"Huh? What just happened?" Koyuki got up, lighting off her chair.
"Travis? Who's Travis? That never happened before!" She said, carefully inspecting the chair. "Maybe it's a mistake?" She wondered, crouching behind the chair and poking it. Nothing seemed out of the regular.
"Hmm... I need to conduct a test. I'll be right back kiddos!" She said and walked out of the room.

"Hey, Leon-kun, are you alright?" Erin got up and quickly walked to Leon. "What just happened?" She looked at him, he was clearly very worried.
Where'd Koyu go, anyway? What's she gonna do? Erin thought to herself. She wondered what kind of tests she wanted to conduct, until things started to connect in her mind. Could it be...?! But how...? Her eyes narrowed. What could she do if it was true?

Leon shook his head, trying to understand what had happened. The darkness was not normal, he knew this, but he thought it was a side effect of nearly dying. He pulled the wrap off his head and looked up at Erin-Senpai. "Senpai, I don't know what is happening to me, I feel normal, but my eye, and now this name. What does it all mean?" He shook his head, his body was shivering even though he wasn't cold. Something was not right with him.

He only vaguely remembered what he was going through at the restaurant, but he knew that whatever this was, it had something to do with that. He tried to remember what happened, but his head hurt each time he tried to think about it. "Senpai, am I a monster now?"

"Hey, you listen to me now!" Erin stared into Leon's eyes with a very serious face "You're not a monster. You'll never be a monster! You're a hero, both me and Koyuki owe our lives to you. Get it? You're not a monster. And don't you even dare to think that again, because it'll only be harmful for you." Her voice was normal, but decisive. She was serious.
"I have no idea what this means" She lied. She was good at lying. "But you'll be okay, you hear?! I promise." Erin smiled warmly at him. That was a promise she'd keep, no matter what. And if she couldn't, she would pay with her life.

Koyuki was turning her whole bedroom upside down, in search of a specific something.
"Damn, why don't I have any spares?" She took a sock from her head and put it inside a drawer. "Did I use them all up before dying?" She scratched her cheek, casually. Getting up, she looked at a cardboard box in her closet. Inside it were her old schoolbooks, and beneath all of them...
"Bingo!" She said, picking up what she needed and returning to the Witches Wall.

Leon could not hear Erin-Senpai's words, but he felt the intent behind them. This was not like him, why was he so worried? So what if he had a strange eye, it was the price of battle, it was a sacrifice he would gladly make to save people. He did not regret taking Erin-Senpai's place, he did not regret saving Koyuki-Senpai. This is who he is, this is the life of a hero.

He stood up and held his hand out to Erin-Senpai. "I'm sorry, Senpai. I'm fine now, thank you." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, no matter what, he would not become a monster, he would not give in to despair. He was a hero and that meant sacrifice, but it did not mean hurting others, emotionally or physically. "I really make you worry, don't I?" He said with a grin.

"I'm back, kids, miss me much?" Koyuki striked a pose, entering the Witches Wall. She went to the egg chair placed the farthest from Erin and Leon, and placed what she'd brought on top of it. Like she expected, it turned of a grayish blue and instead of the normal name, a runespeak text appeared. "Hmm, interesting." She put the little item back in her pocket.
I wonder what this means. And what can be done? She said, keeping her thoughts to herself.

"Yes you do. But that's good! If you were in danger and I was indifferent it would be much worse, right?" She said, following Koyuki with her eyes when she entered the room.
I wonder what she's doing. I can't see from here! She projected to Leon, but not Koyuki. She was sure that the 'Master of Telepathy', as Koyuki called herself so many times, would know what she was saying, anyway. She had mind-reading powers, there was nothing she couldn't know from an average mind.

Leon sat back down, ignoring the second name that popped up. "Sorry for being so disruptive, Senpais. What are we planning? Don't tell me you are planning to hunt another witch so soon? Both of you are far to exhausted for that, also I'm positive there is no danger at the moment." He wasn't sure why, but Leon was aware that his witch sensing abilities were far stronger now, than they had been before. Perhaps it was something to do with his eye.

He looked at his Senpais expectantly, waiting for their responses. While he waited he took the opportunity to check out the new, or was it old, member who had joined them. She was fairly cute, and confident which was nice, but she lacked something that Erin-Senpai had. It was not anything physical, perhaps it was more in attitude than anything. He shrugged mentally and sat back in his chair, trying to look like his cool, confident self.

"Well, if a witch appears, we don't have any other choice than to go hunt it, right? Besides, I'm okay. It's Eri that has her soul gem filled with darkness. I'd give you a seed, Eri, but all my spares would fill up and be reborn if you filled them with that much corruption. You'll just have to wait, okay? First seed I get's going to you!" Koyuki smiled reassuringly, tapping a few spots on her floating screen.
"Witches pattern, witches pattern..." She mumbled, drawing the same circles Erin had shown to Leon the day before, about the recent changes in witch appearing patterns. "Well, my kiddos, what do you wanna do for the rest of the day?" She asked, casually, turning the screen off.

