I sense you have the potential to become a magical girl or boy. In exchange for a wish, would you make a contract with me?

Leon stood looking out over the city, the crisp night air cut into his skin. His school uniform was not really enough to protect him from the wind and cold. He grinned, and let out a breath of air, it was exhilarating, this feeling. He looked down at the small, egg-shaped crystal in his hand, it pulsed with a soft lime colored light.

"There is one...close....sort of."

He pushed himself up and jumped from the roof of the building. The ground rushed up to meet him at incredible speeds. He closed his hand around the crystal and a flash of green light surrounded him. After a brief moment he was changed, his body clothed in a strange garment and his hands covered in thick gloves. He slammed his hand into the wall, slowing himself suddenly. He slid to a stop as his feet lightly touched the ground.

He looked down at his gloved hands, a small spiral shaped crystal resided in the gauntlet he wore. It pulsed with the same light as the egg-shaped crystal from before.

"East....I hope I'm not too late, wouldn't do well for a hero to let civilians die!"

He took off running, far faster then a normal person could have, as his feet seemed to almost be too light. He rounded a corner after a few minutes as the pulsing of his crystal grew brighter and faster.

"I'm here...."

Erin tripped on her heels as she raced in the back alleys of Mitakihara.
"OUCHGODDAMNIT!" She yelled out, knowing that no one else could listen. There was a Witch nearby, and she didn't plan to let it escape- she needed a grief seed, fast. A glimpse told her that the soul gem she carried was about two thirds full of dark corruption. It wasn't looking good.
The cat-like Incubator ran by her side for a brief moment.
"If you hurry, Erin, you'll win an ally. If you don't, you'll lose the Witch." He said, and ran up to the high buildings again. Erin frowned.
"I'm trying, but who can run with these shoes?!" She yelled, again. The empty night alleys were great for venting out.
After some more running and tripping, she arrived at a bridge. The park stood before her. Her soul gem began to pulse brighter.
Nodding, she threw it up in the air. It transformed into light, surrounding her and transforming her outfit. A jade dress and... taller heels. Erin touched her forehead, frowning. Thankfully she could just walk until--
"What was that...?" she wondered out loud, receiving no response.
Just moments before she'd seen a lime-green glow from the trees. Or at least she thought.
"Must be all this corruption." She said, shrugging it off. With a decisive step, she entered the maze of trees.
After a few minutes of searching, and more tripping, she found the barrier entrance... and another Magi. She froze right where she was standing- well-lit by the moon, too. Grasping her spear tightly, Erin tried to look as hostile as she could... suceeding only a little.

Leon stepped toward the labyrinth entrance and froze in place. He saw another person standing there, a girl it seemed, and a cute one at that. He was about to hit on her when he noticed something else; a spear...a big one.

"Oh ho....another magi huh?"

He walked around her, checking her out quite more then was needed, but careful to keep himself out of reach of her spear. He was confident he could take her, she was trying to look intimidating and doing a bad job of it. He finally fully circled her and stopped in front of her, putting on his best 'hero' grin.

"So what's your name, little girl? Or should I ask that....?" He pondered to himself, looking up into the sky, seemingly distracted. "Should a hero of justice give away their name? No. Probably not, I should come up with a good code name."

He raised his hand to his face, thinking, revealing his soul gem in the process. "Trauminator? Salvation? Hero Man?" He scratched his head; "Ugh, this is hard."

Finally he looked up at her and gave a genuine smile. "Forget it, I'm Leon. Who are you?" He held out his hand.

Erin was taken aback by his... forwardness. She opened her eyes wide and gave up on the 'fear me' look. It was obviously not working.
Lowering her weapon, she shook his hand, remembering Inkyu's words. This boy was surely the ally he'd spoken of.
"Well, Mr. Hero Man of Justice, I'm Erin Konohaki. Nice to meet you and all, but isn't there a more pressing matter to attend to?" letting go of his hand, Erin pointed at the barrier entrance. "And I need to hurry." she pointed to her soul gem, almost full of the strange darkness.
She turned around to open the barrier, and then turned again to ask Leon something she'd forgotten.
"Who did you contract with?" She was almost sure of the answer, but she had to be careful. Backstabbers could be around...

Leon grinned again, his charm had won out yet again. He shook the girls hand, it was soft like she had rarely done anything physical, yet strong. He dropped her hand as she said her name, but chose not to spoke yet, he didn't want to ruin the moment. He watched her walk away, looking places he probably shouldn't, when her question caught him off guard.

Why does she want to know who I contracted with? Isn't there only one? Why is she suddenly so cautious? Quickly, put on the charming smile! He smiled at her, completely unaware that he would be projecting his thoughts.

"Why does that matter? Don't you trust me?" He continued to grin as he stepped forward, his intent was to make for the gate, but it appeared to be stepping up to her. "You don't have anything to fear from me."

