*Disclaimer* - I do not own the copyright to Kingdom Hearts or Toaru Majutsu no Index

*A/N* - Greetings again! Hope all is well with you. Coming off the last chapter, Sora's certainly got himself a lot to think about along with what exactly is going to happen. Taking what Darkness told the boy, there is a great deal to consider along with the realization that there are other events about to take off. What I mean by that is the Toaru side is now ready to take the spotlight while we go through some of the events leading up to Endymion and the Daihasei Festival. Things are certainly going to get interesting, to say the least. Nevertheless, I'd like to thank everyone for checking this story out and continuing to leave reviews. It really does help and is fun seeing the reactions to what's happening. Plus, with how I'm approaching Endymion and the Daihasei Festival it'll be nice to hear how that change is viewed. Now then, without further ado and enough of me rambling, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and others to come as we continue Sora's time in the world of Toaru.

*Kingdom Hearts 3 Re: Mind Final World (Yozora) OST [0:00-2:30]*

Stars… the sight of seeing so many up above in the night sky was something to be mesmerized by. There was no denying that at all. Anyone who tried to play it off was lying to themselves. However, in this certain case, things were not quite what they seemed.

Opening his eyes, Sora was now awake, and with his blue eyes taking in the sight of the night sky, he couldn't help but have a content smile appear on his lips. That is… until he realized something was not exactly right.

Without wasting another moment, the spiky-haired teen threw himself upward so that he was now sitting up and now at full attention.

"What the… why am I here?"

Surrounding the boy was clear, dark water followed by the sight of the night sky illuminating thousands and millions of stars off the water's reflection. He couldn't help but feel his breathing start to pick up followed by him swerving his head side-to-side taking in the sight before him. Jumping up to his feet, Sora immediately knew where he was and couldn't help but feel worried.

"No… I… what am I doing here in the Final World? I didn't…die, did I? No… What happened?"

Taking a few more steps ahead, the brunette folded his arms across his chest and started to speak what was currently on his mind.

"Okay… the last thing I remember… I was on the train feeling tired and listening to the music being played while my phone was going off and then… I made it to my dorm… so, I should be asleep."

He instantly recalled Chirithy's words about what the Final World was and how it was a place between sleep and death which makes it easy to access from the Sleeping Worlds and the Dive to the Heart. It was also the place where those whose hearts and bodies have perished together but have something holding them down and keeping them from dying. Such a strange and unusual place.

As Sora was thinking to himself, the sudden memory of him sloppily walking out of the train and through District 7 to get back to his dorm while somehow avoiding anyone. Granted, it was getting pretty late at night which somewhat explained why nobody was out in public. Moreover, he could faintly remember flopping his Keyblade at his door, opening it, and then closing the door before barely making it to his bed slamming right into it, and passing out.

"If that's the case, then… why am I here?"

Again, he started to take in the night version of the Final World before him and couldn't help but stare at it all in awe. The last time he was here, he didn't exactly have time to admire the sight as he ended up crossing paths with someone.

Someone that… he didn't know a whole lot about but had ended up in quite the confrontation.

Yozora.

Shaking his head from getting onto that train of thought, Sora then decided to see if anything would happen when he summoned his Keyblade. Holding his hand out, the weapon flashed into his hand leading him to start waving it around and seeing if anything would happen. After waiting for a good minute, the blade did nothing leaving him to realize that whatever was going on required him to do a bit of investigating. Hence, he started to walk forward seeing no end to the water or night sky which offered a somber yet peaceful atmosphere even though he was all alone. It was at this point that he started to talk to himself again about all that's happened.

"Right, there's a lot I've got to think about… *sigh* where do I even start?"

Turning his head to look down at the ground, Sora saw his reflection and stared at himself for a good moment before closing his eyes and then opening them. His mind was tossing around thoughts at an incredible speed, and he needed to just calm down.

"What Darkness said… I'm going to need help looking into that problem. Hmm. I think I know just the person to help. Or should I say Moogle to help?"

Bringing his right index finger to scratch the side of his cheek, he started thinking about Academy City in a broader sense.

"That leads to the problem of whatever the Magic Side is up to. Not to mention, the Heartless still wandering around the city. And the chance that there are those on the Dark Side that want to capture them."

He then moved his head to stare out in the distance of the Final World continuing to admire the sight before him.

"Plus, I did manage to put myself at the center of attention with the Behemoth and Mimic. That's going to get people wondering. *sigh* Just thinking about it all is hurting my head…" Sora said while dramatically lifting his hand to massage his head.

However, even if this was a lot of information to take in, there was the undoubted truth of the matter. While he might have a great deal of problems to deal with… he wasn't alone. He had friends in his corner to help him.

"…I'm gonna need some help. I know Moogla said she would help but… I'm going to need to talk to someone on the Magic Side… And I know just who to talk to."

Nodding his head, Sora now had a game plan in mind for what he would need to do along with who could talk to for some help. Everything seemed to be settled.

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, a bright flash of light appeared right in front of the boy managing to illuminate the entire area in a yellow color. Additionally, a beam of light shot straight up into the air making it distinctively visible and somewhat… warm. As if it was beckoning him to come closer.

Deciding that he didn't have any real reason to dismiss the idea, the Keyblade wielder took a deep breath before calmly walking toward the light and having to cover his eyes due to how bright it was. Once he was close enough, the teen felt a sense of daring commitment wash over him and slowly brought his hand up to touch the light.

*Woooooosh*

Everything around him immediately went dark leaving him to be covered in darkness and nothing else.

That is until he slowly opened his eyes and was now staring right at what could be described as a ceiling.

"H-Huh?"

Forcing himself to open his eyes fully, Sora was now staring at the ceiling of his dorm room. He easily remembered what it looked like as it was something he got quite used to looking at every morning. This was proven further as he turned his head and simply recognized his surroundings. While still trying to completely wake up, he started thrashing his hand around the bed for his Gummiphone but couldn't feel a thing.

Recalling that he was seriously tired last night, the boy patted down his pants pocket and realized that's where the device was. Bringing it out and checking the time, Sora let out a mumbled groan at seeing what time it was.

"6:39 A.M."

"September 9, 20XX"

'Did I even get any sleep?' he questioned himself internally before letting out a mighty yawn.

It was at this point that he was now awake and decided to get a start on the day since he was-

"What the? Why do I have so many… oh. That's why."

On the Gummiphone's screen was now a list of notifications that had been sent his way. Scrolling down, Sora could see who had tried to get in contact with him last night. There was a message left for him from Yomikawa followed by a single call from her as well. He would have to talk to her later and tell her a bit about what happened. She deserved to be in the know even if he had to condense and tell a half-truth about the Organization members and Heartless Behemoth.

Another person who had desperately tried to get in contact with him was the chestnut brown-haired girl who was better known as the fourth-ranked Level 5, Meltdowner. And she had bombarded him with messages and calls. A total of seven calls and thirteen messages had been sent his way. Seeing the two… troublesome numbers, Sora started looking at what she had sent to him, and… he could already imagine the girl's voice screaming at him through the text messages. To say the messages were worried about his well-being would be a lie. Some of the texts sent by Mugino were very brief in what she was saying to him, and other texts were outright book-length messages yelling at him for hanging up on her.

He would be getting an earful from the tea-color-haired girl the next time they talked.

Putting that dreadful thought to the side, he began looking over the message sent from Moogla which contained the coordinates for where her workshop was in District 7. He also figured that it would be common courtesy to announce that he'd be heading over which resulted in him calling her. A bite of his tongue made him realize that it might be a bit early, and she might not even be-

*ring* *ring* *ring* *click*

"Hello? Sora?" a high-pitched voice called out to him said.

"Hey, Moogla, sorry for calling so early."

"Not at all! I've been awake since we last talked, kupo."

A look of shock was present on the boy's face.

"Then, you haven't slept at all… Why not!?" Sora exclaimed into the phone.

"Well, after our call ended, I started doing all that I could to monitor how the city was faring through my various cleaner robots to see if there was any Heartless activity going on since, you know, a big fight happened which might have caused some problems to arise, kupo. Luckily, you'll be happy to know that nothing serious happened throughout the night just Anti-Skill scanning the perimeter of District 17 to make sure that no one got hurt or any Heartless were around the area, kupo" Moogla explained clearly.

"Phew. That's a relief. Thank you for that."

"Of course, kupo!"

"Well, let me wash up and grab a bite and then I'll be over to talk things through. It's looking like I'll be having quite a busy day today" Sora commented while running a hand through his spiky hair.

"Understood, kupo. I'll tidy my workshop up a bit before you arrive, and when you do make sure to send me a message that way, I'll be able to open the place up, kupo" the energetic Moogle directed.

"Got it. See you soon."

And with that, the call ended leaving Sora to move over to the bathroom and take a look at himself in the mirror. While his clothes weren't terribly damaged or even smelled, he still wanted to clean up a bit and grab a light breakfast. The events of yesterday made it abundantly clear that his life was about to get a whole lot more complicated. Touma's catchphrase was something he could say right now, and it would definitely fit his situation.

Later after cleaning up

Stepping out of his dorm, the spiky-haired brunette was half tempted to knock on his neighbor's door to see if Touma and Index were home and could help him with his complicated problem but decided to hold off. Once he was done talking with Moogla, he'd give his friends a call to talk with them and see if they could meet up and chat in person. It would be quite an eventful talk.

One that would require him to put forth an extra effort of listening in on what would be a long and complicated discussion regarding the Magic Side along with his own problems managing to involve Anti-Skill and the entirety of the city paying attention to what was happening.

Nevertheless, he began to set forth to Moogla's workshop and get her caught up to what was happening or rather what was about to happen. Checking the time, he saw that barely reaching seven in the morning which got him a bit worried that everyone would start to flood the streets heading to work or school or just out and about which might cause him to be surrounded. Not about to let that happen, he quickly started jogging in the direction of the Moogle's residence hoping to not run into any problems along the way. But with the way his life had been lately, that was anything but suspect.

The Keyblade wielder then decided it was time to start the new day and get ready to move on to the next big problem that lay in his way. Where one problem ended, another began.

Meanwhile, inside the confines of an underground laboratory at an unknown location

The sound of electronic pulsating devices and machines starting up caused quite the sound to play throughout the large room, many scientists were busy at hand carefully watching a unique specimen move back and forth inside an electrical cage that had been heavily scratched at every nook and cranny that was within reach. The specimen was keenly identified to be a Heartless. A Shadow to be more specific.

Moreover, standing right in front of the cage was an older fellow with quite a hunch, and his eyes barely showing any sign of actually being open. Not to mention, the birthmark on the right side of his temple seemed to also add an intimidating aura surrounding him.

Kihara Gensei was his name.

"Kihara-san, have you evaluated the report given by the phlebotomist?" one of the scientists said while holding what appeared to be a glass tablet.

The old man turned his head to the side managing to have a sly grin on his face.

"As a matter of fact, I have. And I have to say, it is truly an intriguing thing to see."

"H-Huh? Intriguing… Sir, I… I don't mean to sound imprudent- "

"Then don't."

"…But… are you sure you saw the report documented from the phleb- "

The Kihara now turned his entire body to face the scientist who was a middle-aged man who was starting to feel a wave of nervousness coarse through his body. Even a droplet of sweat started to flow down the back of his neck.

"Sir…?"

"Hmph. Don't be so worried. Haha!"

Hesitation was evident on the middle-aged scientist's face.

"Ha…ha…ha…"

"Now, now. What I meant by intriguing is that with all the critical hypotheses being thrown around the room, every experiment we've tried has ended up either failing or resulting in unexpected outcomes" Gensei explained.

The Kihara member took a few steps around the electrical cage while looking down at the large, yellow-eyed creature even to the point where he lowered himself right next to the cage and was only a few inches away from coming in direct contact with the Heartless.

To this end, the Shadow had moved forward to the point of being just a millimeter away from meeting the cage fence which would shock it, but ultimately, it did no such thing and simply stared back at the old man.

A grin appeared on Kihara's face before he slowly backed himself away from the cage and continued to walk around it. This left the scientist and any others in the room to nervously observe the old man.

"R-Right. We've… even tried conducting physical experiments to record the actual movement of the creature and gauge a better understanding of it but…"

The scientist said this while glancing over to the other side of the large room where a large, bulky body suit was positioned right against the wall. This suit was better known to be a standard marked power suit which was heavily battered and left with scratches all over including a significant claw mark on the head of the suit.

"…Nothing has really provided substantial results. Our next move on analyzing the creature's body of any fluids or residue left behind or secreted is still being discussed as no blood samples were possible leaving questions to be had."

"Indeed. Which reminds me of another test we have yet to study…"

"Another test, sir?"

No response came from the Kihara as he simply walked away from the scientist while bringing his hands to sit comfortably inside his jacket pocket. The ambiance of not saying a word and simply stepping away left a nauseating taste to settle in the man's mouth. When it came to working with any of the Kihara family, the one thing to expect… was the unexpected. Based on stories that he'd heard from other scientists in other departments… he couldn't help but swallow a draft of air down his throat while glancing over at the dark creature still in the cage.

Its yellow eyes were simply trained on him without even blinking or moving its entire body. Just standing there in the cage looking at him. This caused the scientist to briskly walk away and realize that other scientists in the room had merely glanced over at him but didn't utter a word or even look in his direction.

A looming sense of malevolence could be felt in the room leaving only silence to be heard as the Kihara continued onward to who knows where. Alas, let it be known that he had a giant smirk on his face as he passed through another set of security doors while entering what looked to be a room full of test tubes and screens showing data centered around the Heartless.

Several men dressed in lab coats suspected to be scientists noticed Kihara enter the room and came to full attention.

"Sir."

"Hmm. Tatsumi-san."

"Yes, sir?" one of the scientists answered.

A devilish grin appeared on the old man's face.

"Prepare the proper procedure on mark level delta for our mysterious friend in the cage."

The scientist stopped for the briefest of a moment before clarifying with the Kihara.

"Human testing, sir?"

Kihara only responded with a smirk on his face while beginning to walk toward another set of doors which were guarded by two tall-looking guards with heavy equipment almost taking the form of tactically armed robots.

"…Understood sir."

The sound of dual doors closing was the only thing apparent as the Kihara continued to walk toward another part of the lab. A sense of dramaticism could be felt within the lab as the next trial of testing had begun. And there was no stopping what was about to happen…

Back with Sora in District 7

After adventuring through the district and managing to avoid groups of students invading the streets while going about their daily lives, he finally ended up standing in front of what could be described as a short, lengthy building that was decorated in a steel gray color with barely any windows around the place. However, it managed to hold just enough of a presence that it did not look suspicious at all.

Doing as he was told; he sent a message to his Moogle friend expecting to wait a minute for her to open the door when suddenly he was forced to step out of the way as the wall, he was right next to instantly opened causing him to look in awe at the simple yet camouflaged contraption.

Before he could do anything else, a robotic hand appeared out of the side of the wall and began beckoning him to come through the open space. Figuring that this was Moogla's plan, he did so while making sure that nobody was watching.

*Whiiiiissssshhh*

Now inside the building, Sora was in amazement at what he was starting at.

The sight of robots building robots and machines moving around synchronously made his mind ignite with flashbacks to his time in Monstropolis and how Monster's Inc. had all their machines working nonstop even during the invasion of the Heartless in the facility. He also now saw what appeared to be a small cleaner bot that had a robotic hand attached to it and was the one he saw in the open space.

