"Bios" really sets the tone for this chapter. And yes, I mean to say 'Snype'. If you haven't noticed by now, aside from the shows and media I mention, all food and technology brands are either spoofs or borrowed from other fanfictions. "Roca-Cola", Gala Inc., "cBay," and "Snype" are all what I mean to say. Honest.

Falling into Neverland,

Drowsing into Wonderland,

Prancing in that Underland,

Where no one seems to Understand

What is going on?

Chapter 30: Past the Eye of the Storm

Looking back on everything, it was inevitable that I had fallen in love. It was bound to happen eventually, and when it happened, I didn't fight it. I fell into the madness. But from that madness sprouted something far more dangerous: obsession.

I had known this feeling very well. So well, that it was like an old friend. Incidentally, I was reminded of my past obsession with an old friend.

An old friend from another life.

Funny how my obsession almost made the heavens to fall.

...

It had been a good day.

They arrived as subtly as a fireworks display exploding.

All at once she wanted to vomit, faint, and die.

She had never been so afraid of blue eyes before in her entire life.

"Hello, darling," purred the man, grabbing hold of Amber's wrist and looking deeply into her eyes.

The bottom of her world threatened to fall from beneath her, and Time would not obey her. It ticked on an on, without missing a beat.

It had been a good day.

...

Meroko leaned over the touchscreen console, pressing the light square buttons in rapid succession. With two data ports plugged into the console, she looked over the elaborate puzzle and sorted through the problem as easily as she would sing a note. Bored beyond tears, she looked over the test in futility. She should have been writing songs, not doing these menial tasks.

However, her husband was still distressed over what had happened. Not just that, but his worry had increased by tenfold. He flew to Japan as fast as his jet could carry him, flanked by an entire crew of Persocom engineers and specialists.

Honestly, this was going overboard. She hadn't even got hurt during the march, but he was being paranoid again. If she had been human, Meroko was sure that Joe would have done the exact same thing, except with an entourage of medical doctors. Instead, there were these creepy guys from her father's company who were prodding around inside her head and poking her joints.

Joe, meanwhile, was staring with rapt attention at her tests.

"Dear," said Meroko, sounding exhausted. She slid her fingers over the silky touchscreen. "Whatever are you staring at?"

"Er…" he said, looking down, "just noting how beautiful you are." Joe smiled sheepishly then, looking like had had been caught with a dirty magazine.

'Smart man, flattering me,' thought Meroko, smirking. 'After overreacting like this, he's bound to know that I'm pissed at him.'

"Compliments will get you nowhere," she replied lightly, finishing puzzle 40 of 99. There were spiraling dots and straight lines zipping across the screen now, whirling in every direction.

Chuckling lightly, he shrugged. "I know. You're still my amazing wife, though."

Trying not to blush, Meroko twitched her ears. She really liked his compliments, even if they were simple. Even though she was concentrating on the puzzles, Meroko could feel her anger dissipate. "And what is so amazing about me finishing puzzles?"

"Oh, just everything…your speed…efficiency…" muttered Joe like a lovestruck teen wooing his girlfriend.

"Are you trying to get lucky tonight?" asked Meroko hotly, trying not to be swayed by his sweet words. But she was flattered, nonetheless, and her expression of pouty embarrassment did not match her voice at all.

"You know be better than that, honey-bunny."

Hearing her nickname made her face go aflame with color. She didn't mean to do this, but it happened anyway, and now her ears were pressed awkwardly to her head.

Somewhere in the distance, she heard the doctors snickering.

"Ahem." Narrowing her bright pink eyes, Meroko suddenly focused on the screen with laser-sharp concentration. "W-well, my speed and reactions are normal for a Persocom. It's you who should be doing these, not me. That'd be even more fun to watch."

Looking thoughtful, Joe blinked in surprise and smiled. "Really? Then I think I'll pass."

A wry smile peeking through her embarrassment, Meroko slid all eight fingers down the screen and flicked colorful tiles in ninety degree angles. "And why is that?"

Almost apologetic, Joe leaned forward and sighed. "You know exactly what the results will be."

That was exceedingly true. Joe wasn't any ordinary human, either. He wasn't a mage, but his brainpower did border on downright supernatural. The first time that it had been made apparent was when they had met at the Orange County Country Club, back in Florida, when the Lee-Youngs were visiting relatives. Meroko had noticed the precision of his swings had followed some complex physics equations. After a little chatting, they had decided to have a friendly competition. Later on, he ended up beating her, somehow, much to everyone's surprise.