Erin held her spear tight, again.
"No, there are two Incubators contracting around Mitakihara. Since they apparently hate each other for weird Incubator-y reasons, they're telling their Magi now that they shouldn't trust any Magi contracted by other Incubators. And Magi can share thoughts, remember?" She inhaled loudly after her little speech.
She took a step back when Leon walked up to her.
"I want to believe you, but--"
Right then, her Soul Gem reacted with the barrier, opening it with a loud noise. Startled, Erin lost her balance and tripped on her heels, falling backwards... inside the barrier. She landed with a crash, and as she got up, Anthonies began to strike her with their scissors.
"OWW!" She yelled, unprepared. She managed to strike down a few with her spear, but more and more kept appearing.

"Wait....you read my thoughts?" He almost began to laugh as she fell through the barrier, before he noticed her cry out in pain. Without a moments hesitation he jumped through and slammed his fist into the face of a.....dandelion? Strange, he had dealt with a few witches before, but he never got used to the way these creatures looked. It was a white puffball with a rather fantastic mustache and a very sharp pair of scissors.

Leon stepped back, near the girl....what was her name again? Oh right, Erin-chan. "So, do you think we need to worry about incubators or whatever, or should we take care of these?"

He suddenly lashed out with his fist, striking faster than a human should have been able to follow, aimed right for Erin's face. At the last second, he lifted his fist and struck another puff-ball that was trying to strike her from behind. "Gotta be more careful, a hero shouldn't be so careless." He said with a wink.

Erin touched a cut on her face, and watched the blood drip from her fingers as Leon punched... her? No, an Anthony that was about to hit from above.
"Um. These things! We can worry about Incubators later." Erin spun her spear and launched a skillful thrust, killing a pack of Anthonies that was ready to hit them. "These are Anthony. They landscape the barrier. They're not very strong, but watch out for the scissors." She said, supporting herself on a magical platform and jumping destroying two Anthonies.
"I've fought this witch before... Her name was G-something... Gisela? No... Gertrud. I can't believe I let a familiar escape and... kill somebody..." Guilt filled Erin, and a moment of distraction caused her a deep cut on the arm.
Letting out a small squeal of pain, she disapprovingly looked at the Anthony before trespassing it and three more with her spear.
Twisting it at the center, Erin split her two-end spear into two regular ones, allowing for a bigger movement range. Far away, she could hear a ring.
"Adelbert are coming. And the witch awaits us..."

Leon laughed as he swiftly dispatched several more puffballs. Anthony is what she called them? Strange names. He kicked off the wall and landed hard on the ground, driving one into dust with his knee, at the same time a shock-wave of energy blasted out from him and slammed several others into the wall and soon powder.

"Adelbert? I'm not familiar with all these names, how do you know so much? Just how long have you been a magi? You seem like rookie, but you sure know a lot."

He started down the hall, just as several colorful moth creatures showed up. Weaklings. I'll end you and look good in front of this girl! He thought, once again forgetting that he would project, and launched himself into the air. With a swipe of his leg he quickly dispatched one of them, but within a second three had surrounded him and they began to flap their wings as a sudden wave of sound slammed into him.

Leon bounced back and forth between the sonic attacks and finally slammed into the wall, falling heavily to the ground.

Erin ran up to the Adelbert and Leon. With timing, she leaped and shot herself forward, crushing the Adelbert with her spear. More surrounded her, but she curled up in a ball so she'd fall more quickly and keep out of their ringing range.
"I'm no rookie- It's been almost four years since I made my contract. Why are you so interested in looking good in front of me, anyway? You only ended up getting hurt." With a jump and a swing of her spear, back in a single piece, Erin killed a few Adelbert as well as Anthonies who were approaching.
"Also, I have fought this witch before... Gertrud, the rose garden witch, with a distrustful nature. If you look closely around after a Witch is defeated you can find cards with a bunch of info. I... kinda like to collect them." She said, blushing a little. It was a stupid hobby. Kinda morbid, now that she thought about it.
When the Adelbert thinned out a little, Erin began to advance.
"We need to move, fast! Or there will be more and more coming." She said, approaching a small door at the end of the hall.

Leon pushed himself up, putting his hand in front of his face to hide his blushing. He had messed up big this time, how could a hero look so uncool? He pushed himself off the wall and followed Erin. He had not realized that Witches could come back.

"Hey, if you killed this witch before, why is she still around? Did you not do a good enough job?"

He pushed ahead of Erin and stepped up to the door. "Here goes, I'll take point." He pushed open the door and stepped into a garden, or so it seemed. A strange woman with a rosebush head sat upon a stool in the middle of it. If that wasn't strange enough she was gigantic. She turned and looked at him, or so he presumed as she had no eyes, and roared.

"Huh, I guess she knows we are here."

