I looked around, and everything was normal. Even when the sun had almost set, several people were passing by left and right. Students, businessmen, families, all kinds of people were around us. All these people were going on with their everyday lives as usual.

And not a single person has realized that just two hours ago, a 40 meter beetle and dragon had fought in the middle of this city.

"I gotta say, the Kagero units really outdone themselves."

I was right next to the building that collapsed, when Master beetle was sent flying and crashed into it. I saw it collapse, but now it was standing without a scratch like nothing has happened.

So was everything. All the destruction that was caused from the fight had been restored. From broken pavements to demolished buildings, all the evidence and trace of what really happened today was gone.

"You betcha! Ain't no clan have better handiwork than us Kagero!"

"I'm sure all the people back there are surprised how new their house and stuff look~"

"Haha, I could already see their shocked faces! All the troops restored that mess perfectly, but our dragon dancers especially have done wonders today! I'm telling you, there would be nothing left if it weren't for those guys!"

Chain blast said proudly like a parent bragging about their kids. However, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor dragon maidens that had to clean up the colossal mess whenever the dragon units fight. Being on clean up duty after school seemed like a joke compared to that. But thanks to them, today's news are NOT going to be about a citywide panic.

In my head I tipped my metaphorical hat to them. For both pity and thanks for their services. But somehow that didn't seem to be the case for the mind of our hard workers. as the dragon dancers that rebuild the city, appeared in hollow spiritual form to have a word.

[You have no idea how happy we are to be a member of Kagero! Everything breaks all the time, which means we always have work! Do you know how INSUFFERABLE it is to sit on your ass doing nothing?! We can't stand slacking off! Our boiling energy, our flaming passion inside won't accept that! Why do nothing when you can do anything! That's our motto! Ain't that right girls?]

[HELL YEAH!]

[You go girl! I mean, Monica senpai!]

"Hahaha! And we're proud to have you guys on our clan!"

Okay, new Cray facts of the day. Kagero's dragon dancers are all serious workaholics. It's almost scary how into it they are. But hey, whatever makes them happy I guess.

Thanks to their passion for work, Kagero units made absolutely sure to leave no place unchecked. When the barrier that Master beetle set to exclude humans had faded, hundreds of people suddenly appeared around us at the exact place they were there before they vanished. But since everything was rebuilt exactly the way it was, the reappeared people just went on like they used to.

Of course, a lot of those people were quite confused that two hours had already passed, when to them a mere second had passed after they reappeared.

"We can rebuild almost anything, but unfortunately not time~ I hope the students that we saw before don't get scolded too much from their parents~"

"Come on, Kuran, It's not like we're god like beings or anything. Time ain't something we can control. I mean, technically we do, since lord Nouvelle vague exists but we don't have him with us now, do we? Still, we give one heck of a story for the news! What was this called in the internet again? 'The crooked time phenomenon'?"

"Yeah~ That's the one~"

"Whoa! Wait! What? The crooked time phenomenon?!"

Chihiri's yelled in surprise as she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She quickly turned her whole body towards Chain blast to ask him one more time. For some reason her eyes were filled with shock and joy, as if she found an unexpected treasure.

"You know something Chihiri?"

"Are you kidding? The crooked time phenomenon! That's like one of the most famous urban legends around! I always thought it was real and now I KNOW it's true! Haha! Take that freaking critics!"

"Well now you know~ Good for you Chihiri san!~"

"If you're interested in that kind of story, I got some that might interest you. Care to listen?"

"Oh baby, do I!"

"Hey!"

"What? Ow!"

Before I could warn her, Chihiri bumped the back of her head at a stop sign standing in front of her. She covered her head while trying her best to not show a tear. All the joy that was on Chihiri's face turned into pain and irritation.

"Fucking... stop sign! That freaking hurt!"

"You okay?"

"Well I ain't gonna die, unless this turns into a stroke ten years from now."

The back of her head had swollen a little a bit, but besides that it was just a slight bump to the head. Chihiri herself didn't seem to mind as she kept walking. Although she did grumble a lot while rubbing her new bump. And where were we going, you ask?