Waving at the hand, the robot watched him for a second before strolling away seemingly getting back to work. About to say something, Sora's name was being called out.

"Sora! Over here, kupo."

Turning to his left, he spotted the familiar-looking Moogle and started speed-walking his way over to her while making sure to not get in the robot's path.

"Hey! Moogla, good to see you!"

"Likewise! I'm glad that you look like you're okay, kupo."

A hand was brought to scratch the back of his head.

"Yeaaah… about that…"

"Oh… sounds like there's a lot on your mind, kupo."

"Yeah, there is. Do you mind if we sit down and talk?"

Sora had a readable expression that demonstrated that there was quite a lot to talk about.

"Not at all. Here, we can head down to my lab and sit down to talk, kupo."

"Down to your lab? Isn't this where you work?" Sora questioned while looking around the place.

The floating Moogle simply shook her entire head.

"Nope. This is more of a front in case someone broke into this place along with being an actual working cleaner bot manufacturing sight, kupo."

"Oooh. That makes sense. Well, lead the way!"

"Yep, follow me, kupo!"

Passing through a door that led to a lower level of the facility, Sora was now once again in amazement at what he was staring at. On the upper level was all machinery. Now, there was nothing but bottles and canisters of various liquids each with monitors and gauges around the area. He even spotted lights that were twirling around a set of glowing green bottles followed by what looked to be other equipment he wasn't too sure about.

"Whoa! This is so cool!"

"Haha, you have no idea, kupo."

Floating to the middle of the large area, Moogla waved her small paw to one side of the room.

"This area is where I work on mixing the ingredients to make the potions that you can find in stock at the Moogle Cleaner Bots, kupo. Since it's a bit hard to gather the necessary materials in this world, I had to come up with alternatives to use for the potions, kupo."

"I'm astonished. This is amazing, Moogla!" Sora exclaimed while being completely in awe at everything he was seeing.

The fact that she managed to do all this on top of using the guise of a cleaning robot facility and service to blend into the city was amazing. He was impressed with her before but now he couldn't even fathom how honored and happy he was to have her support.

"That's not all, kupo."

Moving both her head and the ball on top of her head to the side, Moogla was now pointing at what appeared to be a long workbench with various pieces of equipment and other tools he had no idea about.

"That area is for synthesizing crystals and pieces of equipment to form into a bunch of different things, kupo. The area over there is for working on electrical equipment that I come up with thanks to finding things on the internet that other scientists and professionals have created, kupo. It all comes together to help me with my creations, kupo."

"I'm… I don't know what to say, Moogla. Really… thank you for your help."

"Ah… you're making me feel all embarrassed, kupo!"

Laughing at the Moogle's reaction, Sora followed her to a cozy-looking lounge that was off to the side of all the equipment and watched as she sat down in her own tailor-made chair while he took a seat on the couch. He got himself comfy as it was going to be a long talk.

"So, where should we start from last night, kupo?" Moogla asked the boy while also getting somewhat comfy.

"Well, *sigh* I think I'll start with after I last talked to you and dealt with the dark side agents…"

And so, the Guardian of Light began to tell his fuzzy, flying friend all that occurred last night. Starting from his encounter with the mysterious being that went by the name Darkness and how they were formless along with quite intimidating. He explained all that was discussed in their first bout of chatter and how this world held quite a deal of mysterious power coursing through it on both the Magic and Science Sides, which he explained a bit to Moogla. Followed by mentioning the three different ideas that Darkness reasoned for him being here. This got the Moogle to start wondering just what else this world had in store for them in the future.

He then went into talking about the Heartless Behemoth which got Moogla's ball on the top of her head to start moving around quickly and elicited a shocked reaction from her.

"What!? You encountered a Behemoth, kupo?"

"I mean, there was another Behemoth I encountered if I remember correctly. It was back in my first adventure when I was searching for my best friends, Riku and Kairi after we got separated. But this one had a completely different appearance."

He then started going into the finer details of the Heartless Behemoth along with the various attacks that it performed, leaving him going on the defensive end for quite a bit of time. This was a completely new experience for him to deal with.

"Hm…."

"Moogla? Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Sorry. I was just thinking that the Behemoth sounded like one that one of my brother's friends encountered in another world… it might be nothing, kupo" Moogla explained.

"Ah. Gotcha. Well, after dealing with the Heartless Behemoth…"

Picking right up where he left off, he then went into detail about his brief encounter with Darkness again. What they had to say about this world and how he was given a hint on what was going on with the Magic Side. Once again, Moogla brought her right paw up to her nose and had a thinking pose while trying to figure out what was going on.

To add to the even more unusual situation, Sora now began describing his encounter with Darkness's creation which was the Mimic, and how it took the form of three members from the real Organization XIII.

"Wait? How did this Darkness even know about the Organization, kupo? You said that he wasn't the Darkness that you encountered… but he's still Darkness?" Moogla questioned him while feeling confused.

"It's… complicated. Even I don't know what exactly was going on with Vanitas and Darkness being different from each other but still calling themselves Darkness" the brunette said, planting a hand up to his head and letting out a very note-worthy sigh.

"I don't think I'll be of any help on this matter, kupo."

"That's alright. For now, I think Darkness can be put off to the side."

With that said, Sora began delving into how difficult the three back-to-back battles were and how each time it seemed like the Mimic was learning his tactics and even giving the copied Organization members more personality. Even if it was counter to the real versions which he ended up on good terms with. He also talked about what happened afterward with his run-in with Anti-Skill and mentioned Mugino calling him but not really feeling like talking with her.

"Wow… I'm kind of speechless, kupo. You seriously had a busy night dealing with not one, not two, not three, but four different fights and still having a lot to worry about, kupo."

"Ha, when you put it like that…"

A shake of his head was the only suitable response he could give. Moogla also pondered what he said about this Mugino person and took a moment to consider something before quickly floating over to one of her work areas and picking up a tablet in her hand. She then began typing away at the screen for a minute before she looked over at Sora.

"Sora…"

"Yeah? Is something wrong?"

Moogla seemed to stare at the screen one more time before looking over at the boy.

"You… Do you know who this Mugino person really is, kupo?"

"Yeah. She's the fourth-ranked Level 5, Meltdowner."

A surprised expression appeared on his magical friend's face.

"Huh… I didn't think you knew a Level 5, kupo" Moogla said in a bit of astonishment.

"She's not the only Level 5 that I know of," he said with such casualness.

"…What?"

The Moogle displayed what could easily be depicted as shock.

"Yeah, I know Misaka and Shokuhou as well," he said nonchalantly.

Moogla spent a good minute looking at the boy before shaking her head and floating back to her seat with the tablet in her paws. She could stare at the boy with wonder.

"So, you know not one but three Level 5s?"

"Yeah. Do you know any?" he asked as if it was a completely normal thing.

"Sadly, no. But with the Daihaseisai Festival coming soon, I've been hearing chatter that the Level 5s will have some kind of role to play. I did a bit of searching and found that the fifth-ranked, also known as Mental Out participated in last year's opening ceremony, kupo."

"Huh. I might have to ask Shokuhou about that or even Misaka the next time I run into them. But yeah, I've technically met about half of them now. I'm not sure if I'll be meeting anymore but if I do, then I'll be sure to tell you about them" Sora said.

"I can't wait to hear, kupo." Moogla then turned her head over at the synthesis table and lingered there for a moment before drawing her attention back to the boy. "Well, what do you think you should do now, kupo?"

A contemplative look could be seen on the boy's face as he was not quite sure now.

"Hmmm."

This is the part that was causing Sora the most pain right now. He was left with nothing but a mention of something but that something wasn't much to work with. Hence, he decided to take two considerations to heart and work with that idea.

"I think… I'll go and catch up with Touma and Index and see what they can tell me about the Magic Side along with…" He then straightened himself up and looked over at Moogla which threw her off.

"Sora?" Moogla slightly questioned.

"Moogla… this is a bit awkward, but could I ask for your help in this problem? I… I don't think that I- "

"Sora."

The boy was suddenly stopped by hearing his name called.

"Huh? Er… yeah, Moogla?"

"What did I say the last time we talked, kupo?"

He was then reminded of her talking to him on the Gummiphone about wanting to help deal with the Heartless and making sure he was safe out there while fighting. Recalling her words in clear detail, he also realized that he already had her answer, and it was clear as day. This led him to smile.

"Heh… thanks again, Moogla."

"Of course, Sora! Anytime, kupo."

A sweet relaxing tone seemed to settle itself in the room leaving the two friends to chuckle at the same time realizing that there was quite a bit of stuff that had happened in a short amount of time. However, that didn't mean it was all bad or worrisome. There was still space for fun and enjoyment to be had.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Sora informed Moogla about his plan to meet up with Touma along with elaborating that he was the first person who helped him get started in his journey through Academy City.

The Moogle completely understood Sora's plan along with telling him that she was with him and whatever plan he would come up with regarding what Darkness had mentioned to him. She also stated that she would start to do some recon and see if the cleaner bots picked up on anything unusual going on in the city which he was thrilled to hear about. All in all, Sora felt a great deal better knowing that he could talk to someone about all that he learned.

This led to him getting ready to part ways with Moogla but not before he suddenly remembered what he picked up from the Mimic last night.

"Oh! How could I be so stupid and forget!"

"What do you mean, kupo?"

Reaching into his pocket, the boy pulled out the grayed-out Heartbinder and presented it to her.

"Are you familiar with Heartbinders?" he asked.

Examining the item in his hands, Moogla took a hard long look at it before letting out a humming noise.

"Not particularly, kupo. But based on the name I have an idea of what they are supposed to do, kupo."

"Then… do you have any idea why it's grayed out? Ever experienced something like this before? The last time I had this with me it was not gray and there were multiple Heartbinders assigned to several of my friends" he explained.

"Mm. This is just a guess, but do you think it has something to do with this world, kupo? And what do you mean the last time you had it, kupo?"

Another sigh managed to escape his lips as his mind went back to the events that led him to arrive in this world.

"The last time I had all my equipment and keychains was before used the Power of Waking and saved Kairi but ended up breaking a nature taboo and vanished from my world into the Final World" He summarized his last adventure to saving Kairi.

"Power of Waking… Final World…" Moogla muttered.

Sora noticed how the Moogle had a pondering expression on her face.

"Are you familiar with those terms?" he asked, watching her reaction.

"Not really. Could you explain them, kupo?"

Sora nodded his head with an enthusiastic look on his face.

"Yeah. The Power of Waking allows one to wake sleeping hearts and restore them. It can also be used to trace the connections between people's hearts and travel to worlds connected to them. But… I ended up using this power incorrectly…" Sora said while growing quiet and thinking about his last conversation with Chirithy.

"This sounds super complicated… and how did you use it wrong, kupo?"

"Don't worry, even I am confusing myself while thinking about it deeply. But I used it wrong when I was trying to save my friends and ended up doing it seven times over. You're not meant to use worlds to reach hearts but just the opposite. Using hearts to reach worlds is the correct way."

"…"

Moogla didn't say anything and simply stared at the boy with a look that conveyed she was listening, but the understanding was a whole other sort of question.

"Confusing huh?"

"You have no idea, kupo."

A slightly awkward chuckle escaped Sora's lips.

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, even I'm a bit confused about it all but… It's a power that allowed me to get a second chance during the war to stop Kingdom Hearts. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that power, and neither would my friends" Sora affirmed with a deep level of thankfulness.

The Moogle simply shook her head before glancing back at the Heartbinder and taking another moment to think about why it was appearing in a grayish color compared to what Sora was saying about its appearance before. Suddenly, a simple idea came to her.

"Sora, have you tried using it yet, kupo?"

A stunned and somewhat deadpan expression was plastered all over his face. His stupidity was reaching levels that old folks could relate to when their television was not working, and the only viable and correct solution would be to check and see if it was even plugged in.

"…I have not. *sigh* I think I'm an idiot…"

Reaching down to pick up the Heartbinder, Sora began to look at the object and gave it another glance before bringing it close to his chest and clutching it tightly. His thoughts then began to wander to all his friends who had helped in throughout his journey. All the connections that he and his heart formed a link with. The happy, positive thoughts all came barreling through his heart with flashbacks to everyone he met.

Without wasting any more time, a sudden bright light shot out of the Heartbinder and landed right in front of him and Moogla which caused them to jolt back while staring at the strange phenomenon. Adding to the strange sight, the light seemed to pulsate and blind the two causing them to close their eyes for a second before noticing that it dimmed down. Leaving them to see what happened and be stunned at what they were seeing.

Standing there in a fashionable sense was a small yet fluffy blue and white cat with black eyes that had a yellow plus in the middle of them followed by a pink horn stemming out of its head. The creature also had a strange-looking symbol on its chest while making a cueing sound and tilting its head.

"Meow Wow!"

"Cuu? Cuu!"

Suddenly, the strange-looking creature leaped right at Sora who had his arms open wide ready to meet the little guy.

"Haha! There you are! How have you been?"

Sweetly and lovingly, the creature nestled its head into the boy's shoulder while warmly rubbing its back and laughing with joy.

"Sora, do you know this creature, kupo?" Moogla asked while watching the scene.

"Yeah! This is Meow Wow. He's a Dream Eater. And since he's here now…" The spiky-haired boy had a thought come to him. "Hey, Meow Wow, are the others here as well?"

"Cuu?"

As if understanding what the boy was saying, the Dream Eater seemed to nod its head and body at the same time before jumping off him and giving a spin of its body before a burst of light appeared all around the creature. Now sporting a new appearance, Meow Wow now looked to be a bit… bigger.

Before Moogla could say anything else, Meow Wow jumped into the air and the sound of a balloon popping could be heard. In the next instance, the sight of various colors covered the Moogle's entire vision along with many other strange creatures popping out of nowhere and immediately disappearing into light.

"…What… What was that, kupo?"

"Ha, that was Meow Wow's finishing move calling upon our other friends for help" he explained.

"Whoa… you see something new every day, kupo."

Agreeing with what she had to say, Sora looked back at his Heartbinder and could see that instead of a gray color surrounding it, the object was now displaying a colorful assortment around its body. Additionally, there was no Dream Eater symbol on the back of the Heartbinder, and instead was a crown insignia that closely matched his crown necklace.

"That's new…"

Realizing that this was an entirely new situation to be in, Sora figured he could wait to discover what else the Heartbinder could do and focus back on what he needed to do. Was there the chance that he could call upon more of his friends that he wasn't able to before?

Nevertheless, that would be something to think about later.

"Right, so Moogla, do you think you could keep an eye and ear out for anything that seems… more unusual than usual?" he asked his floating friend.

"Of course, Sora! Leave it to me, kupo. I'll keep an eye open for anything that might prove to be noteworthy or if it in some way relates back to the Magic Side, kupo."

With that being said, the boy and Moogle said their goodbyes and bid each other a good day while also realizing that they had much work to get done if they were going to get through this looming threat. In this scientifically advanced city, there never seemed to be a dull minute that passed by.

Cheerfully nodding his head, Sora could now relax as part of his plan for the day was now accomplished. Next, he could work on finding Index and Touma and seeing what they were up to. He also hoped that they could tell him a bit about this world's magic. Stepping outside of the workshop facility, he was now outside and calling his spiky-haired friend to see where he was now to talk.

What he was not expecting was to rush to the hospital due to what he had heard.

