed, they're often a representation of the user's heart**. Hearts don't just change, you know, unless something big happens, right? Like a huge trauma or something," said Garrett. He tried to explain it to the best of his ability, but he had been trying to put emotions into words, which wasn't easy.

"So what you're saying is that you have the ability to….reshape hearts?" said Minoru, drinking in this information like it was cold water from a well.

Nodding shallowly, Garrett dithered on. "Into something I can use, if we're being specific. Truthfully, all I'm doing is reshaping my mana into a copy of your own. That's why I have to analyze it first. It's like converting from one OS to another, like what we did with Sumomo."

Walking over, Junji handed back the sword and smoothed out his clothes. "Back to the matter at hand, Mr….Ravensdale, was it?"

Feeling dread eat at his positronic pathways, Garrett put his forehead into his palm. "Not you too, Takeda-san…just call me Garrett again, okay?"

"Okay," agreed Junji with a modest expression, "but hearing you were human once…that was shocking. My politeness was just acting up again when I heard that you had a real last name."

Minako sighed and tried not to smile, despite her husband's cheesy idea of a joke. "Junji…don't lie. You were just teasing him, weren't you?"

Not acknowledging the truth of the matter, Junji changed the subject. "I…er…Anyway, we need you to copy Kojima's 'Soul Stalker', and use it to find a potential terrorist."

"Terrorist?" said the three young men. Thankfully Yuzuki was occupying her time elsewhere, or else she probably would have objected to them going anywhere.

"Well, you do know how we're Section Chiefs within Tokyo?" Minako flipped her hair and sniffed bitterly. "Even though I wanted to participate in the march for personal reasons, our boss got wind of it, and denied our request for a day off. Instead, he assigned us as security to the event. It looks like an anti-Persocom cell planned to disrupt today's event with a series of bombs."

"They also happen to be mages," added Junji, "the bombs are probably mixed with a large-scale spell or a volatile potion."

"Great," said Minoru, opening his grimore. "Just amazing." He looked less than thrilled.

"Well, we might as well get started," Kojima said. He summoned his artefact and handed over the spectacles to Garrett.

"We might as well," agreed Kotoko.

"Wait until Amber hears this," said Garrett, shaking his head.

...

Thousands of feet and thousands of voices echoed out as one on the asphalt. The only ones out of step by a fraction were the humans. A good assemblage, around twenty-five percent, were human allies and/or "cyborgs" like Amber. Even Zima and Dita, who were also assigned to oversee the demonstration, were marching amongst the crowd in plainclothes. Marching in the crowd and the casual clothing, they were Zima's idea, but Dita wasn't complaining.

Some people were carrying banners, and others had signs. Some merely held the burning passion in their souls as they matched forward towards the future.

"We are people too!"

"We have rights too!"

"Don't treat us like tools!"

"Who'll deactivate you?"

Most shocking of it all—Meroko was leading this protest.

Her manager, Grinswald, had been sitting in his hotel-room, enjoying breakfast, when the television decided to show the crazy popstar marching among those other Persocoms. Although there was a sea of brightly colored hair and eyes, she was the most noticeable, with those ears of hers. It was the spit-take of the century. It would take the maid in charge of the room ages to clean up the coffee stain embedded in the carpet.

The news station, upon seeing a celebrity in the crowd, started combing the rest of the faces, and found Amber and Minako quite easily. So it was there for everyone to see, that the daughters of Gala's CEO and founder were protesting for Persocom Rights. Also, Minako's past fame was reignited once she was spotted beside the heiress.

"In the US, the supreme court granted two Chimpanzees with Human Rights. Why not Persocoms?" shouted Minako, her vocal processors emitting sound at a volume comparable to an electric bullhorn.

"Everyone is granted the right to marry with full benefits from the state. Why not Persocoms?"

As she marched, Meroko had made up her speech as she went. Each little snippet she simultaneously posted to several social media sites while she marched, accompanied by the last phrase as a topic: #WhyNotPersocoms.

Worse yet, when Grinswald looked it up, it turned out that #WhyNotPersocoms was trending. This was probably going to 'break the internet' for sure.

While looking at his cellphone in shock, Grinswald found himself beginning to sweat. Within his hands, it had begun to ring. He only had to see the first six numbers to know that it wasn't good news.

It was the record company.

Gulping, he pressed the screen and lifted the phone to his ear.