A few minutes ago, after we sorted out things with Kuran, she asked us if we could spare some time to see her friend at their so called 'secret hideout'. At first me and Chihiri were skeptical, since it was already past six o'clock. WAY past the time when our school ended. But then she told us that her friend was also a pioneer, and that made us think.

This person was Kuran's friend, which also meant this was our ally as well. But there's no telling that he/she would kindly accept us as well as Kuran did. For all I know, this friend of her's was a pioneer, who held at least as much power as Kuran does. Which meant if he/she was hostile to us, Kuran's friend was more than capable of getting rid of us in a blink of an eye. Worse case scenario was Kuran's friend persuading her to call off our alliance, and then the two of them taking us out to not leave any bad ends behind. Sure, I might be thinking too much here, but it's better to be prepared than to be caught by surprise.

So naturally, the two of us decided to follow Kuran and meet this friend of her's. It was a great opportunity to know this person and to introduce ourselves personally. I fully believe Kuran would say good things about us, but it seemed better to do it ourselves instead of leaving it to Kuran. Moreover, I think that seems more polite.

And with that, we were on our way to Kuran's secret hideout.

"You might want to put some ice before you sleep, Chihiri san~ It's gonna swell up if you don't~"

"Ah, I think it's too late, Kuran. Ha! Look at lil bumpy coming out to play."

"Not funny, Chain blast! How would you like it if I laugh when you have a bump on your head!"

"Trust me Chihiri, you need to drop at LEAST a mountain or a big ass bomb to hurt me. Tell you what. If you ever see me with a bump on my head, you can laugh at me all you want."

"DEAL!"

Chain blast stopped smiling as he saw Chihiri in a confused look. Chain blast knew and Chihiri knew what their talk meant. However Chain blast understood this as a simple joke, when Chihiri saw this as a challenge.

And from what I know about Chihiri, she always get what she wants. Even if it seems impossible.

"Wait, what? You serious? Kuran, is she serious?"

"Don't look at me~ You're the one who promised her~"

"Chain blast! You and I have a deal! And as two gentlemen, we make an agreement with the gentlemen's handshake while yelling HAZAH!"

"What the hell does 'hazah' mean... F, Fine! If you're taking this seriously, then I ain't backing down! You're on!"

""HAZAH!""

Gentlemen's agreement? More like idiot's agreement. It's only been a few hours since we first met, and Chihiri was already getting along with Chain blast and Kuran.

It's almost like Chihiri forgot that she's talking to a giant fire breathing dragon alien. Heck, I can't even believe that this red haired man in leather is a dragon. Despite the punk looking outfit, no matter where you look at Chain blast looked like a normal human.

There was no doubt that he was definitely the main focus of our group. First of all, Chain blast was tall. Like, REALLY tall. Almost reaching up to 190cm, and with a well built body full of muscles, some would believe he was a basketball player. Some of the people passing by stared at his outfit that screamed attention. Some looked because of his looks. Despite looking and wearing like a guy that would belong in a gang member, Chain blast was indeed good looking. I could see some girls mustering their courage in order to get his phone number.

While this is good and all(at least for Chain blast that is), all this attention didn't help since it actually made it more difficult for us to move. We, and I mean all of us actually had somewhere else to go.

My legs started to get tired, and I couldn't help but ask Kuran about our 'destination'.

"So uh, Kuran. You said your 'friend's' hideout is around here, right?"

"Yeah~ Since we're friends/allies now, it only makes sense you guys meet the rest of the team~ Of course I can't call it team, since the number of people are only two, which includes me~ Oh, and sorry for making you guys walk after all that. I'd teleport or fly us there, but it's best that we don't be seen using powers by other people."

"No, I agree. Besides it's a good opportunity to memorize the route to this place."

"Aw, I'm glad you think that way, Itou san~ Still, tell me whenever you feel exhausted~ I'll give you a piggy back ride~"

"Huh?! N, No no, it's fine!..."

I couldn't tell if Kuran was joking or not, when she suddenly bent her knees while looking back at me as if she actually meant it. Her reaction startled me and I had to quickly refuse. My pride as a man would never be the same if I let a little girl give me a piggy back ride. That's the day that I would weep manly tears.

