"Ugh, why did they decide to put me in charge?!"

"I didn't know the answer to that the last ten times you asked, Ari."

Arisa Hiyama sighed and put her pen down carefully before staring down at the sheet of paper she still hadn't written anything on. She had been lying flat on her stomach, but now she sat up and looked at Chika, who was sitting cross-legged on one of Arisa's beanbags, playing with one of Arisa's familiars.

"Is Riki my familiar, or yours?" Arisa asked wryly.

Chika looked up and grinned, bright green eyes sparkling.

"Since we're best friends, you're sharing out of the goodness of your heart. Because you're such a cutie, right, Riki?"

Chika tickled Riki under the chin, then patted them again before sending them back to Arisa, who let the little cat climb up her arm and onto her shoulder, where she liked to keep them.

"But anyway, Chi-chan, the maths just isn't working. There's us, and Kawamura-sempai, and Nishimori-kun too. Oh, wait, and Hamasaki-sempai too!"

"And Shiho." Chika reminded her.

"Well, yes. But she doesn't count, she's staff. Well, sort of."

Arisa paused to think about that. Shiho was always there as their club advisor, but she stayed in the background. Indeed, she was something of an open secret at Asgard Academy. Most people knew of her, but she wasn't listed on the staff rolls, nor did she teach any classes or do anything apart from oversee the activities of Niðavellir and do the occasional mysterious favour for their principal.

"Anyway, Shiho-san or no Shiho-san, she's not a club member. So we only come up to five members. That's not an army."

They had been an army last year, when she and Chika had been unsure first years newly recruited into Niðavellir. But the 12 other students who had been third years then had now of course graduated, and there had been a few other students in Kawamura's year, but one had died last summer, and the rest had all moved away for a variety of reasons. But apart from Rei Nishimori, Arisa and Chika had been the only first years who had joined, despite many of their classmates having also been approached.

"In all fairness, the twenty or whatever we had before wasn't much of an army either."

"No, but it's better than five." Arisa said. "Even doubling our number would help, but that's unlikely. People are more reluctant to join, and who can blame them?"

"I can. "Chika said, though her grin showed she was clearly joking. "They're missing out on all the chills and thrills. But forget that. Why don't we ask Shiho?"

"No way, can you imagine it-'Just because I live in the school doesn't mean it's term-time all year around'? "

Arisa pulled a face at the very thought.

"Hah, I s'pose you're right." Chika drawled and yawned. Suddenly, though, a thought seemed to occur to her, and her eyes went wide.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "What about Jeff?"

"Je-Jeff-kun?" Arisa echoed.

"Yes, Jeff." Chika rolled her eyes. "He was one of the highest ranked in our year's finals, remember? Plus, he'd do anything for you."

Arisa narrowed her eyes at Chika, who just waggled her eyebrows.

"I have no idea what's that meant to mean, Chi-chan."

"You just keep tellin' yourself that, Ari."

"Chi-chan's being silly again, right, Riki?" Arisa asked her familiar, who had now climbed down into her lap.

Riki meowed, but it wasn't clear whether they agreed or disagreed. Arisa chuckled and stroked Riki's fur. Chika waggled her eyebrows and pulled a silly face again, but then sobered up:

"Besides, you're going mad in here. More importantly, so am I. So let's get out before we both become complete bananas. Plus, I'm hungry. So, multi-task?"

Arisa giggled, and after patting Riki once more, sent them back. Then, she stood up and helped Chika up.

"Do you know what, maybe asking Jeff isn't such a bad idea after all. Let's go then, and see what he says."

…

Even if the café had been full to bursting, Kenjiro Takenaka would have been happy to drop everything the moment he saw Arisa and Chika walk in through the doors of The Sunshine Café. As it was, there were only two other customers in the café, and he was cleaning a recently vacated table. Despite two of those customers having been little children, it had been a surprisingly tidy table but he'd dithered, looking into the teacup even though none of his abilities lay in the clairvoyant sphere.

"Yo, Jeff!" Chika called out as she barrelled through the door.