"I'm fine, my gem's fine, everything's fine." Erin played around with her ring, it had almost no shine. "Well, we could go for a walk around, Leon-kun isn't very familiar with the town yet. What do you think, Leon-kun?" She got up and sat on her chair, pondering how she could avoid mind-reading from Koyuki. It could be troublesome.

Leon stood up and slammed his hands down on his chair. "No." He said looking at both of them angrily. "We just went through quite a bit, in this game we do not get to just bottle up our problems and ignore them!" He was unsure why he was being so aggressive, it was not like him. Why was he acting like this? Sure he felt like they were lying to him, that they were just putting on brave faces, but he did not react like this.

"You are both exhausted, I can see it! You are both coming to my house and resting. I will take care of you." He held up a hand, stopping any complaints. "I don't want to hear it, you will do as I say! I won't let either of you push yourself farther than you can handle." He held up his hand to his strange eye. "I can see the corruption surrounding your rings, you know. I can see a lot of things I shouldn't be able to."

He looked down at the table, his clear ring with the black line in it. "You both....you need to just relax, you need to be healthy. I'm not letting either of you put yourselves at risk until we clear up your corruption. I won't lose you. I won't...." He trailed off and stared down at his hands, unsure of what to say next.

"Calm down, Leon-kun. It's fine, we know our limits and promise that we won't push ourselves any further. If you want we can rest up at your place, right Koyu?" Erin said, looking at Koyuki, intetionally avoiding Leon's comment on his eye. She had a theory, that she'd shared with Koyuki, but it was just that: a theory. They didn't want to say anything to Leon before they had proof, and Erin hoped it was wrong.

"Sure, whatever. Fighting witches is more of a duty, I'm not too much of a fan. I'm fine with anything!" Koyuki smiled in what she hoped was a comforting way. She did not want to go fight witches, not anytime soon. She was afraid that her witch instincts would take over, and she could possibly hurt Leon or Erin. And if she turned to the dark side again, Erin would kill herself, most likely by shattering her gem. Koyuki was sure of this.
"Don't worry, you won't lose us! We know what we're doing here." Koyuki got up, turning off her chair.

Leon stood up suddenly, and walked to the door. He opened it and struck out with his fist, grabbing something that was standing outside the door. A dangerous look of murderous intent was on his face. "You...." He growled at the creature in his hand. He began to squeeze, causing the creature to cry out. I'm not here to fight you, Kyrin-kun! I have something important to tell you! Leon did not let up on the pressure, but started crushing the stuffed-animal like body. "You.....die....!" He spoke, his voice strange and unnatural.

"L-Leon-kun!" Erin shot forward and tried to take Inkyu from Leon's hands. "Let go of him! It's pointless to try and kill him, he'll just regrow another body!" She screamed.
"What's wrong, Leon? You don't seem like yourself at all! Stop it, you aren't thinking clearly!" She looked at his eyes. It was clear that his strange voidlike eye had something to do with this.
"Leon-kun, please try to reason, killing Inkyu won't make things any better!"

Koyuki stared blankly at the creature that had killed her, the small catlike creature that looked so harmless. Repressing her anger, she walked up to Leon.
"She's right, you know. Killing the demonic creature won't make things better, you'll only exhaust your gem." She said with a calm, emotionless voice. "Actually, Erin's is exhausting too, because she's using too much of her strength trying to stop you."

Leon crushed the creature and tossed it's body aside. He looked at Erin and grinned. "Calm down, Senpai. I wasn't using any magical power. It is so much more satisfying to kill it with your own hands, you know?" He grinned again, it was not his normal grin, it was predatory and wicked. "You know you want it to die as well, Senpais, don't deny it." He placed his hand over Erin's, looking her in the eyes. "Don't waste your strength on me, Senpai. I'll be fine, please rest."

He opened the door and kicked the body out the door, right into the next Inkyu who had shown up. "Be gone, rat. I don't want to kill you more then once." He slammed the door shut and turned towards the girls. "So. What do you ladies want to do?"

"How about we get some rest? I know it's early, but it was a long day for all of us." Erin said, yawning loudly. "And I may want Inkyu to die, but it's pointless to kill it when it'll just respawn. We should focus or strength on more important things." She wanted Leon to rest, to see if maybe that weird state of his would disappear, although she feared it wouldn't be so simple.

"Erin's right, I'm so sleepy. I haven't slept in, like, forever. I need a nap!" Koyuki joined Erin in her yawning campaign. "But maybe we should've heard what Inkyu was gonna say, since it was 'ver important'?" She'd read the Incubator's mind, it was actually pretty average, though one would think it was strong.

