Erin finished the burger and licked her lips. "He's not that bad, really. He can be REALLY manipulative, but also helpful. I don't know what to think of him anymore, but pretty much all he wants is to first make a close group of friendly Magi and then just throw them all against each other." She said, thinking about how easier it would make for those Magi to become Witches. If any more Magi that were close to Erin became a Witch, she'd just break her Soul Gem. She'd lose all her will to live, but wouldn't let Inkyu win, anyway. It seemed a nice plan.
"Oh, right, I have a ton of homework for tomorrow! I always leave things for the last minute, haha. Just got to get my school stuff." She got near the window and prepared to use summoning magic and say Accio! as a kind of little joke, but then Inkyu appeared with her schoolbag on his mouth.
"You need this, right?" He said, with his tail wagging and a sweet expression- the only one he ever made. Erin knew he didn't feel it though. She didn't think he felt anything.
"Well, yes. Thanks, Inkyu. Now, be a good Incubator and go fall of the highest building you can find." She snatched the bag from his mouth and tossed him away. He didn't offer any resistence. He never did. Even if he died, he would just spawn a new body, and (disgustingly) eat the dead one.

Leon chuckled as he saw the interaction. "I wish I could keep him from getting in my house, but I never even know he's there until it's too late." He reached over and pulled his own bag out. He was struggling with his Japanese lessons and the most diabolical of all courses, math. Math was the bane of his high school existence, he was convinced it was created by a witch.

He flopped down on the floor and put his arm over his eyes. "Why?! Why does math exist? I hate it!" He laid on the ground for a moment longer, over dramatizing the situation as much as he could. "Are you any good at math, Senpai?" He sat up and look at her hopefully.

"I used to make a binding spell to undesired intruders, but it corrupted my soul gem in just a few hours. So now, I lock my window. It's hilarious seeing Inkyu crash against it!" Erin laughed with an evil tone. She took her History book out. "Are you kidding? I love math! It's so exact and precise~ it's never mistaken. You can predict almost anything mathematically. I adore it. Do you need help at it? Or, like anything else?" She looked at him almost pitifully. She knew how math could be difficult, but she had always loved it. She didn't know how other kids could hate it.
But, History was different. Erin hated History. Mostly it was because of her teacher, who was a complete idiot, but Erin didn't understand why they had to know every single little detail from whatever happened in the past. Wasn't it just that, the past? Sure, knowing an overall of the things was good, so they wouldn't repeat their mistakes, but mostly she felt like she was wasting time. Precious time she could be using to hunt witches and help people.
"I hate History, though." She said, narrowing her eyes.

Leon flopped back down as she agreed to help him with math, but then sat upright rigidly as she spoke again. "What? You hate History? No. No. No! Senpai! You need history!" He stood up, suddenly passionate. "Do you not understand how awesome it is to see what we've done over the years? How far we've come as a people?"

He started walking around the room, his arms moving with every word. "We would not be nearly where we are today if we didn't understand what had happened in the past. Did you know that a lot of important inventions today were discovered after looking at the past? You realize we would not have cell phones if we did not look at how things worked in the past." He sat down on the couch, and leaned forward, looking at her intently.

"Looking at the past shows the need we have to fill in our modern lives, it's what leads us to the future!" His eyes shined with his passion as he waited for a reply.

Erin let out a giggle.
"You're right. It's our history that makes us who we are. Without a past, we'd have no future, am I right? But, sadly, even if I wanted, I couldn't love History. My teacher is evil. I get lower grades on History than everything else... I'd rather stick with the preciseness of Maths. And my Maths teacher is so nice to us. I usually find her at the mall and we chat a lot. She's really awesome. And besides, with us being Magi, we don't have a lot of need of, well, whatever, really. I suppose PE is helpful. But, going to school gets a tidbit pointless, in my opinion." She looked at her History notebook.
"This is boring. I usually just bribe my brother and he does all my History homework for me, anyway." She said telepathically.
"Oh, right, you needed help with Math? We can make a fair trade, I help you with Math and you help me with History!" She said, grinning.