Just from the brief few seconds he was on the phone, Sora found out that Touma was currently at the hospital due to some injuries that had been inflicted upon him which caused even more questions to pop into the Keyblade wielder's head.

Not needing to say anything now, he told Touma to not move and that he would be there in a few minutes. The misfortunate boy responded that he couldn't really move but he said that in a joking manner. Sora then stuffed his Gummiphone into his pocket and began to sprint in the direction of the hospital. Seeing that he hadn't been to any other hospital in the city yet, he figured there could only be one specific place to check with a certain friendly old doctor that came to mind.

The Keyblade wielder also had the thought that he'd be coming to this hospital a whole lot more often.

Not that long later

Having reached the front of the hospital, Sora didn't have to catch his breath, but the feeling of tiredness was aching in his body as he hadn't fully recovered yet from last night's events. However, that could be dismissed as he walked through the front doors seemingly ignoring some of the glances, he was getting from people in the wait room, and strutted up to the receptionist desk where a young lady wearing a nurse's outfit noticed him.

"Oh? Hello sir, are you submitting yourself or here to visit someone?"

"I'm visiting someone but don't know where they might be."

"Could you tell me their name?"

"Touma Kamijou."

That certainly got an eyebrow raised from the nurse as she blinked once and then started observing the boy standing in front of her. It seemed that she was having a million different questions pop into her head from the way she was looking at him.

"Um… I believe his doctor is- "

"Ah. I thought that was you, Sora."

Both the nurse and Keyblade wielder turned their heads to the side when they spotted a certain friendly-faced doctor heading their way with his hands holding what appeared to be a notepad.

"Hey, Doc, there you are. How are you?" Sora asked in a friendly tone.

"As good as you can get on a busy day. I think the real question should be are you okay?" Heaven Canceller questioned the boy, looking him up and down for any noticeable injuries.

A chuckle escaped the boy's lips.

"I'm… as good as you can get," he said repeating what the doctor said.

This caused Heaven Canceller to put out a half smile while closing his eyes. That response seemed to be a reasonable one.

"It seems as if your night was quite the hectic one, no?"

"Yeah… you have no idea. I'm guessing everyone saw me on the news again?" Sora asked, already knowing the answer.

"Hm. That's hard to say exactly. Compared to your first stunt, you had the cautionary awareness from higher-ups making it, so no civilians came close to the area. And I'm sure you're already aware of Anti-Skill being in the area."

"Yep, I briefly talked to Yomikawa last night. Which reminds me. I need to call her and explain a bit about what happened" Sora said, realizing that he already forgot about informing the blue-haired woman.

Nodding his head, Heaven Canceller addressed the boy directly.

"I would do that as soon as you can. Yomikawa is a woman you don't want to anger. She can be your best friend along with your worst nightmare."

A wave of fearfulness shot right through the spiky-haired boy.

"I-Is that so? Have you made her mad before?" Sora weakly asked.

"I have not. But there have been a couple of students I've seen before mentioning what a dangerous woman Yomikawa can be. I believe even young Kamijou has said one or two things about her" Heaven Canceller explained.

This caused Sora to react with one of those "Ooooooh" kind of gestures.

"That makes sense."

"Haha, true. Anyway, I assume you're here to see Kamijou?"

"Yeah. I called him earlier and he said that he was here… again. Based on his wording I'm guessing he's here all the time" the spiky-haired brunette commented.

"You have no idea…" the nurse who had been quiet suddenly added to the conversation.

"Mm. Well, either way, Sora's fine for entry. If you'd please follow me, I'll show you to his room. We've unofficially made it a delegation that Kamijou now owns this room whenever he arrives at the hospital due to how frequently he comes here" Heaven Canceller stated while leaving Sora to go wide-eyed.

The two then began walking down one of the hallways, continuing their discussion regarding Kamijou.

"T-That often?"

"It's like the nurse said. He's here regularly once or twice a week."

Sora did not know what to say to that statement and decided to let it slip by. He was too stunned to really give a proper response. Instead, he continued to follow the doctor while recognizing a few things from his last visit to the hospital.

"Before I forget, I believe Kamijou has a guest with him. A respectful girl with her hair in a long ponytail and a strange choice of attire with one of her pant legs ripped off. Not that I'm one to comment on attire. I'm practically always wearing this" Heaven Canceller said, referring to the doctor coat he was wearing.

"Oh. I think I know who he's with now."

The characteristics made him believe that he knew who exactly was with Touma and they would also be a great help to him now.

"Thanks, doc. Will you be going on as well?"

"No, no. I already visited Kamijou earlier. I'll probably stop by before he leaves. But until then, I have a few other things to get done." The older man checked his notepad before nodding to himself. "Take care, Sora."

"You too, doc."

And with that, the teen was left standing outside Kamijou's room with the idea that he'd be getting to check up on his friend as well as asking someone straight from the Magic Side a bit more about it all. This world and the drastic conflicts arising between the Magic and Science sides to get a better idea of everything.

*Knock* Knock* *Knock*

"You can come in" a familiar voice called out.

Opening the door, Sora could have sworn that he heard a girl's voice hurriedly tell Touma that she should be taking off only for the boy to counter her by telling her to wait. Now entering the room, Sora could clearly see that he was right about his guess of who might be there.

"Hey there, Kanzaki."

Seeing the familiar spiky-haired brunette, the long-haired girl seemed to have a shift in her facial expression. One that went from being concerned to relaxed instantly.

"Sora. I had no idea that you were coming here."

"You didn't tell her?" Sora asked Touma, surprised by the miscommunication.

"I figured you would get here quickly when you heard I was in the hospital…" Touma reasoned while still sitting up in his hospital bed.

Hearing him say that Sora got right to the topic, "Speaking of, why are you in the hospital? I know we didn't see each other last night but what all did I miss?"

An exchange of glances was sent between the two black-haired individuals as it seemed like they were mentally talking to each other. It would be a second until they both nodded to each other with the same mindset in place.

"Well… last night there was a bit of an… incident if you could call it that." Touma then let out a brash sigh while catching his breath. This would be a heavy topic to cover.

Kanzaki also stayed on alert in the case that the misfortunate boy needed help explaining some things seeing that it was a more political conflict.

"So, to explain it in simple terms, there was a nun who was part of the Roman Catholic Church who found a way to decipher a mysterious book that had some grand level of power. Her name is Orsola Aquinas, and I managed to meet her by chance when she was trying to enter Academy City, but that daft carefree nun wouldn't listen to me which resulted in us running into Index who had been kidnapped- "

"Kidnapped!?" the Keyblade wielder exclaimed while taking a step forward ready to jump into action.

"It wasn't as bad as you think. Just Stiyl being an ass and getting me involved with what was going on" Kamijou clarified while lifting his hand to ease the teen.

"Stiyl?" Sora repeated in confusion.

"Stiyl Magnus. A magician and friend to Index and I" Kanzaki explained. "I don't think we've really mentioned him in-depth but he's a colleague of mine in the Anglican Church."

"Right, and so this Orsola was important?" Sora asked, getting back to the main topic.

"Yeah, basically she was a person of interest for the Roman Church because of deciphering the Book of Law which acted as a source of power that not even Index could decipher" Touma explained while making sure not to get too deep with it all. "But basically, she was on the run from another religious group known as the Amakusa during a run-in with the Roman Church and managed to almost make it to Academy City for refuge. She reached the outskirts of the city, which is where I met her, but I told her repeatedly that she couldn't get in without an entry permit. Not long after I met up with Stiyl and Index who were with the Roman Church forces. With this joint operation between the Anglican and Roman churches practically done, Orsola was supposed to be handed to the Roman church but not before the Amakusa attacked and abducted her."

Sora was now leaning against the wall in the hospital room doing his best to take in all that was being explained. Since this was his first real introduction to the Magic Side, there seemed to be a great deal of politics enamored and complex moves being played out in real-time. His focus seemed to intently increase while listening to Touma continue his explanation.

"After a few… eventful things happened…" Touma said, while avoiding talking about the incidents with Agnese and Index, he picked the story back up. "Then the assault against the Amakusa began with me meeting up with Orsola who was trying to escape and had managed to do so. I then had a run-in with the proxy leader of the Amakusa who was kicking Stiyl's ass. But that fight was stopped with Stiyl and I came up with a quick plan of canceling one attack while landing a surprise punch to the face. With that, the proxy leader and Amakusa were defeated but we came to find out the Roman Church wanted to kill Orsola because of her ability to decipher the Book of Law which would thwart the church's power."

"W-What? The Roman Church would do something like that... But why?"

"Politics and power, Sora," Kanzaki answered while folding her arms across her chest and letting out a heavy sigh. "As it turns out from collaborating our stories after the matter... The Amakusa were trying to save Orsola who at the time wasn't sure who she could trust. Hence, why she was trying to escape from them."

"But…" the Keyblade wielder was at a loss of what to say.

This world's dynamic of politics and power, whether it be magic or science was something that he had never encountered before. Let alone the fact that there was a level of complexity to it all that went beyond just the usual black-and-white title. No, this world's impression is more akin to a gray tone with no one being good or bad, right, or wrong. There was always another side, another story to everything.

"It was at this point that we heard Orsola scream and rushed back to her only to be attacked by the Roman Church forces. Once we dealt with them and met up with Index, we explained the situation of how Orsola was labeled an enemy of God and expelled from the Church which also meant she could be executed. This is where I stepped in to make things right…"

Touma said this while raising his battered right hand for the two to see as he had a small smile appear on his face. Even with his appearance matching that of a battered and injured victim, Kamijou Touma did not play the part of someone weak. Instead, his appearance could be described as one of great solidarity and determination. Along with the look that showcased how content and achieved he was in that moment.

"Since there would be ramifications of the Anglican Church getting involved, I decided to step in seeing that I'm from the Science Side and things wouldn't get as messy later. However, Stiyl had to show up with a dramatic entrance and twist of the situation surrounding Orsola."

"Huh? What twist situation?" Sora asked, heavily interested in the story so far.

"Based on what Stiyl said at the time, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church provided a cross necklace that had political ties with the church meaning that Orsola was under the protection of the Church and that her execution would be unacceptable. Hence, this is where the Anglican and Roman Church clashed and where I rushed to get Orsola out of there. Some other things happened but…" Touma shot a look at Kanzaki who shrugged her shoulders at whatever he was thinking of saying but seemed to let it roll off his tongue.

"They're something I can tell you later. But coming back to the main story, we were cornered, and Index and I figured that we could use Orsola's ability to use the Book of Law to help us in the not-so-good situation we were in. However, it turns out that the code Orsola used was incorrect and a fake was left behind by the author."

"Wait. A fake? Then wouldn't that mean that Orsola wouldn't be labeled as she was? Couldn't you explain the situation to the Roman Church?" Sora questioned, sensing an even bigger scam in this predicament.

Shaking his head while still in bed, Touma clarified the situation to Sora.

"Wasn't possible. Agnese who was leading the Roman Church forces bombarded into the room we were in and swarmed us. The others all backed out. It was at this point that I confronted her and exchanged a few words with that mulish nun. A fight broke out with her using a magical staff and dishing out attacks I couldn't see, but ultimately after getting thrown around a bit, Agnese fell right into our trap with her being surrounded and throwing off the Roman Church's forces. The final battle resulted in me and Agnese with her being defeated and me… well, in this bed."

To say that was what Sora was expecting would be an obvious lie. He in no way thought this was what Touma got himself involved in when he heard the spiky-haired boy was in the hospital. Amazement was coursing through the Keyblade wielder's head.

"I…I don't know what to say. Definitely not the story I was expecting to hear."

Kanzaki at this point decided to add her part into the story now having reached the conclusion, "That's not all. Orsola and the Amakusa have now become members of the Anglican Church and now are under protection. Moreover, Orsola's way of deciphering the Book of Law has been released meaning that she'll no longer have a target on her back."

It was at this point that Sora let out a stressed sigh and held a content smile on his face.

"That's good to hear. But there is one part of this whole story that I am not following" Sora proclaimed to the two teens.

"What part is that?"

"The Amakusa. Who are they? Some rogue magical group?"

The reaction from Kanzaki affirmed to Sora that she knew something about them that he didn't. Touma even shot the girl a glance while noticing how stiff and awkward her posture had become.

Letting out a sigh, the black-haired Saint knew that this question might have been coming or that it'll be something more commonly asked now but she decided to face what fears she may have in her heart and directed her attention toward Sora.

"The Amakusa Church is a fusion of Christian, Buddhist, and Shinto principles, creating a unique religion distanced from Roman Catholicism. Skipping a great deal of history, the group is a Christian sect based in Japan that is noted for its way of practicing magic in plain sight with everyday objects. I…" Kanzaki stopped herself before continuing, feeling that this needed to be said not weakly but in an accepting affirmation. "I am also a member of the Amakusa."

A bit of shock was evident on the boy's face.

"O-Oh? I wasn't expecting that. But. Wait. Where were you when all of this was going down, Kanzaki?" Sora questioned the girl.

Stunned by the sudden question, the black-haired beauty quickly garnered a response and then began to elaborate on the boy.

"There were some other matters that I needed to attend to as well as keeping an eye on the Amakusa. When I heard the reports from the Roman Church, I hurried back to see if the church had been led astray but found a more convoluted situation" Kanzaki explained while lightly grasping at her hand.

"I see… ha, and here I was worried about some monster terrorizing the city."

Touma and Kanzaki's faces conveyed that of utter confusion.

"Err… Sora, do you wanna run that back to us?" Touma pronounced.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What you just said. Something about a monster terrorizing the city" Kanzaki simplified.

A moment passed before the Keyblade wielder's face contorted to total awe and bewilderment.

"Oh… you guys didn't hear, did you?"

"Hear what… why does this sound ominous?"

Debating whether to pull up his phone or Touma's to find the news report of last night or just tell them himself, Sora decided to go with the latter since it would make more sense to discuss what happened from his point of view.

"Heh… you guys don't have to be anywhere for a minute, right?" the brunette teen asked his two friends.

Kanzaki shot a worried look at Touma who also returned the gesture. What Sora was saying caused their interest to rise exceedingly. Especially with how he was presenting the situation in a somewhat curious and worrisome aspect. But knowing the cheerful spiky-haired brunette it couldn't be too drastic of an event that took place within the city during the evening hours.

Besides, how bad could things have gotten with him?

Meanwhile, inside the Windowless Building in School District 7

Aleister Crowley was not having a good day.

News of last night's events caused an uproar of emails, phone calls, impromptu interruptions, and a barrage of complaints coming from an assortment of various individuals. Some the Board Chairman was familiar with and others he hadn't the slightest clue about who they were. Just people complaining and demanding questions about what exactly happened last night.

Truth be told, even he was considerably curious about how last night's incident even occurred in the first place. Many questions popped into his head but without much fatigue, a plethora of reasonable answers soon conquered all the looming questions presented. However, that still didn't help that people were eager to know what exactly happened along with who was involved in the matter.

Fortunately, due to his exigent preparedness, Aleister had made sure to keep as minimal footage and coverage of the event as possible. Granted, there would obviously be the occasional sloppy captured video posted to the internet but that could easily be thwarted with nay the wave of his hand. He had also acquired the most detailed footage of the back-to-back conflicts and could review them with adamant eyes dissecting every single movement. This would be vital to his future safety precautions.