"Hmm~ Is that so~ Alright~"

Nevertheless Kuran smiled and kept on walking. Before she fully turned her head away from me, for a second I saw Kuran's smile grow wider when seeing my face blush. It's not like Kuran was ill intended, and she was genuinely trying to help me. But my ears turned red in embarrassment when I realized I was played by a middle schooler.

After dealing with Chain blast, Chihiri soon tagged in on our conversation. Not looking remotely tired even after walking thirty minutes around Akihabara.

"Why don't you tell us more about your friend, Kuran? Is she hot? Please tell me she's a hot babe!"

"Ahaha~ I'll let you guys figure that out when we get there~"

"Oh, playing that game, huh? Well I'm sure she's terrific if she decided to live in this heaven(Akihabara)! Oh! Maybe she owns a card shop! Now that would make my day!"

"Chihiri, Kuran didn't even tell you if this person is a he or she yet. And don't get your hopes up that it's a card shop or something. The last thing I need is you rolling on the floor whining just because it wasn't as you hoped to be."

"Hey, let a man dream alright? Don't tell me YOU don't wish for a hot attractive shop owner waiting for your warm embrace."

"That's what YOU would want, dumbass. Mine's..."

I looked down at my hand, and the single card that I was holding. What I saw was not Amaterasu's smiling face. Not even her face, no less. She kneeled while turning her back against me, as if she was trying to avoid eye contact.

Amaterasu sat still like a statue inside the card's empty space. Not looking, not listening, not reacting to anything I would say. She could not even dare to look at me. My heart broke whenever I saw her like this. Seeing how I was reacting, Chihiri stopped joking around and left me alone. Even though she was a huge troublemaker, I was glad Chihiri understood what I was going through.

"Come on, Amaterasu... What happened to me wasn't your fault."

"..."

"...Can't you at least look at me?..."

"..."

This wasn't Amaterasu's fault. But Amaterasu was still blaming herself for what happened to me, no matter how many times I tell her that it wasn't. She just couldn't shake off the guilt towards me.

Why? Why would she take an honest mistake this seriously? It's not like I blame her or hold any grudges against her. I'm perfectly fine right now, but for some reason Amaterasu just wasn't okay with that. Was she taking this too seriously? Or was I the one NOT taking this seriously? I don't get what's the problem about this.

It's not like I'm her family, or someone important to her.

I mean, come on. We've only just met.

When my attempts seemed to be pointless, Chihiri approached me and asked in a concerned manner.

"Still no answers, huh?"

"Yeah... I just don't want her to worry anymore, that's all."

"You know if she doesn't want to talk maybe you should just leave her alone, Itou san~"

Kuran said that as she came to a halt. After that she took out a random card from her deck case and continued to talk.

"The units on these cards may still seem alien to you, but they're living thinking beings~ It's not like you don't know that, right Itou san?~"

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts!~ If Amaterasu doesn't want to talk it's best we should respect feelings~ How would you feel if Chihiri san kept bugging you after you guys had a huge fight?~ Pretty bad, right?~"

"Hey, why am I the example?"

"Oh, sorry~ I was trying to think of Itou san's friend, but I could only think of Chihiri san~ I'm sorry if you were offended~"

"But let's be real, Chihiri. Judging from what I heard from you and Itou, you definitely had that moments right?"

"...Point taken."

Unlike Kuran, Chain blast had seen right through Chihiri, leaving her lips closed shut.

"What I'm trying to say~ Is that this is something that Amaterasu should solve on her own, not us~"

"...You think so? But, I still think it's not good to leave her like this..."

Kuran's words made a good point, and yet it just didn't feel right to leave Amaterasu alone. I was the pioneer of Amaterasu's clan, so of course I needed to help her. But then, the one who I thought would have the least interest about this, Chain blast opened his mouth with a few things he wanted to say to me..

"Look, Itou. You might think you're helping Amaterasu, but you trying may make it a lot worse for her. There are some problems that only time could heal. And units like us are no different like you guys. If you want to help her, you need to first try to understand her. And if you do, just let Amaterasu sort this out on her own, okay?"

"Oh..."

Every one of Chain blast's words hit me like a bullet to my chest. Like he said, I might actually be pushing Amaterasu too hard just for my sake of helping her. I was ashamed of not trying to know Amaterasu's feelings sooner, even when I'm her pioneer.