"Sounds like a fair trade!" He said grinning. "Oh right, I made a cheesecake for desert! I hope you are still hungry!" He went into the kitchen and pulled out the chilled cheesecake and laid it on the table. "Ok, so I have trouble with this question/" He pulled out the math book and pointed to the very first question. "And...er...all the ones after."

He laughed a bit and scratched the back of his head. "We may not be able to cover this, don't want to keep you out too late."

"Oh, cheesecake!" She smiled, pretending to be excited, but a chill ran down her spine.
She remembered the cards she'd gotten from her friend Koyuki. They were of Charlotte, the dessert witch, who loved cheesecake but could not create any, and her minions. That had been the last time they talked, before Koyuki had turned into a Witch. For a couple months after, Erin couldn't look at any kind of sweets or cheese without having a huge stomach ache and wanting to puke.
Anyway, she wasn't gonna be rude. Besides, it had been a long time ago, she had to leave those things behind.
"Well, here" Erin said, pointing at the first question. "You have to use trigonometry and the rules of angles to calculate..." She gave him a thorough explanation, using a bunch of difficult words and weird ways to calculate. She liked thinking out of the box, and created her own calculating methods.
"Well, I can leave at any time, my parents are used to me being out late, and accept that surprisingly well. Something about "Our girl is growing up" or whatever." She shrugged and shook her head. Adults could be so weird sometimes. Even stranger than a witch's familiar.

Leon looked confused at all the huge words being thrown his way. "Er...Senpai, are you speaking Japanese?" After a few moments she spoke about family again. Leon smiled sadly, but looked down at his paper so she wouldn't notice. "Family, huh." He thought back to the last thing he had said to his mother before he had left:

"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore! I have to go to Japan with Dad! I can't stay around with all my infamy!"

She looked at him, tears in her eyes but a smile on her face. Her brown hair tied in a small braid down her right shoulder. "Leon. I'm proud of you for making this decision, I'm going to miss you, but I'm sure you'll be fine!" She turned around and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Mom....I..." He started, but something caught his eye and distracted him, it was a small rat looking creature. What? Did I really just see that? He looked again, but it was gone. When he looked up his mom was back to her normal self, the generous and kind smile on her face, hiding the pain she was obviously feeling.

Leon blinked a few times, pulling himself back to the present. "Senpai, was it hard? Being a magi for so long, I mean?"

She blinked her eyes. "Huh. Sorry about that, I guess I could try to explain it more simply." She then made a mental note not to speak of any family-related business when with Leon.
"Well, yes. It was very difficult. I had some times when I really tought of tossing my Soul Gem out the window and let it break. But thankfully, I didn't do so!" She remembered the girl she was before contracting. So frail, like she was made of glass. In fact, her bones were about as weak as glass. She lived a miserable life, and being a Magi had improved it. Despite all the things she'd seen, it was still better than being a useless frail girl. And that was one of the reasons why she wouldn't die so easily. She had make a worthy wish.
All of a sudden, she remembered the words that Inkyu had told her the night before:
The longer you keep the Magi's greatest secret to yourself, the more despair that boy will fall into after he finds out. Do you intend to kill him?
"H-hey, Kyrin-kun. There is something that I need to tell you." She started, and took a deep breath. "But, it's not going to be easy to hear, or accept. However, it's the truth." She could feel her heartbeat quickening. She remembered how she felt when she found out. She killed every copy of Inkyu she could find around town for about a month.

Leon was busy writing down numbers and formulas as fast as he could, it was really hard to keep up with Senpai's instructions, even when she was in 'easy mode'. After a moment he set down his pen and looked up at her, she had a very serious look on her face and he knew that this was important.

He leaned forward and sat with the utmost attention. Maybe she is going to confess to me? That's pretty quick! Well, I am charming and good looking, so why wouldn't she? Oh well, let's see what she has to say! "What is it Senpai?"

