Synopsis: Scene: alley. Panko figures out how to use Princess Kiss without all that icky "touching your mouth to things" business, heals up, asks questions, makes resolutions, and generally acts like a magical girl. Picky makes witty responses. Then she goes home.

Alone in an alley, Panko slumped against a wall to rest. The pain in her chest reminded her of her last spell, the one that Picky had cast before giving her her powers. Her costume blurred again, this time replacing the cat suit with her frog suit, and Panko named her spell, "Princess Kiss." Then she paused to think of how exactly she was supposed to kiss herself. She tried a peck on her hand, which gave her hand a pastel aquamarine glow. She traced the hand along her wound. The cut, blood, and grime disappeared as the light passed over it.

Now, Panko had time to think about what had happened. Or, she would, if a familiar pink animal wasn't descending from the roof above her. "So, since when do you not care about people seeing you in silly costumes, eh? I bet you're gonna make a couple blogs tonight."

"Shut up, Picky," Panko pouted, hugging her knees.

Picky landed next to her. "So, not very fun getting your butt handed to you, is it?"

"I... I was... it was scary, fighting him." Panko's voice was very measured and distant. "Not just when he hit me, but when I hit him, too. I was scared that I'd hurt him. I don't know, it's... he could have killed me, and for what? And what about these other people, are they going to try to kill me? And for what, Picky? Tell me, why is magic so important that we have to fight over it? Don't things work just fine without it?"

"So, you're asking that again. I'll give you the same answer as before; it doesn't matter what they're fighting about, it matters why you're fighting. You're fighting because they're going to hurt you if you don't. I guess you could lay down and die, if that--"

"I want to be stronger." Panko cut him off. "I'm sure they're scared when they fight, too. And I... if I'm strong enough, I can stop all this fighting, right? Then no one will have to be scared anymore, I guess." She sounded less confident as she ended.

"You want to be stronger?" He sounded amused, like a father who hears his knee-high son ask if he can mow the lawn, too. "That's good, Panko, I'm happy to hear it. At least now you're only scared when you fight, and not fighting because you're scared." He chuckled to himself. "That was pretty clever, I should write that down." Panko was watching him, like she was waiting for him to say something else. "Erm, right, so, we'll get on that soon-ish. For now, I guess you can just go home. You've done enough today. Sayonara."

Panko was alone again. She got up gingerly, trying to avoid aggravating her cut. Then she remembered it was gone. She tapped her wrist, and the little girl in the frog suit was replaced by a teenager in her pajamas. She would have to remember to put on proper clothes before transforming next time. Embarrassed, Panko left the alley and made her way home.

Sighing, Alex let the image in his grandmother's hand mirror collapse with a wave of his hand. Another phantom zone. That was like, the fifth today? He couldn't remember. The scrying had left him with a splitting headache and precious little information.

That will do. Miranda murmured coming in for a soft landing on the couch back. The dove's amber eyes went to the mirror, They certainly aren't wasting any time. She observed, a hint of grudging admiration in her voice.

"Good thing we aren't either." Alex replied softly, pushing himself off the couch and onto the hard wood flooring of his living room. He winced as his muscles protested the move; they'd been pushed to their limits yesterday in an all too real training session with Miranda. Those swords of her's weren't for show, and she was a lot quicker then those wings made her look.

Small blessing she'd blunted her swords with her magic, otherwise he'd be covered in cuts, not just ugly yellow bruises. He sighed again as he turned toward the stairs to the second floor of his home, At least she left my face clean. He thought, managing a wry smile. A smile that lasted only a second before the pain in his head reasserted itself and made him wince again.

"Small blessings indeed." He muttered, walking slowly back to his room. He needed a nap.

How are you holding up?

The query from Ivy was met by a noncommittal grunt. Iriumi twisted to one side as she avoided another vicious tentacle, her muscles protesting, her heart racing. She ached to rest, but something inside her (and no, it was not her familiar) insisted that she kept at it. Her arm rose and fell, a little slower this time due to fatigue, but her aim was improving and the lash of the Eternal flame caused the attacking vine to recoil from her.

"Just... a little... longer," she said inbetween her breaths. Ivy didn't say anything. The number of vines increased, dancing and writhing around her, looking for an opening in the protective cage of flames she had erected with her sudden movements. The familiar was surprised, actually, to receive such enthusiasm and self-motivation from her user. Ivy merely had provided the support and foundations, and Iriumi is building like a crazed, genius architecture/engineer of some sorts. She was more worried that Iriumi would burn herself out like this if she was to train so intensively.

