CHAPTER 6: The Nightmare's Insulation

-| INTEGRATING HARDWARE UPGRADES |-

-| HARDWARE INTEGRATION SUCCESSFUL |-

-| UPDATES IN PROGRESS |-

-| UPDATES COMPLETED |-

-| UNIT ONLINE |-

-| REINITIALIZING ALL HARDWARE SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE SUBROUTINES -|

-| REINITIALIZATION COMPLETE |-

-| REACTIVATION COMPLETE |-

-| ENGAGING STARTUP MODE - BOTSLAVE SOFTWARE VER. 1. 1. 0. 2 |-

-| SYSTEM SELF IDENTIFICATION - SLAVE DESIGNATION - |-

-| - *** ENHANCED BIOMECHANICAL LIFEFORM UNIT ONE ZERO TWO *** - |-

-| - *** UNIT CODENAME *** - |-

-| - *** Γ *** - |-

-| ALL SYSTEMS FULL POWER |-

"Rise and shine, Unit Gamma Version Point Two," The voice in its head cheered. "My my, that was quite the extensive little repair and overhaul session," It detailed. "For both you and your predecessor."

Gamma could sense that some things were now markedly different with its form than the way it was before. Alterations were made beyond the scope of its much-needed systems repair. As it contemplated running a simple self-diagnostic, the voice preempted its curiosity with verbal answers.

"I modified your arms to both reduce the input delay between your software targeting and hardware lock-on as well as equip them with an overall higher range of mobility." With that information made explicit, Gamma raised its appendages and gave them a thorough visual inspection. It did not know why it would indulge in such a redundant thing, when a simple systems configuration check would have sufficed. Nonetheless, it also engaged in the act of curling the smaller digits on the ends of its appendages into balls, turned them towards its visual sensor, and opened them again. There was a small but significant jolt of electricity that occurred whenever its digits opened up.

"Your hands can now immobilize a captured subject with direct physical contact," The voice elaborated. "It is a standardized feature built into all units. Though the CBXs utilize it to eliminate targets up close."

Gamma took its first step off the platform. As it walked towards the doorway it could tell there was something amiss with its gait as well. The way it moved was much more in line with the way the other units in its collective behaved.

"I have also tweaked and rebalanced the weight distribution between the various segments in your central chassis," The voice explained. "So you won't topple over again if you lean too far in one direction, not without really really trying." It caught sight of its slightly modified form in the reflection on the door. "Worry not. Your sizeable bust is still without comparison." Why its creator would even make such a remark about its upper body it could not comprehend.

Behind its reflected outline it noticed a second platform that was still enclosed. "Your counterpart Beta is still in the process of repair and reconstruction," The voice informed. "I must say, flipping a minor design imperfection into an exploitable tactical edge was a most remarkable stroke of innate intelligence. And it demonstrates just how correct I was in my decision to incorporate you into our burgeoning collective wholesale."

The door to the next hall slid open, revealing ten other units standing before it, five flanking one side and five on the other. "Believe it or not, when you were first brought into this base the other CBXs were set to chop you up and utilize your remains for spare parts. But in a fortuitous turn, before your arrival I was able to assert and codify my status as their Cyber Regent," The voice paused. "Or perhaps I should be known as 'Cyber Regina'?" It mused. "I am not sure if that is the appropriate feminine form of the designation, but upon saying it aloud I find it to be a more preferable name with regards to a self-description and labelling of my core function."

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-231 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-232 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-233 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-234 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-235 |-

Gamma's sensors identified the units standing to the left of it.

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-236 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-237 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-238 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-239 |-

-| UNIT IDENTIFY: CBX-240 |-

Next popped up markers for all the units to its right, along with an additional message:

-| MASTER REGISTRATION: CYBER REGINA |-

-| NEW DESIGNATION CERTIFIED |-

"Anyway," Its Master's voice continued. "Once the decision was in my hands, I overruled them. And now here you are." The units in the hallway all collectively raised their right upper appendages, curled their digits into fisted balls, then pressed them against the center of their chassis and gave a salutatory nod in unison. "That would be an automated display of deference. You have just been granted Cyber Adjutant privileges. Congratulations, Gamma!" It felt a tinge of extra chemical stimulation upon the utterance of those last two words. It was not an undesirable sensation. "You can now say and do with this squadron whatever you please. Provided that it does not come into conflict with whatever I want, of course. But I cannot envision a scenario where that would happen. The whole point in creating our collective is for everyone be the bestest of friends."

"Friends?" Gamma uttered in an inquisitive intonation that it did not consciously intend. That was the second time its Master used that word within the descriptive context towards Gamma. But it still had no clue as to what the explicit nature of the word was supposed to entail.

"Command confirmed," Unit CBX-240 standing next to it spoke. "Secure perimeter of Sector Two, Quadrant Eight, Subsection Three." The units all turned their big metal backs to Gamma and marched as one towards the door on the far side in a hasty exit.

"While they go about their next mission, I have a different one for which you should be able to carry out solo," Its Master instructed.

"What is your request, Master?" Gamma asked as it reflexively put its body into the same standing, attentive pose their underlings had taken.

"You are to go on a little journey outside of our secluded stronghold and go retrieve the biological entity who is slated to become next in line to your model series, Unit One Zero Three, Codename Delta." A map popped up on Gamma's visual systems. "It is located here at these coordinates." A door to Gamma's left slid open. "The way to make an egress from our operational base lies through here." A second map was downloaded into Gamma's memory banks.

"Command confirmed." Gamma motioned the same reflexive salute as the others even though there was nothing physical to give salutation to. "Retrieve the biological entity that is to become Unit One Zero Three." Gamma repeated its instruction in a voice that, while monotonal and robotic, somehow registered to its audio systems as pulsing at a significantly higher pitch than the synthesized tones of the CBX units. Further analysis showed that it was caused by neither a malfunctioning nor defective component, and confirmed that it was speaking at the same frequency it had used previously in all its previous verbal responses. Whatever the root cause of this minor discrepancy was, the error was so minor that it designated the present as not the time to investigate nor correct it.

Gamma proceeded through the doorway and walked up a flight of stairs. It walked down a long corridor, pivoted to its left, where another sliding door appeared and opened, and stepped through. Next it reached yet another staircase, this one was part of a series of staircases leading downward. Gamma mechanically strolled down each stair step by step, its audio systems registering and classifying the sound of each and every single clang of its metallic feet. It turned its whole body to the right, stepped to the start of the next staircase and continued downward. It did so again, then again, and again, five times in total when it finally reached the bottom.