Erin didn't hear his thoughts, because she was consuming her inside with doubt.
"Well, you see--" She stopped. A tear slid through her face and into her fist. She reminded herself of everything Leon had done, his heroic acts, and wanting to save everybody.
Knowing the truth would most likely crush him. Knowing that his fate was to become a Witch that could hurt and kill people was the very opposite of being a hero. He'd despair, but he'd find out anyway, and despair more. The longest the worse.
"Please, you have to promise to me that you won't fall into despair after this. It doesn't have to happen like that, remember." She said, with tearfilled eyes. "Well, here goes. If a Magi's soul gem corrupts completely, they'll-- they'll...! I can't say it... It's too painful" More tears fell down her cheeks. She'd lost her composure completely.
"They'll become... they'll become Witches. If you let your Soul Gem corrupt fully, you'll become a Witch. Every Witch was initially a Magi... that fell into despair. But you don't have to be like that!" She stopped sobbing and wiped the tears from her eyes. "We don't need to become Witches at all! We just have to be smart. And, if one of us is becoming a Witch, the other can simply... break their soul gem. So that they won't become a Witch! Please don't be angry. You'll only corrupt your gem..." She smiled fakely. She was trembling. All the terrible memories came back to her at once. And a great need to murder Inkyu viciously...

Leon said nothing. He stood up and walked to the window, looking out of it for several minutes. His mind was blank, he had no thoughts. He simply could not comprehend what had been said. A Witch? How could he become a witch? First of all he was male, so that shouldn't be possible. More importantly he was a hero, and heroes do not become evil.

Finally he turned around, his usual smile on his face. "That's all? It's pretty simple right? I just don't become corrupted." He knelt down next to Erin-Senpai. "Besides, I'm a hero, a hero never becomes corrupted!" He reached out his hand towards her face. "Sorry for being so familiar." He wiped the tears from her face and stood back up, turning away from her. "I won't kill you, Senpai. I refuse to let that happen!"

She smiled "It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? You just don't become corrupted. Easy, right?" Her smile faded away. "Wrong. There are too many reasons why you can just become a Witch (or a Wizard, I suppose?) in a moment. If we fight familiars, we have no way to cleanse our gems. If we don't, we are letting people die. Just transforming uses up magic, and exhausts your Soul Gem. If you ever see someone you care about turning into a Witch... the grief corrupts your whole Gem. If you don't have a grief seed at hand, you'll most likely follow the same path as them. And then the worst is that you have to kill them. We can't let Witches roam around, even if they were once our friends. Besides, killing a Witch becomes much harder, because you know that just like you, they were once happy kids, with dreams like us. They had a life. A life that was shattered. So, we have to be very careful. I don't intend to die. I don't intend to let you die. If I ever die, it'll be when I'm old and have one of the weird diseases old people get!" She said, decisively.
She thought for a moment. "Well, maybe being a hero...? Hmm... What was your wish, Kyrin-kun? This is important." She said, thinking. Suddenly, she blushed heavily, after thinking back to what he'd said previously, and the thought he'd clearly forgotten he'd project. "Also, it IS a bit early for me to confess to you! N-not that I plan on doing so anyway!" She casually scratched her face to hide her blushing.

Leon turned back around and looked at Senpai. She was so serious, he knew that something bad had happened to her in the past and that had clouded her outlook on the world. "My wish?" He walked to the other side of the room, and refilled the tea without saying anything for a minute. "I..." He started, but didn't know how to continue. He looked down at the table, his face flushed. "I wished to be a true hero. I want to be able to protect people, I'm willing to do that even if they don't know about it."

He stood up and picked up the empty tea kettle. "I'll make us more tea." He walked into the kitchen and spoke over his shoulder. "Why is it so important that we know our wishes, Senpai? I don't understand what that has to do with Witches." He was intentionally ignoring what she had said about despair and everything associated with it, he did not want to think about it right now.