At first I was surprised how Chain blast, a DRAGON could say such humane words. It's not like his words were different from anything what Kuran was saying. But seeing he was a completely different species, that came from a battle hardened clan. I thought he would be the last one to say such things. I guess some parts of me still feared Chain blast, because I was dead wrong to judge him. No matter how big, and scary he may look Chain blast was simply a good person, no, a dragon. And as a same unit from the same planet, it was obvious that he knew and cared what Amaterasu was going through.

I was embarrassed of my mistakes and my leftover prejudice. And, I was also thankful of Chain blast, the giant dragon with a more bigger heart who helped me realize my shortcomings.

"You're right... Amaterasu, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. If you're ready to talk, just know I'm always there for you."

"..."

Amaterasu still remained silent. I put her inside my pocket to give her privacy. It still bothered me but it's okay. If she doesn't want to talk then that's her own decision. The only thing I should do is respect her decision, and hope for the best. After all, what kind of master would I be if I couldn't understand my units?

"Oh, and Chain blast? Thanks."

"Please, you're a good guy, Itou. All I did was give you a little push. So don't get all gloomy, yeah?"

Chain blast responded with a warm smile. At that moment, I no longer felt fear for Chain blast.

"Now that we got that out of the way, let's keep on going!~"

"Yeah! Just you wait, big busty hot card shop owner!"

"Chihiri, THINK before you say that kind of shit! You're already making Kuran and Chain blast a member of the 'embarrassed to be with Chihiri' club!"

"Yay~ That makes the seventh club I joined~"

"You made a club out of that? Then what does that make you, Itou? You're friends with her, right?"

"I'M THE GODDAMN PRESIDENT! FROM DAY ONE!"

The rest of the way was loud(mostly by Chihiri) and troublesome(again, mostly from Chihiri). Yet somehow I quite liked it. Talking, joking, walking around with two new friends was the best time I could hope for. It made us forget all the hardships that we went through today.

It's a shame that Amaterasu didn't join us. But if I'm not mistaken, during our talks I could swear I heard a faint laughter inside my pocket.

I just hope that she changes her mind soon.

"Whoa."

"T, This is!..."

After fifteen minutes of walking we finally arrived. We stood right in front of the place where Kuran's 'friend' was staying. And out of all the places it could have been, this place was...

"A card shop..."

The moment we saw the shop's sign, the smile on Chihiri's face reached up all the way to her ears, while mine plummeted down on knowing what was awaiting me.

"Hey, Itou. You might want to check your phone. Cause I fucking CALLED it! Ha!"

Chihiri laughed right in front of my face. The insulting tone of her laughter broke my pride like glass getting shattered by a sledgehammer. I wanted to wipe that smile off Chihiri's face, but I was so dumbfounded how her dumb wish actually came true.

"Jeez, was a dumpling shop in Akihabara too much to ask for?!"

"Ha! Dumpling shop? Listen to yourself, man! But I guess that's the limit of how 'small minds' think, hmmm?~"

"Argh!... Alright! I was wrong! Happy?!"

"What? You mad, bro? Ya mad?~"

Chihiri just nourished in the fact that I was so wrong. I was the one who fired the shots first and now I'm paying dearly for it. If I don't except my defeat, that would just damage my pride even more. This was Chihiri's victory, for now. And I hope to god that time comes sooner, when I can call her wrong.

Never in my life, had an eight letter shop sign looked so hateful in my eyes.

"Still, 'Fighters'? What is this place?"

"You don't know? You? Chihiri? Didn't you always brag on about how you knew every single card shop in Akihabara?"

"I, I know! How can I miss a place like this? Hey Kuran, did this place open recently?"

"From what I know, this place has been here at least for a year~"

"Damn it! I didn't look hard enough!"

Chihiri scolded herself out of frustration. I raised my eyebrow at her reaction. I honestly believed that Chihiri actually knew every single card shop in this place. After having the 'pleasure' of going through a four hour tour she gave me around Nerdvana, I fully accepted her rightful claim as expert on card shops and being bat shit insane.