If this was the power of the spiky-haired brunette boy… Aleister wondered what the limit of his power would truly be. An unknown quantity that could cause a puddle to emit a sizeable wave of destruction.

He would need to increase the amount of surveillance on the boy when it came to incidents such as last night. Besides, there was a gnawing feeling eating away at him that this was only the beginning…

Nevertheless, on the topic of Sora, the white-haired man was beginning to construct plans to bypass the boy's growing attention from the half-wits who were beginning to ask questions about the teenager's power level. This was a situation that Aleister could easily cover up and say that the boy's ability was at an unreadable level hence the status title placed over him at being a Level 0. Alas, that would not work forever. Sooner or later, someone else would become interested in the boy causing an investigation to go on without his backing. Of course, he could demolish the investigation with a flick of his rest and press of a button but even that would take a moment… which was all that was needed to open an even larger floodgate of interest directed toward the boy.

'Who would've thought… a mysterious boy shows up out of nowhere with no prior involvement only to come waltzing into the city and showcase a set of magical powers I have never seen before…'

Aleister couldn't help but let out a low chuckle by barely opening his mouth. The realization that Sora might even have more tricks up his sleeve left the tall androgynous-looking man eagerly awaiting what the boy might do next. After all, the spiky-haired brunette had not even been here for more than a month. Who was to say that his appearance could cause for more unknown quantities to happen? His eagerness to meet the boy was growing by the minute.

However, for now, he would be Sora's anonymous help who covered for him when it came to the destruction left behind in his wake. Not just because of his help in protecting the city from the mysterious forces currently dwelling with it, but out of his own curiosity…

Suddenly, without any warning at all, several reports appeared right in front of him through monitor screens that had a plethora of information on them. Glancing at one report, Aleister couldn't help but allow a smirk to appear at the corner of his mouth.

"Well, it seems steps are being taken now. How will you counter against them, Sora?" Aleister said to himself while looking back at the report he glossed over.

In said report, it was stated through euphemism that the Magic Side was beginning to take great notice of what was going on within Academy City and how the concurrent sightings of the dark creatures had become a growing concern amongst several of the religious branches. The Anglican Church was apparently in the know while the Roman Catholic Church was currently suffering from last night's events as well. Though, not in direct relation to what Sora was dealing with.

Gears were turning all around on both the Magic and Science Sides. And yet, it would seem that a select few had managed to find themselves at the center of it all.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

Sora.

And, of course, Kamijou Touma.

Aleister could only close his eyes and prepare himself for what uncertain events were about to transpire. The hint of an intrigued smile appeared on his face.

Back with Sora, Touma, and Kanzaki

"… And that's pretty much what happened last night…" Sora finished while glancing over at his friends' faces hoping to see that they were understanding what he was saying.

What he found was that the expressions of shock and awe were engrained onto their faces as Kanzaki looked to be the most stunned while Touma had a mixed look of surprise and intrigue. The news might have been a bit too much to dump onto them all at once.

"Uh… guys? Are you okay?"

"…I think I should be the one asking you that, Sora" the dark-haired girl replied while having her eyes scan him for any visible injuries.

"Yeah, I'm good. Got a good night's rest but feeling a little sore, but nothing too bad."

Kamijou couldn't help but deflate a little seeing that he was still lying in bed having listened to the graphic details of what Sora had gone through basically hours ago. Granted, he had also found himself in quite a predicament with Orsola and Agnese with the Roman Church. However, hearing that the Keyblade wielder had not only dealt with a giant Heartless but three mysterious figures who all had been mimicking foes he fought before was wild to think about. The misfortunate boy wasn't sure who to declare as the winner of misfortune based on their stories of last night.

Alas, before he could ponder that silly thought any longer, Sora spoke up.

"I'm honestly surprised you guys didn't hear about anything regarding last night. Even with all the commotion that was going on in the district."

"Hmm. If I were to make a staggering guess, then I would think the Science Side set precautionary steps to make sure it wasn't like last time" Kanzaki reasoned.

"Yeah, that does make a bit more sense on why you guys didn't hear anything. Not only to prevent any citizens from getting caught up in the crossfire but to keep the Magic Side in the dark about what was really happening" Sora explained, starting to get an idea of how the two sides were at odds with each other.

"But I doubt the city's security was able to block everything happening" Touma added.

"Indeed. That would be a hopeless endeavor to believe in. There are eyes and ears everywhere across the city."

Sora folded his arms and realized that his fights were probably recorded or viewed by others. Mugino heavily added to that idea as she had even said to herself that she saw the fight. Hence, this probably meant that information leaks were going to happen. The one thing he was more worried about was the interaction between him and Darkness. That alone was something that he wasn't entirely sure of.

He would need to be careful now.

"Still… based on what I told you, it sounds like something is going on or is about to happen. Not to mention, the Daihaseisai Festival is coming up soon. There's going to be a lot of commotion going on" Sora stated.

The information that the Keyblade wielder had confided to the two was a brief summary of his encounter with dark side agents messing with one of his friends' robots followed by encountering a mysterious figure covered in darkness. After a tight-lipped explanation about the many different factors regarding Academy City, Sora got into having to deal with the Heartless Behemoth and talked about how it was using magic in its attacks which caused a raised eyebrow from Kanzaki who remained quiet and listened to the story. He then discussed what the dark being told him about the Magic Side getting ready to attack the city followed by his encounter with the Mimic. His bout of information stopped after dealing with the fake Marluxia and a brief talk with Yomikawa. He felt that anything else after didn't exactly apply to the situation right now.

"Right… we're stuck in the dirt" Kamijou commented while glancing out the window.

Kanzaki on the other hand had taken on a thinking pose while gathering her own thoughts about the entire situation. Magical aspects being shown out in the open should have concerned her with the relations between the Magic and Science Sides, but with the foes that Sora was facing being on neither side… it relayed to her that there were forces outside the two sides at work. A sense of worry began to settle within her heart. However, for now, she would keep a close eye on the situation playing out.

Besides, Sora was openly telling her what was going on without having to rely on guessing. This let her form her impression on what was going on followed by a way of reporting what she learned while also taking the boy's words from their first encounter to heart. How Sora trusted her due to him seeing that… Kamijou Touma trusted her as well. She would not break that trust.

"Thank you for informing us about all of this, Sora. It certainly does leave me feeling a bit worried about how things will play out now."

"No kidding. If summoning the Behemoth and Mimic were not that much of a problem for Darkness, then we really need to be prepared for what might come." Saying this, Sora took a moment to gather his thoughts on how they could stay one step ahead of the dark figure.

'Strength in numbers… I doubt the Magic and Science Sides could come together to fight against the Heartless. But… what if each side still took precautions…'

Thinking this idea out in his head, Sora decided to let this idea flow and lightly balled his right hand into his left open palm while wearing an excited expression on his face.

"I've got it!"

"H-Huh!? Why the sudden scream? I about fell out of my bed" Touma said, startled by the boy's reaction.

The dark-haired beauty had also brought a hand to her side in a maneuver that showcased her being ready in case there was an attack.

"Sorry about that. But I had an idea come to mind about how we can be better prepared for another unsuspecting attack" Sora explained.

"How so? I'm not sure a direct meeting would go as well as you're imagining, Sora" Touma weakly replied.

"But here's the kicker. I don't have to do anything. Kanzaki is the one taking charge of this situation."

"What? What do you mean exactly?" Kanzaki stammered out, completely confused about what was going on.

Sora began to lay out his simple yet imaginative plan.

"Think about it. Based on what I've learned about the two sides, Science more so than Magic, there is no way for them to work together."

Both black-haired teens nodded their heads upon hearing this. With the current standings, as they are now, there truly was no way of getting the Magic and Science Sides to come together. At least, not without a little tampering.

"But… what if we used that to start a chain reaction? If Kanzaki tells the higher-ups at the Anglican Church more about the dangers of the Heartless, then they have to at least do something. A reaction or lingering thought to act on the news they are hearing. That way, the Magic Side will slowly but gradually start better preparing for the unpredictability of the Heartless and Darkness which in turn could get the Science Side to start moving as well" Sora explained as best as he could.

Taking a second to process Sora's words, Kanzaki liked the idea as it would benefit the Magic Side not only in terms of garnering steps to better prepare for the Heartless but that it would allow her the chance to warn her friends. However, truth and realization settled into her mind the honest reaction that the Magic Side would have while learning of this information.

What she was currently thinking about saying could be considered an act against the church… but in exchange for protecting countless lives, it would be worth it. She had seen footage of the dark creatures and how intimidating they truly were thanks to Sora's wisdom. Alas, she had yet to encounter these monsters but based on everything she had learned about them, she would not underestimate them in the slightest.

"…While that is a worthy concept to consider, Sora. I don't think it's going to work."

"How come?"

"For starters, once the Magic Side hears of anything really regarding the Heartless, their first act will be to try and manipulate or capture the creatures. An unknown monster that shows up out of nowhere with no real way of defeating them aside from your weapon, Sora, and the idea that they are clearly unpredictable is honestly an open invitation to study them. Whether for good or bad intentions… I think we all know what the answer might be" Kanzaki directed to the two boys inside the hospital room.

Kamijou on his part wore a distraught frown on his face as he hesitantly realized that the Magic and Science Sides were still against each other. And now, with the involvement of the Heartless, whoever vied and obtained information on the dark creatures could use it as a weapon against the other side. Nothing was as simple as a black-and-white picture when it came to the two sides.

Sora, however, had a feeling that Kanzaki's words should have resonated with him before he came up with this elaborate plan to warn the two sides. This world was unlike any he'd ever been to before. That concept was once again repeated in his head as he was now stuck off to the side trying to find a peaceful option without really investing himself in the overall conflict. Whether it was the Magic or Science Side, darkness reigned in various ways throughout the two powerhouses.

"*sigh* Looks like that plan is a dud."

"Don't let that deter you, Sora. What you're doing is honestly more help than anyone could expect."

Hearing Kanzaki say this, the Keyblade wielder turned his head toward her seeing that she had more to say. Kamijou was also leaning his body forward to listen to the dark-haired beauty.

"Not belonging to either side and still wanting to look out for the people inhabiting the two sources of power. That alone is commendable. And yet, here you are telling us, telling me, all there is to better prepare for the Heartless. Were it anyone else with this information I can safely guess that there would be a price to pay to learn all there was about the Heartless. Alas, I too want to help share the burden you carry, Sora."

The brunette's eyes widened as he was taken aback by what she had to say.

"This fight you are fighting… You are doing it alone when in all reality you shouldn't be. Duels are one thing, but it seems like you are fighting a battle that shouldn't be fought alone. *sigh* Even saying this, I know that I won't always be there to help you in this endeavor. However, know this, given the timing or opportunity, I will be there to lend you aid" Kanzaki confidently said to the boy.

"What brought this about?" Sora asked, a bit confused about her sudden declaration to help.

"The more I hear about the Heartless… it worries me. With the Magic and Science Sides' conflict arising and gradually gearing toward becoming something else… I'm starting to imagine worst-case scenarios playing out" she reasoned to the boy.

"People's hearts…" Touma quietly commented.

"Exactly. What occurred last night with the Anglican, Amakusa, and Roman Churches was one thing. But what happens when things escalate?"

Sora knew the answer to this question. It was one that he knew quite well, to be honest.

"Darkness will arise in people's hearts. Fear. Hate. Anger. Sadness. Agony. Despair. All of it. A total war involving both sides with the high likelihood of darkness growing within people."

"That is what a fear is and why I want to do all that I can to help prevent it from spreading across the world."

Listening to Kanzaki speak so profoundly, Touma couldn't help but share his own thoughts about the matter.

"Sora… you're the only person that knows how dangerous the Heartless are. What if… what if someone decides to use them? Is that even possible?"

A somber mood filled the room as the Guardian of Light let out a shaky sigh while staring at the ground. Images and recollections of all the foes he ever fought who had tempted to use the darkness as well as Heartless to do their evil bidding. All the problems are caused because of their actions. It was something that he did not wish for this world to experience…

But that was a hopeless wish.

He knew firsthand that there were secrets within Academy City that tampered with the domain of darkness. Who knows what the rest of the world was like? This is why he was perplexed to be thankful that the Heartless had only remained in the city… for now.

"It is possible. Someone can control the Heartless with enough darkness within their heart. I don't exactly know how it works, but I've seen it countless times. Trouble would undoubtedly occur if someone did that."

"Do you think someone has done so already?" Touma asked, scanning the brunette's reaction.

Letting a silent moment pass through the room, Sora begrudgingly looked at the boy and nodded his head.

"Yeah… I think it's already been done."

His words relied on the bit of information he learned several nights ago when he encountered the dark side operators working to try and capture a Heartless. Heck, even Mugino and ITEM were working to do the same thing but were stopped due to being overrun and his involvement in defeating the Heartless. However, it would be oblivious to think that nobody achieved the goal of capturing the dark creatures.

Someone probably already had a Heartless in their hands and that thought alone made the boy's stomach churn in disgust.

Elsewhere, back within the underground laboratory

The sounds of screams could be heard as multiple scientists all stood behind a barrier of safety glass while watching the latest stream of tests play out right before their very eyes. Kihara Gensei was one of the scientists and the expression on his face could be described as disturbing. There was a glint in his eye that conveyed the sense that even with the heart-wrenching yells of agony taking place on the other side of the glass, he was enjoying every moment of it and taking it all within his mind.

Suddenly, the sound of something sharp could be heard scraping across the metallic floor leaving a screeching sound.

With the click of a button, a gunshot rang out throughout the room and the scene before the scientists were met with mumbled chatter along with tapping on tablets. There was quite a plethora of information that needed to be recorded but while that was happening, Kihara simply tilted his head and analyzed what was being played out on the other side.

The sight of debris and damage was scattered all across the room along with the cage holding the Heartless was demolished beyond recognition. Following that, the dark creature was standing next to what could be described as a tattered and heavily damaged lab coat along with something even more concerning.

Standing right next to the one Shadow Heartless was another Shadow that was very intently staring back at the Kihara with its cold yellow eyes. A stand-off was currently going on between the dark creature and the old man. Neither seemed to break eye contact for a good whole minute. A sly grin then appeared on Kihara's face as the Heartless was the first to break. It then turned its head to the side and was now staring at another scientist who came into sight.

"Sir, we… we've gathered all the necessary data on… "The scientist stumbled with her words as she wasn't sure what the hell just happened or what exactly was going on. This whole situation was not what any of them expected. Especially not…

"Excellent! I assume you have questions?" Kihara asked the middle-aged woman.

"…Yes. There are many things that I, along with everyone else, don't understand. Would it be possible- "

"Nonsense! We are only just beginning! A few simple tests are not going to provide us with enough adequate information on what these creatures are. I for one have never encountered a creature so mysterious. So… how should I put it? Ah! Influential is the word I'm clinging onto now, hahaha!"

The old man was not making any sense. This was evident by the scientists in the room all glancing at each other and not knowing what exactly was going on now.

"I-I see…"

"Alas, the questions we are searching for lie within this unique creature. And now, knowing that it can replicate itself or at the very least exhibit what is hypothesized to be a personal reality by turning a normal human being into a creature of its very same kind. The questions present are through the roof. However, let me remind you all that this groundbreaking discovery was made not with the first, not with the second, and not with the third test trial but the fourth. Meaning that there is something more to this creature's ability than we are thinking. Hence, you all know what that means…"

A startling silence echoed through the room causing sweat to drop on the scientists' necks.