Erin stared at her tea cup for a minute. "Our wishes give us a special power. Because I wished for strength, I am stronger than most people. Maybe since you wished to be a hero, your soul gem corrupts more slowly? Because a Witch is basically the opposite of a hero... it could be a big help, you know." She looked up.
"Being a Magi is so confusing. It's good because you help people, but bad because if you're not careful you'll kill them. But, enough with the gloomy chat. What were we talking about? Oh right, wishes. That's a very cute wish, Kyrin-kun!" She laughed a little and winked.

Leon grinned at her, his usually charm back in place. "I'm happy with my wish actually. I don't know if it corrupts my soul gem more slowly, I've not yet had to use a grief seed though. I do know that it actually gives me a sixth sense to danger, it's even stronger if its someone I care about that is in trouble." He looked towards the window again. "That's why I know tonight is safe."

He looked back down at his math work, it was all done, to his surprise. "Hey, I think I'm starting to get this!" He moved over next to Erin-Senpai and looked down at her math book, forgetting the cultural need for space in Japan. "Let's take a look at your history stuff now."

"Oh, you're done with maths? Sweet!" Erin blushed a little when Leon got so close to her. "It's good you're happy with your wish, and even better that tonight's safe." She said while taking her history book from the bag.
"Well, I'm supposed to make a list of the architectural characteristics of this style, but none of them is written. And describing through observation is not my strong point..." She sighed. "We always get stupid homework of this sort." She thought back to her teacher, and pondered on how sad would it be if she just "happened" to be consumed by a witch. Erin would be too late to save her, of course. She smirked.

Leon looked at the book, he understood the style quite well. "Senpai! This is easy stuff, this is Gothic style architecture, it came about in the late 14th century in Europe....." He continued on in that sense, not slowing down for a moment, pointing out how you could tell what style was used and even the materials used for the paint and construction.

He chose to ignore the thoughts he picked up from Senpai, knowing they were not healthy, but also understanding frustration and needing to let it out somehow. Besides, he would save the teacher before the witch got her, he was a hero after all. After a moment he stopped "Senpai. Why are we the only magi around? I haven't seen any others since I got here, I thought I was the only one at first."

As Leon quickly explained the details of that style to her, Erin wrote down the most important parts on a clean page of her notebook.
"Wah, this'll be so useful for studying later. Thank you, Kyrin-kun!" She grinned at him. Her teacher was gonna be suspicious, but impressed. Maybe she'd hate Erin less, and maybe Erin would hate her less.
"Well, to be honest, I don't know. I only knew one Magi in my life, and she's been dead for years." Erin bit her lip. Thoughts of Koyuki had been really frequent in the last days. It was... unsettling. "They could be hiding from us, or fighting in places we don't. Maybe they don't want others to know they are Magi and keep that hidden, not knowing there are others around?" She wondered how far Inkyu could have taken his manipulating. Sadly, for now she felt there was nothing to do but sit and wait.

Leon sat back down on his side of the table, the cheesecake had barely been touched and the tea was cold. "Well, we've done everything we need to, so now what?" He grinned over at Erin-Senpai and gave a wink, he didn't know what it meant, but he felt as though he should do it.

He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Why don't you tell me about yourself, Senpai? I know so little about you, but I feel like I've told you my life story."

"Me? Well, I suppose I could tell you some stuff about me." Erin giggled when Leon winked at her and promptly winked back, jokingly. "I was born with osteomalacia, a bone disease. I was always very weak, and just tripping would usually cause me a broken arm or leg. It was a miserable life, seeing all of the others playing and having fun while I had to sit and be quiet to not get hurt." The image of a small child in a long white dress popped in her mind. Young Erin was a sad kid. "Three years and ten months ago, I was in the hospital because of a severe fracture when Inkyu appeared. He offered to grant me any wish I chose. I asked him to be strong. To be freed of the weakness that made my life so horrible. And he did so. Even to this day, I think that being a Magi is better that the poor excuse of life I led before." She explained, intentionally leaving Koyuki out of the story. "Well, since it's nice outside, and there is still some sunlight, maybe we could go for a little walk around here? So you can get to know the town better!" Erin smiled and approached the window, looking outside.