Arisa followed behind her, and then when they reached the table, she greeted him with a touch more composure:

"Good afternoon, Jeff-kun."

"Hiyama-chan, Kato-chan," he said. "Do you want to come and sit up by the counter? I was just finished here."

He put the teacup on the tray and then carried everything over to the kitchen, where their part-time dishwasher was putting away some recently dried plates. Quietly, Kenjiro put the tray down, and then after a moment's hesitation took the teacup away again. When he came back to the front, he placed it next to the till and then faced Arisa and Chika, who were now sitting across from him on the stools.

"So, what do you ladies want to eat or drink?"

"Um, yes. Have we met?" Chika exclaimed, gesturing to herself dramatically.

The gesture made Kenjiro notice her top-sparkly blue writing on a white background declaring 'Even magical girls just wanna have fun', and so he quickly said:

"I like the t-shirt, by the way."

Chika grinned at him.

"Awesome, isn't it? I might even let you have it…if you get me food."

Kenjiro just laughed. Truly, Chika was one of a kind. It had been her who'd started calling him 'Jeff' in the first place, when they'd all met on their very first day of Asgard Academy. She and Arisa had been friends since middle school, but all the same he'd very quickly found himself becoming close to them both. He still didn't understand quite why Chika called him Jeff, though, nor quite how she'd managed to get the nickname to spread. All she'd said was that he just 'kinda looked like a Jeff, y'know?' which had clarified precisely nothing. It hadn't stopped her, though. Nothing did, really.

But it wasn't Chika who had captured his heart, though.

"Alright, then, the entire menu for you." he joked. "And Hiyama-chan?"

She considered this, twirling a lock of her long turquoise hair around her finger before releasing it.

"Hot chocolate, maybe? And a chocolate cupcake."

"Coming right up."

For Arisa, he picked the cupcake with the most icing swirled on it. He then took some of the toffees from the jar by the till and arranged them on the plate around the cupcake. For Chika, he didn't actually give her everything off the menu, but just picked a selection of cakes and cookies and piled them on a plate. The drinks-Arisa's hot chocolate and a strawberry frappe for Chika-he took his time over. He thought they both needed it.

When he had done everything and pushed the drinks and treats over, he waited to see Arisa's reaction, and smiled when her eyes lit up a little at both the cupcake and the toffees. She picked up one of the toffees and unwrapped it carefully before popping it into her mouth. But though she smiled a little, it was not the same sunny expression he'd become so fond of.

"So, what's the troubled face for, Hiyama-chan?" he asked as casually as he could.

He was vaguely aware of Chika leering at him, but he decided to ignore her this time. He wasn't sure if his feelings for Arisa really were that obvious to her, or if she just thought she was making it up for the joke, but he didn't like the thought that this part of him could be transparent to somebody else. He wasn't ready for it to be that transparent.

"What do you think the trouble is, Jeff?" Chika said.

"Niðavellir." Arisa sighed before Kenjiro could answer.

"Oh yes, I heard from Nishimori-kun that you'd been made the leader. Congratulations."

"Please don't congratulate me." Arisa retorted immediately. "I don't know what to do! There's only six of us, and that's not much of a club let alone an army."

"I'm sure you'll find some people once we start school. You're doing the usual club recruitment, right?"

"Yes, we will be." Arisa nodded. "But remember, last year they only recruited me, Chi-chan and Nishimori-kun."

Kenjiro knew this all too well. He had been approached by the previous group leader after he'd ended up showing his mahou shoujo skill to the school café, but he'd declined since of course, he had The Sunshine Café to think about.

"It's not so hard to understand why," Kenjiro mused. "I mean, I can't be the only one who has extra responsibilities outside of school, and on top of that, clubs like Niðavellir are a little controversial."

"Uh, Jeff, not helpful."

"It's okay, Chi-chan, he's right," Arisa said. "But at least we're not expected to become a part of the police or military instead, and we can have some kind of high school life. But even putting that aside, even though it's difficult, I want to do this. I want to do it right, as well. But I don't know how I'm supposed to if there isn't enough of us for me to do anything."