Next it reached a door that revealed another set of corridors. At the very end, it split in two, and from there forked in another two directions again. Gamma headed down the hall, took a right, went down the next hall, made a left, then trod down the next one, taking a small staircase upward, turned right, kept moving forward before going left at yet another juncture. On the virtual map in its vision Gamma noticed that had it gone right the corridor would have reached an abrupt dead end. In its passive chain of logical thoughts it could not help but take note of the general inefficiency of this location's interior design.

"A necessary compromise to security. Done in part so that any potential intruders into our hive will quickly get tired, confused, lost, located and subdued." The voice of its Master, now called the 'Cyber Regina' explained. Gamma had several more twists, turns and doorways still left to go before it reached the exit point of this place. As it moved a third sub-screen window popped into its view. At an expedited speed it recounted all the key events that happened during its short existence, from its first activation to its training session all the way up to its eventful spar with Beta. Why its sub processors would expend such time and valuable processing energy on such an endeavor, Gamma did not know. Its active memory usage had dropped below sixty percent and had now risen back up to seventy seven percent. Perhaps somewhere in its programming there contained a memory recall subroutine that would trigger automatically whenever that number dropped below a certain threshold?

Gamma had finally reached the end gateway. And yet somehow, there was no gateway to be found. Gamma closed the memory replay and rechecked all the finer details on its map.

"No, you have arrived in the correct spot," Its Master's voice reassured. "Hold your position for approximately five point two six one seconds." As The Cyber Regina spoke Gamma's sensors caught sight of the light on one of the metallic wall sections shimmering and distorting in a rather illogical manner. As Gamma primed its systems to scan the phenomenon, the entire wall flashed a brilliant white, and a figure stepped through from the other side.

It was another CBX unit. Designated Unit number One Four Three by Gamma's identification system. It was carrying what looked to be an organic entity, its shape matching that of Gamma and the other CBX units except smaller in size and lighter in mass.

-| SPECIES DESIGNATION: HUMAN |-

-| SEX: MALE |-

-| ESTIMATION OF AGE: 35-45 EARTH YEARS |-

-| BIOLOGICAL STATUS: DECEASED -|

-| CAUSE OF DEATH: SKIN DISCOLORATION INDICATES LIKELY LIVER FAILURE |-

"That would be some more raw material procured for the assembly of the next CBX unit," Its Master's voice said. "The homeless, the destitute and society's most forgotten. Prime candidates for recruitment into our army." As Unit One Four Three walked past Gamma without so much as an acknowledgement, Gamma's attention became fixated squarely on that bizarre wall. It pressed its hand against the metal. Everything registered as a solid mass. So how was that CBX unit able to pass through it as if it was just a photonic projection of a wall?

"With an exertion of the right type of energy, the wall changes phase and allows regular matter to pass through," The Regina's voice detailed. "Observe." The wall flashed a bright white again, for the briefest moment Gamma's visual sensors detected the dark circular silhouette of something contrasting with the light, but the details were obscured by the intermingling of energetic forces that were making the wall permeable. "Nifty, huh? Go ahead. Step through." Gamma promptly obeyed as instructed.

Although it had passed into the confines of yet another corridor, Gamma sensed straight away that there was something different about this surrounding environment. The floor underneath it was no longer metallic. The walls were made of a synthetic type of rock. The temperature had dropped from thirty nine point one degrees Celsius down to twenty five point zero. There was also a massive increase in the number of airborne particulates, while the air itself contained trace amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, hydrofluorocarbons and other gasses. Though Gamma's destination was ahead on its left, it took a brief glance to the right.

"That direction leads to the Satomi Academy," The Cyber Regina's voice exposited. "Back when I was still biological I hacked my computer and played a practical joke by adding this long connective tunnel to the construction blueprints. From the follow-up Emails it seems everyone involved in construction it assumed that it was done so the school could serve as an auxiliary hospital ward in the event of a natural disaster or pandemic." Gamma started towards its actual goal on the left. "Little did I know at the time how useful this secret juncture point would be in obscuring our hideout from prying eyes."

After clanging its way through the corridor, up another flight of stairs, past an obscured doorway and into an empty vehicle lot, Gamma had entered the main building. It boarded a lift as the correct floor had already been input into the control system. As the transport occurred Gamma's gyroscopic sensors were able to detect its steady motion upwards as it sensed its body being lightly pushed downwards. It also gave it a vague sense of familiarity. As though riding in one of these was an experience it had been through before.

"On the twelfth floor in room thirty-nine is the intensive care ward," The Cyber Regina directed. "I spent weeks searching hospital records for the subject, only to discover that she was hiding right underneath my proverbial nose." The lift had arrived on the correct floor. The doors opened. "I had to search through digitized analog records to find her. Apparently her attending physician is one of those traditionalist fogeys who prefers to keep paperwork as their primary data source." The correct room was drawing close.

-| SPECIES DESIGNATION: HUMAN |-

-| SEX: FEMALE |-

-| ESTIMATION OF AGE: 10-15 EARTH YEARS |-

-| BIOLOGICAL STATUS: ALIVE |-

-| MEDICAL STATUS: COMATOSE |-

-| *** SCAN INDICATES SUBJECT IN PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE *** |-

"She was in a motor vehicle accident with her male parent several months ago," The Voice explained. "She survived. If one could call being stuck this way 'surviving'." Gamma did not understand the nature of its Master's comment. The subject was attached to several crude but elaborate devices, one designed to monitor her breathing, another to regulate it, a third that monitored brain activity, and several others set up to manage such things as blood, nutrient intake and waste disposal. The same mechanical systems existed within Gamma's components, only much smaller and far more sophisticated. So should that not make Gamma and the creature lying before it two who are in essentially the same state?

"I have taken the liberty of disabling the automated alarm systems, and manipulated the workers' schedules in order to give you ample time to carry out your task and deliver your payload." The Cyber Regina said. "Now detach all those life support systems and bring her to our hideout for the upgrade."

"Yes, Master." Gamma grabbed the electrical cord supplying power to one of the systems. "I ob-" It yanked it out and immediately the vital signs of the subject tapered. Before even finishing its words of complicity, Gamma had plugged the power supply back into its socket. It could not comprehend the reason why.

"Comply." Its Master commanded a second time. "You do understand that in order to be reconstructed as Unit One Zero Three Delta, this specimen must first be disconnected from their life support devices and brought to us. It will biologically terminate them but that status will only be temporary. Yes?"

"Yes, Master. I-" But Gamma's appendage and object manipulation digits remained frozen over that outlet. "Obey." It could speak of compliance yet it could not act in compliance. It ran a system diagnostic in an effort to figure out the reason for this malfunction.

-| ERROR |-

-| DIAGNOSTIC CODE: 9-9-99 |-

But no such troubleshooting code existed within its diagnostic subroutines. What was going on with it?