Ignoring Gertrud, Erin looked at Leon, surprised "I... Didn't do a good job...? I... let one of her minions flee... I think. It killed someone and became the Witch again... So yes... I guess I didn't do a good enough job." She smiled sad. It was her fault someone had died. She looked at the empty hall behind her. It was just what it seemed- an empty hall. Taking Leon along, she crossed the door.
"Yes. She knows." Erin looked at the butterfly in Gertrud's head when she roared. She flapped her wings and flew near the two Magi. Roaring her head, she prepared to headbutt them.
"Watch out!" Erin screamed, pushing Leon out of the way, but being buried under the witch as a result.

Leon pushed himself up after being shoved so rudely aside. "Hmph, stupid girl. I didn't need saving." He put his right arm down and clenched his fist, tightly. "Though this will give me a chance to show off." He grinned. He pushed himself forward, and swung upwards with all his might, the blow connected with but a small part of the witch, it was enough to send her flying, despite her size.

"Oh, I'm not finished yet." He jumped onto the wall and pushed himself off, flying at ridiculous speeds towards Gertrud. He slammed his elbow into her head...he thought it was her head, and landed on the ground. He then shot himself up and punched her again and again, over and over as the sounds reverberated through the room like thunder.

Finally his assault ended as he landed on the ground and turned his back to the witch, walking towards Erin. "Are you alright?"

Erin got up and shook the dirt off her dress.
"Yes... I'm sorry for that. I got careless." She looked at the weakened Gertrud. "Nice hits... but now is my turn to show off!" She jumped and divided her spear, dealing several deep blows at once. Jumping at the level of Gertrud's head, she cut a rose off her hair. The witch began rampaging and opened its head again to show the butterfly. Assembling the spear again, Erin swinged it around for a few seconds, before leaping to jump off and deal a powerful blow to the butterfly.
"Now! It's vulnerable! Kill her!" Erin rolled up as the pain caught up to her. A scissor had hit her soul gem. And it was almost full of darkness. She didn't have the strength to fight anymore...

Leon appeared behind Erin suddenly, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Sorry to be so forward." He suddenly jumped backwards in an instant and laid the girl on the ground. "Rest up a moment." He stood up and dropped his trenchcoat, showing the white tanktop underneath, on his arm was tatooed a runic symbol that looked closely like 'hero'. "I'll finish this in a flash."

he stepped forward once, and was suddenly in front of the witch, looking down at the butterfly that was her true face. "I never considered a butterfly to be ugly, until now." He reached out and touched the soul gem on his right hand, allowing just a bit of darkness to mar it. "Time to let loose!"

He began to glow suddenly, as the power of his soul gem wound around him. He slid one leg back and took up and took a fighters stance. Stepping forward he launched himself at the butterfly, striking it over and over again, each strike putting a small symbol on the witch that looked just like his soul gem. After sixteen hits he landed on the ground and turned away. "Time to die." He whipped his arm out to the side as all the marks on the witch exploded.

He held out his hand as the world began to crumble and caught the grief seed as it fell. With a grin on his face he walked back over to Erin and tossed her the seed. "Here, you came for this, right?"

Erin de-transformed and holding the grief seed clumsily, she managed to cleanse her gem. Everything around her became lighter and cleaner. Her mind lost the corruption's weight, and allowed Erin to think perfectly straight.
"Thank you so much! I would've most likely died there if it wasn't for you. Or worse- my soul gem would corrupt." She gave him the seed. "Have it. It's still usable." She smiled. "Now I know that I can trust you. You could've let me die, but you didn't. Thanks!" She looked around and approached a tree. After a few moments of searching around, she found a card. It had a picture of Anthony and read: "Anthony- The witch's minion. His duty is landscaping. His mustache is set by the witch."
She made the card fly to him. "See? These are useful! I've fought a heap of witches, so I have a ton of cards."

Leon let his costume drop, revealing his school uniform, Mitakihara High School. He caught the grief seed and card as they were tossed to him.

"Uh...sure." He had lost his composure, outside of her magi uniform she was really cute. He looked down at the strange card, and then put it in his pocket. He coughed once then regained his composure.

"Well, the card is nice and all, but how about your number instead?" He tried his signature grin, it had always worked at his old school, of course that was before he had become a magi, but why wouldn't it work now?

He pulled out his cell phone, a standard affair, nothing special, probably even a year or two old in this country.

"So, what do you say?"

When Leon grinned like that, Erin just started laughing. A lot.
"Hahahaha! Grinning like that, you look like an idiot! It's just so... forward! Kinda like you." She bit her lip, still laughing. Somehow, all of her shyness disappeared when she talked to that boy.
Telepathically, she sent him her number, and took out her phone as well. The Pikachu in her phonestrap bounced around.
"We should work together. There are more Witches and Familiars around now. They're stronger too. Have you noticed?"
She regained her serious look and Inkyu appeared at her side.
"You two have to team up. But it still won't be enough." He said, projecting his thoughts.
"Right. We need someone who doesn't try to attack before figuring out the enemy's hitting pattern." Erin mocked, and let out a small giggle again.
"I'm sorry. That was rude of me. But still, it was funny. What were you thinking?"