"Well…"

Kenjiro had been mulling it over in his head, and despite the fact the reasons for his initial refusal had been the same, he made his decision and said:

"I know I'm just one person, but would it help if I join?"

Chika grinned around the straw of her drink, but Arisa's jaw dropped open.

"Jeff-kun, are you sure? You really don't have to. What about your mum?"

"Well, I would need to ask her first…but if I explain that it's for you, then I'm sure she'll understand. She adores you, you know-even this morning, she told me to tell you that if your folks are overseas again, you can join us for dinner each night."

"Hey, what about me?" Chika pouted.

"Sure, sure, Kato-chan, you too."

"But Jeff-kun, are you really sure? I didn't want to pressure you."

"It's not pressure, really. Anything for you…and Kato-chan too." Kenjiro hurriedly added, though the addition wasn't technically a lie.

"HAH, I TOLD you, didn't I?" Chika gloated. "I even used those exact words."

Arisa pulled a face at Chika, then looked at Kenjiro again. He gave her a smile he hoped was reassuring:

"I think it would be interesting to see if my mahou shoujo specialism can actually be used in a different situation to here." He said with a shrug. "And like I said, mum will agree…as long as I don't miss any shifts. She'll skin me alive if I do."

Arisa and Chika looked at each other and immediately started giggling, and Kenjiro couldn't help but laugh with them. His mother was one of the sweetest people they all knew and wouldn't even swat a fly that was buzzing around the ingredients (she preferred to blow it gently out of a window using a spell she'd perfected for that purpose). The idea of her flaying anyone was preposterous.

When they'd all calmed down a little, Kenjiro pointed to Arisa's hot chocolate, and reminded her to drink it before it got cold. With a smile, she did just that. She took a few sips, and then blinked:

"Did you spell my drink?"

"Only a little. I knew something was troubling you, so I just wanted to sooth that a little bit. It's not a heavy-duty spell though."

"Well, of course not."

Arisa took another sip of her drink, and then smiled over the top of the cup.

"Thank you." She said. "You always seem to know what I need."

Kenjiro wasn't quite sure what to do with that statement except to smile back and let the warm feeling spread across his heart (while hoping that it would not also make his face go red). Luckily, a moment later, another customer came in to order a coffee and a slice of carrot cake, so he went to help them. Once he'd returned though, Chika immediately asked:

"So, since you're officially a member now, do you have any useful gossip?"

"What counts as 'useful' gossip?" Kenjiro asked, deliberately choosing to only address the second half of that sentence.

"You tell me."

Kenjiro looked at the tea cup he had left by the till, and then carefully pushed it forward into Arisa and Chika's line of sight.

"Um….how, exactly, is a tea-cup gossip?" Chika asked.

Arisa, on the other hand, was peering curiously into the tea-cup.

"Is that…you? And us, maybe? It's hard to tell." She then looked up. "Did you do a reading? Why?"

"No, it wasn't me. Well, it was a reading for me. A boy our age came in earlier with two little girls-his little sisters. One of them got upset that her brother didn't order tea for any of them because she wanted to do a reading, and she was pretty upset about it. Her brother was trying to get her to quieten down, but I guess it's hard to reason with a kid that little? I'm not sure how old she was, but she was very young, maybe not even in elementary school yet. Anyway, I told her that I'd make some tea and drink it, and then she could read my leaves."

"Right," Arisa said. "And then what happened?"

"Well, I chatted to the boy a little bit. He seemed wary at first but he ended up friendly enough. I didn't get his name, though I learnt that the tea cup reader was named Misa and the other sister was Maki. But he told me he'd be starting at Asgard Academy as a first year student this year, and he indicated that pre-cognitive abilities run quite strongly in his family. He didn't say that that's his mahou shoujo type, but I'm pretty sure that that's the case. He's definitely not a tealeaf reader though."

"Oh, that could be useful, right, Ari?" Chika exclaimed. "Do you think we'll be able to get him to join?"

"I'm fairly sure," Kenjiro said grandly. "See, according to little Misa-chan, I was going to become a hero and so was he. She even pointed to where we were together, with 'lots of people' in her words."