"It means more tests! Now then, prepare test number five and provide the subject with a small shield. I'm curious about how this will play out given that subject four was given a small metal pipe to try and fight the creature. The behavioral traits exhibited by the subject were certainly something else" Kihara said, grinning madly as he recalled the test.

The best way to describe the fourth subject's behavior would be that they lost all sense of hope and started throwing themself at the glass wall while screaming out vulgarity and senselessness. The light within their being had been sucked out leaving the test subject to display a level of hatred and anger that was certainly chilling. However, not before long, they were cornered by the creature, and… well, it was not a pretty sight to see.

"Well? What are we waiting for? Let the tests continue!" Kihara shouted while bringing both of his hands behind his back.

An evil grin was apparent on the old man's face along with a deeper sense of thought prudent in his mind. However, only he himself would know about it and how it could be used on a fundamental level for all his projects. Both current… and future.

Meanwhile, back with Sora

After finishing up his conversation with Touma and Kanzaki, the Keyblade wielder was then greeted by Heaven Canceller who came into the misfortunate boy's room and wanted to follow up on his status. At this point, Kanzaki and Sora excused themselves and proceeded out of the hospital room and were now walking back to the entrance all while contemplating what was going to happen next.

"So, what now?" Sora bluntly asked the long-haired girl.

"I'm not sure. I think for now, I'll be taking my leave and heading back to England. The higher-ups in the Church are sure to want answers for the news of the Heartless Behemoth and the three foes you faced which turned out to be a single enemy" Kanzaki explained.

"Right… that does not sound fun."

"No… I can't say it will be."

Getting the sense that she was ready to take off, Sora quickly jumped at this chance to stay in contact with her since it seemed like things would only get more complicated here soon.

"Hey, Kanazaki, before you take off do you think I could get your phone number? I don't know what could be happening soon and… it's seemingly like I'll need all the help I can get. Both from the Magic and Science Sides. If that's not a problem?"

Becoming a bit startled by the sudden request, Kanzaki immediately wanted to say yes but realized that she wasn't as in tune with technology and debated on the kind of answer she should give to Sora. However, after being caught in a long internal monologue battle with what kind of response she would provide to the boy, the dark-haired beauty decided to just stick with a safe plan and offer the number she tended to use at the dorm for female Necessarius members.

"No, it's not a problem. Just… spent a moment considering where you should call if you need to."

"Oh? You don't happen to have a phone on you?"

An embarrassed expression appeared on her face as she couldn't help but shake her head.

"N-No. Technology is… something I'm not entirely familiar with."

The visual of a smile broke onto the Keyblade wielder's face.

"I totally get ya. I'm no expert when it comes to using different kinds of technology, but after spending some time and effort to learn it's not so bad. Besides, asking for help is more resourceful than struggling silently" Sora reasoned while bringing his hands behind his back in his signature manner.

"Ha, if only I had your optimism when it came to difficult things, Sora."

Hearing this, the teen let his eyes fall downward and couldn't help but sigh outwardly.

"Not all the time. Even I have my bad days… but that's just what makes everyone so special. Our hearts showcase what we're feeling within ourselves. No matter who you are. Human, animal, Saint… it doesn't matter."

Kanzaki couldn't help but let a small smile appear on her lips. Listening to Sora's words seemed to provide her with a sense of reassurance that there was still a lot to learn about herself which was something she was already working to master but knowing that there was always something more to learn than it left her feeling somewhat bit eager to continue down the path she was currently on. The heart was truly something new that she was learning more about thanks to the brunette's explanation.

Plus, the newfound feelings regarding her heart and the appreciation she had for a certain black spiky-haired boy caused her to feel her cheeks warm up. In a good way, nonetheless.

Hence, after exchanging numbers with Sora and parting ways with him on a good note, Kanzaki held her head up higher knowing that even with the strange and unusual situations playing out before her, there was still a sense of hope and kindness present in her heart. In addition, the discussion of hearts and how connections can give one strength caused a sense of positivity to flow through her. A sense of working to make sure problems arising were resolved in a reasonable fashion of safety and security rose in her chest. Things were looking up for once.

As Sora watched Kanzaki walk away until she was no longer in sight, he let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding onto. This newfound information regarding the Magic Side was a lot to take in. It really did paint the picture of how much he wasn't informed about what exactly was going on in this world. Hence, he decided to jump from one side to the other. That meant contacting the one woman who had graciously helped him get accustomed to Academy City's rules.

*ring* *ring* *ring* *ring*

*click*

"Hello?"

"Hey, Yomikawa."

"Ah! Sora! I didn't expect you to call this soon. It's not even… past noon yet."

"Yeah, I figured that the sooner I told you what exactly happened, the sooner you'd have a better idea of what I've been dealing with" Sora reasoned while kicking a rock with his boot.

"Well, I'm free now. Since there are no classes today, I'm just hanging around the school catching up on some paperwork. Do you mind coming over now?"

A smirk appeared on the boy's face.

"Wouldn't that make it, so you put off your paperwork?" Sora asked, having a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Eh. I wasn't getting much done. Come on over to the school. The front doors should be open as other teachers are still in the building."

"Got it. See you soon."

*click*

With the phone call over, Sora decided to stop by a vending machine and grab a drink before arriving at the school. From his expectation, he was getting the feeling that he would be doing a bit of explaining. Which wasn't too bad. It was just time-consuming, but it was necessary.

Hence, with a pip in his step, Sora calmly started walking toward his school while realizing that he was making great progress with gathering all his chickens in one basket and getting caught up with what exactly was happening on both sides of this world. Things just never seemed to calm down.

Later…

After having gotten himself a sweet drink and made his way to the school without drawing too much attention. Thanks to his Flowmotion allowed him to scale up the sides of buildings and stay out of the public eye. Sora was watching his surroundings while slowly making his way into the school and sticking close to the walls trying to mimic a stealth-like approach. It reminded him of a certain stealth solider that he met during his time in sma-

"Sora? What are you doing here?" a voice called out to the spiky-haired teen.

Realizing that he had been caught, the Keyblade wielder wilted like a dead flower and turned himself to see who was talking to him. To his surprise, his homeroom teacher was standing there looking at him like he had grown a second head.

"Ahahaha… Hey, Komoe Sensei. Uh… fancy running into you here."

"Sora. This is the school that I teach at."

"Right, right. That doesn't make any sense. Hahaha… I'm an idiot."

Seeing his teacher's confused expression, he figured he should just tell her the truth. Not that it mattered all that much. He wasn't exactly the best when it came to lying.

"I'm here to see Yomikawa. I called ahead and let her know that there were some things I needed to discuss with her" he clarified to the pink-haired girl.

"Oh? I didn't think that some things were challenging you, Sora."

"Well, I- "

"It's nothing related to school and more in line with the events he's tending to find himself involved in lately" a voice called out to the two.

Turning their heads to the side, both Sora and Komoe saw the tall blue-haired teacher who had a hand on her hip while flashing a warm smile at them.

"Ah, Yomikawa, there you are."

"Good to see you make it. Wish all my students were as energetic to arrive at school as fast as you did."

"Yomikawa?"

"Hey there, Komoe. Don't worry about Sora. He's not in any kind of trouble. Just wanted to talk with him about a few things that I'm not familiar with. That's all" Yomikawa clarified to the short, older woman.

Letting out a small humming sound, the pink-haired teacher simply nodded her head and figured that whatever was going on could be dealt with by Yomikawa. It seemed like she and her athletically feminine and attractive friend had their own spiky-haired student to deal with. Thinking about it like that, Komoe couldn't help but smile a bit at the chance to see what possibilities Kamijou and Sora had waiting for them.

"Don't worry, Sensei. If anything comes up that I need help with, you'll be the first person I ask."

"Hmm. Thank you, Sora. Hearing that does make me feel happy knowing that I'll be able to help a young and aspiring student in their need."

Sora then suddenly remembered how his fellow spiky-haired friend was doing and decided to do a friendly thing and let Komoe know about Touma. Hopefully letting him slightly off the hook… maybe.

"Uhm… Sensei. You might want to cut Touma some slack. I just got back from the hospital and- "

"What!? What happened?" Komoe shouted out.

"*sigh* What did Kamijou do this time?" Yomikawa asked, bringing a hand up to her head.

"He… "Sora stopped himself to make sure he told a believable story since the two teachers were probably not in the know about magic. Hence, he changed Touma's back story for ending up in the hospital. "Based on what I know, he got caught up in some kind of fight with some weirdos. I don't know the rest of the story. Maybe you can ask him?"

Striking a middle ground of saying that he did get beat up was true but mentioning that the ones who did beat Touma up were weirdos was… not exactly a lie. As rude as that sounded. In Sora's defense, the entire explanation of events that happened last night was still a bit confusing to him.

"I'll have to give him a call to make sure he's alright" Komoe commented.

"Yeah, he was awake back when I checked up on him. It didn't look like anything too drastic. At least, that's what I think."

"Thank you for telling us about this, Sora."

"No problem. So, shall we get started?" He questioned his friend and teacher.

"Yep. Might as well get to it."

"Right. Take care, Sensei, and see you later."

"Bye, Sora. Make sure you don't forget the homework assigned" Komoe cheerfully stated which caused the boy to freeze for a moment before he remembered that he had at least started it which made him relax.

The same couldn't be said about his friends who were members of the Delta Trio. That would most definitely be a problem for them later… as usual.

Entering the school's gymnasium

Pushing open the doors to the gym and spotting the mess left behind, Sora was a bit surprised that this was where he and Yomikawa were going to have their chat about what happened last night.

"Eheh. Sorry for the mess. I didn't think talking in a classroom would be all that productive. Plus, I needed to get this all cleaned up before tomorrow's classes. Heh… would you mind helping me?" Yomikawa asked Sora.

"Sure, I don't mind. We can clean and chat."

"Great! Thanks, Sora."

And with that, the two began to get to work on cleaning the gym filled with various exercise equipment. Things ranging from dumbbells to training cones and pads for hand and feet-based exercises, the gym looked to be a workshop and messier compared to the last time Sora was here.

"So, would you mind explaining a bit of what happened last night? There are some parts that I think I understand thanks to reports filed from other Anti-Skill officers, but I'm lost on a few aspects of everything that happened."

"Well, let me start from the beginning. That way, you'll have an exact idea of what happened exactly. But…" Sora suddenly stopped himself as he began to consider what exactly he could tell the blue ponytail-haired woman.

There were a lot of past details that would be needed to fully comprehend what exactly happened last night. Granted, some things could be shortened or changed to fit a better story-wise explanation. However, there were some aspects such as Darkness and the Organization members that he would need to work around. The difficulties of explaining otherworldly business. Not to mention, the idea of trying to explain to someone on the Science Side the broad terms of magic was surely something he would need to be careful about.

His supposed explanation was becoming harder to imagine by the minute.

After a moment of silence was played out between the student and teacher, Yomikawa was wondering what exactly Sora was thinking about, but she was stopped as he put down a stack of cones before clearing his throat and looking over at her. It seemed like he had found his voice now.

"From the beginning…"

And so, Sora began to tell Yomikawa a quick and brief explanation of how his night began with him getting a call from one of his friends that runs some of the cleaner robots around the city. This surprised her but she didn't say anything as she wanted to hear the rest of his story. Next, he discussed running into a cargo yard in District 17 where the cleaner bots were being messed with and began describing the event of running into a group of Dark Side operators.

Hearing that the boy had encountered the Dark Side of Academy City left Yomikawa's throat dry. During her time in the city and involved with Anti-Skill, the Dark Side was such a common recurring topic that she had no idea how in-depth it truly was. Just that whenever it came to serious committed crimes or public disturbances where people got hurt, the Dark Side was likely at play. Hence, hearing that Sora dealt with the Dark Side operators without getting hurt left her feeling relieved.

However, when he then went on to discuss his run-in with some strange individual that was covered with dark clouds all around them, leaving Sora unable to ascertain who they were, Yomikawa started to realize that this was where the real problems began for the spiky-haired boy.

Sora then began talking about the brief encounter with the figure and how they knew a great deal about him which left the spiky-haired boy confused about it all. He then described a bit more about the mysterious figure antagonizing him and trying to riddle him with various topics regarding events within the city. The brunette also mentioned the brief mention of the seven Level 5's which caused Yomikawa's eyes to widen.

"What? What else did this… person say about the Level 5's?" Yomikawa eagerly questioned the boy.

"Not much. He just mentioned them almost as if he was interested in them. But…" Sora bit his lip and debated on whether he should at the very least mention the direct mention of the second-ranked Level 5, Dark Matter.

After debating it for a millisecond which felt like a solid five minutes, Sora decided to go through with mentioning him.

"The dark figure did mention the other Level 5s and gave a little speech about each of them. However, he did linger a bit and talked about the second-ranked more than the others…" Sora replied, not feeling like repeating what he said about Misaka, Shokuhou, or Mugino.

"The second-ranked… "the blue-haired woman repeated before going quiet and gesturing to Sora to continue.

Learning this new knowledge would have Yomikawa rattle her head on what she was learning. This would require a bit of background information along with other fields of research but for now, it could be left in the backburner of her mind.

At this point, Sora mentioned how the dark figure shot at him with some kind of dark blast and was ready to fight him but not before summoning what could be described as a freakishly large lion that had been corrupted or whatnot causing it to take on the form of a Heartless. This is where Yomikawa decided to ask the questions lingering at the forefront of her mind.

"Wait… how did the lion turn into a Heartless? I thought that the Heartless- "

"I'm not sure about that part" Sora suddenly said while running a hand through his hair. "Again, there's a lot that I don't know about this figure or how they were able to pull this stuff off. The way that the… dark figure appeared and summoned the Behemoth out of nowhere is something that I don't have the answer to. However, they did it, does leave me worried."

"Behemoth… so that's what it was called."

"Yeah, and as soon as the Behemoth was summoned, the dark figure corrupted it with darkness which caused it to turn into a Heartless" Sora answered.

Nodding at the boy's answer and left to her thoughts, Yomikawa gestured for the boy to continue his elaboration seeing that there was more to get to. The way that Sora said all this with such nonchalance left her realizing even more that he had been dealing with these kinds of problems longer than she initially thought. Her perspective on the boy had changed once again.

And so, Sora picked up his story with his encounter with the Heartless Behemoth and how its moves were practically all new to him which resulted in him playing a bit defensively against the giant beast. He had encountered other monsters of great size, but the Behemoth was one that he felt indifferent toward. Hence, he continued going into detail about his fight against the dangerous beast all while Yomikawa began to realize some parts of his story interlapped with what she and Tessou saw from the footage captured from the drone.

Once that tidbit of his story was covered, Sora then talked about his encounter with the dark figure again and how they mentioned something else about the city. However, before he could get anything solid from the mysterious foe, he was shot right in the chest with some kind of attack that sent him flying back.

This part of his story caused Yomikawa to have a worried look on her face. This more she heard about this mysterious figure disappearing and reappearing only to spout nonsense followed by attacking Sora. The more she couldn't help but start to feel anxious.

However, before anything else could happen, Sora went on to describe how the figure summoned a dark orb which then caused the figure in the black coat to appear. This resulted in Sora now getting to talk about his encounters with the Lunatic, Savage Nymph, and Graceful Assassin.