Leon nodded and stood up, he cleared up the dishes and wiped down the table quickly. "I wouldn't mind learning a little more about the town, it will help me with patrolling and stuff." He walked over and slipped on his shoes and grabbed his jacket, the warmer one, not the school jacket.

This jacket held memories for him too, his mother had gotten it for him as a fifteenth birthday present because he thought it looked like a super heroes cape. Those days were long gone though, and thinking of them did not help. Besides it's best that mom and Elly are not here, I don't want them to get caught up in all this mess. He projected without thinking.

"You're right. This is just a big mess. But it's our permanent lifestyle. And another good reason we can't die is for our families..." She said, thinking of Koyuki. She had no family, and Erin was her only friend, so no one had ever known she'd died. Erin picked up a jacket from inside her school bag and put it on.
"Inkyu sure is a stalkerish bastard, how'd he know I'd need a jacket?" She thought, grumbling about what a creep the Incubator was.
"So, are you ready?" She got up, smiling, and put her bag on.

Leon stepped outside and locked his door. He turned around and smiled at Erin. "Let's go, Senpai." They left the apartment behind and started walking down a random street. Leon unzipped his jacket and let it breathe, it was a bit warmer tonight then the last few nights.

He walked in silence for a few moments, for once, unsure of what to say. This was a little different than just walking with a girl from school, this was his partner, a fellow magi, someone who would share life and death experiences with him. He shrugged and put his hands inside his jacket packets, to keep them from wandering or doing something stupid.

"So. You aren't taking me into some dark factory to do horrible experiments on me, are you?" He said, with a laugh.

Erin looked at Leon, blinking rapidly, and making a confused face.
"Isn't that ooobvious?" She said, clearly ironic. "Of cooourse I am! That was the whole point of this!" She laughed. "Of course not, that'd be stupid. Our factories in Mitakihara have a ton of guards, like they're manufacturing gold or whatever. It just wouldn't be quiet enough." She joked, smiling. Pulling Leon through a few corners and alleys, they arrived at a staircase that led to a platform with an amazing view of town.
"This is my favourite place." She explained. "When I'm sad, I usually come here. It makes me feel better." The wind brushed past her face. Erin took a deep breath, feeling the familiar scents of fall in Mitakihara.
"Oops, it's getting late." She said, noticing how the sun was no longer visible. "Maybe we should head back."

Leon was happy, it was good to see Senpai smile, he was pretty sure that didn't happen often enough. He looked over the town with her and enjoyed the view. It was a nice city, advanced, far beyond the smog filled brick buildings of New Jersey, or at least the part he had lived in. "You are right, it's pretty late. I'll walk you home, Senpai. You didn't forget anything at my house did you?"

He turned and started to walk down the stairs, pretty sure he knew where Erin-Senpai's house was. He was wrong, of course, he went the wrong way at the first opportunity and would have promptly gotten lost by himself.

Erin quickly slid down the stairs. She was trying to learn cool "going down the stairs without moving your feet" move she'd seen on Tumblr. Obviously, she still had to move her feet, but she was getting better at it. She laughed on the inside when she remembered her first thought after seeing that post.
One day I'm gonna have as much swag as this guy!
And she was well on her way.
"I've got all my stuff here!" She patted her schoolbag. As they took the first turn, Leon headed the wrong way. "Hey!" She put her hands on his shoulders and turned him around. "You're going the wrong way. Maybe it'd be best if I led the way until you know your way around here?" And with a grin, she started walking again.

Leon followed Erin to her house and said his goodbyes. He quickly turned around and ran off into the darkness. He had sensed something on the way back, but didn't want to worry Senpai. She was exhausted and needed sleep. He knew she would probably not even find out about it, it wasn't a witch....just something.