Iriumi danced to the left, and a vine swept through livid fire, igniting and burning away in an instant. Her body jerked and ducked as a second tried to strike. A thump heralded the success of a third vine contacting Iriumi's leg, bringing her to one knee. In frustration she responded by grabbing the offending appendage and passing her other hand over it, igniting it in fiery glory.

Her leaf shield took the attack of a fourth before Iriumi took the offensive. Her whip roared twice, felling a vine. She plunged forward, enveloping another in her passing flames, fell back, dodging and burning one more, and lashed out at the last one, pouring some augmented magic into her attack. The resulting flames wiped out the three other vines that were just emerging from the zone. Iriumi got the impression every time she snapped the Eternal Flame, it was like a viper, fangs dripping with venom, flashing out. This time, it was more pronounced, with two large blade-like flames that raked the air.

But she'd been tiring throughout this entire ordeal, and responded to Ivy's warning too late. Three vines slammed into her from behind and pinned her to the ground painfully, constricting the breath out of her. Then, a moment later, the unbearable pressure vanished, leaving Iriumi lying there gasping for air.

... I think we'll call it a day, Ivy commented as the last menacing vines melted away into nothingness. She waited until Iriumi clambered to her feet before reabsorbing the phantom zone she'd created, taking the barrier jacket along with it.

~~

Out in the backyard of the Hana family's abode, Sakura was waiting a bit anxiously. Ivy promised they'd be back by now, and it was already late afternoon. Their parents will be back soon. Where was she?!

And speaking of the devil, Iriumi appeared in an implosion of black motes, staggering and barely catching herself, now out of her barrier jacket. She felt a lot weaker now that she lacked the support of the sturdy armour she'd worn. Sakura ran to her, concern dribbling out of all her body movements. Iriumi accepted her helping hand, and allowed her sister to limp her indoors.

Tonight was going to be a long, painful night.

Mern stared blankly, confused with the sudden outcome as he switched his gaze between the leaving duo and Mero, whom calmly spoke as if understanding the complexity of the situation, his expression pained as he rubbed his back soothingly.

"Well, we didn't exactly lose the battle. If anything, we technically won by default... How does it feel to have beaten a fellow comrade with such force, you monster." Mero teased Mern with mock sarcasm as he looked with a sense of guilt.

"I don't get it. She did some heavy damage on me and even managed to dodge me quite a few times, so it wasn't like she was disadvantaged. It was no ambush, but an organized fight which her partner approved of."

"That I wouldn't know, although it seems that she had yet to learn or adapt to the harsh reality of combat... which I must admit, you're warming up to it pretty darn fast. Are you sure you don't have some hidden agenda you're training for?"

Mern twitched as if she touched a nerve.

I nearly saw death, both mine and when you tried to defend me. If I don't ready myself to fight, then neglect will cause me to lose what I would wish to protect. More over, while I do feel the sort of anger and distrust for those who have done ill against me, I don't feel driven to retribution, but rather in proving... else... It's hard to put to word, I admit." Mern shifted back to his normal size, finally aware of his rather distinct appearance to the hypothetical random passerby.

"Ah... In that case, you know what you need to make yourself more intimidating to your foes?"

"Stronger basic skill mastery? Flashier or more mysterious techniques?"

"Those would help. But what you need is a well developed catchphrase!" Menarker stared at his cat with dumbfounded astonishment as she smiled as purely and innocently as any naive child has done.

"... You're shitting me." Mero's face darkened slightly as she tried to press the point.

"No way! I'm absolutely serious here."
"As if."
"Suit yourself. Mind you, it's not meant to be used as an announcement, but as an..."
"You're just trying to pay me back for my suggestion of swinging you by the tail as a team attack." Mero hissed with infuration.
"YOU SAID MY FEET LAST TIME! THE TAIL IS EVEN WORSE!"

Mern lazily surveyed what moments ago was the battleground, curiously introspecting as to the results of the spar.
"What really confused me was the last two hits... Even though I have seen firsthand the speed her cat form has before, it doesn't mean that her senses were capable of keeping up with the speed I was using. While I was kinda rushing, I thought my speed and timing was appropriate... and yet both time I was countered."

Menarked sighed as he pondered the events of the day with such focus, that he neglected to look back on the memories of the park, as he previously intended. Taking a step forward and slightly slouching, his eyes shot open as he winched in agony.

"Agghh... aww, shoot. I'm going to really need to walk it slow tonight. My back is feeling something horrible." Mero shifted to her larger form.

"I'll carry you home. Hop on."