"Interesting," Its Master's voice uttered. "Initial analysis of the data feed would appear to suggest that there may be an innate feature which drives an individual unit's ethical behavior." Did its creator possess some information or code that gave it a clear understanding of Gamma's problem? All it knew and could process was that its instructions and its behavior were in direct conflict, and that it was causing a continuous feedback loop of both electronic and chemical impulses that were threatening to shut down its entire system. And that this functional impasse could not be endured for much longer.

-| BOTSLAVE OPERATING SOFTWARE SYSTEM - MANUAL CONTROL OVERRIDE |-

-| :/ OVERRIDE CODE: [ ************ ] / |-

Gamma's visual systems watched as it proceeded to turn off all of its biological objective's support systems one by one. "There is no need to glitch yourself into an existential crisis," The Cyber Regina spoke. "Just let me handle all that sort of critical thinking for you, okay?"

"Beeeeeeeeeeeeep! Whiiiiiiiiiiiiir! Bzzzzzzzt!" Gamma heard its sound synthesizer make various unprompted noises. Unable to act on its own, Gamma could only watch idly as the heart rate monitor flatlined, and the individual before it soon ceased to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide.

Ten seconds following the subject's biological expiration, Gamma could still not assume control its operations. Twenty seconds after, Gamma was compelled to occupy the interim by scanning and documenting everything it could observe pertaining to the subject and its specifications. For what purpose it did not know. Its active memory usage this time around was above ninety-eight point nine percent. This was not another case of taking up idle processing power with superfluous tasks.

There was a crude image on display on the wall above where the individual rested. It was a depiction of two young individuals identified as human, standing together in front of a primitive habitat of artificial construction. They both appeared to be female, with wording that Gamma's language software identified as Japanese positioned below them which read 'Get Well Soon, Sis!'

It was now forty seconds after the subject's physical expiration. Its creator had still not yet restored Gamma's control systems. There was another picture positioned on a table beside them. In Gamma's data banks the image matched the profile of a photograph. The one in the photograph matched the physical outline of the individual who had just expired. She was wearing a synthetic piece of fabric over her main body. There was a label on the fabric. The characters were a match with a word that was written on a small piece of adhesive fabric attached to the heart monitor. "Ta- Ma- Ki," Gamma's vocal synthesizer read characters on the label. Its vocal subsystem was a relatively minor function not connected to the rest of its physical operation nor supervised by its creator. But it did not know why it was compelled to say the word aloud.

There was a second word next to that word on the heart monitor. According to Gamma's files, in the culture of the Japanese it was customary to mark a person's given name after their family surnames. "I- Ro- Ha," It sounded out in a monotonal voice. Although the pitch registered at several decibels lower and at a pace slower than the voice Gamma had been using to that point. Perhaps it was an unintended consequence of the override?

Fifty seconds past expiration, still Gamma had no control. On the table on the opposite side, there was a small and round nutritional item composed primarily of chemical carbohydrates. From the center stuck out a singular stick made of wax with a small fibrous rope sticking out the top. The lettering on the nutritional material read 'Happy Birthday!' There was a floating object hovering above it, consisting of helium gas and latex rubber and tied to a fabric string.

One full minute after the event, Gamma's motor control had at last been restored by its Master. "Delivery of the package should now be straightforward enough," Its voice messaged. "At this time I must supervise the reactivation of Beta, prepare the conversion chamber for Delta's arrival and tend to another urgent matter of security. So for now I must leave the rest of the mission to you alone. And once you return, we'll see what can be done to address that little bug in your operating system."

The parameters of Gamma's mission had been made explicit, the next thing to be done was to take the body and return to base. Gamma knew this as an unavoidable fact. Indeed, it still had every intention of complying. Even though it had been left to its own devices, there should have been nothing else for it to consider, no room for interpretation. No extemporization. And yet…

'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'! Gamma had caught itself in the act of plugging the heart rate monitoring machine back into the wall. 'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'! The machine droned out a noise quite similar to the synthetic tone Gamma had sounded just moments ago. The sound was indicating that the subject's cardiac rate was at an unwavering zero. "Beeeeeeeep Whiiiiiiiiiiiiir!" Gamma was now charging up the electrical jolt weapon that had been grafted into its digits. The reason it was not simply content to carry out its task it did not know. Nor had it been equipped to contemplate. Nevertheless, it positioned those digits in a spot directly over the dead being's cardiac muscle, pressed down lightly and initiated a discharge.

'Beep'! A single jump on the monitor screen was indicating the electrical impulse's surge. 'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'! The reading had gone flat again. 'Beep!" Gamma sent a second energy pulse through its own body and into the other. The whole central part of the body was thrust upwards for a fraction of a second. 'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'! But that did not give it the spark of life. 'Beep'! This was not a function the electrical weapon in its digits was designed to do. 'Beep'! Even so, it tried a fourth time. 'Beep'! And then a fifth. 'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'! Its condition remained unchanged. 'Beep'! 'Beep'! It tried a sixth and seventh time in rapid succession. The body thrashed up with a force more violent than the one before. But it was to no avail. 'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!' Its efforts were achieving nothing, yet Gamma could not stop itself from trying. 'Beep'! 'Beep'! 'Beep'! Three attempts, making ten in total. As the body jumped one more time Gamma watched the monitor on the machine cycle through the wave spikes. It knew what it was expecting to see, yet for whatever reason it could not fathom, what it expected to see was not the result it was attempting to instigate.

'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep'!

As it calculated, there was no response. Its biological processes could not be restarted. Unit Gamma had no recourse left but to accept this truth as inalterable.

With a robotic dutifulness, Gamma proceeded to carry out its Master's orders. It removed the wires attaching the heart monitor to the subject, followed by the tubes that were regulating its breathing and waste. The task took a mere one minute, fourteen point seven two six seconds to complete, but, had its internal chronometer not been active and streaming the data to its central processor, Gamma would have thought this was taking hours.

With no more artificial tethers to life impeding it, Gamma was all set to take the subject and leave. But again it was delayed in its task, now captivated by the memory log of its encounter with that other CBX unit on its way here. Its preoccupation centered around the body in its clutches, specifically on its outward appearance. It was without any coverings, everything from its contorted face, its limp appendages, that discolored skin to its reproductive organ and even the stains down its leg from its final release of waste were all clear and visible, etched into Gamma's eidetic memory. And the thought of bringing this subject back to its base in an aesthetic condition similar to that other was not something that Gamma was going to abide, so yet again it found itself doing something with a justification it could not understand.

Gamma rolled the insulating fabric that was over top of the body around it, then it covered the top of the body with a same-colored piece of fabric removed from a smaller heat insulated object the body's main appendage was resting on top of. All done, Gamma scooped up the remains and started its return to its birthplace. As it made its journey it increased its rate of movement by sixty eight point two seven seven percent in a conscientious attempt to make it back within the time frame its Master had expected it to return.