So seeing a card shop that was under her radar was genuinely surprising to me. Of course, the one who was most shocked was Chihiri herself. Unable to handle the truth, she fell to her knees in front of the shop as if the whole world had just ended. If only she reacted like this at her hopeless grades.

"Uh, is Chihiri san going to be alright?"

"Ignore her. She'll eventually find her own dumb way to get up."

"Wait, now that I know this place, I DO know every card shop! Haha! Nothing has changed!"

"See? And it only took five seconds."

"So, when are we going in?"

Chihiri casually rejoined us like nothing happened. Even as her friend for years, I'm still both astonished and confused of how she could just change her feelings like that in a heartbeat.

"Well~ Since this is your first time visiting here, I'll give you guys the honor of opening the doors~ It's easy as just simply touching the door handle~"

As if she was revealing a secret behind the curtains, Kuran pointed the card shop's two clear glass doors as dramatically as possible. Sure the glass and handles were pretty clean and all, but it was just a door.

"...You seem awfully excited for us to open this door, Kuran."

"Eager?~ Me?~ I don't know what you're talking about~"

For something as simple as opening a door, Kuran's tension was suspiciously high. It was obvious that she was planning something, probably something that had to do about this door. Since Kuran has a thing for pranks this probably was one of them. And despite her happy go lucky attitude, she showed absolutely no signs of what this prank might be.

'Heh, she ain't no Chihiri, but she's quite sneaky I'll give her that.'

My suspicions were still very clear. But it didn't look like Kuran was going to open the door for us, let alone the door itself if we just stand here. I was never a fan of walking into a blatant prank, but in this case I guess that's the only way.

"Alright, here goes nothing..."

"Don't worry about it, Itou! The almighty Chihiri sama is here for ya!"

Says the person who was hiding behind Chain blast. The moment I took a step closer to the door, Chihiri swiftly fled behind Chain blast as if a bomb was going to go off or something. Her encouragement really didn't help with easing my tension, when knowing that she left me in danger in a heartbeat. My best friend ladies and gentlemen. At least she was smart enough to hide behind Chain blast instead of Kuran.

'...Is there really a bomb of some sorts? N, No way...'

A person's imagination really was a fickle thing. All the fuss Chihiri made just amplified my doubts and fears even more. So much that the simple door handle looked like there was a high current running through them. Now it was even harder to touch this obviously rigged door.

'Thanks for nothing, dumbass!'

My own imagination got the best of me from opening the door. I know I said the door wasn't going to open itself, but now I kind of hoped that it would. When I stood there, constantly going back and forth about touching the door, Chihiri who was hiding far away from the door came right next to me while reaching out her hand to the door handle. I guess she's also cautious about this as I am since she didn't actually touch the handle, only leaving three centimeters away from the door to her hand.

"Geez, you're hopeless without Chihiri sama's help aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, who was the one that ran behind and took cover?"

"Come on, a best friend should forget his best friend's mistakes once in a whil- ow!"

I forgave her by flicking my finger on her forehead. Now that I know that I wasn't the only one who was going to suffer(?), I was more than ready to open the door.

"So... W, We're doing this together, all right? At the same time! Don't chicken out before you touch the handle, all right?!"

"Why do I get the feeling you're gonna be the one who's gonna do that?!"

"Whatever! On three! One! Two!"

I may have screwed myself for letting Chihiri to help. But it's too late to think that anyway. I calmed myself as Chihiri counted down the numbers. And when two was shouted from her mouth, we both placed our hands on each of the door handles and...

"Th-"

"I'm back~~~"

Kuran gleefully ran passed us and straight to the door, as the glass doors with handles 'automatically' opened side to side. Kuran knew. She definitely knew. Why else would she decide to move, right before we could count to three? Me and Chihiri reached our hands out with all our might to grab nothing, in a pose in which we slightly leaned forward, ultimately looking like two idiots that's trying to open an automatic door with our non existing physic powers.

"Chihiri, did you know that it was an automatic door?"

"I just saw the handles and thought it was a regular door."

"Yeah, me too."

"Haha, what a stupid door."

"Heheh, yeah it's pretty funny isn't it?"

We both chuckled to each other about how ridiculous this situation seemed. Trying desperately to forget the bitter truth by laughing.