Leon took down Erin's number and put away his phone. "Pikachu, huh?" He grinned at her. He lost a bit of composure and his face turned bright red at her jab. "I'm....uh, kind of new at this...that was my first actual witch, ya know?" He looked down at Inkyu and laughed. "Man, I just can't get over how wierd you look, Mitakihara is a strange city!"

He stepped up next to Erin, not quite ready to give up. "Say, how about I walk you home? This city is pretty dangerous at night, you know."
He buttoned up the last couple of buttons on his jacket, to keep, the suddenly noticeable, wind from cutting into his skin.

Erin grinned. "Yes, pikachu~! I like Pokémon, they're very cute." She kept her phone in her pocket after texting her parents, who had called her three times, worried.
"Sure, you can walk me home. Not that I'm worried that it's dangerous, I can defend myself perfectly, but I don't like going alone. It's sad." She held her own arms when the cold wind passed her by.
"So this was your first witch, huh?" She gave him a suspicious look "Your technique seems awfully developed for a newbie. And even if you've fought many familiars, your soul gem doesn't seem corrupted enough for someone who's never gotten a grief seed. But, it's okay, we all make mistakes. I remember in my third witch fight, which was against Gertrud, I had to use magic to make a new dress, because all that was left of the previous were tiny rags." Scratching her head, she looked at Inkyu.
"You sure are one bossy idiot. Care to explain?" She poked the Incubator's cheek, but as a response, all she got was a blink.
"Hm. I guess not!" She said stretching out her arms. "Well, it's getting late. Let's just walk through Strange-City-Mitakihara and go home, okay?"

Leon nodded and fell into step beside Erin. "What do you mean corruption? You mean that bit of darkness?" He scratched his head and looked at the ring. It was a slight bit darker than it had been before. "Well, I haven't fought many familiars either....I'm just talented I guess." He gave off a bad laugh, obviously trying to cover up something.

He stepped in front of her and started walking backwards. "As far as my technique goes, I just did a lot of training, I kind of like being a hero, ya know?" He looked at this girl, the first other magi he had ever met. "So how old are you anyways? I'm really bad at guessing ages." He smiled again, running a hand through his short, spiky hair.

Erin made another one of her serious faces.
"It's hard to trust you if you're lying." She said telepathically to Leon.
"Yes, corruption is that darkness in your soul gem. Your energy uses up when you use magic, and if your soul gem gets exhausted you'll... uh, stop being able to transform to a Magi." She couldn't tell him the whole truth. It was too painful. She had learnt it two years ago when her Magi friend let her soul sink into despair. Erin was the one to kill her afterwards. She'd kept her cards and grief seed intact, in a box, where she couldn't see them. She didn't plan on going the same way. Her only goal was now to survive as long as her vital energy allowed such.
"So you're talented, eh?" She smiled at him, suspicious. "I get the feeling you're not telling the whole story, Mr. Hero. But anyway. I can see your wish would have something to do with heroic acts, no? Maybe saving someone?" The moonlight reflected in a building in front of her.
"Oh, my house is this way" She said, turning left.

I suppose I'm going to have to get used to this telepathic thing, I thought it was just something Inkyu could do. He turned, following the girl. He looked down at his ring again, then at the one on the girls hand. "So I guess you are my Senpai then? That's the right word, isn't it? I'm still getting used to speaking Japanese." He looked away, lost in thoughts of his past, intentionally ignoring the question about his wish.

"So tell me, Senpai, what is this town like? I'm new around here, ya know? Is there any place to have fun? Someplace to find some thrills?" He laughed and ran his hand through his hair again. "Not that hunting witches isn't thrilling and all."

"Haha, no. We Magi are also gifted with this sweet Jedi mind power. It has its limits, though." Erin scratched her finger at looked at her nail marking. It was so impractical for polishing... She sighed.
"Yep. That's the word alright. Oh! Right, you asked my age. I'm 16." A breeze passed by her. "Well, there's nowhere really interesting around here... I spend most of my time at the shopping district or the mall. Other than that, it really is your average boring town. There's a really nice hill on the outskirts that has a great view over the town, though. How long have you been here, Kyrin-kun?" She scanned her head for good places in Mitakihara. "Oh! Right. There are some buildings you can slide between, it's pretty fun. But if you're looking for something that compares to witch hunting, sorry to disappoint!" She scratched the back of her head.

Leon laughed as the girl struggled to answer so many questions at once. "Don't worry about it, Senpai. I'm sure I'll invent something super awesome and really thrilling." He looked down at the small spiral mark on his hand, it was barely noticeable, many thought it was a birthmark. "I've been here for about a week, I start school tomorrow. Hey, Senpai. Is it strange for a boy to be a magi? I'm new to all these things, but I've never heard of anything like that."