Joe Black, her husband, was known as 'Lightning Flash Joe'. For reasons she already knew, the nickname was highly appropriate. His reaction time—the time it took for his brain to react to something—was one of the fastest ever recorded. His actual reflexes were a tick slower, but his brain was very very fast, especially for a human. So fast, in fact, that in the game of shiratori that Meroko had challenged him in that day years ago, he had beaten her. They had played it in English, which made it a little more difficult, but even then, after hours of spouting word after word, she had hesitated. The words she had recorded in her memory, she had needed to go through the list. However, Joe that day, smiling like a hellion, had sat there calmly in his khakis and polo shirt with folded hands. By the time she had come up with a new word, the time had run out.

Not only did he have a quick reaction time, but an eidetic memory.

"Yeah, I do," said Meroko, dwelling on the recollection with fondness. She had caught a fine one, hadn't she?

...

This was a bad idea to start with. Asking Kokubunji to set up this call through Snype was really pushing it. Even then, did they really have to use the projector to show his face on the wall? Yuki was acting as the camera, showing Garrett and the crew in Kokubunji's office. As the designated camera, her emotionless stare was glued to the one who initiated the call. Garrett, of course.

"Garrett, you are to tell me this instant what you two are planning," demanded the irate Asian man glaring at the brunet.

Feigning ignorance, the young man widened his eyes and spoke in an innocent voice. "Eh? Whatever do you mean Dr.—,"

"You know exactly what I mean, young man," said Shawn sternly. His eyes couldn't get any harder. If he could set Garrett on fire with just his thoughts, then the man probably would have done it. However, the little problem of Garrett being heat resistant to 4000 Kelvin would spoil such an event. "I saw you two on the international news. Your father was the one to show me the video. The PR department is going crazy—your mother especially. She called me in tears." Dr. Lee-Young ran a hand over his face. "What on earth were you thinking? Even Chell was worried for you, and you know how that girl is: bright and sunny for 24 hours, eight days a week."

Wincing, Garrett looked askance. He had refused to speak to his parents for quite some time after he recalled all of his memories. It was somewhat embarrassing to see them, after all. He wasn't the same as he used to be. Sure, he emailed Chell from time to time, but not as often as he should have. Now Dr. Lee-Young was telling him off about his family's concerns, and it made him feel slightly guilty.

Frantic, Amber stepped in front of Garrett and scrunched up her face. She was trying to be assertive, but unfortunately, her expression made it look as if she was constipated. "Daddy, it wasn't his fault, it was mine! I tried to protect Minako, and things got out of hand."

His expression softened slightly upon seeing his daughter. Sounding weary, Shawn spoke while rubbing his temples. Worry lines were etched into his forehead like miniature canyons.

"Amber, I know you want to stick up for your boyfriend, here, but that little stunt you both pulled is really worrying. I mean, sending some new legs wasn't cheap. And you were on the news. How is that low-key? Aren't you both studying at Tokyo U? I'm sure they'll hassle you a great deal more, now."

Her father's lecture was not unfounded. It was all true. Now everyone knew she was here in Japan. Especially after they rushed her to the hospital with a knife sticking out of her leg—that really made a scene in the Emergency Room of Tokyo-Central Medical Center. It had taken Minoru's quick-thinking to save her, and his even quicker thinking to explain to them that she was indeed human, and that it was only her legs that were robotical.

Minoru needed a medal—no, a new present, for being so helpful. Maybe a nice invisibility cloak? Those things certainly weren't cheap.

"B-boyfriend?" she sputtered, her face heating up like an oil lamp. Grabbing her head, Amber was still frazzled over that word. Feeling how her cheeks burned, Amber slapped them repeatedly, wishing the blood would stop pooling there. Slapping them made it worse, however.

"Actually," Garrett rubbed his right arm, "about that…the studying thing. We're not—,"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, GARRETT!" Amber ordered, her eyes bulging out of her head like glued-on gumdrops.

Before he could blow their cover, Amber tried and failed to tackle him. Instead, he sidestepped out of the way.

Naturally, Amber fell to the floor face first. "Ow…"

Scratching his head, Garrett whined, scrunching his eyes shut. "Ah, but it's really a pain. We're already in trouble."

