Mitsui Honoka

"Will you be friends with me?"

"Sure."

That was the first conversation I ever had with Shizuku. That was it. Incredibly short, but not all that surprising considering Shizuku's love for not talking. But still, I remember that moment so vividly even though it's been five years since then.

Thinking back on it, it really was strange how we even became friends and then managed to stay friends for so long.

You see, Shizuku and I are very different.

I'm extraverted. She's introverted. I tend to spend too little time thinking about things. She seems to always be thinking about things. I'm energetic. She can remain perfectly still for a very long time.

But somehow, we're perfect for each other.

Back in grade school, I had a lot of friends. But all of them were I guess what you could call "shallow friends." They were people that I would talk with, giggle with, and play with, but not much more.

Shizuku, however, clung to me. I don't think she had other friends, so she would spend a lot of time with me. It felt good to have someone cling to you like that.

I don't know how exactly to describe it. . .

. . . I guess since I don't have any siblings, I always felt lonely at home. I tried to surround myself with friends, but they don't give the same feeling a family does.

Yeah, that's it. From the beginning, Shizuku has always felt like my little sister, and it made me happy to be able to play the big sister.

I remember helping Shizuku learn how to talk with other girls without being awkward. That took a surprisingly long time. . . I sigh as I recall a particular incident in the past:

"All you have to do," I would say to her while looking at a group of girls talking amongst themselves, "is walk up to those girls and say hi! That's it!" Then I would push her forward towards them.

She slowly and carefully approached them, eerily resembling a predator approaching its prey. "Hi," she said to them.

"Hello, who are you?" They would reply.

". . .I don't know. . ." She would reply back. The girls would look at her weirdly and leave.

Shizuku would nonchalantly walk back to me, without the slightest indication of embarrassment. "What do you mean 'I don't know'? Just tell them your name or something," I jokingly scolded her.

"I forgot it. . ."

Surprisingly, that wasn't the first time she had forgotten her own name. I'm not sure how anyone can forget their own name, but somehow she managed.

I would say that Shizuku is quite helpless, and socially speaking she is, but in other aspects, she's far from it.

One time, I was getting pushed around by a group of mean boys, and Shizuku casually walked over and punched each one so hard that they fell on the ground. A few tried to fight back and she gave those foolish ones a beating. It was truly a sight to behold as a petite little girl smacks the shit out of boys twice her size.

Even though our relationship started with me simply helping her to be more social and normal, in recent years she's been helping me more than I help her.

Shizuku is not only strong physically, but she also has always been incredibly talented with magic. I never figured out where she learned all of her magic, but my bet is on private lessons.

Shizuku has very rich parents. Well. . . I'm only assuming because I don't know what they do. I've never been to Shizuku's house, but on the few occasions that I did see her parents, such as for parent-teacher conferences, they always dressed in expensive looking suits and dresses.

Thanks to her, my magical capabilities have grown substantially. To be honest, I probably wouldn't even be in First High if she didn't help me so much.

I wish there was something I could do to repay her. . .

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

An eraser smacks me straight in the forehead.

"Ow!" I wince, grabbing my forehead.

I look up to see Shizuku staring at me, "Are you daydreaming again? Focus please."

"Sorry. . ."

Classes for the day have just ended, but there is still a bit of time left before I need to go meet up with the rest of my team for the Nine Schools Competition. During this time, Shizuku is helping me figure out how to get better at capture the flag.

"From what I've seen in your past few practices, I think you are way too loud and bombastic with your magic."

"But that's the kind of magic I like." I frown, playing around with a colored ball between my fingers.

Ever since I was little, the type of magic that I've always been best at is pressure magic. So when I learned about colored balls that could explode into clouds of powder using pressure magic, I instantly knew that these were going to be my weapons of choice.

Each ball is about the size of a ping pong, filled with pressurized colored powder. I can use magic to exert an external pressure force on all sides of the ball which breaks the outer layer and releases the powder in a smoke cloud.

Shizuku sighs, "Yes, I'm well aware of that, but I want you to try incorporating some more subtle magic into your arsenal. Think of it as balancing out the explosiveness of your weapon."

"Okay, so what are you suggesting?"

"We can start with an easy one and work our way up. I want you to use wave magic to conceal your own footsteps. With this, you can silently sneak up on enemies before unleashing your powder grenades."

