Niika's POV

Kazuma had taken me to a surf shop not to far from where I had been crying. After bringing me inside and making me sit down, he brought a towel out from somewhere in the back. He was looking at me calmly but seriously as he lightly dried me off. I debated with myself on whether or not I should talk to him. He did seem a little pissed while he stared at me, but he was doing something nice for me. I had to at least thank him.

"Nee, Kazuma-kun." I took his silence as an indication to continue speaking, "Arigatou." He froze. Once he regained his senses, he just nodded and looked away, removing the towel. Then there was a really awkward silence between us until Kazuma decided to speak to me.

"There was no one in town."

I looked up and sighed, "It didn't look like there was anyone else on the island at all. I couldn't even find my brother. I'm glad you're here, at least." I gave a small smile.

A light pink blush grazed Kazuma's face, "You're soaking wet. You should change. I don't want you, catching a cold."

Kazuma had found me a sweatshirt and some shorts as well. He seemed to know what he was doing. I went to the back where there was a changing booth. I quietly changed out of my current clothing and the stuff he gave to me on. Luckily, everything just about fit me. When I walked out Kazuma was hanging up his cell phone.

"I couldn't reach anyone. Not even that red-headed idiot."

"You call him that too, huh?"

"Cause that's what he is." As Kazuma shoved his cell in his pocket, I noticed something shining sticking out of it.

I run over to it, "Kawaii!" I squealed without controlling myself. Kazuma jumped in surprise, "Its so pretty!" It was a necklace, two drama masks appear in black stitching. I got up and sat down in front of him as he took it out of his pocket and stared at it.

"Huh, I thought I left that in my jacket at home." He says.

"Its beautiful. May I ask, where did you get it?" I ask him.

Kazuma put the necklace around his neck, "It was a gift. From my sister."

"I see. She must be very important to you, if you treasure something like that."

"She was."

"Was? Did something happen to her?" Kazuma suddenly silenced. I frowned. "Kazuma...You always get silent when you don't want to talk about something. And you're worse when Zero Time comes up." Kazuma gritted his teeth and looked away again. "Please tell me something..." When he didn't respond, I sighed.

"I'll make a deal with you." I looked at him confused. "If I tell you what happened to her, only if you tell me why were you crying."

"O-okay." I braced myself, "I was crying...because I thought I was alone. And I hate feeling like that. Its always been that way for me."

"But you have your brother. Arata right?"

"Yeah, he was the only one I had back then. " I thought back to that time, "He was always holding me because I cried a lot. But today, I saw no signs of him, and I got scared I guess." Kazuma silently stared at me. "What's that look for?"

"You're not with Crux..." He murmured but I could still hear.

"Huh? The Crux? Why would I be!? They kidnapped Wako! I hate those guys! They're mean, and they're always fighting us! Why would you think that I was with the Crux?" Kazuma was silent once again.

"There are a lot of people in the Crux, most of them are people we know. Its scary to think about, but its true. That's why you can never be to careful." Kazuma adjusted his vision so that his full attention was on me, "Niika, just how "in deep" are you?"

"In deep?" I questioned.

"In this star driver business, how much are you involved? How much do you know?" His sad eyes seemed pained. His voice oozed with concern for me. "Do you even know who exactly the Crux are?"

I really had to think. "I guess not. I do know its some kind of evil organization out to destroy Ginga Bishonen, but that's about it. I barely even know about my own mark." I answered honestly, but Kazuma still frowned. "I'm guessing, I have a lot to learn?"

"Listen Niika, please stay away from the Crux." Kazuma begged in a manner in which I had not see him use before. "You're right about them being evil, but you do not know anything about how dangerous the Crux can get." His tone was serious yet sad at the same time.

"Just how bad...are they?"

"Evil. They'll do whatever it takes to reach their goal." He looked down, "You see..." Kazuma trailed off.

"What? What is it? You can tell me." Kazuma scanned me carefully before continuing.

"My sister, was a member of the Crux."

There it was. The reason that Kazuma was so cold towards Zero Time. Why he looked at us with disgusts when ever the word cybody was mentioned. Kazuma despises the Crux as well as all cybodies.

As it turns out, his older sister, Shiina, was once a member of the Crux, possessing an artificial mark. He once idolized the Crux because he interpreted their goals as using the cybodies to help mankind prosper. Despite being a member, Kazuma's sister hid the fact he possessed a natural mark from them in order to keep him from getting involved for fear Kazuma might get hurt. He shortly after found out that she was ill only to be expanded upon to reveal that she had lost control of her first phase, which allowed her to read people's minds.