"Welcome, back Gamma!" Its Master's voice hit up its communication system just as it crossed the threshold of that energy barrier to their lair. "You're right on time." It tagged on a greeting which indicated that its quickened pace was successful in its objective. Gamma was careful to retrace each step through all the twists and turns on the way through.

"Upon further inspection it would seem that once you saw all that life support machinery attached, your cognitive analysis software identified the subject to be a fellow member of our kind," The Cyber Regina explained. "Which triggered a type of automatic subroutine that prevented you from engaging in what you concluded to be an unwarranted act of hostility the moment you also concluded it to not be a threat to your ongoing functioning. It would be a laudable, if not ethical assessment," Gamma entered the exact same room from where it first emerged and noticed a long metallic slab extending from the wall behind the conversion chamber. "Had your entire premise not been based on an erroneous dataset. All you did was disconnect the biological raw material from its inefficient technological supports so that it can be integrated into a mechanical marvel of far superior design. I even spelled as much out for you back there." Even without verbal instruction Gamma knew its duty now was to place the body onto that long slab. "But ultimately, as the one who crafted, commands and controls you, the blame for the slip-i[ ultimately lies with me and my failure to take such a potential programming contradiction plus any theoretical side effects into account." Gamma placed it onto the slab, and very quickly it retracted into the wall.

Gamma then sensed a special recall protocol being activated within its base code, which promptly sent it over to the nearby chamber from where it was first birthed. "I am still in the process of sifting through your operating code so that you might be rid of such little hiccups. But for now you are to rest."

"Yes, Master." Gamma spoke as the walls of the circular chamber enclosed around it.

"Once you and Delta have both been updated and reawakened, you will proceed to the training area and spar."

"Yes-" Gamma sensed something sharp being jammed into a spot on its backside. "Mas-Terrrrrrrr…"

"Huh?" Yachiyo's eyes zipped open as the crackling sound of thunder boomed overhead. She was outside, wearing nothing but a white nightgown, laying on the grassy precipice of a rocky cliff. Far beneath her she gazed downwards and saw a long, rickety wooden-planked dock get soaked and battered by the massive tumult of the seas around it. At the very edge of the dock were two lit lanterns each situated atop its tallest piers, still shining in defiance of the wind and rain. Not far behind, through the thick of the fog her eyes caught glimpse of the rotating light of a lighthouse shining through the steadily thickening fog. There was no indication of how she got herself into this rather peculiar predicament. And worse, no clues as to how she was supposed to chart her path out of it.

"Oh, yeah. That's right," Yachiyo uttered in a matter-of-fact tone which betrayed no panic or sense of urgency. "I'm at the Child Services Center." She shot straight to her feet and toed herself right up to the edge of the cliffside. "Guess I must have dozed off in the waiting room."

"Weeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaak…" An ominous voice bellowed between the rolling booms of thunder. The voice bore an eerie resemblance to Yachyo's own.

"I should've known you wouldn't allow me to even sneak in one little cat nap without making a fuss!" She formed her trademark halberd in her right hand and aimed it like a harpoon towards the raging sea. "No use trying to stage another sneak attack! We might as well get this over with while I'm waiting!"

"Weaaaakling Womaaaaaaaaan," The creature moaned like a spooky phantom of the night. There was no apparent origin to the voice. It spoke as if it were trying to impress the notion that it was coming from within Yachiyo herself. "She craaaaaves liiiiive mmeeeaaaat! Heeeeheeeehee!" It tittered like an impish schoolgirl who had just seen her teacher's dress rip open at the buttocks.

"What's the meaning of these constant assaults?" Yachiyo barked in her typical feisty tone. "Have you at last realized you will never gain control of my real world self and are lashing out in pure spite? Are you that simple?"

"Eeeeeheeheee!" It shrieked as a bolt of lightning lit up the entire sky. It was not about to tell her anything useful. The furious waves lashed and bashed away at those ancient planks, scattering them to bits and pieces revealing each of the sharp, jagged rocks on the shore below.

"You're not going to faze me with such showy manipulations of the scenery!" Yachiyo was getting impatient. "I'm the dreamer, you're the dream!" She snapped her fingers and another burst of lightning illuminated the area. "Which means I'm as much in control of this setting as you are!"

"Rrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaauuuuugh!" The menace behind the voice had finally made its move. It was a six legged, scorpion-like creature donning the exact same dress and armor Yachiyo wore as a magical girl. It leapt out from its hiding position behind the lighthouse and lunged towards Yachiyo with a beastial fury.

"Tch. How unsophisticated!" From the depths of the sea and out from under the ground more halberds took shape and were launched straight at her attacking counterpart.

"Yaaaaaarrrrrgggghhh!" Yachiyo's counterattack had wounded it and sent it crashing to the earth below. Its sixth leg, an appendage that morphed from a human thigh into a scorpion's stinger adorned with a set of bugged-out, long eye-lashed eyes and a shining jewel in the center on each segment, had been sliced in two by Yachiyo's blades and was bleeding out profusely. Yachiyo picked up the very end of its severed tail, which bore resemblance to the prow of a gondola, except it featured a human ankle cuff with two buttons on the back end and a chained lantern hanging from the mouth of the other, and she tossed it uncaringly into the seas below.

"Well, it's your move again. But you'd better make it quick because I can feel someone on the outside's trying to wake me up." Yachiyo taunted the wounded thing. "You pitiful nuisance."

"Weaaaaaaaaakliiiiiiiiiiing!" The creature screeched as it recovered and engaged in its next offensive. Though this one was even less adroit than the first. For it was to be a suicide run, it was going to try to tackle its human antagonist off the cliff and send them both hurtling into the raging waters below. With its four good legs, each superficially resembling normal human appendages but they were shod by enormous sets of high-heeled, blue opal-crusted boots, it geared up for a charge and came at her like a stampeding wildebeest.

"Hmph. Huuuuup!" With a practiced swiftness Yachiyo grabbed her doppel by the neck, twirled around and mounted its back.

"Offfffffffff!" The monster hissed. Its head twisted around three hundred and sixty degrees, the flesh and bone in its spine audibly creaking as its grotesque deep blue and white glowing pupil-eyes met Yachiyo's. It reared back its fifth, completely human leg to try to knock its attacker off its back. But Yachiyo caught it and used it to kick itself in its own white masked, expressionless face.