Shizuku takes my left hand and reaches for my CAD wristband. She types in a code and I can feel the magic starting to flow through me.

"There, now try jumping." I do just that, and to my surprise, not a single sound is made.

"So. . . my footsteps just stay soundless?"

"Well, there is a limited duration on the spell, and you can customize the length based on what code you input. This is an example of a spell that could not possibly exist without modern CADs. The spell outputs the perfect sound waves to cancel those made by your feet. The exact waves that it generates to do this would be too difficult for a human to calculate."

I finally stop myself from jumping and slide back into my chair next to Shizuku. "Okay, this seems simple enough. Now how am I supposed to utilize this in combat? And when?"

Shizuku starts drawing a diagram of a field on her school tablet. "Since you are playing offense, you will mostly be in the enemy territory trying to get past the defenders to get to the flag. You can activate this spell and hide your footsteps as you get close to them, so when you throw out your powder balls, your enemies will have less time to react."

I look up at the clock, "Alright then, I will try it today. I think we're out of time for now. I need to start heading out to practice."

I wave goodbye to my best friend as I rush towards the locker room to get changed for practice.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

"In today's practice," Juumonji senpai shouts at the five Freshman representatives for capture-the-flag, "we will have your offense face off against your defense. This lets you simulate how a real game will go without taking up the upperclassman team's time."

Juumonji waves his hand signaling for everyone to follow him as he heads towards a new arena location.

We walk for a while, until finally we reach a very tall fence with a locked gate.

Juumonji turns around and smiles, "Allow me to introduce you to First High's official capture-the-flag arena!"

He unlocks the gate and swings the door wide open, revealing a massive stadium behind it. Surrounding the stadium are rows upon rows of seats for spectators. And in the middle, a very complex battleground.

The arena itself has all sorts of terrain spread throughout, from grassland to forest to rocky hills. An artificial river flows across the middle of the field, marking the territories of the two teams. Spread throughout the arena are also stands with various weapons, from spears and swords, to pistols and rifles. Various rocks, blocks, and spheres in the arena are marked with tape.

My eyes dart around, taking in all of the cool features that the stadium has to offer, before quickly being interrupted by Juumonji's booming voice.

"At the Nine Schools Competition, you will be competing somewhere that looks a lot more like this rather than a plane forest. This is a spectator sport after all, so a large variety of weapons and tools are provided to you in order to make the battles more interesting. Today, we will only be using half of this field, since we are only doing attackers vs defenders. You may use any weapons you see on the stands, as well as any objects in the arena marked with orange tape, as these meet the NSC standards for safety."

I jump excitedly as Juumonji leads Tatsuya, Erika, Leo, Mizuki, and I to our starting positions. Leo gets positioned right next to the flag as the last defender, with Tatsuya and Mizuki in front of him to form a triangle. Erika and I, pretending to be the opposing team, start at the river that marks the midline of the arena.

As Juumonji walks away, Erika comes close to me. She immediately giggles seeing how jittery I am. "Calm down, you'll need this energy for the actual game. Now, we'll need a plan in order to get past three opponents."

"Well I hope you got one cause I did not think so far. . ."

Erika sighs, "I thought as much, but that's why we're practicing. I know you like to use your exploding balls, so I think if you make enough of a distraction and draw both Mizuki and Tatsuya, then I can get past Leo on my own."

I nod, "Okay, I'll try to do that!"

We hear a loud whistle go off, signaling that the match has begun. Erika and I both immediately turn our heads forward, with me running straight down the middle and Erika moving sneakily off to a side.

After running past a few trees, I look around and see both Tatsuya and Mizuki. Mizuki stands at the top of a rocky cliff looking down, while Tatsuya stands wide open in a grass field.

Now. . . how do I attract the attention of both of them?

I start off with my signature move, which is throwing a colored smoke bomb on top of myself to conceal my exact location. It also hides my actions, allowing me to quickly throw out multiple balls in a straight line towards the small forest where Leo and the flag are positioned.

Even though I myself cannot see while inside my smoke, I've practiced enough to know exactly when to activate my CAD and pressurize the balls, causing each one to form a smoke cloud. With the way that I've thrown them, the smoke clouds form a line that would allow me to run straight through, using the smoke line as a tunnel.