Leon nodded at the girls, he was rather tired. He sat down opened the door again, Inkyu was no where to be seen. "Shall we head to my house? We would need to clean up before we can stay here. Or do we each go to our own place?" He looked around the apartment, which was not dirty but covered in dust and cobwebs. "So what shall we do, Senpai?"

"I don't know. If I go home, I'll have trouble because I disappeared last night and skipped school. And Koyu's place is kind of a mess..." Erin looked around at all the webs in the corners.
I don't like spiders. She said telepathically, almost afraid the spiders would hear her.
"We could go to your place, Leon-kun." Erin smiled warmly.

"I'm gonna stay here, this place needs a good cleaning, and then I'm gonna sleep until tomorrow. Why don't you two go? I'd just be a bore, anyway." Koyuki said, holding a broom she'd gotten from the kitchen. "It's cleanup time!" She said, pushing the two kids out the door and closing it.

Leon nodded, he even smiled. His rage was abated and he felt a lot better. He was unsure of why he had even gotten that angry, but he knew that he would probably react the same way any time Inkyu showed up. Was it due to corruption? Was his near transformation still affecting him? He wasn't sure, he wasn't even really sure how much he knew about the whole process. Maybe Erin-Senpai was holding information back from him.

Maybe she was just using him? If she was, he didn't know what he would do. Leon shook his head, he could not afford to think like that. He had to trust Senpai, she was his only link in all of this. This was not how a hero would act, he should be ashamed of himself. Leon looked up, they had nearly reached his apartment, he had walked the whole way in silence, and had not heard a thing Senpai had said, if she had spoken at all.

"I'm sorry, Senpai. I'm just really tired." He reached out an placed a hand on her head, she was shorter than him by quite a bit and he really felt protective of her. "I'm okay, I just need to get some rest and I'll be just fine. You don't have to worry about me." He unlocked the door and went inside, the place was clean, just as he always left it. Who was that girl who had broken in before? I hope she is okay.

Erin yawned. She was really tired, they were almost at Leon's apartment. Both him and Erin kept silent the whole time, and she'd been thinking a lot about their situation. How did they get messed up in something like that? Everything had always been so fine and easy before. What had changed? How did things become so heavy? Suddenly she noticed they were at Leon's apartment.
"I'm glad... I'm so tired, too, that I could probably drop to the ground and sleep!" She said, while listening to a projection of Leon.
What girl? She asked telepathically.

Koyuki had just finished cleaning up the whole house, and she lay on her bed for a while. "I guess" She yawned "It's time to move!" She got up and headed back to Witches Wall. Turning on the board, she linked to the network of Magi. She began an thorough research for the rest of the day, on the process of seedification and all around that, making tests with her gem and spare seeds.
"Interesting..." She kept repeating, even if she hadn't found anything worthy. It added to the mood.

Leon started, he wasn't aware that he was projecting. You are being nosy again, Senpai. He said, but smiled at her. He sat down on the couch and offered her a seat next to him. "When my apartment was broken into, and Gertrud's seed was stolen, a young girl around twelve or so was the culprit. She was quick and seemed to know what she was doing, but she also seemed out of it, like she wasn't herself."

He shrugged and stood up, stretching and yawning. "I'm beat, I think I'm going to go to sleep...." He looked away for a moment, watching the city lights. "Are you going to be okay, being alone out here?" He looked down at Erin-Senpai. "I'll leave my door open, but for some reason, I really worry about leaving you alone."

"I'll be just fine!" Erin smiled. "I'm not a child anymore. I can protect myself." She looked at him, he didn't seem to be acting up so much.
"A twelve year old that seemed out of it? I think you had said something about that before. She was probably controlled by Koyuki. I wonder what happened to her?" She looked at the window, struggling to keep her eyes open. "I'm so tired..." She yawned.
I'm just your average girl, you know? Nosey. She smiled and untied her hair, giving Leon the surprisingly unscathed ribbon. "Here, this is yours" She held it out to him.

Koyuki had spent the day researching, but she hadn't found anything too big. The particular process she'd been looking for was rare, and there wasn't much information about it. She gave up and went to bed. She was tired, and the tests had corrupted her gem a little bit.
"Why?" She asked to nobody, receiving no reply. "There's nothing about it. What can I do?" She closed her eyes to think, and quickly fell asleep.

Leon shook his head and smiled. "You keep it, I don't look good in ribbons." His smile turned into one of his quick grins. "I'm going to sleep, I'll see you in the morning." He went into his room and laid down, but sleep was not coming to him. He was tired, but so much was on his mind and he was worried, he did not know why, but he was very worried. It was not for himself that he feared, he could not shake the feeling that something was going to happen to Senpai.