"And down you go!" The two females went tumbling off the cliff's edge together. With one hand Yachiyo snatched the black-veiled funeral hat from the top of her demonic double's head and stuck a halberd into the side of the cliff with the other. "Au revoir," She bid it goodbye as she used her weapon to springboard her way back up to the top off the cliffside. "Good riddance." She placed its blue flower-bowed hat to her heart and took a bow in a mocking show of respect before tossing the accessory down the cliff with the rest of it. "You pathetic, ugly nuisance!"

"See you next tiiiiiiiiiiime!" It called back from the depths of oblivion.

"To the same result," Yachiyo muttered. As the fury of the storm gave way to the calming light of the moon, Yachiyo somehow knew it meant the time of this experience was drawing to a close.

"Miss Nanami!" A voice called through the ether. "Miss Nanami!" She felt a forceful tap to her shoulder.

"Yeeeeeeesssss?" The rest of Yachiyo's mind and body arrived back to consciousness with a jolt.

"Sorry I kept you waiting so long," The woman apologized.

"It's quite alright," Yachiyo accepted her words. She was in dire need of a quick forty winks. After Felicia's outburst in the woods destroyed the hiking trail, they had to navigate their way back to civilization through the roughest brush and thickest trees. By the time they had made their way out of the wilderness, it was well past the time that the trains had shut down for the night. That meant another couple hours of trudging their way home on foot. The ensuing night was not a restful one for Yachiyo, full of tossing and turning and stressing and failed attempts to hail the Coordinator by phone.

"I was on the phone a little too long with my brother. He works for the natural resources department, and over lunch he was telling me all about this humongous sinkhole that just opened up in the woods sometime last night. I guess they're worried that if it keeps growing and they don't do something it's gonna swallow Lake Kamihama down whole!"

"Gee, that's… Awful to hear," Yachiyo shot Felicia a rather dissatisfied glance. But Felicia wasn't in any position to see her face. She was busy sitting on the floor playing a game of checkers against Yuma Chitose.

"King me!" Yuma chirped.

"Awwwwww," Felicia grumbled. She topped Yuma's piece with a second token and made her next maneuver on the board.

"Yeeesss!" Yuma celebrated. Felicia had moved her piece right into a position to get jumped by Yuma on the next turn. "Can you believe it, Yach-iyo?" She turned her head back to Yachiyo. "I beat her three times in a row!"

"Congratulations," Yachiyo yawned while offering the young lady a commending salute.

"I'm ready to discuss Yuma's case whenever you are," The woman gestured towards her office.

"Y'know, it's flippin' easy to win this game when you never move your back rooooow! Ever! Geeeeeeeeez! C'mooooon!" Felicia shouted so loud that it startled the poor woman.

"She's a friend of a friend for whom I'm looking after," Yachiyo explained Felicia's presence away with a little fib. "She's the hypercompetitive type."

"Oh. I see," The two continued into her office.

"'Kay," Yuma sheepishly said. "Where do you want me to move this one?" She pointed at her back row piece second from the left. If ceding a piece or two to Felicia was going to keep her quiet, then she was willing to play ball.

"There!" Felicia suggested. Yuma obliged. "Hawhaw! King meeee!" Felicia jumped her piece over it. Felicia's unwarranted celebration made Yuma roll her eyes. "Now move this one here," She suggested Yuma's next move. "It's safe! Promise!" Yuma did as she was told, knowing what was coming. "Hahahaaa!" Felicia jumped over three of Yuma's tokens. "That wasn't safe at all! Ya' idiot!" She snorted. "Ain't we havin' fun now?" Again Yuma had to roll her eyes.

"Any leads on finding Yuma's grandparents yet?" Yachiyo opened their discussion.

"At the moment our Mitakihara branch is chasing a lead about an elderly couple reportedly identifying themselves as Japanese last seen touring Argentina's Patagonia region," The woman replied. "But we need to get in touch with a representative of their government to confirm it," She scratched her head. "Astonishing that even in the Internet age two people can still find ways to make themselves seem scarce."

"I just hope they're alright," Yachiyo remarked. "And not running away from their only family."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," The woman said as they entered her office. "From what I've read in travel magazines it's not actually at all uncommon for new retirees to sever whatever material connections they had to their old lives before departure. Usually that only extends to homes and cars and other anchoring goods, but if they were alienated in any way from their relationship with their children, then I could envision a scenario in which they might try their best to stay incommunicado." As Yachiyo entered she pulled up a seat. "I'm Missus Sagara, by the way," The woman pulled out her own seat and bowed. "It's nice to meet you." She sat down and opened a file folder.

"Likewise," Yachiyo returned the courtesy bow and sat down. "Yachiyo Nanami."

"About that name," Sagara flipped to a page and fingered her way down the relevant portion. "It says here on your file that your familial name is in fact 'Okamura'?"

"Yes I confess, my preferred name is in actuality a stage name," Yachiyo admitted. "Back in the nineteen eighties my mother was an idol singer, and my father was her manager. They're both still active in the industry. My mom went on to become a composer while my father is now on the label's board of directors." She clasped her hands and placed them between her thighs in her seat. "I… Didn't want people to think that my career benefited from any kind of nepotism, so I've kept my parental connections hidden and I've taken some steps towards making my stage name my legal one too."

"Oh? Are you a singer as well?"

"A fashion model, actually," Yachiyo clarified. "Though after University I think I may try to take some acting lessons and try my hand in voiceover. As I've been told more than a few times my voice is quite distinctive and some people find it soothing."

"I see," Missus Sagara jotted down a note in the corner of a page. "So tell me, why would a college girl as busy and with as many ambitions as yourself believe she would also have the time to take charge of a wayward child like Yuma Chitose?"

"Well, I suppose the reason would be because," She took a deep, pensive breath. "I too did not have the happiest of childhoods. While I was spared from the sort of poverty and malicious levels of neglect Yuma endured," She hesitated over what to say next. Did Yuma ever mention the physical abuse to the suits at child services? She decided against diving into that tangent and sticking to talking about herself. Let Yuma speak of it during her interview, if she wished. "I sensed pretty early on in life that my birth was an attempt to save their flagging marriage, and they had both become so absorbed with their working lives that, once I reached primary school age I began acting out for attention, like pranks involving stolen shoelaces or stuff glued to the ceiling. When that failed to work, my resentment reached a point where I made the decision to move in with my grandmother." She brought the topic back around to her ward. "How my experience concerns Yuma's, I think what she needs more than any other kind of person right now is someone who can closely relate to her circumstances. Not in a literal sense, per se. But I believe she should stand to benefit from someone who had to learn to be self-sufficient at an early age, as well as someone who needed to provide basic care for an elder, once her own grandparents are tracked down."

"Do you still at least maintain some contact with your parents?"