He rounded the corner and saw what he had sensed, a gang of bikers was surrounding a school girl, looking closer he recognized the uniform, it was one from his school. "There you are Aria-chan! I've been looking everywhere for you!" He pushed his way past the bikers and grabbed the frightened girls hand. "I can't believe you got lost going home again, mom is going to be furious!"

He turned back to the bikers and gave his best, winning smile. "Thanks for finding her and keeping her safe guys, I know it can be really dangerous out here." That's when the first punch came.

Just as Erin was stretching out her arms, after skipping her brother's questionnaire about who was that boy she was walking with, and he had unfortunately noticed, she heard a noise coming from some street. She looked out the window just in time to see a fight break between a gang of bikers and a guy that looked suspiciously like Leon.
"Oh, man. That could be trouble." Erin said, biting a nail. She looked at the wall of the building in front. It wasn't too far, and there were no windows on that side. "Time to try out my special move." She thought, and locked her room's door. She got near the window...
...and jumped out.
In a mix of jumping and sliding, the arrived at the ground from the 5th floor.
"This is gonna be hell to climb." She said with a smirk and promptly ran off.
She hid at the corner of the street they were fighting in, she didn't want to mess in unnecessarily. Leon could probably handle it, but just in case things got out of hand, she was there.

The blow hit Leon square in the jaw, he wasn't sure why he hadn't seen it coming, probably because he hadn't expected it to come from behind. At first he was convinced that Aria-chan had hit him, maybe for being to familiar? He slid backwards and grinned, the bit of blood dripping off his lip.

He grabbed Aria-chans hand and jumped, kicking the guy who had punched him in the face and using it as a platform to jump higher. He landed on the other side of the group of bikers and released her hand. "Go stand over there in the alley, Erin-Senpai will keep an eye on you." He said with a grin and a wink into the darkness. You sure make a lot of noise for a magi.

He jumped forward, his blood already boiling, hero mode had been activated.

"I'd like to see you slide down five floors silently!" Erin thought as she received the girl Leon had called Aria-chan.
"Are you okay?" Erin asked warmly.
The girl quickly nodded, nervous.
"Everything's okay now, you'll be home in a minute." Erin said, trying to comfort the girl, but only paying attention to the fight.
"That idiot... One day he's gonna get hurt badly because of his heroic acts..." She mumbled. Sometimes heroes could be so stupid. Like their bravery clouded their reasoning.

Bravery was clouding his reasoning. Leon wasn't finishing the fight as quickly as he could have. He was taking his time, trying not to hurt them too badly. He slid under an awkwardly thrown punch and kicked one goon in the back of the knee, knocking him to the ground. He jumped up and landed on the back of another, slamming him into the dirt.

"C'mon guys, is that the best you got?" One of the biker's got really angry at that point. "Boys! Let's kill this scum!" He pulled out a switch blade as the others began to pull out standard gang member weapons.

Leon grinned at them and stood, nonchalantly, waiting for the attack. "Weapons? That's cute."

"Oh my GOD what the hell are you gonna be okay Leon-kun? I mean Kyrin-kun." Erin thought, worried. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course you are." She struggled to repress an 'I want them to be ashamed by getting beaten up by a girl' thought.
"I appreciate that you're not hurting them too badly, but why?" Her eyes were glued to the fight. "They're the bad guys here. They hit you first and then they threatened you with their little weapons. Why not just beat them up hard?" She frowned.

Leon tilted his head back and grinned at the shadows. What would be the fun in that? Also, they might be jerks but they are still human. A hero never kills another person! He dodged to the side, barely moving his head as a pipe came whizzing by.

He kicked his foot up and disarmed the attacker, causing the pipe to land on the head of another goon, knocking him out. "Oops, sorry about that, man." He slid back as a knife swiped at his throat, and kicked the man in the stomach, sending him flying back into another.