"I'll be looking forward to it! We sure could use something fun around here that isn't potentially deadly." She spoke that last word with some disgust. All the sacrifices Magi had made came to her mind. It was sad, and horrible. She hoped to change it all, but she was only one girl.
"Oh, well, to be honest, I've only met Puella. I never met a Pueri before. Even though, I don't know a lot of a Magi." She scratched her nose thoughtfully.
"Oh. My house is here." She said when they stopped by a big apartment building.
"Well, see you tomorrow, Kyrin-kun."

Leon nodded and looked up at the apartments. "Pretty fancy place you have here." He held out his hand; "It was fun, I'll see you later, Senpai."
Suddenly embarrassed he pulled his hand back and turned around, trying to act cool. "If you need me to save you again, just call." He tapped his finger to the side of his head and walked off.

A few blocks down the road, Leon entered his house and said; "I'm home!" The darkness gave no response. Of course no one would respond, he lived alone now. Just him. Dad was always traveling, and mom had stayed behind in New Jersey with his little sister. He kicked off his shoes and changed into the house slippers as he dropped he set his coat on the rack.

"I wonder how Elly is doing." He said out loud, as he flicked on the lights. A sudden movement caught his eye, and he jumped over onto the intruder.

That's not nice, Kyrin-kun.

"It's you. What do you want?" He let go of the small grey rodent looking creature. Inkyu was it's name, he remembered.

I'm just here to give you a warning. It tilted it's head sideways, the glowing eyes trying to bore into his soul. You cannot trust that girl, she has been doing this for too long.

Leon walked away from the creature "Whatever, I can take care of myself. I'm doing what you asked, even though no one knows about it. This isn't exactly what I wished for, you know. Perhaps it is you that can't be trusted."

Inkyu jumped up to the window and looked back at Leon. I only grant the wishes, it's up to you how they turn out. Keep what I said in mind.

"Whatever." Leon said as Inkyu vanished into the night.

"Haha! I will, I will. See you!" She waved and entered the building.
Quietly, she opened the door to her house. Her mother was sitting by the entrance, asleep. She had most likely been waiting for Erin. Taking a blanket from the living room, Erin covered her mom and left for her room.
Turning on the lights, she closed her eyes. She wasn't used to the glow of her bright emerald-colored walls after a whole night out. She opened her cards box and looked at a particular witch's.
Elisa, the shoes witch. Her nature is lonely. None her shoes have a pair, so she spends all her time making new ones. Since she doesn't know who steals her shoes, she kills all her visitors.
Keeping the card in place, she sighed.
"Hi there, Inkyu." Her voice was only a whisper. "What are you doing tonight?"
"Just trying to get that boy doubting you." He knew it was pointless to lie- Erin would see through them.
"Oh, okay have fu-- wait... What?!" She screamed silently "Hey, Inkyu!" but he was already gone.
"So, you want war, little bastard? Game on."

"We have a new student today, a transfer student from America. Everyone welcome Leon Kyrin." It was the next day and Leon had been paraded in front of his new class after hearing a bunch of whispers as he walked down the hall. It was a lot of attention, but he was really enjoying it. He stepped forward and bowed, just like he had practiced a thousand times at home. It was perfect, he was convinced of it.

"My name is Kyrin, please take care of me." The whispers started again, it was probably due to his exotic hair color or the shape of his eyes. Being half American had it's perks. "Where can I sit?" He asked the teacher, mostly out of formality, he had already picked a seat.

"Ah, um, sit anywhere there is an opening." Ha. Even the teacher was flustered by him, it was to be expected, he was going to be the most popular person in school after all. He turned, just enough that no one else could see and winked slightly at his teacher.

"Thank you, sensei, I think I see a spot." His teacher blushed and tried to regain her composure as he sat down next to his target, a cute girl with violet hair. It was long, really long and she looked really shy. It was perfect. "Hi, I'm Kyrin. What's your name?"

The girl blushed and pushed up her glasses. "I-I'm Ayame Sakura."

Leon smiled at her. "Sakura-san, I see. It's nice to meet you." He continued to talk to the girl as class droned on, ignoring anything he was actually supposed to be learning.

Erin yawned. She had 17 minutes left before she had to go to her Biology class, and yet nothing to do. She gave in to her secret hobby: spying people. Usually, she'd spend ten minutes imagining what student A thought of student B, but today, something was different. Everyone was gossiping among themselves. Natsumi, a girl from Erin's class, pulled her into a tight circle of gossiping girls.
"Ahmaigawd, Erin, have you heard? There's a new transfer student in class 1B!" Natsumi whispered.
"I heard he's really cute!" commented Tsukasa, another girl.
"A girl told me he's american!" Shizuka, a year older, added.
"What the hell am I doing here...?" Erin thought, not paying much attention to what the girls were saying.
Until a few words rang out in her head.
"W-wait. Did I get this straight...? A cute transfer student from America?" she asked. Almost as if they'd rehearsed, the three girls nodded at the same time. Erin thought of the previous night.
"Interesting. Has any of you actually seen him?"
This time, the answer was negative. Erin said goodbye to the gossiping girls and looked around. How likely was it that the boy was Leon Kyrin? Almost certain. Erin ran around a corner. A heap of girls was surrounding someone. Someone with short spiky lime green hair.
"Hey, Kyrin-kun! Is that you buried in a pile of girls?" she yelled, half-mocking.