After about an hour of worry, he finally got up, taking his pillow with him he went back out to the living room. Senpai was sleeping peacefully, her face was stained with the tears from the day, but she looked rested. "I suppose everything is fine, he whispered." He tossed his pillow on the ground, near the couch and lay down. Somehow the worry he felt before faded away, and sleep finally claimed him.

Erin woke up and stretched her arms.
"Good morning..." she said, trying to keep her eyes open. She looked at the window. The sun was still rising, meaning it was early, very early. Why did she wake up at that time? Usually her brother had to drag her out of bed and threaten to splash cold water on her. She walked back to the couch. She was tired and wanted to sleep some more.
When she was about to sleep, she noticed that Leon was sleeping on the ground.
"What is he doing here?" She knelt down near him. She could see his ring, and something caught her attention. The voidlike marking... It had grown.

Koyuki woke up startled. She was having a nightmare about her witch side. She looked around to check if she was safe and then looked at the alarm clock.
"6:45..." She groaned, burying her face in the pillow. "I don't wanna go to school. Do I need to go?" She rolled around her bed. They didn't know she was alive yet, maybe they didn't need to. Being a magi and going to school was so difficult too.

Leon was running, he was being chased....no he was chasing someone. A small figure with purple hair ran from him, it was so weak, so easily snuffed out. He started to laugh. He could so easily crush this creature, but why? Let's play with it a little bit. He slithered down next to it and began to whisper in it's ear. He then bit the side of it's neck softly, leaving a strange mark. He laughed again and watched as the glaze look came over the them, and they began to react in the best ways.

Erin got up and walked around the room, frightened. She didn't know what to do. Koyuki was too far to be reached and wouldn't answer her phone calls. She couldn't go out, if Leon woke up while she was gone he'd be worried. Her soul gem was filled up almost whole, so she couldn't conduct a test without risking her life. After over fifteen minutes of thought and ten calls to Koyuki, she finally made a decision.
"Leon-kun. Wake up. This is important." Erin gently shook his shoulders, trying to get him awake.

From a far away place, Koyuki heard her cellphone ringing. It had a familiar ringtone, belonging to someone important to her, someone with jade hair and silver eyes, though she didn't know exactly who.
"Does he still call me after so long? Maybe he knows..." She muttered, senselessly. It was still so early, she didn't want to answer, she wanted to sleep.
After the tenth call, Koyuki got annoyed and went to see who was being so bothersome.
10 missed calls from Eri was written on the phone screen. Erin? Why was she calling Koyuki, and so much, too? Maybe something had happened, they could be in danger! Koyuki put the phone on her pocket and hurried out of her house, running towards Leon's.

An annoyance was bothering Leon's hunt, no, his name was Travis. He tried to ignore it, but some part of him assured that it was important. He stopped bothering his target, they were his anyways, he could come back to it later. Floating into the air, he turned around and...

...opened his eyes. Erin-Senpai was standing over him concerned. "What's the matter, Senpai? Did I sleep too late?" He smiled at her and yawned, it felt early...too early. "I suppose we need to get ready for school, huh?" He sat up and looked around, his hair plastered oddly on one side. "Do I have time to make breakfast?" He seemed to not be aware of what his dream was about, and oblivious to anything that had happened the night before.

Erin breathed deep in relief.
"L-Leon-kun. The void mark in your gem... I don't think we need to worry about something as simple and trivial as school or breakfast right now." Her face returned to its concerned look. Should we go to school? It could be bad. And dangerous... but what to do if we skip again? My gem's way too exhausted for hunting, all of our gems are. I wish I had a grief seed... She thought, mentally pulling some hairs off.

Koyuki stopped in front of Erin's apartment building.
"Huh? This isn't the place." She said, beginning to understand she had no idea where Leon lived.
I can't just go up and ask, they think I'm dead. Erin, where are you... She began to run through random streets.

Leon smiled and stood up. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Besides we need to go to school, we need to keep up appearances, ya know?" He walked into the kitchen and started preparing toast. "Hey, does Koyuki-Senpai go to school? I was wondering about what she would do. Maybe we can say she went on a trip overseas! I can give her information about America to help back it up." He grabbed the toast and brought some out.

"I'm gonna put on my uniform, why don't you call Koyuki-Senpai and see what she is doing? We can all go together." He smiled again, he was either oblivious to what was going on or was intentionally ignoring it.

"Well, I don't know if the teachers will buy that, but it'd be funny to try and see how she'd excuse herself for two years of absence!" Erin langhed, promptly forgetting all the worries she had. If Leon said he was fine, even though it was most likely just a strong face, it was useless to annoy him.
Erin dialed the phone number of Koyuki for the eleventh time, hoping she'd answer. It rang, and then Koyuki's voice echoed.
"Hi, Koyu! Are you going to school today?"
"They think you're missing, but you can create illusions, right?"
"Not the past, huh? Then maybe you could bring in someone to prove our story?"
"I want you to go because you'll be dumb if you don't. Are you wearing your uniform? Where are you?"
"Good. See you in a little while!"
Erin hung up before Koyuki could try to counter her, smirking.