Alarmed by the direction this conversation had taken, Dr. Lee-Young also blushed. His eyes were bugging out now, and he stared at his daughter in disbelief. As the realization dawned on him, the doctor realized he was holding his breath. "Don't tell me…"

Looking at the floor, where Amber was picking herself up from, Garrett gestured to the screen. "You see? He's figured it out by now."

Anguished beyond what was necessary, Shawn covered his eyes with both hands. "You two are already Fooly Cooly, aren't you?" His voice was brimming with dread.

Disappointed, Garrett stared at the enlarged face of the doctor projected before him.

"What."

Did Garrett really have to spell it out for him? For someone so smart, this was saddening. He probably was one of the dumbest smart-people ever, then.

Sighing, Amber tried not to contemplate the implications of his theory. She looked a bit exasperated from him entertaining even the notion. "Daddy, no we're just—,"

Becoming angry, now, Shawn pointed an accusatory finger at Garrett. "Aha, I knew it! You have been fooling around with my daughter!" He looked to his pouting daughter and sighed. "Amber, I told you to be careful, but you insisted on taking him with you. You two always were so close, but this is too far. Now he's gone and entered that secret room!"

Her blush gaining even more intensity, Amber positively shrieked, "No one entered anything!" in the height of embarrassment.

Skeptical, Dr. Lee-Young raised an eyebrow. "Really? No nighttime trysts? No 'accidents'? No temptations towards a tête-à-tête involving tongues?"

"None!" shouted both Garrett and Amber with burning red cheeks. That last one had hit a little too close to the bone, there. They were absolutely mortified at having this conversation in the presence of Kokubunji and the rest, but there was nothing they could do about it, now. Most likely, they should have had this conversation in a more private location, but Garrett couldn't really have both transmitted his message and spoke to him face-to-face.

Shawn wiped his brow and seemed to relax. "Oh. Good. Then that means my machine is still working."

"Machine?" chorused Amber, Kokubunji, and Garrett. This was sounding shady already.

Looking off to the side nervously, he scratched his cheek. "Oh, it's nothing really. It just monitors your purity, of course. It was still intact during the incident, you see, and—,"

If this was about what Amber thought it was, then she really needed to end this conference call, and quickly. Her brain was spinning in a million different directions. This was not happening. Her father wasn't asking if she was still a virgin. She was, but, but still—this was too much.

"D-DADDY! THAT'S SUPER CREEPY!" bellowed the girl at full volume. Somewhere in Kyoto a dog woke up from his nap, her voice was so loud.

The word 'creepy' seemed to bleach him of all this color, and Dr. Lee-Young's eyes suddenly went hollow. Looking closely, one could probably see his spirit leaving as he contemplated being 'creepy'. He just wanted to protect his daughter's purity, and now she was lashing out by calling him creepy for doing so. However, her reaction was exactly how a maiden should act, so maybe he shouldn't be too surprised.

"Creepy…" he muttered, "Am I really being creepy?"

The entire room nodded, varying degrees of disgust on their faces.

"Well then, I'll just leave now," said Shawn in a small voice. With a single finger he cut the connection, and the screen went dark.

"That sure was close," said Kokubunji, his forehead cradled in his hands. "Any more awkward conversations you want to have in front of us? I can record them if you'd like."

In response, Amber only sighed in anguish and banged her head against the wall.

...

"Today is the day," said Yuzuki, staring straight ahead. "Today is the day." Looking up and down her full figure, she stood in front of the mirror, examining her clothes. Recently she had also become interested in fashion. Sometimes she wondered if she could pull off casual clothes. The swimsuit at the resort had been a nice change of pace.

"Today is the day," lied Yuzuki. "I'll tell him today."

She left the room then, her emotions a jumble of worry and fear.

...

ComiFest. One of the largest assemblages of nerds the world had to offer. It had a counterpart in America, that is, ComicCon, but since Garrett and Amber no longer lived in California, this was the next best thing. It was a tradition between them, to dress up and go to ComicCon. Now they had several other charges with them, and it seemed like they had a lot more learning to do.

Now, it was well-known that Amber was rich. Crazy rich. Obscenely rich. This, of course, meant she could spend insane amounts of money to have tailor-made cosplay outfits. Kojima and Kotoko had opted to stay home, considering the fiasco that the march had been. Regarding this latest excursion, the duo had refused to 'make idiots of themselves', so they had an extra excuse not to go. This made them perfect candidates to 'babysit' Amu and Sumomo, who were quickly becoming as close as sisters. The pink-haired co-conspirators were most likely testing the patience of both Kotoko and her irascible human.