"Only three of you left, do you still want to take me on?" The goons started to look at each other nervously, what would they do next?

"Maybe they'll run away scared and I can punch them when they get here!" Erin thought, eager.
She could see, even from a distance, that the goons were scared. She didn't like to use violence on non-magical beings, but those gangsters had been scaring poor Aria-chan. And they were not going to get away with it.
"Nice hits! You've scared them completely now." Erin said, biting her lip like a kid.
"It's always hilarious when someone misjudges our strength!" She smirked, thinking of the guy she'd beaten up to save that junior girl.

No, Erin-Senpai, it's not like that at all. He took a couple of steps forward, causing the remaining goons to scatter. We are heroes, we are stronger than the normal person, it's our duty to protect the weak and help the innocent, but we should never use our full powers against another person, or even a bit of our power if we can help it.

He walked up to the cave and looked down at Aria-chan. "Are you going to be alright getting home, or do you want us to walk with you?"

The girl shook her head and stood up. "Thank you, Kyrin-kun, but I'll be ok." She smiled at him shyly. "I'll see you at school tomorrow!" She ran off, her hair bouncing as she ran.

He turned towards Erin-Senpai. "I didn't use any magic while fighting them, Senpai." He held up his ring for her to see. It had not changed since their fight with the witch. "I understand that magic is what makes you strong, but you have to learn to control it, if you cannot fight without it, then let me protect you."

"Don't cut my fun, Mr. Charming-Good-Looking-Hero! I don't go around beating up people because I feel like. I don't even like hitting people. It's just nice to hit someone that deserves it once in a while." Erin blushed, embarrased for being lectured by Leon. "Besides, I know how to control my magic, and I don't need it for physical strength... But I'm sorry, I suppose I was wrong. I didn't offend you, did I, Leon-kun?" She apologized, remembering what her mother had told her: "A smart person is never stubborn and admits their mistakes."
"Well, I have to go now. Got five floors to climb." She grinned and waved him goodbye as she ran off.
"See you tomorrow, Leon-kun! Good luck chasing off the girls!"
Back at her home, she climbed up the building supporting herself on the windows. Thankfully, nobody saw her. Back inside her room, she noticed it was kind of messy.
"Must've been a breeze." She said, ignoring it. However, something quickly caught her attention. Looking inside her tipped-over box of cards, she noticed something was missing.
"Oh, no. The grief seed of the shoes witch is gone!"

Leon grinned as he watched Erin-Senpai leave. Goodnight Senpai. He ran home quickly, still burning with adrenaline from the fight. He walked inside and stopped, someone was there.

He froze, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Something occurred to him...Erin! Senpai! Are you alright?

"No... Not fine at all! My most dangerous grief seed was stolen! If it's refilled with corruption, the witch will appear again!" She answered, still searching frantically for the seed. Maybe it was just misplaced. She hoped so. Because deep inside, Erin knew she would most likely despair if she had to kill Koyuki again.

I'll be there as quickly as I can, I just have something to take care of first. He stepped forward into the hall and covered his eyes, he quickly hit the switch, flooding the room with light. The bright flash blinded the foe, as Leon tackled them to the ground. "Don't move and you won't get hurt."

A knee struck him in the side, causing him to double over in pain. Whoever this was, they were strong. His eyes had not quite adjusted to the sudden light, even though he was prepared. He assumed the assailant fared worse. He grabbed the intruder and threw them into the wall. Odd, they were really light.

"I don't want to hurt you, just give up." He said as he stood up and his eyes slowly began to adjust to the light.

Erin lifted her head from the mess of books she was looking into, sensing some sort of disturbance.
"Is everything okay, Leon-kun?" she asked, returning to her frantic search after a moment.
Her room was a mess, she'd taken almost everything out of their proper place to scan it thoroughly. With each passing minute, she became more and more frightened. The grief seed wouldn't move on its own. If it wasn't there, someone had most likely taken it.