Leon was being mobbed. It was nice, sort of, but the girls were really being pushy. He had lost track of Sakura-chan, and that made him a little sad, she was fun to talk to. He was just contemplating how to get out of this circle when he barely heard a friendly voice. "Senpai? Is that you? Senpai?" He tried a few times before he realized his voice could not be heard among all the girls.

Senpai! Help, I don't know how to get away from them!

He tried to push through, tried to ask politely, but the girls were to busy talking ABOUT him, not even to him, to listen. He finally gave up hope and sat down on the bench, allowing the girls to fawn over him. Maybe being popular wasn't as great as he had first thought.

"Seems like you're in trouble. But worry not, Erin-senpai is here!" Erin rolled up her uniform sleever and crossed her arms.
"Oi, ladies! How about you give that poor boy some space to breathe? Can't you see you're bothering him?" She yelled at the mass of crazy fans, making them go quiet.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" A girl that Erin recognized as Hazuki from the class next to hers spoke up. "You just want him all for yourself, don't you?"
Before Erin could say how stupid she was to say such a thing, Touko from the same class as Hazuki commented something that Erin thought had already been forgotten.
"Hey, but that's Lady Hercules!"
The chatter began immediatly. After a few moments, they all dispersed, clearly afraid of Erin.
"I thought they'd all forgotten about that already..." She sighed and sat near Leon. "Are you okay, Kyrin-kun? You seem to be making an impression already."

Leon sat back and grinned, already comfortable. "Yeah, I have that effect on women." He stood up and laughed. "Thanks, Senpai. You really saved me. Let me walk you back to class." He put his arms on he shoulders and turned her around, starting to walk with her.

After a moment of silence he finally spoke up. "So....Lady Hercules? What's that all about?" He was pretty sure he was touching on a sore subject, but he wanted to clear it up early before he said something stupid. He thought back to his old school as he asked this, things were different there, that was for sure.

He had been constantly picked on and teased over that yootoob video. Hey Hero-man! Who did you save today? The taunts were ridiculous like that, but it didn't mean they didn't hurt. He had thought he was a big hero. Walking down the street he noticed a bank robbery happening, cops, reporters, even people standing around. It was like something out of a movie!

He did not want to let anyone get hurt, so he snuck in through a window on the second floor of the bank. Being extremely careful, he made his way to the ground floor and snuck up behind one of the robbers. Using what he had learned in martial arts, he knocked out the man silently and moved him aside. He then quickly ran up and disarmed a second one, then pointed the gun at the last remaining robber, yelling for him to drop the gun.

It was then that the director yelled "CUT!" and everything broke down. It was no surprise this looked like something out of a movie, that is exactly what it was. He had busted into a movie set, assaulted a couple of actors and had it all caught on film. It was uploaded to the internet only a few hours later, and his life was never the same.

Erin sighed. "It's nothing big. I just hate that nickname since it's very... raw." She cleared her throat. "Last year, this guy made a bet with me. He said that if I could lift a big, heavy rock, he'd give me 200 yen. I took it further- I was kinda broke and needed to buy some stuff. So I said that I'd lift a car and he'd give me 2000 yen. He agreed. During lunch break, I used magic to lift up a car and put it back on the ground safely. I really just levitated it and pretended to hold it, but everyone was very impressed. They gave me that stupid name, but kept it low until three months ago. There was a senior guy bullying a poor junior girl. I told him to stop, and he thought it'd be funny to punch my stomach. I kicked him where it hurts, and used his angry blind hits to leave him sore for three weeks. It was fun! I got a big detention, but at least I helped that poor girl. Since then, I think everyone is kinda afraid of me. But I hoped they had forgotten about that name already..." She scratched her head. "Well, here's my classroom." She stopped in front of class 2A as the bell rang. "I'm gonna have two hour biology, until lunchtime. Meet me at the cafeteria and then we can discuss that bad event of your past you've been thinking about. I can't see it clearly." She winked and entered the classroom. She couldn't help but think how much of a girl she was- why did she need to know everything? She sat by Natsumi's side when the teacher got in.
"Hey, Erin, nice! I heard you scared off all the competition. Way to go, girl!" She gave Erin a very misunderstood high five. It took the other girl a couple moments to understand what Natsumi was talking about.
"Oh, that? No, you've got it all wrong, Nat. Actually, I--" she began trying to explain herself.
"Hasegawa! Konohaki! Pay attention." The teacher scolded.
Sighing, Erin turned to her notebook.

You sure are nosey. He said with a laugh in his inner voice. I'll see you at lunch, Senpai, but we should eat on the roof. That is where boys and girls go when they wanna be secret, isn't it? He walked away and grinned, it was nice to be able to embarrass her a bit too. He would have to keep a tighter reign on his thoughts, he hadn't meant for her to notice that. It was something he wanted to avoid at his new school.