The descriptions around each fight were starting to sound more and more unbelievable and yet, they all happened. Yomikawa had seen most of the fights through the eye of the drone and began to realize just how much more dangerous it was rather than just watching it all play out. The details about how this hooded figure was able to switch up not only their weapons but abilities as well. Not to mention, when Sora talked about dealing the killing blow and how the figure simply got back up it left her once again feeling disoriented about this whole situation. It felt like the moment she could get a grasp of what might be happening, something else suddenly appeared that left her even more confused than before.

And the kicker to it all was that Sora had a better grasp of everything. Not that that was a bad thing. However, it did make her feel like she wasn't exactly doing a great job being not only an Anti-Skill officer but a teacher as well. Helping the youth with the problems they were facing…

Alas, before she could ponder that way of thinking any longer, Sora continued his brief explanation of the fights and got right up to the part about Marluxia and decided to finish his recollection of the prior night's events.

"…And so, that's all that happened last night. As I said before, there's still a lot that I don't understand about the dark figure but…" Sora started saying but then clasped both of his hands before looking over at Yomikawa. "I just know for a fact that I'll be running into that mysterious figure again."

Hearing Sora say this with such affirmation, Yomikawa wanted to retort him and say not to worry since Anti-Skill would be on the case now, but that was simply a distant wish of hers. She couldn't stop Sora even if she tried. He was a free-spirited teen with interests in all sorts of things. The chances of him encountering this figure again were likely high. Besides, it seemed like she would be relying on him a whole lot more in the future when it came to dealing with Heartless sightings.

Hence, letting out a frustrated sigh, the ponytail-haired woman decided to do all that she could to help him in his upcoming challenges while being there to support him from the back. After all, he wouldn't be the only high school teenager that she was helping in their life.

"*sigh* I'm at a loss of what to say."

"Haha, I don't blame you. A lot of it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. And the parts that do make sense still manage to not make sense."

Allowing a smile to appear on her face at hearing Sora's declaration that everything was confusing now. As quick as it appeared, Yomikawa felt a stir in her heart. She suddenly felt her face fall as she randomly wanted to ask him a question that was starting to pound within her chest since it had to do with the boy's well-being.

"This dark figure… how worried are you about running into him again?" Yomikawa suddenly asked.

"I…"

Sora was at a loss for words.

This was a whole new situation that he had never really found himself in. Not even when having to deal with Organization XIII both with the original and true groups. Darkness was a being that he barely knew anything about them. Only that they were in some way related to Vanitas and that they wielded great power. It would be stupid to bolster and claim that he was not worried. Hence, Sora decided to be truthful with his teacher and friend.

"To be honest, I'm a little anxious. This is a whole new situation that I've never really dealt with before. I don't know what else this individual is planning, but it's a likely bet that we'll be crossing paths again. And when that happens…" Sora grasped at his chest while wearing a determined look on his face. "I won't be beaten by them. Or worse. There's still a bunch of things I want to do in this world. And so many people I want to meet… want to help… along with so much more…"

Sora stated this in a clear and concise tone of voice with his head held high and staring right into the Yomikawa's eyes. A sense of relief washed over her as she could tell that he meant everything he said. This resulted in her allowing a small but bright smile to appear on her lips.

Before the moment could be sweetened any further, Sora started to laugh a bit before rubbing the back of his head. Emotional moments seemed to be a thing with him.

"Ehehe, sorry for creating a moment. Think I might have a hidden talent for that kind of thing."

"Don't be sorry. It's honestly nice to hear someone as young as you speak so profoundly and determined about problems that I doubt most people would ever have to deal with. Stand tall. Let those emotional moments be something you thrive at. Everyone needs a little inspiration here and there" Yomikawa kindly replied while smiling happily at the boy.

"Hmm. Thanks, Yomikawa."

Now with a content and happy atmosphere filling up the gymnasium, the two went back to work on cleaning up the place and putting away all the left-out equipment.

"Say, how did the gym get like this?"

"I had a few numbskulls run a few extracurricular laps yesterday during detention. I planned on putting it all away but was then called in by Anti-Skill due to ruckus going on in District 13."

Sora had a feeling who she was referring to but didn't say anything and listened to her keep talking.

"And then you were called over to District 17" Sora answered, realizing where this was going.

"Yep. Which left this place a mess. I told the principal and janitorial staff to leave it as be since it was my mess. I wanted to clean it up and now we're here doing that."

Now understanding how the gym became messy, Sora didn't mind cleaning up the place. Besides, it was the least he could do for Yomikawa as she had helped him out in so many ways. She truly helped him find a new place that he could consider home now since his last home… was likely impossible to go back to.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a phone started ringing which echoed throughout the gymnasium leaving the two to chuckle at the sound.

"Sorry about that. Mind if I take it?" Yomikawa kindly asked Sora.

"Not at all. Go ahead."

Answering the call, the blue-haired teacher began speaking with whoever was on the line and kept replying with simple answers. Sora didn't want to eavesdrop and continued to clean the gym and had managed to make quite a dent in the leftover equipment leaving about sixty percent of it all to be done. It wouldn't be too long until their job was done. Moreover, Yomikawa seemed to be done with her call as she let out quite a sigh.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, you could say that. There's some important stuff that I need to get working on as well as figured out and it overshadows any other work I might piled up."

"Really? Was the call telling you to get it done soon?" the spiky-haired boy curiously asked.

"Soon as in right now. It's for… some personal stuff going on right now. But I told the person on the phone that I was busy with- "

"Go."

"Huh? What did you- "

"Go, Yomikawa. I got this" Sora affirmed.

Left a bit speechless, the blue-haired woman was unsure what to say and immediately felt guilty for leaving him to clean up after her. She was about to retort when the spiky-haired brunette began shaking his head.

"I've got this. Don't worry. It's just putting stuff back. Piece of cake."

"But I… *sigh* I owe- "

"Not another word. You've done a whole lot for me. Now, let me do something to return the favor even though I don't need to. I want to."

Staring right at Sora, she could see that he meant everything he was saying and didn't look to be the budging type. Hence, she began rubbing her forehead with both of her hands and mumbled under her breath.

"Sora… thank you. Truly. I'll make it- "

"Nope! Now scram… please" he added that last part to not sound rude or anything like that.

With a grin on her face, Yomikawa nodded her head adamantly before making her way out of the gymnasium and striving back to her office. There was some work she needed to get done if she was going to help another person in need. Someone who… well, was an odd case to exact. But still, someone who she would gladly help.

Now left alone, Sora realized that he could easily clean the rest of the equipment up in a matter of a few minutes thanks to using his magic. He'd make sure that no one else was nearby while he did so. Otherwise, he'd have to come up with a bunch of excuses about what he was doing.

However, seeing that he was all alone, this proved to be the best time to try something that had been in the back of his mind ever since he left Moogla's workshop earlier today.

The Heartbinder.

Based on his first go at using it again, he was able to summon Meow Wow and the Dream Eaters' help again but the special item had a different feel and design to it this time around. Pulling the thing out of his pocket, he began to examine it again and could see that it still had a bit of a gray tone to its appearance save for the strange and colorful crown insignia on the back of it. Sora was unsure what to do now given that he knew it worked but wasn't as simple as before.

Recalling his discussion with Moogla about calling upon the Links with his friends across the many worlds, the spiky-haired teen wanted to try something new. Something that… might take a lot out of him mana and energy-wise, but it would be completely worth it.

Making sure that nobody was near the gym entrance, Sora took extra precautions and stacked some equipment on a table that helped block the small opening in the doors and took to the center of the large open room. With nothing but his Heartbinder in hand, the Keyblade's Chosen One brought it up to his heart and began channeling all the energy he could into the object. Before using the Heartbinder, he had several other ones that were directly linked to specific friends. Now, however, it felt like a limitless possibility on who he could call for. So many friends came to his mind but one that lingered longer in his train of thought would be the first friend that he encountered in Traverse Town right after Destiny Islands was swallowed up by the darkness.

Deciding that this friend would be the first person to Link up with and call upon the Heartbinder, Sora calmed himself down and gave his heart the strength it needed to perform this newly-fashioned miracle.

"Hear my heart… Lend me your strength, Leon!"

*vrrrroooooooommmmm*

Around Sora, a sudden burst of wind started to pick up along with the Heartbinder brightly flashing in an array of red, blue, and green colors before ultimately settling to radiate a white color. Within seconds, the bright flash dimmed down leaving Sora to cover his eyes and feel a bit winded at the immediate excess of power taken from him. The best way he could put it was that he had just gotten done dealing with several Organization members and felt battered up but that wasn't exactly the case.

With the light dwindling, he glanced down at the Heartbinder and could see that its appearance had changed with the main color being that of a gray tone with what appeared to be a lion insignia in the middle of the object. Before he could ponder about it any longer someone called out to him.

"It's good to see you again, Sora."

Shifting his head up, Sora spotted a very familiar face staring right at him and couldn't help but let a gigantic smile resonate on his face.

"Leon!"

A smirk appeared on the long brown-haired man's face. His appearance could be summed up as him wearing black gloves with belts on them, black zipper-lined shoes, a silver Griever necklace, a white undershirt, a short black jacket with white fur around the collar, a multitude of belts around his body, a pair of black pants, and a diagonal scar bridging across his nose.

Walking up to the brunette, Sora felt a surge of joy he hadn't felt for some time now. Making new friends in Academy City was something that he treasured deeply. But seeing an old friend had a different kind of impact on him.

"H-How are you here exactly? I kind of didn't think this would work since my previous Heartbinders… never mind. But tell me, how is this possible?" Sora questioned the man standing before him.

Letting a small chuckle escape his lips, Leon extended his hand out which Sora accepted and shook back.

"First, it's good to see you alive and well."

"Well…"

Sporting a nervous bubble of laughter about to escape his lips, Sora was about to counter what Leon had said but he suddenly started speaking again.

"And secondly, I'm not entirely sure how this is working. I can say for sure that I'm not Leon."

"…Whaaat?" Sora muttered while looking completely gob-smacked.

The brown-haired man simply shook his head in response.

"What I mean by that is I'm not actually the real Leon. More like an illusion or copy of him. Thanks to whatever power you used to bring me here."

"Wait, wait. Hold up. You mean that… my power… the Heartbinder?" Sora was at a loss of words for what was happening right now.

'T-This has never happened before. Or… has it? Whenever I used my ability to call upon the Links I felt in my heart or when they were accessed through the Heartbinders… but what about when I didn't use the Heartbinder? Was I actually calling upon my friends? The real versions of them? That has to be the case. When we met Mulan for the first time, Mushu was with her, and he remembered… I think I'm confusing myself now.'

Tons of questions swarmed Sora's head as he wasn't sure what to think. And yet, the first thing that came to mind was that he had to offer a silent apology to everyone he called upon back when his ability to call upon the Links made with his friends and summon them to help him in battle. If those were the real versions of themselves, then he might have called them at rather inconvenient times. Now he felt conflicted and couldn't help but grasp his head and let out a dramatic groan.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Sora" Leon calmly said to the spiky-haired boy.

"Yeah… thinking about it is really starting to give me a headache" Sora comically replied.

Staring over at the older man before him, there were so many things he wanted to ask but for now, it might be best to go at it bit by bit.

"So, if you're not the actual Leon, then what exactly are you? A vision of the past Leon? An alternative Leon? A Leon that isn't named Leon? Maybe you're a Leon that…" the Keyblade wielder started barraging the man with questions.

"Again, you're going about this too literally."

"Can you blame me? I just summoned someone who I have a connection with but was never able to summon before leaving this as a first-time case. I have so many questions that I don't know where to start asking."

Folding his arms across his chest, Leon decided to help Sora clear his head by doing the one thing that would get the teen to stop with his nonsense.

*Thwak*

"Aaahh! What was that for!?" Sora exclaimed while massaging the center of his forehead as Leon had just flicked him.

"That was to get you to snap out of whatever this is. I never pictured you to be this… by the book."

A sigh left Sora's lips.

"It's probably due to everything that's happened so far in my time in this world. It's only me now and there's a lot I have to cover and learn all on my own. The Heartbinder and Summoning Links are just a few of the important things on my mind now…" the teen commented.

"I see… while I'm not entirely aware of your current situation, I'm glad to see you step up. Donald and Goofy would be proud to see you now."

A sad yet hopeful smile appeared on the teen's face followed by him wanting to tear up, but he decided to stay strong and keep his head held up high while pushing the growing wetness away and accepting that his old friend was somehow here thanks to his power.

"Mm. Thanks, Leon. So, seeing that you're here, are you able to fight? I don't see your- "

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared around Leon as his weapon was now holstered on his back and he reached for it.

"Gunblade… Oh."

The sight of a smirk appeared on the man's face, "That answer your question?"

"Ha-ha, very funny. But honestly, I am curious about who else I can call on to help me" Sora replied.

"Hmm. Then, perhaps you should try summoning others while you still have the chance. Based on where we are…" Leon then looked around and saw that they were in a gym of some kind. "You have some space to yourself."

"Right. But before that, you didn't give me an answer about who you are."

Straightening himself, Leon then stared right in the boy's direction.

"I guess the easiest answer I can give is that I'm an illusion of the real Leon, but I retain all the memories of us interacting. I remember our last encounter in Hollow Bastion right before it was changed back into Radiant Garden. We fought together when the Heartless were invading the place. Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, and I were spread out on the battlefield and that's when you appeared" Leon affirmed to the boy.

Realization dawned on Sora as he started to get a better idea of just what was happening right now with this newfound summoning power of his using the Heartbinder.

'Wait… does that mean, this fake/illusionary Leon is from my last memory of him? I didn't get the chance to meet him after Hollow Bastion turned into Radiant Garden. That was all Riku and Mickey. Huh… so would that mean that if I called upon my connection with Cloud our last memory would be during…'

Whatever this newfound power was, Sora would need to do a bit of experimenting to get a better idea of it all. But the one thing that did catch his attention was that this power opened the door to limitless possibilities. Alas, what exactly would be the cost of using it repeatedly?

"Leon, thanks."

"For what? I don't think I did anything but flick you in the head" the man said with confusion in his voice.

"Heh, by you showing up, it shows me that my connections with my friends are still strong. And while you're not the real Leon that doesn't matter. It's good to see an old friend."

Not needing to say anything else, the black-fur-jacketed man nodded his head before beginning to fade away in a fit of light. Once the bright flash died down, Sora was left alone in the gym again. This strange ability gained with the Heartbinder was something that he'd have to slowly learn the ins and outs of but that could wait another time. Summoning Leon managed to do a number on the teen which caused him to feel a bit tired. The energy required to work the Heartbinder was exponentially more than before.

Therefore, the spiky-haired boy got back to work and continued to clear up the gym while putting the equipment away. This was the least he could do for Yomikawa.

Later, once the entire gym was cleaned.

With a final push, the rest of the equipment was put into the gym while Sora took a step back and examined how clean the place looked now.

"All in a day's work."

Suddenly, the door to the gymnasium opened revealing a tired-looking Yomikawa who looked to have gone through the ringer. It honestly looked like she had just gotten done dealing with a fight.

"Whoa. Uh… Are you okay?" Sora asked, surprised by her appearance.

"Well, *sigh* I managed to get a part of the paperwork done. The rest… I'll bother with it later. It's too much to deal with now."

A grin appeared on the teen's face. It seemed like that paperwork would probably not be getting worked on for quite some time.

"Right, well, I got it all done so you don't have to worry about it any longer."