Leon blinked twice clearing away the remnants of the light. "Wait. You're a girl?" No wonder she was so light, it was a girl, and a young one, she was maybe twelve. "What are you doing here kid?"

She said nothing, her eyes were overshadowed and looked life-less. What was wrong with her? He looked into her hand and noticed something. She had the grief seed that Erin-Senpai had given him. "Hey! That's mine. Give it back!" He launched himself forward and tried to grab the girl.

She jumped on him and launched towards the window. "Damn it!" Sorry Senpai, I'm a little busy at the moment, nothing I can't handle.

"Okay then, I'll keep searching. Call me if you need help." Erin kept digging through her things, finding stuff she thought had lost years ago, like a worn out doll and a bunch of pictures of her and Koyuki.
Then she stopped. The grief seed had clearly been stolen, so she might as well tidy up her stuff. Using magic to return everything to their proper shelf, drawer or box, she began wondering: who had taken her grief seed, and why? The most obvious answer made her fearful. It'd be dangerous, very dangerous.

Leon jumped at the girl again, and missed. She jumped out of the window and vanished into the night. She was gone, Leon sighed. Senpai, we might have a problem, how are things on your end? He looked back in his apartment, it was trashed. He had just cleaned it up today, now he was going to have to do it again.

He sat down on the couch, exhausted. Why would someone steal a grief seed?

"Terrible. My grief seed has definitely been stolen, and it's a really dangerous one. I'll be there in a second." She said, and told her parents she was feeling a little sick so she wasn't gonna have dinner. Locking her door again, she jumped through the window again.
Her trip down was a lot harder than the one before, since there was no light and she couldn't see a thing. Ignoring the bruises in her arms, she ran to Leon's house, and rang the bell some four times, impatient.

Wait, you had yours stolen too? Some kid stole the one you had given me. Something was wrong with her though, she seemed....out of it. He picked up the room quickly, throwing away the ruined cheesecake. It had been smashed in the scuffle and he realized he had gotten some on his jacket. I don't know what is going on, do you have any clue?

"Someone or something is trying to get us killed. There was a girl that seemed out of it?" She sighed and knocked. "Most likely being controlled, and the witch they stole from me can do that. She just needed to hatch... It was so dumb to keep her, I should've crushed that seed the moment I saw it! Now, if you'd just open the door, please?" She rang once more, keeping her finger in the button for about ten seconds. She was annoyed, tired and cranky. She definitely did not want to fight a witch.

Leon suddenly realized that the annoying sound was his doorbell. Sorry Senpai, I didn't realize I had a doorbell. He opened the door for Erin, Senpai, letting her in. "You look tired Senpai, come in, rest a bit." He poured her some fresh tea. "Tell me about this witch, why did you still have her grief seed? Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

"..." Erin walked around in circles, a nervous stomach ache growing.
"I still have her seed because I never used it. I didn't want to... I kept it as a memory, too." she sat down. "Because, you know, that seed belonged to a friend of mine. Just about the only friend I ever had, besides you. But I was stupid, and let her become a witch." Erin held back her tears. She had cried enough today. Not making eye contact with Leon, she continued. "I kept her grief seed because I had stupid hopes that I'd find a way to revert the seeding process and bring her back to life." She looked down, playing with her ring. "It was stupid, I know."
Erin sighed. "What are we going to do? I'm too tired for a witch fight."

Leon shook his head. "That's heavy, really heavy." He sat down on the coach, next to Erin-Senpai. "No. We will do nothing tonight, whatever is going to happen will not be tonight. I can tell that much at least." He looked out the window, the crescent moon was not giving off a lot of light and the city looked dark, bleak even.

"I think we should get some rest, it's the best course of action. Worrying about this tonight is only going to exhaust you." He stood up and walked to his window. "I don't want to send you home, it's cold and dark and you are so tired that I can feel it like a brick wall. Why don't you stay here tonight? We can walk to school together tomorrow." For once, his intentions were completely pure, it felt odd, being so serious.