I hear Tatsuya shout, "Quick, Mizuki! Use your crystal eyes to find her!"

"I. . . I don't see her!" Mizuki shouts back. Hearing this, I can't help but grin. I'm sure that Mizuki is trying to find me within the line of smoke, but instead of running through it, I had instead activated Shizuku's silent footstep spell and then rolled out of my smoke behind some rocks where Mizuki couldn't see me.

Now that I've diverted Mizuki's gaze for a brief second, this gives me time to scale up the side of the cliff that Mizuki is standing on. I've always enjoyed physical activity, and all the exercising I do is paying off as I easily and swiftly reach the top.

"Mizuki! Behind you!" Tatsuya shouts, but he's too late. By the time Mizuki turns around, I am already charging at her at full speed.

I lunge myself at her and throw both of us flying off of the cliff. This probably isn't the safest thing to do, but I think that Mizuki can handle it.

With a thud, I hear Mizuki hitting the relatively soft grass below and I land shortly after. But my battle isn't over yet, because as soon as I look up, I see Tatsuya has already rushed past my line of smoke clouds that have by now started to dissipate. Far behind him, I see Erika quickly running through the grass field and into the forest where the flag is.

Looking back at Tatsuya, he uses his CAD to activate acceleration magic on nearby weapons, sending spears and swords hurling in my direction. I barely manage to dodge away from all of them, thanks once again to my athleticism.

Now for my final trick. The powder in my colorful balls has many special traits, and one of them is that they can be electrically charged. Since Tatsuya just ran through a smoke cloud of this powder, his body is covered with millions of these particles.

I reach for my CAD wristband and activate an electric spell, sending a charge through all of the powder covering Tatsuya. Of course, I use a very low voltage. I'm not trying to kill anyone here.

Tatsuya grunts in pain and falls to his knees.

I look over to see how Erika is doing. She appears to be dancing circles around Leo while holding the flag and running back towards the river. With her acceleration magic that allows herself to move at superhuman speeds, Leo is far too slow to catch her.

Not before long, Erika makes it back across the river as I help Mizuki back on her feet.

From the distance, I hear clapping. I look into the seats at the edge of the stadium and see Juumonji, Mayumi, and other classmates standing up and clapping. Among them I see Shizuku standing and clapping as well.

I can't help but to blush a little, then take a theatrical bow.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

Tatsuya, Mizuki, Leo, Erika, and I all walk back to the gate where Juumonji and Mayumi are waiting for us.

"Those were some clever tactics, Honoka!" Juumonji grins and gives me a thumbs up in approval.

"I also saw good team work from Mizuki and Tatsuya," Mayumi added, "You guys are starting to look quite promising as a team!"

As Juumonji and Mayumi continue to talk and discuss today's practice with the others, I notice Shizuku standing right outside the gate. She waves as she notices me looking at her.

I say my goodbyes and rush over to Shizuku.

"You watched the whole time?" I ask.

"Yep!"

"Did you see when I used your spell to conceal my footsteps?"

"I did. At first I was confused how Mizuki didn't know you were climbing the cliff that she was on, but then I realized what you did."

"I think I'm starting to understand what you mean by balancing subtle magic with my usual eye-catching magic."

"That's good," Shizuku smiles ever so faintly and ever so briefly. She rarely does such a thing and when I saw it, it made my heart warm up. "I'm glad you're always such a fast learner, because I have plenty of other tricks I want to teach you for the real event."

"I can't wait!"

Mibu Sayaka

All is quiet except for the whooshing of my shinai swings echoing through the empty gymnasium. The hour is late and all of the other students have gone home for the day already.

It has not even been a week since I defeated Kirihara in a magic duel and took his spot at the solo duel tournament at the Nine Schools Competition, yet already I'm training as if my life depends upon it.

This Nine Schools Competition is one of the very few opportunities I will ever have to show the world how strong I am, so in a sense, my life kinda does depend on it.

Suddenly, I hear the screech of the door sliding across the floor.

I turn, surprised to see Kirihara standing at the doorway.

"Are you going to tell me that this gym is occupied and I can't train here?" I ask abruptly, skipping over the normal greetings. I see no point in wasting my time with such formalities, especially for someone who probably despises me anyway.