On the other hand, Hideki and Chii were not hard to convince to go, since, they both didn't mind trying out new things.

Yuzuki also seemed wary of leaving the house. If not for the fact that Minoru was going to this event, she wouldn't have left for any reason.

Of course, Amber felt she had to compensate for the horror that had ensued the other day. That day Minoru had more or less 'lost his innocence', and used magic to save her. Afterwards, they both had been questioned by Minako and Junji, separately. Since Minoru had not used any visible medium to transmit his mana, added with the fact that he was underage, the whole incident had been attributed to accidental magic.

Still, that had been close.

By some mix-up, the Anti-Persocom cell had been incorrectly identified as mages by their anonymous tip. If they had used magic within view of all those people and cameras, then it would have been a catastrophe. It was almost a boon, being chased into that alleyway. Otherwise, the whole thing could have blown into a giant snowball of even more panic. The Council could have gotten involved, if that had happened.

However, all that unpleasantness was far behind them, now. Or, at least, they pretended it was. Dwelling on one traumatic incident would not do them any good. The chances of the same event repeating itself were slim.

Nevertheless, Garrett was one of the most excited of the bunch that had decided to go. As hilariously ironic as it was, he was cosplaying as Night from "Absolute Boyfriend." Not that anyone knew that, of course. A Persocom dressing up as an android who looked like a handsome young man was not an easy thing to spot. They all just thought he was an attractive foreigner here to check out ComiFest.

Minoru was dressed in elaborate, Elizabethan-style clothes that were mostly dark blue. Walking with a tiny cane through the convention center, he kept a dour look on his face, despite smiling on the inside. A simple black eyepatch covered over one of his eyes. If removed, it would reveal the highly stylized circle lens he was wearing. In fact, his costume was so detailed that several girls his own age had no trouble knowing who he was. He even spoke in English to highlight it. Yes, pretending to be Ceil Phantomhive from 'Black Butler' was certainly as fun as his American friends had promised. Not that he watched the show, but he did give it a glance. It was pretty old, so he had to go buy some DVDs on cBay.

Chii, with a little help from Amber, had her hair held into temporarily curled pigtails. She also was sporting the retro Western style that matched Minoru. She was supposed to be Lizzie, Ceil's fiancée, and as such, she had a fake rapier hanging from a holster on her waist.

Hideki was probably the one who had transformed the most, considering the fact that he and Chii did not match. He had refused to dye his hair black, as Chii and Amber had wanted. Otherwise, he would have been Sebastian from 'Black Butler'. Instead, he was wearing green circle lenses. His outfit was mostly black, trimmed with white. It wasn't that bad, but hardly anyone knew who he was supposed to be—even fans of the series had a hard time figuring it out. Of course, considering his height, it would have been a stretch for him to be recognized, anyway. Hideki was supposed to be Teito Klein from 07 Ghost, but that character was not considered tall at all.

Amber's costume was probably one of the hardest to ascertain, as the series was more obscure. Gothic Lolita-style clothes were only one clue. Her hair had been pressed out straight. The curls had compressed her hair, but now they were unfurled, it reached the middle of her back. Extensions were added to make it look longer than it already was, so the length reached her knees. Her outfit also had the echoes of irony. She was cosplaying as Kurokochōhime, from "Rolitania." A magical heiress who was deemed 'The Black Butterfly Princess,' was dressed up as an Esper whose name meant 'Black Butterfly Princess.'

Yuzuki merely remained in her normal, everyday clothes, and everyone they met insisted she looked like a maid from series X or Y, despite it being what she usually wore. People who recognized Minoru as Ceil were assuming that she was supposed to be his maid Meyrin, even though she wasn't wearing any glasses, and her hair was the wrong color. She was still worried about Minoru, though. Twice, he had been in serious danger, and both times she had not been able to help. This time, she was sticking close, in case anything happened. Not that anything was going to happen for sure, but because she wanted to be careful.

"Chii likes to pretend," said our cutest heroine, waving around her plastic rapier as she marched next to Minoru. Minoru was exuding a very stately air, most likely from the small accomplishment of his cosplay being admired. It had been a trial to have him try to cosplay, but Garrett had finally convinced him to settle for the character he was dressed as now.