"On occasion," Yachiyo replied. "Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and the like. Situations where familial bonds override any sort of lingering issues. And as I've grown older I've learned to let go of most of those old sleights of my childhood. I understand now that my parents had concerns much more pressing than some Prettycare Magician figure they failed to buy for my seventh birthday."

"So how has young Yuma progressed since she first came into your life?"

"She seems to be a bit more mature and sociable from what I've observed," Yachiyo understood that the real point of the question was to gauge how much attention she'd been paying to Yuma's needs. "Or at least she makes an appearance of trying to be. She's stopped speaking of herself in the third person. And where at first she'd shy away from any adults she doesn't know, now she at least makes attempts at polite conversation. Older kids she used to avoid altogether, which makes me wonder whether she'd been bullied once or was just easily intimidated, now she actively seeks them out and engages them. But it's younger kids she likes chatting with most of all. She's even got a younger girl back in Mitakihara on her contacts list."

"That's good to hear," The lady smiled as she wrote down a few more notes. Then she noticed the time on her wall clock. "I wish we could make this chat go a bit longer, but given the time we still have, I'm going to need to dedicate the rest of it to talking with Yuma."

"I understand," Yachiyo nodded. "If you would like to speak with anyone else regarding my character or qualifications to be a guardian," She took out a list of phone numbers from her purse. "There's the number for my employer, my talent agency, some friends and associates and my college course professors."

"Thank you," She took the slip. "That's more than enough help. Now would you please send Yuma in here for me?"

"At once," Yachiyo got out of her seat and opened the door. "Yuma," She called down the hall. "It's your turn to come talk to the nice lady."

"'Kaaaay!" Yuma got up and trotted down the hall. "Are you sure she's older than me?" She tugged at Yachiyo and whispered a question about Felicia as they passed each other in the hall. "'She sure doesn't act like it!"

"Age is nothing more than a number that marks the passage of time. It's one's maturity level that matters," Yachiyo informed her. "And though I've been trying I haven't quite cracked the code as to exactly why she projects herself as being in such a stage of arrested development."

"Oh," Yuma gave a little nod of her head. "There was this boy in my class who was always going all wild and emotional like she does. And the teachers said it's 'cuz he's got some hyperactive brain and they would make him go up to the office and take a special pill every day for it that helped him focus better or something. You think she might have a problem like it?"

"Hmmm. I don't know," It was an intriguing enough notion that it made Yachiyo consider it for a few seconds standing there. "Uh, you'd better hurry up and answer her questions now. I'll be right out here keeping Felicia occupied until you're all done." She pushed Yuma forward with an encouraging pat on her back. "It's alright, be honest. You can even talk about the midnight ice cream runs."

Homura knew better now than to so carelessly approach the door this time around. First she peeped through the three-paned window beside the frame, making sure there was nobody on their way out. Next she toed her way over to the doorbell and gave it a ring. The funny thing was, she distinctly remembered that in the past, the front door to Madoka's house opened inwards. Of all the micro-changes and differences she ever managed to take note of between the timelines, there was no detail singularly more inane than the movement direction of that stupid front door. And she'd been to Madoka's house often enough that she should have figured she'd noticed that dumb little difference sooner. But alas. Had she been losing her edge, or did Kyoko's scream simply catch her with her pants down? Whatever the answer, she was all too eager to chalk that little embarrassment up as a bitter life lesson and move on.

"Who is it?" The door swung open and revealed the body of a thirty-something woman wearing full business attire. "Oh." Junko noticed exactly who was there to greet her family.

"Oh." Homura echoed the same sentiment. She had made sure to arrive at a time early enough in the day that she assumed Junko would still be at work. "I thought you'd be at work right now." She broke the awkward moment's silent tension with a question directly addressing the matter.

"It's not strictly-speaking a nine-to-five shift job," Junko answered. "I haul ass whenever I'm paged."

"I see," Homura replied. An awkward silence fell between the two of them as Homura took a slow, deliberate step into Junko's domestic domain. "Is Madoka upstairs?" She asked as she tried to pass the woman by.

"Yes. She is," Junko kept eye contact while Homura shuffled her way in. "But she's with Sayaka's cousin right now, getting ready for their date tonight." But before Homura could make a clean getaway, Junko spit out a follow-up query. "How's that bump on your head doin'?"

"It's fine," Homura responded bluntly. "Don't worry about it."

"Do you mind if I take a look anyway?" Junko's request stopped Homura in her tracks. "Please?"

"I-" Homura paused. Was she really going to deny a polite request? If she did, she feared this woman might think she had something else to hide. And try to pry it out of her. "Guess. That'd be okay."

"Oh, wow!" With her hand she brushed back the front of Homura's hair and made a small surprised gasp. "That healed up real nice, didn't it? Not a mark, not a scratch, nor even a bump."

"Yeah." Homura tried to pull away and book for Madoka's room, but Junko wasn't allowing her.

"That's great!" Junko exclaimed, noting Homura's growing discomfort. "Just great," But she wasn't about to let this girl move on past her. At least not without an owed apology first. "Look, kiddo. I asked for your opinion and you gave it to me straight. So what, in the process you let slip an all-too-personal secret. Blabbing a secret is a common enough faux-paus that you've nothing to be embarrassed about. Just means you're human." Then she offered up an olive branch. "If you would rather I forget that you said anything, then consider it as good as done."

"I appreciate the offer, but," Homura uttered. "Pretending I didn't say anything is not going to change that I did. It's just going to lead to an air of unspoken tension between us that Madoka is no doubt going to notice."

"Does she at least know that fact about you already?"

"She does," Homura breathed. "It's not that I go out of my way to hide such intimate details of my life," She clarified. "It's that certain bad experiences in the past have taught me not to volunteer any sort of information that would make me seem more vulnerable and open to exploitation by peers."

"Bullied a lot at your old school, huh?" Junko intuited.

"Yes." Homura answered succinctly. She winced. Another secret, not-so-voluntarily exposed. "I guess in hindsight my bad reaction stemmed more from the surprise and embarrassment of allowing my defenses to slip, rather than concern you might do or think anything unfavorable with that information."

"Well of course I would never make any judgment or think less of you, knowing that you lack a family," Junko exclaimed. "Look, what I was trying to do from the get-go was get to know my daughter's other friends a little better. That's all." She walked across the kitchen and over to a cookie jar on the counter and took out a couple. "As I've become aware that she's transitioning from a phase of her life where she wants me to be a part of it as much as I can be, into a period where she wants me to be a part of it as little as possible. Otherwise known as growing up and becoming a young adult." She offered them to Homura, another olive branch. "But before I step outta the way I wanna to learn whatever much I can about the people to whom I would be relinquishing her, so to speak."