Koyuki had just returned to her starting point when a melody began to play in her pocket.
...who'd have thought it, too good to describe it! This or that or anything, were's friends until the end!...
Erin was calling again? Koyuki answered.
"Eri?"
"What do you want me to do at school? They probably think I'm dead by now."
"Sure, but the illusions I create are only in the now, altering a person's memory is hard."
"That'd probably work, yeah, but why do you want me to go to school?"
"Yes, I am wearing my uniform. I'm in front of your house."
"Eri, wait...!"
Erin had hung up. That girl was smart. There was nothing for Koyuki to do but sit and wait until Erin and Leon showed up.

Leon quickly dressed and combed his hair. He stopped and looked at himself in the mirror for a minute, the strange swirling void that was his eye attracted too much attention. He went to his closet and started rummaging through things, he threw aside socks, comic books and weights until he finally found the thing he wanted. He grabbed it and tied it around his head, checking himself in the mirror again he nodded and walked out into the living room.

"How do I look, Erin-Senpai?" He grinned. He was wearing an eye patch with a strange looking skull on it. "It was a Halloween decoration from last year. I suppose it'll serve for now. I'll just say that I got in an accident and that is why we missed school. Think it'll work?" He looked at Erin-Senpai's hair and smirked a little, handing her a brush. "What did Koyuki-Senpai say?"

"You look... Interesting! But, I think it'll work, Koyu can make it work." She said as she thoroughly brushed her hair, tying it afterwards. "Koyu'll be waiting in front of my house, she got lost because she doesn't know where you live, but she'll come with us to school." Erin made a victorious smile. "She'll just give some excuse and make some illusion to back it up." She got up. "So, shall we go?"

The sun was so hot... Koyuki slid down the wall she'd been supporting herself in. What was taking them so long? Koyuki began to wonder what she'd do at school without any books. It was sort of worthless. And she had no idea how to excuse herself either, this was all so seemingly pointless.

"Koyuki-Senpai!" Leon yelled as they approached. He handed her a cool ice cream that he had picked up on the way. "We stopped for ice-cream, sorry it took so long, but we are going to be late anyways." He said with his signature grin. "I'm glad you are coming to school with us, I was a bit worried about how you would be lonely and bored while we were at school."

He held out his hand to her, attempting to help her up. "By the way, do you like my disguise? I'm going to say I was in an accident, that should get me a nice amount of pity, and hopefully distract from the fact that you are suddenly back!"

"Ice cream!" Koyuki was going to scold the two for being late, but she figured it was pointless. Besides, they had brought her some ice cream! She took Leon's hand and got up.
"I don't know, I used to be pretty popular because of my amazing hairstyle," Erin repressed an obvious laugh "so I'll probably be noticed." She said licking her ice cream.

"Only if you're noticed by the guys, Koyu, because the girls will be all over Leon-kun, trust me. And I'll just be there, forever alone in a corner while you two attract all the attention in school, right?!" Erin said in a very fake sad tone while Koyuki mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'you're too shy for your own good, Eri.'

Leon laughed, glad to see both of his Senpais were in good moods. He leaned forward, getting kind of close to Erin-Senpai's face. "Don't worry, Senpai, you will always be my favorite." He grinned and stuck his tongue out as he backed up. He was pretty sure that would make her blush, and maybe even make Koyuki-Senpai a little jealous. Sometimes it was nice to play with them, if they worked up those emotions than they were likely feeling a lot better.

"Okay! Let's go, school isn't that far from here!" He started walking, being sure to be a few steps forward so those two could have time to catch up, it had been pretty hectic since they had saved Koyuki-Senpai, and he knew they needed a chance to talk.

Erin turned bright red. "Eh? Uh, I..." She said, not sure how she'd reply to that. She just walked, silent, trying to get the heat on her cheeks to die down.

Koyuki laughed at the color of Erin's cheeks. "Heehee!" She got closed to Erin and whispered to her. "Now don't you two make a cute couple?"

"Eh? Wh-what do you mean? Shut it, Koyu, you're letting that stupid matchmaker instinct of yours surface again." Erin felt her cheeks burn more, and pushed away Koyuki dramatically.

"Fine, fine, I won't tell you my secret plans. But there's something mine that you have and I so need, Eri!" Koyuki said, striking a pose. "My other magi shoe!"

"Your... Magi shoe?" Erin thought back for a little. "Oh, that shoe! So that's why you were so paranoid over finding your lost shoe as a witch?" Erin remembered that she'd kept one of Koyuki's shoes, that she'd dropped right before becoming a witch. "It's in my room, sorry!"