"Oh, yes, I…sort of see it? But this reading seems pretty obscure-even accounting for the fact that I only have the basic levels of competency here." Arisa said. "This kid must be pretty advanced."

"Yeah, I'm inclined to think so too," Kenjiro agreed. "She told me a lot…I didn't understand a lot of it, to be honest, but it does sound like you will get more members alongside me and him, and that we'll be busy."

"Hmm, is busy a good thing or a bad thing?" Chika wondered. "It'll definitely be exciting."

"I guess…"

Chika spotted his hesitation immediately and pounced.

"What? What is it? Did the little kid say something else?"

"Well…"

Now Arisa frowned at him.

"Is something wrong?"

"There's a big, big fire…everyone's crying, and someone's lost-lots of someones and…she says that if you burn you just have to begin again but it's too sad to do that…"

"Hold on, Misa, stop, stop. That's a lot to just tell someone!"

"But he said I could read all the tealeaves!"

"I…yes, but let's go home now, and you can tell me all of it again and I'll write it all down for you. Then we'll bring it back for him. I've told you this before, Misa, you need to give people time to understand the things you're telling them."

With effort, Kenjiro shook the memory away. Talented though she may have been, this Misa was still a little child. There was no way she could see so many things so clearly, and even if she had seen a fire it might not mean what it sounded like she meant. Gods, please don't let it mean what it sounded like she meant, Kenjiro prayed silently.

"Jeff-kun?" Arisa asked.

"Hmm?"

"You really don't have to join us, if you don't want to."

"Oh, no, I'm sure it will be fine, really," Kenjiro said hastily. "It's just a big decision, that's all. But in any case, that's not the only gossip I have."

"Ooooh, go on!" Chika urged.

"Well, there are two other interesting people who will be joining. The first is that there's a boy from Principal Asakura's longhouse who'll also be a first year student-"

"That's not such a big deal. People from the Asakura Longhouse have always joined Asgard Academy."

"Well, yes, but not for a few years, right?" Kenjiro pointed out. "The last time they had a high-school-aged person living there, they only had basic abilities, and all the other children currently living there are elementary-school-aged or younger. Though I think we have had a few people from the other longhouses?"

"Two of the Niðavellir members who just graduated came from the Magnusson-Mori longhouse, I think." Arisa said.

"Right, but you just said the other kids at the Asakura Longhouse are tinies, so how are we getting a new student from there?" asked Chika.

"A new family has moved in and they have a son the right age who is definitely mahou shoujo. However, apparently he can be rather 'difficult'. It sounds like he's not taking too well to the longhouse lifestyle."

"Psh, yeah, well I don't blame him," Chika said. "I'd hate the thought of living in a longhouse like that. Yeah they're all shiny and fancy now, but it's still a total style-cramp! Still, Asakura Longhouse kids always join Niðavellir so I guess it's fine, right?"

"I suppose…as long as his type of 'difficult' doesn't cause problems." Arisa mused.

"Ah, I'm sure it's just trouble settling in," Kenjiro said. "If he lived in a more typical house before it'd be a big adjustment. Anyway, the other person I know of you'll be a lot more excited about-Kotone Suzuki."

"Koto…."

Arisa and Chika looked at each other, and then both of them squealed:

"Kotone Suzuki? The Kotone Suzuki?"

"One and the same." Kenjiro said. "There were rumours that she would be transferring schools since that incident at the Winter Solstice Concert basically confirmed she was mahou shoujo rather than just a very powerful mage."

"Oh yeah, that's true," Chika said. "People were wondering if she'd go here or to Miyakoshi Girls instead. I'd assume she'd end up at the girl's school, all things considered."

"So did I." Arisa said. "I wonder if she'll be in any of our classes."

"Well, she's our year, right? So maybe." Kenjiro said.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see." Arisa said. "But that's actually really exciting, right?"

"It's very exciting. Shiho's going to be over the moon." Chisa said.

Clearly noticing Kenjiro was confused, Arisa explained:

"Shiho-san is a big fan."