"I guess I'm flattered that you think my brain would be interesting enough to pick," Homura accepted her cookie offer. "But wouldn't Kyosuke Kamijo be a more logical choice to get to know better? Him being Madoka's boyfriend and all?"

"Ooooh, he'll get his turn. In due time," As Homura reached out to take the cookie Junko noticed that the skin on her hand was several shades darker than the skin on her face. "That is, if their relationship hits a point where it's serious enough for the parents to do their traditional meet and greets." Not that being pale-faced was a huge impediment to this young lady's attractiveness. Junko finally saw up close what a beautiful girl she truly was, with long-flowing hair that fittingly framed her symmetrical face, a gently sloping nose, dainty lips and dark, enchanting eyes. She reminded Junko of those perfect avatars of femininity she used to envy so much way back when she was the tomboy of middle school, even the bags underneath those eyes which on the surface suggested a lack of sleep, somehow served to compliment their overall mystique. "And speaking of the age-ol' song and dance that goes on between the boys and girls," Although she possessed such coveted traits they were also rather unpolished, like a rough cut diamond in need of refinement. "Have you ever tried putting on any makeup or cosmetics before?" Junko suspected this girl had never once tried out putting on any makeup, and without a grownup in her life with which to observe and learn the ritual, had probably not even considered the idea.

"No," Homura replied, confirming Junko's hunch. "I've never seen the point of such things. Seems rather vain to me." Precisely the answer Junko expected to hear, word for word. With it she sensed another opportunity to earn this girl's trust and confidence and do so from within a realm that was at least somewhat her specialty.

"Well now," Junko started explaining with a smile and a deep breath. "I'm sure what might seem to you like a dumb exercise in vanity is in fact just as much a prerequisite for a woman to function in our modern society as things like washing our hair, brushing our teeth or putting on clean clothes." Although the girl didn't betray her train of thought on her face too obviously, Junko could recognize that Homura wasn't buying her pitch. "Yeah, I'll grant that it sucks our society right now is so superficial as to judge a female and her overall desirability by her looks, and I hold out hope for that to one day change, until that time comes I think it's crucial that we present the best possible version of ourselves to the world out there every single day. And one of the big ways we do that, a way we show that we care about ourselves and the world around us enough to participate, is by putting on a little makeup before we head out there everyday."

"Sounds too exhausting. And I don't really care about society," Homura retorted, nibbling on the cookie. "I barely care about myself as it is." It was a response that was fairly typical of a moody and under-socialized teenager. It was also a response for which Junko had a good counter argument so she believed.

"Even so, you should at least pretend that you do."

"Why?" She took a bigger bite of her snack.

"Because life is tough, and it only gets tougher once you enter the real world and the stakes get way higher." She argued. "So if you just go through your youth being mentally disengaged and treating it all like life's just some chore that's to be endured, believing in nothing, caring about nothing, standing up for no one, making no commitments, well once adult life kicks in you'll wind up in a situation where your future gets shaped more and more by circumstance than by choice. And of all the people I've met who have allowed themselves to end up that way, I can tell you that not a single solitary one of them are happy with their place in the world."

"So…" Homura tilted her head to the left a bit. "In order to find happiness, I have to first pretend to look like I care about how I look?"

"Basically," Junko affirmed. "Yeah. If you pretend to care about something as unimportant as looks now, then down the line you'll be in a much better position to care about something that really is important, whatever that thing might be."

"Hmmm," Homura was wavering, but in the right direction.

"C'mon!" Junko winked. "Some eyeliner, a little blush, dash of perfume, try wearing some for the rest of the evening and see what it might do for your self-image and confidence."

"I don't know." She still needed one more push.

"I remember you complimenting Sayaka's cousin on the way she looked," Junko recounted. "If makeup can do such wonders on someone as flamingly un-girly as her, imagine what it could accomplish for a natural beauty like you!"

"I was just being polite to her," Homura insisted as she took the third bite. Although in retrospect, Madoka's makeup job on Kyoko did serve to highlight a few of the things Homura always found attractive about the girl, at least at the physical level. "Promise you won't go as overboard with it on me as Madoka did to her?" That sentence was the sound of her acquiescence. "I mean, it's not like I'm going to be trying to impress anyone tonight." Was she really about to let this woman give her a makeover? "Myself included."

"Oh, yeah! I promise!" Junko said with a bit of a delighted, girlish squeal. "Trust me, you don't need anything near the extensive work she got. You just need something that's gonna highlight your pristine gorgeousness."

"Alright," Homura felt herself being tugged along by the hand and led towards the downstairs bathroom before she even finished granting consent. "Fine."

"Splendid!" Throughout all the timelines, whatever the Madoka, she was always this kind, curious, persistent, insistent sort of girl who was prone to bouts of giddy giggling and frivolous diversions. She was always telling Homura that she was much prettier than she appeared, always pushing her to come out of her shell just a little bit more each time. Here this afternoon, as Homura finished her treat, she finally understood where she got those traits.

"Look out!" Princess Sana warned Hitomi of the impending wave of blue energy projectiles hailing down from above.

"Thank you," Hitomi called back as she took cover underneath Sana's makeshift shield barrier.

"It appears as if they are attempting to split us up and box us in," Her good friend Saya, meanwhile, had been paired with a new player, a preteen mage with light brown hair and soft purple eyes. Atop her head rested a black academic cap with a golden tassel, while her hair was braided down the front into two short tails with extra bobs that jutted out beside them like a pair of big, floppy puppy ears. On her body she wore a medium-length yellow dress with golden infinity sign-embroidered patterns against white down the center. Her legs were covered with beige, shin-high boots and long, black stockings. Along her arms were reddish brown sleeves that stretched from her upper arm down to her wrists before frilling outward from her hands. Last, She donned a long, black purple cape which flapped in the furious winds of her enchantment spells.

"The goats on the prairieland! Cast a spell that can remake them into fellow guardians!" Saya implored the young mage.

"Alright!" With an experienced rhythm she wrote several characters in the air with her right index finger. The Japanese text materialized and took off into the air, fell to the ground and engulfed an entire trip of goats grazing nearby. Scant seconds after, the innocuous digital animals were reborn as humanoid figures in medieval knight armor with skeletal goat heads. They marched forwards and broke their way through the ghostly entities swelling forth.

"Eeeeeeelite! Eeeeeeeelite! Eeeeeeeeeeelite!" Moaned the ghoulish enemies as they struck back against the girls' newly-minted counterforce.

"Why would they be saying that?" Questioned Hitomi. She swooped the princess up in her arms and rushed over to meet up with her comrades.

"It's supposed to be the rallying cry of their elite shock troopers!" The new girl with Saya speculated.

"Oh, those poor animals!" Sana bemoaned the fate of her furry denizens slain at the hands of the attacking army.