After a few minutes, Chii noticed an interesting booth, and went off to examine it, followed closely by Hideki. He promised to meet them to watch the voice acting competition later on.

Wading through the crowd, the quartet approached the booth of an art circle, looking on in curiosity. There were some original works beside doujinshi of already popular works. Minoru, although not an avid reader of manga, could see the appeal of these fan-made comics. Standing by his side, Yuzuki noticed Minoru's rising level of interest and smiled amiably.

"Did you want to buy one of our books?" asked the girl standing at the booth. She had beaten Yuzuki to the question, but it was her job to anticipate new customers, after all. Behind her wide spectacles was a pair of gold-rimmed eyes, cosmetic contacts from the look of it. Her copper-dyed hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that swept over her shoulders lightly. If Minoru didn't know any better, she seemed to be looking over her new customers with a hungry expression.

"Well," said Minoru, glancing over the covers for a character he might recognize. "I could consider it. The art is really...good after all." He refused to use the word 'cute' right now while dressed the way he was. Next thing he knew he'd be a copy of Amber, for goodness sake. That was the last thing he wanted. This whole outing was a deliberate attempt to remove his mind from the incident the other day; Minoru was all too aware of that. It was working somewhat, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. Not because he had nearly killed those jerks, no, that wasn't it.

If he had indeed killed them, and immediately felt terrible for it, Minoru would have been able to cope with that. It was the fact that he had enjoyed the thought of killing them.

In those few moments that he had guided the mana to freeze them, Minoru had savored it, that murderous feeling.

"Sir?"

The voice from the woman at the booth helped him to snap back to reality.

"Eh?" Minoru blushed and looked down. "Sorry, but I was lost in thought. What was it you were saying?"

"I was just recommending one of Azutada-sensei's most recent works," said the cheerful girl named Kaori.

"Azutada-sensei?" Minoru said, confused. If there ever was a pen name, that was on top of the list of the most unique he had heard.

"Sensei a professional. I'm just her assistant, actually, but every year we form an art circle with the other assistants. She really loves all the shoujo/seinen borderline works, and tries to churn out as much content as she can."

Amber blinked in disbelief. She couldn't imagine how much work that took. "Wow, that's amazing. She mustn't sleep much if she can accomplish so much."

"Not to mention she must have an army of assistants," added Garrett smugly.

Kaori shook her head, smiling. "No, no. Azutada-sensei can finish two chapters a night, without our help. With my colleagues Marika and Sada, and adding myself, we can double that amount. Sensei doesn't need to sleep, actually. I'm a bit jealous of that."

"So she's a Persocom," said Garrett, trying not to grin. "I don't think I could ever be that artistic. Never was."

"Th-that's right," said Kaori, flabbergasted that he was able to deduce that so quickly. "And you also are...?"

Noting her awestruck expression, the young man sighed contentedly. "Yes, little lady, I'm a Persocom," Garrett confirmed.

Examining her expression closely, Garrett could already see her firey otaku passion igniting within her eyes. She looked ready to drool on herself right there and then. He knew he was bound to meet one here, a Persocom otaku. He used to be that in the past, when he was human. He happened to be an otaku Persocom, so it shouldn't have been surprising.

"Can I have your email?" stuttered out Kaori, reaching for a pen and paper. There was an abundance of stationary beneath the booth, so it didn't take long for her to hold it out towards Garrett.

"H-hold on. Why for?" Garrett's logic center went haywire, trying to sort through what oddities this girl was planning. Sure, she was pretty, but, but he barely knew her. He glanced at Amber cautiously. Right now her mouth was slipping into a small frown. Bad sign. She was going to give him hell later if he didn't play this right.

Kaori shrugged. "Um...I don't know. I could email you later, and talk about anime, and maybe we could go on a date?" she asked hopefully, wondering if her pickup line was subtle enough.

"Date?" exclaimed four incredulous youngsters with varied expressions. Garrett seemed amused, whilst Minoru was confused, and Amber was somewhat indignant. Chii was more delighted than surprised, but Yuzuki merely raised an eyebrow in question.

Kaori took only half a second to process their responses. Abashed, she bopped herself on the head. "Ah, I'm sorry, I guess I got carried away. I just turn into an idiot around Persocom men."