Glancing around the gym, the blue-haired woman let out a satisfied whistle.

"Geez… you work fast."

"Eh. Wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, you helped a lot in dealing with the more complex equipment. I just got what was left which wasn't much."

"Well still, thank you, Sora. When I get the chance- "

"Don't. It's like I said. I'm happy to help. Plus, we got to talk a bit about what happened. Even if it wasn't answering all your questions…"

"That's to be expected. There's more than one thing happening at once and to be honest…" Yomikawa seemed to stop herself for a brief second before picking right back up. "I shouldn't be telling you this as you're a student, but you're also a student who is practically the only person aware of the Heartless and is actually giving Anti-Skill the needed information to deal with these monsters."

Sora simply nodded and didn't say anything as he waited for her.

"*sigh* Over the past few days, more and more activity has been going on. More than usual. Now, while this shouldn't be all that concerning given that the criminal activity rate in Academy City tends to always be high… these are not exactly normal times."

"No kidding."

"Which is where I would like to ask you about something, Sora. Or rather, I'd like for you to tell me more about the Heartless and what things I should be looking for. While you were there last night… what happens if you're not around the next time?" Yomikawa asked the teen with a concerned look on her face.

About to retort, Sora stopped midway and began to realize the justification of what his teacher was saying. It was all presented in a veil of truth. He wouldn't always be around when things got bad. Not because he'd refuse to help. Just the opposite. But if Darkness could summon a Behemoth out of nowhere as easily as they did, then what's stopping them from summoning more?

He couldn't deal with more than one Heartless Behemoth destroying the city. No matter how fast or strong he was.

"I… Because I've gotten to know you, Yomikawa, in the short time we've met I'm going to be completely honest with you. And, no lie, it's going to sound quite scary. Are you sure you want to know all that I know about the Heartless?"

Sora phrased his words into a simple statement. Based on his understanding of Yomikawa's personality and character, it was safe to say she would want to know all that she could. Even if what she needed to know did not sit well.

"…Yes. If I'm to make sure that the students and citizens of Academy City are safe, on the pledge I took when joining Anti-Skill and essentially becoming a teacher, I need to know everything there is on this new threat" she declared in an affirming tone of voice.

Nodding at her conviction, Sora decided to build upon what she knew of the Heartless already and move into the more complicated matter of it all.

The heart.

Elsewhere, with a Certain Misfortunate Spiky-Haired High School Student

Dragging his feet along, Kamijou Touma couldn't help but happily take in the sweet aroma of semi-clean air all around him. Having just been released from the hospital thanks to the doctor's quick check-up.

(Which was practically a glossover on the boy's injuries since it seemed that some of the nurses were in a hurry to come and aid the doctor in his examination of Kamijou but were turned away as Heaven Canceller said that he didn't need them this time around. This caused quite the scene of defeated nurses to begrudgingly walk back to their posts in the hospital, but the spiky-haired boy had no idea any of this was happening and merrily walked his keester out of there while dreading what his hospital bills would be looking like now.)

Now, Kamijou was allowed to return home after having quite the eventful night and morning. First dealing with Orsola, the Amakusa, the Roman Church, and the aftermath of the Magic Side's antics. And then, finding out about what Sora had to deal with while he was busy caught up in a strange situation outside of Academy City. It was seriously all jarring and complicated but at the very least Kanzaki and Sora were able to stop by and see how he was doing which was a plus that doesn't always happen. Though, Kanzaki did act a bit strange… perhaps it was all about the Amakusa situation. In that case, he could only lend her his emotional support. Even if he needed it more…

Now, the only thing for him to worry about was the tiring aspect of having late homework that still… needed… to be… Suddenly, a sense of fear crawled up the boy's arms. This immediate reaction was caused by him recalling something extremely important to the point that his knees started shaking and even locked in place.

'Gaaaaaaaaah! I forgot! Index!'

Panic began to ensure Kamijou's mind as the events of last night and now were coming into play in his mind.

'I didn't see her at the hospital nor was she with Kanzaki. This means that she might have been left at home while I was stuck at the hospital… and there's no food in the fridge! Crap. Crap. Crap. I'm doomed!'

The sheer panic emitting inside his head was at an all-time high with the gloomy darkness better known as his bottomless roommate never seemed content with the food made for her. He would have to come up with a quick solution before heading home to fight the monster nun.

"What's today? Oh! There was a special on packaged ramen going on today. It's the stale three-day-old ramen that has a bit of a weird taste but is strangely edible with no health concerns, but it'll do. How long is the sale on for?" Kamijou said all this while quickly pulling his phone out of his pocket and finding the picture he had taken of all the coupons and sales currently going on this month.

When his eyes landed on today's date of September 9th, he let out a horrified shriek.

"Shit! It ends in thirty minutes! It'll take twenty to get there and another five to wait in line. Oooh, why can't these sales ever go on for another hour?! Such misfortune!"

Yelling this out to the city and even causing some bystanders to become worried about the boy's mental state, Kamijou started hauling ass in the direction of the grocery store that was promoting the sale of ramen. With only a little bit of time left, the somewhat ordinary high school student was now facing a life-or-death situation. By his roommate no less.

Such a strange way to leave this world…

Returning to Sora and Yomikawa

The expression on the Anti-Skill/teacher's face was that of great concern and worry. Part of her wanted to chalk up what Sora had just told her as doom and gloom talk that was to scare her. However, the look on the teen's face conveyed to her that everything he said regarding hearts and emotions within a person and that helped form the heart which was not part of the actual body but something else was all too much for her to truly comprehend.

However, the one part she clearly understood was that when people became scared, angry, or malevolent they really did change. From body language to how they viewed everything around them. And now hearing that the Heartless had a liking for that darkness inside a person's heart, it was starting to make even more sense. Panic and fear lead to dark feelings swelling up and…

A sympathetic tone was directed over at Sora who knew about all of this and still worked to stop the Heartless from taking over and claiming more people. To know of such knowledge and how bad things could get all while keeping a headstrong attitude… her view on the teen continued to be exceeded and a sense of pride was present in her heart.

'To do all this on his own as well… you are truly something else, Sora…'

Now standing outside the gym after closing the doors and making sure it was good as new, Sora brought his Gummiphone out of his pocket and could see that a good chunk of time had passed with it now sinking into the evening hours of the day with the sun starting to fall from its highest point in the sky.

"Haaah."

"Hm? What's wrong, Sora? Pull a muscle?"

"No, no. I'm good. Just thinking about what I should have for dinner later" he replied.

"Heh, well, why don't I let you enjoy the rest of your day? You've done so much for me today. I- "

"Yomikawa."

"…Right. Sorry. Force of habit. Either way, thank you again for helping. I better get back to that paperwork."

A sly smirk appeared on the boy's face as he put his hands behind his head.

"That you'll be getting to sooner or later."

"Yep. Plus, I could go bother Komoe now." A content look appeared on the blue-haired woman's face before deciding to send the brunette boy away. "Take care and see you later, Sora."

"Mm. See you."

And with that, the two parted ways while feeling like they accomplished a lot which in reality they did. Hence, they both had a pip in their step as they continued to go about their ways for the day. Sora went in the direction of his new home aka dorm and began to consider what he could get for dinner. The choices were quite vast. Besides, maybe he could share a meal with his roommates.

Taking this to mind, the Keyblade wielder set off to deal against a new foe before him… grocery shopping on a hungry stomach.

At the grocery mart

Pushing around a cart while looking around the place for the things that he needed, Sora figured that he'd go on the more casual approach and just get some stuff for his place. His decision on what to have for dinner was still in the air, however, that could all change if he were to have dinner with Touma and Index… as well as Sphynx. Hence, going for a somewhat broad list of groceries was his game plan.

"Let's see… Ah! This might be a good spot for some- Hm?"

Stopping himself, the spiky-haired teen thought he saw someone familiar for a split second and was about to chalk it up as him imagining someone. But when his eyes glanced back to the area that crossed his vision, he was surprised to see that he was not going crazy.

Standing there while trying to reach the top shelf in the canned food area was a familiar blonde-haired girl with a dark hat on her head. It looked like she was having a bit of difficulty trying to reach the can in her sight.

"Frenda?"

Turning around, she immediately spotted the Keyblade wielder as her face changed from frustration to surprise.

"Oh? Sora, what are you doing here?"

Making his way over with his cart, the brunette put on a friendly smile, "I was doing a bit of shopping for my place. I let my eyes wander for a second and spotted you glaring up at the canned food."

Resorting to look a bit embarrassed about how she looked from another's perspective, Frenda let out an annoyed sigh.

"Basically, I wouldn't be looking like that if the idiot staff members didn't put the Mackerel up on the highest shelf."

Immediately, Sora shifted his head to look up at the top shelf and processed what was going on there.

"Need some help?"

"That would be wonderful! But can you reach it? It's pretty- "

With a flash of light appearing in his hand, Sora summoned his Kingdom Key and raised the weapon so that it knocked down a can of Mackerl into his hands where waved the can at the beret-wearing girl.

"High… never mind."

"Haha, sorry. Here you go."

Taking the food into her hands, the girl's face exploded in excitement before her eyes looked to be casting off little stars in her irises. For a second, she almost looked like Shokuhou.

"Say, do you want any more cans of Mackerel? I can grab some more."

Left with a frozen body, Frenda seemed to be waging an internal war within herself as she took on a deep-thinking expression and stared right at the cans of Mackerel. Whatever was going on in her head, Sora had to figure it was important. Suddenly, she looked over at the boy and let out an amused yet awkward laugh.

"Ha…ha…ha… yes, please. Basically, all of it."

About ready to repeat that last part, he figured to not pay it much mind and raised his weapon back at the top shelf and began knocking each can of food right into his hand where he placed it in his cart to hold for now. With a quick and clean job done the top shelf no longer had any Mackerl left.

"That's all of them. Want me to hold onto it for now?"

"Yes, that'd be great, thanks."

Nodding his head, Sora then realized that there were a few more things he needed to get.

"Hey, I need to pick up a few more things. Mind shopping with me?"

"Not at all. It's the least I can do after you helped me" Frenda happily replied.

"Great! Then let's head to the sauce section."

"Sauce section? I didn't picture you as a cook."

A small grin appeared on the teen's face.

"I'm no five-star chef but I do tend to cook here and there. Thanks to learning from one of my friends who worked in an actual restaurant, I managed to pick up on quite a lot in the field of cooking" Sora replied, thinking about little chef.

"Huh. You learn something new every day."

Continuing to walk through the aisles, Sora figured he'd ask the girl about some stuff.

"So, how have you and the others been?"

"Well… "

The girl's reaction spoke volumes.

"I take it not all that good?"

Frenda wasn't sure if she should tell Sora about her leader's recent antics but figured that it wouldn't hurt anyone. Besides, from the blonde's point of view, it had been several days since Mugino last encountered the boy.

What Frenda Seivelun failed to realize was that she was not present during last night's events and was spending time with her little sister. Meaning that she had no idea Mugino, Kinuhata, or Takitsubo were on the chase to catch Sora's battle. She was also unaware that her soft tea-color-haired leader had called the spiky-haired brunette, and he had essentially brushed her off. A bad situation had developed, but the blonde had no idea about it.

"Basically, Mugino's been acting funny recently."

"Oh? Is something wrong?"

Frenda's expression turned to one of caution.

"I'm not sure. She's always been a bit of a hot-headed, guns blazing, rich and flaunting it in your face, blunt and in your face, smacking you in your face, care only about facts and not your feelings type but lately it seems like that's been dialed up to ten."

"Ten as in?" Sora curiously asked.

"Ten passing the limit which was set at eight" Frenda bluntly responded.

"Oh… uh-oh."

Sora muttered that last part in his head as he realized that his actions last night were in part a likely reason for the tea-color-haired girl to be feeling quite angered.

"I mean, I encountered her this morning and thought nothing was wrong at first. But when I managed to mess up on one of my explosive devices and it caused a bit of smoke to scatter across the apartment, Mugino went ballistic and destroyed the device right in front of me along with swearing like a sailor and reprimanding me as if I had stolen her credit card and maxed it out or as if I bleached all of her dresses and left them out for her to see in pure revenge. She also threw a chair at Kinuhata who was egging her on about something, but I didn't get the chance to hear what it was about. She also called Takitsubo's tracksuit outfit the tackiest of tacky there ever existed and roasted her entire wardrobe attire. Lamenting that she would never get a boyfriend like that. Which is something else coming from her… and then she threw- "

At this point, Sora could only wince at how bad this was all sounding. Part of him wanted to wish Frenda and the others the best as he wasn't quite sure how to calm Mugino down. And the other part was starting to wonder if he should at the very least try to reach out to the Level 5 in the hope that she wouldn't turn her upfront, aggressive personality toward the girls as he had now witnessed it first-hand. He was sure the girls could handle themselves but again, Mugino's dip in attitude was likely part of his fault and he wanted to fix it as he was starting to get a grip on the girl's persona.

"I think I get the point, Frenda. *sigh* I'll shoot her a text later to see if she wants to talk. We briefly talked not that long ago but…"

"Hm? But?"

"…Some things came up and left me a bit busy and tired. Hence, I ended our brief call before it really began" he explained in a so-so kind of way.

Thinking about what she heard, Frenda began to get curious about what Sora and Mugino's call might have been about but figured she would hear about it later.

"I see, well, if you think that might calm Mugino down a bit that would be greatly appreciated. Normally, when she gets like this, we have to resort to calling into one of the well-established restaurants in the city to prepare an order of anything salmon-related."

"She likes salmon a lot?"

A teasing smile appeared on the blonde's face.

"Yep. Though, while it is good for vitamins A, D, and B12, calcium absorption, and is low in saturated fat, Mugino tends to play it safe if we go out and try to eat at a new fancy place. If the menu doesn't catch her attention, then she'll resort to her trump card..."

'Plus, she claims that it helps define her legs…' the Item member muttered in her head.

"Which is salmon" Sora affirmed.

"Exactly. Are you starting to get an idea of Mugino's character?" Frenda asked.

"Yeah, anything I can learn about my friends is a positive in my book."

"Ah. Gotcha."

Coming up into another aisle and seeing the boy pick out a few things, Frenda decided to also take the chance and ask the boy some questions.

"So, basically, how have you been doing lately? It's been a minute since we last met."

"Yeah, that is true. Well, I've been a bit… busy. You know, tracking down Heartless and dealing with them before they hurt anyone. Along with keeping up with school. The usual" Sora casually replied, not considering the drastic events of last night.

"I don't think anyone would consider that the usual."

"Eh. I'm used to it at this point. What about you?" the boy asked.

Debating on whether she should give him an answer or a real answer, Frenda decided to go with an in-between answer that was neither true nor false.

"I've been alright. Keeping myself looking as perfect as ever. Making sure the mixed life of normal and dark side doesn't bleed through all the way. Unlike Mugino, Takitsubo, or Kinuhata, I have people I care about who are not involved in the dark side. And I'd like to keep it that way."

Tempted to ask about the dark side a bit more, Sora realized that now was not a good time and simply nodded his head at her answer. He also figured that it wouldn't hurt to say something regarding her desire for protection from those close to her.

"I don't know if I have any leeway to say this, but I hope you guys will take care of each other. You, Mugino, and the others."

Surprised by his response, Frenda pushed for a bit more context.

"Where'd this come from?"