I'm sure he still bears anger and resentment towards me for embarrassing him in front of the whole school.

Kirihara chuckles nervously, "Ah, no, it's not like that at all."

"Then what did you need?"

Kirihara sighs, "Look, let me just be straight with you. I've seen you practicing your moves all alone every single night here, working your ass off."

"And?"

"I was wrong for judging you when we first met. I think you'll be a great representative at the Nine Schools Competition for our school. And since you're representing all of our school, me included, I do want you to succeed."

My eyebrows raise, a bit shocked. That response catches me off guard. I relax my body a bit and lower my shinai from the upright position that I had been holding.

Kirihara continues, "I know you probably hate me for how I treated you before, which is why I've been reluctant to approach you, but I think you could really use a training partner. And I think I might be the best person to fill that role since most of the other students who are strong fighters are preparing to compete in the Nine Schools Competition themselves."

I could not have possibly imagined this is the direction this conversation would go. If I reject his offer, it would purely be for my pride. He seems to have set aside his pride to even propose this offer, so I guess I'll be willing to set aside mine as well. I could use a training partner, especially one that is much more familiar with magic duels than I.

"Very well then, if you insist, then I guess it would be rude of me to refuse," I reply.

Kirihara very politely bows. "Alright then, tomorrow after school, allow me to first show you what a real magic duel arena looks like."

With that, he exits the gymnasium, the door slowly shutting itself behind him. As soon as the door finally clicks shut all the way, I take a sigh of disbelief.

My mind subconsciously starts thinking about what malicious or devious plan he could potentially be pulling with his offer. But I quickly shake my head and resume my training. I shouldn't think this way. I'll be cautious, but I shouldn't suspect him without reason.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

The next day, after classes end, I wait for Kirihara at the front lobby as we had arranged. As I stand there just thinking to myself, I suddenly realize that I have no clue what the magic duel arena looks like.

But before I think too much more, I hear "I hope you haven't been waiting long." I look up to see Kirihara running over to me.

"It's okay."

"Well, follow me then."

We walk for a bit, past the various sports fields and the normal training rooms. I didn't even know this school's campus extended beyond these, since I've never needed to venture out. We finally arrive at a building that I've never seen before.

As Kirihara opens the door of the building, I pause, "Is that water that I hear?"

Kirihara's face lights up, "Oh yeah, just wait until you see it!"

I follow Kirihara in, and immediately in front of us is a large glass window, looking down into a gigantic underground pool.

The pool is subdivided into sections, with each section being about the size of a basketball court. Within the middle of each section floats a large circular platform. Surrounding the edges of each platform lay racks of weapons, blocks, and spheres.

I walk up close to the window panel and press my hands against it, looking down at all of the miniature battle arenas. Some of the platforms are already being used by other students. I can see the vice president Hattori Hanzou fighting with Tatsuya's sister, Miyuki.

Amazed, I say, "Woah, so these are what the real duel arenas look like?"

"That's right. They may look novel to you now, but this is in fact what a standard one-on-one magic duel arena always looks like. At the Nine Schools Competition, they will have arenas that are very similar, but the organizers are allowed to add or change elements of the arena to make the battles more entertaining. Each arena is required to be floating and surrounding by water, as well as having certain weapons and targetable objects that the contestants can use."

I feel Kirihara tug on me by the arm. "Well don't just stand there," he says, "I reserved one of the arenas for us to use. Go get dressed and I'll meet you on the ground floor.

I nod as Kirihara shows me where the girl's locker room is.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

After changing into my very traditional-looking Japanese robe that I use for training, I meet back up with Kirihara, who is wearing much more modern athletic attire.

"The arena that I reserved is right over there," Kirihara says, pointing to one of the subsections of the pool at a far corner.

Kirihara starts walking towards it and I follow closely behind. My eyes are glued on the other arenas where students are practicing against one another. Their platforms are shaking up and down, with water and weapons flying across the arena constantly.

I could also see the different combat styles of different students. For example, Hattori moved around a lot and constantly changed weapons, efficiently utilizing a large variety of very different weapons. On the other hand, his opponent, Miyuki, moved around far less, and used the provided weapons far less, instead opting to apply magic to the water and transform it into ice.

"Here we are," my train of thought is broken by Kirihara's voice. He hops from the edge of the pool to a platform, then signals for me to follow.