Only problem is that it was hard to forget the fact that we were played like fools, by an automatic door no less. When we realized that our reason imploded.

'WHY ON EARTH WOULD AN AUTOMATIC DOOR HAVE HANDLES, HUH?!'

'THIS DOOR! THIS FUCKING DOOR! IF I FIGURE OUT WHO DESIGNED THIS DOOR, SO HELP ME GOD!'

We went into the card shop while swearing vengeance to the door's designer, whom dare played us like a fiddle. But after blowing off some steam by using every swear words we possibly knew inside our heads, we quickly felt ashamed about our mental defeat by the door, and almost wished we could just disappear into thin air right here and now. Soon we decided that's it's best to forget this. Me and Chihiri stood still and gently cleared out our throats as if nothing embarrassing has happened to us.

With a clear mind I took a quick glance around the shop's interior. It was a good, clean, decent shop. But from what I've imagined of what this place might be, this seemed well... underwhelming.

"This is a nice place. I guess you won't have to worry about anyone suspecting this place as your hideout."

"You're a little disappointing that there's nothing much here, right?~"

"Ahaha, was I that obvious?..."

For a special hideout, this place seemed more empty with only three people here(four if you include Chain blast). It may seem childish and pointless to some people, but I have high standards when it comes to hideouts. I adored hideouts since I was a kid, and it's still sort of a personal roman for me.

Oh, don't get me wrong. This was a pretty good card shop. But as something that's called a 'secret hideout', it was a little underwhelming for me. Seeing a place THIS empty with no people, I couldn't tell if this place actually held customers or wasn't in business at all. But to be fair, it's hard to expect customers still hanging around in a card shop after 7pm.

"I'm sorry. Honestly when I heard the word 'secret hideout', I thought it would be really cool and all. You know, hidden trap doors and such. But come to think about it, I don't know why I expected it to be cool, when the whole purpose of a hideout is to literally 'hide', 'out'."

"The fuck?! Are you kidding me, Itou? This is like, one of the best card shops that's out there! Definitely A class! No, a paradise class even!"

Unlike me, Chihiri was completely thrilled while she looked every nook and cranny of this shop. Her eyes had that particular glow, as if an explorer had just found the city of gold. Or that one time she found her long lost 10TB size hard drive, holding the most largest storage of diverse porn I have ever seen, affectionately labeled 'a map of the world'.

"This is it! My life is now complete!"

"Wow. Great job."

Chihiri yelled in pure happiness. I'd also be happy for this friend of mine if she valued life with actual goals, instead of card shops, otaku material and porn. Eh, scratch that last part.

We each saw different things from this place. According to Chihiri this card shop was a gold mine, and when I gave this place another look she was absolutely right.

First of all the shop was wide, more than enough to hold over forty people. Twenty plastic coated game tables, each handmade and exquisitely designed, along with two comfy chairs that you could sit hours in. The white tiles that covered the floor were spotless and smooth as finely cut marble, that I bet you can skate the floor with your socks on. There was the heater and air conditioner to maintain that perfect room temperature. There was even a snack stand and cooler with sodas and juice, in case some customers were feeling hungry.

And when I turned my head to the opposite side, there was a long display case of two kinds. One was filled with card game related goods(mostly starter decks or booster packs) and accessories(deck cases and card binders and etc). The other was a whole library of countless rare, high price vanguard cards. All the cards were lined up in perfect order, with LED lights built into the display case making it easy to find every card or enjoy the neat collection.

If someone came here not knowing anything about card games, I probably think they might mistake this place as a fancy cafe or something. In fact the whole place was unbelievably clean, it was almost like a well prepared set that I'd see in an advertisement. But something was bothering me. Kuran said this was the place where her pioneer 'friend' is. Well, we're here now but I can't see anyone else, let alone the owner of this shop.

"Uh, Kuran? Your friend IS here, right?"

"If you're finished admiring the shop I'd advise you'd all be quiet about it."

"Gah?!"

"Mother fu?!"

"Also, I don't take opinions."