"In some ways, you have really improved. In others, you are still fumbling and grasping for knowledge. Maybe you didn't get what you came for... but I think it was still worthwhile... And yet, I have this intangible feeling, on the tip of my tongue. I don't quite grasp it, but I feel like I saw something truly amazing which I have not yet realized.

Her spear was grating against the silver-blue disc of Akari's shield, Mitsuko gritting her teeth as she tried to pierce through it. Behind her she had a sense of premonition. Whipping her head, she saw the last of Akari's homing bullets shooting towards her.

The scene halted.

"In summary, despite serious tactical errors at the commencement of this training battle, you showed acceptable recognition of these errors and adaption to avoid repeating them." Bright Day said.

"Can't I sleep?" Mitsuko whined. Technically she was asleep, but you wouldn't think it with all this dream invasion going on.

She looked up at the frozen tableau of her and Akari locked together in battle. An uneasy feeling ran through her looking at it - was a little creepy to watch yourself fight. Diffused slightly by Bright Day regularly pausing, replaying or highlighting things to tell Mitsuko that she was doing it wrong, of course. Mitsuko for the most part had been forced to agree. She'd been doing nothing but headlong charges at the start and hadn't thought of taking to the air.

"With this review analysis completed before predicted, it was planned to next focus on the Celestial Sphere technique to improve options at range." Bright Day said, with what sounded eerily like a note of pride in the Device's calm voice.

"I'm sorry, but its the first day of school tomorrow and I need to be able to focus there." Mitsuko had found Bright Day ignored complaints.

Bright Day paused. "You are correct. Initial goals have been fulfilled and continued strain would be unwise at this point. This session is over."

"So I did alright?" Mitsuko asked in a small voice.

"Yes."

The simulation faded out into true sleep.

* * *

The alarm in Mitsuko's phone went off. An arm emerged from beneath the bed's covers and fumbled around on the bedside table. She sat up as she picked it up, yawned, and switched it off. "Uuuwh, I thought I heard singing." she mumbled, shedding the last vanishing wisps of a dream.

Looking around the bedroom blearily, Mitsuko regarded her laid out uniform with distaste. The last few days had hardly been idyllic and now there was a new school to deal with too? She sighed and pulled on the navy blue skirt and top, hiding Bright Day under the collar.

She went downstairs to have breakfast, finding two out of three siblings and one mother at the kitchen table. She sat down and began resignedly tucking into her own breakfast.

"You're tired today." Ryuichi commented. "What exactly were you doing yesterday?"

"Oh, this and that." Mitsuko said, waving a hand at him and trying to look innocent.

"Hmph, well you'd better hurry up or you'll be late." he declared, taking his plate to the sink and getting ready to leave for college.

"Oh no, the school's only..." Mitsuko froze, one hand raised. The new school, Tohou, was a longer walk from here than Chuuko had been. "We have to go!" she gulped.

"You still have plenty of time." Megumi said amusedly, watching Mitsuko trying to cram down the rest of her breakfast. "You've been so stressed lately. You don't need to get so worked up about changes like this."

Mitsuko almost jumped. "Changes?"

"A first day at a new school is nothing to worry about." Megumi declared with conviction.

Mitsuko didn't quite fall off her chair.

The Shimizu sisters made it to the new school, finding their homeroom in the nick of time.

There'd been a lot of new students milling around in confusion, some identifiable by the fact they were still wearing the Chuuko uniform - with so many students transfering in, there'd been a shortage on the new uniforms. Mitsuko didn't have enough to last the week herself.

But they'd eventually found the homeroom and there was no sign of the homeroom teacher yet.

Success!

Mitsuko sighed in relief, looking around the classroom to look for an empty seat (hopefully a window seat) and get a first impression of her new classmates.

Dressed in little more then underdrawers, Alex stared balefully down at his bed. Back to wearing this thing everyday. He thought with a grimace as his blue eyes flickered over the dark grey pants, white collared shirt, red tie and navy blue blazer spread out on top of his covers. He shook his head with a sigh.

Putting it off won't make it go away. Miranda coolly chimed from her perch on the windowsill.

I know... Alex's reply trailed off into another resigned sigh. He took a deep breath as his eyes settled back on the uniform, and raised his palm over the bed. Blue eyes serious, he swept his hand over the uniform, red sparks of magic falling over the shirt, pants and blazer. The sparks settled into the fabrics, and vanished.

Moments after, the clothes began to writhe, fibres pulling at the bonds holding them in their shapes. Alex breathed another sigh, this one of relief; it had worked. The uniform exploded in sprays of coloured threads. They surged toward the blond youth and began swirling themselves around him. Then stilled, hanging on his arms, legs and chest loosely, before clenching tightly around each other and pulling themselves back together into their former shape.