I jump onto the platform and I am immediately surprised at how stable it is. Watching the other students fight and shake their platform around so much, I assumed the platform was really flimsy and light. But no, it's quite heavy and sturdy. That must mean the other students are throwing around immense forces to move their platforms so much.

Kirihara starts walking towards a weapons rack near the edge of the platform. He says to me, "How about we start with an introduction of all the weapons and tools you have at your disposal?"

I hesitate for a second, "But I don't really want to use any of these weapons. I'm allowed to bring my own CAD katana, right? So I only want to use my own."

Kirihara nods slowly, "That's true, but you do have to realize that your opponent's priority number one is to separate you from your beloved weapon. So not being familiar with the provided weapons puts you at a huge disadvantage."

"Alright then, show me."

Kirihara looks around for a second before finding a good place to start explaining, "Let's start with this rack here. These are your long ancient melee weapons, like swords, spears and staves. Each one is equipped with it's own generic CAD. Actually all the weapons in this arena have CADs within them."

"What software are on these CADs? Tatsuya said he would prepare special sequences for me for this tournament."

"Is that so?" There is a hint of envy in Kirihara's voice. "That's actually no problem because your own custom software gets installed on all of the devices on your side of the arena before each battle. So any sequence that a generic CAD is capable of executing, you should be able to access it."

Kirihara quickly goes over the other weapon racks. They provide honestly every weapon imaginable. There's a rack for small daggers and throwing knives. Next to that are more modern weapons like pistols and rifles. Obviously the modern gun weapons don't shoot real bullets, they are functionally a CAD that shoots magic. Ancient weapons like swords and spears are able to compete with modern guns because as long as you put a CAD in it and it can activate magic sequences.

Another rack contains chains and whips. There are even unconventional weapons like gauntlets and . Next to those sits a big pile of boulders.

Kirihara explains, "These boulders are colored and look like they're made of plastic, but in reality they're quite heavy and hurt quite a lot if they hit you."

"So we're throwing rocks at each other now?" I ask, unamused.

"You scoff at them now, but just wait until you meet contestants who can control them effectively with magic. We'll see if you still mock these rocks then."

That concludes all of the items at the edges of the arena platform that is floating on water. The two halves of the arena are mirrored with the exact same equipment on both.

"Needless to say," Kirihara continues explaining, "all of the surrounding water is fair game to use, and even this platform itself is allowed to be manipulated. In fact, with enough force, it is possible to flip this platform over.

"So what happens if someone falls into the water?"

"Nothing really. The fight just continues."

I hesitate for a second thinking about that, frowning a little.

Kirihara activates his CAD and sends a sword and an axe from the weapon rack on his side of the arena flying into his hands. He turns around and shouts, "Let me show you something new! You ready to fight?"

I take out my own CAD katana and get into a fighting stance. He's about to fight me while dual wielding? Both the sword and the axe in his hands seem a bit too big to be dual wielded.

Kirihara smirks, "Let's begin!"

He immediately activates his CAD and then drops his axe, which hovers there in the air due to his spell. Now he grabs his sword with both hands and charges at me, lightning fast.

I activate my own acceleration spell because I know that Kirihara is moving way too fast to dodge or block normally.

I prepare myself to block his forward strike, but he instead slides behind me and then swings. I manage to react fast enough and block it still.

But just then, from the corner of my eye, I spot the axe that Kirihara had left behind hurling towards me. He must have activated a spell to accelerate it during the middle of his previous attack.

I thought I would be able to always catch him activating spells, but that is likely extremely difficult because skilled combatants will always mask their spell activations with an attack or other misdirection.

My katana is still locked against Kirihara's, so neither of my hands are free to deal with the axe. But pressing my sword against Kirihara's sword does allow me to balance one a single foot, freeing my other foot to swiftly high kick the axe. I time it perfectly so that I kick the handle and not the blade of the axe.

There's no way Kirihara could have expected my kick, as it takes an unusual amount of flexibility, which I have not shown to him until now. But he quickly adapts and releases his sword, jumping high into the air to catch his axe, then accelerating it downward very fast for a downward smash.

I manage to roll out of the way just in time, but I barely have time to get back on my feet before Kirihara's next strike. I block his axe, but he has his sword nearby to switch to.