"Okay, but you gotta promise you'll return it." Koyuki gave Erin her best serious face. "Look, school's just ahead!"

Leon reached the school just a moment before the other two, he could already see people whispering about his eye patch. Would this be bigger news than when he first came to the school? Transfer student misses school, comes back with eye patch! He would get no alone time this day, he was sure of it. I'm sorry I'm not in your class, I can't help distract from Koyuki-Senpai's return there. I'll do my best to be a rumor magnet though. He stepped through the gates and was already being surrounded by curious students asking what happened to his eye, where he had been, how he kept picking up cute girls. The last one was said with a venomous look towards Koyuki and Erin-Senpai.

He even had a few jealous guys asking him to teach them his tricks. He smiled and made small talk and generally welcomed all the attention, he just hoped it was enough for Koyuki-Senpai to seamlessly blend back into school. A dark shadow passed over his mood as he noticed a small creature with different colored eyes staring at him from the shadows. He started to get heated, to grow angry, but he knew that he could not do that, not here. He would allow his Senpais to have as normal of a life as he can.

"See? I told you, the poor guy doesn't get a second to breathe." Erin watched as Leon was immediatly surrounded by a heap of students. "Won't take long before you all forget about me." She cried very fakely. "Well, Koyu, you might as well talk with someone in charge to figure out what to do now that you're back. I have a class, and I'm late, so I'll see ya soon!" Erin ran quickly towards the inside of the school building, dodging students that almost threw her to the ground.

"See you, Eri!" Koyuki waved her goodbye and casually walked to the school. A senior that was passing by noticed her hair. "Hey, isn't that Hasegawa-san?!" She said, and a few students began to whisper. "Wasn't she missing?" "It's been two years already!"
Koyuki hurried into the school, leaving the unwanted attention behind.

Leon noticed that some people were talking about Koyuki-Senpai and decided it was time to act drastically. He jumped up onto a garden stand, near a large tree and started to shout. "I get it! You all want to know what happened to my eye, right? Well gather around, I'll let you all know!" He smiled, his winning smile, and caught the eye of the seniors who were trying to talk about Koyuki-Senpai. He gave them a wink and they could not help but be drawn in by his personality.

He talked for quite a while, even a few teachers came over to hear the report of what happened. It was a long and dramatic tale about him saving a puppy from a car and being struck by that same vehicle! He had injured his eye in the romp, but nothing else major was hurt, and the puppy was saved! There were whispers, and gasps and even a couple of cheers. He knew how to tell a good story. After he was finished the gym teacher approached him and asked if he would come to the staff office to talk with them. He sighed and followed, it was only a matter of time after all.

"I see, Hasegawa-san. It would have been nice to get a warning, but we understand your emergency." The headmaster said. "Seeing as you haven't been taking classes, we will have to reallocate you to a class two years back. I believe you have friends in 2A, isn't that right? To help you blend in I'll be placing you there." The headmaster finished the speech. Koyuki bowed politely and walked to class happily. She'd made up evidence to back up both her story and Leon's and it had gone smoothly. "Easier than I thought." She smirked and waltzed happily to class through the empty halls.

Erin's Japanese class was, as always, not too interesting. She lazily wrote what the teacher said, not paying too much attention, until she say Koyuki coming in the way of her classroom.
"Class, we have a new student today. I'm sure that some of you already know her, but please introduce yourself." The teacher informed.
Koyuki said her name and politely bowed. Some students were gossiping about her mysterious return, but the teacher didn't say anything about it. She told Koyuki to sit next to a girl named Aki, just about as far as possible from Erin. Perfect for telepathy, meaning they'd be chatting for the whole class.
Hey Leon-kun, do you think you can come to the roof during breaktime?

Leon had to talk to the principle, he had never even met her before. Wait, no, she was called the Headmaster here. He noticed Koyuki-Senpai pass by, but chose not to say anything and draw unneeded attention to her. After a moment he was taken into the Headmaster's office and had to explain everything, including why he distracted so many students from attending class. He explained his situation, at least the one he made up and referenced the eye patch for emphasis.

He was finally released after first lesson, during the meeting he had received a telepathic message from Erin-Senpai, but was concentrating too hard to respond. I will see if I can get away from my mob, but it shouldn't be a problem, will both of you be there? He snuck into his next class, Japanese and sat in his usual spot. He immediately noticed something was amiss. "Where is Sakura-chan?" He asked himself. The cute, purple haired girl was missing, he knew she was a good student and wouldn't be missing without reason. He would have to ask around after class.

Erin was chatting with Koyuki very actively, having to repress a laugh sometimes. The teacher wouldn't even notice- the Japanese teacher almost never asked things to the students, she'd just talk endlessly.
Yep, we will! It'll be nice to keep out of the mess in the hallways. She answered Leon, pretending to pay attention when the teacher turned to look at the class.