Holding a sleeve up to his face to inspect it, Alex grinned. "That worked." His smile faded as his eyes returned to the lone red tie on his bed. His eye twitched at the sight.

Just put it on. Miranda said impatiently.

"Fine." Alex grumbled, snatching the last piece of the uniform from the bed.


Alex had arrived at school far earlier then usual that day, a fact he blamed on the white dove that, even now, was flitting her way around the school grounds. But, he actually had his pick of desks for once, something he wasn't entirely ungrateful for. He chose one a row away from the window, in the mid-front of the classroom.

He pulled at his tie absently as he sat in his desk, waiting for the day to start. His blue eyes had a far away look to them as he stared out the window, not paying any real attention to the entrance of the various students. Even if he probably should have.

Three girls and two boys arrived at an intersection. Shimizu turned to address Takuya and Chihase. "All right, you two. Have a good first day at school."
"Okay!" Chihase said, then roughly tugged Takuya's arm. "C'mon, Takuya! Let's go or we're going to be late."
"But we're not late," Takuya grumbled, then nodded to his stepsister. "Take care of yourselves. I'll see you back here soon."
Shimizu waved them off and turned to Kiyuri and Kazuki. "And now it's our turn to go to school. Ugh, this sucks. I have to work tonight, too."

"I can come visit you tonight, right Shimizu?" Kazuki asked.
Kiyuri smirked. "Well, it's nice to see you two back together. Maybe I can stop being asked questions about how to get Shimizu back."
Kazuki blushed suddenly. "H-hey, Kiyuri-"
Shimizu instinctively hugged Kazuki's arm. His face got even redder, which is the reaction she wanted. "Let's go, Kazuuuu~. Maybe we'll even get the same homeroom together."
Kazuki hid his face. "I doubt it. We've never had the same homeroom."

When they reached the school, the three students observed the nearly bulletin board. "See?" Kazuki observed to the others. "You two get the same homeroom teacher and I get left out again. Figures."
Shimizu shrugged. "Well, separation makes hearts fonder of each other...or something. Let's get to class, Kiyuri."
"Take care, bro'."
"You too, Kiyuri."

"Iriuuuumi!" a familiar voice called out from the gates of the Hana family's abode. Iriumi pulled herself from examining her makeup in the mirror and popped her head out the window, arms already lifted in an enthusiastic wave.

"Yes! I'm coming, hold on a sec!" she shouted back. The group of girls (and a few guys) down at the streets waved and smiled. Her friends were beckoning.

Ma and pa had already gone to work, and Riu had an afternoon shift. He looked up from the plasma TV and arched an eyebrow at his younger sister.
"My, how popular is my sis? Is that your fanclub down there again?" he asked humorously before expertly snatching the plastic cup she threw out of the air. The second one bounced off his forehead, drawing out a yelp of surprise. Iriumi dashed past and out the door before her brother could retaliate, laughing cheekily, brown hair and green eyes sparkling.

Riu lowered his throwing arm, a small smile tugging at his falsely-furious face. It was good to see Iriumi happy. She'd barely smiled at all in the weeks before Obaachan's funeral. Finally, some closure, he thought, before getting clonked in the back of the head by Sakura's well-aimed throw.

Cursing mildly, Riu drove the other sister out of the house as well, sending her off to her own school.

~~

To familiar faces in her classroom, Iriumi came in just five minutes from the start of class, naturally accompanied by an extensive group of friends, all actively chatting and instantly brightening up the room. Incidentally, the noise level turned up a notch.
"...So it's like this, Tekishi thought I was serious, and spent an entire hour looking for that hidden camera that wasn't there!" one of the girls, a pretty little dark-hair named Chichyuu, was gesturing amidst laughter. Iriumi's blushed face turned heads as she took up a seat second to the front. She spotted a few people she also knew, and waved at them, flashing that easy smile of hers.

Shana, another girl with a well-groomed golden mane sat down next to her. "Iriumi! Are you allowed to wear that into class?" she pointed mock-accusingly at the girl's chest. Iriumi looked down, managing to mask her shock.

The green necklace glittered back at her, winking in its simplistic design, a single green-gold jewel dangling from the chains. There was a leafy pattern in the metal the jewel was embedded in.
"Oh, would you look at that!" she exclaimed, rapidly trying to think of something to say.
I completely forgot to take it off last night. It's my grandma's, you see, Ivy prompted.
"I'd completely forgot to take it off last night," Iriumi copied as smoothly as she can, raising her arms and reaching behind to 'unclasp' the necklace, knowing there is no end to it. "It's my grandma's, you see."
Her fingers touched the part of chain, and it unravelled in her hand. She carefully coiled it in her palm and stored it in her skirt pocket. You'd better find a better place to take residence fast, Ivy.
Acknowledged.