Kenjiro hadn't met the mysterious member of staff who lived in Niðavellir's base, but he certainly hadn't imagined her as being a fan of a teen idol. Then again, I don't really know what to expect, do I? He put the thought aside.

"Well, that's probably a start, right?" Kenjiro concluded. "Once school starts, I'll help you start scouting. I'll woo them over with hot drinks and cake."

He winked, and then added:

"I don't mean to coerce them, of course. Just to sweeten the deal. Anyway, want another drink? I can spell it with inspiration, if you want."

"What if this one ends up getting an idea in the middle of the night and ends up phoning me?" Chika said in mock horror, pointing to Arisa who sighed heavily.

"Chi-chan, when have I ever done that?"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Hiyama-chan's inspiration is the type that only comes when she needs it. You on the other hand…"

"Oi! Arsehole."

"Oh, I know." Kenjiro said wryly.

Kenjiro made them their drinks, and then in between looking after other customers and tidying their tables, chatted with Arisa and Chika until they finished up. He didn't really need to, but he walked them to the door, and waved at them until they disappeared around the corner. The moment they did, he found himself weighed down by what he hadn't told them. But how could he tell them about what that little girl had said? The burning building. All that sadness. Arisa in particular was burdened enough.

He couldn't add to that. He wouldn't.

So he knew that for as long as he could do so, he'd keep it to himself. He also knew something else: that he'd have to keep his feelings for her to himself too. Anything for you, Hiyama-chan. Anything for you. He blinked, ran a hand through his hair, then turned and went back into the café. Those tables wouldn't clear themselves, after all.

…

Týr Minoru Endo felt the footsteps before he could hear them, and even then, they were quiet in that way he knew meant that they were trying to catch him unawares. Well, I'm not letting him do that, he thought, knowing full well who it was. He stood up and waited, doing his best to keep his face blank as Sosuke Asakura, head of the Asakura Longhouse and principal of Asgard Academy, approached him.

"Týr. I suppose I cannot persuade you to return to the longhouse."

Through gritted teeth, Minoru said:

"I am fine out here."

The longhouse was probably fine for people who liked that kind of thing, and for people who were particularly devoted to the Japanese twist on Asatru. But though his parents were both those things, he was not. He was not his parents, nor what they-and now Asakura-wanted him to be.

"I ate my meal without fuss, and cleaned my allotted portion of the central area as requested."

Since so-called normal people were supposed to love reading meaning into things, he put the meaning of and that's more than enough, isn't it into his words. Or at least, he hoped he did. Of course, he couldn't tell if his meaning had come across.

"Nonetheless, we had hoped that after a few days you would have committed yourself to what it means to be a member of the longhouse. It has adapted to the modern age but it is still the continuation of a longstanding tradition. Do we not have adequate internet, for example?"

Oh please, like that's the problem.

"You're entering high school now, you need to get a control over your…quirks and stop being such a worry to your parents. Such people of faith, they are. It should have been a blessing to them to have a son with such powers as yours and one who echoes Týr the Brave in his countenance."

Minoru resisted looking down at his right arm and its absent hand as he retorted:

"It is a congenital defect, not a sign of bravery or loyalty. "

"That is true, but nonetheless it is a destiny to live up to and yet you are sitting out here, refusing to even engage in proper daily life. Do you feel no faith at all?"

He had tried to explain before that it wasn't about not having faith. It was just that his faith was rooted in the feeling of nature opened wide around him, experiencing the sounds and sights and smells of it. His mahou shoujo type was literally a medium of the Norse gods, but it wasn't something he needed to make a production of, it was just something he wanted to do quietly and peacefully. To learn about it at his own pace, without needing to shout or even speak about it all the time.

But the longhouse was noisy, and full to bursting. Being able to hear almost everything was hard at the best of times, but there it was worse, and his parents had confiscated his earplugs when he had arrived, not wanting to give off the wrong impression. He wasn't allowed to not speak either, or at least communicate in a different way. Everyone was speaking, all the time, and he had to too. It had all happened so fast too. He'd come home after birdwatching one day last week to see his parents and younger siblings all packing suitcases looking excited. No warning, no nothing. Being here wasn't something that allowed him to feel his faith more deeply. If anything, it distanced him from it.