"Eh, what's that?" Garrett had trouble not smiling like an idiot.

"Garrett," warned Amber, her aura of anger now shrouding her like a cloak, "don't even start flirting." Her voice was so sharp it could have sliced through the universe itself, if she wanted.

"What do you mean?" asked Yuzuki, wondering as to what the girl meant.

Kaori looked down sheepishly and poked her fingers together. "Um…it's a little like preferring blondes or redheads. Actually, you should have seen me around this blond Persocom guy that came around to the booth earlier. I went totally bonkers. I ended up giving him a free book, aheh." She scratched behind her neck, then, looking nervous.

"You seriously have it bad..." said Amber huffily. At least she wasn't one of those bigots that the heiress wanted to mash into people-paste.

"Yeah, I'm taken though, so..." said Garrett, bringing Amber close to his chest, indicating his attachment to the petite heiress.

Embarassed, Amber couldn't do much but blush in silence.

"Yeah, I figured as much when I saw your girlfriend's horrified expression." Kaori giggled knowingly, looking as if she was being tickled by sentient feathers.

"Girlfriend," muttered Amber numbly, looking askance with a sour grimace.

Watching the irritable girl mumble to herself, Kaori squinted, adjusting her glasses. "Come to think of it, she looks familiar..."

"Ah, she's no one," Minoru said, stepping forward a bit more. Obviously some people might recognize Amber from television, as the incident had happened very recently, but she was dressed up today, so avoiding that would've been good.

"Al-right?" said Kaori absently. She was distracted by his nervousness, and decided to let the matter drop.

"Um, so, I want to buy this one, please," said Minoru meekly. He was holding a doujin entitled 'Sweet-Blood'. On the cover was a fox-girl with golden fur. Her hair was light lavender, however. She was sprawled on the ground in a puddle of blood. The red liquid coated her fingertips and ran down her chin. Her head was resting on the floor as she absently licked her hand. Tears were flowing from her eyes.

All too quickly, the atmosphere snapped back into a happy, obsessive whirlwind of chatter.

"Oh, the cute Shota has taste!" Kaori clapped her hands. "That doujin is one of my favorites. We worked on it after reading My Little Youkai—I just love the light novels! It's on its tenth volume already."

Nodding now, Minoru felt a little less guilty, and was now matching her pace of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I really liked the plot of volume seven. Mai is obviously my...favorite. Next time I want to cosplay as her husband Hideyoshi. I might dye my hair for it, though." No way was he going to call her his wife. From what he knew, Amber had several 2D 'wives' and 'husbands'. Heck, she had a whole harem. Yup, Minoru wasn't about to look that desperate.

...the real question was, why did he keep comparing himself to that geeky American, anyway?

Kaori smirked and eyed the middle-school boy with interest. "Oh, so you like the Loli, eh? But I guess for you she's more appropriate, right? I've been designing a dakimakura pillow with her on it—you want to see the prototype?"

"Don't corrupt Min-kun with that!" objected Amber, now regretting her plan to turn Minoru into an otaku. This was going way too fast for her to analyze. Light novels and manga and anime was fine, but now he was going straight into character pillows with ecchi poses on them? He had skipped right over the posters!

"I don't hear him objecting," said Garrett slyly, giving Minoru the nod of acceptance.

Minoru whirled around to face Garrett and blushed deeply. "We-well, that's—"

Before Minoru could fully explain himself, Yuzuki stepped forward and paid for the book. Within a minute, she had dragged the three of them away from the booth, an irritated expression etched into her face.

...

The voice acting competition was coming up soon, as it the event to be displayed in the middle of the convention hall. As a sizable crowd was already gathering to wait for the event to begin. To enter you had to submit a form at least one month in advance. Amber had wanted to perform, but she had been so busy lately that she had missed the deadline.

Hideki and Chii arrived with time to spare, the former carrying bags with colorful characters on it. Chii was glowing with happiness, of course, while her boyfriend was burdened with the books she had bought.

When the time for the MC to begin the competition rolled around, something else happened. For example, normally a man would walk out and announce what was going to happen. Instead, over the speakers a loud voice screeched into existence.

"We're sorry to interrupt this scheduled event. However, to apologize for this, we shall substitute one form of entertainment for another."

"Ladies and gentlemen, mostly gentlemen-otaku of all ages, feast your eyes upon the stage. It's storytime."