Shana nodded. News and gossip travel fast in large friendships, and the death of Iriumi's obaachan wasn't hidden from her. They turned from the dark conversation that danced terribly close to death towards more trivial matters, while Iriumi's eyes roved the classroom, making sure to make eye contact and acknowledge people she knows, and noting down newcomers, so that later she may greet them warmly.

Tayuumi nudged Iriumi gently and bent down to whisper in her ear.
"Hey, I see Alex over there. He looks awfully spaced-out today. Remember the party I threw during the break? He was a pretty awesome guy then. You think something's up?"

Iriumi risked a glance in the boy's direction. Yes, he did look pretty vacant, as if he's contemplating something. Flicking her eyes towards the time, she got up and moved to the seat next to his and flashing a smile at him. As she approached, her footstep faltered ever-so-lightly as she felt Ivy clinch herself around her thigh.

"Hiya, Alex! You look lonely, mind if I take this seat?" she popped the rhetorical question before seating herself there. Her other friends knew better than to come along with her, instead amusing themselves with their recent antics near the front rows.

"Huh?" Alex replied with a start, blinking rapidly at auburn haired girl now beside him. Then, as his mind finally ordered the words into something he could understand, he let out a happy laugh.

"I'm just tired," he replied flashing her a bright, if slightly tired, smile, "sis wanted to end the break with a bang and pulled me along." His smile faltered a little, "I kinda wish I'd fought a little harder, getting up was painful."

"What about you?" the blond added before she could comment, "Happy to be back?"

"Well, did I get better?" Akari asks meekly during Ceres post-battle review the night previous. She was nervous watching the playback holos while Ceres wordlessly watched them alongside her, fearing she'd done badly despite not knowing what badly even was.

In the playback, Akari's final spell fired off in multiple directions that were supposed to track back towards Mitsuko, but failed to retarget, impacting the barrier zone's edges in a ragged halo.

"Considering the previous, yes." The weapon's avatar responded, turning to give her a reassuring smile, "You've been relying thusfar on my onboard MARS fire-control for weapon tracking, and the spell we attempted goes beyond my subconcious control limits. We'll have to work on your personal homing control."

"MARS?" Akari cocks her eyebrow. It rung a bell, but she didn't really understand half of the stuff that lit up on her heads-up display.

"Motion Analysis Relay System, for the full acronym. I run it passively and it calculates enemy trajectories so your arrows don't need to be aimed perfectly, which as you can tell is literally impossible at the speeds we fight."

"Ah... So I didn't screw up?" Akari replies, cringing as she watches the replay of Mitsuko charging into her, her sister only being kept from punching through her shield by a lucky retarget of a single arrow from her previous volley that she hadn't expected.

"Not really. You should however, get sleep. You have school tomorrow and I shall not wish to impede your learning by teaching you while you're being taught already."

"H-ha... Alright."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nngh..." Akari woke earlier than usual, a few moments before her alarm rang, but didn't actually properly rise until much later. As she walked downstairs to join her family for breakfast, she intercepted her little brother, and simply couldn't tear her mind off of yesterday's training session. There was something she had to ask, but felt kind of awkward doing so.

"Er, Kenta? What um... What do you know about mecha combat?" She stammered, having believed the question sounded about ten times more reasonable in her head than it did out loud. Still, it was the closest thing she could equate her training to, and she was certain her little brother knew everything that Anime had to offer. After all, if magical girls were real, certainly this couldn't hurt?

"..." He stared at her for a long, awkward moment, "Akari, are you sick?" he asked cheerfully, "When have you ever been interested in my stuff?"

"N-no!" She growled playfully back, whapping him on the head, "I'm just interested, one of my friends showed me a few things, and I can't like, understand why melee combat is so effective with high tech stuff like that? Do all of them carry swords for that stuff?"

"Well, if that's the case..." Little Kenta crossed his arms, and gave her a knowing smile, "You've got to understand that it really isn't, but when two pilots get too close for their longrange weapons, they need something that can work effectively at arm's length. You can't really parry a beam sword with a rifle, for example. That, and it's really cool to watch."

"Ah, I see..." She nods, strangely unable to fault any of this logic, even though she knew trying to apply fantasy to real life had to be a fool's errand. The two continued to converse through breakfast, until Mitsuko informed them of the time, and dragged her off.

"Seeyou later Mom, Dad!" Akari waved as they rushed out the door, and to class.