"If I were to give a straight answer, then I'd say it came from my heart," Sora said while bringing his hand close to his chest. "You guys are my friends now and while I don't exactly agree with everything you do… I do worry about you guys. Especially now that the Heartless are becoming more of a threat as the days go by. Make sure you watch each other's backs. The darkness that you're all familiar with… it has nothing on what the Heartless are truly capable of."

Hearing Sora's sudden seriousness caused the blonde beret-wearing girl to stiffen up slightly before becoming relaxed and showcasing a sense of understanding.

"… If this were anyone else telling us this, I'd probably laugh at them or make fun of how serious they sounded. But since it's coming from you, and we all saw first-hand how the Heartless acts. I'll take your advice seriously, Sora. I might even tell the others if they're feeling a bit cocky."

"Mm. I also don't know if you guys are still trying to trap a Heartless but I'd advise you not to. That's a whole can of worms that… you can't come back from" Sora said in a cold yet serious tone of voice.

This caused Frenda to recoil at how dramatic the teen had made that last comment. Would doing such a thing make him turn from their friend to enemy? That thought caused Frenda to shiver a bit.

Going back to shopping, the two continued to chat about random things about general life in the city along with mentioning some tips about traversing around the city. At the same time, Sora had finished his shopping and was now waiting in line for the cashier to scan his groceries. He also let Frenda go ahead of him as he was holding onto her canned Mackerel.

Once she got to the front and had bagged all her food, she swiftly turned to look at the boy and thanked him for the help. Brushing it off in a friendly way, Sora bid her a "See you" as she did the same before walking out of the store. This random interaction with the blonde had further brightened his mood as he now walking back to his dorm with his groceries. He'd have to see if Touma, Index, and Sphynx wanted to have dinner together. A treat with friends would be one ideal way to end the busy day.

Later, in a luxurious apartment hosting the girls of Item

Entering the apartment with her bags of canned Mackerel, the first thing Frenda saw was that part of the living room looked to have some things either burned or thrown and broken. This was likely due to her leader's temper. She also spotted Kinuhata and Takitsubo standing in the kitchen while watching a glass of some kind of substance act up.

"Basically, what are you two doing?"

"We got this super new thing that freezes your drinks at the right temperature that's right between the liquid and completely frozen phase" Kinuhata replied.

"It's pretty cool" Takitsubo added.

Somewhat curious about the new device, Frenda put her bags on the table and got closer to the duo while also pointing her head to the side to look for tea-color hair.

"Say, where's Mugino?"

"She's in her room. She was having a super migraine pop up while trying to read a magazine but couldn't exactly focus on it. So, she went to go lie down and try to stop the migraine." Kinuhata answered.

"Oh. Ok. Well, I managed to get all the Mackerl in the store this time around" Frenda replied, now watching the device work its magic and freeze what looked to be a fruity drink to the perfect temperature.

"How'd you managed that? Isn't it on the top shelf?" Takitsubo idly muttered.

Sending Takitsubo a look that basically said not to underestimate her, Frenda cleared her throat.

"Haah? Is that underestimation in your voice?"

"…"

A blank stare was sent the blonde's way from the black-haired girl. It seemed to do the trick and burst her bubble.

"Alright, alright fine. I had help."

"Figures. Your super short stature is not tall enough to reach the top shelf. What? Did you ask the staff to lend you a ladder? Pfft" Kinuhata said while breaking at the end and snickering to herself.

"No. For your information, I had help. Sora happened to be around and lent me his aid."

Saying those words and that name in particular sent cold deathly chills up Kinuhata and Takitsbuo's arms. Of all the things that Frenda could have said, they were not expecting to hear the spiky-haired brunette's name coming from her mouth. It seriously felt as if someone had immediately sent out a hit on the blonde and a red laser dot was not marked at her head with her not knowing about it at all.

"What? Was it something I said?"

"*gulp* Frenda."

"Yeah, what?"

The blonde was completely oblivious to what she just set in stone. Everyone within the entire building suddenly felt a cold chill hit their body.

"Did you just super say who I think you said?"

"Yeah? I said Sora came to help me get the Mackerel off the top shelf. Why are you both acting so weir- "

*SLAM*

*CRASH*

"…"

'Oh no…' both Kinuhata and Takitsubo said in their heads.

The door to the ever-beautiful and kaiju-destroying tea-color-haired girl's room slammed open with her hair slightly covering her face as her eyes were hidden with just enough hair to make it impossible to see her eyes. To depict what exactly was happening, a scene pulled from one of Kinuhata's C-ranked movies based on the old Western philosophy of gunslingers and one-on-one duels was taking place. However, with it being analogically based on an extremely mediocre cowboy scene, Mugino was basically readying her pistol and drawing closer to Frenda while the blonde idiotically just stood there with her hand touching her head and foot. Clueless as to what exactly was happening. It didn't help that Kinuhata and Takitsubo had taken a defensive approach and were hiding themselves behind pots and pans. Waiting for the inevitable slaughter of the girl known as Frenda Seivelun for simply uttering a boy's name.

"Frrreeeeennnndddddaaaaaaa…"

A ghostly pale glint appeared on the blonde's face as she slowly turned to look over at her leader.

"M-Mugino. H-Hey there. I-I didn't see you when I got here. How have you been?" Frenda weakly replied.

Were this any other time of Frenda getting her ass kicked for doing something stupid, Kinuhata would've comically facepalmed at what she just said. However, with the situation as grim as it was now. That was not an option. Not even in the slightest.

"Where were you?" Mugino calmly yet spookily asked.

"I-I was just out shopping for some Mackerel when I managed t-to run into Sora…"

A moment of silence seemed to pass, leaving the apartment so quiet that not even a cricket would dare make a sound. However, that soon changed when Mugino let out a burst of swearing that even shook the other girls. Heck, even a sailor who had spent his entire life out at sea and said some of the most foulish and offensive things ever would be quaking in his boots at what the model-like teen had just uttered all without even stuttering or holding back. Her tongue could never feel the effects of soap trying to wash away the cursing and in fact, would probably cure the soap and turn it into alcohol.

It was that bad.

After being traumatized and learning an assortment of new curse words to say to someone did Mugino run a hand through her hair and glared right at Frenda who immediately held both her hands up.

"I-I'm sorry… I think?"

"Where the hell did you see this fucker!?" Mugino shouted, referring to Sora.

"H-He was out shopping at some grocery mart. This was my first time going there since the store I frequent ran out of Mackerel. It was all chance that I met up with him" Frenda quickly reasoned.

The Level 5's eyes were ignited with a sort of flame to them that showed no signs of cooling down nor did the disgusted and angered look on her face. She was undoubtedly pissed.

"And what did this shit-for-stain asshole say to you when you ran into him?" Mugino demanded from Frenda.

"He b-basically said that it was a surprise running into me and asked how the rest of us were doing…"

The looks on Kinuhata and Takitsubo's faces could vividly convey the message that based on whatever Frenda said here meant that they'd get to live and see another day. Or… they were royally fucked.

"And?" the kaiju girl questioned.

"I-I told him that we were alright but…"

"But what?!"

The beret-wearing girl decided to take a leap of faith and say what exactly was mentioned.

"Itoldhimthatyouwerenotactingrightandgavehimabitofadescriptiononwhathadbeenhappeningandheseemedtorealizewhatwaswrongwithyouandwassorry!" Frenda rapidly said while closing her eyes and awaiting the usual beating for when she became Mugino's target.

However, that did not happen…yet as she slowly opened her eyes and found the brunette-haired girl staring right back at her with her eyes staring right into her own. A truly scary sight that even horror movies would be unable to convey accurately.

"…What else did he say?" Mugino asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"He briefly mentioned that he was tired and cut your call short before it even began. He felt sorry and planned on sending you a message later to apologize. We then talked about food and… I mentioned salmon being your favorite, so he knows that now… Haha. H-He also told me to tell you all to be careful when out on missions. While he doesn't condone what we do, he is worried about our safety and is worried about the Heartless acting up. He seemed super serious about it as well" Frenda explained.

Kinuhata had a little reaction when she heard her signature word come from the blonde's mouth.

Regarding Mugino's position on everything being said, while she would berate Frenda for telling Sora anything about herself, she seemed heavily intent on whether he would message her. That would ultimately be the make-or-break moment for the boy in the tea-color-haired girl's eyes. Not to mention, in the deepest depths of the girl's heart… she hoped the spiky-haired boy would contact her. However, she could not outright forgive him for hanging up on her and would be sending him an earful to the point that it would verbally shake him to his core. She would all the more still be content that he contacted her.

This was the first time in her life that someone had bravely dismissed her in this context. Never before had this happened and the person who did such a thing had not ended up in the hospital. It should've been nothing more than brushing a fly off your shoulder. However, with the culprit behind such action being someone not entirely normal... it led to things being taken differently. Hence, her interest in the boy seemed to slightly increase while she was already planning on what to say to him when he messaged her. The concept of if he would contact her… well, she'll get there when the time is right.

Letting out a brass sigh, Mugino strutted over to the fridge and began pouring herself a bottle of wine to try and enjoy the evening. The other girls simply moved out of the way and continued to watch their leader in a strange light. They also mentally started making guesses on what décor would be destroyed by a Meltdowner beam here soon.

For now, it would seem that Item's livelihood was still standing and would continue to do so… hopefully.

However, one thing that neither Mugino nor the other girls took into consideration was that when she came rushing out of her room, the chestnut-haired girl's phone had fallen to the ground right next to her bed and some clothes on the ground making it not immediately visible. Leaving the device to be muffled when Sora sent Mugino a message not even ten minutes later.

The Item apartment suffered a great deal of damage that night.

The Next Day

Lazily opening his eyes and adjusting them to his surroundings, Sora felt that his body had gotten a great deal of rest.

Last night's events also came pouring into his memory as he recalled coming home and putting the groceries away. While doing that, he remembered Frenda's words, and his attention went toward Mugino which resulted in him sending her a simple yet friendly message. Alas, he received nothing in return and figured that she was either busy or ignoring him. Either way, he didn't let it get to him and continued to enjoy his evening finding out that Touma prepared a ramen dinner and offered to share with him. This led to the Keyblade wielder bringing some of his own groceries and making a simple meal into a feast to be shared with friends.

He also found out that Index had found out about his visit to Touma along with the rampage that occurred with the misfortunate boy practically ignoring her which resulted in a barrage of bite marks on his head. It was at this point that the three shared stories and the two spiky-haired boys confided with Index on what exactly happened during the night's events. The young nun had plenty of questions for the Guardian of Light and he did his best to give her reasonable answers.

Soon after, the tri- pair of four, including Sphynx, began to enjoy their combined dinner while sharing snippets of all that happened. Another peaceful and enjoyable night to be shared with friends.

Hence, Sora was now sitting up dressed in his night clothes while letting out a mighty yawn. He then reached over for his Gummiphone and checked the time again on his device.

"September 10, 20XX"

Suddenly, a notification appeared on the boy's phone and caused him to tilt his head in confusion. It appeared to be a message sent to him from an unknown number which threw him for a loop.

"Huh? What's that? Venus Probe Project? I don't think I've heard that before…"

Not sure what was being sent to him, the spiky-haired boy simply put it aside and set to get himself ready for the day. Granted, he didn't have a set plan for today, he would still get a head start on the day before him. However, before moving along with his sudden burst of energy, a sound could be heard coming from his Gummiphone.

Looking down at the screen, he instantly saw that Moogla had sent him a message and it was a simple line of text sent his way.

"I've got a strange hit, kupo."

That was all the Keyblade wielder needed to see before making his way to the kitchen to grab himself a quick breakfast before making it over to Moogla's warehouse.

What Sora failed to realize at that moment was that he was about to find himself in quite a magical set of problems. Just another day in Academy City.

Things were sure to get interesting.

Meanwhile, back in the underground lab

Standing there alone and observing the mess left behind from the many test trials involving the strange dark creature, Kihara Gensei had a sly and devilish grin displayed on his face. No one else was in the room with him as all the other scientists either went home or retired to another part of the facility. Leaving the old man to his thoughts which were anything but normal.

He had spent all night watching the test trails in person and collected as much research analysis as he could on how this unusual creature acted. The trial runs had gone up to sixteen with only three having shown the same reaction as the fourth trial with the individual turning into one of the creatures. This truly had the Kihara intrigued about how this creature's personal reality worked. It was unlike anything he'd ever encountered.

Alas, before Kihara could ponder about the situation any further, a strange swirling sound appeared right behind him which prompted the older gentleman to turn around with his hands behind his back. What he saw left him even more intrigued about what was going on.

There, a dark portal appeared with no one appearing to come out of it. However, that would soon be redacted as a dark figure shrouded in darkness appeared to casually walk out of the portal and take a few steps toward the Kihara.

"Well, this place is just what I expected."

"Oh? And who might you be, friend? I don't think I've ever seen you around" Kihara calmly asked while his eyes watched the unknown figure.

"This is our first time meeting so I wouldn't expect you to know me. However, I know all about you" the dark figure proclaimed.

A smirk appeared on the older man's face.

"Haha! Interesting. Now then, would you mind telling me your name?"

"..."

The mysterious figure was silent for a moment before beginning to chuckle to himself loudly.

"My name... well, this might be on the nose, but you may call me Darkness."

An amused smile was present on the man's face.

"My, very on the nose. Well, Darkness, what can I do for you? Seeing that you appeared out of nowhere and already had an idea of what this place was."

"Actually, it should be the other way around. What can I do for you?" the dark being offered.

"Hm? You're certainly piquing my interest. And what brought about this random yet generous offer?"

Darkness seemingly nodded his head forward gesturing at the destroyed test room.

"That... Is all I need to see that you're on the right path."

"The right path to what, might I ask?" Kihara questioned, becoming even more intrigued by the second.

Allowing for a dramatic pause, Darkness then replied heartedly.

"Power. Would you like to see just what else you can truly do with it?"

Nothing could have stopped the giant grin eating away at the old man's face. Where one source of darkness seemed to lurk, another soon joined in which caused the mass of darkness to grow even more. There was no going back now.

Things were just getting started.

*A/N* - Hey there, great to see you reach the bottom. This chapter was a step down from all the chaos that ensued in the other chapter and gave a somewhat resolution to all the events happening both on Sora and Touma's ends. With the Road to Endymion coming up, things are certainly going to get interesting with how Sora's involvement will alter the course of things. While also coming across familiar territory in the Toaru timeline.

On the topic of the Heartbinder and Links being a big feature in this chapter, I want to include a sort of gimmick that will allow him to call upon the help of those he has met. I'm also thinking about not just limiting it to Disney and Final Fantasy characters but beyond that. I mean, he did manage to appear in a crossover between crossovers. A certain game series to be exact… hee hee. Moreover, I do want to get into more of the Toaru arcs to come and build upon them with Sora's involvement along with including new guest characters. I don't want the guests to overshadow the plot or Toaru characters but do expect them to show up. Something else to note for this story is that I don't exactly want to do a one-to-one reenactment of the Toaru arcs and just plop Sora into it all, but I also don't want to skip over what's going on by making him dip out whenever things happen.

So, I'll be working to find a middle ground where we can expect the Keyblade wielder to duke it out against Magic/Science Side foes which will be very interesting to see. Either way, thank you all for checking this story out and continuing to show it interest. Feedback is really fun to read and learn from and I hope this crossover is worth a read. Take care and until next time. See you.