After class Leon asked a couple of students if they had seen Sakura-chan, all of them gave the same response. No one had seen her or heard from her, she was really shy and did not have many friends, so no one thought to call her. He went up to the teacher after class and asked if she had called in or anything, but not even the teacher had heard from her. This is strange, I don't have any reason to think like this, but I have a really bad feeling, maybe I'll ask the others about it at lunch.

At lunch, he went up to the roof about ten minutes late, trying really hard to break away from the ever increasing mob. I like being popular, but maybe it would be nice when it died down a little bit.

"No Eri, let go of my haaair!" Koyuki said dramatically, shoving Erin's hands off her hair, which was all messy instead of its usual parted styling.
She turned around and saw Leon coming up.
"Oh, Kyrin-kun! You're here!" She smiled, trying to straighten her hair. The wind blew by, making it even worse. "Darn, why can't I get this right?" She stroked her hair repeatedly, thinking about her precious hairspray which was at home.


Erin sighed and got up, leaving Koyuki and her hair to themselves, walking to Leon.
"Hey, Leon-kun! I was worried you'd have been caught up in a crowd for the rest of breaktime, are you okay, now?" She asked, noticing his slightly worried expression.
"We were just making plans for the afternoon, come join us!" Erin took his hand and dragged him back to where the other two were, still in hopeless interaction.
"Maybe you should let your hair normally for today?" Erin sighed. Koyuki could be so weird...!

Leon looked up as Erin-Senpai approached, he was worried but didn't know how to explain it. "It's nothing, Senpai. Someone is missing from my class, and I have a bad feeling, but none of my senses are telling me anything strange, so I don't think she's in danger at the moment." He sat down and looked at Koyuki-Senpai's hair and just started laughing. At first it was a chuckle, then a giggle and finally full blown laughter.

"I'm sorry, Koyuki-Senpai, it's just.....Bwahahahhaha!" He could not contain it, maybe it was the strong amount of worry, maybe it was the stress of the last few days, he did not know why but he could not stop laughing.

Koyuki blushed and looked down. "Please don't laugh." She said, looking at her feet "I got caught up in a crowd and fell in a bad angle..." She kept trying to return it to its original shape, but it wouldn't move an inch.
"Anyway, what were we planning? Ah, right, we were gonna tell you about Magi network!" She finally gave up on her hair and gave her best smile.

"Magi network is our special information web, kinda like a special internet that can only be accessed by Magi." Erin began to explain how to access and stuff it was useful for. "And the witch database, of course. It has data on almost every witch found until today, from familiars, attack patterns and grief seed uses." She finished.
"Now, back to our primary issue," Erin leaned back in the wall, looking at the afar buildings. "What are we gonna do this afternoon?"

Leon took on a serious look and turned his head towards Erin-Senpai. "You two are going to relax. Erin-Senpai, your soul gem is far to corrupted for you to use even a little bit of magic, and I want Koyuki-Senpai to relax still, I don't think that fighting witches is in your best bet right now." He looked out over the school grounds. "I know you are worried about me, and I understand, but you cannot push yourselves to hard. There is going to be a witch tonight, and I am going to defeat her, by myself. I am going to get her grief seed and I am going to fix your soul gem, Erin-Senpai."

He turned around and looked back at them. "Then, and only then can you start hunting witches again." He shook his head, stalling any objections they may have. "I don't want to hear any objections, you have to let me do this for you, you must." He looked down at the ground, silent.

"What? Do you think I'm just gonna sit by and watch you go into a witch's barrier all alone?!" Koyuki got up. "If you have a magi partner you should never wander into a barrier all by yourself. It's too dangerous. Besides, I'm fine, it's not like I've had little time to recover." She shrugged "If I don't fight, I'll lose my skill, too. And both you and Erin have saved me, it'd be impolite to sit back and let you do all the work. I've caused you enough suffering, now I have to help, too! Erin, you stay back, though. Anything you do will have big repercussions, your soul gem is almost full. I don't even know how you can think clearly!" She said, facing Erin. She took a brush from her bag and brushed her hair, removing all traces of hairspray and letting it fall naturally.

Erin didn't know how she could still think so clearly, either. The corruption bothered her, but it wasn't as badly as it should.
"You're leaving me behind?" She said, sadly. "I want to go too... even if I'm just watching you fight, I won't stay back. What if something happens to you, what will I do? It wouldn't be very nice if the town were to suffer from three new witches, and no Magi that we know to fight them." She knew she couldn't fight, or she'd become a witch very quickly, but she couldn't just sit and wait, not knowing anything. She'd go into the barrier, even if she was just watching. "It'd be very bad if something were to happen to you and I wasn't there to help. I wouldn't be able to live straightly, or live at all, knowing that you'd died and I hadn't given it my all to help."