"Y-yes, Director Sulu?"

Grinswald was losing his job, for sure. This he could feel in his soul.

...

The carnage and panic surrounding them was eerily similar to another attack that had happened in Boston a few years ago. Not only that, but the execution of it had been almost exactly the same. Two bombers plus four pressure cooker bombs equaled widespread confusion and injury. Adding a whole crowd of anti-Persocom bigots who supported them only worsened the situation.

Dizzy with adrenaline, Amber was staring at the image of the serrated knife sticking up out of her ankle. Synthetic fluid was leaking out of the joint and she had to bite back a scream.

'It doesn't hurt,' she thought to herself. 'You feel nothing.'

And it was true. There was no pain. Only the shock of being attacked was what was driving her heartbeat up, and aside from that, she couldn't move her right leg anymore. A dark stain was growing on her stocking, from where she had been stabbed. She had pushed Minoru away the instant she saw the knife coming down.

How had this entire event gone so pear-shaped? Garrett and Kojima had been busy helping the Takedas when the first bomb went off.

Unfortunately, they had learned too late that the anonymous tip had been false. They were chasing their tails on this one, trying to find the wrong people.

"This one's a Persocom, too! Hold her down!" Looming over her was a man. He wasn't what you'd call ugly, but the expression on his face had changed his whole demeanor into something vile and threatening. Behind him were three other men who had almost identical expressions.

She and Minoru had been chased into this alley by these four men who were adamant on hunting them down like dogs. She didn't know which was ruling their minds the most: the fact that they thought she was a Persocom because of her legs, or the fact that she was only partially Japanese.

One of the men held her arms, and another held her legs. The third was holding Minoru back from interfering.

"No, you idiot, I'm an amputee!" shouted Amber, thrashing against them and failing. She was unable to use her magic right now, because she was restrained, so it was impossible. A mere 20-year old girl couldn't overpower them, not the way they were holding her. She could have kicked the one holding her legs, but for that to work, both appendages needed to be operational, and the right one already had been drained of fluid.

"Really, little miss amputee, then let's see if you bleed." He tapped the flat end of the knife on her cheek and sneered. "Supporting these rust heaps is revolting."

Minoru kicked at the man's ankles unsuccessfully. He was wearing boots, like the others with him, and obviously that had been planned beforehand.

"Let go of her!" he demanded, reaching for his friend.

"Quiet, little boy," snapped the leader who was facing Amber, "we're making an example of this cyborg."

The man holding Minoru jostled him a bit, which really concerned his friend, despite her being in a much worse situation.

"Min-kun! Don't you hurt—AGH!"

He had dragged the edge of the knife across her arm to verify her earlier statement. The cut that appeared was shallow, but when the synthetic fluid on the knife met with the blood flowing from this new wound, it began to burn.

Amber clenched her teeth, staring at these bigots in disgusted fury.

The same man grabbed her by the hair, which, due to her dropping her disguise, she had let grow long once again. Clumps of it were gathered in his huge palm, which brought her face upwards to meet his own.

"You're a fancy little hafu, aren't you?" he said, taking in her clothes. They weren't cheap, so naturally they were also eye-catching. "I bet you have one of those fancy gizmos in your brain to help you walk, too. Tech like that eats your soul, don't ya know?"

Fuming, Minoru continued to struggle against the larger man without much success. He was only in middle-school, after all. For him to overpower these guys would take a miracle. Well, maybe not exactly a miracle…

"Someone help! Garrett! Kojima! Anyone!" shouted Minoru. This too seemed to fall on deaf ears. Or, maybe, it was due to the pandemonium playing out around them that no one could hear his cries for help.

He remembered the first rule Amber had told him: Never use magic in front of normal people.

He was always following the rules. Rules were a part of him. Still. Here Amber was, her legs being carved up like some living thanksgiving turkey. His eyes could not look away. Something within him was urging him not to move his gaze. Never before had Minoru seen hatred on anyone's face so clear and engraved like that. Just from looking at them he could tell that these men were absolutely insane! Minoru had his wand in his pocket, where it couldn't be reached. His artefact was in there, too.

Even if he could use magic in front of Mundane people, his wand and artefact were in his pocket, so they were of no use at all with his arms like this.

'Think, Minoru,' he said to himself, 'you're supposed to be a genius, right? What the hell should you do?'