After a short time, she began to feel mentally overwhelmed, only hanging on for as long as she did for Kazuma. But one day in Zero Time, all of the pressure exploded all at once, causing her to become overwhelmed and kill herself, to 'stop the voices whispering in her head', right in front of Kazuma.

"I guess you could say I was traumatized by Shiina's death. She was one of the only people I had left. I still remember the last time she smiled at me." Kazuma paused for a second, "I blamed her cybody for giving her that cursed power and the Crux for giving her the cybody. From then on I started to hate all cybodies including the one I possessed."

"Ano, Alphonse right?"

Kazuma nodded and looked out the window to his right, "Upon realizing I could fight, I made it my life's goal to destroy all them in order to prevent something like my sister's death from happening ever again. There was once a time I thought that I found friends with the same goal as I, but it turned out they were Crux members too. I found it hard to trust anyone for while."

His emerald eyes flashed to meet mine when I put my hand over his, "Well, I'm happy...that you were able to trust me, with your story. I know, it must've been hard for you." His eyes sparkled with an emotion I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Its just..." Kazuma started, "You're so easy to talk to." He turned his head to the side pouting a bit, "And you seem to understand." I smiled lightly at his words.

"We've...I do kind of know how you feel. I have my problems with Zero Time as well." I grazed my hand over the mark on my chest, "But after talking to Sarina and meeting the others, I found out I wasn't the only one."

"I know that. But they, don't seem to take this as serious as I do." Kazuma started to cringe gaining an irritated face, "Especially..."

"Takuto?" I knew exactly who he was referring to, "Yeah. That's what I thought too. But he does, especially after Wako grilled him about it while he was joking around once. I think, that he...has his moments." Kazuma raises an eyebrow skeptically. "But I really think, talking to them helped me, and I think it'll help you too. Hanging with them makes you feel like, you're not alone." I smile lightly looking at my hands.

"Niika..." Kazuma looks down. "Alright. I-I'll try talking to them. That is, if we ever find them..."

I hugged him unexpectedly, "Arigatou, Kazu-kun!"

"Kazu-kun?"

"Hai! You don't mind if I call you that, do you?" I ask quietly almost into his neck because of how tight I hugged him. Kazuma blushed lightly again. He lightly placed his hand on my back returning the hug.

"Eii. Its fine."

ichimen someru hana wa

sora e to noboru hikari

ikuoku no ibukitachi

ima, sekai ga umare kawaru

A few minutes later, while Kazuma and I start to talk about other things, a voice rings in my head. But this time, its not Sakana-chan's...

"Wako?" It was her, I knew her voice. She was singing, it sounded really close by. I jump up and ran out the door before Kazuma could even blink. I stood around the front for a little while looking in all directions for her. Kazuma then followed me outside.

"Niika, what is it all of a sudden?" He asked me.

"This way!" I ran in the direction I thought she was in, Kazuma following in suit.

yawaraka na hi ni koboredasu tsubomi

madoromi no naka yorokobi wo ukete

Kazuma grabbed my arm when I started going in circles, "What are you looking for?"

"Wako. Can't you hear her?"

"No..." So I was the only one who could hear her sing? How is that possible?

"Its just like with Fish Girl..." I said quietly.

"Huh?" Kazuma questioned. I shook my head.

kitto dare mo ga hohoemi nagara

itsuka no jibun kasaneteiru ne

"There it is again! Are you sure you can't hear her?" I asked while we ran around again. We somehow ended up on the beach, which wasn't to far away from where we were.

"Yeah. Why would I hear someone I couldn't see?" Kazuma's eyes widened and then stopped me again, "Niika. You said you heard Wako right?" I nodded, "Then, do you...hear the maidens sing when there is danger? Is that your first phase?"

"My first phase? I never thought about it." Out of nowhere I felt a shock pulse through my brain. I would have to worry about my "first phase" later. Right now, we had to deal with a cybody, and it was heading our way.

mezametate no yuuki ni fureta

hajimari no asa ni niteru kara

"A cybody! What's it doing here!?" Kazuma furrowed his eyebrows as he glared at it. I could tell he wanted to fight it.