There was a huge screen acting as a background for the stage. One would change the scene instantly, if they wanted. A pre-loaded video was playing onscreen. Dark silhouettes against yellowing parchment were moving.

From the first sentence, Amber felt ice slip down her spine. Looking forward to the empty stage, she felt the urge to bolt surge within her chest.

Onscreen, the shadow of a woman with long hair appeared. Around her was a multitude of fluttering butterflies.

"Once upon a time there was a woman who dared to study ancient, forbidden magics."

A giant clock with moving hands popped into view as the other shadows faded.

"Her aim was to discover the 'theme' of her soul."

This last shadow disappeared, and the woman's shadow came back, but in a different pose. She was reaching towards a giant tree. Standing in front of the tree was another woman.

"Her name was Yuuko, but it also wasn't. In her desperation to bring back a single girl from death, she opened the gate to Elysium."

Everything exploded like a fireworks display onscreen. The shadow of Yuuko fell, and morphed into a dark circle.

"However, this set off a cosmic chain of events that punished her for trying to bring back a soul. That is, she was reborn as someone else."

Swirling lines of what represented magic shot across the screen.

"In her last act of desperation, there are three curses that that woman left behind."

The silhouette of a pair of young girls holding hands appeared. They looked identical from the overall shape. Behind them an imposing iron gate slid into view.

"The First is the 'appointment' of 'guardians' who were to act as markers for the gate to Elysium."

Another girl, one with long, curly hair, appeared. She held her arms to her chest. In the middle of this shadow was the cutout of a heart.

"The second was the key to pry it open, that is, the heart of her successor."

A multitude of circles, most likely representing a crowd, took over the screen.

"The third was an unusual fear of 'death' in over 180 mages who had 'suffered loss'."

The next moment, the screen went dark.

"And when you put those three together, you get this delicious murder game."

There was an enormous puff of white smoke that came from the middle of the stage. From it emerged two figures, both men. One had a pair of white gloves. The other had a long sword staked into the ground beside him. The one with the sword was the one who had been speaking, from the looks of it.

"Being cursed is a great inconvenience. It will eat your mind away, as you and everyone around you fall to ruin." Staring right at the trmebling heiress in front of him, he smirked. This entire show had been so fun to put on, but now he had to move on to the real even. "I sympathize with you, Miss Lee-Young, but it's said that only cutting out the heart of the butterfly will cleave open the gates of Elysium. You are someone who must die."

And the man with the gloves clapped his hands.

A bolt of bright pink light issued forth in all directions. His partner was unaffected, but all the humans within a certain radius were pushed to the ground.

And of course, that was when the screaming started. These people weren't dumb. They'd seen enough media to know what kinds of situations to avoid. This was exactly the kind of situation that some one was supposed to run away from as fast they could. Which is exactly what they did.

Except for the heroes, of course. They had to stay here and fight the bad guys, as usual. They were the ones being tarteted, anyway, so for them running away would have been a stupid choice.

If Dragonfly was here, though, he probably wouldn't have cared.

"Everyone, you know what to do," said Garrett, already taking out his card.

"Adeat!" shouted the squad of six mages.

'No one is hurting Minoru on my watch,' thought Yuzuki. 'Not while I'm alive.' Along with everyone else, she had summoned her weapon. However, in her case, Yuzuki had changed her artefact to become twin pistols.

Minoru would have gaped at his own artefact if he had the time. The spellbook he held within his hands had certainly changed from when he last used it. For one it was much bigger. When he called it, it had plopped into his hands with a huge fwump. Thankfully, he had, as Garrett had suggested, bought a magical ring. It worked just as well as a wand, but it did require a tad more mana to work. After that fiasco at the march, Minoru never wanted to be without something to protect himself. Wandless magic was simply too draining to maintain.

Chii and Hideki were similarly prepared to brawl, standing close to each other and holding out their respective weapons. Likewise, Garrett was at Hideki's side, also pointing his weapon at the villains presented before them.

"Wha—," Amber looked to her hand, where the card still remained. "It won't change."

Maybe I'll remember you

If I try to forget,

But the more I forget

The more I remember you

Which is why I forgot in the first place

A/N: Hey everyone. I seemed to have really tried to end this series on a loud note. I hope you like the ending. The last chapters will be posted right after this batch! Garrett and Amber will appear in an original story that my supporters will receive for free! So, watch out for it, if you want to read it.