What had that book said? The one they had purchased from the store in the resort. The very first line had went…

"Magic is all up to how much you believe in something."

The epiphany had hit him like a brick wall attached to a 10-wheeler truck.

Lowering his head, Minoru let his hands go limp against their restraint. He had been progressing well, from what Amber had said. She and Junji and Minako had praised him so much already. They had called him a genius. So, what was his genius worth if he couldn't help his friends? It was this terrible feeling that had nearly caused him to stop breathing.

Several spells were running through his mind at once. These men had to be stopped. Blatant attack spells were out, because he could Injure Amber. A binding spell was best, but other than ones based on the elements, he had a limited selection to choose from.

Not that he could could be picky...

Reaching inside himself, Minoru focused on the words and Intent he needed to cast the spell. Almost automatically, he felt his lips move, the words coming forth his growing indignation.

"Heed the Contract and Serve Me, O Queen of Ice…"

"What's the kid saying, now?" muttered one of the men holding Amber.

A swirling wind seemed to encapsulate the four men in front of him. As he willed himself to release the energy, Minoru could feel the mana leeching into the environment from his fingertips. He just had to control it. With a wand, it gave you precision, but here he was firing blind. It was a dangerous experiment that he was betting somebody's life on—there was no room for failure at this point.

Minoru's eyes glowed a bright blue as he spoke.

"Come, Everlasting Darkness, the Eternal Glacier…"

"My arms!" shouted the man holding Minoru. The hands that had been restraining the young man were already gathering ice crystals. He had let go of the boy just in time for ice to spread up his arms and freeze over solid.

"What's happening?" roared the leader, as his feet started to cystallize. The other two men had already dropped Amber, and she was lying on the floor looking up at the impossible. Her breath was cold, due to the drop of temperature, but, like Minoru, she wasn't freezing.

"Bring Death to All That Has Life…" With the magic pouring from him now, Minoru glared at them with revulsion burning clear through to his soul. "Eternal Rest!"

Their screams cut off midway as the ice formed over their still open mouths.

In the last second he had decided not to shatter them by saying the final, devastating words of that spell.

Looking up at her young friend in fear, Amber wondered if what she had seen really had happened. Wandless magic? Only two people she knew of that had accomplished that before.

"Min-kun…you…"

Without any words, the young man collapsed to his knees, and then fell forward onto his stomach, weakened considerably.

Fifteen minutes later, they were both in an ambulance, already on the way to Tokyo-Central Medical Center.

...

Kamijou Miki looked at his phone and sighed. He was at the desk in his office, looking over the report that Arata had brought back. What an idiot. Teaming up with him in the first place had been ill-conceived, at best. He hated Arata's partner most of all, considering the fact that she once had been human.

Reading over the report, Kamijou clicked his tongue:

Dear EvilBro,

They were super strong, and tougher to break than we thought! The guardian-girl was the first to reverse Yui's program, which blew the whole thing. She released everyone, dude. We had to skedaddle before they woke up.

I guess I'll find another way to bring back my friends.

Thanks for the money!

Sorry,

Kasuga Arata

Angel was standing behind him, looking over his shoulder to read the short report.

Scoffing, she pouted slightly. This was why humans were so unreliable. No matter. Kamijou was sure to come through for her in the long-run. He was the most reliable human she had met so far, and unlike those other impudent flies, he treated her like the superior being that she was.

Eventually, all humankind would bow before her in their final hours, eventually disappearing into dust and ash when she took her rightful place in Elysium.

Soon enough she would wear down those would-be heroes.

Soon enough this universe would ebb away into nothing.

All Angel needed to do was to send more pawns their way. Just like a good chessmaster should.

Reborn as someone else

Your soul still craves

Its deepest desire

Even if it will destroy us all

You want to go through with your plan

I won't let you do that

Not now,

Not ever…

Ah. I forgot to mention. I had mentioned earlier that Yuzuki and her 'sisters' were from Reishinka. A reviewer (read as 'my friendly rival'), pointed out that she was custom-made. I actually meant that Kokubunji used parts from Reishinka to custom-build her. I'll fix that soon. I hope. Oh, and does everyone remember Kamijou Miki and Angel from that chapter way back when?

**T/N: When he says heart, here in Japanese, the word he uses can mean either "heart" or "soul" depending on the kanji used.