And where before his parents had at least made some clumsy efforts to try and meet him on his level, since coming here they had reverted to the past, trying to make him 'normal' again. But not just 'normal' but normal for the type of person in this town who went so far with their faith as to live in a longhouse.

There wasn't any point in explaining all of this though. Even if they'd wanted to at least listen, he doubted he'd be able to line the words up in such a way that he'd be able to get them out of his mouth. He'd melt down from the stress of it, as he kept doing when he had to speak too much. Besides, he knew why Asakura had sought him out here, and what this lecture was eventually leading to. So he stood and clenched his left fist, tried to concentrate on the feel of the ground beneath his feet and feel of the wind against his face and the knowledge that the stars shone above him. He tried to tune out the words until he heard Asakura say 'now, look at me' . Oh, here we go:

"I hope you will at least be joining Niðavellir."

"No."

"I should rephrase. I hope you will be joining willingly. It is one thing to shun daily life, it is another to completely shun the biggest tradition of this longhouse, especially with your powers. I will not have you bring shame on us by refusing to do what you are meant to do."

"I had not planned on joining this school in the first place."

"That school would have been inadequate for you."

No, it wouldn't have. The school was small, yes, but when he had visited it, he'd known it was a school that would understand him. He'd been looking forward to a school life with less struggles than before, and now he'd ended up with one that would give him more.

"I am not joining. I'm not a warrior. I'm not Týr, I'm Minoru."

Asakura's face contorted, and he raised his hand. Minoru flinched reflexively, but then Asakura growled, and stepped back, lowering his fist. Then suddenly, he lunged forward and grabbed fistfuls of Minoru's shirt in his hands, lifting Minoru up slightly off the ground and shoving his face right up close. Minoru could hear and smell his breath, and couldn't look away from his eyes. Eyes which blazed with anger even as they narrowed. Those eyes, the breathing, the fingers creasing his shirt-Minoru felt all the sensations crawl across his brain and his skin, relentless, everywhere, too much…it was a struggle to hear what Asakura was saying next, but somehow, the words pierced through:

"I understand that you might need some time to get used to the issue. I will leave you some of our old yearbooks in your sleeping area. I have also given you a sheet listing the members we will be starting off with this year. I have informed your parents, and they will make sure you read them. Once you have read them and understood the importance of Niðavellir and what a honour it is for you to even be attending my school, return them to me. I then expect to hear that you have joined. As you are a first year and you will need to get used to the school in general, as all students do, I shall give you a week. If not…"

What was the subtext in that, Minoru wondered. Maybe that he'll actually hit me next time? That he won't stop there? That nobody will help? Psh, nobody will help me anyway.

Asakura let him go, and Minoru stumbled back. He tried to smooth down his shirt, hands trembling. Asakura seemed unruffled on the other hand, and instead just stared at him.

"Well?"

Rather than try and muster up a verbal response, Minoru simply turned away, staring up at the stars. He waited, and then heard Asakura walk away. With relief, he sat back down on the grass, but he couldn't stop shaking, not at first. Not even the feel of the grass beneath him helped at first. Breathe in, breathe out, he told himself over and over. In, out. In, out.

Gradually, he calmed, enough for some of Asakura's words to come filtering back, giving him a second chance to process. A sheet of the current members…? Why would that be important? Still a little unsteady, Minoru got up and looked back at where the longhouse was, beyond the fields. He figured that by now, most of the residents would be asleep. Luckily, his sleeping bench was close to the animal enclosures, which was the way he had come. So he headed back, whispering reassurances to the animals as he entered the side of the longhouse and crossed the path between their enclosures to get to the door that led into the central area. The animals regarded him quietly, sleepy but not judging him in the slightest. He eased the door open, and snuck to his bench (properly snuck, unlike Asakura-none of the adults sitting near the fire right in the middle turned in his direction). There, he saw a small pile of books and paper, and he snatched them up and hurried back outside again.