An uninterested voice suddenly began to talk to us. When we heard the voice that didn't belong to any of us, me and Chihiri were scared out of our pants and immediately jumped back to the opposite direction where the voice came. Except Kuran and Chain blast, both of our faces turned pale white while shivers ran down through our spine. It took a lot of courage for us to turn back and face our fears.

The voice came from the place near the display case where the rare cards was. Which was the counter where it had neatly lined booster packs of all kinds of sets. And instead of a ghost, there was an actual human being sitting there. I wondered why I wasn't able to see this when I came in, only to realize this person was reading a really thick manga magazine that was big enough to hide someone's head. I still couldn't see this person's face but was able to see a few fingers grabbing the front and back cover of the standing magazine. But judging by the light voice, I can safely bet this person was a girl.

I felt bad if this person thought we ignored her when we came in, but honestly we really didn't realize it due to the thick magazine hiding her face. Out of shame I scratched my cheeks, while shuddering at the thought of us unintentionally ignoring every word she said. This was already making a bad first impression so I quickly apologized to her.

"I, I'm really sorry. We didn't realize that someone else was..."

While I was apologizing, the person at the counter stopped reading her magazine and placed it next to her to see me face to face. With the thick wall of pages gone, me and Chihiri finally got to see the face of our mysterious second ally. Just as I thought, the voice's owner was a girl. Her eyes that looked right at me were red and bright like rubies, which really stood out from her smooth white skin. She had long blonde hair, but she tied most of her hair backwards and rolled it up like a ball. Although she was sitting at the counter, I could see that she was pretty tall for a girl, maybe even matching mine.

Other then that... Oh, right. This onee san was goddamn beautiful.

"...h,here..."

"Nah, I don't mind. It ain't my hobby to take apologies for trivial things. Anyways... Hey, why the hell are you blushing? You sick or something?"

"Huh?..."

"Don't, blush. It freaks me the hell out."

The lady on the counter was already bad mouthing me the moment she saw me. But her disses weren't the focus on my mind right now. Not lying, my heart literally just skipped a beat when I saw her. For a second I wondered why a fashion model was in a card shop. I don't read woman's fashion magazines but if I did, I can bet that I'd see her in the front cover.

"OH, MY DEAR BEAUTY! I ASK OF YOU TO MARR!... O! Owww!"

I had the feeling of deja vu when I yanked both of Chihiri's ears at the same time. Even though I was blinded by beauty, I hadn't forgotten my sacred duty of kicking Chihiri's ass. Amaterasu was one too many to suffer from Chihiri's impure advances. I ain't about to see another poor soul suffer(more like very annoyed) because of her. But it appears that I didn't think this through, as the lady on the counter was suspiciously looking at ME. She doesn't know Chihiri's 'habits' when she's confronted with a hot chick and that it's my duty to kick her ass in case she does. Which means to her, I was the weird one here randomly pulling someone else's ears.

Oh god have I never wished the sweet embrace of death right now...

"Kuran, Who the hell are these guys? They don't seem like customers to me. Oh, and in case you ARE customers, then I apologize in advance. I'm really sorry."

She SAID that it's an apology, but it was the most laziest apology if I ever saw one. Her tone was dry as if she didn't care at all, and I don't know if she just bowed her head to us, or was dozing off. Seeing Kuran and the counter lady, I'm starting to have doubts about the sanity of being a pioneer. Meanwhile Kuran folded her arms, as a mischievous smile bloomed at her face at the counter lady's question.

"Fufufu!~ Then you've got to say 'welcome home, dear!', or else I ain't going to say anything!~"

"Uh huh. So, who are you guys?"

"Hey! No fair!~"

Onee san immediately turned her questions to us without hesitation. She was having none of Kuran's pranks, which made Kuran's ridiculously long cowlick to stand up furiously. Me and Chihiri were flustered when she suddenly called for us now. This was the first actual face to face conversation with this person, and I'm already having trouble calming myself down.

But one thing was certain. This lady on the counter was the only person inside the card shop 'Fighters'. Plus she also knew Kuran, which meant this was THE person.

The second pioneer that will be on our side.

Beauty of the card shop,[Fighters]! Yeah, 'beauty'... You'll know the meaning at the next episode.

Current Pioneers:

Itou Akasaka- Oracle think tank

Kuran Shiina- Kagero

?- ?