He entered his class room and sat down, right next to Sakura-chan again. "Hey, did you miss me?" He said with his signature grin, causing her to turn all sorts of shades of red. He sat back with a small grin, enjoying seeing her blush, but actually really appreciating her smile. He sat through class, ignoring most of it. English was going to be a breeze for him anyways.

Once class was over he tried his hardest to catch up to Sakura-chan before she left, but the mob of students wanting his help with their school work kept him from catching her in time. He scratched the back of his head and smiled. "Uh, listen, I'll see what I can do, but I have to go meet with someone for lunch, maybe later, ok?"

He made his way past them, as they started whisper and gossip about who he could be meeting, and stepped out the door.

Erin lightly danced as she got up the stairs to the roof, holding her old and dear bento bow tight.
I'm climbing up the stairs
While looking like and idiot
I don't know why I'm singing
But Inkyu sure sucks
She sang, happy for not being alone. She finally had another magi to talk to. Her life since Koyuki had died was very lonely, mostly she had been kept to herself, wishing that she could not be a magi. But now, she had a friend again. The sunlight touched her skin as she grinned like an idiot, looking at the view from the roof. Inkyu may or not have shown up, and Erin may or not have thrown him off the roof. She just sat there waiting, afterwards. Leon was probably being viciously assaulted by girls, but he could probably shake them off.

Leon sat on the roof of the stairwell, listening to Erin-Senpai singing. She wasn't bad, even if the song was a bit silly. He watched her sit down and just smile, it was nice. He got the feeling that she wasn't the type to normally smile. After a minute longer he jumped down behind her. "Surprise!" He said as he landed.

He sat down next to her and pulled out a small box, what was it called again? Bendo? Yeah, that was it. "I got this down at the corner store, I hope this bendo tastes good." He took a bite of the strange goopy substance inside. It was sweet...really sweet and had a very strange texture. "Ugh what is this paste stuff?"

He set aside his bendo, and looked at Erin-Senpai. "So, what did you want to talk about, Senpai?"

"Eep!" Erin let out a small squeak, startled by Leon's sudden jump.
"Oh, hi there, Kyrin-kun. Didn't see you...!" She said, blushing a little, being caught by surprise. They sat down and got eating. Erin opened her box, she'd made it herself that morning. It was made to look suspiciously like Inkyu. Smirking she gobbled one of its eyes.
"It's bento, not bendo." She corrected. "Also, that's red bean paste. It's really sweet." She explained, chunking off a bit of Inkyu's face.
"Oh right. I wanted to know about your traumatic past experience. I told you mine!" She attempted to smile, with her mouth half full.
"But also, we have to meet up to discuss a witch fighting strategy. Umm, who do you live with, if I may ask? It's just that my brother would tease the hell out of me if I ever brought a boy home while he is there." She frowned. Tobiko got to her nerves all the time, but if she brought a boy home and locked herself with him in her room for what could be hours, she'd never know peace again.

Leon leaned back, setting the bento aside, leaving the overly sweet red bean paste in tact. "My past?" He sighed, and pulled out his phone. "It's easier to just show you, though I was hoping to never have to bring this up again." He loaded up Yootoob and showed her the entire video of him 'thwarting' the robbery. Blushing he put the phone away after the several minutes had passed.

"You see, it's pretty bad." He looked up at the blue sky, barely a cloud to be seen despite the autumn weather. "You want to know who I live with? I actually live alone." He smiled, a bit sadly. "My Dad is always on business trips, and my mom and little sister are still in America." He closed his eyes, letting the cool wind wash across him. "I want a new start, that's why I moved here."

"Oh. I guess it is, kinda. It was really brave of you to rush in like that, but really stupid at the same time. Who knows they could've done to you if they were for real?" She sighed and breathed the cold air. "It was too forward. Just like you, I suppose. I don't see why others'd joke, though. That is really rude!" She frowned eating the rest of Inkyu's ear.
"It feels so nice to eat Inkyu every day." She grinned. Then she realized what she said. "Because... he is really cute, haha. Yes."
"Wow. That came out surprisingly wrong." She thought.
"Well, if you don't mind, maybe we could meet up at your place and discuss strategy?" She said, closing her bento. "I want to go shopping a bit during the afternoon, I saw a beautiful dres-- uh. Right, I'm getting carried away. I'll call you when I'm ready, what do you think?"

Leon stood up, tossing his bento in the garbage. "I might stick with a sandwich next time." He held out his hand to help Erin-Senpai up. Though he somehow managed to miss hearing her disturbing comment. "Having a girl over to my place on the first day of school, huh? I really am pretty popular aren't I?" He grinned at her.