"Wait, Kazuma~" It was too late, he had already tried to apprivoise. But, even though his mark lit up, his cybody didn't appear and the light faded out.

"Nani!? What happened? Is this Zero Time...or what?"

"I don't know, but there's no need to fight it. Don't ask why but somehow, I can sense that it is weak and harmless. Fighting it would be a waste of time." I grabbed his hand, "Come on. I know Wako is around here somewhere, I can sense her too."

It wasn't long until we found her. But for some reason, I couldn't see her. "Wako!" Kazuma had led by the hand to where he saw Wako. But where he stopped, I couldn't see her, I saw Takuto.

"Niika? You were here too?" Right there things were weird, but I eventually figured out what was going on. Kazuma could see me and Wako, but not Takuto; I saw Takuto and Kazuma, but not Wako; Takuto could see Wako and I, but not Kazuma; Wako saw Takuto and Kazuma, but not me.

Once we all figured this out, we were very confused. But we all took each other's word for it just to make thing easier. Right then, the cybody found us again and was heading straight for us.

kokoro ga hodoketeiku

kisetsu ni machiawaseta

daichi ni ukabiagaru

komorebi no KONTORASUTO

"Niika," Kazuma tapped me, "Wako says that she knows of a cybody that can manifest illusions. All of this isn't real!"

"What?"

Kazuma explains further, "I know of this as well. It forms an illusionary landscape from the memories and desires of whoever's caught in its power."

"Memories and desires?" Takuto repeats probably hearing it from Wako. "So this is Zero Time. If it wasn't, the Cybody wouldn't be moving. That can only mean Tauburn is somewhere here. If that Cybody can create this scene, it can hide Tauburn from me; But he's definitely here." His mark started to glow, "Grandpa always used to say...The essential is invisible to the eyes. Keep in mind there's a lot of things you can't see. Tauburn IS here." He extended out a hand to me, "Niika grab my hand, and make sure Kazuma's behind me." Something made me let go of Kazuma's hand grab Takuto's, leaving Kazuma surprised. But who am I kidding, it was probably out of fear that the cybody would finally get to us and squash us!

After making sure Kazuma complied, Takuto gripped my hand, "Both of you, don't let go." His mark shined brighter. "APPRIVOISE!" Tauburn appeared and Takuto transformed, "Dazzling the stage! Galactic Pretty Boy! Tauburn!"

ichimen someru hana wa

sora e to noboru hikari

ikuoku no ibukitachi

ima, sekai ga umare kawaru

It was all quicker than usual. Even the battle. Because just after Tauburn appeared, the unknown cybody packed up its gear and disappeared. That's right.

THE CYBODY RETREATED.

"Well, that was a waste. One of the only times I get to transform." Takuto sighed as he appeared in a bubble like the rest of us were. We were finally able to see everyone.

"I only transformed once!" Kazuma shouted at him.

"Once is too many."

"What just happened?" I asks ignoring the boys.

Wako looks down, "What if~the desires that shaped this world...they were..."

"What if the desires that shaped this world with just you and me were mine, right?" The boys smirk and a strong force pulls us away from each other.

The next thing I know, I'm waking up to an alarm and my brother shaking my arm.

Kazuma's POV

"How do you feel, Tiger-chan?"

"What did I...Where am I?" Tiger says after slowly closing her eyes.

"The nurse's office. I was asked by the class prez to bring you here after you passed out while talking to her." I lied, "Nurse says it seems to be anemia."

"That's what happened? Is that so..." Tiger pondered, "Well if that's the case, thank you Kazuma-kun. I probably caused you a lot trouble."

"Don't worry about it." I say grabbing my bookbag and standing up, "I'm going to leave now, but I'll call the nurse in for you."

"Kazuma, you aren't so bad after all." I stared at her for a minute, then smiled lightly.

"No. I guess I'm not." I left with those words, receiving a glare from Keito as I walked by. I didn't care though.

I soon found myself at the door of the Night Flight Drama Club and walked inside. It seemed like they weren't meeting to today. No one was there, except for the person I needed to see, Sarina. She and I talked for a while. I explained to her about how I am with cybodies, but not the part about my sister or our connection to the Crux. I can only tell that to certain people, and right now, Niika's the only one I really trust. After awhile she eventually convinced me that joining them was the best option. So today, not only did I officially join the drama club, but I'm a full fledged Star Driver as well.

And so the adventure of life goes on.

MPK: Review Please! :3