I get it now. He doesn't have the two weapons in order to dual wield. He has them so he can freely and very quickly use both weapons to attack. His attacks are fast, forcing me to only block and no time to attack myself.

I am forced to slowly step back with each of his unending strikes, and before I know it, I'm at the edge of the arena. This is when Kirihara changes it up and uses his palm to push one forceful wall of pressurized air at me, knocking me into the water.

This might sound surprising, but I actually can't swim at all. I never really liked being in water, so I've avoided it.

As soon as my body hits the water I start to panic. I gasp for air but it's too late and water gets into my mouth and nose. I flail my arms, not really sure what to do with them nor have the mental capacity to think about it. I feel my body quickly sinking down into the water.

Suddenly, I feel arms wrap around me and I'm pulled out of the water by Kirihara. I lie on the arena platform coughing for quite a while before I'm able to feel fine again.

"So. . ." Kirihara finally speaks seeing that I've mostly recovered and stopped coughing, "You can't swim, huh?"

I sigh, "Embarrassing, isn't it? This is going to be a problem. I did not expect water to be such a big part of this fighting competition."

Kirihara nods slowly, "Yeah. But it makes sense. Japan is surrounded by water on all sides. Using water as a weapon is a pretty important part of Japan's identity."

"What should I do?" I look down, feeling a bit disappointed in myself.

"You're athletic and strong. I'm sure you'll be able to learn how to swim pretty fast. You just need some help. How about some swimming lessons?"

"There's not much time left before the Nine Schools Competition. You really think I'll be able to make it?"

"Err," Kirihara gives a weak smile of uncertainty, "We might need to make that swim lessons every day after school from now until the competition."

I squint my eyes a bit in determination. I've allowed my fears and self-doubt control me for long enough. No more. "Yeah, let's do it!"

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

The next day after school, I had a big mission ahead of me. Originally I was supposed to immediately start swim lessons with Kirihara, but only afterwards I realized that there was one glaring issue.

I didn't own a swimsuit.

Now I don't have any experience with looking good, much less sexy, in swimsuits, and I don't want to look terrible in the school pool where everyone can see me. I need someone to help me pick the right swimsuit, but the problem is I'm not really close to anyone at school.

Hmm. . . Tatsuya has a sister doesn't he? I know Tatsuya well enough. He also did agree to be my engineer for the Nine Schools Competition. Maybe it's not too awkward to ask him to get his sister to help me with this favor. . .

So now after my last class of the day ends, I quickly rush out to find Tatsuya. I'm sure I already went as fast as I could, but somehow, his sister was faster and was already standing in front of the door of his classroom to greet him as he walked out.

I'm so not used to walking up and talking to people, and certainly not used to asking for favors, but I'm out of time, so I brush aside the hesitation in my mind and walk towards them.

"Hey Tatsuya," I wave as I approach the siblings that were standing awfully close to each other.

Tatsuya raises a hand as his way of waving back.

"Hello, Sayaka. I hope your training for the Nine Schools Competition is going well. I am unfortunately not ready with your final CAD software yet. We might not get a chance to go over it until after the opening ceremony of the Nine Schools Competition."

I wave my hand back and forth, gesturing that it's no big deal. "Oh that, right, don't worry about it. I know you're busy preparing for the team capture the flag competition yourself."

"Mhm."

"Uh. . . I need to ask you for a favor. You see, I recently learned that being able to swim is a pretty important part of the 1v1 duels, so I'm going to be taking swimming lessons. . ."

Miyuki interrupts before I can finish, "With Kirihara?"

My eyebrows jump a little, "Ah! Yes. . ."

Tatsuya looks confused, "Weren't you two mortal enemies not that long ago?"

I scratch my cheek with my finger, feeling a bit awkward having to explain everything, "Yes, but we've put our differences behind us and he's helping me get stronger so that I can represent the school better in the competition. . . Anyway, back to the favor, I never swam before, so I need to buy a swimsuit. I don't want to buy the wrong one and look terrible, but I also don't trust my own fashion sense. . ."

Miyuki starts giggling, "There's no way you thought to ask my brother to pick a swimsuit for you!"

I can feel my face starting to turn red, but I keep myself together, "No, no, I was actually going to ask if you, Miyuki, could help me."