Once he was back at the edge of the field in which he'd pitched his tent, he sat back down and flicked through until he found the members list. Above each name, there was a photograph, which he thought was useful. Quickly, he read the first side:

Arisa Hiyama, entering Class 2B, leader, summoner

Chika Kato, entering Class 2B, vice-leader, reaper

Rei Nishimori, entering Class 2A, ordinary member, machinist

Naoko Kawamura, entering Class 3C, ordinary member, gunslinger

Hanayo Hamasaki, entering Class 3D, ordinary member, knight

TBC: Kotone Suzuki, second-year transfer to Class 2C, ordinary member, spellsinger

There was quite a lot of blank space beneath the picture and caption of Kotone Suzuki, but for some reason Minoru still assumed that there would be more on the other side. But when he flipped the sheet over, it was completely empty. He blinked at it for a moment, and then turned it back around. Six faces, one of whom wasn't even confirmed. This was not the grand army that Niðavellir was supposed to be, far from it. Minoru frowned, trying to remember what Asakura had said to him both in this lecture and before. Had he ever actually said the numbers had fallen so low? Was this why he had become so angry? It wasn't just about the tradition of the Asakura Longhouse, or even the tradition that connected the longhouse to Asgard Academy and Niðavellir…it was about Niðavellir itself.

No, I don't think he did say that, not even once.

Likely though, it was another subtext he had managed to miss. Minoru huffed. He didn't get why it was so hard for people to just tell him things directly instead of dancing around them and expecting him to pick up on it. Still, it wasn't as if this revelation mattered. It was a surprise, sure, but what did it have to do with him? He hadn't wanted any of this. This wasn't his fight.

Minoru put the sheet down on top of the other things. He wasn't even going to bother looking at those. Instead, he returned his attention to the stars and their vast, unknowable beauty. He wondered if there was someone else out there somewhere, also looking up at the stars. He hoped that there was. He hoped that maybe, just maybe, one of those people would be a person who would understand him. He didn't expect to ever meet a person like that, but he hoped such a person existed anyway. To imagine them existing and just looking at the stars as he did…well, that was enough.

It had to be enough.

After all, it was all he'd ever have. Wasn't it?

…

Kou Kurosawa looked up at the stars through his bedroom window, but he wasn't trying to read them. Not yet. In truth, he was afraid to try after what his littlest sister had said so confidently. When he'd hurried them both home, he'd tried to sit Misa down and get some of her predictions in order so that he could then pass them onto the boy at the café. But she had been in an energetic, uncooperative mood and he hadn't been able to get much out of her. She had refused to say anything else about the fire, pursing her little lips quite determinedly and staring into the distance, ignoring even the gentlest of questions. He didn't know if this had just been an extension of her general mood, or if what she'd seen had just started to sink in and she was now scared.

The only consolation was that he thought the boy at the café would be quite understanding about it. He seemed good-natured, even-keeled. It was reassuring to know someone like him attended Asgard Academy. He'd been quite nervous about attending Asgard Academy, though he had been excited at first. But now he had to take care of Misa and Maki alone, that excitement felt like a half-forgotten dream. It would be nice having a friendly face, especially one amongst the upperclassmen.

But what about Niðavellir…? That was one of the few things that Misa had insisted on, that he was going to be a hero, that the boy at the café was going to be one too, that they and others would come together and be heroes. She hadn't been able to tell him anything specific, but that was as much to do with the nature of fortune telling as it was to do with Misa herself. But he was sure that the only way he'd meet these people was through Asgard Academy, and that the only way he'd be a 'hero' of any kind was through Niðavellir. But how could he possibly be a member of Niðavellir if his parents were dead? If something happened to him, who would take care of his little sisters? He was the man of the house now, he couldn't do something so reckless.

And yet…

And yet…if Mum and Dad were here, I probably would, wouldn't I?

Kou got up and left his bedroom. The door to Misa and Maki's room was half-open and he poked his head around, breathing a sigh of relief to see both of them were fast asleep. Maki had kicked off her quilt though, so Kou carefully snuck into the room to tuck her back in. Then he noticed Misa's teddy bears had fallen off the bed so he started to arrange those around her pillow in what he hoped was the arrangement he liked. All the while, though, he watched her carefully for any traces of possible nightmares. There was one moment where she mumbled and turned over in her sleep, but apart from that, she seemed peaceful.