Leon walked up to Erin-Senpai, and looked her right in the eyes. "Do you really think it would be better for you to come along, and know that you cannot do anything to help, or to rest and recover and trust in us, your friends? We are capable, you taught me well, Senpai. I can handle anything I come across." He reached down and grabbed her hand, his face very serious. "I want you to rest, Senpai, I'm not leaving you out or saying you can't handle it, this is just my way of protecting you."

He dropped her hand and turned back to Koyuki. "Koyuki-Senpai, I'll trust you to come with me, to watch my back, you need to be careful too. Just because your soul gem isn't showing corruption doesn't me there isn't any. We do not know what happens to a magi once they revert back from being a witch." He smiled a litte. "Though, I am glad to know I will have someone watching me as well, it will be better for everyone." He looked out towards the industrial park. "I already sense danger, someone is in trouble. I think we will have to miss the rest of the day, Koyuki-Senpai."

He jumped up onto the roof and looked down at Erin-Senpai. "Senpai, please stay behind, I'm asking you to trust in me, just this once." He turned away, ready to jump off the roof. "I promise I'll bring you back a grief seed and a card."

Koyuki rushed to follow Leon, jumping off the roof. THIS IS CRAAAAZY! Koyuki said, landing swiftly, but sliding too much, causing her to fall. "I need some practice..." She promptly got up, looking at the industrial area. "A witch, huh... It could be dangerous, if the witch stops productions on an important factory it can really place the city in a tough spot." She thought about what factories were at the industrial area, but didn't really know. Besides, two years had gone by, they could've taken a complete turn.
"Well, shall we go?" She said, holding out her soul gem.

Don't forget the cards of the familiars, too! Erin clutched to the iron fencing in the roof. She was all alone again, she could do nothing but return to classes. The bell rang in its boring tone, informing the students that it was time to return to their boring classes with no one to talk to through telepathy.
How could normal people live?! Erin dragged her feet to the Maths class. The only upside of the rest of the day being that she only had her favourites, Maths and Arts.

Leon landed on a roof overlooking the industrial district, standing next to Koyuki-Senpai. He held out his hand and the ring turned into his lime colored soul gem. The light was pulsing heavily, they were close. He also noted that the corruption was actually swirling inside his soul gem, taking on it's released shape. No time to worry about that now! He released the soul gem and it turned into the green spiral shape. He gripped it in his hand and the transformation was almost instant.

Something was different about him in this form, he realized that he was wearing a mask, well not a complete mask but he had a mask like outline over his corrupted eye, and his outfit seemed a little different, parts of it were a swirling vortex of color, just like his eye. "Huh, this is different, I wonder if it's because of my eye?" He said out loud. "Well no time to worry, I sense the barrier just over there. If we are quick enough we can stop this witch before anyone else gets hurt."

He jumped again, this time moving a greater distance due to his magic. he landed on a building that was under construction and held out his right hand, the barrier appeared just in front of it, inviting him inside. He worried just a bit, a former witch and a magi partially corrupted, what sort of terrible things could happen in the barrier?

Koyuki grasped her gem tightly, and it released into light that covered her. Her clothes turned into a light orange dress with a short skirt and small heeled boots. Or, a small heeled boot. She only had one shoe, the other one was missing.
"Oh no! My shoe... Erin kept it." She looked at her feet sadly. She was wearing long orange socks, but it was impractical for fighting. "I can't fight with only one shoe, especially a shoe with heels." She took off her shoe and made it disappear to her house. "Goodbye baby dear, be safe!" She waved it goodbye as it faded into light. "My socks are gonna get all dirty, but screw it." She walked towards the barrier and jumped through.
Inside she could only see two things: white and black. What was supposedly the 'sky' was white, while she could only see herself black, as well as the 'ground'. She walked a few steps- the floor was rocky and she could feel everything, it was very uncomfortable. Quickly, a few serpentlike creatures sprouted from the ground. They had a funny head, it kinda looked like a weird rabbit. There were some with teeth, too. Those lauched... balls of dark? Koyuki jumped to dodge a few. Those were the only kinds she could see, but it didn't mean there weren't any more ahead.

Leon did not laugh at Koyuki-Senpai's misfortune, not this time. He followed her through the barrier into a strange landscape, it was strange, black and white, but he felt something, a connection maybe. The snake creatures suddenly attacked and launched their balls of darkness. He reacted and reached up to knock them aside, only he did so with his left hand, which seemed to be covered in the swirling void. The void devoured the balls of darkness and he felt...odd. Not stronger, not weaker...just different.

He needed to be careful with these powers, he did not know how it would react to corruption like that. He jumped onto the wall(?) and kicked off, landing knee first onto one of the creatures, causing it to dissolve into so much dust. "Koyuki-Senpai, do you know anything about this witch? This scenery isn't going to make it easy to navigate!"