Erin took Leon's hand to get up. "Thanks, Kyrin-kun. Don't get too proud, though, it's just a strategy meeting!" She felt her cheeks heating up.
"W-well. Anyway. You should show me some American food sometime. I hear it's really different from our food." The bell rang again.
"Oh, crap! It's already this late?! I gotta run, or the teacher will kill me. See you later, Kyrin-kun! Good luck chasing off your fangirls!" She said, picking her stuff up and running for the stairs.

The school day ended rather quickly, without incident, for the most part. He did end up with three more numbers, that he didn't really want. He couldn't turn them down of course, he had to keep up his cool-guyness. He got home quickly, ducking on the girls, so they would not know where he leaved.

He pulled out some food and started making American-style hamburgers. "I bet she'll like this." He straightened up the house quickly, removing the look of a bachelor and put on some tea. The day quickly ended as he waited for the doorbell to ring.

Erin ran down the street after leaving her shopping bags at home. She'd changed into her more casual outfit - a colorful t-shirt, some jeans and sneakers - and undid her single braid.
A few playing kids almost tossed her on the ground when they passed her by on the mall- she had ended up breaking something in the impact, that's why she was late.
She started running instead of walking, and after a few minutes she arrived at Leon's place - she had called him to ask where he lived when she got home.
She rang the bell and looked around while waiting. The sun was already setting.

Leon opened the door after the ring, he had changed into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, nothing fancy. "Come on in, Senpai." He said, moving aside for her. He showed her the small apartment, the single bedroom, the small kitchen and the visiting area. "Would you like some tea?"

He motioned for her to sit down and poured her a cup of tea without waiting for a reply. "So, you wanted to discuss witch strategies? Is that even possible? I mean how do we even know what a witch is going to be like until we come across one? I suppose if we come across one you fought before we might know something, but how likely is that?"

He shifted on the floor pillow, it was an awkward way of sitting and he was still not used to it, why do they have to be so close to the ground? He was kind of liking the kotatsu, it was keeping his legs toasty. "Oh right, I made food. Are you hungry?"

"First of all" Erin took a sip of the hot tea. "Don't ask me so many questions at once!" She said, putting the cup down. It was burning her hands.
"We can discuss witch strategy to a limit. You're right, we don't know where to look for. They just appear. But I have noticed some patterns." She said, taking out a Mitakihara map from her bag. "There seem to be four phases to the witch's appearances." She pointed the red circles she'd drawn on the map earlier.
First, they'd appear in the residential area
Next, around the school and business area (The park where they'd seen the witch the night before was a part of this zone)
Then they would be at the industrial zone
And finally in the shopping district and mall.
"It has been so for the last month or so. Next, there should be a witch in the factories area! We should focus on patrolling around there." She took another sip of the tea. "Also, I have a very considerable collection of witch cards, counting witches and familiars it probably surpasses 300 cards. So, the likeliness isn't that short, I have been fighting for a very long time. And yes, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything since lunchtime!" She said with a grin.
"Oh, right. I was meaning to ask you something, but your hoard of fangirls this morning made me forget. Did Inkyu tell you something bad about me?" Her grin disappeared, totally. She looked around, but there were no signs of the devilish Incubator.

Leon looked at the map on the table, all the locations and red dots made him a little dizzy. "Er...right....industrial." He stood up and walked into the kitchen as they were talking. He pulled the lid off a few juicy hamburgers he had been cooking, the delay had not really made them any worse. He set them on some buns and put ketchup and pickles on each.

He walked back into the visiting room and set them down. "American style hamburgers, I promised you American food, right?" He sat down again and took a sip of his tea, it was a bit bitter for his taste, but he would get used to it. "Did you ask me something while I was in the kitchen? I don't think I heard you." He waited to eat his burger until she took a bite, he wanted to know what she thought.

Erin looked at the burger and took a hungry bite.
"Waah~ It's great!" She said after swallowing it. She had never had a burger before- her friends who went to fast food places had them all the time, but she didn't go there. The food was too fat. Besides, this one was homemade- a lot more genuine. And tasty.
"Oh right, I did ask you something. Inkyu... Did he come here last night or was he just trying to annoy me? I didn't want to break it off to you this soon, but at least please be careful when believing in something that an Incubator says. They can be very manipulative, and even though they may not lie, they will at least ommit facts. A lot!" She warned him, eating more of her burger.
"Do you wanna go patrolling today? It's only been a day since we've killed Gertrud. Most likely there are no new witches appearing." She didn't really feel like going out again to trip on her own feet. Besides, if they ran into untrusty Magi, it could be dangerous.

Leon took a bite of his own burger, it was well made if he did say so himself. It reminded him of home, of New Jersey and his mother's cooking. He looked at Erin-Senpai as she asked her questions. "Inkyu? I don't trust him at all, he's been very....evasive about my questions, but yes he did try to warn me about you, as if I couldn't take care of myself."

Leon sat back and looked at Erin-Senpai, she was exhausted and not hiding it well. "No, I don't think we need to patrol, not tonight. I'm positive everything is fine. How about we do our homework instead? I'm so far behind everyone else in everything but English!" He laughed and smiled at her.