"Oh, me. . ." Miyuki first glances at his brother then looks back, "Of course, I'd be happy to help you!"

Miyuki grabs my hand and starts tugging me along, she happily says, "You're almost out of time before the Nine Schools Competition. I assume you'll need that swimsuit right away? Let's go now! Ohh it's been a while since I've gone swimsuit shopping! This is going to be fun!"

I smile while being pulled by Miyuki, who is basically skipping at this point. I'm so glad the Shiba siblings are so kind.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

"Don't you think these swimsuits are too revealing?" I ask, a bit scared of the answer I would receive. We had arrived at a clothing store in the middle of a busy mall.

Miyuki, standing in front of me, turns her head back and raises an eyebrow, "Isn't that the point?"

"I honestly just need something that doesn't look bad. I'm not trying to attract attention or anything."

Now Miyuki fully turns towards me. "What do you think about Kirihara?"

"Ah! Huh?" I was caught off guard.

But Miyuki simply continues, "I saw you two on the practice arena yesterday. I can tell he likes you. And now you're about to be wearing a swimsuit in front of him. You better have some idea about how you feel about him."

"You're sure?" I ask shyly.

"Oh? You don't believe me?"

"No, no. That's not what I mean! Maybe it's because I don't have any experience with boys. . . I am shocked, is all."

Miyuki turns back around and starts looking for a swimsuit again, "You don't have to believe me. Just walk up to him in a stunning swimsuit and ask him what he thinks of your outfit!"

I blush even harder thinking about a boy being attracted to my body. Am I really pretty enough?

I squint my eyes, determined to find out for sure.

* * * * * [SCENE CHANGE] * * * * *

The following day is my first swim lesson with Kirihara. After my last class, I walk over to the school's swimming pool. From a window I can see that Kirihara is already waiting for me.

I'm so scared and nervous, but at the same time I know I must do this. Miyuki chose a very bright red bikini for me. I go into the locker room and put it on. I feel almost naked wearing just the bikini. I'm very not used to it, but I have to trust that Miyuki picked a good one for me.

I stand just behind the door to enter the pool. My mind is simultaneously racing and also not thinking at all. I take a deep breath and stand up straighter. Miyuki said I had to walk with full confidence or else I'd look bad. So that's exactly what I'll do!

I finally push open the door and exit the locker room.

"Hi Kirihara," was all I could manage to say.

"So I reserved that lane over there for us. . ." He says before he turns to look at me.

"How. . . how do I look?"

He stares directly at my eyes, his face also turning a bit red. "You. . . look beautiful."

Oh my god! It's true! So he does like me! But then. . . how exactly do I feel about him?

? ? ?

The sky is pitch black, with only a slimmer of moonlight reflecting off of the endless sea. A woman, covering her entire body in dark clothing, hiding her face, waits at the edge of the shipping dock.

She looks around. All of the dock workers have long since gone home. She quickly checks her watch and then goes back to staring at the water.

The water suddenly stirs and the top of a submarine emerges beside the dock. The hatch door on the top of the submarine opens and a second woman climbs out.

This woman has long, dark violet hair, which contrasts greatly with her extremely pale skin. She wears a long black dress that lays gently over the very pronounced curves of her body.

The woman on the dock extends her hand and helps pull the pale lady onto the dock.

Softly, the first woman asks, "How did the negotiations go?"

"Not well," the violet hair woman sighs. "But that was to be expected. Those Great Asian Union monkeys have too much of an ego right now to have any common sense."

She pauses, glancing over and sensing the unease of the woman covered in black. "There's no need to worry. I took this opportunity to do a bit of reconnaissance. The GAU are gathering up their forces, preparing for an attack in the next few weeks. And when this full force attack of theirs inevitably fails, I can assure you they will come to me begging for help."

Seeing as the woman covered in black still looks unconvinced, violet hair woman continues, "Relax, Honami. Don't forget that there's the upcoming Nine Schools Competition. I don't anticipate the GAU's attack will be ready until after the competition ends, so you should enjoy watching the promising new generation of magic technicians while you still have the chance."

The violet hair woman starts to walk away from the water, and the woman covered in black quickly follows. The tip of the submarine sinks back into the dark waters and vanishes.

"I really hope you're right. A lot of our plans depend on this. . .

. . . Maya."