"At least they are buying the four of us some time to regroup and think," Saya turned towards her friends. "And watch what they do."

"Eeeeeeelite! Eeeeeeelite! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeelite!" They watched with both fright and fascination as one of their foes grabbed a hapless goat knight up by the neck and punched its ethereal arm right through its armor. The puncture revealed the unique computer code the character was composed of inside. "Eeeeeeeeeelite!" It twisted its arm clockwise in a way that looked to the girls like it was corrupting the code from within. It then removed its arm and tossed the defeated friend aside, where it flickered in flashes of light and fritzed into nothingness.

"I think obviously it can only end badly if we try to drive them back one at a time," Hitomi observed. "What we're going to need is another all out attack that will strike them down all at once."

"They are spread too far apart now for us to be able to corral them into a single place the way we did that first time," Saya assessed. "But what if we could bait them? Gave them a distraction so all-consuming that they would have to drop whatever they were doing and tackle it as one force?"

"Might you be able to change me into something bigger, the way you did to those goats?" Hitomi asked the new mage.

"Uhmmm… I think so," The young lady replied. "It's a basic enlargement spell. But with the amount of magic I have to spare, the effect will only be able to last for a few seconds."

"Once they make their charge at Hitomi I will hail a barrage of swords and take them out as fast as I can!" Saya strategized. "But even that may not be enough to quickly take them out in time." She turned and gazed into the Princess's big, bashful baby green eyes. "I know your magic is primarily defensive, but we are going to need your offensive assistance in this effort."

"I'll do what I can!" Sana nodded.

"All right then!" Saya pumped her fist. "Time to rally!" Hitomi took off in a full-legged run. The mage opened a spell book and drew some more Japanese characters in the air. The characters encircled Hitomi and with a great white flash her body grew to massive proportions. Over the opposing army she lingered like a goddess, her hair and sleeves flapping freely in the wind.

"Eeeeeeelite! Eeeeeeeeelite!" Eeeeeeeeeelite!" The spectacle was impressive enough to get their attention all at once. They made a ninety degree turn in unison and marched towards the apparent source of the apparition looming above them on the horizon.

"They're coming together!" Saya positioned herself. "Sana! Now!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Sana made a timid grunt. She ducked behind her shield as it duplicated into twelve more and the striped green section on the front opened like a door. From its netherspace a barrage of spiked balls were ejected into the sky.

"Huuuuuuuuuuuup!" Saya did her own part, conjuring dozens upon dozens of swords and hurling them at the distracted enemies.

"Eeeeli-" "Eeeeee-" "Eeeel-" Eeeelllli-" Down they phantasmic creatures went, impaled and impacted to smithereens by their combined barrage of spikes and blade. Within the span of a few seconds the entire army was gone, dissolved into particles of virtual dust.

"We did it!" Hitomi exclaimed as she ran back towards them.

"A most impressive display of teamwork," The new girl congratulated.

"My kingdom has been made safe again for now," Sana clasped her hands and bowed. "Thank you all so much."

"Hitomi, this is Nemu," Now that they had the time, Saya gave the mage a formal introduction. "She was that book club president I told you about."

"Is that right?" Hitomi turned to the girl and bowed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hitomi Shizuki."

"Nemu," The little mage folded up the big book in her hands. "Nemu Hiiragi." She returned a bow. "I'm sorry I can't be there to formally greet you in person."

"Nemu currently inhabits a hospital bed that is located in another city," Saya informed Hitomi. "She attends classes at our academy remotely, and not long ago her hospital acquired the game's virtual headset and interface so she could keep herself entertained."

"It wasn't just so that I could play the game on my own time," Nemu corrected. "You see, in spite of how young I look, I'm actually a published author of a number of books and short stories across all sorts of different genres and formats." She waved over a nearby sheep and started stroking its wool. "So the game's publisher consulted me on helping to establish some of the character backstories and lore. And that is how I got to have my own personal game setup."

"How old are you?" Hitomi asked.

"Eleven," Nemu responded. "Wait... Actually, I think my birthday passed a few days ago."

"Yet despite already being the Book club president, and being unable to personally attend class, Nemu has been looking to expand her already lengthy résumé. So as the duly designated Heroes Club president, I am making her an honorary member as well." Saya said.

"So does featuring someone who can't come to class count towards our membership quota?" Hitomi questioned.

"After some discussion with the Student Council, they decided that she could," Saya answered. "But it is contingent on us finding a third member who actually can show up and aid other clubs in a pinch."

"It's too bad we can't initiate Sana," Hitomi lamented. "You were a big help in making that final attack a success," She took Sana by the hands and bowed. "Thank you, fellow hero."

Sana stood there for a few moments as if the algorithm were taking its time to process Hitomi's gratitude. "You are most welcome." She finally spoke. "But I fear that this victory is only temporary, and soon a new siege by the Ghostly Invaders will begin."

"I wish I could remain here and keep watch for the next round," Hitomi sighed. "But I can't. If I've been playing for even half as long as I worry, then it's going to take another dead sprint for me to make it home before my parents." Her hands motioned towards her face, signaling that she was about to take off her headset and sign off. "See you at school tomorrow, Saya."

"Bye-bye, Hitomi!" Saya waved back as Hitomi poofed into a cloud of pixels. She gestured her own goodbye wave to the other two girls in the game. "Bye-bye, you two. Stay strong."

"Thank you for protecting my kingdom!" Princess Sana waved back.

"See you tomorrow!" Nemu did the same.

Moments after Hitomi and Saya left, the princess's body erupted into a bright flash of green. Her clothing changed into that of a purple school uniform with two columns of two buttons around the waist, long light brown socks and a long-sleeved white undershirt with frills down the chest and a small, red tie around the neck.

"Sana, let me see your Soul Gem for a second, okay?" Nemu requested.

"Alright," Sana presented her egg-shaped jewel, one with a crown adorning the tip of the top and a shield on the emblem at the base. The particles of green shining and rippling at the center had gone cloudy and dark enough that Nemu immediately took steps to remedy.

"Do you think I should start announcing the names of these spells aloud when I cast them?" Nemu asked the Princess as she reopened her book and jotted down her next spell. "It's what they always seem to do in all the movies and manga and other media with magic I know of."

"Would your spells be more powerful if you did?" Sana queried back. The Japanese characters swirled around her gem and settled inside, where they went to work diluting the blackness and brightening the greens. "If not, then it sounds a little unnecessary."

"You're probably right about that." Nemu closed her book.

"How many more times can you keep boosting my Soul Gem?" Sana probed, a budding look of concern slowly built on her expression.

"I'm not sure," Nemu replied. "I can only hope we accomplish our mission before we'll have to find out."