That's good, he thought, that's something. When the final teddy bear was arranged, he left the room and crept down the stairs and out the back door. Standing on the back doorstep, he stared up at the stars once again. This time, they seemed more immediate, as if he would be able to reach out and grab one if he tried. Their brightness was immense. Maybe answers lay beneath that brightness.

Kou took a deep breath and then another, long and slow, as his father had taught him so long ago. He let his mind clear out, until it was empty of nothing but the stars. The stars shone, and he waited. And eventually, the answers came. The images flooded into his mind, almost too quickly, but nonetheless, he committed as much to memory as he could:

Kou, with the boy from the café. Kou, with the boy from the café and others his age around a table in a club room. Kou and these same others in the café. Kou and the others running across fields, transformed and weapons raised. Kou, looking up at a girl with black and red hair wielding a scythe, grinning at him, the same girl. Kou, on the ground in pain, barely keeping his eyes open as someone came to defend him, a sullen boy with dark purple hair and many blades. Kou, holding someone's hand and having his other hand held by someone else (the stars did not let him see who) as they all stared out in the distance (the stars did not let him see what) with the wind whipping their clothes and hair, all of them filled with equal measures of pride and regret.

Then, there was the fire.

He did not know where it was, or when it was. He didn't see anybody else around him, but he knew that he was with the people he had seen in the other images. Still, all he saw were the flames dancing all around him, felt the hotness against his face and the smoke tickling his noise. The tears, too. He felt them on his face, heard them choked in other people's throats.

… she says that if you burn you just have to begin again…

Misa's words seemed to echo something in this image, a memory that he was having, but when he tried to keep the image still, to grasp it and pull some meaning from it, he couldn't. It slipped away, and then all of a sudden the stars became too bright and all his thoughts came drifting back in. He staggered back, shaking, holding onto the doorframe so he didn't fall backwards. It was only once the trembling subsided that he was able to stumble back into the kitchen, grab a glass from the drying rack and fill it straight from the tap. He drained the whole lot, and then refilled the glass and did the same. It was only when he filled it for the third time that he felt calmer. Carefully, he took a few sips of this third glass, and then set it down on the counter. He stared at the wall in front of him, but wasn't really seeing it. He'd thought the stars had given him answers, but in truth, he had only been given more questions. But whether they were questions or answers, the truth was he didn't know what to do with them.

"No," he whispered to himself. "That's not entirely true, is it?"

Because the only thing he knew for sure was this: he, too, would be joining Niðavellir. Whether he wanted to or not, he'd end up a part of it. With a sigh, he finished his glass of water and then left it there on the counter. He made sure the back door was locked and trudged back upstairs. Once again, he stopped at his sisters' room and looked around the door at them. They were both still sleeping peacefully, though Misa had now burrowed further into her quilt. Whatever he did next, he had to think of them. There was nobody else left to do so.

With a sigh, he closed their door again (but not too much, so they'd be able to see the nightlight from the corridor) and then went back to his bedroom. He lay on his bed and hoped he would be able to get a little bit of sleep.

Of course, he knew he'd get none at all.

A 'Cast List':

Arisa Hiyama (CV: Arietta)
Chika Kato (CV: Ashley )
Haru Nakahara (CV: Daru )
Kou Kurosawa (CV: Dantenkou)
Kenjiro 'Jeff' Takenaka (CV: Jefferz )
Atsuya Inoue (CV: Jordy)
Emiko Chiba (CV: pepi )
Rei Nishimori (CV: Reyzon )
Kotone Suzuki (CV: SingingSamine )
Hanayo Hamasaki CV: はな)
Naoko Kawamura (CV: Norma )
Shiho Murakami (CV:Shiwo )
Kie Kimura (Original Character)
Sanae Yasuda/Shohei Yasuda (Original Character)
Týr Minoru Endo (Original Character)
Tsuyoshi Sakai (Original Character)